CPA and Business Online: April 2012

Friday, April 13, 2012

Zimmerman's arrest the path to justice?

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," April 12, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET!

O'REILLY: "Personal Story Segment" tonight.

The latest on the Trayvon Martin story... George Zimmerman now accused of second degree murder appeared in a Florida court today with his new lawyer. No plea, no bail request. Apparently those will come in another hearing next week before another judge.

With us now is Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother and her lawyer Benjamin Crump. First time I've talked with you Miss Fulton. And I -- everybody on my staff feels the same way. We're sorry you have to be here. We're sorry you have to go through this. I mean, I have a son. I can't imagine the pain that you go through. You know your son is there one day and the next day he's gone.

Hilary Rosen flap: A campaign gift to Mitt Romney

It began with Hilary Rosen's comment late Wednesday on cable news that seemed to criticize Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, for choosing to stay home and raise their five sons rather than work.
hanks to social media, the remark quickly escalated into a fracas over the role of women in American society.

It gave Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee for president who is scrambling to improve his ratings among women voters, a chance to reach out to them through his wife. And it sent Democratic President Obama's top campaign staff members - and by Thursday afternoon, the president and first lady - rushing to disavow the pundit's remark.

Why we need a good screening test for ovarian cancer

Editor's note: CNN conditions expert Dr. Otis Webb Brawley is the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, a world-renowned cancer expert and a practicing oncologist. He is also the author of the book, "How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America."

(CNN) -- Q: This week the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued preliminary guidelines for ovarian cancer screening. It recommends against routine screening saying that the risk of false positive diagnoses outweighs the benefits. How can this be and why is it so hard to find a good screening test for ovarian cancer?

A: The U,S. Preventive Services Task Force is a group of medical experts who assess the scientific literature on an issue, such as ovarian cancer screening, before making a recommendation. They do influence how doctors practice medicine.

The statement recommends against routine ovarian cancer screening because they find the evidence of harm associated with screening is greater than the evidence of benefit.

U.N. statement calls North Korea launch "deplorable"

Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) -- Officials from the United States and the United Nations say the U.N. Security Council will meet Friday to discuss North Korea's botched long-range missile launch -- an act U.N. officials called deplorable and destabilizing despite its failure.

Amid concerns that North Korea will try to recover from the embarrassing failure with a nuclear test or military move, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the secretive country's regime not to "undertake further provocative actions that will heighten tension in the region."

The missile launch was heralded by North Korea as "an inspiring deed and an event of historic significance." The missile broke apart shortly after launch Friday morning, then fell into the ocean.

North Korea said the missile was designed to carry an observation satellite into orbit. But the United States, South Korea and Japan said that was a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.

The launch drew condemnation from United States and countries in the region, as well as an unusual admission of failure from Pyongyang. The normally secretive regime has previously insisted that failed launches had actually been successful.

"Kony 2012" group tipped off Uganda to wanted ex-rebel

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The group behind the viral "Kony 2012" video that drew world attention to Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony tipped off Ugandan forces in 2009 to the whereabouts of a former child soldier wanted by the Kampala government, according to a classified U.S. cable published by Wikileaks.

Invisible Children, which shot to prominence last month when its video on Kony and his brutal Lord's Resistance Army drew more than 100 million hits on social media, told Ugandan officials that a man wanted by security forces was staying with the group in the northern Ugandan city of Gulu, the cable showed.

Patrick Komakech, the former child soldier who was featured in Invisible Children documentaries and said to have been abducted by Kony's rebels at age 9, was immediately arrested, according to U.S. document, posted in a database of classified cables published by Wikileaks.

"Komakech had confessed to being part of a new anti-government movement in the north," the 2009 State Department cable said. "Komakech reportedly gave the locations of several arms caches... with a total of 600 weapons."

The "Kony 2012" video, the latest in a series of documentaries by the group, has been hailed for inspiring young people to activism.

But the video has also been criticized for what some have called a misleading and oversimplified portrayal of events in Uganda, and for neglecting African initiatives to solve the crisis as well as opening up old wounds.

New Mali leader sworn in, threatens rebels

MALI's new interim leader has threatened to wage total war on Tuareg rebels and Islamists controlling the north of the country as he took the oath of office, ending a brief period of military rule.

Dioncounda Traore, the former parliament speaker, was sworn into office in the capital of the west African nation on Thursday, at a ceremony attended by, among others, junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo who grabbed power in a March 22 coup.

Traore, 70, took charge in a country facing its worst-ever crisis, threatening to unleash "total war'' on the Tuareg rebels, Islamists and outlaws who overran Mali's vast desert north in the power vacuum created by the coup.

"I am aware of being the president of a country at war," said the mathematician turned politician, who is expected to name a prime minister and organise elections within 40 days.

Uganda: Parliament Eulogizes 'Hero' Kakoma

Tributes have been paid to the fallen Uganda national anthem composer Prof. George William Kakoma.

In a special Parliament session chaired by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, MPs described the fallen musician as a person who will be remembered by many generations to come.

The motion to pay tribute to Kakoma was moved by the deputy Leader of Government business in Parliament Gen. Moses Ali.

"Appreciating that Kakoma will be remembered by those whom he associated with and the great contribution he made towards Uganda as a nation, I now therefore move that this House pays tribute to the fallen gallant son of Uganda for the distinguished services rendered to his country......And that the Almighty God sustains the bereaved family", Ali submitted.

Kakoma, 89, died peacefully in his bed on Easter Sunday at his in-law's residence in Kololo, an upscale Kampala suburb.

Sagging pants gets man 3 days in jail

PRATTVILLE — A Prattville man was given a three-day jail sentence Tuesday for contempt of court after his wardrobe didn't pass judicial muster.LaMarcus D. Ramsey, 20, was in Autauga County Circuit Court to enter a plea on a charge of receiving stolen property. Circuit Judge John Bush took exception to the fact that Ramsey's blue jeans were sagging too low. The three-day stint will be served in the Autauga Metro jail.

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Clinton embraces 'Texts From Hillary' web parody

WASHINGTON — LOL. Hillary Rodham Clinton has a tech-savvy sense of humor, and she wants you to know it.

The secretary of state is firmly embracing an Internet parody that purports to show her texting various politicians and celebrities, shooting them down with snappy retorts. Clinton invited the creators of the "Texts from Hillary" Tumblr website to the State Department on Tuesday and shared a laugh with them. And, she even submitted her own fake exchange.

The site has become an Internet sensation since it was launched last week. It is based on photographs of Clinton, wearing sunglasses, surrounded by briefing papers and staring at her Blackberry, aboard a military transport plane flying to Libya in October.

In it, the captions show her launching imaginary witty ripostes at her husband, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and others who are all depicted in photos looking at smartphones and distracting Clinton from important work at hand.

Santorum Suspends Campaign, Leaving Super PACs Without Their Candidates

With the exit of Rick Santorum Tuesday, the Republican primary all but technically ended, leaving in its path a trail of money from people seeking to influence the race by donating to the super PACs, which have spent millions on negative ads against various opponents.

But there's no more opponents.

Three candidates have officially dropped out: Santorum, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman. The super PACs supporting them had spent more than $14 million combined, and now they're floating in campaign finance purgatory — not spending any more money but not dead yet.

The Red White and Blue Fund, a super PAC backing Santorum, said that Santorum was "suspending his campaign but not the fight.

The PAC supporting Huntsman, Our Destiny, said that after the former ambassador quit the race, it returned all its unused money to the benefactors who had donated it. But the apparatus is still in place and "could spring into action" at a moment's notice for whatever reason, said Fred Davis, a Republican ad man who runs the PAC.

6-year-old accidentally killed in dad's wood chipper

Jeffrey Bourgeois, 6, was helping his father clear brush in a client's yard in Salem, Conn., when his arm got stuck in the chipper, state police said.

"The youngest child attempted to help his father and when his father's back was turned, he picked a branch up and fed it into the chipper when he was pulled into the chipper," State Police Lt. Paul Vance said.

Body found in Chestnut Hill Reservoir where State Police searched for missing Boston College student Franco Garcia

Authorities are at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir this morning where a body has been found.

The Boston Fire Department and State Police are working to retrieve the body, which was spotted by a passerby around 8 a.m. today, said State Police spokesman David Procopio.

He said the identity of the person was not immediately known.

State Police spent a week in late February searching the reservoir for Boston College student Franco Garcia, who disappeared Feb. 22 after spending the night with friends at a Cleveland Circle bar.

Stepfather arrested after son takes heroin to school

A 5-year-old boy found dozens of bags of heroin inside a jacket he had taken to school and showed them to his kindergarten classmates, the school superintendent said Tuesday.

Bridgeport Superintendent Paul Vallas said he believes the boy took his stepfather's jacket to school on Monday without knowing the drugs were inside it.

"Children bring to school what they find at home," he said.

Police have told the Connecticut Post the boy took 50 packets of heroin out when it came time for a show-and-tell presentation, but Vallas said the boy only waved the heroin around at his cubicle. Police did not respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday.

The boy's stepfather, 35-year-old Santos Roman, went to the school and recovered the jacket, but police had already seized the drugs, officials said. He was arrested when he returned to the school after apparently discovering the heroin was missing, Vallas said.

UCLA wrongly welcomes wait-list applicants

LOS ANGELES, April 11 (UPI) -- UCLA has apologized to nearly 900 high school seniors mistakenly notified they were accepted to the California school but in reality were on a waiting list.

University of California Los Angeles spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said the error occurred when updated notices of provisional financial aid were sent during the weekend to admitted students and to students on the waiting list for possible freshman admission this fall, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Auditor General warns on poor accountability

ACK of proper accounting channels in sports has forced the Auditor General to call for increased financial discipline in national sports organs as one of the means to achieve better results.

This was included in a report released last week for the year ending June 30, 2011.

The report calls on the government bodies of Nakivubo and Namboole stadiums and National Council of Sports to have financial discipline and accountability. This should include getting internal auditors to check on their books of accounts.

The report noted under valuing assets, lack of documentary evidence on expenses and utilised money and actual accountability not matching as some of the problems that required attention.

He advised all to create internal audit systems to regulate expenditure and advise accordingly.

"An internal audit function assists management in assessing internal control systems, risk management and governance and where there are deficiencies suggest improvements," said part of the over 300 page report. NCS was also blamed for having no job descriptions for the positions of Internal Auditor, Senior Assistant Secretary, Office Superintendent and Senior Administrative Secretary.

"This may result into role conflict and failure to apportion responsibility."

The auditor general blamed the lack of internal check for a loss of sh22.5m from the stadium expenses and a doubtful sh7m in trustee expenses.

Uganda: VP Ssekandi Woos Nordic Investors

The Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi has urged Ugandans working in the Nordic countries to invest in Uganda, describing the investment climate as "very rife".

Ssekandi made the remarks while giving a key note address during the first ever Ugandan Diaspora convention in the Nordic countries held on the DFDS Cruise at the Oslo habour on Saturday. The convention attracted over 100 Ugandans living and working in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

He hailed the Ugandans for their contribution towards the development of the country and assured them that government and the people of Uganda highly acknowledge their great input.

"I challenged the convention to mobilize Ugandans and friends of Uganda in northern Europe to embrace the business opportunities that exist in Uganda and begin contributing to the developing of the country," he said.

According to statistics, Ugandans in the Diaspora contributed over $ 800 million to Uganda last year.

Ssekandi who also delivered President Museveni's contribution of 10,000 US dollars towards the convention said the government will always recognize Ugandans living and working in the Nordic as its own people and encouraged them to apply for dual citizenship to ease their movements as they go about with their businesses.

White Ribbon Alliance Video Blog From Closing Ceremony of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Kampala, Uganda

Gloria Iribaziga reports from the closing ceremony at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) where the draft resolution "Access to Health as a Basic Right: The Role of Parliaments in Addressing Key Challenges to Securing the Health of Women and Children" has been unanimously passed.

And the WRA wins praise from IPU Secretary General Anders Johnsson for our engagement of Parliamentarians at the IPU in support of this resolution.

Click above our final video blog from our Citizen's Voice studio at the IPU conference where Nsinda Elman Ugandan WRA volunteer and journalist and WRA Rwanda National Coordinator Gloria Iribaziga interview Parliamentarians including the Hon. Chandima Weerakkody MP Sri Lanka, the Hon. Margaret Mensah-Williams Namibia and Anders Johnsson Secretary General of the IPU as well as Martin Chungong, director of Promotion of Democracy IPU about next steps now all have agreed to make access to health a basic right for women and children.

Thousands line up for city jobs

More than 1,800 applicants yesterday thronged Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) headquarters in Kampala to submit their letters for jobs advertised last week.

According to KCCA director of Human Resource Jennifer Kagwa, the first phase will only consider about 100 applicants according to the new employment structure.

"The first phase has 41 main-rolls and other relevant officers. In total we expect to consider about 100 people at this stage," Ms Kagwa said at City Hall yesterday.

American Dental Association: Dental X-rays Should be Used Sparingly to Reduce Radiation Risk

CHICAGO, Apr 10, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- The American Dental Association (ADA) is aware of a recent study that associates yearly or more frequent dental X-rays to an increased risk of developing meningioma, the most commonly diagnosed brain tumor. The ADA's long-standing position is that dentists should order dental X-rays for patients only when necessary for diagnosis and treatment. Since 1989, the ADA has published recommendations to help dentists ensure that radiation exposure is as low as reasonably achievable.

The ADA has reviewed the study and notes that the results rely on the individuals' memories of having dental X-rays taken years earlier. Studies have shown that the ability to recall information is often imperfect. Therefore, the results of studies that use this design can be unreliable because they are affected by what scientists call "recall bias." Also, the study acknowledges that some of the subjects received dental x-rays decades ago when radiation exposure was greater. Radiation rates were higher in the past due to the use of old x-ray technology and slower speed film. The ADA encourages further research in the interest of patient safety.

As part of the ADA's recommendations to minimize radiation exposure, the ADA encourages the use of abdominal shielding (e.g., protective aprons) and thyroid collars on all patients. In addition, the ADA recommends that dentists use E or F speed film, the two fastest film speeds available, or a digital x -ray.

In addition to the X-ray recommendations, the ADA's Council on Scientific Affairs will publish clinical guidance on the use of cone-beam computed tomography in an upcoming issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association. The ADA will share these recommendations as soon as they are available.

Dental x-rays linked to common brain tumor

(Reuters Health) - A new study suggests people who had certain kinds of dental X-rays in the past may be at an increased risk for meningioma, the most commonly diagnosed brain tumor in the U.S.

The findings cannot prove that radiation from the imaging caused the tumors, and the results are based on people who were likely exposed to higher levels of radiation during dental X-rays than most are today.

"It's likely that the exposure association we're seeing here is past exposure, and past exposure levels were much higher," said Dr. Elizabeth Claus, the study's lead author and a professor at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

Claus and her colleagues write in the journal Cancer that dental X-rays are the most common source of exposure to ionizing radiation -- which has been linked to meningiomas in the past -- but most research on the connection is based on people who were exposed to atomic bombs or received radiation therapy.

There have been some studies that looked at dental X-rays, but they were from years ago and included fewer people than the current study, Claus noted. Still, they were generally in agreement with the new findings.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe "well, on holiday": officials

(Reuters) - Zimbabwean officials on Tuesday dismissed reports that President Robert Mugabe was seriously ill in Singapore, saying he was well and on holiday there with his family, and was expected to return home this week.

Mugabe is one of Africa's longest serving leaders and has ruled the former British colony in southern Africa since 1980. He is sharing power with political rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in a fragile coalition formed three years ago.

The 88-year-old president has been the subject of several health scares in recent years, with some reports saying he has prostate cancer, but in February interviews with state media he laughed off suggestions that he was seriously ill.

Two senior officials from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party on Tuesday angrily denied reports by some international media that he was undergoing intensive treatment in a Singapore hospital and was fighting for his life.

The officials said he was on a private holiday to Singapore.

"The president is well and away on a private holiday to help his daughter prepare for post-graduate studies, but we are expecting him home this week," said one of the two officials, who declined to be named.

Alec Baldwin Stalker, Genevieve Sabourin, Ordered To Stay Away

NEW YORK — A Canadian actress accused of stalking "30 Rock" star Alec Baldwin has been told to stay away from him.

Genevieve Sabourin was arraigned in a Manhattan court on Monday, a day after she was arrested on charges of stalking and aggravated harassment when Baldwin filed a complaint with police.

A judge released Sabourin, who has acted in television and film, on her own recognizance and issued a temporary order of protection for Baldwin, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.

Baldwin's publicist, Matthew Hiltzik, said, "As everyone knows, stalking is a serious issue, so we've turned this matter over to the New York Police Department."

Sabourin's attorney did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment after the arraignment.

On April 5, Sabourin showed up at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where Baldwin was hosting a screening of "Last Tango in Paris," and she had to be removed by security, police said.

She also is believed to have turned up unannounced at his home on Long Island on March 31 and to have gone to his address in lower Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood while he wasn't there, authorities say.

The two met a decade ago on the set of "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," in which he had a cameo and she was a publicist.

According to authorities, the 54-year-old Baldwin told police that the 40-year-old Sabourin had been sending him emails for several weeks and that the notes were disturbing. She professed her love for him, begging to have his children and telling him to leave his wife, he said, according to police.

Baldwin recently became engaged to his 28-year-old girlfriend, Hilaria Thomas, a yoga instructor. Baldwin previously was married to actress Kim Basinger, and they have a daughter named Ireland.

The Rush Limbaugh and the Mike Huckabee Shows

At the end of the inaugural episode of his eponymous radio show today, Mike Huckabee asked, "Is there a part of the public that wants to hear both sides of the story and hear intelligent thoughtful discussion?"

Huckabee must be hoping so. The conservative commentator has added the job of daytime talk radio host to his resume, which already includes past gigs as Fox News host, presidential candidate and governor.

At a time when seemingly anyone can be on the radio, Huckabee is betting that conservatives will find his tempered approach to talk radio more appealing than the ambushing style of Rush Limbaugh.

Huckabee's show airs from noon to 3 p.m. daily, the same time slot that "El Rushbo" occupies daily.

OTUS listened to both AM programs today to see how Huck would differentiate himself. The difference was clear from the start.

The problems of Being African

To be African is not easy
If you are not in a war situation you
die of famine,
if not Disease,
if not natural calamity
otherwise Murder
40 years and you are a Senior citizen
If you reach fifty years and you are African you will probably have all
your neighborhood friends dead.

Never the less like a fire that never burns out we shall never give up
till African is free.

Africa the Cradle of Human civilization shall rise and shine again.

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