Senate confirms Cuban-born judge to 11th Circuit (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The first Cuban-born judge to serve on the Atlanta-based U.S. appellate court was confirmed Wednesday by an overwhelming margin that said much about the way the Senate operates these days.

Despite strong support from both parties, including tea party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the Senate had to break a filibuster to confirm U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jose Jordan by a 94-5 vote. The one-time clerk to now-retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is the newest member of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This week, the nomination was held up by another tea party favorite, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. He filibustered Jordan's nomination while demanding a vote on his proposed amendment ? to an upcoming highway bill ? to cut U.S. economic aid to Egypt pending the release of American pro-democracy workers held in that country.

Rather than grant Paul a vote on his amendment, the Senate voted Monday to force an end to his filibuster. Under Senate rules, a final vote on the nomination could not take place until Wednesday.

However, Paul's delay was only the latest development in a disagreement between the parties over the pace of judicial confirmations.

Jordan's nomination was sent to the full Senate in October by a unanimous vote of the Judiciary Committee. The seat he's filling was declared a judicial emergency by the policymaking body for U.S. Courts: basically meaning the appellate panel has been overwhelmed with court filings.

But none of that sped up the process.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., accused Republicans of stalling the nomination for months because of issues unrelated to the judge.

"The stalling, the delays, the obstruction, even the votes against ending the filibuster were all about something else, some collateral issue," Leahy said. "They should not have marred this process and complicated this nomination. They should not have delayed this moment when Cuban-Americans will see one of their own elevated to the second highest court in the land."

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, blamed President Barack Obama for the delays. He said the president made an end run around the Senate by announcing recess appointments in January when ? Republicans argued ? the Senate was not in recess.

"We could have confirmed more nominees, had the president indicated that he would respect the practice and precedent on recess appointments," Grassley argued. "He would not give the Senate that assurance, so a number of nominations could not be confirmed."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120215/ap_on_re_us/us_judge_confirmed

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With Pringles, Kellogg looks to expand overseas

FILE - In this April 5, 2011 file photo, Pringles chips are seen in a posed photo at a West Bath grocery store. Kellogg Company announced Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Procter & Gamble's Pringles business for $2.695 billion. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach, File)

FILE - In this April 5, 2011 file photo, Pringles chips are seen in a posed photo at a West Bath grocery store. Kellogg Company announced Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Procter & Gamble's Pringles business for $2.695 billion. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Kellogg is hoping Pringles will satisfy its craving for a salty snack.

The food giant is best known for its lineup of sweet breakfast items, including Frosted Flakes and Eggo frozen waffles. But on Wednesday, it became the world's second-biggest savory snack maker behind PepsiCo Inc.'s Frito-Lay with a $2.7 billion deal to buy the potato snack brand from Procter & Gamble.

The addition of Pringles bolsters Kellogg Co.'s cupboard of salty snacks such as Cheez-It and Keebler's Club crackers. It also positions the company to expand at a time when the appetite for on-the-go foods is growing worldwide, particularly in emerging markets like China and India.

"When you have people moving to the cities and becoming urbanized, they're less likely to eat foods they grow themselves," said Tom Graves, an analyst for Standard & Poor's who follows Kellogg. "There's a bigger opportunity to sell packaged foods."

Kellogg, which gets most of its revenue from North America, is looking for Pringles to help it expand into a global snacking company. Pringles, known for its iconic tube packaging, is sold in more than 140 countries and gets two-thirds of its $1.5 billion in annual revenue from overseas.

It's difficult to quantify growth in the global snacking market. But it's clear snacking is gaining popularity in the United States as more people adopt the school of thought that it's better to eat five or six small meals a day, rather than the conventional wisdom of eating three large ones.

"That's creating a lot of hungry people," said Phil Lempert, editor of Supermarket Guru, which tracks the packaged food industry.

Between 2008 and 2018, the number of "snacking occasions" throughout the day in the U.S. is set to increase by 19 percent, according to market researcher The NPD Group. And in the past year, sales of snack foods rose 3.3 percent to $16.6 billion, according to Nielsen. That's on top of a 1.8 percent growth the previous year.

Pringles, which coined the popular slogan in the U.S. "Once you pop, you can't stop," has also benefited from the snack rush. Shipments of the brand increased 5 percent in the latest quarter, according to Procter & Gamble.

The snack, which was first tested in 1968, was packaged in cans to preserve freshness and prevent them from breaking like other chips do. The chips are made from dough that contains just 42 percent dried potatoes. And despite a common misconception, they're fried, not baked.

P&G wanted to sell Pringles, the last of its food businesses, to focus on its core household and consumer goods products. Kellogg was able to swoop in to buy Pringles from P&G. after Diamond Foods Inc.'s proposed $1.5 billion acquisition of the brand fell through.

Speculation had been growing that Diamond's offer was in trouble after the San Francisco company announced a week ago that it was replacing its CEO and CFO after an internal investigation found that the company improperly accounted for payments to walnut growers. Diamond, which makes Emerald Nuts and Pop Secret popcorn, now needs to restate two years of financial results.

Last week, Cincinnati-based P&G said it was evaluating the deal and keeping all options open. The company even said that Pringles had "attracted considerable interest from other outside parties."

Kellogg expects to complete the Pringles acquisition during the summer, possibly on June 30. If the deal closes around that time, Kellogg anticipates it will add about 8 to 10 cents per share to its 2012 earnings before accounting for the acquisition and one-time costs and changes to its buyback program. One-time costs are expected to be between $160 million and $180 million, with approximately $70 million to $90 million of those costs likely to be recognized in 2012.

Kellogg said its debt is likely to increase by about $2 billion and that it will limit stock buybacks for about two years to allow the company to reduce its debt.

P&G expects an after-tax gain of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion, or about 47 cents to 50 cents per share, from the deal with Kellogg. P&G said it now expects fiscal 2012 earnings of $3.30 to $3.43 per share, which excludes the gain from the Pringles sale. If the sale closes in the current fiscal year, the company foresees earnings between $3.77 and $3.93 per share. This includes the one-time gain of 47 cents to 50 cents per share.

Diamond noted the termination of its deal with Procter & Gamble was mutually agreed upon, and that it will not pay any breakup fees as a result. Industry experts had believed that Diamond would possibly have to pay a $60 million breakup fee to P&G and potentially up to $6 million in related costs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-02-15-Pringles%20Sale/id-a6886c1bd94e479b96dfbbf985d2f724

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Feel Like an Athlete with Footlocker Coupons | murphyslawholbrook ...

Footlocker is among the world?s leading in athletic sporting items; from shoes and clothing for adults to that for kids too. They are committed to looking for new ways to keep their customers satisfied and happy, and one of the best ways this is achieved is to give customers coupons that enable them to save while purchasing different footlocker products.

It is for this reason that many Footlocker Coupons are in the market to help you the best foot wears and apparels of your favorite stars while saving money. I know we all love to spoil ourselves with good things and yes we won?t mind saving some cash to buy more stuff by way of coupons

Some of the coupons can be obtained from the outlets themselves, but you can really cut to the chase by selecting great coupons from the comfort of your home, using the printable coupons that can be obtained on the internet. Once you get the coupons of your choice, you simply print them out and take them when shopping for your new high quality sports apparel.

Tags: footlocker coupons

This entry was posted on February 07th, 2012 and is filed under Clothing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Source: http://www.murphyslawholbrook.com/shopping/clothing/feel-like-an-athlete-with-footlocker-coupons

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Our Playroom | happy hooligans

This is part 1 of a 3 part post. ?There are plenty of pics and lots to talk about, so I thought it might be easier to follow if I layed it out in three parts: our?play-room, MY?space in the play-room,?and storage.

Here?s the story: ?I?ve been running a home-daycare for almost 14 years. ? The children in my daycare (The Hooligans) are teachers? children so they?re not here during July and August when their parents are on Summer Break, and in Spring and Fall when the weather is great, we spend our days outside. ?But on rainy days, and during the long winter months, Mother Nature forces us to spend a lot more of our time indoors. ?

When we play inside, the room that the Hooligans do most of their playing in is in our Family?s rec. room. ?All the years that my own boys were young, this worked. ?It was their ?toyroom?. ? They didn?t mind that the room was filled with kiddy stuff. ?They were kiddies themselves. ?It was their stuff. ?The toys and games were in there for everyone to share and enjoy.

I should add that in the 8 years that we?ve been in this home, I?ve also had bits of the daycare scattered around the main-floor, and in a couple of other rooms in the basement. ?We have an armoir in our main floor family room that holds toys and a few craft supplies. ?The bulk of our crafting supplies have been stored in my laundry/sewing room (basement), and and we do most of our crafting in the kitchen. ?This means for 8 years, I?ve been running up and down the stairs, transporting supplies from laundry room to kitchen every time we craft (and you know how much we craft). ?A little inconvenient maybe, but I?d just load up a tray with everything we needed and bring it all up. ?Then I?d take it all back down when we were finished.

As my guys have gotten older, the basement rec.room has begun to morph into more of a pre-teen/teenage hang-out . ?They have a desk-top computer in there, an art table, a flat screen, the ps3, hockey posters, skateboard posters, books, magazines?you get the picture. ?They?re not so crazy about it being a ?toyroom? anymore, so everyday, I pack all traces of the daycare away into closets and cupboards so the boys aren?t hanging out in a room full of Fisher Price and dolls and matchbox cars, and I try not to be bothered by the ?mountain of craft supplies that has slowly taken over my laundry/sewing room. ??

Since discovering this wonderful world of mom and preschool bloggers about a year ago, I?ve been positively green with envy (and I say that with love) over the gorgeous playrooms that I?ve come across, and I?ve been longing (dreaming, fantasizing?.you name it) for a space that doesn?t?have to do double-duty with my own family. ?A space that I can deck right out in true daycare fashion. Where toys and activities can remain set up, day and night, in cozy, little arrangements. ?Where snowflakes and Valentines and Hooligan masterpieces can be hung on the walls or from the celiings, and not raise the eyebrows of my sons and their friends.?

And a few weeks ago it hit me???I HAVE that space! ?I?ve had that space in my home all along. ?It?s been disguised as a guest bedroom!

HUGE epiphany here folks. ?HUGE. ? I realized that I could convert our guest bedroom to a playroom JUST for the Hooligans. ?Honestly, I don?t know if my family has ever seen me so excited about a project (and I get excited about my projects!!)

In just a few evenings, I moved the guest room furniture out (which involved a lot of reconfiguring of our very small storage room), and I moved all the daycare ?games, puzzles and activities in! ?I did leave one double bed set up because I want to have it for when we ocassionally have company, and I can use it for nappers or quiet time.

I can?t even tell you how excited I am now that I have a room JUST for the Hooligans! (My boys are pretty pumped about having the rec. room all to themselves now too!)

Happy, happy, joy, joy!! ?And if you think this is awesome, just wait until you see how I transformed an adjoining space for me and all of our craft supplies! ?And I DID think to take ?before pics? so you?ll see the full makeover!

Here?s a sneak peak!

Stay tuned?

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Source: http://happyhooligans.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/our-playroom/

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Exclusive: Facebook governance a concern for Calif pension fund (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Facebook's corporate governance rules, which give shareholders little say in how the social networking website would be run as a public company, are raising the hackles of one of the largest U.S. investors, the California State Teachers' Retirement System.

The pension fund, which has a portfolio valued at around $145 billion, is planning to send a letter to Facebook, hoping to engage the social networking website on corporate governance, two CalSTRS executives told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

"We are in the beginning stages of talking to Facebook," said Janice Hester-Amey, a portfolio manager in CalSTRS Corporate Governance unit.

Facebook, which is run by Chief Executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg, declined to comment.

CalSTRS decided on Friday -- just two days after Facebook filed for a $5 billion initial public offering -- to try to talk to the website about improving its corporate governance.

CalSTRS invested in Facebook from its funds on the private equity side and is likely to invest in the company's publicly traded shares, Hester-Amey said.

"No matter how brilliant you are, when you come to the public market -- not that we want to ever tell Zuckerberg or anyone like him how to run his company -- there should be some protection especially for long-term, patient money like CalSTRS," Hester-Amey said.

"So I think there should be some more respect for capital," she said.

Facebook has put up a series of defenses against proxy battles and unwanted takeover attempts, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the governance provisions, Zuckerberg would remain in complete control of the company for the foreseeable future, so much so that the 27-year-old Harvard University drop-out would even have the right to appoint his own successor before he dies.

"With a person that owns as much of the stock and the way he has set up the governance ... it will be very hard to influence him except if he's got some kind of a conscience," Hester-Amey said.

Facebook's corporate governance measures go against a decade-long trend of a move toward more shareholder-friendly corporate governance in the United States, prompted by institutional shareholders such as CalSTRS.

S&P 500 companies have been taking down classified boards, poison pills and other defenses over the years under pressure from institutional investors to have more shareholder-friendly governance rules.

For example, only about 24 percent of S&P 500 companies now have classified boards -- where only some of the directors come up for election every year -- down from 61 percent in 2002, according to FactSet SharkRepellent.

Facebook has two different classes of common stock, with Class B shares entitled to 10 votes per share against one vote per share for Class A. Class A stock is being sold to the public.

Zuckerberg has also struck voting agreements with investors including DST Global Ltd and Accel Partners. Overall he will have majority control after the IPO, giving him the power to determine the outcome of matters submitted to shareholders for approval, including the election of directors and any merger.

Given Zuckerberg's holdings, Facebook is also deemed a "controlled company," which gives the company the right to not have an independent nominating committee of the board to choose directors.

Moreover, Facebook's governance rules say that when Class B shareholders have less than the majority of the combined voting power, the board will become staggered, only the board will be able to fill director vacancies and it will take a supermajority to change the company's by-laws.

Corporate governance expert Charles Elson said provisions such as the dual-class stock structure, different voting powers and Zuckerberg's ability to designate his successor were all reasons for concern.

"I find it very troubling," said Elson, who is the director of John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "The whole tone to me was contrary to where governance has been moving, and the lessons that we have learned."

(Reporting By Paritosh Bansal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120207/bs_nm/us_facebook_calstrs

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Obama on Super Bowl Sunday: ?I deserve a second term? (Washington Post)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/196050099?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Texas Health Insurance | Focus on health

insurance companies and their healthcare services vary from state to state. This is Sami in the case of the TX various health insurance policies available to Texas. Apart from the basic strategies, get a large number of small details changed with the change in the states. As a result, you may find several different rules and strategies with regard to some of the best Texas health insurance in the state of Texas. Likewise, the premium you pay for your health insurance plans vary in your state.

A beautiful and healthy state, Texas has always been among the top ranked states in the U.S. until recently it was again a great plain. As a result, it is extremely important that you to the best TX Health Insurance Policies and the best prices.

This search for a good health insurance provider in Texas, it is a little difficult because of the large number of health insurance in the state.

lets you choose the best insurance provider from the list of the best health insurance, it is still critical goal, first check the Texas Health Insurance offered rate and then make your decision.

According to reports, here is a list of some of the best Texas Providing health insurance.

? Humana Health Insurance
? CIGNA Healthcare
? Scott and White Health Plan
? Aetna Health and many more.

Each Providing insurance companies offer a range of interesting and effective health insurance. However, to ensure that you select the best plan, you should first year of Texas Health Insurance Rate Comparison of different strategies of providing insurance companies offered.

Texas High Risk Pool

The state has its own style of managing people and their medical history. This is not just accepted by the private insurer. This condition is particularly interesting because of the Texas High Risk Pool assessed. Also, not all people qualify this condition and several people are forced to wait a long time in the waiting period. Moreover, the extreme high premium rates slowly changing Which is due to the new high-risk pool established for the health, that the reform.

In case you can not really afford the expensive private medical facilities and services, you can then look at the federal health insurance plans TX. Thesis plans are ideal for people with low incomes Designed options.

you can now from the federal government TX health insurance Policies are available to Texas. For more information visit our website at Texas Health Insurance rates .

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Source: http://www.lovefinanceweb.com/?p=33962&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=texas-health-insurance

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