Ex-Fla. Gov. Crist tweets he's joining Democrats

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) ? Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was elected the state's chief executive as a Republican and then ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as an independent, announced on Twitter on Friday night that he's switching to the Democratic Party.

The announcement fanned speculation that Crist would seek to regain his old job from Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.

Crist sent out a tweet that said, "Proud and honored to join the Democratic Party in the home of President (at)Barack Obama!"

The tweet included a photo of a smiling Crist and his wife Carole as he held up a Florida voter registration application. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Crist signed the papers changing his affiliation from independent to Democrat at a Christmas reception at the White House. President Barack Obama greeted the news with a fist bump.

"I've had friends for years tell me, 'You know Charlie, you're a Democrat and you don't know it,'" Crist told the newspaper Friday night.

He cited the Republican Party's shift to the right on a range of issues, including immigration, education and the environment.

Messages left for Crist by The Associated Press weren't immediately returned Friday night.

Crist was elected Florida governor in 2006 while in the GOP. As he moved to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010, he faced a tough primary challenge from the right and bolted the GOP to run as an independent. He lost a three-way Senate contest in 2010 to Republican Marco Rubio.

Crist, 56, spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., that nominated Obama for a second term and campaigned for his re-election.

Crist's decision to switch to a Democrat will increase speculation that he intends to challenge Scott, a former hospital chain CEO who has struggled with low favorability ratings since taking office. Crist has already criticized Scott for refusing to extend early voting despite pleas from U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and other Democrats.

But it is unlikely that Crist would get a clear path to the Democratic nomination. Former State Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, has already jumped into the race and former Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink could run. Sink barely lost the 2010 governor's race to Scott. Some Democrats remain wary of Crist and even outgoing Florida Democratic Party chairman Rod Smith has joked that just because someone joins the congregation, "you don't make them the preacher."

Steve Schale, a Democratic political consultant who worked on Obama's Florida campaign, called a Crist a "viable Democrat."

"He earned his stripes when he supported the president," Schale said.

But Schale predicted that if Crist runs for governor, he would likely get a challenge from Sink and other Democrats and would have to endure a hard-fought primary.

Republicans in recent weeks have already ramped up their criticism of Crist and have pointed out that in the past he was critical of Obama and once described himself as a Republican in the mold of President Ronald Reagan and Crist's predecessor as governor, Jeb Bush.

"Charlie Crist's first official act as a Democrat was to tell a lie about why he is now pretending to be one," the Florida GOP said in a statement early Saturday. "The truth is that this self-professed, Ronald-Reagan Republican only abandoned his pro-life, pro-gun, conservative principles in 2010 after he realized that Republicans didn't want to send him to Washington D.C. as a senator, especially after he proved he couldn't do the job as governor."

Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican consultant, predicted that Crist would have to spend the next 14 months explaining how his switch to Democrat was something beyond just his own political ambitions.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-fla-gov-crist-tweets-hes-joining-democrats-035852138.html

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Economics Professor Talks Money ? Dr Tan Kee Wee

You would have heard Dr Tan?s interesting economic insights on 938LIVE Money Talks. He has been doing the show for 5 years running. By telling stories to illustrate his views about the world of finance and investments, he made it easy and interesting for the laymen to understand. Jon and I?unanimously wanted to invite him for a chat and hopefully, glean some insights from him. Below is what transpired during our conversation with Dr Tan.

What do you do for a living?

My clients pay me for my economic advice. I also make some money on my own from my investments. Since my investments tend to be long term in nature, profits do not happen every week. To keep myself busy, and keep another income stream, I also teach undergraduate economics.

What do you mainly invest in?

I trade stocks, indices and currencies.?If I do stocks, they tend to be blue chip stocks. I don?t like penny stocks and those that are illiquid.?I came across a syndicate in the past. In order to receive reliable stock tips, you would have to stick around and follow their lifestyle. It is something I find it difficult to do.?My opinion towards small cap stocks and Singapore stocks in general, are easier to be manipulated. I would avoid them as much as possible although I do hold some good Singapore stocks for the long run.??Since I do not have an edge over them, I prefer to trade counters that are likely to be less manipulated.?When I go into currency pairs, they also tend to be the major ones like AUDUSD, GBPUSD, EURUSD, and USDJPY. I also do S&P500 and Nikkei.

How would you describe your investment style?

I follow the big economic picture and this is the reason major currency pairs and stock indices fit into my investment universe.?My approach is discretional as I do not follow a fixed style or a set of rules to evaluate trade ideas. I get most of my trade ideas from reading.?For example, I see a bright future in the U.S. economy if they can harness energy from Shale Oil efficiently. The U.S. has abundance of Shale Oil and history has taught us that an economy is strong because of access to a cheap resource. During the Industrial Revolution, England had coal. China has cheap labour but?I think this is no longer the case. The price of energy is already much cheaper in the U.S. than most other places in the world and many firms are now thinking of moving more of their energy-intensive operations to the US.

Afternote: This interview took place a while back and Apple recently announced to shift some production capacity from China to U.S. Of course, the cause might be a myriad reasons and cost may or may not be one of them.

What do you read to get your trading ideas?

What I read is available to all ? financial newspapers, websites and brokers? reports. The issue is that there is not enough time to read them all so we form our views based on what we have read. Basically, we are all biased.

Has your economic training helped you to see investing in a different light from others?

My economics training certainly helped. But I know many people who are better than I am who were not trained in the same way. They are more talented and lucky.

You write and publish a fair bit on behavioural finance. How has the understanding of our biases and thought processes helped you make a better trading decision?

I like behavioural finance because it helps to discipline my trading, and adds reason to my trading strategies. But like I said, sometimes the theory says something. I act on it and yet still lose money. Other times, I don?t act on it, and I make money. I am always amazed. That?s why I believe luck plays a major role.

?

How should retail investors invest?

Ideally, they should buy when all others are selling, ie. buy after the stock market crashes. If they can do it, they will do much better than those who try to time the market regularly.??But it is not easy to follow such a rule because nobody knows where the bottom is. I think about 90% of investors lose money. So this game is not for everyone. During a bull run, we all think that all have made money. But when the crash comes, 90% of investors will know where they stand.

What is your advice for young aspiring traders?

They have to learn it through the hard way which is to lose money in the first couple of years. There is no other way.?So again, investment is not for everyone.?I believe luck plays a great role in our investment success. Most of us are better off making money in our own professions.

For those who wants to be employed as traders, it is important to find a job in the financial industry. Initially, it may not be directly involved in trading or security analysis but it is more important to know people and build connections. You do not know when you may get where you want to be. Luck is an important factor for investment success and anything else in life.

You can read more about Dr Tan and his articles here.

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4. Do not miss out this money making opportunity!
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Source: http://www.bigfatpurse.com/2012/12/economics-professor-talks-money-dr-tan-kee-wee/

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Bring back the old Mint.com Android Widget (Cash & Debt widget) as an option.

I think the new android Mint widget options are a great new feature, however I miss the simple Cash/Debt readout that the old widget gave me. Having the ability to just see my cash and debt can be more useful at a glance than the breakdown of all accounts that I can log into the app to check.

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Bahrain Crown Prince calls for new dialogue with opposition

MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrain's Crown Prince renewed calls for dialogue with the country's opposition late on Friday, saying only talks could break a deadlock in the Gulf Arab state beset by unrest.

The ruling Al-Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslims, used martial law and help from Gulf neighbors to put down a revolt against alleged discrimination of Bahrain's majority Shi'ite population in March last year, but violence has resumed.

Protesters and police clash almost daily and the island has seen a number of bombings this year.

Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifah, who was seen as losing influence to hardliners in the ruling family during mass protests last year, said Bahrain must continue political and judicial reforms seen as inadequate by the opposition.

"I soon hope to see a meeting between all sides - and I call for a meeting between all sides - as I believe that only through face to face dialogue will any real progress be made," he said in an address to a conference organized by the International Institute for Security Studies.

No opposition figures were invited to the conference.

Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based as a bulwark against Iran, accuses Tehran of encouraging the unrest and has promised a tough response as talks with the opposition have stalled. Iran has denied meddling in Bahrain's affairs.

A peaceful protest by the Wefaq opposition group took place in Manama earlier on Friday despite a ban on demonstrations in the kingdom.

Crown Prince Salman urged all political figures to condemn street violence but also said the government needed to push harder to reduce inequality.

"We must do more to change laws which still can lead to, in my opinion, judgements which go against protections guaranteed in our constitution. We must do more to stop the selective enforcement of law," he said.

The speech was heard by British Foreign Secretary William Hague, U.S. Assistant Secretary for State William Burns and the foreign ministers of other Gulf Arab states.

Crown Prince Salman singled out Britain for particular praise for its support for Bahrain during its crisis but did not mention the United States in what delegates present at the conference saw as implied criticism of Washington.

"You have stood head and shoulders above others," he said of the British government, which he praised for engaging with both the Bahraini government and opposition and aiding reform of the police and judiciary.

Last month, Bahrain's government said it had arrested four suspects in multiple bombings that killed two people in the capital Manama, and it accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of being behind the attacks.

The five home-made bombs bore the hallmarks of Hezbollah, the Shi'ite group allied with Iran, authorities said. Hezbollah has previously denied interfering in Bahrain.

(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-crown-prince-calls-dialogue-opposition-073854613.html

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Second blast in two days hits Kenyan capital: police

A Michigan college student has admitted poisoning her roommate with bleach, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News. Kayla Ashlyn Bonkowski, who attends Central Michigan University, is accused of spraying bleach into her roommate?s iced tea after an argument over dirty dishes last month,...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/second-blast-two-days-hits-kenyan-capital-police-184733163.html

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New here. Love to meet you all?

Hello there. I am Coltyn, and am quite new to role-playing forums. I have role-played for over 12 years, however I have not done so on any type of forums other than a Hogwarts Online forum. I am a para to multi-para role-player, and absolutely love making stories with people. I'm 21, and am a Gemini. I work full-time so at some times I will be unable to post, however during my free-time I will definitely be devoting myself to this forum quite a lot as I am very interested in starting long-term role-plays. I consider myself to be rather literate, and love details in most all stories. There are some times where my mind becomes blank and I can not fathom the simplest of ideas, so bear with me on that. I will, however, do my utmost to entertain and grow close to this community of amazing role-players. I also figured that I would tag a photo of myself with this, as I prefer to have others know what I look like in real life so as to not think I am some creepy 60 year old out looking to role-play with young people. ;P

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/od_T1ogml3U/viewtopic.php

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No sign of emissions letting up as climate talks begin

FORGET fire, it's the smoke that matters. In the lead-up to the climate change summit in Doha, Qatar - which wraps up at the end of this week - study after study painted a grim picture of our future, from sea level rising faster. The worst news, however, is that far from cutting our emissions, we are pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than ever.

The latest figures from the Global Carbon Project, released this week, show that global emissions have been growing at an average of 3 per cent each year since 2000. We are on course to emit 35.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide this year just from burning fossil fuels and producing cement - a 58 per cent increase on 1990 levels, and this doesn't include another 3 billion tonnes or so of emissions from deforestation and other changes in land use (Nature Climate Change, doi.org/jwf).

China, now the biggest emitter, is responsible for most of this growth. "It's a slow tsunami," says the head of the project, Pep Canadell of Australia's national science institute CSIRO in Canberra. China's emissions are expected to grow until at least 2030. Even if they do peak by then, the emissions of other developing nations, particularly India with its 1.2 billion people, may continue to climb. The World Resources Institute reported last month that there are plans to build 1200 new coal-fired stations globally, most in India and China.

So there is little prospect of global emissions peaking around 2020 - which is what is needed to stop the world warming more than 2??C. Limiting warming to 2??C is still possible, but after decades of inaction, it would now take an unprecedented global effort to achieve it. "If this is not forthcoming, 2??C is beyond our grasp and even 4??C begins to look challenging," says Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Norwich, UK. Each year you don't do anything, the challenge grows greater, he adds.

Some countries have pledged to cut their emissions, but even if all existing pledges were kept - which seems unlikely - there is still a one in five chance that the world could warm by over 4??C, a report commissioned by the World Bank warned last month. If we carry on as we are, temperatures could rise more than 4??C well before 2100, and more than 8??C before 2150.

This is not even the worse-case scenario. Some studies suggest that the rise in temperature will be 4??C by the 2070s. The simulations on which these projections are based do not include the possibility of vast amounts of carbon being released from melting permafrost and undersea hydrates. Last week, reports from NASA and the UN warned that permafrost is already melting fast and that there could be extensive losses by 2100.

At the moment, however, we are pumping such amounts of carbon into the atmosphere that even massive releases of carbon from natural sources will not make much of a difference. Estimates suggest they will only lead to a small amount of extra warming. Instead, the real threat is more subtle - it's that the longer we delay cuts, the less difference they will make, because by the time our emissions start to fall, the land and oceans won't be able to take in any more carbon and will begin releasing it.

Meanwhile, the consequences of the 0.8??C warming that has already happened since pre-industrial times are becoming ever more apparent. Studies out last week confirmed that ice in Greenland and Antarctica is melting much faster than predicted, for instance. Global sea level has already risen about 20 centimetres, largely because of the expansion of water as it warms, and this has undoubtedly increased the damage caused by storm surges such as that of superstorm Sandy.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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