Feisty Cain presses ahead with bid (AP)

WEST CHESTER, Ohio ? His campaign rocked anew, a feisty Herman Cain claimed a "groundswell of positive support" from backers on Wednesday and accused critics of trying to derail his White House bid as he worked to stem the fallout from allegations of a 13-year extramarital affair.

"They're attacking my character, my reputation and my name in order to try to bring me down," a feisty Cain told a friendly crowd without naming his critics. "But, you see, I don't believe that America is going to let that happen."

Questions about the campaign's viability hovered over Cain's one-day bus tour through Ohio.

It came a day after the candidate told staff he was reassessing his campaign after Ginger White, an Atlanta businesswoman, alleged in media interviews that she and Cain had a long-running sexual affair.

"We are reassessing as we speak. Reassessment means reevaluation," Cain told reporters Wednesday after his well-received speech to roughly 150 people in a hotel meeting room. He gave no indication to the audience that he was considering abandoning his bid despite telling staff that he would make a decision in the next few days about whether to continue it.

Cain received a standing ovation after he spoke about what a "Cain administration" would do. And he said that while some people predicted that the room would be empty, "I don't see any empty seats."

"It's been a groundswell of positive support," Cain insisted to reporters later, even as some backers in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire who had stuck by him after decade-old allegations of sexual harassment surfaced several weeks ago now indicated they were abandoning him.

Cain's latest turmoil comes just five weeks before the first votes are cast in the state-by-state march to the nomination. The earlier sexual harassment accusations that have taken a toll on both his standing in polls and, supporters say, his fundraising. Prominent conservatives who rushed to his defense earlier this month were all but silent when White stepped forward on Monday to accuse Cain of a consensual sexual relationship that ended this year before he became a White House candidate.

The candidate has denied the affair, and in a letter addressed to "patriots and supporters," called her allegations "completely false" and labeled her "troubled."

White steadfastly stood by her assertion in an interview Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" and said she was "disappointed" by Cain's characterization of her. She called her relationship with Cain "a very casual affair" that lasted more than a dozen years.

"I'm not here to say anything negative about Mr. Cain," White said, although White added that she didn't think he should be president.

She elaborated on her claims, saying she took several trips with Cain, including a flight to Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield boxing match. She also said she had "consistently" received gifts and money from Cain over the past two and a half years, but said it was "not sex for cash."

Following Monday's developments, some Cain supporters have started to defect.

New Hampshire state Rep. William Panek endorsed Cain at a news conference earlier this year. But he changed his mind Tuesday after seeing reports that White showed evidence that she had traded 61 text messages and cellphone calls with the candidate. Panek has endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the upcoming primary.

"I felt like we were being lied to," he said. "I'm putting my name in New Hampshire as a state rep behind him, and I just didn't like the way it was being played out."

In Iowa, Cain's campaign has lost some precinct-level supporters following the new allegations, according to Steve Grubbs, Cain's Iowa chairman. Cain was in Iowa for a day last week to film a new ad, but aides say that spending to air it was on hold pending the fundraising in the days to come.

Still, some are sticking by him.

Florida state Rep. Scott Plakon, one of four chairmen for Cain's Florida campaign, said he wanted to see more evidence.

"If it is true that he didn't do this, I think he should fight and kick and scratch and win," Plakon said.

But if Cain did have the affair, Plakon said, "that would be very problematic," he said. "There's the affair itself and then there's the truthful factor. He's been so outspoken in these denials."

White's revelation was the latest setback for a candidate who has been under scrutiny in the past month, since it was revealed that the National Restaurant Association paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization. A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advanced toward her but that she didn't file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.

Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases.

Outwardly on Wednesday, the candidate tried to project an image of a campaign focused on winning ? and not damage control. He planned to continue his bus tour in Dayton and Columbus before heading to New Hampshire later in the day.

On Tuesday, Cain delivered a national security speech to nearly 1,000 people at conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. He didn't address White's allegations; he also avoided speaking to reporters and stuck to his plan to present his foreign policy vision, one in which the U.S. would stand by friendly nations such as Israel, quit giving money to countries he considered enemies and spend more on defense.

Earlier that day, he acknowledged the "firestorm" that White sparked, and he acknowledged he was assessing whether her claims are too much for his candidacy to go forward.

"If a decision is made, different than to plow ahead, you all will be the first to know," Cain said during the call, according to a transcript from the National Review, which listened in.

In connection with the White allegation, Cain said: "With this latest one, we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud, in some people's minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going forth."

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Associated Press writers Kathy Barks Hoffman in Hillsdale, Mich., Ray Henry in Atlanta, Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Steve Peoples in Amherst, N.H., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_el_pr/us_cain

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Ohio puts 200-pound third-grader in foster care (AP)

CLEVELAND ? An Ohio third-grader who weighs more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care after county social workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight.

The Plain Dealer reports ( http://bit.ly/t68M7D) that the Cleveland 8-year-old is considered severely obese and at risk for such diseases as diabetes and hypertension.

The case is the first state officials can recall of a child being put in foster care strictly for a weight-related issue.

Lawyers for the mother say the county overreached when authorities took the boy last week. They say the medical problems he is at risk for do not yet pose an imminent danger.

A spokeswoman says the county removed the child because caseworkers saw his mother's inability to reduce his weight as medical neglect.

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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111127/ap_on_re_us/us_obese_third_grader

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Top Marine: Fears of ending gay ban prove founded (AP)

MANAMA, Bahrain ? Marine Gen. James F. Amos, the face of opposition in the military to lifting the ban on gays serving openly, now acknowledges his concern has proven unfounded that repeal would undermine the war effort. In fact, he says, Marines have embraced the change.

In an Associated Press interview, Amos called the repeal in September "a non-event."

That is in contrast to his cautionary words to Congress in December 2010, shortly before President Barack Obama signed the repeal legislation. The ban was not lifted until this year to allow the Pentagon to prepare troops for the change.

"Successfully implementing repeal and assimilating openly homosexual Marines into the tightly woven fabric of our combat units has strong potential for disruption at the small unit level as it will no doubt divert leadership attention away from an almost singular focus on preparing units for combat," Amos testified. Still, he said at the time that if the law were changed, it would be faithfully followed by Marines.

He now sees no sign of disruption in the ranks ? even on the front lines.

"I'm very pleased with how it has gone," Amos said during a weeklong trip that included four days in Afghanistan, where he heard nary a word of worry about gays. During give-and-take sessions with Marines serving on in Helmand province, he was asked about a range of issues, including the future of the Corps ? but not one about gays.

The Associated Press accompanied Amos on the trip.

In the AP interview, he also offered an anecdote from the home front to make his point that the change has been taken in stride.

He said that at the annual ball in Washington this month celebrating the birth of the Marine Corps, a female Marine approached Amos' wife, Bonnie, and introduced herself and her lesbian partner.

"Bonnie just looked at them and said, `Happy birthday ball. This is great. Nice to meet you,'" Amos said. "That is happening throughout the Marine Corps."

Looking back, Amos said he had no regrets about publicly opposing repeal during wartime. He said he had felt obliged, as commandant of the Corps, to set aside his personal opinions and represent the views of the 56 percent of combat Marines who told a Defense Department survey last year that repeal could make them less effective and cohesive in combat.

"I think I did exactly what I should have done," Amos said. "I've never looked back on it and said it (his concern) was misplaced."

Not only did Amos hear no talk about the repeal's impact during his visit to Afghanistan, the subject also did not arise when he fielded questions from Marines on board the USS Bataan warship in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday.

In Bahrain on Sunday, one Marine broached the topic gently. He asked Amos whether he planned to change the Marines' policy of leaving it to the discretion of local commanders to decide how to handle complaints about "homosexual remarks or actions." Amos said no.

He said he is aware of only one reported incident in Afghanistan thus far, and that turned out to be a false alarm. He said a blogger had written of a gay Marine being harassed by fellow Marines for his sexual orientation. In an ensuing investigation, the gay Marine denied he had been harassed.

A Defense Department spokeswoman, Cynthia O. Smith, said implementation of the repeal of the gay ban is proceeding smoothly across the military.

"We attribute this success to our comprehensive pre-repeal training program, combined with the continued close monitoring and enforcement of standards by our military leaders at all levels," Smith said.

In the months leading up to Congress' repeal, there were indications that the change might not be embraced so readily.

During a visit to a Marine combat outpost in southern Afghanistan in June, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates was confronted by an enlisted Marine who clearly objected to the repeal. He told Gates that the Marine Corps had "a set of standards and values that is better than that of the civilian sector," and that repeal of the gay ban had "changed those values."

He asked Gates whether Marines who object to serving with gays would be allowed to opt out of their enlistment. Gates said no and predicted that if pre-repeal training was done right, "nothing will change" with regard to rules of behavior and discipline.

That Marine was not alone in making known his doubts about the wisdom of allowing gays to serve openly in uniform. In a survey of military members last year, 45 percent of Marines viewed repeal negatively in terms of how it could affect combat readiness, effectiveness and cohesion. Among those Marines who serve in combat roles, 56 percent expressed that view.

The issue split the military. Gates and other senior military leaders supported lifting the restrictions, pointing to a Pentagon study showing that most people in uniform don't object to serving with gays.

But Amos and his Army counterpart bucked their bosses to recommend against lifting the ban during wartime.

"I don't want to lose any Marines to the distraction," Amos said then.

___

Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_marines_gays

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Wendy Strgar: Language of Gratitude

"When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren't grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." - Cynthia Ozick

Our communication is the currency of our relationships, literally the energetic equivalent and the substance that drives us towards or away from the people in our lives. Couple that with the fundamental and universal needs we all share for being seen and valued and you get a glimpse of the powerful alteration that happens in the world when you express gratitude. Unleashing the energy of gratitude in your life is all about re-focusing our attention and perfecting the art of appreciation.

What we focus on multiplies. To the degree that we keep our focus on what is wrong, we often entirely overlook what is right. In this same vein, our shared fixation on the how of getting things done, often overlooks the much more crucial question of why. Allowing the why of our lives and our relationships more focus, is a place of gratitude and clear intention. Focusing our attention on the why of what we love or the why we persist with a problem that won't quite resolve opens you up to receiving, which is at once the prerequisite and the reward of feeling gratitude.

Our attention is our most powerful resource and shining that light with gratitude upon the people and events in our lives, even and maybe especially when they challenge us changes the trajectory of our experience. Fear is vanquished in our gratitude and problem-solving acquires a serendipity that resolves the how in ways that were not previously accessible or visible to us. Gratitude expressed literally re-shapes the world you live in and begets more of the same.

Meister Eckhart once wrote, "If the only prayer you said in your whole life was "Thank you," that would suffice." Some days when I am groping for the path back to a grateful way of being in the world, I will just start to repeat the word thank you and look around. It is a simple but profound practice of noticing the details of your world, appreciating the small things like the changing scent in the air as the leaves fall or the comfort of a steaming cup of tea. It's the easy banter of high school boys in the back seat of the car or the joy of my dog let loose on her walk. The more I say thank you out loud to these little events, the more there is to say thank you for. The first awkward ones that feel forced, quickly slip out of mind as my foul mood hasn't a chance against the power of gratitude expressed. Expressing our gratitude is the doorway to receiving the goodness and love in our lives.

Bringing this same practice into your personal relationships will amaze you. Even strangers light up in recognition. When was the last time you noticed a waitress or a clerk for trying to please you or even mentioning how nice it was to be met by their smile? You may well be creating the nicest, most memorable moment of the day for them. Family members and partners oddly enough are often those who miss our appreciation most. I promise you will be stunned by the reciprocity that thank you engenders. Even the most jaded teenager softens at the words thank you.

I remember childhood admonishments to say thank you and feeling more beholden than gratitude when I obliged. I wish instead, I had learned as a child the magic of appreciation. Gratitude is truly the capacity that grows in us, where we see everything, even the most painful aspects of relating to life as a gift. This is how appreciation cultivates our best selves, by offering up the gentle but critical lessons that live inside of all adversity. Gratitude is the open door.

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Follow Wendy Strgar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/goodcleanlove

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-strgar/language-of-gratitude_b_1113497.html

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91% The Descendants

All Critics (147) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (134) | Rotten (13)

One of the year's best films, a bubbly meditation on family and responsibility that weighs just enough to matter.

With so many balls in the air the temptation is to rush from one plot strand to another, but Payne takes the opposite approach. He also captures the complexity of emotional reactions that grief stirs.

It's a lovely, heartfelt character study of common, everyday people trapped on the horns of an uncommon but not unheard-of dilemma.

The latest exhibit in Payne's careful dissection of the beached male, which runs from Matthew Broderick's character in "Election" to Jack Nicholson's in "About Schmidt" and Paul Giamatti's in "Sideways."

This mature, well-acted dramatic comedy is deeply satisfying, maybe even cathartic.

A tough, tender, observant, exquisitely nuanced portrait of mixed emotions at their most confounding and profound -- all at play within a deliciously damp, un-touristy Hawaii that's at once lush and lovely to look at.

Callng Chevy Chase. George Clooney has taken your role. The Descendants calls out for Clark Griswold and his brood -- The Griswolds in Hawaii. This time around George Clooney plays the clueless dad.

Surprisingly warm feel good film about coping with a tragic loss.

Payne once again feels his characters' pain and this makes for something very special, an achingly sad comedy of errors.

The Descendants is a wonderful film, full of nuance and beleaguered humanity.

A large patch of the movie's social contract are the Hawaiian notions of 'aina, malama and pono. It joins the short list we aren't embarrassed to screen for malahini.

A heartbreaking story with satisfying emotional payoffs, and truly beautiful Hawaiian photography.

George Clooney and Shailene Woodley are terrific as lost-soul dad and old-soul daughter in Alexander Payne's funny, thoughtful film.

Marked by stellar performances and an incisive screenplay, The Descendants packs a real Hawaiian punch.

The best thing here is Clooney, cleverly dropping some of his man's man mannerisms to make Matt less of an idea and more of a human.

It's smart, funny, heartbreaking, heartwarming, wise, and, despite some sad moments, genuinely optimistic. I experienced more feelings watching it than I usually get from ten movies.

Well-acted and touching with a mild eye for human foibles, this is one of the better-written films of the year.

What's so special about Payne's approach in The Descendants is how acutely observed and subtle the movie is, especially since the previews are selling it as a broader, more absurd comedy.

If you see The Descendants, see it for Clooney (and Woodley), but don't believe the hype that it's one for the ages.

A lot of The Descendants is affecting, but its mushier tone is often less emotionally resonant than the bitter sarcasm of Payne's earlier work.

This unforgettable movie succeeds by making audiences feel like a part of the family. Clooney knocks it out of the park with a marvelous performance. Woodley makes a strong bid for a supporting actress nomination. The supporting players are all given...

Here's where I am right now: The Descendants is the best movie of 2011. It is the movie of the year, in many ways beyond its simple superlative overall excellence.

(Clooney) is at the top of his game in his scenes alone with the comatose Elizabeth. Asking questions that are unable to be answered, his pain at his loss and her betrayal is heartbreaking.

Audiences will argue about whether it's a comedy or a drama, but they'll agree they saw a wonderful film.

More Critic Reviews

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_descendants_2011/

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