List of 1000s of missing raises doubts in Mexico

FILE - In this May 9, 2012 file photo, people hold photographs of their relatives who went missing during a protest that is part of the campaign "March of National Dignity. Mothers searching their sons and justice" held at the Revolution Monument in Mexico City. A new report by a civic participation group has put a number for the first time on the human toll of all the violence: 20,851 people disappeared over the past six years, although not every case on the list may be related to the drug war. With at least another 70,000 people having died in drug violence, the numbers point to a brutal episode in Mexico that ranks among Latin America's deadliest in decades. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, File)

FILE - In this May 9, 2012 file photo, people hold photographs of their relatives who went missing during a protest that is part of the campaign "March of National Dignity. Mothers searching their sons and justice" held at the Revolution Monument in Mexico City. A new report by a civic participation group has put a number for the first time on the human toll of all the violence: 20,851 people disappeared over the past six years, although not every case on the list may be related to the drug war. With at least another 70,000 people having died in drug violence, the numbers point to a brutal episode in Mexico that ranks among Latin America's deadliest in decades. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, File)

FILE - In this May 10, 2012, file photo, a banner shows ink drawings of missing people at the National March for Dignity on the day Mexicans celebrate el Dia de La Madre, or Mother's Day, in Mexico City. Propuesta Civica, or Civic Proposal, a civic organization released on its website on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, a database, allegedly collected by the federal Attorney General's Office, it says contains official information on more than 20,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico over the past six years. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, file)

(AP) ? Federal police officer Luis Angel Leon Rodriguez disappeared in 2009 along with six fellow police as they headed to the western state of Michoacan to fight drug traffickers.

Since then, his mother, Araceli Rodriguez, has taken it into her own hands to investigate her son's disappearance and has publicized the case inside and outside Mexico. She's found some clues about what happened but still doesn't have any certainty about her son's whereabouts.

As Mexican troops and police cracked down on drug cartels, who also battled among themselves, Leon was just one of thousands of people who went missing amid a wave of violence that stunned the nation. A new report by a civic participation group has put a number for the first time on the human toll: 20,851 people disappeared over the past six years, although not every case on the list has been proven related to the drug war.

With at least another 70,000 deaths tied to drug violence, the numbers point to a brutal episode that ranks among Latin America's deadliest in decades. In Chile, nearly 3,100 people were killed, among them 1,200 considered disappeared, for political reasons during Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, and at least 50,000 people disappeared during 40 years of internal conflict in Colombia.

The new database is shedding needed light on Mexico's unfolding tragedy. It's also sparking angry questions about why it doesn't include all of the disappeared.

Neither Rodriguez's son nor his six colleagues who went missing on Nov. 16, 2009, are in the database, which was allegedly leaked by the Attorney General's Office to a foreign journalist. The group Propuesta Civica, or Civic Proposal, released the data on Thursday.

Rodriguez's mother said she's been in touch with authorities investigating the case and has spoken about it in several public forums about the missing.

"I don't think any government entity has a complete database," she said.

A spokesman for federal prosecutors, who would not allow his name to be used under the agency's rules, said the Attorney General's Office had no knowledge of the document.

As compiled by Civic Proposal, the report reveals the sheer scope of human loss, with the missing including police officers, bricklayers, housewives, lawyers, students, businessmen and more than 1,200 children under age 11. The disappeared are listed one by one with such details as name, age, gender and the date and place where they disappeared.

Some media in Mexico have reported that the number of missing could be even greater, at more than 25,000, with their estimates reportedly based on official reports, although media accounts didn't make the reports public.

"We're worried because several of the people gone missing in the state of Coahuila, and that we have reported to authorities, don't appear on the database," said Blanca Martinez of the Fray Juan de Larios human rights center in that northern border state. She's also an adviser to the group Forces United for Our Disappeared in Coahuila, made up of relatives searching for loved ones.

Martinez said that between 2007 and 2012 the group registered 290 cases of missing people. The database released Thursday lists 272 cases in the state since 2006.

"We have no doubt that the authorities have done absolutely nothing" to solve them, she said.

Public attention to Mexico's disappeared has grown especially since 2011 when former President Felipe Calderon publicly met with members of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, a human rights group led by poet Javier Sicilia. His son was allegedly killed by drug traffickers that same year.

Sicilia's movement demanded that the thousands of killed and missing should be treated as victims of the drug war, even if they were criminal suspects. Calderon's government responded that it would create a missing persons database, but authorities have not made it public so far. Calderon also ordered the creation of a special prosecutor in charge of assisting crime victims and supporting the search for the missing.

"There is nothing worse for me than having a missing relative. Not knowing where the person may be is very serious and so ... in every case that comes to us, we try to find a solution, to find the person," said Sara Herrerias, the head of Provictima, the office established by Calderon to help crime victims.

Herrerias, however, was cautious talking about the number of missing and said she could only discuss the cases that her office has dealt with.

In 14 months, she said, Provictima has handled the cases of 1,523 missing people, most of them allegedly taken by members of organized crime but with some cases also reportedly involving government authorities. Of the total number, 150 people have been located, 40 of them found dead.

Herrerias declined to talk about the possible magnitude of disappearances. "I don't like to talk when I don't have hard data," she said.

Estimates of the missing vary. The National Human Rights Commission, which operates independently from the government, has said that some 24,000 people were reported missing between 2000 and mid-2012, in addition to some 16,000 bodies that have been found but remain unidentified.

The government of President Enrique Pena, who took office Dec. 1, estimates the number of unidentified bodies at about 9,000 during Calderon's previous six-year administration.

Civic Proposal director Pilar Talavera said that although her group saw inconsistencies in the database, they decided to disclose it not only to help the public understand the scale of the violence, but also to pressure authorities to disclose official information on disappearances.

While the numbers help, what the relatives of the missing need most, of course, is to just learn what happened to their loved ones.

Since the disappearance of Rodriguez's then-23-year-old son, a dozen alleged members of the La Familia drug cartel have been arrested as suspects in his case. Rodriguez said she has interviewed four of them, who have told her that her son and the other six officers were killed and their bodies "disintegrated."

She said that so far no one has given her any clues about where her son's remains are.

"If it's true what the criminals say ... even with that, my heart asks to find Luis Angel," Rodriguez said. "For me Luis Angel is still missing."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-22-LT-Mexico-The-Missing/id-ada68bd8961149199a72f33863c43075

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Dorian Vallejo - Lines and Colors

Dorian Vallejo
Dorian Vallejo is a portrait painter based in New Jersey. Though he sometimes sets his portraits in the more traditional toned or textured plain background, he often creates a kind of portrait that I particularly enjoy, with the subjects in background settings that are in some way relevant to the their personality.

In particular, his portraits in landscape settings are nicely evocative of time and place, giving the portrait a context that would be otherwise missing from a plain background.

His website includes a range of his portrait approaches, as well as a variety of subjects, from children to families to more formal professional settings.

There is also a selection of Sketches. These range from sketches in pencil and charcoal to more finished drawings to oil sketches. The oil sketches are much more free and informal than the finished paintings, and have a very different appeal.

There is also a selection he titles ?Intimate Portraits?. These, as well as related life drawings, are done in very loose, gestural applications of mixed media (images above, bottom four).

A number of the life drawings have been collected in a book: Drawings: Inspired by Life, and there is a separate website devoted to them. This site has a more extensive selection, and though they are displayed somewhat small, they are in a zoomable interface.

Vallejo is the son of renowned fantasy artist and illustrator Boris Vallejo. He studied illustration at Parsons and the School of Visual Arts in New York and traveled and studied in Europe before devoting his attention to portraiture.

[Suggestion courtesy of Kelly Houghton]

[Note: some of the drawings on the "Drawings from Life" site could be considered NSFW.]

Source: http://www.linesandcolors.com/2012/12/22/dorian-vallejo/

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Best bets: 'Les Mis' dreams a Christmas dream

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

Big movies will be wrapped up and delivered this Christmas. The long-awaited big-screen version of "Les Miserables" features such stars as Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Amanda Seyfried. Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" tells the story of a slave (Jamie Foxx) who teams up with a white bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) in a bloody attempt to find and free Django's wife. And if you prefer to sit at home and not fight the snow or cinema crowds, you can tune in to the new "United States of Bacon," celebrating the uber-trendy meat.

TUESDAY: 'Les Miserables'
Do you hear the people sing? Have you dreamed a dream in times gone by? Are you the master of the house, keeper of the zoo? Then line up now for "Les Miserables," the big-screen version of the hit Broadway musical. So much has already been heard about it -- Anne Hathaway, who's skinny on a regular day, lost even more weight to play the doomed Fantine. Russell Crowe, not exactly thought of as a singer, joins Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and others belting out the catchy tunes. Stealing the show, however, are Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the thieving?Thenardier inkeepers. Even if a musical doesn't sound like your thing, "Les Mis" will haunt your thoughts for days after you see it. (Opens Dec. 25.)

TUESDAY: 'Django Unchained'
It's a Quentin Tarantino film, so you know what to expect from "Django Unchained." Witty dialogue. Big stars. And blood falling like rain. If in the wake of the Newtown shootings you don't have the taste for violence -- including brandings, heat torture and dozens of bloody shootings -- you'd do well to see something else. Jamie Foxx plays Django, a slave who teams up with a white bounty hunter (the amazing Christoph Waltz) in hopes of finding and freeing his wife (Kerry Washington) who's been sold away. Leonardo DiCaprio shines as a creepy plantation owner, and Samuel L. Jackson is equally disturbing as a house slave who's devoted to his master, with little regard for the other slaves. (Opens Dec. 25.)

SUNDAY: 'United States of Bacon'
How is Guy Fieri not involved in this? A new series called "United States of Bacon" will send chef Todd Fisher across the country in search of the best bacon-filled dishes. No, really. There's bacon-wrapped meatloaf, bacon on pizza, a triple-decker BLT and even a bacon happy hour. Twelve episodes are planned, because if there's one thing we won't run out of in this country, it's ingenious ways to use bad-for-you good-tasting food. E pluribus bacon! (Dec. 30, 10 p.m., Destination America)

Related content:

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/18/15994766-best-bets-les-mis-dreams-a-christmas-dream?lite

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Boehner has few 'fiscal cliff' options after Plan B failure

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Now that House Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" for addressing the "fiscal cliff" has crashed and burned, the top U.S. Republican appears to have two remaining options - wash his hands of the entire matter or negotiate a compromise with Democrats that could abandon scores of his fellow Republicans.

The Republican rank and file and Democrats may face an equally stark choice: work together for a change, or plunge together off the cliff.

Boehner tried to ram a "fallback" plan through the House on Thursday - a relatively tiny tax increase on millionaires and billionaires - and failed. His rambunctious Republicans, who see opposition to all tax hikes as a matter of bedrock principle and of political survival, refused to go along.

President Barack Obama and his Democrats who control the Senate take the opposite view - tax hikes on the wealthy are a condition for their support of a fiscal cliff bill. If there is to be a resolution it will largely depend on an improbable scenario - Democrats in the House teaming up with less militant Republicans to back away from the fiscal cliff.

Compromise has been out of style in recent years, and many think it could require some prodding from the markets.

"At this point, I only see one route to avoiding the cliff, a replay of the TARP debacle in 2008," said George Washington University's Sarah Binder, an expert on Congress. In September 2008, the House defeated the bank bailout bill and the market collapsed, prompting a terrified lawmakers to reconsider and pass it.

"In this case, a harsh market and public reaction would be needed to force the hand of the speaker to negotiate a deal that can pass with Democratic votes," she said.

"If the GOP takes a beating in the headlines and the market tanks, I suspect a good number of rank-and-file GOP will demand that the speaker go back to the table. But absent whiplash from the markets and voters, I suspect it's over the cliff we go."

For the time being - or at least the 11 days until the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts are triggered - the House is in disarray and no deal to avert the fiscal cliff is in sight.

While the House in recess for a Christmas break that is likely to last at least until December 27, Boehner must decide whether to move any further in Obama's direction and agree to tax increases much higher than his own proposal that so angered his fellow Republicans on Thursday.

The Ohio Republican also might have to settle for fewer long-term spending cuts than he had hoped for.

WALK ON BY

Boehner's only other apparent option - one that he hinted at late on Thursday following the collapse of his bill - would be to walk away and leave the problem on Democrats' doorstep.

"Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff," Boehner said in a statement referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

But in a closed-door session before that statement, Republican lawmakers said Boehner told them that he would at least try to work out something with Obama.

Either way, Boehner faces the possibility of having to battle not only Democrats for the next two years, but also his own membership on major bills.

"We have people (Republican lawmakers) who felt like they had to stand on the principle ... they couldn't vote for anything (that raised any taxes). I don't quite understand it," lamented Representative Buck McKeon, the powerful chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who oversaw passage of a $633 billion defense spending bill for 2013.

"If you don't have the votes, you can't move forward," McKeon said of the Plan B fiscal cliff bill.

Representative Steven LaTourette, a moderate Republican who is retiring at year's end, told reporters that Thursday's legislative defeat - and public relations failure - will not stop Boehner from being re-elected House Speaker on January 3. "Name one member who opposes him," LaTourette challenged reporters.

Firing Boehner, LaTourette said, would be "like saying the superintendent of the insane asylum should be discharged because he couldn't control the crazy people."

Nonetheless, two years into his stint as Speaker, Boehner still has not found the right formula for corralling his Republican majority, especially the Tea Party conservatives whose victories in 2010 helped Republicans wrest control of the House. However, he has taken steps in recent weeks to punish a handful of uncooperative Republicans.

Since unveiling his plan on Tuesday, several conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation, waged a spirited effort to kill the measure.

Those groups, LaTourette said, had been "making their phone calls, and they're bombing people" with pressure to vote against the bill. That, he added, "makes people nervous" about primary election challengers being recruited in 2014 by outside groups to defeat Republican lawmakers who vote for any tax increase.

"I doubt his speakership is in trouble," said American Enterprise Institute scholar Norm Ornstein, "The big question is whether, and when, he is willing to bring up a bill that will require more Democrats than Republicans to pass."

(Reporting By Richard Cowan. Editing by Fred Barbash)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-boehner-few-options-fiscal-cliff-mess-044855640--business.html

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Understanding What A Personal Bankruptcy Means For You ...

Dealing with bankruptcy is a very hard situation. Your financial options become very limited. Even without perfect credit, you can still get the loans you need.

Even if your personal and financial situation is quite horrifying, it?s important that you be completely honest when discussing it with your lawyer. Lying about your assets and debts can get you into serious trouble. Aside from that, it?s against the law. If you lie in the recording of your debts and assets, you may end up in prison for quite some time.

It is wise to have a lawyer when filing for bankruptcy, but it is also wise to do your own research. The complexities of bankruptcy law will be familiar to your lawyer. However, you will be better able to work for your own advantages if you have some basic understanding of what is happening. It might feel nice to leave everything to your attorney in the short run, but doing so could have long-term financial consequences.

Keep in mind that there is the possibility that your bankruptcy could be denied so you should have an alternative plan in mind. If you are prepared for everything beforehand, then you will be ready for anything that comes your way, even if your car or home is taken away from you.

Do not wait before filing for bankruptcy. If this is the only option that you could take, waiting won?t make it better. Waiting will only worsen your finances and subject you to even more stress. This unfortunate turn of events can affect your life quite negatively. It can be a great relief to file and end the uncertainty.

If you are unable to get a homestead exemption when filing for Chapter 7, you might consider filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy to cover your mortgage. Your attorney should be able to tell you whether it is advantageous for you to convert your Chapter 7 filing into a Chapter 13.

When you are feeling your worst about your bankruptcy, chat with others online or off who can understand what you are dealing with. It?s quite common for you to feel alienated and unable to connect with your friends while you?re dealing with the stress of a bankruptcy. You may find it helpful to seek out chat rooms for people going through personal bankruptcy proceedings. Here you will find people who can share stories similar to yours.

Make sure that your debts are dischargable under bankruptcy. Debts like student loans always remain on your report even if you file. For debts of that nature, it may make sense to seek loan consolidation assistance.

Learn and gain a firm grasp of the differences in applying for Chapter 7 bankruptcies versus Chapter 13 bankruptcies. By researching each type, you can begin to understand which method is right for you. Learning about bankruptcy is not simple, so call a bankruptcy attorney to make an appointment to ask questions.

You should not have to pay for a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney. Make sure you ask lots of questions. You can meet with a few lawyers before deciding on one. Most lawyers provide a free initial consultation. The lawyer who properly answers your questions is the one you should hire. There is no need to offer an immediate hire, so take your time. Be sure to talk with a number of lawyers, and compare the information you receive.

In time you will leave the effects of bankruptcy behind you and resume your normal life. Lenders will look more favorably upon you if you show them that you are trying to save money and make whatever payments you can. Make an effort to keep your debts under control, and try for another loan when the time is right.

People are really curious about best stock trading these days. This article was the perfect place to get you started on your way to mastering this difficult area. Keep learning all you can to make this happen.

Source: http://thefinancenewstoday.com/2012/12/22/understanding-what-a-personal-bankruptcy-means-for-you/

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Precious Metals Decouple from Stock Market ? International ...

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Precious Metals Decouple from Stock Market
International Business Times
We sought to understand the huge variance in performance between the two markets. Sometimes they trended higher together. Sometimes the gold stocks surged while conventional equities fell into a bear market. Both markets have endured bad bears at the ...

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Source: http://www.thefinancialherald.com/?p=393088

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Boehner on averting fiscal cliff: 'God only knows'

(AP) ?

House Speaker John Boehner says he's still open to talks with President Barack Obama on avoiding the double economic hit of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts but he needs Obama to compromise more.

Boehner spoke to reporters Friday morning, hours after his rank-and-file Republicans handed him a bitter defeat. Boehner was forced to pull his bill to raise taxes on millionaires because he didn't have the votes for passage.

He said he didn't know how the so-called "fiscal cliff" would be avoided. Said Boehner: "How we get there, God only knows."

Boehner expressed no concern about his standing as speaker.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-21-Fiscal%20Cliff-Boehner/id-686b10c24a3a4a688dcd764c2186f77d

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Urban Byzantine monks gave in to temptation

WHO ate all the pies? In 6th-century Jerusalem, the Byzantine monks were greedy gobblers - despite strict rules that they should eat mainly bread and water.

Most early Byzantine monasteries were located in remote deserts, but St Stephen's monastery thrived in Jerusalem. Wondering how urban living affected the monks, Lesley Gregoricka at the University of South Alabama in Mobile took bone samples from 55 skeletons buried under the monastery.

The ratios of various isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the bones confirmed that the monks ate a lot of common cereals like wheat, as well as fruit and vegetables. But many bones were rich in the heavy isotope nitrogen-15, suggesting the monks ate lots of animal protein. That could mean meat, or dairy products such as cheese (Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, doi.org/jzt).

"The rules on issues such as poverty, chastity and obedience were certainly known and could not be easily ignored," says Peter Hatlie of the University of Dallas's Rome Program in Frattocchie, Italy. "Only fallen, weak, mad and demonic monks ate meat."

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