Boehner makes counteroffer on debt talks

House Speaker John Boehner today sent President Obama a counter-proposal on how to cut the deficit that he called a "credible plan" to break the stalemate in negotiations to keep the country from going off the "fiscal cliff."

In the plan, Republicans offer a total of $2.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. That would give lawmakers enough savings to off-set $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts set to begin to take effect Jan. 2, 2013, but senior Republican aides said it does not explicitly include an offer to address the standoff over whether the president or Congress should have power over debt limit increases.

The GOP deal offers $800 billion in new revenue through tax reform, but Boehner insist that tax rates should not go up on the top 2 percent of taxpayers.

The offer also proposes $600 billion in health savings, $300 billion in additional mandatory savings, $300 billion in discretionary spending cuts, and $200 billion through revisions to the way the Consumer Price Index is calculated across federal pensions and programs like Social Security.

"What we're putting forth is a credible plan that deserves serious consideration by the White House, and I would hope that they would respond in a timely and responsible way," Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters today when he dropped into a staff briefing on the counteroffer. "We could have responded in kind, but decided not to do that."

"Going over the cliff will hurt our economy and hurt job creation in our country. It's one of the reasons why the day after the election, I offered a concession to try to speed this process up by putting revenue on the table," Boehner said.

"Unfortunately the White House responded with the La-la-land offer that couldn't pass the House, couldn't pass the Senate."

Boehner said the president's offer last week was "basically the president's budget from last February," which he noted received no votes in the House and no votes in the Senate.

Now, in a letter to the president, House Republicans devised an offer based on Erskine Bowles' proposal to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the so-called super committee.

The president had asked for about $1.6 trillion in new revenue, including about $800 billion from allowing tax cuts on income over $250,000 a year expire. Obama also asked for about $400 billion in new stimulus spending.

The letter with the proposal was sent to the president around 2 p.m. today.

The speaker said he did not intend to speak with the president personally about the offer, but he "might run into him" tonight at a holiday reception at the White House.

Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

Also Read

Read More..

Official: Syria moving chemical weapons components

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and allied intelligence have detected Syrian movement of chemical weapons components in recent days, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday, as the Obama administration strongly warned the Assad regime against using them.

A senior defense official said intelligence officials have detected activity around more than one of Syria‘s chemical weapons sites in the last week. The defense official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Prague for meetings with Czech officials, reiterated President Barack Obama‘s declaration that Syrian action on chemical weapons was a “red line” for the United States that would prompt action.

“We have made our views very clear: This is a red line for the United States,” Clinton told reporters. “I’m not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.”

Syria said Monday it would not use chemical weapons against its own people. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Syria “would not use chemical weapons — if there are any — against its own people under any circumstances.”

Syria has been careful never to confirm that it has any chemical weapons.

The use of chemical weapons would be a major escalation in Assad’s crackdown on his foes and would draw international condemnation. In addition to causing mass deaths and horrific injuries to survivors, the regime’s willingness to use them would alarm much of the region, particularly neighboring states, including Israel.

At the White House, press secretary Jay Carney said, “We are concerned that in an increasingly beleaguered regime, having found its escalation of violence through conventional means inadequate, might be considering the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people. And as the president has said, any use or proliferation of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would cross a red line for the United States. “

Administration officials would not detail what that response might be.

Although Syria is one of only seven nations that have not signed the Chemical Weapons Treaty, it is a party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol that bans the use of chemical weapons in war. That treaty was signed in the aftermath of World War I, when the effects of the use of mustard gas and other chemical agents outraged much of the world.

Clinton didn’t address the issue of the fresh activity at Syrian chemical weapons depots, but insisted that Washington would address any threat that arises.

An administration official said the trigger for U.S. action of some kind is the use of chemical weapons or movement with the intent to use or provide them to a terrorist group like Hezbollah. The U.S. is trying to determine whether the recent movement detected in Syria falls into any of those categories, the official said. The administration official was speaking on condition of anonymity this person was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

The senior defense official said the U.S. does not believe that any Syrian action beyond the movement of components is imminent.

An Israeli official said if there is real movement on chemical weapons, it would require a response. He didn’t say what that might be and spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal government response to the reports of the latest activities.

Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed concerns that Syrian chemical weapons could slip into the hands of Hezbollah or other anti-Israel groups, or even be fired toward Israel in an act of desperation by Syria.

Syria is believed to have several hundred ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads.

Its arsenal is a particular threat to the American allies, Turkey and Israel, and Obama singled out the threat posed by the unconventional weapons earlier this year as a potential cause for deeper U.S. involvement in Syria’s civil war. Up to now, the United States has opposed military intervention or providing arms support to Syria’s rebels for fear of further militarizing a conflict that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011.

Clinton said that while the actions of President Bashar Assad‘s government have been deplorable, chemical weapons would bring them to a new level.

“We once again issue a very strong warning to the Assad regime that their behavior is reprehensible, their actions against their own people have been tragic,” she said. “But there is no doubt that there’s a line between even the horrors that they’ve already inflicted on the Syrian people and moving to what would be an internationally condemned step of utilizing their chemical weapons.”

Activity has been detected before at Syrian weapons sites, believed to number several dozen.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in late September the intelligence suggested the Syrian government had moved some of its chemical weapons in order to protect them. He said the U.S. believed that the main sites remained secure.

Asked Monday if they were still considered secure, Pentagon press secretary George Little declined to comment about any intelligence related to the weapons.

Senior lawmakers were notified last week that U.S. intelligence agencies had detected activity related to Syria’s chemical and biological weapons, said a U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meetings. All congressional committees with an interest in Syria, from the intelligence to the armed services committees, are now being kept informed.

“I can’t comment on these reports but I have been very concerned for some time now about Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons and its stocks of advanced conventional weapons like shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles,” said House intelligence committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. “We are not doing enough to prepare for the collapse of the Assad regime, and the dangerous vacuum it will create. Use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would be an extremely serious escalation that would demand decisive action from the rest of the world,” he added.

Syria is believed to have one of the world’s largest chemical weapons programs, and the Assad regime has said it might use the weapons against external threats, though not against Syrians. The U.S. and Jordan share the same concern about Syria’s chemical and biological weapons — that they could fall into the wrong hands should the regime in Syria collapse and lose control of them.

___

Klapper reported from Prague. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Albert Aji in Damascus and Matthew Lee, Kimberly Dozier, and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

Europe News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Obama Is Taking Himself and #My2K to Twitter This Afternoon

What a day for Twitter! First the Pope, then the Royal Baby, and now President Obama will come online to answer questions about the fiscal cliff. A @WhiteHouse tweet with the distincitive “-bo” signature, announced not long ago that the big guy himself will be taking questions online, starting at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Good to see lots of folks on twitter speaking out on extending middle class tax cuts. I’ll answer some Qs on that at 2ET. Ask w/ #My2k –bo

— The White House (@whitehouse) December 3, 2012

Unfortunately, he’s sticking with the troublesome #My2K hashtag that conservatives have already seized upon in a back-and-forth battle for messaging. Trying to mobilize your supporters through social media is all well and good, but the problem with any genuinely open town hall, is that anyone can invite themselves—even those who disagree with you and might be louder than your friends. (Plus, any reasonably popular hashtag moves much to fast for anyone to follow it or have an actual conversation on Twitter anyway.)

RELATED: Don’t Expect Too Much From Social Media Town Halls

But ask away! Maybe you’ll get luck and get RT’d by the President himself. And then find yourself becoming the next conservative meme as soon as the hashtag-averse pundits start making fun of your question. Should be a fun afternoon.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Clint Eastwood’s daughter named Miss Golden Globe

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Hooray for nepotism.

One of Clint Eastwood‘s daughters, Francesca Eastwood, has been named Miss Golden Globe for this January’s awards show. She joins a long list of celebrity offspring including Rumer Willis (Demi Moore and Bruce’s little girl) and Lorraine Nicholson (the apple of Jack’s eye) in receiving the honor. Other past Miss Gold Globes include Melanie Griffith (daughter of Peter Griffith and Tippi Hedren) and Laura Dern (daughter of Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd).

Francesca Eastwood is the daughter of Eastwood and actress Frances Fisher. She is the second Eastwood to become a Miss Golden Globe – her half sister Kathryn Eastwood, daughter of Clint Eastwood and Jacelyn Reeves, received the title in 2005.

“I have watched the Golden Globes ceremonies since I was a little girl, and it means so much to me to be a part of one of Hollywood’s most illustrious events,” Francesca Eastwood said in a statement.

The 19-year-old actress has appeared in her father’s movies, including “True Crime,” and can currently be seen on the E! reality show “Mrs. Eastwood and Company,” which shows her living a life of Carmel-by-the-Sea opulence along with her famous family and the South African band Overtone.

The duties of a Miss Golden Globe are somewhat nebulous, but they involve assisting with the highly rated awards show, cooking up a cure for world hunger and working on a vaccine for avian flu (OK, some of that may not be true).

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Belcher Didn’t Have ‘Long Concussion History,’ Team Says

The death of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, the latest in a string of tragic NFL suicides, has left the player’s teammates, coaches, family and friends wondering what could have led a man described as generous and caring to murder his girlfriend — the mother of his 3-month-old daughter — and then kill himself.

Kansas City police say Belcher, 25, shot and killed his girlfriend Saturday morning before going to the team stadium and and committing suicide by shooting himself in the head as he was talking to coaches.

“When the officers arrived, when they were pulling up, they actually observed a black male who had a gun to his head and he was talking to a couple of coaches out in the parking lot,” Kansas City Police spokesman Darin Snapp told ABC News Radio. “As officers pulled up, and began to park, that’s when they heard the gunshot and it appears the individual took his own life.”

It’s not yet clear what prompted Belcher’s actions, but his suicide follows those of former NFL players Junior Seau, 43, and Dave Duerson, 50, both of whom died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the chest in the last two years.

The suicides of Seau, Duerson and a number of other NFL players have been blamed on concussions racked up from playing the violent sport, and a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, but that may not be the case for Belcher.

Kansas City Chiefs Player Jovan Belcher’s Murder-Suicide Watch Video

Did Brain Injury Lead to NFL Star’s Suicide? Watch Video

Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said today that Belcher was “a player who had not had a long concussion history,” even though he was a three-time all-America wrestler and a star on the football team at his West Babylon, N.Y., high school.

Seau’s and Duerson’s brains are both being studied at Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, where researchers have already learned that Duerson had CTE, which may have led to his suicide.

CTE is a progressive, degenerative disease found in people who have had brain trauma from repeated blows to the head, according to the Center. It includes brain tissue degeneration and a buildup of an abnormal protein called tao, resulting in symptoms including confusion, aggression, and depression. Ultimately, CTE results in dementia.

In 2006, former Pittsburgh Steelers player Terry Long killed himself by drinking antifreeze, and former Philadelphia Eagles player Andre Waters shot himself in the head. Both of them suffered from CTE.

Researchers at Boston University found evidence of CTE in 12 of the 13 professional football players’ brains they received between 2008 and 2010, according to the university. CTE can also be found in hockey players, wrestlers, and boxers.

“Football is entertainment in which the audience is expected to delight in gladiatorial action that a growing portion of the audience knows may cause the players degenerative brain disease,” ABC News’ George Will wrote in a Washington Post column published Aug. 3 just before he appeared on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

Will cited Seau and Duerson in his column, both of whom committed suicide after 2010, adding that 62-year-old former NFL safety Ray Easterling committed suicide in April 2012. Esterling’s autopsy revealed that he had dementia and depression brought on by CTE.

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Egypt's top court suspends work indefinitely as situation worsens

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's top court suspended its work indefinitely to protest "psychological and physical pressures" after supporters of the Islamist president prevented judges from entering the courthouse Sunday to rule on the legitimacy of a disputed constitutional assembly.

The decision by the Supreme Constitutional Court is the latest twist in a worsening political crisis pitting President Mohammed Morsi and his allies against the mostly secular opposition and the powerful judiciary. The standoff began when Morsi issued decrees on Nov. 22 that gave him sweeping powers and granted the president — and the constitutional committee — immunity from the courts.

The Islamist-dominated panel drafting the new constitution then raced in a marathon session last week to vote on the charter's 236 clauses without the participation of liberal and Christian members. The fast-track hearing preempted a decision expected from the SCC on whether to dissolve the committee. The judges on Sunday postponed their ruling on that case.

A day earlier, Morsi announced a referendum on the draft charter on Dec. 15 despite opposition protests and questions about the document's legitimacy.

The president's seizure of vast powers has galvanized Egypt's disparate opposition groups, who have united in their demands that Morsi rescind the decrees and create a constituent assembly that is more balanced and inclusive.

Having already held mass rallies last week in Cairo that drew as many as 200,000 people, the opposition parties and activist groups have now called for a march Tuesday on the presidential palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district as a "last warning."

Morsi's supporters countered the opposition rallies with a 100,000-strong rally in Cairo on Saturday to voice their support for the president and the draft constitution. Islamists boasted their turnout showed that the public supports the push by the country's first freely elected president to quickly bring a constitution and provide stability after nearly two years of turmoil.

But the dispute has polarized an already deeply divided Egyptian public, and thrown the country — already suffering from rising crime and economic woes — into its worst turmoil since Morsi took office in June as the country's first freely elected president.

The Supreme Constitutional Court called Sunday "the Egyptian judiciary's blackest day on record," describing the scene outside the court complex, with Islamist demonstrators carrying banners denouncing the tribunal and some of its judges.

Supporters of Morsi, who hails from the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, claim that the court's judges are loyalists of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, who appointed them. Morsi's backers accuse the judges of trying to derail Egypt's transition to democratic rule.

The court statement said the judges approached the court but decided against entering the building because they feared for their safety.

"The judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court were left with no choice but to announce to the glorious people of Egypt that they cannot carry out their sacred mission in this charged atmosphere," said the statement, which was carried by the MENA state news agency.

The judges also had been expected Sunday to rule to on the legitimacy of the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament, known as the Shura Council.

By suspending its work, the court joined the country's highest appeals court and its sister lower court in their indefinite strike to protest what they see as Morsi's infringement on the judiciary. Most judges and prosecutors in the country have been on strike for a week.

The strikes by the judges is indefinite and there have been calls within their ranks to extend their action to a boycott of overseeing the Dec. 15 referendum, something that would further question the legitimacy of the entire process. The opposition is likely to call on its supporters to boycott the vote.

The tug of war between the two sides also has spilled into the streets. Tens of thousands of opposition supporters staged two rallies last week to press calls for Morsi to rescind his decrees and for the constitution draft to be tossed out. Islamists responded Saturday with large rallies in Cairo and across much of the country.

Morsi's opponents say his call for a referendum broke an election promise not to do so unless there was consensus on the document, something that is missing as the 88 members of the panel who voted on its clauses included no liberals or Christians. There were only four women, all Islamists.

The panel passed the document in a rushed, 16-hour session that lasted until sunrise Friday. The vote was abruptly moved up to pass the draft before the Constitutional Court's ruling, which was supposed to be issued Sunday.

The draft has a distinctive Islamic bent — enough to worry many that civil liberties could be restricted, though its provisions for enforcing Shariah, or Islamic law, are not as firm as ultraconservatives wished.

The panel's chairman, Islamist Hossam al-Ghiryani, kept the voting at a rapid clip, badgering members to drop disputes and objections and move on. At times the process appeared slap-dash, with fixes to missing phrasing and even several entirely new articles proposed, written and voted on in the hours just before sunrise.

Read More..

Egypt’s anti-Morsi rebellion of judges is complete

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt‘s rebellion of the judges against President Mohammed Morsi became complete on Sunday with the country’s highest court declaring an open-ended strike on the day it was supposed to rule on the legitimacy of two key assemblies controlled by allies of the Islamist leader.

The strike by the Supreme Constitutional Court and opposition plans to march on the presidential palace on Tuesday take the country’s latest political crisis to a level not seen in the nearly two years of turmoil since Hosni Mubarak‘s ouster in a popular uprising.

Judges from the country’s highest appeals court and its sister lower court were already on an indefinite strike, joining colleagues from other tribunals who suspended work last week to protest what they saw as Morsi‘s assault on the judiciary.

The last time Egypt had an all-out strike by the judiciary was in 1919, when judges joined an uprising against British colonial rule.

The standoff began when Morsi issued decrees on Nov. 22 giving him near-absolute powers that granted himself and the Islamist-dominated assembly drafting the new constitution immunity from the courts.

The constitutional panel then raced in a marathon session last week to vote on the charter’s 236 clauses without the participation of liberal and Christian members. The fast-track hearing pre-empted a decision from the Supreme Constitutional Court that was widely expected to dissolve the constituent assembly.

The judges on Sunday postponed their ruling on that case just before they went on strike.

Without a functioning justice system, Egypt will be plunged even deeper into turmoil. It has already seen a dramatic surge in crime after the uprising, while state authority is being challenged in many aspects of life and the courts are burdened by a massive backlog of cases.

“The country cannot function for long like this, something has to give,” said Negad Borai, a private law firm director and a rights activist. ‘We are in a country without courts of law and a president with all the powers in his hands. This is a clear-cut dictatorial climate,” he said.

Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, a rights lawyer, said the strike by the judges will impact everything from divorce and theft to financial disputes that, in some cases, could involve foreign investors.

“Ordinary citizens affected by the strike will become curious about the details of the current political crisis and could possibly make a choice to join the protests,” he said.

The Judges Club, a union with 9,500 members, said late Sunday that judges would not, as customary, oversee the national referendum Morsi called for Dec. 15 on the draft constitution hammered out and hurriedly voted on last week.

The absence of their oversight would raise more questions about the validity of the vote. If the draft is passed in the referendum, parliamentary elections are to follow two months later and they too may not have judicial supervision.

The judges say they will remain on strike until Morsi rescinds his decrees, which the Egyptian leader said were temporary and needed to protect the nation’s path to democratic rule.

For now, however, Morsi has to contend with the fury of the judiciary.

The constitutional court called Sunday “the Egyptian judiciary’s blackest day on record.”

It described the scene outside the Nile-side court complex, where thousands of Islamist demonstrators gathered since the early morning hours carrying banners denouncing the tribunal and some of its judges.

A statement by the court, which swore Morsi into office on June 30, said its judges approached the complex but turned back when they saw the protesters blocking entrances and climbing over its fences. They feared for their safety, it added.

“The judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court were left with no choice but to announce to the glorious people of Egypt that they cannot carry out their sacred mission in this charged atmosphere,” said the statement, which was carried by state news agency MENA.

Supporters of Morsi, who hails from the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, claim that the court’s judges remain loyal to Mubarak, who appointed them, and accuse them of trying to derail Egypt’s transition to democratic rule.

In addition to the high court’s expected ruling Sunday on the legitimacy of the constitution-drafting panel, it was also expected to rule on another body dominated by Morsi supporters, parliament’s upper chamber.

Though Morsi’s Nov. 22 decrees provide immunity to both bodies against the courts, a ruling that declares the two illegitimate would have vast symbolic significance, casting doubt on the standing of both.

The Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, sought to justify the action of its supporters outside the court as a peaceful protest. It reiterated its charge that some members of the judiciary were part and parcel of Mubarak’s autocratic policies.

“The wrong practices by a minority of judges and their preoccupation with politics … will not take away the respect people have for the judiciary,” it said.

Its explanation, however, failed to calm the anger felt by many activists and politicians.

“President Morsi must take responsibility before the entire world for terrorizing the judiciary,” veteran rights campaigner and opposition leader Abdel-Halim Kandil wrote in his Twitter account about the events outside the constitutional court.

Liberal activist and former lawmaker Amr Hamzawy warned what is ahead may be worse.

“The president and his group (the Muslim Brotherhood) are leading Egypt into a period of darkness par excellence,” he said. “He made a dictatorial decision to hold a referendum on an illegal constitution that divides society, then a siege of the judiciary to terrorize it.”

Egypt has been rocked by several bouts of unrest, some violent, since Mubarak was forced to step down in the face of a popular uprising. But the current one is probably the worst.

Morsi’s decrees gave him powers that none of his four predecessors since the ouster of the monarchy 60 years ago ever had. Opposition leaders countered that he turned himself into a new “pharaoh” and a dictator even worse than his immediate predecessor Mubarak.

Then, following his order, the constituent assembly rushed a vote on the draft constitution in an all-night session.

The draft has a new article that seeks to define what the “principles” of Islamic law are by pointing to theological doctrines and their rules. Another new article states that Egypt’s most respected Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, must be consulted on any matters related to Shariah law, a measure critics fear could lead to oversight of legislation by clerics.

Rights groups have pointed out that virtually the only references to women relate to the home and family, that the new charter uses overly broad language with respect to the state protecting “ethics and morals” and fails to outlaw gender discrimination.

At times the process appeared slap-dash, with fixes to missing phrasing and even several entirely new articles proposed, written and voted on in the hours just before sunrise.

The decrees and the vote on the constitution draft galvanized the fractured, mostly secular opposition, with senior leaders setting aside differences and egos to form a united front in the face of Morsi, whose offer on Saturday for a national dialogue is yet to find takers.

The opposition brought out at least 200,000 protesters to Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday and a comparable number Friday to press demands that the decrees be rescinded. The Islamists responded Saturday with massive rallies in Cairo and across much of Egypt.

The opposition is raising the stakes with plans to march on Morsi’ palace on Tuesday, a move last seen on Feb. 11, 2011 when tens of thousands of protesters marched from Tahrir Square to Mubarak’s palace in the Heliopolis district to force him out. Mubarak stepped down that day, but Morsi is highly unlikely to follow suit on Tuesday.

Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Apple to sell new iPads, iPhone 5 in China in Dec.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple Inc. on Friday said its latest iPad models will go on sale in China on Dec. 7, followed by the iPhone 5 a week later.

China is one of Apple‘s largest and fastest-growing markets. Analyst Brian White at Topeka Capital Markets said iPhone 5 is launching roughly when he expected it, but he hadn’t expected the iPad mini and the fourth-generation, full-size iPad to go on sale in China this year.

“Our conversations during our meetings and casual consumer interactions during our China trips tell us that the iPad Mini will take off like wildfire in China,” White wrote in a research report Friday morning. “The smaller form factor and lower price point, we believe Apple will be able to sell the iPad mini in meaningful volumes.”

White said uptake of the iPhone 4S was relatively slow in China, because the signature new feature, voice-recognition-powered virtual assistant Siri, did not understand Mandarin Chinese. With this year’s software update, Siri now does understand the language, which should encourage upgrades, he said.

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

“Walking Dead” midseason finale preview: attack of the bloodthirsty killers, aka our heroes

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – (Spoiler warning: Don’t read this if you don’t want to know what happened this season on “The Walking Dead” or in the comics. We’re also giving some general details about Sunday’s midseason finale.)

As eventful as this season of “The Walking Dead” has been, they’re just getting to the best stuff.

Showrunner Glen Mazzara tells TheWrap that Sunday’s midseason finale will include several intense faceoffs, including one between Michonne and The Governor’s zombified daughter, Penny. It will also introduce Tyreese (“The Wire” star Chad Coleman), one of the most beloved characters in the Robert Kirkman comics that inspired the series. And Daryl will try desperately to reunite with his brother Merle, who has moved to Woodbury and become one of The Governor’s chief lieutenants.

The episode also features an attack on Woodbury by some “bloodthirsty killers” – also known as Rick, Daryl, and the other survivors we’ve been rooting for throughout the show.

Mazzara also talked with us about the season so far, including a horrific encounter between Maggie and the Governor, and how much we should empathize with zombies.

TheWrap: What can you say about the midseason finale?

Mazzara: It all comes to a head. We’ve spent this season introducing all these new characters into the world, introducing the governor and re-introducing Merle and Michonne, and getting these two groups face to face.

The Governor does despicable things, but in his mind, he’s the good guy.

I think you’ll see that in this midseason finale. The Governor is able to say that they’re attacked by bloodthirsty killers. He can certainly make the case that Rick and his group are killers. And if you look at it objectively, they are. They took over the prison, most of those prisoners are now dead, and the people of Woodbury are just peace-loving survivors. The Governor is definitely able to pain Rick as a villain. And in doing that, he can hopefully mobilize the people of Woodbury to war.

He’s spared the people of Woodbury from seeing some ugly stuff. Is he doing it for a noble reason – to preserve their innocence – or is it so he can exploit them?

I think it’s so he can better exploit them. He feels that the people of Woodbury are sheep. He’s not interested in what they think. He just wants them to speak well of him. They are there to be ruled and he’s there to rule by any means necessary.

I feel like Glen and Maggie are our audience surrogates at this point, our pals, and they were both horribly abused. You’ve gotten a lot of feedback from fans relieved that The Governor stopped short of raping Maggie in the last episode.

He’s killed National Guardsmen. Think of all the stuff that he’s done. And the line he’s crossed and the act from which he cannot be redeemed is that he made our beloved Maggie take off her shirt and bra.

It’s very interesting, and I don’t think that would be the case if people did not care about that character as much as they do.

Why did he stop short of raping Maggie?

He didn’t rape Maggie because she wouldn’t have been broken by it. She says ‘Do what you’re gonna do, and then go to hell.’ So then to do that would have been torture for torture’s sake. It wouldn’t have gotten him the information he wanted. So he thinks about that and thinks, this isn’t going to achieve my agenda. He moves on. He brings her in, topless, implying that she was raped, to Glen, and he puts the gun to Glen’s head. … And she gives up that information.

One change you made is that in the comics, Michonne is horribly raped and tortured by the governor.

She still may be. But I think it’s important to say that this is a character who is willing to do whatever he wants or thinks it takes to achieve his goals. … We know he’s capable of rape. We know he’s capable of murder. He knows where the prison is, and he is coming for them. He collects heads. He’s the most dangerous character in this world and he is furious.

Also last episode, we saw an effort to see how much human memory remains with walkers when they transform. How much should we empathize with walkers?

I think the show has always been in a sense compassionate to zombies. The first zombie that we met was bicycle girl and Rick says ‘I’m sorry this happened to you.’ … So I do think there’s something in the DNA of this TV show in which the frightening creatures – our worst fears, walking the earth – are also individuals and people. In a way, they’re the damned. They’ve lost their souls. They’re like a ghost that doesn’t realize that they’ve passed on and can’t make it to the light. They’re dead but they’re not dead and it’s a type of curse. It comes out of a long history of horror movie. There is some type of compassion even though there can’t be.

Does it seem like people who care about the zombies are suckers?

That’s the question. What is the right way within this world? You have people who retain their humanity, like Dale, end up eaten. People who lose their humanity, like Shane, end up dead too. So in a way it’s irrelevant. It’s like a state of war in which anyone can be killed at any time. But there’s a random quality to life and death and that’s what makes it so frightening. No matter what you do, you can still suffer a horrific fate. Who would ever assume that Carol would still be alive at this point? And she is.

She’s a survivor, but she’s not Michonne. And Carol is just as likely to live or die as Michonne.

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Psychiatrists OK vast changes to diagnosis manual

CHICAGO (AP) — For the first time in almost two decades the nation’s psychiatrists are changing the guidebook they use to diagnose mental disorders. Among the most controversial proposed changes: Dropping certain familiar terms like Asperger‘s disorder and dyslexia and calling frequent, severe temper tantrums a mental illness.

The board of trustees for the American Psychiatric Association voted Saturday in suburban Washington, D.C., on scores of revisions that have been in the works for several years. Details will come next May when the group’s fifth diagnostic manual is published.

The trustees made the final decision on what proposals made the cut; recommendations came from experts in several task force groups assigned to evaluate different mental illnesses.

Board members were tightlipped about the update, but its impact will be huge, affecting millions of children and adults worldwide.

The manual “defines what constellations of symptoms health care professionals recognize as mental disorders and more importantly … shapes who will receive what treatment. Even seemingly subtle changes to the criteria can have substantial effects on patterns of care,” said Dr. Mark Olfson, a Columbia University psychiatry professor who was not involved in the revision process.

The manual also is important for the insurance industry in deciding what treatment to pay for, and it helps schools decide how to allot special education.

The guidebook’s official title is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The new one is the fifth edition, known as the DSM-5. A 2000 edition made minor changes but the last major edition was published in 1994.

The manual “seeks to capture the current state of knowledge of psychiatric disorders. Since 2000 … there have been important advances in our understanding of the nature of psychiatric disorders,” Olfson said.

Expected changes include formally adopting a term for children and adults with autism — “autism spectrum disorder,” encompassing those with severe autism, who often don’t talk or interact, and those with mild forms including Asperger’s. Asperger’s patients often have high intelligence and vast knowledge on quirky subjects but lack social skills.

Some Asperger’s families opposed the change, fearing their kids would lose a diagnosis and no longer be eligible for special services. And some older Asperger’s patients who embrace their quirkiness vowed to continue to use the label.

But experts say the change won’t affect the special services available to this group.

Catherine Lord, an autism expert at Weill Cornell Medical College who was on the psychiatric group’s autism task force, said anyone who met criteria for Asperger’s in the old manual would be included in the recommended new diagnosis.

One reason for the recommended change is that in some states and some school systems, children and adults with Asperger’s receive no services or fewer services than those given an autism diagnosis, she said.

Other proposed changes include:

—A new diagnosis — disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, which critics argued would medicalize kids’ normal temper tantrums. Supporters said it would address concerns about too many kids being misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated with powerful psychiatric drugs. Bipolar disorder involves sharp mood swings from feeling sad and depressed to unusually happy or energetic. Affected children are sometimes very irritable or have explosive tantrums. The new diagnosis would be given to children and adults who can’t control their emotions and have frequent temper outbursts in inappropriate situations.

—Eliminating the term “dyslexia,” a reading disorder that causes difficulty understanding letters and recognizing written words. The term would be encompassed in a broader learning disorder category.

—Eliminating the term “gender identity disorder.” It has been used for children or adults who strongly believe that they were born the wrong gender — they dispute their normal biological anatomy. But many activists believe the condition isn’t a disorder and say calling it one is stigmatizing. The term would be replaced with “gender dysphoria,” which means emotional distress over one’s gender. Supporters equated the change with removing homosexuality as a mental illness in the diagnostic manual, which happened decades ago.

___

Online:

Diagnostic manual: http://www.dsm5.org

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..