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Protesters 'March Against Monsanto' In 250 Cities

2013-05-25T17:25:36Z

LOS ANGELES — Marches and rallies against seed giant Monsanto were held across the U.S. and in dozens of other countries Saturday.

"March Against Monsanto" protesters say they want to call attention to the dangers posed by genetically modified food and the food giants that produce it. Marches are planned for more than 250 cities around the globe, according to organizers.

Genetically modified plants are grown from seeds that are engineered to resist insecticides and herbicides, add nutritional benefits or otherwise improve crop yields and increase the global food supply. Most corn, soybean and cotton crops grown in the United States today have been genetically modified. But some say genetically modified organisms can lead to serious health conditions and harm the environment.

Monsanto Co., based in St. Louis, said Saturday that it respects people's rights to express their opinion on the topic, but maintains that its seeds improve agriculture by helping farmers produce more from their land while conserving resources such as water and energy.

The use of GMOs has been a growing issue of contention in recent years, with health advocates pushing for mandatory labeling of genetically modified products even though the federal government and many scientists say the technology is safe.

The Food and Drug Administration does not require the labeling, but organic food companies and some consumer groups have intensified their push for labels, arguing that the modified seeds are floating from field to field and contaminating traditional crops. The groups have been bolstered by a growing network of consumers who are wary of processed and modified foods.

The Senate this week overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would allow states to require labeling of genetically modified foods.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization, a lobbying group that represents Monsanto, DuPont & Co. and other makers of genetically modified seeds, has said that it supports voluntary labeling for people who seek out such products. But it says that mandatory labeling would only mislead or confuse consumers into thinking the products aren't safe, even though the FDA has said there's no difference between GMO and organic, non-GMO foods.

However, state legislatures in Vermont and Connecticut moved ahead this month with votes to make food companies declare genetically modified ingredients on their packages. And supermarket retailer Whole Foods Markets Inc. has said that all products in its North American stores that contain genetically modified ingredients will be labeled as such by 2018.

Whole Foods says there is growing demand for products that don't use GMOs, with sales of products with a "Non-GMO" verification label spiking between 15 percent and 30 percent.

Online:

http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/p/blog-page.html

http://www.monsanto.com

LOOK: Why We Celebrate Memorial Day

2013-05-25T15:16:33Z

Happy Memorial Day! Be sure to take a break from barbecuing at 3 p.m. for a national moment of remembrance and to reflect on the real reasons behind the holiday and honor our fallen troops.

Marine Recruit's Letter Claims Boot Camp Instructors Hurl Anti-Gay Slurs

2013-05-25T15:11:34Z

A copy of a letter reportedly sent by a Marine Corps recruit raises new concerns about a culture of homophobia in the military, despite the 2011 repeal of the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy that previously had banned gays from serving openly in the armed forces.

News site Gawker obtained the letter this week and told The Huffington Post that its authenticity had been verified. The letter contains some concerning details about what the recruit portrays as consistent, homophobia-tinged verbal abuse on the part of Marine Corps drill instructors.

In between stories about physical fitness training and classes on U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) history, the recruit adds in this profanity-laced anecdote:

[DADT] may have been repealed, but the USMC sure hasn't adapted. We're called faggots 10-50 times a day."You think that's yelling? That's sweet faggot." "Yeah, you would think that's a pushup, faggot." etc. Any time we f--k something up, the DI's tell us "you stupid f-----g thing. That's more wrong than two boys f-----g."

If true, the instructors' use of homophobic slurs may indicate anti-gay attitudes within in the Marines -- or, at the very least, among those officers tasked with training the next generation of soldiers.

Allyson Robinson, a transgender Army veteran and West Point graduate who heads up the OutServe-Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (OutServe-SLDN), spoke with The Huffington Post about the letter's contents and said that, while disturbing, they are not surprising to her.

"We've received reports from out members of words, actions and treatment that certainly falls short of what the president and our military leaders have said the standard should be for a post-DADT military," Robinson said, adding that she had not yet heard of anything quite so "apparently blatantly, unrepentantly homophobic."

"We know from the experience of our country ... that changing laws is really the easy part of civil rights," she went on to say. "The hard part is changing the culture, and we're up against an anti-gay culture in our military that has existed and persisted and has been enforced by leaders at all levels for generations."

Indeed, during the run-up to DADT's repeal, the Marines expressed a good deal of reluctance toward the possibility of openly gay and lesbian members. In December of 2010, a few months before the repeal, the Corps' commandant, Gen. James F. Amos suggested to reporters that openly gay Marines could create "distractions" that could "cost Marines' lives," The Washington Post reported.

While vague on how exactly lesbian and gay Marines might distract their colleagues, Amos did cite a Defense Department survey from November of 2010, which reported 58 percent of Marines in combat units thought DADT's repeal would negatively affect their ability to work effectively together. By comparison, 70 percent of the military surveyed said the repeal would not affect their unit, according to the Post.

Amos' statements, coupled with the Department of Defense survey and the letter published by Gawker, could send a "mixed message" to recruits who may someday serve with or under a gay or lesbian comrade, OutServe's Allyson Robinson told HuffPost. "It violates the most basic principals of military leadership," she said of the anti-gay verbal abuse alleged in the letter.

She also expressed concerns about how everyday use of such language might affect gay soldiers.

"You have to imagine the experience of a gay or lesbian recruit at a Marine boot camp," Robinson said, "who was thrilled to see DADT repealed, excited to have the opportunity to serve their country in a way that was out and open and vulnerable. And then to walk into an environment like this."

She pledged that OutServe-SLDN will continue its ongoing effort to impress upon the Department of Defense the need to enact formal equal opportunity and nondiscrimination protections for gay and lesbian service members.

However, Marine Corps spokesman Captain Richard Ulsh said the text of the supposed Marine recruit's letter didn't seem credible, for a variety of reasons.

He pointed out that Gawker's story said the recruit had emailed the letter to friends -- which threw up a red flag, as Marine recruits do not have access to email. Military experts have also raised this question, but Gawker told HuffPost this week that the letter had been first handwritten by the recruit and later was transcribed and forwarded as an email.

Ulsh also said that the letter accuses drill instructors of using language and acting in a manner that is not tolerated in boot camp.

"I mean, we're all human. ... There are people who might do that," Ulsh told HuffPost. "But the way [the recruit] talks about it is like it happens every day all the time. There are strict measures enforced that prevent those sorts of things from happening."

Drill Instructors are not even allowed to "drop f-bombs," according to Ulsh, and if they were throwing around offensive slurs, "there would certainly be repercussions."

WATCH: Journalist Slams Obama For 'Embrace Of Total Militarism'

2013-05-25T14:47:38Z

Journalist Michael Hastings had very harsh words for President Barack Obama on Saturday morning.

Appearing on MSNBC's "Up with Steve Kornacki," Hastings ripped Obama's recent foreign policy comments, saying the president had bought into the Bush administration's neoconservative worldview.

On Thursday, Obama gave a major national security speech in which he defended the use of drone strikes as a key counterterrorism tool. Hastings said the speech marked a reversal in Obama's thinking.

"If you compare this speech to the speech he gave in Cairo, in 2009 or his Nobel Prize speech, you see almost a total rejection of the civil rights tradition that President Obama supposedly came out of... and just an embrace of total militarism," Hastings said.

"That speech to me was essentially agreeing with President Bush and Vice President Cheney that we're in this neo-conservative paradigm, that we're at war with a jihadist threat that actually is not a nuisance but the most important threat we're facing today," Hastings continued.

You can read the full text of Obama's speech here, and watch a video of Hastings' remarks above.

When The Cicadas Were Last Here In 1996...

2013-05-25T14:30:44Z

Yes, yes, the Brood II cicadas are emerging. They'll be loud, they'll be tasty and they'll be having a buzz-filled mating party for four to six weeks.

But are they going to be prepared for a changed world since their parents were above-ground 17 years ago? The Macarena was hip in 1996. Pokémon was still a thing. Seinfeld was still on.

In any case, HuffPost Green wanted to host a little bit of a throwback for the cicadas to let them know that we too still remember Tickle Me Elmo and the Spice Girls.

Brood II, this one's for you.

Obama Sees Terror Threat Reduced To Pre-9/11 Level

2013-05-25T13:43:03Z

WASHINGTON — Some call it wishful thinking, but President Barack Obama has all but declared an end to the global war on terror.

Obama is not claiming final victory over extremists who still seek to kill Americans and other Westerners. Instead, he is refocusing the long struggle against terrorism that lies ahead, steering the United States away from what he calls an equally frightening threat – a country in a state of perpetual war. In doing so, Obama recasts the image of the terrorists themselves, from enemy warriors to cowardly thugs and resets the relationship between the U.S. and Islam.

His speech Thursday was designed to move America's mindset away from a war footing and refine and recalibrate his own counterterrorism strategy. Obama asserted that al-Qaida is "on the path to defeat," reducing the scale of terrorism to pre-Sept. 11 levels. That means that with the Afghanistan war winding down, Obama is unlikely to commit troops in large numbers to any conflict – in Syria or other countries struggling with instability in the uncertain aftermath of the Arab Spring – unless, as his critics fear, he tragically has underestimated al-Qaida's staying power.

"Wishing the defeat of terrorists does not make it so," said Rep. Mac Thornberry, a Texas Republican who is vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

In Thornberry's view, Obama is pushing the idea that "we can simply declare al-Qaida beaten and go back to the pre-9/11 era."

From the beginning of his presidency, Obama's centerpiece of his national security strategy has been a desire to move beyond the wars he inherited in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in the shadowy spaces occupied by al-Qaida and its offshoots now creeping up in North Africa and elsewhere.

Those endeavors consumed enormous amounts of his administration's time and attention during his first term, not to mention the incalculable costs paid by military members and their families.

"This war, like all wars, must end," he said. "That's what history advises. That's what our democracy demands."

As Obama edges toward a new approach to national security, his political opponents are quick to raise doubts.

"Too often, this president has sought to end combat operations through rhetoric rather than reality," GOP Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Friday.

"He has declared the war in Iraq over, but the insurgency there continues. He has declared an end to combat operations in Afghanistan, but the Taliban fight on. He has now declared the war on terrorism over, despite a terrorist attack in Britain this week, a terrorist attack in Boston last month and a terrorist attack in Libya that left a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans dead last year."

Yet the president cautioned against a return to what he called a complacency in counterterrorism before Islamic extremists hijacked U.S. jetliners and slammed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"Make no mistake," he said, "our nation is still threatened by terrorists," noting that the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, last September and in Boston last month were tragic reminders.

But he also left little doubt that he thinks it is time to turn the page on the post-9/11 approach. He was referring not only to the controversial use of armed drones to target terrorists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries, but also the commitment of tens of thousands of U.S. ground troops in conventional fighting.

"For all the focus on the use of force, force alone cannot make us safe," he said. "We cannot use force everywhere that a radical ideology takes root," adding that "a perpetual war – through drones or Special Forces or troop deployments – will prove self-defeating and alter our country in troubling way."

Some counterterrorism experts long have argued that the global war on terror should be brought to a close, and that some of the policies and programs put in place after 9/11 should be reconsidered and possibly changed.

James Lewis, a national security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, argues for a more traditional approach to battling terrorism, largely through law enforcement and the intelligence community.

Lewis said that ending the fight against terrorism will help reinforce the administration's message that America is not at war with Islam.

"It helps, because it delegitimizes the terrorists," said Lewis. "They want to think of themselves as warriors. We want the world to think of them as crooks. We want everyone in every country not to think of them as terrorists defending Islam, but as people who are psychos. They are criminals, and that's what we want to paint them as."

That is closely in line with Obama's description of what remains of the terrorist threat.

He said core al-Qaida, the organization formerly led by Osama bin Laden, is "a shell of its former self." The president said that while one of its most troublesome affiliates, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, is a force to be reckoned with, "in the years to come, not every collection of thugs that labels themselves al-Qaida will pose a credible threat to the United States."

He also cautioned against the threat of homegrown extremists and said terrorism may never go away entirely.

"But as we shape our response, we have to recognize that the scale of this threat closely resembles the types of attacks we faced before 9/11," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

___

Follow Robert Burns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

PHOTOS: The Most Perfect Picnic Baskets Ever

2013-05-25T13:01:54Z

We've got outdoor entertaining on our minds, which means we're searching for the perfect picnic basket. Naturally, we headed to Etsy and found seven adorable carriers that will make toting your favorite foods and beverages super convenient and stylish.

Scroll through our picks and be sure to let us know which ones are your favorites.

1. Jumbo Patriot Basket

Photo by: Whitney Ferrell/Etsy

2. Hand-Woven Lunch Basket

Photo by: Cathy Kobrick/Etsy

3. Vintage Yellow And Black Plaid Lined Picnic Basket

Photo by: Jodi Mills/Etsy

4. Patriotic Red, White And Blue Upscaled Picnic Basket

Photo by: Linda Holloway/Etsy

5. Colorful Funky Upscaled Heart Picnic Basket

Photo by: Linda Holloway/Etsy

6. Country Road Heart Shaped Picnic Basket Set

Photo by: Linda Mills/Etsy

7. Personalized Custom Made Picnic Basket

Photo by: Anita Norberg/Etsy

You can also put your pet in a basket, ya know.

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Do you have a home story idea or tip? Email us at homesubmissions@huffingtonpost.com. (PR pitches sent to this address will be ignored.)

7 Ways To Get In Gear For Memorial Day

2013-05-25T12:56:11Z

Memorial Day weekend brings to mind long, lazy afternoons basking in the almost-summer heat with an ice cold beer in hand and of course the kick-off to BBQ season. But before we can kick back and enjoy, we know we should address a few fixer-uppers that'll make our experience this weekend all the more relaxing.

From setting up a rolling prep-table for the grill to installing a lofty backyard hammock, below are seven weekend DIY ideas that will surely help us start the festivities off with our best foot forward. It's all smooth sailing from there!

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Teens Build Car Fueled By Social Media (VIDEO)

2013-05-24T22:24:58Z

A group of high schoolers from Kansas City, Mo. are about to embark on a very special road trip, using a car fueled entirely by social media. (Yes, you heard that right.)

According to WKMG Local 6, teens involved in an after-school program called Minddrive -- a non-profit that inspires at-risk teens by focusing on electric car design -- took a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia from 1967 and made it into a car of the future.

After students restored the car and converted it to electric, Wired reports they used an Arduino -- a microcontroller device that makes it easier to program and automate interactive projects -- on the electric drivetrain of the car.

Learn more about their "social media car" in the the video above.

This allowed students to program the vehicle to their specific needs, and in this case, they engineered the car to be powered by social media interactions like hashtagging #MindDrive on Twitter and Instagram, liking their Facebook page and watching the video on YouTube. The car has essentially been programmed to move forward when this device recognizes any of these social media connections.

Now that they're done building the vehicle, the students are planning on testing out the car themselves by road tripping to Washington, D.C., and relying on social fuel to get there.

Once they arrive in D.C., students will meet with elected officials and hold a press conference to raise awareness about the benefits of this innovative kind of education.

"Now, I decided I want to be an engineer," one student explained in the video. "This opens a lot of doors for my future."

When it comes to cars and technology, teens have been making especially groundbreaking discoveries recently. Ionut Budisteanu, a 19-year-old student from Romania, won first place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair on May 17 for inventing a self-driving car that is much less expensive than other existing models. The teen used artificial intelligence as a way to decrease self-driving car's technology cost.

"This is the purpose of mankind," Ionut said. "To create some inventions and to create some projects in order to help the entire population and the entire world."

Eesha Khare, an 18-year-old student from California, was also a finalist at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for creating a device that can charge a cell phone between 20 and 30 seconds.

The teen explained that since her phone battery always dies, so she wanted to invent a supercapacitor that acts as a energy storage device and can hold a great amount energy in a small amount of space. Eesha is using her $50,000 prize from the science fair toward her education at Harvard in the fall.

“I will be setting the world on fire,” she told CBS San Francisco.

Do these teens inspire you? Tell us in the comments or tweet at @HuffPostTeen.

NOT A Perk Of Working For WMATA

2013-05-24T22:23:54Z

WASHINGTON -- There are many perks to working for WMATA: good salary, stable work and transportation around the city. But for one WMATA employee, another alleged perk was the ability to steal emergency medical equipment and resell it on the black market.

From DCist:

Authorities say that Derrick Davis, 40, stole 13 automatic external defibrillators from Metro facilities and then sold them on Internet auction sites such as eBay. Davis, who lives in Laurel, was arrested Wednesday by Metro Transit Police after a months-long investigation that ended when a detective posing as a buyer met Davis at a local convenience store.
Police say Davis, a maintenance worker on Metro's infrastructure, confessed to the theft following his arrest. He was formally charged yesterday in Prince George's County District Court on a count of theft over $1,000. Each of the defibrillators Davis allegedly stole is valued around $1,400.

Davis has been suspended by the WMATA, reports My Fox DC.

Rabbi Set To Open D.C.'s Second Medical Marijuana Dispensary

2013-05-24T22:05:37Z

WASHINGTON -- When you think of a rabbi, several words and phrases may come to mind, but "medical marijuana dispensary owner" is perhaps not one of them.

That, however, is exactly what former Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn is.

Kahn and his wife, Stephanie Reifkind Kahn, hope to open the Takoma Wellness Center after Memorial Day weekend. It would be the second licensed medical marijuana dispensary to open in the nation's capital since the D.C. Council voted to make pot legal for medicinal purposes in 2010.

The only thing they are waiting for, Jeffrey Kahn told The Huffington Post, is the go-ahead from the D.C. Department of Health. They've already passed a final inspection from the department.

Before he retired in 2007, Kahn spent time as a rabbi all over the United States, including New Jersey and Chicago, and as far away as Australia. He now attends synagogues around the Washington area and cites religious scripture to explain his new career.

"I think Scripture is very clear that when we have the opportunity to help people, we must do it," Kahn told the Washington City Paper in 2010, when he and his wife first set out to open a dispensary.

When the two decided to establish the Takoma Wellness Center, they were honoring Stephanie Kahn's late parents, who both had illnesses the side effects of which can be alleviated with cannabis.

Jules, her father, had multiple sclerosis and "sought physician after physician, always searching for some relief from the severe spasms caused by MS," Stephanie Kahn, who is a nurse, wrote on the dispensary website. But when his father-in-law finally tried marijuana, Jeffrey Kahn told City Paper, "he was amazed" by the relief it brought him.

Stephanie Kahn's mother, Libby, was diagnosed with cancer in 2005. "Chemo robbed her of her appetite, and she fought constant nausea. The physicians again recommended marijuana. She couldn't find it," Stephanie Kahn wrote.

The Kahns' dispensary will help some of those suffering from serious illnesses like Jules and Libby to find relief. Under the regulations the city adopted in 2010, only those with HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis can obtain medical marijuana; they will need a recommendation from a doctor.

"The people who are coming to this dispensary are people who are really sick," Jeffrey Kahn told WRC-TV/NBC4 in April.

The Kahns are hoping to offer a strain of marijuana that provides the medical benefits of THC without the "high" feeling, they told The Jewish Week in April.

"We know there are people who would like to be able to tap the medicinal benefits without the psychoactive elements. They view that as a nasty side effect," Jeffrey Kahn said.

But that doesn't mean they won't offer other marijuana products and accessories that are often sold in dispensaries in the 19 states where medical pot is legal. The shop will sell vaporizers and even a machine that makes marijuana butter, which can be used in baked goods, in addition to literature about the politics surrounding medical marijuana, according to NBC4.

Throughout the process of getting their dispensary up and running, the Kahns' message has remained steady: They want to help sick people.

"Our ward [Ward 4] has the highest cancer rate in D.C. ... There's a need for our dispensary here," Jeffrey Kahn told the City Paper.

And as for how a retired rabbi, who moved from New Jersey to Israel in 2007, ended up where he is today, Kahn notes that you can't always predict your future.

"When I retired from my [last] congregation, it was the furthest thing in my mind that I would end up in D.C. selling marijuana," he told New Jersey Jewish News in 2010. "You just never know."

Maryland County Declared A 'Second Amendment Sanctuary'

2013-05-24T21:20:52Z

The Board of Carroll County Commissioners voted unanimously earlier this week to pass a resolution stating that Carroll County is a "Second Amendment Sanctuary County".

The resolution (see attached document) is in response to the Maryland State Firearms Act of 2013 passed by legislators in Annapolis earlier this year.

Obama Gitmo Plan At Odds With Top Military Advisers

2013-05-24T20:54:15Z

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's suggestion Thursday that "history will cast a harsh judgment" if the nation fails to deal with the detainees at Guantanamo Bay in 10 to 20 years might come as a harsh surprise to some of his top military and civilian defense advisers.

That's because they told Congress just one week earlier that the United States could be saddled with the prisoners even longer.

Obama was calling on Congress Thursday to end the laws they have passed restricting the administration from moving the 166 captives who remain at the United States' jail for terrorism suspects in Cuba.

"I know the politics are hard, but history will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism and those of us who fail to end it," Obama said in a speech to the National Defense University. "Imagine a future -- 10 years from now or 20 years from now -- when the United States of America is still holding people who have been charged with no crime on a piece of land that is not a part of our country."

"Look at the current situation, where we are force-feeding detainees who are being held on a hunger strike," Obama said. "Is that who we are? Is that something our founders foresaw? Is that the America we want to leave our children?"

The answer to his rhetorical question was certainly meant to be no, but when the Senate Armed Services Committee questioned a panel of defense officials exactly a week earlier, on May 16, the answer was more like yes.

The hearing was called "The Law of Armed Conflict, the Use of Military Force, and the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force." It examined how the United States has been running the war on terror launched under that post-9/11 act of Congress, and whether the authorization was still relevant.

The officials argued that while it might be time to review the AUMF, as the authorization is known, it was currently being used appropriately and would be of use as long as there is a war on terror, or, as the administration describes it, a war on "Al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated forces."

And that war will not end any time soon, defense officials said. "I believe it's at least years in advance, based on my understanding of the organization, of resiliency of Al Qaeda and its affiliate forces. It's many years in advance," Michael Sheehan, the assistant defense secretary for special operations and low-intensity conflict, told Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

He was even more specific when pressed on the matter by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who himself sees no soon end to the conflict.

"Yes, sir, I think it's at least 10 to 20 years," Sheehan offered as an estimated timeline for when the war effort may end.

The duration of declared hostilities is a key element of Obama's hopes to close Guantanamo and deal with detainees -- wherever they are held -- because as long as there is a conflict, international law permits the holding of prisoners of that war. When the war ends, the prisoners eventually must be freed.

"There will come a point when our enemy in this armed conflict is defeated, or so defeated that there is no longer an ongoing armed conflict," Robert Taylor, the acting general counsel for the Department of Defense, told Levin. "At that point, we will face difficult questions about what to do with those still remaining in military detention without a criminal conviction and sentence," he said.

But he noted that even after the hostilities are ended, there is precedent for the nation taking even longer to release the prisoners.

"I do point out that, following World War II, we continued to hold some people for several years as part of a general mopping up authority," Taylor said, apparently surprising Levin, who asked if war crimes were involved.

"No, sir," Taylor said. "They were prisoners of war, but who were assessed that they would so disrupt the delicate situation in -- back in Germany and elsewhere, that we held them for a few years."

Before Congress barred the administration from relocating the prisoners held at Gitmo, it had run into exactly that problem, finding it difficult to find countries willing to accept former terrorism suspects.

In spite of those assessments just a week before he spoke, Obama struck a much more optimistic tone for a post-Gitmo world.

"Now, even after we take these steps, one issue will remain, which is how to deal with those Gitmo detainees who we know have participated in dangerous plots or attacks, but who cannot be prosecuted, for example, because the evidence against them has been compromised or is inadmissible in a court of law," he said. "But once we commit to a process of closing Gitmo, I am confident that this legacy problem can be resolved, consistent with our commitment to the rule of law."

WATCH the exchanges above.

Update: 6:33 p.m. -- In a statement to HuffPost, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said:

What the President said would bring harsh judgment is continuing to hold people who have been charged with no crime and holding them outside our borders. He was explicitly referencing the situation at Guantanamo, and the need to close it. What is true is that we can expect to still be facing a terrorist threat from Al Qaeda and other groups for years to come. But we will not deal with terrorists we capture by sending them to Guantanamo; it remains our strong preference to detain, interrogate and then prosecute in an Article III court or a reformed military commission. We have done it over and over again successfully, including, as the president noted, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up an airplane over Detroit; and Faisal Shahzad, who put a car bomb in Times Square. As he said, it is in a court of law that we will try Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is accused of bombing the Boston Marathon. And Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, is as we speak serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison here, in the United States. The president acknowledged that even after we take these steps, we still need to resolve the issue of how to deal with those Guantanamo detainees who we know have participated in dangerous plots or attacks, but who cannot be prosecuted. But, as the president said, once we commit to a process of closing Guantanamo, he is confident that this legacy problem can be resolved, consistent with our commitment to the rule of law."

Michael McAuliff covers Congress and politics for The Huffington Post. Talk to him on Facebook.

No Reprieve For Boy Scouts Despite Gay Youth Vote

2013-05-24T20:48:33Z

-- The Boy Scouts of America will get no reprieve from controversy after a contentious vote to accept openly gay boys as Scouts.

Dismayed conservatives are already looking at alternative youth groups as they predict a mass exodus from the BSA. Gay-rights supporters vowed Friday to maintain pressure on the Scouts to end the still-in-place ban on gay adults serving as leaders.

"They're not on our good list yet," said Paul Guequierre of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group. He said the HRC, in its annual rankings of corporate policies on workplace fairness, would deduct points from companies that donate to the Boy Scouts until the ban on gay adults is lifted.

In California, gay-rights leaders said they would continue urging passage of a bill pending in the Legislature that would make the BSA ineligible for nonprofit tax breaks because of the remaining ban.

The Boy Scouts' chief executive, Wayne Brock, pleaded for the Scouting community to reunite after the divisive debate that led to Thursday's vote by the BSA's National Council. The proposal to lift the ban on openly gay youth – while keeping the ban on gay adults – was supported by about 60 percent of the council's 1,400 voting members.

However, Brock's plea failed to sway some conservative religious leaders whose denominations sponsor many Scout units and who consider same-sex relationships immoral.

"Frankly, I can't imagine a Southern Baptist pastor who would continue to allow his church to sponsor a Boy Scout troop under these new rules," Richard Land, a senior Southern Baptist Conference official, told the SBC's news agency, Baptist Press.

Land advised Southern Baptist churches to withdraw their support of Scout troops and consider affiliating instead with the Royal Ambassadors, an existing SBC youth program for boys that combines religious ministry with Scouting-style activities.

Baptist churches sponsor Scout units serving more than 100,000 of the BSA's 2.6 million youth members.

The Assemblies of God, which oversees units serving more than 2,000 Scouts, said it could no longer support such units and suggested its own Royal Rangers youth group as a "positive alternative."

John Stemberger, a conservative activist and former Scout from Florida who led a group opposing the policy change, said he and his allies would convene a meeting next month in Louisville, Ky., to discuss creation of a "new character development organization for boys."

"We grieve today, not because we are faced with leaving Scouting, but because the Boy Scouts of America has left us," Stemberger said. "Its leadership has turned its back on 103 years of abiding by a mission to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices."

There is a template for forming a conservative alternative to a major national youth organization. American Heritage Girls was formed in 1995 as a Christian-oriented option to the Girl Scouts of the USA, and it now claims more than 20,000 members.

From the left, gay-rights supporters – including President Barack Obama – generally welcomed the move to accept openly gay Scouts, but urged the BSA to take the further step of welcoming gay adults as leaders.

White House spokesman Shin Inouye said Obama "continues to believe that leadership positions in the Scouts should be open to all, regardless of sexual orientation."

Rich Ferraro of GLAAD, formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said his group would continue a campaign to discourage corporate giving to the Boy Scouts until the ban on gay adults is lifted.

He also predicted that the presence of openly gay boys in Scout ranks would undermine the viability of the adult ban as those youth turn 18 and seek leadership posts.

"The BSA now will have to look gay teens in the eye, boys who've been involved in Scouting for years, and tell them they're not going to be able to grow into adult leaders," Ferraro said. "Those conversations will be difficult and shouldn't be had."

Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, a 21-year-old activist raised by lesbian mothers in Iowa, has been a leader of the campaign to end the BSA's no-gays policy. He said his group, Scouts for Equality, would continue to press for lifting the ban on gay adults, while also monitoring how the BSA implements its new policy for gay youth.

"We'll act as a watchdog," he said. "If any gay youth feel they're experiencing harassment or discrimination, we want to be there for them."

For some parents of Scouts, the entire membership debate has been emotionally draining, and the decision to accept openly gay youth left them disenchanted or confused.

Wes Comer, whose family attends an Apostolic Pentecostal church near Knoxville, Tenn., that considers homosexuality sinful, had been wrestling with whether to pull his eldest son out of the Scouts if the no-gays policy was abandoned.

"To be honest, I'm torn at this point," Comer said Friday in an email. "I'm not sure exactly what our decision will be."

"If I place this situation in the context of my religious beliefs, I'm forced to ask myself, `Would I turn a homosexual child away from Sunday school? From a church function? Would I forbid my children to be friends with a gay child?' I can't imagine a situation where I would answer `yes' to any of those questions. So how can I in this one?" he wrote.

Yet he said was "extremely disappointed" in the entire debate, and suggested that the BSA "has dealt itself a mortal blow."

Another Scouting father, Don Mack, of Waconia, Minn., said he and his 10-year-old son will be leaving Cub Scouts after the current year is done and his son gets his Arrow of Light Award.

Mack, a Scout himself as a boy and a self-described conservative Christian, has been a Cub Scout leader for about five years. Now, because of the vote to admit gay youth, he and his son both want out. And they'll be looking for an alternative program that offers similar character-building benefits as the Scouts.

"We home-school, and my wife and I teach our son you need to stand up for what's right, even if that means sacrifice or getting hurt in the process," Mack said. "It was not an easy choice for us to make because our family believed in the mission Scouting has to offer. I kind of feel like my best friend died."

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Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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Online:

Boy Scouts of America: http://www.scouting.org/

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Follow David Crary on Twitter at . http://www.twitter.com/craryap

The Cicadas Are Here!

2013-05-24T20:40:01Z

By Megan Gannon, LiveScience News Editor:

The 17-year-old sex-crazed cicadas of Brood II have started to stir in Staten Island.

Historically, large numbers of these periodical cicadas have spent their short but dramatic adulthoods in the borough, but they might be harder to spot elsewhere in New York City.

The noisy creatures started emerging by the hundreds last week in certain parts of Staten Island, said Edward Johnson, director of science at the Staten Island Museum. But the insects are not likely to come out in droves in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, Johnson added.

"They don't fly very far as adults, and so are unlikely to colonize other boroughs from Staten Island," he said. [Ewww! 6 Crazy Facts About Cicadas]

Brood II is one of the distinct cicada populations that only matures every 13 or 17 years. Known as periodical cicadas, they belong to the genus Magicicada, and they can be found only in the eastern half of North America. Brood II's range extends from Georgia to Connecticut and it began its emergence earlier this month.

Their loud mating calls and carpet of corpses may come as a nuisance to some, but each emergence is exciting for entomologists studying the mysterious, long-lived insects — they spend most of their lives in an immature stage. The cicadas coming out of the ground now were born in 1996, meaning they're the first Brood II generation to be greeted by Twitter and Flickr, which make it possible for people to socially share their pictures of the insects. Radiolab's Cicada Tracker and Magicicada as well allow citizen scientists to report their sightings in real time.

Mapping where these 17-year cicadas emerge could offer new insights on land use, climate change and the bugs themselves. The cicadas' long subterranean youth, which may be the longest of any known insect, means it's difficult for scientists to study their life cycle.

Geographically, the 17-year brood populations fit together like puzzle pieces. Brood II is almost like the keystone, since its range borders that of many other broods, University of Connecticut cicada expert John Cooley said earlier this month. Scientists think they might be able to learn about why different broods evolved by studying their boundaries.

For Johnson, the emergence will give him a chance to show off the Staten Island Museum's collection of cicadas, the second largest in the world. He said he has dim memories of the Brood II emergences on Staten Island in 1962 and 1979, but better recollections from last time, in 1996.

From that year, Johnson recalls "lots of cicada song and activity in the woodlands, lots of media attention, and my youngest son was born three months before the emergence, so he is a 'cicada baby,' and gets to measure his life in cicada years."

To be fair to the creatures, they're not swarming or invading or coming out of hibernation. They've been sharing the environment with East Coasters this whole time — they've just been underground sucking roots. The insects might only seem like a plague because of their numbers. Some scientists estimated up to 30 billion Brood II adults would make their debut this year. [Ouch: Nature's 10 Biggest Pests]

Researchers think this is all part of a survival strategy known as "predator satiation," in which a huge percentage of the population is expected to be eaten, Popular Science reported. Cicadas are clumsy and they don't have defenses for stinging or biting their predators, but their numbers alone will be enough to ensure the brood survives. In other words, there will still be lots of six-legged lingerers after dogs, cats, birds and even some adventurous humans get their fill.

But even if they do dodge their enemies, the clock is ticking for emergent cicadas.

After a dark 17-year juvenile period underground, hormones and warm soil temperatures (64 degrees Fahrenheit to be precise) send the crunchy cicada nymphs above the surface. The insects then shed their brown exoskeletons and spend their few weeks of adulthood mating and laying eggs in tree branches. Then, they die, leaving their big bodies to litter the ground, while the newly hatched babies will make their way down to the dirt to continue the cycle. The Brood II generation born this year will go on hiatus until 2030.

Cicadas' short act above the surface is made more theatrical by their racket. Males make species-specific mating calls by vibrating a white, drumlike plate, or tymbal, on either side of their abdomens. These chirping and clicking noises can be heard by females up to a mile (1.6 kilometers) away. Standing near an especially loud chorus of cicadas can be like standing near a motorcycle, with a noise reaching up to 100 decibels.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.