Google Glass to launch this year for under $1,500

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 1 hr.

Everyone's favorite future toy, Google Glass, may soon be more than a gadget-blogger's fantasy. Tech website The Verge has gotten official confirmation from Google that they plan to launch the head-worn device before the end of the year, and for under $1,500.

If you feel the price is bit much to ask for a pair of dorky-looking cyber-glasses, you're not alone. But there are two things you can count on: that the first generation of a new kind of device will always be both expensive and a little clunky, and that people will buy it anyway.

$1,500 is what Google charged developers who wanted early access to the device, and a recently-launched contest with Glass as a reward still requires the winner to pay that sum (and pick it up in person, no less). But they told The Verge that a "fully-polished" version of the device would be out by the end of the year and would cost less ? though they didn't say by how much.

If you're curious about Glass, you can visit Google's new site dedicated to it or watch the demonstration video below:

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/google-glass-launch-year-under-1-500-1C8503747

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ilomilo plus Only $4.99 on Windows 8!

Yep, you heard right! ilomilo is only $4.99 right now on the Windows 8 store! You better be quick though because this deal will only last for a week! Click Read More to learn all about this?adventurous?puzzle game!

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ilomilo plus is the Windows 8 version of the XBLA title, ilomilo, beefed up with additional fun levels, two exciting new chapters and three new challenging cubes. ilomilo is a puzzle game where the player controls two fellows named ilo and milo. The two friends always seem to get separated from each other in the surrealistic and ever changing world they inhabit, and the goal of each level is to reunite them. ilomilo presents puzzles where the player will have to use a great deal of three dimensional thinking to succeed. The world of ilomilo is made of cubes, and ilo and milo can walk any side of the cubes, as well as move cubes around. The player controls both ilo and milo, and will have to make them cooperate to unite them. ilomilo also allows players to control one character each, and play through the game cooperatively.

Features:

ilomilo plus challenges players with out of the ordinary puzzles in an odyssey through a twisted and surrealistic world.

? Singleplayer story taking you through 6 different environments in the world of ilomilo
? Cooperative gameplay mode for two players, each player controlling a character!
? Famous cameo characters from other games are hidden in the world for players to find
? Online Leaderboards: Compare online who has?completed?the levels in the most clever way
? Unlockable mini game: Play the ingenious retro 2D mini game ?ilomilo shuffle? with its own competitive leaderboard

Click HERE to check it out!

permalink: http://playxbla.com/ilomilo-plus-only-4-99-on-windows-8/

Source: http://playxbla.com/ilomilo-plus-only-4-99-on-windows-8/

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THE RESET: Obama, GOP battles don't affect Fed job

FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 file photo, a woman shops at a Nordstrom store in Chicago. U.S. consumer prices were flat last month, the latest sign inflation is in check. That could give the Federal Reserve room to continue its efforts to stimulate growth. The consumer price index has risen 1.6 percent in the 12 months ending in January, the Labor Department said Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. That's down from a 2.9 percent pace a year ago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 file photo, a woman shops at a Nordstrom store in Chicago. U.S. consumer prices were flat last month, the latest sign inflation is in check. That could give the Federal Reserve room to continue its efforts to stimulate growth. The consumer price index has risen 1.6 percent in the 12 months ending in January, the Labor Department said Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. That's down from a 2.9 percent pace a year ago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke attends the summit of financial ministers and heads of central banks of the G20 group of nations ahead of their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

President Barack Obama speaks about the sequester, as he stands with emergency responders, a group of workers the White House says could be affected if state and local governments lose federal money as a result of budget cuts, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, at the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

While the White House and Congress lurch combatively from one budget crisis to the next, another Washington institution has been bolstering the economy steadily and with little fanfare since the 2008 financial crisis began.

And the Federal Reserve seems likely to keep its stimulus pumps running at least awhile longer ? although minutes from a recent meeting show growing nervousness among U.S. central bankers over possible long-range harmful consequences, including steep inflation and instability in financial markets.

The Fed, under Chairman Ben Bernanke, has been keeping a key short-term interest rate near zero for over four years and is buying tens of billions of dollars in Treasury and mortgage bonds a month to keep downward pressure on longer-term interest rates and to provide liquidity to financial institutions.

Oh, and it's buying those bonds with money created out of thin air with the electronic equivalent of a printing press.

Minutes from the Fed's Jan. 29-30 policy meeting showed increasing debate over whether to end the huge stimulus sooner rather than later.

Still, the Fed voted 11-1 to continue its $85-billion monthly bond buying program for now.

However, the concerns were enough to drive European stocks sharply lower Thursday and contributed to a second day of declines for U.S. stocks ? even though there's scant evidence of rising inflation.

U.S. consumer prices were flat last month, a new government report shows, another sign inflation remains in check.

The latest crisis for President Barack Obama and Congress is the approach of deep, mandatory "sequester" spending cuts due to hit March 1 absent a bipartisan deficit-reduction deal. So far Republicans who lead the House have rejected Obama's insistence that any agreement be "balanced" with both spending cuts and increased tax revenues.

U.S. policymakers barely averted a "fiscal cliff" at the end of last year.

"Managing from crisis to crisis every 60 to 90 days is absurd," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Thursday on MSNBC.

___

Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-21-US-The-Reset/id-05c376dabb38407999474cac0db9aabc

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Childhood cancer in developing countries—a growing health threat that could be easily managed

Across the developing world, childhood cancer is on the rise, and mortality is high. Once thought of as a rich world disease, cancer is a growing health threat across low-income and middle-income countries (LMCs). A major new Lancet Oncology Series by some of the world's most eminent cancer experts outlines the biggest challenges to treating childhood cancer in developing nations and proposes strategies to improve care for children and young people.

According to recent WHO estimates, cancer claims the lives of around 100 000 children before the age of 15 every year worldwide. 94% of these deaths occur in low-income countries. Developing countries are already home to nearly 90% of the world's children and this proportion continues to rise.

"The stark reality is that access to treatment is very poor in LMCs. An unknown proportion of children with potentially curable cancers never receive treatment?not even palliative treatment?and most of those who do receive some form of treatment still die"*, says Professor Ian Magrath from the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research, Belgium, one of the lead authors.

In many LMCs, a lack of awareness about cancer and poor availability of basic healthcare means that children often present with late-stage disease. Doctors in developing countries are often not well trained in cancer diagnosis and may only see a handful of childhood cancers during their entire careers. Moreover, treatment is often poor or non-existent, or too costly for patients to afford. In Africa, for instance, the proportion of cancers that occur in children is roughly 12 times higher than in Europe, but 80% of people in Africa have no access to radiotherapy, cancer surgery, or the infrastructure needed to deliver basic cancer care.

According to Series leader Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones from the Institute of Child Health, University College London, "Some challenges seen around the world?are not entirely dictated by income or spend on health care, but also by the motivation of politicians to create and develop sustainable infrastructure that recognises the specific needs of children with cancer." In Mexico, for example, children's abandonment of cancer treatment has been reduced from 35% to 4% by a combination of the introduction of insurance for the most socioeconomically deprived families (50% of the population), the development of standard treatment protocols, and the accreditation of 49 programmes for childhood cancer.

Investment in health-care systems and capacity (including equipment and drugs), more and better-trained health professionals, and the establishment of regional hospital networks and international collaboration are essential to improving outcomes. In particular, twinning programmes between developed and developing countries, and different regions, can provide international mentoring, medical education, access to up-to-date treatments, and increase participation in international clinical trials.

Additionally, cancer registries (often the only unbiased source of information on cancer burden) are urgently needed to assess the situation within each country and support decision making. In Africa, for instance, only 1% of the population is covered by population-based cancer registries providing data on cancer incidence, compared to more than 80% in North America and Oceania, and 33% in Europe.

"Measurable 5-year survival outcomes, even if substantially less than those of high income countries at first, will help to create a dynamic that is not easily ignored by politicians", say the authors.

Finally, they add, strategies to dispel the myth that developing countries cannot afford to treat children with cancer are needed. "Because children have their entire lives ahead of them, saving the lives of children has a much greater effect on economic development than does cancer care for older people", explains Magrath, "Treatment of curable childhood cancers is highly cost effective, even if it is only possible in a few institutions."

Journal reference: Lancet Oncology

Provided by Lancet

Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-childhood-cancer-countriesa-health-threat.html

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What Group Gets Cervical Cancer Twice as Often?

In this, the fourth in our month-long series on the disparities and inequities of?cancer?in the U.S. and beyond, we look at the group of American women who are especially hard hit by cervical cancer.

There's good reason to pay close attention to cancer statistics among Hispanics in the United States: Most important, Hispanics are the fast-growing minority population in the country. According to U.S. Census Bureau 2010 statistics, more than 50.5 million people identify themselves as Hispanic. That's 16 percent of the population and a 43 percent increase over the past decade. By 2050, about 30 percent of Americans will be Hispanic.

That means more new cases of cancers will be among Hispanics.

Who Pays the Highest Price When It Comes to Breast Cancer?

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Moreover, unlike whites and blacks, cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanics. (Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the other groups.) There are several reasons for this, experts say. Two big ones: Lower incomes and reduced access to healthcare. About 27 percent of Hispanics are poor compared to 10 percent of whites. And about 31 percent of Hispanics are uninsured compared to 12 percent whites.

Hispanics also have lower cancer screening rates, which means the disease is more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, when it?s less curable. Nowhere is that fact more apparent than among Hispanic women with cervical cancer. Here are some sobering stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

??? The number of new cases of cervical cancer among Hispanics is 11.9 per 100,000 women ? nearly double the number in white women (6.2 per 100,000).

??? The rate of cervical cancer among Hispanics is 11.8 per 100,000 compared to 7.1 per 100,000 among whites.

??? The death rates from cervical cancer among Hispanics is 3.0 per 100,000, compared to 2.1 per 100,000 in whites. The five-year survival rate for cervical cancer is 75 percent among Hispanic women and 71 percent among non-Hispanic whites.

What's so disturbing about the high toll of cervical cancer among Hispanic women is that the disease can be large avoided altogether with vaccines, and deaths could also largely be avoided in women who do develop cancer if more of them detected the disease early through Pap smears, says Dr. David Wetter, a professor in the department of Health Disparities Research, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.

The 10 Most Common Cancers in the United States

"Cervical cancer death is almost entirely preventable with Pap smears, but the incidence is much higher in Hispanics and they are more likely to die of it," he says. "This is a cancer we could prevent in Hispanic women if they got the same opportunities for screening as other women."

It's estimated that as many as 80 percent of deaths from cervical cancer could be prevented by regular screening coupled with good follow-up and treatment. But, too often, Hispanic women don?t go back to the doctor when they get an abnormal result from their Pap test. This seems to be a big reason why so many more Hispanic women die, says the American Cancer Society.

Have Cancer but No Insurance? No Problem -- You Can Pay With Your Life

The three-shot HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine ? now recommended for girls ages 11 and 12, although it can be given up to age 26 ? prevents infection from the major strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer. But HPV vaccination rates in Hispanic girls trail behind whites, with almost 75 percent of white girls ages 13 to 17 completing the three-dose series compared to just under 70 percent of Hispanic girls, according to the CDC.

The problem of cervical cancer in the United States is, in part, an extension of the crisis south of the border, experts say. Women in Mexico and Central and South America experience approximately triple the cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates of women in the U.S., largely due to a lack of access to screening in these countries. The highest rates of cervical cancer in the U.S. are among Hispanic women in the Midwest, likely due to large numbers of new immigrants from these countries.

How can we get more Hispanic women screened for cervical cancer earlier and encourage them to follow up if they get an abnormal Pap test result? Why do you think more Hispanic girls aren?t getting the full HPV vaccine? ?

Related Stories on TakePart:

? Confused About Donating to Breast Cancer Causes? Here's How to Pink Straight

? How Many Cancer Myths Do You Still Believe?

? Schools Come Under Fire in Louisiana for Discriminating Against Latino Students

Shari Roan is an award-winning health writer based in Southern California. She is the author of three books on health and science subjects.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/group-gets-cervical-cancer-twice-often-133601444.html

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Phosphorus starvation linked to symptoms of citrus disease Huanglongbing in new study

Public release date: 19-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kirsty Doole
kirsty.doole@oup.com
0044-186-535-5439
Oxford University Press

The citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB), meaning "yellow shoot disease" in Chinese and also called citrus greening in English-speaking countries, is the most destructive disease threatening the citrus industry worldwide. Powerful diagnostic tools and management strategies are desired to control it. A new study, 'Small RNA profiling reveals phosphorus deficiency as a contributing factor in symptom expression for citrus Huanglongbing disease', published online today (Friday) in the journal Molecular Plant profiled small Ribonucleic Acids (sRNAs) from both diseased and healthy plants and found that some of these tiny molecules could potentially be developed into early diagnosis markers for HLB. More importantly, the study demonstrates that the diseased trees suffered from severe phosphorus (P) deficiency and that application of phosphorus solutions to the diseased trees significantly alleviated HLB symptoms and thus improved fruit yield in a three-year field trial in southwest Florida.

HLB is caused by the bacteria of the genus "Candidatus Liberibacter". Symptoms of the disease include blotchy mottled leaves, sections of yellow and underdeveloped vegetative growth, premature fruit drop, and in some cases, off-flavoured fruit with aborted seeds. In areas affected by HLB, citrus management costs have increased dramatically in the last few years: in the US alone, annual HLB management-related costs have totalled around $1.2 billion and it has been estimated that HLB management has increased citrus production costs by 40-50% in affected areas. These high costs are largely due to the need for more additional treatments to mitigate the disease's effects, and therefore early, rapid, and robust detective methods are required, especially presymptomatic diagnosis.

The study's author, Dr Hailing Jin of The University of California, Riverside, explains, "sRNAs are important gene expression modulators, some of which regulate plant responses to microbial infections. To study the expression of citrus sRNAs in response to HLB, we grafted 19 greenhouse-grown healthy sweet orange plants with HLB-positive bark or leaf pieces. Both donor and receptor trees tested negative for other graft-transmissible pathogens of citrus. As controls, five plants were mock-inoculated with pathogen-free healthy tissue. Samples were collected at 10- and 14-week post inoculation/grafting for small RNA profiling. Leaves were also collected continuously at later points to ensure that the tissue used for sRNA libraries was from the diseased trees. sRNAs ranging from 18 to 28 nucleotides were isolated, cloned, and sequenced."

This resulted in the discovery of ten new microRNAs (miRNAs), along with 76 conserved miRNAs, and many small interfering miRNAs. Several of these sRNAs were found to have been induced specifically by HLB, which means that they can potentially be developed into early diagnosis markers for the disease. This is important because if trees can be diagnosed with HLB and treated before symptoms start to become apparent, then money spent by the global citrus industry on additional treatments might be saved.

In particular, miR399, which is induced by P starvation in other plant species, was discovered to be induced by HLB infection in the diseased citrus trees. It is known that miR399 is important for P translocation in plants by suppressing a P signalling pathway gene. The study found that the phosphorus level in leave of HLB-positive plants was on about 65% of that in healthy plants, suggesting that HLB is associated with P starvation in the citrus plants, which may in turn contribute to the expression of HLB symptoms.

Dr Jin writes, "we hypothesized that applying P solutions to the Las-positive trees would reduce HLB symptoms and improve tree performance." Phosphorus solutions were applied to HLB-positive sweet orange trees in a field trial three times per year for more than three years. After two years of treatment, the diseased trees displayed the significantly reduced HLB symptoms.

"Compared with the mock-treated plants, the P-treated trees had a greener appearance and more vigorous growth. Fruit yield increased approximately two-fold compared with the mock-treated plants."

It should be noted that the application of phosphorus solutions did not cure the trees, but this study suggests that additional phosphorus application may help the diseased trees to look healthier and improve fruit yield. This, along with the potential use of miRNAs to diagnose infected trees earlier, could have real, practical significance given the global economic importance of citrus plants and the rising costs of HLB management.

###

NOTES TO EDITORS:

'Small RNA profiling reveals phosphorus deficiency as a contributing factor in symptom expression for citrus Huanglongbing disease' by Hailing Jin, Ph. D. Molecular Plant, DOI: 10.1093/mp/sst002

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 19-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kirsty Doole
kirsty.doole@oup.com
0044-186-535-5439
Oxford University Press

The citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB), meaning "yellow shoot disease" in Chinese and also called citrus greening in English-speaking countries, is the most destructive disease threatening the citrus industry worldwide. Powerful diagnostic tools and management strategies are desired to control it. A new study, 'Small RNA profiling reveals phosphorus deficiency as a contributing factor in symptom expression for citrus Huanglongbing disease', published online today (Friday) in the journal Molecular Plant profiled small Ribonucleic Acids (sRNAs) from both diseased and healthy plants and found that some of these tiny molecules could potentially be developed into early diagnosis markers for HLB. More importantly, the study demonstrates that the diseased trees suffered from severe phosphorus (P) deficiency and that application of phosphorus solutions to the diseased trees significantly alleviated HLB symptoms and thus improved fruit yield in a three-year field trial in southwest Florida.

HLB is caused by the bacteria of the genus "Candidatus Liberibacter". Symptoms of the disease include blotchy mottled leaves, sections of yellow and underdeveloped vegetative growth, premature fruit drop, and in some cases, off-flavoured fruit with aborted seeds. In areas affected by HLB, citrus management costs have increased dramatically in the last few years: in the US alone, annual HLB management-related costs have totalled around $1.2 billion and it has been estimated that HLB management has increased citrus production costs by 40-50% in affected areas. These high costs are largely due to the need for more additional treatments to mitigate the disease's effects, and therefore early, rapid, and robust detective methods are required, especially presymptomatic diagnosis.

The study's author, Dr Hailing Jin of The University of California, Riverside, explains, "sRNAs are important gene expression modulators, some of which regulate plant responses to microbial infections. To study the expression of citrus sRNAs in response to HLB, we grafted 19 greenhouse-grown healthy sweet orange plants with HLB-positive bark or leaf pieces. Both donor and receptor trees tested negative for other graft-transmissible pathogens of citrus. As controls, five plants were mock-inoculated with pathogen-free healthy tissue. Samples were collected at 10- and 14-week post inoculation/grafting for small RNA profiling. Leaves were also collected continuously at later points to ensure that the tissue used for sRNA libraries was from the diseased trees. sRNAs ranging from 18 to 28 nucleotides were isolated, cloned, and sequenced."

This resulted in the discovery of ten new microRNAs (miRNAs), along with 76 conserved miRNAs, and many small interfering miRNAs. Several of these sRNAs were found to have been induced specifically by HLB, which means that they can potentially be developed into early diagnosis markers for the disease. This is important because if trees can be diagnosed with HLB and treated before symptoms start to become apparent, then money spent by the global citrus industry on additional treatments might be saved.

In particular, miR399, which is induced by P starvation in other plant species, was discovered to be induced by HLB infection in the diseased citrus trees. It is known that miR399 is important for P translocation in plants by suppressing a P signalling pathway gene. The study found that the phosphorus level in leave of HLB-positive plants was on about 65% of that in healthy plants, suggesting that HLB is associated with P starvation in the citrus plants, which may in turn contribute to the expression of HLB symptoms.

Dr Jin writes, "we hypothesized that applying P solutions to the Las-positive trees would reduce HLB symptoms and improve tree performance." Phosphorus solutions were applied to HLB-positive sweet orange trees in a field trial three times per year for more than three years. After two years of treatment, the diseased trees displayed the significantly reduced HLB symptoms.

"Compared with the mock-treated plants, the P-treated trees had a greener appearance and more vigorous growth. Fruit yield increased approximately two-fold compared with the mock-treated plants."

It should be noted that the application of phosphorus solutions did not cure the trees, but this study suggests that additional phosphorus application may help the diseased trees to look healthier and improve fruit yield. This, along with the potential use of miRNAs to diagnose infected trees earlier, could have real, practical significance given the global economic importance of citrus plants and the rising costs of HLB management.

###

NOTES TO EDITORS:

'Small RNA profiling reveals phosphorus deficiency as a contributing factor in symptom expression for citrus Huanglongbing disease' by Hailing Jin, Ph. D. Molecular Plant, DOI: 10.1093/mp/sst002

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/oup-psl021413.php

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Obama presses GOP to halt automatic spending cuts

President Barack Obama, accompanied by emergency responders, a group of workers the White House says could be affected if state and local governments lose federal money as a result of budget cuts, gestures as he speaks in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama, accompanied by emergency responders, a group of workers the White House says could be affected if state and local governments lose federal money as a result of budget cuts, gestures as he speaks in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama greets first responders after speaking in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, to urge Congress to come up with an alternative plan to avert automatic spending cuts set to kick in on March 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks about the sequester, accompanied by emergency responders, a group of workers the White House says could be affected if state and local governments lose federal money as a result of budget cuts, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Staking out his ground ahead of a fiscal deadline, President Barack Obama lashed out against Republicans, saying they are unwilling to raise taxes to reduce deficits and warning that the jobs of essential government workers, from teachers to emergency responders, are on the line.

Obama spoke as a March 1 deadline for automatic across-the-board spending cuts approached and with Republicans and Democrats in an apparent stalemate over how to avoid them.

Obama cautioned that if the $85 billion in immediate cuts ? known as the sequester ? occur, the full range of government would feel the effects. Among those he listed: furloughed FBI agents, reductions in spending for communities to pay police and fire personnel and teachers, and decreased ability to respond to threats around the world.

He said the consequences would be felt across the economy.

"People will lose their jobs," he said. "The unemployment rate might tick up again."

"So far at least, the ideas that the Republicans have proposed ask nothing of the wealthiest Americans or the biggest corporations," Obama said. "So the burden is all on the first responders, or seniors or middle class families."

House Republicans have proposed an alternative to the immediate cuts, targeting some spending and extending some of the reductions over a longer period of time. They also have said they are willing to undertake changes in the tax code and eliminate loopholes and tax subsidies. But they have said they would overhaul the tax system to reduce rates, not to raise revenue. Obama did win an increase at the start of the year when Congress increased the upper tax rate for the wealthiest Americans.

"The American people understand that the revenue debate is now closed," House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement Tuesday following Obama's remarks. "Tax reform is a once-in-a generation opportunity to boost job creation in America. It should not be squandered to enable more Washington spending. Spending is the problem, spending must be the focus."

Obama's remarks came a day after he returned to Washington from a three-day golfing weekend in Florida.

Congress is not in session this week, meaning no votes will occur before next week and complicating the ability to negotiate any short-term resolution.

Obama said the anticipated cuts were already having an effect, noting that the Navy had already delayed the deployment of a carrier to the Persian Gulf.

"Changes like this ? not well thought through, not phased in properly ? changes like this effect our ability to respond to threats in unstable parts of the world," he said.

Obama wants to offset the immediate spending cuts, known as a sequestration in budget language, through a combination of targeted spending cuts and increased tax revenue. The White House is backing a proposal unveiled last week by Senate Democrats that is in line with the president's principles.

But that plan has met an icy reception among Republicans, who oppose raising taxes to offset the cuts. GOP leaders say the president got the tax increases he wanted at the beginning of the year when Congress agreed to raise taxes on family income above $450,000 a year.

Obama called on congressional Republicans to compromise and accept the Senate Democrats' proposal.

The Democrats propose to generate revenue by plugging some tax loopholes. Those include tax breaks for the oil and natural gas industry and businesses that have sent jobs overseas, and by taxing millionaires at a rate of at least 30 percent.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said the Ohio Republican agrees the sequester is a bad way to reduce spending, but put the onus for averting the cuts on Democrats.

"A solution now requires the Senate ? controlled by the president's party ? to finally pass a plan of their own," spokesman Brendan Buck said.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan proposal Tuesday by co-chairs of an influential deficit-reduction commission called for reducing the deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years, with much of the savings coming through health care reform, closing tax loopholes, a stingier adjustment of Social Security's cost of living increases and other measures.

The proposal by former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Democrat Erskine Bowles, the former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, calls for about one quarter of the savings to come from changes in health care programs and another quarter from revenue generated by tax changes.

In their plan, Bowles and Simpson say the automatic cuts scheduled for March 1 are too steep and could set back the economy.

"Sharp austerity could have the opposite effect by tempering the still fragile economic recovery. In order to protect the recovery, the sequester should be avoided and deficit reduction should be phased in gradually," they wrote.

Some Republicans, including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have advocated plugging loopholes, but as part of a discussion on a tax overhaul, not sequestration.

"Loopholes are necessary for tax reform," Ryan said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." ''If you take them for spending, you're blocking tax reform and you're really not getting the deficit under control."

The sequester was first set to begin taking effect on Jan. 1. But as part of the "fiscal cliff" negotiations, the White House and lawmakers agreed to push it off for two months in order to create space to work on a larger budget deal.

With little progress on that front in recent weeks, Obama is calling for the sequester to be put off again, though it's unclear whether another delay would have any impact on the prospects for a broader budget agreement.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-19-Obama/id-12ed9339a1ca498b95e8324ba092a1bc

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