Inquiry hears of wider Secret Service misbehavior

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, left, and Department of Homeland Security's acting Inspector General Charles K. Edwards, testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan,left, and Department of Homeland Security's acting Inspector General Charles K. Edwards, prepare to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, accompanied by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., left, and the committee's ranking Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, to testify before the committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The lawmaker leading an inquiry into the Secret Service prostitution scandal reported dozens of "troubling" episodes of past misbehavior Wednesday and appealed to insiders to come forward with what they know as investigators try to determine whether a culture of misconduct took root in the storied agency.

"We can only know what the records of the Secret Service reveal," Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman said in opening the first Senate hearing into the matter. And those records, however incomplete, show 64 instances of allegations or complaints of sexual misconduct made against Secret Service employees in the last five years, he said.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, speaking to the inquiry, apologized for the behavior of the employees in Colombia. But his assertion that the agency has a "zero tolerance" policy on such conduct did not convince the lawmakers, who brought more allegations to light.

Lieberman cited three complaints of inappropriate relationships with a foreign national and one of "non-consensual intercourse," which he did not elaborate on. Sullivan said that complaint was investigated by outside law enforcement officers who decided not to prosecute.

Sullivan also told the committee an agent was fired in a 2008 Washington prostitution episode, after trying to hire an uncover police officer.

Many of the other complaints cited by Lieberman involved agency employees sending sexually suggestive emails.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told the hearing several small groups of Secret Service employees separately visited clubs, bars and brothels in Colombia prior to a visit by President Barack Obama last month and engaged in reckless, "morally repugnant" behavior.

Collins said the employees' actions could have provided a foreign intelligence service, drug cartels or other criminals with opportunities for blackmail or coercion threatening the president's safety.

And she challenged early assurances that the scandal in Colombia appeared to be an isolated incident. She noted that two participants were Secret Service supervisors ? one with 21 years of service and the other with 22 years ? and both were married. Their involvement "surely sends a message to the rank and file that this kind of activity is tolerated on the road," Collins said.

"This was not a one-time event," said Collins, the senior Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "The circumstances unfortunately suggest an issue of culture."

Lieberman didn't go that far, saying a historical pattern cannot be established from what is known so far.

But he said: "It is hard for many people, including me, to believe that on one night in April 2012 in Cartagena, Colombia, 11 secret service agents ? there to protect the president ? suddenly and spontaneously did something they or other agents had never done before; that is to say, gone in groups of two, three or four to four different night clubs or strip joints and drank to excess and bring foreign national women back to their hotel rooms."

The misbehavior became public after a dispute over payment between a Secret Service agent and a prostitute at a Cartagena hotel on April 12. The Secret Service was in the coastal resort for a Latin American summit before Obama's arrival.

Collins said several small groups of agency employees from two hotels went out separately to clubs, bars and brothels and they "all ended up in similar circumstances."

"Contrary to the conventional story line, this was not simply a single, organized group that went out for a night on the town together," Collins said.

Senators focused on whether the Secret Service permitted a culture in which such behavior was tolerated. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has testified previously that she would be surprised if there were other examples, but senators have been skeptical.

Sullivan told senators the behavior in Colombia wasn't representative of the agency's nearly 7,000 employees. "I can understand how the question could be asked," Sullivan said, calling his employees "among the most dedicated, hardest working, self-sacrificing employees within the federal government."

He also told senators that Obama's security was never at risk. The officers implicated in the prostitution scandal could not have inadvertently disclosed sensitive security details because their confidential briefing about Obama's trip had not taken place.

"At the time the misconduct occurred, none of the individuals involved in the misconduct had received any specific protective information, sensitive security documents, firearms, radios or other security-related equipment in their hotel rooms," Sullivan said.

Sullivan has survived professionally so far based on his openness about what happened. Senators were not expected to ask for his resignation, and the acting inspector general for the Homeland Security Department, Charles K. Edwards, gave Sullivan high marks for integrity.

Edwards, who estimated that the early stages of his own investigation would be finished before July 2, said the Secret Service "has been completely transparent and cooperative."

"The Secret Service's efforts to date in investigating its own employees should not be discounted," Edwards told senators. "It has done credible job of uncovering the facts and, where appropriate, it has taken swift and decisive action."

The White House on Tuesday reasserted its confidence in Sullivan. Obama "has great faith in the Secret Service, believes the director has done an excellent job," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "The director moved very quickly to have this matter investigated and took action very quickly as a result of that investigation."

A dozen Secret Service officers and supervisors and 12 other U.S. military personnel were implicated. Eight Secret Service employees, including the two supervisors, have lost their jobs. The Secret Service is moving to permanently revoke the security clearance for one other employee, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing. Sullivan told the lawmakers that two employees who originally resigned now are fighting to get their jobs back.

Prostitution is legal in Colombia, but Sullivan quickly issued new guidelines that made it clear that agents on assignment overseas are subject to U.S. laws.

Sullivan said he directed Secret Service inspectors to investigate reports of similar misconduct in San Salvador. After 28 interviews with hotel employees and managers, State Department officials and others, "no evidence was found to substantiate the allegations," Sullivan said.

This week the Drug Enforcement Administration said the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General was investigating possible misconduct by two or more agents in Colombia. Collins revealed that the case involved at least two DEA employees who entertained female masseuses in the Cartagena apartment of one of the DEA agents. The investigation is unrelated to the Secret Service scandal but is based on information provided to the DEA by the Secret Service.

Associated Press

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the tap: Underarm Deodorants Cause Breast Cancers

By Dr. Mercola

New research examining parabens found in cancerous human breast tissue points the finger at antiperspirants and other cosmetics for increasing your risk of breast cancerⁱ.
The research, which is also reviewed in an editorial published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, looked at where breast tumors were appearing, and determined that higher concentrations of parabens were found in the upper quadrants of the breast and axillary area, where antiperspirants are usually appliedⁱⁱ.
Parabens are chemicals that serve as preservatives in antiperspirants and many cosmetics, as well as sun lotions. Previous studies have shown that all parabens have estrogenic activity in human breast cancer cells.
Another component of antiperspirants, aluminum chloride, has been found to act similarly to the way oncogenes work to provide molecular transformations in cancer cells. According to the authors of the editorial review, the research shows "signals of concern that such compounds are not as safe as previously generally considered, and further research is warranted." Furthermore:

"The data from this latest study, the most extensive examination of parabens in human breast so far published, confirms previous work and raises a number of questions on the entire parabens, personal care product and human health debate, particularly relating to the source and toxicological significance of the paraben esters."

Ninety-nine Percent of Breast Cancer Tissue Samples Contain Parabens

The featured study by Barr et.al. discovered one or more paraben esters in 99 percent of the 160 tissue samples collected from 40 mastectomiesⁱⁱⁱ. In 60 percent of the samples, all five paraben esters were present. There were no correlations between paraben concentrations and age, length of breast feeding, tumor location, or tumor estrogen receptor content. The median values in nanograms per tissue for the five chemicals were:

1. n-propylparaben 16.8
2. methylparaben 16.6
3. n-butylparaben 5.8
4. ethylparaben 3.4
5. isobutylparaben 2.1

While antiperspirants are a common source of parabens, the authors note that the source of the parabens cannot be established, and that 7 of the 40 patients reportedly never used deodorants or antiperspirants in their lifetime. What this tells us is that parabens, regardless of the source, can bioaccumulate in breast tissue.
And the sources are many. Parabens can be found in a wide variety of personal care products, cosmetics, as well as drugs. That said, it appears the dermal route is the most significant form of exposure. In the featured editorial, Philip Harvey and David Everett explain why:

"... [T]he dermal route of exposure is considered more plausible when intact esters are detected, and other authors reporting human exposures and body fluid concentrations of paraben esters consider cosmetics of some form or another as the likely sources... This is because the metabolic esterase activity of the gut and liver (relevant to oral exposure) is considered to greatly exceed that of the skin, and oral exposures would result in rapid liver metabolism of the esters to produce the common metabolite p-hydroxybenzoic acid... Paraben esters typically used in cosmetics pass through human skin in vitro/ex vivo, and Ishiwatrai et.al. (2007) has shown persistence of unmetabolized methylparaben in the skin"

Safety of Parabens has NEVER Been Established...

As incredible as it sounds, despite the fact that parabens are used in such a wide variety of products, the toxicology of these chemicals has barely been investigated. There is a complete lack of modern toxicology studies on these ingredients, and according to the featured review, not a single study on the chemicals' carcinogenity follow acceptable regulatory standard carcinogenity study protocols.
The authors point out that one rat study from 1956 is still used as "the pivotal evaluation upon which human safety is judged!"

"This may be acceptable for certain chemicals for which there is limited human exposure but not for chemicals such as parabens for which such a large population is exposed, and which show significant tissue concentrations," they write.

Furthermore, virtually all toxicology studies are based on the oral route of exposure, which means that risk assessment, according to Harvey and Everett, is "largely based on assumption, opinion and the technical regulatory instrument of GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe)."

G.S. ?writes - ?

Underarm deodorant that does you good.
50% Magnesium Oil 50% Distilled Water. Put in a little spray bottle. May sting a bit if you have just shaved!!!
We don't get enough Magnesium and it gets absorbed faster through the skin.

(GS?is not George Soros!)

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Young Hollywood stars strike out on own at Cannes

CANNES, France (AP) ? Vampires, Transformers, singing high-schoolers: They can all be tough to outrun.

But at the 65th annual Cannes Film Festival, a number of young Hollywood stars are attempting to do just that. By striking out on their own, they hope to move their careers beyond mega franchises and toward more mature roles in bolder films.

Robert Pattinson ("Twilight"), Kristen Stewart (also "Twilight"), Shia LaBeouf ("Transformers," ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull") and Zac Efron ("High School Musical") all have films in competition at the French Riviera festival.

In David Cronenberg's Don DeLillo adaptation "Cosmopolis," which is to premiere at Cannes on Friday, Pattinson stars as a Manhattan billionaire on a crosstown odyssey.

"It's changed the way I see myself," Pattinson said in an interview ahead of his festival arrival.

"I'm kind of getting older," the 26-year-old actor says. "People aren't thinking of me as a kid anymore, so I've got to stop behaving like one."

With the next "Twilight" installment, part two of "Breaking Dawn," due out this November, Pattinson has also lined up parts in David Michod's "The Rover" (a role he says he fought harder for than any in years) and the military thriller "Mission: Black List." Like "Cosmopolis," they're films without the surrounding hoopla of blockbusters.

"When you do a big franchise movie, there's a ton of pressure on you that's really nothing to do with the job at all," says Pattinson. "You have to adapt to an entirely different world, rather than just try to get better at acting and do better within your movies. As soon as you become famous, your movies and your life become one and the same in the eyes of the public in a lot of ways."

Certainly, most actors would eagerly jump at the chance to star in well-paying, hugely promoted movies. But iconic roles begun as teenagers can choke promising acting careers. Stewart, Pattinson's 22-year-old "Twilight" co-star, is also expanding into new territory at Cannes with Walter Salles' anticipated adaptation of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." It was to premiere Wednesday.

Earlier in the festival was LaBeouf's "Lawless," a Prohibition-era gangster film. LaBeouf says he's gratified to have been a part of the film from start to finish, rather than, he says, "just piggybacking" on the success of a massive blockbuster. LaBeouf, who also stars in Robert Redford's next film, "The Company You Keep," hopes "Lawless" is the start of a new phase for him.

"I'm taking risks more," says LaBeouf, who play the youngest in a trio of Virginia bootleggers in "Lawless." ''I was really risk-adverse for a while because I had a big nugget to protect, not only for myself but for the people who were behind me. I think I've become less corporate."

"Lawless" director John Hillcoat says LaBeouf, 25, "has been a prisoner of the franchise films for a while."

"He was so hungry for a real character, a real part," says Hillcoat.

On Thursday, Lee Daniels will bring his "The Paperboy" to the festival, the director's first film since the hit "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." Efron, 24, co-stars as the younger brother of a reporter (Matthew McConaughey) who's investigating an inmate on death row (John Cusack).

Daniels says that having suffered relentless viewings of the "High School Musical" movies by his children, he thought he'd never put Efron in one of his movies. "And I can't tell you how wrong I was," he says.

The Efron of "The Paperboy," Daniels says, is one unfamiliar to his fans.

"He's a grown-up Zac and a tortured Zac," says Daniels. "Someone we haven't seen before ? a different Zac."

Efron, Stewart, LaBeouf and Pattinson will get no better launching pad for their new roles than Cannes, where daring is prized above all other attributes.

"There's no point in being scared of just trying," says Pattinson. "The worst that can happen is just failure, right?"

___

Online:

http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en.html

___

Contact Jake Coyle at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

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Top Chef Canada Season 2 Episode 11 Recap | Foodbeat.com

Last Episode

Last week on Top Chef Canada Season 2, Trista Sheen, the last female contestant, was sent home. The remaining contestants are Jonathan Korecki, David Chrystian, Trevor Bird, Carl Heinrich, and Xavier Lacaze.

Quickfire Challenge

The first challenge of this episode was all about cooking with Kraft Dinner. KD is a deliciously bad, but classic childhood food. The guest judge was Keshia Chante, a relatively famous pop singer. There were two parts to this challenge: the first to create a classic, home style take on the macaroni and cheese dish, and second to make a refined, elegant version. It was a high stakes quickfire challenge, but no one would be heading home. Instead, the winner would receive a $10,000 prize, courtesy of Kraft Dinner.

Quickfire Results

The chefs on the bottom were Trevor Bird and Jonathan Korecki. Those on the top were Xavier Lacaze and David Chrystian.

It was David Chrystian who won for his mac and grilled cheese sandwich.

Elimination Challenge

The elimination round had the chefs cooking Italian food. They would cook a 6 course traditional Italian feast, with each course decided by random draw. David Chrystian drew pesce- a fish dish. Xavier Lacaze drew primi- a pasta dish. Carl Heinrich drew secondi- a meat dish. Jonathan drew zuppa- a soup dish. Finally, finally Trevor Bird drew dolce- the dessert course.

Last episode had Trevor Bird under fire for his poor attempt at a dessert, and so he was especially nervous this round. He chose to create a tiramisu, a very classic and hard to master Italian dessert. Xavier was very proud of his braised veal breast pasta dish. He said he wanted to make love to his veal, but the judges did not agree with the sentiment. David had the guts to serve his fish whole, done in the kitchen?s wood oven.

The guest judge was Lidia Bastianich, an exceptionally famous Italian chef.

Elimination Results

Jonathan Korecki and David Chrystian were on the top. Jonathan Korecki was the overall winner for his deconstructed egg soup. It was a risk to create a non-traditional dish for the challenge. He won a trip for two to New York as a prize. David Chrystian has his dish chosen to be one of the three served at Milestone restaurants. He also received a $3000 cash prize.

Carl Heinrich, Xavier Lacaze, and Trevor Bird were on the bottom. Xavier was sent home.

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Infographic: Small Business Owners Want To Be Understood ...

With a nod to National Small Business Week, The UPS Store recently conducted a survey of more than 500 small business owners to find out what kind of support they need, what support they receive and what unique challenges they face. We heard repeatedly that small business owners want to be understood, and many need more support than they?re getting.

We weren?t surprised to find that most small business owners want to work with other small business owners who best understand their complex needs. As a network of franchised locations, each individually and locally-owned, we see this every day in our close relationships with the small business customers in the communities we serve. Interestingly, almost 75% of survey respondents say it is important to have support from a business resource who understands their issues because they, too, are a small business owner. Yet, only 52% percent of small business owners currently work with such a resource.

Additionally, while nearly half (46%) of small business owners would like to work with a local resource who can help make their lives easier, no more than one in four respondents receive any kind of support from a resource partner in running their business.

If you?re one of these small business owners looking for a resource partner who really understands what you need, look to your local UPS Store. Each of our franchise owners understands the needs of other small businesses because they?re franchised small business owners themselves. They help fellow small business owners in their communities with packing, shipping, printing, marketing and more. And, with more than 4,300 locations nationwide, you?re likely to have one right in your neighborhood.

On behalf of The UPS Store and UPS family, we thank the small business community and look forward to continuing to serve you.

To learn more about what UPS can do for your small business, click here.

(click on the infographic to view full size)

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Pass your Toxic Detection Tests Assuredly - Alternative-medicine ...

Whether you are applying for a life insurance policy or you are going for a job interview, the most important and risky test that you would be required to clear is that indicating the amount of toxics present inside your body. Before going to such an interview, the foremost thing that would have become the cause of your concern could be how to pass a drug test rather than how to clear the one on one questioning or the group discussions. Before knowing how to clear it, you should know exactly what kind of tests you would be required to go through.

The very first type of test that you would have to go through is the urine test which would require you to visit the washroom and fill a small cup with your urine as a test sample. The second and the most reliably practiced is the hair follicle test and it could present your complete history of consuming the toxics in the form of a timeline and if you are thinking to get away with it by just shaving your head, it would not really be of any use as the testing squad could go for your pubic, underarm, leg or arm hair growth to get the samples.

The third category of tests is a blood test. Well, you won?t really have to go for it until you are applying for a superior post or an insurance policy. The last and the least practiced type is a saliva test which could detect the toxics consumed in the prior three or four days.

Having known about all the tests the question is your mind is still the same, exactly how to pass a drug test with a hundred percent clearance guarantee. Well, there are online websites and even the helpline agencies that you could contact and get a hand on the techniques and tricks that are not only fake claims but really do work. It might surprise you to know but the scientifically tested and approved formulas are there to help you clear the toxic test and achieve the aim for which you are required to go through the testing process.

Besides, you would even be provided the telephonic as well as live asses to a consultancy panel that has been set up exclusively to listen up your queries and offer the solutions that are not vague and certainly work. Thus, you would now be able to go through the tests freely.

?

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Jurors in John Edwards trial deliberate for second day

By Stacey Klein, NBC News, and M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com

Shawn Rocco / AP

John Edwards last week at the U.S. courthouse in Greensboro, N.C.

Jurors in the campaign finance corruption trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards were sent home for the day on Monday without having reached a verdict.

A third day of deliberations will begin Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. ET in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C., where Edwards ? a former U.S. senator and the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee ? is charged with six felony counts of accepting about $1 million in illegal and unreported campaign donations from two wealthy supporters at a time when individual contributions were limited to $2,300.

---

Jurors appeared particularly interested in one of those donors, billionaire heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, asking the judge for seven exhibits that appeared to be related to the roughly $750,000 she gave an aide to Edwards to help conceal Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter, a videographer on his 2008 presidential campaign staff.

Analysis: Possible outcomes for John Edwards

Watch US News videos on msnbc.com

Mellon, who is 101 years old, didn't testify during the trial, but her attorney and financial adviser, Alex Forger, offered extensive testimony that Mellon knew that her donations were intended to fund the "Hunter problem" and weren't given as campaign contributions.

One of the exhibits they sought was a handwritten note from Mellon dated Sept. 17, 2007. Jurors requested a typed version, but U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles denied the request, saying one didn't exist, so they would have to do with the handwritten version. The contents of that note haven't been made public.

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