(Reuters) - Popular Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow lost his starting job to newly-acquired Peyton Manning on Tuesday and the National Football League team said a decision on his future has not yet been made.
"We're going through that process now," John Elway, Denver's head of football operations, said at Manning's introductory news conference when asked about Tebow's status.
Tebow became a sports and cultural phenomenon last season when he made up for his poor accuracy throwing the ball with powerful runs and charismatic leadership. He salvaged Denver's season with a six-game winning streak that helped them secure a division title and playoff berth.
But his performance was not enough to keep the Broncos from signing 11-time Pro Bowl quarterback Manning to a reported five-year $96 million contract that would give him the league's top average annual salary.
Tebow, a college-style quarterback whose public displays of religiosity polarized public opinion, became the talk of the NFL and inspired a wide following of fans.
Elway, a Hall of Fame quarterback who won two Super Bowls with Denver, said he spoke with Tebow on Monday evening about the possibilities, which include being traded.
"The toughest thing about this whole thing is Tim Tebow because of what I think of Tim Tebow," Elway said.
"The things that he did last year was tremendous and helped turn this organization around from a 4-12 team to a playoff team and winning the division. I've got a great deal of respect for him as a person and the things that he does.
"We just had to make a decision ... what would be the best opportunity for the Denver Broncos to be competitive for a world championship ... and Peyton Manning was that."
INSPIRED FANS
Elway said Tebow was disappointed, but did not say so.
"It was a typical Tim Tebow response in the fact that he was very positive. He said, 'Well, we're talking about Peyton Manning and I understand exactly what you're doing.'
"Now we'll go look at that and see what is the best thing for the Denver Broncos."
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been nike skate shoes men
mentioned as a possible landing spot for Tebow, who rose to fame at the University of Florida, where he won a pair of BCS national championships and the Heisman Trophy as most outstanding college football player.
The Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and Green Bay Packers were other teams that have reportedly inquired about Tebow.
After being named Denver's starter last October, Tebow was the talk of the NFL. The phrase 'Tebow Time' was coined to capture the fact that five times his Broncos won games with late comebacks despite his woeful 46.5 percent completion rate.
His post-touchdown, knelt-in-prayer pose - known as "Tebowing" - inspired fans around the world. Many have posted pictures of themselves "Tebowing" on sites such as Tebowing.com.
Manning called Tebow a greatnike sb blazers sale
player, said he has plenty of respect after watching him play last season and would welcome him as a team mate if the Broncos do not trade him.
"If Tim Tebow is here next year I am going to be the best team mate I can be to him, and he and I are going to help this team win games," said Manning.
"If other opportunities present themselves for him I am going to wish him the best. He is going to be a great player wherever he is."
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)
2012年3月21日星期三
Late Gundogan strike fires Dortmund into cup final
Substitute Ilkay Gundogan hit the winner in the last minute of extra time as German league leaders Borussia nike shoes sanfrancisco
Dortmund beat second division Greuther Fuerth 1-0 in Tuesday's German Cup semi-final.
"It's going to take a while for that goal to sink in, I need to have a sit down in the changing rooms to take it in," admitted the 21-year-old after his 120th-minute winner.
Just seconds before the match went to penalties, Gundogan fired home from the edge of the penalty area after Fuerth's coach switched goalkeepers just two minutes before and Jasmin Fejzic was beaten at the near post.
Dortmund will now face either Borussia Moenchengladbach or Bayern Munich, who meet in Wednesday's other semi-final, in the German Cup final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium on May 12.
"I don't care who we play now," said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.
"We deserved to reach the final, but I had already resigned myself to penalties and I do feel really sorry for the goalkeeper."
Fuerth battled hard throughout at nike store airport
their sold-out Trolli Arena stadium with each one of the 15,500 seats taken as the second-division leaders were denied their first cup final appearance.
Dortmund could have won the game over the 90 minutes as both Japan winger Shinji Kagawa and Germany midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz fired just wide in the second half.
Borussia had the better of the chances with 17 shots on goal after the first 100 minutes compared to the Bavarians' four.
Dortmund will be looking to claim their third German Cup title having last won the trophy in 1989.
In Wednesday's other semi-final, Gladbach host Bayern looking for their third consecutive victory over the Bavarian giants this season.
Gladbach have won both their Bundesliga matches against Bayern this season, a 1-0 victory in Munich on the first day of the season and then a 3-1 home win in January.
Moenchengladbach midfielder Patricknikeid football cleats
Herrman, who scored two of the three goals against Bayern in January, is set for a return against the Bavarians a month after fracturing his collarbone.
Bayern will be without Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger who is working his way back to full fitness after tearing ankle ligaments in February.
Bayern are in fine form having scored 20 goals in their last three games while Gladbach needed a late goal to seal a 2-1 win at Leverkusen on Saturday in the league, the same day Bayern won 6-0 at Hertha Berlin.
Dortmund beat second division Greuther Fuerth 1-0 in Tuesday's German Cup semi-final.
"It's going to take a while for that goal to sink in, I need to have a sit down in the changing rooms to take it in," admitted the 21-year-old after his 120th-minute winner.
Just seconds before the match went to penalties, Gundogan fired home from the edge of the penalty area after Fuerth's coach switched goalkeepers just two minutes before and Jasmin Fejzic was beaten at the near post.
Dortmund will now face either Borussia Moenchengladbach or Bayern Munich, who meet in Wednesday's other semi-final, in the German Cup final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium on May 12.
"I don't care who we play now," said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.
"We deserved to reach the final, but I had already resigned myself to penalties and I do feel really sorry for the goalkeeper."
Fuerth battled hard throughout at nike store airport
their sold-out Trolli Arena stadium with each one of the 15,500 seats taken as the second-division leaders were denied their first cup final appearance.
Dortmund could have won the game over the 90 minutes as both Japan winger Shinji Kagawa and Germany midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz fired just wide in the second half.
Borussia had the better of the chances with 17 shots on goal after the first 100 minutes compared to the Bavarians' four.
Dortmund will be looking to claim their third German Cup title having last won the trophy in 1989.
In Wednesday's other semi-final, Gladbach host Bayern looking for their third consecutive victory over the Bavarian giants this season.
Gladbach have won both their Bundesliga matches against Bayern this season, a 1-0 victory in Munich on the first day of the season and then a 3-1 home win in January.
Moenchengladbach midfielder Patricknikeid football cleats
Herrman, who scored two of the three goals against Bayern in January, is set for a return against the Bavarians a month after fracturing his collarbone.
Bayern will be without Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger who is working his way back to full fitness after tearing ankle ligaments in February.
Bayern are in fine form having scored 20 goals in their last three games while Gladbach needed a late goal to seal a 2-1 win at Leverkusen on Saturday in the league, the same day Bayern won 6-0 at Hertha Berlin.
2012年3月15日星期四
Assad’s in-box: Alleged emails of Syrian dictator and wife give glimpse into inner circle
As the Syrian death toll continues to mount, countries from around the world have vehemently condemned its leader Bashar al-Assad for prolonging his bloody, year-long crackdown on unrest. But the dictator and his London-born wife Asma al-Assad appear to live in a surreal psychological bubble, insulated from the grotesque violence that has claimed the lives of 8,000 Syrians, according to a cache of some 3,000 alleged emails and documents obtained by Syrian activists and published by the Guardian Wednesday.
The supposed emails portray a dictator both sentimental and sinister. Assad, who allegedly used the email address Sam@alshahba.com according to the hacked emails, took to his iPad to send his wife American country music favorites from iTunes and to search for "America's Got Talent" videos. In addition to the light fare, he also sent out rabidly paranoid articles to his inner circle that accuse the American envoy to Syria of recruiting al-Qaida-linked "Arab 'death squads'" to try to topple him, as the Guardian reports:
Assad's emails reveal his inner fears and suspicions. On 16 October, as the UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, called for international action to avoid "full-blown civil war" in Syria, Assad circulated from his iPad an article to a list of undisclosed recipients an article alleging that the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was responsible for "recruiting Arab 'death squads' from al-Qaida-affiliated units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Chechnya to fight against Syrian military and police".
He sent another rabid article to his wife on 23 July that described Rupert Murdoch as a Jew and an Israeli citizen and "pretty much" Satan.
But the dictator, who trained as an eye doctor in the UK before assuming the Syrian presidency from his late father Hafaz al-Assad, also "kept up a flow of personal, loving emails to his wife using the disguised accounts....Sometimes he searched the internet for video clips that impressed him, on one occasion sending her a clip from America's Got Talent of 'the best illusion of all time' — a man appearing to saw another man in half and then putting him back together again, to the delight of the judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan," the Guardian wrote.
The hacked emails show his wife Asma al-Assad (who allegedly used the email address ak@alshahba.com), to be mostly obsessed with luxury shopping.
"On 3 February 2012, she was browsing the internet for luxury shoes, according to an email titled "Christian Louboutin shoes coming shortly," the Guardian reports. "Does anything catch your eye" she asks a friend, who responded frankly: "I don't think they're going 2 b useful any time soon unfortunately."
The authenticity of the emails has not yet beennikes for cheap
independently verified. The Guardian explains why it believes the emails are genuine, and its extensive efforts to vet them, here.
"Activists say they were passed username and nike outlet park city
password details believed to have been used by the couple by a mole in the president's inner circle," the paper writes. "They say the details allowed girls nike shox
uninterrupted access to the two Inboxes until the leak was discovered in February."
The UN's special envoy to Syria, former UN chief Kofi Annan, recently returned from meeting Assad in Damascus last weekend, and is due to brief the UN Security Council on Syria this Friday.
The supposed emails portray a dictator both sentimental and sinister. Assad, who allegedly used the email address Sam@alshahba.com according to the hacked emails, took to his iPad to send his wife American country music favorites from iTunes and to search for "America's Got Talent" videos. In addition to the light fare, he also sent out rabidly paranoid articles to his inner circle that accuse the American envoy to Syria of recruiting al-Qaida-linked "Arab 'death squads'" to try to topple him, as the Guardian reports:
Assad's emails reveal his inner fears and suspicions. On 16 October, as the UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, called for international action to avoid "full-blown civil war" in Syria, Assad circulated from his iPad an article to a list of undisclosed recipients an article alleging that the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was responsible for "recruiting Arab 'death squads' from al-Qaida-affiliated units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Chechnya to fight against Syrian military and police".
He sent another rabid article to his wife on 23 July that described Rupert Murdoch as a Jew and an Israeli citizen and "pretty much" Satan.
But the dictator, who trained as an eye doctor in the UK before assuming the Syrian presidency from his late father Hafaz al-Assad, also "kept up a flow of personal, loving emails to his wife using the disguised accounts....Sometimes he searched the internet for video clips that impressed him, on one occasion sending her a clip from America's Got Talent of 'the best illusion of all time' — a man appearing to saw another man in half and then putting him back together again, to the delight of the judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan," the Guardian wrote.
The hacked emails show his wife Asma al-Assad (who allegedly used the email address ak@alshahba.com), to be mostly obsessed with luxury shopping.
"On 3 February 2012, she was browsing the internet for luxury shoes, according to an email titled "Christian Louboutin shoes coming shortly," the Guardian reports. "Does anything catch your eye" she asks a friend, who responded frankly: "I don't think they're going 2 b useful any time soon unfortunately."
The authenticity of the emails has not yet beennikes for cheap
independently verified. The Guardian explains why it believes the emails are genuine, and its extensive efforts to vet them, here.
"Activists say they were passed username and nike outlet park city
password details believed to have been used by the couple by a mole in the president's inner circle," the paper writes. "They say the details allowed girls nike shox
uninterrupted access to the two Inboxes until the leak was discovered in February."
The UN's special envoy to Syria, former UN chief Kofi Annan, recently returned from meeting Assad in Damascus last weekend, and is due to brief the UN Security Council on Syria this Friday.
Gingrich: No One Understands Me
PALATINE, Ill. – Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich late Wednesday expressed frustration with both the news media and the Republican Party establishment for failing to understand his “large ideas” for transforming American politics.
As calls for Gingrich to bow out of the race grew louder following his second-place finishes in Mississippi and Alabama – two states he said he had a chance of winning – the candidate seemed to be in low spirits and offered a grumpy analysis of the state of the GOP primary to a crowd that gathered for a Lincoln Day Dinner in this Northwestern suburb of Chicago.
“The thing I find most disheartening of this campaign is the difficulty of talking about large ideas on a large scale, because the news media can’t cover it and candidly, my opponents can’t comprehend it,” Gingrich said, while also vowing to continue his campaign to the convention in Tampa this summer.
He called himself the only candidate of the four still in the contest “focused on ideas and … solutions and not just the usual politics” and the only one advocating wholesale change to a political system that is “methodically and deliberately stupid.”
Other parts of his speech covered topics ranging from President Abraham Lincoln promoting the transcontinental railroad to the anti-fraud system of the American Express credit card company. Gingrich spoke of the need for a “technological revolution” in government, but lamented that no one but him seemed to understand that.
“Let me just talk for a second about technology and grand opportunities,” he said. “Other than Ronald Reagan, I know of no Republican in my lifetime who’s been able to talk about this. That’s why I’m still running.”
The former House speaker from Georgia has recently focused his campaign on the issue of high gas prices, promising as president to restore them to no more than $2.50 a gallon. But he often also speaks at length on a wide range of topics, covering everything from brain science to space exploration to the need to utilize modern management practices to reform entire sectors of the government.
“I want to be the candidate of science and technology,” he said. “Whether it’s on energy, it’s on stopping crooks in Medicare and Medicaid, it’s on getting into space, which I was ridiculed (for), or it is on helping you makebuy nike air max
sure that your family doesn’t suffer from something that could be avoided.”
And he chided fellow Republicans for failing to see nike outlet albertville mn
the need for a party makeover. The GOP, he said, has been governing like the Democratic Party since 2006, when it lost control of the Congress.
“We cannot be a normal party,” he told the nike shox girls
suburban Republican crowd. “If we run a normal campaign, trying to govern within the framework of the current system, we have no future, because people would rather have Democrats do it. They at least enjoy it.”
As calls for Gingrich to bow out of the race grew louder following his second-place finishes in Mississippi and Alabama – two states he said he had a chance of winning – the candidate seemed to be in low spirits and offered a grumpy analysis of the state of the GOP primary to a crowd that gathered for a Lincoln Day Dinner in this Northwestern suburb of Chicago.
“The thing I find most disheartening of this campaign is the difficulty of talking about large ideas on a large scale, because the news media can’t cover it and candidly, my opponents can’t comprehend it,” Gingrich said, while also vowing to continue his campaign to the convention in Tampa this summer.
He called himself the only candidate of the four still in the contest “focused on ideas and … solutions and not just the usual politics” and the only one advocating wholesale change to a political system that is “methodically and deliberately stupid.”
Other parts of his speech covered topics ranging from President Abraham Lincoln promoting the transcontinental railroad to the anti-fraud system of the American Express credit card company. Gingrich spoke of the need for a “technological revolution” in government, but lamented that no one but him seemed to understand that.
“Let me just talk for a second about technology and grand opportunities,” he said. “Other than Ronald Reagan, I know of no Republican in my lifetime who’s been able to talk about this. That’s why I’m still running.”
The former House speaker from Georgia has recently focused his campaign on the issue of high gas prices, promising as president to restore them to no more than $2.50 a gallon. But he often also speaks at length on a wide range of topics, covering everything from brain science to space exploration to the need to utilize modern management practices to reform entire sectors of the government.
“I want to be the candidate of science and technology,” he said. “Whether it’s on energy, it’s on stopping crooks in Medicare and Medicaid, it’s on getting into space, which I was ridiculed (for), or it is on helping you makebuy nike air max
sure that your family doesn’t suffer from something that could be avoided.”
And he chided fellow Republicans for failing to see nike outlet albertville mn
the need for a party makeover. The GOP, he said, has been governing like the Democratic Party since 2006, when it lost control of the Congress.
“We cannot be a normal party,” he told the nike shox girls
suburban Republican crowd. “If we run a normal campaign, trying to govern within the framework of the current system, we have no future, because people would rather have Democrats do it. They at least enjoy it.”
2012年2月12日星期日
Missoula company makes deal to build ocean sensors
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Missoula company is getting a $2.5 million contract to make special sensors invented by a University of Montana professor that will be used to monitor oceans, the National Science Foundation announced.
The contract announced Friday with Sunburst Sensors LLC has the company making 110 of the devices developed by chemistry professor Mike DeGrandpre.
"It's a big thing for Missoula," DeGrandpre said. "We'll be hiring. We just don't really know (how many). We haven't scaled up to this level before."
DeGrandpre started Sunburst Sensors in 1999, the Missoulian reported (http://bit.ly/yWTITS ), but he continues to work as a chemistry professor at the University of Montana. The company is run full-time by Jim Beck, a mechanical engineer who joined Sunburst Sensors in 2005.
"We've really made a lot of progress over the past several years in proving our work and getting national recognition," Beck said. "It's going to be a lot of work. There will be some growing pains, but we're definitely excited we were chosen for this."
Over the next three years, the Submersible Autonomous Moored Instruments will be deployed as part of the 30-year Ocean Observatories Initiative. The sensors, which cost about $22,000 each, are designed to track pH levels and the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in water. Officials said most of the sensors will be moored off coastal North America.
DeGrandpre said the company's selection for the contract is recognition that it is building a good product.
"Not getting it financially wouldn't be devastating," he said. "But oceanographers know our company. If we didn't get it, that would signal our technology isn't the best."
The sensors are part of a plan to better understand ocean acidification, in which bodies of water absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the air.
DeGrandpre said the submersible sensors he developed have a pressure housing system and sensor information system that make them able to collect information more accurately. The sensors are also able to send continuous information through satellite transmitters.
"We can look at small changes in levels from more time and across more space," DeGrandpre said.
The contract announced Friday with Sunburst Sensors LLC has the company making 110 of the devices developed by chemistry professor Mike DeGrandpre.
"It's a big thing for Missoula," DeGrandpre said. "We'll be hiring. We just don't really know (how many). We haven't scaled up to this level before."
DeGrandpre started Sunburst Sensors in 1999, the Missoulian reported (http://bit.ly/yWTITS ), but he continues to work as a chemistry professor at the University of Montana. The company is run full-time by Jim Beck, a mechanical engineer who joined Sunburst Sensors in 2005.
"We've really made a lot of progress over the past several years in proving our work and getting national recognition," Beck said. "It's going to be a lot of work. There will be some growing pains, but we're definitely excited we were chosen for this."
Over the next three years, the Submersible Autonomous Moored Instruments will be deployed as part of the 30-year Ocean Observatories Initiative. The sensors, which cost about $22,000 each, are designed to track pH levels and the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in water. Officials said most of the sensors will be moored off coastal North America.
DeGrandpre said the company's selection for the contract is recognition that it is building a good product.
"Not getting it financially wouldn't be devastating," he said. "But oceanographers know our company. If we didn't get it, that would signal our technology isn't the best."
The sensors are part of a plan to better understand ocean acidification, in which bodies of water absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the air.
DeGrandpre said the submersible sensors he developed have a pressure housing system and sensor information system that make them able to collect information more accurately. The sensors are also able to send continuous information through satellite transmitters.
"We can look at small changes in levels from more time and across more space," DeGrandpre said.
More Than Beads: Mardi Gras for Families
There's more to Mardi Gras than beads and boobs, at least if you stay off Bourbon Street.
Though the carnival celebration has long been synonymous with debauchery, the key components of New Orleans Mardi Gras seem to have been dreamed up with kids in mind. Lavish costumes and intricate masks, beautiful floats on parade, music all day long and people throwing treats -- it seems like a vacation tailormade for children. And the good news for parents? Most of the events are free.
But what about the boobs?
They're easy enough to avoid, said Jennifer Day at the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Avoiding the flashers means avoiding Bourbon Street from the weekend before Fat Tuesday, the apex of the celebration, through the day itself. "It's a huge party," she said, "but definitely adults only."
The famous French Quarter consists of more than just Bourbon Street, however, and it doesn't need to be avoided altogether. Families should feel comfortable heading to Jackson Street and Chartres Street, also in the French Quarter, on Fat Tuesday and the days leading up to it to see the incredible costumes. Eileen Ogintz, author of the syndicated family travel column seconded Jackson Square for the "great street performers playing musical instruments and tap dancing."
Cats Play Dress Up for Mardi Gras Watch Video
Mardi Gras in Full Swing Watch Video
When to Go The secret of a truly family-friendly Mardi Gras is to think of the event as a season instead of just a raucous few days. There are plenty of festivities leading up to the big event that are less crowded and far more appropriate for the kids. Weekend parades start two weeks before Fat Tuesday. The parades move to a daily schedule the Wednesday before (Feb. 15 – 21 in 2012). Travelers will also pay less for their hotel rooms by avoiding the peak travel days surrounding the event.
Kid-friendly Attractions For parade viewing, the rule of thumb, says Day, is that the party gets wilder the farther downtown you go. She suggests viewing anywhere from Napoleon Avenue to the Lee Circle roundabout. And if you can get your hands on one of the so-called Mardi Gras ladders, definitely do -- they resemble very tall high-chairs and make it easier for the kids to catch treats being thrown along parade routes.
Be sure to sample a king cake. Readily available in New Orleans and ubiquitous during Mardi Gras, the cake is made of cinnamon-filled dough and baked in a hollow circle and topped with glaze and sugar. There's a tiny plastic baby baked inside. The tradition is that whoever gets the piece of cake with the baby has to buy the next king cake or throw the next party. The baby is said to represent the baby Jesus and is eaten to celebrate King's Day, the start of the Mardi Gras season.
In nearby Jefferson Parish, Family Gras attracts parents and kids -- 80,000 of them in 2011. Family Gras takes place two weekends before Fat Tuesday and includes music acts. This year the Bacon Brothers (as in Kevin Bacon) and the Doodlebops will be there. Fright Night Friday, when families are encouraged to dress up in their scariest costumes, and Sports Saturday, when everyone wears his or her favorite team's colors, are two of the festivities that take place at Family Gras.
Though the carnival celebration has long been synonymous with debauchery, the key components of New Orleans Mardi Gras seem to have been dreamed up with kids in mind. Lavish costumes and intricate masks, beautiful floats on parade, music all day long and people throwing treats -- it seems like a vacation tailormade for children. And the good news for parents? Most of the events are free.
But what about the boobs?
They're easy enough to avoid, said Jennifer Day at the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Avoiding the flashers means avoiding Bourbon Street from the weekend before Fat Tuesday, the apex of the celebration, through the day itself. "It's a huge party," she said, "but definitely adults only."
The famous French Quarter consists of more than just Bourbon Street, however, and it doesn't need to be avoided altogether. Families should feel comfortable heading to Jackson Street and Chartres Street, also in the French Quarter, on Fat Tuesday and the days leading up to it to see the incredible costumes. Eileen Ogintz, author of the syndicated family travel column seconded Jackson Square for the "great street performers playing musical instruments and tap dancing."
Cats Play Dress Up for Mardi Gras Watch Video
Mardi Gras in Full Swing Watch Video
When to Go The secret of a truly family-friendly Mardi Gras is to think of the event as a season instead of just a raucous few days. There are plenty of festivities leading up to the big event that are less crowded and far more appropriate for the kids. Weekend parades start two weeks before Fat Tuesday. The parades move to a daily schedule the Wednesday before (Feb. 15 – 21 in 2012). Travelers will also pay less for their hotel rooms by avoiding the peak travel days surrounding the event.
Kid-friendly Attractions For parade viewing, the rule of thumb, says Day, is that the party gets wilder the farther downtown you go. She suggests viewing anywhere from Napoleon Avenue to the Lee Circle roundabout. And if you can get your hands on one of the so-called Mardi Gras ladders, definitely do -- they resemble very tall high-chairs and make it easier for the kids to catch treats being thrown along parade routes.
Be sure to sample a king cake. Readily available in New Orleans and ubiquitous during Mardi Gras, the cake is made of cinnamon-filled dough and baked in a hollow circle and topped with glaze and sugar. There's a tiny plastic baby baked inside. The tradition is that whoever gets the piece of cake with the baby has to buy the next king cake or throw the next party. The baby is said to represent the baby Jesus and is eaten to celebrate King's Day, the start of the Mardi Gras season.
In nearby Jefferson Parish, Family Gras attracts parents and kids -- 80,000 of them in 2011. Family Gras takes place two weekends before Fat Tuesday and includes music acts. This year the Bacon Brothers (as in Kevin Bacon) and the Doodlebops will be there. Fright Night Friday, when families are encouraged to dress up in their scariest costumes, and Sports Saturday, when everyone wears his or her favorite team's colors, are two of the festivities that take place at Family Gras.
Santorum's surge means new strategy for Romney
WASHINGTON (AP) — Staggered by Rick Santorum's surge, Mitt Romney is trying to reset his presidential campaign by defining himself as a strict conservative.
The former Massachusetts governor had focused on his business credentials and played down his ideology, four years after he failed in his attempt to win the GOP nomination by running as a social conservative.
"I was a severely conservative Republican governor," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual gathering Friday. It was a speech that, advisers said, Romney viewed as an important chance to speak directly to the conservatives who rejected him in three contests last Tuesday.
He insisted that he is a conservative in both record and background, trying to convince the GOP's skeptical right flank that he is acceptable as the party's nominee.
"My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said.
He's working to gain trust from the activists who make up the GOP base and who drive the Republican primary contest. They view him skeptically because of his past shifts on a variety of issues, including his previous support for abortion rights.
Conservatives generally view Romney's chief rivals, Santorum and Newt Gingrich, as having views more in line with their own.
Romney's new message comes as he's trying to prove he can win over a broad spectrum of Republicans. He has yet to win a majority of GOP votes in any of the contests he's won so far. And he's looking to emerge strongly from Super Tuesday, March 6, when 10 states hold nominating contests.
In offering the defense, though, Romney drew attention to the problem he's faced throughout the primary contest.
"I've never heard anybody say, 'I'm severely conservative,'" conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Friday.
Romney's conservative opposition remains divided — the former House speaker has won one state and the former Pennsylvania senator four. But Santorum is suddenly threatening Romney's dominance in states where his team had previously felt comfortable.
This past week, Santorum won contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. While Romney's team decided not to compete in Missouri's nonbinding primary and acknowledged early that Minnesota might pose problems, they were much more optimistic about Colorado. Romney spent several days campaigning there ahead of the caucuses, but his team spent just $32,000 on TV ads in the state.
In a sign it's nervous about continued losses, Romney's team abruptly added campaign events in Maine, where results from the caucuses were to be announced Saturday. He also held a town hall in the state Friday night; it was the first event where he took questions from voters since he campaigned in South Carolina in January.
Romney's team is preparing an aggressive push against Santorum in Michigan, where Romney was born and where Romney is a household name and where his advisers had hoped for an easy victory. Romney's father, George, served as governor of Michigan and chairman of American Motors Corp. before mounting a failed bid for president in 1968.
Romney all but ignored Santorum ahead of this week's contests. Advisers say that will change, with Romney taking on Santorum's record on union issues during his time in the Senate from heavily unionized Pennsylvania.
Santorum joined a filibuster of a national right-to-work act and voted to defend legislation that sets pay for public sector workers. He defends that record as an issue of states' rights.
Romney has also planned a more aggressive campaign schedule in Michigan in the coming weeks. He plans to stop in Grand Rapids on Wednesday and the Detroit area on Thursday, and stay in the Midwest through the end of the week. He's likely to spend some time campaigning in Ohio, which holds its primary on March 6, Super Tuesday, and is the second Rust Belt state to hold a nominating contest.
Romney's big advantage is money. He and his allies, the super PAC Restore Our Future, have spent a combined $25 million on TV ads to date, helping to drive wins in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. That dwarfs the $7.1 million Gingrich and his allies have spent on airtime and the $2.5 million Santorum backers have shelled out.
Still, Romney is facing a crush of primaries and caucuses on March 6, when his financial edge will be tested. But he always could add to that himself. He hasn't said if he'll contribute any of his considerable personal fortune to the campaign. In 2008, he spent $45 million.
The former Massachusetts governor had focused on his business credentials and played down his ideology, four years after he failed in his attempt to win the GOP nomination by running as a social conservative.
"I was a severely conservative Republican governor," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual gathering Friday. It was a speech that, advisers said, Romney viewed as an important chance to speak directly to the conservatives who rejected him in three contests last Tuesday.
He insisted that he is a conservative in both record and background, trying to convince the GOP's skeptical right flank that he is acceptable as the party's nominee.
"My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said.
He's working to gain trust from the activists who make up the GOP base and who drive the Republican primary contest. They view him skeptically because of his past shifts on a variety of issues, including his previous support for abortion rights.
Conservatives generally view Romney's chief rivals, Santorum and Newt Gingrich, as having views more in line with their own.
Romney's new message comes as he's trying to prove he can win over a broad spectrum of Republicans. He has yet to win a majority of GOP votes in any of the contests he's won so far. And he's looking to emerge strongly from Super Tuesday, March 6, when 10 states hold nominating contests.
In offering the defense, though, Romney drew attention to the problem he's faced throughout the primary contest.
"I've never heard anybody say, 'I'm severely conservative,'" conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Friday.
Romney's conservative opposition remains divided — the former House speaker has won one state and the former Pennsylvania senator four. But Santorum is suddenly threatening Romney's dominance in states where his team had previously felt comfortable.
This past week, Santorum won contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. While Romney's team decided not to compete in Missouri's nonbinding primary and acknowledged early that Minnesota might pose problems, they were much more optimistic about Colorado. Romney spent several days campaigning there ahead of the caucuses, but his team spent just $32,000 on TV ads in the state.
In a sign it's nervous about continued losses, Romney's team abruptly added campaign events in Maine, where results from the caucuses were to be announced Saturday. He also held a town hall in the state Friday night; it was the first event where he took questions from voters since he campaigned in South Carolina in January.
Romney's team is preparing an aggressive push against Santorum in Michigan, where Romney was born and where Romney is a household name and where his advisers had hoped for an easy victory. Romney's father, George, served as governor of Michigan and chairman of American Motors Corp. before mounting a failed bid for president in 1968.
Romney all but ignored Santorum ahead of this week's contests. Advisers say that will change, with Romney taking on Santorum's record on union issues during his time in the Senate from heavily unionized Pennsylvania.
Santorum joined a filibuster of a national right-to-work act and voted to defend legislation that sets pay for public sector workers. He defends that record as an issue of states' rights.
Romney has also planned a more aggressive campaign schedule in Michigan in the coming weeks. He plans to stop in Grand Rapids on Wednesday and the Detroit area on Thursday, and stay in the Midwest through the end of the week. He's likely to spend some time campaigning in Ohio, which holds its primary on March 6, Super Tuesday, and is the second Rust Belt state to hold a nominating contest.
Romney's big advantage is money. He and his allies, the super PAC Restore Our Future, have spent a combined $25 million on TV ads to date, helping to drive wins in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. That dwarfs the $7.1 million Gingrich and his allies have spent on airtime and the $2.5 million Santorum backers have shelled out.
Still, Romney is facing a crush of primaries and caucuses on March 6, when his financial edge will be tested. But he always could add to that himself. He hasn't said if he'll contribute any of his considerable personal fortune to the campaign. In 2008, he spent $45 million.
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