The argument for military intervention, one Insider said, "has been appallingly astrategic, even by Washington standards.  

'"Assad is a bad guy and should go' is a dumb argument for war," the Insider continued. "The idea that detection of chemical weapons is/should be a trigger is also moronic. It's not like we didn't have two medium-sized wars that turned into nightmares because we didn't think them through recently. We haven't even had a discussion about what political outcome we're seeking and how aiding the rebels/intervening is supposed to produce the outcome." The war-weary American public is not going to tolerate a full-scale military intervention in the volatile country, which would likely come with heavy casualties, others said.

A 37 percent faction of Insiders, however, said now is the time for the U.S. military to get involved. "Earlier, there was insufficient regional and international support for U.S. military intervention. Now there is, plus Islamic radical involvement is mushrooming and the Syrians are testing the West by beginning to employ lethal chemical weapons (sarin). Moreover, let's remember that defeating the Assad regime will help isolate Iran and weaken Hezbollah and Hamas."

Many had different ideas about how best to proceed. "Military intervention yes, troops on the ground no," one Insider said, calling for "intelligence, sensors, air space control, drone strikes where appropriate, and material support to the opposition forces." Another added: "Military intervention ... could take the form of a no-fly zone or limited operations to secure chemical weapons sites."

One Insider insisted President Obama must back up his words with actions. "The president said that chemical weapons would be a game changer. He must do something to back that up now, in order to preserve U.S. credibility," the Insider said. "That need not be military but it must be qualitatively different from the policy to date. He should have never drawn that red line. But having done so, he cannot just ignore it."

Separately, 88 percent of Insiders were pessimistic about Obama's success in closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, a campaign promise four years ago that Congress blocked. "He will fail, as he has for the past four years. And he deserves tofail. If we didn't have the prison at Guantanamo we would have to standup one just like it somewhere else. In fact, isn't that Obama's plan?What sense does that make?" one Insider said. "Who really thinks the critics of U.S.detention policy (his and Bush's) are going to be less critical of aprison for terrorists in Illinois than a prison for them in Guantanamo?Does anyone think the critics are that stupid?"

The failure toclose Guantanamo during the president's first termhas essentiallyput this question to rest, another Insider said. "There are 50 or so violentextremists atGitmo who will remain there for the indefinite future,including [KhalidSheikh Mohammed]." The question "assumes that we take him at hisword that he will try toclose it," another Insider said. "It would require compromise andarm-twisting with Congresswhen there are many other pressing issues onthe agenda. Not gonnahappen."

National Journals National Security Insiders Poll is a periodic survey of defense and foreign policy experts. They include:

GordonAdams, Charles Allen, Thad Allen, James Bamford, DavidBarno, MiltBearden, Peter Bergen, Samuel Sandy Berger, DavidBerteau, StephenBiddle, Nancy Birdsall, Marion Blakey, Kit Bond,Stuart Bowen, PaulaBroadwell, Mike Breen, Mark Brunner, Steven Bucci,Nicholas Burns, Dan Byman, JamesJay Carafano, Phillip Carter, WendyChamberlin, Michael Chertoff, FrankCilluffo, James Clad, RichardClarke, Steve Clemons, Joseph Collins,William Courtney, LorneCraner, Roger Cressey, Gregory Dahlberg, RobertDanin, RichardDanzig, Daniel Drezner, Mackenzie Eaglen,PaulEaton, Andrew Exum,William Fallon,Eric Farnsworth, JacquesGansler,Stephen Ganyard,Daniel Goure, MikeGreen, Mark Gunzinger,Jim Harper,Michael Hayden,Michael Herson,Pete Hoekstra, BruceHoffman, PaulHughes, Colin Kahl,DonaldKerrick, Rachel Kleinfeld,Lawrence Korb,David Kramer, Andrew Krepinevich, Charlie Kupchan, W.Patrick Lang,Cedric Leighton, James Lindsay, Justin Logan, TrentLott, PeterMansoor, Ronald Marks, Brian McCaffrey, Steven Metz,Franklin Miller,Philip Mudd, John Nagl,ShujaNawaz, Kevin Nealer,Michael Oates,Thomas Pickering, PaulPillar,Stephen Rademaker, MarcRaimondi, CelinaRealuyo, BruceRiedel, BarryRhoads, Marc Rotenberg,Kori Schake, MarkSchneider,John Scofield,Tammy Schultz, StephenSestanovich, SarahSewall,Matthew Sherman,Jennifer Sims, ConstanzeStelzenmller,FrancesTownsend, Mick Trainor,Suzanne Spaulding, TedStroup, TamaraWittes,Dov Zakheim, and JuanZarate.

1. Now that the U.S. acknowledges chemical weapons use in Syria, should it intervene militarily in the conflict?

(60 votes)

NO

"Conditions on the ground remain unclear and uncertain, which makes military intervention more unlikely to succeed."

"Depends on how you define intervention militarily. Should we sendarmsto the opposition? Yes. Should we establish a no-fly zone? No.Shouldwe send ground forces? No."

"Intervening in the middle of a religious/sectarian civil war will be a disaster for all sides. Sometimes it takes morecourage to stay out of aconflict than to enter one; think Vietnam,Iraq, and Afghanistan."

"Let's get past 'tripwires' for impulsive intervention. Decisions to go in with military force should turn on a complex set of factors, of which chemical use is just one. If we intervene, we should do so decisively. Who is really ready for that now?"

"If we define 'intervening militarily' as U.S. combat units, it's not time yet."

"What's the end game? President doesn't have one."

"Whether chemical weapons were used or not says almost nothing about how intervention would affect the course of the conflict and thus whether intervention is a good idea or a bad one."

"Not our problem. Down chicken hawks, down."

"The U.S. needs to take more active steps to contain the impact of the conflict on the neighborhood--but direct intervention would not advance this goal."

"Intervene on whose behalf? There are no 'good guys' in this conflict."

"... Despite the opinion of the people who brought us Iraq."

"Give them the tools, but remember T.E. Lawrence: 'Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly.' "

"Intervention might be required at some point, but the administration needs both a rationale and a strategy that actually improves upon the status quo. As of now, it only has the rationale."

"Given our experience with Iraq WMD we must be pretty darn sure they were used before we put boots on the ground."

YES

"Punitive strikes on military targets would be appropriate but not full-scale intervention."

"Any intervention would have been far more effective had itoccurredtwo years ago. The administration missed a golden opportunityto getrid of the butcher Assad then. Now we have to carefully weighwhatcomes next before we intervene militarily."

"Create a no-fly zone of sorts along the Turkish and Syrian borders withPatriot missile batteries to give the opposition some consolidatedgeography within which they (perhaps) can build some needed institutionsand unity."

"According to the press, the president is inexorably moving to intervene by providing lethal support to Syrian forces that are non-Islamist."

"Yes, if one includes establishing a no-fly zone and arming the secularopposition within the definition of 'intervene militarily.' There is, asof now, no need or reason to deploy U.S. ground forces in Syria."

"Only to the extent of providing arms to the moderates among the rebels; something we should have done weeks, if not months, ago."

"It is a year and a half late, and the options are limited, but at least imposing a no-fly zone would show some active support and appear to meet the president's commitment since the 'red line' has been crossed. I also would hope that the president would use covert action, which could make a real difference."

"But not boots on the ground--military assistance in weapons, logistics, etc."

2. President Obama said this week he would try again to close the Guantnamo Bay prison. Will he succeed?

(60 votes)

NO

"The political resistance to housing prisoners in the U.S. is too strong."

"He has no intention of alienating his supporters on the right and will simply let the issue slide, as he has done since taking office. To do more would require putting moral courage over political expediency, something he avoids doing whenever possible."

"There are too many folks who still want the country to have this offshore option for enemy combatants. It will take a lot more years, I think."

"Congress is playing the populist card by refusing to allow transfer of dangerous prisoners to the U.S., but they cannot be released. The alternative is to transfer them to states that likely would torture them."

"Without a clear plan that replaces the functions of Guantanamo, it won't close."

"Congress will block that."

"The only way out is civil trial, and that is not the right legal framework to address these crimes. Reduce the population to those crimes fitting that framework and proceed."

"He talks the talk, but does not walk the walk."

"We should wish him success, but the primitive attitudes on this subject in Congress seem too firmly entrenched."

"The president will have great difficulty closing Guantnamo given the recent activities in Benghazi and Boston. I would hope that he will recognize that holding deadly terrorists where the required international standard of care is met yet the detainees are required to give information can be helpful in preventing attacks."

"A nation at war has the right to hold enemy combatants as long as they continue to represent a danger."

"He fears domestic political consequence of prospect that someone released from Gitmo will commit terrorism or, worse, demonstrably participate in killing Americans. The blowback would be intense. Worries about this trump everything."

"Not in a way that makes us any safer."

"He has no better options than Bush did, and even less interest."

"The Camp Seven high-value targets are enemy combatants. Bringing them to the U.S. will cause sticky legal implications Obama doesn't need right now."

"Hope over experience. A lot of legislators are intent on demagoguing the issue, and the public seem happy to see everyone who is there rot and die."

"Post-Boston, there is no way that Obama gets this through Congress."

"Transferring terrorists into the U.S. is not a winning strategy for the midterms."

YES

"It's more a matter of time and our lack of patience with the legal limbo we put the Gitmo detainees in than anything the president does to close the prison. We really need to reform our laws so cases like these can be handled expeditiously by whatever tribunal is selected to hear the case."

May 5 (SportsDirect) - Highlights of Sunday's National Basketball Association playoff games

- - -

Thunder 93, Grizzlies 91

Kevin Durant had 35 points, 15 rebounds and six assists and nailed the go-ahead shot with 11.1 seconds left as top-seeded Oklahoma City rallied to upend visiting Memphis in the opening game of the Western Conference semi-finals.

Kevin Martin added 25 points for the Thunder, who trailed by nine entering the fourth quarter.

The fifth-seeded Grizzlies led 90-87 with 1:07 to play but committed two costly turnovers in the final 18 seconds and were unable to get a shot off before the buzzer after Quincy Pondexter intentionally missed a free throw with 1.6 seconds left.

Marc Gasol had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Zach Randolph had 18 points and 10 boards for Memphis, which hurt itself by going 14-of-24 from the free-throw line.

The Thunder caught the Grizzlies at 84 on Durant's short jumper with 3:46 remaining but Memphis rebounded to take a 90-87 lead on Gasol's basket with 1:07 left.

Memphis still had a one-point lead when Derek Fisher made a steal with 17.9 seconds left to set up Durant's go-ahead hoop, and the Grizzlies turned the ball over again on Gasol's bad pass with 3.5 seconds remaining.

Oklahoma City's Reggie Jackson hit two free throws with 2.9 seconds left but fouled Pondexter while he was attempting a tying three-pointer.

Pondexter missed the first, made the second and his intentional miss was eventually corralled by Gasol but the contest ended prior to Gasol's desperate shot.

- - -

Pacers 102, Knicks 95

David West scored 20 points and Paul George added 19 as visiting Indiana took Game One from New York in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Roy Hibbert collected 14 points, eight rebounds and five blocks and Lance Stephenson had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the third-seeded Pacers, who took back homecourt advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points on 10-of-28 shooting and Raymond Felton had 18 for the Knicks in the physical battle. The teams combined for 42 personal fouls.

New York trailed 81-65 to start the fourth quarter but Anthony scored six consecutive points as the Knicks chipped away before falling short.

Game Two is on Tuesday in New York.(Editing by Gene Cherry)

MoPub is the largest exchange barometer for mobile advertising spending and trends. The data is representative of 45 billion monthly ad impressions across verticals, aggregated from smartphone applications, advertisers and demand side platforms on MoPub Marketplace.

The data in MoPub Marketplace represents quarterly trends in advertiser demand, impression prices, and mobile device inventory, without any ad network data. The Mobile Advertising Marketplace Report highlights overall trends in competitiveness for mobile ad supply through three key indices: CPM, CTR and Competitive Factor (buyer bids per impression). The data covers month-over-month trends across factors that dictate revenue for mobile application publishers.

Mobile Ad Demand Momentum in Q1 2013 Provides An Early Indication of Continued Strong Mobile Ad Growth in 2013

Our three core metrics used to track demand, eCPM, Clear Rate and Bid Depth were higher at the end of Q1 2013.

Historically, there is a dip in ad spend following the holidays as we head into the New Year. This year, we witnessed an extended down cycle, followed by an unprecedented influx in ad spend at the end of Q1, which resulted in quarter over quarter growth (Q1 2013 over Q4 2012).

In 2012, major advertising agency accounts went into review, delaying planning of 2013 budget decisions and campaigns. Uncertainty created by the government sequester debate led to a pause in ad spend and additional delays.

Mobile media buyers took advantage of an extended seasonal down cycle in Q1 to make significant improvements to ad spend optimization and to refine opportunistic tactics. This allowed mobile to capture a larger share of ad spend, once it ramped up, creating a sudden and dramatic spike in ad spend in March.

Highlights from the 2013 Q1 Mobile Advertising Marketplace Report include:

    iOS Dominating Android: The CPM premium on impressions for iOS over Android, iPad over iPhone and iPhone over Android Smartphone, increased from January to March to 39.4%, 32.0% and 76.0% respectively. Monthly Ad spend share on iPhone grew 12.4% over the quarter and now accounts over 50% of ad spend on the exchange or more than two times the share of Android Smartphones

    Android Tablets Not A Factor: Android tablets have failed to gain traction, accounting for less than 1.0% of ad spend

The data reflected here is solely representative of exchange-traded media on MoPub Marketplace and does not include any ad network or ad network mediation data. MoPub does not sell advertising and does not buy inventory. MoPub is a neutral and private entity with no ad network affiliation. Inventory on MoPub Marketplace is primarily from mobile application publishers with users in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

To download the full report, please visit: .

For more information on MoPub and the platform, visit MoPub: .

About MoPub:

MoPub is the world’s leading ad server for smartphone application publishers, designed to drive more ad revenue through a single solution. We offer the first comprehensive monetization platform for mobile app publishers that combines real-time bidding, ad serving, cross-promotional capabilities and ad network mediation into one, easy-to-use platform. As a pioneer in real-time bidding for mobile, we built the first transparent market that enables advertisers and other demand-side buyers to access billions of ad impressions with hyper-targeted data from app publishers. On MoPub Marketplace, publishers get complete control over their inventory and transparency into their ad revenue.

MoPub was founded in 2010 by an experienced mobile advertising technology team and has raised over $19 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, Jafco Ventures, and Harrison Metal Capital. MoPub is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York City. For more information, please visitand follow MoPub on Twitter at .

For media inquiries about MoPub, contact pr(at)mopub(dot)com.

Patrick DurkinMoPub917-617-2116

Gregory Hicks also argued in an interview with Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that if the U.S. military had flown aircraft over the Benghazi facility after it came under siege it might have prevented the second attack on the CIA annex that killed two CIA security officers.

Excerpts of the interview with the former deputy chief in Libya were released Monday in advance of Hicks' testimony on Wednesday before the panel.

The Sept. 11, 2012, assault killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Nearly eight months later, Republicans insist that the Obama administration is guilty of a cover-up of the events despite a scathing independent report that faulted the State Department for inadequate security at the diplomatic mission.

Hicks' comments and the hearing are likely to revive the politically charged debate in which GOP lawmakers and outside groups have faulted former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a possible presidential candidate in 2016.

After the first word of the attack in Benghazi, a seven-member security team, including two military personnel, flew from Tripoli to Benghazi. Upon their arrival, they learned that Stevens was missing and the situation had calmed after the first attack, according to a Pentagon timeline released last year.

Meanwhile, a second team was preparing to leave on a Libyan C-130 cargo plane from Tripoli to Benghazi when Hicks said he learned from the Libyan prime minister that Stevens was dead. The Libyan military agreed to transport additional personnel as reinforcements to Benghazi on its cargo plane, but Hicks complained the special forces were told not to make the trip.

"They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it," Hicks told GOP committee staff. Pressed on why, he said, "I guess they just didn't have the right authority from the right level."

Defense officials said Monday that four members of Army special forces were in Tripoli on Sept. 11, 2012, as part of a regular training mission. The officials said they were trying to track down information about the Libyan cargo plane and could not verify whether or not the special forces were told not to get on the plane.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said it is normal procedure for U.S. service members to get permission to fly on another country's military aircraft.

That flight left Tripoli after the second attack on the CIA annex that killed two security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

Hicks also contended that if the U.S. military has scrambled jet fighters after the first attack that it would have prevented the mortar attack on the CIA annex around 5:15 a.m.

"I believe the Libyans would have split. They would have been scared to death that we would have gotten a laser on them and killed them," Hicks said, according to the excerpts.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other military leaders have said there wasn't enough time for the military to respond as the events in Benghazi occurred too quickly a point reinforced by the Pentagon on Monday.

"The fact of the matter remains, as we have repeatedly indicated, that U.S. military forces could not have arrived in time to mount a rescue of those Americans who were killed and injured that night," said Pentagon press secretary George Little.

At the State Department on Monday, spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the committee's work appeared to have political aims rather than ensuring the protection of U.S. diplomats serving overseas.

"It certainly seems so, so far," he replied when asked if the department believed the investigation to be driven by partisan politics. "I mean, this is not sort of a collaborative process where the committee is working directly with us and trying to establish facts that would help as we look to keep our people safe overseas in a very complex environment."

Democrats on the committee said Monday they have been excluded from the investigation.

Ventrell said the department had not seen the full transcript of Hicks' statements to committee investigators and could not comment until it had or until after his testimony on Wednesday. At the same time, he insisted that the department was not blocking any employee from appearing before Congress or intimidating them into silence.

"We understand this testimony's going to go forward, and we want people to go and tell the truth," he told reporters. "But in terms of the full context of these remarks or these sort of accusations, we don't have the full context, so it's hard for us to respond."

Ventrell also pushed back against allegations from congressional Republicans and their surrogates that the independent panel appointed by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had not conducted a comprehensive or credible investigation into the Benghazi incident and were somehow involved in a cover-up.

He noted that the independent panel, called the Accountability Review Board, had produced a harshly critical report, blaming systematic leadership and management failures at senior levels of the State Department for the inadequate security at the Benghazi compound.

Meanwhile the co-chairs of the review board, retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former senior diplomat Thomas Pickering, released a statement rejecting claims that their panel had been denied access to key witnesses or had conducted anything less than a thorough and impartial probe.

"From the beginning of the ARB process, we had unfettered access to everyone and everything including all the documentation we needed," the two men said. "Our marching orders were to get to the bottom of what happened, and that's what we did."

Meanwhile, the former head of the State Department's counterterrorism bureau, Daniel Benjamin, denied allegations that his office had been cut out of the loop in the discussions and decision-making processes in the aftermath of the attack.

"This charge is simply untrue," he said. "At no time did I feel that the bureau was in any way being left out of deliberations that it should have been part of."

____

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

I have always been self-employed and have sometimes been at the extremes of feast or famine. During the bad times, I often worked 110-plus-hour weeks to save the ship.

Each time things have gotten really bad, my wife has had an affair to make up for the time, money and attention I can't provide her. I found out about her latest affair (her third) when I found a secret cellphone in her purse. For the last eight months, when she visited our daughter at college, she would check into a hotel with her lover.

I feel responsible for failing to meet her needs. She doesn't want a divorce, but admits she doubts she will ever fully stop dating, and says the effort she puts into deceiving me is proof she loves me and doesn't want to hurt my feelings.

I am amazed at the number of men willing to have sex with a married woman. My heart is broken, and I feel like a failure. Am I a fool to keep fighting for her? -- HOPELESSLY IN LOVE

DEAR HOPELESSLY IN LOVE: I hope you realize that as "beautiful" as your wife may be, your relationship with her isn't a healthy one. Please go online and look up the definition of the word "codependency."

If your wife loved you, she would prove it by doing everything in her power to help you through the rough periods, including finding a job to help with the bills, not sneaking around with other men. That she would claim her deceit is "proof of her love," and that you would believe her, is amazing.

This woman has shown no remorse; she has told you she doesn't plan to be faithful in the future. Do not let her hoodwink you into believing her infidelity is your fault because you worked yourself nearly into a physical collapse trying to save your business and provide for her. If you accept that, it would be foolish.

DEAR ABBY: What is proper etiquette for someone who takes pictures at a funeral?

I am a recent widow who received a package from an out-of-town relative. In it were several envelopes for my family. One of them was for my sister, who lives 40 miles away. I gave my sister a call and told her it looked like it contained a stack of pictures. She said I should go ahead and open it.

Inside were photos taken at my husband's funeral -- pictures of the funeral home, inside the church, the casket, and some of me and my daughter sitting at the gravesite. Abby, it was like going to the funeral all over again! The latter were particularly disturbing.

To me, it felt like voyeurism. Why would someone take pictures of such a sad event? I hope you print this and tell me and others what your opinion is so they may heed your advice -- particularly my in-laws. -- GRIEVING WIDOW IN INDIANA

DEAR GRIEVING: Please accept my sympathy for the loss of your husband. I can only imagine the shock you experienced when you saw the photos. No one should take pictures at funerals without first having received permission from the immediate survivors such as the widow, widower or children.

That said, the practice is not as uncommon as you might think. After a period of time, family members have been known to find comfort in having them. Short of asking your permission, your trauma could have been avoided had the relative who sent the pictures thought to label the envelopes or include a note explaining what was inside them. That way, you wouldn't have had to view them until you were ready -- if ever -- and were prepared emotionally.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: "Abby's Favorite Recipes" and "More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $14 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teens and preteens with a parent deployed in the military may be more likely to binge drink or misuse prescription drugs, according to a new study.

Previous studies have found that with a parent's multiple deployments come higher levels of depression and more thoughts of suicide among children. But the new study is the first to focus on alcohol and drug use, senior author Stephan Arndt told Reuters Health.

"What was sort of surprising to me was that I had expected those effects for high school (students), but we saw it in sixth graders too," said Arndt, a psychiatry researcher at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Arndt and his colleagues analyzed statewide survey data from Iowa students in 2010, when 1.2 million American children had a parent in the active duty military. They compared data from 1,700 kids of deployed parents and 57,000 kids from non-military families, including sixth, eighth and 11th graders.

Twelve percent of sixth graders with a deployed parent had tried alcohol and seven percent had consumed five or more drinks in one sitting, compared to four and two percent of children of non-military parents, respectively.

Among eleventh graders, 29 percent of military children had binge drank in the past month and 15 percent had smoked pot, compared to 22 percent and 10 percent of non-military kids.

Fifteen percent of all kids and teens in the deployed-parent group compared to seven percent of other youth had misused prescription drugs in the past month, the researchers reported in the journal Addiction.

"This research just adds further to the mounting evidence that there are negative mental health effects on children associated with parental military deployment," Dr. Timothy Shope, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, told Reuters Health by email.

The study looked at only one point in time and did not track the kids before and after their parents were deployed - so the researchers can't say for certain that deployment caused risky behaviors, according to Dr. Timothy Roberts, an adolescent medicine specialist at Naval Medical Center San Diego, who was not involved in the study.

There are several long-term studies of military children funded by the U.S. government going on now that will yield more definitive results, Roberts told Reuters Health in an email.

This study primarily included Army Reserve and National Guard families in Iowa, with parents who would have worked civilian jobs before deployment and whose families didn't live on military bases. Those children may be most vulnerable to the upheaval of deployment, noted Shope, who served for 21 years in the Navy before retiring in 2011.

On bases, full-time active duty military live near built-in support systems as well as other military families who look out for each other during deployment, but Army Reserve and National Guard families often don't have those resources, Shope said.

"I think community service agencies, military service agencies and schools should put something in place that adds support to the children" and the rest of the family left behind, Arndt said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Z6q48I Addiction, online March 28, 2013.

With his younger brother following along and constantly pushing him, Moore became a rising talent in action sports.

The innovative freestyle snowmobile rider, who was hurt in a crash at the Winter X Games in Colorado, died Thursday morning. He was 25.

Moore had been undergoing care at a hospital in Grand Junction since the Jan. 24 crash. Family spokeswoman Chelsea Lawson confirmed his death, the first in the 18-year history of the X Games.

"He lived his life to the fullest. He was an inspiration," Lawson said.

A former all-terrain vehicle racer, Moore switched over to snowmobiles as a teenager and quickly rose to the top of the sport. He won four Winter X Games medals, including a bronze last season when his younger brother, Colten, captured gold.

Caleb Moore was attempting a backflip in the freestyle event in Aspen last week when the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile caught the lip of the landing area, sending him flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first into the snow with his snowmobile rolling over him.

Moore stayed down for quite some time, before walking off with help and going to a hospital to treat a concussion. Moore developed bleeding around his heart and was flown to a hospital in Grand Junction for surgery. The family later said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.

Colten Moore was injured in a separate crash that same night. He suffered a separated pelvis in the spill.

The family said in a statement they were grateful for all the prayers and support they have received from people around the world.

X Games officials expressed their condolences and said Moore, a four-time X Games medallist , would be remembered "for his natural passion for life and his deep love for his family and friends."

B.C. Vaught, Caleb Moore's agent for almost a decade, said he first saw Moore when he was racing an ATV in Minnesota and signed him up to star in some action sports movies.

Later, Moore wanted to make the switch from ATVs to snowmobiles and Vaught helped him. A natural talent, it only took Moore two weeks to master a difficult backflip.

Moore honed his skills in Krum, a town about 5,000 people 50 miles northwest of Dallas that rarely sees snow. Instead, he worked on tricks by launching his sled into a foam pit. After a brief training run on snow ramps in Michigan, he was ready for his sport's biggest stage the 2010 Winter X Games.

In that contest, Moore captured a bronze in freestyle and finished sixth in best trick. Two years later, his biography on ESPN said, "Caleb Moore has gone from 'beginner's luck' to 'serious threat.'"

That was hardly a surprise to Vaught, who said, "Whatever he wanted to do, he did it."

Vaught said Moore didn't believe his sport was too extreme, but rather "it was a lifestyle." He was good at it along with ATV racing as he accumulated a garage full of trophies.

Fellow snowmobile rider Levi LaVallee recently described Moore as a "fierce competitor."

"A very creative mind," LaVallee said. "I've watched him try some crazy, crazy tricks and some of them were successful, some of them not so much. But he was first guy to get back on a sled and go try it again. It shows a lot of heart."

X Games officials said in a statement that they would conduct a thorough review of freestyle snowmobiling events and adopt any appropriate changes.

"For 18 years, we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts. Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain," they said, noting that Moore was hurt performing a move he had done several times before.

Weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 16,000 to 339,000, the second-lowest level in more than five years, according to the Labor Department.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 65 points to 14,742 as of 12:42 p.m. Eastern, a gain of 0.4 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 was up nine at 1,588, or 0.6 percent.

The drop in jobless claims is especially welcome in a job market that has suffered some recent setbacks. In March, employers added only 88,000 jobs. That was a sharp drop from the previous four months, when hiring averaged 220,000 per month. The unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent, but only because more people stopped looking for jobs.

Many companies have been reporting better first-quarter results, but not necessarily because of stronger economic conditions.

So far this season, 71 percent of S&P 500 companies have beat analysts' profit expectations, according to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet. But that has come more from cost-cutting than from business going gangbusters. Fifty-six percent of those companies have missed estimates for revenue.

The trend has a precedent: Last year, less than half of S&P 500 companies beat revenue estimates in the second and third quarters, according to Butters.

Dow Chemical, which reported results Thursday, fit both descriptions. The company managed to increase profits even as revenue slipped because it cut costs and paid down debt. The stock was up 5 percent at $33.83.

In a report to clients Thursday morning, ConvergEx Group analyst Nicholas Colas noted the higher earnings but said they don't match the "real feel" of an economy still crimped by "lackluster jobs growth, a flattening rate of improvement in the housing market, and incremental government austerity measures."

"If U.S. companies have proven anything in the last four years of subpar macroeconomic results," Colas wrote, "it is that they can make gallons of lemonade from just a few shriveled bits of citrus."

Profit and revenue jumped at the cruise line Royal Caribbean as more people booked vacations than a year ago, and the stock jumped 7 percent to $36.66. This year's comparisons, however, are a bit unusual: Last year's results were hurt because of the sinking of the Costa Concordia, owned by rival cruise line Carnival.

Profit and revenue also rose at 3M, maker of Scotch tape and construction equipment. But the stock was down 3 percent at $104.51. Investors were unnerved when the company cut its profit predictions for the year, citing a "low-growth economic environment."

Profit and revenue fell at Cliffs Natural Resources and Carbo Ceramics, but the stocks went in opposite directions. Cliffs, which sells iron ore, shot 15 percent higher to $21.05. Carbo, which provides services and parts for the petroleum industry, plunged 13 percent to $74.92.

At Cliffs, the lower profits were still better than analysts had expected. At Carbo, investors were worried because the company said Chinese ceramic imports were hurting its pricing, and because drilling companies were taking more rigs out of action.

Safeway, a major grocery store chain, plunged 18 percent to $23.31 after reporting revenue that missed Wall Street's expectations, even as its earnings per share was in line with estimates. Safeway has been focusing on low prices to fend off competition from discounters such as dollar stores and big-box retailers.

The Nasdaq composite index was up 27 to 3,296, or 0.8 percent.

In other markets, gold futures rose 2 percent to $1,455 an ounce and the price of crude oil rose 1 percent to $92.50 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged up to 1.72 percent from 1.71 percent.

RELATED:

Of all the bizarre, pointless, and occasionally boneheaded consquences of the sequester, the  and the closing of control towers are hardly the most disatrouous. While some airports (particulalrly in New York City area) have seen heavy backups, —and many, many flyers have hardly even noticed the change. Those who have, well, they've only been marginally inconvenienced, relatively speaking; a two-to-three hour delay is hardly unheard of on a good flying day, and a few missed business meetings will not cripple the economy. 

RELATED:

But the people who miss those meetings . As(and many others) have pointed out, the FAA furloughs are bad for people who fly a lot. And people who fly a lot tend to be richer. Congress. Shuttling between your district and Washington gets you a lot of frequent flier miles. Here's more from Barro:

Meanwhile sequestration is forcing an  in benefits to approximately 1.8 million long-term unemployed Americans. It has also led state and local housing agencies to  to families on waiting lists. Congress has not rushed to fix those problems.

The FAA fix has been sold as an effort to ensure that sequestration does not interfere with "essential" government services. When lawmakers say "essential," they apparently mean "essential to people like me."

Unfortunately, the whole of the point of the sequester was that . That was the only way to get both sides united behind a workable budget compromise. If Congress is going to make a patchwork quilt of fixes that only address the loudest complaints, there's no need to fix any of the actual underlying problems. Indeed, it will probably only make those problems worse.

RELATED:

Instead Congress gets to pat itself on the back for doing something, and go right back to pretending that real people aren't being seriously hurt by their lack of real action.

Congress showed again today it's not "broken." It works just fine, just not the way people want it to.

House votes to end Air Traffic Controller furloughs, then leaves Capitol and heads to the airport.

The lesson of Congress' FAA fix: Congress will act, but only if it and its friends are hurt. What a sad commentary on DC.

A Berne court found the man guilty of causing bodily harm and spreading the virus which can cause Aids, court secretary Rene Graf told Reuters. He did not give any further details.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 15 years in jail, according to media reports.

"The accused and nobody else is responsible for infecting the 16 people," Swiss news agency SDA quoted court president Urs Herren as saying, adding the man's motive could have been to seek attention, exact revenge, or prove his omnipotence.

The 54-year-old from the Swiss capital Berne had consistently denied the charges, blaming the victims for contracting HIV through unprotected sex and intravenous drug use, Swiss media reported.

They did not reveal the man's identity or nationality, in accordance with rules on Swiss criminal proceedings.

The case came to the attention of the authorities after an HIV-positive patient told a hospital he suspected his infection was linked to acupuncture treatments he received from the man.

The majority of the infected individuals were students of a music school run by the man, who also had an acupuncture practice. Some of the victims told the court he stabbed them with a needle from behind during treatment, SDA reported.

Police stormed the man's home a week ago after he stopped coming to the trial. The man, who was free on bail, had barricaded himself inside and was armed with a knife, issuing threats to police, according to media reports.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Clelia Oziel)