It's complicated: Lots to sort out on gay marriage

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Two landmark Supreme Court rulings that bolster gay marriage rights don't remove all barriers to same-sex unions by a long shot. Where gay couples live still will have a lot to do with how they're treated.

Some questions and answers about Wednesday's court rulings:

Q: Can you boil down these two big rulings ? 104 pages in all ? to the basics?

A: In one case, the court said legally married gay couples are entitled to the same federal benefits available to straight couples. In the other, it cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in California, where voters banned them in 2008.

Q: What type of benefits are we talking about?

A: More than you'd expect. There are more than 1,000 federal laws in which marital status matters, covering everything from income and inheritance taxes to health benefits and pensions. In states where gay marriage is legal, same-sex couples may actually be looking forward to filing their income taxes next April ? married, filing jointly.

Q. Why does it matter where a gay couple lives?

A: Even with Wednesday's ruling, where legally married gay couples live still may affect the federal benefits they can obtain, at least for now. Social Security survivor benefits, for example, depend on where a couple is living when a spouse dies. If that happens in a state that bans or does not recognize the union, it's not for sure that the surviving spouse will be entitled to the payments. Immigration law, meanwhile, only looks at where people were married, not where they live. It's complicated.

Q: What does the U.S. marriage map look like right now?

A: It's a patchwork. Same-sex marriage is legal in 12 states and the District of Columbia ? representing 18 percent of the U.S. population. When gay marriage resumes in California, the figure will jump to 30 percent. Twenty-nine other states have constitutional amendments that ban gay marriage. Six states have laws that ban it. Two states neither allow gay marriage nor ban it.

Q: How many same-sex couples in the U.S. have been legally married?

A: The numbers are squishy. The Pew Research Center estimates there have been at least 71,000 legal marriages since 2004, when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize them, but says there are almost certainly more. The Williams Institute, a UCLA-based think tank, says approximately 114,000 couples are legally married and more than 108,000 are in civil unions or registered domestic partnerships. In California alone, 18,000 same-sex couples were married during the 142-day period when gay unions were legal there in 2008.

Q: What's all this talk about DOMA?

A: DOMA is the federal Defense of Marriage Act, enacted in 1996. The court on Wednesday struck down a section of that law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman for purposes of federal law. That's what had denied legally married gay couples access to a host of federal benefits and programs that are available to straight couples.

Q: Why all of the focus Wednesday on California?

A: The second case that the court addressed related to a 2008 state ballot proposition that added a ban on gay marriage to the California Constitution. The court didn't rule on the merits of that ballot proposal, but it left in place a trial court's declaration that the proposition is unconstitutional. That means same-sex weddings could resume in California in about a month, although a federal appeals court there said it may continue to bar gay marriages even longer if proponents of Proposition 8 ask for a rehearing.

Q: What more could the Supreme Court have done?

A: Tons. It could have given gay Americans the same constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals. Instead, it sidestepped the looming question of whether banning gay marriage is unconstitutional.

Q: What's President Barack Obama's take on all of this?

A: He welcomed the ruling striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act and directed Attorney General Eric Holder to make sure federal laws are in sync with the ruling. (Obama, who endorsed gay marriage last year, broke with his Republican and Democratic predecessors and declined to defend the law in court.) Already, the Defense Department says it is beginning the process to extend health care, housing and other federal benefits to the same-sex spouses of members of the military.

Q: How does the public feel about gay marriage?

A: Public support has grown dramatically in the last few years, with a majority now favoring legal marriage for gay couples. There's even broader support for extending to gay couples the same legal rights and benefits that are available to married straight couples. An Associated Press-National Constitution Center poll last fall found 63 percent favored granting gay couples the same legal benefits straight couples had. And 53 percent favored legal recognition of same-sex marriages.

Q: What happens next?

A: Supporters of gay marriage will keep pressing to legalize same-sex unions in all 50 states. That means more battles in individual states, and more visits to the Supreme Court.

___

Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nbenac

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/complicated-lots-sort-gay-marriage-204458634.html

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Obesity May Boost Migraine Odds - Health News and Views - Health ...

By Marijke Vroomen Durning
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) ? Obese people may be at higher risk for episodic migraine headaches, a new study suggests.

Migraines involve intense pulsing or throbbing pain in one area of the head, according to the American Academy of Neurology. Symptoms can include nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound. Migraines affect more than 10 percent of the population.

Episodic migraines ? the more common type of migraine ? occur 14 days or fewer per month, while chronic migraines occur at least 15 days per month. Low-frequency episodic migraines occur the least often.

In the new study of nearly 3,700 adults, those with a high body-mass index ? a measure of body fat determined using height and weight ? had much higher odds of having episodic migraines than did those with a lower body-mass index (BMI). This was particularly true among women, whites and people under 50 years old. As the BMI moved from normal weight to overweight to obese, so did the rate of headaches.

The cross-sectional study doesn?t prove that obesity causes episodic migraines. The study does, however, demonstrate that people who are obese have an increased risk of having more of them, even low-frequency ones, said lead author Dr. B. Lee Peterlin, an associate professor of neurology and the director of headache research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore.

The study is to be presented this week at the International Headache Congress, in Boston. The data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Dr. Gretchen Tietjen, a professor of neurology and director of the headache treatment and research program at the University of Toledo, in Ohio, said she found the study interesting because previous studies had looked for connections between obesity and chronic migraines.

?That the researchers were able to show an association between obesity and episodic migraine lends more credence to some of the earlier studies that found similar things,? she said.

She pointed out, however, that it still isn?t known which came first ? the obesity or the migraine. There are many possible scenarios, Tietjen said. ?Maybe the person had the migraines first and then started taking medications like amitriptyline or valproic acid,? she said. ?Those medications are associated with weight gain.?

The possible connection between obesity and migraines is under debate. One theory involves inflammatory substances from fat tissue (adipose) that are released into the system, Tietjen said.

Premenopausal women have more total adipose tissue in general than men, and women have more superficial and less deep adipose tissue, Peterlin said. But after menopause, adipose tissue is more similar between the two sexes.

Adipose tissue secretes different inflammatory proteins based on how much tissue there is and where it is located. Since younger women and obese people have more adipose tissue, this could, at least in part, explain why they get more headaches.

On the other hand, Peterlin also suggested that a possible connection may be related to the brain. ?Previous imaging data in migraine patients have shown activation of the hypothalamus, a part of the brain that controls the drive to feed,? she said. Alternatively, it could be that people who have migraines may be more inclined to behaviors associated with weight gain, such as being less active.

Would losing weight mean that migraines will decrease in frequency? Although weight loss is generally encouraged for people who are obese, that won?t necessarily result in migraine relief, both Peterlin and Tietjen cautioned.

At least two small studies have evaluated migraines on people who were obese and underwent bariatric surgery to lose weight, Peterlin said. Although these studies did find that some patients experienced fewer headaches, the studies were small and more research needs to be done to see if this is consistent.

It?s possible that the lifestyle changes needed for weight loss cut the migraine frequency, rather than the weight loss itself, the experts said. People who eliminate processed foods, high-calorie foods and alcohol ? all of which can be migraine triggers ? could end up experiencing fewer headaches.

Unfortunately, the opposite could also be true if dieters introduce new foods that are migraine triggers. Some people may develop migraines when they consume certain sugar substitutes, for example. There also is limited data suggesting that people with severe obesity who exercise may have fewer migraines, Peterlin said.

?Our data and previous research serve as a call to researchers in the headache field to identify safe and appropriate treatment options for obese [people with] episodic migraines of all classifications and not just those who qualify for [weight-loss] surgery,? she said.

Peterlin also suggested that physicians, in addition to providing lifestyle education to their obese patients with episodic migraines, take into account the weight-gain or weight-loss effect that migraine medications may have on their patients.

More information

Find out more about migraines at the American Academy of Neurology.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/06/26/obesity-may-boost-migraine-odds/

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HP announces Slate 21 AIO, 21.5-inch Android tablet with Tegra 4

What do you do if your home turf of PC sales is being eroded by tablets? If your answer is "sell tablets as desktops," then you're on Meg Whitman's wavelength. At an event in Beijing, HP announced a 21.5-inch, Android-powered tablet that's expressly designed as a desktop unit. The HP Slate 21 AIO comes with a full-HD touchscreen and NVIDIA's Tegra 4 internals, running Android 4.2.2. Prospective owners won't need to purchase an artists' easel, however, as there's a handy rear kickstand that'll let you stand it upright or at a 30-ish degree angle (pictured after the break), making us hope that its digitizer is sensitive enough for pen-based drawing. There's no word on pricing or availability, but there's a press release, translated from Chinese, after the break, if you'd like to know more.

Filed under: Desktops, Tablets, Google, HP

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/sia1qfaWZck/

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Texas senator filibusters against abortion bill

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Wearing pink tennis shoes to prepare for nearly 13 consecutive hours of standing, a Democratic Texas state senator on Tuesday began a one-woman filibuster to block a GOP-led effort that would impose stringent new abortion restrictions across the nation's second-most populous state.

Sen. Wendy Davis, 50, of Fort Worth began the filibuster at 11:18 a.m. CDT Tuesday and passed the halfway mark in her countdown to midnight ? the deadline for the end of the 30-day special session.

Rules stipulate she remain standing, not lean on her desk or take any breaks ? even for meals or to use the bathroom. Colleagues removed her chair so she wouldn't sit down by mistake.

If signed into law, the measures would close almost every abortion clinic in Texas, a state 773 miles wide and 790 miles long with 26 million people. A woman living along the Mexico border or in West Texas would have to drive hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion if the law passes.

In her opening remarks, Davis said she was "rising on the floor today to humbly give voice to thousands of Texans" and called Republican efforts to pass the bill a "raw abuse of power."

Democrats chose Davis to lead the effort because of her background as a woman who had her first child as a teenager and went on to graduate from Harvard Law School.

In the hallway outside the Senate chamber, hundreds of women stood in line, waiting for people in the gallery to give up their seats. Women's rights supporters wore orange t-shirts to show their support for Davis, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst had to remind those in the gallery that interrupting the proceedings could results in 48 hours in jail.

To stay sharp, Davis slowly circled her desk, pausing occasionally to read from a large binder on her desk. When a male protester stood in the Senate gallery and shouted, "abortion is genocide," Davis continued talking uninterrupted as the man was removed by security.

If the filibuster succeeds, it could also take down other measures. A proposal to fund major transportation projects as well as a bill to have Texas more closely conform with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision banning mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole for offenders younger than 18 might not get votes. Current state law only allows a life sentence without parole for 17-year-olds convicted of capital murder.

Twice in the first six hours, anti-abortion lawmakers questioned her about the bills, presenting their arguments that the measure will protect women or that abortions were wrong. Davis answered their questions, but did not give up control of the floor as she stood next to her desk.

"This is really about women's health," said Sen, Bob Deuell, who introduced a requirement that all abortions take place in surgical centers, "Sometimes bad things can happen."

Davis questioned then why vasectomies and colonoscopies aren't also required to take place in such clinics.

"Because I've been unable to have a simple question answered to help me understand how this would lead to better care for women, I must question the underlying motive for doing so."

Davis used up large chunks of time reading into the record testimony from women and doctors who would be impacted by the changes, but were denied the opportunity to testify in a Republican-controlled committee because the chairman said the it was becoming repetitive.

During one heart-wrenching story describing a woman's difficult pregnancy, Davis choked up several times and wiped tears, but kept reading.

A petite woman who stays in shape by jogging and cycling, Davis tried to stay comfortable and sharp by shifting her weight from hip to hip and slowly walking around her desk while reading notes from a large binder on her desk.

Republicans watched her closely for any rules slipup that would allow them to break the filibuster and call the bill for a vote.

The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. Also, doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles ? a tall order in rural communities.

"If this passes, abortion would be virtually banned in the state of Texas, and many women could be forced to resort to dangerous and unsafe measures," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and daughter of the late former Texas governor Ann Richards.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said the Democrats never should have been allowed to put Republicans "in a box" and complained that many in the Senate GOP were "flying by the seat of their pants."

But the bill's bogging down began with Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who summoned lawmakers back to work immediately after the regular legislative session ended May 27 but didn't add abortion to the special session to-do list until late in the process. The Legislature can only take up issues at the governor's direction.

Then, House Democrats succeeded in stalling nearly all night Sunday, keeping the bill from reaching the Senate until 11 a.m. Monday.

Debate in that chamber ranged from lawmakers waving coat-hangers on the floor and claiming the new rules are so draconian that women are going to be forced to head to drug war-torn Mexico to have abortions.

At one point, the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jodie Laubenberg of Spring, errantly suggested that emergency room rape kits could be used to terminate pregnancies.

___

Senate Bill 5: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=831&Bill=SB5

___

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cltomlinson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-senator-filibusters-against-abortion-bill-164526586.html

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Superman Reviewed: What Are People Saying About 'Man Of Steel'?

Critics say the film is a 'worthy' origin story, while others think it falls flat.
By Todd Gilchrist

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709042/superman-man-of-steel-movie-reviews.jhtml

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Not quite the ER: Boston hospital cleaning mummy

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Peter Johnson, director of the Mass General Hospital's Russell Museum, left, talks with Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, about Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

Mimi Leveque, a freelance conservator, cleans Padihershef, a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Friday, June 7, 2013. Padihershef, who has made MGH his home since 1823, was a 40-year old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)

BOSTON (AP) ? A 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy named Padihershef came out of his coffin Friday to go to the hospital.

Well, actually, he had already been there for a while.

The mummy has been on display at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the nation's oldest, since it received him as a gift from the city of Boston in 1823 as a medical oddity. He is one of the first complete mummies brought to the United States.

A conservator trained in restoring ancient artifacts removed him from his coffin Friday and began using cotton swabs dabbed in saliva to wipe away salt deposits from his face. The salt has been slowly seeping out of his tissue, a result of the mummification process.

Mimi Leveque, the conservator, also used a tiny brush to wipe the film of white salt and used a small vacuum cleaner to remove the fine dust from skin darkened by mummification resins.

"I suppose you could say it was something very similar to a facelift, maybe more; maybe he is getting a facial in a spa, perhaps," she said.

Experts are also expected to do minor repair and stabilization work on his coffin. The whole process is expected to take three days.

The mummy and his coffin will then be moved to a special horizontal case, in which they will lie next to each other, in the Ether Dome, a surgical amphitheater where William T. G. Morton demonstrated the first public surgery using anesthetic on Oct. 16, 1846.

Padihershef was a 40-year-old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile, in what is today's Luxor.

"He was probably someone who was employed to open up the ground and to create the tombs for the kings in the Valley of Kings," said Leveque, who specializes in Egyptian antiquities.

The mummy was a gift from a Dutch diplomat who was happy with Boston's hospitality. The artifact's arrival created quite a stir, and trustees of the hospital leased it to an entrepreneur who charged visitors $2.50 each to see it during a tour of American cities that extended as far south as Charleston, S.C., officials said.

No one knows exactly how the man who became a mummy lived or died. Experts are exploring those questions through a conservation project supported by the hospital and donors.

He had been greeting visitors to the hospital from his upright, open sarcophagus. He was removed from his case in March and taken on a patient stretcher to the imaging suites in the hospital, where technicians subjected him to full body X-ray and CT scanning.

Experts were surprised to see a broom handle embedded at the base of his head and running through his torso in what likely was a crude attempt to stabilize his head. There are no records to indicate when the repair was done and by whom, the hospital said on its website.

The study was intended to produce images that could be compared with those gleaned from exams conducted in 1931 and 1976 and to determine the condition of his bones. Those earlier tests revealed his bones had interrupted growth lines that indicate a severe childhood illness that resulted in stunted growth.

They also showed the mummy still has the brain in his skull, a rarity because it was typically removed to eliminate the chance of decomposition.

___

Associated Press writer Rodrique Ngowi can be reached at www.twitter.com/ngowi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-07-The%20Mummy%20Restoration/id-29bfd784d6044389b7910b465763aa36

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