The two "black box" data recorders have been recovered

NEW YORK — The airliner that was piloted to a safe landing in the Hudson River was resting on a barge Sunday after being hoisted out of the icy current, and its two "black box" data recorders were on their way to investigators in Washington.
Salvage crews hoisted the downed US Airways jetliner from the river late Saturday, three days after its pilot made what he told investigators was a split-second decision to attempt a water landing to avoid a possibly "catastrophic" crash over populated areas.
The aircraft's torn and shredded underbelly revealed the force with which it had hit the water. Its right wing appeared charred, some pieces of metal dropped from the plane as it was maneuvered in the darkness, and the destroyed right engine appeared as though the outside had been peeled off.

An emergency slide still hung from the plane; nearby, a compartment door was open, with some luggage still visible inside. A gash extended from the base of the plane toward the windows. And in places, the skin of the aircraft was simply gone. But much of the top half of the fuselage appeared relatively untouched.

After a day struggling with the icy waters and the immense weight of the craft, the mood on the shoreline turned festive with the successful operation. Following the long work to secure the plane, people shook hands and investigators took snapshots, while police helicopters hovered overhead.
Earlier Saturday, Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger told investigators in the few minutes he had to decide where to set down the powerless plane Thursday afternoon, he felt it was "too low, too slow" and near too many buildings to go anywhere else, according to the National Transportation Safety Board account of his testimony.
The pilot and his first officer provided their first account to NTSB investigators Saturday of what unfolded inside the cockpit of the US Airways Flight 1549 after it slammed into a flock of birds and lost power in both engines. more

White supremacists groups watched in lead up to Obama administration

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hate crimes experts and law enforcement officials are closely watching white supremacists across the country as Barack Obama prepares next week to be sworn in as the first black president of the United States.

U.S. Capitol Police check observation positions in advance of Tuesday's presidential inauguration.

So far, there is no known organized effort to express opposition to Obama's rise to the presidency other than a call by the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for its members to wear black armbands as well as fly the U.S. flag upside down on Inauguration Day and Obama's first full day in office.
As Tuesday approaches, when Obama stands outside the Capitol to take the oath of office, experts expect anger about the new president to spike. But they don't expect it to go away.
"The level of vitriol, I expect, will go up a bit more around inauguration time," said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino.
There "is concern" about white supremacist groups during the inauguration, said Joe Persichini, the assistant FBI director who is helping to oversee security during the inauguration. What might the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have said? »
The inauguration of the nation's first minority president increases any potential threat, "particularly stemming from individuals on the extremist fringe of the white supremacist movement," said a recent intelligence assessment by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
But law enforcement has the appropriate resources to respond if needed, Persichini said.
"We have seen a lot of chatter," Persichini said. "We have seen a lot of discussions. We have seen some information via the Internet. But those are discussions. We look at the vulnerabilities and whether or not the groups are taking action.
"You have freedom of speech," he added. "Anyone in this nation can have a discussion about their beliefs, but we are concerned about whether or not they take that freedom of speech and exercise some act that is against the law."
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Anger, violence and interest in racist ideology did increase in the hours and days after Obama was elected president in November, hate groups experts said.
Three New York men were indicted on charges of conspiracy to interfere with voting rights -- accused of targeting and attacking African-Americans in a brutal crime spree soon after Obama was declared the winner on November 4.
And interest in racist ideology was so high right after the election that computer servers for two White supremacist Web sites crashed, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.
But the violence and interest soon subsided. Leaders within the white supremacist movement are now seeking to capitalize on Obama's presidency by using his election to help grow their organizations.
"President-elect Obama is going to be the spark that arouses the 'white movement,' " reads a posting on the National Socialist Movement Web site. "Obama's win is our win. We should all be happy of this event."
In an interview posted on his Web site on election night, former Louisiana state Rep. David Duke said Obama's election "is good in one sense -- that it is making white people clear of the fact that that government in Washington, D.C., is not our government."
"We are beginning to learn and realize our positioning," Duke, a prominent white supremacist, later said in the election night recording. "And our position is that we have got to stand up and fight now."
Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said the leaders of these groups are frustrated by Obama's win.
"I think the hate groups are desperately looking for a silver lining in a very dark cloud for them," Potok said.
While experts said it is difficult to determine how many people belong to hate groups, they do agree with an SPLC estimate that claims there are about 900 operating now, a 40 percent increase from 2000. The vast majority of these groups promote white supremacist beliefs, and range from skinheads living in urban areas to the KKK ,which is based largely in rural settings. more

CLEAR CHANNEL PLANS REVAMP

The new owners of radio giant Clear Channel Communications will next week begin implementing a massive restructuring plan that seeks to cut $400 million in costs at the company, The Post has learned.
According to three sources with knowledge of the plan, the restructuring will include layoffs across the company's radio, outdoor advertising and international divisions as well as cuts to programming budgets and consolidation of back-office operations.
A precise headcount for the layoffs could not be obtained. Clear Channel has about 30,000 employees worldwide.
The company is also likely to move toward a "national programming" model that would require less local-level staffing, despite being criticized in the past for a similar action using centralized disc jockeys that made it appear as though they were broadcasting from local stations.
Sources said an initial round of layoffs is expected to commence next Tuesday - not coincidentally the same day President-elect Barack Obama is to be sworn into office. Clear Channel managers are hoping they can slip in the layoffs while the press is preoccupied with Inauguration Day festivities, sources said.
A Clear Channel spokeswoman declined to comment.
"Clear Channel was built through a series of acquisitions that generally weren't consolidated very well," said one source, alluding to the late '90s buying spree that put more than 1,000 stations under the Clear Channel umbrella, making it the nation's largest radio company. more

Man charged with threatening Obama on website

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities on Friday arrested a U.S. man on suspicion of threatening to kill President-elect Barack Obama based on statements he posted on a website about UFOs and aliens, the Justice Department said.
Steven Joseph Christopher, in three postings to www.alien-earth.org, said he planned to assassinate Obama in Washington "as a sacrificial lamb," the department said in a statement.
"It's really nothing personal about the man. He speaks well ... . But I know it's for the country's own good that I do this," Christopher reportedly wrote.
"It's not because I'm racist that I will kill Barack, it's because I can no longer allow the Jewish parasites to bully their way into making the American people submit to their evil ways."
Christopher added that he needed money to get to Washington and that he did not own a gun, the department said.
Unprecedented security surrounds Obama, who will be sworn into office on Tuesday and become the nation's first black president.
Christopher, who is from Wisconsin but was arrested in Brookhaven, Mississippi, could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if found guilty.

Hertz to cut more than 4,000 jobs

DETROIT (Reuters) - Hertz Global Holdings Inc said on Friday that it would cut more than 4,000 jobs in a worldwide restructuring through the first quarter due to falling demand, and the car rental company's shares fell nearly 9 percent.
Hertz expects annualized savings of $150 million to $170 million in 2009 from the job cuts, it said. It expects to take a fourth-quarter charge of $20 million to $25 million for the cuts.
The cuts are in the car and equipment rental businesses as well as in corporate and support areas in all regions focused on positions that do not have direct contact with customers, Hertz said in a statement.
Hertz will have cut its workforce by 32 percent since August 2006 with the latest round of reductions, it said.
Hertz said it could not predict when its markets would improve. The declines pressured the volume of rentals, the pricing on rentals and the residual values of vehicles in its fleets during the fourth quarter.
The company estimated fourth-quarter net cash flow at about $1.75 billion and said it had ended 2008 with liquidity of about $4.9 billion.
Shares of Hertz were down 47 cents, or 8.7 percent, at $4.92 in midday New York Stock Exchange trade.

Chineese woman sentenced to death for hiring someone to strangle her son

SHANGHAI, China — A court in central China has sentenced a woman to death for hiring someone to strangle her 9-year-old son so she could have another child with her new husband without violating population laws, a court official and reports said Friday.
The case stems in part from Chinese policies - in effect for more than three decades - that limit most couples to only one child.
The Higher People's Court in Shaanxi province ordered the death penalty for former bank clerk Li Yingfang, overturning a lower court decision that might have allowed her a life sentence, said a court official.
The official at the lower court in Weinan, a city in Shaanxi, said he was familiar with the case and confirmed that the death sentence had been ordered. As is common with Chinese officials not authorized to speak to media, he gave only his surname, Liu.
Calls to the Shaanxi Higher Court rang unanswered Friday.
Liu also confirmed reports by Shaanxi Television that said Li, 36, gave custody of her son from her first marriage to the boy's grandmother after her first husband died.
She remarried, but her second husband also had a daughter from his first marriage, so the couple could not legally have another child, it said.


The report said Li first paid about $10,000 to have a man named Wang Ruijie kill her second husband's daughter, but the girl resisted and escaped. Li then took her son to a meeting with Wang, who strangled the boy and left him by a rural road. more

The 6 Most Common Sex Myths

There’s nothing like being sexually misinformed.
It can foil your sexual response. It can leave you pregnant or fielding an infection. And it can make you feel pretty silly, especially when you realize you have been wrong all along.
So to make sure you don’t go another day in the dark, here’s the real deal on some of the most important sex facts:

1. Myth: Viagra is 100 Percent Effective
When it comes to taking Viagra, or other sildenafil medications, which treat erectile dysfunction, men tend to think that it’s 100 percent effective. All you need to do is pop a pill, sit back and enjoy, right?

Fact: A desire component is needed for males to become sexually aroused and attain erection. Unless that's there, you're headed for disappointment.
The consequence: Half of the men who try using these drugs end up discontinuing them by the end of the year. This is partly due to inadequate communication with their partner and inadequate education on what to expect.


2. Myth: A Virgin's Hymen Always Breaks

Many people think that a female’s hymen is broken the first time she has intercourse.

Fact: This is not necessarily so for every gal. Depending on the female, this thin skin that stretches across the vaginal opening may be anywhere from nearly nonexistent to covering everything. It is not always torn during intercourse. Actually, 19 percent of sexually active females have no visible tearing.
This is important to know, since many cultures think the presence of a hymen is an indicator that a female is a virgin. Girls are born with hymens of various sizes and openings. Some may appear to have no hymen at all. Others have their hymen stretched from activities like bicycling or horseback riding.

3. Myth: Withdrawal = Good Birth Control

Couples have relied on the withdrawal method as a form of birth control for centuries.

Fact: Pregnancy can occur any time unprotected sex is had, whether or not a male has climaxed. Withdrawal is therefore not recommended as a form of birth control, especially for males who are sexually inexperienced.
The consequence: About half of the 6.4 million pregnancies that occurred in the United States in 2001 (the most recent year for which good data was available) were unplanned. Definitely something to think about before relying on this method.

4. Myth: Oral Sex is Safe Sex

Plenty of people engage in oral sex because they think it does not put them at risk for sexually transmitted diseases.

Fact: Unprotected oral sex puts both partners — whether giver or receiver — at risk for a number of STDs.
The consequence: While the risk of transmission from oral sex is generally lower than unprotected intercourse, lovers still have to worry about STDs like herpes and HIV.

5. Myth: You Can't Get Pregnant if You Aren't Ovulating

She’s not ovulating so she can’t get pregnant — Not!
Fact: While pregnancy is likeliest to occur during the six days leading up to, and including, ovulation, a female can get pregnant at any point in her menstrual cycle. This includes the week of her period.
Even if couples want to take a chance and avoid unprotected sex around day 14 of her menstrual cycle (when she is most fertile), the fact that many women have irregular cycles makes this a dicey decision. Even women who have regular menstrual cycles may not ovulate on the same day each month.

6. Myth: The Pill Protects Against STDs

Many females, especially young women, believe using a contraceptive pill will protect them not only from pregnancy, but also from sexually transmitted diseases.

Fact: All hormonal birth control methods, including the pill, provide protection only against pregnancy. They do not protect either lover from the transmission of infections. A male or female condom is the only way to protect against STDs when sexually active. more
Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright is a sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder.