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ONONDAGA, N.Y. (AP) — Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike's handlebars and hit his head on the pavement. The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Onondaga, in central New York near Syracuse. beats by dre pro State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets. Troopers say Contos hit his brakes and the motorcycle fishtailed. The bike spun out of control, and Contos toppled over the handlebars. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. Troopers say Contos would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet. "They were in a similar anti-government fever, anti-tax fever in 1995 until, you know, the struggle went on for a year and they shut the government down twice," Clinton said. "The public made a judgment that that was not right.monster beats pro And then we finally broke through. It wound up with the balanced budget act and forced surpluses and real prosperity." Could the dispute this time push past the Aug. 2 deadline when, officials say, failing to raise the nation's debt ceiling could lead to America defaulting on its loans? Clinton didn't discount the possibility. "When I passed my budget in 1993, they routinely said it would bring on a terrible recession, [that] it was the end of capitalism as we knew it," he said. "And we had the best eight years in our history. But they just kept saying it. You've got to give them credit. The evidence doesn't deter them. ... It's an ideological conviction. So, I don't know that it can be resolved until there's some break beats pro headphonesin the action." Bill Clinton Expects Obama Re-Election: Here's Why Public opinion, Clinton said, swung against the Republicans when they pushed their anti-tax arguments over the line in the mid-1990s. But the possibility of the same thing happening again isn't the whole reason he believes that President Obama will be elected to a second term in 2012. "I'll be surprised if he's not reelected," he said. "I've always thought he would be." For one thing, Clinton believes the economy will be better by Election Day than it is now, though unemployment still will be relatively high and the improvement in the economy won't be as dramatic as the emergence from a shallower recession during his first four years as president. "The circumstances are different," Clinton said. "When President Obama took office, we were in the midst of avoiding having a financial collapse turn into a depression. So, the unemployment rate was higher and people were scared to death about what was going to happen. The so-called stimulus bill actually outperformed expectations, not underperformed, but it wasn't big enough to lift this whole economy out of the hole it was in. The auto restructuring is working. And I think monster beats special edition he'll be able to point to that." He also believes whichever Republican gets nominated to face Obama will get boxed in by ideology. "Since they, apparently, ideologically, will not dr dre beats special editionpermit their candidates to do some of the things that would be most effective in creating jobs and in balancing budget, I just don't think they'll be able to get away with what they got away with in the election in 2010," Clinton said. "You won't just be able to say, 'Vote for me, I'm the non-Obama.' I think he's going to be able to point to a lot of very specific things that are better. I think that he's going to be able to convince people that it takes a little longer after that kind of collapse to recover. It took Japan a decade to recover. ... We're coming back quicker than that."

P) — The scope of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s oil leak into the Yellowstone River could extend far beyond a 10-mile stretch of the famed waterway, the company acknowledged under political pressure Monday. As the company intensified its cleanup beats dre special headphonesof tens of thousands of gallons of spilled crude, Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. President Gary Pruessing pledged to do "whatever is necessary" to find and mop up oil from the 12-inch pipeline that broke at the bottom of the river over the weekend. The company earlier downplayed assertions from state and federal officials that damage from the spill was spread over dozens of miles. That drew sharp criticism from Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who planned to tour the damaged areas Tuesday. Company officials said their statements were misconstrued, and Pruessing pledged that crews would begin walking the Yellowstone shoreline as soon as the flooding river recedes to look for pooled oil along the banks.monster beats kobe "We're not limiting the scope of our cleanup to the immediate site," Pruessing said at a news conference along the river near Laurel, as crews mopped up oil in the background. "We are not trying to suggest in any way that that's the limit of exposure." Underscoring rising anger over the spill among some riverfront property owners, Pruessing was confronted after his news conference by a goat farmer and environmental activist who said his partner was sickened by oil fumes and had to be taken to the emergency room. "I need to know what we've been exposedbeats by dre kobe bryant to. People are sick now," Mike Scott said. Scott's partner, Alexis Bonogofsky, was diagnosed Monday with acute hydrocarbon exposure after she experienced dizziness, nausea and trouble breathing, he said. Pruessing said air and water monitoring had not revealed any health risks. But he told Scott the company would provide the public with more information. The Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement Monday afternoon that officials were still taking air and water samples to determine the impacts. Exxon Mobil has estimated that up to 1,000 barrels, or 42,000 gallons, of crude oil spilled Friday night before the flow from the damaged pipeline was stopped. The break near Laurel has fouled miles of riverbank, although high water has hobbled attempts to find where all the oil went. EPA officials said they and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel conducted an aerial assessment of the Yellowstone from Laurel to 30 miles downstream of Billings, finding oil deposits along the river banks, in slow water and in small pools in backwaters at intermittent points. Montana's Disaster and Emergencykobe bryant limited headphones Services Division was unable to give an update on the spill Monday. The 20-year-old Silvertip pipeline delivered 40,000 barrels a day to a refinery in Billings along a route that passes beneath the river. The line was temporarily shut down in May after Laurel officials raised concerns that it could be at risk as the Yellowstone started to rise. And regulators twice in the last year warned Exxon Mobil of several safety violations along the line. The company decided to restart the line after examining its safety record and deciding it was safe, Pruessing said. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which oversees pipelines, notified Exxon Mobil in July 2010 of seven potential safety violations and other problems along the pipeline. Two of the warnings faulted the company for monster beats proits emergency response and pipeline corrosion training. Transportation Department spokeswoman Patricia Klinger said the company has since responded to the warnings and the case was closed. The company also was cited for "probable violations" in a February letter. Those included inadequate pipeline markers in a housing development, a section of pipeline over a ditch covered with potentially damaging material and debris, vegetation in a housing area that covered a portion of line and prevented aerial inspections, and a line over a canal not properly protected against corrosion. The company responded in a March letter that it had corrected all of the problems, most of them within a few weeks of being notified. Company spokesman Alan Jeffers said there was no direct connection between those problems and the pipeline failure. "These are important things we needed to take care of, and we took care of them by the time we got the notice," Jeffers said. No fines were issued, he said. Despite Exxon Mobil's pledge to see the cleanup through to its end, the Yellowstone spill has amplified calls from some safety advocates and environmentalists who want the government to impose more stringent regulations on the industry. It follows other high-profile pipeline accidents in recent months. A Pacific Gas & Electric Co. natural gas line exploded in San Bruno, Calif., in September, killing eight people, and an Enbridge Energy pipeline failure in July 2010 spilled 900,000 gallons of crude into Michigan's Kalamazoo River. Anthony Swift, a policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the fact that Exxon Mobil's Silvertip line was apparently in compliance with federal rules underscores that those rules need to be strengthened. "These are the sort of spills that we shouldn't be tolerating," Swift said. "We need to incorporate tougher safety standards." The cause of the Montana spill has not yet been determined. Company and government officials have speculated that high waters in recent weeks may have scoured the river bottom and exposed the pipeline to debris that could have damaged the pipe. The company said only one case of wildlife damage — a dead duck — had been reported, but Pruessing said that could not be confirmed. A local newspaper, the Billings Gazette, has run pictures of a turtle and a group of pelicans apparently with oil on them. A six-person team from International Bird Rescue was in Montana to help with any wildlife rescues that might arise. U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel on the scene referred questions about wildlife impacts to an Exxon Mobil spokesman. Initial progress on the cleanup will be beats by dre protested in coming days as the Yellowstone starts to rise again, making it harder to get to oil-soaked areas and possibly leading to cleaned areas becoming fouled again. The Yellowstone River at Billings had dropped nearly 2 feet by Monday from its peak Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. But temperatures reached the mid-90s Sunday, causing the melt of mountain snow to accelerate. That was expected to push the river up again, with the next peak forecast for Tuesday afternoon, meteorologist Albert Richmond said. If another surge of water pushes oil further into back channels as expected, it could be a potential threat to fisheries, said Bruce Farling, executive director of Trout Unlimited's Montana chapter. Farling said there are manymonster beats ferrari fish eggs and recently hatched fish in those channels. The stretch of the Yellowstone where the spill occurred contains sauger, bass catfish, goldeye, trout and, farther downstream, below Miles City, native pallid sturgeon. "If we get a bunch of oil in some of these backwater areas, these are precisely where these small fish rear," Farling said.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The four astronauts who will close out NASA's 30-year space shuttle program arrived Monday for their history-making launch week, saluting the nation's birthday and all those who contributed to Atlantis' final flight. The launch countdown begins Tuesday. Liftoff is set for Friday at 11:26 a.m. before an estimated crowd of up to 1 million people. Commander Christopher Ferguson and monster beats pro his crew received small American flags as launch director Mike Leinbach greeted them out on the runway. The four needed just two training jets for the flight from their training base in Houston. "This is a day that's decidedly American, a day where we kind of reflect on our independence and all the wonderful things that we really have as a part of being United States of America," said Ferguson, a retired Navy captain. "It's wonderful that you've all came out to join us," he told the approximately 65 photographers and other journalists who swarmed the runway. He urged them to go and enjoy some barbecue, fireworks and apple pie.beats by dre pro Altogether, about 2,500 members of the news media have requested credentials to cover the launch. As of Monday, the estimated total crowd count also had risen: NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said between 750,000 and 1 million people now are expected to jam the area to witness the end to shuttle history. That's considerably more than the crowds that showed up for Discovery's last liftoff in February and Endeavour's in May. The Endeavour send-off even attracted President Barack Obama and his entire family, but a launch delay in late April had him mingling instead with the shuttle crew and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the wounded wife of commander Mark Kelly. A busy 12-day flight lies ahead, Ferguson said, making note of the abridged crew. Atlantis will make a supply run to the International Space Station, before joining Discovery and Endeavour in retirement. "When it's all over ... we'll be very beats by dre proproud to put the right-hand bookend on the space shuttle program," he said. Added co-pilot Douglas Hurley: "We're so very proud to be here sharing our nation's birthday with you all and the folks here at Kennedy, and we just want to honor the entire Kennedy team that has worked on these magnificent machines over the last 30-plus years." NASA hasn't launched so few shuttle astronauts since mission No. 6 in 1983. That's because there are no more shuttles left to retrieve them from the space station in the event of serious launch damage to Atlantis; the shuttle crew would have to be rescued by Russia's much smaller Soyuz capsules. Americans will continue to hitch rides aboard Soyuz spacecraft to and from the space station, until private companies are able to launch their own spacecraft with crews. That's at least three to five years away. The Obama administration wants NASA to focus on expeditions to an asteroid and Mars, instead of repeated trips to low-Earth orbit. There's not enough money to do both, shuttle program manager John Shannon told reporters last week. "We're sacrificing the shuttle to enable monster beats ferrarius to be able to take that next step," Shannon said. "If we were going to retire the shuttle,beats by dre ferrari this is the time to do it," he said, noting that the space station is now completed and in good shape. Despite the overriding significance of this last shuttle flight, astronaut Rex Walheim delighted in the little things Monday. monster beats lamboghin "It's such a pleasure to come down here when you have a rocket on the pad and it's got your stuff loaded on it," he said with a wide grin. The three men — all with military backgrounds — are joined on the crew by Sandra Magnus, a civilian scientist. Each has flown in space before.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The four astronauts who will close out NASA's 30-year space shuttle program arrived Monday for their history-making launch week, saluting the nation's birthday and all those beats studio kobe bryantwho contributed to Atlantis' final flight. The launch countdown begins Tuesday. Liftoff is set for Friday at 11:26 a.m. before an estimated crowd of up to 1 million people. Commander Christopher Ferguson and his crew received small American flags as launch director Mike Leinbach greeted them out on the runway. The four needed just two training jets for the flight from their training base in Houston. "This is a day that's decidedly American, a day where we kind of reflect on our independence and all the wonderful things that we really have as a part of being United States of America," said Ferguson, a retired Navy captain. "It's wonderful that you've all came out to join us," he told the approximately 65 photographers and other journalists who swarmed the runway. He urged them to go and enjoy some barbecue, fireworks and apple pie. Altogether, about 2,500 membersFrom-Monster-1448.html">monster beats red sox monster beats kobe bryant of the news media have requested credentials to cover the launch. As of Monday, the estimated total crowd count also had risen: NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said between 750,000 and 1 million people now are expected to jam the area to witness the end to shuttle history. That's considerably more than the crowds that showed up for Discovery's last liftoff in February and Endeavour's in May. The Endeavour send-off even attracted President Barack Obama and his entire family, but a launch delay in late April had him mingling instead with the shuttle crew and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the wounded wife of commander Mark Kelly. A busy 12-day flight lies ahead, Ferguson said, making note of the abridged crew. Atlantis will make a supply run to the International Space Station, before joining Discovery and Endeavour in retirement. "When it's all over ... we'll be monster beats red soxvery proud to put the right-hand bookend on the space shuttle program," he said. Added co-pilot Douglas Hurley: "We're so very proud to be here sharing our nation's birthday with you all and the folks here at Kennedy, and we just want to honor the entire Kennedy team that has worked on these magnificent machines over the last 30-plus years." NASA hasn't launched so few shuttle astronauts since mission No. 6 in 1983. That's because there are no more shuttles left to retrieve them from the space station in the event of serious launch damage to Atlantis; the shuttle crew would have to be rescued by Russia's much smaller Soyuz capsules. Americans will continue to hitch rides aboard Soyuz spacecraft to and from the space station, until private companies are able to launch their own spacecraft with crews. That's at least three to five years away. The Obama administration wants NASA to focus on expeditions to an asteroid and Mars, instead of repeated trips to low-Earth orbit. There's not enough money to do both, shuttle program manager John Shannon told reporters last week. "We're sacrificing the shuttle to enable us to be able to take that next step," Shannon said. "If we were going to retire the shuttle, this is the time to do it," he said, noting that the space station is monster beatsbeats studio lamborghini lamborghiniow completed and in good shape. Despite the overriding significance of this last shuttle flight, astronaut Rex Walheim delighted in the little things Monday. "It's such a pleasure to come down here when you have a rocket on the pad and it's got your stuff loaded on it," he said with a wide grin.monster beats ferrari The three men — all with military backgrounds — are joined on the crew by Sandra Magnus, a civilian scientist. Each has flown in space before.

..CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's ever-theatrical President Hugo Chavez made a surprise homecoming on Monday after cancer surgery in Cuba, thrilling supporters with an emotional pledge to win the fight to regain his health. His voice straining at times, Chavez told a crowd of thousands gathered outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas he still needed strict medical treatment. "Let nobody think my presence here today, July 4, means that we have won," he said. "I swear that we will win the battle". After an overnight flight home, Chavez, 56, rested during the day then appeared on the balcony where he has addressed the nation during some of the biggest moments of his rule, including after he survived a short-lived 2002 coup. Chavez's return changes the political dynamics once again in Venezuela, where politicians on all sides had been bracing for a protracted months-long absence of the man who has dominated the OPEC member nation since beats solo michael jackson limitedtaking power in 1999. "Long live life, long live Chavez!" the president, wearing a military uniform, told his delirious fans. He was strong enough to sing the national anthem and talk for 34 minutes. Some supporters wept as Chavez recounted details of his operation in Cuba. "Those days were not easy," he said. The unpredictable, populist Chavez, who has nationalized vast swaths of the economy and led anti-U.S. sentiment in Latin America, jetted in just in time for two days of celebrations of Venezuela's 200th anniversary of independence from Spain. "He wanted to prevent the situation from unraveling," said analyst Michael Shifter. "The bicentennial was too compelling an occasion to miss. ... It was politically irresistible." Before speaking from the balcony,beats by dre lamboghin Chavez waved a large Venezuelan flag and made the Christian sign of the cross. With their "comandante" back on Venezuelan soil, elated supporters took to the streets of Caracas all day, chanting: "He's back! He's back!" and "Ooh! Aah! He's here to stay!" Many Venezuelans had thought Chavez's convalescence after two operations last month in Cuba -- one to remove a cancerous tumor -- would keep him in Havana for weeks, possibly months. "I'm fine. I feel well," Chavez said upon arrival, singing a folk song and hugging ministers at the airport. "I'm back at the epicenter of Bolivar," he added, in reference to his idol, Simon Bolivar, a hero of South America's fight for independence from Spanish rule. Casting himself as Bolivar's successor,beats by dre ferrari Chavez's government has during 12 years in power boosted state control over oil, restricted currency exchange and taken over companies ranging from cement makers to producers of glass bottles and toilets. LENGTHY TREATMENT POSSIBLE Despite euphoria among supporters, Chavez's exact condition is unclear. He may still face lengthy treatment, throwing into question his ability to prepare for a 2012 re-election bid. Chavez said his homecoming was "the start of the return," implying to some he may keep a low profile in Venezuela or even return to Cuba for further cycles of treatment. While not showing anything conclusive about his health, his return to Venezuela does address complaints from critics that Chavez was flouting the constitution and risking national security by ruling from a hospital in a foreign country. Chavez's return caught Venezuelans by surprise on the first of two days of holidays for Tuesday's independence date. "He's looking a bit better. May God take care of him and cure him," said 65-year-old pensioner Berxi de Chavez at the rally outside the presidential palace. The drama around Chavez's health has helped distract attention from problems that threaten to weaken his support among the country's poorest, including frequent power outages, high crime and a growing shortage of affordable housing. PROBLEMS Polls show those concrete issues are weakening the appeal of his history-steeped nationalism, which frequently invokes the Latin American unity efforts of the 19th century. "For a government to be able to rise from its ashes, it needs to improve the economic and social situation of the country," said Antonio Ledezma, opposition mayor of Metropolitan Caracas and a virulent Chavez critic. Still, opposition politicians have beats by dre prostruggled to give a strong and united response to the Chavez health saga. While clearly encouraged by prospects for their election campaign next year, they also do not want to be seen as exulting over his physical misfortune. Chavez had been preparing for Tuesday's celebrations for years. He even named a nationalized supermarket chain and group of banks "Bicentennial" last year in honor of the anniversary. A military parade and street parties were planned. Around Caracas, impromptu parties began among Chavez supporters, some picking up instruments and singing. "He's brought the soul back to our bodies, the smile back to our lives. Welcome home, Comandante!" said Mario Silva, a TV presenter known for his aggressive espousal of "Chavismo." Reaction among opposition supporters was more muted. "He's still sick. How can he rule Venezuela?" said one woman, monster beats proa member of opposition party Democratic Action who asked not to be named "so the Chavistas don't come for me." (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher, Girish Gupta, Mario Naranjo, Brian Ellsworth, Enrique Andres Pretel, Pablo Garibian, Jeff Franks in Havana; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Todd Eastham) ...

..ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jurors did not reach a verdict Monday in the Casey Anthony murder trial after deliberating for almost six hours on the prosecution's claim that the woman killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee becausebeats by dre lamboghin the toddler interrupted her carefree partying and love life. The jury began considering the case around noon after prosecutors gave a rebuttal closing argument and said the defense's assertion that Caylee's death was an accident made no sense. Anthony is charged with first-degree murder and six other charges. If convicted of first-degree murder, she could be sentenced to death or life in prison. The sequestered jury of seven women and five men was scheduled to resume deliberating Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. They were chosen from the Tampa Bay area because of exhaustive pretrial media coverage in the Orlando area and have been sequestered in an Orlando hotel. They have listened to 33 days of testimony and another two monster beats solodays of closing arguments. All the evidence has been sent back to the jury room, but jurors will be brought into open court if they want to watch any of the video evidence. Equipment for video viewing is not available in the deliberation room. Anthony's attorneys say the girl drowned in the family's pool. They have said Anthony panicked and that her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a homicide by placing duct tape over the child's mouth and dumping the body in some nearby woods. George Anthony has denied that. Prosecutor Jeff Ashton told the jurors no one makes an innocent accident look like murder. "That's absurd. Nothing has been presented to you to make that any less absurd," Ashton said. He also spent significant time reminding jurors about forensic evidence that he said links Anthony to her daughter's death, including the smell and chemical signature of decomposition in her car.beats by dre solo Lead prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick followed Ashton, telling the jurors that prosecutors presented every piece of evidence they promised in May during opening statements. Without saying it, she was pointing out that defense attorneys never presented direct evidence backing up their contentions that the child drowned. She then hammered on the lies Casey Anthony, then 22, told from June 16, 2008, when her daughter last seen, and a month later when sheriff's investigators were notified. Those include the single mother telling her parents that she couldn't produce Caylee because the girl was with a nanny named Zanny, a woman who doesn't exist; that she and her daughter were spending time in Jacksonville with a rich boyfriend who doesn't exist; and that Zanny had been hospitalized after an out-of-town traffic crash and that they were spending time with her. "Responses to grief are as varied as the day is long, but responses to guilt are oh, so predictable," Drane Burdick said. "What do guilty people do? They lie. They avoid. They run. They mislead, not just to their family, but the police. They divert attention away from themselves and they act like nothing beats solo purpleis wrong. That's why you heard about what happened in those 31 days." Burdick concluded the state's case by showing the jury two side-by-side images. One showed Casey Anthony smiling and partying in a nightclub during the month Caylee was missing. The other was of the "beautiful life" tattoo she got a day before her family and law enforcement first learned of the child's disappearance. "At the end of this case, all you have to ask yourself is whose life was better without Caylee?" Burdick asked. "This is your answer." Anthony sat stone-faced during much of the prosecutors' arguments, but occasionally shook her head in disagreement and spoke under her breath. Defense attorneys contend Anthony's lies and erratic behavior were brought on by her grief over her dead child and the sexual abuse she suffered as a child from her father. George Anthony has denied that allegation, and the judge said no evidence has been presented to support it. Defense attorney Jose Baez said during his closing argument Sunday that the prosecutors' case was so weak they tried to portray Anthony as "a lying, no-good slut" and that their forensic evidence was based on a "fantasy." He said Caylee's death was "an accident that snowballed out of control." Baez began his closing argument Sunday with his biggest question: How did Caylee die? Neither prosecutors nor the defense have offered firm proof. He attacked the prosecution's forensic evidence. He said air analysis of the trunk of Anthony's car, which allegedly showed air molecules consistent with decomposition, could not be duplicated. No one could prove a stain found in the trunk was caused by Caylee's body decomposing there. And witnesses showed maggots found in the trunk came from a bag of trash that was found there, he said. "They throw enough against the wall and see what sticks. That is what they're doing ... right down to the cause of death," Baez said. He conceded his client had told elaborate lies and invented imaginary friends and even michael jackson limiteda fake father for Caylee, but he said that doesn't mean she killed her daughter. Baez also attacked George Anthony as unreliable. He said a suicide note that George Anthony wrote in January 2009 that claimed no knowledge of what happened to Caylee was self-serving and the attempt was a fraud. He said George Anthony claimed he was going to kill himself with a six-pack of beer and some high-blood pressure medicine. ...