Los Angeles (E! Online) –
Here's hoping 2010 is as good as Gilles Marini looks in his new calendar for the new year.

Our favorite Dancing With the Stars sexpot shows off his fine physique in a collection of pics by Fred Goudon, the photographer who launched Marini's modeling career.

Meanwhile, Marini was fully-clothed earlier today at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel...
Marini was bring shot for Playboy magazine.

"Playboy shoot is over," he posted on his Twitter page this afternoon. "Was edgy, sensual, funny, crazy but most of all sensational."

He posed in the parking lot—and a shower. "You guys must get the November issue," he tweeted. "Don't worry I have clothes on."

A rep for the magazine says Mr. Marini will be featured in a fashion spread.

"No, he is not naked," the rep laughed. "This is Playboy, not Playgirl."

··· THEY SAID WHAT? Get today's most commented stories now at www.eonline.com

LOS ANGELES – The deal to close California's $26 billion budget deficit included a plan to drill for offshore oil, drawing allegations that the fiscal crisis was used for a backroom deal following rejection of the idea by state regulators earlier this year.
Democrats agreed to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to expand drilling from an existing platform off Santa Barbara to generate a one-time $100 million advance royalty payment this fiscal year and an estimated $1.8 billion in royalties over 14 years.
It would be the first new offshore oil drilling on state lands in four decades since a blowout on a platform off Santa Barbara coated miles of ocean and shoreline and galvanized opposition.
Details of the agreement reached late Monday were scarce, but Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, chairman of the State Lands Commission, said Tuesday that the framework involved taking authority for approval of oil leases away from State Lands and giving it to a newly created panel.
"This is a play by the governor to have it his way," he said. "This is a sellout to the oil industry. They want to open the California coast to drilling, and this is the first step."
The lack of details on the agreement and the way it emerged in budget talks concerned Victoria Rome, deputy California advocacy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"I think it should be very troubling to the public that a decision that was made through a public process in the light of day can be overturned by a few leaders behind closed doors," she said.
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page said the proposal would bring new revenues to the state, end oil drilling off Santa Barbara's coast and speed up the permanent removal of platforms there.
The governor's office said in a statement that the platform involved is already drilling in federal waters adjacent to state waters. It said the project maintains a moratorium on oil drilling "but takes advantage of a specific exemption that allows for new leases if oil is leaking from an existing state field into an actively producing federal field."
The drilling proposal has been percolating since 2008 when Plains Exploration & Production Co. of Houston announced a novel deal with three veteran environmental groups in Santa Barbara County.
The groups, including Get Oil Out!, agreed to promote the plan in exchange for money for the state, thousands of acres of land and Plains' commitment to cease operations countywide by 2022.
Garamendi said he opposed the plan in January because provisions for ending operations could not be enforced and because it would serve as a precedent for further drilling, encouraging the federal government to issue new leases off the California coast.
The $100 million would be a loan against royalties and would be repaid by deductions from future royalty payments to the state, he said.
Garamendi asserted that the sum was of minor usefulness in solving the budget problem.
"I think that this can easily be subtracted from the proposal without doing any harm to what is a terrible piece of work," he said.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said that under the budget agreement, a panel made up the state attorney general, the secretary of resources and the secretary of environmental protection would make a final decision on the project.
Steinberg said the state had run out of options and had to make a choice between a project that would generate about $100 million annually for the next 14 years, or to make deeper welfare and social service cuts.
"And, you know, that's a choice," he said.

Michael Endicott, resource sustainability advocate for Sierra Club California, said environmental standards and statutes should not be rolled back as part of the budget process.

"Eventually we'll be rebuilding and we'll be operating again, and those standards should be implemented again — that people worked long and hard to put in place in order to avoid problems," he said.

Endicott and Garamendi both said a better alternative would be an oil severance tax that other major producing states have. Their estimates of such a tax ranged from $800 million to $1 billion a year.

"California is the one large state that doesn't charge a fee for the extraction of oil," Endicott said.

Attorney Linda Krop, who represents the three Santa Barbara environmental groups, said they continue to support the agreement they negotiated with Plains but she had not yet consulted with them on the possibility of it being put before a new panel rather than State Lands.

___

Associated Press Writer Judy Lin in Sacramento contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) –
A proposed plan to solve California's budget crisis would reduce the state's prison population by 27,000, it was reported Tuesday, as opposition to the new fiscal deal mounted.

The Los Angeles Times reported on its website that the budget deal, announced by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and bipartisan lawmakers on Monday, would involve the early release of thousands of inmates.

The Times said the reduction would be achieved through a combination of measures including allowing prisoners to finish their sentences on home detention and creating incentives for completion of rehabilitation plans.

The prison inmate proposal would help save the state 1.2 billion dollars in the coming fiscal year, the Times reported.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca meanwhile condemned the proposed state budget, telling the Times that cuts to local government would force authorities across the state to shut down jails or slash officers from street patrol.

"I think it is one thing to have a natural disaster... but it is another thing to have local cities and counties hit by a disaster predicated on the irresponsible actions of the state legislators," Baca told the Times.

California's fiscal woes have deepened as the state reels under the effects of the recession, which have sent unemployment and home foreclosures soaring and state revenues plunging to levels not seen since the 1990s.

The budget crisis has pushed the state to the brink of bankruptcy and forced California to start paying its bills with IOUs earlier this month.

The precise details of the budget -- designed to plug a 26.3-billion-dollar shortfall in California's finances -- have not been released. The budget plan is to be put before lawmakers in Sacramento for approval on Thursday.

However public employees and local governments voiced opposition to the proposed budget on Tuesday as details began to filter out.

Monday's deal reportedly allows for some 15 billion dollars in spending cuts, including slashing around nine billion dollars from schools, community colleges and state university programs.

It also slashes around 1.3 billion dollars from a state health care program for the poor as well around 124 million dollars from a scheme to provide health insurance to more than 900,000 children in low-income households.

"The budget revision that we are going to be voting on contains painful solutions for all Californians," California Assembly speaker Karen Bass said.

"For Democrats I have to tell you that many of the cuts that we have had to make, in another time we would have thought were unthinkable. But because of the unprecedented and ongoing recession we did not feel that we had a choice."

Although Democratic legislators have insisted future spending will return to previous levels when California's economy improves, sceptical union leaders urged the state assembly to reject the budget.

The leader of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) responded to the budget with dismay.

"The priorities are wrong. Massive cuts to all levels of education while, at the same time, preserving unproductive corporate tax breaks, is a blueprint for further California decline," CFT President Marty Hittelman said.

The leader of the 340,000-strong California Teachers Association called on legislators to pass the budget while acknowledging that the cuts would see students return to school to find "fewer teachers, fewer course offerings and fewer resources."

Human Hair Wigs

Perukes or periwigs for men were introduced into the English-speaking world with other French styles when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, following a lengthy exile in France. These wigs were shoulder-length or longer, imitating the long hair that had become fashionable among men since the 1620s. Their use soon became popular in the English court. The London diarist Samuel Pepys recorded the day in 1665 that a barber had shaved his head and that he tried on his new periwig for the first time, but in a year of plague he was uneasy about wearing it:

Among women in the French court of Versailles in the mid-to-late 18th century, large, elaborate and often themed (such as the stereotypical "boat wigs") were in vogue for women. These wigs were often very heavy, weighted down with pomades, powders, and other ornamentation. In the late 18th century these wigs (along with many other indulgences in court life) became symbolic of the decadence of the French nobility, which only helped to fuel the French Revolution.

July 17 (Bloomberg) -- The 12 most vulnerable House
freshmen have raised more money in the first six months of the
year than they did in the comparable period two years ago when
they were challengers, Federal Election Commission filings show.

Among the dozen identified by Washington political analysts
Charlie Cook and Stuart Rothenberg as the first-termers most at
risk of losing their seats next November are Democratic
Representative Alan Grayson of Florida, who raised $348,058
through June 30; and Republican Representative Joseph Cao of
Louisiana, who has already taken in more money than he spent on
his 2008 campaign.

“This is when all of those guys are going to be the most
vulnerable, and everybody on the opposite side is going to be
after” them, said Democratic consultant Glenn Totten, who has
worked on many congressional campaigns. “You’re going to need a
lot of money to play the game.”

The $348,058 Grayson has raised through June 30 dwarfs the
$10,736 he took in during the same period two years ago, when he
was challenging incumbent Republican Ric Keller.

Grayson had $193,465 in the bank as of June 30 this year,
more than double the $82,916 he had during the same time in
2007. He poured more than $2.5 million of his own money into his
first race.

‘It is easier to raise money as an incumbent,” said
Grayson, 51, who represents the Orlando area.

Maryland Contest

Former county prosecutor Frank Kratovil, 41, raised $80,610
in the first six months of his campaign to capture a House seat
on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Kratovil won, and this time around,
he has raised $651,293. He had $503,819 in the bank as of June
30, as compared with $74,480 two years earlier.

“We feel pretty good about where we are,” Kratovil said.

Republican Andy Harris, who ousted incumbent Wayne
Gilchrest in the primary and then narrowly lost to Kratovil,
raised $530,400 and had $210,349 in the bank as of June 30.

“The level of money needed for these campaigns is
overwhelming,” Kratovil said. “We’re going to have a battle.”

Cao ousted Democrat William Jefferson, who was under
indictment on bribery charges, last December. Jefferson went on
trial last month on charges that he accepted bribes to promote
business deals. As part of the investigation, $90,000 was found
in Jefferson’s freezer.

Cao raised had $223,131 to spend on his first election,
including a $68,219 personal loan that he later paid back. In
the first six months of his re-election campaign, he raised more
than double that, $536,357, and had $339,259 in the bank.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at
jsalant@bloomberg.net .

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
President Barack Obama's nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, appeared headed for confirmation as the first Hispanic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court after Senate hearings ended on Thursday with Republicans promising a speedy vote.

But Sotomayor's conservative critics used the last day of her hearing to make a final dramatic point on her record on race issues, hearing testimony from two firefighters who said she ruled to deny them promotions because they were not black.

Through four days before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sotomayor has calmly parried Republican attempts to depict her as unfit for a lifetime appointment to the United States' top court and rife with liberal bias.

"I can't think of any greater service that I can give to the country than to be given the privilege of becoming a justice of the Supreme Court," Sotomayor said.

The committee chairman Senator Patrick Leahy said she would likely be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate in coming weeks and take her seat when the nine-member court meets at a special session in September.

Ranking Republican Senator Jeff Sessions said his party would not seek to block a confirmation vote expected by early August before Congress goes on break. "I look forward to you getting that vote," Sessions said.

Republicans have repeatedly voiced fears the 55-year-old appeals court judge -- raised in the Bronx borough of New York and educated at Princeton and Yale --- is a "judicial activist" eager to imprint the high court with Obama's liberal agenda.

But by Thursday some appeared to be on the fence, with one senior Republican conceding her legal record was mainstream.

"I think and believe you are broad minded enough to understand that America is bigger than the Bronx," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham -- although he did not say for sure if she had won his vote.

RACE CASES

Critics have focused on Sotomayor's attitudes toward race, with Republicans spotlighting comments in which she said a "wise Latina" might be a better judge than a white man.

She has also come under fire for upholding a lower court ruling that permitted the city of New Haven, Connecticut, to junk firefighter exam results that did not produce enough qualified black candidates.

A mostly white group of firefighters who scored well on the test complained they were discriminated against, and the Supreme Court later overturned Sotomayor's ruling, saying it could open the door to new racial quota systems.

Sotomayor had left the Senate hearing room by the time Republicans called one of their star witnesses against her: Frank Ricci, the chief plaintiff in the New Haven case.

"The rules of the game were set up and we have the right to be judged fairly ... not by the color of your skin," he said in the afternoon session of outwide witnesses

His colleague, Benjamin Vargas, the only Hispanic among the 20 plaintiffs in the case, also testified to the panel.

"I do not want my sons to think their father became a captain because he was Hispanic and used his ethnicity to get ahead," Vargas said. "In our profession, the racial and ethnic make-up of my crew is the least important thing to us and to the public we serve."

Sotomayor has denied mishandling the case and repeatedly said that her only guide as a judge was the U.S. Constitution and established legal precedent.

BATTLES AHEAD

If confirmed, Sotomayor would replace retired Justice David Souter as one of four liberals facing five conservative justices under Chief Justice John Roberts.

Throughout the hearing, Sotomayor followed tradition and deflected questions about divisive issues including abortion, gun rights and gay marriage, saying it was not appropriate to comment as these might come before her on the court.

Republican Senator Charles Grassley said the sparring over Sotomayor's appointment, which divided along partisan lines despite Obama's hopes of building consensus, signaled battles ahead over the judicial branch of the U.S. government.

"Republicans on one side, Democrats on the other, seem to be asking different questions," Grassley told PBS television. "In the last 10 years, there's been a change in the environment here that is influencing that."

Among the witnesses testifying in support of Sotomayor were former Federal Bureau of Investigation director Louis Freeh and David Cone, a former professional baseball pitcher who discussed her role in resolving the 1995 Major League Baseball strike.

Another Sotomayor supporter was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose own varied public career has seen him on both sides of the political aisle.

"I strongly believe she should be supported by Republicans, Democrats and independents -- and I should know, because I've been all three," he said.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by David Storey and Philip Barbara)

WASHINGTON – The Senate on Thursday approved the most sweeping expansion of federal hate crimes law since Congress responded four decades ago to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The legislation, backed by President Barack Obama, would extend federal protections granted under the 1968 hate crimes law to cover those physically attacked because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
"This bill simply recognizes that there is a difference between assaulting someone to steal his money, or doing so because he is gay, or disabled, or Latino or Muslim," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.
Voice vote passage came immediately after supporters cleared a 60-vote procedural hurdle imposed by Republicans trying to block consideration of the legislation. That vote was 63-28.
The hate crimes bill was offered as an amendment to a must-pass defense spending bill that the Senate is expected to finish some time next week. Several Republican amendments to the hate crimes legislation still could be considered on Monday, but Thursday's vote determined that it will be part of the defense bill when it passes.
The 1968 hate crimes act covers violence related to a person's race, color, religion or national origin. Federal involvement is confined to a narrow range of circumstances, such as when the victim is using a public facility or attending a public school, serving on a jury or participating in a government program.
The proposed legislation, in addition to expanding the categories covered, ends the "federally protected activities" requirement.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., now being treated for cancer and unable to be on hand for the debate, first proposed the bill in 1997. While coming close on several occasions, he has never been able to overcome opposition from those who contend it infringes on states' rights and First Amendment rights to free speech. Former President George W. Bush said he would veto the bill if it reached his desk.
This time, however, pro-bill Democrats control both houses of Congress and Obama is a strong supporter. Attorney General Eric Holder has urged Congress to give his department authority to prosecute cases of violence based on sexual orientation, gender or disability.
The measure still has a way to go. Obama has told Congress he will veto the defense bill if it includes more money for an F-22 fighter program he is trying to terminate. The House in April passed a similar hate crimes bill, but did it as independent legislation not tied to a larger bill.
The Senate bill, also sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., only authorizes federal prosecutions of hate crimes when the state or local authorities are unwilling or unable to do so. It provides $5 million in grants to state and local law enforcement officials who have trouble meeting the costs of investigating and prosecuting these crimes.
Reid, D-Nev., recalled that Laramie, Wyo., was overwhelmed by the costs of pursuing the case against Matthew Shepard, the gay college student killed in 1998 whose name is attached to the bill. "When this bill becomes law, that will never happen again in Laramie, Wyo., or anyplace else in the country."
Supporters also emphasized that prosecutions under the bill can occur only when bodily injury is involved, and no minister or protester could be targeted for expressing opposition to homosexuality, even if their statements are followed by another person committing a violent action.
To emphasize the point, the Senate passed provisions restating that the bill does not prohibit constitutionally protected speech and that free speech is guaranteed unless it is intended to plan or prepare for an act of violence.
The Traditional Values Coalition had expressed concern in a letter to senators that a pastor could be prosecuted for "conspiracy to commit a hate crime" if a sermon resulted in a person acting aggressively against someone based on sexual orientation.
Another opponent, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said it was "patently offensive" that violence against one class of victims would be considered worse than violence against others. "We cannot have a colorblind society if we continue to write color-conscious laws," he said. "It violates all the principles of equal justice under the law."
Some 45 states have hate crimes statutes on their books, and about half the states have laws covering crimes based on sexual orientation.
The FBI receives reports of nearly 8,000 hate crimes every year. Of those, about 15 percent are linked to sexual orientation, which ranks third after those involving race and religion.

___

The Senate hate crimes bill is S. 909.

___

On the Net:

Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov

Jim Christie
SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) –
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers failed on Wednesday night to agree to balance the state's budget by closing a $26.3 billion deficit, but officials said talks would continue.

The budget talks, which have lasted weeks, have stalled over a part of the governor's plan to suspend a law on school funding, Karen Bass, the speaker of the state assembly, and California Senate President Darrell Steinberg told reporters.

The legislature's two top Democrats said budget talks would resume on Thursday.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, had said earlier on Wednesday he was hopeful a deal to resolve the lengthy budget crisis was near and might be reached by the end of the day.

"There's no nastiness in the discussions, no blowups," he said at a press conference. "There's none of that, so I think we have a good shot of getting the budget done today."

The state government began its fiscal year on July 1 facing a historic budget gap and a severe cash crisis.

California, which would be the world's eighth largest economy if it were an independent nation, has issued IOUs to vendors as well as taxpayers owed refunds to save cash for servicing of state bonds and other priorities payments.

Among sticking points in negotiations are Schwarzenegger's demands for a budget deal including changes to rules he says will prevent fraud in welfare programs.

He has also proposed paring education spending by suspending a voter-approved measure that locks in funding levels for public schools. Democrats oppose both ideas and are especially concerned about education spending cuts.

The size of a budget reserve also is being discussed. A cash cushion may help the state sell short-term debt after a budget agreement is reached. "It's all about being able to go out to the market after this is done," Steinberg said.

State Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth said the state could use a reserve of up to $2 billion.

California's IOU effort is also intended to calm Wall Street. Credit rating agencies have grown increasingly anxious about sagging state revenues propelled by the recession and double-digit unemployment.

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday cut its rating on about $72 billion of the state's general obligation debt by two notches to Baa1, or three notches above speculative "junk" status. Moody's said there may be further downgrades because the risk to priority payments -- and eventually debt servicing payments to bondholders -- is rising without a budget deal.

On July 6, Fitch Ratings cut its credit rating on California to BBB, just two notches above junk level.

Democrats have conceded there will be no tax increases in a budget deal as Schwarzenegger and anti-tax Republicans in the legislature's minority have demanded and have accepted dramatic spending cuts to fill the state budget gap. "We have made very, very deep cuts," Bass said.

DALLAS – A fire has broken out a high-rise apartment complex in southwest Dallas.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, but some elderly residents were being evacuated.
Thick black smoke was billowing from the 11-story structure Wednesday afternoon. But it appeared that firefighters were gaining control of the blaze.
About 10 firefighters were seen on the roof of the building. The smoke from the fire could be seen in far north Dallas, about 10 miles away from the building.
One of the people evacuating the building was put on a gurney, but her condition was not immediately available.
No other details were immediately available.

WASHINGTON – Praising and prodding Congress at once, President Barack Obama on Wednesday said a vast reform of the nation's health insurance system is required to head off instability to families, industry and the government itself.
"Deferring reform is nothing more than defending the status quo — and those who would oppose our efforts should take a hard look at just what it is they're defending," Obama said in the Rose Garden, pushing for landmark bills to get through the House and Senate before Congress' August recess.
Putting more of his own political stake behind the effort each day, Obama outlined the troubles with the U.S. approach to health care coverage, with an emphasis on the cost to consumers. He spoke of soaring premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs and promised with reform, "You'll save money."
"If you lose your job, change your job, or start a new business, you'll still be able to find quality health insurance you can afford," Obama promised. Once again assuring Americans who are dubious of what might be changing, he said anyone happy with their doctor and health care plan will be able to keep it.
To make his point, Obama surrounded himself with nurses and proclaimed that they're "on board" with reform.
Any proposed health care package still must clear the complexities and politics of getting through the House and Senate, with Obama's ambitious goals of slowing cost increases and bringing coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured. How to pay for it all remains one of the most vexing parts of the debate.
The Senate health committee cast a milestone vote Wednesday to approve legislation expanding insurance coverage to nearly all Americans, becoming the first congressional panel to act on Obama's top domestic priority. A day earlier, House Democratic leaders pledged to meet the president's goal of health care legislation before their August break, offering a $1.5 trillion plan that for the first time would make health care a right and a responsibility for all Americans. Left to pick up most of the tab were medical providers, employers and the wealthy.
"This progress should make us hopeful but it can't make us complacent," Obama said. "It should instead provide the urgency for both the House and the Senate to finish their critical work on health reform before the August recess."
Indeed, Obama's brief comments amounted to a presidential pep talk. "It's time for us to buck up Congress, this administration, the entire federal government to be clear that we've got to get this done."

CAIRO – Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader warned the Pakistani people in a new audio message that the U.S. interference in their country's affairs poses a grave danger to Pakistan's future and very existence.
The English-language audio message by Ayman al-Zawahri was dated July 14 and addressed to "my Muslim brothers and sisters in Pakistan." In it, the militant group's second-in-command called on Pakistanis to join the fight against the United States or support the battle financially.
He warned that without that help "we shall not only contribute to the destruction of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but we shall also deserve the painful punishment of Almighty Allah."
The tape, whose authenticity could not immediately be verified, was released by the al-Qaida media wing As Sahab and was posted on Islamic Web sites that usually carry militant videos and statements.
Al-Zawahri and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden are rumored to be hiding in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan. The Taliban have thrived in that region, and some Taliban commanders maintain links to al-Qaida.
The region also has been the focus of numerous U.S. missile strikes, which officials say have killed several top al-Qaida fighters. A 2006 strike reportedly missed al-Zawahri in the Bajur tribal region.
Al-Zawahri, who had addressed the Pakistani people in English in August last year, said Pakistan is really ruled by the United States.
"The current ruling class in Pakistan is lining up under the cross of the modern Crusade and competing for American bribes. Hence, the actual ruler of Pakistan is the American ambassador, who pays the bribes and issues the orders," he said.
He said "the only hope to save Pakistan from this disastrous fate is Jihad" because the political institutions were "either sunk in the swamp of corruption or are too helplessly crippled and paralyzed to bring about any change."
Stressing the need for money, al-Zawahri called on people to join the fight and contribute money.
"It is the individual duty of every Muslim in Pakistan to join the Mujahedeen, or at the very least, to support the Jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan with money," he said.
Al-Zawahri's appeal for funds echoes one made last fall by Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, al-Qaida's top commander in Afghanistan who said militants in Afghanistan were hampered by a lack of equipment and money.
The al-Qaida deputy's appeal to Pakistanis comes as public opinion in the South Asian nation has swung away from militants and in favor of army offensives against them.
A recent survey showed that 81 percent of Pakistanis believe the activities of the Taliban and other Muslim extremists were a "critical threat" to the country, up from the 34 percent polled on the same question in September 2007. Eighty-two percent said bin Laden's al-Qaida was also a critical threat, exactly twice as many who thought so two years ago.
The poll was carried out by Socio-Economic Development Consultants in Islamabad on behalf of WorldPublicOpinion.org. It questioned 1,000 people across Pakistan from May 17 to 28 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

ST. LOUIS – Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria is out of the American League starting lineup for the All-Star game because of an infected right ring finger.
He is being replaced in the starting lineup for Tuesday night's game by Texas third baseman Michael Young, who will bat seventh.
Chone Figgins of the Anaheim Angels is taking Longoria's place on the AL roster.
Young is a six-time All-Star who will be making his first start. He is batting .308 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs this season.
Figgins, a first-time All-Star, is hitting .310 with one homer, 28 RBIs and an AL-leading 68 runs.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) –
A television advert for an Israeli mobile phone firm showing soldiers playing soccer over the West Bank barrier has sparked cries of bad taste and prompted Arab lawmakers Sunday to demand it be taken off air.

The jaunty commercial for Israel's biggest mobile phone company Cellcom makes light of Palestinian suffering and shows how far Israelis fail to understand their neighbors, critics said. The company stood by the ad, however.

It shows a ball falling on an Israeli army jeep from the far side of a towering wall. A game ensues, back and forth with the unseen Palestinians after a soldier dials up "reinforcements," including two smiling women in uniform, to come and play.

The advertisement made by McCann Erickson, part of U.S. Interpublic Group, ends with the upbeat voiceover: "After all, what are we all after? Just a little fun."

Since the ad went out last week -- as Palestinians marked the fifth anniversary of a World Court ruling that Israel's walls and fences in the West Bank were illegal -- some Israelis have taken to blogs and social networking sites to voice dismay.

"Aside from being a great contender for the 'creepiest ads of all time', this one-minute ad says a lot about how mainstream Israel likes to see itself and the Palestinians," journalist Dimi Reider wrote in a blog which concluded most of his fellow Israelis did not understand Palestinians' rage at the barrier.

Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of Israel's parliament, said he had written to Cellcom demanding it pull the ad: "The barrier separates families and prevents children from reaching schools and clinics," he told Reuters. "Yet the advertisement presents the barrier as though it were just a garden fence in Tel Aviv."

"RACIST COMMERCIAL"

Few Palestinians watch the Israeli stations where the advert aired but there was outrage among liberal Israelis on the Web.

A Hebrew-language Facebook group called "I too got nauseous watching the new Cellcom ad" had signed up 218 members. They demanded "take this racist commercial off the air immediately."

Israeli blogger Ami Kaufman told Reuters: "We see Israeli soldiers playing with ... the people that they are incarcerating behind the wall. But the most grotesque, most disturbing part of this ad is the fact that the Palestinians basically aren't seen ... They're like monsters or aliens ... This is the alienation that Israeli society feels toward the Palestinian people."

Noam Sheizaf, another Israeli journalist and blogger, said it distorted reality: "In reality, if a Palestinian comes close to the fence to return a football ... he is likely to get shot."

Asked to comment, Cellcom said its "core value is communication between people" regardless of "religion, race or gender." It said the commercial illustrated the possibility for people of diverse opinions to engage in "mutual entertainment."

A spokeswoman said it was a coincidence the ad came out so close to last Thursday's anniversary of the 2004 decision by the World Court that Israel had no right to build hundreds of miles of walls and fences on Palestinian land it took in a 1967 war.

Israel built the barrier with the declared aim of stopping suicide bombers. For Palestinians, it has become one of the most hated symbols of Israeli occupation, a land grab whose course round Jewish settlements would cripple any state they establish.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr, Jeffrey Heller and Reuters Television; Editing by Jon Boyle)

(For blogs and links on Israeli and Palestinian news, go to http://blogs.reuters.com/axismundi)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
The current U.S. system of consumer financial protection is "designed to fail" and needs replacement with a dedicated new agency that can respond more quickly to emerging problems in the financial sector, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Tuesday.

Michael Barr, the Treasury's assistant secretary for financial institution, told lawmakers the current system, with consumer protection fragmented among several competing regulatory bodies, welcomes "bad actors" and irresponsible practices, dragging down standards.

"The present system of consumer protection regulation is not designed to be independent or accountable, effective, or balanced. It is designed to fail," Barr told the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. "It is simply incapable of earning and keeping the trust of responsible consumers and providers."

Barr was testifying to sell lawmakers on the Obama administration's proposal to consolidate consumer financial protection functions into a single agency.

The new regulator would take over these functions -- including personnel and bank fees to support it -- from existing banking regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the currency.

The proposed agency is part of a sweeping Obama administration plan to revamp financial regulation in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression. Key committees in the Senate and House of Representatives are now working on their own versions of the legislation.

Barr said the agency would be able to develop much faster supervisory guidance in response to emerging problems in the financial sector. Currently, diverse agencies must recognize problems and agree on corrective language, a laborious process that can take years.

In addition to strengthening mortgage standards, Barr said that payday loans, cash advances on credit cards and overdraft protection programs and fees were areas that needed more uniform disclosure and standards.

"The only real solution to these flaws is creating an agency with a focused consumer protection mission; comprehensive jurisdiction over all financial services providers, both banks and non-banks; and the full range of regulatory, enforcement and supervisory authorities," Barr said.

(Reporting by David Lawder, editing by W Smon)