Gingrich rising in SC, but in time to edge Romney? (AP)

EASLEY, S.C. ? Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is drawing big, enthusiastic crowds and fending off new attacks from GOP front-runner Mitt Romney while reveling in a strong debate performance and a nod from tea party favorite Sarah Palin.

But it's unclear whether the former House speaker's latest burst of momentum, reflected in both internal and public polling, will be enough for him to overtake Romney in Saturday's South Carolina primary. Complicating his effort are two other conservatives ? Rick Santorum and Rick Perry ? who threaten to siphon his support.

And now, just two days before South Carolina votes, Gingrich is facing a fresh challenge that could undercut his efforts to cast himself as the strongest conservative challenger to Romney.

ABC News said it will air Thursday night an interview with Gingrich's second wife on its late-night news program "Nightline." The network has not indicated what the ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, said in the interview, but ABC planned to release excerpts ahead of Thursday night's GOP debate and "Nightline" itself.

The mere existence of the interview shines a spotlight on a part of Gingrich's past that could turn off Republican voters in a state filled with religious and cultural conservatives who may cringe at his two divorces and acknowledged infidelities.

Marianne Gingrich has said Gingrich proposed to her before the divorce from his first wife was final in 1981; they were married six months later. Her marriage to Gingrich ended in divorce in 2000, and Gingrich has admitted he'd already taken up with Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide who would become his third wife. The speaker who pilloried President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky was himself having an affair at the time.

Underscoring the potential threat to his rise, Gingrich's campaign released a statement from his two daughters from his first marriage ? Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman ? suggesting that Marianne Gingrich's comments may be suspect given the emotional toll divorce takes on everyone involved.

"Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets and sometimes differing memories of events," their statement said.

A CNN/Time South Carolina poll released Wednesday showed Gingrich in second place with support from 23 percent of likely primary voters, having gained 5 percentage points in the past two weeks. Romney led in the poll with 33 percent, but he had slipped some since the last survey. Santorum was in third place, narrowly ahead of Texas Rep. Ron Paul and well ahead of Perry.

Regardless of the South Carolina outcome, Gingrich was making plans to continue to Florida, which holds its primary Jan. 31.

"There is one candidate who can give you a conservative nominee and only one candidate who can stop Mitt Romney," Gingrich told an overflow crowd of about 400 at Mutt's BBQ in Easley on Wednesday. "A vote for anyone else is a vote that allows Mitt Romney to potentially be our nominee."

Confidence exudes from Gingrich, who rose in Iowa only to be knocked off course after sustaining $3 million in attack ads in Iowa from an outside group that supports Romney. Gingrich posted dismal showings in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

By the time the race turned to South Carolina, he was sharply criticizing Romney as a social moderate who is timid about attacking the nation's economic troubles. He also raised questions about Romney's experience as a venture capitalist, while a super PAC that supports Gingrich aggressively attacked Romney as a vicious corporate raider. And Gingrich ripped Romney for standing by as a super PAC run by former top Romney political aides continued to attack him in South Carolina.

Romney ended up on the defensive and by Monday night's debate, Gingrich was back in command. He earned a standing ovation when he labeled Democratic President Barack Obama "the best food stamp president in American history." The clip became the centerpiece of a television ad that began airing Wednesday as Gingrich worked to cast himself as the Republican with the best chance of beating Obama in the fall ? stealing a page from Romney's playbook.

Said Gingrich senior adviser David Winston, "His taking on Barack Obama showed a toughness and an electability that the electorate is looking for."

On Tuesday, Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, announced that if she lived in South Carolina, she would vote for Gingrich to keep the Republican race going.

Since then, Romney's campaign, probably sensing Gingrich's rise and working to deflect from its own troubles, has been trying to undercut Gingrich's claim that he helped President Ronald Reagan create millions of jobs in the 1980s, likening it to "Al Gore taking credit for the Internet."

Romney also dispatched supporters to make the case that Gingrich is erratic and unreliable. A new Romney Web video features former Republican Rep. Susan Molinari of New York saying Gingrich lacked discipline and labeling his time as speaker "leadership by chaos."

Gingrich, for his part, has been helped by the fact that Santorum hasn't seemed able to capitalize on the endorsement of a group of influential Christian conservatives. Those who aren't backing the former Pennsylvania senator seem to be coming Gingrich's way.

Gingrich picked up the endorsement of Florence pastor William Monroe on Wednesday, after receiving the backing of former Perry supporter James Livingston, a retired Marine who had been featured in an advertisement for the Texas governor. Greenville businesswoman Vivian Wong, who had endorsed former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, threw her support to Gingrich on Sunday, the night Huntsman withdrew from the race.

___

Beaumont reported from Columbia, S.C.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich

suh suh lindsey vonn lindsey vonn josef stalin kourtney and kim take new york anne hathaway

Muslims Say Ron Paul Is Their Kind Of Republican

By Omar Sacirbey
Religion News Service

(RNS) Growing up in rural parts of the American West, Nadja Adolf's libertarian streak developed early on.

"When you come from a countryside that can kill you," said Adolf, a Muslim convert in her late 50s, "there is a strong emphasis on individual rights, a strong emphasis on self-reliance, and an emphasis on helping each other out."

That attitude is part of the reason Adolf is drawn to the presidential campaign of Ron Paul, the maverick Republican congressman from Texas who is fighting to stay alive in the Republican primaries.

While some political observers question whether Paul has the staying power and widespread appeal to win the nomination, his campaign has proven unique in one respect: he's drawing serious support from Muslims.

After abandoning the GOP in droves during the George W. Bush presidency, some Muslims say Paul is the kind of Republican who could draw them back and seriously challenge their loyalty to President Obama.

Adolf, who converted to Islam in May 2001, learned about Paul in 2004 during the congressman's opposition to the Patriot Act, which he argued allows the government the right to spy on citizens. Paul also opposed the National Defense Authorization Act, which was recently signed into law by Obama and allows the government to indefinitely imprison U.S. citizens suspected, but not proven guilty, of terrorist activity.

"I'm a fairly old-school rural Westerner, and I am a firm believer in individual rights, and I do not understand how a government can even pretend to have the power to detain a citizen or spy on them without warrant," said Adolf.

Paul, a 76-year-old Baptist, couldn't agree more.

The renegade Republican has piqued Muslim interest with promises to extract America from foreign wars, cut aid to Israel, and protect civil liberties. There are at least four "Muslims for Ron Paul" Facebook pages, and a scan of Paul's political donors shows many common Muslim names, like Mohammed, Ali and Ahmed.

Paul's position on civil liberties resonates with many younger Muslims, including Zahra Siddiqui, an 18-year-old political science major at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"These laws are obviously directed at policing Muslims," Siddiqui said. "Ron Paul knows how to differentiate between Muslims and terrorists, and he would never sacrifice any citizen's liberties over security."

Paul's promise to get the U.S. out of Afghanistan and other foreign conflicts also appeals to Siddiqui, whose family is from Pakistan and who worries that U.S. drone strikes there could escalate into war. Like other Muslim Paul supporters, Siddiqui said the Texas congressman is the only candidate willing to get tough with Israel.

"He has a deep understanding of how detrimental our foreign policy has been in Islamic countries," Siddiqui said. "Ron Paul will stop the large amount of foreign aid given to Israel and will discontinue rushing to Israel's defense when it engages in oppressing the Palestinian people."

Some American Muslims say they've been let down by Obama, especially after investing such high hopes after the 2008 election.

"We've been burned again and again," said Rizwan Kadir, a financial consultant in suburban Chicago who brought his daughter to the election booth and voted for Obama four years ago. "I'm very disappointed."

Kadir is unsure whether he will give Obama a second chance, but he is confident that he could never vote for any of the Republican candidates -- except Paul. "If it came down to him and Obama, I don't know," Kadir said.

Paul's Muslim supporters say it's not all about foreign policy or civil liberties. They also make the case that Islam, founded by a prophet who was a successful merchant, also has a soft spot for free markets.

Following a natural disaster that caused the price of commodities to soar, Prophet Muhammad rejected price controls, said Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, founder of the Minaret of Freedom Institute in Bethesda, Md., whose mission includes exposing Muslims to free-market thought.

"Allah grants plenty or shortage," Muhammad said, according to Islamic tradition. "He is the sustainer and real price maker."

It's the kind of small-government, go-it-alone approach that resonates with Adolf's frontier mindset.

"I think there are some very strong libertarian values in Islam, but many Muslims don't see them," said Adolf. "If it's not causing harm to the community, then its really nobody's business."

Also on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/muslims-ron-paul-republican_n_1211664.html

pandaria artie lange baby lisa irwin baby lisa irwin pearl jam 20 martha marcy may marlene lacuna

Baseball ProGUESTus: The Advantage of Low Expectations by M.J. Lloyd

January 17, 2012

by M.J. Lloyd

Believe it or not, most of our writers didn't enter the world sporting an @baseballprospectus.com address; with a few exceptions, they started out somewhere else. In an effort to up your reading pleasure while tipping our caps to some of the most illuminating work being done elsewhere on the internet, we'll be yielding the stage once a week to the best and brightest baseball writers, researchers and thinkers from outside of the BP umbrella. If you'd like to nominate a guest contributor (including yourself), please?drop us a line.

M.J. Lloyd is the editor of the Angels site?Halo Hangout. He previously wrote general baseball nonsense at?Off Base Percentage?and covered the Atlanta Steam of the Lingerie Football League for?Monkeys Throwing Darts. M.J. lives in New Orleans, where he becomes frustrated when trying to explain baseball to drunks. He also wanders around Twitter?@MnkysThrwngDrts.

Prospects are like new car smell. They?re exciting and intoxicating. They make it seem like your favorite team is about to turn the corner.

With prospect analysis and news having penetrated every corner of the Internet, it?s hard not to get carried away with prospect love. I can?t imagine how many tweets Kevin Goldstein and Keith Law have to see every day asking if Team X?s third- and fifth-best prospects would be enough to score Felix Hernandez.

It?s prospect-mania out there. I?m guilty of it. I sponsor Brandon Wood?s Baseball-Reference page, and I?m no longer hopeful that it will fund my retirement plan.

But I have managed to identify a few of the pitfalls of prospect worship.

Don?t Count the Chickens Before They Hatch
Poster Child: Brien Taylor

?Sure, it?s a strange idiom, but it aptly applies to the world of prospects. Not every Top 100 prospect or Top 10 pick is going to make it to the major leagues. The odds are better for those guys, but even they don?t come with guarantees. For a fan base, having the first pick in the amateur draft is a bittersweet experience. Your team was the worst in baseball the year before, but at least it has a chance to acquire one of the top non-professional players.*

*Results may vary.

The Yankees drafted high-schooler Brien Taylor with the first pick in the 1991 draft. The hard-throwing southpaw looked so promising that Scott Boras was able to get him $1.55 million, topping ?Todd Van Poppel money.? Taylor never sniffed the majors, though, after?suffering a torn labrum during a fist fight. The unfortunate event proved that trailer park and bar fights are meant to be eventual YouTube sensations, not off-season workout plans. Just ask Matt Bush.

The Prom Date Tease
Poster Child: Brandon Wood

Once in a while, your team might get a prospect so sexy that you can?t wait for the big night. Everything leading up to prom (or the MLB debut, in this case) has been wonderful. Top 10 Baseball America rankings in back-to-back years, monster home run shots in the minors, a low-cut fancy dress. The kind of stuff that makes grown men drool. When the big night finally arrives, it?s one big swinging strikeout. Just getting to first base seems unlikely.

Brandon Wood debuted for the Angels on April 26, 2007 by striking out swinging against Jae Seo. It never got better for the former power-hitting shortstop prospect. Wood has a career .186/.225/.289 line, with 218 strikeouts and 32 walks in 751 plate appearances. He was DFA?d by the Angels in 2011. After a brief stint with the Pirates, Wood signed a minor-league deal with the Rockies for 2012. The Pirates will have to hope he didn?t give Pedro Alvarez any tips on being a prospect tease during his brief time in Pittsburgh.

Everybody Whiffed
Poster Child: Andy Marte

It?s hard not to fall head-over-heels for a prospect when most writers, bloggers and hobos-in-the-know are telling you he?s the best in baseball. I suggest tempering expectations until the much-anticipated youngster can post one .300 OBP season in the majors.

In 2005, Baseball Prospectus called Marte ?The best prospect in baseball and a future superstar? but three years later described him as Triple-A filler. Marte has hit just .218/.277/.358 over six partial big-league seasons. BP wasn?t alone missing on Marte.?John Sickels compared him to Adrian Beltre?in 2003, Baseball America ranked him in the top 15 for three straight years (2004-2006), and most of?the industry people Keith Law knew at the time were fans.

I?m not saying Bryce Harper will be a bust, but exercise caution, even with the consensus top pick.

Dusty Baker Is Why We Can?t Have Nice Things
Poster Child: Mark Prior

Perhaps it?s unfair of me to criticize Dusty Baker here. But where there?s smoke, there?s usually fire. Then Tommy John surgery. Baker certainly isn?t alone in his alleged abuse of young arms, but he is the most famous offender.

Mark Prior was the second pick in the 2001 draft, behind Joe Mauer, but he didn?t waste any time showing signs of brilliance with the Cubs. From 2002 to 2005, Prior posted a 133 ERA+ over 613.1 innings. Baker took most of the blame for the injuries subsequently suffered by Prior and his teammate Kerry Wood because of the high pitch counts the two hard throwers racked up early in their careers.

Pitching prospects carry a lot of risk under the best of circumstances. Dusty Baker might not have been the best babysitter for them (though he may have learned from his mistakes). Just saying.

Is It Too Late to Choose Football?
Poster Child: Joe Borchard

Bo Jackson might be the best pure athlete I?ve ever seen. Deion Sanders was pretty good, too. Splitting a career between the NFL and MLB is a thing of the past, but it was impressive when a select few players pulled it off.

There are plenty of NFL stars who could have made it to baseball?s main stage. John Elway was a second-round pick by the Yankees in 1981 but ultimately scratched out a living throwing an oblong ball.

Zach Lee and Bubba Starling recently passed up opportunities to quarterback at LSU and Nebraska, respectively, for the MLB draft. I hope it works out for them.

Joe Borchard might have advised them to try a different course. The White Sox gave Borchard $5.3 million as the 12th?pick in the 2000 draft. The Stanford QB chose baseball over a potential NFL future. He posted a .205/.284/.352 line over parts of six seasons spent with Chicago, Seattle and Florida,?but his intensity got in the way?of his performance. Then again, it didn?t get in the way of his $5.3 million, which he got to keep anyway.

The road to being a major-league player isn?t easy, and splitting time between sports doesn?t help.

So, He?s Not Johnny Bench
Poster Child: Matt Wieters

Hype is hype. There?s nothing wrong with your prized prospect turning into an above-average regular with a few All-Star appearances. That prospect beat the odds. If everyone was meant to be a future Hall of Famer, that walk I drew as an eight-year-old in little league would have led to something more.

Matt Wieters, at 25, was an All-Star in 2011 and hit 22 home runs with a .262/.328/.450 line. He also won a Gold Glove, if that means anything. Wieters might not hit 35 bombs per year for the next decade and walk into the HOF, but that doesn?t mean you shouldn?t buy his shirsey and continue to root for him. You shouldn?t buy his shirsey because shirseys are ridiculous and your friends will make fun of you.

The point is, you should always keep your expectations for the next hot prospect in check. That said, I expect Mike Trout to be the second coming of Mickey Mantle. Do as I say, not as I do.

Source: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15850

wedding crashers next iron chef next iron chef aquamarine iraq war iraq war barista

Tornadoes touch down in Indiana, Kentucky and Mississippi (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Tornadoes struck parts of Mississippi, Indiana and Kentucky on Tuesday, including one that hit a home in Mississippi and injured at least one person, meteorologists said.

The Indiana and Kentucky twisters knocked out power lines, downed trees and caused property damage, while a Sheriff's Department dispatcher said the Mississippi tornado struck a home in south Marion County, and a person who was inside suffered a possible broken arm.

Tornadoes are unusual for this part of the year in Indiana and neighboring Kentucky, although twisters occasionally hit Mississippi during the current season, said Dan Pydynowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.com, whose company provides forecasting services.

A cold front combined with a warm and humid air mass contributed to the latest twisters, but those conditions were dissipating, he said.

"The threat's pretty much come to an end everywhere, so I don't think there's any more tornadic activity to worry about anywhere at this point," Pydynowski said.

In the area of Louisville, Kentucky, a twister knocked down trees and power lines along roadways, the National Weather Service said. To the north in Clark County, Indiana, a twister touched down in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart, the Weather Service added. When the twister moved, a vehicle was turned over on nearby Interstate 65, the agency said.

At Madison Municipal Airport in southeast Indiana, a twister also damaged a Beechcraft King Air when it moved the small plane and broke its nose gear, the Weather Service said.

(Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/us_nm/us_tornado_strikes

scott walker recall cruise ship derek fisher martin luther king jr. zappos john elway john elway

Researchers praise Scott's legacy

17 January 2012 Last updated at 07:36 ET By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News

Researchers, explorers and relatives have praised the contribution Captain Robert Falcon Scott made to science.

The tributes come on the centenary of Scott's party reaching the South Pole.

The so-called Terra Nova expedition found that they had been beaten to the pole by a Norwegian team by 33 days, and on their return journey Scott and his four fellow explorers died.

Some saw it as a mission of heroic failure, and Scott quickly became an iconic figure for his efforts.

But in the later half of the 20th Century his status was re-examined by historians, some of whom questioned Scott's capabilities and contribution.

Scott's granddaughter Dafila Scott told BBC News that it was time to re-evaluate his life and contribution.

"My grandfather's reputation has been through various ups and downs and this is a good time to reflect on the wider legacy and what they achieved not only in getting to the pole but the scientific work that they did," she said.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

He was the world's greatest polar explorer?

End Quote Sir Ranulph Fiennes Adventurer and Scott biographer

Ms Scott is a zoologist by training, but subsequently went on to become a painter and artist. She says that she is not surprised her grandfather became interested in science.

"There's no question that he was very much focused on the science," she said.

"The exploration was part of it but it was only part of it. In the Antarctic, there were and still are so many possibilities for things to discover. It's a wonderful place. It's an open air laboratory".

It is a view shared by Scott's grandson, Falcon, who has recently arrived at the Antarctic as part of a project by the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust to restore the hut that was the base of operations on the North Shore of Cape Evans on Antarctica's Ross Island.

Speaking from Scott Base he told BBC News: "It's long overdue that his scientific legacy should be appreciated. It was a very significant part of the expedition. They undertook the science in very extreme conditions with amazing endurance.

"You only realise that when you come down here. There was no contact with the outside world and the risks were enormous."

On his arrival at Scott Base two weeks ago, Falcon Scott went into his grandfather's hut alone so that he could fully take in the moment.

"It was like walking back in time," he said.

"There's a feeling of the presence of the man. There are still his possessions lying there, lots of tins of food that are well preserved and clothing on the beds. It was like the man had only just left it".

According to Heather Lane, curator and keeper of collections at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, the aim of the Terra Nova expedition was not just to get to the pole but also to do as much scientific investigation as possible.

"When Scott found out about the Norwegian team's plans to get to the pole first he makes a very clear decision to stick with the scientific programme," she said.

She said there was "enormous disappointment" in getting there second, but "he felt it was so important that they stick to the idea of the mapping and the science and the collection of the meteorological data all the way to the pole, and it was that that was going to be the long term legacy".

Elin Simonsson from the Natural History Museum shows artefacts from the Scott expedition to the South Pole

There were 12 researchers on the expedition who were recruited by Scott himself. One member of his team, Charles Wright, wrote that "if Scott had not been a Naval man he would have been a scientist".

That is a view shared by the British adventurer and Scott biographer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who himself has crossed the Antarctic continent.

"He was a curious man, he was a very clever man. He was a brilliant man in every respect and he was the world's greatest polar explorer," Sir Ranulph told BBC News.

The Terra Nova expedition was Scott's second excursion to the Antarctic. It was more ambitious in scope and its scientific aspirations than Scott's first trip on the Discovery expedition 10 years earlier.

In his expedition prospectus, Scott wrote that Terra Nova's principal objective was "to reach the South Pole, and to secure for the British Empire the glory of this achievement".

Of course, a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen reached the pole first. And Scott and his team never returned home, dying of starvation and exposure on the return journey.

But alongside their bodies were several pounds of their precious geological samples and scientific notebooks which, even while approaching death through exhaustion, Scott and his men continued to take with them.

Those samples and data are an enduring legacy of the Terra Nova expedition.

The expedition was the ambitious scientific endeavour of its time, and it was the largest ever research mission to the pole - comprising 12 scientists including two biologists, three geologists and a meteorologist.

The team collected specimens from 2,109 different animals. Of these, 401 were new to science. They also collected rock samples, penguin eggs and plant fossils.

One of the most important discoveries was a fossilised fern-like plant which was known to grow in India, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. It suggested that the climate 250 million years ago had been mild enough for trees to grow.

More intriguingly, the discovery, along with other evidence gathered by Scott's team, was a hint that India, Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Antarctica had in the distant past all been part of one "supercontinent". Researchers now call this landmass Gondwanaland.

It was around this time that the idea of continental drift was first put forward, independently, by the German scientist, Alfred Wegener. Scott's team also collected the first thorough set of weather data for the Antarctic, which has served as a baseline to track changes in weather patterns ever since.

The team also travelled for five weeks to study an Emperor penguin colony come on to land and lay their eggs. The team took some of the eggs - which contained embryos - believing that they would shed more light on a possible link between birds and dinosaurs. According to David Wilson, the great nephew of Scott's chief of scientific staff, Dr Edward Wilson, their efforts illustrated just how passionate they were about the science.

"This was one of the greatest scientific questions of the time. But they had to go through extraordinary hardship to get the penguin eggs. It was minus 60C, so cold that their teeth cracked," he said.

In the end, the eggs were of little use in this regard, but the efforts the men went to and the risks they took under the most extreme circumstances epitomise a spirit of heroic scientific investigation that arguably has not been matched since.

Follow Pallab on Twitter

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16530953

alec baldwin kicked off plane alec baldwin kicked off plane mumia mumia uss arizona memorial uss arizona memorial d day

Court rejects appeal over prayer at public meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a North Carolina county commission over the mostly Christian prayers offered at the beginning of its public meetings.

The justices on Tuesday left in place a federal appeals court ruling that held that the predominantly Christian prayers at the start of Forsyth County commission meetings violated the First Amendment's prohibition on government endorsement of a particular religion.

The commission said its doors have long been open to religious leaders of many faiths. But the appeals court in Richmond, Va., found that more than three-quarters of the 33 invocations given before meetings between May 2007 and December 2008 referred to "Jesus," ''Jesus Christ," ''Christ" or "Savior."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-17-Supreme%20Court-Prayer/id-4d4df8eda0474e94b546adbe87bed800

nathan hale kohls coupons joe kapp joe kapp kohls target target

Manning throws 3 TDs, Giants stun Packers 37-20

New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (88) celebrates after catching a 37-yard touchdown pass during the first the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Green Bay, Wis. The Giants won 37-20. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (88) celebrates after catching a 37-yard touchdown pass during the first the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Green Bay, Wis. The Giants won 37-20. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

New York Giants' Eli Manning reacts following a touchdown during the second half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Green Bay, Wis. New York won 37-20. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers lays on the field during the second half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the New York Giants Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Green Bay, Wis. Giants won 37-20. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Green Bay Packers' James Starks reacts on the bench late in the second half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the New York Giants Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Green Bay, Wis. The Giants won 37-20. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, left, is congratulated by Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy after New York defeated Green Bay, 37-20 in an NFL divisional playoff football game Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) ? For Eli Manning and the New York Giants, Lambeau Field has become a familiar launching pad. After beating the Green Bay Packers at home for the second time in four years, they only hope this trip ends the same way ? at the Super Bowl.

Manning threw three touchdown passes and the Giants shocked the Packers 37-20 in an NFC divisional playoff game Sunday. Manning threw for 330 yards, sending the Giants to San Francisco for the NFC championship game next Sunday night.

The Packers (15-2) might have been the reigning Super Bowl champs, but the Giants (11-7) might be the hottest team in the NFL.

"I think we're a dangerous team," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "I like where we are and how we're playing."

The Giants stunned the Packers with a touchdown off a long heave from Manning to Hakeem Nicks just before halftime, then knocked them out with a late touchdown off a turnover. Lambeau Field fell silent as the Giants swarmed the field in celebration, with a handful of New York fans chanting, "Let's go, Giants!"

The Giants have been on a roll ever since beating the rival Jets on Dec. 24, beating the Dallas Cowboys to get in the playoffs and then blowing out Atlanta in the wild card round last week.

The win came four years after the Giants beat a Brett Favre-led Packers team in the NFC title game. It wasn't nearly as frigid this time around, and the Packers' vulnerable defense seemed to be waiting to get sliced up.

"This team knows how to win on the road," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "It seems like right now it's our time."

Manning found six different receivers against a porous Packers defense. But Manning did the most damage with his throws to Nicks, who caught seven passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

Nicks' biggest play was a 66-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. His score at the end of the half came on a 37-yard pass into the end zone with defenders all around.

"It was a big momentum play for them, but we were not deflated as a football team," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.

Nicks said he wasn't even sure he'd landed in the end zone.

"All I said was, I've got to go up and get it," Nicks said. "Honestly, I (didn't) know where I landed. When I saw where I was, it was exciting."

The Giants' defense also was able to defuse the big-play abilities of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' offense.

Rodgers was 26 of 46 for 264 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. He also was the Packers' leading rusher with 66 yards on seven carries.

Meanwhile, the Packers' past problems with dropped balls by their talented group of wide receivers returned at the worst time imaginable.

And while the Packers' defense has been vulnerable all season, giving up far too many yards and big plays, they've typically made up for it by forcing turnovers.

This time, the Packers were the ones giving the ball away.

Green Bay lost three fumbles, including one on a rare giveaway by Rodgers. The Giants also sacked Rodgers four times.

With the Packers trailing 20-10 at halftime but finally beginning to look like themselves on offense to start the second half, Osi Umenyiora swatted the ball away from Rodgers, and Deon Grant recovered the fumble at the Green Bay 37.

"With a 10-point lead, we're going to get after you," Umenyiora said. "And that's what we did."

But the mistake didn't cost the Packers points, and Green Bay cut the lead to seven points on a 35-yard field goal by Mason Crosby late in the third quarter.

The Packers put together another drive early in the fourth quarter, but Michael Boley and Umenyiora combined to sack Rodgers on fourth-and-5 in Giants territory.

After carving up the Packers in the first half, the Giants' offense hit a lull in the second half. But they broke out of it to drive for a 35-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes to take a 23-13 lead with 7:48 left to play.

Packers running back Ryan Grant then fumbled after catching a pass and the Giants recovered, taking the ball back deep into Green Bay territory.

Manning then threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham and the Giants took a 30-13 lead. Rodgers rallied the Packers for a 16-yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver, cutting the lead to 30-20 with 4:46 left.

The Packers then tried on onside kick, but the Giants' Victor Cruz recovered.

New York's Brandon Jacobs scored on a 14-yard run with 2:36 left to put the game away.

It was an emotional day for the Packers, who welcomed back offensive coordinator Joe Philbin for Sunday's game ? two days after the funeral service for Philbin's 21-year-old son, Michael.

Joe Philbin had been away from the team all week after Michael Philbin's body was recovered from an icy river in Oshkosh, Wis. on Monday. A preliminary autopsy showed that he drowned.

"I think deep down, a lot of us wanted to kind of get this one for him," Rodgers said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-15-Giants-Packers/id-7976737129914dd49f93588e9b483c19

cleveland cavaliers war horse k cups best buy we bought a zoo we bought a zoo ipad accessories