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Monday, September 24, 2012
Dating Guides, Guide De Drague Plus Jamais Seul
Hubble catches glowing gas and dark dust in a side-on spiral
ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) ? The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a sharp image of NGC 4634, a spiral galaxy seen exactly side-on. Its disk is slightly warped by ongoing interactions with a nearby galaxy, and it is crisscrossed by clearly defined dust lanes and bright nebulae.
NGC 4634, which lies around 70 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Coma Berenices, is one of a pair of interacting galaxies. Its neighbor, NGC 4633, lies just outside the upper right corner of the frame, and is visible in wide-field views of the galaxy. While it may be out of sight, it is not out of mind: its subtle effects on NGC 4634 are easy to see to a well-trained eye.
Gravitational interactions pull the neat spiral forms of galaxies out of shape as they get closer to each other, and the disruption to gas clouds triggers vigorous episodes of star formation. While this galaxy's spiral pattern is not directly visible thanks to our side-on perspective, its disk is slightly warped, and there is clear evidence of star formation.
Along the full length of the galaxy, and scattered around parts of its halo, are bright pink nebulae. Similar to the Orion Nebula in the Milky Way, these are clouds of gas that are gradually coalescing into stars. The powerful radiation from the stars excites the gas and makes it light up, much like a fluorescent sign. The large number of these star formation regions is a telltale sign of gravitational interaction.
The dark filamentary structures that are scattered along the length of the galaxy are caused by cold interstellar dust blocking some of the starlight.
Hubble's image is a combination of exposures in visible light produced by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/JfnMKZycOl4/120924093957.htm
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Sunday, September 23, 2012
Honest Tea Replaces Sugar Cane with Fruit ... - Organic Food Tips
Now Sweetened Only with Organic Fruit Juice, Available in 6.75 Fluid Ounce Pouches and 59 Ounce Multi-serve Bottles
(Bethesda, Md. ? September 20, 2012) - Honest Tea?, the nation?s top-selling organic bottled tea company, today unveiled its reformulated Honest Kids ?fruit-juice sweetened? line of beverages.? All five varieties of the popular pouches have been updated by removing the organic cane sugar and increasing the juice content.? Honest Kids beverages now have between 30-42 percent juice, an increase between 12-26 percentage juice, depending on variety. Nutritionally, the drinks remain at 40 calories per 6.75 fluid oz. pouch.
?Honest Kids has experienced dramatic growth to the point where it is almost a third of our business,? said co-founder and TeaEO Seth Goldman. ?We are excited we found a way to deliver the same not-too-sweet taste by sweetening the drinks only with fruit juice.?
Additionally, the graphics on Honest Kids pouches and cartons have been updated to feature fruit photography emphasizing the flavors in each variety. The updated look aligns the appearance of Honest Kids? with the clean, simple look of Honest Tea? and Honest Ade?.
The Honest Kids ?fruit-juice sweetened? line of beverages will also be available in a brand new, 59 oz. multi-serve bottle. The new bottle, with an easy to pour grip and embossed with the words ?HONEST?? and ?ORGANIC? on the neck, is designed for home consumption.? ?We received numerous requests from parents who wanted a larger package for families to enjoy at home,? Goldman said.
Honest Tea is continuing its focus on sustainability by actively promoting TerraCycle?s Drink Pouch Brigade? on cartons. The program, which was started by Honest Tea and TerraCycle in 2007, has been responsible for collecting more than 100 million used kids drink pouches from a number of manufacturers over the past five years. Those pouches have been recycled into new products including back packs, pencil cases and bike racks.
The company?s five Honest Kids varieties are: Berry Berry Good Lemonade, Goodness Grapeness, Tropical Tango Punch, Super Fruit Punch, and Appley Ever After.? The 8-pouch cartons will debut in natural food stores in October and grocery stores nationwide starting January 2013.? Three varieties ? Berry Berry Good Lemonade, Super Fruit Punch and Goodness Grapeness ? will be available in new, redesigned 59 fluid oz. multi-serve bottles launching during the same time period.
About Honest Tea
Founded in 1998, Bethesda, MD based company Honest Tea is the nation?s top-selling organic bottled tea company specializing in lower calorie beverages that are ?just a tad? sweet. Honest Tea?s product lines include: Honest Tea ready-to-drink bottled teas, Honest Ade and Honest Kids organic thirst quenchers. All varieties are USDA-certified organic and all tea varieties are Fair Trade Certified?. In addition to being named one of The Better World Shopping Guide?s ?Ten Best Companies on the Planet based on their overall social and environmental record,? Honest Tea was also listed as one of PlanetGreen.com?s ?Top 7 Green Corporations of 2010,? and was ranked by The Huffington Post as one of the leading ?8 Revolutionary Socially Responsible Companies.? Honest Tea was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company in March 2011 and operates as an independent business unit.? For more information: www.honesttea.com.
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Company:
Honest Tea
Website:
http://www.honesttea.com
Honest Tea is the nation?s top-selling organic bottled tea company with a mission to make great-tasting, truly healthy organic beverages sweetened with less sugar and fewer calories than most bottled beverages. Honest Tea?s product lines include: Hon?
Article source: http://www.bevnet.com/news/2012/honest-tea-replaces-sugar-cane-with-fruit-juice-in-all-honest-kids-beverages
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College Football Nation: Wild West show
As the sun disappears over the Pacific and drops off the edge of the Earth each evening, much of the country already slumbers.
During the fall, that means falling asleep on Saturdays after watching the SEC and Big 12 and Big Ten powers beat up on one another, just as some of the best in the Pac-12 are getting started. It means that Arizona and Stanford and UCLA ? and even Oregon and USC, to some extent ? exist in a vacuum, their games not seen but heard about.
Judging by the first three weeks of the football season, something special is being missed.
No one has looked better than Alabama so far. And the only team that may challenge Tuscaloosa?s Tide this fall is their SEC West brethren over in Baton Rouge. But there?s some serious football being played from Oregon?s Willamette Valley down to Arizona?s Sonoran Desert.
The Pac-12 was supposed to be USC?s playground this year, with Oregon the only potential roadblock between the Trojans and playing for the national title. But chances are that Southern Cal?s championship chase ended around the time Seth MacFarlane delivered the monologue on the season premier of Saturday Night Live, when Stanford put the finishing touches on a physical beatdown of the Trojans.
Instead of being the playground of one, the Pac-12 looks like a conference with a pair of legitimate powers, plus plenty of depth.
Stanford?s surprising staying power despite losing coach Jim Harbaugh to the 49ers after the 2010 season and All-World quarterback Andrew Luck after last year is one reason there?s might out west. But it?s the unexpected success of UCLA and Arizona that gives the conference its unforeseen strength.
"I love the fact that we?re excited about wins," Stanford coach David Shaw said Tuesday at his weekly press conference, but he could have been speaking for Arizona?s Rich Rodriguez and UCLA?s Jim Mora as well. "It wasn't long ago that some people thought this area didn?t care about football. I love the excitement and enthusiasm, I think that?s awesome."
Two weeks ago Arizona and UCLA introduced themselves to the national consciousness.
Oklahoma State was coming off an 84-0 win over Savannah State, after beating Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl to finish last year off at 12-1. Arizona was coming off an overtime win over Toledo, after a 4-8 season in 2011 led to the firing of Mike Stoops and hiring of Michigan castoff Rich Rodriguez.
The Cowboys figured to cruise over the Wildcats. Instead, they got run over, leaving the desert with their tails tucked between their legs after losing 59-38. Last Saturday, Arizona followed up its win over Oklahoma State by shutting out South Carolina State 56-0.
The Wildcats have the unenviable task of traveling to Oregon late on Saturday night in a game that will likely end around 2 a.m. on the East Coast, but even if Chip Kelly?s Ducks destroy Rich-Rod?s Wildcats, Arizona has already showed that something is stirring in the land of the Saguaro.
UCLA, meanwhile, had mighty Nebraska coming to the land of dreams. UCLA was just 6-8 last year, so Rick Neuheisel was fired and Jim Mora was brought in.
Cornhuskers coach Bo Pelini, always spitting fire on the sideline, figured to bring some Big Ten toughness to the Rose Bowl and teach the Bruins a lesson.
Didn?t happen.
UCLA gained 344 yards rushing and shredded the vaunted Blackshirts defense for 653 total yards in a 36-30 upset.
The signature win for the strong underbelly of the Pac-12, however, came this past Saturday, and ironically came against one the conference?s own.
Stanford?s 20-13 win over USC sent reverberations felt from Eugene to Tallahassee. It opened up the national title race for Oregon, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Florida State, among others. And it made every team in the Pac-12 ? including the Ducks ? take notice.
The Cardinals, who started this season with an unimpressive three-point win over San Jose State, were expected to take a significant step back. Shaw, now in his second-year, did a nice job last year, but that was with Harbaugh?s players, Luck chief among them. Without Luck, merely decent was expected of Stanford.
Instead, Shaw showed he?s more than just someone?s successor. And his team showed it was more than just a special quarterback.
Stanford won by beating up USC. By the end, as Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley tried to rally his team, he spent more time trying to avoid the Stanford defensive line than actually trying to locate his wide receivers.
"We don't want to be that team known for one victory," Shaw said last Saturday night. "We want to be known for victory after victory, stacking wins on top of wins."
Reality checks may loom for Stanford, Arizona and UCLA. And the Wildcats may get their comeuppance as soon as late Saturday night at Oregon.
But what they?ve done during the first three weeks of the season has been a revelation. Long after the last light fades over the Pacific Coast, football is lighting up the great Western night.
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What We Learned
They?re ba-ack.
Well, not back in the sense that they?re going to contend with the game?s current elite, but with a decisive 20-3 win over Michigan State last Saturday Notre Dame showed it?s headed in the right direction, and that this year?s team has a chance to be the most nationally relevant since Charlie Weis? first team in 2005 went to the Fiesta Bowl.
The credit goes to third-year coach Brian Kelly, who took over after Weis led the Notre Dame program through a series of humbling seasons.
Kelly built something from nothing at Cincinnati, culminating in a perfect regular season in 2009.
There were decent 8-5 seasons at Notre Dame in both 2010 and last year, but with its beating of the Spartans comes a message that Kelly is putting something powerful together in South Bend.
"It?s a signature win," Kelly said last Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said, "Tough day at the office, I guess you?d say."
Notre Dame?s offense wasn?t prolific, but its defense was powerful. The Irish held the Spartans, who torched Boise State with its running game the opening weekend of the season, to just 50 yards on the ground and 237 total yards. And through three games the Irish are allowing just 10 points per game.
On the offensive side, perhaps most important is that sophomore quarterback Everett Golson didn?t turn the ball over against Michigan State, and has thrown just one pick all season.
A stout defense combined with a conservative offense has been the recipe for plenty of success in the past.
The schedule doesn?t get easy for Notre Dame.
Michigan visits South Bend on Saturday night, and Stanford comes calling in October. Later in the season are trips to Oklahoma and USC. It?s possible that even with a better team Notre Dame?s record may not be substantially more impressive than last year or the year before.
But a decisive win over Michigan State said something. The Fighting Irish may not be great this season, but they?re moving in the right direction.
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Game of the Week
Put up, or shut up.
Florida State hosts Clemson, and year after year, as recruiting class after recruiting class has been ranked among the nation?s best, the word has been that this is the year the Seminoles are finally back where they were throughout the late 1980s and into the early 2000s when they finished in the AP?s top-five for 14 straight years.
Well, after a 3-0 start, with the unbeaten Tigers coming to Doak Campbell Stadium in prime time, it?s time for Florida State to either show that this is truly the year, or just another when expectations outweighed reality.
"I feel very comfortable with what I?ve seen," Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said earlier this week. "We didn?t overlook opponents that we knew we were better than, we?ve prepared extremely well for an opponent (Wake Forest) that?s played us very well the last six years and has beaten us ? they?ve done a lot of great things against us. So far what I?ve seen, I?ve liked everything. I?ve been very proud of them and they?ve done everything we?ve asked them to do."
The Seminoles took steps in their first two seasons under Jimbo Fisher, but were far from elite.
The ?Noles were 7-6 in 2009 in their final year under Bobby Bowden, then 10-4 in 2010 under Fisher, but that included a 30-point loss to Oklahoma and ACC losses to N.C. State, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. Last fall they were 9-1 save for a three-game stretch that began with a close loss to the Sooners, bled into a close loss to Clemson, and ended with a stunning defeat at the hands of Wake Forest.
Florida State avenged one of those losses last Saturday, obliterating Wake Forest 52-0 and making the Demon Deacons look no different than Murray State and Savannah State, the Seminoles? first two opponents this season.
Florida State?s defense has been suffocating, allowing just three points in three games.
Through three games, it looks like the glory days. The offense has been prolific, as it was with Charlie Ward, Warrick Dunn, Casey Weldon, Peter Warrick and a host of others who passed through Tallahassee when Bowden was riding high. And the defense - like it was in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's with Derrick Brooks, Marvin Jones, and some cat named Deion - has been scary.
But it?s this Saturday at home against Clemson that will truly test, and begin to tell, who these ?Noles are.
Are they a team that?s just whipped three weak opponents, or are they the class of the ACC and one of the top teams in the nation.
The game is a referendum on the Seminoles. And it?s a showdown for control of the ACC?s Atlantic Division and the inside track to the Orange Bowl ... at a minimum.
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My Top 10
1. Alabama (3-0): 52-0 over Arkansas on the road was a scary score.
2. LSU (3-0): At Auburn shouldn?t be a challenge ... shouldn?t.
3. Oregon (3-0): De?Anthony Thomas? numbers are staggering.
4. Florida State (3-0): The ?Noles are allowing one point per game. One!
5. West Virginia (2-0): At Texas Oct. 6 is the first test.
6. South Carolina (3-0): The Gamecocks are looking better and better.
7. Georgia (3-0): The Tennessee two-step is up next, against Vandy and the Vols.
8. Oklahoma (2-0): Kansas State could pose problems on Saturday night.
9. Stanford (3-0): The win of the year so far.
10. Clemson (3-0): At Florida State for ACC bragging rights.
Eric Avidon can be reached at 508-626-3809 or eavidon@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericavidon.
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Saturday, September 22, 2012
Ohio State ranked No. 56 on best college list
After a drop in the ranking of best colleges, some Ohio State students and faculty said they don?t think the rankings influence prospective students much.
OSU dropped one spot to No. 56 in ?U.S. News & World Report?s? recently released list of the 2013 best colleges in the nation.
Within the 281 national universities on ?U.S. World & News Report?s? list, five Big Ten colleges were ranked higher than OSU. Northwestern University, The University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Penn State, and University of Illinois were placed at No. 12, No. 29, No. 41, and a tie for No. 46, respectively.
The three highest ranked universities on the national list were Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
OSU is tied at No. 56 with Northeastern University in Boston.
Dolan Evanovich, the vice president for strategic enrollment planning, said despite various shifts in OSU?s ranking in the past, application numbers have grown to more than 28,000 applications from 16,000 to 17,000 applications in previous years.
?In any given year, your ranking could go up one or two spaces or down one or two space,? Evanovich said. ?So in the big scheme of things, you just have to keep it in perspective.?
The factors that measure academic quality for the rankings include peer assessment, retention and graduation of students, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving and graduation rate performance, according to ?U.S. News and World Report?s? website, The data for the list was gathered in winter 2011, spring 2012 and summer 2012.
Evanovich said students typically focus their decision on the quality and cost of different universities.
According to the ?U.S. News & World Report? ranking summary for each university, Northwestern charges $43,779 in tuition and fees per academic year, Michigan charges $13,437 for in-state students and $39,109 for out-of-state students, and Wisconsin?s in-state tuition is $10,384 and $26,634 for out-of-state.
Penn State?s tuition for an academic year is $16,444 in-state and $28,746 for out-of-state, and Illinois charges $14,428 in-state and $28,570 for out-of-state. OSU?s tuition is $10,037 for in-state students and $25,445 for out-of-state students.
Evanovich said while he feels the rankings are not necessarily ignored by students, they are not usually the main focus.
?I think it is something families consider initially, maybe early in the process,? Evanovich said. ?But when they make their decision to apply or to enroll, it?s more based on the strength of the academic program and the opportunities students have when they are here and when they graduate.?
Joe Wille, a first-year in biology from Michigan, chose OSU based on the atmosphere rather than its specific ranking.
?I think it would look better to graduate from a higher school, but I think anything in the top 100 would be a very good school,? Wille said.
Sarah ModicBradley, a second-year in business, said she personally took the rankings into consideration.
?I definitely wanted to go to a school that had a high ranking, not some unknown college, so I did pick it based off that,? ModicBradley said. ?I mean, I applied to all schools in Ohio, so Ohio State was definitely the highest ranked.?
Source: http://www.thelantern.com/campus/ohio-state-ranked-no-56-on-best-college-list-1.2907499
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Romneys paid $1.94 million federal taxes for 2011
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign fundraising event at Red Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign fundraising event at Red Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney licks his fingers as he walks back to his seat after making himself a peanut butter and honey sandwich on his campaign plane en route to Las Vegas, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
This handout image provided by the Romney Campaign shows the front page of Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Ann Romney's 2011 tax return. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, paid $1.94 million in federal taxes on last year's income of $13.7 million, for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, his campaign said. (AP Photo/Romney Campaign)
This handout image provided by the Romney Campaign shows the signature page of Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Ann Romney's tax return. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, paid $1.94 million in federal taxes on last year's income of $13.7 million, for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, his campaign said. (AP Photo/Romney Campaign)
This handout image provided by the Romney Campaign shows the first of a two page healthcare statement from Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's doctor. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has released a letter from his doctor saying he's healthy and physically fit to meet the rigorous demands of a presidency. (AP Photo/Romney Campaign)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Mitt Romney, one of the wealthiest candidates ever to seek the presidency, paid nearly $2 million in federal taxes on $13.7 million in income that he and his wife reported last year, his U.S. returns showed Friday. That came to an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, lower than millions of middle-income Americans but actually more than he had to pay.
Most of Romney's income was from investment returns. That is why his rate was lower than taxpayers whose income was mostly from wages, which can be taxed at higher rates.
Romney's taxes have emerged as a key issue during the 2012 presidential race with President Barack Obama. Romney released his 2010 returns in January, but he continues to decline to disclose returns from previous years ? including those while he worked at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded.
The Obama campaign and other Democrats have pushed for fuller disclosures, reminding the Republican candidate that his father, George Romney, released a dozen years of returns when he ran for president.
Overall, the Romneys' main tax return and separate forms for blind trusts totaled over 800 pages. The blind-trust income came from hedge funds and other complex investment vehicles. The couple also reported $3.5 million in income "from sources outside the United States," citing "various countries." Their forms included filings on holdings in Switzerland, Ireland, Germany and the Cayman Islands.
The Obama campaign accused Romney anew of profiting from millions invested overseas and "loopholes and tax shelters only available to those at the top."
Apparently hoping to resolve basic questions voters might have, the Romney campaign also released a letter from his accountants saying that in the 20 years prior to 2010 the Romneys paid an average annual effective rate of 20.2 percent, never lower than 13.66 percent. On average, middle-income families ? those making from $50,000 to $75,000 a year ? pay 12.8 percent of their income in federal taxes, according to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation. But many pay a higher rate.
The former Massachusetts governor, whose wealth is estimated at perhaps $250 million, is aggressively competing with Obama for the support of middle class voters.
Obama's own tax return for last year showed that he and his wife, Michelle, paid $162,074 in federal taxes on $789,674 in adjusted gross income, an effective tax rate of 20.5 percent. Their income plunged from $1.7 million in 2010, with declining sales of the president's books. In 2009, the Obamas reported income of $5.5 million, fueled by the best-selling books.
The Romneys' tax bill could have been lower.
For the year, they claimed a deduction for $2.25 million of their $4.021 million in charitable contributions, said Brad Malt, trustee of the candidate's blind trust.
The Romneys gave $2.6 million in cash to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the documents show. They gave just over $2 million in non-cash charitable contributions ? including donations of stock holdings in Domino's Pizza, Dunkin Donuts and Warner Chilcott ? to a family trust.
They could have claimed more in deductions, Malt said, but the couple "limited their deductions of charitable contributions to conform to the governor's statement (n August, based on the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13 percent in income taxes in each of the last 10 years."
Romney seemed to be painted into a corner by that statement, which came in reaction to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's claim to have heard that the Republican had paid no taxes in some years.
Romney will surely be reminded by the Democrats that he also said in August, defending his right to pay no more taxes than he owed: "I don't pay more than are legally due, and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don't think I'd be qualified to become president."
He appears to be physically qualified by any measure.
The campaign released a separate report Friday ? by Romney's longtime physician, Dr. Randall Gaz of Massachusetts General Hospital ? that said he is healthy and ready to meet the rigorous demands of the presidency.
The report said Romney's heart appears healthy, and he takes a baby aspirin and medicine to treat high cholesterol to help keep it that way. He doesn't smoke or drink. And his resting heart rate is a low 40 beats per minute, in the range of well-trained athletes and reminiscent of President George W. Bush, who also had a low resting rate.
Romney is 6 feet 1? inches tall and weighs 184 pounds.
As for his taxes, the Romneys' 2011 rate was slightly above the 13.9 percent effective rate they paid for 2010 when their federal tax bill was about $3 million.
They paid federal taxes of $1,935,708 on income of $13,696.951 for last year, according to the returns filed Friday with the Internal Revenue Service. They had obtained a filing extension beyond the usual April 15 tax deadline. His campaign earlier estimated that he would pay about $3.2 million in taxes for the year, well above the $1.9 million actually paid.
Most of Romney's income is from investments held in a blind trust, and campaign aides have stressed that he makes no decisions on how his money is invested.
Most of the income for the year came from investments, which are now generally taxed at 15 percent whereas the top marginal rate for income from wages is 35 percent.
The Romneys reported $6.8 million in capital gains, such as from the sale of stocks and other securities, and $6.37 million from dividends and taxable interest.
Romney's vast fortune and his long association with Bain Capital have been much discussed this year.
Several tax law experts said Friday that his newly released tax returns would not be much help in resolving critics' questions about his sprawling finances ? whether he used aggressive tax-deferral strategies, what might be the specifics and tax advantages of his numerous offshore investments, what was the source of his massive retirement account and what are the details behind his now-closed $3 million Swiss bank account.
Analysts said details about his investments could emerge only if Romney provided far more of his tax returns ? including files dating back to his years at Bain, the private firm he left in 2001. Romney, who initially refused to disclose any tax returns, has drawn the line at providing those from the past two years.
"All the important compliance and policy questions relating to Romney's personal tax matters relate to the past," said Edward D. Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California and former chief of staff of Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation. "The issue has never been Romney's 2011 tax return ? in fact, it is a distraction to the real issues."
Only multiple returns would provide details about Romney's $100 million retirement account and how it grew, Kleinbard said. He also earlier returns would be crucial in knowing how often he paid gift tax on family trusts.
Joseph Bankman, a Stanford University law school professor and expert on tax law, said, "It's the Bain years we'd really need to know to have a full assessment of his tax strategies." Bankman said that the 2010 and 2011 returns "only raised these questions, but they can't provide real answers."
The Romneys applied a $1.5 million tax refund to their 2012 estimated tax payments.
The couple reported $190,350 in book royalties and speaking fees. And Romney also reported $260,390 in income last year from serving on various boards of directors.
Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and his wife Janna, whose returns were also released Friday by the Romney campaign, paid $64,764 in taxes on $323,416 of adjusted gross income in 2011, for an effective rate of 20 percent.
Just over half of their income came from Ryan's congressional salary. Other income flowed from rental real estate and other investments, including a trust inherited by Janna Ryan. They donated $12,991 to charity, including to the Boy Scouts of America
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Associated Press writers Stephen Braun, Stephen Ohlemacher, Kasie Hunt and Philip Elliott contributed.
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Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum. For more AP political coverage, look for the 2012 Presidential Race in AP Mobile's Big Stories section. Also follow https://twitter.com/APcampaign and AP journalists covering the campaign: https://twitter.com/AP/ap-campaign-2012
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