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McCain's Media Free Pass
You may have heard of Rev. John Hagee, the McCain supporter who said God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its homosexual "sins." Well now meet Rev. Rod Parsley, the televangelist megachurch pastor from Ohio who hates Islam. According to David Corn of Mother Jones, Parsley has called on Christians to wage war against Islam, which he considers to be a "false religion." In the past, Parsley has also railed against the separation of church and state, homosexuals, and abortion rights, comparing Planned Parenthood to Nazis. John McCain actively sought and received Parsley's
endorsement in the presidential race. McCain has called
Parsley "a spiritual guide," and
he hasn't said whether he shares Parsley's vicious anti-Islam
views. That's because the mainstream media refuses to ask. And so, we've
taken matters into our own hands, joining Mother Jones to present the truth
about McCain's pastor.
Since the media won't question McCain about his deeply
bigoted pastor, it's up to you to call attention to
this issue. Make McCain's pastor problem a major story
by forwarding this video to your family, friends, and colleagues.
We can't let McCain get away with aligning himself with
a religious leader who's called for an all-out war on
Islam, someone who draws no distinctions between Muslims
and violent Islamic extremists. Now is the crucial time to act.
"End the denial of one, a few or many, all of the
time; give all men and women a fair share for sustenance
only; and goodness will mobilize. It does not take a
village, nor its privateer corporation; it takes a good man, a good
woman and, yes, freedom to trade. Inequity, interfering government
and its surrogates are the problem, the unnecessary costs and producers
of nothing, except human misery."
Prison and Tax Relief: A New Mind Set/The New Way
Dear Governor,
It is hard for government to forsake the prison investor, who gave amply to campaigns; and the fundamentalist believing in an angry, full of vengeance and wrathful god, who votes for that government, so as to pre-empt and choke out any notion of the loving and forgiving god, of Jesus.
But even our dark age, brutal hangings of children in public squares, for stealing bread, did not solve the problem of hunger, and other children continued stealing bread, or they would die, regardless. Succeeding as thieves, however, it became a way of life for them and continues so today, where jobs and income are not available or insufficient to live on. The permanence of poverty and its vicious circle of denying some bread, all of the time, causing the theft of bread to recur, all of the time, they - a permanent miscarriage of Justice and its illegal but rational reaction for survival - are what needs to be broken.
I have heard it said that at least ninety-five percent of prisoners are not violent, and the remainder, I believe, belong in maximum security hospital wings; but it is for one, a few or many of the none-violent ones that I petition you, as follows.
Whereas our Florida spends an average of seventeen thousand dollars per year, per prisoner, this approaching a two billion dollar industry; therefor, let us free none-violent prisoner(s), pay each one a thousand dollars per month to access food and shelter, and place the remaining five thousand dollars into a healthcare pool, from which each will be dispensed/vouchered at the going rates of healthcare incidents, as need arises; provided that:
(1) Each will agree to forego, under our Florida Right to Work law, and we will exempt employers from minimum wage laws (in accordance with U.S. Constitution, Section 10, that no state shall make a law impairing contracts), and
(2) All agree that such employers pay seventy percent above agreed to wages into the fund that is costing us taxpayers seventeen thousand dollars per year, per prisoner.
In the long run, this simple, yet robust, program becomes self-sustaining, because, at the start, jobs become available easily, as freed prisoners can afford to work as apprentices, for nothing, or at low wages of a dollar an hour, because they have a living income, so as to improve skills and command higher and higher wages, in the longer run. They and we overcome our vicious, impoverishing processes - hunger - and private employers become allowed to employ - not reform, but overcome the cost of training people - for the ultimately higher paying , skilled job, from which everyone else also benefits.
I hereby petition you to release my none-violent nephew, Alfonso Antonio Gonzales, considered a career criminal, though he did not steal when he lived with me and my wife for free, for two years, tried desperately to work legitimately, but now is, for prior crimes and ineffective counsel, a prisoner, number 506332, A2-108L, at Apalachee Correctional Institution, in Sneads, Florida, to be released to me, under the above provisions, and a few other none-violent prisoners, who also are agreeable to the provisions.
We, with the help of a few others, perhaps Pastor Clark, will prove the new way; and Dr. Blass, if not your own staff, can set forth the computer program and hardware, to serve, track, and report results instantly of this, the new way of a new mind set.
It is a new way to reduce our prisons, which are not corrective anyway - crime goes up when our economy goes down, because we have more hunger and fewer jobs - meaning also that our freed prisoners, foregoing minimum wage barriers to work, can get jobs and will improve our economy; and reverse the tilt for crime to decline; and for tax relief also to be mobilized, which desperately is needed for our citizens, not just to balance budgets, but also to lower prices and eliminate costs of none-productive institutions
Sincerely submitted, petitioned and prayed for, R.O.Wirengard
“from a military point of view, the penalty, 2,400 (4,000+ in 2008) brave Americans whom we lost, 3,000 in an hour and 15 minutes, is relative.” said Pentagon Military Analyst.
Behind Military Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.
Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized……….John C. Garrett is a retired Army colonel and unpaid analyst for Fox News TV and radio. He is also a lobbyist at Patton Boggs who helps firms win Pentagon contracts, including in Iraq. In promotional materials, he states that as a military analyst he “is privy to weekly access and briefings with the secretary of defense, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other high level policy makers in the administration.” One client told
Federal agencies, for example, have paid columnists to write favorably about the administration. They have distributed to local TV stations hundreds of fake news segments with fawning accounts of administration accomplishments Mr. Garrett’s special access and decades of experience helped him “to know in advance — and in detail — how best to meet the needs” of the Defense Department and other agencies.
In interviews Mr. Garrett said there was an inevitable overlap between his dual roles. He said he had gotten “information you just otherwise would not get,” from the briefings and three Pentagon-sponsored trips to Iraq. He also acknowledged using this access and information to identify opportunities for clients. “You can’t help but look for that,” he said, adding, “If you know a capability that would fill a niche or need, you try to fill it. “That’s good for everybody.”
There was little discussion about the actual criticism pouring forth from Mr. Rumsfeld’s former generals. Analysts argued that opposition to the war was rooted in perceptions fed by the news media, not reality. The administration’s overall war strategy, they counseled, was “brilliant” and “very successful.”
“Frankly,” one participant said, “from a military point of view, the penalty, 2,400 brave Americans whom we lost, 3,000 in an hour and 15 minutes, is relative.”CNN, however, said it did not know the nature of McNeil’s military business or what General Marks did for the company. If he was bidding on Pentagon contracts, CNN said, that should have disqualified him from being a military analyst for the network. But in the summer and fall of 2006, even as he was regularly asked to comment on conditions in Iraq, General Marks was working intensively on bidding for a $4.6 billion contract to provide thousands of translators to United States forces in Iraq. In fact, General Marks was made president of the McNeil spin-off that won the huge contract in December 2006.
General Marks said his work on the contract did not affect his commentary on CNN. “I’ve got zero challenge separating myself from a business interest,” he said.
But CNN said it had no idea about his role in the contract until July 2007, when it reviewed his most recent disclosure form, submitted months earlier, and finally made inquiries about his new job.
“We saw the extent of his dealings and determined at that time we should end our relationship with him,” CNN said.
Full article at NY Times
*************************************
In My Own Words by Mauricio Rosas:
It is self-evident the GW Bush administration is corrupt to its core. Contracts are awarded to select corporations without or little oversight by Congress, brazenly ignoring the bidding process. Without shame they bask in the glory of their collective gains from those alliances, some of which are teetering on the edge of being enemies of the United States.
What started out as retaliation against a nation and its government (Afghanistan and the Taliban) who conscripted by Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda or acting on its own in the deliberate attack on 9/11 was a not the true objective of the Bush administration. It turns out those who advised and aligned with GW Bush to retaliate did so but with an ulterior motive, to attack Iraq. Our soldiers were winning the war against Afghanistan and its government. American troops were within reach of capturing Osama Bin Laden, destroying the Al Qaeda network and the surrender of the Taliban. But that never happened. Instead those aligned to GW Bush diminished and practically stopped the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in order to orchestrate their grand scheme for a "New American Century." Unbeknownst to the American people, the invasion of Iraq had been forethought. The corporate aristocracy of the Bush administration invaded Iraq under false pretenses. They knew it would be a "Long War." A war reaping huge profits for corporate military contractors and the oil industry. They are a threat because their allegiance to greed, money and power far supersedes their allegiance to the Constitution of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln foretold of such an enemy:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed"
I am a firm believer in the Democratic process and the peaceful transition of power. However, to maintain order and a government of the people, by the people and for the people, the people must step-up to the plate. Each and every American citizen of legal age must use their ultimate weapon against those who corrupt, coerce and exploit our form of government. The weapon? To cast one's ballot.
If the people do nothing?
Corporations will tell us what to do.
Studies point to new understanding of phantom noises in the ear
International Herald Tribune
Modern life is loud. The jolting buzz of an alarm clock awakens the ears to a daily din of trucks idling, sirens blaring, televisions droning, computers pinging and phones ringing - not to mention refrigerators humming and air-conditioners thrumming. But for the millions who suffer from severe tinnitus, the phantom tones inside their head are louder than anything else.
Often caused by prolonged or sudden exposure to loud noises, tinnitus is becoming an increasingly common complaint, particularly among soldiers returning from combat, users of portable music players, and aging baby boomers reared on rock 'n' roll. Other causes include stress, some kinds of chemotherapy, head and neck trauma, sinus infections, and multiple sclerosis.
Although there is no cure, researchers say they have never had a better understanding of the cascade of physiological and psychological mechanisms responsible for tinnitus. As a result, new treatments under investigation show promise in helping patients manage the ringing, pinging and hissing that otherwise drives them to distraction.
The most promising therapies, experts say, are based on discoveries made in the last five years about the brain activity of people with tinnitus. With brain-scanning equipment like functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers in the United States and Europe have independently discovered that the brain areas responsible for interpreting sound and producing fearful emotions are exceptionally active in people who complain of tinnitus.
"We've discovered that tinnitus is not so much ringing in the ears as ringing in the brain," said Thomas Brozoski, a tinnitus researcher at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, in Springfield.
Indeed, tinnitus can be intense in people with hearing loss and even those whose auditory nerves have been completely severed. In the absence of normal auditory stimulation, the brain is like a driver trying to tune in to a radio station that is out of range. It turns up the volume trying but gets only annoying static. Richard Salvi, director of the Center for Hearing and Deafness at the State University of New York at Buffalo, said the static could be "neural noise" - the sound of nerves firing. Or, he said, it could be a leftover sound memory.
Adam Edwards, 34, co-owner of a wheel repair shop in Dallas, said he developed tinnitus four years ago after target-shooting with a pistol. "I had all the risk factors," he said. "I grew up hunting, I played drums in a band, I went to loud concerts, I have a loud work environment - everything but living next to a missile launch site." His tinnitus, which he described as a "computer beeping" sound, was so intense and persistent that he needed sedatives to sleep at night.
Edwards says he has gotten relief from a device developed by an Australian audiologist. Manufactured by Neuromonics, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, it looks like an MP3 player and delivers sound spanning the full auditory spectrum, digitally embedded in soothing music.
Similar to white noise, the broadband sound, tailored to each patient's hearing ability, masks the tinnitus. (The music is intended to ease the anxiety that often accompanies the disorder.) Patients wear the $5,000 device for a minimum of two hours a day for six months. Since completing the treatment regimen last year, Edwards said his tinnitus had "become sort of like Muzak at a department store - you hear it if you think about it, but otherwise you don't really notice."
A small, company-financed study in the journal Ear & Hearing in April 2007 indicated that the Neuromonics method was 90 percent successful at reducing tinnitus. A larger study is under way to determine its long-term effectiveness.
Anne Howell, an audiologist at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders at the University of Texas at Dallas, said the Neuromonics device was a big improvement over older sound therapies that required wearing something that looked like a hearing aid all the time and took 18 to 24 months.
Other treatments showing promise include surgically implanted electrodes and noninvasive magnetic stimulation, both intended to disrupt and possibly reset the faulty brain signals responsible for tinnitus. Using functional MRI to guide them, neurosurgeons in Belgium have performed the implant procedure on several patients in the last year and say it has suppressed tinnitus entirely.
But the treatment is controversial.
The magnetic therapy, similar to treatments used for depression and chronic pain, involves holding a magnet in the shape of an 8 over the skull. Clinicians use functional MRI to aim the magnetic pulses so they reach regions of the brain responsible for interpreting sound.
Patients receive a pulse every second for about 20 minutes. "It works for some people but not for others," said Anthony Cacace, professor of communication science and nerve disorders at Wayne State University, in Detroit.
Researchers in Brazil have published a study indicating that a treatment called cranial-sacral trigger-point therapy can relieve tinnitus in some head and neck trauma cases by releasing muscles that constrict hearing and neural pathways.
And drugs intended to treat alcoholism, epilepsy, Alzheimer's and depression
that alter levels of various neurotransmitters in the brain like serotonin,
dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid have quieted tinnitus in some published
animal and human studies.
Medical Errors Costing U.S. Billions
TUESDAY, April 8 (HealthDay News) -- From 2004 through 2006, patient safety errors resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths of U.S. Medicare patients and cost the Medicare program $8.8 billion, according to the fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study.
This analysis of 41 million Medicare patient records, released April 8 by HealthGrades, a health care ratings organization, found that patients treated at top-performing hospitals were, on average, 43 percent less likely to experience one or more medical errors than patients at the poorest-performing hospitals.
The overall medical error rate was about 3 percent for all Medicare patients, which works out to about 1.1 million patient safety incidents during the three years included in the analysis.
Among the other findings:
Patients who experienced a patient safety incident had a 20 percent chance of dying as a result of the incident.The overall death rate among patients who experienced one or more patient safety incidents fell by almost 5 percent between 2004 and 2006.However, over that time, there were increases in post-operative respiratory failure, post-operative pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis, post-operative sepsis (blood infection), and post-operative abdominal wound separation/splitting.The most common types of medical errors were bed sores, failure to rescue, and post-operative respiratory failure. Together, they accounted for 63.4 percent of incidents. Failure to rescue improved 11.1 percent from 2004 to 2006, while both bed sores and post-operative respiratory failure worsened during that time.Of the 270,491 deaths that occurred among patients who experienced one or more patient safety incidents, 238,337 were potentially preventable, the researchers said.If all hospitals performed at the level of the top-ranked hospitals, about 220,106 patient safety incidents and 37,214 patient deaths could have been avoided, and about $2 billion could have been saved.
"While many U.S. hospitals have taken extensive action to prevent medical errors, the prevalence of likely preventable patient safety incidents is taking a costly toll on our health care systems -- in both lives and dollars," Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades' chief medical officer and primary author of the study, said in a prepared statement.
"HealthGrades has documented in numerous studies the significant and largely unchanging gap between top-performing and poor-performing hospitals. It is imperative that hospitals recognize the benchmarks set by the Distinguished Hospitals for Patient Safety are achievable and associated with higher safety and markedly lower cost," Collier said.
Starting Oct. 1, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will stop reimbursing hospitals for the treatment of eight major preventable errors, including objects left in the body after surgery and certain kinds of post-surgical infections.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians outlines how patients can prevent medical errors. http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/safety/safety/736.printerview.html
Giant Underwater Volcano Discovered in Iceland
Volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson from the University of Iceland and a team of scientists recently discovered a more than 50-square-kilometer volcano off Reykjanes peninsula, southwest Iceland, and expect it to erupt at any time.
In the center of the volcano there is a caldera measuring ten kilometers in diameter.
“People shouldn’t be surprised if there would be an extensive volcanic eruption underwater there soon. Nothing has happened for hundreds of years and it is in fact only a matter of time before there will be an eruption,” Höskuldsson told DV.
Since the volcano is at a depth of 1,500 meters eruptions would not have any effect on Iceland, except perhaps causing earthquakes.
The volcano’s discovery is considered significant because geographers believed it couldn’t exist in that area. “Such large volcanoes are not located on oceanic ridges. They are always drifting apart and that prevents a volcano from being created. This is why the volcano’s existence came as a surprise,” Höskuldsson said.
In summer, Höskuldsson and his team will present the conclusions of their studies at the annual conference of the International Association of Volcanologists, which will be held in Iceland. Nine hundred people have already registered for the conference.
In summer 2009 they plan use a small submarine to undertake more detailed research of the underwater volcano.
Merck, Schering Call on Doctors to Boost Vytorin Use (Update1)
By Michelle Fay Cortez and Shannon Pettypiece
March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. are telling physicians to ignore research showing their jointly marketed cholesterol-drug Vytorin failed to halt progression of artery disease. It's unlikely they will listen.
Preliminary findings of the study, called Enhance and released in January, drove Vytorin prescriptions down 18 percent and slashed $49 billion from the drugmakers' market value. In an effort to retain the pill's $2.8 billion in annual sales, Merck and Schering-Plough are doing the unprecedented: discrediting research they funded and helped design.
The trial, intended to show Vytorin can reduce artery clogging, was created to help the drug compete against Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor for a share of the $35 billion worldwide cholesterol market. The failure of Vytorin to outperform an older drug means doctors have little reason to use it. The final report, to be presented Sunday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago, won't help, researchers say.
``The study results aren't going to influence practice much,'' said Randy Thomas, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. ``The question we're asking is does it lower heart attack risk. We won't know that from Enhance.''
Sekar Kathiresan, director of preventive cardiology at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, says research may eventually show that Vytorin and Zetia, one of the two medicines that make up Vytorin, will prevent heart attacks, strokes and death. Until studies prove that, he plans to rely on older so- called statins like Lipitor and simvastatin, a generic version of Merck's Zocor, the other component in Vytorin.
To comment on this story, click here. Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. are telling physicians to ignore research
The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright's 9/11 sermon
As this whole sordid episode regarding the sermons of
the Rev. Jeremiah Wright 
has
played out over the last week, I wanted to understand what
he ACTUALLY said in this speech. I've been saying all week on CNN that
context is important, and I just wanted to know what the heck is going
on.
I have now actually listened to the sermon Rev. Wright gave after September 11 titled, "The Day of Jerusalem's Fall." It was delivered on Sept. 16, 2001.
One of the most controversial statements in this sermon was when he mentioned "chickens coming home to roost." He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan's terrorism task force, who was speaking on FOX News. That's what he told the congregation...more
What are the candidates thinking? Here is a quick look to Iraq.
Here are the core elements of Barack Obama's strategy to address our critical national security challenges in the 21st century:
- End the war in Iraq, removing our troops at a pace of 1 to 2 combat brigades per month;
- Finally finish the fight against the Taliban, root out al Qaeda and invest in the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan, while making aid to the Pakistani government conditional;
- Act aggressively to stop nuclear proliferation and to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world;
- Double our foreign assistance to cut extreme poverty in half;
- Invest in a clean energy future to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil and to lead the world against the threat of global climate change;
- Rebuild our military capability by increasing the number of soldiers, marines, and special forces troops, and insist on adequate training and time off between deployments;
- Renew American diplomacy by talking to our adversaries as well as our friends; increasing the size of the Foreign Service and the Peace Corps; and creating an America's Voice Corps.
Here are the core elements of Hillary Clinton's strategy to address issue's in Iraq:
- Starting Phased Redeployment within Hillary's First Days in Office
he most important part of Hillary's plan is the first: to end our military engagement in Iraq's civil war and immediately start bringing our troops home. - Securing Stability in Iraq as we Bring our Troops Home
Hillary would focus American aid efforts during our redeployment on stabilizing Iraq, not propping up the Iraqi government. She would direct aid to the entities -- whether governmental or non-governmental -- most likely to get it into the hands of the Iraqi people. - A New Intensive Diplomatic Initiative in the Region
Hillary would convene a regional stabilization group composed of key allies, other global powers, and all of the states bordering Iraq.
Non-interference. Working with the U.N. representative, the group would work to convince Iraq's neighbors to refrain from getting involved in the civil war.
Mediation. The group would attempt to mediate among the different sectarian groups in Iraq with the goal of attaining compromises on fundamental points of disputes.
Reconstruction funding. The members of the group would hold themselves and other countries to their past pledges to provide funding to Iraq and will encourage additional contributions to meet Iraq's extensive needs.
John McCain's Strategy for Victory in Iraq:
Strengthen the Iraqi Armed Forces and Police
Create the security necessary for political progress and stability
Accelerate political and economic reconstruction in a secure environment
Keep Senior Officers in Place
Call for International Pressure on Syria and Iran
Win the Homefront
Beware News Of Superdelegates, Done Deals and Orange Alerts (and just vote for Obama).
By Chris Stevenson
Feb. 25, 2008
Plans to discourage you from voting for he whom will eventually become the Democratic Party nominee; Barack Obama are already being drawn. No I can't swear by that but trust my paranoid intuition (which rarely fails if ever). It seems to me the more voters go to the polls, the less credit is given to them nowadays for ushering in a winner. A couple weeks back CNN (and according to a friend of mine ABC) only highlighted Hillary's and McCain's voter count during the primaries, basically censoring Obama's results in order to give you the impression that Hil was dominating. On Super Tuesday CNN only acknowledged 2 or 3 states that Obama won while Ms. Clinton was ahead by at least 3 or 4 states.
I went to bed that night only to wake up hearing on the radio (on a right wing talk station at that) that Obama had won decisively 13 states to 9 for Clinton. The fix was on I thought to myself, the big networks were trying to manipulate the election updates pretty much the same way they left off with the 2000 general election. Desperate measures were being used to hide the true ongoing Tally's by making the loser look important. But it didn't work on Super Tuesday and it shouldn't work today. Historically in this nation nothing was more feared than the black vote, lives were lost just on the suspicion of a black contemplating a trip to the booth. Couple that with the majority of the nation's blacks voting for a black candidate and you got a nightmare that even the most poker-faced white network power broker can't endure.
Not only are blacks voting for Obama, whites males, youths who ordinarily would not have registered this soon; including college students, and the same white females Hil's "cry me a river" tears won over in New Hampshire, are starting to desert her in other states. This isn't good news for Hil because according to a recent Economist women make up 60% of the democratic vote. Another element to throw off your enthusiasm for voting for Obama is the sidebar discussion of this years campaign buzz-term "Super delegates."
These mysterious powerful democrats are being touted as the final decision makers as to whether or not that candidate receives the democratic party nomination. In 2000 the word "delegate" was taken out the deep freeze and mentioned around the nation. This time around, the implication is, you need Super delegates to stop the tide of a super candidate or perhaps black candidate with super national appeal. Super delegates wield considerable power, they comprise almost 800 of the 4,049 delegates at a convention (20%) and are made up of ex-presidents, senators, congressmen and high ranking shot callers. Reportedly one of them is worth 10,000 votes. As powerful as they are however, they have one kryptonite, you. The more the nation leans towards a candidate, the more likely voters influence the delegates and the least likely the Super delegate will vote against the tide.
Super delegates don't call themselves Super delegates nor are they a new phenomenon. They really like to be known as un pledged party members and they have been around officially since 1980 in order to give a greater role to active politicians. Your vote can still beat out the ruling of a Super delegate, Howard Dean was way ahead in the delegate count back in '04 but still lost due to caucus votes. This role of these un pledged decision makers could become a major factor this fall if Obama and Clinton still aren't able to get the needed delegates to win the democratic nomination. If this is the case then a scenario known as the brokered convention enters the picture. This is when a nomination is decided by a smoking room decision by a select few with little regard for the public. Ironically enough, one of y'all's previous black presidents was selected in this manner in Obama's home town of Chicago. Only this was back in 1920 when republican senators selected Warren G. Harding as their next President.
I tossed in the threat of an Orange Alert as a possible last resort scare tactic in case Obama wins the nomination and someone decides the only way to get white guy back into the Oval Office is to raise news of a terror-threat and hope Americans respond by voting republican (even though our last 2 domestic hits were planned during republican administrations). In the meantime don't be swayed away from the caucuses by too much news of election outcomes by any other factors than you the voter. This is a historic time and you don't want to be on the sidelines giving your voting power away to rumors and haters.
Nothing is a "Done Deal" unless you done decided not to Get out and Vote.
Bats are dying by the thousands from who knows what. EEEK!!! Good riddance, you say? Think again. Combined with the loss of bees from Colony Collapse Disorder, this new plague among the voracious bats could have additional, far reaching consequences on agriculture, public health and our increasingly precarious ecological equilibrium. Not to mention we do not, at this time, know whether the disease that is killing the bats will affect humans or be transmissible to humans.
Bats eat insects, especially moths, that threaten crops. They help hold down the mosquito population. A single little brown bat can scarf down up to 1,000 mosquitoes an hour and can live to be 40 years old. Without bats, we’d be knee-deep in bugs. Hell, in Florida we are practically knee-deep now in bugs, I sure don’t want to see this place without our bug eating friends!
You Will Think about this next time you eat Beef
Downed cattle (cattle that cannot stand or walk because of illness) are not supposed to go into our food chain. That’s exactly how Mad Cow Disease made it into people. But, greed once again rules the day and downer cattle are in fact being led to slaughter, in a horrific fashion I might add.
…Schools are scrambling to pull downer meat off the menu because cows are being abused, and even Agricultural Secretary Ed Schafers issues a statement on downer cow brutality (Watch the Whistleblower video on this issue!!!):
“I am deeply concerned about the allegations made regarding inhumane handling of non-ambulatory disabled cattle in a federally inspected slaughter establishment…. We are confident in our inspection system and the food safety regulations that ensure the safety and wholesomeness of the food supply. Among the federal safeguards in place, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) prohibits non-ambulatory disabled cattle and cattle tissue identified as specified risk materials for use in human food.
USDA study published in August 2004 that found that downer cows had three times more E. coli O15:H7 than other cows. We worry about abused cows, or dogs and cats being poisoned by the Chinese, but do we worry about feeding cow shit to our kids?…
Marler Blog tell us subscribing to Marler Blog keeps you up on what is going on in the food industry, and it does…how many people know this information about Downer Cattle other than the few that do keep up with the food and disease industries.
There are already laws against this treatment of sick animals. Contact your State Reps and Congressmen and let them know that you will not stand for the abuse of sick and dying animals, and the slaughter of sick and downed animals for human consumption. Tell them that you will spread the word about this abuse until they take action and do something to stop these sick and dying animals being abused and slaughtered for human consumption.
Art or Obscenity? Unusual Case Draws Controversy
Jan 31 2008 For about the last eight years, Karen Fletcher has rarely left her run-down house outside Pittsburgh, she says. Described by her lawyers as timid and reclusive, Fletcher recently began posting short stories on the Internet that describe, in graphic detail, the sexual abuse and torture of young children in order, she says, to cope with her own history of abuse.
But amid the ubiquitous pornography available on the Internet, those stories, read by about 29 paying subscribers, have made Fletcher one of the few people facing federal criminal charges for obscenity.
Once relatively common, federal obscenity cases in the last 15 years have become something of a rarity, law professors and former prosecutors say. Though child pornography prosecutions are increasing, adult obscenity laws are unevenly enforced across the country, taking a back seat to high-profile areas like terrorism cases and drug enforcement.
"A straight adult obscenity case is fairly far down in the pecking order" of priorities for prosecutors, said Teree Bowers, who was the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles from 1992 to 1994.
Fletcher's case has generated even more attention because, unlike the vast majority of material thought to be obscene, Fletcher's stories have no accompanying photographs or images. In the 35 years since the Supreme Court's seminal case defining obscenity, it appears that not a single successful federal obscenity prosecution has been based solely on the written word.
"We haven't seen anything like that since the '60's," said Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor who has written about obscenity law. He called Fletcher's case "astonishing."
Under the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Miller v. California, pornography can be prosecuted as obscene if, taken as a whole, it lacks artistic, literary or scientific merit; depicts certain sexual conduct in an offensive way; and is prurient as measured by contemporary community standards. In a separate case decided that year, the court held that written descriptions alone, without pictures, can be obscene.
Fletcher's stories, prosecutors say, go so far beyond what is acceptable even in today's permissive culture that they warrant criminal charges. She faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
"The U.S. Attorney's office and I felt that the stories involved here are extremely graphic, depicting the torture and rape of children, and thought they were worthy of prosecution," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman, who is prosecuting the case.
Mary Beth Buchanan, the US Attorney in Pittsburgh, who has a reputation as one of the federal prosecutors to aggressively pursue obscenity cases, was unavailable for comment. Kaufman said, "[Former] Attorney General [John] Ashcroft made obscenity prosecutions a priority and [Buchanan] took it seriously."
Now 56 and living off of disability payments, Fletcher claims in an affidavit that she ran away from home at age 14 after being physically and sexually abused as a child. The stories, and the online communication among some of her 29 paid subscribers, were therapeutic and helped her cope with her own abuse, she said.
The Web site, Red Rose, which has since been taken down, was intended to be "a safe place for cathartic writing for people to express themselves and use their own imagery & not to have pictures to potentially excite or be suggestive to readers," Fletcher said in the affidavit. Through her lawyers, she declined to be interviewed for this story.
"If she hadn't been writing these stories, she probably wouldn't be alive today," said Jerome Mooney, one of Fletcher's attorneys. Mooney and Fletcher's affidavit say she is a recluse who is afraid of other people and rarely leaves the house. She has avoided going to court for hearings.
"I don't think she's even in posture where she can imagine what it would be like" to go to prison, Mooney said. "She has difficulty leaving her own home. I can't imagine what would happen if she ended up in prison. I suspect it would be devastating. I don't think she'd survive it."
Her case began when the FBI received a complaint of suspicious activity from PayPal, according to a search warrant. Fletcher admitted to the FBI that she had about 29 subscribers, who paid $10 a month for access to the site.
In court papers, the government argued that the fact that Fletcher charged for access to the site made it illegal. Mooney said Fletcher charged subscribers to pay for the cost of running the site and to keep children from accessing it. This week, a judge refused to suppress Fletcher's statements to the FBI. She is expected to go to trial later this year.
Much pornography may meet the technical definition of obscenity. But many prosecutors, faced with the immensity of potentially obscene material on the Internet, tend to focus on child pornography and abuse, said Bowers and Joseph DeMarco, a former federal prosecutor in New York. Those cases are more likely to lead to other charges; pornography that features torture or rape is often made in the third world and may involve sexual slavery, DeMarco said.
In 2006, there were about 2,500 federal child pornography prosecutions, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Though both former attorneys general John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales said they planned to make obscenity a priority, there have been comparatively few obscenity cases brought separately from allegations of child pornography or sexual abuse.
"The idea that you can arrest someone for looking at dirty pictures seems antiquated today," Wu said. "It's close to being a dead law."
Cases attacking words alone have not fared well in the appellate courts. State obscenity charges against the rap group 2 Live Crew for their explicit lyrics were thrown out. An Ohio man pleaded guilty to state obscenity charges in 2005 for diary entries that described fantasies of sexually abusing children but was granted a new trial after a court ruled that his lawyers were ineffective because they advised him not to pursue a first amendment defense.
Though Fletcher's lawyers argue that it should never be constitutional to prosecute text-only cases, her trial will probably focus on whether her stories have literary or scientific merit. Her lawyers cite episodes of the television show South Park and Norman Mailer's novel The Castle and the Forest, which describes sex between a teenage boy and an older man, as examples of socially acceptable explicit content.
Speech isn't enough
01-21-08 When politicians are having difficulty getting themselves out of a controversial situation, pundits like Chris Matthews are quick to offer a diagnosis: The politician, they tell us, should immediately come clean, take responsibility and, if necessary, apologize. Get it over quickly; don't let it drag out -- and don't make it worse with evasive answers or half-hearted explanations.
Chris Matthews and MSNBC should have followed that advice...more
Former Republican US congressmancharged in terror case
Washington - A federal grand jury in the Western District of Missouri has returned a superseding indictment that charges the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) and several of its former officers with eight new counts of engaging in prohibited financial transactions for the benefit of U.S.-designated terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The indictment also charges former Republican U.S. Congressman (Mi) Mark Deli Siljander with money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the case.
Funds raised by the IARA reportedly went to the radical rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is hiding in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. The indictment against Mr Siljander says the IARA hired Mr Siljander in 2004 to lobby Congress to remove the group from a list of non-profit organisations suspected of supporting international terrorism. He is also accused of engaging in money laundering and obstruction of a federal investigation...more
Who Do We Vote For This Time Around?
A Letter from
Michael Moore
01.02.08
Friends,
A new year has begun. And before we've had a chance to break our New Year's resolutions, we find ourselves with a little more than 24 hours before the good people of Iowa tell us whom they would like to replace the man who now occupies three countries and a white house.
Twice before, we have begun the process to stop this man, and twice we have failed. Eight years of our lives as Americans will have been lost, the world left in upheaval against us... and yet now, today, we hope against hope that our moment has finally arrived, that the amazingly powerful force of the Republican Party will somehow be halted. But we know that the Democrats are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and if there's a way to blow this election, they will find it and do it with gusto.
Do you feel the same as me? That the Democratic front-runners are a less-than-stellar group of candidates, and that none of them are the "slam dunk" we wish they were? Of course, there are wonderful things about each of them. Any one of them would be infinitely better than what we have now. Personally, Congressman Kucinich, more than any other candidate, shares the same positions that I have on the issues (although the UFO that picked ME up would only take me as far as Kalamazoo). But let's not waste time talking about Dennis. Even he is resigned to losing, with statements like the one he made yesterday to his supporters in Iowa to throw their support to Senator Obama as their "second choice."
So, it's Hillary, Obama, Edwards -- now what do we do?
Two months ago, Rolling Stone magazine asked me to do a cover story where I would ask the hard questions that no one was asking in one-on-one interviews with Senators Clinton, Obama and Edwards. "The Top Democrats Face Off with Michael Moore." The deal was that all three candidates had to agree to let me interview them or there was no story. Obama and Edwards agreed. Mrs. Clinton said no, and the cover story was thus killed.
Why would the love of my life, Hillary Clinton, not sit down to talk with me? What was she afraid of?
Those of you who are longtime readers of mine may remember that 11 years ago I wrote a chapter (in my first book) entitled, "My Forbidden Love for Hillary." I was fed up with the treatment she was getting, most of it boringly sexist, and I thought somebody should stand up for her. I later met her and she thanked me for referring to her as "one hot s***kicking feminist babe." I supported and contributed to her run for the U.S. Senate. I think she is a decent and smart person who loves this country, cares deeply about kids, and has put up with more crap than anyone I know of (other than me) from the Crazy Right. Her inauguration would be a thrilling sight, ending 218 years of white male rule in a country where 51% of its citizens are female and 64% are either female or people of color.
And yet, I am sad to say, nothing has disappointed me more than the disastrous, premeditated vote by Senator Hillary Clinton to send us to war in Iraq. I'm not only talking about her first vote that gave Mr. Bush his "authorization" to invade -- I'm talking about every single OTHER vote she then cast for the next four years, backing and funding Bush's illegal war, and doing so with verve. She never met a request from the White House for war authorization that she didn't like. Unlike the Kerrys and the Bidens who initially voted for authorization but later came to realize the folly of their decision, Mrs. Clinton continued to cast numerous votes for the war until last March -- four long years of pro-war votes, even after 70% of the American public had turned against the war. She has steadfastly refused to say that she was wrong about any of this, and she will not apologize for her culpability in America's worst-ever foreign policy disaster. All she can bring herself to say is that she was "misled" by "faulty intelligence."
Let's assume that's true. Do you want a President who is so easily misled? I wasn't "misled," and millions of others who took to the streets in February of 2003 weren't "misled" either. It was simply amazing that we knew the war was wrong when none of us had been briefed by the CIA, none of us were national security experts, and none of us had gone on a weapons inspection tour of Iraq. And yet... we knew we were being lied to! Let me ask those of you reading this letter: Were YOU "misled" -- or did you figure it out sometime between October of 2002 and March of 2007 that George W. Bush was up to something rotten? Twenty-three other senators were smart enough to figure it out and vote against the war from the get-go. Why wasn't Senator Clinton?
I have a theory: Hillary knows the sexist country we still live in and that one of the reasons the public, in the past, would never consider a woman as president is because she would also be commander in chief. The majority of Americans were concerned that a woman would not be as likely to go to war as a man (horror of horrors!). So, in order to placate that mindset, perhaps she believed she had to be as "tough" as a man, she had to be willing to push The Button if necessary, and give the generals whatever they wanted. If this is, in fact, what has motivated her pro-war votes, then this would truly make her a scary first-term president. If the U.S. is faced with some unforeseen threat in her first years, she knows that in order to get re-elected she'd better be ready to go all Maggie Thatcher on whoever sneezes in our direction. Do we want to risk this, hoping the world makes it in one piece to her second term?
I have not even touched on her other numerous -- and horrendous -- votes in the Senate, especially those that have made the middle class suffer even more (she voted for Bush's first bankruptcy bill, and she is now the leading recipient of payoff money -- I mean campaign contributions -- from the health care industry). I know a lot of you want to see her elected, and there is a very good chance that will happen. There will be plenty of time to vote for her in the general election if all the pollsters are correct. But in the primaries and caucuses, isn't this the time to vote for the person who most reflects the values and politics you hold dear? Can you, in good conscience, vote for someone who so energetically voted over and over and over again for the war in Iraq? Please give this serious consideration.
Now, on to the two candidates who did agree to do the interview with me...
Barack Obama is a good and inspiring man. What a breath of fresh air! There's no doubting his sincerity or his commitment to trying to straighten things out in this country. But who is he? I mean, other than a guy who gives a great speech? How much do any of us really know about him? I know he was against the war. How do I know that? He gave a speech before the war started. But since he joined the senate, he has voted for the funds for the war, while at the same time saying we should get out. He says he's for the little guy, but then he votes for a corporate-backed bill to make it harder for the little guy to file a class action suit when his kid swallows lead paint from a Chinese-made toy. In fact, Obama doesn't think Wall Street is a bad place. He wants the insurance companies to help us develop a new health care plan -- the same companies who have created the mess in the first place. He's such a feel-good kinda guy, I get the sense that, if elected, the Republicans will eat him for breakfast. He won't even have time to make a good speech about it.
But this may be a bit harsh. Senator Obama has a big heart, and that heart is in the right place. Is he electable? Will more than 50% of America vote for him? We'd like to believe they would. We'd like to believe America has changed, wouldn't we? Obama lets us feel better about ourselves -- and as we look out the window at the guy snowplowing his driveway across the street, we want to believe he's changed, too. But are we dreaming?
And then there's John Edwards.
It's hard to get past the hair, isn't it? But once you do -- and recently I have chosen to try -- you find a man who is out to take on the wealthy and powerful who have made life so miserable for so many. A candidate who says things like this: "I absolutely believe to my soul that this corporate greed and corporate power has an ironclad hold on our democracy." Whoa. We haven't heard anyone talk like that in a while, at least not anyone who is near the top of the polls. I suspect this is why Edwards is doing so well in Iowa, even though he has nowhere near the stash of cash the other two have. He won't take the big checks from the corporate PACs, and he is alone among the top three candidates in agreeing to limit his spending and be publicly funded. He has said, point-blank, that he's going after the drug companies and the oil companies and anyone else who is messing with the American worker. The media clearly find him to be a threat, probably because he will go after their monopolistic power, too. This is Roosevelt/Truman kind of talk. That's why it's resonating with people in Iowa, even though he doesn't get the attention Obama and Hillary get -- and that lack of coverage may cost him the first place spot tomorrow night. After all, he is one of those white guys who's been running things for far too long.
And he voted for the war. But unlike Senator Clinton, he has stated quite forcefully that he was wrong. And he has remorse. Should he be forgiven? Did he learn his lesson? Like Hillary and Obama, he refused to promise in a September debate that there will be no U.S. troops in Iraq by the end of his first term in 2013. But this week in Iowa, he changed his mind. He went further than Clinton and Obama and said he'd have all the troops home in less than a year.
Edwards is the only one of the three front-runners who has a universal health care plan that will lead to the single-payer kind all other civilized countries have. His plan doesn't go as fast as I would like, but he is the only one who has correctly pointed out that the health insurance companies are the enemy and should not have a seat at the table.
I am not endorsing anyone at this point. This is simply how I feel in the first week of the process to replace George W. Bush. For months I've been wanting to ask the question, "Where are you, Al Gore?" You can only polish that Oscar for so long. And the Nobel was decided by Scandinavians! I don't blame you for not wanting to enter the viper pit again after you already won. But getting us to change out our incandescent light bulbs for some irritating fluorescent ones isn't going to save the world. All it's going to do is make us more agitated and jumpy and feeling like once we get home we haven't really left the office.
On second thought, would you even be willing to utter the words, "I absolutely believe to my soul that this corporate greed and corporate power has an ironclad hold on our democracy?" 'Cause the candidate who understands that, and who sees it as the root of all evil -- including the root of global warming -- is the President who may lead us to a place of sanity, justice and peace.
Yours,
Michael Moore (not an Iowa voter, but appreciative of any state that has
a town named after a sofa)
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
Ringing in the New Year with New Laws
New laws target text messaging, light bulbs, smoking, civil unions and bus safety.
DENVER - A host of new laws on topics ranging from allowing civil unions in New Hampshire to prohibiting text messaging while driving in Washington state become effective Jan. 1, 2008. The National Conference of State Legislatures found a host of state laws in 31 states ranging from controversial to clever that will become law on New Year's Day.
New Hampshire and Oregon will have new provisions regarding same sex couples. In Illinois, there will be a new law prohibiting smoking in public places while in California, smoking will not be allowed in a car when a minor is present.
Washington and Oregon will prohibit typing messages while driving. In Minnesota,
bus cushions must meet new depths. Three states will issue license plates to
veterans or family members of military personnel killed in combat. Illinois
will allow pets to be included in protection orders. If you sell American flags
in Minnesota, they will have to be made in the United States.
The minimum wage will rise in New Mexico, and homeowners in Illinois will have
new protections to avert foreclosures. Airline passengers will have a
bill of rights in New York state. And bad news if you are an old light bulb
in Illinois or mercury in Minnesota, you will see new restrictions. Parents
of a newborn in South Carolina will have to watch a video on the dangers of
shaking a baby.
Below is a compilation of selected legislation, organized by issue, scheduled
to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2008.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
- Ohio will revise certain penalties in its Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law in order to meet recently enacted federal requirements of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. States have until mid-2009 to comply with the federal act. If not, they face a 10 percent reduction in federal crime funds. (Ohio 127th General Assembly, SB 10)
- Illinois will amend its Domestic Violence Act of 1986 to protect pets. Under the provision, the court can grant a petitioner exclusive care and custody of a pet or animal. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, HB 9)
- If a child is at risk of being abused in Oregon, the state Department of Human Services will not have to gain written permission from the alleged abuser in order to run a criminal background check. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, HB 2179)
DRIVER'S LICENSES
- Alaska's driver's licenses and identification cards will be marked if a person is restricted from consuming alcoholic beverages as a result of a conviction or condition of probation or parole. (Alaska 25th Legislature, HB 90)
- In an effort to reduce youth access to alcohol, drivers
under the age of 21 in New Hampshire will have a driver's license that
is vertical, compared to the horizontal version for those of the legal
drinking age. (New
Hampshire 94th General Court, HB
1581)
PRIMARY ELECTIONS
- Come Jan. 1, California and Florida will be two additional states to host their primary or caucus on or before February 5, 2007. Click here for a complete list of states. (California Legislature, SB 513; Florida Legislature, HB 537)
ENVIRONMENT
-
In order to reduce energy consumption, all buildings owned or leased by the state of Illinois that are larger than 1,000 square feet must use Energy Star-labeled light bulbs. Historic buildings that are listed on the Illinois Register of Historic Places are exempt from this requirement. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, HB 1460)
-
Several products sold in Minnesota must be mercury free. This includes stoves, barometers, cooking thermometers, over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances. (Minnesota 85th Legislature, HB 1316)
ETHICS
- Oregon has a sweeping government ethics bill that will limit officials
to $50 gifts, provide stable funding for the Ethics Commission, increase
penalties for ethics violations,
and make financial disclosure forms filed by officials more accessible to the public and easier to understand. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, SB 10)
HEALTH
- In South Carolina, hospitals must show new parents a video on the dangers of shaking infants and the importance of child CPR. This video must also be made available to all child care facilities and child care providers so they can include the video presentation in the training of the facility's caregivers. (South Carolina 117th General Assembly, SB 518)
- Insurance companies will have to include coverage for contraceptives if they provide benefits for other drugs in Oregon. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, HB 2700)
IMMIGRATION
- The Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act in Utah sets guidelines for judges to use when children of immigrants, who legal status has changed, are at risk of abduction. Three other states (Colo., Kan., LA.) have enacted similar measures. (Utah Legislature, SB 35)
LABOR
- In Kentucky, a new law will allow spouses of miners who are killed in mine accidents, injured miners and miners who are otherwise affected by possible safety violations full intervention rights in disciplinary actions before the state Mine Safety Review Commission. (Kentucky 82nd General Assembly, HB 207)
- New Mexico will have a minimum wage increases in two phases. Employers must pay $6.50 an hour with an increase to $7.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2009. (New Mexico 48th Legislature, First Regular Session SB 324)
- American flags sold in Minnesota must be manufactured in the United States. (Minnesota 85th Regular Session, HB 122)
REAL ESTATE
- California and Colorado will require state-regulated banks and mortgage brokers to follow federal lending guidelines of non-traditional mortgages. Banks and lenders will have to evaluate a borrower's repayment ability and make sure the borrower understands the loan terms and risks before they are issued. (Colorado 66th General Assembly, SB 216 ; California Legislature, SB 385)
- A homeowner in Illinois will have the right to keep living in a mortgaged property during foreclosure, with exceptions. Renters also will be allowed to stay in a home that is being foreclosed for the length of the rental agreement or for 120 days as long as the tenant continues to pay rent. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, SB 258)
- A home seller in Texas must disclose whether the home was used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. (Texas 80th Legislature, HB 271)
SAME SEX MARRIAGES
- In New Hampshire, same sex couples may enter civil unions and have the same rights, responsibilities and obligations as married couples. (New Hampshire 94th General Court, HB 437)
- Oregon has new procedures for domestic partnership agreements among same-sex couples. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, HB 2007)
SMOKING
- Illinois will prohibit smoking in public places, places of employment, and governmental vehicles. "No Smoking" signs will also have to be posted in each public space and place of employment where smoking is prohibited. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, SB 500)
- In California, no one can smoke a pipe, cigar or cigarette in a car, whether in motion or at rest, if there is a minor inside. (California Legislature, SB 7)
STATE GOVERNMENT / REGULATION
- Each year, amusement rides in Minnesota will have to be inspected by a certified inspector. Additionally, ride owners and operators will make daily inspections of the rides and may enforce safety rules regarding the riders' behaviors. (Minnesota 85th Legislature, HB 1824)
TRANSPORTATION
-
A New York state law will penalize airlines failing to provide adequate services to passengers trapped on the tarmac for more than three hours. (New York Legislature, SB 5050C)
-
In Oregon, youth under the age of 18 will be banned from talking on a cell phone while driving. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, HB 2872)
-
In Minnesota, school bus seating must have a minimum cushion depth of 15 inches and a seat back height of at least 20 inches. (Minnesota 85th Regular Session, HB 2245)
-
Drivers will not be allowed to read, write or send electronic messages while operating a motor vehicle in Washington state. (Washington's 60th First Regular Session, HG 1214)
VETERANS
- Montana will issue special military or veteran license plates for military personnel, veterans, or spouses. (Montana 60th Legislature, HB 274)
- Illinois and Iowa will issue a Gold Star license plates for residents who are the surviving widow, widower or parent of a person who served in the Armed Forces and was killed in combat. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, HB 167; Iowa 81st General Assembly, SB 586)
VOTING
-
Florida legislation includes a second wave of major election reform, including expanded absentee voting and paper audit trail of all electronic voting machines. (Florida Legislature, HB 537)
 |
COMMENTARY |
International data have long been easily available; they show Americans spending more but slipping in rankings for life expectancy and other key health issues. But few news organizations pay attention—not even to our nearest neighbor—and commentators deluge the public with false, misleading punditry.
By Morton Mintz
mintzm@earthlink.net
Substantial mainstream reporting on single-payer health insurance should have been triggered—or so one might think—by a succession of studies over the years that establish that Canada's health-care system saves or improves large numbers of lives while not wasting money on administrative expenses and fat executive-pay packages. Almost without fail, Canada gets higher ratings than the U.S.
In 2000, for example, the World Health Organization examined and rated the health systems of 191 nations. The United States ranked 37th. Canada scored significantly better although it was not outstanding—it placed 30th. But this study was only one of many that had Canada topping the U.S. (Click here and go to pages 152 to 155 in a PDF file for the rankings of all 191 countries.)
Between November 2002 and March 2003, the official statistics agencies of the United States and Canada did their first-ever joint survey of the health status, rates of illness, behavioral risk factors, use of health care, and access to health care. The survey included 3,505 Canadians and 5,183 U.S. residents. The results were analyzed by two associate professors of medicine at Harvard Medical School......more
ENVIRONMENT: Planetary
Check-Up Starts With the Oceans
BROOKLIN, Canada, Nov 27 (IPS) - If continents are the Earth's sturdy bones and the atmosphere its thin skin, then the oceans are its heart, circulatory system and blood. And despite the crucial role played by the oceans in the health of the planet, and to our own health and well-being, there is little monitoring of ocean health.
Once the oceans were too big and too deep to probe, measure and observe, but between satellites, undersea robots, electronically tagged fish and deep sea sensors, scientists now have the tools.
On Tuesday, high-level officials began meeting in Cape Town, South Africa to see if governments have the will to create a Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) -- a 10-year project to create a comprehensive monitoring system of what has been described as the last frontier.
"We have pathetically few measurements of the oceans relative to their importance to life on Earth and the extent to which we rely on them for energy, weather, food and recreation," said D. James Baker, former administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Humans are creatures of the land and do not fully understand that the seas create the conditions that make life possible. Seawater covers 71 percent of the planet, and we often think of oceans only in terms of beaches and fish, said Howard Roe, director emeritus of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, England, and past POGO chair.
"The oceans control the global climate and our weather," Roe told IPS.
Direct ocean temperature measurements from an array of 3,000 free-drifting "Argo buoys" provides crucial information that enables weather forecasters to make long range predictions, he said.
"Every successful El Nino prediction saves at least a billion dollars by allowing people to react in time," he noted.
Advance warnings of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 would have saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars. A new system of 32 additional Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami stations are to be deployed in the Indian, Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans and would be part of POGO.
"A system for ocean observing and forecasting that covers the world's oceans and their major uses can reduce growing risks, protect human interests and monitor the health of our precious oceans," said Tony Haymet, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego and chair of POGO’s executive committee.
It would cost an estimated two to three billion dollars to create a stable network of satellites surveying vast extents of the surface of the oceans, along with fixed stations taking continuous measurements on the seafloor or as floats and buoys moored in the water column and at the surface. To supplement this, POGO would employ a fleet of small robot submarine ocean monitors and marine animals outfitted with tiny electronic tags that capture and transmit data about the environments they visit.
This marine data would be analysed and integrated with observations from the atmosphere and other sources, and then used in models to produce forecasts useful to the public and policy makers.
Over-fishing, pollution and climate change have spurred major scientific efforts to study oceans and marine life, resulting in enormous amounts of data from hundreds of different research centres. Even though there are clear connections, the fisheries experts aren't always talking to each other, let alone with the climate experts, said Jesse Ausubel, director of the Census of Marine Life Programme at the Sloan Foundation in New York.
"It's time for integrated ocean management," Ausubel said in an interview.
POGO doesn't require a new international institution, it can be a network of institutions that United Nations agencies coordinate, he said.
However, it will require long-term government financial support.
The proposed system is akin to monitoring equipment in the atmosphere that allowed the detection of the thinning ozone layer and the build-up of carbon dioxide. When complete, POGO will authoritatively diagnose and anticipate changing global ocean conditions.
"A continuous, integrated ocean observing system will return the investment many times over in safer maritime operations, storm damage mitigation, and conservation of living marine resources, as well as collecting the vital signs of the ocean that are needed to monitor climate change," said Haymet.
POGO is a major component of a 10-year effort by 71 nations in the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations to create a ground-based, ocean-drifting, air-borne and space-based Global Earth Observation System of Systems to monitor all of Earth’s environmental conditions.
"Government ministers can really make a difference in Cape Town by supporting POGO," said Ausubel.
There are massive changes happening in the oceans from the effects of over-fishing and climate change. And these have and will continue to have impacts on the land.
"A global ocean observing system with timely reports and forecasts can help us be prepared and adapt to these changes," he said.
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