http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/aha-gfi051013.php
Public release date: 15-May-2013
Contact: Cathy Lewis
American Heart Association
Getting fit in middle age can reduce heart failure risk
American Heart Association meeting report -- Abstract 156
Middle aged and out of shape? It's not too late to get fit — and reduce your risk for heart failure, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.
Researchers ranked fitness levels of 9,050 men and women (average age 48) who took two fitness tests — eight years apart — during mid-life. After 18 years of follow-up, they matched the fitness information to Medicare claims for heart failure hospitalizations.
"People who weren't fit at the start of the study were at higher risk for heart failure after age 65," said Ambarish Pandey, M.D., lead author of the study and an internal medicine resident at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "However, those who improved their fitness reduced their heart failure risk, compared to those who continued to have a low fitness level eight years later."
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Friday, May 17, 2013
Unlocking the manipulation of mosquitoes by malaria parasites
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/lsoh-utm051313.php
Public release date: 15-May-2013
Contact: Katie Steels
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Scientists will attempt to find out how malaria parasites manipulate their mosquito hosts after discovering that smell could be a major factor.
In a study published in PLOS ONE today, a team of researchers led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine show for the first time that female mosquitoes infected with malaria parasites are significantly more attracted to human odour than uninfected mosquitoes.
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Public release date: 15-May-2013
Contact: Katie Steels
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Scientists will attempt to find out how malaria parasites manipulate their mosquito hosts after discovering that smell could be a major factor.
In a study published in PLOS ONE today, a team of researchers led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine show for the first time that female mosquitoes infected with malaria parasites are significantly more attracted to human odour than uninfected mosquitoes.
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More sleep may decrease the risk of suicide in people with insomnia
No surprise to me. I have found that if I don't get enough sleep, I am prone to depression when under stress that I can handle when I am more well-rested.http://www.aasmnet.org/articles.aspx?id=3880
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Lynn Celmer
DARIEN, IL – A new study found a relationship between sleep duration and suicidal thoughts in people with insomnia.
Results show that every one-hour increase in sleep duration was associated with a 72 percent decrease in the likelihood of moderate or high suicide risk, in comparison with low risk. Data were adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education and age of onset of sleep difficulties.
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Jekyll into Hyde: Breathing auto emissions turns HDL cholesterol from 'good' to 'bad'
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/uoc--jih051513.php
Public release date: 15-May-2013
Contact: Rachel Champeau
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Academic researchers have found that breathing motor vehicle emissions triggers a change in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, altering its cardiovascular protective qualities so that it actually contributes to clogged arteries.
In addition to changing HDL from "good" to "bad," the inhalation of emissions activates other components of oxidation, the early cell and tissue damage that causes inflammation, leading to hardening of the arteries, according to the research team, which included scientists from UCLA and other institutions.
The findings of this early study, done in mice, are available in the online edition of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, a publication of the American Heart Association, and will appear in the journal's June print edition.
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Public release date: 15-May-2013
Contact: Rachel Champeau
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Academic researchers have found that breathing motor vehicle emissions triggers a change in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, altering its cardiovascular protective qualities so that it actually contributes to clogged arteries.
In addition to changing HDL from "good" to "bad," the inhalation of emissions activates other components of oxidation, the early cell and tissue damage that causes inflammation, leading to hardening of the arteries, according to the research team, which included scientists from UCLA and other institutions.
The findings of this early study, done in mice, are available in the online edition of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, a publication of the American Heart Association, and will appear in the journal's June print edition.
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Depression linked to almost doubled stroke risk in middle-aged women
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/aha-dlt051313.php
Public release date: 16-May-2013
Contact: Carrie Thacker
American Heart Association
American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report
Depressed middle-aged women have almost double the risk of having a stroke, according to research published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
-----
Public release date: 16-May-2013
Contact: Carrie Thacker
American Heart Association
American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report
Depressed middle-aged women have almost double the risk of having a stroke, according to research published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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Work-related stress linked to increased blood fat levels
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/f-sf-wsl051613.php
Public release date: 16-May-2013
Contact: SINC
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
An altered lipid profile is dangerous for the heart
Spanish researchers have studied how job stress affects cardiovascular health. The results, published in the 'Scandinavian Journal of Public Health', link this situation to dyslipidemia, a disorder that alters the levels of lipids and lipoproteins in the blood.
Experts have been saying for years that emotional stress is linked to the risk of suffering cardiovascular disease as a result of unhealthy habits such as smoking, an unsuitable diet or leading a sedentary lifestyle, among other factors.
-----
Public release date: 16-May-2013
Contact: SINC
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
An altered lipid profile is dangerous for the heart
Spanish researchers have studied how job stress affects cardiovascular health. The results, published in the 'Scandinavian Journal of Public Health', link this situation to dyslipidemia, a disorder that alters the levels of lipids and lipoproteins in the blood.
Experts have been saying for years that emotional stress is linked to the risk of suffering cardiovascular disease as a result of unhealthy habits such as smoking, an unsuitable diet or leading a sedentary lifestyle, among other factors.
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Climate change 'will make hundreds of millions homeless'
It is already causing or making worse things that are causing many, many deaths, directly from starvation from failed crops, or indirectly from social unrest from food shortages and their resulting high food prices - in Africa and the Middle East; fires in the U.S. and other countries.http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/12/climate-change-expert-stern-displacement
Robin McKie, science editor
The Observer, Saturday 11 May 2013
It is increasingly likely that hundreds of millions of people will be displaced from their homelands in the near future as a result of global warming. That is the stark warning of economist and climate change expert Lord Stern following the news last week that concentrations of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere had reached a level of 400 parts per million (ppm).
Massive movements of people are likely to occur over the rest of the century because global temperatures are likely to rise to by up to 5C (9F) because carbon dioxide levels have risen unabated for 50 years, said Stern, who is head of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change.
"When temperatures rise to that level, we will have disrupted weather patterns and spreading deserts," he said. "Hundreds of millions of people will be forced to leave their homelands because their crops and animals will have died. The trouble will come when they try to migrate into new lands, however. That will bring them into armed conflict with people already living there. Nor will it be an occasional occurrence. It could become a permanent feature of life on Earth."
The news that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have reached 400ppm has been seized on by experts because that level brings the world close to the point where it becomes inevitable that it will experience a catastrophic rise in temperatures. Scientists have warned for decades of the danger of allowing industrial outputs of carbon dioxide to rise unchecked.
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The last time the Earth's atmosphere had 400ppm carbon dioxide, the Arctic was ice-free and sea levels were 40 metres (131 feet) higher.
The prospect of Earth returning to these climatic conditions is causing major alarm. As temperatures rise, deserts will spread and life-sustaining weather patterns such as the North Indian monsoon could be disrupted. Agriculture could fail on a continent-wide basis and hundreds of millions of people would be rendered homeless, triggering widespread conflict.
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Arctic waters growing alarmingly acidic
http://sciencenordic.com/arctic-waters-growing-alarmingly-acidic
May 11, 2013
The seas of the world are becoming increasingly acidic and the Arctic is hardest hit.
Scientists think that by the year 2100 the Arctic Ocean will be twice as acidic as it is today.
Today, after three years of studies, the results have been presented at the AMAP International Conference on Arctic Ocean Acidification in Bergen. The main conclusions are:
The oceans are becoming more acidic. Marine acidification is the result of the seas absorbing huge amounts of CO2 caused by human activities.
In the past 200 years the average degree of acidity in ocean surface waters has increased 30 percent worldwide.
The ocean in the Arctic region is especially vulnerable. CO2 is more readily absorbed in cold water and the increasing flow of fresh water reduces the ocean’s capabilities of neutralising acidification.
In central areas of the ocean in the Arctic the acidification is more extensive, especially because surface water in these areas is so heavily affected.
As the food chains in the Arctic are relatively short and simple, marine ecosystems are succeptible to changes when external factors impact key species.
-----
He explains that the sea has done us all a great service in protecting the climate the last 200 years by acting as a carbon sink, absorbing huge amounts of CO2. The sea has absorbed about half the CO2 we have discharged since the industrial revolution and still takes about 25 percent.
May 11, 2013
The seas of the world are becoming increasingly acidic and the Arctic is hardest hit.
Scientists think that by the year 2100 the Arctic Ocean will be twice as acidic as it is today.
Today, after three years of studies, the results have been presented at the AMAP International Conference on Arctic Ocean Acidification in Bergen. The main conclusions are:
The oceans are becoming more acidic. Marine acidification is the result of the seas absorbing huge amounts of CO2 caused by human activities.
In the past 200 years the average degree of acidity in ocean surface waters has increased 30 percent worldwide.
The ocean in the Arctic region is especially vulnerable. CO2 is more readily absorbed in cold water and the increasing flow of fresh water reduces the ocean’s capabilities of neutralising acidification.
In central areas of the ocean in the Arctic the acidification is more extensive, especially because surface water in these areas is so heavily affected.
As the food chains in the Arctic are relatively short and simple, marine ecosystems are succeptible to changes when external factors impact key species.
-----
He explains that the sea has done us all a great service in protecting the climate the last 200 years by acting as a carbon sink, absorbing huge amounts of CO2. The sea has absorbed about half the CO2 we have discharged since the industrial revolution and still takes about 25 percent.
Study Finds 97% Consensus on Human-Caused Global Warming in the Peer-Reviewed Literature
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/15/2014211/study-finds-97-consensus-on-human-caused-global-warming-in-the-peer-reviewed-literature/
By Climate Guest Blogger on May 15, 2013
By Dana Nuccitelli and John Cook via Skeptical Science.
A new survey of over 12,000 peer-reviewed climate science papers by our citizen science team at Skeptical Science has found a 97 percent consensus in the peer-reviewed literature that humans are causing global warming.
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Our results are also consistent with previous research finding a 97 percent consensus amongst climate experts on the human cause of global warming. Doran and Zimmerman (2009) surveyed Earth scientists, and found that of the 77 scientists responding to their survey who are actively publishing climate science research, 75 (97.4%) agreed that “human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures.” Anderegg et al. (2010) compiled a list of 908 researchers with at least 20 peer-reviewed climate publications. They found that:
“≈97% of self-identified actively publishing climate scientists agree with the tenets of ACC [anthropogenic climate change]“
In our survey, among scientists who expressed a position on AGW in their abstract, 98.4% endorsed the consensus. This is greater than 97% consensus of peer-reviewed papers because endorsement papers had more authors than rejection papers, on average.
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However, research has also shown that the public is misinformed on the climate consensus. For example, a 2012 poll from US Pew Research Center found less than half of Americans thought that scientists agreed that humans were causing global warming. One contributor to this misperception is false balance in the media, particularly in the US, where most climate stories are “balanced” with a “skeptic” perspective. However, this results in making the 3 percent seem much larger, like 50 percent. In trying to achieve “balance”, the media has actually created a very unbalanced perception of reality. As a result, people believe scientists are still split about what’s causing global warming, and therefore there is not nearly enough public support or motivation to solve the problem.
Such false balance has long been the goal of a dedicated misinformation campaign waged by the fossil fuel industry. Just as one example, in 1991 Western Fuels Association conducted a $510,000 campaign whose primary goal was to “reposition global warming as theory (not fact).” These vested interests have exploited the media desire to appear “balanced.”
-----
Another important point is that once you accept that humans are causing global warming, you must also accept that global warming is still happening; humans cause global warming by increasing the greenhouse effect, and our greenhouse gas emissions just keep accelerating. This ties in to our previous posts noting that global warming is accelerating; but that over the past decade, most of that warming has gone into the oceans (including the oft-neglected deep oceans). If you accept that humans are causing global warming, as over 97% of peer-reviewed scientific papers do, then this conclusion should not be at all controversial. With all this evidence for human-caused global warming, it couldn’t simply have just stopped, so the heat must be going somewhere. Scientists have found it in the oceans.
-----
By Climate Guest Blogger on May 15, 2013
By Dana Nuccitelli and John Cook via Skeptical Science.
A new survey of over 12,000 peer-reviewed climate science papers by our citizen science team at Skeptical Science has found a 97 percent consensus in the peer-reviewed literature that humans are causing global warming.
-----
Our results are also consistent with previous research finding a 97 percent consensus amongst climate experts on the human cause of global warming. Doran and Zimmerman (2009) surveyed Earth scientists, and found that of the 77 scientists responding to their survey who are actively publishing climate science research, 75 (97.4%) agreed that “human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures.” Anderegg et al. (2010) compiled a list of 908 researchers with at least 20 peer-reviewed climate publications. They found that:
“≈97% of self-identified actively publishing climate scientists agree with the tenets of ACC [anthropogenic climate change]“
In our survey, among scientists who expressed a position on AGW in their abstract, 98.4% endorsed the consensus. This is greater than 97% consensus of peer-reviewed papers because endorsement papers had more authors than rejection papers, on average.
-----
However, research has also shown that the public is misinformed on the climate consensus. For example, a 2012 poll from US Pew Research Center found less than half of Americans thought that scientists agreed that humans were causing global warming. One contributor to this misperception is false balance in the media, particularly in the US, where most climate stories are “balanced” with a “skeptic” perspective. However, this results in making the 3 percent seem much larger, like 50 percent. In trying to achieve “balance”, the media has actually created a very unbalanced perception of reality. As a result, people believe scientists are still split about what’s causing global warming, and therefore there is not nearly enough public support or motivation to solve the problem.
Such false balance has long been the goal of a dedicated misinformation campaign waged by the fossil fuel industry. Just as one example, in 1991 Western Fuels Association conducted a $510,000 campaign whose primary goal was to “reposition global warming as theory (not fact).” These vested interests have exploited the media desire to appear “balanced.”
-----
Another important point is that once you accept that humans are causing global warming, you must also accept that global warming is still happening; humans cause global warming by increasing the greenhouse effect, and our greenhouse gas emissions just keep accelerating. This ties in to our previous posts noting that global warming is accelerating; but that over the past decade, most of that warming has gone into the oceans (including the oft-neglected deep oceans). If you accept that humans are causing global warming, as over 97% of peer-reviewed scientific papers do, then this conclusion should not be at all controversial. With all this evidence for human-caused global warming, it couldn’t simply have just stopped, so the heat must be going somewhere. Scientists have found it in the oceans.
-----
GOP Sources Altered Benghazi E-Mails To Suggest A Cover-Up, Reporter Confirms
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/05/17/2027861/gop-sources-altered-benghazi-e-mails-to-suggest-a-cover-up-reporter-confirms/
By Rebecca Leber posted from ThinkProgress Security on May 17, 2013
Since September, Republicans have claimed the Obama administration covered up the truth about the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya by altering the talking points Susan Rice used on the Sunday morning talk shows. To bolster the story, Republicans misquoted or significantly embellished the emails officials used to draft Rice’s remarks, the CBS Evening News reported Thursday.
CBS News’ Major Garrett confirmed that it was a GOP source who leaked the altered emails.
The miscast quotes affect at least two emails that include a State Department spokesperson and a White House deputy adviser — the two parties GOP lawmakers insist were trying to engage a cover-up on behalf of the Obama administration to protect the president’s chances of re-election.
A leaked email adds new language to State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland’s email, including a specific reference to al-Qaeda:
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By Rebecca Leber posted from ThinkProgress Security on May 17, 2013
Since September, Republicans have claimed the Obama administration covered up the truth about the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya by altering the talking points Susan Rice used on the Sunday morning talk shows. To bolster the story, Republicans misquoted or significantly embellished the emails officials used to draft Rice’s remarks, the CBS Evening News reported Thursday.
CBS News’ Major Garrett confirmed that it was a GOP source who leaked the altered emails.
The miscast quotes affect at least two emails that include a State Department spokesperson and a White House deputy adviser — the two parties GOP lawmakers insist were trying to engage a cover-up on behalf of the Obama administration to protect the president’s chances of re-election.
A leaked email adds new language to State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland’s email, including a specific reference to al-Qaeda:
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Fitness protects you from cancer, even 20 years later
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51910901/
By Maggie Fox Senior Writer, NBC news
updated 5/17/2013
Fitness can protect you from cancer -- even 20 or more years down the road, researchers report. And men who were the most fit in middle age were the least likely to die a quarter century later even if they were unlucky enough to get cancer, a new study finds.
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By Maggie Fox Senior Writer, NBC news
updated 5/17/2013
Fitness can protect you from cancer -- even 20 or more years down the road, researchers report. And men who were the most fit in middle age were the least likely to die a quarter century later even if they were unlucky enough to get cancer, a new study finds.
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
Cancer increases bankruptcy risk, even for insured
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51893912/ns/health-cancer/
by Barbara Mantel, nbcnews.com
May 15th 2013 4:29 AM
Cancer patients are at much greater risk of bankruptcy than people without cancer, according to a large new study. And while the new health care law promises insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans who lack it now, the high cost of cancer care can push many patients, especially younger women, into financial trouble, experts say.
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Overall, cancer patients were 2.5 times as likely as others to file for bankruptcy.
Non-white females were the most likely to file, while patients 65 or older were the least likely -- possibly because they were covered by Medicare and eligible for Social Security.
Bankruptcy rates among the younger groups were up to 10 times that of the older patients. “People who have fewer assets, less income and less generous insurance because of entry level jobs or no insurance are more vulnerable to severe financial distress,” Ramsey says.
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“previous studies tell us that about three-quarters of people who say that illness was a major factor in their bankruptcy had private health insurance, at least when they first got sick,”
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by Barbara Mantel, nbcnews.com
May 15th 2013 4:29 AM
Cancer patients are at much greater risk of bankruptcy than people without cancer, according to a large new study. And while the new health care law promises insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans who lack it now, the high cost of cancer care can push many patients, especially younger women, into financial trouble, experts say.
-----
Overall, cancer patients were 2.5 times as likely as others to file for bankruptcy.
Non-white females were the most likely to file, while patients 65 or older were the least likely -- possibly because they were covered by Medicare and eligible for Social Security.
Bankruptcy rates among the younger groups were up to 10 times that of the older patients. “People who have fewer assets, less income and less generous insurance because of entry level jobs or no insurance are more vulnerable to severe financial distress,” Ramsey says.
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“previous studies tell us that about three-quarters of people who say that illness was a major factor in their bankruptcy had private health insurance, at least when they first got sick,”
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Head of Fort Campbell harassment program arrested
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ARMY_HARASSMENT_OFFICER_CHARGED?SITE=VARIT&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 16, 6:39 PM EDT
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) -- The manager of the sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was arrested in a domestic dispute and relieved of his post, authorities said Thursday.
Lt. Col. Darin Haas (HAHZ') turned himself in to police in Clarksville, Tenn., late Wednesday on charges of violating an order of protection, and stalking. Master Sgt. Pete Mayes, a spokesman for the Army post on the Tennessee-Kentucky line, said Haas was immediately removed as manager of a program meant to prevent sexual harassment and assault and encourage equal opportunity.
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May 16, 6:39 PM EDT
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) -- The manager of the sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was arrested in a domestic dispute and relieved of his post, authorities said Thursday.
Lt. Col. Darin Haas (HAHZ') turned himself in to police in Clarksville, Tenn., late Wednesday on charges of violating an order of protection, and stalking. Master Sgt. Pete Mayes, a spokesman for the Army post on the Tennessee-Kentucky line, said Haas was immediately removed as manager of a program meant to prevent sexual harassment and assault and encourage equal opportunity.
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Thousands of Georgia veterans could be left out of Medicaid
In Georgia, a single person w/o children and not officially disabled is NOT eligible for Medicaid if they have income over $230/month. And that is not a typo. That's $2760/year!http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Report.aspx?reportdate=5-1-2013
Atlanta Journal Constitution:
by Misty Williams
April 30, 2013
Uninsured Georgia Veterans Could Remain Ineligible For Medicaid.
Poor, uninsured military veterans and their spouses in Georgia won’t gain the same access to critical health coverage that hundreds of thousands of their peers will receive in states that plan to expand Medicaid. More than 83,000 Georgia veterans and their spouses under age 65 don’t have health insurance, the fourth-largest such population among states nationwide, a recent study examining U.S. Census Bureau data shows. Nearly 40 percent of them — people like Dale Zipperer of Griffin, a Marine from the Vietnam era whose poor health prevents him from working — have incomes low enough to qualify for coverage under a Medicaid expansion set to begin in January under the Affordable Care Act (Williams, 4/30).
Flu in Pregnancy Is Linked to Bipolar Disorder
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/flu-in-pregnancy-is-linked-to-bipolar-disorder/?partner=MYWAY&ei=5065
by NICHOLAS BAKALAR, well.blogs.nytimes.com
May 15th 2013
Flu infection during pregnancy may increase the risk for bipolar disorder in the child, according to a new report.
Previous studies have found an association between flu infection and schizophrenia, but this one, published online in JAMA Psychiatry, is the first to find a connection with bipolar disorder.
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After controlling for maternal age, race, educational level, gestational age at birth and maternal psychiatric disorders, they found that people whose mothers had the flu during pregnancy had quadruple the risk for bipolar disorder as adults. [confusing wording. Better to say "when they were adults"]
“Pregnant women should not be alarmed,” said the senior author, Dr. Alan S. Brown, a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia. “Bipolar disorder occurs in only 1 percent of the population. But this is another piece of knowledge indicating that pregnant mothers and women planning a pregnancy should consider getting a flu shot.”
by NICHOLAS BAKALAR, well.blogs.nytimes.com
May 15th 2013
Flu infection during pregnancy may increase the risk for bipolar disorder in the child, according to a new report.
Previous studies have found an association between flu infection and schizophrenia, but this one, published online in JAMA Psychiatry, is the first to find a connection with bipolar disorder.
-----
After controlling for maternal age, race, educational level, gestational age at birth and maternal psychiatric disorders, they found that people whose mothers had the flu during pregnancy had quadruple the risk for bipolar disorder as adults. [confusing wording. Better to say "when they were adults"]
“Pregnant women should not be alarmed,” said the senior author, Dr. Alan S. Brown, a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia. “Bipolar disorder occurs in only 1 percent of the population. But this is another piece of knowledge indicating that pregnant mothers and women planning a pregnancy should consider getting a flu shot.”
A lot of competition in the music business
http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/05/14/183643357/when-the-right-one-comes-along-how-nashville-tells-stories-in-song
May 13, 2013
With Nashville's first season about to wrap up — and a second one just ordered — the prime-time TV drama has found a niche audience on Wednesdays. The soundtrack has also enjoyed pop chart success.
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But tracking down those songs is no easy thing. That job falls to , the music supervisor for Nashville, who tells All Things Considered's Audie Cornish that when she first put out a call for unreleased music, she guessed she received "at least 50,000 songs."
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May 13, 2013
With Nashville's first season about to wrap up — and a second one just ordered — the prime-time TV drama has found a niche audience on Wednesdays. The soundtrack has also enjoyed pop chart success.
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But tracking down those songs is no easy thing. That job falls to , the music supervisor for Nashville, who tells All Things Considered's Audie Cornish that when she first put out a call for unreleased music, she guessed she received "at least 50,000 songs."
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Tiny preemies get a boost from live music therapy
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130516/DA6A9BHG0.html
May 16, 4:16 AM (ET)
By LINDSEY TANNER
(AP) Music therapist Elizabeth Klinger, right, quietly plays guitar and sings for Augustin as he grips...
Full Image
Google sponsored links
Fuel Efficient Volkswagen - View a Volkswagen with More Power & Less Fuel. Explore a VW Now.
www.VW.com
3 Early Signs of Dementia - Doctor: Know These 3 Warning Signs You're About to Suffer Dementia
www.newsmax.com
CHICAGO (AP) - As the guitarist strums and softly sings a lullaby in Spanish, tiny Augustin Morales stops squirming in his hospital crib and closes his eyes.
This is therapy in a newborn intensive care unit, and research suggests that music may help those born way too soon adapt to life outside the womb.
Some tiny preemies are too small and fragile to be held and comforted by human touch, and many are often fussy and show other signs of stress. Other common complications include immature lungs, eye disease, problems with sucking, and sleeping and alertness difficulties.
Recent studies and anecdotal reports suggest the vibrations and soothing rhythms of music, especially performed live in the hospital, might benefit preemies and other sick babies.
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Music therapists say live performances in hospitals are better than recorded music because patients can feel the music vibrations and also benefit from seeing the musicians.
-----
May 16, 4:16 AM (ET)
By LINDSEY TANNER
(AP) Music therapist Elizabeth Klinger, right, quietly plays guitar and sings for Augustin as he grips...
Full Image
Google sponsored links
Fuel Efficient Volkswagen - View a Volkswagen with More Power & Less Fuel. Explore a VW Now.
www.VW.com
3 Early Signs of Dementia - Doctor: Know These 3 Warning Signs You're About to Suffer Dementia
www.newsmax.com
CHICAGO (AP) - As the guitarist strums and softly sings a lullaby in Spanish, tiny Augustin Morales stops squirming in his hospital crib and closes his eyes.
This is therapy in a newborn intensive care unit, and research suggests that music may help those born way too soon adapt to life outside the womb.
Some tiny preemies are too small and fragile to be held and comforted by human touch, and many are often fussy and show other signs of stress. Other common complications include immature lungs, eye disease, problems with sucking, and sleeping and alertness difficulties.
Recent studies and anecdotal reports suggest the vibrations and soothing rhythms of music, especially performed live in the hospital, might benefit preemies and other sick babies.
-----
Music therapists say live performances in hospitals are better than recorded music because patients can feel the music vibrations and also benefit from seeing the musicians.
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Fish Are Fleeing Climate-Warmed Waters And Heading For The Earth’s Poles
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/16/2020311/may-16-news-fish-are-fleeing-climate-warmed-waters-and-heading-for-the-earths-poles/
By Ryan Koronowski on May 16, 2013
For more than 30 years, ocean fish and mammals have migrated away from warming equatorial waters and toward the poles, providing more evidence climate change has already had broad global consequences. [Washington Post]
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By Ryan Koronowski on May 16, 2013
For more than 30 years, ocean fish and mammals have migrated away from warming equatorial waters and toward the poles, providing more evidence climate change has already had broad global consequences. [Washington Post]
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
How New York Times, NPR And Wall Street Journal Print Fossil Fuel Talking Points Without Full Disclosure
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/15/2016501/new-york-times-wall-street-journal-npr-neglect-fossil-fuel-funding-of-climate-denier-talking-points/
By Rebecca Leber on May 15, 2013
Major news outlets often mislead readers by failing to report the fossil fuel funding of the conservative think tanks they cite and quote, according to a new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Journalists commonly cited eight groups with known oil, gas, and coal funding: The American Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Cato Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and Institute for Energy Research (and its arm American Energy Alliance).
In total, they were cited 357 times, but outlets identified their funding from the Koch brothers, American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, or General Motors a mere one-third of the time
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Based on a Nexus search, UCS’s Elliott Negin found the rate of reporting varies widely across outlets: Politico and the Los Angeles Times, and the Associated Press disclosed funding over 40 percent of the time. The two largest papers in the country, USA Today and Wall Street Journal (owned by Rupert Murdoch), disclosed this information the least. And if Koch Industries succeeds in its bid for the Los Angeles Times, along with seven other major papers, it is possible the average will drop even more.
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By Rebecca Leber on May 15, 2013
Major news outlets often mislead readers by failing to report the fossil fuel funding of the conservative think tanks they cite and quote, according to a new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Journalists commonly cited eight groups with known oil, gas, and coal funding: The American Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Cato Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and Institute for Energy Research (and its arm American Energy Alliance).
In total, they were cited 357 times, but outlets identified their funding from the Koch brothers, American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, or General Motors a mere one-third of the time
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Based on a Nexus search, UCS’s Elliott Negin found the rate of reporting varies widely across outlets: Politico and the Los Angeles Times, and the Associated Press disclosed funding over 40 percent of the time. The two largest papers in the country, USA Today and Wall Street Journal (owned by Rupert Murdoch), disclosed this information the least. And if Koch Industries succeeds in its bid for the Los Angeles Times, along with seven other major papers, it is possible the average will drop even more.
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Laws on political action by tax-exempt groups - updated 9:26pm EST
Please read the link below for a fuller discussion of this issue.http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/05/14/2006851/how-real-disclosure-laws-could-help-fix-the-irs-problem/
By Josh Israel posted from ThinkProgress Justice on May 14, 2013
The Internal Revenue Service is under fire from both parties for improperly targeting certain groups for additional scrutiny because their names included keywords such as “Tea Party” and “patriot.” But the challenge of addressing the skyrocketing numbers of “social welfare” groups registering for tax exempt status could be lessened by fixing the broken disclosure laws for political advertisers.
Since the Supreme Court’s controversial 5 to 4 ruling in the Citizens United v. FEC case in 2010, the IRS has seen a more than 100 percent increase in the number of groups applying for 501(c)(4) status — the section of the federal tax code that governs non-profit groups dedicated to social welfare — from 1,500 in 2010 to 3,400 in 2012.
Not all 501(c)(4) engage in political activity of any kind — the United States Chess Federation, for example, is a fairly apolitical group. Political 501(c)(4) groups are required to adhere to certain rules, including that they not be “primarily engaged” in electioneering activity. In a failed attempt to sort out which groups were apolitical and which needed additional scrutiny, the IRS reportedly tried a variety of ineffective screening methods, including flagging “patriot” groups as well as groups that focused on making “America a better place to live.”
As long as it is not their primary purpose, Citizens United allows (c)(4) groups to spend unlimited funds on “independent expenditure” ads aimed at swaying voters and the deadlocked Federal Election Commission allows these groups to avoid any disclosure of who bankrolls these advertisements. And since the 2002 law governing political advertisements came before the ruling, it does not adequately address the specific issue of disclosure for independent expenditure ads.
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http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_05/two_rather_important_details_a044751.php
May 15, 2013
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But there are two aspects of the “IRS Scandal” that keep nagging at me.
The first is nicely covered by TNR’s Noam Scheiber today: the applications for 501(c)(4) status that are at issue are not part and parcel of some burdensome government regulation of political speech. They are voluntary, and simply provide the applicant an advance assurance of tax-exempt status before they file their tax returns for a given year. If they are reasonably sure they aren’t afoul of the rules for 501(c)(4) organizations, they don’t need the certification at all. So the idea that the IRS was “shutting down” Tea Party and other groups by sitting on their applications or requiring them to deal with burdensome questionnaires is an exaggeration from the get-go. Besides, most groups like this don’t (and shouldn’t) wind up having the sort of “profits” that generate tax liability to begin with.
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When the IRS targeted liberals
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/when_the_irs_targeted_liberals/
Under George W. Bush, it went after the NAACP, Greenpeace and even a liberal church
By Alex Seitz-Wald
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
While few are defending the Internal Revenue Service for targeting some 300 conservative groups, there are two critical pieces of context missing from the conventional wisdom on the “scandal.” First, at least from what we know so far, the groups were not targeted in a political vendetta — but rather were executing a makeshift enforcement test (an ugly one, mind you) for IRS employees tasked with separating political groups not allowed to claim tax-exempt status, from bona fide social welfare organizations. Employees are given almost zero official guidance on how to do that, so they went after Tea Party groups because those seemed like they might be political. Keep in mind, the commissioner of the IRS at the time was a Bush appointee.
The second is that while this is the first time this kind of thing has become a national scandal, it’s not the first time such activity has occurred.
“I wish there was more GOP interest when I raised the same issue during the Bush administration, where they audited a progressive church in my district in what look liked a very selective way,” California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said on MSNBC Monday. “I found only one Republican, [North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones], that would join me in calling for an investigation during the Bush administration. I’m glad now that the GOP has found interest in this issue and it ought to be a bipartisan concern.”
The well-known church, All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena, became a bit of a cause célèbre on the left after the IRS threatened to revoke the church’s tax-exempt status over an anti-Iraq War sermon the Sunday before the 2004 election. “Jesus [would say], ‘Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine,’” rector George Regas said from the dais.
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And while All Saints came under the gun, conservative churches across the country were helping to mobilize voters for Bush with little oversight. In 2006, citing the precedent of All Saints, “a group of religious leaders accused the Internal Revenue Service yesterday of playing politics by ignoring its complaint that two large churches in Ohio are engaging in what it says are political activities, in violation of the tax code,” the New York Times reported at the time. The churches essentially campaigned for a Republican gubernatorial candidate, they alleged, and even flew him on one of their planes.
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And it wasn’t just churches. In 2004, the IRS went after the NAACP, auditing the nation’s oldest civil rights group after its chairman criticized President Bush for being the first sitting president since Herbert Hoover not to address the organization. “They are saying if you criticize the president we are going to take your tax exemption away from you,” then-chairman Julian Bond said. “It’s pretty obvious that the complainant was someone who doesn’t believe George Bush should be criticized, and it’s obvious of their response that the IRS believes this, too.”
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Then, in 2006, the Wall Street Journal broke the story of a how a little-known pressure group called Public Interest Watch — which received 97 percent of its funds from Exxon Mobile one year — managed to get the IRS to open an investigation into Greenpeace. Greenpeace had labeled Exxon Mobil the “No. 1 climate criminal.” The IRS acknowledged its audit was initiated by Public Interest Watch and threatened to revoke Greenpeace’s tax-exempt status, but closed the investigation three months later.
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Under George W. Bush, it went after the NAACP, Greenpeace and even a liberal church
By Alex Seitz-Wald
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
While few are defending the Internal Revenue Service for targeting some 300 conservative groups, there are two critical pieces of context missing from the conventional wisdom on the “scandal.” First, at least from what we know so far, the groups were not targeted in a political vendetta — but rather were executing a makeshift enforcement test (an ugly one, mind you) for IRS employees tasked with separating political groups not allowed to claim tax-exempt status, from bona fide social welfare organizations. Employees are given almost zero official guidance on how to do that, so they went after Tea Party groups because those seemed like they might be political. Keep in mind, the commissioner of the IRS at the time was a Bush appointee.
The second is that while this is the first time this kind of thing has become a national scandal, it’s not the first time such activity has occurred.
“I wish there was more GOP interest when I raised the same issue during the Bush administration, where they audited a progressive church in my district in what look liked a very selective way,” California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said on MSNBC Monday. “I found only one Republican, [North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones], that would join me in calling for an investigation during the Bush administration. I’m glad now that the GOP has found interest in this issue and it ought to be a bipartisan concern.”
The well-known church, All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena, became a bit of a cause célèbre on the left after the IRS threatened to revoke the church’s tax-exempt status over an anti-Iraq War sermon the Sunday before the 2004 election. “Jesus [would say], ‘Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine,’” rector George Regas said from the dais.
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And while All Saints came under the gun, conservative churches across the country were helping to mobilize voters for Bush with little oversight. In 2006, citing the precedent of All Saints, “a group of religious leaders accused the Internal Revenue Service yesterday of playing politics by ignoring its complaint that two large churches in Ohio are engaging in what it says are political activities, in violation of the tax code,” the New York Times reported at the time. The churches essentially campaigned for a Republican gubernatorial candidate, they alleged, and even flew him on one of their planes.
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And it wasn’t just churches. In 2004, the IRS went after the NAACP, auditing the nation’s oldest civil rights group after its chairman criticized President Bush for being the first sitting president since Herbert Hoover not to address the organization. “They are saying if you criticize the president we are going to take your tax exemption away from you,” then-chairman Julian Bond said. “It’s pretty obvious that the complainant was someone who doesn’t believe George Bush should be criticized, and it’s obvious of their response that the IRS believes this, too.”
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Then, in 2006, the Wall Street Journal broke the story of a how a little-known pressure group called Public Interest Watch — which received 97 percent of its funds from Exxon Mobile one year — managed to get the IRS to open an investigation into Greenpeace. Greenpeace had labeled Exxon Mobil the “No. 1 climate criminal.” The IRS acknowledged its audit was initiated by Public Interest Watch and threatened to revoke Greenpeace’s tax-exempt status, but closed the investigation three months later.
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The IRS also targeted at least three liberal groups
I have noticed how the media started blowing this up before there is much info. When they said the president had apologized, I thought he was making the same mistake as when he fired someone over what turned out to be remarks out of context. Then I heard him speak, and he correctly said IF it turned out to be as reported, it would be bad. And I have not seen the media give a list of all the keywords. I have to say, even if the reports are all true, I don't see it as really shocking, because the corrupt super-rich were/are funding the Republicans and tea party in corrupt ways.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/15/report-the-irs-also-targeted-at-least-three-liberal-groups/
And this morning, NPR mentioned one time that the IRS had also targeted groups such as Greenpeace during the Bush administration, but it didn't get a lot of press, no calls for Congressional investigation. Then the rest of the day they reverted back to just talking about targeting Patriot and Tea Party key words.
By Brad Plumer, Published: May 15, 2013
We already know that the IRS developed “inappropriate criteria” in flagging for review more than 90 Tea Party groups that were applying for tax-exempt status as 501(c)(4)s. But did any liberal groups receive heavy scrutiny, or did they get a free pass?
Some new reporting from Bloomberg suggests that at least three Democratic-leaning groups faced similar inquiries from the IRS:
The Internal Revenue Service, under pressure after admitting it targeted anti-tax Tea Party groups for scrutiny in recent years, also had its eye on at least three Democratic-leaning organizations seeking nonprofit status.
One of those groups, Emerge America, saw its tax-exempt status denied, forcing it to disclose its donors and pay some taxes. None of the Republican groups have said their applications were rejected.
Progress Texas, another of the organizations, faced the same lines of questioning as the Tea Party groups from the same IRS office that issued letters to the Republican-friendly applicants. A third group, Clean Elections Texas, which supports public funding of campaigns, also received IRS inquiries.
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Meanwhile, there’s still the disparity that Nicholas Confessore reported here. At the same time the IRS was investigating smaller groups applying for 501(c)(4) status, it gave a pass to larger organizations like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS or Bill Burton’s Priorities USA that were allowed to receive anonymous donations — groups that were overtly political and heavily involved in the 2012 campaign.
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[this article says the IRS should investigate all 501(c)(4)s, but doesn't mention that Republicans have denied adequate funding to the IRS.]
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/05/15/read_the_irs_s_irritating_requests_for_a_liberal_group_in_texas.html
By David Weigel | Posted Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Now that the floodgates are good and burst, I'm getting a bunch of emailed IRS letters from groups whose leaders feel they were unusually hassled. Progress Texas sent this over, pointing to questions 1, 2, 12, 16, 19, and 21, and adding that their request took 479 days for approval.
"Progress Texas and the Tea Party strongly disagree on the role of government," said PT executive director Ed Espinoza. "Yet, when we applied for tax-exempt status, Progress Texas received the same type of additional scrutiny that Tea Party groups are complaining about. The similar treatment indicates the IRS was likely addressing a flood of 501c4 applications after Citizens United, and undermines the paranoid notion that Tea Party groups were singled out."
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
U.S. one of the worst industrialized countries for mothers
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_05/morning_round_up_us_one_of_the044691.php
May 12, 2013
*Happy Mothers’ Day, maybe — the U.S. is one of the worst places in the industrialized world to be a mother. That is, at least, according to a report published earlier this week by Save The Children. The NGO based its index on “the lifetime risk of maternal death, the under-five mortality rate, years of formal schooling, income per capita, and the participation of women in government.” The U.S. ranked 30th, according to the measure.
May 12, 2013
*Happy Mothers’ Day, maybe — the U.S. is one of the worst places in the industrialized world to be a mother. That is, at least, according to a report published earlier this week by Save The Children. The NGO based its index on “the lifetime risk of maternal death, the under-five mortality rate, years of formal schooling, income per capita, and the participation of women in government.” The U.S. ranked 30th, according to the measure.
Not The Onion: Wall Street Journal Hits ‘Rock Bottom’ With Inane Op-Ed Urging ‘More Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide’
I have read that some fundamentalists are getting science degrees, not because they love to learn, but in order to be able to propagate their anti-scientific notions. Their degrees allow them to publish in scientific journals, and to gain credibility with the public.http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/13/1994871/not-the-onion-wall-street-journal-hits-rock-bottom-with-inane-op-ed-urging-more-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide/
I guess the WSJ thinks that if someone has hypothermia, it would be helpful to put them in a tub of boiling water.
By Joe Romm on May 13, 2013
“Nowadays, in an age of rising population and scarcities of food and water in some regions, it’s a wonder that humanitarians aren’t clamoring for more atmospheric carbon dioxide.”
No, it’s not The Onion. It’s The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which nowadays is much the same thing.
Once again, the country’s leading financial newspaper is recycling long-debunked myths from disinformers with PhDs posing as climate scientists — in this case, Harrison H. Schmitt and William Happer, “In Defense of Carbon Dioxide: The demonized chemical compound is a boon to plant life and has little correlation with global temperature.”
But what nefarious forces have been demonizing CO2? Let’s see:
IMF Chief (2/13): ”Unless We Take Action On Climate Change, Future Generations Will Be Roasted, Toasted, Fried And Grilled”
World Bank Report (11/12): “A 4°C [7°F] World Can, And Must, Be Avoided” To Avert “Devastating” Impacts
Wall Street Journal (1/13): “More Droughts, Floods, Extreme Weather Expected With Warming Climate”
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The entire piece is devoted to one of the most risible logical fallacies pushed by the deniers — that because CO2 stimulates plant growth, lots more CO2 must be great for plants. It’s like arguing that because humans need water to live, floods must be a great thing.
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You may remember Schmitt and Happer as 2 of the 16 authors of a 2012 WSJ op-ed who were labeled “dentists practicing cardiology” by 3 dozen top climate scientists. As Media Matters explains:
Neither Have Written Peer-Reviewed Climate Research.
Journal Does Not Disclose Happer Is Chairman Of Industry-Funded Institute
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From the comments
Anyone who thinks about this for a moment will soon realise that CO2 is only part of the equation relating to crop productivity, and may not be the limiting factor as per Liebig’s Law. Much good that CO2 will do if your field is dried up completely, flooded out, leached of all its minerals or your crop damaged by heat.
A better analogy is a growing child – the kid needs protein, carbohydrate , fats, vitamins and minerals. Just deciding to shovel in more vitamin D won’t necessarily make the child grow better especially if this leads to a poorer intake of other more limiting factors.
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A chemist friend in Citizens Climate Lobby, Rick Knight, shared this with CCL. It seemed worth sharing here.
Saying CO2 is plant food is like saying oxygen is human food. So if 21 percent oxygen (the concentration on earth today) is good for us, wouldn’t it be great if we could raise it to, say, 33 percent? That would be an increase similar to what you get by raising CO2 from 285 to 450 ppm.
But living in a 33 percent oxygen atmosphere would dramatically increase the risk of fire all around us. We would not be able to use paper at all because of this risk. Driving would be impossible because your car engine would explode. Trees would spontaneously combust in the hot sun. But none of those would matter for very long, because your body would start to suffer serious damage to the central nervous system, lungs, eyes, blood, kidneys, and gonads.
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As far as the “More CO2 is better,” BS goes, I like to use the salt analogy. Humans need salt to survive. If you don’t get enough salt, you’ll get sick and can die. But too much salt will kill you.
What you need is the right amount of salt. That proper amount has a range — your taste buds and cravings will tell you as you approach the limits — but it must stay within that range for you to remain healthy. And if it goes way out of the range, you die.
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That’s true of a lot of things. You can die of dehydration or of “water intoxication”. You can starve to death or die of morbid obesity.
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Murdock bought the WSJ so he would have it as a major mouthpiece to spread lies. Murdock is a proven and long term liar. He is also a proven greed monger and a war monger. When the entire cost of his reign as Media king of the world gets added up, he will be in the ranks of Hitler and Stalin of the modern era.
No, in the end his propaganda will cost millions of lives.
Once the Murdock empire bought the WSJ, I ceased to read a word of it, when I had read it for years beforehand.
That an article as stupid as the one referred to above can even get published in the WSJ in the year 2013, we have proof that certain business interests and radical fundamentalist religious nuts still hold a vast share of the media propaganda apparatus. And do not kid yourselves, the USA media is by and large a giant propaganda hoax. It does not deliver news, it delivers mind control. The media I grew up with as a kid is long since dead, now it is the liars and greed mongers of the Murdock type who push the media agenda. It aims to benefit a tiny, tiny, tiny minority of rich power brokers and militarist mad men.
History will judge, it will call our generation criminal in it’s greed and stupidity.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Former U.S. Nuclear Chief: Nuclear Plants Should Be Phased Out
http://www.globalresearch.ca/former-u-s-nuclear-chief-nuclear-plants-should-be-phased-out-cant-guarantee-against-accident-causing-widespread-land-contamination/5330685
By Washington's Blog
Global Research, April 09, 2013
Energy intelligence reports:
Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko says that the current fleet of operating plants in the US should be phased out because regulators can’t guarantee against an accident causing widespread land contamination. In two key decisions last week Jaczko said the agency “damaged significantly” its international reputation for upholding safety and he accused the five commissioners of “just rolling the dice” in dealing with severe accidents.
Jaczko is correct that “the current fleet of operating plants in the US [is unsafe] regulators can’t guarantee against an accident causing widespread land contamination”.
An investigation by Associated Press found that 75 percent of all U.S. nuclear sites have leaked radioactive tritium.
And whistleblowers at the Nuclear Regulator Commission say that the risk of a major meltdown at U.S. nuclear reactors is much higher than it was at Fukushima.
And an accident in the U.S. could be a lot larger than in Japan … partly because our nuclear plants hold a lot more radioactive material. Radiation could cause illness in huge numbers of Americans, and a major nuclear accident could literally bankrupt America.
And yet the nuclear regulators have dragged their feet in demanding even modest upgrades to prevent Fukushima-type disasters. We reported more than a year ago:
The geniuses at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have given the green light for new nuclear power plants in the U.S. [over Jaczko's objections] which don’t include safety upgrades which were demonstrated vital by the Fukushima meltdown.
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Jaczco makes some good points regarding nuclear:
The biggest problem with the NRC continues to be the heavy influence that the industry has in selecting the members of the commission. It is a very political process.There are few commissioners who ever get onto the commission who are not endorsed by the industry. [Indeed, all nuclear agencies are wholly controlled by (and serve) the nuclear industry … just like the Federal Reserve is owned by (and serves) its member banks.]
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By Washington's Blog
Global Research, April 09, 2013
Energy intelligence reports:
Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko says that the current fleet of operating plants in the US should be phased out because regulators can’t guarantee against an accident causing widespread land contamination. In two key decisions last week Jaczko said the agency “damaged significantly” its international reputation for upholding safety and he accused the five commissioners of “just rolling the dice” in dealing with severe accidents.
Jaczko is correct that “the current fleet of operating plants in the US [is unsafe] regulators can’t guarantee against an accident causing widespread land contamination”.
An investigation by Associated Press found that 75 percent of all U.S. nuclear sites have leaked radioactive tritium.
And whistleblowers at the Nuclear Regulator Commission say that the risk of a major meltdown at U.S. nuclear reactors is much higher than it was at Fukushima.
And an accident in the U.S. could be a lot larger than in Japan … partly because our nuclear plants hold a lot more radioactive material. Radiation could cause illness in huge numbers of Americans, and a major nuclear accident could literally bankrupt America.
And yet the nuclear regulators have dragged their feet in demanding even modest upgrades to prevent Fukushima-type disasters. We reported more than a year ago:
The geniuses at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have given the green light for new nuclear power plants in the U.S. [over Jaczko's objections] which don’t include safety upgrades which were demonstrated vital by the Fukushima meltdown.
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Jaczco makes some good points regarding nuclear:
The biggest problem with the NRC continues to be the heavy influence that the industry has in selecting the members of the commission. It is a very political process.There are few commissioners who ever get onto the commission who are not endorsed by the industry. [Indeed, all nuclear agencies are wholly controlled by (and serve) the nuclear industry … just like the Federal Reserve is owned by (and serves) its member banks.]
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Prescription Drug Spending Drops As Struggling Americans Are Forced To Cut Back On Health Care
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/05/10/1993841/prescription-drug-spending-drops/
By Tara Culp-Ressler posted from ThinkProgress Health on May 11, 2013
For the first time in decades, U.S. prescription drug spending dropped last year — a phenomenon largely stemming from the fact that, faced with spiraling health costs, Americans are being forced to cut back on their care wherever they can.
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By Tara Culp-Ressler posted from ThinkProgress Health on May 11, 2013
For the first time in decades, U.S. prescription drug spending dropped last year — a phenomenon largely stemming from the fact that, faced with spiraling health costs, Americans are being forced to cut back on their care wherever they can.
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Bush’s Secretary of Defense Mocks GOP Attacks On Obama’s Handling Of Benghazi
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/05/12/1998811/bushs-secretary-of-defense-mocks-gop-attacks-on-obamas-handling-of-benghazi/
By Adam Peck posted from ThinkProgress Security on May 12, 2013
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a Republican who was appointed to the position by George W. Bush, told CBS News on Saturday that he would have handled the situation in Benghazi the same way that the Obama administration did last September.
During an interview that aired on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday morning, Gates defended the administration’s reaction to the attacks in Libya and dismissed many of the criticisms leveled by his fellow Republicans as “cartoonish”:
“Frankly, had I been in the job at the time, I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were,” said Gates, now the chancellor of the College of William and Mary.
“We don’t have a ready force standing by in the Middle East, and so getting somebody there in a timely way would have been very difficult, if not impossible.” he explained.
Suggestions that we could have flown a fighter jet over the attackers to “scare them with the noise or something,” Gates said, ignored the “number of surface to air missiles that have disappeared from [former Libyan leader] Qaddafi’s arsenals.”
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By Adam Peck posted from ThinkProgress Security on May 12, 2013
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a Republican who was appointed to the position by George W. Bush, told CBS News on Saturday that he would have handled the situation in Benghazi the same way that the Obama administration did last September.
During an interview that aired on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday morning, Gates defended the administration’s reaction to the attacks in Libya and dismissed many of the criticisms leveled by his fellow Republicans as “cartoonish”:
“Frankly, had I been in the job at the time, I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were,” said Gates, now the chancellor of the College of William and Mary.
“We don’t have a ready force standing by in the Middle East, and so getting somebody there in a timely way would have been very difficult, if not impossible.” he explained.
Suggestions that we could have flown a fighter jet over the attackers to “scare them with the noise or something,” Gates said, ignored the “number of surface to air missiles that have disappeared from [former Libyan leader] Qaddafi’s arsenals.”
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Friday, May 10, 2013
Climate Milestone: Earth’s CO2 Level Passes 400 ppm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/05/130510-earth-co2-milestone-400-ppm/
Robert Kunzig
National Geographic News
Published May 9, 2013
An instrument near the summit of Mauna Loa in Hawaii has recorded a long-awaited climate milestone: the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere there has exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in 55 years of measurement—and probably more than 3 million years of Earth history.
The last time the concentration of Earth's main greenhouse gas reached this mark, horses and camels lived in the high Arctic. Seas were at least 30 feet higher—at a level that today would inundate major cities around the world.
The planet was about 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer. But the Earth then was in the final stage of a prolonged greenhouse epoch, and CO2 concentrations were on their way down. This time, 400 ppm is a milepost on a far more rapid uphill climb toward an uncertain climate future.
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The measurement NOAA reported for Thursday, May 9, 400.03 ppm, was for a single day. Each data point on the Keeling curve, however, is actually an average of all the measurements made at Mauna Loa over an entire month. The CO2 concentration at Mauna Loa is unlikely to surpass 400 ppm for the whole month of May.
It certainly won't exceed 400 for all of 2013. CO2 peaks in May every year. By June the level will begin falling, as spring kicks into high gear in the Northern Hemisphere, where most of the planet's land is concentrated, and plants draw CO2 out of the atmosphere to fuel their new growth. By November, the CO2 level will be 5 or 6 ppm lower than it is now.
Then the curve will turn upward again: In the winter, plants stop making new carbohydrates but continue to burn the old, respiring CO2 back into the atmosphere.
This seasonal sawtooth—think of it as the breath of northern forests—is the natural part of the Keeling curve. The man-made part is its steady upward climb from one year to the next. Both were discovered at Mauna Loa.
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Robert Kunzig
National Geographic News
Published May 9, 2013
An instrument near the summit of Mauna Loa in Hawaii has recorded a long-awaited climate milestone: the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere there has exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in 55 years of measurement—and probably more than 3 million years of Earth history.
The last time the concentration of Earth's main greenhouse gas reached this mark, horses and camels lived in the high Arctic. Seas were at least 30 feet higher—at a level that today would inundate major cities around the world.
The planet was about 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer. But the Earth then was in the final stage of a prolonged greenhouse epoch, and CO2 concentrations were on their way down. This time, 400 ppm is a milepost on a far more rapid uphill climb toward an uncertain climate future.
-----
The measurement NOAA reported for Thursday, May 9, 400.03 ppm, was for a single day. Each data point on the Keeling curve, however, is actually an average of all the measurements made at Mauna Loa over an entire month. The CO2 concentration at Mauna Loa is unlikely to surpass 400 ppm for the whole month of May.
It certainly won't exceed 400 for all of 2013. CO2 peaks in May every year. By June the level will begin falling, as spring kicks into high gear in the Northern Hemisphere, where most of the planet's land is concentrated, and plants draw CO2 out of the atmosphere to fuel their new growth. By November, the CO2 level will be 5 or 6 ppm lower than it is now.
Then the curve will turn upward again: In the winter, plants stop making new carbohydrates but continue to burn the old, respiring CO2 back into the atmosphere.
This seasonal sawtooth—think of it as the breath of northern forests—is the natural part of the Keeling curve. The man-made part is its steady upward climb from one year to the next. Both were discovered at Mauna Loa.
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Parents Days
Parents' Days
copyright 2000 Patricia M. Shannon
On parents' days, there's much ado
by those whose parents loved them true;
but what of we whose hearts still break
from wounds which our own folks did make,
who from our lives all joy did take.
We did not ask for all that much,
a loving word, a caring touch,
to know that they were proud of us,
that we weren't just a useless cuss,
an ugly blemish filled with pus.
We must not forget the pain
of being held in such disdain,
for it can help us understand
those who still in darkness stand,
and whom the world as evil brand.
If we have children of our own
we must not be our parents' clone;
we can learn a better way
to guide our children on their way
with gentle firmness, and words of praise.
It was the love my grandma gave
who from the dark my soul did save;
without the strength she gave to me,
I hate to think what I might be;
she means so very much to me.
copyright 2000 Patricia M. Shannon
On parents' days, there's much ado
by those whose parents loved them true;
but what of we whose hearts still break
from wounds which our own folks did make,
who from our lives all joy did take.
We did not ask for all that much,
a loving word, a caring touch,
to know that they were proud of us,
that we weren't just a useless cuss,
an ugly blemish filled with pus.
We must not forget the pain
of being held in such disdain,
for it can help us understand
those who still in darkness stand,
and whom the world as evil brand.
If we have children of our own
we must not be our parents' clone;
we can learn a better way
to guide our children on their way
with gentle firmness, and words of praise.
It was the love my grandma gave
who from the dark my soul did save;
without the strength she gave to me,
I hate to think what I might be;
she means so very much to me.
A new GOP bill would prevent the government from collecting economic data
How can we know what people's needs are w/o accurate info?http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/01/a-new-gop-bill-would-prevent-the-government-from-collecting-economic-data/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein
By Dylan Matthews, Published: May 1, 2013
In what’s becoming a biennial tradition, another House Republican wants to cut the Census down to size. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) is rolling out the Census Reform Act this week, having formally introduced it April 18.
The bill, as Michael McAuliff of the Huffington Post notes, would abolish the Current Population Survey, which is used to compute the unemployment rate and labor force participation rate. We wouldn’t have an unemployment rate if Duncan and his cosponsors — who include GOP House libertarian-leaners like Jason Chaffetz, Raul Labrador, Thomas Massie, Steve Stockman and Walter Jones — get their way.
The bill states that the Census Bureau “may only conduct the decennial census of population.” That means no CPS, but also no Economic Census, which tracks the state of every economic industry every five years; no Census of Governments, another quinquennial survey tracking state and local governments; and no economic indicators on everything from home ownership rates to international trade figures.
It also means no more American Community Survey, the largest between-Census survey the bureau conducts, which provides more accurate poverty, income, education, health coverage and other statistics than the Currency Population Survey can.
What’s more, it means that all the surveys the Census conducts for other government agencies will be done with. That includes the National Crime Victimization Survey, one of the best data sources we have on crime rates; the American Housing Survey that the Census conducts for HUD; the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, & Wildlife conducted for the Department of the Interior; the Annual Survey of Jails; and various other data it provides to the Departments of Education, Transportation, Justice and more.
It’s hard to overstate the loss of knowledge that this bill would bring about. We wouldn’t know the unemployment rate or how many people are working. We wouldn’t know how many people are in the workforce, or enrolled in school, or retired. We wouldn’t know how much people are earning, or how many are in poverty. We wouldn’t know how many people are robbed or assaulted each year.
This has a concrete impact on government spending. Andrew Reamer, a Census expert, estimated in a paper for the Brookings Institution that $416 billion in federal spending rides on the American Community Survey alone. Almost two-thirds of that is Medicaid spending, which is distributed to states based on per capita income figures computed from the ACS. But tens of billions of dollars in highway money, Section 8 housing grants and special education funding rides on the ACS too. It’s unclear how that $416 billion could be spent absent the data the ACS provides, and which Duncan seeks to ban.
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Despite Webster’s amendment passing, you shouldn’t worry too much about the Duncan bill becoming law, and not just because it’d have a very hard time passing the Senate or getting President Obama’s signature. That’s because it has garnered the strong opposition of businesses. It turns out that many corporations, in particular in the retail sector, use the survey to make business decisions. For that reason, Rampell notes, business groups such as the National Retail Federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued statements supporting the ACS and, in NRF’s case, explicitly supporting keeping it mandatory last time it was threatened.
Target is a great example of how businesses use the data. It uses the ACS to figure out where to locate stores, and what to stock in them. For example, in areas with higher usage of public transit, it stocks smaller units that are easier to carry on buses and subways. But they can know about stuff like that because the Census asks:
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It’s no secret that the business lobby holds considerable sway in D.C. In this case, data fans can be heartened by the fact that their interests and those of big business are pretty well aligned.
Pets might lower your heart disease risk
http://www.today.com/health/pets-might-lower-your-heart-disease-risk-experts-say-1C9866275
May 10, 2013
They’re happy to see you when you get home, love you unconditionally and make you get up from the couch to take a walk. And there’s a growing body of evidence that pets can lower your risk of heart disease, too, the American Heart Association says.
The group says there’s now enough evidence that pets are heart-healthy to justify an official statement summing up the evidence.
“The most data and the best data were on dog ownership,” said Dr. Glenn Levine of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who led the committee that wrote the statement. “In no way are we discounting or dissing cats or other pets,” Levine added hastily.
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Despite the evidence, the group doesn’t yet recommend that people adopt pets simply to lower their risk of heart disease. “We did not want people to see this article and just go out and adopt or rescue or buy a dog …while they continue to just sit on the couch and smoke cigarettes,” Levine said.
“The primary reason to adopt a pet would be to give the pet a loving home and to derive a measure of enjoyment from taking care of a pet.”
And although dog owners are far more likely to get out and exercise with their pets than, say, a snake owner, Levine said any pet can be helpful. “Several studies demonstrated beneficial effects on these parameters associated with goat, fish, chimpanzee, and snake ownership,’ the statement reads.
“One experiment even demonstrated a benefit on cardiovascular stress responses with ‘virtual’ animals, which were presented in the form of video recordings.”
May 10, 2013
They’re happy to see you when you get home, love you unconditionally and make you get up from the couch to take a walk. And there’s a growing body of evidence that pets can lower your risk of heart disease, too, the American Heart Association says.
The group says there’s now enough evidence that pets are heart-healthy to justify an official statement summing up the evidence.
“The most data and the best data were on dog ownership,” said Dr. Glenn Levine of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who led the committee that wrote the statement. “In no way are we discounting or dissing cats or other pets,” Levine added hastily.
-----
Despite the evidence, the group doesn’t yet recommend that people adopt pets simply to lower their risk of heart disease. “We did not want people to see this article and just go out and adopt or rescue or buy a dog …while they continue to just sit on the couch and smoke cigarettes,” Levine said.
“The primary reason to adopt a pet would be to give the pet a loving home and to derive a measure of enjoyment from taking care of a pet.”
And although dog owners are far more likely to get out and exercise with their pets than, say, a snake owner, Levine said any pet can be helpful. “Several studies demonstrated beneficial effects on these parameters associated with goat, fish, chimpanzee, and snake ownership,’ the statement reads.
“One experiment even demonstrated a benefit on cardiovascular stress responses with ‘virtual’ animals, which were presented in the form of video recordings.”
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