http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32847215/ns/health-heart_health/
updated 7:13 p.m. ET, Mon., Sept . 14, 2009
WASHINGTON - Ninety percent of American adults have at least one risk factor for heart disease, researchers reported on Monday.
Virtually all Americans either have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, are overweight, smoke or exercise too little, the team led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
"Unfortunately, the limited strides that were made toward this goal during the 1970s and 1980s were eroded by the increases in excess weight, diabetes and hypertension during more recent decades," the CDC's Dr. Earl Ford, who led the study, said in a statement.
Ford's team looked at four national studies covering tens of thousands of Americans aged 25 to 74.
Only 10 percent had low risk scores in all five categories, they reported in the journal Circulation.
"Until the early 90s, we were moving in a positive direction, but then it took a turn and we're headed in a negative direction," said Ford.
"When you look at the individual factors, tobacco use is still headed in the right direction and so are cholesterol levels, although that has leveled off. The problem is that blood pressure, BMI (body mass index, a measure of obesity) and diabetes are all headed in the wrong direction."
Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United States and many other countries.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Early Spankings Make for Aggressive Toddlers
What I want to know is why some parents who claim to love their children are so eager to justify hitting them? No one is perfect, but there's a difference between doing something in the heat of emotion, and justifying as being ok.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090915/hl_hsn/earlyspankingsmakeforaggressivetoddlersstudyshows;_ylt=AnNErjFwjNkVRN9Rks94pX.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNmM2w1ZHJqBGFzc2V0A2hzbi8yMDA5MDkxNS9lYXJseXNwYW5raW5nc21ha2Vmb3JhZ2dyZXNzaXZldG9kZGxlcnNzdHVkeXNob3dzBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrA2Vhcmx5c3Bhbmtpbg--
By Jennifer Thomas
HealthDay Reporter by Jennifer Thomas
healthday Reporter – Tue Sep 15, 7:04 pm ET
TUESDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Children who are spanked as 1-year-olds are more likely to behave aggressively and perform worse on cognitive tests as toddlers than children who are spared the punishment, new research shows.
Though the negative effects of spanking were "modest," the study adds to a growing body of literature that's finding spanking isn't good for children.
"Age 1 is a key time for establishing the quality of the parenting and the relationship between parent and the child," said study author Lisa J. Berlin, a research scientist at the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University. "Spanking at age 1 reflects a negative dynamic, and increases children's aggression at age 2."
The study is published in the September/October issue of Child Development.
Berlin and her colleagues looked at data on 2,500 white, Mexican American and black children from low-income families. The data included parents' reports about their children's behavior, their use of spanking, as well as home visits by trained observers to document parent-child interactions at ages 1, 2 and 3.
About one-third of mothers of 1-year-olds reported they or someone in their household had spanked their child in the last week, while about half of the mothers of 2- and 3-year-olds reported that their child had been spanked.
The average number of spankings for 1-year-olds was 2.6 per week, while the average for 2-year-olds was nearly three.
The study found that children who were spanked at age 1 had more aggressive behaviors at age 2 and performed worse on measures of thinking abilities at age 3.
Being spanked at age 2, however, did not predict more aggressive behaviors at age 3, possibly because the spanking had begun at age 1 and by age 2 the kids were already more aggressive, Berlin said.
Researchers also looked at the effects of verbal punishment, defined as yelling, scolding or making derogatory comments. Verbal punishment was not associated with negative effects if the mother was otherwise attentive, loving and supportive.
Researchers controlled for family characteristics such as race, ethnicity, mother's age, education, family income and the child's gender.
Previous research has shown spanking is more common among low-income households than high-income households.
Researchers chose a sample of low-income families because some child behavior experts have argued that when spanking is "cultural normative" -- that is, it's expected for parents to use physical discipline -- the detrimental effects of spanking may be lessened.
"We did not find that," Berlin said. "Even in a sample of low-income people where presumably it's more normative to spank your kids, we found negative effects."
The study also found that mothers who said their children were "fussy" babies were more likely to spank them at ages 1, 2 and 3. But children who were more aggressive at 2 were not more likely to get spanked.
"The implication or the suggestion in past arguments is that some kids who are more aggressive or difficult to control might elicit more spanking, but that's not what we found," Berlin said.
Researchers found that black children were spanked and verbally punished the most, possibly because of cultural beliefs about the importance of respecting elders and in the value of physical discipline, or because parents feel they have to prepare their children for a racist and potentially dangerous world.
Of all the debates over child-rearing, spanking "definitely touches a nerve," Berlin said.
"It's a parenting practice that has been around for a long time, and that's also in transition," Berlin said. "In general, the use of spanking is going down. But there is also a contingent of people who really believe in it, who say that's how they were raised and it's a tradition they want to continue."
The people I know who said they were whipped as children, and who defended it, have all been obnoxious, unhappy people.
Elizabeth T. Gershoff, an associate professor in the department of human development and family sciences at University of Texas at Austin, said the study adds to a growing body of research showing negative effects of spanking.
"Almost all the studies point to negative effects of spanking," Gershoff said. "It makes kids more aggressive, more likely to be delinquent and to have mental health problems. The more kids are spanked, the more they are likely to be physically abused by their parents. This does not mean everyone who spanks physically abuses, but that risk is there."
Because children tend to mimic parental behaviors, it's possible spanking "creates a model for using aggression," Gershoff said. "Spanking is just hitting."
Less is known why spanking could inhibit cognitive development. One possibility is that parents who spank are less likely to use reasoning with their children, something that's good for development, Gershoff said.
Also, stress hormones might damage the child's brain. And getting hit could cause direct damage to the brain. Even if the child's head is not directly hit, the impact on the body might cause a whiplash.
Teen birth rates highest in most religious states
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32884806/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
By Jeanna Bryner
updated 7:11 p.m. ET, Wed., Sept . 16, 2009
U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.
The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise.
Mississippi topped the list for conservative religious beliefs and teen birth rates, according to the study results, which will be detailed in a forthcoming issue of the journal Reproductive Health.
However, the results don't say anything about cause and effect, though study researcher Joseph Strayhorn of Drexel University College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh offers a speculation of the most probable explanation: "We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself."
The study comes with other significant caveats, too:
The same link might not be found for other types of religious beliefs that are perhaps more liberal, researchers say. And while the study reveals information about states as a whole, it doesn't shed light on whether an individual teen who is more religious will also be more likely to have a child.
-----
They found a strong correlation between statewide conservative religiousness and statewide teen birth rate even when they accounted for income and abortion rates.
For instance, the results showed more abortions among teenagers in the less religious states, which would skew the findings since fewer teens in these states would have births. But even after accounting for the abortions, the study team still found a state's level of religiosity could predict their teen birth rate. The higher the religiosity, the higher was the teen birth rate on average.
-----
By Jeanna Bryner
updated 7:11 p.m. ET, Wed., Sept . 16, 2009
U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.
The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise.
Mississippi topped the list for conservative religious beliefs and teen birth rates, according to the study results, which will be detailed in a forthcoming issue of the journal Reproductive Health.
However, the results don't say anything about cause and effect, though study researcher Joseph Strayhorn of Drexel University College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh offers a speculation of the most probable explanation: "We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself."
The study comes with other significant caveats, too:
The same link might not be found for other types of religious beliefs that are perhaps more liberal, researchers say. And while the study reveals information about states as a whole, it doesn't shed light on whether an individual teen who is more religious will also be more likely to have a child.
-----
They found a strong correlation between statewide conservative religiousness and statewide teen birth rate even when they accounted for income and abortion rates.
For instance, the results showed more abortions among teenagers in the less religious states, which would skew the findings since fewer teens in these states would have births. But even after accounting for the abortions, the study team still found a state's level of religiosity could predict their teen birth rate. The higher the religiosity, the higher was the teen birth rate on average.
-----
There is also a chart showing results for each state.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Health care reform info
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/09/paul-krugman-baucus-and-the-threshold.html
This has a lot of good info about health care reform, health care in this country, how other countries do it and get better results for less money, etc.
This has a lot of good info about health care reform, health care in this country, how other countries do it and get better results for less money, etc.
Liquid specs a bold vision for world's poor
I'm glad about this program, but it should be available for poor people here. There are a lot of poor people in this country who can't afford glasses, including children.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/16/liquid.glasses.self.refraction/index.html
updated 8:21 a.m. EDT, Wed September 16, 2009
By Mark Tutton
For CNN
LONDON, England (CNN) -- In the developing world millions of people struggle to operate machinery, read from a blackboard, or just see the world around them, because they don't have access to the eye glasses they need.
But a pair of glasses developed by Joshua Silver, a physics professor at the University of Oxford, offers an affordable solution.
The glasses can be adjusted to the right strength by the wearer, without the need for them to visit an optometrist.
A major reason for that is a chronic shortage of optometrists -- in Ghana, for example, there is just one for every eight million people. That makes it incredibly difficult for ordinary people to visit an optometrist, without which it's impossible for them to get glasses.
But Silver thinks he may have come up with a solution to the problem. His self-refraction glasses mean people can correct their vision without needing an optometrist (see Fact Box).
"Take a Sub-Saharan country where there is one optometrist for every million people; those people will never see an optometrist, so how will they get eyewear?," he told CNN.
"Any model of delivery of vision correction in the developing world that depends on eye care professionals won't work. If you find a model that doesn't rely on them then you potentially have a solution."
Silver has been developing the glasses for over 20 years and continues to research the technology at the Center for Vision in the Developing World (CVDW) at the University of Oxford.
He told CNN that about 80 percent of those who try the glasses are able to correct their vision, but there are limitations; they can't be used to correct astigmatism and it's not known if they are suitable for children, although the CVDW is currently running a study to determine if school children can correct their own vision with their teachers' help.
So far, 30,000 pairs of self-refraction glasses have been distributed around the world, through an adult literacy program in Ghana and the U.S. Military Humanitarian and Civic Assistance (HCA) Program.
The man behind the HCA program was Kevin White. He has now retired from the military and has set up Global Vision 2020 to distribute self-adjustable glasses.
White has just returned from Liberia, where he trained 40 people from local NGOs to dispense the glasses. White sees charity organizations already working in developing countries as the key to distribution.
"If I can train people from existing networks to dispense glasses, and they can spare one day each week or month to dispense the glasses, then they can see 50 to 100 people in a day -- and that's a way to reach a lot of people," White told CNN.
But for the program to be sustainable, White says the next step is to train his dispensers to become trainers themselves, so that he builds a growing network of people in developing countries who can distribute the glasses.
Silver estimates that one billion people in the developing world don't have access to the glasses they need, and he has said that he would like to see all of them wearing glasses by 2020. But he is under no illusions that he can do it alone.
"No one person or company can possibly deliver that many glasses by 2020. There's a big infrastructure that needs to be set up to do that, and I'd like to see it happen," he told CNN.
Distribution is one problem, cost is another. Currently, it cost $19 to manufacture a pair of self-refraction glasses and Silver acknowledges that the price needs to come down to a few dollars a pair to make them affordable.
Seniors may have some immunity to swine flu
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32899904/ns/health-swine_flu/
Those 65 and older among the last in line for vaccination
updated 4:16 p.m. ET, Thurs., Sept . 17, 2009
MIAMI - Seniors who for years have made flu shots a fall ritual are being sent to the end of the line for the swine flu vaccine. And the reason — their age group seems to have a bit of immunity — appears to have warded off most potential grumbling.
"I don't worry about getting it," said 89-year-old Robert Goodman, a Boca Raton retiree. "At this age, who the hell cares? You take it as it comes."
Federal guidelines call for the new H1N1 vaccine to be given first to pregnant women, those who live with or care for children 6 months or younger, health care workers, people aged 6 months through 24, and people with chronic health problems or compromised immune systems. Those groups total about 159 million people.
Only after shots are offered to those groups will the vaccine be available to healthy adults 64 and younger. After that, if it is still available, seniors ages 65 and older would be eligible.
Swine flu was first identified in April and is now responsible for almost all flu cases in the United States. It has caused more than 1 million illnesses so far, though most were mild and not reported. Nearly 600 Americans have died from it. Though the elderly have been less likely to catch swine flu, those who do get it are more likely to become seriously ill, government doctors say.
Researchers believe seniors have a partial immunity to swine flu because of exposure to similar viruses in their lifetimes. It is a rare bit of good news before the start of the regular flu season, which generally kills 36,000 people a year, most of them elderly.
Around the country, places where older people live and congregate are stepping up efforts to educate seniors about flu and to get them immunized against seasonal flu.
-----
Those 65 and older among the last in line for vaccination
updated 4:16 p.m. ET, Thurs., Sept . 17, 2009
MIAMI - Seniors who for years have made flu shots a fall ritual are being sent to the end of the line for the swine flu vaccine. And the reason — their age group seems to have a bit of immunity — appears to have warded off most potential grumbling.
"I don't worry about getting it," said 89-year-old Robert Goodman, a Boca Raton retiree. "At this age, who the hell cares? You take it as it comes."
Federal guidelines call for the new H1N1 vaccine to be given first to pregnant women, those who live with or care for children 6 months or younger, health care workers, people aged 6 months through 24, and people with chronic health problems or compromised immune systems. Those groups total about 159 million people.
Only after shots are offered to those groups will the vaccine be available to healthy adults 64 and younger. After that, if it is still available, seniors ages 65 and older would be eligible.
Swine flu was first identified in April and is now responsible for almost all flu cases in the United States. It has caused more than 1 million illnesses so far, though most were mild and not reported. Nearly 600 Americans have died from it. Though the elderly have been less likely to catch swine flu, those who do get it are more likely to become seriously ill, government doctors say.
Researchers believe seniors have a partial immunity to swine flu because of exposure to similar viruses in their lifetimes. It is a rare bit of good news before the start of the regular flu season, which generally kills 36,000 people a year, most of them elderly.
Around the country, places where older people live and congregate are stepping up efforts to educate seniors about flu and to get them immunized against seasonal flu.
-----
Insurance Industry Considers Domestic Violence A Pre-Existing Condition and Pregnancy A Matter of Choice
The right wing is concerned that people are having fewer children, but they are gung-ho for insurance company profits, which are enabled by denying medical coverage for pregnancy and c-sections.
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=10198
September 18, 2009 — Ron Chusid
One way insurance companies maximize their profits is to exclude those from coverage with pre-existing conditions. A couple reports this week are raising concerns that women are especially being hurt by such policies. Earlier in the week it was found that some insurance companies were considering being beaten by one’s husband to be a pre-existing condition. The logic makes sense, but also demonstrates why health care reform is necessary.
To the logic used by insurance companies, if a woman is married to an abusive husband who has beaten her in the past she is at greater risk of being beaten in the future, and insurance companies want to avoid having to pay if she shows up at an Emergency Room after suffering such abuse. There was an attempt to end this in 2006 by this was killed in committee on a ten to ten tie. All ten votes in opposition came from Republicans.
Amanda Terkel of Think Progress has followed up on this with a report on how insurance companies restrict coverage of pregnancy, including considering having children “a matter of choice” and considering a cesarean section a pre-existing condition. This is all true under the logic used by the insurance industry. After all, even though we have moved beyond the days of “once a cesarean, always a cesarean,” a woman who has had a c-section is at greater risk of needing one in the future, and insurance companies would prefer not to pay for them. As more people lose their jobs, or their employers drop group insurance, they are forced to purchase insurance on the individual market which is much less likely to cover pregnancy at all.
The private insurance industry is failing in providing coverage due to a business model based upon denying coverage whenever possible as opposed to providing care to consumers. Either the current model needs to be scrapped or there is a need for comprehensive reform of the insurance industry.
'Norma Rae' Dead at 68 After Struggle With Her Insurance Company to Get Chemo
I am re-posting this to add an observation. I saw her obituary in both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the New Your Times. They reported on her fight for worker's rights, and the movie based on her life. But neither mentioned her struggle with the health insurance company. A few years ago, when we were dependent on the MSM (main stream media) for news, we wouldn't have known about that.
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/norma-rae-dead-68-after-two-year-stru
By Susie Madrak Monday Sep 14, 2009 6:00pm
It's the death of an American icon, a working-class woman who stood up for her rights and unionized her workplace. And wouldn't you know it? She fought the mills, but she couldn't make her insurance company do the decent thing until it was too late:
The woman whose life inspired the 1979 film Norma Rae has died of cancer after struggling with her health insurance company, which had delayed her treatment.
Crystal Lee Sutton was 68. She had struggled for several years with meningioma, a form of brain cancer.
She became a hero to the labor movement in the 1970s, when she took on her employer, a North Carolina textile plant, and unionized the factory floor. Her story became famous nationwide in 1975 after New York Times reporter Hank Leiferman wrote Crystal Lee: A Woman of Inheritance.
In 1979, her story was turned into the movie Norma Rae, a thinly-veiled fictional adaptation of Sutton’s struggle to unionize the J.P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Sally Field won an Oscar for her portrayal of the character inspired by Sutton.
As Daily Kos blogger hissyspit points out, last year Sutton gave an interview to the press where she described a struggle with her health insurer over treatment. The Times-News in Burlington, North Carolina, wrote in 2008:
[Sutton] went two months without possible life-saving medications because her insurance wouldn’t cover it, another example of abusing the working poor, she said.
“How in the world can it take so long to find out (whether they would cover the medicine or not) when it could be a matter of life or death,” she said. “It is almost like, in a way, committing murder.”
She eventually received the medication, but the cancer is taking a toll on her strong will and solid frame.
In 2008, the North Carolina branch of the AFL-CIO urged supporters to donate money to Sutton’s medical fund. On its Web site, the union had stated that “after initially being denied coverage by her insurance company for life saving treatment, Sutton is now on drug and chemo therapies and has undergone two surgeries.”
In its obituary the Greensboro News-Record describes her now-legendary struggle to unionize the J.P. Stevens plant:
In 1973, a 33-year-old Sutton was working at the J.P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids, where she was making $2.65 an hour folding towels. The poor working conditions she and her fellow employees endured compelled her to join forces with Eli Zivkovich, a mill worker turned union organizer, and attempt to unionize the plant employees.
Sutton eventually lost her job, but the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) won the right to represent the workers at the plant and Sutton briefly became an organizer for the union.
In 1977, she was awarded back wages and her job was reinstated by court order, although she chose to return to work for just two days.
Friday, September 18, 2009
‘Duplicitous’ Campaign Of Insurers To Charm The Public While Secretly Killing Reform
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/17/potter-charm-dirty-campaign/
By Lee Fang on Sep 17th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
NOTE: This is the third installment of our series — Meet Your Insurance Company Executive: An Interview with Wendell Potter.
This week, ThinkProgress spoke with Wendell Potter, a former VP of communications at health insurance giant CIGNA, about exactly how insurance companies derail reform and preserve the status quo. Working in public relations for CIGNA, Potter had a direct role in multiple campaigns in the past to minimize public outrage at insurance company abuses, defeat legislation aimed at regulating insurers, and the massive effort to discredit Michael Moore and his movie SiCKO. In addition to enormous amounts of money spent in direct lobbying and campaign contributions, Potter spelled out exactly how insurance companies have prepared to defeat meaningful reform.
Planned well before this year, insurance company CEOs, like Potter’s former boss at CIGNA (H. Edward Hadway), formed a group called the Strategic Communications Committee to develop effective messages and strategy for the industry. Organized through AHIP, the lobbying front for insurance companies, the committee would work with large public relations companies to devise a two-pronged, “duplicitous campaign.” Because insurance companies suffer from low public approval, Potter said, the industry would present itself as “for reform” to the public, yet at the same time label proponents of meaningful reform as “extreme.” The public campaign is for the most part positive, and largely delivered by industry representatives like AHIP chief lobbyist Karen Ignagni. Potter noted:
It’s really a duplicitous PR campaign. They will talk about, in broad terms, how supportive they are of health care reform, but they will be working behind the scenes to kill very, very crucial parts of reform legislation like the public option.
Potter then explained how insurers would use a variety of front groups, set up by PR companies like APCO, to advance a hidden attack campaign. The “dirty” campaign involved feeding talking points to right-wing media, like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. It also includes the creation of front groups to run negative advertisements about reform and mobilize anti-reform “grassroots” groups. Finally, insurers would coordinate with, and sometimes fund, conservative think-tanks to produce academic-appearing reports to advance their cause. Leaked memos from the insurance companies — regarding the campaign against Moore’s SiCKO movie — not only support Potter’s assertions, but specifically describe every step of this process.
By Lee Fang on Sep 17th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
NOTE: This is the third installment of our series — Meet Your Insurance Company Executive: An Interview with Wendell Potter.
This week, ThinkProgress spoke with Wendell Potter, a former VP of communications at health insurance giant CIGNA, about exactly how insurance companies derail reform and preserve the status quo. Working in public relations for CIGNA, Potter had a direct role in multiple campaigns in the past to minimize public outrage at insurance company abuses, defeat legislation aimed at regulating insurers, and the massive effort to discredit Michael Moore and his movie SiCKO. In addition to enormous amounts of money spent in direct lobbying and campaign contributions, Potter spelled out exactly how insurance companies have prepared to defeat meaningful reform.
Planned well before this year, insurance company CEOs, like Potter’s former boss at CIGNA (H. Edward Hadway), formed a group called the Strategic Communications Committee to develop effective messages and strategy for the industry. Organized through AHIP, the lobbying front for insurance companies, the committee would work with large public relations companies to devise a two-pronged, “duplicitous campaign.” Because insurance companies suffer from low public approval, Potter said, the industry would present itself as “for reform” to the public, yet at the same time label proponents of meaningful reform as “extreme.” The public campaign is for the most part positive, and largely delivered by industry representatives like AHIP chief lobbyist Karen Ignagni. Potter noted:
It’s really a duplicitous PR campaign. They will talk about, in broad terms, how supportive they are of health care reform, but they will be working behind the scenes to kill very, very crucial parts of reform legislation like the public option.
Potter then explained how insurers would use a variety of front groups, set up by PR companies like APCO, to advance a hidden attack campaign. The “dirty” campaign involved feeding talking points to right-wing media, like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. It also includes the creation of front groups to run negative advertisements about reform and mobilize anti-reform “grassroots” groups. Finally, insurers would coordinate with, and sometimes fund, conservative think-tanks to produce academic-appearing reports to advance their cause. Leaked memos from the insurance companies — regarding the campaign against Moore’s SiCKO movie — not only support Potter’s assertions, but specifically describe every step of this process.
75 Percent of Oklahoma High School Students Can't Name the First President of the U.S.
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/09/oklahoma-not-ok.html
posted the following:
http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=11141949
Posted: Sep 16, 2009 1:17 PM EDT Updated: Sep 17, 2009 11:30 AM EDT
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.
The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.
A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.
About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.
Dutcher said this is not just a problem in Oklahoma. He said Arizona had similar results, which left him concerned for the entire country.
"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."
posted the following:
http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=11141949
Posted: Sep 16, 2009 1:17 PM EDT Updated: Sep 17, 2009 11:30 AM EDT
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.
The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.
A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.
About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.
Dutcher said this is not just a problem in Oklahoma. He said Arizona had similar results, which left him concerned for the entire country.
"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."
Gov't stands by as mercury taints water
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090918/ap_on_re_us/us_abandoned_mercury_mines;_ylt=AgBxZ_dUw9LW2rXF_PM6w9ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFlajN1amdyBHBvcwMxMDQEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl9zY2llbmNlBHNsawNhcGltcGFjdGdvdnQ-
By JASON DEAREN, Associated Press Writer Jason Dearen, Associated Press Writer – Fri Sep 18, 8:00 am ET
NEW IDRIA, Calif. – Abandoned mercury mines throughout central California's rugged coastal mountains are polluting the state's major waterways, rendering fish unsafe to eat and risking the health of at least 100,000 impoverished people.
But an Associated Press investigation found that the federal government has tried to clean up fewer than a dozen of the hundreds of mines — and most cleanups have failed to stem the contamination.
Although the mining ceased decades ago, records and interviews show the vast majority of sites have not even been studied to assess the pollution, let alone been touched.
While millions live in the affected Delta region, the pollution disproportionately hurts the poor and immigrants who rely on local fish as part of their diet, according to a study conducted by University of California, Davis ecologist Fraser Shilling. His research found that 100,000 people, which he calls a conservative estimate, regularly eat tainted fish at levels deemed unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Tens of thousands of subsistence anglers and their (families) are consuming greater than 10 times the U.S. EPA recommended dose of mercury, which puts them at immediate risk of neurological and other harm," Shilling said.
But neither the state nor federal government has studied long-term health effects of mercury on the people who regularly eat fish from these waters.
The legacy of more than a century of mercury mining in California — which produced more of the silvery metal than anywhere else in the nation — harms people and the environment in myriad ways.
Near a derelict mine in this California ghost town, the water bubbling in a stream runs Day-Glo Orange and is devoid of life, carrying mercury toward a wildlife refuge and a popular fishing spot.
Far to the north, American Indians who live atop mine waste on the shores of one of the world's most mercury-polluted lakes have elevated levels of the heavy metal in their bodies and fears about their health.
And other mercury mines are the biggest sources of the pollution in San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast.
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Mercury is considered most harmful to people when consumed in fish. People who regularly consume tainted fish are at risk of headaches, tingling, tremors and damage to the brain and nervous system, according to the CDC.
The toxin is less of a threat in drinking water, which is filtered and monitored more closely.
Mining in California ceased decades ago, leaving behind at least 550 mercury mines, though no one knows for sure how many. One U.S. Geological Survey scientist says the total may be as high as 2,000.
-----
Government officials blame mining companies for shirking their financial responsibilities to clean the sites, either by filing for bankruptcy or changing ownership.
When the government does target a site, success is not guaranteed.
The Sulfur Bank Mine has made the nearby Clear Lake the most mercury-polluted lake in the world, despite the EPA spending about $40 million and two decades trying to keep mercury contamination from the water. Pollution still seeps beneath the earthen dam built by the former mine operator, Bradley Mining Co.
For years, Bradley Mining has fought the government's efforts to recoup cleanup costs. An attorney for the company didn't return calls seeking comment.
For the Elem Band of Pomo Indians, whose colony is next to the lake and shuttered mine, the mercury has made it unsafe to eat local fish.
-----
As a child, Rozan Brown, 31, said she ate lake fish, swam in the turquoise waters of the mine waste pit and played on mercury-tainted mine waste piles.
"When I was pregnant, I drank the water," Brown said. "When I was breast-feeding, I worked as a laborer during some of the (mercury) cleanups."
The CDC says high levels of mercury can cause brain damage and mental retardation in children when passed from mother to fetus. Brown's son, Tiyal, has been diagnosed with autism. The CDC has found no link between mercury and autism, but agency spokesperson Dagny Olivares said in an e-mail, "Additional information is needed to fully evaluate the potential health threats."
-----
By JASON DEAREN, Associated Press Writer Jason Dearen, Associated Press Writer – Fri Sep 18, 8:00 am ET
NEW IDRIA, Calif. – Abandoned mercury mines throughout central California's rugged coastal mountains are polluting the state's major waterways, rendering fish unsafe to eat and risking the health of at least 100,000 impoverished people.
But an Associated Press investigation found that the federal government has tried to clean up fewer than a dozen of the hundreds of mines — and most cleanups have failed to stem the contamination.
Although the mining ceased decades ago, records and interviews show the vast majority of sites have not even been studied to assess the pollution, let alone been touched.
While millions live in the affected Delta region, the pollution disproportionately hurts the poor and immigrants who rely on local fish as part of their diet, according to a study conducted by University of California, Davis ecologist Fraser Shilling. His research found that 100,000 people, which he calls a conservative estimate, regularly eat tainted fish at levels deemed unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Tens of thousands of subsistence anglers and their (families) are consuming greater than 10 times the U.S. EPA recommended dose of mercury, which puts them at immediate risk of neurological and other harm," Shilling said.
But neither the state nor federal government has studied long-term health effects of mercury on the people who regularly eat fish from these waters.
The legacy of more than a century of mercury mining in California — which produced more of the silvery metal than anywhere else in the nation — harms people and the environment in myriad ways.
Near a derelict mine in this California ghost town, the water bubbling in a stream runs Day-Glo Orange and is devoid of life, carrying mercury toward a wildlife refuge and a popular fishing spot.
Far to the north, American Indians who live atop mine waste on the shores of one of the world's most mercury-polluted lakes have elevated levels of the heavy metal in their bodies and fears about their health.
And other mercury mines are the biggest sources of the pollution in San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast.
-----
Mercury is considered most harmful to people when consumed in fish. People who regularly consume tainted fish are at risk of headaches, tingling, tremors and damage to the brain and nervous system, according to the CDC.
The toxin is less of a threat in drinking water, which is filtered and monitored more closely.
Mining in California ceased decades ago, leaving behind at least 550 mercury mines, though no one knows for sure how many. One U.S. Geological Survey scientist says the total may be as high as 2,000.
-----
Government officials blame mining companies for shirking their financial responsibilities to clean the sites, either by filing for bankruptcy or changing ownership.
When the government does target a site, success is not guaranteed.
The Sulfur Bank Mine has made the nearby Clear Lake the most mercury-polluted lake in the world, despite the EPA spending about $40 million and two decades trying to keep mercury contamination from the water. Pollution still seeps beneath the earthen dam built by the former mine operator, Bradley Mining Co.
For years, Bradley Mining has fought the government's efforts to recoup cleanup costs. An attorney for the company didn't return calls seeking comment.
For the Elem Band of Pomo Indians, whose colony is next to the lake and shuttered mine, the mercury has made it unsafe to eat local fish.
-----
As a child, Rozan Brown, 31, said she ate lake fish, swam in the turquoise waters of the mine waste pit and played on mercury-tainted mine waste piles.
"When I was pregnant, I drank the water," Brown said. "When I was breast-feeding, I worked as a laborer during some of the (mercury) cleanups."
The CDC says high levels of mercury can cause brain damage and mental retardation in children when passed from mother to fetus. Brown's son, Tiyal, has been diagnosed with autism. The CDC has found no link between mercury and autism, but agency spokesperson Dagny Olivares said in an e-mail, "Additional information is needed to fully evaluate the potential health threats."
-----
Lead levels well below ‘safe’ limits hurts kids
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32901951/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
updated 5:52 p.m. ET, Thurs., Sept . 17, 2009
NEW YORK - Blood lead concentrations well below the accepted "safe" level harm youngster's intellectual and emotional development, a study released Thursday revealed.
Researchers from University of Bristol in the UK measured blood lead levels in 488 youngsters at age 2 and a half and linked these levels to scores on standardized assessment tests at age 7 to 8.
There was a clear link between blood lead levels in early childhood and academic performance by the ages of 7 and 8, the researchers report in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Children with blood lead levels between 2 and 5 micrograms per deciliter performed significantly better on standardized tests than those with blood lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter, they found.
Blood lead levels between 5 and 10 micrograms per deciliter were associated with significantly poorer scores for reading (49 percent lower) and writing (51 percent lower). A doubling of the blood lead level from 5 to 10 micrograms was associated with a 0.3 point fall in standardized test scores.
Currently, the internationally accepted "safe" threshold of blood lead is 10 micrograms per deciliter, but Dr. Alan Emond, who led the current study, is now calling for this figure to be halved to just 5 micrograms per deciliter based on his team's findings.
"Exposure to lead early in childhood has effects on subsequent educational attainment, even at low blood levels (5 to 10 micrograms per deciliter)," he noted in an email to Reuters Health. "Our results suggest that the threshold for clinical concern should be reduced to 5 micrograms per deciliter."
The researchers also talked to teachers as part of their research and found that children with blood lead levels above 10 micrograms per deciliter were nearly three times as likely to show hyperactivity and anti-social behavior as children whose blood lead levels were between 0 and 2 micrograms per deciliter.
Exposure to lead is especially risky for children, Emond noted, because lead is more easily absorbed by their growing bodies and because their tissues are especially sensitive to damage.
The chief sources of environmental lead include water supplies (lead pipes), old lead paint and soil. Blood lead levels appear to peak between the ages of 2 and 3 years — the ages when toddlers tend to put most items (including toys) in their mouths.
"While adults absorb around 10 to 15 percent of an ingested quantity of lead, this amount can increase to 50 percent in infants and young children. This lead is then absorbed into the bone where it can remain for up to 30 years," Emond said.
"Lead gets incorporated into the bones and is gradually released into the blood and circulates throughout the body. It interferes with enzymes and affects many systems — including the central nervous system," he added.
To reduce lead content in the environment, old pipes should be replaced, as should old, flaky paint, Emond said. "Any toys used in the garden, such as buggies and bikes that come into contact with soil, should be washed regularly," he added.
updated 5:52 p.m. ET, Thurs., Sept . 17, 2009
NEW YORK - Blood lead concentrations well below the accepted "safe" level harm youngster's intellectual and emotional development, a study released Thursday revealed.
Researchers from University of Bristol in the UK measured blood lead levels in 488 youngsters at age 2 and a half and linked these levels to scores on standardized assessment tests at age 7 to 8.
There was a clear link between blood lead levels in early childhood and academic performance by the ages of 7 and 8, the researchers report in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Children with blood lead levels between 2 and 5 micrograms per deciliter performed significantly better on standardized tests than those with blood lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter, they found.
Blood lead levels between 5 and 10 micrograms per deciliter were associated with significantly poorer scores for reading (49 percent lower) and writing (51 percent lower). A doubling of the blood lead level from 5 to 10 micrograms was associated with a 0.3 point fall in standardized test scores.
Currently, the internationally accepted "safe" threshold of blood lead is 10 micrograms per deciliter, but Dr. Alan Emond, who led the current study, is now calling for this figure to be halved to just 5 micrograms per deciliter based on his team's findings.
"Exposure to lead early in childhood has effects on subsequent educational attainment, even at low blood levels (5 to 10 micrograms per deciliter)," he noted in an email to Reuters Health. "Our results suggest that the threshold for clinical concern should be reduced to 5 micrograms per deciliter."
The researchers also talked to teachers as part of their research and found that children with blood lead levels above 10 micrograms per deciliter were nearly three times as likely to show hyperactivity and anti-social behavior as children whose blood lead levels were between 0 and 2 micrograms per deciliter.
Exposure to lead is especially risky for children, Emond noted, because lead is more easily absorbed by their growing bodies and because their tissues are especially sensitive to damage.
The chief sources of environmental lead include water supplies (lead pipes), old lead paint and soil. Blood lead levels appear to peak between the ages of 2 and 3 years — the ages when toddlers tend to put most items (including toys) in their mouths.
"While adults absorb around 10 to 15 percent of an ingested quantity of lead, this amount can increase to 50 percent in infants and young children. This lead is then absorbed into the bone where it can remain for up to 30 years," Emond said.
"Lead gets incorporated into the bones and is gradually released into the blood and circulates throughout the body. It interferes with enzymes and affects many systems — including the central nervous system," he added.
To reduce lead content in the environment, old pipes should be replaced, as should old, flaky paint, Emond said. "Any toys used in the garden, such as buggies and bikes that come into contact with soil, should be washed regularly," he added.
Groovy how to read one line at a time
I am including this in my blog because I couldn't access the Groovy users forum last night. This is will be very helpful info for when one has to read one line (delimited by end of line character(s)) at a time. Eg., to stop after reading a certain number of lines, or to read from two files and compare data, which then determines which file to read from next.
Note that readLine does not work for File, and no longer works with FileInputStream
The first .readLine() reads a line
The next readLine returns an empty string "", but not null (until end of file).
Subsequent invocations of .readLine alternately return
a line, then an empty string.
At end of file, readLine starts returning null.
This also tests as an empty string ""
Reading past the end of file continues to return null
It does not cause an abend
I have included the pgm I used to determine how to use this, with comments that give my findings.
<target name="groovy.test.FileReader" description="">
<!-- .read() reads a single byte. Reading contineus form there .text() reads the remainder of the file ---->
<groovy>
lineCnt1 = 0
lineCnt2 = 0
f1 = new FileReader("C:/temp2.txt")
// if .read followed by .readline, it starts reading after the byte
// already read by the .read
aLine = f1.read() //read first byte of line 1 as number value of the byte.
println "aLine = [" + aLine + "]" // "C" prints as 67
for (lineCnt1 in 1..15) { // note: lineCnt is local to the for loop
readALineRtn(lineCnt1)
}
return
def readALineRtn(lineNbr) {
//aLine = f1.text // reads rest of file, including end of line characters
aLine = f1.readLine()
println lineNbr + " aLine = [" + aLine + "]"
switch (aLine) {
case null: println " NULL"
case "": println " empty string"
}
}
f1.close()
//return
println "lineCnt1 = " + lineCnt1
println "lineCnt2 = ${lineCnt2}"
return
</groovy>
</target>
Note that readLine does not work for File, and no longer works with FileInputStream
The first .readLine() reads a line
The next readLine returns an empty string "", but not null (until end of file).
Subsequent invocations of .readLine alternately return
a line, then an empty string.
At end of file, readLine starts returning null.
This also tests as an empty string ""
Reading past the end of file continues to return null
It does not cause an abend
I have included the pgm I used to determine how to use this, with comments that give my findings.
<target name="groovy.test.FileReader" description="">
<!-- .read() reads a single byte. Reading contineus form there .text() reads the remainder of the file ---->
<groovy>
lineCnt1 = 0
lineCnt2 = 0
f1 = new FileReader("C:/temp2.txt")
// if .read followed by .readline, it starts reading after the byte
// already read by the .read
aLine = f1.read() //read first byte of line 1 as number value of the byte.
println "aLine = [" + aLine + "]" // "C" prints as 67
for (lineCnt1 in 1..15) { // note: lineCnt is local to the for loop
readALineRtn(lineCnt1)
}
return
def readALineRtn(lineNbr) {
//aLine = f1.text // reads rest of file, including end of line characters
aLine = f1.readLine()
println lineNbr + " aLine = [" + aLine + "]"
switch (aLine) {
case null: println " NULL"
case "": println " empty string"
}
}
f1.close()
//return
println "lineCnt1 = " + lineCnt1
println "lineCnt2 = ${lineCnt2}"
return
</groovy>
</target>
Lack of health coverage tied to 45,000 deaths a year-corrected link
The previous estimate of 18,000, updated this year to 22,000, seemed low to me. I discovered my link was wrong, so I've replaced it with one to an article on this subject, so some of the wording may not be exactly the same.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE58G6W520090918
Tally rises from previous estimates of about 18,000 annually, study says
updated 7:33 p.m. ET, Thurs., Sept . 17, 2009
Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year — one every 12 minutes — in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.
"We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters.
Overall, researchers said American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage.
-----
The Harvard study, funded by a federal research grant, was published in the online edition of the American Journal of Public Health. It was released by Physicians for a National Health Program, which favors government-backed or "single-payer" health insurance.
An similar study in 1993 found those without insurance had a 25 percent greater risk of death, according to the Harvard group. The Institute of Medicine later used that data in its 2002 estimate showing about 18,000 people a year died because they lacked coverage.
Part of the increased risk now is due to the growing ranks of the uninsured, Himmelstein said. Roughly 46.3 million people in the United States lacked coverage in 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week, up from 45.7 million in 2007.
Another factor is that there are fewer places for the uninsured to get good care. Public hospitals and clinics are shuttering or scaling back across the country in cities like New Orleans, Detroit and others, he said.
Study co-author Dr. Steffie Woolhandler said the findings show that without proper care, uninsured people are more likely to die from complications associated with preventable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
-----
See the article for a chart of statistics by state.
Time out, Max Baucus
http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/2009/09/16/time-out-max-baucus/
by Karoli on September 16, 2009
That’s right, Senator Max Baucus. I’m talking to YOU. Let me tell you a little about the past 30 days of my life.
You see, I have this kid. He’s a good kid. A great kid, in fact. He’s my birthday present…born on my 31st birthday at 1:11pm (13:11 if you’re number superstitious). He’s really talented, too. He produced his first CD this summer, which he considers to be the beginning of his long and productive musical career.
For the past month, he’s been really, really sick. He can’t keep food in him, is in constant middle-bending just-shoot-me kind of pain, and has lost 20 pounds (he only weighed 165 to begin with).
The pain he’s in makes it impossible for him to play his beloved drums for any length of time. He has a great job but hasn’t been able to work at all for the past 30 days. He’s stubborn though — while he’s been fighting this, he taught himself to play bass and even built one from scratch. See it just below?? That’s the kind of thing he does. He doesn’t know how not to be creative. He’s the guy who will push jazz back into our daily music lexicon, who will maybe write a movie score, who is already composing works for ensembles, trios, and big bands.
Last week his mystery disease was identified as ulcerative colitis. It’s not curable, only manageable. He was put on some medication to help with the inflammation and told he should begin to see improvement within a week.
Things have gone steadily downhill since then. Instead of better, they’re worse. Can you imagine seeing your son moaning in pain every single day and not being able to do ANYTHING to help? Imagine it. Do it for just a second.
Today his blood work came back. Never mind my fight with my COBRA administrator who cancelled me for some inexplicable reason 10 days ago, here’s the real problem: It would appear that my always-fit, always active 20-year old son is diabetic, probably as a result of my genetic contribution. The music he gets from his dad; the diabetes from me. Now he gets to learn to manage UC and diabetes in concert with one another while struggling to regain the ground he’s lost being sick for the past month.
Here’s the catch, Senator Baucus. Listen carefully. My sonthedrummer may not be able to BE a drummer, because these two diseases make him UNINSURABLE at AGE 20. Where I held my breath hoping for health care reform to happen, now it’s become an imperative, no longer just about me or our house, or some scary maybe heart thing with my husband. This is real life you’re screwed if you don’t get this done kind of living. Reform isn’t just some ‘nice’ thing to do.
So, Senator, what do we get from you? A pile of crap wrapped up in pretty red Republican paper with a little bipartisan bullshit on the side. Under your plan, his premium could be up to 5 times the normal premium for someone without pre-existing conditions. Let’s see…right now it’s $230/month. You think it should be five times that? Under your plan, he’d probably land in a high risk pool with that surcharge/front-end load kicking in right away. Oh! And because my premiums for the family coverage would be over $21,000 a year (assuming I can straighten out my COBRA admin and get my coverage back at all…) I’d be TAXED on the excess? And if I *can’t” get insurance, I’m forced into the 5x pool or the $3800/year fine, for which I get exactly nothing. Not one. damn. thing.
If we’re going be hammered with $3800/year for failing to feed United Health et al’s greed machines, the very least you could do is let him buy into Medicare or a public option. But no. Insurers wouldn’t like that, and insurers are your friend. Not mine. Not his. Yours.
So…for the privilege of going bankrupt either via unaffordable insurance or via unreasonably high sanctions with absolutely no price controls or competition, you want my kid to shell out $3800/year? This is reform? How? California has co-ops already, by the way. Look how good they are at controlling costs! Only $21,400/year for a family of 4! Well done, Senator Baucus. How proud your keepers must be of you.
Imagine having to face not doing what you love, what you were gifted for, because it means medical bills will always dog you.
Imagine having to make a choice between talent and health.
Imagine having to give up what you’ve been passionate about for over one-half of a short twenty-year old life.
Imagine having to choose. Imagine having YOU CHOOSE FOR ME. OR HIM. Worse yet, why should that choice be made by Blue Cross or United Health?
Your pathetic effort to appease the unappeasable just rendered you irrelevant. Step back, get out of the way, and let your colleagues who actually understand this is not a game of “richest lobbyist wins” get something done.
Bipartisanship is not an option here, by declaration of the teapartiers, the birthers, the tenthers and all the others who have no balls or courage to answer this problem with a real solution. My son cannot live on rhetoric. He cannot build a life or a career on your lack of courage. If and your buddy Kent Conrad think it’s a good idea to cater to the money guys, that’s your problem. Don’t make it mine. You had your chance to do this right. More than your chance. We put up with the lunatic town halls, insane finger-biting incidents, and racist drivel so you could have your chance. That’s done now.
Get out of my kid’s way and let the big boys forge a realistic pathway for him to work toward his goals. He has been a taxpaying contributing member of society since he was 14 years old. He pays his own way through school with no loans while remaining on the Dean’s list and representing his college at jazz festivals around the state. At the ripe old age of 20, he deserves a better future than indentured servitude to an employer with a health plan and a Senator planning his retirement on insurance company payrolls.
I still have the naughty chair I used to make my boy sit in when he was two or three when he would defy me or behave in a way that wasn’t safe for him or others. It’s right over there. Please sit down until you learn your lesson.
If it weren’t so serious, I’d be laughing. My kids know I’m not laughing because I’m too incredibly furious. I’ve had enough. Shut up and sit down. You’re in time out.
by Karoli on September 16, 2009
That’s right, Senator Max Baucus. I’m talking to YOU. Let me tell you a little about the past 30 days of my life.
You see, I have this kid. He’s a good kid. A great kid, in fact. He’s my birthday present…born on my 31st birthday at 1:11pm (13:11 if you’re number superstitious). He’s really talented, too. He produced his first CD this summer, which he considers to be the beginning of his long and productive musical career.
For the past month, he’s been really, really sick. He can’t keep food in him, is in constant middle-bending just-shoot-me kind of pain, and has lost 20 pounds (he only weighed 165 to begin with).
The pain he’s in makes it impossible for him to play his beloved drums for any length of time. He has a great job but hasn’t been able to work at all for the past 30 days. He’s stubborn though — while he’s been fighting this, he taught himself to play bass and even built one from scratch. See it just below?? That’s the kind of thing he does. He doesn’t know how not to be creative. He’s the guy who will push jazz back into our daily music lexicon, who will maybe write a movie score, who is already composing works for ensembles, trios, and big bands.
Last week his mystery disease was identified as ulcerative colitis. It’s not curable, only manageable. He was put on some medication to help with the inflammation and told he should begin to see improvement within a week.
Things have gone steadily downhill since then. Instead of better, they’re worse. Can you imagine seeing your son moaning in pain every single day and not being able to do ANYTHING to help? Imagine it. Do it for just a second.
Today his blood work came back. Never mind my fight with my COBRA administrator who cancelled me for some inexplicable reason 10 days ago, here’s the real problem: It would appear that my always-fit, always active 20-year old son is diabetic, probably as a result of my genetic contribution. The music he gets from his dad; the diabetes from me. Now he gets to learn to manage UC and diabetes in concert with one another while struggling to regain the ground he’s lost being sick for the past month.
Here’s the catch, Senator Baucus. Listen carefully. My sonthedrummer may not be able to BE a drummer, because these two diseases make him UNINSURABLE at AGE 20. Where I held my breath hoping for health care reform to happen, now it’s become an imperative, no longer just about me or our house, or some scary maybe heart thing with my husband. This is real life you’re screwed if you don’t get this done kind of living. Reform isn’t just some ‘nice’ thing to do.
So, Senator, what do we get from you? A pile of crap wrapped up in pretty red Republican paper with a little bipartisan bullshit on the side. Under your plan, his premium could be up to 5 times the normal premium for someone without pre-existing conditions. Let’s see…right now it’s $230/month. You think it should be five times that? Under your plan, he’d probably land in a high risk pool with that surcharge/front-end load kicking in right away. Oh! And because my premiums for the family coverage would be over $21,000 a year (assuming I can straighten out my COBRA admin and get my coverage back at all…) I’d be TAXED on the excess? And if I *can’t” get insurance, I’m forced into the 5x pool or the $3800/year fine, for which I get exactly nothing. Not one. damn. thing.
If we’re going be hammered with $3800/year for failing to feed United Health et al’s greed machines, the very least you could do is let him buy into Medicare or a public option. But no. Insurers wouldn’t like that, and insurers are your friend. Not mine. Not his. Yours.
So…for the privilege of going bankrupt either via unaffordable insurance or via unreasonably high sanctions with absolutely no price controls or competition, you want my kid to shell out $3800/year? This is reform? How? California has co-ops already, by the way. Look how good they are at controlling costs! Only $21,400/year for a family of 4! Well done, Senator Baucus. How proud your keepers must be of you.
Imagine having to face not doing what you love, what you were gifted for, because it means medical bills will always dog you.
Imagine having to make a choice between talent and health.
Imagine having to give up what you’ve been passionate about for over one-half of a short twenty-year old life.
Imagine having to choose. Imagine having YOU CHOOSE FOR ME. OR HIM. Worse yet, why should that choice be made by Blue Cross or United Health?
Your pathetic effort to appease the unappeasable just rendered you irrelevant. Step back, get out of the way, and let your colleagues who actually understand this is not a game of “richest lobbyist wins” get something done.
Bipartisanship is not an option here, by declaration of the teapartiers, the birthers, the tenthers and all the others who have no balls or courage to answer this problem with a real solution. My son cannot live on rhetoric. He cannot build a life or a career on your lack of courage. If and your buddy Kent Conrad think it’s a good idea to cater to the money guys, that’s your problem. Don’t make it mine. You had your chance to do this right. More than your chance. We put up with the lunatic town halls, insane finger-biting incidents, and racist drivel so you could have your chance. That’s done now.
Get out of my kid’s way and let the big boys forge a realistic pathway for him to work toward his goals. He has been a taxpaying contributing member of society since he was 14 years old. He pays his own way through school with no loans while remaining on the Dean’s list and representing his college at jazz festivals around the state. At the ripe old age of 20, he deserves a better future than indentured servitude to an employer with a health plan and a Senator planning his retirement on insurance company payrolls.
I still have the naughty chair I used to make my boy sit in when he was two or three when he would defy me or behave in a way that wasn’t safe for him or others. It’s right over there. Please sit down until you learn your lesson.
If it weren’t so serious, I’d be laughing. My kids know I’m not laughing because I’m too incredibly furious. I’ve had enough. Shut up and sit down. You’re in time out.
Quality Of Early Child Care Plays Role In Later Reading, Math Achievement
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915100943.htm
ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2009) — Using information from the longitudinal study of early care and youth development, researchers found that children who spent more time in high-quality child care in the first five years of their lives had better math and reading scores in middle childhood. Researchers also found that low-income children who attended high-quality child care programs before the age of five performed similarly to their affluent peers. These findings have implications for the role of child care in the creation of anti-poverty policies.
-----
ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2009) — Using information from the longitudinal study of early care and youth development, researchers found that children who spent more time in high-quality child care in the first five years of their lives had better math and reading scores in middle childhood. Researchers also found that low-income children who attended high-quality child care programs before the age of five performed similarly to their affluent peers. These findings have implications for the role of child care in the creation of anti-poverty policies.
-----
Sustainable Fertilizer: Urine And Wood Ash Produce Large Harvest
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090902112750.htm
ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2009) — Results of the first study evaluating the use of human urine mixed with wood ash as a fertilizer for food crops has found that the combination can be substituted for costly synthetic fertilizers to produce bumper crops of tomatoes without introducing any risk of disease for consumers.
In the study, Surendra Pradhan and colleagues point out that urine, a good source of nitrogen, has been successfully used to fertilize cucumber, corn, cabbage, and other crops. Only a few studies, however, have investigated the use of wood ash, which is rich in minerals and also reduces the acidity of certain soils. Scientists have not reported on the combinaton of urine and wood ash, they say.
The new study found that plants fertilized with urine produced four times more tomatoes than nonfertilized plants and as much as plants given synthetic fertilizer. Urine plus wood ash produced almost as great a yield, with the added benefit of reducing the acidity of acid soils. "The results suggest that urine with or without wood ash can be used as a substitute for mineral fertilizer to increase the yields of tomato without posing any microbial or chemical risks," the report says.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2009) — Results of the first study evaluating the use of human urine mixed with wood ash as a fertilizer for food crops has found that the combination can be substituted for costly synthetic fertilizers to produce bumper crops of tomatoes without introducing any risk of disease for consumers.
In the study, Surendra Pradhan and colleagues point out that urine, a good source of nitrogen, has been successfully used to fertilize cucumber, corn, cabbage, and other crops. Only a few studies, however, have investigated the use of wood ash, which is rich in minerals and also reduces the acidity of certain soils. Scientists have not reported on the combinaton of urine and wood ash, they say.
The new study found that plants fertilized with urine produced four times more tomatoes than nonfertilized plants and as much as plants given synthetic fertilizer. Urine plus wood ash produced almost as great a yield, with the added benefit of reducing the acidity of acid soils. "The results suggest that urine with or without wood ash can be used as a substitute for mineral fertilizer to increase the yields of tomato without posing any microbial or chemical risks," the report says.
Exotic Timber Plantations Found To Use More Than Twice The Water Of Native Forests
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915140926.htm
ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2009) — Ecologists have discovered that timber plantations in Hawaii use more than twice the amount of water to grow as native forests use. Especially for island ecosystems, these findings suggest that land management decisions can place ecosystems – and the people who depend on them – at high risk for water shortages.
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ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2009) — Ecologists have discovered that timber plantations in Hawaii use more than twice the amount of water to grow as native forests use. Especially for island ecosystems, these findings suggest that land management decisions can place ecosystems – and the people who depend on them – at high risk for water shortages.
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
Insecticide-free Method Studied For Control Of Soybean Aphids
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915174457.htm
ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2009) — Two Iowa State University researchers are examining a new method of controlling soybean aphids without the use of chemical pesticides.
Bryony Bonning, professor of entomology, and Allen Miller, professor of plant pathology and director of the Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses, are looking at a way to genetically modify soybeans to prevent damage from aphids.
If the research is successful, soybeans will carry in-plant protection from aphids, similar to the way genetically modified corn now keeps the European Corn Borer from destroying corn yields, but using a different molecular tool. Modified corn technology has been in use for about 12 years.
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The current research focuses on introducing a gene into soybeans that is harmless to mammals, but creates a toxin that is lethal to aphids that feed on soybean plants.
In order to be effective, the toxin needs to be taken intact into the body cavity of the aphid, not broken down by the digestive system in the bug.
Miller and Bonning identified a plant virus coat protein eaten by soybean aphids that doesn't break down and goes into the aphid body cavity intact.
They know the virus coat protein remains intact because the aphids often spread the virus from plant to plant while they are feeding.
Coat proteins make up the outer shell of a virus particle.
The researchers devised a method to use virus coat proteins to their advantage. The researchers have fused their toxin to the virus' protein coat. Since the protein coat is only part of the virus to be used, there is no risk of an infectious virus. Also, the coat protein is from a virus that normally doesn't infect soybeans.
When the hybrid toxin coat protein is eaten by the aphid, the fatal toxin should get into the aphid body cavity intact.
"What we thought was, if this (virus) protein has this ability to be taken up into the aphid (intact), let's take advantage of that specialization and fuse that to other proteins that are toxic," said Miller.
In addition to possibly curbing the aphid problem and the yield loss it causes, there are other benefits to the farmers and the ecosystems.
"The (potential) economic impact overall is huge," said Bonning. "There will be less insecticide use, and also less fossil fuel used to apply the insecticides."
Also, spraying soybeans with insecticides doesn't just control the aphids, according to Bonning.
"When you spray, you also control beneficial insects," said Bonning. "Lady beetles are affected, for example, and they are a natural enemy of the aphids. So when the aphids come back to a field after spraying, there won't be any lady beetles to naturally control the aphid populations."
Miller adds that if growers spray for aphids and don't eliminate them all, the aphids simply disperse to other fields, making the problem worse.
"There are many reasons not to spray, but you can't tell the growers to stop spraying until you give them an alternative for soybean aphid management," said Bonning.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2009) — Two Iowa State University researchers are examining a new method of controlling soybean aphids without the use of chemical pesticides.
Bryony Bonning, professor of entomology, and Allen Miller, professor of plant pathology and director of the Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses, are looking at a way to genetically modify soybeans to prevent damage from aphids.
If the research is successful, soybeans will carry in-plant protection from aphids, similar to the way genetically modified corn now keeps the European Corn Borer from destroying corn yields, but using a different molecular tool. Modified corn technology has been in use for about 12 years.
-----
The current research focuses on introducing a gene into soybeans that is harmless to mammals, but creates a toxin that is lethal to aphids that feed on soybean plants.
In order to be effective, the toxin needs to be taken intact into the body cavity of the aphid, not broken down by the digestive system in the bug.
Miller and Bonning identified a plant virus coat protein eaten by soybean aphids that doesn't break down and goes into the aphid body cavity intact.
They know the virus coat protein remains intact because the aphids often spread the virus from plant to plant while they are feeding.
Coat proteins make up the outer shell of a virus particle.
The researchers devised a method to use virus coat proteins to their advantage. The researchers have fused their toxin to the virus' protein coat. Since the protein coat is only part of the virus to be used, there is no risk of an infectious virus. Also, the coat protein is from a virus that normally doesn't infect soybeans.
When the hybrid toxin coat protein is eaten by the aphid, the fatal toxin should get into the aphid body cavity intact.
"What we thought was, if this (virus) protein has this ability to be taken up into the aphid (intact), let's take advantage of that specialization and fuse that to other proteins that are toxic," said Miller.
In addition to possibly curbing the aphid problem and the yield loss it causes, there are other benefits to the farmers and the ecosystems.
"The (potential) economic impact overall is huge," said Bonning. "There will be less insecticide use, and also less fossil fuel used to apply the insecticides."
Also, spraying soybeans with insecticides doesn't just control the aphids, according to Bonning.
"When you spray, you also control beneficial insects," said Bonning. "Lady beetles are affected, for example, and they are a natural enemy of the aphids. So when the aphids come back to a field after spraying, there won't be any lady beetles to naturally control the aphid populations."
Miller adds that if growers spray for aphids and don't eliminate them all, the aphids simply disperse to other fields, making the problem worse.
"There are many reasons not to spray, but you can't tell the growers to stop spraying until you give them an alternative for soybean aphid management," said Bonning.
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