http://bigstory.ap.org/article/high-school-seniors-fare-no-better-1970s
By PHILIP ELLIOTT — Jun. 27, 2013
Students preparing to leave high school are faring no better in reading or math than their peers four decades ago, the government said Thursday. Officials attributed the bleak finding on more lower-performing students staying in school rather than dropping out.
The news was brighter for younger students and for blacks and Hispanics, who had the greatest gain in reading and math scores since the 1970s, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly referred to as the Nation's Report Card.
"In some ways, the findings are full of hope. Today's children ages 9 and 13 are scoring better overall than students at those ages in the early '70s," said Brent Houston, principal of the Shawnee Middle School in Oklahoma and a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which administers the tests.
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Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Independence
If you choose your actions and opinions because they are in opposition to someone else, even if it hurts you, you are not being independent. You are as dependent on other's opinions as those who choose an opinion solely because other people have it.
And you are operating at the level of at best a 13-year old, or maybe even a 2-year old.
N.Y. attorney general probes payroll cards over fees
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/03/us-attorneygeneral-payroll-idUSBRE96206D20130703
By Karen Freifeld
New York | Wed Jul 3, 2013
(Reuters) - New York is investigating some of the country's largest companies over their use of cards to pay hourly employees, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters on Tuesday to more than 20 companies asking for information on their use of the payroll cards, the person said.
-----
The probe by Schneiderman comes after complaints from workers and advocacy groups about fees associated with the cards, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. It was first reported by the New York Times.
The cards, which have grown in popularity in lieu of paper paychecks and direct deposit, can carry a host of fees, such as 50 cents or $1 for a balance inquiry and $1.50 for an ATM withdrawal.
They may appeal to low-wage workers who do not have bank accounts.
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Payroll card issues came into the public eye last month after a Pennsylvania woman sued a McDonald's franchisee over its use of them.
Natalie Gunshannon said she was required to get her wages through a JP Morgan Chase Payroll card that carried fees, including $1.50 for each ATM withdrawal and $1.00 for each balance inquiry, according to the lawsuit.
----- [If you are making a low wage, these fees really hurt you.]
By Karen Freifeld
New York | Wed Jul 3, 2013
(Reuters) - New York is investigating some of the country's largest companies over their use of cards to pay hourly employees, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters on Tuesday to more than 20 companies asking for information on their use of the payroll cards, the person said.
-----
The probe by Schneiderman comes after complaints from workers and advocacy groups about fees associated with the cards, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. It was first reported by the New York Times.
The cards, which have grown in popularity in lieu of paper paychecks and direct deposit, can carry a host of fees, such as 50 cents or $1 for a balance inquiry and $1.50 for an ATM withdrawal.
They may appeal to low-wage workers who do not have bank accounts.
-----
Payroll card issues came into the public eye last month after a Pennsylvania woman sued a McDonald's franchisee over its use of them.
Natalie Gunshannon said she was required to get her wages through a JP Morgan Chase Payroll card that carried fees, including $1.50 for each ATM withdrawal and $1.00 for each balance inquiry, according to the lawsuit.
----- [If you are making a low wage, these fees really hurt you.]
No More!
by Hiro Sasayama
A very touching song about hate/love war/peace
graphics by Christopher Head Jr.
A very touching song about hate/love war/peace
graphics by Christopher Head Jr.
All the hate into love,
all the weapons into bread.
Song by a Cat! Pippi the Schnoo
I created this slide show for a song by Cyndi Craven.
This is the start of a channel for some songs by friends that I believe should be on the radio, and that have the potential to be enduring classics. This is my first foray into doing anything with Youtube except watch it, so I don't know what all I can do with it. If possible, I'll name the channel "The New Classics"
Air pollution causes lung cancer, worsens heart failure, studies find
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/air-pollution-causes-lung-cancer-worsens-heart-failure-studies-find-6C10584685
Maggie Fox, Senior Writer NBC News
July 9, 2013
Air pollution can cause lung cancer and seems to worsen heart failure, researchers reported in two studies released Tuesday.
Both show the more pollution, the more disease. One study looked at lung cancer cases across Europe; the other looked at hospitalization for heart failure in several countries, including the United States.
Dr. Ole Raaschou-Nielsen of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center said they couldn’t find a “safe” level of air pollution. The more pollution, the higher the risk, even at legally accepted limits. “The association between particulate matter air pollution and the risk for lung cancer persisted also at concentrations below the existing European Union air quality limit values,” they wrote.
-----
A person’s risk of developing lung cancer rose 18 percent for every extra five micrograms of soot per cubic meter of air, they found. While people who smoke may also live in more polluted areas, the large scope of the studies showed that even so, pollution can raise even a non-smoker’s risk of cancer.
-----
A person’s risk of developing lung cancer rose 18 percent for every extra five micrograms of soot per cubic meter of air, they found. While people who smoke may also live in more polluted areas, the large scope of the studies showed that even so, pollution can raise even a non-smoker’s risk of cancer.
-----
Maggie Fox, Senior Writer NBC News
July 9, 2013
Air pollution can cause lung cancer and seems to worsen heart failure, researchers reported in two studies released Tuesday.
Both show the more pollution, the more disease. One study looked at lung cancer cases across Europe; the other looked at hospitalization for heart failure in several countries, including the United States.
Dr. Ole Raaschou-Nielsen of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center said they couldn’t find a “safe” level of air pollution. The more pollution, the higher the risk, even at legally accepted limits. “The association between particulate matter air pollution and the risk for lung cancer persisted also at concentrations below the existing European Union air quality limit values,” they wrote.
-----
A person’s risk of developing lung cancer rose 18 percent for every extra five micrograms of soot per cubic meter of air, they found. While people who smoke may also live in more polluted areas, the large scope of the studies showed that even so, pollution can raise even a non-smoker’s risk of cancer.
-----
A person’s risk of developing lung cancer rose 18 percent for every extra five micrograms of soot per cubic meter of air, they found. While people who smoke may also live in more polluted areas, the large scope of the studies showed that even so, pollution can raise even a non-smoker’s risk of cancer.
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Americans live a little longer, still lag other rich countries
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/americans-live-little-longer-still-lag-other-rich-countries-6C10588107
July 10, 2013
Maggie Fox, NBC News
Americans may be living longer and even exercising a little more, but we really are not much healthier than we were 10 years ago and we are still far behind other rich countries when it comes to our health, researchers said Wednesday.
The biggest survey of U.S. health in 15 years breaks down death, disease and disability county by county – and makes some very unflattering comparisons to other countries. It’s a big, comprehensive dive into what kills us and what makes us sick.
It finds that how healthy you are depends on where you live. If you live in a rich area like San Francisco, Colorado or the suburbs of Washington D.C., you’re likely as healthy as the Swiss or Japanese. If you live in Appalachia or the rural South, you’re likely to be as unhealthy as people in Algeria or Bangladesh.
-----
But Americans lost ground compared to people living in other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. “Among 34 OECD countries between 1990 and 2010, the U.S rank for the age-standardized death rate changed from 18th to 27th,” Murray’s team wrote.
-----
“The United States spends more than the rest of the world on health care and leads the world in the quality and quantity of its health research, but that doesn’t add up to better health outcomes,” Murray said in a statement.
One place the U.S. does better – treating some cancers.
“Five-year survival for breast cancer and colorectal cancer are higher in the U.S. than in many OECD countries,” they wrote.
-----
“The United States spends the most per capita on healthcare across all countries, lacks universal health coverage, and lags behind other high-income countries for life expectancy and many other health outcome measures.
-----
"For the first time we're saying that the composition of diet, which is made up 14 different components, things like fruits, grains, nuts, seeds (and) other aspects of diet being analyzed is the biggest determinant of health in the US, followed by smoking, followed by obesity, and then followed by high blood sugar and physical inactivity," Murray told NBC news.
-----
Counties that score higher in terms of health have social services that support parents and better education outcomes, Woolf argues.
-----
And Jeff Levi of the Trust for America’s Health sees a telling pattern in the county-by-county breakdown of U.S. health.
“Those distinctions are really about income and education level,” Levi told NBC News.
“OECD countries are spending more on education and income support than we do and that is what is helping to create this healthier environment,” he added.
-----
July 10, 2013
Maggie Fox, NBC News
Americans may be living longer and even exercising a little more, but we really are not much healthier than we were 10 years ago and we are still far behind other rich countries when it comes to our health, researchers said Wednesday.
The biggest survey of U.S. health in 15 years breaks down death, disease and disability county by county – and makes some very unflattering comparisons to other countries. It’s a big, comprehensive dive into what kills us and what makes us sick.
It finds that how healthy you are depends on where you live. If you live in a rich area like San Francisco, Colorado or the suburbs of Washington D.C., you’re likely as healthy as the Swiss or Japanese. If you live in Appalachia or the rural South, you’re likely to be as unhealthy as people in Algeria or Bangladesh.
-----
But Americans lost ground compared to people living in other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. “Among 34 OECD countries between 1990 and 2010, the U.S rank for the age-standardized death rate changed from 18th to 27th,” Murray’s team wrote.
-----
“The United States spends more than the rest of the world on health care and leads the world in the quality and quantity of its health research, but that doesn’t add up to better health outcomes,” Murray said in a statement.
One place the U.S. does better – treating some cancers.
“Five-year survival for breast cancer and colorectal cancer are higher in the U.S. than in many OECD countries,” they wrote.
-----
“The United States spends the most per capita on healthcare across all countries, lacks universal health coverage, and lags behind other high-income countries for life expectancy and many other health outcome measures.
-----
"For the first time we're saying that the composition of diet, which is made up 14 different components, things like fruits, grains, nuts, seeds (and) other aspects of diet being analyzed is the biggest determinant of health in the US, followed by smoking, followed by obesity, and then followed by high blood sugar and physical inactivity," Murray told NBC news.
-----
Counties that score higher in terms of health have social services that support parents and better education outcomes, Woolf argues.
-----
And Jeff Levi of the Trust for America’s Health sees a telling pattern in the county-by-county breakdown of U.S. health.
“Those distinctions are really about income and education level,” Levi told NBC News.
“OECD countries are spending more on education and income support than we do and that is what is helping to create this healthier environment,” he added.
-----
Washington, D.C., city council passes large retailer living wage bill despite Walmart threats
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/10/1222617/-Washington-DC-city-council-passes-large-retailer-living-wage-bill-despite-Walmart-threats#
Wed Jul 10, 2013 at 02:55 PM PDT
by Laura ClawsonFollow for Daily Kos Labor
The Washington, D.C., city council voted Wednesday afternoon to impose a $12.50 living wage on large retailers, passing a bill that Tuesday drew threats from Walmart that it would scrap plans to build three stores in the District that have not yet begun construction (three are already being built). Walmart had reportedly promised District officials that it would pay an average of $12.39 or more, so the fact that $12.50 was reason to pull out sheds more than a little doubt on the corporation's claims.
The Large Retailer Accountability Act applies to businesses that have corporate sales over $1 billion and spaces of 75,000 square feet or more—big box stores, in short. Though the bill has been characterized as targeting Walmart, it will apply more broadly to stores including Target and Macy's. During the city council debate on the bill:
“The question here is a living wage; it’s not whether Wal-Mart comes or stays,” said Vincent Orange (D-At Large), a lead backer of the legislation who added the city did not need to kowtow to threats: “We’re at a point where we don’t need retailers. Retailers need us.”
The big question now is whether Mayor Vincent Gray will veto the bill, which was passed by an eight to five margin, just short of veto-proof. Gray has not issued a direct veto threat, but seems to be leaning in that direction:
-----
Wed Jul 10, 2013 at 02:55 PM PDT
by Laura ClawsonFollow for Daily Kos Labor
The Washington, D.C., city council voted Wednesday afternoon to impose a $12.50 living wage on large retailers, passing a bill that Tuesday drew threats from Walmart that it would scrap plans to build three stores in the District that have not yet begun construction (three are already being built). Walmart had reportedly promised District officials that it would pay an average of $12.39 or more, so the fact that $12.50 was reason to pull out sheds more than a little doubt on the corporation's claims.
The Large Retailer Accountability Act applies to businesses that have corporate sales over $1 billion and spaces of 75,000 square feet or more—big box stores, in short. Though the bill has been characterized as targeting Walmart, it will apply more broadly to stores including Target and Macy's. During the city council debate on the bill:
“The question here is a living wage; it’s not whether Wal-Mart comes or stays,” said Vincent Orange (D-At Large), a lead backer of the legislation who added the city did not need to kowtow to threats: “We’re at a point where we don’t need retailers. Retailers need us.”
The big question now is whether Mayor Vincent Gray will veto the bill, which was passed by an eight to five margin, just short of veto-proof. Gray has not issued a direct veto threat, but seems to be leaning in that direction:
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2001-2010 Hottest Decade On Record, With ‘Unprecedented High-Impact Climate Extremes’, WMO Reports
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/03/2251861/july-3-news-2001-2010-hottest-decade-on-record-with-unprecedented-high-impact-climate-extremes-wmo-reports/
By Ryan Koronowski and Katie Valentine on Jul 3, 2013
The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization
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The decade was the warmest for both hemispheres and for both land and ocean surface temperatures. The record warmth was accompanied by a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice, and accelerating loss of net mass from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and from the world’s glaciers. As a result of this widespread melting and the thermal expansion of sea water, global mean sea levels rose about 3 millimetres (mm) per year, about double the observed 20th century trend of 1.6 mm per year. Global sea level averaged over the decade was about 20 cm higher than that of 1880, according to the report.
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By Ryan Koronowski and Katie Valentine on Jul 3, 2013
The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization
-----
The decade was the warmest for both hemispheres and for both land and ocean surface temperatures. The record warmth was accompanied by a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice, and accelerating loss of net mass from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and from the world’s glaciers. As a result of this widespread melting and the thermal expansion of sea water, global mean sea levels rose about 3 millimetres (mm) per year, about double the observed 20th century trend of 1.6 mm per year. Global sea level averaged over the decade was about 20 cm higher than that of 1880, according to the report.
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Mass. goes after Wall Street; says it targets seniors
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/mass-goes-after-wall-st-says-it-targets-seniors-6C10592134
Reuters
July 10, 2013
Massachusetts' top securities regulator has hit top Wall Street firms with a blanket of subpoenas, saying he fears elderly people are being targeted for high-risk, alternative investment products.
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin said on Wednesday that subpoenas have gone out to a group of firms including Morgan Stanley, UBS AG, Fidelity Investments, Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo & Co and Charles Schwab Corp.
Galvin said a recent investigation into real estate investment trusts (REITs) heightened his concern that elderly investors were being targeted with products too complex for them to understand the underlying risks.
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Reuters
July 10, 2013
Massachusetts' top securities regulator has hit top Wall Street firms with a blanket of subpoenas, saying he fears elderly people are being targeted for high-risk, alternative investment products.
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin said on Wednesday that subpoenas have gone out to a group of firms including Morgan Stanley, UBS AG, Fidelity Investments, Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo & Co and Charles Schwab Corp.
Galvin said a recent investigation into real estate investment trusts (REITs) heightened his concern that elderly investors were being targeted with products too complex for them to understand the underlying risks.
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Monday, July 08, 2013
Global Warming Has Increased Australia’s Chances Of Extreme Summers Five-Fold
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/08/2267411/study-global-warming-has-increased-australias-chances-of-extreme-summers-five-fold/
By Jeff Spross on Jul 8, 2013
Researchers at the University of Melbourne have concluded that Australia is much more likely to see extremely hot summers thanks to human-driven global warming. This finding is based on a raft of climate measurements, plus over 90 climate model simulations.
The context for the study is the record-smashing “Angry Summer” Australia just endured, which brought heat waves, brush fires, and both the hottest month and the hottest day the country has ever seen. According to the paper, by Sophie Lewis and David Karoly, the odds of such summers occurring have increased five fold between now and 2020 — and half the blame can be laid at the door of greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate always involves lots of natural variability, and Australia is no exception. The El Niño, a band of unusually warm water that cyclically develops across the Pacific Ocean, has historically been associated with unusually hot Australian summers. But the Pacific Ocean was recently almost in La Niña conditions — the opposite, colder extreme of the oscillation. That was the initial clue for Lewis and Karoly that connected the “Angry Summer” to human activity.
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Unfortunately, Australia is helping dig its own grave in some respects here. The country’s plans to double down on coal production and exports was noted by Greenpeace as one of 14 “carbon bombs” threatening the global climate. And all by themselves, the coal reserves Australia is considering exploiting could take up 75 percent of what the world can still burn without pushing global warming above two degrees Celsius. To top it off, Australia’s conservative opposition has vowed to undo the country’s embryonic carbon tax if it wins elections this September.
On the plus side, the price of Australian wind power is already outperforming that of fossil fuels — even in the absence of government assistance — with solar coming up rapidly behind it. And studies suggest that providing all of Australia’s electricity needs with renewables by 2030 is a goal that lies well within the realm of the realistically achievable.
By Jeff Spross on Jul 8, 2013
Researchers at the University of Melbourne have concluded that Australia is much more likely to see extremely hot summers thanks to human-driven global warming. This finding is based on a raft of climate measurements, plus over 90 climate model simulations.
The context for the study is the record-smashing “Angry Summer” Australia just endured, which brought heat waves, brush fires, and both the hottest month and the hottest day the country has ever seen. According to the paper, by Sophie Lewis and David Karoly, the odds of such summers occurring have increased five fold between now and 2020 — and half the blame can be laid at the door of greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate always involves lots of natural variability, and Australia is no exception. The El Niño, a band of unusually warm water that cyclically develops across the Pacific Ocean, has historically been associated with unusually hot Australian summers. But the Pacific Ocean was recently almost in La Niña conditions — the opposite, colder extreme of the oscillation. That was the initial clue for Lewis and Karoly that connected the “Angry Summer” to human activity.
-----
Unfortunately, Australia is helping dig its own grave in some respects here. The country’s plans to double down on coal production and exports was noted by Greenpeace as one of 14 “carbon bombs” threatening the global climate. And all by themselves, the coal reserves Australia is considering exploiting could take up 75 percent of what the world can still burn without pushing global warming above two degrees Celsius. To top it off, Australia’s conservative opposition has vowed to undo the country’s embryonic carbon tax if it wins elections this September.
On the plus side, the price of Australian wind power is already outperforming that of fossil fuels — even in the absence of government assistance — with solar coming up rapidly behind it. And studies suggest that providing all of Australia’s electricity needs with renewables by 2030 is a goal that lies well within the realm of the realistically achievable.
Prediction
It's a safe prediction that many of the people who were posting recently that we just have to accept that life is not totally safe, so we shouldn't give up having total privacy for the sake of preventing terrorist attacks, have no posted that the oil train derailment shows that oil is too dangerous to use. We do need to greatly reduce the use of oil because global warming is such a big threat. What I object to is the utter lack of consistency of much/most thinking.
Sunday, July 07, 2013
GOP May Hold Debt Ceiling Hostage To Enact Paul Ryan’s Budget
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/07/2262381/gop-may-hold-debt-ceiling-hostage-to-enact-paul-ryans-budget/
By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jul 7, 2013
House Republicans will hold the national debt ceiling increase hostage until President Obama agrees to mandatory spending cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the National Journal reports, and will seek to use the leverage of default to force Democrats to enact the policies in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget.
Since slashing discretionary spending to historic lows — the discretionary side of the ledger has grown at a slower rate than inflation since 2007 and now makes up a smaller share of the economy than it did before the Great Recession — the GOP has shifted from demanding dollar-for-dollar immediate spending cuts and is now focusing on drafting a range of options to significantly restructure mandatory benefit programs.
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For a medium-sized increase in the debt-limit, Republicans want Obama to agree to cut spending in the SNAP food stamp program, block-grant Medicaid, or tinker with chained CPI.
For a smaller increase, there is talk of means-testing Social Security, for example, or ending certain agricultural subsidies.
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By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jul 7, 2013
House Republicans will hold the national debt ceiling increase hostage until President Obama agrees to mandatory spending cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the National Journal reports, and will seek to use the leverage of default to force Democrats to enact the policies in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget.
Since slashing discretionary spending to historic lows — the discretionary side of the ledger has grown at a slower rate than inflation since 2007 and now makes up a smaller share of the economy than it did before the Great Recession — the GOP has shifted from demanding dollar-for-dollar immediate spending cuts and is now focusing on drafting a range of options to significantly restructure mandatory benefit programs.
-----
For a medium-sized increase in the debt-limit, Republicans want Obama to agree to cut spending in the SNAP food stamp program, block-grant Medicaid, or tinker with chained CPI.
For a smaller increase, there is talk of means-testing Social Security, for example, or ending certain agricultural subsidies.
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Saturday, July 06, 2013
Is the NSA Spy On Environmental Activists?
It would be astonishing if the FBI hasn't been spying on activists of all kinds, even if the White House and NSA don't know it. There is often little cooperation between different intelligence agencies, so the FBI might not share info with the NSA. This impedes protecting us from terrorists, but I can also see that people in these agencies would be concerned about whether info could be obtained by those who would harm the U.S. No easy answers. But spying on agencies like the Sierra Club, unless there was some specific info that warranted it, is a waste of resources, that should go to places it would be useful.http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/03/2165561/government-spying-environmental-activists/
By Andrea Peterson on Jul 3, 2013
The surveillance programs revealed in the National Security Agency (NSA) leaks last month appear to be primarily focused on terrorism. Details of domestic communications were gathered to create a database for that purpose. But with the government increasingly classifying peaceful protest movements as potential terrorist threats, does that mean environmental activists could be spied on?
Nafeez Ahmed at The Guardian pointed out that internal reports and documents about U.S. military preparedness for emergency situations have started including planning for domestic unrest related to climate change disasters. Also, since the economic crash in 2008, the U.S. security apparatus has placed a significant amount of scrutiny on political activists — often in conjunction with corporate interests.
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Documents released by Bold Nebraska, a group opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, suggest that corporate interests are working with local law enforcement and the FBI to push for the application of “anti-terrorism laws” against activists.
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Sadly, the classification of climate activists as terrorists is not a new phenomenon — nor is the surveillance of them as such. Three activists with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network were watched for thirteen months starting in March 2005 after being placed in a Maryland State Police data base as being “suspected of involvement in terrorism” although the police had “no evidence whatsoever of any involvement in violent crime.” The state eventually realized their error and offered the activists a chance to review the information collected about them, but the fact remains that their non-violent activism made them a target for government surveillance.
To be clear, there’s no evidence at this point to show that the NSA is using its broad anti-terrorism surveillance powers to pursue climate activists
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Friday, July 05, 2013
Illnesses prompt wide Whole Foods cheese recall
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/illnesses-prompt-wide-whole-foods-cheese-recall-6C10553986
July 5, 2013
Whole Foods Market Inc. is recalling Crave Brothers Les Freres cheese in response to an outbreak of a bacterial infection that has sickened people in several states and killed at least one.
Whole Foods says the cheese may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. It was sold in 30 states and Washington DC under names including Les Freres and Crave Brothers Les Freres. The company is posting signs in its stores to inform customers about the recall.
Public health officials in Illinois say one resident became sick after eating contaminated cheese in May. Minnesota officials say one elderly person in the state died and another was hospitalized after illnesses linked to the cheese.
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July 5, 2013
Whole Foods Market Inc. is recalling Crave Brothers Les Freres cheese in response to an outbreak of a bacterial infection that has sickened people in several states and killed at least one.
Whole Foods says the cheese may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. It was sold in 30 states and Washington DC under names including Les Freres and Crave Brothers Les Freres. The company is posting signs in its stores to inform customers about the recall.
Public health officials in Illinois say one resident became sick after eating contaminated cheese in May. Minnesota officials say one elderly person in the state died and another was hospitalized after illnesses linked to the cheese.
-----
Thursday, July 04, 2013
North Carolina Prepares To Suppress Black Voters, Now That The Voting Rights Act Lost Its Teeth
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/07/02/2244651/north-carolina-voter-suppression-voting-rights-act/
By Aviva Shen posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jul 2, 2013
Just days after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, North Carolina is moving forward with a host of bills to roll back voting rights. Republican lawmakers are accelerating a new agenda to eliminate early voting, Sunday voting hours, and same-day registration provisions. GOP leaders also vowed to move quickly to pass a controversial voter ID law that would make it much harder for minorities, seniors, students, and low-income voters to cast their ballots.
The court’s conservative majority decreed last Tuesday that the formula used to identify states with a history of using election law to discriminate against minorities has “no logical relationship to the present day.” Many of the covered jurisdictions celebrated the decision by promptly advancing voting restrictions that disproportionately target minorities and low-income voters. Texas enacted their previously blocked voter ID law mere hours after the ruling.
North Carolina’s newly unfettered attack on voting rights has three main prongs:
Require ID at the polls. North Carolina’s voter ID bill could pose problems for 1 in 10 voters, ---
Penalize college students for voting. Republicans are also pushing a bill to raise taxes on families with college students who choose to vote at school rather than at home, effectively discouraging college students from voting.
End early voting and same-day registration. ---
-----
The Republican-dominated legislature and new Republican governor will likely do all they can to speed along these restrictions. However, polls show that North Carolinians overwhelmingly oppose these new voter suppression measures. “Moral Monday” protests are cropping up all over the state to challenge these bills and a slew of other draconian policies targeting the poor, women, minorities, and seniors.
tags: voting
By Aviva Shen posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jul 2, 2013
Just days after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, North Carolina is moving forward with a host of bills to roll back voting rights. Republican lawmakers are accelerating a new agenda to eliminate early voting, Sunday voting hours, and same-day registration provisions. GOP leaders also vowed to move quickly to pass a controversial voter ID law that would make it much harder for minorities, seniors, students, and low-income voters to cast their ballots.
The court’s conservative majority decreed last Tuesday that the formula used to identify states with a history of using election law to discriminate against minorities has “no logical relationship to the present day.” Many of the covered jurisdictions celebrated the decision by promptly advancing voting restrictions that disproportionately target minorities and low-income voters. Texas enacted their previously blocked voter ID law mere hours after the ruling.
North Carolina’s newly unfettered attack on voting rights has three main prongs:
Require ID at the polls. North Carolina’s voter ID bill could pose problems for 1 in 10 voters, ---
Penalize college students for voting. Republicans are also pushing a bill to raise taxes on families with college students who choose to vote at school rather than at home, effectively discouraging college students from voting.
End early voting and same-day registration. ---
-----
The Republican-dominated legislature and new Republican governor will likely do all they can to speed along these restrictions. However, polls show that North Carolinians overwhelmingly oppose these new voter suppression measures. “Moral Monday” protests are cropping up all over the state to challenge these bills and a slew of other draconian policies targeting the poor, women, minorities, and seniors.
tags: voting
Corporations Pay Lower Tax Rates Than The Middle Class
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/02/2248801/report-corporations-pay-lower-tax-rates-than-the-middle-class/
By Alan Pyke posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jul 2, 2013
arge, profitable U.S. corporations actually paid just a 12.6 percent effective tax rate in 2010. That’s barely a third of the 35 percent corporate rate on the books, and it’s actually lower than the median effective tax rate for middle-class Americans. The number comes from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study intended to clarify the terms of debate as lawmakers weigh changes to the business tax code.
Most analyses of the gap between the tax rate on the books and the “effective rate” companies actually pay rely upon company financial statements, but the GAO’s work is based on actual corporate tax returns for 2010. The researchers found that large companies – those “with assets of $10 million or more” – that are profitable paid about 12.6 percent of their global income in U.S. taxes. The figure rises to 16.9 percent of global income if all foreign, state, and local taxes are factored in. Companies that took a loss for the year actually paid a higher rate than the profitable ones.
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tags: taxes
By Alan Pyke posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jul 2, 2013
arge, profitable U.S. corporations actually paid just a 12.6 percent effective tax rate in 2010. That’s barely a third of the 35 percent corporate rate on the books, and it’s actually lower than the median effective tax rate for middle-class Americans. The number comes from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study intended to clarify the terms of debate as lawmakers weigh changes to the business tax code.
Most analyses of the gap between the tax rate on the books and the “effective rate” companies actually pay rely upon company financial statements, but the GAO’s work is based on actual corporate tax returns for 2010. The researchers found that large companies – those “with assets of $10 million or more” – that are profitable paid about 12.6 percent of their global income in U.S. taxes. The figure rises to 16.9 percent of global income if all foreign, state, and local taxes are factored in. Companies that took a loss for the year actually paid a higher rate than the profitable ones.
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tags: taxes
New California House Candidate Funded By Advocate For ‘Total Integration Of Biblical Law’
I wonder how her millionaire sponsor feels about the directive in the Bible to forgive all debts every 7 years?http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/07/03/2252231/mimi-walters-biblical-law/
And Jesus advocating of poverty, and helping the poor?
By Josh Israel posted from ThinkProgress LGBT on Jul 3, 2013
California State Sen. Mimi Walters (R) announced Tuesday that she will run for the open seat of retiring Congressman John Campbell (R-CA), with the endorsements of seven current California Republican Congressmen. While the Orange County Republican says she is running to promote small government and freedom, one of her largest career campaign donors is a millionaire advocate for strict biblical law in the United States.
Walters, who ran unsuccessfully for California Treasurer in 2010, has received at least $22,500 over her career from Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson Jr.’s Fieldstead & Co — making it one of her top ten industry funders, and making her their second biggest state recipient, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Ahmanson, heir to a banking fortune reported to total hundreds of millions, has distributed millions of dollars to right-wing political causes promoting a “Christian worldview.” Fieldstead & Co. is an incorporated private company which Ahmanson uses to distribute money to his favorite causes without having to disclose the donations publicly.
Most notorious among these was the Chalcedon Foundation. Ahmanson served for decades on the board of this radical Christian Reconstructionist organization and heavily funded its efforts. The group’s late founder, Rousas John Rushdoony advocated for American laws to literally follow those in the Book of Leviticus, including death by stoning for gay and lesbian people and similar execution for adulterers, juvenile delinquents, non-believers, and most other Americans. While Ahmanson has made clear he personally does not advocate “the stoning or execution of homosexuals,” he conceded to the Orange County Register in 1985: “My purpose is total integration of biblical law into our lives.”
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Big Lie: America Doesn't Have #1 Richest Middle-Class in the World... We're Ranked 27th!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/les-leopold/big-lie-america-doesnt-ha_b_3516185.html
by Les Leopold, huffingtonpost.com
July 1st 2013
America is the richest country on Earth. We have the most millionaires, the most billionaires and our wealthiest citizens have garnered more of the planet's riches than any other group in the world. We even have hedge fund managers who make in one hour as much as the average family makes in 21 years!
This opulence is supposed to trickle down to the rest of us, improving the lives of everyday Americans. At least that's what free-market cheerleaders repeatedly promise us.
Unfortunately, it's a lie, one of the biggest ever perpetrated on the American people.
Our middle class is falling further and further behind in comparison to the rest of the world. We keep hearing that America is number one. Well, when it comes to middle-class wealth, we're number 27.
The most telling comparative measurement is median wealth (per adult). It describes the amount of wealth accumulated by the person precisely in the middle of the wealth distribution -- fifty percent of the adult population has more wealth, while fifty percent has less. You can't get more middle than that.
Wealth is measured by the total sum of all our assets (homes, bank accounts, stocks, bonds etc) minus our liabilities (outstanding loans and other debts). It the best indicator we have for individual and family prosperity. While the never-ending accumulation of wealth may be wrecking the planet, wealth also provides basic security, especially in a country like ours with such skimpy social programs. Wealth allows us to survive periods of economic turmoil. Wealth allows our children to go to college without incurring crippling debts, or to get help for the down-payment on their first homes. As Bill Holiday sings, "God bless the child that's got his own."
Well, it's a sad song. As the chart below shows, there are 26 other countries with a median wealth higher than ours, (and the relative reduction of U.S. median wealth has done nothing to make our economy more sustainable.)
Why?
Here's a starter list:
We don't have real universal health care. -----
Weak labor laws undermine unions and give large corporations more power to keep wages and benefits down. -----
Our minimum wage is pathetic, especially in comparison to other developed nations. (We're # 13). -----
Wall Street is out of control. -----
Higher education puts our kids into debt. In most other countries higher education is practically tuition free. -----
It's hard to improve your station in life if you're in prison, often due to drug-related charges that don't even exist in other developed nations. In fact, we have the largest prison population in the entire world, and we have the highest percentage of minorities imprisoned. -----
[And once you've served your sentence, it's hard to get a job.]
Our tax structures favor the rich and their corporations -----
The wealthy dominate politics. -----
Big Money dominates the media. -----
America encourages globalization of production so that workers here are in constant competition with the lower wage workers all over the world as well as with highly automated technologies.
Is there one cause of the middle-class collapse that rises above all others?
Yes. The International Labor organization produced a remarkable study, (Global Wage Report 2012-13) that sorts out the causes of why wages have remained stagnant while elite incomes have soared. The report compares key causal explanations like declining bargaining power of unions, porous social safety nets, globalization, new technologies and financialization.
Guess which one had the biggest impact on the growing split between the one percent and the 99 percent?
Financialization!
What is that? Economist Gerald Epstein offers us a working definition:
"Financialization means the increasing role of financial motives, financial markets, financial actors and financial institutions in the operation of the domestic and international economies."
-----
by Les Leopold, huffingtonpost.com
July 1st 2013
America is the richest country on Earth. We have the most millionaires, the most billionaires and our wealthiest citizens have garnered more of the planet's riches than any other group in the world. We even have hedge fund managers who make in one hour as much as the average family makes in 21 years!
This opulence is supposed to trickle down to the rest of us, improving the lives of everyday Americans. At least that's what free-market cheerleaders repeatedly promise us.
Unfortunately, it's a lie, one of the biggest ever perpetrated on the American people.
Our middle class is falling further and further behind in comparison to the rest of the world. We keep hearing that America is number one. Well, when it comes to middle-class wealth, we're number 27.
The most telling comparative measurement is median wealth (per adult). It describes the amount of wealth accumulated by the person precisely in the middle of the wealth distribution -- fifty percent of the adult population has more wealth, while fifty percent has less. You can't get more middle than that.
Wealth is measured by the total sum of all our assets (homes, bank accounts, stocks, bonds etc) minus our liabilities (outstanding loans and other debts). It the best indicator we have for individual and family prosperity. While the never-ending accumulation of wealth may be wrecking the planet, wealth also provides basic security, especially in a country like ours with such skimpy social programs. Wealth allows us to survive periods of economic turmoil. Wealth allows our children to go to college without incurring crippling debts, or to get help for the down-payment on their first homes. As Bill Holiday sings, "God bless the child that's got his own."
Well, it's a sad song. As the chart below shows, there are 26 other countries with a median wealth higher than ours, (and the relative reduction of U.S. median wealth has done nothing to make our economy more sustainable.)
Why?
Here's a starter list:
We don't have real universal health care. -----
Weak labor laws undermine unions and give large corporations more power to keep wages and benefits down. -----
Our minimum wage is pathetic, especially in comparison to other developed nations. (We're # 13). -----
Wall Street is out of control. -----
Higher education puts our kids into debt. In most other countries higher education is practically tuition free. -----
It's hard to improve your station in life if you're in prison, often due to drug-related charges that don't even exist in other developed nations. In fact, we have the largest prison population in the entire world, and we have the highest percentage of minorities imprisoned. -----
[And once you've served your sentence, it's hard to get a job.]
Our tax structures favor the rich and their corporations -----
The wealthy dominate politics. -----
Big Money dominates the media. -----
America encourages globalization of production so that workers here are in constant competition with the lower wage workers all over the world as well as with highly automated technologies.
Is there one cause of the middle-class collapse that rises above all others?
Yes. The International Labor organization produced a remarkable study, (Global Wage Report 2012-13) that sorts out the causes of why wages have remained stagnant while elite incomes have soared. The report compares key causal explanations like declining bargaining power of unions, porous social safety nets, globalization, new technologies and financialization.
Guess which one had the biggest impact on the growing split between the one percent and the 99 percent?
Financialization!
What is that? Economist Gerald Epstein offers us a working definition:
"Financialization means the increasing role of financial motives, financial markets, financial actors and financial institutions in the operation of the domestic and international economies."
-----
Extreme Jet Stream Bringing U.S. Record Heat, Record Cold, and Flash Flooding
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2452
Posted by: Dr. Jeff Masters, 4:11 PM GMT on July 03, 2013
The jet steam is exhibiting unusual behavior over the U.S., a pattern we've seen become increasingly common in summertime over the past decade. There's a sharp trough of low pressure over the Central U.S., and equally sharp ridges of high pressure over the Western U.S. and East Coast. Since the jet acts as the boundary between cool, Canadian air to the north and warm, subtropical air to the south, this means that hot extremes are penetrating unusually far to the north under the ridges of high pressure, and cold extremes are extending unusually far to the south under the trough of low pressure. The ridge over the Western U.S., though slowly weakening, is still exceptionally intense. This ridge, which on Sunday brought Earth its highest temperatures in a century (129°F or 54°C in Death Valley, California), was responsible for more record-breaking heat on Tuesday. July 2. Most notably, Redding, California hit 116°, just 2° short of their all-time record. Death Valley had a low of 104°, the second hottest night on record since 1920 (the hottest was just last summer!) Numerous daily high temperature records were set in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. It was the opposite story in the Central U.S., where the southwards-plunging jet stream allowed record cold air to invade Texas. Waco, Texas, hit 58°F this morning (July 3), the coldest temperature ever measured in July in the city. Numerous airports in Texas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, and Missouri set new daily record low temperatures this morning. And over the Eastern U.S., the northward-pointing branch of the jet stream is creating a potentially dangerous flooding situation, by pulling a moisture-laden flow of tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico over the Florida Panhandle north-northeastward into the Appalachians. Up to five inches of rain is expected over this region over the next few days, and wunderground's severe weather map is showing flash flood warnings for locations in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
-----
This week's extreme jet stream pattern is the third time in the past five weeks that we've seen a highly amplified ridge-trough pattern that has led to extreme weather.
-----
As I discussed in a March 2013 post, "Are atmospheric flow patterns favorable for summer extreme weather increasing?", research published this year by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in German found that extreme summertime jet stream patterns had become twice as common during 2001 - 2012 compared to the previous 22 years.
-----
When the jet stream goes into one of these extreme configurations, it freezes in its tracks for weeks, resulting in an extended period of extreme heat or flooding, depending upon where the high-amplitude part of the jet stream lies. The scientists found that because human-caused global warming is causing the Arctic to heat up more than twice as rapidly as the rest of the planet, a unique resonance pattern capable of causing this behavior was resulting. According to an email I received from German climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf, one of the co-authors of the study, unusually extreme jet stream amplitudes likely played a role in the May - June Central European flooding event.
Posted by: Dr. Jeff Masters, 4:11 PM GMT on July 03, 2013
The jet steam is exhibiting unusual behavior over the U.S., a pattern we've seen become increasingly common in summertime over the past decade. There's a sharp trough of low pressure over the Central U.S., and equally sharp ridges of high pressure over the Western U.S. and East Coast. Since the jet acts as the boundary between cool, Canadian air to the north and warm, subtropical air to the south, this means that hot extremes are penetrating unusually far to the north under the ridges of high pressure, and cold extremes are extending unusually far to the south under the trough of low pressure. The ridge over the Western U.S., though slowly weakening, is still exceptionally intense. This ridge, which on Sunday brought Earth its highest temperatures in a century (129°F or 54°C in Death Valley, California), was responsible for more record-breaking heat on Tuesday. July 2. Most notably, Redding, California hit 116°, just 2° short of their all-time record. Death Valley had a low of 104°, the second hottest night on record since 1920 (the hottest was just last summer!) Numerous daily high temperature records were set in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. It was the opposite story in the Central U.S., where the southwards-plunging jet stream allowed record cold air to invade Texas. Waco, Texas, hit 58°F this morning (July 3), the coldest temperature ever measured in July in the city. Numerous airports in Texas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, and Missouri set new daily record low temperatures this morning. And over the Eastern U.S., the northward-pointing branch of the jet stream is creating a potentially dangerous flooding situation, by pulling a moisture-laden flow of tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico over the Florida Panhandle north-northeastward into the Appalachians. Up to five inches of rain is expected over this region over the next few days, and wunderground's severe weather map is showing flash flood warnings for locations in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
-----
This week's extreme jet stream pattern is the third time in the past five weeks that we've seen a highly amplified ridge-trough pattern that has led to extreme weather.
-----
As I discussed in a March 2013 post, "Are atmospheric flow patterns favorable for summer extreme weather increasing?", research published this year by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in German found that extreme summertime jet stream patterns had become twice as common during 2001 - 2012 compared to the previous 22 years.
-----
When the jet stream goes into one of these extreme configurations, it freezes in its tracks for weeks, resulting in an extended period of extreme heat or flooding, depending upon where the high-amplitude part of the jet stream lies. The scientists found that because human-caused global warming is causing the Arctic to heat up more than twice as rapidly as the rest of the planet, a unique resonance pattern capable of causing this behavior was resulting. According to an email I received from German climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf, one of the co-authors of the study, unusually extreme jet stream amplitudes likely played a role in the May - June Central European flooding event.
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