Apr 03 2011
Regular Features-
Featured Essays for April 2, 2011-
Apr 03 2011
“Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.”
—Britney Spears, September 3, 2003
“So what should I think about [the war in Libya]? If it had been my call, I wouldn’t have gone into Libya. But the reason I voted for Obama in 2008 is because I trust his judgment. And not in any merely abstract way, either: I mean that if he and I were in a room and disagreed about some issue on which I had any doubt at all, I’d literally trust his judgment over my own. I think he’s smarter than me, better informed, better able to understand the consequences of his actions, and more farsighted.”
—Kevin Drum, Friday, in Mother Jones
As part of his consulting work my father comes in contact with law enforcement officials from around the country and one time he chanced to meet up with the CHP officer assigned to teach Britney how to use a child’s car seat.
She’s a moron.
So what should I think about Kevin Drum?
Citizenship duties
by Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com
Saturday, Apr 2, 2011 12:03 ET
(D)eciding that — once they’re in power — you’re going to relinquish your own critical faculties and judgment to them as a superior being, which is exactly what Drum (and Spears) announced they were doing. That form of submission is a definitively religious act, not a political one (Proverbs 3:5: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding“). Venerating a superior being and blindly following its will is a natural human impulse, as it frees one of the heavy burden of decision-making and moral and intellectual judgment, and it also creates a feeling of safety and protection (hence the cross-cultural and sustained strength of religion, as well as the potent appeal of both political authoritarianism and personality cults).
But “thinking” that way is an absolute abdication of the duties of citizenship, which compel holding leaders accountable and making informed judgment about their actions (it’s a particularly bizarre mindset for someone who seeks out a platform and comments on politics for a living). It’s also dangerous, as it creates a climate of unchecked leaders who bask in uncritical adoration. I honestly don’t understand why someone who thinks like Drum — whose commentary I’ve usually found worthwhile — would even bother writing about politics; why not just turn over his blog to the White House to disseminate Obama’s inherently superior commentary? And what basis does Drum have for demanding that Obama inform him or the nation of the rationale for his decisions, such as going to war in Libya; since Drum is going to trust Obama’s decisions as intrinsically more worthwhile, wouldn’t such presidential discussions be a superfluous act?
It’s truly difficult to overstate just how antithetical this uncritical trust is to what the Founders assumed — and hoped — would be the cornerstone of the republic. Jefferson wrote in 1798: “in questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” Adams, in 1772, put it this way: “The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.” Four years later, his wife Abigail memorably echoed the same sentiment in a letter to him: “remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.”
Even the most magnanimous leaders — perhaps especially them, given their belief in their own Goodness — are likely to veer into serious error, corruption and worse if they are liberated from a critical citizenry. Mindlessly cheering for a politician — or placing trust in their decision-making — is understandable a couple of months before an election when you’ve decided their re-election is important. But it’s wildly inappropriate any other time. And subordinating your own critical faculties to a leader’s is, at all times, warped, self-destructive and dangerous.
Perhaps too charitably some have suggested it’s all an elaborate April Fools (h/t Corrente).
Apr 03 2011
(midnight. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
this is an Open Thread
Essays Featured Saturday the 2nd of April:
Late Night Karaoke Won’t Get Fooled Again, mishima DJs
Six Brilliant Articles! from Six Different Places!! on Six Different Topics!!!
Six Days a Week!!! at Six in the Morning!!!!
Finding silver linings is on Alma‘s mind in Saturday Open Thoughts
A brand new piece of Saturday Art! from mishima‘s talented hands.
Youffraita does Ramen Soup! (No, not THAT stuff — the real thing!)
The most recent Popular Culture from Translator “Pat” Boone
Apr 02 2011
Once again I’ll be hosting the Evening Edition while ek hornbeck sets up for tonight’s Men’s Final Four of the NCAA Championship Tournament.
ABIDJAN (AFP) – Heavy artillery fire and explosions shook downtown Abidjan Saturday on the third day of a fierce battle for the city, as rival forces were accused of massacring hundreds in western Ivory Coast.
Cornered, but clinging on, strongman Laurent Gbagbo brushed off calls by world leaders to step down amid an offensive by troops backing the internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan.
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese officials grappling on Sunday to end the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl were focusing on a crack in a concrete pit that was leaking radiation into the ocean from a crippled reactor.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a crack in the pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, generating readings 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour in the air inside the pit.
KABUL, Afghanistan – Anger over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a Florida church fueled a second day of deadly violence half a world away in Afghanistan, where demonstrators set cars and shops ablaze Saturday in a riot that killed nine protesters, officials said.
The church’s desecration of the Quran nearly two weeks ago has outraged millions of Muslims and others worldwide, fueling anti-American sentiment that is further straining ties between the Afghan government and the West.
BREGA, Libya (AFP) – NATO voiced concern on Saturday about reports of civilian deaths in a coalition air strike near Brega as rebels claimed victory in the battle for the key Libyan oil town.
The chief rebel spokesman told reporters that coalition warplanes had killed 13 people, four of them civilians, in an air raid some 15 kilometres east of Brega on Friday.
After facing grumbling and uneasiness amid reports it sent covert intelligence operatives into Libya, now the Obama administration is being criticized by some lawmakers for pulling back specialized U.S. gunships as it turns over command of the Libya no-fly zone to NATO.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen explained the evolving U.S. military role in Libya at grueling back-to-back hearings before House and Senate lawmakers Thursday. Air strikes over Libya have lessened over the past three days, apparently due to bad weather.
CAIRO – An anti-terrorist unit from the United Arab Emirates has wrested control of a ship from pirates in the Arabian Sea, state-run media reported Saturday.
EAST OF BREGA, Libya (Reuters) – A NATO-led air strike killed 13 Libyan rebels in a “regrettable incident,” a rebel spokesman said on Saturday, in an increasingly chaotic battle with Muammar Gaddafi’s forces over the oil town of Brega.
Despite the deaths on Friday night, the rebel leadership called for continued air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces, who have reversed a rebel advance on the coastal road linking their eastern stronghold with western Libya.
SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s opposition proposed a transition plan on Saturday which would see President Ali Abdullah Saleh hand power to a vice president while steps are taken toward a national unity government and new elections.
As protests continued across the country calling for Saleh to step down, opposition officials said Saleh had yet to respond to the five-point plan.
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – With most of the country now controlled by his opponent, and with both his home and the presidential palace surrounded, Ivory Coast’s strongman Laurent Gbagbo on Saturday issued a final call to arms, fighting to defend his 10-year grip on power.
Plagued by mass defections inside his ranks including that of his top commander, Gbagbo appeared defeated just hours earlier.
BELFAST (AFP) – A Catholic policeman was killed Saturday in Omagh, the scene of Northern Ireland’s worst terror atrocity, in a car bomb attack at his home that will cause jitters about the delicate peace process.
The victim, aged 25, had only finished his training to become a police officer three weeks ago, a local politician, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
SYDNEY (AFP) – Devastating floods could cost Australia up to $8.3 billion in lost coal production, new estimates show — a sharp increase on earlier projected losses.
The huge deluge that swamped coal-producing Queensland state in January caused significant damage, halting mine production and cutting key transport infrastructure, the Treasury said in its latest economic round-up released on Saturday.
CARACAS, Venezuela – Three months after the death of former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, his embalmed body is still in limbo – kept in cold storage in a Miami mortuary while his relatives battle in court over where he should be buried.
The feud has exposed bitter divisions between the family of former first lady Blanca Rodriguez in Caracas and the family of Perez’s longtime mistress Cecilia Matos, with whom he shared the last three decades of his life.
ATLANTA – As costs to house state inmates have soared in recent years, many conservatives are reconsidering a tough-on-crime era that has led to stiffer sentences, overcrowded prisons and bloated corrections budgets.
Ongoing budget deficits and steep drops in tax revenue in most states are forcing the issue, with law-and-order Republican governors and state legislators beginning to overhaul years of policies that were designed to lock up more criminals and put them away for longer periods of time.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Southwest Airlines said it expected to cancel 300 flights scheduled for Saturday to allow inspections of 79 aircraft from its Boeing 737 fleet, after one of its planes made an emergency landing with a gaping hole in the fuselage.
Passengers aboard Southwest Flight 812 from Phoenix to Sacramento on Friday heard a loud noise and the hole appeared suddenly at about mid cabin, forcing the pilot to land at a military base in Yuma, Arizona.
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – While the nuclear crisis in Japan unfolds a continent away, Mormon-dominated communities in the western United States say the disaster overseas is bringing close to home a lesson about preparing for the worst.
Emergency planning and the long-term storage of food, water and medical supplies are central practices by the 14 million worldwide members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
MIAMI (Reuters) – An American Christian preacher who caused an international uproar last year by threatening to burn the Koran has put himself back in the spotlight after incinerating Islam’s holy book — again with deadly consequences.
Thousands of protesters in northern Afghanistan, enraged over news that the Florida pastor Terry Jones had overseen a torching of the Koran, stormed a United Nations compound on Friday, killing at least seven U.N. staff.
By CCorrie Maclaggan – Sat Apr 2, 10:20 am ET
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – University of Texas junior Sonia Escot was studying at her usual first-floor spot at a campus library on that morning last September when a fellow student walked in with an AK-47.
“If that shooter had wanted to shoot, I would have been one of the first,” said Escot, 21, who does not like to study anymore at that library. Gunman Colton Tooley, 19, killed himself on the sixth floor after running through campus firing his weapon, injuring no one.
BOSTON (Reuters) – Out-of-date food has been found lingering in public school cafeterias across Massachusetts, sent from warehouses up to six weeks past “use by” dates, the state department of education said on Friday.
Roughly a dozen schools reported expired food shipments or sought guidance on an inconsistent system for dating food, said JC Considine, spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Just feet from a methadone clinic at a grimy crossroads in far east Portland, Ore., transit officials and police are hoping a touch of class will chase off the vagrants, vandals and ne’er-do-wells that loiter near a busy transit stop.
Since November, the regional transit department has approved the playing of classical music in an effort to ward off the kind of crimes that happen when people just hang around.
WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund on Saturday denied a report in German magazine Der Spiegel that it was privately pressing Greece to restructure its debt.
“As we have said consistently, the IMF supports the Greek government’s position of no debt restructuring and its determination to fully service its debt obligations. Any reports claiming otherwise are wrong,” an IMF spokeswoman told Reuters.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Senate subcommittee is nearing completion of a long-awaited report on the role Wall Street banks played in creating complex securities that fueled the meltdown of the housing market, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has been in the works for months, will include potentially embarrassing emails and internal communications from investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank AG, the Journal said.
MUMBAI (AFP) – Gautam Gambhir made 97 and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 91 off 79 balls as India won the World Cup for the first time since 1983 with a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Sri Lanka, who won the toss and elected to bat in the day-night final, rode on Mahela Jayawardene’s 103 not out off 88 balls to pile up 274-6 in their 50 overs.
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – Shrieking with every shot, Victoria Azarenka won the Sony Ericsson Open for the second time by beating Maria Sharapova, 6-1, 6-4.
The No. 8-seeded Azarenka was the steadier player Saturday and swept nine consecutive games to take charge. Sharapova committed 43 unforced errors, held serve only once and came up short with a late comeback bid.
CHICAGO – Pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt delivered a two-out, two-run double that capped a five-run eighth inning Saturday as the Chicago Cubs rallied past the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3.
Chicago’s comeback against relievers Evan Meek and Chris Resop was aided by a costly error on Pirates first baseman Lyle Overbay.
NEW YORK – Two massage therapists who say the New York Jets blacklisted them for objecting to randy text messages from former quarterback Brett Favre are overplaying their ties to the team, the Jets say in court documents.
Shannon O’Toole and Christina Scavo worked for the team on a combined total of five days over two years, team officials say. The team wasn’t told about the women’s concerns and simply took its massage business elsewhere when its training facility moved in 2008, Jets officials, lawyers and another massage therapist say in court filings.
HOUSTON – So much for VCU and Connecticut being worn out by their heavy workloads.
UConn won five games in five nights to claim the Big East title, while Virginia Commonwealth is the first team to win five games to get to the Final Four. Yet neither has shown any ill effects from playing so many games in such short spans.
INDIANAPOLIS – Connecticut senior Maya Moore is the first three-time winner of Wade Trophy, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced Saturday.
The WBCA and the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport presented the award to the outstanding player in NCAA Division I.
INDIANAPOLIS – Maya Moore is The Associated Press player of the year for the second time in three seasons after leading Connecticut to another spectacular year.
Apr 02 2011
AFTERSHOCKS
A motorist in quake-hit Iwate died of carbon monoxide poisoning while waiting for gasoline in a line that stretched longer than a kilometer. The man had been trying to keep his car warm with a kerosene heater.Billionaire US investor Warren Buffett apparently believes that the earthquake “is the kind of extraordinary event that creates a buying opportunity for shares in Japanese companies.”
It was reported that Kansai Electric Power Co. will invest up to ¥100 billion in an effort “to make its nuclear plants more resistant to earthquakes and tsunami.” Maybe they could ask Warren Buffett for some help.
The speaker of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly was forced to apologize after calling earthquake-inflicted damage at a local government office “a divine fortune.” The pol had opposed a plan to move all municipal offices to the damaged building.
It was reported that some teachers and school officials in Tohoku are holding graduation ceremonies at evacuation centers. Others are visiting their students’ homes to hand-deliver diplomas.
The central government is mulling whether to establish a full-fledged federal agency that would specifically deal with post-quake reconstruction.
Stats
123
Number of nations and territories that have offered assistance to Japan in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake and tsunamis, according to the Foreign Ministry28
Percent of Japanese pediatricians who have prescribed psychotropic medication to preschoolers, according to a health ministry survey18
Rank of Japan among nations in “new wind power installations in 2010,” according to a report by the Global Wind Energy Council1
Rank of China, according to the same report
LOOKING UP
For the fourth consecutive month, sales at convenience stores rose compared to a year earlier. In total, conbini around the nation raked in nearly ¥570 billion in February.A Tokyo-based marketing research firm expects that “online supermarket sales [will] increase by 60 percent from fiscal 2009, to ¥46.8 billion in fiscal 2013.”
The Real Estate Economic Institute said that the number of new condominiums for sale in Tokyo rose 24.9 percent from a year before.
Police declined to file charges against former sumo wrestler Kotomitsuki over a baseball-betting scandal, though five other active wrestlers were indicted.
Stop the presses! The Kyodo news agency reported that a player on the Yokohama F Marinos soccer team was fined ¥250,000 for driving without a license last fall.
Sentence of the Week: “A man denies he was outside running around pretending to be a ninja, but acknowledges he did leave his 4-year-old son home alone sleeping while he went jogging earlier this month.” (via The Mainichi Daily News)
Even Though We’re Nothing Like You
Ends In?
For Being Moron’s
More junior high textbooks mention Takeshima, Senkaku
BY YUTA HANANO STAFF WRITER
More junior high school textbooks will take up Japan’s territorial disputes over the Takeshima and Senkaku islands starting next year, according to the education ministry, which will likely fuel the controversies with South Korea and China.According to the ministry’s screening of textbooks covering nine subjects, some of the textbooks state that the Takeshima islets were “unlawfully occupied” by South Korea, which also claims them and calls them “Dokdo.”
The books will be used in junior high schools from spring 2012.
Apr 02 2011
Sunday was a great day for upsets. As a matter of fact not a single #1 seed is left in it and the highest seed is Connecticut at a 3. Of course your Cinderella story is Virginia Commonwealth which played it’s way in and has won 4 games since then.
| Seed | Team | Record | Score | Seed | Team | Record | Score | Region |
| 1 | Kansas | 37 – 3 | 61 | 11 | *Virginia Commonwealth | 28 – 11 | 71 | Southwest |
| 2 | North Carolina | 30 – 8 | 69 | 4 | *Kentucky | 35 – 8 | 76 | East |
Tonight we’ll see all 4 men’s teams. I’ll of course be rooting for the representative from The Big East, the one with the deeply stupid fight song-
UConn Husky, symbol of might to the foe.
Fight, fight Connecticut, It’s vict’ry, Let’s go. (go. go. go)
Connecticut UConn Husky,
Do it again for the White and Blue
So go--go--go Connecticut, Connecticut U.
C-O-N-N-E-C-T-I-C-U-T
Connecticut, Conneticut Husky, Connecticut Husky
Connecticut C-O-N-N-U!
We’ll start out with the matchup of the underdogs, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth. Though Commonwealth out Cinderella’s Butler this year, Butler is no favorite and was last year’s shocker going down in the finals to Duke by a mere 2 points.
As for Connecticut it’s never a shock when a 4 takes out a 3 but I think they match up well against Kentucky and despite what the idiot commentators say The Big East is the deepest, toughest conference in College Basketball and has been for years.
Current Matchups
| Time | Seed | Team | Record | Region | Seed | Team | Record | Region |
| 6:09 pm | 8 | Butler | 26 – 9 | Southeast | 11 | Virginia Commonwealth | 28 – 11 | Southwest |
| 8:49 pm | 3 | Connecticut | 32 – 9 | West | 4 | Kentucky | 35 – 8 | East |
Follow the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on The Stars Hollow Gazette.
If you don’t like squeeky shoes you can look for alternate programming here-
For a more traditional bracket try CBS Sports.
Apr 02 2011
Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.
Spring vegetables aren’t here quiet yet – and if the weather doesn’t improve soon, they may not arrive for a while. Until then, there’s a fine alternative: Swiss chard.
This leafy green, hearty enough to withstand the cold but more delicate in flavor than kale and collards, has been finding its way into all sorts of comforting dishes in my kitchen, from pastas to soups to stir-fries. It’s the most versatile of greens, and an excellent source of calcium and potassium, vitamin C, vitamin A and beta-carotene.
LGBT Health Research Falls Far Short
By Daniel DeNoon
Little Known About Health Needs in U.S. for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People
March 31, 2011 — Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered Americans are distinct populations with unique health health needs — but what are those needs?
“We do not know exactly what these experiences and needs are,” concludes the report of a panel of medical experts convened by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The IOM was asked to propose an LGBT research agenda by the National Institutes of Health.
3-Drug Combo May Treat Hepatitis C
by Salynn Boyles
Studies Show Boceprevir or Telaprevir Help Patients When Added to Standard Treatment
March 30, 2011 — Two highly anticipated hepatitis C drugs are poised to usher in a new era in the treatment of the viral disease as early as this summer, experts say.
The Merck drug boceprevir and Vertex Pharmaceutical’s similar drug telaprevir are expected to win FDA approval within months, following phase III trials showing that both drugs boosted cure rates to around 70% when used with standard therapy.
Why Some May Avoid Type 1 Diabetes Complications
By Kathleen Doheny
Researchers Say More Than Just Blood Sugar Control May Be at Work for Some Patients
March 29, 2011 — After years of living with diabetes, complications can occur, including problems affecting the eyes, heart, kidneys, and nerves.
However, some type 1 diabetes ”veterans” seem to escape many or most of these diabetes complications, according to a new study.
Study: Treatment-Resistant Hypertension Overdiagnosed
By Denise Mann
Some Patients May Have ‘White Coat’ Hypertension Instead
March 28, 2011– Up to one-third of people who were thought to have treatment-resistant high blood pressure may actually have “white coat hypertension” — blood pressure that spikes in the doctor’s office.
The new findings appear in the journal Hypertension.
Weight Loss After Bariatric Surgery May Ease Migraines
By Bill Hendrick
Severely Obese Migraine Sufferers Had Fewer Headache Days 6 Months After Weight Loss Surgery, Study Finds
March 28, 2011 — In addition to helping severely obese people lose weight, bariatric surgery may improve migraines, according to a new study.
“Obesity is thought to contribute to worsening of migraine, particularly for severely obese individuals, yet no study has examined whether weight loss can actually improve migraine headaches in these patients,” study author Dale Bond, PhD, of theMiriam Hospital says in a news release.
Procedure May Lower Hard-to-Treat Hypertension
By Denise Mann
Study Shows Experimental Therapy Using Radiofrequency May Be Useful for High Blood Pressure
March 28, 2011 — An experimental procedure that uses radiofrequency energy to lower blood pressure may help millions of people with uncontrolled hypertension, a study suggests.
The findings will be presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago.
By Kathleen Doheny
Nicotine and Blood Sugar a Dangerous Combo
Study: Nicotine Triggers Blood Sugar Boost in Smokers With Diabetes
March 28, 2011 (Anaheim, Calif.) — Nicotine appears to be the main culprit responsible for high blood sugar levels in smokers with diabetes, according to new research presented here at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Those constantly high blood sugar levels, in turn, increase the risk of serious diabetes complications such as heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and nerve damage.
Medical Marijuana May Impair Thinking of MS Patients
By Salynn Boyles
Study Shows Cognitive Impairment May Be an Issue for Long-Term Users of Medical Marijuana
March 28, 2011 — Many multiple sclerosis (MS) patients use marijuana to ease pain and other symptoms associated with the disorder, but the practice might make one common symptom worse.
MS patients in a small study who smoked or ingested marijuana regularly for many years were twice as likely as non-users to show significant evidence of cognitive impairment when subjected to a battery of tests that measure thinking skills.
The study was published in the journal Neurology.
Recall of Generic Citalopram, Finasteride
By Daniel J. DeNoon
Labels of Generic Antidepressant, Prostate Drug Switched
March 28, 2011 — Pfizer subsidiary Greenstone LLC has recalled some of its generic citalopram antidepressant and its generic prostate drug finasteride because of a label switch.
The recall includes citalopram 10-milligram tablets in a 100-count bottle and finasteride 5-milligram tablets in a 90-count bottle. Both of the recalled medicines carry the lot number FI0510058-A on the label.
U.N. suggests pesticides, chemicals for watch list
(Reuters) – The United Nations has suggested three pesticides and three industrial chemicals be put on a trade “watch list” because they can threaten human health and the environment, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.
U.N. chemical experts have proposed that pesticides endosulfan and azinphos methyl and the hazardous pesticide formulation Gramoxone Super be added to the Rotterdam Convention’s Prior Informed Consent procedure, the FAO said.
Japan must distribute iodine tablets now: expert
By Muriel Boselli
PARIS (Reuters) – Japanese authorities grappling with a nuclear disaster must hand out iodine tablets now and as widely as possible to avoid a potential leap in thyroid cancers, the head of a group of independent radiation experts said.
France’s CRIIRAD group says Japan has underestimated the sensitivity of the thyroid gland to radioactivity and must lower its 100 millisieverts (mSv) threshold for administering iodine.
“Jumpers” offered big money to brave Japan’s nuclear plant
By Terril Yue Jones
TOKYO (Reuters) – It’s a job that sounds too good to be true — thousands of dollars for up to an hour of work that often requires little training.
But it also sounds too outrageous to accept, given the full job description: working in perilously radioactive environments.
Rotating shift work may affect menstrual cycle
By Emma Graham-Harrison
KABUL (Reuters) – More than a million mothers and newborn babies are dying each year from easily prevented birth complications because of a chronic shortage of midwives across much of the developing world, a new report from Save the Children said on Friday.
In the world’s least developed countries over half of mothers give birth without any trained help — compared with only one percent in Britain — and some 2 million women face one of the most frightening days in their life entirely alone.
Lung Cancer Death Rate Falls for Women
By Salynn Boyles
Study Also Shows the Overall Cancer Death Rate Continues to Decline
March 31, 2011 — Lung cancer death rates among women in the U.S. are declining for the first time in 40 years, a study shows.
The study also shows the overall cancer death rate continues a decline that began in the early 1990s.
Worry About Breast Cancer Return Is Common
By Salynn Boyles
Study Shows Many Language Barriers Contribute to Unnecessary Fear of Cancer’s Return
March 28, 2011 — The odds of survival for a woman treated for early-stage breast cancer are good, but many survivors worry about recurrence and communication difficulties appear to be a major contributor to this concern, a study shows.
Nearly half of Hispanic women in the study who spoke little English expressed a great deal of worry about their breast cancers returning, while non-Hispanic white and African-American women expressed far less concern.
No-Scalpel Treatment for Enlarged Prostate
By Brenda Goodman
Prostatic Artery Embolization May Help When Medications Don’t, Study Finds
March 29, 2011 — A minimally invasive procedure that cuts off the blood supply to an enlarged prostate may help when medications fail, and it appears to provide good symptom control without sexual dysfunction, a new study shows.
The procedure involves using a tiny catheter that is threaded through arteries near the groin to reach the vessels that supply the prostate with blood. These vessels are then blocked with particles the size of a grain of sand.
New Doubts on Value of Prostate Cancer Screening
By Salynn Boyles
Study Suggests Prostate Cancer Screening Doesn’t Lower Death Rate
March 31, 2011 — A study from Sweden raises new questions about the value of screening average-risk men for prostate cancer.
In the study, screening did not significantly reduce prostate cancer deaths over two decades of follow-up, but it did result in the detection of more cases of the cancer and more treatment.
Colic Remedies: Is TLC Better Than Herbal Tea?
By Kathleen Doheny
Study Analysis Finds Scant Evidence That Fennel Extract, Herbal Tea, Sugar Solution Work, but ‘Common Sense and TLC’ May Soothe Colicky Baby
March 28, 2011 — When babies get colic, stressed out parents often will try almost any remedy, from herbal teas to sugary solutions or infant massage, to stop the constant crying.
Now, a new analysis of these popular approaches finds little convincing evidence they work.
Cortisol Tips for a Healthy Summer Camp
by Bill Hendrick
Pediatric Group’s Revised Guidelines: Parents Should Make Sure Children Are Physically and Mentally Ready
March 28, 2011 — Parents should consider their children’s skills, interests, and overall physical and mental health before selecting a summer camp, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says in a revised policy statement.
Moms May Pass Hypertension Risk to Kids
By Kathleen Doheny
Study Shows Genetic Mutation May Send High Blood Pressure to Next Generation
March 31, 2011 — Mothers with a certain genetic mutation may pass the tendency to develop high blood pressure on to their children, according to a new study.
Researchers from the U.S., China, and Austria made the discovery after focusing on a five-generation Chinese family. Many of its members who descended from the same female ancestor had high blood pressure.
Toxins in baby food might affect hormones: study
By Adam Marcus
(Reuters Health) – Infant formula and solid baby food frequently contain fungus-derived hormones that have been shown to cause infertility in mammals, Italian researchers report.
Scientists at the University of Pisa report that as many as 28 percent of samples of milk-based baby formulas they tested were contaminated with the fungal hormones, known as mycoestrogens.
Some kids’ belly pain could be a migraine
By Leigh Krietsch Boerner
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – If your child suffers from mysterious abdominal pain, it may be a variety of migraine, according to a new study.
“There are lots of kids that have recurring unexplained abdominal pain, and when a kid is continually having these bouts of pain, sometimes there’s no obvious cause found,” said Dr. Donald Lewis from the division of pediatric neurology at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia.
Greater Death Risk for Older People Who Have Sleep Apnea and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness
April 1, 2011 — Older adults who have sleep apnea and who are excessively sleepy in the daytime may have more than twice the risk of death as people who do not have both conditions, new research suggests.
In a study of 289 adults over age 65 without depression or dementia, the risk of death was not increased for people with sleep apnea without excessive daytime sleepiness or for those who reported only excessive daytime sleepiness without having sleep apnea, the researchers say.
Cortisol May Help Reduce Some Phobias
by Jennifer Warner
Study Shows Improvement for Patients Who Are Given the Stress Hormone Cortisol
March 28, 2011 — An extra dose of the stress hormone cortisol may help reduce stress-inducing phobias like the fear of heights, a study shows.
Cortisol is a hormone released by the brain in response to stress and has long been thought to play a role in memory and learning.
Best Diet Plan: 6 Mini Meals or 3 Squares a Day?
By Denise Mann
Study Suggests 6 Small Meals per Day Won’t Help Reduce Hunger Pangs
March 31, 2011–Eating small meals frequently throughout the day may not help take the bite out of your hunger while you are dieting, according to a new study.
Many diets and dietitians promote such mini meals, but they may not be any better than three square meals a day when it comes to feeling full and satisfied, according to a new study in Obesity.
Diet Plus Exercise Improves Strength in Obese
By Denise Mann
Study Shows Diet-Exercise Combo Brings Improvement in Physical Function for Older Adults
March 30, 2011– Regular exercise plus diet may be more effective than either one alone at helping obese older adults improve physical function, a new study shows.
The combination resulted in greater improvements in strength, balance, and gait, compared with diet or exercise alone.
The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Eating Fresh Foods May Cut Exposure to BPA
By Brenda Goodman
Study: Avoiding Packaged, Canned Foods May Reduce Levels of the Chemical Bisphenol A
March 30, 2011 — Families who gave up canned foods and food and beverages prepared and packaged using plastic containers saw their levels of a hormone-disrupting chemical fall by 66%, a new study shows. All it took was three days of eating only freshly prepared, organic foods.
Most Americans Get Enough Vitamin D
By Denise Mann
Study Shows 24% of People in U.S. Are at Risk for Inadequate Blood Levels of Vitamin D
March 30, 2011– Two-thirds of Americans are getting enough vitamin D, according to a new analysis by researchers from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Vitamin D is often called the “sunshine vitamin” because our bodies make it when exposed to sunlight. It is found in some fatty fish such as salmon and tuna, and in cheese and eggs. It is often added to milk.
Walnut May Be Top Nut for Heart Health
by Kathleen Doheny
Walnuts Have More, Better Antioxidants Than Peanuts, Pistachios, Other Nuts, Researcher Says
March 28, 2011 (Anaheim, Calif.) — Walnuts are the No. 1 nut for heart health, says a researcher who presented his findings Sunday at the American Chemical Society annual meeting.
That’s because walnuts were found to have more antioxidants — and better-quality antioxidants — than other popular nuts tested, says Joe Vinson, PhD, a researcher at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.
Vegetarians may be at lower diabetes, heart risk
By Kerry Grens
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A new study finds that a meat-free diet seems to lower a person’s likelihood of having certain risk factors for diabetes or heart disease — and therefore may lower the risk of one day developing those illnesses.
Researchers measured a suite of factors — blood sugar, blood fats, blood pressure, waist size, and body mass – that when elevated add up to “metabolic syndrome,” and found that vegetarians were lower than non-vegetarians on all counts except cholesterol.
Apr 02 2011
“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”
New York Times Editorial: Gov. Cuomo’s Budget
New York’s lawmakers passed a $132.5 billion budget before the April 1 deadline, a rare event. That is, on the whole, a political win for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who cut $10 billion out of it.
But the way he chose to do it will bring unnecessary pain to the less fortunate across the state, while allowing some of the richest residents to escape their share of the burden of a recession-era budget. Tellingly, legislators passed the 2011-12 budget behind locked doors early Thursday after angry protesters chanted in the Capitol corridors on Wednesday.
Andy Worthington: Mocking the Law, Judges Rule that Evidence Is Not Necessary to Hold Insignificant Guantánamo Prisoners for the Rest of Their Lives
If I was an American lawyer who had fought for many years to secure habeas corpus rights for the prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba – in other words, the right to ask an impartial judge to rule on my captors’ reasons for slinging me in a legal black hole and leaving me to rot there forever – the latest news from the Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. (also known as the D.C. Circuit Court) would make me sick in a bucket rather than believing any longer that the law – the revered law on which the United States was founded – can bring any meaningful remedy for the prisoners at Guantánamo.
Treated as punchbags without rights when first picked up, mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the 172 men still held at Guantánamo are still treated with scorn by the administration of Barack Obama, the standard bearer of “hope” and “change,” who promised to close Guantánamo and to do away with “the dark halls of Abu Ghraib and the detention cells of Guantánamo, [where] we have compromised our most precious values.” Instead, however, Obama has revealed himself to be nothing more than a hollow man whose ability to read from an autocue made him look caring, clever and capable when that was exactly the antidote we needed to eight years of Bush and Cheney.
Joe Conason: Why the Reckless Republicans Win
Scarcely any news story induces sleep as swiftly and surely as congressional budget negotiations-a topic that features politicians bickering loudly over huge dollar amounts that lack meaning for most people, while their public posturing reflects little of what is actually going on in the back channels.
But it is also the story of a Republican minority within a minority that is getting its way because nobody else in Washington is reckless enough to promote a government shutdown.
Reckless is the proper way to describe the Republicans’ position, because their demands clearly have so little to do with real fiscal and economic responsibility-and so much to do with satisfying the most extreme elements in their base.
John Nichols: An April 5 Judicial Vote is First Electoral Test of Wisconsin Movements
A hand-painted sign highlighting the April 5 state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin declares: “This May Be the Most Important Vote You’ll Ever Cast!”
That’s a bold claim.
But it won’t be dismissed by many observers of the six-week long struggle between Governor Scott Walker and the public-employee unions he seeks to dismantle with aggressive anti-labor legislation and tactics.
The Supreme Court election in Wisconsin — one of a number of Midwestern states that elect jurists, in keeping with the progressive tradition that said all powerful officials should be accountable to the people — will provide the first real measure of the strength of the mass movements that have developed to challenge Walker, his agenda, and his political allies.
David Sirota: Lessons of Libya
Launched almost exactly a quarter-century after Ronald Reagan first bombed Tripoli, America’s new war in Libya was guaranteed to be yet another fist-pumpin’, high-fivin’ remake of a big-budget 1980s action movie-the kind of scripted, stylized “Top Gun”-like production that gets audiences to cheer wildly and ask few questions.
Almost three weeks in, Operation Odyssey Dawn has no doubt delivered on that promise: It has a blockbuster $100-million-per-week budget, a comic-book-grade villain in Col. Moammar Gadhafi and the modern media’s obedient transcription of U.S. government pronouncements.
Glen Garvin: Libya feels like deja vu all over again
A couple of weeks before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, I was having dinner with an American diplomat who had considerable experience in the Middle East. He warned me that the war would be a long, drawn-out mess.
“You don’t think we can defeat Saddam Hussein’s army?” I asked in surprise.
“That’s the easy part,” he replied. “His men will break and run. It’s what comes after that that worries me.”
Without Saddam’s boot on its throat, he warned, Iraq would dissolve into an anarchic hellhole of sectarian religious warfare and ethnic strife, while an ambitious Iran moved to fill the regional power vacuum left behind. In other words, he pretty much predicted everything that has happened in the last eight years.
Gail Collins: Donald Trump Gets Weirder
Donald Trump has run faux campaigns for president before, flirting with the Democrats and independents. This time, he’s playing a conservative Republican. By 2016, he’ll probably be talking about his affinity for the Alaskan Independence Party or the Whigs.
And, of course, he’s suddenly a birther. “This guy either has a birth certificate or he doesn’t,” he said of President Obama. “I didn’t think this was such a big deal, but, I will tell you, it’s turning out to be a very big deal because people now are calling me from all over saying: please don’t give up on this issue.”
It was a perfect vocalization of the New York Street: People are calling me up! Don’t believe everything you hear, unless it comes over the phone.
Apr 02 2011
A week of perplexity. A week of indolence. A (last?) week of winter. A week of introspection. A week of distraction. You name it. In other words, your bloguero has his moods (read: excuses) for a week of low productivity.
Sometimes it’s hard for your boguero to keep up. Like everyone else riding this blue planet round the nearest star, your bloguero has concerns about survival. His survival, the planet’s survival. He doesn’t write a lot when he’s got worries about the state of the planet and its inhabitants. And to confess, he is becoming slowly convinced that he’s silently and secretly being irradiated and mutated, as all of you are also, into a glowing, green, cridaria. One that doesn’t require any sea water. One that is a giant, amoeba like, creeping, green ectoplasm. In this progression, the end, and who knows how far away that might be, is looking like human silly putty. Your bloguero has trouble typing when he’s worried that his fingers are being radiated into spongy tendrils.
On the other hand, if we’re all really hurtling like crash test dummies into a future as glowing silly putty, this week’s blog output is the least of your bloguero’s concerns. Or yours.
On Thursday, in an effort to stave off life as Sponge Bob, your bloguero invited everyone to a Ceremony For Japan/Ceremonia Para Japon. If as Dr. Emoto argues, water is responsive to prayer, your bloguero was in no mood to ignore the possibility of an energetic transformation of the ocean. Alas, the news on Saturday suggests that this ceremony hasn’t prevented radiation from seeping into the Pacific Ocean. The next thing your bloguero anticipates is the appearance of a particularly angry Rodan.
And then there’s your bloguero’s slowly turning The Dream Antilles back to its original conception as a Lit Blog in The Market Of Dreams and the the Haiku that inspired it, which was in turn inspired by Eduardo Galeano. Your bloguero enjoyed these two pieces and considered them among his best. They weren’t cross-posted anywhere because, well, there really isn’t another place they fit. Your bloguero hopes you enjoy them.
Your bloguero notes that this Digest is a weekly feature of the Port Writers Alliance and is now posted early Saturday morning. Your bloguero will see you next week, planetary and his psycho-emotional condition pe
Apr 02 2011
This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.
Find the past “On This Day in History” here.
April 2 is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 273 days remaining until the end of the year.
On this day in 1513, Ponce de Leon discovers Florida. Near present-day St. Augustine, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon comes ashore on the Florida coast, and claims the territory for the Spanish crown.
Although other European navigators may have sighted the Florida peninsula before, Ponce de Leon is credited with the first recorded landing and the first detailed exploration of the Florida coast. The Spanish explorer was searching for the “Fountain of Youth,” a fabled water source that was said to bring eternal youth. Ponce de Leon named the peninsula he believed to be an island “La Florida” because his discovery came during the time of the Easter feast, or Pascua Florida.
Ponce de Leon equipped three ships with at least 200 men at his own expense and set out from Puerto Rico on March 4, 1513. The only contemporary description known for this expedition comes from Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, a Spanish historian who apparently had access to the original ships’ logs or related secondary sources from which he created a summary of the voyage published in 1601. The brevity of the account and occasional gaps in the record have led historians to speculate and dispute many details of the voyage.
The three ships in this small fleet were the Santiago, the San Cristobal and the Santa Maria de la Consolacion. Anton de Alaminos was their chief pilot. He was already an experienced sailor and would become one of the most respected pilots in the region. After leaving Puerto Rico, they sailed northwest along the great chain of Bahama Islands, known then as the Lucayos. By March 27, Easter Sunday, they reached the northern end of the Bahamas sighting an unfamiliar island (probably Great Abaco).
For the next several days the fleet crossed open water until April 2, 1513, when they sighted land which Ponce de Leon believed was another island. He named it La Florida in recognition of the verdant landscape and because it was the Easter season, which the Spaniards called Pascua Florida (Festival of Flowers). The following day they came ashore to seek information and take possession of this new land. The precise location of their landing on the Florida coast has been disputed for many years. Some historians believe it occurred at St. Augustine; others prefer a more southern landing at a small harbor now called Ponce de Leon Inlet; and some argue that Ponce came ashore even further south near the present location of Melbourne Beach.
After remaining in the vicinity of their first landing for about five days, the ships turned south for further exploration of the coast. On April 8 they encountered a current so strong that it pushed them backwards and forced them to seek anchorage. The tiniest ship, the San Cristobal, was carried out of sight and lost for two days. This was the first encounter with the Gulf Stream where it reaches maximum force between the Florida coast and the Bahamas. Because of the powerful boost provided by the current, it would soon become the primary route for eastbound ships leaving the Spanish Indies bound for Europe.
1513 – Juan Ponce de Leon sets foot on, and names, Florida, becoming the first European known to do so.
1755 – Commodore William James captures the pirate fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
1792 – The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint.
1801 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Copenhagen – The British destroy the Danish fleet.
1863 – Richmond Bread Riot: Food shortages incite hundreds of angry women to riot in Richmond, Virginia and demand that the Confederate government release emergency supplies.
1865 – American Civil War: The Siege of Petersburg is broken – Union troops capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, forcing Confederate General Robert E. Lee to retreat.
1865 – American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet flee the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
1885 – Cree warriors attacked the village of Frog Lake, North-West Territories, Canada, killing 9.
1900 – The Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
1902 – Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Marie Palace, St Petersburg.
1902 – “Electric Theatre”, the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.
1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country’s first national census.
1917 – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
1930 – After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
1945 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Brazil are established.
1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS-TV. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.
1962 – The first official Panda crossing is opened outside Waterloo station, London.
1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
1973 – The Liberal Movement breaks away from the Liberal and Country League in South Australia.
1975 – Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from the Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
1975 – Construction of the CN Tower is completed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It reaches 553.33 metres (1,815.4 ft) in height, becoming the world’s tallest free-standing structure.
1980 – President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act in an effort to help the U.S. economy rebound.
1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
1984 – Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma is launched aboard Soyuz T-11, and becomes the first Indian in space.
1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
1991 – Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.
1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated. A siege ensues.
2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid.
Their attack is thwarted.
2006 – Over 60 tornadoes break out; hardest hit is in Tennessee with 29 people killed.
* Christian Feast Day
o April 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
* International Children’s Book Day
* Latest day on which Sizdah be dar may fall. (Iran)
* Malvinas Day (Argentina)
* Thai Heritage Conservation Day (Thailand)
* World Autism Awareness Day (International)
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