(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

No doubt the Obama administration will tout today’s news that unemployment has fallen .4% to 9.0% as an indication the US economy is improving. It will be quite a back aching twist of logic in the face of poor job growth of only 36,000 jobs in January far below expectations. So what’s really happening? David Dayen at FDL explains the drop in the face of such dismal job growth:

How does this happen? Well, January is always a month when the establishment survey gets revised. New population estimates get incorporated into the survey, and the seasonal adjustment factors get updated. So there is a difference in the January survey of 600,000 less unemployed people; that number is down to 13.9 million according to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Does this mean that those people got a job in this month? Not really. The employment/ population ratio rose slightly to 58.4%, and the labor force participation rate declined to 64.2%, the lowest rate since the early 1980s. Basically, the drop in the top line unemployment rate is entirely due to changes in the total population estimates and other adjustments.

The U-6, which counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts “marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons.” Note that some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working as little as an hour a week. And the “marginally attached workers” include those who have gotten discouraged and stopped looking, but still want to work, is currently 16.1%.

Another explanation of the job growth numbers is the horrendous weather across the country since late December:

January’s snowstorms probably had some effect on the anemic numbers, given that sectors like construction and transportation and warehousing shed jobs. The private sector added 50,000 jobs, so government layoffs, particularly at the state and local level, also restrained growth. Analysts had forecast an increase of about 145,000.

However, the real problem is what kind of jobs are being created, the number of people who have had to settle for part time employment as their job benefits run out and the number of jobless who are no longer counted in the numbers that are reported.

The other bad news is, this rate may not hold since austerity measures by the states and localities, facing huge budget deficits and no hope of relief from Congress, will most likely be laying off huge numbers of workers in attempts to salvage education and other vital programs.

President Barack Obama’s goal of driving the unemployment rate below 9 percent this year is threatened by state and local budget cuts that are likely to intensify as Federal stimulus money runs out.

Austerity measures may add as much as 0.25 percentage point to the unemployment rate this year, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics Inc.

“This could make the difference between ending 2011 with unemployment above or below 9 percent,” he said. “There’s no more serious drag on economic growth than the severe budget cutbacks at the state and local level.”

(midnight. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Regular Daily Features:

• News at Six in the Morning from mishima
• The Cure in Late Night Karaoke from mishima

Essays Featured Friday, February 4^th:

• Friday Open Thoughts slksfca shares the exciting new Google Art Project.
• Social Security from fake consultant explores the similarities of humans wanting better in Egypt & the USA & the routes taken to effect change.
• Firefly Memories 1.0 Alma takes a look back at some of the Brilliant essays we’ve had in our first year in the tooobz. Today: The Bean Tent

Long story short- Samuelson Economics is science.  It’s predictive and the predictions are confirmed by observation.

Voodoo Economics is just that.  A bunch of rattle shaking shamen dancing around you shouting and chanting in tongues motivated by vanity, greed, and the academic desire for novelty.

Let’s start with Bloomberg shall we?

Conservative Austerity Idea Is Failing: David G. Blanchflower

By David Blanchflower, Bloomberg News

Jan 27, 2011 10:15 PM ET

Fiscal austerity has already been started in Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, and this seems to be pushing all of them back into recession. Over the last four quarters, growth in Greece was negative and falling, and bond investors are once more demanding sky-high returns to compensate their risk. The excuse in these countries was that they have little choice because they are stuck in the European monetary union and don’t have the ability to depreciate their exchange rate.

The U.K. may be a purer case of the harm austerity at the wrong time can inflict. Britain now looks as if it is headed back into recession on fear about the damage that will be done by massive spending cuts and tax increases, which haven’t even gone into effect yet. Government ministers with their talk of austerity have already smashed confidence.

…

Despite the government’s claims that its intent was to raise confidence, consumer and business confidence tumbled right after the new government took office.

Businesses and consumers know what is coming and have cut back accordingly. Retail spending has flat-lined. The balance of trade is deteriorating. Unemployment is rising, and house prices have started to fall again.

The Great British austerity experiment

With deficit hawks poised in the US, we watch with great interest UK economic policy. It’s not looking an enviable example so far

Dean Baker, The Guardian

Tuesday 1 February 2011 21.00 GMT

The elite media and the politicians whom they promote would love to see the United States follow the austerity path of the UK’s new government. However, if this path takes the UK into dangerous economic waters, it could provide a powerful warning to the public in the United States before we make the same mistake.

The British economy looks like it is doing its part. The fourth-quarter GDP report showing that the economy went into reverse and shrank at a 2.0% annual rate is exactly the sort of warning that many of us here were expecting. Weather-related factors may have slowed growth some, but you would have to do some serious violence to the data to paint a positive picture. Of course, the austerity in the UK is just beginning. There will likely be much worse pain to come, with a real possibility that the country will experience a double-dip recession, or at least a prolonged period of stagnation.

…

The takeaway lesson should be “austerity does not work; don’t go there.” Unfortunately, in the land of faith-based economics, evidence does not count for much. The UK may pursue a disastrous austerity path and those of us in the United States may still have to follow the same road anyhow. But we opponents of that course all appreciate the willingness of the UK to demonstrate the foolishness of this action.

McCaskill Leads Democratic Rush Toward Austerity

By: David Dayen, Firedog Lake

Wednesday February 2, 2011 11:08 am

You could simply not accomplish the cuts in this proposal without massive reductions to Social Security and Medicare. And the fact that this puts those programs “on-budget,” despite their dedicated funding source, is the real tell here. That means that it would be part of the automatic cuts from OMB.

Harry Reid opposes this bill and will fight efforts to put it into action. But it’s only one of multiple efforts where Democrats are crossing the aisle in a bid for austerity. Mark Udall pledged support for a balanced budget amendment, introducing the bill with Richard Shelby. Kent Conrad – who finds McCaskill-Corker unacceptable because it does nothing on the revenue side, which just shows you how extreme a proposal it is – has been working to revive the Bowles-Simpson cat food plan on the Senate Budget Committee. Jeanne Shaheen and Johnny Isakson’s proposal for a two-year budget cycle is perhaps the most inoffensive of these plans (I’d actually go along with that one).

The point is that, with a struggle over the new budget and the debt limit looming, and with conservative activists rallying their representatives to stand firm, you have multiple Democrats perfectly to cut and cap spending, reduce Social Security benefits, and basically drown the government in the bathtub the way that conservatives have always wanted.

This is a Live Blog and will be updated as the news is available. You can follow the latest reports from AL Jazeera English and though Mishima’s live blog, our news editor.

The Guardian has a Live Blog that refreshes automatically every minute.

Al Jazeera has a Live Blog for Feb 4

As you can see we now have the live feed from Al Jazeera English.

Today was the largest protest against the Mubarak regime that has been stages yet. Vowing not to leave Tahrir Square in Cairo until Mubarak is gone. The day has been relatively peaceful and there have been only small clashed with the military establishing order keeping the pro-Mubarak supporters out of the square and re-instituting searches for weapons as people entered the square. Night is falling and thousands still remain.

The attacks on the independent news media continues with the burning of the Al Jazeera offices with all their equipment destroyed and Al Jazeera reporters beaten and arrested. The major American news media has taken refuge in hotels as it is completely unsafe for them on the streets. Also reporters from the New York Times, the BBC and others have also been detained and threatened.

“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”

Nicholas D. Kristof: We Are All Egyptians

Cairo. Inside Tahrir Square on Thursday, I met a carpenter named Mahmood whose left arm was in a sling, whose leg was in a cast and whose head was being bandaged in a small field hospital set up by the democracy movement. This was the seventh time in 24 hours that he had needed medical treatment for injuries suffered at the hands of government-backed mobs. But as soon as Mahmood was bandaged, he tottered off once again to the front lines.

“I’ll fight as long as I can,” he told me. I was awestruck. That seemed to be an example of determination that could never be surpassed, but as I snapped Mahmood’s picture I backed into Amr’s wheelchair. It turned out that Amr had lost his legs many years ago in a train accident, but he rolled his wheelchair into Tahrir Square to show support for democracy, hurling rocks back at the mobs that President Hosni Mubarak apparently sent to besiege the square. . . . . .

The lion-hearted Egyptians I met on Tahrir Square are risking their lives to stand up for democracy and liberty, and they deserve our strongest support – and, frankly, they should inspire us as well. A quick lesson in colloquial Egyptian Arabic: Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! Today, we are all Egyptians!

Dean Baker: The Great British Austerity Experiment

With deficit hawks poised in the US, we watch with great interest UK economic policy. It’s not looking an enviable example so far

Three months ago, I noted that the United States might benefit from the pain being suffered by the citizens of the United Kingdom. The reason was the new coalition government’s commitment to prosperity through austerity. As predicted, this looks very much like a path to pain and stagnation, not healthy growth.

That’s bad news for the citizens of the United Kingdom. They will be forced to suffer through years of unnecessarily high unemployment. They will also have to endure cutbacks in support for important public services like healthcare and education.

But the pain for the people in England could provide a useful example for the United States. After failing to see the $8tn housing bubble that wrecked the US economy, the austerity crew in the United States has been newly emboldened by the hugely partisan media that desperately want to eviscerate the country’s bedrock social programmes: social security and Medicare.

Mark Weisbrot: Haiti’s Growing Momentum Towards Democracy

The possible return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and a pushback against the electoral fix give hope

It didn’t get much attention in the media, but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did something quite surprising on Sunday. After taping interviews on five big Sunday talkshows about Egypt, she then boarded a plane to Haiti. Yes, Haiti. The most impoverished country in the hemisphere, not exactly a “strategic ally” or a global player on the world’s political stage.

Inquiring minds might want to know why the United States’ top foreign policy official would have to go to Haiti in the midst of the worst diplomatic crisis she has faced. The answer is that there is also a crisis in Haiti. And it is a crisis that – unlike the humanitarian crisis that Haiti has suffered since the earthquake last year – Washington really cares about.

Like the Egyptians, Haitians are calling for free and fair elections. But in this case, Washington will not support free and fair elections, even nominally. Quite the opposite, in fact. For weeks now, the US government has been threatening the government of Haiti with various punishments if it refuses to reverse the results of the first round of its presidential elections. Washington wants Haiti to eliminate the government’s candidate and leave only two, rightwing candidates to compete in the second round.

John Nichols: “Systematic and Sustained” Attack on Journalism Demands That U.S. Make a Clean Break With Egyptian Regime

When President Franklin Roosevelt outlined the “four essential human freedoms” 70 years ago,he began where every small “d” democrat must: “The first is freedom of speech and expression-everywhere in the world.”

From the founding of the American experiment, it has been understood that freedom of the expression is the essential building block of democracy. At the individual level, this means freedom of speech, At the collective level, this means freedom of assembly. At the societal level, this means freedom of the press.

Roosevelt recognized, as World War II raged, that Americans would fight and die for freedom not in the abstract but in reality. And at the core of that fight would be a struggle to assure that citizens of all lands would be free not merely to speak but to speak truth to power — and that a free press would be at the ready to hold the powerful to account.

In Egypt this week, forces aligned with President Hosni Mubarak have effectively declared war on freedom of the press.They do so not because of some vague antipathy toward reporters but because of their understanding that a free press holds the powerful account and provides the powerless with the information they need to become their own governors.

MIcheal Byers: Even More Things in Heaven and Earth

ASTRONOMERS announced last month that, contrary to previous assumptions, the orbiting body Eris might be smaller than Pluto after all. Since it was the discovery in 2005 of Eris, an object seemingly larger than what had been considered our smallest planet, that precipitated the downgrading of Pluto from full planet to “dwarf,” some think it may be time to revisit Pluto’s status.

Most of us can’t help rooting for Pluto. We liked the idea of a ninth planet, hanging out there like a period at the end of the gorgeous sentence of the solar system. It gave us a sense of completeness. And besides, we were used to it. Pluto’s demotion caused such an outcry because it altered something we thought we knew to be true about our world.

Jeff Biggers: Yes, Virginia, This Dirty Coal Bill Is a Bad Bar Room Romance

Taking their cue from the widely disgraced West Virginia politicos and Big Coal lobbyists, some legislators in Virginia are courting a bad regulatory romance bill that could cost the state dearly — the morning after.

And the nation is watching: In the face of countless studies that link water quality to devastating cancer rates, health care crises and environmental destruction in the coalfields, a handful of Virginia politicians appear more intent on providing loopholes to circumvent growing national concern over clean water laws than to protect their own citizens — and their own state budget.

If the coal industry gets its way, the state of Virginia just might have to abandon its tourist slogan — Virginia is for Lovers — and its long-time promotion of its mountain ranges.

Under the proposed SB 1025 and HB 2123 bills, Big Coal lobbyists are making an unprecedented attempt to eliminate a Jeffersonian commitment to citizens’ participation and basic regulatory oversight of clean water laws for strip-mining in their beloved mountains, by ultimately shifting control of water quality to a political appointee. In effect, according to concerned residents in the coalfields, coal lobbyists have concocted a bill that places a stranglehold on state officials by restricting the state’s ability to adequately review stream monitoring or toxicity testing in permitting and enforcement actions.

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.

February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 330 days remaining until the end of the year (331 in leap years).

On this day in 1789, George Washington becomes the first and only president to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College. He repeated this notable feat on the same day in 1792.

The peculiarities of early American voting procedure meant that although Washington won unanimous election, he still had a runner-up, John Adams, who served as vice president during both of Washington’s terms. Electors in what is now called the Electoral College named two choices for president. They each cast two ballots without noting a distinction between their choice for president and vice president. Washington was chosen by all of the electors and therefore is considered to have been unanimously elected. Of those also named on the electors’ ballots, Adams had the most votes and became vice president.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775-1783, and he presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. As the unanimous choice to serve as the first President of the United States (1789-1797), he developed the forms and rituals of government that have been used ever since, such as using a cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. As President he built a strong, well-financed national government that avoided war, suppressed rebellion and won acceptance among Americans of all types, and Washington is now known as the “Father of his country”.

In Colonial Virginia, Washington was born into the provincial gentry in a wealthy, well connected family that owned tobacco plantations using slave labor. Washington was home schooled by his father and older brother but both died young and Washington became attached to the powerful Fairfax clan. They promoted his career as surveyor and soldier. Strong, brave, eager for combat and a natural leader, young Washington quickly became a senior officer of the colonial forces, 1754-58, during the first stages of the French and Indian War. Indeed, his rash actions helped precipitate the war. Washington’s experience, his military bearing, his leadership of the Patriot cause in Virginia, and his political base in the largest colony made him the obvious choice of the Second Continental Congress in 1775 as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to fight the British in the American Revolution. He forced the British out of Boston in 1776, but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the dead of winter he defeated the enemy in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause. Because of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. Negotiating with Congress, governors, and French allies, he held together a tenuous army and a fragile nation amid the threats of disintegration and invasion. Historians give the commander in chief high marks for his selection and supervision of his generals, his encouragement of morale, his coordination with the state governors and state militia units, his relations with Congress, and his attention to supplies, logistics, and training. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies. Washington is given full credit for the strategies that forced the British evacuation of Boston in 1776 and the surrender at Yorktown in 1781. After victory was finalized in 1783, Washington resigned rather than seize power, and returned to his plantation at Mount Vernon, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to republican government.

Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in 1787 because of his dissatisfaction with the weaknesses of Articles of Confederation that had time and again impeded the war effort. Washington became the first President of the United States in 1789. He attempted to bring rival factions together in order to create a more unified nation. He supported Alexander Hamilton‘s programs to pay off all the state and national debts, implement an effective tax system, and create a national bank, despite opposition from Thomas Jefferson. Washington proclaimed the U.S. neutral in the wars raging in Europe after 1793. He avoided war with Britain and guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795, despite intense opposition from the Jeffersonians. Although never officially joining the Federalist Party, he supported its programs. Washington’s “Farewell Address” was an influential primer on republican virtue and a stern warning against partisanship, sectionalism, and involvement in foreign wars.

Washington had a vision of a great and powerful nation that would be built on republican lines using federal power. He sought to use the national government to improve the infrastructure, open the western lands, create a national university, promote commerce, found a capital city (later named Washington, D.C.), reduce regional tensions and promote a spirit of nationalism. “The name of AMERICAN,” he said, must override any local attachments.” At his death Washington was hailed as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen”. The Federalists made him the symbol of their party, but for many years the Jeffersonians continued to distrust his influence and delayed building the Washington Monument. As the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire in world history, Washington became an international icon for liberation and nationalism. His symbolism especially resonated in France and Latin America. Historical scholars consistently rank him as one of the two or three greatest presidents.

 960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.

1454 – In the Thirteen Years’ War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.

1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master’s death.

1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

1794 – The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.

1797 – The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.

1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.

1810 – The Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.

1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald completes the 2 day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.

1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.

1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.

1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.

1899 – The Philippine-American War begins.

1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.

1936 – Radium becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.

1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.

1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.

1945 – World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.

1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.

1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.

1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.

1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.

1974 – M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.

1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.

1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.

1977 – A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency’s history.

1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.

1992 – A Coup d’etat is led by Hugo Chávez Frias, against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Perez.

1996 – Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at 26 F (32.2 C)

1997 – En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.

1997 – After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.

1998 – An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.

1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.

1999 – The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.

2000 – German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.

2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.

2002 – Cancer Research UK, the world’s largest independent cancer research charity, is founded.

2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.

2006 – A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 71.

2008 – The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) scheme begins to operate in the UK.

2010 – The Federal Court of Australia’s ruling in Roadshow Films v iiNet sets a precedent that Internet service providers (ISPs) are not responsible for what their users do with the services the ISPs provide them.

Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Andrew Corsini

         o Gilbert of Sempringham

         o John de Brito

         o Rimbert

         o Veronica

         o February 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Day of the Armed Struggle (Angola)

   * Earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can fall, while March 10 is the latest; celebrated on the first day of Lent. (Christianity)

   * Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Sri Lanka from the United Kingdom in 1948.

   * World Cancer Day (International)

I Wont Go! I’m Holding By Breathe Now I’m Stomping My Feet  

As protests build, the U.S. faces the difficult task of supporting reform while maintaining ties with an ally who has long blamed the U.S. for the theocracy in Iran and the chaos in Iraq.

Mubarak digs in against reform, as he always has

Reporting from Washington – Embattled yet unbending, President Hosni Mubarak is sending a message that he remains deeply suspicious of reform efforts in Egypt and resistant to the calls from Washington and his own populace for him to step aside.

But this is not just the face of a leader in crisis. This is the way Washington’s relationship has always been with Mubarak. Two years ago, a secret cable from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo described Mubarak as stubborn and stone-faced when pressed to make reform, and maintaining that he is the only barrier standing in the way of disaster.

Making sure The Messenger Is Shot

Members of international media and human rights groups arrested, attacked and beaten in intimidation campaign

Egypt cracks down on foreign journalists

Dozens of foreign journalists were arrested, attacked and beaten yesterday as the Egyptian government and its supporters embarked on what the US state department called a concerted campaign to intimidate the international media.

Human rights workers also fell victim to crowd violence, while police raided the offices of two groups in Cairo, the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights, and arrested observers. Amnesty International said one of its staff was detained at the law centre, with a Human Rights Watch colleague.

Remember There Is No Climate Change Just Ask Fox News

Region set to outstrip US as CO2 emitter

Special report: Catastrophic drought in the Amazon

A widespread drought in the Amazon rainforest last year caused the “lungs of the world” to produce more carbon dioxide than they absorbed, potentially leading to a dangerous acceleration of global warming. Scientists have calculated that the 2010 drought was more intense than the “one-in-100-year” drought of 2005.

They are predicting it will result in some eight billion tonnes of carbon dioxide being expelled from the Amazon rainforest, which is more than the total annual carbon emissions of the United States. For the second time in less than a decade, the earth’s greatest rainforest released more carbon dioxide than it absorbed because many of its trees dried out and died.

Thieves Nothing But Thieves  

Artworks worth tens of millions of pounds registered as “disappeared” or “stolen” – including some by Degas and Manet – have been seized from a world renowned art institute run by one of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s closest friends.  

Artworks worth millions seized from Wildenstein Institute  

Guy Wildenstein faces an investigation after the heir of a wealthy private collector claimed the works belonged to him.

Among the 30 pieces seized from the Wildenstein Institute in Paris last month were an oil painting by the impressionist Berthe Morisot called Cottage in Normandy, valued at 800,000 euros (£675,000), and Café Concert Singer by the impressionist Edouard Manet, worth several million pounds.

The paintings are alleged to have belonged to Anne-Marie Rouart, a descendant of Manet. She was a friend of the late Daniel Wildenstein, Guy’s father and a celebrated dealer who amassed the world’s biggest private art collection.

Yes Were Cheaters And we Like Cheating

 

Match-fixing admission by sumo wrestlers exercises even Japan’s prime minister

FOR DECADES Japan’s ancient national sport of sumo has been dogged by claims of yaocho, or match fixing, but they have never been proved – until now.

Yesterday’s admission by two wrestlers that they took money to dive on to the dohyo (ring) is considered so serious even prime minister Naoto Kan commented.

“Sumo has a long history and a great number of fans,” he told parliament yesterday. “If match-fixing has occurred, it is a very serious betrayal of the people.”

The scandal surfaced this week after mobile phones confiscated by police revealed dozens of text messages from wrestlers suggesting they sold bouts for thousands of euro a pop.

How Much Do You Know?



Think you know South America? Take our geography quiz.

South Americais home to 19 countries and an incredibly diverse geography. The site of ancient civilizations, European colonies and emerging world powers, South America will play an increasingly large role in the 21st century and beyond. But can you distinguish between Guyana and Guyane? Can you sort your -guays?

It’s time to brush up on your knowledge of South America. This is the perfect place to start.

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Just recently, Salon columnist and constitutional lawyer, Glenn Greenwald was hospitalized with what he thought was the “flu”. It wasn’t. Mr,. Greenwald found that he was infected with the most common mosquito-born virus in the world, dengue, (pronounced DENgee), which yearly infects 50 to 100 million people causing about 24,000 deaths, primarily children. It is endemic in more than 110 countries with 2.5 billion people living in areas where it is prevalent.

The disease is caused by four closely related viruses, or serotypes, that can manifest in a couple of different ways. The most common is dengue fever, or illness, which presents with high fever, joint pain, severe headache and a a petechial rash (fine, red rash). The severity of the joint pain has given dengue the name “breakbone fever.” Dengue can progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever, which may lead to severe hemorrhage or dengue shock syndrome, where a very low blood pressure can cause organ dysfunction. Both can be fatal but with good medical management mortality can be less than 1%.

While dengue is very similar to other viruses transmitted by mosquitoes like West Nile and malaria, it is classified as a “Neglected Tropical Diseases” by the World Health Organization, meaning it is prevalent in tropics, yet has not received attention commensurate with its burden like other diseases such as malaria. There is no vaccine for prevention. However, an attack of dengue produces immunity for a lifetime to that particular serotype to which the patient was exposed.

What are the symptoms?

From the CDC:

The principal symptoms of dengue are:

   * High fever and at least two of the following:

         o Severe headache

         o Severe eye pain (behind eyes)

         o Joint pain

         o Muscle and/or bone pain

         o Rash

         o Mild bleeding manifestation (e.g., nose or gum bleed, petechiae, or easy bruising)

         o Low white cell count

Generally, younger children and those with their first dengue infection have a milder illness than older children and adults.

Watch for warning signs as temperature declines 3 to 7 days after symptoms began.

Go IMMEDIATELY to an emergency room or the closest health care provider if any of the following warning signs appear:

   * Severe abdominal pain or persistent vomiting

   * Red spots or patches on the skin

   * Bleeding from nose or gums

   * Vomiting blood

   * Black, tarry stools (feces, excrement)

   * Drowsiness or irritability

   * Pale, cold, or clammy skin

   * Difficulty breathing

How is it treated?

Since dengue is caused by a virus, there is no effective antibiotic treatment. For typical dengue, the treatment is the relief of symptoms, rest and hydration. Aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used cautiously under a doctor’s supervision because of the possibility of worsening hemorrhagic complications. Acetaminophen and codeine may be given for severe headache and for the joint and muscle pain. It may or may not require hospitalization dependent on whether the patient can remain hydrated as other symptoms, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, can increase fluid loss. The more severe manifestations, require hospitalization and may require oxygen and blood transfusions. Most deaths occur in children. Infants under a year of age are especially at risk of dying from the hemorrhagic form.

How is it transmitted?

Dengue is transmitted to humans by the bite of the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, which are found throughout the world. There is no other means, or vector, of transmission. For the mosquito to transmit the disease, it must bite a person who has been infected during a 5- day period when large amounts of virus are in the blood. That period is usually before the person is symptomatic and there are many who never exhibit symptoms but can still infect mosquitoes. The virus requires another 8 to 12 days of incubation before the mosquito can transmit the virus. The mosquito remains infected for the rest of its life which can be as long as a few weeks.

How is dengue prevented?

If you live in or travel to an endemic area, the best prevention is to avoid getting bit by a mosquito by using bug repellents with Deet, when possible, wear long sleeves and pants for additional protection.   Also, make sure window and door screens are secure and without holes. If available, use air-conditioning and use mosquito netting in sleeping areas.

Control of the mosquito population is very important. The best way to reduce mosquitoes is to eliminate the places where the mosquito lays her eggs, like artificial containers that hold water in and around the home. Outdoors, clean water containers like pet and animal watering containers, flower planter dishes or cover water storage barrels.  Look for standing water indoors such as in vases with fresh flowers and clean at least once a week.

Is dengue here in the US?

Yes, it is but most of the cases are in patients who have traveled from countries where it is endemic, mostly from Caribbean, Puerto Rico, South and Central America. There have been isolated cases in very southern parts of Florida, mostly the Keys, along the Gulf and in the Southwestern United States along the Mexican border. The last significant out break occurred in 2010, when there were 46 cases reported in Key West, Florida, mostly among the residents who had not traveled. The CDC has said that it is unlikely that dengue will become endemic in the US but it is important to control mosquito populations and limit exposure to mosquito bites.

Sources for this article:

CDC: Dengue

WHO: Dengue

Brandeis study shows economic impact of dengue virus in Americas

MedicineNet: Dengue Fever

Almost solid premiers, though the only notable one is NBC’s Community (yes, I DM, thank you for asking).

And as if to prove all I have said, here is one of the first to go! A lad who sat before me on these very benches, who gave up all to serve in the first year of the war. One of the iron youth who have made Germany invincible in the field! Look at him. Sturdy and bronze and clear-eyed! The kind of soldier every one of you should envy! Paul, lad, you must speak to them. You must tell them what it means to serve your fatherland.

• ABC Family– Good Burger
• AMC– Ghost x 2
• Animal Planet– Planet Earth marathon
• Disney– The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
• Discovery– Survivalist Mashup (premier), Sr. v. Jr. (Forclosure, I must have missed this episode)
• ESPN– College Hoopies, Michigan @ Ohio State, Notre Dame @ DePaul
• ESPN2– College Hoopies, Georgia Tech @ Miami, Tennessee @ Auburn
• Food– Ace of Cakes (premier)
• FX– Archer (premier)
• History– Aliens!, Conspiracy Theories! (Season Finale premier), Swamp People (no, they actually exist)
• Lifetime– Notting Hill
• National Geographic– Naked Science
• Sci Fi– Lake Placid 2, Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (again)
• TBS– The Wedding Planner
• Turner Classic– The Love Parade, All Quiet on the Western Front
• TNT– Hoopies, Heat @ Magic, Spurs @ Lakers
• Travel– Man v. Food marathon (thank goodness)
• USA– Royal Pains x 2, Fairly Legal x 2 (premiers + Instapeats)

We used to think you knew. The first bombardment taught us better. It’s dirty and painful to die for your country. When it comes to dying for your country it’s better not to die at all! There are millions out there dying for their countries, and what good is it?

Later-

We’ve no use talking like this. You won’t know what I mean. Only, it’s been a long while since we enlisted out of this classroom. So long, I thought maybe the whole world had learned by this time. Only now they’re sending babies, and they won’t last a week! I shouldn’t have come on leave. Up at the front you’re alive or you’re dead and that’s all. You can’t fool anybody about that very long. And up there we know we’re lost and done for whether we’re dead or alive. Three years we’ve had of it, four years! And every day a year, and every night a century! And our bodies are earth, and our thoughts are clay, and we sleep and eat with death! And we’re done for because you *can’t* live that way and keep anything inside you! I shouldn’t have come on leave. I’ll go back tomorrow. I’ve got four days more, but I can’t stand it here! I’ll go back tomorrow! I’m sorry.

• ESPN2– College Hoopies, Gonzaga @ Portland
• FX– Date Movie
• Sci Fi– Supergator (with volcanos!)
• Turner Classic– The Big House
• Toon– Eagleheart (Series Premier)
• USA– White Collar (this week’s)

Dave hosts Howard Stern and Naughty by Nature.  Jon has Michael Mullen (more Michaels), Stephen Jane McGonigal.  Conan hosts Lisa Kudrow, Mike O’Malley, and Interpol.

I’ll tell you how it should all be done. Whenever there’s a big war comin’ on, you should rope off a big field and on the big day, you should take all the kings and their cabinets and their generals, put ’em in the center dressed in their underpants, and let ’em fight it out with clubs. The best country wins.

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