Supreme Court denies Ohio request to curtail early voting

Supreme Court denies Ohio request to curtail early voting: (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Ohio's request to curtail early voting in the state leading up to the November 6 presidential election.

Easier as a Latino? Actually...

BlogBlast4Peace 2012

Romney's Bain Selling Out American Workers to China

Harry & David Peanut Butter Caught Up in Sunland Recall

Harry & David Peanut Butter Caught Up in Sunland Recall Sunland Inc. was apparently also making peanut butter products for the popular mail order food company known as Harry and David, LLC.   It joined the peanut butter recall that has been under way since Sept 22 when Trader Joe's recalled its brand made by Portales,NM-based Sunland.

Recalled Harry and David peanut butter brands include 1 these 2 oz. jars all with "Best Buy" dates of 01MAY13 through 24SEPT13:

-Harry & David® Crunchy Almond and Peanut Butter, 

-Harry & David® Creamy Banana Peanut Spread, 

-Harry & David® Creamy Raspberry Peanut Spread,

Also recalled are these multi-component food items containing peanut butter:

-Harry & David® Apple Snack Box, 

-Wolferman's® Bee Sweet Gift Basket, 

-Wolferman's® Hearty Snack Gift Basket, 

-Wolferman's® All-Day Assortment Gift Basket, 

-and Wolferman's® Father's Day Basket. 

Why The New Coronavirus Unnerves Public Health: Remembering SARS | Wired Science | Wired.com

Why The New Coronavirus Unnerves Public Health: Remembering SARS | Wired Science | Wired.com
The concern underlying these developments is that exposure to the new virus seems to have occurred only or primarily in Saudi Arabia, which houses Mecca, the physical heart of Islam — and which, next month, will be the center of the worldwide annual pilgrimage known as the Hajj. The Hajj brings more than 2 million people to the country, in extraordinarily crowded conditions, and when those pilgrims leave, they disperse all over the world.

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Designation of Critical Habitat for Jaguar

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Designation of Critical Habitat for Jaguar In total, we propose

to designate as critical habitat approximately 339,220 hectares 
(838,232 acres) in Pima, Santa Cruz, and Cochise Counties, Arizona, and 
Hidalgo County, New Mexico.

Urban Food Week

Urban Food Week UK

The event is a collaboration between restaurant network Ethical Eats; Capital Growth - the campaign to create 2012 new food-growing spaces by 2012; and Capital Bee, which promotes community beekeeping in London. 

Restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs across the capital will be showcasing dishes and drinks made with ultra-local fruit, veg and herbs, and from honey made by bees in community hives. 

Restaurants can choose to ‘adopt a plot’, or ‘adopt a hive’, and build a long-term relationship with their local growing space or beekeeper.  Or they can simply buy produce on an ad hoc basis during Urban Food Week and create some exciting menu specials with it. 

We’ll provide postcards, posters, badges and stickers to promote the week, and talk to the press and generally get the word out via our networks and Twitter etc. 

We’ll also be running a competition to find the best menu special put on during the week, with winners voted by the public. 

Afghan Women's Writing Project | The Window

Afghan Women's Writing Project | The Window

I look from my room’s window
Try to see my future,
I see a long way to go.
Life changes its face as weather changes seasons
Trees lose leaves just as I
lose every day of my life.

I look from my room’s window
and think, “Where did my smile go?
Where has my happiness gone?”
I am strange to myself.
Looking from my room’s window.
I see how my life is passing
But my days and nights the same

Looking from my room’s window,
I am not a child at play anymore
I am not child to have my hand held
I am grown
I have to find my own way
As I look from my room’s window
I think how I will build my future.

by Shogofa

Amazon CARES: Wordless Wednesday: Nuns, Orphans, Rescue Dogs!

Amazon CARES: Wordless Wednesday: Nuns, Orphans, Rescue Dogs!: Mother Superior Maria Jose and a Sister look on with two orphaned girls that reside at their orphanage.  They adopted a pit bull, Sally...

New Baltic bacteria linked to ocean warming | Sci-Tech | DW.DE | 25.07.2012

New Baltic bacteria linked to ocean warming | Sci-Tech | DW.DE | 25.07.2012

Vibrio bacteria are usually found in warm waters, but new research has found them in the cold Baltic Sea as a result of rising temperatures. Controlling the spread will be hard.

A team of scientists from Britain, Finland, Spain and the United States says it has the first hard evidence to link rising ocean temperatures in Northern Europe with the emergence of various strains of Vibrio bacteria.

Vibrio bacteria is normally found in warm, tropical marine environments but has been detected in the usually cold Baltic Sea.

It belongs to a group of bacteria which - depending on the strain - can cause gastroenteritis or cholera in humans if raw or undercooked shellfish are consumed, or through exposure to contaminated seawater.

Give a Garden | kidsgardening.org

Give a Garden | kidsgardening.org
Welcome to Give a Garden Initiative brought to you by the National Gardening Association. Together we can change the world, one garden at a time. This is your opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young people as well as in communities everywhere.

Hoop House Training Garden

Hoop House Training Garden

OVERVIEW OF OUTDOOR IDEA

We want to build a hoop house (green house) to support community gardening for children and adults in Hamilton, Ohio. Neighborhood people will help build and learn how to build their own and how to garden for good health, nutrition, and bringing the community together.

THE SPECIFICS: WHAT WILL THE $5,000 FUND?

The $5,000 will pay for materials to build a 40×80 foot hoop house, provide materials to build raised garden boxes inside it, organic planting materials, seeds, a water system, and will pay for water for at least first planting season. Reasonable ($20.00) season fees for using garden boxes and sales of surplus crops will pay for ongoing up keep.

Hoop House Training Garden

Hoop House Training Garden

We want to build a hoop house (green house) to support community gardening for children and adults in Hamilton, Ohio. Neighborhood people will help build and learn how to build their own and how to garden for good health, nutrition, and bringing the community together.

THE SPECIFICS: WHAT WILL THE $5,000 FUND?

The $5,000 will pay for materials to build a 40×80 foot hoop house, provide materials to build raised garden boxes inside it, organic planting materials, seeds, a water system, and will pay for water for at least first planting season. Reasonable ($20.00) season fees for using garden boxes and sales of surplus crops will pay for ongoing up keep.

Visit my project page at http://outdoors.maker.good.is/projects/HUGS and click “Vote for this Idea” to vote for me! Please use either Firefox or Chrome browsers.

If you need to register, please remember to validate your email address (you’ll receive instructions after you vote) so your vote gets counted. You’ll see a notification at the top of the screen once your vote has been successfully counted.

Remember, everyone can only vote once, so be sure to also let your friends know and spread the word!

Voter Protection Unit (VPU) - American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Voter Protection Unit (VPU) - American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

 ADC Voter Protection Unit (ADC-VPU)

The ADC-VPU was established in October 2008. This special unit is dedicated to protect the Arab and Muslim American communities from attempts at chilling the communitiess‘ right to vote and responding to fear tactics designed to promote hate, division, and hostility against the Arab and Muslim American communities.

How can you volunteer?

ADC-VPU calls for volunteers to make a difference and help protect the rights of all voters. The ADC-VPU needs the assistance of those willing and available to become Election Monitors. Please email your information; including your name, email address, phone number, and voting district to vpu@adc.org. Upon receiving your information a member of the VPU will be in touch with you to explain the process.

Election Monitor District Representative:

• Will serve as the go-to person to election monitors across a voting district.
• Responsible for contacting the City or County Clerk should an issue arise.
• Set schedules across a district and be responsible for strategically placing monitors.
• Responsible for reporting to the ADC-VPU on the day‘s activities.
• Someone familiar with election monitoring, organized, familiar with the voting district.

Election Monitor:

• Primary responsibility will be to ensure the fairness of the election process.
• Will be placed at a polling station by the District Representative.
• Will be given specific instructions on what to look for on Election Day.
• Will be provided instructions on how to report any acts of voter intimidation
• Willing to commit to a 3-4 hour block and have be able to carry out the duties.

IPS – Impure Flows the Ganga | Inter Press Service

IPS – Impure Flows the Ganga | Inter Press Service

“The dams cause an excess of silt deposits upstream, leading to algal growth that changes the character of the water,” he says.

People who live around the confluence of the river with the sea, at Ganga Sagar in West Bengal where the holy river empties into the Bay of Bengal, are extremely concerned about the situation.

“The Ganga Sagar islands, which are already threatened by climate change, are now more vulnerable than ever because there is no longer enough silt in the waters to buttress the landmass,” Singh tells IPS.

He says construction of the Tehri Dam for a hydel project in the Bhagirathi river, one of the Ganga’s two headstreams, has almost killed the river.

“Even the river Alaknanda (the Ganga’s source stream) could (suffer) as a result,” says Singh.

Hoop House Training Garden

Hoop House Training Garden Vote with us to make this happen

Overview of Outdoor Idea

We want to build a hoop house (green house) to support community gardening for children and adults in Hamilton, Ohio. Neighborhood people will help build and learn how to build their own and how to garden for good health, nutrition, and bringing the community together.

The Specifics: What will the $5,000 fund?

The $5,000 will pay for materials to build a 40×80 foot hoop house, provide materials to build raised garden boxes inside it, organic planting materials, seeds, a water system, and will pay for water for at least first planting season. Reasonable ($20.00) season fees for using garden boxes and sales of surplus crops will pay for ongoing up keep.

Eat Drink Better | Humane Egg Production Ruffles Feathers in the House of Representatives | Page: 1 | Eat Drink Better

Eat Drink Better | Humane Egg Production Ruffles Feathers in the House of Representatives | Page: 1 | Eat Drink Better States rights only on stuff that I like - Rep. King?

Representative Steve King of Iowa introduced an amendment to the House version of the Farm Bill which would nullify California’s humane egg production law and the more recent foie gras bill.

Amendment 45 uses the Commerce Clause to deny states the right to regulate agriculture production and sales within their own borders.

The Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution) reserves the power “to regulate Commerce … among the several States …” to Congress. Rep. King argues that this means any agricultural product produced in any state can be sold in any state, even if it does not meet minimum standards set by the citizens of a state.

When California enacted a humane egg production law a few years ago, egg producers in the state argued that it would put them at a disadvantage to egg producers who did not have to meet minimum standards in the care of their hens. The California legislature included in the law a stipulation that eggs produced in other states must also meet minimum standards for the care of the hens before they could be sold in California.  The standards had been pushed forward by the United Egg Producers, an industry group which supplies about 95% of the eggs in the United States, and the Humane Society of the United States.

Rep. King’s press release about the amendment says the amendment “…prohibits states from enacting laws that place onerous conditions on the means of production for agricultural goods that are sold within its own borders but are produced in other states.” Allowing hens the room to stretch their wings is considered “onerous” in some circles, but thankfully not all.

Rep. King’s district is in Iowa. The egg farm that had to recall a half billion eggs in 2010 after several hundred Americans fell ill from salmonella is also in Iowa. The humane egg production standards are intended to reduce the likelihood that overcrowded conditions in henhouses will result in another disease outbreak.

Chilean Fish Farms and the Tragedy of the Commons

Chilean Fish Farms and the Tragedy of the Commons

"We blamed the ISA virus on eggs imported from Norway," Alvial says. "But the real problem was overcrowded conditions in our pens. We weren't paying attention to the long term effects of these mega-farms."

Scientists now understand that the oceans are made up of interrelated ecosystems. And any ecosystem has a carrying capacity, an ill-defined capacity for how much life can be sustained by the available food and oxygen.

"It's human nature," Alvial says. "We were so arrogant. This little country in South America showing the world how to build a world class aquaculture system. And we weren't listening to the people who were telling us: You're taking too many risks, not enough research, not enough regulation.

"So it may have started with a single lot of eggs from Norway, or a single boat or a single net... But we can't blame our crisis on a few contaminated eggs. We have to blame it on our lack of knowledge of the carrying capacity."

Fortunately, he says, the same entrepreneurial spirit that built the industry was marshaled to respond to the crisis. "We are a very opportunistic country."

Egypt women to demonstrate in Cairo for representation in new constitution - Bikya Masr

Egypt women to demonstrate in Cairo for representation in new constitution - Bikya Masr

A number of women’s organizations and movements are marching on Saturday, and too, calling for fair and equal representation of women in the new constitution.

The Egyptian Women’s Union said the march will start at noon from Talaat Harb Square to Tahrir Square, with the participation of many leading feminists figures including renowned writer and feminist Nawal al-Sa’dawi and the virginity tests fighter Samira Ibrahim. The march is titled “beware of the Egyptian women anger.”

Gabriel's Place Market Stand Open!!

IRIN Africa | MALI: Beyond the drought - “Families will disappear” | Mali | Food Security | Governance | Migration | Natural Disasters | Sahel Crisis | Security | Water & Sanitation

IRIN Africa | MALI: Beyond the drought - “Families will disappear” | Mali | Food Security | Governance | Migration | Natural Disasters | Sahel Crisis | Security | Water & Sanitation

People emigrate to survive - not to steal your job! Same reason people left Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri for California during and after "dust bowl" years!

“It was the drought that made people move away from here,” Ousmane Touré said in Kayes, 450km northwest of Bamako, the capital of Mali, and a 10-hour bus ride across the scorched scrubland of the western Sahel. “There had been a tradition of emigration, but it was when the harvests failed in the 1970s that we saw a real surge in emigration. There was simply not enough to eat, so people took off for France, Germany and the United States. They knew it was only the way of feeding their families back home in Kayes. The same thing is happening this year.” 

Hoodies and Bandanas Do Not Justify Murder - NAM

Hoodies and Bandanas Do Not Justify Murder - NAM
In the summer of 1994, my friends and I were driving to a local basketball gym when our two cars were pulled over by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies. My four friends in the lead car were asked to exit the vehicle and put their hands on the hood. I was in the back car with two other friends and we were allowed to stay inside.

Throughout this stop, from beginning to end, the deputies had their guns drawn on us.

I sat in the back right seat. When one of the deputies asked us for identification, I fumbled around inside my duffel bag.

“Don’t mess around in that bag,” the deputy sheriff said. “Or you might get shot.”

But how could I not be nervous? He had the damn barrel of a gun pointed inches from my head!

As I remember back, I can still feel the dominating, almost arrogant presence of that gun. How hot it felt. How it made me cringe. The fear ― of cops and guns ― the moment has permanently instilled in me.

Neocotinoid Pesticides Play a Role in Bees’ Decline, 2 Studies Find - NYTimes.com

Neocotinoid Pesticides Play a Role in Bees’ Decline, 2 Studies Find - NYTimes.com
In Thursday’s issue of the journal Science, two teams of researchers published studies suggesting that low levels of a common pesticide can have significant effects on bee colonies. One experiment, conducted by French researchers, indicates that the chemicals fog honeybee brains, making it harder for them to find their way home. The other study, by scientists in Britain, suggests that they keep bumblebees from supplying their hives with enough food to produce new queens.

Quick Hit: One woman’s experience with Texas’ new mandatory ultrasound law

Quick Hit: One woman’s experience with Texas’ new mandatory ultrasound law 
Bad as you thought it would be? YES!
Here’s a rule: When you, as legislators with neither professional medical experience nor personal experience being pregnant, pass laws that result in doctors and nurses repeatedly apologizing to sobbing women, you’re doing something wrong.

“I am so sorry,” the young woman said with compassion, and nudged the tissues closer. Then, after a moment’s pause, she told me reluctantly about the new Texas sonogram law that had just come into effect. I’d already heard about it. The law passed last spring but had been suppressed by legal injunction until two weeks earlier.
My counselor said that the law required me to have another ultrasound that day, and that I was legally obligated to hear a doctor describe my baby. I’d then have to wait 24 hours before coming back for the procedure. She said that I could either see the sonogram or listen to the baby’s heartbeat, adding weakly that this choice was mine.
“I don’t want to have to do this at all,” I told her. “I’m doing this to prevent my baby’s suffering. I don’t want another sonogram when I’ve already had two today. I don’t want to hear a description of the life I’m about to end. Please,” I said, “I can’t take any more pain.” I confess that I don’t know why I said that. I knew it was fait accompli. The counselor could no more change the government requirement than I could. Yet here was a superfluous layer of torment piled upon an already horrific day, and I wanted this woman to know it.

In this horrifying case, the woman was terminating a much-wanted pregnancy. But it only takes a little imagination – and I suppose the compassion that anti-choice politicians have shown they clearly can’t muster – to think of other reasons patients and doctors might not want clueless politicians inserting their own views into the doctor’s office. As Carolyn Jones asks, “Shouldn’t women have a right to protect themselves from strangers’ opinions on their most personal matters?”

Neo-Nazis cloak themselves in eco-rhetoric | Environment | DW.DE | 08.03.2012

Neo-Nazis cloak themselves in eco-rhetoric | Environment | DW.DE | 08.03.2012

They're into organic farming, oppose GMOs and worry about endangered species protection. Right-wing extremists are increasingly active in typically left-wing movements. Experts say the trend is troublesome.

"Environmental protection should be inherent to cultural progress." That's a statement that could easily be attributed to any environmentalist group. Instead it comes from the National Democratic Party (NPD), a far-right but still legal German party, and it's another sign of how right-wing groups are increasingly latching on to environmental topics.
The connection between right-wing extremism and environmentalism is not new, but experts believe the growing trend represents a real threat, because it helps push extremist views into the mainstream.
Two recent publications have responded, seeking to educate the public by explaining what's behind such efforts, and debunking certain lines of reasoning within them.

TB levels in London as high as those in some African countries | Vaccine News Daily

TB levels in London as high as those in some African countries | Vaccine News Daily

A new survey by Britain’s National Health Service shows that tuberculosis infection rates in some London neighborhoods match those in found in African countries where the disease is endemic.

The NHS survey said that the number of TB cases in London rose by 50 percent in the 10 years before 2009. The airborne bacteria appears to have taken root in populations of recent immigrants, addicts and the homeless, according to Post-Gazette.com.

Pockets of TB infection have appeared in the shadows of some of London’s richest banks and tallest skyscrapers and may pose a risk to those who work in affluent circles.

“You wouldn’t expect to see that,” Brian McCloskey, the Health Protection Agency’s regional director for London, said, Post-Gazette.com reports. “TB is one of the biggest public health problems we have.”

Honoring Unsung Heroes

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus,
originally uploaded by sailingsue.

Who do you think you are? Grin...

THE DAILY STAR :: Opinion :: Columnist :: Lebanon's Palestinians, the shame rises

THE DAILY STAR :: Opinion :: Columnist :: Lebanon's Palestinians, the shame rises

The current debate in Lebanon about the legal status of several hundred thousand resident Palestinian refugees reflects the best and worst of the Arab world. The mistreatment, abysmal living conditions and limited work, social security and property rights of these Palestinians are a lingering moral black mark – but change is in the air, initiated largely by Lebanese.

To be fair to Lebanon, all Arab countries similarly mistreat millions of Arab, Asian and African foreign guest workers, who often are treated little better than chattels or indentured laborers. Racism and discrimination are alive and well in most Arab societies. The Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, however, are a distinct case. Most were born in the country and know no other residence. They are involuntary long-term refugees, and are not here by choice to work.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/Jun/30/Lebanons-Palestinians-the-shame-rises.ashx#ixzz1ndjLCgcb
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Afghan Women's Writing Project | Nature’s Origin

Afghan Women's Writing Project | Nature’s Origin

Trust an empty soil and it will grow a flower
for you whether or not you’ve seeded it. Trust is the origin of nature.

If we trust ourselves to do the things we want, we will do them.

Trust is the basis of a married life
in the union of two persons, or in a family.

If you decide to believe in someone, you will already think better of her.

By trusting people, I can do my best for them,
and if I think a person trusts in me, I must do better. I will.

Trust is in prayers, that the words of a human are heard by God.

Without trust, we would not step forward. Trust is the future.

The Kabul Writers

"Pig MRSA" Came From Humans, Evolved Via Farm Drugs | Wired Science | Wired.com

"Pig MRSA" Came From Humans, Evolved Via Farm Drugs | Wired Science | Wired.com

AmeriCorps NCCC Recruits Locals To Build Community Garden

AmeriCorps NCCC Recruits Locals To Build Community Garden

Investigations: Utility Scale Wind Towers from China and Vietnam

Investigations: Utility Scale Wind Towers from China and Vietnam

there is a reasonable indication that an industry in the United  States is threatened with material injury by reason of imports from  China of utility scale wind towers, provided for in subheading  7308.20.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, that  are alleged to be sold in the United States at less than fair value  (LTFV) and that are alleged to be subsidized by the Government of  China.

Senators take emergency oil reserve hostage to force Keystone approval

Senators take emergency oil reserve hostage to force Keystone approval:

By Daniel J. Weiss

Will the GOP ever stop pushing Keystone XL? (Photo by truthout.)

Cross-posted from Climate Progress.

Republican congressional leaders have failed to force President Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. But that’s not stopping them from trying over and over again, taking hostages in the process.

First they used the payroll tax cut extension as a vehicle to force a decision on the pipeline in 60 days, even before the final route was identified. Obama was forced to reject the permit because there was no time to assess its potential pollution.

This week, several senators took a different hostage: our emergency oil supply. On Feb. 13, Sens. David Vitter (R-La.), John Hoevan (R-N.D.), and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced the Strategic Petroleum Supplies Act, S. 2100, that would prevent Obama from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) unless Keystone is approved:

… the administration shall not authorize a sale of petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve … until the date on which all permits necessary … for the Keystone XL pipeline project application filed on September 19, 2008 (including amendments) have been issued.

In other words, unless the president approves Keystone, he cannot sell our emergency oil — even if Iran causes an oil supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, a hurricane or other disaster disables oil production or refining facilities, or any other type of event causes gasoline prices to soar above $4 per gallon. If any of these events happen, middle class Americans would pay significantly higher gasoline pump prices, giving billions of dollars more to big oil companies that made record profits last year.

These are not far-fetched examples — all of these situations occurred. President George H. W. Bush sold SPR oil in 1991 before the first Iraq war in case of a supply disruption. President George W. Bush sold SPR oil in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina knocked out oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama sold SPR oil in 2011 to offset the disruption of Libyan oil production due to its civil war. In fact, Sen. Vitter praised Obama for the latter SPR oil sale.

All of these SPR sales lowered gasoline prices and prevented significant economic damage while protecting drivers from huge gasoline price spikes. Such emergency sales would be prohibited under S. 2100 unless the Keystone XL pipeline is approved.

Additionally, this bill threatens our national security, because it would give Iran more incentive to cause an oil supply disruption knowing that the U.S. could not legally access its 695 million barrels of oil reserves.

These hostage-taking senators would argue that the Keystone XL pipeline — like the SPR — is vital to provide oil for Americans. However, that is false. It is likely that a large portion of the tar-sands oil sent to Texas refineries will be for export [PDF], and would not be sold in the U.S. At a December congressional hearing, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) questioned the CEO of Keystone pipeline owner TransCanda about keeping the tar-sands oil in the United States. The CEO “said he could not guarantee that the fuel from the pipeline would stay in the United States.”

Watch it:

On Feb. 14, 800,000 Americans signed an emergency petition

to senators urging them to stop trying to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. These Americans oppose the pipeline because it would lead to the doubling of Canadian tar-sands oil production, which produces 15 percent more carbon dioxide pollution compared to conventional oil, at a time when we must shift to lower carbon fuels to reduce the impacts of climate change.

The Senate is trying to force a pipeline route through Nebraska that is not yet identified, let alone evaluated to determine its impact on air and water quality. Because much of the tar-sands oil refined in the U.S. would go overseas, Americans would bear the environmental risks while other nations get the oil.

Sen. Vitter’s bill would force the president to approve the harmful Keystone XL pipeline just to get access to our emergency oil reserves and protect Americans from economic or security threats. Regardless of whether senators oppose or support approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, they should oppose this attempt to destroy a vital economic and national security safeguard.

Filed under: Oil, Politics

Is the Tide Turning for Home Rule in Pennsylvania? Nine GOP Senators Oppose Law Seeking to Stop Local Power to Zone Gas Drilling.

Is the Tide Turning for Home Rule in Pennsylvania? Nine GOP Senators Oppose Law Seeking to Stop Local Power to Zone Gas Drilling.

CENSORED NEWS: Ethnic Studies March: In the Warrior Spirit

CENSORED NEWS: Ethnic Studies March: In the Warrior Spirit: Riley, Choctaw, with Louise Benally, Navajo. . Ethnic Studies march and rally: In the spirit of survival and excellence! By Brenda Nor...

Britta Riley: A garden in my apartment

Gingrich - a historian with history

Of course someone found a photo of Gingrich with Arafat shaking hands. Gingrich always loved the limelight and has always belonged to the say/do anything to get noticed school of politics/celebrity. But now he is someone else and tomorrow he will be... whomever he needs to be to please his current audience...

Amplify’d from www.haaretz.com

After Gingrich declares Palestinians 'invented', picture emerges of U.S. Presidential hopeful with Yasser Arafat

A few days after U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich thrust himself into controversy by declaring that the Palestinians are an "invented" people who want to destroy Israel , a picture of him emerged embracing former Palestinian Yasser Arafat in 1993, when Gingrich was House minority whip. Read more at www.haaretz.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1ka4v

Assassination by Drone - Legal? Not.

When the US intentionally executes political leaders of organizations attacking or planning attacks against the US, its Armed Forces, or Diplomatic Corps using drones or snipers, are US laws and Executive Orders being violated? Read this Executive Order in place since 1981 and decide for yourself. Should it be changed or given better definition? I say yes - what say you?

Amplify’d from www.cia.gov

Executive Order 12333

December 4, 1981 (As Amended by Executive Orders 13284 (2003), 13355 (2004) and 13470 (2008))

2.11 Prohibition on Assassination. No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in or conspire to engage in assassination. Read more at www.cia.gov

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1izam

Big Ag - Superbugs and the meat we eat - connected

Anyone who says we do not need more protection from over-zealous big agriculture companies who drug animals at will and then endanger us - is either being paid by big agriculture or just hiding from facts of more food sickening Americans.

Amplify’d from www.wired.com

More MRSA Found In U.S. Retail Meat (Turkey, Too)

There are two new studies out that confirm, once again, that drug-resistant staph or MRSA — normally thought of as a problem in hospitals and out in everyday life, in schoolkids, sports teams, jails and gyms — is showing up in animals and in the meat those animals become. Read more at www.wired.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1ir5a

Running Out of Antibiotics: Europe Gets It

Running Out of Antibiotics: Europe Gets It:

In the United States, it’s been “Get Smart About Antibiotics” Week this past week, an annual observance in which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its medical and public health partners try to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance. The real action this week though was in Europe, where individual researchers and the EU’s version of a CDC — the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control — are speaking out about the problem with unusual candor.

Here’s the short version: In Europe, according to the ECDC, 25,000 people each year die as a result of multi-drug resistant infections, causing an additional cost to society of 1.5 billion Euros ($2.02 billion): 938 million Euros ($1.27 billion) in hospital and outpatient medical costs, and an additional 596.3 million Euros ($806 million) in lost productivity.

Dr. Marc Sprenger, director of the ECDC, said Friday:

This certainly is an underestimate of the true economic impact of antimicrobial resistance. In particular, the figures were based on data for just five multidrug-resistant bacteria.The estimate was also based on a conservative figure for the cost of a day in hospital… We think the real cost of treating a patient with a multidrug-resistant infection would be higher than this. My take home message is that antimicrobial resistance is one of the most serious public health challenges that we face.

Sprenger was talking at the release of a major Europe-wide report (press release here too) that found organisms that cause serious hospital infections are becoming substantially resistant to last-resort drugs. In some countries, 50 percent of Klebsiella isolates are resistant to carbapenems — that’s the almost-untreatable hospital superbug CRKP that has appeared in 37 US states so far — and so are 25-50 percent of Pseudomonas isolates, another deadly hospital-acquired organism.

Meanwhile, 13 countries just in the EU have found more than 100 cases of infection with bacteria carrying NDM-1, the gene and enzyme that renders organisms effectively untreatable by any antibiotic except for 1-2 old, imperfect drugs. And the ECDC warns that the various countries within the EU simply don’t have the surveillance or personnel to track that bug as it walks undetected across borders in the guts of unknowingly infected people and into hospitals.

Simultaneously, in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a British researcher expressed her frustration that no one takes this seriously. In an online essay, Laura Piddock, who is president of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, says:

When… patients are denied treatment with a new cancer drug because of its expense, there is public outrage despite the possibility of extending life by only a few weeks. Antibiotics are not perceived as essential to health or the practice of medicine, despite such agents saving lives so that individuals can live for many years after infection… Cancer drugs… sometimes only extend life for weeks or months, whereas antibiotics can extend life for years.

Possibly the most encouraging thing about the EU’s candor is how directly it confronts the tie between antibiotic resistance in human medicine and antibiotic use in agriculture. On Thursday, the European Commission announced a 5-year, 12-point plan to reduce resistance, and half of their proposed “concrete actions” address curbing antibiotic use in agriculture:

• Improve awareness raising on the appropriate use of antimicrobials


• Strengthen EU law on veterinary medicines and on medicated feed


• Introduce recommendations for prudent use of antimicrobials in veterinary medicine


• Strengthen infection prevention and control in hospitals, clinics, etc.


• Introduce legal tools to tighten prevention and control of infections in animals in the new EU Animal Health Law


• Promote unprecedented collaboration to bring new antimicrobials to patients


• Promote efforts to analyse the need for new antibiotics in veterinary medicine


• Develop and/or strengthen multilateral and bilateral commitments for the prevention and control of AMR


• Strengthen surveillance systems on AMR and antimicrobial consumption in human medicines


• Strengthen surveillance systems on AMR and antimicrobial consumption in animal medicines


• Reinforce and co-ordinate research


• Improve communication on AMR to the public.

And just in case those seem like theoretical, low-priority concerns, a new coalition rose up in Europe last week to emphasize how important ag antibiotic control really is to human health. Three groups — the Soil Association, Compassion in World Farming and Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming — published a report that painstakingly documents the connections between specific antibiotics used in farming and specific drug-resistant organisms showing up in humans in European countries.

The groups call for cutting antibiotic use on EU farms in half by 2015. Noting that agriculture has simply ignored calls for reduced use on the basis of human health and animal welfare, they smartly propose recasting it as a competitive issue: Lesser antibiotics as a sign of better quality.

The EU has done more than most other regions of the world to monitor farm animal welfare and outlaw some of the worst intensive farming practices (battery cages, sow stalls, veal crates). EU reforms have had an important impact in encouraging similar changes in practices worldwide, through either voluntary action by industry or through law.

The EU should now take the lead again with effective action to end the misuse of antibiotics in farming, and ensure the conditions are provided for the animals to maintain good health based on their own immune systems rather than through routine reliance on antibiotics.

This would be in the interests of Europe’s farmers, establishing their reputation globally for high-quality standards while meeting the demand of their customers, who seek higher standards of animal welfare, more transparency and better quality in their food production.

See Also:

• Opposing industrial-scale pig farming — in Europe


• EU Parliament Votes To Oppose Most Farm Antibiotic Use


• Superbugs in Canadian chicken? Yes, and US too


• Government Health Agency Agrees Mega-Farms Are A Health Risk …


• Opposing industrial-scale pig farming — in Europe

Flickr/JeremyBrooks/CC

Trying to buy US Congress to be Pals with Big Business

Everyone else beware of ads by US Chamber that claim they are on your side - they are not. They and their biggest US businesses are the ones who have moved all the jobs out of the US and paved the way for today's taking everyone in the 99% down several rungs so they can decide how you will live or not!

Amplify’d from www.latimes.com

Chamber of Commerce getting early start with attack ads

"The business community has been under unprecedented threat," Rob Engstrom, part of a two-man team running the chamber's political operation, said in explaining why the trade group will break its previous political spending record — $50 million — to try to elect a more business-friendly Congress. Read more at www.latimes.com

 

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All day - blog, pray, think, work for peace! http://amplify.com/u/a1gnm1

Do something for peace - Blog it Nov. 4th

Wondering what you can do to help peace seep into everyone's mind? Now waiting here - just blog along with thousands of others in 120+ countries for Peace on Friday!

Amplify’d from mimiwrites.blogspot.com

November 4, 2011 Bloggers from all across the globe will blog for peace. We will speak with one voice. One subject One day

What is it? A small group of bloggers answered a challenge I tossed one angst-filled October day in 2006.  I wanted to know what would happen if all bloggers everywhere signed their name across a globe and all posted the SAME POST on the SAME DAY. I created a graphic and made the first one.  I asked them to write "Dona nobis pacem" which is Latin for "grant us peace" across the graphics image and post it on their blogs in November.  Fifty-two people responded enthusiastically and soon it began to spread like a beautiful lyric across the internet. Read more at mimiwrites.blogspot.com

 

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New Flu Study - a survey of old research

You might give lots of credence to new research but "opinions based on surveying old research papers and "averaging" it and making implied judgments on research that was not done?



I got my shot and will continue doing so, until I see basic research based on current vaccine results - not a survey on other people's research.

Amplify’d from www.thelancet.com

Efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines

Original Text Prof Michael T Osterholm PhD a , Nicholas S Kelley PhD a, Prof Alfred Sommer MD b, Edward A Belongia MD c

We searched Medline for randomised controlled trials assessing a relative reduction in influenza risk of all circulating influenza viruses during individual seasons after vaccination (efficacy) and observational studies meeting inclusion criteria (effectiveness). Eligible articles were published between Jan 1, 1967, and Feb 15, 2011

We screened 5707 articles and identified 31 eligible studies Read more at www.thelancet.com

 

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Land Theft from Mayans Continues - Shame

The land must really be good if people have been stealing it and killing Mayans for it for more than 500 years. It took the Irish, nearly 500 years to regain their nation and culture from the English. You have to wonder how the thieves think they can steal and control a culture, even today. The theft in Guatemala continues but those who were born to the land for more than 12,000 years continue to struggle for their rights since the Spanish came. Could that be what the predictions of 2012 are about? That the Mayans begin to get their land back then?

Amplify’d from intercontinentalcry.org

I am told Tzalbal is the first village to find out that their land was nationalised, and the first to publicly denounce this and demand, unconditionally, that their land be given back. Nonetheless, the case of Tzalbal is illustrative of what the conflict in Guatemala was about. This conflict was about land.

The natives of Tzalbal appear to be the unwanted actors in a drama that always seems to repeat itself in Guatemala. A drama which has run for more than 500 years where invaders, whether spanish, military or "representative" democratic governments, steal the land of the indigenous peoples through laws and violence.

United, the Ixiles present shout, "We don´t want another master!", "Finish the law! Give us back our land!"

Patricio Rodriguez

We will get our land back, bit by bit, step by step" .

See more at intercontinentalcry.org

 

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The canaries of climate change - The Boston Globe

The canaries of climate change - The Boston Globe

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Buffy Sainte Marie - "I'm Going Home"

Fracking drill technique sparks protest in Germany

Fracking drill technique sparks protest in Germany: Hydraulic fracturing - or 'fracking' - is used to get natural gas from difficult places. It's going through a boom in the US, but opinion is split in Europe. Critics are concerned about environmental and health effects.

An Afghan woman says no to the darkness

For too many Afghan women, their life is one of darkness - no light for laughter and opportunity. This poem says much and one wonders how strong she must to be to still claim her right to light!

Amplify’d from www.awwproject.org

Society Ritual

A dark life! A lone girl! Whose heart only feels pain.

When I think about my life, and the other girls’ lives It is a huge load on my heart. Our society does not allow us a chance to progress. When I think of the future Everywhere is dark.

This is life’s tradition, a ritual Fighting against them is the only way I will stand strongly against all darknesses. Read more at www.awwproject.org

 

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Vaccine deniers as harmful as climate warming deniers?

Vaccines - especially vaccines for polio, small pox, and measles - have saved countless lives since their introduction. Opting out of vaccines, in many case, threatens public health and increasingly - global health.



Are they 100% effective? Are they 100% safe? Nope. Most are in the 99% effective and safe range.



Can you look both ways before crossing a street in a car, on foot or a bike and still get hit? Yes but the chances are really, really small. So, would you advise people not to look or not to cross the street?

Amplify’d from afludiary.blogspot.com

WHO: Measles Outbreaks In The Americas, Europe & Africa

During the 1950s – before the introduction of the measles vaccine – in the United States alone the disease infected roughly 4 million, hospitalized nearly 50,000,  and contributed to the deaths of several hundred every year.

Lower vaccine uptake, and increases in international travel, have increased opportunities for the measles virus to spread – even to areas that had previously all but eliminated it. Read more at afludiary.blogspot.com

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Putin’s Diving Exploit Was a Setup, Aide Says

Putin’s Diving Exploit Was a Setup, Aide Says: Video of the Russian Prime Minister Putin discovering ceramic jugs from the sixth century during a dive was a contrived, his press secretary said. - Wannabe Tsar Putin has to get a new press aide, I guess.

Both Soviet and Tsar in One

Both Soviet and Tsar in One:

by Lilit Gevorgyan, St. Petersburg Times, Russia - Putin reinvented himself as the main advocate of state capitalism, resulting in part from a power struggle and drive to curtail oligarchic influence on the energy sector. He has since shown little interest in modernization or diversification of the economy, and has seen the emergence of a new circle of oligarchs. These oligarchs have close ties to the Kremlin without the inclination to challenge Putin.

(title unknown)

ElazPlanet:

some woman in the bar down the street

mixed media on a wooden drawer