Dozens of Palestinians and Israeli settlers clashed on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank after a building was set ablaze in a settlement outpost, police and witnesses said.
Palestinians in the northern West Bank village of Faraata, near Nablus, said about 50 settlers hurled stones at a house after the fire in nearby Havat Gilad outpost that totally gutted a settler home.
"It was completely destroyed, but no victim was reported, except for a dog that died in the disaster," a police statement said of the blaze.
"Following the fire there was a clash between Palestinians and Israelis... during which rocks were hurled at each side by the other," a military spokeswoman told AFP.
"Two Palestinians were arrested on suspicion of igniting the fire and another Palestinian was arrested for allegedly assaulting one of the soldiers," she added.
Havat Gilad, which houses a few dozen settlers, was set up in 2002 without authorisation from the Israeli government.
A few kilometres (miles) away, settlers cut down 30 olive trees in the Palestinian village of Burin, local Palestinian official Ghassan Daghlas told AFP.
A military spokeswoman said that to the best of her knowledge, trees at Burin were damaged but not destroyed.
More than 310,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and more than 200,000 have settled in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
In the eyes of the international community, all settlements in occupied territory are illegal, whether government-approved or not.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
St. Andrew’s Day, 1935
Sharply the menacing wind sweeps over
The bending poplars, newly bare,
And the dark ribbons of the chimneys
Veer downward; flicked by whips of air,
Torn posters flutter; coldly sound
The boom of trams and the rattle of hooves,
And the clerks who hurry to the station
Look, shuddering, over the eastern roves,
Thinking, each one, ‘Here comes the winter!
Please God I keep my job this year!’
And bleakly, as the cold strikes through
Their entrails like an icy spear,
They think of rent, rates, season tickets,
Insurance, coal, the skivvy’s wages,
Boots, school-bills, and the next instalment
Upon the two twin beds from Drage’s.
For if in careless summer days
In groves of Ashtaroth we whored,
Repentant now, when winds blow cold,
We kneel before our rightful lord;
The lord of all, the money-god,
Who rules us blood and hand and brain,
Who gives the roof that stops the wind,
And, giving, takes away again;
Who spies with jealous, watchful care,
Our thoughts, our dreams, our secret ways,
Who picks our words and cuts our clothes,
And maps the pattern of our days;
Who chills our anger, curbs our hope,
And buys our lives and pays with toys,
Who claims as tribute broken faith,
Accepted insults, muted joys;
Who binds with chains the poet’s wit,
The navvy’s strength, the soldier’s pride,
And lays the sleek, estranging shield
Between the lover and his bride.
George Orwell
First published as ‘St Andrew’s Day, 1935′, the poem also turns up in Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), and occupies Gordon Comstock’s thoughts throughout much of the novel. According to the Times Literary Supplement, Gordon’s only book, Mice, showed ‘exceptional promise’.
The bending poplars, newly bare,
And the dark ribbons of the chimneys
Veer downward; flicked by whips of air,
Torn posters flutter; coldly sound
The boom of trams and the rattle of hooves,
And the clerks who hurry to the station
Look, shuddering, over the eastern roves,
Thinking, each one, ‘Here comes the winter!
Please God I keep my job this year!’
And bleakly, as the cold strikes through
Their entrails like an icy spear,
They think of rent, rates, season tickets,
Insurance, coal, the skivvy’s wages,
Boots, school-bills, and the next instalment
Upon the two twin beds from Drage’s.
For if in careless summer days
In groves of Ashtaroth we whored,
Repentant now, when winds blow cold,
We kneel before our rightful lord;
The lord of all, the money-god,
Who rules us blood and hand and brain,
Who gives the roof that stops the wind,
And, giving, takes away again;
Who spies with jealous, watchful care,
Our thoughts, our dreams, our secret ways,
Who picks our words and cuts our clothes,
And maps the pattern of our days;
Who chills our anger, curbs our hope,
And buys our lives and pays with toys,
Who claims as tribute broken faith,
Accepted insults, muted joys;
Who binds with chains the poet’s wit,
The navvy’s strength, the soldier’s pride,
And lays the sleek, estranging shield
Between the lover and his bride.
George Orwell
First published as ‘St Andrew’s Day, 1935′, the poem also turns up in Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), and occupies Gordon Comstock’s thoughts throughout much of the novel. According to the Times Literary Supplement, Gordon’s only book, Mice, showed ‘exceptional promise’.
engineered mutant bird flu
A divide has emerged between the United States and the rest of the world on whether to publish or keep secret the details of an engineered mutant bird flu virus that can pass in the air between animals, health experts said on Wednesday.
But that split could be resolved when new data, including how the disease is not as lethal as widely believed, is considered in an upcoming meeting of the US-based advisory panel which initially urged the details be withheld from science journals.
The saga began late last year when a panel of US scientists and biosecurity experts reviewed two US-funded studies that showed how an engineered bird flu, or H5N1 virus, could be transmitted in the air between ferrets in a lab.
The conclusion of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) was that the data was too risky to be issued to the general public and could spark a deadly pandemic if the flu escaped or were unleashed by malevolent players.
However, a meeting of international flu experts in Geneva earlier this month came to the opposite conclusion, agreeing that the data should eventually be published in full, after more consideration is given to the potential risks.
In those talks, there was "new data and a significant amount of time for cross-discussion to clarify issues," said Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci, who was part of the Geneva talks, told a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology Biodefense and Emerging Diseases meeting in Washington that the NSABB would reconvene to discuss the newest data.
"There was obviously a disagreement in recommendation between the NSABB and the Geneva group and we wanted to make sure all the data and all the discussion is balanced between both," said Fauci.
International experts also pointed to the "futility" of trying to edit out some portions of the studies, he added.
In the meantime, US health authorities stand by the original NSABB stance that the research should not be published in full, and the US endorses just one element of the WHO consensus: to extend a moratorium on such research.
While NSABB members said it was too early to guess what the US advisory panel's next decision will be, one of the lead flu researchers, the Netherlands' Ron Fouchier of Erasmus MC, stressed that the dangers have been overblown in the media.
"The animals get a little bit of flu but they do not drop dead," he said of his lab experiments on ferrets, noting that just one in eight animals got sick from receiving the mutant virus at high doses.
"It is certainly not highly lethal if ferrets start coughing and sneezing on one another," he said.
Also, if ferrets had already been exposed to seasonal flu they were fully protected against the mutant bird flu in his studies.
H5N1 is known to be highly lethal in birds, and among known cases in humans it has killed nearly 60 percent of its victims, according to the World Health Organization.
"There are still serious debates about how fatal this virus is in humans. I think more research is needed," Fouchier said.
"I do not think the 60 percent case fatality rate is correct," he added. "Certainly this is not a virus that would kill half the world population as we have seen in the lay press time and time again."
A US team in Wisconsin made a similar laboratory advance in the mutant flu, which was set to be published in the British journal Nature, while Fouchier's research was slated for publication in the US journal Science.
Science editor-in-chief Bill Alberts said both journals are holding back the papers for now, but that there needs to be some way to get the data to legitimate researchers.
"It is my intention to try to comply with the NSABB recommendation, providing we can have a mechanism for selective access to the redacted information by those who need to know," he said.
"So the future is still unclear."
NSABB board member Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, said he supports Fouchier's research but remains concerned.
"I am not personally worried about somebody in a cave somewhere," he said. "I worry about the garage scientist, about the do-your-own scientist, about the person who just wants to see if they can do it."
"We need to know much more about this," he added, calling the papers the "two most famous unpublished manuscripts in history."
But that split could be resolved when new data, including how the disease is not as lethal as widely believed, is considered in an upcoming meeting of the US-based advisory panel which initially urged the details be withheld from science journals.
The saga began late last year when a panel of US scientists and biosecurity experts reviewed two US-funded studies that showed how an engineered bird flu, or H5N1 virus, could be transmitted in the air between ferrets in a lab.
The conclusion of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) was that the data was too risky to be issued to the general public and could spark a deadly pandemic if the flu escaped or were unleashed by malevolent players.
However, a meeting of international flu experts in Geneva earlier this month came to the opposite conclusion, agreeing that the data should eventually be published in full, after more consideration is given to the potential risks.
In those talks, there was "new data and a significant amount of time for cross-discussion to clarify issues," said Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci, who was part of the Geneva talks, told a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology Biodefense and Emerging Diseases meeting in Washington that the NSABB would reconvene to discuss the newest data.
"There was obviously a disagreement in recommendation between the NSABB and the Geneva group and we wanted to make sure all the data and all the discussion is balanced between both," said Fauci.
International experts also pointed to the "futility" of trying to edit out some portions of the studies, he added.
In the meantime, US health authorities stand by the original NSABB stance that the research should not be published in full, and the US endorses just one element of the WHO consensus: to extend a moratorium on such research.
While NSABB members said it was too early to guess what the US advisory panel's next decision will be, one of the lead flu researchers, the Netherlands' Ron Fouchier of Erasmus MC, stressed that the dangers have been overblown in the media.
"The animals get a little bit of flu but they do not drop dead," he said of his lab experiments on ferrets, noting that just one in eight animals got sick from receiving the mutant virus at high doses.
"It is certainly not highly lethal if ferrets start coughing and sneezing on one another," he said.
Also, if ferrets had already been exposed to seasonal flu they were fully protected against the mutant bird flu in his studies.
H5N1 is known to be highly lethal in birds, and among known cases in humans it has killed nearly 60 percent of its victims, according to the World Health Organization.
"There are still serious debates about how fatal this virus is in humans. I think more research is needed," Fouchier said.
"I do not think the 60 percent case fatality rate is correct," he added. "Certainly this is not a virus that would kill half the world population as we have seen in the lay press time and time again."
A US team in Wisconsin made a similar laboratory advance in the mutant flu, which was set to be published in the British journal Nature, while Fouchier's research was slated for publication in the US journal Science.
Science editor-in-chief Bill Alberts said both journals are holding back the papers for now, but that there needs to be some way to get the data to legitimate researchers.
"It is my intention to try to comply with the NSABB recommendation, providing we can have a mechanism for selective access to the redacted information by those who need to know," he said.
"So the future is still unclear."
NSABB board member Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, said he supports Fouchier's research but remains concerned.
"I am not personally worried about somebody in a cave somewhere," he said. "I worry about the garage scientist, about the do-your-own scientist, about the person who just wants to see if they can do it."
"We need to know much more about this," he added, calling the papers the "two most famous unpublished manuscripts in history."
the good, the bad, and the ugly
The Good
HONOLULU (AP) — Nicole Leszczynski couldn't imagine that two chicken salad sandwiches would land her and her husband in jail and her 2-year-old daughter in state custody.Leszczynski, 28, and her husband Marcin, 33, were handcuffed, searched then released on $50 bail each. Their ordeal at the police station lasted a few hours, but their daughter Zofia spent the night away from her parents in a case that has sparked nationwide outrage and forced the Safeway supermarket chain to review the incident.
The family had moved to an apartment near downtown Honolulu from California two weeks ago. Still settling in, they ventured out Wednesday to stock up on groceries, took the bus, got lost, and ended up at a Safeway supermarket. Famished, the former Air Force staff sergeant picked up the two sandwiches that together cost $5. She openly munched on one while they shopped, saving the wrapper to be scanned at the register later.
But they forgot to pay for the sandwiches as they checked out with about $50 worth of groceries.
"When the security guard questioned us, I was really embarrassed, I was horrified," she said. They were led upstairs, where the couple expected to get a lecture, pay for the sandwiches, and be allowed on their way. But store managers wouldn't allow them to pay for the sandwiches, she said.
Four hours later, a police officer arrived and read them their rights. A woman from the state Child Welfare Services arrived to take Zofia away. The pregnant mother said she tried to keep her composure until Zofia, who turns 3 in December, left the store. "I didn't want Zofia to be scared because she's never spent a night away from us. She didn't have her stuffed animal. She didn't have her toothbrush."
But as soon as her daughter left, "I got completely hysterical. I went to the bathroom and I threw up," she recalled.
Leszczynski called the incident "so horrifying, it seemed to escalate and no one could say, 'this is too much.'"
Zofia was returned after an 18-hour separation from her parents.
The couple is charged with fourth-degree theft, a petty misdemeanor, and has a court date on Nov. 28, according to the city prosecutor's office. The family hasn't decided whether it will pursue legal action against Safeway. Houghton said the company will review the police report and store security footage before deciding whether to press charges.
The Bad
Roy Brown, 54, is a homeless man who said that he was hungry and needed a place to live when he walked the Capitol One bank in Shreveport, Louisiana in December 2007 and stole a single $100 bill. The next day, he turned himself into police, apologized, and said that he was not raised to do such things. After he pleaded guilty, the Shreveport judge then sentenced him to 15 years in prison.
The Ugly
In the meantime, former AIG executive Christian Milton defrauded customers of more tha $500 million and was just sentenced to 4 years.
The sector most affected by bribery was public procurement
Bribe Rankings - worst offenders last
1. Netherlands, Switzerland
3. Belgium
4. Germany, Japan
6. Australia, Canada
8. Singapore, UK
10. US
11. France, Spain
13. South Korea
14. Brazil
15. Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, South Africa
19. India, Turkey
22. Saudi Arabia
23. Argentina, UAE
25. Indonesia
26. Mexico
27. China
28. Russia
Companies from Russia and China are most likely to pay bribes when doing business abroad, a new survey suggests.The two scored worst out of 28 countries in a poll of 3,000 business executives conducted by anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI).
NYPD’s surveillance program targeting Muslim student groups
Reports of the NYPD’s surveillance program targeting Muslim student groups, businesses and mosques across the region have provoked outrage, even as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other officials have defended the program, arguing the practice is keeping the city safe.
But the news is having side effects: prompting some Muslims to stop frequenting places out of fear of being monitored, or avoiding discussion of politically sensitive topics.
"A lot of families are pressuring their sons and daughters to either not be involved in anything to do with the Islamic Center at NYU, to not pray there, to not go, to not hang out with other members," said Elizabeth Dann, a third year law student at New York University, and the outreach director of the school's Muslim Law Students Association.
While Dann says it's too early to say whether attendance at Muslim gatherings at NYU will dip, CUNY undergrad Dania Darwish says the impact is already being felt at her Muslim Students Association.
"I used to go there and we used to barely have room to sit down," Darwish said. "And now, I just come in and it's sort of empty."
She thinks students have been "traumatized" by the revelations, and also notes that discussions have been stifled, ever since the Hunter College Muslim Students Association posted a sign asking students to refrain from having political discussions when initial reports of NYPD surveillance surfaced last year.
The sign has since been taken down, she said, but the idea behind it remains, "not to talk about world affairs, and not to talk about the uprisings in the Arab Spring, or not to talk about anything political, it makes me feel oppressed."
In addition to student groups, attendance may also be down at some mosques.
Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdul Rashid, president of the Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York, says that while African American Muslims haven't changed their patterns of worship at mosques, Muslim immigrants have.
"In some cases people are coming, really just being uneasy, and in other instances people are actually staying away," he explained
Other Muslim leaders say the fear extends to Muslim business owners. Some are hearing from customers who are increasingly antsy about the idea of frequenting a store or restaurant that's been under NYPD surveillance, not only in New York, but in New Jersey, where the NYPD conducted surveillance of Muslims in Newark.
The NYPD argues that the surveillance of Muslim Student Associations is justified because a dozen alumni of the groups went on to be arrested or charged with terrorist plots. They include Anwar al-Awlaki, the chief propagandist for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, until he was killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen last year, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, known as the Underwear Bomber.
However, Dann says students worry they'll be the victims of guilt by association, even years from now.
"The fear is that, if at any point, you come into contact, whether intentional or not, with someone who later becomes a criminal, or later becomes a suspect or terrorist, that taint can never be scrubbed off," she explained
That's the same fear felt by Bay Ridge resident Zein Rimawi. He has six children, one of whom is studying at Columbia, another at Harvard. They're both actively involved in their school’s MSA. Rimawi says he doesn't discourage them from staying active in the groups. but he worries for their future, arguing that being under constant surveillance will only amplify any of their routine lapses.
"Because if you keep watching these kids, year after year, and they make small mistakes,” he explained, “and [if authorities] collect all these mistakes, and talk about them in front of a jury, of course all these mistakes, will be a big, big mistake, and to some people here, maybe they will be criminals."
"A lot of families are pressuring their sons and daughters to either not be involved in anything to do with the Islamic Center at NYU, to not pray there, to not go, to not hang out with other members," said Elizabeth Dann, a third year law student at New York University, and the outreach director of the school's Muslim Law Students Association.
While Dann says it's too early to say whether attendance at Muslim gatherings at NYU will dip, CUNY undergrad Dania Darwish says the impact is already being felt at her Muslim Students Association.
"I used to go there and we used to barely have room to sit down," Darwish said. "And now, I just come in and it's sort of empty."
She thinks students have been "traumatized" by the revelations, and also notes that discussions have been stifled, ever since the Hunter College Muslim Students Association posted a sign asking students to refrain from having political discussions when initial reports of NYPD surveillance surfaced last year.
The sign has since been taken down, she said, but the idea behind it remains, "not to talk about world affairs, and not to talk about the uprisings in the Arab Spring, or not to talk about anything political, it makes me feel oppressed."
In addition to student groups, attendance may also be down at some mosques.
Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdul Rashid, president of the Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York, says that while African American Muslims haven't changed their patterns of worship at mosques, Muslim immigrants have.
"In some cases people are coming, really just being uneasy, and in other instances people are actually staying away," he explained
Other Muslim leaders say the fear extends to Muslim business owners. Some are hearing from customers who are increasingly antsy about the idea of frequenting a store or restaurant that's been under NYPD surveillance, not only in New York, but in New Jersey, where the NYPD conducted surveillance of Muslims in Newark.
The NYPD argues that the surveillance of Muslim Student Associations is justified because a dozen alumni of the groups went on to be arrested or charged with terrorist plots. They include Anwar al-Awlaki, the chief propagandist for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, until he was killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen last year, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, known as the Underwear Bomber.
However, Dann says students worry they'll be the victims of guilt by association, even years from now.
"The fear is that, if at any point, you come into contact, whether intentional or not, with someone who later becomes a criminal, or later becomes a suspect or terrorist, that taint can never be scrubbed off," she explained
That's the same fear felt by Bay Ridge resident Zein Rimawi. He has six children, one of whom is studying at Columbia, another at Harvard. They're both actively involved in their school’s MSA. Rimawi says he doesn't discourage them from staying active in the groups. but he worries for their future, arguing that being under constant surveillance will only amplify any of their routine lapses.
"Because if you keep watching these kids, year after year, and they make small mistakes,” he explained, “and [if authorities] collect all these mistakes, and talk about them in front of a jury, of course all these mistakes, will be a big, big mistake, and to some people here, maybe they will be criminals."
#SOPA
60 Plus Association
ABCAlliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP)
American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
Americans for Tax ReformArtists and Allied Crafts of the United States
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies
Association of Talent Agents (ATA)
Baker & Hostetler LLPBeachbody, LLC
BMI
BMG Chrysalis
Building and Construction Trades Department
Capitol Records Nashville
CBS
Cengage Learning
Christian Music Trade Association
Church Music Publishers’ Association
Coalition Against Online Video Piracy (CAOVP)
Comcast/NBCUniversal
Concerned Women for America (CWA)
Congressional Fire Services Institute
Copyhype
Copyright Alliance
Coty, Inc.Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)
Council of State Governments
Country Music Association
Country Music Television
Covington & Burling LLP
Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP
Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C.
Creative America
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Deluxe
Directors Guild of America (DGA)
Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
Elsevier
EMI Christian Music Group
EMI Music Publishing
ESPN
Estée Lauder Companies
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
Go Daddy
Gospel Music Association
Graphic Artists Guild
Hachette Book Group
HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, Inc.
HyperionIndependent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE)
International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
International Trademark Association (INTA)
International Union of Police Associations
Irell & Manella LLP
Jenner & Block LLP
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
Kendall Brill & Klieger LLP
Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP
L’Oreal
Lathrop & Gage LLP
Loeb & Loeb LLP
Lost Highway Records
Macmillan
Major County Sheriffs
Major League Baseball
Majority City Chiefs
Marvel Entertainment, LLC
MasterCard Worldwide
MCA Records
McGraw-Hill Education
Mercury Nashville
Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC)
Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
Moving Picture Technicians
MPA – The Association of Magazine Media
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
National Center for Victims of Crime
National Crime Justice Association
National District Attorneys Association
National Domestic Preparedness Coalition
National Football League
National Governors Association, Economic Development and Commerce Committee
National League of Cities
National Narcotics Offers’ Associations’ Coalition
National Sheriffs
Association (NSA)
National Songwriters Association
National Troopers Coalition
News Corporation
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
Pearson Education
Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Phillips Nizer, LLPPfizer, Inc.
Proskauer Rose LLP
Provident Music Group
Random House
Raulet Property Partners
Republic Nashville
Revlon
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLPScholastic, Inc.Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Showdog Universal Music
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Nashville
State International Development Organization (SIDO)
The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
The Perseus Books Groups
The United States Conference of Mayors
Tiffany & Co.
Time Warner
4Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
UMG Publishing Group Nashville
United States Chamber of Commerce
United States Tennis Association
Universal Music
Universal Music Publishing Group
Viacom
Visa, Inc.
W.W. Norton & Company
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Nashville
White & Case LLP
Wolters Kluewer Health
Word Entertainment
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Arizona's Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. -- On a hot desert morning last week, a group of 20 tourists gathered in the visitor center in Arizona's Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to attend a mandatory safety briefing before taking a guarded van tour to Quitobaquito springs. The springs is part of the 69 percent of the remote border park west of Tucson that has been closed to the public since Kris Eggle, a 28-year-old law enforcement park ranger, was shot and killed while pursuing drug runners armed with AK-47s in 2002.
Keystone XL
Dear Friend,
Yesterday, the White House applauded news that TransCanada would go forward with building the southern leg of Keystone XL, promising to help expedite the permits necessary to complete the pipeline's route from Cushing, Okla. to the refineries and shipping ports of Port Arthur, Texas.
Breaking up the pipeline in this way is quite simply TransCanada's latest end run around the State Department's formal review process, which is required for any pipeline that crosses an international border. It will also make it easier for the company to trample property rights and immediately seize Americans' land by eminent domain.
President Obama's support for the southern leg isn't a surprise — he specifically mentioned this project as he was rejecting the full pipeline last month based on insufficient time to conduct a thorough review.
But it is deeply disappointing that, just a month later, he would signal a willingness to backtrack on even that minimal condition, saying he would "take every step possible to expedite the necessary federal permits."1
The southern portion of Keystone XL carries the same risks of oil spills on American water and soil, and brings the tar sands carbon bomb one big step closer to being unleashed across the world. President Obama must insure that the Department of Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers do not cut any corners in evaluating this project, and consider it's full impacts on the climate.
While the southern portion of Keystone XL does not turn up the spigot of tar sands bitumen that can be transported out of Alberta, Canada, it does ultimately accomplish the biggest goal of Keystone XL — to bring the landlocked tar sands to shipping ports and the global market so it can be burned across the globe, leading to disastrous climate impacts.
This should be enough for the President to publicly reject this project. Instead he's not only applauding it, he wants to "expedite" it.
Instead of criticizing TransCanada's bullying as it runs rough shod over the private property rights of Americans, President Obama is now acting to enable to enable TransCanada's ability to seize land via eminent domain.
President Obama can't keep trying to have it both ways. He can't claim to want to move our nation away from fossil fuels and fight climate change while he paves the way for the dirtiest oil on earth to be shipped and burned across the globe. He can't try to appeal to environmental voters by rejecting this pipeline on an insufficient evaluation, and then turn around and allow the pipeline developer to circumvent the approval process, even accelerating the minimal process that remains.
Click below to automatically sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?
We knew this project would be back, and we meant it when we said we'd fight it everywhere, every step of the way.
There will be many local and national opportunities in the upcoming approval fight — but for now the least President Obama can do is maintain even the minimal commitment he made to us when he rejected Keystone XL just weeks ago.
Thanks for fighting Keystone XL in all its forms.
two days left
We only have two days left in this campaign to tell Congress we want an end to U.S. funding to Honduran military and police! The deadline is this Thursday, March 1st.
We just returned from the International Human Rights Conference in Solidarity with the Bajo Aguan where we heard testimonies from victims of ongoing human rights abuses. When we asked a campesino leader what he thought of the U.S. funding for security forces, his answer was simple:
"Stop U.S. financing of Honduran police and military. They only use it to repress the people."
Whether you've already sent a message or not, click here to tell your representative you want her/him to call for an end to military aid to Honduras.
Please also consider calling your representative's office to reiterate your message. You can reach their office by calling the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Here is a sample script for your call:
"My name is _____. I am a constituent from CITY/TOWN. I am calling to ask Rep. _____ to join in signing the Schakowsky letter in support of human rights in Honduras. Can I count on her/him to sign on? The deadline to sign on is March 1st. Please call me this week at YOUR PHONE NUMBER to let me know if you have seen the letter, and if Rep_____ will sign it."
Thank you for all you do for justice.
Warm wishes,
Brooke Denmark, Christine Goffredo and Riahl O'Malley
Witness for Peace Nicaragua International Team
We just returned from the International Human Rights Conference in Solidarity with the Bajo Aguan where we heard testimonies from victims of ongoing human rights abuses. When we asked a campesino leader what he thought of the U.S. funding for security forces, his answer was simple:
"Stop U.S. financing of Honduran police and military. They only use it to repress the people."
Whether you've already sent a message or not, click here to tell your representative you want her/him to call for an end to military aid to Honduras.
Please also consider calling your representative's office to reiterate your message. You can reach their office by calling the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Here is a sample script for your call:
"My name is _____. I am a constituent from CITY/TOWN. I am calling to ask Rep. _____ to join in signing the Schakowsky letter in support of human rights in Honduras. Can I count on her/him to sign on? The deadline to sign on is March 1st. Please call me this week at YOUR PHONE NUMBER to let me know if you have seen the letter, and if Rep_____ will sign it."
Thank you for all you do for justice.
Warm wishes,
Brooke Denmark, Christine Goffredo and Riahl O'Malley
Witness for Peace Nicaragua International Team
Witness for Peace
3628 12th Street NE. 1st Fl.,
Washington, DC 20017
202.547.6112 - 202.536.4708
witness@witnessforpeace.org
3628 12th Street NE. 1st Fl.,
Washington, DC 20017
202.547.6112 - 202.536.4708
witness@witnessforpeace.org
Kyoto Protocol
Canada’s Minister of Environment Peter Kent addressed the United Nations Climate Change Conference today and defended his country’s environmental record despite Canada’s support of continued tar sands oil extraction and its threat to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol. Soon after Kent began speaking, six members of the Canadian Youth Delegation stood up and turned their backs on the minister. They were taken out of the room and later stripped of their credentials to the climate change conference. "Today, six of us stood up and turned our backs on the government of Canada, in the same way the government of Canada has turned its back on us," says activist Karen Rooney. "We are calling on the government of Canada to start putting the interests of people over the interests of polluters." [includes rush transcript]
U.S. foreign policy is a disaster
In Libya, where aiding rebel forces did help depose dictator Moammar Gadhafi, a radical Islamic regime is taking his place.
There is Iraq, where President Obama is crowing about bringing the troops home while downplaying the fact that the Iraqis are kicking us out. The Iraq war cost $4 trillion, took more than 4,000 American lives and lasted nearly nine years. And we’re leaving behind a resentful and divided Iraqi people, an America-weary Iraqi government and an empowered Iran.
The Afghanistan war is the longest war in U.S. history. Trillions of dollars have been spent, almost 2,000 American soldiers have been killed and nearly 15,000 American soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan over the past decade.
Libyan intervention remains popular with a plurality of Americans precisely because Gadhafi was killed at minimal cost.
On Iraq and Afghanistan, most conservatives find themselves on the complete opposite side of the same cost/benefit argument they make concerning Libya, and also against the overwhelming sentiment of the American people. In most polls, upwards of 60% and even 70% of Americans call the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mistakes, say they were not worth the cost and believe it is time to bring our troops home. Many American soldiers feel the same way. As CBS News reported this month: “One in three U.S. veterans of the post-Sept. 11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems.” Perhaps even more interesting, a Pew Research Poll of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans published this month revealed: “About half (51 percent) of post-9/11 veterans say that the use of military force to fight terrorism creates hatred that breeds more terrorism.”
Paul’s critics like to first cite his contention that our foreign interventions breed more Islamic terrorism than they quell.. Yet, according to the Pew poll, a majority of our soldiers agree with Paul on this point. More significantly, Paul’s overall foreign policy of avoiding going to war where there is no clear national interest is where the congressman is most in line with public sentiment.
There is Iraq, where President Obama is crowing about bringing the troops home while downplaying the fact that the Iraqis are kicking us out. The Iraq war cost $4 trillion, took more than 4,000 American lives and lasted nearly nine years. And we’re leaving behind a resentful and divided Iraqi people, an America-weary Iraqi government and an empowered Iran.
The Afghanistan war is the longest war in U.S. history. Trillions of dollars have been spent, almost 2,000 American soldiers have been killed and nearly 15,000 American soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan over the past decade.
Libyan intervention remains popular with a plurality of Americans precisely because Gadhafi was killed at minimal cost.
On Iraq and Afghanistan, most conservatives find themselves on the complete opposite side of the same cost/benefit argument they make concerning Libya, and also against the overwhelming sentiment of the American people. In most polls, upwards of 60% and even 70% of Americans call the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mistakes, say they were not worth the cost and believe it is time to bring our troops home. Many American soldiers feel the same way. As CBS News reported this month: “One in three U.S. veterans of the post-Sept. 11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems.” Perhaps even more interesting, a Pew Research Poll of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans published this month revealed: “About half (51 percent) of post-9/11 veterans say that the use of military force to fight terrorism creates hatred that breeds more terrorism.”
Paul’s critics like to first cite his contention that our foreign interventions breed more Islamic terrorism than they quell.. Yet, according to the Pew poll, a majority of our soldiers agree with Paul on this point. More significantly, Paul’s overall foreign policy of avoiding going to war where there is no clear national interest is where the congressman is most in line with public sentiment.
Ron Paul vs. foreign policy partisanship
greed
On the heels of the Administration’s recent decision to place a de facto moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, we asked readers of today’s Wall Street Journal if they knew how much that decision might cost in terms of lost government revenue.
According to a study by ICF International, expanding domestic energy development in America’s offshore areas could alone generate $1.3 trillion in government revenues over the life of the resource – along with major increases in jobs and economic activity that result from offshore development.
To put this figure in perspective, consider the following numbers:
- In 2010, the U.S. federal budget deficit was $1.3 trillion.
- The total U.S. national debt currently stands at about $13.8 trillion.
- The U.S. oil and natural gas industry contributes more than $1 trillion a year to the U.S. economy.
As I indicated in my commentary on Wednesday about the moratorium, this decision is a real missed opportunity to spur economic growth, create more jobs and strengthen U.S. energy security. You can read more in last week’s post: DOI’s offshore plan: a missed economic opportunity that also weakens U.S. energy security.
Monday, February 27, 2012
tar sands
Dear Friend,
It just gets worse and worse.
To make up for the fact that rapid tar sands extraction is threatening caribou herds by destroying vast swaths of forest habitat in Alberta, the Canadian government has called for killing thousands of wolves.1
If Alberta Canada's tar sands fields are fully developed, an area of boreal rainforest the size of Florida will be eviscerated, leaving in its wake giant ponds of toxic wastewater.2
It's obvious why this would pose a massive threat to all wildlife species who reside there, including birds, wolves, woodland caribou and the iconic spirit bear.
But instead of preserving the habitat caribou need for their survival, the Canadian government's answer is to blaze ahead with tar sands extraction, and kill thousands of wolves who would naturally prey on the caribou. A paper released by the National Wildlife Federation reports that The Ministry of the Environment's plan calls for aerial shooting, and poisoning with bait laced with strychnine — a particularly painful type of poison.
This plan to kill wolves is a misguided, cruel response that does nothing to alleviate the greater problem: tar sands oil extraction is a huge threat to wildlife, local communities, and all of our futures.
But despite the clear negative consequences, the Canadian government continues working to rapidly expand tar sands production and sales, including promoting the Keystone XL Pipeline to export refined tar sands bitumen all over the world.
Understandably, this has begun to earn Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and many in the country's government, a negative reputation to which they are becoming increasingly sensitive.3
The Ministry of the Environment has not yet begun this planned wolf kill. With enough public pressure, we can get them to abandon the plan, and build the case for Canada to stop their devastating race to expand tar sands development.
Click below to automatically sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?
Thank you for fighting tar sands and all their devastation.
Elijah zarlin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
CREDO Action from Working Assets
Sunday, February 26, 2012
A poor man pleads for mercy, but a rich man answers harshly
Big-league Mexican drug traffickers imprisoned in the United States are contending that unnecessarily harsh conditions — locked up alone in ultra-high-security confinement — take a physical and psychological toll and may violate U.S.-Mexico extradition treaties.
The courthouse pleadings for relief come from men who cut their teeth and made their names in a criminal underworld that has carried out unheard of levels of brutality in Mexico, including murder by beheading, mutilation, hanging and massacre.
Mexican drug traffickers complaining of U.S. prison conditions
Narco Execution Videos and Their Effects on the General Population
The courthouse pleadings for relief come from men who cut their teeth and made their names in a criminal underworld that has carried out unheard of levels of brutality in Mexico, including murder by beheading, mutilation, hanging and massacre.
Mexican drug traffickers complaining of U.S. prison conditions
Narco Execution Videos and Their Effects on the General Population
City and County of Denver will decide on initiative 300:
In November, the voters of the City and County of Denver will decide on initiative 300: which mandates that employers within the City and County of Denver provide paid sick and safe time leave to all employees (including part-time and temporary employees).
Specifically, the paid sick leave mandate would apply to all businesses and non-profit organizations located in the City & County of Denver, and it would cover all full-time, part-time and temporary employees. Paid sick leave could be used by an employee if they’re sick, and to seek medical treatment and preventative care. It can also be used by an employee to care for sick children, family members, or someone whose close relationship is like that of a family member. Employees would earn 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours they work, earning up to 9 days of paid sick leave a year. For small businesses with less than 10 employees, employees could earn up to 5 days of paid sick leave a year. When a worker leaves the employer for any reason, the worker would not receive compensation or money from the employer for unused sick time they have earned. The employee would not be required to provide advance notice to the employer to take a paid sick day, and they would not need to provide a doctor’s excuse to the employer unless the absence extends beyond 3 days.
Specifically, the paid sick leave mandate would apply to all businesses and non-profit organizations located in the City & County of Denver, and it would cover all full-time, part-time and temporary employees. Paid sick leave could be used by an employee if they’re sick, and to seek medical treatment and preventative care. It can also be used by an employee to care for sick children, family members, or someone whose close relationship is like that of a family member. Employees would earn 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours they work, earning up to 9 days of paid sick leave a year. For small businesses with less than 10 employees, employees could earn up to 5 days of paid sick leave a year. When a worker leaves the employer for any reason, the worker would not receive compensation or money from the employer for unused sick time they have earned. The employee would not be required to provide advance notice to the employer to take a paid sick day, and they would not need to provide a doctor’s excuse to the employer unless the absence extends beyond 3 days.
Tyke
“During the course of my career, I’ve seen elephants being beaten who have no idea why they are being beaten or what is expected of them. They will start randomly lifting one leg, then another and another, lifting their trunk, hoping some trick will satisfy the trainer and make the beating stop. …Raising a baby elephant at Ringling is like raising a kid in jail.”
(former Ringling trainer Sammy Haddock)
Tyke (1974 – August 20, 1994)[1] was a female circus elephant who on August 20, 1994, in Honolulu, Hawaii, killed her trainer, Allen Campbell, and gored her groomer Dallas Beckwith causing severe injuries during a Circus International performance before hundreds of horrified spectators at the Neal Blaisdell Center. Tyke then bolted from the arena and ran through downtown streets of Kakaako for more than thirty minutes. Police fired 86 shots at Tyke, who eventually collapsed from the wounds onto a blue car and died.
Tyke never had a normal life. In the wild, she would be part of a close-knit herd. She would walk by her mother's side until well into her teens. The herd would be her family. She and the other members of the herd would eat, play, and take baths together, and protect each other from danger. They would roam over hundreds of acres of varied terrain, and sleep under African skies. When she got older, she would share in the child-rearing and have a calf of her own.
But Tyke never experienced any of that. She was trapped and taken away from her family when she was a baby. She was shipped to the circus. There, she was confined to a concrete room and beaten over and over, to break her spirit. Circus trainers hit her repeatedly with a sharp metal "bullhook," which made her cry out in pain. They struck her in her most sensitive areas: behind her ears, on top of her toes, in back of her knees, and around her anus. They wanted to hurt her and frighten her so she would be obedient.
She spent most of her time in chains, doing nothing. Her bones ached from no exercise. Her diet was monotonous. She stood in filth and excrement. She was deprived of every aspect of normal elephant life. She hated it.
She was in the Hawthorn circus, which had a track record of animal cruelty violations. In 1988, according to USDA documents, Tyke was beaten in public to the point where she was "screaming and bending down on three legs to avoid being hit." The trainer said he was "disciplining" her. By April of 1993, she had had enough. She tried to escape during a circus performance. She didn't make it. In July she tried to escape again; she was unsuccessful. Hawthorn should have retired her right then and there, as she was an obvious threat to the public. But they didn't.
For the next year she performed in the circus and lived in a barren concrete barn, chained, between shows. The bullhook beatings continued. Her life stank. She vacillated between terror and boredom. She was not really an elephant.
She spent most of her time in chains, doing nothing. Her bones ached from no exercise. Her diet was monotonous. She stood in filth and excrement. She was deprived of every aspect of normal elephant life. She hated it.
She was in the Hawthorn circus, which had a track record of animal cruelty violations. In 1988, according to USDA documents, Tyke was beaten in public to the point where she was "screaming and bending down on three legs to avoid being hit." The trainer said he was "disciplining" her. By April of 1993, she had had enough. She tried to escape during a circus performance. She didn't make it. In July she tried to escape again; she was unsuccessful. Hawthorn should have retired her right then and there, as she was an obvious threat to the public. But they didn't.
For the next year she performed in the circus and lived in a barren concrete barn, chained, between shows. The bullhook beatings continued. Her life stank. She vacillated between terror and boredom. She was not really an elephant.
In August of 1994 Tyke reached a breaking point. She had been in the circus nearly 20 years. She was tired of being beaten, whipped, and kicked. She could no longer take the pain and the confinement. She was angry and wanted to be free. At an afternoon performance at the Neal Blaidsell Center in Honolulu, it all came to a head.
At some point during the show, she veered from the script. Circus staff tried to beat her back, but no bullhook or whip could stop the rage that had been building inside her for two decades.
Since she was performing at the time, the majority of Tyke's attack was caught on tape including the famous video image of the African elephant attacking publicist Steve Hirano outside of the event. Video footage is available from PETA.[2]
According to PETA, this wasn't the first time Tyke had gotten loose and run out of control. Tyke had been involved in three other incidents before:
- On April 21, 1993, 16 months before the incident in Hawaii, Tyke ripped through the front doors of the Jaffa Mosque during a performance and ran out of control for an hour in Altoona, Pennsylvania. An estimated 4,500 school children had to leave the building as it was evacuated, and the rampage caused more than $14,000 in damage.[1]
- In an affidavit obtained by the USDA from a circus worker the next day on April 22, Tyke apparently had also attacked a tiger trainer while the circus was in Altoona, Pennsylvania.[1]
- It was also reported on July 23, 1993 that Tyke "ran amok at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot, N.D., trampling and injuring a handler and frightening the crowd as she ran uncontrolled for 25 minutes."[3]
Friday, February 24, 2012
children make their way to school
The trip that 3-year-old Jannat Abu-Labdeh and her relatives make to nursery school begins at 6:45 A.M., when she sets out with 37 other children from her Israeli Arab extended family.
The children range in age from 3 to 16, and the trip to their various schools in Ramle takes almost two hours. It includes a bus trip and considerable distances on foot.
The family lives in the Emek Lod regional council district, but there are no Arabic-language schools in the area, so the children go instead to Ramle, which is a mixed Arab-Jewish town.
When asked why it doesn't provide transportation for the children, the regional council said the family members are squatting on privately-owned agricultural land and have ignored a court eviction order. Family members denied the allegation that they have been illegally squatting on the land, claiming they have lived at the location since before the founding of Israel in 1948.
The children's trek from home near the Tzrifin junction includes a march over a winding dirt path crossing busy streets, a wait for a public bus, and then another long walk on foot to school. After the trip of more than six kilometers, the children still arrive late to class. The children say they also have to wait to get into school because they show up late.
Education regulations require local authorities to provide transportation for children up to 4th grade if they live more than 2 kilometers from school. From 5th grade, it is 3 kilometers. The Education Ministry said school transportation is a local obligation and the ministry's involvement is limited to funding for it. The ministry said the regional council has not requested such funding for the Abu-Labdeh children.
Tal Hassin, a lawyer for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI ), says whether or not the regional council is correct that the family is squatting illegally on private land, there shouldn't be any connection between planning and building regulations and the right of the children to transportation to school. She called the transportation "part of their constitutional right to education." She said repeated requests to the local authorities have not changed the situation.
The Emek Lod regional council said that the extended family clan had taken over private land without permission and built on the land without obtaining permits, all of which is currently in court litigation. "The owners of the land are demanding that they [the Abu-Labdehs] leave immediately and return the land to its original purpose - agriculture. The place is not a residential community."
Jannat Abu-Labdeh's father, Mohammed, sees the children's routine as a violation of his daughter's rights. "I'm talking about the basic right as a person and a citizen - a 3-year-old girl shouldn't spend two hours getting to nursery school. The children shouldn't get to school an hour late every day. We shouldn't have to go with them every day for hours," he said. "The state doesn't care for one reason. Because I'm Arab."
"I'm going to be late today for my math test," said Ibrahim, who is 14 and a half. "Every day it's the same story," said Jannat's aunt of the 3-year-old's routine. "It's hard to go this way every morning. She's 3. Her mother is with her 2-year-old sister and can't make a trip with her to nursery school for two hours in each direction. So I go with her. I also have six children [of my own] here."
As the children make their way to school, they lug coats and backpacks. About 20 minutes into the journey, they cross the bridge over the Tzrifin junction. "Last month, one of them almost got run over," the aunt said.
As he rode the bus, one of the children confessed that he lies every time he gets to school late. "They don't believe me at school that I've left home on time. I hope they let me in," he says. The children get off the bus in the center of Ramle and walk through the city market and a parking lot. For the next half hour they begin to scatter to their different schools, their day only just beginning.
The children range in age from 3 to 16, and the trip to their various schools in Ramle takes almost two hours. It includes a bus trip and considerable distances on foot.
The family lives in the Emek Lod regional council district, but there are no Arabic-language schools in the area, so the children go instead to Ramle, which is a mixed Arab-Jewish town.
When asked why it doesn't provide transportation for the children, the regional council said the family members are squatting on privately-owned agricultural land and have ignored a court eviction order. Family members denied the allegation that they have been illegally squatting on the land, claiming they have lived at the location since before the founding of Israel in 1948.
The children's trek from home near the Tzrifin junction includes a march over a winding dirt path crossing busy streets, a wait for a public bus, and then another long walk on foot to school. After the trip of more than six kilometers, the children still arrive late to class. The children say they also have to wait to get into school because they show up late.
Education regulations require local authorities to provide transportation for children up to 4th grade if they live more than 2 kilometers from school. From 5th grade, it is 3 kilometers. The Education Ministry said school transportation is a local obligation and the ministry's involvement is limited to funding for it. The ministry said the regional council has not requested such funding for the Abu-Labdeh children.
Tal Hassin, a lawyer for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI ), says whether or not the regional council is correct that the family is squatting illegally on private land, there shouldn't be any connection between planning and building regulations and the right of the children to transportation to school. She called the transportation "part of their constitutional right to education." She said repeated requests to the local authorities have not changed the situation.
The Emek Lod regional council said that the extended family clan had taken over private land without permission and built on the land without obtaining permits, all of which is currently in court litigation. "The owners of the land are demanding that they [the Abu-Labdehs] leave immediately and return the land to its original purpose - agriculture. The place is not a residential community."
Jannat Abu-Labdeh's father, Mohammed, sees the children's routine as a violation of his daughter's rights. "I'm talking about the basic right as a person and a citizen - a 3-year-old girl shouldn't spend two hours getting to nursery school. The children shouldn't get to school an hour late every day. We shouldn't have to go with them every day for hours," he said. "The state doesn't care for one reason. Because I'm Arab."
"I'm going to be late today for my math test," said Ibrahim, who is 14 and a half. "Every day it's the same story," said Jannat's aunt of the 3-year-old's routine. "It's hard to go this way every morning. She's 3. Her mother is with her 2-year-old sister and can't make a trip with her to nursery school for two hours in each direction. So I go with her. I also have six children [of my own] here."
As the children make their way to school, they lug coats and backpacks. About 20 minutes into the journey, they cross the bridge over the Tzrifin junction. "Last month, one of them almost got run over," the aunt said.
As he rode the bus, one of the children confessed that he lies every time he gets to school late. "They don't believe me at school that I've left home on time. I hope they let me in," he says. The children get off the bus in the center of Ramle and walk through the city market and a parking lot. For the next half hour they begin to scatter to their different schools, their day only just beginning.
Las Vegas
The Nevada caucuses are on Saturday, but you don't hear much from the candidates about what's gone wrong economically in Las Vegas.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
drug shortage
US health authorities said Tuesday they will import a drug to treat ovarian, bone marrow and AIDS-related skin cancer from India in order to ward off a worrying shortage.
"Lipodox will be imported as an alternative to Doxil," the US Food and Drug Administration said in a statement, noting that a temporary deal has been made with Sun Pharma Global FZE in India to supply US patients with the drug.
"Temporary importation of unapproved foreign drugs is considered in rare cases when there is a shortage of an approved drug that is critical to patients and the shortage cannot be resolved in a timely fashion with FDA-approved drugs."
Another drug that has been in short supply, methotrexate -- needed for treating a variety of cancers including children with leukemia -- was approved in preservative-free generic form for maker APP Pharmaceuticals in Illinois and should be available by March, the FDA said.
In the meantime, a shipment of 31,000 vials, or one month's supply, is being sent right away to hundreds of US hospitals and treatment centers by Hospira, the agency added.
Prescription drug shortages in the United States nearly tripled from 2005 to 2010, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Many drugs are falling out of production because drugmakers cannot profit when medications go generic and carry extremely low price tags. Profit-incentive for doctors to prescribe more expensive cancer meds has also contributed to the problem.
In October 2011, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing action to head off shortages in life-saving prescription drugs.
Obama's order strengthened the FDA's power to predict and tackle potential shortages of prescription drugs and to halt illegal price gouging of life-saving medicines during supply shortfalls.
Since then, the FDA has been able to ward off 114 drug shortages, compared to a total of 195 drug shortages prevented in 2011, the agency said.
The change is mostly due to a six-fold increase in companies complying with a request to give early warning to the FDA if they foresee a shortage, so that health authorities can seek other suppliers.
The FDA on Tuesday also "issued draft guidance to industry on detailed requirements for both mandatory and voluntary notifications to the agency of issues that could result in a drug shortage or supply disruption," it said.
"A drug shortage can be a frightening prospect for patients and President Obama made it clear that preventing these shortages from happening is a top priority of his administration," said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
"Through the collaborative work of FDA, industry, and other stakeholders, patients and families waiting for these products or anxious about their availability should now be able to get the medication they need."
"Lipodox will be imported as an alternative to Doxil," the US Food and Drug Administration said in a statement, noting that a temporary deal has been made with Sun Pharma Global FZE in India to supply US patients with the drug.
"Temporary importation of unapproved foreign drugs is considered in rare cases when there is a shortage of an approved drug that is critical to patients and the shortage cannot be resolved in a timely fashion with FDA-approved drugs."
Another drug that has been in short supply, methotrexate -- needed for treating a variety of cancers including children with leukemia -- was approved in preservative-free generic form for maker APP Pharmaceuticals in Illinois and should be available by March, the FDA said.
In the meantime, a shipment of 31,000 vials, or one month's supply, is being sent right away to hundreds of US hospitals and treatment centers by Hospira, the agency added.
Prescription drug shortages in the United States nearly tripled from 2005 to 2010, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Many drugs are falling out of production because drugmakers cannot profit when medications go generic and carry extremely low price tags. Profit-incentive for doctors to prescribe more expensive cancer meds has also contributed to the problem.
In October 2011, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing action to head off shortages in life-saving prescription drugs.
Obama's order strengthened the FDA's power to predict and tackle potential shortages of prescription drugs and to halt illegal price gouging of life-saving medicines during supply shortfalls.
Since then, the FDA has been able to ward off 114 drug shortages, compared to a total of 195 drug shortages prevented in 2011, the agency said.
The change is mostly due to a six-fold increase in companies complying with a request to give early warning to the FDA if they foresee a shortage, so that health authorities can seek other suppliers.
The FDA on Tuesday also "issued draft guidance to industry on detailed requirements for both mandatory and voluntary notifications to the agency of issues that could result in a drug shortage or supply disruption," it said.
"A drug shortage can be a frightening prospect for patients and President Obama made it clear that preventing these shortages from happening is a top priority of his administration," said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
"Through the collaborative work of FDA, industry, and other stakeholders, patients and families waiting for these products or anxious about their availability should now be able to get the medication they need."
the national E-Verify database
At Wednesday night's GOP debate, Mitt Romney called Arizona a "model" for immigration enforcement, singling out the state's 2007 law mandating that all employers use the national E-Verify database when hiring workers. He promised to institute a national E-Verify law if elected. "You do that, and just as Arizona is finding out, you can stop illegal immigration," he said. Last May, the state defeated the Chamber of Commerce's suit against the law in the Supreme Court.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Romney's adviser on immigration issues, helped write Arizona's E-Verify law as well as Arizona's 2010 SB1070 law (Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act). At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Kobach touted what's happened in Arizona as proof that "self-deportation"—Romney's chosen immigration strategy—is working. "People started self-deporting by the tens of thousands," after E-Verify passed, he said, according to the Hill.
Romney and Kobach are right that, on at least one level, the law has had a significant impact in Arizona. A study published last year by the Public Policy Institute of California shows that about 92,000, or 17 percent, of the Hispanic non-citizen population of Arizona left the state in the year after the state passed E-Verify legislation; most of those who moved were probably illegal immigrants. PPI researchers told Yahoo News that the law—not the recession, or highly-publicized raids targeting illegal immigrants—was the most likely cause of the exodus.
Yet while PPI's research helps predict what might happen if an E-Verify system were implemented nationally, as Romney hopes, it exposes some of the less-desirable side-effects of the law as well. In Arizona, the non-citizen Hispanic workers who did stay behind increasingly shifted into a shadow economy, said Magnus Lofstrom, a co-author of the study. The self-employment rate among non-citizen Hispanics in Arizona nearly doubled post-E-Verify, and a higher proportion of people who said they were self-employed lived in poverty and lacked health insurance.
Lofstrom told Yahoo News that the informal economy would grow significantly nationwide if a national E-Verify system were established. While illegal immigrants in Arizona were able to move to other states to find work, their choices would be significantly limited if E-Verify were implemented nationally; the only real (and unlikely) option would be to for undocumented workers to move to another country. In other words, we'd be much more likely to see an increase in informal employment rather than a massive movement among illegal immigrants to "self-deport."
What would that mean? An increase in informal employment among the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants would result in lower tax revenues--since non-self employed illegal immigrants are more likely to have taxes withheld from their paychecks--higher poverty levels among illegal immigrants, and a higher potential for employer abuse, said Lofstrom. (Right now, America has a relatively small shadow economy compared to other developed countries, like Italy.)
Another snag with instituting a national E-Verify program is that the current system cannot detect identity fraud. A 2009 government-commissioned study found that E-Verify only flags illegal immigrants half the time, because it can't detect when a worker is using documents that belong to someone else. (Employers enter in Social Security or alien registration numbers, birthdates and names of employees into the database, which figures out whether they match the federal immigration and Social Security databases.) To combat this fraud, Romney has said he supports biometric ID cards for immigrants that would contain a fingerprint or other identifying device that clears them for work. Romney hasn't explicitly said that every person in America should have this card--an idea that many libertarians object to. But without being adopted universally, undocumented people could still use false documents. (The Romney team had not responded to requests for comment from Yahoo News by the time this article was published.) Mandatory national ID cards have played a starring role in failed bipartisan immigration reform proposals in Congress over the past few years.
In Arizona, there is no state-wide system to make sure businesses are using E-Verify. Rather, individual citizens are asked to expose employers that they suspect of hiring illegal immigrants to their local district attorneys. Yet district attorneys were not granted the power to subpoena businesses that are suspected of hiring illegal immigrants, and some DAs have complained that the law is an unfunded mandate for their offices, according to Judy Gans, immigration policy director at Arizona University's Udall Center. Only three businesses were prosecuted under the law in the first three years after it passed.
But business owners still worry that E-Verify's high error rate could leave them open to prosecution. Republicans in Arizona's state Senate are now moving to change the law at their request. Republican state senator Jerry Lewis, who defeated anti-illegal immigration hardliner Russell Pearce last year in a historic recall election, is co-sponsoring a bill with seven other Republican senators to provide "safe harbor" to businesses that use E-Verify but still accidentally hire unauthorized workers.
Lewis, who is backing Romney, told Yahoo News that he is not a fan of Kobach's draft immigration laws.
"Does Kobach's presence in Romney's campaign create a difficulty for him? I believe it does," Lewis said. "I think people want a real solution and I don't think the legislation that has been drafted by Kobach is a real solution." Lewis said the immigration laws "polarize people."
Lewis added that he thinks Romney will eventually agree with him that making all illegal immigrants leave the country is not a solution to the country's immigration problems.
"I think he'll realize that there is a place for a real solution to the issue, and it's not just let's get everybody that's undocumented out of the country," Lewis said.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Romney's adviser on immigration issues, helped write Arizona's E-Verify law as well as Arizona's 2010 SB1070 law (Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act). At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Kobach touted what's happened in Arizona as proof that "self-deportation"—Romney's chosen immigration strategy—is working. "People started self-deporting by the tens of thousands," after E-Verify passed, he said, according to the Hill.
Romney and Kobach are right that, on at least one level, the law has had a significant impact in Arizona. A study published last year by the Public Policy Institute of California shows that about 92,000, or 17 percent, of the Hispanic non-citizen population of Arizona left the state in the year after the state passed E-Verify legislation; most of those who moved were probably illegal immigrants. PPI researchers told Yahoo News that the law—not the recession, or highly-publicized raids targeting illegal immigrants—was the most likely cause of the exodus.
Yet while PPI's research helps predict what might happen if an E-Verify system were implemented nationally, as Romney hopes, it exposes some of the less-desirable side-effects of the law as well. In Arizona, the non-citizen Hispanic workers who did stay behind increasingly shifted into a shadow economy, said Magnus Lofstrom, a co-author of the study. The self-employment rate among non-citizen Hispanics in Arizona nearly doubled post-E-Verify, and a higher proportion of people who said they were self-employed lived in poverty and lacked health insurance.
Lofstrom told Yahoo News that the informal economy would grow significantly nationwide if a national E-Verify system were established. While illegal immigrants in Arizona were able to move to other states to find work, their choices would be significantly limited if E-Verify were implemented nationally; the only real (and unlikely) option would be to for undocumented workers to move to another country. In other words, we'd be much more likely to see an increase in informal employment rather than a massive movement among illegal immigrants to "self-deport."
What would that mean? An increase in informal employment among the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants would result in lower tax revenues--since non-self employed illegal immigrants are more likely to have taxes withheld from their paychecks--higher poverty levels among illegal immigrants, and a higher potential for employer abuse, said Lofstrom. (Right now, America has a relatively small shadow economy compared to other developed countries, like Italy.)
Another snag with instituting a national E-Verify program is that the current system cannot detect identity fraud. A 2009 government-commissioned study found that E-Verify only flags illegal immigrants half the time, because it can't detect when a worker is using documents that belong to someone else. (Employers enter in Social Security or alien registration numbers, birthdates and names of employees into the database, which figures out whether they match the federal immigration and Social Security databases.) To combat this fraud, Romney has said he supports biometric ID cards for immigrants that would contain a fingerprint or other identifying device that clears them for work. Romney hasn't explicitly said that every person in America should have this card--an idea that many libertarians object to. But without being adopted universally, undocumented people could still use false documents. (The Romney team had not responded to requests for comment from Yahoo News by the time this article was published.) Mandatory national ID cards have played a starring role in failed bipartisan immigration reform proposals in Congress over the past few years.
In Arizona, there is no state-wide system to make sure businesses are using E-Verify. Rather, individual citizens are asked to expose employers that they suspect of hiring illegal immigrants to their local district attorneys. Yet district attorneys were not granted the power to subpoena businesses that are suspected of hiring illegal immigrants, and some DAs have complained that the law is an unfunded mandate for their offices, according to Judy Gans, immigration policy director at Arizona University's Udall Center. Only three businesses were prosecuted under the law in the first three years after it passed.
But business owners still worry that E-Verify's high error rate could leave them open to prosecution. Republicans in Arizona's state Senate are now moving to change the law at their request. Republican state senator Jerry Lewis, who defeated anti-illegal immigration hardliner Russell Pearce last year in a historic recall election, is co-sponsoring a bill with seven other Republican senators to provide "safe harbor" to businesses that use E-Verify but still accidentally hire unauthorized workers.
Lewis, who is backing Romney, told Yahoo News that he is not a fan of Kobach's draft immigration laws.
"Does Kobach's presence in Romney's campaign create a difficulty for him? I believe it does," Lewis said. "I think people want a real solution and I don't think the legislation that has been drafted by Kobach is a real solution." Lewis said the immigration laws "polarize people."
Lewis added that he thinks Romney will eventually agree with him that making all illegal immigrants leave the country is not a solution to the country's immigration problems.
"I think he'll realize that there is a place for a real solution to the issue, and it's not just let's get everybody that's undocumented out of the country," Lewis said.
winning popular support
The Taliban has created a sophisticated communications apparatus that projects an increasingly confident movement. Using the full range of media, it is successfully tapping into strains of Afghan nationalism and exploiting policy failures by the Kabul government and its international backers. The result is weakening public support for nation-building, even though few actively support the Taliban. The Karzai government and its allies must make greater efforts, through word and deed, to address sources of alienation exploited in Taliban propaganda, particularly by ending arbitrary detentions and curtailing civilian casualties from aerial bombing.
Analyzing the Taliban’s public statements has limits, since the insurgent group seeks to underscore successes and present itself as having the purest of aims, while disguising weaknesses and underplaying its brutality.
However, the method still offers a window into what the movement considers effective in terms of recruitment and bolstering its legitimacy among both supporters and potential sympathisers.
The movement reveals itself in its communications as:
Out of power and lacking control over territory, the Taliban has proved adept at projecting itself as stronger than it is in terms of numbers and resources.
Despite the increasing sophistication of some of its propaganda, however, it still puts out contradictory messages that indicate internal rifts and the diffuse nature of the insurgency. These reveal a cross-border leadership and support apparatus striving to present a unified front and assert control even as various groups maintain their own communications networks. Maintaining relations with transnational jihadist networks, which have a more global agenda, is a potential problem for the Taliban, which has always been a largely nationalistic movement.
A website in the name of the former regime – the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – is used as an international distribution centre for leadership statements and inflated tales of battlefield exploits. While fairly rudimentary, this is not a small effort; updates appear several times a day in five languages. Magazines put out by the movement or its supporters provide a further source of information on leadership structures and issues considered to be of importance. But for the largely rural and illiterate population, great efforts are also put into conveying preaching and battle reports via DVDs, audio cassettes, shabnamah (night letters – pamphlets or leaflets usually containing threats) and traditional nationalist songs and poems. The Taliban also increasingly uses mobile phones to spread its message.
The vast majority of the material is in Pashtu, and a shortage of language skills in the international community means much of this either passes unnoticed or is misunderstood. English-language statements are relatively crude, but the Taliban is able to put out its story rapidly. More effort is devoted to Arabic language output, aimed at soliciting the support of transnational networks and funders. The overriding strategic narrative is a quest for legitimacy and the projection of strength. Use of tactics such as suicide bombings – previously unknown in Afghanistan – and roadside bombs, as well as such audacious actions in 2008 as a prison break in Kandahar city, an attack on a military parade attended by President Hamid Karzai and an assault on a five-star hotel demonstrate that grabbing attention lies at the core of operations.
Within Afghanistan the Taliban is adept at exploiting local disenfranchisement and disillusionment. The Kabul administration needs to ensure it is seen as one worth fighting for, not least by ending the culture of impunity and demanding accountability of its members.
The international community must provide the necessary support and pressure for improved performance, while also examining its own actions. Whatever the military benefits of arbitrary detentions, they are far outweighed by the alienation they cause. The effectiveness of aerial bombardment, even if strictly exercised within the bounds of international law, must be considered against the damage to popular support.
Greater efforts are needed in Western capitals to explain to their own populations the necessity of staying for the long haul rather than yielding to the pressure of quick fixes that give only the appearance of action.
The Taliban is not going to be defeated militarily and is impervious to outside criticism. Rather, the legitimacy of its ideas and actions must be challenged more forcefully by the Afghan government and citizens. Its killings of civilians and targeting of community leaders need to be highlighted, including a public accounting for actions by the militants through open trials – something that has not yet happened. Strengthening the legitimacy of the Afghan government and ensuring that its actions – and those of its international backers – are similarly bound by the rule of law should be an important complement. Ultimately, winning popular support is not about telling local communities that they are better off today. It is about proving it.
Analyzing the Taliban’s public statements has limits, since the insurgent group seeks to underscore successes and present itself as having the purest of aims, while disguising weaknesses and underplaying its brutality.
However, the method still offers a window into what the movement considers effective in terms of recruitment and bolstering its legitimacy among both supporters and potential sympathisers.
The movement reveals itself in its communications as:
- the product of the anti-Soviet jihad and the civil war that followed but not representative of indigenous strands of religious thought or traditional preconflict power structures;
- a largely ethno-nationalist phenomenon, without popular grassroots appeal beyond its core of support in sections of the Pashtun community;
- still reliant on sanctuaries in Pakistan, even though local support has grown;
- linked with transnational extremist groups for mostly tactical rather than strategic reasons but divided over these links internally;
- seeking to exploit local tribal disputes for recruitment and mainly appealing to the disgruntled and disenfranchised in specific locations, but lacking a wider tribal agenda; and
- a difficult negotiating partner because it lacks a coherent agenda, includes allies with divergent
agendas and has a leadership that refuses to talk before the withdrawal of foreign forces and without
the imposition of Sharia (Islamic law).
Out of power and lacking control over territory, the Taliban has proved adept at projecting itself as stronger than it is in terms of numbers and resources.
Despite the increasing sophistication of some of its propaganda, however, it still puts out contradictory messages that indicate internal rifts and the diffuse nature of the insurgency. These reveal a cross-border leadership and support apparatus striving to present a unified front and assert control even as various groups maintain their own communications networks. Maintaining relations with transnational jihadist networks, which have a more global agenda, is a potential problem for the Taliban, which has always been a largely nationalistic movement.
A website in the name of the former regime – the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – is used as an international distribution centre for leadership statements and inflated tales of battlefield exploits. While fairly rudimentary, this is not a small effort; updates appear several times a day in five languages. Magazines put out by the movement or its supporters provide a further source of information on leadership structures and issues considered to be of importance. But for the largely rural and illiterate population, great efforts are also put into conveying preaching and battle reports via DVDs, audio cassettes, shabnamah (night letters – pamphlets or leaflets usually containing threats) and traditional nationalist songs and poems. The Taliban also increasingly uses mobile phones to spread its message.
The vast majority of the material is in Pashtu, and a shortage of language skills in the international community means much of this either passes unnoticed or is misunderstood. English-language statements are relatively crude, but the Taliban is able to put out its story rapidly. More effort is devoted to Arabic language output, aimed at soliciting the support of transnational networks and funders. The overriding strategic narrative is a quest for legitimacy and the projection of strength. Use of tactics such as suicide bombings – previously unknown in Afghanistan – and roadside bombs, as well as such audacious actions in 2008 as a prison break in Kandahar city, an attack on a military parade attended by President Hamid Karzai and an assault on a five-star hotel demonstrate that grabbing attention lies at the core of operations.
Within Afghanistan the Taliban is adept at exploiting local disenfranchisement and disillusionment. The Kabul administration needs to ensure it is seen as one worth fighting for, not least by ending the culture of impunity and demanding accountability of its members.
The international community must provide the necessary support and pressure for improved performance, while also examining its own actions. Whatever the military benefits of arbitrary detentions, they are far outweighed by the alienation they cause. The effectiveness of aerial bombardment, even if strictly exercised within the bounds of international law, must be considered against the damage to popular support.
Greater efforts are needed in Western capitals to explain to their own populations the necessity of staying for the long haul rather than yielding to the pressure of quick fixes that give only the appearance of action.
The Taliban is not going to be defeated militarily and is impervious to outside criticism. Rather, the legitimacy of its ideas and actions must be challenged more forcefully by the Afghan government and citizens. Its killings of civilians and targeting of community leaders need to be highlighted, including a public accounting for actions by the militants through open trials – something that has not yet happened. Strengthening the legitimacy of the Afghan government and ensuring that its actions – and those of its international backers – are similarly bound by the rule of law should be an important complement. Ultimately, winning popular support is not about telling local communities that they are better off today. It is about proving it.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
imprisonment without charge
JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian member of a violent Islamic militant group that advocates killing Israeli civilians agreed to end his 66-day hunger strike to protest his imprisonment without charge after reaching a deal with Israel that will free him in April, the Israeli Justice Ministry said Tuesday.
The agreement ended a tense standoff that left 33-year-old Khader Adnan clinging to life and drew international attention to a controversial Israeli policy of holding suspected Palestinian militants without charge.
The hunger strike also turned Adnan, a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group who has openly called on members to carry out suicide bombings, into a hero for Palestinians.
Under the deal struck with military prosecutors, Adnan agreed to resume eating immediately, the Justice Ministry said.
Outside the Jerusalem high court, some two dozen demonstrators waved the Palestinian flag. "Khader is coming home!" they chanted.
The statement said that if "no new additional substantial evidence" emerges against Adnan, he will be released on April 17.
That means his four-month detention order will be counted from the day of his arrest, not the day it was issued several weeks later. The deal also suggests that military prosecutors will not seek extensions, which can often be used to prolong administrative detentions.
Adnan was a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed violent group that has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks. It is not known whether Adnan participated in violent acts.
A Youtube video shows Adnan praising suicide bombers and calling on Palestinians to carry out more violence at a rally in 2007. "Who among you will carry the next explosive belt? Who among you will fire the next bullets? Who among you will have his body parts blown all over?" he can be heard saying.
The Justice Ministry said Adnan, who remains hospitalized, accepted the deal through his attorney.
The deal was swiftly denounced by Israel's hardline foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman."It was a wrong decision to release the Jihad activist. But it is our duty to respect and honor every Supreme Court decision even when we don't agree with it," he said.
Adnan's lawyers said the deal would set a precedent for other Palestinian prisoners — that they too, could force Israel to listen to their demands.
"Sheikh Khader is an example for Palestinians," said one of his lawyers, Mahmoud Hassan. "He showed that their demands can be met."
Tuesday's compromise was announced shortly before the Israeli Supreme Court was to hold an emergency hearing on Adnan's appeal. The court moved the hearing up by two days, over concerns about Adnan's health. He has been held in an Israeli hospital for several weeks because of his condition.
Adnan's supporters and physicians said in recent days that he couldn't survive much longer on his hunger strike. Doctors who treated him said he lost some 60 pounds (30 kilograms), his hair was falling out, his skin had turned yellow and that he was in danger of a heart attack.
Adnan's wife, Randa, was ecstatic over the news.
"The Israelis had no proof and that's why they've agreed to these four months," she said in a telephone interview. "He's shown by his steadfastness that we can be victorious."
She laughed, and supporters could be heard ululating with joy in the background.
Adnan was arrested from his West Bank home on Dec. 17 and launched his hunger strike the following day.
He said he was protesting Israel's policy of "administrative detentions," in which it holds suspected Palestinian militants for months and even years at a time without charge. Adnan also claimed to have been beaten and humiliated in prison.
Israel has said Adnan was suspected of acts that "threaten regional security" without elaborating. It has not responded to the abuse allegations.
Israel has defended the policy of administrative detentions as a necessary tool to stop militant activity. It says the measure is needed to protect its network of Palestinian informants.
Adnan has been on three hunger strikes in the past. His sister Maali Musa said her brother undertook a 14-day hunger strike in 1999 after he was imprisoned by Palestinian authorities for hurling rotten eggs at officials during a demonstration.
He went without food for 28 days to protest his solitary confinement in 2005 when he was imprisoned by Israel. His sister said his strike forced Israeli authorities to return him to live with other prisoners.
He also undertook a 12-day hunger strike in 2010, again when he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the West Bank. Musa said her brother wasn't charged with anything, and was quickly released.
Adnan's latest protest was the longest hunger strike ever by a Palestinian prisoner, and had caused some unease in Israel. The European Union and United Nations had expressed concern over the case and urged Israel to promptly give Adnan a trial.
There are some 300 Palestinians in Israeli administrative detention. They are a fraction of the some 4,200 Palestinians held in Israel, many who are doing time for charges ranging from throwing stones at Israeli soldiers to killing Israeli civilians.
Palestinians venerate the prisoners, viewing them as freedom fighters.
The second longest hunger strike in Palestinian history was by a woman, Itaf Alayan, who refused food for 43 days before she was released in 1997. She was also an administrative detainee.
________
Follow Hadid at www.twitter.com/diaahadid
vaccine trials
A paper published by the American Medical Association's Virtual Mentor is concerned that current enrollment in vaccine trials is extremely low.
The proposed solution?
Creating a federal law that would force each individual to make a "mandated choice" to participate in vaccine trials.
Such a law would give drug companies a more or less guaranteed supply of human guinea pigs.
According to the featured paper:
"... The lack of animal models that can reliably predict vaccine efficacy means that development still unavoidably relies on testing of novel vaccines in healthy individuals...
In recent decades there has been a distressing decline in the numbers of healthy volunteers who participate in clinical trials, a decline that has the potential to become a key rate-limiting factor in vaccine development.
... The modest financial remuneration commonly provided often means that students and the unemployed make up the bulk of volunteers.
As a result, the risks of developing a health intervention that would benefit the whole population are carried disproportionately by some of society's most poor and vulnerable.
This is a situation few would judge to be fair or ethical. Compulsory involvement in vaccine studies is one alternative solution that is not as outlandish as it might seem on first consideration.
Many societies already mandate that citizens undertake activities for the good of society; in several European countries registration for organ-donation has switched from "opt-in" (the current U.S. system) to "opt-out" systems... and most societies expect citizens to undertake jury service when called upon...
>>> Read the Full Article
The proposed solution?
Creating a federal law that would force each individual to make a "mandated choice" to participate in vaccine trials.
Such a law would give drug companies a more or less guaranteed supply of human guinea pigs.
According to the featured paper:
"... The lack of animal models that can reliably predict vaccine efficacy means that development still unavoidably relies on testing of novel vaccines in healthy individuals...
In recent decades there has been a distressing decline in the numbers of healthy volunteers who participate in clinical trials, a decline that has the potential to become a key rate-limiting factor in vaccine development.
... The modest financial remuneration commonly provided often means that students and the unemployed make up the bulk of volunteers.
As a result, the risks of developing a health intervention that would benefit the whole population are carried disproportionately by some of society's most poor and vulnerable.
This is a situation few would judge to be fair or ethical. Compulsory involvement in vaccine studies is one alternative solution that is not as outlandish as it might seem on first consideration.
Many societies already mandate that citizens undertake activities for the good of society; in several European countries registration for organ-donation has switched from "opt-in" (the current U.S. system) to "opt-out" systems... and most societies expect citizens to undertake jury service when called upon...
>>> Read the Full Article
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
the morning-after pill
By Meaghan Lamarre, Internet Communications Coordinator
After more than a year of waiting for over-the-counter (OTC) access to emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill, the issue is again before the FDA, which has twice delayed a decision on the product.
After more than a year of waiting for over-the-counter (OTC) access to emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill, the issue is again before the FDA, which has twice delayed a decision on the product.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Hegemony
Hegemony (UK: /hɨˈɡɛməni/; US: /ˈhɛdʒɨmoʊni/, /hɨˈdʒɛməni/; Greek: ἡγεμονία hēgemonía, leadership, rule) is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon (leader state) rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force.[1] In Ancient Greece (8th c. BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states.[2] In the 19th century, hegemony denoted the predominance of one country upon others; from which derives hegemonism, the Great Power politics meant to establish hegemony.[3] In 20th-century political science, the concept of hegemony is central to cultural hegemony, a philosophic and sociologic explanation of how, by the manipulation of the societal value system, one social class dominates the other social classes of a society, with a world view justifying the status quo of bourgeois hegemony.[2][4][5][6]
Social interaction
Symbolic interaction, also known as interactionism, is a sociological theory that places emphasis on micro-scale social interaction to provide subjective meaning in human behavior, the social process and pragmatism.
Herbert Blumer (1969) set out three basic premises of the perspective:
The emphases on symbols, negotiated meaning, and social construction of society brought on attention to the roles people play. Erving Goffman (1958) was a social theorist who studied roles dramaturgically, through the analogy of theater, to describe human social behavior as roughly following a script and humans as role-playing actors. Role-taking is a key mechanism that permits people to see another person's perspective to understand what an action might mean to another person. There is an improvisational quality of roles; however, actors often take on a script that they follow. Because of the uncertainty of roles in social contexts, the burden of role-making is on the person in the situation. In this sense, we are proactive participants in our environment.[5]
Herbert Blumer (1969) set out three basic premises of the perspective:
- "Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things."
- "The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with others and the society."
- "These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretative process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters."
The emphases on symbols, negotiated meaning, and social construction of society brought on attention to the roles people play. Erving Goffman (1958) was a social theorist who studied roles dramaturgically, through the analogy of theater, to describe human social behavior as roughly following a script and humans as role-playing actors. Role-taking is a key mechanism that permits people to see another person's perspective to understand what an action might mean to another person. There is an improvisational quality of roles; however, actors often take on a script that they follow. Because of the uncertainty of roles in social contexts, the burden of role-making is on the person in the situation. In this sense, we are proactive participants in our environment.[5]
Friday, February 17, 2012
Energy policies
Focusing energy policy and social change on anthropogenic global warming is at best a half-measure and at worst could have negative repercussions, for two reasons: First, if there is a cold winter or three for whatever reason, and in a period of severe economic hardships high quality energy is being used to mitigate GHGs that might be spent on other needs then the populace may quickly lose their buy-in to carbon taxes etc. and behavioral changes that were enacted DUE to global warming. But more importantly: it removes focus and responsibility from the larger problems we face: as long as we compete for conspicuous consumption, the non-GHG externalities from more consumption will increase to offset GHG reduction policies (kind of like quitting drinking and taking up sugar – 'serotonin deficiency' is root cause, not alcoholism). In sum, we should definitely be concerned about our impact on planetary ecosystems (our nest) and what toxins we emit, but this should be part of a larger science based roadmap not the entire roadmap. This will have the positive externality of mitigating climate change as well! In a sentence, we can't fight AGW by compromising our energy predicament, but can fight both by reducing consumption.
international standard for banking regulators
Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords, (now extended and effectively superseded by Basel III), which are recommendations on banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
Basel II, initially published in June 2004, was intended to create an international standard for banking regulators to control how much capital banks need to put aside to guard against the types of financial and operational risks banks (and the whole economy) face. One focus was to maintain sufficient consistency of regulations so that this does not become a source of competitive inequality amongst internationally active banks. Advocates of Basel II believed that such an international standard could help protect the international financial system from the types of problems that might arise should a major bank or a series of banks collapse. In theory, Basel II attempted to accomplish this by setting up risk and capital management requirements designed to ensure that a bank has adequate capital for the risk the bank exposes itself to through its lending and investment practices. Generally speaking, these rules mean that the greater risk to which the bank is exposed, the greater the amount of capital the bank needs to hold to safeguard its solvency and overall economic stability.
Politically, it was difficult to implement Basel II in the regulatory environment prior to 2008, and progress was generally slow until that year's major banking crisis caused mostly by credit default swaps, mortgage-backed security markets and similar derivatives. As Basel III was negotiated, this was top of mind, and accordingly much more stringent standards were contemplated, and quickly adopted in some key countries including the USA.
Basel II, initially published in June 2004, was intended to create an international standard for banking regulators to control how much capital banks need to put aside to guard against the types of financial and operational risks banks (and the whole economy) face. One focus was to maintain sufficient consistency of regulations so that this does not become a source of competitive inequality amongst internationally active banks. Advocates of Basel II believed that such an international standard could help protect the international financial system from the types of problems that might arise should a major bank or a series of banks collapse. In theory, Basel II attempted to accomplish this by setting up risk and capital management requirements designed to ensure that a bank has adequate capital for the risk the bank exposes itself to through its lending and investment practices. Generally speaking, these rules mean that the greater risk to which the bank is exposed, the greater the amount of capital the bank needs to hold to safeguard its solvency and overall economic stability.
Politically, it was difficult to implement Basel II in the regulatory environment prior to 2008, and progress was generally slow until that year's major banking crisis caused mostly by credit default swaps, mortgage-backed security markets and similar derivatives. As Basel III was negotiated, this was top of mind, and accordingly much more stringent standards were contemplated, and quickly adopted in some key countries including the USA.
After meeting basic needs, incremental income adds little to well being
It can be seen, that at low levels of GNP, happiness is lacking, but once a certain level of GNP is reached, incremental income per capita adds very little to subjective well being.
After meeting basic needs, lifestyle choices make up the majority of the difference in the GNP spectrum, and lower energy lifestyles do just about as well as high energy lifestyles
Can We Be Happy Using Less Energy? Uhhh.... YES!
Posted by nate hagens on June 21, 2007 - 7:10pm
Topic: Demand/Consumption
Tags: happiness index, world values survey [list all tags]
Peak Oil is one of many symptoms of an ecologically full planet. Our genetically embedded drive for `more' coupled with an expanding world population of 6.5 billion mathematically suggests a finite limit for growth will eventually be reached, if it hasn't been already.Topic: Demand/Consumption
Tags: happiness index, world values survey [list all tags]
In discussions about the impacts of Peak Oil, it is sometimes implicitly assumed that we NEED to replace the energy lost from the coming liquid fuels decline with other energy sources in order to maintain our way of life and our happiness. Indeed, it seems that much of the current effort is focused on comparing/discovering the best energy alternatives with respect to EROI, environmental impact and scalability/timing. In addition, demand experts also look at efficiency, carpooling, 4 day workweek, living locally type solutions, etc. In this post, I look at Peak Oil from a broader context: the necessity and purpose of continued increases in demand for energy. What is it all for, if not to make us happy?
Veblen goods
In economics, Veblen goods are a group of commodities for which people's preference for buying them increases as their price increases, as greater price confers greater status, instead of decreasing according to the law of demand. A Veblen good is often also a positional good. The Veblen effect is named after economist Thorstein Veblen, who first pointed out the concepts of conspicuous consumption and status-seeking.
Some types of high-status goods, such as high-end wines, designer handbags, and luxury cars are Veblen goods, in that decreasing their prices decreases people's preference for buying them because they are no longer perceived as exclusive or high status products. [2] Similarly, a price increase may increase that high status and perception of exclusivity, thereby making the good even more preferable. Often such goods are no better or are even worse than their lower priced counterparts. However, this 'anomaly' is mitigated when one understands that the demand curve does not necessarily have only one peak. The goods generally thought to be Veblen goods are still subject to the curve since demand does not increase with price infinitely. Demand may go up with price within a certain price range, but at the top of that range the demand will cease to increase before it begins to fall again with further price increases. At the other end of the spectrum, where luxury items priced equal to non-luxury items of lower quality, all else being equal more people would buy the luxury items, even though a few Veblen-seekers would not. Thus, even a Veblen good is subject to the dictum that demand moves conversely to price, although the response of demand to price is not consistent at all points on the demand curve.
Veblen goods and consumer psychology are major themes of such late 20th-century novels as Viktor Pelevin's Generation "П" and Frédéric Beigbeder's 99 Francs.
Some types of high-status goods, such as high-end wines, designer handbags, and luxury cars are Veblen goods, in that decreasing their prices decreases people's preference for buying them because they are no longer perceived as exclusive or high status products. [2] Similarly, a price increase may increase that high status and perception of exclusivity, thereby making the good even more preferable. Often such goods are no better or are even worse than their lower priced counterparts. However, this 'anomaly' is mitigated when one understands that the demand curve does not necessarily have only one peak. The goods generally thought to be Veblen goods are still subject to the curve since demand does not increase with price infinitely. Demand may go up with price within a certain price range, but at the top of that range the demand will cease to increase before it begins to fall again with further price increases. At the other end of the spectrum, where luxury items priced equal to non-luxury items of lower quality, all else being equal more people would buy the luxury items, even though a few Veblen-seekers would not. Thus, even a Veblen good is subject to the dictum that demand moves conversely to price, although the response of demand to price is not consistent at all points on the demand curve.
Veblen goods and consumer psychology are major themes of such late 20th-century novels as Viktor Pelevin's Generation "П" and Frédéric Beigbeder's 99 Francs.
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