Monday, December 22, 2008

29 Days until Inauguration - China begins different view of human rights, to include mental anguish.

Chinese figures show fivefold rise in babies sick from contaminated milk (click here)
Tania Branigan in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 December 2008 10.44 GMT
Almost 300,000 babies were taken ill due to contaminated milk powder this year, China's health ministry has said; more than five times as many cases as previously disclosed.
It also raised the melamine scandal's death toll from four to six infants, underlining the impact of the country's worst safety scare in years. More than 860 babies are still hospitalised, with 154 of those classed as severe cases.
The crisis caused public outrage because it is thought the chemical was added deliberately to allow substandard milk to pass nutrition tests and because of the cover-up....



... Under the draft, only those whose life or health are seriously damaged would be entitled to compensation. These includes cases in which victims eventually die, are crippled or experience serious psychological damage.
Given the complexity of mental distress cases, the draft doesn't stipulate a uniform compensation standard. Amounts would be left to the courts to decide based on legal precedents.
The law draft was reviewed by the 9th NPC Standing Committee in December, 2002 as a part of the Civil Code draft. The NPC Standing Committee then decided to debate the nine law drafts, which constitute the Civil Code, one by one.

Grieving parents file lawsuit in China (click here)

By Edward Wong
Published: December 22, 2008

DEYANG, China: Parents whose children died in the collapse of an elementary school during the May earthquake that devastated western China have filed a lawsuit against government officials and a construction contractor. The lawsuit is the first filed by grieving parents angered by what they say is shoddy construction that led to the deaths of their children.
The lawsuit was filed Dec. 1 in a court here in the city of Deyang, in Sichuan Province, the region hit hardest by the May 12 earthquake that left 88,000 people dead or missing. It was the deadliest natural disaster in China in more than three decades. The parents who brought the lawsuit said in interviews last weekend that they were waiting to hear whether the court would allow the case to go forward.
Soon after the earthquake, government officials estimated that 7,000 classrooms had collapsed across the quake zone, killing up to 10,000 schoolchildren. The parents who filed the lawsuit Dec. 1 are the fathers and mothers of children who died in the collapse of Fuxin No. 2 Primary School, where at least 127 students were crushed to death....



mental anguish n. (click here) mental suffering which includes fright, feelings of distress, anxiety, depression, grief and/or psychosomatic physical symptoms. It is distinguished from physical pain due to an injury, but it may be considered in awarding damages for physical injury due to a defendant's negligence or intentionally inflicting harm. Where there is no physical injury damages can still be awarded for mental anguish if it is reasonable to presume such would naturally flow from the incident. Examples: holding a pistol to one's head, any threat of bodily harm when it appears it could be carried out, swinging with a scythe even though the assailant missed, or witnessing injury or death to a loved one. There are also situations in which the obvious result of the alleged wrongdoing would be mental distress due to embarrassment or reputation through libel, and therefore damages can be awarded to the distressed party. However, there are limits: in general, breach of contract judgments cannot include damages for mental anguish due to the loss of a deal or employment. But then there is the case of the shop which failed to deliver the bridal gown in time for the wedding---mental anguish flows naturally (along with the bride's tears) from such a breach.


Remembrance Day: Mental anguish needs more focus (click here)
Dr John Raftery
Thursday, 9 November 2000
REMEMBRANCE Day should have more of a focus on the dreadful mental toll war has exacted on thousands of Australian men - and subsequent generations of those men's families - according to an Adelaide University researcher.
Dr John Raftery from the Department of Public Health has carried out extensive research on Australians who fought in World War II, and says these men have not received post-war understanding or assistance for the mental conditions brought about by their participation in warfare.
"Commemoration days such as Remembrance Day and Anzac Day quite rightly focus on the sheer wastage of human life that occurs during wars and the sacrifices made, but I think they should also recognise the ongoing problems it creates for those who come home and the impact this then has on their loved ones," Dr Raftery says.
His PhD research discovered many Australian troops in World War II failed to be clinically diagnosed with mental illnesses caused by the war - a failure which has had enormous repercussions for those soldiers and their families. At the time, mental suffering was attributed to the individual being "weak", rather than being the effect of the brutal nature of war....


(20/01/2006)

Money Sickness Syndrome could affect almost half the UK population (click here)
It’s official, money really does worry us sick
43% of people have experienced Money Sickness Syndrome symptoms
3.8m people admit money worries have caused them to take time off work
More than 10.76m people suffer relationship problems because of money worries, with almost one in five complaining of a sex life slump
Money worries are a significant cause of worry, anxiety and stress according to GP and leading mental health expert, Dr Roger Henderson, who today publishes a paper identifying the condition Money Sickness Syndrome (MSS). Almost half (43%) of the UK adult population is affected by money worries and have experienced MSS symptoms, and in support of the work Dr Henderson has done AXA has conducted national research* to explore the extent of the problem and better understand its implications....

Winter Solstice occurred at 7:04 AM on 21- The planet is hot. This is hideous. 3 miles up at Vostok, Antarctica it is ONLY -9 Fahrenheit. Hideous !

Is Santa drowning? After all, deliveries this year seem a little slow.

Arctic Ice Melting at Alarming Pace as Temperatures Rise (click here)
New studies show that the region is warming even faster than many scientists had feared
By
Thomas Omestad
Posted December 16, 2008

New studies being released this week indicate that climate change is exerting massive and worrying change on the Arctic region—reducing the volume of ice, releasing methane gas into the atmosphere, and dramatically raising air temperatures in some parts of the Arctic....

...NASA scientists will reveal that more than 2 trillion tons of land ice on Greenland and Alaska, along with in Antarctica, have melted since 2003. Satellite measurements suggest half of the loss has come from Greenland. Melting of land ice slowly raises sea levels.
The World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency, is also reporting that ice volume in the Arctic this year fell to its lowest recorded level to date.
Experts from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado will further reveal that temperatures this fall in some Arctic areas north of Alaska were 9 or 10 degrees Fahrenheit above average. The long-predicted phenomenon is known as "Arctic amplification." As global air temperatures increase, the Arctic tends to show greater changes because the ice pack that once reflected solar heat is reduced in scope. More heat is therefore absorbed. The study is being discussed at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco....

Federal/State Personnel really have to check these gauges. It is how people's lives are saved from surprise flooding at their front or back doors. It may be a frozen gauge, but, then again in some areas of the country it could be a warning of worsening conditions that when thawing sets in will cause a threat to folks.

What has occurred in the recent past in federal employment are layoffs and firings and all that mess, probably depriving people of rightful retirement benefits as well.

See, in this instance people in the extreme Right Wing views spending on PERSONNEL frivilous. They rather average folks, whether employed or not, purchase flood insurance regardless of the danger. The argument can be made that with Climate Change people should purchase flood insurance. It is unpredictable. But, if one is to follow that logic then there is even MORE REASON to employee people to monitor the gauges and report regularly any and all anticpated dangers based on history and 'New Climate Data.'

There is basically NO REASON for these gauges to be unattended and reported on regularly. We could be saving lives, regardless of flood insurance.

Cold front sweeps across Dallas-Fort Worth area on first day of winter (click here)
07:11 PM CST on Sunday, December 21, 2008
WFAA-TV
Today is the first day of winter, and a cold front sweeping across North Texas caused temperatures to fall into the upper 20s and high teens by daybreak, with wind chills dipping into the single digits at some reporting stations.
At 8 a.m., the National Weather Service reported it was 18 degrees in Denton and Decatur; 19 degrees at McKinney, Sherman/Denison and Fort Worth Meacham Airport.
In spite of a lot of sunshine on Sunday, forecast high temperatures will struggle to reach the lower 40s with a brisk north wind. But this is also the winter solstice, day the sun sets soonest (at 5:25 p.m. in Dallas)....



Winter storm idles athletes (click here)
By Tribune Staff
December 14, 2008
A wicked winter storm that hit north central Montana early Saturday morning played havoc with many scheduled prep sporting events....


People need to be checking these river gauges. They could simply be frozen as most of the NOW seven gauges registering 'severe flooding' are in areas of cold percipitation, except in Texas. I need to look at that one. But, at rate, there can be ice jams that might be artifically increasing the reading. Regardless, that is a concern that local and state authorities need to know. The federal government has a lot of people to put back to work and soon. As a matter of fact there might be significant taxes outstanding that need to be collected as well. Hello?


Looks like Amtrack needs to hire a few folks. Huh?

Update: Amtrak train delayed 18 hours; overtime causes crew to wait 3 hours before traveling last 25 miles (click here)
by Ken Kolker The Grand Rapids Press
Monday December 22, 2008, 9:05 AM


Grand Rapids, Michigan gauge shows flood stage over 12 feet (click here) and the gauge is registering well over that.



December 22, 2008
1330z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES West Satellite (click title to entry - thank you)



The vortex southwest of the Baja Peninsula has proven to stabilize an air mass that is now dumping huge amounts of moisture into the central part of the USA. There has been and will continue to be significant snow and some flooding in at least six gauges.



















There is no frigid air over Antartica and a huge heat transfer system is noted from South America arriving over WAIS.



Vostok, Antarctica (click here)
Local Time: 6:38 PM VOST (GMT +06)
Lat/Lon: 78.4° S 106.9° E Current Conditions Vostok, Antarctica (Airport)
Updated: 36 min 40 sec ago
Temperature :: -9 °F
Conditions :: Clear
Humidity: 42%
Dew Point: -20 °F
Wind: 14 mph from the SSW
Wind Gust: -
Pressure: in (Rising)
Visibility: 12.0 miles
Elevation: 11220 ft




The warmest place the day after the Winter Solstice 2008 is Davis, Antarctica (webcam click here)



Davis, Antarctica



Long/Lat - 68.58S 77.97E
Local Time: 7:45 PM DAVT (GMT +07)
Lat/Lon: 68.6° S 78.0° E
Temperature :: 38 °F
Conditions :: Partly Cloudy
Humidity: 38%
Dew Point: 22 °F
Wind: 13 mph from the North Wind Gust: -
Pressure: 29.31 in (Rising) Visibility: 16.0 miles
Elevation: 59 ft