The President is reacting to decades old dialogue. Most probably from the petroleum industry and political mindspeak.

It is too late for transitions fuels. I just is. Scientists have discovered a way to roll back time. Building more natural gas power plants are a mistake. The industry will fight any and all regulations from now to the end of time. The petroleum industry does not care about human life. I doubt they care about any form of life at all

There is new soldier in the fight. She is Erin Brockovich and her fight against industry pollution of water. Shehas  a map of the severe damage conducted by the petroleum industry by fracking across this country. She was on Bill Maher. She is very serious and a good friend to the American people. 

Let's face it the laws passed by Cheney during the Bush decade are egregious and do not take into account any current science. The laws are extremely corrupt. 

 By Joanna M. Foster
 January 9, 2014 at 12:48 pm

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has, (click here) at long last, published its rule to limit carbon emissions from new power plants. The proposed rule appeared Wednesday in the Federal Register, four months after EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy announced it back in September.

The regulation mandates that all future coal plants can emit just 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. An average U.S. coal plant currently dumps over 1,700 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every megawatt-hour of energy it produces. The rule also covers new natural-gas fired plants. Natural gas plants, 100 megawatts or larger, will be limited to 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour, while smaller plants could emit no more than 1,100 pounds.

Modern combined-cycle natural gas plants are essentially already able to meet this standard. The rule, will however, make it very difficult for new coal-fired power plants to be built in the United States. Utilities will only be able to build new coal plants if they are able to capture 20 to 40 percent of the carbon they emit and store it underground. This technology is known as carbon capture and storage (CCS). Many coal advocates in Congress and fossil-fuel industry leaders have argued that the standard is designed to nix new coal plant construction, claiming that the CCS technology needed to meet the standard simply isn’t ready for commercial deployment...

The State of the Union Speech was interesting enough if one was paying attention.

Sergeant Remsburg is testament to the President's neurological program announced last year.

By Mark Thompson 
DC
 Jan. 28, 2014

...Sergeant 1st Class Remsburg, (click here) who has been awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama at the Capitol. As Obama detailed Remsburg’s progress, Congress—and the Joint Chiefs of Staff—roared their approval.

The commander-in-chief and Sergeant 1st Class Remsburg go way back, at least as far as presidents and grunts can go. They first met on June 6, 2009, in Normandy, during the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. “He was a strong, impressive young man, had an easy manner,” Obama told Congress, and the nation, on Tuesday night. “He was sharp as a tack.” That was the first of their three get-togethers before Tuesday....

On April 2nd in the East Room of the White House, (click here) President Obama announced the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. He began his remarks by emphasizing the importance of scientific research and innovation and how the resulting technology and knowledge have contributed to our country’s economic growth and changed our lives. Computer chips, GPS, the Internet and the human genome were a few of the examples that he gave. The BRAIN initiative, and President Obama’s concept of this as “one of the Administration’s Grand Challenges of the 21^st century,” presents an extraordinary opportunity for the neuroscience community and for patients with brain disorders. There is no accurate accounting for the toll that brain diseases exact but estimates are that more than 1000 brain disorders affect 100 million Americans and that the cost exceeds $5 billion....

Currency value can't be based on air.

The market can trend values if it is believed there is going to be gigantic news of an undervalued currency, but, that isn't what is happening here. Gambling is what has occurred. Portfolios are going to lose their gains.

By Tim Fernholz @timfernholz  

January 26, 2014

The big markets news (click here) at the end of last week was the plunge of Argentina’s peso. The sell-off came as many other emerging-market currencies were already sliding:

What’s driving these trends is the intersection of the US Federal Reserve’s decision to slow its bond-buying stimulus—the so-called “taper,” which has been fueling a sell-off in emerging markets since early last summer—with a variety of more local problems, ranging from troubled economic institutions to political unrest and bad economic data in China....

Rather than governments monitoring their currency as a real reflection of their value, their reaction is all "oops' I guess we better do something. That isn't a market, that is gambling. Currencies should not be a gamble.

By Benjamin Harvey
January 28, 2014
...Basci said at a press conference today (click here) that he’d called the meeting to address excessive volatility in the currency and it was time to bring interest rates into the fold. At the same time, he distinguished between temporary and permanent rate increases and defended his flexible rates policy. Basci also raised the bank’s year-end inflation estimate to 6.6 percent from 5.3 percent and said the bank would issue a statement at midnight, allowing time for monetary policy committee member Abdullah Yavas to attend upon returning from the U.S....

When investments into a country's economy increases market share and consumer confidence then the outcome of the currency is real. But, if there is no economic growth and in fact have an economy unable to compete in the markets there is no sense to inject the idea a currency is going to gain value.

I wish there was a law that said, "Truth in advertising when it comes to Wall Street's playground." It would stabilize economies and prove where global investment has a place to focus to increase the global economy." 

There are many countries that would love to have investment to increase the quality of life for it's people, but, 'to believe will make it so' is not the way to invest. Many of these countries have chronic problems with poverty, violence, armed conflict and a revolving door to leadership. There is no way a market can even take hold because someone wishes it so.

Upheaval in Ukraine endangers economic prospects

KIEV – Ukraine’s crisis (click here) is endangering the prospect of a desperately needed economic recovery from recession and raising fears of a currency collapse, analysts said.
The struggle between President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition comes after more than a year of recession during which the economy has remained afloat mainly thanks to a Russian bailout and grain exports.
“There are indications that business activity, investment activity is getting slower because people are quite uncertain on what will come next,” said Dmytro Sologub, an economist at Raiffeisen Bank Aval.
Ukraine came close to bankruptcy in 2013 before Russia stepped in with a controversial $15-billion credit that the opposition says will limit the country’s national sovereignty....

Now to actually place a value on the Ukraine currency the Russian economy and it's cash injection would count, however, that is watered down by the fact the cash injection was necessary and the political volatility nearly negates any economic growth. When a country can't even decide that it's constitution is a solid representation of it's future, how can anyone state this currency is emerging? It can't be. Economic growth and a country's assets determines the long term outlook of a currency.

The other side of this is the South African Rand. For as impoverished as that country is and the very profound problems it still faces, the currency 'tends' to be predictable. Why? Because of the incredibly rich commodities it provides the global market. That has value. But, even the South African Rand has a limit to it's value when the government and the people are on opposites sides of what quality of life means. If quality of life means losing a foothold on consumer income when strikes result in citizen deaths, where does anyone think this is going? South Africa's companies have to resolve to bring quality of life to the people before the currency will be a stable and productive in growth.

I thought Wall Street was good at math and not guessing. If all one does is to work the numbers without even looking at the real world data, the future of a currency will still show up.

Peace is an economic commodity. Building a country to provide value to the global economy should always be a focus to the leadership of that country. The idea the USA has a military industrial complex that demands satiation by illegally and immorally invading other nations in order to increase military spending is DAMN FOOLISHNESS. It is not only immoral in the lives lost by a USA military strategy, it will be decades and up to two generations or more for that country to recover. This is insane. Conflict is NOT the future of any country's economy, especially with a climate that is crashing and populations growing. The two don't intersect in a way that predicts a good outcome for ANYONE.

And the investment companies that simply thrive on garage sales is NOT the way to a solid economic growth or solving a country's problem.

The morality in today's markets is horrible. It has no vision and there is no currency stability. The markets are a living entity and impact real people and their future. I would think by now Wall Street would realize how completely narcisstic it has been without even looking beyond their noses to realize their methodology can't continue forever. 

Excuse me? There was something the government had to disclose to the FISA Court? Yes? I know someone with a pen and a telephone.

Published time: January 27, 2014 23:17
 
British intelligence officials (click here) can infiltrate the very cables that transfer information across the internet as well as monitor users in real time on sites like Facebook without the company's consent, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

The internal documents reveal that British analysts gave instruction to members of the National Security Agency in 2012, showing them how to spy on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in real time and collect the computer addresses of billions of the sites’ uploaders. 

The leaked documents are from a GCHQ publication titled ‘Psychology: A New Kind of SIGDEV’ (Signals Development). Published by NBC News on Monday, the papers detail a program dubbed ‘Squeaky Dolphin,’ which was developed for analysts working in “broad real-time monitoring of online activity.”

Sources told NBC that the British have proven their ability to both directly monitor the world’s web traffic cable and use a third party to view the data stream and extract information from it.

Representatives from the companies in question said they have not provided any data to the government of the United Kingdom under this program, either voluntarily or involuntarily. One person who wished to remain anonymous said that Google, the company that owns YouTube, was “shocked” to discover the UK may have been “grabbing” data for years... 

I wonder how many lies the people and the companies were provided by the NSA and the British government. After all, all these companies were providing data voluntarily for the good of all humanity. Why bother asking? Except, it would cover their backsides when people were actually arrested and/or prosecuted with information from the companies.

Something like this:

Richard R. Clapper: "Magnificent."

GCHQ (click here) Agent: "Absolutely. Makes the metadata gathering completely antiquated. I mean did the metadata ever really produce anything consistent?"

Clapper: "No, it didn't really. But, I'll tell you this much, the metadata collection covers our tracks when information from these companies are actually used to arrest individuals."

GCHQ Agent: "True. Very true." 

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

If I were 'the best' and an opponent was trying to talk me down, I would be proud I never was shaken.

Mr. Sherman comes from a long and distinguished history of those that are sincerely great.

It is called bragging rights. When you got it, you got it.

Go, Richard, Go!

Senator Paul's revival of the Clinton Impeachment is unfortunate. Those that live in glass houses should cast stones.

No finds infidelity attractive or a character strength. President Clinton was not predatory. Ms. Lewinski was equally seductive in her behavior. She claimed they were in love and I am sure that is the way she felt.

Ms. Lewinski has moved on. It would be unfortunate to cause her any adverse problems with her life. This is very old news. I am quite certain Mrs. Clinton has made her peace with the troubled times, has seen her daughter married and carried out a successful career as a Senator and a Secretary of State.

Monica Lewinsky (click here) is Rand Paul's answer to Democratic charges that Republicans are waging a 'war on women.' But it could backfire. Bill Clinton remains broadly popular with the public.

By Peter Grier, Staff writer 

January 27, 2014

Senator Paul referenced Ms. Lewinsky when talking about past Democratic charges that the Republican Party wages a “war on women."
When making that rhetorical attack, Democrats should remember that their now-beloved ex-President Bill Clinton had an affair in office with a woman who was much, much younger than he, said Paul....

I am quite certain Senator Paul would love a sex scandal to end the career of Secretary Clinton. That is a common Republican strategy and it simply won't happen.

Republicans have more than their fair share of sex scandals, including those that have involved interns. The latest is the Vitter wants to be Governor. Amazing. He might even pass a law making prostitution legal. 

This was the vote for impeachment:

...In the noisy House chamber, (click here) a lone Republican applauded. Five Republicans crossed party lines to vote against impeachment. Five Democrats broke with their party to support it.

The margin was enough to forestall charges that the President's fate might have been different if the vote had been delayed to the 106th Congress, which will have five more Democrats.

A second article of impeachment, charging Mr. Clinton with obstruction of justice, passed on a narrower vote of 221 to 212. It accused him of inducing others to lie in order to conceal his affair with Ms. Lewinsky. This time 12 Republicans voted no, while 5 Democrats voted yes....

Perhaps Senator Paul was too young, but, certainly his father would remember; there were members of the US House that excused themselves from leading the charges because they had engaged in infidelity. 

As a matter of fact, the Republcans had to go through at least two members before they found one that hadn't committed adultery.

By bringing this up Senator Paul is trying to prove the war on women is artificial and hoping people would believe that Secretary Clinton should have divorced her husband.

Really? I thought Senator Paul was more savvy on women's right than this. No one is going believe for one minute Senator Clinton is an example a victimized woman. She isn't. She made her choices and she lives with them. She is accomplished unto herself and is eminently qualified to serve as President of the USA.

I want to repeat, "She made her choices and she lives with them." That is the issue Senator Paul and the rightwing has yet to come to terms with it. Women are more than capable of making decisions about their lives. They are capable of deciding when they want to be married, start a family and how many children they will bring into a family.

The rightwing chronically victimizes women because they disrespect their life choices by putting limits on reproductive choice. That means women have the right to make the decision to use contraception or not. It also means women are capable of deciding that an unwanted pregnancy is adverse to their best outcomes. When a woman has to make a decision that her life will be ill effected by an unwanted pregnancy, it means she has made the decision the child would not have the benefit of all she is capable of providing.

Republicans demand women allow the state make child bearing decisions for them. That is the USA? No, it is not. Women don't want to be raped and be required to carry a fetus to birth when the father has caused her permanent emotional damage. 

The state wants women to carry fetuses to term in the case of incest. I don't think so. The emotional burden of the mother to lie to the child about how he or she was conceived and what the father did isn't really a bedtime story now is it?

In the state deciding women can't have birth control, that means they may very well have one baby after another. Multiple pregnancies beyond two are proven to adversely impact a woman's long term wellness. And what is the solace to women with many children? "The hand me downs will be a great savings to child rearing?"  It will never be enough savings to put all those worthy children through college.

Senator Paul, your statements only prove, you have never learned to accept a woman's decision. When a woman makes a decision it isn't up for barter. She has decided a path for her life and invests in it. Her decisions are her own. Secretary Clinton made her choices. She loves this country. She loves her husband and family and they love her. She is admired for her personal strength that brings reality to her personal and professional decisions.

It isn't enough for a political figure to state they respect and honor women; they have to live it. In this case, Senator Paul has regressed to a very old paradigm for women to apply to Secretary Clinton. Sir. She broke the mold.

Twenty children were killed in one incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School, too.

Michelle Healy
USA TODAY 12:12 p.m. EST January 27, 2014

Almost one child or teen (click here) an hour is injured by a firearm seriously enough to require hospitalization, a new analysis finds. Six percent of the 7,391 hospitalizations analyzed in 2009 resulted in a death, says the study in February's Pediatrics, released Monday.

The damage caused by gun-related injuries rarely gets the same attention as fatalities, "but that every day, 20 of our children are hospitalized for firearms injury, often suffering severe and costly injuries, clearly shows that this is a national public health problem," says Robert Sege, director of the Division of Family and Child Advocacy at Boston Medical Center and a co-author of the study.

Despite declining rates over the past decade, firearm injuries remain the second leading cause of death, behind motor vehicle crashes, for teens ages 15 to 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....

"Good Night, Moon"

Waning Crescent

19% Full

25.2 days old

January 26, 2014
...Celestial hugging (click here)

Tuesday morning, see if you can spot Venus just to the lower left of the thin waning crescent moon in the very low southeast sky about 45 minutes before sunrise. Venus is only 28 million miles away and through a small telescope or pair of binoculars appears as a very thin crescent. Go for it, early morning risers.


(Lynch is an amateur astronomer and author of the book, "Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations." Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.)

The Climate Crisis is real and our carbon sinks are in trouble.

Steve Connor
January 26, 2014

Tropical rainforests (click here) are becoming less able to cope with rising global temperatures according to a study that has looked back over the way they have responded to variations in temperature in the past half a century.

For each 1C rise in temperature, tropical regions now release about 2 billion extra tonnes of carbon-containing gases – such as carbon dioxide and methane – into the atmosphere, compared to the same amount of tropical warming in the 1960s and 1970s, the study found.

Rising levels of man-made carbon dioxide could stimulate the growth of tropical vegetation by providing them with extra “carbon fertiliser” but scientists believe this beneficial effect is probably being outweighed by the detrimental impact on forest growth caused by the extra heat and drought resulting from higher CO2 concentrations.

“What we are seeing is that the tropical forests in particular are becoming more vulnerable to warming and we expect this to continue because we expect to see more warming in the future,” said Professor Peter Cox of Exeter University, a co-author of the study published in the journal Nature....

The oceans can become acidic if they are viewed as a ready source as a carbon sink. But, the protections and monitoring of forests are vital. The cost of the Climate Crisis is astronomical. The funds we spend on protections of our public lands and forests provide enormous returns.

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2014/01/26/2793881/hastings-seeks-changes-to-endangered.html#storylink=cpy

The (US) Forest Service strategy for dealing with climate change is based on 20 years of targeted research and a century of science and management experience on public and private forest land. As a result, the Agency has highly skilled and experienced land managers, internationally recognized climate scientists, and a body of peer-reviewed scientific information for developing responses to climate change. The Forest Service strategy includes:

• Helping forests adapt to climate change
• Managing forests to increase the carbon dioxide they capture and store
• Using forest products to reduce and replace fossil fuel energy
• Maintaining a research program
• Reducing the Agency’s environmental footprint

Conservation is important. Beauty is important. Public lands are very important. They need protection for all the right reasons.

By KRISTAL STONER
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
January 26, 2014

Have you seen the yellow lady’s slipper orchid blooming at Indian Cave State Park? (click here) Have you created a bird that has the right adaptations needed to survive? Did you know that cattle can help butterflies? Thanks to the Nebraska Wildlife Conservation Fund and those who donate to it, you can learn and experience these wonders of nature.

Last June, biologists trekked through Indian Cave State Park looking for the elusive yellow lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium parviflorum). Common elsewhere, Nebraska has these orchids in only a handful of locations in the woodlands along the Missouri River, and we had not seen it at Indian Cave for decades.

Crews have been intensively managing the park’s woodlands by removing invasive species, conducting prescribed burns and thinning trees. The woods are now more open, and one orchid was found.

Biologists later found 72 orchids following the survey. Biologists will continue to track the orchid and other species to learn how the change in management is affecting the wildlife and plants at the park. We will use this knowledge to benefit the widest array of biodiversity while helping the rare species....

The Associated Press
January 26, 2014

YAKIMA, Wash. — U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings (click here) says he wants to reform the Endangered Species Act, a federal law designed to protect imperiled species from extinction.
The Republican from Pasco heads the House Committee on Natural Resources, which is considering significant changes to the landmark 1973 legislation.
Hastings tells the Yakima Herald-Republic (http://is.gd/qIPXt1 ) it takes too much of an economic toll, leaves too much room for litigation by environmental groups and lacks an emphasis on getting species recovered and off the list.
Proponents of the law say it is working well and that calls for reform are actually a move to weaken protections.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon, told the newspaper he doubts the proposed reforms will succeed.
Hastings' push for reforms is supported by many industry organizations such as the Washington Farm Bureau.

USA gun deaths

I am sure the community remembers the body count diagram by Slate after the Sandy Hook Shooting. The staff at Slate have retired the site and it is moving to a violence archive project.

But, more than the actual diagram is the stark reality Slate decided was insufficient reporting. They were able to record all the published gun incidents, but, that was not necessarily conclusive.

By Dan Kois

...But as time went by (click here) and the interactive was discussed, questioned, and cited, this provocation also became a kind of experiment. How many deaths were being reported on, and how many were falling through the cracks? Why was it that no single source was collecting this data in real time? In other words, we wanted to know if an interactive like this can actually be valuable as something besides a provocation—whether crowdsourcing can produce real-time data and whether that data is useful and complete. (Hoping people might use our data for their own research purposes, we made it available as a downloadable file.)...

An interesting article from 2012 that noted car deaths are declining at an incredible rate, but, gun deaths are not. Automobile manufacturers seek to make their products exceptionally safe. The US government requires deadly features of cars to be recalled. But, when it comes to guns, their use and public safety there is little to no interest by many elected to government.

 
 By Chris Christoff and Ilan Kolet Dec 19, 2012 2:23 PM ET

Guns and cars (click here) have long been among the leading causes of non-medical deaths in the U.S. By 2015, firearm fatalities will probably exceed traffic fatalities for the first time, based on data compiled by Bloomberg.

While motor-vehicle deaths dropped 22 percent from 2005 to 2010, gun fatalities are rising again after a low point in 2000, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Shooting deaths in 2015 will probably rise to almost 33,000, and those related to autos will decline to about 32,000, based on the 10-year average trend. ..

In 2011 an article appeared in "The Atlantic" and it stated:

...While the causes of individual acts of mass violence (click here) always differ, our analysis shows fatal gun violence is less likely to occur in richer states with more post-industrial knowledge economies, higher levels of college graduates, and tighter gun laws. Factors like drug use, stress levels, and mental illness are much less significant than might be assumed.


It was a purely statistical analysis of many factors that add up to gun violence in USA communities.

...What about politics? It's hard to quantify political rhetoric, but we can distinguish blue from red states. Taking the voting patterns from the 2008 presidential election, we found a striking pattern: Firearm-related deaths were positively associated with states that voted for McCain (.66) and negatively associated with states that voted for Obama (-.66). Though this association is likely to infuriate many people, the statistics are unmistakable. Partisan affiliations alone cannot explain them; most likely they stem from two broader, underlying factors - the economic and employment makeup of the states and their policies toward guns and gun ownership....

How smart is it for political figures to actually discuss guns as a right so much as a problem?

By Melissa Healy  
January 20, 2014, 9:43 p.m.
 

People who have ready access to a firearm (click here) are almost twice as likely to be killed and three times likelier to commit suicide than those without a gun available in the home or from a neighbor or friend, a new study has concluded.

Though men and women with firearm access were about equally likely to take their own lives with a gun, the latest research turned up a gender gap when it came to homicide. Compared with all adults without access to a gun, men with firearm access were 29% more likely to die in a gun-related homicide. But the analysis found that a woman who had a gun in or available to her household was close to three times likelier to die by homicide.

Previous studies have found that three-quarters of women who are killed with a gun die in their home, and that women typically know their assailant. That suggests that women who live in homes with a firearm are more likely to be gunned down in a domestic dispute or by an abusive partner, the research team wrote in their study, published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine. But the group did not venture an explanation for why men with gun access were not much more vulnerable than other adults....

They have to be able to read before they can do anything else.

By Editorial Board 

Published: January 23

VIRGINIA HAS (click here) made strides in enabling poor children to attend pre-kindergarten classes, which are widely credited with improving learning skills, including reading readiness. But some of the state’s biggest school districts, particularly in Northern Virginia, have been slow off the mark. The worst laggard, by far, is Prince William County.

With 85,000 students, Prince William is the second-largest school system in Virginia and among the 40 biggest in the nation; its annual budget is nearly $1 billion. Yet it has managed to find funding for just 4 percent of the 4-year-olds who are eligible under a state-subsidized program to attend pre-K classes. No other large school system in Virginia comes close to such disregard for the disadvantaged.... 

with the economic collapse of 2008 that allowed justification for spending cuts, it is time to put the funding back into our children.

...That sounds like an excellent return on investment, but the county pleads poverty. Neither the Republican-led Board of Supervisors (which is all white) nor the Republican-led county School Board seems moved by the fact that Prince William’s least advantaged children are getting a raw deal.

Nor is the state blameless. Just before the recession hit, then-Gov. (now Sen.) Timothy M. Kaine bumped up the funding for Virginia’s pre-K program to $6,000 per pupil, starting in 2008. He also shifted the funding formula to help schools in areas with high costs of living, especially Northern Virginia. But since then (and despite four straight years of budget surpluses), per-pupil funding has remained frozen, despite periodic attempts by lawmakers in Richmond to increase it.

The result is that Virginia chips in less for poor children to attend pre-K than does Maryland or the federal Head Start program (both of which pay $8,000 per pupil), and much less than the $9,327 per pupil that the state would pay if it were intent on providing a high-quality preschool education, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University....

Posted: Friday, January 17, 2014 11:16 pm 

Updated: 10:36 pm, Sun Jan 19, 2014.

BY SUSAN LaHOUD SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

Strides have been made in an effort to lower child obesity rates, (click here) but plenty of work remains, especially for children who weigh in at the top of the scales, national and local health authorities say.

Based on recent reports, including one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of childhood obesity has declined in many states, with decreased levels among low-income children 2 to 4 years old in 19 of 43 states and U.S. territories.

Obesity rates stayed at the same level in 21 states from 2008 to 2011, based on findings of CDC researchers who analyzed the weight and height of almost 12 million children in that age group.

Another report, based on about 800 children who self-reported their activities and had physical exams as part of the 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey, found that only 1 in 4 children ages 12 to 15 meet recommendations of an hour or more of moderate to vigorous activity every day.

Dr. Bruce Phillips, who has a family practice in Plainville and has delivered generations of babies at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, said that while attitudes about childhood obesity are changing, it remains a struggle, particularly for youngsters who have the most weight to lose....

...At every age group, (click here) African Americans have one of the highest incidences of diabetes in the United States, with over 20% of African Americans between 60 and 74 years old having the disease. The rate of type 2 diabetes is growing fastest in ethnic minorities, including African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans. The disease is most prevalent among Native Americans in the southeastern United States, with 27.8% of the population affected. On average, Native Americans, including Alaska Natives, are 2.2 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites of similar age (Figure). The demographics are even more striking among children of minority groups where the rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing rapidly as compared to the rate in their white counterparts. African Americans account for 75% of all childhood cases of type 2 diabetes, whites less than 25%. The reverse is true for childhood cases of type 1 diabetes: whites account for 82%, while African Americans are only 18% of the total case...

Findings (from CDC)

• Each year, more than 13,000 young people are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
• Type 2 diabetes begins when the body develops a resistance to insulin and no longer uses the insulin properly. As the need for insulin rises, the pancreas gradually loses its ability to produce sufficient amounts of insulin to regulate blood sugar.
• Health care providers are finding more and more children with type 2 diabetes, a disease usually diagnosed in adults aged 40 years or older.
• A statistically significant increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents was found only for American Indians.
• The epidemics of obesity and the low level of physical activity among young people, as well as exposure to diabetes in utero, may be major contributors to the increase in type 2 diabetes during childhood and adolescence.
• Type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents already appears to be a sizable and growing problem among U.S. children and adolescents. Better physician awareness and monitoring of the disease’s magnitude will be necessary.
• Standard case definition(s), guidelines for treatment, and approval of oral hypoglycemic agents (to lower blood sugar) are urgently required for children and adolescents.

Our Veterans

Posted:   01/23/2014 01:00:00 AM EST
DEREK CARSON, Staff Writer

BURLINGTON -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (click here) spoke with reporters across the country via teleconference Wednesday, describing and praising his most recently proposed bill. 

The omnibus bill, which was introduced to the Senate last week, is entitled the Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefit and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014, which would end recent controversial cuts to pensions of military retirees under the age of 62, as well as create numerous other increased benefits for veterans. 

"This is one of the most comprehensive pieces of veterans legislation in decades," said Sanders of the bill, which he touted as largely bi-partisan effort of the Senate Committee on Veteran's Affairs, of which Sanders is the chairman. 

"This bill addresses many of the concerns veterans groups have brought forward, and in a very comprehensive way," he said. 

Sanders said hundreds of thousands of service members from Afghanistan have returned to the United States with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a traumatic brain injury. He also pointed to reports that show that almost three times as many Vietnam veterans took their own lives after returning home than died during the war. "These service members have paid a very high price for their service. We have to do everything possible for them and their families," he said...

Sexual Assault

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hi, everybody. (click here) This week, I called members of my Cabinet to the White House to deal with a challenge that affects so many families and communities – the crime, the outrage, of sexual violence.
Sexual assault is an affront to our basic decency and humanity. And it’s about all of us – the safety of those we love most: our moms, our wives, our daughters and our sons.
Because when a child starts to question their self-worth after being abused, and maybe starts withdrawing… or a young woman drops out of school after being attacked… or a mother struggles to hold down a job and support her kids after an assault… it’s not just these individuals and their families who suffer. Our communities – our whole country – is held back....

The average across the spectrum of our military is between 25 to 30 years old. The respect for each other is important. When the Gillibrand bill passes into law, the integrity of our military will be intact. Currently, our young soldiers are willing to be victims of each other to maintain their careers. That has to end. A soldier should never be a victim, especially of their country's policies. What pride to they actually feel when they are respected by each other.

Demographics of Active US Military (click here)

Army	18.3 %	48 %	25.6 %	7.9 %	0.7 %	29
Navy	18.6 %	46 %	26.3 %	8.3 %	0.8 %	29
Marine Corps	36.9 %	46 %	14 %	3.1 %	0.2 %	25
Air Force	14.4 %	46 %	28.3 %	10 %	0.6 %	30
Coast Guard	12.2 %	48 %	27 %	12 %	1 %	30

Student Loans

Is it true the government makes a profit on student loans? (click here)
The Congressional Budget Office regularly releases projections on the costs of various loan programs. The latest calculations show that in fiscal year 2013, for every $1 lent to new borrowers, Direct Subsidized Loans are expected to bring in $1.14 in revenue, and Direct Unsubsidized Loans will bring in $1.40 in revenue. Of course, these are just estimates. For example, if borrowers have access to attractive refinance options to take advantage of historically low interest rates, these revenues would go down.
It’s worth noting that the Congressional Budget Office calculates these estimates in a way that may not include all of the operating costs of administering the loan program, so it can’t be exactly compared to the way a bank might account for its profits and losses.

The reason there is more lending for students is because of income inequality. More students come from lower incomes than before in modern history.

 The Associated Press, AP  
10:35 a.m. EST 
January 26, 2014

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (click here) on Sunday is renewing a call for legislation that would allow student borrowers to refinance their federal student loans at lower interest rates, urging President Barack Obama to push the effort in his State of the Union speech Tuesday.
The New York Democrat said there’s currently about $1.2 trillion in student loan debt nationwide — and the average New York graduate owes more than $27,000.

“We must strengthen our middle class families instead of forcing New Yorkers deeper into debt,” she said in a statement. “Keeping a high-quality education in New York affordable is the right thing to do.”
Last May, Gillibrand introduced the Federal Student Loan Refinancing Act, legislation she said could affect nearly nine in 10 federal student loans by allowing borrowers who have a higher interest rate to refinance at a fixed rate of 4 percent. Most rates for federal student debt are higher than 6 percent, she said....

Wealth distribution.

 Residential Vacancies and  Homeownership in the Third Quarter of 2013 (click here)

By Prashant Gopal and Clea Benson  
Jul 30, 2013 10:23 AM ET

...The homeownership rate in the second quarter (click here) was unchanged from the prior three month period, according to Census Bureau data released today. It will hit bottom at about 64 percent in the next year as families leave the foreclosure pipeline and enter rental homes, according to a May analysis by London-based Capital Economics Inc. It’s currently the lowest in almost 18 years after averaging about 64 percent for 30 years through 1995.

First-time buyers and minorities are among the groups that have seen the sharpest declines since the crash. While property ownership among senior citizens was little changed at about 81 percent, the share below age 35 that own a home fell to about 37 percent from almost 42 percent five years earlier....

New Vocabulary - Industrial Espionage - Think Carlyle

Reuters 
January 26, 2014, 3: 50 PM

BERLIN - The U.S. National Security Agency (click here) is involved in industrial espionage and will grab any intelligence it can get its hands on regardless of its value to national security, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden told a German TV network.

In text released ahead of a lengthy interview to be broadcast on Sunday, ARD TV quoted Snowden saying the NSA does not limit its espionage to issues of national security and he cited German engineering firm, Siemens as one target....

Edward Snowden worked for the government before being hired by Carlyle. He didn't mind doing the work for the government, but, when he launched into a career with Carlyle for a six figure salary it opened his eyes to whom the USA actually was protecting and it wasn't just our borders.

In my opinion, Edward Snowden came to realize how manipulated Americans had become to the ambitions of corporations. He didn't expect to learn what he did when he went to the highest private bidder. 

Oh. By the way. This practice by Wall Street. Companies like Carlyle. The practice by Wall Street hasn't ended. So when President Obama rolls back the invasiveness of the NSA he also needs to roll back the permission of Wall Street to do the same thing. We don't want any of it. NONE of it. We don't want Carlyle to invade our space either.

Edward was online recently. The video is at the website above.