|
Source: Tennessean Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “State Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, made a slight change to his proposed constitutional amendment to ban an income tax this morning, a move that will have the practical effect of delaying the Senate floor vote by about a week. Kelsey added language meant to clarify that the anti-income tax amendment trumps other tax provisions of the constitution and a statement that any taxes on the books as of Jan. 1, 2010, would not be affected by the amendment. The rules for amending the state constitution require three readings of the final version before the Senate can take a vote. The changes to the wording this morning reset the clock, meaning the vote cannot take place until next Wednesday at the earliest.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ycphlgf Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “The dramatic shift in poll numbers in the California Senate race — a surge for former US Rep. Tom Campbell for the GOP nomination and a double-digit drop for Senator Barbara Boxer (D) since January — has serious national implications, according to political analysts. A California Field Poll released Thursday shows Mr. Campbell running ahead of businesswoman Carly Fiorina by six points and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore by 19 points among likely GOP primary election voters. Perhaps more important, say analysts, is that more voters now have an unfavorable than favorable view of the incumbent Ms. Boxer, and she is essentially tied when matched against Campbell (44 to 43 percent) or Ms. Fiorina (44 to 45 percent). Poll director Mark DiCamillo told the Sacramento Bee that ‘the tenor of political discourse’ has clearly changed in California since Republican Scott Brown registered an upset victory in the Massachusetts Senate race in January. Others agree.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yk9hhwb Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Seattle Times Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won’t take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement. The company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients. In a news release, Walgreens said its decision to not take new Medicaid patients stemmed from a ‘continued reduction in reimbursement’ under the state’s Medicaid program, which reimburses it at less than the break-even point for 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents.” (03/18/10) Link: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011367936_walgreens18m.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “A teacher at a failing Rhode Island school where he and all his colleagues were fired hung an effigy of President Barack Obama in his classroom, apparently in reaction to Obama’s support of extreme measures to ensure accountability in schools. The teachers union on Thursday condemned the effigy, discovered Monday in the teacher’s third-floor classroom at Central Falls High School, saying it was wrong and cannot be condoned under any circumstances. The effigy was found in the unidentified teacher’s classroom by Superintendent Frances Gallo, Nicole Shaffer of the Rhode Island Department of Education told The Associated Press. Shaffer said the department would not have any further comment.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhrytxx Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “Voters in the upstate New York birthplace of the women’s rights movement have approved a proposal to dissolve their village government. Tuesday’s ballot proposal to merge the village of Seneca Falls into the surrounding town of the same name passed by a vote of 1,142 to 1,037. Absentee ballots still must be counted, but if the vote stands the nearly 180-year-old Finger Lakes village government will dissolve at the end of 2011. Supporters say dissolution will do away with costly duplication of governmental services and reduce property taxes. The village was the site of the first known women’s rights convention in 1848. It also claims to be the model for Bedford Falls, the mythical community depicted in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life.” [editor’s note: Take that, Mr. Potter! Today Seneca Falls, tomorrow … - SAT] (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykj9hsd Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Raw Story Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “European researchers have taken the world a step closer to fictional wizard Harry Potter’s invisibility cape after they made an object disappear using a three-dimensional ‘cloak,’ a study published Thursday in the US-based journal Science showed. Scientists from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and Imperial College London used the cloak, made using photonic crystals with a structure resembling piles of wood, to conceal a small bump on a gold surface, they wrote in Science. ‘It’s kind of like hiding a small object underneath a carpet — except this time the carpet also disappears,’ they said.” (03/18/10) Link: http://rawstory.com/2010/03/researchers-invisibility-cloak/ Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.18.10 by Steve Trinward “Two soccer teammates took the field on a recent Saturday afternoon: one made shot after shot while the other played goalie. The shooter, wearing a distinctive uniform dotted with colorful spots, had just taken a powerful kick when something went wrong. The call went out to stop practice — and to find a hot glue gun. ‘Something is hanging off,’ Svilen Kanev, a Harvard University sophomore and member of Robotic Futbol Club Cambridge, said as fellow students picked up the cylindrical black robot to administer first aid. When most people think about robotics and artificial intelligence what comes to mind are individual robots — whether it is one that vacuums the floor, a rover that explores Mars, or the computer that beats a human chess champion.” (03/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ycuy35n Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Massachusetts Senate leaders indicated yesterday that they will push forward significant measures this year to control soaring health care costs in the state that probably will include caps on payments to hospitals and doctors. Legislators made their comments during the first day of high-profile state hearings being held to investigate why health care costs are rising so rapidly. Senate President Therese Murray, Democrat of Plymouth, told the audience at the University of Massachusetts Boston that state officials ‘must act quickly and decisively once the hearings are over’ and that ‘failure to act is not an option.’” (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yztuheu Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: New York Times Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Whether it’s a correctly called a movement, a backlash, or political theater, state declarations of their rights [sic] — or in some cases denunciations of federal authority, amounting to the same thing — are on a roll. Governor Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a Republican, signed a bill into law Friday declaring that the federal regulation of firearms is invalid if a weapon is made and used in South Dakota. On Thursday, Wyoming’s governor, Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, signed a similar bill for that state. The same day, Oklahoma’s House of Representatives approved a resolution that Oklahomans should be able to vote on a state constitutional amendment allowing them to opt out of the federal healthcare overhaul.” [editor’s note: And Tennessee has a similar bill on the floor, passing one body and under consideration in the other; stay tuned! - SAT] (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjdv6t8 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 03.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Imagine if a computer could identify the weakest-link teachers — the ones who should be told it’s time to get out of the classroom. It’s not quite so simple, but a new policy in Houston allows teachers to be fired based on data that some experts say isolates a teacher’s effect on his or her students’ test-score gains. Reform advocates say school districts should improve teacher quality in part by using such ‘value added’ data. Dozens of districts, including Houston’s, have already incorporated the concept into ‘pay for performance’ systems. Education leaders in New York City and the District of Columbia are moving toward linking it to tenure or dismissals. But none has gone ahead as boldly as the Texas district.” [editor’s note: It shouldn’t be the only factor, but it should be considered (assuming, of course, that these standardized tests actually measure student competence, which is still at question) - SAT] (03/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ylekey4 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 03.16.10 by Steve Trinward “When President Obama took office, he famously aspired to be the leader in administrative transparency, but now he finds himself struggling to enforce it within his own government. In fiscal year 2009, 17 major governmental agencies refused to release information, claiming legal exemptions, 466,872 times, an increase of nearly 50 percent from the previous year, according to a review of requests conducted by The Associated Press. In 2008, the government refused 312,683 requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, AP reported. The AP examined the 2008 and 2009 budget year FOIA reports from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Federal Reserve Board.” (03/16/10) Link: http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/16/chasing-transparency/ Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Washington Post Posted on 03.16.10 by Steve Trinward “Twice in recent years, House Appropriations Committee chairman David R. Obey helped obtain earmarks totaling $3.2 million for a home-state university to study how to make military jet fuel from plants. Standing behind that nonprofit work, however, is a for-profit Chicago firm that often partners with universities to reap part of their earmark benefits. Similar collaborations between private companies and nonprofits will pose tricky questions under a policy intended to end earmarks to profit-making firms, which Obey, a Democrat of Wisconsin, helped shepherd through the House Democratic caucus last week. That new rule was widely touted as a crackdown, but in reality it could leave untouched almost 90 percent of typical earmarks.” [editor’s note: Suspiciously like the money laundering they put people in jail for otherwise? - SAT] (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhfp3ex Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 03.16.10 by Steve Trinward “The US needs to make significant government spending cuts or else risk losing its gold-plated credit rating that has made extensive borrowing so affordable, Moody’s Investor Service said late Monday. The announcement was a sobering warning that the country’s burgeoning debt has weakened the country’s economic standing, and that US Treasury Bonds, traditionally a bullet-proof investment, could lose their sterling Aaa-rating if Washington cannot control its federal debt. If Moody’s were to downgrade the country’s rating, the impact could be severe. It would signal to lenders worldwide that the US is no longer one of the safest places to invest money.” [editor’s note: Hello? If they haven’t already figured that out, they may be a danger just to be walking around unescorted! - SAT] (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yeb3qh3 Filed under: CANDi News | |
|
Source: Tennessean Posted on 03.16.10 by Steve Trinward “A House committee on Tuesday delayed a vote on legislation that would require abortion clinics in Tennessee to post anti-coercion signs because of concerns from some lawmakers. The state House Health and Human Resources Committee decided to put off the vote for a week to give lawmakers more time to review the measure sponsored Rep. Susan Lynn. The Mt. Juliet Republican said she was expecting House Bill 3301 to move forward. … Any type of coercion to have an abortion is prohibited under current law. Lynn said some women may not know that and the sign simply spells out what’s in the law. … But some lawmakers question the impact such a measure would have on individuals who are underage.” [editor’s note: While advocating “anti-coercion signs” would seem to be a pro-liberty move, it’s anything but that in this case! - SAT] (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykxwanl Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 03.16.10 by Steve Trinward “A year after kicking the habit, smokers’ arteries showed signs of reversing a problem that can set the stage for heart disease, according to the first big study to test this. The improvement came even though smokers gained an average of 9 pounds after they quit, researchers found. Their levels of so-called good cholesterol improved, too. ‘A lot of people are afraid to quit smoking because they’re afraid to gain weight,’ said the study’s leader, Dr. James Stein, a University of Wisconsin-Madison cardiologist. The new research shows these people gain a health benefit even though they pick up pounds that hopefully can be shed once they have gotten used to not smoking, he said.” (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjpmpno Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.16.10 by Steve Trinward “Newly released documents from a major insurer detail how certain hospitals and doctors are paid dramatically more than others for the same types of services, sometimes as much as three times higher. The vast inequalities emerged in documents filed by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc., the second largest health insurer in Massachusetts, before the start today of state hearings investigating why health care costs are rising so rapidly. Written testimony from Harvard Pilgrim discloses which of the hospitals and physician groups in its network are the best paid and which are paid the worst. The hospitals that commanded the highest fees for inpatient care in 2008 include powerhouses like Children’s Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the major Partners Healthcare hospitals, Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s, according to the insurer.” (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjn8v6j Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 03.15.10 by Steve Trinward “When John Roberts’ niece graduates in May from Butler University this May, the Supreme Court chief justice may attend as a relative — but he has been deemed too controversial to take the stage as commencement speaker. University faculty members scuttled a student-led drive to invite Roberts to speak at the May 8 ceremony, a decision that has disappointed the students and some conservatives on the Indianapolis campus. ‘We try to steer clear of political divides if possible,’ Butler Faculty Senate President Jeanne VanTyle told the Indianapolis Star. VanTyle says the school has made only two exceptions to its no-politicians rule in three decades: once for Democrat Evan Bayh when he was governor and last year for Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels.” (03/15/10) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589372,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.15.10 by Steve Trinward “Hingham boasts million-dollar estates along its scenic shoreline, stately antique houses on Main Street, and boutique shops around the town square. The median household income is nearly $113,000 a year, well above the state and national average, while unemployment is well below the statewide rate. Yet Massachusetts has long classified Hingham as ‘economically distressed.’ And Hingham is not the only unlikely-seeming hard luck case. … Though lawmakers originally created the Economic Development Incentive Program in 1993 to nudge businesses to invest in decaying cities and other areas scarred by poverty and unemployment, such as Fall River and Lawrence, the state has, over time, expanded the program to include almost any municipality that applies.” (03/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhnzmr7 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 03.15.10 by Steve Trinward “A northern California man arrested after park rangers allegedly spotted him waving a handgun at a national monument near the Oregon border is expected to face more charges for threatening to kill federal agents and their families, authorities said. Micha Godfrey was arrested Thursday after park rangers at Lava Beds National Monument saw him acting suspiciously and found that the convicted felon was carrying a revolver and wearing a bulletproof vest. Godfrey, 37, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. … He had already been under investigation for threatening to kill Drug Enforcement Agency agents and their families, and authorities on Friday seized thousands of rounds of ammunition from his home in Tule Lake, which is about 10 miles from the national monument.” (03/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yzlcewh Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Washington Post Posted on 03.15.10 by Steve Trinward “In North Dakota, where insurers can cover abortions if customers pay a separate premium, the state’s largest provider says it sells no abortion policies because no one has asked to buy one. Amid a high-stakes debate over abortion that could determine the fate of President Obama’s healthcare initiative, North Dakota’s law offers a test because it is much like the language favored by antiabortion lawmakers on Capitol Hill, notably Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan. … Similar policies are in place in Kentucky, Missouri, Idaho, and Oklahoma.” (03/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yzq2f9c Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.14.10 by Steve Trinward “Residential recycling rates in Massachusetts have not budged in the past decade, even as environmental concerns have sparked ’sustainability’ movements and fueled markets for hybrid cars and green products. For years, environmentalists have preached the importance of recycling to relieve pressure on burgeoning landfills and reduce greenhouse gases released from decomposing trash. But to a startling degree, the refrain seems to have fallen on deaf ears. In 2008, according to preliminary statewide statistics, just over one-quarter of all residential trash was recycled, roughly the same percentage as 1997, according to a Globe review of figures kept by the state Department of Environmental Protection.” [editor’s note: One would note that this data comes from an allegedly “progressive” state that’s had mandatory bottle-recycling for over two decades; the hypocrisy reeks - SAT] (03/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ye93bdx Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: San Francisco Chronicle Posted on 03.14.10 by Steve Trinward “An appellate court has upheld references to God on U.S. currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance, rejecting arguments they violate the constitutional separation of church and state. ‘The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded,’ Judge Carlos Bea wrote for the majority in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 2-1 ruling Thursday. Bea noted that schools do not require students to recite the pledge, which was amended to include the words ‘under God’ by a 1954 federal law. Members of Congress at the time said they wanted to set the United States apart from ‘godless communists.’” (03/12/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfkchjv Filed under: CANDi News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 03.11.10 by Steve Trinward “If you want to know just what your kids are learning from their history books, all you have to do is apply the ‘Reagan test,’ says Professor Larry Schweikart. As the Texas textbook battle continues to simmer, Schweikart says the first thing he does to determine whether a book is politically slanted is to go to any section discussing President Ronald Reagan. What you’ll find there, he says, will tell you everything you need to know, he says. Schweikart says the majority of books he’s examined credit former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev with ending the Cold War, and not Reagan. That’s ‘a joke,’ Schweikart says. ‘I lived through the Reagan years, I remember.’ … Schweikart says the textbooks’ authors bring an inherently liberal viewpoint to their work. … Aside from bias, there are factual errors as well.” (03/11/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y95ahfq Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 03.11.10 by Steve Trinward “Governors and education leaders on Wednesday proposed sweeping new school standards that could lead to students across the country using the same math and English textbooks and taking the same tests, replacing a patchwork of state and local systems in an attempt to raise student achievement nationwide. But states must first adopt the rigorous new Common Core State Standards, and implementing the standards on such a large scale won’t be easy. Two states, Texas and Alaska, have already refused to join the project, and everyone from state legislatures to the nation’s 10,000 local school boards and 3 million teachers could chime in with their opinions. Since No Child Left Behind became law in 2002, every state has been required to create a set of K-12 grade-level learning goals in math and English. Most often, state standards were developed by committees of teachers, and the quality varied from state to state.” [editor’s note: Having worked a seasonal job for the past near-decade, scoring the results of such “standards” (from about a dozen states), I’ve borne witness to the good, bad and VERY ugly of all of this - SAT] (03/11/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykkvy9y Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 03.11.10 by Steve Trinward “The political fight over the science of global warming took another turn when the United Nations announced Wednesday that it was initiating an investigation into the practices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The probe will be run by an international consortium of national academies of science, the InterAcademy Council. The yet-to-be-staffed panel is charged with developing recommendations on procedural improvements that the global climate-science advisory body should adopt as it prepares a new set of reports on climate science, due out in 2014. The actions are a response to more than three months of embarrassing revelations, beginning with the widespread publication of e-mails either leaked or hacked from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit in England.” (03/11/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yazrcd2 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Space.Com Posted on 03.11.10 by Steve Trinward “Score one more for Einstein. A new study has confirmed his theory of general relativity works on extremely large scales. The study was one of the first rigorous tests of this theory of gravity beyond our solar system. The research found that even over vast scales of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, the equations of general relativity predict the way that mass pulls on other mass in the universe. The new work also helps rule out a competing theory of gravity that seeks to do away with the need for bizarre concepts like dark matter and dark energy that have irked some scientists. This research indicates those pesky ideas may be here to stay.” (03/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykjfy83 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Yahoo! News Posted on 03.10.10 by Steve Trinward “House Democratic leaders announced Wednesday that they will ban the much-criticized practice of using annual spending bills to direct pet projects to companies that often return the favor with campaign contributions. Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the Appropriations panel, told reporters that he hopes the step will mean 1,000 fewer earmarks and break the linkage between campaign contributions and earmarks that has sparked intense criticism and resulted in ethics probes of several lawmakers.” [editor’s note: Given that more than a few of the worst offenders in this practice are among their own ranks, this should be mighty interesting - SAT] (03/10/10) Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100310/ap_on_bi_ge/us_congress_earmarks Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 03.10.10 by Steve Trinward “A California lawmaker has stepped into a growing gun rights debate by introducing legislation that would essentially outlaw what’s called the ‘open carry’ of unloaded weapons on public property. The measure, which was first introduced last month but is not expected to have its first hearing until April, is meant to address the growing ‘open carry’ movement, in which some gun owners have taken to meeting in coffee shops, parks and restaurants while wearing holstered weapons to raise awareness about gun rights. ‘People should be free from the fear and the potential for violence firearms represent,’ said Democratic Assembly Member Lori Saldana of San Diego, in a statement. ‘These displays of firearms can create potentially dangerous situations.’” (03/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydzsqsh Filed under: 2AM News and CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.10.10 by Steve Trinward “Senator Scott Brown railed yesterday against President Obama and congressional Democrats for continuing their quest to pass a comprehensive healthcare bill, saying the majority party in Washington has failed to heed the lessons of his own surprise victory in January. ‘I was sent here in a message almost, to the administration and people up on Capitol Hill, that the American people expect us to do better,’ the Massachusetts Republican told a conference of the National Association of Health Underwriters in his most extensive remarks on healthcare since arriving in the capital. ‘Right now the healthcare plan they’re pushing, in particular, and the way they’re trying to do it, is wrong.’” (03/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ylf6efr Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 03.10.10 by Steve Trinward “A tax squabble is forcing voters to decide next week whether to dissolve the boundaries of a central New York village known as the birthplace of women’s rights and the inspiration for a classic Christmas movie. The March 16 ballot question in Seneca Falls asks whether the 179-year-old village of 6,600 should be absorbed into the surrounding town of the same name. Even though the name won’t change, some residents expressed concern that a ‘yes’ vote could erode the village’s storied identity. Supporters say the ballot proposal would do away with a costly duplication of governmental services. The village was the site of the first known women’s rights convention, in 1848, and claims to be the model for Bedford Falls, the mythical community depicted in the 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life.” (03/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj6otd7 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Tennessean Posted on 03.09.10 by Steve Trinward “The sponsor of a measure that would declare an income tax and payroll tax unconstitutional in Tennessee says it’s necessary because of the poor state of the economy. The proposed constitutional amendment sponsored by Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey of Germantown was approved 7-3 in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. The earliest it could go before voters is 2014. Even though the state constitution already says an income tax is not allowed in Tennessee, Kelsey said the difficult economic times may prompt lawmakers to try to pass an income tax. … He said the measure would also clarify that a city or county ‘cannot enact any tax that’s not specifically authorized by the constitution and the Legislature.’ Kelsey said the legislation is also necessary because it’s uncertain how the Tennessee Supreme Court will rule in the future.” (03/09/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yd4sd62 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.09.10 by Steve Trinward “Almost until the end, Mary Josephine Ray would take song requests, crooning traditional Acadian tunes from her childhood and Tin Pan Alley standards. From her New Hampshire nursing home, she played cribbage with a youthful zeal, tallying every point herself. At 106, she shrugged off hip replacement surgery like she had skinned her knee. She said the rosary, watched her soaps, and cheered on her beloved Red Sox. … Ray, who died in her sleep Sunday at the age of 114, had been widely acknowledged as the oldest person in the United States and the second-oldest person in the world. … [A] mother of two children who lived most of her life in Maine, also reveled in the attention that came with her advancing age. … [She] was just a few days younger than the oldest person in the world, Kama Chinen of Japan, who is 114 years and 303 days.” (03/09/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yz836q5 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 03.09.10 by Steve Trinward “Nicotine builds up gradually in smokers’ brains rather than spiking after each puff, according to a study that might help point to new ways to help people quit smoking. Dr. Jed E. Rose of Duke University reports in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that nicotine buildup in the brain is gradual over several minutes. Scientists have theorized there is a spike of nicotine about seven seconds after each puff, but almost no measurements had been taken until now, Rose said. ‘We were surprised to find that the rate of uptake was much different from what one commonly hears,’ said Rose, who directs the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research.” (03/09/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfaubp7 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 03.09.10 by Steve Trinward “The Senate’s The Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, the body’s official gatekeeper, said the Drudge Report, a conservative news aggregator, and whitepages.com ‘are responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate,’ according to an e-mail to the Environment and Public Works Committee. … Another e-mail from a separate office warned that staffers who had visited the Drudge Report or White Pages had experienced viruses on their PCs.” (03/09/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb9v6oh Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: AlterNet Posted on 03.09.10 by Steve Trinward “On Monday afternoon, a controversial Utah bill that charges pregnant women and girls with murder for having miscarriages caused by ‘intentional or knowing’ acts, was signed into law by Gov. Gary Herbert. Contrary to media reports last week, the ‘Criminal Homicide and Abortion Amendments’ or HB12, which previously also applied to miscarriages caused by ‘reckless’ acts, was never ‘withdrawn’ by its sponsor, Republican Representative Carl Wimmer (who is crafting similar ‘model legislation’ for other states). After the governor expressed concern over ‘possible unintended consequences,’ of the legislation as written, Rep. Wimmer swiftly introduced a new version, titled ‘Criminal Homicide and Abortion Revisions’ (HB462), which omitted the word ‘reckless.’ Gov. Herbert signed the new bill and vetoed the old one.” (03/09/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9gnvvk Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Tennessean Posted on 03.08.10 by Steve Trinward “The so-called complimentary breakfasts at many hotels in Tennessee have stirred the appetite of state revenue officials. The state wants to tax the lodging businesses for the food that they offer as free breakfasts as part of their room rate. The budget-strapped state hopes to get an estimated $1 to $2 million for its coffers from the sweet rolls, coffee and such that hotel patrons enjoy at no charge from the Smoky Mountains to Graceland. The proposal, pending in committees in the General Assembly, is to collect tax on the food at the prevailing sales tax rate in the county involved — up to 9.75 percent. State officials stress that the businesses would be taxed and not the hungry patrons.” [editor’s note: Cute! So the hotels get to eat the tax (or more likely add it to the room-rate?), or stop serving the freebies? - SAT] (03/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yl6elw4 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 03.08.10 by Steve Trinward “Daniel Higgins doesn’t look like a Middle Eastern student, but officials say he routinely portrayed himself as one for almost a decade, getting paid up to $1,500 per student to attend their classes and take exams so they could keep their visas current and remain in the U.S. Officials say that records seized from Higgins’ home in Laguna Niguel, Calif., show that more than 100 students from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates hired him to do their classwork and take their tests. Higgins, 46, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud when he appeared in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Monday.” (03/08/10) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588485,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 03.08.10 by Steve Trinward “After more than a year of watching helplessly as the Iceland financial crisis caused their government to collapse and their economy to crumble, many Icelanders woke up Sunday feeling that they finally had something to celebrate. With more than 98 percent of the ballots from Saturday’s nationwide referendum counted, more than 90 percent of voters have resoundingly rejected a $5.3 billion plan to pay off Britain and the Netherlands for debts spawned by the collapse of an Icelandic Internet bank.” (03/07/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yduu5e6 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Tennessean Posted on 03.07.10 by Steve Trinward “Tea party activists have helped a Republican win Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat. They have propelled the Texas governor to a third nomination. And they have shaken up races in New York, New Jersey and Virginia. Can they do it this summer in Tennessee? With more than one in four Tennesseans expressing sympathy for the goals of the movement, the Republican primary for governor — and possibly also the general election — could turn on who tea party voters support in August. … Meanwhile, the movement has given hope to at least one dark horse candidate.” (03/07/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ygdegbs Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 03.04.10 by Steve Trinward “Seeking a new global role for Iceland following the banking bust caused by its stint as a financial superpower, the country’s lawmakers on Feb. 16 turned to a new vision: Turn the country into a haven for free speech. Measures before Parliament are aimed at improving transparency laws and luring Internet-based media and data centers from all over the world to use Iceland as a base for investigative journalism. One aim is to counter challenges to media freedom in other countries such as Britain, where laws heavily favor plaintiffs in libel cases. But Iceland doesn’t want the innovation to stop there.” (03/04/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ycjrjtz Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.04.10 by Steve Trinward “Inside the front door to Central Falls High School, across the street from a boarded-up building, an archway is adorned with an unambiguous boast: ‘Through these halls pass the world’s best faculty and students.’ It is a motto that rings false for the local school board, which recently voted to fire all of the school’s staff in a stunning move that made Central Falls a lightning rod in the polarizing debate over improving the country’s education system. … The battle taking place in Rhode Island has resonated in Massachusetts, where state and local education leaders recently received legislative approval to take more drastic measures to improve schools, including forcing teachers to reapply for their jobs. Massachusetts officials are expected to release a list today of about three dozen underperforming schools.” (03/04/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydsvc7y Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 03.04.10 by Steve Trinward “Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger has flown his final flight. The pilot who landed a US Airways plane safely on the Hudson River last January said yesterday that he is retiring after 30 years and plans to spend some of his time pressing for more flight safety. … Sullenberger officially retired at a private ceremony in Charlotte with fellow pilots and other US Airways employees. Sullenberger, 59, joined US Airways’ predecessor airline in 1980.” (03/04/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydlnfkw Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 03.03.10 by Steve Trinward “The Supreme Court yesterday revived an $18 million settlement of a dispute involving payment to freelance writers for online use of their work. The high court overturned a lower court decision throwing out a settlement between freelancers, publishers, and database owners including Reed Elsevier Inc., educational publisher and owner of the LexisNexis information service. The proposed settlement covers freelancers who registered the copyright to their works as well as those who did not. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, had said courts generally do not have authority over infringement claims on works that are not copyrighted. Justice Clarence Thomas disagreed, writing that the lower court did have authority to approve the settlement.” (03/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yknewr8 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Tennessean Posted on 03.03.10 by Steve Trinward “Here’s something you don’t hear every day: The Internal Revenue Service wants to give some of you money. The agency issued a notice Tuesday saying that about 22,200 Tennesseans will lose income tax refunds with a median estimated value of $598 if they don’t file a 2006 income tax return by April 15. The IRS notice said that people who didn’t file returns for 2006 are entitled to a combined $1.3 billion in unclaimed refunds. In Tennessee the total is $19.8 million. … However, refunds will not be sent if taxpayers still owe money for 2007, 2008 or 2009.” [editor’s note: They’re saying that 22,000 Vol Staters (and how many others nationwide?) didn’t even file for refunds that year … a dangerous precedent for the IRS to deal with, and here’s a way to sucker you into filing - SAT] (03/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ygyqccp Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 03.03.10 by Steve Trinward “George and Sharlee McNamee have a beautiful home, an ocean view and a bounty of children and grandchildren who invade their house every weekend. The breeze is fresh, the view is stunning and retired life in Corona Del Mar, Calif., is good. But the McNamees wake up every morning fighting for their rights. In this case, the freedom to use a picnic table, shed and shower in their own backyard. … For the last decade, George and Sharlee McNamee have been locked in legal battle with California regulators over the couple’s right to build improvements on their own property, which abuts a coastal zone.” (03/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfhd492 Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.03.10 by Steve Trinward “The state Senate yesterday passed a driving-safety bill that would forbid text-messaging behind the wheel and impose new mental and physical fitness screening on older drivers who seek to renew their licenses. Driver-safety advocates have been pushing for action on both fronts for years, and yesterday’s vote represents the furthest either issue has gotten in the state Legislature. The House passed a similar bill last month and, despite some key differences in the two plans, leaders from both chambers expect to send a bill to Governor Deval Patrick soon. The Senate bill, like one that passed the House last month, would also bar teenagers from using cellphones while driving, either for phone calls or texting.” (03/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yggt7h7 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Tennessean Posted on 03.02.10 by Steve Trinward “The Cheatham County School Board agreed Monday to settle a lawsuit with the ACLU, which had claimed the school district promoted religion. The board voted 5-1 to accept the settlement agreement. Greg Horton, who cast the only no vote, said the settlement goes too far in requiring the surrendering of rights that are not his or anyone else’s to surrender or should have to surrender. He also believes that the settlement was what the ACLU demanded. In part, the settlement says school officials shall not ‘promote, advance, endorse, participate in or cause prayers during or in conjunction with school events for any school within the school district.’” (03/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yaln89l Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 03.02.10 by Steve Trinward “The federal government Monday began to furlough workers, while hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans nationwide braced for an end of their unemployment checks and health-insurance benefits while doctors saw fees for treating Medicare patients decline — the result of a one-man roadblock for a Senate spending bill. At the center of the drama was Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who single-handedly blocked a bill last week that would have provided a short-term extension for a bundle of federal funding programs that expired Monday. Bunning used one of the Senate’s arcane procedural tactics to hold up the measure as a way of protesting the federal deficit — drawing intense fire from Democrats in the process. Bunning, who is retiring at the end of the year, has said he has opposed the bill because it doesn’t include an offset in spending so that the federal deficit doesn’t increase.” (03/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc53j6f Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 03.02.10 by Steve Trinward “Over the past five years, as technology has provided judges new sentencing options, the number of convicts in Massachusetts ordered to wear monitoring devices using a global positioning system has risen to more than 1,000, many of whom might otherwise be serving time behind bars. The increasing number wearing such electronic ankle bracelets has saved the state money by reducing the need to feed and house them in prisons, but recent events underscore how the GPS tracking devices remain an imperfect substitute for incarceration. They allow authorities to monitor an offender’s whereabouts, but they do not prevent crime, especially when their plastic straps can be removed with a few snips of a scissors.” (03/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb79ts8 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Tennessean Posted on 02.28.10 by Steve Trinward “State Rep. Susan Lynn says she isn’t trying to fight the political battles of the Civil War again. But she isn’t afraid to push to restore Tennessee’s ’sovereignty.’ Lynn believes it’s time Tennesseans reworked their relationship with the federal government. And she says one of her jobs as a state legislator is to open that dialogue, even if it means sparking confrontation with political leaders in Washington, D.C. ‘For a very long time, the federal government has been growing and growing and becoming a bigger and bigger deal,’ Lynn said last week. ‘Maybe it’s time to pull out the document.’ … With libertarian outrage toward the federal government seemingly on the rise … Lynn has become one of its foremost champions in the Tennessee legislature.” (02/27/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yzgmg6u Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 02.28.10 by Steve Trinward “With speculation mounting that US Representative William D. Delahunt will not seek reelection, Joseph P. Kennedy III, son of the former congressman and great-grandson of the Kennedy family patriarch, is eyeing a run to succeed him in the 10th Congressional District, senior Democratic sources say. The sources say that Kennedy, a 29-year-old assistant district attorney on the Cape considered by many to be the most promising member of his generation to extend the family’s political legacy, is not close to making any decisions and will not speak publicly until Delahunt announces whether he will seek another term. The discussions are taking place very privately among Kennedy family confidants. As Delahunt ponders his future and Democratic hopefuls eye a bid for his seat, Kennedy’s potential candidacy is weighing heavily on the field that is starting to take shape.” (02/27/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yeh8rtd Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Author: Michael Kranish Posted on 02.26.10 by Steve Trinward “President Obama’s plan to kick-start the construction of nuclear power plants in the United States comes with a big catch: Because private banks won’t lend to an industry viewed as financially risky, taxpayers would be accountable for billions in government-guaranteed loans if plant developers default. Precisely how much risk the public would carry remains a subject of lobbying by the industry, which is trying to minimize its financial exposure as the political climate in Washington has warmed in its favor. Obama said last week that his administration had conditionally awarded a loan guarantee for the construction of two nuclear reactors at a plant in Georgia and said he wants to fund many more such projects under a program that could exceed $50 billion. But critics said the president has failed to address the potential liability to taxpayers for such loans.” (02/25/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8sgell Filed under: CANDi News and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 02.26.10 by Steve Trinward “The Obama administration is reportedly backing down from demanding a separate consumer protection agency in its plan to overhaul the financial regulatory system. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the White House is willing to compromise with lawmakers skeptical of creating a stand-alone agency. … The agency had been envisioned to regulate sales and marketing of mortgages, home equity lines of credit, credit cards and other consumer financial products. Supporters have suggested that community group representatives sit on the board to make sure it addresses individuals’ concerns. Many business groups have stood in strong opposition to the creation of a new bureaucracy, arguing that such an agency would add an unnecessary layer of regulation and bureaucracy that will raise the costs of consumer financial products and limit innovation.” [editor’s note: If existing laws against force & fraud were properly enforced, there’d be no discussion here - SAT] (02/25/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8avqo9 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 02.26.10 by Steve Trinward “Spain approved a sweeping new law yesterday that eases restrictions on abortion, declaring the practice a woman’s right and doing away with the threat of imprisonment, in part of a drive toward liberal policies that has angered conservatives and the Catholic Church. The new law allows the procedure without restrictions up to 14 weeks and gives 16- and 17-year-olds the right to have abortions without parental consent. The senate’s passage of the bill yesterday gives it final approval. The bill brings the country in line with its more secular neighbors in northern Europe and is the latest of a series of bold social reforms undertaken by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who first took office in 2004 and has ruffled feathers among many in the traditionally Catholic country.” (02/25/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9mz3ow Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 02.24.10 by Steve Trinward “California Rep. Xavier Becerra is firing back at a Republican congressional candidate who called upon him to ‘clarify his reaction’ after the California lawmaker was caught on a YouTube video laughing at a suggestion that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited prior to a union meeting in Los Angeles. A candidate for Congress in California’s 30th district is calling on Becerra to ‘clarify his reaction’ prior to a Feb. 20 meeting.” (02/24/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yatqu6f Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 02.24.10 by Steve Trinward “After several incidents of misbehavior in Afghanistan involving the military contractor Blackwater and its employees, US lawmakers are moving to provide greater oversight of an industry that, while key to American military success, may also be undermining the mission there. Even as US forces in Afghanistan operate under orders to protect Afghan civilians, erring on the side of caution and even holding their fire rather than risk harming them while fighting Taliban insurgents, concern is mounting that civilian contractors operate under a different set of rules — or simply don’t follow the rules…. Other lawmakers this week introduced legislation to prevent the American military from ‘outsourcing’ security missions to contractors.” (02/24/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yclf4bd Filed under: CANDi News and PND News | |
|
Source: CBS News Posted on 02.23.10 by Steve Trinward “Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist has approved a school district’s plan to fire all its teachers. All 88 teachers at Central Falls High School are expected to receive their pink slips on Tuesday, reports CBS affiliate WPRI in Providence. Central Falls, Rhode Island has long been among the state’s most troubled school districts — 90 percent of the students live in poverty, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod. … Central Falls Superintendent Fran Gallo has proposed laying off all teachers at the school as part of a ‘turnaround’ model for the school. That high school and five other schools in Providence have been identified by the state as chronically low-performing and must make major changes to avoid being closed.” (02/23/10) Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/23/national/main6235551.shtml Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 02.23.10 by Steve Trinward “The Supreme Court signaled yesterday that it may be willing to let a group of African-Americans sue Chicago for discrimination over a hiring test that weeded out black applicants to become firefighters. It is the second time in as many years the high court has tackled discrimination in testing within the firefighting ranks. In a landmark case last year, the Supreme Court in a 5-to-4 decision said New Haven violated white firefighters’ civil rights by throwing out an exam in which no African-Americans scored high enough to be promoted to lieutenant or captain. In yesterday’s case, the City of Chicago decided to use a test to weed out potential firefighter trainee applicants. Anyone who scored 64 or below was deemed not qualified. But the city set a second cutoff score of 89 points. Officials told applicants who scored below 89 but above 64 that although they passed the test, they probably would not be hired because of the large number of people who scored 89 or above. The majority of those in the top-scoring group were white; only 11 percent were black.” (02/23/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjdusdd Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 02.23.10 by Steve Trinward “A bill in Congress that would prohibit discrimination in public schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity could stifle free speech and even lead to ‘homosexual indoctrination’ in the nation’s classrooms, critics say. The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA), or H.R. 4530, was introduced late last month by Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, with 60 co-sponsors. Polis, the first openly gay man elected to the House as a non-incumbent, said the legislation will put lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students on ‘equal footing’ with their peers, much as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did for minorities and Title IX did for women.” (02/23/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydrlazr Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 02.22.10 by Steve Trinward “The Supreme Court is set to examine whether of a piece of the USAPATRIOT Act… violates constitutional protections of free speech and association. On Tuesday, the high court will hear oral argument in a case challenging what some critics say is a version of modern-day McCarthyism: prosecuting people for who they associate with rather than any personal criminal conduct. The law makes it a crime to provide ‘material support’ to a known terrorist organization. It is designed to isolate terrorists by making it more difficult for them to receive assistance, services, and recruits.” (02/22/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydcqljp Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and PND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 02.22.10 by Steve Trinward “When 4-year-old Eric Stavros Adler choked to death on a piece of hot dog, his anguished mother never dreamed that the popular kids’ food could be so dangerous. Some food makers including Oscar Mayer have warning labels about choking, but not nearly enough, says Joan Stavros Adler, Eric’s mom. The American Academy of Pediatrics agrees. The nation’s largest pediatricians group is calling for sweeping changes in the way food is designed and labeled to minimize children’s chances for choking.” (02/22/10) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,587133,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 02.22.10 by Steve Trinward “Latin American foreign ministers say their nations are close to forming a new regional organization that would not include the U.S. or Canada. Representatives of 32 countries are gathering on Mexico’s Caribbean coast for the Unity Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean starting today. Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said Sunday that the new group has yet to be named, but is envisioned as the premier political forum for Latin American nations. It would be launched next year. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has urged the region to create a counterweight to what he calls excessive U.S. influence.” (02/22/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yh6ylbs Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Agence France-Presse Posted on 02.22.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “A straw poll of US conservative activists saw Texas congressman Ron Paul emerge as the preferred Republican presidential candidate to run against President Barack Obama in 2012. Some 31 percent of the more than 2,000 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) attendees who participated in the poll voted for the outspoken libertarian. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate in 2008, came in third with 7.0 percent, some way behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (22 percent), who had won the CPAC poll for the last three years.” (02/21/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yl2cwhx Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Author: Stephen Ohlemacher Posted on 02.21.10 by Steve Trinward “Joseph Stack’s methods were unthinkable — he is accused of ramming a plane into an Internal Revenue Service building in Texas — but his views on taxation follow a long line of protesters who believe tax laws don’t apply to them. While their numbers aren’t large, according to experts, their arguments are so enticing that the IRS has published a guide to debunk their claims. In 2008, the Justice Department was concerned enough to start the ‘National Tax Defier Initiative’ to better coordinate prosecutions. … A 3,000-word manifesto posted on a website registered in Stack’s name rails against the IRS and accuses the agency of ruining his life.” [editor’s note: Which they of course did, but this “reporter” could never overcome the sheeple conditioning to admit to that - SAT] (02/21/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yenlju9 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 02.21.10 by Steve Trinward “The coming week could provide important signals about whether bipartisanship has a chance these days in Washington — or whether partisan gridlock will become only more entrenched as the 2010 midterms approach. On Thursday, President Obama will host a televised bipartisan summit in hopes of reviving healthcare legislation in Congress. He announced the meeting after Massachusetts elected Republican Scott Brown to the US Senate, which ended the Democrats’ filibuster-proof supermajority in that chamber. Ahead of the summit, the White House is expected to release an updated healthcare-reform proposal, which will probably combine elements of the Democratic bills passed by the Senate and House. Mr. Obama has also challenged Republicans to come up with their own proposal.” (02/21/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydg34d3 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Bloomberg News Posted on 02.21.10 by Steve Trinward “Safety reviewers at the Food and Drug Administration urged the agency to take GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s diabetes drug Avandia off the market in 2008 because they said it was causing 500 additional heart attacks per month. Two US senators say they want to know why the medicine remains on pharmacy shelves. A report released yesterday by Max Baucus and Charles Grassley said Glaxo knew Avandia may cause heart damage several years before a study documented the risk and the company pressed doctors to retract warnings about side effects. Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Grassley, the committee’s ranking Republican, are pressing the FDA for answers by March 4. A 2007 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine linked Avandia to a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack.” (02/21/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yaf364e Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 02.21.10 by Steve Trinward “A suburban Philadelphia school district accused of secretly switching on laptop computer webcams inside students’ homes says it never used webcam images to monitor or discipline students and believes one of its administrators has been ‘unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked.’ The Lower Merion School District, in response to a suit filed by a student, has acknowledged that webcams were remotely activated 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to find missing, lost or stolen laptops — which the district noted would include ‘a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus.’” (02/21/10) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,587073,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Boston Globe Posted on 02.18.10 by Steve Trinward “It’s no revelation that women have smashed the stereotypes embodied by Harriet Nelson and June Cleaver. New research is showing that women are not only contributing more to the household bottom line — they are increasingly the larger, sometimes even the sole, breadwinner. And for the first time in US history, women are about to outnumber men in the workforce — and, according to some projections, within two decades women will outnumber men as the home’s major breadwinner. Just as women entering the workforce required a big adjustment in the attitudes that for generations defined marriages, another big adjustment is needed now with wives earning more on average than their husbands. If it was dying before, the idea of families having a ‘traditional breadwinner’ seems officially dead.” [editor’s note: High time, if you ask me! - SAT] (02/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yzegms2 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 02.18.10 by Steve Trinward “At the core of state budget problems in the US is something that goes beyond the recent recession: poorly managed pension systems for public employees. That’s the conclusion of an in-depth analysis released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States in Washington. The unfunded liabilities exceed $1 trillion and could force difficult choices upon many states, the nonprofit research group said. The problem is not a new one, but it has grown worse in the past year. And, on a day when President Obama called for a new commission to propose fixes to the federal budget, it’s a reminder that Congress doesn’t have a monopoly on the idea of making promises without figuring out how to pay for them. ‘To a significant degree, the $1 trillion gap reflects states’ own policy choices and lack of discipline,’ the Pew Center report concludes.” (02/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yeyxmp6 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News | |
|
Source: Fox News Posted on 02.18.10 by Steve Trinward “‘The ZeuS Compromise’ may sound like a great movie, but it’s actually a massive hacking network for rent to the highest bidder — and it’s a doozy, affecting more than 74,000 PCs in 2,400 business and government systems around the world. And it’s still up and running. But worse, the security analysts who detected the underground network believe the criminals behind it aren’t even after money. Instead they have built a secret underground network to rent out to gangs, cybercrooks — and even rogue governments.” (02/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yds5cmk Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Washington Post Posted on 02.18.10 by Steve Trinward “Senior House Republicans and Democrats plan to announce today that they will team up to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a rare show of bipartisanship in the polarized Congress. Last month, the Obama administration launched talks with lawmakers on an overhaul of the 2002 law, which mandated an expansion of standardized testing and established a national framework for school accountability. This month, President Obama’s budget proposed eliminating the standard of ‘adequate yearly progress’ for schools to close test-score achievement gaps, a key element of the law.” [editor’s note: Rewrite? Hell, it needs ruthless editing! - SAT] (02/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yffkoqw Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: McClatchy Newspapers Posted on 02.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Seeking common ground with Republicans on energy and climate issues, President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged $8 billion in loan guarantees needed to build the first U.S. nuclear reactor in nearly three decades. The move, along with a tripling of nuclear loan guarantees in the president’s budget, represents a new federal commitment to the low-carbon-emitting, but highly controversial, nuclear-power sector long championed by the GOP. Industry groups and Republican leaders praised the announcement, which has been expected for months, but some environmentalists and free-market think tanks protested.” [editor’s note: Oh great! It’s not enough the Price/Anderson Act limits liability in the event of disaster, now we all get to pay for the construction! - SAT] (02/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yk78kdx Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Associated Press Posted on 02.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Governor Rick Perry and other top Texas officials said yesterday they would legally challenge the federal government’s finding that greenhouse gases are dangerous to people, saying the ruling was based on flawed science. The Environmental Protection Agency in December issued an ‘endangerment’ finding about carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, setting the stage for future rules. Officials in Texas — which leads the nation in greenhouse gas emissions — said they have asked a federal appeals court to review the endangerment finding. The state also asked the EPA to reconsider it.” (02/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yboawnx Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Hindustan Times [India] Posted on 02.17.10 by Steve Trinward “Aspirin may help women with breast cancer live longer, a new study claims. According to an analysis of data from the US Nurses’ Health Study, which followed 238,000 nurses in the US for more than 30 years, aspirin significantly reduces the risk of death from breast cancer in women who have already been treated for the disease. … Researchers are not clear as to how the drug affects cancer cells but they believe, it may curb the spread of the disease by reducing inflammation, which is a key factor in cancer development, reports The Independent. The results showed that in addition to halving the risk of death, it also reduces metastases — spread of the cancer to other areas of the body — by a similar margin.” (02/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjyyonx Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
|
Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 02.17.10 by Steve Trinward “A little more than a year has passed since Iceland became the 2008 global financial meltdown’s worst casualty when all three of its major banks collapsed and the government was toppled. While the spotlight this week fell on Athens, where the rulers of debt-stricken Greece are braced for a public backlash against severe spending cuts and hundreds of finance and customs ministry workers took the streets on Wednesday to protest budget cuts, those behind Iceland’s own citizen uprising against their country’s banking and political elites insist that anger is still bubbling away here.” (02/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb7dvkz Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
| previous posts » |
