Tuesday, June 10, 2014


News Clips For The Day


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140603-ocelots-cats-wildlife-recovery-habitat-loss-panther-highway/

Last Stand for U.S. Ocelots?

After decades of habitat loss and vehicular deaths, only 50 of the cats are left in a corner of Texas

Elaine Robbins
National Geographic
PUBLISHED JUNE 3, 2014

Last November in Texas, a feline twice the size of a house cat was struck dead on State Highway 100, just south of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in the Rio Grande Valley.

Leo Gustafson, the refuge's assistant manager, went out to inspect the corpse. He soon found himself gazing at the cat's beautiful tawny coat, covered with spots, bars, and splotches—the perfect camouflage for a thorn-scrub habitat of sun and shade. But the pattern had proved useless as the ocelot tried to cross the four-lane divided highway.

Gustafson noted the thick radio collar around the cat's neck and recognized the individual as the four-and-a-half-year-old male that refuge staff had been tracking. Over the past few months, they had watched with trepidation as he crisscrossed a patchwork of cotton fields and convenience stores, culverts and roadways, seeking to establish a territory and find a mate.

"It's tragic, really," said refuge manager Boyd Blihovde. "Ocelots are so beautiful and so rare, and to lose so many of these animals to vehicular collision just seems senseless."

The death of the cat wildlife biologists knew as OM276 (OM stands for "ocelot male") also brought the species one step closer to extinction in the United States.

Ocelots still inhabit Mexico and every country south of it except Chile. But the last ones left in the United States—an estimated 50 individuals, down from about a hundred a decade ago—live in two separate populations in and around Laguna Atascosa and on private land in neighboring Willacy County.

This is the species' last foothold in a territory that once included Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona. (Five ocelots have been sighted in Arizona in the past five years, but researchers say the possibility of a breeding population there is highly unlikely.)

An Unfriendly Environment

The number one cause of ocelot deaths in the U.S. today is vehicular. Six of the 14 cats tracked with radio telemetry by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Laguna Atascosa biologists have been killed by vehicles. As Blihovde puts it, "Wildcats and highways don't mix."

Yet cars and trucks aren't an ocelot's biggest foe. Habitat loss and fragmentation are.
Some 95 percent of the cats' native habitat in the U.S. has been converted to agriculture or become urban sprawl. In the Rio Grande Valley—a border area that's one of the nation's fastest growing regions—young males like OM276 that venture outside the refuge must navigate a dangerous man-made landscape.

Cause for Hope?

Now, after decades of inaction, some recovery measures are finally under way.

This year the Texas Department of Transportation plans to install the state's first highway wildlife crossings for ocelots. Eight underpasses, at a cost of $1.4 million, will be incorporated into the expansion of Highway 106.

Such crossings, accompanied by highway fencing, have proved successful elsewhere in the U.S. In the 1980s, for instance, when Interstate 75 (aka Alligator Alley) was widened though the Everglades, Florida invested $20 million to build 23 crossings. Today the state's endangered panther population, which numbered no more than 50 in the mid-1990s, has bounced back to an estimated 160.

Mountain lions (another name for the panther) imported from Texas helped the Florida panther recover by introducing genetic variability. So it's only fitting that Texas ocelots may soon receive their own new pair of genes.

Researchers from the ocelot "translocation" team—which includes theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and various universities and institutions in the United States and Mexico—plan to appeal to the Mexican government for permission to import breeding-age females from Tamaulipas, Mexico, where an estimated thousand ocelots live.

Ocelots Need Room to Roam

Ultimately, the ocelot's recovery depends on finding enough room for the population to expand.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says it wants to buy land or secure easements to create habitat corridors. But to date the agency has purchased only about 100,000 of the estimated one million acres (405,000 hectares) of habitat the cats need to recover. In Texas, which is 95 percent privately owned, landowner incentives to restore ocelot habitat may offer the best hope to conserve the species.

In the face of such grim realities, each new ocelot birth is significant. So on February 14, when a juvenile never seen before took a selfie with one of the refuge's wildlife trip cameras, Laguna Atascosa staff felt like they'd received a valentine.

When wildlife biologist Hilary Swarts tracked and radio-collared the animal a few weeks later, she confirmed that it was a 10- to 12-month-old juvenile female. Then in late April, another new juvenile, a 12- to 14-month-old male, was discovered on the refuge.

Two new kids on the block are hardly enough to pull the species back from the brink. But for an imperiled species like the ocelot, every kitten is a sign of hope—and a step in the right direction.





“This is the species' last foothold in a territory that once included Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona. (Five ocelots have been sighted in Arizona in the past five years, but researchers say the possibility of a breeding population there is highly unlikely).... The number one cause of ocelot deaths in the U.S. today is vehicular. Yet cars and trucks aren't an ocelot's biggest foe. Habitat loss and fragmentation are. Some 95 percent of the cats' native habitat in the U.S. has been converted to agriculture or become urban sprawl.” This loss of habitat is a huge problem for all the wild animals in the US. Some adapt better than others. Some adapt too well – they now come into the cities to eat our garbage, and threaten pets and even humans, as they are not immunized against rabies and other diseases.

Ocelots in the US – I had no idea there were any. They are among the most beautiful of the wild cats, to me. I don't see how one million acres of territory can be found for them, without their having to cross highways like this one, though. The state of Texas has approved the building of eight highway underpasses for ocelots to cross highway 106. These crossings, especially when accompanied by highway fencing, have greatly reduced the loss of panthers in the state of Florida, restoring the population from 50 to 160. “The ocelot "translocation" team in Texas is planning to appeal to the Mexican government for a breeding stock to introduce in Texas.” The Fish and Wildlife Service has plans to buy the 1,000,000 acres needed for habitat, but so far has only purchased 100,000. “In Texas, which is 95 percent privately owned, landowner incentives to restore ocelot habitat may offer the best hope to conserve the species.” I hope this works, and it may. Ocelots have considerable charm as animal go, like deer, and people are very likely to approve projects that may require effort on their part or even restricted use of their own land to save the species. If I see more articles about this, I will clip them.





Supreme Court Rejects Death Row Drug Disclosure Appeal
— Tim Stelloh
First published June 9th 2014

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused an appeal from a Texas death row inmate who had sought to force the state to show where it obtained lethal injection drugs.

Robert James Campbell, 41, filed the appeal in May, following the botched execution of Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett, who appeared to regain consciousness mid-execution and writhe in pain.

Campbell, who was convicted of the 1991 rape and murder of bank teller Alejandra Rendon, has also requested clemency based on his low intelligence. He has alleged that the state withheld these details and that he should not be eligible for capital punishment.




I do think that there is a need for good research into the most effective, while humane, drugs that are to be used in executions. It seems to me that, though there have been problems with some of them, lethal injection is still the most benign method of execution. In more than one case there have been questions about exactly which drugs are used, with no uniformity between states. There also have been problems with getting a sufficient supply from some drug producers, due to a fear of law suits. If prisoners are again found to wake up from the sedative without a speedy death, “writhing in pain,” I think the death penalty should be abolished, with life in prison without parole used instead. Especially in the case of mentally disabled people, I think they shouldn't be executed. They should go to mental hospitals and be confined there, without release for visits to family, etc.





Middle Class Minimalist Message Sounds Off-Key for Poor – NBC
BY MARTHA C. WHITE
First published June 9th 2014

For upper-middle class Americans drowning in stuff, a message of simplicity might sound appealing. But for the poor, advice about streamlining an already bare-bones existence rings hollow.

Joshua Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, two self-styled gurus of minimalism, have popularized the idea of earning less and having less through their books — the two are currently on a 100-city book tour — and a blog that draws an audience of 2 million readers. They say their message of making life more meaningful with fewer possessions is one to which everyone can relate, no matter their financial status.

“You have the luxury of options right now,” Millburn said.

When he walked away from a six-figure job because he was disillusioned following a divorce and his mother’s death, “My initial plan was to write fiction … and to work at a coffee shop,” he said. “I radically pared down my bills to make a part-time living … but everything I did was in line with my values.”

Millburn said that he and Nicodemus both grew up poor in Ohio, and that he spent two years cutting his expenses to whittle away at most of his credit card and other debt before embarking on his lifestyle change.

“I think we all have options,” he said. “I spent a few years changing my life and paying off about 80 percent of my debt and sacrificing,” he said. “I moved into a very tiny apartment.”

Joshua Fields Millburn, right, and Ryan Nicodemus are The Minimalists, writing about living a meaningful life with less stuff.

That advice might sound off-key for those in poverty.

“A wealthy person minimalizing is making a lifestyle choice,” said Sasha Abramsky, a fellow at advocacy group DEMOS and author of “The American Way of Poverty, How the Other Half Still Lives.” Poor people, he said, “don’t have that option in the first place.”

Through their public relations representative, the two declined to say how much they earned from preaching a gospel of fewer possessions and less money. “Focusing primarily on money misses the point,” Millburn said via email.

Even poor Americans can benefit from disciplined spending, Millburn insisted. “I think ultimately it’s about decisions with the resources we do have …. I think people don’t realize how much is going out the window.”

Not so, said Arne Kalleberg, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies poverty.

“The poor people I’ve talked to, they know exactly how much money is going out the window because they’re counting pennies,” he said. “They know exactly which bills they’re going to not pay this month and how much they’ll pay in interest. That doesn’t mean poor people don’t waste money — every time you want to wash a pair of jeans, you have to pay $3 — but they do know where the money goes.”

“As long as the big-picture inequalities remain, a conversation about minimalism … is going to end up blaming poor people when they stay poor.”

In a blog post, Millburn wrote, “I’m currently wearing a $100 pair of jeans, and, yes, they are worth $100 of my freedom to me; they are also my only pair of jeans, ergo I get immense value from them since I wear them almost every day.”

If you’re a middle-class person with a washer and a dryer in your house, that’s easy, Kalleberg said. Trips to a Laundromat cost both time and money.

And for the people who can’t afford $100 jeans, perhaps they can have the cast-offs of elective minimalists.

Nicodemus said that at one point, he had roughly a dozen shirts he wore when he painted. “I probably only needed one or two painting shirts, if that,” he said.

“I think that’s the nice thing about a lot of different charities. There are places now within communities … that have high-quality stuff,” Millburn said, saying he donated a lot of his clothes when he embraced minimalism.

“I’m certain I can go to Goodwill ... if I was in a lower income situation [and] have free or very low-cost access to high quality goods.”

But there’s nothing generous about telling poor people they should be grateful for hand-me-downs, Abramsky argued.

“It’s one thing for a wealthy person to say, ‘I don’t need that pair of jeans,’ but the psychology of telling a poor person, ‘you’re not good enough to buy new clothes’… psychologically, that comes with a lot of baggage,” he said.

Minimalism also assumes a certain amount of free time, which poverty experts say is as scarce as disposable income for poor Americans.

“I would say that for me I know that I have at least 20 minutes a day to sit and let my mind wander and do a little bit of meditation,” Nicodemus said.

Others can, too, he said. “They can find at least 20 minutes a day…. They can certainly slow down a little bit and make better decisions here and there.”

It’s not that simple, Kalleberg said. “Poverty comes with tremendous time restrictions,” he said. “With the psychological pressure of juggling … everything becomes stressful and everything generally takes longer than it would if you had resources.”

Ultimately, the problem of applying minimalism to everyone is that “it assumes everything is equal,” Abramsky said. It assumes poor people live in neighborhoods that are as safe as rich neighborhoods, that they have access to good grocery stores and doctor’s offices and parks and schools — and almost always, this isn’t the case.

“It makes all of these assumptions about equal environments that don’t hold,” Abramsky said. “As long as the big-picture inequalities remain, a conversation about minimalism … is going to end up blaming poor people when they stay poor.”




“Through their public relations representative, the two declined to say how much they earned from preaching a gospel of fewer possessions and less money.” I personally have always disliked people who follow the leader in their thinking, in other words, they follow fads to keep in step with “the group.” So often, with financially secure people, they have lots of “needs” that are far from necessary, so yes, they are spending on things that they can very well do without.

Why does everybody nowadays have a fancy smart phone (even lots of poor people) when you only need the simple ability to make a phone call when you're away from home. A cell phone like the “Trakfone” makes sense. It's there if you have an emergency or your friend hasn't met you, so you're getting worried. Smart phones cost $100.00 – or much more -- while the Trakfone I have cost me $20.00 at Walmart, with $10.85 a month to keep it running. I don't need to take pictures or consult the Internet while I'm out on the road, so I don't miss the more expensive models. If I'm bored when I'm away from home I will probably have brought a book with me.

Both minimalism and conspicuous consumption are two faces of the same thing. In both cases, only people who have plenty of money can afford to do them, and because they are out of reach to increasingly large numbers of people in the last decade or so, they are equally offensive shows of cultural callousness. Of Joshua Fields Millburn who boasts of having only one pair of jeans, which incidentally cost him $100.00, Arne Kalleberg, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says, “If you’re a middle-class person with a washer and a dryer in your house, that’s easy, Kalleberg said. Trips to a Laundromat cost both time and money. And for the people who can’t afford $100 jeans, perhaps they can have the cast-offs of elective minimalists.” “'I’m certain I can go to Goodwill ... if I was in a lower income situation [and] have free or very low-cost access to high quality goods.' But there’s nothing generous about telling poor people they should be grateful for hand-me-downs, Abramsky argued.”

“'Minimalism also assumes a certain amount of free time, which poverty experts say is as scarce as disposable income for poor Americans. Ultimately, the problem of applying minimalism to everyone is that 'it assumes everything is equal,' Abramsky said. It assumes poor people live in neighborhoods that are as safe as rich neighborhoods, that they have access to good grocery stores and doctor’s offices and parks and schools — and almost always, this isn’t the case.” Abramsky said. I agree with his point, because real deprivation is not experienced on a consistent basis by people whose parents have reliable jobs, and they tend to live in safer neighborhoods.

I have personally been on a low income for years, but I did have a job most of the time and had some discretionary income. I went to Goodwill and bought clothes. In recent years I have just decided to have fewer changes of clothing and buy from my local trusty department store Belks. I'm still not spending much money, and I do find a simpler life to be relaxing. Of course, I do have Social Security now. For me this is no problem, as I don't want to have every new piece of technology or the most expensive kinds of groceries – such as the Whole Foods fad. I also live in HUD housing, so my rent isn't high. I do have sufficient food, clothing, one luxury – the Internet – and an old but reliable car, a Honda.

This is not true of the poorest people who can't get into HUD housing to help with their expenses because they are not elderly or disabled. The poor person's greatest enemy, however, is the desire to “keep up with the Joneses,” just like the Middle Class try to do. I have come to accept that I can't afford full rent or a more expensive grade of new clothing, and I am fine without those things. Acceptance is a very helpful attitude. I came up in a working class family and we just didn't have many of the extras, and were proud of our personal achievements, which we worked toward despite being poor. We always had food and clothing enough, however. I didn't grow up unable to know that I would have food that day, as some people in the US do, so I don't have that sense of deprivation and shame. I just have to live on a tight budget, and have adjusted to that. I'm happy.





Tracy Morgan Crash: Why Are Some Long-Haul Truckers So Tired?
BY BILL BRIGGS
First published June 9th 2014

American motorists face a higher injury risk involving long-haul rigs because federal rules are compelling some commercial drivers to skip their rest stops, the leader of a truckers trade group asserted Monday.

Fresh scrutiny is being aimed at the U.S. trucking industry following the fatal New Jersey collision Saturday between an allegedly fatigued Wal-Mart truck driver and several cars, leaving one man dead and three people -- including comedian Tracy Morgan –- in critical condition.

Federal regulations now limit commercial drivers to 14-hour workdays -– part of a series of moves meant to give truckers more down time and inject more safety into the nation’s highways.

But the hourly ceiling removed the deadline flexibility that commercial drivers once had if they needed to wait out traffic jams and bad weather, forcing some to max out their 14-hour windows and hold the wheel when they’d prefer to pull off the road, trucker advocates argue.

“If the regulations are so strict that a driver can’t stop and take a break or take a nap when they need to, then I don’t know how you can conclude anything other than the regulations have made highways less safe,” said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). The trade group represents 150,000 members, spanning all states.

“A driver might prefer to take two to three hours off to relax or take a nap to avoid the nuttiness, but you can’t because (they can’t) extend that 14-hour window,” asid, Spencer, a former driver. “The (federal government) says this makes things better. Well, it hasn’t made things better. If anything, it’s made things far worse.”

"No matter what the limits on driving and work hours are, if the motor carrier and driver plan the schedule so tightly that the driver can barely complete the run legally, this problem will occur."

Wal-Mart driver Kevin Roper, who according to police had not slept for more than 24 hours before the accident involving Morgan, was expected to appear in court Mondayon charges of vehicular homicide, assault and reckless driving in connection.

"With regards to news reports that suggest Mr. Roper was working for 24 hours, it is our belief that Mr. Roper was operating within the federal hours of service regulations," David Tovar, Wal-Mart's vice president of communications, wrote in a statement. "The details are the subject of the ongoing investigation and we are cooperating fully with the appropriate lawenforcement agencies."

If the accusations are proved, Roper exceeded the federal driving limit by more than 10 hours. One year ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation installed several rules to try to keep weary truckers off highways, including mandating a 30-minute break during the first eight hours of their shift and reducing maximum workweeks to 70 hours over eight days -– including a 34-hour break once per week.

But federal transportation officials say if commercial drivers feel a time squeeze that induces them to skip breaks or naps, the blame rests with transportation companies that demand loads be hauled and delivered to certain places by exact times.

“No matter what the limits on driving and work hours are, if the motor carrier and driver plan the schedule so tightly that the driver can barely complete the run legally, this problem will occur,” reads a fact sheet provided to NBC News by Marissa Padilla, director of communications for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, part of the DOT.

“This rule also does not prevent carriers and drivers from setting their own schedules, nor does it restrict drivers from being on the road during any time of the day,” reads the fact sheet.

Are some of America’s more than 10 million commercial truckers operating their rigs when sleepy –- and is that fatigue factor injuring or killing other motorists?

During 2012, there were an average of 868 big-rig crashes per day, leading to an average of 11 fatalities and 200 injury accidents each day of that year, according to DOT figures.

“Driver fatigue is a leading factor in large truck crashes,” according to a statement emailed by Padilla. What's more, the 2006 Large Truck Crash Causation Study reported that 13 percent of Commercial Motor Vehicle drivers were considered to have been fatigued at the time of a serious crash.

The revised trucker-driving rules, however, will prevent approximately 1,400 crashes each year, saving 19 lives and avoiding 560 injuries, according to DOT analysis.

Still, the American Automobile Association remains “concerned with the uptick of truck-related fatalities in the past few years,” said Patrice Vincent, an AAA spokesperson.

AAA cites statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that road fatalities involving large trucks increased by 4 percent between 2011 and 2012 –- from 3,781 to 3,921. Of the big-rig-related deaths in 2012, 73 percent were occupants of other vehicles, 10 percent were non-occupants, and 18 percent were occupants of commercial trucks.

“With a projected freight increase over the next five to 10 years and with roads becoming more congested, it's more important than ever that all road users, motorists and truck drivers, share the road and follow all the laws and regulations on the books,” Vincent said. “Economics cannot trump safety.”





“American motorists face a higher injury risk involving long-haul rigs because federal rules are compelling some commercial drivers to skip their rest stops, the leader of a truckers trade group asserted Monday.... Federal regulations now limit commercial drivers to 14-hour workdays... But the hourly ceiling removed the deadline flexibility that commercial drivers once had if they needed to wait out traffic jams and bad weather, forcing some to max out their 14-hour windows and hold the wheel when they’d prefer to pull off the road, trucker advocates argue.” So the government can't give something to truck drivers without limiting it in a way that makes it ineffective. The business owners have to be placated. Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) says the regulations have made the highways less safe rather than more so. The trade group represents 150,000 members, spanning all states. ““A driver might prefer to take two to three hours off to relax or take a nap to avoid the nuttiness, but you can’t because (they can’t) extend that 14-hour window,” Spencer says.

Federal Transportation officials claim that the businesses such as WalMart which are requiring shipments to be made in a too tight a period of time are at fault, rather than the federal rules. Marissa Padilla, director of communications for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, part of the DOT said, “'“No matter what the limits on driving and work hours are, if the motor carrier and driver plan the schedule so tightly that the driver can barely complete the run legally, this problem will occur,'” So businesses needto be restricted to making fair and safe driver conditions, then, to rectify the situation. The AAA, though, says that wrecks have increased during the time that the new rules have been in place. “Still, the American Automobile Association remains “concerned with the uptick of truck-related fatalities in the past few years,” said Patrice Vincent, an AAA spokesperson. AAA cites statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that road fatalities involving large trucks increased by 4 percent between 2011 and 2012 –- from 3,781 to 3,921. Two hundred more accidents is significant, it seems to me. So, whether it's the government rules or the business scheduling, changes need to be made.





CIA cites officers for "bullying" and other harassment – CBS
AP June 10, 2014

WASHINGTON -- Fifteen CIA employees were found to have committed sexual, racial or other types of harassment last year, including a supervisor who was removed from the job after engaging in "bullying, hostile behavior," and an operative who was sent home from an overseas post for inappropriately touching female colleagues, according to an internal CIA document obtained by The Associated Press.

The examples, sent several weeks ago in an email to the CIA's workforce by the director of the agency's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, were meant to show how the agency is enforcing a zero-tolerance policy toward harassment. But the announcement sparked heated commentary in postings on the CIA's internal networks, officials acknowledged, with some employees arguing the agency does not sufficiently ferret out and punish misconduct.

The CIA's personnel systems seem to be fundamentally broken, and harassment frequently goes unreported, one officer said in an excerpt of an employee posting obtained by the AP. The authenticity of the posting was not disputed by the agency.

CIA officials took issue with that assertion after agreeing to discuss the workforce message on the condition that they not be quoted by name.

The agency officials made available CIA Director John Brennan's March workforce message reaffirming the zero-tolerance policy, saying, "Words or actions that harm a colleague and undermine his or her career are more than just unprofessional, painful and wrong - they are illegal and hurt us all." Brennan assured employees that he would not tolerate acts of reprisal against those who complained of harassment.

The agency won't release its employee workplace surveys or details about complaints, on the grounds that such numbers are classified. The CIA takes that position even though the size of its workforce - 21,459 employees in 2013, not counting thousands of contractors - was disclosed in the "black budget" leaked last year by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

The message to employees on harassment, which CIA officials said was the first of its kind, said 15 out of 69 complaints in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2013, were found to be true.

In the interest of "transparency," the message said, officials shared summaries of four examples involving three unidentified CIA employees and a contractor:

-A supervisor who engaged in bullying, hostile behavior and retaliatory management techniques was removed from the job, given a letter of reprimand, and ordered to undergo leadership and harassment training.

-A male officer who sexually harassed female colleagues at an overseas post was sent back to the U.S. and given a letter of counseling and mandatory harassment training.

-An employee who used a racial slur and threatened a contractor was given a letter of reprimand.
-A contractor who groped a woman was removed from his tour and "reviewed for possible termination."

In response to the memo, CIA officials acknowledged, many employees complained that none of the government employees involved were fired or demoted.

The CIA officials said the idea was to deter the behavior, not punish the offenders.

The officials declined to name the disciplined employees or describe their jobs. One recent disciplinary action was not included in the examples, officials said: Jonathan Bank, the CIA's director of Iran operations, who was removed from his post at headquarters in March after it was found he created a hostile work environment that caused morale to plummet. He is now assigned to the Pentagon.

Many large organizations grapple with workplace harassment, but the CIA faces some unique challenges. For example, the agency, which trains its case officers to manipulate people and lead secret lives, had for years been a place where trysts between managers and subordinates were common, former CIA officials say. And since most of the agency's business is conducted in secret, there has been almost no public accountability for misconduct by senior officials, as there has been in the military.

In 2010, a senior clandestine service manager was forced to quietly retire after he had an affair with a female subordinate. But that was because her husband complained to Leon E. Panetta, then the CIA director, said two former officials who refused to be named because they could lose their security clearances for discussing internal CIA matters. Other similar workplace relationships resulted in no action, they said.

In 2012, then-CIA director David Petraeus sent a message to agency staff members outlining a new effort to curb sexual harassment in war zones, where CIA men and women often live in close quarters under stressful conditions. Petraeus himself later admitted he was having an affair with his biographer and resigned his post.

The agency has faced complaints of gender bias in the past. In 2007, a group of female officers filed a class-action complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that women who had affairs with foreigners were treated more harshly than their male counterparts. An EEOC judge dismissed the case, however, on the grounds that there were not enough women in the class. The women pursued their cases separately, and some were paid settlements, said former CIA officer Janine Brookner, the lawyer who brought the case.

In 1995, the agency paid $990,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit by 450 women. The settlement included promotions, raises and better assignments for about 100 female officers.

Neither the CIA nor its National Clandestine Service has ever been headed by a woman. CIA officials point out that the agency now has a female No. 2, deputy director Avril D. Haines. Another woman, Fran P. Moore, is director of intelligence, the agency's analytical arm. Female analysts also played a key role in the effort to find Osama bin Laden.





“Fifteen CIA employees were found to have committed sexual, racial or other types of harassment last year, including a supervisor who was removed from the job after engaging in "bullying, hostile behavior," and an operative who was sent home from an overseas post for inappropriately touching female colleagues....But the announcement sparked heated commentary in postings on the CIA's internal networks, officials acknowledged, with some employees arguing the agency does not sufficiently ferret out and punish misconduct.” The CIA responded that their aim is “to deter the behavior, not punish the offenders.” So why don't they punish the events as they occur? That would really “deter the behavior,” when the word gets out.

The article states that “trysts” between various employees and often with supervisors have been commonplace within the agency, and it also has a history of gender bias complaints. “In 2007, a group of female officers filed a class-action complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that women who had affairs with foreigners were treated more harshly than their male counterparts. An EEOC judge dismissed the case, however, on the grounds that there were not enough women in the class. The women pursued their cases separately, and some were paid settlements, said former CIA officer Janine Brookner, the lawyer who brought the case.” The CIA cites the promotion of women to three high positions within the organization in defense against the claim that it has never been headed by a woman.

There definitely has been progress in our society, but in traditionally male only job areas like the police, the military, many private business management groups, etc. there does tend to be some incidence of sexual molestation or harassment against the few women who are hired. It's part of the basic war that exists between men and women. It is unfair and obscene, but almost always present in those environments. The management of these organizations rarely “punish” the offenders, and often fires the woman who complains, instead. The CIA seems to be trying to make a change in the work environment and indeed does seem more sensitive to the issue than they did in the past. The article says “In 1995, the agency paid $990,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit by 450 women. The settlement included promotions, raises and better assignments for about 100 female officers.” Their problem used to be really severe back then.





At 'Pestaurant,' Grasshopper Burgers Win Over Eaters Who Say 'Yuck' – NPR
by ELIZA BARCLAY
June 05, 2014

If you're a scientist and you work for a pest control company, you're used to thinking about bugs as the enemy you're trained to kill.

Now try putting one in your mouth.

It took some mental rearranging for Nancy Troyano, an entomologist for Ehrlich Pest Control. But on Wednesday she did it for the first time in her life.

"I'm used to looking at grasshoppers under a microscope," Troyano tells The Salt. "I know what their internal organs and the spines on their legs look like, so I was kind of thinking about them."

Troyano actually had no intention of eating any insects at the event. Her company sponsored the tasting at the Occidental Grill in Washington, D.C., just a half block from the White House, and she was there to talk about what the company does.

But then her boss, Ehrlich CEO John Myers, pressured her into it. And she was pleasantly surprised: "It didn't taste so bad — kind of like baked potato chips."

Troyano was among many skeptics who found much to like about the pop-up Pestaurant, which drew tourists and Washingtonians onto the Occidental's patio for about four hours Wednesday to taste grasshopper burgers, roasted crickets, Mexican spice mealworms and ant lollipops. It was one of 12 Pestaurant events sponsored by Ehrlich and its parent company around the world.

John Mongini, from Flagstaff, Ariz., initially winced at his first taste of cricket. But after a few chews, he relaxed, describing them as "kind of like sunflower seeds."

Perhaps the greatest gastronomic success of the snacks laid out for the noshing were the turkey burgers with ground-up and whole grasshoppers mixed in.

The juicy, grilled burgers were garnished with peppers and lettuce and served with an array of gourmet condiments. And there were two key reasons they were delicious: They'd been concocted the night before by Rodney Scruggs, the Occidental's executive chef. And they included a brilliant secret ingredient: duck fat, to keep them moist.

"I've never cooked with insects before, so this was new territory for me, but it took on a life of its own," Scruggs says. "The grasshoppers gave the burgers a musty, earthy flavor, like a dried mushroom."

The match-up, however, of one of Washington's most iconic grand dame restaurants and a pest control company headquartered in Reading, Pa., was a bit puzzling.

Why exactly would exterminators throw a free luncheon to give out grasshoppers, mealworms and scorpions?

"We're not recycling insects that were captured in people's homes," Ehrlich's CEO John Myers insists.

Moreover, says Troyano, the only bugs being served that could be considered pests would be the crickets: "They're occasional home invaders."

Instead, Ehrlich was there for three reasons: "to have fun, raise awareness about the serious business of pest control and raise money for hunger," says Myers.

The idea, Myers says, came from Ehrlich's parent company, Rentokil, which sponsored the first Pestaurant in London in 2013. "They expected 200 people and got 2,000," he says.

For the charity part of the event, Ehrlich had committed to donate a few dollars for everyone who tried the bugs to D.C. Central Kitchen, a local non-profit. And while Ehrlich isn't in the business of raising insects or directly promoting their consumption, Myers notes that he does see them as a viable solution to hunger.

As we reported last year, insect cuisine isn't just a kooky San Francisco fad anymore. The U.N.'s agricultural arm has been speaking up about why insects should be an option for dinner.

Among the attendees of the D.C. Pestaurant was Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In an email to The Salt, Ramaswamy says he was pleased to see so many people partaking in bugs at the event. After all, insects are nutritious, and more efficient and better for the environment than other protein sources.

"Edible insects are going to be part of the toolkit for us to achieve global food security," he says. "Unfortunately in Western countries we will need to overcome the 'yuck' factor, and events like Pestaurant will go a long ways to help people overcome the same."


As we reported last year, insect cuisine isn't just a kooky San Francisco fad anymore. The U.N.'s agricultural arm has been speaking up about why insects should be an option for dinner.

Among the attendees of the D.C. Pestaurant was Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In an email to The Salt, Ramaswamy says he was pleased to see so many people partaking in bugs at the event. After all, insects are nutritious, and more efficient and better for the environment than other protein sources.

"Edible insects are going to be part of the toolkit for us to achieve global food security," he says. "Unfortunately in Western countries we will need to overcome the 'yuck' factor, and events like Pestaurant will go a long ways to help people overcome the same."

USDA, too, is now on the entomophagy bandwagon. In May, Ramaswamy gave the keynote address at the Insects as Food Conference, hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization and Wageningen University in the Netherlands. (He also recently wrote this blog post about why everyone should get on board with eating bugs.)




Nancy Troyano, an entomologist for Ehrlich Pest Control dined recently at Occidental Grill in Washington, D.C., where her company was sponsoring an international event. “It was one of 12 Pestaurant events sponsored by Ehrlich and its parent company around the world.” Her boss pressured her into trying some of the cuisine – grasshopper burgers, roasted crickets, Mexican spice mealworms and ant lollipops. “'It didn't taste so bad — kind of like baked potato chips." Scruggs, the restaurant's chef said, “'The grasshoppers gave the burgers a musty, earthy flavor, like a dried mushroom." Ehrlich the pest control owner was there “for three reasons: 'to have fun, raise awareness about the serious business of pest control and raise money for hunger,' says Myers.” He gave several dollars for every person who tried insects at the event to a local DC kitchen for the hungry. He said, that he does see insects as “a viable solution to hunger.” “Among the attendees of the D.C. Pestaurant was Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.” The UN, according to this article, has also recommended insects for food.

There are people in underdeveloped societies who do, to this day, eat insects. I found that out in my anthropology course. Some groups of people are still hunter-gatherers, largely at any rate, and eat a much wider variety of wild vegetable and animal products than we do today. When my father and mother grew up in the country in NC they ate squirrels, wild rabbits, wild birds of several kinds, a wild cress that they called “creasie greens,” poke greens, wild berries of several kinds, hickory nuts and undoubtedly other things. Of course their main diet was chickens, pigs, and home grown vegetables, and they always had a milk cow. One problem that poor people in the cities have is that you have to go to more trouble to find some land for raising a garden, and it wouldn't produce enough food to feed very many people if you did. Nonetheless, some cities do have gardens in vacant lots around the town. Unfortunately, grocery stores that stock fresh food are scarce in many city neighborhoods, so those gardens provide a little relief. Thank goodness for food pantries.

So far the day when emergency food made up of things like soybeans, insects, earthworms or other things which are occasionally suggested for food, as in this article,is yet to come. If global warming, droughts, an extinction of all honeybees, or other such extreme condition makes the growing of food crops nearly impossible the government will have to find a way to feed the population, however. I have no doubt that we will all eat what is provided, in that situation. Remember the movie “Soylent Green?”