Friday, April 4, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Vets, Docs Worry Fort Hood Shootings Will Deepen PTSD Stigma – NBC
By Bill Briggs
First published April 3 2014

The word “PTSD” had barely left the mouth of Fort Hood’s commander late Wednesday when, across the nation, many veterans with those symptoms and doctors who treat the malady understood they faced a renewed battle: a resurgence of the stigma that comes with that diagnosis.

The Fort Hood tragedy –- 16 wounded and four killed, including identified shooter Ivan Lopez, a soldier being evaluated for PTSD –- is precisely the type of event that makes combat veterans cringe. Many worry they’ll be further mislabeled as dangerous time bombs, as the next to snap, and that post-traumatic stress will again be misrepresented and misunderstood as a condition that sparks public, violent outbursts.
“That is not what post-traumatic stress is or what it does,” said Ingrid Herrera-Yee, a clinical psychologist in the Washington, D.C. area who treats veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health issues as well as their family members and civilians. Her husband, Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Ian Yee, spent three combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Yes, there is anger and irritability (associated with PTSD), but it’s usually internalized. You’re more likely to see it as someone who is withdrawn, anxious and numb, who’s lost interest in life. Some veterans explain it to me this way: ‘The last thing you want is to go out and lash out,” said Herrera-Yee, adding: “Just like any victims of a trauma –- rape or domestic violence -– they can become fearful of their surroundings, but they’re not going to react angrily toward their surroundings. For them, it’s all about avoidance.”

For years, Pentagon brass and branch commanders have urged troops and veterans to seek mental-health help if they feel the need, while repeating the message that, if they do see a doctor, they will not be viewed as weak but as strong. That campaign seems to have finally dented the macho-military mantra that every soldier can handle his or her own business. Many veterans are turning to doctors to begin addressing post-service anxiety issues, often fueled by repeated or long deployments.

But they usually do it quietly and privately. PTSD still seems to carry an unspoken social scar, veterans say, and it is still largely misunderstood by many civilians.
“This is very taboo and many vets feel more (like) outcasts when something like this happens because they have weapons (and) they have PTSD, and they aren't going to go shoot anyone,” said Logan Edwards, a Marine veteran from Iowa who served eight months in Iraq and who later was diagnosed with PTSD.

“They manage their symptoms and can handle firearms around them without shooting anyone or themselves,” said Edwards, 26.

"I have been given every anti-depressant that’s on the market and all most all of them made me more aggressive, anxious, short tempered, suicidal and (gave me) homicidal thoughts -- within two or three doses."

Doctors employed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs prescribed Edwards with Oxycontin, benzodiazepines and anti-depressants for three years, he said, adding the pills only heightened his symptoms. After considering suicide, he admitted himself into a VA hospital for three months but that, too, failed to cure him. Edwards ultimately turned to marijuana which, he said, instantly soothed his post-combat anxiety symptoms and allowed him to rebuild his life.

“I have been given every anti-depressant that’s on the market and almost all of them made me more aggressive, anxious, short tempered, suicidal and (gave me) homicidal thoughts -- within two or three doses,” Edwards said.

“I remember calling the VA after a few days of trying to manage on (the pills). It got to the point I was breaking things and ripping doors off the hinges in my house because my anger would just go zero to 100 within seconds," he added, blaming the drugs not the PTSD.

Fort Hood commander Lt. Gen. Mark Milley told reporters late Wednesday that Lopez, who served four months in Iraq during 2011, was being treated for “behavior health (and) mental health issues” and that “he was currently under diagnosis for PTSD but he had not yet been diagnosed for PTSD.”

In her practice, Herrera-Yee said she has seen conventional pharmaceutical medicines help some veterans with PTSD. But she also is aware that some of those drugs “can cause extreme side effects” including suicidal ideation.

Lopez shot and killed himself after allegedly committing the base attacks.
“The Fort Hood headlines everywhere today are using the words 'PTSD' and 'troubled.' I completely understand that, as human beings, we all search to find an answer around something this tragic," said Herrera-Yee, the 2014 National Guard Military Spouse of the Year. "But focusing on PTSD could affect service members who would otherwise seek help for these symptoms in the future -– and those who are carrying the diagnosis today.

“This rush to judgment is unfair. There are so many unknowns about this soldier. But (veterans and troops) woke to the news blaming PTSD as the cause," Herrera-Yee said. "And so, yet again, they’re being looked at as people who may have the potential to act out violently which, by and large, is not the experience. By and large, they are suffering in silence, usually within their homes, often alone.”




Marine Logan Edwards said, “I have been given every anti-depressant that’s on the market and all most all of them made me more aggressive, anxious, short tempered, suicidal and (gave me) homicidal thoughts -- within two or three doses." Most depressives are given relief from symptoms when they take the anti-depressant that works best for them. Anti-depressants aren't all alike and a trial period when various drugs are taken one after the other until the right one is found is often necessary. He was prescribed “ Oxycontin, benzodiazepines and anti-depressants. Oxycontin is a narcotic pain killer, and benzodiazepine is given for the treatment of anxiety and panic attacks. This soldier credits marijuana alone for alleviating his symptoms. He doesn't sound like a firm believer in mental health treatment, to me, but one who wants a quick drug fix instead. Unfortunately, marijuana is still mainly a street drug, which compounds the soldier's problems.

I would like to see some articles related to current research on marijuana, since we are admitting it for some medical uses nowadays. It certainly does have psychological effects, though from my experience with it in the past, it is mainly a mild hallucinogen and creates a destabilizing effect which can take the form of a good case of the giggles or a crying jag, and is capable of causing paranoia. It does make rock music sound eerily wonderful, though.

I wonder if PTSD is not a form of brain damage rather than a chemically related mood disorder. Many soldiers from the two World Wars of the 1900s came back deranged, too, and it was called “Shell Shock.” There is also mental illness induced by traumatic experiences of any kind, such as rape or incest, which causes the patient to “break down” in their ability to think logically and clearly, and shatters their self-confidence. I think close and long-term talk therapy is needed for many people along with drugs, and some of them need anti-psychotic drugs rather than simply anti-depressants, as do schizophrenics.

Military experiences can be very gory and scarring to some people. The macho image does not allow the patient to explore and think through his harmful experiences, but rather demands that he must stifle his “weak” thoughts and soldier on. The army has been slow to allow men to seek therapy without stigmatizing them, sometimes even calling them cowards. American society in general often argues against mental health treatment, too, especially in the “conservative” but poverty-stricken parts of the country such as the West and the South.

The psychologist Ingrid Herrera-Yee said that most PTSD patients are not violent and aggressive like the marine Edwards claims to be under anti-depressant drugs, and that many of them are in fact helped by the right anti-depressant. Lopez, the Fort Hood shooter had not yet been diagnosed, though he was being treated for a mental disorder. He could have had another mental condition entirely. Herrera-Yee stresses that PTSD patients are not all dangerous, and that mental health treatment does often help them.




McDonald's Closes Crimea Branches Due to 'Reasons Beyond Our Control'
By Alexander Smith

McDonald's has closed its restaurants in Crimea, the fast food giant said on Friday, the latest international company to scale back operations in the peninsula recently annexed by Russia.

The company said in a statement that its three branches in the region were shuttered because of "operational reasons beyond our control."

McDonald's said it hoped to re-open the restaurants in the cities of Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta as soon as possible. In another statement posted on its Ukrainian website, the company offered to relocate staff to other branches in Ukraine.
"The company has provided an opportunity to all employees ... to transfer to any other McDonald's restaurants in Ukraine preserving their positions, salaries and fees and paying to relocate employees and their families," the Reuters translation of the Ukrainian-language statement said.

Crimea was annexed by Russia last month after a referendum sparked by regime change in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

Deutsche Post, the world's largest courier company and owner of DHL, announced on Thursday that it would no longer accept letters destined for Crimea after its counterpart there, Universal Postal Union (UPU), said delivery to the region could not be guaranteed.




Two more domino pieces fall, as daily life activities become more limited in Crimea. As the refugee in yesterday's news article reflected, the question of how to register your child in school has no answer now. Hopefully the remaining population will return to normal within the next few months. Also, I hope that all Ukrainian speaking people who want to cross the border and head toward Kiev will do so. Somehow this move by McDonald's makes me sad, because it's so ordinary to go get a Big Mac here in the US, but no longer available to people there.




FBI Still Reviewing Indiana Man's Artifacts Stash – NBC
The Associated Press
First published April 3 2014,

FBI agents on Thursday were still removing thousands of artifacts ranging from arrowheads to shrunken heads and Ming Dynasty jade from a house in rural central Indiana.

A 91-year-old man amassed the vast collection over several decades, perhaps since he began digging up arrowheads as a child.

People who had toured Don Miller's Rush County home years before the FBI's arrival Wednesday described it as a homemade museum containing diverse items including fossils, Civil War memorabilia and what the owner claimed to be a chunk of concrete from the bunker in which Adolf Hitler committed suicide toward the end of World War II.

"It was just like a big chunk of cement from when they demolished it or whatever," said Joe Runnebohm, whose plumbing business did work in one of Miller's houses several years ago.

Agents of the FBI's art crime team began loading trucks with artifacts that Donald Miller acquired over the decades from sites as varied as China, Russia and New Guinea. However, the FBI was careful not to say whether they believed Miller had knowingly broken any laws. The FBI's aim is to catalog the artifacts and return them to their countries of origin.

"We're collecting and analyzing with the goal of repatriation," FBI Special Agent Drew Northern said.

The laws regarding the removal or collection of cultural artifacts are extremely complex. State, federal and international laws are involved, Patty Gerstenblith, a professor of law at DePaul University in Chicago. Much depends on whether objects are considered stolen or were imported with a license, and international treaties dating back as far as 1987 come into play. The United States has various agreements with 15 countries that prohibit importation of items that were illegally acquired, she said, and some nations such as Egypt forbid the export of any cultural objects that were dug from the ground.

Phone calls to a number listed in Miller's name rang busy or out of service Thursday.
It wasn't immediately clear how Miller acquired some of the items, but those who know him said he had been collecting since childhood.

"He's been digging, I'm sure, since he was old enough to dig," said Andi Essex, whose business repaired water damage in Miller's basement a few years ago. None of the artifacts was damaged, she said.

Miller was known as a world traveler, and those who know him said his visitors included Australian aborigines.

Miller made no secret of his collection, those who know him said. He took schoolchildren on tours of his amateur museum, which even contained human remains, they said. A 150-foot underground tunnel linking two homes on Miller's property in Rush County, a rural Indiana area whose largest city has a population of about 6,000 people, was adorned with a 60-foot, 4-foot-wide anaconda snakeskin, Runnebohm said. Carefully labeled glass showcases boasted hundreds of Native American arrowheads, along with human skulls — including one with an arrowhead stuck in it. Upstairs was a pipe organ that Miller played for visitors.

"He never tried to hide anything," Runnebohm said. "Everything he had he was real proud of, and he knew what everything was."




A 60-foot, 4-foot-wide anaconda snakeskin – I have never heard of a 60 foot snake. Arrowheads are pretty commonly found in many parts of the US, but I thought it was illegal to possess human bodily parts. Native Americans of today are strongly opposed to such things, even when archaeologists are the collectors, as they want to give a ceremonial burial to the remains when they are found. That one with an arrowhead stuck in it is a dramatic find, and I can see how an enthusiast might want to keep it. I wonder how the FBI found out about him and started to investigate his activities. Maybe his “museum” made the news. I'm sorry for Miller, as he undoubtedly loved his collection, but it is only fair that the things be returned to their place of origin.




Gang Rapists Sentenced to Death In India as 'Strong Signal' – NBC
Reuters
First published April 4 2014

Three men were sentenced to death on Friday for two gang rapes last year in Mumbai, including an attack on a photojournalist that sparked protests in the city and raised fresh questions about attitudes to women in the world's largest democracy.

A Mumbai court on Friday sentenced Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Mohammed Salim Ansari to death, the first time capital punishment has been given for rape not involving the death of the victim.

"There was no chance of reformation in these men and this sends a strong signal to society," special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters outside the court.

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP - Getty Images
Kasim Bengali prepares to spit at photographers from inside a police van in Mumbai, India, on Friday. He was sentenced to death.

Women's safety in India has been under the spotlight since the gang rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012, which provoked nationwide protests and the introduction of tougher sexual assault laws.

But a stream of high-profile attacks has raised concerns that little has changed.
"I think the court has given a distinct, definite and welcome verdict," said Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police in Mumbai.

The attack on the photojournalist provoked a public outcry partly because Mumbai, India's financial capital is considered one of the country's safest cities for women.




Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Mohammed Salim Ansari have been sentenced to death, the first time in India for a rape that did not include killing the victim. Special Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam is “sending a strong signal” to would be rapists. It is long overdue. Those names all have a resemblance to Muslim names, but Hindu men are no better in their relationship with women. It was in India a decade or so ago that a string of “wife burnings” occurred because the wife's family couldn't pay her dowry. I would never marry a man from anywhere east of Europe, even if I had the wealth and connections to be a “world citizen.” I am very glad to see this verdict. Hopefully it will be the first of many changes in attitudes that hold women down.




George W. Bush: World leader portrait artist – CBS
By Stephanie Condon CBS News April 4, 2014

Former President George W. Bush, who took up painting after leaving the White House, is putting on display some of the portraits of world leaders he has painted. The works of art, shown in an exhibit at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, give insight into the relationships Mr. Bush had with the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"I think I told Tony I was painting him, and he brushed it off so to speak," Mr. Bush said in an interview with his daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, for NBC. He clarified to his daughter, "That was an art pun."

Mr. Bush said the painting of Blair "conveys a compassionate person and a strong person and a reliable friend."

Former first dog Barney dies, Bush honors with oil painting
George W. Bush painting featured on Christmas ornament

The painting of Putin, Mr. Bush said, was intended to reflect the Russian leader's competitive nature.

"Vladimir's a person who in many ways views the U.S. as an enemy," he said. "And although he wouldn't say that, I felt that he viewed the world as either the U.S. benefits and Russia loses, or visa versa. I, of course, tried to dispel him of that notion."

When Putin met Mr. Bush's beloved Scottish Terrier Barney, the former president recalled, "Putin kind of dissed him, like, 'You really call that a dog?'" A year later in Moscow, Putin introduced Mr. Bush to his hound. Mr. Bush recalled Putin saying, "Bigger, stronger and faster than Barney."

Mr. Bush also painted his father, former President George H.W. Bush. "I tried to convey a sense of strength and kindness" in that painting, he said.

He also commented on his self portrait: "This is an improvement from the first one I did of myself, the one that makes me look like Alfred E. Neuman," Mr. Bush said, referring to cartoon character on the cover of Mad magazine.




About Vladimir Putin, Bush says “... I felt that he viewed the world as either the U.S. benefits and Russia loses, or visa versa. I, of course, tried to dispel him of that notion." He has been quoted as saying that he likes Putin, but apparently was not totally taken in by him.

On the TV news this morning I saw three other portraits and two of his pets. His rendition of Jay Leno really looked just like him, and the use of some contrasting colors in the face highlighted Leno's strong features. It looked much better than I would have expected from a painter who has only been studying for two years. The one of Tony Blair was also very good, and his father didn't look quite like I remembered him, but if he has aged considerably and gained a bit of weight it could be a good likeness. His Scottish terrier Barney and his two tabby cats were very realistic looking – flawless, as far as I could tell.

I'm truly impressed. Good painting is not easy. I had seen glimpses of more than the classic “conservative” personality in Bush before. Once he was on the camera doing a digging job on his ranch, perspiring and dirty, and he has often cracked jokes effectively enough to soften my attitude toward him. He's a well-rounded person with a humanistic side. I think I like him a good bit more now.




Mississippi governor signs controversial religious practices bill
AP / April 4, 2014

JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill Thursday that supporters say will assure unfettered practice of religion without government interference but that opponents worry could lead to state-sanctioned discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The bill, called the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act, will become law July 1. It also will add "In God We Trust" to the state seal.

An early version of the bill, considered weeks ago, was similar to one Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, vetoed after business groups said it could hurt that state's economy. Supporters say the final Mississippi bill bears little resemblance to the failed Arizona measure.

Outside the state Capitol on Thursday, more than 75 gay-rights supporters protested against the bill. Jeff White of Waveland, a founder of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Lesbian and Gay Community Center, said as someone who is gay and Jewish, he worries such a new law could make him more vulnerable to unfair treatment.

"It's the first time in my life that I've actually considered moving out of Mississippi," said White, 32. "It made me physically ill the past few days, realizing what they're trying to do."

Bryant signed the measure within hours of receiving it Thursday, during a private ceremony. The bill says government cannot put a substantial burden on the practice of religion. Though the bill is vaguely worded, supporters said an example of would be a zoning law to limit the location of a church, mosque or synagogue but not limiting the location of a secular business.

The small signing ceremony was attended by a few elected officials, lobbyists for the state's influential Southern Baptist Convention and Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council. The council, a conservative Washington-based group, has pushed states to enact laws that mirror the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act that President Bill Clinton signed in 1993.

Perkins said Mississippi becomes the 19th state to enact its own religious-practices law since 1996.

"Those who understand the importance and cherish the historic understanding of religious freedom are grateful for leaders who respond to fact and not fictitious claims of those who are trying to quarantine faith within the walls of our churches or homes," Perkins said in a statement.




Jeff White of Waveland, a founder of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Lesbian and Gay Community Center is paraphrased as saying “... as someone who is gay and Jewish, he worries such a new law could make him more vulnerable to unfair treatment.”

There has always been an anti-Jewish streak in Southern culture. I can remember an argument on the playground when I asked the girl who was a Baptist – I was a Methodist – why she didn't like Jews and she said, “Because they killed Jesus.” That was 2,000 years ago, and the Jewish people living today didn't do any such thing, so they shouldn't be punished for it.

As for gays, there is a place in the Bible where it talks about the very close and loving friendship between David and Jonathan, who were heroes in the story, without blaming them for their relationship, while it looks from the outside very much like a gay relationship.

Besides, going by what Jesus himself said, though he never mentioned any sexual activity between men, he only stressed that we should love everyone, even our enemies. I think that includes gays and lesbians, and they most certainly shouldn't be scapegoated, assaulted, thrown in jail or denied ordinary services by businesses or professionals.

The following pieces of information come from Wikipedia and from the news arm of Yahoo.com.


Religious Freedom Restoration Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 (November 16, 1993), codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb through 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-4 (also known as RFRA), is a 1993 United States federal law aimed at preventing laws that substantially burden a person's free exercise of their religion. The bill was introduced by Howard McKeon of California and Dean Gallo of New Jersey on March 11, 1993.[1] The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton and was passed by a unanimous U.S. House and a near unanimous U.S. Senate with three dissenting votes.[2] It was held unconstitutional as applied to the states in the City of Boerne v. Flores decision in 1997, which ruled that the RFRA is not a proper exercise of Congress's enforcement power. But it continues to be applied to the federal government, for instance in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, because Congress has broad authority to carve out exemptions from federal laws and regulations that it itself has authorized. In response to City of Boerne v. Flores, some individual states passed State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts that apply to state governments and local municipalities.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies to all religions, but is most pertinent to Native American religions that are burdened by increasing expansion of government projects onto sacred land. In Native American religion the land they worship on is very important. Often the particular ceremonies can only take place in certain locations because these locations have special significance.[5] This, along with peyote use are the main parts of Native American religions that are often left unprotected.


http://news.yahoo.com/constitution-check-religious-freedom-restoration-act-unconstitutional-110212395.html

Constitution Check: Is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act unconstitutional?

Lyle Denniston looks at a claim that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is actually a law that advocates the establishment of religion and is unconstitutional.

America has always been, from the very Founding, somewhat ambivalent about religion and worship as constitutional matters.  While insisting that government and religion must not be joined or even closely allied, it has nurtured a very wide array of religious beliefs and practices, and it has allowed religious views to permeate its popular politics.  Periodically, it sees a revival of religion’s influence, and almost always, the result is quite divisive.

The Supreme Court has had its own part in that ambivalent attitude about religion.  Even today, it remains unsure how the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause (maintaining the separation of church and state) can coexist comfortably with the same Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause (protecting private choice in matters of faith).  How far can the government go to enable the free exercise of religion without becoming, in effect and even in reality, its official partner or sponsor? How much toleration becomes endorsement?

Those questions have been raised over and over again, about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, since Congress passed that law in 1993 with the explicit aim of overruling a Supreme Court decision three years earlier.  In its 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith, the Court upheld the power of government at all levels to pass laws that everyone had to obey, even if those laws imposed a burden on the specific religious practice of one sect.   Such general laws, the court concluded, did not violate that sect’s constitutional right to freely express  its faith.

The Smith decision caused a political uproar, challenged widely as a major threat to religious liberty.  Congress passed RFRA to overrule the decision, fashioning its own notions of what would be unconstitutional in general laws that impacted faith practices

But that very direct form of constitutional expression promptly stirred up some fundamental new issues.  Was RFRA a law that changed constitutional law from what the Supreme Court had said it meant, doing so by a simple enactment rather than a constitutional amendment, or was it merely a mandate on how to interpret the scope of laws that impact religious practice, and thus well within Congress’s power to legislate public policy norms?  Did it go too far to protect specific religious practices, thus crossing the line into endorsement?

Two combined appeals are tests of the government’s power to enforce the federal Affordable Care Act’s so-called “contraceptive mandate,” requiring employers to provide coverage for pregnancy-related services, including birth-control pills.   The appeals emerged out of scores of cases filed across the country by religiously devout business owners, or by religious colleges and charities.  The cases before the Court involve, at this point, only claims to RFRA protection by profit-making companies with Roman Catholic owners.

In the advocacy groups’ brief urging the court to decide the case by striking down RFRA altogether, the document contended that the law is a form of establishment of religion, is an attempt to revise constitutional law without pursuing a formal amendment, and is an invalid intrusion into the authority of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution.

This argument has arisen late in the cycle for written arguments, so it is unclear whether the Court will ultimately reach that argument, and even whether the federal government and the private businesses involved in the pending cases will respond to it.  The Court need not deal with it at all, but, if it does, it would be a daring use of judicial power to nullify the law.

Thursday, April 3, 2014


News Clips For The Day


­
Should We Close Part Of The Ocean To Keep Fish On The Plate? – NPR
by Alastair Bland
April 02, 2014

­ For lovers of fatty tuna belly, canned albacore and swordfish kebabs, here's a question: Would you be willing to give them up for several years so that you could eat them perhaps for the rest of your life?

If a new proposal to ban fishing on the open ocean were to fly, that's essentially what we might be faced with. It's an idea that might help restore the populations of several rapidly disappearing fish – like tuna, swordfish and marlin — that we, and future generations, might like to continue to have as a food source.

The novel conservation plan, introduced recently in a paper in the journal PLoS Biology, would close international waters – where there's currently pretty much a fishing free-for-all — to all fishing and restrict commercial fishermen to coastal areas managed by individual nations. The authors, Crow White and Christopher Costello, suggest turning the open ocean into a worldwide reserve for the migratory species that travel huge distances.

That reserve would give these fish populations to chance to rebound. And the fish that strayed into coastal national waters, where fishing would remain legal, could meanwhile be caught by fishermen. Overall, under such a plan, fish populations would grow healthier, fishing would become a more lucrative business and we would have more fish to eat, the researchers argue.

But let's face it: Closing off most of the ocean to fishing boats would be a pretty drastic move.

But as White, a marine biologist at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, notes, the policies we currently have in place to regulate fisheries — catch quotas, seasonal closures and minimum size limits — aren't working.
"We're already failing to create, much less enforce, other fishery regulations on the high seas," White tells The Salt.

The "high seas," according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, are international waters more than 200 miles from land that make up 64 percent of ocean's surface and 95 percent of its volume.

In these waters, millions of tunas, sharks and billfish every year are hauled onto enormous industrial-scale fishing vessels at a rate faster than they can reproduce. Tunas are a main target of high seas fishing boats, with species like the Atlantic bluefin, albacore and bigeye especially impacted by overfishing.
­
Costello, an environmental and resource economist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, tells The Salt that populations of these fish could start rebounding within five or ten years of enacting a high seas fishing ban. He says catches — and availability for consumers — would decline for only a few years.

"By catching less fish in the short run we'd be able to catch more fish every year on a sustainable basis forever," he says. "This has huge implications for food security."

Enforcement could be relatively simple, too, says White — with the help of satellites. Any large ship observed moving slowly, meandering in circles or simply drifting in international waters would be considered suspicious.

White and Costello expect some nations — like Spain, China and Japan, which have major investments in fishing fleets in international waters — to resist the idea of a ban. White says that Spain, especially, could be impacted because, while it currently relies heavily on offshore fish populations, it has relatively little of its own national waters to exploit.

White and Costello aren't the only ones raising the idea of a fishing ban in international waters. Martin Stuchtey, with the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, recently argued that high seas fishing operations are overall a losing endeavor, as reported by AFP. Fishing on the high seas is often supported with subsidies. But Stuchtey calculated that closing the high seas would cost every person on earth $2 but would ultimately give them a return of $4.

There could be unintended environmental consequences, however. Gib Brogan, fisheries campaign manager with Oceana, wonders if restricting the global fishing fleet to nearshore waters could have adverse effects on fishes like flounder, snapper and grouper that occupy these waters year round.

"If we swap diffuse fishing across a wide swath of ocean for intense fishing on the edges and near shore, will this be a good thing or will it just concentrate the effects near shore?" Brogan says in an email.

Costello, the environmental economist, says no, because overfishing of nearshore species could be avoided if each nation steps up to manage its own resources and protect them from foreign plundering.

Costello and White are now taking the next step toward a high seas fishing ban by trying to determine precisely how such a measure might affect individual nations, certain fish species and seafood consumers. Costello expects that research to be published in about a year.

"All big ideas have to start somewhere," White says.




The plan would be to make all commercial fishing illegal on the open ocean with the exception of each nation's own coastal waters for a period of five to ten years. Wolves were hounded into an endangered condition in the US until the last couple of decades when they were reintroduced at Yellostone and other places and given a protected status. They have recovered very well, as a result. The bald eagle is another such case. I think many fish would do the same thing. The ocean used to be a seemingly endless source of fish, but now the numbers of those species which we most like to eat are getting low. When that happens many predator species in the ocean such as dolphins will also run out of food, possibly causing them to become endangered.

“Closing off most of the ocean to fishing boats would be a pretty drastic move,” says the writer. International waters is stated to be those within 200 miles of the coast of each nation, and actually makes up 65% of all ocean surfaces and 95% of their volume. That's a fairly large area for fishing. The fishermen are using “enormous industrial-scale fishing vessels,” so the catch is huge. White recommends using satellites to monitor large ships moving in a suspicious manner in International waters. Spain, Japan and China especially are expected to fight any such measure and some species of fish might be adversely impacted as they are found only in the coastal waters and may tend to be depleted by intensive fishing there. Costello and White are doing studies now on individual nations and the impact that the ban would have on them. I think the goal of preventing the extinction of many species of fish makes the plan worth the effort, in spite of “unintended consequences.”





U.S. Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' to Stir Unrest, AP Reports – NBC
First published April 3 2014

The U.S. government masterminded the creation of a "Cuban Twitter" — a communications network designed to undermine the communist government in Cuba, built with secret shell companies and financed through foreign banks, The Associated Press has learned.

The project, which lasted more than two years and drew tens of thousands of subscribers, sought to evade Cuba's stranglehold on the Internet with a primitive social media platform. First, the network would build a Cuban audience, mostly young people; then, the plan was to push them toward dissent.

Yet its users were neither aware it was created by a U.S. agency with ties to the State Department, nor that American contractors were gathering personal data about them, in the hope that the information might be used someday for political purposes.

It is unclear whether the scheme was legal under U.S. law, which requires written authorization of covert action by the president and congressional notification. Officials at USAID would not say who had approved the program or whether the White House was aware of it. The Cuban government declined a request for comment.

At minimum, details uncovered by the AP appear to muddy the U.S. Agency for International Development's longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions, and could undermine the agency's mission to deliver aid to the world's poor and vulnerable — an effort that requires the trust and cooperation of foreign governments.

USAID and its contractors went to extensive lengths to conceal Washington's ties to the project, according to interviews and documents obtained by the AP. They set up front companies in Spain and the Cayman Islands to hide the money trail, and recruited CEOs without telling them they would be working on a U.S. taxpayer-funded project.
"There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement," according to a 2010 memo from Mobile Accord Inc., one of the project's creators. "This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission."

The project, dubbed "ZunZuneo," slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet, was publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned after traveling repeatedly to the country on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use.

USAID said in a statement that it is "proud of its work in Cuba to provide basic humanitarian assistance, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to help information flow more freely to the Cuban people," whom it said "have lived under an authoritarian regime" for 50 years. The agency said its work was found to be "consistent with U.S. law."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and chairman of the Appropriations Committee's State Department and foreign operations subcommittee, said the ZunZuneo revelations were troubling.

"There is the risk to young, unsuspecting Cuban cellphone users who had no idea this was a U.S. government-funded activity," he said. "There is the clandestine nature of the program that was not disclosed to the appropriations subcommittee with oversight responsibility."

The AP obtained more than 1,000 pages of documents about the project's development. It independently verified the project's scope and details in the documents through publicly available databases, government sources and interviews with those involved in ZunZuneo.

The estimated $1.6 million spent on ZunZuneo was publicly earmarked for an unspecified project in Pakistan, public government data show, but those documents don't reveal where the funds were actually spent.

For more than two years, ZunZuneo grew and reached at least 40,000 subscribers. But documents reveal the team found evidence Cuban officials tried to trace the text messages and break into the ZunZuneo system. USAID told the AP that ZunZuneo stopped in September 2012 when a government grant ended.




The name "ZunZuneo" is slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet, and the program gained the confidence of some 40,000 people, mainly young people, while compiling their personal information for unspecified political uses. USAID said in a statement that it is "proud of its work,” but Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT has described it as “troubling” and said that the program was not disclosed to the appropriations subcommittee with oversight responsibility." The funds for the effort were purportedly intended for use in Pakistan and did not reveal any connection to Cuba. The article says that Cuban officials did try to trace the tweets and break into ZunZuneo, but whether they succeeded or not is not told.

Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time, was on the news this morning defending the program with the government's good intentions of helping people in oppressed places to gain more information from the outside world. She didn't mention the fact that those using the program were giving personal information about themselves without being aware of it and the information was being collected. “Spy versus Spy” activities always strike me as being wrong, though they may be justified if they succeed in democratizing totalitarian countries. It isn't good that they didn't notify the oversight committee in the Senate and that there was no written consent from the president. In fact there is no proof that he even knew about it. Though USAID said the project was “consistent with US law,” this article says that the complete secrecy with which it was conducted and the lack of Presidential consent may make it illegal.

All countries do conduct spying activities, and it is evident to me that inside knowledge is necessary to the success of attempts to influence or combat other countries, but it is mandatory that the spying effort not come to light, as it causes other countries to distrust the US more and makes us look foolish. The fact that this was an aid organization makes it look even worse. Also, the hope that these young people would unite to do anything against the government of Cuba was probably not founded on the reality of their actual political beliefs. Most people born under a very closed system like that of Cuba are either totally indoctrinated after fifty years of domination or are afraid to rebel. I think those who most want to change the government are the ones who get into a boat and come across the water to Florida. What they want most of all is to get away safely.






Not An April Fools' Joke: Russians Petition To Get Alaska Back – NPR
by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
April 01, 2014 3

President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea is reigniting talk in Russia of taking back Alaska from the United States, which purchased the territory from a czar for $7.2 million nearly a century and a half ago.

Most of the talk is tongue-in-cheek, but it comes at a time of heightened sensitivity in the West over whether Russia is planning further incursions or land grabs.
A recent petition written in clunky English on the official White House website seeks Alaska's secession and return to Russia.

So far, it has generated more than 37,000 signatures — or more than a third of the 100,000 needed to get the Obama administration to formally respond.

According to the website, the petition was created by "S.V." of Anchorage on March 21. But The Moscow Times wrote Tuesday that the petition was actually uploaded by a pro-Kremlin outfit called Government Communication G2C, which was trying to show flaws in the White House petition system rather than get Alaska back.

In Russia, a digitally altered photograph showing a group of protesting "Alaskan" penguins holding up Russian signs that read "Crimea is ours," "Alaska is Next" and "Only Putin" has proved very popular online.

That penguins aren't native to Alaska was apparently lost on the photo's unidentified creator. But his or her intent appears to mock the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party, given that some of the penguins are holding party banners.

On the March 23 episode of BBC One's Andrew Marr Talk Show, Vladimir Chizhov, who is Russia's ambassador to the EU, also brought up Russia's historical claim to Alaska to another guest that day, U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Republican from Arizona.
"We do not have any — I would say — expansionist views," Chizhov said, when pressed about Russia's intentions in Ukraine and elsewhere. When the moderator persisted, Chizhov responded: "Should I tell Sen. McCain to watch over Alaska? ... It used to be Russian."

He quickly added: "I'm joking, of course."
But it's no joke to some Russian officials and groups. Putin's annexation of Crimea resonated with many Russians, who see him as having righted a historical wrong. Similar sentiments are fueling Russian legal claims to oil-rich Alaska.

Last year, an obscure group called The Little Bees filed a claim with the U.S. government demanding a cancellation of the Alaska sales agreement and millions of dollars in compensation.

The plaintiffs claimed the payment the U.S. made to Russia was illegal and that legalization of gay marriage also violated the American-Russian contract.
Several Russian news outlets in the past week reported on a claim for a small part of Alaska by the mayor of the Siberian town of Yakutsk, who says he has uncovered documents showing that Spruce Island actually belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The mayor has petitioned Putin, the Russian Parliament and the Foreign Ministry for the island's return to the church, rather than to Russia.

As for the Alaska secession petition drive, the Obama administration had no comment on its merit:
"We're not in a position to comment on the substance of a response before it has been issued," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin M. Hayden told NPR.
That won't happen unless the petition receives 100,000 signatures by April 20.


Government-to-citizen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Government-to-Citizen (abbreviated G2C) is the communication link between a government and private individuals or residents. Such G2C communication most often refers to that which takes place through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), but can also include direct mail and media campaigns. G2C can take place at the federal, state, and local levels. G2C stands in contrast to G2B, or Government-to-Business networks.


This article is funny only because it's so unlikely to be serious. I've heard, speaking of humor, that the satirical cartoon show The Simpsons is closely watched lately by both Ukrainians and Russians, so apparently it is dealing with the crisis. The very tension generated by the real life crisis causes a certain amount of semi-hysterical laughter. The following is from the NPR blog of Gregory Warner. See http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/04/01/297155827/what-the-simpsons-says-about-ukraines-language-divide


­

What 'The Simpsons' Says About Ukraine's Language Divide – NPR
by Gregory Warner
April 01, 2014

­Misha Kostin, a 21-year-old construction engineer in eastern Ukraine, loves The Simpsons. He's loved it for 10 years. He says the animated series "illustrates everyday life problems in humorous ways, and offers a useful moral at the end of each episode."

And though Kostin and most of the people in eastern Ukraine are native Russian speakers, he prefers to download episodes dubbed not in Russian but in his second language, Ukrainian. All his friends in the city of Donetsk prefer the version dubbed in Ukrainian.

"They talk in Russian, they think in Russian," and even their parents speak only Russian, he says of his friends. "But Simpsons? They like in Ukrainian."

Vladimir Lykov, creative director of an animation studio in Donetsk, agrees that The Simpsons is more popular in Ukrainian than are some other shows, like Family Guy.
In the recent crisis in Ukraine, much has been made of the divisions between Russian speakers, who are the majority in the east and the south, and the Ukrainian speakers, who are dominant in the western part of the country.

But Lykov says language in Ukraine has always been more a political tool of division than an actual divide. People in eastern Ukraine — especially those under 35, who came of age after the Soviet Union collapsed — like being bilingual, he says.
"Unfortunately," he says, "the media likes to show that only Russians live here and only Ukrainians live in western Ukraine. Actually people here have no trouble understanding both languages. And Ukrainian is even funnier for Russian-speakers [because] it's got cleverer slang."

He blames the media, controlled by oligarchs and Ukrainian politicians, for exaggerating the language divide. He says it has always been easier to stoke language fears than address real problems, like the lack of jobs or the stumbling economy.
Russian officials worry publicly that the Russian language is under threat in Ukraine and point to the February ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych. He was toppled by a popular revolt in Kiev done by both Ukrainian and Russian speakers.

American officials have said this Russian claim is wildly overblown, and there are worries that Russia's emphasis on the language issue could become a rationale for military intervention in eastern Ukraine.

Indeed, there's a growing movement in Donetsk to break off from Ukraine and form an autonomous republic with Russian as the dominant language. That's the first step to joining Russia.

That worries Lykov, the animator, who says that the propaganda today out of Russia tells Ukrainian Russian-speakers they're under siege. Ukrainian domestic politicians have honed a similar message themselves.

"It's always been this way," he says. "This constantly present rhetoric of our politicians — all the 20 years of independence."

So might The Simpsons, which has been in existence longer than Ukraine has been independent, be a small counterforce to unite this divided country?
Unfortunately The Simpsons ceased being dubbed in Ukrainian five years ago. Now people like Kostin, the engineer, have to go online to download the program dubbed in Ukrainian by a private company.

No one could tell me why the televised version of the show was switched into Russian, but it was right around when Yanukovych, from this eastern region, took power.




“But Lykov says language in Ukraine has always been more a political tool of division than an actual divide. People in eastern Ukraine — especially those under 35, who came of age after the Soviet Union collapsed — like being bilingual, he says.” He goes on to say that the lack of jobs and the weak economy are the main problems. The article goes on to say that both Ukrainian and Russian speakers united to oust Yanukovych. Lykov says that the Ukrainian Russian speakers enjoy being bilingual. They like to watch The Simpsons in Ukrainian because that language has “cleverer slang.” Unfortunately The Simpsons dubbing was switched from Ukrainian to Russian at about the same time as Yanukovych came to power. No accident there.

“Russian officials worry publicly” that the Russian language is endangered there, and the US is concerned that the issue may become an excuse for further military attacks. Lykov calls it “rhetoric” and says that the situation has been the same during the entire 20 years of Ukraine's independence. The article says that Lykov is “worried” about a movement in Donetsk to break off from Ukraine and join Russia, however. It apparently is not nearly as clear-cut a cultural division as Russia and even the US has said, though, and I have hopes that this “crisis” will lessen with time, especially if the peace talks go forward with good results.

The US may still have to make some military changes by strengthening our forces – along with other NATO countries – in Eastern Europe and continuing to help Ukraine directly. Trusting Russia's intentions is not something I will do again any time soon. I noticed last night that NASA has announced that they will no longer cooperate with Russia on the space program, except for the international space station. I wondered how long that would last. I am sorry to see it go, but I agree with the move.



­

Ukrainians Open Their Homes To Crimean Refugees – NPR
by Peter Kenyon
March 31, 2014

­Here's yet another sign that Russia is firming up its control of Crimea. The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, and much of his cabinet showed up there today. Medvedev announced that Crimea will become a special economic zone with tax breaks to attract investors. Now, Russia says it annexed Crimea at the request of its large ethnic Russian population. But not everyone there is Russian. And even before the annexation, some people were leaving their homes and fleeing. Many people elsewhere in Ukraine are offering their homes to Crimean refugees.

NPR's Peter Kenyon is in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where the number of newcomers is overwhelming.

PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Yelena Tarasenka was born and raised in a town near Sevastopol, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. She always considered herself a Crimean and a Ukrainian, but all of a sudden being both is extremely hard.

KENYON: Sitting on a park bench overlooking Kiev's Independence Square, Tarasenka explains that even before the Russian takeover, it was clear things were getting dangerously unstable. Suddenly there were more than 10 times the usual number of Russian troops on the streets, as well as other armed groups. There were Russian armored vehicles on the move and helicopters flying overhead. She took her nine-year-old son and a few belongings to the train station.

YELENA TARASENKA: (Through translator) And when I arrived to the station, the tickets were almost gone. The train was packed, so many wanted to leave. I managed to get a ticket for me and my son and we had to squeeze on board. So many people wanted to leave. They were mostly women and their children. And this was before the referendum.
KENYON: Oleksandra Dvoretska is a young Crimean activist forced to leave her home of 23 years, as Russian forces advanced. She called the government hotline for displaced Crimeans and got no help. She's watching the acting parliament pass a bill about the occupation of Crimea and is shocked to find it doesn't even address the myriad problems facing Crimeans who don't want to be absorbed by Russia.

OLEKSANDRA DVORETSKA: (Through Translator) How will social benefits, pensions, child allowances be paid? How will children be registered for school? Will Crimeans pay taxes to Ukraine? A business registered in Crimea should pay taxes there but nobody wants to pay the Kremlin.

KENYON: Anna Sandalova helps her son enter an address into their car's GPS. They're headed to bring food to a Crimean Tatar refugee and her family, that Sandalova helped relocate to a suburb of Kiev. A public relations manager by profession, she says she didn't know a single person in Crimea, but she woke up one morning realizing that even those who didn't face the bullets in Independence Square had to do something.
ANNA SANDALOVA: And if you see what you have to do, you have to do that. And in the beginning of March, I understood that we have to bring kids from Crimea to more safe place in Ukraine - in Western Ukraine, in Kiev.

KENYON: She created a Facebook page and soon had a thousand people volunteering rooms, apartments, even homes for Crimean families - focusing on mothers and their children. She says many of them feel lost when they arrive, with so many questions that they can't find answer to yet.

SANDALOVA: Do they want Ukrainian passport? Or do they need to change it because they have their lands, their houses there, and they didn't know what to do with that?
KENYON: The recipient of Sandalova's food delivery is Suzanna, a 38-year-old Crimean Tatar mother of four. She asks that her last name not be used because the men in her family are still in Crimea. Suzanna says the feelings of anger and betrayal are still running strong among not just Tatars but all pro-Ukrainian residents of Crimea.

SUZANNA: (Through Translator) Yes, that's true. When the Russian forces came, many people thought Ukraine had abandoned Crimea. They said: Why didn't they resist? We showed our patriotism, why didn't they protect us? And many people still feel that way. But since coming here, I understand that maybe they couldn't do anything after the Yanukovych regime degraded the military.

KENYON: Suzanna says Ukraine also relied on the Budapest Declaration, in which the U.S. and Britain - as well as Russia - committed to protecting Ukraine against aggression. Now she hopes that the new pro-Russian mood in Crimea won't turn to violence against the Tatars who remain, who say they won't be driven from their homeland again.





Dmitry Medvedev and much of his cabinet are visiting Crimea as of March 31. He is quoted as saying that Russia plans to make Crimea a “special economic zone” with tax breaks to attract investors.

Yelena Tarasenka “always considered herself a Crimean and a Ukrainian, but all of a sudden being both is extremely hard.” She said that Russian troops “and other armed groups” were building up even before the Russian takeover and things were getting unstable.

Another voice says “How will social benefits, pensions, child allowances be paid? How will children be registered for school?” Anna Sandalova carried food to a refugee whom she had settled in Kiev and opened up a Facebook page to connect refugees with people in Kiev offering places for them to live. The efforts of these women are beautiful to see. I had wondered unhappily what would happen to the loyal Ukrainians in Crimea.

Another refugee named Suzanna said that the Yanukovych regime had degraded the Ukrainian military before he was forced out of office, possibly explaining the Ukrainian forces' lack of resistance against Russia, and said that the Ukrainians had relied on the Budapest Declaration, a pact between the US, Britain and Russia to defend Ukraine. One thing is clear, the Ukrainian government and army has to be strengthened again in order for it to be a viable nation on its own. Thank goodness the US already has sent them a billion dollars. Hopefully some weapons will also come to help them build their military back up.




Bill Clinton on aliens visiting Earth: "Wouldn't be surprised"
ByJake Miller CBS News April 3, 2014

Former President Bill Clinton never saw evidence of aliens when he sat in the White House, he said Wednesday, but he wouldn't be surprised if they show up some day.
During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Mr. Clinton was asked whether he had any inside knowledge about extraterrestrial life, and he said he'd ordered a review of records from Area 51 and Roswell -- two sites scrutinized by alien conspiracy theorists -- when he was in office.

"First I had people go look at the records for Area 51 to make sure there was no alien down there," he said, "and people thought that because everybody who works there has to stop about an hour away and put on special clothing and then drive in and out, and that's because a lot of our stealth technology is made there."
"But there are no aliens there," he said.

A similar review of the records from Roswell turned up nothing, Mr. Clinton said, but that doesn't mean we're alone in the universe.

"We know now we live in an ever expanding universe," he explained. "We know there are billions of stars and planets literally out there, and the universe is getting bigger. We know from our fancy telescopes that just in the last two years more than 20 planets have been identified outside our solar system that seem to be far enough away from their suns -- and dense enough -- that they might be able to support some form of life."

"So it makes it increasing less likely that we're alone," he said.
"Oh, you're trying to give me a hint that there are aliens!" Kimmel exclaimed.
"No, I'm trying to tell you I don't know," Mr. Clinton insisted. "But if we were visited some day, I wouldn't be surprised. I just hope that it's not like 'Independence Day,' the movie -- that it's, you know, a conflict."
Still, Clinton said, a battle with aliens "may be the only way to unite this incredibly divided world of ours."

"Think of how all the differences among the people on earth would seem small if we felt threatened by a space invader," he said.




Clinton said that some people think there is possibly a space alien at Area 51 “because everybody who works there has to stop about an hour away and put on special clothing and then drive in and out, but it's really because “a lot of our stealth technology is made there." He says that some 20 planets have been discovered that look like they would possibly be able to maintain life. I have been watching the news on this during the last twenty years or so and there are many scientists who do think it is possible. I think it is even probable that there are others out there, because I do believe in evolution, and that on other planets that have water and chemical environments like ours, life will also have evolved there.

One article that dealt in depth about the matter, though, said that most of those planets are too far away for their inhabitants to come to earth within the probable lifespan of an organism and that most of them probably won't have a technology developed that would enable such a trip. So, like Clinton, I have no disbelief in the existence of space aliens, but I don't expect to see one during my lifetime. If I felt that I had seen a flying saucer with little aliens moving in and out like the guy in “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind,”I would probably go see my psychiatrist. I love to watch movies about it, though.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014


News Clips For The Day



Chile Earthquake: Strict Building Rules May Keep Death Toll Low – NBC
By Alexander Smith
First published April 2 2014

Strict building regulations enforced due to Chile's history of violent seismology have been credited with minimizing the death toll in the wake of Tuesday's magnitude-8.2 earthquake.

"The area has hit by many quakes in the past so this event is nothing new for them," said Randy Baldwin, a Denver-based geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey. "Maybe the reports of falling debris are due to some previously weakened buildings being destroyed, but other than that Chile does a very good job of enforcing building codes."

The importance of solid structures was displayed in Jan. 2010 when Port-au-Prince was hit by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake that leveled 70 percent of the Haitian capital's structures and killed 220,000 people.

Just a month later, a magnitude-8.8 quake hit Chile but killed far fewer people, with the death toll reaching around 500.

By early Wednesday, the latest quake had killed just six people.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction released a report in 2011 saying that the "strict building codes in Chile...continue to play a large part in protecting people." Haiti's quake, on the other hand, was "no match for the homes and buildings," it said.

"The key to surviving high magnitude quakes is to live and work in seismically safe buildings, while being aware of how nature around us can also change," said Margareta Wahlstrom, U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, in the report.

Chile's history is peppered with strong tremors, but the event that prompted its strict construction regulations was the devastating magnitude-9.5 quake of 1960 - the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.

Although Tuesday's quake was at a shallow - and potentially damaging - 12.5 miles below the seabed, Baldwin said other factors could have dampened its effects, such as the direction of the waves and the distance of the epicenter from populated areas.




The exact death toll was not mentioned in this article, so I went to yesterday's report by Daniel Arkin for the following quotation. “A massive earthquake struck off the coast of Chile late Tuesday killing at least six people, triggering a six-foot tsunami and sending 900,000 fleeing to "safe zones." Deaths in the range of six people is much less than I would expect from an 8.2 earthquake. California needs to study their building codes. Of course, there is a great fondness for historical buildings in the US, and I doubt that they would be very safe in an earthquake. The comparison between the Chile event yesterday and Haiti's large quake of a few years ago is a very clear demonstration of the role of good building codes. It's a great example of a good government regulation that was executed faithfully with very positive results.





Supreme Court Strikes Down Another Limit on Money in Politics – NBC

Pete Williams
First published April 2 2014


Further loosening the reins on the role of money in politics, the U.S. Supreme Court today struck down restrictions on the grand total that any person can contribute to all federal candidates for office.

Today's decision left intact the cap of $2,600 per election that a contributor to give to any single candidate for federal office, but it invalidated the separate limit on how much can be contributed to all federal candidates put together — $48,600.
The law was challenged by the Republican Party and an Alabama businessman, Shaun McCutcheon, who argued that the contribution ceilings were an unconstitutional restriction on his free expression.

"It's about freedom of speech and your right to spend your money on as many candidates as you choose. It's a basic freedom," McCutcheon said in bringing the challenge.

Supporters of what's known as the aggregate contribution limit said its purpose was to help prevent corruption. Without it, warned Fred Wertheimer, a longtime proponent of federal regulation of contributions, "you will establish a system of legalized bribery like we used to have before the Watergate scandals."

Under the aggregate limits, an individual could donate a maximum of $48,600 to all candidates for federal office plus another $74,600 to national political parties, state and local political parties, and political action committees — a grand contribution total of $123,200 per election.




According to “Fred Wertheimer, a longtime proponent of federal regulation of contributions, "you will establish a system of legalized bribery like we used to have before the Watergate scandals" of the Aggregate Contribution Limit. The Supreme Court has called it unconstitutional on the grounds of freedom of speech, so the total of $123,200 per election will go back into effect. Needless to say, most Democrats have less money to freely give away than that.

I don't like the fact that with almost unlimited funds we tend to have the highly rancorous television ads showing every half hour with both parties targeting what is often one point only and beating it to death with a hammer. The more serious reason to oppose it, of course, is the “legalized bribery” complaint of Wertheimer. It is also unfair to the Democrat most of the time, who can't usually afford as many ads to blacken the name of his opponent.




Too much running tied to shorter lifespan, studies find – CBS
By Kathleen Doheny HealthDayApril 1, 2014


Running regularly has long been linked to a host of health benefits, including weight control, stress reduction, better blood pressure and cholesterol.
However, recent research suggests there may a point of diminishing returns with running.

A number of studies have suggested that a "moderate" running regimen -- a total of two to three hours per week, according to one expert -- appears best for longevity, refuting the typical "more is better" mantra for physical activity.

The researchers behind the newest study on the issue say people who get either no exercise or high-mileage runners both tend to have shorter lifespans than moderate runners. But the reasons why remain unclear, they added.

The new study seems to rule out cardiac risk or the use of certain medications as factors.

"Our study didn't find any differences that could explain these longevity differences," said Dr. Martin Matsumura, co-director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa.

Matsumura presented the findings Sunday at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Studies presented at medical meetings are typically viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Matsumura and his colleagues evaluated data from more than 3,800 men and women runners, average age 46. They were involved in the Masters Running Study, a web-based study of training and health information on runners aged 35 and above. Nearly 70 percent reported running more than 20 miles a week.

The runners supplied information on their use of common painkillers called NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen and naproxen/Aleve), which have been linked with heart problems, as well as aspirin, known to be heart-protective. The runners also reported on known heart risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, family history of heart disease and smoking history.

None of these factors explained the shorter lives of high-mileage runners, the researchers said. Use of NSAIDs was actually more common in runners who ran less than 20 miles weekly, Matsumura's team noted. "The study negates the theory that excessive use of NSAIDs may be causing this loss of longevity among high-mileage runners," Matsumura said.

So what's the advice to fitness-oriented Americans?
"I certainly don't tell patients 'Don't run,' " Matsumura said. But, he does tell high-mileage runners to stay informed about new research into the mileage-lifespan link as more becomes known.

"What we still don't understand is defining the optimal dose of running for health and longevity," he said.

Even though the heart disease risk factors couldn't explain the shorter longevity of high-mileage runners, there do seem to be potentially life-shortening ill effects from that amount of running, said Dr. James O'Keefe, director of preventive cardiology at the Mid-American Heart Institute in Kansas City.

O'Keefe, who reviewed the findings, believes there may simply be "too much wear and tear" on the bodies of high-mileage runners. He has researched the issue and is an advocate of moderate running for the best health benefits. Chronic extreme exercise, O'Keefe said, may induce a "remodeling" of the heart, and that could undermine some of the benefits that moderate activity provides.

In O'Keefe's view, the "sweet spot" for jogging for health benefits is a slow to moderate pace, about two or three times per week, for a total of one to 2.5 hours.
"If you want to run a marathon," he said, "run one and cross it off your bucket list." But as a general rule, O'Keefe advises runners to avoid strenuous exercise for more than an hour at a time.

More information
To learn more about this field of research, head to the Masters Running Study.




“Too much wear and tear” – I first heard that phrase when doctors began to call osteoarthritis “wear and tear.” I looked it up on the net and found a number of articles about a “wear and tear” theory of aging. It's all about moderation, apparently. I like that. I have never joined fad diets, taken massive doses of vitamins, exercised heavily, etc. Unfortunately, I don't exercise enough, and never have. I am usually found reading a book or watching TV, a “couch potato” in other words. Recently I acquired a sharp pain in one leg and have been stretching and walking every half hour to get rid of the pain, which works miraculously. I plan to continue to do this just because it's easy enough to walk around in my apartment, and I know I need to be doing it. I have always heard the phrase that people can “work themselves to death,” and this article seems to back up the theory. The “remodeling of the heart” also sounds likely, if the hearts of runners may become enlarged or damaged structurally.

Whatever, I am never going to take up running – walking, yes. My legs, ankles and knees wouldn't allow me to run now. I'm just as happy about my situation. I never got that kick out of exercise per se that some people do. I've enjoyed swimming and playing volleyball and basketball when I was younger. Chasing a ball around has lots of interest value and excitement, and swimming is a delicious feeling as I move smoothly through the water. That's going to be my limit.





Computer program spots 21 distinct facial expressions – CBS
By Robert Preidt HealthDay April 2, 2014

A new computer model that can recognize 21 distinct facial expressions more than triples the previous number of documented expressions for different emotions, researchers report.

The new program can even pinpoint expressions for complex or seemingly contradictory emotions such as "sadly angry" or "happily disgusted," according to the Ohio State University researchers.

They said their achievement will help scientists map emotion in the brain with greater accuracy than before, and could help in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as autism and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Until now, limits on reading facial expressions restricted scientists to studying six basic emotions: happy, sad, fearful, angry, disgusted and surprised.

"We've gone beyond facial expressions for simple emotions like happy or sad," Aleix Martinez, a cognitive scientist and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, said in a university news release. "We found a strong consistency in how people move their facial muscles to express 21 categories of emotions."

"That is simply stunning," he said. "That tells us that these 21 emotions are expressed in the same way by nearly everyone, at least in our culture."
The researchers created the computer program by taking 5,000 photos of 130 women and 100 men making faces in response to statements such as, "You just got some great unexpected news" (happily surprised), or, "You smell a bad odor" (disgusted).
Analysis of the facial muscles in the photos enabled the team to identify expressions linked to 21 emotions, according to the study, which was published in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians explains how emotions affect your health.




It would be interesting to know if these facial expressions hold true across cultural lines. That would be really interesting. It would help diplomats to study these expressions, as well as in business deals when it would be good to know if the other person is being deceptive. I'm sure police officers will be taught to read these expressions to see when a witness or suspect is lying or simply not telling the whole truth. I have always read people's faces when observing them or interacting so I will know where they really stand. I want to know whether a person is a true friend or a potential enemy and act accordingly. I am not a person who voluntarily deals with people that I don't trust – I can usually avoid them and deal mainly with my friends. Luckily I'm not involved in politics or sales, so I can get away with it.




More Americans See Middle Class Status Slipping – ABC
WASHINGTON April 2, 2014 (AP)
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER AP Economics Writer

A sense of belonging to the middle class occupies a cherished place in America. It conjures images of self-sufficient people with stable jobs and pleasant homes working toward prosperity.

Yet nearly five years after the Great Recession ended, more people are coming to the painful realization that they're no longer part of it.

They are former professionals now stocking shelves at grocery stores, retirees struggling with rising costs and people working part-time jobs but desperate for full-time pay. Such setbacks have emerged in economic statistics for several years. Now they're affecting how Americans think of themselves.

Since 2008, the number of people who call themselves middle class has fallen by nearly a fifth, according to a survey in January by the Pew Research Center, from 53 percent to 44 percent. Forty percent now identify as either lower-middle or lower class compared with just 25 percent in February 2008.

According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who say they're middle or upper-middle class fell 8 points between 2008 and 2012, to 55 percent.

And the most recent National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey found that the vast proportion of Americans who call themselves middle or working class, though still high at 88 percent, is the lowest in the survey's 40-year history. It's fallen 4 percentage points since the recession began in 2007.

The trend reflects a widening gap between the richest Americans and everyone else, one that's emerged gradually over decades and accelerated with the Great Recession. The difference between the income earned by the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans and by a median-income household has risen 24 percent in 30 years, according to the Census Bureau.

Whether or not people see themselves as middle class, there's no agreed-upon definition of the term. In part, it's a state of mind. Incomes or lifestyles that feel middle class in Kansas can feel far different in Connecticut. People with substantial incomes often identify as middle class if they live in urban centers with costly food, housing and transportation.

In any case, individuals and families who feel they've slipped from the middle class are likely to spend and borrow less. Such a pullback, in turn, squeezes the economy, which is fueled mainly by consumer spending.

"How they think is reflected in how they act," said Richard Morin, a senior editor at the Pew Research Center.

People are generally slow to acknowledge downward mobility. Many regard themselves as middle class even if their incomes fall well above or below the average. Experts say the rise in Americans who feel they've slipped below the middle class suggests something deeply rooted.

More people now think "it's harder to achieve" the American dream than thought so several decades ago, said Mark Rank, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Three years ago, Kristina Feldotte, 47, and her husband earned a combined $80,000. She considered herself solidly middle class. The couple and their four children regularly vacationed at a lake near their home in Saginaw, Michigan.

But in August 2012, Feldotte was laid off from her job as a special education teacher. She's since managed to find only part-time teaching work. Though her husband still works as a truck salesman, their income has sunk by more than half to $36,000.
"Now we're on the upper end of lower class," Feldotte said.




“There's no agreed-upon definition” and it's “a state of mind” are interesting statements. There should be a government defined range of income to rely on. On the net I found the following from Wikipedia. It gives over $100,000 as upper middle class and $500,000 as upper class, while the lower class is defined as “under $2,000.” That sounds like dire poverty to me and the difference between $100,000 and $2,000 is staggering. Most people I know are “working class.” or “lower middle class.” This news article gives Kristina Feldotte's former combined income before she was laid off as $80,000 and she considered herself to be “solidly middle class,” but Wikipedia considers it to be “lower middle class,” and at $35,000 she became “working class,” which covers a very wide range. The key to being comfortable, whatever our income, is for the expenses to be lower than the income so we can eat, drive a dependable car, have health insurance, be housed, pursue some kind of educational goals, and take a few modest vacation trips or pay for some entertainments. If we can keep a steady job at above the minimum wage level, it is usually possible to adjust living expenses to meet the budget and have some occasional pleasures.

Going from $80,000 to $35,000 would likely compel moving to a smaller house or an apartment and not sending the kids to college from the household income. It would be a big and painful adjustment, and some heavy medical bills would likely bankrupt the family. Another article by Wikipedia on the definition of the poverty line gives $23,000 for a family of four or $10,000 for a single individual. I'm sure anyone receiving only $2,000 a year would have to live in public housing, use food stamps, ride the bus rather than keep a car, have access to no movies or restaurant meals, and avoid going to a doctor.


Household income in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Household income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions. Each household is measured by the income of every resident over the age of 15.

Extreme poverty in the United States, meaning households living on less than $2 per day before government benefits, doubled from 1996 to 1.5 million households in 2011, including 2.8 million children.[3]

According to Leonard Beeghley[citation needed] a household income of roughly $95,000 would be typical of a dual-earner middle class household while $60,000 would be typical of a dual-earner working class household and $18,000 typical for an impoverished household. William Thompson and Joseph Hickey[citation needed] see common incomes for the upper class as those exceeding $500,000 with upper middle class incomes ranging from the high 5-figures to most commonly in excess of $100,000. They claim the lower middle class ranges from $35,000 to $75,000; $16,000 to $30,000 for the working class and less than $2,000 for the lower class.




Congress Sends Ukraine Aid, Russia Sanctions Bill To White House – NPR
by Eyder Peralta
April 01, 2014

After weeks of political wrangling and in a rare show of bi-partisanship, Congress approved a bill calling for $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea.

On Tuesday, with a vote of 378-34, the House passed a final version of the bill, sending it to the White House for President Obama's signature. The bill passed in the Senate last week with a 98-2 vote.

"Passage of this bill allows Congress to speak with one voice in support of the Ukrainian people and against Russian aggression," Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee and coauthor of the bill, said in a statement. "Along with our European partners, the U.S. must demonstrate long-term resolve to deter any further Russian intervention in Ukraine and the region, including imposing additional economic sanctions that will exact real costs for Putin's actions in Crimea."




I am relieved to see that this loan and sanctions passed almost unanimously in both houses of the legislature. There are things that President Obama can't do without congressional consent. I will wait to see what sanctions will be leveled against Russia and what the EU and NATO do. A billion dollars doesn't sound like very much to stabilize a failing government, but maybe other countries will add more to the fund. This is real progress, though. I'm sure Obama will happily sign the bill. Maybe we will see Russia respond favorably.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014


News Clips For The Day


South Korea Eyes Kim Jong Un's Regime After Drone Crashes – NBC

Reuters contributed to this report.
- Julie Yoo and Alexander Smith
First published April 1 2014


SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea is investigating whether a drone that crashed on one of its islands originated in North Korea, according to reports Tuesday.
The unmanned aircraft fell on the island of Baengnyeong at around 4 p.m. Monday (3 a.m. ET) after the North and South exchanged hundreds of shells in disputed waters off their western coast.

A spokesperson for the joint military command between the United States and South Korea confirmed to NBC News early Tuesday that a drone had been found by a resident of the island. The official said it was being analyzed.

"As an in-depth analysis is currently under way, we cannot confirm which country made this drone," a military source told South Korea's Yonhap news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But there is a possibility that it belongs to North Korea."
A military official told Reuters that the South is looking into any possible link between the drone and the espionage operations of Kim Jong Un's regime.

South Korean officials have disassembled the drone to try to determine its origin. The source told Yonhap said the aircraft was 7-10 feet long, had a Japanese engine and Chinese components, and was fitted with a small camera.
It was similar to another drone collected near the border city of Paju on March 24, another source told Yonhap.



From Wikipedia, South Korea, comes the following information.

Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan in 1910. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S. zones of occupation. An election was held in the U.S. zone in 1948 which led to the creation of the Republic of Korea. Although the United Nations passed a resolution declaring the Republic to be the only lawful government in Korea,[9] the Soviets set up a rival government in the North.
The Korean War began in 1950 when forces from the North invaded the South. The war lasted three years and involved the U.S., China, the Soviet Union, and several other nations. The border between the two nations remains the most heavily fortified in the world.[10] In the decades that followed, the South Korean economy grew significantly and the country was transformed into a G-20 major economy.[11] Civilian government replaced military rule in 1987.




South Korea doesn't seem to be intimidated by the fearsome North Korea, keeping up a border squabble on a daily basis. Neither seems to try to invade the other, but according to this Wikipedia article, the border between them is “the most heavily fortified in the world.” This article, however, proves that the North is watching over them on a frequent basis, assuming there are lots more drones where these two came from.

Every now and then a news article appears about refugees from the North coming down into South Korea telling stories of starvation and people being born in prison camps, never to see freedom. The South, meanwhile, has thrived since the Korean War and has replaced its military rule with elected government officials. It is possible, even probable, that North Korea backed by Russia would have invaded them by now if it weren't for the close relationship of the US with the South. It isn't very troubling, therefore, that the drones have been found. The South is capable of defending itself, especially with the help of the US, so democratic government has a toehold in the far East that seems secure – at least, so it seems to me.




U.S. Considers Releasing Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard: Report – NBC
The Associated Press
First published April 1 2014

JERUSALEM - The United States is talking with Israel about releasing convicted
spy Jonathan Pollard early from his life sentence as an incentive to the Israelis in the troubled Mideast peace negotiations, people familiar with the talks have told The Associated Press.

Pollard, an American Jew, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy when he gave thousands of classified documents to his Israeli handlers. Releasing him would be an extraordinary step underscoring the urgency of U.S. peace efforts.
Two people describing the talks cautioned that such a release — which would be a dramatic turnaround from previous refusals — was far from certain and that discussions with Israel on the matter were continuing. Both spoke on Monday only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks on the record.

NBC News was unable to independently confirm the report.

In return for the release, the people close to the talks said, Israel would have to undertake significant concessions to the Palestinians in Middle East negotiations. Such concessions could include some kind of freeze on Israeli settlements in disputed territory, the release of Palestinian prisoners beyond those Israel has already agreed to free and a guarantee that Israel would stay at the negotiating table beyond an end-of-April deadline.

Secretary of State John Kerry met for several hours late Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before sitting down with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and another Palestinian official. Kerry met again with Netanyahu on Tuesday morning before his scheduled departure to Brussels for NATO talks on Ukraine.
U.S. defense and intelligence officials have consistently argued against releasing Pollard, who the Israelis recruited to pass along U.S. secrets including satellite photos and data on Soviet weaponry in the 1980s. He was arrested by FBI agents in Washington in 1985.




Pollard's career as a spy ended almost 20 years ago, and he didn't try to commit sabotage or “overthrow the US government.” If releasing him can get Israel to move forward with peace negotiations it seems worth it to me. The whole world is held hostage by the unrest in the Middle East. I approve of this proposed move by the Obama administration. I hope to see news articles on progress that is made in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the future.




Russia hikes Ukraine’s gas bill as new Kiev gov't tries to reign in far-right nationalists – CBS
AP April 1, 2014

MOSCOW -- Russia on Tuesday sharply hiked the price for natural gas to Ukraine, raising the heat on its cash-strapped government, while Ukrainian police moved to disarm members of a radical nationalist group after a shooting spree in the capital.
Alexei Miller, the head of Russia's state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant, said Tuesday that the company has withdrawn December's discount that put the price of gas at $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters and set the price at $385.50 per 1,000 cubic meters for the second quarter.

The discount was part of a financial lifeline Russia's President Vladimir Putin offered to Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych after his decision to ditch a pact with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow. The move fueled three months of protests which forced Yanukovych to flee to Russia in February.

Radical nationalist groups played a key role in Yanukovych's ouster, but they quickly fell out with the new government. Last week, one of the leaders of the most prominent radical group, the Right Sector, was shot dead while resisting police.

Right Sector members then besieged parliament for several hours, breaking windows and demanding the resignation of Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. They lifted the blockade after lawmakers set up a panel to investigate the killing.

Late Monday, a Right Sector member shot and wounded three people outside a restaurant adjacent to Kiev's main Independence Square, including a deputy city mayor, triggering a standoff that lasted overnight.

Police surrounded the downtown Dnipro Hotel, which Right Sector had commandeered as its headquarters, demanding that the radicals lay down their weapons and leave. Avakov said that Right Sector members got into buses Tuesday morning leaving their weapons behind and headed to a suburban camp under the escort of officers of Ukraine's Security Service.

Russia has pointed at Right Sector's actions to push its claim that the new Ukrainian government was kowtowing to nationalist radicals, who threaten Russian-speakers in southeastern Ukraine. Russia has pointed at the perceived threat from ultranationalists to defend its annexation of Crimea, and has concentrated tens of thousands of troops along its border with Ukraine, drawing Western fears of an invasion.

Putin and other officials have said that Russia has no intention of invading Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu insisted Tuesday that the Kremlin wants a "political settlement that would take into account interests and rights of the entire Ukrainian people" and had no intention to threaten Ukraine's statehood.

At the same time, Russia has used financial levers to hit Ukraine that is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Gazprom's Miller said that the decision to charge a higher price in the second quarter was made because Ukraine has failed to pay off its debt for past supplies, which now stands at $1.7 billion.




Right Sector members, after rampaging the parliament house and demanding that Avakov step down, gave up their weapons and were bussed away to a holding camp with Ukraine's Security Service. I'm glad to see this, because the Russian complaint that Right Sector and other unruly parties are harassing Russian-speakers is apparently at least partially a legitimate one, and such groups make a democratic society unstable as well. Many times in the US have National Guard troops been called out to quell a riot that may have just claims on some issue or other, but the actions of a mob are not acceptable. Thank goodness Ukraine can patrol its streets successfully. Russia is watching to get an excuse for another forced annexation.




New report details dramatic racial gap among U.S. Children – CBS
AP April 1, 2014

NEW YORK -- In every region of America, white and Asian children are far better positioned for success than black, Latino and American Indian children, according to a new report appealing for urgent action to bridge this racial gap.

Titled "Race for Results," the report is being released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which for decades has worked to improve child well-being in the United States.

The foundation also produces annual "Kids Count" reports, with reams of state-specific data, but these generally have not focused on race. The new report tackles the topic head-on, with charts and ratings that convey dramatic racial discrepancies.
At the core of the report is a newly devised index based on 12 indicators measuring a child's success from birth to adulthood. The indicators include reading and math proficiency, high school graduation data, teen birthrates, employment prospects, family income and education levels, and neighborhood poverty levels.

Using a single composite score with a scale of one to 1,000, Asian children have the highest index score at 776, followed by white children at 704.

"Scores for Latino (404), American-Indian (387) and African-American (345) children are distressingly lower, and this pattern holds true in nearly every state," said the report.

Patrick McCarthy, the Casey Foundation's president, said the findings are "a call to action that requires serious and sustained attention from the private, nonprofit, philanthropic and government sectors to create equitable opportunities for children of color."

N.Y. schools are most racially segregated in nation, report says
The report was based on data from 2012, including census figures tallying the number of U.S. children under 18 at 39 million whites, 17.6 million Latinos, 10.2 million blacks, 3.4 million of Asian descent, and 640,000 American Indians, as well as about 2.8 million children of two or more races. Under census definitions, Latinos can be of various racial groups.

The report described the challenges facing African-American children as "a national crisis."

For black children, the states with the lowest scores were in the South and upper Midwest - with Wisconsin at the bottom, followed closely by Mississippi and Michigan. The highest scores were in states with relatively small black populations - Hawaii, New Hampshire, Utah and Alaska.

Outcomes varied for different subgroups of Asian and Latino children. For example, in terms of family income levels, children of Southeast Asian descent - Burmese, Hmong, Laotian, Cambodian and Vietnamese - faced greater hurdles than children whose families came from India, Japan, the Philippines and China.

Among Latinos, children of Mexican and Central American descent faced the biggest barriers to success; those of Cuban and South American descent fared better in the index.

The state with the highest score for Latino children was Alaska, at 573. The lowest was Alabama, at 331.

Only 25 states provided enough data to compile scores for American Indian children. Their scores were highest in Texas (631), Alabama (568), Florida (554) and Kansas (553), and lowest in the upper Midwest, the Southwest and the Mountain States. The score for Indian children in South Dakota - 185 - was the lowest of any group in any state on the index.

Some of South Dakota's Indian reservations are among the poorest nationwide, which contributes to high levels of domestic violence, alcoholism and drug abuse, fetal-alcohol syndrome, teen pregnancy and low graduation rates.

The report found sharp differences in Indian children's outcomes based on tribal affiliation. For example, Apache children were far more likely than Choctaw children to live in economically struggling families.

Among its recommendations, the report urged concerted efforts to collect and analyze race-specific data on child well-being that could be used to develop programs capable of bridging the racial gap. It said special emphasis should be placed on expanding job opportunities as children in the disadvantaged groups enter adulthood.

"Regardless of our own racial background or socio-economic position, we are inextricably interconnected as a society," the report concluded. "We must view all children in America as our own - and as key contributors to our nation's future."


Follow-up Article:


N.Y. schools are most racially segregated in nation, report says
CBS/AP March 26, 2014


NEW YORK -- New York state has the most segregated public schools in the nation, with many black and Latino students attending schools with virtually no white classmates, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles looks at enrollment trends from 1989 to 2010.

In New York City, the largest school system in the U.S. with 1.1 million pupils, the study notes that many of the charter schools created over the last dozen years are among the least diverse of all, with less than 1 percent white enrollment at 73 percent of charter schools.

"To create a whole new system that's even worse than what you've got really takes some effort," said Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project and an author of the report.

The issue of charter schools is turning political in New York City, where Mayor Bill de Blasio is taking a stand to support existing public schools over charter schools.
Orfield and his fellow researchers say segregation has the effect of concentrating black and Latino students in schools with high ratios of poor students compared with the statewide average. Black and Latino students who attend schools that are integrated by race and income level perform significantly better than their peers in segregated schools, the authors note.

The study suggests that New York's segregation is largely due to housing patterns, because housing and school segregation are correlated, but that it could be mitigated through policies intended to promote diversity.

"In the 30 years I have been researching schools, New York state has consistently been one of the most segregated states in the nation - no Southern state comes close to New York," Orfield said.

Other states with highly segregated schools include Illinois, Michigan and California, according to the Civil Rights Project.

In New York, about half of the state's public school students were from low-income families in 2010, the report says, but the typical black or Latino student attended a school where close to 70 percent of classmates were low-income. The typical white student went to a school where just 30 percent of classmates were low-income.

"For New York to have a favorable multiracial future both socially and economically, it is absolutely urgent that its leaders and citizens understand both the values of diversity and the harms of inequality," the study's authors say.

New York City Department of Education spokesman Devon Puglia did not address the findings of the report, but said, "We believe in diverse classrooms in which students interact and grow through personal relationships with those of different backgrounds." The district is roughly 40 percent Hispanic, 30 percent black, 15 percent white and 15 percent Asian.

State Education Commissioner John King called the findings troubling and added, "The department has supported over the years various initiatives aimed at improving school integration and school socioeconomic integration, but there's clearly a lot of work that needs to be done - not just in New York but around the country."

The report, which used U.S. Department of Education statistics, also noted increasing segregation in upstate cities including Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.

In the Syracuse metropolitan area, the report says, the number of black students increased by 4 percent between 1989 and 2010, but black isolation increased dramatically. In 1989 the typical black student went to a school that was one-third black, but in 2010 the typical black student went to a school that was nearly half black.

Pedro Noguera, a New York University education professor, said it's disturbing that policy makers have focused so little on racial integration in recent years.
"We've been talking about reforming schools in New York and elsewhere. This issue was never addressed," Noguera said.

He added, "When you concentrate the neediest kids together in under-resourced schools they tend not to do very well."

The UCLA report recommends that state and local education agencies develop policies aimed at reducing racial isolation and promoting diverse schools.

The report suggests voluntary desegregation programs in upstate cities like Rochester, where low-income populations are surrounded by more affluent communities.
In New York City, Orfield said, a system of unscreened "choice" schools would foster more diversity than the current New York City high school choice system, which sees entrance tests at top schools excluding most black and Latino students.

"If you just offer choice, the people with the best information will get into the best schools," he said.

Requel Russell-George, the mother of two students at Public School 169 in the Bronx, which has about 75 percent black and 19 percent Latino students, said she feels the school is "excellent" but she would like to see more diversity.

"I do feel that it would be great for our children and other children to be exposed to other cultures," Russell-George said. "You're more knowledgeable and things are not mysterious to you as you get older."



These two articles are both pretty depressing, except that the Annie E. Casey Foundation is now tracking the problems and seeking progress for all groups of children involved. We think of the South as being the worst for racist views and actions, but several northern states are shown to be among the very worst. The Casey Foundation report is quoted here – “We must view all children in America as our own....”

I think it is not an accident that Native Americans and blacks have the deepest poverty and the worst school achievement. In both those cases a racial war was waged against them by an overwhelmingly white society, and their family structures and cultures were largely crushed. There has to be less family pride and self-confidence under those conditions, and as a result, less hope and more depression. Kids don't learn joyously and strive to do better, except for the truly unusual cases, in such a situation.

Whatever the root causes, in the case of many black children they are being brought up in home environments where there is a prevailing hatred of white society; and they are too often heard to say that their peers who achieve in school and eschew such activities as drug use and joining gangs, much less those who listen to classical music, are “acting white.”

There were, early on in his presidency, some mentions in the news that Barack Obama wasn't “black enough.” How can children with such an attitude and family background succeed? They don't have the encouragement and impetus of family pride in intellectual achievements to tell them that they can make it, and to force them to try harder and more consistently in school when they're having problems. You can bet that fairly affluent white children who are having trouble in school will get tutoring to bring their grades up, and if they are just too rebellious or “lazy” to study, the parent is likely to take away some of their privileges to enforce a better effort.

I do not, for a minute, believe that “people of color” are less intelligent than whites. When white children are brought up in grinding poverty and cynical, negative home environments – and it does happen – they are also more prone to perform poorly. If the father is an alcoholic and beats them or, worse, rapes them, it will cause depression and hopelessness, which don't help the children to be achievers. However, if a background of enjoying intellectual pursuits is there, those kids will be more likely to read for pleasure and the joy of learning and put in the time studying their math if they don't easily achieve in it. I think the poor achievement of blacks, Hispanics and American Indians is due to cultural factors that are rooted in their home life and neighborhood, for the most part.


The second article above concentrates on the problem of de facto segregation, specifically in NYC schools. The term “black isolation” is used, and under those conditions there are fewer white and Asian students to bring in their new ideas and improved classroom input to the school room. Poor grades can become “the norm” and therefore are “not a big problem -- par for the course." The intellectual enrichment and competition between students where there are those who have traveled, studied a musical instrument, and voluntarily read books, tend to make kids try harder, so when all the students are black or Hispanic without supportive parents to urge them on, the test score averages just get lower and lower. Joining a gang, breaking into cars and sniffing glue can become the thing to do.

The UCLA study suggests “voluntary desegregation” efforts in the upstate New York systems, where the nearby neighborhoods of more affluent people make it easier than in NYC. For NYC schools the availability of “unscreened choice” schools is recommended, in other words they do not have an academically based entrance test screening the students who are allowed into the school. Those tests tend to screen out black and Hispanic students, leading to segregated systems.




­
Latvia's Ex-President: 'We Have To Worry' About Russia – NPR
by NPR Staff
April 01, 2014

Russia's takeover of Crimea sent shivers through Latvia.
The tiny Baltic state was itself taken over by the Soviet Union in 1940 and did not regain its independence until the Soviet breakup in 1991. Latvia has a population of just 2 million, and roughly a quarter of those are ethnic Russians.

The Baltics Eye Crimea Closely, Concerned Over Russian Intentions:
Given this history, Latvia was eager to align itself with the West. In 2004, under then-president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia joined both the European Union and NATO and is counting on those allies for protection.

On NPR's Morning Edition, Vike-Freiberga said Tuesday that despite having powerful friends, Latvia needs to continue to strengthen its own national security as well.

On Latvia's ethnic Russians

We have been working very hard, certainly during my presidency, to convince them that if they have decided to live in Latvia they might as well do so with full political participation which comes with citizenship and the right to vote ... But there are the diehards who think that the renewed independence of Latvia is only a passing thing and that, indeed, the fate of Crimea is what they would hope for (for Latvia) because they came here as conquerors under the propaganda that they are liberating the country from fascism — even in 1940 when (Latvia) was independent and (the Soviet Union) invaded it.

On the notion that Russia has a right to intervene in neighboring countries

I think such ideas should have disappeared with the 1917 revolution when Latvian riflemen helped to overthrow the tsarist regime. The whole point was that we were following (U.S. President) Woodrow Wilson's principles of the right of nations to determine their own fate and that includes those who have the misfortune of living nearby whatever Russian political system is in effect at the time.

We have no predestined wish to be subject to Moscow's dictates. We have been submitted to it by the force of arms. In international law, there is no such concept that has been accepted that one nation can determine how another should be governed.
There are principles — for instance, in the European Union — to which we have all voluntarily subscribed. But it has not been a case of (the EU) enlarging its sphere of influence to include Latvia as a member. It is a completely different thing.
On a fundamental difference between Russia and the European Union

They have the vertical of power in Russia and it doesn't quite work that way in the EU. We'd rather follow the principles of subsidiary and leave quite a bit of decision-making power to each sovereign nation. The vertical of power means that you have one man and his cronies controlling basically all the levers of power and the finance and subsidiary means you try and have as much decision-making delegated at either the municipal, the regional or national levels rather than at the supranational levels such as the EU.

On the likely impact of sanctions against Russia

It remains to be seen how hard any measures taken by the West will bite him. And that is also difficult to predict because we live in such a globalized world where the interconnections in energy supplies and in the flow of financial markets is not as predictable as one would like to see it. If the sanctions should happen to bite sufficiently, something might happen. But otherwise, having once seized (Crimea) it's like a vulture having seized something in its claws. I doubt that, voluntarily, (Russia) would give it up.

On threats to Latvia's security

We have to worry every minute of every day. We have to be ready in every possible way. This is why when we were first given the membership action plan for NATO, we took it very seriously. We're glad to have it... We, at the moment, are not fulfilling our 2 percent of (the proportion of GDP that NATO requires to be spent on defense). I have spoken out in public and said this is wrong. Of course, we had a very serious (economic) crisis in 2008 and 2009... so there was this difficult period when our investment in defense had to decrease but now it has to increase again because, yes, we have to be fully participating partners in our common security, which is a security that NATO offers.



“On NPR's Morning Edition, Vike-Freiberga said Tuesday that despite having powerful friends, Latvia needs to continue to strengthen its own national security as well.” This is what I want to see all of Eastern Europe concluding. The US alone is only so strong, but as a group the EU and NATO nations can effectively stand down Russian efforts to regain its cold war strength.

I would like to see US efforts in the Middle East be decreased and a new emphasis put on Europe. Too many Middle Eastern countries are not natural allies for us because of the really vast cultural differences. Sharia law is not compatible with modern democratic Western beliefs. Not all Islamic states are ruled by Sharia law, but the number that are is increasing. When those people immigrate to the West most of them will bring their culture with them, making “honor killings” an all too common event. Besides, Eastern Europe especially needs us very much right now.

“We have to worry every minute of every day. We have to be ready in every possible way.... we had a very serious (economic) crisis in 2008 and 2009... so there was this difficult period when our investment in defense had to decrease but now it has to increase again because, yes, we have to be fully participating partners in our common security, which is a security that NATO offers.” This is good to hear. If all European states were as independently capable of contributing strongly to their own defense as this statement from President Freiberga recommends, Russia would be a more thoroughly domesticated society.




­ For Native Americans, Losing Tribal Membership Tests Identity – NPR
by David Nogueras
April 01, 2014


In western Oregon, members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are engaged in a debate over what it means to belong.

The tribe's enrollment committee is considering kicking out an entire family that traces its lineage back to the founding of the modern tribe more than a century and a half ago. The family is related to Chief Tumulth, leader of the Watlala, a tribe that controlled river traffic along a key section of the Columbia River.

"If you search for 'Chief Tumulth,' you'll find that he's, as some people claim, the most famous Chinookan chief that there ever was," says Jade Unger, Tumulth's great-great-great-great-grandson.

After Unger heard about Chief Tumulth as a teenager he began to study the tribal language, Chinuk Wawa, and learned the traditional methods of hunting and fishing. Studying his ancestors, he began to learn about himself.

Eventually, Unger was enrolled at the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. In 1855, his ancestor, Chief Tumulth, played an early role in the confederation's founding by signing an important treaty with the U.S. government.

Unger says for nearly 30 years his family was embraced by the tribe — that is, until last September, when everything changed. The tribe's enrollment committee told Unger and 78 members of his family that a recently completed audit showed they were enrolled in error.

"I'm not worried about me. I know I'm fine economically," Unger says. "I'll make it. But there's people in my family that are going to be devastated by this, people that are dependent on their elders' pensions. There are people that are going to lose their homes."

Back in 1995, the tribe opened its Spirit Mountain Casino, and for the first time, members began to see a financial benefit. Within a few years, the tribe began to tighten its enrollment requirements. In fact, under the new standards, Unger's family wouldn't be let in today.

His ancestor may have signed a key treaty in the formation of the Grand Ronde, but Chief Tumulth was killed before the reservation was officially recognized in 1857. Unger says that information was well-known to the committee members who approved their applications.

"There was no error," Unger says. "It was very deliberate, and it was unanimously agreed upon that we had a background and we had a right to belong here in this tribe."
Tribal Council Chairman Reynold Leno wouldn't discuss pending cases. But he says the audit was needed to correct inconsistencies in the tribal record.

"Tribes are made up of families, and families know their own history," Leno says. "And when you have people that don't kind of fit into that family-type scenario, it kind of draws a question. And I think that's what a lot of people wanted looked into."

While he says any disenrollments that result from the audit are unfortunate, he says the tribe has a constitution — and it's his job to uphold it.

"It was given to us by the Supreme Court to set standards and regulations for our enrollment, and I think people should respect that," Leno says.

But both in and outside of Oregon, disenrollments are raising questions. David Wilkins, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lumbee Nation, estimates that as many as 8,000 U.S. citizens have been cast out of native tribes over the past two decades. And Wilkins worries that tribal disenrollments could be putting tribal autonomy in jeopardy.

"At some point there's going to be enough clamor raised by disenrollees that there is going to be a congressional hearing or there is going to be some presidential proclamation or there is going to be a Supreme Court decision that might seriously impinge on what is a true sine qua non of a sovereign nation, that is the power to decide who belongs," Wilkins says.

Grand Ronde is still reviewing the results of the audit, which means more disenrollment letters could go out.

Unger acknowledges he might lose his federally recognized status, but he says nobody can take away his identity as a native person.

"That's, hands down, way more important to me than any little chunk of money I might get in a per capita payment," Unger says. "I don't care about that. I care about my tribe. I feel like I belong. We belong."

And Unger says that's the one thing he wants to hold on to.




“The tribe's enrollment committee told Unger and 78 members of his family that a recently completed audit showed they were enrolled in error.” Tribal Council Chairman Reynold Leno apologizes, but defends the committee's action. Nonetheless, the disenrollments are raising questions. David Wilkins, a member of the Lumbee Nation, as many as 8,000 have been cast out of various native tribes. Wilkins predicts enough unrest over the matter for the Supreme Court to weigh in on it, thus breaching the Indian nations' autonomy.

This disenrollment which is linked in the article above with the money which is now being produced by Indian casinos. Would these families be cast out by a controlling inner group simply to reduce the number of people who would receive a share, and therefore increase their own income? If so, that is grossly unfair. Unger says that he is not interested in the money, but in the comfort of being a tribal member and having roots. It is a tragedy for American Indians, whose cultures have been largely destroyed, to have no compatriots with whom they share customs, kinship ties and a language, plus the fact that their tribal pensions which apparently fund whole families will be lost. The only word that comes to my mind to describe it is heartlessness. They aren't even robbing strangers. They're robbing family members. The quality of the tribal memberships will be devalued by these moves, as the surviving members share in the wealth gained by an immoral act.