Monday, October 6, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Why are people leaving the workforce? – CBS
By KIM PETERSON MONEYWATCH October 6, 2014, 5:38 AM

America's jobs picture is seeing huge improvement, with robust numbers that are giving investors confidence in the economy. The U.S. added 248,000 jobs last month, bringing the unemployment rate below 6 percent.

But one part of that picture is still a puzzle: People continue to stop looking for work, and in doing so, are dropping out of the labor pool. In fact, the participation rate in the labor force has fallen to 62.7 percent -- its lowest level since early 1978.

How can this be? As the job market heats up and the unemployment rate falls, wouldn't that mean more people are looking for work, not less?

"The decline is without precedent," Bob Funk, chief executive of global staffing company Express Employment Professionals, told CBS MoneyWatch. Government tracking of employment statistics go back to 1948, he said, "and a decline like this has never happened since then."

There's no clear reason why people are leaving the workforce, and the issue has ignited a fierce debate among economists. One trend that they seem to agree on? About half of the decline is due to baby boomers entering their retirement years.

The other half of the decline gets a little fuzzy. Funk notes that some portion of the unemployed either don't want to work or don't think they can find a job. His company commissioned a poll of the unemployed in May, he said, and found that 47 percent have completely given up looking for work. "That's a real problem," he said.

The labor force participation rate was around 66 percent of the population in 2007 before falling to 62.7 percent.

Some economists say the expansion of food stamp and disability programs are keeping people out of the labor pool. Others says that young people are dropping out, partly because more are going to college and partly because the ones who aren't are getting crowded out of the job market.

The recession drove many out of the workplace, and there aren't enough job opportunities to bring them off of the sidelines, says Chad Stone, chief economist with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Don't expect the rate to rise anytime soon, say researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in a recent paper. They're expecting further declines over the next decade or so. The youngest baby boomers are still in their early 50s, the researchers say, so boomers will be dropping out of the job market for years to come.

On the plus side, the researchers said, those job openings created by retiring baby boomers could open up more opportunities for younger adults and less-educated workers.

So what's the long-term impact of a falling participation rate? The economy needs the labor pool to start growing again, says Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight. The weak labor market cannot support many more months in which jobs grow by 200,000 or more. "We may not be able to fight the effects of time and age, but we need the share of the population who can work to at least stabilize," he added.

Funk at Express Employment Professionals says the drop in the labor force is masking how high unemployment actually is. "For society, fewer people working means less revenue for the government and higher outlays on social programs," he adds. "It also means there are fewer people paying into Social Security and Medicare, at a time when both programs are already running out of money due to the baby boomer retirement."




“In fact, the participation rate in the labor force has fallen to 62.7 percent -- its lowest level since early 1978.... Government tracking of employment statistics go back to 1948, he said, "and a decline like this has never happened since then." There's no clear reason why people are leaving the workforce, and the issue has ignited a fierce debate among economists. One trend that they seem to agree on? About half of the decline is due to baby boomers entering their retirement years.... His company commissioned a poll of the unemployed in May, he said, and found that 47 percent have completely given up looking for work. "That's a real problem," he said.... Some economists say the expansion of food stamp and disability programs are keeping people out of the labor pool. Others says that young people are dropping out, partly because more are going to college and partly because the ones who aren't are getting crowded out of the job market. The recession drove many out of the workplace, and there aren't enough job opportunities to bring them off of the sidelines, says Chad Stone, chief economist with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.... Funk at Express Employment Professionals says the drop in the labor force is masking how high unemployment actually is.”

“On the plus side, the researchers said, those job openings created by retiring baby boomers could open up more opportunities for younger adults and less-educated workers.” I propose the US Department of Labor set up many job fairs across the country, to which local employers are invited. Local news outlets could be encouraged to make announcements on TV, in the newspaper, and on the radio. The local federal government site WorkSource is now, in my opinion, the best source of genuine local jobs, and does sometimes hold job fairs. When I searched under the term “jobs” just now I got mainly the sites like Monster and other smaller ones. I didn't get WorkSource. WorkSource needs to set up “jobs” as one of its search terms. Not everybody who needs a job is applying for unemployment payments, and won't know about WorkSource.

Goodwill Industries also has a job center called “Job Junction,” and will help with the writing of resumes and even give anyone who needs it a suit of interview clothing, and the job seeker can use their computers to search the Internet for opportunities. For someone who wants more personal contact and a smaller environment than that at WorkSource, this may be helpful. Many people are thoroughly intimidated by the prospect of “selling themselves” to an employer and need personal help. People who have been unemployed for a long time may be especially demoralized by their joblessness. It has long been reported that the drop in the labor pool is largely due to this situation. People have simply given up.

I also object to the fact that there are so few opportunities nowadays to meet face to face with a real person in your job search, as everything is done through computers. This is due to a change in businesses, who just don't advertise in the newspapers anymore giving a number to call for an interview. The only access to most companies is through their website. I have heard that many or even most businesses use a computer to search through the resumes they receive, using phrases from their job description, which the individual who is looking for work won't know unless the business publishes the job description, so it's really like playing the lottery to get your resume noticed.

One job coach here in Jacksonville, with the AARP local office, recommends bypassing the computer listings entirely other than WorkSource, instead walking in to the front desk of targeted businesses without an appointment. The applicant should speak pleasantly to the secretary there, giving a two minute rundown of his most impressive qualifications, giving her his business card and asking who the hiring manager is. He should memorize his spiel ahead of time and practice it until there is no hesitancy in delivery. . He should make a note of the manager's and the secretary's names. When he gets home he should write the secretary a thank you note and write a short introductory letter with a brief rundown of his qualifications to the hiring manager. The next day, call the office and remind the secretary of his previous visit, asking for an “informational interview.” The appointment will be a chance to talk to the manager about specific skills and present a resume, with yet another business card. Ask him if he is aware of any openings at his or other businesses using those skills. After the interview write the manager a thank you note. This procedure cuts through the anonymous quality of a resume. It's hard to stand out from the crowd.

The other thing for the job seeker to do is hand out business cards all over town as he goes about daily activities and among acquaintances, talking about job opportunities to everybody, even the grocery store checkout clerk. Shy people have a problem with this kind of job hunt, but I have noticed that the more often I open up in this way the less shy I become. Joining a professional organization or a “Job Club” is also recommended, and of course hand out the business card there, too, while asking about opportunities. I have heard that only a small percentage of job openings are actually advertised, and one to one conversation can often reveal such an opening. Hopefully many unemployed Americans will get jobs soon, through these methods.





Democratic congressman predicts more departures at Secret Service – CBS
By REBECCA KAPLAN FACE THE NATION October 5, 2014

The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said he expects there will be more departures from the Secret Service as an investigation into the agency begins.

The director, Julia Pierson, resigned Wednesday after a series of high-profile security lapses affecting both the White House and President Obama came to light.

"It did not begin with her and it's not going to end with her leaving," Cummings said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. "There's still people that probably need to go."

"I think there's culture that has developed, the culture of complacency - we see it with these security breaches," he added.

Cummings, who was one of the members that grilled Pierson at a Capitol Hill hearing last week, said the information he has received from whistleblowers suggests the problem "goes back a ways."

"You had agents that were basically afraid, that the information that they wanted to impart to the top person would never get there. They were fearful that there would be retaliation," he said, adding that he "never thought that the Secret Service would have those kinds of issues."

Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and the agency's general counsel will take over the internal review that is being conducted following an incident in which a man jumped the fence at the White House, entered the unlocked doors and ran all the way to the East Room before being apprehended.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he plans to appoint a panel of independent experts to to review the incident, and several members of Congress have called for an independent, top-to-bottom review of the agency.

"We've got to look at certain things, like, training. There's been a reduction in training. Again, morale. ... Things of that nature," Cummings said.

He said that 85 percent of all African Americans that approach him say they believe President Obama is not protected well because he is black, an idea that Cummings says he doesn't agree with.

"We have information that this goes all the way back to the Bush administration. A lot of the problems that we are talking about now, it's just that they are coming to light. A lot of these things existed before our President Obama," he said.

Cummings added that members of the president's staff have told him they feel very comfortable now that Joseph Clancy, formerly Special Agent in Charge of the Presidential Protective Division of the Secret Service, will take over the agency until a new director is appointed.




The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said he expects there will be more departures from the Secret Service as an investigation into the agency begins.... "I think there's culture that has developed, the culture of complacency - we see it with these security breaches," he added.... Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and the agency's general counsel will take over the internal review that is being conducted.... several members of Congress have called for an independent, top-to-bottom review of the agency. 'We've got to look at certain things, like, training. There's been a reduction in training. Again, morale. ... Things of that nature,' Cummings said....”

In a primarily peaceful environment, which the US is at this time, complacency can take over. The fact that the front door to the White House wasn't locked and the alarm bell was silenced does look like complacency. Also the group of agents who hired a prostitute to come to their room, drank too much to be alert and then got into a loud row because they foolishly didn't pay the woman what she asked, shows not only a lack of oversight but, again, an inadequate awareness of the danger the country now faces from not only terrorists but right wing nut jobs like the guy who jumped the fence. There are also racists out there who would like to shoot the president. According to Cummings, “85 percent of all African Americans that approach him say they believe President Obama is not protected well because he is black, an idea that Cummings says he doesn't agree with.” The conspiracy theory of Kennedy's assassination that most rang true to me was that right wing forces in the US were behind the shooting, rather than a rather lonely Communist who had recently spent time in Cuba. Cuba and Communists were the favorite bad guys in those days, but the “military-industrial complex” had the most to lose under Kennedy. I have had a fear that with so much antipathy being expressed by uneducated white people toward Obama, one of them would try to assassinate him. The Tea Party would never advocate such a thing, but they attract a crowd who might.





Republicans still calling for U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS
By JAKE MILLER CBS NEWS October 5, 2014, 3:07 PM

President Obama has been adamant that the U.S. will not deploy ground troops to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as ISIL), saying American forces will degrade the group using airstrikes while regional partners fight the extremists on the ground in Iraq and Syria.

Some Republicans, though, have insisted American ground troops will eventually be necessary, and they've chided the president for taking that option off the table.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, said Sunday on "Face the Nation" that U.S. Special Forces will likely need to be deployed to determine the efficacy of the air campaign.

"I think Special Forces and others are probably going to have to be on the ground," he said, "because after those missiles hit and they get out of those Humvees, they repaint their trucks, we have got to know where they are, and are the hits being successful?"

"I don't think we should ever sit back and tell our enemies what we will and will not do," he explained. "If we need Special Forces there, if that's what the generals say, then we need to do it. If we engage in a conflict that we know this is a threat to America, we should make it so one-sided that it gets over very quickly. So, we should have everything on the table to make sure we win this."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who has long derided the president's approach to ISIS as a day late and a dollar short, warned that U.S. reliance on regional partners to fight the ground war against ISIS is foolhardy.

"At the end of the day, you cannot destroy ISIL in Syria without a ground component," he told CNN on Sunday. "And what we're doing with the Free Syrian Army is militarily unsound...this mythical Arab army that we're trying to get up to go in on the ground in Syria will need a lot of American hand-holding. And if it takes a year before we can go to Mosul, I can only imagine how strong [ISIS] will be."

Graham called on the president to "level with the American people."

"You need boots on the ground," he said. "American soldiers need to go back to Syria and Iraq as part of a coalition. And we're going to need more than 4,000 to destroy [ISIS] in Iraq and Syria.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., did not specifically address the question of U.S. combat troops during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," but she warned that the president may not have the political will to implement a muscular strategy to fight ISIS with midterm elections looming.

"I'm very fearful that as we look at the current military strategy that it is surrounding the November elections and that he won't have the resolve to follow through with what needs to be done in a sustained effort to destroy ISIS," she said.

Democrats, though, have held fast to the administration's message - no American ground troops in combat roles against ISIS, period.

"There will be troops on the ground," Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, told CNN on Sunday. "There are over 200,000 Iraqi national security forces. There are Kurdish Peshmerga forces."

After CNN's Candy Crowley raised Graham's concern that U.S. partners fighting ISIS on the ground are not be ready for primetime - and may not be ready for some time - Reed replied, "That's absolutely true."

But the Rhode Island senator said Gen. John Allen, who's been tasked with leading the anti-ISIS coalition, would ably oversee the "rejuvenation" of the Iraqi military and other U.S. partners who are fighting ISIS militants.




Democrats continue to support Obama's position that there are enough soldiers in the areas that are combating ISIS, but I tend to agree with the Republicans that this isn't true. That is because the coalition of Arabic states who have agreed to oppose ISIS are mainly volunteering to send more airplanes rather than soldiers on the ground. The Kurds sturdily continue to fight on the ground but the US is not arming them with heavy weapons, perhaps because they have made a stand for autonomy in several Middle Eastern countries, which makes places like Turkey leery of them out of concern for what they might do after the war is over. To me they have acquitted themselves well so far, including against Saddam Hussein, and should be rewarded with more effective military aid than a few bandages and rifles. So I am basically with the Republicans on this.





Supreme Court To Weigh Facebook Threats, Religious Freedom, Discrimination – NPR
by NINA TOTENBERG
October 06, 2014

The U.S. Supreme Court opens a new term Monday, but so far the justices are keeping quiet about whether or when they will tackle the gay marriage question. Last week, the justices met behind closed doors to discuss pending cases, but when they released the list of new cases added to the calendar, same-sex marriage was nowhere to be seen.

But that really doesn't mean very much.

About 2,000 cases have piled up over the summer, each seeking review on all manner of subjects. So when the court met last week to sift through all that, there really wasn't enough time for the justices, as a group, to focus on the same-sex marriage cases. With a big issue like this, and multiple appeals before the court, the justices need to decide which cases are the "best vehicles" (as it's known in the trade) for review. Indeed, all of the vehicle talk prompted one media wag to comment last week that all of the flossy lawyers, each pointing to their own case as the best vehicle, sounded more like car salesmen than Supreme Court advocates.

With seven cases currently before the court, the justices will likely pick just one or two to hear. They might, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested earlier this fall, even wait for more cases. Right now, the only cases pending before the court are lower court decisions favoring the right of same-sex couples to marry. But a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel, which heard arguments last August in Ohio, sounded as if it might go the other way. If it does, that would provide the kind of traditional conflict the Supreme Court looks to resolve.

Truth be told, with both sides already pressing the court to act, most court observers think the justices will want to take the plunge sooner rather than later. For now, though, all is speculation.

This term will mark the 10th year that John Roberts has served as chief justice. Without a doubt, the court has grown dramatically more conservative since his appointment. But, as Brianne Gorod of the Constitutional Accountability Center observes, the question is: "What role has John Roberts played in this movement?" Is he "strategically and deliberately leading the court to the right?" Kendall asks, "Or is it, as some have suggested, the 'Kennedy Court' or even the 'Alito Court'?" Justice Anthony Kennedy is often referred to as the "swing justice," and has written many of the court's major 5-to-4 opinions. Justice Samuel Alito is far more conservative than the justice he replaced, Sandra Day O'Connor, and has cast many votes and written major opinions that have shifted the court in a more conservative direction.

The issues on the docket this term range from race and religion cases, to pregnancy discrimination, and even to threats on Facebook.

But once again the court, responding to challenges brought by conservatives, has chosen to delve into some elections issues that had been thought long settled. In a case from Arizona, the court could prevent the increasing use of citizen commissions to draw congressional district lines. Arizona, California and some other states have, in one way or another, used these commissions to take the redistricting issue out of the hands of self-interested state legislatures. But in Arizona, where the independent commission was enacted by referendum, the Republican-controlled Legislature is now challenging the practice as unconstitutional.

In a case that could dramatically alter the way judicial elections are conducted, the court will decide whether states that elect judges can bar judicial candidates from personally soliciting campaign contributions. Of the 39 states with judicial elections, 30 have such bans. The test case is from Florida, where the state Supreme Court upheld that state's ban on the grounds that allowing judicial candidates to personally solicit campaign contributions would raise questions about their impartiality on the bench. Those challenging the ban say it violates their free speech rights.

Another free speech case involves the question of what constitutes a threat on Facebook. The facts are pretty hairy. Anthony Elonis was convicted of making threats against his estranged wife and an FBI agent. His posts said things like, "I'm not going to rest until your body is a mess, soaked in blood and dying from all the little cuts."

Soon he moved on to suggest that he might make "a name" for himself with a school shooting. "Hell hath no fury like a crazy man in a kindergarten class. The only question is ... which one?"

At that point, a female FBI agent paid him a visit, which provoked a post in which he said that he'd had to control himself not to "slit her throat, leave her bleeding from her jugular in the arms of her partner."

At Elonis' trial, the judge instructed the jurors that to convict, they had to conclude that this was not merely exaggeration. His Facebook posts needed to be statements that a reasonable person would interpret as a serious expression of an intention to inflict bodily injury. Elonis contended that he was just mimicking rap songs — indeed, he often linked to songs with his post. He argued that he should not be convicted without actual proof that he intended to threaten, intimidate or harm.

The intent standard that Elonis argued for might make it much more difficult to win a conviction for making illegal threats. But whatever rule the justices come up with, observes University of Virginia law professor Leslie Kendrick, it will likely apply not just to Facebook and Twitter, but to all forms of communication — including people speaking face to face or publishing in the newspaper. In other words, says Kendrick, when crafting a rule, the justices will ask if the standard "is going to chill people who engage in speech that is borderline but ultimately protected."

Protected, that is, by the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Most court experts seem to believe that Elonis may win because of the culture of today's social media. "The context of rap music these days suggests that what Elonis put out there really isn't all that unusual for what's going on on Facebook and what's going on in the popular culture," says professor William Marshall of the University of North Carolina School of Law.

After all, the current Supreme Court may be viewed as conservative, but it has, with little or no dissent, already upheld a fair amount of "fringe speech" — whether it's crush videos, demonstrations at military funerals or the sale of violent video games to kids.

Not everyone, however, agrees that the Facebook threat case is in the same category. Former Solicitor General Gregory Garre notes that Elonis' posts "ticked off all the boxes" — domestic violence, school shootings, violence against a federal officer. Garre says he "wouldn't be surprised if [Elonis' Facebook posts] struck the justices as something very problematic."

A different part of the First Amendment — the free exercise of religion — is at issue in two cases involving federal statutes. One case tests whether retailer Abercrombie & Fitch illegally discriminated against a Muslim woman when she was denied a job because her headscarf conflicted with the company's dress code. The other case tests Arkansas' refusal to allow a Muslim prisoner to wear a short beard for religious purposes.

The prisoner sued under a federal law aimed at shoring up prisoners' religious rights. Interestingly, in this case, the prisoner has the backing of a wide variety of corrections officials and organizations, plus the federal government. The federal prison system and 43 states allow beards, largely because it is much easier to hide weapons and other contraband in clothes, hair and body cavities.

There is a similar coalition of strange bedfellows in a pregnancy discrimination case before the court. Anti-abortion and women's rights groups have joined together to urge the court to require employers to treat pregnancy the same way other temporary disabilities are treated on the job. In this case, a UPS driver asked for light duty, carrying less than 20 pounds, during the latter part of her pregnancy. But the company refused, and she lost both her job and her insurance coverage.

The company contends that it had "no animus" toward the employee because of her pregnancy; her request for light duty just wasn't covered by either the provisions of federal disability law or the union contract. She argues that she should have been covered under the 1978 federal law barring discrimination based on pregnancy.

The case is very important for businesses because pregnancy accommodations cost money. But it's very important to women too, observes Emily Martin of the National Women's Law Center. "Lots of women with some sort of work limitation arising out of pregnancy face similar issues — especially women in low-wage jobs that are often more physically demanding," she says.

The first case the court hears on Monday is one that amazes former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who wants to know: "How in the world did we go 225 years and not have this issue decided?" The issue is whether police may make a traffic stop based on a mistaken understanding of the law, and then use evidence from a subsequent search to convict the car's occupants of a crime.

Other controversies to look forward to include cases that involve racial gerrymandering and Medicaid funding, and a major housing discrimination case that could make it harder to prove discrimination.

The court will even be tackling a case about fish — yes, fish! It's an obstruction of justice case that, depending on your point of view, involves either the deliberate concealment of illegal fishing or a classic example of prosecutorial overreach. More to come on that later.




“The issues on the docket this term range from race and religion cases, to pregnancy discrimination, and even to threats on Facebook.... But once again the court, responding to challenges brought by conservatives, has chosen to delve into some elections issues that had been thought long settled... the court could prevent the increasing use of citizen commissions to draw congressional district lines.... Another free speech case involves the question of what constitutes a threat on Facebook..... The intent standard that Elonis argued for might make it much more difficult to win a conviction for making illegal threats....”

The article also includes cases about religious rights, women's pregnancy related rights and the “deliberate concealment of illegal fishing.” The last case may not seem important, but commercial overfishing has become a serious problem, causing near extinction in some species. The most important issue I see in this article is the increasing number of cases preventing the use of citizens committees do describe voting districts rather than the politically biased congressional decisions that have so often resulted in gerrymandering based on where the black people and other Democrats live. If the Democrats are using the same technique to guarantee their dominance in Congress, shame on them too. Citizens' committees sound like a very good idea to me.





As Populations Shift, Democrats Hope To Paint The Sun Belt Blue – NPR
by DEBBIE ELLIOTT
October 03, 2014

The Democratic National Committee is running a Spanish language ad on radio stations in North Carolina and Georgia, where there are competitive U.S. Senate races.

"Republicans think we're going to stay home," the ad says. "It's time to rise up."

Democrats see opportunity in Southern states with fast-growing minority populations and an influx of people relocating to the Sun Belt. In Georgia, there's a push to register new voters in hopes of turning a red state blue.

Becks Nix spends most weekends at festivals, like the Fall Festival at Atlanta's Candler Park, working a voter registration booth for the gay rights group Georgia Equality.

"Are y'all registered Georgia voters?" Nix asks passersby.

Anastasia Fort says she needs to check because she just moved to a new neighborhood. Nix tells her how to make sure she's on the voter rolls.

"Because things are tight," Nix says, "we feel like it's even more important that people are not only registered but are actively engaged in what's going on."

Fort admits she's not so engaged. Her friend Steve Stuglin is shocked.

"You're not following? I mean Michelle Nunn's got a chance," he says.

Michelle Nunn is the Democrat in a tight race with Republican David Perdue for an open U.S. Senate seat. Stuglin moved here from Detroit six years ago, bringing his Democratic politics with him. He says Democrats could make gains in Georgia if their voters would just turn out.

"They think it's a lost cause, it's never gonna happen, it's a red state, just deal with it," Stuglin says.

But Democratic operatives say Georgia's days as a reliably red state are nearing an end, in part driven by demographics.

In 2000, 75 percent of Georgia's electorate was white. Now it's just more than 60 percent white.

"While demography can be destiny, destiny needs help," says Democrat state Rep. Stacey Abrams. She's House minority leader in the Georgia Assembly, and founder of the New Georgia Project, an aggressive campaign to register minority voters.

"There are 800,000 unregistered African-American, Latino and Asian voters in the state of Georgia," Abrams says.

Asian Americans are the fastest growing minority in the South, with Latinos close behind. Both groups have settled in Atlanta's bustling suburbs.

The New Georgia Project has been canvassing door to door and conducting drives to sign up voters. Abrams says they've registered 87,000.

Georgia doesn't register by party, but the group has targeted populations that tend to vote Democratic.

The question is, will they?

Along with the Senate race, Georgia also has a tightly fought contest for governor. Democrat Jason Carter, President Jimmy Carter's grandson, is challenging the Republican incumbent Nathan Deal.

Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie says Republicans still have the edge in Georgia. She doesn't expect this Democratic new-voter push to bear fruit this cycle, even though the registration numbers are impressive.

"The more important number for me is not whether or not you register 87,000 people to vote," she says. "It's whether or not you can get those 87,000 people to the polls."

Carter, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, spent last Sunday urging voter turnout in African-American churches around Atlanta.

He says what's happening here can alter the political landscape.

"Georgia is changing dramatically," Carter says. "There's no doubt that Georgia is next in line as a national battleground state."

Republicans are taking note of the change. Gov. Deal also campaigned at an African-American church in Macon on Sunday, and appeared at a school last week with the rapper Ludacris.

Deal spokesman Brian Robinson says Republicans have to expand their electorate.

"That is our battle," Robinson says. "Changing the way people identify themselves by party over the next 20 to 30 years."

On the front line of that battle is Leo Smith, minority-engagement director for the state GOP. For the past year, he's been touting Republican values.

"These are ideas of liberty and freedom that Grandmama and them used to talk about," he says. "God bless the child that's got his own. Keep the man outta your house. Man don't work, man don't eat. All those were sort of black value systems that I grew up with that sound really Republican."

Smith acknowledges his work is cut out as he sits in the state GOP office surrounded with portraits of the top Republican office holders in Georgia — all white men.



"'Because things are tight," Nix says, "we feel like it's even more important that people are not only registered but are actively engaged in what's going on.'... 'While demography can be destiny, destiny needs help,' says Democrat state Rep. Stacey Abrams. She's House minority leader in the Georgia Assembly, and founder of the New Georgia Project, an aggressive campaign to register minority voters. 'There are 800,000 unregistered African-American, Latino and Asian voters in the state of Georgia,' Abrams says.... The New Georgia Project has been canvassing door to door and conducting drives to sign up voters. Abrams says they've registered 87,000. Georgia doesn't register by party, but the group has targeted populations that tend to vote Democratic. The question is, will they?... Republicans are taking note of the change. Gov. Deal also campaigned at an African-American church in Macon on Sunday, and appeared at a school last week with the rapper Ludacris. Deal spokesman Brian Robinson says Republicans have to expand their electorate. 'That is our battle,' Robinson says. 'Changing the way people identify themselves by party over the next 20 to 30 years.'”

Republicans are going to have to do more than visit a black church and talk in slogans that they think will resonate with black people. They are going to have to stop backing the war against the poor in this country that involves unfair electoral practices, violent policing, racist statements that get into the news, the protection of the very wealthy from a proper taxation system both in Social Security taxes and the income tax rates, and attacks on the public school system.

Meanwhile the Democrats need to go into the minority communities more and register voters, giving transportation or absentee ballots to those who need them, and give pep talks to encourage minority activism. A community is more powerful than an individual. The more involved people are before the election, the more enthusiastic they will be. Bored or hopelessly discouraged people too often aren't going to go to the polls to vote.





Q&A: Plumbing The Mysteries Of The Teenage Brain – NPR
by ANYA KAMENETZ
October 04, 2014

Do you remember the summer when you first fell in love? The songs that were playing on the radio, butterflies in the stomach, the excitement of a stolen kiss? The tendency of our brains to especially hold onto memories from the teenage years is called the "reminiscence bump."

It's one of the many distinctive characteristics of the adolescent brain that psychologist Laurence Steinberg lays out in his new book,Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence.

Steinberg teaches at Temple University. As an expert on adolescent development, his testimony has contributed to Supreme Court decisions abolishing the death penalty for juveniles and life without parole for juvenile offenders.

In Age of Opportunity, he argues that in the last decade, neuroscience has established that the brain remains "plastic," that is, changeable, well into the early 20s. His experiments have shown that adolescents respond differently to rewards, are more likely to take risks and are more sensitive to peers than adults. But he argues that our education, legal system, and our parenting have yet to incorporate these insights.

This book makes the case that for all the current focus on the growth that occurs between ages zero to three, ages 12 to 25 may be just as important for shaping the future of individuals and society.

I'm all in favor of high-quality preschool. But the way that it's discussed is that it's some kind of inoculation.

In fact, for interventions that promote these non-cognitive skills, adolescence is just as good a time as early childhood.

By non-cognitive skills, you're talking about qualities known as "grit" — perseverance, self-motivation. But you say in the book that these are actually neither precisely "non-cognitive" nor precisely "skills."

I think it's a bad phrase. I think the experts agree about what they are, but they're better thought of as capacities that are cultivated than skills that are taught.

There isn't a single trait that's more important for success in the workplace than kids' self-control. We know that from many, many studies.

And what is it that happens in the teenage years that makes it such a critical, formative period for developing self-control?

As we know, experience can play a very important role in shaping the brain. Not only in the present but with respect to how kids are going to learn in the future.

And I think that science suggests that it's important for kids to be challenged and exposed to novelty in order to facilitate healthy development of brain systems that are important for things like self-regulation.

You explain that adolescent brains are more sensitive to the "dopamine squirts" that come from rewards, be they sex, drugs, candy or money. This, combined with less-developed inhibition, is what makes them more likely to seek out challenges, novelty — in a word, risk.

We're hard-wired to be risk-takers as adolescents. The dark side of this is why societies from ours to ISIL recruit people this age to do the dirty work. [Young adults are] more interested in the immediate rewards than the long term consequences.

You say that so-called character education, abstinence education or drug education programs like DARE, haven't been shown to be effective. Because it's not that adolescents don't intellectually understand the impact of this behavior, it's that they are too compelled by the rewards.

Exactly. But the other side of this is, let's let kids satisfy those urges in pro-social ways. We want them to sign up for that course where they're not guaranteed to get As, to try out for the school play, or even ask that person out.

How would you redesign high school to take advantage of current understanding of adolescent development?

First of all, I think we should think of high school as something that goes most of the day and doesn't stop at 3 p.m. We still run our school calendar and timetable as if we're an agrarian society in the beginning of the 20th century.

Give kids some choices: playing sports, arts, extra academic opportunities.

If kids are spending those hours unstructured and unsupervised, it's a recipe for experimenting with sex, drugs and delinquency. We know that kids are deterred when they're in settings with adults around.

The second thing I would do is to make high school more challenging. Now, for parents in the NPR audience, they're the ones who have kids in demanding schools. But there are far more high school graduates who need remediation than have ever taken a single AP class.

If we're talking about American education writ large, our schools are not very challenging. If only one in six students says she's ever taken a difficult class, this has more than just academic consequences. It's through challenge that kids develop things like determination and perseverance.

Any other changes you would make in high school?

I'd add some activities in the school day that research shows contribute to healthy brain development. For example, aerobic exercise, which is not part of the school day for a lot of kids. There have been schools that have had success with mindfulness training [meditation, yoga, tai chi].

And you say there may even be ways to explicitly teach qualities like self-control, empathy, and perseverance?

Most of the evidence for social-emotional learning programs comes from studies of kids with difficulties. It's a corrective. But I think there's no reason to think that it wouldn't work with kids who don't have behavioral problems.

Let's talk about peer pressure. Is it a myth?

We know that brain systems comprising the social brain are undergoing extensive development during adolescence. They're particularly attentive to the behaviors of other people, and peers especially.

The studies we've done at Temple have been to understand why adolescents engage in more risk taking with peers than alone. It's not so much that peers influence kids to take risks. It's that by activating their reward centers, peers make adolescents more sensitive to rewards in their immediate environment.

One example you use is that teen drivers are more likely to speed when they have teenage passengers.

Right, and this isn't true if they are riding with adults. But I think an important piece of our research has been misunderstood. Since peers activate the reward centers, there's plenty of reason to think that engaging in pro-social activity with their friends will make it more rewarding and desirable as well.

Like volunteer work? Or being on a sports team?

Yes. I think that for adolescents the presence of peers has a positive spillover regardless of what the activity is. So, in theory they should enjoy learning and other positive activities more if they're doing them with their friends.

So for this reason, you say that more group projects in high school might be a good idea.

Right. We often discourage group learning in school because we're very insistent in making sure we can assess individual levels of competency and mastery. But this may undermine students in some ways.

We often focus on the tough side of the teenage years — the idea that they're emotionally volatile ... drinking, smoking, acting up. And when people talk about "extended adolescence" or "delayed adulthood," that's usually thought of as a bad thing. But you have a different perspective.

There's this idea of meta-plasticity. That is the fact that the brain's degree of plasticity is itself a plastic characteristic of the brain. Certain experiences actually can increase the brain's plasticity, and they affect its capacity to be influenced in the future.

So the ability to keep learning, adapting and even experiencing the pleasures of youth, that's something we can and should cultivate and extend a little bit longer?

Well, there's got to be some ceiling. It wouldn't make evolutionary sense for the brain to be plastic forever. At some point you have to convert your brain portfolio from stocks to bonds. That's the shift from adolescence to adulthood.

But anything that keeps the brain plastic extends the period of being influenced by the environment. If you expose people to novelty and challenge, they're going to be able to learn and develop intellectually for a longer period.




Steinberg teaches at Temple University. As an expert on adolescent development, his testimony has contributed to Supreme Court decisions abolishing the death penalty for juveniles and life without parole for juvenile offenders.... His experiments have shown that adolescents respond differently to rewards, are more likely to take risks and are more sensitive to peers than adults. But he argues that our education, legal system, and our parenting have yet to incorporate these insights....

“The teenage years are a time of developing 'grit,' perseverance, self-motivation, self control, as kids respond to rewards and peer group approval while taking more risks. That is usually why they get into trouble with the law, but its part of taking a new place in society. They're preparing to leave home and set up a life for themselves. They need to be steered toward things like getting an after school job and helping out in the house with chores, rather than joining gangs. psychologist Laurence Steinberg advocates encouraging the kids to join activities involving adults during their after school hours rather than going home and hanging out with other kids who don't have anything to do. “Give kids some choices: playing sports, arts, extra academic opportunities. If kids are spending those hours unstructured and unsupervised, it's a recipe for experimenting with sex, drugs and delinquency. We know that kids are deterred when they're in settings with adults around.”

Steinberg also says, “If we're talking about American education writ large, our schools are not very challenging. If only one in six students says she's ever taken a difficult class, this has more than just academic consequences. It's through challenge that kids develop things like determination and perseverance.” I couldn't have said it better myself. This man has done a psychology study to come up with some good common sense in dealing with that group of people who tend to really enjoy a challenge. That's why they are so confrontational with their parents. They are ready to begin breaking free of parental control. They need to be stimulated to greater effort by the school system. Besides, if the high schools don't give them a good founding educationally, and they don't go to an academic college rather than trade school of some kind, they will become the next generation of uneducated citizens and voters rather than an improved group. High school is supposed to teach as much of the basics as possible. That's why I'm so concerned about this hoopla among some conservatives surrounding the teaching of Common Core lessons.

“And you say there may even be ways to explicitly teach qualities like self-control, empathy, and perseverance? 'Most of the evidence for social-emotional learning programs comes from studies of kids with difficulties. It's a corrective. But I think there's no reason to think that it wouldn't work with kids who don't have behavioral problems.'” I hate to mention groups like Methodist Youth Fellowship, Girl Scouts, FFA in rural areas, as though they were new. They teach cooperation and kindness/empathy in human relations, which is definitely needed by this age group, as they are singularly prone to the more negative forms of group socialization on their own. Bullying, which is now receiving a national focus by many concerned people, is a direct result of unsupervised teen peer group interaction. What has made parents stop teaching these things?

“So, in theory they should enjoy learning and other positive activities more if they're doing them with their friends. So for this reason, you say that more group projects in high school might be a good idea. 'Right. We often discourage group learning in school because we're very insistent in making sure we can assess individual levels of competency and mastery. But this may undermine students in some ways.'” I remember from my high school years that those teachers who encouraged classroom discussion of the lessons were much better teachers – more receptive to each individual in the class, more challenging, more informative – and that I learned more in their class, too. If teachers are limiting this to use instead more memorization of facts, that's going backward to a harmful teaching philosophy which is less effective. Bored kids don't learn as well as those who are stimulated.

Finally, Steinberg talks about “extended adolescence” as in extending the “plasticity” of the brain. He says, “At some point you have to convert your brain portfolio from stocks to bonds. That's the shift from adolescence to adulthood. But anything that keeps the brain plastic extends the period of being influenced by the environment. If you expose people to novelty and challenge, they're going to be able to learn and develop intellectually for a longer period.” I have personally always believed in continuing to learn by reading and other mentally stimulating activity. Some people do this naturally, while others tend to stop the learning process. I think a more intelligent person will continue to learn almost as a compulsion. If, however, they become too heavily burdened with two jobs and six kids, they may not be able to do that. Also, if they join a bridge club and get their main social stimulus from people who are not really intellectually inclined, choosing instead to spend thousands of dollars on the décor of their home or on new clothing, they likewise may stop learning. However it is usually a choice people make and not a necessity in our society, where intellectuals are not jailed for anti-government activity. Maybe if kids were stimulated enough in high school to learn the pleasure of discovering new information they would automatically continue to do it, and daytime soap operas would become a thing of the past – so I hope, at any rate. Maybe the wave of the future will be the proliferation of reading clubs and debate societies, like the one that Benjamin Franklin started with a dozen or so friends in the 1700's. Of course, that was still “the Age of Enlightenment,” so such activities were considered normal and not “weird.”

Saturday, October 4, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Arrests made in Hong Kong demonstrations – CBS
AP October 3, 2014, 10:24 PM

HONG KONG - Hong Kong police said Saturday that they have arrested 19 people, some of whom are believed to have organized crime ties, after mobs tried to drive pro-democracy protesters from the streets where they have held a weeklong, largely peaceful demonstration.

At least 12 people and six officers were injured during the clashes, district commander Kwok Pak-chung said at a pre-dawn press briefing. Protest leaders called off planned talks with the government on political reforms after the battles kicked off Friday afternoon in gritty, blue-collar Mong Kok, across Victoria Harbor from the activists' main protest camp.

Police struggled for hours to control the battles as attackers pushed, shoved and jeered the protesters. Those arrested face charges of unlawful assembly, fighting in public and assault, Kwok said, adding that eight men are believed to have backgrounds involving triads, or organized crime gangs.

The protesters urged residents to join their cause and demanded that the police protect their encampments. The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups leading the demonstrations that drew tens of thousands of people earlier this week, said they saw no choice but to cancel the dialogue.

"The government is demanding the streets be cleared. We call upon all Hong Kong people to immediately come to protect our positions and fight to the end," the group said in a statement.

They demanded the government hold someone responsible for the scuffles Friday, the worst disturbances since police used tear gas and pepper spray on protesters last weekend to try to disperse them.

Hundreds of people remained in the streets early Saturday in Mong Kok, one of Hong Kong's busiest shopping areas, after the clashes.

"Of course I'm scared, but we have to stay and support everyone," said Michael Yipu, 28, who works in a bank.

Well after midnight, the crowds stood peacefully, occasionally chanting and shouting, while police looked on.

The standoff is the biggest challenge to Beijing's authority since it took over the former British colony in 1997. Earlier Friday, the students had agreed to talks with the government proposed by Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. But his attempt to defuse tensions fell flat as many protesters were unhappy with his refusal to yield their demands for his resignation.

The cancellation of the talks - prompted by clashes with men who tried to tear down the makeshift barricades and tents set up by the demonstrators - left the next steps in the crisis uncertain.

It was unclear if those scuffles were spontaneous or had been organized, although some of the attackers wore blue ribbons signaling support for the mainland Chinese government, while the protesters have yellow ribbons. At least some of them were residents fed up with the inconvenience of blocked streets and closed shops, and were perhaps encouraged to take matters into their own hands by police calls for protesters to clear the streets.

"It's not about whether I support their cause or not. It's about whether what they are doing is legal or not," said Donald Chan, 45. "It is illegal. It has brought chaos to the city."

The police appeared hard-pressed to keep order, and some people emerged bloodied from the fracas. Occasional heavy rain did not noticeably thin the crowds Friday.

But the tide turned after hundreds of people assembled and shouted at police to protect the protesters. Police ended up escorting some of the opponents of the demonstration out of the area.

The chaos prompted calls from police and other top officials for everyone to avoid violence and go home.

"We should not use violence or disrupt social order in any situation," Leung said. "All people gathering in those areas should disperse as soon as possible and restore social order, so that daily lives will be restored to normal."

The protesters have been in the streets since Sept. 26, pledging to preserve Hong Kong's Western-style legal system and civil liberties. They want the Chinese government to reverse a decision requiring all candidates in the first election for Hong Kong's leader in 2017 to be approved by a mostly pro-Beijing committee. The demonstrators want open nominations.

Leung had appeared at a news conference late Thursday night where he refused to resign and said he had asked Hong Kong's top civil servant, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, to engage in talks with protest leaders. Before those talks were called off Friday by the students, Lam said she had begun organizing the discussions.

China's government has mostly kept quiet during the crisis, other than to call the protests illegal and support the Hong Kong government's efforts to disperse them. On Friday, however, the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily accused a small group of demonstrators of trying to "hijack the system" and said the protest effort was doomed to fail.

The front-page editorial said there is "no room for concessions" on the candidate screening issue, noting that Hong Kong "is directly under the jurisdiction of the central government; it is not a country or an independent political entity."

Some who are sympathetic to the protesters' demands for wider democracy said the police were not doing enough to protect the demonstrators. But others complained that the protests were disruptive and hurting their livelihoods.

"It affected my company, a perfume business, to deliver goods in the area," said Ken Lai in the bustling Causeway Bay neighborhood. "I really dislike the fact that they occupied so many areas, all scattered around the city. I'm a Hong Konger too. The occupiers don't represent all of us."




There is less desire for a free vote among Hong Kong citizens than the protesters need, apparently. Business as usual and an undisturbed life seems to be enough. I would like to know what percentage of the population those who stood together on the issue of a free vote make up, and whether they are too afraid to continue to fight. China, unlike North Korea, seems to be taking care of its people's needs, so there may be little real call for democracy. They also may see their minority status as being a losing battle. Hopefully, there won't be bloodshed over their play for the promised voting rights.



Anti-Semitism spike in Germany raising old fears
By MARK PHILLIPS CBS NEWS October 3, 2014, 7:44 PM

FRANKFURT - Armed guards have been posted at synagogues throughout Germany for the start of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Anti-Semitism is once again on the rise in Europe, especially in Germany.

The tensions have been building in Germany since demonstrations against last summer's Gaza war exposed a clear anti-Jewish sentiment. Chants were heard that echoed from Germany's darkest times.

"Jew, Jew! Cowardly pig," they said.

"We haven't had this dimension at all before," said Deiter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. "When you imagine in German streets, people here chanting - a roaring mob chanting - Jews to be gassed, to be slaughtered, to be burned."

He said he doesn't quite believe the sentiments have spiked because of passions that were stirred up by the events in Gaza.

"It is cited as a reason for that but I don't think it's a reason," Graumann said. "It's a pretext. It's an occasion to let it out."

Much more of the incendiary street rhetoric has come from German Muslims, many of whom are recent immigrants.

But Monika Schwartz Friesel, of Berlin's Technical University, has studied thousands of anti-Semitic emails sent to German-Jewish institutions and made a disturbing discovery.

"We saw that more than 60 percent of the writers, who clearly evoke anti-Semitic stereotypes, come from the middle of society and many of them are highly educated," she said.

The memories of Jewish persecution -- of the November 1938 Kristallnacht when Jewish institutions were destroyed -- are burned into German memory. Frankfurt's main synagogue, badly damaged that night, is one of those now under armed guard.

Anti-Israeli protests that become anti-Semitic demonstrations may be taking place across Europe, but nowhere are the echoes more sinister than they are here in Germany. This may not be 1938, but once again the Jewish community here says it feels like it's under siege.

"They are worried," said Graumann. "And many Jews here ask the question 'Has our Jewish population a future in Germany?' I haven't heard that question for many, many years."

Now, though, the question is being asked again.




“Much more of the incendiary street rhetoric has come from German Muslims, many of whom are recent immigrants.... 'We saw that more than 60 percent of the writers, who clearly evoke anti-Semitic stereotypes, come from the middle of society and many of them are highly educated,' she said.” I would like for this spike in anti-Semitism to be caused mainly by the number of Islamic immigrants who are residing in Germany, but from this email study it looks like another case of old hatred dying hard. It must be so bound up in their social identity that they can't let it go.

Sometimes I do wonder if the human race is doomed to continue these same negative patterns until there is an end to our species. We are an “evolved” species only to a certain degree. Our instincts are those of small tribes fighting over a territory and killing all who aren't of our viewpoints and lineage. Only part of this is over differences in religion and views. The rest is an unintelligent “fear of the other.” It starts out on the playground among kids bullying the autistic child and ends up among adults as genocide. I hope those who agree with a liberal viewpoint will win out. Compassion and cooperation are the natural mode of many people. They are being tried to the extreme in the present day right wing trend that has taken over much of the US and Europe. We don't need another age of hatred.





Civil rights groups question recent Ferguson protester arrests -- CBS
AP October 3, 2014, 11:25 PM

FERGUSON, Mo. - A civil rights group and several clergy said Friday that police overreached when arresting 13 protesters outside the Ferguson station.

All 13 remained in jail Friday afternoon, more than 15 hours after they were arrested. The protesters face charges of failing to comply with police, violating a noise ordinance and resisting arrest, Ferguson city spokesman Devin James said.

Protesters have been a constant presence in the St. Louis suburb in the nearly two months since Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. Protesters want Wilson, who is white, to be charged in the killing of the unarmed, black 18-year-old. A grand jury considering the case isn't expected to rule for at least another month.

Some who witnessed Thursday's protest that led to the arrests said it was small but peaceful. They questioned why arrests were necessary.

Just before midnight, officers began moving toward the chanting protesters, used plastic restraints on their wrists and put them in a van, according to Gabrielle Hanson, who was at the scene while her mother, freelance videographer Mary Moore, shot video. Moore was among those arrested, Hanson was not.

Hanson said Moore was shooting video of the arrests when one of the protesters handed her a cellphone. When Moore took it, she was arrested, Hanson said, and officers confiscated her camera.

Asked what the protesters were saying or whether they were being noisy, Hanson said, "They were chanting, 'Show me what democracy looks like.'"

The protesters were jailed in St. Ann, a neighboring community. Several clergy gathered Friday at the St. Ann police station to meet with those arrested and show support.

"These are students, scholars, living out democracy who are now being treated like prisoners," the Rev. Starsky Wilson said. "We see this as an attempt to break down peaceful protests."

The clergy also urged a municipal judge in Ferguson to order the protesters' release or at least lower their bonds. Some were as high as $2,700 for the misdemeanor charges.
Tony Rothert, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union office in St. Louis, said several complaints have been lodged about Thursday's arrests and the ACLU is investigating.

"There do appear to be, if not bogus, at least unnecessary arrests," Rothert said. "Holding people unnecessarily long, arresting them when it's not necessary - that's an indication of overreach. It certainly appears that the purpose is to discourage people from coming to Ferguson to protest."

Hundreds have been arrested in the unrest since Brown's death, including journalists and clergy. The Rev. Osagyefo Sekou was arrested Monday and charged with failure to disperse after sitting on a sidewalk with other protesters.

Meanwhile, St. Louis County police announced Friday that they will take charge of security detail related to protests in Ferguson, effective immediately. It's not clear if what happened Thursday played a role in that decision. County police said Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson asked the county to assume command, citing a "lack of resources and manpower."




“Asked what the protesters were saying or whether they were being noisy, Hanson said, 'They were chanting, 'Show me what democracy looks like.'". The protesters were jailed in St. Ann, a neighboring community. Several clergy gathered Friday at the St. Ann police station to meet with those arrested and show support. 'These are students, scholars, living out democracy who are now being treated like prisoners,' the Rev. Starsky Wilson said. 'We see this as an attempt to break down peaceful protests.'... 'There do appear to be, if not bogus, at least unnecessary arrests,' Rothert said. 'Holding people unnecessarily long, arresting them when it's not necessary - that's an indication of overreach. It certainly appears that the purpose is to discourage people from coming to Ferguson to protest.'... County police said Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson asked the county to assume command, citing a 'lack of resources and manpower.'”

Will the county police be more fair? I can remember in the Civil Rights movement when local people would be quoted speaking against “outside agitators.” I do think the Ferguson police chief is not going to step down, and that Darren Wilson will not be indicted until the end of October when the Grand Jury concludes deliberations. There is nothing really new in this report, and unless the black citizens of Ferguson do something like endless organized marches on the City Hall I don't think the city council will move to elect black members and black police officers. It was a thirteen month boycott of the city buses led by Martin Luther King that led the Supreme Court to make the segregated seated unconstitutional. That was a case of a long term focus of black citizens on the Jim Crow practices, and was well organized. Here we need some kind of Supreme Court ruling that overreaching by the police is unconstitutional. Ferguson is just one of thousands of city police forces across the nation that “overreach” in numerous ways. The public has always honored the police just as they do physicians and preachers, giving them the benefit of the doubt in all situations, and that is the real problem, in my opinion. The police need the backing of the public, but not in all cases. They need specific rules like the Miranda warning to define what are acceptable police actions. There is a right to peaceful assembly and a right to free speech. Peaceful marches should not be cause for arrest. See the Wikipedia article below. It describes the right to protest as a “perceived” human right.


Right to protest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The right to protest is a perceived human right arising out of a number of recognized human rights. While no human rights instrument or national constitution grants the absolute right to protest, such a right to protest may be a manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech.[1]

Many international treaties contain clear enunciations of these rights. Such agreements include the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, especially Articles 9 to 11; and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, especially Articles 18 to 22. However, in these and other agreements the rights of Freedom of assembly,freedom of association, and freedom of speech are subject to certain limitations. For example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights contains prohibitions on advocacy of "national, racial or religious hatred"; and it allows the restriction of the freedom to assembly if it is necessary "in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others." (Articles 20 and 21.)

Protesting, however, is not necessarily violent or a threat to the interests of national security or public safety. Nor is it necessarily civil disobedience, because most protest does not involve violating the laws of the state. Protests, even campaigns of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance, can often have the character (in addition to using nonviolent methods) of positively supporting a democratic and constitutional order. This can happen, for example, when such resistance arises in response to a military coup d'état;[2] or in the somewhat similar case of a refusal of the state leadership to surrender office following defeat in an election.




Dog owner sentenced to prison in fatal mauling – CBS
By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP  October 3, 2014, 2:22 PM

LANCASTER, Calif. - A California pit bull owner convicted of second-degree murder after his dogs fatally mauled a woman was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison.
Alex Donald Jackson, 31, was convicted last month in the death of Pamela Devitt. The 63-year-old retiree was taking a morning stroll in the high desert town of Littlerock when four of Jackson's dogs leaped over a fence and attacked her in the street.

She was alone, didn't have a phone and no one was nearby. By the time help arrived, she had been bitten 150 to 200 times from head to toe and an arm was severed. She died from blood loss.

Jackson was initially arrested when deputies searching for the dogs discovered a marijuana-growing operation in his house. He was later charged with murder when Devitt's DNA was found on his dogs' bloody fur.

A murder conviction for a killing by dogs is rare.

The mauling of Diane Whipple in the hallway outside her San Francisco apartment in 2001 led to her neighbor's second-degree murder conviction.

A Michigan couple is facing trial on second-degree murder charges for the mauling death of a jogger in July by two cane corsos, an Italian mastiff-type breed, near their home about 45 miles outside Detroit.

The theory behind such cases is that the accused did something so reckless they had to know it was dangerous enough to kill someone - even without intending harm.

"His actions in this case show that he has a nearly psychopathic disregard for the lives and well-being of others," Deputy District Attorney Ryan Williams said of Jackson in his sentencing memo.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles County Superior Court sought a term of 24 years to life in prison for the murder and convictions on weapon and drug charges. The dogs guarded Jackson's pot-growing operation and he knew the animals were dangerous, Williams said.

In Jackson's case and others like it, prosecutors have said neighbors and others complained that the owners' dogs were vicious or dangerous and that the owners didn't do enough to control the animals.

The Devitts, who passed through the area during their walking routine, had never had a problem with the dog, Williams said.

But nine other witnesses, including several horse riders and a postal worker, testified about seven frightening encounters. One equestrian had offered to provide free fencing and help Jackson put it up to keep the dogs on his property, but Jackson did not accept the help.

Defense lawyer Al Kim said Thursday that the "nail in the coffin" for Jackson was that the number of other incidents made it hard to argue that he wasn't aware of the danger the dogs posed.

At trial, Kim conceded Jackson was a drug dealer, but also said he was a dog lover who took in strays that reproduced. While he should have kept closer watch of them, he never intended to hurt someone.

"He's not the evil dude he's being made out to be," Kim said. "He feels horrible about this. He's contrite."




“Alex Donald Jackson, 31, was convicted last month in the death of Pamela Devitt. The 63-year-old retiree was taking a morning stroll in the high desert town of Littlerock when four of Jackson's dogs leaped over a fence and attacked her in the street.... Jackson was initially arrested when deputies searching for the dogs discovered a marijuana-growing operation in his house. He was later charged with murder when Devitt's DNA was found on his dogs' bloody fur.... The theory behind such cases is that the accused did something so reckless they had to know it was dangerous enough to kill someone - even without intending harm. 'His actions in this case show that he has a nearly psychopathic disregard for the lives and well-being of others,' Deputy District Attorney Ryan Williams said of Jackson in his sentencing memo.”

“The dogs guarded Jackson's pot-growing operation and he knew the animals were dangerous, Williams said.” In the Diane Whipple case the owners of the two huge and vicious dogs had a relationship with a convict who bred and trained the dogs, as I remember, but had no police record on their own. They did have that insane “love” of their vicious dogs that so many of these owners do, and even though there had been prior incidents with the neighbors over the dogs the owner was taking them down the hall to go outdoors. The couple also had a grudge against Whipple because she was a gay woman who lived with her partner down the hall from them. First, even if there is a good use for such a dog – guarding a Nazi prison camp perhaps, or hunting bear – there was no proper place to keep them confined in a city apartment building. Second, as I recall, the dogs were not even on a leash, and the woman who owned them was “unable” to control them. It is not surprising that the couple is serving many years in prison as a result.

The truth is that we need a ban on some dog breeds, because they are very large and powerful and they are unusually aggressive. My dog Butch, a 25 pound terrier, was sometimes a biter, but we kept her chained at night or when we weren't home, and she never gave a serious bite. She was protective of her yard, for instance against the garbage man. She loved the mailman, however. She wasn't “vicious.” In most towns and populated areas there are laws against exotic animals such as leopards for the same reason as the unusually dangerous dogs, so we need laws in this kind of case as well. Not all humans can be relied upon to use good old common sense in their behavior, and sometimes a jail term or a stiff fine are required to show them the right way to live.





How smart is your dog? – CBS
Anderson Cooper meets a dog who knows the names of over a thousand different toys
October 3, 2014

Your dog is a lot smarter than you think, though he or she is probably not as smart as Chaser, who may be the smartest dog in the world. Scientists are just beginning to understand how smart dogs really are. Chaser has a vocabulary more than twice that of a two-year-old child. Anderson Cooper reports on Chaser and some of the fascinating things researchers are learning about man's best friend in a story to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on the CBS Television Network.

John Pilley, a retired psychology professor, has worked with his border collie, Chaser, for several years and trained the dog to recognize the names of over a thousand toys. "My best metaphor is this is a two-year-old toddler," Pilley tells Cooper. "She's our child." The "child" is familiar enough with the names of 800 cloth toys, 116 different balls and over a hundred plastic toys to be able to pick the one named by Pilley out of a pile on the floor. Pilley demonstrates Chaser's skill with several different toys.

A two-year-old child generally knows about 300 words. Chaser is using the same skills a child would use to learn the names of her toys, say scientists

"This is very serious science," says Brian Hare, an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University. "We're not talking about stupid pet tricks. Chaser is learning tons, literally, thousands of new things by using the same ability that kids use when they learn lots of words."

Researchers have begun to use MRIs and blood testing to learn more about dogs' feelings and intelligence. Hare says that when dogs look at their masters, scientists have detected oxytocin, which is also found in humans, that is known as "the love hormone," whose presence indicates warm or loving feelings. "What we know now is that when dogs are actually looking at you, they're essentially hugging you with their eyes," Hare tells Cooper.




“'This is very serious science,' says Brian Hare, an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University. 'We're not talking about stupid pet tricks. Chaser is learning tons, literally, thousands of new things by using the same ability that kids use when they learn lots of words.' Researchers have begun to use MRIs and blood testing to learn more about dogs' feelings and intelligence. Hare says that when dogs look at their masters, scientists have detected oxytocin, which is also found in humans, that is known as 'the love hormone,' whose presence indicates warm or loving feelings. 'What we know now is that when dogs are actually looking at you, they're essentially hugging you with their eyes,' Hare tells Cooper.”

My first husband and I had a German Shepherd, also known to be a very intelligent type of dog, who became impatient as we stood by the door talking to his parents, putting off leaving. After a good ten minutes of that he simply lifted up his nose and jiggled the door keys that were hanging in the door. He might as well have said “Alright that's enough of this. Let's go.” Likewise several breeds have been trained – as also some monkeys have – to be the hands and body to do things for paraplegic patients. One such golden retriever was featured on a documentary, and when the man asked for a beer the dog got up, went to the kitchen and pulled on the towel that was tied to the refrigerator door for that purpose, and got his master a beer. The man just spoke in a conversational way to him, with no “coaching” or strong “command tone.” A dog that is raised from a puppy by a gentle and loving human will love that human deeply and consider him to be “top dog,” doing many things to cooperate and interact, including saving his life.

Even cats have been known to wake up their master in a house fire and the one so recently viewed by millions on the news as it fearlessly body slammed a vicious dog which was attacking his little four year old master was amazing. Cats are often considered to be unintelligent and “cool” rather than warm, but I'm sure that's incorrect. If you pay lots of attention to a cat he will warm up to you -- perhaps not as slavishly as a dog -- but with real affection. I really don't need a scientist to tell me that dogs understand many words and can solve some logistics problems. They weren't top predator as wolves for nothing. I wish the scientists would check out cats as well as dogs and make a judgment of their IQ.





Porn email scandal grips Pennsylvania Capitol
CBS/AP October 3, 2014, 2:13 PM

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Capitol is gripped by a widening scandal over the exchange of emails containing pornography by former members of the attorney general's office.

Gov. Tom Corbett was attorney general when the emails were exchanged by members of his staff, forcing him to defend his management as he campaigns for a second term. Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court chief justice demanded information on whether any judges were part of the exchanges.

Last week, Attorney General Kathleen Kane's office  identified eight ex-employees who sent or received hundreds of pornographic images or videos in emails that were discovered during Kane's review of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse prosecution.

Four of those officials followed Corbett from the attorney general's office into his gubernatorial administration. On Thursday, two of them resigned. And Corbett said Friday that his review indicated that another of the four -- state police Commissioner Frank Noonan -- did not open, originate, forward or reply to any of the emails.

"The information we have indicates that he was not an active participant in this at all," Corbett spokesman Jay Pagni said Friday.

The emails of the fourth man -- former agent Randy Feathers, whom Corbett appointed to the state Board of Probation and Parole -- and the ex-employees who no longer work for the state were expected to be released Friday.

All eight men worked under Corbett while he was the state's elected attorney general from 2005 to 2011. Corbett had requested details on the emails in question before determining if the four men employed in his administration should keep their jobs.

On Thursday, Corbett disclosed the resignations of Environmental Protection Secretary Christopher Abruzzo and Glenn Parno, a top lawyer in the Department of Environmental Protection, in separate announcements hours apart, just as the attorney general's office was releasing copies of their email messages to the governor's office and news organizations.

Kane is a Democrat who took office last year. Corbett, a Republican, is in the closing weeks of an uphill re-election campaign against Democrat Tom Wolf.

Wolf and Corbett addressed the scandal during a debate Wednesday, according to CBS Philadelphia.

"Culture starts at the top. If there's a culture that somehow makes it seem that kind of thing is permissible, that's a problem," Wolf said.

Corbett said he wishes he was made aware of the emails sooner.

"I can't tell you how disappointed I was because we had strict rules against it, and I did not receive any of those emails," Corbett said. "I wish they would have sent me one. I wish they would have because it would have stopped right then and there."

The heavily redacted emails revealed an abundance of comments that were sexually suggestive, mostly about photographs that were originally attached to the emails but were not included in the released material.

Some of the more than 300 emails that the attorney general's office says Noonan received bore sexually tinged subject lines, such as "Bikini Wax Job."

Another message, received by some but not all of the participants, included a slur used against people of Arab descent and others who wear headdresses. Others expressed insensitive remarks about gays.

Abruzzo did not mention the emails in his resignation letter, which was released by Corbett's office. He wrote that he had not been given an opportunity to review any evidence to support the assertions against him but that he did not want the allegations to become "a distraction" for the administration.

"While I have no recollection of the specific accounts described by the media, I accept full responsibility for any lack of judgment I may have exhibited in 2009," he wrote. "I do not condone that behavior and it is not a reflection of the person or professional that I am."

The letter was Abruzzo's first public comment on the emails.

Abruzzo, 48, started in the attorney general's office in 1996 and advanced to oversee its drug-related prosecutions. When Corbett became governor in 2011, he made Abruzzo one of his deputy chiefs of staff and, later, environmental protection secretary, a Cabinet post.

Noonan, who is directing the manhunt for a fugitive suspected of killing a state trooper and wounding another in an ambush at a northeastern Pennsylvania barracks, has not commented.

"It is important that Commissioner Noonan remain focused on the critical public safety mission he is leading," Corbett said Thursday.

No reason was given for Parno's resignation.





“Last week, Attorney General Kathleen Kane's office  identified eight ex-employees who sent or received hundreds of pornographic images or videos in emails that were discovered during Kane's review of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse prosecution.... state police Commissioner Frank Noonan -- did not open, originate, forward or reply to any of the emails.”

“Abruzzo did not mention the emails in his resignation letter, which was released by Corbett's office.... 'While I have no recollection of the specific accounts described by the media, I accept full responsibility for any lack of judgment I may have exhibited in 2009,' he wrote. 'I do not condone that behavior and it is not a reflection of the person or professional that I am.'” How's that for not taking responsibility for his actions? What does it “reflect?” Did somebody else do it to him? This level of sexual misconduct is not a very dangerous behavior pattern, but if any women were exposed to these emails it would be deeply disrespectful and initiate a poisonous work atmosphere. I do fear that an addiction to pornography can lead to sexual assault in some individuals who are mentally unstable. It's a shame that this amount of misconduct is going on at the upper levels of the government. I suppose no one was watching their emails for content.





The Two Koreas Agree To Hold High-Level Talks This Autumn – NPR
by BILL CHAPPELL
October 04, 2014

In a sign of potential improvement in their frosty relationship, North and South Korea will engage in high-level talks by early November. The revelation came as a delegation of North Korean officials ventured south to Incheon for Saturday's closing ceremonies in the 2014 Asian Games.

That trip brought a chance for South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong-won to meet with the military and political leaders, in what the Yohhap News Agency says is "the first time that a sitting South Korean prime minister has met with high-ranking North Korean officials since their prime ministerial talks in 2007," when Kim Jong-Il was still in office.

The news emerges as a survey found more than half of South Koreans support reunification with the north. The Chosun Ilboreports that in the survey of 1,200 South Koreans, only 14 percent said they view North Korea as an enemy. But nearly 90 percent also said the country would never give up its nuclear weapons, and three-quarters of respondents said North Korea might "launch an armed provocation."

Before today's meeting, the health of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Un, had been a subject of rampant speculation, after a video showed him limping.

"North Korea's state media confirmed that he suffered from discomfort. I think there is no reason to disbelieve it," South Korea's Ministry of Unification spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol tells The Korea Times. The agency goes on to report that Kim has edema in at least one ankle joint, requiring surgery.




“The news emerges as a survey found more than half of South Koreans support reunification with the north. The Chosun Ilboreports that in the survey of 1,200 South Koreans, only 14 percent said they view North Korea as an enemy. But nearly 90 percent also said the country would never give up its nuclear weapons, and three-quarters of respondents said North Korea might 'launch an armed provocation.'”

North Korea is also a hardline dictatorship. Why would the South Korean people consider reuniting with them? It sounds risky. Of course there have been news reports of family members in both countries trying to get across the DMZ to see each other. It looks like the tie of kinship between them is the reason for this reunification. Of course it isn't an established fact yet.

I wonder what kind of politics there is in South Korea? Let's see what Wikipedia says.


Politics of South Korea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Politics of the Republic of Korea takes place in the framework of apresidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the head of state, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and comprises a Supreme Court, appellate courts and aConstitutional Court. Since 1948, the constitution has undergone five major revisions, each signifying a new republic. The current Sixth Republic began with the last major constitutional revision in 1987.

Political parties and elections[edit]

For other political parties see Political parties in South Korea. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in South Korea.

South Korea elects on national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly (Gukhoe) has 300 members, elected for a four-year term, 244 members in single-seat constituencies and 56 members by proportional representation.

The main political parties in South Korea are the Saenuri Party(NFP), the New Politics Alliance for Democracy(NPAD, former Democratic Party), the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), and the Justice Party. The conservative Saenuri Party and the more liberal Democrats(NPAD) are the dominant forces of South Korean politics. The socialist UPP is aligned with labour unions and farmers groups. But UPP was torn into two parties after 2012 election, and 6 of 13 MPs of UPP formed the Justice Party.

Structure of National Assembly as of 15 August 2014.
Conservatives(NFP) : 158(+1)
Liberals(NPAD) : 130(+3)
Progressive(UPP, JP) : 10(-3)
Independents : 2(pro-NFP)



Korean reunification
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Korean reunification refers to the potential future reunification of theDemocratic People's Republic of Korea (commonly known as North Korea), the Republic of Korea (commonly known as South Korea), and the Korean Demilitarized Zone under a single government. The process towards this was started by the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration in June 2000, where the two countries agreed to work towards a peaceful reunification in the future. However, this process has always been met with many difficulties due to continuous tension between the two countries, which have become vastly different through over six decades of separation.

In June 2000, North and South Korea signed the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration, in which both sides made promises to seek out a peaceful reunification:[7]

The north and the south agreed to solve the question of the country’s reunification independently by the concerted efforts of the Korean nation responsible for it.

The north and the south, recognizing that the low-level federation proposed by the north and the commonwealth system proposed by the south for the reunification of the country have similarity, agreed to work together for the reunification in this direction in the future.

The north and the south agreed to settle humanitarian issues as early as possible, including the exchange of visiting groups of separated families and relatives and the issue of unconverted long-term prisoners, to mark August 15 this year.

The north and the south agreed to promote the balanced development of the national economy through economic cooperation and build mutual confidence by activating cooperation and exchange in all fields, social, cultural, sports, public health, environmental and so on.

The north and the south agreed to hold an authority-to-authority negotiation as soon as possible to put the above-mentioned agreed points into speedy operation.

A unified Korean team marched in the opening ceremonies of the 2000, 2004, and 2006 Olympics, but the North and South Korean national teams competed separately. There were plans for a truly unified team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but the two countries were unable to agree on the details of its implementation. In the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan, the two countries formed a unified team.

Friday, October 3, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Colorado school board sticks with hotly contested history proposal
CBS/AP October 3, 2014, 4:15 AM

GOLDEN, Colo. -- A suburban Denver school board refused to back off a proposed review of the Advanced Placement U.S. history course on Thursday despite waves of protest from dozens of students, parents and residents who accused the board's new conservative majority of trying to influence children with their political views.

Instead, the Jefferson County board voted 3-2 to expand the membership on two existing curriculum review committees to include students, parents and administrators. The two women on the board who oppose the conservative majority held their heads in their hands after losing a bid to delay the vote so they could have more time to study the plan.

"What's the rush?" board member Lesley Dahlkemper asked. Her repeated challenges to board president Ken Witt drew applause from the crowd.

Some in the audience yelled "resign" and "recall, recall" at the board members.

It's not immediately clear whether the expanded committees will review the history course. Witt said he expected that the committees would be asked to.
The controversy is seen as "one of the most compelling political stories in the country at this time," observes CBS Denver.

Board member Julie Williams refused a call to withdraw her original proposal, which angered students and teachers by suggesting that the course be reviewed with an eye toward promoting patriotism and citizenship and downplaying civil disorder, saying she wanted to keep all options open.

The latest move won't satisfy the students and others who packed the hearing room and also watched the meeting on a big screen outside in the parking lot with popcorn. The students turned in two cardboard boxes of a Moveon.org petition they said was signed by over 40,000 people across the country.

Many people spoke out against members of the board's new conservative majority calling students who have walked out of class to protest "pawns."

"This is America. Stop calling us names when we exercise our rights," said Lisa Cooke, a mother of two students.

Another parent, Robert Gleason, after pointing at the Colorado flag in the front of the room, told the board he didn't want the school district to follow in the path of Texas, where the state school board has told teachers to stick to state history standards, not the new course framework that some view as anti-American.

One man donated a copy of George Orwell's "1984" to the board.

One of the outnumbered supporters of the conservative members held up a copy of the state constitution, pointing out that it gives local school boards the power to make decisions about curriculum.

Witt, Williams and John Newkirk listened calmly at the mounting criticism.

At issue is a new approach to AP History this year that focuses more on examining historical documents and discussing the nation's history, rather than memorizing facts. The course also gives more attention to the period before the arrival of Christopher Columbus as well as slavery and women's roles. Some conservatives say the course was influenced by a movement in academia to de-emphasize the United States' uniqueness and treat it as one nation among many.

Students across a majority of the 17 high schools in Colorado's second-largest school district have left classes in droves over the past few weeks.

The protests began more than a week ago, after the school board first proposed the U.S. history review. Teachers, who are also upset about a new merit pay plan, staged a sickout that closed two schools, and then students began walking out of class in protests.

Before the meeting, both supporters and critics of the board demonstrated outside.

Carole Morenz, holding a small American flag and a sign that said "History matters. Know the truth," traveled from Pueblo because she said she's worried the change in approach to teaching history could be the "biggest cultural shift of our lifetime."

"They will lose the knowledge of what made America great," said Morenz, adding that she has been concerned about problems in education since she began homeschooling her children in the 1980s.

Sarina Phu, 17, one of several students who spoke to about 300 opponents of the school board from the back of a pickup truck in the building's parking lot, said some of the nation's greatest achievements, including civil rights and equality for women, were achieved through protests and social unrest.

Phu, the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, praised the U.S. for being a nation where people from all backgrounds can thrive, but she said students need to learn about the negative sides of its story, including the mistreatment of Native Americans and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

"Would you like to sweep us under the rug, too, just like our histories?" she asked.




“At issue is a new approach to AP History this year that focuses more on examining historical documents and discussing the nation's history, rather than memorizing facts.... Some conservatives say the course was influenced by a movement in academia to de-emphasize the United States' uniqueness and treat it as one nation among many.... Phu, the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, praised the U.S. for being a nation where people from all backgrounds can thrive, but she said students need to learn about the negative sides of its story, including the mistreatment of Native Americans and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. 'Would you like to sweep us under the rug, too, just like our histories?' she asked.”

One of the problems I had with history in high school was that it wasn't as interesting as my English courses and biology. All I knew was the memorization of names, dates and “key words” like the “Diet of Worms.” That was one of my favorite phrases, as it made me laugh. I have no remembrance of our teacher explaining what type of “diet” that was – a government body – and that Worms was a place. My recall of high school history is like the dish called hash, a thick stew made up of small barely identifiable pieces of meat and vegetables.

When I went to college I took my first survey course called “Modern Civilization” which swiftly took Europe from the Dark Ages to WWII, within the span of two courses, by focusing on cultural movements and changes in philosophy more than an endless collection of small facts, though the facts were taught, too. They were, more importantly, easier to remember when they were presented in the overall context.

Those philosophical changes during the Age of Enlightenment were then the basis for democracy both in American and France, and though Britain has retained a parliamentary form of government with the royal family, it too has become democratic in that the people vote for all their other leaders and receive a public education, health care, etc. If anything the course improved my appreciation of our county's place in the world and our various traditions, rather than prejudicing me against them. Without being “indoctrinated” I have a true love for democracy and for America. It is clearly to me the best system, and I am completely loyal to my country. Unlike the more conservative people, I believe in peaceful civil movements when the representative system of leaders fails to bring justice, especially in localized areas where racism and entrenched poverty still prevail. Ghettos in New York City apply to that category as much as do the isolated farms of the deep South and the American Indian reservations in the West.

When I took that course I realized that I had never had a very good understanding of the timeline in my head until that time. In high school the names and dates were “hash” because they hadn't been incorporated into the overall flow of events thoroughly enough, and the relationships between countries were likewise more about wars and kings, and less about the flow of ideas from one place and time to another. Not only is the more comprehensive type of teaching more interesting by far, it brings a much better understanding of the whole picture.

A school board which tries to keep its students rooted in the past is not doing them a good service, though if they are so incurious as to pay no attention to the news or read anything beyond their required school work, they may well end up “indoctrinated” indeed – to the right wing political agenda which is behind the actions of this school board. I hope the concerned citizens and the students who have decided to march together will persist. Just because this school board is holding to its line is no reason to give in to them. School boards are elected, and besides, they are often influenced by public opinion to change their positions.

Keep up the fight, students! Write your newspaper, write your congressmen, blog on the Internet, and join together in groups of concerned citizens to promote a good education in high school. I always feel I have to remind people that not every student will be accepted into a college even if they can afford to go, and a good educational foundation in high school is vitally important to the community as it's members go to the polls to vote, interact with minority groups, work for a better environment, and other worthy goals. The high school students of today are the future.





ISIS losing hearts and minds in its heartland
By ELIZABETH PALMER, KHALED WASSEF CBS NEWS October 3, 2014, 10:58 AM

There may be a war on, but fighters for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)in the northeastern city Syrian of Raqqa will be partying this weekend.

Their leader, Abu Baker al-Baghdadi, has decreed that each man in his ranks in the city will receive a pay bonus, as well as a lamb to roast for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Their subjects -- however many of the roughly 220,000 Raqqa residents remain in the city -- aren't so lucky. Many were poor to start with, and they've become poorer since this small city was taken over by ISIS extremists.

Many will eat their Eid meal in a soup kitchen, paid for by the few wealthy citizens who can still afford to bankroll charity.

"Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi," an alias adopted for his own safety, is an activist in Raqqa; a member of a collective which calls itself "Raqqa is being slaughtered silently." He and his compatriots are dedicated to letting the outside world know what life is like in the city that's become ISIS' command center and the de facto capital of the group's self-declared "Islamic State."

The perks for fighters started right away, he told CBS News in a phone interview from the area.

"As soon as they arrived, they became the elite of the community," he said of the ISIS fighters. "They were given comfortable homes and cars -- and they get a generous salary every month."

It's bound to fuel local resentment, especially as the favoritism appears to extend to essential services, like medical care.

"Raqqa's hospitals are now all shut down," says Ibrahim. "Their premises have either been turned into ISIS headquarters, or abandoned by the doctors and nursing staff because there are no more medical supplies."

"Anyone who needs care has to travel to Turkey," says Ibrahim. "It's a rough and dangerous journey and some just don't make it."

The ISIS fighters wounded in battle or airstrikes, however, get treatment at local clinics run exclusively for them and their families.

"Recently, a bombing by the Syrian government left many people, including fighters, badly hurt," says Ibrahim. "We ran to help and saw ISIS trucks arrive and remove their men for treatment, leaving the civilians just lying there."

There are also reports of boys as young as 14 and 15 being snatched from their families and sent to training camps to become ISIS warriors.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring group which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, oil prices in Raqqa have almost doubled since U.S. airstrikes began bombing ISIS targets. That, according to SOHR, has forced merchants at ISIS-controlled markets to hike up their prices beyond the means of locals.

"ISIS is now selling fuel for 5,000-7,000 Syrian Lyras (about $6.00 per gallon)," SOHR said. "Prices vary from one refinery to another, and there is a lot of tension in the city because of the constantly deteriorating economic situation."

SOHR posted the picture above, and others like it, showing ISIS fighters enjoying a feast at a local 5-star restaurant, which "only ISIS fighters and members of the Hesbah police (ISIS' Islamic police force) could afford."

Resentment simmers among many people in Raqqa, but it's too dangerous to let it show.

"They control Raqqa with an iron fist," says Ibrahim. "The Hesbah patrols are on every corner." Many of them are foreign -- Americans, Dutch and British -- but anyone who approaches them to talk is immediately warned off by armed men.

ISIS militants have executed at least two young activists from Ibrahim's group.

The main challenge for those left is what's known locally as the "al-Khansaa Brigade," an ISIS unit -- predominantly foreign -- of women who handle security and intelligence in Raqqa.

"The ones walking around with guns are harmless, because they can easily be spotted," says Ibrahim. "The danger comes from undercover female jihadis, who walk around looking for anyone breaking ISIS law."

So the people of Raqqa, by and large, are forced to toe the line and follow the diktats of their new rulers. But along with the smell of lamb, roasting in the commandeered ISIS house on this Eid holiday, there will be growing bitterness in the wind.




The promise of a lamb to roast for each and every ISIS soldier doesn't sound possible. I think they will run out of lambs pretty quickly. The point, of course, is that the soldiers are to be treated much better than the civilians, many of whom will eat at soup kitchens. Interestingly, giving to charity is a primary rule within Islam, and there are wealthy people even under ISIS who finance the soup kitchens.

A hated and feared female brigade walk around among the citizens to see who may be breaking the ISIS laws, and most people as a result toe the line, but a group who are organized to resist ISIS are in communication with Western news people. The name of al-Raqqawi's collective translates to mean “'Raqqa is being slaughtered silently.'”

'The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring group which relies on a network of activists inside Syria” monitors things like the price of oil which has gone up greatly under ISIS management. The economy is in danger. “Resentment simmers among many people in Raqqa, but it's too dangerous to let it show.”

According to this article there are guards “on every corner” watching what the civilians do, with 14 year-old boys being abducted to join ISIS and at least two of the activists have been killed. If ISIS loses its control over the people they will find few friends there. Some comment to that effect was in a news article last week – they are not loved by those who live under them. In the end that will work against them.





Girl's family seeks unprecedented court order in brain-death ruling
CBS/AP October 3, 2014, 8:25 AM

SAN FRANCISCO -- The family of a California teenager who was declared brain-dead after suffering complications from sleep apnea surgery is seeking an unprecedented court order declaring her alive, the family's lawyer said Thursday.

Attorney Chris Dolan said doctors at the non-profit International Brain Research Foundation have found signs of brain functions after running a series of tests on the girl at Rutgers University last week.

The discovery came months after three doctors, including one appointed by a judge, declared Jahi McMath, 13, brain dead and Alameda County issued a death certificate after her Dec. 9 surgery went awry.

Since then, Jahi's mother has pushed for keeping her daughter's organs functioning on life support, first at Children's Hospital in Oakland and later at an undisclosed medical facility in New Jersey. In June, CBS station KPIX 5 reported that McMath was in a Catholic children's hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Dolan said Jahi and her parents moved to a house in New Jersey about a month ago where the girl remains on life support.

On Thursday, Dolan showed video clips to a small group of reporters that he says proves Jahi is still alive. One clip shows her twitching her foot after her mother asks her to move it. Another shows hand movement in apparent response to her mother's commands.

Philip DeFina, chief executive and chief scientific officer of the International Brain Research Foundation, said Jahi has responded to commands many other times.

"There is a consistency to it," said DeFina said.

DeFina said an examination of Jahi also revealed that her brain was still intact, rather than "liquefying" as would be expected if a brain-dead body was kept on life-support for many months.

DeFina also said brain scans showed electrical activity, and other tests showed blood flowing to the brain.

Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at New York University's Langone Medical Center, said he knows of no cases of a brain death determination being reversed. He cautioned that the data collected on Jahi has to be examined by other researchers and experts in the field before any conclusions can be made.

"Were this to be true, it would be an earth-shattering development in understanding death," Caplan said. "They're playing a high-stakes game."

Lawyers for the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital said the evidence in Jahi's case still supports the determination that she is legally dead.

"This is a sad situation where the court made the correct determination that Jahi McMath was dead," hospital attorney Douglas Strauss stated in court papers. "There is no factual basis or legal justification for requiring those involved to endure re-litigation of that properly reached determination."

After the December surgery, Jahi began bleeding heavily and went into cardiac arrest. She was declared brain-dead Dec. 12.

Her mother and other family members refuse to believe the girl is dead as long as her heart is beating. They went to court last winter seeking an order to prevent the hospital from removing a respirator and feeding tube.

The two sides reached an agreement allowing Jahi to be transferred if her mother assumed responsibility for further complications. She was removed from Children's Hospital on Jan. 5, less than two days before an injunction that would have allowed the hospital to remove the equipment.

Her mother and other family members refuse to believe the girl is dead as long as her heart is beating. They went to court last winter seeking an order to prevent the hospital from removing a respirator and feeding tube.





“On Thursday, Dolan showed video clips to a small group of reporters that he says proves Jahi is still alive. One clip shows her twitching her foot after her mother asks her to move it. Another shows hand movement in apparent response to her mother's commands.... DeFina said an examination of Jahi also revealed that her brain was still intact, rather than "liquefying" as would be expected if a brain-dead body was kept on life-support for many months. DeFina also said brain scans showed electrical activity, and other tests showed blood flowing to the brain.... 'Were this to be true, it would be an earth-shattering development in understanding death,' Caplan said. 'They're playing a high-stakes game.'... Her mother and other family members refuse to believe the girl is dead as long as her heart is beating. They went to court last winter seeking an order to prevent the hospital from removing a respirator and feeding tube....Her mother and other family members refuse to believe the girl is dead as long as her heart is beating. They went to court last winter seeking an order to prevent the hospital from removing a respirator and feeding tube.”

“'Were this to be true, it would be an earth-shattering development in understanding death,' Caplan said.” Well, earth-shattering though it may be, if people who are not really dead are having their bodies harvested for their living organs to be transplanted, or who are being interred prematurely, that is a real problem.

We have totally trusted doctors for the most part in our society, and in more than one way they have violated that trust. This may be just one more violation. Due to a certain paranoia on my part I have not volunteered to be an organ donor and I don't want to be “unplugged” for at least three days from life support. If my body can recover its functions I want it to have a chance. In several cases people have awakened from their coma and started talking to the people in their room. I have filled out a living will in which I ask the family member most likely to be alive when I die, assuming I don't die for another 15 years or more, to consult with doctors to see whether I am likely to be able to regain normal functions or not. If not, then after the three days, they should disconnect me from life support.





Long-ignored evidence suddenly used to catch rapists
By NANCY CORDES CBS NEWS October 2, 2014, 7:43 PM

CLEVELAND - It is shocking that just three percent of rapists in America ever serve time. CBS News reported five years ago thatinvestigators often ignore DNA evidence collected from victims in what is known as a "rape kit."

Thousands of these rape kits have gathered dust for years.

Stories such as ours persuaded some police departments to begin testing them.

Charles Steele raped at least four Cleveland women in the mid-'90s. One was at a gas station when he walked up.

"And I looked up, next thing I know I have a gun pointing at me," one survivor said.

But her case and all the others went unsolved for 20 years because police never tested the DNA rape kits that were administered when they were attacked.

When CBS asked the Cleveland Police Department back in 2009 how many untested rape kits were sitting on their shelves, a lieutenant said he didn't know and wouldn't count.

"We realize what our mistakes were," said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty. "We're not going to make them again."

When McGinty took office three years ago, he responded to a call from Ohio's attorney general, Mike DeWine, to start testing all rape kits with state funds - 4,200 kits in Cleveland alone. The results astonished everyone.

"The rape kits are the gold mine for law enforcement," McGinty said.

Suddenly, investigators were tying individual suspects to five, six, sometimes seven rapes dating back decades.

"They don't stop raping until they're dead or they're physically unable to get out of bed and go attack somebody," said McGinty. "So the sooner you empty your shelves of the rape kits, the sooner you can take the serial offenders and serial rapists off the street."

Two hundred of them have already been indicted. Almost a third are accused serial rapists.

And that's just from testing half of Cleveland's backlog.

Lt. James McPike said Cleveland's violent crime rate is already on the decline.

"If you can take a thousand guys off the street, these are a thousand guys that are no longer going to commit crimes," McPike said.

And yet many other major cities are moving slowly, if at all.

According to the Joyful Heart Foundation, which works to end the backlog, Las Vegas only tests 16 percent of its kits, Seattle, 22 percent, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, is seeking funding to test 3,400 kits.

That's just a sampling, so there's a lot of DNA evidence out there that could be used to catch rapists but isn't.


The following figures on untested rape kits below are from the Joyful Heart Foundation. Here are responses from police departments contacted by CBS News.

Seattle Police Department
The Seattle Police Department has 1,276 untested kits in storage. The following statement is from Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, the department's public affairs director:
"When our detectives investigate reports of sexual assault and corresponding sexual assault kits are available that will support criminal prosecution, we will have them tested by the Washington State Patrol crime lab."

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has 4,385 untested kits in storage. This statement is from Kimberley Murga, director of laboratory services at the department.
"Of the 5,200 sexual assault kits booked into the LVMPDS's Evidence Vault over the past ten years, 800 of the sexual assault kits have been analyzed and 4,400 have never been analyzed. Sexual Assault kits stored at the Evidence Vault represent a mix of many different scenarios, which may include but are not limited to the following:

1. Kits that have been subjected to non DNA analysis serology prior to the mid 1990s
2. Kits that have been subjected to DNA analysis
3. Kits that were collected and the case was adjudicated without laboratory analysis
4. Kits that were collected however were never requested for DNA analysis due to lack of probative value (for example, "consent" cases where DNA will not resolve whether sex was consensual.
5. Kits that were collected however the victim has decided to not pursue formal charges
6. Kits that were collected as a "precautionary measure" during an investigation, later to discover the elements of a sexual assault related crime have never been established."

Wisconsin Department Of Justice
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has surveyed every law enforcement agency in the state to find out how many untested kits exist statewide. Their results show over 6,000 untested kits statewide. Now, the state is in the process of figuring out the next step with the kits. The following statement is from Dean Stensberg from the Wisconsin Department of Justice:
"Now that the universe of untested and stored kits is known both in number and location, the next step is for the Attorney General's Statewide Sexual Assault Response Team to inventory and triage the untested kits to establish a protocol for disposition and handling. Not all untested kits are the same. Informing this will be whether:

It no longer requires testing (ie. linked to a case in which the perpetrator is known and DNA has already been taken at conviction)
It's past the statute of limitations - disposition of the kit will need to be arrived at through the SART to one of three options: processing and uploading; no process and uploading; continued storage

During this period, samples will be held in their current locations while the inventory and triage is underway.

Importantly, going forward all kits that have a victim cooperating with the prosecution will be immediately forwarded to the State Crime Laboratory. And, those kits from victims who have not yet decided whether to participate in the criminal justice system will also be forwarded to the State Crime Laboratory and stored for 6 years. This will avoid a similar situation from occurring in the future mindful of the victim's decision making and options."

Tulsa Police Department
The Tulsa Police Department has an estimated 3,400 untested kits in storage. The department is seeking federal funding to address their backlog. The following statement is from Officer Jillian Roberson, public information officer for the department:
"The Tulsa Police Department is working in partnership with Joyful Heart Foundation in developing a plan and funding for the untested kits. At this time the plan is not finalized however we continue to work together toward this common goal of reducing the number of untested kits."




This isn't the first time I've heard the problem discussed. The reasons given by some of the police departments for their failure to test the kits varied from money to a lack of corroborating evidence of rape, including even the charge that the sex was actually consensual. See the following article on the founder of the Joyful Heart Foundation, Mariska Hargitay, who is spearheading this study. Her comment below: “'[this is] the clearest and most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes in our country',” is accurate in my opinion. From not processing the rape kit to psychologically abusing the victim in court, the US hasn't lived up to its beliefs. Or maybe that's the problem, what are our people's beliefs? Luckily this doesn't happen every time a rape case is adjudicated, it's just that the number of women who don't get justice and help is too great.



Mariska Hargitay
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mariska Hargitay (/məˈrɪʃkə ˈhɑrɡɨteɪ/ mə-rish-kə har-gi-tay; born Mariska Magdolna Hargitay; January 23, 1964)[1][2][3] is an American actress, best known for her role as New York City sex crimesDetective Olivia Benson on the NBC television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a role that has earned her multiple awards andnominations, including an Emmy and Golden Globe.

The daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield and actor/bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, Hargitay is a former beauty queen who made her film debut in the 1985 horror-comedy film Ghoulies, and her major television debut in the 1986 adventure drama series Downtown. She appeared in numerous roles in film and television shows throughout the late 1980s and 1990s before being cast as Olivia Benson, a role that led to her founding the Joyful Heart Foundation, which provides support to women who have been sexually abused.

Hargitay is founder and president of the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization established in 2004 to provide support to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse.[38][39] According to Hargitay, she was inspired by an encounter with a school of dolphins that surrounded her while she was swimming off the coast of Hawaii at the age of 15. The encounter, which had ignited profound spiritual feelings within her, was one that Hargitay hoped to share with others. As of November 2010, the Joyful Heart Foundation has sent over 5,000 women and children on therapeutic programs in New York, Los Angeles, and Hawaii, which combine yoga, meditation, massage, journaling, and swimming with dolphins.[17]According to Hargitay, "I started getting fan mail from survivors who felt a connection to Olivia. In many of these letters, people would disclose their personal stories of abuse — some for the very first time. I remember getting the sense that many were living in isolation with so much shame, but the shame belonged to the perpetrators. I wanted to help find a way to help people reclaim their lives and live them with a renewed sense of possibility and hope. And that's what we work to do every day at Joyful Heart."[40] According to Hargitay, the Foundation has raised $20 million and helped approximately 5,000 survivors as of April 2011.[41] Reference to the Joyful Heart Foundation was worked into episodes of Special Victims Unit, via a necklace containing two pendants representing the Foundation that Hargitay's character began wearing in the show's 13th season.[42]

Hargitay has worked with Michigan Police and Wayne Country Prosecutor Kym Worthy to raise awareness about the statistics of untested rape kits. While planning to produce a documentary called Shelved, about the thousands of untested rape kits, Hargitay has said:

“[this is] the clearest and most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes in our country."

Hargitay appeared in the 17th season of NBC's "The More You Know" public service announcement in 2006,[44] and again in the spring of 2009.[45] She is an honorary board member director of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.[46]

On September 27, 2011, Hargitay donated $100,000 to her alma mater, the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television for scholarship.[47]

In 2012 Hargitay campaigned for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).[48]

On February 17, 2012, Hargitay made a donation of $35,800 to the Obama Victory Fund, the maximum individual contribution allowed by law.[49][50]





Joe Biden's salty description of being VP
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS October 3, 2014, 10:21 AM

Vice President Joe Biden, known for his occasionally blunt or off-color remarks, joked to a group of students Thursday that he doesn't particularly enjoy playing second fiddle to President Obama.

When a student at the Harvard Institute of Politics introduced himself as vice president of the student body, Biden joked, "Isn't it a bitch, I mean... that vice president thing? I mean, whoa."

His remark was met with laughter, and the vice president quickly added, "I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking. Best decision I ever made."

Joe Biden apologizes for using anti-Semitic term

The student, still laughing, told him, "I hope you love your job." Biden replied, "I do, actually. I love the guy I work with."

Biden was at Harvard to deliver remarks on foreign policy.

The vice president has drawn attention to himself on a number of occasions for his choice of words. He recently apologized for using an anti-semitic term to refer to mortgage lenders. Back in 2010, he famously called the passage of the Affordable Care Act a "big f**king deal."



Joe Biden apologizes for using anti-Semitic term
By REBECCA KAPLAN CBS NEWS September 17, 2014, 4:25 PM

Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement Wednesday that referring to mortgage lenders as "Shylocks" was a "poor choice of words."

Biden used the term - a reference to a nefarious Jewish character that gives loans in Shakespeare's play, "The Merchant of Venice" - in a speech to a legal aid group Tuesday. He was describing the experiences of troops who faced foreclosures at home while they were serving in the military.

"People would come to him and talk about what was happening to them at home in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans that were being -- I mean, these Shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas," Biden said.

The remark drew a rebuke from Anti-Defamation League (ADL) National Director Abraham Foxman, who told Yahoo News that the word "remains an offensive characterization to this day" and that the vice president "should have been more careful."



Joe Biden is an entertaining personality and I suspect, very good in an emergency, but he speaks before he thinks a little too often. I wouldn't want him to be conservative, but he represents our country around the world at times and he shouldn't be using the “F bomb” – nor “Shylock” either. I would get in trouble from shooting off my mouth, too, if I were in office, but I'm not. That's all to the good.





What's behind the high rate of infant deaths in the U.S. – CBS
By ALAIN SHERTER MONEYWATCH October 3, 2014, 5:00 AM

Why are babies in the U.S. more likely to die than infants in comparably wealthy countries?

That's the question economists set out to answer in a recent working paper, citing statistics showing that the U.S. ranks No. 56 in the world in rates of infant mortality, or much lower than considerably poorer countries. Their answer: economic inequality and poverty.

"When we compare relatively advantaged women in the U.S. to similarly advantaged women in Finland and Austria, we see they have similar levels of infant mortality," said Emily Oster, an associate professor of economics at Brown University and one of the study's co-authors, by email. "However, when we compare the remainder of the distribution, the U.S. has much higher infant mortality."

In other words, infants are more likely to die if their parents are poor and more likely to live if they were lucky enough to be born to richer parents.

Roughly six infants in 1,000 die in the U.S. before they turn one-year-old. That is roughly three times higher than in Japan, which has the second-lowest rate of infant mortality (Monaco, the uber-wealthy principality in Europe, ranks No. 1.) Put another way, that means three more infants out of 1,000 die in the U.S. compared with in Finland, which the authors examined in the study, and in other Scandinavian countries (They also looked at Austria because it has a similar rate of infant mortality to the rest of Europe.)

Most explanations of why the U.S. compares poorly to so many other countries in infant mortality have focused on health, not wealth. If infants were more likely to die in America, under this view, that was chiefly because of the higher rate of pre-term births. Researchers pointed to such factors as gestational age and birth weight in proposing that health is the main driver of infant deaths in the U.S.

But while those factors do, in fact, contribute to infant mortality, they don't tell the whole story, said Oster, who co-wrote the paper with economist Alice Chen of the University of Southern California and Heidi Williams, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For instance, they note that even U.S. infants with a normal birth rate have a higher rate of death than babies in Europe. Something else must be at work.

America's racial and ethnic make-up is also often posited to explain why infant deaths are more common in America than in many other countries. And notably, black infants in the U.S. are more likely to die than white infants, largely because of health differences at birth. But infant mortality is higher in this country even if African-Americans are excluded from the analysis, the researchers note. So while race clearly factors into the discussion, it also fails to fully explain the death gap between the U.S. and European nations.

To truly understand why more babies are likely to die in the America, it's necessary to zero in on their socioeconomic status, the researchers say. And here they find something remarkable: U.S. infants actually have a lower mortality rate, and appear healthier by some measures, in the first month of their lives than infants in Austria or Finland. But that advantage disappears as babies get older. For infants older than month, U.S. infant mortality is much higher than in Europe.

What accounts for that change? "This postneonatal mortality disadvantage is driven almost exclusively by excess inequality in the U.S." Chen, Oster and Williams write.

The researchers also underscore that the health of infants older than a month is as important as the health of babies at birth in understanding why the U.S. trails Europe rankings of infant deaths.

One reason this distinction between younger and older infants is important is that the causes of death for each group are very different. While newborn deaths are more likely to be linked to health problems, older infants are more vulnerable to accidents and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Meanwhile, if the high infant mortality rate in the U.S. owes largely to what happens to slightly older babies, then offering more high-tech medical care at birth is unlikely to remedy the problem.

"[T]he facts documented here suggest that, in general, if the goal is to reduce infant mortality, then policy attention should focus on either preventing preterm births or on reducing postneonatal mortality," the researchers write.

What can be done to reduce infant mortality in the U.S.? One possible approach would be to have nurses or other health professionals visit parents and infants at home, the economists suggest. That practice is common in Europe, but fairly rare in the U.S.

More broadly, the implications of the study are clear. Inequality starts at birth, and the condition can be fatal.




When we liberals complain about the relative inequality between individuals in this country, we aren't just jealous of the rich. It causes a wide range of problems for those who don't have a basically sufficient level of income. Included are things like poor quality and quantity of food and clothing; affordable housing which is available only in downtrodden and often crime-ridden neighborhoods; too little access to higher education and good legal representation; a lack of good healthy entertainment for kids growing up, often leading them into gangs; and very poor parenting because the mother and father may be addicted to drugs, depressed and lacking in knowledge of how to bring a child up to be a good citizen. If they have to deal with the problems of being in a minority racial or religious group, or being gay, they may be so depressed and lacking in self confidence that they are doomed to a low status life, and possibly to a life of crime, in other words the creation of an “permanent underclass.” . A set of parents who, though poor, are positive thinkers, intelligent and hard workers and who rear their kids to be the same can make a great difference in their outcome, of course, but the sooner they get out of the underprivileged neighbor that they live in, the better. That's one less battle the parents have to fight.

Some effects of poverty are predictable. If mothers fail to get good prenatal care due to lack of money for the necessary medical treatment, if the lack of food causes malnutrition, and if the home is infested with rodents or insects illness cam result which is sufficient to cause death. Asthma is often a problem in the presence of roaches, for instance, and an underfed child may not have sufficient resistance to diseases to survive.

The article gives an interesting twist, however. The increased death rate occurs after the first month, rather than at birth, and is largely due to “accident” and “sudden infant death syndrome.” This sounds like parental neglect and in some cases even murder. Women suffering from Postpartum Depression have been know to kill their child, and a baby should never be put to sleep on its stomach, because it may not be strong enough to breath well enough in that position. Parents need to be told that, because it is not intuitive. Likewise there have been two cases here in Jacksonville of a two year old managing to get the the front door open and wandering out in the street, or into a retention pond where he drowns. Some of the children who have been left in hot cars were left because their mother was unable to get child care so she could safely do her errands without having to leave the child in that endangered condition. That too is usually caused by poverty.

The article says that in many European countries when a baby is born a nurse is sent along to help the new mother and to check on the child as time passes, which is not usually done in this country. I wonder if health insurance companies would pay for that? Otherwise, it would have to be the government that would finance and arrange a nurse for each new mother. I can't imagine that happening here.

For an interesting article on the term “permanent underclass” see the following Wall Street Journal article which I have copied to my other blog “Thoughts and Researches”:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303918804579107754099736882