STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The violent threats are not what bother Michael Mann the most. He’s used to them. Instead, it’s the fact that his life’s work – the effort to stop global warming – has been under siege since last fall. That’s when Mann suddenly found himself in the middle of the so-called ‘climategate’ scandal, in which more than 1,000 e-mails among top climate scientists – including Mann – were obtained illegally by hackers and published on the Internet. The e-mails showed some of the scientists sharing doubts about just how fast the Earth’s temperature is rising, questioning the work of other researchers and refusing to share data with the public. Critics, including Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., have seized on the e-mails as proof that Mann and his colleagues deliberately exaggerated the scientific case behind global warming. In a rare extended interview, Mann acknowledges ‘minor’ errors but says he has been bewildered by the criticism – including a deluge of correspondence sent to his Pennsylvania State University office that, he says, occasionally has turned ugly. ‘I’ve developed a thick skin,’ Mann says. ‘Frankly, I’m more worried that these people are succeeding in creating doubt in […]
TUCSON — Each year some 30 million American men undergo testing for prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme made by the prostate. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, the P.S.A. test is the most commonly used tool for detecting prostate cancer. The test’s popularity has led to a hugely expensive public health disaster. It’s an issue I am painfully familiar with – I discovered P.S.A. in 1970. As Congress searches for ways to cut costs in our health care system, a significant savings could come from changing the way the antigen is used to screen for prostate cancer. Americans spend an enormous amount testing for prostate cancer. The annual bill for P.S.A. screening is at least $3 billion, with much of it paid for by Medicare and the Veterans Administration. Prostate cancer may get a lot of press, but consider the numbers: American men have a 16 percent lifetime chance of receiving a diagnosis of prostate cancer, but only a 3 percent chance of dying from it. That’s because the majority of prostate cancers grow slowly. In other words, men lucky enough to reach old age are much more likely to die with prostate cancer than […]
WASHINGTON — About 16 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49 are infected with genital herpes, making it one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday. Black women had the highest rate of infection at 48 percent and women were nearly twice likely as men to be infected, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 21 percent of women were infected with genital herpes, compared to only 11.5 percent of men, while 39 percent of blacks were infected compared to about 12 percent for whites, the CDC said. There is no cure for genital herpes, or herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), which can cause recurrent and painful genital sores and also increases the likelihood of acquiring and transmitting the AIDS virus. It is related to herpes simplex virus 1, or oral herpes, which causes cold sores. Several drugs are available to treat herpes symptoms and outbreaks, including acyclovir, which is available generically or under the Zovirax brand name, and valacyclovir, known generically as Valtrex — both made by GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.L). Ganciclovir, sold as Zirgan, is made by privately-held […]
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Obama’s State of the Union address was ‘very troubling’ and the annual speech has ‘degenerated to a political pep rally.’ Obama chided the court, with the justices seated before him in their black robes, for its decision on a campaign finance case. Responding to a University of Alabama law student’s question, Roberts said anyone was free to criticize the court, and some have an obligation to do so because of their positions. ‘So I have no problems with that,’ he said. ‘On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. ‘The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court - according the requirements of protocol - has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling.’ Breaking from tradition, Obama criticized the court’s decision that allows corporations and unions to freely spend money to run political ads for or against specific candidates. ‘With all due deference to the separation of powers the Supreme Court reversed a […]
WASHINGTON — It wasn’t long ago that Marco Rubio and Tim Pawlenty — two rising Republican stars — supported legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But in recent weeks, both have begun to express doubts about whether cars, factories and power plants have anything to do with global warming. The shift by Rubio and Pawlenty — as well as other prominent Republicans — reflects the rising power of climate change skeptics in the GOP, where global warming is becoming a litmus test for conservatives. Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, is running for the U.S. Senate. Pawlenty, Minnesota’s governor, is eyeing a 2012 presidential bid. For Republicans, ‘the new political expediency is to be a global warming skeptic,’ said Marc Morano, executive editor of the skeptic clearinghouse website ClimateDepot.com and a former aide to outspoken skeptic Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.). Fuel for the resurgence of attacks on global warming came in December, when leaked e-mails from a British university showed top climate scientists from around the world apparently discussing skirting public information laws and other practices of questionable ethics — an incident that has become known as Climategate. Then came revelations […]
Schwartzreport Podcast
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
