Sunday, November 21st, 2010
BRAD KNICKERBOCKER, Staff Writer - The Christian Science Monitor
Stephan: Nineteen young men, with what is estimated to be at most a few hundred thousand dollars -- APPROXIMATELY WHAT WE SPEND AROUND THE CLOCK EVERY 10 MINUTES IN AFGHANISTAN ALONE -- began a process that has achieved what the late Soviet Union never could with all the billions it spent. This handful of man-boys, and the estimated few thousand more al-Qaeda, aided by tens of thousands of men offended by occupation, have forced America, which spends more on defense than the rest of the world combined, to bleed more than a trillion dollars. And to subject itself to a vast erosion of personal liberty and privacy, all at a cost to them estimated to be less than a couple of million dollars a year. So tell me: Who's winning this war?
As the high-travel Thanksgiving holiday approaches, travelers and lawmakers are up in arms over airport security measures.
On special web sites, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the U.S. Travel Association have been getting thousands of complaints. Facebook and Twitter are smoking with posted outrage.
In response to terrorist threats, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) now gives airline passengers two choices: Get a full-body scan using low-dose radiation that shows a naked image – everything from head to toe – which may or not be harmful to one’s health, depending on the expert cited. Or refuse the scan and have a stranger run his or her hands over every part of your body.
Critics call it a no-win choice: Get zapped or get groped.
‘With the holiday travel season fast approaching, we need to make sure that security measures are in place that actually make us more secure without compromising passenger privacy,
No Comments
Sunday, November 21st, 2010
T.W. FARNAM, Staff Writer - The Washington Post
Stephan: Thanks to David Nichols, JD.
Results from November’s midterm elections have exposed a deepening political divide between cities on the coasts and the less-dense areas in the middle of the country.
The Republican Party’s big gains in the House came largely from districts that were older, less diverse and less educated than the nation as a whole. Democrats kept their big majorities in the cities.
That’s a contrast to the last GOP wave in 1994, when Republicans’ share of the vote was consistent inside and outside metropolitan areas, according to a Washington Post analysis. That year, Republicans captured seats in a broader array of places.
The analysis, based on a review of the House vote in counties across the country in both years, has good and bad news for both parties.
The Obama coalition remained intact. Democrats remained strong in areas with the party’s core of minorities and higher-educated whites. But movement of white working-class voters away from the party is a concern for Democrats, especially because of President Obama’s traditional weakness with those voters.
Republicans’ success with the blue-collar vote and the high enthusiasm of the tea party gives it a fired-up base headed into 2012. But in a presidential election with higher turnout, the party might have trouble […]
No Comments
Sunday, November 21st, 2010
Stephan: The stress produced by the dismantlement of our middle class democracy, and the shift of middle class wealth to the very rich, is literally driving people, particularly young people, crazy. And the stress produced by our insistence in pursuing the Illness Profit Industry's model of healthcare -- demonstrably a disaster -- just compounds these problems.
CHICAGO — More than 45 million Americans, or 20 percent of U.S. adults, had some form of mental illness last year, and 11 million had a serious illness, U.S. government researchers reported on Thursday.
Young adults aged 18 to 25 had the highest level of mental illness at 30 percent, while those aged 50 and older had the lowest, with 13.7 percent, said the report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA.
The rate, slightly higher than last year’s 19.5 percent figure, reflected increasing depression, especially among the unemployed, SAMHSA, part of the National Institutes of Health, said.
‘Too many Americans are not getting the help they need and opportunities to prevent and intervene early are being missed,’ Pamela Hyde, SAMHSA’s administrator, said in a statement.
‘The consequences for individuals, families and communities can be devastating. If left untreated mental illnesses can result in disability, substance abuse, suicides, lost productivity, and family discord.’
The 2009 mental health survey hints at the impact of record unemployment rates, which last year hit a 25-year high as struggling employers slashed jobs to cope with a weak economy.
For many, lost employment meant loss of health insurance, leaving many of the nation’s mentally ill unable to […]
No Comments
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
KRISSAH THOMPSON, Staff Writer - The Washington Post
Stephan: I first wrote about this it must be nearly 4 decades ago. I interviewed and came to know some of these Black farmers, recounting in those long ago stories how they got screwed. I was appalled at the time at how they had been treated, and have followed their story ever since. In many cases I think this money will be going to grandchildren.
After months of hang-ups, the Senate unanimously approved Friday two multibillion-dollar settlements that will rectify long-standing claims against the federal government for discrimination and mismanagement.
The vote essentially brings closure to the two cases, which have each been litigated for more than a decade.
The House, which has twice endorsed the deals, must still do so one more time, an action that is expected after Thanksgiving. Senate approval, however, has been a huge hurdle for Native Americans, who sued the government over poorly handled individual Indians’ trust accounts, and black farmers, who were for years unfairly refused loans by the Agriculture Department.
‘Black farmers and Native American trust account holders have had to wait a long time for justice, but now it will finally be served,’ Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement after the vote. ‘I am heartened that Democrats and Republicans were able to come together to deliver the settlement that these men and women deserve for the discrimination and mismanagement they faced in the past.’
Native Americans involved in the land trust lawsuit will get access to a $3.4 billion fund. Black farmers who are a part of a class-action lawsuit against the USDA will receive a […]
No Comments
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
SEAN O'GRADY, Economics Editor - The Independent (U.K.)
Stephan: My own view is that conservative climate deniers are going to block any meaningful legislation until a massive crisis occurs, some kind of uber-Katrina event, at which point there will be much beating of breasts, calls for hearings, and the usual obfuscation used by politicians to protect themselves from being held accountable. It will be too late by then and the self-righteous justifications from the deniers will contribute nothing to actually grappling with these food issues.
A food crisis could overtake the world in 2011, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, an agency of the United Nations.
Climate change, speculation, competing uses such as biofuels and soaring demand from emerging markets in East Asia are the factors that will push global food prices sharply higher next year, claims the FAO.
The FAO warns the world to ‘be prepared’ for more price hikes and volatility if production and stocks do not respond. Price hikes of 41 per cent in wheat, 47 per cent in maize and a third in sugar are foreseen by the FAO. The last time that happened it sparked riots from Mexico to Indonesia.
In its latest Food Outlook the FAO says that the prices of many staple crops will rise by up to half next year, with many returning to the peaks seen during the food crisis of 2008, or even exceeding them in some cases. Apart from driving inflation higher in Britain and the rest of the Western world, another bout of food price hyperinflation has grim implications for the poorest people on the planet, even now hardly able to afford to feed themselves.
The FAO’s broad global index of food prices has risen to […]
No Comments
