Friday, January 14th, 2011
LESTER BROWN, - Foriegn Policy
Stephan: This is the latest useful piece I have read on this trend which is coming towards us like that Denzel Washington movie about the speeding train out of control
As the new year begins, the price of wheat is setting an all-time high in the United Kingdom. Food riots are spreading across Algeria. Russia is importing grain to sustain its cattle herds until spring grazing begins. India is wrestling with an 18-percent annual food inflation rate, sparking protests. China is looking abroad for potentially massive quantities of wheat and corn. The Mexican government is buying corn futures to avoid unmanageable tortilla price rises. And on January 5, the U.N. Food and Agricultural organization announced that its food price index for December hit an all-time high.
But whereas in years past, it’s been weather that has caused a spike in commodities prices, now it’s trends on both sides of the food supply/demand equation that are driving up prices. On the demand side, the culprits are population growth, rising affluence, and the use of grain to fuel cars. On the supply side: soil erosion, aquifer depletion, the loss of cropland to nonfarm uses, the diversion of irrigation water to cities, the plateauing of crop yields in agriculturally advanced countries, and — due to climate change — crop-withering heat waves and melting mountain glaciers and ice sheets. These climate-related trends seem destined to […]
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Thursday, January 13th, 2011
Stephan: Thanks to Henry Reed, PhD.
For some people, listening to music can release as much dopamine into the brain as cocaine.
A new study shows that a favorite piece of music can make your brain release dopamine, just like having sex, using drugs, or eating good food. Researchers at Canada’s McGill University say their findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, will help us understand both our minds and our evolution better. Here’s a look at what sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll have in common:
What exactly did the McGill team study?
Valorie Salimpoor and her team had eight participants from a pool of 217 volunteers listen to a piece of instrumental music that consistently gave them ‘chills,’ and scanned their brains over the course of three listening sessions. They also measured the ‘chills’ themselves, through changes in the subjects’ temperature, skin conductance, heart rate, and breathing. The other 209 contenders were eliminated because they didn’t reliably get goosebumps, or because they brought music with lyrics, which the McGill team avoided to keep the study focused on music.
So what did the participants want to hear?
The most popular piece was Samuel Barber’s ‘Adagio for Strings,’ both the orchestral version and a techno dance remix. Other hits included Claude […]
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Thursday, January 13th, 2011
Stephan: The Illness Profit System positioning itself for health 'reform.' You will note this conference is not about how to provide broader, better healthcare. It is about making money. Conservative politicians will posture about Obamacare for their base, but the financial interests have already moved on.
We are never going to have a healthcare system in this country, worthy of that name, as long as profit and not health is the first consideration. We are compromising our security as a country because we will not address this issue.
SAN FRANCISCO — As Republicans push forward on repealing health reform, planning the law’s demise, a different conversation is happening among thousands of health care investors gathered in San Francisco for this week’s J.P Morgan Health Care Conference: how to capitalize on health reform’s new business opportunities.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates 32 million Americans will gain health insurance by 2019 if the law stands. For health insurers, that represents a potential boon for both their individual market business as well as in the Medicaid market, where states regularly contract with private insurers to manage care.
‘The worst is behind them,
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Thursday, January 13th, 2011
HELEN BRIGGS, Health Reporter - BBC News (U.K.)
Stephan: If you regularly take NSAIDs you might want to discuss this with your physician.
Taking certain painkillers daily for some years carries a small increased risk of heart attack and stroke, research has suggested.
The findings relate to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen prescribed long-term to treat painful conditions such as arthritis.
People taking them now and again are at minimal risk, say experts.
The report, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at more than 100,000 patients in 31 clinical trials.
A Swiss team analysed data from existing large-scale studies comparing use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – naproxen, ibuprofen, diclofenac, celecoxib, etoricoxib, rofecoxib and lumiracoxib – with other drugs or placebo.
One of the drugs – rofecoxib (also known by its brand name, Vioxx) was withdrawn in 2004 when other studies found a raised risk of heart attacks.
Continue reading the main story
‘Start Quote
This confirms what has been known for some years now – taking non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs on a regular basis increases heart attack or stroke risk
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Thursday, January 13th, 2011
SAHIL KAPUR, - The Raw Story
Stephan: If one actually reads the Teabagger stuff, the websites and essays, it is clear that there is a strong streak of racism running through all of it. It is usually expressed in dog whistle language, but it is frequently present. This is a symptom of what is going to be a major trend in this century. Not only is America soon to be a majority nonwhite country -- with white enclaves in the middle -- the world is about to be recognized as majority nonwhite as well, in terms of power. We are moving into a multiracial multipolar world from the white bipolar world most of us have known all our lives. Those of us who are white are going to face the reality that for the first time in 500 years, whites are not going to run the world. This is going to be very stressful in the U.S. and, to varying degrees throughout the world. Managing it is going to be one of the important tasks facing American society.
Tea party groups have succeeded in reversing nationally praised school integration policies in Raleigh, North Carolina, decrying the longstanding system as one of social engineering.
The Washington Post reports that tea party pressure has motivated Wake County School District’s largely Republican school board to abolish policies the newspaper describes as ‘one of the nation’s most celebrated integration efforts.’
‘Say no to the social engineers!’ was one of their slogans.
The Post hails the existing system as a ‘rarity,’ noting that some of the county’s ‘best, most diverse schools are in the poorest sections of this capital city. And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents cannot afford a house in the neighborhood.’
The school board is instead considering a system in which poor children are relegated to low-income neighborhood schools, moving away from its current policies where most schools have students from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds.
Critics have sharply denounced the new plans as a form of segregation, noting that poorer children are often minorities and arguing that the new tea party-backed ideas will lead to a new cycle of poverty for the less fortunate.
Chief among them is the NAACP, which has slammed the effort as discriminatory and […]
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