Thursday, March 7th, 2013
BERNHARD ZAND, - Der Spiegel (Germany)
Stephan: As horrifying as this story is, in terms of the environment, I think it is actually good news. Perhaps China will finally begin to deal with the massive pollution that their reliance on coal is producing. If so the whole world should be grateful. The government's motivation may be entirely pragmatic, but it is the outcome that should concern us. Getting China off coal is in every living being's interest.
China’s power plants and factories are spewing out toxic emissions and covering the country with smog and grime. For the new leadership, protecting the neglected environment has become a question of preserving its power.
What does growth smell like? What does the biggest economic miracle of all time taste like?
In Guiyu, on the South China Sea, the smell of growth is a caustic, slightly nut-like odor emitted when a computer keyboard is placed on a hotplate. Electronic waste is processed in Guiyu, one of the most prosperous cities in Guangdong Province.
In Xintang, on the Pearl River Delta, it is the bitterly acidic gases that are released when tons of denim material are bleached, dyed and washed. Xintang is the jeans capital of the world, a source of jobs for tens of thousands of people.
In Hainan, a coal and cement town in Inner Mongolia, it is a dull cocktail of soot, chalk and desert sand. Here, growth is something you taste and touch, rather than something you smell. It crunches between your teeth when you are outside.
In Beijing, the capital of the country whose economic success has amazed the world for the last 30 years, the myriad smells and tastes of growth […]
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Thursday, March 7th, 2013
BILL BRIGGS, NBC News Contributor - NBC News
Stephan: In the toxic miasma of the gun control debate, actual facts can be hard to come by. Part of the reason for this is the NRA, the arms manufacturing lobby, pressing their client Congressional minions to block the needed research. This report tries to make an initial attempt to come to clarity.
I think it is very important to keep a sense of proportion about guns. They are part of our culture but, at the same time, over the past decade of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq 6,656 Americans were killed (by the estimate of icasualties.org). During 2011, alone, at least 31,940 people died from gun injuries.
Over the course of that same war decade about 270,000 Americans died by gun. A number equal to 44% of the 618,222 deaths in the Civil War, from both battle, disease or other war related causes.
We have a hidden unorganized, often even unintentional, war going on in the U.S., and we are not acknowledging it. We need to make decisions that are fact based, and find a balance between the Second Amendment and civilization. And we need to do it now, before 3-D printing goes viral.
States with a heavier dose of firearm laws tend to have the lowest rates of gun deaths, according to a study released Wednesday by Boston-based researchers who argue their findings show ‘there is a role’ in America for more rigid gun-control legislation.
‘It seems pretty clear: If you want to know which of the states have the lowest gun-mortality rates just look for those with the greatest number of gun laws,’ said Dr. Eric W. Fleegler of Boston Children’s Hospital who, with colleagues, analyzed firearm-related deaths reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007 through 2010.
By scoring individual states simply by the sheer volume of gun laws they have on the books, the researchers noted that in states with the highest number of firearms measures, their rate of gun deaths is collectively 42 percent lower when compared to states that have passed the fewest number of gun rules. The study was published online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
As proof, Fleegler pointed to the firearm-fatality rates in law-laden states such as Massachusetts (where there were 3.4 gun deaths per 100,000 individuals), New Jersey (4.9 per 100,000) and Connecticut (5.1 per 100,000). In states with sparser firearms laws, researchers […]
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Thursday, March 7th, 2013
, - The Wall Street Journal
Stephan: Here is the latest update on an increasingly alarming trend, the decline in the lifespan of certain cohorts of American women. I have done several stories on this over the past few years, each one worse than the one preceding it. Note particularly the class and education factors in this trend.
While women in the rest of the world see their lifespans increasing, in the U.S. it is rather the opposite. This trend constitutes a ringing alarm, telling us our social structure is not producing wellness.
NEW YORK-A new study offers more compelling evidence that life expectancy for some U.S. women is actually falling, a disturbing trend that experts can’t explain.
The latest research found that women age 75 and younger are dying at higher rates than previous years in nearly half of the nation’s counties-many of them rural and in the South and West. Curiously, for men, life expectancy has held steady or improved in nearly all counties.
A new survey from the American Psychological Association reveals troubling findings about stress in the American workplace. WSJ’s Lauren Weber and the American Psychological Association’s David Ballard join Lunch Break to discuss.
Two studies that looked at the effects of smoking over a lifetime found that both men and women who smoke were about three times as likely to die before reaching age 80 in one study, and 75 in the other study. WSJ’s Ron Winslow reports.
Health: Working to Make Childbirth Safer
The study is the latest to spot this pattern, especially among disadvantaged white women. Some leading theories blame higher smoking rates, obesity and less education, but several experts said they simply don’t know why.
Women have long outlived men, and the latest numbers show […]
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Thursday, March 7th, 2013
LYDIA SAAD, - The Gallup Organization
Stephan: I am increasingly struck by the disconnect between what overwhelming majorities of Americans want their government to do, and what the government actually does. This disparity, I believe, is a measure of how corrupted our Congress has become. Senators and Representatives routinely support their corporate masters, no matter what the people actually wish them to do. It reveals America's failing democracy, and there is only one nonviolent way to stop it. Vote for that which is compassionately life affirming. Look at what comes out the other end of the pipeline, and make your decision on that basis. This is my take: the 2014 House election, and potentially three Supreme Court appointments, a total of 20 people, will determine the fate of America.
We know what it takes for a population to live in such a way that both individuals and country prosper. This minimum wage argument is really about this: Is it in the interest of the nation to see that people make a living wage, and that wealth be better distributed? And that national wellness become the first priority.
To stop the downward spiral we have got to get more people to vote. That is the only way this is going to stop. Gerrymandering or no, the House must be changed. Our lives depend upon it, and we must express that with our votes.
Over the next two years those of us who see life in all its forms as interconnected and interdependent, and who recognize that working with life processes is the better smarter course, and who value democracy have got to figure out how to turnover 17 seats. Partisanship when it is emotion based not fact based isn't very helpful. But when it is fact based, the chance of success goes up materially; and there is simply no question that Blue value policies produce better outcomes.
Click through to see the charts that help to make this report clear.
PRINCETON, NJ — Seven in 10 Americans say they would vote ‘for’ raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour if given the opportunity, while 27% would vote against such a bill. The proposal, made by President Barack Obama in his 2013 State of the Union speech, is backed by over 90% of Democrats and self-described liberals, and by over two-thirds of independents and moderates. Republicans are evenly split on the proposal, while conservatives tilt slightly in favor.
Support for Raising U.S. Federal Minimum Wage to $9 per Hour
There is also a wide range of support among various demographic groups, although the majority of every group supports it.
In addition to liberals and Democrats, those most likely to favor raising the minimum wage include nonwhites, adults earning less than $24,000 annually, women, young adults, residents of the East, and moderates. At least three-quarters of Americans in each of these groups support it.
Additionally, at least two-thirds of seniors, lower-middle-income Americans (those earning between $24,000 and $59,999 a year), independents, Western and Southern residents, and adults aged 30 to 49 are in favor.
Support drops below 67% among Republicans, conservatives, residents of the Midwest, men, adults aged 50 to 64, whites, and upper-middle- and high-income […]
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Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
KATIE BASS, - The Gallup Organization
Stephan: Once again the Red value, Blue value disparity is revealed in another area of social wellness. As you read this survey, remember the Gallup survey I ran just a few days ago on the March 1st: 'For Fourth Year, Hawaii No. 1 in Wellbeing, W.Va. Last.'
Once again click through to see the clarifying charts and maps.
WASHINGTON, DC — Colorado residents were the least likely in the nation to be obese in 2012 — as has been the case since 2010 — making it the only state where less than 20% of adults are obese. West Virginia – also for a third year in a row — is the state with the highest obesity rate, at 33.5%; however, this is down from 35.3% in 2012, which was the highest for any state that Gallup and Healthways have found since 2008.
11 States with Lowest Obesity Rates10 States with Highest Obesity Rates
The national obesity rate remained steady at 26.2% in 2012, compared with 26.1% in 2011, but is still higher than the 2008 average of 25.5%. Across states, obesity rates were statistically unchanged in 2012 when compared with 2011, with the exception of four states. Obesity rates increased in New Jersey, Georgia, and North Carolina while obesity rates in Delaware decreased.
These data, collected as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, are based on respondents’ self-reports of their height and weight, which are used to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI) scores. Americans who have a BMI of 30 or higher are classified as obese. Gallup and Healthways have been […]
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