ERIC W. DOLAN, - The Raw Story
Stephan: This is a study which should be read, and acted upon, by all politicians. People, not surprisingly, want things to get better.
The actual study is to be found at: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/39/4/523.abstract
Activists, take note: People support reform if they believe the changes will enhance the future character of society, according to a study published online this month in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Namely, people support a future society that fosters the development of warm and moral individuals.
‘There are implications for communication, but also for policies themselves. The ‘easy’ answer would be to promote a policy or cause in terms of how it will make people more warm/moral,
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Saturday, March 23rd, 2013
TRAVIS WALDRON, - Think Progress
Stephan: The Republicans in the Congress overpower the Democrats over and over, because they have a clear vision of what their corporate masters want them to do, and they stick to it. In contrast the Democrats dither. Because the Democrats lacked the will to do their duty, and failed to change the Senate rules, power in the Congress has shifted to the House, where the Republican leadership is more committed to protecting their sponsors than protecting the economic health of the country. Every few months now we go through an economic crisis, each one degrading the country a little more.
Right after the House of Representatives approved a Senate bill to avert a government shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) set the stage for another down-to-the-wire crisis that will threaten the nation’s economic growth. At his weekly press conference, Boehner indicated that Republicans would again demand spending cuts in exchange for raising the nation’s debt ceiling, which it is set to hit in May.
Boehner said Republicans would only raise the debt ceiling if they got an equal amount of spending cuts, the Huffington Post reports:
‘Dollar for dollar is the plan,
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Saturday, March 23rd, 2013
FRITZ KREISS, - Nation of Change
Stephan: Like a car careening down a mountain road, we seem unable as a people and as a nation to gain control of our government and to make it serve national wellness instead of profit. Day after day these stories track the degradation of our quality of life.
Only mass demonstrations and mass voting is going to change this, and we seem to lack the political will as citizens to do either. We hate Congress, but most love their Congressperson, seeing no contradiction.
Monsanto’s near-monopoly gives the company the right to control access to a staple food item that is found in a wide range of consumer products.
Monsanto has yet another case pending in the court system, this time before the U.S. Supreme Court on the exclusivity of its genetically modified seed patents. Narrowly at issue is whether Monsanto retains patent rights on soybeans that have been replanted after showing up in generic stocks rather than being sold specifically as seeds, or whether those patent rights are ‘exhausted
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Saturday, March 23rd, 2013
Stephan: Our children are obese because of the 'foods' they eat. They have diabetes because of the high fructose corn syrup. We have girls experiencing menarche at 9, and breast development at 10 because of the hormones they unwittingly absorb because of industrial animal husbandry. And now we are discovering a growing number of them are autistic. The list goes on an on, all resulting from a society that is structured for maximum profit for the few.
According to the latest estimates from the CDC, as many as 1 in 50 kids in U.S. schools have autism. That’s a high number, even higher than last year’s estimate of one in 88 schoolchildren.
The statistic includes all disorders on the autism spectrum, including Asperger’s Syndrome. The study, which compared diagnoses in 2007 (at 1 in 86, according to their study) to those in 2011-’12, attributes ‘much’ of the increase in prevalence to ‘diagnoses of children with previously unrecognized autism spectrum disorder.’ Those diagnosed after 2008 were more likely to have a less severe form of autism, according to researchers. Increases in prevalence were statistically significant for all age groups, and for boys, but not for girls. Boys were four times more likely to have an autism disorder than girls were.
The study relied on parents to report diagnosis, severity, and the approximate date of diagnosis themselves, instead of relying on medical records. The latter, as the Associated Press explains, was the method used by last year’s study resulting in a 1 in 88 estimate for autism diagnosis, leading some to conclude that the current study is less reliable. In any case, the study’s authors are not really […]
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Saturday, March 23rd, 2013
Stephan: The Republican drive to protect their corporate masters, knows no limits, and if it leaves the rest of us at risk, so be it. Here is an excellent if horrific example of what I mean. Think about the implications of this report the next time you consider flying to a small city.
The U.S. will close 149 air-traffic control towers run by contractors at small- and mid-sized airports beginning on April 7 as a result of automatic budget cuts at government agencies.
The Federal Aviation Administration spared 24 towers on its original list of 173 subject to closing, it said in an e-mail today. All towers being shut down are run by private companies, not the government as at larger facilities. Another 16 private towers will face 5 percent cuts.
‘Unfortunately we are faced with a series of difficult choices that we have to make to reach the required cuts under sequestration,
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