Wednesday, March 18th, 2015
Honor Whiteman, - Medical News Today
Stephan:
Around 78.6 million adults in the US are obese; it is a condition most common among Americans aged 40-59, and it creates severe health risks. This is the latest research concerning obese women.
Obese women are at a 41% higher lifetime risk of developing a weight-related cancer than women of a healthy weight, the new statistics show.
Credit: Medical News Today
Women who are obese are around 40% more likely to develop certain forms of cancer than those of a healthy weight. This is according to new estimates calculated by Cancer Research UK.
Obesity – defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher – is a major problem in the US, affecting more than a third of adults and almost a fifth of children and adolescents.
It is well established that obesity can increase cancer risk. According to the American Cancer Society, excess body weight may contribute to cancer development through a number of mechanisms. It can interfere with immune system function, for example, or affect levels of hormones – such as estrogen and insulin – to drive cancer development.
A […]
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Wednesday, March 18th, 2015
David Edwards, - Alternet (U.S.)
Stephan: Fox is the largest cable operation in the U.S. It is not really a news network, and the quality and even the intelligence of its presenters seems very problematic to me. But millions of Americans hang on their every word. I have chosen to run this report to show the general quality of discourse on Fox and, indeed, the general level of discourse in the Republican Party. This might be seen a funny if it were not so dangerous to the long term wellbeing of America.
Andrea Tantaros
Credit: Raw Story
Fox News host Andrea Tantaros and Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) asserted on Monday that liberals were using snow days as a plot to remove religious holidays from schools.
Over the weekend, Boston’s Fox affiliate reported that the town of Easton, which is near Boston, was forced to push the end of the school year to June 29 due to an unusual amount of snow this winter. As contingency plan for next year, the school committee decided to eliminate two Jewish holidays and one Christian holiday instead of extending the school year.
On Monday’s edition of Outnumbered, Fox News host Jedediah Bila argued that schools should start earlier to “avoid angering this religious group or that religious group, and let everyone have their religious holiday.”
But Duffy said that there was something more sinister going on.
“That makes too much sense,” the Wisconsin Republican quipped. “Don’t let any good crisis go to waste, and if you want to take religion out of the public square, look at Boston and look at all […]
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Tuesday, March 17th, 2015
Linn Washington Jr. , - This Can't Be Happening
Stephan: The disconnect between law enforcement agencies and the population of people they are supposed to protect and serve, has become a major social disruptor and it is going to get worse because, as this report makes clear we are not dealing with these issues properly. We have the largest gulag in the world, and a little town in Oregon has a police force that has killed more citizens in a few weeks than the police in the entire country of German kill in several years.
This is part of the growing sense that our civil structure is the biggest problem the country faces, as is reflected in the recent Gallup Poll I published in SR. This is not a good place for a democracy. But Obama can't even get a new Attorney General confirmed, racism is as pronounced as it has been since the 60s. So the probability of anything significant being done to address this issue seems to me very small. Which means it will only get worse. What I am looking for is whether it motivates the Black and Hispanic communities to register and vote.
That this subject and its implications gets so little coverage in corporate media in any coherent way is itself, I think, revealing.
Click on the link to download
the Task Force on 21st Century Policing full report submitted to the President on 2 March.
Credit: thefreethoughtproject.com
The report released in early March by a panel President Obama appointed to examine serious shortcomings in police practices across America, including the shooting of unarmed people, mostly non-white, listed problems and proposed solutions that are hauntingly similar to those found in a report on police abuses released 47 years ago by another presidential panel.
The March 1968 report of the presidential panel popularly known as the Kerner Commission noted with dismay that many minorities nationwide regarded police as “an occupying force” – a presence that generated fear not feelings of security.
The March 2015 report from President Obama’s panel made a similar finding, noting that perceptions of police as an “occupying force coming in from the outside to rule and control the community” had sabotaged the ability of law enforcement to build trust in many communities.
Reactions to police brutality, particularly fatal encounters, triggered protests and riots that sparked both President Barack Obama and President Lyndon Johnson almost two generations earlier to appoint these two panels.
Sadly, the recommendations from President Obama’s panel could […]
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Tuesday, March 17th, 2015
Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer - Livescience
Stephan: I confess that until today, I had never heard of powered alcohol,, suspect it will be a huge hit, and have no doubt it will be abused. It continues to amaze me that we, as a society, don't get that the way to control abuse is to stop it before it happens through awareness, healthy diet, strong social support, while at the same time recognizing that there are a certain number of people who will abuse. And making them evil, and only having social programs that punish them or treat them shabbily doesn't help, is more expensive, and does not resolve the problem. The data on all this is absolutely clear.
Credit: Huffington Post
A powdered form of alcohol called Palcohol is now approved for sale in the United States, but how safe is this product?
Some health experts say they are concerned that powered alcohol could be abused by minors, or could be more easily more easily hidden and consumed in places where people are not allowed to have alcohol. But others argue that there is no reason the drug would be more hazardous than liquid alcohol.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved Palcohol, a powdered alcohol that people can drink by mixing the product with water, according to the company.
So far, the company has approval to sell four flavors: vodka, rum, cosmopolitan and Powderita (a margarita flavor), according to the Associated Press. When a packet of Palcohol is mixed with 6 ounces (177 milliliters) of water, the resulting drink has the same alcohol content as a standard mixed drink, the company says.
Palcohol’s maker expects to begin selling the product this summer. [The Drug […]
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Tuesday, March 17th, 2015
Sarah Shourd , - The Daily Beast
Stephan: The American corporate media hardly covers this subject, so inside the U.S. it is almost invisible. But beyond our borders this is what we look like. And I find this completely unacceptable.
Those of us who choose the life-affirming option have to become involved in the political process in force, and we must vote. The American Gulag is morally wrong, and it eats away at our social wellness like a cancer.
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, a typical U.S. jail cell
Credit:AP
After a half-decade and a mandate by the U.N. to investigate solitary confinement practices, U.N. torture rapporteur Juan Mendez had to find a backdoor into an American jail. Today, his findings are released in a report.
In 2010, Juan Mendez was appointed Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Degrading and Inhumane Treatment by the United Nations. His mandate is wide in size and scope—to expose and document torture wherever it exists on the planet today.
Since the beginning of his mandate Mendez has made criticizing the overuse of solitary confinement a priority. In 2011, he issued a report stating that 22 or 23 hours a day alone in a prison cell for more than 15 days at a time can cause permanent, lasting psychological damage and can constitute torture.
This problem, he emphasized, is particularly severe in the U.S., where prisoners are routinely held under such conditions for months, years […]
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