Tara Culp-Ressler, - Think Progress
Stephan: Another Theocratic lie is blown away by actual data. It is a matter of accepted belief on the Right that women who terminate pregnancies are haunted by guilt and regret. It is certainly not something that is undertaken lightly, but the women I have known who have had to make this decision never seemed to fit the Rightist profile. But this handful of women hardly constituted a study.
So now we have a study. And once again data presents a very different picture from the one painted by the TRs.
According to a new study that tracked hundreds of women who had abortions, more than 95 percent of participants reported that ending a pregnancy was the right decision for them. Feelings of relief outweighed any negative emotions, even three years after the procedure. (emphasis added)
Researchers examined both women who had first-trimester abortions and women who had procedures after that point (which are often characterized as “late-term abortions”). When it came to women’s emotions following the abortion, or their opinions about whether or not it was the right choice, they didn’t find any meaningful difference between the two groups.
These findings contradict the notion that women experience negative mental health effects after ending a pregnancy, as well as the idea that later abortions are more psychologically traumatic.
Though there’s no scientific evidence to support the idea that abortion is linked to a greater risk of mental health problems, this framework is often used to justify passing additional restrictions on the procedure. Seven states, for instance, have mandatory counseling laws that require pregnant women to receive information about abortion’s negative psychological consequences before they’re allowed to proceed. Some of those materials specifically reference “postabortion […]
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Larry Schwartz, - The Raw Story/Alternet (U.S.)
Stephan: On the basis of data everything in this report is true, and there is much more that could have been said along these lines. And I just can't express how much I hate saying that. Increasingly I have come to see this as a question of citizen involvement, and the choices made: whether to vote, and for whom to vote. We are a dysfunctional society, and we are going to keep getting worse until more people vote, and vote for wellness. The decline of an empire is not pretty. History is very clear on that point.
Credit: 20th Century Fox/Everett
America! Land of the free, home of the brave, and the greatest country on the face of the planet, right? A country with seemingly limitless natural resources, and according to many politicians, anointed by God herself to lead the world out of the wilderness and into a bright new age of liberty and justice for all. Too bad the road to that vision is pockmarked with so many potholes, because we haven’t raised enough taxes on people who can afford to pay to fill them.
Americans, maybe more than anyone on Earth, are guilty of the sin of hubris and excessive pride. As the great Greek poets of the ancient world have taught us, hubris can lead to some really bad outcomes.The reality is that a good portion of the rest of the world has far outpaced the United States in things like healthcare. While the U.S. has painstakingly cobbled together a convoluted insurance-friendly monster called Obamacare (remarkable mostly for how much better it is than […]
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Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate Economist and Op-ed Columnist - The New York Times
Stephan: Paul Krugman, his fellow Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Piketty, and other data based economists, like climate scientists, ringing alarms, and sending up warning flares. Here is Krugman's take, which I think is very accurate.
Paul Krugman
Credit: Businessweek
Greece is a faraway country with an economy roughly the size of greater Miami, so America has very little direct stake in its ongoing disaster. To the extent that Greece matters to us, it’s mainly about geopolitics: By poisoning relations among Europe’s democracies, the Greek crisis risks depriving the United States of crucial allies.
But Greece has nonetheless played an outsized role in U.S. political debate, as a symbol of the terrible things that will supposedly happen — any day now — unless we stop helping the less fortunate and printing money to fight unemployment. And Greece does indeed offer important lessons to the rest of us. But they’re not the lessons you think, and the people most likely to deliver a Greek-style economic disaster here in America are the very people who love to use Greece as a boogeyman.
To understand the real lessons of Greece, you need to be aware of two crucial points.
The first is that the “We’re […]
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Stephan: A complete stand alone residential power system is emerging faster than anyone predicted. Imagine the conical solar panels I reported the other day, wedded to the Tesla battery pack, and perhaps a stanchion with a wind generator in the system. That is the way Ronlyn and I are headed. Power independence, without degradation of life-style , with energy efficiency improvements, and a much lower carbon footprint is, I think, a worthy goal.
Tesla Home Battery Pack
Credit: Tesla
Energy storage technology is key to popularizing solar energy generation, and that point was underscored by the feature speaker at a large solar energy conference in San Francisco Monday: Tesla Motors’ chief technology officer, JB Straubel.
Straubel took the stage at Intersolar’s opening ceremony to extol the energy density and other virtues of lithium-ion battery for running electric cars and banking renewable energy to make solar and wind available on-demand after sundown or when the wind dies down.
Energy storage projects don’t always need to couple with renewable energy, however. Utilities or grid operators in California and eastern United States are either buying energy storage services or getting ready to do in order to follow regulatory mandates or to otherwise help them run their electric grids smoothly.
Straubel said battery costs will fall faster than expected, and the same for the demand for energy storage equipment that will be paired with solar panels. The combination will […]
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Alana Semuels , - The Atlantic
Stephan: This story describes a moral cancer that is eating away our society. I have been covering the Homeless Trend in SR for years now, as it has grown worse, and I'm sorry but there is something wrong with a country that behaves in this manner. Particularly now that we know that the path to wellness is to see people are housed. And we also know, based on real data, that it is much cheaper, easier, and less bureaucratic. Here is yet another confirmation of that. So the question is: Why aren't we doing this nationally?
The fundamental way to end homelessness is to vote and elect officials who make decisions that are compassionate and life-affirming, based on data not ideology or theology.
A homeless family in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Credit: AP
America has the largest number of homeless women and children in the industrialized world. It’s a depressing statistic exacerbated by a housing crisis that forced thousands of families out onto the street. The stories of the 1.6 million children who experience homelessness every year (emphasis added)—like that of Dasani, an 11-year-old homeless child profiled by The New York Times last year—are reminiscent of tales from developing countries or disaster zones.
In 2010, the Obama administration announced a plan to end homelessness among children, youth, and families by 2020—but, predictably, there have been spats over funding and how to best use federal dollars.
Now a rigorous report, the first large-scale experiment ever conducted to test the effectiveness of homelessness interventions for families, might have some clues about how to create meaningful change. The Family Options Study is a three-year-long evaluation of three types of ways to help homeless families, conducted by the Department of Housing and […]
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