Friday News Bucket

Posted by CabinGirl | Jun 15, 2007 | 14 |

A great leader never sets themselves above their followers except in caring responsibilities.
~Jules Ormont

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CabinGirl

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CabinGirl on June 15, 2007 at 8:45 am

that PTSD is a problem: AP/Yahoo

Overwhelmed by the number of soldiers returning from war with mental problems, the Army is planning to hire at least 25 percent more psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.

A contract finalized this week but not yet announced calls for spending $33 million to add about 200 mental health professionals to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health needs, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

“As the war has gone on, PTSD and other psychological effects of war have increased,” said Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general.

I’m glad they’re finally making some small attempt to address the problem, but it really makes me angry that NOBODY needed to come home with PTSD for a war based on lies. And what is their plan for supporting these returned soldiers while they receive treatment? Dump them out on the streets? Charge them for their treatment?

Is it 2009 yet?
- Steven D on June 15, 2007 at 9:18 am
  
  Key words here: planning to hire. Whether they actually get hired …?
  - CabinGirl on June 15, 2007 at 11:09 am
    
    Yeah, it’s like pledging money to fight AIDS in Africa…let’s them say they’re doing something without it actually happening. Cuz you know the reporters aren’t going to actually do any muckraking and follow-up.
dada on June 15, 2007 at 10:32 am

Gore calls BS on G8

pretty well sums up the feelings of a lot of observers…

“It was a disgrace disguised as an achievement, Gore said at an event in Milan, where he praised Merkel for her efforts.

“The eight most powerful nations gathered and were unable to do anything except to say ‘We had good conversations and we agreed that we will have more conversations, and we will even have conversations about the possibility of doing something in the future on a voluntary basis perhaps.”

link

yep

lTMF’sA

clik images for info
dada on June 15, 2007 at 10:34 am

Energy bill?…what energy bill…

things are a little harder when Cheney doesn’t run the show, but not so much so that big energy doesn’t get its way:

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats, eager for a vote on energy legislation, ran into staunch Republican resistance Thursday to requiring that utilities use more wind, solar and other renewable sources to produce electricity.

The impasse over renewable fuels came as Democrats said they would seek nearly $13.7 billion in tax breaks to promote clean energy, biofuels, more fuel efficient vehicles and conservation.

[…]

Senators late Thursday rejected a proposal to allow limited natural gas development in waters off the mid-Atlantic coast despite a long-standing drilling moratorium.

A proposal to let Virginia seek a waiver to the drilling ban for a large portion of federal waters off its coast was defeated 43-44.

Democrats were forced to set aside — at last until next week — their renewable fuels proposal after it became clear they lacked the 60 votes to proceed.

The bill would require power companies to increase use of wind turbines, solar panels, biomass, geothermal energy or other renewable sources to produce at least 15 percent of their electricity by 2020. Only about 2.4 percent of the country’s electricity is produced that way now.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (news, bio, voting record), D-N.M., the measure’s chief sponsor, said the mandate is needed to stimulate expansion of fuel sources other than coal and natural gas. He said if his plan is enacted, greenhouse gas emissions from power plants will fall by nearly 7 percent from levels projected for 2020.

Opponents argued that some regions of the country couldn’t meet the requirement and that it would cause electricity prices to increase in those areas, especially across the South.

By a 56-39 vote, senators rejected a GOP alternative that would have allowed utilities to meet the requirement by also building more nuclear power plants and taking conservation measures.

Republicans balked and refused to allow a vote on Bingaman’s measure.

[…]

Twenty-three states have renewable fuels requirements; nine of them are equal or more aggressive than the proposal federal requirements.

[…]

The renewable fuels proposal has been the subject of intense lobbying by utilities. The Georgia-based Southern Co. has made killing the measure its legislative priority.

link

good to see that the utility and energy companies haven’t lost much of their clout with the dem majority, eh.

going to be a long hot summer.

lTMF’sA

clik images for info
- rba on June 15, 2007 at 2:15 pm
  
  Eating our lunch at the standards CAFE:
  
  Keith Bradsher/NYT: G.M. Thrives in China With Small, Thrifty Vans (August 9, 2005)
  
  “General Motors has hit on a formula that has propelled it to the leading spot in Chinese car sales: $5,000 minivans that get 43 miles to the gallon.”
  
  Abstract from the Times site. Turns out GM fired the exec that designed the thing.
Man Eegee on June 15, 2007 at 11:55 am

Should know more by this afternoon…

Prosecutors are expected to tell a judge Friday why a Border Patrol agent should be charged with murder for fatally shooting a Mexican man just north of the border.

Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer filed a range of charges against Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett, including first- and second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide. – linkage
- CabinGirl on June 15, 2007 at 11:59 am
  
  Um, because killing people is illegal in the US, regardless of their ethnic descent?
  
  How said that the unbelievable has become commonplace.
  - Man Eegee on June 15, 2007 at 12:01 pm
    
    You’d be surprised what Border Patrol and ICE can get away with…
    
    The only reason is this being prosecuted at all is because the family is making lots of noise, and there was video. Otherwise, it would’ve been swept under the rug like most other sanctioned murders along la frontera.
    - dada on June 15, 2007 at 3:11 pm
      
      …The hearing had been scheduled for Friday, but Judge David C. Morales said he would postpone it to Aug. 6 to give the defense and prosecution time to get
      
      their shit
      
      the right documents together…
      
      link
      
      another 6 weeks until they decide whether or not this rises to the level of a crime?
      
      sad to say, but it appears this one’s headed for the memory hole
      
      lTMF’sA
      
      clik images for info
Man Eegee on June 15, 2007 at 12:00 pm

St. McCain supports building the Great Wall™

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday he supports a U.S.-Mexico border fence and dismissed landowners’ concerns that it would cut off their access to water from the Rio Grande. – linkage
dada on June 15, 2007 at 1:28 pm

big butts, big pharma, and big bucks…

As Alli, the first FDA-approved diet drug cleared for over-the-counter sale, arrives in drugstores nationwide today, doctors and nutritionists are trying to counter that intense consumer interest and a marketing juggernaut with some spin of their own, arguing that the drug’s high cost and limited effectiveness may not be worth its notably unpleasant side effects….

GlaxoSmithKline…expects Alli to ultimately rake in at least $1.5 billion in annual sales, and the company is expected to spend $150 million on marketing the drug in its first year…

and what might those notably unpleasant side effects be?

Then there are the side effects, which can include oily discharge, diarrhea and uncontrollable bowel movements significant enough for the company to recommend carrying an extra pair of pants until users have acclimated to the drug. The side effects alone can force users to eat less…

linkage if you must

gives new meaning to the expression mud slide

wonder if it comes with a discount coupon for Deepends?

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

jezeus……“Just eat less and exercise more.”…

lTMF’sA

clik images for info
JanetT in MD on June 15, 2007 at 1:38 pm

After delays and a slight re-working of the cirriculum due to protests from ex-gay therapy groups, the new sex education program in Montgomery County, Maryland schools has been approved by the school board by a 6-1 vote. The program is aimed at 8th and 10th graders.

Students in the pilot program were given the choice of “opting out” of the class — only 84 out of 905 students did so. The cirriculum includes a 7-minute video on how to use a condom, two lessons covering sexual orientations, and allows teachers to answer students’ questions on homosexuality.

“If students ask, `Is homosexuality an illness?’ say, `No. The American Psychiatric Association does not include homosexuality in its listing of psychiatric or mental disorders,” Weast wrote in a June 11 memo. “We believe this change, reviewed by legal counsel and consistent with one of the [advisory committee’s] recommendations, provides the appropriate guidance to teachers should they receive this question from students during the lessons.”

Montgomery County Gazette

The program is slated to be taught in middle schools and high schools starting next year, though the state board of education will have the final say. The anti-gay and ex-gay groups will probably appeal.

This is a great step forward — we keep hearing about the failure of “abstinence only” approaches to sex ed, and it’s nice to see in this very blue and diverse county, that common sense and real information will be guiding the cirriculum presented to teenagers about sex and contraception. (Abstinence is encouraged, but real information on safe sex and contraception is presented as well.)

And from the op-ed pages, Sex education, yes, ignorance, no by Allan Lichtman (history professor at American University and former candidate for US Senate last year).
CabinGirl on June 15, 2007 at 5:54 pm

and wants everyone to know it.

His views are even more extreme than W’s.

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