Open Thread

22 Comments

1. 

   Quentin on April 16, 2008 at 7:38 am

   Beginning on April 23, the BBC World Service is going to broadcast a program titled the My Lai tapes. Evidently they’re going to broadcast parts of the live testimones (or all?). Have these tapes been heard in the U.S. on public networks? I’d be curious to know.

2. 

   ask on April 16, 2008 at 7:50 am

   Change in farming can feed world – report

   · Ample resources wasted, global study warns
   · Biofuels exacerbating shortage of food crops

   Sixty countries backed by the World Bank and most UN bodies yesterday called for radical changes in world farming to avert increasing regional food shortages, escalating prices and growing environmental problems.

   But in a move that has led to the US, UK, Australia and Canada not yet endorsing the report, the authors said GM technology was not a quick fix to feed the world’s poor and argued that growing biofuel crops for automobiles threatened to increase worldwide malnutrition.

   The report was issued as the UN’s World Food Programme called for rich countries to contribute $500m (£255m) to immediately address a growing global food crisis which has seen staple food price rises of up to 80% in some countries, and food riots in many cities. According to the World Bank, 33 countries are now in danger of political destabilisation and internal conflict following food price inflation.

   The authors of the 2,500-page International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development [IAASTD] say the world produces enough food for everyone, yet more than 800 million people go hungry. “Food is cheaper and diets are better than 40 years ago, but malnutrition and food insecurity threaten millions,” they write. […]

   • 

     idredit on April 16, 2008 at 8:44 am

     food insecurity is a Monsanto door opener….to genetically modified seeds.

     Japan has caved – now accepting GM corn.

     control the food and you ocntrol the people.

3. 

   fudgelady on April 16, 2008 at 7:51 am

   Arlen Specter’s cancer is back.  While I certainly wish the man well, I also can’t help wondering how this will change the political landscape.

   • 

     on April 16, 2008 at 9:21 am

     The “magic bullet.” Accessory to murder after the fact.

   • 

     Isis on April 16, 2008 at 10:53 am

     It opens up a chance for Gov. Rendell to appoint a Democrat to the Senate! That’s the + spin.

     • 

       americanforliberty on April 16, 2008 at 11:42 am

       If he was smart he would send himself to the Senate, the Democrats could then rid themselves of Traitor Joe.

4. 

   ask on April 16, 2008 at 7:57 am

   Ooops…

   Vitamins ‘may shorten your life’

   Research has suggested vitamin supplements do not extend life and could even lead to a premature death.

   A review of 67 studies found “no convincing evidence” that antioxidant supplements cut the risk of dying.

   Scientists at Copenhagen University said vitamins A and E could interfere with the body’s natural defences.

   “Even more, beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E seem to increase mortality,” according to the review by the respected Cochrane Collaboration. […]

   • 

     Second Nature on April 16, 2008 at 8:28 am

     Probably all of those people who smoke 2 packs a day and eat Big and Cheezies for lunch have had it right all along…

   • 

     idredit on April 16, 2008 at 8:59 am

     who paid for this review by the respected Cochrane Collaboration?  

     I wouldn’t be surprised to find it’s a consortium of Big Pharma that’s been pushing to have vitamin supplements sold by prescription. And a review is just what we need to advance the (CODEX Alimentaire) argument – ya know, you need a prescription to buy Vitamins.

     kinda suspect the conclusion.

     so we should not eat any yellow, green, red veggies – or fruits – they contain beta carotene, vitamin A and E and selenium, all those minerals too.

     better yet, for long life, we should stop eating altogether. Walla, that would resolve the food shortages.

     • 

       CabinGirl on April 16, 2008 at 9:08 am

       The Cochrane Group is an independent non-profit group funded by a medical publisher. LINK

       • 

         Second Nature on April 16, 2008 at 9:17 am

         Funny, on that same BBC page there was another study by the same group that found it doesn’t help to buy special HEPA filters for your vacuum or use allergen free pillow protectors.  Just keep paying $136 a month for Advair…

         • 

           CabinGirl on April 16, 2008 at 9:24 am

           You know what the best thing I’ve found for nasal allergies in the springtime is? Xlear nasal spray, which is not your typical nasal spray.

           Sounds hokey, but it really does work.

       • 

         idredit on April 16, 2008 at 10:06 am

         Good to see ya CG. Be well.

         Just a couple of points: It’s still the funding.

         I read that article first at The Independent, UK.

         Note the review was done at Copenhagen University, – Universities and reviews of studies are normally Big Pharma funded. This review was published by The Cochrane Collaboration.

         So, the Vitamin supplements “do us no good and may be harmful” – it’s only a review of studies, not an actual clinical trial over 40 years that would be more meaningful.

         Now, there’s much controversy over ‘stand-a-alone’ vitamin studies: depending on the brand of vitamins, the protocol governing the studies will vary the outcome, conclusion.

         Also a big issue is that different brands of vitamins vary in quality standards, potency, product absorption in the body and the manufacturer’s adherence to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) that differs from country to country. Example: Canada and the U.S.A. In the U.S.A, any company, without oversight, can manufacture vitamins and distribute. Not so in Canada where manufacturers of vitamins need to build or have their products manufactured eGMP pharmaceutical standard facilities.

         End point: Vitamin potency and absorption factors are key to any clinical analysis. We need to discard many of these studies that did not evaluate these factors and may have been included in this review of studies.

          JAMA,(Journal of American Medical Association) New England Journal of Medicine and American Clinical Journal of Nutrition (ACJN) have all flagged these issues…advising medical practitioners, pharmacists to be wary of these studies. Supplement standards vary. It’s well known some vitamin brands do not contain some of the ingredients listed on their labels.

         Again follow the money. There’s an ongoing battle by Big Pharma to control the vitamin supplements industry and alternative-complimentary medicine…because that where the dollars are being deployed.

         People are opting for Prevention.

         • 

           CabinGirl on April 16, 2008 at 10:19 am

           Cochrane solicits opinion leaders (like folks from Copenhagen University) to review all of the published data on a given subject and publish a report.  That’s really all they do.  Each of those individual has it’s own separate funding, maybe from universities, maybe from Pharma.

           It’s basically impossible to run a study large enough, long enough, and accounting for the influences of concomitant disease states and treatments to determine the long-term effects of vitamins.  And as you point out, no one’s going to provide the funding for anything of the sort, because there is no patent on these substances and therefore no enormous profit to be made to justify the cost of the study.

           I agree with you about the ongoing battle between Big Pharma and the vitamin supplement industry, btw.  There are a lot of health care approaches out there that are safe and effective, but get left by the wayside because there is no corporation that will profit from it.

           Did you see the Frontline piece on healthcare last night?  I thought it was interesting that UK (I think it was in the UK) physicians get paid bonuses for producing better health outcomes in their patients.

5. 

   billjpa on April 16, 2008 at 8:11 am

   Under the rug! 4 SUICIDES! – VA hospital report -Texas VA Hospital. THIS YEAR!
   Yup- Taking care of our Troops.

6. 

   fudgelady on April 16, 2008 at 8:15 am

   “Taking care” of our troops — the way the Sopranos do!

7. 

   Brendan Skwire on April 16, 2008 at 8:32 am

   Big Tax Breaks for Business in Housing Bill

   The Senate proclaimed a fierce bipartisan resolve two weeks ago to help American homeowners in danger of foreclosure. But while a bill that senators approved last week would take modest steps toward that goal, it would also provide billions of dollars in tax breaks — for automakers, airlines, alternative energy producers and other struggling industries, as well as home builders….

   Downtrodden automakers — Ford and General Motors — were especially dogged in securing a tax break that would let them collect alternative minimum tax credits, also known as the A.M.T., that would otherwise be out of reach because they did not pay enough taxes in recent years to claim a rebate

   Goodness, we wouldn’t want massive corporations to miss out on another tax break.

   • 

     CabinGirl on April 16, 2008 at 10:20 am

     Did I also read that the bill doesn’t contain a provision for bankruptcy judges to modify loan terms for primary residences, like people can for vacation homes and investment properties?

     Just more welfare for the wealthy.  Gawd forbid they lose their beach houses.

8. 

   Zandar1 on April 16, 2008 at 10:27 am

   Stories like this are certainly pissing me off.

   Will ‘Elitist’ Label Stick To Obama?

   (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama is saddled with a potentially toxic image problem — that he has an elitist attitude.

    It has made him a target of attacks from Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee.

   It’s ironic that one presidential candidate could hang that label on another, said Dr. Drew Westen, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and author of “The Political Brain.”

   “If you think you should be president, by definition you are an elitist, only because you believe that of the 300 million people in America, you are the best person to run it,” he said. “There can’t be a more elitist statement than that.”

   Change the ‘elitist’ charge to ‘Muslim’ or ‘racist’ or ‘terror sympathizer’ and you have the same exact MO for the last six months of pointless attacks on him by our ‘liberal’ media.

   Bonus Irony:

   Branding a rival elitist is not new in politics. Republicans for years have successfully labeled Democratic presidential candidates as the liberal elite. Portraying their rivals as latte-sipping, sushi-eating insiders, Republicans have connected with some voters by arguing they understand the values important to the everyday person.

   Which of course the media itself has nothing to do with, I’m sure.

   • 

     Isis on April 16, 2008 at 10:58 am

     We’ve known for a long time that it was going to get ugly. Look, Kristol and Rove are calling Obama “nearly Marxist” already. Let the bastards volley their arsenal now, because by October they will have cried “wolf” so many times, their voices fall into the background. Gee, marxist. Wow, the average American doesn’t even know what that refers to these days . . .  

9. 

   Isis on April 16, 2008 at 10:38 am

   Just a brief to point out what true elitism is:

   “The subprime crisis in which investors realized that they had greatly underestimated the risks of lending to people with bad credit, has spawned a wider credit crunch:  . . . “

   This is authored by James Surowiecki, the free market capitalist cheerleader who writes “The Financial Page” for the New Yorker.

   Remember, it’s the fault of working class Americans that they live as pawns in an unreliable job market where they can’t depend on earning more money from year to year, that they were sold an “American Dream” from childhood onward that economic life could only improve, and that being offered a risky mortgage from “The Bank” was positive feedback that they were trusted.

   Yes, folks, it’s the fault of the working class that greedy investors “underestimated,” that the investors’ tools seduced people into bad contracts, that the capitalist system as it stands in America gives negative wage growth but offers ascending mortgage payments inherently dependent on an assumption of increasing wages.

   Wages for the vast majority of Americans have been flat to negative for a long time now, since the 80’s, but the “investors” throw out loan products that are completely absurd, and then blame the consumer for the problem.

   Surowiecki is an elitist. He spouts elitist doctrine: It’s the fault of those blue collar Americans, not the bank officers, real estate congolmerates and Wall Street! Never.