After relenting last month in the face of a lawsuit by CREW, the Obama administration finally has begun to release the names of visitors to the White House - as promised during the 2008 presidential campaign. In announcing the release of the first batch of names, a White House blog post is entitled:
Transparency like you’ve never seen before
Does the author, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform Norm Eisen, really understand what “transparency” means? Or are we supposed to be impressed with the administration’s archness? Will we or will we not actually “see” meaningful transparency, I’m left wondering.
A research paper published in the September issue of Pediatric Nephrology reveals that current limits on trace amounts of melamine in baby formula increase the risk of pediatric kidney disease, therefore are too high. Melamine is the industrial chemical that hospitalized thousands of Chinese children in 2008 when it was intentionally added to milk in large amounts.
Researchers found that cases of pediatric nephrolithiasis nearly doubled with when infants were exposed to less than 0.2 mg/kg per day of melamine. That is the World Health Organization's recommended "tolerable daily intake" (TDI) for infants. That finding also calls into question the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's somewhat lower limit of 0.063 mg/kg for infants because we do not know how much lower than 0.2 mg/kg one has to go to reach a "no observed adverse effects level" or NOAEL. Another finding, that the risk from melamine increases "with the duration of exposure," calls into question FDA's limit for adults and older children, also. So far, however, the FDA and the Department of Agriculture (which share food safety responsibilities), and the news media have been silent about the study.
Late Friday night, President Obama declared the H1N1 flu (or "swine flu") pandemic a national emergency.
“Given that the rapid increase in illness across the Nation may overburden health care resources and that the temporary waiver of certain standard federal requirements may be warranted in order to enable U.S. health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency,” Obama wrote in the proclamation. (The Hill)
According to the Christian Science Monitor, this is the 33rd national emergency declared since 1976, and the nation has been under a national emergency since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Therefore, the public should not be alarmed but should monitor government communications (including state and local) for advisories that are likely to be forthcoming.
Really! Yes, small employers, the IRS really does want to help you find your way through the complex web of rules and laws on benefits. You can get started at http://www.retirementplans.irs.gov/
1 Billion is a very big number. The human population of the world didn't reach the 1 billion milestone until the year 1804.
Now, for the first time in human history, we've reached another 1 billion milestone. That's the number of humans going to bed hungry tonight.
A record 1 billion people worldwide are hungry and a new report says the number will increase if governments do not spend more on agriculture. According to the U.N. food agency, which issued the report, 30 countries now require emergency aid, including 20 in Africa.
"It's actually a world emergency that calls for action from both developing and developed countries," said Otive Igbuzor, the head of international campaigns for ActionAid International.
"We know a child dies every six seconds of malnutrition," he said.
The unbossed are a brave group, willing to learn about new things off the beaten track. Here is a brief overview that should be right up the unbosseds' alley. (And, yes, unbosseds' or even unbossed's is hard to say.) We're talking the First Amendment, CAFOs, and food contamination, the shame ol' shame ol' for unbossed.
A lot can happen in two weeks. Normally the foreign exchange market for developed nations move like glaciers. But in these days of global warming even glaciers are breaking speed limits.
Less than two weeks ago the World Bank President had some interesting things to say regarding the dollar.
"The United States would be mistaken to take for granted the dollar's place as the world's predominant reserve currency," Mr. Zoellick told the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University.
In his strongest comments yet in the debate over the dollar's reserve-currency status, Mr. Zoellick said that, "looking forward, there will increasingly be other options to the dollar."
For 65 years the American dollar has been the world's reserve currency. Practically as good as gold. So Mr. Zoellick's words might be considered controversial.
However, this was merely the start of several startling revelations.
Recently, Chicago has lost more than just the Olympics. It has sunk into an embarrassing slough of corruption and waste thanks to its privatization practices. One of the people concerned about privatization and associated with Illinois PIRG - Phineas Baxandall - alerted us to a new Chicago ordinance intended to set things to rights in a comment to a post last week about governors who are pallin' around with privatizers:
Hundreds of years ago the Incas would sacrifice virgins to appease their Volcano God.
The Gods and methods of sacrifice may have changed, but the tradition remains.
Like the Incas of old, we find ourselves helpless against forces we do not understand. The foundations of our economy shake and falter in terrifying ways.
In our desperation for answers we turn to High Priests of Economics who tell us these evils have befallen us because of our sins. We must sacrifice the innocent to the Volcano God or it will destroy us all.
The High Priests of Economics never explain exactly how these sacrifices will fix the economy, nor do they mention that the sins in question might be their own. Yet we still rush to offer up our children's futures through unpayable debts while never considering that there might be better alternatives.
Is this the last autumn when you will see ash trees in their glory? Those subtle and exquisite shadings of gold into purple? Are you looking, really looking at the ashes in your town, knowing that next year there will be no ashes, that for the rest of your life you may never see another ash?
This week Bill Moyers' Journal included a very thoughtful and profoundly depressing discussion with Rep, Marcy Kaptur and former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson on the virulent role being played by our major financial institutions. You can find the discussion and links to the video here.
I noticed that among the comments were several people who praised credit unions. I would like Bill Moyers to take a look at credit unions. In light of that discussion, I think it is worth a reprise of an unbossed post on credit unions.
A New York Times article revealing disturbing practices at beef processors reminds us never to let down our guard when handling ground beef, lest a virulent strain of Escherichia coli, O157:H7, lead to crippling illness or death. Food scientists warn that even "a few stray cells" of this E.coli strain can cause illness. Forget about cleaning the cutting board with soap or scrubbing. You'll need bleach to remove the threat. Better yet, think of your kitchen as a biosafety lab.
Another review of the 2007 pet food crisis has emerged, this time from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Entitled, “Review of the Food and Drug Administration’s Monitoring of Pet Food Recalls [PDF]," the August report analyzes the recall of pet foods contaminated by melamine, but its recommendations apply to recalls of both human and animal food. The agency response is good news, agreeing with the report’s recommendations. But, there is bad news in what the report didn't say.
Rep. Alan Grayson on Hardball with Chris Matthews where the Republican health care "plan", unions, and children's health care. And why donations to his re-election campaign are through the roof.
Not the one we tend to think - the Governator - but the one who lost out last year on his attempt to privatize one of his state’s major highways. The one whose state stillllllll does not have a budget. Just where is he, and who is he pallin’ around with?
Unbossed was founded in 1897 by poor, but honest, immigrants. It flourished during the turn of the century -- marching with the suffragists and helping organize labor unions -- only to wither during the Great Depression.
