Saturday, June 27, 2009

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Pabst Wins World's Ugliest Dog Contest Top
PETALUMA, Calif. — A prominent under-bite, scrunched face and floppy ears are the hallmarks of a winner. The winner of the World's Ugliest Dog contest, that is. Pabst, a boxer-mix rescued from a shelter by Miles Egstad of Citrus Heights, Calif., won the annual contest on Friday at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Northern California. It was an upset victory for Pabst, who beat former champion Rascal, a pedigree Chinese Crested. Pabst's owner took home $1,600 in prize money, pet supplies and a modeling contract with House of Dog. Miss Ellie, a blind 15-year-old Chinese Crested Hairless, won the pedigree category. ___ On the Net: http://www.sonoma-marinfair.org/uglydogcontest.shtml
 
Treat Poison Ivy With Vodka! Top
To avoid the uncomfortable reaction, immediately pour vodka on skin that has come into contact with poison ivy, and the alcohol will wash away the itchy oil that causes poison ivy, urushiol oil. More on Green Living
 
Tampon Applicators Flood Canadian Shore Top
Canadian officials say plastic tampon applicators clutter Halifax, Nova Scotia's shores after the closure of a sewage treatment plant and removal of filters. More on Canada
 
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: The Terrible Plight of Dr. Conrad Murray Top
Dr. Conrad Murray can't win. The Michael Jackson family through their surrogate Reverend Jesse Jackson hints that the doctor may have done something terribly wrong in the death of Jackson. Jackson fans were brutal. On the website vitals.com that rates physicians there were more than 100 comments (as of Saturday). The writers mostly railed against Murray as "Michael's Killer." What Murray did or didn't do in the tragic hours before the fateful 911 call that brought the paramedics rushing to Jackson's home is nothing but wild conjecture and speculation and grist for the tabloid mill. Yet, that Murray finds himself on the medical and legal hot seat is no surprise. When things go wrong with their celebrity client-patients, doctors always feel the heat. Because invariably the things that go wrong deal with drug use, questionable medications and treatments that they allegedly give their ailing or troubled celebrity clients. The suspicion is always there that the doctors did something either negligent or unethical in catering to and indulging their clients real or imagined medical needs. The hunt to scapegoat the celebrity attendant doctor is then on with a vengeance. Their background, training, and experience are quickly called into question. That's the case with Murray. His training at Meharry Medical College School of Medicine, one of the oldest and most renowned black medical training facilities in Nashville, Tennessee, his internships, his years of experience and work as a cardiologist are under an intense microscope. The tons of money that Murray racked up in unpaid bills, and the liens and pending suits to get the money back have been dredged up to paint Murray as a doctor with a checkered and shady history. The glare, however, is even more intense on Murray's clinic, Global Cardiovascular Associates, main location in Las Vegas. In a call to the clinic, this writer was referred to a contact phone number to a doctor on call. The number was a pager beeper. HealthGrades which rates America's physicians based on their training, experience, patient responses, and quality of care, did not give Global Cardiovascular Associates a glowing four star rating. In the crucial area of patient care, there were six patient responses. They rated Global Cardiovascular on ease of scheduling appointments, office environment, cleanliness and comfort, office staff friendliness, and most importantly the wait time before seeing a physician. Murray's three person staff rated only fair in the responses. Vitals. Inc. gave Global Cardiovascular a marginal rating on the critical areas of patient response time; follow up, and most importantly, accuracy of diagnosis. The clinic ranked below the national service average in a couple of these rated categories. This is not damning proof that the clinic doses out substandard care, or is any way deficient in its medical practice. However, patients, medical rating boards and health care providers do place major emphasis on these as measures of patient care in decisions about the effectiveness and competence of physicians and their hospitals and clinics. Even if Murray's clinic had received a world class four star rating from the rating physician services, Murray or any other doctor who attended Jackson would still raise eyebrows even if they did everything by the book. It comes with the turf. Heart related deaths account for more medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuits than for any other medical problem. One survey found that they account for thirty percent of all dollars shelled out by doctors and insurers to settle malpractice suits. Malpractice awards for heart attack typically allege misdiagnosis or mismanaged diagnostic methods or medical tests. Because the outcome of a misdiagnosed heart attack is obviously poorer than a rapidly treated heart attack, the patient may suffer severe consequences. This is the prime reason that the dollar award for heart attack malpractice cases is almost always much higher than the average payout for other alleged medical screw-up cases. It may be that Murray did not do anything wrong in how he handled Jackson. But that won't end things for Murray. He'll likely be slapped with a lawsuit, or even multiple lawsuits. That's been the lot of legions of other cardiologists. And possible lawsuits may be the least of his problems. He will carry an even greater burden; and that's the burden of being the doctor who was there when Jackson died. And everyone expects that doctors are supposed to save lives and not raise suspicions that they did something to end a live. It's a terrible dilemma for any doctor. Dr. Murray is hardly the first to face it, but it's one he'll have to live with. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report" can be heard weekly in Los Angeles Fridays on KTYM Radio 1460 AM and live streamed nationally on ktym.com More on Michael Jackson
 
Health-Care Activists Targeting Centrist Dems Top
In the high-stakes battle over health care, a growing cadre of liberal activists is aiming its sharpest firepower against Democratic senators who they accuse of being insufficiently committed to the cause. More on Arlen Specter
 
David Kessler: The Five Stages of Public Grief: Ed, Farrah, Michael, Michael, Michael Top
I was asleep when I heard my phone buzz. The clock said it was 5:24 AM and my mind started racing. Because I work in the field of death and dying, I have a list of people who are near death in my mind. People often ask if death really occurs in 3's? Ed McMahon was dead. I was not surprised. I'd been hearing the in and outs of his stays at UCLA Medical Center through a mutual friend, how at times he was near death and then pulled through. Now he was at peace. Two days later, just past 9:30 AM, I was notified that Farrah Fawcett had died twenty minutes earlier. Again, this was tragic but not a surprise. I'd been in touch with her close and devoted friend, Alana Stewart and knew she was very sick. Less than six hours later in a meeting, someone whispered to me that Michael Jackson had suffered cardiac arrest. A couple of hours later it was confirmed that he had died and I was stunned. I flashed back to an incredible day years ago when I brought a group of terminally ill children to his Neverland Ranch. Michael spent an entire magical day there with us. Having written two books with the Elisabeth Kubler Ross about the stages of death: denial, anger, bargaining depression and acceptance , I see how it all fits into public grief. Of course, the public experiences the stages differently than the family. But in Ed McMahon's case, we got to acceptance quite quickly since we were all aware of his age and the trajectory of his illness. For Farrah, we went through the stages together, starting with her initial announcement that she had cancer. We began in denial with the common disbelief that someone so young and vivacious could have a terminal illness. Then she brought us into her world through her documentary, where we went through the stages with her. After the initial denial, we became angry that cancer had come to our favorite Angel. Public discussions reflected bargaining that maybe her vast worldwide resources could conquer it. What the public did think, were they as hopeful? We became depressed when we saw that she was getting sicker by the day. And finally, by the time she died, we were sad but we had reached acceptance and were glad she was no longer suffering. Michael, on the other hand, was the epitome of sudden death. We were collectively thrust into denial and are now obsessed with the "whys." In denial, people often tell the story of their loss over and over, one way that our mind deals with trauma. In public grief, the media actually leads us through this part by reminiscing for us as we try to face the truth. Does our grief reflect the level of attention the media gives a story or does the media truly reflect our grief? As denial fades, it is slowly replaced with the reality of loss. This is when we collectively begin to ask questions as we review the circumstances: How did this happen? Did it have to happen that way? Could anything have prevented it? Deepak Chopra and Rev. Jesse Jackson are giving voice to those questions. Our denial is cushioned by memories of the music, the images and the stories. Then, we may move into the stage of anger as the answers come to us. What role did others play in Michael Jacksons's death? If they did, how much influence did they have? And then, we begin to bargain as we explore the "what ifs." If Michael Jackson was drug-addicted, could he have been saved? Could more love have cured his loneliness? Would a different childhood have produced a different outcome? These unanswerable questions are part of the inconclusive grief mixed with fame that elevates a person into an eternal legend. Collectively, we did it with Marilyn Monroe, we did it with Elvis Presley, and now we are doing it with Michael Jackson. For Michael as with most everyone else, we make an unspoken collective agreement to avoid speaking ill of the dead or at least to minimize it. While the controversies will always be a part of his story, I expect they will be retold in the context of how his loss of a childhood impacted his pathology. Then we can move into the stage of depression, as we review the life of a legend, an icon that was a part of our lives for almost fifty years. This will most likely happen during the lull between the questions and the funeral, which will help us collectively move into acceptance. As we see the constant images of these icons on television, the media can help us understand that we can be in different stages of multiple deaths, all at the same time. The reality is that deaths do not necessarily come in threes. But this last week, it sure feels that way. More on Michael Jackson
 
What You Need To Know About The Climate Bill Top
(AP) Cap-and-trade? Offsets? Pollution credits? The climate bill passed Friday by the House tackles global warming with new limits on pollution and a market-based approach to encourage more environmentally friendly business practices. But what exactly do the proposed rules mean, and how would they work? Some questions and answers about the bill: Q: What's the purpose of this legislation? A: To reduce the gases linked to global warming and to force sources for power to shift away from fossil fuels, which when burned, release heat-trapping gases, and toward cleaner sources of energy such as wind, solar and geothermal. Q: How does the bill accomplish this? A: By placing the first national limits on emissions of heat-trapping gases from major sources like power plants, refineries and factories. This limit effectively puts a price on the pollution, raising the cost for companies to continue to use fuels and electricity sources that contribute to global warming. This gives them an incentive to seek cleaner alternatives. Q: Is this the "cap-and-trade" idea that has been in the news? A: Yes. The first step in a cap-and-trade program sets a limit on the amount of gases that can be released into the atmosphere. That is the cap. Companies with facilities that are covered by the cap will then receive permits for their share of the pollution, an annual pollution allowance. This bill initially would give the bulk of the permits away for free to help ease costs, but they still would have value because there would be a limited supply. Companies that do not get a big enough allowance to cover their pollution would either have to find ways to reduce it, which can be expensive, or buy additional permits from companies that have reduced pollution enough to have allowances left over. That is the trade. Companies typically would pick the cheaper option: reducing pollution or buying permits. They also have a third choice: They can invest in pollution reductions made elsewhere, such as farms that capture methane or plant trees. These are known as offsets. Q: So the idea is to try to reduce the overall level of pollution, regardless of whether, say, a particular factory reduces emissions? A: That is true in the beginning. But as the cap gets lower and lower, reaching an 83 percent reduction by 2050, eventually all polluters will have to reduce. It is merely a question of when. For instance, it will be very tough for coal plants to reduce emissions at the outset of the program because the technology to capture and store carbon dioxide is not yet commercially available. It probably is 10 to 20 years away. So they will be buying offsets and buying allowances from other entities that will have an easier time. Q: Do most environmentalists support this approach? A: Most do, at least broadly. Cap-and-trade has had success. Since 1990, the United States has had a cap-and-trade program for sulfur dioxide, the main culprit in acid rain. Democrats have had to make a lot of concessions to win votes for the current bill from lawmakers from coal, oil and farm states. Some liberal environmentalists think these concessions weaken the bill. For instance, the bill's sponsors have had to lower the cap -- it originally called for a 20 percent cut by 2020 -- to 17 percent. Research suggests that much deeper cuts will be needed globally to avert the most serious consequences of global warming. Q: Who opposes this approach, and why? A: Republicans, some farm groups, some environmentalists, the oil industry, which feels it has received too few free permits, and some moderate Democrats. They all worry about the cost and the loss of jobs if industries move to countries that do not have controls on greenhouse gases. The bill has provisions to prevent this, but there are questions whether they will work. Republicans call the bill a national energy tax on every American family. This is because, as industries spend money to reduce pollution or buy credits, they will pass on that cost to consumers, the people who turn on the lights or pump gas in their cars. Recent analyses by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office show that the new rules eventually will cost the average household an extra $175 a year. Q: Under the bill, what will happen to companies that do not follow the rules? A: If they exceed their limit, they will have to pay a fine equal to twice the cap-and-trade price for each ton of pollution over the limit. Q: Other than costs potentially being passed along to consumers, will this affect most Americans' day-to-day lives? A: It fundamentally will change how we use, produce and consume energy, ending the country's love affair with big gas-guzzling cars and its insatiable appetite for cheap electricity. This bill will put smaller, more efficient cars on the road, swap smokestacks for windmills and solar panels, and transform the appliances you can buy for your home. Q: How quickly will we notice these changes? A: Some will occur more quickly than others. For instance, measures to boost energy efficiency in buildings and appliances are the low-hanging fruit that does not require major infrastructure changes or new technologies. Other changes are decades off and probably will come when the cap gets more stringent and permits get more expensive. For instance, the country can build more wind and more solar panels, but currently it lacks the transmission lines to move the energy they generate to population centers. As for cars: While more efficient models are a near-term reality, it will take a while to change out the fleet. Some people will continue driving 10-year-old gas guzzlers. Q: What are the chances this bill will become law? A: Both the Obama administration and Democrats want this bill passed by the end of the year, when negotiations for a new international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases get under way in Copenhagen. Even as Democrats hold the majority in Congress, it will not be easy to get this enacted. Many moderate Democrats from rural states and conservative districts are worried about the costs and complexity of the legislation when the economy is already weak. Very few Republicans, if any, are expected to support the bill. Approval of a climate bill in the Senate has been viewed as a long shot. Parts of the bill may need to be changed to secure approval in the Senate. Q: Why is it so important to tackle global warming anyway? A: Left untended, scientists say, global warming will cause sea levels to rise, increase storms and worsen air pollution. For these reasons, the Environmental Protection Agency recently concluded that six greenhouse gases pose dangers to human health and welfare. And politically, without U.S. action, developing countries like China probably will not agree to mandatory pollution limits.
 
Brigham Young University Lifts YouTube Ban Top
PROVO, Utah — Brigham Young University, the Mormon church school where students agree to live a chaste and virtuous life, has lifted its almost three-year policy of blocking access to YouTube. Administrators lifted the ban on Friday, citing an increasing amount of educational material on the popular video-sharing site, university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. YouTube has its own filters for porn, but BYU added it to the list of Web sites blocked by campus online filters in 2006 because administrators felt there was too much content that could violate the school's strict, conservative standards. The university's software also blocks pornography, adult content and violence from other sites. BYU cited limited bandwidth as another factor when explaining the decision. But some professors have since complained that they couldn't access relevant YouTube content in the classroom. "I think there's no other way but to provide all of it," Jenkins said. Students and faculty at the university agree to follow the school's honor code, a list of standards in line with the principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The code includes provisions against alcohol, tobacco and caffeine use, among other things. It also specifically labels pornography as taboo. Also on Friday, BYU launched its own new Web site _ besafe.byu.edu _ which explains the school's Internet guidelines and advises readers how to avoid online threats like phishing and viruses. The site notes that students and faculty at BYU agree to avoid Internet content and activities that are not "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy." ___ Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldextra.com ___ On the Net: _ BeSafe Online at BYU, http://besafe.byu.edu/
 
Liz Cheney Reveals What's In Her Father's Book Top
For Liz Cheney, it's the project of a lifetime: working with her dad, former Vice President Dick Cheney, on his still-untitled bio being published by Simon & Schuster's Threshold Editions. She gave us some insight on what the story she's helping to research and write will cover. More on Dick Cheney
 
David Wild: Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 2: Special Michael Jackson Edition Top
When we all heard the news on Thursday, I shared "Forever Came Today: Ten Songs By Which To Remember Michael Jackson." At the time, I focused on many of the more poignant songs that Jackson sang in his lifetime that seemed to somehow speak to that initial moment of loss. But now that a few days have passed, and the media is starting to focus on other elements of this story, I wanted to share my list of ten songs that immediately remind me of all the joy, the soul and the life that Michael Jackson brought to music at his best. After all, the Jackson family themselves have just asked fans not to "despair," so perhaps it's now okay for people to dance in Michael's memory. By coincidence, my eleven-year-old son was attending tennis camp this week right next to the hospital where Michael Jackson was declared dead. Like many his age, my son knew who Michael Jackson was, but perhaps mostly as some sort of pop cultural punch line. So on the way to camp the next morning, I played my kid some of my favorite Jackson songs, and he immediately said, "Wow, Dad, that's Michael Jackson!" Here are ten songs, all of which can still make his Dad think, wow, that's Michael Jackson! ABC -- The Jackson 5 If only everything educational were so funky. "DOCTOR MY EYES" -- The Jackson 5 Yes, Virginia, Michael Jackson and his brothers really could get people dancing to a Jackson Browne song. "DANCING MACHINE" -- The Jackson 5 A song so undeniable, the Brothers even got the crowd at my Bar Mitzvah moving. BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE -- The Jacksons There's going to be a lot of talk about who's to blame here. None of that talk will make you feel as good as this song. "SHAKE YOUR BODY (DOWN TO THE GROUND)"-- The Jacksons Sonically this song helped set the stage for "Off The Wall," which in turn helped set the stage for everything that followed. "ROCK WITH YOU" -- Michael Jackson In the great Quincy Jones, Michael found a masterful collaborator with the musical knowledge to help him do anything he wanted to try. Here Michael helped forever capture in three minutes and twenty-three seconds what love and lust feels and sounds like. "DON'T STOP 'TILL YOU GET ENOUGH" -- Michael Jackson Disco was not a dirty word. Or at least it was a dirty word in the best sense. "WANNA BE STARTIN' SOMETHING" -- Michael Jackson The perfect way to begin a "Thriller" -- with a song about the desire to get something big going, and now. "BLACK OR WHITE" -- Michael Jackson Whatever else he did, Michael Jackson carried on that great Motown tradition of black and white people listening to the same great songs, even afterhe left the label. I still love that message - and that guitar riff too. "YOU ROCK MY WORLD" -- Michael Jackson Now that Michael has become omnipresent, I keep hearing this song from his last album "Invincible," which was by his standards a commercial disappointment, and liking it more and more. As it turned out, Michael Jackson was far from invincible, but he sure was good. What Jackson songs continue to rock your world? More on Michael Jackson
 
America's Most Expensive Homes Top
There's been a lot of denial among luxury homeowners. In 2006, it was thought that the luxury market wouldn't suffer the same fate as the broader market. A year later, high-end home buyers were thought to have endless, deep pockets, further insulating the top-tier from the cratering economy. As the nation's markets in 2008 went from bad to worse, some in the industry claimed that the dearth of trophy properties outstripped supply.
 
Frank Lombard, Duke Univ. Official, Charged In Child Sex Case Top
(AP) WASHINGTON - A Duke University official has been arrested and charged with offering his adopted 5-year-old son for sex. Frank Lombard, the school's associate director of the Center for Health Policy, was arrested after an Internet sting, according to the FBI's Washington field office and the city's police department. According to an affidavit by District of Columbia Police Det. Timothy Palchak, an unnamed informant facing charges in his own child sex case led authorities to Lombard. Authorities said that Lombard tried to persuade a person -- who he did not know was a police officer -- to travel to North Carolina to have sex with Lombard's child. The detective's affidavit charges Lombard identified himself online as "perv dad for fun," and says that in an online chat with the detective, Lombard said he had sexually molested his son, whom he adopted as an infant. The court papers say Lombard also invited the undercover detective to North Carolina to have sex with the young boy, and even suggested which hotel he should use. Lombard was charged in federal court in Washington with attempting to induce someone to cross state lines to engage in sex with a child. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Lombard's lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs at Duke, said Lombard has been employed with Duke University since 1999. He is now on unpaid administrative leave. "Duke is cooperating with the investigation," Schoenfeld said. He said the university was notified of the incident after Lombard was arrested. Authorities executed a search warrant Wednesday evening at Lombard's home, according to court documents. The papers show investigators seized two webcams, five computers and a sex toy, among other items.
 
Clyde Persley, California Man Working 3 Jobs, Wins $39M Lottery Top
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A man who works three jobs to support his family _ including one as a limousine driver _ has won a $39 million jackpot in California's SuperLotto Plus. Clyde Persley, who is married with a 4-year-old daughter, turned in his winning ticket on Tuesday night and should get his first check for about $16 million in four to six weeks, said a California lottery spokeswoman. The 49-year-old Santa Cruz man operates candy-making machines for Santa Cruz Nutritionals, drives a limousine and picks up extra hours at a restaurant. He says his first moves will be taking his wife on a trip to Hawaii and hiring a financial adviser. He bought his winning ticket at a Santa Cruz market where he has played the lottery twice a week for several years. ___ Information from: Santa Cruz Sentinel, http://www.santacruzsentinel.com
 
Supreme Court To Decide Final 3 Cases On Monday Top
WASHINGTON — A closely watched discrimination lawsuit by white firefighters who say they have unfairly been denied promotions is one of three remaining Supreme Court cases awaiting resolution Monday.The court also will say goodbye to Justice David Souter who has announced he will retire "when the court rises for the summer recess." The court intends to finish its work for the summer that day, Chief Justice John Roberts said. Sonia Sotomayor, nominated to take Souter's place, was one of three appeals court judges who ruled that officials in New Haven, Conn., acted properly in throwing out firefighters' promotions exams because of racially skewed results. The city says it decided not to use the test scores to determine promotions because it might have been vulnerable to claims the exam had a "disparate impact" on minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The white firefighters said the decision violated the same law's prohibition on intentional discrimination. The opinion that Sotomayor endorsed has been criticized as a cursory look at a tough issue. Among the critics are fellow judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Her defenders have said the short opinion properly applied earlier cases from that appeals court. The outcome of the case could alter how employers in both the public and private sectors make job-related decisions. The other two unsettled cases involve campaign finance law and states' ability to investigate alleged discrimination in lending by national banks. The court is considering whether a movie that was critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton during her presidential campaign should be regulated as a campaign ad. The scathing 90-minute documentary about the former New York senator and current secretary of state was made by a conservative group. It wanted to air television ads in important Democratic primary states and makes the movie available to cable subscribers on demand, without complying with federal campaign finance law. The Federal Election Commission and a lower court in Washington have said the not-for-profit group, Citizens United, must abide by campaign finance restrictions. The high court's conservative justices appeared especially skeptical of that view when the case was argued in March. In the dispute over investigating national banks, the Obama administration says federal law prohibits states from looking at the lending practices of those banks, even under state anti-discrimination laws. Federal courts have so far blocked an investigation begun by New York, which is backed by the other 49 states, of whether minorities were being charged higher interest rates on home mortgage loans by national banks with branches in New York. President Barack Obama's proposed overhaul of financial regulation could make the outcome of the case less important. The proposal would create a consumer protection office and states would be empowered to enforce their own laws, with some degree of coordination with the new federal agency. In addition to the three pending decisions, the court also is expected to announce whether it will hear several important cases in its term that begins in October. Among those cases are: _A plea by victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to reinstate a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia and several Saudi princes over charitable donations that allegedly were funneled to al-Qaida. _A request by Chinese Muslims who continue to be held at Guantanamo Bay that the court put teeth into last year's ruling granting detainees some rights by allowing a judge to order their release into the United States. The 13 Uighurs who remain at the U.S. naval base in Cuba may be sent to the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, a move that probably would end their court case. _A bid by convicted cop killer Troy Davis of Georgia to get a new court hearing so that he can present evidence suggesting his innocence. Seven of nine key witnesses against Davis have recanted their earlier testimony, but state and federal courts have so far refused to order a new hearing. Once their work is done, four justices are heading to Europe for teaching gigs. Roberts will be in Galway, Ireland. Justice Samuel Alito will travel to Innsbruck, Austria. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is heading to Rome. Justice Anthony Kennedy will spend July in Salzburg, Austria, for the 20th straight year. In keeping with his practice of shunning the spotlight, Souter is expected to return to his home in New Hampshire with little fanfare. ___ On the Net: Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ More on Supreme Court
 
Porsche Accuses Volkswagen Of Extortion Top
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Porsche accused Volkswagen and its key shareholder Lower Saxony of extortion following a magazine report that VW and the regional state had demanded Porsche accept a tie-up of the two carmakers with VW in charge.
 
Francine Hardaway: Economies of Scale in Health Care Reform Top
I've been listening avidly to all the different points of view about health care reform, and the only conclusion I've come to is that almost anything is better than what we have. On Bloomberg the other day, I heard a call for a systemic approach to the practice of medicine from Dr. Eliot Fisher, Director of the Center for Health Policy at Dartmouth. He said there are always better outcomes where groups of doctors collaborate and practice together, as in the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, or even less renowned group practices such as in Grand Junction, Colo. The efficiencies come when a group of physicians are all responsible for a patient's continuity of care, and when they share information such as that possible with electronic health records (EHRs). Dartmouth has studies that show these kinds of group practices cut costs, and yet we have relatively few of them in the US. Most physicians still practice in groups of four or less, usually four of the same specialty. And fewer than 20% of these small practices have EHRs. In fact, in Arizona, where EHR adoption took off after Gov. Janet Napolitano mandated it, another article just said doctors who had EHRs were abandoning them because they were costly to support and impossible to learn. Your basic family practice guy or pediatrician, practicing what the docs call "Hamster Medicine," where he/she has to see 60 patients a day for five minutes each just to support his office, does not have the time or money to shut the office down to train people on an EHR. So I dread what will happen when these small practices are forced to implement a complex EHR like GE Centricity, which is both the market leader and the product with the worst user interface. GE has already started a lobbying campaign on behalf of its product, part of which consists of interest-free loans to physicians to install it. The learning curve for Centricity is steep, especially for the bi-lingual staff of many medical offices, where wages are low and turnover is rampant. I have a physician friend who wrote an EHR himself, and then left that product with his old practice (where they love it) to move to another state. There, he found a group that had chosen Centricity not just for the single group, but for the entire region -- and nobody could use it! They had abandoned entire parts of it because no one knew how it worked. That's shameful. That won't lower costs. Lower costs will only come from software that works like Amazon.com or Yahoo -- interfaces that make it simple for users to pile in mountains of data without even realizing they're doing it. And to keep the costs down and the learning curve short, the data should be kept in the cloud. This is, of course, horrifying to the privacy advocates, who have never run a medical office. Well I have, and I can tell you that when the doctor's fax machine is overflowing with test results, they spill out on to the office floor or sit there in a pile, and anyone walking by can see them, until some harried front office person collects them and (perhaps) misfiles them in the wrong patient folder. How do I know this? Because not only have I run a medical office, but I helped a group practice install an EHR, and one of their "pain" points and biggest reasons for going electronic was the loss of patient records due to misfiling or non-filing. What other business runs as inefficiently as a medical office? None. What other business is more dependent on paper? None. What other business could become 1/16 of the American economy without being forced into business process automation? None. But forcing EHRs down the throats of sole practitioners isn't the answer to reigning in costs. Collaboration is. Collaboration is also the answer to many medical errors and misdiagnoses. I'm not saying that we should "crowdsource" the practice of medicine-although that's happening through various online Health 2.0 sites that consumers rely on when they have insufficient access to care -- but I am saying it might be time to streamline these small practices, put them in groups, and allow them to talk to each other over lunch about the same patient. That way I wouldn't have to tell my internist what my cardiologist said, or wait for the cardiologist to fax over my results to him. Any kind of information exchange would help. And
 
Will The Washington Post Survive? Top
Washington Post ombudsman Andy Alexander's column on Dan Froomkin ends with the observation that "With his loyal followers, he'll survive. So will The Post." I'm not certain that the Post won't survive, but like Brad DeLong I don't think it makes a ton of sense for Post employees to be that confident that the paper will survive either. More on Newspapers
 
Vamsee Juluri: Michael Jackson and the Dawn of Global India Top
Rock may have smashed the iron curtain, but it was just the moonwalk that did it for India. My generation came of age during the last years of the Nehruvian era. Among other things, what this meant was that Western pop culture was barely affordable or accessible to most Indians. We had one television channel, the government-run Doordarshan, which aired in most cities for a couple of hours each day. Foreign programs were very rare. And when Michael Jackson's videos suddenly showed up one night on Doordarshan on a music-video program called Hot Tracks, it was not only a stunning experience, but also turned out to be part of a moment that heralded many changes to come. "Beat it" was to our generation in India what "Video Killed the Radio Star" was to our MTV-watching American cohorts of the 1980s. It was the first music video that we ever saw. The Grammies, and Live Aid, a little later, were the equivalent to us of what the 1969 moon landing was in some ways for America; it was one of the first occasions on which we felt part of a global media event. But the coming of Michael Jackson to Indian television was also the equivalent, for good or for bad, of the empty bottle of cola that falls from a plane into a remote African village in the movie The Gods Must be Crazy. Michael Jackson was not just a pop star for us; he represented the world beyond India we had only heard about as well as the possibility of catching up with it. Michael Jackson was the first symbol of aspiration for a generation that went from denial to obsession about it almost overnight. In the 1980s, bootleg VHS copies of Thriller went from home to home, even as we sought to work hard and study and buy into the first signs of consumerism that had started to appear. By the 1990s, with economic liberalization and the rise of satellite television channels like MTV India and Channel V, Michael Jackson, his music, image, and charisma all became a part of India, like globalization itself, culminating in his 1996 Mumbai concert and his now poignantly never-to-be promise to return . To me, Michael Jackson will remain a part of a generational experience of globalization, but his accomplishments in India certainly go beyond that. In some ways, Michael Jackson was perhaps the most famous non-cricketing foreign celebrity Indians have known. Unlike other Western singers, Michael's fame went far beyond the English-educated urban middle classes. To this day, Michael Jackson is the one pop star that even working class, non English-speaking Indians have heard about, and whose music plays in the most unexpected places where English music is seldom heard. And if we consider his influence on and through India's truly popular mass medium, its cinema , we can see how widespread his resonance was. Just as how Michael Jackson's fame traveled across national and class barriers, we saw talent and success flowing across regional and language barriers in India during the 1990s. After all, it was with artists like A.R. Rahman and Prabhu Deva , "India's Michael Jackson," that we saw members from the South Indian regional film industries achieving national recognition as well. Despite, or perhaps because of the wave of nostalgia that his death inevitably has provoked for those of us who grew up in the pre-liberalization India of the 1980s, it may be easy to lose sight of what he really meant. To be honest, I was never a fan then. Some of us fancied ourselves on one side of a high school cerebral class divide that pitted Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd against Michael Jackson and Madonna. I believed then that pop was all image and moves and rather shallow for having none of the honest angst and depth that Bob Dylan and John Lennon expressed. Like Bollywood perhaps. But in some ways, when one is duly angsted-out, the world of Michael Jackson's music, once again like Bollywood, perhaps, does appear for what it is. It was happiness. It was a part of our lives, and now forever associated with people and places that are gone. It was there in the first fast-food and ice-cream hang-outs of 1980s India. It was there in the big 2-in-1 tape recorders people brought home from abroad and in the first shops that sold branded jeans. It was there in the first (and few) auto-rickshaws that were fitted with stereos. It was there when friends chanted themselves into a frenzy with "Beat it" to solve tough math problems. It was there when we wondered where we would go after school, and where India would go too. And in my reckless sentimentality fed on TV mourning now, it is hard not to see the passing of Michael Jackson as part of the passing of a world that was, like the great rocks of my hometown Hyderabad before they got blasted into oblivion. We are in a story that has suddenly lost one of its most iconic signs of how it began. More on Michael Jackson
 
Steve Martin: My Attempt At Moonwalking (VIDEO) Top
As a dancer, Michael Jackson was great. He was like Fred Astaire. This video, a parody of the "Billie Jean" video, was done for "The New Show," which was a prime-time NBC program that Lorne Michaels did in 1983-1984, when he wasn't producing "Saturday Night Live." More on Michael Jackson
 
Chris Rodda: MRFF Demands DoD Revoke Authority of Chaplain Endorser Who Suggested Democrats Should Be Executed Top
As I wrote back in May , the antics of disgraced former Navy chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, and his retaliation against the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, after the two organizations issued a joint letter to the Chief of Naval Operations requesting an investigation of his use of his image in uniform to solicit funds for political causes, led MRFF to take a closer look at Klingenschmitt's endorser, the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches (CFGC) and its leader, retired Army colonel Jim Ammerman. What we found was astounding, and led to a decision by MRFF to formally demand that Ammerman, whose agency provides the ecclesiastical endorsements required by the Department of Defense for over 270 military chaplains and chaplain candidates, be stripped of the authority granted to him and his organization by the DoD to endorse military chaplains. MRFF's letter to the Secretary of Defense, copied to numerous other government and DoD officials, went out on June 24, accompanied by a 55-page package of enclosures supporting the four separate reasons that Ammerman's authority must be revoked. Included among these enclosures is a 1997 memorandum from a three-star general calling for an investigation of Ammerman and CFGC at that time. This memorandum includes nine pages of excerpts from Ammerman's radio appearances and Prophecy Club video, "Imminent Military Takeover of the U.S.A.," a video circulated among militia groups. Ammerman's statements included everything from saying that Bill Clinton (president at the time the video was released) should have been executed to inciting the militia types by making claims that his chaplains were reporting back to him that they had inside information that the U.S. military was preparing to attack U.S. cities and claiming inside information from other sources indicating an imminent threat of the United States being placed under martial law. Unbelievably, as Kathryn Joyce reported in her recent Newsweek.com article , "Christian Soldiers: The growing controversy over military chaplains using the armed forces to spread the Word," the outcome of this 1997 investigation was that the DoD found Ammerman's statements to be within the bounds of free speech, and Ammerman retained his authority as a DoD authorized chaplain endorser. Updating the list of excerpts from the 1997 memorandum is a list of more recent quotes from Ammerman, recent CFGC chaplain newsletters, and statements made by Ammerman's protégé, current CFGC chaplain Army Major James Linzey, including an excerpt from a CFGC newsletter suggesting that the four democratic senators who were candidates for president in the 2008 election, including, of course, Barack Obama, should be arrested and executed for voting against making English the official language of the United States. Here is the letter sent by MRFF to the Secretary of Defense: June 24, 2009 Hon. Dr. Robert M. Gates Secretary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-1000 Secretary Gates, It has recently come to the attention of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) that an ecclesiastical endorsing agency authorized by the DoD to approve chaplains for military service has continually been in flagrant violation of a number of DoD regulations, the U.S. Code, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the United States Constitution for well over a decade. 1. The Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches (CFGC), headed by retired Army Col. E.H. Jim Ammerman, which, according to its website, currently has over 270 chaplains and chaplain candidates in all branches of the military, habitually denigrates all religions and religious denominations except Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity. This denigration, which includes virulently anti-semitic and Islamophobic statements, as well as the deprecation of Catholicism and mainstream Protestantism, occurs in the CFGC's chaplain newsletters, as well as in the speeches, media appearances, and videos of both Mr. Ammerman and a currently serving CFGC chaplain, Army Maj. James F. Linzey. (See attached enclosures for numerous specific examples of these disparaging statements.) 2. Both Mr. Ammerman and Maj. Linzey have made numerous statements against the government of the United States and certain government officials and departments, promoted civilian militia movements, and disseminated many conspiracy theories in an attempt to foment disloyalty to the government of the the United States among both civilians and military personnel. This type of activity has previously led to an investigation of Ammerman and CFGC, called for by Air Force Lt. Gen. Normand Lezy in 1997. (See enclosed memorandum.) DoD Directive Number 1325.6, "Guidelines for Handling Dissident and Protest Activities Among Members of the Armed Forces," cited in Lt. Gen. Lezy's 1997 memorandum, states that "Military personnel must reject participation in organizations that espouse supremacist causes." The Prophecy Club, an organization for which both Mr. Ammerman and Maj. Linzey have made videos, unquestionably espouses a supremacist cause. In addition, various statements made by both Mr. Ammerman and Maj. Linzey in their Prophecy Club videos, as well as in other forums, such as radio appearances and speeches, incontrovertibly violate one or more of the following statutory provisions found in Enclosure E1.2 of DoD Directive Number 1325.6. E1.2. STATUTORY PROVISIONS E1.2.1. Applicable to All Persons E1.2.1.2. Section 2385 -- Advocating overthrow of the Government. E1.2.1.3. Section 2387 -- Counseling insubordination , disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty. E1.2.2. Applicable to Members of the Armed Forces E1.2.2.5. Section 888 (Article 88, UCMJ) -- Contemptuous words by commissioned officers against certain officials. E1.2.2.9. Section 934 (Article 134, UCMJ) -- Uttering disloyal statement, criminal libel, communicating a threat, and soliciting another to commit an offense. 3. According to the definition of a "Religious Organization" found in DoD Directive Number 1304.19, "Guidance for the Appointment of Chaplains for the Military Departments," CFGC is not eligible to be authorized as an ecclesiastical endorser. CFGC is not an "entity that is organized and functions primarily to perform religious ministries to a non-military lay constituency." CFGC, which is operated out of a house located in a residential neighborhood of Dallas, Texas zoned for single family homes, did not have a "non-military lay constituency" at the time of its founding, but was founded for the sole purpose of endorsing chaplains, and this continues to be its primary purpose to this day. 4. In a clear and blatant violation of CENTCOM's General Order 1-A, which absolutely prohibits the proselytizing of any religion, faith or practice in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, a network of forty CFGC chaplains has engaged in the organized distribution in Iraq of Arabic language Bibles and other Arabic language fundamentalist Christian evangelizing materials to the Iraqi people. The violation of this explicitly prohibited activity by these forty CFGC chaplains was initiated, encouraged, and aided by Mr. Ammerman. (See enclosed Newsweek article and other enclosures.) Given CFGC's and Mr. Ammerman's multiple, habitual, and ongoing violations of military regulations, the U.S. Code, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and Mr. Ammerman's encouragement, aiding, and abetting of the chaplains he oversees in their violations of these regulations and the United States Constitution that they swore an oath to uphold, MRFF demands the immediate revocation of CFGC's ecclesiastical endorsing authority. Furthermore, MRFF demands an aggressive investigation to identify and swiftly punish all CFGC chaplains and any other enabling DoD military or civilian personnel involved in any of the aforementioned violations of military regulations and/or the U.S. Code. Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, Esq. Founder & President Military Religious Freedom Foundation www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org Enclosure CC: President Barack Obama Pete Geren - Secretary of the Army Ray Mabus - Secretary of the Navy Michael B. Donley - Secretary of the Air Force Admiral Michael Mullen - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James E. Cartwright - Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George W. Casey, Jr. - Chief of Staff of the United States Army Admiral Gary Roughead - Chief of Naval Operations General Norton A. Schwartz - Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General James T. Conway - Commandant of the Marine Corps Carl Levin - Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services Ike Skelton - Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services Executive Director of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board Gail H. McGinn - Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Pedro L. Irigonegaray, Esq. - Law Offices of Irigonegaray & Associates Robert V. Eye, Esq. - Law Offices of Kaufman & Eye The entire package of enclosures sent with this letter can be viewed on the MRFF website . In addition to the items and articles mentioned above, the package contains articles by Bruce Wilson and Talk to Action contributor Ruth , both of whom volunteered many hours to help MRFF in its investigation of Ammerman and Maj. Linzey, and whose tireless efforts over the last two months, and continuing exposure of the many aspects of this story, are greatly appreciated.
 
Janet Jackson And Moving Trucks At Michael Jackson's LA Home Top
LOS ANGELES — Janet Jackson is at her brother Michael Jackson's home in Los Angeles where moving vans arrived earlier in the day. Janet Jackson, wearing dark glasses, drove up in a Bentley and went directly through the gates to the Holmby Hills estate. About eight movers took dollies and packing equipment through the gates. It wasn't immediately known what was being taken out. More on Michael Jackson
 
Bradley Cooper: Jennifer Aniston "Just A Friend" Top
In a more serious vein, Cooper, 34, said of Aniston (in French, which he speaks fluently from his 1996 exchange-student days): "She's a friend of mine. Simply, simply, just a friend." More on Jennifer Aniston
 

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