Friday, June 26, 2009
we must stop this!
Horror of Kenya's 'witch' lynchings
By Odhiambo Joseph
BBC News, Kenya
Villagers, many straight from their farms, and armed with machetes, sticks and axes, are shouting and crowding round in a big group in Kenya's fertile Kisii district.
I can't see clearly what is going on, but heavy smoke is rising from the ground and a horrible stench fills the air.
More people are streaming up the hill, some of them with firewood and maize stalks.
Suddenly an old woman breaks from the crowd, screaming for mercy. Three or four people go after her, beat her and drag her back, pushing her onto - what I can now see - is a raging fire.
Burned alive
I was witnessing a horrific practice which appears to be on the increase in Kenya - the lynching of people accused of being witches.
I personally saw the burning alive of five elderly men and women in Itii village.
“ They point at me saying - that is a son of the witch ”
Joseph Ondieki
I had been visiting relatives in a nearby town, when I heard what was happening. I dashed to the scene, accompanied by a village elder.
He reacted as if what we were watching was quite normal, which was shocking for me.
As a stranger I felt I had no choice but to stand by and watch. My fear was that if I showed any sign of disapproval, or made any false move, the angry mob could turn on me.
Not one person was protesting or trying to stop the killing.
Hours later, the police came and removed the charred bodies.
Village youths who took part in the killings told me that the five victims had to die because they had bewitched a young boy.
"Of course some people have been burned. But there is proof of witchcraft," said one youth.
He said that a child had spent the night walking around and then was unable to talk the following morning - except to one of the so-called witches.
I asked the youths whether or not people involved in this supposed witchcraft should be punished.
"Yes, they must be punished, every one," said the first youth.
"We are very angry and that's why we end up punishing these people and even killing them."
His friend agreed: "In other communities, there are witches all round but in Kisii we have come up with a new method, we want to kill these people using our own hands."
I later discovered that the young boy who had supposedly been bewitched, was suffering from epilepsy.
His mother had panicked when he had had an attack.
All too common
The village elder was dismissive of my horror, saying that this kind of thing happens all the time in the western district of Kisii.
He told me about Joseph Ondieki, whose mother had been burned to death less than two months earlier.
I found Joseph and his wife Mary Nyaboke tending vegetables in their small shamba, or homestead.
“ If I visit my neighbours I fear they might poison my food ”
Joseph Ondieki
Mary told me that on the day her mother-in-law had been killed she had been visiting her own parents.
She had heard a noise and discovered the truth when she came home.
She said that in the 20 years she had been married, she had never had any reason to believe her husband's mother was a witch.
Joseph told me he has suffered a lot since his mother died.
"I was born here, but at this stage I feel as if this is not my home any more," he said.
"I cannot visit neighbours or relatives.
"Even when they see me standing by the road side, they point at me, saying: 'That is a son of the witch'.
"And when I go to town they also start wondering what has taken me there. Is it that I am going to give evidence against them?
"When I come back, they say I've been seen at the police station, but I've never been there. I've never reported the matter.
"If I visit the neighbours, I always fear that they might put poison in the food.
"So when I'm forced to visit, I make sure I don't eat anything.
"If I can't get my own food I just have a glass of water and sleep."
I set off with Joseph up the hill towards his house, which was far from the centre of the village.
On the way we passed his mother's house.
A neighbour was reluctant to talk to me and denied even knowing Joseph's mother.
"Here in Kisii, people are being burned on mere allegation and most of them are old," Joseph said.
"We now don't have any old people in the village to consult.
"Even me I'm now approaching 50 years old - I'm afraid that they'll come for me also."
Warning signs
I spent three days in Kisii trying to speak to the authorities, but nobody, neither the police nor the local government officials would talk to me.
As night drew in, and it was time for me to leave, Joseph walked with me from his village to where my car was parked.
When we arrived, he begged me to take him with me to Mombasa, where I am based.
It was very difficult for me to leave him behind.
As I drove away I passed signs pinned to trees, warning witches that they would be tracked down.
"We know you by your names", someone had typed in bold.
To listen to the full broadcast of Kenya's Witch Lynchings , tune in to African Perspective on the BBC World Service. The program is first broadcast on Saturday 27 June at 1106 GMT. It will be available online from 2106 GMT, for one week.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8119201.stm
Published: 2009/06/26 07:17:36 GMT
© BBC MMIX
By Odhiambo Joseph
BBC News, Kenya
Villagers, many straight from their farms, and armed with machetes, sticks and axes, are shouting and crowding round in a big group in Kenya's fertile Kisii district.
I can't see clearly what is going on, but heavy smoke is rising from the ground and a horrible stench fills the air.
More people are streaming up the hill, some of them with firewood and maize stalks.
Suddenly an old woman breaks from the crowd, screaming for mercy. Three or four people go after her, beat her and drag her back, pushing her onto - what I can now see - is a raging fire.
Burned alive
I was witnessing a horrific practice which appears to be on the increase in Kenya - the lynching of people accused of being witches.
I personally saw the burning alive of five elderly men and women in Itii village.
“ They point at me saying - that is a son of the witch ”
Joseph Ondieki
I had been visiting relatives in a nearby town, when I heard what was happening. I dashed to the scene, accompanied by a village elder.
He reacted as if what we were watching was quite normal, which was shocking for me.
As a stranger I felt I had no choice but to stand by and watch. My fear was that if I showed any sign of disapproval, or made any false move, the angry mob could turn on me.
Not one person was protesting or trying to stop the killing.
Hours later, the police came and removed the charred bodies.
Village youths who took part in the killings told me that the five victims had to die because they had bewitched a young boy.
"Of course some people have been burned. But there is proof of witchcraft," said one youth.
He said that a child had spent the night walking around and then was unable to talk the following morning - except to one of the so-called witches.
I asked the youths whether or not people involved in this supposed witchcraft should be punished.
"Yes, they must be punished, every one," said the first youth.
"We are very angry and that's why we end up punishing these people and even killing them."
His friend agreed: "In other communities, there are witches all round but in Kisii we have come up with a new method, we want to kill these people using our own hands."
I later discovered that the young boy who had supposedly been bewitched, was suffering from epilepsy.
His mother had panicked when he had had an attack.
All too common
The village elder was dismissive of my horror, saying that this kind of thing happens all the time in the western district of Kisii.
He told me about Joseph Ondieki, whose mother had been burned to death less than two months earlier.
I found Joseph and his wife Mary Nyaboke tending vegetables in their small shamba, or homestead.
“ If I visit my neighbours I fear they might poison my food ”
Joseph Ondieki
Mary told me that on the day her mother-in-law had been killed she had been visiting her own parents.
She had heard a noise and discovered the truth when she came home.
She said that in the 20 years she had been married, she had never had any reason to believe her husband's mother was a witch.
Joseph told me he has suffered a lot since his mother died.
"I was born here, but at this stage I feel as if this is not my home any more," he said.
"I cannot visit neighbours or relatives.
"Even when they see me standing by the road side, they point at me, saying: 'That is a son of the witch'.
"And when I go to town they also start wondering what has taken me there. Is it that I am going to give evidence against them?
"When I come back, they say I've been seen at the police station, but I've never been there. I've never reported the matter.
"If I visit the neighbours, I always fear that they might put poison in the food.
"So when I'm forced to visit, I make sure I don't eat anything.
"If I can't get my own food I just have a glass of water and sleep."
I set off with Joseph up the hill towards his house, which was far from the centre of the village.
On the way we passed his mother's house.
A neighbour was reluctant to talk to me and denied even knowing Joseph's mother.
"Here in Kisii, people are being burned on mere allegation and most of them are old," Joseph said.
"We now don't have any old people in the village to consult.
"Even me I'm now approaching 50 years old - I'm afraid that they'll come for me also."
Warning signs
I spent three days in Kisii trying to speak to the authorities, but nobody, neither the police nor the local government officials would talk to me.
As night drew in, and it was time for me to leave, Joseph walked with me from his village to where my car was parked.
When we arrived, he begged me to take him with me to Mombasa, where I am based.
It was very difficult for me to leave him behind.
As I drove away I passed signs pinned to trees, warning witches that they would be tracked down.
"We know you by your names", someone had typed in bold.
To listen to the full broadcast of Kenya's Witch Lynchings , tune in to African Perspective on the BBC World Service. The program is first broadcast on Saturday 27 June at 1106 GMT. It will be available online from 2106 GMT, for one week.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8119201.stm
Published: 2009/06/26 07:17:36 GMT
© BBC MMIX
R.I.P. MJ
we will never forget you.
thank you for the tremendous positive difference you have made and will continue to make throughout our world.
"if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make that change."
Rest In Peace
thank you for the tremendous positive difference you have made and will continue to make throughout our world.
"if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make that change."
Rest In Peace
story of the day
RI closer to changing state name over slavery
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer Ray Henry, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 25, 9:53 pm ET
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The country's smallest state has the longest official name: "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
A push to drop "Providence Plantations" from that name advanced farther than ever on Thursday when House lawmakers voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be called the "State of Rhode Island." It's an encouraging sign for those who believe the formal name conjures up images of slavery, while opponents argue it's an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island's tradition of religious liberty and tolerance.
The bill permitting a statewide referendum on the issue next year now heads to the state Senate.
"It's high time for us to recognize that slavery happened on plantations in Rhode Island and decide that we don't want that chapter of our history to be a proud part of our name," said Rep. Joseph Almeida, an African-American lawmaker who sponsored the bill.
Rhode Island's unwieldy name reflects its turbulent colonial history, a state that consisted of multiple and sometimes rival settlements populated by dissidents.
Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his unorthodox religious views, minister Roger Williams set out in 1636 and settled at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay, which he called Providence Plantations. Williams founded the first Baptist church in America and became famous for embracing the separation of church and state, a legal principle enshrined in the Bill of Rights a century later.
Other settlers made their homes in modern-day Portsmouth and Newport on Aquidneck Island, then known as the Isle of Rhodes.
In 1663, English King Charles II granted a royal charter joining all the settlements into a single colony called "The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." The name stuck. Rhode Island used that royal charter as its governing document until 1843.
Opponents of the name charge argue that "plantations" was used at the time to describe any farming settlements, regardless of slavery.
Rhode Island merchants did, however, make their fortunes off the slave trade. Slaves helped construct Brown University in Providence, and a prominent slave trader paid half the cost of its first library.
Still, Stanley Lemons, a professor emeritus of history at Rhode Island College, said changing the state's name ignores the accomplishments of Williams, whose government passed laws trying to prevent the permanent servitude of whites, blacks and American Indians.
"There are different meanings for this word," Lemons said. "To try to impose their experience on everyone else wipes out Roger Williams."
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer Ray Henry, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 25, 9:53 pm ET
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The country's smallest state has the longest official name: "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
A push to drop "Providence Plantations" from that name advanced farther than ever on Thursday when House lawmakers voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be called the "State of Rhode Island." It's an encouraging sign for those who believe the formal name conjures up images of slavery, while opponents argue it's an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island's tradition of religious liberty and tolerance.
The bill permitting a statewide referendum on the issue next year now heads to the state Senate.
"It's high time for us to recognize that slavery happened on plantations in Rhode Island and decide that we don't want that chapter of our history to be a proud part of our name," said Rep. Joseph Almeida, an African-American lawmaker who sponsored the bill.
Rhode Island's unwieldy name reflects its turbulent colonial history, a state that consisted of multiple and sometimes rival settlements populated by dissidents.
Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his unorthodox religious views, minister Roger Williams set out in 1636 and settled at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay, which he called Providence Plantations. Williams founded the first Baptist church in America and became famous for embracing the separation of church and state, a legal principle enshrined in the Bill of Rights a century later.
Other settlers made their homes in modern-day Portsmouth and Newport on Aquidneck Island, then known as the Isle of Rhodes.
In 1663, English King Charles II granted a royal charter joining all the settlements into a single colony called "The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." The name stuck. Rhode Island used that royal charter as its governing document until 1843.
Opponents of the name charge argue that "plantations" was used at the time to describe any farming settlements, regardless of slavery.
Rhode Island merchants did, however, make their fortunes off the slave trade. Slaves helped construct Brown University in Providence, and a prominent slave trader paid half the cost of its first library.
Still, Stanley Lemons, a professor emeritus of history at Rhode Island College, said changing the state's name ignores the accomplishments of Williams, whose government passed laws trying to prevent the permanent servitude of whites, blacks and American Indians.
"There are different meanings for this word," Lemons said. "To try to impose their experience on everyone else wipes out Roger Williams."
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Friday, June 05, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
article of the day
June 2, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
The Howls of a Fading Species
By BOB HERBERT
One can only hope that the hysterical howling of right-wingers against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is something approaching a death rattle for this profoundly destructive force in American life.
It’s hard to fathom the heights of hypocrisy currently being scaled by the foaming-in-the-mouth crazies who are leading the charge against the nomination. Newt Gingrich, who never needed a factual basis for his ravings, rants on Twitter that Judge Sotomayor is a “Latina woman racist,” apparently unaware of his incoherence in the “Latina-woman” redundancy in this defamatory characterization.
Karl Rove sneered that Ms. Sotomayor was “not necessarily” smart, thus managing to get the toxic issue of intelligence into play in the case of a woman who graduated summa cum laude from Princeton, went on to get a law degree from Yale and has more experience as a judge than any of the current justices had at the time of their nominations to the court.
It turns the stomach. There is no level of achievement sufficient to escape the stultifying bonds of bigotry. It is impossible to be smart enough or accomplished enough.
The amount of disrespect that has spattered the nomination of Judge Sotomayor is disgusting. She is spoken of, in some circles, as if she were the lowest of the low. Rush Limbaugh — now there’s a genius! — has compared her nomination to a hypothetical nomination of David Duke, a former head of the Ku Klux Klan. “How can a president nominate such a candidate?” Limbaugh asked.
Ms. Sotomayor is a member of the National Council of La Raza, the Hispanic civil rights organization. In the crazy perspective of some right-wingers, the mere existence of La Raza should make decent people run for cover. La Raza is “a Latino K.K.K. without the hoods and the nooses,” said Tom Tancredo, a Republican former congressman from Colorado.
Here’s the thing. Suddenly these hideously pompous and self-righteous white males of the right are all concerned about racism. They’re so concerned that they’re fully capable of finding it in places where it doesn’t for a moment exist. Not just finding it, but being outraged by it to the point of apoplexy. Oh, they tell us, this racism is a bad thing!
Are we supposed to not notice that these are the tribunes of a party that rose to power on the filthy waves of racial demagoguery. I don’t remember hearing their voices or the voices of their intellectual heroes when the Republican Party, as part of its Southern strategy, aggressively courted the bigots who fled the Democratic Party because the Democrats had become insufficiently hostile to blacks.
Where were the howls of outrage at this strategy that was articulated by Lee Atwater as follows: “By 1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff.”
Never a peep did you hear.
Where were the right-wing protests when Ronald Reagan went out of his way to kick off his general election campaign in 1980 with a salute to states’ rights in, of all places, Philadelphia, Miss., not far from the site where three young civil rights workers had been snatched and murdered by real-life, rabid, blood-thirsty racists?
We’ve heard ad nauseam Ms. Sotomayor’s comments — awkwardly stated but hardly racist — about what she brings to the bench as a Latina. But how often have we ever heard the awful, hateful position on race offered up by William F. Buckley, the right’s ultimate intellectual champion? He felt comfortable declaring, in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision ordering the desegregation of public schools, that whites had every right to discriminate against blacks because whites belonged to “the advanced race.”
Right-wing howls of protest? I think not.
Ms. Sotomayor’s nomination is a big deal because never before in the history of the United States has any president nominated a Latina to the highest court. Only two blacks have ever been on the court, and the one selected by a Republican has been like a thumb in the eye to most African-Americans.
The court is a living monument to America’s long history of exclusion based on race, ethnic background and gender. Where is the right-wing protest against that?
It was always silly to pretend that the election of Barack Obama was evidence that the U.S. was moving into some sort of post-racial, post-ethnic, post-gender nirvana. But it did offer a basis for optimism. There is every reason to hope that we’ve improved as a society to the point where the racial and ethnic craziness of the Gingriches and Limbaughs will finally have a tough time finding any sort of foothold.
Those types can still cause a lot of trouble, but the ridiculousness of their posture is pretty widely recognized. Thus the desperate howling.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Op-Ed Columnist
The Howls of a Fading Species
By BOB HERBERT
One can only hope that the hysterical howling of right-wingers against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is something approaching a death rattle for this profoundly destructive force in American life.
It’s hard to fathom the heights of hypocrisy currently being scaled by the foaming-in-the-mouth crazies who are leading the charge against the nomination. Newt Gingrich, who never needed a factual basis for his ravings, rants on Twitter that Judge Sotomayor is a “Latina woman racist,” apparently unaware of his incoherence in the “Latina-woman” redundancy in this defamatory characterization.
Karl Rove sneered that Ms. Sotomayor was “not necessarily” smart, thus managing to get the toxic issue of intelligence into play in the case of a woman who graduated summa cum laude from Princeton, went on to get a law degree from Yale and has more experience as a judge than any of the current justices had at the time of their nominations to the court.
It turns the stomach. There is no level of achievement sufficient to escape the stultifying bonds of bigotry. It is impossible to be smart enough or accomplished enough.
The amount of disrespect that has spattered the nomination of Judge Sotomayor is disgusting. She is spoken of, in some circles, as if she were the lowest of the low. Rush Limbaugh — now there’s a genius! — has compared her nomination to a hypothetical nomination of David Duke, a former head of the Ku Klux Klan. “How can a president nominate such a candidate?” Limbaugh asked.
Ms. Sotomayor is a member of the National Council of La Raza, the Hispanic civil rights organization. In the crazy perspective of some right-wingers, the mere existence of La Raza should make decent people run for cover. La Raza is “a Latino K.K.K. without the hoods and the nooses,” said Tom Tancredo, a Republican former congressman from Colorado.
Here’s the thing. Suddenly these hideously pompous and self-righteous white males of the right are all concerned about racism. They’re so concerned that they’re fully capable of finding it in places where it doesn’t for a moment exist. Not just finding it, but being outraged by it to the point of apoplexy. Oh, they tell us, this racism is a bad thing!
Are we supposed to not notice that these are the tribunes of a party that rose to power on the filthy waves of racial demagoguery. I don’t remember hearing their voices or the voices of their intellectual heroes when the Republican Party, as part of its Southern strategy, aggressively courted the bigots who fled the Democratic Party because the Democrats had become insufficiently hostile to blacks.
Where were the howls of outrage at this strategy that was articulated by Lee Atwater as follows: “By 1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff.”
Never a peep did you hear.
Where were the right-wing protests when Ronald Reagan went out of his way to kick off his general election campaign in 1980 with a salute to states’ rights in, of all places, Philadelphia, Miss., not far from the site where three young civil rights workers had been snatched and murdered by real-life, rabid, blood-thirsty racists?
We’ve heard ad nauseam Ms. Sotomayor’s comments — awkwardly stated but hardly racist — about what she brings to the bench as a Latina. But how often have we ever heard the awful, hateful position on race offered up by William F. Buckley, the right’s ultimate intellectual champion? He felt comfortable declaring, in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision ordering the desegregation of public schools, that whites had every right to discriminate against blacks because whites belonged to “the advanced race.”
Right-wing howls of protest? I think not.
Ms. Sotomayor’s nomination is a big deal because never before in the history of the United States has any president nominated a Latina to the highest court. Only two blacks have ever been on the court, and the one selected by a Republican has been like a thumb in the eye to most African-Americans.
The court is a living monument to America’s long history of exclusion based on race, ethnic background and gender. Where is the right-wing protest against that?
It was always silly to pretend that the election of Barack Obama was evidence that the U.S. was moving into some sort of post-racial, post-ethnic, post-gender nirvana. But it did offer a basis for optimism. There is every reason to hope that we’ve improved as a society to the point where the racial and ethnic craziness of the Gingriches and Limbaughs will finally have a tough time finding any sort of foothold.
Those types can still cause a lot of trouble, but the ridiculousness of their posture is pretty widely recognized. Thus the desperate howling.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
oy!
Arrest ordered for mom of boy, 13, resisting chemo
By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press Writer Amy Forliti, Associated Press Writer 1 min ago
NEW ULM, Minn. – Authorities nationwide were on the lookout Wednesday for a mother and her 13-year-old cancer-stricken son who fled after refusing the chemotherapy that doctors say could save the boy's life.
Colleen Hauser and her son, Daniel, who has Hodgkin's lymphoma, apparently left their southern Minnesota home sometime after a doctor's appointment and court-ordered X-ray on Monday showed his tumor had grown.
Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg, who had ruled last week that Daniel's parents were medically neglecting him, issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for Colleen Hauser and ruled her in contempt of court. Rodenberg also ordered that Daniel be placed in foster care and immediately evaluated by a cancer specialist for treatment.
The family belongs to a religious group that believes in "natural" healing methods. Daniel has testified he believed chemotherapy would kill him and told the judge that if anyone tried to force him to take it, "I'd fight it. I'd punch them and I'd kick them."
The boy's father, Anthony Hauser, testified he didn't know where his wife and son were but had made no attempt to find them. He testified he last saw his son Monday morning, and he saw his wife only briefly that evening when she said she was leaving "for a time."
As of Wednesday morning, the mother and son still had not been found, said Carl Rolloff, a sheriff's dispatcher.
Officials distributed the arrest warrant nationwide. Brown County Sheriff Rich Hoffman said Tuesday that investigators were following some leads locally, but declined to elaborate.
"It's absolutely crazy. It's very disappointing," James Olson, the attorney representing Brown County Family Services. "We're trying to do what's right for this young man."
A message left at the Hauser home in Sleepy Eye early Wednesday wasn't immediately returned. But in an interview in Wednesday's editions of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Anthony Hauser said he knew places where his wife might have gone though he did not know where she was.
He said he and his wife had a plan for Tuesday's hearing and he was a "bit disappointed" she didn't follow it. "We were going to present a treatment plan to the court. If they didn't go with it, we would appeal it," he told the newspaper.
"I know many people around here who have had cancer, they did the chemo, it would come back," Hauser told the newspaper. "They did the chemo again and again and they are all in the grave. Chemo isn't foolproof."
Olson, the family services lawyer, had considered asking the judge to hold Anthony Hauser in contempt as well, but he said Wednesday he decided against that.
"I'm thinking that he probably doesn't know where his wife and child are," Olson said.
Daniel's Hodgkin's lymphoma, diagnosed in January, is considered highly curable with chemotherapy and radiation, but the boy quit chemo after a single treatment.
The judge has said Daniel, who has a learning disability and cannot read, did not understand the risks and benefits of chemotherapy and didn't believe he was ill.
The Hausers are Roman Catholic and also believe in the "do no harm" philosophy of the Nemenhah Band, a Missouri-based religious group that believes in natural healing methods advocated by some American Indians. Colleen Hauser testified earlier that she had been treating his cancer with herbal supplements, vitamins, ionized water and other natural alternatives.
The founder of Nemenhah, Philip Cloudpiler Landis, said it was a bad idea for Colleen Hauser to flee with her son. "You don't solve anything by disregarding the order of the judge," Landis said.
The family's doctor, James Joyce, testified by telephone that he examined Daniel on Monday, and that an X-ray showed his tumor had grown to the size it was when he was first diagnosed.
"He had basically gotten back all the trouble he had in January," the doctor said.
Joyce testified that he offered to make appointments for Daniel with oncologists, but the Hausers declined, then left in a rush with lawyer Susan Daya.
"Under Susan Daya's urging, they indicated they had other places to go," Joyce said.
Daya did not immediately respond to a call Tuesday from The Associated Press. The court also tried to reach her during the hearing, but got no answer.
Minnesota statutes require parents to provide necessary medical care for a child, Rodenberg wrote. The statutes say alternative and complementary health care methods aren't enough.
By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press Writer Amy Forliti, Associated Press Writer 1 min ago
NEW ULM, Minn. – Authorities nationwide were on the lookout Wednesday for a mother and her 13-year-old cancer-stricken son who fled after refusing the chemotherapy that doctors say could save the boy's life.
Colleen Hauser and her son, Daniel, who has Hodgkin's lymphoma, apparently left their southern Minnesota home sometime after a doctor's appointment and court-ordered X-ray on Monday showed his tumor had grown.
Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg, who had ruled last week that Daniel's parents were medically neglecting him, issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for Colleen Hauser and ruled her in contempt of court. Rodenberg also ordered that Daniel be placed in foster care and immediately evaluated by a cancer specialist for treatment.
The family belongs to a religious group that believes in "natural" healing methods. Daniel has testified he believed chemotherapy would kill him and told the judge that if anyone tried to force him to take it, "I'd fight it. I'd punch them and I'd kick them."
The boy's father, Anthony Hauser, testified he didn't know where his wife and son were but had made no attempt to find them. He testified he last saw his son Monday morning, and he saw his wife only briefly that evening when she said she was leaving "for a time."
As of Wednesday morning, the mother and son still had not been found, said Carl Rolloff, a sheriff's dispatcher.
Officials distributed the arrest warrant nationwide. Brown County Sheriff Rich Hoffman said Tuesday that investigators were following some leads locally, but declined to elaborate.
"It's absolutely crazy. It's very disappointing," James Olson, the attorney representing Brown County Family Services. "We're trying to do what's right for this young man."
A message left at the Hauser home in Sleepy Eye early Wednesday wasn't immediately returned. But in an interview in Wednesday's editions of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Anthony Hauser said he knew places where his wife might have gone though he did not know where she was.
He said he and his wife had a plan for Tuesday's hearing and he was a "bit disappointed" she didn't follow it. "We were going to present a treatment plan to the court. If they didn't go with it, we would appeal it," he told the newspaper.
"I know many people around here who have had cancer, they did the chemo, it would come back," Hauser told the newspaper. "They did the chemo again and again and they are all in the grave. Chemo isn't foolproof."
Olson, the family services lawyer, had considered asking the judge to hold Anthony Hauser in contempt as well, but he said Wednesday he decided against that.
"I'm thinking that he probably doesn't know where his wife and child are," Olson said.
Daniel's Hodgkin's lymphoma, diagnosed in January, is considered highly curable with chemotherapy and radiation, but the boy quit chemo after a single treatment.
The judge has said Daniel, who has a learning disability and cannot read, did not understand the risks and benefits of chemotherapy and didn't believe he was ill.
The Hausers are Roman Catholic and also believe in the "do no harm" philosophy of the Nemenhah Band, a Missouri-based religious group that believes in natural healing methods advocated by some American Indians. Colleen Hauser testified earlier that she had been treating his cancer with herbal supplements, vitamins, ionized water and other natural alternatives.
The founder of Nemenhah, Philip Cloudpiler Landis, said it was a bad idea for Colleen Hauser to flee with her son. "You don't solve anything by disregarding the order of the judge," Landis said.
The family's doctor, James Joyce, testified by telephone that he examined Daniel on Monday, and that an X-ray showed his tumor had grown to the size it was when he was first diagnosed.
"He had basically gotten back all the trouble he had in January," the doctor said.
Joyce testified that he offered to make appointments for Daniel with oncologists, but the Hausers declined, then left in a rush with lawyer Susan Daya.
"Under Susan Daya's urging, they indicated they had other places to go," Joyce said.
Daya did not immediately respond to a call Tuesday from The Associated Press. The court also tried to reach her during the hearing, but got no answer.
Minnesota statutes require parents to provide necessary medical care for a child, Rodenberg wrote. The statutes say alternative and complementary health care methods aren't enough.
Friday, May 15, 2009
questions questions
Prosecutor questions Rove on fired US attorneys
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 29 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Former White House aide Karl Rove faced questions Friday from a special prosecutor weighing whether to bring criminal charges against Bush administration officials for the politically charged firing of U.S. attorneys.
Rove met with prosecutor Nora Dannehy at the office of his lawyer, Robert Luskin. Rove did not speak to reporters as he entered the downtown Washington law office and neither did investigators who arrived about a half hour later.
Rove has said he will cooperate with the investigation, which is being conducted to determine whether Bush administration officials or congressional Republicans should face criminal charges in the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006.
Rove and other Republican officials refused to be interviewed in an earlier Justice Department inquiry, which concluded that despite Bush administration denials, political considerations played a part in the firings of as many as four prosecutors.
U.S. attorneys are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president, but cannot be fired for improper reasons. Bush administration officials at first claimed the attorneys were let go because of poor performance.
The internal Justice Department investigation recommended a criminal inquiry, saying the lack of cooperation by Rove and other senior administration officials left gaps in their findings that should be investigated further. Then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey responded by naming Dannehy, the acting U.S. attorney in Connecticut, as special prosecutor in September.
Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers also have agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee under oath about the firings in closed depositions. As president, Bush had fought attempts to force them to testify.
In July, U.S. District Judge John Bates rejected Bush's contention that senior White House advisers were immune from the committee's subpoenas, siding with Congress' power to investigate the executive branch. The Bush administration had appealed the decision. The agreement for Rove and Miers to testify ended the lawsuit.
___
Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 29 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Former White House aide Karl Rove faced questions Friday from a special prosecutor weighing whether to bring criminal charges against Bush administration officials for the politically charged firing of U.S. attorneys.
Rove met with prosecutor Nora Dannehy at the office of his lawyer, Robert Luskin. Rove did not speak to reporters as he entered the downtown Washington law office and neither did investigators who arrived about a half hour later.
Rove has said he will cooperate with the investigation, which is being conducted to determine whether Bush administration officials or congressional Republicans should face criminal charges in the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006.
Rove and other Republican officials refused to be interviewed in an earlier Justice Department inquiry, which concluded that despite Bush administration denials, political considerations played a part in the firings of as many as four prosecutors.
U.S. attorneys are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president, but cannot be fired for improper reasons. Bush administration officials at first claimed the attorneys were let go because of poor performance.
The internal Justice Department investigation recommended a criminal inquiry, saying the lack of cooperation by Rove and other senior administration officials left gaps in their findings that should be investigated further. Then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey responded by naming Dannehy, the acting U.S. attorney in Connecticut, as special prosecutor in September.
Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers also have agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee under oath about the firings in closed depositions. As president, Bush had fought attempts to force them to testify.
In July, U.S. District Judge John Bates rejected Bush's contention that senior White House advisers were immune from the committee's subpoenas, siding with Congress' power to investigate the executive branch. The Bush administration had appealed the decision. The agreement for Rove and Miers to testify ended the lawsuit.
___
Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
me/class of 1977
Obama shrugs off honorary degree snub at ASU
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer Darlene Superville, Associated Press Writer 28 mins ago
TEMPE, Ariz. – President Barack Obama says Arizona State University officials aren't the only ones who think he needs to accomplish more to earn an honorary degree.
Add his wife Michelle to that list.
"I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven't yet achieved enough in my life," Obama said in a commencement speech Wednesday. With a smile he added: "First of all, Michelle (Obama) concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home."
"But more than that I come to embrace the notion that I haven't done enough in my life. I heartily concur. I come to affirm that one's title, even a title like 'president of the United States,' says very little about how well one's life has been led."
Obama challenged the graduating class to find new sources of energy, improve failing schools and never to rely on past achievement. He congratulated them on earning a degree, and said the next steps mattered more than a piece of paper or a tassel.
"I want to say to you today, graduates, class of 2009, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone in your life — despite the fact that you and your families are so rightfully proud — you, too, cannot rest on your laurels. ... Your own body of work is also yet to come," the president said, wearing a black gown with red embellishments and a blue hood.
Commencement speakers typically are awarded honorary degrees as a sign of respect and appreciation. Arizona State officials, however, did not award any such degrees this year.
"His body of work is yet to come. That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency," university spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said after the school's student newspaper first reported the decision.
To quell the controversy, the university instead renamed a scholarship for the nation's 44th president. In his remarks, Obama thanked the school for the gesture.
He also met six recipients of the scholarship named for him, and commissioned a group of Army and Air Force cadets.
While the dispute over Obama's honorary degree colored the buildup to the ceremony, a sweltering — and packed — Sun Devil Stadium seemed to care little. About 63,000 people crowded into the stadium to send 9,000 students into a marketplace that has lost 1.3 million jobs since February.
Obama flew to Albuquerque, N.M., after the speech. He planned a town hall-style meeting there Thursday on proposed restrictions on credit card companies.
Obama plans commencement addresses Sunday at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on May 22.
Protests were expected at Notre Dame, a Roman Catholic school, over Obama's support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer Darlene Superville, Associated Press Writer 28 mins ago
TEMPE, Ariz. – President Barack Obama says Arizona State University officials aren't the only ones who think he needs to accomplish more to earn an honorary degree.
Add his wife Michelle to that list.
"I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven't yet achieved enough in my life," Obama said in a commencement speech Wednesday. With a smile he added: "First of all, Michelle (Obama) concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home."
"But more than that I come to embrace the notion that I haven't done enough in my life. I heartily concur. I come to affirm that one's title, even a title like 'president of the United States,' says very little about how well one's life has been led."
Obama challenged the graduating class to find new sources of energy, improve failing schools and never to rely on past achievement. He congratulated them on earning a degree, and said the next steps mattered more than a piece of paper or a tassel.
"I want to say to you today, graduates, class of 2009, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone in your life — despite the fact that you and your families are so rightfully proud — you, too, cannot rest on your laurels. ... Your own body of work is also yet to come," the president said, wearing a black gown with red embellishments and a blue hood.
Commencement speakers typically are awarded honorary degrees as a sign of respect and appreciation. Arizona State officials, however, did not award any such degrees this year.
"His body of work is yet to come. That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency," university spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said after the school's student newspaper first reported the decision.
To quell the controversy, the university instead renamed a scholarship for the nation's 44th president. In his remarks, Obama thanked the school for the gesture.
He also met six recipients of the scholarship named for him, and commissioned a group of Army and Air Force cadets.
While the dispute over Obama's honorary degree colored the buildup to the ceremony, a sweltering — and packed — Sun Devil Stadium seemed to care little. About 63,000 people crowded into the stadium to send 9,000 students into a marketplace that has lost 1.3 million jobs since February.
Obama flew to Albuquerque, N.M., after the speech. He planned a town hall-style meeting there Thursday on proposed restrictions on credit card companies.
Obama plans commencement addresses Sunday at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on May 22.
Protests were expected at Notre Dame, a Roman Catholic school, over Obama's support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.
Monday, May 11, 2009
who knew?
BBC NEWS
Evolution is slowing snails down
Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News
Garden snails are evolving slower metabolisms.
Natural selection is favouring snails with reduced metabolic rates, researchers in Chile have discovered.
It is the first time that evolution has been shown to select for this trait in individuals of any species.
Snails with lower metabolisms are at an advantage because they have more energy to spend on other activities such as growth or reproduction, the researchers say in the journal Evolution.
Roberto Nespolo and Paulina Artacho of the Southern University of Chile in Valdivia examined a long standing biological hypothesis known as the "energetic definition of fitness".
"This predicts that animals that spend less energy will have more surplus for survival and reproduction," says Nespolo.
We could recover the dead because of their shells and because they did not move more than a couple of metres each year
Evolutionary biologist Roberto Nespolo
Few studies have tested the idea, and three done on rodents could not find any evidence it was true. "Ours is the fourth and the first to demonstrate significant directional selection on metabolism," says Nespolo.
Nespolo and Artacho measured the size of almost 100 garden snails (Helix aspersa). They also gauged their standard metabolic rate (SMR), by measuring how much carbon dioxide each animal produced while at rest.
The standard metabolic rate is a measure of the minimal amount of energy an animal requires to stay alive.
"Standard metabolic rate is the energy required for maintenance. In other words, having less maintenance permits you to have more energy for other activities, such as growth and reproduction. That's why less metabolism represents higher fitness," says Nespolo.
After seven months, they recaptured the animals, collecting the empty shells of those which had died.
Survival of the SMR
They found size did not predict which animals survived. But metabolic rate did, with surviving snails having a metabolic rate 20% lower than that of the snails that didn't survive.
And the lower each snail's metabolic rate, the greater its chance of survival. That means that nature is selecting for snails that are more energy efficient, says Nespolo.
Nespolo's and Artacho's study worked in part because of the snails they chose to study.
Previous research examined metabolism in wild mice. But it's impossible to know whether mice that disappear from a study have died, or simply moved away. So it's difficult to accurately measure how many mice survive year to year.
By studying garden snails living in purpose-built enclosures, Nespolo and Artacho avoided this problem, as their snails did not move far and left behind empty shells when they died.
"We could recover the dead because of their shells and because they did not move more than a couple of metres each year," says Nespolo.
Snail's pace
The researchers now plan to answer the ultimate question: is having a slow metabolism linked to moving slowly?
If it is, that means that snails are not only evolving to use energy more slowly, but are increasingly moving at an even lower snail's pace.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8043000/8043689.stm
Published: 2009/05/11 10:44:49 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Evolution is slowing snails down
Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News
Garden snails are evolving slower metabolisms.
Natural selection is favouring snails with reduced metabolic rates, researchers in Chile have discovered.
It is the first time that evolution has been shown to select for this trait in individuals of any species.
Snails with lower metabolisms are at an advantage because they have more energy to spend on other activities such as growth or reproduction, the researchers say in the journal Evolution.
Roberto Nespolo and Paulina Artacho of the Southern University of Chile in Valdivia examined a long standing biological hypothesis known as the "energetic definition of fitness".
"This predicts that animals that spend less energy will have more surplus for survival and reproduction," says Nespolo.
We could recover the dead because of their shells and because they did not move more than a couple of metres each year
Evolutionary biologist Roberto Nespolo
Few studies have tested the idea, and three done on rodents could not find any evidence it was true. "Ours is the fourth and the first to demonstrate significant directional selection on metabolism," says Nespolo.
Nespolo and Artacho measured the size of almost 100 garden snails (Helix aspersa). They also gauged their standard metabolic rate (SMR), by measuring how much carbon dioxide each animal produced while at rest.
The standard metabolic rate is a measure of the minimal amount of energy an animal requires to stay alive.
"Standard metabolic rate is the energy required for maintenance. In other words, having less maintenance permits you to have more energy for other activities, such as growth and reproduction. That's why less metabolism represents higher fitness," says Nespolo.
After seven months, they recaptured the animals, collecting the empty shells of those which had died.
Survival of the SMR
They found size did not predict which animals survived. But metabolic rate did, with surviving snails having a metabolic rate 20% lower than that of the snails that didn't survive.
And the lower each snail's metabolic rate, the greater its chance of survival. That means that nature is selecting for snails that are more energy efficient, says Nespolo.
Nespolo's and Artacho's study worked in part because of the snails they chose to study.
Previous research examined metabolism in wild mice. But it's impossible to know whether mice that disappear from a study have died, or simply moved away. So it's difficult to accurately measure how many mice survive year to year.
By studying garden snails living in purpose-built enclosures, Nespolo and Artacho avoided this problem, as their snails did not move far and left behind empty shells when they died.
"We could recover the dead because of their shells and because they did not move more than a couple of metres each year," says Nespolo.
Snail's pace
The researchers now plan to answer the ultimate question: is having a slow metabolism linked to moving slowly?
If it is, that means that snails are not only evolving to use energy more slowly, but are increasingly moving at an even lower snail's pace.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8043000/8043689.stm
Published: 2009/05/11 10:44:49 GMT
© BBC MMIX
Monday, May 04, 2009
who knew?
Vatican 'hampered new Hanks film'
Director Ron Howard has accused the Vatican of trying to hamper the filming of his new movie, Angels & Demons, starring Tom Hanks.
The movie sequel to author Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code features symbolist Robert Langdon helping to rescue four kidnapped cardinals.
But Howard said the Vatican exerted its influence "through back channels" to prevent filming near certain churches.
A Vatican spokesman said the director's claims were purely a publicity stunt.
Howard told a news conference: "When you come to film in Rome, the official statement to you is that the Vatican has no influence.
Filming barred
"Everything progressed very smoothly, but unofficially a couple of days before we were to start filming in several of our locations, it was explained to us that through back channels and so forth that the Vatican had exerted some influence."
Last summer, Rome's diocese confirmed it had barred producers from filming inside two churches because the movie did not conform to the church's views.
The director also claimed the Vatican got an event related to the film's premiere in Rome cancelled.
"There was supposed to be a reception or screening here in Rome that had been approved and I suppose that the Vatican had some influence over that," he said.
Speaking to the Associated Press the Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, refused to comment on Howard's allegations about church interference, saying his charges were purely designed to drum up publicity for the film.
Science vs religion
Catholic critics were unhappy with The Da Vinci Code which suggests that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal bloodline that Church officials kept secret for centuries.
But Howard challenged them to see the new movie before condemning it.
"My only frustration as a film-maker is that we actually reached out a couple of times, to sort of offer opportunities for bishops and others just to see the film. And those opportunities have all been declined," he said.
"So far all the criticism, all of the complaints about the film have been coming from people who haven't seen it."
Over the weekend, a 102-year-old Italian bishop was quoted in the Italian media calling the film "highly denigrating, defamatory and offensive to Church values".
However, the storyline of Angels & Demons does not raise questions about Jesus Christ - it is billed as a "science vs religion" thriller that deals with an attempt to hijack a papal election.
Howard's adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, which was panned by critics, earned more than $750m (£505m) at the box office worldwide.
Angels & Demons will be released in the UK on 15 May.
Director Ron Howard has accused the Vatican of trying to hamper the filming of his new movie, Angels & Demons, starring Tom Hanks.
The movie sequel to author Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code features symbolist Robert Langdon helping to rescue four kidnapped cardinals.
But Howard said the Vatican exerted its influence "through back channels" to prevent filming near certain churches.
A Vatican spokesman said the director's claims were purely a publicity stunt.
Howard told a news conference: "When you come to film in Rome, the official statement to you is that the Vatican has no influence.
Filming barred
"Everything progressed very smoothly, but unofficially a couple of days before we were to start filming in several of our locations, it was explained to us that through back channels and so forth that the Vatican had exerted some influence."
Last summer, Rome's diocese confirmed it had barred producers from filming inside two churches because the movie did not conform to the church's views.
The director also claimed the Vatican got an event related to the film's premiere in Rome cancelled.
"There was supposed to be a reception or screening here in Rome that had been approved and I suppose that the Vatican had some influence over that," he said.
Speaking to the Associated Press the Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, refused to comment on Howard's allegations about church interference, saying his charges were purely designed to drum up publicity for the film.
Science vs religion
Catholic critics were unhappy with The Da Vinci Code which suggests that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal bloodline that Church officials kept secret for centuries.
But Howard challenged them to see the new movie before condemning it.
"My only frustration as a film-maker is that we actually reached out a couple of times, to sort of offer opportunities for bishops and others just to see the film. And those opportunities have all been declined," he said.
"So far all the criticism, all of the complaints about the film have been coming from people who haven't seen it."
Over the weekend, a 102-year-old Italian bishop was quoted in the Italian media calling the film "highly denigrating, defamatory and offensive to Church values".
However, the storyline of Angels & Demons does not raise questions about Jesus Christ - it is billed as a "science vs religion" thriller that deals with an attempt to hijack a papal election.
Howard's adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, which was panned by critics, earned more than $750m (£505m) at the box office worldwide.
Angels & Demons will be released in the UK on 15 May.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
more good news
Senators want to expel junk food from U.S. schools
By Christopher Doering Christopher Doering 1 hr 10 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. schools with vending machines that sell candy and soda to students could soon find the government requiring healthier options to combat childhood obesity under a bill introduced on Thursday by two senators.
While school meals must comply with U.S. dietary guidelines, there are no such rules on snacks sold outside of school lunchrooms. Many are high in fat, sugar and calories.
Senators Tom Harkin and Lisa Murkowski said their bill would allow the U.S. Agriculture Department to establish "common-sense nutrition standards" for food and beverages sold in school vending machines, stores and similar outlets.
Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees school lunch and breakfast programs that cost an estimated $11 billion a year in federal money.
U.S. child nutrition programs such as school lunches and the Women, Infants and Children feeding program are due for renewal this year. An Agriculture Committee spokesman said one option would be to include the legislation introduced today as part of the broader reauthorization later in 2009.
"Poor diet and physical inactivity are contributing to growing rates of chronic disease in the United States," said Harkin, a Democrat. "We must take preventative action now."
An estimated 32 percent of U.S. children fit the government's definition of being overweight and 16 percent are considered obese, at risk for serious health problems. Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, said the bill was a response to "the youth obesity epidemic."
Harkin and Murkowski have offered similar legislation in prior years. The measure could have a better chance of passing this year with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration recognizing obesity as a top U.S. health threat.
Consumer and health advocacy groups including the American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association and the Center for Science in the Public Interest support the legislation.
Reginald Felton of the National School Boards Association said states and local communities should determine what is sold beyond federal programs because a "one-size fits all policy" would not sufficiently address the needs on a smaller level.
He also noted that some schools rely on snack sales to help cover costs.
"It's intrusive for the federal government to establish requirements beyond the programs that they fund, particularly when states are addressing the issue," said Felton. "If local boards want to restrict they should."
(Reporting by Christopher Doering; Editing by David Gregorio)
this is a great idea, long overdue.
By Christopher Doering Christopher Doering 1 hr 10 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. schools with vending machines that sell candy and soda to students could soon find the government requiring healthier options to combat childhood obesity under a bill introduced on Thursday by two senators.
While school meals must comply with U.S. dietary guidelines, there are no such rules on snacks sold outside of school lunchrooms. Many are high in fat, sugar and calories.
Senators Tom Harkin and Lisa Murkowski said their bill would allow the U.S. Agriculture Department to establish "common-sense nutrition standards" for food and beverages sold in school vending machines, stores and similar outlets.
Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees school lunch and breakfast programs that cost an estimated $11 billion a year in federal money.
U.S. child nutrition programs such as school lunches and the Women, Infants and Children feeding program are due for renewal this year. An Agriculture Committee spokesman said one option would be to include the legislation introduced today as part of the broader reauthorization later in 2009.
"Poor diet and physical inactivity are contributing to growing rates of chronic disease in the United States," said Harkin, a Democrat. "We must take preventative action now."
An estimated 32 percent of U.S. children fit the government's definition of being overweight and 16 percent are considered obese, at risk for serious health problems. Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, said the bill was a response to "the youth obesity epidemic."
Harkin and Murkowski have offered similar legislation in prior years. The measure could have a better chance of passing this year with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration recognizing obesity as a top U.S. health threat.
Consumer and health advocacy groups including the American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association and the Center for Science in the Public Interest support the legislation.
Reginald Felton of the National School Boards Association said states and local communities should determine what is sold beyond federal programs because a "one-size fits all policy" would not sufficiently address the needs on a smaller level.
He also noted that some schools rely on snack sales to help cover costs.
"It's intrusive for the federal government to establish requirements beyond the programs that they fund, particularly when states are addressing the issue," said Felton. "If local boards want to restrict they should."
(Reporting by Christopher Doering; Editing by David Gregorio)
this is a great idea, long overdue.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
good news
mydesert.com
April 22, 2009
From food scraps and paper to fertilizer
Local business, Costco pair up to transform green waste
K Kaufmann
The Desert Sun
It's an unlikely partnership — an environmental scientist from that bastion of tree-huggers, UC Berkeley, and a big-box discount giant.
But in the Coachella Valley, Thomas Azwell and Costco have forged a partnership — with the help of several million worms on a worm farm at the Salton Sea — turning green waste from Costco's Palm Desert and La Quinta stores into high-grade organic fertilizer.
In other words, it's an Earth Day story with real earth.
Paper, cardboard, food scraps — anything that was alive at one time, Azwell said — are collected at the stores and then sent to California Bio-Mass, a composting facility in Thermal.
The next stop is Salton Sea Farms, also in Thermal, where about 100,000 pounds of red wiggler earthworms chomp through the compost, refining and enriching it with beneficial microbes and bacteria.
“They stabilize the organisms,” said John Beerman, a partner at the farm and Cal Bio-Mass. “It's beneficial bacteria that help plants convert nutrients in soil, make them available.”
The resulting fertilizer, called Vermigrow, is now sold at 27 Costcos in California and is being used at organic farms.
“It worked well,” said Bill Jessup, an organic citrus farmer in Thermal who has used Vermigrow on his 25 acres of oranges, grapefruit and tangerines, in addition to organic compost.
“We had more fruit; our output increased,” Jessup said.
This model of sustainable business — environmentally and financially green — is all the more significant because of the valley's and Costco's more conservative profiles, Azwell said.
“It's really easy to do things (in Northern California),” Azwell said. “The best model for these programs is to do them in the Coachella Valley, where people don't expect it.”
“If a low-cost operation like Costco can do it, then everyone can figure it out,” said Chris Marmon, regional bakery manager for the chain who worked with Azwell on the project.
“We live and die on half a penny,” Marmon said. “We've developed the process where it works out in a good (way) for us as a big-box operation.”
Getting started
Azwell didn't choose the Coachella Valley and Costco as his green business laboratory at random.
After a varied career working on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, he landed at Indio High School, teaching environmental science to low-performing kids.
“It was profound for me to talk about rainforests — it's all doom and gloom — and we move on to the next chapter,” Azwell recalled. “There was no substance. I started building gardens. If you can get them involved in horticulture, they can learn real skills.”
His work in Indio eventually led to his decision to return to school for a Ph.D. at Berkeley.
The Costco project grew out of his valley connections with Beerman and Marmon, an old friend from his undergrad days at the University of Redlands.
With the success of the pilot programs in La Quinta and Palm Desert, green waste recycling will launch at Costco stores in El Centro, Fontana and San Bernardino, Marmon said.
“The sales product (Vermigrow) is doing really well, especially when we tell the story to members,” he said.
The Costco project also comes at a pivotal point for green or organic waste recycling in California — and the Coachella Valley.
Cities are already under a state mandate to divert 50 percent of their trash from California's landfills, and the statewide average is now 58 percent, said Charlene Graham, spokeswoman for the Integrated Waste Management Board.
But, the state Legislature could soon up the ante with a new law requiring a 75 percent diversion rate by 2020. Green waste will be key to hitting that target, Graham said.
“Organic waste makes up 15million tons of the waste stream,” she said. “If we can divert that waste into other uses, specifically compost, it's one of our goals.”
At Costco, one of the main challenges was training the employees to separate organic waste from cans, bottles and other recyclables, Marmon said.
“That's the toughest part,” he said. “We would look at our location almost as waste streams, plural — bathroom, break room, produce. Each one of those waste streams we attacked individually, one at a time, so we didn't overwhelm ourselves.”
Graham said, “Projects like this are incredible. It's a movement within our state, where people are trying to figure out — what can I do with this waste material? How can I make a profit from this stuff?”
Additional Facts
At the worm farm
John Beerman is standing on a heap of compost at the Salton Sea Farms — the worm ranch he owns with Steve Lee in Thermal — enthusiastically digging up a handful of moist, dark material loaded with small red worms.
“This is dead fish, manure, green waste-food waste,” Beerman says. “Whiff it. It's almost no odor. Once the worms get in, they deodorize it.”
Eating compost and turning it into rich organic fertilizer is the life mission for eisenia fetida, the red wiggler earth worms at the 5-acre farm. Measuring 1 to 3 inches long, the worms can eat up to their own weight in green waste every day — a pound of worms eat a pound of compost — and Beerman estimated the current “herd” at the Salton Sea weighs in at about 100,000 pounds.
Red wigglers are hermaphrodites, containing male and female sex organs. To reproduce, worms exchange sperm, which is mixed with their eggs to form a “cocoon.”
The cocoons can hatch 10 or more new worms, out of which typically only a few survive. But with new worms becoming sexually mature in eight to 10 weeks, a pound of red wrigglers can become two pounds in about three to four months.
And they can live and keep reproducing for up to four years.
They are also considered good fish bait because they survive under water longer than other worms, continuing to move and attract fish.Riverside County Waste Management will present a free workshop on backyard composting at 10 a.m. Saturday at the San Nicholas Gardens, on the corner of San Nicholas and San Pablo avenues in Palm Desert.
Attendees will learn how to recycle organic resources, fruit and vegetable waste and tree trimmings into sweet-smelling soil conditioner.
Info: 346-0611 Ext. 331
A carbon-free farm?The labels on the oranges, grapefruit and tangerines from B&J Ranch in Thermal cqalready say “organic.” But in the future, they could also say “carbon-free.”B&J owner Bill Jessup cqfertilizes his trees with organic compost from California Bio-Mass, a company that processes green waste from Coachella Valley cities and businesses. “It seems to be much better than using composted manure,” Jessup said Tuesday, picking up a handful of the rich-looking compost from the base of one of his trees. “The balance is better.”He is also working with Nate McKeever of McKeever Energy and Electric in Thermal, cq both on plans to make the 25-acre ranch a model project, with a solar installation to cover 100 percent of the operation's energy use. “More and more, people are interested in where their food is coming from, completing the whole cycle of food,” McKeever said.The project is in its early stages, but even with solar, Jessup's operation may not be completely carbon free. When he started out 30 years ago, the only profitable market for organic fruit was in San Francisco, and he continues to ship his crop north. The new farmers markets in the valley are great, he said, but not cost-effective for him.“Citrus has not been the best thing in the Southland; it's very competitive,” he said.
April 22, 2009
From food scraps and paper to fertilizer
Local business, Costco pair up to transform green waste
K Kaufmann
The Desert Sun
It's an unlikely partnership — an environmental scientist from that bastion of tree-huggers, UC Berkeley, and a big-box discount giant.
But in the Coachella Valley, Thomas Azwell and Costco have forged a partnership — with the help of several million worms on a worm farm at the Salton Sea — turning green waste from Costco's Palm Desert and La Quinta stores into high-grade organic fertilizer.
In other words, it's an Earth Day story with real earth.
Paper, cardboard, food scraps — anything that was alive at one time, Azwell said — are collected at the stores and then sent to California Bio-Mass, a composting facility in Thermal.
The next stop is Salton Sea Farms, also in Thermal, where about 100,000 pounds of red wiggler earthworms chomp through the compost, refining and enriching it with beneficial microbes and bacteria.
“They stabilize the organisms,” said John Beerman, a partner at the farm and Cal Bio-Mass. “It's beneficial bacteria that help plants convert nutrients in soil, make them available.”
The resulting fertilizer, called Vermigrow, is now sold at 27 Costcos in California and is being used at organic farms.
“It worked well,” said Bill Jessup, an organic citrus farmer in Thermal who has used Vermigrow on his 25 acres of oranges, grapefruit and tangerines, in addition to organic compost.
“We had more fruit; our output increased,” Jessup said.
This model of sustainable business — environmentally and financially green — is all the more significant because of the valley's and Costco's more conservative profiles, Azwell said.
“It's really easy to do things (in Northern California),” Azwell said. “The best model for these programs is to do them in the Coachella Valley, where people don't expect it.”
“If a low-cost operation like Costco can do it, then everyone can figure it out,” said Chris Marmon, regional bakery manager for the chain who worked with Azwell on the project.
“We live and die on half a penny,” Marmon said. “We've developed the process where it works out in a good (way) for us as a big-box operation.”
Getting started
Azwell didn't choose the Coachella Valley and Costco as his green business laboratory at random.
After a varied career working on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, he landed at Indio High School, teaching environmental science to low-performing kids.
“It was profound for me to talk about rainforests — it's all doom and gloom — and we move on to the next chapter,” Azwell recalled. “There was no substance. I started building gardens. If you can get them involved in horticulture, they can learn real skills.”
His work in Indio eventually led to his decision to return to school for a Ph.D. at Berkeley.
The Costco project grew out of his valley connections with Beerman and Marmon, an old friend from his undergrad days at the University of Redlands.
With the success of the pilot programs in La Quinta and Palm Desert, green waste recycling will launch at Costco stores in El Centro, Fontana and San Bernardino, Marmon said.
“The sales product (Vermigrow) is doing really well, especially when we tell the story to members,” he said.
The Costco project also comes at a pivotal point for green or organic waste recycling in California — and the Coachella Valley.
Cities are already under a state mandate to divert 50 percent of their trash from California's landfills, and the statewide average is now 58 percent, said Charlene Graham, spokeswoman for the Integrated Waste Management Board.
But, the state Legislature could soon up the ante with a new law requiring a 75 percent diversion rate by 2020. Green waste will be key to hitting that target, Graham said.
“Organic waste makes up 15million tons of the waste stream,” she said. “If we can divert that waste into other uses, specifically compost, it's one of our goals.”
At Costco, one of the main challenges was training the employees to separate organic waste from cans, bottles and other recyclables, Marmon said.
“That's the toughest part,” he said. “We would look at our location almost as waste streams, plural — bathroom, break room, produce. Each one of those waste streams we attacked individually, one at a time, so we didn't overwhelm ourselves.”
Graham said, “Projects like this are incredible. It's a movement within our state, where people are trying to figure out — what can I do with this waste material? How can I make a profit from this stuff?”
Additional Facts
At the worm farm
John Beerman is standing on a heap of compost at the Salton Sea Farms — the worm ranch he owns with Steve Lee in Thermal — enthusiastically digging up a handful of moist, dark material loaded with small red worms.
“This is dead fish, manure, green waste-food waste,” Beerman says. “Whiff it. It's almost no odor. Once the worms get in, they deodorize it.”
Eating compost and turning it into rich organic fertilizer is the life mission for eisenia fetida, the red wiggler earth worms at the 5-acre farm. Measuring 1 to 3 inches long, the worms can eat up to their own weight in green waste every day — a pound of worms eat a pound of compost — and Beerman estimated the current “herd” at the Salton Sea weighs in at about 100,000 pounds.
Red wigglers are hermaphrodites, containing male and female sex organs. To reproduce, worms exchange sperm, which is mixed with their eggs to form a “cocoon.”
The cocoons can hatch 10 or more new worms, out of which typically only a few survive. But with new worms becoming sexually mature in eight to 10 weeks, a pound of red wrigglers can become two pounds in about three to four months.
And they can live and keep reproducing for up to four years.
They are also considered good fish bait because they survive under water longer than other worms, continuing to move and attract fish.Riverside County Waste Management will present a free workshop on backyard composting at 10 a.m. Saturday at the San Nicholas Gardens, on the corner of San Nicholas and San Pablo avenues in Palm Desert.
Attendees will learn how to recycle organic resources, fruit and vegetable waste and tree trimmings into sweet-smelling soil conditioner.
Info: 346-0611 Ext. 331
A carbon-free farm?The labels on the oranges, grapefruit and tangerines from B&J Ranch in Thermal cqalready say “organic.” But in the future, they could also say “carbon-free.”B&J owner Bill Jessup cqfertilizes his trees with organic compost from California Bio-Mass, a company that processes green waste from Coachella Valley cities and businesses. “It seems to be much better than using composted manure,” Jessup said Tuesday, picking up a handful of the rich-looking compost from the base of one of his trees. “The balance is better.”He is also working with Nate McKeever of McKeever Energy and Electric in Thermal, cq both on plans to make the 25-acre ranch a model project, with a solar installation to cover 100 percent of the operation's energy use. “More and more, people are interested in where their food is coming from, completing the whole cycle of food,” McKeever said.The project is in its early stages, but even with solar, Jessup's operation may not be completely carbon free. When he started out 30 years ago, the only profitable market for organic fruit was in San Francisco, and he continues to ship his crop north. The new farmers markets in the valley are great, he said, but not cost-effective for him.“Citrus has not been the best thing in the Southland; it's very competitive,” he said.
this explains a lot!
Olivia Judson - A New York Times Blog
April 21, 2009, 10:00 pm
Guest Column: Larks, Owls and Hummingbirds
By Leon Kreitzman
Teenagers are notoriously difficult to rouse in the mornings. For the sake of parental authority it may be best that we keep this an adult secret, but . . . it may not be the youngsters’ fault.
In many cases, it is not laziness, but a part of normal development and determined by the genes. Human circadian clocks are often geared to “owl-like” behavior during adolescence. Fortunately, boys tend to grow out of this by about age 20 and girls a year earlier. But there is a good case for schools opening later and experimenting with the timing of the curriculum and of examinations, so that there is a better match between organizational requirements and the capabilities of the students.
Lark by Daniel Pettersson, Creative Commons (some rights reserved); Spotted Owl by Don Ryan/The New York Times; hummingbird by Yuri Cortez/The New York Times Which one are you?
The teenagers are doing what teenagers do because, left to our natural devices, we would eat, sleep and drink (along with many more biological functions) not when we decide to, but when our biological clock tells us to. Only cultural norms and the alarm clock give us the pretense of choice by overriding our inner rhythms — and there is increasing evidence that we are paying a high cost in terms of our health. Disruption of the circadian clock is linked with cancer, cardiovascular diseases, gastric illnesses, asthma, schizophrenia, learning disorders and other conditions.
Charles Czeisler of Harvard University established a decade ago that the mean for the intrinsic, or “free-running,” activity rhythm is 24 hours 11 minutes, plus or minus 16 minutes. It is not 24 hours 11 minutes for everyone, of course, as there is considerable variation among individuals and over the course of one’s life.
Czeisler’s arduous study involved a month’s intensive monitoring of 29 adults. The participants were denied time cues (food, for instance, was made available more or less constantly), kept in a semi-recumbent posture and in a “forced” 28-hour sleep-wake cycle. This complex and carefully controlled regime was necessary to disassociate the intrinsic rhythm from the normal light signals that synchronize the rhythm to the solar cycle.
Our circadian rhythm is synchronized with the 24-hour solar cycle by light signals received by non-rod, non-cone receptors found exclusively in our eyes. While the 70-80 percent of us who are dubbed hummingbirds manage this well, the “larks,” who tend to be up early, and late-rising “owls,” who turn in usually well after midnight, have difficulty resetting their internal clocks.
Larks tend to be older; college students and twenty-somethings are well-known owls. Larks are most aware around noon, work best in the late morning and are chatty, friendly and pleasant from about 9:00 a.m to around 4:00 p.m. Owls, on the other hand, do not really get going until the afternoon, are at their most pleasant (if that is not an oxymoronic term for college students) later in the day and are at their most alert after 6:00 p.m.
It might be envy on my part, but those early-rising larks I have known have often seemed to my bleary early-morning eye to adopt a smug moral superiority based on Benjamin Franklin’s maxim, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” But there is no basis for Franklin’s claim. Catharine Gale and Christopher Martyn of Southampton University followed up a 1973 survey that had included data on sleeping habits. More than 20 years later they found no evidence among the survivors that following Franklin’s advice was associated with any health, socioeconomic or cognitive advantage.
If anything, owls were wealthier than larks, though there was no difference in their health or wisdom. Gale and Martyn wryly offer the thought that “it seems that owls need not worry that their way of life carries adverse consequences. However, those who cite Franklin’s maxim to encourage their children to go to bed early may wish to consider whether their practice is entirely ethical.”
This evening/morningness is less a matter of choice than of genetics. Being bright-eyed and raring to go first thing in the morning is not just a case of how much sleep someone has had, nor is it a reflection of willpower. Genes may largely determine it.
While at the University of Utah, Louis Ptácek and colleagues studied three families with familial advanced sleep-phase syndrome (FASPS), an extreme form of lark behavior. One family included a grandmother, daughter and grandchild, all with the same sleep disturbance. The family members with the disorder have an aberrant wake/sleep cycle. Regardless of work schedules or social pressures, they cannot stay up much later than 7:30 p.m. and they tend to wake up around 3:30 a.m. In other words, the disorder shifts the normal wake and sleep pattern forward by three to four hours.
By studying the family relationships, Ptácek found that the disorder is inherited, and he has found the genes involved. The genetic implications prompted two senior researchers to comment, “It seems that our parents — through their DNA — continue to influence our bedtimes.”
Apart from its importance in helping to understand the relationship between the circadian clock and the sleep process, the work on FASPS was the first time that scientists have uncovered a genetic mutation leading to a change in a complex human behavior like sleep.
The traditional classification of people into larks, owls and hummingbirds may be too simplistic. A study of a large sample of the workforce at a Volkswagen car plant suggests that people fall into a spectrum of chronotypes between the extremes, depending on a range of factors, notably their genetic makeup and the amount of light they are exposed to during the day. This last may be much less than many people think. In brightly lit offices, the light levels are some 200-300 times less than they are outside on a sunny day. Even a cloudy day is some 20-30 times brighter.
Bright light has a powerful effect in shifting the phase of our body clock, and if we don’t see much bright light — and many office workers do not — then our circadian health suffers. One idea is that commuter buses and trains should have glass roofs, so that at least some of the workforce will get a daily dose of outdoor light.
Till Roenneberg, a professor at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, has developed a robust questionnaire that determines an individual’s proclivity to “morningness” and “eveningness.” He has coined the phrase “social jet lag” to describe the persistent mismatch between people’s biological clocks and the demands of their jobs or education.
It is bad enough for the larks and owls whose genes cause a mismatch between modern life and the ancient human body clock. For hummingbirds working night shifts or burning the proverbial candle at both ends, the implications are far-ranging concerning learning, memory, vigilance, performance and quality of life.
Society pays far too little attention to circadian disorders. Roenneberg’s call to employers to say to their workforce, “Please wake up in your own time and come in when you are ready,” is provocative but a challenge that we have not been facing up to.
Humans have broken many links with the natural world. Our food comes pre-packed, our drink pre-bottled and we take pills instead of chewing leaves. Electricity turns our nights into days, and central heating our winters into spring. But if we go deep into a dark cave without a watch, after a few days we revert to ancient patterns. Deprived of time cues, our rhythms slowly drift out of alignment with the outside world.
Over 20 percent of the working population now work at least some of the time outside the normal 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. working day, and the trend is increasing. Living outside the “natural” circadian pattern has undoubted health risks.
But we have choices. We can use what we know about the molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms to mitigate the biological harm of our “24/7” world. We could better manage the effects of this world by re-organizing work patterns and schedules. We could match chronotype to suitable schedules. We could try to create a world in which we can offer a time paradise or “Uchronia” for a time-stressed populace.
Or is it too late, and we have become trapped in the materialistic time hell of “Dyschronia”?
**********
NOTES:
For more on determining the human circadian rhythm as 24 hours 11 minutes plus or minus 16 minutes see Charles A. Czeisler, Jeanne F. Duffy, Theresa L. Shanahan, Emery N. Brown, Jude F. Mitchell, David W. Rimmer, Joseph M. Ronda, Edward J. Silva, James S. Allan, Jonathan S. Emens, Derk-Jan Dijk, Richard E. Kronauer. “Stability, Precision, and Near 24-Hour Period of the Human Circadian Pacemaker,” Science, June 25, 1999, Volume 284, pp. 2177-2181.
On the link between multiple sclerosis and vitamin D see Ramagopalan SV, Maugeri NJ, Handunnetthi L, Lincoln MR, Orton S-M, et al. (2009) Expression of the Multiple Sclerosis-Associated MHC Class II Allele HLA-DRB1*1501 Is Regulated by Vitamin D. PLoS Genet 5(2): e1000369.
Michael Smolensky and Lynne Lamberg applied the term hummingbird in “The Body Clock Guide to Better Health,” Owl Books 2000
Benjamin Franklin’s motto was tested in Gale, C. & Martyn, C. (1998) “Larks and owls and health, wealth, and wisdom.” Br Med J, 317, 1675–77.
Our parents determining our bedtime, see Singer, C. M. & Lewy, A. J. 1999 “Does our DNA determine when we sleep?” Nat Med, 5, 983.
A discussion of the importance of chronotypes is T. Roenneberg, A. Wirz-Justice, M. Merrow “Life between Clocks: Daily Temporal Patterns of Human Chronotypes Journal of Biological Rhythms,” Vol. 18, No. 1, 80-90 (2003)
A description of the molecular basis of larks and owls is at Steven A. Brown, Dieter Kunz, Amelie Dumas, Pål O. Westermark, Katja Vanselow, Amely Tilmann-Wahnschaffe, Hanspeter Herzel, and Achim Kramer “Molecular insights into human daily behavior” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 February 5; 105(5): 1602–1607.
* Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
* Privacy Policy
* NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018
April 21, 2009, 10:00 pm
Guest Column: Larks, Owls and Hummingbirds
By Leon Kreitzman
Teenagers are notoriously difficult to rouse in the mornings. For the sake of parental authority it may be best that we keep this an adult secret, but . . . it may not be the youngsters’ fault.
In many cases, it is not laziness, but a part of normal development and determined by the genes. Human circadian clocks are often geared to “owl-like” behavior during adolescence. Fortunately, boys tend to grow out of this by about age 20 and girls a year earlier. But there is a good case for schools opening later and experimenting with the timing of the curriculum and of examinations, so that there is a better match between organizational requirements and the capabilities of the students.
Lark by Daniel Pettersson, Creative Commons (some rights reserved); Spotted Owl by Don Ryan/The New York Times; hummingbird by Yuri Cortez/The New York Times Which one are you?
The teenagers are doing what teenagers do because, left to our natural devices, we would eat, sleep and drink (along with many more biological functions) not when we decide to, but when our biological clock tells us to. Only cultural norms and the alarm clock give us the pretense of choice by overriding our inner rhythms — and there is increasing evidence that we are paying a high cost in terms of our health. Disruption of the circadian clock is linked with cancer, cardiovascular diseases, gastric illnesses, asthma, schizophrenia, learning disorders and other conditions.
Charles Czeisler of Harvard University established a decade ago that the mean for the intrinsic, or “free-running,” activity rhythm is 24 hours 11 minutes, plus or minus 16 minutes. It is not 24 hours 11 minutes for everyone, of course, as there is considerable variation among individuals and over the course of one’s life.
Czeisler’s arduous study involved a month’s intensive monitoring of 29 adults. The participants were denied time cues (food, for instance, was made available more or less constantly), kept in a semi-recumbent posture and in a “forced” 28-hour sleep-wake cycle. This complex and carefully controlled regime was necessary to disassociate the intrinsic rhythm from the normal light signals that synchronize the rhythm to the solar cycle.
Our circadian rhythm is synchronized with the 24-hour solar cycle by light signals received by non-rod, non-cone receptors found exclusively in our eyes. While the 70-80 percent of us who are dubbed hummingbirds manage this well, the “larks,” who tend to be up early, and late-rising “owls,” who turn in usually well after midnight, have difficulty resetting their internal clocks.
Larks tend to be older; college students and twenty-somethings are well-known owls. Larks are most aware around noon, work best in the late morning and are chatty, friendly and pleasant from about 9:00 a.m to around 4:00 p.m. Owls, on the other hand, do not really get going until the afternoon, are at their most pleasant (if that is not an oxymoronic term for college students) later in the day and are at their most alert after 6:00 p.m.
It might be envy on my part, but those early-rising larks I have known have often seemed to my bleary early-morning eye to adopt a smug moral superiority based on Benjamin Franklin’s maxim, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” But there is no basis for Franklin’s claim. Catharine Gale and Christopher Martyn of Southampton University followed up a 1973 survey that had included data on sleeping habits. More than 20 years later they found no evidence among the survivors that following Franklin’s advice was associated with any health, socioeconomic or cognitive advantage.
If anything, owls were wealthier than larks, though there was no difference in their health or wisdom. Gale and Martyn wryly offer the thought that “it seems that owls need not worry that their way of life carries adverse consequences. However, those who cite Franklin’s maxim to encourage their children to go to bed early may wish to consider whether their practice is entirely ethical.”
This evening/morningness is less a matter of choice than of genetics. Being bright-eyed and raring to go first thing in the morning is not just a case of how much sleep someone has had, nor is it a reflection of willpower. Genes may largely determine it.
While at the University of Utah, Louis Ptácek and colleagues studied three families with familial advanced sleep-phase syndrome (FASPS), an extreme form of lark behavior. One family included a grandmother, daughter and grandchild, all with the same sleep disturbance. The family members with the disorder have an aberrant wake/sleep cycle. Regardless of work schedules or social pressures, they cannot stay up much later than 7:30 p.m. and they tend to wake up around 3:30 a.m. In other words, the disorder shifts the normal wake and sleep pattern forward by three to four hours.
By studying the family relationships, Ptácek found that the disorder is inherited, and he has found the genes involved. The genetic implications prompted two senior researchers to comment, “It seems that our parents — through their DNA — continue to influence our bedtimes.”
Apart from its importance in helping to understand the relationship between the circadian clock and the sleep process, the work on FASPS was the first time that scientists have uncovered a genetic mutation leading to a change in a complex human behavior like sleep.
The traditional classification of people into larks, owls and hummingbirds may be too simplistic. A study of a large sample of the workforce at a Volkswagen car plant suggests that people fall into a spectrum of chronotypes between the extremes, depending on a range of factors, notably their genetic makeup and the amount of light they are exposed to during the day. This last may be much less than many people think. In brightly lit offices, the light levels are some 200-300 times less than they are outside on a sunny day. Even a cloudy day is some 20-30 times brighter.
Bright light has a powerful effect in shifting the phase of our body clock, and if we don’t see much bright light — and many office workers do not — then our circadian health suffers. One idea is that commuter buses and trains should have glass roofs, so that at least some of the workforce will get a daily dose of outdoor light.
Till Roenneberg, a professor at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, has developed a robust questionnaire that determines an individual’s proclivity to “morningness” and “eveningness.” He has coined the phrase “social jet lag” to describe the persistent mismatch between people’s biological clocks and the demands of their jobs or education.
It is bad enough for the larks and owls whose genes cause a mismatch between modern life and the ancient human body clock. For hummingbirds working night shifts or burning the proverbial candle at both ends, the implications are far-ranging concerning learning, memory, vigilance, performance and quality of life.
Society pays far too little attention to circadian disorders. Roenneberg’s call to employers to say to their workforce, “Please wake up in your own time and come in when you are ready,” is provocative but a challenge that we have not been facing up to.
Humans have broken many links with the natural world. Our food comes pre-packed, our drink pre-bottled and we take pills instead of chewing leaves. Electricity turns our nights into days, and central heating our winters into spring. But if we go deep into a dark cave without a watch, after a few days we revert to ancient patterns. Deprived of time cues, our rhythms slowly drift out of alignment with the outside world.
Over 20 percent of the working population now work at least some of the time outside the normal 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. working day, and the trend is increasing. Living outside the “natural” circadian pattern has undoubted health risks.
But we have choices. We can use what we know about the molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms to mitigate the biological harm of our “24/7” world. We could better manage the effects of this world by re-organizing work patterns and schedules. We could match chronotype to suitable schedules. We could try to create a world in which we can offer a time paradise or “Uchronia” for a time-stressed populace.
Or is it too late, and we have become trapped in the materialistic time hell of “Dyschronia”?
**********
NOTES:
For more on determining the human circadian rhythm as 24 hours 11 minutes plus or minus 16 minutes see Charles A. Czeisler, Jeanne F. Duffy, Theresa L. Shanahan, Emery N. Brown, Jude F. Mitchell, David W. Rimmer, Joseph M. Ronda, Edward J. Silva, James S. Allan, Jonathan S. Emens, Derk-Jan Dijk, Richard E. Kronauer. “Stability, Precision, and Near 24-Hour Period of the Human Circadian Pacemaker,” Science, June 25, 1999, Volume 284, pp. 2177-2181.
On the link between multiple sclerosis and vitamin D see Ramagopalan SV, Maugeri NJ, Handunnetthi L, Lincoln MR, Orton S-M, et al. (2009) Expression of the Multiple Sclerosis-Associated MHC Class II Allele HLA-DRB1*1501 Is Regulated by Vitamin D. PLoS Genet 5(2): e1000369.
Michael Smolensky and Lynne Lamberg applied the term hummingbird in “The Body Clock Guide to Better Health,” Owl Books 2000
Benjamin Franklin’s motto was tested in Gale, C. & Martyn, C. (1998) “Larks and owls and health, wealth, and wisdom.” Br Med J, 317, 1675–77.
Our parents determining our bedtime, see Singer, C. M. & Lewy, A. J. 1999 “Does our DNA determine when we sleep?” Nat Med, 5, 983.
A discussion of the importance of chronotypes is T. Roenneberg, A. Wirz-Justice, M. Merrow “Life between Clocks: Daily Temporal Patterns of Human Chronotypes Journal of Biological Rhythms,” Vol. 18, No. 1, 80-90 (2003)
A description of the molecular basis of larks and owls is at Steven A. Brown, Dieter Kunz, Amelie Dumas, Pål O. Westermark, Katja Vanselow, Amely Tilmann-Wahnschaffe, Hanspeter Herzel, and Achim Kramer “Molecular insights into human daily behavior” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 February 5; 105(5): 1602–1607.
* Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
* Privacy Policy
* NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018
Friday, April 10, 2009
my alma mater
Obama may get ASU honor after all
Mike Allen
2 hrs 39 mins ago
Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University, tells POLITICO that the school is reconsidering its widely mocked plans not to give President Barack Obama an honorary degree when he speaks at commencement on May 13 and will “honor him in every way possible.”
“There was no intended slight,” Crow said by telephone from his office in Tempe. “We had not yet talked about what honors we might give him as our commencement speaker, and we still have a month to work all that out. We don’t want anyone to think we do not recognize what he has achieved and what he means in America.”
A formal decision has not been made, but it was clear from Crow's comments that the university is headed in that direction. ASU risked becoming a national punch line if it did not quickly retreat from its policy against conferring honorary degrees on a sitting politician.
Past recipients of ASU honorary degrees included an aloe-vera magnate, the director of "Victor Victoria," a Chinese official, a Canadian politician, and lots of donors and fundraisers.
Four days after addressing ASU, Obama will give the commencement address at Notre Dame, which is conferring an honorary degree despite some local criticism of the choice of speaker.
Obama has received honorary degrees from Knox College in 2005, Northwestern University In 2006, UMass Boston in 2006, Xavier in 2006, Howard University in 2007, Southern New Hampshire University in 2007, and Wesleyan University in 2008.
ASU’s student daily, the State Press, touched off a firestorm this week when it reported under the headline, “Obama won’t receive ASU honorary degree":
"University spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said Tuesday that the University awards honorary degrees to recognize individuals for their work and accomplishments spanning their lifetime. ‘Because President Obama’s body of work is yet to come, it’s inappropriate to recognize him at this time,' Keeler said."
Crow said the resulting brouhaha "kind of wounded my heart." He said ASU hasn’t “had a commencement speaker in over 30 years, so this is a big deal for us.”
“Typically, the university’s policy relative to honorary degrees has been that people who are sitting politicians, we don’t given an honorary degree,” he explained. “It’s kind of a local thing. We’ve gotten a huge reaction from a lot of folks as if some decision was made not to give him one. Far from it.”
Crow said he found the criticism ironic because he found Obama's "agenda and objectives,” as outlined in his address to a joint session of Congress, were so aligned with “the institution that we’re business.”
“We’re a true public university that has remained committed to our public mission,” Crow said. “We have egalitarian admission standards and we provide the finest faculty and programs we can put together, and don’t constantly try to cut out the bottom of the class.”
In inviting Obama, the university had said it was "America's largest effort at institutional transformation in public education."
Crow had said in a statement when the school was selected by the White House: "The progressive leadership he has already displayed and the values he espouses are a great example for our students and for the extended community that surrounds us.”
ASU's president said officials now are considering conferring an honorary degree, regardless of local custom. “We intend to recognize him in multiple ways,” Crow said. “As to this issue relative to the honorary degree, we don’t know where it came from.”
Here are some of the previous honorary degree recipients, none of whom was elected president at age 47 in a landslide of electoral and popular votes:
--Blake Edwards, “whose more than 50 films include such memorable titles as ‘Days of Wine and Roses,’ ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ ‘The Pink Panther,’ ‘Victor Victoria’ and ’10.’”
--Wu Qidi, “the Chinese Vice Minister Of Education Who Previously Arranged Lucrative Partnership With China’s State-Owned Enterprises.”
--William Polk Carey, a real-estate investment banker and $50 million donor.
-- Rex G. Maughan, a beauty-products billionaire whose company touted aloe vera and bee pollen as miracle age-reducers.
--Jane Dee Hull, Arizona's first elected woman governor.
-- Alice Wiley Snell, ASU fundraiser.
--John R. Christian, ASU fundraiser.
--Lord John Browne of Madingley, a BP executive.
--The Right Honorable Kim Campbell, Canada’s first woman prime minister.
--Peterson Zah, president of the Navajo Nation.
--Rafael Rangel Sostmann, president of Tec of Monterrey, a Mexican university that had signed a business partnership with ASU.
--Jerry Colangelo, a sports executive involved in plans that would have benefited ASU.
--L. Roy Papp, a mutual fund manager and his wife, Marilyn A. Papp, huge ASU donors who helped establish a Chinese art program.
-- Barbara McConnell Barrett, a former Reagan administration official involved in airline deregulation.
-- Craig E. Weatherup, a huge donor who was the benefactor for the Weatherup Center.
so exactly how much do i give to get an honorary degree?
Mike Allen
2 hrs 39 mins ago
Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University, tells POLITICO that the school is reconsidering its widely mocked plans not to give President Barack Obama an honorary degree when he speaks at commencement on May 13 and will “honor him in every way possible.”
“There was no intended slight,” Crow said by telephone from his office in Tempe. “We had not yet talked about what honors we might give him as our commencement speaker, and we still have a month to work all that out. We don’t want anyone to think we do not recognize what he has achieved and what he means in America.”
A formal decision has not been made, but it was clear from Crow's comments that the university is headed in that direction. ASU risked becoming a national punch line if it did not quickly retreat from its policy against conferring honorary degrees on a sitting politician.
Past recipients of ASU honorary degrees included an aloe-vera magnate, the director of "Victor Victoria," a Chinese official, a Canadian politician, and lots of donors and fundraisers.
Four days after addressing ASU, Obama will give the commencement address at Notre Dame, which is conferring an honorary degree despite some local criticism of the choice of speaker.
Obama has received honorary degrees from Knox College in 2005, Northwestern University In 2006, UMass Boston in 2006, Xavier in 2006, Howard University in 2007, Southern New Hampshire University in 2007, and Wesleyan University in 2008.
ASU’s student daily, the State Press, touched off a firestorm this week when it reported under the headline, “Obama won’t receive ASU honorary degree":
"University spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said Tuesday that the University awards honorary degrees to recognize individuals for their work and accomplishments spanning their lifetime. ‘Because President Obama’s body of work is yet to come, it’s inappropriate to recognize him at this time,' Keeler said."
Crow said the resulting brouhaha "kind of wounded my heart." He said ASU hasn’t “had a commencement speaker in over 30 years, so this is a big deal for us.”
“Typically, the university’s policy relative to honorary degrees has been that people who are sitting politicians, we don’t given an honorary degree,” he explained. “It’s kind of a local thing. We’ve gotten a huge reaction from a lot of folks as if some decision was made not to give him one. Far from it.”
Crow said he found the criticism ironic because he found Obama's "agenda and objectives,” as outlined in his address to a joint session of Congress, were so aligned with “the institution that we’re business.”
“We’re a true public university that has remained committed to our public mission,” Crow said. “We have egalitarian admission standards and we provide the finest faculty and programs we can put together, and don’t constantly try to cut out the bottom of the class.”
In inviting Obama, the university had said it was "America's largest effort at institutional transformation in public education."
Crow had said in a statement when the school was selected by the White House: "The progressive leadership he has already displayed and the values he espouses are a great example for our students and for the extended community that surrounds us.”
ASU's president said officials now are considering conferring an honorary degree, regardless of local custom. “We intend to recognize him in multiple ways,” Crow said. “As to this issue relative to the honorary degree, we don’t know where it came from.”
Here are some of the previous honorary degree recipients, none of whom was elected president at age 47 in a landslide of electoral and popular votes:
--Blake Edwards, “whose more than 50 films include such memorable titles as ‘Days of Wine and Roses,’ ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ ‘The Pink Panther,’ ‘Victor Victoria’ and ’10.’”
--Wu Qidi, “the Chinese Vice Minister Of Education Who Previously Arranged Lucrative Partnership With China’s State-Owned Enterprises.”
--William Polk Carey, a real-estate investment banker and $50 million donor.
-- Rex G. Maughan, a beauty-products billionaire whose company touted aloe vera and bee pollen as miracle age-reducers.
--Jane Dee Hull, Arizona's first elected woman governor.
-- Alice Wiley Snell, ASU fundraiser.
--John R. Christian, ASU fundraiser.
--Lord John Browne of Madingley, a BP executive.
--The Right Honorable Kim Campbell, Canada’s first woman prime minister.
--Peterson Zah, president of the Navajo Nation.
--Rafael Rangel Sostmann, president of Tec of Monterrey, a Mexican university that had signed a business partnership with ASU.
--Jerry Colangelo, a sports executive involved in plans that would have benefited ASU.
--L. Roy Papp, a mutual fund manager and his wife, Marilyn A. Papp, huge ASU donors who helped establish a Chinese art program.
-- Barbara McConnell Barrett, a former Reagan administration official involved in airline deregulation.
-- Craig E. Weatherup, a huge donor who was the benefactor for the Weatherup Center.
so exactly how much do i give to get an honorary degree?
Thursday, April 09, 2009
great idea!
Coming Soon to the Sunshine State: The Sunshine City
By MICHAEL GRUNWALD Michael Grunwald Thu Apr 9, 9:10 am ET
Coming soon to the Sunshine State: the sunshine city.
An NFL lineman turned visionary developer today is unveiling startlingly ambitious plans for a solar-powered city of tomorrow in southwest Florida's outback, featuring the world's largest photovoltaic solar plant, a truly smart power grid, recharging stations for electric vehicles and a variety of other green innovations. The community of Babcock Ranch is designed to break new frontiers in sustainable development, quite a shift for a state that has never been sustainable, and lately hasn't had much development. (Read "Is Florida the Sunset State?")
"Some people think I got hit in the head a few too many times," quips developer Syd Kitson, who spent six years in the trenches for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys before entering the real estate business in the mid-1980s. "But I still believe deeply in Florida. And the time has come for something completely different." (See the top 10 green stories of 2008.)
To anyone familiar with southern Florida's planning-nightmare sprawl of golf courses, strip malls and cookie-cutter subdivisions named after the plants and animals they replaced, Kitson's vision for his solar-powered, smart-growth, live-where-you-work city of 45,000 people east of Fort Myers is breathtakingly different. That's why the press conference held today revealing his development plans for the historic Babcock Ranch property will feature representatives from the Audubon Society, the World Wildlife Fund and the Sierra Club.
The history of Florida is littered with spectacular, landscape-changing proposals that never made it past the drawing board. The watery wisp of Everglades National Park known as Flamingo, population zero, was once touted as the next Chicago. Kitson's financial partner, Morgan Stanley, has had a rough time lately, and some locals remain skeptical that he can turn his $2 billion green vision into reality. "We've been hearing a lot of very exciting ideas, but we have no idea how this is actually going to happen," says Conservancy of Southwest Florida CEO Andrew McElwaine.
Then again, Kitson has already cleared two of his most difficult hurdles: getting the land and the right to build on it. In 2006, he engineered a deal with then-Governor Jeb Bush and the previous owners of the 91,000-acre ranch in which the state spent $350 million to purchase 73,000 of the most environmentally sensitive acres - the largest preservation buy in Florida history. Kitson paid about about the same amount for the remaining 18,000 acres, and he says half of that will remain green space within the new community.
Kitson has been promising unprecedented sustainability all along, but today's shocker was the announcement of Florida Power & Light's plan to provide electricity for Babcock Ranch with a 75-megawatt photovoltaic plant nearly twice as big as the current record-holder in Germany. Solar power has been slow to catch on in the gas-powered Sunshine State, but FPL hopes to start construction on the 400-acre, $300 million plant by year's end. The utility expects it will provide enough power for Babcock Ranch and beyond. At $4 million per megawatt - FPL estimates the costs to its customers at about 31 cents per month over the life of the project - it should be more than four times as cost-effective as the nuclear reactors FPL is trying to build near the Florida Keys.
Kitson's slick website also promises "groundbreaking" strategies to promote energy efficiency for all Babcock Ranch buildings. And that's not all: "Ultra-modern electric vehicles will glide along avenues beneath the glow of solar-powered street lamps, plugging in to recharge at convenient community-wide recharging stations. Revolutionary Smart Grid technologies will monitor and manage energy use, while Smart Home technology will allow residents to operate their homes at maximum efficiency." Kitson's goal is to reduce carbon emissions, oil dependence and energy bills, while turning Babcock Ranch into a mecca for clean-energy research and development, attracting high-tech companies that will provide high-wage jobs.
The idea is to create a self-contained community where people can live and shop and work and go to school and have fun without long car trips. Kitson's construction plans start with a walkable and bikable downtown that will include a magnet school, a wellness facility and sustainable retail as well as 8,000 homes - including affordable homes for local workers. "In Florida, everyone has to drive everywhere they want to go," Kitson says. "And everyone thinks the solution to congestion is to build more roads. I think the solution is to design communities so you don't need more cars on the roads."
Of course, talk is cheap. It's no secret that growth has been Florida's primary economic engine for decades. Yet Fortune 500 companies haven't flocked to its sprawling bedroom communities with lousy schools and overpriced houses, and the paving of paradise has left the state with overtapped aquifers, overcrowded hospitals, overstretched services, traffic jams, a dying Everglades and a vanishing sense of place.
Kitson promises to avoid the mistakes of the past. "We're impressed with their commitments," says Wayne Daltry, Lee County's director of smart growth. "Now we have to pound them to keep their commitments. No plan survives contact with reality - and in this case the reality is called the bottom line."
Given the dismal state of the economy in Florida and the dismal environmental track record of developers, it's easy to be skeptical. Kitson already had to lay off some of his southwest Florida staff. But unless the sun stops shining, the current housing collapse won't last forever. Florida is always going to be nicer than Brooklyn or Cleveland in the winter. It's about time someone tried to make growth environmentally and economically sustainable. And it's about time someone tried to use that sunshine for something other than getting a tan.
By MICHAEL GRUNWALD Michael Grunwald Thu Apr 9, 9:10 am ET
Coming soon to the Sunshine State: the sunshine city.
An NFL lineman turned visionary developer today is unveiling startlingly ambitious plans for a solar-powered city of tomorrow in southwest Florida's outback, featuring the world's largest photovoltaic solar plant, a truly smart power grid, recharging stations for electric vehicles and a variety of other green innovations. The community of Babcock Ranch is designed to break new frontiers in sustainable development, quite a shift for a state that has never been sustainable, and lately hasn't had much development. (Read "Is Florida the Sunset State?")
"Some people think I got hit in the head a few too many times," quips developer Syd Kitson, who spent six years in the trenches for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys before entering the real estate business in the mid-1980s. "But I still believe deeply in Florida. And the time has come for something completely different." (See the top 10 green stories of 2008.)
To anyone familiar with southern Florida's planning-nightmare sprawl of golf courses, strip malls and cookie-cutter subdivisions named after the plants and animals they replaced, Kitson's vision for his solar-powered, smart-growth, live-where-you-work city of 45,000 people east of Fort Myers is breathtakingly different. That's why the press conference held today revealing his development plans for the historic Babcock Ranch property will feature representatives from the Audubon Society, the World Wildlife Fund and the Sierra Club.
The history of Florida is littered with spectacular, landscape-changing proposals that never made it past the drawing board. The watery wisp of Everglades National Park known as Flamingo, population zero, was once touted as the next Chicago. Kitson's financial partner, Morgan Stanley, has had a rough time lately, and some locals remain skeptical that he can turn his $2 billion green vision into reality. "We've been hearing a lot of very exciting ideas, but we have no idea how this is actually going to happen," says Conservancy of Southwest Florida CEO Andrew McElwaine.
Then again, Kitson has already cleared two of his most difficult hurdles: getting the land and the right to build on it. In 2006, he engineered a deal with then-Governor Jeb Bush and the previous owners of the 91,000-acre ranch in which the state spent $350 million to purchase 73,000 of the most environmentally sensitive acres - the largest preservation buy in Florida history. Kitson paid about about the same amount for the remaining 18,000 acres, and he says half of that will remain green space within the new community.
Kitson has been promising unprecedented sustainability all along, but today's shocker was the announcement of Florida Power & Light's plan to provide electricity for Babcock Ranch with a 75-megawatt photovoltaic plant nearly twice as big as the current record-holder in Germany. Solar power has been slow to catch on in the gas-powered Sunshine State, but FPL hopes to start construction on the 400-acre, $300 million plant by year's end. The utility expects it will provide enough power for Babcock Ranch and beyond. At $4 million per megawatt - FPL estimates the costs to its customers at about 31 cents per month over the life of the project - it should be more than four times as cost-effective as the nuclear reactors FPL is trying to build near the Florida Keys.
Kitson's slick website also promises "groundbreaking" strategies to promote energy efficiency for all Babcock Ranch buildings. And that's not all: "Ultra-modern electric vehicles will glide along avenues beneath the glow of solar-powered street lamps, plugging in to recharge at convenient community-wide recharging stations. Revolutionary Smart Grid technologies will monitor and manage energy use, while Smart Home technology will allow residents to operate their homes at maximum efficiency." Kitson's goal is to reduce carbon emissions, oil dependence and energy bills, while turning Babcock Ranch into a mecca for clean-energy research and development, attracting high-tech companies that will provide high-wage jobs.
The idea is to create a self-contained community where people can live and shop and work and go to school and have fun without long car trips. Kitson's construction plans start with a walkable and bikable downtown that will include a magnet school, a wellness facility and sustainable retail as well as 8,000 homes - including affordable homes for local workers. "In Florida, everyone has to drive everywhere they want to go," Kitson says. "And everyone thinks the solution to congestion is to build more roads. I think the solution is to design communities so you don't need more cars on the roads."
Of course, talk is cheap. It's no secret that growth has been Florida's primary economic engine for decades. Yet Fortune 500 companies haven't flocked to its sprawling bedroom communities with lousy schools and overpriced houses, and the paving of paradise has left the state with overtapped aquifers, overcrowded hospitals, overstretched services, traffic jams, a dying Everglades and a vanishing sense of place.
Kitson promises to avoid the mistakes of the past. "We're impressed with their commitments," says Wayne Daltry, Lee County's director of smart growth. "Now we have to pound them to keep their commitments. No plan survives contact with reality - and in this case the reality is called the bottom line."
Given the dismal state of the economy in Florida and the dismal environmental track record of developers, it's easy to be skeptical. Kitson already had to lay off some of his southwest Florida staff. But unless the sun stops shining, the current housing collapse won't last forever. Florida is always going to be nicer than Brooklyn or Cleveland in the winter. It's about time someone tried to make growth environmentally and economically sustainable. And it's about time someone tried to use that sunshine for something other than getting a tan.
Monday, April 06, 2009
wow
Original 'Schindler's List' found in Sydney
Mon Apr 6, 7:37 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – A list of Jews saved by Oskar Schindler that inspired the novel and Oscar-winning film "Schindler's List" has been found in a Sydney library, its co-curator said.
Workers at the New South Wales State Library found the list, containing the names of 801 Jews saved from the Holocaust by the businessman, as they sifted through boxes of Australian author Thomas Keneally's manuscript material.
The 13-page document, a yellowed and fragile carbon typescript copy of the original, was found between research notes and German newspaper clippings in one of the boxes, library co-curator Olwen Pryke said.
Pryke described the 13-page list as "one of the most powerful documents of the 20th Century" and was stunned to find it in the library's collection.
"This list was hurriedly typed on April 18, 1945, in the closing days of WWII, and it saved 801 men from the gas chambers," she said.
"It?s an incredibly moving piece of history."
She said the library had no idea the list was among six boxes of material acquired in 1996 relating to Keneally's Booker Prize-winning novel, originally published as "Schindler's Ark".
The 1982 novel told the story of how the roguish Schindler discovered his conscience and risked his life to save more than 1,000 Jews from the Nazis.
Hollywood director Steven Spielberg turned it into a film in 1993 starring Liam Neeson as Schindler and Ralph Fiennes as the head of an SS-run camp.
Pryke said that, although the novel and film implied there was a single, definitive list, Schindler actually compiled a number of them as he persuaded Nazi bureaucrats not to send his workers to the death camps.
She said the document found by the library was given to Keneally in 1980 by Leopold Pfefferberg -- named on the list as Jewish worker number 173 -- when he was persuading the novelist to write Schindler's story.
As such, it was the list that inspired Keneally to tell the world about Schindler's heroics, she said.
Pryke said she had no idea how much the list was worth.
Schindler, born in a German-speaking part of Austria-Hungary in 1908, began the war as a card-carrying Nazi who used his connections to gain control of a factory in Krakow, Poland, shortly after Hitler invaded the country.
He used Jewish labour in the factory but, as the war progressed, he became appalled at the conduct of the Nazis.
Using bribery and charm, he persuaded officials that his workers were vital to the war effort and should not be sent to the death camps.
Schindler died relatively unknown in 1974, but he gained public recognition following Keneally's book and Spielberg's film.
Mon Apr 6, 7:37 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – A list of Jews saved by Oskar Schindler that inspired the novel and Oscar-winning film "Schindler's List" has been found in a Sydney library, its co-curator said.
Workers at the New South Wales State Library found the list, containing the names of 801 Jews saved from the Holocaust by the businessman, as they sifted through boxes of Australian author Thomas Keneally's manuscript material.
The 13-page document, a yellowed and fragile carbon typescript copy of the original, was found between research notes and German newspaper clippings in one of the boxes, library co-curator Olwen Pryke said.
Pryke described the 13-page list as "one of the most powerful documents of the 20th Century" and was stunned to find it in the library's collection.
"This list was hurriedly typed on April 18, 1945, in the closing days of WWII, and it saved 801 men from the gas chambers," she said.
"It?s an incredibly moving piece of history."
She said the library had no idea the list was among six boxes of material acquired in 1996 relating to Keneally's Booker Prize-winning novel, originally published as "Schindler's Ark".
The 1982 novel told the story of how the roguish Schindler discovered his conscience and risked his life to save more than 1,000 Jews from the Nazis.
Hollywood director Steven Spielberg turned it into a film in 1993 starring Liam Neeson as Schindler and Ralph Fiennes as the head of an SS-run camp.
Pryke said that, although the novel and film implied there was a single, definitive list, Schindler actually compiled a number of them as he persuaded Nazi bureaucrats not to send his workers to the death camps.
She said the document found by the library was given to Keneally in 1980 by Leopold Pfefferberg -- named on the list as Jewish worker number 173 -- when he was persuading the novelist to write Schindler's story.
As such, it was the list that inspired Keneally to tell the world about Schindler's heroics, she said.
Pryke said she had no idea how much the list was worth.
Schindler, born in a German-speaking part of Austria-Hungary in 1908, began the war as a card-carrying Nazi who used his connections to gain control of a factory in Krakow, Poland, shortly after Hitler invaded the country.
He used Jewish labour in the factory but, as the war progressed, he became appalled at the conduct of the Nazis.
Using bribery and charm, he persuaded officials that his workers were vital to the war effort and should not be sent to the death camps.
Schindler died relatively unknown in 1974, but he gained public recognition following Keneally's book and Spielberg's film.
Friday, April 03, 2009
good news and progress
Iowa court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional
By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer Amy Lorentzen, Associated Press Writer 25 mins ago
DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa's Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state's gay marriage ban on Friday, making Iowa the third state where same-sex couples can tie the knot.
In its decision, the court upheld a 2007 district court judge's ruling that the law violates the state constitution. It strikes the language from Iowa code limiting marriage to only between a man a woman.
"The court reaffirmed that a statute inconsistent with the Iowa constitution must be declared void even though it may be supported by strong and deep-seated traditional beliefs and popular opinion," said a summary of the ruling issued by the court.
The ruling set off celebration among the state's gay-marriage proponents.
"Iowa is about justice, and that's what happened here today," said Laura Fefchak, who was hosting a verdict party in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale with partner of 13 years, Nancy Robinson.
Robinson added: "To tell the truth, I didn't think I'd see this day."
Richard Socarides, an attorney and former senior adviser on gay rights to President Clinton, said the ruling carries extra significance coming from Iowa.
"It's a big win because, coming from Iowa, it represents the mainstreaming of gay marriage. And it shows that despite attempts stop gay marriage through right-wing ballot initiatives, like in California, the courts will continue to support the case for equal rights for gays," he said.
It's opponents were equally as dismayed.
"I would say the mood is one of mourning right now in a lot of ways, and yet the first thing we did after internalizing the decision was to walk across the street and begin the process of lobbying our legislators to let the people of Iowa vote," said Bryan English, spokesman for the conservative group the Iowa Family Policy Center.
"This is an issue that will define (lawmakers') leadership. This is not a side issue."
The Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr., pastor at the Maple Street Baptist Church in Des Moines, went to the Supreme Court building to hear of the decision.
"It's a perversion and it opens the door to more perversions," Ratliff said. "What's next?"
Technically, the decision will take about 21 days to be considered final and a request for a rehearing could be filed within that period.
But Polk County Attorney John Sarcone said his office will not ask for a rehearing, meaning the court's decision should take effect after that three-week period.
"Our Supreme Court has decided it, and they make the decision as to what the law is and we follow Supreme Court decisions," Sarcone said. "This is not a personal thing. We have an obligation to the law to defend the recorder, and that's what we do."
That means it will be at least several weeks before gay and lesbian couples can seek marriage licenses.
Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, said the decision addresses a complicated and emotional issue.
"The next responsible step is to thoroughly review this decision, which I am doing with my legal counsel and the attorney general, before reacting to what it means for Iowa," Culver said in a statement.
The case had been working its way through Iowa's court system since 2005 when Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization, filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples who were denied marriage licenses. Some of their children are also listed as plaintiffs.
The suit named then-Polk County recorder and registrar Timothy Brien.
The state Supreme Court's ruling upheld an August 2007 decision by Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hanson, who found that a state law allowing marriage only between a man and a woman violates the state's constitutional rights of equal protection.
The Polk County attorney's office, arguing on behalf of Brien, claimed that Hanson's ruling violates the separation of powers and said the issue should be left to the Legislature.
Lambda Legal planned to comment on the ruling later Friday. A request for comment from the Polk County attorney's office wasn't immediately returned.
Around the nation, only Massachusetts and Connecticut permit same-sex marriage. California, which briefly allowed gay marriage before a voter initiative in November repealed it, allows domestic partnerships.
New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont also offer civil unions, which provide many of the same rights that come with marriage. New York recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, and legislators there and in New Jersey are weighing whether to offer marriage. A bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Vermont has cleared the Legislature but may be vetoed by the governor.
The ruling in Iowa's same-sex marriage case came more quickly than many observers had anticipated, with some speculating after oral arguments that it could take a year or more for a decision.
___
On the Net:
Iowa Supreme Court: http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/
Lambda Legal: http://www.lambdalegal.org/
By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer Amy Lorentzen, Associated Press Writer 25 mins ago
DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa's Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state's gay marriage ban on Friday, making Iowa the third state where same-sex couples can tie the knot.
In its decision, the court upheld a 2007 district court judge's ruling that the law violates the state constitution. It strikes the language from Iowa code limiting marriage to only between a man a woman.
"The court reaffirmed that a statute inconsistent with the Iowa constitution must be declared void even though it may be supported by strong and deep-seated traditional beliefs and popular opinion," said a summary of the ruling issued by the court.
The ruling set off celebration among the state's gay-marriage proponents.
"Iowa is about justice, and that's what happened here today," said Laura Fefchak, who was hosting a verdict party in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale with partner of 13 years, Nancy Robinson.
Robinson added: "To tell the truth, I didn't think I'd see this day."
Richard Socarides, an attorney and former senior adviser on gay rights to President Clinton, said the ruling carries extra significance coming from Iowa.
"It's a big win because, coming from Iowa, it represents the mainstreaming of gay marriage. And it shows that despite attempts stop gay marriage through right-wing ballot initiatives, like in California, the courts will continue to support the case for equal rights for gays," he said.
It's opponents were equally as dismayed.
"I would say the mood is one of mourning right now in a lot of ways, and yet the first thing we did after internalizing the decision was to walk across the street and begin the process of lobbying our legislators to let the people of Iowa vote," said Bryan English, spokesman for the conservative group the Iowa Family Policy Center.
"This is an issue that will define (lawmakers') leadership. This is not a side issue."
The Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr., pastor at the Maple Street Baptist Church in Des Moines, went to the Supreme Court building to hear of the decision.
"It's a perversion and it opens the door to more perversions," Ratliff said. "What's next?"
Technically, the decision will take about 21 days to be considered final and a request for a rehearing could be filed within that period.
But Polk County Attorney John Sarcone said his office will not ask for a rehearing, meaning the court's decision should take effect after that three-week period.
"Our Supreme Court has decided it, and they make the decision as to what the law is and we follow Supreme Court decisions," Sarcone said. "This is not a personal thing. We have an obligation to the law to defend the recorder, and that's what we do."
That means it will be at least several weeks before gay and lesbian couples can seek marriage licenses.
Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, said the decision addresses a complicated and emotional issue.
"The next responsible step is to thoroughly review this decision, which I am doing with my legal counsel and the attorney general, before reacting to what it means for Iowa," Culver said in a statement.
The case had been working its way through Iowa's court system since 2005 when Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization, filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples who were denied marriage licenses. Some of their children are also listed as plaintiffs.
The suit named then-Polk County recorder and registrar Timothy Brien.
The state Supreme Court's ruling upheld an August 2007 decision by Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hanson, who found that a state law allowing marriage only between a man and a woman violates the state's constitutional rights of equal protection.
The Polk County attorney's office, arguing on behalf of Brien, claimed that Hanson's ruling violates the separation of powers and said the issue should be left to the Legislature.
Lambda Legal planned to comment on the ruling later Friday. A request for comment from the Polk County attorney's office wasn't immediately returned.
Around the nation, only Massachusetts and Connecticut permit same-sex marriage. California, which briefly allowed gay marriage before a voter initiative in November repealed it, allows domestic partnerships.
New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont also offer civil unions, which provide many of the same rights that come with marriage. New York recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, and legislators there and in New Jersey are weighing whether to offer marriage. A bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Vermont has cleared the Legislature but may be vetoed by the governor.
The ruling in Iowa's same-sex marriage case came more quickly than many observers had anticipated, with some speculating after oral arguments that it could take a year or more for a decision.
___
On the Net:
Iowa Supreme Court: http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/
Lambda Legal: http://www.lambdalegal.org/
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