A jury acquitted Michael Jackson on Monday of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland ranch, vindicating the pop star who insisted he was the victim of mother-and-son con artists and a prosecutor with a vendetta.
Jurors also acquitted him of conspiring to imprison his accuser and the boy's family at the storybook estate — a huge legal victory but one that may do little to improve his bizarre image.
A caravan of black SUVs delivered Jackson, wearing a black suit and flanked by family members, to the courthouse. Jackson was greeted by "Michael, innocent" chants as he walked into the courthouse.
The jury, which listened to 14 weeks of testimony and arguments, deliberated over seven days before sending word of a verdict at about 12:30 p.m.
The announcement came shortly after Judge Rodney S. Melville issued a statement saying that the jury asked and withdrew a question Monday morning. He also confirmed that on Friday the jury had a read-back of testimony and there were four meetings in chambers with attorneys. News organizations had filed motions seeking information on such developments.
Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor in 2003, plying him with wine and conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive to get them to rebut a damaging television documentary.
In the documentary, "Living With Michael Jackson," Jackson held hands with the boy and told interviewer Martin Bashir that he let children into his bed but it was innocent and non-sexual.
Jackson, who climbed to fame with the Jackson 5 and dominated pop music in the 1980s with the powerhouse "Thriller" and other albums, was portrayed at trial as a pedophile who lured boys into his bed at his fairytale Neverland ranch. The defense called the accuser and his family con artists.
Jackson's career began to lose its luster after 1993 allegations of child molestation that ended with a multimillion-dollar civil settlement paid to a boy, and his lifestyle, two marriages, and drastic changes in appearance became fodder for "Wacko Jacko" tabloid headlines.
This is just like the Simpson case all over again.
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) - The jury in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial has reached a verdict, a court spokesman said on Monday Jackson was expected to report to the courthouse in Santa Maria from his Neverland Valley Ranch, about 20 minutes away, for the reading of the verdicts at 4:304:45 5pm EDT. Prosecutors and lawyers for the 46-year-old entertainer will also be on hand.
As well as the legion of Jackson "supporters". If he's found guilty, they'll riot
Jackson is charged in a 10-count Santa Barbara County grand jury indictment with molesting a teenage boy in February or March of 2003, plying the young cancer patient with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
Please Lord, let this freak show end. Fox chopper is following Jackson motorcade of 4 black SUVs, decision expected in 15 minutes, he's about 30 minutes away. Typical.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005 16:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
LOL, the "We're Sorry" idiots are back, now at this circus trial.
#9
Got off scot free. California juries, wtf is the matter with these people?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/13/2005 17:13 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Wow--they announced "not guilty" on ALL counts. The state must have had a pathetically weak case.
I can not believe the zany supporters he has--on Fox they were showing one lady release a dove as every "not guilty" was read out. Do these people have jobs?! Do they have lives?!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 17:15 Comments ||
Top||
#11
And so it's off to Neverland for a glass of Jesus juice and a game of...God, I don't want to think about it.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/13/2005 17:16 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Unbelievable, guess that Money and and White ppl do get off easy in Kalifornia... Who'da thunk it.
#14
well I was wondering why he turned into a white guy, he musta known this day was comin and best to be prepared goin into the courtroom. first appearances are everything Ya know.
#15
So now I suppose we will get back to 24/7 coverage of that attractive white woman who ran off with some locals disappeared in Aruba again right? (never mind those people being tortured, raped, and killed in the corner... their only mud people...).
#16
My take on the whole matter is that the Santa Barbara County DA was getting reports of goings on in Neverland and finally decided to nail MJ. The only trouble was that parents that sent their kids to Neverland for overnight have got to be flakes. Flakes make weak witnesses, so the prosecution had to make a case with people that could be torn to shreds by a good defense attorney. Witness credibility (or the lack thereof) probably sunk this case for the prosection.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/13/2005 17:53 Comments ||
Top||
#17
I think my jaw dropped about NO inches in shock at this one. The DAs in Kalifornia couldn't convict Judas of handing Christ over to the Pharasies
Dr Steve - got a lithium regime or something you can recommend? A legal one, affordable by peons and working stiffs? Mebbe eating 5 bananas a day or something? You can post a response as Spemble something - to maintain your medical distance from such homebrew remedies... the AMA might jump ya, otherwise.
#24
.com, take 3 morphins every 4 hrs till a piece of yer schnoze falls off.
Posted by: Dr. Spemblov ||
06/13/2005 19:24 Comments ||
Top||
#25
:)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/13/2005 19:27 Comments ||
Top||
#26
So that's what did it, huh?
And here I was duped into thinking it was that they'd used a Stanley 12-205 jackplane to skinny it down instead of a fine Clinicon Diamond Laser scalpel. Silly me. ;-)
#32
I really don't like the picking and choosing of jury members. It just winnows it do to the mentally challenged. Come on. Just spin the wheel and fill the members. A RANDOM not FILTERED AND SELECTED jury.
#33
I was once told by a very old and esteemed lawyer that he had spent decades carefully picking jurors but that, if he could do it all over again, he would probably just take the first 12 people who walked through the door. All human beings are wild cards.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/13/2005 20:55 Comments ||
Top||
Repliee Q1 appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe.
Of course it's a life-like girl robot, if you're a computer geek what else are you going to build?
Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in soft supple skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body.
And 1,647 points of "articulation" below the waist
Internal sensors allow the android to react "naturally." It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it's the little, "unconscious" movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the breasts chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans.
Surrounded by machines that draw portraits, swat fast-moving balls, and snake through debris, Q1 is only one of the showstoppers at the expo's Prototype Robot Exposition, which aims to showcase Japan's growing role in the robotics industry. But given Q1's reported glitch-related orgasms "spasms" at the expo, it may be a while before androids are escorting tour groups or looking after children—which may be just as well. "When a robot looks too much like the real thing, it's creepy," Hiroshi told the Associated Press.
Picture at the link above, he's created a tour guide.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005 11:24 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The sexbot 3000! Tired of women turning you down? Your beautiful pastey complection a turn off to the opposite sex? Then get a sexbot 3000! No more hurt feelings, just good sensations! Never be alone while playing Everquest 2 again!
#3
With Japan's population taking a dive and the 'ladies' deciding that life has other offerings than Japanese motherhood and coupled with the Japanese resistance to foreign immigration, you may be seeing the beginning [and end] of how they look at solving the labor problem. Nice replacements for those welcome ladies in front of the department stores. Look out gramps, your job at Walmart is threatened!
Magnitude 7.9 TARAPACA, CHILE
Monday, June 13, 2005 at 22:44:33 UTC
Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver
The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A major earthquake occurred IN TARAPACA, CHILE about 115 km (70 miles) east-northeast of Iquique or 1515 km (940 miles) north of Santiago at 4:44 PM MDT, Jun 13, 2005 (6:44 PM local time in Chile). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. No reports of damage or casualties have been received at this time; however, this earthquake may have caused damage due to its size.
There is no tsunami hazard to the US or outlying territories associated with this. Commercial outlets report one death and a number of injuries with more expected.
WHALE watchers off the New South Wales mid-north coast were "blessed" to catch a glimpse of a rare albino humpback whale today. The whale, known as Migaloo, passed by Port Macquarie this morning as it migrated to warmer waters in the Whitsundays, off the north Queensland coast.
Carol Hunt, who runs a Port Macquarie charter boat company, said it was the first time Migaloo had been sighted off that part of the coast. "He was sighted in Sydney at four o'clock on Friday and I've been tracking him since," Ms Hunt said. "We watched him for about an hour and a half. He was heading north to Coffs Harbour.
"He had three other whales with him and they were quite active. They were rolling over and slapping their fins."
Ms Hunt said the whales were about a mile (1.6km) offshore, delighting those on board with their antics. "Everybody on the boat was just beside themselves," she said. "We are blessed to see this. It is just a million to one chance.
"It was just magic — we were very, very lucky."
Ms Hunt said Migaloo was travelling to the Whitsundays to mate. "He had other whales with him, so his mate might be among them," she said. "He may very well be taking a mate with him that might be pregnant.
Then again, he might dump her and head down to the bar with the boys.
"He'll stay up in the Whitsundays and hopefully when he comes back he might come into Port Macquarie again on his southern migration."
Named Migaloo, or white fella, by an Aboriginal elder in Hervey Bay, the whale is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world. It is expected to pass the coast of Coffs Harbour tomorrow. Don't let the Japanese see him lol
#2
For some reason, 'albino humpback whale' made me immediately think of Michael Moore, but I suppose ol' Lumpy Riefenstahl is more likely to be spotted in Grand Traverse Bay these days.
#3
Then again, he might dump her and head down to the bar with the boys.
Not if he knows what's good for him. Female humpbacks can get some speed on 'em when they're mad. A few good rammings should clear up the situation and put him straight.
heh.
Posted by: too true ||
06/13/2005 10:43 Comments ||
Top||
DOHA — Qatar has stripped the citizenship of 5,000 people, most of whom hold dual Saudi Arabian and Qatari nationality, government officials said yesterday.
"Get out and stay out!"
But they denied Arab media reports that the move was to punish some tribe members suspected of involvement in a failed coup in 1996. Officials did not say when the nationalities had been revoked and gave no further details.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005 00:13 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Behind their brave common front on Iraq shown the world by Tony Blair and George W. Bush in Washington last week, the British prime minister is orchestrating an aggressive campaign to force the American president to retreat on climate change. Blair and the other European leaders are aiming at next month's G8 industrial summit in Scotland as the last good chance to get the U.S. to back the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases.
Blair is working behind friend Bush's back trying to turn him on Kyoto. The prime minister secretly has lobbied U.S. senators, and British officials are collaborating with American environmentalist advocates. Lord May of Oxford, president of the British Royal Society, was able to convince science academies from 10 other countries (including the U.S.) to demand "prompt action" on global warming. Congress is closer than ever to enacting fossil fuel restrictions.
"In reality, Kyoto was never about environmental policy," a White House aide told me. "It was designed as an elaborate, predatory trade strategy to level the American and European economies." The problem for Europeans has been that Bush refused to go along, ruining the desired leveling effect. The EU's industries have been devastated, while the U.S. has prospered.
Europeans' desire to bring U.S. prosperity down to their level is no conspiracy theory of American conservatives. Margot Wallstrom, the Swedish vice president of the European Commission, in 2001 (when she was commissioner for the environment) said the Kyoto Protocol was "not a simple environmental issue . . . this is about international relations, this is about economy -- about trying to create a level playing field."
The ground has been carefully prepared for the G8 summit at the Gleaneagles golf resort in Scotland July 6-8. A clever domestic politician, Blair in Washington last week balanced unpopular support for Bush on Iraq by splitting away from the Americans on aid to Africa and global warming. While the African question does not vitally affect U.S. interests, the Kyoto Protocol does. Blair was candid. "If the U.S. isn't part of this deal overall," he said on PBS's "NewsHour," "then it's very difficult to tackle the problem."
As Blair met with Bush Tuesday, the report of the 11 national academies was released, with the U.S. National Academy of Sciences signing on in a major shift of position. On Wednesday, The New York Times published a story about White House official Philip Cooney editing government climate reports in ways that minimized the link between industrial emissions and global warming.
The Times story was provided by Rick Piltz, a career civil servant and former Democratic congressional staffer who was inherited by Bush as a senior associate in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. Since he resigned from the government earlier this year, he has been represented as a whistle-blower by the Government Accountability Project. Piltz on June 1 issued a 14-page paper attacking the "credibility" of the administration he had just left.
The reason for all this activity is the EU's plight in regard to Kyoto's emissions reduction targets of five percent below the 1990 level. According to credible private sources, the EU's 15 nations will be 3 percent above 1990 and 10 percent above in carbon dioxide. Several countries are substantially over the targets, led by Portugal (61 percent over target), Spain (61 percent) and Greece (51 percent).
While Blair mobilizes pressure on Bush at Gleaneagles, efforts will be made the next two weeks in the Senate to amend the energy bill to force reduced emissions. The global warming bill of Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, estimated by the energy industry to cost more than 600,000 jobs and ruin U.S. coal production, was easily defeated in 2003. However, thanks to possible defections by several Republican senators, a mandatory climate change amendment by Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman might pass.
George W. Bush is surrounded by hostile friends. Old bull Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, manager of the energy bill, may support the Bingaman amendment. Within his own administration, the departed mole Rick Piltz has many allies. And in the lakes and glens of Scotland, he will find dear friend Tony Blair winning points with the Labor left and his fellow Europeans
Posted by: too true ||
06/13/2005 11:03 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This sounds like a lot of hand-wringing to me. Bush is not going to cave on Kyoto. BTW, Kyoto as "leveling the playing field" is obvious. If the EUros increase costs in order to comply, they put themselves at a competitive disadvantage, so of course they want US firms to increase costs too. Doesn't mean we should, especially for something as flawed as Kyoto.
#2
You go Tony! Lead the way. Double the English gas tax. Shanghai city folk and press gang them to pull plows in the countryside, ala Zimbabwe.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2005 11:57 Comments ||
Top||
#3
My guess is that if the economy keeps improving, technology keeps surging forward, and gas prices keep high the US will end up making the Kyoto restrictions without signing on or leveling these painful demands upon ourselves.
Bush should do what the Chinese did regarding Nuclear testing. They said they wouldn't sign anything but they'd do their best to not test nukes. Either that or he should have left Kyoto in the bottom desk drawer where Clinton put instead of officially declaring it dead and taking the heat.
#4
"In reality, Kyoto was never about environmental policy," a White House aide told me. "It was designed as an elaborate, predatory trade strategy to level the American and European economies." Bingo! The Euros have dug themselves into a nasty hole on Kyoto and perceive the only way out is for the US to join them in the hole. BTW, Australia is not going to give on this either, not while Howard is in office.
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico, June 13 (UPI) -- A Mexican city near the U.S. border removed the remainder of its police force from the streets after a weekend shootout between police and federal agents. A federal agent was wounded when Mexican city and federal police in Nuevo Laredo swapped gunfire in a battle Saturday that officials characterized as a mistake. Authorities said 41 civil police officers were detained for questioning about their role in the shootout.
The federal forces, which went to Nuevo Laredo to reinforce the city's security amid a violent crime wave, are now in charge, El Universal newspaper reported Monday. The shootout is just the latest strike against the city's law enforcement. Last week, newly appointed police chief was killed last week, just hours after assuming the position.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005 11:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Mistake". Yeah, right. The federales tried to interfere with a "protected" drug shipment.
#2
The depth of corruption is on par with any Third World country. Just weeks away from everyone being spammed to help some widow of a Mexican offical requesting aid in moving millions of dollars.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has blamed Washington's brand of capitalism for the recent troubles in Bolivia. Speaking on his weekly TV programme, he said US open market policies in Latin America had led to "exclusion, misery and destabilisation". He called President George W Bush's proposal for a regional free trade agreement a "medicine of death". Bolivia was brought to a virtual standstill by protesters calling for economic and constitutional reforms. "Look at Bolivia. Fortunately the Bolivians opened the door toward a peaceful path, but they were on the verge of a civil war," said Mr Chavez.
They're always on the verge of civil war.
The Venezuelan leader, who is an outspoken and kooky critic of Mr Bush's foreign policy, was responding to suggestions by some US officials that he was stirring up the Bolivian protests. US assistant secretary of state Roger Noriega said President Chavez's support for the Bolivian indigenous leader Evo Morales might be partly to blame for the mass protests there. But a report in the Argentinian newspaper Clarin quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Mr Chavez may have played a key part in achieving a solution to Bolivia's crisis. The report said that a frenetic exchange of phone calls with Caracas encouraged Mr Morales to accept the constitutional outcome. Clarin also carried an interview with former Bolivian President Carlos Mesa, who said that although the sympathy between Mr Chavez and Mr Morales was widely known, he had not seen any evidence of Venezuelan interference. Mr Mesa's predecessor as president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who was ousted in 2003, told the BBC on Monday he blamed Colombian drug trade interests for stirring up division in Bolivia with an eye to controlling cocaine production there. During his programme on Sunday, which lasted more than seven hours, Mr Chavez said Latin American countries were moving towards socialist economic models instead of US-style capitalism.
Yes, we noticed.
He said Mr Bush's idea for a hemisphere-wide free trade zone, mooted last week at a meeting of the Organisation of American States in Florida, would lead to more poverty and protests in the region. "We say no Mr Bush, no sir... I'm sorry for you," he said. "The people of Latin America are saying 'no' to you, Mr Danger, they are saying no to your medicine. "Capitalism is the road to destabilisation, violence and war between brothers."
Whereas socialisum leads to pretty flowers and puppies for everyone
The blockades in Bolivia starved the capital La Paz of fuel and food, and forced the resignation of President Mesa last Thursday. He was replaced by Eduardo Rodriguez, who on Sunday met representatives of the protesters. They have now put their action on hold. They told Mr Rodriguez that they would maintain the truce if he agreed to demands to nationalise the natural gas industry and increase political representation for the country's Indian majority.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005 08:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
They're not always on the verge of civil war mr smarty pants, they always on the verge of peaceful, civil society.
Bolivia's caretaker president met Sunday with activists in the opposition stronghold of El Alto, and appealed for calm as labor leaders promised more crippling protests if he does not meet their demands. Interim President Eduardo Rodriguez spent nearly two hours with the coalition of Indian and labor activists whose nearly month-long blockade cut off the main food and gasoline supply route from the slum city of El Alto to the capital, La Paz. They demanded he nationalize the country's oil and gas industries and hold early elections. "We must re-establish the peace," Rodriguez told strike leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 00:20 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yeah, sounds like their country is a paradise now. No food,clean water,gasoline, good going guys. Now if it goes like south america usually does, this will happen 5 times in the next 6 years and when they are done they won't have anything left.
More blackouts are likely in Moscow's electricity system because of badly equipped substations, the head of a parliamentary probe into the recent major power outage in Moscow said on Friday.
Top deputy Vladimir Pekhtin quoted by Reuters said "electricity equipment stands on a lot of damaged foundations and constructions." Speaking of the Chagino substation in Moscow region whose failure is blamed for the blackout, he said, "there are substations in a worse condition than this one, so we can expect more trouble."
On May 25, several parts of Moscow and neighboring Tula and Kaluga regions were left without electricity. The head of Moscow's main electricity supplier (Mosenergo), Arkady Yevstafyev, left his office. Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized the power monopoly Unified Energy System led by Anatoly Chubais over the outage.
Officials said the outage was caused by a fire at the aging Chagino substation and there was no evidence of a terrorist attack despite a claim by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev that it was the result of an attack by his men.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005 16:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Substations aren't purdy and cost a shit load of money.
AUSTRALIAN scientists have made an international breakthrough with the development of a rapid test to detect avian influenza, or bird flu. The test developed by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries (DPI) would reduce the time taken to detect the virus from three weeks to one day, state Agriculture Minister Bob Cameron said. "What Victorian scientists have been able to do is develop a real-time PCR test, which is many times faster than the existing culture process currently used throughout the world today," Mr Cameron said.
Victorian scientists? Man, I had no idea the 19th Century was that advanced.
The test would be able to detect 15 different strains of bird flu, including the strains that are transferable to humans, he said. "As with all disease outbreaks, the quicker it can be diagnosed the quicker the problem can be dealt with."
Bird flu posed a serious threat to Australia's $430 million poultry industry, which employed more than 3000 direct and indirect jobs, Mr Cameron said. It also posed a risk to human health, and could impact on tourism, trade and exports, he said. "While there have been no reported cases of avian influenza or bird flu in Australia for more than five years, recent scares in South-East Asia mean we must remain vigilant."
The diagnostic test will form the centrepiece of Victorian research to be showcased at BIO2005 in Philadelphia later this week.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton turned furious and considered legal action after learning bestselling author Ed Klein would allege in a new book: Bill Clinton raped her -- resulting in the conception of daughter Chelsea Clinton!
"[Author] Klein is going to rot in hell for this," a well-placed source close to Hillary said over the weekend.
more at link...
The Clintons get wierder and wierder as time goes on...
Key graf: But Hillary and her camp may have a hard time typecasting Ed Klein as a Clinton-crazed right-winger. Klein is the former foreign editor of NEWSWEEK and former editor in chief of the NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE. He is a frequent contributor to VANITY FAIR and PARADE.
Hildebeast has a problem, and the problem isn't this book or previous books and articles. It's this: she has rabbit ears. Every baseball-playing male knows what that is, the inability to focus when batting because you hear the rude comments being directed at you. Hillary loses her focus; George Bush never does.
#4
I'm not impressed by these decades-old allegations by anonymous sources. I'm also not impressed with the release date of this book; for it to actually impact Hillary's chances at any office, this book would need to be released within weeks or months before a key primary or general election. Not the middle of the summer of an off year. Now the allegations are out, everyone has a chance to look at them, she can start her campaign for whichever office right on schedule. Thanks, Newsweek editors!
#5
That's the whole point of the book, Seafarious. Just like the things Ken Starr chose to investigate precluded the investigation of more serious offenses, while making it _look_ as if they were being persecuted by ye VRWC.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/13/2005 15:41 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Heeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy! now batta batta batta!
Lefty batta lefty batta,
Hey lefty battq batta batta
You daughter gotter big noooos!
Only posting this because several comments have been made here putting CA school spending at the bottom - CTA-spread BS. RTWT
A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll shows that while Californians have strong opinions on what to do about public education, they have no idea what's going on. I give the public an "F" in Education.
As a wonderfully sneaky test of awareness, PPIC asked Californians in a recent survey how much of the state budget is spent on public schools. They were clueless. Only one in three knew that public education is by far the biggest item, sucking up half the budget--very roughly, $50 billion of $100 billion.
Ignorant voters insist more money pour into the schools, not knowing California spends more on schools than the entire operating budgets of each of the 49 other states, including New York. Here's reality: The National Education Association (NEA) and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) rank California in the middle on per-pupil-spending. We're at the comfy median. We do not "under-fund" our schools despite our many troubles.
Why doesn't everybody know this?
The PPIC poll shows how misconceptions are driven by partisanship in California. Democrats tend to believe (ridiculously) that California's prisons get the most state money. Republicans tend to believe (absurdly) that social welfare gets the most state money.
People are ignorant in part because our crisis-driven media often lazily push the myth that California is near "the bottom" in school funding. That myth is a product of the education lobby, led by the California Teachers Association, which makes sure California teachers earn the highest salaries in the nation, yet constantly whines that schools are under-funded.
The myth was furthered in January when Rand Corp. released a just-plain-wrong study showing California wallowing near the bottom. Rand had not returned my call by press time, but state Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer notes that Rand included "all children who had excused absences" in California but didn't attend school. The 49 other states did not inflate attendance in this way. Rand has acknowledged that by dividing spending by an inflated student count, it probably affected California's outcome.
Eric Hanushek, at the Hoover Institution, notes, "We're not even close to eighth from the bottom---nowhere near that. We are at or near the middle in the nation." Frank Johnson, a respected statistician for NCES, adds, "California per pupil funding is near the middle. Some people are presenting data in a way that supports their (political) views." According to the NCES, California spent $7,552 per student in 2002-03. The national median was $7,574. We're $22 short, so no wonder our kids are near the bottom in math and reading! Fresh NEA data mirrors the NCES data. Its "Rankings & Estimates" report shows that California in 2003-04 was in the exact middle, ranked at 25th, spending $7,692 per pupil.
California voters imagine themselves to be well-informed. The PPIC poll says, "72 percent believe voters should make decisions about the budget and governmental reforms rather than abdicate that responsibility to the governor and legislature 
But when it comes to the budget, how much knowledge do residents bring to the table? Only 29 percent of Californians can identify the top category for state spending (K-12 education)."
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 10:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
School spending is up because you may have some 125 languages spoken at one elementary and have to pay teachers who are at minimum bilingual. Illegal immigration has lots of hidden costs.
#2
bs danielle. With 184 languages, bilingual education is not possible. Sooo...are you saying that every inner city school has 184 teachers for every grade? No..ok, then how many.
It used to be, don't know what it is now, that they did ESL for the very reason that there are 184 languages spoken. These teachers teach in ENGLISH, but slow it down and use techniques such as learning centers. You don't need to know a second language to speak ESL, as you'd have to be supra-lingual to know enough languages to teach the 8-10 different nationalities in your class.
As for tutors, yes, they do have them in various languages. But these float from school to school in each district.
The spanish mon-lingual is a business. It's a scam too. The teachers who teach often, most often, don't have teaching credentials - their only credential being they speak spanish. Many of the mexican families do not want their children in these classes, because they don't learn english.
California really doesn't have any more problems than other states that have inner cities - regardless of the language spoken.
#3
The NEA and NCES data on school spending are way off, no matter where they rank CA. That $7,500 national median figure is fiction. Checking California school district budgets one quickly learns that the actual spend, including special ed, employee benefits, capital financing, etc. is way over $ 10,000. LA has over $13,000 per kid, all in , and SF over $10,000. The US as a whole is probably somewhere there also.
Now, CA has a worse student-teacher ratio overall because it pays its teachers above-average, and costs, including the prevailing salary levels in CA are also above average.
Don't look now, but the ground has shifted on global warming. After decades of debate over whether the planet is heating and, if so, whose fault it is, divergent groups are joining hands with little fanfare to deal with a problem they say people can no longer avoid. General Electric is the latest big corporate convert; politicians at the state and national level are looking for solutions; and religious groups are taking philosophical and financial stands to slow the progression of climate change. They agree that the problem is real. A recent study led by James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies confirms that, because of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases, Earth is trapping more energy from the sun than it is releasing back into space.
The U.N. International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that global temperatures will rise 2 to 10 degrees by 2100. A "middle of the road" projection is for an average 5-degree increase by the end of the century, says Caspar Amman of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. What the various factions don't necessarily agree on is what to do about it. The heart of the discussion is "really about how to deal with climate change, not whether it's happening," says energy technology expert James Dooley of the Battelle Joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park, Md. "What are my company's options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Are there new business opportunities associated with addressing climate change? Those are the questions many businesses are asking today." Headline says: Debate's over, text says nothing about a debate...
#1
I think that we should tax all the rich nations of their wealth and piss it away on feel-good programs, while giving all the primitive polluters a pass.
Oops, already proposed. My bad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/13/2005 9:32 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'm still waiting to find out what we did to cause the last Ice Age. Was it flatulent wooly mammoths, or caveman barbecue fires? It couldn't just be the natural cycle of things, could it? We have to blame someone or something so Ralph Nader's existence is justified!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 9:45 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Earth is warming. It has been gradually warming for the past 250 years (before the industrial revolution). The sun has been putting out slightly more energy since that time too. The Earth has warmed up in the past before humans and lost its icecaps as well. Most of the reputible scientific arguments I have seen are debating whether humans are accelerating this process.
Now the rub of the whole thing is, now that more fresh water from the melting ice is entering the atlantic, the gulf stream is starting to falter. This MAY trigger an ice age. At the very least, Great Britain, Norway and Sweden will not have to worry about islamic forces taking over their countries since the ice will do that for them.
#5
All this means is that somebody discovered a way to make money off the global warming fad. That was obvious when BP started using it in their commercials.
#6
Something interesting is happening. The world's climate has definitely got warmer although only over the last 25 years and by an hardly noticeable .5C. But if you were to ask me what would happen if the worlds climate was getting warmer then I would answer the climatic bands and especially the low pressure systems that circle the globe in the temperate lattitudes would move further away from the equator. In fact the reverse seems to be happening. Last northern winter the low pressure systems tracked closer to the equator and southern California got drenched. We are now seeing the same thing in the southern winter. Low pressure system are tracking several hundred kilometers closer to the equator and here in Western Australia the systems that normally pass well to the south are actually hitting land. We have had 2 so far and a third is due later this week.
I have pointed out before that the runaway global warming predicted by the models requires that we explain why this has never happened in the past when volcanic eruptions have injected vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. There must be at least one mechanism acting to reverse the effects of greenhouse gas increases and maintain climate stability (more or less). We may have an answer in the low pressure systems.
#7
it gets warmer - it's due to global warming. It gets cooler, it's due to global warming. Puhleeeze. When you get a model that really waorks, let me know. Oh, by the way, when China and India are under Kyoto then we can talk, until then FOAD, cuz all you're asking is to cut our lifestyles so China can pollute. Read Michael Chrichton's takedown of the global warming "travelling circus"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 10:57 Comments ||
Top||
#8
When someone will step up to the bar and declare what base temperature the earth is suppose to be, I'll listen. Last time I say reliable information it indicated that after the mini-iceage that occurred near the end of the Roman Empire, the earth has been re-warming. Regardless, the earth is not a static environment by all indications [multiple iceages, continental drifts, etc]. So what the heck is the 'baseline'? If you don't have a baseline, how can you rationally argue 'warming'?
#9
Actually FrankG global warming can cause cooling in the Birtish Islae. The Gulf Stream is what keeps Britian warmer than would be normal for that lattitude. If the polar ice melts significantly then the gulf stream cools thereby making things cooler in Britain. Not ice age cool but it could become significantly cooler.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/13/2005 12:12 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Actually, a recent article in a magazine with nice pictures, Scientific American, noted the "baseline" does show a cyle. We should be in the middle of an ice age, right now. But global warming started 8,000 years ago, with the start of the agricultural society and yes, agricultural animals producing, ummmm, greenhouse gasses.
Any other theories out there, before the "debate" ends?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 12:29 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Apparently debate ends before the real scientific modeling can be perfected. DB - I know about the shift in Gulf Stream argument. Prove it? Can't be proven, nor can any of the rest of the henny-penny cries. Never confuse an academic mob for reasoned discourse
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 13:40 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Has anyone studied the effects of all these enviromentalists? I mean, all the ones I know seem to smoke 3 packs a day and drive cars from the 70's that belch black smoke. Let's blame them for it.
#14
I don't buy the animal "gases" effect. Humans wipe out animals all the time (at least that's what ELF says). There were millions and millions of buffaloes roaming North American 150 years ago. That's millions and million of stinky gas factories to drive up global warming and we blasted them all to hell.
If anything, humans help STOP fart greenhouse gases. *g*
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/13/2005 14:22 Comments ||
Top||
#15
I heard an interesting suggestion of how to solve several problems at the same time. The first part involves mining ocean methane in the sea bed. As it is mined out, it is replaced with frozen carbon dioxide (CO2) (dry ice), that is far colder than the methane and keeps it stable during mining, then is slowly replaced in turn by water ice to maintain sea floor integrity. The mined methane is burned to release CO2 and water, which is returned to the mine. The energy from the methane is sent by cable to the northern extreme of the ocean streams, where it is used in giant cooling coils to lower the extremely deep water of the stream just a degree or two, which makes the stream work. The heat generated from the refrigeration process is used for conventional energy production. This should accomplish the following: First, the reduction of these dangerous methane fields that could catastrophically explode with horrific amounts of greenhouse gases; Second, by getting the streams cooled, it would help forestall any potential Ice Age in Europe and North American; and Third, it would provide a vast amount of relatively clean energy.
#16
As noted in earlier article on global warming,Mars is showing unmistakeable signs of global warming. Just how much pollution did our few landers release to create the man-made warming on Mars? Enquiring minds want to know. I propose a global tax on all red colored products to pay for ending the warming on Mars. I volunteer myself to oversee the dispursement of the funds collected.
Posted by: Stephen ||
06/13/2005 15:44 Comments ||
Top||
#19
How about all of us open our windows and run our A/C on max until the earth cools back down to where it should be?
I bet we could get Barbra Streisand to back that.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 17:19 Comments ||
Top||
#20
The 2 NASA landers on Mars found evidence of global warming there too. Which brings up the question:
Are we witnessing a periodic change in the output of the sun? And if it is a natural phenomena, what should we do about it?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/13/2005 18:42 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/13/2005 21:16 Comments ||
Top||
#23
The terms Global Warming and Climate Change are used interchangeably, but they are most definitely not the same thing. Climate has a well defined meaning that is unrelated to (average) temperature. Climate refers to a place's location in relation to weather systems. So a mediteranean climate means in the path of low pressure systems in the winter but not in the summer. If the climate were warming then weather system should be further away from the equator.
Weather in the southern hemisphere is much less variable than in the northern H, becuase we don't have the large land masses. Especially here in Western Australia where our weather systems track over 4,000 to 6,000 miles of open ocean. If the climate were getting warmer we should get more tropical storms (cyclones) and fewer southern ocean low pressure systems. In fact we have seen the reverse and it seems the climate is most definitely cooling in the sense weather systems are moving closer to the equator.
#24
The weather now (in Arizona) is much warmer than when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s (in Michigan). I guess that proves global warming.
Seriously, what should the global temperature be? The Global Optimum of the 11th century? That was warmer than what we have now? The Little Ice Age of the 18-19th centuries?
Why don't we ask the people in Edmonton or Stockholm if they want it to be colder?
June 13, 2005: The U.S. Air Force received over 150,000 feedback responses to its proposed new work uniform. The troops didn't like the flashy blue and green tiger strop motif of the test uniform.
It screamed "Vietnam", and not in a good way.
So the air force will do a field test of a more sedate tan, blue and gray camouflage pattern. The air force wants a camouflage pattern that will make air force personnel look like warriors, or something like that.
Disclosure notice, I retired as a MSgt after 24 years in the AF. I expect nothing less than a (cough) McPeak(cough) disaster.
A secondary benefit is to make people, wearing the air force camouflage work uniform, harder to hit targets, in the off chance that hostile gunmen get on to an air force base. This has rarely happened in the last half century, but you never know, and it doesn't hurt to be prepared. The new camouflage uniform will be introduced in 2007, and take four or five years to completely replace the current uniforms, which look something like a soldier or marine might wear. The new uniform will unmistakably say, "Air Force."
We're getting leisure suits?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005 10:08 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The air force wants a camouflage pattern that will make air force personnel look like warriors, or something like that.
They're going to get those t-shirts with the muscles drawn on the front.
#3
Just to show that this sort of thinking isn't restricted to the USAF, have a gander at this:
Frankly, I'll quit the Navy before something that godawful! Fortunately, rumor has it that these uniforms have been just as poorly received in the Navy as the AF.
#4
20 year AF Vet here too and if McPeak had his way we would be dressed like the Navy. I think that the AF should have it's own motif but I thought those blue cammies looked well GAY. I know that most of us are REMFs, but that doesn't mean our uniforms have to be metrosexual.
#6
I think half the uniform types the ANavy and AF are trying out look, well...
Canadian.
And McPeak was an idiot when it came to command of the USAF.
As for the USAF, the main unifor will still be flight suits, and when in the filed, the PJs and FO's will still wear whatever the Army is wearing.
So these uniforms are just for the REMFs. My solution? May as well just put them back in the old OD fatigues with an authorized squadron/section ballcap. They looked good with a bit of pressing & starch, and were entirely adequate for garrison duties. Plus they were inexpensive, so messing a set up was no big deal. Go back to the "Gomer Pyle"s.
#7
Propeller hats. The brass are still cogitating on the appropriate camouflage pattern, though I am partial to the flames model.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2005 11:20 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Anyone here deal logistics?
How many variations and how many sizes are going to be needed to sustain the deployed troops of all the services when each has their own again? How many storage areas and load lists are going to be filled with 3 or 4 'unique' uniforms to satisfy egos?
Now this is what the term 'militaristic' was about. If one uniform can perform 90% of the legit function of what is needed to do the job, that satisfies military need. The remainer, to get that unique look, is pure militarism, that is to assume the form of military but not substansively contribute to actual function. Its the old story of why the Army ranks resisted rough brown boots, because the First Sergeants couldn't get the troops to polish them.
#9
Old Spook, dead on. And if they can't bring back the ODs then go to Wally World or Sears and order about 10 million sets of work clothes. For the people serving over seas by all means put them in camo. It somewhat makes sense there.
#10
I dunno. When was the last time an airbase was overrun? What would you camoflage yourself as on the flight line? Asphalt?
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 13:47 Comments ||
Top||
#11
This design has a lot to say, but I don't think "Air Force" in on the list. Well, it is blue. Terpbsboy explains it rather well, IMO. I'm thinking she's prolly one of the fabled MILF's we hear so much about.
#14
A secondary benefit is to make people, wearing the air force camouflage work uniform, harder to hit targets, in the off chance that hostile gunmen get on to an air force base.
Then make 'em entirely gray. When people wearing the new uniforms stand in front of the rows of airplanes on the tarmac, no one will be able to see them!
Airline groups have condemned plans by the world's richest countries to impose a tax on airline tickets to fund extra money for poor African countries - and make a gesture towards fighting climate change. Finance ministers from the G8 agreed at the weekend to look at using income from airline traffic to boost aid. Although the tax might only amount to a few extra pence on a ticket, experts believe the move would be a major blow to cut-price airlines that sell tickets for as little as £1. The move, which could add a pound on to air fares, was greeted with delight by environmental groups who said it was a first step towards making people pay the true cost of plane travel.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 2:49:13 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
WTF? Airlines don't make a profit now, they would freak out it this were to happen.
#3
it's the smell of desperate actions to try and somehow get a "world tax levied" anyhow or anywhere - the camel's nose...
once one tax was OK'd they'd be all over you like a cheap suit to tax the rest of your income/possessions - "to reduce debt in Africa"....
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 15:15 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Oh brother. There is no end to the idiot schemes to create pots of money for skimming, slushing, and stealing. I do not believe that Bush has signed up for this nonsense. The BA spokeswoman's quote says it all: "There is no justification for singling out airline passengers for an additional tax to fund development in the Third World." Unsaid was Spot's dead-on observation - the airlines couldn't be in worse shape at the moment and this can only make things even worse. Also unsaid was that there is no "plan" that can fix broken people (read: corrupt govts and sycophants) and THAT is Africa's real problem.
#6
They keep trying to get that first international tax in the door, "for the po' folks." Once the first one's in place, there'll be lots more to follow.
Sure looks like a camel's nose.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 16:02 Comments ||
Top||
#7
G8 wants tax on airline tickets to help world poor
Why?
The world poor aren't planning on flying anyplace anytime soon.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/13/2005 16:14 Comments ||
Top||
#9
If these people were really serious about helping the poor, they would place hefty taxes on champagne, truffles, expense account lunches at 5 star restaurants, and Mercedes cars. Until then, I will just fart in their general direction.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2005 19:31 Comments ||
Top||
PARIS, June 13 (Bernama) -- [Malaysian] Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has called for concerted efforts be made to increase French tourists' arrivals to Malaysia... only 32,000 French tourists visited Malaysia compared to 300,000 to Thailand last year.
Malaysia had secured daily landing rights and French tourists and investors wanted a good connection to Malaysia such as daily flights, he said. Records show Malaysia Airlines (MAS) only fly five times a week to Paris currently.
Speaking at a reception with the Malaysian community in France here last night, Najib said serious initiatives should be made to enhance Malaysia's image in France.
"I am not asking you to lie about Malaysia but every Malaysian in France must say the facts and good things about our country," he said.
Najib, on a five-day working visit to France ending today, spoke about the economic, political and social developments in Malaysia at the reception.
#1
Almost everyone in Malaysia speaks (some) English and absolutely no one speaks French. So they just have to make sure they target english speaking Frenchmen/women. I suggest 'Malaysia the heart of English-speaking Asia.' That should bring in the French in droves.
Someone at my company posted this to our internal 'water cooler' gossip Notes BBS. Link goes to the NDRC site.... I'd thought I'd share it.....
(Note: The NDRC is the organization behind the 'Alar-on-apples' scare of 89)
Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,
Global warming is fast becoming the number one environmental problem of our time. Apart from its far-reaching impacts on people, global warming may prove disastrous to the wildlife of Greater Yellowstone, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other vulnerable BioGems that are already suffering the effects of a changing climate.
Today, we're asking you to take an important step in our campaign by joining the "Stop Global Warming Virtual March on Washington." This unprecedented Internet effort is led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Senator John McCain, NRDC trustee Laurie David and other environmental leaders.
Please go to http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/campaigns/sgw/partner/nrdc/ to join this historic march, and invite your family and friends to do the same. Together, we will demand that Congress and the Bush administration take the necessary and long overdue steps to reverse potentially catastrophic changes in the Earth's climate.
The Virtual March on Washington will move across the United States via the Internet from one town to the next, educating people about the impacts global warming is already having on our environment, and highlighting personal stories along the way. Through an interactive map, you can track the progress of the march in real time as more and more people join.
The world's leading scientists now agree that global warming is real and is happening right now. Yes! The same group who terrorized school districts everywhere with their Alar Scare...
According to their forecasts, and they used horse instead of chicken entrails this time because this is important....
extreme changes in climate could produce a future in which erratic and chaotic weather, melting ice caps and rising sea levels usher in an era of drought, crop failure, famine, flood and mass extinctions. So could the conversion of the Sun into a Red Giant Star....
The good news is, we have the technology to avert such a catastrophic future. Just send us Money and we will fix all your problems....
All that's lacking is the political will in Washington.
That's why we're asking you to march with us -- and enlist others to join -- so that our growing numbers will help light a fire under Congress and the White House.
Please go to http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/campaigns/sgw/partner/nrdc/ and make your own commitment to stop global warming. Our grandchildren will thank us for taking this momentous step in the right direction.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
Frances Beinecke
Executive Director
Natural Resources Defense Council
Swaziland's King Mswati III took an 18-year-old former Miss Teen Swaziland finalist as his 12th wife during the weekend, barely two weeks after marrying his 11th, media in the tiny African kingdom said. Nothando Dube was selected as Mswati's fiancee after last year's Reed Dance, an event where thousands of maidens dance bare breasted in honor of the Queen Mother and where Mswati has chosen wives in the past. It's funny, that's how I met my wife, too.
The Times of Swaziland's Sunday edition quoted Mswati's traditional prime minister, Jim Gama, as saying that Dube's nuptials had been concluded Saturday night.
"The sultry wench with the fire in her eyes and the bouncy honkers — bring her to my tent! I shall conclude the nuptials on her!"
Palace officials were unavailable for confirmation on Monday, when Mswati was due to leave on an overseas trip.
"I'll bring you back something special from gay Paree, baby!"
In late May, Mswati married his 11th wife, 20-year-old Nolichwa Ntenesa, who was also selected during a Reed Dance.
What? They have 'em every Friday night? Or only when he's horny?
Mswati, 37, has drawn criticism for spending money on luxury cars while many of his 1.1 million subjects struggle by on food aid, ravaged by the world's highest rate of HIV/AIDS which affects around two in every five adults.
Nothing here that relieving their debts won't cure. Well, except for the starvation, HIV, looting of the treasury, horny kings, etc...
Statistically speaking, Mswati better wear a slicker when he sleeps with 4.8 of his wives.
Mswati early in June said he was not sub-Saharan Africa's only absolute monarch [just the one with the most wives and luxury cars and whose population is most ravaged by AIDs and hunger], contending that although political parties were banned in Swaziland, he only made decisions after consulting with the people [ . . . at gigantic dances attended solely by bare-breasted maidens].
In 1973 Mswati's father, Sobhuza, whose authorized biography says he had 45 official wives, tore up the constitution of the former British protectorate, sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique. Mswati's officials are drafting a new constitution, which is set to uphold the ban on political parties.
I've still got a soft spot for him, ever since he forbade Swazi women to wear pants. But maybe I'm just kinky that way...
Posted by: Tibor ||
06/13/2005 12:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Where's my checkbook! I want to invest in this guy!
#5
Don't kid yourself. Since time immemorial, kings have *had* to have multiple wives, mostly for political reasons. It's part and parcel of the tribal system. Heck, even most of Brigham Young's wives were to cement intra-religious ties. I suppose getting married beats having a civil war.
BALTIMORE, United States (AFP) - Increasing numbers of young American children are showing signs of serious malnourishment, fueled by a greater prevalence of hunger in the United States, while, paradoxically, two-thirds of the US population is either overweight or obese. In 2003, 11.2 percent of families in the United States experienced hunger, compared with 10.1 percent in 1999, according to most recent official figures, released on released by who? Cat got yer tongue?
National Hunger Awareness Day held this year on Tuesday, June 7.
Some pediatricians worry that cuts in welfare aid proposed in the evil President George W. Bush's 2006 budget will only exacerbate the situation. By contrast Bush plans to keep tax cuts for more affluent sectors of the population, they note. Ah, the gratuitous slap at tax cuts
In the working class port city of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Maureen Black, a pediatrician, sees numbers of underweight babies in her clinic specialized in infant malnutrition located in one of the poorer areas. "In the first year of life, children triple their birth weight," said Black, "and if children do not have enough to eat during those very early very times, you first see that their weight will falter and then their height will falter."
"If their height falters enough and they experience stunting under age two, they are then at risk for academic and behaviour problems" at school, said Black.
My good Dr. Black, we have various women and infant nutrition and welfare programs that are considered 'entitlements' -- paid regardless. It's not the fault of the federal government if these women and infants are having problems. There just might be other factors in this -- I paid attention to this when I attended med school.
Dr. Deborah Frank, a professor of pediatrics at Boston University's School of Medicine, who also runs a specialised clinic for malnourished babies, has similar concerns. "We are seeing more and more very young babies under a year of age which is a particular concern because they are most likely to die of under nutrition, and also their brains are growing very very rapidly," said Frank, in a telephone interview. "A baby's brain increases 2.5 times in size in the first year of life," she says, adding that if the baby fails to get the nutritional building blocks he or she needs for the brain to develop, a child can have lifelong difficulties in behaviour and learning.
But infant-child protection centers do not exist in the United States, unlike it other countries, such as France, ... *sniff* the US is so disgusting compared to France
Because we handle it differently -- we have aid checks and clinics, whereas the French centralize the system.
... which makes children below the age of three or four years old somewhat invisible to authorities, laments Frank. "They don't come to my clinic until they are already quite underweight.
"Recently I have been alarmed because we are getting more children who are so ill that they go to hospital rather than they come to the clinic first" a situation which, in 20 years of practising medicine, Frank had seen reverse.
Some children in the United States occasionally look like the malnourished children we see in some parts of Africa, however, welfare programs targeting society's poorest ensures that problem is generally avoided, the pediatricians say.
Paradoxically, malnutrition is not always due to lack of food -- rather to the quality of the food being consumed. "People often ask me how many children go to bed hungry. The answer is the parents work very hard so they don't go to bed feeling hungry. The parents try to fill the baby up with french fries and soda pop," said Frank. Bullsh*t alert! Fries and soda pop (and junk food in general) are expensive relative to non-junk food
And it might be that the mommies in question are making poor choices -- that's also not the fault of Pres. Bush.
In some areas, green vegetables and fruit are impossible to buy -- even in a can, because there may be no supermarket. Moreover, such items are costly. Oh give me a break. More expensive that junk food?
There are supermarkets even in poor neighborhoods. And poor neighborhoods have plenty of small grocery stores that take WIC and food stamps. I drive past a couple every day when I come to work; I know they're there.
"What happens in America is -- what seems bizarre -- that some of the recommendations that we give to families to prevent underweight of children are the same as we give to prevent overweight," said Black. "We recommend families not to give their children junk food."
In some families, eating junk food will mean one child is obese while the other is underweight, said Black. "The first will eat junk food and nothing else, the second will eat junk food and everything else." I've rarely read such pure, unadulterated anit-American, anti-Bush bullsh*t. Argh! Goebbels would be proud.
Wonder if the AFP reporter wrote the story from Paris? It's easier that way.
#1
Bullshit. Pure Bullshit. Americans are the biggest and tallest people on the planet because we get more food at a young age. Our average height is near 5'10 for men, 5'8" for women. Other countries (non-first world) the average is 5'7" for men, 5'4" for women. Also, our IQs are increasing (see rantburg archives) because of better food and education.
Green veggies are not THAT expensive. We have to have all of ours shipped in and you can still buy a head of lettuce for $1.20. That and a 1lb bag of carrots for $1.50 will make you salads for several days.
#3
If we grind up all the baby ducks and kittens we can find into a nice, tasty gruel, that will help Save the Children™!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 13:02 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Whatta load of BS!
IMHO, if any children are malnourished in this country, the parents of said kids (virtually all moms, I'd guess) belong in jail or, at least, to lose custody.
#5
"A baby's brain increases 2.5 times in size in the first year of life"
As this AFP reporter proves, even a full-sized brain can be useless, especially if it is programmed in French.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/13/2005 13:19 Comments ||
Top||
#6
You know, my wife is from the Philippines and she is amazed by our welfare and 'the government will take care of you' systems. Where she comes from they simply don't have such concepts as 'Welfare' - if you are out of work you depend on your family and friends to help you out until you can find something.
She could not beleve that people would be paid money (and a lot of it by Philippine standards) for not doing anything. She also could not beleve that people would accept (much less expect as a right) such without remorse or any shame at all. But here people (and politicians) feel that it is a right that the lazy and slothful (I am not talking about the truely disabled here) get a free meal at the expense of the hard-working.
But then the left (this story is form Boston isn't it?) feels that the State is the 'family' - the state is 'all'.
#7
Fact is if you take a poll in the US and ask if you've ever gone to bed hungry you'll get a lot of yes responses. Sent to bed without dinner, hungry. On a diet, hungry. Didn't get the second slice of cake, hungry. Puked up your dinner along with the dozen tequla shots, hungry.
Hunger is a relative term and I think they are misusing the term here through confusion or deception. I'm guessing deception.
#8
In some areas, green vegetables and fruit are impossible to buy -- even in a can, because there may be no supermarket.
It's true. There are areas in my city where the supermarkets, such as they are, don't even have a produce department. They had a big write-up about it in the local indy rag, moaning about what a tragedy it was. For me, the crucial quote came from the manager of one store who pointed out that they stopped carrying produce because NOBODY WAS BUYING IT.
#9
Puked up your dinner along with the dozen tequla shots, hungry Lol rj! Been there, done that.
BH - that's right, lots of produce is wasted in any supermarket. Besides, they could still buy frozen or canned.
Those evil right-wingers forced me to eat the big mac and supersized fries!
#12
I read about a "survey" a number of years ago (sorry, no link - too lazy to look for one) that had a quarter or some such of American children going to bed hungry every night.
Then somebody got hold of the questions.
Seems "hungry" meant the kids didn't get what they wanted to eat.
It wasn't that they didn't have food - they did. It was just that they wanted pizza and had to settle for hot dogs.
So you can understand why I have such a hard time even bothering with these kinds of stories.
Bullshit stinks. But then so does the Phrench AFP. For the same reason.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/13/2005 16:21 Comments ||
Top||
Yup. It's all over folks. Gloom doom agony and Fairbanks, the works. But wait! Is that the Electric Slide that I'm hearing...
Business is booming for the wedding DJ in the Iraqi capital. The party planner at the city's upscale Hunting Club can't find enough floral designers to keep up with decoration demands. Overwhelmed by the demand for marriage contracts, two judges in Basra are turning away would-be brides and grooms. And an unscripted series that follows couples as they plan their weddings is among the most popular shows on Iraqi TV.
Right after the show that rebuilds bombed-out houses...
Since President Saddam Hussein was ousted two years ago, the number of nuptials in Iraq has soared, say party planners, judges and clergy members. Although there are no reliable countrywide statistics, those in the business estimate that the number of "I do's" has doubled since the uneasy months before and after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some say a better living standard is driving Iraqis to the altar. Others speculate that many weddings were postponed because of the war, and couples are catching up. And there are those with a more existential bent, who see wedding celebrations as a retort to death itself. "People tend to compensate for their losses," said Nagham Azzawi, whose sister is planning a big wedding this year. "This is the natural response to all the deaths we're facing."
"I'm very happy," Marwa said of her upcoming wedding, which, unlike many in Iraq, was not an arranged one. "I love him, and he loves me." Although the wedding reception was months away, Marwa, 25, and her fiance, Adil Kamil, could start living together as man and wife if they wanted because they had signed a marriage contract. Kamil had waited a long time for this moment — the official announcement of their marriage. "She was always on my mind," said Kamil, 29. "I liked her for years. But the financial situation, and the general security situation, hindered me from proposing." A steady job as a clerk in the Ministry of Oil had allowed him to build a little nest egg, and the outlook was better, he said. Six of his seven close friends were also engaged or had wed recently. "The environment has become much more suitable for young men to get married," Kamil said.
Ali Mukhtar, the Hunting Club's party planner, said the first four months after the invasion were slow. There were no wedding parties at the club, a former hangout of the late Uday Hussein, one of Saddam Hussein's sons. But business slowly began to pick up, he said. These days, Mukhtar, who color coordinated the bride and cake, arranges about a dozen weddings each month. He complains that these days, he has to do everything himself. Key staff members have left. Some have been killed in the violence both random and rampant in Baghdad. He has had little success in replacing them. "It's not easy finding good decorators," Mukhtar said with a small sigh. Staff shortages also afflict the courthouse in Basra, in the country's Shiite Muslim south.
Mazel tov, my friends. May you live long and well.
#1
Ali Mukhtar, the Hunting Club's party planner, said the first four months after the invasion were slow. There were no wedding parties at the club, a former hangout of the late Uday Hussein, one of Saddam Hussein's sons.
Of course not: Uday looked the brides over and picked out the best for himself. That little detail is forgotten by the left who cringed in sympathy when he got ventilated.
This is a sign of OPTIMISM in the future. Expect a baby boom in Iraq that will go unreported...
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) - The jury in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial has reached a verdict, a court spokesman said on Monday Jackson was expected to report to the courthouse in Santa Maria from his Neverland Valley Ranch, about 20 minutes away, for the reading of the verdicts at 
Repliee Q1 appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. 
Speaking on his weekly TV programme, he said US open market policies in Latin America had led to "exclusion, misery and destabilisation". He called President George W Bush's proposal for a regional free trade agreement a "medicine of death". Bolivia was brought to a virtual standstill by protesters calling for economic and constitutional reforms. "Look at Bolivia. Fortunately the Bolivians opened the door toward a peaceful path, but they were on the verge of a civil war," said Mr Chavez. 
Don't look now, but the ground has shifted on global warming. After decades of debate over whether the planet is heating and, if so, whose fault it is, divergent groups are joining hands with little fanfare to deal with a problem they say people can no longer avoid. General Electric is the latest big corporate convert; politicians at the state and national level are looking for solutions; and religious groups are taking philosophical and financial stands to slow the progression of climate change. They agree that the problem is real. A recent study led by James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies confirms that, because of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases, Earth is trapping more energy from the sun than it is releasing back into space.
June 13, 2005: The U.S. Air Force received over 150,000 feedback responses to its proposed new work uniform. The troops didn't like the flashy blue and green tiger strop motif of the test uniform. 
Airline groups have condemned plans by the world's richest countries to impose a tax on airline tickets to fund extra money for poor African countries - and make a gesture towards fighting climate change. Finance ministers from the G8 agreed at the weekend to look at using income from airline traffic to boost aid. Although the tax might only amount to a few extra pence on a ticket, experts believe the move would be a major blow to cut-price airlines that sell tickets for as little as £1. The move, which could add a pound on to air fares, was greeted with delight by environmental groups who said it was a first step towards making people pay the true cost of plane travel.
Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,
Swaziland's 
