The taxpayers' money was to be used by low-income moms to feed their babies.
Instead, the federal funds were used by six scammers to feed their own greed, according to findings by a state grand jury.
Attorney General Tom Corbett yesterday announced the results of the investigating grand jury and the arrests of six Philadelphia residents charged with theft, conspiracy and related offenses.
The six are accused of stealing $375,000 from the state Department of Health's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
At the time, they worked at NORTH Inc., the nonprofit agency in Philadelphia that manages the distribution of WIC checks to low-income recipients in the city. The checks, or vouchers, are to be used at participating stores for specific food items - such as baby cereal, formula or peanut butter. They are not allowed to be exchanged for cash.
The six defendants, who worked as nutrition professionals at NORTH, allegedly created fake checks in the names of fake recipients on their work computers from 2001 to 2007. They then allegedly went to local stores and received the food items or got a store employee to give them cash for the checks.
Corbett said a supervisor, Mikiba Carter, 41, of Conestoga Street near Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, was "the most adept at creating these fake checks and allegedly taught the other employees how to create their own fake checks. . . .
"She redeemed these checks for cash and sometimes used them for baby formula, which she then sold on the street," he said.
According to the grand jury's findings, an employee at a Philadelphia food market first noticed something wrong when a woman in August 2006 presented WIC food checks in the names of seven people. The store employee reported this to NORTH's retail-store coordinator.
The checks were determined to have been created at the work terminal of then-NORTH employee Gail Polk, 53, formerly of Warnock Street near Louden in Logan. Polk, like Carter, was among those charged yesterday.
The four other defendants are Takarra Scott, 31, of Old York Road near Ontario Street, North Philadelphia; Crystal Gray, 43, of 54th Street near Pentridge, Kingsessing; Melvin Jones, 40, of Sharpnack Street near Emlen, West Mount Airy; and Tasha Riddick, believed to be 37 or 41, formerly of Georges Lane near Columbia Avenue in Wynnefield.
NORTH, which stands for North Central Organized Regionally for Total Health, is headquartered at Broad Street near Wallace in the Spring Garden section of the city.
Corbett said the six would be prosecuted in Dauphin County because the funds had been processed through the Pennsylvania Treasury in Harrisburg.
He also said that the investigation was ongoing and that the case would be referred to the state auditor general with the recommendation that his office audit the whole WIC program.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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an employee at a Philadelphia food market first noticed something wrong when a woman in August 2006 presented WIC food checks in the names of seven people
[Maghrebia] Libya on Thursday (October 15th) released 88 political prisoners from Abu Selim prison, near Tripoli, including "45 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)", international press quoted Libya's Human Rights Association as saying. The NGO is part of Saif al-Islam's Kadhafi Foundation. The association also said that the prison, where many inmates were killed in riots in 1996, would be demolished.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwe's Premier Morgan Tsvangirai says his Movement for Democratic Change party has withdrawn from the fragile unity government, amid disputes over the implementation of February's power-sharing agreement.
The former opposition leader on Friday linked the party's decision to "disengage" to the treatment of his senior aide, insisting that all unresolved issues of the deal must be dealt with before the MDC could work with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
The MDC will now officially pull out of the cabinet and council of ministers meetings as well as routine Monday meetings between the leaders of the three parties in the national unity government.
Tsvangirai, who lost his wife to a car accident earlier this year, has accused Mugabe of allocating all key ministries to members of his own party, and blocking the much-needed political and economic reforms in the financially challenged country.
The long-time ruler who has been at the helm of power in the country since its independence from Britain in 1984, has also been blamed for cracking down on opposition politicians, critics and activists.
Tsvangirai's remarks came as the High Court ordered the release on bail of MDC ministerial nominee Roy Bennett, who has been jailed since Wednesday and faces terrorism charges.
"It has brought home the reality that as a movement we have an unreliable and unrepentant partner in the transitional government," AFP quoted Tsvangirai as saying in reference to the incarceration of Bennett.
The power-sharing pact was signed to end a months-long impasse between the two parties over the true winner of last year's disputed elections that erupted into deadly post-poll violence.
However, rows over appointees for provincial governors, the central bank governor and the attorney general have clouded the pact ever since.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The United Nations should continue its support for the Congolese government despite reports of killings and rapes by government troops, UN special envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo says.
Rejecting suggestions that the world body should withdraw its support, Alan Doss told a UN Security Council meeting on Congo on Friday that pressure on FDLR anti-government rebels (Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) should not stop under any condition as they (rebels) will gain time to "regroup and rearm".
A UN-backed Congolese army operation, launched in January, dubbed Kimia 2 was severely criticized by the UN rapporteur, Philip Alston, who labeled it "catastrophic" in terms of human rights and said that it had been hampered "by a lack of planning, coordination and cooperation".
The disarmament of some 1,000 of an estimated 6,000 rebels in eastern Congo has come at a cost of nearly 900,000 people displaced, 1,000 dead civilians and 7,000 rapes of women and girls, humanitarian and rights groups say.
Government forces are fighting Rwandan Hutu rebels, who are said to be responsible for the last 15 years of violence in Central Africa.
Doss said suspending the ongoing offensive "would be celebrated as a victory by the FDLR" and would undermine the Congolese army and "paradoxically further weaken discipline."
Again, he said, reducing the pressure would also make it more difficult for Kinshasa "to impose state authority and prevent the re-emergence of other armed groups who might well draw the conclusion that attacks against civilians will force the government to give in to their demands".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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criticized by the UN rapporteur, Philip Alston, who labeled it "catastrophic"
"Catastrophic" could be used to describe quite nearly everything that has gone on in the Congo for the past... 45+ years or so. Native governance is the key, let them sort it out in their own good time.
[Bangla Daily Star] Members of Nasaka, the border security force of Myanmar, kidnapped seven Bangladeshi fishermen and took away their boat from the Naf River at Teknaf of Cox's Bazar.
The abducted are Md Alam, 22, and Monir Ahmed, 30, sons of Sona Ali of Pallan Para village, Abdur Razzaq, son of Abdul Hossain, Karim Ullah, 25, son of Abdus Sukkur, Hamid Hossain, 30, son of Abul Bashar, Hafez Ahmed, 40, son of Noor Muhammad, and Nozim Ullah, 22, son of Shamsul Alam of the same village.
Four other fishermen Ismail, 32, Jakaria, 20, Noor Kabir, 25, Kamal, 25, jumped into the river and swam to the shore. Returning home they informed the families and BDR about the abduction.
They said they were fishing within the Bangladesh boundary on Thursday at around 11:00pm. The Nasaka members by an engine boat turned up and kidnapped the fishermen at gunpoint.
Family members of the abducted fishermen yesterday morning informed the BDR authorities about the kidnapping incident.
Lieutenant Colonel Muzammel Hossain, commander of Teknaf 42 Rifles Battalion, said they came to know about the incident through an application submitted by the fishermen.
"We will send a letter to the Nasaka to send back the fishermen, " he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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TWO Brazilian policemen were killed when their helicopter came under fire from a gang in a slum below and burst into flames after making an emergency landing.
The pilot struggled to put the helicopter down safely after being shot in the leg by suspected drug traffickers while flying over a Rio slum, a public security official said.
The aircraft exploded shortly after touching down, leaving two officers stuck inside the burning wreckage. Two others, including the pilot, managed to escape, said Major Oderlei Santos.
The incident happened at the Morro dos Macacos favela, where police responded to gunfire between rival drug gangs nearby shortly after dawn.
After the crash, a fresh gunbattle broke out as more than 100 policemen backed by armoured vehicles and special forces tried to regain control of the area.
Urban violence is widespread in Rio, where nearly one third of the two-million-strong population live in slums. The incident comes just weeks after the city was awarded the 2016 summer Olympics.
The city needed an excuse to clean itself up. Hopefully they're taking full advantage of it.
LEFTIST Latin American leaders agreed today on the creation of a regional currency, the Sucre, aimed at scaling back the use of the US dollar.
Nine countries of ALBA, a leftist bloc conceived by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, met in Bolivia where they vowed to press ahead with a new currency for intra-regional trade to replace the US dollar.
"The document is approved,'' said Bolivia's President Evo Morales, who is hosting the summit.
The new currency, dubbed the Sucre, would be rolled out beginning in 2010 in a non-paper form.
That move echoes the European Union's introduction of the euro precursor, the ECU, an account unit designed to tie down stable exchange rates between member states before the national currencies were scraped.
ALBA's member states are Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, Saint Vincent and Antigua and Barbuda.
The currency, which was backed in April this year, is named after Jose Antonio de Sucre, who fought for independence from Spain alongside Venezuelan hero Simon Bolivar in the early 19th century.
The bloc also called for the replacement of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, which arbitrates international contract disputes and has probed a slew of disputes involving ALBA members and western energy firms. Most ALBA members have already withdrawn from the organisation, with Ecuador announcing last July that it would pull out of the group.
Yesterday Bolivian media reported the country intents to nationalise a electricity distribution firm owned by Spain's Red de Electrica de Espana. It is just the latest in a series of nationalisations in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. In May, Venezuela nationalized 74 energy services firms operating in the oil-rich Maracaibo Lake region.
Bolivia's Evo Morales has indicated that parts for his country's energy and rail sectors will be nationalised.
#2
It is strange no country has gone back on the gold standard. Come to think of it, knowing the history of the gold standard, not so strange. Never mind.
#5
Yeah, every time I drive by a house which used to have an obama sign.
Agreed Pebbles; can't eat gold or silver or zimbucks (well maybe, give it a year). It is an affirmation/promise of productivity and barter.
Gold (and other rare metals and stones) made for a common currency because they could not be faked. To wear gold et al was not only a sign of status, but was a way to keep a 'money' on a person, like a debit card. I'd bet that in a drought or famine, grain and water traded better than gold and diamonds - it is all about worth at the time, and just a common language for barter.
#6
Then Argon should be used instead of gold and WTF is with the FED and Income Taxes I carry around a copy of the US Constituion (and and an Essex) and read and preach about it obssevialyincessantly lots. I get only deh stares. My simple proposal of putting a tarrif on imported slaves is going unheard in the highest courts of the land. I demand redress!
#8
They tried a racket like this many years ago, by creating a heavily alloyed internationalist South American gold coin. I actually have one of the things floating around somewhere.
The trouble is that leftists seem to have a learning disability when it comes to economics, among other things.
Something not mentioned in this story is that Honduras, under Zelaya, backed this new currency, but because the Hondurans are now shunned, will they still adopt it as their new currency? I would not think so.
#9
It's kind of ironic (and very sad) that Ecuador, which used to have a currency called the "Sucre" adopted the US Dollar in 2000 to put a stop to runaway inflation. There must be something in the soil of Latin America - the people there CANNOT understand economics - or freedom, for that matter.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/17/2009 19:20 Comments ||
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TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Talks to resolve a post-coup crisis in Honduras hit a deadlock on Friday, as de facto leader Roberto Micheletti resisted international pressure to reinstate toppled President Manuel Zelaya. Negotiators for Zelaya refused a proposal by Micheletti to have the Supreme Court rule on his return to office. The court supported his ouster and is unlikely to restore him to power.
Micheletti is hoping to stay at the helm until a new president is chosen in a Nov. 29 election, although he may give in to the United States, the coffee-exporting nation's top trade partner, which wants Zelaya back before the vote.
It's just six weeks, Roberto ...
"After waiting three long hours this morning, the proposal we received was totally unacceptable," said Zelaya envoy Victor Meza, still looking fresh after three days of intense talks.
Although Meza said the negotiations continued, the two sides have not substantially changed position in days. Zelaya is prepared to have his reinstatement made legal by Congress. But Micheletti appears determined his former friend and political ally will not return to office despite signs of back channel pressure from the United States.
Vilma Morales, one of Micheletti's three envoys at the talks, earlier said they would work to win his approval for a deal, but said there was still disagreement. "Even so, we are heading into the last phase and believe we will successfully get there," Morales, a former Supreme Court president, told reporters.
The negotiators repeatedly hurried out of the talks in an upscale hotel in the Honduran capital to consult with their leaders on Friday, while a small group of Zelaya supporters gathered outside, closely watched by riot police.
Micheletti, a brusque political veteran named president shortly after the coup, got a boost this week when Honduras qualified for soccer's World Cup, giving the divided country a brief sense of unity. Thousands of people accompanied the national team to the presidential palace on Thursday, the first big public gathering since Micheletti gave the police and army broad powers to suppress pro-Zelaya protests.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Arrest Zelaya, take him to a Mayan pyramid, and behead him, Mayan style.
#2
Hang in there Micheletti. What's Obama gonna do? Send our military in there? That would be a real wake up call to our military leaders! Stop importing coffee? You could make your stand a rallying cry and put Honduran Coffee on the map increasing sales here for years to come!
The Mexican president shut down a money-losing state-owned electrical utility, taking a labor union down with it. The union is howling, but the shutdown is one of the best things to happen to Mexico.
SME union had been trying to intimidate Felipe Calderon into continuing to subsidize the Luz y Fuerza del Centro electrical distributor, even as its $16 billion in revenue didn't come close to its $32 billion in salaries and pension costs.
For months, the SME union had been trying to intimidate Felipe Calderon into continuing to subsidize the Luz y Fuerza del Centro electrical distributor, even as its $16 billion in revenue didn't come close to its $32 billion in salaries and pension costs.
And why not? The union had done the same thing to all the other reform-minded Mexican presidents and saw all of them back off.
But it didn't have a clue about Calderon, a former energy minister who on Sept. 24 warned the union to cut costs or else. The union ignored the warning and tried to intimidate Calderon with political tactics, whipping up fear that he intended to privatize the utility. Calderon had a better idea: shut down the utility.
The stunning decision to disband the company and lay off 44,000 workers effectively ends the SME union. It was the strongest act to support the future of a country since British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took on the National Union of Mineworkers.
In 1984, she vowed to shut unprofitable mines and directly confronted the wrath of feared union boss Arthur Scargill. She held firm, opening the gate to Britain's resurgence as a globally competitive nation. The same will happen for Mexico.
It took just hours for Mexico's peso to rise on news that a huge financial burden had been lifted from the government. Luz y Fuerza del Centro was a money pit that cost the government $42 billion a year in subsidies. Analysts said the shutdown would save $25 billion -- enough to enable the government to scrap a planned 2% tax hike.
The improved fiscal picture will keep interest rates in place and avert a ratings downgrade. All of this increases Mexican purchasing power, helps the government finance itself and releases money for lending and investment in a new economy.
The shutdown began in the dead of Sunday night when Calderon sent in troops to head off union sabotage and put the utility under the control of Comision Federal de Electricidad, a company that uses many private contractors to distribute electricity.The commission will be a sight better than Luz y Fuerza del Centro, which lost a third of the electricity it produced and had costs 176% higher than CFE's. LyFC's losses forced ordinary Mexicans to pay for the waste through above-market rates. Bloated payrolls, inherited jobs and massive pension benefits (a retiree gets three times the salary of a worker) explain why this company required subsidies equal to the entire budget of the Mexican army.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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surprise, surprise. Bad monday morning for the union thieves fatcats, I bet
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2009 11:40 Comments ||
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Obama chastises Mexican government tonight during the playoff game, tomorrow morning with snuffle, or during the course of next week?
3:2:1 odds, I accept CA IOUs, WICA, and Sucres.
#1
I hope I'm getting through to people when I say that LOW house affordability (i.e av prices to av wages) is NOT a good thing for an economy. Especially when it's achieved by a massive credit supply increase.
#3
If I were in charge, and knew the application to be as true as possible, I would not have approved a loan to someone where the payments are above 25%, nevermind 50%. Government sponsered irresponsibility and indentured servitude.
#4
Subsidising housing has only one effect, to raise prices (and doubly lower affordability, from higher taxes on wages AND higher prices for shelter).
#6
...Well, FWIW, I'm in the process of buying a home right now (supposed to close 11/16). This has been our experience so far, let me give you a little background:
*Had a bankruptcy (discharged) 4 years ago
*Have only been in my current job 15 months (Am getting a VA loan, however, and that can trump a lot of problems)
*House is 50 years old - 3B, 2 BA built at 900 sq ft,, 1/4 acre corner lot gutted to the exterior walls and rebuilt to 1300 sq ft from May - Sept of this year
*In a pretty-much-okay neighborhood
*Priced a little high compared to other homes in the same neighborhood, but we were able to argue them down about 20%, price in the very low six figures
Our bank (one of the VERY big Government-run zombies) has been tripping all over itself to get us a loan, and everybody has been willing to do anything to get us this house. And I'd say at least a third of the places we looked at were foreclosures or almost there. The most interesting thing I've found out so far is that in our price range ($95-$120K) houses are selling like hotcakes...but the contractors in the area are basically refusing to build anything in that price range, instead insisting on building townhouses and McMansions in the $250K and up range. These places are going empty, or in the worst cases being abandoned unfinished by the contractors.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/17/2009 22:02 Comments ||
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#7
Interesting perspective, Mike. Early congratulations!
#8
the contractors in the area are basically refusing to build anything in that price range, instead insisting on building townhouses and McMansions in the $250K and up range. Either that's an opportunity for other contractors to set up business or something important has been left out of the equation.
Regulators shut down San Joaquin Bank in California on Friday, marking the 99th failure this year of a federally insured bank.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of San Joaquin Bank, based in Bakersfield, Calif. It had $775 million in assets and $631 million in deposits as of Sept. 29.
The FDIC said the bank's deposits will be assumed by Citizens Business Bank, based in Ontario, Calif. Its five branches will reopen Monday as branches of Citizens Business Bank.
San Joaquin Bank's failure is expected to cost the FDIC's insurance fund $103 million.
99 Decision Street.
99 ministers meet.
To worry, worry, super-scurry.
Call the troops out in a hurry.
This is what we've waited for.
This is it boys, this is war.
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.
(Bloomberg) -- The dollar will extend its drop versus the euro over the next two to five years, falling as much as 20 percent to an all-time low under a widening U.S. budget deficit, Harvard University's Professor Niall Ferguson said.
Policy makers favor the dollar's slide as a means of supporting a recovery from the worst economic slump since the Great Depression even as they voice support for a strong greenback, Ferguson said in an interview on Bloomberg Radio.
A weak dollar is "the simplest solution to most of America's problems right now," said Ferguson, author of "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World." "We are likely to see 1 percent to 2 percent growth unless exports take off, and that's what everyone in Washington is quietly hoping: If the dollar keeps sliding, then maybe we can get some traction on exports."
The dollar increased 0.4 percent to $1.4888 versus the euro today after depreciating yesterday to $1.4968, the weakest level in 14 months. The U.S. currency touched $1.6038 on July 15, 2008, the weakest level since the euro's 1999 debut.
The world's largest economy shrank at a 0.7 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported last month. Gross domestic product contracted at a 6.4 percent pace in the first three months of 2009.
Economists forecast the current-account deficit will rise to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 and 3.3 percent in 2011, compared with 2.9 percent this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder what that will do to the price of imported oil in the US.
#4
Thats the deal right there, by the time a business pays its Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) and any state equivilants, a business could hire. Instead that money goes to people whose idea of going to work is to make 3 applications per month and purposefully blowing the (required by law) interview, wasting more time/money. Bump minimum wages up, crazy ever changing fed withholding (more time/money keeping up), and small business gets screwed if they are lucky enough to earn more than $250,000 today dollars.
Of course, many of those fast food restaurants are actually small businesses which more plus $250k a month for sure. Big revenue for gov gonna pay for health care and ponies, but imagine with people not wanting to spend money on a damned sandwich, fast food tax, sugar tax, cheese and beef and bacon tax, additional gas (transportation) tax, carbon (air) tax. Cities and States will see a drop in sales tax revenue and scratch asses, IRS bean counters will raise their hands and say where has all the revenue gone?! And at least one person will raise their middle finger and say, "Right here!"
#5
Saw a guy being interviewed on CNBC who said Bambi's economic brain trust wants to weaken the dollar in order to turn America into an export-based economy vs. a consumption-based one. Since we've already shipped nearly all of our manufacturing capacity to China, what the hell we're supposed to export remained unsaid.
My own opinion - debasing the dollar as a deliberate policy doesn't have a damned thing to do with improving the economy, and everything to do with the Soros/Obama objective of creating a weakened America that has zero influence on the world stage.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/17/2009 16:18 Comments ||
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#6
Who would take investment advice from Harvard University?
The Obama administration on Friday said the government ran a $1.42 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2009. That made it the worst year on record since World War II, according to data from the Treasury and the White House Office of Management and Budget.
To be fair, we are in the middle of a world war. On the other hand, almost all of the deficit has nothing to do with that fact.
Tax receipts for the year fell 16.6% overall, while spending soared 18.2% compared to fiscal year 2008. The causes: rising unemployment, the economic slowdown and the extraordinary measures taken by lawmakers to stem the economic meltdown that hit in fall 2008.
So CNN doesn't blame the deficit on either the war or George W. Bush. Interesting.
Consequently, the annual deficit rose 212% to the record dollar amount of $1.42 trillion, from $455 billion a year earlier.
As a share of the economy, the deficit accounted for 10% of gross domestic product, up from 3.2% in 2008. As breath-taking as that may be, it's still not in the same stratosphere as the 1945 deficit, which hit 21% of GDP.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Health care workers in New York will no longer be forced to get the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, CBS 2 has learned.
A state Supreme Court judge issued a restraining order Friday against the state from enforcing the controversial mandatory vaccination.
The order came as the Public Employees Federation sued to reverse a policy requiring vaccination against the seasonal and swine flu viruses, arguing that state Health Commissioner Richard Daines overstepped his authority.
Three parties -- the Public Employees Federaion, New York State United Teachers, and an attorney representing four Albany nurses -- challenged the order and for now the vaccination for nurses, doctors, aides, and non-medical staff members who might be in a patient's room will remain voluntary.
The health department had said the workers must be vaccinated by November 30 or face possible disciplinary action, including dismissal. PEF said it encourages members to get flu vaccinations, but opposes the emergency regulation requiring the vaccine as a condition of employment.
A judge granted a temporary restraining order Friday morning, PEF spokeswoman Debbie Miles said. A court hearing is scheduled for October 30.
New York was the first state in the country to initially mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers, but many health care workers quickly protested against the ruling. In Hauppauge, workers outside a local clinic screamed "No forced shots!" when the mandate came down at the end of September.
"I don't even tend to the sick. I am in the nutrition field. They are telling me I must get the shot because I work in a health clinic setting," said Paula Small, a Women, Infants and Children health care worker.
Small said she would refuse to be vaccinate, worried the vaccine is untested and unproven, leaving her vulnerable. In 1976, there were some deaths associated with a swine flu vaccination.
Registered nurse Frank Mannino, 50, was also angry. He said the state regulation violates his personal freedom and civil rights.
"And now I will lose my job if I don't take the regular flu shot or the swine flu shot."
When asked if he's willing to lose his job, Mannino said, "Absolutely. I will not take it, will not be forced. This is still America."
The protest also shook Albany. Hundreds of demonstrators demanded freedom of choice. After all, as health care professionals, they argue they're already constantly washing their hands and aren't likely to transmit or contract the flu.
Around 500,000 health care workers would have been slated to receive the vaccine
"It's certainly their prerogative to voice their opinion," said Dr. Susan Donelan of Stony Brook University Hospital.
Donelan said most in the medical community see the benefits and safety of the shots and welcome them, and that hospitals must obey the law.
"Our hospital is committed to following the mandate to have our personnel vaccinated," she said.
The state said change was needed this year to save lives. Typically only about 45 percent of health care workers take advantage of voluntary flu vaccines.
More than 150 institutional outbreaks of seasonal and H1N1 flu are expected this year in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice centers.
There is also a strong resistance to the vaccine from the general public. A new Harvard University poll shows that only four in 10 adults intend to take the vaccine themselves, and only six in 10 plan to give it to their children.
#1
After all, as health care professionals, they argue they're already constantly washing their hands and aren't likely to transmit or contract the flu. AFAIK, there is no evidence for this assertion and a lot of anecdotal evidence against it. Since health personnel move rapidly from person to person, they are the most likely group of all to be vectors for influenza. The mandate was an effort at force protection, to keep health workers on the job and to protect their patients. Of course, the judiciary always knows more than anyone else.
#2
An average, ordinary citizen may, if he/she wishes, refuse the vaccine, though personally I think such refusal is rather ignorant.
A health care worker has no right to refuse.
Very simply, said health care worker has no right to a job -- it's a privilege, and one that comes with certain responsibilities. The first of those is the hoary 'do no harm', and a worker with the flu causes harm to the patients that she/he encounters.
Therefore you get vaccinated.
No vaccination? No job. Very simple. If you're a health care worker.
PS: Yes, I received the seasonal influenza vaccine, and when the H1N1 vaccine comes out I'll get that too. If you're in a high-risk group for influenza, please get vaccinated.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2009 11:25 Comments ||
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#4
Think of the money in this! You could run an effective hype campaign at least four times a year. If you can hype the mild H1N1 into this type of frenzy, you can hype a new flu, every season.
FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHILDREN, every new flu is a massive money making machine if all nurses, teachers, and people who come in contact with the GP have to be vaccinated. And of course, every vaccine will always need to be rushed through the approval process. For the good of the children.
#6
Jumbo, please. I'm amazed, too, at how fast this vaccine got greenlighted. But if your theory was correct (hyping it all just so they could make big bucks), why wasn't there something similar for the avian flu, SARS, etc.? Those would have been golden opportunities if it was strictly just for big profits, yes?
And no, it's not just academic for me. I'm in a high risk group (Miracle #2 on the way in March, plus I'm asthmatic), and I've gotten all kinds of opinions on whether I should get it or not. I've gotten the regular flu shot, but I live somewhere that already has gotten hit by H1N1 and I don't know if I have already gotten exposed to it.
The last thing I really want to deal with right now is the possibility that some health care worker I could come into contact with could make me and other high-risk people ill because they couldn't/wouldn't take ALL possible precautions. I wish I could believe that every single one of them will wash their hands thoroughly, use hand sanitizer or not come to work if they are sick, but...I'm sure some of them won't.
They have the right to not get the shot. But I, as a patient, have the right not to get sick because of their choice to skip the shot. Call me selfish, but I think in this case, my rights (and that of my yet-to-be-born daughter) trump theirs.
News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Friday that White House criticism of commentators on his Fox News television channel had served to "tremendously" increase their ratings. Perhaps the WH ought to shut up and read between the lines here.
"There were some strong remarks coming out of the White House about one or two of the commentators on Fox News," Murdoch told the annual meeting of News Corp. shareholders here.
"And all I can tell you is that it's tremendously increased their ratings," he said.
Murdoch's remarks came after White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told The New York Times earlier this week that Fox News was "undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House."
Murdoch also restated his plans to begin charging readers of News Corp. newspapers on the Web. Currently, only the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal charges subscribers online.
"We intend to charge for our content on the Web," Murdoch said. "As I've said many times in the past good journalism comes at a price. Due to the lack of "good" journalism, people would rather not pay and stick with the bad journalism.
"In the future successful newspapers will charge for their content and aggregators will largely be excluded," he said. Looks like 18-year olds with hidden cameras will be in demand soon.
The News Corp. chairman was also asked about the attitude of the Obama administration towards business.
"We're worried about the business climate and whether it will discourage the formation of new companies," he said.
"There is a public perception, certainly, that this government is anti-business," he said. "I'm not saying it's a correct perception but there is a perception and I think this perception is hurting the economy. Your non-denial speaks volumes.
"We think the outlook for the economy is probably pretty steady," he added. "My own view... is that we're not going to get another vast steep decline but nor are we going to get any steep increase." Why no steep increase? Isn't it about time? Try lynching those who set off this recession and see what happens. [Sorry for the unsanctioned use of your reserved word, Al.]
#1
In the future successful newspapers will charge for their content and aggregators will largely be excluded
Newspapers won't recover enough to be able to charge for their content and survive. The advent of the internet has placed information at the hands of everyone.
Why should I pay one thin dime for content such as business news when all I have to do it to go to the source and get and then publish the news myself?
Murdoch doesn't get it.
Information is finely grained, and not a tangible product which can be gather to be sold.
As of this moment I can go to the FDIC's website and read a press release, contact a press contact for a few quotes in their press office and then a local banking contact for a local angle, and then voila!
I have a local news story I can release on my website. I have violated no copyright laws and I have done nothing Murdoch will not be doing.
The difference is that I can take readers and eyes that read advertising from his site because my information is free and his isn't.
#2
I though Murdoch's agenda was changes to the copyright laws and in particular, limits on the 'fair use' provision.
Subscription is never going to fly and the only other way of getting consumers to pay is micropayments (pay per view) which never took off at the consumer level.
#4
With the increasing opacity of gov't in general and this regime in particular I expect that Obama & co. will start charging for the "news" that they "develop".
#5
We had too many grocers, and supermarkets came along.
We had too many retailers, and big box discounters came along.
Just about every industry has consolidated over the last half-century, for the simple reason that each industry had too much capacity. Steel. Autos. Ship-building. Timber. Airlines.
Now it's the turn of newspapers. We have too many news venues. Too many sources of news. They're going to be consolidated, and we can thank the internet.
Why should I buy news from my hometown big news vendor when I can hop the web and find news anywhere? The hometown newspaper was supposed to be an exclusive, or at least semi-exclusive, aggregator of news (Murdoch is particularly humorous when he tees off on 'aggregators'. What does he think a newspaper is in the first place?). Because of time, distance and production costs, a model that was viable fifty and one hundred years ago no longer is viable.
Fifty years ago if I wanted sports I read the hometown paper (or the Sporting News). For international news I read the hometown paper (or Newsweek). Today I can go anywhere. I'm not tied to a particular vendor.
That very simply means we're going to collapse the number of vendors. Now just as the little grocery stores did with the advent of supermarkets, some small news vendors will survive because they'll occupy a unique niche. They'll vend the small-town news, the births, deaths, kids sports, and local business advertising. But most hometown newspapers are going to go away in favor of a few large, national and international news vendors that will deliver the product via the internet. The large urban newsprint will be dead as a dodo in twenty years. Even the New York Times -- especially the New York Times.
Aggregators? The surviving major vendors will BE the aggregators, just as they've always been.
They'll pay for themselves via advertising. A few might manage subscriptions the way the electronic version of the Wall Street Journal does. But that works only if the vendor delivers real value. Information indeed is finely grained. We'll pay for it when it has value, otherwise we'll look for other ways.
Murdoch is a smart man. He has to understand all this and is just blowing smoke.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2009 11:37 Comments ||
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#6
USA Today trid that and folded.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/17/2009 12:00 Comments ||
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#7
"...White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told The New York Times earlier this week that Fox News was "undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House."
Just what does she think the "Legacy" media was doing to the Bush White House? This is simply more whining by people completely out of touch with average citizens.
#8
Just to be clear, if cnn weren't on at every airport tv, newsweek at every dentist office, and nyt dropped at every hotel, these business entities would have ceased to exist decades ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
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#1
Too little, too late.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/17/2009 0:19 Comments ||
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#2
And intentionally so.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2009 9:26 Comments ||
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#3
One more nail in the coffin of CNN et al as regards fact checking before printing. Although they (CNN) did have time to "fact check" the SNL skit on Bambi's lack of accomplishments.
#4
What better way to start the trend of lie now, retract later, then bully on a private citizen's business speculations.
Suppose Mark Cuban would receive the same? BTW Rush was right, the NFL was looking for the next Warren Moon or Randal Cunningham to hype up, hence the attention for both McNabb and Vick, Rush got into trouble for exposing a well planned and financed advertising campaign as silly. Think I'm wrong? Then tell me what the hell Herm Edwards has to do with anything resembling expert commentary? You Chiefs people know what I'm talkin about.
#5
Hey Rick...did ya fact checked the guy you hit you hit-and-ran under the influence in 1990? Jeffrey Smuzinick died on November 2, 1995, largely due to the injuries he suffered in the accident.
#2
Brillant advertising. I don't know what it will cost them but they are sure to pick up some long-term customers.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/17/2009 12:52 Comments ||
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#3
Numbers 3 thru 7 may be ok for Applebees, but thanks to the latest Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA), they're absolutely NO GOOD for shopping at a US BX/PX, shopette, or gas station in Europe. US Government employee Foreign Nationals, diplomatic service personnel, and NATO members are good-to-go however.
1. Valid Veteran and Active Duty Identification to Obtain Free Entree:
2. U.S. Uniform Services Identification Card
3. U.S. Uniform Services Retired Identification Card
4. Current Leave and Earnings Statement (LES)
5. Veterans Organization Card (i.e., American Legion and VFW)
6. Photograph in uniform
7. Wearing uniform
#4
WHen my brother goes back to Iraq in December, I'm going to do what I did last yeargo to Katz's Deli in NY and order him a couple of 4.5 lb. hard salamis with some mustard and a Katz's apron. As they've advertised since WWII, Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Army. He and his airmen really appreciated it last year.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
10/17/2009 18:01 Comments ||
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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.
Zimbabwe's Premier Morgan Tsvangirai says his Movement for Democratic Change party has withdrawn from the fragile unity government, amid disputes over the implementation of February's power-sharing agreement. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] The United Nations should continue its support for the Congolese government despite reports of killings and rapes by government troops, UN special envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo says. 
LEFTIST Latin American leaders agreed today on the creation of a regional currency, the Sucre, aimed at scaling back the use of the US dollar.
TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Talks to resolve a post-coup crisis in Honduras hit a deadlock on Friday, as de facto leader Roberto Micheletti resisted international pressure to reinstate toppled President Manuel Zelaya. Negotiators for Zelaya refused a proposal by Micheletti to have the Supreme Court rule on his return to office. The court supported his ouster and is unlikely to restore him to power.
The Mexican president shut down a money-losing state-owned electrical utility, taking a labor union down with it. The union is howling, but the shutdown is one of the best things to happen to Mexico.
Regulators shut down San Joaquin Bank in California on Friday, marking the 99th failure this year of a federally insured bank.
(Bloomberg) -- The dollar will extend its drop versus the euro over the next two to five years, falling as much as 20 percent to an all-time low under a widening U.S. budget deficit, Harvard University's Professor Niall Ferguson said.
(CNNMoney.com) -- It's officially official.
Health care workers in New York will no longer be forced to get the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, CBS 2 has learned. 
News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Friday that White House criticism of commentators on his Fox News television channel had served to "tremendously" increase their ratings.
