“David Usborne” - Tea Party budget demands could force US government shutdown

David Usborne

April 7, 2011

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tea-party-budget-demands-could-force-us-government-shutdown-2264336.html

Party leaders on Capitol Hill are racing to overcome an impasse in budget talks that is threatening a partial shutdown of the United States government. If no solution is found, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will become idle and facilities as varied as zoos, museums and passport offices will close temporarily.

After President Barack Obama told negotiators to "act like grown-ups" and get over their differences, hopes of a solution were still flickering last night. If they fail to set spending levels for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on 30 September, the shutdown will begin at midnight on Friday.

The last such shutdown came in 1996 when Bill Clinton was in the White House. The stoppage lasted three weeks and in the end brought public wrath on then Republican House Speaker, Newt Gingrich. Centre-stage this time is Representative John Boehner, who became Speaker after Republicans retook control of the House in last year's midterm elections. Mr Boehner is under pressure from his newly elected Tea Party caucus to win swingeing cuts not just in spending but in the size of government itself.

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“Tom Philpott” - Should some pesticides be banned to protect bees? A USDA scientist dances around the question

Tom Philpott

April 6, 2011

http://www.grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-04-06-should-pesticides-be-banned-protect-bees-USDA-scientist-pettis

As I reported in January, the USDA's top bee researcher, Jeffrey Pettis, has publicly revealed that he has completed research showing that Bayer's blockbuster neonicotinoid pesticides, used on million of acres of crops across the country, harm honeybees even at extremely low doses.

The revelation was significant because a growing number of U.S. beekeepers are worried that Bayer's pesticides might be the key culprit in colony collapse disorder -- the strange annual die-off of significant portions of the U.S. honeybee population. In December, a leaked document showed that EPA scientists had declared insufficient a previously accepted Bayer-funded study purporting to show that neonicotinoids don't harm honeybees in farmfields.

News of Pettis' as-yet-unpublished study has generated very little press in the United States beyond my coverage. In the United Kingdom, though, it's made quite a splash -- so much so that the USDA scientist got an invitation to address Parliament on the question of pesticides and bees. Pettis addressed Parliament on Monday, and the results were ... odd. He distanced himself from calls to ban neonicotinoids. In an account of his testimony before Parliament, The Guardian quotes Pettis like this: "Pesticide is an issue but it is not the driving issue."

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“Gene Lyons” - Michelle Rhee: Education reform huckster

Gene Lyons

April 6, 2011

http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/04/06/michelle_rhee_lyons

Except for weight loss potions, no area of American life is more prone to fads, panaceas and miracle cures than public education. Everybody agrees that schools are failing, and since everybody went to school almost everybody's an expert.

Naturally, it's assumed that the biggest experts are those with the most money. Hence the philanthropic enterprises of what Bob Somerby calls the "Billionaire Boys Club" draw outsize attention. Whether it's New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg or Microsoft's Bill Gates, the guy with the thickest wallet is assumed to have all the answers.

Even when that person's badly misinformed. Consider Gates' recent speech to the National Governor's Conference. "Over the past four decades, the per-student cost of running our K-12 schools has more than doubled," the great man claimed, "while our student achievement has remained virtually flat ... To build a dynamic 21st-century economy and offer every American a high-quality education, we need to flip the curve."

Alas, this is well-meaning demagoguery. Sure, costs are up. But so is overall student performance. According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) -- the "gold standard" of educational testing -- American kids have actually done better in reading and math since about 1980. Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute summarizes the data:

"American students have improved substantially, in some cases phenomenally. In general, the improvements have been greatest for African-American students, and among these, for the most disadvantaged. The improvements have been greatest for both black and white 4th and 8th graders in math. Improvements have been less great but still substantial for black 4th and 8th graders in reading and for black 12th graders in both math and reading."

You'd think this would be good news. But like TV evangelists, education reformers peddling miracle cures often exaggerate others' sins.

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"Commonwealth Fund" - New survey: 72 percent of Americans think health-care system needs major overhaul

Public release date: 6-Apr-2011

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Issue-Briefs/2011/Apr/Call-for-Change.aspx.

Commonwealth Fund

Affordable Care Act provisions, including those related to accountable care organizations, could address concerns of many with the US health-care system

New York, NY, April 6, 2011—Seven of 10 adults think the U.S. health care system needs to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey released today. The concerns reflect widespread experiences with access barriers, poorly coordinated care and growing costs. The survey also reveals strong support for more patient-centered care systems and innovative use of teams and information systems.

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"World Public Opinion Org." - Sharp Drop in American Enthusiasm for Free Market, Poll Shows

World Public Opinion Org.

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/btglobalizationtradera/684.php?nid=&id=&pnt=684&lb=

American public support for the free market economy has dropped sharply in the past year, and is now lower than in China, according to a GlobeScan poll released today.

The findings, drawn from 12,884 interviews across 25 countries, show that there has been a sharp fall in the number of Americans who think that the free market economy is the best economic system for the future.

When GlobeScan began tracking views in 2002, four in five Americans (80%) saw the free market as the best economic system for the future--the highest level of support among tracking countries. Support started to fall away in the following years and recovered slightly after the financial crisis in 2007/8, but has plummeted since 2009, falling 15 points in a year so that fewer than three in five (59%) now see free market capitalism as the best system for the future.

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"Guardian.co.uk" - Manipulating morals: scientists target drugs that improve behaviour

Researchers say morality treatments could be used instead of prison and might even help humanity tackle global issues

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/apr/04/morality-drugs-improve-ethical-behaviour

guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 April 2011 16.23 BST

A pill to enhance moral behaviour, a treatment for racist thoughts, a therapy to increase your empathy for people in other countries - these may sound like the stuff of science fiction but with medicine getting closer to altering our moral state, society should be preparing for the consequences, according to a book that reviews scientific developments in the field.

Drugs such as Prozac that alter a patient's mental state already have an impact on moral behaviour, but scientists predict that future medical advances may allow much more sophisticated manipulations.

The field is in its infancy, but "it's very far from being science fiction", said Dr Guy Kahane, deputy director of the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics and a Wellcome Trust biomedical ethics award winner.

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"Concordia Uni." - What the world needs now? More wisdom

Human wellbeing and life satisfaction

Current events are on Pushkar's mind, since the bulk of her research has focused on human wellbeing and life satisfaction. And she's found wisdom plays a central role in both. "Wisdom and intelligence aren't the same thing," she points out, estimating that only 5 percent of the population can be described as truly wise and that advanced insight begins after adolescence as the brain matures.

Pushkar recently coauthored an overview on the topic, What Philosophers Say Compared with What Psychologists Find in Discerning Values: How Wise People Interpret Life. Her coauthors include Andrew Burr, Sarah Etezadi and Tracy Lyster of the Concordia Department of Psychology and Sheila Mason of the Department of Philosophy.

The research team compiled data from several Concordia studies, as well as international findings, to assess how wisdom shapes life. The result? "Wisdom has an impact on how people cope in situations and whether they are more or less satisfied with life," explains Etezadi, a PhD student under Pushkar's direction.

No single definition of wisdom exists, but hallmarks include knowledge, deep understanding of human

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"MU News" - Having Trouble Sharing or Understanding Emotions? MU Researcher Believes Affection Could Help

Survey shows those with high level of emotional disconnection disorder need to learn empathy

April 06, 2011

http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2011/0406-having-trouble-sharing-or-understanding-emotions-mu-researcher-believes-affection-could-help/

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Every person has some level of alexithymia, as it is the personality trait which keeps people from sharing or even understanding their own emotions.  Now, one University of Missouri researcher’s latest study indicates that affectionate communication, such as hugging, could help those who have high levels of alexithymia lead more fulfilling lives.

Colin Hesse, an assistant professor of communication in the MU College of Arts and Science, said previous studies estimate 8 to 10 percent of people suffer from high alexithymia. Those who have high alexithymia have trouble relating to others, as they tend to become anxious around others or avoid forming relationships. Alexithymia is often found with other conditions on the autism spectrum, as well as post-traumatic stress disorders. Studies have shown that alexithymia has been related to eating and panic disorders, as well as substance abuse.

“We know how important it is for people to empathize and be open with the people around us, because that makes someone more competent as a communicator,” Hesse said. “We still need to study the best approaches, but we believe that affectionate communication ranging from hugs, touching, or even the posture taken during communication – can make a positive impact, even if it only relieves anxiety.”

In the paper “Affection Mediates the Impact of Alexithymia on Relationships,” published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, Hesse and Kory Floyd of Arizona State University surveyed 921 people and measured shared affection, attachment levels, and the number of close relationships. The researchers found that even though alexithymia was negatively related to forming relationships, the impact was lessened by giving and receiving higher amounts of affectionate communication.

While alexithymia is still relatively new to the scientific world, some scholars believe it may eventually be added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. As a communications expert, Hesse is studying the ways alexithymia sufferers can ease the physical and mental costs of the affliction and succeed at relationships. Hesse’s previous work has shown that affectionate communication releases hormones that relieve stress, and his future studies will be applicable to all forms of communication.

“Because there is so much gray area with alexithymia, the potential for what we learn could have benefits for people with conditions such as emotional distance and autism spectrum disorders,” Hesse said. “I want to help alexithymia sufferers understand the undercurrent of the messages sent from other people.”



"Wikileaks" – GM Food: Romania, Trojan horse for USA in Europe

http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/biotechWeb.pdf

Source: Adevarul.ro
31/03/2011

According to Wikileaks, one of the toughest diplomatic battles fought in Bucharest involved a problem in which the United States and the European Union have very different positions: genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The US tried to use Romania as a wedge to relax the European policies regarding the use of biotechnology in agriculture. Romanian politicians played a duplicitous role.

Shortly after the DA alliance (Romanian National Liberal Party and the Romanian Democratic Party) gained power in December 2004, Americans started to investigate new investment perspectives in Romania. They were interested especially in three fields: IT, telecommunications and biotechnology. The last one, which involves the use of GMOs, gave birth to a strategy meant to transform Romania into a Trojan horse of America inside Europe.

While in the USA the use of GMOs is widespread and represents a huge business, in the EU several countries prohibit them. A cable sent on the 18th of January, 2005, signed by Thomas Delare, deputy of ambassador Jack Dyer Crouch states that: "A unique case in the region, Romania is a pioneer in biotechnology, it cultivates and promotes genetically modified soy, prohibited in the EU. The objective of the embassy is to help Romania enter the EU with a well-developed biotechnology sector and an educated population which understands the merits of biotechnology. Intensifying its efforts in Romania, the US will have a strong European ally, with common interests and beliefs in fighting against the anti-GMO position of the EU".

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"David Korten" - Greed is Not a Virtue

Published on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 by YES! Magazine

http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/david-korten/greed-is-not-a-virtue

David Korten: Profit-centered market fundamentalism has become a national religion.

by David Korten

We humans are living out an epic morality play. For millennia humanity’s most celebrated spiritual teachers have taught that society works best and we all enjoy our greatest joy and fulfillment when we share, cooperate, and are honest in our dealings with one another.

But for the past few decades, this truth has been aggressively challenged by a faith called market fundamentalism—an immoral and counter-factual economic ideology that has assumed the status of a modern state religion. Its believers worship the God of money. Stock exchanges and global banks are their temples. They proclaim that everyone does best when we each seek to maximize our individual financial gain without regard to the consequences for others.

In the eyes of a market fundamentalist, to sacrifice profit for some presumed social or environmental good is immoral. The result is a public culture that proclaims greed is a virtue and sharing is a sin.

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