"Tel Aviv University" - Mucus: Fighting the War Against Pollutants

Tel Aviv University Wednesday, March 30, 2011

http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=14283

TAU research says a body's defense mechanism may also provide a new drug delivery system

Are our bodies vulnerable to some pollutants whose lack of solubility in water, or "hydrophobicity," has always been thought to protect us from them? New Tel Aviv University research has discovered that this is indeed the case.

Studies by Dr. Michael Gozin of Tel Aviv University's School of Chemistry at the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences and Dr. Dan Peer of TAU's Laboratory of Nanomedicine in the Department of Cell Research and Immunology have revealed that mucus — the thick substance lining those internal bodily organs that come into contact with the outer environment, such as the respiratory system, the digestive system, and the female reproductive system — may instead play an active role in the penetration of hydrophobic substances, including toxins and carcinogens, into our cells.

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"Jim Hightower" - Japan's Earthquake Jolts America

Published on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 by Creators.com

http://www.creators.com/opinion/jim-hightower/japan-s-earthquake-jolts-america.html

by Jim Hightower

The corporate chieftains who've relentlessly pushed American factories and our middle-class jobs offshore rationalize their globalization of production by declaring that it's all about efficiency, as though that's the highest value to which a civilization can aspire.

Values aside, however, the problem with corporate efficiencies is that too often they are not. Not efficient, that is. While the corporate scheme of moving stuff from A to B to G to Y in order to achieve the narrow goal of maximizing profits can look so simple, sensible and even slick in a boardroom PowerPoint presentation, it's often calamitous in the real world. The problem with the best-laid plans of corporate globalizers is that they largely ignore inconvenient facts of life. Such as earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear meltdowns.

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"IBTimes" -Drought In Amazon Could Lead To Accelerated Global Warming

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 4:45 PM EDT

International Business Times

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/128257/20110329/nasa-global-warming-amazon-rainforest-de-greening.htm

A new study reveals a drought last year in the Amazon basin caused the forest to lose significant levels of vegetation, which in turn could accelerate the pace of global warming.

The study, conducted by an international team of scientists and funded by NASA, uses specific satellite imaging data provided by the agency to draw its conclusions. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellites provided more than a decade's worth of data for scientists who studied the de-vegetation of the Amazon rainforest.

The scientists say changing climates with warmer temperatures and altered rainfall could lead to the rainforests turning into grasslands or woody savannas. This causes carbon stored in the rotting wood to be released into the atmosphere, which would add to the greenhouse gases present.

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"Robert Scheer" - Obama’s Fatal Addiction

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/obamas_fatal_addiction_20110329/

Posted on Mar 29, 2011

By Robert Scheer

If it had been revealed that Jeffrey Immelt once hired an undocumented nanny, or defaulted on his mortgage, he would be forced to resign as head of President Barack Obama’s “Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.” But the fact that General Electric, where Immelt is CEO, didn’t pay taxes on its $14.5 billion profit last year—and indeed is asking for a $3.2 billion tax rebate—has not produced a word of criticism from the president, who in January praised Immelt as a business leader who “understands what it takes for America to compete in the global economy.”

What it takes, evidently, is shifting profit and jobs abroad: Only one out of three GE workers is now based in the U.S., and almost two-thirds of the company’s profit is sheltered in its foreign operations. Thanks to changes in the tax law engineered when another avowedly pro-business Democrat, Bill Clinton, was president, U.S. multinational financial companies can avoid taxes on their international scams. And financial scams are what GE excelled in for decades, when GE Capital, its financial unit, which specialized in credit

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"Tom Burghardt" - Orwell 2011: Towards a Pervasive "Surveillance State" in America

By Tom Burghardt

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"Bill Boyarsky" - Flunking Teachers Gives the Ruling Class a Pass

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/flunking_teachers_gives_the_ruling_class_a_pass_20110329/

Posted on Mar 29, 2011

By Bill Boyarsky

With all the evil people in the world, why are public schoolteachers being villainized? And how did they attract such powerful enemies?

Some of the country’s best-known mainstream powers are blaming the teachers for the troubles of the public school system. Bill Gates is a leader in this, as is President Barack Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan. So are some operators of multibillion-dollar hedge funds. 

By putting the blame on teachers and their relatively modest salaries and benefits—compared with those of, say, a hedge fund entrepreneur—so-called reformers are evading the real cause of troubled schools: Business and political leaders, aided and abetted by the mass media, are unwilling to spend enough money to support public schools. Tax increases aren’t good for Microsoft, hedge funds or Obama’s re-election chances.

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"Ian I. Mitroff" - When Facts Are Not Enough: Treating Mass Psychosis

http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/when-facts-are-not-enough-treating-mass-psychosis

by Ian I. Mitroff

One of the biggest, long-lasting delusions of progressives is that people are moved mainly by rational arguments. Consequently, to get people to accept a particular policy such as universal health care, all one needs to do is to present strong and persuasive arguments in favor of it.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

As George Lakoff and many others have pointed out, conservatives are highly effective in getting their views across and their policies adopted not just because they control major media outlooks and think tanks, but because they have powerful narratives that appeal directly to gut emotions. Until progressives not only have a better understanding of how emotions fundamentally shape political issues, but also incorporate them into their appeals, they will continue to lose the hearts and minds of the wider populace.

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"Timothy Karr and Clothilde Le Coz" - How Western Corporations Have Been Helping Tyrants Suppress Rebellions in the Arab World

By Timothy Karr and Clothilde Le Coz, Foreign Policy in Focus
Posted on March 28, 2011, Printed on March 30, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/150408/

Springtime in the Arab world is looking bleaker now that despots in Libya, Bahrain, and Yemen and reactionary elements in Egypt have gained an upper hand against the pro-democracy protesters who have inspired the world. And the Internet, hailed sometimes in excess as a potent tool for these movements, has itself come under increasing fire from these and other autocratic states seeking to crush popular dissent.

In Libya, the Gaddafi regime plunged the nation into digital darkness during the first week of March, where it has remained. In Bahrain, the kingdom reacted swiftly to pro-democracy demonstrations by filtering sites that let locals share cell phone videos, blocking YouTube pages containing videos of street protests, and taking down a large Facebook group that called for more demonstrations. And even in Egypt, despite the departure of Mubarak, the interim military authority has taken a harsh stand against pro-democracy activists, while trying to stop the sharing of looted state security files, which reveal the extent to which the government uses the Web to spy on Egyptians.

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"The Jakarta Post" - Radiation in US rainwater likely from Japan

tp://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/28/radiation-us-rainwater-likely-japan.html

Health officials said Sunday that one sample of Massachusetts rainwater has registered very low concentrations of radiation, most likely from the Japanese nuclear power plant damaged earlier this month by an earthquake and tsunami.

John Auerbach, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health, said that the radioactive isotope iodine-131 found in the sample - one of more than 100 that have been taken around the country - has a short life of only eight days. He said the drinking water supply in the state was unaffected and officials do not expect any health concerns.

Nevada, California, Hawaii, Colorado and Washington state have also reported tiny amounts of radiation from the Japan accident. Officials have said those levels presented no health risks.

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"Shaun Tandon" - Billion-Plus People to Lack Water in 2050: Study

Published on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 by Agence France Presse

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/03/29-2

by Shaun Tandon

More than one billion urban residents will face serious water shortages by 2050 as climate change worsens effects of urbanization, with Indian cities among the worst hit, a study said Monday.

The shortage threatens sanitation in some of the world's fastest-growing cities but also poses risks for wildlife if cities pump in water from outside, said the article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study found that under current urbanization trends, by mid-century some 993 million city dwellers will live with less than 100 liters (26 gallons) each day of water each -- roughly the amount that fills a personal bathtub -- which authors considered the daily minimum.

Adding on the impact of climate change, an additional 100 million people will lack what they need for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing and toilet use.

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