Occupy Wall Street May Day Protests Begin With Dancing Cops, Blocked Traffic, Barricades

Gothamist's Christopher Robbins is currently out reporting on the various demonstrations, marches, and direct actions today—for up-to-the-second May Day reportage, follow along with him on Twitter and the #M1NYC hastag. A morning rally at Bryant Park turned into a march through midtown (mostly on the sidewalk) and Times square, with an estimated 350-400 activists converging outside the Chase bank on Sixth Avenue and 50th Street. Here are some updates from the across the field, from Robbins and others:

Read More:

http://gothamist.com/2012/05/01/occupy_wall_street_may_day_protests.php#photo-1

Sayer Ji - Sugarcane Extract Superior To Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs?

There is a little known natural extract of plant waxes known as policosanol, extractable from sugar cane, yams, and beeswax, which has been giving some of the more profitable drugs on the market a biomedical beating since it was first investigated in clinical trials by the Cubans in the 1990’s.

Not only has it been shown superior to aspirin for treating conditions linked with peripheral artery disease (intermittent claudication), but it has put the $29 billion dollar a year statin drug category to shame.  At $5 for a month supply, you can understand why you haven’t heard it advertised on television or promoted through a conventional physician’s increasingly drug dispensary-like office.  

And here is the kicker: while aspirin has been linked to 50 serious, if not life-threatening side effects,[i] and statin drugs to well over 300,[ii] policosanol was evaluated for safety in animal toxicity studies and was found to have no negative effects on carcinogenesis, reproduction, growth, and development at 1500 times normal human doses (on the basis of body weight).[iii] With such a low cost, and high margin of safety, it is unconscionable that more are not being made aware of it as an alternative to pharmaceuticals for lipid modulation.

Read More:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/sugarcane-extract-superior-cholesterol-lowering-drugs?utm_source=www.GreenMedInfo.com&utm_campaign=448a11468e-Greenmedinfo&utm_medium=email

Dr. Rivkah Roth - Diabetes is Big Business, but for Whom?

This week (April 2012), 1^st Quarter net profit financial statements were released in business publications worldwide. Among the company net profit earnings reported were some of the biggest manufacturers of diabetes and diabetes-related medications.

This blog is written by a health professional and not a business savvy individual. It, therefore, does not claim accuracy nor is this list anywhere close to complete. But, it should get us thinking. Here are the reports from just five of the major couple of dozen or so pharmaceutical companies:

•   Merck reported $11.7 billion[1] net earnings from January to March 2012, largely boosted by higher sales of their Januvia and Janumetdiabetes drugs.

•   The Sanofi report exceeds expectations with a 13% increase to $3,2 billion[2] and includes diabetes drugs such as Lantus.

•   Novartis announced an 18%[3] net profit drop to $2.33 billion (still a hefty 3 month profit!) among a sales drop to $13.74 billions.[4] - Any of these "losses" can’t be that devastating considering that Novartis, early this week, announced their plans for a new $550 million production site in its native Switzerland.

•   Nova Nordisk reports an 18% increase to a hefty $822 million net profit^[5] and plans on expanding its US-based diabetes sales force by 15% in 2012.[6]

On the other hand, we have a consumer advocacy group calling on the FDA to ban their diabetes drug Victoza[7] over suspicion that it might contribute to thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, and possibly other safety issues not eliminated or excluded by human studies.

Read More:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/diabetes-big-business-whom

Stefan Kaiser - Austerity Backlash Unites European Leaders

Be it austerity queen Angela Merkel or Socialist François Hollande, European politicians are suddenly in agreement with ECB President Mario Draghi's proposal to round out the European fiscal pact's austerity measures with a "growth pact." But many seem to have a different idea about what this means.  

It's so nice to see Europe in agreement once again. Whether it's German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso or French presidential candidates François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy -- everyone seems to think a "growth pact" for the continent is a good idea. But it is precisely this agreement that should make one skeptical -- because all the vague phrase really does is verbally lump together Europe's tremendous conflicts of interest.

The suggestion came from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi. "We have had a fiscal compact," Draghi told the economic and monetary affairs committee of the European Parliament on Wednesday, referring to the treaty European governments signed in March, pledging to toughen their spending rules. "What is most present in my mind now is to have a growth compact."

Since then, the concept has garnered acceptance from all sides. "Growth is the key, growth is the answer," European Commission President Barroso said in a speech. In France, where the presidential campaign continues, both conservative incumbent Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger Hollande saw affirmation of their own positions on the issue. Hollande said it went in the same direction as his earlier policy suggestions, while Sarkozy said that a policy based on austerity alone would be a mistake.

Devil in the Details

But the unanimous approval of Draghi's suggestion conceals just how far apart its proponents are on details. What ECB President Draghi has in mind has little to do with Socialist Hollande's notions. "He doesn't necessarily have the same measures in mind as me to foster growth," Hollande admitted in a radio interview on Thursday. But this disagreement has somehow been overlooked.

Read More:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,830185,00.html

Dana Ullman - Swiss government report declares homeopathy is 'cost effective' in treating patients

In a story akin to "the mouse that roared," a major report from the Swiss government has determined that the very small doses commonly used in homeopathic medicine are both effective and cost-effective. Despite the impressive technological prowess of conventional medicine today, the Swiss government has determined that homeopathy is considerably more cost effective.

My previous article on this website highlighted a remarkable report on homeopathic medicine conducted by and for the government of Switzerland. This previous article described the significant body of evidence from multiple sources that verify the efficacy of homeopathic medicines, while this new article focuses on another body of evidence reviewed for the Swiss government that investigated the cost-effectiveness of homeopathic treatment.

In this day and age of economically-challenging times for both individuals and governments, this report from the Swiss government has confirmed the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of homeopathic treatment. The fact that homeopathy is also widely recognized as one of the safest methods of medicine is but one additional special benefit for this natural medicine.

Read More:

http://www.naturalnews.com/035714_homeopathy_Switzerland_health_care.html

Mona Eltahawy - Why Do They Hate Us?

In "Distant View of a Minaret," the late and much-neglected Egyptian writer Alifa Rifaat begins her short story with a woman so unmoved by sex with her husband that as he focuses solely on his pleasure, she notices a spider web she must sweep off the ceiling and has time to ruminate on her husband's repeated refusal to prolong intercourse until she too climaxes, "as though purposely to deprive her." Just as her husband denies her an orgasm, the call to prayer interrupts his, and the man leaves. After washing up, she loses herself in prayer -- so much more satisfying that she can't wait until the next prayer -- and looks out onto the street from her balcony. She interrupts her reverie to make coffee dutifully for her husband to drink after his nap. Taking it to their bedroom to pour it in front of him as he prefers, she notices he is dead. She instructs their son to go and get a doctor. "She returned to the living room and poured out the coffee for herself. She was surprised at how calm she was," Rifaat writes.

In a crisp three-and-a-half pages, Rifaat lays out a trifecta of sex, death, and religion, a bulldozer that crushes denial and defensiveness to get at the pulsating heart of misogyny in the Middle East. There is no sugarcoating it. They don't hate us because of our freedoms, as the tired, post-9/11 American cliché had it. We have no freedoms because they hate us, as this Arab woman so powerfully says.

Yes: They hate us. It must be said. 

Read More:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/23/why_do_they_hate_us

Insight: Falling home prices drag new buyers under water

More than 1 million Americans who have taken out mortgages in the past two years now owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, and Federal Housing Administration loans that require only a tiny down payment are partly to blame.

That figure, provided to Reuters by tracking firm CoreLogic, represents about one out of 10 home loans made during that period.

It is a sobering indication the U.S. housing market remains deeply troubled, with home values still falling in many parts of the country, and raises the question of whether low-down payment loans backed by the FHA are putting another generation of buyers at risk.

As of December 2011, the latest figures available, 31 percent of the U.S. home loans that were in negative equity - in which the outstanding loan balance exceeds the value of the home - were FHA-insured mortgages, according to CoreLogic.

Many borrowers, particularly since late 2010, thought they were buying at the bottom of a housing market that had already suffered steep declines, but have been caught out by a continued fall in prices in wide swaths of America.

Even for loans taken out in December - less than four months ago and the last month for which data is available - nearly 44,000 borrowers, or about 7.5 percent of the total, now find themselves under water.

Read More:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/26/us-usa-housing-negative-idUSBRE83P12E20120426

John Amos - The Marginalization and Disenfranchisement of Young America

We old folks complain loud and often about the state of our society. Often, we read and hear about our young not working at making a place for themselves in this world. Believing this propaganda, however, in my view, is very erroneous.

Here where I live, and elsewhere, I see capital that would allow the development of progress and livable jobs for our younger generation being withdrawn and moved to places offshore and out of reach of our own younger citizenry.

Only when our capitalists see a need to engage our young people in specific tasks that benefit the capitalists themselves, do they pony up barely enough capital to employ and engage our younger generation in viable pursuits that will allow them to progress and enjoy a full life. But, in most cases, our young are underpaid and marginalized even when they are employed. It is as if American society and American corporations want to suck the life out of them before they ever get a chance to make their mark in the world

We can speculate that the 1% of super rich at the top is doing this intentionally.

I have long suspected that the present deconstruction of our society and the destruction of the US middle classes is a convenient way that our present day upper crust (read our old money billionaires and our new-money, digital-age nouveau riche’ super wealthy) can sustain their empires that do little to sustain or progress humanity.

Read More:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/johndamos/42841/the-marginalization-and-disenfranchisement-of-young-america

Carey L. Biron - Food Security Slipping Ever Further Away

Continuing near-record high food prices around the world are highlighting international inattention to a looming threat, observers here warned on Friday.

According to speakers at the launch of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) Global Monitoring Report 2012, on the sidelines of the Bank-IMF spring meetings, a lack of focus on agriculture and nutrition in development priorities could prove disastrous in the event of another spike in food prices. 

The sudden rise in food prices in 2007-08 is thought to have brought the number of hungry people to more than one billion internationally. While food costs dropped in 2009 due to the international financial crisis, 2011 again saw record highs, brought about in part by variable weather conditions, mounting oil prices and the growing use of biofuels. 

According to information released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in early April, food prices have continued to rise during the first three months of this year, and currently remain higher than during the crisis period of 2007-09. According to many observers, high food costs have become the "new norm". 

The social implications of fluctuations in food costs have been clear. The high cost of staple foods was a major driver behind the Arab Spring protests, for instance. Today, continued high food prices are fuelling inflation worries across the globe, notably in India and China. 

Read More:

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107516

Richard (RJ) Eskow - Burden of Proof: Geithner, Obama, and Wall Street’s Unpunished Crimes

Forgery. Perjury. Investor fraud. Bribery. Money laundering. The body of evidence against individuals at the nation’s biggest banks is overwhelming. Nothing speaks louder about the banks’ guilt than this evidence - nothing, that is, except the billions they’ve paid to settle the charges.

The Administration reacted indignantly this week to suggestions it’s still slow-walking its investigation. And then, despite all this evidence, the Treasury Secretary of the United States proclaimed that no laws had been broken. And the White House wonders why its word is no longer enough?

A source in the office of a key figure in the investigation has denied a new story that they’re ruled out criminal prosecutions. But the burden of proof has shifted. Nothing will convince the public now except action.

Straw Men

Whether it’s JPMorgan Chase settling bribery charges in Alabama, Wells Fargo settling charges of laundering drug-cartel money in Mexico, or the nation’s five largest banks buying their way out of widespread foreclosure fraud and tax evasion, never in history has so much evidence led to so little action. Investigators pinpointed the fraudulent activity of individual accountants in GE Capital’s settlement with the SEC, only to be dumbfounded to discover that no criminal indictments were handed down.

Read More:

http://www.nationofchange.org/burden-proof-geithner-obama-and-wall-street-s-unpunished-crimes-1335595803