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Saturday, February 18, 2012
Delhi court to try US terrorist Headley, 8 others (AP)
[unable to retrieve full-text content]AP - A New Delhi court agreed Saturday to try admitted American terrorist David Headley and eight others for allegedly carrying out the deadly 2008 attacks in Mumbai, local media reported.
I was with @DrMichaelBrooks of the @NewStatesman right up until ...
?which was not very long then:
Time to ban breast implants
Michael Brooks
[...]
Cosmetic surgery is nothing more than an industrial-scale scientific experiment. The augmentation of women?s breasts began as an application of chemical wizardry, ushered in on the gleaming wings of postwar science. The surgeon?s hypothesis has been that a problem of self-esteem can be fixed using polymers and medical technology. This didn?t always go well ? in the 1950s and 1960s, women were given augmentations that sometimes went so wrong that they needed mastectomies. Now, though, the results are in.
Next month, for example, the journal Psychological Medicine will publish a study of almost 1,600 Norwegian adolescent girls who were monitored over a 13-year period. They were asked about their satisfaction with their personal appearance, sexual behaviour, drug use, behavioural issues and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. The finding is that women who use cosmetic surgery do not have lower opinions of their general attractiveness than women who do not opt for surgery. However, they display more symptoms of depression and anxiety, use more illicit drugs and have stronger histories of self-harm and suicide attempts. And the surgery is likely to make things worse.
Post-surgery, these women became more depressed and anxious, with greater alcohol consumption and more problems with eating disorders. As the researchers conclude: ?A series of mental health symptoms predict cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery does not in turn seem to alleviate such mental health problems.?
?etc; it?s a interesting read, and my sense is very sympathetic for a bunch of reasons that I won?t explain, for the simple reason that it?s not my opinion (nor my body) that is at stake. Informed risks are a part of life; if inadequate information is given then that is an issue, as-is cost to others to some extent.
But banning stuff sets a really bad precedent.
Categories: miscellaneous ranting.
By alecm ? 2012/02/17 at 11:14Source: http://dropsafe.crypticide.com/article/6106
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Friday, February 17, 2012
New York Times correspondent Shadid dies in Syria
FILE - In this April 12, 2010 file photo, Anthony Shadid, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting with The Washington Post, poses for a portrait at the Watson Institute for International Studies, on the campus of Brown University, in Providence, R.I. The New York Times said Shadid died Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012, apparently of an asthma attack, while on assignment in Syria. He was 43. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - In this April 12, 2010 file photo, Anthony Shadid, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting with The Washington Post, poses for a portrait at the Watson Institute for International Studies, on the campus of Brown University, in Providence, R.I. The New York Times said Shadid died Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012, apparently of an asthma attack, while on assignment in Syria. He was 43. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - In this April 12, 2010 file photo, Anthony Shadid, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting with The Washington Post, poses for a portrait at the Watson Institute for International Studies, on the campus of Brown University, in Providence, R.I. The New York Times said Shadid died Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012, apparently of an asthma attack, while on assignment in Syria. He was 43. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - In this April 7, 2011 file photo, New York Times Beirut Bureau Chief Anthony Shadid discusses his capture by Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Libya, during a talk at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in Oklahoma City. The New York Times said Shadid died Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012, apparently of an asthma attack, while on assignment in Syria. He was 43. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
In this Feb. 2, 2011 photo provided by The New York Times, Times journalist Anthony Shadid, middle right, interviews residents of Embaba, a lower class Cairo neighborhood, during the Egyptian revolution. (AP Photo/Ed Ou for The New York Times) MANDATORY CREDIT: ED OU FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES, VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK (AP) ? New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who strove to capture untold stories in Middle East conflicts from Libya to Iraq, died Thursday in eastern Syria after slipping into the country to report on the uprising against its president.
Shadid, shot in the West Bank in 2002 and kidnapped for six days in Libya last year, apparently died of an asthma attack, the Times said. Times photographer Tyler Hicks was with him and carried his body to Turkey, the newspaper said.
"Anthony was one of our generation's finest reporters," Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger said in a statement. "He was also an exceptionally kind and generous human being. He brought to his readers an up-close look at the globe's many war-torn regions, often at great personal risk. We were fortunate to have Anthony as a colleague, and we mourn his death."
Shadid's father, Buddy Shadid, told The Associated Press on Thursday his son had asthma all his life and had medication with him.
"(But) he was walking to the border because it was too dangerous to ride in the car," the father said. "He was walking behind some horses ? he's more allergic to those than anything else ? and he had an asthma attack."
The Times reported that Shadid and Hicks recently were helped by smugglers through the border area in Turkey adjoining Syria's Idlib Province and were met by guides on horseback.
Hicks told the newspaper that Shadid suffered one bout of asthma the first night, followed by a more severe attack a week later on the way out.
"I stood next to him and asked if he was OK, and then he collapsed," Hicks told the Times.
Hicks said that Shadid was unconscious and that his breathing was "very faint" and "very shallow." He said that after a few minutes he could see that Shadid "was no longer breathing."
Shadid, a 43-year-old American of Lebanese descent, had a wife, Nada Bakri, and a son and a daughter. He had worked previously for the AP, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He won Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting in 2004, when he was with the Post, and in 2010, when with the Times, for his Iraq coverage.
In 2004, the Pulitzer Board praised "his extraordinary ability to capture, at personal peril, the voices and emotions of Iraqis as their country was invaded, their leader toppled and their way of life upended."
Shadid also was the author of three books, including "House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East," in which he wrote about restoring his family's home in Lebanon, forthcoming next month from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Shadid was a native of Oklahoma City and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He joined the AP in Milwaukee in 1990, worked on the International Desk in New York and served as the AP's news editor in Los Angeles. He was transferred to Cairo in 1995, covering stories in several countries.
AP Senior Managing Editor John Daniszewski, who worked with Shadid in Baghdad during the U.S. invasion in 2003, called him "a brilliant colleague who stood out both for his elegant writing and for his deep and nuanced understanding of the region."
"He was calm under fire and quietly daring, the most admired of his generation of foreign correspondents," Daniszewski said.
Ralph Nader, the former third-party presidential candidate, called Shadid "a great, great reporter."
"His courage, stamina, intellect and extraordinary powers of observation respected his readers' intelligence while elevating his profession's standards," the longtime consumer advocate said in a statement.
Nader added in a phone call to the AP that he knew Shadid from his time at The Washington Post and had met his family.
"What a loss," he said.
Shadid had been reporting in Syria for a week, gathering information on the resistance to the Syrian government and calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, the Times said. The exact circumstances and location of his death were unclear, it said.
Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson sent a note to the newsroom Thursday evening, relaying the news of Shadid's death and remembering him.
"Anthony died as he lived ? determined to bear witness to the transformation sweeping the Middle East and to testify to the suffering of people caught between government oppression and opposition forces," she wrote.
Shadid, long known for covering wars and other conflicts in the Middle East, was among four reporters detained for six days by Libyan forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi last March.
Speaking to an audience in Oklahoma City about a month after his release, he said he had a conversation with his father the night before he was detained.
"Maybe a little bit arrogantly, perhaps with a little bit of conceit, I said, 'It's OK, Dad. I know what I'm doing. I've been in this situation before,'" Shadid told the crowd of several dozen people. "I guess on some level I felt that if I wasn't there to tell the story, the story wouldn't be told."
When Shadid's wife was asked at the time whether she worried about him returning to writing about conflicts, she said as a journalist she understood that he might need to.
"At the end of the day, he's my husband, and the thought of going through life without him and raising our children alone is terrible," she said afterward.
Shadid's father, who lives in Oklahoma City, said a colleague tried to revive his son after he was stricken Thursday but couldn't.
"They were in an isolated place. There was no doctor around," Buddy Shadid said. "It took a couple of hours to get him to a hospital in Turkey."
___
Associated Press writer Rochelle Hines contributed to this report from Oklahoma City.
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Ecuador court upholds pro-Correa libel verdict (AP)
QUITO, Ecuador ? Ecuador's highest court upheld early Thursday a criminal libel verdict favoring President Rafael Correa, sentencing three newspaper executives and a columnist to three years in prison each and ordering them to pay a total of $42 million in damages.
The defendants, joined by international press freedom and human rights groups, had called the case a cynical attempt by Correa to bankrupt the country's leading opposition newspaper, El Universo, and part of a concerted campaign to stifle free speech and silence critics.
After a 13 1/2-hour hearing on Wednesday, the three-judge panel of the National Court of Justice deliberated nearly two hours before ratifying the verdict, which is not subject to appeal.
Correa was present both for the ruling and during Wednesday's entire hearing.
The defendants had called the case a farce and accused Correa of subverting the legal system, including allowing his attorney to write the original ruling.
Groups including Human Rights Watch have decried criminal defamation laws such as Ecuador's, which they say give politicians such as Correa immense power to crush dissent.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement that the ruling "represents a serious setback for democracy in Ecuador."
Before final deliberations began, Judge Wilson Merino asked both sides if they had reached a resolution.
The defendants' attorney, Monica Vargas, said the Guayaquil-based newspaper "has always been open" to a solution.
But Correa said "in the face of such dirty tricks at this point in time an apology cannot be accepted."
Correa said he had no choice but to file suit to defend himself against false accusations in a column by Palacio that El Universo published a year ago.
It repeatedly referred to Correa as "the Dictator" and said he "ordered discretionary fire ? without prior notification ? against a hospital full of civilians and innocent people" during a Sept. 30, 2010, police revolt over government plans to cut police benefits that claimed at least five lives.
Three of the four defendants left Ecuador before the verdict, saying they feared for their safety. Only El Universo's director, Carlos Perez, was apparently still in the country.
In a statement, he called the verdict "particularly alarming because it exposed raw corruption in Ecuador's judicial system, which was manipulated by Correa and his cronies to wage a full-scale attack on our newspaper and the sacred right of free speech."
"People should be under no illusions about what the impact of this case will be: It already has had a chilling effect on what Ecuadoreans can say and report."
His brothers Nicolas and Cesar, the paper's new media manager and deputy director, were in Miami along with Emilio Palacio, the columnist and former opinion page editor of the newspaper.
Correa said the verdict would "change history."
"This creates a precedent not just for Ecuador but also in all of our America(s)," he said.
Correa's leftist allies in Latin America, chiefly President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, have also been accused of using heavy-handed tactics against aggressive opposition media that they have called representatives of an oligarchy opposed to their efforts to impose "21st-century socialism."
Vargas said the sentence "in no way closes the case."
The defendants said in a statement issued early Thursday that they would continue to publish as long as they are able and had already sought a "preliminary injunction" with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an autonomous panel based in Washington, D.C., that would order Ecuador to suspend execution of the sentence pending a full review.
With a 70 percent approval rating, Correa is among Latin America's most popular leaders thanks in part to an array of state-funded programs that have brought stability to a traditionally unruly nation.
His support was on display outside the courthouse Wednesday as his backers scuffled with defenders of El Universo, struck at least three journalists and burned issues of El Universo and another newspaper, El Comercio.
The press freedom director of the Inter-American Press Association, Ricardo Trotti, said Wednesday in Miami at a news conference with Nicolas and Cesar Perez that the sentence, first handed down in July, was "completely repressive and disproportionate."
The Perez brothers said they were considering seeking political asylum in the United States, which Palacio last week announced that he had requested.
The El Universo team are not the only journalists Correa has attacked in the courts.
Last week, a judge ordered two journalists to pay $1 million each to the president or offending Correa's "honor" and "professional prestige" by claiming he was aware that his older brother had some $600 million in government countracts, primarily for road construction.
Correa has also succeeded in winning through a ballot question last year a constitutional provision restricting news media ownership and creating a government oversight panel that would regulate news media content for "excesses."
And he further angered press freedom advocates by winning congressional approval of a law that bars the news media from broadcasting or publishing any material that could influence opinions about candidates or proposals during election campaigns.
___
Associated Press writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report from Lima, Peru.
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
London 2012 Olympics: Mayor of London Boris Johnson asked to clarify status of Games Lanes
Doocey said the allegations that access to the Olympic Route Network was being offered by corporate ticket agents to some clients who are not Games sponsors and that access to the Olympic Route Network would be available to clients through their deals with National Olympic Committees was "seriously worrying".
In a letter to the Mayor, she said: "The position on the Olympic Route Network must be made absolutely clear as a matter of urgency, in order to reassure Londoners that nobody outside the Olympic Family will be able to access any vehicles which will use the Games Lanes."
Ms Doocey said the Mayor had told her it was not possible for any member of the public or non-Olympic family to secure access to a vehicle that can use the Games Lanes through purchase of a ticket or hospitality package.
Ms Doocey said she also wanted to understand how the use of the Olympic Lanes will be enforced on a daily basis during Games time.
"Will there be cameras on each lane, or police officers or some other physical presence and will each incursion into a Games Lane result in a ?200 fine?" she asked.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
30-Day Challenge: Home Management Binder - Motherhood on a ...
About seven years ago, I was inspired by FlyLady to start a control journal. I?d just had my oldest (colicky) daughter, I was in the throes of PPD, and I needed to feel in control of my life again.
So, I set to work making a schedule, building a routine, adding menus, making a master grocery list, adding a pantry list, coming up with a detailed cleaning schedule, and on and on.? I had the greatest of intentions to get my life in order.
But that binder sat on my shelf.
(It still sits on my shelf.)
Don?t get me wrong?I love FlyLady!? She has great advice.? She?ll give you all kinds of ?babysteps? to turn you into a cleaning machine.
It just didn?t work for me?at that point in my life.
However, my life has changed.? It feels a little calmer, and I?m still intrigued by the idea.? I?m impressed by those who have amazingly well-put-together homemaking or home management binders.? It?s inspired me to want to make my own!
All that is in my binder right now is the Motivated Moms planner!
That leads us to our next 30-Day Challenge!? Over the next four weeks, I?ll be slowly making my own home management binder.? I?m keeping it simple ? I want to actually use it and not feel overwhelmed!? I have to keep it real and relevant to who I am and what I do.
I hope you?ll join me!
Make is simple, make it extravagant, make it whatever you want it to be.? Just make it usable!
?
If you aren?t familiar with the concept, a homemaking binder is simply a binder that includes a variety of forms to make your life easier and keep everything in one place.? I?ve seen all kinds!? Many of them include:
- Weekly or monthly calendar
- Daily schedule
- Cleaning Routines
- Home Maintenance checklists and forms
- Address book
- Emergency numbers
- Babysitter info
- Bill organizer
- Menu plan
- Recipes
- Grocery list
- Pantry list
- Freezer list
- Vehicle repair/tune-up log
- Monthly budgets
- Important monthly dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
- and so on?
?
Don?t be overwhelmed by this!? I told you?.we?re keeping it simple!? I even have some free printables to share with you (courtesy of ShellyFraley.com).? I?ll be sharing them throughout the next four weeks.? Keep watching for details on how to get yours (hint:? sign-up for my email list now if you want to see it in your inbox Wednesday!)? 
Source: http://www.motherhoodonadime.com/living/30-day-challenge-home-management-binder/
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Should Republicans Be Alarmed by the Low Turnout? (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | State after state in the Republican nomination shows an incredible amount of apathy among GOP voters. The fractions of registered Republicans showing up are frighteningly small. When compared to Republican candidates and voting patterns in 2008, the trend is even scarier for the GOP. The question is why this is happening, and whether the nominee has any chance to defeat Barack Obama.
The anemic numbers from Iowa and New Hampshire have been noted, as have the huge gap between voters in Florida and Nevada compared to the turnout in 2008. But now to the list of dramatically lower turnout we must add the states that held their primaries on Feb. 7 (Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri) and Saturday (Maine). Only South Carolina has shown any measure of political excitement this primary season.
Myth 1: Everyone Is Staying Home Because They Think Romney Has Wrapped It Up.
That myth was advanced by Ari Fleischer and John Sununu. But turnout was at its highest after the New Hampshire primary, when Romney looked the most dominant. Even when polls showed a tight contest between Romney and Rick Santorum, turnout was almost 50 percent lower than in 2008 in Colorado.
Myth 2: It's The Weather That Is To Blame For The Low Turnouts.
One county in Maine (Washington), "had to cancel" its caucus (as Ron Paul supporters cried foul) due to bad weather, but that affected only 200 voters. Out of the 258,000 registered Republicans in Maine, only about 2 percent showed up Saturday . It's not as though the Midwest and New England states are only holding their elections in the winter this year. What explains Florida's low turnout? You can't hang this one on Mother Nature.
Myth 3: At Least The 2012 Choice Of Candidates Isn't As Bad As 2008
Actually, the Republicans should yearn for those 2008 candidates. Nearly two-thirds of GOP voters in 2008 rated their candidates as excellent or good, while less than 50 percent do so in 2012 . The field of Romney, Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul just don't stack up to John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, according to Republican voters. And in 2008, Republican candidates were weighed down by an unpopular incumbent in office. In 2012, Republicans face what should be a beatable incumbent, yet can't seem to ignite much passion in their own voters.
Myth 4: At Least More Republicans Are Voting In Primaries Than Democrats.
In fact, the opposite might well be the case. Democrats have higher enthusiasm levels than Republicans, even when President Barack Obama's approval ratings plummeted after his inauguration. More voters participated in the uncontested Colorado Democratic Party Primary (80,000) than showed up at the hotly contested Colorado Republican Party Primary (65,000, or perhaps even lower), according to The Guardian. If that's not a danger sign for the GOP, I don't know what is.
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Monday, February 13, 2012
Paul Abrams: The Party of 'And' vs. the Party of 'Or'
President Obama's resolution of the contraception issue provided women access to free contraception AND churches the exemption for conscience that they wanted.
"And."
America has always been at its best, and achieved exceptionalism, when it has been a country of "And" -- , as the preamble to the Constitution says, liberty AND justice AND the general welfare. Republicans are the party of "OR" -- medicare OR a balanced budget; heterosexual marriage OR gay marriage; natural born citizens OR immigrants; constitutional principles OR evolution to reflect new circumstances; protecting the environment OR economic growth... or, as Newt Gingrich puts it, paychecks OR food stamps.
Probably the most ridiculous argument Republicans make is that our economic choices are either free enterprise OR government spending. We have always done both. Indeed, the genius of America has been to have private enterprise, public-private partnerships, and purely public endeavors to grow our economy. The Bayh-Dole Act, for example, facilitates the transfer of government-sponsored basic research into private enterprises. On the other side, the government has done some very big things that private enterprise would never find profitable -- roads, bridges, basic R&D, education, and so forth.
Built to Last is the seminal book on strategic management by Porras and Collins. They investigated the 50+ year histories of companies in multiple industries, and determined those characteristics that distinguished the "great" from the "near great" companies. The same principles would apply to other organizations or even nations.
Although one does not know whether the president's use of the mantra,"built to last," was a deliberate reference to the Porras and Collins book, he seems to take its elements to heart.
The "great organizations" do not bend to what Porras and Collins call "the tyranny of the 'Or.'" That is, on the company level, they do not choose an important goal to the exclusion of others. Ask the CEO of a "Built-to-Last" company whether she wants to increase profits or increase market share; or maximize short-term revenues or long-term revenues; or design the best diabetes drug or get it to market quickly.... and the answer to all these question is... "yes." Decades of experience have shown that telling the company it needs to increase market share AND increase profits; design the best drug AND get it to market quickly... and so forth, creates the best and most sustainable companies.
It also creates the best and most sustainable countries. Should we maximize job creation or protect the environment? Yes. Should we provide elderly guaranteed quality medical care or reduce our deficit? Yes. Should we provide our children with world-class education or our teachers with adequate salaries and pensions? Yes. Should we rely on the private sector or government stimulus to get us out of the recession? Yes.
Should we have the best intelligence or protect civil rights? Yes. Should we rebuild our infrastructure or reduce our deficit? Yes. Should we remain committed to the core principles of our constitution or evolve with changing conditions? Yes.
Good policymakers who are charged with accomplishing both goals in each set (the "And") will fashion the most productive policies. We will maximize job creation AND protect the environment. We will provide excellent quality guaranteed medical care to our senior citizens AND reduce the per patient costs of doing so... and so forth.
Do you want paychecks or food-stamps? Yes, I want us to have an economy that hums so it produces jobs for everyone, but I would also like to know that the most prosperous nation in history will not let anyone become hungry or malnourished.
The president would be wise to articulate that distinction very clearly, along with the consequences of being an "Or" nation. The book's authors would not be surprised that when the "Or" party ruled, America declined, and that when the "Or" party blocked the "And" party from instituting their policies, it did not recover as quickly or as completely as it could have from that decline.
Building a "built-to-last" nation requires adopting the applicable principles of Built to Last organizations.
The president and the Democrats would be wise not to counter the Republican positions by defending the opposite, but rather embrace both. Do we rely upon free enterprise or government spending to get us out of this slow-growth economy? We rely on both.
The President and the Democrats should contrast themselves as the party of "And," and label very specifically the Republicans as the party of "Or."
Call them out on it. Make the distinction explicit.
Porras and Collins called it the "genius of the 'And'" (as compared to the "tyranny of the 'Or'").
They are right. It is genius.
?
Follow Paul Abrams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pabrams2001
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-abrams/gop-vs-democrats_b_1269819.html
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