Egypt’s Mursi calls referendum as Islamists march

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt‘s President Mohamed Mursi called a December 15 referendum on a draft constitution on Saturday as at least 200,000 Islamists demonstrated in Cairo to back him after opposition fury over his newly expanded powers.

Speaking after receiving the final draft of the constitution from the Islamist-dominated assembly, Mursi urged a national dialogue as the country nears the end of the transition from Hosni Mubarak‘s rule.

“I renew my call for opening a serious national dialogue over the concerns of the nation, with all honesty and impartiality, to end the transitional period as soon as possible, in a way that guarantees the newly-born democracy,” Mursi said.

Mursi plunged Egypt into a new crisis last week when he gave himself extensive powers and put his decisions beyond judicial challenge, saying this was a temporary measure to speed Egypt’s democratic transition until the new constitution is in place.

His assertion of authority in a decree issued on November 22, a day after he won world praise for brokering a Gaza truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, dismayed his opponents and widened divisions among Egypt’s 83 million people.

Two people have been killed and hundreds wounded in protests by disparate opposition forces drawn together and re-energized by a decree they see as a dictatorial power grab.

A demonstration in Cairo to back the president swelled through the afternoon, peaking in the early evening at least 200,000, said Reuters witnesses, basing their estimates on previous rallies in the capital. The authorities declined to give an estimate for the crowd size.

“The people want the implementation of God’s law,” chanted flag-waving demonstrators, many of them bussed in from the countryside, who choked streets leading to Cairo University, where Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood had called the protest.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians had protested against Mursi on Friday. “The people want to bring down the regime,” they chanted in Cairo‘s Tahrir Square, echoing the trademark slogan of the revolts against Hosni Mubarak and Arab leaders elsewhere.

Rival demonstrators threw stones after dark in the northern city of Alexandria and a town in the Nile Delta. Similar clashes erupted again briefly in Alexandria on Saturday, state TV said.

“COMPLETE DEFEAT”

Mohamed Noshi, 23, a pharmacist from Mansoura, north of Cairo, said he had joined the rally in Cairo to support Mursi and his decree. “Those in Tahrir don’t represent everyone. Most people support Mursi and aren’t against the decree,” he said.

Mohamed Ibrahim, a hardline Salafi Islamist scholar and a member of the constituent assembly, said secular-minded Egyptians had been in a losing battle from the start.

“They will be sure of complete popular defeat today in a mass Egyptian protest that says ‘no to the conspiratorial minority, no to destructive directions and yes for stability and sharia (Islamic law)’,” he told Reuters.

Mursi has alienated many of the judges who must supervise the referendum. His decree nullified the ability of the courts, many of them staffed by Mubarak-era appointees, to strike down his measures, although says he respects judicial independence.

A source at the presidency said Mursi might rely on the minority of judges who support him to supervise the vote.

“Oh Mursi, go ahead and cleanse the judiciary, we are behind you,” shouted Islamist demonstrators in Cairo.

Mursi, once a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, has put his liberal, leftist, Christian and other opponents in a bind. If they boycott the referendum, the constitution would pass anyway.

If they secured a “no” vote to defeat the draft, the president could retain the powers he has unilaterally assumed.

And Egypt’s quest to replace the basic law that underpinned Mubarak’s 30 years of army-backed one-man rule would also return to square one, creating more uncertainty in a nation in dire economic straits and seeking a $ 4.8 billion loan from the IMF.

“NO PLACE FOR DICTATORSHIP”

Mursi’s well-organized Muslim Brotherhood and its ultra-orthodox Salafi allies, however, are convinced they can win the referendum by mobilizing their own supporters and the millions of Egyptians weary of political turmoil and disruption.

“There is no place for dictatorship,” the president said on Thursday while the constituent assembly was still voting on a draft constitution which Islamists say enshrines Egypt’s new freedoms.

Human rights groups have voiced misgivings, especially about articles related to women’s rights and freedom of speech.

The text limits the president to two four-year terms, requires him to secure parliamentary approval for his choice of prime minister, and introduces a degree of civilian oversight over the military – though not enough for critics.

The draft constitution also contains vague, Islamist-flavored language that its opponents say could be used to whittle away human rights and stifle criticism.

For example, it forbids blasphemy and “insults to any person”, does not explicitly uphold women’s rights and demands respect for “religion, traditions and family values”.

The draft injects new Islamic references into Egypt’s system of government but retains the previous constitution’s reference to “the principles of sharia” as the main source of legislation.

“We fundamentally reject the referendum and constituent assembly because the assembly does not represent all sections of society,” said Sayed el-Erian, 43, a protester in Tahrir and member of a party set up by opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei.

Several independent newspapers said they would not publish on Tuesday in protest. One of the papers also said three private satellite channels would halt broadcasts on Wednesday.

Egypt cannot hold a new parliamentary election until a new constitution is passed. The country has been without an elected legislature since the Supreme Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated lower house in June.

The court is due to meet on Sunday to discuss the legality of parliament’s upper house.

“We want stability. Every time, the constitutional court tears down institutions we elect,” said Yasser Taha, a 30-year-old demonstrator at the Islamist rally in Cairo.

(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad, Yasmine Saleh and Tom Perry; Editing by Myra MacDonald and Jason Webb)

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Show sheds light on Handel’s hidden “Messiah” helper

LONDON (Reuters) – Anyone dusting off their copy of George Frederic Handel‘s “Messiah” in the run-up to Christmas this year might spare a thought for the unsung hero of the piece.

Without Charles Jennens, experts argue that the 18th century oratorio would never have been created, robbing Western choral music of one of its greatest works.

Handel House Museum, located in the cozy London home where the German-born composer spent much of his life, is seeking to put the record straight about a man who, for many reasons, has been passed over by history.

“The Messiah would not have been written without him,” said the museum’s director Sarah Bardwell of Jennens, who lived from 1700 to 1773.

For landowner and patron of the arts Jennens, the words to the Messiah were an expression of deeply held Protestant beliefs, and he was determined that Handel, a composer he had long championed, set it to music.

The words, famously opening with “Comfort ye”, are not Jennens’ own but carefully selected verses from the Bible as well as a small number of psalms from the Book of Common Prayer.

“If you listen to the words it’s all to do with your relationship with God as in the individual, there’s none of the big theological questions,” Bardwell told Reuters.

“Everyone can relate to the Messiah, even beyond Christianity on some level,” she added. “I think that’s why Jennens is so instrumental.”

FRIEND AND BENEFACTOR

Jennens, whose family fortune came from iron, was a friend of Handel and a major backer, subscribing to his music and providing the texts for “Saul”, “Belshazzar”, “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato” and probably “Israel in Egypt”.

So important did Handel consider Jennens that he referred to “your oratorio Messiah” in a letter to the librettist and made a detour on his way home from its premiere in Dublin to visit Jennens and tell him of its success with audiences.

The exhibition, “The Man Behind Messiah”, includes Handel’s autographed score of Saul which Jennens also annotated, suggesting changes to the composer’s work including a different entry point for the words “impious wretch”.

Yet Jennens’ name never appeared on scores, helping to explain why his contribution is largely unknown. An intensely private man, Jennens had reasons for remaining anonymous.

As a “non-juror”, or someone who did not endorse the Hanoverian royal dynasty that succeeded the House of Stuart, he was effectively barred from holding positions of authority.

And when, late in life, he published groundbreaking single-volume editions of some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, he was attacked by a rival, Shakespearean commentator George Steevens (Eds: correct), and, thus, once again overlooked.

“It’s another reason he becomes kind of cut out of history,” Bardwell explained. “It’s been a fascinating insight into how people can just be written out of history.”

Ironically, despite his fundamental role in the Messiah and some of Handel’s other great oratorios, Jennens was not the biggest fan of a work that took less than a month to compose.

“He just thought Handel maybe rushed it off too quickly,” said Bardwell. Ruth Smith, the curator of the exhibition, believes Handel had the manuscript for about 18 months before he started work on it.

“For it to be rattled off in three weeks, I think Jennens felt that maybe he hadn’t done himself justice.

“I don’t think he ever quite got over his opinion that it wasn’t as good as he had hoped it was going to be. I think that also doesn’t help his reputation. I’m not sure he ever quite recovered from that.”

The Man Behind Messiah runs until April 14, 2013.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

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How Social and Emotional Learning Could Harm Our Kids

Editor’s note: The following is a critique of a social and emotional learning program called MindUP that I have covered in other blogs (see list below) and in a feature in Scientific American Mind (visit ” Schools Add Workouts for Attention, Grit and Emotional Control”). Please also read a response to this critique, posted separately, from MindUP‘s Rebecca Calos. I hope this debate provides food for thought about how to best encourage healthy social and emotional development in our children. By Tina Olesen“Self-regulation” is the latest buzz word in education, and the MindUP curriculum for schools, conceived by actor Goldie Hawn, capitalizes on it. MindUP is marketed to teachers as a means of helping children to develop self-regulation, which is another way of saying “self-control.” The program’s “core practice” involves teaching children focused breathing techniques while they also practice non-judgmental awareness of their thoughts, which is supposed to help them calm down and be less anxious. Hawn’s curriculum is also supposed to make children feel happier and more optimistic. This is all purported to help them to be better able to learn. The truth is that MindUP can interfere with a child’s innate self-regulator, the conscience, impeding his moral development and thus his ability to learn. Rather than help him develop self-control, it trains him to manipulate his mind and manipulate others to get pleasurable feelings for himself.The “core practice” taught in MindUP is akin to certain forms of Buddhist-style mindfulness meditation including Anapanasati and Samadhi. In MindUP, the teacher strikes a Zenergy chime, and students are generally asked to sit cross legged, palms up and eyes closed. They are to direct their attention to the sound of the chime and focus intently on their breathing. The chime can gradually evoke a conditioned response in the children, as similar tools do in Buddhist monks. Teachers are encouraged to use this core practice several times a day. Mindfulness meditation such as this can be a way of bringing the mind into an altered state of consciousness. Many people who practice meditation have encountered unexpected negative side effects such as a sensation of being disconnected from one’s body or from reality, among other frightening reactions. Teachers of MindUP are exposing children to these potential dangers.To teach a child to practice non-judgmental awareness is to risk interfering with the child’s ability to heed his sense of right and wrong. A child must make judgements to choose between right and wrong actions. When he acts in accordance with his sense of what is right, he grows in moral character, and develops greater self-control. While MindUP claims to be teaching non-judgmental awareness of thoughts and feelings, it actually teaches a child to judge any thought or feeling besides optimism and happiness as bad. It shows him how to escape the warnings of his conscience with pleasurable feelings–to make himself feel good even when he has done or experienced something that he ought to feel bad about. The program even encourages a child to do things for others with the motive of getting a pleasurable sensation, a dopamine high, for himself. Thus, rather than practicing self-control, children instead practice self-indulgence. They learn to escape from reality and difficult relationships, rather than working through them.The way to help the child develop real self-control is tried and true: a caring adult patiently and unflaggingly commits to the moral training of that child. Directing, warning, correcting and disciplining day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, the adult encourages the child to do what is right, whether or not it feels good. When a child consistently chooses to act in accordance with what is right, he develops moral character. As he develops moral character, he becomes increasingly capable of governing himself and applying himself to his studies, and he develops the self-control required for learning. This can be a long and arduous process that requires self-sacrifice and much patience on the part of a parent or teacher. There are no short cuts. As Swiss philosopher Henri-Fr?d?ric Amiel once said, “The test of every religious, political or educational system is the man which it forms. If a system injures the intelligence it is bad. If it injures the character it is vicious. If it injures the conscience it is criminal.” As a society, we risk injury to our children’s consciences at our own peril.Tina Olesen is a school teacher on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. She examined the MindUP curriculum after hearing about it in her local school district. For more on MindUP, see:

1. Goldie Hawn Plunges into Brain Science


2. The Education of Character: Teaching Control with a Cotton Ball [Video]


3. The Education of Character–Stoking Memory with Stones [Video]


4. The Education of Character: Your Brain in a Coke Bottle [Video]


5. The Education of Character: Jumping Jacks for the Mind [Video]


6. The Education of Character: Carefully Considering Craisins [Video]

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs.Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
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Son killed father in Wyoming community college attack

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Police released more details Saturday of a grisly murder-suicide at a Wyoming community college, saying a man shot his father in the head with a bow and arrow in front of a computer science class not long after fatally stabbing his father's live-in girlfriend at their home a couple miles away.

Computer science instructor James Krumm, 56, may have saved some of his students' lives Friday by giving them time to flee while trying to fend off his son, Christopher Krumm, 25, of Vernon, Conn., Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said.

"I can tell you the courage that was demonstrated by Mr. Krumm was absolutely without equal," he said, adding that his actions could offer some measure of comfort to those affected by the killings.

He said police still were trying to figure out what motivated Christopher Krumm to attack his father and girlfriend, 42-year-old Heidi Arnold, a math instructor at the college. Arnold was found stabbed to death in front of the home she shared with James Krumm.

After shooting his father with the arrow, Christopher Krumm stabbed himself, then fatally stabbed his father in the chest in a struggle in the classroom, Walsh said.

Police arrived to find James Krumm dead and Christopher Krumm barely living; the younger Krumm died soon after students fled in a panic. Authorities locked down the campus for two hours.

Police began getting reports about the attack on Arnold soon after they responded by the dozen to the campus attack.

Christopher Krumm had smuggled the compound bow — a type much more powerful and effective for hunting than a simple, wooden bow — onto campus beneath a blanket, Walsh said.

He said Krumm also had two knives with him and the knife used was "very large."

"It's one of those situations you don't think is going to come home. It's not going to happen here," Walsh said.

Arnold died of multiple stab wounds. Her body was found in the gutter of her street. Evidence suggested much of the attack occurred outside the home, Walsh said.

Christopher Arnold had recently driven to Casper from Connecticut and had been staying at a local hotel. He had no significant history of encounters with police.

Police were uncertain what went awry in Christopher Krumm's relationship with his father.

"It's difficult to say. I don't think it was very close," Walsh said.

Casper, population 56,000, is about 250 miles northwest of Denver and Wyoming's second-largest city after the state capital, Cheyenne. Wyomingites refer to Casper as the "Oil City" because it is a hub of the state's small oil industry.

Casper College is one of seven colleges in Wyoming's community college system. The campus was mostly quiet Saturday morning. Fathers and sons shot hoops in the school gym. A small group of drama students rehearsed a play in the school theater just across the street from the attack.

The building where the attack happened remained cordoned off by police tape that whipped in a brisk wind. A security guard let students back in, one at a time, to retrieve belongings they'd left behind.

Andra Charter, a 20-year-old sophomore, emerged with a coffee mug. She recalled hearing screams outside her biology class before getting word about what had happened.

"As we were walking out, there was a girl screaming, 'There's somebody stabbing Mr. Krumm!'" Charter said.

No students were hurt in the attack.

Krumm was head of the college's computer science department. He was born north of London and also spent part of his childhood in Germany, according to the college website.

He held degrees from Casper College, a bachelor's degree and MBA from the University of Wyoming, and a master's in computer science from Colorado State University.

Arnold held a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Oregon and a bachelor's degree in math from University of California Davis.

The college planned a candlelight vigil and memorial service Tuesday.

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Two dead after bus crash at Miami airport

MIAMI (AP) — A bus carrying more than 30 people hit a concrete overpass at Miami International Airport, killing two people on board and leaving three others critically injured, officials said Saturday.

The large, white bus was too tall for the 8-foot-6-inch entrance to the arrivals area, said airport spokesman Greg Chin. Buses are supposed to go through the departures area, which has a higher ceiling, he said.

Two large signs warn drivers of large vehicles not to enter beneath the concrete overpass. One attached to the top of the concrete barrier reads: "High Vehicle STOP Turn Left." The other, placed to the left of the driveway several feet in front of the barrier, says all vehicles higher than the 8-foot-6 threshold must turn left.

Three people were at hospitals in critical condition. The other 27 passengers had been hurt, but their injuries were less extensive, authorities said.

Osvaldo Lopez, an officer with Miami-Dade aviation, said he first heard a loud noise Saturday morning and was certain it was some sort of car wreck.

He said he went inside the bus to help and found several passengers thrown into the center aisle. He said the passengers, many of whom were elderly, remained calm after the wreck.

"It was just very bloody," he said of the scene.

After helping the passengers, Lopez suffered some injuries of his own — his left arm and a finger on his right hand were both bandaged.

The body of one dead passenger was pulled from the bus late Saturday morning; the second person died after being taken to a hospital, police said.

Fire trucks and police cars swarmed the area Saturday morning, and the bus was blocked off by yellow police tape. A white cooler that had been filled with water bottles was on its side behind the bus, the front of which remained wedged beneath the overpass Saturday.

The bus was privately owned and typically used for tours, though police believe all the passengers were local residents, not tourists, said Miami-Dade police Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz. The bus' ultimate destination was not yet known, but the driver was unfamiliar with the area near the airport and did not intend to wind up at the arrivals area, Cordero-Stutz said. The driver was being interviewed by investigators, she said.

The bus was going about 20 mph when it hit the overpass Saturday morning, Chin said.

The bus resembles others commonly used for charters and tours, with the driver seated low to the ground and passenger seats in an elevated area behind the driver's seat.

Markings on the bus showed it was owned by Miami Bus Service Corp. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records found online show the company has had no violations for unsafe driving or controlled substances and alcohol. It also has not reported any crashes in the two years before Oct. 26, 2012.

The records show it did receive three citations related to fatigued driving in April 2011.

The company owns three motorcoaches, according to the records. Miami Bus Service Corp. officials did not immediately respond to a phone message Saturday.

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Cargo plane crashes in Brazzaville, 3 dead

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) — A cargo plane owned by a private company crashed Friday near the airport in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, killing at least three people, officials said.

The Soviet-made Ilyushin-76 belonged to Trans Air Congo and appeared to be transporting merchandise, not people, said an aviation official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The plane was coming from Congo‘s second-largest city, Pointe Noire, and tried to land during heavy rain, he said.

Ambulances rushed to the scene in the Makazou neighborhood, located near the airport, but emergency workers were hampered by the lack of light in this capital, which like so many in Africa has a chronic shortage of electricity.

“At the moment, my team is having a hard time searching for survivors in order to find the victims of the crash because there is no light and also because of the rain,” Congolese Red Cross head Albert Mberi said.

He said that realistically, they will only be able to launch a proper search Saturday, when the sun comes up.

Reporters at the scene fought through a wall of smoke. Despite the darkness, they could make out the smoldering remains of the plane, including what looked like the left wing of the aircraft. A little bit further on, emergency workers identified the body of the plane’s Ukrainian pilot, and covered the corpse in a blanket.

Firefighters were trying to extinguish the blaze of a part of the plane that had fallen into a ravine. They were using their truck lights to try to illuminate the scene of the crash. Although the plane was carrying merchandise, emergency workers fear that there could be more people on board.

Because of the state of the road connecting Pointe Noire to Brazzaville, many traders prefer to fly the roughly 400 kilometers (250 miles).

Africa has some of the worst air safety records in the world. In June, a commercial jetliner crashed in Lagos, Nigeria, killing 153 people, just a few days after a cargo plane clipped a bus in neighboring Ghana, killing 10.

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“Honey Boo Boo” star arrested for going ape on Georgia Freeway

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – If you tend to believe that the cast members of TLC reality series “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” are less than totally evolved, rejoice; this story might just confirm your suspicions.

“Crazy” Tony Lindsey – the cousin of “Honey Boo Boo”‘s titular star Alana Thompson” – was arrested in Georgia earlier this week following a goofy, but dangerous, stunt involving a gorilla suit, TMZ reports.

A police report says that Lindsey was among a group of men arrested for reckless behavior after one of them, dressed in a gorilla suit, prepared to jump into a lane along Highway 20 at approximately 11 p.m. Unfortunately for the band of wrongheaded pranksters, Deputy Joe Rozier happened to be driving by as he was about to take the leap from the side of the road.

“I observed a white male dressed in a gorilla suit acting as if he was going to jump into my lane of travel. I swerved into the left lane to avoid an accident with the person,” Rozier said in a police report.

Rozier took pursuit, and “observed several white males run up the embankment and into the woods,” the report notes. After threatening to release his police dog, he heard a voice yell back, “You don’t have to do that, we’re coming back.”

A group of five adults and two minors emerged – but with no gorilla suit. After a while, however, they admitted to hiding the suit in the woods.

It’s not known if Lindsey was the one in gorilla suit, or if the stunt will be incorporated into an upcoming episode of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”

A spokesperson for the show has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.

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Cold, mold loom as hazards in Sandy disaster zones

NEW YORK (AP) — A month after Sandy’s floodwaters swept up his block, punched a hole in his foundation and drowned his furnace, John Frawley still has no electricity or heat in his dilapidated home on the Rockaway seashore.

The 57-year-old, who also lost his car and all his winter clothes in the flood, now spends his nights shivering in a pair of donated snow pants, worrying whether the cold might make his chronic heart condition worse.

“I’ve been coughing like crazy,” said Frawley, a former commercial fisherman disabled by a spine injury. He said his family doesn’t have the money to pay for even basic repairs. So far, he has avoided going to a shelter, saying he’d rather sleep in his own home.

“But I’m telling you, I can’t stay here much longer,” he said.

City officials estimate at least 12,000 New Yorkers are trying to survive in unheated, flood-damaged homes, despite warnings that dropping temperatures could pose a health risk.

The chill is only one of the potential environmental hazards that experts say might endanger people trying to resume their lives in the vast New York and New Jersey disaster zone.

Uncounted numbers of families have returned to coastal homes that are contaminated with mold, which can aggravate allergies and leave people perpetually wheezing. Others have been sleeping in houses filled with construction dust, as workers have ripped out walls and flooring. That dust can sometimes trigger asthma.

But it is the approaching winter that has some public health officials worried most. Nighttime temperatures have been around freezing and stand to drop in the coming weeks.

New York City‘s health department said the number of people visiting hospital emergency rooms for cold-related problems has already doubled this November, compared with previous years. Those statistics are likely only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Mortality rates for the elderly and chronically ill rise when people live for extended periods in unheated apartments, even when the temperature is still above freezing, said the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley.

“As the temperatures get colder, the risk increases,” he said. “It is especially risky for the elderly. I really want to encourage people, if they don’t have heat in their apartment, to look elsewhere.”

Since the storm, the health department has been sending National Guard troops door to door, trying to persuade people to leave cold homes until their heating systems are fixed. The city is also carrying out a plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars helping residents make emergency repairs needed to restore their heat and hot water.

Convincing people that they could be endangering themselves by staying until that work is complete, though, isn’t always easy.

For weeks, Eddie Saman, 57, slept on sheets of plywood in the frigid, ruined shell of his flooded Staten Island bungalow. He stayed even as the house filled up with a disgusting mold that agitated his asthma so much that it sent him to the emergency room.

Volunteers eventually helped clean the place up somewhat and got Saman a mattress. But on Sunday the wood-burning stove he had been using for heat caught fire.

Melting materials in the ceiling burned his cheek. A neighbor who dashed into the house to look for Saman also suffered burns. The interior of the house — what was left of it after the flood — was destroyed.

Two days later, another fire broke out in a flood-damaged house across the street, also occupied by a resident trying to keep warm without a working furnace.

Asked why he hadn’t sought lodging elsewhere, Saman said he didn’t have family in the region and was rattled by the one night he spent in an emergency shelter. He said it seemed more populated by homeless drug addicts than displaced families.

“That place was not for me,” he said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency offered to pay for a hotel, but Saman said he stopped looking because every inn within 100 miles of the city seemed to be booked solid through December.

Saman’s case may be extreme, but experts said it isn’t unusual for people to hurry back to homes not ready for habitation.

After Hurricane Katrina, medical researchers in New Orleans documented a rise in respiratory ailments among people living in neighborhoods where buildings were being repaired.

The issue wasn’t just mold, which can cause problems for years if it isn’t mediated properly, said Felicia Rabito, an epidemiologist at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. There was simply so much work being done, families spent their days breathing the fine particles of sanded wood and drywall.

People complained of something that became known as the “Katrina cough,” and while it subsided once the dust settled, researchers later found high lead levels in some neighborhoods due to work crews ignoring standards for lead paint removal.

A group of occupational health experts in New York City, including doctors who run programs for people sickened by World Trade Center dust after 9/11, warned last week that workers cleaning up Sandy’s wreckage need to protect themselves by suppressing dust with water, wearing masks and being aware of potential asbestos exposure.

“There are clearly sites that you don’t want children at … and it is very challenging for homeowners to know whether it is safe to go home,” said Dr. Maida Galvez, a pediatrician and environmental health expert at The Mount Sinai Hospital who is part of a team evaluating hazards in the disaster zone.

U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler has urged FEMA and the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a testing program that could give residents an indication of whether their homes were free of mold, sewage and other hazardous substances.

Farley, New York City’s health commissioner, said people entering rooms contaminated by floodwater should wear rubber boots and gloves, and exercise care in cleanup. The hazard posed by spilled sewage is a short-term one and experts say the disease-causing bacteria found in it can be wiped out with a good cleaning. But they say anything absorbent that touched tainted water, like curtains or rugs, should be thrown out.

As for the bitter cold, there was no test needed to tell John Frawley that his home is no place to be spending frigid autumn nights.

“A couple of days ago, I was shivering so badly, I just couldn’t stop,” he said.

Yet with winter nearly here, he still had no plan for getting his heat working again or his ruined electrical system restored, although he also has passed up some of the programs designed to help people like him.

And he has no intention of heading to a shelter.

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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The Kids Are All Right: How Social Media Created a Generation of Activists

This week marked the nation’s inaugural  “Giving Tuesday,” a UN sponsored initiative, which utilized social media to encourage businesses, schools, and community members to give back. The effort resulted in $ 10 million worth of donations made in a single day, a 53 percent increase over the same day last year.

Conceived as a means to promote activism and charity, the campaign’s use of social media to spread its message is most likely a large part of the initiative’s success. 

Certainly people from every age group use Twitter and Facebook, but social media activism is especially resonant with young adults. According to TBWA, people between the ages of 18-29 strongly identify as activists and count social media as their first point of engagement when they learn about a new cause.

MORE: ‘Tis Always the Season to Give: Creating a Corporate Culture That Gives Back

In fact, about half believe that activism is important to their personal identity and about a third look to it as a means of socializing and relating to one another.

But more than identifying with activism, this younger generation’s aptitude for social media can effect real change. Look at the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Earlier this year, when the organization announced it would pull its funding for breast cancer screenings from Planned Parenthood, cutting off medical access for millions of women, Twitter and Facebook lit up with vitriolic statements, claiming the organization had become a puppet of the religious right. The ensuing bad press proved to be too much and within days, the organization reversed its decision and issued a public apology.

Similarly, when Florida law enforcement officials refused to arrest George Zimmerman after he fatally shot Trayvon Martin, the case lay dormant for almost a month. But an online petition started by Martin’s parents went viral and galvanized a nation demanding justice for the boy’s death. Zimmerman was arrested and charged as a result.

For all we hear about “kids these days” and their irresponsible use of social media−posting questionable pictures of themselves doing kegstands or letting Twitter corrode their ability to hold a thought for more than a nanosecond−it turns out that most are using it to express a genuine passion for changing the world around them. And they’re succeeding.

And these trends extend well beyond the U.S. That same age group in other countries shows similar interests in contributing to larger causes. China’s young adults for instance, lead the world in online political discussions and offline they donate the most money to charities. India’s younger generation ranks the first in the world when it comes to staying informed, and they’re the most optimistic about the impact their activism has on the world around them.

It seems that our youngest generation of adults are the ones leading the charge when it comes to effectively making a difference.

Do you consider yourself an activist? Let us know in the Comments what social causes inspire you to get involved.

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• Secret Santas: Profiles in Anonymous Holiday Generosity

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A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer.  In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a webeditor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for TimeOutLA.com. Email Andri | @andritweets | TakePart.com

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Oliver Stone, Benicio del Toro visit Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Benicio Del Toro didn’t wait long to collect on a favor that Oliver Stone owed him for working extra hours on the set of his most recent movie, “Savages”, released this year.

The favor? A trip to Del Toro‘s native Puerto Rico, which Stone hadn’t visited since the early 1960s.

“I told him, you owe me one,” Del Toro said with a smile as he recalled the conversation during a press conference Friday in the U.S. territory, where he and Stone are helping raise money for one of the island’s largest art museums.

Del Toro, wearing jeans, a black jacket and a black T-shirt emblazoned with the name of local reggaeton singer Tego Calderon, waved to the press as he was introduced.

“Hello, greetings. Is this a press conference?” he quipped as he and Stone awaited questions.

Both men praised each other’s work, saying they would like to work with each other again.

“I deeply admire him as an actor, the way he thinks, the way he expresses himself,” Stone said. “Of all the actors I’ve worked with, he’s the most interesting.”

Stone said Del Toro always delivers surprises while acting, even when it’s as something as subtle as certain gestures between dialogue.

“I think Benicio is the master of keeping you watching,” he said.

Stone said he enjoys meeting up with Del Toro off-set because he’s one of the few actors in Hollywood who can talk about something other than movies.

“He is very interested in the world around him,” Stone said, adding that the conversations sometimes center around politics and other topics.

Del Toro declined to answer when asked what he thought about Puerto Rico’s referendum earlier this month, which aimed to determine the future of the island’s political status. He said the results did not seem to point to a clear-cut outcome.

Del Toro then said he would like the island’s movie business to grow, especially in a way that would encourage learning.

“I’m talking about movies in an educational sense, as a way to discover other parts of the world,” he said. “Create a film class. You’ll see, kids won’t skip it.”

Del Toro also shared his thoughts on being a father after having a daughter with Kimberly Stewart in August 2011.

He said the girl is learning how to swim and is discovering the world around her.

“She has her own personality,” Del Toro said. “She’s not her mother. She’s not me.”

Both Del Toro and Stone are expected to remain in Puerto Rico through the weekend to raise money for the Art Museum of Puerto Rico, which is hosting its annual movie festival and will honor Stone’s movies.

Museum curator Juan Carlos Lopez Quintero said the money raised will be used to enhance the museum’s permanent collection, especially with Puerto Rican paintings from the 19th century and early 20th century.

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Study: DVRs now in half of US pay-TV homes

NEW YORK (AP) — A new survey finds that digital video recorders are now in more than half of all U.S. homes that subscribe to cable or satellite TV services.

Leichtman Research Group‘s survey of 1,300 households found that 52 percent of the ones that have pay-TV service also have a DVR. That translates to about 45 percent of all households and is up from 13.5 percent of all households surveyed five years ago by another firm, Nielsen.

The first DVRs came out in 1999, from TiVo Inc. and ReplayTV. Later, they were built into cable set-top boxes. The latest trend is “whole-home” DVRs that can distribute recorded shows to several sets.

Even with the spread of DVRs, live TV rules. Nielsen found last year that DVRs accounted for 8 percent of TV watching.

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No charges against Chris Brown in Fla. phone grab

MIAMI (AP) — Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown won’t be charged with a crime after a woman claimed he snatched her cell phone when she tried to take his photo outside a Miami Beach club.

A memo released Friday by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney‘s office concludes there is no evidence that Brown intended to steal the phone in February or that he deleted the photo. One or the other is necessary for him to be charged.

Prosecutors say that Brown tossed the phone from his limo and that it was picked up by security.

A felony charge against the 24-year-old might have triggered a violation of his probation for his 2009 assault on singer Rihanna, who was his girlfriend at the time. The two have recently collaborated on a new duet.

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Study links relaxation method to reduced hot flashes

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Although studies of the effects of relaxation techniques on menopause symptoms have yielded mixed results so far, a new report from Sweden comes down in favor of the approach as an alternative to hormone therapy.

Postmenopausal women trained to relax before and during the onset of hot flashes cut the frequency of those events in half during the three-month trial, researchers say. Women in a comparison group that got no treatments experienced little change in their symptoms.

“The results tell you that, yes, this seems to work,” said Kim Innes of West Virginia University, who has studied mind-body therapies for menopause symptoms but was not involved in the new study. “This was a moderate-sized trial that yielded promising – although not definitive – findings regarding the efficacy of applied relaxation,” she told Reuters Health.

In a review of more than a dozen previous clinical trials involving mediation, yoga and Tai Chi therapies, Innes concluded that these techniques may hold promise for relieving menopause symptoms, but it’s too soon to tell.

In the years just before and after menopause, fluctuating hormone levels can generate a wide variety of symptoms, among the most bothersome are sudden flushing, night sweats and insomnia.

Hormone replacement therapy is thought to help by stabilizing the fluctuations, but not all women can take hormones because of other health conditions or risk factors, and many don’t want to because of possible risks from the hormones themselves.

“A lot of women in Sweden do not want to or cannot use hormone therapy due to side effects,” said lead author of the new study Lotta Lindh-Åstrand of Linköping University.

So Lindh-Åstrand’s team set out to test the effects on menopausal hot flashes and quality of life of a method called applied relaxation that was developed in Sweden in the 1980s, based on type of psychotherapy called cognitive behavioral therapy.

The researchers recruited 60 healthy Swedish women and randomly assigned a little more than half to practice applied relaxation and the rest to a comparison group that received no treatment. The women, mostly in their fifties, had all stopped menstruating a year or more earlier but still experienced hot flashes and night sweats.

The 33 women in the therapy group learned how to focus on breathing and releasing muscle tension before and during hot flashes.

For the first week, the women observed and recorded what they felt before and during a hot flash or other menopausal symptom. Next, the women were encouraged to spend 15 minutes twice a day tensing and relaxing muscles from head to toe. Gradually, women learned how to decrease the time needed to relax by focusing on controlled breathing and not tensing the muscles. Toward the end of the study, the women were instructed to practice relaxation 20 times a day in 30-second sessions. The final “homework” exercise required the women to use these breathing and relaxation skills to quickly relax during a hot flash situation.

At the beginning of the study, all the participants experienced an average of 10 hot flashes a day. After three months, researchers report in the journal Menopause, the applied relaxation group had an average of four flashes a day while the comparison group averaged eight.

The researchers also found modest improvements in quality of life measures, including sleep problems and aches and pains, among women in the relaxation group, while the comparison group reported no changes.

Innes and other researchers said the mechanism behind mind-body therapies and their effect on menopausal symptoms is not completely understood, but it could be linked to the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for “fight or flight” responses as well as basic functions like heart rate, blood pressure and sweating.

Lindh-Åstrand and her colleagues warned that the results were not final and more research is needed.

“The next step,” Innes said, “would be a larger randomized controlled trial” that includes an active comparison, for instance, between relaxation techniques and physical exercise.

Such a study could help build a stronger argument for applied relaxation as a treatment, experts agreed.

Lindh-Åstrand stressed that relaxation techniques are not for everyone, especially for women who suffer from severe depression or anxiety. Women with these conditions could paradoxically feel more tense under the treatment, she said.

But for many women, she added, “this gives them a tool for managing hot flashes.”

“Over time, the women can be more self-confident because they know they can do something when the problem appears,” Lindh-Åstrand said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/XWJkv5 Menopause, November 12, 2012.

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Boehner: ‘At a stalemate’ on debt talks

Republican House Speaker John Boehner (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner on Friday said that despite receiving a counterproposal from the White House as part of a deal to avoid a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, no progress had been made between Republicans and Democrats.

"There's a stalemate, let's not kid ourselves," Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, told reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill. "It's not a serious proposal. Right now we're almost nowhere."

The White House on Thursday sent Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to deliver a proposal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff by increasing taxes by $1.6 trillion over the next decade, including $50 billion in stimulus spending for mostly infrastructure and $400 billion in savings in popular entitlement programs such as Medicare.

Republicans rejected it right away. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly laughed in Geithner's face.

"Our original framework still stands," Boehner said the next day, reiterating his opposition to raising tax rates on any income bracket. He added that he remains open to "closing loopholes [and] getting rid of special interest deductions" within the tax code to raise the same amount of revenue.

"I'm not trying to make this more difficult," he said. "You've watched me over the last three weeks; I've been very guarded in what I have to say. Because I don't want to make it harder for me or the president, or members of both parties to be able to find common ground."

While negotiators continue talks behind closed doors, both parties continue to engage in their own public relations tour to promote their own plans. President Barack Obama on Friday traveled to Pennsylvania, and Republican lawmakers plan to meet with small-business owners over the next few weeks.

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Boehner: ‘At a stalemate’ on debt talks

Republican House Speaker John Boehner (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner on Friday said that despite receiving a counterproposal from the White House as part of a deal to avoid a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, no progress had been made between Republicans and Democrats.

"There's a stalemate, let's not kid ourselves," Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, told reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill. "It's not a serious proposal. Right now we're almost nowhere."

The White House on Thursday sent Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to deliver a proposal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff by increasing taxes by $1.6 trillion over the next decade, including $50 billion in stimulus spending for mostly infrastructure and $400 billion in savings in popular entitlement programs such as Medicare.

Republicans rejected it right away. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly laughed in Geithner's face.

"Our original framework still stands," Boehner said the next day, reiterating his opposition to raising tax rates on any income bracket. He added that he remains open to "closing loopholes [and] getting rid of special interest deductions" within the tax code to raise the same amount of revenue.

"I'm not trying to make this more difficult," he said. "You've watched me over the last three weeks; I've been very guarded in what I have to say. Because I don't want to make it harder for me or the president, or members of both parties to be able to find common ground."

While negotiators continue talks behind closed doors, both parties continue to engage in their own public relations tour to promote their own plans. President Barack Obama on Friday traveled to Pennsylvania, and Republican lawmakers plan to meet with small-business owners over the next few weeks.

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African Union asks UN for immediate action on Mali

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — In an open letter Thursday to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the president of the African Union urged the U.N. to take immediate military action in northern Mali, which was seized by al-Qaida-linked rebels earlier this year.

Yayi Boni, the president of Benin who is also head of the African Union, said any reticence on the part of the U.N. will be interpreted as a sign of weakness by the terrorists now operating in Mali. The AU is waiting for the U.N. to sign off on a military plan to take back the occupied territory, and the Security Council is expected to discuss it in coming days.

In a report to the Security Council late Wednesday, Ban said the AU plan “needs to be developed further” because fundamental questions on how the force will be led, trained and equipped. Ban acknowledged that with each day, al-Qaida-linked fighters were becoming further entrenched in northern Mali, but he cautioned that a botched military operation could result in human rights abuses.

The sprawling African nation of Mali, once an example of a stable democracy, fell apart in March following a coup by junior officers. In the uncertainty that ensued, rebels including at least three groups with ties to al-Qaida, grabbed control of the nation’s distant north. The Islamists now control an area the size of France or Texas, an enormous triangle of land that includes borders with Mauritania, Algeria and Niger.

Two weeks ago, the African Union asked the U.N. to endorse a military intervention to free northern Mali, calling for 3,300 African soldiers to be deployed for one year. A U.S.-based counterterrorism official who saw the military plan said it was “amateurish” and had “huge, gaping holes.” The official insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

Boni, in his letter, said Africa was counting on the U.N. to take decisive action.

“I need to tell you with how much impatience the African continent is awaiting a strong message from the international community regarding the resolution of the crisis in Mali. … What we need to avoid is the impression that we are lacking in resolve in the face of these determined terrorists,” he said.

The most feared group in northern Mali is al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, al-Qaida’s North African branch, which is holding at least seven French hostages, including a 61-year-old man kidnapped last week.

On Thursday, SITE Intelligence published a transcript of a recently released interview with AQIM leader, Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, in which he urges Malians to reject any foreign intervention in their country. He warned French President Francois Hollande that he was “digging the graves” of the French hostages by pushing for an intervention.

Also on Thursday, Islamists meted out the latest Shariah punishment in northern city of Timbuktu. Six young men and women were each given 100 lashes for having talked to each other on city streets, witnesses said.

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Associated Press writer Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou, Benin and Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali contributed to this report.

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Emmy Awards date announced by CBS

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Health officials warn of spiraling HIV in Athens

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Health officials warn that the Greek capital is seeing an alarming increase in new HIV infections, particularly among intravenous drug users, as the country struggles through a protracted financial crisis in which funding has been slashed for health care and drug treatment programs.

Officials said while there were about 10-14 new HIV infections per year among Athens drug users from 2008 to 2010, that number shot up to 206 new cases last year and 487 new cases by October this year — a 35-fold increase.

Epidemiology and preventive medicine professor Angelos Hatzakis described the situation as a “big and rapidly developing epidemic in Athens.”

Marc Sprenger, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said the situation must be dealt with quickly to prevent it from spiraling further.

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Study: DVRs now in half of US pay-TV homes

NEW YORK (AP) — A new survey finds that digital video recorders are now in more than half of all U.S. homes that subscribe to cable or satellite TV services.

Leichtman Research Group‘s survey of 1,300 households found that 52 percent of the ones that have pay-TV service also have a DVR. That translates to about 45 percent of all households and is up from 13.5 percent of all households surveyed five years ago by another firm, Nielsen.

The first DVRs came out in 1999, from TiVo Inc. and ReplayTV. Later, they were built into cable set-top boxes. The latest trend is “whole-home” DVRs that can distribute recorded shows to several sets.

Even with the spread of DVRs, live TV rules. Nielsen found last year that DVRs accounted for 8 percent of TV watching.

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Noisy city: Cacophony in Caracas sparks complaints

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — This metropolis of 6 million people may be one of the world’s most intense, overwhelming cities, with tremendous levels of crime, traffic and social strife. The sounds of Caracas‘ streets live up to its reputation.

Stand on any downtown corner, and the cacophony can be overpowering: Deafening horns blast from oncoming buses, traffic police shrilly blow their whistles and sirens shriek atop ambulances stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Air horns routinely used by bus drivers are so powerful they make pedestrians on crosswalks recoil, and can even leave their ears ringing. Loud salsa music blares from the windows of buses, trucks with old mufflers rumble past belching exhaust, and “moto-taxis” weave through traffic beeping high-pitched horns.

Growing numbers of Venezuelans are saying they’re fed up with the noise that they say is getting worse, and the numbers of complaints to the authorities have risen in recent years.

One affluent district, Chacao, put up signs along a main avenue reading: “A honk won’t make the traffic light change.”

“The noise is terrible. Sometimes it seems like it’s never going to end,” said Jose Santander, a street vendor who stands in the middle of a highway selling fried pork rinds and potato chips to commuters in traffic.

Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega recently told a news conference that officials have started “putting an increased emphasis on promoting peaceful coexistence” by punishing misdemeanors such as violations of anti-noise regulations and other minor crimes. That effort has translated into hundreds of noise-related cases in recent years.

Some violators are ordered to perform community service. For instance, two young musicians who were recently caught playing loud music near a subway station were sentenced to 120 hours of community service giving music lessons to students in public schools.

Others caught playing loud music on the street have been charged with disturbing the peace after complaints from neighbors. Fines can run as high as 9,000 bolivars, or $ 2,093.

On the streets of their capital, however, Venezuelans have grown used to living loudly. The noisescape adds to a general sense of anarchy, with many drivers ignoring red lights and blocking intersections along potholed streets strewn with trash.

“This is something that everybody does. Nobody should be complaining,” said Gregorio Hernandez, a 23-year-old college student, as he listened to Latin rock songs booming from his car stereo on a Saturday night in downtown Caracas. “We’re just having fun. We’re not hurting anybody.”

Adding to the mess is the country’s notoriously divisive politics, which regularly fill the streets with marches and demonstrations.

On many days, the shouts of protesters streaming through downtown can be heard from blocks away, demanding pay hikes or unpaid benefits.

And the sporadic crackling of gunfire in the slums can be confused for firecrackers tossed by boisterous partygoers.

It’s difficult to rank the world’s noisiest cities because many, including Venezuela’s capital, don’t take measurements of sound pollution, said Victor Rastelli, a mechanical engineering professor and sound pollution expert at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas. But Rastelli said he suspects Caracas is right up there among the noisiest, along with Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Mumbai.

Excessive noise can be more than simply an annoyance, Rastelli said. “This is a public health problem.”

Dr. Carmen Mijares, an audiologist at a private Caracas hospital, said she treats at least a dozen patients every month for hearing damage caused by prolonged exposure to loud noises.

“Many of them work in bars or night clubs, and their maladies usually include temporary hearing loss and headaches,” Mijares said. For others, she said, the day-to-day noise of traffic, car horns and loud music can exacerbate stress and sleeping disorders.

Several cities have successfully reduced noise pollution, said Stephen Stansfeld, a London psychiatry professor and coordinator of the European Network on Noise and Health.

One of the most noteworthy initiatives, Stansfeld said, was in Copenhagen, Denmark, where officials used sound walls, noise-reducing asphalt and other infrastructure as well as public awareness campaigns to fight noise pollution.

But such high-tech solutions seem like a remote possibility in Caracas, where streets are literally falling apart and aging overpasses regularly lack portions of their guard rails. Prosecutors, angry neighbors and others hoping to fight the noise will have to persuade Venezuelans to do nothing less than change their loud behavior.

For Carlos Pinto, however, making noise is practically a political right.

The 26-year-old law student and his friends danced at a recent street party to house music booming from woofers in his car’s open trunk, with neon lights on the speakers that pulsed to the beat.

When asked about the noise, he answered: “We will be heard.”

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AP freelance video journalist Ricardo Nunes contributed to this report.

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Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker

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Dear President Obama: My White House petition requires your magical powers

By Chris Wilson

Since President Barack Obama won reelection, the White House website for citizen petitions has received secession requests from all 50 states. In the case of Texas, more than 100,000 people have endured the inconvenience of entering their name and email address in order to support the state’s bid for autonomy. Apparently, in a sign of Americans’ growing distaste for physical activity, 2012 is the year when people stopped threatening to move to a foreign country if their candidate lost the presidency. Instead, they want foreign countries to move to them.

The forum-happy Internet activism crowd has never had a realistic sense of what happens when you to plug government directly into the Ethernet port. This is what happens: In addition to petitions for secession, you get ones calling for Bigfoot to be recognized as an endangered species, naturopathic medicine to be covered by Obamacare, and funding for a Death Star beginning in 2016.

The petition website, called We the People, is not very useful as a guide to what Americans really care about. But it is useful as a guide to how people think of what the government can do, down to the specific words the authors use in the petitions.

Of the 300 most recent petitions, only three request that the government “protect” something—states rights, email privacy, the planet—while seven request that it “recognize” something—same-sex marriage, hate groups, and so forth. Dozens ask that Obama “grant” or “allow” a certain privilege, while only a few suggest he “ban” an action or “prevent” an outcome.

The interactive below arranges the petitions into a tree structure by the principal verb in the title. When you click a blue dot, the tree expands to show all the petitions that begin with that verb. You can mouse over those branches to see the original wording of the petition and search for any word you like by typing a phrase into the box at the top.

 

Bigfoot aside, most of the petitions on the site are earnest. This does not mean they are all sane. About 37,000 people have signed a petition suggesting that it be illegal to offend the prophets of major religions. Another petition demands recognition that Israel is responsible for 9/11—that one with only some 600 signatories.

But many present very good ideas. There’s one for reforming the Electoral College and another that suggests all scientific papers based on taxpayer-funded research should be freely accessible online.

If there is one binding force behind the petitions, it is that most of them request that Obama intercede in matters that he has no authority over or rightful business meddling with, regardless of where one comes down on the subject of big government. While the site is technically designed to lobby the government, most petitions appear personally directed at Obama.

Even the petitions to secede are written in a tone of distinct obeisance: “Peacefully grant the state of Connecticut to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own new government.” Oregon’s petition is particularly careful to specify that there are no hard feelings: “Allow Oregon to vote on and leave the union peacefully and remain an ally to the nation.”

Secession always seemed to me to be something that, by definition, you did without asking permission. (Mutual breakups are as rare in history as they are in love.) But for all the rampant anti-government sentiment in America, many people still believe the president is an omnipotent force who can pass laws on a dime, ban unsavory behavior, manipulate foreign countries with precision, expel citizens at will and otherwise bend the world to his fancy.

This does not mean people love the government. We know they do not. But they still want it to fix their problems with as little trouble as possible.

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There are some great open-source tools, like Python’s Natural Language Toolkit, that can automatically identify verbs and objects in sentences with fairly high accuracy. But a lot of human intervention is still required to clean up the results. I posted the code for retrieving the petitions from the White House website on my Github page, and the White House offers the full code for the petitions website on its Github page. Questions or comments? Email me at [email protected]
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Womens’ stories dominate 2013 Sundance film lineup

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Sundance Film Festival, the top U.S. film festival for independent cinema, on Wednesday unveiled its lineup for 2013, with films centered on female characters dominating the American fiction film competition.

The 113 feature length movies, including both narrative films and documentaries, cover a range of topics, but more than half of those chosen for the U.S. dramatic competition focus on stories about women, including several about females exploring sexual relationships.

That includes “May In The Summer,” director Cherien Dabis’s new film about a bride-to-be forced to re-evaluate her life when she reunites with her family in Jordan that is one of 16 films in the U.S. dramatic competition.

It will kick off Sundance on January 17 as one of four first-night screenings that will comprise of one feature and one documentary from each of the U.S. films and world cinema sections – movies made outside the United States.

Overall, 4,044 feature films from around the world were submitted for the festival that is backed by Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute for filmmaking and is the premiere U.S. event for movies made outside Hollywood’s major studios.

Indie films from Sundance festivals that have gone on to critical success include last year’s winner, “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” as well as “The Sessions,” and “Little Miss Sunshine” and “An Inconvenient Truth”.

Other features about female journeys include writer director Lynn Shelton’s “Touchy Feely,” about a massage therapist unable to do her job when she suddenly has an aversion to bodily contact.

“There are a lot of women’s stories, and interestingly enough, a lot of those stories exploring sexual relationships,” the festival’s program director Trevor Groth said in an interview, noting it was a natural extension of an increase in female directors.

“We have had some over the years that have been from a male gaze looking at sexual politics and sexual relationships, but this year we have got a wave of films doing that from a female perspective, which is intriguing and exciting.”

Those include “Afternoon Delight”, a dark comedy about a lost L.A. housewife who takes in a young stripper, “Concussion”, about a woman in a lesbian relationship who becomes a call girl, and “The Lifeguard”, about a reporter who quits her job in New York and moves back home to Connecticut.

Stories from the male perspective include “C.O.G.”, the first film adaptation of comic writer David Sedaris. Adapted from a short story from Sedaris’ best-selling 1997 essay collection, “Naked”, Sedaris has co-written the screenplay about a cocky man traveling to Oregon to work on an apple farm.

PUNK PRAYERS

Other “Day One” screenings include “Crystal Fairy”, about two strangers on a road trip in Chile, and the documentaries “Twenty Feet From Stardom”, about backup singers for some of the biggest bands in pop music and “Who Is Dayani Cristal?”, about the search for an anonymous body in the Arizona desert.

Nonfiction films from the world documentary section tackle subjects ranging from Russian punk protest band Pussy Riot in “Pussy Riot — A Punk Prayer”, to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake “Fallen City” to Google’s quest to build a giant digital library “Google and the World Brain”.

And returning to the United States, among American documentaries are an examination of the occupy Wall Street movement “99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film”, “Dirty Wars” about America’s covert wars and “Manhunt” that looks inside the CIA’s conflict against Al Qaeda.

Festival director John Cooper noted the strength and “immediacy” of the documentary lineup and “the way these films explain and expose the issues of our time, like economic inequality, corporate corruption and greed, the problems and sometimes the solutions of living in this information age”.

Movies in the Premieres section, which unlike the competition sections feature more established directors, will be announced December 3.

Overall, this year’s festival will feature movies from 32 countries and 51 first-time filmmakers. The festival begins on January 17, 2012 and runs through January 27.

(Reporting By Christine Kearney, editing by Patricia Reaney)

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Voters Come Clean on Health Care

Nov 29, 2012 1:56pm

Reported by Dr. Nisha Nathan:

 Voters who backed President Obama and those who supported Mitt Romney just can’t seem to agree on key health care issues, a new study suggests. But they’ll have to compromise if they want change in Washington.

The study, which drew on the combined data of three pre-election and exit polls, found that Obama supporters were three times more likely to say that health care was the most important problem facing the country.

These polls are a “very good prediction of what positions administrators will take on, and what directions they will move, especially in health and social policy,” said Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy at Harvard University and lead author of the study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. But, Blendon added, “People’s views could change and shift and might not be as polarized as reflected in the polls.”

The majority of voters, according to the study, saw President Obama as better than Mitt Romney at handling key issues in health care and Medicare, but not as good as his Democratic predecessors in the three previous elections.  And while most Americans — 85 percent of Obama voters and 53 percent of Romney voters — agreed that the government should try to fix the health care system, how this fix should happen remained a point of contention.

Obama voters wanted the Affordable Care Act instituted and supported a more activist government that would intervene more directly in the U.S. health care system. They also opposed changing the structure of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Obama supporters also wanted the federal government to have more responsibility in health care reform, but they disagreed on how the the government should use this responsibility.  The party remains split between the market approach in which the government provides incentives for healthy competition between hospitals, doctors and health insurance companies, and increased regulation of what insurance companies, doctors and hospitals can charge.

Abortion is another controversial health issue in which the country remains strongly divided. Forty-five percent of Obama voters thought that abortion should be legal no matter what, while 57 percent of Romney followers wanted abortion to be illegal in most or all cases, according to the study. Blendon said the president would likely have to balance both parties’ views, a move that might pan out through Planned Parenthood funding and Supreme Court appointments.

While Obama’s narrow win would force a delicate balance in health policy decisions, Blendon predicted that Romney followers would still be slightly disappointed. “The Affordable Care Act is not going to be repealed, and it will go ahead,” he said. But with the Senate maintaining a Democratic majority and the House of Representatives staying Republican, there will have to be a lot of compromise when it comes to health care.

Expect push back, Blendon said. “In many parts of the country, this will not go ahead rapidly, even though the president won the election.”

SHOWS: World News

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Ice on Mercury, despite nearby Sun

New evidence suggests Mercury's north polar region contains large deposits of ice. (NASA/Johns Hopkins Univers …NASA's Messenger spacecraft has discovered evidence that the planet Mercury has enough ice on its surface to encase Washington, D.C., in a block two and a half miles deep.

"For more than 20 years the jury has been deliberating on whether the planet closest to the Sun hosts abundant water ice in its permanently shadowed polar regions," writes Sean Solomon of the Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the principal investigator of the Messenger mission. The spacecraft "has now supplied a unanimous affirmative verdict."

"These reflectance anomalies are concentrated on poleward-facing slopes and are spatially collocated with areas of high radar backscatter postulated to be the result of near-surface water ice," Gregory Neumann of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center writes in the paper. "Correlation of observed reflectance with modeled temperatures indicates that the optically bright regions are consistent with surface water ice."

The study results were published on Wednesday in Science magazine, which explains in its summary, "The buried layer must be nearly pure water ice. The upper layer contains less than 25 wt.% water-equivalent hydrogen. The total mass of water at Mercury's poles is inferred to be 2 × 10¹⁶ to 10¹⁸ g and is consistent with delivery by comets or volatile-rich asteroids."

Radar imaging of Mercury has long suggested that there could be large deposits on the planet's surface, with reports dating to 1991. But today's report presents harder evidence supporting that theory.

Messenger has fired more than 10 million laser imaging pulses at Mercury's surface since arriving in its orbit in 2011. Feedback from those pulses have helped NASA in its quest to verify whether ice is present in Mercury's poles, which are largely shielded from exposure to the sun's rays.

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Boehner: ‘No substantive progress’ on fiscal cliff talks

Republican House Speaker John Boehner (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday offered a grim portrayal of the progress between Republicans and Democrats on a deal to avoid a series of automatic tax increases next year.

"No substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House during the past two weeks," Boehner said during a press briefing on Capitol Hill, signaling that little had changed since Republicans presented their framework for a deal earlier this month.

Both parties are currently negotiating behind closed doors to produce a deal to avoid many of the tax increases. Boehner said Thursday that he continues to be open to the Democrats' call for policies that would increase tax revenue, but only in exchange for an overhaul of the federal government's expensive entitlement programs.

"Revenue is only on the table if there are serious spending cuts that are part of this agreement," Boehner said.

Boehner, an Ohio Republican, confirmed that he spoke to President Barack Obama by phone on Wednesday night about the state of the negotiations. While he characterized the conversation as "straightforward," Boehner declined to discuss details.

Moments after Boehner made his remarks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid held his own press conference with other Democratic Senate leaders, including Patty Murray of Washington, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Charles Schumer of New York. Reid said Democrats would stick with their proposal to let the Bush-era tax rates expire for families that earn more than $250,000 per year and were waiting for Republicans to respond.

When asked about Boehner's comments that he would do nothing until Democrats put forth a new proposal, Reid replied: "I don't understand his brain."

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Myanmar cracks down on mine protest; dozens hurt

MONYWA, Myanmar (AP) — Security forces used water cannons and other riot gear Thursday to clear protesters from a copper mine in in northwestern Myanmar, wounding villagers and Buddhist monks just hours before opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was to visit the area to hear their grievances.

The crackdown at the Letpadaung mine near the town of Monywa risks becoming a public relations and political fiasco for the reformist government of President Thein Sein, which has been touting its transition to democracy after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

The environmental and social damage allegedly produced by the mine has become a popular cause in activist circles, but was not yet a matter of broad public concern. However, hurting monks — as admired for their social activism as they are revered for their spiritual beliefs — is sure to antagonize many ordinary people, especially as Suu Kyi’s visit highlights the events.

“This is unacceptable,” said Ottama Thara, a 25-year-old monk who was at the protest. “This kind of violence should not happen under a government that says it is committed to democratic reforms.”

According to a nurse at a Monywa hospital, 27 monks and one other person were admitted with burns caused by some sort of projectile that released sparks or embers. Two of the monks with serious injuries were sent for treatment in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city, a 2 ½ hour drive away. Other evicted protesters gathered at a Buddhist temple about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the mine’s gates.

Lending further sympathy to the protesters’ cause is whom they are fighting against. The mining operation is a joint venture between a Chinese company and a holding company controlled by Myanmar’s military. Most people remain suspicious of the military, while China is widely seen as having propped up army rule for years, in addition to being an aggressive investor exploiting the country’s many natural resources.

Government officials had publicly stated that the protest risked scaring off foreign investment that is key to building the economy after decades of neglect.

State television had broadcast an announcement Tuesday night that ordered protesters to cease their occupation of the mine by midnight or face legal action. It said operations at the mine had been halted since Nov. 18, after protesters occupied the area.

Some villagers among a claimed 1,000 protesters left the six encampments they had at the mine after the order was issued. But others stayed through Wednesday, including about 100 monks.

Police moved in to disperse them early Thursday.

“Around 2:30 a.m. police announced they would give us five minutes to leave,” said protester Aung Myint Htway, a peanut farmer whose face and body were covered with black patches of burned skin. He said police fired water cannons first and then shot what he and others called flare guns.

“They fired black balls that exploded into fire sparks. They shot about six times. People ran away and they followed us,” he said, still writhing hours later from pain. “It’s very hot.”

Photos of the wounded monks showed they had sustained serious burns on parts of their bodies. It was unclear what sort of weapon caused them.

The protest is the latest major example of increased activism by citizens since the elected government took over last year. Political and economic liberalization under Thein Sein has won praise from Western governments, which have eased sanctions imposed on the previous military government because of its poor record on human and civil rights. However, the military still retains major influence over the government, and some critics fear that democratic gains could easily be rolled back.

In Myanmar’s main city of Yangon, six anti-mine activists who staged a small protest were detained Monday and Tuesday, said one of their colleagues, who asked not to be identified because he did not want to attract attention from the authorities.

Asia News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Russian court bans “extremist” Pussy Riot video

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian court ruled on Thursday that video footage of the Pussy Riot punk group protesting against President Vladimir Putin in a church was “extremist” and should be removed from websites.

The demonstration last February offended many Russian Orthodox Christians. But Putin has been criticized by U.S. and European leaders over what they saw as disproportionate jail sentences imposed on three Pussy Riot members. Their trial was also seen by Putin’s critics as part of a clampdown on dissent.

The Moscow court said it had based its ruling on conclusions by a panel of experts who studied the video, showing band members in colorful mini-skirts and ski masks dancing in front of the altar of Moscow’s main Russian Orthodox cathedral.

Judge Marina Musimovich said the footage “has elements of extremism; in particular there are words and actions which humiliate various social groups based on their religion”. She said it also had calls for mutiny and “mass disorder”.

The verdict said that free distribution of the video could ignite racial and religious hatred.

The court’s ruling applies to other videos released by the band, including a performance in Moscow’s Red Square, where calls for mass disorder could be heard. Such calls were not made inside the church.

The websites are now likely to be included in a state register and could be blocked if the banned content is not removed.

The Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor said that once the court decision takes effect it will monitor how it is implemented.

Three members of Pussy Riot convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for their “punk prayer”, which the Russian Orthodox Church has cast as part of a concerted attack on the church and the faithful.

The women said the protest, in which they burst into Christ the Saviour Cathedral and called on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin, was not motivated by hatred and was meant to mock the church leadership’s support for the longtime leader.

Band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are serving two-year jail sentences over the protest last February. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, walked free last month when her sentence was suspended on appeal.

“To me this is a clear attribute of censorship – censorship of art and censorship of culture, of the protest culture which is very important for any country, let alone for Russia,” Samutsevich told reporters outside court.

“Now of course the fact that they will be blocking all Pussy Riot videos as I understand, all photos – this is horrible. Naturally, I will lodge an appeal and I will try to do it today,” she added.

Putin, a former KGB officer who has cultivated close ties with the Orthodox church over 13 years in power, has rebuffed Western criticism about the prison terms meted out.

(Additional reporting Valery Stepchenkov; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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