Most Americans will be obese by 2030, report finds | via @koroness for @SmartPlanet

By 2030, at least half of all Americans in 39 states may be obese if today’s trends continue unchecked, according to a report released this week by Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Titled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012, the report draws upon existing government data and self-reported surveys to conclude that the majority of Americans in most states will be considered obese in less than 20 years. The obesity rate for all states would be at least 44 percent.

...The report estimates that if current trends keep their current pace, medical costs associated with treating obesity-related diseases could increase by as much as $66 billion per year by 2030. The country could also stand to lose between $390 billion and $580 billion annually for lost economic productivity as sick days and job absenteeism are likely to increase.

Please continue reading at: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/most-americans-will-be-obese-by-2030-report-finds/851

Chicago’s plan to cut pedestrian fatalities by 100 percent via@koroness

SmartPlanet...The plan was designed after a thorough analysis of the city’s traffic deaths and a review of recommendations from residents themselves.

Chicago saw over 17,000 pedestrian-car crashes between 2005 and 2009, 16 percent of which resulted in serious injury or death for the person on foot. And while Chicago has recently seen a drop in crash rates, city planners still feel they have their work cut out for them.

“We face substantial challenges… Chicago has double the national average for hit and run pedestrian fatalities (40 percent),” Gabe Klein, commissioner of the Department of Transportation wrote in the report. “Our goal to reduce pedestrian fatalities to zero over the next ten years may seem a stretch, but as the City of Big Shoulders, we can settle for nothing less than other world-class cities.”

Read the entire Chicago Pedestrian Plan here (PDF).

Please read full and follow at: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/chicagos-plan-to-cut-pedestrian-fatalities-by-100-percent/860

Has Plant Life Reached Its Limits? - @Slashdot

"Since 2000, Dr. [Steven] Running and his colleagues have monitored how much plant growth covers terra firma, using two NASA satellites in the agency's Earth Observing System. After they crunched the numbers, combining the current monitoring system's data with satellite observations dating back to 1982, they noticed that terrestrial plant growth, also known as net primary production, remained relatively constant. Over the course of three decades, the observed plant growth on dry land has been about 53.6 petagrams of carbon each year, Dr. Running writes in the article. This suggests that plants' overall productivity — including the corn that humans grow and the trees people log for paper products — is changing little now, no matter how mankind tries to boost it, he said."

Please read full and follow at:

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/09/22/2030205/has-plant-life-reached-its-limits

Mitt Romney and the statistics on that 47% of Americans pay no income tax

Caroline Heldman...Many myths start with a kernel of truth. The 47% Meme is loosely based on the statistic that 47% of Americans pay no income tax (down to 46% in 2011). This meme is wildly dishonest since people pay a host of other federal, state, and local taxes. It’s about as honest as saying a person doesn’t eat vegetables because she only eats carrots, celery, bell peppers, cucumbers, and cabbage, but not broccoli.

So who is paying taxes, and what taxes are they paying?

 

Federal Income Tax

The Tax Policy Center finds that two main groups comprise the 46% who do not pay federal income tax: (1) The poor whose subsistence-level income is not taxable, and (2) those who receive tax expenditures. This chart shows that the lion’s share of tax expenditures goes to senior citizens, children, and the working poor, with the notable exception of 7,000 millionaires who paid no income tax in 2011.

 

Other Federal Taxes

But enough about income tax since this narrow focus only serves to further the misleading 47% Meme. The chart below shows a more accurate picture of who pays federal taxes. If we don’t count retirees, only 8% of Americans pay no income or payroll taxes.

Americans also pay federal excise tax on gas, liquor, cigarettes, airline tickets, and a long list of other products, so virtually every American pays federal taxes in some form. And contrary to the 47% Meme, poor and middle-class Americans actually pay a greater percentage of their income in federal payroll and excise taxes than wealthier Americans.

Please continue reading at:

http://carolineheldman.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/mitt-romney-and-the-47-meme/

Chicago's $100,000 a year. teachers’ test scores worse than students

The Chicago Public Schools teachers’ union agreed Tuesday to end the strike and accept some of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s reforms in exchange for pay increases that would bring the average teacher’s salary to $100,000 a year. Reforms include holding teachers partly accountable for their students standardized test scores. But according to a 2008 study by Illinois Education Research Council, CPS teachers don’t perform much better on standardized tests than their own students. 

...the first Chicago teacher’s strike in a quarter of a century, but what were the issues at stake in this tumultuous affair? BestCollegesOnline.com reflects the numbers involved, though the true story may only be told in the city’s classrooms and backrooms.

Please read full and follow at:

http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/19/chicago-teachers-test-scores-worse-than-illinois-students/

Political The Quote of the Decade

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. --Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

California Debt as much as $335 billion - Still spending $68 billion on high-speed rail.

NYTimes.com...Directors of the State Budget Crisis Task Force said their researchers had found a lot of other debts that did not turn up in California’s official tally....The task force estimated that the burden of debt totaled at least $167 billion and as much as $335 billion. Its members warned that the off-the-books debts tended to grow over time, so that even if Mr. Brown should succeed in pushing through his tax increase, gaining an additional $50 billion over the next seven years, the wall of debt would still be there, casting its shadow over the state.

Please continue reading at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/us/california-debt-higher-than-earlier-estimates.html

High-speed rail in Calif. gets federal OK

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/High-speed-rail-in-Calif-gets-federal-OK-3879139.php

The total cost of the project that would eventually connect Northern and Southern California is at least $68 billion.

"plan also requires the rail authority to provide financial compensation for environmental damage such as increased pollution or harm to wetlands and water sources."

Simply amazing

Are Electric Car Tax Credits only for the Rich? ...another $7.5 Billion for "smug" mobile's

Effects of Federal Tax Credits for the Purchase of Electric Vehicles

CBO estimates that federal policies to promote the manufacture and purchase of electric vehicles, some of which also support other types of fuel-efficient vehicles, will have a total budgetary cost of about $7.5 billion through 2019. Tax credits for buying electric vehicles—which account for about one-fourth of that cost—are likely to have the greatest impact on vehicle sales. The electric vehicles that are the focus of this study fall into two broad classes:

• Plug-in hybrid vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine, which runs on gasoline or other liquid fuels, and by an electric motor, which is powered in part by an externally rechargeable battery. 
• All-electric vehicles, also known as battery electric vehicles, run entirely on battery power.

CBO - Do the Federal Tax Credits Make Electric Vehicles Cost-Competitive? At current vehicle and energy prices, the lifetime costs to consumers of an electric vehicle are generally higher than those of a conventional vehicle or traditional hybrid vehicle of similar size and performance, even with the tax credits, which can be as much as $7,500 per vehicle. That conclusion takes into account both the higher purchase price of an electric vehicle and the lower fuel costs over the vehicle’s life. For example, an average plug-in hybrid vehicle with a battery capacity of 16 kilowatt-hours would be eligible for the maximum tax credit. However, that vehicle would require a tax credit of more than $12,000 to have roughly the same lifetime costs as a comparable conventional or traditional hybrid vehicle.

Electric and hybrid tax credits only benefit the rich
...note that demand for plug-in vehicles ‘remains very low and the Government grant to encourage demand may not be proving effective.’

Dr Nigel Berkeley from Coventry University told MPs: ‘Consumer demand is still lagging way behind. The subsidy is really ineffective because the price is still too high.’

The MPs’ report notes: ‘We were warned of the risk that the Government was subsidising second cars for affluent households, as plug-in cars were being purchased as support vehicles rather than a primary mode of transport.’

The report says there were just 1,673 public electric charging points under the Government’s ‘Plugged-In Place’ initiative in the period to March this year.

Ministers are also accused by MPs and car manufacturers of ‘unexpected’ changes to company car tax which has created uncertainty, removed incentives, and further stifled sales of electric ‘plug in’ cars, says the report.

Requests for Proposals for the Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities (TAB) grants posted: @saralrussell,@Brownfields2013

Requests for Proposals for the Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities (TAB) grants are posted to the brownfields website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicat.htm

The EPA anticipates awarding nine TAB grants to help communities across the country tackle the challenge of assessing, cleaning up and preparing brownfields sites for redevelopment, especially underserved/rural/small and otherwise distressed communities. Technical assistance  provided through these grants is intended to help move brownfields sites forward in the process toward cleanup and reuse.

The proposal deadline is November 14, 2012
Please join us at the US EPA Brownfields Conference in Atlanta, GA.
May 15 - 17, 2013

For more information go to:  http://www.brownfieldsconference.org

Attend WMC's (@WisconsinMC) Clean Air Act Update - November 14th by @ManleyWMC

WMC's 2012 Clean Air Act Update will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, at the Country Springs Hotel and Conference Center in Pewaukee.  As usual, the program will include expert speakers, including environmental regulators and top professionals in the field of environmental regulation--more information on registration will be sent out at a later date.  Make plans to attend!  It promises to be a great opportunity to hear from the experts that are impacting environmental policy in Wisconsin! Attendees of previous conferences were eligible to claim up to 6 CLE credits. For more information, please contact Scott Manley (@ManleyWMC) at smanley(at)wmc.org or Karen Mahlkuch at kmahlkuch(at)wmc.org

Three Mile Island Shuts Down After Pump Failure - via @Slashdot

"The nuclear power station on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania shut down abruptly this afternoon. Its shutdown was caused when one of four coolant pumps for a reactor failed to work. 'The Unit 1 reactor shut off automatically about 2:20 p.m., the plant's owner, Exelon Corporation, reported. There is no danger to the public, but the release of steam in the process created "a loud noise heard by nearby residents," the company said.' If radiation was released into the environment, it is so low that it thus far has not been detected. The plant is a 825-megawatt pressurized water reactor, supplying power to around 800,000 homes, thought there has been no loss of electrical service. Three Mile Island was the site of a partial nuclear meltdown in 1979. The Unit 2 reactor has not been reactivated since."

Please read full and follow at:

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/09/20/2344241/three-mile-island-shuts-down-after-pump-failure

Build a Small Solar Solution, With a Budget of $150 (Guide and Video)

Solar power is one of the most reliable forms of alternative energy. That is why it is at the top of most Prepper’s equipment purchase lists. The problem is; it remains at the top of our purchase list and is continually skipped over. This is because getting started in solar power can be confusing, and even more expensive. But, what if it was not that confusing, and depending on your needs, not that expensive… Would you take the plunge? Download Step by Step Guide (.pdf) and Video

 

Solar Components – A Very Basic Overview

Before you start sketching your solar system, you must first understand the different components. Whether you are interested in an entire-home system, or only powering emergency lighting or a small radio, the principles are the same. The primary components for a solar system are panels, batteries, and a charge controller. The quantity and size of these primary items depends on the size of your system. And with each new item, the cost of the project goes up. 

Please continue reading at:

http://www.prepperlink.com/index.php/prepare/energy/item/57-solar-project-ammo-can

U.S. lags behind in preventable deaths... Health costs killing U.S. literally

Kim Krisberg... as with many of our most pressing health problems, the roots have little do with what happens once you get inside a doctor’s office. In regard to the slowdown in amenable mortality improvements among older Americans, the authors write that the worrisome trend comes at a time when the “average U.S. family did not see increases in income, because health care expenditures consumed a greater share of families’ resources.” They conclude that the impact of U.S. health care is tied to access.

“These findings strengthen the case for reforms that will enable all Americans to receive timely and effective health care,” they wrote.

For a copy of the Health Affairs study, click here.

Please read full and follow at:

http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/09/07/access-matters-u-s-lags-behind-in-preventable-deaths/

Influence on OSHA rulemaking activity in the year before a Presidential Election

The Pump Handle- ...In five of the eight most recent Presidential election years, the number of proposed and final rules issued by OSHA declined when compared to the previous year.  This include a decline of 71 percent in OSHA rules proposed or finalized in 2008 compared to 2007 (i.e., from 7 rules to 2 rules) and a decline of 53 percent in 1984 compared to 1983 (i.e., from 19 rules to 9 rules.)  The exceptions occurred during the second Reagan term, the George H.W. Bush Administration, and the first Clinton term, when the number of proposed and final OSHA rules increased from 3 in 1995 to 7 in the Presidential election year 1996.

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It’s official, 50 cancers added to eligible diseases covered by World Trade Center health program for emergency responders

When the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (P.L. 111-347) was signed into law in January 2011, among its aims was providing screening and medical treatment for the fire fighters, police officers, emergency responders and certain other survivors.  More than $4 billion was authorized by Congress for the program.  The  adverse health conditions covered by the program for eligible participants were limited primarily to respiratory and mental health disorders.  The list included the conditions that the responders and survivors were already suffering due to exposures at the World Trade Center site, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, reactive airway dysfunction syndrome, chronic cases of rhinosinusitis, nasopharyngitis and laryngitis, as well as PTSD, major depression, substance abuse and anxiety disorders.  (Eligible survivors of the 9/11 attacks at the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA sites were also encouraged to participate in the screening and medical treatment program.)

The Zadroga law contained a provision to allow the director of the World Trade Center Health Program, who is also the director of CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), to add new conditions to the list.  Recommendations for those new conditions came be made by a periodic review of the scientific evidence, a petition, or the director’s discretion.

In September 2011, the program director received a petition from Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Peter King (R-NY), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Nita Velazquez (D-NY), Michael Grimm (R-NY),  and Yvette Clark (D-NY), requesting that cancer be added to the list of covered conditions.  The petition referred to a study of cancer incidence in 9,853 men employed as New York City firefighters which was published that same month in Lancet.  The authors of  “Early assessment of cancer outcomes in New York City firefighters after the 9/11 attacks: an observational cohort study,” were cautious in the interpretation of their data which identified a modest excess cancer incidence (of any type) among the 8,927 firefighters classified as exposed when compared to the U.S. population.

The petition led the WTC Health Program director to request the expertise and recommendations of the program’s Scientific/Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) to

‘‘review the available information on cancer outcomes associated with the exposures resulting from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and provide advice on whether to add cancer, or a certain type of cancer, to the List specified in the Zadroga Act.’’

Based on the STAC’s recommendations, and following a public comment period,WTC Health Program director published a final rule on September 10 to amend the list of covered conditions.  Effective October 12, 2012, that list will include 50 types of cancer, from malignant neoplasms of the bladder, colon, liver, lung, rectum, and stomach, to leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and mesothelioma.

Please read full and follow at: http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/09/17/its-official-50-cancers-added-to-eligible-diseases-covered-by-world-trade-center-health-program/

Suicide, Not Car Crashes, #1 Cause of Injury Death now in U.S. - no hope, no change = :(

Sept. 20, 2012 -- Suicide has overtaken car crashes as the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the U.S.

While public health efforts have curbed the number of car fatalities by 25% over the last decade, a new study shows suicide deaths rose by 15% during the same period.

In addition, deaths from unintentional poisoning and falls have also increased dramatically in recent years.

Researchers found deaths caused by accidental poisoning and falls increased by 128% and 71%, respectively.

“Comprehensive and sustained traffic safety measures have apparently substantially diminished the motor vehicle traffic mortality rate, and similar attention and resources are needed to reduce the burden of other injury,” researcher Ian Rockett, PhD, MPH of West Virginia University and colleagues write in theAmerican Journal of Public Health.

Causes of Death Evolving

In the study, researchers looked at cause of death data from the National Center for Health Statistics from 2000 to 2009.

“Contrasting with disease mortality, the injury mortality rate trended upward during most of that decade,” write the researchers.

The top five leading causes of injury-related deaths were:

1. Suicide
2. Motor vehicle crashes
3. Poisoning
4. Falls
5. Homicide

Researchers say the findings demonstrate that suicide is now a global public health issue.

Please read full and follow at:

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20120920/suicide-top-cause-of-injury-death

US man wins $7m 'popcorn lung' payout | chemical used to flavour microwave popcorn.

A US jury has awarded a Colorado man $7.2 million (£4.4m) damages after claiming he developed 'popcorn lung' by inhaling a chemical used to flavour microwave popcorn.

The jury in the case were in agreement with Wayne Watson's claim that the manufacturer who produced the popcorn, and the supermarket that sold it, were negligent because they failed to warn consumers that the flavouring was dangerous.

Watson, 59, claimed the butter flavouring, diacetyl, caused a form of obstructive lung disease, a condition that scars the lungs and makes makes it difficult for air to flow out of them.

The condition is irreversible.

The official name of the illness is Bronchiolitis obliterans and it can cause a dry cough, shortness of breath and wheezing. Please read full and follow at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/20/colorado-man-popcorn-lung-payout

E-waste recycling saving lives around world... no one has to die so you can have a mobile phone

"It’s possible that two children died so that you could have that mobile phone,” says Jean-Bertin, a 34-year-old Congolese activist who wants to end the “absolute silence” around the crimes committed in his country to exploit strategic raw materials like coltan

MALAGA, Spain, Sep 10 (Tierramérica).- "It’s possible that two children died so that you could have that mobile phone,” says Jean-Bertin, a 34-year-old Congolese activist who wants to end the “absolute silence” around the crimes committed in his country to exploit strategic raw materials like coltan.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has at least 64 percent of worldwide reserves of coltan, the colloquial African name for a dull black ore composed of two minerals, columbite and tantalite. Tantalum, the metal extracted from this ore, is a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion resistant. It is used in the production of capacitors for electronic equipment such as mobile phones, computers and tablets, as well as in earphones, prosthetics, implants and turbine blades, among many other products.

“The DRC’s greatest curse is its wealth. The West and all the others who manufacture weapons have their noses stuck in there,” laments Jean-Bertin, who arrived eight years ago to the southern Spanish city of Málaga from Kinshasa, where his parents and two brothers still live.

The extraction of coltan contributes to maintaining one of the bloodiest armed conflicts in Africa, which has led to more than five million deaths, massive displacements of the population, and the rape of 300,000 women in the last 15 years, according to human rights organizations.

This fact was acknowledged by the United Nations Security Council in 2001, which confirmed the “links between the exploitation of natural resources and the continuation of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

As of 2003, a Panel of Experts convened by the Security Council had identified 157 companies and individuals from around the world involved in some way with the illegal extraction of valuable raw materials in the DRC.

The exploitation of coltan in dozens of informal mines, scattered throughout the jungle in the eastern DRC, is used for financing armed groups and the personal enrichment of military and government officials.

Artisanal mining, with no controls, is carried out in semi-slave labor conditions and causes significant damage to the environment and the health of workers, including children, according to the 2010 documentary film "Blood in the Mobile" by Danish director Frank Piasecki.

But industry sources, such as the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center (TIC), take pains to stress that the coltan reserves in the DRC and elsewhere in central Africa are far from being the world’s main source of tantalum.

Australia was the leading producer of tantalum for several years and production has recently grown in South America and Asia, in addition to production from other sources, such as recycling.

According to the TIC, the largest known reserves of tantalum are in Brazil and Australia, and discoveries have recently been reported in Venezuela and Colombia.

The DRC possesses other forms of natural wealth that are also widely smuggled, such as gold, cassiterite (a tin oxide mineral), cobalt, copper, precious woods and diamonds. Nevertheless, the country ranks in last place on the 2011 Human Development Index.

Faced with this situation, civil society organizations are placing ever more emphasis on raising awareness among consumers of products containing these materials.

In Spain, a network of non-governmental groups and research centers that focus on the DRC launched a campaign in February to demand a commitment from manufacturers that they will not use illegally sourced coltan.

The discovery of new sources of tantalum and recycling should contribute to reducing the demand for Congolese coltan.

The NGO Entreculturas and the Spanish branch of the Red Cross have joined forces since 2004 in a campaign called "Dona tu móvil" (Donate Your Mobile), encouraging the public to drop off their old electronic devices for reuse or recycling of their components. The money raised is invested in educational, environmental and development projects for poor sectors of the population.

As of this July they had collected 732,025 devices and earned more than a million euro, Ester Sanguino, the coordinator of the campaign for Entreculturas, told Tierramérica.

But the organizations and companies involved in recycling consulted by Tierramérica concurred that it would be impossible for this source of tantalum to contribute to meeting the growing worldwide demand for the metal to any significant extent.

Market pressures encourage people to replace their mobile telephones after only a short time, which means that even if recycling took place on a large scale, the tantalum obtained would not meet demand, said a source at BCD Electro, a company that specializes in the reuse and recycling of electronic and computer equipment.

And mobile phones represent just one market segment in which tantalum is currently used.

Apple and Intel announced in 2011 that they would no longer buy tantalum from the former Belgian colony. Nokia and Samsung have made similar pledges.

Samsung states on its website that it has taken steps “to endeavour that our mobile phones do not contain materials derived from illegally mined Congolese coltan.”

Such corporate codes of conduct essentially fill the void left by the lack of prescriptive rules.

The most far-reaching effort in this regard is that of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, since it extends to all of the industrialized nations that are members of this group.

But the long and shadowy paths traveled by Congolese coltan make it difficult to prove whether these codes are upheld.

Illegally mined minerals are smuggled through neighboring countries like Rwanda and Uganda to Europe, China and other markets.

“Rebel groups proliferate because of the land’s wealth of coltan, diamonds and gold,” said the coordinator of the humanitarian organization Farmamundi in the DRC, Raimundo Rivas.

Neighboring governments are “complicit” and “up until now this has all been supported and covered up by the companies that benefit from these riches at their final destination,” he told Tierramérica.

“There are many economic interests around the coltan business,” stressed Jean-Bertin. In the meantime, in the DRC, “the killings are real. The blood is everywhere.” And nevertheless, “it is as if the Congo didn’t exist.”

This is why expectations have been raised by a recent decision of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which adopted new rules on Aug. 22 under Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act relating to the use of “conflict minerals”.

Section 1502 establishes that all national and international companies already required to report annually to the SEC which manufacture or contract to manufacture products containing at least one of four conflict minerals (tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold) must adopt measures to determine their origin through supply chain analysis.

But the first report would not be filed until May 31, 2014, considered an overly long waiting time by human rights defenders, who stress that crimes continue to be committed in the DRC despite the presence of a UN peace mission since 2010.

Holding his six-month-old daughter in his arms, Jean-Bertin is visibly upset as he describes how armed groups in the DRC “give weapons to children and force them to join with one side or the other.”

For Rivas, "the only solution is a strong government in the DRC that can respond to the attacks, and real international support that penalizes companies suspected of importing minerals from conflict zones.”

Please read on at:
http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=4068

Will a Federal Prisoner Steal Your Job? Enslaved at 23 cents an hour.

You already pay $50,000 a year to keep them locked up, now your company will be competing with them at 23 cents an hour. 

ABC News - It's hard to compete with workers willing to take pay as low as 23 cents an hour. Do we mean workers in Mexico or China? No. We mean Americans in federal prisons.

An Alabama clothing-maker recently found out just how hard, according to the Myrtle Beach Sun-News: American Apparel of Selma had to lay off 225 workers after it lost a contract for U.S. Army jackets to UNICOR, a $900 million behemoth with 89 factories around the U.S. Its workforce consists entirely of convicts.

If you thought prisoners made only license plates, think again.

UNICOR's workers, according to the government-owned corporation's website, make custom draperies and curtains, mattresses and bedding; furniture, lighting systems, catwalks; fences, towels, shelving, eyewear (both safety and prescription), and trophies. They run help desks and call centers. They process credit cards and provide fleet management services. Oh, and they make license plates.

Federal law requires government agencies to buy products from UNICOR without competitive bidding.

The company, also known as Federal Prison Industries (FPI), is enjoying the kind of growth that might make some for-profit companies envious.

Created by Congress in 1932, it historically has been forbidden from selling goods and services to any customers except federal agencies and departments (e.g., UNICOR-made jackets to the Army). But company spokesperson Julie Rozier explains to ABC News that these strictures have lately been relaxed.

"In December, we obtained new authorities," she says. "Under very limited circumstances, if an item is being made off-shore, we can compete for that."

In some cases, UNICOR now can manufacture and sell items to private customers in competition with private companies. The list of permissible items, Rozier says, includes tents, aprons, fabric shopping bags and baseball caps.

Plead read on at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/prisoners-stealing-us-jobs/story?id=17263420#.UFpMaLLN-zI

8,786,049: Hit Another Record for Americans Collecting Disability - only 16 people working for each person collecting disability.

....In August 1967, 74,767,000 Americans were working (according to theBureau of Labor Statistics

 

) and 1,152,861 were taking federal disability insurance (according to the Social Security Administration). That means that at that time there were about 65 Americans working for each worker collecting disability.

In August 2012, 142,101,000 Americans were working and 8,767,941 were on disability--meaning there were only 16.2 people working for each person collecting disability.

Please continue reading at:

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/8786049-yet-another-record-americans-collecting-disability

#Milwaukee WI #Green Team Wants to Hear about #Environmental #Sustainability Initiatives from You!

The Green Team is hosting its last event at an Urban Ecology Center tomorrow night - this time at the Menomonee Valley Branch. The event runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm and is an opportunity for the public to provide direct input to the Green Team as it develops a strategic Sustainability Plan for Milwaukee.

Green Team Public Input Event
Thursday, September 20
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm

Urban Ecology Center - 3700 W. Pierce Milwaukee, WI 53214
http://city.milwaukee.gov/sustainability/SustainabilityPlanGreenTeam.htm
 

Pennsylvania: Hospital Safety Bill - Health Care Facilities Workplace Violence Prevention Act

In a press release issued today, Mahoney said that the bill, which will be known as the Health Care Facilities Workplace Violence Prevention Act, would include management, nurses and hospital employees in a risk assessment and then would involve the development and implementation of a detailed violence prevention plan. The bill would also provide employee training and develop an in-house crisis response team for such incidents.

“Unfortunately, hospitals and other health care facilities can no longer be considered safe havens, immune from the senseless violence that permeates society,” Mahoney said. “Increasingly, nurses and health care workers are victims of assault and violence from patients and visitors. We must do more to ensure their safety.”

Please read on at:
http://www.heraldstandard.com/news/hsnewsnow/mahoney-to-co-sponsor-hospital-safety-bill/article_56428183-ba72-531f-9317-d646f2562267.html

OSHA Investigating Residential Propane Tank Explosion in Connecticut #PSM

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as the state fire marshal, is looking into a propane explosion that caused a Shelton home to blow up last week...to determine whether or not the two Pioneer Gas and Appliance Co. employees installing propane tanks violated any safety regulations.

"It is under investigation, but we've got six months to file it," a representative from OSHA said this past Monday. "No clue how long it could take, but we have until, like, February."

Read on at:
http://shelton.patch.com/articles/osha-investigating-wopowog-trail-home-explosion

Pot smoking tied to testicular cancer | a greater than doubling risk among young men

Reuters...l government-backed study strengthens the link between recreational marijuana use and testicular cancer in young men, U.S. researchers said Monday.

They found people who said they had used the drug were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with the disease as were never-users. The link appeared to be specific to a type of tumor known as nonseminoma.

"This is the third study consistently demonstrating a greater than doubling of risk of this particularly undesirable subtype of testicular cancer among young men with marijuana use," said Victoria Cortessis of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, who led the work.

Please read full and follow at:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-pot-smoking-tied-to-testicular-cancer-idUSBRE88918H20120910

Epa: Environmental justice pioneer plans overhaul of division

eenews.net - When Kenneth Olden discusses environmental justice, he knows what he is talking about.

Olden led the way in establishing the area as a legitimate scientific field during more than a decade at the National Institutes of Health, funding groundbreaking research on topics such as how bus exhaust disproportionately affects minority children in low-income homes in New York City.

And though many of his colleagues don't know it, Olden's dedication to the issue is tied to his own experiences. The son of sharecroppers from an impoverished area of rural Tennessee, he is one of the few people from that community to graduate from college -- let alone ascend the echelons of the scientific community.

Kenneth Olden, a leader in environmental justice, has ambitious plans for U.S. EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment. Photo courtesy of EPA.

Now in the twilight of a career that has transcended racial boundaries, Olden has taken over U.S. EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment, or NCEA, the agency's division for determining how chemicals and environmental factors affect human health -- including what causes cancer. NCEA's assessments form the foundation of major regulations, such as drinking water and air standards.

The division has a long history of problems and is frequently criticized by public health advocates for its laggard pace, and by industry for allegedly shoddy science. But Olden brings star power to it at a time when the agency claims to be doubling down on its efforts to revamp the program.

Green groups believe he is the right person for the job. They argue that Olden, who has served on the board of the Environmental Defense Fund, understood very early the role environmental factors play in disease.

"Even in this day and age, that's a connection that a lot of people in the environmental community are pretty slow to make," said Richard Denison of EDF. "He got it 20 years ago."

And Olden, who focused during the greater part of his career on understanding cancer, isn't planning on being a figurehead. He is setting an ambitious agenda and calling for the government and scientists to fundamentally rethink how they approach disease.

"As Americans, we do not appreciate the important role that environment plays in human health," he said in an interview. "I think there is no agency in the federal government more crucial to the health of the American people than the Environmental Protection Agency. ... At NIH, we looked at one aspect of human health, but I think the agency that really translates the science into policy and practice is EPA."

Please read full and follow at:

http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/09/10/2

Cleaning Up Oil Spills With Peanut Butter, Chocolate, And Whipped Cream

“Current dispersants are the lesser of two evils,” explained chemist Lisa Kemp in a press briefing. Today’s toxic dispersant potions can affect life forms that comes into contact with the surface of the oil, and when the clumps of oil and dispersant move around in the water, the dispersants can wreak havoc on the sea floor.

During the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, nearly two million gallons of chemical dispersants were sprayed into the Gulf in an effort to break up the oil slick. Cleanup workers and local residents complained of adverse health effects that they blamed on the dispersants, and a study last month showed that a chemical in the dispersants harmed microorganism populations that are a key link in the marine food chain, with negative implications for fish and larger sea animals.

The new dispersant uses food-safe ingredients instead of petroleum products. It’s based on lecithin, an ingredient used in non-stick cooking sprays and cellulose (a compound derived from plants’ cell walls that can give ice cream and smoothies a thicker texture). The dispersant also binds to oil, allowing it to it roll off any substance. “Our dispersant provides non-stick behavior,” said Kemp. “Animal, bird, sand--the oil just rinses off with more seawater.”

Please continue reading at:

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680509/cleaning-up-oil-spills-with-peanut-butter-chocolate-and-whipped-cream

Flood Threat To Nuclear Plants Covered Up By Regulators, NRC Whistleblower Claims

...alleged that NRC officials falsely invoked security concerns in redacting large portions of a report detailing the agency's preliminary investigation into the potential for dangerous and damaging flooding at U.S. nuclear power plants due to upstream dam failure.

Perkins, along with at least one other employee inside NRC, also an engineer, suggested that the real motive for redacting certain information was to prevent the public from learning the full extent of these vulnerabilities, and to obscure just how much the NRC has known about the problem, and for how long.

"What I've seen," Perkins said in a phone call, "is that the NRC is really struggling to come up with logic that allows this information to be withheld."

Please continue reading at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/flood-threat-nuclear-plants-nrc_n_1885598.html

How Big Pharma Hooked America On Legal Heroin - via @Slashdot

"The active ingredient in OxyContin, oxycodone, isn't a new compound. It was originally synthesized in Germany in 1916. .... The genius of Purdue's continued foray into pain-management medication – they had already produced versions of hydromorphone, oxycodone, fentanyl, codeine, and hydrocodone – was twofold. They not only created a drug from an already readily available compound, but they were able to essentially re-patent the active ingredient by introducing a time-release element. Prior to the 1990s, strong opioid medications were not routinely given for miscellaneous or chronic, moderately painful conditions; the strongest classes of drugs were often reserved for the dying. But Purdue parlayed their time-release system not only into the patent for OxyContin. They also went on a PR blitz, claiming their drug was unique because of the time-release element and implied that it was so difficult to abuse that the risk of addiction was 'under 1%.'"

Please read full and follow at:

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/09/18/2143248/how-big-pharma-hooked-america-on-legal-heroin

Russell E. Train, former EPA head, dies at 92 - He will be missed.

Russell E. Train, a former tax court judge whose awakening on safari sparked a new career in environmental activism as head of the nascent Environmental Protection Agency and as the first president of the World Wildlife Fund’s American chapter, died Sept. 17 at his farm in Bozman, Md. He was 92.

He will be missed. 

Please read on at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/russell-e-train-former-epa-head-dies-at-92/2012/09/17/3d2c8494-010c-11e2-b257-e1c2b3548a4a_story.html

BPA linked to obesity in white children. 5 times more likely to be obese than children with low levels

White children exposed to high levels of bisphenol A are five times more likely to be obese than children with low levels, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Please continue reading at:

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/bpa-linked-to-obesity-in-white-children

Mystery in the fields: A rare kidney disease linked to pesticides in Sri Lanka

For two decades, chronic kidney disease has been a mystery and death sentence in Sri Lanka, striking 15 percent of the residents of its north central region. This summer, after years of secretive official research, a glimmer of scientific hope emerged.

Please continue reading at:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/09/18/10857/sri-lanka-breakthroughs-setba...

Free Webinar Bringing Hazcom, DOT and GHS-Style Labels into Focus

The hazards of the chemicals your employees use are the same, but the container labels are about to undergo a significant change.

OSHA’s final HazCom rule incorporates elements of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). This means that all containers of hazardous materials arriving at or leaving your facility will have to be labeled with OSHA’s version of the GHS label.

This highly focused webcast will discuss OSHA’s labeling requirements under the HazCom standard, including:

• The required label elements;
• How the elements are determined;
• The GHS “harmonized” elements;
• How workplace labeling systems are affected;
• What effect the HazCom standard has on DOT and consumer product labeling; and,
• The labeling training requirements under the standard.

Featured Speaker

Stefanie Williams

Technical Writer/Editor at J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

This one-hour webcast will include a Q&A session.  
Thursday, September 27
10:00 AM Central Time

Register for the webcast here:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/717983498

The economics of installing solar.... good incentives if your rich & take all government hand outs

The big question for any homeowner considering installing solar power is a simple one: How quickly will the system pay for itself? Sunny weather is a factor, but not the only one: subsidies, such as tax credits, are a big factor, too, as is the price you pay for power now.

WSJ...Each location was assumed to be using roughly the same size unit, placed on a south-facing roof, tilted at 30 degrees. Each hypothetical home was assumed to use 11,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, the average in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration's 2010 data. It was also assumed that the systems were being purchased with cash and that each homeowner's system starts operating on Jan. 1.

While Clean Power Research cautioned that tax situations and effects of credits will differ from person to person, it assumed that the homeowner in each example was filing taxes as a single person and had annual income of $140,000.

But the similarities ended there. Each location featured different electricity rates, tax credits, rebates and weather. A five-kilowatt system in Los Angeles, for example, will generate about 700 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month. In Minneapolis, the same system will produce about 500 kilowatt-hours.

Adding it all up, the location with the best investment return was New York. The solar-energy system for our hypothetical home in Brooklyn paid for itself in just five years, thanks in part to large local incentives. Electricity rates in New York were higher, too, which yielded more savings over the long run.

The chart shows how the costs and advantages compared in our five locations.

What follows is a more detailed explanation of some of the chart's features and some further analysis of the case study:

System size: All except Portland assumed a five-kilowatt system, the average size for a residential solar installation in most of the U.S. For Portland, which has a mild climate and an incentive system that favors smaller systems, we assumed a system of three kilowatts.

Federal tax credit: The federal government offers a 30% investment tax credit on the cost of the system after rebates. (The credit is higher in Denver, for example, because there is no state or utility rebate.) To claim the full credit, your tax bill must be bigger than the credit.

Read on at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444506004577615662289766558.html

GMO: How China and US 'secretly tested genetically modified golden rice on children'

China's health authorities are investigating allegations that genetically modified rice has been tested on Chinese children as part of a research project.

A recent scientific publication suggested that researchers, backed by the US Department of Agriculture, fed experimental genetically engineered golden rice to 24 children in China aged between six and eight years old.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2201536/GMO-How-China-US-secretly-tested-genetically-modified-golden-rice-children.html

Half of drugs prescribed are useless or dangerous, say two specialists | via @Guardian

...“They haven’t discovered very much new for the last 30 years, but have multiplied production, using tricks and lies.
“Sadly, none of them is interested in making drugs for rare conditions or, say, for an infectious disease in countries with no money, because it’s not a big market. Nor are they interested in developing drugs for conditions like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease because it too difficult and there’s not money to be made quickly.
“It has become interested only in the immediate, in short term gains. On Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry is third after petrol and banking, and each year it increases by 20%. It’s more profitable than mining for diamonds.”
Please read full and follow at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/14/french-doctors-drugs-useless-dang...