GOP wins contempt fight, but legal dispute looms

by LARRY MARGASAK Associated Press Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans have won a historic political fight to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, but the GOP likely is still a long way from obtaining documents it wants in an investigation of a bungled gun-tracking operation.

The road leading to a possible lawsuit by the House was filled with emotion Thursday. More than 100 Democrats walked up an aisle and out of the chamber to boycott the first of two contempt votes, saying Republicans were more interested in shameful election-year politics than documents.

Republicans demanded the documents for an ongoing investigation, but their arguments focused more on the need for closure for the family of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Two guns from the gun-tracking operation called Fast and Furious were found near his body after a shootout in Arizona.

Democrats promised closure as well, but said a less-partisan Republican investigation - not contempt resolutions - was the only way to get it.

Adding to the emotion of the day, the family of the slain agent issued a statement backing the Republicans.

"The Terry family takes no pleasure in the contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder. Such a vote should not have been necessary. The Justice Department should have released the documents related to Fast and Furious months ago," the statement said.

It all happened on the day that President Barack Obama's health care law survived in the Supreme Court, prompting some Democrats to speculate that the votes were scheduled to be overwhelmed by news stories about the ruling.

About five hours after the court ruled, with news sites flooded with information about the health care ruling, the House voted 255-67 to declare Holder in criminal contempt - an action that could lead to criminal prosecution but probably won't.

The matter goes to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who works under Holder.

In previous contempt cases, federal prosecutors in the nation's capital have refused to act on congressional contempt citations against members of their own administration.

A second vote of 258-95 held Holder in civil contempt and allows the House to bring a civil lawsuit in an effort to force him to turn over the documents.

In past cases, courts have been reluctant to settle disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government.

The issue became more complicated when Obama invoked a broad form of executive privilege, a legal position that is designed to keep private certain communications of executive branch agencies.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is conducting the investigation and subpoenaed the documents, will consult with the House counsel's office about a court challenge to the administration's decision not to cooperate, committee spokesman Frederick Hill said.

Thursday's debate was about Justice Department documents written after Fast and Furious was shut down. The subpoena covered a 10-month period from February 2011, when the Justice Department denied that guns purchased in the U.S. were allowed to "walk" across the border into Mexico, to early December 2011 when the department acknowledged the earlier assertion was in error.

Republicans said the contempt citations were necessary because Holder refused to hand over - without any preconditions - documents that could explain why the Obama administration took 10 months to come clean about gun-walking. The operation identified more than 2,000 illicitly purchased weapons. Some 1,400 of them have yet to be recovered in the failed strategy to track the weapons to gun-running rings.

African-American lawmakers led Thursday's walkout in support of Holder, the nation's first black attorney general. Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi, who joined them, protested that Republicans had gone "over the edge" in their partisanship.

Seventeen Democrats voted with Republicans in favor of the criminal contempt resolution, while two Republicans - Reps. Scott Rigell of Virginia and Steven LaTourette of Ohio - joined other Democrats in voting against it.

Twenty-one Democrats supported the Republicans in the civil contempt vote, but all the votes against the resolution came from Democrats.

The National Rifle Association pressed hard for the contempt resolutions, leaning on members of both parties who want to stay in the NRA's good graces.

Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesman, said all 17 Democrats who voted for criminal contempt had previously received an "A" grade from the organization.

Holder said afterward that the vote was merely a politically motivated act in an election year

"Today's vote may make for good political theater in the minds of some, but it is - at base - both a crass effort and a grave disservice to the American people. They expect - and they deserve - far better," Holder said in New Orleans.

The NRA contended the administration wanted to use Operation Fast and Furious to win gun control measures. Democrats who normally support the NRA but who voted against the contempt citations would lose any 100 percent ratings from the group.

---

Associated Press writer Michael Kunzelman in New Orleans contributed to this report.

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Source: http://calhountimes.com/bookmark/19151036

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Bernie Ecclestone: Grand prix deal with Mayor would be 'a lot better than the Olympics'

to

Source: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/mayor/bernie-ecclestone-grand-prix-deal-with-mayor-would-be-a-lot-better-than-the-olympics-7896532.html

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An Interview with Carolyn Hembree | NolaVie - Life and Culture in ...

The following interview with Carolyn Hembree was conducted by Erik Vande Stouwe on 27 June 2012, transcribed from voice-recorder by the latter, and edited by both parties. It serves as a companion piece to the Summer Local Writing Series feature on Hembree.?The photograph of the author was taken by Lynda Woolard.

Erik Vande Stouwe: First tell me a bit about Skinny, and Skinny as a manuscript.

Carolyn Hembree: I was in graduate school, and I was trying to be Louise Gl?ck or Robert Pinsky. Then I had some crazy-ass dream, which is the first poem of Skinny, and I started reading John Berryman. So, I realized there could be a speaker who is inhabited by many voices. That felt natural, as I had spent years acting, which I started to let into my poetry?the Method approach, the subject matter, and drama as a genre. I don?t know if that answers your question.

EV: It begins a lot more questions. One thing I was really curious about was the idea of characters in poetry. What is the role?the influences, Berryman, are there anymore?

CH: C.D. Wright. And Frank Bidart?s persona poems although my stuff isn?t usually persona but talking about a character.

EV: What governs the speech of these characters? Do they fit within the composition of the poem, or do they speak out of it?

CH: The rhythm comes out of the characters? voices?I talk out loud the whole time I write. A lot of people hear voices, and I?m not one of those people.

But we say that euphemistically, like the voice in my head is telling me don?t do that. I?ve never had that. So the poetry has been an occasion to try to understand or enact that experience. Overheard conversation, a phrase from a billboard, TV show or radio dialogue ? little snatches of speech can shape the poem?s rhythm, but I can later push on it and break the phrasing up.

EV: So the characters come to you and are changed, rather than?is it a question of?

CH: I don?t think they come to me; I think they?re already there. Bidart says that in the interview with Mark Halliday at the end of In the Western Night. They?re just me in different moods, times, dreams.

EV: Stretching oneself out. Stretching and dividing.

CH: Yeah.

EV: Another thing I was very curious about reading your poetry?I?m going to use a term and feel free to say that?s not it at all?an aesthetic of ellipsis, or of breaking. Sort of?an interruption at every stage. Does that come to fore?

CH: Yes. Bingo. A lot of time there?s a style I?m reading that is pulling into my work. Multiple styles. As a reader (and that?s what it all comes back to) I want to be attentive and detached. One thing that bothers me is this idea, I?m a traditional poet while she?s much more avant, so I can?t publish in that magazine or invest in her work. That attitude is just boring to me. I would ideally like to read poetry blind: no poet name, no magazine name, no press ? just have poems and approach them. I love straight narrative poems, too?I mean Brigit Pegeen Kelly?s ?Song? about a beheaded goat is gorgeous. But for me, a poem isn?t a single story. When I was a kid in my grandmother?s kitchen, someone would start in about the neighbor who shot through Granny?s picture window because of her red curtains (back during the Red Scare); then that got us on Dan?s pet bobcat; or Aunt Annie?s mama beating her outdoors until she married a man 40 years her senior. He had money. None of them needed to get finished because we all knew the endings anyhow. All the while, my mind was in it but wandering to a bird outside or my cousin?s motorcycle I could hear coming from the park. I might have twenty narratives in a forty-line poem: it?s how I?ve moved away from idealized poetry to what matters to me as a writer.

So, I?ve got my stories, tons of them. What I borrow more is syntax. Steal, borrow, steal, borrow?

EV: Steal.

CH: ?Good writers, great writers,? all that bullshit, so I don?t know, maybe I?m borrowing. And you?ll see these tricks of the trade, contemporary modes, like the epistolary that never gets past the salutation: dear this, dear that. I did one of those.

EV: Yeah. The ?moment of recognition.? I guess that segues into another question of narrative, which is, do you feel these narratives haunt you, and continue with them, or are they one-time usages?

CH: I write the same poem over and over again. Who said that? They may shift a little bit, but ultimately they boil down to the same obsessions.

EV: What?s having an immediate influence on you?

CH: Anne Carson?s Nox, Harryette Mullen?s Muse and Drudge, Etheridge Knight, everything Barbara Cully. I also just finished Brenda Hillman?s Death Tractates, and D.A. Powell?s Chronic. And, God help us all, Joan Didion?s Blue Nights. I?m living in the land of elegy and dirge right now.

EV: Can I ask, why the elegy?

CH: Because of the project that?s upcoming. I can?t say too much about that. I?m real spooky in that way, but I can tell you about the second manuscript I just finished.

It?s called Rigging a Chevy into a Time Machine & Other Ways to Escape the Plague. It?s a journey book with an accursed wanderer. It takes place in Appalachia, which is where my people are from on my Dad?s side, going back to before the Revolutionary War. So that?s something that I just finished, which was a huge time consuming thing, and it ends with a coda where the poems try to answer some of Stephen Hawking?s questions about time.

EV: I?ve been asking you about narrative, about these strains of characters, how does sound fit into that?

CH: My father was a musician. My daughter, who is 2, already goes to the piano, and she plays music and sings. Now she?s making it up, but she?s on key, and she can hear immediately if something is in tune. She hears me sing and she puts her hands over my mouth and says, Mommy, don?t sing. Rhythm, for me, comes purely through syntax. I will graft syntax onto my language. I say things over again until they feel right. Or I might play with erasure to get a clotted feel to the rhythm. I feel when it?s loose, and there?s a lot of room. That?s music or rhythm to me but not how someone with a natural ear might talk about it.

EV: So to run with this metaphor: do you feel syntax operates by these density laws?

CH: Yes. Marianne Boruch had a great friggin article, ?Poetry?s Over and Over,? in American Poetry Review where she describes repetition as ?a voiced pause.? You hear it a couple of times and you take in the material, but after a while the refrain is like a spacer: you hear it and relax like into a chorus and wait for new information to come. I?m saying loose when the repetition comes; she would say voiced pause, and I think that?s the way to put it.

Erik Vande Stouwe is content editor for creative writing for NolaVie.

Source: http://nolavie.com/2012/06/an-interview-with-carolyn-hembree-67352.html

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Video: Grand re-opening for Joplin businesses

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40153870/vp/48005274#48005274

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Build-up Your Self Worth Right now! - CareCrunch Answers

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Apple's Siri could do more to protect your privacy:

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New clients receive half off your first massage | Euphoria Health and ...

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Robot beats you at rock-paper-scissors every single time

3 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

When someone claims they're good at rock-paper-scissors, they're usually just trying to psyche you out so they can predict your next move. But this robot, created by the Ishikawa Oku Laboratory in Japan,?doesn't need to psyche you out, because it knows it will beat you every single time.

How can it do it? One thing it certainly doesn't do is any kind of high-level analysis of the game. It doesn't put your last sequence of moves through a complex semantic analysis and try to predict the move. It doesn't use anti-random tactics like "five scissors in a row" to throw you off. All it needs is a high-speed camera and quick reflexes.

Yes, the robot cheats. By watching the image from a camera that can determine the position of your hand every millisecond, it is aware of your move the very moment you make it. And as soon as your hand starts to form that rock, the robot is giving you some paper to wrap it up. At the very end of the video, you can see the tiny delay between the human making a move and the robot reacting ?? but it happens so fast that you wouldn't notice except when shown in slow-motion.

Doesn't seem fair, does it? But since humans can't see or react on a millisecond timescale, such a tactic would never even be considered. It's precisely because reaction time doesn't come into it that rock-paper-scissors?becomes a game of psychology or dumb luck. Similarly, our vision isn't good enough to read a person's cards in the reflection of their eyes, and we're not skillful enough with our hands to control the outcome of dice.

Robots, on the other hand, could be fast enough, far-sighted enough, or precise enough that they could do any of those things. In this case, the robot can think and react in the time it takes you to make your play. Sure it's cheating ?? but it's still quite a trick.

The lab built the setup to show how quickly a robot arm and vision system could accommodate human input; that hand could just as easily be remotely operating in a hostile area or amplifying those movements to pick up construction materials. They have many other interesting?projects along this line documented on their Web?page.

Of course, what everyone wants to know is: What happens if they build a second one and have them play each other?

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

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Video: Are You a Financial Thrill-Seeker?

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Causes Of Childhood Obesity | Education Solutions

Childhood obesity has become a deadly disease in the United States. Nowadays over nine million children over the age of six are thought-about obese. Childhood obesity is caused by many totally different factors together with environmental, social and genetic. This article can discuss every of those causes and what you can do as a parent to forestall obesity in your children.
The atmosphere in which your child lives may contribute to childhood obesity. Nowadays many streets, cities and suburbs are designed to discourage walking and different physical activities. Only regarding 1 child out of each five in the US can participate in some kind of additional-curricular physical activity outside of school.
The slowing down of the US economy and the increase in gas costs is forcing families to cut expenses. One expense that a lot of and a lot of families are curbing on is their grocery bill. They?re purchasing additional convenience foods that are high in fat and have very very little nutritional value. These foods are typically simple to organize or need no preparation at all. The economic slowdown is also effecting the cost of produce. This is often also effecting Yank families as they are not in a position to afford these nutritious foods anymore. Instead they?re turning to canned and processed foods.
Some college districts in the United States are facing severe budget cuts. These districts are forced to chop back their physical teaching programs and after faculty sports. This can be ensuing in fewer opportunities for kids to participate in physical activities.
Leisure time that was once spent outdoors playing today is replaced with video games, DVDs, and over one hundred channels on the television. With a culture that embraces Hannah Montana, and Sesame Street our youngsters are encouraged to observe their favorite tv show rather than meeting friends at a local park for a ball game when school.
As a parent and US client what will you are doing to reverse this trend? You can begin by taking a shut take a look at your family?s budget. Having the ability to afford the healthy and nutritious fruits and vegetables for your kids should be a priority. Ask yourself these questions. What expenses will you narrow? Do you really want those extra a hundred channels on your television? Or wouldn?t it be a lot of helpful to your family?s health if you went back to ?rabbit ears?? Do you need two vehicles? Might you trade one in for a hybrid or a vehicle with a lower monthly payment? Sit down along with your spouse and re-examine all your expenses. Whatever you?re able to cut should be added to your grocery bill. As well as contemporary fruits and vegetables in your kids?s diet is terribly necessary in the prevention of childhood obesity.
Encourage physical activity at home and throughout your neighborhood. Let different families in your neighborhood grasp that for example, on Fridays when faculty the kids are going to play baseball at the park. Make certain each child in the neighborhood is invited. Set some rules in your own home. Tell your children that if they don?t spend a minimum of an hour outside riding their bike, or playing a sport or some other physical activity they will not watch their favorite television show or play their favorite video game.
If your college district is facing budget cuts and the likelihood of curtailing on when school sports or their physical education program go to a higher school board meeting. Speak up at the meeting and tell them that you oppose the concept of such cut backs. Get signatures from different folks who feel the same way. If you speak up the college board may realize a way to stay those programs and cut something else instead.
Continually show a good example. Make certain you?re eating the correct foods and exercising regularly. A kid that is used to seeing their parent sit on the couch all day is going to try and do the identical thing. If you eat convenience foods and McDonald?s repeatedly your child is going to think that is okay as well. Clean out your pantry and find throw out all your junk food. If you?re not exercising on a daily basis be a part of your native YMCA or health and fitness club. Ending this epidemic needs to start in every household in America.

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FDA probes safety issues with metal hip implants

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Metal hip replacements implanted in a half-million Americans may be failing earlier than expected, but it could be years before U.S. health regulators have a clear picture of the scope of the problem.

The Food and Drug Administration holds a two-day meeting starting Wednesday to scrutinize the safety of metal-on-metal hip implants, following years of patient reports of pain and swelling that sometimes requires removal of the devices. It is a challenging, but familiar, predicament for the FDA: reviewing the safety of a device that was expected to be superior, but which may actually be more dangerous than what came before.

For decades nearly all orthopedic implants were made from plastic or ceramic. But in the last 10 years some surgeons began to favor implants made with metal stems and sockets. Laboratory tests suggested the devices would be more resistant to wear and reduce the chances of dislocation.

But recent data gathered by surgeons in the U.K. appears to show just the opposite.

In March, British experts at the world's largest artificial joint registry told doctors to stop using metal-on-metal hip replacements, citing an analysis showing they have to be replaced more often than other implants. Hip replacements are supposed to last between 10 to 15 years, but more than 6 percent of patients with metal hips needed them replaced after less than five years. That compared with just 2 percent of people who had ceramic or plastic joints. Both types of devices are prescribed for people suffering hip pain and limited movement due to arthritis or injury.

British regulators now recommend that people who have the implants get yearly blood tests to make sure no dangerous metals are seeping into their bodies as the components rub against each other.

U.S. regulators have not made any similar recommendations for the estimated 500,000 American patients who have received the devices.

FDA scientists say they want to consider all available information before making their recommendations ? not just the data from the U.K.

"Why look at a single registry when there's data from around the world?" said Dr. William Maisel, FDA's chief scientist for medical devices, in an interview with the Associated Press. "This is an opportunity for us to look at all the available information so that we can have a thoughtful conversation about what clinical recommendations can be made."

Maisel said the FDA is working to combine data from foreign countries and the U.S. to determine which groups of patients and implants are most problematic. On Wednesday and Thursday the FDA will ask a panel of experts to recommend the best practices for monitoring patients with the devices. Panelists will consider blood tests, medical imaging and laboratory tests.

But some U.S. orthopedic specialists say they have already reached their own conclusions about metal hips.

"In my personal opinion there is very little room, if any, for metal-on-metal implants because the alternatives we have on the market are likely safer and as effective," said Dr. Art Sedrakyan, professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

The FDA's deliberative approach to tackling the hip implant issue is in some ways a necessity. Unlike other countries, the U.S. has no national registry to track the performance of implants over time.

The FDA has received 16,800 event reports about metal hips between 2000 and 2011, but regulators stress that number is not very useful. Many doctors do not report problems to the FDA, and the volume of reports is influenced by news reports on safety issues.

A registry set up by Minnesota's HealthEast Care System recorded four times as many replacement surgeries for patients with metal-on-metal hips as those with other implant types. However, a similar registry set up by health care provider Kaiser Permanente found no difference between the two groups.

With little definitive data on U.S. hip implants, the agency has asked manufacturers like Johnson & Johnson, Zimmer Holdings Inc. and Biomet Inc. to conduct long-term, follow-up studies of more than 100 metal-on-metal hips on the U.S. market.

FDA scientists say the studies will help "fill in the blanks" on a number of scientific questions, including the effects of metal particles that often seep into the bloodstream as the implants wear down.

But Sedrakyan and others say it could be a decade or more before that information is available. In a commentary published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, Sedrakyan and two co-authors pointed out those studies must run at least eight years to return the information FDA is seeking. Based on the authors' analysis of FDA records, the FDA has reached agreements on the design of less than 25 percent of the studies, and it's unclear whether any of the studies have actually begun. The FDA notified the companies last May.

The prospect of safety findings arriving in eight or 10 years is little comfort to patients like Mary Weaver, 48, who had both hips replaced with a metal implant from Johnson & Johnson in 2007 and 2008. J&J recalled the ASR hip replacement in 2010, after reports that it was failing in some patients after only a few years after implantation.

Due to increasing pain and elevated metal levels in her blood, Weaver had both implants removed in 2011. She was let go from her job due to the time needed to undergo both surgeries, and is currently unemployed.

"I hope that no one has to go through this ? it's frustrating, it's emotionally draining," said Weaver, who lives in Mt. Jackson, Va. "It's not just hard on you, it's hard on your whole family because your quality of life is not what it used to be."

Like 90 percent of medical devices sold in the U.S., most metal-on-metal hips were approved via the FDA's fast track program for medical devices. Under the so-called 510k system, the agency waives clinical testing requirements for devices which appear similar to others already in use. Since plastic and ceramic hip replacements had been on the market since the 1950s, most metal hip replacements were approved without new clinical testing.

"I am so furious they would use my wife as a lab rat, along with the other 500,000 people who don't have a clue what is happening," said Dwight Schrag, 69, of Bellevue, Wash. Schrag's wife Mary received J&J's ASR hip in 2006 and had it removed due to pain and other side effects in 2010. Schrag is one of a number of public speakers who have signed up to speak at the FDA meeting.

It's not the first time the FDA's fast-track program for clearing devices has come under fire.

Last summer the Institute of Medicine said in a report that the FDA should abandon the 35-year-old system because it provides little assurance that the implants are actually safe. The Institute is composed of medical experts who advise the federal government.

Although the FDA itself requested the report from the Institute, agency officials rejected the group's conclusions, saying the 510k system works well for the vast majority of devices.

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Low vitamin D levels linked to weight gain in some older women

Public release date: 25-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Hylas
chylas@golinharris.com
202-585-2603
Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente study finds most older women have insufficient levels of the 'sunshine vitamin'

Older women with insufficient levels of Vitamin D gained more weight than those with sufficient levels of the vitamin, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published online today in the Journal of Women's Health. The study of more than 4,600 women ages 65 and older found that over nearly five years, those with insufficient levels of Vitamin D in their blood gained about two pounds more than those with adequate levels of the vitamin.

"This is one of the first studies to show that women with low levels of Vitamin D gain more weight, and although it was only two pounds, over time that can add up," said study author Erin LeBlanc, MD, an endocrinologist and researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon. "Nearly 80 percent of women in our study had insufficient levels of Vitamin D. A primary source of this important vitamin is sunlight, and as modern societies move indoors, continuous Vitamin D insufficiency may be contributing to chronic weight gain."

Vitamin D was in the news recently when a panel of primary care experts-- the US Preventive Services Task Force-- said healthy postmenopausal women may need higher doses of the vitamin to prevent fractures, and that there isn't enough evidence to recommend the supplements for younger people. Other expert groups, including The Endocrine Society, have a different take, saying many adults do need Vitamin D supplements to keep their bones healthy. 1

"Our study only shows an association between insufficient levels of Vitamin D and weight gain, we would need to do more studies before recommending the supplements to keep people from gaining weight," LeBlanc said. "Since there are so many conflicting recommendations about taking Vitamin D for any reason, it's best if patients get advice from their own health care provider."

She points out that this study was conducted among older women who, for the most part, were not trying to lose weightthough some of them did so as a natural result of aging. About 60 percent of the 4,659 women in the study remained at a stable weight (within 5 percent of their starting weight) over the 4.5-year study period, 27 percent lost more than 5 percent of their body weight, and 12 percent gained more than 5 percent of their body weight.

Most women in the study (78 percent) had less than 30 nanograms per millimeter (ng/ml) of Vitamin D in their bloodthe level defined as sufficient by The Endocrine Society panel of experts who set clinical guidelines on Vitamin D deficiency. These women had higher baseline weight to begin with: 148.6 pounds, compared with 141.6 pounds for women whose Vitamin D levels were 30 ng/ml or above. Insufficient levels had no association with weight changes in the entire group of women, or in the group that lost weight. But in the group of 571 women who gained weight, those with insufficient Vitamin D levels gained more18.5 pounds over five yearsthan women who had sufficient Vitamin D. The latter group gained 16.4 pounds over the same period.

###

This study is part of a larger project called the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures that has been ongoing for more than two decades. During 1986, SOF enrolled nearly 10,000 women ages 65 and older and tracked their medical history through office and home visits, mailed surveys, and telephone calls. The women are from Baltimore; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; and the Monongahela Valley near Pittsburgh. The SOF study is supported by grants from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute on Aging.

Authors include Erin S. LeBlanc, MD, MPH, Joanne H. Rizzo, MPA, Kathryn L. Pedula, MS, and Teresa A. Hillier MD, MS, from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon; Kristine E. Ensrud, MD, from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Department of Medicine and Division of Epidemiology & Community Health, University of Minnesota in St. Paul; Jane Cauley, MD, Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh; and Marc Hochberg from the Department of Medicine, University of Maryland in Baltimore.

1 The Endocrine Society's Clinical Guidelines for the Evaluation, Treatment and Prevention of Vitamin D Deficiency, pg 21. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, July 2011, 96(7): 1911-1930.

About the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, founded in 1964, is a nonprofit research institution dedicated to advancing knowledge to improve health. It has research sites in Portland, Ore., Honolulu, Hawaii and Atlanta. http://www.kpchr.org

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 9 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/newscenter.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 25-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Hylas
chylas@golinharris.com
202-585-2603
Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente study finds most older women have insufficient levels of the 'sunshine vitamin'

Older women with insufficient levels of Vitamin D gained more weight than those with sufficient levels of the vitamin, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published online today in the Journal of Women's Health. The study of more than 4,600 women ages 65 and older found that over nearly five years, those with insufficient levels of Vitamin D in their blood gained about two pounds more than those with adequate levels of the vitamin.

"This is one of the first studies to show that women with low levels of Vitamin D gain more weight, and although it was only two pounds, over time that can add up," said study author Erin LeBlanc, MD, an endocrinologist and researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon. "Nearly 80 percent of women in our study had insufficient levels of Vitamin D. A primary source of this important vitamin is sunlight, and as modern societies move indoors, continuous Vitamin D insufficiency may be contributing to chronic weight gain."

Vitamin D was in the news recently when a panel of primary care experts-- the US Preventive Services Task Force-- said healthy postmenopausal women may need higher doses of the vitamin to prevent fractures, and that there isn't enough evidence to recommend the supplements for younger people. Other expert groups, including The Endocrine Society, have a different take, saying many adults do need Vitamin D supplements to keep their bones healthy. 1

"Our study only shows an association between insufficient levels of Vitamin D and weight gain, we would need to do more studies before recommending the supplements to keep people from gaining weight," LeBlanc said. "Since there are so many conflicting recommendations about taking Vitamin D for any reason, it's best if patients get advice from their own health care provider."

She points out that this study was conducted among older women who, for the most part, were not trying to lose weightthough some of them did so as a natural result of aging. About 60 percent of the 4,659 women in the study remained at a stable weight (within 5 percent of their starting weight) over the 4.5-year study period, 27 percent lost more than 5 percent of their body weight, and 12 percent gained more than 5 percent of their body weight.

Most women in the study (78 percent) had less than 30 nanograms per millimeter (ng/ml) of Vitamin D in their bloodthe level defined as sufficient by The Endocrine Society panel of experts who set clinical guidelines on Vitamin D deficiency. These women had higher baseline weight to begin with: 148.6 pounds, compared with 141.6 pounds for women whose Vitamin D levels were 30 ng/ml or above. Insufficient levels had no association with weight changes in the entire group of women, or in the group that lost weight. But in the group of 571 women who gained weight, those with insufficient Vitamin D levels gained more18.5 pounds over five yearsthan women who had sufficient Vitamin D. The latter group gained 16.4 pounds over the same period.

###

This study is part of a larger project called the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures that has been ongoing for more than two decades. During 1986, SOF enrolled nearly 10,000 women ages 65 and older and tracked their medical history through office and home visits, mailed surveys, and telephone calls. The women are from Baltimore; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; and the Monongahela Valley near Pittsburgh. The SOF study is supported by grants from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute on Aging.

Authors include Erin S. LeBlanc, MD, MPH, Joanne H. Rizzo, MPA, Kathryn L. Pedula, MS, and Teresa A. Hillier MD, MS, from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon; Kristine E. Ensrud, MD, from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Department of Medicine and Division of Epidemiology & Community Health, University of Minnesota in St. Paul; Jane Cauley, MD, Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh; and Marc Hochberg from the Department of Medicine, University of Maryland in Baltimore.

1 The Endocrine Society's Clinical Guidelines for the Evaluation, Treatment and Prevention of Vitamin D Deficiency, pg 21. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, July 2011, 96(7): 1911-1930.

About the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, founded in 1964, is a nonprofit research institution dedicated to advancing knowledge to improve health. It has research sites in Portland, Ore., Honolulu, Hawaii and Atlanta. http://www.kpchr.org

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 9 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/newscenter.

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Insight: ANC promises ring hollow in home of South Africa greats

ENTSHINGENI, South Africa (Reuters) - First graders huddle to do sums on scraps of paper pressed against a cracked mud wall at Mwezeni Primary School in South Africa's destitute Eastern Cape province.

The school may be located in Africa's wealthiest nation, but there are no chairs, no desks and no work books.

The Eastern Cape, home to giants of the African National Congress like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu who helped end apartheid and Thabo Mbeki, the nation's second democratically elected president, is a glaring example of the ruling party's failure to deliver its promise of a "better life for all".

In Entshingeni village, not far away from where Mandela was raised, a mud hut with a dirt floor serves as a classroom to 79 first and second graders who sit on planks across rickety bench frames in front of a battered chalkboard.

"We are proud of Mr Mandela and Mr Mbeki. They came from this land and went all over the world. What will presidents overseas say if they see how we live?" said David Skwele from Mkanzini village, dressed in a tattered red T-shirt.

The ANC, in power now for 18 years, will hold a major policy conference from Tuesday next week acknowledging that "public services are uneven and often of poor quality; corruption is widespread; and South Africa remains a divided society".

While thousands of schools wait each year for textbooks and many Eastern Cape children are forced to write on loose sheets, the ANC has produced copious reams of policy papers to be studied by about 3,000 delegates at next week's meeting.

The conference is expected to lead to another blizzard of strategy documents on what the ANC calls a "second transition".

This aims to tackle what the party acknowledges as its greatest unfinished business: spreading wealth more widely and equitably in a nation whose levels of economic inequality are still among the highest in the world, a legacy of the political compromises needed to dismantle apartheid, which ended in 1994.

"Continuing with the status quo could lead South Africa into an irreversible downward spiral ... Our political transition was never only about freedom from political bondage," an ANC discussion document prepared for the policy conference says. It refers to "old fissures of race, gender, class and geography".

"GET RID OF THE ROT"

The week-long policy meeting is being held amid signs of acrimonious infighting among senior party figures ahead of another more critical conference at the end of the year which will elect the leadership and adopt strategies. President Jacob Zuma is widely expected to retain the party's top job.

The ANC proposes government taking greater control of the economy, a massive infrastructure program to create jobs and taxing mining firms more to help finance it all.

But a jaded public expect few effective measures from the conference to tackle corruption, mismanagement and cronyism that analysts see corroding governance and competitiveness in Africa's largest economy.

Party insiders insist that the ANC is aware it needs to get its house in order. This means balancing pressure from an increasingly demanding but still marginalized majority against the political clout wielded by a post-apartheid economic elite whose interests are intertwined with the ANC government.

"At 100 years, now is as good a time as any to get rid of the rot festering in the party," said one party official, who asked not to be identified while discussing internal criticism the party tries to keep behind closed doors.

A new book on South Africa by journalists Martin Plaut and Paul Holden, titled "Who rules South Africa? Pulling the strings in the battle for power", describes the country's political, economic and social state as "schizophrenic and disjointed".

"A wealthy now largely multiracial middle and upper class exists in a first world bubble that is miles away from the penury from a bottom half that has seen few gains from the post apartheid period," they wrote.

"MOUSE IN A CHEESE FACTORY"

Education has always been a priority for the ANC and the government spends nearly $1,400 a year on each student. But at hundreds of Eastern Cape schools, it is difficult to see where any of the money has gone.

The classroom shack of the Mkanzini Junior School is so rickety that teachers fear that if they tack up charts on the rusted walls, the structure will collapse.

"On sunny days we boil in here. Look at the big holes, on rainy days we are soaked and on windy days, I am afraid the shack will fall on the kids," said teacher Zoleka Nofonda, 40, who has two grades crammed in the room.

"They come because of the free meal we give them. Sometimes it's the only thing they eat all day."

The ANC, still revered for their role in bringing down apartheid, enjoys virtual one-party rule in South Africa.

In recent elections it has beaten the main opposition Democratic Alliance, largely seen as a party of white privilege in a nation that is 80 percent black, by more than 40 percentage points, although the opposition has made some gains.

Without fear of losing power, the ANC has deployed thousands of party cadres to run villages, towns and cities. But many of the movement's loyalists have proved themselves more skilled at lining their pockets with state funds than at doing their jobs.

"It is like taking a mouse from the bush and making it run a cheese factory," ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told Reuters. He said the party was trying to rectify this.

LOST GENERATION

The delivery deficit is most acute in the Eastern Cape which receives the most funds of any province for welfare spending.

Spending here is pushed higher because the ANC government inherited sprawling "homelands", which were set up by the apartheid regime to concentrate the black majority with almost no infrastructure in designated separate areas of the country.

With poverty so deep in Eastern Cape and a local electorate closely tied to the ANC, few have sought change through the ballot box so far. But other parts of the country saw 372 protests against poor public services between January and May.

"There is very little sophistication from civil society and the electorate to hold leaders accountable," said Derek Luyt from an Eastern Cape think tank, the Public Service and Accountability Monitor.

The central government more than a year ago declared the province's education system an abject failure, and said it would intervene. But entrenched interests in the provincial ANC defied the mother body and kept control of education purse strings.

This meant little improvement for Mwezeni Primary, one of 400 schools made of mud and sticks. More than 2,300 schools in the Eastern Cape have six teachers or less.

But according to government statistics, the Eastern Cape overspends on teachers by up to $120 million a year, and civil society activists suspect the money is going to corrupt officials instead of personnel in classrooms.

"Eastern Cape has a long history of inequality and poor bureaucracy inherited from the former homelands. It's a province using old systems, where corruption and mismanagement thrives," said Yoliswa Dwane from the Equal Education advocacy group.

Nearly half of South Africa's 18 to 24 year olds - the first generation educated after apartheid - are not in the education system and have no jobs, according to government data.

This "lost" generation is seen as a weakness in Africa's largest economy which is trying to grow its tax base as it funds increased social spending.

'GHOST' WORKERS, REAL SHORTAGES

As in education, corruption is also seen eating away at resources needed to boost the health sector. Horror stories of the Eastern Cape's health woes have become a staple of media.

In May, an elite body set up to investigate corruption in the provincial government uncovered suspected graft amounting to $24 million.

In 2011, the provincial health department said nearly $100 million had "vanished" from January 2009 to June 2010 with about $54 million going to so-called 'ghost staff' who drew a paycheck and did no work, the regional Daily Dispatch reported.

Heading towards the sea on a rugged track lies Madwaleni Hospital, built by missionaries in the 1960s and staffed by foreigners because even lucrative stipends offered by the government have not proved enough to attract South African doctors.

"We are always experiencing a shortage of something. Sometimes it is medicine, sometimes it is gloves but our worst is a shortage of doctors and nurses," said a foreign doctor who did not want to be identified while discussing the hospital's shortcomings.

Human Rights Watch said in a 2011 survey that Eastern Cape had some of the worst health indicators in South Africa, including high infant, child, and maternal mortality rates.

Nofinish Nqata, 63, lives in a traditional white-washed Xhosa hut in Ngqamakhwe village in Butterworth, on land allocated to her by the local chief.

The village has no electricity or telephones. Families use pit latrines and walk long distances to collect water.

"The water we drink we share with pigs, cows and donkeys. Some people use the river banks as their toilets and when it rains it washes into the water supply."

Once a die-hard ANC loyalist, Nqata has taken the bold step of joining the Democratic Alliance.

"It hurts so much because the old men Sisulu and (former ANC president Oliver) Tambo are no longer alive and the ones who took over the baton don't share the vision the stalwarts who fought for democracy had. They care about themselves and their pockets, not us." ($1 = 8.2215 South African rand)

(Editing by Jon Herskovitz, Pascal Fletcher and Peter Graff)

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Finding Public Sector Jobs Available | Self Improvement Blogs from ...

Folk have always seen individuals who are working for the govt. as individuals that are actually earning a lot of money and that is the reason why many of them would like to land a state job. The truth is that these jobs will not be posted in the local papers or local magazines and people must look for them in other places, like the internet for instance. The majority of the times they will be posted either on the official webpage of the employer (govt.) or in similar places.

The Government jobs available are also not so many and their obligations vary rather a lot , dependent on the sector. As an example, someone who would like to land a job and work as an internal income office will mainly handle collecting late taxes. Before they?ll begin working as one, they are going to need to go through a specialised training and the pleasant news is that their position allows them to advance in their career.

People who are trying to find such a job or any other government job should really go online as stated earlier, because there additionally are some job sites that may feature government job listings. For instance, if they will choose to go on www.jobsearch.com.au they will be able to send their application to the various executive employment listings then and there just play the waiting game. The governing body is quite serious and reactive to people?s applications and that is the reason why they will always provide fast feedback.

This way, the candidates will know if they have been selected for the job or just have to feel forced longer and wait for an answer.

Working for the govt. anyone can turn their life around and not worry ever again about paying debts and cutting on the quality of the food they are eating.

Mark Read is the Managing Director of www.jobsearch.com.au, One of Australia?s top 5 job aggregation web sites in Australia. With 1 or 2 thousand roles available in all sectors of the Employment Market regionally or nationally. Check out thousands of roles and look for your new career today.

Leon Edward helps people in Personal and Career Growth, leadership Development, Goal Setting, Success, Motivation, Self-Improvement, Happiness, Memory Improvement, Stress Reduction and more through his articles, blog posts and special reports . Join Leon Edwards Awesome Success Free, Get his personal success, development and growth weekly newsletter as well as success classics and tips on attracting success and wealth. Visit his Success-Leadership Library, Articles at http://www.AwesomeSuccess.org Leon Edward also helps people improve IQ, focus, memory, concentration, creativity, speed reading, public speaking , time management and reducing stress. Download his IQ Mind Brain Memory Self-Help library at his website http://www.IQMindBrainLibrary.comLeon Edward helps people improve in Leadership Development, Goal Setting, Success, Motivation, Self-Improvement, Happiness, Memory Improvement, Stress Reduction and more through his articles, blog posts and special reports . Join Leon Edwards Awesome Success Free, Get his personal development training, success and growth weekly newsletter as well as success classics and tips on attracting success and wealth. Visit his Success-Leadership Library, Articles at http://www.AwesomeSuccess.org

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'Brave': The Reviews Are In!

Pixar's first female-driven adventure leaves many satisfied, but doesn't quite meet the studio's storied standards, according to the critics.
By Josh Wigler

Merida in "Brave"
Photo:

Between "The Hunger Games" and "Marvel's The Avengers," 2012 is rapidly becoming the year of the archer — and another bow-wielder joins the fray this weekend in "Brave," Pixar's latest effort and first feature film led by a female protagonist.

"Boardwalk Empire" actress Kelly Macdonald supplies the voice of Merida, a princess who does everything possible to resist her fate in a male-driven medieval society. She does not want to be married off to some noble she doesn't care about; she wants to pursue her own path, living freely with her treasured bow and arrow at her side. But circumstances eventually change for Merida, leading her down a path that even she couldn't have envisioned for herself.

By many accounts, "Brave" continues Pixar's trend of highly regarded flicks that please both adults and children alike — but not by all accounts. Some critics believe "Brave" doesn't quite meet Pixar's storied standards, resulting in a film that falls short of its potential. Keep reading for a selection of reviews for "Brave," opening in theaters nationwide Friday (June 22).

The Story
"A strong-willed lass, Merida exasperates her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), with her pronounced lack of interest in daintiness, needlework, gentleman callers, and all other forms of stereotypical feminine activity. She charms her burly, good, but somewhat galumphy father, King Fergus (Billy Connolly, who else?), for the same reason. (She's also a role model for her tiny triplet brothers, spunky mischief-makers with their own heads of matching ginger squiggles.) Merida's passion is for the archery at which she excels — she loves loves loves the thrill of it. Still, as Mama continues to push her daughter toward betrothal to a suitable lord for the good of the kingdom, Merida pushes back, hard, until in her rebellion she finds a witch (Julie Walters) who can cast a spell to change her woeful female fate." — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Power of the Princess
"In addition to being fast, funny, and unpretentious, 'Brave' is a happy antidote to all the recent films in which women triumph by besting men at their own macho games, as if the history of male dominance is one of patriarchs suppressing females' essential warlike nature. Merida wants nothing more than to control her own fate, her rage provoked by the refusal of her mother— -- for whom duty and subservience are paramount — to see the world through her eyes. Why surrender her will to silly, drunken, endlessly combative men when there's so much to see and do? Her boo-boo at least has the effect of giving her and her mother a common cause, which is certainly a more direct route to mutual understanding than tens of thousands of dollars of therapy." — David Edelstein, New York

The "Brave" Look
"Many aspects of 'Brave' remind us, at a glance, why Pixar rules the American animation game. Production designer Steve Pilcher's landscapes are nearly photo-realistic, but with a welcome touch of poetry; likewise, the director of photography for lighting, Danielle Feinberg, pours on the golden sunlight (and when it hits that red hair of Merida's — wow!) but pays close attention to the shadows and the rough-hewn menace of Merida's quest." — Michael Phillips, The Chicago Tribune

An All-Too-Familiar Tale
"The good news is that the kids will probably love it, and the bad news is that parents will be disappointed if they're hoping for another Pixar groundbreaker. Unlike such brightly original films as 'Toy Story,' 'Finding Nemo,' 'WALL-E' and 'Up,' this one finds Pixar poaching on traditional territory of Disney, its corporate partner. We get a spunky princess; her mum, the queen; her dad, the gruff king; an old witch who lives in the woods, and so on." — Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times

The Final Word
" 'Brave' is gorgeous to look at — as usual, the 3D accentuates without being overbearing, and there are moments that offer some of the most photorealistic tableaux I've ever seen in an animated film — and features a strong script that avoids the third-act pitfalls that have plagued previous Pixar projects. Whether you're a fan of great animation, or just jonesing for another arrow-slinging heroine until the next 'Hunger Games' sequel comes out, brave the crowds for this one." — Alonso Duradle, The Wrap

Will you be seeing "Brave" this weekend? Tell us your plans in the comments below!

Check out everything we've got on "Brave."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Video: Obama promises to fight for Latinos

>>> was in florida today rallying an audience of latinos with a promise to fight for them in the wake of a major policy change announced last week. that executive order stops the deportation of undocumented immigrants who came to the u.s. as children. the president fired back at critics who say he over stepped his bounds.

>> so to those who are saying congress should be the one to fix this? absolutely. for those who say we should do this in a bipartisan fashion? absolutely. my door has been open for three and a half years. they know where to find me.

>> mitt romney addressed the same group yesterday and accused the president of pandering to latino voters with the deportation move.

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in the Family - Blog

June 20, 2012 ? Filed under Family Fun, Gardening, Summer Activities ? Tagged butterflies, butterfly feeder, butterfly garden, family fun, gardening, hummingbird garden, hummingbird house, hummingbirds, Planter's Palette, summer fun, Warrenville Park District

Now is a great time to get your family involved and transform your garden into a place that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds so you can enjoy these visitors together.

Butterfly and hummingbird gardens provide beautiful plants (that also happen to produce nectar), offer a great learning opportunity for kids, and help replace habitats that have been lost to construction of homes, roads, and farms.

Gardens can be as small as a window box or as large as a wild untended area on your property ? your winged visitors don?t really care.

Start with an area that gets at least six hours of sun, add colorful flowers and leafy ?host plants? that attract egg-laying butterflies and provide food for the larvae, then sit back and watch!

It?s best to choose a variety of plants that will bloom at various times throughout the growing season, especially mid- to late summer, so you have a steady stream of visitors.

?The number one hummingbird plant is salvia black and blue; it?s awesome and it?s not even red!? says? Diana Stoll, garden center manager at Planter?s Palette in Winfield.

For information on other plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds, visit Planter?s Palette?s Web site and look for these flyers: Plants that Attract Hummingbirds, Annuals & Herbs that Attract Butterflies, and Perennials that Attract Butterflies.

Avoid using pesticides around butterfly and hummingbird plants, which, if ingested, could sicken or kill the insects and birds.

And, if you want to get fancy, you can always add accessories, like a butterfly or hummingbird house, or feeders.

To create your own butterfly feeder, drill a very small hole in the top of a jar (like a baby food jar) and fill it with a mixture of 10% sugar and 90% warm water. Glue some colorful fabric petals on the top of the lid. Hang your feeder in or near your butterfly garden. Change the food frequently, especially in hot weather, to avoid mold.

To build a hummingbird house, follow these directions from ehow.com.

If you get started now, you can have a yard full of butterflies and hummingbirds in no time, and they?ll stay with you throughout the growing season!

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