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[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by AtLast

When I worked in foster care supervised visits were never at the home. The parent came to a visitation site and interacted with their kids and there was always a therapist or social worker in the room for the duration of the visit. Also, other people working in the office were present. Sometimes, when the kids were going to be re-united with a parent within a time frame, visits took place at somewhere like a McDonalds or public park. Again, the entire time was supervised.

I was totally taken back by any such visitation with a parent that was a suspect in the murder of the kid's mother and had just been ordered (week before) to take a polygraph and have a psychiatric evaluation! That is just nuts! The police had also just found child porn on the guys computer and these kids had dropped hints to their grandparents about their mother being in the trunk of a car! What the hell was going on with this judge? I don't think that this guy should have had access (supervised or otherwise0 at this point- certainly not until the evaluations were done and reported to the court.

I saw on 20/20 (or Dateline?) the other night that at first the visits were at a supervised visitation center. He progressed to visits in his own home. But yes, I agree with you that it is insane that he was allowed to see them at home with all the questions about him on the table.

As an aside, my understanding is that what they found on his computer was computer generated depictions of incestuous parent/child relations...not real images.

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by UofMfan

Whitney Houston Dead: Singer Dies At 48 ~ HuffPo

So sad! I loved her, pre Bobby.

[Cin]

Study proves Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice Through Right-Wing Ideology

Conservatism Thrives on Low Intelligence

Calling Conservatives Stupid, The Daily Mail, in a Dazzling Display of Intellectual Prowess, Bites the Hand that Feeds It

The Daily Mail Article: Right-Wingers are Less Intelligent than Left-Wingers

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

I saw on 20/20 (or Dateline?) the other night that at first the visits were at a supervised visitation center. He progressed to visits in his own home. But yes, I agree with you that it is insane that he was allowed to see them at home with all the questions about him on the table.

As an aside, my understanding is that what they found on his computer was computer generated depictions of incestuous parent/child relations...not real images.

Yes, computer generated. But, I would have a problem with him around the kids due to these- but more so with his father's impact on him.

It is just weird that the visits were not reverted to visitations at a center after the last court date- just as a precaution.

Something that I have also been thinking about (and have seen back when I worked in agencies) is the possibility of race being part of why the justice system was not paying attention to red flags with this guy. He was white, educated, well groomed and had no prior record. He did, however have flat affect (saw his interviews last year on the first dateline episode about him).In fact, my guess is if he were a POC, the psych eval would have been required prior to supervised, on site visits. I have seen this far too many times to not wonder about it- and stats demonstrate how white's are far more often given visitation in the child welfare system.

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by AtLast

Yes, computer generated. But, I would have a problem with him around the kids due to these- but more so with his father's impact on him.

It is just weird that the visits were not reverted to visitations at a center after the last court date- just as a precaution.

I absolutely agree with you.

Something that I have also been thinking about (and have seen back when I worked in agencies) is the possibility of race being part of why the justice system was not paying attention to red flags with this guy. He was white, educated, well groomed and had no prior record. He did, however have flat affect (saw his interviews last year on the first dateline episode about him).In fact, my guess is if he were a POC, the psych eval would have been required prior to supervised, on site visits. I have seen this far too many times to not wonder about it- and stats demonstrate how white's are far more often given visitation in the child welfare system.

Interesting. Very. I have never worked in the child welfare system, so I have no sense of this. What studies are you referring to? Percentage of POC versus caucasian who had to take psych evals prior to visitation? Or what do you mean when you say caucasians are given visitation more often? I am not asking for a specific study (of course!)

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

Interesting. Very. I have never worked in the child welfare system, so I have no sense of this. What studies are you referring to? Percentage of POC versus caucasian who had to take psych evals prior to visitation? Or what do you mean when you say caucasians are given visitation more often? I am not asking for a specific study (of course!)

I remember here in CA, data compiled from CPS records on court decided visitations and the number of POC either getting supervised visitation or getting kids back as compared to caucasians. This was a few years back and conducted after complaints taken by legal aid agencies trying to see if there were differences based upon race. Economic status was a variable considered as well. There was a statistically significant difference found with whites getting kids returned to them and having supervised visitation sooner and more often. I don't know what kinds of data collection or comparisons have been done recently- I didn't stay in the child welfare public system.

I have no idea if this could be applied to the Powell case at all. I was just thinking about what in the world could have happened in this case and also the shuffling between agencies and systems that might have contributed to just how dangerous he was (and the triggers piling up for him) or non-cordination of information within the system. if I remember correctly, this case also began in one state and ended in another (Utah to washington).

Things always seen to fall into outside observer bias or 20-20 hindsight when these things happen, however. So damn difficult to make sense about how things seemed to fall through the cracks and these kids were put into danger.

[Kobi]

When I read about this....the history of Enron and their "unique" business practices designed to maximum profits thru carefully planned, man made shortages comes to mind.

--------------------------------------
Two Congressmen introduced bipartisan legislation to address prescription drug shortages last week. The Drug Shortage Prevention Act would create a ‘Critical Drug List’ that would identify drugs that are susceptible to shortage, and require the FDA to develop a system to notify the public if a medicine is added to the list.

The bill would also require the FDA to inform distributors of an upcoming shortage so they can prevent secondary buyers from trying to collect drugs and sell them on the ‘grey market’ for higher prices. Distributors would also be able to reallocate supplies to delay and ease the effects of a shortage.

This bill marks the latest step in government efforts to respond to drug shortages, following an executive order that President Obama signed last October. Obama directed the FDA to speed up new manufacturing facilities’ reviews and encourage manufacturers to report shortages sooner so that limited drug supplies can be more effectively managed to prevent a drug shortage from becoming a crisis.

And while it is a positive sign that the issue of drug shortages are being taken seriously, these measures are only just a start. Drug shortages have become a growing and critical problem in America. In 2011, there were a record-high 267 new prescription drug shortages. This is 56 more than in 2010, when there were 211, and more than four times greater than the number of medication shortages in 2004, when just 58 drug shortages were reported.

The worsening drug shortage problem impacts patient care, especially in hospitals, as chemotherapy, surgery and care for patients with pain and infections are disrupted as a result of a lack of critical medicines. At least 15 deaths have been blamed on drug shortages in the past year.

The shortages have also delayed clinical trials that compare new, experimental drugs to older ones, and have led to extraordinary price extortion, causing many hospitals to have to pay extremely large markups for limited drugs.

The FDA says the shortages are primarily a result of manufacturing deficiencies that lead to production shutdowns. They are also caused by companies that end production of drugs that have small profit margins, consolidation in the generic drug industry, and not enough supplies of some ingredients.

While a lack of cancer drugs have been one of the most significant drug shortages, shortages have also been reported for drugs used to treat heart disease, central nervous system conditions, infection and pain. The IMS Institute, which provides information services for the health care industry, found that more than 80 percent of the products in short supply are generic, forcing patients looking for substitutes to get the brand-name drug and a higher co-payment.

Unfortunately, not many of the current shortages will be resolved soon, due to several key manufacturers that have had to shut down production because of contamination or other quality problems. Some medicines may only have one other manufacturer, which lacks the the capability to fill the gap immediately or entirely.

We must address the critical issue of drug shortages seriously and immediately in order to be most responsive to the well-being of patients generally and their ability to access life-saving medications as quickly as possible. It is important to address the complex set of manufacturing issues while continuing to encourage a market that promotes accessibility for these products. Health care providers and manufacturers can ascertain alternative treatment more effectively by tackling predicted drug shortage incidences early in the process.

Further, we must address and stop price gouging by secondary wholesalers. This jeopardizes patient safety, as it is impossible to guarantee that the medicines obtained by providers in this way have been handled in a way that maintains product integrity.

The pharmaceutical industry has worked hard to take proactive steps to address this problem thus far. The industry has worked closely with FDA and supply chain partners to address disruptions in availability of medicines as fast as possible. The industry is making continual investments in manufacturing processes to improve quality control, along with investments to constantly improvement technology to prevent future disruptions from happening.

Last month, the pharmaceutical industry introduced the Drug Shortages Resource Center. This site provides information about shortages, offers steps to take if affected by a shortage, provides links to FDA’s shortages page, and additional resources that provide guidance about this issue. This is the most recent example of the industry’s preemptive efforts to ensure the public is aware of any shortages, and offer steps they can take in case of unavailability.

The health care industry is deeply concerned with ensuring that patients have access to medicines. Pharmaceutical companies have demonstrated their commitment to maintaining good manufacturing practices and continuing to work closely and collaboratively with the FDA, providers and patients.

It is imperative that we seek a more thorough understanding of the many circumstances that can lead to a drug shortage as various industry stakeholders try to identify significant ways to help lessen, ease and address this serious problem. We must work together to protect availability and access to medicines.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougscho...-in-america/2/

[Kobi]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- McDonald's Corp. said Monday it will require its U.S. pork suppliers to provide plans by May to phase out crates that tightly confine pregnant sows, a move that one animal rights group predicted would have "a seismic impact" on the industry.

The U.S. pork industry generates sales of about $21 billion a year, according to the National Pork Producers Council. McDonald's, with its Sausage McMuffin, McRib sandwich and breakfast platters, is one of the largest U.S. buyers of pork products, consuming about 1 percent of the nation's total production.

The fast food chain announced its decision in a joint statement with the Humane Society of the United States, which hailed it as a major victory in its fight against so-called gestation crates. The animal welfare group has been pushing legislation in several states to outlaw the crates that severely limit animals' movement.

Full Story

[MsDemeanor]

Originally Posted by Kobi

When I read about this....the history of Enron and their "unique" business practices designed to maximum profits thru carefully planned, man made shortages comes to mind.

I bet you'll never see Viagra on the list....

[*Anya*]

Originally Posted by MsDemeanor

I bet you'll never see Viagra on the list....

Truer words have never been spoken.

[Cin]

The GOP Plan To Give Your Boss "Moral" Control Over Your Health Insurance

[Hollylane]

Originally Posted by Miss Tick

The GOP Plan To Give Your Boss "Moral" Control Over Your Health Insurance

)(@#()$*@#)#!!! <-- That is the least violent thing I have to say about these morally objectionable pieces of slime.

[SoNotHer]

Originally Posted by Hollylane

)(@#()$*@#)#!!! <-- That is the least violent thing I have to say about these morally objectionable pieces of slime.

I begin to worry that we are now just moving around bad ideas like a nut in a nut-in-shell game.

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by Miss Tick

The GOP Plan To Give Your Boss "Moral" Control Over Your Health Insurance

Moral objection......without even the need for explanation.......now this gives new meaning to "morality is bad for your health and wellbeing".

We need to commission a new study for the search for the errant morality gene in republican hosts.

[SoNotHer]

when people are literary worked to the point of chronic dehydration and kidney failure.


Mystery Disease In Central America Kills Thousands

By FILADELFO ALEMAN and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN 02/12/12 12:00 AM ET AP


CHICHIGALPA, Nicaragua -- Jesus Ignacio Flores started working when he was 16, laboring long hours on construction sites and in the fields of his country's biggest sugar plantation. Three years ago his kidneys started to fail and flooded his body with toxins. He became too weak to work, wracked by cramps, headaches and vomiting.

On Jan. 19 he died on the porch of his house. He was 51. His withered body was dressed by his weeping wife, embraced a final time, then carried in the bed of a pickup truck to a grave on the edge of Chichigalpa, a town in Nicaragua's sugar-growing heartland, where studies have found more than one in four men showing symptoms of chronic kidney disease.

A mysterious epidemic is devastating the Pacific coast of Central America, killing more than 24,000 people in El Salvador and Nicaragua since 2000 and striking thousands of others with chronic kidney disease at rates unseen virtually anywhere else. Scientists say they have received reports of the phenomenon as far north as southern Mexico and as far south as Panama.

Last year it reached the point where El Salvador's health minister, Dr. Maria Isabel Rodriguez, appealed for international help, saying the epidemic was undermining health systems. Wilfredo Ordonez, who has harvested corn, sesame and rice for more than 30 years in the Bajo Lempa region of El Salvador, was hit by the chronic disease when he was 38. Ten years later, he depends on dialysis treatments he administers to himself four times a day.

"This is a disease that comes with no warning, and when they find it, it's too late," Ordonez said as he lay on a hammock on his porch. Many of the victims were manual laborers or worked in sugar cane fields that cover much of the coastal lowlands. Patients, local doctors and activists say they believe the culprit lurks among the agricultural chemicals workers have used for years with virtually none of the protections required in more developed countries. But a growing body of evidence supports a more complicated and counterintuitive hypothesis.

The roots of the epidemic, scientists say, appear to lie in the grueling nature of the work performed by its victims, including construction workers, miners and others who labor hour after hour without enough water in blazing temperatures, pushing their bodies through repeated bouts of extreme dehydration and heat stress for years on end. Many start as young as 10. The punishing routine appears to be a key part of some previously unknown trigger of chronic kidney disease, which is normally caused by diabetes and high-blood pressure, maladies absent in most of the patients in Central America.

"The thing that evidence most strongly points to is this idea of manual labor and not enough hydration," said Daniel Brooks, a professor of epidemiology at Boston University's School of Public Health, who has worked on a series of studies of the kidney disease epidemic. Because hard work and intense heat alone are hardly a phenomenon unique to Central America, some researchers will not rule out manmade factors. But no strong evidence has turned up. "I think that everything points away from pesticides," said Dr. Catharina Wesseling, an occupational and environmental epidemiologist who also is regional director of the Program on Work, Health and Environment in Central America. "It is too multinational; it is too spread out.

"I would place my bet on repeated dehydration, acute attacks everyday. That is my bet, my guess, but nothing is proved." Dr. Richard J. Johnson, a kidney specialist at the University of Colorado, Denver, is working with other researchers investigating the cause of the disease. They too suspect chronic dehydration. "This is a new concept, but there's some evidence supporting it," Johnson said. "There are other ways to damage the kidney. Heavy metals, chemicals, toxins have all been considered, but to date there have been no leading candidates to explain what's going on in Nicaragua ... "As these possibilities get exhausted, recurrent dehydration is moving up on the list."

In Nicaragua, the number of annual deaths from chronic kidney disease more than doubled in a decade, from 466 in 2000 to 1,047 in 2010, according to the Pan American Health Organization, a regional arm of the World Health Organization. In El Salvador, the agency reported a similar jump, from 1,282 in 2000 to 2,181 in 2010. Farther down the coast, in the cane-growing lowlands of northern Costa Rica, there also have been sharp increases in kidney disease, Wesseling said, and the Pan American body's statistics show deaths are on the rise in Panama, although at less dramatic rates. While some of the rising numbers may be due to better record-keeping, scientists have no doubt they are facing something deadly and previously unknown to medicine.

In nations with more developed health systems, the disease that impairs the kidney's ability to cleanse the blood is diagnosed relatively early and treated with dialysis in medical clinics. In Central America, many of the victims treat themselves at home with a cheaper but less efficient form of dialysis, or go without any dialysis at all. At a hospital in the Nicaraguan town of Chinandega, Segundo Zapata Palacios sat motionless in his room, bent over with his head on the bed. "He no longer wants to talk," said his wife, Enma Vanegas. His levels of creatinine, a chemical marker of kidney failure, were 25 times the normal amount. His family told him he was being hospitalized to receive dialysis. In reality, the hope was to ease his pain before his inevitable death, said Carmen Rios, a leader of Nicaragua's Association of Chronic Kidney Disease Patients, a support and advocacy group. "There's already nothing to do," she said. "He was hospitalized on Jan. 23 just waiting to die."

Zapata Palacios passed away on Jan. 26. He was 49.

Working with scientists from Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua, Wesseling tested groups on the coast and compared them with groups who had similar work habits and exposure to pesticide but lived and worked more than 500 meters (1,500 feet) above sea level. Some 30 percent of coastal dwellers had elevated levels of creatinine, strongly suggesting environment rather than agrochemicals was to blame, Brooks, the epidemiologist, said. The study is expected to be published in a peer-reviewed journal in coming weeks. Brooks and Johnson, the kidney specialist, said they have seen echoes of the Central American phenomenon in reports from hot farming areas in Sri Lanka, Egypt and the Indian east coast. "We don't really know how widespread this is," Brooks said. "This may be an under-recognized epidemic." Jason Glaser, co-founder of a group working to help victims of the epidemic in Nicaragua, said he and colleagues also have begun receiving reports of mysterious kidney disease among sugar cane workers in Australia.

Despite the growing consensus among international experts, Elsy Brizuela, a doctor who works with an El Salvadoran project to treat workers and research the epidemic, discounts the dehydration theory and insists "the common factor is exposure to herbicides and poisons." Nicaragua's highest rates of chronic kidney disease show up around the Ingenio San Antonio, a plant owned by the Pellas Group conglomerate, whose sugar mill processes nearly half the nation's sugar. Flores and Zapata Palacios both worked at the plantation. According to one of Brooks' studies, about eight years ago the factory started providing electrolyte solution and protein cookies to workers who previously brought their own water to work. But the study also found that some workers were cutting sugar cane for as long as 9 1/2 hours a day with virtually no break and little shade in average temperatures of 30 C (87 F).

In 2006, the plantation, owned by one of the country's richest families, received $36.5 million in loans from the International Finance Corp., the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, to buy more land, expand its processing plant and produce more sugar for consumers and ethanol production. In a statement, the IFC said it had examined the social and environmental impacts of its loans as part of a due diligence process and did not identify kidney disease as something related to the sugar plantation's operations. Nonetheless, the statement said, "we are concerned about this disease that affects not only Nicaragua but other countries in the region, and will follow closely any new findings." Ariel Granera, a spokesman for the Pellas' business conglomerate, said that starting as early as 1993 the company had begun taking a wide variety of precautions to avoid heat stress in its workers, from starting their shifts very early in the morning to providing them with many gallons of drinking water per day. Associated Press reporters saw workers bringing water bottles from their homes, which they refilled during the day from large cylinders of water in the buses that bring them to the fields. Glaser, the co-founder of the activist group in Nicaragua, La Isla Foundation, said that nonetheless many worker protections in the region are badly enforced by the companies and government regulators, particularly measures to stop workers with failing kidneys from working in the cane fields owned by the Pellas Group and other companies. Many workers disqualified by tests showing high levels of creatinine go back to work in the fields for subcontractors with less stringent standards, he said. Some use false IDs, or give their IDs to their healthy sons, who then pass the tests and go work in the cane fields, damaging their kidneys. "This is the only job in town," Glaser said. "It's all they're trained to do. It's all they know." The Ingenio San Antonio mill processes cane from more than 24,000 hectares (60,000 acres) of fields, about half directly owned by the mill and most of the rest by independent farmers.

The trade group for Nicaragua's sugar companies said the Boston University study had confirmed that "the agricultural sugar industry in Nicaragua has no responsibility whatsoever for chronic renal insufficiency in Nicaragua" because the research found that "in the current body of scientific knowledge there is no way to establish a direct link between sugar cane cultivation and renal insufficiency." Brooks, the epidemiologist at Boston University, told the AP that the study simply said there was no definitive scientific proof of the cause, but that all possible connections remained open to future research.

In comparison with Nicaragua, where thousands of kidney disease sufferers work for large sugar estates, in El Salvador many of them are independent small farmers. They blame agricultural chemicals and few appear to have significantly changed their work habits in response to the latest research, which has not received significant publicity in El Salvador. In Nicaragua, the dangers are better known, but still, workers need jobs. Zapata Palacios left eight children. Three of them work in the cane fields.

Two already show signs of disease.

[Cin]

Pretty soon we can just turn our taxes straight over to corporations and cut out government as middle man.

In exchange for keeping at least a 90 percent occupancy rate, the private prison company Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has sent a letter to 48 states offering to manage their prisons for the low price of $250 million per year. Story

[Cin]

Have Bees Become Our Canaries in the Coal Mine?
Why Massive Bee Dieoffs May Be a Warning About Our Own Health.
What scientists are beginning to understand about the cause of colony collapse could be a message for all of us.

[dykeumentary]

Originally Posted by Miss Tick

Pretty soon we can just turn our taxes straight over to corporations and cut out government as middle man.

In exchange for keeping at least a 90 percent occupancy rate, the private prison company Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has sent a letter to 48 states offering to manage their prisons for the low price of $250 million per year. Story

Nightmare.
Doubleplusungood.

[LeftWriteFemme]

Okay, I had not heard of this community before, have any of you??

Eunuch gangs clash, 2 hurt
TNN Jan 13, 2012, 04.18AM IST
Tags:
Vastrapur police|Sonia De
AHMEDABAD: A fight for territorial dominance pitted two eunuch groups against each other in the city on Thursday. Both groups accused each other of trespassing into their jurisdiction. One group has filed a police complaint for physical assault.

According to Vastrapur police, the incident took place at 12.30 pm on Thursday as a group led by Renuka De, 32, a resident of Garibnagar, Behrampura, went to various shops in Vastrapur and began demanding money. When the other group, led by Rafaqat Husain alias Nitu De, a resident of Delhi Chakla, came to know about it, they rushed to the spot in an autorickshaw and started arguing with them.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...de-s-vastrapur



Definition of Hijra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_%28South_Asia%29

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by AtLast

When I worked in foster care supervised visits were never at the home. The parent came to a visitation site and interacted with their kids and there was always a therapist or social worker in the room for the duration of the visit. Also, other people working in the office were present. Sometimes, when the kids were going to be re-united with a parent within a time frame, visits took place at somewhere like a McDonalds or public park. Again, the entire time was supervised.

I was totally taken back by any such visitation with a parent that was a suspect in the murder of the kid's mother and had just been ordered (week before) to take a polygraph and have a psychiatric evaluation! That is just nuts! The police had also just found child porn on the guys computer and these kids had dropped hints to their grandparents about their mother being in the trunk of a car! What the hell was going on with this judge? I don't think that this guy should have had access (supervised or otherwise0 at this point- certainly not until the evaluations were done and reported to the court.

When I was in the system, that's how they did it too. My parents had to come see me where I was and it was 'semi' supervised. Basically, we stood in the front yard and talked.

I do just have to point one thing out in the name of being accurate. The 'porn' found on his computer was CG and not of 'real' people. So, because of that, it is not categorized as 'child porn'. I think that puts it in a whole different category too, in terms of 'seriousness', although sadly...we're aware of just how serious things were at this point.

I'm really frustrated with how lazy the system's gotten over the years. I realize that it's stretched to capacity but there's GOT to be a better way. Those kids should still be here.