19 August 2009

CDC says life expectancy in US up, deaths not

8/19/2009

ATLANTA – U.S. life expectancy has risen to a new high, now standing at nearly 78 years, the government reported Wednesday. The increase is due mainly to falling death rates in almost all the leading causes of death. The average life expectancy for babies born in 2007 is nearly three months greater than for children born in 2006...

 

...Life expectancy is the period a child born in 2007 is expected to live, assuming mortality trends stay constant. U.S. life expectancy has grown nearly one and a half years in the past decade, and is now at an all-time-high...

 

...The CDC report found that the number of deaths and the overall death rate dropped from 2006 — to about 760 deaths per 100,000 people from about 776. The death rate has been falling for eight straight years, and is half of what it was 60 years ago.

 

Heart disease and cancer together are the cause of nearly half of U.S. fatalities. The death rate from heart disease dropped nearly 5 percent in 2007, and the cancer death rate fell nearly 2 percent, according to the report.

 

The HIV death rate dropped 10 percent, the biggest one-year decline in 10 years...

 

...The diabetes death rate fell about 4 percent, allowing Alzheimer's disease to surpass diabetes to become the sixth leading cause of death...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090819/ap_on_he_me/us_med_life_expectancy

 Impossible! We don't have national health care yet!

 

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show...
August 17, 2009
Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

 

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

 

"You can just engineer a crime scene," said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. "Any biology undergraduate could perform this."

 

Dr. Frumkin is a founder of Nucleix, a company based in Tel Aviv that has developed a test to distinguish real DNA samples from fake ones that it hopes to sell to forensics laboratories.

 

The planting of fabricated DNA evidence at a crime scene is only one implication of the findings. A potential invasion of personal privacy is another.

 

Using some of the same techniques, it may be possible to scavenge anyone's DNA from a discarded drinking cup or cigarette butt and turn it into a saliva sample that could be submitted to a genetic testing company that measures ancestry or the risk of getting various diseases. Celebrities might have to fear "genetic paparazzi," said Gail H. Javitt of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html?_r=1

 

NY dealers pull out of clunkers program

Aug 19

 

NEW YORK (AP) - Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government's Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday.

The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They're also worried about getting repaid.

 

"(The government) needs to move the system forward and they need to start paying these dealers," said Mark Schienberg, the group's president. "This is a cash-dependent business."

 

The program offers up to $4,500 to shoppers who trade in vehicles getting 18 mpg or less for a more fuel-efficient car or truck. Dealers pay the rebates out of pocket, then must wait to be reimbursed by the government. But administrative snags and heavy paperwork have created a backlog of unpaid claims.

 

Schienberg said the group's dealers have been repaid for only about 2 percent of the clunkers deals they've made so far.

 

Many dealers have said they are worried they won't get repaid at all, while others have waited so long to get reimbursed they don't have the cash to fund any more rebates, Schienberg said.

 

"The program is a great program in the sense that it's creating a lot of floor traffic that a lot of dealers haven't seen in a long time," he said.

 

"But it's in the hands of this enormous bureaucracy and regulatory agency," he added. "If they don't get out of their own way, this program is going to be a huge failure."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9A63RC81&show_article=1

Failure, with the government running the show? No way! Now where is that health care dept? 

 

Bob Dylan stopped by Long Branch police, asked for ID
August 15, 2009
Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report someone wandering around the neighborhood.

Dylan was in Long Branch, about a two-hour drive south of New York City, on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp that was to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.

 

A 24-year-old police officer apparently was unaware of who Dylan is and asked him for identification, Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley said Friday.

 

"I don't think she was familiar with his entire body of work," Woolley said.

 

The incident began at 5 p.m. when a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood several blocks from the oceanfront looking at houses.

 

The police officer drove up to Dylan, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name. According to Woolley, the following exchange ensued:

"What is your name, sir?" the officer asked.

 

"Bob Dylan," Dylan said.

 

"OK, what are you doing here?" the officer asked.

 

"I'm on tour," the singer replied.

 

A second officer, also in his 20s, responded to assist the first officer. He, too, apparently was unfamiliar with Dylan, Woolley said.

 

The officers asked Dylan for identification. The singer of such classics as "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Blowin' in the Wind" said that he didn't have any ID with him, that he was just walking around looking at houses to pass some time before that night's show.

 

The officers asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them back to the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, where the performers were staying. Once there, tour staff vouched for Dylan.

 

The officers thanked him for his cooperation.

 

"He couldn't have been any nicer to them," Woolley added.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/bob_dylan_stopped_by_long_bran.html
despite being racially profiled no beer at the White House for Bob!!

 

Senior citizens have a choice - AARP or ASA?
8/19/2009
Senior citizens are turning to an alternative organization besides AARP to represent their interests.

The organization is American Seniors Association (ASA) [ http://www.americanseniors.org  ]. President Stuart Barton tells OneNewsNow many older people are upset with the American Association of Retired People, or AARP, because of their approval of the proposed healthcare reform.
 
"We have issued a statement where we, the American Seniors Association, are inviting all AARP members to mail us their torn card for a one-year membership in the American Seniors Association," he explains.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=648398

 

Reality Check: Media Double-Standard on Anti-ObamaCare 'Mobs'
August 18, 2009
With President Obama and congressional liberals facing loud protests over their big government health care plan, journalists are casting the anti-ObamaCare forces as "ugly," "unruly," "nasty" mobs, with reporters presenting the most odious images (like pictures of Obama drawn as Hitler) as somehow representative. But when President George W. Bush faced left-wing protests, the media scrubbed their stories of radical voices and depicted demonstrators as mainstream, and even "prescient."

 

In January 2003, all of the broadcast networks touted an anti-war march organized by the radical International ANSWER, an outgrowth of the communist Workers World Party. Signs at the rally read: "USA Is #1 Terrorist," "Bush Is a Terrorist," and "The NYPD Are Terrorists Too." National Review Online quoted several protesters who claimed 9/11 was a Bush plot, "like when Hitler burned down the Reichstag," and argued Bush would "build a worldwide planetary death machine."

 

Reporters bypassed all that hate and showcased the protesters as everyday Americans. On ABC, Bill Blakemore stressed how the protest attracted "Democrats and Republicans, many middle-aged, from all walks of life," while CBS's Joie Chen saw "young, old, veterans and veteran activists — all united in the effort to stop the war before it starts."

 

In Feburary 2003, CNN donated two hours of programming, "Voices of Dissent," to another International ANSWER event. Correspondent Maria Hinojosa enthused: "It's an extraordinarily diverse crowd. I have seen elderly men and women with mink coats carrying their posters." ABC's John McKenzie painted the protesters as idealistic: "So many voices, filling the streets, struggling to be heard."

 

On March 22, 2003, CNN offered 38 separate reports on a demonstration that day, but managed to never show any of the radical rhetoric from the podium. Over on ABC, Chris Cuomo saluted the leftists converging in New York City: "While protesters like today are a statistical minority, in American history protests like this have been prescient indicators of the national mood. So the government may do well to listen to what's said today."

 

In October 2003, the far left rallied again in Washington, this time with a rapper leading a chant of "F**k George Bush!" and speakers praising Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The next day's Washington Post ignored all of that in favor of a soft feature: "In D.C., a Diverse Mix Rouses War Protest."

 

In 2006, the left demanded money for New Orleans, with one protester wearing a George W. Bush mask adorned with Satan horns and a Hitler moustache. CNN reporter Susan Roesgen thought it comic, calling it a "look-alike" for the President. But covering the anti-big government tea parties in April 2009, Roesgen was aggrieved to see a picture of Obama with a Hitler moustache: "Why be so hard on the President of the United States though with such an offensive message?"
more at
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-noyes/2009/08/18/reality-check-media-double-standard-anti-obamacare-mobs
Different strokes for different folks...

 

Brits' healthcare system not so rosy
8/19/2009 The founder of Liberty Counsel says lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are pushing for government-run healthcare need to take a lesson from the U.K.

According to Mat Staver, the U.K.'s single-payer healthcare system has major issues. He explains that his organization looked at major British newspaper headlines and articles going back three years.
 
"Article after article and headline after headline talks about the problem with their system -- and here's [sic] some of their problems: they're rationing healthcare for the elderly, they are taking healthcare away from the vets."
 
The attorney says other healthcare problems in England include long hospital waits due to government bureaucracy, stories of people waiting for hours in emergency vehicles -- and doctors leaving early on vacation after they have met their yearly or monthly quota on patients.
 
Staver adds that if American lawmakers pass Obama's healthcare proposal, it will create similar problems in the U.S., increase the cost of care, and limit choices.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=648634

 No right of appeal in ObamaCare
Wesley Clark, MD August 18, 2009
A so far little-noticed feature of the ObamaCare monstrosity is systematic denial of patient's rights to appeal to judicial review of the actions taken by the overlords of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), now ruled by the progressive star, Kathleen Sebelius. 

Andrew McCarthy of NRO offers his typically erudite analysis of the legal ramifications of Obamacare, which specifically denies the patient any judicial appeal when his right to life is discarded by government bureaucrat.  As he says, "Obamacare is Gitmo for all Americans":

Tucked into several pages of this epic monstrosity (H.R. 3200 is here-if you can get it to load) are various "limitation on review" provisions. They are designed to vest President Obama with unilateral, non-appealable control over available treatments and their costs. That is, Americans will have no recourse to challenge errant or capricious executive-branch decisions in the courts.

These restrictions would apply to:

 

• Hospital re-admissions (for any "condition or procedure selected by the Secretary.")
• Payment rates for doctors and hospitals
• Actions of the "Accountable Care Organizatons" (something like an HMO)

Our nation was founded on individual liberty, and a belief that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.  Obama has intoned that our nation is governed by the "rule of Law".  Apparently he feels that he is an exception to that rule. 

We must not commit our future to the nightmare of statist collectivism.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/no_right_of_appeal_in_obamacar.html

 

Congress on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
August 19, 2009
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/congress_on_the_verge_of_a_ner.html

 Egypt's Mubarak: Obama on the Side of Islam
August 18, 2009
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama won lavish praise from his Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday and spoke of an "extraordinary opportunity" for making peace in the Middle East, saying he was encouraged by U.S. efforts to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Seated next to President Hosni Mubarak, who was making his first visit to the U.S. capital in five years, Obama thanked his Egyptian counterpart for joining him in trying to construct a deal that has eluded world leaders for more than six decades...

 

The 81-year-old Egyptian leader, who was estranged from the Bush administration, said Obama had "removed all doubts about the United States and the Muslim world."

Mubarak said, "The Islamic world had thought that the U.S. was against Islam, but his (Obama's) great, fantastic address there has removed all those doubts."
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/us_obama_mubarak/2009/08/18/249428.html

Fawning media: 'Obama now scared of own shadow'
Press turn on president in face of health-care protests, polls
August 18, 2009
Media coverage of Obama has taken a sudden sour turn over the past few days – especially from the more unapologetically leftist crowd – since the president hinted over the weekend that the so-called "public option" could be scrapped from his health care reform plans.

 

"How did we get here?" objected MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. "How did we get to the foretold 'death' of the public option? ... We got here through a collapse of political ambition."

 

In an eight-minute advocacy piece for government-run health care, blasting Big Business and free market insurance coverage, Maddow turned her ire on the president and congressional Democrats for backing down from drafting a socialized health care system like those adopted by some European nations.

"Why is the public option dying now? It's dying because of a collapse of political ambition," concluded Maddow. "The Democrats are too scared of their own shadow to use the majority the American people elected them to in November to actually pass something they said they favored."

 

Maddow's commentary, titled on screen as "No We Can't"....

 

Other media outlets and pundits often accused of favoring the president have also published pieces blasting Democrats' backtrack on health care reform – including the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post and even Comedy Central's host of "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart.

 

After playing a clip of Obama over the weekend hedging on the public option, Stewart stopped midsentence:

 

"What a second! What did you just say?" Stewart asked.

 

Mocking the president's sudden turnabout on the public option in the face of public pressure objecting to his health care reform plans, Stewart quipped, "Yes we can! ... Unless you don't think we should, then we'll do something different."
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107276

 

David Bennett <><

http://www.freewill-predestination.com