Three teens who beat to death Ed McMichael, better known as the "Tuba Man," were sentenced to 15-36 weeks in juvenille detention on Wednesday. Kenneth Kelly, 15, Billy Chambers, 16, and Ja'Mari Jones, 16, will be given credit for the roughly 24 weeks they've already spent in custody.
The teens pleaded guilty April 3 to first-degree manslaughter in King County Juvenile Court. Because they are not legally adults, none could face a sentence longer than 72 weeks in juvenile detention.
Chambers and Jones were also sentenced to 36 weeks in detention for an unrelated robbery, and the two sentences were ordered to run consecutively.
McMichael, a beloved character on the Seattle scene who played his tuba outside many public events, was walking home near a bus stop on Seattle's Mercer Street last Oct. 25 when five teens attacked him. Police said the five kicked and beat him and tried to rob him. Three suspects were caught, but two others ran off and still have not been found.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said the names of convicted juveniles are not released in most criminal cases. But the suspects were identified in this case due to the high-profile nature of the crime, he said.
The killing was a traumatic event for many in the city of Seattle, where Tuba Man was a beloved fixture who played before and after sporting events and other performances. He was attacked outside the Opera House, literally in the shadow of the Space Needle.
There was a five-month delay in the case because no witnesses came forward to testify, even though it's believed that up to a dozen people saw the brutal attack last fall. A police officer drove up to the scene and saw McMichael in the fetal position trying to protect himself. The officer was able to capture and arrest two of the attackers, but three others got away.
McMichael was treated at Harborview Medical Center and sent home. He was recovering at the Vermont Inn where he lived when he died two days later.
#1
Ja'Mari Jones? Now there's an Amish name with great promise written all over it. We should all be looking for great things from this young man in the future.
#3
if they was big enough too beat a man too death then they are big enough too do some real time behind bars. What's bad is some of them where convisted of another robbery and got 36 weeks too run consecutively which means they don't get shit for it. I don't anyhting about the laws in Washington but sounds like someone needs too change the age when someone can be charged as an adult in violent crimes like these.
#6
their parents should spend time in detention as well.
Posted by: Be responsible ||
04/27/2009 13:42 Comments ||
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#7
Heinlein had the answer. When children commit crimes, you flog them in the public square. At the same time, you flog their parents right along side of them.
What really saddens me though, is the shift in populations seems to be heading toward the sort of future that Pournelle had in his CoDominium Universe, there was citizens...who were kept happy with free drugs, rent and food from the government, with no real hope of getting out and Taxpayers.
Cick on the link. You have GOT to see the picture at this link! Over New York after 9/11/01 this sight would definitely scare the witts out of you if you are in New York City.
A jumbo jet being chased by a F-16 fighter jets buzzed Lower Manhattan this morning, panicking New Yorkers, many of whom were forced to evacuate their office buildings.
It was not a terrorist attack, however, but a photo opportunity for Air Force One, sources told the Post.
#7
My guess, and it is only a guess... is that it was a test of some type of air defense system. No one simply crews up the Air Force One back-up bird, grabs a figher escort, and goes low-level over NYC. It just don't happen that way. This business about Barry being "very upset", WH Press Secretary Gibbs and the Mayor of NYC having "no knowledge" etc. Sorry, not possible.
Dimmick, Chuck P.
born December 29, 1958 in Riverside, CA passed away suddenly on April 18, 2009 while attending a NASCAR race to watch his favorite driver, Jeff Gordon. Chuck was the loving husband of Kristen and devoted father of Dillon. Chuck was the Director of Marketing for the Lund Cadillac Group. We are sure he would still want all to know that 0.9% financing is still available on all New 2008 Hummer H2s. A mass celebrating Chucks life will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, April 24th at St. Patricks Church - 10815 N. 84th St. Scottsdale, AZ. Arrangements handled by Hansen Desert Hill Mortuary 480-991-5800. In Lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Dillon Dimmick Donation Fund at any Bank of America.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/27/2009 16:20 ||
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#1
I found this in a 2004 obituary: "A life-long democrat and liberal, Pete asks that in lieu of flowers you vote for Kerry."
Scientists in the United States have successfully tested the new technique which involves tiny objects called nanoparticles on rats and believe it could also be used to help humans.
Under the therapy, nanoparticles that release the anti-erectile chemical nitric oxide are rubbed on the problem area, and absorbed directly into the skin.
Of the seven rats treated by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, five showed signs of arousal, according to results presented to the American Urological Association (AUA).
The new treatment would likely have fewer side effects than V1agra, which is taken orally and been shown to cause headaches and facial flushing.
Researchers also believe that the nanoparticle therapy could work much more quickly than Pfizer's market-leading drug, which takes up to an hour to kick in.
"This is a very interesting concept which has potential to impact treatment of many conditions including erectile dysfunction if it can be translated from the animal lab to clinical practice," said Ira D Sharlip of the AUA.
An estimated 2.3 million men in Britain are thought to suffer from the erectile problems, which can be caused by a variety of conditions.
#1
I don't wanna know how they applied it to the rats.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/27/2009 7:35 Comments ||
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#2
Is it the chemical nanoparticles or the rubbing on the problem area that caused immediate arousal? Another non-scientific study probably funded by millions in grants.
#1
Later that day, a couple of skinny oriental men with kimchee on their breath showed up at Steve Eves house and asked how much he wanted for the rocket.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
04/27/2009 11:44 Comments ||
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#2
Niiiiiiiiice!
Posted by: Mike ||
04/27/2009 11:47 Comments ||
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#3
For a minute there, I thought that sucker was gonna make orbit. Well done, Steve!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2009 13:27 Comments ||
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#4
Damn those Steve's! Raising the bar for the rest of us!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2009 18:41 Comments ||
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#5
The future OWG USSA = USRoAmerika likely won't see any JETSONIAN "flying cars", "flying trains", etc. until after the first lunar stations are set up. Its a free market thingy - you know, GLOBAL-SPACE SOCIALISM.
Washington -- Obama administration officials, alarmed at doctor shortages, are looking for ways to increase the number of physicians to meet the needs of an aging population and millions of uninsured people who would gain coverage under legislation championed by the president.
The officials said they were particularly concerned about shortages of primary-care providers who are the main source of health care for most Americans.
One proposal -- to increase Medicare payments to general practitioners, at the expense of high-paid specialists -- has touched off a lobbying fight.
Family doctors and internists are pressing Congress for an increase in their Medicare payments. But medical specialists are lobbying against any change that would cut their reimbursements. Congress, the specialists say, should find additional money to pay for primary care and should not redistribute dollars among doctors -- a difficult argument at a time of huge budget deficits.
Some of the proposed solutions, while advancing one of President Barack Obama's goals, could frustrate others. Increasing the supply of doctors, for example, would increase access to care, but could make it more difficult to rein in costs.
The need for more doctors comes up at almost every congressional hearing and White House forum on health care. "We're not producing enough primary-care physicians," Obama said at one forum. "The costs of medical education are so high that people feel that they've got to specialize." New doctors typically owe more than $140,000 in loans when they graduate.
Lawmakers from both parties say the shortage of health-care professionals is already having serious consequences. "We don't have enough doctors in primary care or in any specialty," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, Democrat of Nevada.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, said, "The work force shortage is reaching crisis proportions."
Even people with insurance are having problems finding doctors.
Miriam Harmatz, a lawyer in Miami, said: "My longtime primary-care doctor left the practice of medicine five years ago because she could not make ends meet. The same thing happened a year later. Since then, many of the doctors I tried to see would not take my insurance because the payments were so low."
To cope with the growing shortage, federal officials are considering several proposals. One would increase enrollment in medical schools and residency training programs. Another would encourage greater use of nurse practitioners and physician assistants. A third would expand the National Health Service Corps, which deploys doctors and nurses in rural areas and poor neighborhoods.
Sen. Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, chairman of the Finance Committee, said Medicare payments were skewed against primary-care doctors -- the very ones needed for the care of older people with chronic conditions like congestive heart failure, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.
"Primary-care physicians are grossly underpaid compared with many specialists," said Baucus, who vowed to increase primary-care payments as part of legislation to overhaul the health-care system.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent federal panel, has recommended an increase of up to 10 percent in the payment for many primary-care services, including office visits. To offset the cost, it said, Congress should reduce payments for other services -- an idea that riles many specialists.
Dr. Peter J. Mandell, a spokesman for the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons, said: "We have no problem with financial incentives for primary care. We do have a problem with doing it in a budget-neutral way. If there's less money for hip and knee replacements, fewer of them will be done for people who need them."
The Association of American Medical Colleges is advocating a 30 percent increase in medical school enrollment, which would produce 5,000 additional new doctors each year.
"If we expand coverage, we need to make sure we have physicians to take care of a population that is growing and becoming older," said Dr. Atul Grover, the chief lobbyist for the association. "Let's say we insure everyone. What next? We won't be able to take care of all those people overnight."
The experience of Massachusetts is instructive. Under a far-reaching 2006 law, the state succeeded in reducing the number of uninsured. But many who gained coverage have been struggling to find primary-care doctors, and the average waiting time for routine office visits has increased.
"Some of the newly insured patients still rely on hospital emergency rooms for nonemergency care," said Erica L. Drazen, a health policy analyst at Computer Sciences Corp.
The ratio of primary-care doctors to population is higher in Massachusetts than in other states.
Increasing the supply of doctors could have major implications for health costs.
"It's completely reasonable to say that adding more physicians to the work force is likely to increase health spending," Grover said.
But he said: "We have to increase spending to save money. If you give people better access to preventive and routine care for chronic illnesses, some acute treatments will be less necessary."
In many parts of the country, specialists are also in short supply.
Linde A. Schuster, 55, of Raton, N.M., said she, her daughter and her mother had all had medical problems that required them to visit doctors in Albuquerque.
"It's a long, exhausting drive, three hours down and three hours back," Schuster said.
The situation is even worse in some rural areas. Dr. Richard F. Paris, a family doctor in Hailey, Idaho, said that Custer County, Idaho, had no doctors, even though it is larger than the state of Rhode Island. So he flies in three times a month, over the Sawtooth Mountains, to see patients.
The Obama administration is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into community health centers.
But Mary K. Wakefield, the new administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, said many clinics were having difficulty finding doctors and nurses to fill vacancies.
Doctors trained in internal medicine have historically been seen as a major source of frontline primary care. But many of them are now going into subspecialties of internal medicine, like cardiology and oncology.
#1
A double-edged sword. This is a problem as many primary-care doctors refuse to see Medicare and Medicaid patients because of the low reimbursement rates. Trying to find a doctor really burns people who have paid Medicare insurance for years only to be denied care until they need emergency help through the ER, then find they can't find a doc to do follow up. Even health professionals are exasperated. We now have quite a few H1B doctors named Mo to fill the slack. The words of the Glasgow docs, "Those who cure you will kill you", come to mind.
More health care does not save money. Better health care does not save money.
Read that again: better health care does not save money, it costs money and it costs more money in the long-term.
If you doubt that, try this intellectual experiment (don't do this in real life) --
1. Stop making insulin.
2. Count the future dollars you save when all the brittle diabetics have died.
But of course, we don't do that. Instead we have insulin and a dozen other expensive medicines. We have dialysis and renal transplants. We have heart surgery. Retinal surgery. Endocrinologists. Home blood glucose meters. We have a big, big chunk of our health care system dedicated to the care of people with diabetes.
That's as it should be. But it all costs money, and the better you do at it, the more it's going to cost, because the diabetics will live longer. As they do, they consume more health care dollars.
That's why Dr. Grover at the AAMC is dead-wrong. We will never save money. We'll spend it, and if we do so intelligently, people will live longer and better.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 11:26 Comments ||
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#3
The only real solution is to increase the pool of Doctors, nurses, ect. and there is no way to do that that doesn't cost money (recruiting, training, pay sound familiar?). And treating them like a Private entering basic training or overworking them will NOT encourage them to stay in the field. Nor will the increasing need for liability insurance to fight off the lawyers.
#5
And treating them like a Private entering basic training...
Now that you mention that..if my memory serves me right we are witnessing another 'power' game. IIRC back when the baby boomers hit the demographic climb is when doctors started to see real income increases as demand out paced supply. About the same time, another major social event, the Vietnam commitment showed DoD it too had a serious doctor shortage. DoD budgeted, built and equipped a DoD medical college but was told by the Guild national medical accreditation board that it would not give graduates accreditation. Seems they viewed the potential flood of doctors that the college would start to generate would undermine their now lucrative earning power. Remember they set the limits on how many students that a particular education/hospital program can generate. Of course this is the same time the Donks were starting to exploit the anti-war movement for power. The two naturally allied to kill the program.
This is not a question of pure capitalism vs socialism with the power of the Guild accreditation board to choke the number of graduates as they have for decades.
Throw in that today a registered nurse with a masters degree probably has a greater body of medical knowledge than what we called a doctor eighty years ago. Maybe we need to evaluate exactly what real skill and knowledge is needed to accomplish what tasks before we simply accept
"facts" in the argument of shortages and needs.
#7
New doctors typically owe more than $140,000 in loans when they graduate.
Difficult to pay off school loans and lawyer up for tort lawsuits fights to the tune of $200-250k per year. Shakespear was correct about the lawyers.....what was it, nearly 500 years ago?
#8
One part of this that we don't talk about much is how we strip the third world of good doctors for our own system.
I call it imperialism. A century ago we took the raw resources from the third world, now we take their smart people.
Young doctors in Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, etc. come to our country to train (usually in third tier programs), and decide that life is better in Newark than in Peshawar (no, reeeallly?) So they stay and work as doctors here rather than return to their home countries.
Think about that: to pull that off they have to be pretty-darned smart. They need to learn English well enough to pass the entrance exam to their med schools (almost all the instruction in every third world medical school is in English). Then they have to improve their English well enough to pass the visa exam. They have to be good enough at their studies to pass the USMLE exams to come to the U.S. Then they have to perform well enough in the residency programs to graduate in good standing. They almost certainly have come on an H-1, J or equivalent visa, so now they have to find a way to stay here, usually by taking a position in a community that qualifies for a waiver -- e.g., Newark, Detroit, all the garden spots in our country.
I have a fair amount of respect for them: there's no way I could have learned Urdu or Pashto well enough to learn medicine in those languages, no way I would learn those languages well enough to use them in daily life, and no way I could have adapted to life in Peshawar, Tehran or Addis Adaba.
We could expand our medical schools by 5 to 10% over the next ten years, but you can't move too quickly, as it takes time to gear up the instruction and clinical opportunities. That expansion would cut into the need for foreign MDs, but it costs a lot more since right now, of course, the foreign countries are bearing a substantial amount of the cost.
Again, imperialism.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 12:26 Comments ||
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....and no way I could have adapted to life in Peshawar, Tehran or Addis Adaba.
No adaptation worries Dr. White, they're all coming to a community near YOU!
#10
I have to wonder how much the way in which so many western-trained Arab engineers and doctors end up in Islamist terrorist groups or political organizations isn't just a sorting algorithm. The ones who are disposed to adjust to modern/Western values tend to *stay* in the countries they trained in, while the ones who can't handle the cultural milieu go home and make trouble wholesale.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/27/2009 12:55 Comments ||
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#11
Haha, stealing the world's most talented people by offering them an unlimited platform for growth is the entire story of America.
"Imperialism" would be taking doctors by force; we just make such a kick-ass country that everyone wants to live here voluntarily.
#13
A good point, gromky, we do entice them. Of course when they come here they've signed a statement saying they're going to go back. Then they don't.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 16:57 Comments ||
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#14
Yep, It rather obvious here in Brownistan that you Yanks* need Tort law reform more than you need government rationed treatment!
#15
none taken. With that rub-in V1agra, a lot less of us will be "Yanks" anyway
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2009 18:44 Comments ||
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The medical profession itself is very, very slowly morphing into something that reflects the realities of the nation today. At the turn of the last century doctors were driving ambulances. When I was a tad they were driving to your house in Cadillacs, making house calls. I think that ran you $10, and if you came to the office it was $5.
Medical insurance distorted that pay-as-you go cost structure. Rather than paying by the visit, you're now paying by the procedure -- there's a whole book of them with 5-digit codes, each with a Medicare-approved payment. So opening your mouth and saying "aaaah" now gets reimbursed at $12.50 and you bending over for the fickle finger makes the doctor $18.75. But the patient doesn't have to worry about it because the insurance company's paying, right?
On top of which, naturally, the docs support a fair-sized chunk of the legal profession, and now we're anticipating supporing the politicians, party hacks, and their relatives and hangers on, all dipping their beaks into that 8.5 percent of the economy. (That figure's probably out of date, since the last I looked it up was about 10 years ago.)
Patients seldom actually see doctors anymore. Their time's too precious because they've got to churn out procedures in enough density to cover the overhead of the office, the staff, the insurance, the affiliations, and the continuing education. There used to be a nurse sitting in the doc's office, greeting patients and occasionally assisting the doc as he was setting Little Johnny's broken arm there in the office prior to driving him (in the Cadillac) to the hospital if he didn't have the stuff to produce the cast himself in his GP office. The nurse is gone, replaced by a 19-year old with a student loan for her year's course in medical office administration. Registered nurses never touch bedpans anymore, LPNs are a dying breed, and the stinky work is done by medical techs who're actually glorified EMTs.
The GPs of my youth are now replaced by internal medicine practices, and increasingly we're seen by nurse practitioners, PAs, or even paramedics.
I have no idea what the medical profession is going to look like 50 years from now. I suspect it's not going to be pretty and I'm positive it's going to be a lot more complicated than it is today.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2009 19:50 Comments ||
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#17
Years ago I read an estimate that all the money paid to all US physicians on an annual basis is dwarfed by the money it takes to process all the medical/healthcare paperwork in this country.
#18
We have known for more than 50 years that fairly simple computer programs are much better at medical diagnosis than doctors. This is because we know that people are naturally poor at solving complex problems.
Give someone a problem to solve and they hypothesize and then test their hypothesis. If the test disproves the hypothesis then they move on to the next hypothesis. Until the test(s) 'confirm' the current hypothesis (ie diagnosis).
This is both an inefficient(wasteful) and error prone - none of the untested hypotheses are tested - way of solving problems.
A much better way to solve diagnosis type problems is to start with a large number of hypotheses and then work through eliminatory tests, most eliminatory test first.
It's almost impossible to teach people to do this with a large number of hypotheses, despite people claiming they can.
Computer programs can do this easily and with much greater sophistication than I have described.
The big impediment to the use of such programs is doctors have fought tooth and nail against them, and to maintain their provider monopolies. Not least because it makes most of their training mostly a waste of time.
The other problem is no one has figured how to make money off them. Curing patients isn't a very profitable business.
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - Twenty cases of swine flu have been confirmed in the United States as the White House stepped up efforts to monitor the outbreak, U.S. officials said on Sunday. Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a White House briefing that all of the U.S. cases have been mild. U.S. officials said President Barack Obama is being briefed regularly on the potential spread of the new strain of flu, which has taken as many as 81 lives in Mexico.
"At this point, a top priority is to ensure that communication is robust and that medical surveillance efforts are fully activated," John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security, said at a White House news conference. He said beefed up monitoring would enable rapid identification and notification of any new cases that might occur in the United States and Mexico.
Besser said the CDC has confirmed one case of swine flu in Ohio, two in Kansas and eight in New York. There were already seven confirmed cases in California and two in Texas. Officials emphasized that the U.S. cases are not as severe as the cases that have been identified in Mexico.
Nevertheless, the officials recommended planning for potential U.S. school closures and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the United States would release some of its stockpiles of anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. She also said the United States would declare a public health emergency to start the flow of aid to states and communities that might be affected by the outbreak.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 00:00 ||
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You can expect the number of US cases to increase today, I believe. Part of the problem is that the illness is mild enough that many with it will not seek medical treatment. That's normal.
The numbers abroad will jump when New Zealand, Spain and the rest of Europe get their tests done. Spain has one confirmed.
In an unusual Sunday briefing at the White House, administration officials said a public health emergency is being declared in the United States in order to mobilize maximum resources to combat fears of a global swine-flu pandemic.
The term "sounds more severe than it really is," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who called the measure "standard operating procedure," adding, I wish we could call it a declaration of emergency preparedness. The same measures, she said, were taken for the inauguration and in cases of flood and hurricane.
But there's no need to screen airplane passengers from Mexico, it's not really an emergency you see ...
Acting CDC Director Richard Besser said that health officials have reported 20 U.S. cases across five states California, Kansas, New York, Ohio, and Texas and expect the numbers to rise as doctors perform more tests to detect the illness, and warned that "more severe" cases are likely to surface here.
While the disease, which appears to have originated in Mexico, has killed more than 80 there and infected over 1,300, there have been no fatal American infections so far.
The government said it will release 25 percent of its stockpiles of the flu-fighting drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. Texas governor Rick Perry had previously requested 37,430 doses of Tamiflu be sent to his state from the Strategic National Stockpile.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed any suggestion that administration's response would be hampered by the lack of confirmed appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services, the last Cabinet post to receive a secretary, or the yet to be filled post of surgeon general. Gesturing to Napolitano, Brennan, and acting CDC Director Richard Besser, he said There is a team in place, the team is standing behind me.
Fills you with confidence, doesn't it ...
Gibbs said "the president's health was never in any danger," when asked about reports that Obama's host on a museum tour in Mexico City died the next day, and had flu-like symptoms. The flu has a 24-48 hour incubation period, he said and Obama left Mexico nine days ago and has not shown symptoms of the flu nor has he been seen by a doctor or received preventative treatment.
Asked if the presidents decision to golf Sunday at Andrews Air Force Base was part of a White House strategy to reassure people, Gibbs chuckled and replied: I'm not sure I'd draw a DIRECT conclusion.
Gibbs is an idiot. If he were a Republican presser he'd been driven out of the job by Helen Thomas already ...
John Brennan, White House homeland-security adviser, said there is no evidence whatsoever of bioterrorism.
Napalitano said briefings will continue daily for awhile. The CDC is to brief reporters by teleconference at 3 p.m. ET. Were preparing in an environment where we really dont know," she said, "ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
24 to 48 hour incubation? Other sources have it at 5-7 days.
#2
The cat will be out of the bag before Our deputy savior Janet and the US Govt acts. The border is still open, flights to and from Mexico are not curtailed. We are always one step behind the eight ball because we are afraid that we will offffffffennnnnnd people when we take care of our citizens.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/27/2009 1:36 Comments ||
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#3
Obama and his pack of leftist, totalitarian lesbos, now controlling Department of Homeland Insecurity' (targeting Americans who did not vote for Obama) will be issuing a number of so-called 'emergencies' over the summer months. Soon these Marxist traitors to the American way of life, who were only foolishly elected by 7% of the vote, will plunge this country into a brutal dictatorship, targeting conservatives.
The 'sudden' outbreak of this flu in Mexico is very suspicious in light of the rats in the White House.
#4
We must "never waste a developing crisis." Some my not survive, but it is absolutely paramount that we "gird our loins" and keep our social engineering medical goals in the forefront!
#5
I know of several kids in local schools sent home because of Type A flu back in March, as there was a lot of it was "going around" albeit late in the season. I bet there has been more of this combination virus than is documented.
#6
It seems too me that MSM is making a very big deal out of something before it has become that big of a deal. It's like they are wanting that Pandemic too strike so they will have something too report about.Doesn't the reg flu kill like 30 thousnad ppl every year? Kinda like when Ebola struck in the jungles a few years ago they where acting like it was the plague had already hit New York City already and a 1/3 of the population had perished on the firsdt news cast.
Because, you know, the wonderous Janet Napolitano sez it's okay, really ...
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - The United States is not testing airplane travelers from Mexico for the swine flu virus that has heightened fears of a possible pandemic, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Sunday.
"Right now we don't think the facts warrant more active testing or screening of passengers coming in from Mexico," she said at a White House briefing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Why bother?
No fence, and the flu is free to come over the open border form Mexico.
Thanks Bush and McCain for preventing the security fence from being implements, you and all the open borders idiots in congress of either party.
The current strain doesn't seem to be particularly dangerous, but H1N1 is notorious for mutating quickly, so it could indeed become a threat.
The swine flu virus that has killed more than 80 people in Mexico may mutate into a "more dangerous" strain, the World Health Organisation has warned. "It's quite possible for this virus to evolve... when viruses evolve, clearly they can become more dangerous to people," said Keiji Fukuda, of the global health watchdog.
Mr Fukuda also called for international vigilance as health experts wait to see whether the virus will turn into a worldwide pandemic.
Over 1,300 people are now thought to have contracted the virulent H1N1 swine influenza after it mutated into a form that spreads from human to human.
The Mayor of New York has confirmed that eight school children are suffering mild symptoms after becoming infected. And there have been at least 12 other confirmed cases in Texas, Ohio, California and Kansas.
The White House has declared a public health emergency but told the public "not to panic".
If they say that, then it's a perfect time to panic ...
Sky US correspondent Greg Milam said: "It's important to realise that those affected have only had mild symptoms, and all have recovered or are recovering. But the authorities do believe that this outbreak will get worse."
Canada has become the third country to confirm human cases of swine flu with six people falling ill in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. Elsewhere in the world, suspected cases have been reported in France, Spain, Israel, New Zealand and the UK. In France, two people who had returned from Mexico with fevers are being monitored in regions near the port cities of Bordeaux and Marseille.
A 26-year-old Israeli man has also been admitted to hospital after returning from a trip to Mexico with flu-like symptoms.
In Auckland, 10 school children have tested positive for influenza after returning from Mexico. In the UK, two people have been admitted to a hospital in Scotland after returning from Mexico last week. They are said to have mild flu-like symptoms but their condition is not causing concern.
Mexican City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said two more people have died of the virus, taking the death toll to 83.
All schools have been shut in Mexico City, the surrounding area and the central state of San Luis Potosi until May 6.
The WHO says it has a stockpile of the antiviral Tamiflu, which has proven effective against the virus, and is preparing a vaccine if needed.
The H1N1 strain of swine flu is usually only seen in pigs - but in humans can cause symptoms including fever and fatigue. The WHO says there is "zero evidence" that people are getting infected with the virus from exposure to pigmeat or pigs.
However, many countries say they are stepping up checks on pork imports from the region. Russia has banned meat imports from Mexico as well as from several US states and Central American countries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 00:00 ||
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I hope everyone has gotten in a stock of non-perishable food, as well as masks and hand sanitizer, batteries and anything else you would have a problem with, if it wasn't available.
I remember the SARS outbreak in Singapore. Many items dissapeared from store shelves in a couple of hours.
#2
Current numbers are now nearly 1600 in Mexico City, with fatalities approaching 200.
One grain of salt - the 1600 are only the reported cases, which include all the fatalaties and hospitalizations, but not those who weathered it at home and recovered.
So the fatality rate is probably not nearly as high as the numbers above indicate, but the numbers do indicate the Mexcian Flu is very contagious compared to the US strain.
#3
The swine flu virus that has killed more than 80 people in Mexico may mutate into a "more dangerous" strain, the World Health Organization has warned.
Mutate as in 'evolve', adapt to its environment and environmental changes.
#5
Given the air pollution in Mexico City and the prevalence of respiratory diseases such as TB, it may be that broader swaths of the Mexican population are vulnerable to complications arising from the virus than in the US.
#7
Swine flu could become dangerous to our economy, more than anything. WHO says it cannot be contracted by eating pork yet Russia, China, and Indonesia are banning imports from the US and Mexico. The EU also warned against any non-essential travel to the US and Mexico. I know how disease is spread and why air travel could be key to a pandemic, but I am also a cynic when it comes to the esteemed officials of the UN and the EU, especially with this administration.
#8
According to the reporters on CNBC this morning, we are actually at the end of the flu season, which implies that there have been a great many unreported cases over the past months. Mexico does not have a standardized reporting system like the U.S., so it's difficult to find out what happened before the first reported cases on April 13th, I believe it was.
Mutate as in change. Evolution chooses among the changes to allow preferential survival of the most fit. The question is: how does a flu virus define improved fitness? Silent spread with survival of those infected, or virulence with more virii per dead body? My knowledge of this area is meager, but what I think I know is that the most effective viruses prefer silent spread... and that it takes a while to select for that. And example of a silent virus is Eppstein-Barr, with which some 70% of the U.S. population is infected -- a smallish percentage getting mononucleosis (the "kissing disease" of adolescents), an even smaller percentage developing long term chronic fatigue, but the majority never even aware they have a new passenger
#11
The question is: how does a flu virus define improved fitness?
The thing about RNA viruses is replication (copying) is very error prone compared to a DNA bacteria. So in a single infected human there will be many thousands(?) of genetic variants of the virus.
99.9999% of these variants will have worse fitness and die out in a short time.
Its the 0.0001% that have some, however slight, advantage that will allow it to spread. And so the process continues in the next infected individual.
Eventually the virus hits the evolutionary jackpot and gets a variant that spreads easily.
The flu is much better at this than other viruses for reasons we don't understand. Although, it's likely due to many variants circulating at the same time with high frequency of co-infection and swapping of genetic material to create 'hybrids'.
[Maghrebia] Mauritania's Constitutional Council rejected the presidential candidature applications of businessman Isselmou Ould El Moustapha and political unknown Sidi Mohamed Ould El Ghoth Ould Esseddigh for non-compliance with legal requirements, ANI reported on Friday (April 24th). The final list of approved candidates will be submitted to the government no later than April 30th and should be made public by May 5th. The electoral campaign is set to start May 21st and will end two days before the national poll on June 6th.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
non-compliance with legal requirements,
After Barry (AB).... I thought all of that had been done away with.
[Khaleej Times] Saudi Arabia is considering allowing women to vote in municipal elections this year but they would still be barred from running for office, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Sunday. The absolute monarchy applies an austere form of Sunni Islam which bans unrelated men and women from mixing.
Prince Mansour bin Muteb, deputy minister for municipal and rural affairs, made the comments after attending a conference of municipal councils in the Eastern Province, Saudi newspapers reported. The meeting's recommendations included one that women should be eligible to vote, the liberal-leaning daily al-Watan said.
Officials at the municipal and rural affairs ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Only eligible males voted in municipal elections in 2005 which were the desert kingdom's first ever nationwide polls since the state's inception in 1932.
The election for half the seats on the councils was part of a series of reforms undertaken after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001 focused international attention on Saudi Arabia's political and religious culture. Most of the attackers were Saudi, acting in the name of the Islamist group al Qaeda.
The meeting in the Eastern Province, the first indication that the municipal vote will take place this year, recommended that the government continues to name half the members of the council, al-Watan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They can vote, but their votes are only 1/4 of a man's.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/27/2009 7:40 Comments ||
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#2
1: Should we allow women to vote?
2: Nah.
1: Hokay. Next item...
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors announced plans Monday to cut 23,000 U.S. jobs by 2011, drop its storied Pontiac brand and slash 40% of its dealer network in its latest bid to stay out of bankruptcy.
The new restructuring proposal will leave the Treasury Department, and thus U.S. taxpayers, owning a significant stake in GM. Treasury would accept GM stock, rather than cash, for repayment of about $10 billion that the government has already lent to GM.
Trust funds controlled by the United Auto Workers union would also hold a significant stake in the company. Between them, Treasury and the unions would own 89% of GM. GM also announced an offer to its bondholders to swap $24 billion of the company's $27 billion in unsecured debt for stock. GM is offering bondholders 225 shares of its stock for every $1,000 it owes the bondholders in principal.
GM CEO Fritz Henderson warned in a press conference Monday that a bankruptcy is still very likely unless bondholders agree to the swap. "It's not impossible but it's a tough task," Henderson said about the company's ability to get enough bondholders to accept the company's stock. "That's why I think [bankruptcy] is more probable."
The moves are GM's latest efforts to cut costs and stem losses that have dogged its North American auto operations since 2005. But Monday's restructuring announcement goes much further than the viability plan GM unveiled to President Obama's auto industry task force in February.
The company had announced many of the job cuts in February, but Monday's news that GM would have about 38,000 hourly U.S. employees by 2011 represents an additional reduction of 7,000 to 8,000 jobs beyond what GM disclosed in its previous viability plan. The job cuts come as GM is set to announce the closing of more plants in the next few weeks. Henderson would not comment on which plants could be on the chopping block.
The company said its goal is to cut costs to the level where GM can break even even with industrywide U.S. sales of only 10 million vehicles, rather than the 11.5 million to 12 million sales range that had been its previous break-even target. Henderson added he's hoping that the company could be profitable as soon as 2010 under the new restructuring plan.
While the cuts will leave GM a much smaller company, Henderson said this does not concern him. He admitted that results at GM have not been acceptable for quite some time. "I'm much more focused on getting results than being big," he said.
GM also confirmed reports that surfaced Friday and officially announced plans to drop its Pontiac brand altogether. In its earlier restructuring plan, GM had signaled that Pontiac would survive, albeit as a niche offering.
The company also said it would make more cuts to its dealership network than it announced in February, and at a much faster pace. GM said Monday it will cut the number of its dealers by 42% to 3,605 by 2010, up from its original plan to reduce its network to 4,100 dealers by 2014.
The Obama administration's task force, which found that GM's February turnaround plan was not viable, said Monday that the new plan "reflects the work GM has done since March 30 to chart a new path to financial viability." But the task force added that it "has made no final decision regarding the treatment of its current loan to GM or with respect to any future investments in the company."
The administration has given GM only until the end of May to reach deals with creditors and unions to cut costs or be forced into bankruptcy. But the Treasury Department did extended GM an additional $2 billion in loans last week, bringing its total federal assistance to $15.4 billion.
#1
Pontiac hasn't been "storied" for a long time--arguably, not since about 1973 or so.
How are they going to eliminate Pontiac without having to pay off franchisees--without going into bankruptcy? When GM elimiated the Oldsmobile brand--after brand-managing it into irrelevance--it cost them $1 billion in payoffs to Olds dealers.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/27/2009 11:43 Comments ||
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#2
89% control by Government and Unions? This new GM won't last long with that kind of control. They will end up making the US version of the Lada or Yugo and we know how that ends.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
04/27/2009 11:55 Comments ||
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#3
Sad. Getting a "King Pontiac" sidebar ad with this article.
RIP Pontiac. I think my folks had a Pontiac station wagon once. Back in the day.
#4
We had a glowing sea-foam green Bonneville wagon. A real junker too after a year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 12:13 Comments ||
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#5
Mike, virtually all the Pontiac dealers now also are dealers for Buick and GMC. Thought is that you can drop Pontiac and push the other two, and the dealers won't lose out. That is, any more than they are already.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 12:14 Comments ||
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#6
Steve White: franchise contracts are still contracts, until *somebody* lets GM go into bankruptcy, in which case the contracts are negotiable. Right now, I'm waiting for them to deep-six Buick. It's an utterly inessential brand, in fact I'd say that Pontiac had more value in terms of sports car cachet, at the very least. What's Buick but a rung between Chevy and Cadillac on the price/prestige ladder?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/27/2009 12:30 Comments ||
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#7
Mitch, isn't Buick the prime import brand in China? THAT'S a market.
#8
My dad, (Civil Engineer) considered Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, ETC as simply overpriced Chevy's.
Seriously, open the hood and you can't tell one from the other except by name badges.
We had two Studebaker's,48 and 54 Dad said they were the best cars made, GM bought them (For their patents) and they vanished.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/27/2009 14:25 Comments ||
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#9
Between them, Treasury and the unions would own 89% of GM.
Buh-bye, GM. It's been quite a ride but it's all over now.
#12
All my life there's been no discernable difference between the various GM divisions. All they really need is Chevy and Cadillac. None of the big Japanese makers have more than two divisions - one standard, one luxury (discounting Toyota/Lexus' Scion line). If GM had simplified their product line 20 years ago I don't think they'd be in the situation they are now.
#13
When I was a tad, any boy could tell the difference between a '57 Ford, Lincoln, Merc, Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, Plymouth, or what have you at a glance. We mighta had to get a little closer to tell a DeSoto from a Dodge, but that's probably why DeSoto disappeared from the landscape within a year or so, despite the legendary Firedome V8.
There's a lesson to be learned there, I think, but it's prob'ly too subtle for today's MBAs to grasp.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2009 21:05 Comments ||
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#14
We mighta had to get a little closer to tell a DeSoto from a Dodge
You obviously didn't watch Sky King enough. Or you spent all your time ooglin Penny instead of looking at the DeSotos.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The International Monetary Fund has failed to provide the blueprint for pushing global finance and governance toward healthy conditions. There appears to be a deepening disagreement among finance ministers attending the IMF spring meeting on Sunday over how and when to abandon recession-busting policies by the world financial body.
Ministers were also unable to finalize a USD 500b boost to the IMF's resources put forward earlier this month by the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in London.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director, said there were already differences among members over 'an exit strategy'. Strauss-Kahn said there was consensus about the need to borrow more during the crisis: "Some of us, including the IMF, are arguing that the stimulus is necessary, but at the same time, you need to have a view about what is going to happen in three years' or four years' time, and prepare the exit strategy from the stimulus."
Some blame the disagreement among finance ministers on the restructuring plan the United States has proposed for the IMF. The Europeans are especially resistant to such radical changes.
Rejecting the call by the US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to cut the number of IMF seats from 24 to 20, by 2012, Belgian finance minister Didier Reynders endorsed the current number of seats. "I think that for the moment the representation around the table is attractive. The European countries are having to finance the Fund very strongly so we have to take into account the size of each country's participation in the Fund," Reynders noted.
The IMF warned this week that the world economy would contract this year for the first time since the World War II.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
There is a very basic problem with the current capitalistic concept of national economy. This concept has drifted from what a nation could sell their products to the world to selling money which is the interest earning on the loaned money. I am really surprised that only Muslims with the two thousand years old thinking knew the true concept of national economy because they forbid keeping the interest money.
#2
<<<< Rejecting the call by the US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to cut the number of IMF seats from 24 to 20, by 2012, Belgian finance minister Didier Reynders endorsed the current number of seats. >>>>>
They are obviously concentrating on the important things first.
[Associated Press of Pakistan] A wave of shoe-attacks on political leaders in India continued and this time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh escaped a sneaker attack on Sunday when it was hurled by a student during an election rally in Ahmedabad in Gujarat state but it fell short of the dais.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey! shoe attack is a lot better than the bomb. In the past, Indira Gandhi ditched the corrupt ruling congress party only after some one threw a stone and broke her nose. Shoes are a lot less damaging than the stones for a politician to become honest.
#2
PAKISTANI DEFENSE FORUMS > NEW BOOK BY FORMER FM CLAIMS PAKISTAN WOULD HAD ATTACKED INDIA BACK IN 1998 [full air attack?]IFF INDIA TRIED TO STOP ITS CHAGAI NUCLEAR TESTS; + CHINA GEARING TO CONTROL THE INDIAN OCEAN. INDIA's STRATEGIC WORRIES over China's formal suppor including major arms sales to SRI LANKA agz LTTE, + Chin-led PORT DEVELOPMENT at HAMBANOTA.
Also from PDF > FARDARI: PAKISTAN INTELLIGENCE BELIEVES OSAMA IS DEAD [little to no trace or movement found]; + ISRAELI MK ZATH: IFF NUCLEAR PAKISTAN FALLS TO THE TALIBAN, ISRAEL MUST REMEM THE HOLOCAUST AND NOT BE AFRAID TO PULL A "KING DAVID" AGZ NUCLEAR ISLAMIST GOLIATHS [IRAN + RADICAL ISLAMISM].
Once nuclear, TALIBAN MAY FREELY ATTACK NOT ONLY ISRAEL BUT ALSO THE REST OF THE WORLD WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS OR WMDS [ Nuclear Terrorism > STATE? GROUP?].
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Scientists in the United States have successfully tested the new technique which involves tiny objects called nanoparticles on rats and believe it could also be used to help humans.
Washington -- Obama administration officials, alarmed at doctor shortages, are looking for ways to increase the number of physicians to meet the needs of an aging population and millions of uninsured people who would gain coverage under legislation championed by the president. 
[Maghrebia] Mauritania's Constitutional Council rejected the presidential candidature applications of businessman Isselmou Ould El Moustapha and political unknown Sidi Mohamed Ould El Ghoth Ould Esseddigh for non-compliance with legal requirements, ANI reported on Friday (April 24th). The final list of approved candidates will be submitted to the government no later than April 30th and should be made public by May 5th. The electoral campaign is set to start May 21st and will end two days before the national poll on June 6th.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors announced plans Monday to cut 23,000 U.S. jobs by 2011, drop its storied Pontiac brand and slash 40% of its dealer network in its latest bid to stay out of bankruptcy.
