Unemployment claims lowest since Apri
Published September 29, 2011
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The number of Americans filing for their first week of unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly six months, possibly signaling slight improvement in the job market.
There were 391,000 initial unemployment claims filed in the week ended Sept. 24, the Labor Department said Thursday, down 37,000 from the prior week’s revised 428,000.
The drop was much better than expected, as economists forecast initial claims to fall to 419,000, according to Briefing.com.
New claims for unemployment benefits have stuck around or above 400,000 since early April, a level economists often say is too high to signal the unemployment rate will come down anytime soon.
The recent drop to 391,000 maked the lowest level since the week of April 2, when 385,000 new claims came in.
Still, economists cautioned against getting too excited about the better number. It’s just one week of data, and according to a government spokesman, seasonal adjustments could have impacted the calculation.
“As much as I would love to cheer on this result, it is only one week and we all know how volatile this series is,” Jennifer Lee, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets said in a note to clients.
For the country overall, the unemployment rate is still at 9.1%. (Check the unemployment rate in your state.)
Continuing claims — which include people filing for the second week or more of benefits — decreased by 20,000 to 3,729,000 in the week ended Sept. 17, the most recent data available.
That figure only includes people who are receiving benefits though, which typically run out after 99 weeks.
Including people who aren’t currently receiving those benefits, about 14 million people remain unemployed in the United States.
Ironically, there are still 3 million jobs going unfilled, a problem that some employers say is due to American workers not having the right skills.
Read about 9 of these hard-to-fill jobs. 
First Published: September 29, 2011: 8:39 AM ET
Nyad won’t attempt crossing again
Published September 29, 2011Third time not charm for Diana NyadSwimmer Diana Nyad says she will not attempt Cuba-to-Florida crossing againNyad says toxic jellyfish are too much to overcome”It’s not easy for me to let go of this dream,” she said
(CNN) — With no way to counter toxic jellyfish that brought intense pain and partial paralysis during an attempted 103-mile ocean crossing from Cuba to Florida, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad said Monday that she will not make another attempt at the feat.
“I can’t beat those guys. They’re too much for me,” Nyad said.
Nyad, 62, swam 82 nautical miles of the 103-mile crossing before two stings from what her team identified as potentially lethal box jellyfish forced her out of the water Sunday morning.
In a frequently emotional news conference in which she removed her shirt to reveal sting marks, Nyad said she initially planned to muscle through the intense pain. But she said she eventually had to give up as the toxins began to cause partial paralysis and made it increasingly difficult for her to breathe.
What’s a Portuguese man-of-war?
Nyad still had a wheeze Monday, said one of her doctors, Clifton Page of the University of Miami.
Toxins from the stings also affected members of her crew trying to help her.
“This was a life-threatening situation we were in,” Page said.
Nyad stopped the swim Sunday morning after 40 hours in the water.
“It’s not easy for me to let go of this dream, and I’m in distress about it,” she said.
She said it was “naive” of her not to anticipate problems from the jellyfish, which she said are proliferating throughout the world’s oceans because of climate change. Unlike sharks, which her team countered with divers and electronic devices, no good tools exist to fend off jellyfish, Nyad said.
She said she knows she could complete the crossing were it not for the creatures. She said the last two years of training were not wasted.
“It’s been a grand, elevating, life-confirming experience these last two years,” she said.
Nyad began her attempt Friday evening from Havana’s Hemingway Marina, expecting to spend about 60 hours in the water.
It was her third attempt to complete the swim.
Her first, in 1978, was brought to an end by strong currents and bad weather after almost 42 hours in the water.
She made a second try in August, but she was pulled from the water after 60 miles and almost 29 hours of swimming. She blamed a shoulder injury she suffered early in the journey and an 11-hour-long asthma attack.
She said people inspired by her efforts should continue to train their bodies, test their wills and dream big. And, said said, not being able finish the crossing against such odds was no sign of failure, for her or her team.
“There’s so much boldness in living life this way, and we did it all, and no one can take it away from us,” she said.
Employers hit by unemployment tax hike
Published September 29, 2011
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Companies have yet another reason not to boost hiring: rising unemployment taxes.
Employers around the nation are getting socked with higher state unemployment tax bills as states are forced to shell out more than $1 billion in interest payments this month. More than 30 states have had to borrow billions from a federal fund to cover unemployment benefits for their jobless residents in recent years.
And this is only the first of two tax spikes employers are contending with, on both the state and federal level. Come January, companies in 24 states could have to shell out between $21 and $63 more per employee in federal unemployment taxes.
These hikes are the latest in a series of unemployment tax increases as states look to replenish their unemployment trust funds devastated by the Great Recession.
Last year, employers paid 27.8% more in state jobless taxes, said Doug Holmes, president, UWC Strategic Services on Unemployment & Workers’ Compensation, a business trade association.
“Unemployment taxes, which were a relatively low bottom-line cost in 2008, are now becoming a significant cost,” Holmes said. “It discourages companies from electing to hire new employees.”
This is the first time during this economic downturn that states have had to pay interest on their federal borrowing, which currently totals nearly $38 billion. The 2009 stimulus act waived interest payments for two years, giving both cash-strapped states and their employers some breathing room.
Both groups lobbied Congress last year to extend the relief for another two years, but lawmakers declined.
So states were forced this year to make some tough decisions on how to handle the interest charges at a time when they were struggling to balance their own budgets. Some dipped into other state funds or borrowed money, but most shifted the burden to employers.
New York, for instance, sent its companies a bill in mid-July requesting a lump-sum payment of up to $21.25 per employee to cover its $95.4 million interest charge due September 30.
Companies were not pleased, said Mike Durant, New York state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. For small employers, even a couple of hundred dollars in unexpected expenses can hurt, he said.
For Margery Keskin, an executive at four construction-related companies in upstate New York, the extra $2,000 her companies had to shell out means less money goes to bonuses or profit sharing for her roughly 40 employees. And she will have to think twice before she hires anyone.
“We try not to hire because we will be socked by a bigger tax bill for unemployment insurance,” said Keskin.
Other states, however, have tried to spare their employers.
California, for instance, borrowed its $303.3 million interest payment from a disability insurance fund. Texas issued bonds at a lower interest rate to wipe out its balance before the interest came due. And Ohio dipped into tobacco settlement funds to settle a roughly $70 million interest bill.
“We did not want to increase the tax burden on job creators,” said Ben Johnson, spokesman for Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services.
Even in states trying to shield companies, employers could see their taxes rise next year. That’s because federal unemployment taxes are scheduled to go up for firms located in states that have been borrowing in recent years.
In most of these states, the 2012 federal levy will rise by $21 per worker. But that amount increases the longer the state has been borrowing. Michigan companies, for example, will have to pay $63 per employee next year.
While states have been slowly paying down their balances by hiking taxes and curtailing benefits, many are likely to have loans outstanding for years to come, experts said. That will help prompt companies’ federal unemployment tax levy to soar by 89% by 2016, according to U.S. Labor Department estimates.
During the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s, it took states eight years to pay off their loans, said Rich Hobbie, executive director of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. This go-around will be worse.
“We’re going to struggle longer than that,” he said. 
Better heart, better sex
Published September 29, 2011
Nearly 1 in 5 men in the U.S. has difficulty achieving or maintaining an erectionErectile dysfunction is also a known harbinger of heart diseaseDoctors should inform the public of this connection, researchers sayExercise is key for heart health and blood vessel function
(Health.com) — Middle-aged men who take steps to improve their heart health by eating better, getting more exercise, or taking cholesterol-lowering drugs may end up improving their sex lives as well, according to a new analysis of existing research.
Nearly 1 in 5 men in the U.S. has difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection, a condition known as erectile dysfunction (ED). The new study, which appears this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that ED drugs such as Viagra aren’t the only solution and aren’t always enough to address the problem, says coauthor Dr. Stephen Kopecky, M.D., a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
“If you do take care of your lifestyle—eating right, exercising, losing weight—you respond much better to the Viagra, the Levitra, the Cialis,” Kopecky says. By the same token, he adds, if these drugs become less effective “that should be a sign that…you need to take care of your lifestyle.’”
Health.com: 7 ways to treat erectile dysfunction
ED is troubling enough by itself, but to make matters worse it’s also a known harbinger of heart disease. The arteries in the penis that expand during an erection can become weakened and clogged with cholesterol in the same way as the arteries that surround the heart. This is why ED often shows up three to five years ahead of life-threatening cardiovascular problems such as heart attack or stroke, especially in younger men, Kopecky says.
“The common denominator is blood flow,” he explains. “If you look at a guy in his 40s who has erectile dysfunction and then you compare [him] to another guy in his 40s who doesn’t have erectile dysfunction, the guy with ED is about 50 times more likely to have heart disease.”
Despite this well-established link, there has been little research into whether addressing risk factors for heart disease (such as unhealthy cholesterol numbers) can also reverse ED. The studies that have been conducted have been relatively small and have looked at a single location, which means they may not apply to the population as a whole, Kopecky and his colleagues say.
Health.com: 10 heart-healthy rules to live by
To clarify the effect of heart-healthy lifestyle changes on ED, the researchers combed through the medical literature for placebo-controlled clinical trials in which men with ED modified their lifestyles or began taking cholesterol-lowering statin medications. The analysis was funded entirely by the Mayo Clinic.
In the end they focused on six studies that included a total of 740 men and were conducted in the U.S., Italy, Nigeria, and Iran. In all of the studies, which ranged in length from two months to two years, heart healthy regimens and better cholesterol numbers were associated with modest but measurable improvements on a survey that rates erectile function on a scale from 5 to 25.
The average improvement in sexual function seen in the pooled studies was three points, one point shy of the threshold experts consider “clinically important.” For some men, especially those with more persistent cases of ED, a change of that magnitude would be negligible. For those with mild or occasional ED, however, it would translate into noticeable improvements in sexual function, the researchers say.
Health.com: Erectile dysfunction? Try losing weight
Dr. Kevin Billups, M.D., an associate professor of urology at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, says that the close relationship between heart health and sexual function “hasn’t become the public health message that it should be.”
Doctors and other experts need to do a better of job of informing the public that a healthier heart often means better erections, adds Billups, who studies the link between heart health and erectile function but did not participate in the new research.
“That’s the first thing I talk about with all the guys that come in now,” he says, referring to the ED patients he sees in his urology practice. “‘Are you watching your diet? What kind of exercise program are you on?’ Just putting these men on the ED medications…probably isn’t enough to get optimal results.”
Health.com: The best foods for your heart
Even if they’re told that it may improve their ED, getting men to change their lifestyle and lose weight is no easy task, Kopecky says. He stresses, however, that even small and simple lifestyle changes—such as eating at least five servings of fruits and veggies daily—can make a big difference.
But the “real key” is exercise, Kopecky says. Just 10 minutes of vigorous exercise three times a week “does a whole lot to improve your heart function [and] blood vessel function,” he says.
Copyright Health Magazine 2010
Teen dating may spread teen drinking
Published September 29, 2011
Parents should talk with their children about peer pressure and alcohol abuse even before they begin dating.Study says teens will be influenced more by new partner’s friends’ habitsFamily and friends can “spread” obesity, drinking, smoking, and even happinessResults emphasize need to learn more about people your teen hangs out with
(Health.com) — Parents who are concerned about drinking and other risky behavior often try to steer their teenage children away from friends and dating partners whom they consider “bad influences.”
Those parents may want to look one step further: A new study suggests that teenagers with a new boyfriend or girlfriend tend to be more influenced by the drinking habits of their romantic partner’s friends than they are by the partners themselves.
Why? Dating introduces adolescents to new and different social networks and also creates a kind of indirect peer pressure, says lead researcher Derek Kreager, Ph.D., an associate professor of crime, law, and justice at Pennsylvania State University, in University Park.
Health.com: Top 10 myths about safe sex and sexual health
A teen’s longtime friends tend to be like-minded when it comes to values and lifestyle, but romantic partners are more likely to come from a different circle.
“Think of your son or daughter’s new significant other as a bridge to a whole other group that he or she is now going to be exposed to,” Kreager says.
When teenagers begin dating, they tend to meet in the middle when it comes to habits like drinking. If a teen girl who has yet to experiment with alcohol starts dating a boy who drinks often, for instance, the boy is likely to cut back while the girl is likely to give drinking a try.
“He has an incentive to change, to be more like her,” Kreager explains. “On the other hand, his friends don’t really have any reason to change, so they continue drinking. Meanwhile, she has incentive to be like those friends, because that’s what appeals to her partner.”
Health.com: Sneaky ways to just say no to alcohol
It’s no surprise that social networks have a strong influence on personal health. Several studies from a research team based at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego. have documented how family and friends can “spread” obesity, drinking, smoking, and even happiness.
These social patterns may be even more important among teenagers, says Angela Diaz, M.D., program and research director of the adolescent health center at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, in New York.
“It’s during adolescence that kids start exploring adult behavior and adult roles, and looking for acceptance and respect,” she says. “And throughout high school, a child’s peer groups will change dramatically based on the new behaviors they pick up and the new people they encounter.”
Health.com: Family, friends are big influence on drinking
In the study, which was published in the American Sociological Review, Kreager and his colleagues analyzed questionnaires from 898 students that were collected as part of a larger national survey on adolescent health.
When the students were in seventh through twelfth grade, researchers interviewed the kids about drinking and binge drinking (among other health-related behaviors), and also asked them to name several of their close friends at school, many of whom were also study participants.
In a follow-up interview two years later, the same students answered similar questions and were also asked to name special romantic partners from the past 18 months. By identifying pairs of students who became a couple and comparing their survey responses, the researchers were able to see how the teens’ social networks and drinking habits changed over time.
Health.com: Binge drinking may harm learning, memory
They found that younger teenagers tend to socialize with friends of the same gender, and that being involved in romantic relationships often introduces them to mixed-gender peer groups. And while friends and significant others both influenced the future drinking habits of the study participants, it was the second-degree friends of partners that had the strongest influence on drinking frequency and binge drinking.
The findings may not be news to parents, Kreager says. But they do emphasize the need to learn more about the group of people their children’s romantic partners — and therefore their children — may be spending time with.
Parents should talk with their children about peer pressure and alcohol abuse even before they begin dating, says Diaz, so that as teenagers they can recognize potential hazards in new social situations. They should also make an effort to get to know a new romantic partner in their teen’s life, as well as that partner’s friends.
Health.com: 8 reasons to make time for family dinner
“Invite them to your home, just as you would with your own son’s or daughter’s friends” she says. “Create an environment where they are comfortable and where you can learn their values.”
It’s also important to remember that dating is not necessarily a bad thing, Kreager says. Adolescents can also be swayed in a positive direction by peer groups who drink less than they do — especially boys, who, according to the study, were more likely to binge drink, and who may be more susceptible to a significant other’s influences.
Copyright Health Magazine 2010
Officials: Plot to bomb Pentagon, Capitol with model planes
Published September 29, 2011Model planes used as attack drones? Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, a U.S. citizen, is charged in plot to bomb Pentagon and CapitolHe was allegedly going to use a $6,500 remote-controlled plane laden with explosivesHe is accused of pledging jihad against the United StatesBut authorities say he had no real ties to al Qaeda and wasn’t a real threat
(CNN) — A 26-year-old Massachusetts man with a physics degree was arrested and charged Wednesday with plotting an attack on the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with a remote-controlled model aircraft, authorities said.
Rezwan Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen from Ashland, Massachusetts, planned to use model aircraft filled with C-4 plastic explosives, authorities said.
As a result of an undercover FBI investigation, Ferdaus, who has a physics degree from Northeastern University in Boston, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda for attacks on U.S. soldiers overseas, authorities said.
His federal public defender couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
A law enforcement official said Ferdaus posed no immediate danger to the public because undercover operatives kept in close contact with him.
“There is no information to indicate he was connected to a foreign terrorist organization. It appears he was radicalized watching videos on the internet. He was given the opportunity to back down, but he never wavered” from his intention to carry out the attacks, the source said.
Analysis: Model planes as weapons of terror
The investigation also involved a cooperating witness, and authorities began recording conversations between that witness and Ferdaus in January, authorities said.
Ferdaus began planning a violent “jihad” against America in early 2010, authorities said, and he began supplying the FBI undercover agents with cell phones rigged to act as electric switches for improvised explosive devices, intended to be used to kill U.S. soldiers overseas.
Undercover federal agents also gave Ferdaus 25 pounds of fake C-4 explosives. Only a very small amount of it was the real thing, the source said.
The FBI agents also gave Ferdaus six AK-47 assault rifles and three grenades, but they weren’t functional, the source said.
Between May and this month, Ferdaus also ordered and acquired a $6,500 remote-controlled aircraft, an F-86 Sabre, that he kept in a rented storage facility in Framingham, Massachusetts, that he maintained under a false name, authorities said. He also planned to use other remote-controlled models of military aircraft, authorities said. The models he planned to use are about one-tenth the size of the actual aircraft.
Despite coming into possession of the plane, another law enforcement official said, “The person was never really a threat.”
Ferdaus is unmarried with no children, authorities said.
A federal magistrate in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Wednesday ordered Ferdaus to be held until Monday, when a detention hearing is scheduled, authorities said.
CNN’s Carol Cratty and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.
Tackle common toddler traumas
Published September 29, 2011
If your child won’t stop crying, bring him to the emergency room. Most kids who bump their heads are fine”Human bites are among the dirtiest of all wounds due to bacteria,” Karen Frush saidSometimes symptoms take a few hours to appear
(Parenting.com) — When your toddler is hurt and screaming and emotions are bubbling over, it can be hard to tell if a situation is a true emergency, something that can be treated in your doctor’s office or an issue you can handle at home.
“It’s always better to call the pediatrician before going to the ER for anything but life-threatening emergencies,” says Lara Zibners M.D., a pediatric ER doctor and author of “If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay.”
We spoke to pediatric ER doctors about the most common accidents and whether your child’s doctor will deal with the issue over the phone, have you come into the office or call the ER to alert them that your child is on the way.
What if your baby pulls up on the coffee table and then yanks a mug of hot tea on herself? Head to the ER if the burn covers a large part of her body; if it’s on her face, hands, feet or genitals; or if it’s a third-degree burn, which is pretty unlikely from a hot beverage. Otherwise, treat her at home and act fast. Since the first thing to do is get the hot liquid off the body, Dr. Zibners recommends removing the wet clothing and plunking her into a cool shower.
“If it’s only a small part of the hand or arm that’s been burned,” she says, “running cool water over the limb in the sink for 10 to 15 minutes or until the pain subsides will stop further injury and provide immediate pain relief.” Keep the area in water until it’s cool to the touch, then treat the burn.
At-home burn basics
If she has a first-degree burn (the skin is red), follow these tips:
DO: After the burn has cooled, cover it loosely with a dry bandage or clean cloth.
DON’T: Apply ointments (or butter). This could cause infection or trap heat and make the burn deeper. Do not break any blisters. This could allow bacteria into the wound.
What if your toddler topples off his changing table? The goose egg is huge, and he’s hysterical. Head to the ER?
For kids older than 12 months, you can take a watch-and-wait approach. Dr. Zibners says most kids who bump their heads are fine, and the size of the bump rarely has anything to do with the extent of the injury. There are loads of blood vessels in the head and face, so the swelling can be dramatic.
Keep an eye on him for the next few hours to make sure he doesn’t limp or favor one arm, vomit or become unusually sleepy or especially irritable. If you see any of these signs, call the doctor as they could mean something more serious. And, of course, if your child is motionless or unconscious or refuses to move after his fall, call an ambulance right away. The exception: Dr. Zibners says any child under a year of age who experiences more than a minor bump should always be checked out by a physician because injuries are harder to detect when the patient can’t talk.
Parenting.com: How to decode that strange rash
Diaper duty
The American Academy of Pediatrics offers these guidelines for safe diaper changing:
- Choose a changing pad with a concave middle to keep baby in place.
- Always buckle the safety strap.
- Keep diapering supplies within your reach (but out of baby’s).
What if another kid bites your baby and the skin is broken? Call your pediatrician right away. She may decide to send you to the ER, depending on the location of the bite and its appearance. (She might prescribe an oral antibiotic.) Otherwise, wash the wound immediately and thoroughly with soap and warm water and then apply an antibiotic ointment and bandage.
“Human bites are among the dirtiest of all wounds due to bacteria normally found in the human mouth,” says Karen Frush M.D., a pediatric emergency room doctor and chief patient safety officer at Duke University Health System in Durham, North Carolina. “Thoroughly washing the skin with soap and water is the best thing a parent can do to effectively reduce the bacteria load found in the wound.”
Parenting.com: How gross is it? Your germiest situations analyzed
What if someone sideswipes your car? Your child is strapped into his safety seat, but he’s upset and crying. Head to the ER? Only if he doesn’t calm down after a reasonable amount of time, say 15 or 20 minutes.
“With children age 5 and under who are properly restrained in an age-appropriate car seat, the likelihood of injury is small in a non-or low-impact situation,” says Dr. Frush.
But if your child won’t stop crying, bring him to the emergency room.
“That may mean he was subjected to unusual force, and a doctor can figure out if there are any injuries,” she adds. Generally, though, if your child is moving his arms and legs, the best thing to do is remove him from his car seat, try to calm him and make sure he’s OK.
Warning signs
Sometimes symptoms take a few hours to appear. Call the doctor if you notice these signs:
- Blood in his urine (which could be a result of injury to the upper or lower urinary tract).
- Bruising over his chest or belly from the straps.
- Refusing to move or turn his head.
- Refusing to bear weight.
What if your toddler falls, bites her tongue and it’s bleeding buckets? Head to the ER? Only if it’s still bleeding after 10 or 15 minutes of applying direct pressure with a clean washcloth. The tongue is full of blood vessels, so it’ll bleed a lot, which may scare her (and you!).
“With young children [applying direct pressure] is often very difficult, so it may be helpful to encourage her to suck on an ice pop, which can also provide pressure on the tongue and sometimes help stop the bleeding,” says Dr. Frush. She adds that tongues usually heal nicely and it’s very rare a child will lose enough blood from a tongue injury to become anemic.
Parenting.com: 9 pediatric emergency essentials
To treat a tongue bite
DO: Dampen a clean washcloth with cool water, seat your child on your lap, then press the washcloth over the injured area of the tongue. Feed her cold foods, such as frozen yogurt.
DON’T: Give your baby any acidic or salty foods while her tongue is healing because it will sting and make the pain worse.
Try a FREE TRIAL issue of Parenting Magazine – CLICK HERE!Copyright 2010 The Parenting Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
President Obama’s race problem is black and white — and driven by green
Published September 29, 2011Obama speaks to blacks’ concerns In recent weeks, Obama’s support among blacks has been beset by troublesAmong them: CBC scolding, hardball questions on BET, black jobless numbers He faces a balancing act in the 2012 campaign in appealing to various blocsSociologist Reginald Daniel: “Finding a middle ground is almost an impossibility”
Washington (CNN) — Even as he charges into his re-election battle, President Barack Obama has a festering weakness on a flank that, by all accounts, ought to be rock solid: the one held by African-American Democrats. Their support for his programs, belief in his leadership and enthusiasm for another term is softening just as he needs it most.
In the past few weeks, the president has been chastised by the Congressional Black Caucus for avoiding troubled inner-city districts, peppered with tough questions on BET, and suffered plummeting poll numbers among black voters.
That last item is critical. During the 2008 election, their turnout was massive and their support almost unanimous. Now, however, a Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that black voters with a “strongly favorable” view of Obama dropped from 86% to 58% in just five months.
“Patience is running out,” says Reginald Daniel, a professor of sociology at the University of California Santa Barbara. Daniel has written extensively about race and politics. “People are disappointed because I think their expectations were way too high to begin with.”
Many political analysts sum up those “expectations run amok” this way: White voters heralded the election of a black president as a sign that long-standing racial gaps were closing, and they expected Obama to play a post-racial role; a president for everyone, who just happened to be black.
Meanwhile, many African-American voters just as clearly saw his election as a great leap forward and hoped the presence of a black president in the Oval Office would bring a new level of understanding, acknowledgment, and relief for their community’s problems.
“Finding a middle ground is almost an impossibility,” Daniels says. “It’s just the worst position to be in.”
The driving problem, however, is neither black nor white — it is green. Joblessness, bad for everyone, is much worse in African-American communities, where unemployment is pushing 17%, the worst since the 1980s. That is what triggered the revolt in the CBC and those stinging questions during that TV interview.
The president is pushing back, pointing out that his initiatives, such as health care reform and the recent jobs bill, especially help lower-income families, many of whom are black. On BET, he quickly dismissed talk about a dearth of specific programs for minorities.
“What people are saying all across the country is we are hurting and we’ve been hurting for a long time,” the president said. “The question is: How can we make sure the economy is working for every single person?”
He also insisted that even if black leaders are grousing, it’s not really about him or his policies. “There’s always going to be somebody who is critical of the president of the United States.” And at a CBC fundraising dinner he raised eyebrows by telling members to quit complaining and start “marching” with him for change.
But if the reaction of Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, is any gauge, he’ll have to do a lot more selling. She summed up his comments in a word: “Curious.”
To be sure, most African-Americans still support Obama. Political analysts do not expect a massive shift of their votes to the Republicans; and even the president’s most adamant black critics often follow their barbs with a quick salve, saying African-American voters ultimately will not oppose him.
Still, the danger for the White House is not that black citizens will vote against Obama, but that they won’t vote at all.
A lackluster turnout in just a few key states could tip the electoral balance against him. What’s more, every moment he spends making sure black Democrats come to the polls increases his risk of alienating white voters, and is time lost winning over independents, whom he also must have.
Politically, it is hard for a candidate to tiptoe through such a black-and-white minefield. For a president, it is even tougher.
Stem cell treatments abroad
Published September 29, 2011
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning reportedly flew abroad for stem cell treatment for a chronic neck injury.Colts quarterback Peyton Manning reportedly sought a stem cell therapy in EuropeMedical tourism as an industry is projected to grow 35% annuallyExperts say it’s dangerous to try treatments that haven’t been approved and regulated
(CNN) — There’s great potential in the field of regenerative medicine, but doctors caution against seeking experimental treatments in an unregulated environment.
Having had three surgeries for a neck injury already, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning reportedly took a private jet to Europe to get a stem cell treatment that is not approved in the United States. The therapy involved injecting fat cells from Manning’s body into his neck, according to Fox Sports.
Colts head coach Jim Caldwell declined to discuss Manning’s health situation when asked about the stem cell treatment at a press conference Monday. Further details of Manning’s treatment are not available.
Discussing the choice to go abroad for stem cell treatments puts researchers in an awkward position, because the therapies offered abroad are unregulated and not confirmed to work, but they are based on concepts that the American medical community believes have potential. Generally, however, the consensus is that patients should not try to seek experimental stem cell treatments elsewhere, as there’s no telling if they will work or have serious side effects.
“We believe that there is merit to this approach, we just want to see it (carried out) well, ethically and rigorously,” said Dr. Joshua Hare, director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. Scientists like Hare are trying to gather medical evidence through clinical trials to ensure that these treatments are safe and effective.
Leaving the country to seek experimental treatments abroad is common, experts say, although no one has exact numbers for how many people seek stem cell treatments in other countries. Medical tourism as an industry is projected to grow 35% annually, and could reach 1.6 million American patients going elsewhere for treatments by 2012, according to the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. (The agency had previously predicted 6 million by 2010, but those numbers have not panned out.)
Besides orthopedic injuries like Manning’s, there are stem cell therapies available elsewhere aimed at heart disease and neurological conditions, even autism. Germany, Panama and Thailand are all popular countries for seeking these kinds of treatments, Hare said.
The basic idea is that stem cells have regenerative potential, and can even form new tissues. Mesenchymal stem cells are a particular kind that can become a variety of cell types, including bone cells and cartilage cells.
While there is a lot of exciting research going on in the field of stem cells, the results aren’t all good. A 2009 study in the journal PLoS Medicine documented the case of an Israeli boy who had gone to Russia to get fetal stem cells injected into his brain and spinal cord. He developed a brain tumor, apparently as a result of the treatment, although the tumor was slow-growing and benign.
And earlier this year, authorities closed down a large stem cell clinic in Germany called the XCell-Center, which had operated through a loophole in the country’s regulations regarding unapproved experimental treatments. The clinic had been implicated in the death of an 18-month-old boy after a stem cell treatment; a 10-year-old almost died after receiving something similar.
One problem with going abroad for these unapproved treatments is that there’s no follow-up; you won’t have anyone back home to take care of any complications that might result, Hare said. In cardiac stem cell trials conducted in this country in people with advanced heart disease, medical professionals do follow up with patients and treat any complications that may arise.
Another concern is that, without proper regulation, any given stem cell therapy abroad may actually be different every time you receive a treatment, said Jeffrey Karp, director of the Laboratory for Advanced Biomaterials and Stem-Cell-Based Therapeutics at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
There also may not be any regulations on the quality of the treatment, so you really don’t know what you’re getting, he said.
“Regulatory agencies such as the FDA can ensure that cell therapy that reaches patients is safe, effective, and that quality control is established for isolating the cells, manipulating them outside of the body, and delivering them,” Karp said.
A lot of parents believe that stem cell therapies could help their children with autism, although there haven’t been any clinical trials in the U.S. to substantiate this, Hare said. In orthopedics and cardiology, on the other hand, there are ongoing investigations; someone like Manning could have potentially joined a clinical trial instead of going abroad, although there’s no guarantee that he would have received the treatment rather than a placebo.
The idea of placebo also comes into play here, as with any therapy — sometimes, just believing strongly that a treatment will heal you actually does change your body, even if that “treatment” isn’t actually doing anything.
But there are still significant risks from anything that’s unregulated, Karp said.
“While stem cell treatments have been shown to have significant placebo effects during controlled clinical trials, I think patients considering unregulated stem cell treatments need to be aware that they are not optimized and may even do harm,” he said.
Navarrette: Blame boomers for broken government?
Published September 29, 2011
Ruben Navarrette: Two authors blame baby boomers for broken governmentThey say that boomers are too inflexible, see disagreement as assault on their valuesHe says other factors contribute to paralysis in WashingtonNavarrette: Constant fundraising and power of special interests are keyEditor’s note: This is one in a series of CNN Opinion articles on the question “Why is our government so broken?” Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a CNN.com contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist.
(CNN) — Could it be that the reason our government is broken is because of which generation is running things?
Authors Morley Winograd and Michael Hais think so, insisting that the problem is that power is now firmly in the hands of self-righteous baby boomers who have spent their entire lives convinced that anyone who disagrees with them is morally inferior. Boomers won’t negotiate anything, Winograd and Hais say, because they think every position they hold is rooted in something no less sacred than their values, and they’re understandably reluctant to negotiate their values.
Winograd, who worked as a policy adviser to former Vice President Al Gore, and Hais, an expert on polling and research, insist that the situation will get better when the generational torch is passed and younger people take over. In their new book, “Millennial Momentum,” they explain how the millennial generation (born from 1982 to 2003) will remake America in education, politics, entertainment and every other conceivable endeavor. There will be more compromise, they predict, and more tolerance for different points of view. There will also be more of a desire to rule by consensus and not decree.
But until that day comes, the authors told me during a recent interview, there will be gridlock and dysfunction. And our government will stay broken.
I’m not sure I’m sold, but it’s a provocative theory. There are others out there as well, and I wanted to hear them.
I have a lot of friends who are in Generation X — in between boomers and millennials. Some of them are political insiders in their 30s and 40s who have worked as congressional staffers, run major political campaigns, worked in the White House, or been elected to legislatures and city councils. They know all about government, what works and what doesn’t.
So I asked some of them why our government is broken, and here are some of the reasons they gave:
Safe districts. Now that the redistricting process has become all about preserving incumbency, and limiting the number of “competitive” districts that could go into either party’s column, there are fewer moderates in Congress. It was bound to happen. Once politicians start thinking in terms of creating safe Republican districts and safe Democratic districts, it becomes a contest to see which candidate for a congressional seat is more of a partisan Republican or Democrat. The result: plenty of highly partisan and comfortable lawmakers who don’t have to worry about being voted out of office.
Constant need to fundraise. Because members of Congress have to stand for re-election every two years, they are in constant need of ready cash, which the candidates then turn around and spend on glossy mailers, campaign staff, and television commercials. Besides being undignified, this dialing for dollars leaves little time to get to work on solving the nation’s problems.
Words speak louder than actions. Somewhere along the road, lawmakers got the idea that talking about a subject was just as good as tackling it. On an issue like immigration, for instance, members of both parties talk endlessly — and with every utterance, move further away from ever finding a solution.
Powerful special interests. Many people run for Congress because they think these are powerful positions. But when they arrive, they realize just how little power they have. The clout lies with special interests, which turn out volunteers and give money to campaigns. Want to get education reform? Talk to the teachers unions. Want to save Social Security? You’ll need to go through the senior lobby. All politicians have pressure points, and the special interests know just where to push.
Polarization. No matter what the issue at hand, the extreme voices tend to be the loudest — and often the most inflexible. So policy debates quickly degenerate into a pair of competing and intractable positions that neither side will budge from. Compromise is unlikely, and combat is inevitable. And in that environment, it’s usually all or nothing. No one will settle for half a loaf; they all want the whole bakery.
Resistance to accountability. Lawmakers would rather wring their hands over a problem than lay claim to a remedy that might ruffle feathers. They know that, if they approve a controversial bill, they have to own it for the next election. So, oftentimes, they would rather have an issue to bat around than risk accountability at the polls for rolling up their sleeves and working out a solution to a problem.
Voter apathy. The irony is that the worse government performs, the greater the public cynicism, and the less likely it is that many Americans will turn out to vote — which, in turn, only makes government even worse, because it offers little incentive for politicians to do better. That’s dangerous. After all, as former Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson likes to say, politics is a contact sport: “You take part, or you get taken apart.”
What if you were in charge?
The old saying dictates that people get the government they deserve. But they also get the government they’ll tolerate. If it’s really true that record numbers of Americans are fed up with their government, as the latest polls show, they have to make it known — and make some changes. And one way to fix government is to replace those who are doing the governing — whatever generation they’re from.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette.
updated 9:28 AM EST, Wed September 28, 2011 
When trouble strikes in our personal lives, it usually makes sense to take a look in the mirror. And so it should be in our troubled politics today.updated 2:27 PM EST, Thu September 29, 2011 
Could it be that the reason our government is broken is because of which generation is running things? 
If you ran the government what would you change? What programs would you cut? The best submissions could be featured on CNN.updated 8:09 AM EST, Tue September 27, 2011 
There’s a popular misconception that the political system is broken because Washington can’t accomplish anything meaningful. 
A Gallup poll has found a record-high number of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being governed. updated 3:57 PM EST, Tue September 27, 2011 
Whenever I visit Washington, I can’t help but think this is the town that elected a crackhead as its mayor.updated 3:38 PM EST, Mon September 26, 2011 
The quality of the people elected to Congress may be better than in previous decades, but the results are worse.updated 6:06 AM EST, Wed September 28, 2011 
It used to be that a disaster could unite Congress to think beyond party politics. Today, extreme measures are used every day. 
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