June 2011

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/27-6

Published on Monday, June 27, 2011 by Associated Press

by Nelson Lampe

OMAHA — Missouri River floodwater seeped into the turbine building at a nuclear power plant near Omaha on Monday, but plant officials said the seepage was expected and posed no safety risk because the building contains no nuclear material.

The Missouri River, swollen by heavy rains and melting snow, has been flooding areas from Montana through Missouri. Residents have been shoring up levees around towns as federal officials widen flood gates to allow record or near-record water releases to ease pressure on reservoirs. An 8-foot-tall, water-filled temporary berm protecting the plant collapsed early Sunday. Vendor workers were at the plant Monday to determine whether the 2,000 foot berm can be repaired.

Omaha Public Power District spokesman Jeff Hanson said pumps were handling the problem at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station and that “everything is secure and safe.” The plant, about 20 miles north of Omaha, has been closed for refueling since April. Hanson said the berm’s collapse didn’t affect the shutdown or the spent fuel pool cooling.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/27-9

Published on Monday, June 27, 2011 by The Washington Post

by Lisa Guisbond

Parents, teachers, and students: Raise your hands if you think what our schools need is more new tests and a greater emphasis on testing. If not, listen up, because this is exactly what our students and teachers face because of the reactions of Massachusetts, Maryland, Virgina, New York, North Carolina and other state policy makers to the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) program. These states have all marched to the RTTT beat, quickly passing laws that, among other things, insist that teacher evaluations must be linked to student outcomes. 

A focus on tests will undermine much of the most important work that teachers do. Good teachers do not simply convey information. They identify the diverse needs of their students, engage student interests and build students’ confidence. They also help develop team interaction and cooperation, while challenging and assisting students to overcome barriers. Unfortunately, a proposal with standardized testing at its center will likely rupture the essential relationships between teachers and students that make this work possible. Now we are seeing all the devilish details emerge, as state departments of education devise the regulations for how school districts must march to the RTTT beat.

In Maryland, for example, the Council for Educator Effectiveness voted to tie 50 percent of each assessment to student growth on standardized exams, despite vehement objections from teachers on the panel. Similar battles have erupted in New York and Charlotte, N.C., over proposed teacher evaluation systems that rely heavily on student test scores and use flawed methods to judge teacher quality.

latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-food-20110627,0,7413678.story

From steroid-spiked pork to glow-in-the-dark meat to recycled cooking oil collected from sewers, a series of illnesses and scandals linked to tainted food has put officials on guard. But tougher measures have had little effect amid an official culture of secrecy.

By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times

5:35 PM PDT, June 26, 2011

It was a wedding the guests would never forget. Everybody of consequence in the village had been invited to a banquet to celebrate the marriage of the son of one of the wealthiest families. Fifty tables groaned under a lavish spread of dumplings, steamed chickens, pork ribs, meatballs, stir fries, all of it exceptionally delicious, guests would later recall.

But about an hour into the meal, something seemed to be wrong. A pregnant woman collapsed. Old men clutched their chests. Children vomited.

Out of about 500 people at the April 23 banquet in Wufeng, 286 went to the hospital. Doctors at the No. 3 Xiangya Hospital in nearby Changsha, capital of Hunan province, blamed pork contaminated with clenbuterol, a steroid that makes pigs grow faster and leaner. Consumed by humans in excess quantity, it can cause heart palpitations, nausea, convulsions, dizziness and vomiting.

“It was as though he was poisoned,” said a villager named Dai, whose husband was hospitalized for five days.

To eat, drink and be merry in China is done at a risk

Nutraingredients.com, 27-Jun-2011

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Regulation/ANH-Herbal-Medicinal-Products-Directive-is-a-protectionist-tool

The Alliance for Natural Health International has slammed the European Commission’s Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive as “a protectionist tool.”

Traditional Chinese Medicines, based on plants such as ginkgo biloba, face unfair discrimination, claims Alliance for Natural Health International.

In an open letter to European commissioner John Dalli, Robert Verkerk, the alliance’s founder and scientific director wrote: “It seems that the criticism you now face in some quarters is down to the creation by the EU of what is effectively a protectionist tool; one which favours certain products of the European phytopharmaceutical system and discriminates against those of non-European traditional systems of medicine.”

Verkerk’s letter follows a forum in the European Parliament on 21 June to consider the challenges posed by the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD Directive 2004/24/EC) to traditional systems of medicine; particularly those of non-European origin.

Life Extension, June 24, 2011

http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2011_06.htm#Increased-consumption-of-cruciferous-vegetables-linked-with-lower-risk-of-dying-over-a-decade

A report published in the July, 2011 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that men and women who consume a greater amount of cruciferous vegetables, which include broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, have a lower risk of dying over 4.6 to 10.2 years of follow-up. 

By S.L & R.A   Share   (Concerned that those who engage in uncontested attacks against supporters of alternative health would misconstrue me and my co-author as such, we mean to clarify the following: we are not advocates of the alternative health movement, rather, we are advocates and supporters of …

By David McRaney, AlterNet
Posted on June 26, 2011, Printed on June 27, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/media/151426/why_do_people_believe_stupid_stuff%2C_even_when_they%27re_confronted_with_the_truth/

The Misconception: When your beliefs are challenged with facts, you alter your opinions and incorporate the new information into your thinking.

The Truth: When your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger.

Wired, The New York Times, Backyard Poultry Magazine – they all do it. Sometimes, they screw up and get the facts wrong. In ink or in electrons, a reputable news source takes the time to say “my bad.”

If you are in the news business and want to maintain your reputation for accuracy, you publish corrections. For most topics this works just fine, but what most news organizations don’t realize is a correction can further push readers away from the facts if the issue at hand is close to the heart. In fact, those pithy blurbs hidden on a deep page in every newspaper point to one of the most powerful forces shaping the way you think, feel and decide – a behavior keeping you from accepting the truth.