Human Trafficking: 2 Out Of Every 3 Victims Are Women
Posted by Michelle Moquin on April 4th, 2012
Good morning!
I don’t usually post a topic that is the headliner on the Huff Po. But when it comes to women, our well-being and safety, I want to give as much blog time as I can. I am certainly not delighted over the content of the article, but I am delighted that it is the featured topic, because not enough can be said about this. And like the article says: ”…’there is no human rights subject on which governments have said so much but done so little.”‘
Human Trafficking Victims: 2.4 Million People Across The Globe Are Trafficked For Labor, Sex
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. crime-fighting office said Tuesday that 2.4 million people across the globe are victims of human trafficking at any one time, and 80 percent of them are being exploited as sexual slaves.
Yuri Fedotov, the head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told a daylong General Assembly meeting on trafficking that 17 percent are trafficked to perform forced labor, including in homes and sweat shops.
He said $32 billion is being earned every year by unscrupulous criminals running human trafficking networks, and two out of every three victims are women.
Fighting these criminals “is a challenge of extraordinary proportions,” Fedotov said.
“At any one time, 2.4 million people suffer the misery of this humiliating and degrading crime,” he said.
According to Fedotov’s Vienna-based office, only one out of 100 victims of trafficking is ever rescued.
Fedotov called for coordinated local, regional and international responses that balance “progressive and proactive law enforcement” with actions that combat “the market forces driving human trafficking in many destination countries.”
Michelle Bachelet, who heads the new U.N. agency promoting women’s rights and gender equality called UN Women, said “it’s difficult to think of a crime more hideous and shocking than human trafficking. Yet, it is one of the fastest growing and lucrative crimes.”
Actress Mira Sorvino, the U.N. goodwill ambassador against human trafficking, told the meeting that “modern day slavery is bested only by the illegal drug trade for profitability,” but very little money and political will is being spent to combat trafficking.
“Transnational organized crime groups are adding humans to their product lists,” she said. “Satellites reveal the same routes moving them as arms and drugs.”
Sorvino said there is a lack of strong legislation and police training to combat trafficking. Even in the United States “only 10 percent of police stations have any protocol to deal with trafficking,” she said.
M. Cherif Bassiouni, an emeritus law professor at DePaul University in Chicago, said to applause that “there is no human rights subject on which governments have said so much but done so little.”
Laws in most of the world criminalize prostitutes and other victims of trafficking but almost never criminalize the perpetrators “without whom that crime could not be performed,” he said.
Bassiouni said the figure of 2.4 million people trafficked at any time is not reflective of the overall problem because “at the end of 10 years you will have a significantly larger number who have gone through the experience.”
He urged a global reassessment of “who is a victim and who is a criminal” and called for criminalizing not only those on the demand side using trafficked women, children and men, but all those in the chain of supplying trafficking victims.
In addition, Bassiouni said, “we must change attitudes of male-dominated police departments throughout the world who place this type of a crime at the lowest level of their law enforcement priorities.”
General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged donors to contribute to a new trust fund aimed at helping victims of human trafficking.
At the start of the meeting, Fedotov said the U.N. Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking had pledges of around $1 million but just $47,000 in contributions, and he urged those who offered money to send their checks.
At the end of the meeting, Al-Nasser announced three new pledges – $200,000 from Australia, $30,000 from Russia, and 30,000 Euros from Luxembourg – and encouraged other U.N. member states to follow their example.
RELATED ON HUFFPOST:
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Readers: I learned something new about Mira Sorvino. It’s not Saturday, but who cares…I think her efforts toward ending human trafficking should be recognized. I am delighted to call her a Wonderful Woman Of The World. Thank you, Sorvino for all that you’re doing.
Peace & Love…
xo
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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April 4th, 2012 at 8:39 am
As usual Michelle, you are the brightest in America. This Irish girl loves you and your blog.
Brianna
April 4th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Howie, are you alive? What’s up?
April 4th, 2012 at 8:44 am
CATHOLIC SHAMPOO
TWO NUNS WERE SHOPPING AT A 7-11 STORE. AS THEY PASSED BY THE BEER COOLER,
ONE NUN SAID TO THE OTHER, ” WOULDN’T A NICE COOL BEER OR TWO TASTE
WONDERFUL ON A HOT SUMMER EVENING?”
>
>
> THE SECOND NUN ANSWERED, “INDEED IT WOULD, SISTER, BUT I WOULD NOT FEEL
> COMFORTABLE BUYING BEER, SINCE I AM CERTAIN IT WOULD CAUSE A SCENE AT THE
> CHECKOUT STAND.”
>
>
> “I CAN HANDLE THAT WITHOUT A PROBLEM” THE OTHER NUN REPLIED, AND SHE
> PICKED UP A SIX-PACK AND HEADED FOR THE CHECK-OUT.
>
>
> THE CASHIER HAD A SURPRISED LOOK ON HIS FACE WHEN THE TWO NUNS ARRIVED
> WITH A SIX-PACK OF BEER. “WE USE BEER FOR WASHING OUR HAIR” THE NUN SAID,
> “BACK AT OUR NUNNERY, WE CALL IT CATHOLIC SHAMPOO.”
>
>
> WITHOUT BLINKING AN EYE, THE CASHIER REACHED UNDER THE COUNTER. PULLED OUT
> A PACKAGE OF PRETZEL STICKS, AND PLACED THEM IN THE BAG WITH THE BEER.
>
>
> HE THEN LOOKED THE NUN STRAIGHT IN THE EYE, SMILED, AND SAID: “THE CURLERS
> ARE ON THE HOUSE
April 4th, 2012 at 8:54 am
Howie, was this one of the horrible events you predicted?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/dallas-tornadoes-resident_n_1401904.html?ref=daily-brief?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=040412&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NewsEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief
April 4th, 2012 at 8:59 am
I know most fans are interested in men’s college basketball than women’s, but last night I witnessed something no male basketball team has ever done.
Baylor University won the NCAA Championship for women and did it with an undefeated season of 40 straight wins. That is a record for women and men’s NCAA.
Congratulations Baylor.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/baylor-womens-ncaa-basketball-title-notre-dame_n_1401600.html?ref=daily-brief?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=040412&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NewsEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief
April 4th, 2012 at 9:07 am
The Truth About Diet and ADHD
Can eating—or avoiding—certain foods help calm down kids (and perhaps even adults) who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)?
That’s a question that many people are asking, and a new analysis that reviewed 70 studies on the topic provides answers.
I’ve written before about the impact of diet on ADHD, but this meta-analysis of past studies by J. Gordon Millichap, MD, a neurologist at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, helped sort out what we might be doing to make this behavioral epidemic worse.
FOODS THAT HELP YOU FOCUS
Dr. Millichap and his colleagues reviewed studies dating back to the 1970s that analyzed several types of diets for children with ADHD, including…
The Restriction Diet. Limiting intake of sugar.
The Elimination Diet. Not eating entire food groups that are often implicated in food allergies, such as cow’s milk, cheese, eggs, chocolate, nuts and citrus fruits.
The Feingold Diet. Avoiding food containing preservatives and additives, such as dyes.
The Supplementation Diet. Adding more omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, such as through fish oil capsules.
The Western Diet. Eating standard American food, which is high in saturated fat, salt, refined sugars and omega-6 fatty acids.
The results? There was a clear winner, a clear loser and then a lot of mixed results in between.
The clear loser: Western Diet
No surprise here! Experts have been telling us for years that this diet is unhealthy for all people, and some research shows that it may be particularly harmful for those with ADHD and it may even be a catalyst for it starting in the first place.
For example, one Australian study of kids up to age 14 revealed that those who consumed high amounts of fat, sugar and salt had a significantly greater chance of developing ADHD compared with those who ate diets rich in fish, vegetables, fruit, legumes and whole grains.
Though he’s not exactly sure why, Dr. Milichap said that it may be related to an inflammatory process that unhealthy foods produce in the body.
Mixed Results: Restriction Diet, Elimination Diet and Feingold Diet.
For these three types of diets, some studies showed that they helped ease ADHD symptoms while others showed that these diets made ADHD symptoms worse, so it was impossible for researchers to draw a clear conclusion.
One possibility for the mixed results, said Dr. Millichap, could be that all of these diets are particularly rigid—and since school-age children (especially adolescents) are often faced with poor food choices at school cafeterias and aren’t known for being especially responsible in any case,
there’s a good chance that many did not adhere to these diets well enough or long enough to see any potential benefit.
The clear winner: Supplementation Diet
Listen up, because there was one method that came out on top—adding more omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids to kids’ diets.
Most Americans are deficient in omega-3s but get enough—some might even argue too much—of omega-6s, mainly from processed foods, so it’s likely that the key nutrient that made the difference here is the omega-3s,
Dr. Millichap said, because they appear to be important in helping the brain regulate impulses.
An example: One UK study of 117 kids ages five to 12 found that those who ingested 732 mg of omega-3 and 60 mg of omega-6 fatty acids through daily supplements for six months had fewer bothersome ADHD symptoms and gained statistically significant improvements in reading and spelling scores and behavior when compared with those who took placebo supplements.
Dr. Millichap’s advice: If your child has ADHD, ask your doctor whether he or she might benefit from a certain amount of omega-3 daily supplementation…or feed him or her more foods that are high in the nutrient, such as flaxseeds, walnuts, salmon and soybeans.
His research was published in the February 2012 issue of Pediatrics.
DIET ALONE WON’T HELP
It’s important to note, however, that none of the diets (even the Supplementation Diet) were as effective as ADHD medications in terms of improving symptoms, said Dr. Millichap.
I know that may be disappointing news, since ADHD drugs—which are usually powerful Ritalin-based stimulants—are in short supply in many places in the US right now and carry concerns about loss of appetite and the rare occurrence of cardiac side effects.
But according to Dr. Millichap, they are still a child’s best defense against the disorder even when symptoms aren’t severe.
So if you’re going to adjust your child’s diet, Dr. Millichap said to make sure it’s in addition to whatever medications your child is already on—and not instead of, at least not at first.
A better diet might not eliminate your child’s need for meds, but it could at least reduce the amount of meds that he or she needs—and that is a good first step.
While the studies that Dr. Millichap reviewed were all done on children and young adults with ADHD, he thinks that the results would likely hold true for adults with the condition, too—
and that anyone who suffers from ADHD should consider either changing up what is served at mealtime or taking an omega-3 supplement.
Source: J. Gordon Millichap, MD, professor emeritus, pediatrics and neurology, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, and neurologist, Children’s Memorial Hospital, both in Chicago.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Al
Hello honey!! I am for a good mature man.
As for myself, I am a pretty Ukrainian lady.
Are you fond of Ukrainian ladies??
We are not just pretty and clever, but very tolerant as well..
Ukrainian ladies? esteem family and tend to be with their beloved ones a great deal of right time..
It’s right time to meet each other!
I’ll be waiting for you on international marriage site. Bye dear!!
Olga
April 4th, 2012 at 9:12 am
I loved the game. The Girls are the best.
=================
They became the seventh women’s team to run through a season unbeaten and the first in NCAA history to win 40 games. It was the second national championship for Baylor, which also won a title in 2005.
Baylor did it in a nearly wire-to-wire victory, finishing with a flourish in a season when anything less than bringing a title back to Waco would have been a huge disappointment.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:16 am
And don’t forget the Women’s NCAA has the nation’s biggest fan President Obama.
Baylor’s victory also gave President Barack Obama some bragging rights. He correctly picked Baylor to beat Notre Dame in the title game.
Love that man.
Helen
April 4th, 2012 at 9:21 am
I really like the show Baylor puts on with Brittney dunking in the pre game warmup show.
————————-
As usual, Griner put on a show in warmups, thrilling the crowd with a series of impressive dunks – including a one-handed throw down, a double-pump slam and another in which she hung on rim. She has already dunked twice in the tournament, matching Candace Parker for most dunks by a woman in NCAA tournament play and during a college career (seven).
————————-
I love being a girl in this age. And kudos for the President acknowledging women’s NCAA with his picks.
Trudy
April 4th, 2012 at 9:24 am
If basketball doesn’t work out, Griner could always find a promising career in boxing
April 4th, 2012 at 9:31 am
That was uncalled for MM. What are you some kind of racist?
Get a life. If your mother didn’t teach you to behave as a gentleman to ladies, let me tell you. Get it done creep.
Kent
April 4th, 2012 at 9:34 am
Fuck you Kent you nigger lover.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:34 am
Yes, I saw this headline early this am also, and I thought about that number, it’s staggering…and I love Mira Sorvino, she’s awesome, her dude is gorgie but frankly, ‘unload while you can’ is all that comes to mind. I used to give to a number of charities, now not as much, but this is one cause worth working on, that’s far too many women at risk. Luv, Zen Lill
April 4th, 2012 at 9:35 am
I agree with you Tom and she sounds like a man. White men founded basketball so we should have more to say about it.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:38 am
Matt, this white girl has something to say about your white men playing basketball. Brittney Griner must now have an idea what it must have been like for Wilt when he got to shoot over all the little white guys in the NBA.
Leslie
April 4th, 2012 at 9:39 am
Fuck you the nigger was a freak.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:39 am
Wilt was not only tall but athletically about 30 years ahead of his time also. You will never see anyone like him in the NBA again.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:41 am
Maybe the little white guys where in the wrong league – the Women’s National Basketball Association should have been created earlier to accommodate them.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:43 am
If the Baylor men had a perfect season it would be at the top of every newscast and news paper in the country. Time to stop treating women in sports like second class citizens.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Why are men so threatened by tall women?
April 4th, 2012 at 9:55 am
Did anyone hear about the new book claiming that OJ son is the one that killed his ex wife?
I never thought OJ did it but I always felt he knew who did. I also had a feeling it might have been his son. The sad part is, if he did it, I hope he got help. If you have the mindset and ability to kill someone like that, you may have the propensity to do it again! If he never got help, he really needs it. It’s a sad situation all around, for everyone! God help both families!
April 4th, 2012 at 10:14 am
First of all, I see some people are missing the point.
O.K! Even if you give Zimmerman the benefit of the doubt because you THINK! Trayvon jumped him.
Let’s still keep it real for a moment. Obviously, there is no significant damage done to Zimmerman’s head, but even if there was it never would have happened if he wouldn’t have been following Trayvon against police orders to begin with.
If he felt like Trayvon was such a “gangster” based on the fact that he was wearing a hoodie why would he even approach someone like that. Why not wait for law enforcement?
Secondly, the fight or flight response is a normal psychological response when someone feels frightened or threatened.
Zimmerman was following this kid in the middle of the night with a gun, so if Trayvon reacted accordingly then it’s still Zimmerman’s fault because he had no business following him in the first place.
The point is, even if there was mutual combat, just because you are getting your a** kicked that’s still not good enough reason to pull out a gun and shoot somebody.
Especially, if you started it, and Zimmerman did indeed start it based on assumptions he made about a young boy based on what he was wearing.
Zimmerman has no defense, and people are trying their best to give him one, but it’s still not working.
April 4th, 2012 at 10:19 am
I know I have been saying for a few days now that it seems to be all but wrapped up for Mitt Romney to become the GOP nominee in November, but today’s Quinnipiac poll out of Pennsylvania shows native son Rick Santorum up six points against Romney. As John Gizzi has reported time and time again, Pennsylvania conservatives have a hard time getting behind their former senator, but the latest poll shows otherwise: among self-described conservatives, Santorum is up almost 20(!) points over Romney. The rest of the ideological breakdown is below.
Wisconsin, Maryland and D.C. head to the polls this A.M. and a Romney sweep could be in the cards. He’s getting a lot of support from Wisconsin legislators Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnson, and we’ll see tonight if that translates to a victory. Newt Gingrich is bringing up the rear in most of the polls coming out now, and is shifting his campaign focus, more specifically trying to get GOP delegates to hold Romney to conservative positions.
On our end – a great piece from Donald Lambro headlines our coverage today. Don cuts through the ‘fuzzy math’ to bring you the real unemployment number. Our national security and defense contributor, Robert Maginnis, addresses the president’s weak nuclear security positions.
Keep your eyes peeled to Human Events beginning at 8 P.M. EST as live results come in from the three primary states and expect John Hayward’s coverage on the winners and losers to follow soon thereafter.
Have a great Tuesday.
-Adam
P.S. – It’s my pleasure to introduce David Harsanyi, the newest member of the Human Events team. He will be covering the economy and budget. To read more about David, please go here.
April 4th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
WILL YOU GET THIS KIND OF DEMENTIA?
Consumers of health care are increasingly sophisticated (especially you readers of Daily Health News!) and now pretty well-versed in the differing symptoms of related diseases — such as different types of cancer and different cardiovascular problems.
Dementia, on the other hand, tends to be thought of as one problem that encompasses lots of symptoms involving forgetfulness and fuzzy thinking — but, in fact, it too takes many forms with distinct differences among them.
Now scientists have just learned something important about one kind, called frontotemporal dementia (FTD), that accounts for somewhere between 2% and 10% of all dementia cases.
Like Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia involves symptoms such as memory loss and cognitive decline, but the causes of the two types of dementia are different.
And, I was told by Stephen M. Strittmatter, MD, PhD, the Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine, the more we understand about the differences between the two, the closer we come to finding treatments for them.
A DIFFERENT FORM OF DEMENTIA
While Alzheimer’s is characterized by the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain, frontotemporal dementia is triggered by the degeneration of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes, the areas involved with language, behavior and personality.
Some individuals with this condition undergo personality changes (such as obnoxious or even obscene behavior, apathy, poor judgment) and act in socially inappropriate ways.
Other important differences: Frontotemporal dementia is more likely to strike at a younger age — age 40 to 70 — than Alzheimer’s, and it also is characterized by a more rapid onset, specifically of difficulty using or understanding language.
This contrasts with Alzheimer’s disease, where most patients experience a more subtle and gradual decline that typically affects only memory.
At Yale, Dr. Strittmatter and his colleagues are studying frontotemporal dementia at the molecular level in an attempt to understand what precipitates the degradation of those particular nerve cells.
Previous research at other labs indicated that some forms of frontotemporal dementia are inherited, associated with a mutation in the gene for a protein called progranulin.
Now, in lab and animal experiments, Dr. Strittmatter’s team has discovered that another protein called sortilin binds or interacts with progranulin, causing a decrease in the amount of progranulin that can be absorbed by cells in the brain, possibly contributing to the development of frontotemporal dementia.
Both progranulin and sortilin are found throughout the body and, while it is not known exactly how they function in the brain, it is believed that they help protect the health of neurons.
Dr. Strittmatter described these findings as the “first step” to understanding frontotemporal dementia, noting that they set the stage to begin working to find a therapeutic drug.
“Eventually we hope to find a way to intervene in the disease and prevent or alleviate symptoms of this type of dementia,” he said.
Results of the study appeared in the November 18, 2010, issue of Neuron.
USE IT OR LOSE IT
Scientists have made significant progress over the last decade in distinguishing Alzheimer’s from other types of dementia, mainly by using positron emission tomography (PET) scans to detect amyloid plaques in the brain —
but at present, there is no effective drug to prevent or treat dementia, whatever its basis.
Researchers continue to explore the different causes of dementia so that treatments can be tailored to the different forms of the disease, which promises to be more effective than coming up with a one-size-fits-all therapy.
Meanwhile, for all of us, it is important to remain physically and intellectually active as we age. Use it or lose it, as they say.
Keep walking or swimming, socializing with friends, visiting museums and playing challenging games such as chess or Scrabble.
If you’d like to know more about frontotemporal dementia, you can find information from the Alzheimer’s Association at http://www.alz.org as well as from the more specialized Association of Frontotemporal Dementia (www.ftd-picks.org), where you can read about practical coping tips and join an online support group, message board or 24-hour helpline.
Source(s):
Stephen M. Strittmatter, AB, MD, PhD, Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. Dr. Strittmatter is cofounder and director of the Yale Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair.
April 4th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
It must be possible to respect the Supreme Court and still not be able to abide the crooked, conniving political hacks who comprise about half of it.
Nancy Pelosi really nailed it when pointing to those who are anti-contraception while having well-planned families themselves. It’s always the case with the Piously Brave, who solemnly swear that they will fight on till the last drop of YOUR blood.
April 4th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
The reason tea partiers carried signs saying “Read the Constitution!” was that we were hoping people would read the Constitution.
Sponsored Content
Alas, we still have Rick Santorum saying ObamaCare is the same as what he calls “Romneycare”; the otherwise brilliant Mickey Kaus sniffing that if states can mandate insurance purchases, then we’re “not talking about some basic individual liberty to not purchase stuff” (no, just the nation’s founding document, which protects “basic individual liberties” by putting constraints on Congress); and the former law professor, Barack Obama, alleging that a “good example” of judicial activism would be the Supreme Court (in his words, “a group of people”) overturning “a duly constituted and passed law.”
I don’t know how a court could overturn a law that hasn’t been “passed.” Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a law, it would be a bill. If it hasn’t even been “constituted,” it wouldn’t be anything at all.
Click here to continue reading Ann Coulter’s column
April 4th, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Hafa Adai:
Chamorros and local residents with Guam roots dating before World War II can take a peek into the past using newly released Census records from 1940.
The U.S. government has released reams of handwritten data, allowing the public a snapshot of the lives of Americans just before World War II. The Guam records, which are crudely scanned and available online, include residents’ names, ages, occupations and level of education, as well as whether they spoke English.
The data is broken down into counties and further into districts, or barrios.
For example, a glance at records pertaining to Hagåtña — which then was Agana and the most populous village — shows an Ignacio Reyes, a carpenter who lived in the Julale District with his wife and five children.
Many people now think of Hagåtña as a single village, but in those days it was separated into districts called barrios, said Toni Ramirez, a historian at the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Some Hagåtña districts sound familiar, like Julale, while others are less known, like San Antonio. An amateur geneologist would need to know which district his family lived in before scouring the data for familiar names. Maps provided online can ease the search.
Pre-war Guam
In 1940, Guam was still an agrarian and fishing society, Ramirez said.
A year before the Japanese occupation, the island had just 22,000 residents, according to PDN files. Chickens outnumbered people 10 to one.
At the time, Chamorros had two residences: one in the village, where there were schools, churches and other services; and one outside the village, in a lanchu, or ranch, Ramirez said. At the ranch, a family could grow crops or raise livestock for sustenance.
Ramirez’s grandfather would spend most of the week at the family ranch in Chagui’an, now part of Yigo, but would return to Hagåtña to meet his family and attend church, the historian said.
In 1940, Hagåtña was Guam’s most populated village, home to about 10,000 residents, according to Pacific Daily News files. The village was destroyed during World War II, and became “almost lifeless” because many of the residents moved away, said Ramirez.
“All this history was just totally erased, and now just lives in the memories of elders who lived there in the pre-war days,” he said.
Guam’s population has skyrocketed since World War II. Today, Guam is home to about 159,000. Hagåtña no longer a residential hub, has been replaced as population capital by Dededo, which has nearly 45,000, compared to 1,200 in 1940.
National
The 1940 documents are the single largest collection of digital information ever made available online by the National Archives, according to The Associated Press. The National Archives has made available records from past censuses every decade since 1942.
The government website containing the data has exploded with popularity, getting 37 million hits hours after the information was released, said the AP.
Census data is kept confidential for 72 years, so the results from the latest census will be made available in 2082.
Lea
April 4th, 2012 at 7:11 pm
It has to be over, right? The delegate math, the exit polls, etc. etc. Mitt Romney has shown time and time again that a win is a win is a win, and the former Massachusetts governor has all but wrapped the nomination with a sweep last evening in Wisconsin, Maryland and D.C. He has almost 900 delegates, and according to exit polls in the Badger State, he’s winning conservatives and tea partiers more so than he ever did. Last night, he won 50% of people who identified themselves as a part of the tea party movement, and 43% of people that intimated that they were “very conservative” voters. The tide is turning, it seems, and both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich realize it. They realize it so, that as I reported yesterday, Gingrich and Santorum have toned down the attacks on Romney. Three weeks until Santorum’s last stand (Pennsylvania), but expect to see a Romney v. Obama media cycle until then.
Gizzi’s on Walker Watch, the latest from the recall election facing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. John’s first preview of the candidates vying to unseat the controversial governor is below. Audrey’s story from Capitol Hill today is mind-blowing. Seems like the Obama administration doctored the 2010 report demanding a moratorium in the Gulf for off-shore drilling. The latest from that powder keg issue is below.
Among those stories, Hayward’s recap of last night’s festivities and some links around the web.
Have at it and I’ll talk to you all on the morrow.
-Adam
April 4th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
This is too funny.
WATCH: Colbert Rips Santorum On Lie About California Colleges
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/watch-colbert-calls-out-santorum-on-lie-over-california-schools_n_1402896.html?ref=comedy
April 5th, 2012 at 1:34 am
The Mermaid Sapphire is back on Guam with her crew of 59 including scientists and Hollywood film director James Cameron and of course the Deep Sea Challenger – the lime green mini submarine used by Cameron to dive the Challenger Deep – the deepest point on earth.
He accomplished that historic 3-hour dive last month, and announced more dives in the future. The Mermaid Sapphire pulled into Apra Harbor just a little after nine o’clock this morning and will be joined by her accompanying ship Barracuda that will dock in Guam tomorrow.
According to the Ambyth representatives, the two ships are only on Guam to unload equipment at the University of Guam Marine Lab. According to UOG Marine Lab Director Laurie Raymundo they will be providing logistical support Friday morning.
Raymundo added a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed Monday between UOG and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography which will provide research, study and funding opportunities.
The Mermaid Sapphire arrived this morning from Ulithi.
Meanwhile according to Cameron’s latest post on Twitter, his sub’s co-designer Ron Allum made his first dive down challenger deep Sunday, diving 3,600 feet…”he dove the sub like a champ”.
April 5th, 2012 at 1:42 am
Here’s the buzz: American honey bees are disappearing at an alarming rate and the government knows why.
Scientists say a pesticide called clothianidin, made by chemical giant Bayer, is strongly linked to the rapid decline in bee populations. When exposed to the chemical, bees get lost: they are literally unable to find their way home back to the hive and drop dead from exhaustion.
Susan Mariner uses her backyard garden to grow extra fruits and veggies for her family and teach her children where their food comes from — and in the past few years, she’s seen the decline in bees firsthand.
When Susan heard about the recent studies linking this specific chemical to the widespread death of the bees who pollinate our food, she started a petition on Change.org to get the chemical banned.
One-third of the U.S. food supply relies on honey bees. Without bees to pollinate crops, many essential (and favorite) foods are at risk, including apples, squash, tomatoes, strawberries, almonds, and even chocolate.
Several countries, including Germany and France, have already banned clothianidin. And after the bans, bee populations began to rise again.
But in the U.S., clothianidin is used on millions of acres of crops and American beekeepers report losses of up to 90% of their bees. Many worry that their hives won’t survive another season.
April 5th, 2012 at 1:54 am
AGING EYES AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Here’s some health news that you can file into the “ugh!” category: There’s yet one more condition that’s trying to get between us and a good night’s sleep — and it’s one that’s nearly impossible to control.
The lenses of your eyes are likely to naturally (and gradually) turn an icky yellow color as you age — and now a new Danish study, which was published in the September 1, 2011 issue of Sleep, suggests that the more severe the yellowing of the lens is, the more likely you are to have trouble getting a solid seven to eight hours of ZZZ’s a night.
I called Michael J. Decker, PhD, RN, the Byrdine F. Lewis Chair in Nursing at the School of Nursing at Georgia State University in Atlanta and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, to get more insight about what these study findings mean for you and me.
HOW YOUR EYES AFFECT YOUR SLEEP
The researchers asked 970 Copenhagen residents, men and women ages 30 to 60, “Do you often suffer from insomnia?” and if they had purchased prescription sleep medication in the last year.
If the answer was “yes” to one or both questions, the participant was put into the “sleep disturbance” category. About 24% of participants were in this category.
Those who answered “no” to both questions were the control group. Then each participant underwent a noninvasive eye examination called lens autofluorometry, which measured how yellow their eye lens was.
From past studies, the researchers already knew that eye lenses tend to become yellow as people age — it’s actually a type of cataract —
and they also knew that sleep disturbances are more common among the elderly, so their goal was to see if there was a link between the two.
In comparing the results of the eye exams with the incidence of sleep problems, researchers found that the more severe the yellowing of the eye lens, the higher the risk for sleep disturbances.
Dr. Decker explained that the yellowing of the eye lens prevents blue light — a type of light that we absorb from short wavelength rays — from entering the eye.
That can be problematic, because blue light can alter your circadian rhythms by influencing the release of melatonin, a hormone that tells your body when it’s time to be sleepy.
In other words, the more yellow your eye lens becomes, the less blue light your eye absorbs, which changes the patterns of melatonin released in your brain — and therefore, the less restful sleep you’re likely to get.
It turns out that what happens in broad daylight every day may have a profound effect on what happens in your pitch-black bedroom every night.
EYEING A SOLUTION
More than eight out of 10 cases of sleep disorders go undiagnosed, Dr. Decker observed, and that is quite troubling when you consider that not sleeping well can seriously impair quality of life and undermine health.
So if you suffer from insomnia for more than 30 days, it’s important to see a sleep specialist who can get to the bottom of your problem — and help you find a solution.
If you’re suffering from insomnia, you may also want to schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist — especially if you are having classic cataract symptoms, such as decreased night vision, glare and halos, decreased vision in very bright light or an inability to see 20/20 with a new pair of glasses.
A cataract is not easily detected with the naked eye, because the lens yellowing occurs behind the iris — it usually is discovered only when an ophthalmologist uses a microscope.
To find out more about how a yellowing lens might be treated, I called Brett Levinson, MD, an ophthalmologist in Baltimore and clinical instructor of ophthalmology at University of Maryland School of Medicine.
If a cataract is serious enough, it can be removed with surgery. During cataract surgery, your natural lens is replaced with an artificial lens that can transmit the full color spectrum.
Of course, since this research on cataracts and sleep disturbances is new, there isn’t much proof — at least not yet — that removing a cataract will make sleep problems go away, so an ophthalmologist isn’t likely to remove yours (nor will Medicare pay for the surgery) unless it’s also impairing your vision.
In terms of fending off (or slowing down) this yellowing of the lens, doctors don’t know of much you can do just yet.
But it helps to quit smoking (or don’t start), and make sure you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly to help prevent diseases like diabetes and heart disease, because those diseases can make lens yellowing more rapid and severe.
And, can you simply supplement melatonin to overcome what’s lost by a yellow lens? That is a question still to be studied, but worth asking your doctor.
Source(s):
Michael J. Decker, PhD, RN, RRT, D.ABSM, Byrdine F. Lewis Chair in Nursing, associate professor, nursing, neuroscience, respiratory therapy, Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing & Health Professions, Georgia State University, Atlanta. Dr. Decker is a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Brett Levinson, MD, ophthalmologist, Select Eye Care, Baltimore, clinical instructor in ophthalmology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore.
June 20th, 2014 at 11:20 pm
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