April 25, 2010 archive

Climate: Graham’s Immigration Hissyfit Threatens Energy Bill, Kerry Delays Debut

Senator Lindsey Graham(R, SC) has dutifully assumed his cloak and dagger as the Village Villain du Jour, thrown a last minute hissyfit on the Saturday before Sen. John Kerry was to reveal the long anticipated Climate and Energy Bill on Monday, and is holding his breath and threatening to turn beet red unless the Senate ignores the immigration issue this year.   http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wi…

The support of Graham was sought because it was assumed that of Senators Ben Nelson(D, Mutual of Omaha) and Blanche Lincoln(D, Walmart of Bentonville) would not automatically be forthcoming, after their performances during the health insurance bailout bill which was passed earlier this spring.

Now Graham is petulant, on cue, after the Arizona state legislature went neo Nazi on the Hispanic and Latino voter demographic, and the Arizona governor signed the law yesterday mandating proof of residency be shown on demand to police.  Graham says his confidence is “destroyed” that the Senate would be able to multi task on 2 topics during the rest of the year.

Hurrah!

Organize the Unorganized?

After posting last week Boots Outside the Box, which argued that the poor MUST be organized, I got a few comments to the affect that the poor COULDN’T be organized.  Too demoralized.  Too vulnerable.  No leverage.  It’s a worthy question, and one that has a long history.

Another commenter posed the question in terms of middle-class organizing VERSUS organizing the poor.  My response:  there is no versus.  The question is, what is the relationship between them?

Since the poor are largely unorganized, I think it appropriate to respond in terms of organizing the unorganized.  Which also has a long history.

Back when dinosaurs stalked the earth …

Karl Marx introduced two terms — the Reserve Army of Labour (or Industrial Reserve Army) and the Lumpenproletariat.  The reserve army was considered part of the working class, either suffering temporarily from unemployment, or part of the never-as-yet employed, which capital could employ as needed.  The lumpenproletariat was considered a criminal class of petty hustlers, smugglers and prostitutes, recruitable by the bourgeoisie to be used against the working class.

What’s for Dinner? 20100424: Intensive Gardening

Many people think that lots of space is required to grow a big garden.  This is not always the case.  Part of it depends on what you grow, but another part of it depends on how you grow it.

I have a garden space that is approximately 16 x 16 feet, for a total of 256 square feet.  I chose those dimensions because landscape timbers are eight feet long, but this is not a raised bed garden.

I had originally planned to post pictures of each step, but the weather has been extremely dry in the Bluegrass, and the plat has been too dry to till.  It is now raining, so I can get to it as soon as it stops, although it may take a day to dry out enough first.  I can post pictures as comments during future installments of What’s for Dinner?.

Dystopia 20: Tendo

“It turns out, money is power…”–Tim Garrett discussing his  revolutionary equation linking GDP growth to global warming.

This Week in Health and Fitness

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

Africa making “dramatic” headway against malaria

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Sulay Momoh Jongo, 7, is seen inside a mosquito net in a mud hut in Mallay village, southern Sierra Leone, on April 8, 2008. Credit: Reuters/Katrina Manson

(Reuters) – Africa is making dramatic progress in tackling malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that has killed a million people a year on the continent and stunted economic growth, a top expert said on Thursday.

Infection rates in Zambia, for instance, more than halved from 2001 to 2008 due to widespread distribution of mosquito nets, targeted spraying of insecticides and better and cheaper diagnosis and treatment, said Rob Newman, director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Malaria Program.

Zambia’s success augurs well for similar programs in their relative infancy in much larger countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and the one with the heaviest malaria case-load, he said.

“Where we are in Africa today compared to even a few years ago is dramatic,” Newman told Reuters from WHO headquarters in Geneva. “The steepness of the decline surprises even me, and I’ve been doing this for a very long time.

WHO approves diagnostic tests to aid malaria fight

(Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Friday it had added 16 more malaria diagnostic tests to its approved list to help health workers quickly identify which patients have the disease and need immediate treatment.

U.S. effort to fight malaria focuses on women

(Reuters) – The U.S. government announced on Thursday it would focus part of its $63 billion, six-year Global Health Initiative plan to accelerate efforts to fight malaria, mostly in Africa and aimed at women and children.

New book urges reversal of DDT ban to fight malaria

Reuters) – Six years after the insect killer DDT was globally outlawed on grounds of environmental damage, two researchers say there are new reasons for doubting the chemical is harmful and are urging its use against malaria.

Colin Powell and Bill Gates join malaria campaign

(Reuters) – Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, billionaire Bill Gates and Queen Rania of Jordan will put their fame to work this week as they join a Twitter campaign to end malaria deaths.

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.  

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