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Health

PHOTOS: Hundreds Rally For Women’s Health In North Dakota, Urge Governor To Veto Extreme Abortion Bans

By Tara Culp-Ressler on Mar 25, 2013 at 7:00 pm

Protester at North Dakota's "Stand Up For Women" rally in Bismarck

A package of stringent abortion restrictions is expected to hit North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s (R) desk early this week — including a “heartbeat” measure that would outlaw abortion at just six weeks of pregnancy, legislation that would force the state’s last remaining abortion clinic to close its doors, and a first-of-its kind ban on abortions due to genetic abnormalities.

But North Dakota residents are fighting back against their lawmakers’ war on women’s health, urging Dalrymple to reject the proposed abortion restrictions. On Monday afternoon, approximately 300 people — including some Republican state lawmakers who oppose their colleagues’ recent anti-choice agenda, saying their fellow legislators have “stepped over the line” with the extreme abortion bans — gathered in Bismarck, ND for a “Stand Up For Women” rally. Protestors hoped to communicate that North Dakota will not condone more attacks on reproductive freedom.

Republican Rep. Kathy Hawken and Republican Sen. Judy Lee, who broke from their party this session to oppose the stringent abortion restrictions because they go too far to threaten women’s health care in the state, both attended the rally in Bismarck. Women’s health advocates flocked to the steps of the state capitol building, brandishing signs declaring “VETO,” “Trust Women,” and “Stop The War On Women” (all photos via Stand Up For Women):

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Economy

Democratic Rep. Introduces Bill To Expand School Lunch Program For Children

By Travis Waldron on Mar 25, 2013 at 6:05 pm

Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) and three other House Democrats introduced legislation last week that would expand school lunch programs for low-income children to weekends and holidays. Titus plans to roll out the legislation at a Thursday event with area business leaders in her Las Vegas district.

The Weekends Without Hunger Act, co-sponsored by Reps. Marsha Fudge (D-OH), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Terri Sewell (D-AL), is aimed at providing more nutritional assistance to the children who need it most, according to a release from Titus’ office:

While school meals help keep children healthy and ready to learn during days that school is in session, there is currently no targeted Federal child nutrition program available to provide these children with food during the weekend or extended holidays when they do not have access to school meals. Vacation from school should not mean hunger for children.

Efforts to expand school nutrition programs have paled in comparison to efforts to cut them in recent years. House Republicans like Rep. Steve King (R-IA) have targeted the nutrition standards in school lunch programs, while House GOP budgets have repeatedly slashed the programs in the last three years. Last year’s House budget, for instance would have knocked 280,000 children off of the school lunch program.

Climate Progress

In Hot Water: Global Warming Has Accelerated In Past 15 Years, New Study Of Oceans Confirms

By Climate Guest Blogger on Mar 25, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Argo buoy taking measurements. (Credit: Argo Project Office)

By Dana Nuccitelli via Skeptical Science.

A new study of ocean warming has just been published in Geophysical Research Letters by Balmaseda, Trenberth, and Källén (2013). There are several important conclusions which can be drawn from this paper.

  • Completely contrary to the popular contrarian myth, global warming has accelerated, with more overall global warming in the past 15 years than the prior 15 years. This is because about 90% of overall global warming goes into heating the oceans, and the oceans have been warming dramatically.
  • As suspected, much of the ‘missing heat’ Kevin Trenberth previously talked about has been found in the deep oceans. Consistent with the results of Nuccitelli et al. (2012), this study finds that 30% of the ocean warming over the past decade has occurred in the deeper oceans below 700 meters, which they note is unprecedented over at least the past half century.
  • Some recent studies have concluded based on the slowed global surface warming over the past decade that the sensitivity of the climate to the increased greenhouse effect is somewhat lower than the IPCC best estimate. Those studies are fundamentally flawed because they do not account for the warming of the deep oceans.
  • The slowed surface air warming over the past decade has lulled many people into a false and unwarranted sense of security.

The main results of the study are illustrated in its Figure 1.

Figure 1: Ocean Heat Content from 0 to 300 meters (grey), 700 m (blue), and total depth (violet) from ORAS4, as represented by its 5 ensemble members.

The Data

In this paper, the authors used ocean heat content data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ Ocean Reanalysis System 4 (ORAS4). A ‘reanalysis’ is a climate or weather model simulation of the past that incorporates data from historical observations. In the case of ORAS4, this includes ocean temperature measurements from bathythermographs and the Argo buoys, and other types of data like sea level and surface temperatures. The ORAS4 data span from 1958 to the present, and have a high 1°x1° horizontal resolution, as well as 42 vertical layers. As the authors describe the data set,

ORAS4 has been produced by combining, every 10 days, the output of an ocean model forced by atmospheric reanalysis fluxes and quality controlled ocean observations.

Accelerated Global Warming
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Health

REPORT: Only 11 Percent Of ‘Prediabetic’ Americans Know They’re At Risk For Diabetes

By Sy Mukherjee on Mar 25, 2013 at 6:00 pm

According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over 70 million of America’s 79 million “prediabetic” residents — those with relatively high blood sugar but not high enough to qualify as diabetic — knew they were at risk of developing the disease in 2012.

As Everyday Health reports, that’s particularly bad news considering that prediabetic Americans can reverse their condition through diet and exercise, preventing their blood sugar from reaching diabetic levels and sparing them from the chronic illness and its associated health care costs:

While prediabetes is often reversible with a healthy diet and exercise, the CDC said in its report, those with the condition need to know they have it or they’re unlikely to make the needed lifestyle changes. And without those lifestyle changes, research has shown that within 10 years most prediabetics develop diabetes, which can lead to a variety of serious complications, from heart disease to kidney failure to blindness.

“If we can identify it early on, we can treat it,” said Scott Drab, PharmD, associate professor of pharmacy and therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. “We can prevent many of these patients from going on to get diabetes.”

In its report, the CDC noted that only 14 percent of Americans even know prediabetes exists — but the agency was also clear that the condition and therefore the risk of developing diabetes could be reversed or delayed in many cases by eating less, exercising and losing weight.

“Evidence-based lifestyle programs aimed at increasing physical activity, improving diet, and achieving moderate weight loss among those with prediabetes can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes,” the CDC said in the report. “Because the vast majority of persons with prediabetes are unaware of their condition, identification and improved awareness of prediabetes are critical first steps to encourage those with prediabetes to make healthy lifestyle changes.”

Some doctors recommend that all Americans get screened for prediabetes every year in order to bolster prevention efforts and stop the disease before it progresses to an unsustainable stage. That’s not surprising considering that excess sugar in diets leads to 180,000 annual deaths worldwide and that the rise in American diabetes rates is the main driver of ballooning U.S. health care costs.

Justice

More Than 300 Immigrants Are Being Held In Solitary Confinement

By Jeff Spross on Mar 25, 2013 at 5:20 pm

According to a report in the New York Times on newly released federal data, roughly 300 immigrants are currently being held in solitary confinement at the 50 largest facilities throughout the United States immigration detention system — the largest such system of any in the world. Many of these detainees are being held on civil as opposed to criminal charges, and thus are “not supposed to be punished; they are simply confined to ensure that they appear for administrative hearings.”

On any given day, about 300 immigrants are held in solitary confinement at the 50 largest detention facilities that make up the sprawling patchwork of holding centers nationwide overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to new federal data.

Nearly half are isolated for 15 days or more, the point at which psychiatric experts say they are at risk for severe mental harm, with about 35 detainees kept for more than 75 days.

While the records do not indicate why immigrants were put in solitary, an adviser who helped the immigration agency review the numbers estimated that two-thirds of the cases involved disciplinary infractions like breaking rules, talking back to guards or getting into fights. Immigrants were also regularly isolated because they were viewed as a threat to other detainees or personnel or for protective purposes when the immigrant was gay or mentally ill.

Of those immigrants being held in solitary confinement, 11 percent where mentally ill, 46 percent were held for 15 days or more, 21 percent were held 45 days or more, and 11 percent were held 75 days or more.

Solitary confinement generally involves holding prisoners for 23 hours a day in a small, windowless cell with a steel door. The one allowed hour of recreation usually takes place in similarly small enclosures that are indoors or lined with fencing — “similar to an indoor dog kennel,” as the Times put it. Access to phones, lawyers, outside communication, or even showers is often strictly limited. Solitary confinement is widely considered a psychologically damaging and dangerous form of confinement, and earlier this year the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced it will be carrying out a study of the practice. One federal court has already determined that solitary confinement of the mentally ill, at least, amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

The overall population of immigrants in detention has exploded by 85 percent since 2005, and now stands at roughly 400,000. At the same time, there are more than 80,000 people in solitary confinement throughout then United States at a given moment — again, the largest number of any country in the world.

Health

Catholic University Dropped Students’ Health Insurance For Fear Of Eventually Covering Birth Control

By Tara Culp-Ressler on Mar 25, 2013 at 5:05 pm

The Obamacare provision that requires insurance companies to cover contraceptive services with no additional co-pay has broad public support, but has still remained one the most politically contentious aspects of the health reform law. Despite the fact that the Obama Administration provides an exemption for religiously-affiliated organizations that may object to covering birth control, religious organizations across the country have continued to resist Obamacare.

Those fights over birth control have been spearheaded by religious universities and for-profit organizations, despite the fact that those types of institutions may have hundreds of students or employees who don’t share the same objection to contraceptive services. Obamacare opponents have been going to extreme lengths to drag out the largely failed “religious liberty” fight.

In fact, one Roman Catholic university in Ohio, Franciscan University, actually dropped health coverage for its entire student body last year simply because its officials were afraid of “one day having to provide coverage for contraception.” A federal judge recently dismissed Franciscan University’s lawsuit against the federal government and blasted its decision to deny health insurance plans from its more than 2,500 students:

U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley sided with the government, saying the groups couldn’t prove they would ever likely suffer the harm they allege. He noted that 15 other federal courts have already ruled similar lawsuits weren’t timely and most of those 15 decisions determined the groups filing the lawsuits lacked jurisdiction.

The judge also criticized Franciscan University over its decision in May to drop its student health insurance program out of fear of one day having to provide coverage for contraception.

Marbley said the university can’t argue harm based on “a phantom specter” created by its own fears, which the government has stated are unsubstantiated, Marbley said.

“It is gravely unfortunate that Franciscan’s students have lost the opportunity to receive health insurance coverage from the University,” the judge said.

Overall, the Catholic Church has actually been largely supportive of efforts to expand access to health care, which the Church considers to be a basic human right. During the political battle to pass the Affordable Care Act, Catholic nuns filed a brief in support of the health reform law, explaining that the government has a “moral imperative” to ensure care for people who cannot afford insurance. The Catholic bishops have obviously taken issue with some provisions of the reform law, but they also admit that they can “recognize the good present in the bill.”

However, rather than weigh the positive effects of health coverage against their opposition to birth control, Franciscan University simply decided to throw out its student health insurance plans altogether. And university officials show no signs of letting up, despite their defeat in court. As Father Terence Henry, Franciscan’s president, said in a statement, “We will not stop fighting this unjust mandate, and we are in this for the long haul.”

Economy

Average Income For The Bottom 90 Percent Of Americans Grew Just $59 In 40 Years

By Travis Waldron on Mar 25, 2013 at 4:45 pm

The top 10 percent of Americans have experienced rapid income growth over the last 40 years, but the bottom 90 percent haven’t been so lucky. In fact, average income rose just $59 from 1966 to 2011 for the bottom 90 percent once those incomes were adjusted for inflation.

That’s according to a new study of tax data from David Cay Johnston, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing about tax policy. While the bottom 90 percent’s incomes rose just $59, the top 10 percent fared much better, he found:

In 2011 the average AGI of the vast majority fell to $30,437 per taxpayer, its lowest level since 1966 when measured in 2011 dollars. The vast majority averaged a mere $59 more in 2011 than in 1966. For the top 10 percent, by the same measures, average income rose by $116,071 to $254,864, an increase of 84 percent over 1966.

The difference in those gains has reduced the share of income the bottom 90 percent holds as well. That segment held two-thirds of all household income in 1966 but just 51.8 percent in 2011, Cay Johnston found. Other studies have had similar results. One study found that pay for chief executives increased 127 times faster than worker pay over the last 30 years, and official data has shown worker wages stagnating since the 1970s. That has led to a sharp increase in American income inequality, which now rivals rates from countries like the Ivory Coast and Pakistan.

The biggest driver in that disparity, Cay Johnston wrote, was not that the rich were working harder, “but the shift of income from labor to capital and changes in federal income, gift, and estate tax rules.” Indeed, the estate tax has been eased over recent decades and federal income taxes have become more favorable to the wealthy thanks to breaks for investment income. A recent study, in fact, found that the capital gains tax cut, which benefits the wealthy but does virtually nothing for everyone else, was “by far” the biggest driver in the growth of American income inequality. (HT: Huffington Post)

Justice

Racist Hate Group To Conduct Nighttime Patrols On College Campus

By Scott Keyes on Mar 25, 2013 at 4:32 pm

White Student Union founder Matthew "Commander" Heimbach

A racist hate group at Towson University has announced plans to conduct its own nighttime police patrols on campus.

Founded last year, the White Student Union has stirred significant controversy already. The organization has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In addition, its founder, Matthew Heimbach (who goes by the title “Commander Heimbach”), and fellow organizer Scott Terry interrupted a minority outreach panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference this month in order to defend slavery, noting that slaveholders provided blacks with food and shelter. Terry later told ThinkProgress that African-Americans “should be allowed to vote in Africa” and he’d be “fine” living in a society where blacks are permanently subservient to whites.

The Towerlight has more on the vigilante plan:

The controversial White Student Union has resurfaced on Towson’s campus with plans to conduct random nighttime patrols, which members say are for students’ protection.

Some members of the group, equipped with flashlights, will conduct on-campus safety walks, and female members will carry pepper spray in an attempt to protect students from various crimes like sexual assaults and robberies, WSU President Matthew Heimbach said. [...]

Heimbach said female members have also been enrolling in self-defense classes, and members have been going to local gun ranges as a group, but not in a “military way,” Heimbach said.

He said group members would carry no weapons on the nighttime walks.

One need look no further than the White Student Union’s blog to see why their vigilante operations could turn problematic. In a blog post last month entitled “Black Crime Wave Continues!“, the group writes:

The frequent robberies, sexual assaults, and acts of vandalism at Towson University are not often reported in the local media. For those who are not Towson students it seems hard to fathom that every single day black predators prey upon the majority white Towson University student body. White Southern men have long been called to defend their communities when law enforcement and the State seem unwilling to protect our people.

As a result, the post reads, “The WSU executive board has unanimously approved to make it mandatory for all female WSU members to begin taking some form of unarmed self defense training over the next month.”

Though no Towson faculty would sign on as a sponsor for the WSU, the administration allows the group to use university resources. As the group bragged in September 2012, it is “excited to report that it has taken one step closer toward becoming recognized by Towson University,” pointing to its profile on a university website.

LGBT

Mark Warner: Marriage Equality ‘Is The Fair And Right Thing To Do’

By Zack Ford on Mar 25, 2013 at 4:28 pm

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has joined the cavalcade of lawmakers expressing their full support for same-sex marriage. He posted the following this afternoon on his Facebook page:

I support marriage equality because it is the fair and right thing to do. Like many Virginians and Americans, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and this is the inevitable extension of my efforts to promote equality and opportunity for everyone. I was proud to be the first Virginia governor to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT state workers. In 2010, I supported an end to the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, and earlier this month I signed an amicus brief urging the repeal of DOMA. I believe we should continue working to expand equal rights and opportunities for all Americans.

As recently as the beginning of this month, Warner was still “evolving” on the issue.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) also came out for marriage equality this weekend, as did Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) earlier this month.

Update

According to BuzzFeed, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) have also indicated today that they no longer support the Defense of Marriage Act.

Health

Kansas Anti-Choice Lawmakers Announce Fetal Heartbeat Hearing With Less Than 24 Hours’ Notice

By Andrea Peterson on Mar 25, 2013 at 4:10 pm

Women in Kansas may be the latest group to fall victim to the newest troubling trend in anti-choice legislation: Fetal heartbeat bills. These proposals seek to ban abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant — and directly undermine the rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, which grants women’s right to an abortion until the point of viability at around 23 or 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The Kansas fetal heartbeat proposal, HB 2324, was introduced earlier in the legislative season, but had not seen much movement until today when the House Federal and State Affairs Committee announced it would conduct a hearing on the bill at 8:00 am tomorrow, hoping to rush the bill through in the final days of the session. Kansas NOW Lobbyist and State Co-Coordinator Elise Higgins expressed dismay at the tactic:

“Not only is House Bill 2324 clearly a way for Kansas legislators to challenge Roe on the taxpayer dime, notice of the hearing was given less than 24 hours in advance to the general public. We condemn this underhanded approach to legislation unprecedented in its extremity, and are committed to fighting it every step of the way.”

North Dakota passed a heartbeat bill earlier in March that is currently awaiting the governor’s signature, while Arkansas overrode a gubernatorial veto to implement a 12-week heartbeat bill that would ban all abortions after the heartbeat could be detected with an abdominal ultrasound. Mark Gietzen, the chairman of the Kansas Coalition for Life, the group behind HB 2324, boasted that the bill was more restrictive than the Arkansas law and claimed it was “likely to stand up in court” in an op-ed over the weekend.

The Kansas House has already advanced a 70-page omnibus anti-abortion bill that does everything from force doctors to warn about unsupported connections between breast cancer and abortions to restricting comprehensive sex ed resources in public schools.

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