tagged w/ Jennifer Welker
-
President Bush says the economy is weakening but he hopes tax rebates that start going out Monday will help shore things up.
Bush says the rebates will help people cope with higher gasoline and food prices.
The rebates range from $300 to $1,200 and are the centerpiece of the government's $168 billion economic stimulus package, enacted in February. Roughly 130 million households are expected to get them. The Bush administration is hoping people will spend the money, bolstering the economy.
"Obviously our economy is in a slowdown," Bush said Friday.
The IRS says direct deposits of rebates will begin Monday, with paper checks to follow.President Bush says the economy is weakening but he hopes tax rebates that start going... more
-
-
What's black and white and warm all over? A penguin in a wetsuit, naturally.
Sounds like a joke, but it's quite serious for biologists at the California Academy of Sciences, who had a wetsuit created for an African penguin to help him get back in the swim of things.
Pierre, a venerable 25 years old, was going bald, which left him with an embarrassingly exposed, pale pink behind.
Unlike marine mammals, which have a layer of blubber to keep them warm, penguins rely on their waterproof feathers. Without them, Pierre was unwilling to plunge into the academy's penguin tank and ended up shivering on the sidelines while his 19 peers played in the water.
"He was cold; he would shake," said Pam Schaller, a senior aquatic biologist at the academy.What's black and white and warm all over? A penguin in a wetsuit, naturally.... more
-
-
Alarmed by rising global food prices, some European leaders are rethinking their commitment to use ethanol fuel and are considering other policy changes to lower the costs of basic staples.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown became the latest official to say that the European Union may have to back off its goal of having ethanol account for 20% of the motor vehicle fuel burned on Europe's roads by 2020.
The use of corn and sugar to make ethanol is a main driver of rampant inflation in worldwide food costs during the past year. Grocery bills are up across Europe, and the United Nations World Food Program says that rising food prices have pushed 100 million people into hunger worldwide.
Rising food demand from developing economies such as China and India, plus stagnant crop yields in food-producing nations, also are behind the recent jump in costs.
"A world food crisis … threatens to roll back progress made in recent years to lift millions of people out of poverty and, through increased inflation, affects us all," Brown said before opening a summit here on the world food crisis.Alarmed by rising global food prices, some European leaders are rethinking their... more
-
-
A group of senators called on President Bush on Thursday to halt billions of dollars in sophisticated arms sales to Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf oil producers unless they agree to pump more petroleum, reflecting growing frustration in Congress over soaring energy costs.
Separately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that Bush should stop putting 70,000 barrels of oil a day into the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying the oil would be better left in the market place to help lower prices. The Energy Department recently announced it is extending oil shipments into the reserve, which holds 700 million barrels, through the end of the year.,
And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday he had directed key committee chairmen to begin assembling a package of proposals aimed at addressing the growing impact that high gasoline and other energy prices are having on the economy. Reid declined to say what proposals were being considered. The plan is to bring a package to the Senate floor before Memorial Day.A group of senators called on President Bush on Thursday to halt billions of dollars... more
-
-
A bill to protect Americans from discrimination based on their genetic makeup has passed the Senate by a vote of 95-0, sending it to the President's desk. President Bush is widely expected to sign the legislation into law.
The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, aka GINA and S. 358, had been bouncing around Congress for a decade, but this is the first time it has passed through both the House and Senate.
"After a very long wait, Americans can now be confident that their genetic information cannot be used by health insurers or employers in harmful or hurtful ways," said Kathy Hudson, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center, in a statement.
The legislation's passage could make consumers and patients more willing to have their DNA tested for disease-indicators, which could swing the door wide-open for so-called personalized medicine in which genetic and genomic data is used to tailor treatments. It could be a major win for genomic testing companies like 23AndMe and Navigenics, who are collecting and analyzing unprecedentedly large amounts of genetic information from their clients.
Genetic testing advocates worried that the adoption of testing would be slowed by the lack of government protection. Surveys appeared to back that sentiment with an overwhelming number of Americans saying they wanted their genetic data safeguarded from employers and insurers.
GINA, specifically, would bar employers and insurance companies from using genetic information in human resources decisions or determining insurance eligibility.
The bill appeared on the verge of passing into law last year before it got held up by Tom Coburn, a Republican Senator from Oklahoma as detailed in a Wired.com story last year, "Genetic Non-Discrimination Bill Stalled in Senate." A bill to protect Americans from discrimination based on their genetic makeup has... more
-
-
Back in the day, countries had to shoot each others' troops, to spark an international incident. Now, all they have to do is take out a robotic plane.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the shooting down of an unarmed Georgian UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle], by a presumably Russian MiG-29, over the Abkhazia region of Georgia," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday in a statement. "Such incidents escalate tensions, contradict the spirit of the UN Friends process, and risk destabilizing the entire Caucasus. We urge all parties to engage in serious discussions aimed at reaching a lasting political solution, including by engaging on the recent peace proposals made by the Government of Georgia." Back in the day, countries had to shoot each others' troops, to spark an... more
-
-
The much anticipated "virtual" fence prototype appears to have come to a swift end, AP reports:
The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said.
The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.
Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar capability, officials said.
Less than a week after Chertoff accepted Project 28 on Feb. 22, the Government Accountability Office told Congress it "did not fully meet user needs and the project's design will not be used as the basis for future" developments.
A glaring shortcoming of the project was the time lag between the electronic detection of movement along the border and the transmission of a camera image to agents patrolling the area, the GAO reported.
Although the fence continues to operate, it hasn't come close to meeting the Border Patrol's goals, said Kelly Good, deputy director of the Secure Border Initiative program office in Washington.The much anticipated "virtual" fence prototype appears to have come to a... more
-
-
It wasn't that long ago that reporters were thrown out of Iraq and soldiers were reprimanded, just for mentioning the least bit about America's secretive bomb-stopping, radio-frequency jammers. Now, the military is selling the sensitive technology to the Iraqi Army -- and analysts are worried that means the gear will ultimately wind up in the hands of insurgents.
So the question is: How big of a problem is that, really?
"The U.S. has taken the unprecedented -- and some would say questionable -- step of selling some of its most sophisticated counter-IED [improvised explosive device] technology to the Iraqi government, equipping specialized police," Christian Lowe reports for Military.com. "Officials from Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq announced April 20 that its foreign military sales office had sold the Iraqis 411 Lockheed Martin-built 'Symphony' counter-IED systems. A few of the Symphony systems are already up and running on Iraqi government vehicles, the command said, with the rest due to be installed by the end of the summer."It wasn't that long ago that reporters were thrown out of Iraq and soldiers were... more
-
-
The country that created the world's first cloned canine plans to put duplicated dogs on patrol to sniff out drugs and explosives.
The Korean Customs Service unveiled Thursday seven cloned Labrador retrievers being trained near Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. The dogs were born five to six months ago after being separately cloned from a skilled drug-sniffing canine in active service.
Due to the difficulties in finding dogs who are up to snuff for the critical jobs, officials said using clones could help reduce costs.
The cloning work was conducted by a team of Seoul National University scientists who in 2005 successfully created the world's first known dog clone, an Afghan hound named Snuppy.
The team is led by Professor Lee Byeong-chun, who was a key aide to disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk. Hwang's purported breakthroughs in stem cell research were revealed as false, but independent tests proved the team's dog cloning was genuine.
The seven new cloned male dogs are all healthy, though one was sent to a university laboratory a few days ago for a minor foot injury it received during training, according to training center head Lim Jae-ryoung. For now, the dogs all share the same name: "Toppy" - a combination of the words "tomorrow" and "puppy."The country that created the world's first cloned canine plans to put duplicated... more
-
-
Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests.
The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday.
The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.
"This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. "Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA."Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive... more
-
-
Giving blood is not a right.
The overriding responsibility of blood collection and distribution agencies is not to ensure all Canadians are allowed to join in this altruistic act, but to ensure the safety of blood and blood products for recipients.
To do so, agencies such as Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec must not focus on concerns about rights. Instead they must discriminate - in the true sense of the word.
Héma-Québec and CBS can and must exclude individuals (and sometimes entire groups) from donating to protect the integrity of the blood supply.
At the same time, these agencies must strive to ensure there is an adequate supply of blood, which saves the lives of thousands upon thousands of people each year.
This is not an easy balancing act, particularly in a country such as Canada, where the tainted blood tragedy has left us acutely sensitive to safety concerns.
There are, and always will be, restrictions on blood donors. Currently in Canada, you can't donate blood if you are under the age of 17 or over the age of 71, if you weigh less than 110 pounds (50 kilograms), if you have a cold or the flu, or if you've had a tattoo or piercing in the past six months.
There are also "indefinite deferrals" - or lifetime bans, if you prefer - on members of certain groups. These include diabetics who use insulin and people who have lived in African countries such as Cameroon, Congo and Nigeria, where rates of HIV-AIDS are exceedingly high.
Because of fears of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human version of mad cow), CBS excludes from blood donation anyone who has spent three months or more in Britain or France between 1980 and 1996. (Héma-Québec puts the British time limit at one month.)
Anyone who has used intravenous drugs or who has taken money for sex cannot give blood. Also facing a lifetime ban from blood donation is any man who has had sex with another man, even once, since 1977.Giving blood is not a right.
The overriding responsibility of blood collection and... more
-
-
At a Victoria-area nursing home Wednesday, Ruth Pogson, 83, and Beth Aime, 79, exchanged those simple vows in front of a small group of family and friends. The pair, who have been committed to each other since 1995, wanted to make the reality of their relationship legal, said Pogson.
"In the church, ritual is important as rites of passage. And this for us is a rite of passage. It's a whole new stage of life. It changes everything," she said.
But the Anglican Church of Canada, to whom they have devoted much of their lives, was not there to marry them or to bless them. Pogson and Aime were married in a civil ceremony.
Eventually, their union will be blessed in the Diocese of New Westminster when that parish has permission from the bishop to bless same sex couples, said Aime.
"I'm happy they're getting married. I'm happy they found happiness with each other," said Peter Elliott, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in the Diocese of New Westminster.
At a Victoria-area nursing home Wednesday, Ruth Pogson, 83, and Beth Aime, 79,... more
-
-
A San Diego reception marks the beginning of a six city whistle-stop tour of communities in the Western U.S organized by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) to highlight efforts to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The tour, which takes SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis from San Diego to Palm Springs before making stops in Las Vegas, Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs, is an initiative aimed at educating Americans on efforts to lift the ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service personnel.
"We are here to engage San Diegans in the effort to lift the ban on gays in the military. 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' results in the loss of thousands of talented, skilled service members our military needs," said Sarvis. "Change doesn't come from Washington, it begins with the American people -- it starts right here in San Diego. Poll after poll show Americans favor lifting the ban, so we need to turn that support into a call for action that Congress cannot ignore."
According to Gary Gates at UCLA's Williams Institute, San Diego is home to over 21,000 lesbian and gay military veterans; another 115,000 call California home. An estimated 65,000 lesbian and gay service members serve on active duty and in the reserves of the United States armed forces.
Since 1993, more than 12,000 men and women have been dismissed under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1246), which would repeal the law mandating that the U.S. military fire lesbian and gay employees, currently has 142 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, including San Diego Representatives Susan Davis and Bob Filner.A San Diego reception marks the beginning of a six city whistle-stop tour of... more
-
-
The White House on Thursday rejected a call by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to suspend temporarily crude oil shipments to the U.S. emergency stockpile.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We don't believe the fill rates have a meaningful impact on oil supplies," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said. "We continue to fill the reserve to provide an added layer of protection to the American people in cases of severe supply disruption."The White House on Thursday rejected a call by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker... more
-
-
Local authorities in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have ordered most Pakistani cable stations off the air in the territory, cable operators said Thursday.
The popular Pakistani channels are the only source of Islamic programming in Indian-controlled Kashmir, a Muslim-majority area where insurgents have been fighting for almost two decades for independence from predominantly Hindu India or union with mostly Muslim Pakistan, which controls the other part of the Himalayan territory.
Both countries claim all of Kashmir and have fought two wars over it.
Indian cable operators in Kashmir have carried several Pakistani channels including state-run PTV for several years. It was not clear why local officials ordered the cuts now.
India's state government in Kashmir sent cable operators an order Wednesday directing them to stop airing most of the channels because they have not been approved by India's federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said Irfan Ahmed, who runs the main cable operation in Indian Kashmir's main city of Srinagar.
Ahmed said that it was the first time he received a written government order about the Pakistani channels, and that he had complied. Other cable operators also stopped airing channels.Local authorities in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have ordered most Pakistani... more
-
-
The United Nations says it has had to halt food distribution in the Gaza Strip because it has run out of fuel.
Distributions to 15,000 refugees took place on Thursday, but were then halted. Officials said deliveries due on Saturday will also not take place.
Israeli sanctions imposed in an attempt to curtail rocket fired by Palestinian group Hamas have caused shortages.
Reports say no fuel was pumped from Israel to Gaza on Thursday. Israel says Hamas is preventing fuel distribution.
It says there are a million litres of fuel at a border terminal which Gaza fuel distributors, with the backing of Hamas, have refused to collect in protest at the Israeli restrictions.
But the UN says fuel distributors who agreed to collect fuel not earmarked for the UN to help with distributions to refugees were stopped by protesters from the farming and fishing sectors - who have also been hit by the shortages. The United Nations says it has had to halt food distribution in the Gaza Strip because... more
-
-
A Georgia accident is under investigation after a tractor trailer overturned Thursday, spilling 10,000 gallons of liquid tar on Highway 365 in Atlanta, MyFOXAtlanta reports.
The spill has caused all lanes of the highway near White Sulphur Road to be shut down. There is currently no word on when the lanes will be reopened. A Georgia accident is under investigation after a tractor trailer overturned... more
-
-
The Florida State Senate is one vote away from passing an anti-bullying bill designed to protect children who are picked on, legislative aides say.
Florida's House OK'd it last week.
The measure's supporters say it would be the toughest law of its type in the nation.
It would shift some focus to prevention, and require schools to take disciplinary action to stop physical or verbal abuse that isn't averted.
According to the House and Senate staffers, the legislation provides lots of legal cover for school authorities to intervene with the parents of both bullies and victims. It forces schools to notify both sets of parents of the bullying, steps that are discouraged at the moment, due to privacy issues.
David Tirella, an attorney who recently won a $4 million jury verdict in a school bullying case in which the school was sued for providing inadequate protection for the victim, is pushing hard for the Florida measure. The Florida State Senate is one vote away from passing an anti-bullying bill designed... more
-
-
North Carolina hospital patients will soon have a new right, ensuring that they can receive the visitors who matter most to them regardless of the legal status of their relationship.
A new statewide rule will help ensure that same-sex partners and other loved ones will be treated the same as immediate family.
The rule adds a provision to the Patients' Bill of Rights, stating: "A patient has the right to designate visitors who shall receive the same visitation privileges as the patient’s immediate family members, regardless of whether the visitors are legally related to the patient." The right applies to hospitals statewide.
"We know how important it is that patients have their loved ones by their sides, but all too often same-sex partners have been turned away when their partner is hospitalized." said Ian Palmquist, Executive Director of Equality North Carolina.
"The new policy will ensure that the patient's wishes are respected. This is a victory not just for same-sex couples, but for unmarried opposite-sex couples, caregivers, and other loved ones whom the state does not legally recognize."
Last summer, Equality NC petitioned the state to add this provision to the Patient's Bill of Rights, and has been advocating for it through the rule-making process. The Medical Care Commission unanimously approved the rule at its February meeting and on Thursday the Rules Review Commission gave final approval, allowing it to take effect on May 1.
But the new regulation will not provide same-sex partners the right to make medical decisions.
"Same-sex couples should know that this new policy only covers visitation," cautioned Palmquist. "In order to ensure that our partners have the ability to make medical decisions in the event we're incapacitated, we must still complete heath care powers of attorney."
Without a valid health care power of attorney, decision-making authority will go to the patient's nearest legal relative, and same-sex relationships receive no recognition under North Carolina law.North Carolina hospital patients will soon have a new right, ensuring that they can... more
-
-
Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain gladly gobbled up, stood by remarks he made in 2006 that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for the sinful Southern Decadence party that gays were planning to hold in New Orleans.
Mccain_hageeAt that time, Hagee said: "I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."
Right-wing radio talk show host Dennis Prager yesterday asked Hagee to confirm if he still stands by those comments, asking, of Katrina, "I’m only trying to understand that in the case of New Orleans, you do feel that God’s hand was in it because of a sinful city?"
Responded Hagee: "That it was a city that was planning a sinful conduct, yes."
Think Progress adds: "In February, after working hard to gain Hagee’s endorsement, McCain said he was “very honored” to receive it. Since then, he has both “repudiate[d]” and defended Hagee’s anti-Catholic and “anti-anything” remarks. But as Think Progress has noted, McCain has never specifically commented on Hagee’s offensive beliefs about Hurricane Katrina or his anti-gay comments. Given the fact that McCain will be in New Orleans tomorrow, will reporters ask whether he agrees with Hagee belief that the devastated city was cursed because of a gay pride parade? We’ll be watching."Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain gladly gobbled up, stood by remarks... more
-
