Friday, June 7, 2013

@3:24, 6/6/13

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1
Business Day

On Newsstands, Allure of the Film Actress Fades

Film stars are no longer the reader magnets they once were, so magazines are turning to TV actors, reality stars and musicians.
Magazines; Actors and Actresses; Television; Movies; Social Networking (Internet); Celebrities; 

No regrets.
 
2
Health

Watchdog Halts Action on Researchers

A federal agency said it would suspend action against the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which it said did not adequately tell parents about risks to their premature infants enrolled in a research trial.
Research; Premature Babies; Babies and Infants; Clinical Trials; Oxygen; 

Doing the right thing.
 
3
Opinion

Encouraging Doctors to Admit Errors

Readers react to an Op-Ed essay in which the writer recalled a potentially fatal oversight during her medical residency.
Doctors; Malpractice; Hospitals; 

Accidents happen.   
 
4
Technology

Wishing You (and Your Start-Up) Were Here

As a new immigration bill is debated in Congress, Canada, Australia and other countries are offering visas to lure foreign technology entrepreneurs away from Silicon Valley.
Entrepreneurship; Immigration and Emigration; Visas; Start-ups; Law and Legislation; 

The G.O.P. is nuts.
 
5
U.S.

Complaint Accuses U.S. Judge in Texas of Racial Bias

6
World

In Nigeria, ‘Killing People Without Asking Who They Are’

Nigerian soldiers in a broad assault against the Boko Haram insurgency are making little effort to spare the innocent, refugees say.
Defense and Military Forces; Civilian Casualties; United States International Relations; Human Rights and Human Rights Violations; Refugees and Displaced Persons; 

Fighting a guerrilla war is very difficult.
The way that works is winning the trust of the population.  Shoot the bandits for generations.
 
7
Opinion

Playing Politics With Student Debt

Tying federal student loan rates to Treasury rates would make them more stable and less arbitrary.
Student Loans; Interest Rates; United States Economy; United States Politics and Government; 

A low fixed rate.  This is government money.  Why bribe the bankers?
 
8
Business Day

Accounts and People of Note in the Advertising Industry

Ayzenberg Group, Pasadena, Calif., is opening an office in London, its first outside the United States.
Appointments and Executive Changes; Advertising and Marketing; Public Relations and Publicity; Hiring and Promotion; 

Not a skill I want.
 
9
Technology

SAP's Purchasing Power Play

10
U.S.

North Carolina Repeals Law Allowing Racial Bias Claim in Death Penalty Challenges

Death row inmates in North Carolina will no longer be able to cite patterns of racial bias in seeking to have their sentences set aside.
Capital Punishment; Race and Ethnicity; Prisons and Prisoners; Law and Legislation; 

Prosecutors hate to be reversed.
 
11
World

In Reversal, Tepco Say Water at Fukushima Is Contaminated

Tokyo Electric Power Company, which had previously said that there were no radioactive particles, indicated that some had been found in water flowing into the plant.
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Japan); Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (2011); Water Pollution; 

The game is "kill TEPCO".  No other result will satisfy.

12
World

A High-Risk Pregnancy Is Terminated. But Was It an Abortion?

The case of a sick woman in El Salvador who had been denied an abortion has convulsed the region, which is known for having some of the world’s most stringent abortion laws.
Abortion; Pregnancy and Childbirth; 

Let it be a sin and not a crime.  There is forgiveness of sin in Catholicism.

13
Business Day

Connecticut Approves Labeling Genetically Modified Foods

The law would not take effect unless four other states, at least one of which shares a border with Connecticut, passed similar regulations.
Labeling and Labels; Genetic Engineering; Food; Regulation and Deregulation of Industry; Agriculture and Farming; Biotechnology;

This is about fear and not about danger.
We do need to fix copy right and patent law.
 
14
World

Can Job Training Trump a Degree?

While Chinese and Indian university graduates are struggling to find jobs, those coming out of vocational schools as skilled mechanics, technicians and hotel workers are having better luck.
Careers and Professions; Colleges and Universities; Education (K-12); Vocational Training; Youth; 

Real skills are always valued Understanding of what is does not replace understanding of what could be.
 
15
U.S.

Critics of Health Care Law Outspending Its Supporters on Ads

Most of the commercials opposing the Affordable Care Act have come from Republican outside groups, which have spent about $400 million on the ads.
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010); Health Insurance and Managed Care; Political Advertising; Television; 

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/bad-faith-and-civility-health-care-edition/
"June 6, 2013, 7:53 am

Bad Faith and Civility, Health Care Edition

Austin Frakt and Aaron Carroll, who offer wonderfully helpful health policy analysis on their blog The Incidental Economist, wish that we could just debate the issues, without getting into the people presenting positions. I appreciate their preferences. But it can’t be done.
The point Jonathan Cohn, Ezra Klein, and yours truly are all making here isn’t just that Avik Roy is wrong; it is that Avik Roy’s side of the debate is not arguing in good faith. Obviously fraudulent arguments get made; get knocked down; and soon pop up again, as if the original discussion never happened. This makes a gentlemanly issue-centered discussion essentially impossible.
If someone says the sky is green, you prove that it’s actually blue, and the next day he comes back once again insisting that the sky is green, and this happens repeatedly, you eventually have to acknowledge that mannerly debate about the color of the sky just isn’t enough; you have to go meta, and talk about the fact that this guy and his friends just aren’t in the business of honest discussion.
Inevitably, there are some people trying to turn the conversation meta in a different direction, and make it all about civility. But bad-faith arguments don’t deserve a civil response, and if the attempt to be civil gets in the way of exposing the bad faith, civility itself becomes part of the problem."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/opinion/krugman-the-spite-club.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

"House Republicans have voted 37 times to repeal ObamaRomneyCare — the Affordable Care Act, which creates a national health insurance system similar to the one Massachusetts has had since 2006. Nonetheless, almost all of the act will go fully into effect at the beginning of next year.There is, however, one form of obstruction still available to the G.O.P. Last year’s Supreme Court decision upholding the law’s constitutionality also gave states the right to opt out of one piece of the plan, a federally financed expansion of Medicaid. Sure enough, a number of Republican-dominated states seem set to reject Medicaid expansion, at least at first.
And why would they do this? They won’t save money. On the contrary, they will hurt their own budgets and damage their own economies. Nor will Medicaid rejectionism serve any clear political purpose. As I’ll explain later, it will probably hurt Republicans for years to come.
No, the only way to understand the refusal to expand Medicaid is as an act of sheer spite. And the cost of that spite won’t just come in the form of lost dollars; it will also come in the form of gratuitous hardship for some of our most vulnerable citizens.
Some background: Obamacare rests on three pillars. First, insurers must offer the same coverage to everyone regardless of medical history. Second, everyone must purchase coverage — the famous “mandate” — so that the young and healthy don’t opt out until they get older and/or sicker. Third, premiums will be subsidized, so as to make insurance affordable for everyone. And this system is going into effect next year, whether Republicans like it or not.
Under this system, by the way, a few people — basically young, healthy individuals who don’t already get insurance from their employers, and whose incomes are high enough that they won’t benefit from subsidies — will end up paying more for insurance than they do now. Right-wingers are hyping this observation as if it were some kind of shocking surprise, when it was, in fact, well-known to everyone from the beginning of the debate. And, as far as anyone can tell, we’re talking about a small number of people who are, by definition, relatively well off.
Back to the Medicaid expansion. Obamacare, as I’ve just explained, relies on subsidies to make insurance affordable for lower-income Americans. But we already have a program, Medicaid, providing health coverage to very-low-income Americans, at a cost private insurers can’t match. So the Affordable Care Act, sensibly, relies on an expansion of Medicaid rather than the mandate-plus-subsidy arrangement to guarantee care to the poor and near-poor.
But Medicaid is a joint federal-state program, and the Supreme Court made it possible for states to opt out of the expansion. And it appears that a number of states will take advantage of that “opportunity.” What will that mean?
A new study from the RAND Corporation, a nonpartisan research institution, examines the consequences if 14 states whose governors have declared their opposition to Medicaid expansion do, in fact, reject the expansion. The result, the study concluded, would be a huge financial hit: the rejectionist states would lose more than $8 billion a year in federal aid, and would also find themselves on the hook for roughly $1 billion more to cover the losses hospitals incur when treating the uninsured.
Meanwhile, Medicaid rejectionism will deny health coverage to roughly 3.6 million Americans, with essentially all of the victims living near or below the poverty line. And since past experience shows that Medicaid expansion is associated with significant declines in mortality, this would mean a lot of avoidable deaths: about 19,000 a year, the study estimated.
Just think about this for a minute. It’s one thing when politicians refuse to spend money helping the poor and vulnerable; that’s just business as usual. But here we have a case in which politicians are, in effect, spending large sums, in the form of rejected aid, not to help the poor but to hurt them.
And as I said, it doesn’t even make sense as cynical politics. If Obamacare works (which it will), millions of middle-income voters — the kind of people who might support either party in future elections — will see major benefits, even in rejectionist states. So rejectionism won’t discredit health reform. What it might do, however, is drive home to lower-income voters — many of them nonwhite — just how little the G.O.P. cares about their well-being, and reinforce the already strong Democratic advantage among Latinos, in particular.
Rationally, in other words, Republicans should accept defeat on health care, at least for now, and move on. Instead, however, their spitefulness appears to override all other considerations. And millions of Americans will pay the price."

16
Home & Garden

Now What’s Her Line?

Paula Greif, the former art director of Mademoiselle, on the newest chapter in her storied life in art and design.
Ceramics and Pottery; Rock Music; Design; 

Like that.
 
17
N.Y. / Region

New York Parks Rank No. 2 in a Survey of 50 U.S. Cities

The Trust for Public Land looked at factors including park access, size, services and public investment.
Parks and Other Recreation Areas; Urban Areas; 

OK
 
18
Movies

Darling of Cannes Turns Slutty Impostor

“Blue Is the Warmest Color,” lauded for its lesbian sex scenes, is now being criticized for those very scenes.
Movies; Cannes International Film Festival; Homosexuality; 

Julie March is welcome to produce her own movie.
 
19
Booming

Tips on Archiving Family History, Part 2

Readers had lots of questions about saving old film and photos. Bertram Lyons, an archivist, had some answers.
Baby Boomers; Archives and Records; Families and Family Life; Photography; Digital Video Recorders; 

Good advice.
 
20
Business Day

F.B.I. Nominee Could Offer Peek Into the World of Ray Dalio

James B. Comey, President Obama’s reported choice for F.B.I. director, may be able to offer insight into the culture at Bridgewater Associates.
Appointments and Executive Changes; Hedge Funds; Workplace Environment; 

I certainly don't know.  
The F.B.I. needs an honest man in charge.

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@11:36

1
Opinion

Welfare for the Wealthy

The Farm Bill is impenetrable, important and worthy of our outrage.
Agriculture and Farming; Farm Bill (US); Food Stamps; 

http://www.ewg.org/

YES
 
2
Business Day

On Newsstands, Allure of the Film Actress Fades

3
Health

Watchdog Halts Action on Researchers

4
U.S.

Illinois: Pension Woes Cause Downgrade to Credit

Fitch Ratings said Monday that it would downgrade Illinois state government credit from A to A- because lawmakers failed to enact a solution to the state’s public-employee pension crisis.
Pensions and Retirement Plans; Government Employees; Credit Ratings and Credit Rating Agencies; 

We should ignore this standard G.O.P. trap.
 
6
N.Y. / Region

Kicked Off Their Flight, Students Turn to Internet

Students from a Brooklyn high school were ordered off the plane at La Guardia Airport after, flight attendants said, some of them refused to sit down and shut off their cellphones.
Social Networking (Internet); Cellular Telephones; Airlines and Airplanes; Anti-Semitism; Jews and Judaism; 

The kids were treated properly.
 
7
Business Day

Accounts and People of Note in the Advertising Industry

8
Opinion

Playing Politics With Student Debt

11
Business Day

Connecticut Approves Labeling Genetically Modified Foods

12
N.Y. / Region

Hailing a Taxi on a Rainy Night

Metropolitan Diary: A 92-year-old man trying to hail a taxi got a gift from a young couple a block away.
Customs, Etiquette and Manners; Elderly; Taxicabs and Taxicab Drivers; 

New York is like that sometimes.
 
13
World

A High-Risk Pregnancy Is Terminated. But Was It an Abortion?

14
World

Leak Found in Steel Tank for Water at Fukushima

15
16
World

Can Job Training Trump a Degree?


Best to have both.

17
Home & Garden

Now What’s Her Line?

18
N.Y. / Region

New York Parks Rank No. 2 in a Survey of 50 U.S. Cities

19
Business Day

F.B.I. Pick Could Offer Look Into World of Ray Dalio

20
Movies

Darling of Cannes Turns Slutty Impostor


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@17:34

1
Health

Watchdog Halts Action on Researchers

2
Business Day

Ask Your Questions About Debt Collection

Two federal agencies are hosting Web seminars on Thursday to answer consumers’ queries.
Collection Agencies; Consumer Protection; Credit and Debt; 

Nothing to ask.
 
3
U.S.

Illinois: Pension Woes Cause Downgrade to Credit

5
N.Y. / Region

Kicked Off Their Flight, Students Turn to Internet

6
Business Day

Accounts and People of Note in the Advertising Industry

7
Opinion

Playing Politics With Student Debt

9
Business Day

Connecticut Approves Labeling Genetically Modified Foods

10
N.Y. / Region

Hailing a Taxi on a Rainy Night

11
World

Leak Found in Steel Tank for Water at Fukushima

12
World

A High-Risk Pregnancy Is Terminated. But Was It an Abortion?

13
Business Day

Despite Tax Rules, Companies Stick With U.S.

Two new papers help explain why nearly all new companies with headquarters in the United states choose to incorporate and pay tax here.
Corporate Taxes; Start-ups; Tax Evasion; Tax Shelters; 

The deal is better here often.
 
14
World

Can Job Training Trump a Degree?

15
Home & Garden

Now What’s Her Line?

16
N.Y. / Region

New York Parks Rank No. 2 in a Survey of 50 U.S. Cities

17
Business Day

F.B.I. Pick Could Offer Look Into World of Ray Dalio

18
Movies

Darling of Cannes Turns Slutty Impostor

19
N.Y. / Region

Man Named in Student’s ’98 Killing Settles Lawsuit Against Yale and Police

James Van de Velde was never charged in the death of the student, Suzanne Jovin, which remains unsolved.
Suits and Litigation (Civil); Murders and Attempted Murders; Colleges and Universities; False Arrests, Convictions and Imprisonments; 

Settled.  An end to the matter.
 
20
Science

The Sex Life of Birds, and Why It’s Important

Penis size and structure in birds varies widely, and research into how and why that happens — the subject of recent criticism — is providing valuable insights.
Ducks; Penis; Evolution (Biology); Research; Sex; 

Interesting.

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@21:09

1
Business Day

Ask Your Questions About Debt Collection

2
U.S.

Illinois: Pension Woes Cause Downgrade to Credit

3
N.Y. / Region

Kicked Off Their Flight, Students Turn to Internet

4
Business Day

Accounts and People of Note in the Advertising Industry

5
Opinion

Playing Politics With Student Debt

7
Business Day

F.D.A. Scientists Find No Serious Misconduct in Avandia Drug Tests

As an F.D.A. advisory panel revisits the debate around the diabetes drug Avandia, a report by staff scientists has found no fraud in its clinical trial.
Drugs (Pharmaceuticals); Avandia (Drug); Clinical Trials; Tests (Medical); Diabetes; 

It looks bad for Avandia.
8
Business Day

Connecticut Approves Labeling Genetically Modified Foods

9
N.Y. / Region

Hailing a Taxi on a Rainy Night

10
World

A High-Risk Pregnancy Is Terminated. But Was It an Abortion?

11
World

Leak Found in Steel Tank for Water at Fukushima

12
World

For International Students, College Checklists for June

College counselors in the United States offer monthly advice for juniors and seniors who want to stay on track during the admissions process.
Admissions Standards; Colleges and Universities; Foreign Students (in US);

Good advice.
 
13
Business Day

Despite Tax Rules, Companies Stick With U.S.

14
World

Can Job Training Trump a Degree?

15
Home & Garden

Now What’s Her Line?

16
Business Day

F.B.I. Pick Could Offer Look Into World of Ray Dalio

17
Movies

Darling of Cannes Turns Slutty Impostor

18
Science

The Sex Life of Birds, and Why It’s Important

19
N.Y. / Region

Man Named in Student’s ’98 Killing Settles Lawsuit Against Yale and Police

20
U.S.

Oklahoma Campus, Ravaged by a Tornado, Draws Attention to Storm Shelters

None of the 15 people at a Canadian Valley Technology Center were hurt after a tornado, but had it been a busy day the result may have been tragic.
Tornadoes; Education (K-12); Buildings (Structures);

Not fun.  
Sooner is better.  As soon as you can is best.


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