VIDEO: Raking is futile, Part II

To see this directly on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKXKzbcYOJk

VIDEO: We've heard it before

To view this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN_J891Z-uY

Kitty of the Week

Meet Sushi!

Animal Rescue Rhode Island

Hello, I am Sushi, a young female cat with a little swagger in my step. 

I like to play hard to get, but that doesn't mean I am not ready and willing to find the forever home I desperately need. 

If you don't mind a cat that is lively and little goofy, please look no further.  I'm still a little nervous in my cage, especially when hands are reached in, but that is just merely me being cautious. 

Given a day in my new home, I will be a social butterfly filling your life with joy. 

Some might say I am a little sassy, but I like to think of myself much like good sushi at a restaurant, fresh! 

Regardless, I am willing to follow the rules of your home if you let me be a part of the family. 

Just think of all the wonderful memories we can have... Talking to one another about our day and cuddling on your favorite chair by night. 

Let me wrap this up by saying everyone loves to eat sushi, so why not love Sushi the cat as well!

So far, not much impact

Big Apple menu calorie counts don't add up to leaner diets at fast-food restaurants

NYU Langone Medical Center

Some six years out from New York City's attempt to curb the obesity epidemic by mandating calorie counts in chain restaurants, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found that calorie labels, on their own, have not reduced the overall number of calories that consumers of fast food order and presumably eat.

In a report to be published in the November issue of the journalHealth Affairs, the NYU Langone team describes its analysis of information gathered from 7,699 fast-food diners in New York City and nearby New Jersey cities.

The study, in which researchers compared food orders in places with and without calorie counts, is believed to be the first long-term analysis of the effects of menu labeling in the United States. 

Researchers say it also offers early evidence of its possible impact as the federal government prepares to introduce the policy nationwide in December 2016 as part of its Affordable Care Act.

Can Jeb Bush Even Spell Integrity?

The former Florida governor cashed in big time from his spin through government.

By Jim Hightower

If you’re a presidential aspirant and you have to tell people you’re a person of integrity, chances are you’re not.

Those odds get worse if you have to hire someone else to attest to your honor. How intriguing, then, that Kristy Campbell — a spokeswoman for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign — felt moved to tell us that “Jeb’s record” is “one of integrity.”

This testimonial from a paid flack follows the still-evolving news story that Bush immediately cashed in on his name and state government contacts after leaving the Florida governor’s office in 2007. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Town Council preview for November 9

“Hearing” on drug rehab center proposal to continue

By Will Collette

The Council decision has already been made, but not
officially

If the Charlestown Town Council had not decided last month to postpone consideration of the plan to put a prayer-based residential addiction treatment center into the iconic General Stanton Inn, this months’ Town Council meeting would take about 15 minutes.

But because Teen Challenge, the Pentecostal drug treatment program proposing the new use for the Inn, decided to come to the October meeting without legal representation and just “wing it” on their own, the issue was bumped to Monday’s Council meeting.

Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero told the Council at the October meeting that he recommended postponing the public hearing to consider the project in order to preserve Teen Challenge’s due process rights, and the Council readily agreed. 

However, it was less a matter of concern for Teen Challenge than it was fear of giving the drug rehab group grounds to go to court.

As Town Council President Tom Gentz (also a Charlestown Citizens Alliance leader) put it, “We need to do this right… The value in doing this right is we don’t have to do it again and again.”

I think everyone in Charlestown understands exactly what Gentz means – the Teen Challenge proposal is toast. 

"Hell may be hot, Tom, but it's a dry heat."

That was clear as soon as the Planning Commission voted unanimously to “advise” the Council to reject the proposal. 

It will be a cold day in Hell when Gentz fails to follow the lead of the CCA Party’s real leader, Planning Commissar Ruth Platner.

They just want to make sure this doesn’t end up in protracted litigation like the Whalerock wind turbine proposal that was finally ended when Charlestown bought the land for open space, thus ending the project.

I have suggested that we learn a different lesson from the Whalerock debacle. Let's cut right to the chase. 

If the Teen Challenge plan goes down, as I think everyone knows it will, Charlestown needs a Plan B to save the Inn. Charlestown needs the General Stanton Inn to serve as an anchor for Cross' Mills, our historic center of town. The best way to preserve the Inn and make sure it becomes an asset that boosts our history, arts, culture, tourism and local business is for the town to buy it.

Using the same reasoning we have applied to dealing with other town priorities such as preserving open space and providing recreational activity, the voters should be presented with a bond referendum for historic preservation starting with the General Stanton Inn.

I would really like to hear from anyone who has a reasoned argument against that approach.

The rest of the Council agenda is so thin that it will take only minutes to complete. The “public hearing” on the drug rehab program proposal could take hours.

Here is the town’s official agenda with their links to supporting documents.

Love those fresh veggies

From Fake Science

“Vaccine-neutral”

What blocks pro-vaccine beliefs?

Cell Press

Despite rhetoric that pits "anti-vaxxers" versus "pro-vaxxers," most new parents probably qualify as vaccine-neutral--that is, they passively accept rather than actively demand vaccination. 

Unless there is an active threat of polio or whooping cough, they have to remind themselves that injecting their crying infant with disease antigens is a good thing.

Even in these cases, some unease is natural, argue two psychologists in an Opinion published October 29 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences. The act itself is counter-intuitive, and it requires trust in medicine and government that not all of us possess. 

With campaigns to enhance vaccination compliance showing limited, if any, success, the authors consider what compels someone to vaccinate and the cognitive obstacles that cause pro-vaccine messaging to be rejected.

Please Don’t Shoot the Moderators

Only the media can protect the public from the lies of lying politicians.

By Donald Kaul

We were treated to a classic man-bites-dog moment at the latest Republican presidential debate.

There the moderators were, CNBC’s finest, lying in ambush with their carefully crafted “when did you stop beating your wife” questions at the ready. But as soon as they tried asking them, the contestants — forgive me, candidates — counter-attacked.

“How dare you ask me to explain my positions, you biased liberal media hack” was the general theme. And it worked. The crowd, a conservative group, roared its approval again and again.

The media is liberal, they say. It’s biased against conservatives and it makes things up. A God-fearing, free-enterprise-worshipping American can’t expect a fair shake from them.

Those are the inaccurate messages that went out, and I’m afraid that a frightening number of people bought it.

Paul Ryan vs. the People

The GOP's new House speaker says he "trusts the American people," but his budget takes direct aim at them.

By Richard Kirsch

DonkeyHotey / Flickr

Paul Ryan paints himself as a champion of “the people” over “Washington.”

But the “people” the new House speaker defends are corporations. And the “Washington” he attacks is the one that does deliver for real people.

For the past five years, Ryan has authored the budget passed by the House of Representatives. His imprint is so great that each document is commonly known as the “Ryan budget.”

Every year, those budgets reliably propose sharp cuts to social services alongside steep tax discounts for the rich. His caucus demands these cuts, Ryan claims, because “we trust the American people.” After all, he adds, “Who knows better? The people or Washington?”

But when you look beyond these sound-bite politics at the actual choices Ryan makes in his budget, it’s easy to see whom he really trusts — and whom he really works for. 

How, for example, does cutting $89 billion in Pell grants for college — as his budget last year did — put more trust in working families who are struggling to give their children a college education?

Why We Should Spend More on Education

Why Money Matters and Why We Should Spend More on Education

By Diane Ravitch

Ben Spielberg is a blogger who is knowledgeable about budgets and economics. In this post, he refutes the arguments of StudentsFirst leader Dmitri Mehlhorn that how money is spent matters, but we spend enough now. 

Spielberg works at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He knows whereof he writes. He says Mehlhorn is wrong, and he backs it up with “The Truth About School Funding.” Read his article to find and follow the links.

Spielberg marshals an impressive array of facts and data to show that we are far from achieving equitable or adequate funding of the neediest schools:

Studies raise questions about impact of statins on flu vaccination in seniors

Statin use may hinder immune response, vaccine effectiveness, say researchers

Infectious Diseases Society of America

A new pair of studies suggests that statins, drugs widely used to reduce cholesterol, may have a detrimental effect on the immune response to influenza vaccine and the vaccine's effectiveness at preventing serious illness in older adults. 

Published inThe Journal of Infectious Diseases, the findings, if confirmed by additional research, may have implications for flu vaccine recommendations, guidelines for statin use around the time of vaccination, and future vaccine clinical trials in seniors.

In one of the new studies, researchers analyzed immune response data from an earlier flu vaccine clinical trial conducted during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 flu seasons. 

In the new study, funded by Novartis Vaccines, which also sponsored the original clinical trial, investigators focused on the potential effect of statin use on patients' initial immune responses after being immunized against flu. The analysis drew on data for nearly 7,000 adults over the age 65 in four countries, including the United States.

When Your Teacher Asks If You Want Fries with That

McDonald's tricks cash-strapped schools into serving up their own students.

By Jill Richardson

When it comes to predatory marketing to children, nobody’s lovin’ it like McDonald’s.

In addition to selling unhealthy food, the chain lures kids in with toys and a playground — and its spokesperson is a clown. But it’s the fast food giant’s marketing to captive audiences at schools that really takes the cake.

This came to my attention when I saw photos of “McSchool Night” on Facebook. A woman I know was boasting that her son had flipped burgers at the event.

What’s McSchool Night? Also called “McTeacher’s Night,” it’s what the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood calls “a marketing ploy disguised as a school fundraiser.”

McDonald’s — like all food marketers — knows that children develop eating habits and brand loyalties that can last a lifetime. The company wants kids to build warm and happy memories now so they associate the Golden Arches with nostalgia later on. The sooner they get into the habit of eating at the chain, the better.

Here’s how it works at McSchool Nights.

Is GDP Over?

Economists agree: Sustainable development and reducing inequality matter more than economic growth.

By Sam Pizzigati

Crossposted from Inequality.org. 

Picturing Inequality, an OtherWords cartoon by Khalil Bendib

Organizers of October’s fifth OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge, and Policy could barely contain their sense of satisfaction when the three-day event opened in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Why all the good cheer? Officials at the OECD, the official economic research agency of the developed world, feel they haven’t just been organizing gabfests since the first of these triennial forums in 2004. 

They believe they’ve been helping change how the world — or at least the global public policy community — thinks about inequality.

And that belief, prominent independent observers believe, reflects a healthy dose of reality.

“We now have a broad consensus that more equal societies perform better,” as Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz put it in his World Forum keynote address to the over 1,000 government statisticians, academics, and civil society analysts on hand in Guadalajara.

The OECD, Stiglitz observed, deserves much of the credit for this new consensus. The agency’s efforts have helped shift the global analytical mainstream off a mindless fixation on GDP — an economy’s total output of goods and services — and onto the importance of developing a sustainable “prosperity for all.”

Laws don’t work unless they are properly enforced

Enforcement of R.I.'s Environmental Laws Lax

By FRANK CARINI/ecoRI News staff

If natural resources, like Little Compton Beach, are what make Rhode Island the Ocean State, why has state leadership long ignored the importance of environmental protections? (Joanna Detz/ecoRI News)

During a recent interview for a story about the importance of wetlands, the interviewee asked a question in the middle of our conversation that neither of us could answer: Why isn’t Rhode Island leading the way when it comes to environmental protections?

Sure, the state has a fine collection of successes — the Coastal Resources Management Council's leadership on the climate-change front, the Narragansett Bay Commission’s combined sewer overflow project and the new Infrastructure Bank — but the collective work of the executive and legislative branches during the past four decades has treated the environment as an afterthought. That indifference has trickled down to the municipal level.

The state that created the moniker “Ocean State,” in 1972, to attract tourists and energize the economy should have done more since then to protect its 400 miles of coastline and unique collection of natural resources. Rhode Island has passed plenty of laws purportedly created to protect the environment since that day 43 years ago, but many of them are inadequate and most aren’t enforced, or are enforced selectively depending on who "knows a guy."