Miscellaneous
03/05/2007
HILARY JOFFE: Bruce, new business sales were down 1% one percent?
BRUCE HEMPHILL: On balance these are a good results, with earnings per share and embedded up quite nicely. Embedded value is up despite the fact that there was a return of capital to shareholders last year - if you factor that in it's quite a bit more than the 12% - but I guess the real issue is the question of new business. Liberty traditionally has always generated very healthy growth in new business, but last year proved to be the exception with overall indexed new business was down 1%.
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03/05/2007
It';s time to revisit one of my favorite subjects: debunking the Lancet study that claimed 650,000 Iraqi civilian deaths in the first three years of the Iraq War. The London Times:
The statistics made headlines all over the world when they were published in The Lancet in October last year. More than 650,000 Iraqis - one in 40 of the population - had died as a result of the American-led invasion in 2003. The vast majority of these "excess" deaths (deaths over and above what would have been expected in the absence of the occupation) were violent. The victims, both civilians and combatants, had fallen prey to airstrikes, car bombs and gunfire.
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03/05/2007
According to the website www.icasualties.org , total U.S. deaths in Iraq were 3,255, as of March 3.
In addition, U.S. deaths in Afghanistan stood at 308, as of February 24, according to the Pentagon.
The military announced that, within the next few days, U.S. and Iraqi troops are likely to begin establishing a permanent presence in Sadr City, a Shiite dominated stronghold in the northeast section of Baghdad named for the father of anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr.
Yesterday, Sadr issued a statement which, while it fell short of threatening force against the troops, it definitely disavowed the planned incursion.
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03/05/2007
"Kinder, gentler" conservatism gave us the largest tax increase in our history and President Bill Clinton. "Compassionate" conservatism has given us No Child Left Behind, Medicare prescription drugs, open-borders, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
This is not a coincidence. Throughout the last three decades, a simple, if inconvenient, truth has emerged: when conservatives run on principle, we win, and when we run from principle, we lose.
For years, conservatives have been warned by political professionals of the costs of standing too strongly on principle. Today, ladies and gentlemen, we're paying the price for not standing on principle at all.
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03/05/2007
Drugs policy has failed. Do not take my word for it. That was, essentially, the conclusion of the Prime Minister's strategy unit in a report published last year after initially being suppressed. The aim of drugs policy over the past four decades has been to reduce demand and curb supply. It has done neither. Crime associated with drug-taking is as rife as ever. A new way needs to be found.
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03/05/2007
Ahmadinejad tries to calm Saudi atomic fears
Teheran agents smuggled in missile that shot down RAF helicopter in Iraq
Iran has trained secret networks of agents across the Gulf states to attack Western interests and incite civil unrest in the event of a military strike against its nuclear programme, a former Iranian diplomat has told The Sunday Telegraph.
Western interests in Dubai could be attacked the Iranian regime's agents
Spies working as teachers, doctors and nurses at Iranian-owned schools and hospitals have formed sleeper cells ready to be "unleashed" at the first sign of any serious threat to Teheran, it is claimed.
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03/05/2007
The statistics made headlines all over the world when they were published in The Lancet in October last year. More than 650,000 Iraqis - one in 40 of the population - had died as a result of the American-led invasion in 2003. The vast majority of these “excess” deaths (deaths over and above what would have been expected in the absence of the occupation) were violent. The victims, both civilians and combatants, had fallen prey to airstrikes, car bombs and gunfire.
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03/04/2007
United States
Fatal drug overdoses double
Fatal unintentional drug overdoses in the United States almost doubled from 1999 to 2004, to become the second leading cause of unintentional death after car crashes, government figures have shown. The number of deaths from unintentional overdoses rose to 19 838 in 2004 from 11 155 in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They did not say which drugs played the greatest role. Researchers said that they thought sedatives and prescription painkillers were the main cause of the rise (www.ap.org).
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03/04/2007
(Rome) The first meeting of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's coalition government, following a confidence vote that saw him narrowly hold on to power, erupted into a shouting match over civil partnerships for same-sex couples.
The far left of the left-of-center coalition of about a dozen small political parties is pushing Prodi to put the civil partnership bill to a vote in Parliament. The right and some moderates are demanding the Prime Minister stick to an agreement they made to save his government and kill the bill.
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03/04/2007
Sir Godfrey Hounsfield (born 1919) won the Nobel Prize for medicine for co-inventing the CAT-scan (computer assisted tomography).
Sir Godfrey Hounsfield pioneered a great leap forward in medical diagnosis: computerized axial tomography, popularly known as the "CAT scan." Ushering in a new and sometimes controversial era of medical technology, Hounsfield's device allowed a doctor to look inside a patient's body and examine a three-dimensional image far more detailed than a conventional X ray. The importance of this advance was recognized in 1979, the year Hounsfield received the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine.
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03/04/2007
SimmonsCooper law firm wrung a settlement out of an inactive OxyContin class action that the Korein Tillery firm dumped three years ago.
In December, SimmonsCooper and Purdue Pharma jointly dismissed a suit that Judy Cates of Korein Tillery filed in 2001.
They dusted the suit off after more than two years on inactive status.
When Cates filed it for Allied Services of Edwardsville, she proposed to represent all who suffered damages from abuse of the painkiller.
She claimed Purdue Pharma failed to prevent prescription abuse.
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03/04/2007
IRAN has trained secret networks of agents across the Gulf states to attack Western interests and incite civil unrest in the event of a military strike against its nuclear program, a former Iranian diplomat has revealed.
Spies working as teachers, doctors and nurses at Iranian-owned schools and hospitals have formed sleeper cells ready to be "unleashed" at the first sign of any serious threat to Tehran, it is claimed.
Trained by Iranian intelligence, they are also said to be recruiting fellow Shiites in the region, whose communities have traditionally been marginalised by the Gulf's ruling Arab clans.
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03/04/2007
Iran has trained secret networks of agents across the Gulf states to attack Western interests and incite civil unrest in the event of a military strike against its nuclear programme, a former Iranian diplomat has told The Sunday Telegraph.
Spies working as teachers, doctors and nurses at Iranian-owned schools and hospitals have formed sleeper cells ready to be "unleashed" at the first sign of any serious threat to Teheran, it is claimed.
Trained by Iranian intelligence services, they are also said to be recruiting fellow Shias in the region, whose communities have traditionally been marginalised by the Gulf's ruling Sunni Arab clans.
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03/04/2007
Over the past 15 years, America's armed forces have taken huge strides to retain married service members -; improving schools, health programs and child care.
But now, as never before, the military is struggling with the toughest home-front problem of all: Doing right by the often outspoken and ever-growing ranks of the bereaved.
Of the 3,350 Americans who died in Iraq and Afghanistan through early January, 1,586 of them -; 47.3 percent -; were married. Those fallen warriors left behind 1,954 children, according to the Pentagon's Manpower Data Center. More recent deaths have pushed that figure past 2,000.
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03/04/2007
As an employee, she also submits to the tests. And her experience makes her wonder whether drug testing is worth the time and money.
Rehberg has received inconclusive results from her past three drug screenings, which followed the common procedure of analyzing a urine sample. She was told she had a diluted specimen, probably reflecting her habit of drinking at least 100 ounces of water a day, in keeping with her doctor's recommendation.
The result counts as neither positive nor negative. It is supposed to trigger a retest, but Rehberg, of Mulberry, said her boss gives her the benefit of the doubt.
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03/04/2007
But health services costs rose more than that, 7.5 percent, and the result was a net underwriting loss of $39 million.
Most of that was covered by investments that HMSA maintains for precisely this purpose, investments that appreciated by millions of dollars in 2006. HMSA also is reaping a tax gain from the settlement of a dispute with the IRS.
A key factor in the higher than expected costs was higher payments to health-care providers -- doctors, hospitals and the like.
"Payments to health-care providers in 2006 represented 93.4 percent of revenue, which is higher than HMSA's historical average of 92.
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03/04/2007
You've probably heard about the possibility of flooding in our area
if the Wolf Creek Dam in south central Kentucky fails. The U.S Army
Corps of Engineers and local government agencies are holding
meetings to educate citizens about the situation, and
representatives from Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation are
attending these meetings so we may be fully informed about the
risks.
We encourage everyone to assess their
individual risk level and be prepared to act quickly in the event
flooding happens.
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03/03/2007
THE ENTIRE history of capitalism is punctuated by workers struggles, strikes, and revolutions-;from the Paris Commune of 1871 to the 2001 resource wars in Bolivia. Yet the intermittent character of the class struggle and the constantly shifting nature of capitalist production have always provided space for those who argue that Marxism';s emphasis on the revolutionary role of the working class is irrelevant or outmoded. As the late U.S. socialist Hal Draper put it, declarations about the end of the working class have been made ";since the early nineteenth century, that is, virtually since the rise of the modern proletariat.
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03/03/2007
THE U.S. death penalty system is in retreat-;around an issue that few people fighting capital punishment would have predicted a few years back: problems associated with lethal injection, the primary method of carrying out executions. As of early February, of the thirty-eight states that have the death penalty, executions were on hold in fifteen (as well as in the federal system) as a result of court rulings or executive or legislative action. In most cases, these halts are related to the question of whether lethal injection violates the Constitution';s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
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03/03/2007
March 02, 2007
As The Poll Turns.
It's good, every once in awhile, to dig through a comprehensive poll and see where the country's at. For instance, I wasn't aware that only 20 out of every 100 people approved of George W. Bush's job performance. I thought he'd have at least, oh, four more supporters in there. And I am surprised that only 23% of the country thinks the country is on the right track. That matches the low from May 2006, and the two are lower than at any point in the past 25 years.
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03/03/2007
A proud military mom who wanted to honor her only son with a song touched a nerve among pro-troops Americans as she wrote and recorded that tune and began spreading it far and near.
"So Brave" is a song by Angela Lashley, whose son, Jonathan, is a young U.S. Army soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division. About a year ago, Jonathan "felt compelled" to suddenly leave college and join the Army. The evening after Jonathan flew off to join the service, Angela asked her husband, "When did he become so brave?" They began to discuss events during his childhood that showed something of a pattern.
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03/03/2007
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USDA Plan Includes Important Rural-Aid Components
From the Omaha World Herald
2/26/2007 10:33:15 AM
The current Midlands influence at the top of the U.S.
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03/03/2007
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - She's a climber with heart, and it's not even her own.
Kelly Perkins, a 45-year-old Californian who had a heart transplant more than a decade ago, has added a dangerous free climb in the Andes to a string of mountaineering feats.
Perkins, the first person to climb the Matterhorn, Mount Fuji and Mount Kilimanjaro with another person's heart beating in her chest, recently completed a challenging roped ascent with her husband, Craig, up the side of an unexplored peak in the South American chain.
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03/03/2007
Mr. Rawles,
I reviewed the article from MSN Money regarding property taxes by state, mentioned by "J Eagle". I could not help to look at Alabama because that is my home state. Unfortunately, I am not there now. However, property tax is low in Alabama but they have a 5% personal income tax and sales tax is charged on everything one purchases. This includes big ticket items such as cars and tractors (at a reduced rate from normal sales tax) to basic necessities (food, clothing, guns and ammunition at the normal sales tax rate). They also charge the pharmacies a tax of $1 per prescription filled, which is ultimately passed onto the consumer.
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03/02/2007
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has issued a report this week that should lay to rest the argument made by some that immigrants compete for jobs and lower the wages of U.S.-born workers. This comprehensive study, based on data between 1960 and 2004, has great significance for California policymakers as well as federal officials grappling with what should be done about immigration. In California, this issue has been identified in polls of the PPIC and the Field Survey as either the most important issue to voters or certainly in the top ones that are mentioned by them.
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03/02/2007
ROGERS -- The feds apparently want more information from Rogers before the city is allowed to train and equip its police officers for immigration enforcement.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded last week to Rogers' request to participate in the program, questioning how the program will assist the city in complying with a 2003 racial profiling lawsuit settlement.
A Jan. 5 letter from Erik Meder, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, to the Department of Homeland Security raised the issue of a possible conflict between the settlement and the city's participation in the 287(g) program.
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03/02/2007
Libs have been pushing for socialized medicine for years. Just another way to control your life. It is a disaster. Canada is now moving away from it. One of the FOX guys told how he and his wife were in London when she became ill and had to be hospitalized. Despite their good health insurance, (which is scorned in Europe) she was put in a huge ward.over 25 patients. The place stunk of urine, (and other things)they rarely saw a nurse. She was stuck there for nearly a month. He said he will never forget it. It was a nightmare. They saw ONE man with a bucket of filthy water cleaning the floors occassionally.
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03/02/2007
It's an expensive business having your laptop stolen, as the Nationwide Building Society found out last month - and Worcestershire County Council may soon discover.
But the biggest cost doesn't necessarily come from having to replace the lost system. Rather, in Nationwide's case, the main outlay ended up being the 980,000 fine imposed by the Financial Services Authority, for what the regulator deemed were serious information-security lapses. Much time and money were also spent in informing customers of the potential risks they could be exposed to because of the theft, which took place at an employee's home in August 2006.
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03/01/2007
Hamish Davidson
Wednesday February 28, 2007
The Guardian
Born between 1946 and 1964, I am a "boomer" and proud of it. I am part of this select group that has been credited as having invented the teenager, before moving on to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. We were pioneers. We threw ourselves headfirst into "new" things such as divorce and cosmetic surgery. We loved being young and, as we head into our supposedly mature years, it could be said that we are the first generation that is looking forward to old age.
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03/01/2007
The New Wijit Tetra DBS™ and Wijit VOYAGER are Now Available
The new Wijit Tetra DBS and Wijit VOYAGER are now available at a participating dealer near you! For individuals unable to locate a participating dealer, you may contact us to place an order. If you are a dealer interested in carrying the Wijit Tetra DBS and Wijit VOYAGER for your customers, please visit our Dealers section.
The Wijit VOYAGER is the first healthy, safe way for children to propel themselves in a manual wheelchair.
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01/22/2006
Off-Label Use of Blood Clotting Drug, NovoSeven, Linked to Deaths and Strokes - FDA
THIS IS BUT THE LATEST EXAMPLE OF THE EXTREME DANGER ASSOCIATED WITH THE OFF-LABEL USE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR CONDITIONS THEY WERE NEVER INTENDED OR APPROVED TO TREAT
Jan 19, 2006 | www.newsinferno.com
According to the FDA, a blood clotting drug for hemophiliacs has been linked to heart attacks, strokes, deaths, and other health complications in patients given the medicine for other types of out-of-control bleeding, such as cerebral hemorrhages.
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