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September 2009

Obese Middle-Aged Women Face Unhealthy Future (HealthDay)

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 16:43 — admin

TUESDAY, Sept. 29 (HealthDay News) -- If excess weight doesn't
kill you by old age, it could make your life miserable in the form of
chronic health problems and impaired mental fitness.

According to a new study, women who are obese in middle age are almost
80 percent more likely to have multiple health problems by the time they
reach age 70.

"Those who gained weight [in adulthood] actually suffered reduced odds
of healthy survival," said study author Dr. Qi Sun, a research associate
at the Harvard School of Public Health's department of nutrition.

"The key message is that women really need to keep a healthy weight
from early adulthood to midlife to enjoy a healthy and long life," he
added.

Sun added, however, that the women in the study had nonetheless
survived to their eighth decade, meaning they remained healthier than the
general population.

The study findings were published in the Sept. 30 online edition of the
journal BMJ.

Previous research had focused on how excess weight affects survival,
rather than how healthy that survival looks in older adults, said Sun.

The new study is well-timed, given that the U.S. population is not only
aging rapidly but ballooning rapidly. Two-thirds of American adults are
overweight or obese, up from 14.5 percent in 1976, when this study
started.

The study authors analyzed data on 17,065 women participating in the
Nurses' Health Study. Volunteers were, on average, 50 years old when the
study began with no major chronic conditions or major mental or physical
problems.

Twenty years later, only about 10 percent of women had "healthy
survival," and obese women were 79 percent less likely to have healthy
survival than the slim minority.

Overweight as early as age 18 affected healthy survival the most,
although women who were lean in their late teens who later gained weight
still had lower odds of healthy survival, the study found.

Every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of extra weight lowered the odds of healthy
survival by 5 percent, according to the study.

"We typically see this struggle not only in middle age but even as
teenagers. If you struggle as a teenager, you're going to struggle for the
rest of your life," said Eugenio Lopez, a registered nurse with the Texas
A&M Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center in
Corpus Christi.

And women may be starting out at a disadvantage, Lopez added.

"We typically see more women than men in diabetes programs. Women
outnumber men 4-to-1 or 5-to-1," Lopez said. "They're genetically
predisposed to hold more fatty cells than men are."

"The data is following common sense," added Dr. Mitchell Roslin, chief
of the bariatric surgery program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
"Why do people die? Of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and women die of
colon and breast cancer. What has been linked to obesity? Breast cancer,
colon cancer and cardiovascular disease."

More information

The U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention has more on healthy aging.

With Pennington out, Dolphins get Thigpen

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 16:34 — admin

MIAMI – Chad Pennington's season officially ended with a trade that didn't involve him.
The Miami Dolphins placed Pennington on the reserve-injured list to create a roster spot for quarterback Tyler Thigpen, who was acquired Tuesday from the Kansas City Chiefs for an undisclosed draft pick.
Pennington hurt his right shoulder Sunday at San Diego, an injury that leaves his career in jeopardy. At 33, he likely faces a third operation on the shoulder since 2005.
Thigpen shores up depth behind second-year pro Chad Henne, who is expected to make his first NFL start Sunday against Buffalo. Rookie Pat White is the Dolphins' other quarterback.
Thigpen, a third-year pro, went 1-10 as a starter for the woeful Chiefs last year and threw for 2,608 yards with 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Kansas City acquired Matt Cassel in the offseason, and Thigpen lost a battle this year with Brodie Croyle for the No. 2 job.
Thigpen is excited about the move to Miami, even though the Dolphins are 0-3, said his agent, Joel Turner.
"It's not like that team is short on talent — they won the division last year," Turner said. "It's a wonderful opportunity. Nobody does it like Bill Parcells. For Bill Parcells to believe in Tyler speaks volumes about Tyler."
Parcells may have wildcat duty in mind for Thigpen, who ran a spread offense last year with the Chiefs. At 225 pounds, he's a powerful runner and the first quarterback in Chiefs history to score a touchdown three ways: as a passer, rusher and receiver.
Henne is expected to get an extended opportunity as a starter. Taken in the second round of the 2008 draft, he has been considered Pennington's heir apparent for more than a year.
The Dolphins will be Thigpen's third organization. He was a seventh-round draft pick by Minnesota in 2007.

Jackman, Craig get melodramatic on Broadway

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 16:19 — admin

NEW YORK – Superheroes can do just about anything on screen, courtesy of the special effects department.
But put them on stage and their dependency on a solid script becomes more apparent. A case in point: Daniel Craig, filmdom's current James Bond, and Hugh Jackman, the movies' Wolverine, go up against a minor, melodramatic little play called "A Steady Rain" by Keith Huff.
And while both men, particularly Craig, acquit themselves well, they can't turn the 90-minute evening into anything more than a chance to see two big-time movie stars emoting up close in a pulpy, plot-heavy entertainment.
"A Steady Rain," which opened Tuesday at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, is what used to be called "a vehicle," an opportunity to showcase two actors with considerable ticket-selling ability. Here, we get to see them impersonate tough, blue-collar Chicago cops, no less.
For Jackman, that means playing a role light years away from his Tony-winning performance as hip-swiveling entertainer Peter Allen in "The Boy from Oz." In "Rain," he's portraying Denny, an emotionally erratic, foul-mouthed policeman, who has managed to acquire a wife and children and the loyalty of Joey (Craig), a good friend and fellow officer.
Jackman works against his immense likability to invest Denny with an unnerving volatility, an underlying malevolence that threatens to erupt at anytime — and does — in Huff's incident-stuffed play.
Craig's Joey, a recovering alcoholic, is a more-shaded character, and the actor leaves 007 far behind. Sporting a mustache and wearing a nondescript coat and tie, he brings an affecting, world-weary, defeated-by-life quality to the man. He looks perpetually tired. Yet there is an underlying goodness that Craig manages to project without being maudlin or sentimental.
Craig also nails a Chicago accent, giving a credible impersonation of a man who has never left the Midwest. Jackson's accent, on the other hand, occasionally becomes more Outback than Uptown, an area of Chicago where the play's most pivotal episode takes place. But then he screams a lot on stage and with those shouts comes a return to his Australian roots.
One problem with "A Steady Rain" is its overload of stories that could probably fill several episodes of television's "Law & Order." The play is studded with a parade of tales, domestic turmoil involving Denny's family as well as what happens when the two men are on patrol. One story, in particular, is lifted from the real-life crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer but transferred to Chicago rather than Dahmer's Milwaukee.
Events are discussed by the two policemen, who sit and occasionally walk around a nearly bare stage while talking directly to the audience or to each other. Director John Crowley minimizes the static quality of the script by these interactions, which provide the evening with a few shards of theatricality.
The play is literally awash in symbolism. For one thing, that rain in the title just won't quit. It's something the two policemen keep mentioning throughout the evening, giving a kind of apocalyptical menace to the spasms of violence that pepper the plot.
"A Steady Rain" met with considerable success in Chicago where it was first produced (with different actors) at a small theater called Chicago Dramatists. Broadway and its high-powered stars, not to mention a much larger theater, may have inflated expectations, especially for those who want more than a little face time with two genuine movie stars.

Geithner makes case for quick reform (Politico)

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 14:09 — admin

With time on the legislative calendar running short, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday made his best case for Congress to pass the Obama administration’s financial regulatory reform proposal before the year is out.
“We want to get this done as quickly as we can,” Geithner said.
He spoke at a moment at which a new bull market is at work on Wall Street and emboldened financial institutions are seeking to use that new momentum to blunt the pace of reform in Washington.
Geithner knows his window of opportunity to pass a financial overhaul is diminishing. “As you let the memory of the crisis fade,” he said, “It’s easier for people to fight reform. The best strategy our opponents can adopt is to slow things down.”
The Treasury Secretary spoke to a small group of reporters at his Pennsylvania Avenue offices on the one-year anniversary of one of the key moments of the 2008 financial meltdown: The initial House of Representatives vote to reject the Bush Administration’s $700 billion rescue program. That tally, carried live on C-Span on the floor of the stock exchange, horrified Wall Street and sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging by 778 points on September 29, 2008.
Both the topic and the setting for Geithner’s comments showed how far removed Washington is from those vertiginous days of global financial panic a year ago. Geithner, who was not yet in his current job during the financial meltdown of 2008, sat surrounded by the accoutrements of the Treasury Department’s long history: an ornate fireplace, gilt-framed dollar bills from bygone eras, and even a five-shot pistol that once belonged to Al Capone, which is displayed in a wall case.
Geithner said he thinks the administration has the upper hand in the debate. “It’s a very hard argument to make that the system worked and we should just tinker at the margins,” Geithner said. “We must come out of this with a stronger financial system, not a weaker one.”
He said that everything the administration has proposed so far is designed to solve one problem, known as “too big to fail,” in which financial institutions grow so large and interconnected that any one failure threatens the entire financial system. That threat is what forced the Bush and Obama administrations to bail out huge sectors of the financial industry with taxpayer dollars over the past year.
Although some critics have called for Washington to break up the big banks whose failure could threaten the nation’s economy, Obama’s financial team has not pursued that route, instead arguing for a tougher set of standards for the large interconnected banks. The Administration believes that its proposed “resolution authority,” which would allow the government to step in and wind down a failing bank in an orderly way, will help solve the too-big-to-fail problem, because bankers will know that the government doesn’t have to bail them out, it can instead shut them down.
“The most important thing to do is make sure banks and investors don’t live with the expectation the government is going to bail them out,” Geithner said. “We have to make sure we build into our system the capacity to let institutions fail without igniting an inferno.”
The Administration also plans to implement tougher regulatory standards on large interconnected banks, arguing that their potential threat to the global economy means they should be held to a higher standard. But some critics have complained that designating such so-called “Tier 1” institutions creates a government approved list of banks that are too big to fail, which will enable them to attract more capital and out compete their smaller competitors.
The administration counters, however, that the Tier 1 designation is not something banks will want – because it will come with onerous government requirements. “This so-called designation is a burden, not a privilege,” Geithner said.
Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has said he hopes to have the administration’s complete package on the House floor this winter, although he will miss an earlier projected date. “December is the new October,” Frank said.
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Senate panel rejects public healthcare option

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 13:06 — admin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday rejected including a government-run "public" insurance option, which is backed by President Barack Obama, in its sweeping healthcare reform bill.

The panel voted 15-8 against a government-run insurance plan in the first of what is expected to be several battles in Congress over the public option, one of the most contentious issues in the raging U.S. debate over healthcare reform.

Obama has made reforming the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system his top domestic priority.

Five Democrats joined all the panel Republicans in opposing inclusion of the government-run option in the bill. The issue is expected to be raised again in the full Senate and the House of Representatives.

The Senate Finance plan by Democratic Chairman Max Baucus is the only healthcare bill pending in Congress that does not have a public insurance plan, which Obama and other backers say would boost competition for insurers.

Republican critics said the public option would devastate the private insurance industry and ultimately lead to a government takeover of the sector.

Democratic Senator John Rockefeller, who offered an amendment to insert a public option, said the approach would give the public more choices and force the insurance industry to compete.

"Who comes first, the insurance companies or the American people?" he asked.

Senator Charles Grassley, the senior Republican on the panel, said the public option would represent a first step toward what he said was the eventual goal of Democrats -- a complete government-run health insurance system.

"A government-run plan will ultimately drive private insurers out of business," Grassley said. "If you support government bureaucrats, not doctors, making decisions, you should support this amendment."

(Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by David Storey)

Gutsy New Zealand reach Champions Trophy semi-finals

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 13:03 — admin

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) –
New Zealand shrugged off an injury crisis to defeat England by four wickets at the Wanderers on Tuesday and reach the Champions Trophy semi-finals.

The victory completed a stirring Group B comeback by the Black Caps, who also overcame Sri Lanka after tamely surrendering to hosts South Africa in their opening match.

Bowlers Grant Elliott and Shane Bond inflicted most damage after the Kiwis won the toss and an England team that had amassed 323 against South Africa just 48 hours earlier were bundled out for 146 in 43.1 overs.

New Zealand openers Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill made a whirlwind start in pursuit of the total, garnering 66 from 60 balls, and the 147-run target was reached for the loss of six wickets after 27.1 overs.

Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara and tail-enders Graeme Swann and Ryan Sidebottom were the only England batsmen to reach double figures on an overcast afternoon in the South African financial capital.

If New Zealand were cursing their luck at losing bowlers Jacob Oram and Daryl Tuffey and batsman Jesse Ryder through injury since the two-week tournament began, they were not showing it.

England skipper Andrew Strauss was first to depart, getting on an outside edge off Kyle Mills to wicketkeeper McCullum having faced just two balls and failed to score.

Joe Denly was next to experience the venom of the Black Caps attack, scoring just five before reacting too slow and Shane Bond sent the off stump flying to his relief after two previous games yielded a solitary wicket.

Owais Shah, 98-run hero of the weekend triumph over hosts South Africa, survived a mere 10 balls and claimed three runs before he tried to flick Bond over square leg and sent a thick edge to McCullum.

At 27-3 stunned England got a reprieve when New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori reversed a run-out decision against Collingwood, who went on to top score with 40 before an excellent Ross Taylor catch ended his innings.

Collingwood was one of four England batsman claimed by South Africa-born right-arm medium pacer Grant Elliott, whose 4-31 off eight overs was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers and won him the man of the match award.

England wickets fell regularly and cheaply with the expection of 30-run Ravi Bopara until tail-ender Ryan Sidebottom struck three boundaries in a defiant 20 before Taylor caught him off Vettori to conclude the innings.

New Zealand reached 84 in 12.3 overs before England made a breakthrough as McCullum hopelessly mistimed a Stuart Broad delivery and Bopara made the catch at cover.

Another six overs passed before England could celebrate again as the 53-run stand of Guptill finished when he got a thick edge to a clever James Anderson delivery and Graeme Swann took the catch at first slip.

Swann struck again three balls later, diving at second slip to remove Taylor, who bungled his reaction to a Broad delivery and got a thick edge, but it was hardly a crisis for the Kiwis, who needed 32 runs from 30 overs to win. dl/cw

Obama to honor India with his first state dinner

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 12:33 — admin

WASHINGTON – And the first state dinner of President Barack Obama's administration goes to ... India.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is coming to America for a state visit Nov. 24, just before Thanksgiving. Such visits include an elaborate arrival ceremony on the White House South Lawn, one-on-one time with the president and, in the evening, a state dinner.
It's a plum presidential nod of recognition for the world's largest democracy and most stable U.S. ally in a hostile corner of the world.
But why India first?
It was just four years ago that President George W. Bush and Singh raised their glasses and toasted the U.S.-India relationship at the start of a July 2005 state dinner.
Indian officials, however, have watched warily since then as the U.S. has become more engaged with its archrival, Pakistan, focusing on greater military cooperation in dealing with Islamist extremists there and in neighboring Afghanistan. Honoring Singh with what is considered one of the grandest and most glamorous of White House affairs 10 months into Obama's presidency may allay some of those concerns, along with perceptions that Pakistan has surpassed India as America's best friend in South Asia.
It also may be Obama's way of closing the loop with all the major U.S. allies as his freshman year in office draws to a fast close.
Obama's first-year international itinerary has taken him to the major European power centers of England, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. He has toured the Middle East and is scheduled to visit China and possibly other Asian countries in November, before Singh visits.
The president has even scheduled a day trip to Copenhagen this week — he'll spend more time in the air than on the ground — in a bid to personally boost his adopted hometown's chances of bringing the 2016 Olympic Games to Chicago.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hand-delivered the state-visit invitation from Obama during her July trip to India.
Singh, re-elected to a second term earlier this year, and Obama met on the sidelines of a London economic summit in April, and discussed cooperating on the economic downturn, climate change and counterterrorism. Obama later called him a "very wise and decent man."
After years of mutual wariness during the Cold War, U.S.-Indian relations are at a high point, thanks partly to the Bush administration's push to allow American civilian nuclear trade with India. The Obama administration has used that accord as a foundation for improving ties and hopes of cooperation on the president's priority issues, such as climate change and countering terrorism.
"We are very committed to this relationship," Clinton said of India when questioned about deepening U.S. relations with Pakistan.
But a trip to India so far has escaped the sights of the president's travel planners.
That's where the state dinner comes in.
Obama's first one will be the talk of the town, perhaps second only to his inauguration and the parties that followed in terms of celebrity star power and got-to-be-there fever.
A ton of planning is involved, from creating the invitation itself to compiling a guest list. Meals, desserts and wines are tasted until the right pairings are found. Flowers must be chosen and arranged just so, along with the seating, place settings and entertainment.
Responsibility for the planning falls to first lady Michelle Obama and her staff, and people will be waiting to see what twists she and her social secretary, Desiree Rogers, will put on one of the White House's most staid traditions.

Early state dinner rumblings after Obama took office were about opening the events up to "real people."

Inquiring minds also want to know what other changes may be in store. Will they eat in the State Dining Room or shift chairs to the larger East Room? Will dinner courses be prepared with vegetables pulled from Mrs. Obama's popular South Lawn garden?

Would they consider putting their well-dressed guests on boats headed down the Potomac River to Mount Vernon? John F. Kennedy did that for his first state dinner a just few months into his term, in May 1961, for the president of Tunisia.

Or how about dinner and black-tie inside a big tent in the Rose Garden? Bill Clinton did that for his first such dinner a year and a half into his presidency, in June 1994, for the Japanese emperor.

Bush held his first dinner eight months in. It was for Mexico, less than a week before the terrorist attacks of September 2001.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Foster Klug contributed to this report.

Wood Fence Dallas

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 10:15 — admin

In the United States, the earliest settlers claimed land by simply fencing it in. Later, as the American government formed, unsettled land became technically owned by the government and programs to register land ownership developed, usually making raw land available for low prices or for free, if the owner improved the property, including the construction of fences.

Five foot high fences (over which many people can see and talk) are increasingly being superseded by six-foot fences giving the impression of complete privacy.

Wood Fence Dallas

The top 10 singles and albums on iTunes

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 04:48 — admin

iTunes' top 10 selling singles and albums of the week ending Sept. 21, 2009:
Singles:
1. "Party In the U.S.A.," Miley Cyrus
2. "Whatcha Say," Jason DeRulo
3. "I Gotta Feeling," Black Eyed Peas
4. "Paparazzi," Lady GaGa
5. "Down," Jay Sean
6. "Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)," Jay-Z
7. "Run This Town (feat. Rihanna & Kanye West)," Jay-Z
8. "Cowboy Casanova," Carrie Underwood
9. "Forever," Drake, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Kanye West
10. "Use Somebody," Kings of Leon
Albums:
1. "Backspacer," Pearl Jam
2. "The Blueprint 3," Jay-Z
3. "Life Starts Now," Three Days Grace
4. "Church Music," David Crowder Band
5. "The Boy Who Knew Too Much," MIKA

6. "Draw the Line," David Gray

7. "Daisy," Brand New

8. "Monsters of Folk," Monsters of Folk

9. "The Resistance," Muse

10. "War is the Answer," Five Finger Death Punch

Fact check: It's a tax that enforces the health care requirement (AP)

Tue, 09/22/2009 - 07:07 — admin

WASHINGTON – Memo to President Barack Obama: It's a tax. Obama insisted this weekend on national television that requiring people to carry health insurance — and fining them if they don't — isn't the same thing as a tax increase. But the language of Democratic bills to revamp the nation's health care system doesn't quibble. Both the House bill and the Senate Finance Committee proposal clearly state that the fines would be a tax.
And the reason the fines are in the legislation is to enforce the coverage requirement.
"If you put something in the Internal Revenue Code, and you tell the IRS to collect it, I think that's a tax," said Clint Stretch, head of the tax policy group for Deloitte, a major accounting firm. "If you don't pay, the person who's going to come and get it is going to be from the IRS."
Democrats aren't the first to propose that individuals be required to carry health insurance and fined if they refuse. The conservative Heritage Foundation called for such a mandate in the 1990s' health care debate, although its proposal differed from the ones pending in Congress. Heritage has since dropped the idea and now favors using tax credits to encourage people to buy coverage — carrots and not sticks.
During the 2008 political campaign, Obama opposed making coverage mandatory because of the costs. His position has shifted now that it's becoming clear such a requirement will be part of any legislation that Congress sends him. Conservative activists are calling it a violation of his pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class.
"This is exactly what George Bush Sr. did when he said he wouldn't raise taxes, and it cost him the next election," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. "Obama is doing the same thing, but he's insulting people by telling them that if you don't call it a big purple banana, somehow it wouldn't be a tax."
Some liberals acknowledge that Obama might be vulnerable on the insurance requirement. But they say most people will understand as long as the legislation provides enough subsidies to make the coverage affordable for those who would now be required to have it. The size of those tax credits is a central issue as the Senate Finance Committee starts voting on legislation Tuesday.
"I think it's a metaphysical question as to whether it's a tax or not," said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future. "The real question that will determine whether people are upset is whether the insurance is affordable."
In an interview that aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week," Obama insisted that the insurance requirement is not a tax.
"For us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase," the president said. "What it's saying is...that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore.
"Right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance," Obama added. "Nobody considers that a tax increase.
"You just can't make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase," he added.
But a Democratic staff description of Sen. Max Baucus' bill calls the proposed fines an "excise tax." Initially, the Montana Democrat's plan called for penalties of up to $950 for individuals and $3,800 for families. But Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said Monday he expects the family penalty to be slashed in half to $1,900.
The House bill uses a complex formula to calculate the penalties, calling them a "tax on individuals without acceptable health care coverage." People would report their insurance coverage on their tax returns.
The coverage mandate is part of a political bargain in which the insurance industry would agree to take all applicants, regardless of prior medical history.
"If we're going to have coverage without regard to pre-existing conditions, it makes sense," said economist Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center. "Otherwise people will come in the door the day they get sick." He sees no distinction between the requirement to get coverage and the fines themselves.
"The fact that it is imposed on people and they have no choice in paying it, and the fact that it's administered through the tax system all make it look like a tax," Williams said. The center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.
It wouldn't be the first asterisk added to Obama's campaign pledge on taxes. Earlier this year, he signed a tobacco tax increase to pay for children's health insurance. Even that can be read as a violation of his expansive campaign promise.

"I can make a firm pledge," he said in Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12, 2008. "Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."



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