Research & Rescue

Overeducated And Unemployed? Try The Census

April 1 is the day the U.S. Census Bureau wants you to turn in your census form. They're trying to put together an as-accurate-as-possible count of how many people there are in America on that day.

If the count is more accurate and efficient than usual this year, it may be due to the economy. Because of the recession, the Census Bureau has more highly qualified people helping to carry out the count than ever before.

Read the rest at www.npr.org

FARC Calls for Prisoner Swap After Releasing Moncayo

BOGOTÁ, Mar 30, 2010 (IPS) - Hopes that a humanitarian prisoner-for-hostage swap may be negotiated in Colombia before August added to the emotion over the release of Sergeant Pablo Emilio Moncayo by the FARC guerrillas Tuesday and his reunion with his family after more than 12 years in captivity in the jungle.

After a helicopter flight delayed by bad weather, the 31-year-old Moncayo finally embraced his family and friends at the airport in Florencia, the capital of the southern province of Caquetá.

The sergeant was the last of 14 hostages freed in unilateral goodwill release operations by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) since 2006, the rebels announced in a statement made public by Senator Piedad Córdoba of the opposition Liberal Party.

Read the rest at www.ipsnews.net

Substance abuse drugs with no antidote

This is interesting info. You know, when you hear about overdoses on TV shows, etc., you tend to picture the victim getting transported to the ER and getting his or her stomach pumped and sent away. Guess not. David Bradley at SciScoop found this info in a psychiatric reference:

The vast majority of substances of abuse have no antidote:

Alcohol – Potential lethal dose: 350–700 mg (serum)

Amphetamines – potential lethal dose: 20–25 mg/kg

Barbiturates: Short-acting (Potential lethal dose: >3 g); Long-acting (lethal dose: >6 g)

Non-benzo hypnotics – lethal dose varies with tolerance

Hydrocarbons (lighter fuel, aerosols, glue etc) can kill instantly

Phencyclidine/ketamine cause many problems and have no antidote

Salicylates – Potential lethal dose: 500 mg/kg

Tricyclics – Potential lethal dose: 35 mg/kg

Nicotine – Mortality rates in the medium term are high

Read his whole blog entry here: www.sciscoop.com

Haiti Looking More and More Like a War Zone

PORT-AU-PRINCE - On an empty road in Cite Militaire, an industrial zone across from the slums of Cite Soleil, a group of women are gathered around a single white sack of U.S. rice. The rice was handed out Monday morning at a food distribution by the Christian relief group World Vision.

According to witnesses, during the distribution U.N. peacekeeping troops sprayed tear gas on the crowd.

"Haitians know that's the way they act with us. They treat us like animals," said Lourette Elris, as she divided the rice amongst the women. "They gave us the food, we were on our way home, then the troops threw tear gas at us. We finished receiving the food, we weren't disorderly. "

Some 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers, known by the acronym MINUSTAH, have occupied Haiti since 2004, including 7,000 soldiers of which the majority are Brazilian. The mission has been dogged by accusations of human rights violations.

"It's time to begin thinking about changing the nature of MINUSTAH's mission," Brazilian Defence Minister Nelson Jobim told the Brazilian newspaper O Estado after the January earthquake struck Haiti.

"MINUSTAH's mandate is to maintain the peace, that is, security, but the U.N. needs to realise that its mission is no longer solely to strengthen security but also to build the infrastructure," he said.

Red the rest at www.commondreams.org

Trololo cat

Cygnus does exactly this but he doesn't carry a tune nearly as well.

Hans Rossling on the rise of the East

Is anger at D.C. is behind low Texas census response?

I mentioned in a previous post that it seemed ill-advised to refuse to fill out and return Census forms because it would just lead to underrepresentation and underfunding. Apparently, others agree...

...an under-count in Texas could cost the state more than just representation.

For every Texan missed, the state will lose an estimated $12,000 over the next decade in federal funding for transportation, agriculture, health, education, and housing, said Frances Deviney, director of Texas Kids Count, a nonpartisan group in Austin.

Deviney says Texas could lose “hundreds of millions of dollars in lost opportunities” because of uncounted residents.

“We've got that hard-to-count element, along with these fringe (anti-government) groups that are advocating resistance,” she said. “They think they are hurting the government. They are really hurting themselves and their communities.”

Read the entire piece at www.chron.com

Action alert from Public Citizen: Shareholder Protection Act

Received via email....

Newly empowered by the Supreme Court's disastrous ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, corporate executives are ready to spend unprecedented millions to influence upcoming elections. Curb the corporate agenda of activist CEOs! If you or someone you know has a 401(k), a similar retirement account or other investments, the corporations funded by these investments could be part of the problem. Don't let families' nest eggs become political weapons for the corporate agenda. If a majority of shareholders tell a corporation to stay out of politics, then the corporation should do exactly that. Corporations aren't people, but shareholders are. The Shareholder Protection Act (H.R. 4790) proposed by Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) would empower shareholders to vote on whether or not to allow executives to spend corporate money on political campaigns. Take action for the Shareholder Protection Act today! Any household with a 401(k) invested in stocks or mutual funds - nearly one out of every two today - has a stake in how the corporate money in those funds is spent. The 2010 elections are right around the corner, and CEOs are eager to use investors' money to promote the corporate agenda. Now is the time to stand up to corporate power! Tell your representative to support the Shareholder Protection Act. Thank you for all you do. Rick, Angela and Glenn Your advocates at Public Citizen action@citizen.org

Morality Study Narrows Gap Between Mind And Brain

I listened to the NPR segment on this on my way home from town today. Pretty fascinating:

Scientists have found a surprising link between magnets and morality. A person's moral judgments can be changed almost instantly by delivering a magnetic pulse to an area of the brain near the right ear, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Click through to  www.npr.org to listen to the audio story

How the $938 Billion Health Care Bill Is Financed

via www.taxfoundation.org