February 6, 2012 by Mike.

The Thurston County Progressive Network are a great bunch of folks who work year-round to produce a more progressive community in the Olympia area.  In this week’s calendar they share a link to World Life Expectancy website and a cancer cluster map. 

It’s an interesting website from an epidemiology perspective.  The suggestion in the cancer cluster webpage is that environmental degradation can be tracked to a certain extent by cancer rates.  I think there are a lot of regional cultural issues, like diet, wealth/poverty that also contribute to the cancer clusters, but environmental degradation is probably part of the story.  If you live in one of the black (high cancer rate incidence) counties, you can weigh in with why you think your county might have high cancer rates.

I am in Lewis County, WA.  It’s a relatively low income per capita by WA standards, so we probably have a lower rate of preventive medical care, but we also have a couple of superfund cleanup sites, one for PCBs, and we have a coal mine (not operational today) and a coal-fired electricity plant, known locally as the Centralia Steam Plant.  We try not to mention coal here on either shore of Coal Creek, but the steam plant and the steam mine have been a large part of Lewis County economy over the decades.

This website also has an informative interactive world life expectancy map that includes gender life expectancy.  Pretty cool website.  Lots of information.

oh, friendship is good for longevity, according to these folks.  Sounds right to me.

Don’t miss this page if you are a budding epidemiologist.

Posted in Financial Crimes, Eco Criminals, Connect the Dots, Small Foot Print | Print | 1 Comment »

February 6, 2012 by Mike.

Good day yesterday in Cascadia as the Washington State leglislature moved gay marriage forward through Senate vote.  The gov put her weight behind this legislation, apparently trying to establish some kind of legacy public policy.  I am completely supportive of the gay marriage legislation, but I have to wonder why the dems will only push one small part of a progressive agenda at a time.  The public is crying out for significant change in public policy and the dem party is such a timid organization.

In another section of the Senate, I believe the Washington Investment Trust remains stuck under the thumb of roadkill Senators Steve Hobbs and Mary Haugen.  Lots of good information about public banks at Banking in the Public Interest.  This is an idea whose time has come.  Banks for the 99%.  Please.  Let’s do that.

Want to let Steve Hobbs know what you think about his roadkill status?

How about Mary Haugen?

Steve Hobbs
Steve.hobbs@leg.wa.gov

Mary Haugen
marymargaret.haugen@leg.wa.gov

Can we help these two get scooped out of the middle of the road where they are doing no discernible good?  Is there an election coming up?  Let’s help these folks join our neighbors who are out there looking for work, shall we?

Lean on the legislators folks.  They respond to two things, private money and public pressure.

Posted in Financial Crimes, News, Politics, Connect the Dots | Print | No Comments »

February 2, 2012 by Mike.

Why was North Dakota the only US State not affected by the banking crisis? (It’s not the oil.)

Because it was the ONLY State with its own Public Bank!The State Bank bills are down to the wire in the WA Legislature.   SB 6310 needs to move out of committee now or the bill is dead for this session.  You can read all about the legislation at WA Public Bank Project.

This would be a bank for the 99%.  North Dakota’s State Bank is the model.  We are not reinventing the wheel with this idea.

The Washington State Treasurer James McIntire has weighed in against the bill and the idea of the State Bank.   McIntire has shown himself to the be the Treasurer for the 1%.

Senators Steve Hobbs and Mary Haugen are the two primary votes in committee that are holding up the bill at this moment.

Steve Hobbs
Steve.hobbs@leg.wa.gov

Mary Haugen
marymargaret.haugen@leg.wa.gov

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

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August 11, 2010 by Mike.

   ’nuff said?

Posted in News, Politics, Humor, Connect the Dots, Small Foot Print | Print | 1 Comment »

August 5, 2010 by Mike.

Here are a few interesting/alarming stories from our 52nd state:

•  The Washington Post has a piece about Afghan president Karzai calling for investigation of the US anti-corruption task force that is trying to tamp down the corruption that accompanies our war effort in Afghanistan (the graveyard of empires)
• And another WAPO piece about the assassination of a key Pakistani intelligence officer and key US ally.
• Harper’s August magazine has a really well-written piece - Barack and Hamid’s Excellent Adventure by David Samuels -  for those of us who like to read thousands of word.

Tweet that.

Posted in News, Politics, Connect the Dots, Small Foot Print, War Criminals | Print | No Comments »

August 4, 2010 by Mike.

Watch this.

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August 2, 2010 by Mike.

AP  and the Beeb report that The Netherlands are pulling their 1900 troops out of Afghanistan.  Canada and Poland plan to withdraw their small contingents next year.  The UK troops are expected to be out in 2014 or 2015.

The NYT has a story about the new US strategy to switch to targeted killings of Taliban leaders.  I think we call that counter-terrorism, but I believe it was called Phoenix when we used the strategy in Vietnam.

Kneedeep in the big muddy.

Posted in Small Foot Print | Print | 1 Comment »

July 27, 2010 by Mike.

Meta news - news about the news.  Tip of the hat to the Huffington Post.

Fox News doesn’t appeal to many black people.  Why would that be?

Fox News Audience Just 1.38% Black

Huffington Post   |  Danny Shea First Posted: 07-26-10 05:44 PM   |   Updated: 07-26-10 06:22 PM

Get Media Alerts

Fox News may be the undisputed ratings champion in cable news, but not among black viewers.

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter tweeted that, according to Nielsen Media Research, Fox News has averaged just 29,000 black viewers in primetime so far this television season (9/09-7/10). That represents just 1.38% of its 2.102 million total viewer audience.

CNN and MSNBC, meanwhile, both have far more black viewers, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of their overall audiences.

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