Cynthia McCune's Public Library

20 Nov 09

The Wrong Side of History - Op-Ed NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF - NYTimes.com

We've been down this road before.

www.nytimes.com/...19kristof.html - Preview

healthcare legislation policy politics

These days, the critics of Medicare have come around because it manifestly works. Life expectancy for people who have reached the age of 65 has risen significantly. America is no longer shamed by elderly Americans suffering for lack of medical care.
Yet although America’s elderly are now cared for, our children are not.
Indeed, these same arguments we hear today against health reform were used even earlier, to attack President Franklin Roosevelt’s call for Social Security. It was denounced as a socialist program that would compete with private insurers and add to Americans’ tax burden so as to kill jobs.
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- The heirs of those who opposed Medicare are conjuring the same bogymen — only this time they claim to be protecting Medicare.

17 Nov 09

The Decade's 50 Most Important Recordings : NPR

Oh boy ... more to explore!

www.npr.org/...story.php - Preview

music npr

13 Nov 09

America’s Defining Choice - Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof- NYTimes.com

Why would we rather spend on a war than on health care?

www.nytimes.com/...12kristof.html - Preview

healthcare war funding

These two choices have something in common — each has a bill of around $100 billion per year. So one question is whether we’re better off spending that money blowing up things in Helmand Province or building up things in America.
health care legislation pays for itself, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while the deployment in Afghanistan is unfinanced and will raise our budget deficits and undermine our long-term economic security.
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- So doesn’t it seem odd to hear hawks say that health reform is fiscally irresponsible, while in the next breath they cheer a larger deployment of troops in Afghanistan?
- Meanwhile, lack of health insurance kills about 45,000 Americans a year, according to a Harvard study released in September. So which is the greater danger to our homeland security, the Taliban or our dysfunctional insurance system?

08 Nov 09

7 Bad Writing Habits You Learned in School | Copyblogger

Good advice for budding writers.

www.copyblogger.com/bad-writing-habits - Preview

writing howto grammar style

02 Nov 09

List of drug-related deaths - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

drug-related deaths

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rock 'n' roll rocknroll drugs

Bryan Ottoson (27) - musician, American Head Charge, accidental prescription-drug overdose.
- Delphine Neid - musician, The Nuns, drugs overdose.
- Joachim Nielsen (36) - rock musician in the band Jokke & Valentinerne, drug overdose
- Bradley Nowell (28) - musician, Sublime, heroin overdose.
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- Jim Morrison (27) - musician, The Doors, heart failure, alcohol abuse (cause and fact of death disputed).
  Billy Murcia - musician, the New York Dolls, accidental suffocation after drugs and alcohol.
  Brent Mydland (37) - musician, keyboardist, of the Grateful Dead, cocaine/morphine overdose.
- Keith Moon (32) - musician, the Who, accidental overdose on anti-seizure medication prescribed for alcoholism.
- David McComb (36) - musician, The Triffids, heroin overdose.
  Jimmy McCulloch (26) - musician with Wings, guitarist, heroin overdose.
  Robbie McIntosh (24) - musician, Average White Band, heroin overdose.
- Billy Mackenzie (39) - musician, the Associates, overdosed on temazepam, amitriptyline, and paracetamol (suicide).
- Phil Lynott (36) - musician, Thin Lizzy, health breakdown caused by a heroin overdose. (speedball.)
- Frankie Lymon (25) - musician, doo wop singer, heroin overdose.
- John Kahn (48) - musician, Jerry Garcia Band, complications of heart disease, heroin, cocaine, and antidepressants found in his body.
- Janis Joplin (27) - rock and roll and blues musician, heroin overdose.
  Rick James (56)- musician Died August 6, 2004 of a drug induced heart-attack
  
  [edit]
- Rob Jones (a.k.a. The Bass Thing) - musician - former bassist of The Wonder Stuff, heroin/cocaine/alcohol overdose.
- Michael Jackson (50) - musician, heart attack due to drug overdose.
- Steven Ronald "Stevo" Jensen - musician, The Vandals, prescription drug overdose.
- James Honeyman-Scott (25) - musician, the Pretenders, cocaine overdose.
  Shannon Hoon (28) - musician, singer in Blind Melon, cocaine overdose.
- Hollywood Fats (32) - musician, heroin overdose.
- Jimi Hendrix (27) - rock and roll musician, respiratory arrest caused by alcohol and barbiturate overdose and vomit inhalation.
- Tim Hemensley - indie musician, member of GOD, heroin overdose
- Eddie Hazel (42) - musician, guitarist, of the P-funk collective, liver failure.
- Bobby Hatfield (63) - musician, The Righteous Brothers, heart attack triggered by cocaine overdose.
  Tim Hardin (39) - folk musician, heroin and morphine overdose.
- Paul Gonsalves (53) - jazz tenor saxophonist, Duke Ellington, narcotics overdose
  Gribouille (26) - singer, drugs overdose.
- Dwayne Goettel (31) - musician, Skinny Puppy, heroin overdose.
- Lowell George (34) - musician, Little Feat, heart attack - habitual drug abuse probable cause.
- Paul Gardiner (25) - musician, Tubeway Army, drug overdose.
- Zac Foley (31)^[4] - musician, EMF, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, temazepam, barbiturates and alcohol in bloodstream.
- Pete Farndon (31) - musician, the Pretenders, drowned/ heroin overdose.
- John Entwistle (57) - musician, bassist for the Who, died from heart failure brought upon by cocaine use.
  Brian Epstein (32) - Manager of The Beatles, accidental sleeping pill overdose.
  Howie Epstein (47) - musician, ex-bassist with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, heroin overdose^[3].
- Nick Drake (26) - musician, anti-depressant overdose, disputed suicide.
- Kevin DuBrow (52) - rock vocalist, cocaine overdose.
- John Dougherty - musician, Flipper, heroin overdose.
- Tommy Dorsey (51) - jazz musician and bandleader, choked to death while sleeping with the aid of drugs.
- DJ Screw (29) - musician, heart attack thought to be result of codeine overdose.
- Jesse Ed Davis (43) - guitarist, session musician, drug overdose.
- Pamela Courson (27) - common law wife of Jim Morrison of The Doors, heroin overdose.
  Carl Crack (30) - musician, Atari Teenage Riot, drug overdose.
  Darby Crash (22) - punk musician, of The Germs, suicide by heroin overdose.
  Robbin Crosby (42) - musician, ex-Ratt, contracted HIV as a result of long-time heroin addiction and died of a heroin overdose.
- Brian Cole (29) - musician, the Association, heroin overdose.
- Sonny Clark (31) - musician, hard bop pianist, heroin overdose.
  Steve Clark (30) - musician, Def Leppard, accidential death (anti-depressants, painkillers and alcohol).
- Toy Caldwell (45) - musician, Marshall Tucker Band.
  Casey Calvert (26) - guitarist of Hawthorne Heights, accidental drug overdose through mixture of opiates, citalopram, and clonazepam.
- Chad Butler (aka "Pimp C") - rap musician, accidental overdose of Promethazine/Codeine "syrup" mixed with a pre-existing medical condition, sleep apnea^[1]^[2].
  Paul Butterfield (44) - musician, drug and alcohol overdose.
- Tim Buckley (28) - rock and roll musician, heroin overdose.
- Mike Bloomfield (36) - blues guitarist, heroin overdose.
- Florence Ballard (32) - musician, The Supremes, cardiac arrest strongly exacerbated by long-term drug abuse.

What Soft Drinks are Doing to Your Body - Yahoo! Health

drink tea instead!

health.yahoo.com/...-drinks-are-doing-to-your-body - Preview

health sugar

Soda, pop, cola, soft drink — whatever you call it, it is one of the worst beverages that you could be drinking for your health.
one study discovered that drinking one or more soft drinks a day — and it didn’t matter whether it was diet or regular — led to a 30% greater chance of weight gain around the belly.
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- aspartame has been linked to obesity. The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading.
- Beverages with bubbles contain phosphoric acid, which can severely deplete the blood calcium levels
- This means that drinking sodas and carbonated water increases your risk of osteoporosis.
- Caffeine can deplete the body’s calcium, in addition to stimulating your central nervous system and contributing to stress, a racing mind, and insomnia.
- Black, green, white, and oolong teas all contain antioxidant polyphenols. In fact, tea ranks as high or higher than many fruits and vegetables on the ORAC scale, the score that measures antioxidant potential of plant-based foods.

Too Little of a Good Thing - Op-Ed Columnist Paul Krugman -NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/...02krugman.html - Preview

economy stimulus jobs unemployment nytimes krugman

Editorial Notebook - Memphis - NYTimes.com

If I had to name the best short story in the form of a song lyric, I suspect the winner would be Chuck Berry’s “Memphis, Tennessee”

link to song for rnr class blog post

www.nytimes.com/...02mon4.html - Preview

music rock 'n' roll rocknroll lyrics nytimes

27 Oct 09

Shameful Illinois prosecutors go after student investigators | Salon

What happens when those in power get mad.

www.salon.com/...index.html - Preview

J-school journalism students law

The prosecutors are uncomfortable with the idea of shielding journalists who investigate and publicize "inadequacies" in the criminal justice system. But having an additional "check" on the government is one of the strongest justifications for vigorously protecting the work of journalists.
The outcome of this matter could turn on whether a judge treats the students as "journalists" under Illinois law. If the students are journalists, their work is protected from disclosure.
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- During interviews the students conducted, several key witnesses recanted their testimony. The students have already turned over videotapes of these interviews to prosecutors. Prosecutors should question these witnesses rather than fishing for the students' personal materials.
- the subpoena demands "the grades, grading criteria, class syllabus, expense reports and e-mail messages of the journalism students themselves."

25 Oct 09

The Mismeasure of Woman - Op-Ed Joanne Lipman - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/...24lipman.html - Preview

women feminism society progress

22 Oct 09

The Song Decoders at Pandora - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/...18Pandora-t.html - Preview

Music Pandora taste

Getting It Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn: Scientific American

www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm - Preview

learning tests

By challenging ourselves to retrieve or generate answers we can improve our recall.
Trying and failing to retrieve the answer is actually helpful to learning.
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- learning becomes better if conditions are arranged so that students make errors.
- People remember things better, longer, if they are given very challenging tests on the material, tests at which they are bound to fail.

Safety Nets for the Rich - Columnist Bob Herbert - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/...20herbert.html - Preview

banks bailout unemployment budget cuts economy nytimes

If some company is too big to fail, then it’s too big to exist. Break it up.

10 Oct 09

Igniting the Growth of Jobs - Columnist Bob Herbert - NYTimes.com

"Incredibly, some 40,000 teachers have lost their jobs over the past year, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research."

www.nytimes.com/...10herbert.html - Preview

unemployment budget cuts jobs economy education obama reich

The latest unemployment rate for California is a knee-buckling 12.2 percent, the highest since World War II.
Incredibly, some 40,000 teachers have lost their jobs over the past year, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
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- Without jobs, you don’t have a genuine recovery.
- Another promising approach is substantially increased federal aid to state and local governments, above and beyond what is already occurring. Local governments from one coast to the other are facing budget meltdowns and are slashing services and personnel.
- The lessons of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s are right in front of us, ready to be studied, analyzed, updated and applied to the present-day needs of the country.
- If we’re serious about getting the U.S. back on track economically, we will have to take our heads out of the sand at some point with regard to the nation’s infrastructure. America has to be rebuilt, modernized and re-energized — from its water and sewer systems to its schools to the smart grid and the alternative energy sources that so many are talking about and beyond. That’s where the jobs are for the long term, and that’s the only route to a truly flourishing future.

The Uneducated American - Paul Krugman - NYTimes.com

The decline of American education ... and America.

www.nytimes.com/...09krugman.html - Preview

education budget cuts nytimes krugman

laid-off teachers are only part of the story. Even more important is the way that we’re shutting off opportunities.

04 Oct 09

Cracks in the Future - Bob Herbert - NYTimes.com

The death of higher education in California ... and across the nation.

www.nytimes.com/...03herbert.html - Preview

education California budget cuts nytimes

04 Sep 09

Health Care That Works - Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof - NYTimes.com

We like the VA and Medicare, so why can't we have a public option?

www.nytimes.com/...03kristof.html - Preview

healthcare health insurance policy politics

the part of America’s health care system that consumers like best is the government-run part.
Fifty-six to 60 percent of people in government-run Medicare rate it a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale.
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- In effect, we have a single-payer system of public fire departments.
- Throughout the industrialized world, there are a handful of these areas where governments fill needs better than free markets: fire protection, police work, education, postal service, libraries, health care. The United States goes along with this international trend in every area but one: health care.
- A study by the Rand Corporation concluded that compared with a national sample, Americans treated in veterans hospitals “received consistently better care across the board, including screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.” The difference was particularly large in preventive medicine: veterans were nearly 50 percent more likely to receive recommended care than Americans as a whole.
- the biggest weakness of private industry is not inefficiency but unfairness. The business model of private insurance has become, in part, to collect premiums from healthy people and reject those likely to get sick — or, if they start out healthy and then get sick, to find a way to cancel their coverage.

02 Sep 09

Dave Zirin: Michael Steele: Meet Amanda Duzak

The real health care debate.

www.huffingtonpost.com/...teele-meet-amand_b_274697.html - Preview

healthcare health insurance policy Republicans

Until Medical Bills Do Us Part - NYTimes.com

The costs of the current system, especially for the families of those with dementia.

www.nytimes.com/...30kristof.html - Preview

health dementia healthcare health insurance policy politics

in fact it is the existing system that unnecessarily takes lives and breaks apart families.
The hospital told M. not to waste time in dissolving the marriage. For five years after any divorce, her assets could be seized — precisely because the government knows that people sometimes divorce husbands or wives to escape their medical bills.
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- Long-term care constitutes a difficult and expensive challenge in any health system. But the American patchwork, full of cracks through which people fall, has a special problem with medical expenses of all kinds bankrupting couples.
  A study reported in The American Journal of Medicine this month found that 62 percent of American bankruptcies are linked to medical bills. These medical bankruptcies had increased nearly 50 percent in just six years. Astonishingly, 78 percent of these people actually had health insurance, but the gaps and inadequacies left them unprotected when they were hit by devastating bills.
- The existing system doesn’t just break up families, it also costs lives. A 2004 study by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, found that lack of health insurance causes 18,000 unnecessary deaths a year. That’s one person slipping through the cracks and dying every half an hour.

Moderate Drinking Over 60 May Lower Dementia Risk - NYTimes.com

Good advice.

www.nytimes.com/...01aging.html - Preview

health dementia alzheimer's

moderate alcohol consumption can increase HDL, or “good cholesterol,” improve blood flow to the brain and decrease blood coagulation. All three factors may reduce the risk for dementia.