Are You A “Woman OF Color” You Should Be Interested in This

Written by Sophia Kerby

Women of color are a key growing demographic in the United States, representing approximately 36 percent of the female population and about 18 percent of the U.S. population based on Census data. The infographic below examines the state of women of color in four key areas: the workplace wage gap, health, educational attainment, and political leadership.

Women of color have made incredible strides in educational attainment and in the workplace, but their earnings and net wealth still pale in comparison to white women. They also lag behind in political leadership positions and still face unique health disparities. Their voices are critical to shaping the policies that affect their lives.

I cannot determine except for the photo Above if “Women Of Color” are also inclusive of Inter-racially mixed included … or  they are a separate category … 

The graphic also reveals that women of color are a diverse group with a variety of experiences, even though they are often portrayed as monolithic in the mainstream media.

This post was originally published by the Center for American Progress.

Is Autism Speaks Guilty of Discrimination via Disabilities ??

I have long been a supporter of Autism Speaks…. I am a single father for the last 9 years with an Autistic Daughter… but if this story is true… they should be ashamed of themselves… I am appalled at what I have read below: 

The mother of a teenage autistic son is suing the organization Autism Speaks for alleging rescinding a job offer after she asked if workplace accommodations might be possible due to her child’s needs.

That is, an organization that says it champions the needs of autistic individuals and their families is being sued for failing to accommodate the needs of a mother and of her autistic child.

Autism Speaks Sued For Disability Discrimination

According to Disability Scoop, Simone Greggs is charging Autism Speaks with violating the the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act when, just as she was going to start a new job as walk events manager at Autism Speaks’ Washington, D.C. office in early May, the organization rescinded the offer. Greggs had completed five different interviews, a pre-employment background check and a drug test but “everything changed” when she asked for workplace accommodations or if she might work from home, as her autistic son returns from school early on Wednesdays.

Autism Speaks told Greggs that accommodations would not be possible. She was able to make other arrangements but, according to the court filings, Greggs was then told that Autism Speaks was “rescinding the employment offer because they did not want to make any accommodations for the care of her autistic child.” Expecting to work for the organization — which, as the mother of an autistic teenager like myself she must have felt a personal connection to — Greggs had turned down a job with the Democratic National Committee in April and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

But as she emphasizes to Disability Scoop, Greggs says that her suit is “not about money but principle for her.” Once a supporter of Autism Speaks (certainly, to seek to manage the autism walks, which are important fundraisers for the organization), Greggs describes the experience as “devastating”:

“They say one thing and they do another. You can’t say that you’re for helping families with children with autism and then you can’t give me an accommodation.”

Working Mothers of  Autistic Children and the “Having It All” Debate

A Pediatrics study published in March found that we mothers of children on the autism spectrum earn less earn less. We earn 35% ($7189) less than the mothers of children with other health issues and 56% ($14, 755) less than mothers of children without health issues and disabilities.

I’ve been able to work full-time for most of my son Charlie‘s life because I’ve been a professor at a number of smaller colleges and universities where teaching has been my primary responsibility. I’ve been able to set up my work hours so I can see Charlie off to school, get home before the school bus arrives and drop everything when the school nurse or principal calls to say: “You need to pick him up now.” My husband Jim Fisher is also a professor and has flexible work others. Otherwise, I have no idea how we could take care of Charlie (we have no other caregivers for him). As Jim often says, “we have no margin for error.”

Taking care of Charlie has completely affected our careers. We can teach and work from home but are unable to travel to professional meetings and undertake extensive research that would involve visiting archives and distant libraries. I feel very lucky to have a job that allows for accommodating Charlie’s needs and love all the time we spend with him, but taking care of him has meant cutting corners in my academic scholarship and limiting certain kinds of professional advancement.

Greggs’s lawsuit is not the first time Autism Speaks has found itself at the center of controversy in its short history. Shortly after its founding in 2005, Autism Speaks was criticized by parents and autistic self-advocates over its promotion of a film, Autism Every Day, in which a mother said she once despaired so much that she thought of driving her autistic daughter and herself off the George Washington Bridge. A dispute about vaccine research also led to a front-page New York Times story describing a rift between Bob and Suzanne Wright, who had founded the organization, and their daughter, Katie Wright.

According to its mission statement, Autism Speaks says that it “dedicated” to “raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society; and to bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder.” Gregg’s discrimination lawsuit has surely raised awareness about the challenges of raising an autistic child. It is unfortunate that Autism Speaks has not actually practiced what it preaches and presented a model of how to accommodate for the needs of autistic children and their families.

Only An Idiot or A Radical Republican Believes Obama Slandered Small Business.

Let me be clear before this article… I am ashamed to be a republican when I see a man who is supposedly religious resort to such BULL S@#@  by taking the presidents words out of Context.. and HE of ALL people should be ashamed of himself.. if he cant win by truth he should get out of the race before he embarrasses the Republican party  again!!

Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney attacked President Barack Obama Tuesday, saying that Obama had “insulted” small businesses. But Romney had to take an Obama quote out of context to make the charge.

Romney quote Obama as saying that “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” Obama did say those words, but in context, it’s clear he was referring to infrastructure:

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for president — because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.

Romney said the remarks by Obama were “insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in America.” The Romney campaign also launched an advertisement that again took Obama’s statement out of context.

Romney last week attacked Obama for “lying” with regard to Romney’s time at Bain Capital, and later demanded an apology from Obama over comments made by his campaign.

Romney is attempting to turn aside attacks on his record with Bain, as well as growing demands for him to release his tax records. Whether this new line of attack will change the narrative remains to be seen.

 

So Romney Wants Us to Believe That Obama Is a “Foreigner” ?!?!?!???

Mitt Romney’s campaign is hoping to distract voters from the growing drum beat of conservatives calling on the former Bain Capital executive to release his tax returns by smearing President Obama as a foreigner, in a not-so-subtle effort to revive the right-wing conspiracy theories surrounding his birthplace.

Indeed, the Romney team, and even Romney himself, spent all of Tuesday painting the president as not a “real” American. Here is a timeline of the campaign’s orchestrated smear:

11:00 AM — OBAMA IS ‘SMOKING SOMETHING,’ GREW UP IN INDONESIA: Obama “has no idea how the American system functions, and we shouldn’t be surprised about that, because he spent his early years in Hawaii smoking something, spent the next set of years in Indonesia, another set of years in Indonesia, and, frankly, when he came to the U.S. he worked as a community organizer, which is a socialized structure, and then got into politics in Chicago.” [Co-chair John Sununu, Fox News]

11:30 AM — OBAMA HAS TO ‘LEARN HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN’: “The men and women all over America who have worked hard to build these businesses, their businesses, from the ground up is how our economy became the envy of the world. It is the American way. And I wish this president would learn how to be an American. [Co-chair John Sununu, Romney campaign conference call]

11:30 AM — OBAMA’S AMERICA IS ‘SOCIALISM’: “It seems to me that the Obama America, there’s no risk but there’s plenty of reward. That’s called socialism to me. In the small business America, there’s a lot of risk, and a chance of reward, and that’s called capitalism, and that’s what made the United States the greatest nation on the face of the earth.” [Businessman Kyle Koehler, Romney campaign conference call]

1:35 PM — ROMNEY SAYS OBAMA’S POLICIES ARE ‘EXTRAORDINARILY FOREIGN’: “Celebrating success instead of attacking it and denigrating making America strong. That’s the right course for the country. His course is extraordinarily foreign.” [Mitt Romney, Pennsylvania]

 

Gop To Make War On Women an Election Issue to Appease Christian Conservatives

In case you thought maybe the war on women had come to a conclusion, or even took a day off, I have an announcement. Due to site maintenance yesterday Dispatches did not publish. Apologies! I can assure you the right’s attacks on women’s rights continued unabated. Let’s catch up.

House Republicans are threatening to shut down the government unless the rest of Congress bends to their demands to entirely de-fund Planned Parenthood, curb access to contraception by allowing employers to deny coverage based on religious or moral objections, and promote abstinence only education. Looks like we’ll be talking contraception and family planning right up to the election. I bet Mitt Romney is super duper excited about that.

We’ll also be talking about abortion because a bill designed to launch a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade’s holding that state’s cannot ban abortion pre-viability is going to the House for a vote.

But don’t worry everyone, the war on women is totally “phony.” Carry on.

Here’s an important question: do “nice guys” contribute to rape culture?

Marissa Mayer’s appointment to lead Yahoo has sparked a whole new round of articles asking if mom’s can “have it all.”

Even conservatives in Congress think Michele Bachmann has gone over the line this time.

The CDC announced that whooping cough cases hit the highest levels in 50 years as the inevitable consequences of anti-vaccination paranoia play out.

Meanwhile hospitals around the country are closing maternity wards. Welcome to the coming health care delivery crisis thanks to decades of budget slashing and consolidations.

There’s this tragic story of an out-of-control immigration enforcement system and the innocents who get caught in its wake.

A Texas judge denied this lesbian couple the chance to have a commitment ceremony. Boo.

Check out this post by our partners over at MomsRising on the need to help teenagers define and establish healthy relationships that are free from abuse.

The most recent installment of Care2.com’s series Teaching Feminism takes a look at why the political views of fiction authors matter.

The campaign to overturn California’s LGBT education law fails.

In New York and looking for something to do? Why not drop by the Occupy Wall Street crew summer camp.

The Center for America Progress released this infographic taking a look at women of color at a glance.

Not every conservative in South Carolina is totally heartless. By a unanimous vote the South Carolina House voted to override Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of funds designated for domestic assault and sexual assault prevention programs.

Wonder what’s at stake in Arizona’s battle to de-fund Planned Parenthood?  We shall see…..

Archbishop Desmond Tutu affirms His Commitment to LGBT rights

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has long championed LGBT rights both within Africa and the world over. This week, Tutu reaffirmed his commitment to the affirmation of LGBT rights when he demanded that homosexuality be decriminalized everywhere in the world. His call for decriminalization was also a plea to help the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Tutu wrote a column in The Lancet this week to address the issue of HIV prevention and the often overwhelming stigma of being gay in Africa. Pink News quotes the letter:

They also tell us what we each already know, if we are prepared to be honest with ourselves—that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are a part of every human community.

The Archbishop added that laws aimed at criminalizing the LGBT community are simply wrong and that hindsight will reveal how biased and discriminatory these statutes are. In his own words:

I have no doubt that in the future, the laws that criminalise so many forms of human love and commitment will look the way the apartheid laws do to us now—so obviously wrong. Such a terrible waste of human potential… And never let anyone make you feel inferior for being who you are. When you live the life you were meant to live, in freedom and dignity, you put a smile on God’s face.

The inspirational and bold statements are part of a larger campaign by Archbishop Tutu to spread awareness about the prevention and treatment of HIV. He heads the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, which provides treatment for the virus and also conducts research, the BBC reports.

Archbishop Tutu’s letter was published the same week as protests filled the streets of Johannesburg during the commemoration of Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday. The protest was aimed at raising awareness about anti-LGBT activity in South Africa. At least five brutal anti-LGBT murders have occurred in the area within the last two months. There are probably another half dozen anti-gay murders that have gone under the radar, Queerty reports.

The LGBT community still faces an uphill battle in the South African context. Many protesters worry that authorities are indifferent to the anti-gay crimes that riddle the country. The Archbishop’s words have at least called on leadership to reconsider their stance on these issues and to demand change.

 

GOP Idea: Let’s Shut Down The Government Over the Issue of Contraception!!

Republicans just won’t let go of their fight against contraception. This time they’ve tied the issue to must-pass legislation, and as Talking Points Memo notes, possibly foreshadowing a government shutdown standoff over the issue.

The issue came up yesterday when House Republicans advanced a measure through the Labor-HHS appropriations subcommittee with a rider to roll back the contraception mandate. The measure appears before the full appropriations committee next week and funds some of the largest government departments beyond Sept. 30th.

“The Affordable Care Act guaranteed that all insurance plans cover preventive services without cost sharing, including basic services such as HPV screening, vaccines, HIV/AIDS screening, and contraceptives,” said Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), who tried to have the provision removed. “It is unacceptable that House Republicans continue to go out of their way to deny women basic healthcare.”

The rider pushed by House Republicans also kills off family planning funding including funding to Planned Parenthood, slashes health programs and pushes abstinence-only education.

“This bill is about making tough choices, setting priorities and doing the right thing,” said subcommittee Chairman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) in a statement. “By reining in spending and controlling over-regulation, this bill supports job creation and economic recovery.”

This is a fight most Republicans don’t want. Senate Republicans already extended funding for at-risk programs through the election and at levels the parties agreed to during last August’s debt limit fight. That means the responsibility for this nonsense falls squarely on the shoulders of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). And since we all know Boehner has no ability to control the radical fringe in the House, looks like we should start prepping now for another shutdown battle over women’s health care.

 

Kudos for McClatchy. BOOS for Washington Post, New York Times and Bloomberg

From James Asher, Washington Bureau Chief at McClatchy Newspapers:

As you are aware, The New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg and others are agreeing to give government sources the right to clear and alter quotes as a prerequisite to granting an interview.

To be clear, it is the bureau’s policy that we do not alter accurate quotes from any source. And to the fullest extent possible, we do not make deals that we will clear quotes as a condition of interviews.

With the government trying to do more of the public’s business in secret, the demands that interviews be conducted off the record is growing. While it puts us at a disadvantage, we should argue strenuously for on-the-record interviews with government officials.

McClatchy joins the Associated Press and the Washington Examiner in opposing the quote-approval scheme.

Here is Another GOP Fantasy Conspiracy Theory.. Will It Ever End??

the story of Frank VanderSloot, an Idaho businessman who last year contributed to a group supporting Mitt Romney. An Obama campaign website in April sent a message to those who’d donate to the president’s opponent. It called out Mr. VanderSloot and seven other private donors by name and occupation and  (TRUTHFULLY) slurred them as having “less-than-reputable” records.

Mr. VanderSloot has since been learning what it means to be on a presidential enemies list  (WHICH DOES NOT EXIST). Just 12 days after the attack, the Idahoan found an investigator digging to unearth his divorce records. This bloodhound—a recent employee of Senate Democrats—worked for a for-hire opposition research firm.

Now Mr. VanderSloot has been targeted by the federal government. In a letter dated June 21, he was informed that his tax records had been “selected for examination” by the Internal Revenue Service. The audit also encompasses Mr. VanderSloot’s wife, and not one, but two years of past filings (2008 and 2009).

Mr. VanderSloot, who is 63 and has been working since his teens, says neither he nor his accountants recall his being subject to a federal tax audit before. He was once required to send documents on a line item inquiry into his charitable donations, which resulted in no changes to his taxes. But nothing more—that is until now, shortly after he wrote a big check to a Romney-supporting Super PAC.

Two weeks after receiving the IRS letter, Mr. VanderSloot received another—this one from the Department of Labor. He was informed it would be doing an audit of workers he employs on his Idaho-based cattle ranch under the federal visa program for temporary agriculture workers.

The H-2A program allows tens of thousands of temporary workers in the U.S.; Mr. VanderSloot employs precisely three. All are from Mexico and have worked on the VanderSloot ranch—which employs about 20 people—for five years. Two are brothers. Mr. VanderSloot has never been audited for this, though two years ago his workers’ ranch homes were inspected. (The ranch was fined $8,400, mainly for too many “flies” and for “grease build-up” on the stove. God forbid a cattle ranch home has flies.)

This letter requests an array of documents to ascertain whether Mr. VanderSloot’s “foreign workers are provided the full scope of protections” under the visa program: information on the hours they’ve worked each day and their rate of pay, an explanation of their deductions, copies of contracts. And on and on.

Perhaps all this is coincidence. Perhaps something in Mr. VanderSloot’s finances or on his ranch raised a flag. Americans want to believe the federal government performs its duties without fear or favor.

Only in this case, Americans can have no such confidence. Did Mr. Obama pick up the phone and order the screws put to Mr. VanderSloot? Or—more likely—did a pro-Obama appointee or political hire or career staffer see that the boss had an issue with this donor, and decide to do the president an unasked-for election favor? Or did he or she simply think this was a duty, given that the president had declared Mr. VanderSloot and fellow donors “less than reputable”?

Mr. VanderSloot says he “expected the public beatings” from the left after the naming, but he “also wondered whether government agencies, anxious to please their boss, would take notice of the target he had apparently placed on me. Now that I’m being singled out for audits, I can’t help but wonder whether there is a connection.”

As for other Romney donors: “It is un-American and irresponsible for a president to target individual, law-abiding citizens for political retribution, and it is inconceivable that any U.S. agency would stoop to do the bidding for this campaign’s silliness,” says Louis Bacon, an investor and conservationist who also made the Obama list.

We don’t know what happened, and that’s the problem. Entrusted with extraordinary powers, Mr. Obama has the duty to protect and defend all Americans—regardless of political ideology. By having his campaign target a private citizen for his politics, the president forswore those obligations. He both undermined public faith in federal institutions and put his employees in an impossible situation.

Every thinking American must henceforth wonder if Mr. VanderSloot has been targeted for inquiry because of his political leanings. And every federal servant must wonder if his inquiries into an Obama enemy will bring suspicion or disgrace on the agency—even if the inquiry is legitimate.

As for Mr. VanderSloot, to what authority should he appeal if he believes this to be politically motivated—given the Justice Department on down is also controlled by the man who targeted him? (The White House did not return an email requesting comment.)

If this isn’t a chilling glimpse of a society Americans reject, it is hard to know what is. It’s why presidents are held to different rules, and should not keep lists. And it’s why Mr. Obama has some explaining to do.

After 6 Months In Prison Without Being Charged, Palestine’s Speaker of Parliament is Freed By Israel

Israel freed the Speaker of the Palestinian Parliament Aziz Dweik on Thursday after holding him without charge since January, sources on both sides said.

“Dr Aziz Dweik was released at the Beit Sira roadblock,” in theoccupied West Bank, the head of his office, Bahaa Yusef, told AFP.

Israel Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman confirmed: “Mr Dweik has been released from Ofer prison.”

Dweik’s lawyer, Fadi Qawasmeh, said Israel had accepted his request not to renew his client’s administrative detention for a further six months.

The Israeli army arrested Dweik on January 19 at a roadblock between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah.

It said his detention without charge was necessary because of his “presumed involvement in the activities of a terrorist organisation.”

Dweik was appointed speaker of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament elected in 2006 but the legislature has been effectively sidelined since the Islamists expelled forces loyal to president Mahmud Abbas from the Gaza Strip the following year.

Administrative detention is a procedure dating back to the pre-1948 British Mandate under which military courts can hold suspects without charge for periods of up to six months, which can be renewed indefinitely.

And we wonder why Palestinians are so angry with Isreal??

Spain Outlook Darkens, Region Seeks Aid ~ EU Bailout Deemed Inadequate

Over a month ago I warned anyone who was holding Spain’s Debt to SELL… NOW you see why

Spain’s economic outlook darkened Friday as it warned itsrecession will drag on through 2013 and one of its indebted regions reached out for emergency aid from the cash-strapped government.

The regional authority of Valencia said it was applying to borrow from a fund of 18 billion euros set up last week by the central government for struggling regions.

In response, the Madrid stock exchange plunged by more than five percent, dragged down by banking shares which found no support in a eurozone rescue deal for the sector finalised by finance ministers Friday.

Spanish long-term borrowing costs meanwhile rose to levels considered unsustainable, reflecting growing concerns about Spain’s financial stability.

“The steady stream of bad economic and financial news coming out of Spain is deconstructing foreign investor sentiment,” said Raj Badiani of analyst group IHS Global Insight.

The economy is set to shrink by 1.5 percent in 2012 , a slight improvement on a previous forecast of 1.7 percent — and by a further 0.5 percent in 2013, Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said in his latest economic forecasts.

The government had previously expected 2013 growth of 0.2 percent.

A budget ministry official told AFP the unemployment rate this year would hit a huge 24.6 percent, topping an earlier estimate of 24.3 percent in a sign of the ongoing impact of Spain’s bitter recession.

The economy is forecast to return to growth of 1.2 percent in 2014 and 1.9 percent in 2015, Montoro told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

“For next year the economic scenario is that the recession will continue, but more softly,” he said.

Unemployment will peak this year before declining to 24.3 percent in 2013, 23.3 percent in 2014 and 21.8 percent in 2015, the ministry said.

“There is not positive employment but the destruction of jobs will stop,” Montoro said.

Stricken by the bursting of a construction bubble in 2008, Spain is struggling in its second recession in four years.

Its conservative government has announced pay cuts, tax hikes and other austere economic measures worth tens of billions of euros in its efforts to rein in its public deficit.

It is due this month to become the fourth eurozone country, after Greece, Ireland and Portugal, to get bailout funds in the crisis after the eurozone Friday approved aid for Spanish banks of up to 100 billion euros ($122 billion).

Despite this, Spanish 10-year bonds markets jumped above well above the 7.0 percent danger level on Friday.

The difference between the yields — the return earned by investors — on Spanish and safehaven German bonds also moved dangerously high, topping 600 points (six percentage points).

“This is surprising, especially considering the recent package of savings measures … and the definitive validation of the bank bailout,” wrote Daniel Pingarron, a strategist at IG Markets trading group.

“A large number of investors think that the possibility of a break-up of the euro is rising.”

With Spain struggling to stabilise its public finances, its eurozone partners agreed this month to relax its deficit-reduction targets, which place a lot of pressure on the regions to curb spending.

They eased the targets to reduce the overall public deficit to 6.3 percent of GDP in 2012 from an earlier target of 5.3 percent; to 4.5 percent from 3.0 percent in 2013 and then set a 2.8-percent goal for 2014.

Thursday saw the biggest in a recent series of street protests that erupted last week when Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced new deficit-cutting measures to save 65 billion euros ($80 billion).

New Egyptian President Setting Stage For Another Fight With Military

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday ordered the release of 572 people detained by the military, the official MENAnews agency reported.

Morsi, who was sworn in last month as Egypt’s first elected civilian president, “issued an order to pardon 572 people convicted by the military justice,” MENA said.

The Egyptian president had ordered the formation of a committee to review the cases of civilians tried by the military.

A total of 11,879 Egyptians have been detained by the military since last year’s uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, according to figures issued by the committee. Of these, 9,714 have since been released.

Activists and international rights groups have repeatedly called for the end of military trials of civilians.

“International law is crystal-clear on this: no civilian, regardless of the crime, should be tried by a military court,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said this week.

She urged Morsi to take a “principled human rights stance and pardon all civilians convicted by military tribunals.”

Morsi was sworn in on June 30, taking over from a military council which oversaw the transition from Mubarak’s rule.

But the president has been locked in a power struggle with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which issued a constitutional declaration — that acts as a temporary charter– giving the military sweeping powers.

“Military trials and arrests of civilians by the military have continued despite the June 30 handover to civilian authority,” Human Rights Watch said.

The committee formed by Morsi does not however have the mandate to look into cases of military trials and arrests of civilians after the the handover date.

Military trials have been criticised for not meeting the requirements of independence and impartiality.

FDA Approves Second Weight Loss Med This Month

For the second time in less than a month, U.S. drug regulators on Tuesday approved a new weight-loss medication.

Qsymia — formerly dubbed Qnexa — is a combination of the drugs phentermine and topiramate, and is manufactured by the pharmaceutical firm Vivus Inc.

“Obesity threatens the overall well being of patients and is a major public health concern,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release issued late Tuesday. “Qsymia, used responsibly in combination with a healthy lifestyle that includes a reduced-calorie diet and exercise, provides another treatment option for chronic weight management in Americans who are obese or are overweight and have at least one weight-related comorbid condition.”

The drug is approved only for the obese (people with a body-mass index, or BMI, of 30 or above) or overweight people (body mass 27 or higher) who also suffer from conditions such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol. It will be available in a standard dose but also a higher dose “for select patients,” the FDA said.

Last year, a study funded by Vivus found that obese patients taking Qsymia lost an average of 22 pounds over a year, while also lowering their blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

On June 27, the FDA gave its OK to another weight-loss drug, Belviq (lorcaserin), which was approved for obese adults who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes, and is to be used in combination with a low-calorie diet and exercise.

The back-to-back approvals followed a 13-year stretch in which the FDA did not approve any new medications to help people struggling with overweight or obesity to lose unwanted and unneeded pounds.

In May, a study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France, found that volunteers who took Qsymia experienced substantial weight loss, even if they had many weight-related health problems. The 56-week clinical trial included 994 patients who took a placebo, 498 who took a medium dose of Qsymia, and 995 who took a high dose of the drug.

Back in February, an FDA advisory panel recommended that the agency approve Qsymia for the treatment of obesity. The advisers concluded that Vivus, based in Mountain View, Calif., had supplied enough clinical data about the drug’s benefits and risks.

While effective at reducing weight, Qsymia was initially denied FDA approval in 2010 because of potential side effects, including heart palpitations and birth defects — such as cleft lip in babies — if taken by pregnant women.

In fact, the FDA is stressing that “Qsymia must not be used during pregnancy because it can cause harm to a fetus.” The drug is also not recommended for people with either glaucoma or hyperthyroidism, and because it can boost the heart rate it should not be taken by people who have had a stroke or unstable heart disease within the past six months, the FDA said.

Qsymia also comes with a special Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), which includes an education guide for patients and providers. The drug can only be sold and dispensed by specially certified drug stores, the FDA added.

Before making its decision in February, the FDA advisers reviewed two years of data on the drug; when advisers previously voted on Qsymia, only one year’s worth of follow-up data was available.

Qsymia combines the appetite suppressant phentermine (Adipex-P) and the anti-seizure/migraine medication topiramate (Topamax). Phentermine once was prescribed widely as the “phen” part of the fen-phen weight-loss drug, which was withdrawn from the market in 1997 after its use was linked to both high blood pressure in the lungs and heart valve disease. The problems were related to the “fen,” or fenfluramine, part of the combination, not the phentermine, scientists said.

Belviq was also initially denied FDA approval. Manufactured by Arena Pharmaceuticals of Switzerland, the drug maker first sought approval in 2010 but was turned down because animal studies showed the drug was associated with tumor growth.

New data supplied to the FDA that allayed these fears led to the drug’s approval last month.

Doctors and other health professionals agree that the best way to keep off unwanted weight is through a healthy lifestyle that includes proper nutrition and exercise. Still, the new drugs should benefit some of the estimated two-thirds of Americans who are either overweight or obese, experts said.

Samantha Heller, an exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., told HealthDay that “obesity is often associated with alterations in endocrine function, metabolism, hormones that regulate appetite and more.”

For many people struggling with weight, these disruptions in the balance of hormones and metabolism make it difficult to lose weight, she said. People may feel hungry all the time, fatigued or lethargic. Losing weight for people who are obese is rarely as simple as eating less, she added.

“People need to understand that lifestyle modifications are essential for successful weight loss, weight maintenance and fitness programs. The weight loss reported in the studies is modest and the placebo group lost weight too, indicating that ongoing lifestyle counseling and support have a positive impact with and without medication,” she said.

Connecticut GOP Candidate “Islam is a Cult” Will Mormonism Be Next??

 A Republican candidate for a Connecticut seat in the U.S. House of Representatives says he did not mean to disparage “peace-loving Muslims” by calling Islam a cult and questioning if it is a religion of peace.

Mark Greenberg, one of four Republicans seeking nomination for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Chris Murphy, said in an interview on WNPR radio Thursday that Islam is a cult “in many respects.” He added: “I don’t believe that in all manner that Islam is a religion of peace.”

Greenberg, who is Jewish, later issued a statement that he was referring to terrorists. He said, “I was referring to groups and individuals who have interpreted Islam in a way that allows them to commit violence in the name of their religion.”

Pawlenty Cries Over Ann Romney Horse Ridicule

• 
• Pawlenty to Obama: Leave Ann Romney’s …

Tim Pawlenty thinks the Obama campaign’s mocking ads featuring the Romneys’ expensive sport-horse is a bridge too far.

Te upkeep on that horse alone is 4 times the average income of the average worker in America … and Ann Romney has bee very active in this campaign and is not immune from criticism…. and so Tim Pawlenty is crying when people make fun of her  when it is actually justified with her obliviousness to the average american.

Also remember that he is supposedly a potential VP candidate… so take what he says with a pound (not a grain ) of salt

Though Pawlenty said in an interview with ABC News’s Jon Karlthat he hadn’t seen the ad, he interpreted it as a swipe at Romney’s wife, Ann, who has said she used horse-riding to cope with her illness.

“Well, I haven’t seen the ad, but shame on them, really,” Pawlenty said. “I mean, this is something that she does as a hobby to help her condition as a therapy for having MS, and it gives her great relief and great joy. And I think by her own account and the account of her medical professionals, it helps her. That’s something she shared with others as a sport or hobby or therapy who are facing life challenges or disabilities, and to make light of that or to criticize that, I think, is really, really low. I wish they wouldn’t do that.”

Michele Bachmann Acting Like McCarthy By Falsely Claiming Muslim Brotherhood Links

The Minnesota Tea Partier and other GOP House members spark a backlash by accusing Hillary Clinton’s aide of assisting the Muslim Brotherhood

 This week, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and four other conservative members of the House were roundly assailed by both Republicans and Democrats for demanding an investigation of Huma Abedin, a Muslim aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In a letter to the State Department,Bachmann and her cohort claimed that Abedin’s family — including her dead father — had ties to theMuslim Brotherhood, a decades-old Islamist group that is currently engaged in a power struggle in Egypt. Bachmann’s letter expressed concern that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the U.S. government, and was influencing its foreign policy through Abedin. Here, a guide to the controversy:

Who is Huma Abedin? 
Abedin, 37, is of Pakistani descent and has close ties to the Clinton family, with Hillary and Bill often describing her as a daughter. She has long been Hillary Clinton’s aide, both at the State Department and during Clinton’s time in the Senate. Abedin is also married to former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who resigned in disgrace last year after his risque communications with several women came to light.

Who made the allegations against Abedin? 
In addition to Bachmann, Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.), and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) signed the letter to the State Department. In implicating Abedin, they cited an investigation conducted by the Center for Security Policy, a right-wing think tank. They said recent U.S. policies that supposedly favored the Muslim Brotherhood ”appear to be a result of influence operations by individuals and organizations associated” with the group, specifically Abedin.

Is there any evidence to back their claim? 
No. “It’s like a bizarre game of six degrees of separation,” Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the country’s first Muslim congressman, tells CBS News. Bachmann claims that Abedin’s father, “who has been dead for two decades, knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who was connected to the Muslim Brotherhood in some unspecified way!”

How have other politicians responded? 
With near-universal condemnation. The State Department said the allegations were “vicious and disgusting lies.” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took to the floor of the Senate to defend Abedin’s character, and said the attacks “have no logic, no basis, and no merit.” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blasted Bachmann’s allegations as dangerous. And Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, said the Minnesotan’s witch hunt “reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level.”

Has Bachmann apologized? 
No. She says she will “not be silent as this administration appeases our enemies,” and is demanding an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood.