Honda bests Toyota, and all of Detroit, in green automaker award

Honda bests Toyota, and all of Detroit, in green automaker award: "

American Honda Motor Co. received top honors in the Union of Concerned Scientists' annual rating of "green" automakers, for the fifth time in a row.

This might come as a surprise to Prius owners, whose image of Toyota is tinted green. But consider its fast-selling behemoths, such as the Tundra pickup. Without the Prius, the group said, Toyota would place fourth.

Hyundai Motor America placed third, followed by Volkswagen Group of America, Nissan North America Inc., Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group.

The automotive pack has some catching up to do: Honda's fleet was rated 14% cleaner than the top eight manufacturers combined.

Times staff writer Jerry Hirsch has the full story.

-- Geoff Mohan

"

Climate scientists respond to Monckton's misinformation

Climate scientists respond to Monckton's misinformation: "

On May 2010, Christopher Monckton testified to the U.S. Congress, where he argued there was no need to take quick action to address climate change. Monckton made a number of assertions about CO2 warming, the benefits of elevated CO2, ocean acidification, temperature trends and climate sensitivity. Recently, a group of 5 scientists solicited responses to Monckton's testimony from more than 20 world-class climate scientists. Each climate scientist examined the part of Monckton's testimony related to their particular area of expertise and summarised their responses in the report Climate Scientists Respond. The result is thorough, methodical and devastating. Monckton’s assertions are shown to be without merit, demonstrating a number of obvious and elementary errors and based on a thorough misunderstanding of the science.

Climate Scientists Respond refutes Monckton's testimony in 9 major areas.

1. Monckton misunderstands how carbon dioxide (CO2) played a role in lifting the Earth from a cold 'snowball' state, treating the events as if they were contemporaneous.
2. He incorrectly argues that the present rapid increase in CO2 is harmless to coral, ignoring the vast difference in the rate of change of CO2 levels compred to millions of years ago
3. Monckton claims a single benefit of higher CO2 levels – increased yields on selected crops – but fails to mention the wide-ranging negative consequences for plant species and agriculture.
4. Monckton's claim that CO2 is not causing ocean acidification provide a compelling example of his lack of understanding of ocean chemistry.
5. Despite Monckton’s assertions, compilations of global temperatures show that the late 20th century was exceptionally warm compared with the last 1500 years, with an exceptional rate of warming.
6. His assertion that 'global warming ceased in 2001' is contradicted by recent, record-breaking global mean temperatures.
7. Monckton ascribes the recent rise in global temperature to global brightening, citing a 2005 paper by Dr. Rachel Pinker. As the responses demonstrate, and indeed as Dr. Pinker herself has stated, his conclusions are based on a misunderstanding and misapplication of that work.
8. Monckton argues climate sensitivity is low, based on his misinterpretation of the Pinker paper, as well as on a recent paper by Lindzen and Choi. Two recently published papers discussed in this report thoroughly discredit the paper by Lindzen and Choi, as well as Monckton’s conclusions.
9. Monckton argues that “global warming is a non-problem”, and the correct response is “to do nothing”. This report states that a “decision to delay action to reduce greenhouse emissions is not a decision 'to do nothing'. It is a decision to continue emissions of CO2...committing the world to higher levels of global warming...with associated adverse impacts.”
   

As you read through the document, it becomes apparent why so many scientists were involved in this effort. For each of Monckton's claims, there are responses from a number of different scientists. The striking feature is each scientist addresses and explains a different error. Monckton's testimony is so riddled with errors, it takes a number of scientific expert to debunk all the disinformation!

This is an immensely useful, fascinating and important document. I would strongly recommend to any place where Monckton is public speaking that copies of this document are handed to the people attending the talk. I have one criticism. Why wasn't this done years ago?

Scientists who contributed to Climate Scientists Respond

1. Dr. James Annan: Member of the Global Change Projection Research Program within the Research Institute for Global Change
2. Dr. David Archer: Professor, Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
3. Dr. Ken Caldeira: Senior Scientist, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution, California
4. Dr. David Easterling: Chief, Scientific Services Division, NCDC, National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA)
5. Dr. James Hansen: Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
6. Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg: Professor of Marine Studies, University of Queensland, Australia.
7. Dr. James Hurrell: Senior Scientist in the Climate Analysis Section and Chief Scientist for Community Climate Projects at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
8. Dr. David Karoly: Professor, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
9. Dr. Jeffrey Kiehl: Senior Scientist, Climate Change Research Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
10. Dr. Nancy Knowlton: Holds the Sant Chair in Marine Science at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History
11. Dr. Lee Kump: Professor of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University
12. Dr. Norman Loeb: scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center
13. Dr. Michael MacCracken: Chief Scientist, Climate Change Programs with the Climate Institute in Washington DC
14. Dr. Peter Reich: Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor, University of Minnesota’s Department of Forest Resources
15. Dr. Reto Ruedy: Scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
16. Dr. Benjamin Santer: Research Scientist, Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
17. Dr. Gavin Schmidt: Climate Scientist, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
18. Dr. Pieter Tans: Senior Scientist, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado
19. Dr. Kevin Trenberth: Senior Scientist and Head, Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
20. Dr. John Veron: Professor, University Center for Marine Studies, University of Queensland
21. Dr. Bruce Wielicki: Senior Scientist Radiation Sciences, NASA Langley Research Center

The five scientists who organized the report were: Drs. Ray Weymann, Barry Bickmore, John Abraham, Michael Mann and Winslow Briggs.

Climate Scientists Respond: the full PDF report

Press Release

"

Parents Losing Sleep

Parents Losing Sleep: "Experts tell us that adults need a minimum of five hours of uninterrupted sleep each night in order to function during the day."

Indonesian Muslims allowed to drink civet coffee

yuck?

Indonesian Muslims allowed to drink civet coffee: "

Indonesia's top Islamic body declared Tuesday that Muslims can drink civet coffee — the world's most expensive coffee, which is extracted from the dung of civet cats.

Indonesia - Coffee - Kopi Luwak - Islam - Beverages"

How are sadness and happiness like diseases? They're infectious, study finds

How are sadness and happiness like diseases? They're infectious, study finds: "

Is sadness a sickness? It appears to spread like one, a new study has found.

Researchers at Harvard University and MIT wanted to see if a mathematical model developed to track and predict the spread of infectious diseases such as SARS and foot-and-mouth disease could also apply to the spread of happiness -- and found that it worked.

They used data collected from 1,880 subjects in the Framingham Heart Study, a long-term research effort that has followed subjects since 1948 (and added some new ones along the way), giving them physical and emotional exams every two years. At each visit, subjects were classified as content, discontent or neutral. The researchers monitored how these emotional states changed over time and how these changes depended on the emotions of the people with whom the participants came into contact.

When the information was put into a traditional infectious-disease simulation, slightly modified to reflect the unique qualities of emotional spread rather than actual disease, the researchers found a correlation between an individual's emotional state and those of the person's contacts.

In other words, it appears that you can catch happiness. Or sadness. Moreover, the "recovery time" doesn't depend on your contacts at all, which is a hallmark of diseases but surprising in an emotional context, since continuing contact with happy or sad people could be expected to affect one's emotional state even after the initial "infection."

People were found to "recover" (return to neutral) more quickly from discontent than from content; on average, a contentedness "infection" sticks around for 10 years, but it takes only five years to recover from discontent. While this may still seem like a long time, the work focused on long-term emotional states because they are more accurate measures of general life satisfaction than fleeting moods, which are already known to be contagious (think laughter).

On the other hand, sadness is more contagious than happiness: A single discontent contact doubles one's chances of becoming unhappy, while a happy contact increases the probability of becoming content by only 11%.

Researchers also found one way that emotions act differently than diseases -- they can arise due to events in your own life, such as a promotion or a disease diagnosis, rather than solely being "contagious." In another win for the good guys, it appears that happiness is more likely to come about spontaneously than is sadness.

A report of the emotions-as-diseases research has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

-- Rachel Bernstein

Photo: We may recover from sadness more quickly than we do from happiness, but it appears to be more infectious. Credit: Reuters

"

BPA Linked to Heart Disease, Study Confirms

Scary Stuff!

--

BPA Linked to Heart Disease, Study Confirms: "

Heer’s another reason to steer clear of food and drink packaging containing BPA — it’s been linked to higher rates of heart disease.

In a sampling of U.S. adults, those with the highest levels of BPA in their urine were almost twice as likely to suffer from coronary heart disease than those with the lowest concentrations of BPA.

Read more: BPA Linked to Heart Disease, Study Confirms

The original reason to avoid BPA? Hormonal changes in fetuses, babies and children that might affect their brain development and cause reproductive abnormalities.

BPA Linked to Heart Disease, Study Confirms is a post from: This Green Blog

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"

Eating more brown rice may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, study finds

I think it tastes better too.
--------

Eating more brown rice may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, study finds: "

Brown rice has long been perceived as more healthful when compared to the white variety. Now a study backs up those claims, finding that those who eat more brown rice could be at lower risk for type 2 diabetes.

The study, released Monday in Archives of Internal Medicine, examined data from three prospective cohort studies involving 39,765 men and 157,463 women. Study participants were asked about lifestyle habits and chronic diseases throughout the years of the studies. Overall, eating more white rice -- five or more servings per week -- was associated with a 17% increased risk of developing diabetes, compared with those who ate less than one serving per month. Eating two or more servings of brown rice per week was linked with an 11% decreased risk of developing the disease, compared with eating less than one serving a month.

The brown rice advantage was seen after researchers adjusted for age, plus lifestyle and dietary risk factors. Because some cultures have diets heavy on rice, the study authors also looked at data on white study participants only, and found similar associations.

White rice, when it goes through a refining process, loses most of its bran and germ, the greatest sources of fiber and nutrients. Brown rice, considered a whole grain, leaves the bran and germ intact.

Men and women who ate more white rice were also less likely to have European ancestry, and more apt to have a family history of diabetes. This group was also associated with a diet high in fruits and vegetables, but low in whole grains and cereal fiber.

Brown rice eaters were more likely to be physically active, leaner, and less likely to smoke or have a family history of diabetes. They also ate a lot of fruits and vegetables and whole grains, but less red meat and trans fats.

Researchers speculate that based on the study findings, eating 50 grams (about 1.8 ounces, or a third of a serving) of brown rice a day instead of white rice could be associated with a 16% decreased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Similarly, replacing white rice with whole grains in general could up that risk reduction to 36%.

The study was supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health. Lead author Dr. Qi Sun of the Harvard School of Public Health is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from Unilever Corporate Research.

-- Jeannine Stein

Become a fan of our Facebook page and get a steady stream of health- and medical-related news, musings and the occasional oddity.

Photo: Eating more white rice may be associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Photo credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times

"

New Butterfly Pavilion to open Saturday at Claremont's Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

New Butterfly Pavilion to open Saturday at Claremont's Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden: "

When students from L.A.'s West Adams Preparatory High School received an early morning preview of the new Butterfly Pavilion at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont on Wednesday, most of the butterflies were napping. “It’s a double-edged sword,” said Rancho Santa Ana research associate Robert Allen, a.k.a. Bug Bob. “When it’s cool, you can get close to the butterflies. When it’s hot, they fly all over the place.”

No matter. The students oohed and aahed as they watched classmates cup a pipevine swallowtail caterpillar in their bare hands and allowed friendly California dogface butterflies (the state butterfly) and chalcedon checkerspots to rest on their fingertips and noses.

All of the butterflies and plants inside the pavilion are native to Southern California. “A number of the butterflies were collected here,” Allen said. “If they escape, they’ll be fine.”

Eventually, hundreds of butterflies will be installed inside the temporary walk-through enclosure, which opens to the public Saturday.

The pavilion is modest in size but promises to be a great resource for gardeners who want to cultivate a butterfly garden at home. Plants are clearly labeled, so visitors can write down names -- Salvia spathacea here, Aster chilensis there -- and then plant the same things in their own gardens.

A nearby pavilion will have educational displays and will host a workshop, “Habitat Gardening: Creating a Sustainable Butterfly Garden,” from 9 a.m. to noon. Saturday. Cost: $39.

The Butterfly Pavilion will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily through Aug. 1. Admission is $2 on top of regular Rancho Santa Ana admission of $4 to $8. The garden is at 1500 N. College Ave., Claremont; (909) 625-8767; www.rsabg.org.

-- Lisa Boone

Photos, from top: A California dogface butterfly rests inside the new Butterfly Pavilion at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont; Bug Bob cradles a white-lined sphinx moth caterpillar; Rosemary Barillas, 17, left, and Ivan Mateo, 17, get a close look at a chalcedon checkerspot; students lean in to smell the pipevine swallowtail caterpillar, which uses a foul scent to ward off predators.

Credits: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

California gardening: Follow the scene by joining our Facebook page.

"

A trip to Starbucks could reduce your risk of diabetes

Go ahead have a cup!
-----

A trip to Starbucks could reduce your risk of diabetes: "

That cup of joe may be doing more than keeping you awake – it also may be reducing your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

That’s the conclusion of a recent Japanese study involving a strain of mice that are known to become diabetic.

Studies of people have found a correlation between coffee consumption and a reduced risk of diabetes. To find out if there was a direct link between coffee and diabetes, the Japanese researchers let mice drink diluted black coffee instead of water. Those coffee drinkers were compared witha similar group of mice that got plain old H20.

After five weeks, both groups of mice had consumed the same amount of food and weighed essentially the same. However, the coffee-drinking mice had less fat under the skin and in their abdomens. In addition, their insulin did a better job of reducing the concentration of glucose in their blood.

To find out which component of coffee was responsible for these effects, the researchers did another experiment comparing plain water with caffeinated water. Once again, the caffeine-drinking mice wound up with less fat than the control mice despite eating the same amount of food and weighing about the same overall. The caffeine group also had a lower concentration of blood glucose.

The findings “suggest that coffee consumption may help to prevent type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” the researchers wrote in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Caffeine appears to play an important role, but it can’t be the only factor, considering that other studies have linked decaf coffee to a reduced risk of diabetes. The researchers said they are continuing to search for other coffee compounds that are anti-diabetic.

-- Karen Kaplan

Photo: Drinking this could help reduce your risk of Type 2 diabetes, researchers say. Credit: Damon Winter / Los Angeles Times

"

Mormon Church to be fined by state political commission over Proposition 8

Mormon Church to be fined by state political commission over Proposition 8: "

The state Fair Political Practices Commission is expected to fine the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for not properly reporting about $37,000 worth of contributions to pass California's ban on same-sex marriages.

The commission will fine the Salt Lake City-based church $5,538 for failing to report the numerous contributions. The fine comes in response to a complaint filed in November 2008 by Fred Karger, a gay-rights activist and co-founder of Californians Against Hate, who accused the Mormon Church of failing to report the value of the work it did to support Proposition 8.

"The investigation revealed that the church unintentionally failed to file daily reports detailing approximately $37,000 in non-monetary contributions," a statement on the church's website read. "The amount of contributions not reported represented the cost of staff time spent by church employees on activities to help the Yes on 8 committee during the final two weeks of the election."

The church said it cooperated in the investigation and expected the matter to be resolved this week.

Roman Porter, executive director of the political practices commission, said a determination to adopt that proposed fine will be considered Thursday when the commission meets.

-- Ruben Vives

"

Lesbian parents raise well-adjusted teens, study finds

Lesbian parents raise well-adjusted teens, study finds: "

Some people might be surprised by the latest research on children of lesbian parents, published in the journal Pediatrics. But perhaps they should give it more thought.

This was the objective of researchers at the University of California and the University of Amsterdam:

To document the psychological adjustment of adolescents who were conceived through donor insemination by lesbian mothers who enrolled before these offspring were born in the largest, longest running, prospective, longitudinal study of same-sex–parented families.

This was the conclusion:

The [National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study] adolescents are well-adjusted, demonstrating more competencies and fewer behavioral problems than their peers in the normative American population.

Here's a WebMD story with author Nanette Gartrelle explaining the positive results. "These are not accidental children," she points out. And that's just for starters.

Read the full lesbian parenting study here.

-- Tami Dennis

Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

"

California poised to ban plastic bags

California poised to ban plastic bags: "

California is poised to become the first state in the nation to ban plastic shopping bags, a move hailed by environmentalists and grocers alike.

Plastic shopping bag - California - Business - Luggage and Bags - Consumer Goods and Services"

Jerry Brown backs family of California Marine suing funeral protesters

Kudos to O-Reilly, yes I know I said it!
-------

Jerry Brown backs family of California Marine suing funeral protesters: "

California Atty. Gen.
Jerry Brown has joined the case pending at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf
of the family of a Marine from Twentynine Palms whose funeral
was picketed by an anti-gay group.

The family of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder sued members of the Kansas-based
Westboro Baptist Church for invasion of privacy and emotional distress after the group picketed Snyder's funeral in Westminster, Md. The group pickets military funerals out of a belief that soldiers' deaths are God's punishment for the U.S. promoting homosexuality.

Snyder, 20, was killed in Iraq on March 3, 2006.

A trial court awarded
$10.9 million to the family, reduced to $5 million by the judge.

But an appeals
court, citing the 1st Amendment, threw out the verdict and ordered the Snyder
family to pay legal costs of $16,500 to Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro church. (On behalf of the Snyder family, those costs were reportedly paid by Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly.)

The high court has announced it will hear the Snyder family’s
appeal.

Brown joined other state attorneys general in signing a friend-of-the-court brief.

"Free speech is a cherished American right," Brown
said in a statement today, "but disrupting a private funeral with vicious
personal attacks on the grieving family goes too far."

Snyder was
assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 7 at Twentynine Palms as a generator mechanic.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Marine Cpl. Matthew Snyder. Credit: Marine Corps

"

Australian Schools To Teach Intelligent Design

Odd Science:
-----

Australian Schools To Teach Intelligent Design: "An anonymous reader writes 'It appears that schools within the Australian state of Queensland are going to be required to teach Intelligent Design as part of their Ancient History studies. While it is gratifying to note that it isn't being taught in science classes (since it most certainly isn't a science), one wonders what role a modern controversy can possibly serve within a subject dedicated to a period of history which occurred hundreds of years before Darwin proposed his groundbreaking theory?'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

"

How Do Christians Become Conservative?

Very insightful...

-------

How Do Christians Become Conservative?: "Cross-posted at Huffington Post- this was originally published last week and I thought I'd share

When you are in the political world, you have decisions to make every single day about who you will try to help and who you won't. In spite of the earnest quest of good technocrats everywhere, the simple fact is that there are only a few win-win solutions. Who you tax, who you give a tax break to, what programs you cut or add to, who you tighten regulations on, and who you loosen them on, what kind of contractors are eligible for government work, which school districts and non-profit groups get federal money, etc: these political decisions are generally not win-win. Instead, they mean that one group of people win, and one group of people loses. It is the nature of politics, and you can't take the politics out of politics.

The most fundamental difference between progressives and conservatives is that question of which side you are on. Conservatives believe that the rich and powerful got that way because they deserve to be, that society owes its prosperity to the prosperous, and that government's job when they have to make choices is to side with those businesspeople who are doing well, because all good things trickle down from them. Progressives, on the other hand, believe it is the poor and those who are ill-treated who need the most help from their government, and that prosperity comes from all of us -- the worker as well as the employer, the consumer as well as the seller, the struggling entrepreneur trying to make it as well as the wealthy who already have.

Usually, I might spend my time arguing which of those worldviews gives us better policy outcomes, or which is better politics, but in this post I want to focus on something else: which side the God of the Judeo-Christian Biblical tradition is on.
Between Glenn Beck's conspiracy theories about Christian social justice (Since Communists and Nazis both used the words 'social' and 'justice,' sometimes even together, the phrase must be bad along with other words they used a lot like the, and, one, thank you, please, today, tonight, and tomorrow), Sarah Palin's 'spiritual warfare,' and my very fun e-mail debates with a much-beloved but sadly misguided conservative Christian relative, I have been thinking a lot about Christians and political ideology of late. As those of you who read me a lot know, I was raised in a church-oriented home, and I write about religion a fair amount. This isn't because I am conventionally religious: I decided about four decades ago that since there was no way for sure about the nature of God or the soul or all that metaphysical stuff, I wasn't going to spend much time thinking, caring, or worrying about it. If that sends one to hell, at least I'll be there with a lot of my favorite people. But I still have the social and moral teaching I learned from my upbringing embedded in me as a core part of my value system, and I still know my Bible pretty well.

That's why I am always puzzled by how people who claim to be followers of the Jesus I read about in the Bible can be political conservatives.

Now I know there are many people who have not been brought up in the Christian faith, or who were but aren't interested in it anymore. Perhaps like a great many folks, you have been turned off by all the high-profile preachers who claim to speak for Christianity but preach a brand of narrow, intolerant conservatism that you can't relate to. My view is that even if that is the case, it is still important to know something about the Christian New Testament because it is such a historical and cultural touchstone in our country. I also think it's important to have a sense of just how different the Bible is from how conservative Christians represent it. For those of you uninterested in all this, I understand why: you definitely won't want to dig into what follows. But for those of who are, here is my argument about Christianity and progressivism in politics.

Conservative Christians' primary argument regarding Jesus and politics is that all he cared about was spiritual matters and an individual's relationship with God. As a result, they say, all those references from Jesus about helping the poor relate only to private charity, not to society as a whole. Their belief is that Jesus, and the New Testament in general, is focused on one thing and one thing only: how do people get into heaven.

The Jesus of the New Testament was of course extremely concerned with spiritual matters: there is no doubt whatsoever about his role or interest in the issues of the day, that the spiritual well-being of his followers was a major interest of his. How much he was involved with or interested in the political situation of the day is a matter of much debate and interpretation. Some say it was a lot and others that it was pretty limited or, as conservatives would say, not at all. However, much of a priority or focus it was, though, if you actually read the Gospels, it is clear that Jesus' main concern in terms of the people whose fates he cared about was for the poor, the oppressed, and the outcast. Comment after comment and story after story in the Gospels about Jesus relates to the treatment of the poor, generosity to those in need, mercy to the outcast, and scorn for the wealthy and powerful. And his philosophy is embedded with the central importance of taking care of others, loving others, treating others as you would want to be treated. There is no virtue of selfishness here, there is no 'greed is good,' there is no invisible hand of the market or looking out for Number One first. There is nothing about poor people being lazy, nothing about the undeserving poor being leeches on society, nothing about how I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps so everyone else should, too. There is nothing about how in nature, 'the lions eat the weak,' and therefore we shouldn't help the poor because it weakens them. There is nothing about charity or welfare corrupting a person's spirit.

What there is: quote after quote about compassion for the poor. In Jesus' very first sermon of his ministry, the place where he launched his public career, he stated the reason he had come: to bring good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, to help the oppressed go free, and that he was here to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord -- which in Jewish tradition meant the year that poor debtors were forgiven their debts to bankers and the wealthy. In Luke 6, Jesus says the poor and hungry will be blessed, and the rich will be cursed. He urges his followers to sell all their possessions and give them to the poor. The one time he really focuses on God's judgment and who goes to heaven is in Matthew 25, where he says those who go to heaven will be those who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited those in prison, gave shelter to the hungry, and welcomed the stranger -- and those who don't make it were the ones who refused to help the poor and oppressed.

And he was a really serious class warrior, too -- he wasn't just into helping the poor; he didn't seem to like rich folks very much. In Matthew 6, he focuses on the love of money as a major problem. In Luke 11, he berates a wealthy lawyer for burdening the poor. In Luke 12, he says that the wealthy who store up treasure are cursed by God. In Luke 14, he says if we throw a party, we should invite all poor people and no rich people, and suggests that the wealthy already turned down their invitation to God's feast, and that it is the poor who will get into heaven (a theme repeated multiple times). He says that the rich people will have a harder time getting to heaven than a camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle. He chases the wealthy bankers and merchants from the Temple.

I have never heard a conservative Christian quote any of these verses -- not once, and I have been in a lot of discussions with Christian conservatives, and heard a lot of their speeches and sermons. The one verse they always quote (and I mean always -- I have never talked to a conservative Christian about economics and not heard them quote this verse) is the one time in which Jesus says that 'the poor will always be with us.' The reason they love this quote so much is that they interpret that line to mean that in spite of everything else Jesus said about the poor, that since the poor will always be with us, we don't need to worry about trying to help them. Apparently since the poor will always be with us, we can go ahead and screw them. But Jesus making a prediction that there will always be oppressive societies doesn't mean he wanted us to join the oppressors. By clinging desperately to that one verse in the Bible, and ignoring all the others about the poor and the rich, Christian conservatives show themselves to be hypocrites, plain and simple.

The Jesus of the New Testament spent his public career preaching about the nature of God and our relationship to God, but also about how we should deal with each other. He repeatedly blessed mercy, gentleness, peacemaking, community, and taking care of each other. He lifted up the poor and oppressed, and spoke poorly of the wealthy and powerful. If anyone in modern society talked like he did, you can bet your bottom dollar that conservatives would condemn that person as a class warrior, a socialist. Jesus may not have been primarily concerned with politics, but for what politics he did have, it is virtually impossible to argue that he was anything but a progressive thinker.

I want to close on one other note here. I focused here on the Jesus of the Gospels (principally Matthew, Mark and Luke -- the Gospel of John is almost all focused on mystical spiritualism), but Jesus is not exactly the only Bible character concerned with issues of social and economic justice. All of the first five books of the Torah (the Old Testament for Christians) talk a lot about justice for the poor; the Psalms are full of verses about the helping poor; every Old Testament prophet castigates the Jewish people (and yes, their governments) for mistreating the poor. And in the New Testament, there are some dynamite passages promoting progressive thinking aside from all of the Jesus quotations I mentioned. Three of my very favorites:

• In Acts 2: 44-45 says: 'The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common: they sold their goods and possessions and shared out the proceeds among themselves according to what each are needed.' My question: did Karl Marx quote that line directly, or did he come up with his each-according-to-their-own-needs doctrine on his own?
  

• Jesus' mother Mary says that Jesus will 'fill the starving with good things and send the rich away empty' and will 'pull the princes from their thrones and raise high the lowly.' I guess the big guy came by his politics from his mom.
  

• Speaking of the big guy's family, in the Book of James, which is purportedly written by Jesus' brother (and scholars think there is a pretty good chance it really was), James really goes heavy into the class warfare stuff. In James 2: 1-13, there is an extended admonishment on respect for the poor and mercy. In 2: 5-8, he says it is the poor whom God chose to be loved, and the rich 'who are always against you.' In 2: 13, he says that 'there will be judgment without mercy for those who have not been merciful themselves, but the merciful need have no fear of judgment.'
  
  

• And in 5: 16, he condemns the rich again starting out: 'Now an answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries coming to you... Laborers plowed your fields and you cheated them: listen to the wages you kept back, calling out: realize that the cries of the workers have reached the ears of the Lord.'

Judeo-Christian scripture is a rich and complicated work of literature. Written over the course of (at least) several hundred years by dozens of different authors, there are a variety of perspectives and many times outright contradictions in the theology and the politics of the writing (if it's all inspired word for word by God, He seems to have changed his mind a lot). But one thing is extremely certain: the poor seem to be who God is most concerned about. Yes, there are a few quotations (four, if I remember right) trashing gay people, along with quite a few more about the right way to do animal sacrifice and to be careful about eating shellfish and hanging out with women who are menstruating. But mercy, kindness, and concern for the poor and the weak and the outcast seems to matter a lot more, with literally several hundred verses referencing those agenda items. If you are a progressive, that is a pretty good ratio.

"

Supernovae are way cooler than milk mustaches

Supernovae are way cooler than milk mustaches: "

Yawn. Yes, yes, dietary calcium is important. Got it. But how about a new message to this effect? Maybe one that uses splashy images of supernovae and that offers a few lessons on the origins of the universe and its elements?

Now's the time. As Los Angeles Times staff writer Eryn Brown notes in this article, Supernova is rich in calcium:

"Scientists have identified a type of supernova, or exploding star, that produces unusually large amounts of calcium — enough perhaps to explain the abundance of that element in the universe and in our bones."

Here's an explanation, a very thorough explanation, of bone development and structure from, appropriately, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

And more from the supernovae story:

Scientists have known for decades that supernovae created the stuff our universe is made of, including the carbon in our cells, the iron in our blood and — yes — the calcium in our bones. This is part of the reason researchers study supernovae.

Now that's interesting. Maybe even reassess-your-diet inspirational. Isn't that the goal? (Besides, those thick milk mustaches are beginning to seem tired and, by now, a bit gross. What? Famous people don't have napkins?)

Here's an explainer of bone structure and function (part of a larger primer), from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research:

In addition to its mechanical functions, the bone is a reservoir for minerals. The bone stores 99% of the body's calcium and 85% of the phosphorus. It is very important to keep the blood level of calcium within a narrow range. If blood calcium gets too high or too low, the muscles and nerves will not function. In times of need, for example, during pregnancy, calcium can be removed from the bones.

And more on dietary calcium -- how much, from which foods, etc. -- from Medline Plus. (No lofty references to supernovae though. Pity.)

-- Tami Dennis

Photo: Want to be as one with the universe? Get your calcium. (This is an artist's impression, released by NASA, of how the very early universe might have looked.)

Credit: AFP / Adolf Schaller for STScI

"

Eradication of smallpox may have set the stage for HIV pandemic, study says

Fascinating...
---------

Eradication of smallpox may have set the stage for HIV pandemic, study says: "

The worldwide eradication of smallpox in the mid-20th century was a remarkable public health achievement, but it may have set the stage for the HIV pandemic of the latter half of the century, researchers reported Tuesday.

Laboratory tests suggest that immunity to smallpox triggered by the vaccinia (smallpox) vaccine can inhibit the replication of the AIDS virus. Such vaccination could have kept HIV transmission partially under control in the early days of the outbreak, but withdrawal of the smallpox vaccine in the 1950s would have freed it to spread unfettered, the researchers said.

The most common form of HIV is thought to have evolved from a simian immunodeficiency virus found in chimpanzees of southern and western Africa sometime around 1931. It spread slowly until the mid- to late-1950s, when it began to spread exponentially. Wars, misuse of medical equipment and contamination of a polio vaccine have been suggested as possible causes of the spread, but such theories have either been disproved or do not sufficiently explain the behavior of the HIV pandemic, said Dr. Raymond S. Weinstein of the biodefense program at George Mason University in Manassas, Va.

Weinstein and his colleagues noted that the progression of an HIV infection can be mitigated by a co-infection with certain other viruses, such as human herpesvirus 6 or 7 or the paramyxovirus that causes measles. Such viruses interfere with a cellular receptor of white cells that is also used by HIV. The vaccinia virus also blocks this receptor.

To test their idea, Weinstein and his colleagues recruited 20 Navy personnel. Half had received normal vaccinations and half had received both those vaccinations and, within the previous three to six months, vaccination against smallpox. The researchers extracted white blood cells from all the subjects and exposed them to HIV in a culture dish. They reported in the journal BMC Immunology that HIV replication was slowed by about 80% in the cells from those who had received smallpox vaccination.

"While these results are very interesting and hopefully may lead to a new weapon against the HIV pandemic, they are very preliminary and it is far too soon to recommend the general use of vaccinia immunization for fighting HIV," Weinstein said in a statement. Given the great difficulties researchers have encountered in trying to develop an HIV vaccine, the ironic fact is that we may once have had a vaccine that is more effective against the virus than anything that has since been developed, and we threw it away.

-- Thomas H. Maugh II

"

Justice Not As Blind As Previously Thought

Not surprising
-----

Justice Not As Blind As Previously Thought: "NotSoHeavyD3 writes "I doubt this is much of a surprise but apparently Cornell University did a study that seems to show you're more likely to get convicted if you're ugly. From the article: 'According to a Cornell University study, unattractive defendants are 22 percent more likely to be convicted than good-looking ones. And the unattractive also get slapped with harsher sentences — an average of 22 months longer in prison.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

"

Limit the number of embryos transferred in IVF, essay says

This should go without saying...

-----

Limit the number of embryos transferred in IVF, essay says: "

The United States should adopt a law similar to what is practiced in Sweden allowing, in most cases, only single-embryo transfers during in vitro fertilization treatment, according to an essay published Thursday in the Hastings Center Report.

Infertility doctors have been urged for several years to voluntarily limit the number of embryos transferred during IVF in order to avoid multiple births, such as the famous eight babies born last year to Los Angeles resident Nadya Suleman after IVF treatment.

Studies show that success rates are still good in healthy women when only one embryo is transferred instead of two or three. But the informal policy, while reducing the rate of high-order multiples, hasn't had as much success in lowering the rate of twin births. Any birth of multiples increases the risks of complications to both the babies and mothers and significantly increases healthcare costs. Many couples would rather have twins or triplets than pay out-of-pocket for multiple single-embryo transfers to build their families, notes the author of the opinion, David Orentlicher, of the Indiana University School of Law.

That's why he suggests that the United States enact legal limits to transfer only one embryo. Double-embryo transfer could be permitted for women at low risk of multiple births or because of a woman's age or medical history. Such a law reduced multiple births in Sweden from 35% to 5%, he said in his report.

"If the outcomes were similar to those in Sweden, and if transfer restrictions were coupled with insurance coverage of IVF, the restrictions would not limit reproductive rights," Orentlicher wrote.

— Shari Roan

Photo: One of the Suleman octuplets born in January 2009. Credit: Associated Press.

"

Shift workers knew it, researchers confirm it: Caffeine helps

Caffeine = good!---

Shift workers knew it, researchers confirm it: Caffeine helps: "

Coffee, tea, soda, Red Bull, those little something-extra mints ... whatever your caffeine-delivery system of choice, maybe you should stick with it -- especially if you work nights or odd shifts.

In a review of 13 previously published studies on caffeine's effect on shift workers' performance, researchers found that, compared with a placebo or even naps, the stimulant appeared to be more effective at reducing errors. It also boosted performance on memory, attention, perception and reasoning tests.

Not bad for something available from a vending machine.

Here's the short version of the caffeine study, published Wednesday in the Cochrane Library.

And here's how caffeine affects the brain, courtesy eHow, and a look at caffeine chemistry, courtesy About.com.

But good luck choosing a drink or food based on the caffeine content listed on the label. It doesn't have to be there.

Consumers can do their own research on caffeine content over at Energy Fiend. They can even calculate how much of their favorite product they could consume before it would likely prove fatal. (In the case of Cherry Coke, at least, this is a considerable amount.)

-- Tami Dennis

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

"

Inland Empire had nation's largest influx of Latinos in last decade, study finds

Si se puede
-----

Inland Empire had nation's largest influx of Latinos in last decade, study finds: "

A new study has found that the Inland Empire had the largest increase in Latino population of any metropolitan region in the nation during the last decade.

The Brookings Institute study is the latest to underscore the dramatic demographic trends occurring in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which saw significant growth in the last decade.

An examination of census data last year found that the construction boom of the early 2000s helped fuel the increase in Latino population. As hundreds of thousands of immigrants chased construction and service jobs and the chance to own a home in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the region's Latino population soared. Latinos were one-quarter of Riverside County's population in the 1990 census, for example, and 43% by 2007.

The Brookings study found that between 2000 to 2008, more than 630,000 new Latino residents were added to the two counties. The region also saw a significant loss of white residents during the same period, the study found.

Alan Berube, research director of Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Program told the Riverside Press-Enterprise, which first reported the study, that the demographic shift was creating a "cultural generation gap."

From 2000 to 2007, the number of immigrants in San Bernardino and Riverside counties grew 55%, from 490,946 to 761,629, a Public Policy Institute study found. Despite being far larger at 3.5 million, the immigrant population in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area grew by just 161,000, or 4.6%, in the same period.

The studies didn't fully consider the more recent economic downturn in the region.

-- Shelby Grad

Photo: A subdivision in San Bernardino. Credit: Los Angeles Times

"

New Vision Required to Stave Off Dramatic Biodiversity Loss, Says UN Report

New Vision Required to Stave Off Dramatic Biodiversity Loss, Says UN Report: "Natural systems that support economies, lives and livelihoods across the planet are at risk of rapid degradation and collapse unless there is swift, radical and creative action to conserve and sustainably use the variety of life on Earth."

Buckets of coffee, sweetened drinks don't boost colon cancer

Buckets of coffee, sweetened drinks don't boost colon cancer: "

The shifting tides of medical research on coffee has given java -- and those who drink it -- an all-clear. This week, at least.

A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concludes that people who coffee daily -- even four or more cups -- are no more likely to develop colon cancer than those who do not drink coffee.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health also concluded there's no higher risk of colon cancer among those who drink sweetened beverages daily. They did, however, find a small increase in risk of colon cancer among those who drank a lot of tea -- 32 oz or more a day. It was a weak signal worthy of further research, they said.

The study pooled data on more than 730,000 people scattered across the globe, and subjects were followed for anywhere between six and 20 years. Given the size and scope of the population studies, subjects' beverage choices and volumes ran the gamut. There weren't a lot of adult subjects who drank three or more sweetened beverages a day, which prompted editorialists at the journal to suggest that this study won't be the final word on cancer risk and sweetened beverages. But for coffee and tea, at least, this seems to be a study whose results you can take to the bank.

This comes on the heels of actual good news about coffee consumption: that the heavenly brew appears to help protect against diabetes, liver cancer and cirrhosis and Parkinson's disease.

But the study does leave unsolved the mystery of colon cancer's links to diet. Researchers surmise that because rates of colorectal cancer vary widely from country to country, there must be some environmental factor that increases risk, and they've long suspected it's diet. But whether red meat contributes to colon cancer or not, whether fruits and vegetable consumption protect against it: Evidence has swung back and forth on these.

At least we know it's not coffee. For now.

--Melissa Healy

"

Climate Change and the Integrity of Science: a letter to Science

Climate Change and the Integrity of Science: a letter to Science: "

A letter Climate Change and the Integrity of Science has been published in the journal Science. It's written by 255 members of the US National Academy of Sciences, including 11 Nobel laureates (here's the complete list plus their university affiliations). I recommend reading the entire letter but here is an excerpt:

There is always some uncertainty associated with scientific conclusions; science never absolutely proves anything. When someone says that society should wait until scientists are absolutely certain before taking any action, it is the same as saying society should never take action. For a problem as potentially catastrophic as climate change, taking no action poses a dangerous risk for our planet...

... The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other scientific assessments of climate change, which involve thousands of scientists producing massive and comprehensive reports, have, quite expectedly and normally, made some mistakes. When errors are pointed out, they are corrected. But there is nothing remotely identified in the recent events that changes the fundamental conclusions about climate change:

1. The planet is warming due to increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere. A snowy winter in Washington does not alter this fact.
2. Most of the increase in the concentration of these gases over the last century is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
3. Natural causes always play a role in changing Earth's climate, but are now being overwhelmed by human-induced changes.
4. Warming the planet will cause many other climatic patterns to change at speeds unprecedented in modern times, including increasing rates of sea-level rise and alterations in the hydrologic cycle. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide are making the oceans more acidic.
5. The combination of these complex climate changes threatens coastal communities and cities, our food and water supplies, marine and freshwater ecosystems, forests, high mountain environments, and far more.

Much more can be, and has been, said by the world's scientific societies, national academies, and individuals, but these conclusions should be enough to indicate why scientists are concerned about what future generations will face from business-as-usual practices. We urge our policy-makers and the public to move forward immediately to address the causes of climate change, including the un restrained burning of fossil fuels.

The scientists are the members of the NAS most familiar with climate science, as explained by lead signer Peter Gleick:

It is hard to get 255 members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to agree on pretty much anything, making the import of this letter even more substantial. Moreover, only a small fraction of National Academy members were asked to sign (the signatories are all members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences but were not speaking on its behalf). Because of a desire to produce a statement quickly, the coordinators of the letter focused on those sections of the NAS most familiar with climate science and the ongoing debate. But the NAS (and Academies of Sciences and other professional scientific societies from dozens of other nations) has previously published a long set of assessments and reviews of the science of climate change, which support the conclusions laid out in the Science essay.

Lastly, here is a link to the National Academy of Science's Policy advice, based on science, to guide the nation's response to climate change.

"

Tainted nuke plant water reaches major NJ aquifer

Jersey is the armpit of America...
----

Tainted nuke plant water reaches major NJ aquifer: "Radioactive water that leaked from the nation's oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state's environmental chief said Friday.



"

Cancer Society Criticizes U.S. Panel as Overstating Risk

I'm still wary of chemicals!
----

Cancer Society Criticizes U.S. Panel as Overstating Risk: "A dire government report on cancer risks from chemicals and other hazards in the environment has drawn criticism from the American Cancer Society.


"

Sorry America, the world's biggest burger may very well be Canadian

Say it isn't so!
---------

Sorry America, the world's biggest burger may very well be Canadian: "

In the "Is that really necessary?" department, we bring you today's biggest burger news, in the form of, well, what may be the biggest burger in the world. Canadian barbecue chef Ted Reader took six hours to grill this 590-pound behemoth at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto in an attempt to one-up the Guinness Book of World Records' current 185.8-pound record holder.

Writes the Toronto Sun of Canada's culinary--dare we say cultural--coup:

The award-winning chef used a specially designed grill with a built-in forklift mechanism designed to flip the oversized culinary creation.

Reader says it took six hours to cook the behemoth of a burger, starting off with a patty weighing 139 kilos. The grilled patty was then nestled in a 48-kilogram bun, dressed with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, red onions, pickles and barbecue sauce.

A built-in forklift mechanism will likely be needed to extract the burger's future consumers from their chairs after they finish off this meaty beast. Can we get a calorie count, please?

--Jessica Gelt

Photo: AP Photo / The Canadian Press, Patrick Dell

"

Scientists Lash at 'McCarthy-Like Threats'

!

Scientists Lash at 'McCarthy-Like Threats': "Scientists lash out after months of unsubstantiated assaults on the integrity of climate research.


"

Kissin' cousins meant health problems for Charles Darwin's children, researchers say

Another ironic story about how the inventor of natural selection did not practice it.

------

Kissin' cousins meant health problems for Charles Darwin's children, researchers say: "

For a guy who spent so much of his career studying natural selection, it is perhaps surprising that Charles Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood.

He knew from his own experiments with plants that inbreeding led to less vigorous offspring. What’s more, marriages of cousins were frowned upon in England and elsewhere in Europe due to their “supposed injurious consequences,” Darwin wrote in an 1870 letter to his neighbor. But, he added, “this belief rests on no direct evidence.”

It was a question Darwin was anxious to answer. Three of his 10 children – Anne Elizabeth, Mary Eleanor and Charles Waring – died during childhood. Six of the surviving seven went on to have long-term marriages, but three of those marriages bore no children, suggesting that his children suffered from infertility.

Scholars have documented Darwin’s worries that his own consanguineous marriage contributed to the poor health of his offspring, but he wasn’t able to resolve the question. Nearly 130 years after his death, a group of American and Spanish experts in evolution and genetics have done it for him.

Their conclusion? Darwin’s close genetic ties to his wife probably did play a role in the poor health of his children.

Not only were Darwin and his wife first cousins, but his mother’s parents were third cousins. The researchers calculated that for 6.3% of their genetic sequences, Darwin's children inherited the same DNA from their mother and father. That certainly increased their risk of developing health problems that only occur when the faulty genes are inherited from both parents. It probably explains the high rate of infertility among his adult children, the researchers write.

In addition, scientists discovered last year that inbreeding can make children more susceptible to infectious diseases. Anne Elizabeth died from childhood tuberculosis, and Charles Waring died of scarlet fever. The cause of death of Mary Eleanor, who lived only 23 days, is unknown.

“Charles Darwin’s fears of consanguinity appear to have been justified,” the researchers concluded. But they also noted that three of Darwin’s sons – George, Francis and Horace – became fellows of the Royal Society and were knighted. George went on to advocate against consanguineous marriages.

The report appears in the May issue of the journal BioScience.

-- Karen Kaplan

Photo: Charles Darwin suspected his children paid the price for his marriage to first-cousin Emma. Credit: Henry Chu/Los Angeles Times

"

L.A. considering changes in water conservation amid water main breaks

Irony can be crappy..
-----


L.A. considering changes in water conservation amid water main breaks: "

L.A. city officials have agreed to consider changes in the city's water conservation program after experts said it was responsible for water main breaks last summer and fall.

The city last June limited the use of lawn sprinklers to Mondays and Thursdays, and those restrictions have proved highly successful.

But the policy was too much for the city's aging network of cast-iron pipes, causing fluctuations in water pressure that strained them to the bursting point, a panel of scientists reported last month.

According to the report, on days when watering was allowed, water pressure in the pipes dropped. On days when watering wasn't allowed, pressure increased and "accelerated the metal fatigue failures of aged and corroded cast-iron pipes," the report said.

The result was a series of major water main breaks that flooded streets and damaged property, starting weeks after the water restrictions took effect. From July through September 2009, the city recorded 101 major breaks, compared with 42 in 2008 and 49 in 2007, the report said.

The Water and Power Commission asked its staff to come back with a look at the issue -- and potential changes in the ordinance -- before the summer.

The scientists suggested that the city rework its conservation plan. One alternative would be to require homes with even-numbered addresses to conserve on even-numbered days and homes with odd-numbered addresses to conserve on odd-numbered days, the team said. That, the scientists said, would help even up pressure.

-- Shelby Grad

Photo: A water main break in Studio City. Credit: Los Angeles Times

"

Babies as Moral Beings

So morality is a human trait
-----

Babies as Moral Beings: "A growing body of evidence that suggests that babies do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life."

U.S. Supreme Court declines involvement in Boy Scouts, San Diego Balboa Park case

Interesting...
-----

U.S. Supreme Court declines involvement in Boy Scouts, San Diego Balboa Park case: "

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case involving allegations that the Boy Scouts of America should not be allowed to lease property in San Diego's Balboa Park because of the group's religious overtone and its policy banning gays, agnostics and atheists from being members or leaders.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that an agnostic couple and a lesbian couple, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, could sue to invalidate the Boy Scouts' lease on city property as discriminatory. The Boy Scouts appealed.

The high court's decision not to hear the case sends the issue back to the appellate court for further litigation.

The ACLU in 2000 sued the city on the assertion that its $1-a-year lease with the Boy Scouts was improper. The City Council then renegotiated the lease, requiring annual payment of more than $2,500.

In 2004, a federal court judge in San Diego said the lease was improper because the city had not allowed other groups to bid on the property and that giving preference to a religious organization violated the constitutional separation of church and state. The judge ruled that the Boy Scouts qualify as a religious organization because their oath requires members and leaders to show allegiance to God.

After the 2004 ruling, the San Diego City Council sought to terminate the Boy Scouts' lease. But they have remained in the park pending resolution of the legal issues.

Under the lease, the Boy Scouts agreed to make $1.7 million in improvements to the 18-acre site in Balboa Park and have spent $2.5 million on an aquatic center on city-owned Fiesta Island in Mission Bay. The Boy Scouts have been part of Balboa Park since 1918.

In a statement on the group's website, Scout leadership expressed disappointment in the high court's decision but said that activities at Balboa Park and Fiesta Island will continue while the legal action proceeds in the federal and state court systems.

"Boy Scouts (of America) is confident that it will prevail on
its 1st Amendment rights and other constitutional defenses as the
matter proceeds through the courts," the group said. "Boy Scouts retains the right to petition
the court to hear that issue again if the 9th Circuit decides the
merits of the case unfavorably to Scouts."

David Blair-Loy, legal director for the ACLU chapter in San Diego and Imperial counties, said the court ruling "doesn't win the game (but) it advances the ball, and
we expect to prevail."

"Discrimination is not a value we want to teach our kids," Blair-Loy said.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

"

The Pill Started More Than a Sexual Revolution

Wow 50 years!
---

The Pill Started More Than a Sexual Revolution: "Fifty years ago, the birth control pill began to transform the way regulators viewed their work.


"

Wal-Mart to pay $27.6 million in dumping case

Walmart boo!
--------

Wal-Mart to pay $27.6 million in dumping case: "Prosecutors say Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had agreed to pay $27.6 million to settle claims of improperly handling and dumping hazardous waste at stores across California.



"

Latinos found to have much higher rates of vision disorders

Latinos found to have much higher rates of vision disorders: "

Visual impairment, blindness, diabetic eye disease and cataracts are the highest among Latinos compared with any ethnic group in the country, according to a series of new studies.

The findings were released Saturday as part of the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study, which is supported by the National Eye Institute. The study, which began in 2000, is the nation's largest and most comprehensive study of vision in Latinos. Most of the study participants are of Mexican descent living in La Puente.

The study found 53% of people in Los Angeles' Latino community have eye disease and 63% are undiagnosed. Many of the conditions can be treated to improve vision.

"These results underscore the importance of Latinos, especially those with diabetes, getting regular, dilated eye exams to monitor their eye health," said Dr. Rohit Varma, principal investigator of the study and director of the Ocular Epidemiology Center at the Doheny Eye Institute at USC. "Eye care professionals should closely monitor Latinos who have eye disease in one eye because their quality of life can be dramatically impacted if they develop the condition in both eyes."

The American Academy of Ophthalmology will launch a pilot program targeting Latinos this summer called EyeSmart EyeCheck. The first screening is scheduled for July 25. Details about the screenings will be posted on geteyesmart.org. Those interested can go to the site and click on the EyeSmart EyeCheck logo for more information on screenings in their area.

The studies are published in the May issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Flickr

"

Get a grip, baby. Those swimming lessons pay off in several ways

hmmm.

-----

Get a grip, baby. Those swimming lessons pay off in several ways: "

Teaching babies to swim might assuage their fear of water and provide good exercise, but it could have other benefits as well, according to a new study.

Researchers from Norway and the United Kingdom found that children who had taken baby swimming classes did better on tests involving gripping and reaching as well as balance, compared to children who had no experience swimming as babies.

The study participants included 19 4-year-olds from Iceland who had taken part in baby swimming lessons for two hours a week for at least four months when the children were infants. They were matched with 19 Icelandic 4-year-olds who had not done any baby swimming.

Baby swimming lessons typically include a warmup session with parents moving the children through water and encouraging them to stand supported on a hand. The babies also do somersaults on a floating mattress, dive under water, pick up floating rings and jump into the pool from a supported position on the side.

The 4-year-olds were tested for manual dexterity, ball skills and balance. While there were no overall differences in performance between the groups, researchers found that the swimming group did better on prehension (seizing or grasping objects) and static balance.

Although this was a small study, the authors considered the results encouraging enough to warrant further study to see what other benefits baby swimming and aquatic therapy could offer. The study appears in the May issue of the journal Child: Care, Health and Development.

-- Jeannine Stein

Photo credit: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times

"

The Slow, Winding Path to Adulthood

Interesting
-----

The Slow, Winding Path to Adulthood: "A study reports that young Americans are more like the young adults of the early 1900s than the baby-boom generation."

Los Angeles is still the nation’s smoggiest city

/sigh
-----

Los Angeles is still the nation’s smoggiest city: "The metropolitan area averages more than 140 days a year with dangerous ozone.




Metropolitan Los Angeles, extending to Riverside and Long Beach, remains the smoggiest city in the United States, with an average of more than 140 days a year of dangerous ozone levels, the American Lung Assn. reported Wednesday in its annual assessment ."