Independence Day Reads

Posted: July 4, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Barack Obama, Egypt, Foreign Affairs, France, health, Italy, medicine, morning reads, NSA, National Security Agency, science, Spain, the internet, U.S. Politics, Violence against women, War on Women, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

4th of July and NSA

Good Morning!!

So Egyptians staged a whole lot of protests and with the help of the army, overthrew the president they elected about a year ago. From the Boston Globe: Egypt’s army ousts Morsi, who calls it a ‘coup’

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s first democratically elected president was overthrown by the military Wednesday, ousted after just one year in office by the same kind of Arab Spring uprising that brought the Islamist leader to power.

The armed forces announced they would install a temporary civilian government to replace Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who denounced the action as a ‘‘full coup’’ by the generals. They also suspended the Islamist-drafted constitution and called for new elections.

Millions of anti-Morsi protesters around the country erupted in celebrations after the televised announcement by the army chief. Fireworks burst over crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where men and women danced, shouting, ‘‘God is great’’ and ‘‘Long live Egypt.’’

That sure sounds like coup. The army overthrows an elected leader and appoints a new one, while suspending the constitution. What else would you call it? And then there’s this:

The army took control of state media and blacked out TV stations operated by the Muslim Brotherhood. The head of the Brotherhood’s political wing was arrested.

It’s like Groundhog Day. A year from now will the whole thing happen all over again?

Morsi Dud by Jeff Darcy

From BBC News: Egypt swears in Mansour as interim leader after Morsi ousted

The top judge of Egypt’s Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmud Mansour, has been sworn in as interim leader, a day after the army ousted President Mohammed Morsi and put him under house arrest.

Mr Mansour said fresh elections were “the only way” forward, but gave no indication of when they would be held.

Mr Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected leader, is under house arrest after what he says was a military coup.

The army said he had “failed to meet the demands of the people”.

So it’s as if the Pentagon overthrew President Obama and installed Chief Justice Roberts as temporary president, while at the same time suspending the Constitution and shutting down the media.

The Dark Side of Egyptian “Revolution”

There’s also another similarity to the previous Egyptian “revolution” an outbreak of sexual assaults and gang rapes targeting women in public. From Human Rights Watch:

Egyptian officials and political leaders across the spectrum should condemn and take immediate steps to address the horrific levels of sexual violence against women in Tahrir Square. Egyptian anti-sexual harassment groups confirmed that mobs sexually assaulted and in some cases raped at least 91 women in Tahrir Square, over four days of protests beginning on June 30, 2013, amid a climate of impunity.

“The rampant sexual attacks during the Tahrir Square protests highlight the failure of the government and all political parties to face up to the violence that women in Egypt experience on a daily basis in public spaces,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “These are serious crimes that are holding women back from participating fully in the public life of Egypt at a critical point in the country’s development.”

The Egyptian group Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault, which runs a hotline for victims of sexual assault and seeks to intervene to stop attacks, has received scores of reports of attacks on women in Tahrir Square over the past three days. The group confirmed 46 attacks on June 30, 17 on July 1, and 23 on July 2. The group’s volunteers intervened to protect and evacuate women in 31 cases of sexual assault. Four of the women needed medical assistance, including two who were evacuated by ambulance. The women’s rights group Nazra for Feminist Studies had confirmed another five attacks on June 28.

One woman required surgery after being raped with a “sharp object,” volunteers with the group said. In other cases, women were beaten with metal chains, sticks, and chairs, and attacked with knives. In some cases they were assaulted for as long as 45 minutes before they were able to escape.

Please go read the rest at Human Rights Watch.

At CNN, writer Nina Burleigh puts the sexual violence in Egypt in the historical context of male efforts to control women’s access to the public sphere.

Last week, a 22-year-old Dutch journalist was gang-raped in Tahrir Square and had to undergo surgery for severe injuries. The assault reminds us yet again of an often overlooked aspect of the Egyptian revolution.

When Egyptians overthrew their dictator in 2011, one of the first celebratory acts in Tahrir Square included the gang beating and sexual assault of American journalist Lara Logan, who, like the Dutch journalist, landed in the hospital.

The Logan rape has always been portrayed as another unfortunate byproduct of mob violence. In fact, it was much more than that. It was a warning shot fired by men whose political beliefs are founded on a common pillar: Women must stay out of the public square.

One of the hallmarks of revolutionary victory in Tahrir Square has always been rape and sexual harassment. Mobs of men routinely set upon women, isolating, stripping and groping. No one is ever arrested or held accountable, and elected officials shrug their shoulders and blame the victims….

Egyptian women are the primary victims of sexual violence, and ultimately they are the intended recipients of the message: Stay home, your input in government and politics is not wanted.

Read the rest of Burleigh’s analysis at CNN.

In other news,

Bolivian officials laughing hysterically at the media for buying their tall tale

Bolivian officials laughing hysterically at the media for buying their tall tale

We learned yesterday afternoon that the claims that Bolivian president Evo Morales’ plane was refused permission to fly over France, Italy, and Spain were totally false and that no one forced his plane to land in Austria. See this article at The Atlantic for a complete debunking of the story.

But many so-called progressives are still pushing the false narrative that President Obama somehow was responsible. I was surprised to see Taylor Marsh hyping it this morning, and there has been no correction to Kevin Drum’s nasty claim that Obama behaved like “a Chicago thug.” That was originally in Drum’s headline until commenters told him he was pushing a Tea Party meme and he moved the accusation to the end of his post.

Marsh is also claiming we didn’t know about the extent of NSA spying a year ago. Really? If you agree with her, you might want to check out this detailed article on the NSA spying programs in the Wall Street Journal–dated March 10, 2008. And of course that wasn’t the first time the corporate media covered the story either. All the progs claiming utter shock and awe over Snowden’s revelations should be ashamed of themselves.

I don’t want to completely depress you, so let’s turn to some non-political news. I found a couple interesting science stories on Google this morning.

Here’s some exciting news out of Boston (NYT): After Marrow Transplants, 2 More Patients Appear H.I.V.-Free Without Drugs.

Two H.I.V.-infected patients in Boston who had bone-marrow transplants for blood cancers have apparently been virus-free for weeks since their antiretroviral drugs were stopped, researchers at an international AIDS conference announced Wednesday.

The patients’ success echoes that of Timothy Ray Brown, the famous “Berlin patient,” who has shown no signs of resurgent virus in the five years since he got a bone-marrow transplant from a donor with a rare mutation conferring resistance to H.I.V.

The Boston cases, like Mr. Brown’s, are of no practical use to the 34 million people in the world who have H.I.V. but neither blood cancer nor access to premier cancer-treatment hospitals.

But AIDS experts still find the Boston cases exciting because they are another step in the long and so-far-fruitless search for a cure. They offer encouragement to ambitious future projects to genetically re-engineer infected patients’ cells to be infection-resistant. At least two teams are already experimenting with variants on this idea, said Dr. Steven G. Deeks, an AIDS researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.

It’s real progress, even though the treatment won’t be widely available for a long time.

From BBC News:  Active brain ‘keeps dementia at bay’

A lifetime of mental challenges leads to slower cognitive decline after factoring out dementia’s impact on the brain, US researchers say.

The study, published in Neurology, adds weight to the idea that dementia onset can be delayed by lifestyle factors….

In a US study, 294 people over the age of 55 were given tests that measured memory and thinking, every year for about six years until their deaths.

They also answered a questionnaire about whether they read books, wrote letters and took part in other activities linked to mental stimulation during childhood, adolescence, middle age, and in later life.

After death, their brains were examined for evidence of the physical signs of dementia, such as brain lesions and plaques.

The study found that after factoring out the impact of those signs, those who had a record of keeping the brain busy had a rate of cognitive decline estimated at 15% slower than those who did not.

That’s some impressive empirical evidence for something many of us have long suspected. So maybe we are helping keep our brains young through our obsession with reading and arguing about politics on the internet!

I’ll end with a recommendation that you listen to this NPR story on the history of “The Star Spangled Banner” and how it became our national anthem. It’s only about 8 minutes long. Or you can just read the article. I thought it was really interesting.

Now it’s your turn. What stories are you following today? If you’re headed out for barbeques and family gatherings instead of surfing the net, have a wonderful time and drop in for a minute if you can.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYONE!!

Tuesday Reads

Posted: July 2, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Barack Obama, Egypt, Foreign Affairs, morning reads, Russia, U.S. Politics, Violence against women | Tags: , , , , , | 73 Comments

reading.outsideGood Morning!!

As the record-breaking heat wave continues in the West, firefighters in Arizona continue to fight the wildfires that killed 19 of their compatriots last night. NBC News reports:

Firefighters battling the Arizona blaze that killed 19 elite colleagues faced a tough task on Tuesday amid an excessive heat warning issued by the National Weather Service. Gusting winds of up to 20 mph threatened to fan the flames near Yarnell, Arizona, and officials were wary about propane tanks known to be in the town of 700 people. The dead firefighters’ colleagues continued to battle the raging blaze that by 9:30 p.m. local time Monday (11:30 p.m. ET) was zero percent contained. More firefighters are expected to join the 500-strong group. As the community began to mourn the loss of the men decribed as “heroes” by President Barack Obama, medical examiners were due to begin carrying out autopsies in the wake of the area’s “largest mass-casualty event in memory.”

The names of the men killed are:

Anthony Rose, 23; Eric Marsh, 43; Robert Caldwell, 23; Clayton Whitted , 28; Scott Norris, 28; Dustin Deford, 24; Sean Misner, 26; Garret Zuppiger, 27; Travis Carter, 31; Grant McKee, 21; Travis Turbyfill, 27; Jesse Steed, 36; Wade Parker, 22; Joe Thurston, 32; William Warneke, 25; and John Percin, 24; Kevin Woyjeck, 21; Chris MacKenzie, 30; and Andrew Ashcraft, 29.

From the Wall Street Journal: Sudden Turn in Flames Doomed Firefighters.

The men, aged between 21 and 43, were members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew who endured grueling training together before being dispatched to battle wildfires nationwide. Based in Prescott, only 34 miles away from Yarnell, they knew the terrain. But late Sunday afternoon, the firefighters radioed from their positions on the ground that they were in trouble. A short time later, a helicopter pilot reported to the Arizona State Forestry’s dispatch center in Phoenix that firefighters were attempting to shelter themselves west of Yarnell under fire-shelter covers, a heat-resistant specialty fabric made of aluminum foil, woven silica, and fiberglass—their last line of defense. Smoky conditions and heat made it difficult to check on the firefighters. “It felt like forever,” said Carrie Dennett, state fire-prevention officer for Arizona State Forestry. What rescuers eventually found was that the men had been caught in a “burn over,” a sudden change in the direction of the fire that overtook them faster than they could get out of the way, according to a spokesman with the Prescott Fire Department.

Heartbreaking.

Edward Snowden’s search for a country that will grant him asylum continues.

This morning the list of countries he had applied to increased to 21, but so far none has offered to shelter him, according to CBS News. Snowden withdrew his request to Russia after Vladimir Putin said Snowden would have to stop leaking information designed to hurt the U.S.

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that behind the scenes, the U.S. and Russia have been talking non-stop about how to resolve the Snowden conundrum. President Putin is between a rock and a hard place, explains Palmer; he won’t expel Snowden into U.S. custody, but he hopes to limit the damage to U.S.-Russian relations. With Snowden’s withdrawal of the asylum request to Russia, Palmer says, you could almost hear a sign of relief from the Kremlin. Poland rejected Snowden’s asylum request on Tuesday, and officials in Germany, Norway, Austria, Spain and Switzerland said that he could not apply for asylum from abroad. Many European countries require an asylum request to be made on their soil. Later Tuesday, India’s External Affairs Ministry said it had carefully examined Snowden’s request and decided to turn it down. Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters the government had “concluded that we see no reason to accede to that request.” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, coincidentally wrapping up a long-planned visit to Moscow, said Tuesday that his government had not yet received an official asylum request from Snowden, but that it would be considered if and when received.

The massive protests continue in Egypt.

From The Washington Post: Egypt protesters step up pressures with president facing military deadline and internal rifts.

CAIRO — With a military deadline for intervention ticking down, protesters seeking the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president sought Tuesday to push the embattled leader further toward the edge with another massive display of people power. Meanwhile, Mohammed Morsi faced fissures from within after a stunning surge of street rage reminiscent of Egypt’s Arab Spring revolution in 2011 that cleared the way for Morsi’s long-suppressed Muslim Brotherhood to win the first open elections in decades. Three government spokesmen were the latest to quit as part of high-level defections that underscored his increasing isolation and fallout from the ultimatum from Egypt’s powerful armed forces to either find a political solution by Wednesday or the generals would seek their own way to end the political chaos. The Cabinet, led by the Morsi-backed Prime Minister Hesham Qandil, was scheduled to meet later Tuesday. But the defense and interior ministers were expected to boycott in a sign of support for the military’s warnings. The police, which are under control of the Interior Ministry, have stood on the sidelines of the protests, refusing even to protect the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood that have been attacked and ransacked.

President Obama weighed in on the Egyptian situation yesterday. From Bloomberg Businessweek:

President Barack Obama told Mursi in a telephone call yesterday that the U.S. “is committed to the democratic process in Egypt and does not support any single party or group,” according to a White House statement. Obama encouraged Mursi “to take steps to show that he is responsive” to the concerns of demonstrators, stressing “that democracy is about more than elections, it is also about ensuring that the voices of all Egyptians are heard and represented by their government.” During the conversation, Obama “underscored his deep concern about violence” and sexual assaults during the demonstrations and urged Mursi “to make clear to his supporters that all forms of violence are unacceptable,” according to the statement.

In other news,

There’s an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal by Samuel T. Wilkinson on the connection between marijuana and schizophrenia. Years ago the boyfriend of one of my closest friends developed schizophrenia after years of heavy daily pot-smoking. At the time I suspected that there was a connection. He probably had a genetic tendency toward the disease that might not have manifested without the marijuana use. Wilkinson writes:

Recent legislation has permitted the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state. Those who support legalization often tout the lack of serious medical consequences associated with the drug. Most of us know people who used marijuana in high school or college and seem to have suffered no significant medical consequences. As the medical and scientific literature continues to accumulate, however, it is becoming clearer that the claim that marijuana is medically harmless is false. There is a significant and consistent relationship between marijuana use and the development of schizophrenia and related disorders. Schizophrenia is considered by psychiatrists to be the most devastating of mental illnesses. Patients who suffer from it often experience auditory or visual hallucinations, severe social withdrawal and cognitive impairment. Many require frequent and prolonged hospitalization in psychiatric wards. Schizophrenia affects almost three million Americans—more than six times the number of people with multiple sclerosis, two and a half times the number of people with Parkinson’s disease, and more than twice the number of people with HIV/AIDS. Less than one-third of patients with schizophrenia can hold a steady job or live independently. A large portion (about one-third) of homeless people in the U.S. suffer from the disease. Though they receive little attention in the legalization debate, the scientific studies showing an association between marijuana use and schizophrenia and other disorders are alarming. A 2004 article in the highly respected British Journal of Psychiatry reviewed four large studies, all of which showed a significant and consistent association between consumption of marijuana (mostly during teenage years or early 20s) and the later development of schizophrenia. The review concluded that marijuana is a “causal component,” among others, in the development of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

I hope everyone will read this article. I don’t think anything is going to stop the legalization of marijuana at this point, but we need to be aware of the dangers of this drug to young people. Schizophrenia is a very serious illness that develops in early adulthood, usually before age 35. It is partly genetic but is usually triggered by some kind of environmental stress. Marijuana use appears to be one possible trigger. A high percentage of people with schizophrenia end up committing suicide.

A large 5-year World Health Organization study consisting of the follow-up of 1056 patients exhibiting psychotic symptoms found the most common cause of death in those with schizophrenia was suicide (Sartorius et al, 1986). In their review of the subject Caldwell and Gottesman (1990) found that 9-13% of patients with schizophrenia eventually commit suicide. At least 20-40% make suicide attempts (Meltzer & Fatemi, 1995) and 1-2% go on to complete in their attempt within the next 12 months (Meltzer & Okayli 1995). Therefore, suicide in schizophrenia has long been a major area of concern and research efforts.

In Denmark, Mortensen and Juel (1993) used the national case register to retrospectively examine mortality in a sample of 9156 patients following their first admission with schizophrenia, and reported 50% of males and 35% of females went on to commit suicide during the 17-year study period, with the relative risk of suicide increasing by 56% over this time. This suggests that the current level of risk is not stable, and is certainly not improving. The devastation that suicide brings for relatives, as well as the immense personal suffering the victim endures, must surely make this one of the most pressing issues for psychiatry to address. Carers and professionals are often left with feelings of profound ineffectualness and guilt in the face of suicide, and so it is vital for clinicians to feel confident in their understanding of risk assessment and management in this particularly vulnerable group.

My friend never recovered significantly; and the last I heard, he continued to have delusions and cognitive distortions. I doubt if he stayed on anti-psychotic medications–that wasn’t his style. He was employed at times and managed to stay in touch with some friends. But he was a completely different person than before he developed the disease. Before, he was a talented musician and earned a living playing in an Irish folk group. He was gregarious and had a many friends. For those of us who knew him, it was as if that person died and someone else took his place.

I’ll end there and turn the floor over to you. What are you reading and blogging about today?