Health and Social Agenda

Agenda: Who will care for the carers? Mairi O’Keefe Tuesday 11 June 2013

2013-06-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

Agenda: Who will care for the carers?

Mairi O’Keefe

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Now that around one in eight people find themselves thrust into the role of carer for a loved one, saving the health and social care system in Scotland an estimated £10 billion each year, we need to answer the question "Who cares for the carers?" – especially when the caring stops.

There is generally no training given beforehand and very little on-the-job advice for people who may have had to give up work and sacrifice time with other family members to carry out this new full-time role. And there is no safety net or instruction manual when the job stops. The sense of social isolation can be deeply felt by people who find their whole existence thrown into question when they lose a loved one they have been caring for.
While the Scottish Government is addressing the question of funding and there are some good organisations for carers, more focus needs to be put on their health and wellbeing. They can lose out on income, pensions, health, friends, social opportunities and time to themselves. We will urge GPs to develop our Keep Well, Keep Caring mantra into a social prescription for couples coping with degenerative conditions.
It is time for us as a society to value the work done by carers and offer them the help they need before they become totally overwhelmed by the task they face. This is where Leuchie House provides a lifeline service. It is the only place in Scotland which offers respite breaks for people with long-term physical conditions and their families.
Leuchie House gives carers the time they need to recharge their batteries while their loved ones are being cared for in a beautiful country house setting, with the reassurance of 24-hour nursing care. There are also rooms for carers if they would rather stay and they are able to enjoy a break together.
We are running a Who Cares? fundraising appeal for Leuchie, an independent charity, based in East Lothian but available to people throughout Scotland. The appeal is fronted by one of our trustees, Ann Butterfield, whose powerful story highlights the challenges faced by carers and the need for quality respite care.
Ann, from Paisley, cared for her husband Jim who had primary progressive multiple sclerosis, an aggressive form of the condition with rapid degenerative deterioration, soon after the birth of their first son. They went on to have another son and the family took regular breaks at Leuchie over the years before Jim died in March last year.
Explaining the way her life changed after she became a carer to her husband, Ann said that without the right support, caring can have a devastating impact. When caring is insensitive and unsupported you can struggle to hold down a job, get a night's sleep, stay healthy and maintain your relationships with friends and family.
"We had three breaks a year. I would go with Jim to Leuchie for one of those breaks so we could enjoy quality time together, allowing Leuchie staff to look after Jim's care.
"The other times I knew I could leave Jim there and it gave me a chance to do something with the boys, so they didn't miss out. It made it easier to manage family life knowing that I had the breaks to look forward to. I would never have said I couldn't cope and have my husband put in a home, but I needed to know those breaks were coming up in order to carry on."
Ann's situation is by no means unique and it is vital that equal access is available to everyone who needs a quality break from the demands of full-time caring. Just because a family member cannot physically manage a mainstream holiday, there is no reason their carer should not enjoy some time to themselves – with the reassurance that their family member is having a break themselves.
If we want carers to continue their vital role, we must guarantee universal access to quality respite breaks.
These breaks are a social and economic necessity, not just a luxury.
A column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@theherald.co.uk
Mairi O'Keefe is chief executive officer, Leuchie House.

NEXT: Inside Track: Alcohol focus will switch to mothers-to-be »

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Care home crisis: Edinburgh short of places and is one of the most expensive areas

2012-11-09T23:44:00.001-08:00

Care home crisis: Edinburgh short of places and is one of the most expensive areas

The crucial ability to look after patients is in danger of collapse

Published on Monday 5 November 2012 12:01

THE extent of the Capital’s care home crisis has been laid bare after stark new figures revealed that places in the city’s facilities are among the most expensive and under-pressure in Scotland.

As part of a nationwide care home census, it emerged that 93 per cent of places for the elderly were occupied in the city – the second highest rate of the country’s 32 local authority areas.

The number of older care home residents with dementia is also on the rise, having almost doubled over the past decade to 53 per cent, as the average price of a room rose to £789 per week, with only the remote Shetland and Orkney Islands proving more expensive.

The worrying statistics revealed the number of care homes for older people in the city had fallen from 84 in 2000 to 64 this year, with the number of registered places also falling from more that 3400 to 2936.

Of the city’s long-stay care home residents, 63 per cent require nursing care compared with 57 per cent ten years ago, while those with medically diagnosed dementia increased from 27 per cent a decade ago to 53 per cent.

On the back of the figures, the city’s health leader, Ricky Henderson, admitted that the council and NHS faced increasing challenges in dealing with mounting pressure over care home places and said he hoped funding would be allocated to build a new home in the Capital in the forthcoming council budget.

He said: “The aging population and how we cope with that as a society is definitely top of our agenda. These figures do reflect the fact that we have a huge challenge in Edinburgh. Our focus is on trying to care for people more in their own homes and allowing them to be as independent as possible. But people are living longer and there are ever-increasing levels of care needs, and some people do reach a stage that they can’t stay at home. It does look like demand is going to continue to increase and put pressure on resources.”

It is anticipated that 184 new care home beds will be available in three new homes run by the private sector in the Capital next year, although fears have been raised that patients with more severe conditions may be denied private beds, as the operators “cherry-pick” less challenging and more lucrative residents.

Self-funding residents, paying on average £789 a week, are often preferred to those who rely on state-funding, with a nationally-set rate of £550 paid by local authorities to private companies.

Cllr Henderson said his department was “actively considering” building a new care home. “If the capital funding is available it’s something we would very much like to do,” he said.

But speaking at a meeting of the NHS Lothian board, Peter Gabbitas, the city’s director of health and social care, said that creating more care home capacity was “not necessarily a good thing” and that he wanted more people to be cared for at home. He said: “We want to increase care at home capacity.”

The Scottish Government has announced plans to integrate health and social care, meaning that NHS boards and councils will be asked to work more closely together to improve the experience and health of older people.

A shadow health and social care partnership, which includes seven NHS Lothian and seven council representatives, has already been set up to oversee the steps towards integration in Edinburgh.

Doug Anthoney, communication and campaigns officer for Age Scotland, said the charity is in support of the policy, but that it would not solve the “imminent funding crisis” that faced social care services.

He said: “Age Scotland is generally supportive of the government’s proposals for joining up health and social care services in Scotland, which should enable more older people to live fulfilling and independent lives in their communities.

“However these plans don’t solve the imminent funding crisis in social care, or the issue of charging for care services in the home and charging for residential accommodation. We would like to see our politicians give consideration to the debate in England, where the Dilnot Commission has proposed measures including a £35,000 cap on individual care payments.”

Tory health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said the census has shown that dementia had become an increasing challenge in the Capital’s care homes, as well as its hospitals, and called for more training for nursing and care home staff to deal with the condition.

He said: “We should never lose sight of just how difficult an illness this is, not to mention hugely upsetting for loved ones.

“Around one in five patients at the ERI has dementia, something nurses there are not automatically trained to deal with.

“That is why it is so critical that those people who work with dementia sufferers are equipped to do so, whether that be in a care home or hospital setting.With such a rapidly ageing population across the Lothians, it is essential we are prepared for this dementia timebomb, which is only going to increase as time goes on.”

It is estimated that the number of over-65s living with dementia in Edinburgh is currently 7142, with the figure expected to increase to 8745 in ten years and 11,548 by 2032.

It was announced yesterday NHS Lothian had appointed a dedicated dementia expert who will aim to drive up standards and improve the quality of life for people with dementia, as part of a joint initiative between the government and Alzheimer Scotland.

Professor Alex McMahon, NHS Lothian’s director of strategic planning, said that improvements had been made in home care packages and the services which are provided in communities.

He added: “Within Edinburgh, we expect to see a significant increase in the number of care home places available over the next six months. We also hope to improve the balance between capacity and demand across home care, care homes and NHS beds, through more integrated working across GPs, acute hospitals and community care.”

Pressure builds up in hospitals

PRESSURE over care home beds in Edinburgh is one of the key reasons behind “bed blocking” in Lothian hospitals.

Bed blocking patients are those well enough to leave hospital but become stranded there because they have nowhere appropriate – such as a care home – to which they can be discharged. NHS Lothian made progress to tackle the problem in recent years but recently, numbers of bed blockers – also referred to as delayed discharges – have been on the rise again.

We revealed last month that Lothian health chiefs had been urged to take action after it emerged that 325 patients had become stuck in hospital in August – which was a four-year high.

At least 17 of the patients had been stranded in hospital for six or more weeks and at least 35 had been waiting for a minimum of four weeks, with many of them waiting for Capital care home beds. The average excess stay for delayed discharge patients was 22 days.

Tory deputy leader and health spokesperson Jackson Carlaw said: “We know bed blocking is a significant issue across the Lothians, and one of the reasons for that is the lack of care home places.”

Scottish council elections: As it happened

THE latest news, analysis and results as votes are counted in Scotland’s 32 councils following yesterday’s local government elections.

39 Comments
Helping out the helpers

We turn to them when we're in need - now is the chance to give something back. The Evening News has teamed up with the Charities Aid Foundation, as part of National Giving Week, to give local registered charities more support. We have £5000 to give to the five charities which win most votes from our readers. We've whittled down your original nominations to a shortlist of ten. To vote, call the number corresponding to the charity you want to see get the money. Calls cost 10p.
Changing the face of a nation

It's been a year of constant warring with Labour, some victories, some wounds and a never-ending row over a golf course. Now as the first anniversary of the SNP's historic election victory nears, Kenny Farquharson embarks on a road trip to see if Scotland is a country happy with its new horizons

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Jacobite

4:09 PM on 05/11/2012

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JUST ANOTHER WAY OF PRINTING MONEY

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ToydogBrown

3:41 PM on 05/11/2012

If the Royal Victoria Hospital hadn't been sold off for houses another home for the elderly could have been built in the grounds. And what have the funds from these sales been used for?

1 reply

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An Australian mother of six who faced the death penalty in Malaysia for drug offences is ecstatic that charges against her have been dropped.

2012-11-08T23:29:00.003-08:00

THURSDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2012

An Australian mother of six who faced the death penalty in Malaysia for drug offences is ecstatic that charges against her have been dropped.

Emma Louise L'Aiguille, 34, was arrested with Nigerian man Anthony Esikalam Ndidi after police searched their car in downtown Kuala Lumpur on July 17 and allegedly found 1.005kg of methamphetamine.

Malaysia's Dangerous Drugs Act carries a mandatory death penalty for possession of 50g or more of methamphetamine.

Malaysian-based Australian lawyer Tania Scivetti, representing Ms L'Aiguille, argued the car did not belong to Ms L'Aiguille and she did not know there were any drugs in it, despite being in the driver's seat when arrested.

Ms Scivetti said the defence team's arguments were accepted at a hearing in a Kuala Lumpur court early on Friday.

"She's ecstatic," the lawyer told AAP.

"I said to Emma on Thursday in prison, `There's a really good chance of you coming out,' and she said, `I don't believe it.'

"She said, `I'm never going to get out.'"

Her freedom comes with three conditions: that she attend all hearings for Ndidi, expected early next year; that she co-operate with police if they require additional statements during those proceedings; and that she remain in Malaysia unless prior permission is granted for her to travel.

Ms Scivetti said it had been a very hard four months in custody for Ms L'Aiguille, who was originally from Melbourne but most recently worked as an aged care nurse in Perth.

She had consistently maintained her innocence.

"She was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Ms Scivetti said.

Ms L'Aiguille's Nigerian boyfriend jumped out of the car shortly before the arrests and remains on the run.

Ms Scivetti said the defence team would keep a close eye on Ndidi's proceedings to ensure Ms L'Aiguille was not implicated.

The women would celebrate the victory with a drink on Friday night, the lawyer said.

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An Australian mother of six who faced the death penalty in Malaysia for drug offences is ecstatic that charges against her have been dropped.

2012-11-08T23:29:00.001-08:00

THURSDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2012

An Australian mother of six who faced the death penalty in Malaysia for drug offences is ecstatic that charges against her have been dropped.

Emma Louise L'Aiguille, 34, was arrested with Nigerian man Anthony Esikalam Ndidi after police searched their car in downtown Kuala Lumpur on July 17 and allegedly found 1.005kg of methamphetamine.

Malaysia's Dangerous Drugs Act carries a mandatory death penalty for possession of 50g or more of methamphetamine.

Ms Scivetti said the defence team's arguments were accepted at a hearing in a Kuala Lumpur court early on Friday.

"She's ecstatic," the lawyer told AAP.

"I said to Emma on Thursday in prison, `There's a really good chance of you coming out,' and she said, `I don't believe it.'

"She said, `I'm never going to get out.'"

Ms Scivetti said it had been a very hard four months in custody for Ms L'Aiguille, who was originally from Melbourne but most recently worked as an aged care nurse in Perth.

She had consistently maintained her innocence.

"She was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Ms Scivetti said.

Ms L'Aiguille's Nigerian boyfriend jumped out of the car shortly before the arrests and remains on the run.

Ms Scivetti said the defence team would keep a close eye on Ndidi's proceedings to ensure Ms L'Aiguille was not implicated.

The women would celebrate the victory with a drink on Friday night, the lawyer said.

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Please read this article - help Dada fight Cancer

2012-10-07T21:44:00.003-07:00

I hope you can help Dada survive cancer

My father, who has moved mountains to give a decent life to me and my family, is fighting cancer. You can help him win this one.

Team:
see more »
Location:Quezon City, Philippines
Category:Health

Hi guys, my name is Jovan, 22. Like any other son, I am afraid of losing my father. Dada, as we call him, has worked overseas for a good couple of decades just to provide for me and my family. Now, he is in a terrible situation, and because I love him more than anything, it pains me to see him suffer every day and there's nothing much I can do about it.
In 2009, during his last job as an industrial electrician in Saudi Arabia, he got a promotion, which we all felt happy about. My father was a great provider to me and my family. When I was a kid, he would usually buy me the latest phones and gadgets as a reward for doing well in school. Even when we were apart, he made it sure that his family never went hungry. My siblings and I got to finish our education and most importantly, still had a father figure despite his physical absence during those years he worked abroad.

Months after his promotion, he was diagnosed with stage three prostate cancer, and had to go home to the Philippines and finally retire from work.
For three years, all of the savings he had went to numerous treatments and medicines needed for his condition. In our effort to help, my sister and I make it a point that we allot a sizeable portion of our monthly salary to cover for his expenses. Three years later and cancer still consuming him, our family has already reached the point where everything we have is no longer enough.
We come from a low-income family. My sister, working in a business process outsourcing firm, also has to provide for her two children. I, on other hand, am working as an online journalist, with a salary that can barely support his treatments. Both my parents are unemployed now, and we lost our apartment business a few years ago after a relative took advantage of us.
I started this campaign because I think one of the worst things that could ever happen to me is losing the opportunity to repay everything this man has done to me. This is my humble way of helping my father in the time he needs it the most.

Dada has never dreamed of a luxurious life; he just wanted a simple one where he can play around with his grandchildren and spend meaningful time with my mother and us, his kids. Cancer, however, is both tough and ruthless; it won't even give my father the chance to live a simple, problem-free life.
Despite all these things, I remain resilient in my belief that he will make it through and live his simple dream. We have no plans of surrendering yet, but our victory will sure be decisive and more meaningful if you're going to be on our side.

What you can do to help Dada

Dada, in order to win his fight against this senseless disease, would be needing a huge sum of money for his treatments, medicines and the costs of hospitalization.
The fund I thought of raising for him is $10,000, but to tell you honestly, I have no idea if this would be enough. Any amount you give, however, will surely play a huge part in creating a pool of fund that will help him win this fight.
Rest assured that your money will be well spent and I will be providing you proof of where it goes. If we don't reach our goal, that would be extremely sad, but the money we raised will still go to helping Dada.

Can you trust me with your money?

I fully understand that you have a right to know that this campaign is real and not meant to take advantage of you in any way. So if you have any question, you may send it tojovancerda@gmail.com. I am more than willing to entertain your queries. Also, if you want to know more about Dada, here's an article I wrote about him a few years ago, which got published in the local newspaper: http://bit.ly/OcYI10.

You don't have the money, but you're willing to help?

No worries, it's perfectly alright. What you can do though, is share the link of this campaign to your social network accounts, and we'll just cross our fingers and hope it reaches the right audience.

UPDATE

Hey guys, we just started with the campaign and it's quite overwhelming that lots of friends are willing to help. Some are asking about my PayPal account, but unfortunately, the local debit card I have is unsupported by the service, which makes the verification part difficult.
Some are also asking about my bank account details because they do not have a credit card, so I'm posting it here:
Banco de Oro (BDO)
Account name: Jo Javan Cerda
Account number: 004850170261
Swift code (if you're outside the Philippines): BNORPHMM

I know this is quite a huge favor to ask of you, but I hope you have the time to reach out. It would mean everything. Thank you!!!

Team on This Campaign:

Jovan Cerda
Campaign Head
Lance Katigbak

Help make it happen for the team! Contribute to

I hope you can help Dada survive cancer

CONTRIBUTE NOW ▶

2012-10-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

I hope you can help Dada survive cancer

My father, who has moved mountains to give a decent life to me and my family, is fighting cancer. You can help him win this one.

Team:
see more »
Location:Quezon City, Philippines
Category:Health

What you can do to help Dada

Can you trust me with your money?

You don't have the money, but you're willing to help?

UPDATE

Team on This Campaign:

Jovan Cerda
Campaign Head
Lance Katigbak

Help make it happen for the team! Contribute to

I hope you can help Dada survive cancer

CONTRIBUTE NOW ▶

Yoruba set agenda for national unity, peace By Emmanuel Oladesu 03/09/2012 00:05:00

2012-09-04T07:06:00.001-07:00

Yoruba set agenda for national unity, peace

By Emmanuel Oladesu 03/09/2012 00:05:00

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From left: Former Military Governor of Oyo State Gen. David Jemibewon, former Governor of Ekiti State Otunba Niyi Adebayo, ACN National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande and former Ogun State Governor Aremo Olusegun Osoba at the Ibadan meeting.

Last Thursday, the Yoruba nation at a General Assembly in Ibadan, Oyo State, set agenda for peaceful co-existence among the ethnic groups in Nigeria. Deputy Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU, who was there, reports.

The yoruba, a race of about 40 million people in the South-west, has taken a position on the future of Nigeria, a perpetually crisis-ridden nation-state that evolved from an amalgam of diverse and incompatible ethnic nationalities 98 years ago under Lord Fredrick Lugard, a British overlord.

To its leaders, the disintegration of the highly heterogeneous country may not be a viable option, but national unity is still negotiable. After a sober reflection, they contended that only a return to regional autonomy and true federalism can guarantee peaceful co-existence among the over 450 ethnic groups that have been administratively collapsed into beggarly 36 component units looking up to an octopus and power loaded Federal Government for succour and survival.

It was a moment of truth at Ibadan, the political headquarters of the Southwest, where kith and kin from Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti, Lagos, Kwara and Kogi states converged to brainstorm on the way forward for a region writhing in pains of marginalisation, infrastructure decay and stalled progress under Nigeria’s skewed and lopsided federalism.

Yoruba intellectuals and professionals; lawyers, jurists, educators, technocrats, politicians, businessmen and men and women from all walks of life were locked in lamentation over the fate of the Southwest geo-political zone, particularly, its regression to backwardness in many critical sectors.

Reality dawned on delegates to the General Assembly convened by Alani Akinrinade, a retired Army General and former Chief of Defence Staff, that the Yoruba were at a crossroads in a country facing perilous times, amid the multiplicity of the unresolved crises of development and nation-building. He said the region now thirsts for the return of the glorious Awolowo era, when it took the lead in almost all the sectors. Gen. Akinrinade said that the gains of that epoch had been wiped out by long years of military rule.

There was no evidence to suggest that the Southwest’s demands-regional and state police, restructuring of the polity, abolition of Land use decree, regional constitution, regional autonomy within a united federation, return to parliamentary system and role for traditional rulers, Sovereign National Conference-would create strains and further impair the fledlging federation. The Southwest only appears now to be in a state of readiness for re-engaging the national question by planning to set up a regional constitutional commission to collate its input into the future constitutional proposals for a new Nigeria.

However, it was obvious that some Yoruba leaders from the conservative bloc had not purged themselves of their futile attachment to peculiar pecks falling from the federal table. The Ibadan meeting was a gathering devoid of political and religious leanings. Yet, the tension between the advocates of mainstream politics and proponents of regional integration resurfaced. Sources said that the Southwest leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) advised its members to shun the meeting, but some of them turned up.

The difference between the progressive and conservative divides came to the fore when a PDP chieftain, Dr. Dejo Raimi, attributed the Yoruba’s predicament to the loss of the position of the Speaker of House of Representatives to the North. Bisi Adegbuyi, a lawyer and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) stalwart, rejected the attribution, claiming that Yoruba suffered from the bad federal structure and its defective constitution. Adegbuyi hinged his remark on the fact that when a” Yoruba President” was in the saddle, the race was boxed into a position of disadvantage because of the pervading incongruent system.

Part of its predicament is that almost 52 years after independence, Awo’s achievements as the first Premier of the region has remained the benchmark. The pride of the region are the Liberty Stadium, Cocoa House, Ibadan, first television in Africa, introduction of free education, relics of farm settlements. But all these were achieved before independence. The nationalisation of many of its assets, especially University of Ife, Ile-Ife, by the military was a setback. But strange values unknown to Yoruba, including fraud, street begging, gangsterism, have gradually crept into its culture. The concept of “Omoluabi”, hard work, honesty, patriotism, merit and standard have also been eroded in the process of cultural adulteration. Gone were the days of good governance and life more abundant.

“That is why we are clamouring for regional autonomy to reposition our region for excellence”, said Dipo Famakinwa, a member of the planning committee in his presentation on the Yoruba Agenda, who listed the benefits that would accrue to the Southwest.

He said regional autonomy would create equal political, economic and social opportunities for its citizens, ensure security of lives and property, offer the people the freedom to choose their leaders at will, promote transparency and accountability as the basis for governance and ignite their collective resolve for cultural renaissance, educational resurgence and social stability.

Famakinwa said the wisdom that had enabled Yoruba to accomplish all these under Awo has not deserted the race. “With 49 million population, Yoruba is more populous than 20 countries in Europe, 41 in Africa, 17 in the Americas, 13 in the Middle east and six in Asia.

“We have the advantage of early exposure to education. Though Yoruba are just about 24 percent of Nigeria’s population, they have, according to some estimates, about 50 percent of Nigerian university graduates, and over 60 percent of Nigeria’s holders of Ph.D degrees; and they are widely thought to be the most literate people on the African continent”, he added.

Famakinwa also alluded to Yoruba’s rich asset in the Diaspora. They include medical doctors of Yoruba origin, which constitute about 60 percent of Nigerians in Europe and America. Besides, he said Yoruba are urbanised and urbane people, with a sophisticated culture. They are endowed with considerable competitive capabilities in agriculture, tourism, commerce, industry, services and the professions. They also possess proven, but yet-to-be-harnessed hydrocarbons.

In the pre-colonial period, it was a democratic federal nation of sub-tribes united by a common language, culture and tradition. In 1914, its identity was ignored by adventurous colonial masters who lumped it together with other ethnic nationalities, in spite of their diversities. “Yoruba found itself in a new country without consultation, input from its natural rulers, agreements that could guide, shape or regulate socio-economic and political relationships and even treaties”, lamented Famakinwa. At independence, the race became part of Nigeria by colonial compulsion. Since then, the journey to this difficult future began.

In Famakinwa’s view, Nigeria is a limiting factor, stressing that too much power at the centre makes the struggle for power to be intense and acrimonious. Besides, the current federal structure fosters monumental corruption, which is a hindrance to progress, making the democratic process to be constantly under threat.

He also painted an awful picture of master-slave relationship in the federation, whereby the federal government has cornered all powers to the detriment of the subservient states. “By 1960, 44 items were on the Exclusive List, while 28 were on the Concurrent List. But the 1999 Constitution has placed 68 items on the Exclusive List while 12 items are on the Concurrent Legislative List. We now have a single police, centralised national grid for electricity supply forbidding the state from power generation, one appeal and Supreme Court, and abrogation of the right of states to the natural resources found on their soil”, Famakinwa said.

Justifying the call for a cabinet system, Mr Ayo Afolabi, another member of the planning committee, said that the presidential system makes governance very costly and promotes corruption. But more injurious to the national health, in his view, is the revenue allocation formula, which is skewed against development.

The implications for development cannot be lost on the Southwest. Stressing that the Federal Republic of Nigeria serves no developmental purposes, Famakinwa observed that power insufficiency cannot herald industrial growth. “Lagos/Ibadan expressway is now a complete death trap, and so are many other roads in the region. Insecurity of lives and property is a big concern. Rail transportation is now a century backward and funding for developmental projects is in short supply’, he added.

These impediments were ever anticipated at the outset by Yoruba nationalists. As other tribes wobbled on under the dubious, artificial nation, which Obafemi Awolowo aptly described as a mere geographical expression, it was evident that the foundation, which was not erected on equity, could not sustain the gigantic edifice cruelly erected on it by the British interlopers. When Nigeria was on the fast lane to independence, the North cornered its entire machinery of government. “If you want us(the North) to be part of this Nigeria you have in mind, then, we want 50 percent of the membership of the National Assembly”, Sir Ahmadu Bello told the Colonial Secretary in 1952. The formula, which gave a numerical advantage to the North in the federal parliament, subsists till today. It became the base for political domination.

According to the Yoruba Assembly, a new constitution and restructuring of the polity have become a sine-qua-non for progress, adding that the race would use the platform of the a Conference of all Nationalities in the country for the actualisation of the agenda for a better Nigeria.

Hailing the resolution, the Itsekiri nation, represented at the meeting by Chief Fred Agbeyegbe and Elder Isaac Jemide, said only a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), where the basis for peaceful co-existence among the ethnic nationalities in the country, can be discussed, is the last hope for Nigeria.

Yoruba outside the Southwest also have their grievances against Nigeria. For Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi, the label of being “Yoruba Northerners” has denied them of their distinct identity and prospects of re-integration with the Southwest. Their spokesman, Ayo Abereoran, said: “Grouping with the North has separated Yoruba in Kwara and Kogi from their kith and kin is the Southwest and this has retarded the progress and development of Yoruba in those states. State creation have made Okun Yoruba in Kogi and Yoruba in Kwara to become more weakened, despite the fact that Yoruba occupied 12 councils and have the largest population in Kwara State.

“Willinkson Committee recommended that the people of Kabba and Ilorin Provinces can decide whether they can remain in the North or become part of the Southwest. They said they wanted to become part of the west, but it was not implemented. We want self-determination and correction to the geographical imbalance and erroneous boundaries created by Lord Lugard.”

A legal luminary, Chief Niyi Akintola, said Yoruba deserved a fair deal in Nigeria because it had made enormous sacrifices for the nation-state. He said the race had not been an oppressor, adding that it had always stoof on the side of equity, justice and fair play. He condemned the recent attack on Yoruba by Asari Dokubo, an Ijaw from Southsouth, recalling that prominent Yoruba helped him in his time of trouble.

Akintola lamented that Southwest had been severely marginalised, noting that in the critical sectors of banking, industry and stock exchange, it does not play any leading role. He urged the Southwest states to prepare for constitution review, which he said, would come in earnest.

Akinrinade rejected the notion that certain issues are not negotiable in Nigeria. “All matters, including the unity of Nigeria, are negotiable”, adding that the former apostles of non-negotiability in defunct Yugoslavia and Rwanda are today either in jail of facing criminal trials.

“We need to examine the structure of the polity together and make recommendations on how to facilitate the overall economic development of the country and the Southwest zone, in particular. We need to brainstorm about how to make sure that the architecture of governance is designed to strengthen the unity of the country through a constitutional system that favours restoration of regional autonomy that made it possible for our region to create the largest pool of manpower in sub-Sahara Africa half a century ago”, he stressed.

Akinrinade said the Yoruba Assembly was convened to start the process of restoring true federalism with its cornerstone of regional autonomy in our country, adding that “this could be achieved the same way Scotland has, through a peaceful constitutional process, demanded home rule within the framework of the United kingdom. Today’s Assembly is a family meeting aimed at starting the formal process of demanding the restructuring of the Nigerian federation.

Akinrinade revisited the national question, saying that Yoruba, which traditionally organised its polity along the model of federation since pre-colonial period, has to canvass true federalism because it is most suitable for a country of diverse nations like Nigeria.

He lamented the backwardness in Yorubland, pointing out that most Yoruba children growing up in the Southwest from eighties had come to see life as an experience to endure, rather than enjoy.

He said between 1952 and 1966, when Nigeria operated a federal system, Yoruba enjoyed free education, established the University of ife, created the first television in Africa and developed the best civil service in Africa led by the late Chief Simeon Adebo.

Akinrinade further recalled: “The cruel irony is that the region is now almost fully dependent on revenue from oil and handouts from Abuja. At independence in 1960, the federal government was taking loans of substantial amounts from the government of Western Nigeria. unfortunately today, the truth is that, apart from Lagos State, our region has become a mendicant region that waits for limited droppings from the table of the federal government in Abuja.

“A distant federal government has become an overlord that has unnecessarily attracted to itself the charges of marginalisation from constituent nationalities. Knowing where we were coming from, it is crystal clear that the absence of functional federalism in the country in the country has exacerbated the decline of Yorubaland”, he added.

Akinrinade allayed the fears of people who think that Sovereign National Conference would lead to war. He said national conference will re-examine the heavy value added tax and punitive duty on imported alcohol collected by the federal government for distribution to all states, including those that banned alcohol, using some dubious calculus.

He said, amid the battle for restructuring, Yoruba should strive to preserve its language and culture as a means of fast-tracking knowledge and development.

Akinrinade also enjoined the Yoruba political class to remove brigandage that accompanies elections in the Southwest to avoid the destruction of lives and property.

Olusi, who endorsed the position of the General Assembly, said: “Those of us from Lagos are from Ile-Ife. Lagos will always follow the Southwest. Oba Adeniji-Adele said Lagos State belongs to the west. We will always belong to Yoruba. Yoruba has an agenda. The federal structure is oppressing other component units. Yoruba can truly develop under a truly federal Nigeria. That was how Awolowo was able to bring progress to the Southwest”.

Mamora reiterated his call for functional federalism, adding that the current National Assembly lack the power to make a new constitution for Nigeria. he said a separate Constituent Assembly made up of representatives of the people should be saddled with the responsibility.

Akintola supported the above view. He described himself as a Yoruba and Ibadan irredentist, saying : “We must return to Omoluabi concept which is no more in existence in Yorubaland. A Yoruba man was President, but he deferred to nobody. He did not succeed. The marginalisation of Yoruba is real. Yoruba has lost out in the banking and power sectors. What is happening today could not have happened in the days of Ajasin and Bola Ige. How many yoruba are in the Court of Appeal. Our governors are sleeping. Balarabe Musa and Shehu Sani even cried out that Yoruba is marginalised.

“We need to encourage people like Gani Adams. We must insist that derivation and Value Added Tax must be revisited. As we prepare for constitution review, we must also know that our states in Yorubaland have diversities and different needs. States in the Southwest should have synergy. They should put heads together to construct the Lagos/Ibadan expressway, Benin/Ore Road”.

Bankole supported regional economic integration in the Southwest, assuring that it will not lead to the disintegration of Nigeria. But he cautioned against state police, saying that those in government at the state level are not like the men of the old order who exhibited maturity in their days.

Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said: “We have neglected agriculture in the Southwest. That is why the North is threatening not to bring food to the Southwest. We must return to the farm”.

Oba Fashiku said: “Southwest governors should have Southwest Governors Forum. Enugu was capital of Eastern Region when Ibadan was capital of Western Region. Enugu is now a state. Why is Ibadan not a state? Ibadan should be a state”.

Adegbuyi, a lawyer, said: “What yoruba needs is self-determination. When Yoruba was president, did he reconstruct Lagos/Ibadan Expressway? Nigeria must revert to the structures at independence, with minor modifications. We either get Nigeria restructured or Nigeria is ruptured.

“Awolowo succeeded because of the constitutional framework. We want derivation, state police, autonomy. If some people say that they don’t want state police, those of us who want it should have it.”

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JonCollapse

Only if Yoruba Kingdom can stick to their guns. Please do not back down when Southsouth and Southeast start singing the same song. Please, what you stand for is what both Southsouth and Southeast have been yelling for since ages. Please, keep up the struggle. That is the only way we all in Southern Nigeria can be emancipated from slavery from Hausa/Fulani North. E joo - do not back down.
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Francis510Collapse

@ Jon thank and I do buy all what you said. This is a very good move by so call yoruba leaders. I wish other southern states too to follow up the same thing. We all bound to make mistakes. Now people are learning from their past mistakes. All southern states should hold their destiny and their future in their hand. We should not contiue tobe slave to mallam any more. Its time for south to know
their right. What ojukwu was after the history is now repeating it selfs. Ojukwu was a great man, who saw every thing in advance.
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mosovieCollapse

I am also hoping and praying that now they have come out in this fashion that nothing makes them to tow a different line later when the divisive hawks paid to destabilise will bear down on them as they are bound to do before long. May GOD help this contraption called Nigeria.
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onyema22ohakaCollapse

On Aburi we stand as demanded by Ndigbo(Biafra) in 1967 ,which is what our Yoruba brothers have woken up to now.I totally support this their onerous and bold demand.I am only praying that they keep this project alife and not chicken out when the times for it comes.
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CoFabCollapse

The Aburi Accord we stand...this is limelight..for great future..
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YorubaTuntunCollapse

Another ethnic jamboree concocted by a bunch of "retired" marginalised politicians. Sounded more like a journey into the past of what could have been! The Yoruba nation should address it's economic, political and social issues - strategy to eradicate the "agbero" phenomenon and put the mass of graduates to work. An internal transformation of the region should be pursued to usher in a model for the rest of the country, rather than whine on federal marginalisation in the sharing of national political positions. If one may ask, of what benefit was the Obasanjo presidency or Bankole speakership to the larger Yoruba people? Yoruba Ronu!
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DeleoyiboCollapse

Certainly, you are not a Yoruba person because yorubas dont and will not speak in that manner, not even when notable, respectable people with enviable records of scheivements are involved.We True yorubas sons and daughters are indeed happy and proud of our leaders that attended this meeting.It matters not to us what anyone may say, we as Yorubas are moving ahead while others follows. We have always been ahead of others if not for the military intervention.My appeal to the planning committe, let other leaders such as Jakande, Akinjide, Babatope,OBJ,Falae etc.everone irrespective of political learning should be accomodated. if these gentlemen were not invited to the last meeting and if they were, they should not forsake a meeting like this, particularly with the involvement of Gen Akinriade, a respected and non partisan trueYoruba leader by any means.
No one should see the gathering as an afront against mama Awolowo or aWO'S political dynasty.The woman has tried her best and should therefore, be allowed to take some rest. Those who hope to use the name Awo and his family to promote selfish interest should learn and should start looking for another means.Whereares we Yoruba have so much to learn and be proud of in Awo's dynamic leadership method. Times are however changing, we can not continue to dwell on the same chapter indefinitely.Unless we are saying that ther rest of us that are alive are completely docile. can not reason any more.
One more suggestion to deliberate upon in the next meeting is AGRICULTURE.Those governors in the South west should be invited to pressent papers on agriculture,and at the same time,tell yorubas what plans they have to revive this sector
Long life Yoruba race.
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BarisalauCollapse

Any body who can read between lines would see the intrigue of Gen. Akinriade's agenda. Akinrinade and his co travellers are embarking on a bridge to nowhere. Everyone is praising Awo , but they lack the vision of Obafemi Awolowo. People now simplistically alude the success of Awo to regionalism. This can not be true . His success was by his vision for the Yorubas and Nigeria at large. Awolowo believed that charity begins at home but should not stop there. Infact the present advocate of Regionalism are anti - Awoist because they are proposing a principle that is antithetic to Awo's belief. Awolowo believed in nationalising our regionalism through advocating for identity for small ethinic groupings to have their states and the breaking of the North in to smaller states in other to achieve ethnic balancing which gave the Northernal region an hegemonic strenght over the disunited ' South'.This Awo's achievement can not be revised even if Nigeria disintegrates because minority of different components would not compromise their identity. Those lazy isolationists who believe that their proposed Yoruba or Oduduwa State would be an easy cash for them to establish their dynasty would discover that their myth of fighting the Hausa Fulani 'operation ' which they use as smockscreen as fear gimmick to sustain their temporary hold on the Yoruba would be completely wiped out in such republic.Gen. Akinrinade has consistently maintained that everything about Nigeria is negotiable including its unity and that is instructive. People like me would not have much to lose in such adventure but the type of Gen. Akinrinade who have empires in every part of Nigeria like his estate in Onne which he acquired when he was Minister of Transport would lose more. But I am aware of this type of gimmicks. Those who sponsor this type of meetings are not sincere with their unsuspecting guests who do not understand their political manipulative game. Those governors who proclaim to be Awoist and yet with so much disdain and envy for Awolowo's achievement because of their lillupitian stature want a rallying concept to hang unto power which they can not sustain with good governance like Awo did. They did it before telling the Yorubas that the APP was an Abacha Peoples Party and that they were not intereted in Nigeria and that their preoccupation was for them to control the Yoruba land but immediately their AD won in Yoruba land they, they used the mandate they got from innocent to negotiate the Presidential ticket of the Abacha Peoples Party (APP) for Chief Olu Falae and they failed and not only that , they lost their hold on the Yoruba states because of their ruderlessness on their term. History seems to be repeating itself as they are looking for something to hang on to avoid losing their relevance in the next election by creating fear concept as they did before. If they are sincere as they say let the governors in the SouthWest lead the move they are proposing their pooling their variuos states in to one regional administration.
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- 6 hours ago
NalayandeCollapse

President Goodluck Jonathan and Dr Patient Goodluck Jonathan should know that they are the father and mother of all the geopolitical zones. To this effect, as a good father and mother you should be fair enough to treat all almost equally and not to leave anyone. Any deserted child always become the bread winner of the family because God always butter his bread.
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- 1 day ago
absanCollapse

The only way the Yoruba nation can be prosperous again devoid "help" from Aso Rock is to invest in only one economic project to the envy of the whole world.
It is estimated that Yoruba individuals are large in number in diaspora than any other group from Nigeria.
I will suggest that Micro Farming Project should be the new investment approach of all the south-west nations.
If you ever visit any embassy today, either in Lagos or Abuja, the statistics will surprise you. What are all these young guys going out to do when we have over 60% arable and uncultivated land waiting and begging for farming and agriculture development? Going there to drive taxis, wash plates at restaurants, factories labors or mortuary attendants.
The only panacea is Micro Farming and Iam ready to give more input if called upon.
Thanks
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- 1 day ago
GascoeCollapse

@absan..gone are those days when,nigerians living in diaspora work in those areas you mentioned above,i live in abroad,i don't do such job.The fact is,our leaders should do the right thing,period.
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Francis510Collapse

Oh! my people thank you all. Most expectially Rtd General Akinrinade thank you very much for this get together and understanding. My people now realy wake up now ooooo. Please keep the flag flying ooooo. Please also invite yoruba sons and daughters on board your ship too. Let hold our destiny and future in our hands

make sure we are incharge of our destiny and future. God bless all of una oooo. This is a ce
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- 1 day ago
Phaerisee, My Hand was made strong by the Hand of The Almighty.Collapse

Good luck guys! If you have any friends over in America make sure they know about Mitt Romney so Barack can have four more years!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
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- 1 day ago
SOLOMONKINGSCollapse

ARE THEY WAKING UP NOW ? THIS IS JUST A SIMPLE QUESTION WHAT OJUKWU SAW MANY YRS AGO ' IS WAHT YOU ARE JUST SEEING NOW , WELL GOODMORNING YORUBA PEOPLE STAY AWAY FROM YOUR LIFE OF BETREYAL ,,,GOD BLESS AFRICAM
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- Reply
- 1 day ago
Cidi_ojitCollapse

nice move but belated. other tribes will do what yorubas have done now. But note the question of seccession will never succed because western power will not approve it. Let the next step for yorubas not be to declare seccession . Ojukwu treid and was told by UK that nigerian map can never be changed. This time US and China with UK have more interest as to refused any such attempt.Develop your area and look after the less priviledged ones
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klaus161Collapse

Cidi_ojit,forget it,if another Ojukwu come out again from east,their will be Biarfar,or hwo u call it.Sudan ,Etiopia,Yugosiavia and USSR break,why not Nigeria.it sames cidi u are northner,mr afried to stay along,but u have ur own sharia and sharia police in the north.things fall apart,everybody or regional is tried of this unlove and force uion call Nigeria, only north still want to be part of nigeria simply because of oil allocations lazy people uneducated almahjirs.
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Samuel Idowu Collapse

MAY GOD HELP YORUBA KINGDOM TO UNITE.LONG LIFE YORUBAS
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- 1 day ago
klaus161Collapse

Once we uinted as one Yoruba, then we can free ourself to move forward in 2012,we rule ourself by Regional autonomy within nigeria or we break from nigeria,and form our own Oduduwa Republic, with secular states,no fulani herdmens moving in and out to kill our farmers
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chiwillsCollapse

@Klaus......I think you are day dreaming.....Remember when Ojukwu Stand for this at the ABURI ACCORD......You people betray us.......the celebrated Icon Awolowo Stabs the South-East at the back and cornered with the north to Rip of our land... when we stand for True Federalism.....Then now after so many years you want True Federalism...well i pray it should come to pass....but as for breaking out of 9ja..that can't be possible.....bcos The South-East will cornered with the North.....to rip of your land...and People..remember no Western nations support our struggle then...so non is ready to support you when it started all over again
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Mimiko betrayed us, says Tinubu

Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the weekend spoke with reporters on national issues in London. He was on his way to the Democratic Party’s Convention in the United States. Excerpts: ... Full story

GUILTY PLEA OVER CHRISTMAS ISLAND BOAT TRAGEDYABC UPDATED SEPTEMBER 3, 2012,

2012-09-03T10:11:00.001-07:00

GUILTY PLEA OVER CHRISTMAS ISLAND BOAT TRAGEDYABC Updated September 3, 2012,

ABC ©

An Iranian-born Australian citizen has pleaded guilty to

organising asylum seekers boats, including the one that crashed at Christmas Island, killing 50 people.

Ali Khorram Heydarkhani, 41, was arrested in Indonesia in January last year and extradited to Perth to face trial.

He had originally pleaded not guilty but changed his plea just before his trial.

It was due to open today, but at the start of what was to be a 12 week hearing, Heydarkhani pleaded guilty to people smuggling charges.

He was accused of organising four asylum seeker boats between October 2010 and January 2011.

The crash by the boat into rocks at Christmas Island in December 2010 killed 50 men, women and children.

One of the charges related to him facilitating the travel of a passenger on board the doomed boat.

After negotiations with prosecutors, Heydarkhani pleaded guilty to four of the 12 charges he was facing.

The full details of his offences will be outlined in court on Wednesday but he will not be sentenced until next month.

His lawyer Ian MacFarlane says Heydarkhani faces a maximum 20 year jail term.

"You're all aware the minimum is eight years, I think it's going to be substantially more than that," he said.

"We'll just see what happens."

Heydarkhani is the first person to be convicted under new laws, which take into account whether his actions were reckless as to whether people might die or suffer serious injury.

The West Australian coroner conducted a wide-ranging inquiry into the Christmas Island disaster.

The inquiry found there was the risk of another maritime tragedy unless rescue capabilities at the island were improved.

The Federal Government agreed to act on most of the recommendations.

It said it will examine better ways to monitor the island and its surrounding waters, as well as to acquire two more rescue boats.

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Social security numbers, noise ordinance on agenda By Katie Dahlstrom Herald Staff Writer

2012-08-30T20:58:00.001-07:00

Local News

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August 27, 2012

Social security numbers, noise ordinance on agenda

By Katie DahlstromHerald Staff Writer

CLINTON — The Clinton City Council on Tuesday will again meet away from City Hall due to continued mechanical issues.

The meeting will instead be held at the Ericksen Community Center, 1401 11th Ave. North at 7 p.m.

Because of the venue change, the scheduled animal control ordinance hearing will be postponed until the Sept. 11 meeting when it can be broadcast on channel 18.

The council will, however, address a number of other items including the possible adoption of an identity theft prevention program that would allow the city to collect social security numbers.

If the ordinance is passed Tuesday, the city would still need to implement other policies and procedures to collect the social security numbers. The numbers would be collected mainly from renters in order to ensure payment for city sewer use.

Because of an Iowa law, the city can no longer place a lien on the owner’s property for a renter’s unpaid bills.

Collecting social security numbers would allow the city to collect through the Iowa income offset program.

The City Council will also possibly adopt the revision to the noise control ordinance that would alter what noise-emitting events or organizations are exempt.

The Committee of the Whole, immediately following the City Council meeting, will discuss a number of items including the franchise agreement between the city and Alliant Energy. The agreement would span 25 years and features language that would allow the city to instate a franchise fee. City Attorney Jeff Farwell explained to the Internal Operations Committee last Tuesday that the city would need to go through additional legal proceedings before instituting a fee and currently has no plans to do so. An Alliant spokesperson also stated the fee language is common in many agreements with cities.

The committee of the whole will also discuss agreement between the city and Community Health Care, Inc. for development of a previously unused piece of city-owned land.

Community Health Care would use part of a $9.6 million grant to build a facility that would serve low- income residents as well as those with no insurance at the former Turner Iron and Metal site, 241 Third Ave. North.

The item was also forwarded by the Interal Operations Committee.

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Romney and GOP lay out agenda BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS McClatchy Newspapers

2012-08-27T06:05:00.001-07:00

Romney and GOP lay out agenda

BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS

McClatchy Newspapers

Romney on a razor's edge between right and center

GOP convention to make case for changing course with Romney

Romney strikes back at Obama as convention waits

Republicans cut first day of convention amid hurricane watch

Paul Ryan gets little bounce in polls, looks to GOP convention

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Romney and GOP lay out agenda

WASHINGTON -- Republicans convene in Tampa, Fla., this week not just to formally coronate Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate, but to set the agenda they hope to enact if granted power in the November elections.

While there are differences between them – some want to ban all abortions, for example, while others want to allow exceptions in cases of rape – Republicans generally will propose an agenda they say will jumpstart a weak economy, preserve traditional culture and assert American power and ideals abroad.

The party’s formal platform will be adopted by the Republican National Convention on Monday. It’s a good guide to what the Republicans want to do, but it’s hardly a binding contract on any one candidate, whether it’s Romney at the top of the ticket or candidates for the Senate or the House of Representatives.

In recent presidential campaigns, the party platform has been meaningful in its meaninglessness to the candidates, who place a larger premium on their own political stances. In 1996, for example, Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole said he hadn’t read the party platform and doubted that he would have time to do so.

This year, the Republican platform will include abortion language adopted last week that reaffirms the party’s objection to legalized abortion, with no mention of exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Romney opposes abortion but supports exceptions for rape, incest, and if the woman’s life is in danger.

“As far as the details of some of these things, like exception for rape or life of the mother, these are not uncommon differences that candidates have,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said last week. “This is the platform of the Republican Party, not the platform of Mitt Romney. . . . That all being said, though, these guys are proud pro-life candidates and we’re a proud pro-life party.”

Still, Romney does embrace most of the party platform. “I don’t think there’ll be a lot of space between the platform and him,” said Tom Rath, a Romney political adviser.

And between his policy proposals and the party platform, Americans can start to flesh out what Republicans would do. Here’s a look at where Romney and the Republican Party stand on key issues:

TAXES: Romney calls for cutting marginal income tax rates 20 percent across the board and eliminating taxes on dividends, interest and capital gains for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of less than $200,000. He’d lower the corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. He’s provided no details on how he’d pay for the tax cuts.

DEFICIT: Romney wants to limit spending to 20 percent of the total economy, or the gross domestic product, instead of last year’s 24 percent. That can be accomplished by increasing the size of the economy or by reducing spending. He advocates across-the-board 5 percent cuts in non-security discretionary spending – which includes many domestic programs but excludes entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security. He’d cap spending below 2008 levels.

SOCIAL SECURITY/MEDICARE: Romney proposes slowly increasing the Social Security retirement age and slowing the benefit growth rate for wealthier recipients. He wants no change in Medicare for current beneficiaries or those nearing retirement. For the rest, Romney supports a “premium support” plan that would give Medicare recipients benefits for them to buy insurance coverage. Some congressional Republican candidates, however, are distancing themselves from Romney and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s Medicare approach.

WALL STREET: Romney advocates repealing and replacing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulatory changes with a “streamlined, modern, regulatory framework. As president, he’d review all Obama-era regulations and eliminate those that he feels “unduly burden the economy.”

TRADE: Romney says he would issue an executive order on his first day in office ordering the State Department to list China as a currency manipulator and to direct the Commerce Department to assess countervailing duties on Chinese imports if Beijing fails to float its currency. U.S. business and many lawmakers believe that China keeps a competitive edge over American manufacturers and businesses by keeping the yuan weak to boost exports

He also wants a “Reagan Economic Zone” in Asia that would promote free trade and “draw in an expanding circle of nations seeking greater access to other markets.”

HEALTH CARE: Romney and congressional Republicans want to repeal the 2010 health care law passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress and signed by President Barack Obama. Romney would issue an executive order immediately that would allow any state to waive the law’s requirements and urge states to adopt their own health care plans.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Romney supports a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman and vowed to use other measures to promote traditional marriage. As a U.S. Senate candidate from Massachusetts 18 years ago, Romney promised to be a strong advocate for gay rights.

IMMIGRATION: Romney wants to complete the U.S.-Mexico border fence or high-tech system to reduce illegal immigration south of the border. He opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants now in the U.S. He opposes the DREAM Act, which would allow young people who came to the U.S. illegally as children to stay here if they’re enrolled in college or serve in the military. However, he supports the military component of the act. “As president I will stand for a path to legal status for anyone who is willing to stand up and defend this great nation through military service,” he told the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials convention in June.

DEFENSE: Romney wants to reinstate looming defense cuts, with spending not allowed to drop below 4 percent of the gross domestic product. He calls for more competition for military contracts and for paring down a Pentagon civilian workforce that he describes as “bloated.” As president, Romney wants to increase the number of Navy ships built from nine per year to 15 per year.

IRAN: Romney says he would keep the military option on the table. He added that in his first 100 days as president he would deploy aircraft carrier task forces to the Eastern Mediterranean and to the Persian Gulf region simultaneously.

AFGHANISTAN: Romney labeled Obama’s publicly released timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan by 2014 “naive.” Still, the former Massachusetts governor concurs with Obama’s timetable but stresses that the decision to withdraw troops would be assessed by U.S. military commanders and conditions on the ground.

RUSSIA: Romney advocates a hardened view of Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin than Obama and former President George W. Bush. He said he would review the implementation of the START nuclear arms treaty, apparently raising the possibility that he might refuse to continue acting on it. He also said he would “confront the Russian government over its authoritarian practices” and would provide stronger support for Russian neighbors like Poland.

EDUCATION: Romney proposes expanding parental school choice by linking federal education funds to students so that parents could send their children to any public or charter school. He also would revamp the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind Act by reducing the federal government’s management role while ensuring that schools are held responsible for results.

Email: wdouglas@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter @williamdouglas

Posted on Sun, Aug. 26, 2012 11:00 PM

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Romney's agenda is one item, make it even easier for the one-percent to loot America. Do you really think he has any other goal?

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WASHINGTON -- Republicans convene in Tampa, Fla., this week not just to formally coronate Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate, but to set the agenda they hope to enact if granted power in the November elections.

While there are differences between them – some want to ban all abortions, for example, while others want to allow exceptions in cases of rape – Republicans generally will propose an agenda they say will jumpstart a weak economy, preserve traditional culture and assert American power and ideals abroad.

The party’s formal platform will be adopted by the Republican National Convention on Monday. It’s a good guide to what the Republicans want to do, but it’s hardly a binding contract on any one candidate, whether it’s Romney at the top of the ticket or candidates for the Senate or the House of Representatives.

In recent presidential campaigns, the party platform has been meaningful in its meaninglessness to the candidates, who place a larger premium on their own political stances. In 1996, for example, Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole said he hadn’t read the party platform and doubted that he would have time to do so.

This year, the Republican platform will include abortion language adopted last week that reaffirms the party’s objection to legalized abortion, with no mention of exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Romney opposes abortion but supports exceptions for rape, incest, and if the woman’s life is in danger.

“As far as the details of some of these things, like exception for rape or life of the mother, these are not uncommon differences that candidates have,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said last week. “This is the platform of the Republican Party, not the platform of Mitt Romney. . . . That all being said, though, these guys are proud pro-life candidates and we’re a proud pro-life party.”

Still, Romney does embrace most of the party platform. “I don’t think there’ll be a lot of space between the platform and him,” said Tom Rath, a Romney political adviser.

And between his policy proposals and the party platform, Americans can start to flesh out what Republicans would do. Here’s a look at where Romney and the Republican Party stand on key issues:

TAXES: Romney calls for cutting marginal income tax rates 20 percent across the board and eliminating taxes on dividends, interest and capital gains for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of less than $200,000. He’d lower the corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. He’s provided no details on how he’d pay for the tax cuts.

DEFICIT: Romney wants to limit spending to 20 percent of the total economy, or the gross domestic product, instead of last year’s 24 percent. That can be accomplished by increasing the size of the economy or by reducing spending. He advocates across-the-board 5 percent cuts in non-security discretionary spending – which includes many domestic programs but excludes entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security. He’d cap spending below 2008 levels.

SOCIAL SECURITY/MEDICARE: Romney proposes slowly increasing the Social Security retirement age and slowing the benefit growth rate for wealthier recipients. He wants no change in Medicare for current beneficiaries or those nearing retirement. For the rest, Romney supports a “premium support” plan that would give Medicare recipients benefits for them to buy insurance coverage. Some congressional Republican candidates, however, are distancing themselves from Romney and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s Medicare approach.

WALL STREET: Romney advocates repealing and replacing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulatory changes with a “streamlined, modern, regulatory framework. As president, he’d review all Obama-era regulations and eliminate those that he feels “unduly burden the economy.”

TRADE: Romney says he would issue an executive order on his first day in office ordering the State Department to list China as a currency manipulator and to direct the Commerce Department to assess countervailing duties on Chinese imports if Beijing fails to float its currency. U.S. business and many lawmakers believe that China keeps a competitive edge over American manufacturers and businesses by keeping the yuan weak to boost exports

He also wants a “Reagan Economic Zone” in Asia that would promote free trade and “draw in an expanding circle of nations seeking greater access to other markets.”

HEALTH CARE: Romney and congressional Republicans want to repeal the 2010 health care law passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress and signed by President Barack Obama. Romney would issue an executive order immediately that would allow any state to waive the law’s requirements and urge states to adopt their own health care plans.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Romney supports a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman and vowed to use other measures to promote traditional marriage. As a U.S. Senate candidate from Massachusetts 18 years ago, Romney promised to be a strong advocate for gay rights.

IMMIGRATION: Romney wants to complete the U.S.-Mexico border fence or high-tech system to reduce illegal immigration south of the border. He opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants now in the U.S. He opposes the DREAM Act, which would allow young people who came to the U.S. illegally as children to stay here if they’re enrolled in college or serve in the military. However, he supports the military component of the act. “As president I will stand for a path to legal status for anyone who is willing to stand up and defend this great nation through military service,” he told the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials convention in June.

DEFENSE: Romney wants to reinstate looming defense cuts, with spending not allowed to drop below 4 percent of the gross domestic product. He calls for more competition for military contracts and for paring down a Pentagon civilian workforce that he describes as “bloated.” As president, Romney wants to increase the number of Navy ships built from nine per year to 15 per year.

IRAN: Romney says he would keep the military option on the table. He added that in his first 100 days as president he would deploy aircraft carrier task forces to the Eastern Mediterranean and to the Persian Gulf region simultaneously.

AFGHANISTAN: Romney labeled Obama’s publicly released timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan by 2014 “naive.” Still, the former Massachusetts governor concurs with Obama’s timetable but stresses that the decision to withdraw troops would be assessed by U.S. military commanders and conditions on the ground.

RUSSIA: Romney advocates a hardened view of Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin than Obama and former President George W. Bush. He said he would review the implementation of the START nuclear arms treaty, apparently raising the possibility that he might refuse to continue acting on it. He also said he would “confront the Russian government over its authoritarian practices” and would provide stronger support for Russian neighbors like Poland.

EDUCATION: Romney proposes expanding parental school choice by linking federal education funds to students so that parents could send their children to any public or charter school. He also would revamp the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind Act by reducing the federal government’s management role while ensuring that schools are held responsible for results.

Email: wdouglas@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter @williamdouglas

Posted on Sun, Aug. 26, 2012 11:00 PM

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Romney's agenda is one item, make it even easier for the one-percent to loot America. Do you really think he has any other goal?
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RSSText SizePrint Share This Romney ready to deliver agenda

2012-08-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

Nation World

Romney ready to deliver agenda

By DAN BALZ | The Washington Post
Published: August 26, 2012

» 0 Comments | Post a Comment

TAMPA --

Mitt Romney has a lengthy to-do list for the Republican convention here, , but it's aimed at one priority: establishing the presumptive nominee as better equipped than President Barack Obama to fix the ailing economy.

The convention affords Romney the opportunity to get on and stay on message. The week will be highly scripted.

Last week, thanks to Missouri Rep. Todd Akin's bizarre "legitimate rape" comments and Romney's inexplicable remark Friday about birth certificates, was totally unscripted.

Romney's campaign has three objectives this week: making a case on why Obama has failed in office, offering an alternative to the administration's policies and showing why Romney is uniquely suited to the challenges the next president will face.

Democrats will try to distract from Romney's convention.

The convention will fill out what is still an incomplete biography of the candidate.

"We're going to tell the whole story," said a senior Romney adviser, who declined to be identified.

Romney defines himself as a businessman who understands the private sector.

Obama's team defined Romney as a vulture capitalist more interested in profit and a politician with something to hide in his tax returns. That has sullied Romney's image in the eyes of many voters.

There is more Romney's team wants to say about his days at Bain Capital; his one term as Massachusetts governor; his role turning around the 2002 Olympics; his family as the center of his life; the role his Mormon faith plays in his life, and role he has played in his church in helping others.

This story will be told in speeches, testimonials, videos; by friends, acquaintances, Olympians, politicians and Romney on Thursday night.

Romney will have his biggest campaign audience. His advisers estimate more than 35 million will tune in Thursday night for his speech. And when major networks aren't broadcasting, 10 million or more will watch on any night on cable, PBS and C-SPAN.

Romney comes to the convention in a deficit situation, thanks to a pounding he's taken all summer. His image is less positive than most past candidates at this time. His advisers know this but point to counter-evidence on race, saying Romney, not Obama, is more trusted on the economy.

His advisers said most presidential elections are fought and won over the biggest issue in the voters' minds. Some analysts who see Obama with a narrow advantage note the 2004 campaign in which President George W. Bush had approval ratings about as low as Obama's today and won, in part, because his campaign battered Democratic nominee John Kerry the way Obama's team has attacked Romney.

Romney advisers say there is one big difference between 2004 and 2012. In 2004, they said, Bush won on the No. 1 issue: terrorism and who would keep the country safer. If Romney can hold a clear advantage on this year's No. 1 issue, he can win. He hopes to lay out the deep philosophical divide between his and Obama's views on government and private sector and policies that can restart America's economic engine.

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Repairing Cartilage With Fat: Problems and Potential Solutions

2012-08-24T03:07:00.000-07:00

Science News

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Repairing Cartilage With Fat: Problems and Potential Solutions

ScienceDaily (Aug. 22, 2012) — Stem cells isolated from fat are being considered as an option for treating tissue damage and diseases because of their accessibility and lack of rejection. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Stem Cell

Research & Therapy shows that this is not as straightforward as previously believed, and that fat-derived stem cells secrete VEGF and other factors, which can inhibit cartilage regeneration. However pre-treating the cells with antibodies against VEGF and growing them in nutrients specifically designed to promote chondrocytes can neutralize these effects.

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Chondrocytes make and maintain healthy cartilage but damage and disease including osteoarthritis can destroy cartilage resulting in pain and lack of mobility. Stem cell therapy using cells isolated from adult tissue (such as fat) are being investigated as a way of repairing this damage. Stem cells have the ability to become many different types of tissue so the real trick is persuading them to become cartilage rather than bone, or blood vessels, for example.

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology found that adipose (fat) stem cells (ASCs) secrete large amounts of factors, especially the growth factor VEGF, which prevent cartilage regeneration and actually causes the death (apoptosis) of chondrocytes along with the formation of blood vessels. Treating ASCs with medium designed to encourage their differentiation into cartilage cells was able to reduce the amount of these secreted factors and also prevented the growth of blood vessels. Specifically, an antibody designed to neutralize VEGF prevented chondrocyte apoptosis.

Prof Barbara Boyan, who led this research, explained, "Non-treated ASCs actually impeded healing of hyaline cartilage defects, and although treating ASCs improved the situation they added no benefit to compared to cartilage allowed to heal on its own. However we only looked at cartilage repair for a week after treatment, and other people have shown that two to six weeks is required before the positive effect of ASCs on influence cartilage regeneration is seen."

So while stem cells from fat may be able to help repair damaged cartilage, careful handling and pre-treatment may be required to ensure a positive result.

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Journal Reference:

Christopher SD Lee, Olivia A Burnsed, Vineeth Raghuram, Jonathan Kalisvaart, Barbara D Boyan and Zvi Schwartz.Adipose stem cells can secrete angiogenic factors that inhibit hyaline cartilage regeneration. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 2012

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Gilkatho Cappuccino Price Index reveals price of Melbourne coffees have jumped the biggest in the nation

2012-08-24T01:24:00.001-07:00

Gilkatho Cappuccino Price Index reveals price of Melbourne coffees have jumped the biggest in the nation

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WES HOSKING
Herald Sun
August 24, 201212:00AM

ALSO

Sarah Griffith, from Melbourne, enjoys drinking coffee. Picture: Rebecca Michael

MELBOURNE caffeine cravers are being roasted with the biggest price rise for takeaway coffee in Australia.

But a daily cup still sets drinkers back less than most capital cities.

Over the past year, the average price of a takeaway cappuccino in Melbourne shot up 18c to $3.36.

Costs are hardest to swallow in Perth, where cafes charge an average $3.87.

Sydney is home to the cheapest caffeine kick at $3.28 despite a 17c increase.

Gilkatho managing director Wayne Fowler, whose coffee machine retail company surveyed prices at more than 900 cafes nationwide, said wages and rental costs had the biggest effect on price.

"There is little connection between the cost of coffee, which is actually decreasing globally, and the cost of a takeaway coffee in Australia," Mr Fowler said.

Di Bella Coffee managing director Phillip Di Bella said it cost about $1 for the ingredients to make a cup of coffee.

Sydney and Melbourne cafes were cheapest in their central business districts because of fierce competition. In Brisbane, coffees were dearest in the CBD.

Elwood's Jimmi Jamz cafe owner Giuliano Buttazzoni, who sells a regular coffee for $2.50, said price was important but drinkers also demanded quality and service.

"It is very competitive and, if you do not provide something good, people will go elsewhere," he said.

"Coffee has become an Australian staple."

The latest Gilkatho Cappuccino Price Index, to be released today, shows, on average,a takeaway coffee in Australia is $3.47.

Prices overall rose 4.2 per cent in the year to June, more than triple the rate of inflation. The quarterly increase was 1.46 per cent.

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COMMENTS ON THIS STORY

Chris of BrisbanePosted at 2:48 PM Today

When I saw this headline I was shocked. I have always found coffee in Adelaide to be grossly overpriced and by far the dearest of all the capitals. I feel better now I've read the full article!
AA of sydneyPosted at 2:15 PM Today

Everyone is complaining about the coffee price but does anyone know why. Here is a bit of breakdown. 1. Average rent in Sydney is 12-15% of turnover 2. Average Wage cost is between 23-28% of turnover 3. Average Cost of Goods is around 30-35% 4. Additional cost like electricity, repairs, equipment purchase adds another 15% 5. Finally profits which can range from 15-25% depending on set up whether it is a franchise or independent as Most of the franchise have to pay ongoing franchise fee. You will ask how I know this because i own a coffee franchise and I can tell you for sure that I am not making anywhere close to what everyone thinks. I wished. Blame it all on greedy landlords and our greedy unions because of whom all out cost are super high.
Jaibe of BNEPosted at 2:00 PM Today

I get a De Bella coffee right next door to my CBD Building for $3.25... i went to the De Bella Factory and bought a coffee same size for $3.50... Why did it cost more? You would think it'd be less - No transport costs, no packaging costs?? Hmm

Read all 127 comments

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Immigrants, the Scapegoats | Print | E-mail Thursday, 16 August 2012 09:12

2012-08-17T08:42:00.001-07:00

Immigrants, the Scapegoats

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Thursday, 16 August 2012 09:12

By MWC News

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by Jacob G. Hornberger
Guess who the Greek government and Greek citizenry are blaming for their economic woes. Immigrants — the people who also serve as a favorite scapegoat for many Americans who, like the Greeks, are lamenting the ever-mounting crisis of the welfare-state, interventionist way of life.
According to an August 6, 2012, article in the New York Times, Greek officials are calling the wave of illegal immigration an “invasion,” which of course is the same term that many American anti-immigrant types employ against illegal immigrants here in the United States.
The Greek minister of public order (for some reason, the U.S. government does not yet have that type of minister), Nikos Dendias, exclaimed, “Our social fabric is at risk of unraveling. The immigration problem is perhaps even greater than the financial one.”
So, just like President Obama and his immigration gendarmes are doing here in the United States, recently “about 4,500 officers conducted raids on streets and in run-down apartment blocks in central Athens, a police spokesman said, calling the sweep one of the largest ever by the force.”
The Times points out that there are 800,000 registered immigrants in Greece and an estimated 350,000 illegal immigrants, “adding to the anxieties of many Greeks, who are seeing the government’s once-generous social spending evaporate. They complain that the foreign residents are depriving them of jobs and threatening the national idea.”
Sound familiar? In fact, that’s one of the lessons to be learned here — how similar to Europe’s statist societies the United States has become, especially with respect to the welfare state and interventionism and the scapegoating of immigrants as statism continues to crack up.
Dendias has it wrong. The cause of Greece’s economic woes has nothing to do with immigrants, legal or illegal. There is one — and only one — cause of such woes — the Greek government, specifically the socialism and interventionism of the welfare state and managed economy. Immigrants, legal or illegal, are not the cause of Greece’s difficulties. It’s the exact opposite: immigrants actually serve to ameliorate the economic crises caused by the government.
Here’s the basic problem: The Greek people, like so many Americans, have come to look on government as their provider — their dole giver. Today, after sucking the private sector dry with taxes to fund ever-increasing doles, the dole recipients are fighting over a smaller pie. No, let me correct that. They used to fight over an ever-decreasing pie. Today, they’re fighting over small morsels of what is left from what used to be a pie.
As they fight with each other over the morsels, their level of their anger and frustration rises. Yet, they don’t dare blame the government for their woes. That would be like a child condemning his parents. That’s scary to a child because the child knows that his parents could cut him off from food, clothing, and other essentials of life. That prospect — being cut off from their dole — is just as scary to Greek dole recipients.
So, the dole recipients lash out at some other convenient target. Immigrants fit the bill perfectly, especially the illegal ones, who can’t openly defend themselves. If only immigrants were forced to return to their countries, the argument goes, the welfare state, managed economy way of life could be preserved and once again expanded. Happy days would be here again, with the Greek people able to kick back, relax, and just live off of their ever-increasing government dole.
Immigrants bring a strong work ethic, a desire to work hard, and an entrepreneurial spirit to a society. Their efforts contribute to enlarging the amount of the private sector wealth, which the public sector depends on to pay the government salaries and the dole.
Therefore, it is foolish for the Greek government and the Greek dole recipients to be deporting immigrants when it’s the immigrants that are helping to create the wealth on which pubic officials and dole recipients depend.
After several decades of welfare-statism and interventionism, the chickens are finally coming home to roost. Europeans should be placing the blame with it properly lies and abandon, permanently, their statist way of life. They should completely dismantle the dole system and also prohibit public officials from managing the economy. They should leave immigrants alone and open the borders to whoever else wants to come to the country.
Meanwhile, American statists continue to maintain that our nation’s rejection of its founding principles of economic liberty and its embrace of European statism constituted progress. Actually, it was a monumental retrogression, one that has brought our nation ever-growing crises, discord, conflict, controls, infringements on liberty, malaise, impoverishment, and, of course, the same scapegoating of immigrants that is now going on in Greece.
Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation.

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Paul Ryan's Socially Destructive Agenda | Print | E-mail Monday, 13 August 2012 11:25 By Stephen Lendman

2012-08-17T06:57:00.001-07:00

Paul Ryan's Socially Destructive Agenda

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Monday, 13 August 2012 11:25

By Stephen Lendman

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Ryan and other Republican House Budget Committee members call it "The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal."
Key is gutting vital programs millions of Americans rely on. Ryan wants Medicare privatized as well as Medicaid, food stamps, and and other entitlement programs ended.
Later, he wants Social Security privatized en route to ending it altogether.
Medicaid is welfare for low-income beneficiaries. Washington and states co-fund it. It's managed at the state level.
Social Security and Medicare are insurance programs, not entitlements. Worker-employer payroll tax deductions fund them. They're contractual federal obligations to eligible recipients. Gutting them is irresponsible and socially destructive. Like Republicans, Obama and most Democrats are committed to doing it.
Social security provides vital retirement, disability, survivorship, and death benefits. It's America's most effective poverty reduction program. It's worked remarkably well since inception.
It's the debt, stupid, America's "fiscal cliff," they claim. Gutting social programs assures unrestricted military spending, maintaining tax cuts for rich elites, cutting amounts corporations pay, and sustaining handouts to bankers and other corporate favorites.
It's not going bankrupt. When properly administered, it's sound and secure. It needs only modest adjustments at times to assure it.
Medicare is America's largest health insurance program. Millions of seniors, disabled people under age 65, and other eligible recipients rely on it.
Ryan wants social spending cut to 1949 levels. Around $5 trillion is proposed for starters over the next decade. Doing so will create jobs and promote growth, he claims. His budget balancing plan falls on the backs of ordinary people.
His program assures America's resources go to rich elites, bankers, war profiteers, and other corporate favorites.
"Prioritize national security by preventing deep, indiscriminate cuts to defense," he says.
Repeal Obamacare. "Advance bipartisan solutions that take power away from government bureaucrats and put patients in control."
Last March, the House adopted a budget resolution. It adopted much of what Ryan proposed. Ten Republicans opposed him. They want bigger cuts. Democrats endorse slightly less austere ones than Ryan. America's poor, disadvantaged, and moderate income earners are largely shut out of his plan.
In 2011, he proposed eliminating Medicare altogether. It passed the House but not the Senate.
Ryan claims his plan is responsible deficit cutting. The late Bob Chapman disagreed. He envisioned no change in out-of-control spending. The deficit will accelerate, not shrink, he explained.
Ryan's plan reshuffles the deck chairs. Most of what's cut is redirected to America's wealthy and corporate favorites. Lawmakers know exactly what they're doing, said Chapman. The nation is headed for Banana Republic status, he explained.
He saw no reality checking, no restraint, no attempt to stop deficit hemorrhaging, and no control over America's war machine. He called forced austerity a formula for "economic chaos."
Criminals are running the country. Annual $1 - 2 trillion deficits will persist for years. Debt amounts are so great, they won't be paid. Limits will be raised. Social spending cuts will grow until America's safety net is entirely gutted.
Gradualism is how he'll do it. A bipartisan majority agrees. Ryan's plan follows recommendations from Obama's two deficit cutting commissions. Simpson/Bowles and Dominici/Rivlin proposed "restoring America's future" by destroying it for ordinary households hit hardest.
Instead of stimulus when it's most needed, they want America's poor, disadvantaged, and others of limited means bearing the burden of America's war machine and letting super-rich elites get richer. Greater inequality and poverty are assured.
Their ideal society is no fit place to live in. Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" wants America returned to 19th century harshness. His entire agenda reflects reactionary extremism. Legislation he proposes is corporate friendly.
Agribusiness is favored over small farmers. Free trade is unfair. Education plans want public schools privatized. Everything government does, business does better, he believes. Energy policy supports dangerous nuclear technology and drill baby drill.
Environmental concerns are subordinated to profits. Healthcare proposals favor the best money can buy for those who can afford it. Homeland Security is about keeping America safe by militarizing it. War on terror strategy hypes fear to enlist support for Pentagon and homeland priorities.
Immigration plans call for keeping out and removing millions not wanted. Tax policy makes ordinary people bear the burden for maximum business and super-rich benefits.
Ryan's position on these and other issues cynically supports the top 1% at the expense of everyone else. He represents Wisconsin's 1st congressional district. Elected in November 1998, he's in his 7th term in Congress.
He chairs the House Budget Committee. He's one of three Young Guns Program co-founders. It recruits hardline candidates for Congress. Romney chose Ryan as his running mate partner. They call themselves "America's Comeback Team."
"Paul is a man of tremendous character," Romney said. He's "the right man to lead America back to prosperity and greatness." He manipulated Tea Party anger into budget priorities.
He's wealthy and doesn't care. He's ranked America's 124th richest House representative. He's worth an estimated $3.2 million.
He's ideologically far-right. He's an economic warrior representing wealth and power. He and Romney are two sides of the same coin. Democrats hardly differ. They're in lockstep on issues mattering most.
Ryan is more hard right than most ideological extremists. He favors two tax brackets - 25 and 10%. He wants corporate taxes cut from 35 - 25% or lower. Ideally he'd like them eliminated altogether along with others on capital gains, dividends, interest, and estates.
He deplores social spending. He calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme. His job creation ideas assures destroying millions of them. He supports socialism for the rich and free market capitalism for working folks.
No corporation left behind is policy. No social program too many destroyed permits it. Bankers and other other business predators love Ryan. He's their kind of guy. Romney/Ryan is their ticket.
They're as comfortable with Obama. He gave them everything they want and then some. Everything isn't enough. They want more. Stealing it from ordinary folks is how. Romney's on board to do it. So is Ryan.

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How Manmohan Singh let the country down on public health by G Pramod Kumar Aug 17, 2012

2012-08-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

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How Manmohan Singh let the country down on public health

by G Pramod Kumar Aug 17, 2012

#ConnectTheDots #Health plan #Manmohan Singh #Planning Commission #Poverty Print

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'Cashless, universal healthcare should be the model'

After teasing the country with an Obama-esque promise of better healthcare early this year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the UPA government and their hallowed Planning Commission are set to cheat their fellow-citizens of their right to a healthy life.
Earlier this year, Manmohan Singh had said that the country’s 12th Plan will be a “health and education plan”, which meant that health and education would drive the development agenda of his government in the next five years. He also promised that his government’s health spending will rise from a silly 0.9% of the GDP to a reasonable 2.5%
If all went well, the health-spend of the government would triple during the plan period, the PMO had said. People would have had at least a semblance of a free, cashless, universal healthcare system in the country.

Representational image of public hospital in India. Reuters

That is what the High Level Expert Group (HLEG) of the Planning Commission had recommended and public health specialists went gaga about. The HLEG, in unequivocal terms, had suggested that the government should guarantee cashless, in-patient and out-patient, and free healthcare to all its citizens whether it’s primary, secondary or tertiary.
The Group also advised the government to simultaneously address the social determinants of health, which meant addressing the fundamental inequalities that kept most of the Indian’s desperately poor and sick.
Perhaps this was the most forward-looking and comprehensive social sector document of recent times, since instead of the routine short-cuts or window-dressing attempted by government committees, it offered a clearly-laid out road map for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and an essential health package.
It addressed sources of financing; strengthening health systems, mainly sub-centres, primary health care and facilities in the districts so that bulk of the burden could be addressed locally; capacity building of healthcare workforce; healthcare infrastructure; standards for care, regulation and management; drug procurement and distribution; grievance systems and so on.
There was considerable chatter among the public health and development specialists in India and elsewhere where many thought that India had finally got its priorities right. Bad health is a poignant indicator of a country’s overall social development and India has tonnes of them.
It’s not without reason that Obama is betting his life on the health of his country’s poor although his country is in a totally different orbit.
However, after all the initial enthusiasm and expectations, the Planning Commission has gone back to its old ways. According to latest reports, the 12th Plan document, the blueprint for country’s development for the next five years, will not offer what the PM had promised the country. Neither will it raise the GDP-share on health-spend to 2.5%, but probably to a meagre 1.5 percent.
What was on offer was a way to at least begin the transformation of the lives of Indians, most of whom are poor, who spend 75 percent of their health expenditure from their pockets. According to the National Rural Health Mission’s framework document, this is about Rs 100,000 crores every year, more than three times what the government spends. For the entire plan period, it would be Rs 500,000 crores.
Harnessing a part of this money, could have funded the UHC. A part of this money could have equalled the tripled-resources that the PMO had promised.
It’s such a pity that a country that has no qualms on spending on missions to the moon and Mars, let alone its reckless spending on defense and fragmented popular schemes, but goes cold when it comes to the legitimate rights of its people. Equity in healthcare is not a revolutionary idea, but a basic entitlement that a democratic republic needs to offer its citizens.
And when the country has the expertise, the roadmap, the money and even the social, economic and political climate, it lets down its people.
Although there is no final official word on the fate of the UHC, indications are that the Planning Commission will severely compromise on its initial plan. There are also apprehensions of increased public private partnerships (PPP), the euphemism for backdoor privatisation, in the health sector as against the advise of the HLEG, which wanted assurance than insurance.
Even the ministry of health has communicated its displeasure to the Planning Commission.
As things stand today, at best some elements of the HLEG will be incorporated in the Plan document, but not the entire framework for UHC.
A great opportunity lost.
Are Manmohan Singh and the Planning Commission really serious about the health of the nation? Their words do not seem to match their deeds.

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Dr. Srinath Reddy, Chairman of the High Level Expert Group, discusses the importance of having universal health care.
#Dr Srinath Reddy #India #Public health #Public healthcare #Universal health care #VeryCloseUp

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Sudden End to Credibility of Ryan’s Budget Plan Posted by PRAIRIE WEATHER in Economy, Featured Articles, Politics. Aug 14th, 2012 | 12 responses

2012-08-17T06:36:00.001-07:00

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« ‘Down in The Dirt’ Stories for Ryan/ Romney: People’s Sufferings vs Politicos Breathing Rarified Air & Pining To Purge the Poor

Romney Campaign Trying To Inch Away from “Owning” the Ryan Budget »

Sudden End to Credibility of Ryan’s Budget Plan

Posted by PRAIRIE WEATHER in Economy, Featured Articles, Politics.
Aug 14th, 2012 | 12 responses

A true agenda to reform the welfare state would require a sweeping, income-based eligibility test, which would reduce or eliminate social insurance benefits for millions of affluent retirees. Without it, there is no math that can avoid giant tax increases or vast new borrowing. Yet the supposedly courageous Ryan plan would not cut one dime over the next decade from the $1.3 trillion-per-year cost of Social Security and Medicare.
Instead, it shreds the measly means-tested safety net for the vulnerable: the roughly $100 billion per year for food stamps and cash assistance for needy families and the $300 billion budget for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Shifting more Medicaid costs to the states will be mere make-believe if federal financing is drastically cut. …NYT

It’s a big put-down, and it comes from the conservatives’ most credible budget guy: David Stockman. Stockman was, of course, the famous director of Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget.
In the Ryan plan, there is no effort to deal with “too big to fail” and no call for a return to Glass Steagall.
Stockman tears Paul Ryan’s pretensions into shreds. “Thirty years of Republican apostasy — a once grand party’s embrace of the welfare state, the warfare state and the Wall Street-coddling bailout state — have crippled the engines of capitalism and buried us in debt,” Stockman writes in an editorial. “Mr. Ryan’s sonorous campaign rhetoric about shrinking Big Government and giving tax cuts to ‘job creators’ (read: the top 2 percent) will do nothing to reverse the nation’s economic decline and arrest its fiscal collapse.”

… Hacking away at the roughly $400 billion domestic discretionary budget (what’s left of the federal budget after defense, Social Security, health and safety-net spending and interest on the national debt) will yield only a rounding error’s worth of savings after popular programs (which Republicans heartily favor) like cancer research, national parks, veterans’ benefits, farm aid, highway subsidies, education grants and small-business loans are accommodated.
Like his new boss, Mr. Ryan has no serious plan to create jobs. America has some of the highest labor costs in the world, and saddles workers and businesses with $1 trillion per year in job-destroying payroll taxes. We need a national sales tax — a consumption tax, like the dreaded but efficient value-added tax — but Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan don’t have the gumption to support it.
The Ryan Plan boils down to a fetish for cutting the top marginal income-tax rate for “job creators” — i.e. the superwealthy — to 25 percent and paying for it with an as-yet-undisclosed plan to broaden the tax base. Of the $1 trillion in so-called tax expenditures that the plan would attack, the vast majority would come from slashing popular tax breaks for employer-provided health insurance, mortgage interest, 401(k) accounts, state and local taxes, charitable giving and the like, not to mention low rates on capital gains and dividends. The crony capitalists of K Street already own more than enough Republican votes to stop that train before it leaves the station. ...NYT

Stockman started going after Ryan last year when he told Tim Dickinson in an interview: “Ryan takes out the ax and goes after the very small part of the budget that’s either discretionary spending or means-tested programs for the poor – which is the last thing you ought to cut, not the first thing. That just doesn’t make any sense. It can’t work. And it simply exacerbates class warfare within the fiscal debate.”
___
Republicans are worried about the attention to Ryan’s budget plan.
Republicans strategists are worried that Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) addition to the presidential ticket will cost their party House and Senate seats this fall.
Their concern: Democrats will successfully demonize Ryan’s budget plan, which contains controversial spending cuts and changes to Medicare.

“There are a lot races that are close to the line we’re not going to win now because they’re going to battle out who’s going to kill grandma first, ObamaCare or Paul Ryan’s budget,” said one Republican strategist who works on congressional races. “It could put the Senate out of reach. In the House it puts a bunch of races in play that would have otherwise been safe. … It remains to be seen how much damage this causes, but my first blush is this is not good.” …The Hill

Cross posted from Prairie Weather
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12 Responses to “Sudden End to Credibility of Ryan’s Budget Plan”

ShannonLeee says:

August 14, 2012 at 5:58 pm
i know this isnt not the jest of the article, but….
We need a national sales tax — a consumption tax, like the dreaded but efficient value-added tax.
yes we do!
dduck says:

August 14, 2012 at 6:02 pm
I agree, means testing is needed, but it should at least return what folks have contributed with a fair rate of return.
RON BEASLEY says:

August 14, 2012 at 6:48 pm
The conservative bastion known as Forbes does a good job of attacking his Medicare plan as well today.
petew says:

August 14, 2012 at 9:52 pm
From the little I’ve read about alternate tax proposals like Flat Tax, and Value added tax, and consumption taxes, they still heavily favor the upper income brackets, in ways that I cannot discuss now, because I don’t have any solid facts about them handy. Suffice it to say that many of us will save a bundle by always buying second hand and becoming frequent customers of the Salvation Army and Goodwill. However, I was once asked to fill out a survey about my thoughts on such proposals, and even the 1 to 10 scale of approval, listed 1 as the most favorable and 10 as the least–completely opposite and counter-intuitive from other surveys and polls I have taken.
I can’t add anything profound about tax reforms, but, I am glad that Ryan seems to be getting flak from every direction about his faulty proposals. But what worries me as a Democrat, is not that his facts and figures may be in doubt, or whether any of his proposals are really solid, but rather that, the man talks excitedly and seems to totally believe everything he says. He is also endowed with the political blessing of having charm and charisma. I have no doubt that these qualities will make him preferable to many people who judge candidates on the basis of their personas and how energetic or sincere they come across as. Although many of his economic proposals may not hold enough water as a bird bath, I think Romney made a shrewd choice anyway.
As it is, Romney and Ryan are a flash of white teeth and smiling faces. They may impress some voters as really having “what it takes” to end this recession.
Personally, I find it amusing how the very same Republicans who eagerly criticized Democrats for not making cuts to Medicare and social programs, are now jumping on the bandwagon that says Obama wants to cut too much.
Apparently Mr. Ryan is shedding crocodile tears about ever supporting TARP in first place, and lamenting about how he was so wrong but has now seen the light.
Another common theme rising from the Republican masses is that, although Obama is a nice guy, he has miserably failed at getting us our of one of our deepest recessions in only 4 years. Apparently when he saw the entire economy headed towards the yawning abyss, he was at fault for thinking he had to spend money to prevent disaster. Even though President Bush started the TARP program and gave all of us a share of his 70 billion dollar shot in the arm, as a stimulus, Obama is supposed to have had the courage to let the banks fail and let survival oriented executive bite and claw their ways back to the top–absolute social Darwinist theory designed solely to make a few deserving specimens richer and richer.
To me, it seems that once Wall street pulled the rug out from under Main Street, and we were threatened with an all consuming economic void, Obama had no option but to spend great amounts of money to counteract such a dire economic threat. Are we really supposed to believe that Republicans, in all their wisdom would have let everything fail, except for a grand survival of the fittest opportunity?
Criticizing the President for responding to a looming crisis by attempting to take neccessary steps to insulate our economy against going ever deeper and steeper nose dive, by committing monetary assistance, is like criticizing FDR, for preparing for War after Pearl harbor–but once the ball is set in motion the POTUS has no choice but to use all his resources to slow it down. He must declare War, and he must realize that the capital to spearhead the War industry, is necessary and unavoidable. I doubt any other President would really have done much differently than employ stimulus and Tarp funds.
So here come these energetic Robber Barons like Ryan and Romney flashing their 23-and-a-half percent-fewer-cavity-smiles and promising to save the day.
The risk to Democrats is not that they have any good ideas or compassionate understanding of the middle class–the risk is that they possess the smarts to convince Americans that they do. God help us all!
zephyr says:

August 14, 2012 at 10:23 pm
In addition to everything else wrong with Ryan, we now have Romney (in his new attempted firebreathing incarnation) accusing Obama of running a campaign of hate and division! Given the history of the GOP and it’s standard bearers this is stunning in it’s hypocrisy.
ShannonLeee says:

August 15, 2012 at 3:13 am
Petew, the vat would not be an alternative tax. It would be an additional. It can be worked so it does not hurt the poor… Such as lower rates for food ect.
merkin says:

August 15, 2012 at 6:17 am
It is hard to see how a VAT could be worked so that it doesn’t hurt the poor. It is a consumption tax and the poor spend virtually all of their income on consumption.
The main reason to lie in a campaign is because the truth will hurt you. The working mantra of the GOP for more than thirty years.
merkin says:

August 15, 2012 at 9:22 am
The Ryan budget is not intended to balance the Federal government’s budget. The truth of the matter is that there are very good reasons not to balance the federal government’s budget, not the least of which is that we are still in a stagnation after the recession and on the edge of sliding back into recession again. If we have learned anything it’s that these are not the times to impose austerity.
The intent of the Ryan budget is to solidify the Republican and conservative meme that it is a moral hazard for the government to offer too much help to the poor and the middle class, and not a moral hazard and in fact a moral obligation to run the government for the benefit of the wealthy. That the poor and the middle class should not be given too much money so that they have the incentive to work harder and that the rich must be given ever increasing amounts of money so that they have the incentive to work harder.
The Ryan budget doesn’t make any sense because the rational behind the Ryan budget doesn’t make any sense.
zephyr says:

August 15, 2012 at 9:30 am
The rational behind the Ryan budget doesn’t make any sense but he and his supporters sure do love the hell out of it!

That the poor and the middle class should not be given too much money so that they have the incentive to work harder harder.
In addition they are usually so exhausted (physically and emotionally) from struggling to make ends meet they have neither the time nor energy to make their complaints known. This of course plays into the hands of those who believe this sort of neofeudalism is a good thing. Who will speak for these people? In days of old it was the democrats, now it seems they have no voice at all.
dduck says:

August 15, 2012 at 9:33 am
P, ” He is also endowed with the political blessing of having charm and charisma. I have no doubt that these qualities will make him preferable to many people who judge candidates on the basis of their personas and how energetic or sincere they come across as.”
Thanks for mentioning Obama.
petew says:

August 15, 2012 at 6:41 pm
Yes dduck,
Obama does also possess a great deal of charisma, but I am not supporting him because he can sing with soul, or because he has such a toothy smile. Instead I think he has really given his all to making changes that benefit the middle class, and is absolutely correct that this upcoming election is about two different visions of what Americans stand for. But I agree that often how a candidate looks (no matter for which party) can allow him to win a popularity contest, but still make him or her a lousy President. I think Obama is a cut above that. Unfortunately, one of his great hindrances is a Republican party pledged to make him fail and vote against everything he proposes–unless the fallout from negative PR forces them to comply.
I might also add that I never thought he could magically change Washington and Capital hill into Camelot utopia overnight, or even in 4 years. I would bet that all Presidents feel that their business is undone even if they serve a full two terms.
dduck says:

August 15, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Your words say it all.

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