Achieving Health for Life

President Obama on Health, Jan 24

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:04:00 +0000

Lowering Health Care Costs and Ensuring Broader Health Care Coverage

•Accelerating adoption of health IT systems to modernize the health care system, save billions of dollars, reduce medical errors and improve quality. The President's plan would modernize the health care system by catalyzing the adoption of health information technology.

•Protecting health care coverage for millions of Americans during this recession. The plan will increase the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage so that no state has to cut eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP because of budget shortfalls. This investment will protect roughly 20 million people whose eligibility might otherwise be at risk. The investment is equivalent to the state share of health coverage for over 30 million children.

•Providing health care coverage for nearly 8.5 million Americans. The plan will also provide newly uninsured Americans who lose their jobs a new tax credit to keep their health insurance through COBRA as well as a new option in Medicaid for low-income people that lack access to COBRA. These steps are estimated to help provide coverage for nearly 8.5 million Americans.

•Making the single largest investment in prevention in history – providing evidence-based prevention to all Americans. The President believes that all Americans should have access to recommended clinical preventive services and community-based prevention programs. More than half of Americans—156 million—go without the flu vaccine every year, and this plan ensures that no American will lack immunizations due to costs. Further, given that 1 in 3 adults have a chronic disease, this plan tackles obesity, smoking and other health risks from nearly 100 programs to potentially, as many as 800 prevention programs in urban and rural communities across the nation.

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Speech

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:53:00 +0000

"My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed.

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans.

Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.

And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort – even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet.

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

President-Elect Obama Nomination of Senator Tom Daschle for HHS Secretary

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:38:00 +0000

Senator Daschle remarks that "We have the most expensive health care system in the world but we are not the healthiest nation in the world." This frames the challenge we've established for the Alliance for the Healthiest Nation - to become the healthiest nation in the world by 2018.

Alliance works toward healthy nation

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:33:00 +0000

Alliance works toward healthy nation

People not looking at whole health care picture, CDC director says.

Kathleen O'Dell • News-Leader • December 6, 2008

Atlanta - When that happens, you'll know Julie Gerberding and fellow health advocates have nudged the country into their movement to get us moving. Gerberding is director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and the CDC is one of many national, state and local groups in the Healthiest Nation Alliance. She talked about the new national effort with a group of Midwest health care journalists visiting the CDC this week. "We got very excited about all the conversations in the last few years about health reform, until we realized all those conversations were about health 'care' reform, and we decided somebody should do something about that," Gerberding said.

That gave rise to the alliance between the CDC and a host of partners including Target, Wal-Mart, Blue Cross Blue Shield and others. Their goal: to change the health care reform conversation, or at least broaden it, to promote changes and policies that build health and prevention into family life, community designs, buildings, school programs, laws -- every possible aspect of life to achieve optimal health for all, according to the Web site healthiestnation.org.

They're taking a grassroots approach, asking families, businesses and cities to help create healthful change on their levels. The CDC is leading the way in some respects -- it cut water consumption 15 percent, is undertaking a massive recycling program on its sprawling campuses in Atlanta, where wide, architecturally pleasing stairways are the first thing a visitor sees when walking into CDC buildings.

"The question that we are fundamentally tackling here with a growing set of partners ... is the question: 'Why if we spend the most money on health aren't we the healthiest nation?'" Gerberding said. "What's wrong with this picture? Why are we 37th in infant mortality? Why are we 72nd in health value when you look at money versus results according to the World Health Organization? "It tells you that while we may have a unique care system that provides enormous medical benefits and miracles, we are not a society that is appreciating and enjoying the best possible health.

"People are concentrating on a piece of this but they're not necessarily looking at the whole picture." Health is not only about behavior but also the physical, social, emotional and cultural environment that people live in that supports their ability to be healthy, Gerberding said.

It's important to talk about quality and access and cost of health care, she said, but also to talk about prevention and positive health steps.

Economists say that if everyone got optimal health insurance and optimal access to care, it would make up at most 25 percent of the health gap, Gerberding said. "The other 75 percent is related to what we do in the community, how we live our lives, our stress factors, or mental health, our sidewalks ... all of the things that go into the context for health."

The nation isn't "healthy" because health doesn't happen in the doctor's office, she said.

"Health happens at home, in schools, in the work place and in communities around our country," Gerberding said. "We don't invest very much in protecting it ... We don't see it as an investment, something we put our resources into so that we can appreciate the long-term value that it brings back to us," she said. "So as a result, all the money we're spending is really not giving us the kind of value that other countries are getting out of their health investment.

"If we would ... put money into health protection broadly, in our homes, in our schools, in our communities, we could create a context for dramatically tipping toward a society that has better health values," she said. "But you have to address the whole system."

To learn more about the nationwide program, go to www.HealthiestNation.org.

THIS IS PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGN

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:13:00 +0000

Put a sticker on it.

Superstruct Superthreat: Power Struggle

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:24:00 +0000

Healthiest Nation - Vote

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:28:00 +0000

Healthiest Nation - Move

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:01:00 +0000

Healthiest Nation - Move

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:25:00 +0000

New World Health Organization Report on Health Equity Released

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:03:00 +0000

Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health
Social justice is a matter of life and death. It affects the way people live, their consequent chance of illness, and their risk of premature death. We watch in wonder as life expectancy and good health continue to increase in parts of the world and in alarm as they fail to improve in others.
Full Report

New Declaration for Healthy Food & Agriculture

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:46:00 +0000

Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture

We, the undersigned, believe that a healthy food system is necessary to meet the urgent challenges of our time. Behind us stands a half-century of industrial food production, underwritten by cheap fossil fuels, abundant land and water resources, and a drive to maximize the global harvest of cheap calories. Ahead lie rising energy and food costs, a changing climate, declining water supplies, a growing population, and the paradox of widespread hunger and obesity.

These realities call for a radically different approach to food and agriculture. We believe that the food system must be reorganized on a foundation of health: for our communities, for people, for animals, and for the natural world. The quality of food, and not just its quantity, ought to guide our agriculture. The ways we grow, distribute, and prepare food should celebrate our various cultures and our shared humanity, providing not only sustenance, but justice, beauty and pleasure.

Governments have a duty to protect people from malnutrition, unsafe food, and exploitation, and to protect the land and water on which we depend from degradation. Individuals, producers, and organizations have a duty to create regional systems that can provide healthy food for their communities. We all have a duty to respect and honor the laborers of the land without whom we could not survive. The changes we call for here have begun, but the time has come to accelerate the transformation of our food and agriculture and make its benefits available to all.

We believe that the following twelve principles should frame food and agriculture policy, to ensure that it will contribute to the health and wealth of the nation and the world. A healthy food and agriculture policy:

Forms the foundation of secure and prosperous societies, healthy communities, and healthy people.
Provides access to affordable, nutritious food to everyone.
Prevents the exploitation of farmers, workers, and natural resources; the domination of genomes and markets; and the cruel treatment of animals, by any nation, corporation or individual.
Upholds the dignity, safety, and quality of life for all who work to feed us.
Commits resources to teach children the skills and knowledge essential to food production, preparation, nutrition, and enjoyment.
Protects the finite resources of productive soils, fresh water, and biological diversity.
Strives to remove fossil fuel from every link in the food chain and replace it with renewable resources and energy.
Originates from a biological rather than an industrial framework.
Fosters diversity in all its relevant forms: diversity of domestic and wild species; diversity of foods, flavors and traditions; diversity of ownership.
Requires a national dialog concerning technologies used in production, and allows regions to adopt their own respective guidelines on such matters.
Enforces transparency so that citizens know how their food is produced, where it comes from, and what it contains.
Promotes economic structures and supports programs to nurture the development of just and sustainable regional farm and food networks.

Our pursuit of healthy food and agriculture unites us as people and as communities, across geographic boundaries, and social and economic lines. We pledge our votes, our purchases, our creativity, and our energies to this urgent cause.

Humana's Freewheelin Program at DNC

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:18:00 +0000

Latest data from a "reliable Humana source" (aka Jenny Spadola): 4,226 rides, 18,427 miles, 571,249 calories burned, and a carbon footprint reduction of 6.4 metric tons!

Bikes let Democrat delegates stop spinning their wheels
BY JO PIAZZA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, August 27th 2008, 7:18 PM

The Daily News' Jo Piazza tried out one of the free bikes available during the Democratic National Convention.
DENVER - The best way to get around this convention-clogged town these days is on a bike - and they're free.
Health care provider Humana has provided 1,000 free bikes for this week's event, and anyone with a driver's license and a credit card can pick one up at their seven Freewheelin' kiosks set up around the city and go about their day.

Tired of traffic and parking and exhausted from walking, I decided to try it out. I took the bike on my daily route from the Convention Hall, through downtown, on errands and to meetings. I have to say it was much more pleasant than I could have imagined.

Registration only takes about five minutes. You are given a bike helmet for safety, which is a little dorky and bad for the hair, but then who said the DNC was a fashion show? Then, off you are sent, with instructions to obey traffic laws and avoid pedestrians.

There is a certain camaraderie at the DNC when you're riding a free bike. Other bikers in their business suits and fancy dresses smile and wave in a way they wouldn't when they are pacing hurriedly through the crowds on the way to their next very important meeting, event, panel or speech.

The entire Kentucky delegation, led by Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, gave me a thumbs up as they rolled past.
Actor Matthew Modine cycled alongside me for a bit on the river bike path. We chatted about bikes and Obama.
I encouraged DNC volunteer Jonathan Nurse, 31, who was nervously rolling up his khakis and hopping on a cruiser.
"I'm not an avid bike rider," he said. "This is going to be interesting."
If I can do it, in a dress, with a huge purse and computer bag slung over my shoulder, anyone can do it.
At the end of the day I saved about $30 in cabs and found myself with an hour more free time, since it wasn't taking so much time to walk from place to place.

You also notice more of your surroundings while riding on a bike, like the $1 oysters on 17th St. and the $10 manicure at the Fifth Avenue Nail Salon - both of which were options thanks to the time and money the free bike program saved me.

The one downside to biking, for a New Yorker, is the inability to multitask. At one point I attempted to BlackBerry and pedal. The pedestrians I ran into was less than pleased. They were unhurt, but definitely unhappy.

More than 3,500 bikes have been borrowed through the program since Monday, but Humana employee Scott Ropp, who has been checking out the bikes each day, says only a couple of accidents have been reported and no one has been seriously injured.

The best part about biking is it is great exercise. Humana keeps track of all the calories burned and, since Monday, riders have burned nearly half a million.

My digital odometer says I burned around 1,000 calories during the day, which is a good thing, since the bison burgers here are delicious.

Free Hugs Campaign. (29,857,931 You Tube views)

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:49:00 +0000

A Healthiest School in Florida

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:40:00 +0000

"Get Off Your Assets"

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:53:00 +0000

"The Walls Between Art and Engineering Exist Only in Our Minds"

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:12:00 +0000

A Challenge to the Nation: 100% Carbon-Free in 10 years!

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:13:00 +0000

Al Gore, July 17, 2008, in Washington, DC:

"Ladies and gentlemen:

There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more - if more should be required - the future of human civilization is at stake.

I don't remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously. Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us that this is just the beginning unless we find the courage to make some major changes quickly.

The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse - much more quickly than predicted. Scientists with access to data from Navy submarines traversing underneath the North polar ice cap have warned that there is now a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months. This will further increase the melting pressure on Greenland. According to experts, the Jakobshavn glacier, one of Greenland's largest, is moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day, equivalent to the amount of water used every year by the residents of New York City.

Two major studies from military intelligence experts have warned our leaders about the dangerous national security implications of the climate crisis, including the possibility of hundreds of millions of climate refugees destabilizing nations around the world.

Just two days ago, 27 senior statesmen and retired military leaders warned of the national security threat from an "energy tsunami" that would be triggered by a loss of our access to foreign oil. Meanwhile, the war in Iraq continues, and now the war in Afghanistan appears to be getting worse.

And by the way, our weather sure is getting strange, isn't it? There seem to be more tornadoes than in living memory, longer droughts, bigger downpours and record floods. Unprecedented fires are burning in California and elsewhere in the American West. Higher temperatures lead to drier vegetation that makes kindling for mega-fires of the kind that have been raging in Canada, Greece, Russia, China, South America, Australia and Africa. Scientists in the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel Aviv University tell us that for every one degree increase in temperature, lightning strikes will go up another 10 percent. And it is lightning, after all, that is principally responsible for igniting the conflagration in California today.

Like a lot of people, it seems to me that all these problems are bigger than any of the solutions that have thus far been proposed for them, and that's been worrying me.

I'm convinced that one reason we've seemed paralyzed in the face of these crises is our tendency to offer old solutions to each crisis separately - without taking the others into account. And these outdated proposals have not only been ineffective - they almost always make the other crises even worse.

Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges - the economic, environmental and national security crises.

We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change.

But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we're holding the answer to all of them right in our hand.
The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.

In my search for genuinely effective answers to the climate crisis, I have held a series of "solutions summits" with engineers, scientists, and CEOs. In those discussions, one thing has become abundantly clear: when you connect the dots, it turns out that the real solutions to the climate crisis are the very same measures needed to renew our economy and escape the trap of ever-rising energy prices. Moreover, they are also the very same solutions we need to guarantee our national security without having to go to war in the Persian Gulf.

What if we could use fuels that are not expensive, don't cause pollution and are abundantly available right here at home?

We have such fuels. Scientists have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year. Tapping just a small portion of this solar energy could provide all of the electricity America uses.

And enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of US electricity demand. Geothermal energy, similarly, is capable of providing enormous supplies of electricity for America.

The quickest, cheapest and best way to start using all this renewable energy is in the production of electricity. In fact, we can start right now using solar power, wind power and geothermal power to make electricity for our homes and businesses.

But to make this exciting potential a reality, and truly solve our nation's problems, we need a new start.

That's why I'm proposing today a strategic initiative designed to free us from the crises that are holding us down and to regain control of our own destiny. It's not the only thing we need to do. But this strategic challenge is the lynchpin of a bold new strategy needed to re-power America.

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.

This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans - in every walk of life: to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen.

A few years ago, it would not have been possible to issue such a challenge. But here's what's changed: the sharp cost reductions now beginning to take place in solar, wind, and geothermal power - coupled with the recent dramatic price increases for oil and coal - have radically changed the economics of energy.

When I first went to Congress 32 years ago, I listened to experts testify that if oil ever got to $35 a barrel, then renewable sources of energy would become competitive. Well, today, the price of oil is over $135 per barrel. And sure enough, billions of dollars of new investment are flowing into the development of concentrated solar thermal, photovoltaics, windmills, geothermal plants, and a variety of ingenious new ways to improve our efficiency and conserve presently wasted energy.

And as the demand for renewable energy grows, the costs will continue to fall. Let me give you one revealing example: the price of the specialized silicon used to make solar cells was recently as high as $300 per kilogram. But the newest contracts have prices as low as $50 a kilogram.

You know, the same thing happened with computer chips - also made out of silicon. The price paid for the same performance came down by 50 percent every 18 months - year after year, and that's what's happened for 40 years in a row.

To those who argue that we do not yet have the technology to accomplish these results with renewable energy: I ask them to come with me to meet the entrepreneurs who will drive this revolution. I've seen what they are doing and I have no doubt that we can meet this challenge.

To those who say the costs are still too high: I ask them to consider whether the costs of oil and coal will ever stop increasing if we keep relying on quickly depleting energy sources to feed a rapidly growing demand all around the world. When demand for oil and coal increases, their price goes up. When demand for solar cells increases, the price often comes down.

When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home.

Of course there are those who will tell us this can't be done. Some of the voices we hear are the defenders of the status quo - the ones with a vested interest in perpetuating the current system, no matter how high a price the rest of us will have to pay. But even those who reap the profits of the carbon age have to recognize the inevitability of its demise. As one OPEC oil minister observed, "The Stone Age didn't end because of a shortage of stones."

To those who say 10 years is not enough time, I respectfully ask them to consider what the world's scientists are telling us about the risks we face if we don't act in 10 years. The leading experts predict that we have less than 10 years to make dramatic changes in our global warming pollution lest we lose our ability to ever recover from this environmental crisis. When the use of oil and coal goes up, pollution goes up. When the use of solar, wind and geothermal increases, pollution comes down.

To those who say the challenge is not politically viable: I suggest they go before the American people and try to defend the status quo. Then bear witness to the people's appetite for change.

I for one do not believe our country can withstand 10 more years of the status quo. Our families cannot stand 10 more years of gas price increases. Our workers cannot stand 10 more years of job losses and outsourcing of factories. Our economy cannot stand 10 more years of sending $2 billion every 24 hours to foreign countries for oil. And our soldiers and their families cannot take another 10 years of repeated troop deployments to dangerous regions that just happen to have large oil supplies.

What could we do instead for the next 10 years? What should we do during the next 10 years? Some of our greatest accomplishments as a nation have resulted from commitments to reach a goal that fell well beyond the next election: the Marshall Plan, Social Security, the interstate highway system. But a political promise to do something 40 years from now is universally ignored because everyone knows that it's meaningless. Ten years is about the maximum time that we as a nation can hold a steady aim and hit our target.

When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in 10 years, many people doubted we could accomplish that goal. But 8 years and 2 months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon.

To be sure, reaching the goal of 100 percent renewable and truly clean electricity within 10 years will require us to overcome many obstacles. At present, for example, we do not have a unified national grid that is sufficiently advanced to link the areas where the sun shines and the wind blows to the cities in the East and the West that need the electricity. Our national electric grid is critical infrastructure, as vital to the health and security of our economy as our highways and telecommunication networks. Today, our grids are antiquated, fragile, and vulnerable to cascading failure. Power outages and defects in the current grid system cost US businesses more than $120 billion dollars a year. It has to be upgraded anyway.

We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid.

At the same time, of course, we need to greatly improve our commitment to efficiency and conservation. That's the best investment we can make.

America's transition to renewable energy sources must also include adequate provisions to assist those Americans who would unfairly face hardship. For example, we must recognize those who have toiled in dangerous conditions to bring us our present energy supply. We should guarantee good jobs in the fresh air and sunshine for any coal miner displaced by impacts on the coal industry. Every single one of them.

Of course, we could and should speed up this transition by insisting that the price of carbon-based energy include the costs of the environmental damage it causes. I have long supported a sharp reduction in payroll taxes with the difference made up in CO2 taxes. We should tax what we burn, not what we earn. This is the single most important policy change we can make.

In order to foster international cooperation, it is also essential that the United States rejoin the global community and lead efforts to secure an international treaty at Copenhagen in December of next year that includes a cap on CO2 emissions and a global partnership that recognizes the necessity of addressing the threats of extreme poverty and disease as part of the world's agenda for solving the climate crisis.

Of course the greatest obstacle to meeting the challenge of 100 percent renewable electricity in 10 years may be the deep dysfunction of our politics and our self-governing system as it exists today. In recent years, our politics has tended toward incremental proposals made up of small policies designed to avoid offending special interests, alternating with occasional baby steps in the right direction. Our democracy has become sclerotic at a time when these crises require boldness.

It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil ten years from now.

Am I the only one who finds it strange that our government so often adopts a so-called solution that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem it is supposed to address? When people rightly complain about higher gasoline prices, we propose to give more money to the oil companies and pretend that they're going to bring gasoline prices down. It will do nothing of the sort, and everyone knows it. If we keep going back to the same policies that have never ever worked in the past and have served only to produce the highest gasoline prices in history alongside the greatest oil company profits in history, nobody should be surprised if we get the same result over and over again. But the Congress may be poised to move in that direction anyway because some of them are being stampeded by lobbyists for special interests that know how to make the system work for them instead of the American people.

If you want to know the truth about gasoline prices, here it is: the exploding demand for oil, especially in places like China, is overwhelming the rate of new discoveries by so much that oil prices are almost certain to continue upward over time no matter what the oil companies promise. And politicians cannot bring gasoline prices down in the short term.

However, there actually is one extremely effective way to bring the costs of driving a car way down within a few short years. The way to bring gas prices down is to end our dependence on oil and use the renewable sources that can give us the equivalent of $1 per gallon gasoline.

Many Americans have begun to wonder whether or not we've simply lost our appetite for bold policy solutions. And folks who claim to know how our system works these days have told us we might as well forget about our political system doing anything bold, especially if it is contrary to the wishes of special interests. And I've got to admit, that sure seems to be the way things have been going. But I've begun to hear different voices in this country from people who are not only tired of baby steps and special interest politics, but are hungry for a new, different and bold approach.

We are on the eve of a presidential election. We are in the midst of an international climate treaty process that will conclude its work before the end of the first year of the new president's term. It is a great error to say that the United States must wait for others to join us in this matter. In fact, we must move first, because that is the key to getting others to follow; and because moving first is in our own national interest.

So I ask you to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge - for America to be running on 100 percent zero-carbon electricity in 10 years. It's time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now.

This is a generational moment. A moment when we decide our own path and our collective fate. I'm asking you - each of you - to join me and build this future. Please join the WE campaign at wecansolveit.org.We need you. And we need you now. We're committed to changing not just light bulbs, but laws. And laws will only change with leadership.

On July 16, 1969, the United States of America was finally ready to meet President Kennedy's challenge of landing Americans on the moon. I will never forget standing beside my father a few miles from the launch site, waiting for the giant Saturn 5 rocket to lift Apollo 11 into the sky. I was a young man, 21 years old, who had graduated from college a month before and was enlisting in the United States Army three weeks later.

I will never forget the inspiration of those minutes. The power and the vibration of the giant rocket's engines shook my entire body. As I watched the rocket rise, slowly at first and then with great speed, the sound was deafening. We craned our necks to follow its path until we were looking straight up into the air. And then four days later, I watched along with hundreds of millions of others around the world as Neil Armstrong took one small step to the surface of the moon and changed the history of the human race.

We must now lift our nation to reach another goal that will change history. Our entire civilization depends upon us now embarking on a new journey of exploration and discovery. Our success depends on our willingness as a people to undertake this journey and to complete it within 10 years. Once again, we have an opportunity to take a giant leap for humankind."

Al Gore’s Challenge

Tell Your Friends About Al Gore's Challenge

Take Action for Solutions

Healthiest Nation Campaign

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:26:00 +0000

"CDC on Tuesday launched the “Healthiest Nation Campaign,” which seeks to promote efforts to improve the health of U.S. residents, USA Today reports. According to CDC Director Julie Gerberding, the campaign will seek to include efforts to improve health in social policies in all levels of government and all sectors. Gerberding will discuss the campaign at “Shaping Policy for a Healthier Nation,” a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, D.C., that will include more than 300 representatives from the business, non-for-profit, health care, sports and entertainment sectors.

She said, “We put way too much emphasis on treating disease rather than protecting health in the first place,” adding, “People are talking about health care reform, but they’re not really talking about health.” Disease management and prevention programs receive about five cents of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S., Gerberding said, adding, “Many countries have put more emphasis on health promotion” than the U.S. Gerberding said that disease prevention programs should focus on the “things we need to do before we get to the doctor’s office,” such as additional lanes for bicyclists and walking paths for pedestrians, more nutritious meal options in schools and a public smoking ban.

In addition, she said that expansion of health insurance to all residents would not be sufficient to ensure their health. “When people talk about access, they usually are thinking this person does or does not have insurance,” but “access is a much more complicated issue than just insurance,” Gerberding said, adding, “If you solve the problem of access, it at best would account for 25% of the health disparities we’re seeing” (Rubin, USA Today, 7/8).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation."

Creative Capitalism - by Bill Gates

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:39:00 +0000

“A New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century”

by Bill Gates

Prepared remarks delivered at the World Economic Forum, January 24, 2008, in Davos, Switzerland.

Thank you for that welcome and for the privilege of speaking at this forum.

This is the last time I will come to Davos as a full-time employee of Microsoft.

Some of us are lucky enough to arrive at moments in life where we can pause, reflect on our work, and say: “This is great. It’s fun, exciting, and useful – I could do this forever.”

But the passing of time forces each of us to take stock and ask: What have I accomplished so far? What do I still want to accomplish?

Thirty years, twenty years, ten years ago, my focus was totally on how the magic of software could change the world.

I believed that breakthroughs in technology could solve the key problems. And they do – increasingly – for billions of people.

But breakthroughs change lives only where people can afford to buy them – only where there is economic demand.

And economic demand is not the same as economic need.

There are billions of people who need the great inventions of the computer age, and many more basic needs as well. But they have no way of expressing their needs in ways that matter to markets. So they go without.

If we are going to have a serious chance of changing their lives, we will need another level of innovation. Not just technology innovation – we need system innovation. That’s what I want to discuss with you here in Davos today.

Let me begin by expressing a view that might not be widely shared.

The world is getting better.

In significant and far-reaching ways, the world is a better place to live than it has ever been.

Consider the status of women and minorities in society – virtually any society – compared to any time in the past.

Consider that life expectancy has nearly doubled in the past 100 years.

Consider governance – the number of people today who vote in elections, express their views, and enjoy economic freedom compared to any time in the past.

In these crucial areas, the world is getting better.

These improvements have been matched, and in some cases triggered, by advances in science, technology, and medicine. They have brought us to a high point in human welfare. We are at the start of a technology-driven revolution in what people will be able to do for one another. In the coming decades, we will have astonishing new abilities to diagnose illness, heal disease, educate the world’s children, create opportunities for the poor, and harness the world’s brightest minds to solve our most difficult problems.

This is how I see the world, and it should make one thing clear: I am an optimist.

But I am an impatient optimist.

The world is getting better, but it's not getting better fast enough, and it’s not getting better for everyone.

The great advances in the world have often aggravated the inequities in the world. The least needy see the most improvement, and the most needy see the least – in particular the billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.

There are roughly a billion people in the world who don’t get enough food, who don’t have clean drinking water, who don’t have electricity, the things that we take for granted.

Diseases like malaria that kill over a million people a year get far less attention than drugs to help with baldness.

Not only do these people miss the benefits of the global economy – they will suffer from the negative effects of economic growth they missed out on. Climate change will have the biggest effect on people who have done the least to cause it.

Why do people benefit in inverse proportion to their need?

Market incentives make that happen.

In a system of pure capitalism, as people’s wealth rises, the financial incentive to serve them rises. As their wealth falls, the financial incentive to serve them falls – until it becomes zero. We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well.

The genius of capitalism lies in its ability to make self-interest serve the wider interest. The potential of a big financial return for innovation unleashes a broad set of talented people in pursuit of many different discoveries. This system driven by self-interest is responsible for the great innovations that have improved the lives of billions.

But to harness this power so it benefits everyone – we need to refine the system.

As I see it, there are two great forces of human nature: self-interest, and caring for others. Capitalism harnesses self-interest in helpful and sustainable ways, but only on behalf of those who can pay. Philanthropy and government aid channel our caring for those who can’t pay, but the resources run out before they meet the need. But to provide rapid improvement for the poor we need a system that draws in innovators and businesses in a far better way than we do today.

Such a system would have a twin mission: making profits and also improving lives for those who don’t fully benefit from market forces. To make the system sustainable, we need to use profit incentives whenever we can.

At the same time, profits are not always possible when business tries to serve the very poor. In such cases, there needs to be another market-based incentive – and that incentive is recognition. Recognition enhances a company’s reputation and appeals to customers; above all, it attracts good people to the organization. As such, recognition triggers a market-based reward for good behavior. In markets where profits are not possible, recognition is a proxy; where profits are possible, recognition is an added incentive.

The challenge is to design a system where market incentives, including profits and recognition, drive the change.

I like to call this new system creative capitalism – an approach where governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world’s inequities.

Some people might object to this kind of “market-based social change” – arguing that if we combine sentiment with self-interest, we will not expand the reach of the market, but reduce it. Yet Adam Smith – the father of capitalism and the author of Wealth of Nations, who believed strongly in the value of self-interest for society – opened his first book with the following lines:

“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.”

Creative capitalism takes this interest in the fortunes of others and ties it to our interest in our own fortunes – in ways that help advance both. This hybrid engine of self-interest and concern for others serves a much wider circle of people than can be reached by self-interest or caring alone.

My thinking on this subject has been influenced by many different experiences, including our work at Microsoft to address inequity.

For the past 20 years, Microsoft has used corporate philanthropy as a way to bring technology to people who don’t have access. We’ve donated more than $3 billion in cash and software to try to bridge the digital divide, and that will continue.

But our greatest impact is not just free or inexpensive software by itself, but rather when we show how to use technology to create solutions. And we’re committed to bring more of that expertise to the table. Our product and business groups throughout the world, and some of our very best minds at our research lab in India, are working on new products, technologies, and business models that can make computing more accessible and more affordable. In one case, we’re developing a text-free interface that will enable illiterate or semi-literate people to use a PC instantly, with minimal training or assistance. In another we’re looking at how wireless technology, together with software, can avoid the expensive connectivity costs that stand in the way of computing access in rural areas. We’re thinking in a much more focused way about the problems that the poorest people face, and giving our most innovative thinkers the time and resources to come up with solutions.

This kind of creative capitalism matches business expertise with needs in the developing world to find markets that are already there, but are untapped. Sometimes market forces fail to make an impact in developing countries not because there’s no demand, or because money is lacking, but because we don't spend enough time studying the needs and limits of that market.

This point was made eloquently in C.K. Prahalad’s book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, and that’s had a huge influence on companies in terms of stretching the profit motive through special innovation.

When the World Health Organization tried to expand vaccination for meningitis in Africa, it didn’t go straight to a vaccine manufacturer. It first went to Africa to learn what people could pay. They found out that if they wanted mothers to get this vaccine for their babies, it had to be priced under 50 cents a dose. Then they challenged the partners to meet this price, and, in fact, Serum Institute in India found a new way to make the vaccine for 40 cents each. They company agreed to supply 250 million doses to distribute through public health systems over the next decade, and they are free to sell it directly to the private sector too.

In another case, a Dutch company, which holds the rights to a cholera vaccine, retains the rights in the developed world, but shares those rights with manufacturers in developing countries. The result is a cholera vaccine made in Vietnam that costs less than $1 a dose – and that includes delivery and the costs of an immunization campaign. There are a number of industries that can take advantage of this kind of tiered pricing to offer valuable medicine and technology to low-income people.

These projects are just a hint of what we could accomplish if people who are experts on the needs in the developing world would meet several times a year with scientists at software or drug companies and help them try to find poor world applications for their best ideas.

Another approach to creative capitalism includes a direct role for governments. Of course, governments do a great deal to help the poor in ways that go far beyond nurturing markets: they fund research, subsidize health care, build schools and hospitals. But some of the highest-leverage work that government can do is to set policy and disburse funds in ways that create market incentives for business activity that improves the lives of the poor.

Under a law signed by President Bush last year, any drug company that develops a new treatment for a neglected disease like malaria or TB can get priority review from the Food and Drug Administration for another product they’ve made. If you develop a new drug for malaria, your profitable cholesterol-lowering drug could go on the market a year earlier. This priority review could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Another approach to creative capitalism is simply to help businesses in the poor world reach markets in the rich world. Tomorrow morning I will announce a partnership that gives African farmers access to the premium coffee market, with the goal of doubling their income from their coffee crops. This project will help African farmers produce high-quality coffee and connect them to companies that want to buy it. That will help lift them, their families, and their communities out of poverty.

Finally, one of the most inventive forms of creative capitalism involves someone we all know very well.

A few years ago, I was sitting in a bar here in Davos with Bono. After Asia and most of Europe and Africa had gone to bed, he was on fire, talking about how we could get a percentage of each purchase from civic-minded companies to help change the world. He kept calling people, waking them up, and handing me the phone. His projections were a little enthusiastic at first – but his principle was right. If you give people a chance to associate themselves with a cause they care about – they will pay more, and that premium can make an impact. That was how the RED Campaign was born, here in Davos.

RED products are available from companies like Gap, Motorola, and Armani. Just this week, Dell and Microsoft joined the cause. Over the last year and a half, RED has generated $50 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. As a result, nearly 2 million people in Africa are receiving life-saving drugs today.

What unifies all forms of creative capitalism is that they're market-driven efforts to bring solutions we take for granted to people who can’t get them. As we refine and improve this approach, there is every reason to believe these engines of change will become larger, stronger, and more efficient.

There is a growing understanding around the world that when change is driven by market-based incentives, you have a sustainable plan for change – because profits and recognition are renewable resources. Klaus Schwab runs a foundation that assists social entrepreneurs around the world, men and women who turn their ideas for improving lives into affordable goods or services. President Clinton demonstrates the unique role that a non-profit can play as a deal-maker between rich world producers and poor world consumers. The magazine Fast Company gives awards for what they call Social Capitalism.

These are not a few isolated stories; this is a world-wide movement, and we all have the ability and the responsibility to accelerate it.

I’d like to ask everyone here – whether you’re in business, government or the non-profit world – to take on a project of creative capitalism in the coming year. It doesn’t have to be a new project; you could take an existing project, and see where you might stretch the reach of market forces to help push things forward. When you award foreign aid, when you make charitable gifts, when you try to change the world – can you also find ways to put the power of market forces behind the effort to help the poor?

I hope corporations will consider dedicating a percentage of your top innovators’ time to issues that could help people left out of the global economy. This kind of contribution is much more powerful than simply giving away cash, or offering your employees time off to volunteer. It is a focused use of what your company does best. It is a great form of creative capitalism, because it takes the brainpower that makes life better for the richest, and dedicates it to improving the lives of everyone else.

There are a number of pharmaceutical companies – GlaxoSmithKline in particular – that are putting their top innovators to work on new approaches to help the poor. Other companies are doing the same – in food, technology, cell phones. If we could take the leaders in these areas as models, and get the rest to match them, we could make a dramatic impact against the world’s inequities.

Finally, I hope that the great thinkers here will dedicate some time to finding ways for businesses, governments, NGOs, and the media to create measures of what companies are doing to use their power and intelligence to serve a wider circle of people. This kind of information is an important element of creative capitalism. It can turn good works into recognition, and ensure that recognition brings market-based rewards to businesses that do the most work to serve the most people.

We are living in a phenomenal age. If we can spend the early decades of the 21st century finding approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits and recognition for business, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce poverty in the world. This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a passionate effort to answer this challenge will help change the world.

Dynamic Buildings

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:32:00 +0000

Planned for 2010 occupancy in Dubai.

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com

Interesting Metaphor: Diabetes & Glut of Oil Money in Middle East

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:47:00 +0000

clipped from www.economist.com

Diabetes is a useful metaphor for the Gulf's present problems. The region's economies are struggling to absorb petrodollars, accumulating like glucose in the bloodstream. The risk they face is the economic equivalent of renal failure: inflation, a hollowing-out of the non-oil sector, and a young, growing workforce in chronic need of outside labour to supplement it.

Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea"

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:22:00 +0000

An inspiring meditation on how one person can make a difference. The article in the Economist lists other similar books. I can heartily endorse the David McCollough's "John Adams" as one of the best books I've read over the last several years.

clipped from www.economist.com

Wal-Mart Offers 90-day Supply of Generics for $10

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:38:00 +0000

Wal-Mart is building on their $4 generic prescription program launched in Sept 2006 by offering a 90-day supply of 350 generic prescriptions for $10. See the press release here. Since the beginning of the program, Wal-Mart has calculated a total consumer savings of more than $1 billion. There is a list of state-by-state savings at their living better index web site.

BLUE

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:02:00 +0000

Continued blog commentary on Adam Werbach's BLUE speech.

clipped from lifestyle.technophobiac.net

More on Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

BradleyAPerkins@gmail.com (Bradley A Perkins) — Sat, 03 May 2008 19:52:00 +0000

CDC Director Julie Gerberding participated in a April 29 press conference describing the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

Achieving Health for Life

President Obama on Health, Jan 24

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Speech

President-Elect Obama Nomination of Senator Tom Daschle for HHS Secretary

Alliance works toward healthy nation

Alliance works toward healthy nation

People not looking at whole health care picture, CDC director says.

THIS IS PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGN

Superstruct Superthreat: Power Struggle

Healthiest Nation - Vote

Healthiest Nation - Move

Healthiest Nation - Move

New World Health Organization Report on Health Equity Released

New Declaration for Healthy Food & Agriculture

Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture

Humana's Freewheelin Program at DNC

Free Hugs Campaign. (29,857,931 You Tube views)

A Healthiest School in Florida

"Get Off Your Assets"

"The Walls Between Art and Engineering Exist Only in Our Minds"

A Challenge to the Nation: 100% Carbon-Free in 10 years!

I want to be part of the solution

Al Gore’s Challenge

Healthiest Nation Campaign

Creative Capitalism - by Bill Gates

“A New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century”

Dynamic Buildings

Interesting Metaphor: Diabetes & Glut of Oil Money in Middle East

Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea"

Wal-Mart Offers 90-day Supply of Generics for $10

BLUE

More on Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index