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Just-as-good Medicine
By David Kent
Less expensive, lower-quality innovations abound in every economic sector—except medicine
Less expensive, lower-quality innovations abound in every economic sector—except medicine
The rabbi's eulogy for Sheldon Kravitz solved a minor mystery for my father: what was behind the odd shape of the juice cups he had been drinking from after morning services for the last few years? Adding a bit of levity while praising his thrift and resourcefulness, the rabbi told of how Sheldon purchased, for pennies on the dollar, hundreds of urine specimen cups from Job Lot, that legendary collection of pushcarts in lower Manhattan carrying surplus goods—leftovers, overproduced or discontinued products, unclaimed cargo. At the risk of perpetuating a pernicious cultural stereotype, for men of my father's generation like Sheldon, raised during the Great Depression, bargain hunting was a contact sport and Job Lot was a beloved arena. My father, too, would respond to the extreme bargains there with ecstatic automatisms of purchasing behavior and come home with all manner of consumer refuse, including, and to my profound dismay, sneakers that bore (at best) a superficial resemblance to the suede Pumas worn and endorsed by my basketball idol, the incomparably smooth Walt "Clyde" Frazier. My father would insist that such items were "just as good" as the name brands. But we, of course, knew what "just as good" really meant.
In fairness to my father and his friends, from a utilitarian perspective (decidedly not the perspective of pre-adolescents), maximizing the overall good of the family involves economic trade-offs. Money saved from something "just as good" can be reallocated toward items that bring greater benefit than the value sacrificed. Indeed, these types of cost-versus-quality trade-offs are ubiquitous in our economy, and are especially useful when resources are tightly constrained. Those following the long march to health-care reform know that one of the few things beyond argument is that the old approach is unsustainable and threatens to bankrupt the country. Perhaps a little belt tightening and bargain hunting of this sort might make our health-care dollars stretch farther.
To help maximize the overall benefits in health care under a utilitarian framework and conditions of constrained resources, health economists use an analytic tool called cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) that quantifies the added expenditure necessary to obtain a unit of health benefit (typically measured in quality-adjusted life years or QALYs, pronounced "kwallies"). The most common application of CEA is to examine the value of medical innovations compared to the standard of care routinely available, since new technologies are an important cause of the increase in health-care costs.
If the "unit cost" for a QALY of benefit (that is, the cost-effectiveness ratio) is less than some threshold (conventionally $50,000 or $100,000 per QALY), then adoption of the innovation is deemed "incrementally cost-effective," since the benefit obtained compares favorably to that obtainable at similar cost using accepted medical technologies (such as dialysis, which has a cost-effectiveness ratio variously estimated at between $50,000 and $80,000 per QALY). Above the ratio, they are deemed not to be cost-effective. That is, the (relatively small) incremental benefits of the intervention do not justify the (relatively large) incremental costs.
Comparisons between alternative approaches in cost-effectiveness analyses can usefully be depicted on a cost-effectiveness plane, shown in the figure opposite. Most studied medical innovations fall into the northeast quadrant of this plane; that is, they increase both costs and health benefits. Within this quadrant, the acceptability threshold would be represented by a line of constant slope, indicating the "willingness to pay" (WTP) for a QALY, separating nominally cost-effective therapies from cost-ineffective therapies.
Of course, if all innovation in health care fell into this northeast quadrant, innovation could only increase the costs of care. That is, even so-called cost- effective health-care innovations would always cost more money than the alternatives they replaced. This is often a point of confusion, sometimes purposeful, as when our political leaders claim that "preventative medicine" is highly cost-effective and would therefore save money. In fact, while most recommended preventative services are cost-effective (meaning the value of their benefits in terms of QALYs gained justifies the costs in terms of dollars spent), only very rarely are preventative services actually cost-saving, even when all the "downstream" avoided medical expenses are folded into the analysis. Indeed, new "cost-effective" innovations are one of the principal reasons that health-care costs continue to soar.
In fact, only innovations that fall south of the equator in the cost- effectiveness plane are actually cost-saving. When those innovations are also superior to the alternative, or standard of care, they are considered "dominant" (that is, cost decreasing and quality improving); adoption of these southeast quadrant innovations should not be controversial. However, as health-care costs continue to rise, cost-saving innovations may be increasingly attractive even when they do not improve care, particularly in a weak economy. While some innovations in the southwest quadrant would clearly be unattractive because they are substantially worse than the available standard of care or offer only trivial cost savings, what about innovations that offer substantial cost saving and are genuinely almost as good as the standard? In a 2004 article in Medical Decision Making, fellow researchers and I described innovation that is greatly cost saving but only slightly quality reducing as "decrementally" cost- effective. In such cases, the savings could potentially increase the overall good despite the sacrificed benefit. Indeed, if "much cheaper, almost as good" products are attractive in other economic sectors because they permit the reallocation of saved resources to items of more value than the benefits sacrificed, why not in medical care as well?
Men generally fix their affections more on what they are possessed of, than on what they never enjoyed: For this reason, it would be greater cruelty to dispossess a man of any thing than not to give it [to] him.—David Hume, A Treatise on Human Nature
Theoretically, perfectly rational economic agents seeking to maximize their welfare would be similarly willing to relinquish QALYs obtained from some routinely available standard-of-care for a new "much cheaper, almost as good" therapy, if the savings could be reallocated to an item of equal or higher value than what was sacrificed. Put another way, the selling price (often referred to as willingness to accept, or WTA) and the buying price (willing to pay, WTP) of a QALY should be similar, and the societal threshold for accepting or rejecting a technology should be symmetric and pass through the origin of the cost-effectiveness plane as a straight line. However, as David Hume anticipated, a reproducible observation is that consumers' willingness to accept monetary compensation to forgo something they have is typically greater, and often much greater, than their stated willingness to pay for the same benefit. Several explanations exist, including the so-called "endowment effect," the psychological principle that people value items that they already have simply because they already have them.
A 2002 review of 20 studies by the late Bernie O'Brien and his colleagues at McMaster University found that the ratio of individuals' WTA to WTP was always greater than 1 and ranged from 1.9 to 6.4 for two scenarios specifically related to health care. They suggested that rather than a symmetric accept-reject threshold on the cost-effectiveness plane, societal thresholds should reflect the WTA-WTP gap seen in individual preferences, which would be captured by a downward "kink" (subsequently known as "Bernie's kink") in the threshold as it passed through the origin, indicating that a QALY's selling price in the southwest would always be higher than a QALY's buying price in the northeast.
Thus, there may be an inherent cognitive bias against relinquishing the gains of health-care interventions that have already been accepted, and the cost savings from decrementally cost-effective innovation may need to be substantially greater than conventionally used thresholds suggest.
Whereas all this fancy theory plus a token can get you on the subway, might there be practical applications of "decrementally" cost-effective innovation? To explore this, working with colleagues at the Tufts Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk (who maintain a comprehensive database of cost-utility studies), we enlisted Aaron Nelson, then a medical student, to help us sort through more than 2,000 cost-utility comparisons for any potential examples that might be decrementally cost-effective. We found that about three-quarters of published comparisons described new technologies or treatment strategies that increase both costs and benefits, and that most of these (about 65 to 80 percent) were cost-effective by conventional criteria (depending on which conventional threshold was used, $50,000 or $100,000 per QALY gained). Less often, published analyses described innovations that are either dominant or dominated (about 10 percent and 15 percent of the time, respectively), but only very rarely were innovations both cost- and quality-decreasing. Indeed, fewer than 2 percent of all comparisons were classified in the cost- and quality-decreasing "southwest quadrant", and only 9 (involving 8 innovations) were found to be decrementally cost-effective (0.4 percent of the total)—that is, they saved at least $100,000 for each QALY relinquished.
Examples of these cost-saving interventions include using the catheter-based percutaneous coronary intervention in place of bypass surgery for multivessel coronary disease, which on average saves about $5,000 while sacrificing a half day of perfect health (for a cost-savings of more than $3 million for every QALY lost) and using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation instead of electroconvulsive therapy for drug-resistant major depression, which avoids the need for general anaesthesia and saves on average over $11,000 but sacrifices about a week of perfect health (for a ratio of more than $500,000 for every QALY lost). Nearly all the remaining innovations involved the tailored withholding of standard therapy, including watchful waiting for selected patients with inguinal hernia, withholding mediastinoscopy for selected patients with lung cancer, and abbreviated physiotherapy or psychotherapy for patients with neck pain or deliberate self-harm, respectively. Finally, the cost-saving innovations included the sterilization and reuse of dialysate, the chemical bath used in dialysis to draw fluids and toxins out of the bloodstream—a degree of thrift even the late Sheldon Kravitz would have to admire.
That decrementally cost-effective innovations are so rarely described in the health-care literature suggests that medicine is distinct from most other markets, in which cost-decreasing, quality-reducing products are continuously being introduced—think IKEA, Walmart and the Tata car. Several reasons may explain this "medical exceptionalism." First, there is fundamentally a lack of incentives both for physicians to control costs, especially under a fee-for-service regime, and for patients to demand less expensive treatment when insurance shields them from the direct costs of care. Second, medical "bargains" frequently come with health risks, and trading health for money strikes some as vulgar, regardless of ratio. The inherent ethical unease that decrementally cost-effective innovations can elicit poses a serious public relations and marketing challenge.
However, consumers have been comfortable with many decrementally cost-effective options outside of health care that pose similar health risks. For example, automobile manufacturers produce many vehicles that lack certain safety features (for example, side-impact airbags), because some consumers are willing to forgo those options to reduce the purchase price. Why not in health care?
Even by the standards of political rhetoric, it strains credulity when politicians suggest that the declared goals of health-care reform—increasing access, improving quality and controlling costs—are somehow mutually reinforcing. I'm no Peter Orszag, the über-wonk overseeing President Obama's Office of Management and Budget, but if my father taught me anything it was that saving money rarely involves buying more and better stuff. Plain talk about ways to cut costs are buried in rhetoric about rooting out inefficiencies and various prevarications about savings from investing in (that is, spending on) more preventative medicine, health information technology, and comparative effectiveness research about what therapies work best for which patients. While these goals may all be worthwhile, and there is much of little or no value in the current system (including the immense amount of money spent to maintain our Byzantine for-profit insurance system), ultimately we simply do not have the resources to give away an expensive commodity like health care in quantities that people want, subject to no budgetary constraints.
It is beyond dispute that some mechanisms for the controlled distribution of these expensive goods and services are required. In most markets, prices play this role, and many feel that the fundamental problem in health care is that many consumers are shielded from the costs of their care. A system based largely on prices (that is, price rationing) may control costs better than our current system, but it would of course mean that those with the most money have first dibs on scarce health-care resources, and there might be little left over for those without means. (There are other reasons too why most consumers can't be expected to comparison shop for emergency coronary angioplasty or for charged-particle radiosurgery for their glioblastoma the same way they might for gasoline, underwear and cling peaches). It is a fantasy to believe that price rationing alone can provide an acceptable mechanism for the controlled distribution of medical services, and some other means are thus also needed. Perhaps we should take it as a sign of the robustness of our democracy that this rather technical issue of the proper mix and variety of price and non-price rationing has somehow managed to plunge our national conversation about health-care reform into a Jerry Springer–style shouting match, except without the civility.
But regardless of the mix, expanding coverage to the uninsured, caring for our aging baby boomers, and accommodating new, effective technologies—while still feeding, clothing, housing, and educating ourselves, and catching an occasional movie—will require our system of distribution of health services to be more cost- sensitive, and will almost certainly mean the adoption of some decrementally cost-effective strategies for saving money. For example, Canadian-style delays for expensive diagnostic or surgical procedures certainly pose real, albeit small, medical risks, and would fall into this southwest category. Getting insured Americans to accept such new risks may be difficult, but slightly quality-reducing (that is, risk-increasing) cost-saving strategies have already been widely adopted within the American system, even if not studied or widely acknowledged. The gradual increase in the "hassle factor" in accessing medical care is one covert way that the industry has found to limit the distribution of services. More overt examples of rationing already adopted include aggressively shortening hospital stays and limiting formulary options (which sometimes require patients to change from a medicine they have been tolerating well to another in the same class). Despite the fact that doctors regularly (although sometimes disingenuously) deploy patter informing patients that the hospital is a dangerous place to stay and that the formulary medication is "just as good" as the one they've been taking, these strategies are certainly associated with small but real risks. Even a preadolescent quickly learns the true meaning of "just as good"; perhaps a more mature citizenry can also come to appreciate some of the upside of having "just as good" alternatives.
Click "American Scientist" to access home page


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Rising to the Occasion
Have you ever heard that through disciplined efforts, rewards are plentiful? I was inspired by this message recently as I read about a 12-year-old boy who lives with his mother and six siblings in Zambia. Clean water and medical care is difficult to come by, and each day on his way to school, he passes homes with no electricity or running water. Despite the challenges his family faces, he makes perfect attendance at school every year! Perfect attendance is not an easy accomplishment for anyone, especially someone who faces challenges getting to school each day.
His hardships at home don't deter his education. To help him stay nourished and focused for his long day of learning, Rise Against Hunger offers him a meal each day. The organization also provides his whole family with meals throughout the school week, to reward his dedication to getting an education that will help him rise against any of life's challenges. I'm very proud that we have committed to packing 5 million meals for Rise Against Hunger over the next two years.
There's a deeper meaning to this story that I'd like you to consider. At the age of 12, when children are not expected to have so much responsibility and are supposed to be blind to the hardships of adulthood, this boy is exemplifying discipline in his daily actions. His consistency gives his family nourishment and care. He wakes up and makes the difficult walk to school even when his health or circumstances create challenges for him. How many adults do you know that are more fortunate and don't have this same discipline to show up each day?
While we may not struggle with these same hardships, there are difficulties in our lives that are not easy to get through. They create barriers to achieving our goals and sometimes even cause us to underestimate how difficult it may be. While they might be ambitious goals, like packing our 5 million meals, nothing is impossible if we apply effort and work toward progress every day. Think of discipline in terms of climbing a ladder. Each rung you climb, while it may get more challenging the farther up you go, will culminate in bringing you closer to the things that you want and need.
We know that through consistent actions, made wholeheartedly and frequently, we can change the world. Just like the boy who has shown discipline in attending school each day, we must practice discipline to accomplish our goals. As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, take some time to observe the incredible achievements of our leaders and company since the beginning of our business. I hope these motivate you and help you stay disciplined to accomplish everything you desire in 2018 and for years to come.
Two Ways to Become Disciplined in Giving:
1. Donate monthly to Forever Giving to help us fund the meals that will be packed globally throughout the next two years. 2. Find out where the next meal pack is near you or how you can organize your own by contacting your country office and commit to at least two meal packing events per year.
Forever Yours,
Rex Maughan

subset: commoncrawl


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Economic opportunity
Watch the video above to learn how we're empowering young people in Africa to go after their dreams, start their own businesses, and succeed — no matter what challenges they may face.
A roadside stand in South Sudan selling soap; an internet start-up in Gaza; a tofu processing plant in Indonesia: The global economy is connected by complex and dynamic markets. Mercy Corps believes in harnessing this inherent power to provide better opportunities for the world's poor and vulnerable, half of whom live on less than $2/day.
Local communities themselves have the ability to drive this change and no two situations are alike. For this reason, we take a holistic, locally-led approach, working with communities, their systems and structures to build businesses, increase income and improve employment opportunities. Even in the most fragile and informal markets, we focus on intentional, market-based solutions, ones which can succeed and expand long after we've left.
Learn more about our approach to market systems development ▸
Mercy Corps promotes safe, decent and equitable income opportunities for individuals around the world.
Learn about our approach to make markets work in crisis ▸
Mercy Corp's market-driven approach to crisis response leverages the capacities of non-aid actors in local and global economic systems and gives crisis-affected individuals the ability to drive their own decisions and secure their own lives and livelihoods.
Learn about our approaches to the "world of work" — employment, employability, entrepreneurship and job creation ▸
Forty-two percent of the world is under the age of 25; Mercy Corps tailors employment programming to the unique needs of male and female youth.
Nepal: A smart matriarch turns pickles into profit
In hot western Nepal, Harikala Yogi and her family have mastered the art of pickling mangoes. See how Harikala broke boundaries and took the family business to new heights.
Haiti: Growing businesses in Haiti's toughest neighborhoods
Florye's almost lost her small upholstery business in the Haiti earthquake. Today, she and other entrepreneurs are revitalizing the local economy.
Nepal: One determined step changed Devi's life
We helped Devi get a loan to start her business three years ago. Today she's showing us how she turned one opportunity into life-changing success.
Philippines: Sweet success: Rebuilding after Typhoon Haiyan
Florida and Realino Go didn't think they would survive Typhoon Haiyan. When they emerged from the storm to find their business destroyed, Mercy Corps helped them — and 100,000 more survivors — recover their future.
Timor-Leste: Fish ponds bring hope to hard-working families
As rice farmers cope with changing weather patterns, we're helping them build new sustainable sources of food and income.
Philippines: Casimira's story: Building a stronger future after Haiyan
How we're helping families like the Asidtos get the tools they need to rebuild their lives now and for years to come.
Colombia: Land titles provide stability for Colombia's poor
We're helping marginalized families get legal ownership of the land they live on, and providing a sense of security in communities still recovering from conflict.
Afghanistan: Women breaking down barriers in southern Afghanistan
Vocational training and a revolutionary new women's market are giving many women the opportunity to earn their own income for the first time.
Japan: Businesses, communities thrive three years after disaster
Since the 2011 tsunami devastated Japan's northern coast, we've helped 300 entrepreneurs heal their communities by reviving their small businesses.
Philippines: Rebuilding homes with mobile money
In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, our mobile banking program is providing Filipinos, like Rodelyn and Zeny, with safe new roofs — and new opportunities.


text: skynet Google continues its relentless march towards private sector total information awareness, the current big project at GOOG is something called Google Android, a portable device operating system set to change the way we compute on the go. In an article on CNET, a spokesman for the Android OS hinted at the possibility of getting the system running in cars as well as handheld devices. Exactly how that would work without a standardized set of hardware requirements from automakers, we don't know. However, our tin foil hats are vibrating at the thought of a data mining company riding alongside in a car equipped with GPS and cameras everywhere. [CNET]


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Opinion: The Bureaucrat Who Would Kill the Fracking Revolution
Editorial board member Joe Rago on the nomination of Ron Binz to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Photo credit: rbinz.com
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... the opinions may not be a household name in America but maybe he should be ... the man who was nominated to head summing called the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ... could we kill our fracking revolution if he gets the job ... editorial board member Joe radio is here to explain and ... chilled welcome I ... for ... guys read what ... their listeners are never mentioned ... in it has in its order hodgepodge it was a recently created to regulate ... I hydro power over the years its mandate has changed in those things ... regulates on natural gas pipelines on ... the ... import and export terminals was about it it it has a role in in terms of ... transmit the electric transmission between the States so ... it is the time it has certain ... financial regulatory roles ... so it's common got its fingers and a lot of pots now one thing is this the hell you've been ... reporting on for quite awhile now ... editorial this morning said that if he runs for ... he could destroy or fracking revolution ... right tell you that you basically runby UN's is he's a former Colorado utility regulator ... and he really really believes in the power of regulation ... no Markit's he's he's ... really out going whoa ... in terms of ... renewal bulls he thinks the country can get up to ... eighty percent wind and solar subsidies on it that well it's theoretically feasible if your assumptions are ... completely unrealistic ... and so ... he's been nominated to lead for ... his confirmation hearing is tomorrow ... that's right ... and and you know he does says things like ... natural gas is the dead and because of its carbon emissions you know I think that's the view that really outside of the ... moderate Democrat corporate America mainstream ... so is the full year from the White House's perspective ... to just ... not pay much attention to this nomination hope that he slides into the job and has anybody else covering ... Ron Vinson when he saying ... about our fracking revolution right I can say that our colleagues in the media have devoted a lot of scrutiny on to to his record but but ... senators from ... energy states ... West Virginia for example John mansion ... Mary Landrieu in Louisiana I think they're going to be ... paying a lot of attention to Tuesday it's what what happened to our energy bills and ... Ron Bennett was runs for arc ... and decides to regulate natural gas out of business or lease curtail its significant write a mean basically that the fear among a lot of people's will come in and say oh ... yes isn't that and technology let's sort of ... push and push it along the way ... and in the relief because for tense section diffuse on ... Pellerin and Ron bins reads ... I it's it's sort of limited mandate is that as a ... unilateral ... order to do whatever it takes to be an usher in his green pepper diced there's there's a lot of ... mention that he did he can make as as ... Mr Chan and energy and energy prices would rise


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To my understanding, some accounting methods involve very specific rounding techniques based on base-10 encoding probably antedating computers in finance. Easier to execute this technique when your numbers are already base 10.findinglisp wrote:I can't think of a reason why you would prefer BCD over pure binary integers.simon wrote:If you're actually doing this stuff "for real", you probably want a BCD representation.
IANAA though, so I'm hazy on the details of this, if it's even right.


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Folk festival makes a comeback
Contra dance soiree starts Friday night
A popular Vermont folk festival is back after a hiatus.
Volunteers for the Champlain Valley Festival spent Friday preparing a dance stage on what's normally a basketball court.
Organizers anticipate hundreds will come to the Rock Point School for a weekend of live folk-music performances and contra dancing.
The festival did not go on last year because organizers were $40,000 in debt, but Barry King, a board member, said members have since recovered and they, along with festival fans are happy to celebrate once again.
"There's lots of people that I've run into that used to go to the festival that were sad that we had to skip a year. This is the 30th anniversary, so we're really pleased to be able to come back," said King.
Tickets are available at the door. The festival starts Friday at 5 p.m. and runs through Sunday afternoon. Visit http://www.cvfest.org/ for more information.


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Read on for the latest news update on UFC 169 on February 1 in New Jersey...
The bad luck for Dominick Cruz continues, as it was announced by UFC President Dana White Monday that after being sidelined since late-2011 with a knee injury, Cruz has suffered a groin tear, forcing him out of his UFC 169 main event in New Jersey against interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao.
After this latest turn of events, Cruz has chosen to vacate his title, and Urijah Faber will now step up to face Barao, who was named bantamweight champion, for the undisputed 135-pound crown on February 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark.
Faber has won four straight bouts since a decision loss to Barao at UFC 149 in July of 2012. Brazil's Barao currently sports a 21 fight winning streak, and he has not lost since April of 2005.
In the UFC 169 co-main event, Jose Aldo defends his featherweight crown against Ricardo Lamas.


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Found 3 resultsAuthor Title [ Type] Year
Filters: Author is D Schneckenberg [Clear All Filters]
03. Journal Papers
Exploring the design elements of open evaluation. Journal of Strategy and Management. 10(1), 40-65.(2017).
Open evaluation of new product concepts at the front end of innovation: objectives and contingency factors. R&D Management.(2015).
Exploring the Design Elements of Open Evaluation (accepted for publication). Journal of Strategy and Management.(2015).


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The Server Admin Tools 10.7.3 are available as an automatic Software Update for Macs running OS X v10.7.3 with version 10.7 or later of the Server Admin Tools already installed, and as a manual download from Apple Support Downloads.
Important: If you have moved any of the Server Admin Tools out of their original locations (inside /Applications/Server/), the update may continue to appear in Software Update even after you have installed it. Return the Server Admin Tools to their original location before using Software Update, or remove any duplicate copies of the Server Admin Tools.
What's included?
The Server Admin Tools 10.7.3 update includes the following improvements:
Server Admin
- Improves Gateway Setup Assistant.
- Makes DNS log visible.
- There are additional fixes for Server Admin in the Lion Server v10.7.3 update, described in this article.
System Image Utility
- Reliably saves volume name in a NetRestore workflow.
Workgroup Manager
- Fixes an issue that could cause the Connect button to be dimmed (grayed out).
- Improves application stability.
The Server Admin Tools 10.7.3 also include all of the improvements in Server Admin Tools 10.7.2.


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For Women's Reproductive Rights, Choice Is Clear in 2012 Election
Just this morning, the Republican Party voted to include the "Human Life Amendment" in their platform, calling for a constitutional ban on abortions nationwide, even for rape victims.
In a recent statement that was both factually inaccurate and horribly offensive, Republican Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin said that victims of "legitimate rape" don't get pregnant because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan tried to distance themselves from the remark -- but the fact is they're in lockstep with Akin on the major women's health issues of our time. Just this morning, the Republican Party voted to include the "Human Life Amendment" in their platform, calling for a constitutional ban on abortions nationwide, even for rape victims.
Several Romney supporters and advisers stood silently by while this vote took place, and The Los Angeles Times reports that the platform "was written at the direction of Romney's campaign."
President Obama spoke out in response to Akin's comments: "What I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."
This controversy is not an accident, or a mistake, or an isolated incident. It's a reflection of a Republican Party whose policies are dangerous for women. There is a clear choice for women in this election: Stand with President Obama.
I entered this national debate on women's rights in February, when, as a Georgetown Law student, I testified before members of Congress on the issue of contraception. Without knowing me or my story, Rush Limbaugh called me a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his radio show.
Many Americans stepped forward to tell me they agreed with me, and supported my right to speak out without being verbally attacked. President Obama stood with us.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand? He didn't even condemn the remark, instead saying only: "It's not the language I would have used."
Since that moment, I'm even more resolved to continue the fight to make sure every single woman -- and every man who cares about the women in his life -- knows exactly what's at stake in this election. The Republicans are frighteningly clear on these issues.
The party platform itself includes a "salute" to states that have pushed "informed consent" laws, such as those that force women seeking an abortion to first undergo an invasive and medically unnecessary ultrasound.
Just last year, Paul Ryan joined Todd Akin and more than 200 other Republicans in co-sponsoring legislation that would have narrowed the definition of rape, limiting which victims of rape were "legitimate" enough to receive financial assistance for access to abortion care.
Mitt Romney famously says he would "get rid of" Planned Parenthood if he had the chance. And both Romney and Ryan pledge to go back to a system where insurance companies can discriminate against women and charge us more than men for the same health insurance.
Akin's comments shouldn't be surprising. But this isn't about him -- just like it was never about me.
President Obama has told us what he's fighting for: "I want women to control their own health choices, just like I want my daughters to have the same opportunities as your sons."
Republicans, led by Romney and Ryan, have made it clear that they want to make our decisions for us. President Obama trusts us to make our own.
"Speaking Truth To Empower."
Latest comments
- Ann GarrisonFebruary 22,2018 @ 08:03 PM
I think you have "Filtered HTML" turned on here. If you switch to "Full HTML," it will probably...
googletag.pubads().definePassback('6785150/BENN/BlackStarNews', [[300,250]]).setTargeting('fold',['BTF']).display();


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This is my first tutorial and I'm really excited. This tutorial is on How to draw a Bulldog. I hope you enjoy drawing it!
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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The Chiefs did what just about everyone expected them to do on Monday afternoon by placing the franchise tag on wide receiver Dwayne Bowe.
It is the non-exclusive franchise tag, which means that Bowe can still receive offers from other teams when free agency opens on March 13th. That would cost a bidding team two first-round picks, however, which makes it unlikely that anyone will make the effort. If Bowe signs the tender, he'll play for roughly $9.4 million in 2012.
"Today was the league's deadline to designate a franchise player and we felt it was in the best interest of the Kansas City Chiefs to place the tag on Dwayne," said General Manager Scott Pioli said in a statement from the team.
Bowe has 356 catches for 4,927 yards and 36 touchdowns in five seasons with the Chiefs since being taken in the first round of the 2007 Draft. With Bowe squared away, the Chiefs can now move on to trying to sign cornerback Brandon Carr to a long-term deal and/or addressing their needs on the offensive line.


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I am not an expert on planting progress, but I thought I would share my observations from my trip last week from Kansas City to northern Wisconsin.
In northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas, most of the corn appeared to be planted or fairly close to being done. Some farmers were going to wait a few days before planting beans since they were still early compared to other years.
Heading into Iowa, the planting progress appeared to be much slower. In my travels around the Waterloo area for two days, I saw very few planters in the field and rain was expected by that weekend. With the newer, larger planters, farmers can plant many more acres than in years past, but Mother Nature still needs to cooperate.
In northern Illinois, corn planting appeared to be almost done and the farmers that I met with had just finished planting the night before I arrived.
With 2011 being a record year for farm income, you should be looking at your farm budget for this year to see if you can lock in prices that approach last year and at least cover your input costs. If the U.S. really ends up planting 96-million-plus acres of corn and harvests a 160-plus-bushel crop, prices will most likely go down, and this can materially affect your bottom line.
Also, if you are late getting in your corn, with bean prices near $15, you may want to consider switching to beans and locking in these good prices now.


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It is vitally important that the Republican party be kept away from as much power as possible until the party regains its senses again. It is not just important to the advance of progressive goals, though it is. It is not just important to maintain the modicum of social justice that it has taken eighty years to build into the institutions of our government, though it is. It is important, too, that that you vote for one of these men based on whom else, exactly, he owes. Who is it that's going to come with the fiddler to collect when you get what you've bargained for?
Barack Obama owes more than I'd like him to owe to the Wall Street crowd. He probably at this point owes a little more than I'd like him to owe to the military. The rest he owes to the millions of people who elected him in 2008 — especially to those people whose enthusiasm I neither shared nor really understood — and he will owe them even more if they come out and pull his chestnuts out of the fire for him this time around. He may sell them out — and, yes, I understand if you wanted to add "again" to that statement — but they are not likely to revenge themselves against the country if he does and, even if they decided to, they don't have the power to do much but yell at the right buildings.
On the other hand, Willard Romney owes even more to the Wall Street crowd, and he owes even more to the military, but he also owes everything he is politically to the snake-handlers and the Bible-bangers, to the Creationist morons and to the people who stalk doctors and glue their heads to the clinic doors, to the reckless plutocrats and to the vote-suppressors, to the Randian fantasts and libertarian fakers, to the closeted and not-so-closeted racists who have been so empowered by the party that has given them a home, to the enemies of science and to the enemies of reason, to the devil's bargain of obvious tactical deceit and to the devil's honoraria of dark, anonymous money, and, ultimately, to those shadowy places in himself wherein Romney sold out who he might actually be to his overweening ambition. It is a fearsome bill to come due for any man, let alone one as mendaciously malleable as the Republican nominee. Obama owes the disgruntled. Romney owes the crazy. And that makes all the difference.
I expect Pat McCrory to be elected governor tomorrow and for his coattails to bring this state's electoral votes back into the red column. And I expect McCrory to spend the next four years signing every damn-fool piece of lunacy the teabaggers in the General Assembly send his way, because that's the GOP base in this state now, and McCrory has ambitions. And the damage from this dynamic will be significant. Make no mistake. If we're not careful, by 2016 we'll be well on the way to making Mississippi look good.
But, if honest ballots are counted honestly, Barack Obama will win re-election with a minimum of 300 electoral votes. And given issues ranging from Iran to global warming, that might be the difference between life and death, both here and abroad, to millions of people. Me? I've already voted. I am disgruntled, very much so. But I am not crazy.
A final word to my friends in deep-blue states who aren't totally happy with Obama's record and are thinking about casting a protest vote for Jill Stein or Roger Rabbit or whomever: I hear you. But know this: Those crazy folks I mentioned above intend, if Obama wins the electoral vote but not the popular vote, to claim that Obama is not a "legitimate" president. They will go through every hare-brained legal exercise they can find to try to prevent him from returning to the White House, and there are at least four Supreme Court justices who will nod and smile at any damn-fool argument these crazy people try to make. Yes, yes, George Bush lost the popular vote in 2000. But expecting logical consistency from crazy people, although not necessarily crazy itself, is a fool's errand. Let's just erase this contingency by giving Obama a popular-vote margin not even well-organized, well-funded crazy people can steal.


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Grades 9-12
Believe it or Not?
Have you every heard someone say, "You can't believe everything you see?" Or "You can't believe everything you hear." Either way, this is really good advice—especially when it comes to advertising.
In a competitive marketplace, sellers compete with other sellers for consumers. Sellers use advertising to let consumers know about the goods and services they want to sell. Advertising provides sellers with a way to tell consumers about prices, product features, quality and customer service. To increase their sales, sellers try to make themselves and what they are selling look and sound as good as possible.
To protect consumers and make sure competition among sellers is fair, the federal government prohibits advertisers from making false statements. When a factual claim is stated in an ad, the seller must be able to prove the claim. If the government finds that a claim is false, the seller can be forced to stop running the ad and to pay a fine.
On the other hand, it is usually okay for advertisers to just talk about the positives and ignore the negatives of what they are selling. Some ads use words and pictures to stretch the truth. A common trick is to use "puffery." Puffing is exaggerating by claiming something is "the best" or "the greatest"
If this all sounds a bit confusing, it can be! It is up to you, the buyer, to separate the facts that advertisers must be able to prove from opinions and exaggerations. Let's start by separating facts from opinions.
Task List
In this lesson you will investigate how advertisers use words and images to make goods and services look their best. You will be asked to separate factual claims in advertising from opinions. You will also prepare a set of tips that you would give to others so that they are not misled by advertising claims and images.
Activity 1: Fact or Opinion?
Sellers make a variety of claims in advertisements—some claims are factual and some are statements of opinion. Facts are statements that can be proven true or false. The following statements are factual.
- The bike has three gears.
- The bike is available in red or blue.
- The price of the bike is $90
Opinions are statements based on a belief or value. For example:
- The bike is better than bikes made by other companies.
- The bike is easier to ride.
- The bike is more fun to ride than other bikes.
Read the claims made in the following advertisements. Can you believe them?
View Interactive Activity
- Which do you think are more useful to consumers—facts or opinions? Why?
- All the facts and opinions focused on the good qualities of the good or service. What do you think is the reason for this?
Be prepared to discuss your answers after you finish this lesson.
Activity 2: Packages Are Advertising, Too!
Did you know that packages are a form of advertising? Packages are designed to catch your attention as you walk down store aisles. They are a seller's last chance to convince you to buy a particular product rather than the one next to it.
Look at the packages in this shopping bag to learn more about how advertisers use words and images to make what they sell seem great. Can you believe what you see?
In the market place, sellers are competing with other sellers to get your attention and sell you their products. Sellers use advertisements to make themselves and what they sell look as good as possible. To do this, ads contain a mixture of facts, opinions and exaggerations. The federal government says that facts must be backed up with proof, but it is up to you to figure out the difference between factual claims and statements of opinion. Being able to distinguish facts from opinions will help you make wise consumer choices and avoid disappointments in the marketplace.
Assessment Activity
Think back to all that you learned in this lesson.
- Write down three pieces of advice that you would give others so that they are not misled by advertising claims and images.
Extension Activity
- Locate an ad in a magazine and read each sentence. If the sentence states a fact put an F beside it. If the sentence states an opinion, put an O beside it.
- Think about the picture of that big juicy burger you saw on a billboard or in a television ad. Didn't it look great? Click here to find out how food stylists made the burger look so good. The secrets of photographing chicken and ice cream for ads are revealed as well.
- Watch for advertisements on television that seem to promise more than you think they can deliver. If you find one, write a letter to the company telling why you think the ad is misleading.
Related Resources
Grades 9-12
Rise of the AARPs
Grades 9-12
Lost and Found
Grades 9-12


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Free Shipping on All Orders within India. Shop Now! *T&C
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Perfect for all of your pocket-sized necessities, Nappa Dori's Coin Pouch is an easy addition to any handbag. The pouch is made up of a single compartment and is secured by a sturdy zipper. You can easily throw in some pocket change. Available in 5 shapes and 3 colours.
L: 7.5 cm, W: 4 cm, H: 7.5 cm
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Nilu needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
3 winners were selected from 854 designs submitted by 129 freelance designers.
No name brand needs to be incorporated into the artwork
!!!Possible multiple winners!!!
EACH WINING design gets paid $100 each!!
We are a greeting card company that sells our cards for business to business interaction. Awarded 17 unique winners on our last 2 contests. Looking for a chic, bold, classy and unique Thank You greeting card for companies to send after a meeting, or after a sale/service is provided. Design should not be specific to an industry has to be generic enough that can be used for all types of businesses. Both men and women will use this card to be send to both genders, therefore the design should not be overly feminine.
Will be used by both men and women to be sent to customers, clients, guests, patients… Anybody that a company of any sorts would do business with on a day to day basis. We awarded 17 unique winners on our last 2 contests as long as the designs are different from each other then we are open to awarding multiple winners.
What we DON'T want:
1-NO photographic components
2-NO Clipart, only unique ideas that are 100% your concept
3-No heart shapes or kisses
What we DO want :
1-Greeting card size 5" X 7" once folded (show only front)
2-Vertical layout
3-Colors to be used: Red and White can also include black or gray accent colors. Black or gray should not be a main color
4-Words to be used: "Thank You" or "Thank You for your business"
5-Illustration can be just a play on the words or include geometric shapes or decorative elements… again please NOT too feminine.


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Archives Posts
Core SWF: Flex/AS3 for Xcode
Since Xcode 3 has come out I've been tinkering with different ways to keep development with Flex and ActionScript 3 working decent for my day-to-day work.
In order to keep this stuff updated better and available for others to use, and hopefully help improve, I've created a Google Code project named Core SWF.
Right now this doesn't have a whole ton of stuff, but it does have:
- Updated ActionScript and MXML language spec files (Including AS in MXML script blocks)
- A basic ActionScript 3 project template (Integrated with the Flex 3 SDK Ant tasks)
Gradually I'll be adding more advanced project templates.
This is all updated to work with Xcode 3.1 as well.
You can download the very first 0.1 release on the project site.
Ping me for SVN access if you want to help add or improve some stuff. enefekt at that Google email service.


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Jeremy 54 W Knob Drawer Writing Desk by Millwood Pines Great Reviews
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Jeremy 54 W Knob Drawer Writing Desk product by Millwood Pines
Since 1991 the experienced craftsmen have produced high quality furniture that is made in the USA. Using only premium quality solids and veneers. No particle board! From doors to moldings, every part is manufactured on-site. Every drawer features full extension glides. Exposed shelves have solid front moldings. Drawer boxes are constructed from Baltic Birch. A multiple step sanding process ensures a consistent surface for finishing. Using Sherwin Williams stains, sealants, and lacquers to...
- Top Material: Manufactured Wood + Solid Wood
- Base Material: Wood
- Security policy (edit with Customer reassurance module)
- Delivery policy (edit with Customer reassurance module)
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So-called Obama supporter obvious GOP operative
After reading so much about how out-there Republicans were threatening health care reform town halls, swarming in as angry hordes and mobs and such things, I was surprised to see a photo in today's paper that purports to show an Obama supporter ripping a sign from a peaceful, well-dressed protester who opposes Obama's health reform plans.
The anti-health-care-reform protester, Kris McLay, was holding a sign with paintings of the face of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who was the subject of the Denver rally – and the words "Liar Liar," according to a report from The Post's Colleen O'Conner and Claire Trageser.
"I was standing here," McLay said, "shouting 'Hey, hey, ho, ho, Obama care has got to go,' and I guess this other woman didn't like my sign, because she reached over and grabbed it and pushed it on the ground."
McLay – mirroring my reaction when I read the piece over breakfast – said: "I wasn't expecting that today."
Who would've been? It's supposed to be the rightwingers who do things like that right? (Though so far, all they've been accused of is shouting.)
Surely this alleged, supposed, Obama supporter, in her "HOPE" T-shirt, was the work of a cynical Republican plot!
No doubt that's why she refused to provide her name to reporters.
Besides, if she'd been a real progressive, wouldn't she have taken the sign so that she could mail it to the White House's office of Fishy Activity?


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An artist's concept shows Luna 16, a robotic Soviet probe that landed on the Moon, scooped up a small sample of lunar soil, and returned it to Earth for analysis. [Courtesy historicspacecraft.com]
You are here
Luna 16
Not long after the first Apollo astronauts landed on the Moon, the Soviet Union abandoned its own Moon-landing program. It didn't give up on exploring the Moon, though. In fact, one of its most successful missions reached its climax 40 years ago today, when a capsule carrying about a hundred grams of moonrock landed in Kazakhstan.
Luna 16 had landed on the Moon just four days earlier. It touched down in an ancient volcanic plain known as the Sea of Fertility. It was the first landing in that region of the Moon, and the first nighttime landing anywhere on the Moon.
Even though it was nighttime, that portion of the Moon was illuminated by sunlight reflecting off of Earth. That made it bright enough for the craft to transmit pictures back to Earth, although they've never been released.
Luna then drilled about 14 inches into the surface. The drill contained a hollow tube that filled with dirt and rocks. This sample was dropped into a container that soon blasted back toward Earth.
Luna 16's sample was small compared to that of the Apollo missions. And the lack of pictures of the landing site have made it hard to judge the context of the sample.
Even so, it's from a region of the Moon that no other lander visited either before or since. So Luna 16's sample is a scientific treasure that has helped scientists piece together the story of the formation and evolution of our satellite world -- a story told in bits of moonrock.
Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2010
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These are so cute—much cuter than the Halfsies from a few years ago. The addition of augmented reality means each toy—or Suwappu, as they've been called—interacts with its environment differently, depending on which body part is attached.
The head of the Suwappu has the personality, with the lower-half determining the environment. When viewed with an app, the toys seem to be interacting with one another and what's around them.
With eight characters available to collect, that's a lot of multiple personalities to contend with. The two companies behind the toys—the British designers Berg and Japanese ad agency Dentsu—are currently exploring commercial opportunities at the moment, so with any luck they'll be available shortly. [Dentsu via Boing Boing]


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Vitrail Paint
by Pebeo
Pebeo Vitrail Transparent Colors for Glass are solvent-based, air-dry paints that are ideal for achieving a tinted, stained-glass look. Vitrail colors are resistant to outdoor temperatures and have good colorfastness. Perfect for glass, metal, and more. Available in 45-milliliter bottles.
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It is good that you carry this wonderful French product. Not many do these days. It's a high quality glass paint, and is compatible with similar product. Great for adjusting colors and giving them...[more]
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Yes, this paint is heat-resistant and has good colorfastness. If desired, additional protection may be applied with a UV clear coat such as Krylon's Spray UV-Resistant Clear.- Answered by MisterArt on 22-May-14
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This product is not suggested for use on mirrors. However glass is glass and art is art. Experimenting doesn't hurt.- Answered by MisterArt on 16-Sep-13
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