Ayn Rand’s vision of idiocy: Understanding the realmakers and takers

Sorry, but making a profit off something that's useless to society is not morally superior to helping others

SEAN MCELWEE

 
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TOPICS: AYN RAND, POOR, ATLAS SHRUGGED, LIBERTARIANISM, WALMART, WALTON, BILL GATES, EDITOR'S PICKS, THE RIGHT, ECONOMICS, BUSINESS NEWS, POLITICS NEWS

(Credit: Benjamin Wheelock/Salon/AP/Phil Long)

For those who haven’t had the great misfortune of reading “Atlas Shrugged,” the book is premised on the idea that if the world’s “creative leaders,” businessmen, innovators, artists (i.e., the “makers”) went on strike, our entire society would collapse. These strikers hide out in a utopian compound in the mountains of Colorado while the rest of us despondently wail and gnash our teeth and beg for them to once again bestow their creativity upon us.

The book mirrors in many ways the more lefty “Elysium,” where to escape the environmental degradation they have wrought, the wealthiest go off to form their own society in the sky. The rest of the human population remains mired in slum-like conditions, because the only thing standing between humanity and savagery is Bill Gates. But have no fear! Rather than collectively solving our problems, humanity needs a salvific “Jesus” in the form of (who else?) Matt Damon to make us citizens of Elysium and thereby save humanity. These two, very disparate tales of woe both have common elements (what I will call the “Randian vision”): society relies on the wealthy; collective action through government is either meaningless or detrimental; and a few individuals (“great men”) should be the center of social change and innovation. But all of these assumptions are false.

The appeal of the Randian vision to today’s wealthy is obvious: it puts them back at the center of economic life. They long ago realized that rather than being the beneficent “makers” they had always imagined themselves to be, they were the parasitical “takers” they so despised. Their wealth, which was once a symbol that God praised their work, became an instrument for social change (Carnegie, Rockefeller) and eventually good in itself (Gates, Jobs). Social Darwinism, the idea that the economy is a “survival of the fittest” competition where the superior end up on top, exults the businessman as superior and deserving. But as Henry George noted of Herbert Spencer (the founder of Social Darwinism): “Mr. Spencer is like one who might insist that each should swim for himself in crossing a river, ignoring the fact that some had been artificially provided with corks and other artificially loaded with lead.” F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thorstein Veblen ridiculed the idea that the wealthy were in any way superior. Social Darwinism has resurged in conservative thought, supplementing the Randian vision to fortify a social order in which a minuscule proportion of society reaps its rewards.

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Because the wealthy are no longer willing to use their wealth for good, they have decided to glorify the wealth itself as good, thus, Harry Bingswanger writes in Forbes,

Imagine the effect on our culture, particularly on the young, if the kind of fame and adulation bathing Lady Gaga attached to the more notable achievements of say, Warren Buffett. Or if the moral praise showered on Mother Teresa went to someone like Lloyd Blankfein, who, in guiding Goldman Sachs toward billions in profits, has done infinitely more for mankind. (Since profit is the market value of the product minus the market value of factors used, profit represents the value created.)

Here we see the Randian vision in all its idiotic glory. If you could make a profit by pressing puppies into coffee, you deserve more moral praise than someone who dedicates their life to the poor. As E.F. Schumacher observed about capitalism, “Call a thing immoral or ugly, soul-destroying or a degradation to man, a peril to the peace of the world or to the well-being of future generations: as long as you have not shown it to be ‘uneconomic’ [unprofitable] you have not really questioned its right to exist, grow, and prosper.” To justify their wealth, the titans of industry must make themselves the center of economic progress and society, but the dirty little secret is that they aren’t; they’re just along for the ride. As Richard Hofstadter observed about American capitalism, “Once great men created fortunes; today a great system creates fortunate men.”

This observation fits with the facts: William Baumol found in the 1960s that 90 percent of the United States’ GDP today is due to innovations since 1870. Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simonestimates that a flat tax of 90% of income is justifiable because “social capital” accounts for 90% of income in developed countries. The Human Genome Project cost the government $3.8 billion but generated $796 billion in economic gains. The project is expected to bring about returns of 140 to 1 to the public. Research by Kenneth Flam finds that, “eighteen of the twenty five most important breakthroughs in computer technology between 1950 and 1962 were funded by the government, and in many cases the first buyer of the technology was also the government.” The Randian vision praises hedge fund managers, even though most hedge funds underperform the market. Social Darwinism praises the CEO even though the most highly-paid CEOs are often unsuccessful and many companies run fine without them. Society praises Zuckerberg, Brin and Dorsey, but it was DARPA that made their coding possible. Much of the research the government pursues isn’t profitable enough to merit the attention of private companies, or is simply too risky. Private space flight is only imaginable because the government went there first.

It seems almost axiomatic that no good person has ever done something great merely for a profit. They seek something more important than material possession. So why should we fear if the wealthiest left us? I would fear for the world if the empathetic, the intelligent, the compassionate, the fearless and the creative left us. We don’t celebrate these virtues unless they somehow lead to monetary gain, but often they don’t. Norman Borlaug, father of the “Green Revolution” that by some estimates saved 1 billion people from starvation and who was hailed as“… a towering scientist whose work rivals that of the 20th century’s other great scientific benefactors of humankind,” didn’t work for money; he worked to help people. A Dallas Observer story about him noted that he,  “rarely indulged in the comforts of the industrialized West for any extended period of time. His choice has been to immerse himself in locales where people stare death in the face every day.” When a reporter saw Mother Teresa helping a disfigured leper, he said to her, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars.” Mother Theresa said, “Neither would I.”

The Walton family heirs, whose fortune relies entirely on predation — of labor, of the environment, of government, of small business — controls more wealth than the poorest 40 million Americans. Imagine what we could do with that fortune if they left. For all the credit Bill Gates gets, it may be worth wondering, as Peter Singer did, if he has given enough:

Gates may have given away nearly $30 billion, but that still leaves him sitting at the top of the Forbes list of the richest Americans, with $53 billion. His 66,000-square-foot high-tech lakeside estate near Seattle is reportedly worth more than $100 million. Property taxes are about $1 million. Among his possessions is the Leicester Codex, the only handwritten book by Leonardo da Vinci still in private hands, for which he paid $30.8 million in 1994. Has Bill Gates done enough? More pointedly, you might ask: if he really believes that all lives have equal value, what is he doing living in such an expensive house and owning a Leonardo Codex? Are there no more lives that could be saved by living more modestly and adding the money thus saved to the amount he has already given?

If Gates donated all $53 billion to foreign humanitarian aid, it would be double what the U.S. government gives yearly ($23 billion in 2013). Imagine the good we could do with the fortunes of the rich, who have only amassed the wealth because of the infrastructure developed by society. Innovators regularly rely on government and academic funding for projects that corporations don’t think will be profitable (according to Singer, “less than 10 percent of the world’s health research budget is spent on combating conditions that account for 90 percent of the global burden of disease”). The arts are largely supported by public funding, not private donations. And many businesses are less self-sufficient than they imagine, requiring bailouts and competition between states to support them. Many corporations, like Walmart, dump poor employees on to government largess rather than pay them enough to feed themselves. And who builds the roads and takes out the garbage?

Were the richest .01% to venture out and form their own society, the rest of us would not devolve into violent conflict; rather, without the expensive burden of the wealthy tapeworms siphoning our common wealth, we could begin to solve our problems. So to the rich who threaten to leave New York, I say, “go.” If the rich somehow manage to form their own planet, we can start fixing the problems on ours. We are the makers, they are the takers.

Sean McElwee is a writer and researcher of public policy. His writing may be viewed at seanamcelwee.com. Follow him on Twitter at @seanmcelwee.MORE SEAN MCELWEE.

We Will Not Falter and Will Not Fail: Meet and Greet the 5th Congressional District candidate

Even though I know many who receive this opinion have no interest in our 5th Congressional district replacing former Rep. Ed Markey who as you know is now our Senator. I still, however, think it important to spread the thoughts contained within this opinion.

Yesterday I attended a Meet and Greet fundraiser in Framingham with supporters of Katherine Clark, candidate for Congressional representative from the 5th District of Massachusetts. The most important thing I observed about this meet and greet opportunity was Democrats from many towns including Framingham coming together in support of our Democratic candidate for the 5th Congressional district. We are UNIFIED and should be. In the final analysis I believe the Democratic Party means something good and something humane as it is a Party with the character of inclusiveness. I believe Katherine Clark embodies that spirit. That is why I am a Democrat and that is why I am in full support of Katherine Clark.

I believe Katherine Clark was attending an event in Framingham to reach out to the inhabitants of a town whose importance many of those who live here sometimes do not realize. We are a large population, diverse and multifaceted. The opportunities to thrive here are endless and the positive aura we exude cannot be underestimated. We are a SOLIDLY Democratic district and I am proud to say I, all of my life, have lived in it.

I think Katherine Clark was forthcoming, articulate and possesses the correct values -- the values of the Democratic Party. She assured me she will work to implement them and I believe her. She will, I think, make a fine Democratic member of the House of Representatives.

I urge ALL of you in the 5th Congressional to vote on December 10, 2013 and fill in the box for Katherine Clark, Democrat! We are in the Democratic Party UNIFIED behind our president and behind our Democratic candidates. I wish Katherine Clark the best of luck and I will work for her election. I have confidence she will win on December 10, 2013.

THOSE FROM THE 5TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT IN MASSACHUSETTS DO NOT FORGET TO VOTE ON DECEMBER 10, 2013 BECAUSE YOUR LIFE AND OUR NATION'S LIFE DEPENDS UPON IT. IT WILL BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VOTES YOU TAKE BECAUSE WE MUST ULTIMATELY TURN THE CONGRESSIONAL HOUSE MAJORITY DEMOCRATIC BLUE, KEEP THE SENATE AND TURN STATE HOUSES ALL OVER THE NATION DEMOCRATIC TOO IN THE ALL-IMPORTANT ELECTION OF 2014.
ANYTHING ELSE IS UNACCEPTABLE! STAY STRONG AND STAY UNITED. IT IS ONLY THEN THAT WE CAN DEFEAT THE REPUBLICAN FORCES OF HATE. IF WE STAND TOGETHER I BELIEVE WE WILL NOT FALTER AND WE WILL NOT FAIL!

The Enemy Within

We have seen the enemy and it is part of us. I am sad to say, it is the Republican Party billionaire corporate monied-saturated immoral mendacious malcontents and their side car of racist hate mongers the Tea Baggers. We as Democrats no matter our faults are INFINITELY more progressive and humane than these racist excuses for humanity who want to bring down our president. They could not do it legally through the electoral process so they gerrymandered state districts and took over state houses all over the nation to inflict their fraud and voter suppression on the poor, on the powerless, on women, on the elderly and on the disabled. It did NOT work nationally in 2012 and we MUST at all costs stop them from using the Affordable Care Act as the only weapon they have left because as Minority leader McConnell said his one goal is to defeat the president.

There will always be another way to try to destroy the president. First it was Eric Holder and Fast and Furious utter nonsense that went nowhere because it was about nothing, then it was trumped up Benghazi faux anger with Daryl Issa the despicable and his faux hearings and now it is health care. What else?

We as loyal Democrats and all other true patriotic persons MUST in 2014 take back the House. This obstructionism and nullification with Confederate, Birchers, gun nuts and Klu Klux Klan sympathizers finding home in the Republican Party MUST be stopped.

The country's demographics are changing and the right wing odious peddlers of hate know it. Rightwing extremism went down in Virginia as the Democrats SWEPT a 2013 election. It must go down all over the nation as well.We must not let them win. NEVER turn our backs on our president who has been besieged by the legions of hate.

I believe stunning and crushing victory over the Republican Party in November, 2014 WILL take place if we people of good will ensure that it does!

The Fortunate Flush--Don't Laugh

When I wax critical of our nation there are times I must step back from my myopic tendency to see life here through sometimes a too critical lens.

No, I am not becoming "conservative" as I get older but simply appreciative and thankful for the things that I do have instead of concentrating on things I don't. I do try at times to see the proverbial glass half full instead of the needle on empty. Maybe it is that Thanksgiving time of the year that causes this reflection.

Each day I begin my day with a perusal of the news. I then think I cannot write anymore because I am so tired of the controversy, discord, anger and fractures in our national discourse that my thoughts on what to say next freeze as I bathe in incredulity. I loathe the injustice inherent in the extremist right, their lack of compassion, and, if they should gain ultimate power, the possible erasure of all those things achieved by man because of rational thought and science creating a better life for so many. More than that I fear those reactionary forces working against what has been a slow hard slog by man over thousands of years to attain a scientifically correct and culturally humane understanding of life.

Another thing I do upon arising are the usual things humans do to maintain health. I will not enumerate. I read a report on the NBC News site that unequivocally proves some of us on the planet are surely luckier than others perhaps even luckier than most but we often do not realize it. It is merely a fact. We simply are lucky through an accident of birth and it involves the fortunate flush.

Next time I want to throw my hands up in utter disgust because of those forces that imbue unjust ethnic hatreds and inhumane creeds in this country, I think upon those things in this story linked here or below which make us a very fortunate people indeed. Remember, I said in the title of my opinion, "don't laugh" because in reality the issue is deadly serious!

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/no-joke-lack-toilets-signals-deadly-crisis-2D11603662

DO NOT FIX

Write Congress, Senators, Representatives, or anyone who needs to be told. Heck write the president's dog BO! DO NOT subvert the ACA a/k/a Obamacare. DO NOT go against the president. It will hurt the real fixes to the bill and technological glitches WILL be fixed over time. Technological glitches happen all the time as it did with Romneycare and Med. Part D which was never protested because elected reps worked together but it is a different day. 

BACK OFF SUBVERTING THE PRESIDENT. Republicans are NOT your allies!!!! DO NOT PANIC as Democrats are wont to do. Republicans have NOTHING to offer and much of the insurance cancellations were made on a SMALL percentage of the population because what they had was JUNK insurance that could not meet the high standards of the Affordable Health Care Act/Obamacare. Republicans want to go back to the old broken system. NO, do not let them! They have NOTHING to offer. Please herd the Democratic cats and do NOT subvert our president! He has had ENOUGH obstruction. Main goal: Let the ACA alone and the technical problems will be fixed over time.

This historic legislation is a start. Romneycare was used as its example and it works in Massachusetts. DO NOT do anything to hurt this signature legislation or to hurt the president!!

Defeat these obstructionists and and THROW OUT racist Republicans in 2014. They are NOT the friends of most of you, the vast middle class majority of the nation!


MOST IMPORTANT GOAL: OVERTHROW THE REPUBLICAN MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE IN 2014. TAKE BACK THE HOUSE, KEEP THE SENATE AND IN 2016 ELECT THE DEMOCRAT AS PRESIDENT. THEN AND ONLY THEN IN 2014 WILL YOU SEE THE NATION BOUNCE BACK FROM THE WORST RECESSION SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION BECAUSE THE PRESIDENT WILL NOT BE OBSTRUCTED AND CAN GET HIS PICKS FOR POSITIONS THAT HAVE BEEN VACANT FOR MONTHS BECAUSE OF REPUBLICAN OBSTRUCTIONISM. YOU WILL SEE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE HEALTHCARE WAS ATTEMPTED 100 YEARS AGO A LAW THAT WILL WORK AND BE PERFECTED OVER TIME! LIVES WILL BE SAVED AND YOU WILL HAVE YOUR NATION BACK.

JFK assassination: CIA and New York Times are still lying to us By David Talbot

Admission: I am NOT a conspiratorialist but I have always believed there was more to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy than was alleged in the Warren Commission Report. I have my own thoughts which could be in error or not. I do wonder why the president's body was whisked away so abruptly by the government security detail (CIA and FBI) at Parkland Hospital in Dallas where the body initially was taken never releasing the full autopsy performed by the Navy later on November 22, 1963.

I have wondered why Oswald said he was "a patsy." The Kennedys had enemies. We know the mafia hated him because his Attorney General brother Robert F. Kennedy went after them. Some in the upper echelons of the military had bitter disputes with the president because of the deep policy divisions between them and his administration, JFK's failure at the Bay of Pigs invasion along with his penchant for wanting detente and not war with the Soviets and its satellite Cuba.

The Assassination: There can be no doubt, it seems to me, that the president was shot by more than one bullet. First from the front as autopsy photos later released show in keeping with the president's head on the Zapruder film first going back, the president clutching his throat, then his head and body going forward as he was shot again shattering his skull and splattering his brain ubiquitously. There may have been a third bullet and even a fourth, fifth or sixth bullet.

Oliver Stone explains it thus:

“You see Kennedy make his—get a hit in the throat. Then you see Kennedy get a hit in the back. Then you see him essentially get a hit from the front. When he gets the hit from the front, which is the fourth or the fifth or the sixth shot, he goes back and to the left. That’s the basic evidence. You see a man fly back because he gets hit right here. Many witnesses at Parkland and at the autopsy in Bethesda saw a massive exit wound to the rear of his skull, to the right side. The people at Parkland, including the young doctor, McClelland, saw his cerebellum, his brain, go out the—almost falling out of the back of his skull. Later, when he gets taken – illegally (sic) immediately-- to the—to Bethesda, Maryland. — The military is telling them what to do.

And when this whole thing emerges, what we have are weird shots of—the back of his head is patched up, basically. And the shot—they’re trying to justify the shot from the rear to the front. So they’re saying that the shot from the back came into his back and hit Connally. There’s—they talk about three bullets. One missed. The magic bullet, that was devised by Arlen Specter and others, devises a path that’s impossible. It’s seven wounds in two people, in Kennedy and in Connolly. The bullet hits Kennedy"

Was it a perfect storm and was Oswald as he said simply a "patsy?" Perhaps. Will we ever really know? James Carroll in his well-written opinion in the Boston Sunday Globe here or below covering many manifestations of the assassination ends by admitting that perhaps we never will know.

The attached article by David Talbot says the conclusion that we will never know is the media's usual easy way out to not rock the boat of power. Is it? You decide.

One caveat: I was 14 years old when the president was assassinated. I can tell you where I was, the time of day it was, who told me and I can remember the night of the horrific act.
Recently I read a book entitled "Family of Secrets" about the Bush family. George HW (Poppy) Bush was in fact in government at the time of the assassination and -- although hidden for years -- was in the CIA. He was asked where he was when the president was assassinated and said he could not remember. He could not remember? Astounding. Hereis that story or below.

“Why do JFK conspiracy theories endure? A new book blames top US officials.”

This piece by David Talbot appearing in OpEdNews is well written and then some.

It is here or below.
I also for your edification link an audio of the interview of Oliver Stone by Amy Goodman on “Democracy Now” who in pertinent part talks about the JFK assassination in his new documentary “The Untold History of the United States.” It is here or below for you to review.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/JFK-assassination-CIA-and-by-David-Talbot-Central-Intelligence-Agency_JFK-Assassination_Media-News_New-York-Times-131111-912.html


http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/11/10/jfk-conspiracy-theories-sent-america-poisonous-direction/aFImxTdOdETuaJMFUa8YxO/story


http://whowhatwhy.com/2013/09/16/part-1-mr-george-bush-of-the-central-intelligence-agency/



http://www.democracynow.org/2013/11/5/oliver_stone_on_50th_anniversary_of

On Broadway--Being There

I have a brilliant idea. Why keep it a secret?

In past years I have gone to three operas which were live at the Met but which I saw at my local theater simultaneously broadcast in, of course, a wide screen HD format. Moreover, they actually, during intermission, took us behind the stage, interviewed opera stars and showed us how the set was constructed. We saw it all from the comfort of our local big screen theater but without the expense of travel, hotel and arduous walking or standing in line for those of us (and there were many) who cannot walk well, are seniors or those who are more severely handicapped. I think I paid around $25 for it and BEST of all I paid so little for so much. If one sat close which we did one thought one was at the Met itself in NYC.

My idea, as you probably have guessed, is why can we not bring Broadway plays to the general public at local theaters as opera now does through HD capability?

I checked what was on Broadway now and there is much I would absolutely love to see such as: "The Book of Mormon", "Kinky Boots", "Janis Joplin", "The Winslow Boy" and Off Broadway "Avenue Q". But I cannot. All of it is priced out of my range and worse out of my physical capability for NYC travel. I would, in a nanosecond, spend money as I did for the opera but spend it instead for Broadway at my local theater. I even have a great title for the business: "On Broadway." If I had business savvy and finances to risk I would risk it on that.

Think about it. What a bonanza it could be to have Broadway come to a theater near you OR even better would be the ability to purchase Broadway shows from your own cable TV provider instead of buying obnoxious shows like violent wrestling we can purchase now.

I do not think it would obviate the New York Broadway experience. Nothing can compete with being there but it can, I think, come close.

Haiyan Hell

Why when I say we MUST elect Democrats ALL over the nation I am not just waxing sensationally hysterical.

The Pacific typhoon (called a hurricane in the Atlantic) Haiyan is the worst of the worst of mother natures' scream against man's fossil ugly fuel warming and obliteration of earth's climate.  As my opinion yesterday stated correctly -- for those who do not just delete it -- it is just a matter of time before one of these monsters hits the US making Katrina and Sandy look like a sunny day at the beach.  

Last night before a half comatose me went to bed late the MSNBC and Huffington Post web sites had the possible death tole at 10,000!!  Yes, I post another story below hoping you spread the news to every adult and child who can understand it that SOMETHING must be done and done fast.

This story of typhoon Haiyan is unbelievable to say the least! Ultimately if climate change is not fixed and reversed (and it surely won't be fixed here with no operational government to fix it and a president who is obstructed in Tea Bag cement)  perhaps in our life time or shortly thereafter man will be an extinct species and mother earth will have had the last word as she kicks our overpoweringly violent, greedy and intellectually bankrupt species in its personal parts!  

See the headline below and the links to MSNBC here or http://www.nbcnews.com/ and Huffington:  here  or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ .

HAIYAN HELL:
10,000 FEARED DEAD 

HOW TO HELP

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A Matter of Time

Opinion: It's simply a matter of time before one of these (see story below) hits the US probably in the Gulf. It will make Katrina look like a day at the beach on a sunny day. As usual man especially in the lagging-behind-everyone now US is an ostrich putting its head in the sand. This woefully uninformed duped and religiously dogmatic nationalist nation sits watching Desperate Housewives or the NFL while Rome burns and the earth vies for man's extinction right under our noses.

But no the electorate must keep watching TV and let the powers that be build our empire, keep building bombs, and engaging in useless wars spending trillions on them killing hundreds of thousands, pulling the wool over the electorate's eyes that they are fighting for our "freedom" instead of us fighting against our specie's extinction and our planet's destruction via climate change. This dumbed down nation will do nothing. Keep tying yourselves and those you elect to corporate cronyism and oh yes, most especially, keep voting Repuglican that'll help.

Stick around long enough and you will get to see the extinction except it will not be dinosaurs this time. It will be man! And then God said weeping: "Back to the drawing board!"

Philippines Typhoon: Year's Strongest Storm Haiyan Turns Deadly

By OLIVER TEVES and TERESA CEROJANO 11/08/13 11:12 PM ET EST

FOLLOW:

Typhoon Philippines, Haiyan Philippines, Philippines Typhoon 2013, Super Typhoon 2013,Super Typhoon Haiyan, Super Typhoon Philippines, Typhoon Haiyan, World News

MANILA, Philippines -- MANILA, Philippines (AP) — One of the strongest storms on record has killed more than 100 people and injured another 100 in the central Philippines before sweeping west toward Vietnam on Saturday, still packing destructive winds capable of blowing away houses and uprooting trees.

Capt. John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, said he had received "reliable information" from his staff describing the death and destruction Typhoon Haiyan wrecked in Tacloban city on Leyte Island, about 580 kilometers (360 miles) southwest of Manila, where the storm made landfall Friday.

He told The Associated Press that more than 100 bodies were lying in the streets and another 100 were injured.

He said messages from civil aviation authorities in Tacloban to the capital, Manila, had to be relayed through another airport in the central Philippines once every five hours to conserve radio batteries.

The Philippine television station GMA reported its news team saw 11 bodies, including that of a child, washed ashore Friday and 20 more bodies at a pier in Tacloban hours after the typhoon ripped through the coastal city.

At least 20 more bodies were taken to a church in nearby Palo town that was used as an evacuation center but had to be abandoned when its roofs were blown away, the TV network reported. TV images showed howling winds peeling off tin roof sheets during heavy rain.

Ferocious winds felled large branches and snapped coconut trees. A man was shown carrying the body of his 6-year-old daughter who drowned, and another image showed vehicles piled up in debris.

Nearly 800,000 people were forced to flee their homes and damage was believed to be extensive.

Weather officials said Haiyan had sustained winds of 235 kph (147 mph) with gusts of 275 kph (170 mph) when it made landfall. By those measurements, Haiyan would be comparable to a strong Category 4 hurricane in the U.S., nearly in the top category, a 5.

Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are the same thing. They are just called different names in different parts of the world.

The typhoon's sustained winds weakened Saturday to 175 kph (109 mph) with gusts of up to 210 kph (131 mph) as it blew farther away from the Philippines toward Vietnam.

In Vietnam, state media reported that several central provinces began evacuating some 300,000 people from high risk areas. The typhoon was expected to make landfall in the central region early Sunday morning.

Because of cut-off communications in the Philippines, it was impossible to know the full extent of casualties and damage. Officially, four people were listed as dead as of Saturday morning, before the latest information from Tacloban came in.

Southern Leyte Gov. Roger Mercado said the typhoon ripped roofs off houses and triggered landslides that blocked roads.

The dense clouds and heavy rains made the day seem almost as dark as night, he said.

"When you're faced with such a scenario, you can only pray, and pray and pray," Mercado told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that mayors in the province had not called in to report any major damage.

"I hope that means they were spared and not the other way around," he said. "My worst fear is there will be massive loss of lives and property."

Eduardo del Rosario, head of the disaster response agency, said the speed at which the typhoon sliced through the central islands — 40 kph (25 mph) — helped prevent its 600-kilometer (375-mile) band of rain clouds from dumping enough of their load to overflow waterways. Flooding from heavy rains is often the main cause of deaths from typhoons.

"It has helped that the typhoon blew very fast in terms of preventing lots of casualties," regional military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said. He said the massive evacuation of villagers before the storm also saved many lives.

Lebanon starts to vaccinate 750,000 against polio after Syria outbreak

Maybe our cries in the Internet wilderness are doing some good.  I HOPE so!

Friday, November 8, 2013

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Lebanon starts to vaccinate 750,000 against polio after Syria outbreak Lebanon launched a massive public health initiative on Friday to vaccinate all children under five against polio, following a confirmed outbreak of the crippling disease last month in neighboring war-torn Syria. The task is a daunting one in Lebanon, where more than 800,000 refugees are spread across the country in nearly 1,600 locations, including 400 informal tented settlements. Unlike Jordan and Turkey, which each host more than half a million Syrians, Lebanon has avoided establishing large-scale camps and many of the refugees are living among Lebanese. The vaccination plan in Lebanon is to go "house by house, tent by tent," said Annamaria Laurini, the UNICEF representative in Lebanon.

[Captioned Photo: A Syrian refugee girl helps her brother, who the family suspects has polio, to walk in a mosque compound in Shebaa area, southern Lebanon]
UN launches polio vaccination campaign in Mideast GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says a massive campaign to vaccinate children in the Middle East against polio has begun after the first cases in 14 years were confirmed in northeastern Syria last week.

A response of a relative to "Syrian polio outbreak could spread to Europe, experts warn"

She said:

"Having just retired from working in our county's refugee clinic, I feel this report is vital to the health of our country.  We here in Palm Beach County have a very active immunization program which includes refugees as well as the general population.  The "vaccines for children" federal program ensures that all children regardless of income receive free vaccines.  The problem we face here is the growing population of parents who claim a "religious" exemption from vaccines, and these kids are then allowed in school.  Of course, if there is an outbreak they are excluded from school, but they are foolishly putting their children in jeopardy.  Thanks for sharing this very important information.  I have forwarded it to persons who are interested in the health of our community."  

On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 11:53 PM, Natalie Rosen <natalierosen@aol.com> wrote:

I post this in its entirety because I believe it to be that important for obvious reasons!

Syrian polio outbreak could spread to Europe, experts warn

Mohammad Zaatari / AP

Displaced Syrian children line up to receive vaccination against polio at one of the Syrian refugee camps in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, this week, following an outbreak of the crippling and highly communicable disease in neighboring Syria.

An outbreak of polio in eastern Syria that has paralyzed at least 10 children could spread to neighboring regions, including Europe — and in such a silent way that no one would know it for a year.

That’s a warning from two infectious disease experts in Germany, who say that large numbers of Syrian refugees now fleeing that conflict-torn country could settle in Europe, bringing the virus to places that have been polio-free for decades.

And it’s a worry echoed by U.S. polio experts, who say that countries around the world — including America — must be vigilant for signs of spread.

“The big issue is to assure that we have good surveillance to pick up polio as quickly as possible,” said. Dr. Walt Orenstein of Emory University, who has been working on eradicating polio for years. “As long as it circulates anywhere, it’s a risk everywhere.”

Because polio causes symptoms — including paralysis — in only about 1 of every 200 people infected, it has the potential to spread widely to others unnoticed, Dr. Martin Eichner of the University of Tubingen and Dr. Stefan Brockmann of the Reutlingen Regional Public Health Office in Germany wrote Thursday in a letter to the journal The Lancet.

“It might take … nearly 1 year of silent transmission before one acute flaccid paralysis case is identified and an outbreak is detected, although hundreds of individuals would carry the infection,” the experts wrote.

The situation will be exacerbated because most European countries, like the U.S., use inactivated polio vaccine, or IPV, rather than oral polio vaccine, or OPV, because the live-virus oral variety caused rare cases of paralysis in people who were vaccinated. While the IPV reduces transmission and protects well against paralysis, it only partially protects against infection, the experts warned.

In places with low vaccination coverage — including Bosnia, Herzegovina, Ukraine and Austria — there might not be enough widespread protection, known as “herd immunity," to prevent sustained transmission, they said.

“Vaccinating only Syrian refugees — as has been recommended by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control — must be judged as insufficient,” they wrote.

Only a handful of European member states allow use of OPV and none has a stockpile of the live vaccine, the authors note. The U.S. has used only IPV since 2000, after eradicating polio in America in 1979.

Polio is caused by a virus that spreads between people, but it can survive in water and sewage, too. The series of vaccines can protect people for life, but babies too young to have been vaccinated and children who don’t get the full dose can be infected.

The outbreak in Syria has paralyzed at least 10 children in the country’s Del al-Zour province. They’re all younger than 2 and may have gone unvaccinated because of the ongoing conflict that has now left half the population — an estimated 9 million people — homeless and starving.

It’s unclear how polio got back into Syria, which had eradicated the virus in 1999, though officials say this bout may have originated in Pakistan. Polio immunization rates fell from 91 percent in Syria in 2010 to 68 percent in 2012, largely because of the impact of conflict, the World Health Organization says.

Video: International health care workers are providing thousands of vaccinations to prevent polio from spreading any further among Syrians, many of whom are living in squalid refugee camps. And polio isn’t the only threat -- poor sanitation in the camps provides ripe conditions for the spread of other diseases. NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.

Vaccination efforts are focusing on more than 2 million children in Syria, as well as in seven neighboring countries: Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt.

“Without a doubt, it can go wider, go beyond Syria’s borders,” said Sarah Crowe, spokeswoman for UNICEF. “Disease knows no borders.”

Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the country to seek help in neighboring regions – and Europe. The German disease experts are calling for increased surveillance of sewage in settlements.

“I would agree with them, it is important to develop more use of environmental surveillance,” said Orenstein, the U.S. expert who spearheaded a global declaration by more than 400 scientists that an end to polio is possible.

In the U.S., imported cases of measles have sparked recent outbreaks of the disease, particularly in pockets of un-vaccinated children, raising the very real possibility that other infections could spread as well. 

"Measles is your canary in the coal mine," Orenstein said. "It's much more contagious than polio. With polio, we have been fortunate, so far."

Syrian polio outbreak could spread to Europe, experts warn

I post this in its entirety because I believe it to be that important for obvious reasons!

Syrian polio outbreak could spread to Europe, experts warn

JoNel AlecciaNBC News

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5 hours ago

Mohammad Zaatari / AP

Displaced Syrian children line up to receive vaccination against polio at one of the Syrian refugee camps in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, this week, following an outbreak of the crippling and highly communicable disease in neighboring Syria.

An outbreak of polio in eastern Syria that has paralyzed at least 10 children could spread to neighboring regions, including Europe — and in such a silent way that no one would know it for a year.

That’s a warning from two infectious disease experts in Germany, who say that large numbers of Syrian refugees now fleeing that conflict-torn country could settle in Europe, bringing the virus to places that have been polio-free for decades.

And it’s a worry echoed by U.S. polio experts, who say that countries around the world — including America — must be vigilant for signs of spread.

“The big issue is to assure that we have good surveillance to pick up polio as quickly as possible,” said. Dr. Walt Orenstein of Emory University, who has been working on eradicating polio for years. “As long as it circulates anywhere, it’s a risk everywhere.”

Because polio causes symptoms — including paralysis — in only about 1 of every 200 people infected, it has the potential to spread widely to others unnoticed, Dr. Martin Eichner of the University of Tubingen and Dr. Stefan Brockmann of the Reutlingen Regional Public Health Office in Germany wrote Thursday in a letter to the journal The Lancet.

“It might take … nearly 1 year of silent transmission before one acute flaccid paralysis case is identified and an outbreak is detected, although hundreds of individuals would carry the infection,” the experts wrote.

The situation will be exacerbated because most European countries, like the U.S., use inactivated polio vaccine, or IPV, rather than oral polio vaccine, or OPV, because the live-virus oral variety caused rare cases of paralysis in people who were vaccinated. While the IPV reduces transmission and protects well against paralysis, it only partially protects against infection, the experts warned.

In places with low vaccination coverage — including Bosnia, Herzegovina, Ukraine and Austria — there might not be enough widespread protection, known as “herd immunity," to prevent sustained transmission, they said.

“Vaccinating only Syrian refugees — as has been recommended by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control — must be judged as insufficient,” they wrote.

Only a handful of European member states allow use of OPV and none has a stockpile of the live vaccine, the authors note. The U.S. has used only IPV since 2000, after eradicating polio in America in 1979.

Polio is caused by a virus that spreads between people, but it can survive in water and sewage, too. The series of vaccines can protect people for life, but babies too young to have been vaccinated and children who don’t get the full dose can be infected.

The outbreak in Syria has paralyzed at least 10 children in the country’s Del al-Zour province. They’re all younger than 2 and may have gone unvaccinated because of the ongoing conflict that has now left half the population — an estimated 9 million people — homeless and starving.

It’s unclear how polio got back into Syria, which had eradicated the virus in 1999, though officials say this bout may have originated in Pakistan. Polio immunization rates fell from 91 percent in Syria in 2010 to 68 percent in 2012, largely because of the impact of conflict, the World Health Organization says.

Video: International health care workers are providing thousands of vaccinations to prevent polio from spreading any further among Syrians, many of whom are living in squalid refugee camps. And polio isn’t the only threat -- poor sanitation in the camps provides ripe conditions for the spread of other diseases. NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.

Vaccination efforts are focusing on more than 2 million children in Syria, as well as in seven neighboring countries: Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt.

“Without a doubt, it can go wider, go beyond Syria’s borders,” said Sarah Crowe, spokeswoman for UNICEF. “Disease knows no borders.”

Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the country to seek help in neighboring regions – and Europe. The German disease experts are calling for increased surveillance of sewage in settlements.

“I would agree with them, it is important to develop more use of environmental surveillance,” said Orenstein, the U.S. expert who spearheaded a global declaration by more than 400 scientists that an end to polio is possible.

In the U.S., imported cases of measles have sparked recent outbreaks of the disease, particularly in pockets of un-vaccinated children, raising the very real possibility that other infections could spread as well. 

"Measles is your canary in the coal mine," Orenstein said. "It's much more contagious than polio. With polio, we have been fortunate, so far."

Taking the Christ out of Christie

I was feeling particularly satisfied as Tea Baggers went down in Virginia no matter how close these elections were.  Those know nothing dastardly doers of rancid policy especially toward women in Virginia are not going to wield their toxicity this time and perhaps, the Tea Baggers were sent a lesson.  What is the lesson?  To win a national presidential and even senatorial election in this country one cannot be an extremist of either the left or the right.  We have seen Tea Baggers lose the Republican Party seats which cost them the majority in 2012 and could have helped that party take the Senate.  Tea Baggers though ideological and radical will still not be deterred from running, turn their backs on the loyal opposition, refuse to even congratulate those who oppose them hence the “war” in the Republican Party between the moderate old guard and the radical uber right nationalists is raging.  The nationalists will never get the Republican Party the presidency or even win the Senate and perhaps, HOPEFULLY, even lose the House in 2014.

Center stage Chris Christie billed as a moderate Republican centrist who can work well with kids on the other side of the isle after all his hand shaking and arms around the president which by a party and admission of one Tea Bagger that cannot even look at the president let alone put arms around him is proof of his Christie’s moderate stance.  Christie would have the nation believe he is not one of those Baggers but a different Republican who can take center stage in his obvious catapult to the 2016 presidential nomination.  He is now the chair of the Republican Governor’s Association which will pay for and take him to states all around the nation.  I suspect he will get some exposure from that and not pay a personal dime.  Christie is good at that after all.  Christie is an act and the act will be exposed.

Chris Hayes of MSNBC had a wonderful exposure of the true Christie and urge you to Google his Wednesday evening show to listen why.  Among many things of which Christie will have to account when running for national office is his less-than-Christian transparency about money not to mention his unwillingness when vetted by Romney for the VP slot to talk about his health according to John Heilman and Mark Halpern (in his new book and expose of the 2012 campaign entitled “Double Down”.)

Moreover, Chris Hayes showed how 1.2 billion of federal aid for Sandy relief for the state of New Jersey has never been received by lower and middle income people who were told they would get it as they filed the appropriate papers but a year later are living still in trailers.  Hayes backed his assertions up by interviewing a woman expering just that and she is one of thousands!  Christie has been less than transparent with the 1.2 billion Federal money for Sandy relief and worse no one really knows where all that money went.   Where did it go?  Christie will not tell.  He managed though to get 15 million of it to build the deck that recently caught fire as the optics were oh so good on the national news doncha know.  Add to Christie’s unpreparedness for in-state disasters and one wonders how he can now ride the ascending star on super storm Sandy to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, White House, Washington D.C.  

25 million of Sandy relief money we know went for TV advertising showing Christie with nuclear family in tow touting how great he was getting people together in a hug circle except that another advertisement that could have been used that was 40% cheaper but was not used.  Curiously, the cheaper advertisement did NOT include the governor and his family.  If Governor Christie is in fact going to run for the presidency he's going to have a lot of splainin to do. 

Chris Christie is not a different Republican he is the same old Tea Bag recycled Republican.  Simply look at his record on the politically revelatory social issues.  He is anti-choice and he is against marriage equality.  According to the November 5, 2013 Los Angeles Times “Christie holds views on social issues that may isolate him from Democrats. He opposes abortion and has vetoed bills that would fund family-planning groups such as Planned Parenthood.  His frequent vetoes of funding for family planning have led facilities to close, women’s groups say.” “Chris Christie likes playing a moderate on TV, but when one looks at what he’s actually done during his time in office it is clear that it is all just an act. He has targeted services New Jersey women and families rely on time and time again, and he’s proven he’s no less extreme than any of his fellow Republicans. You can only play a role for so long before people start catching on,” said Marcy Stech, a spokeswoman for Emily’s List.”

I thought the essence of being a good Christian, which Christie claims to be, is as enunciated by Pope Francis and that is to embrace a faith whose main emphasis should be as Christ instructed -- feeding the poor and caring for the least of those among us.  Christie’s program of austerity and cuts for aid to the poor and education union busting have done nothing for the very groups about which Christianity is supposed to be.  The economics of his state paint a dismal picture of Chris Christie’s leadership as governor.

I say take the Christ OUT of Chris Christie as he has the unmitigated gall to call himself something he is not!

WHEN I TELL YOU IT IS A MUST TO GET THIS RADICAL RIGHT WING ALBATROSS OFF OUR NECKS I AM NOT KIDDING.  GET DEMOCRATS ELECTED IN 2014 AND KEEP THE SENATE. ANYTHING ELSE IS UNACCEPTABLE!

A Good Night -- The Beat Goes On--A bell-weather--2013 elections

I was happy last night. The biggest bell weather state and Democratic win was the Virginia race. Putrid Tea Bagger incumbent who wanted to outlaw contraception, Ken Cuccinelli, LOST the gubernatorial to the Dem Terry McAulliffe-- that was my happiest moment but there was other good news out of VA. Democrats won the Lt. Governor race decidedly against a truly dumb, hell fire and brimstone fundamentalist preacher. Now as some news site (I know not which) reported "The Virginia attorney general’s race was a virtual dead heat and headed for a recount early Wednesday morning, with Democratic State Sen. Mark Herring clinging to a 541-vote lead over Republican State Sen. Mark D. Obenshain with 2.2 million ballots cast, according to unofficial results posted by the state board of elections." Herring was losing when I went to bed last evening so I was pleasantly surprised this a.m. by a Herring's possible win by a smidgen. A win is a win. This COULD be a Democratic sweep unless the recount proves otherwise. This is also an important office and not to pat myself on the back but I am one of the few in my circle who knew anything or cared about the VA race and how important a bell-weather it is and a kick-in-the-posterior of the Tea Bags. There will be a recount because the Attorney General race is so close but I hope and I think Herring will prevail which will make it a Democratic sweep!!Second happiest moment:

I LOVE my Mayor of NYC Bill DeBlasio. He loves his wife so I can't marry him! He won with a whopping 73% of the vote!!! First Democrat to win NYC since the 1980's.

In other news Boston has a new mayor, Martin Walsh. Ashamedly, I did not pay much attention as only in Massachusetts could two Democrats be competing for that job and no Republicrats. I love my state! I am hearing Walsh is the better of the two and a huge supporter of unions as I am. Unions are the only entity where Democrats can collect big money UNFORTUNATELY needed in politics today.

I won't give a rundown as you can get that from here or the link below.
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2013/results. It was a good night for those of us committed to progressive politics. Even secession failed, gay marriage will be if it is not already signed into law in Illinois and in Portland, Maine there was this headline: "Portland, Maine legalizes recreational marijuana" (must say I do not care about marijuana as I use no drugs or even alcohol but I do care that anyone on this planet is imprisoned -- especially in private profit prisons stuffed to the gills with people who should not be there -- for marijuana when alcohol truly can kill.) 

We MUST take these victories and forge onward to CRUSH Republicans most especially in the Congressional House in 2014 which is without a doubt the most obstructionist, know nothing, racist composition of idiots who almost sunk this nation and closed it down. They MUST PAY and pay big by Democrats taking back the House, keeping the Senate and -- fate willing -- keeping the presidency as Chris Christie is NOT good and has been less so in New Jersey. He may be charismatic but in policy he will be muddied by a microscopic lens on him if he runs in 2016 -- RUN HILLARY RUN! My dream ticket going future forward: Hillary Clinton/Corey Booker and way in the future forward a ticket of Corey Booker/Bill DeBlasio. Okay, I can dream. I'm savoring last evening! It was, I think, a good night!

WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO ELECT DEMOCRATS ACROSS THE NATION AND I BELIEVE THIS ELECTION GAVE US SOME WIND AT OUR BACKS. GO OUT AND WORK AND CONTRIBUTE TO DEMOCRATIC VICTORIES EVERYWHERE AND SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT'S BESIEGED AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT!!

DeBlasio for Mayor and More!

My opinion posted to the NYTimes.
I LOVE Bill DeBlasio and cannot believe what good fortune shone on him and NYC. He is an honest, smart, and excellent candidate with profoundly good values. I am not from NYC but today I surely wish I were and that is coming from a Bostonian! Does not matter. One recognizes greatness when one sees it and Bill DeBalsio is it. 

Future Mayor DeBlasio, run NYC for awhile then step onto the national stage and take the White House. It is early I know but that is my wish. My perfection ticket: Corey Booker/Bill DeBlasio for two terms and then DeBlasio for president. It makes me want to live another day! I WILL work for you if it comes to that. I can dream.

Good luck, Mr. future Mayor. There is a woman in Boston who loves you!