Fat Tuesday; Health Issues; Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide; Brain; Psych; Living Social; Obamacare, Sabotage

Fat Tuesday

• A Gut Reaction: America's obesity epidemic may be caused by its favorite drug
• 'Fit Mom' Gets Temporarily Banned from Facebook Over 'Hate Speech'
• Study: 'Healthy Obese' Still at Increased Risk of Heart Attack
• 'Half-Ton Killer' Mayra Rosales Reveals Why She Falsely Confessed to Murder, Dramatic Weight-Loss
• New Warning: Morning-After Pill Doesn't Work for Women Over 176 Pounds—"The European manufacturer of a pill identical to Plan B says its product won't work for women who weigh more than 176 pounds. Will American pharma companies warn women of weight limits?"

Health Issues

• Hong Kong confirms first human case of bird flu
• Adolescent AIDS rates up alarmingly, UN finds—"But mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been dramatically reduced, UNICEF reports."
• WHO Fail: Claim that 50% of new Greek HIV infections self-inflicted for benefits totally false
• Only Half of Drugs Removed by Sewage Treatment—"Only about half of the prescription drugs and other newly emerging contaminants in sewage are removed by treatment plants says a new report."
• NH hospital worker gets 39 years in hepatitis case

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

• French couple, 86, slam 'cruel' law in suicide note—"The plight of an 86-year-old couple, who committed suicide together at a luxury Paris hotel last week has provoked much emotion in France. On Monday it emerged they had penned a scathing suicide note, reigniting a row in France over assisted suicide."
• Scott Adams: I Hope My Father Dies Soon—"If you're a politician who has ever voted against doctor-assisted suicide, or you would vote against it in the future, I hate your fucking guts and I would like you to die a long, horrible death."
• Belgium: Legislative panels approve youth euthanasia bill

Brain

• UA Study: Your Brain Sees Things You Don't
• Former NHL Players File Class Action Concussions Suit Against League
• Teenager Sustains Concussion, Becomes Musical Genius
• The Neuroscientist Who Discovered He Was a Psychopath
• Deadly Brain Illness Discovered in British Family—"Condition destroys tissue much like mad cow disease, but is inherited and not infectious ."

Psych

• The Social Life of Genes—"Your DNA is not a blueprint. Day by day, week by week, your genes are in a conversation with your surroundings. Your neighbors, your family, your feelings of loneliness: They don't just get under your skin, they get into the control rooms of your cells. Inside the new social science of genetics."
• Science proves Louis C.K. is right!—"New studies show the 'equality bias' in kids turns out to be a lot like a famous Louis CK joke about kids and toys." Salon
• Study: Bad behavior gets "paid forward" more than good—"A new social scientific experiment reveals that greed frequently begets more greed." Salon
• The more inept you are the smarter you think you are
• Upside Downside

Living Social

• Want To Read Others' Thoughts? Try Reading Literary Fiction—"Could reading highbrow fiction make you better at perceiving the thoughts and feelings of others?"
• Apology Not Accepted: The Right — and Wrong — Way to Say You're Sorry
• How to Accept Critcism with Grace and Appreciation
• Ghosting, the Irish goodbye, the French leave: stop saying goodbye at parties.
• Eye contact may not be a social cure-all—"Locking eyes with someone may not be the universal route to persuasion."
• Stop Calling All Criticism "Shaming"—"Just because you don't like someone's criticism doesn't mean they're 'shaming' you."
• The Backfire Effect shows why you can't use facts to win an argument

Obamacare

• R.I.P. Obamacare repeal movement: Crusade is officially dead—"Without anyone realizing, all mainstream efforts to kill the health law have disappeared. Here's what it all means." Salon
• The Next 5 Fixes That Obamacare Needs
• The health care reality conservatives ignore
• High court ends Liberty U. lawsuit over health law—"The Supreme Court has turned away a Christian university's attempt to overturn a key part of the Obama administration's health care law." Salon
• Report: Obamacare To Cost 'Billions Of Dollars Less Than Originally Projected'
• Krugman: Obamacare's Secret Success NYT
• Counterpoint: Healthcare.gov Has Already Failed—"Website problems won't stop Obamacare, but they've already wrecked progressives' ambitions."

Sabotage

• Erick Erickson On Obamacare: 'We Must Deny Them The Opportunity To Fix The Law Itself'
• CA Assembly GOP Puts Up Fake California Health Exchange Site
• CNN employee's own mistake crashed Obamacare Web page

Government Shutdown Day 1, Politicking, Obamacare; Bill of Health, Issues, Malpractice; Assisted Suicide; NSA Spying and Surveillance

Government Shutdown Day 1

• Why Democrats Rejected The GOP's 11th Hour Conference Gambit
• Government shutdown: Get up to speed in 20 questions
• US shutdown: hundreds of thousands of workers forced into unpaid leave
• Dollar falls after US shutdown
• US government shutdown isn't the worst of it

Politicking

• Sen. Ted Cruz: The Pied Piper of Government Shutdown
• American Voters Reject GOP Shutdown Strategy 3-1, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Dems Up 9 Points In 2014 Congressional Races
• Congress, tea party hit all-time low in CNN polling—Daily News nails it with their House of Turds cover.
• Juan Cole: Ted Cruz and America's Super-Rich say "Let them eat Cake"
• The House's food stamps cuts aren't just cruel. They're dumb.
• Ronald Reagan's shameful legacy: Violence, the homeless, mental illness Salon
• The Power of Stupidity

Obamacare

• Ten Questions About Obamacare You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask
• Obamacare: How do I sign up?—Go visit HealthCare.gov.
• Sen. Sanders: A single-payer system, like Medicare, is the cure for America's ailing healthcare—"Obamacare's reforms are a welcome but small step. To give all Americans healthcare as a right, we need a fair, efficient solution."
• Jon Stewart Shreds GOP Over Obamacare: 'Utter Insanity,' 'It's a F*cking Law!'
• What Epic Propaganda Looks Like: Obamacare And Permanent Right-Wing Misinformation

Bill of Health

• Medical scams increasing as Obamacare begins, officials say
• The SCOOTER Store shutting down after federal scrutiny, CBS probe
• 2 officers accused of selling NYC accident reports—"Authorities say they sold the documents to 'runners.' Those people find accident victims and bring them to certain doctors and clinics. The alleged bribes ranged from $40 to $1,500."
• Medical identity theft is fast-growing and dangerous
• Tips to Negotiate Your Medical Bills

Issues

• World Health Organisation warns Haj countries over Mers virus
• Brain amoeba found in tests of water supply where boy died in Louisiana
• Vaccine Refusals Fueled California's Whooping Cough Epidemic

Malpractice

• Man who died of cancer given notice of Trillium Health scan review—"Grace, who did not want her last name published, lost her husband to stomach cancer in February. Eight months earlier, a radiologist told him that he was cancer-free."
• UC Hospital Settles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit For $9 million—"Kaminer was in labor for 7 hours even though doctors knew that her child was in jeopardy. A C-section would have resulted in a normal birth. Instead, according to Kaminer's attorney... doctors were convinced that she strongly opposed the procedure."
• Chiropractor breaks baby's neck—"Fairfax Media has also seen evidence that chiropractors have been entering Sydney hospitals, including neo-natal intensive care wards and surgical wards, to treat patients without the required permission."

Assisted Suicide

• Stephen Hawking speaks out about assisted suicide
• Minn. Prosecutor To Appeal Assisted Suicide Ruling—"A Minnesota law banning the offering of advice or encouragement about how to commit suicide is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech, the state appeals court ruled Monday."
• Quadriplegic Conservative MP's support for assisted suicide puts him at odds with party

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• Ex-Microsoft privacy adviser: I don't trust company after NSA revelations—"Caspar Bowden says he was unaware of Prism data-sharing program when he worked at software firm."
• A CEO who resisted NSA spying is out of prison. And he feels 'vindicated' by Snowden leaks.
• Edward Snowden shortlisted for EU's Sakharov prize

Fat Tuesday, Diet; Health Matters; Obamacare; Young and Old; Right-to-Die; Sleep; Psych; Brain

Fat Tuesday

• Fat City: What can stop obesity?
• Obesity worldwide: the map of the world's weight—"American women not employed outside the home were burning about 360 fewer calories every day in 2010 than they had in 1965, according to a new analysis, with working women burning about 132 fewer calories at home each day in 2010 than in 1965."
• Israel passes law banning models that have a BMI under 18.5
• What Housework Has to Do With Waistlines
• Obese heart patients 'do better'—"Obese cardiac patients are less likely to die than their normal weight counterparts, say researchers."
• What Losing 180 Pounds Really Does To Your Body — & Your Mind
• President Vladimir Putin calls for fitness tests for Russian schoolchildren—And teams up with Steven Seagal to promote fitness.

Diet

• Judge Blocks New York City's Limits on Big Sugary Drinks NYT
• No soda ban here: Mississippi passes 'Anti-Bloomberg' bill
• The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food—"Inside the hyperengineered, savagely marketed, addiction-creating battle for American 'stomach share.'" NYT
• 'FastDiet' book is attracting dieters, and doubters
• Biggest Loser Trainers Publicly Promote Diet And Exercise, Quietly Endorse Unproven Weight Loss Pills
• This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again—"Rob Rhinehart's vomit-coloured cocktail could change food forever."
• Heart Attack Grill's Unofficial Spokesman Dies After Heart Attack

Health Matters

• CVS wants workers' weight, body fat and glucose levels
• U.S. Won't Appeal Court's Block Of Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels
• Let your flatulence fly, scientists urge
• Sitting next to pretty woman for a 5-hour flight almost kills a man
• Medical Scans Show Leonardo Da Vinci's Drawings Were Right All Along
• Feeling sick makes us less social online too—"A new study from BYU finds that while most of us go online regularly for help in diagnosing health issues, very few of us actually post information, including questions or our experiences, on health topics."
• Montreal bodybuilder Joe Weider, who helped lift Arnold Schwarzenegger to fame, dead at 93

Obamacare

• It's the Demographics, Stupid—"Our population is aging, and there's nothing to be done about that. As it ages, it's going to need the same level of healthcare we provide for today's seniors. Unless you're a sociopath, there's nothing to be done about that either. As a result, Medicare spending is going to rise."
• Bachmann: Repeal Obamacare Before It 'Literally Kills' People
• Boehner: House will keep trying to repeal Obamacare—"'The House will continue working to scrap the law in its entirety,' he said on Obamacare's third anniversary." Salon

Young...

• Kids Ingest Potentially Poisonous Medication 500,000 Times Per Year
• Hitting Your Kids Increases Their Risk of Mental Illness
• Women Who Were Abused As Children More Likely To Have Kids With Autism

and Old

• Surrey woman left without care dies in hospital—"A woman in her 80s left at home in Surrey without medication, food, or water for nine days after a care agency shut down has died in hospital."
• Senior facility defends nurse who wouldn't perform CPR on resident
• Japanese man dies after being turned away from 25 hospitals

Right-to-Die

• As Families Change, Korea's Elderly Are Turning to Suicide—"The number of suicides among people 65 and older has nearly quadrupled in recent years, ranking the country's rate of such deaths among the highest in the developed world." NYT
• Healthy Vancouver senior commits suicide in bid to change right-to-die law—"I am a 91-year-old woman who has decided to end my life in the very near future. I do not have a terminal illness; I am simply old, tired and becoming dependent, after a wonderful life of independence."
• Support grows in Vermont for an end-of-life bill—"Most states ban physician-assisted death, but a movement is growing to give terminal patients the right to choose their fate."

Sleep

• Daylight saving time has a way of cleaning your clock
• Up All Night: The science of sleeplessness—"New technologies have made the study of sleep cheaper, easier, and less intrusive. But if this is sleep research's golden age, then why are we all so tired?"
• 8 Benefits of Napping: Why you Need to Nap Everyday
• Poor sleep in old age prevents the brain from storing memories
• Snooze button bad for you? Yes. Here's the science of sleep that explains why.
• Sleep Hits the Reset Button for Individual Neurons
• Overcoming Bias : Sleep Signaling

Psych

• Nothing personal: The questionable Myers-Briggs test—"The Myers-Briggs personality test is used by companies the world over but the evidence is that it's nowhere near as useful as its popularity suggests."
• You're Distracted. This Professor Can Help.—"David Levy's course at the University of Washington puts technology in its place--in the control of students."
• Social isolation shortens lifespan—"Ageing study finds being alone is a health risk."

Brain

• Brain scans predict which criminals are more likely to reoffend—"Neuroimaging 'biomarker' linked to rearrest after incarceration."
• AAN: More Proof of Effects of Pro Fighting on Brain
• Researchers Discover the Brain Origins of Variation in Pathological Anxiety
• Learning hurts your brain—"Mice left to explore new environments get DNA damage in their neurons."
• When Autocorrect Isn't to Blame—"A jumbled text message could help diagnose a stroke."

#Savita, Contraception, Life and Death Situations, Big Pharma, Issues, Diseases

#Savita

• Woman 'denied a termination' dies in hospital--Even though Ireland's law allows abortion when it's to save the life of the mother, the doctors refused to act.
• Husband: 'I still can't believe she's gone. She was so full of life' --He says her last days were full of pain from the ensuing blood poisoning, and she died in agony.
• Ireland Abortion Scandal: Death of a Pregnant Woman Prompts Soul-Searching--The Youth Defence group still had the temerity to say that "Ireland's ban on abortion does not pose a threat to women’s lives."

Contraception

• UN says access to contraception a human right
• Catholic Leaders Vow to Stand Against Contraception Mandate, Same-sex Marriage--What they're really against is sex outside marriage, but it seems like they've been avoiding mentioning that.
• Philippines: RH bill can't be held hostage by one senator--Some would rather see it killed outright.

Life and Death Situations

• Right-to-die law appalling, says Health Minister Anna Soubry--"Anna Soubry told the Times it was "ridiculous and appalling" that Britons had to 'go abroad to end their life.'"
• Life-support ruling upheld in case of starved girl--"The Alberta Court of Appeal upheld a ruling Wednesday to remove a child from life-support over the objections of her parents who are accused of beating and starving her."
• Study: Assisted suicide legality does not increase patient death wish

Big Pharma

• Cipla slashes prices of 3 cancer drug by up to 63%--"India's No. 2 drugmaker Cipla has slashed the prices of three of its anti-cancer drugs by up to 63%, a move that comes six months after it announced similar price cuts on three other anti-cancer products."
• Pfizer caught "gaming the system," loses Viagra patent in Canada
• Friends in Congress Have Helped Drug Compounders Avoid Tighter Rules NYT

Issues

• Bad to the bone: A medical horror story--"When medical device company Synthes decided to illegally test a bone cement on people, the results were disastrous. A disturbing tale of corporate crime and punishment."
• Italy: Mobile phones can cause brain tumours, court rules--"A landmark court case has ruled there is a link between using a mobile phone and brain tumours, paving the way for a flood of legal actions."
• 'Hypersensitive' Wi-Fi hater loses case against fiendish devices
• Most of what you read was wrong: how press releases rewrote scientific history
• Five photos that sparked body image debates

Diseases

• Steven Boone tried to spread HIV, Crown alleges--If this is what really happened, this is despicable.
• HIV 'made' new deadly Salmonella - study
• Outbreak of virus in SARS family has WHO on alert
• Scores isolated as new outbreak of Ebola fever kills 2 in district near the Ugandan capital
• London at risk of 'catastrophic' legionnaires' outbreak: Report
• The Rise of Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea--"Public-health experts are alarmed by the emergence of a strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to the last drug available against it, and they fear it's the harbinger of a sexually transmitted global epidemic."
• Three quarters of rats in parts of West 'resistant to poison'--Eek.

Educamation, Math and Science, Students, Karen Klein, Suicides, Think of the Children

Educamation

• NYC Dept. Of Education Bans 'Evolution' And Other 'Offensive' Words From Tests
• Backtracking on Florida Exams Flunked by Many, Even an Educator NYT
• Texas Republicans express 'regret' for officially opposing critical thinking skills
• Dumbing down America one child at a time
• Edmonton teacher suspended for giving 0s--"Lynden Dorval, a physics teacher at Ross Sheppard High School, has been giving the mark for work that wasn't handed in or tests not taken even though it goes against the school's 'no-zero' policy."

Math and Science

• Can We Fix Computer Science Education in America?
• Obama proposes $1B for science, math teachers
• UK: Make maths compulsory for all A level students, say Lords
• Is Algebra Necessary?--Asks the political scientist. NYT
• Teachers find bonus pay not a matter of degree--"[B]ecause [Scott Johnson's] master’s degree [in astrophysics] wasn’t in math, the subject he taught this past year, under a new state law he didn't qualify for the $2,625 bonus pay teachers can receive for having that higher degree."

Students

• The order putting Diana Tran, the honor student working to support her family, in jail for truancy has been vacated--Why are students going to jail for absurd reasons?
• University sues student who 'studied too fast'--"A private German economics and business university is suing one of its students for lost income after he finished his Bachelors and Masters degrees in about a quarter of the normal time."
• Senate Report: For-Profit Colleges Exploit Students

Karen Klein

• People Are Awesome: Bullied School Bus Monitor Gets a Really Nice Vacation--And a retirement.
• Bus monitor Karen Klein opens up about kid bullies
• 4 Bus Monitor Bullies Suspended a Year From School

Suicides

• 7-year-old's suicide shocks Detroit community
• Teen who committed suicide wrote bullying post herself, friend tells inquest
• Why are young Indians killing themselves?

Think of the Children

• Time is now for grown-up talk on drinking age--"The drinking age should be 18, period."
• Why are American kids so spoiled?
• Zen Magnets: Public response to the CPSC--Concern-trolling Consumer Product Safety Commission wants the company to shut down.
• 5-Year-Old Seriously Injured After Swallowing Buckyballs
• Blast from the Past: Choking Warning Labels for Hot Dogs?

Supreme Court, Obamacare, Insurance, Bills, Smokin', Suicide

Supreme Court

• Justices Reject Patents for Medical Tests Relying on Drug Dosages NYT
• Supreme Court throws out human genome patents
• Health-care law puts Supreme Court atop a slippery slope

Obamacare

• The Great Healthcare Rip-Off, Ctd
• Democrat To Offer A 'Lifeline' For Single-Payer Health Care
• Senate Republicans Signal Big Shift On 'Obamacare'--Are they being hypocrites?
• For 20-somethings, Health Care Act Makes A Difference
• Insurance Companies Owe $1.3 Billion Back to Policy Holders
• Romney Confirms He Will Deny Insurance To Millions With Pre-Existing Conditions If Obamacare Is Struck Down
• Germans Can't Fathom US Aversion to Obama's Healthcare Reform

Insurance

• Does Medicaid Actually Help People?--Short answer: Yes.
• The Reward for Donating a Kidney: No Insurance NYT
• Blue Shield sued over insurance policy shifts
• Oops! Aetna discloses political donations
• Most employers plan to continue offering health care coverage--"The overwhelming majority of employers say they will continue to offer health care plan coverage to employees in 2014 when key provisions of the health care reform law kick in, according to a survey of benefit professionals."

Bills

• Australian couple has $1 million hospital bill after baby born in B.C.
• Million-dollar hospital bills rise sharply in Northern California
• Health care costs rose faster than inflation despite weak economy
• Why do Hospitals Charge $4,423 for $250 CT Scans? Blame Arizona Republicans
• More Americans Are Checking Prices Before Getting Health Care

Smokin'

• The Book Big Tobacco Doesn't Want You to Read--"With 'Golden Holocaust,' historian Robert Proctor deconstructs an industry that still kills more than 400,000 Americans a year."
• Prop. 29's tobacco tax teeters on the edge of defeat
• Quebec sues big tobacco for $60 billion
• Tobacco giant Philip Morris infiltrated Swiss university
• Diesel exhausts do cause cancer, says WHO

Suicide

• Laws banning assisted suicide infringe on charter rights: B.C. Supreme Court
• The paralyzed man who tweets with his eyes, and wants to die--"A British man will plead with a court to argue that he should be allowed to legally end his life — but he's taking to Twitter first, using his eyes to send messages."
• Cracked.com: Worst Suicide Intervention Ever

Fat Tuesday, Fitness, HCR, Bad for your health, Suicide, Stem Cells

Fat Tuesday

• Man intentionally eats high-carb junk food to gain weight before trying to lose it again
• Obese Monkeys Lose Weight On Drug That Attacks Blood Supply of Fat Cells
• Map of Every McDonald's in the Country
• "Tired of being fat & ugly?"
• And God made man in his image

Fitness

• Coast pupil loses 55kg for school project
• Why gamers are a great fit at the gym--Check out Fitocracy.
• How Biking Can Save Cities Billions of Dollars in Health Expenses
• Men’s Fitness retracts article, Comic Con reacts
• P90X: Before & After--Waitaminute....

HCR

• Supreme Court to rule on Obama health care reform bill
• Health care solution is simple: single-payer
• Appeals court rules Obama health care law is constitutional, agrees to toss religious suit
• Unexpected chart of the day: Americans want more government in health care
• Ohio Voters Choose to Opt Out of Health Care Mandate

Bad for your health

• Pharmacies Accuse Pfizer of Fixing Generic Lipitor Prices
• Drugs policy advisor under fire over links to pharmaceutical company
• Medicare Eligibility Age Increase Not Part Of Dems' Super Committee Presentation
• Wal-Mart cuts health coverage for some employees
• Guatemalans sue US for deliberately spreading illness in 1940s experiment

Suicide

• "Help Yourself"--Powerful poster.
• Why we helped our much-loved son kill himself--Tragic.
• Family's suicides defy an answer

Stem Cells

• Stem cell reseach thrown into disarray by European patent ruling
• Stem-Cell Funding Ban Overturned by Appeals Court
• Stem cells transformed into brain cells to treat Parkinson's disease

War on Terror, Cashing in on the War, A Real Cost of War, TSA, Politics

War on Terror

• The FBI again thwarts its own Terror plot Salon
• How the State Department Came After Me For telling the truth about what I saw in Iraq
• Even Those Cleared of Crimes Can Stay on FBI's Terrorist Watch List NYT
• Shoshana Hebshi, Airline Passenger, Says She Was Strip-Searched Over Her 'Appearance'
• A Decade After 9/11: We've Become What We Loathe
• Al-Jazeera chief's surprise resignation raises fears for channel's independence
• Judge rules part of Patriot Act unconstitutional
• Doctors in bid for Kelly inquest
• 9/11 Media Overkill
• Why let facts ruin the story? Norwegian comments on US coverage of the Norway terror 

Cashing in on the War

• Deficit-cutting Democrats depend on Pentagon contractors, data shows Salon
• What The Neocons Don’t Ask: How Much Will It Cost To Stay In Iraq?
• Iraq: We Lost $1.2 Billion in Equipment Going in; How Much Will We Lose Getting Out?

A Real Cost of War

• Facing Ninth Deployment, Army Ranger Kills Himself. 'No Way' That God Would Forgive Him For What He'd Seen, Done, He Told Wife--Help spread awareness of PTSD in military personnel.
• More troops lost to suicide--"For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan."
• More U.S. Soldiers Killed Themselves Than Died in Combat in 2010
• Male Veterans Have Double the Suicide Rate of Civilians
• Air Force suicide rate highest in 17 years

TSA

• TSA Creator Says Dismantle, Privatize the Agency--That doesn't help.
• Airport Security Officers And Cops Snared In Multistate Oxycodone Ring, U.S. Attorney Says
• TSA Gives Breast Cancer Survivor Invasive Patdown After She Goes Through Scan

Politics

• Orwell Rolls in his Grave
• 8 Ways Young Americans' Resistance to Domination Has Been Subdued
• The DOJ's escalating criminalization of speech--"[T]he FBI announced the arrest and indictment of Jubair Ahmad, a 24-year-old Pakistani legal resident living in Virginia, charged with 'providing material support' to a designated Terrorist organization (Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT))" in the form of "a 5-minute video to YouTube featuring photographs of U.S. abuses in Abu Ghraib, video of armored trucks exploding after being hit by IEDs, prayer messages about 'jihad' from LeT's leader, and -- according to the FBI's Affidavit -- 'a number of terrorist logos.'" Salon
• Michael Moore: I was the most hated man in America
• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: Psychological Engineering