By Heather Mueller on Nov 17, 2008

May 19, 2010

WASHINGTON — As part of its most comprehensive study of climate change to date, the National Research Council today issued three reports emphasizing why the U.S. should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change.  The reports by the Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, are part of a congressionally requested suite of five studies known as America's Climate Choices.

"These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong," said Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences.  "But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond."

I was flabbergasted to read an article in the Cleveland Plain Deal titled "Organic food benefits debated in wake of president's report on cancer, environment", about the 2008–2009 Annual Report of the President’s Cancer Panel - REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL CANCER RISK... What We Can Do Now, that has nothing to do with ORGANIC FOOD, is misleading, and seems intended to further dumb-down local citizens to the health hazards caused by excessive polluting and medical interventions here, preventing citizens from following one of the core Recommendations:

SELF-ADVOCACY

7. Each person can become an active voice in his or her community.  To a greater extent than many realize, individuals have the power to affect public policy by letting policymakers know that they strongly support environmental cancer research and measures that will reduce or remove from the environment toxics that are known or suspected carcinogens or endocrine-disrupting chemicals.  Individuals also can influence industry by selecting non-toxic products and, where these do not exist, communicating with manufacturers and trade organizations about their desire for safer products.

Below is What Individuals Can Do: Recommendations: from the 2008–2009 Annual Report of the President’s Cancer Panel - REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL CANCER RISK... What We Can Do Now - April 2010. This report is submitted to the President of the United States in fulfillment of the obligations of the President’s Cancer Panel.

Much remains to be learned about the effects of environmental exposures on cancer risk.  Based on what is known, however, there is much that government and industry can do now to address environmental cancer risk.  The Panel’s recommendations in this regard are detailed above.  At the same time, individuals can take important steps in their own lives to reduce their exposure to environmental elements that increase risk for cancer and other diseases.  And collectively, individual small actions can drastically reduce the number and levels of environmental contaminants.

CHILDREN

1. It is vitally important to recognize that children are far more susceptible to damage from environmental carcinogens and endocrine-disrupting compounds than adults.  To the extent possible, parents and child care providers should choose foods, house and garden products, play spaces, toys, medicines, and medical tests that will minimize children’s exposure to toxics.  Ideally, both mothers and fathers should avoid exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and known or suspected carcinogens prior to a child’s conception and throughout pregnancy and early life, when risk of damage is greatest.

Below is the Policy, Research, and Program Recommendations from the 2008–2009 Annual Report of the President’s Cancer Panel - REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL CANCER RISK... What We Can Do Now - April 2010. This report is submitted to the President of the United States in fulfillment of the obligations of the President’s Cancer Panel.

Based on its conclusions, the Panel recommends:

1. A precautionary, prevention-oriented approach should replace current reactionary approaches to environmental contaminants in which human harm must be proven before action is taken to reduce or eliminate exposure. 

Below is the Executive Summary from the 2008–2009 Annual Report of the President’s Cancer Panel - REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL CANCER RISK... What We Can Do Now - April 2010. This report is submitted to the President of the United States in fulfillment of the obligations of the President’s Cancer Panel.

Executive Summary

Despite overall decreases in incidence and mortality, cancer continues to shatter and steal the lives of Americans.  Approximately 41 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, and about 21 percent will die from cancer.  The incidence of some cancers, including some most common among children, is increasing for unexplained reasons.

Public and governmental awareness of environmental influences on cancer risk and other health issues has increased substantially in recent years as scientific and health care communities, policymakers, and individuals strive to understand and ameliorate the causes and toll of human disease.  A growing body of research documents myriad established and suspected environmental factors linked to genetic, immune, and endocrine dysfunction that can lead to cancer and other diseases.

Below is the cover letter to the President of the United States from the 2008–2009 Annual Report of the President’s Cancer Panel - REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL CANCER RISK... What We Can Do Now - April 2010. This report is submitted to the President of the United States in fulfillment of the obligations of the President’s Cancer Panel.

The President
The White House
Washington, DC  20500

Dear Mr. President:

Though overall cancer incidence and mortality have continued to decline in recent years, the disease continues to devastate the lives of far too many Americans.  In 2009 alone, approximately 1.5 million American men, women, and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 died from the disease.  With the growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer, the public is becoming increasingly aware of the unacceptable burden of cancer resulting from environmental and occupational exposures that could have been prevented through appropriate national action.  The Administration’s commitment to the cancer community and recent focus on critically needed reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act is praiseworthy.  However, our Nation still has much work ahead to identify the many existing but unrecognized environmental carcinogens and eliminate those that are known from our workplaces, schools, and homes.

In my neighborhood, the "graffiti" is all tagging, either for gangs here (haven't seen much of that lately) or in memory of someone who has died... still see plenty of that. One of the more intense memorial tags in EC is for "Lil Shit" on a beautiful boarded up house off Terrace, in East Cleveland. I assume Lil Shit lived or died here and was much loved by Hough Harlem. Anyone know any details?

I think Lil Shit is still around here.

                             Today I recieved a parking ticket for cleaning, and I live in a apartment building with no driveway. This building has been here for a long time in the Collinwood area, and I would think they already know poeple parked in from of the building live there. But instead I got a ticket.

 THIS GRANNY IS NOT WHAT I REMEMBER GRANNIES 2 BE WHAT'S GOIN ON WE'RE SINKING FAST THIS ELDERLY WOMAN WAS SELLING CRACK THE STORIES N BLACKPLANET.COM SRY I DIDN' POST THE STORY STILL FEELING MY WAY THRU BUT HERE'S HER PIC

 C'MON PEOPLE WE NEED 2 GET IT TOGETHER FAST

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Saturday May 22, 2010
11am-8pm

FREE ADMISSION
OPEN TO PUBLIC

ASIA TOWN
Payne Ave & E 30th St

I'm not a party politics guy, but I sure supported Obama from the first day I saw what he offered the world - and I well remember the awe of the moment I knew Obama was President. While I'm sure I could do much better, and so could you, I think he is doing an excellent job overall, and I am certain we want to stay the course with him and leaders who share his vision, through this administration and another - he is turning around a leaky rusting out of control supertanker here, hoping to get our economy back to safe harbour before we have another deepwater experience.... and this supertanker US Enterprise is running on empty.

To help the nation get and stay on course for the future, in the Blue state of Ohio, the Democratic party must be effective, and that means citizens need to get involved helping good candidates succeed... at least getting candidates engaged about what citizens believe and want from their leaders. That's one thing I feel realNEO enables well, and I know our core members make a point to get active in support for good in politics, to the core. Below is a message from Governor Strickland asking everyone to volunteer to " Fight for Ohio’s Future", and I look forward to dialog here on the candidates in the upcoming elections - there are certainly some big races being decided in November... best not sit this one out as a passive spectator in 2010, to find yourself a helpless victim in 2011!

I got chills today, scanning ongoing coverage of Cleveland City Hall's plans to lock citizens and their children here into a 10 year sole-source LED lighting contract with Sunpu Opto, of China - Cleveland council committee embraces LED lighting deal - when I made the interpretation my instincts about Sunpu Opto are the same as Councilman Polensek's... which means my instincts may be wrong, as how could he be right?

Polensek's take on the Sunpu Opto deal:

"When my gut tells me something is wrong, I've been around long enough to know it's not right," Polensek said during the hearing.

He accused the administration of conducting a faulty process in choosing Sunpu-Opto.

"We're going to pay for every one of those jobs five times, six times over," Polensek said.

I drove by Rozelle Elementary School today to see half of it gone. Another historic landmark - a very fine stable building - gone. They are bulldozing like crazy on my part of town now - great use of our NSP money - love seeing all those wonderful bulldozing jobs created as our stimulus to the economy. I won't bother posting pictures of the buildings being demolished as the truth in NEO is really too ugly these days... I don't even feel like taking pictures of what is left behind.

Free Download — whitehouse — May 01, 2010 — President Obama speaks at the 2010 University of Michigan commencement ceremony in Ann Arbor, MI.

Below is the text President Obama's speech at the University of Michigan Commencement, as prepared for delivery.

It is great to be here in the Big House, and may I say "Go Blue!" I thought I'd go for the cheap applause line to start things off.

Good afternoon President Coleman, the Board of Trustees, faculty, parents, family, friends, and the class of 2010. Congratulations on your graduation, and thank you for allowing me the honor to be a part of it. And let me acknowledge your wonderful governor, Jennifer Granholm, your mayor, John Hieftje, and all the Members of Congress who are here with us today.

Remarks of President Barack Obama--As Prepared for Delivery
Hampton University Commencement
May 9, 2010
Hampton, Virginia

Good morning, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms here today, and thank you for inviting me to share this special occasion with the Hampton community. Before we get started, I just want to say, I'm excited the Battle of the Real H.U. will be taking place in Washington this year. You all know I'm not going to pick sides. But it's been, what, 13 years since the Pirates lost. As one Hampton alum on my staff put it, the last time Howard beat Hampton, The Fugees were still together.

 

I try hard to ignore what folks at Cleveland City Hall and City Council do, day to day, their performance is so depressing. I just expect the worst and hope that won't harm my children. So I have not been following the odd trade missions Jackson's people have apparently been making to the Far East lately (when, on what Fundation's dime, why) cutting odd long-term deals with Chinese lighting companies promising to bring clean jobs to America (does "clean jobs" even translate into Chinese?). Jackson... 10 year deal... "Far East" trade mission... Sunpu-Opto... yeah, right. I like touring China too... sounds well worth the effort?!?! 77% of Clevelanders did just re-elect Jackson, and the Foundations and PD love the man, so let it ride...

But then I noticed GE has attacked the Mayor for his jet-setting wheeling-dealing economic development ways and I realized I'm not alone in this backwater slum of East Cleveland noticing what a mess Jackson and his cronies are making of the region and world, now that he has gone global. Some important people like the shareholders at GE are starting to care.

Join Phil Metres and Robin Pease-Kerr for an evening of poetry, stories and discussion Saturday, May 22nd at 7:30 pm.

Location

One of my kids' favorite videos these days is an animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss' 1984 The Butter Battle Book - we're watching it now (in legal VHS, no less).

Source: Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index

Ceridian reported today the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index™ (PCI) fell 0.3 percent in April, suggesting the economic recovery may have stalled. "The latest PCI numbers are disappointing and cast considerable doubt on the strength of the recovery and the strength of GDP numbers for 2010," said Ed Leamer, the PCI's chief economist. Five of the nine US census regions were weak in April. With a decline of 1.7 percent, the PCI in Ohio's East North Central region fell the most.

The ICEarth Welcome Wagon stopped by Sansai Environmental Technologies this weekend to tour the world's largest indoor vermitechnology facility and meet Cleveland's greenest, meanest, fighting machine - the 60 million worm team bringing the world "Magic Dust". See Sansai for more information on their amazing processes and products... here are some pictures of their crib, right in the heart of South Collinwood - Cleveland - Ohio.

                               Today I walked through one of the most exciting plants in the Collinwood community. and I learned that this plant is for health, and I saw some of the most interesting things. And seeing the product that this company produce is incredible. This company is producing something that is good for us all, and also trying to create jobs for the community, and as needed how cool is that.

I am amazed by the fact that the City of Cleveland, Ohio has so many concurrent events driven by civic organizations, community development organizations, social service organizations, businesses, veterans groups, institutions of higher learning, and philanthropic entities that continually cycle through the Cleveland region annually and that there is no 1 entity that tracks them all for their meeting dates, their event dates, and their administrative/organizational events which should-in most cases-be open to the public.

Don't Miss This Event! - A special neighborhood celebration called The Hooley on Kamm's Corners takes place Saturday, May 15th. “Hooley,” Irish slang for party or celebration, is the new name of what will become an annual street festival right in “downtown” Kamm’s Corners.