A Taste of Sweetness
After learning my flight was detained 4 hours,
I heard the announcement:
If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic,
Please come to the gate immediately.
Read the rest of this lovely post by Naomi Shihab Nye on Jesus’ General and start your Tuesday with a smile.
--Nancy GreenBlame the Pill
“The Pill Makes Women Pick Bad Mates” is an actual headline from the dumbest version of this story I’ve seen yet. From ‘Live Science’ by Jeanna Bryner
While several factors can send a woman swooning, including big brains and brawn, body odor can be critical in the final decision, the researchers say. That’s because beneath a woman’s flowery fragrance or a guy’s musk the body sends out aromatic molecules that indicate genetic compatibility…the best mates are those that have different MHC smells than you. The new study reveals, however, that when women are on the pill they prefer guys with matching MHC odors.
I’m not sure that the new study revealed anything. Unless the women were sniffing actual men. But I think they were sniffing smelly pieces of paper, or little vials or something like that. Whatever a ‘male body-odor sample’ is.
The study involved about 100 women, aged 18 to 35, who chose which of six male body-odor samples they preferred. They were tested at the start of the study when none of the participants were taking contraceptive pills and three months later after 40 of the women had started taking the pill more than two months prior.
…
“When women are pregnant there’s no selection pressure, evolutionarily speaking, for having a preference for genetically dissimilar odors,” Roberts said. “And if there is any pressure at all it would be towards relatives, who would be more genetically similar, because the relatives would help those individuals rear the baby.”
So the pill puts a woman’s body into a post-mating state, even though she might be still in the game.
Let’s review why women take birth-control pills. We take them to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. We have no statistics on how many disastrous marriages result from unwanted pregnancy, but we all know it happens.
If you are a lab rat, selecting a mate may be as simple as sniffing out the best one. If you happen to be in a cage with lots of other rats. I suspect that even rats have to search for love sometimes, and their little rat brains balance multiple factors.
If you are a woman, finding a life partner is way more complicated than choosing which piece of smelly paper you like best. Speaking as a woman who married across racial lines, I don’t see a majority of couples making that choice. So I don’t think we are all that driven to seek out the most genetically dissimilar partner we can find. There are more ingredients to romantic chemistry than smell.
The reason I’m concerned about this piece of fluff writing is that the press always loves stories about how we girls are so driven by our hormones that our tiny rat-like brains hardly even need to be used.
More ominously — there is a political attack on birth control in general. The birth control pill has been falsely labeled as a form of abortion. Pharmacists refuse to fill prescriptions, not only for emergency contraception, but ordinary birth control pills, and they demand legal protection for this. In forty years the birth control pill has proven safe and effective. Like any drug, there are risks and benefits. The risk of an unwanted pregnancy is not a matter of ‘convenience’, but a life-changing occurrence. No way to measure the effect of unreliable contraception on marital happiness, but if I were younger I’d take my chances on the pill.
--Nancy GreenRI Future Highlights the Best Primary Races in RI
Rhode Island’s Future is showing who is in the ring for the most contentious primary races in Rhode Island, with John DeGenova’s battle with Peter Palumbo being one of the chosen. Here is a link to the post.
--Kiersten MarekWorking Conditions Not Kosher, and Neither is Food
Nomi at I Dreamed I saw Grace P. Last Night has a link to a fascinating op-ed from Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld concerning an immigration raid at a kosher meatpacking plant. The raid uncovered horrific working conditions. The Rabbi cites a precedent for declaring food non-kosher because of the mistreatment of the workers who prepare it. That’s a radical concept. The raid at Agriprocessors Inc. also points to the need for a better immigration policy, because what we have now isn’t working.
--Nancy GreenFogarty Gets National Leader Endorsements
--Kiersten MarekReed, Whitehouse, Langevin endorse Fogarty
CRANSTON — Democratic mayoral candidate Cynthia M. Fogarty has been endorsed by U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman James R. Langevin.
Reed, in a news release issued yesterday by Fogarty’s campaign, said: “Cindy has a strong reputation for working to create a better future for Cranston. She has been vocal on issues of finance, education and health care, and knows how to listen and respond to the needs of the community.”
Whitehouse called Fogarty “a smart, tough, experienced leader who will put local government to work for Cranston families. I’m confident that she will work hard to make one of Rhode Island’s largest cities a great place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Langevin, whose 2nd Representative District includes Cranston, said, “Cindy has a great track record as an advocate for the taxpayers and residents of the city of Cranston. As a member of the City Council, Cindy demonstrated strong skills as a communicator and a fierce determination to implement real change.”
Creative Contract-Settling for Lincoln Schools
The Providence Journal reports on Lincoln’s ability to come up with a 3-year contract for their schools that satisfies both the teachers and the taxpayers of the city. Here is a link to the article, and to a picture of the main community leaders who negotiated the contract. Notice anything about them all? That’s right. Maybe they all just happen to be highly skilled negotiators and leaders, but they also happen to be women.
--Kiersten MarekElizabeth Edwards
Via Daily Kos comes a link to Elizabeth Edward’s statement. Whatever happens, I hope the press lays off her, because she is fighting for her life, for real, against an enemy that threatens us all.
--Nancy GreenTomorrow is Voter Registration Deadline for Primaries
From Secretary of State Mollis:
--Kiersten MarekSecretary of State Mollis is reminding Rhode Islanders they have until tomorrow, August 9, to register to vote in the September 9 primary.
Even though the deadline to register to vote falls on a Saturday, our office at 148 West River St. in Providence will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. In addition, we published a list of the locations in every city and town that will be open on Saturday so people can take advantage of the extra day to register to vote. The Cranston Board of Canvassers will be on the job at City Hall tomorrow from 1 to 4 p.m.
Completed voter registration forms that have not been turned into local board of canvassers by tomorrow must be postmarked by August 9 in order to make the deadline.
At the top of September’s ballot, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed will face Democratic challenger Christopher Young. There are primaries for city council and school committee in Cranston this year.
In order to register to vote, you must be at least 18 years of age, a U.S. citizen, a resident of Rhode Island and have a valid social security number or Rhode Island driver’s license. Registering to vote is free. For more info, contact me at 222-4293 or cbarnett@sec.state.ri.us.
Tyson Foods adds Muslim Holiday
Good thing they have a union at Tyson Foods. The mega-corporation that supplies chicken nuggets to the world has been hiring a large number of recent immigrants, many from Somalia. Most of those immigrants are Muslim. A major Muslim holiday is Eid al-Fitr, a family and religious celebration at the end of Ramadan. Tyson decided to make that day a paid holiday.
Fine. Corporations would usually rather spend huge bucks on human resources consultants than grant their employees a concession that would make them happy and boost morale. What boosts morale more than a day off?
I know that if any of my employers decided to give me Tet or Ephipany off, I’d say ‘God Bless America’ and sleep late. Monday is VJ day, after all, in Rhode Island only.
The problem is that Tyson was too stingy to add a holiday, so they took out Labor Day. I’m sure there was no disrespect intended to the union. Just one of those things.
Naturally it turned out to be gasoline to the right-wing blogosphere. It must have caused some dissonance for some of them when they had to defend Labor. Way to go, Tyson, this will really improve employee cooperation and good relations in the workplace. Take away a traditional American paid holiday in honor of Labor and add a religious holiday that is observed by the newest immigrant employees.
But Labor won this round–
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn., Aug 08, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and Tyson Foods have reached an agreement to increase the number of paid days off for workers in the current calendar year to include Labor Day and the Muslim observance Eid al-Fitr as paid holidays for workers in the Shelbyville poultry processing plant.. a worker who does not observe Eid al-Fitr will have the option of selecting another day as a paid Personal Day at their discretion.
…
“The union is pleased that the will of the workers in Shelbyville to observe and celebrate Eid al-Fitr will be guaranteed as a paid holiday,” said Stuart Appelbaum, national president of the RWDSU. “The RWDSU believes that this is an important sign of respect of deeply held religious beliefs. This Labor Day, the workers at Shelbyville have more reason that ever to be proud of being part of a union.”
They did good. It’s not only Muslims who have minority religious holidays. Many Christians do too. And as a Unitarian I might want to celebrate Ralph Waldo Emerson’s birthday, so I can sympathize.
I’m glad the conflict was defused, and if anyone at Tyson was trying to divide and conquer then they surely overplayed their hand.
--Nancy GreenRhode Island’s Nuclear Fatality Part IV Who Pays?
United Nuclear was welcomed into Rhode Island in 1963 with hopes of 1000 good jobs and a chance to get in on the cutting edge of a new industry. The plant closed in 1980 for lack of profits. Rhode Island was left with a contaminated industrial site. Robert Peabody’s family was left to carry on without him…
EVEN AS PEABODY was admitted to the hospital, United Nuclear was working to discredit him, blaming “human error” and “ineptitude” in newspaper accounts of the accident. In addition to assuring the public that any radiation released into the atmosphere was insignificant, company officials said that Peabody had violated plant safety procedures by pouring the contents of the 11-liter “safe” bottle into the “unsafe” chemical tank.
But Atomic Energy Commission reports on the accident show that operational problems at United Nuclear, lax record keeping, and inadequate training created an environment that was ripe for an accident. Chain Reaction, Providence Journal, 3/11/90
So the family sued, right?
Anna Peabody still lives in the house that she and her husband bought in the Columbia Heights section of Shannock, an old mill town on the Pawcatuck River. The Peabody house is one of the shabbiest in the neighborhood. On a recent winter day, the oil furnace was belching fumes into the living room, junk cars were in the yard, and siding was peeling off the house to reveal layers of rotting shingles underneath.
Because tumors have blocked off her breathing passage, Mrs. Peabody, 61, breathes through a hole in her throat. To talk, she places her finger over the hole, and then releases her finger to draw a breath. Mrs. Peabody says she owes nearly $50,000 in medical bills, for laser surgery on her throat, and is in danger of losing her house.
…
As for financial reimbursement, Mrs. Peabody received little after her husband’s death. [Legal fees] left Mrs. Peabody with $22,631.15.“Everybody thinks I’m a millionaire because of all the papers saying how much money I was going to get,” Mrs. Peabody says. “Everybody keeps saying, ‘Oh, come on, Ann, dig it out. Dig it out.’ I wish I did have it.” Providence Journal, 3/11/90
There’s a reason for the shabby treatment of Robert Peabody’s widow. To acknowledge the dangers of working in or living near a nuclear plant would leave the industry vulnerable. A nuclear power plant is an enormous investment. No business would ever take the risk without special protection, not only from liability, but from financial risk…
Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the industry already is getting an estimated $12 billion in tax breaks and other largess. The Price-Anderson Act, a law dating from the 1950s, caps the industry’s liability at about $10 billion in the event of an accident, even though studies show that a major nuclear meltdown could easily run 50 times that.
Now, the Senate version of a new energy bill includes a provision that could provide tens of billions of dollars more in federal-loan guarantees. On Tuesday, the Energy Department announced it would provide up to $2 billion in federal risk insurance for the first six new nuclear-plant projects, protecting them against losses from regulatory or legal delays.
Once built, a nuclear plant creates a special waste-disposal problem…
In all cases these materials and equipments become too irradiated (and thereby themselves radiating) for normal industrial disposal, dismantlement or recycling. If these otherwise normal equipments and materials were disposed of as their non-nuclear radiation exposed industrial counterparts were (say liquid industrial pumps for example), there would quickly develop sources of non-nuclear industry borne radiologic hazards throughout industrial civilization. Low to moderate levels of ionizing radiation would begin to appear in recycled metals, plastics, tools and equipments, all over the industrial economy, posing a general health hazard to human and animal populations. Since these materials and equipments cannot ever be released back into the normally recycling industrial economy, some process and means needed to be found to isolate these irradiated materials and equipments, to isolate them from civilization, for what is effectively forever.
So who pays for that?
The cost of DOE’s commercial high-level nuclear waste disposal activities is paid for by the Nuclear Waste Fund, which receives roughly $600 million in annual funding provided by a fee on commercial nuclear power, and interest earned by the fund itself. Additional funding is appropriated annually by Congress to pay for defense high-level waste disposal.
The Nuclear Waste Fund money comes from ratepayers and taxpayers, so we get to pay whether we use any of the electricity or not, for any accident at a nuclear power plant anywhere in the country…
For accidents at nuclear power plants, the money to cover any damages comes from two sources. First, each power plant must carry $200 million in liability insurance for each reactor. Second, any damages over $200 million and up to $9.43 billion are assessed equally against all operating reactors, in annual installments of $10 million or less. As of 1998, there were 103 operating reactors in the U.S. For an incident or precautionary evacuation involving a shipment to the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, the money to cover damages comes from the Nuclear Waste Fund, which is paid for by utility ratepayers. Payments for damages are also limited to $9.43 billion.
And a person trying to collect damages probably won’t end up better off than Anna Peabody…
If there is a release of radiation, or a precautionary evacuation, one would have to sue to recover damages… If someone has a strong case, the DOE might settle. Otherwise, the case would go to court, and the person bringing the lawsuit would need attorneys and expert witnesses. Based on experience to date with Price- Anderson, a person can realistically expect compensation only in the most clear-cut cases.
It is seldom possible to prove that a cancer is the result of a specific exposure. There are many carcinogens in the environment, and heredity influences an individual’s vulnerability. The only way to get real information is to conduct an epidemiological study. It’s complicated and expensive, and opens a can of worms for the industry and the government. No study — no evidence.
It’s a case of public risk and private benefit. We have to end our dependence on fossil fuels, especially on foreign oil. We are going to have to invest in research and building better energy sources and we are going to have to change our patterns of energy use. Nuclear power is not just ‘so twentieth century’, it’s so nineteenth century. Huge centralized dynamos boiling water to turn steam turbines. You think we can’t do better than that?
We’re the country that put a man on the moon. New strategies for conservation, new developments in solar, wind and hydro power are just waiting for funding. Without a set of special incentives, protections and tax breaks dating back to the 1950’s nuclear power would never even be competitive. If we let ourselves be railroaded into building more nuclear plants we will pay every step of the way and future generations will deal with the consequences of our shortsightedness.
--Nancy GreenYou Heard it Here First
So now John McCain has some kind of hangup with Britney Spears and he’s trying to blame it on Barack Obama.
But Kmareka readers already know about the Britney/Bob Dole/Republican connection from a previous post. Britney fascinates Republican politicians. And Britney is a big supporter of President Bush. Maybe when the President leaves office he will get to be in a commercial with Britney too. I know I’ve never thought the same of Bob Dole after seeing him stroke that dog. Ew.
--Nancy GreenLoves Children
Forty-four year old Livia Ionce of Canada, originally from Romania, gave birth to her 18th child last week. Mrs. Ionce is not quoted in the AP article, but this is what her husband had to say…
“We never planned how many children to have. We just let God guide our lives, you know, because we strongly believe life comes from God and that’s the reason we did not stop the life,” said Alexandru Ionce.
Just once I want to hear from the wife. I want her to say that she adores being pregnant, loves children, and can’t get enough. I want her to say that she has plenty of time for each one and is doing exactly what she wants.
While it’s true that we are overpopulated, it’s a big world and I’d be the last one to tell a couple how many children they should have. It’s a very personal decision and I’m not offering to babysit, so what’s it to me?
But every time someone makes news by having a huge family they say that God made them do it. Don’t they want the kids for themselves? It’s not some kind of penance, is it? Or some kind of witness to an unbelieving world?
Like I said, it’s their business, but I hope they take the kids out for ice cream once in a while after church.
--Nancy GreenProjo Interviews Mayoral Candidates on Cranston Finances
When taking on the role of campaign coordinator for Cindy Fogarty, she and I discussed how to handle my role on this blog. Cindy was concerned that I maintain my credibility on the blog, and suggested the best way to do this would be to avoid commenting on this blog about political issues in Cranston for the next 14 weeks. This restriction seems to me like a good plan — an appropriate way to separate my opinions from the political issues that our mayoral candidates need to address.
However, to continue fostering community discussion (because we know the community discussions here on Kmareka can be helpful at times), I will still post links to news stories that are about important issues in Cranston. One such article was published today in the Projo and is entitled “Neither Cranston Mayoral Hopeful Rules Out Tax Increase.” I invite readers to share their thoughts and concerns as they relate to the issues described in the article.
--Kiersten MarekRhode Island’s Nuclear Fatality Part III An Acceptable Level
Nuclear contamination is a particularly nasty problem. Undetectable except with instruments, low-level nuclear emissions can raise the risk of cancer and birth defects. When United Nuclear closed for lack of profits in 1980, leaks of radioactive water into the soil and groundwater had polluted the site of the plant. This put the site under the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
The potential danger of nuclear waste depends on the elements present. Some decay and lose their radioactivity very fast. Others remain poisonous for thousands of years. The Providence Journal reported that it was fourteen years from the time the plant closed until the NRC was ready to release the land from Federal jurisdiction…
United Nuclear moves closer to sale of land
Hill, John. Providence Journal. Providence, R.I.:Dec 5, 1994. p. 1…NRC staff say the site is within safe limits for radioactivity, but there is still an underground swath of non-radioactive nitrates polluting ground water beyond the state’s safe-drinking limit.
The nitrates stretch out in a narrow plume about 1,500 feet to the northwest, toward the Pawcatuck River. It is that plume, and the question of who will monitor it, that has concerned state and federal environmental regulators. The NRC and the company argue that because the plant is within safe limits for radio activity, the NRC has no business overseeing it.
… in the late 1970s, the state Department of Environmental Management detected radioactive materials and the nitrate plume, which had leaked from trenches outside the plant.
…“Radiologically it’s finished,” said John Austin, the NRC’s chief of low-level waste and decontamination projects. “The outstanding issue now is nitrates in the ground water, and the NRC does not have jurisdiction over nitrates.”
DEM and the company reached a testing agreement last month that calls for the company to pay for monitoring wells that will track the nitrate pollution.
I wonder what it took to get United Nuclear to agree.
The Providence Journal article Chain Reaction, 3/11/90, the main source for this series, has a photo of the groundbreaking ceremony for the opening of United Nuclear in 1963. Gov. John H. Chafee, Sen. Claiborne Pell and Sen. John O. Pastore are holding shovels. They had great hopes for what the plant would do, create 1000 good jobs for Rhode Islanders in an exciting and growing industry.
The plant never hired more than 80 workers and left a nightmarish cleanup problem…
For two years the UNC Disposal Site [Oak Ridge, Tennessee] accepted and disposed of waste from the decommissioning of a UNC uranium recovery facility in Wood River Junction, Rhode Island. Between June 1982 and November 1984, the UNC Disposal Site received 11,000 55-gal drums of sludge fixed in cement, 18,000 drums of contaminated soil, and 288 wooden boxes of contaminated building and process demolition materials. (link)
A massive and expensive effort. Two years of trucks carrying nuclear waste across the country. Who paid? The NRC is a Federal agency. One thing is clear — making Rhode Island a depot for spent nuclear waste did nothing good for our economy and left one of the most pristine and beautiful areas in the state contaminated for years after the closing of United Nuclear.
--Nancy Green
