Monday, December 31, 2012

Hillary Clinton Admitted To New York Hospital With Blood Clot Following Concussion

WASHINGTON ? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was admitted to a New York hospital Sunday after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month.

Clinton's doctors discovered the clot Sunday while performing a follow-up exam, her spokesman, Philippe Reines, said. He would not elaborate on the location of the clot but said Clinton is being treated with anti-coagulants and would remain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital for at least the next 48 hours so doctors can monitor the medication.

"Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion," Reines said in a statement. "They will determine if any further action is required."

Clinton, 65, fell and suffered a concussion while at home alone in mid-December as she recovered from a stomach virus that left her severely dehydrated. The concussion was diagnosed Dec. 13 and Clinton was forced to cancel a trip to North Africa and the Middle East that had been planned for the next week.

Clinton was also forced to cancel Dec. 20 testimony before Congress about a scathing report into the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The report found that serious failures of leadership and management in two State Department bureaus were to blame for insufficient security at the facility. Clinton took responsibility for the incident before the report was released, but she was not blamed.

Some conservative commentators suggested Clinton was faking the seriousness of her illness and concussion to avoid testifying, although State Department officials vehemently denied that was the case.

Lawmakers at the hearings ? including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Clinton ? offered her their best wishes.

The former first lady and senator, who had always planned to step down as America's top diplomat in January, is known for her grueling travel schedule. She is the most traveled secretary of state in history, having visited 112 countries while in the job.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/30/hillary-clinton-blood-clot-hospital_n_2385951.html

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Beijing ? China Requiring People To Visit Their Aged Parents

Beijing - Visit your parents. That?s an order.

So says China, whose national legislature on Friday amended its law on the elderly to require that adult children visit their aged parents ?often? ? or risk being sued by them.

The amendment does not specify how frequently such visits should occur.

State media say the new clause will allow elderly parents who feel neglected by their children to take them to court.

A rapidly developing China is facing increasing difficulty in caring for its aging population. Three decades of market reforms have accelerated the breakup of the traditional extended family in China, and there are few affordable alternatives, such as retirement or care homes, for the elderly or others unable to live on their own.


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Source: http://feeds.vosizneias.com/~r/vin/~3/bflrPdDo3kA/

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From mountain to city, home is where the heart is - Bloom

I?m excited to share with you an interview with Michelle Miller of Cypress, Calif. Michelle, her husband Michael, and daughter Maya welcomed Michelle?s nephew Dmitri (above left) into their family in 2011 after the death of both of his parents. Michelle runs Fickle Knitter Design?writing books for people who knit?but had no experience with children with disabilities. Dmitri, now 10, has Down syndrome and autism. Michelle?s daughter Maya is 6. The family brought Dmitri from his home on a rural mountain in Virginia to a city in Orange County, Calif. in October 2011.

BLOOM: What events led to your adopting Dmitri?

Michelle Miller: My brother-in-law Ric?Dmitri?s father?was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2010. In January of 2011, my sister Miriam died from pneumonia. It was totally unexpected as she was only 45, healthy and young. She had been caring for both her husband while he was sick and Dmitri. I thought it was in everyone?s best interest for Dmitri to spend as much time as possible with his dad, before he died, and we did that with the help of family and some respite care. I went and lived there for three months to take care of them until Dmitri?s father passed away in September. We then had to wait another month for the court to grant me legal guardianship and at the end of October we brought Dmitri back to California with us.

BLOOM: Did you have any experience?caring for children with disabilities?

Michelle Miller: No I didn?t. My sister and I talked two times a week for a couple of hours each time, so I knew about Dmitri?s life extensively, but that?s not the same as physically being there. I really hadn?t had any experience with disabled children at that point. I had friends who were disabled growing up in school, but I?d never been in the role of caretaker.

BLOOM: When did you make the decision to adopt Dmitri?

Michelle Miller: The night my sister passed away I knew I?m the youngest and best equipped in our family to be able to care for him. But for months I worried: Would I be able to do it all and would I do it well? It was scary.

BLOOM: What was Dmitri like when you stayed with him and his dad?

Michelle Miller: I look so much like my sister and when he came home and saw me he went upstairs and cried. It was hard for me to know it was hurting him to see me. He had a lot of behaviours at that time and he fought me at every turn. I?m sure some of those behaviours were anger and grief at not having his mom around. He was doing dangerous things and didn?t have any concept of danger. When I first got to Virginia it was a battle everyday just to get him dressed and I thought: How will I do this everyday for the rest of my life? It was hard. One of his respite-care workers said he viewed me as a maternal figure, and that was why he was testing me. That helped me get through it a lot.

BLOOM: How does Dmitri communicate?

Michelle Miller: He can nod his head yes and no, and if he doesn?t want to do something he?ll sit down. And that includes if he doesn?t want to cross the street: he?ll sit down in the middle of oncoming traffic! Because he?d been through so much, if he didn?t want to do something, I didn?t want to make him do it. I struggled with that. That?s one thing I was able to talk to his dad about and work out. His dad told me that he and his mother decided early on that Dmitri was going to have to do things he doesn?t want to do because that?s part of being alive.

BLOOM: How did you manage to stay positive while caring for your brother-in-law who was dying and your nephew who was grieving?

Michelle Miller: I just tried to stay in the moment as much as possible. I definitely didn?t complain. I wanted Ric to have faith that my husband and I would do a good job. My daughter wasn?t in school yet so she came and stayed with us for a couple of weeks at a time.

BLOOM: What was the most challenging part about bringing Dmitri into your family?

Michelle Miller: Learning how to get him to do the things he needs to do everyday. But I?ve figured out how to motivate him. Chicken nuggets and ice cream are good motivators. He?s a good boy and although he still sometimes doesn?t want to do things, he?s a different kid now.

BLOOM: How did he adjust to coming to live with you?

Michelle Miller: He still had some behavioural issues but he seemed to feel at home right away. We changed the guest room into his room and bought him some special furniture and brought comfort items of his from Virginia. It seemed like he knew this was where he was going to be. But it took a lot longer for him to feel really comfortable.

BLOOM: How did your daughter adapt?

Michelle Miller: She?s amazing. When Dmitri?s dad was still alive, she asked me if Dmitri was going to be her brother. She was only five at the time and I didn?t know how she was able to perceive that. She?s great when we go out in public. She?ll tell people ?This is my brother. He doesn?t talk and he has autism.? Dmitri?s dad said Maya was the first kid he ever played with. He would let her come into his room and play with his toys. They would hang out together?more side by side than play. Dmitri lived on a mountain in a very isolated area, so he hadn?t had play dates and regular contact with kids. Maya?s been a tremendous influence on his life and I think a lot of his gains have been through being around her. Now he has regular contact with other children.

BLOOM: How have you changed since Dmitri became your son?

Michelle Miller: You?re trying to get me to cry, aren?t you? I?ve changed a lot. The strides Dmitri makes may be little in other people?s eyes, but I know how hard he?s working and how much he?s accomplished. I embrace and value the small things a lot more. I feel so grateful for everything that I have.

BLOOM: How do you keep the memory of his first parents alive?

Michelle Miller: He hears us talking about them a lot. My sister was a photographer and we have her photos hanging in the house. We have pictures of him and his parents together. My sister was such a big part of my life that it?s something we talk about often.

BLOOM: How did you learn to get the services Dmitri needed and advocate for him?

Michelle Miller: I have a background in physics and that gave me a really good ability to do research. In the months while Dmitri?s dad was still alive, I found out about the agency that provides services to people in our county and I started e-mail contact with them. I talked to as many other parents of children with disabilities as I could, and I read books. There are a lot of wonderful services for disabled folks here, including the special school for children with disabilities that Dmitri attends. Many of the services are offered through our Regional Center system and often are subsidized through special programs. Right now we do respite care and will soon start?ABA therapy through Orange County.

BLOOM: Would you say this opened up a new world to you?

Michelle?Miller: Yes. We now have a family that we do play dates with that has a son with autism. And we?ve met other families of children with disabilities.

BLOOM: It sounds like having your own business allows you to balance the needs of your kids and your work.

Michelle Miller: It?s wonderful. I?m able to put Dmitri on the bus and able to help my daughter get ready for school, and when Dmitri gets off the bus I?m there. If I need to pick either of them up from school? or take Dmitri to doctor appointments, and he has a lot of them?it?s not an issue. I can adjust my schedule. If the kids need something, I can put my work down.

BLOOM: What kind of things does Dmitri enjoy now?

Michelle Miller: He likes electronics and musical toys. A favourite thing of his is a bouncy ball that he?s good at bouncing. He has an MP3 player with children?s music that he likes. And recently he began interacting with an iPad, which really shocked me. He likes Netflix and there?s a group of apps I got for him called Starfall, for reading. I can hear him in his room right now playing the one where he has to do a sequence of events to make the turkey dance.

BLOOM: How did your husband manage with the adoption?

Michelle Miller: He was amazing. He never put up any roadblocks. He came out to visit us and worked remotely. He co-parents with me. He parents Dmitri just like I do.

BLOOM: What practical advice would you offer a family adopting a child with disabilities?

Michelle Miller: I would say reach out and find out what sort of services are available in your local community and network with other parents. Many times you won?t know exactly what services you can get until you speak with other parents. I talked a lot with Dmitri?s respite-care workers in Virginia and every time I go into his school, his teacher and I compare notes and I observe how they interact with him. In some ways you can?t prepare yourself for adopting a child who can?t talk. They?re sort of trapped in themselves.

BLOOM: How is Dmitri doing these days?

Michelle Miller: In the past three to four months he?s become a pretty happy kid. He smiles a lot. He?s really settled and comfortable. If he wants something like the ketchup he?ll go and get it himself, which is pretty huge for him. That shows me that he feels really comfortable and confident.

BLOOM: How do you feel about adopting Dmitri now?

Michelle Miller: I don?t think about it too much. I know it was the right choice and I?m so happy we did it. Even though it?s been really difficult I would do it again in a heart beat.

Read more about the process of adopting Dmitri on Michelle's blog.

Source: http://bloom-parentingkidswithdisabilities.blogspot.com/2012/12/from-mountain-to-city-home-is-where.html

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Green Blog: A Discovery, Marooned in Libya's Revolution

As Adam Nagourney reports in The Times, Death Valley is experiencing a burst of civic pride over reclaiming a world temperature record: a 134-degree reading registered on July 10, 1913, at Greenland Ranch in California.

The World Meteorological Organization announced in September that it was throwing out what had previously been thought to be the global record: a reading of 136.4 degrees recorded in the Libyan settlement of Al Aziziya on Sept. 13, 1922. The revised record made headlines around the world.

Yet the back story is even more interesting. Khalid el-Fadli, a Libyan member of the meteorological team that investigated the record, found the original 1922 temperature reading in a logbook at the Libyan National Meteorological Center, where he works, on Feb. 15, 2011, when a revolution had just broken out in the capital.

Working from the logbook, the international team would eventually discover that the reading was taken by an untrained observer with an instrument that was outmoded even for its time. What is more, the temperature did not jibe with other temperatures measured in the area on Sept. 13, 1922, and it differed markedly from readings taken later at Azizia.

Yet it took it took the team six months to pursue those findings, given that Mr. Fadli got sucked into a war immediately after reporting the discovery of the notebook. ?During the revolution, it was very dangerous to call anyone outside,? he said in a telephone interview from Tripoli, the Libyan capital. And ?international calls were shut down by the government? in any case, he said.

Mr. Fadli recalled: ?From March until July, I would go to my office ? not regularly, not every day. Because there was no fuel, our life was very hard.?

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He recalls reading the e-mails flooding in from international colleagues, at first curious in tone and then deeply concerned as weeks passed by. For a full six months he resisted the urge to reply lest he be accused of corresponding with the enemy.

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Given the level of government monitoring, any knowledge that he was communicating with an international committee ?would have been a death sentence for him,? said Chris Burt, a member of the international meteorological team.

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Then came a television pronouncement by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, Libya?s longtime dictator, that NATO was using climate data relayed from Libyan scientists to plot its aerial attacks on Libyan government forces. The scientists on the meteorological team assumed the worst. ?My fear was that they had found out that el-Fadli was part of this committee,? Mr. Burt said.

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But Mr. Fadli remained below the radar, and when the violence tapered off that August, he resumed communications with his distant colleagues, and together,?they were able to move on with their work.

and reported the discovery of the logbook.

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He continues to work at the Libyan National Meteorological Center. ?It?s not completely normal yet,? Mr. Fadli said of his country?s situation. But a semblance of calm has returned, he added.

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His international colleagues remain grateful. ?The records he found were really the smoking gun,? Mr. Burt said. ??He?s really ?the guy? in this investigation ? it never could have happened without him.?

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Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/a-discovery-marooned-in-libyas-revolution/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Days before deadline, Obama urges Congress to act on 'fiscal cliff' (Washington Bureau)

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Best bets: America storms 'Downton Abbey'

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

It's time, at last, to return to that towering English manor house known as "Downton Abbey." This season, America meets England, as Shirley MacLaine muscles her way into the mansion, playing Cora's mother. Also this week: The chilling and engrossing "Zero Dark Thirty" opens, and the fascinating "Looper" hits home video.

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MONDAY: 'Looper' on home video
"Looper" put a chilling twist on time travel. In the future, it exists, but is only used by mobsters looking to dump enemies into the past and have them shot by "loopers." Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a looper who's pretty good at his job, until the inevitable day when the mob sends his own future self (in the form of Bruce Willis) back for the fatal shot. It's a twisty, tricky film that's fun to watch. (On DVD and Blu-ray Dec. 31.)

FRIDAY: 'Zero Dark Thirty'
If you're in New York or Los Angeles, "Zero Dark Thirty" may already be playing, but the rest of us get a chance to see this early favorite for best picture this week. It's not for everyone. As you may have heard, the film opens with raw phone conversations from 9/11, and moves on quickly to detainees being tortured at CIA black sites. If you get through that, Kathryn Bigelow's film rewards with perhaps the best final hour put on film this year, as Navy SEALs pour into the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound looking for Osama bin Laden. Jessica Chastain shines as a CIA agent who's determined to find the terrorist mastermind, and Jason Clarke, who plays a fellow agent, has come a long way from "Brotherhood." (Opens Jan. 4 in many cities.)

SUNDAY: 'Downton Abbey'
Finally! The Brits have been watching season three ("series 3" to them) for months now, but we Yanks can finally get caught up. (Hope you've avoided the Internet spoilers!) It's certainly not a spoiler to say that Shirley MacLaine is sweeping in as the mother of Cora, Countess of Grantham, and is sure to have more than one run-in with the imposing Dowager Countess. And Lady Mary and Matthew are preparing for their wedding. Here's to the bride -- and the grandmother-in-law-to-be.

Related content:

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Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/26/16171748-best-bets-america-storms-downton-abbey?lite

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Climate Change Is Not Just an Environmental Problem -- It's ... - Care2


Kit B. (304)
Friday December 28, 2012, 9:39 am
(Photo Credit: Jean Lee/ Shutterstock.com)

This article was published in partnership with GlobalPossibilities.org.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), the agency in charge of the Delaware River as it winds through four states, conveniently sidestepped taking responsibility for overseeing the cumulative effects of the many natural gas pipelines being built around or through the Delaware River watershed by saying, essentially, "that's not our job." It's a tried-and-true political maneuver. But, if it's not the job of the DRBC, then we are really screwed here in the Delaware River Valley. That means it's not anybody's job to look after the aggregate environmental degradation in the watershed and threats to human (and animal) well-being caused by the standard procedures of the natural gas industry, operating as they do without need to comply with the Clean Air or Clean Water Acts. Oh well, I guess they can monitor themselves.

The DRBC did however give the go-ahead to two controversial projects: a $1.2 billion electrical transmission line through 72 miles of Delaware River watershed connecting New Jersey and Pennsylvania substations, and a $6.4 billion project to expand the Philadelphia airport- by filling in 130 acres of wetlands. Wetlands mitigate the effects of disastrous storms like Sandy, which we can expect more of, thanks to climate change. But you can't charge for prudence.

Every time I revisit the airport expansion, the numbers get bigger. There's the usual amount of cheerleading for this project, from the usual cheerleaders- the ones that brought you casinos and the expanded convention center. And I'm sure they all stand to make piles of money. Airport director Mark Gale promises jobs and revenue and a more efficient airport. Let's hope any of that is true. US Airways Vice President Micheal Minerva questioned the proposition back in 2010, so some pretty smart people see things differently. The project now only needs permission from Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (an oxymoron under Corbett) and the US Army Corps of Engineers, so consider it a done deal.

And here, in microcosm, is the problem with solving climate change. There's too much money to to be made doing the same old same old. There's no incentive to change, I mean, unless you like breathing the air and drinking the water. But apparently that's just not as sexy as the old "jobs and revenue" line that gets trotted out by every fill-in-the-blank financially interested party to defend every project that will add more carbon to the atmosphere.

The sticking point with climate change is it's not an environmental problem, primarily, but an economic problem. The entire world's economy revolves around carbon-spewing technologies. And until the kingpins controlling the resources that keep this economy running figure out how to make money in changing, there will be no serious change. Period, the end. Too bad about the air and water.

The natural gas industry is big in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and is grossly unregulated. The prize the industry promotes is replacing oil with natural gas - liquified natural gas, to be precise. That way cars keep running, factories don't have to retool, there's no need to worry so much about rapid transit, and hey, natural gas is clean, they say, kind of like clean coal (not). Tar sands development in Canada continues at a breakneck pace, although it may not go as smoothly as envisioned. GE recently announced plans to expand "natural gas highway" partnerships and the US government issued a report last week that makes the case for exporting natural gas, which the US now has in surplus. Sure it'll drive up domestic natural gas prices, but ultimately... jobs and revenue. So that's the plan, a natural gas superhighway and exporting the stuff so other countries can build natural gas superhighways. Good old, same old thing.

And nary a word about the hit to the earth's warming climate of these "clean energy" technologies. According to the International Energy Agency the world cannot afford to burn two-thirds of all identified fossil fuel resources. All that new carbon alone will doom the planet. It has to stay in the ground. So what the heck are we all talking about? "Jobs and revenue" is beginning to sound like the ditty Nero might sing as Rome burns.

Earlier this month, countries of the world met in Doha, Qatar under the auspices of the United Nations, to continue their nearly 20 year conversation about what they could or should do concerning climate change. Twenty years of talk and no action. Why? Because there's way too much money to be made doing nothing, and besides, say some, carbon regulation is not the UN's job.

When ordinary people have a concern about the impacts to their well-being of an industry, they naturally turn to their elected political leaders. So it's disappointing when those leaders aren't that interested in protecting public health. Susan Rice, current UN Ambassador, whose name is being floated for Secretary of State, has over a million invested in the Keystone Pipeline, a deal that needs - surprise! - a permit from the Department of State to proceed. It's hard for politicians to care about whether you can breathe air or drink water when they're so busy toting up their own return on investment.

I'm not against jobs and revenue but I've come to highly value breathing air and drinking water. The only force in the world capable of ultimately winning out over all this prevailing wisdom about jobs and revenue and the incredible boon of "clean" fossil fuels is sustained direct action by people. For real change, people will have to push harder, because politicians can talk forever, if you let them.

This is the conclusion many activists have come to across a variety of campaigns like Greenpeace, the Tar Sands Blockade and the new student movement to force colleges and universities to divest themselves of their fossil fuel investments, to name a few. It's surely going to get hotter - literally and figuratively - before health and well-being win out over jobs and revenue.

This article originally published at GreenCityJournal.com.
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By: Caryn Hunt | alternet |

Caryn Hunt lives and writes in Philadelphia.

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