US dental care in trouble

This video from the USA is called FRONTLINE | Preview “Dollars and Dentists” | PBS.

By Gary Joad in the USA:

Dental care in America: A study in austerity, neglect and profiteering

1 September 2012

A Frontline production on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) aired in June documented the painful and ill experiences of millions of working class families and their children, the disabled and poor, and retired persons as they seek dental care in the United States.

In the opening scene of “Dollars and Dentists,” hundreds of people with jaw and tooth pain form long lines in the early morning freezing rain of southern Virginia, seeking relief from a volunteer dental clinic. Most patients declare on camera that they are often too sick and sore to eat, and that they are compelled to live with pain every hour of their lives.

As the clinic’s Dr. Terry Dickenson states at the program’s beginning, “Gas, food, and rent compete with dental care for the dollars these persons have.”

Washington, D.C. resident Vanessa Nations, 31, reported that she had been significantly ill with dental and gum infections for many years, until her problems became so severe that she needed all her teeth extracted. She commented, “I feel like little bits of poison are killing me.”

She could not eat sufficiently, and therefore could not maintain a normal weight. Virtually all her teeth were chipped, broken off, and discolored. Poignantly, she brought a smiling teenage photo of herself to show the dentists how she wanted to look again, as they planned the removal of her ruined teeth and the manufacture of her dentures.

In another segment, five-year-old Trinity Way and her grandmother were filmed as they sat in a University of Florida dental clinic. Trinity’s grandmother pointed to the child’s swelled and warm jaw, and reported that they had to wait two months for an appointment.

The university dentists at Gainesville explained that the child’s problems had become too severe and numerous to be treated normally in the clinic. The delay in her care meant that she must undergo oral surgery in an operating room under general anesthesia. The university’s chief of dentistry noted that Trinity’s problems were entirely preventable. He pointed out that, due to the neglect of children’s dental needs in Florida, 1,200 youngsters a year must be treated in operating rooms with the added risk of general anesthesia.

Romney’s far right speech on economics

By Joseph Kishore in the USA:

Romney outlines right-wing agenda in acceptance speech

31 August 2012

Mitt Romney officially accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for president on Thursday evening, in a speech before the national convention in Tampa, Florida. The speech concluded a three-day convention during which the Republicans put on display the right-wing program upon which they are campaigning.

The Republican platform is significant not simply for what it says about the party—a deeply reactionary organization—but the entire American political system. Amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the ruling class, represented by both big business parties, is moving to escalate attacks on the working class.

In terms of policy, the main focus of the Republican campaign is the “economy”—i.e., demands for further corporate deregulation, the elimination of all constraints on profit-making, and the dismantling of Medicare and other social programs to further enrich the financial aristocracy. The Obama administration has pursued these policies over the past four years, and the Republicans are working to shift the political debate even further to the right.

Romney, a former CEO of an asset-stripping firm with a personal fortune of some $200 million, cynically expressed his concern for high levels of unemployment, declining wages, and record poverty. This comes from a candidate who personifies Wall Street speculation and is on record declaring that he is “not concerned about poor people!”

To supposedly address the economic crisis, Romney outlined a five-point program that includes: the ending of restrictions on energy corporations; “school choice,” i.e., the further dismantling and privatization of public education; a harder line on China and other competitors of US capitalism; a massive program of austerity; and the reduction of taxes on businesses.

Kristol Blasts Romney For Not Mentioning The War: here.

Hurricane Isaac blows Romney away

From the Christian Science Monitor in the USA:

Hurricane Isaac delays start of Republican National Convention in Tampa

As in 2008, Republicans scramble to adjust speaking and travel schedules to cope with the hurricane. The vote to formally nominate Mitt Romney shifts to Tuesday – for now. Stay tuned.

I hope (very much against hope) that this delay will cause the Republican party bureaucrats to think again about the undemocratic nature of this convention.

It is undemocratic on the outside; as the local police of Tampa have already threatened to jail people for expressing dissent outside the convention hall.

It is undemocratic on the inside; as those Republican delegates who want to vote for Ron Paul or other candidates other than Romney will not get the right to speak at the convention.

So, more a monarchical “coronation” than a really “republican” event. How would be eighteenth century American revolutionaries who fought the British monarchy think about this?

Day one of the Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay, Florida, has been essentially called off due to Tropical Storm Isaac. The city’s police department received $50 million from Congress ahead of the convention, purchasing armored vehicles and high-tech surveillance cameras equipped with behavioral recognition software: here.

Two attendees at the Republican National Convention were thrown out of the convention center in Tampa on Tuesday after throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman and saying, “this is how we feed the animals”: here.

From Voice of Freedom Park, Tampa, Florida: Interview With Food Not Bombs Activist Nathan Pim: here.

Jail for anti-Romney protesters?

This video from the USA is called Occupy Tampa protests at Mitt Romney rally in Dunedin, FL 1-30-12.

From Think Progress in the USA:

Tampa Authorities Empty Jail In Anticipation of Mass Arrests at GOP Convention

Thursday, 23 August 2012 10:54

Thousands of Republicans from around the country will descend upon Tampa, Florida next week for the Republican National Convention, and if recent history is any guide, so too will hundreds of protesters.

To prepare, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee has ordered the Orient Road Jail, a 1,700 bed prison in Tampa, emptied, relocating some inmates to another nearby prison and releasing others on bond. The entire facility has been transformed into a one-stop booking, detention, and bond-issuance center capable of handling large numbers of arrests, which begs the question: will Tampa police keep demonstrators on a short leash?

Sheriff Gee says no, but also indicated in a letter posted on a county website that his department would have very little tolerance for anything more than chanting and holding up signs:

To the agitators and anarchists who want only to bring a dark cloud to this event, let me be clear: criminal activity and civil disturbances will not be tolerated and enforcement actions will be swift.

Four years ago, police in Minneapolis, Minnesota were criticized for their treatment of protesters and reporters covering the RNC, and were even forced to settle in an excessive force lawsuit. And in 2004, police in New York City were found to have been surveilling dozens of protest groups for months leading up to the RNC, even embedding undercover officers within several larger groups.

Mad Women Descend on the Republican Convention: here.

Tampa Area Republicans terrified of Tea Party, Ryan: here.

Bill Maher: ‘Republicans don’t like it when single women have sex’: here.

As Tampa Bay, Florida, boosts its security for the 2012 Republican National Convention next week, one elusive primate remains at large: the so-called Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay: here.

Sanderling video

This video from Florida in the USA is called Sanderlings on Fort Walton Beach.

Florida nature reserve Leffis Key

This video from Florida is called Anna Maria Island‘s Breath Taking Bay Walk At Leffis Key.

From the Bradenton Herald in the USA:

Leffis Key is a natural island paradise

Published: August 4, 2012

Leffis Key is an island preserve due east of Coquina Beach at the southern tip of Anna Maria Island. Once a barren spoil island, the area is a small paradise of native plants, saltwater wetlands and wildlife.

A 26-foot tall hill in the center of Leffis Key offers a 360-degree view of the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota Bay and the Intracoastal Waterway. The hill is covered with many types of native foliage, such as sea oats, beach elder, dune sunflowers, southern red cedars, green buttonwood, sea grapes, gumbo-limbo and strangler figs.

Leffis Key is a favorite location for bird watching. Each year birders gather at the park for the Manatee County Audubon Societ[y]‘s Christmas Bird Count.

Amenities at Leffis Key include footpaths that weave through the island, up the hill and across boardwalks that cut through dense mangrove forests, opening up to scenic views of the water.

Interpretive signs are placed along the way to provide a better understanding of the habitats, as well as the animal and plant life. There are benches along the path for those adventurers that want to pause and reflect.

Leffis Key offers hiking, fishing, scenic views and an opportunity to learn about our pristine and fragile environment.

Due to the park being in the Coquina Beach Baywalk, dogs are not permitted.

Leffis Key is at 2351 Gulf of Mexico Drive on Anna Maria Island.

– Grant Jefferies, Herald photojournalist

United States Republicans attack voting rights

This video from the USA says about itself:

Veteran Denied the Right to Vote

April 23, 2012 by Steelworkers

Restrictive voter I.D. laws are being passed in many states, making it especially difficult for students, the poor, seniors and minorities to vote. Join Gil Paar in fighting for our rights. Visit www.usw.org/election2012.

By Patrick Martin in the USA:

Voting rights in America under attack

14 July 2012

The weeklong trial on a new voter ID law in the state of Texas concluded with members of a three-judge federal court panel indicating they would uphold the federal Department of Justice and block the implementation of the law on the grounds that it has a discriminatory effect on minorities.

The Justice Department presented an overwhelming factual case to substantiate the charge that minorities are far more likely to lack the government-issued photo identification required to vote under the Texas law. One expert witness testified that 11 percent of white registered voters lacked the required ID, compared to 18 percent of Hispanic registered voters and 21 percent of black registered voters. A total of 1.5 million people of all races could be denied the right to vote under the Texas law.

Attorneys representing the Texas state government disputed claims that the law would have a “disproportionate” impact on Hispanic and African American voters and claimed that “only” 167,000 current voters would be disenfranchised by the new ID requirements. Significantly, they never called as witnesses the Texas state legislators and government officials, all Republicans, who drafted and pushed through the new law as a countermeasure to the rapid growth in the Hispanic population in the state. This would have subjected the Republican politicians to cross-examination on their political motives in adopting a law to curb voting by minorities more likely to support the Democratic Party.

Texas attorneys did not dispute evidence that 80 of the state’s 200 counties have no location where photo IDs can be obtained, and that many residents would have to drive more than 120 miles one way to get such an identification card, for a fee of at least $22, a hardship and expense particularly onerous for the elderly and the poor. At one point, Robert Hughes, one of the Texas state attorneys, declared that he also regarded literacy tests as permissible, although they were one of the principal tactics for excluding minorities barred by the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The case mounted by the state of Texas was so poor that it suggests the real purpose of the state lawsuit was to prepare an appeal to the US Supreme Court, making a direct and unprecedented challenge to the Voting Rights Act itself. Texas is one of 16 states required under the Voting Rights Act to obtain “preclearance” by the federal Justice Department of significant changes in election practices, because of their history of official discrimination against racial minorities. This means that the state had the burden of proof to show that the voter ID law had no discriminatory intent or effect.

Texas is only one of the states that have enacted voter ID requirements and other measures aimed at curbing voter registration and reducing the number of people able to vote, in the name of a fight against “vote fraud.” There have been virtually no documented reports of voter impersonation, the type of fraud that could be prevented by a photo ID requirement. Not a single person has been convicted in Texas of such an offense.

In Michigan, according to a report by the Republican secretary of state, out of nearly 1.2 million ballots cast in the February 28 presidential primary, there were half a dozen from people believed ineligible to vote.

In Florida, where the state attempted to purge 182,000 people from the voter rolls from a dubious list of supposed “illegal aliens,” the number was first whittled down to 2,600, then to only 47, after press revelations that the “illegals” on the list included such individuals as the state’s Republican governor, Rick Scott, principal sponsor of the law, and a 91-year-old decorated veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

How Voter Suppression in 2012 Will Erode Reproductive Rights. Charlene Carruthers, RH Reality Check: “There is power in a woman’s right to vote. Since 1984, women have been the majority of the total vote in every presidential election. They will also decide who shapes the future of reproductive health and rights for all women in this country. The power to preserve and expand reproductive rights is inextricably tied the right to vote. But what is power if your ability to leverage that power is stripped away?” Here.

In Pennsylvania, the Rosa Parks of Voter ID Faces Down GOP Voter Suppression: here.

Study: People who “harbor negative sentiments towards African Americans” are also more likely to support voter ID laws: here.

Recovered Kemp’s turtle returning to USA

This video is called Saving The Endangered Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle: Episode I – Nesting.

Translated from Dutch news agency ANP:

Sea turtle Flip may return to the U.S.

25/06/12, 14:08

The rare marine turtle which washed up late last year on the beach of Monster may return to the United States to go back to the ocean there. The U.S. government has announced this to Sea Life Scheveningen.

Immediately, the aquarium has asked for an export license for transporting Flip to the U.S. When Flip was found on December 10, she was very weak and had multiple injuries. Also, she refused to eat. In the past six months she has recovered well, her injuries have healed, and her weight has more than doubled, according to Sea Life Scheveningen.

Flip, who still resides in quarantine, is a Kemp’s turtle. These are normally only found in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the smallest sea turtle species of all. It is also one of the most endangered marine turtles.

The application for an export license takes about one month. When the license will be there, then within a few weeks Flip will fly by plane to the U.S.

See also here.

Update: Flip returning.

Scientists tracking the dispersal of hatchling loggerhead turtles have resorted to the nail salon to help fit tiny tags to the endangered creatures: here.

ScienceDaily (June 28, 2012) — Researchers at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) and four partner organizations have measured for the first time concentrations of 13 perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) in five different endangered species of sea turtles. While PFC toxicology studies have not yet been conducted on turtles, the levels of the compounds seen in all five species approach the amounts known to cause adverse health effects in other animals: here.

Related articles

• Sea turtles under pressure (scilogs.com)
• National Aquarium Celebrates Rescued Turtle Release (nationalaquarium.wordpress.com)
• National Aquarium and Oceana Release Rehabbed Sea Turtles Back to Sea (prweb.com)
• Officials: Fla man wanted to cook rare sea turtle (miamiherald.com)
• Good Florida loggerhead turtle news (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)

Save Florida freshwater wildlife

This video from the USA is called Florida Wildlife Videos March 2012.

From the Center for Biological Diversity in the USA:

Lawsuit Launched to Protect 10 Imperiled Florida Wildlife Species

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice of intent today to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency’s failure to protect 10 Florida wildlife species under the Endangered Species Act. All the species are dependent on Florida’s freshwater and wetland habitats, degraded by a century of unbridled development.

“These freshwater species are just a small sample of the fascinating, biologically important species native to Florida,” said Jaclyn Lopez, a Center attorney based in Florida. “The aquatic habitats they live in are urgently threatened by water demands and pollution, and they need Endangered Species Act protection to survive.”

The species covered by the Center’s action are the black rail, Georgia blind salamander, Palatka skipper butterfly, purple skimmer dragonfly, small-flower meadow beauty, Ichetucknee siltsnail, Florida cave amphipod and Panama City, Orlando cave and Big Blue Springs cave crayfish. In 2011, a year after the Center petitioned for their protection, the Service determined that all 10 species “may warrant” federal protection as endangered or threatened; yet it has failed to make the required 12-month findings to decide whether protection will be granted.

Saving Schaus swallowtail butterflies in the USA

This video is called Conserving the Nature of America in Changing Climate: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

From Wildlife Extra:

US launches emergency rescue of Schaus swallowtail butterfly on the verge of extinction

Emergency action underway to protect endangered Schaus swallowtail butterfly

June 2012. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has issued an emergency authorization for the collection and captive rearing of Schaus swallowtail butterflies in an effort to save the “endangered” species from extinction.

As a result of that authorization on June 8, two days after surveyors observed only three to five Schaus swallowtail butterflies at Biscayne National Park (BNP) during their current flight season, the USFWS, National Park Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Florida initiated an on-going emergency action to collect up to four female Schaus Swallowtail butterflies within BNP. The surveys are continuing.

Only 1 female sighted in 2012

Biological technicians count the endangered butterfly at Biscayne National Park near Miami each year and this year’s tally plummeted to five from 41 in 2011. “We’ve only confirmed three of the five butterflies sighted this year and only one of those counted this year was a female,” said Dr. Jaret Daniels, lead project researcher for the University of Florida.

The emergency authorization allows the University of Florida crew to capture up to four female butterflies and begin a propagation project to repopulate the species in Biscayne National Park.

Daniels said, “Intervention doesn’t guarantee survival, but it does offer hope and puts us into a better position to save this species.”

Egg collection

Once collected, females will be temporarily confined in a mesh cage on site in natural habitat, where they will hopefully lay eggs on host plants. New eggs will be removed daily. Females will only be confined for up to four days and then released.

“National Parks like Biscayne protect entire ecosystems for the benefit of all species,” said Mark Lewis, Biscayne National Park Superintendent. “Right now, with our partners in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and the University of Florida, we must focus on a fragile but important part of the ecosystem — the Schaus swallowtail — to ensure it doesn’t disappear from the planet.”

As pollinators, butterflies are important members of south Florida ecosystem. They’re also good indicators of the ecological quality of a habitat, as they are important components of the food chain, particularly as larvae (caterpillars).

Insecticide, habitat destruction, droughts, hurricanes, and illegal collection

The Schaus swallowtail was initially listed under the Endangered Species Act as “Threatened” in 1976 and then “Endangered” in 1984. During the 2011 survey, there were 41 total — 35 in BNP (mostly on Elliott Key) and six on north Key Largo. Recovery of the Schaus swallowtail is hindered by insecticide use, habitat destruction, droughts, hurricanes, and illegal collection.

“We’re encouraging concerned citizens to help us save this species by submitting new scientific and commercial information and data related to the status of the Schaus swallowtail butterfly throughout its range in south Florida,” said Larry Williams, Field Supervisor of the South Florida Ecological Services Office.