~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Los Angeles Times

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich 'stunned' by conviction

He's found guilty on 17 counts of corruption, including trying to sell the Senate seat formerly held by President Obama.

by Bob Secter and Jeff Coen, Chicago Tribune

June 28, 2011

Reporting from Chicago

At his second trial in less than a year, former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich was convicted Monday of 17 counts of corruption, including trying to sell the Senate seat formerly held by President Obama.

The voluble Democrat who won two terms as governor before being impeached and removed from office after his arrest on federal charges had little to say after the verdict. Holding his wife's hand, he spoke to a crush of reporters at the Chicago federal courthouse.

"Patti and I obviously are very disappointed in the outcome," he said. "I, frankly, am stunned. There's not much left to say other than we want to get home to our little girls and talk to them and explain things to them and try to sort things out. And I'm sure we'll be seeing you."

They have two daughters, ages 8 and 14.

The couple walked to a waiting car while some in the crowd booed.

After deliberating for 10 days, jurors found that Blagojevich brazenly abused the powers of office in a series of attempted shakedowns captured on government undercover recordings. The jury of 11 women and one man found him guilty of wire fraud, attempted extortion, bribery and conspiracy as well as trying to sell Obama's Senate seat.

Blagojevich's defense was that audacious-sounding ideas heard in some recordings were merely him thinking aloud.

Blagojevich showed no reaction as the jury announced its decision. Once the verdicts were read, he sat back in his chair with his lips pursed, looked toward his wife and whispered, "I love you."

At the first guilty verdict, Patti Blagojevich slumped into the arms of her brother, who stroked her head. She kept shaking her head "no" as jurors left the courtroom. Once the judge was gone, Blagojevich grabbed his wife's hand and hugged and kissed her.

The forewoman of the jury told reporters that jurors were confident that they had reached a "fair and just" verdict.

Juror 103, a woman, said Blagojevich's testimony made reaching a verdict a bit more difficult "because he was personable."

"It made it harder to separate that from what we had heard" in the recordings, she said.

Another woman, Juror 140, said she sometimes found Blagojevich's testimony "manipulative."

"I would rather have heard just the facts," she said. "I think [with] our verdict, we did not believe" him.

Juror 140 said the evidence on the sale of the U.S. Senate seat was the clearest of all the charges because of the abundance of recorded evidence. "We felt he was trying to make a trade for the Senate seat," she said.

Blagojevich, 54, was acquitted on one count of trying to shake down a construction executive. The jury deadlocked on two other shakedown counts, including one in which the target was then-U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat who is now Chicago's mayor.

U.S. Atty. Patrick J. Fitzgerald called the verdict "bittersweet."

Five years ago, he said, another jury convicted Blagojevich's predecessor and sent a message that corruption would not be tolerated. "Gov. Blagojevich did not get that message," Fitzgerald said.

Former Republican Gov. George H. Ryan is serving 6 1/2 years in federal prison.

Blagojevich is the fourth former governor convicted of felonies since 1973.

This marks the second time in less than a year that Blagojevich has been convicted of a crime. Last summer, jurors found him guilty of lying to the FBI but deadlocked on all other counts, setting the stage for the retrial.

Blagojevich did not testify at his first trial. But at his second, on the witness stand, he said prosecutors had twisted his words from the wiretaps and insisted he was guilty merely of thinking aloud. What's more, his lawyers emphasized, none of the illegal plots he was accused of hatching came to fruition.

But on cross-examination, lead prosecutor Reid J. Schar drew a bead on his credibility with his first question: "Mr. Blagojevich, you are a convicted liar, correct?"

"Yes," Blagojevich answered.

The 17 convictions carry a possible sentence of up to 300 years in prison, but federal guidelines mean he will serve a fraction of that. He also faces up to five years for his conviction last summer.

Experts estimated that he could face up to 10 years in prison, perhaps more.

At the prosecution's request, U.S. District Judge James Zagel told Blagojevich not to leave northern Illinois.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-blagojevich-20110628,0,4110530,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mexican priest alleges mass kidnapping of Central American migrants

Father Alejandro Solalinde says witnesses told him that at least 80 people were abducted from a train by masked gunmen in Veracruz state.

by Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

June 28, 2011

Reporting from Mexico City

A Roman Catholic priest who has long championed the cause of migrant workers denounced on Monday what he said was another mass kidnapping of undocumented Central Americans, purportedly yanked from a train by masked gunmen in southern Mexico.

Father Alejandro Solalinde, who runs the Hermanos en el Camino shelter for migrants, said at least 80 people mainly from Guatemala and Honduras were apparently abducted Friday in Veracruz state. He based his claim on information from several members of the group who said they managed to escape.

If the report is true, it would be the latest in a string of cases in which armed gangs have intercepted illegal immigrants on their voyage across Mexico to the United States. The gangs often try to extort money from the immigrants' families or force them to work as drug mules or in other tasks.

Many of those abducted have ended up in mass graves; in the worst massacre of such migrants, 72 were slain execution-style last year in Tamaulipas state, which borders Texas.

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission demanded that Solalinde's assertions be investigated swiftly and that the missing immigrants be rescued. The commission says it documented the kidnapping or disappearance of 11,333 immigrants in a six-month period last year and criticized the government for failing to improve safety conditions.

Solalinde told reporters that the witnesses said about 10 heavily armed men pulled the migrants from a train when it stopped at a desolate spot around midday. The gunmen seemed to target women and children in particular, rounding them up first and forcing them into waiting trucks, he said.

"Some ran and escaped but the others didn't," Solalinde said. "And now we don't know what's happening to these poor people."

The group numbered as many as 250 people, many of whom had been staying in Solalinde's shelter in Oaxaca state before the abduction, the priest said. He suspected that the notorious Zetas criminal network was responsible.

The federal attorney general's office said it would investigate the incident. President Felipe Calderon has repeatedly had to face the anger of Central American governments that complain their citizens are not being protected.

In an annual report on human trafficking released Monday, the U.S. State Department said Mexico "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so." It also noted reports that local authorities were often in cahoots with the gangs.

With fanfare, Mexico last month signed an immigration law meant to reduce the dangers and announced a purge of corrupt immigration officers.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-migrants-20110628,0,506038,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Officials warn of cocaine additive that causes 'serious skin reactions'

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is warning the public about a new additive in cocaine that scientists say has given users in Los Angeles and New York “serious skin reactions.”

Though the statement from the Sheriff's Department was quick to clarify that the information was being provided as a public service and officials did not “endorse products or services,” it included information from a June 21 article in ScienceDaily in which doctors warned of a “potential public health epidemic.”

The article cited a report in which doctors said six patients in the two cities had developed purple blotches on their ears, nose, cheeks and other body parts after using cocaine that doctors believe was contaminated with levamisole, a cheap veterinary medicine commonly used to deworm livestock.

Officials believe the medication is being used to dilute up to 70% of cocaine in the United States.

Dr. Noah Craft, author of the report and a principal researcher at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said in the article that the intent of the report was to educate the public and increase awareness among doctors who are seeing patients with similar symptoms.

Since the report was published, Craft said, additional patients displayed the same skin rashes, each after using cocaine.

"We have had several more cases since we wrote this report," he said. "In one of the more interesting ones, the patient used cocaine again and developed the same skin reaction again. He then switched drug dealers and the problem cleared up."

The report was originally published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/cocaine-additive-warning.html#more

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Goldberg: Rage against the TSA machine

The agency's airport screening policy seems to be that you hassle everyone equally, even a 95-year-old with leukemia.

by Jonah Goldberg

June 28, 2011

The backdrop for my favorite science-fiction novels, Frank Herbert's "Dune" series, is something called the Butlerian Jihad. Some 10,000 years before the main events of the story take place, humanity rebelled against "thinking machines" — intelligent computers — controlling people's lives. The revolution was sparked because a computer decided to kill, without the consent of any human authority, the baby of a woman named Jehanne Butler.

I bring this up because I'm wondering why we can't have a Weberian Jihad.

Its namesake would be Jean Weber, a 105-pound, 95-year-old Florida woman whose daughter claims was forced by airport security to remove her adult diaper in compliance with a body search. Weber is dying of leukemia. She did not have another clean diaper for her trip.

The Transportation Security Administration belatedly denied forcing the removal of the diaper. Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the TSA, insisted that the agency was sensitive and respectful in dealing with travelers, but she also told the Northwest Florida Daily News that procedures have to be the same for everyone: "TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability."

That's apparently why Drew Mandy, a 29-year-old disabled man with the mental capacity of a 2-year-old, had his 6-inch plastic toy hammer yanked from him by TSA on his way to Disney World. Mandy used the hammer as a security blanket of sorts. But the TSA agents insisted it could be used as a weapon. "It just killed me to have to throw it away because he's been carrying this, like, for 20 years," Mandy's father told WJBK in Detroit. What his dad doesn't understand is that if Islamic terrorists can't have plastic toy hammers, no one can.

Mandy's father says he wrote to the TSA and got an apology and a promise that agents would be retrained, but horror stories like these keep mounting. I'd tell you how thorough the TSA search was of blogger and advice columnist Amy Alkon (who collects such tales), but this is a family newspaper. Suffice it to say, your government left nothing to chance.

And that's what brought to mind "Dune's" Butlerian Jihad. The holy war against machines was also a war against a mind-set. "The target of the jihad was a machine-attitude as much as the machines," a character explains. "Humans had set those machines to usurp our sense of beauty, our necessary selfdom out of which we make living judgments." In the aftermath, a new commandment was promulgated: "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."

It seems the first commandment of the TSA is that every mind must be trained in the likeness of a machine. "Garbage in, garbage out," is how computer programmers explain the way bad outputs are determined by bad inputs. Likewise, if TSA workers are programmed not to use common sense or discretion — surprise! — TSA workers won't use common sense or discretion.

Why not? One reason is we've institutionalized an irrational phobia against anything smacking of racial or religious profiling. Once you've decided that disproportionate scrutiny of certain groups is verboten, you'll have to hassle everyone equally. Thus we're told that a 95-year-old woman's diaper is just as likely to be the front line in the war on terror as a 22-year-old Pakistani's backpack.

Defenders of the TSA insist we can't abandon such mindlessness because if we do, clever terrorists will start using adult diapers as IEDs. Others say we know that profiling isn't effective because the Israelis don't use it.

Both lines of argument assume security personnel cannot be trusted to be much more than automatons, mindlessly acting on bureaucratic programming. If that's true of the current personnel, it's not because it has to be.

In fact, the reason the Israelis don't do simple profiling is that they use intelligent profiling conducted by highly intelligent screeners. At Ben Gurion International Airport, everyone's interviewed by security. Some are questioned at length, others quickly. The controlling variable is the "living judgment" — to borrow a phrase from "Dune's" Herbert — of the interviewers, and not wildly expensive full-body scanners and inflexible checklists.

Does anyone think that the personnel searching Jean Weber honestly thought there might be a threat? Or is it more likely they were, machine-like, just doing what their garbage-in programming dictated?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg-tsa-20110628,0,7734612,print.column

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Google News

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drop-side cribs barred, even at garage sales

WASHINGTON — Beginning today, the government is prohibiting the manufacture, sale or resale of drop-side baby cribs, even at neighborhood yard and garage sales.

Ushering in one of the most significant changes in child safety in decades, the federal rule taking effect this week bans the manufacture, sale and resale of the cribs, which have been blamed in the deaths of dozens of children.

Another significant part of the new federal standard mandates more rigorous safety tests for cribs before they hit the market.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_18365795

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. Plans Stealth Survey on Access to Doctors

WASHINGTON — Alarmed by a shortage of primary care doctors, Obama administration officials are recruiting a team of “mystery shoppers” to pose as patients, call doctors' offices and request appointments to see how difficult it is for people to get care when they need it.

The administration says the survey will address a “critical public policy problem”: the increasing shortage of primary care doctors, including specialists in internal medicine and family practice. It will also try to discover whether doctors are accepting patients with private insurance while turning away those in government health programs that pay lower reimbursement rates.

Federal officials predict that more than 30 million Americans will gain coverage under the health care law passed last year. “These newly insured Americans will need to seek out new primary care physicians, further exacerbating the already growing problem” of a shortage of such physicians in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a description of the project prepared for the White House.

Plans for the survey have riled many doctors because the secret shoppers will not identify themselves as working for the government.

“I don't like the idea of the government snooping,” said Dr. Raymond Scalettar, an internist in Washington. “It's a pernicious practice — Big Brother tactics, which should be opposed.”

According to government documents obtained from Obama administration officials, the mystery shoppers will call medical practices and ask if doctors are accepting new patients and, if so, how long the wait would be. The government is eager to know whether doctors give different answers to callers depending on whether they have public insurance, like Medicaid, or private insurance, like Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Dr. George J. Petruncio, a family doctor in Turnersville, N.J., said: “This is not a way to build trust in government. Why should I trust someone who does not correctly identify himself?”

Dr. Stephen C. Albrecht, a family doctor in Olympia, Wash., said: “If federal officials are worried about access to care, they could help us. They don't have to spy on us.”

Dr. Robert L. Hogue, a family physician in Brownwood, Tex., asked: “Is this a good use of tax money? Probably not. Everybody with a brain knows we do not have enough doctors.”

In response to the drumbeat of criticism, a federal health official said doctors need not worry because the data would be kept confidential. “Reports will present aggregate data, and individuals will not be identified,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan before its final approval by the White House.

Christian J. Stenrud, a Health and Human Services spokesman, said: “Access to primary care is a priority for the administration. This study is an effort to better understand the problem and make sure we are doing everything we can to support primary care physicians, especially in communities where the need is greatest.”

The new health care law includes several provisions intended to increase the supply of primary care doctors, and officials want to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of those policies.

Federal officials said the initial survey would cost $347,370. Dr. Hogue said the money could be better spent on the training or reimbursement of primary care doctors. The White House defended the survey, saying a similar technique had been used on a smaller scale in President George W. Bush's administration.

Most doctors accept Medicare patients, who are 65 and older or disabled. But many say they do not regard the government as a reliable business partner because it has repeatedly threatened to cut their Medicare fees. In many states, Medicaid, the program for low-income people, pays so little that many doctors refuse to accept Medicaid patients. This could become a more serious problem in 2014, when the new health law will greatly expand eligibility for Medicaid.

Access to care has been a concern in Massachusetts, which provides coverage under a state program cited by many in Congress as a model for President Obama's health care overhaul.

In a recent study, the Massachusetts Medical Society found that 53 percent of family physicians and 51 percent of internal medicine physicians were not accepting new patients. When new patients could get appointments, they faced long waits, averaging 36 days to see family doctors and 48 days for internists.

In the mystery shopper survey, administration officials said, a federal contractor will call the offices of 4,185 doctors — 465 in each of nine states: Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. The doctors will include pediatricians and obstetrician-gynecologists.

The calls are to begin in a few months, with preliminary results from the survey expected next spring. Each office will be called at least twice — by a person who supposedly has private insurance and by someone who supposedly has public insurance.

Federal officials provided this example of a script for a caller in a managed care plan known as a preferred provider organization, or P.P.O.:

Mystery shopper: “Hi, my name is Alexis Jackson, and I'm calling to schedule the next available appointment with Dr. Michael Krane. I am a new patient with a P.P.O. from Aetna. I just moved to the area and don't yet have a primary doctor, but I need to be seen as soon as possible.”

Doctor's office: “What type of problem are you experiencing?”

Mystery shopper: “I've had a cough for the last two weeks, and now I'm running a fever. I've been coughing up thick greenish mucus that has some blood in it, and I'm a little short of breath.”

In separate interviews, several doctors said that patients with those symptoms should immediately see a doctor because the symptoms could indicate pneumonia, lung cancer or a blood clot in the lungs.

Other mystery shoppers will try to schedule appointments for routine care, like an annual checkup for an adult or a sports physical for a high school athlete.

To make sure they are not detected, secret shoppers will hide their telephone numbers by blocking caller ID information.

Eleven percent of the doctors will be called a third time. The callers will identify themselves as calling “on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” They will ask whether the doctors accept private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare, and whether they take “self-pay patients.” The study will note any discrepancies between those answers and the ones given to mystery shoppers.

The administration has signed a contract with the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago to help conduct the survey.

Jennifer Benz, a research scientist at the center, said one purpose of the study was to determine whether the use of mystery shoppers would be a feasible way to track access to primary care in the future.

The government could survey consumers directly, but patients may not accurately recall how long it took to get an appointment, and their estimates could be colored by their satisfaction with the doctor, researchers said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/health/policy/27docs.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the White House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

National HIV Testing Day 2011

Note: Today President Obama issued a statement on National HIV Testing Day

Thirty years ago, at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there was no test for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. For many, there was only the long and worrisome wait for the signs of infection. Once those signs appeared, no treatment for the virus was available. I personally cared for many, many patients in this era, and I am thankful that those days are over. Today, HIV testing is accurate, widely available, and often free—and treatment can help people living with HIV enjoy long, healthy lives, especially when they get diagnosed early.

The good news is that more people are being tested for HIV than ever before. It is estimated that almost 83 million American adults between 18 and 64 have been tested for HIV, as of 2009. That's an increase of more than 11 million from 2006 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that HIV testing become a routine part of medical care for adults and adolescents.

However, more than half of American adults still have never taken an HIV test. That's why we need to spread that message that HIV testing saves lives and why today, June 27th, National HIV Testing Day, is an important reminder for us to reach as many people as possible with this life-saving information. Founded by the National Association of People with AIDS, National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) focuses on promoting HIV testing and early diagnosis of HIV across the United States. The day's theme “Take the Test. Take Control.” emphasizes that knowing one's HIV status – whether it's positive or negative – is empowering.

Research shows that once people get tested, those who are HIV positive take steps to protect their partners from HIV. Testing HIV negative is also beneficial - as it empowers individuals to take stock of – and modify – risky sexual behaviors so that they can remain HIV negative.

If you are HIV positive – what you don't know CAN hurt you – and others. A third of those with HIV are tested very late and develop AIDS within a year of their HIV diagnosis, which may be too late to utilize the full benefits of treatment. Approximately 17,000 Americans with AIDS still die each year. Too many new HIV infections in the United States occur because people who don't know they are HIV infected transmit the virus to others.

HIV testing is a significant part of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), the nation's first-ever comprehensive coordinated HIV/AIDS plan. This plan focuses on reducing infections, increasing access to care and improving health outcomes, and reducing HIV-related health disparities.

The federal government continues to make investments to provide HIV testing to those at risk for HIV. CDC initiated the Expanded Testing Initiative in October 2007. Findings from the Initiative were published last week in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The $111 million effort provided funding for health departments in 25 of the nation's hardest-hit areas. As a result of these efforts, CDC-supported health departments were able to offer 2.8 million HIV tests in just three years.

As a result of the Expanded Testing Initiative, more than 18,000 Americans living with HIV learned their HIV status for the first time. Approximately three-quarters of the individuals who were newly diagnosed were successfully linked to HIV care, of those for whom follow up data were available. Increasing HIV testing is among our country's top health priorities as testing not only saves lives, it saves resources. Each HIV infection averted saves an estimated $367,000 (2009 dollars) in lifetime medical costs.

On this 17th annual National HIV Testing Day, we thank the many, many individuals, organizations, and agencies who are taking action to make sure everyone knows that HIV testing is an important step in stopping HIV infections and creating health for our friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors.

To locate an HIV testing site near you, text your Zip Code to “KNOWIT” (566948), visit www.HIVtest.org, or call 800-CDC-INFO ( 800-232-4636 ). To find local HIV resources, including testing, housing, and substance abuse treatment, family planning, and mental health services, visit the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Services Provider Locator tool.

Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH is the Director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/27/national-hiv-testing-day-2011-0

.