Unbelievable amount of money been wasted, and the humans lives been wasted is priceless! still our budget is not balance. Stop dropouts and as result, the budget finds the funds that will balance it. Harmony!

“California’s high school dropouts cost state taxpayers approximately $46.4 billion annually, according to a recent study by the California Dropout Research Project (CDRP) at the UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute located at UC Santa Barbara. In addition, the authors estimate that the economic benefit from effective dropout intervention programs would be $392,000 per high school graduate.”

http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1643

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger what do you think? can we fix the education system in our beloved state of California by making it sustainable, and prevent more waste of human resources and cash.

This memorial day its about the remembrance of the fallen heroes, those sent to war for the cause of peace.

We wish our children are not sent into harms way but someone children are sent into harms way, and those families suffer greatly the lost of a love one. Our conditioning by our cultures have made us tolerate this unfairness for some to suffer excessively while others are enjoying to the extreme. The goal is to balance both sides to a middle ground.

Our societies have been condition to use war to detern war, fire to put out fire. What ever happen to the christian value of love to pamper anger? who are we kidding? we send our youth into the harms way because of the will to find the way to make a point of controlling a situation, that is not ours to figured out. But we are Americans, we know it all! this is the attitude that has gotten us in trouble, instead of wanting to be more like Earthly protectors of the environment, which some of us are trying to behave like.

Our behavior dictate our actions and the judgment of those actions that comes along. When we send our youth into harms way, we say we don’t care, would you send your kids into harms way?

Humans beings will evolve to become nature care takers, instead of killing one another, and with it the environment.  It will take many generations and recovery of the planet, which is currently under attacked and warming faster because we are causing it. Out title of super predator fits us quiet well. Like a white shark who has perfected their life style and have evolved to be such important part of the ecosystems of oceans, those humans who appreciate nature, and peace, will survive this period of tribulation and wold financial crisis.

How many times have we had that reported? every year the figures come in about the rate of drop outs.

I’m a in shock by the sick news that one out of 4 kids in California High School is a drop out, in Oakland, my town, is one out of 3! How can we pour all these money to help the world, and deal with whomever wants to be from any whatever political fashion, when our kids, in our backyard are home depress! Or out there filling up the more jails than colleges ratio. No Prop 84 passed in 2004 support these kids that may be dropping out of mental illness cause by the stress in their lives, and other illnesses like asthma, overweight,

LA Times:

1 in 4 quit high school in California

Using a new system for tracking dropouts, California discloses a rate considerably higher than previously reported. About 1 in 3 students in Los Angeles Unified left school.

http://articles.latimes.com/p/2008/jul/17/local/me-dropout17

May 13, 2009 the news announced that there are 1 out of 5 students dropping out of high school in California. In Oakland that rate is 1 out 3. Prop 63 for the mental health act, allocates money to treat this drop out population. Programs are just beginning to be taken shape as the health care industry is revamp.

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ACT Target of Proposition 83

http://www.dmh.ca.gov/Prop_63/MHSA/docs/Mental_Health_Services_Act_Full_Text.pdf

In any year, between 5% and 7% of adults have a serious mental illness as do a similar percentage of children — between 5% and 9%.

The program shall emphasize strategies to reduce the following negative outcomes that may result from untreated mental illness:
(1) Suicide.
(2) Incarcerations.
(3) School failure or dropout.
(4) Unemployment.
(5) Prolonged suffering.
(6) Homelessness.
(7) Removal of children from their homes.

Influenza is a virus – a pack of protein and DNA that lacks the capacity to self-reproduce. So it infects a cell, hijacks the inner machinery and uses it to reproduce. The virus reproduces until there are so many copies that the cell bursts and the virus spills out, spreading to other healthy cells.

There are three types of influenza viruses: A, B, and C. Swine flu (H1N1) and the much hyped avian flu (H5N1) are both Type A.

Type A: Infects people, pigs, birds, horses, seals, whales, and other animals. Wild birds are natural hosts. Divided into subtypes based on two surface proteins – hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). There are 15 HA and 9 NA subtypes, and these can be combined in various ways. Currently, the three most common subtypes in general human circulation are H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2. These can cause epidemics – defined as a high incidence of disease in an area or population – and also a widespread geographic or global disease called a pandemic.

Type B: Normally occurs only in humans. No subtypes. Known to cause human epidemics, but not pandemics.

Type C: Only causes mild respiratory illness in humans, and is not included in flu vaccines. Not capable of epidemic or pandemic spread.

Types A and B are further characterized into genetic variants called “strains.” New strains are constantly evolving and take the place of older ones. While your body may have built up resistance against one strain, it may not be able to fend off its replacement.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081224/ap_on_he_me/med_drug_interactions

The report showing just how many older people are using risky combination comes from a study of nearly 3,000 interviews with people aged 57 to 85. The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and University of Chicago, appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

It’s well-known that as people age, their medication use goes up. But the study highlights the potential problems with some sobering statistics.

Ninety-one percent in this age group use at least one medication, often for heart disease and related problems. That translates to more than 50 million people. More than half use at least five remedies, including prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines or supplements.

Virtually every medicine can have side effects, and with so many being used by so many older adults, the potential for harm is high.

Other commonly used and risky combinations included:

_Warfarin, a potent prescription clot-fighting drug, was often taken with aspirin. Both increase the risk of bleeding, so the odds are even higher when both drugs are taken. The researchers said these risks also occur when warfarin is taken with garlic pills, which some studies have suggested can benefit the heart and help prevent blood clots.

Signs of bleeding problems include bruising easily, hard-to-stop bleeding from the gums or from cuts and blood in the urine.

_Aspirin taken with over-the-counter ginkgo supplements, increasing chances for excess bleeding.

_Lisinopril, a blood pressure drug, taken with potassium, which combined can cause abnormal heart rhythms. Potassium is often prescribed to restore low levels of this important mineral caused by certain blood pressure drugs.

_Prescription cholesterol drugs called statins taken with over-the-counter niacin, a type of vitamin B that also lowers cholesterol. This combination increases risks for muscle damage.

“Patients need to know that while medications are often beneficial, they’re not always safe,” said lead author Dima Qato, a University of Chicago pharmacist. “If they need to self-medicate with over-the-counter or dietary supplements, they should definitely consult with their physicians or pharmacists.”

The study relied on data from in-person interviews with 2,976 adults questioned about which medications they routinely used. The nationally representative survey was done between June 2005 and March 2006, and results were extrapolated to the general population.

The researchers assessed how many people routinely used at least two medications of any type known to have dangerous or even fatal interactions. The number totaled at least one in 25, corresponding to 2.2 million nationwide.

Those interviewed weren’t asked if they’d ever had a bad reaction from taking those combinations. And the study didn’t assess whether patients were taking medications inappropriately.

Dr. Jerry Gurwitz, chief of the geriatric medicine division at University of Massachusetts Medical School, said taking multiple medications, despite possible bad interactions, isn’t necessarily a bad idea as long as patients are in close contact with their doctor.

“There are definitely many instances where if they’re monitored carefully and there’s good reason for using them, that they could be used safely,” said Gurwitz, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Prescription drugs were the most commonly used and nearly one-third used at least five prescription drugs.

Michael Cohen, a pharmacist and president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, called the study an important snapshot of medication use in older Americans. But as someone who takes at least five medications himself, Cohen said the widespread prevalence isn’t surprising.

Cohen said his group recently launched a new Web site, http://www.consumermedsafety.org that will allow consumers to enter names of their medications to check for any potentially dangerous interactions.

___

On the Net:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

Institute for Safe Medication Practices: http://www.ismp.org

The Wise Giving Alliance of the Better Business Bureau says if charities are efficient, they’ll give at least 65 cents out of every dollar they receive to helping others.

But nonprofit organizations and study groups warn that using ratios and too much analysis of finances can be misleading and destructive.

Many people in the nonprofit sector say transparency is a good thing. Web sites like Guidestar.org and Charitynavi gator.org have popped up over the past decade, making nonprofits’ tax information an open book.

Nonprofits are required to release Internal Revenue Service 990 tax forms if people ask for them, but the Web sites make it easier to access the information.

Both take information gathered by the IRS and make it public.

The mission is transparency, according to company spokes-persons.

Guidestar’s mission statement, according to its Web site, is to revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice by providing information that enables users to make better decisions and encourages charitable giving.

Sharon Kirk, a spokeswoman for Guidestar, said donors have taken interest in the site because they want to be sure their money is going to legitimate charities.

Charity Navigator uses the financial information of nonprofits to evaluate charities.
more…

source: http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2008/12/07/news/local_news/newsstory3.txt

In response to allegation that the National Forest system allows private companies to do clear cutting inside our National forest:

“Google does its own thing and is not related to us. The satellite is a picture of the earth so obviously does not show ownership boundaries.

The area south of Union Valley and Ice House was burned in the 1992
Cleveland Fire. 22,000 acres I believe.”

(See attached file: union_map_section.jpg)

(Embedded image moved to file: pic19919.jpg)Kristi Schroeder
Public Affairs
Eldorado National Forest
100 Forni Road
Placerville, CA 95667

union map section greenhouse effect increased by clear cutting

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en%23&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114551097380186191855.00045a902066934757372&ll=38.713376,-120.39917&spn=1.086537,2.164307&z=9

NEW ORLEANS – Obese children as young as 10 had the arteries of 45-year-olds and other heart abnormalities that greatly raise their risk of heart disease, say doctors who used ultrasound tests to take a peek inside.

“As the old saying goes, you’re as old as your arteries are,” said Dr. Geetha Raghuveer of Children’s Hospital in Kansas City, who led one of the studies. “This is a wake-up call.”

The studies were reported Tuesday at an American Heart Association conference.

About a third of American children are overweight and one-fifth are obese. Many parents think that “baby fat” will melt away as kids get older. But research increasingly shows that fat kids become fat adults, with higher risks for many health problems.

“Obesity is not benign in children and adolescents,” said Dr. Robert Eckel, a former heart association president and cardiologist at the University of Colorado-Denver. It is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended cholesterol-lowering drugs for some kids, he noted.

Raghuveer wanted to see if early signs of damage could be documented. She and colleagues used painless ultrasound tests to measure the thickness of the wall of a major neck artery in 70 children, ages 10 to 16. Almost all had abnormal cholesterol and many were obese.

No one knows how thick a 10-year-old’s artery should be, since they’re not regularly checked for signs of heart disease, so researchers used tables for 45-year-olds, who often do get such exams.

The kids’ “vascular age” was about 30 years older than their actual age, she found.

A separate study tied childhood obesity to abnormal enlargement of the left atrium, one of the chambers of the heart. Enlargement is a known risk factor for heart disease, stroke and heart rhythm problems.

Julian Ayer, a researcher at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sydney Australia, did ultrasound exams on 991 seemingly healthy children ages 5 to 15. He saw a clear link between rising weight and size of the left atrium.

A third study by Dr. Walter Abhayaratna of Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, also used ultrasound tests and found impairment in the heart’s ability to relax between beats in children who were overweight or obese.

The study involved the first 150 children participating in a larger community-based study.

Earlier research he helped conduct found more rigid arteries in such children — a possible sign of plaque deposits starting to form.

“Even at this young age of 10, you can have children who have got arterial stiffness who are comparable to 30- and 40-year-olds,” he said.

Dr. Michael Schloss, a New York University heart disease prevention specialist, said the evidence shows obesity is more than a cosmetic issue for children.

“If you’ve seen what’s on the menu for most school lunches, these findings are no surprise,” he said. “The time has come to seriously deal with the issue of childhood obesity and physical inactivity on a governmental and parental level.”

I heard recently one of my constituents decision to shave his head in Obama wins, due to the fact that the beat was made in favor of McCain. You figured the odds of probability, and how races we have become, by noticing early prediction of the outcome of the elections, compare with the actual numbers after Nov 2nd, 2008

Look a this graph carefully and consider the odds, who would you bet for, and what would you bet?

Oct 28 Yahoo prediction of the final race

Union Valley Reservoir is a public land area and El Dorado National Forest, maintained by the USDA Forest Service.

The forest area for this study is located in the foot of the California Sierra, inside public land of El Dorado National Forest, surrounding Union Valley Reservoir. The area of the study is a 40 square mile area designed as public land, to the west of Union Valley Reservoir.

Objective: to expose private owners clear cutting on the public land and report to the government, EPA, the Sierra Club so they can pressure to implement Sustainable Forestry practices.

This study corresponded to superimposing a map from the National Atlas of the US, which clearly shows the public land, and private land demarcations, and by noticing that the public land in question, has been eroded due to clear cutting.

El Dorado National Forest Map

El Dorado National Forest showing clear cutting

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=38.907064,-120.397797&spn=0.341432,0.480652&z=11&msid=114551097380186191855.00045a902066934757372

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado/recreation/dev-camp/union/

west of lake tahoe, California

over a google earth shot, to find out that clear cutting is going on in the public side of Union Valley Reservoir, and between the reservoir and Loon Lake, West site of Lake Tahoe, in California.

impose map + google earth

10 miles marker inside park area:

west side of Union Valley Reservoir

Google earth shot, showing 40miles square area:

Union Valley Reservoir

Close up of the lake region that has been sacked and clear cut:

Union Valley Northern area

Background:
California old growth forest has been reduce to 3% left!