Image by Ross Mayfield via Flickr

Forests May Depend on Survival of Native People
After the failures in Copenhagen to agree on a new climate protection treaty, and more recently at the Doha meetings on trade in endangered species to prevent bluefin tuna from going extinct, indigenous forest communities may offer examples of sensible governance for shared resources on a small planet.

IPS RSS NEWS FEEDS

Where can I download a News Aggregator?
Many different "news readers" are available for download here:

AmphetaDesk: http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/

Awasu: http://www.awasu.com/

Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/ *

Fastbuzz: http://www.fastbuzz.com/

Feedreader: http://www.feedreader.com/

infoSnorkel: http://www.blueelephantsoftware.com/

NetNewsWire: http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/

NewsIsFree: http://www.newsisfree.com/

NewzCrawler: http://www.newzcrawler.com/

SharpReader: http://www.sharpreader.net/

* One of the oldest - I've had an account for years. I didn't download anything, however. I access online files and software.

Hackers invade cell phone

A Hawaii Kai man's bill hits $5,000 for unauthorized calls after he answers a call from a phone number he did not know

ybercrime specialist Chris Duque, who worked for the Honolulu Police Department for nearly 30 years, said the scam has been happening for several years.

Duque said the 866 area code caller used a computer program to gather information to make third-party calls using Chang's number.

"It's pretty common," Duque said.

He said the scam usually originates in a foreign country, making capture and prosecution difficult.

Duque said these kinds of scams financially affect communications companies.

"The industry is taking a hit," he said. "It goes into the millions of dollars."

Duque said if you don't recognize who the caller is, don't respond.

"Personally, I don't answer calls if I don't recognize the number," he said.

Duque said he waits for callers to leave a message, and if he doesn't recognize them, he doesn't call back.

"You've got to be in control," he said. "You don't let the caller be in control."

He said phone users should be especially suspicious about numbers with the area codes 800, 888, 866 and 900.

Judge Nullifies Gene Patents

A federal judge on Monday nullified patents associated with human genes known to detect early signs of breast and ovarian cancer.

It was the first time a federal court has invalidated a patent on genes. The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case, said the New York federal court decision “calls into question the validity of patents now held on approximately 2,000 genes.”

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet agreed with the civil rights group that the patents were invalid because they covered the most basic element of every person’s individuality. “Products of nature* do not constitute patentable subject matter absent a change that results in the creation of a fundamentally new product,” Sweet wrote in a 152-page opinion.

* Immediately I thought of Monsanto's oppressive seed copyrights which are destroying eons-old gene pools of seeds worldwide.

Court OKs Repeated Tasering of Pregnant Woman

A federal appeals court says three Seattle police officers did not employ excessive force when they repeatedly tasered a visibly pregnant woman for refusing to sign a speeding ticket.

The lawyer representing Malaika Brooks said Monday that the court’s 2-1 decision sanctioned “pain compliance” tactics through a modern-day version of the cattle prod.

“To inflict pain on a person if that person is not doing what the police want that person to do is simply outrageous,” said Eric Zubel, the woman’s attorney. “I cannot say that loud enough.”

Three Hills man charged in alleged Ponzi scheme worth more than $60 million

One of three Alberta men charged in an alleged Ponzi Scheme affecting 1,000 victims across North America and more than $60 million US.
Harold Murray Stark, 73, faces charges of fraud over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit fraud. He will appear in Okotoks provincial court April 16 along with three others. He also faces charges of laundering proceeds of crime and conspiracy to launder proceeds of crime.
The RCMP Commercial Crime Section in Calgary announced on Monday that it had concluded a six-year investigation into allegations of investment fraud and money laundering related to an Alberta-registered company, HMS Financial Inc.
RCMP alleged HMS Financial provided a series of investments that were involved in a Ponzi Scheme between 2001 and 2004. A Ponzi Scheme is an illegal business practice in which new investor money is diverted to pay previous investors. The operators of such a scheme pretend to mount a legitimate business operation, but little if any commercial activity actually takes place.

More inspectors hired since listeria deaths

Published: March 23, 2010 8:56 AM

Re. the Advocate’s March 16 editorial by Lee Giles concerning the revelation that Canadian meat destined for the U.S. is inspected more frequently than product staying in this country, even after 22 deaths were linked to Maple Leaf Foods meat products in 2008:

Food safety has been, and will continue to be, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) top priority.
The CFIA is making every effort to help protect the health and safety of Canadians.
Canada works closely with its U.S. and international counterparts to continually enhance food safety and protect consumers. There may be some differences in the inspection procedures in each country, but the meat inspection system of both countries are equivalent and both produce safe food.
In November 2009, the CFIA began changing inspection requirements to every 12 hours for all plants, whether they ship domestically or internationally.
The CFIA has received an additional investment of $13 million from the government of Canada to hire 100 new inspectors to handle this increased inspection as soon as possible.
This builds on the $75 million that the government of Canada has allocated to move forward on all 57 recommendations of the Weatherill report.
The CFIA has already hired, and is training, 35 meat inspectors. An additional 35 inspectors will be hired over the next two years.
The CFIA is working with our federal and provincial partners to continually improve our food inspection systems to address new challenges.
Cameron Prince
Vice-president,
Operations
Canadian Food
Inspection Agency

( Happening to recall staff reductions in federal inspectors years ago when I was routinely in and out of Fletcher's Meats, I thought context might be nice to offset the blathering. )

Beef up border meat inspections, says NDP

Government cutbacks are allowing bad meat to slip into Canada without inspection, according to New Democratic border critic Brian Masse.
"In the last month alone, an estimated 70 trucks crossing over to the Windsor area that were selected for inspection simply vanished," said Masse, MP for Windsor West.
When trucks cross the border they are either waved through or ordered to report to privately run sites where an inspector from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is called to examine the shipment.

But between the border and those inspection sites, the trucks are slipping away, said Kam Rampersaud, general manager of Border City Storage, one of two Windsor inspection sites. She showed CBC News photographs of the kinds of problems inspections have revealed at her site.
"This shows maggots and rust, that is rat droppings on meat … that is hair on a product," said Rampersaud. "These are the reasons we need to have the inspection done, so Canadian people do not eat this," she said.

Inspectors' hours cut back

Masse and Rampersaud and other inspection site managers told CBC News many trucks have simply stopped reporting for inspections since CFIA changed its regulations on Jan. 4.

'And if you are going to the supermarket you shouldn't have to gamble on what you are getting.'—Brian Masse, MP Windsor West

CFIA inspectors are now only available Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., meaning any food entering Canada outside those hours that is designated for inspection must wait until an inspector is on duty.
Masse said that of all the food trucks crossing the Detroit-Windsor border, only 10 per cent are flagged for secondary inspection.
CFIA spokeswoman Julie LePage told CBC News in an email, "Advance notice of inspection is no longer delivered to the importer/broker prior to reaching the border."
Prior to January, the inspection sites got the same advance notice to expect a truck, and if it didn't show up they knew to flag CFIA to order the truck back for examination, said Rampersaud.
Masse said the reason trucks don't stop is that the government isn't giving them a reason to, because trucks that skip inspections aren't facing any penalties. CFIA did not respond to CBC News requests for statistics on how many trucks have been fined for skipping inspections.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2010/02/15/windsor-meat-inspection-.html#ixzz0jd28sD2C

Thwarted doctors blame diabetic patients, poverty for lack of care

( My family doctor's clinic have added a nursing specialist in diabetic counseling to staff )

Doctors are expressing frustration that they cannot keep many diabetic patients from developing potentially deadly cardiovascular disease, and blame a variety of factors, including the patients themselves.

A first-of-its-kind study, which sought opinions from 34 primary care physicians in four mainland states, found that some feel that many patients lack the money or the motivation to get proper care. Some fault the costs of health care.

"They were extremely frustrated and feeling like none of it was under their control, that they had run out of options on what they could do to help patients," said Dr. Chien-Wen Tseng, a Hawaii researcher and senior author of the study, published online last week by the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. "Multiply that by all the general internists and physicians across the country. Is this a bigger problem we need to address?"

Homeless proposal opposed

The Concerned Citizens on River Street Housing, a committee formed to oppose a proposal for the project on city-owned property at 1335 River St., wants senior and affordable housing there instead.

The group unveiled its plan for a senior center on the city-owned land during a rally yesterday.

The proposal is no more than a single artist's rendering of a new structure.

Yesterday's rally was more about why the group opposes the project for people who are homeless because of mental illness or drug or alcohol addiction.

"Why don't the city and state get together and come up with a master plan for all the homeless people?" said Wesley F. Fong, Concerned Citizens president. "Don't put a Band-Aid over there and say that's going to solve the problem."

Fong is also the president of Mun Lun School, which is just around the corner from the site of the proposed project.

The group does not offer alternate locations for such a project in the Downtown/ Chinatown area. The members just know they do not want it at the proposed location.

( NIMBY )