As citizens, homeowners, and fisherman scramble to protect their property and livelihoods from the impending arrival of hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil, the National Guard has been mobilized as the oil slick miles in length approaches the coast. Current estimates on the amount of oil escaping from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico suggest that the total spill will exceed Alaska’s 1989 Exxon Valdez accident by the third week of June.

Earlier today, Bloomberg News reported, “Louisiana closed some coastal waters to shrimping and expects to close its entire eastern coastline to fishing to protect health and safety, said Randy Pausina, spokesman for the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Oil washed ashore on the Louisiana coastline last night, and it is predicted to hit Mississippi by tomorrow and Alabama and Florida by the end of the weekend.

“This has a danger of becoming an utter ecological disaster,” Ken Medlock, a fellow in energy and resource economics at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston, said yesterday. “This is going to result in remediation costs and is going to be burdensome, to say the least.”

States of emergency were declared by the governors of Florida and Louisiana. Earlier today, Florida Governor Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency in six Panhandle counties, saying the oil spill “threatens the state of Florida with a major disaster.” Crist’s order affects Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay and Gulf counties. Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana declared a state of emergency in his state Thursday.

The Disaster, now in its tenth day, came only three weeks after the decision by the Obama Administration to allow offshore drilling along a huge portion of the east coast of the United States. In an New York Times article from March 31, 2009, “But even as Mr. Obama curries favors with pro-drilling interests, he risks a backlash from some coastal governors, senators and environmental advocates, who say that the relatively small amounts of oil to be gained in the offshore areas are not worth the environmental risks.”

As the predictions of the magnitude of the disaster grow more and more dire, the White House has addressed the issue in a statement from the President, “I continue to believe that the domestic oil production is an important part [of U.S. energy policy]. “But I’ve always said it must be done responsibly, for the safety of our workers and our environment.”

The White House also announced that no additional drilling will be authorized until its determined what happened aboard the rig, owned by Transocean Ltd., White House senior Advisor David Axelrod said today on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder dispatched a team of lawyers to New Orleans to meet the U.S. Attorney and spill responders.

But, is this all coming just a little too late for the residents, wildlife, fishing industry and environment of the Gulf Coast?

This Disaster is EXACTLY the environmental risk which forms the central reason for opposing offshore drilling along our coastlines. There are safer alternative energy resources to pursue in this country, ones which provide little downside to the environment, wildlife and investments of tens of thousands of residents of each state along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico.

As a Floridian I can find no comfort as this disaster approaches our shores. I only hope that I will be permitted to help as things progress.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoE82VIjqn4[/youtube]

It is not bad enough that gas prices have risen to the point that families are regularly trying to decide not whether to buy a loaf of bread, but can we afford to drive down to the store to buy it.

Now, we have a broken oil rig sitting in the middle of the gulf, directly connected to some of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the United States.

Soon, we will begin seeing the sad pictures of dying fish, injured birds, and oil soaked animals; all struggling to stay alive.

Then comes the damage to homes and businesses along the coast. Finally, the disastrous injury to business owners dependent on the Gulf and the coastal areas for their livelihood.

Can we afford to risk the economic and environmental damage caused by Gulf coast drilling? Can we afford to risk the livelihood of honest business people because errors are made that allow hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil to escape into the Gulf? Can people afford to lose jobs and businesses?

I am not suggesting I have the answers to these questions, but this catastrophe certainly presents a time for reflection on these questions and on recent legislation passed. Can we afford to trade gas for disaster?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued another recall today involving more baby cribs.  The cribs, linked to dozens of reports from parents and caregivers, have been recalled after suffocation and strangulation concerns were raised.  This current recall follows several others over the last few months, involving multiple manufacturers, and is focused on cribs made by Simplicity and Graco.

The Graco recall involves drop-side cribs made for them by LaJobi.  The CPSC warned consumers to immediately stop using these cribs and to contact LaJobi ((888) 842-2215 or at their website) for a free hardware retrofit kid which will immobilize the drop side.  The CPSC and LaJobi have received nearly 100 reports from consumers, including two where the children became entrapped in the gap created by the side of the crib which raises and lowers; in both incidents the children were freed. Another six reports involving children falling from the crib after the drop-side failed, including one child who suffered a mild concussion.

The Simplicity recall encompasses ALL full-size cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames. (although many may have been subject to earlier recalls).  At least one death, of a one-year old boy from Massachusetts, has been reported as part of the recall.  The recall is a result of the failure of the crib’s tubular metal mattress-support frame.  The frame may bend or come apart, causing part of the mattress to collapse, creating a space into which an infant or toddler can become trapped or causing both the child and the mattress to fall out of the crib.  In addition to the death in Massachusetts, the CPSC has received 13 additional reports, including one child entrapment that did not result in injury, and one child who suffered minor cuts to his head when his mattress collapsed and he fell out of the crib.

“CPSC urges all parents and caregivers to not attempt to resell any Simplicity crib to a thrift store, at a yard sale or online,” said agency spokesman Scott Wolfson.  “These recalled cribs have killed far too many babies and need to be kept out of homes and daycare centers.

Simplicity has been the subject of almost a dozen recalls since 2005 and its cribs have been linked to 13 deaths.  Unfortunately, Simplicity is no longer in business, leaving customers and the CPSC without a source for information.

Apparently I came from the times when eating mud pies, eating the cookie that dropped on the floor and washing my hands only when they were dirty was the norm.

Studies from the Allergy Research Laboratory at the University of Montreal have found that excessive cleanliness is to blame for widespread allergies in developed countries. Dr Guy Delespesse, an immunologist and director of the Allergy Research Laboratory said that “hay fever, eczema, hives and asthma are all increasingly prevalent, due to excessive cleanliness, especially in children.”

The study shows that allergies, eczema and asthma have increased in prevalence by 300 percent in the past 20 years. Hand sanitizers are frequently used by our children, anti-bacterial wipes are used for counter tops and toys, and processed foods are to blame for the lack of important bacteria in our diet and households. More than 50 million Americans suffer from allergic conditions and the numbers are increasing, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and being too clean may be the cause.

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The FDA announced that it is planning to help American’s reduce their sodium intake by regulating the salt in processed foods. The effort culminates after a long term campaign by health organizations such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the National Academies of Sciences. The regulations would be launched this year, but officials have not yet set salt limits for foods. The American Medical Association has said that if salt in processed and restaurant foods were cut in half over 10 years, ultimately 150,000 lives a year could be saved.

Since 2005, dietary guidelines for Americans recommend less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. People with hypertension, African Americans, middle-aged and elderly people, almost half of the population, are advised to consume no more than 1,500 mg per day. Getting more than this leads to increase risks of high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and kidney diseases. U.S. researchers at the Institute of Medicine say they are working with the food industry and the FDA to cut salt intake by nearly 10 percent which could prevent hundreds of thousands of heart attacks and strokes over several decades and save the U.S. government $32 billion in healthcare costs.

Processed foods and restaurant foods contribute to almost 80 percent of sodium in the diet according to a 32-page report by Dr. Stephen Havas of the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine and a leading sodium expert. Thousands of processed foods such as frozen dinners, soups, frozen pizzas, cheeses, salad dressings, canned vegetables and beans, and pasta sauces contain between 500-3,400 mg of sodium per package.

The FDA says there is no longer a debate over whether salt is dangerous to your health and are currently looking into regulating not only processed foods in grocery stores. Health officials also want the FDA to require restaurants to disclose sodium and other nutrients on menus. Currently, only foods in stores are required to list their sodium contents on packaging, and restaurants are not held to those standards.

Even though major food makers have started reducing sodium contents in recent years on their own, such as PepsiCo, which owns Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Quaker brands, food manufacturers are fearful of a backlash from consumers who will think their foods don’t taste as good. But specialists say people do gradually get used to the taste of less sodium. “The best way to control you sodium intake is to stay away from processed foods and restaurants foods and eat more fresh fruits and vegetables,” says officials at CSPI.

AstraZeneca has agreed to pay fines totaling $520 million in settlement of charges made by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that AstraZeneca illegally marketed Seroquel; a prescription drug used for the treatment of schizophrenia.

Although Seroquel had not been approved by the FDA, AstraZeneca marketed and continued to market the drug for sometime after it was warned. The FDA says AstraZeneca wrongly made claims that Seroquel was appropriate for the treatment of:

• Alzheimer’s diseases
• Anxiety
• Dementia
• Depression
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

To read some of the news surrounding the marketing of this drug, drug companies must use the same “play book” that Big Tobacco has used all these years.

The FDA says that not only did AstraZeneca violate promotional regulations of the drug; they also apparently are guilty of paying doctors to sign articles promoting the drug. The articles were actually written by employees or agents of AstraZeneca and the fees paid to physicians were largely to put their name on the article. That practice is called ghost writing and it is a practice that has been engaged in by pharmaceutical companies in the past as a way of artificially validating their drugs. In the world of “Joe Citizen” the practice of ghostwriting is also referred to as lying, cheating, an, well let’s just say it, fraud.

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Let me start with a disclosure to be fair: I am always suspect of the insurance industry. I worked in the insurance industry for many years and, although there are very good people there, the companies often stand for something I do not like.

I am in favor of every corporation in America making a reasonable profit. In fact, if you want to sell the latest “widget” and make a kazillion dollars, I am very happy for you.

What I have a problem with is an industry that knows its business; has earned billions in profits; yet insists upon trying to evade the very promise they made — the very obligation for which they have received premiums paid to them.

So, that very long preamble to set the stage for my disgust, not surprise, at the recent news about WellPoint, Inc. WellPoint insures 33.7 million people; reportedly the nation’s largest insurer.

MSNBC reports that WellPoint cancelled the health insurance of women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. WellPoint used a computer program to target women recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Imagine this dreadful conversation:

Physician: Mrs. Smith, I am so very sorry to inform you that you have breast cancer.

Mrs. Smith: Oh, no, doctor, what can we do? Where do I go from here?

Physician: I have some more bad news. Your insurance company will be cancelling your health insurance policy now that you have been diagnosed with this life threatening disease. So, unless you are independently wealthy, you are never going to be able to pay for good care for treatment of your breast cancer.

Mrs. Smith: But, doctor, how can that be? I have always paid my premiums on time.

Physician: Well, you are now sick. Your health insurer needs to make a profit and how are they expected to do that if they have to pay for your care.

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A recent study on popular “health food” veggie burgers brought about an alarming conclusion: these healthy burgers contain a very unhealthy toxin, hexane. A recent study by the Cornucopia Institute found that most non-organic veggie burgers currently on the market are made with the chemical hexane, an EPA-registered air pollutant and neurotoxin. Hexane is an air pollutant and is also a product of gas refining. In 2007, grain processors were responsible for two-thirds of our national hexane emissions and workers who have been exposed to it have developed both skin and nervous system disorders, concluded a report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

According to Charlotte Vallaeys, senior researcher at the Cornucopia Institute, “If a non-organic product contains a soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, or texturized vegetable protein, you can be pretty sure it was made using soy beans that were made with hexane.”

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Long term use of denture cream products such as Poligrip and Fixodent may be associated with paralysis, numbness, tingling, muscle weakness, and other neurological issues, according to recent reports by manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline. Thirty-four million Americans rely on dentures to replace their missing teeth and some wearers have had difficulty with balance and walking. Once thought a “medical mystery” to doctors, these symptoms are now linked to their denture creams.

The authors of a 2008 study published in the Journal of Neurology concluded that long-term denture cream overuse was the culprit in the cases of four patients who had unexplained limb weakness and poor balance. “The patients were using at least two tubes of denture cream a week,” commented Dr. Sharon Nations, lead researcher and associate professor in the department of neurology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “It was long exposure to very high amounts of denture cream that led to their problems,” concluded Dr. Nations.

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The public school system is a valuable part of our country’s foundation and it is failing.

The good news is YOU can help mend the fiber that has propelled this nation to success for two hundred years.

Public schools are not failing because they are a bad system or because educators are worse now than in the past.

Our schools are failing because they lost two valuable components: parents and money.

Money was lost from the system of educating our children when politicians started gambling. Many states, including Florida, started a lottery. The recipe for pushing lotteries through was pretty standard: “the public should want this because ALL the proceeds will be used to support schools”. What politicians neglected to tell us is ALL the other money going to schools would be quickly diverted to other areas and the school system would be left to be supported solely by how much the public would and could afford to gamble.

Parents were lost from the school system some time ago. No, parents are still there and still involved in one or another in affluent areas; where the PTO is able to raise significant funds and parents do not have to work two or three jobs just to make the rent. Parents were lost when single parent households began to multiply; when parents found it necessary for both to work multiple jobs; and multi-media took the place of family dinner.

What can you do? Schools need involvement with community. Schools need volunteers. There simply is not sufficient money now and less is expected in the future. We must bring our communities back into schools and family back into education.

Here are some tips for bringing the community back into your local school:

• Visit your child’s classroom often. Regularly attend open house and take time to speak with the teacher and principal while you are there.
• Help your kid with their homework and if you do not understand it, have the courage to go talk to the teacher.
• Ask the teacher if there are things you can do at home to assist him or her in the classroom. There are always things to cut, past, and prepare that will help ease a teacher’s difficult job.
• Always participate in parent-teacher conferences. If you feel your child is not getting as much from school as you would like, ask for a conference.
• Attend student events. Go to plays, parent nights, open house, and other similar events. Talk to teachers, administrators and other parents as much as possible.
• Build a network with other parents and seek ways to contribute to the school.
• Join the PTO or similar organization at the school.
• Join a school committee, such as the SAC — School Advisory Committee.
• Ask your kid how they want you to be involved at school (after explaining that involvement is the only option).

What will you get?

You will get better schools.

You will develop a closer and healthier relationship with your kids.

You will have an influence on education as a whole and not simply just your child’s education.

You will develop knowledge and skills working within the educational system.

You will gain friends and forge new relationships.

You will help to preserve a system that has been creating leaders, inventors, and well educated adults for a very long time.

You will make a difference in your kids’ lives and in many others as well.

Remember that it is still true in this country that ANY child can grow up to make a difference – make sure you are a part of that wonderful experience.