Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Carmen Capuzano

I was watching Spanish language TV and came across Carmen Capuzano. I'd never seen her before. "What a horrible nose job," was my first thought. So I googled her. Apparently I'm not the first or last to notice. She used to have a very different face.

Carmen Capuzano's former nose.

Diana Hortsch helps lawyers fight for abortions

"Since 2009, Diana Hortsch has been spearheading the effort to cultivate new reproductive rights allies and leverage the talents of legal academics as the very first Senior Director of the Center’s Law School Initiative (LSI). After teaching and directing a program at the NYU School of Law for experienced human rights lawyers, she was drawn to the Center’s unique structure as a global human rights organization."

Even though "reproductive rights" groups target minority and poor women for abortions, they love to present themselves as advocates for the poor--but not poor and unborn. Diana in her free time likes to paint and take care of her own children. ReproWrites

Words matter

"Reproductive health" means abortion. "Reproductive justice" means aborting black and poor women's pregnancies. This is a huge industry made up of pharmaceutical companies, non-profits, government agencies, and academic departments in university medical centers. This industry also has strong ties to the environmental and racialist movements. Follow the money. If all teen-age black and poor girls returned to the birth rate and marriage rate of the 1960s, entire empires of social workers, researchers and doctors would collapse, particularly women doctors, would have to close up shop and look for ways to save lives instead of taking them.

Non-profits are critical to this death industry. They are like ACORN--many different names. Ibis. Society of Family Planning. National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. Urban Initiative. National Institute for Reproductive Health. Boston Medical Center. Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health. National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Oregon Foundation for Reproductive Health. Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Akron Women's Medical Group. Charlotte Ellertson Social Science Postdoctoral Fellowship in Abortion and Reproductive Health. Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health (Columbia). The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health. Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health (UCSF). Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (UCSF). Center for Reproductive Rights.

54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use. (Early abortion training workbook) With statistics like that you would almost think that wider availability of contraceptives and more abortions are linked, wouldn't you?

Truly, it's a many headed serpent going after everything from including their training and anti-life mission in medical board certification to bringing down crisis pregnancy centers.

With an abortion friendly president, pro-abortion non-profits and medical centers find much cause to celebrate--"the end of the Global Gag rule, prospects for universal health insurance, and a reassertion of the importance of science in public policy formation." From one of their "reproduction health" websites.

Support the Thomas More Society

Monday, March 12, 2012

Over one third of abortions are black babies

And yet that's not enough for an abortion mill organization called the Urban Initiative, which is an arm of the National Institute for Reproductive Health and which wants to go national. There are code words in this field.
"Reproductive health" means abortion.
"Access to comprehensive reproductive health services" means access to abortion.
"Reduce unintended pregnancies" means killing babies in the womb.
"Pro-family planning" means pro-abortion.
"Urban reproductive health issues" means aborting black babies so they won't go on the welfare roles.
"Proactive policy agenda to reduce unintended pregnancy" means signing up public officials to support abortion.
"Funded, administered, or legislated at the municipal level" means taxpayer supported abortions.
"Improving the reproductive health of women and families" means killing babies.
"Reproductive health and justice trends" means they are fighting pro-life bill boards and crisis pregnancy centers as "racist," even though they are the ones killing black babies.
Here's its goal for the black community (ignore the sociological jargon--it still means death to babies):
THE CHALLENGE: In the United States, women living in urban centers are more likely to be in their reproductive years than their rural counterparts. For many reproductive health indicators, city residents experience worse reproductive health outcomes compared to the national average. Many poor reproductive health indicators are linked with some of the systemic problems affecting urban areas: poverty, racism, shortage of affordable housing, crime, lack of adequate public transportation, and the concentration of environmental pollutants and toxins.
The expansion of this organization is to be accomplished through "bootcamps," community roundtables to pull into their sphere of influence grass roots organizations, leadership institutes, establishing partnerships with other community organizations, regional and national summits. This is very much the Saul Alinsky model of working with the underclass and poor--never mind that the goal of the organization is the death of the smallest and weakest of that group.

The mission of Boston Medical Center

Sounds really cozy. Words like "respect," "empower" and "collaborate" abound.
Boston Medical Center ( 720 Harrison Avenue, 11th Floor, Boston, MA 02118) is an extraordinary community of health care providers devoted to the proposition that every person, regardless of his or her social or economic circumstances, deserves the best health care.
That concern and devotion doesn't apply to "every person" however, because the weakest and most abused, and most likely minority, is the unborn child, and look at the expansion of that mission.
Boston University and Boston Medical Center have a long history of providing family planning and reproductive health care services to the community as well as medical student and resident education in family planning. The Family Planning Fellowship at Boston University was established in 2001 under the leadership of Dr. Phillip Stubblefield and Dr. Lynn Borgatta. The program has graduated fellows who have become leaders in the field and has provided vital research in the areas of contraception, pregnancy termination and induction. Since the start of the fellowship, the clinical and research programs have continued to grow and inter-departmental collaboration has continued to develop. . . [pretty photos]

Consistent with the mission of community service, Boston Medical Center has provided abortion services since legalization. All services are provided at Boston Medical Center. The medical center is actively expanding, with both new buildings and renovations of historic buildings.

The medical campus includes the hospitals, the School of Medicine, biomedical research buildings, and the School of Public Health, which allows almost all activities to take place within a several block radius. . .

Within Boston Medical Center our program enjoys a strong collaborative relationship with the Department of Family Medicine. Family medicine residents rotate through family planning and abortion services.

Several midwives and nurse-practitioners are or have been medical abortion providers, and have collaborated on research projects concerning medical abortion and post-partum contraception. . .

Research projects include a broad range of topics, including all aspects of clinical contraceptive use, abortion techniques, behavioral assessments and assessment of decision-making, and evaluation of domestic or international family planning programs. Basic science research is also an option. Dr. Deborah Anderson leads the group of immunology researchers, and Dr. Wendy Kuohung in the Reproductive Endocrinology Division has moved her laboratory to BU. Other basic science liaisons are encouraged.

Research and Clinical Interests

Preterm birth and prevention
• Fertility and women's health
Techniques of surgical abortion
Early medical abortion and treatment of pregnancy failure
Technique of labor induction abortion
• Basic science: fetal cell transfer in early pregnancy
• On-contraceptive benefits of contraceptives
• Attitudes of women of different ethnic groups toward contraceptive use

Current Faculty Research Projects

• Clinical trial to assess the safety and contraceptive efficacy of two doses of the ultra low dose levonorgestrel contraceptive intrauterine systems
• Clinical trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of the transdermal contraceptive patch
• Trends in post-partum sterilization: delayed post-partum sterilization and use of Essure (permanent infertility, long term results on health unknown)
• Effect of expanded prenatal education of sterilization utilization
• Clinical trial of the use of Mifepristone prior to induction abortion
• Clinical trial of priming prior to induction abortion
• Continuation rates for Implanon started post-abortion and interval

And finally, "After the abortion you will have up to an hour to rest and recover."

Young teens used in contraceptive research

Postpartum teen mothers as young as 12 are used in experiments and product research for contraceptives, because after animal studies, you need real people, and the more vulnerable and ignorant the better. Since the girls are underage, and the "fathers" are usually adults in their 20s, do you suppose anyone 1) provides them counseling, or 2) brings their abuse to the attention of police, or 3) looks into sex trafficking in the area they found them? I haven't seen any lucrative grants for stopping sex abuse or slavery of young girls, but there's lots of money for contraceptive research.

Link

Would you drive a car or fly a plane with these failure rates?

“Polyurethane condoms are an option for those with latex allergy, although they are less effective, with a clinical failure rate of 8.4% vs 3.2% with latex condoms”; "silicone diaphragm approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a 20% failure rate"; SGIM report, 2003

Do you suppose these "postpartum" teens received any counseling after their abortions on self-worth, values of chastity or even basic hygiene and how STDs are transmitted? They most likely were underage. Was anything reported to police or their parents? Or were they just fodder for product research?

A prospective cohort study was conducted. Comparison groups were postpartum teenagers (12–18 years old) who self-selected Implanon (n=73), COCP/DMPA (n=40) and barrier/none (n=24). Questionnaires were used to gather data at recruitment and postpartum at 6 weeks and then 3 monthly intervals for 2 years.

Results

At 24 months postpartum, 48 (35%) teenagers had conceived. Implanon users became pregnant later than other contraceptive groups (p=.022), with mean time to first repeat pregnancy of 23.8 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 22.2–25.5], compared to 18.1 months (95% CI, 15.1–20.7) for COCP/DMPA and 17.6 months (95% CI, 14.0–21.3) for barrier/none. Implanon users were more likely to continue their use at 24 months than COCP/DMPA (p<.001) users. The mean duration for Implanon users was 18.7 months (95% CI, 17.0–20.3) compared to 11.9 months (95% CI, 9.5–14.3) for COCP/DMPA. Conclusion Teenagers who choose Implanon are significantly less likely to become pregnant and were found to continue with this method of contraception 24 months postpartum compared to those who choose COCP or DMPA and barrier methods or nothing. Link

Oops. H1N1.

Maybe this is old news, but I missed it. The vaccine for the H1N1 apparently really didn't prevent 5-10 million cases as we were told in May 2011--that was a computer error. Corrected figures are 713,000-1.5 million. (MMWR 2011;60:1321) These are the same guys who want all our personal health information computerized for reasons that have never been tested or proven to improve health or save money.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

You lived through ARRA, now compare it to FDR's programs

Are poor pregnant women paid to be in clinical trials for abortion procedures?

“We propose a randomized controlled non-inferiority trial of women undergoing first trimester surgical abortion to compare pain with dilation after receiving a PCB 20/4/3 versus a PCB with fewer injection sites and with no delay. The primary outcome is pain with cervical dilation. Secondary outcomes include pain at additional time points before, during, and after the procedure; satisfaction; side effects; and need for additional intraoperative and postoperative pain medication.” Paula Bednarek, Oregon Health and Science University, 2011

“In this study we would compare mifepristone and misoprostol use to osmotic dilator use, as both are administered the day before. Mifepristone would be given 24 hours prior to abortion, and misoprostol 400 mcg would be administered buccally 2 hours prior to abortion. Osmotic dilators are the method currently used in our institution, and are placed 24 hours prior to abortion.

The primary outcome will be the length of the procedure. Secondary outcomes will include amount of dilation achieved, ease of procedure, patient assessment of discomfort after mifepristone or dilators, discomfort during the abortion procedure, acceptability to patients, and acceptability to staff.” Lynn Borgatta, Boston Medical Center, 2011

Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) is a progestin-only, hormonal contraceptive that is extremely effective and very appealing for the adolescent contraceptive user. But it causes weight gain and bone loss, so here in Columbus at Children's Hospital they are enrolling girls as young as 12 in research to try to make it less objectionable and less risky for young girls. Researcher is Andrea Bonny, 2011

“Building a career in abortion research to fight restrictive access in the US” is a research topic for Amanda Dennis which has provided her with $82,000 in grant money. She doesn’t seem to be a doctor--maybe she’s a librarian--but works for Ibis Reproductive Health, an abortion grinder non-profit, and is getting money to explain “how it did it good” after the fact. 2011

All these examples from grant descriptions of Society of Family Planning, and are only a selection of the 2011 grants. There are many others. I wonder who or what funds this death vehicle?

Carolyn Westhoff, MD, receives outstanding abortionist award



Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization which has been lobbying the government to require religious groups to cover contraception and abortion. In 2010 its outstanding award for abortion provider was Carolyn Westhoff and it was presented by late term abortionist LeRoy Carhart.

The Census and Poverty

The official measure of poverty in the U.S. Census completed in 2010 doesn't reflect the progress we've made over the years. 1) The Census does not count the benefits of anti-poverty programs, which have expanded sharply over the past 40 years [Earned Income Tax Credit, Medicaid, SCHIP, WIC, TANF, food stamps, and housing subsidies]. 2) It accounts for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, a benchmark that is slow to incorporate new consumer products (it took 15 years to include cell phones), misses changes in the quality of goods, and doesn't fully reflect the low prices at big-box stores such as Wal-Mart. CNN Opinion, Bruce D. Meyer and James X. Sullivan

"A better way to determine who is suffering from the current recession is to look at people's spending, which includes things like housing, food, and other goods they are able to enjoy. Preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for consumption in 2009, like the Census figures, also indicate a rise in poverty, but tell a very different story about who is suffering most from the current recession. . ." Census poverty figures show no change for the elderly, but consumption/spending figures do. Using those figures poverty has decreased since 1980.

If these poverty calculations are revised, I suspect it will be in time for the 2012 elections, so that Obama can show that instead of increasing poverty, his administration has decreased it.

Bad Karma, wasted tax dollars

Why did our tax money go to Finland to build the . . . Karma? How does this help American workers?

“With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department's $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the company's manufacturing jobs are still limited to the assembly of the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car in Finland.”
ABC News

In a test conducted Wednesday by Consumer Reports magazine, the niche-market $107,850 sports car conked out completely, after a short ride at 65 miles per hour on a Connecticut test track.


World history from a Conservative perspective--respect and hope

The following is from the first page of Conservapedia's article on World History. It's virtually inseparable from the World Civilization introduction I took at Manchester College, because then no one denied it was important to use the Bible as a source for history, and everyone used BC and AD in describing a time line. My instructor was Gladys Muir. She was in love with history and established the Peace Studies program at MC in 1948. There are now hundreds of peace studies programs in colleges, but I doubt there has ever been a less peaceful time, and the 20th century was the most violent in all of world history, especially for governments killing their own citizens.

"World history" is the true story of thought, ideas, culture, language, wars, governments, and economic systems throughout all of mankind's history. This includes billions of people over thousands of years. Every source is available to us, including the Bible. Everything mankind has ever written, invented, observed, conquered and destroyed is part of "World history." For example, we will study how Carthage was built into a power, and how it was then forever destroyed by its enemies from Rome.

Our course will place a special emphasis on aspects of World history that continue to be influential today, such as world religions and cultural conflicts; we will link what happened in ancient times to what is happening today. We are the product of our past. You can think about whether that is a good thing, or a bad thing. Perhaps the answer depends on what we make of it. We will make use of the Bible, which is the greatest history book ever written.

American history covers only about 400 years; World history concerns over 5000 years, going back to the first evidence of recorded events. Our class covers much of the material in a course on Western Civilization or European history, but we cover more too. We will learn about Islam and Hinduism and all the forces that continue to shape our world to this day. One cannot fully understand 9/11, violence in the Middle East, or hostility between India and Pakistan without learning World history.

We will consider how mankind progressed in understanding the unseen, such as truth and gravity and God. In mathematics, mankind progressed from the discovery of geometry (Greeks) to the concept of "zero" (Indians) to calculus (English). In economics, mankind progressed from wage and price controls (Romans) to the "invisible hand" of the free market (Scottish), which then unleashed tremendous prosperity. Government progressed from rulers who claimed to be gods (Egyptians), to monarchs (Middle Ages), to constitutional republics (United States). World history spans from pre-Christian to Christian. What are we progressing towards now? We will learn to use history to predict the future.

Do not be misled by thinking that ancient peoples were dumb or boring because they lacked the technology of modern society. The Egyptians, for example, cleverly built the massive pyramids using techniques that no one to this day can figure out or duplicate. In 2600 B.C., they constructed the pyramid of Khufu containing 6 million tons of stone extending to a height of 481 feet. The workmanship was superior to anything we do today: the rock base was virtually flat, not varying in elevation by more than a half-inch; its orientation is precisely aligned with the points of a compass; its stones were perfect fits. Inside was a chapel, a causeway, and a temple. It amazes architects to this day. We would not be able to duplicate it, and no one knows how the Egyptians were able to build these intricate structures 4600 years ago. Many other cultures, from Mesopotamia to Greece to Rome to India to China, invented things and discovered knowledge that no one today is smart enough to duplicate. Can you build a useful wheel, or make paper?

A word about terminology: "B.C" means "Before (the birth of) Christ" and "A.D." means Anno Domini (Latin for "in the year of our Lord") or simply "After (the birth of) Christ." The "1st century B.C." means the 1st century before Christ, counting backwards, which are the years 100-1 B.C. The "6th century B.C." is thus 600-501 B.C. The 20th century (A.D.) included the years A.D. 1901-2000. Because A.D. means "in the year of our Lord," the truly proper form is to put the date after the A.D., as in A.D. 2006. Dates are based on the birth of Christ, and it is wrong to erase Christ from the annotation, as school textbooks do with "BCE" for "Before the Common Era" and "CE" for "Common Era." To convert from a public school textbook, remember that BCE = B.C. and CE = A.D.

World history divides into four sections: Ancient History (Creation-A.D. 500), the Middle Ages (A.D. 500-1500), the Pre-Modern Era (A.D. 1500-1900), and the Modern Era (A.D. 1900-Current). The Renaissance (A.D. 1300-1600), including the Reformation, overlaps with the Middle Ages and Pre-Modern Era. Note that dates are not precise in this course: the further back in time we go, the less we know about the actual dates of key events. For events before about 1000 B.C., most estimated dates are actually plus or minus a few hundred years.

Let us begin."

Saturday, March 10, 2012

She's obviously among the 1%

If the New York Times is hurting for subscribers how in the world does it afford a pay out like this?

(Reuters) - Former New York Times Co (NYT.N) Chief Executive Janet Robinson received a total payout of nearly $24 million after she left the newspaper publisher at the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Robinson, a 28-year veteran with the company, has yet to be replaced by Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr, who is temporarily acting in her place. Robinson's package includes a $4.5 million consulting fee that The Times had agreed to pay as part of her exit package, as well as pension benefits and performance-related payments.

Excluding the consulting fee, Robinson would have been paid the same amount whether she was terminated, resigned or retired, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Parents sue for wrongful birth

No test is perfect. Once back in 1963 I was told I was pregnant but I wasn't--it was another woman's test with a similar name. Some couples are told there's something wrong, they continue with the pregnancy and the baby is perfect. Some people refuse the test because they know the purpose--to kill the child if it isn't perfect. 93% of Down Syndrome babies are aborted based on tests developed for the sole purpose of killing them. Those scientists' mothers should be so proud. Then there's the Levys:
"A couple is suing a health center for 'wrongful birth' after a prenatal test intended to pick up whether a foetus has Down syndrome failed - and their daughter was born with the condition. Ariel and Deborah Levy, from Portland, Oregon, who have two other children, said in a lawsuit they would have aborted their daughter Kalanit - who is now four - if they had known."
Pre-natal test was wrong

Two more health laws to drain our tax dollars

There are two more buckets with holes in them for health tax dollars called, 1) The Plain Writing Act of 2010, and 2) National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy. Supposedly, graduates of our government schools, plumped up with federal dollars and requirements for not falling behind (NCLB) or racing to the top (RttT), can't read instructions or understand basic health information so there will be more awarding of grants and contracts to entities to promote and teach "health literacy." Plain writing is defined as "clear, concise, well-organized and follows best practices. . . " Have you ever tried to read and understand PPACA (aka Obamacare law)? If you are in the ESL field, here's your next golden goose. If you're a teacher retiring at 55 with only a $70,000 pension for 30 years work and need to set up a non-profit to qualify for health insurance or to make more money, here's just the vehicle. Fill out the paper work, name your company, rent some space, and bring in the people the schools failed when you were teaching.

According to a recent study published in February 2012 Health Affairs, intended I think to point out that Americans don't understand basic health instructions, only 14% were below basic, the other 86% were either proficient, intermediate or basic. That's about the same percentage that didn't have health insurance or hadn't applied even though they were eligible, and therefore the government needed to take over the entire industry.

What is health literacy? Are there smokers who don't know they are at risk for lung cancer? Am I the only one who knows I should be exercising more, but instead sit here and blog? Are there sun lovers who don't know about skin cancer? Are there gay and bisexual men who don't know about HIV and oral HPV or how they transmit it to their partners? Are there apple shaped women with thick waists who ignore their doctors warnings about breast cancer and diabetes? Is there an alcoholic who hasn't tried to shut up the spouse, friend or employer when drinking came up for discussion? Is it really lack of knowledge? Or is it lack of willingness to do the changes necessary to be healthy?

Friday, March 09, 2012

Spanish language TV--Univision

Sometimes I watch Univision--the only Spanish language TV in our subscription plan. It's also the whitest TV I've ever seen. I'd say it takes me back to the 50s, except my parents didn't have TV. If it weren't for immigration stories or sports, I'd never see a brown person on Univision. Even the actors on the commercials are white. And have never seen a black or Asian in a feature or on staff. All newscasters and journalists are white. Novelas (soaps) actors are all white. Entertainment shows are white (although there are brown people in the audiences). I'm used to Fox News which has a good cross section of ethnicities--much more so than broadcast or other cable TV. Univision is billed as "the new American reality." Don't think so.

What is "Outreach and Engagement" other than a very well paid position?

Joyce Beatty, The Ohio State University Vice President of Outreach and Engagement, whose salary was $326,000, won the Democratic primary race for Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday March 6, so she’s left her position. So, just what is “Outreach and Engagement” that it pays so well, that one would leave it to make even more in Congress, I wondered? I looked at what other universities did with departments named this, and am still baffled and confused, but it’s definitely well paid.

After reading through the various descriptions of O & E, and particularly what's going on at Michigan State which seems to be the most active, I think it's a way to get scholarly credit for faculty who are busy with off campus activities and need credit for promotion and tenure. So O & E was created with lots of big, squishy and undefinable words. I could be wrong about this, but it is a hodge podge from library, to extension, to on-line courses, to partnerships with businesses in the community. There don't seem to be any departments of Outreach and Engagement at Harvard and Yale or Cornell, or they may have it under a different term. University of Michigan includes the word Sciences in its department. The vaguest definition seemed to be Ohio State's (at the bottom).

[Michigan State] University Outreach and Engagement (UOE) is a campus-wide resource dedicated to helping faculty and academic units construct more extensive and effective engagement with the communities of our state, nation, and world . . . It involves generating, transmitting, applying, and preserving knowledge for the direct benefit of external audiences in ways that are consistent with university and disciplinary missions.

[Oregon State University] Outreach and Engagement at Oregon State University enhances access to enrichment and problem solving through reciprocal relationships for the exchange of knowledge and resources in partnership with individuals, communities, businesses, industries, government, and educational institutions.

[University of Illinois] "The term 'public engagement' reflects the reality that so much of what we do takes the form of faculty members collaborating with communities, agencies, and organizations to address critical issues. When our faculty, staff or students become involved in a public engagement project, they are entering into a contract, in which both they and those they engage with, have much to gain through the sharing of and creating, new knowledge to the benefit of both campus and community." Chancellor Richard Herman, September 2004

[James Madison University] Outreach & Engagement serves as a catalyst by utilizing JMU resources to create mutually beneficial partnerships, advance educational opportunities, and empower individuals and our extended communities.

[University of Colorado Boulder] At CU-Boulder, we define outreach and engagement as the ways faculty, staff, and students collaborate with external groups in mutually beneficial partnerships that are grounded in scholarship and consistent with our role and mission as a comprehensive, public research university.

[University of Minnesota] As one of the very few land-grant research universities located in an urban setting in the United States, the University of Minnesota has made a priority of discovering solutions to the many complex issues facing urban communities. Reflecting that vision is the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC), housed in a renovated building in North Minneapolis in the heart of a highly diverse community. A new model for university-community engagement and urban problem solving, the center is home to a dozen University programs committed to research and problem-solving in authentic and engaged partnership with individuals and organizations in Northside communities.

[University of Southern Indiana] We serve individuals of all ages through noncredit programs, on-line learning opportunities, off-campus courses, dual credit programs for high school students, the Bachelor of General Studies program, certificate programs, continuing education for various professions, and more.

[University of Idaho] Through outreach, the University of Idaho develops engaged scholarship and student learning opportunities. Outreach adds value to our teaching and research activities by helping build partnerships with stakeholders in Idaho and beyond. Engagement at the University of Idaho involves two kinds of partnerships: internally, across colleges and disciplines and externally, with stakeholders in Idaho and beyond. Outreach occurs from every college on UI’s Moscow campus, the UI Library, and from each of the University’s physical locations around the state. Our outreach infrastructure includes 42 county Extension offices, UI Boise, UI Idaho Falls, UI Coeur d’Alene, multiple research and learning facilities, and the telecommunications infrastructure that bridges physical distance.

[The Ohio State University] Mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborations are central to both the definition of outreach and engagement and how the Office of Outreach and Engagement does its work. We exist to work in collaboration with faculty, staff, students, and units to enrich Ohio State’s partnerships with the community and to embed outreach and engagement into colleges and departments. We are pleased to work with the following affiliated program: Service-Learning Initiative supports the integration of outreach and engagement into teaching.

Obesity in children--big business

No pun. According to medical research overweight children are at higher risk for respiratory, metabolic and cardiovascular problems. (See MMWR 2011;60:1673-1678) They are also at risk for government inspection of their home made lunches and becoming a cause for the 2nd highest office in the land, the First Lady. Obesity in children has actually been decreasing since the late 90s, which puts millions in research grants to universities and industry from USDA and HHS at risk. Obesity in children is decreasing among all races, ethnicities and socio-economic groups, but faster among whites and Asians, which makes the decrease very unfair and it should probably be investigated by Congress.