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"Screening for domestic abuse in a pediatric practice can uncover cases that otherwise might not come to light, researchers here said.

"Among women who brought children to an urban pediatric clinic, 23% disclosed that they had been victims of domestic abuse, either emotional or physical, Megan Bair-Merritt, M.D., of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues reported online in the Journal of Pediatrics.

" 'Abuse of one parent by their partner is not a private adult matter, but is very much a public health problem that affects children's health and well-being,' Dr. Bair-Merritt said.

"More than half (57%) of the abused women the researchers surveyed indicated that at least one child had been exposed to the violence."

Nine Mile Canyon

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is urging support for the following issue:

One of the world’s largest collections of prehistoric rock art threatened!

A massive proposed oil and gas development project would cause irreparable damage to Nine Mile Canyon in Utah, home to one of the most important and extensive collections of prehistoric rock art panels in the world.

Nicknamed the “world’s longest art gallery” because of its more than 10,000 individual petroglyphs and pictographs made primarily by the Fremont and Ute Indian cultures, the Canyon was included on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places in 2004.

The National Trust is urging citizens around the world to speak out about the harm that will result from this new development proposal if it is allowed to move forward as planned. The project would increase truck traffic inside the Canyon by 416% causing enormous amounts of dust, chemical dust suppressants and vehicle exhaust to accumulate on and irreparably harm this international treasure.

Prehistoric rock art of a buffalo in Nine Mile Canyon, Utah. Photo credit: Mountains Plains Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

A recently released study shows a direct link between truck traffic in the Canyon and the deterioration of the rock art panels, due to a build up of dust and harmful chemicals used to control dust on the road. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages much of the land in and around Nine Mile Canyon, needs to recognize the findings of this study and present plans for a new access road to the exploration site, rather than continuing to rely on the narrow dirt roads that run through Nine Mile Canyon.

Go to the National Trust's site for procedures to contact the Bureau of Land Management regarding this issue.

Compared to other countries, US flunks in teacher pay

Recent research has highlighted the important role of teachers in fostering student achievement. However, the United States lags significantly behind other countries in teacher compensation, which adversely impacts efforts to recruit high-quality teachers.

A recent study by McKinsey and Co. argues that good starting salaries are an essential ingredient for getting the right people to become teachers. Though people who enter teaching often cite a number of reasons, surveys find that unless school systems offer salaries commensurate with that on offer in other career opportunities, the teaching profession will not attract equivalent candidates. The McKinsey study shows that starting salaries in the United States are much lower than in other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

Not only is teacher pay in the United States losing ground compared to other professions, it lags far behind other industrialized countries. This week's Economic Snapshot illustrates the pay gap by comparing starting salaries for teachers as a percent of per capita GDP in the United States and nine other wealthy countries.

The Last Iceberg

Camille Seaman (so aptly named) is a photographer whose exhibit, The Last Iceberg, is on view at the National Academy of Sciences. She is also part of Soulcatcher Studio and it is at that website where it's possible to view the photographs included in the exhibition. Here's an excerpt from Soulcatcher's description:

Seaman states, "The Last Iceberg is one piece of a larger project entitled "Melting Away" which documents the polar regions of our planet, their environments, life forms, history of human exploration and the communities that work and live there.

Nick Cave once sang, "All things move toward their end." Icebergs give the impression of doing just that, in their individual way much as humans do; they have been created of unique conditions and shaped by their environments to live a brief life in a manner solely their own. Some go the distance traveling for many years slowly being eroded by time and the elements; others get snagged on the rocks and are whittled away by persistent currents. Still others dramatically collapse in fits of passion and fury.

The Last Iceberg chronicles just a handful of the many thousands of icebergs that are currently headed to their end. I approach the images of icebergs as portraits of individuals, much like family photos of my ancestors. I seek a moment in their life in which they convey their unique personality, some connection to our own experience and a glimpse of their soul, which endures."

When Natural Processes Are Blurred by Human Activities

From the Asian tiger mosquito in the American South, to the Eurasian zebra mussel in the Great Lakes, to European quackgrass throughout the United States, invasions of non-native species can disrupt ecosystems, cause havoc with local economies, and even threaten health. A new study shows that, at least for freshwater fishes, the major driver of successful invasion is human development, not intrinsic ecological factors, suggesting that in the future, many more newcomers will be making their homes in foreign lands.

Competing hypotheses have been proposed to account for the establishment of non-native species. Human activities, from disrupting ecosystems to transporting exotic species, have clearly contributed to many invasions. But do ecosystems themselves play a part? The “biotic resistance” hypothesis suggests that species-rich environments can deter newcomers, while the “biotic acceptance” hypothesis suggests the opposite, that if it's good for the locals, it's good for the invaders.

To test the relative weight of human versus other ecologic factors on freshwater fish invasions, Fabien Leprieur and colleagues collated species data on over 1,000 river basins throughout the world (collectively draining over 80% of Earth's land surface), characterizing each species as native or non-native.

They found six “hot spots” of invasion: the Pacific coast of North and Central America, southern South America, western and southern Europe, central Eurasia, South Africa and Madagascar, southern Australia, and New Zealand. In these areas, more than a quarter of species were non-native, and they had higher-than-average numbers of native species threatened by extinction.

There was no correlation between the richness of native species and that of non-natives, at once refuting biotic acceptance (for which high numbers of natives predict high numbers of non-natives) and biotic resistance (for which high numbers of natives predict low numbers of non-natives). Instead, regardless of local diversity, non-natives were most abundant where human activity was greatest: gross domestic product, population density, and percentage of urban area predicted the greatest proportion of invasives throughout the globe.

The galloping pace of economic development throughout the world during the 20th century, and the likely increase of that pace in the developing world during the 21st century, suggest that the invasive species problem will get worse, not better. To mitigate this problem, the authors suggest that their data be used to anticipate where new invasions are likely and that priority be given to heading off new invaders before they are established in those areas. They also recommend a ban on the import of non-natives into invasion hot spots without detailed impact assessments.

Immigrants, Reporting Income and Paying Taxes

Like The Rest of Us, Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes
Undocumented immigrants contribute to the US economy not only through the labor they provide, but through the taxes they pay. Between one-half and three-quarters of undocumented immigrants pay federal and state income taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes. And all undocumented immigrants pay sales taxes (when they buy anything at a store, for instance) and property taxes (even if they rent housing).

According to the 2005 Economic Report of the President, undocumented immigrants working “‘on the books’…contribute to the tax rolls but are ineligible for almost all Federal public assistance programs and most major Federal-state programs.” The report also notes that immigrants in general “contribute money to public coffers by paying sales and property taxes (the latter are implicit in apartment rents).”

The Undocumented and Social Security: Contributing Yes, Collecting No
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has concluded that undocumented immigrants “account for a major portion” of the billions of dollars paid into the Social Security system under names or social security numbers that don’t match SSA records; payments from which immigrants cannot benefit while undocumented.5 As of October 2005, the reported earnings on which these payments are based — which are tracked through the SSA’s Earnings Suspense File (ESF) — totaled $520 billion.

Even at the State Level, Undocumented Immigrants Still Pay More in Taxes Than They Use in Services
A 2006 study by the Texas State Comptroller found that “the absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas in fiscal 2005 would have been a loss to our gross state product of $17.7 billion. Undocumented immigrants produced $1.58 billion in state revenues, which exceeded the $1.16 billion in state services they received.”

Similarly, a 2007 study by the Oregon Center for Public Policy estimated that undocumented immigrants in Oregon pay state income, excise, and property taxes, as well as federal Social Security and Medicare taxes, which “total about $134 million to $187 million annually.” In addition, “taxes paid by Oregon employers on behalf of undocumented workers total about $97 million to $136 million annually.” As the report goes on to note, undocumented workers are ineligible for the Oregon Health Plan, food stamps, and temporary cash assistance.

Likewise, a 2007 report from the Iowa Policy Project concluded that “undocumented immigrants pay an estimated aggregate amount of $40 million to $62 million in state taxes each year.” Moreover, “undocumented immigrants working on the books in Iowa and their employers also contribute annually an estimated $50 million to $77.8 million in federal Social Security and Medicare taxes from which they will never benefit. Rather than draining state resources, undocumented immigrants are in some cases subsidizing services that only documented residents can access.

Spending Begets More Spending and a Stronger Economy
The consumer purchasing power of undocumented immigrants — what they spend on goods, services, and housing — not only creates new jobs, but also provides federal, state, and local governments with additional revenue through sales, income, business, and property taxes. In other words, spending by undocumented immigrants has an economic “multiplier effect.”

For instance, a 2002 study by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Chicago found that undocumented immigrants in the Chicago metropolitan area alone spent $2.89 billion in 2001. These expenditures stimulated “an additional $2.56 billion in local spending,” for a total of $5.45 billion in additional spending, or 1.5% of the Gross Regional Product. This spending, in turn, sustained 31,908 jobs in the local economy.

Grassley's Letter and Long Term Care Insurers

Senator Charles Grassley "is asking the nation’s top providers of long-term care
insurance to provide information about how claims are processed in order to learn more about how effectively the sector is meeting the needs of Americans who have purchased such policies, which has been encouraged through federal tax incentives.

“Preparing for long-term care needs can make a big difference in both the quality of life for individuals and the solvency of Medicaid,” Grassley said. “Long-term care insurance products are fairly new to the marketplace, so it’s important that policy makers continue to assess how they are working to meet needs and how their success is affecting public programs.”

The United States Senate Committee on Finance ("Committee") has exclusive jurisdiction over the Medicare and Medicaid programs and, accordingly, the duty to ensure that these programs are fiscally sound. As a senior member of the United States Senate and Ranking Member of the Committee, I have a special responsibility to ensure that programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are not unnecessarily burdened. It is for this reason that I have been interested in learning more about long term care insurance ("LTCI").

As you know, LTCI is an invaluable tool to millions of Americans planning for their long term needs. Furthermore, the Federal Government has a significant interest in the LTCI industry's partnership with the Medicaid program. As part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Congress allowed for the expansion of the long term care insurance partnership program to all 50 states. The purpose of the partnership program is to encourage people who might otherwise rely on the Medicaid program to purchase LTCI to help meet their long term care needs. However, if more claims for long term care related expenses are denied, there could be a substantial and
perhaps unnecessary financial burden placed on Medicaid.

As you are likely aware, earlier this year The New York Times published an article critical of the long term care insurance industry. The article focused on reports that a growing number of LTCI policyholders are experiencing greater difficulty in recovering claims for long term care expenses. The article also suggested that some LTCI providers have made it more difficult for policyholders to be paid for legitimate claims.

In response to my growing concern over this matter, I asked the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") to perform an extensive review of the long term care insurance industry. I also contacted the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ("NAIC") to gather its insight on these matters.

While the GAO review is ongoing, I have received the NAIC's response and it contains some troubling data. In my letter to the NAIC, I asked a number of questions, including whether or not there were any notable trends in the industry. Specifically, I was concerned with reports of an increasing number of claim denials. In its response, the NAIC reported that there has been a 92% increase in the number of long term care complaints nationally from 2001 to 2006. The NAIC also conveyed that it had identified a steady increase in the number of complaints
regarding claim denials, including a 74% increase in the number of claim denial related complaints between 2003 and 2006. While this may be explained by the increasing number of people purchasing LTCI, the relationship remains unclear. Furthermore, the NAIC reported that over 70% of claim denials are overturned in favor of the policyholder upon appeal. The NAIC noted that this is "a pattern of error not typically found in other lines of health-related insurance."

A Nation of "Haves" and "Have-Nots"?

Far More Americans Now See Their Country as Sharply Divided Along Economic Lines

"Over the past two decades, a growing share of the public has come to the view that American society is divided into two groups, the "haves" and the "have-nots." Today, Americans are split evenly on the two-class question with as many saying the country is divided along economic lines as say this is not the case (48% each). In sharp contrast, in 1988, 71% rejected this notion, while just 26% saw a divided nation.

"Of equal importance, the number of Americans who see themselves among the "have-nots" of society has doubled over the past two decades, from 17% in 1988 to 34% today. In 1988, far more Americans said that, if they had to choose, they probably were among the "haves" (59%) than the "have-nots" (17%). Today, this gap is far narrower (45% "haves" vs. 34% "have-nots").

"These shifting attitudes have occurred gradually over the past two decades, although the perception of personal financial stringency appears to have risen more rapidly in recent years. As recently as 2001, a 52%-majority still viewed themselves as resting on the positive side of the economic balance, compared with 32% who felt they were monetarily in need. Since then the number of self-described "haves" has fallen by seven percentage points, a decline as large as that which occurred over the previous 13 years.

"Meanwhile, Congressional Budget Office data show that despite the increase in the number of families with two or more earners and widespread income gains in the latter half of the 1990s, families in the middle fifth of the income distribution realized only a modest $6,600 increase in annual income between 1988 and 2004, while the top 1% of families saw their incomes rise from $839,100 to an average $1,259,700. Recently released Census Bureau data show that in 2006, median household income adjusted for inflation was still 2.1% below its 1999 level. More sensationally, Bloomberg.com recently reported on a study showing that "top private-equity and hedge fund managers made more in 10 minutes than average-paid US workers earned all of last year."

Purple Hearts

Nina Berman has taken photographs of returning Iraq War veterans since 2003. Here is her statement:

"Since October 2003, I have been making portraits of American soldiers who were wounded in the Iraq War. I seek them out in their hometowns, after they have been discharged from military hospitals. I photograph them alone, mainly in their rooms, which to me feel like little cages. I strip them of patriotic colors and heroic postures. I see them alienated and dispossessed, left empty handed amid dreams of glory and escape.

While their physical wounds are profound, it is their psychological condition that is my primary focus.

As many of these soldiers joined the military to escape economic and social hardship, seeing them back in a domestic setting all alone with no support, suggests that their dreams of transformation and success through military service were painfully naïve.

Meeting so many severely disabled young men and women was deeply disturbing to me. I felt complicit because they had fought in my name. And I felt the divide of privilege because I did not have to make a similar sacrifice."

Transcript of Elizabeth Edwards' Speech
Rage For Justice Awards

Thank you. I am deeply honored. I accept this award only as a representative of thousands of men and women across this country who decided to stand up instead of lay down, when confronted with the diagnosis such as the one that John and I received. Many of those people do not have the health care benefits that I enjoy. Most of them do not have the support that I have, and almost none of them get to stand in the warm affirming light in which I stand tonight. With less armor than I have, they fight too, so this award is for them, and I am humbled to accept it on behalf of my brothers and sisters. And I'm honored, in particular, to participate in any dinner in which the phrase "Courage, not compromise" is repeated. Philip Burton (it's great to be in the presence of John) but Philip Burton, for whom this award is named, was willing to accept whatever criticism came his way in order to build a legacy of uncompromising advocacy for the disenfranchised. He stands in such stark contrast to so many of the political models we have around us today. We live in a society where compromise is even applauded. Now in some instances, when it accomplishes a goal without abandoning a principle or abandoning the people for whom the principle was meant to benefit, I suppose compromise can be applauded. But compromise today is too often applauded simply for itself. Compromise, usually described as consensus rather than capitulation, has become a goal. And the cost of compromise to principles and to real lives, well that doesn't seem to matter. Except, as that video so wonderfully described, it matters here with you. In health care and energy and the financing of elections and the war in Iraq, it does matter. This organization understands that the way to build a fair and just society is not through baby steps, not through concession or incremental solutions, but with big ideas and with an obvious backbone to match.

It's precisely because I believe that the only way to achieve the change we so desperately need is through that backbone and those big ideas, that John and I made the decision, even in the face of a pretty depressing medical diagnosis, to continue to speak out. Not for him and certainly not for me, but for the principles and more importantly for those people who need someone to stand up for them without compromise. Those who need a champion cannot afford compromise in the face of forces that are powerful, persistent and pernicious and greedy.

Glaciers Then and Now

This special collection features 14 pairs of Alaskan photographs. Each photographic pair consists of a late-19th or early-20th century photograph and a 21st century photograph taken from the same location. The comparative photographs clearly show substantial changes in glacier position and size and document significant landscape evolution and vegetative succession. Please see the section on Repeat Photography of Glaciers in the documentation for more information.

Click on the box next to Long Term Change Photograph Pairs and then click on Submit

Regardless of how you feel and what you think about global warming, do look at these pair of pictures; the difference between then and now is quite stunning.

The amount of precipitation (whether in the form of snowfall, freezing rain, avalanches, or wind-drifted snow) is important to glacier survival. In areas such as Antarctica, where the low temperatures are ideal for glacier growth, very low annual precipitation causes the glaciers to grow very slowly.

Issues

Screening for Domestic Violence