Early Warning Signal for Ecosystem Collapse Revealed

Stephan:  The data just keeps piling up.

Researchers snooping on complex signals emanating from a remote lake in the have detected what they say is an unmistakable warning of the impending collapse of the lake’s aquatic ecosystem, EurekAlert has reported.

The finding from a Wisconsin lake, reported today April 29 in the journal Science by a team of researchers led by Stephen Carpenter, a limnologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the first experimental evidence that radical change in an ecosystem can be detected in advance, possibly in time to prevent ecological catastrophe.

‘For a long time, ecologists thought these changes couldn’t be predicted. But we’ve now shown that they can be foreseen. The early warning is clear. It is a strong signal,

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Uninsured Americans Reach 52 million

Stephan:  This trend is building to a crisis crescendo. In 2010, one out of six Americans 'lacked health insurance for at least part of the year' -- 52 million of us. We are unraveling and, at a certain point, people stop supporting a system that offers them nothing -- a very dangerous place for a nation's wellbeing.

The number of Americans who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year reached 52 million in 2010, report the Commonwealth Fund and Bloomberg News.

That number is roughly 40 percent higher than the 38 million who went without health insurance in 2001, according to the non-profit think tank’s Biennial Health Insurance Survey.

The steep recession that began in December 2007 led to 9 million Americans losing their job-based health insurance coverage.

‘This survey tells a story of millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the recession, lost their health benefits too, and had essentially no place to turn for affordable healthcare coverage–putting their health and financial security at risk,’ said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis.

Most of the uninsured were from low- and moderate-income households earning up to $44,100 per year. The average unweighted rate of uninsured was 47 percent, compared to a 13 percent rate of uninsured from higher-income households.

Davis noted that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act should guarantee that fewer individuals lose their healthcare coverage during another economic downturn.

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Daniels To Sign Bill Stripping Federal Funds From Planned Parenthood in Indiana

Stephan:  The latest development in the conservative's war on women. Why the women of American are so passive about this I do not know. But we are headed back to a time when poor women had no medical options. Watch for a sharp rise in backroom abortions as desperate women end a pregnancy they cannot afford. Watch for an increase in uterine and breast cancers as poor women don't get screened. Ultimately, of course, the cost will actually be higher to the tax payers, who will have to provide care for those uninsured women with cancer caught in the late stages. Like all conservative 'family values' fiscal fantasies this policy is based on a fact-free ideology.

Republican Governor Mitch Daniels released a statement Friday afternoon saying he will sign legislation stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood in Indiana, the first state to make such a move.

The statement reads:

‘I will sign HEA 1210 when it reaches my desk a week or so from now. I supported this bill from the outset, and the recent addition of language guarding against the spending of tax dollars to support abortions creates no reason to alter my position. The principle involved commands the support of an overwhelming majority of Hoosiers, as reflected in greater than 2:1 bipartisan votes in both legislative chambers.

‘I commissioned a careful review of access to services across the state and can confirm that all non-abortion services, whether family planning or basic women’s health, will remain readily available in every one of our 92 counties. In addition, I have ordered the Family and Social Services Administration to see that Medicaid recipients receive prompt notice of nearby care options. We will take any actions necessary to ensure that vital medical care is, if anything, more widely available than before.

‘Any organization affected by this provision can resume receiving […]

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Soaring Food Prices a Threat Across Asia

Stephan:  People will not willingly starve. If this continues 2012 almost inevitably will be a year of enormous social unrest.

MANILA — Soaring global food prices threaten to push tens of millions of Asians into extreme poverty and cut the region’s economic growth this year, the Asian Development Bank warned in a report on Tuesday.

Coupled with skyrocketing oil prices, the spike poses a serious setback for developing Asia after having rebounded rapidly and strongly from the 2008 global economic crisis, said chief ADB economist Rhee Changyong.

‘Left unchecked, the food crisis will badly undermine recent gains in poverty reduction made in Asia,’ Rhee said in a statement.

Domestic food inflation in developing Asian nations hit 10 percent at the start of this year, with double-digit rises in the price of wheat, corn, sugar, edible oils, dairy products and meat, the Manila-based institution said.

If this rate continues, as is likely, 64 million people in developing Asia could be pushed into extreme poverty and economic growth could be reduced by up to 1.5 percentage points this year, the bank warned.

Vietnam has been one of the hardest hit nations in terms of rice inflation, despite being a major exporter, according to the ADB.

It has has seen domestic rice retail prices shoot up 36.7 percent since June last year, while Indonesia and Sri Lanka have endured […]

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U.S. Food Costs May Rise 4% Behind Beef, Pork: USDA

Stephan:  The food crisis trend is gathering momentum.

Surging pork and beef costs will keep pressure on U.S. food inflation, which the Department of Agriculture says will rise 3 percent to 4 percent this year, the most since 2008.

While the overall estimate for food inflation was left unchanged in today’s report, the USDA said prices for meat poultry and fish will jump 5 percent to 6 percent, led by beef, which may climb 8 percent, and pork, which could gain 7.5 percent. The beef estimate was increased by 2.5 percentage points from March and pork was raised 1 percentage point.

‘I suspect when December arrives we will see increases of 4 to 6 percent

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