Wednesday, March 30th, 2016
Stephan: Here is an absolutely wonderful and clear cut example of the 8 Laws and the Power of the Quotidian Choice, that I described in my book The 8 Laws of Change. If I was writing the book again I would make this story a chapter.
Here is the power of shared intention expressed through mundane commercial choices, and what happens when people choose collectively on the basis of wellness. Bravo.
Credit: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
As American consumers find themselves gravitating toward “natural” products, particularly non-GMO and BPA-free products, food industry veteran Del Monte is also taking a hint.
Following in the footsteps of other fellow seasoned food companies including Campbell Soup CPB 1.25% and General Mills GIS 1.71% , the fruit cup and canned goods titan announced in a Tuesday press release that it too was jumping on the band wagon and converting to non-BPA packaging.
San Francisco-based Del Monte said it would move away from BPA packaging starting with the company’s fruit and tomato products, and nearly 100% of its vegetable products in May.
In recent years, consumers have clamored over the presence of BPA, or Bisphenol A, in bottles and food packaging due to studies which have shown that the chemical, which is often used to harden plastic and coat metal cans, can lead to health problems including cancer and brain damage. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration however says that BPA at current levels is […]
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Wednesday, March 30th, 2016
Geoff Pender, - The Clarion-Ledger
Stephan: This is how crazed with fear and bravado, the Theocratic Right has become in some states. I have been thinking a lot about this, trying to answer this question: What does it feel like to be so fearful that you would want to go around routinely carrying a handgun, even when you went to church? I have never felt that way, and I can't really get there except to recognize it must be incredibly stressful, and imagining armed guards patrolling the church during service -- wow.
This Guns in Church Trend is becoming a powerful force in Red value states.
Mississippi Evangelical Christian service
Credit: southernspaces.org
The Senate on Tuesday passed the “Mississippi Church Protection Act” to allow armed security in churches, concealed carry without a permit and attempting to nullify federal regulations and executive orders that would limit gun rights.
There was much debate. Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, waved a sheathed sword and quoted Bible Scripture as he argued against passage of the bill. Proponents also quoted Scripture, and even the Five Man Electrical Band — “signs, signs, everywhere signs” — as they fended off an amendment to require churches with armed security to post signs.
“We don’t need to pimp the church for political purposes,” Frazier said said as he held an ornate sword at the podium. “If you want to pass gun laws, do that, but don’t use the church.”
Sen. Sean Tindell, R-Gulfport, spoke for passage of the bill and said, “This will allow a church to have a sergeant-at-arms to protect the church body, just like we have (in the Legislature).” He said […]
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Wednesday, March 30th, 2016
Eric W. Dolan, - The Raw Story
Stephan: As I predicted -- as easy a prediction as one is ever likely to make -- the Secret Service will not admit weapons into the Republican Convention. It is worth noting though that by the same they had announced their decision 35,000 Republicans had signed a petition calling for Open Carry at the convention.
But in Texas, as with so much else, things are a little weirder. In the Texas State Convention, as this story describes, Open Carry is A-O.K.
Credit: Shutterstock
The Republican Party of Texas will allow people to carry guns at their state convention, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Both open and concealed carry of firearms will be permitted at Texas State Convention in May, officials confirmed.
On Monday, the U.S. Secret Service announced it would not allow people to carry guns at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. More than 45,000 people had signed a petition calling on the RNC to allow the open carry of firearms at the event.
Both Texas and Ohio allow guns to be carried openly in public.
The leader of Open Carry Texas praised the decision to allow guns at the upcoming state convention.
“The bottom line is there is no place where you cannot be the target of criminal activity,” C.J. Grisham told the Dallas Morning News. “Since there’s no such thing to a safe place, there should be no place where you don’t have a right to a self-defense.”
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Tuesday, March 29th, 2016
Chad Terhune and Melody Petersen, - Medpage Today
Stephan: Remember those medical gastrointestinal scopes that turned out to harbor deadly bacteria that sickened or killed a number of people? Well, here is the back story, and a scummy little tale of greed and corruption in the Illness Profit System it is.
The net-net: don't buy anything made by Olympus.
LOS ANGELES — Soon after doctors at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center traced deadly infections to tainted medical scopes last year, they pressed the device maker to lend them replacements.
But Olympus Corp. refused. Instead, the Tokyo company offered to sell UCLA 35 new scopes for $1.2 million — a 28% increase in price from what it charged the university just months earlier, according to university emails obtained from a public-records request.
Olympus sales manager Vincent Hernandez told UCLA that the company’s previous discounts no longer applied. “Supplies are already low, where demand is high with all academic institutions expanding their inventories,” Hernandez wrote to the medical center.
The emails show how Olympus continued to push sales even as the devices it previously sold to UCLA and other medical institutions were linked to illnesses and deaths.
The messages also mark a sharp departure from what had been a close, mutually beneficial relationship between the giant device manufacturer and one of the country’s most prestigious academic medical centers.
Once the outbreak was confirmed in late January 2015, UCLA urgently needed replacement scopes to safely perform gastrointestinal procedures, in which the duodenoscopes were snaked down a patient’s throat.
In response to the outbreaks and […]
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Tuesday, March 29th, 2016
Paul Davidson, Financial Reporter - USA TODAY
Stephan: It is fascinating to watch the success of competent Democratic Governors like Jerry Brown in California, Andrew Cuomo in New York, Mark Dayton in Minnesota and to compare and contrast their performance and the state of their states, with ideological corrupt incompetents like Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Sam Brownback in Kansas, and Bobby Jindal (thankfully now out of office) of Louisiana -- as a partial list.
This story also show why unions and collective bargaining are important to maintaining a middle class, and how labor and government can work together to the benefit of all.
Finally I would note that the differences present us with these questions: Why are the people of California, Minnesota, and New York so different than those in Kansas, Wisconsin and Louisiana? Are they smarter? More well-informed? More capable of distinguishing the peanut butter from the BS as it comes off the fan? Or less driven by hate, racism, and fear?
I am not sure there is a single answer but I am sure of this: The standard of living in Blue value states is pulling away from Red value states at an increasing speed; to the point where the Great Schism Trend is now one of the most notable features of the United States.
California Gov. Jerry Brown
Credit: AP Photo/Ben Margot
A deal to raise California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 was reached Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators, making the nation’s largest state the first to lift base earnings to that level and propelling a campaign to lift the pay floor nationally.
The increase will boost the wages of about 6.5 million California residents, or 43% of the state’s workforce, who earn less than $15, according to worker group Fight for $15. The proposal had been headed to a statewide referendum. It’s now expected to be approved by the state assembly.
“This plan raises the minimum wage in a careful and responsible way and provides some flexibility if economic and budgetary conditions change,” Brown said. The governor can temporarily suspend the hikes in the event of poor economic conditions or a large budget deficit.
About a dozen cities have approved bumps in their minimum wages to $15, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and several other municipalities in California.
In New York, […]
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