Barrett's Blog

Oprah: Shame on you.

So last week, Newsweek printed a heroic front-page article detailing the antiscientific medical swill Oprah Winfrey has been routinely doling out to her audiences. This nonsense includes, of course, Jenny McCarthy, as well as dangerous quackery by Suzanne Somers and others. The article really slams Oprah hard, as well it should.

Unsurprisingly, Oprah has released a statement about this, and it's full to the brim of fail. I wouldn't call it a lie, but it's spinning like a newborn pulsar:

For 23 years, my show has presented thousands of topics that reflect the human experience, including doctors' medical advice and personal health stories that have prompted conversations between our audience members and their health care providers. I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions to determine what may be best for them.

That, to be blunt, is baloney. First off, it's wrong. She pounds home the New Age nonsense from Somers and McCarthy, giving them a platform to relentlessly mislead and misinform people millions at a time, and on those shows rarely gives more than very brief lip service to actual medical research.

Second, it's at best a cop-out to say that her viewers will do more research. She has to know that's almost certainly not true! The Oprah imprimatur can rocket a book up the best-selling list, as it has for Somers and McCarthy, as well as many others. Clearly, a vast horde of people will go out and buy what she tells them to because she's the one who told them to.

And what she's telling them to buy is dangerous medical nonsense.

The only good news coming out of this is that the mainstream media are taking notice. Besides Newsweek itself, other venues are writing about it too. Of course, the blogs are all over it as well (the Newsweek blog has links to more).

Oprah: shame on you. You had a chance to look this situation over carefully, investigate your methods and ideas, and make this right. Instead you resort to defensive posturing and spin. It makes me sick to my stomach. But how many people will your credulous platform literally make sick?

June 7th, 2009 6:41 PM by Phil Plait in Antiscience, Piece of mind, Skepticism | 117 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

iPhone Virus - It had to happen (PIC)

I was on the fence for awhile- whether or not to Jailbreak my phone. From what I read, this would be a painless process with no downsides. Guess not; now my iPhone is infected. Time to find an antivirus program that will let me clean off all the mess that this service found. This is what I get for trying to be a hacker.

read more | digg story

France: Gov't. responsible for WWII deportations

PARIS - France's top judicial body has recognized the French
government's responsibility for the deportation of Jews during World
War II.

The Council of State's declaration is the clearest such recognition of
the French government's role in the Holocaust.

The council found that the French government at the time was
responsible for deportations that led to anti-Semitic persecution.

The decision released Monday also found that the deportations have
been "compensated for" since 1945.

Dairy cows head for slaughter as milk prices sour

TURLOCK, Calif. - Hundreds of thousands of America's dairy cows are
being turned into hamburgers because milk prices have dropped so low
that farmers can no longer afford to feed the animals.

Dairy farmers say they have little choice but to sell part of their
herds for slaughter because they face a perfect storm of destructive
economic forces. At home, feed prices are rising and cash-strapped
consumers are eating out less often. Abroad, the global recession has
cut into demand for butter and cheese exported from the U.S.

Prices for milk now are about half what it costs farmers to produce
the staple, and consumer prices are falling. Unless the market can be
bolstered, industry officials project that more than 1.5 million of
the nation's 9.3 million milking cows could be slaughtered this year
as dairy operators look to cut costs and generate cash.

"This could destroy our dairy infrastructure," said Mike Marsh, CEO of
the United Western Dairymen trade association.

Three months ago, mature milkers would sell for $2,500 to another
dairy, but with nobody buying, dairymen are selling them on the beef
market for only $1,100 each.

It is not just elderly cows that are going to slaughter, said Jon
Dolieslager, owner of the Tulare County Stockyard in the heart of
California dairy country.

The 262,500 slaughtered nationally in January is 43,500 more than in
January 2008. Since September, federal livestock reports show that
dairy cow slaughter is up 30 percent, while beef cow slaughter is down
14 percent.

"If milk was worth something, they'd be keeping them," said Dolieslager.

Some dairymen have become so desperate that they are not even
bothering to haul to feedlots the newborns whose births keep milk
flowing at higher levels.

Investigators in San Joaquin County are trying to determine who dumped
30 dead bull calves on country roads to avoid rendering costs or
hauling them to auction, where they fetch $5 each but cost hundreds
and hundreds more to bottle feed special formula. The group Farm
Sanctuary is offering a $2,000 reward for the culprit.

"Apparently it was someone trying to save money who just dumped them,"
said Susie Coston, the group's national shelter director.

As of Feb. 2, the price farmers receive for a gallon of milk has been
80 cents a gallon, less than half the $1.65 a gallon the California
Department of Food and Agriculture estimates it costs to produce.

"I don't ever remember being able to produce milk at that price," said
dairyman Ray Souza, who got into the business in 1963.

The new price was the biggest one-month drop in 54 years in California
and doomed cow No. 4424, a fat Holstein who instinctively lumbers to
her place in the milk line but has become an economic liability at
Souza's dairy.

"She's not giving enough milk," Souza said as he scanned computer
records showing output for each of his 900 milkers. "She can't stay
here."

The price is set by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and is based on
the price paid for powdered milk, where 37 percent of California's
milk is sold. Only 14 percent goes into sales as liquid milk.

U.S. milk, butter and cheese, which enjoyed record worldwide sales
last year, no longer are in demand because of the triple whammy of
decreased international consumption in a falling economy, a stronger
dollar that makes exports less attractive and the scare over melamine
contamination in Chinese milk.

Those trade issues have coincided with a three-year California drought
that has increased the price and availability of alfalfa hay, and corn
costs that have doubled because of competition from ethanol producers.

"We need to get supply and demand into alignment as quickly as
possible so this economic trainwreck isn't strung out," said Marsh of
the industry association.

By TRACIE CONE Associated Press Writer

Pilot's actions scrutinized in Flight 3407 crash

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The sounds of the last desperate minutes in the
cockpit aboard Flight 3407 could be clues to the cause of a crash that
came violently and suddenly, with the doomed plane dropping steeply
and pitching and rolling like a rollercoaster.

Investigators in Washington and Buffalo huddled Sunday at the start of
an in-depth study of the plane's voice cockpit and voice data
recorders. Hours later, National Transportation Safety Board member
Steve Chealander released facts illustrating how the Continental
Connection flight disappeared from radar late Thursday, plunging into
a house and killing 50 people.

Chealander said information from the plane's flight data recorder
indicated that the aircraft pitched up at an angle of 31 degrees in
its final seconds, then pitched down at 45 degrees.

The plane rolled to the left at 46 degrees, then snapped back to the
right at 105 degrees - 15 degrees beyond vertical.

Radar data shows Flight 3407 fell from 1,800 feet above sea level to
1,000 feet in five seconds, he said. Passengers and crew would have
experienced G-forces up to twice as strong as on the ground.

The plane crashed belly-first on top of a house about six miles short
of Buffalo Niagara International Airport, two to three minutes from
when it should have touched down on the runway.

Just before they went down in a suburban neighborhood, the pilots
discussed "significant" ice buildup on their wings and windshield.
Other aircraft in the area told air traffic controllers they also
experienced icing around the same time.

Chealander said in an interview that the pilot may have rejected
federal safety recommendations and the airline's own policy for flying
in icy conditions by leaving the autopilot on even after he notified
air traffic control that the flight crew had spotted ice on the
leading edge of the wings and the windshield.

The Dash 8 Q400 plane, operated by Colgan Air, was equipped with a
"stick shaker" and "stick pusher" mechanism that rattles the yoke to
warn the pilot if the plane is about to lose aerodynamic lift, a
condition called a stall. If not corrected in time, the mechanism
automatically pushes the stick forward to avert a stall.

Chealander said the plane was on autopilot until the "stick shaker"
and "stick pusher" kicked in, automatically putting the plane back in
the pilot's hands.

At some point, the pilot switched on an anti-stall device that
increases the speed of the plane by 20 knots and gives a pilot more
margin to recover from a stall if it occurs.

Asked whether the pilot might have overreacted by pulling the stick
back when it automatically went forward, Chealander said, "Yes, it's
possible."

Still, he was careful not to be critical of the pilot.

"Everything that should have been done was done, so we keep looking,"
he said. "We keep looking, trying to find out why this happened."

Chealander said the plane's deicing system was turned on 11 minutes
after it took off from Newark, N.J., and stayed on for the entire
flight. Indicator lights showed the system appeared to be working.

He said the pilot was being "very conservative" by turning it on so
soon.

Investigators who examined both engines said they appeared to be
working normally at the time of the crash.

Colgan Air operates a fleet of 51 regional turboprops for Continental
Connection, United Express and US Airways Express.

By Sunday, authorities had recovered the remains of 15 people from the
wreckage as crews raced to finish their work before a storm expected
later in the week.

Recovery crews could need as much as four days to remove the remains
from the site. Chealander described the efforts as an "excavation."

"Keep in mind, there's an airplane that fell on top of a house, and
they're now intermingled," he said.

DNA and dental records will be used to identify the remains, he said.

Once all the remains are recovered, the focus will turn to removing
wreckage of the 74-seat aircraft from the neighborhood.

---

Associated Press writers William Kates, Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Carolyn
Thompson and John Curran contributed to this report.

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press Writer

Casinos are warned about card-counting iPhone app

LAS VEGAS - Nevada gambling regulators have warned casinos in the
state about a card-counting program that works on Apple Inc.'s iPhone
and iPod Touch that illegally helps players beat the house in blackjack.

Card counting itself is not illegal under Nevada gambling laws, but it
is considered a felony to use devices to help count cards.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board sent a memo to casinos last week
warning them of the program.

In blackjack, certain card counting techniques help players determine
when they are likely to win a hand and adjust their bets accordingly.

Nevada learned of the program from gambling regulators in California,
where officials at an Indian casino found customers using it and
tipped state authorities.

---

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com

The Associated Press

US approves 1st stem cell study for spinal injury

NEW YORK - A U.S. biotech company says it plans to start this summer
the world's first study of a treatment based on human embryonic stem
cells - a long-awaited project aimed at spinal cord injury.

The company gained federal permission this week to inject eight to 10
patients with cells derived from embryonic cells, said Dr. Thomas
Okarma, president and CEO of Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif.

The patients will be paraplegics, who can use their arms but can't
walk. They will receive a single injection within two weeks of their
injury.

The study is aimed at testing the safety of the procedure, but doctors
will also look for signs of improvement like return of sensation or
movement in the legs, Okarma said.

Whatever its outcome, the study will mark a new chapter in the
contentious history of embryonic stem cell research in the United
States - a field where debate spilled out of the laboratory long ago
and into national politics.

While some overseas doctors claim to use human embryonic stem cells in
their clinics, stem cell experts said they knew of no previous human
studies that use such cells.

"It's a milestone and it's a breakthrough for the field" because Geron
passed the safety hurdles for getting federal clearance to launch the
study, said Ed Baetge, chief scientific officer of Novocell Inc. His
company hopes to begin a similar human study for treating diabetes in
a few years.

In addition, said spinal cord injury researcher Dr. Wise Young of
Rutgers University, "a lot of hope of the spinal cord injury community
is riding on this trial."

Embryonic stem cells can develop into any cell of the body, and
scientists have long hoped to harness them for creating replacement
tissues to treat a variety of diseases. But research has been
controversial because embryos must be destroyed to obtain them.

President Barack Obama has promised to relax the Bush administration's
restrictions on federal financing for such research. But Obama's
ascent to the White House had nothing to do with the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration's granting permission for the new study, Okarma
said in a telephone interview Thursday.

In fact, the company says, the project involves stem cells that were
eligible for federal funding under Bush, although no federal money was
used to develop the experimental treatment or to pay for the human
study.

Other human cells, called adult stem cells, have been tested before in
people to treat heart problems, for example.

In the Geron study, the injections will be made in the spine at the
site of damage. The work will be done in four to seven medical centers
around the country, Okarma said.

Animal studies suggest that once injected, the cells will mature and
repair what is essentially a lack of insulation around damaged nerves,
and also pump out substances that nerves need to function and grow.

Apart from assessing safety, investigators will hope to see some signs
of improvement in the patient, Okarma said. The idea is "not to make
somebody ... get up and dance the next day," he said, but rather to
provide some level of ability that can be improved by physical therapy.

Each patient will receive a low dose of anti-rejection drugs for about
two months, because after that time the medications shouldn't be
needed, Okarma said. The study will follow each patient for at least a
year.

Okarma said he can't estimate how much such a therapy would cost if it
proves effective, but that "this is not going to be a $500,000 price
tag. It will be remarkably affordable ... in the context of the value
it provides."

Evan Snyder, a stem cell researcher at the Burnham Institute for
Medical Research in La Jolla, Calif., said scientists in the field
will focus chiefly on the study's results about safety.

"The one hope that everybody has is that nothing bad happens," he said.

Geron Corp. has spent at least $100 million on human embryonic stem
cell research. Founded in 1992, it does not have any therapies on the
market.

However, the company is considered the world's leading embryonic stem
cell developer thanks to its claims on several key stem cell
technologies. Geron helped finance researchers at the University of
Wisconsin who first isolated human embryonic stem cells in 1998. The
company has retained exclusive rights on several of those cell types.

---

By MALCOLM RITTER AP Science Writer

Turkey coup plot arrests now at more than 100

ANKARA, Turkey - A Turkish court formally arrested 12 more people
Sunday for ties to an alleged secularist plot by ultranationalists to
bring down the Islamic-rooted government, bringing the total of people
implicated in the case to more than 100.

The prime minister said the crackdown will shed light on a network of
renegade agents within the state and make Turkey transparent. Critics
say it is designed to silence the government's opponents.

The case highlights a difficult question about who holds the levers of
power in a nation where tensions between secularists and Islamists,
and liberals and rightists, have created deep fault lines in the
country.

The problem is aggravated by key demands from the European Union -
which Turkey hopes to join - to reduce the military's influence in
politics, make security officials accountable for torture and grant
more rights to the country's Kurds.

Over the weekend, an Istanbul anti-terror court formally arrested and
jailed 16 coup plot suspects, including a former police chief and four
active duty military officers. Twelve of the 16 were arrested Sunday.

Police detained another 33 suspects in the case Sunday and displayed
confiscated weapons. Prosecutors say the plot aimed to destabilize
Turkey through a series of attacks and trigger a coup in 2009.

There are already 86 suspects on trial in the case and they include a
top author, a political party leader, journalists, a former university
dean and a lawyer along with 16 retired military officers. All were
outspoken opponents of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan's party - which narrowly escaped a ban last year for allegedly
undermining the country's secular principles - says it is trying to
strengthen democracy to steer the country toward EU membership even as
allegations mount from the secular opposition that the government is
using its power to silence critics.

"Are you afraid of seeing Turkey becoming more transparent? Are you
afraid of efforts to enlighten sinister incidents?" Erdogan shouted
Sunday. "Turkey is changing."

Erdogan has alarmed secularists for trying to lift the ban on Islamic
head scarves at universities, and nationalists for policies such as
launching the country's first 24-hour Kurdish-language television
station on Jan. 1. He uttered a few words in the once-banned tongue in
a marked shift policy toward Kurds.

Turkey's military, an instigator of coups in past decades, has warned
that secular ideals are in peril, though an armed intervention seems
unlikely for now. But many officers are uncomfortable with the
government's Kurdish policy as they fight a war against autonomy-
seeking rebels that has killed nearly 40,000 people since 1984.

The coup plot case underlines a widening divide between the country's
growing Islamic class and secularists.

The roots of the conflict lie in the era of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the
founder of modern Turkey and early 20th century war hero who viewed
Islam as an impediment to modern development and a symbol of the ills
of the Ottoman Empire.

Ataturk imposed a secular system with an authoritarian streak,
restricting religious dress, education and practices.

By SELCAN HACAOGLU Associated Press Writer

Deicer fumes affect plane passengers at Sea-Tac

SEATAC, Wash. - Fumes from a chemical used to de-ice airplanes got
into the passenger cabin of an Alaska Airlines plane Wednesday at Sea-
Tac Airport and irritated the eyes of passengers and the crew, airport
officials said.

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Caroline Boren said officials had not
determined how the fumes entered the plane.

About 20 people were treated for eye irritation, said an airport
spokesman, Perry Cooper.

He said one crew member and two passengers were taken to a hospital
but their conditions did not appear to be serious.

The problem developed as Alaska Airlines Flight 528 was preparing to
take off a flight to Burbank, Calif., with 143 passengers and a crew
of 5.

Boren says there have been no other deicer problems during a week of
snow in the Seattle area.

Ho, ho, no: Toymakers say lead law harms workshops

SAN FRANCISCO - Worries over lead paint in mass-market toys made the
holidays a little brighter for handcrafted toy makers last year, but
now the federal government's response to the scare has some workshops
fearful that this Christmas might be their last.

Without changes to strict new safety rules, they say, mom-and-pop toy
makers and retailers could be forced to conduct testing and labeling
they can't afford, even if they use materials as benign as unfinished
wood, organic cotton and beeswax.

"It's ironic that the companies who never violated the public trust,
who have already operated with integrity, are the ones being
threatened," said Julia Chen, owner of The Playstore in Palo Alto,
which specializes in wooden and organic playthings.

A spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission said
Wednesday the agency is working to set up some exemptions.

Lead paint spurred the recall of 45 million toys last year, mostly
made in China for larger manufacturers. Parents flocked to stores like
The Playstore in the recall's aftermath searching for safer
alternatives.

Lawmakers also responded. In August, President Bush imposed the
world's strictest lead ban in products for children 12 or younger by
signing the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

Small toy makers strongly back the restrictions in the bill, which
they say reflect voluntary standards they have long observed to keep
harmful substances out of toys. But they never thought their products
would also be considered a threat.

Under the law, all children's products must be tested for lead and
other harmful substances. Toy makers are required to pay a third-party
lab for the testing and to put tracking labels on all toys to show
when and where they were made.

Those requirements make sense for a multinational toy manufacturer
churning out thousands of plastic toys on an overseas assembly line,
said Dan Marshall, co-owner of Peapods Natural Toys and Baby Care in
St. Paul, Minn.

But a business that makes, for example, a few hundred handcrafted
wooden baby rattles each year cannot afford to pay up to $4,000 per
product for testing, a price some toy makers have been quoted, he said.

Marshall and nearly 100 other toy stores and makers have formed the
Handmade Toy Alliance to ask Congress and the federal agency that
enforces the law to exempt small toy companies or those that make toys
entirely within the U.S. from testing and labeling rules.

Failing that, they want the Consumer Product Safety Commission to
preemptively declare unfinished wood, wool and cotton and food-grade
wood finishes such as beeswax, mineral oil and walnut oil to be lead-
free.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., lead sponsor of the legislation, says
toy makers should not worry. Rush points out that the law already
exempts products and materials that do not threaten public safety or
health.

"This exemption should be sufficient to affect most companies," Rush
said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Determining what materials fall under that exemption falls to the
safety commission, however, which has yet to issue specific
guidelines. With a Feb. 10 deadline for complying with the law, small
toy makers say they have no choice but to act as if its rules apply to
them or risk facing fines of $100,000 per violation.

"The agency is diligently working on providing rules that would define
some exclusions and some exemptions," said Julie Vallese, a
spokeswoman for the product safety commission.

Toy safety activists who helped push the legislation through Congress
say they are sympathetic to small toy makers' anxieties.

Charles Margulis of the anti-lead Center for Environmental Health in
Oakland said exemptions based on natural materials would be
"sensible." But "Made in the USA" is not enough to ensure a toy is not
toxic, according to Margulis. "Materials from the U.S. could be lead-
contaminated as well," he said.

One European toy maker has already announced it will stop its exports
to the U.S. because of the law's costs and uncertainties. Selecta
Spielzeug, a German company, said earlier this month that it will stop
shipping its wooden push toys, games and other products to 1,200 U.S.
stores after Dec. 31.

Mike Lee, co-owner of Sarah's Silks in Forestville, said fewer of his
company's costumes, hats and capes for children will likely appear on
U.S. store shelves in coming months. If testing costs are not
curtailed for his more than 100 products, he said, he may have to
reduce his nine-employee staff.

"We're not that big we can plunk out $20,000 or $30,000 every time we
do this," Lee said. "I'd rather invest that much more of that money in
people."

Chen, the owner of The Playstore, says pulling toys from shelves means
fewer choices for parents who want something different for their
children than what they can find at big-box stores. If no exemptions
are made, Chen said, the number of brands she sells could drop from
more than 300 to about 10.

"Our whole mix is going to have to change," Chen said. "This is truly
actually threatening our access to safe toys."

---

By MARCUS WOHLSEN Associated Press Writer

Pushing more doctors to ditch the prescription pad

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - The push for paperless prescriptions is about to get a boost: Starting in January, doctors who e-prescribe can get bonus pay from Medicare. For patients, the benefits are obvious - from shorter drugstore waits to increased safety, as pharmacists no longer squint to decipher doctors' messy handwriting.

But persuading U.S. doctors to ditch their prescription pads for electronic prescribing so far has been a long, uphill battle. Only about 10 percent of doctors are taking the plunge like Dr. Ted Epperly in Boise, Idaho, who's adopting the technology now.

Still, the movement is gaining steam as Medicare warns that its bonus payments are for a short time only: Holdouts still sticking to paper in 2012 will find their Medicare payments cut.

And continuing the push for medical information technology is a key part of President-elect Barack Obama's health-reform plans, in hopes that moving to computerized records - not just prescriptions, but all those troublesome paper charts that contribute to medical errors and wasted care - ultimately could save millions of dollars a year.

"We'd never go back," says Epperly, also president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Patients "recognize that, 'Hey, Dr. Epperly's in the information age, and my safety is better and the quality of care is better.'"

What's a paperless prescription? When the doctor writes it by computer and sends it directly to the drugstore by computer, no little piece of paper to get lost or stolen anywhere along that trail.

Some doctors do write prescriptions via computer but then hand the patient a printout, or it arrives at the drugstore as a fax. Those don't count as true electronic prescribing.

In December 2007, 35,000 doctors were writing at least some paperless prescriptions, according to SureScripts-RxHub, which tracks the drugstore network.

The 2008 count isn't finished yet, but SureScripts estimates that number has doubled to more than 70,000. Moreover, the volume of prescriptions filled electronically grew about 15 percent a month since August, faster than the 5 percent to 8 percent monthly increase seen earlier in the year - presumably as doctors geared up for the Medicare incentive.

The biggest reason for the paperless push is to improve safety. More than 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by medication mistakes. Deciphering doctors' chicken-scratch - was that 100 milligrams or 100 micrograms? - does play a role. But perhaps more important, electronic prescribing systems can flash an alert if the dose seems wrong or patient records show use of another drug that can dangerously interact.

By avoiding unnecessary medication injuries, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has estimated that widespread e-prescribing could save as much as $156 million over five years.

It can save patients cash, too. Most insurance plans divide their formularies into tiers with escalating co-pays, and e-prescribing can let doctors debating which drug to recommend can take patient cost into account. A study published last week found that Massachusetts doctors increased use of the cheapest drugs by 6.6 percent during their first year of e-prescribing.

Patients appreciate that price discussion, says Dr. Joe Heyman, chairman of the American Medical Association's trustees and a longtime e-prescriber. An obstetrician/gynecologist, he regularly discusses big contraceptive price differences.

While some patients may need Brand X instead of Generic Y, "in general any of the birth-control pills will do the job," Heyman says. "If when you e-prescribe, it tells you this is a Tier 3 drug and will cost the patient $50 instead of $10, somehow that can be more persuasive" than the ad the woman saw for a pricier version.

So why haven't more doctors joined?

There's definitely some upfront pain, as the office staff enters patient information into electronic prescription programs that can cost $3,000 per doctor. The Medicare incentive - an extra 2 percent in reimbursement rates in 2009 and 2010, and smaller bonuses the next three years - could offset the investment by earning the doctor an extra $1,000 to $1,500 a year, Epperly estimates.

A bigger barrier: Narcotic painkillers and other controlled substances that account for 20 percent of all prescriptions are banned from electronic prescribing. The Drug Enforcement Administration is working on rules to allow that switch.

Then there's the drugstore link. While almost all pharmacy chains are part of a national e-prescription network, smaller ones may not be - only 27 percent of independent pharmacies were in 2007 - and doctors also must use software recognized by the network. In Boise, Epperly says more drugstores still receive his e-prescriptions as a fax than as fully paperless, his biggest frustration.

"Change itself was a bit of a barrier," he says.

---

The Associated Press

Officers: Pierced 'gothic kittens' marketed on Web

Sent from Express News
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Humane officers say a Pennsylvania woman marketed "gothic kittens" with ear, neck and tail piercings over the Internet. Officers with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals removed three kittens and a cat Wednesday from a home outside Wilkes-Barre, about 20 miles southwest of Scranton.

Officer Carol Morrison says the society got a tip that the Ross Township woman was selling the pierced kittens on the Internet.

She says, "It's unbelievable anybody would do this to kittens."

Charges are likely against the homeowner, whose name was not released.

Morrison says the woman has a pet grooming business in the basement of her home.

---

Information from: Times Leader, http://www.timesleader.com

The Associated Press

Nursing home industry worries about new ratings

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Rating systems help people decide which restaurants to go to or hotels to stay at. So why not something similar from the federal government for the nation's 16,000 nursing homes?

Such a simple rating for so complex a task as caring for the elderly is leading to much anxiety in the nursing home industry. Home operators worry about the ramifications for their business if they get one or two stars - when five is the best.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was to let everyone know Thursday just how many stars each home is getting. Already the industry is questioning the validity of the rankings. To operators, the five-star system is a great idea whose time has not yet come.

The system "is poorly planned, prematurely implemented and hamhandedly rolled out," said Larry Minnix, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, an industry trade group.

Federal officials say the rankings will put nursing homes "on the path to improvement" because they know family members will think twice before putting someone in a one-star home.

The ratings are based on state inspections, staffing levels and quality measures, such as the percentage of residents with pressure sores. The nursing homes will receive stars for each of those categories as well as for their overall quality.

Consumer groups like the concept, but they agreed there are some potential problems with the data. For example, the staffing data is self-reported just before state surveys and is widely recognized as unreliable.

"From a consumer viewpoint, it's not stringent enough," said Alice H. Hedt, executive director of the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform. "It's basically taking information already available on Medicare's Nursing Home Compare Web site and pulling it into an easier system for consumers to use, and that is a good thing."

Hedt said consumers should consider the star ratings, but not solely rely on them when comparing facilities. Her organization also issued a press release warning that nursing homes may appear in the ratings to give better care than they actually do.

"Our initial reaction is that consumers should probably avoid any facility with a one- or two-star rating and even a three-star rating unless people they trust convince them that the rating is inaccurate or unfair," she said.

But, in Indiana, eight nonprofit nursing homes have reported they got one star for staffing even though they have some of the highest staffing levels in the states, said Jim Leich, president and chief executive officer of the Indiana Association of Homes for the Aging. He believes the one-star rating is the result of a records glitch particular to any nursing home that is part of a campus that includes housing for residents with less intensive care needs.

"It's really going to be an injustice for some of our best facilities," he said.

The Jennings Center for Older Adults in Garfield Heights, Ohio, got four stars for its nursing home, said Martha Kutik, the center's president and CEO. Still, she's worried that the rating system relies on surveys that measure cracks in the ceiling but don't measure patient and family satisfaction.

"Any system that's going to measure quality for consumers should keep satisfaction high on the list," Kutik said.

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By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press Writer

Review: Online maps can jog better running routes

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The search company responsible for countless hours of sitting by a computer screen can help you burn calories, too.

To plan jogging routes and track mileage, running enthusiasts are turning to independently produced sites that tap online mapping services from Google Inc. and its rivals. As someone who has logged every mile on a spreadsheet since December 2000 (10,146.7 and counting) these free tools help fuel my obsession with how far I've run.

After trying several of the Web services during a recent West Coast trip, I found there's no substitute for simplicity.

I've long been a fan of Gmap Pedometer, created as a hobby by a first-time marathoner in Hoboken, N.J. Although I have since come across flashier tools packed with more features, I returned to Gmap out of frustration each time.

Despite its sparse look, Gmap is highly functional and easy to use.

You simply trace your route on a Google map as if you were leaving bread crumbs, clicking your mouse to place markers along your intended path. Gmap connects the markers in order, and automatically calculates the distance.

A new "automatic routes" feature helps improve accuracy by reflecting the added distance along curvy paths, even when you drop your bread crumbs in a straight line.

With Gmap's help, I met two objectives for my final run during a visit to Vancouver. I needed to cap it at four miles, and I wanted to visit three venues for the 2010 Winter Games - the closest I'd ever get to the Olympics.

The night before, I used my hotel's Wi-Fi connection to plot a route that circled the arenas for the opening and closing ceremonies and ice hockey before taking me to False Creek, where the housing for athletes is being built.

I hit the "undo last point" button several times to avoid generating a route that would have been too far or given me too little of the Olympics. Once I found a nice balance, I hit "save" to generate a unique Web address I can keep and share with others.

Earlier, in Los Angeles, the auto-route feature proved useful in navigating the curvy paths along Southern California's beaches. Gmap also knew I shouldn't run through people's homes, so it had me turn at the nearest intersection.

As Gmap automatically filled out the route, its calculations were pretty close: a quarter-mile short of the 15.02 miles reported by a GPS unit I carried on the run.

I had to turn off that auto-routing feature for my Olympics run, though. Although Gmap was smart enough to let me run the wrong way on one-way streets, it didn't know all the recreational paths I saw on tourist maps. (A setting for cyclists does respect traffic laws.)

My main complaint is Gmap's inability to track runs by users. I must remember the Web address to access a saved run, and I cannot create an account to store all my runs at one place. I also cannot search for recommendations from other runners.

That is where MapMyRun and Sanoodi come in.

I began with MapMyRun but couldn't find any routes near where I was staying in Los Angeles. Sanoodi was better, offering me four.

But they were all too short, so I tried creating my own.

On Sanoodi, which uses Google maps by default, I had to create a free account first, even if I had no intentions of saving it. I found the controls confusing, and attempts to drag the map around inadvertently created "bread crumb" markers I had to then erase.

MapMyRun, powered by MapQuest from Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, was only slightly better. Though it automatically detected my presence in Los Angeles, the site kept freezing when I entered a specific address.

Upon returning home to New York, I gave both sites another try, along with one recommended by a few people in my running club, a Google-based offering called America's Running Routes from the sport's governing body, USA Track & Field.

I like Running Routes' simple approach but find it missing some of Gmap's features. It does let you view routes saved by others, but searches for runs in Walla Walla, Wash., and Jim Thorpe, Pa. - two small towns that came to mind - produced far fewer returns than MapMyRun.

I found MapMyRun more tolerable in New York, but I couldn't print routes without paying $2 or signing up for a $48-a-year membership, which also gives you access to online training schedules. Annoying boxes kept popping up for filling in notes, with the "X" for closing them hidden behind other fancy boxes I didn't want. And the auto-route option often took me blocks out of the way.

I do like that I could keep a training log and search for upcoming races on MapMyRun, and I'm sure the ability to compare progress with friends could come in handy. I could see using it to research routes in new cities or neighborhoods.

Sanoodi had many bugs its developers promise to fix by early 2009. Rather than prompting me to sign in so I could plan a run, the site simply returned other people's runs when I hit "create a route." And moving the map around sometimes disables the ability to add markers. Sanoodi also lacks, for now, an auto-route feature.

Both MapMyRun and Sanoodi are better than Gmap at letting you edit previously saved runs. Both let you import runs recorded using GPS devices such as Garmin Ltd.'s Forerunner, and Sanoodi has developed free applications for several mobile devices, upcoming versions of which will continually send data to the Web site as you run.

But until they get easier to use, simplicity wins any day. The point of running is to be outdoors, not sitting in front of a computer trying to endure flashy graphics.

Now, if only Gmap could disable my snooze button and get me out of bed for chilly morning runs.

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By ANICK JESDANUN AP Business Writer

Judge: No order to state to reveal computer sites

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A judge declined Thursday to order Arkansas officials to reveal which state computers were used to edit Wikipedia entries about Gov. Mike Beebe, former Gov. Mike Huckabee and another former elected official.

Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey declined "for reasons of security" to order the disclosure of the physical locations of five computers used to edit profiles about the politicians. Two Associated Press employees had sued to get the information. They are considering an appeal.

The popular online encyclopedia allows anyone to submit or make changes to articles. Using a Web site called WikiScanner that tracks changes to Wikipedia, Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell could see that the edits were made by computers with numeric Internet addresses assigned to the state.

Huckabee's entry was changed to delete information about a controversial pardon and his frequent use of a state-owned airplane while Beebe's was changed to eliminate an inaccurate reference to his having a male "life partner" rather than his wife, Ginger.

Knowing which state agency had the computer that edited Huckabee's Wikipedia entry was relevant because it happened while the former governor was seeking the Republican presidential nomination, Gambrell testified. Arkansas policy dictates that state resources are not to be used for political purposes.

The initial Freedom of Information request asked only which offices the computers were located in, not the name of the employee who used that computer.

Claire Bailey, director of the Arkansas Department of Information Systems, testified Thursday that releasing that information would give "the opportunity for hackers to pinpoint a specific group."

Thomas Welch, president and chief executive of Florida-based Bullzi Security, testified that computer networks are best protected by firewalls, employee training and intrusion-detector services - not "security through obscurity" by keeping the location of Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses secret.

Gambrell and AP Arkansas News Editor Kelly P. Kissel filed the suit in their own names in October 2007 to demonstrate that any citizen can do it. The AP retained local counsel to represent the two journalists in court.

By JILL ZEMAN Associated Press Writer

Mass Internet outages in Egypt after cables cut

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CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt's communications ministry says Internet cables in the Mediterranean Sea have been cut, causing massive Internet outages.

The ministry says three Internet cables were cut off the coast of Sicily on Friday morning. Throughout Egypt, the Internet is almost completely down or working sporadically.

The ministry says it will take "several days" for cables to be repaired and is trying to switch Egypt's Internet to an alternative route.

It was the second large-scale Internet outage in Egypt this year. Undersea cables were also damaged in January, causing outages in the Mideast and India.

Yemen and Sudan were also having phone and Internet difficulties Friday because of he cable cut.

The Associated Press

Arkansas family welcomes 18th child, a girl

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ROGERS, Ark. - An Arkansas woman has given birth to her 18th child. Michelle Duggar delivered the baby girl by Caesarean section Thursday at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers. The baby, named Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar, weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long.

"The ultimate Christmas gift from God," said Jim Bob Duggar, the father of the 18 children. "She's just absolutely beautiful, like her mom and her sisters."

The Duggars now have 10 sons and eight daughters.

Jim Bob Duggar said Michelle started having contractions Wednesday night. She needed the C-section, her third, because the baby was lying sideways. Jim Bob said both baby and mother were doing well Thursday night.

"We both would love to have more," he said.

The cable network TLC broadcasts a weekly show about the Duggars, called "17 Kids and Counting." Chris Finnegan of TLC - which handles public relations for the Duggar family - said the show's name would be updated to account for the latest addition to the family. He said TLC also will air a show Monday on the baby's delivery.

Jim Bob Duggar is 43, a year older than his wife. Their oldest child, Joshua, is 20.

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jordyn-Grace, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 17; Jessa, 16; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 12; Joy-Anna, 11; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 8; James, 7; Justin, 6; Jackson, 4; Johannah, 3; and Jennifer, 1.

"Our whole family is excited about Jordyn's addition to our family," Jim Bob Duggar said. "She's just perfect in every way."

(This version CORRECTS the name of the Duggars' TLC show to '17 Kids and Counting,' not 'Seventeen and Counting.'))

The Associated Press

Oil rises on strengthening dollar, auto bailout

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Oil prices stabilized Friday as the White House's $17.4 billion auto industry rescue package gave Wall Street a boost and the dollar strengthened against the euro.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose 92 cents to $42.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract overnight fell $2.94 to settle at $41.67.

The January contract, which expires Friday, fell 82 cents to $35.40, but fell as low as $33.44, a price last seen more than four years ago.

Analysts are largely discounting the January price, with the volume of the next month contract trading at 13 times the volume. Yet analyst Jim Ritterbusch said pre-expiration lows do provide a downside target to the next contract.

Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates, said the market is sending strong signals that an oversupplied market will remain in place for some time.

"I think it's going to work its way down to today's lows in the January futures," he said.

In London, February Brent crude rose 18 cents to $43.54 barrel on the ICE.

The extreme volatility in energy markets this year, which have seen crude pushed from $100 to $150 between January and July, and back down to $33 this month, has become an urgent global issue.

At an energy summit Friday on London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that a failure to stabilize oil prices could cost the global economy trillions.

"Wild fluctuations in market prices harm nations all round the world," Brown said. "They damage consumers and producers alike."

OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah El-Badri acknowledged the problem.

"We all know that extreme oil prices whether too high or too low are as bad for producers as they are for consumers," El-Badri said.

Meanwhile, Zeljko Bogetic, the World Bank's chief economist in Russia, told investors that the oil-rich nation would come under crippling financial pressure and may need to take out loans if crude prices do not rebound.

"If oil prices in 2009 and 2010 average $30 a barrel, that would be a nightmare scenario for a global economy," Bogetic said.

Russia, which has used oil profits during the past eight years to pay down most of its foreign debt and build up a vast stockpile of international reserves, could turn from creditor to borrower if current trends continue.

At $50 a barrel, Russia could drain much of its reserve funds and run budgetary deficits, but would not face a "meltdown" scenario, Bogetic said.

Earlier this week, the 13-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries slashed its output quota by 2.2 million barrels a day in a bid to bolster prices that have slid about 71 percent since July.

Still, crude prices tumbled amid a bevy of dour economic reports suggesting demand for energy will continued to erode.

"The cut had been priced in," said Clarence Chu, a trader with market-maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. "If OPEC hadn't cut that much, the price would have fallen even more."

Stephen Berman, an analyst with Pritchard Capital Partners, said OPEC may meet again in Kuwait on Jan. 19 to discuss further production cuts.

Analysts say disciplined compliance by OPEC members is key to market reaction and the stabilization of oil prices in the near future. Some OPEC members have a history of ignoring quotas, allowing oil power house Saudi Arabia to carry most of the burden of production cuts.

"Perception of progress is key to the movement of the oil price in the next few months," KBC Market Services in Britain said in a report.

JP Morgan on Thursday cut its 2009 price target for oil to $43 a barrel from $69.

The national retail average price for a gallon of regular gas rose three-tenths of a penny to $1.673 a gallon overnight, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That is about 37 cents a gallon below what it was a month ago and more than $2.43 below where it was in July when prices peaked at $4.11 per gallon.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures less than a penny to 97.18 cents a gallon. Heating oil gained 2.7 cents to $1.40 a gallon while natural gas for January delivery advanced 9.8 cents to $5.646 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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Associated Press writer Alex Kennedy in Singapore, Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, Emily Flynn Vencat in London and Catrina Stewart in Moscow contributed to this report.

By DIRK LAMMERS AP Energy Writer