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Here's the web site. Pass it along to people you know. www.theanimalrescuesite.com

Immigrants pay your taxes

Are immigrants paying taxes so you don't have to? Apparently so.


Hat Tip to Tom Paine.

[Texas] Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn was quick to point out that this was the first time any state agency in the country presented "a comprehensive financial analysis of the impact of undocumented immigrants on a state’s budget and economy, looking at gross state product, revenues generated, taxes paid and the cost of state services."

The report titled "Undocumented Immigrants In Texas: A Financial Analysis of the Impact to the State Budget and Economy" 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."

Taxes used to fund STDs for your kids

Are Administration scientists the only ones who aren't reading the data?

Talking to your kids about anything is a great idea, and talking to them about sex is an even better idea. However, telling them to wait until marriage may not only get them to roll their eyes and tune out, but studies show those who pledge to wait till marriage merely exchange vaginal intercourse for more risky behavior. Nevertheless, in another occasion of thumbing his nose at science, the Bush administration yes-men at the Department of Health and Human Services are wasting your tax dollars on a TV advertisement for just this kind of behavior.

"[T]eenagers who take "virginity pledges" ... are more likely to engage in oral or anal sex than nonpledging virgin teens and less likely to use condoms once they become sexually active..."

The study, which began producing results as long ago as 2004, shows these pledgers are sexually active but don't understand the continuum of risk among sexual behaviors including oral and anal sex and sex with professional sex workers.

Here's a pix below from the video, and the ad is available here:




According to Medical News Today,

The gap between pledgers and nonpledgers for high-risk behavior was statistically significant, with 2% of virgins who did not pledge reporting engaging in anal or oral sex, compared with 13% of those who did pledge [a 650% increase] (Washington Post, 3/19). According to [study scientist Hannah] Bruckner, the pledgers' increased likelihood of substituting oral or anal sex for vaginal intercourse puts them at risk of contracting STDs, according to Bruckner. Among virgins, boys who had pledged abstinence were four times as likely to have engaged in anal sex as those who did not pledge, and pledgers overall were six times as likely to have engaged in oral sex as teens who were virgins but did not take a pledge, the study found. In addition, teens who made virginity pledges were less likely to use condoms during their first sexual experience and were less likely to get tested for STDs, the study found.

Peter Bearman, the chair of Columbia University's Department of Sociology, who co-authored the study with Hannah Bruckner of Yale, told CBSNews.com: "The point is, substantively, that if you knew someone who pledged, and you knew someone who didn't pledge, you had no basis for thinking that one of them would have an STD over the other," said .

"It's a tragedy if we withhold from these kids information about how not to get STDs or not to get pregnant," said Dorothy Mann, executive director of the Family Planning Council, an organization dedicated to reproductive health services.

This is another shot across the bow from the administration to our nation's once-mighty scientific community to serve an ideology. The casualties in the well-documented War on Science include global warming to prevent deadly climate change, stem cell research to prevent debilitating disease, and Plan B pharmaceuticals to prevent abortion even while the FDA Commissioner buys up regulated company stock.

"Our national policies will not be revoked or modified even for scientists. If the dismissal of ... scientists means the annihilation of contemporary ... science, then we shall do without science for a few years."

Adolf Hitler to Max Planck about the exodus of scientists from the country.

Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) and his friend George Bush

Tom Davis: one lonely "Bushie." Now can we get the Washington Post to stop calling him a "moderate"? He has crossed party lines to vote against corruption less than 10% of the time.

FDA in danger of being FEMA-ized

Burton J. Howard, chief of the Bureau of Chemistry's (now FDA) microchemical laboratory, is shown in the right foreground in this photo from the 1920s. Howard developed a quantitative method to detect mold in ketchup that proved to be indispensable in establishing food adulteration in court.

Grover Norquist was realizing his dream to "drown government in a bathtub" when he lobbied Congress to shrink agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Administration. FEMA had been riding high after being turned around by Republican appointee Frank Young, whose career hit its stride at FEMA. Other countries sent experts to the US to copy FEMA's efforts.

Then FEMA was underfunded, outsourced, ignored and effectively dismantled in time for Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Now another public service agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is in danger of the same fate: the Administration plans to close labs and outsource jobs.

Despite a glaring need for more resources, made apparent by dangers from contaminated imports like contaminated drugs fromChina, toothpaste made with anti-freeze, and pet food contaminated with melamine, the local county's school system in Montgomery County has more staff and a bigger budget than all the nation's food, drug, blood and device inspectors. Compare the NIH budget for 2007 of $28.6 Billion, with FDA's budget: FDA gets 1/20th of that, at under $1.5 billion.

When Congress refused to fully fund the Agency for decades, first drug manufacturers then device makers banded together to agree to pay fees to hire reviewers. Still, the funding law prohibits using those fees for compliance and inspection actions, and AIDS and bioterrorism initiatives continue to funnel resources away from the Agency's core functions.

Bush and his team have already forgotten the still-raw lessons from Katrina and the administration is making stealth progress on an initiative to reduce staff, close laboratories, and contract out the Agency's work.

FDA plans were - and still are - to close seven of its 13 laboratories. The politicians say fewer labs would be more efficient. However, Energy and Commerce investigators disagree with FDA's justification for the reorganization. The Tan Sheet, which covers OTC drugs, said it best:

"Despite repeated requests from the committee, FDA has failed to provide any analysis justifying this radical reorganization," Senior Investigator David Nelson, Investigative Counsel Kevin Barstow and Investigator Richard Wilfong say in written testimony.

"Since FDA has not provided an analysis demonstrating any cost-savings associated with the lab closures, their rationale implies that synergies exist in mega-labs; however, no documents have been produced by FDA to support that suggestion," the investigators say.

Additionally, they cite a Government Accountability Office report determining midsize labs are more efficient than mega-labs.

"FDA has failed to provide us with any independent cost-benefit analysis for their proposal," they say. "On the surface the proposed closings appear to be counterproductive and may needlessly increase taxpayers' costs."

When FDA refused to cooperate with Congressional questions, Congress threatened to prohibit use of any funds to implement the transfer. Margaret Glavin, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs at FDA, wrote in a letter to Office of Regulatory Affairs employees that she is "canceling plans for the rollout of all changes to our organizational structure." According to WaPo, "Two House members from Michigan, Reps. John D. Dingell (D) and Bart Stupak (D), hailed the e-mail as an indication of FDA's decision to "abandon" its reorganization. But agency spokeswoman Julie Zawisza denied that the agency had canceled its plans." WaPo: "FDA spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said in an e-mail that Friday's announcement left open the possibility of future changes."

In addition to the closures, FDA has added an initiative to outsource the jobs in the field offices. These offices are often the place where industry comes face-to-face with Agencies in the FDA districts and where laboratory tests to confirm preliminary results are performed. According to Forbes:

The government's chief health regulatory agency is reviewing more than 300 positions in more than 20 cities to determine whether they could be performed cheaper and better by the private sector. A decision is expected next month, according to FDA documents.

An initial list of positions under review included lab technicians and field office workers who work at FDA facilities where food and medical products are inspected for safety.

The vast majority of FDA experts, in a survey that includes experts inside and outside the FDA, agree the FDA does not have the strong leadership it needs. FDA needs a leader who will demand full funding for FDA.

GovExec 08/20/2007
Federal Times 08/20/2007
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