The Importance of Perspective and Context

Perspective and context are important when reading articles in websites and blogs, or when watching cable channels such as Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN. Activist groups are extensively covered by many of these outlets. These groups tend to be on the fringe, and are not representative of the larger population. Often their methods are abhorrent and extreme. The middle-east crisis engenders strong feelings on both sides, pro-Israel and pro-Palestine.

Once again, I feel compelled to respond to Mark Bennett’s newest commentary. I take issue with the unsupported statements regarding the left and liberals: “…the left has control of our universities, they have suspended democratic process and substituted physical violence.” And: “The Muslims have moved in and trained the left to their techniques. So-called liberal professors now cover up for misogyny.” These are opinions, not statements of facts. Fringe groups are not representative of the college community as a whole and certainly do not define it.

As support for these opinions we are offered articles published in FrontPage magazine. As someone with the curiosity to learn more about the things I read, I undertook a quick Wikipedia check. There are those who like to disparage Wikipedia, but its postings include linked references that can be verified. And I was especially curious after noting this on the FrontPage banner: “INSIDE EVERY LIBERAL IS A TOTALITARIAN SCREAMING TO GET OUT”. A website with that expressed point of view demands further investigation. And let’s be real- a totalitarian is defined as a person advocating a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state. I know a lot of liberals, and that is the last thing on their minds.

The Wikipedia posting regarding the commentary’s source offers some revealing perspective. For instance, I learned that FrontPage magazine (FPM) is an online conservative political website. Contributors to the site, besides Phyllis Chesler- the writer of the articles mentioned in your commentary- include Ann Coulter, Dick Morris, and Charles Krauthammer. in the past the magazine has honored the following as “FPM Man of the Year”:

2003: Allen West

2004: John O’Neill, head of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

2006: Convicted U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compeon

2009: Glenn Beck

2010: The Tea Party Movement

I learned that FPM is one of many enterprises contained within the David Horowitz Freedom Center. The Center is funded by a number of Foundations that support conservative organizations. Along with FPM, some others of these enterprises are:

* Discover the Networks, “a database of alleged left-wing agendas, activists and groups.”

• NewsRealBlog, “a team blog of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Its focus is to analyze and critique cable shows, newspapers, magazines, and the blogosphere to reveal the political Left's methods and agendas.

The author of the articles cited in Mr. Bennett’s commentary is a much-respected scholar and author. But she has garnered notice in the past with her polemical writing style. I learned in a Wikipedia posting about her that Publishers Weekly was critical of her 2003 book, The New Anti-Semitism. Their review noted that it “too often undercuts itself when its author intends to be provocative", citing lines such as ‘African-Americans (not Jews) are the Jews in America but Jews are the world’s ni**ers’ [asterisks mine], and concluded that ‘Chesler's tone and lack of intellectual rigor will not help her ideas to be heard by those who do not already agree with her’.”

I could go on, but anyone with a computer could do the same. No doubt the events described in Ms. Chesler’s article happened, and in no way am I implying that since they are written about in a conservative-leaning website they have been distorted. But knowing more now about FrontPage, I will endeavor to investigate the events surrounding the incident, and gain more understanding and perspective about them. I would encourage others to do the same. I refuse to believe that they are indicative of the left seizing control of our universities and promoting physical violence.

D. Norman

Dollar General On the Move

The Dollar General store in Pine Grove is open! The Grand Opening was held, and flyers are showing up in our mailboxes.

The parking lot has a few cars in it. Probably not many belong to employees- they don’t hire many, and I have concern for the health and well-being of the “manager”. Dollar General has had difficulties over the years which hasn’t helped their reputation.

It’s not another Dollar Tree. A lot of what they sell is more than a dollar. Seeing the prices will put one in a mindset right away to start making comparisons to regular stores. In my walking around, I overheard comments that the prices weren’t that great, and people were walking out empty-handed. But convenience will be a factor, and the store will no doubt do ok.

Across the street is the Pine Grove Market, an institution in the area for years. It used to be Claypool’s Market, and it has gone through a few changes in recent years. Its parking lot appears to have more cars than the Dollar General store. People are used to it, and it has a deli. And a great selection of beer. But to be fair, the DG hasn’t been open that long yet. And people heading up 88 from Jackson can see the PG market, and it’s easy to pull into the parking lot from the highway. They can’t see the new store on the left- perhaps a large sign on the highway is in the works. I don’t know about that. But if they want to put one in, my guess is it will happen. For all I know, it’s already in place.

Dollar General has an aggressive expansion plan. I don’t have any specifics regarding future stores in Amador County. I’ve heard a rumor that Plymouth is in their sights. But Joshua Simon’s company isn’t standing still in its efforts to search out locations.

I heard a rumor that Fred Claypool is opening a market in Moke Hill on the corner of 49 and 26. I wonder if Dollar General would see that location as being worthwhile, too. Maybe once the market is open, they will want to build close by. You know- in the interests of healthy competition.

When you type “planned Dollar General stores” into the Google, you see a lot of articles about town meetings and enraged citizens and petition drives. Their stores don’t seem to be very popular, for the same reasons our local citizens have expressed. Driving by 88 and Ridge, I can readily see their point. The building is stunningly nondescript. When citizens were afforded enough time, though, some efforts have borne fruit.

I’m no architect, but my sensibilities are offended. And I know- the view across the street isn’t great. But somebody could always tear down the gas station. Not a lot of effort was put in to have the DG store blend in to the rustic character of the area. The Dollar General is done, and we’ll have to look at it for a long time.

The planned store in Pioneer appears to be inevitable. There may still be time to influence the design, though. It’s up to the local citizens to continue to apply pressure.

D. Norman

Entitlements - a Complicated Campaign Issue

With the 2016 General Election looming, entitlements and their impact on the economy are proving to be a much-discussed campaign topic. What I find troubling is that the term seems to have taken on a negative connotation, i.e. - tax money going to the undeserving, with the economy suffering as a result. There are politicians that are fond of claiming that the U.S. is, or is becoming, a “welfare state”, pointing to entitlements as proof. I submit that the Preamble to our Constitution makes clear that the document recognizes its charge to “promote the general Welfare”. Our country owes its greatness to the application of that principle.

A comprehensive definition of entitlements from Wikipedia:

“An entitlement is a government program guaranteeing access to some benefit by members of a specific group and based on established rights or by legislation. The term may also reflect a pejorative connotation, as in a ‘sense of entitlement’. A ‘right’ is itself an entitlement associated with a moral or social principle, such that an ‘entitlement’ is a provision made in accordance with a legal framework of a society. Typically, entitlements are based on concepts of principle ("rights") which are themselves based in concepts of social equality or enfranchisement.”

Dr. Paul Johnson of Auburn University describes entitlements this way in his Glossary of Political Economy Terms: “The kind of government program that provides individuals with personal financial benefits (or sometimes special government-provided goods or services) to which an indefinite (but usually rather large) number of potential beneficiaries have a legal right (enforceable in court, if necessary) whenever they meet eligibility conditions that are specified by the standing law that authorizes the program. The beneficiaries of entitlement programs are normally individual citizens or residents, but sometimes organizations such as business corporations, local governments, or even political parties may have similar special "entitlements" under certain programs. The most important examples of entitlement programs at the federal level in the United States would include Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, most Veterans' Administration programs, federal employee and military retirement plans, unemployment compensation, food stamps, and agricultural price support programs.”

As described in the National Priorities Project website, “The U.S. Treasury divides all spending into three groups: mandatory spending, discretionary spending, and interest on debt.

“Mandatory spending is largely made up of earned-benefit or entitlement programs, and the spending for those programs is determined by eligibility rules rather than the appropriations process. For example, Congress decides to create a program like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. It then sets criteria for determining who is eligible to receive benefits from the program. The amount of money spent on SNAP each year is then determined by how many people are eligible and apply for benefits.

“Congress therefore does not decide each year to increase or decrease the budget for SNAP. Instead, it periodically reviews the eligibility rules and may change them in order to exclude or include more people, and therefore change the amount spent on the program.

“Discretionary spending refers to the portion of the budget that goes through the annual appropriations process each year. In other words, Congress directly sets the level of spending on discretionary programs. Congress can choose to increase or decrease spending on any of those programs in a given year.”

Mandatory spending includes Medicare & Health, Social Security, Unemployment & Labor, VA benefits, Agriculture, and Transportation. Discretionary spending includes Military, Education, Housing, Energy & Environment, and Transportation.

Of the $2.56 Trillion mandatory spending budget for 2015, $1.12 Trillion comes from Trust Funds tax revenue. Social Security and Medicare Taxes account for $1.02 Trillion. The balance comes from Federal Funds tax revenue and borrowing. It should be noted that tax breaks are expected to cost the federal government $1.24 trillion in 2015. As explained in the NPP website: “…tax breaks are officially called tax expenditures within the federal government because, from the perspective of the government, they are no different from spending on any other government program.”

Food purchasing benefits have become a major lightning rod in the entitlements discussion. Originally started in the early ‘40s, then revived in the early ‘60s, the food stamp program has gone through numerous iterations and changes. Renamed the SNAP program in the 2008 Farm Bill, it has become a significant part of the U.S. economy. In 2014, approximately 46.5 million Americans received benefits. Walmart has acknowledged that approximately $18 billion in SNAP benefits are spent in their stores.

Ironically, SNAP recipients provide substantial revenues to a big-box retailer, some of whose employees are means-tested and eligible for SNAP benefits themselves. As a 2014 Forbes story recounts, “Walmart’s low-wage workers cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $6.2 billion in public assistance including food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing…”.

The website Good Jobs First tracks the subsidies Walmart receives around the country: “A secret behind Wal-Mart’s rapid expansion in the United States has been its extensive use of public money. This includes more than $1.2 billion in tax breaks, free land, infrastructure assistance, low-cost financing and outright grants from state and local governments around the country.” It seems that entitlements indeed take many forms.

Corporations such as Kraft and Coca-Cola have lobbied against cuts in the SNAP program. Many local economies have come to depend heavily on it. In March 2013, the Washington Post reported that “one-third of Woonsocket, Rhode Island’s population used food stamps, putting local merchants on a ‘boom or bust’ cycle each month when EBT payments were deposited. A federal program that began as a last resort for a few million hungry people has grown into an economic lifeline for entire towns. And this growth has been especially swift in once-prosperous places hit by the housing bust.”

Dr. Johnson’s glossary includes farm support programs in the list of entitlements. From an article in the Economist in 2008 titled “A Harvest of Disgrace” about the 2008 Farm Bill: “The five-year $307 billion bill, through a complicated system of government programs, lavishes cash on upper-income farm households. The major beneficiaries of U.S. agricultural programs, commercial farmers, will have an average income of some $230,000 in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The main restriction on these subsidies is a means test that applies to couples making more than $1.5 million per year.

”Farmers of all kinds get a slice of the action. American sugar producers, for example, are guaranteed 85% of the domestic sugar market, according to the bill. This measure will drain $1.3 billion over ten years from federal coffers, and will force consumers to pay an extra $2 billion a year in higher sugar prices.”

An August 2013 article in The Week wrote, in answer to the question: why is the farm bill so controversial?: ”Critics contend that the subsidies it hands out are wasteful, illogical, and counterproductive- a welfare program for millionaires and giant agribusinesses. Over the last decade, the farm bill has cost taxpayers more than $168 billion. In theory, the program uses loans, price supports, and payments to protect family farmers from the fickle fluctuations of weather, price, and economic conditions, so that their businesses remain stable and Americans are ensured a steady supply of affordable food. In practice, the program keeps food prices high, costing consumers billions, while funneling most of its aid to giant agribusinesses and wealthy farmers. About 75 percent of total subsidies go to the biggest 10 percent of farming companies, including Riceland Foods Inc., Pilgrims Pride Corp., and Archer Daniels Midland.

An important benefit of food assistance and nutrition programs is improved health and reduced Medicaid costs. Another program known as WIC, The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, has been funded through the appropriations process since 1997 on a bipartisan basis. It has a budget of $7 billion, and provides nutritious foods, counseling on healthy eating, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals to more than 8 million low-income women, infants, and children at nutritional risk. A study published in the Atlantic Economic Journal in 2012 found that rather than affecting average outcomes, WIC was more effective in reducing the probability of high-risk births, for example, very premature and low-birthweight babies. The potential benefits of the WIC Program can be realized by enhancing its focus on more disadvantaged mothers.

Preterm births cost the U.S. over $26 billion a year. Studies conducted by the USDA show that every $1 in WIC spending results in health care savings of between $1.77 and $3.13 within the first 60 days after birth.

Another important consideration that is often overlooked is the fiscal multiplier effect. From Wikipedia: “In 2011, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack gave a statement regarding SNAP benefits: ‘Every dollar of SNAP benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity.’  Vilsack's estimate was based on a 2002 George W. Bush-era USDA study which found that ‘ultimately, the additional $5 billion of FSP (Food Stamp Program) expenditures triggered an increase in total economic activity (production, sales, and value of shipments) of $9.2 billion and an increase in jobs of 82,100,’ or $1.84 stimulus for every dollar spent.

“A 2013 report by the USDA gave another estimate …finding that ‘an increase of $1 billion in SNAP expenditures is estimated to increase economic activity (GDP) by $1.79 billion.’”  In contrast to SNAP’s economic multiplier of approximately 1.8, defense spending results in a multiplier of between .6 and 1.2, according to Dr. Valerie Ramey, UC San Diego professor of economics.

The budgets of Social Security and Medicare are nine to ten times larger than Food Assistance. The health of these earned-benefit programs deserves a separate discussion. Claims have been made regarding the long-term solvency of Social Security that seem to be aimed at furthering the confusion about the issue. And recent reductions in overall health care costs has begun to cast Medicare and Medicaid solvency, though grim, in a more positive light.

In summary, campaign bombast deriding entitlements is partisan and not constructive. As I have tried to show, the subject is too complex with no simple solutions. Entitlements take many forms. The recipients of entitlements (or welfare) are varied- from the food-challenged to the largest retailer in the world. The antidote for political rhetoric and hyperbole is complete and factual information.

D. Norman

Newman Ridge - A Lesson in Transparency

A regular reader of the Sacramento Business Journal would have seen two articles in 2006 relating to Amador County real estate development.

In June 2006, one had the headline “Developers Swarm Amador”, with the sub header “Ranch sale may open door to foothill county”. Excerpts from the article:

“Developers are reportedly looking at buying all or part of the 23,000-acre Howard Ranch in Amador County, about 20 miles east of fast-growing Elk Grove and one of the largest undeveloped parcels in the region. Western Amador County, with its gently rolling hills, is attracting developers looking for the next frontier in the increasingly built-out Sacramento area, industry leaders say.

“Several buyers have looked into purchasing at least some of Howard Ranch, including Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, Steve Gidaro and Jack Sweigart of JTS Communities, insiders say. JTS Communities, Reynen & Bardis and other well-known land developers are already in the county.

“Now, Bill Bunce and a partner are looking at the property, said Chris Wright, executive director of the Foothill Conservancy. Wright said that Bunce has told conservancy officials that he is part of a group of buyers considering the purchase of at least some of the property.

“'I'm not at liberty to discuss Howard Ranch at this time,’ Bunce said this week. ‘I'd be happy to discuss it at a time when there is something to discuss.’ Bunce and John Telischak, a Corte Madera-based developer and investor, are partners in Gold Rush Ranch and Golf Resort, a 945-acre development proposed for adjoining Sutter Creek. That development would include 1,634 homes, a golf course and resort hotel.”

A second SBJ article in December 2006 had the headline “Investors Corral Large Amador Ranch”, with the sub header “Development likely; local input sought”. From the article:

“A group of investors has purchased 16,100 acres of Howard Ranch in Amador County, the largest land deal this year in the Sacramento region, according to real estate experts. Bill Bunce, one of the buyers, said the long-term plans for the property west of Ione will include some development. But he and his partners intend to meet with community leaders and nearby residents before deciding on a course of action.

“The buyers include Bunce of El Dorado Hills, his development partner John Telischak of Corte Madera, and Farallon Capital Management of San Francisco, which manages equity assets for institutions and wealthy clients.”

“The Howard Ranch property - also known as Rancho Arroyo Seco - was a sprawling ranch looking upon the foothills. The original land grant likely dates before the United States took possession of California. Charles Howard, an auto sales magnate and owner of the legendary racehorse Seabiscuit, eventually bought the property.

“In 1999, The Nature Conservancy purchased about 12,300 acres of the ranch in Sacramento County for $13.6 million and placed a permanent conservation easement on the property to preserve it. The Nature Conservancy then sold the land as ranch land. With the recent sale of the 16,100 acres, about 3,700 acres remain with Charles Howard's heirs, Bunce said. We just acquired the property,’ Bunce said of the deal completed Nov. 28. ‘We intend to begin the process of collaborating with the local community and talking about good uses for it'".

In the intervening years, Amador County residents have begun to witness the unfolding of the first of these “good uses”- the Newman Ridge Quarry Project. They have read and heard much discussion, pro and con. The Ione Valley Land Air and Water Defense Alliance has advanced the most vigorous opposition. A visit to their website will provide a list of issues and objections.

An “open letter” was recently published in the Amador Community News, paid for by Amador Ranch Associates, LLC, a corporation based in Corte Madera, California. According to CorporationWiki it has one member, Bt Amador LLC, also based in Corte Madera. 

Bt Amador has two members, the aforementioned John Telischak and William Bunce. Mr. Telischak has interests in other corporate entities including Wp Realty & Management Co., Wp Construction, Inc., and nineteen more corporations.  He is President of Deep Cliff Associates, LP, a golf course management company. He is also one of two members of Oakland Golf LLC, a golf course management company.

The open letter in support of the Newman Ridge project makes a number of claims, most notably that railways will transport 95% of the mining products and only 19 trucks per day will pass through Ione. Ione Valley LAWDA, on the other hand, points out in their website that the County Supervisor’s plan allows for the number to be up to 1,380 trucks per day. 

The open letter makes no mention of the substantial water requirements of the project, and the resulting impact to the surrounding farming and ranching. It provides no substantiation that rail operators would be willing to upgrade to handle the traffic from the quarry and asphalt plant.

Going back to the June 2006 Sacramento Business Journal article:

“‘Any development of Howard Ranch could be limited by the lack of water supply and the need for a wastewater treatment plant’, said George Lambert, interim city administrator of Ione. The small city is on the edge of Howard Ranch and would likely annex any nearby development.

“Some of the ranch is being mined for aggregate and it may need an environmental cleanup. Other parts of the ranch are home to valuable plant species that will need to be protected, environmentalists say. But even if one-fifth of the ranch is developed and turned into 20,000 homes, the land developers could enjoy a multibillion-dollar payday, said Greg Paquin, owner of The Gregory Group, a firm that studies the new-home market.

“And Ione could claim municipal control of the ranch during the next few years. The city is starting a "visioning process" to prepare for an update of its general plan, said Sharon Long, chairwoman of the visioning committee.

“Land use will likely be a major issue in drafting the plan, since many developers are interested in the area, she said. JTS Communities and Ryland Homes are already building in town. “Howard Ranch almost surrounds the city and could become the next phase of development, Long added. ‘One common theme we're hearing from people is we don't want to be Elk Grove’, she said.”

Could it be that home building was never the aim of Amador Ranch Associates, LLC, at least in the relatively short term? Why would home developers purchase such a large tract of land, knowing the pitfalls that existed such as lack of water? Did they see the actual value of the purchase to be the extracting of needed building materials for development projects elsewhere in the State? Why couldn’t they give that business to the other quarries in the area? 

As anyone with a little time can discover, the buyers of the Howard Ranch are from outside the area. The principle investor is from Marin County. Many of the corporate entities he is involved with were formed in 2006, and based in Corte Madera. 

The citizens of Amador County deserve transparency. Reading or hearing about the land purchase back in 2006, they could have reasonably assumed that homes, not a quarry/asphalt plant, would be in their future. And an open letter directed to the opponents of the Newman Ridge project, paid for by the developer using a locally-sounding name, does nothing to promote transparency.

D. Norman

The Biggest Science Scandal Ever!

By necessity, climate change denial depends on steady sources of disinformation, and in this time of the 24 hour news cycle, there are many people more than willing to provide it.

From my commentary of this past January, Facts vs. Opinions:

“Some sources have been accused of providing substantiation that turns out to have been opinion pieces themselves. They are offering an argument for or against something that is not based on facts, but because they are citing a ‘source’ they appear to be providing verification.”

Examples of this occurred during recent airings on Fox News of the programs “Outnumbered” and “The Five”. On “Outnumbered”, panelist Lisa Kennedy asked the show’s guest: “What about the Telegraph report that shows the original data versus the published data? There was a great disparity because they lied about the actual data until someone went back to these weather stations in South America and Antarctica and thought, ‘Hmm, maybe something is amiss here?’ And they realized there is a scandalous discrepancy in what we have been sold!”

On “The Five”, Dana Perino said the White House is “actually kind of lucky that we don’t cover climate change as much as we should. Because yesterday, it was reported that the temperature readings have been fabricated and it’s all blowing up in their faces.”

They were both referring to a recent opinion piece by Christopher Booker in the Telegraph, a right-wing British newspaper. The headline was “The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever”, with the subtitle “New data shows that the “vanishing” of polar ice is not the result of runaway global warming”. It was not, as Kennedy claimed, a report.

In the piece, Booker wrote: “Two weeks ago …I wrote about Paul Homewood, who, on his Notalotofpeopleknowthat blog, had checked the published temperature graphs for three weather stations in Paraguay against the temperatures that had originally been recorded. In each instance, the actual trend of 60 years of data had been dramatically reversed, so that a cooling trend was changed to one that showed a marked warming. “This was only the latest of many examples of a practice long recognised by expert observers around the world – one that raises an ever larger question mark over the entire official surface-temperature record.”

What Fox News failed to do was some simple fact checking. The source for their comments was an opinion piece, which itself was using a blog for a source. It doesn’t appear that they spent any time vetting Booker or Homewood. And it certainly doesn’t appear that Booker did any vetting either. So what was Homewood talking about, that Booker so willingly chose to advance in his opinion piece?

Brad Friedman, writing in Salon on February 19:

“Politifact- which is not always a reliable source for news itself- decided to take a look at Perino’s version of the claim. In this case, they got it right and declared Perino’s assertion as a ‘Pants-on-Fire Lie’.

“The ‘controversy’ comes from adjustments made to the stream of raw data from thousands of land- and sea-based weather stations around the globe in order to keep them consistent, so that an apples-to-apples comparison of temperatures can be made over time, even as the location of weather stations- and the technology used since the mid-1800s to measure those temperatures-changes.

“‘For instance,’ Politifact explains, ‘local officials might move a station from a valley to a nearby hilltop. They might change the time of day when they record their measurements from sunrise to sunset. They might change the kind of thermometer they use. In the ocean, the practice once was to haul up a bucket of water. Later, the standard practice was to measure the temperature from the engine’s intake valve.’

“‘Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) must then make adjustments to some of those raw temps ‘to account for the human factors that would skew the data regardless of what happened with actual temperatures.’

“‘The temperature records are based on weather station data. But people didn’t expect the data to be used for monitoring long-term climate change when they started collecting it,’ the University of York’s Dr. Kevin Cowtan explained in a video debunking the first misleading Telegraph article on this a few weeks ago. ‘It was for recording the weather, hence the name weather station. As a result they weren’t always very careful about changes to the instruments or their usage. When we change an instrument we have to recalibrate to ensure the new instrument gives the same readings as the old one. The original weather station operators didn’t always do this. So NOAA have to do a retrospective calibration by comparing nearby weather stations.’”

The Salon article continues:

“So, yes, Homewood has ‘busted’ NOAA scientists making adjustments to their raw data in a number of locations. The problem, however, is that when all such adjustments are examined, the changes actually lower global temperatures trends overall.

“The issue is perhaps best described in the Politifact piece by Zeke Hausfather, a data scientist with Berkley Earth, a group of researchers that have been funded in the past by the climate-denying Koch brothers (which is a point not noted by Politifact). Hausfather says the data cited by Homewood have been cherry-picked in order to seed doubt in climate change science…

“‘(They) look through all those thousands of stations, find a few that show big adjustments, and tell everyone that they are evidence of fraud,’ Hausfather said. ‘You will rarely see them pick out stations like Reno, Paris, London, Tokyo, or many others where the adjustments dramatically lower the warming trend.’

“Hausfather and his colleagues traced how the adjustment methods changed the temperature data differently around the world since 1850. In the United States, with about 5 percent of Earth’s land area, the official data file raised temperatures compared to the original readings. But the same methods lowered the data records in Africa, and for all land-based readings taken together, the adjustments basically made no change at all. With ocean temperature trends, the efforts to compensate for the human factor lower the numbers dramatically.

“‘The net effect of adjustments is to actually reduce the amount of global warming we’ve observed since 1880 by about 20 percent,’ Hausfather said. ‘Folks skeptical of temperature adjustments are welcome not to use them if they’d like, but you end up with more global warming, not less.’”

In a related matter, much has been recently been written about a scientist frequently quoted by climate change deniers, Dr. Wei-Hock “Willie” Soon. A cursory internet search will quickly reveal his role in the denial space. What is particularly revealing are his funding sources. Readers of my commentaries on climate change denial will recognize them. And Soon’s degree is in aerospace engineering- he is not a trained climate scientist. In my earlier commentary about climate change denial, I wrote about a Yale study that concluded that “because of their scientific backgrounds, [engineers] may have an inflated sense of their understanding about climate science, and thus draw incorrect conclusions that conform to their ideological biases.”

The problem, as always, is that the disinformation is put out there to a willing audience, and the inevitable fact checking and corrections may or may not also be heard by that same audience. And even when told that nearly 90% of climate science experts agree that climate change is caused by humans, one-half of Americans disagree.

In a Washington Post article by Terrence McCoy about Dr. Soon, Feb. 23:

“‘Ideological filters’ can explain this phenomenon, wrote academic Andrew J. Hoffman in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. The debate over climate change isn’t a debate over the science, which was decided years ago. It’s a debate ‘over culture, world views and ideology,’ Hoffman argued. And the ‘innate desire to maintain a consistency in beliefs’ means that we ‘refute views or arguments that are contrary to those beliefs.’”

Bottom line: a climate change-denying blogger in the UK looks at adjustments to temperature readings at weather stations and wrongly concludes that the result showed increased temperatures. His blog becomes a “source” for another climate change denier, who in turn becomes a “source” for “news” purveyors and entertainers on the right. In actuality, the adjustments show an overall decrease, but that wouldn’t fit in with the disinformation agenda in place at Fox, and unfortunately heard by its audience.

D. Norman

Autism- A Closer Look

Among the many reasons that some parents refuse to vaccinate their children, the most prevalent is the mistaken connection with autism. 

The subject of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex one. Many questions have arisen in recent years:

- is autism truly on the rise, or is there simply a growing awareness of the condition?

- if it is actually on the rise, is that due to the definition of autism being expanded?

and obviously, what is causing it?

An Overview

WebMD recently published a comprehensive report written by KathleenDoheny and reviewed by Louise Chang,MD, which attempted to answer these questions.

“The number of children diagnosed with autism or related disorders has grown at what many call an alarming rate. In the 1970s and 1980s, about one out of every 2,000 children had autism. Today, the CDC estimates that one in 150 8-year-olds in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. This expanded definition refers not only to autism but also to a collection of brain development disorders such as Asperger's syndrome and a condition known as pervasive developmental disorder -- not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Though all the disorders share some symptoms, they are different in other ways, including the timeline of symptoms and the severity, according to the CDC.

“‘The debate about whether the reported increase in autism is affected by factors such as more awareness misses the point’, says Isaac Pessah, PhD, a professor of toxicology, director of the Center for Children's Environmental Health Sciences, and a member of the MIND Institute at the University of California Davis. Rather than argue about whether the increase is because of some children being reclassified or other factors, he says, ‘We need to understand why it's one in 150.’”

“'There won't be one single explanation,’' says Marvin Natowicz, MD, PhD, a medical geneticist and vice chairman of the Genomic Medicine Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. ‘There's been a lot of progress in the last few years in terms of understanding the causes of autism, We know a lot more than we did.’ Still, he says, research has a long way to go. ‘One number you see often is that about 10% of those with autism have a definitive diagnosis, a causative condition.’ The other 90% of cases are still a puzzle to the experts.

“Often, a child with autism will have a co-existing problem, such as a seizure disorder, depression, anxiety, or gastrointestinal or other health problems. At least 60 different disorders -- genetic, metabolic, and neurologic -- have been associated with autism, according to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine. On one point most agree: A combination of genetics and environmental factors may play a role. Scientists are looking at both areas.

“A variety of environmental triggers is under investigation as a cause or contributing factor to the development of ASD, especially in a genetically vulnerable child. Exposure to pesticides during pregnancy may boost risk. In a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives,researchers compared 465 children diagnosed with ASD with nearly 7,000 children without the diagnosis, noting whether the mothers lived near agricultural areas using pesticides. The risk of having ASD increased with the poundage of pesticides applied and with the proximity of the women's homes to the fields.

“Another toxin to the brain is mercury in its organic form. But according to a report published in Pediatrics, there is no evidence that children with autism in the U.S. have increased mercury concentrations or environmental exposures. Though many parents of children with ASD believe their child's condition was caused by vaccines that used to contain thimerosal (a mercury-containing preservative), the Institute of Medicine concludes there is no causal association.

“Pessah and other researchers are focusing on how the interaction of genes and the environment play a role in autism. Among the findings so far, he says, is that the immune system functioning of the mother may play a role in the child's later development of autism.

“In another study, the UC Davis team found that levels of leptin, a hormone that plays a role in metabolism and weight, was much higher in children with autism than in normally developing children, especially if their autism was early in onset.

“Even if some environmental exposures or other findings do stand out, he says, we are going to have to resist the temptation to say, 'This is it’, Newschaffer says. Natowitz of Cleveland Clinic agrees. ‘There won't be one single explanation.’"

The Importance of “Good” Gut Bacteria

The gastrointestinal connection to autism appears over and over in the literature. The importance of a proper balance and quantity of “good” gut bacteria in the intestines of children is thought to be an important factor. 

In an article in Autism Speaks in July of 2013, an important study was discussed:

“The study appears today in the journal PLOS ONE. Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown and Jin Gyoon Park, of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, led the investigation.

Researchers using high-tech DNA analysis found that children with autism have fewer kinds of intestinal bacteria than do children without autism. However, this reduced “biodiversity” did not relate to the severity of gastrointestinal problems.

“Among children with autism, GI problems such as constipation and gut pain are common. Some have suspected that imbalances in intestinal bacterial are to blame. Other research has suggested that problematic gut bacteria might contribute to autism symptoms by triggering inflammation that reaches the brain. Considerable research has shown that intestinal bacteria play important roles in both digestion and regulation of the immune system in all persons.

“The researchers found significantly decreased microbial diversity (fewer types of bacteria) in the children with autism. However, they were  surprised to find no link between this lowered diversity and the severity of GI symptoms. Nor did they find links to differences in the children’s diets. Among the types of bacteria reduced in those with autism, Prevotella was the most conspicuous. It occurred only in very low levels in the children with autism. By contrast, it was common in those not affected by autism – who altogether had more diverse and robust communities of intestinal bacteria.”

Then, on Oct 22, 2014, Autism Speaks announced that they had “selected two major research projects – one focused on intestinal bacteria, the other on chronic constipation – to advance understanding of autism’s gut-brain connection. Funding for the studies, each spanning three years, will total more than $2.3 million.

“‘Listening to our parents, we hear how often autism and GI problems can go hand in hand,’  says Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Rob Ring. ‘While we now know that autism and gastrointestinal problems frequently co-occur, improving our understanding of the underlying biology becomes essential for developing needed treatments.’”

Are Antibiotics Altering Gut Bacteria?

Might the indiscriminate use of antibiotics be a reason for the lack of quantity and diversity of the gut bacteria? James B. Adams of Arizona State University was part of a team of researchers that addressed this and other issues. The study was published in BioMed Central in March of 2011. Excerpts from the report:

“… a study by our group of 51 children with ASD compared to 40 typical controls ages 3-15 found that 63% of children with autism were reported to have moderate or severe chronic diarrhea and/or constipation, vs. 2% of the control children. In summary, these studies demonstrate that GI symptoms are common in autism.

“The cause of these GI problems is unclear, but it appears to partly relate to abnormal gut flora and possibly to the excessive use of oral antibiotics which can alter gut flora. Several studies by our group and others have reported significantly higher oral antibiotic use in children with autism vs. typical children. 

“Oral antibiotics were primarily used for treating otitis media (ear infections), which may suggest an impaired immune system. Commonly used oral antibiotics eliminate almost all of the normal gut microbiota, which play an important role in the breakdown of plant polysaccharides, promoting gastrointestinal motility, maintaining water balance, producing some vitamins, and competing against pathogenic bacteria. Loss of normal gut flora can result in the overgrowth of pathogenic flora, which can in turn cause constipation and other problems.” 

The Role of Glyphosate (Roundup) in Altering Gut Bacteria

If the gut bacteria/autism link can be accepted as at least likely, then any agent, including antibiotics, that alters gut bacteria should be examined more closely. 

The subject of genetically modified organisms (GMO) warrants an extensive commentary of its own. But due to their potential for adversely affecting the balance of gut bacteria, I believe that an overview is in order. 

The active ingredient in Roundup, a Monsanto herbicide, is glyphosate. In brief, glyphosate kills plants by interfering with the shikimate pathway in plants, by inhibiting the enzyme EPSP. Genetically modified crops are designed to overcome that inhibition. 

The shikimate pathway is a seven step metabolic route used by bacteria, fungi, algae, parasites, and plants for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan). This pathway is not found in animals; therefore, phenylalanine and tryptophan represent essential amino acids that must be obtained from the animal's diet.

Monsanto’s basis for its safety claims for Roundup is that the shikimate pathway does not exist in animals and humans. But since it does exist in bacteria, it matters if their various forms are affected differently. Unfortunately the beneficial ones such as the forms of enterococcus, bifidobacterium and lactobacillus are susceptible to glyphosate. Pathogenic bacteria such as the various forms of salmonella and clostridium are highly resistant. This leads to an inevitable imbalance of gut bacteria, thereby contributing to the GI problems suspected of being a cause of autism.

Experts in the field of ASD research are clear that there are many possible causes for autism, but one of them is not vaccinations. Vaccines have not contained mercury since 1999, and many such as MMR, Polio, and HPV (Gardasil) never contained it. They also realize that there is probably not one clear answer, and much more research needs to be done.

Concerned parents, whether or not they have children with autism, need to beware of the effects of antibiotics. They would do well to research the subject of gut bacteria. Probiotics show promise, and may eventually prove to be a viable option for treatment.

D. Norman

Anti-Vaxxers - The New Conscientious Objectors?

In the war against infectious diseases, vaccines have been indispensable.

In April of 2014, UNICEF provided some significant statistics concerning the impact of vaccinations worldwide. Regarding polio: “In 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio around the world. Today there are fewer than 500. This year, India eradicated the disease- one of the world’s great public health achievements.”

UNICEF provided startling numbers of annual worldwide deaths due to diseases easily prevented by vaccines:

• whooping cough- 195,000
• measles- 118,000
• rotavirus- 453,000
• pneumococcal disease- 476,000
• tetanus- 60,000
• haemophilus influenzae type B- 199,000

From an article in the Houston Chronicle, September 19, 2014:

“Vaccine fact: Vaccines save lives. We're not saying vaccines are risk-free, but the ratio of serious adverse reactions to beneficial effect is about 1 to 40,000.

“Before pertussis (whooping cough) vaccines were available in the 1940s, an estimated 200,000 children were infected annually, and 9,000 died. Before there was a measles vaccine, up to 4 million Americans a year were infected; 1,000 suffered brain damage or hearing loss, and 450 died. Diphtheria killed 15,000 Americans in one year (1921) before there was a vaccine. During a pre-vaccine rubella (German measles) outbreak in the 1960s, 2,000 babies died and 11,000 pregnant women had miscarriages.”

In the American Journal of Public Health, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing researcher Alison M. Buttenheim, PhD, MBA had the following to say:

“Vaccines are one of the great public health achievements of the last couple of centuries… They protect us from diseases that used to routinely kill hundreds of thousands of children in the United States and still kill hundreds of thousands globally. It's not just important for a child to be vaccinated, it's important at a population level to have high rates of coverage.

“People who cannot get immunizations because of allergies or compromised immune systems rely on ‘herd immunity,’ the protection they get from a disease when the rest of the population is immunized or immune, explained Dr. Buttenheim. If a high number of children go intentionally unvaccinated because of personal belief exemptions, herd immunity is compromised, she said, giving a disease the chance to spread rapidly.’

Parents choose to not vaccinate their children for a myriad of reasons. Last month, Dr. Vincent Iannelli, M.D. provided a guide to fifty common myths about vaccinations, all which have been disproven. The article is in the About Health website.

Obtaining exemptions have not been that difficult to get. Nineteen states offer essentially “just say no” personal exemptions, and 29 more offer religious exemptions with varying requirements. Mississippi and West Virginia have stricter “medical reasons only” exemptions, and haven’t had an outbreak in the last seven years.

With the current outbreak of measles originating from Disneyland, there is beginning to be a re-examination of the vaccination exemption. There is a questioning of whether a person’s rights or beliefs in this case can be allowed to put others at risk.

In the military, in times of conscription, people had the option to claim conscientious objector status. During World War II, all registrants were sent a questionnaire covering basic facts about their identification, physical condition, history and also provided a checkoff to indicate opposition to military service because of religious training or belief. Men marking the latter option received a detailed form in which they had to explain the basis for their objection.

Currently in the U.S., military personnel who come to a conviction of conscientious objection during their tour of duty must appear in front of a panel of experts, which consists of psychiatrists, military chaplains and officers. They must submit to questions, in order for the panel to determine the validity of the claims.

In my view, those opposed to vaccinations are not unlike conscientious objectors. They are choosing not to participate in the war against preventable infectious diseases. They are refusing to use a weapon that has been proven safe and effective. The basis for their beliefs should be vigorously challenged. They should not be simply allowed to opt out.

D. Norman