A military investigation concluded that even though Spc. Kevin Shumaker had reported the dog bite to a veterinarian and on a post-deployment health form, he was ultimately responsible for not telling his superiors.

Shumaker’s death is the first fatal case of rabies in the U.S. military since the Vietnam War, officials have said.

Marine makes last stand in foreclosed home

Shumaker, of Livermore, Calif., was 24 when he died on Aug. 21, 2011, in a New York hospital of the preventable and treatable disease. His death occurred eight months after the dog bite in Afghanistan, according to a military investigation. The results of the investigation have been reported in both the Army Times and Stars Stripes.

Although Shumaker told them of the bite, military health officials did not make sure he was treated properly for the virus, according to the report. He told his parents that he was treated for rabies at the base but said the series of injections he needed was not completed because some of the medication had expired.

The military probe placed most of the blame on Shumaker and his command for ignoring general military orders, called General Order-1B, which forbids pets or mascots.

“The principal contributing factors to SPC Shumaker contracting rabies are the Command’s lack of enforcement of GO-1B, SPC Shumaker’s non-adherence to GO-1B and Shumaker’s failure to seek prompt medical treatment, and no treatment was given,” the report, a copy of which was obtained by Stars Stripes, said. The report was dated October 2011 but was not given to the Taylors until mid-January.

Now, Shumaker’s mother and stepfather, Elaine and David Taylor, say Army officials should be held accountable for the death.

“If you ask me as a mom what I would like to see, it’s accountability for the people who were neglectful, who caused Kevin’s death,” Elaine Taylor told the Army Times. “You can’t take Kev away from me and allow the chain of command, who was responsible for Kevin, to go on and live happily; nothing happens to them.”

It was unclear if the Taylors were pursuing legal action or another form accountability from the military. The Taylors could not be immediately reached by msnbc.com for comment.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

• Devil in the details: Santorum hardly alone in belief in Satan
• Are Latino voters a missed 2012 opportunity for Republicans?
• Marine makes last stand in foreclosed home
• Trouble on the ranch: Cattle rustling on the rise in Texas

Article source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/22/10479321-parents-accuse-army-of-criminal-negligence-in-soldiers-rabies-death

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration declared Alzheimer’s “one of the most-feared health conditions” on Wednesday as it issued a draft of the nation’s first strategy to fight the devastating disease that is on the rise as the population ages.

1. 1. 
      

      
      AP file
      

      
      Gluten-free diet may be a waste of money for some
      
      

      
      Gluten-free products are everywhere, but many people who buy them are probably wasting their money, according to new Italian research.
      

   2. 
      Teens need less sleep? 7 hours may be enough
      
      

   3. 
      Hospitals scramble for scarce kids’ cancer drug
      
      

   4. 
      Arsenic found in organic cereal bars
      
      

   5. 
      Amid shortages, hospitals trash scarce drugs
      
      

The top goal: Find some effective treatments by 2025, an ambitious quest. The plan also aims to help overwhelmed families care for affected loved ones in the meantime, and to improve earlier diagnosis so that patients can have a say in choosing their care.

The plan says that too often, stigma and misinformation about Alzheimer’s and related dementias delay diagnosis and contribute to the isolation that worsens caregivers’ burden. So among the promised first steps is a major campaign to better educate the public, and their primary care doctors, about Alzheimer’s.

The effort was applauded by Alzheimer’s disease advocates as a long-needed step toward addressing the pervasive problem. Eric J. Hall, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America said the plan will be part of a “series of small victories” to address prevention, delay and, eventually, cure of the disorder.

“AFA applauds HHS for making tremendous efforts and headway in capturing the unprecedented opportunity afforded by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act to address the multiple challenges of Alzheimer’s disease,” Hall said in a statement. “As well, we reiterate our appreciation of the Obama Administration’s historic $156 million investment that will enable immediate action on ideas developed through the national plan.”

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46485758/ns/health-alzheimers_disease/

TACOMA, Wash. — Washington state may not force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the state’s true goal is to suppress religious objections by druggists — not to promote timely access to the medicines for people who need them.

1. 1. 
      

      
      AP file
      

      
      Gluten-free diet may be a waste of money for some
      
      

      
      Gluten-free products are everywhere, but many people who buy them are probably wasting their money, according to new Italian research.
      

   2. 
      Teens need less sleep? 7 hours may be enough
      
      

   3. 
      Hospitals scramble for scarce kids’ cancer drug
      
      

   4. 
      Arsenic found in organic cereal bars
      
      

   5. 
      Amid shortages, hospitals trash scarce drugs
      
      

U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton heard closing arguments earlier this month in a lawsuit that claimed state rules violate the constitutional rights of pharmacists by requiring them to dispense such medicine. The state requires pharmacies to dispense any medication for which there is a community need and to stock a representative assortment of drugs needed by their patients.

Ralph’s Thriftway in Olympia, Wash., and two licensed Washington pharmacists sued in 2007, saying that dispensing Plan B would infringe on their religious beliefs because it can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. The state argued that the requirements are legal because they apply neutrally to medicines and pharmacies, and that they promote a government interest — the timely delivery of medicine, including Plan B, which becomes less effective as time passes.

But Leighton said Wednesday that the state allows all sorts of business exemptions to that rule. Pharmacies can decline to stock a drug, such as certain painkillers, if it’s likely to increase the risk of theft, or if it requires an inordinate amount of paperwork, or if the drug is temporarily unavailable from suppliers, among other reasons.

If the state allows exemptions for non-religious reasons, he said, it must also allow them for religious or moral ones, he said.

“The rules force a pharmacy to choose between compliance with delivery and stocking rules and employing a conscientious objector as a pharmacist,” he said.

The judge blocked the state dispensing rule in 2007, finding that it would violate the plaintiffs’ freedom of religion. But a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel overruled him, saying that he applied the wrong legal standard and that the rule appeared constitutional because it was neutral and did not directly target religious views.

The appellate court sent the case back to Leighton, telling him to apply the correct standard. He held an 11-day trial to flesh out the matter, and said that he was issuing his ruling with the benefit of a more complete understanding of the rules than the 9th Circuit judges had.

At the early February hearing, Leighton said the contraceptive issue is more important than many other freedom-of-religion cases, such as those concerning religious dress or other ceremonial matters.

Plan B had been at the center of the state’s decision in 2007 to adopt the Washington Board of Pharmacy’s dispensary requirements. The drug, which has a high dose of medicine found in birth-control pills, is effective in preventing pregnancy if a woman takes it within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

Individual pharmacists were allowed to pass a prescription to another druggist in the same store, provided the order is not delayed. But that leaves no option for a lone pharmacist or a pharmacy owner with religious objections to a particular drug.

The pharmacists argued they can easily and quickly refer customers to nearby drug stores willing to sell the drug, but women’s rights groups said that may not be the case in rural areas. It might also be difficult for those with disabilities if their pharmacists decide not to dispense it for personal reasons, they said. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Washington state cannot force pharmacies to sell emergency contraceptives.

This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46485856/ns/health-sexual_health/

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration overwhelmingly backed approval for a highly anticipated anti-obesity pill called Qnexa, a drug which the FDA previously rejected due to safety concerns.

1. 1. 
      

      
      AP file
      

      
      Gluten-free diet may be a waste of money for some
      
      

      
      Gluten-free products are everywhere, but many people who buy them are probably wasting their money, according to new Italian research.
      

   2. 
      Teens need less sleep? 7 hours may be enough
      
      

   3. 
      Hospitals scramble for scarce kids’ cancer drug
      
      

   4. 
      Arsenic found in organic cereal bars
      
      

   5. 
      Amid shortages, hospitals trash scarce drugs
      
      

The FDA panel of outside physicians voted 20-2 Wednesday in favor of the weight loss drug from Vivus Inc., setting the stage for a potential comeback for a drug that has been plagued by safety questions since it was first submitted to the agency in 2010.

A majority of panelists ultimately backed the drug due to its impressive weight loss results, with most patients losing nearly 10 percent of their overall weight after a year on the drug. But the group stressed that the drugmaker must be required to conduct a large, follow-up study of the pill’s effects on the heart. Studies of Qnexa show it raises heart rate and causes heart palpitations, a longtime concern with diet pills over the years. The group of experts said it is still unclear if those side effects lead to heart attack and more serious cardiovascular problems.

“The potential benefits of this medication seem to trump the side effects, but in truth, only time will tell,” said Dr. Kenneth Burman of the Washington Hospital Center.

The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panels, though it often does. A final decision on the drug is expected in April.

In a key question, the physicians said Vivus could conduct its study after FDA approval. Conducting the study ahead of market approval would cost the company millions of dollars and take at least three more years.

“There is an urgent need for better pharmacologic options for individual patients with obesity,” said Dr. Elaine Morrato, of the University of Colorado. “I believe Qnexa demonstrated a meaningful efficacy benefit and that there are consequences to not treating obesity.”

Vivus, based in Mountain View, Calif., is one of three small drugmakers racing to bring the first new prescription weight loss drug to market in more than a decade. In the past two years the Food and Drug Administration has rejected pills from all three: Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. and Vivus. All three companies are in the process of resubmitting their products.

The FDA rejected the diet pill Qnexa in October 2010, citing numerous side effects including raised heart rate, psychiatric problems and birth defects. Vivus has resubmitted the drug with additional follow-up information on safety, hoping for a more favorable ruling.

Vivus President Peter Tam said the overwhelming panel vote Wednesday underscores the need for effective weight loss drugs.

“I think they see the medical need,” Tam said. “Right now there aren’t any good treatments out there besides dieting and bariatric surgery, clearly there’s a huge gap.”

With U.S. obesity rates nearing 35 percent among adults, doctors and public health officials say new weight-loss therapies are desperately needed. And even a modestly effective drug could have blockbuster potential. Analysts expect a new weight loss pill to garner at least 10 million users within a few years.

Qnexa is a combination of two older drugs: the amphetamine phentermine, which is approved for short-term weight loss, and topiramate, an antiseizure and antimigraine drug sold by Johnson Johnson as Topamax. Phentermine helps suppress appetite, while topiramate is supposed to make patients feel more satiated.

Along with heart safety, panelists raised concerns about potential birth defects in women who become pregnant while taking Qnexa. One of the two ingredients in the combination pill, topiramate, is known to more than double the risk of birth defects.

There were 34 pregnancies among 3,386 women enrolled in Vivus’ studies of Qnexa, despite precautions to make sure women used contraception. An FDA expert on birth defects estimated there would be five babies born with a cleft lip defect for every 1,000 women who became pregnant while taking Qnexa.

If approved, FDA scientists said they would require Vivus to train prescribers in the pregnancy risks of Qnexa and distribute warning pamphlets to patients. The drug would only be available from 10 mail-order pharmacies. An experimental obesity drug from Vivus Inc won a U.S. panel’s support on Wednesday, raising hopes regulators would approve a weight-loss pill for the first time in 13 years.

A panel of outside experts to the Food and Drug Administration voted 20-2 to recommend approval of Qnexa, meant to treat obesity and its accompanying health problems.

The FDA usually follows panel recommendations, although it is not required to, and a final decision is expected by April 17.

© 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46487890/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/

DALLAS — When Michael Rorrer found 345 comic books neatly stacked in a basement closet as he cleaned out his great-aunt’s Virginia home after her death, he thought they were cool but didn’t think much about their value.

He later discovered that his late great-uncle Billy Wright had managed to assemble a remarkable comic book collection that included some of the most prized issues ever published, and kept them in good condition. And, on Wednesday, the bulk of Wright’s collection sold for about $3.5 million.

Lon Allen, managing director of comics for Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, said Wright’s 1939 copy of Detective Comics No. 27 that features the debut of Batman got the top bid at a New York City auction Wednesday. It sold for about $523,000, including a buyer’s premium.

Action Comics No. 1, a 1938 issue featuring the first appearance of Superman, sold for about $299,000. And Batman No. 1 from 1940 sold for about $275,000.

1. 1. 
      

   2. 
      American Idol’s Top 42 Face Elimination Before Live Shows
      
      

   3. 
      Zoe Saldana Has a Movie Date with Bradley Cooper’s Mom
      
      

   4. 
      Danica Patrick: I Could Win the Daytona 500
      
      

   5. 
      Michael Phelps Will ‘Never’ Shave His Head
      
      

   6. 
      Justin Theroux: Jennifer Aniston Made Me Breakdance for Her Birthday
      
      

“This is just one of those collections that all the guys in the business think don’t exist anymore,” Allen said.

Story: Superman comic draws highest price ever paid: $2.16M

The collection includes 44 of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide’s list of top 100 issues from the Golden Age of comic books: the late 1930s to the late ’40s.

“The scope of this collection is, from a historian’s perspective, dizzying,” said J.C. Vaughn, associate publisher of Overstreet.

Staggering array

Rorrer, 31, of Oxnard, Calif., found the comics in his great-aunt Ruby Wright’s Martinsville, Va., home a few months after her death last February. His mother, Lisa Hernandez, 54, of League City, Texas, then divided the comics into two boxes — one for him and one for his younger brother.

After his box arrived in California in the fall, Rorrer mentioned the collection to a coworker, telling him about seeing a Captain America No. 2, a 1941 issue in which the hero bursts in on Adolf Hitler. Rorrer, who works at a plant where oil is separated from water, said the co-worker mused that it would be something if he had Action Comics No. 1, in which Superman makes his first appearance.

“I went home and was looking through some of them, and there it was,” said Rorrer, who then began researching the collection’s value in earnest.

He found that his great-uncle had managed as a boy to buy a staggering array of what became the most valuable comic books ever published.

Story: DC do-over: Superman and friends start over from scratch

Once Rorrer realized how important the comics were, he called his mother, who still had the box for his brother at her house. He and his mother then went through their boxes, checking comic after comic off the list.

AP

“I couldn’t believe what I had sitting there upstairs at my house,” Rorrer said.

Hernandez, who works in a chemical plant, said it really hit her how valuable the comics were when she saw the look on Allen’s face after he came to her house to look through the comics she had there.

“It was kind of hard to wrap my head around it,” Allen said.

Rorrer said he only remembers his aunt making a fleeting reference to the comics when she learned that he and his brother, Jonathan Rorrer, now 29 of Houston, liked comic books. He said his great-uncle, who died in 1994 at age 66, never mentioned his collection.

Slideshow: Comics that should (and shouldn’t) be movies (on this page)

Allen, who called the collection “jaw-dropping,” noted that Wright “seemed to have a knack” for picking up the ones that would be the most valuable. The core of his collection is from 1938 to 1941.

Hernandez said it makes sense that her uncle — even as a boy — had a discerning eye. The man who went to The College of William and Mary before having a long career as a chemical engineer for DuPont was smart, she said. And, she added, Wright was an only child whose mother kept most everything he had. She said that they found games from the 1930s that were still in their original boxes.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46479950/ns/today-books/

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says he wants amendments to an ultrasound-before-abortion bill.

Updated at 6:35 p.m. ET: RICHMOND, Va. — State Republican legislators have scrapped a bitterly contested proposal to require women seeking abortions to undergo invasive ultrasound imaging.

Shortly after Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell announced his opposition to the Republican bill, the state House on Wednesday approved a substitute version that still mandates an ultrasound but makes the transvaginal procedure optional.

The House of Delegates voted 65-32 for the watered-down version. Under the substitute, women would still be required to have an ultrasound before an abortion to determine the gestational age, but women subject to a transvaginal procedure would be able to decline, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

That likely dooms the measure.

The amended bill now returns to the Senate where its sponsor, Sen. Jill Vogel, said she will strike the legislation.

“There are moments when you are a legislator when you have to stop and you have to have a moment of real conscience,” Vogel said, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “I sort of had that moment this morning considering the outcome and the fate of this bill.”  

Vogel said after hearing from doctors and other constituents that she felt she could not did not “carry the bill in its current form.”

The House action came moments after McDonnell — facing outrage from women and appeals from GOP moderates — announced he was opposing the original bill requiring vaginal probes.

McDonnell, a social conservative who says he is “pro-life,” appealed for amendments to the bitterly contested legislation. In a transvaginal ultrasound, a wand-like device is inserted and used to send out sound waves.

Until this week, McDonnell and his aides had said the governor would sign the measure if it made it to his desk.

“Over the past days I have discussed the specific language of the proposed legislation with other governors, physicians, attorneys, legislators, advocacy groups, and citizens. It is apparent that several amendments to the proposed legislation are needed to address various medical and legal issues which have arisen,” the governor said in a written statement.

Among the amendments McDonnell proposed: to explicitly state that no woman will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily, and that only an external ultrasound will be required to satisfy the requirements to determine gestational age.

The bill had already won Senate passage. Opponents say it amounts to the state violating a woman’s privacy. Supporters say it is medically prudent to determine fetal gestational age and, perhaps, discourage abortions.

Related: Texas begins enforcing strict anti-abortion sonogram law

While the original Virginia bill does require an ultrasound, it does not require the woman to view it, making it less strict than laws in Texas and Oklahoma, according to The New York Times.

More than 1,000 people, most of them women, on Monday locked arms and stood mute outside the Virginia State Capitol to protest the bill and other anti-abortion legislation under consideration by state lawmakers.

Comedian Jon Stewart poked fun at the measure Tuesday night on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show.”

The Associated Press and NBC12.com contributed to this story.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

• Santorum hardly alone in belief in Satan
• Latino voters a missed opportunity for Republicans?
• Marine makes last stand in foreclosed home
• Trouble on the ranch: Cattle rustling on the rise in Texas

Article source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/22/10479427-va-governor-wont-back-ultrasound-before-abortion-bill-house-passes-weaker-version

NEW YORK — Of all the bank fees that customers love to hate, overdraft charges on checking accounts have to be near the top. The government’s new consumer protection agency appears to agree.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that it will investigate overdraft fees, including how they are marketed and explained to customers. The agency said the probe could result in additional rules, perhaps even lawsuits.

Overdraft fees are charged by banks when customers try to spend more money than they have in an account. Banks will allow the transaction, then charge the customer a penalty of as much as $35.

“We’ve heard many stories about the $40 cup of coffee,” the agency’s director, Richard Cordray, told reporters and representatives from banks and consumer groups.

Cordray and representatives from four consumer advocacy groups said that the overdraft fees hurt the people who can least afford them because poorer customers are more likely to drain their checking accounts to close to zero.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the government has clamped down on bank practices that it considers unfair, such as marketing credit cards to teenagers. Banks have complained some of the government’s moves have been too intrusive.

In 2010, the Federal Reserve barred banks from automatically enrolling customers in so-called overdraft protection programs for debit card or ATM transactions. Without overdraft protection, a transaction is declined if the customer can’t cover it.

The rule did not apply to checks, online bill payments or recurring debits, such as having the monthly cable bill automatically sent to your debit card. It also did not limit how much banks can charge for the service.

Banks have responded by marketing overdraft protection aggressively. Some told customers that opting out of overdraft protection could prevent them from making everyday transactions, including “medical or health emergencies,” according to research published last year by the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer group that opposes overdraft fees.

Banks collected $29.5 billion in revenue from overdraft fees in 2011, according to research firm Moebs Services. That was down from $33.1 billion in 2010 but a significant increase from $18 billion in 1999, when the fees were less common.

Cordray said the problem is not just the fees but that banks often don’t explain them clearly. One bank, which he did not name, required customers to visit three different websites and scroll through 50 pages of dense text just to get an explanation, he said.

Cordray praised banks for finding ways to help customers avoid the fees, such as not charging overdrafts for purchases of less than $5 or giving customers 24 hours to add more money to an account.

Representatives of consumer groups who appeared with Cordray said customers would rather have their cards declined than be charged the fee. A representative of Citigroup, one of the country’s largest banks, said customers prefer to avoid the embarrassment.

Andrew Rowe, a senior vice president from Bank of America, said the bank has started giving customers “clarity statements” to explain fees and sending them text messages when their accounts drop below $25. Last month, Bank of America sent 20 million such texts to 8 million customers, Rowe said.

Bank of America was a leader in trimming overdraft fees beginning in 2009, when Brian Moynihan, now the CEO, was running the bank’s consumer banking unit. At the time, the bank owed $45 billion in government bailout loans. It has since paid the money back.

Banks have also drawn criticism for a practice known as “re-ordering” — when a bank takes all the purchases a customer makes in a single day and subtracts the biggest ones from the customer’s account first. Banks say it helps customers pay their most important bills first, like mortgages and student loans. Consumer groups say it’s a way to rake in fees.

The practice has been challenged in class-action lawsuits around the country. Bank of America settled one case for $410 million last July. JPMorgan Chase agreed this month to pay $110 million to settle similar claims.

The CFPB, born out of outrage over the financial crisis and the banking practices that led to it, said it would focus on four areas: re-ordering, missing or confusing information, misleading marketing and disproportionate impact on low-income and young customers.

According to a 2008 study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., 9 percent of checking accounts incur 84 percent of overdraft fees. The study found that nearly half of younger cardholders paid the fees.

The CFPB also is requesting public input on the idea of a “penalty fee box” — a disclosure on checking account statements that would highlight overdrafts and related fees.

The agency said it plans to issue a report by the end of the year.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46486382/ns/business-consumer_news/

Though the pace of home sales picked up last month as the economy and job market improved, home prices have yet to show any meaningful turnaround.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that sales of existing homes – which account for most of the housing market –  rose 4.3 percent in January. That pace of sales, about 4.5 million a year, is still much less than the 6 million rate that’s considered “healthy.” And it’s far below the peak of 7 million homes sold in 2005.

Home prices are still going nowhere – they fell 2.2 percent in January, according to the NAR. That’s because there is still no end in sight to home foreclosures: so-called “distressed” home sales accounted for 35 percent of sales in January, up from 32 percent in December. As those homes are sold, they push prices lower for all houses on the market.

Send us your story ideas

Follow me on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

When foreclosures began rising in 2007, banks that were seizing homes moved them fairly quickly onto the market. But as the demand for housing shrank and prices dropped, bankers had more properties than they could sell without big price cuts. More recently, banks have been managing their foreclosure pipeline to avoid having too many houses on the market at once.

That process delayed foreclosures, as bankers wait to sell one home before scheduling the next foreclosure sale. As home sales improve, more of that “shadow inventory” of houses in the pipeline will eventually come to market.

 “We think the foreclosure process will accelerate, which will speed up the flow of distressed inventory,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research in a note to clients Wednesday

Home prices have pulled back fastest in parts of the country that saw the biggest run-up during the housing boom. But the latest figures show prices falling in every region of the country. In the Midwest, which was largely spared the worst of the housing collapse, prices fell by 5.5 percent on average in January. In the West, where prices have been hardest hit, the drop was a modest 0.7 percent. Prices fell 2.2 percent in the Northeast and 1.4 percent in the South, according to the NAR.

Once prices stabilize, they have a long way to go before recovering their 2005 peak; some estimates expect that to take until 2020. For historical reference, the last time home prices fell 33 percent was in the 1930s  when the full cycle from peak to trough to peak took 19 years.

Record low interest rates have made houses more affordable, but it’s not likely they’ll fall much further. The Federal Reserve recently made an unusual public promise to keep rates low for the next three years. But as the economy continues to improve, the odds are that rates will move higher not lower from here.

Home buyers who take the plunge, meanwhile, are summoning up plenty of patience when it comes time to apply for a mortgage. Lenders are being extremely choosy about who they approve – even for borrowers with a steady job and good credit.

As the housing market has been suffering from an excess of supply of foreclosed homes, demand for houses has been falling for a variety of reasons. Many of those foreclosed families face a long wait to rebuild their credit and household finances before diving back into homeownership. The drop in home prices has left roughly 12 million homeowners “underwater,” owing more than their house is worth. Many of those are potential “move-up” buyers who are now unable to sell their current home without taking a big loss.

There has also been a sizable drop in the number of new household formations, which have fallen to the lowest level in decades. Before 2007, new households in the U.S. were formed at the rate of about 1 million to 1.3 million a year. That pace has fallen to between 600,000 and 700,000, according to a recent analyst by Goldman Sachs economists.

There are a variety of reasons for the slowdown, according to the report. The biggest single factor is the larger share of 18 to 34-year-olds who are choosing to live with their parents. Falling marriage rates have also put a damper on new household formations, along with high unemployment rates that force people to “double up” with friends or family.

Economists expect the household formation rate to recover to historical norms, rising to 800,000 this year and level off at 1.1 million in 2013.

What do you think about the state of the housing market? Tell us your views on Facebook. 

Article source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/22/10478668-housing-market-perks-up-but-prices-are-still-falling

by Kevin Barrett

I was lucky enough to catch up with Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense, at the Edward Teach Memorial Golf Course and Scuba Diving Facility outside of Kingston, Jamaica. Rummy had hit two horrible shots in a row, badly slicing both of his balls, and was in a foul mood.

Interviewer
Hey Rummy, you aim golf balls even worse than predator drones!

Rumsfeld
Watch out, asshole, or I’ll aim one at you.

Interviewer
If you did, I’d be the safest guy on the fairway.

Rumsfeld
There are known knowns, known unknowns, unknown knowns, and unknown unknowns. You’re an unknown unknown. Bug off.

Interviewer
Actually, I wanted to ask you a few questions about predator drones.

Rumsfeld (chuckling)
You don’t say! That happens one of my favorite topics. After all, I pioneered them! Obama uses them more than we did, so he gets the Nobel Peace Prize! Is that unfair, or what?

(The rest of the interview was conducted intermittently, between the 9th and 11th holes.)

Interviewer
You introduced the practice of so-called targeted killings with predator drones. Aren’t predator drones both immoral and ineffective?

Rumsfeld
How do you mean?

Interviewer
They’re immoral for a couple of reasons. First, the predator drone is the ultimate coward’s weapon. Some chicken-shit asshole at a military base outside of Las Vegas sits around jerking off playing video games, and real people get blown to bits, murdered and maimed, halfway around the world.

Rumsfeld
That’s the beauty of it.

Interviewer
I thought the whole point of being a soldier was risking your life for your country.

Rumsfeld
We’re not soldiers. We’re chickenhawks! (imitates clucking chicken) Awk-puk-puk!

Interviewer
Seriously, Rummy: Isn’t killing from a safe distance, thousands of miles from the people you kill, the act of a despicable coward?

Rumsfeld
Absolutely not! It takes almost unimaginable courage to operate a killer drone.

Interviewer
How is that?

Rumsfeld
All of the great wisdom traditions tell us that there is justice in the universe. It takes immense courage to do something as absolutely evil as operating a predator drone, knowing that God or karma or whatever may some day pay you back.

Interviewer
Hmmm…I hadn’t thought of it that way. But I guess you have a point.

Rumsfeld
Of course I do! Come on, think about it. Killing people with a predator drone is vastly sicker and uglier and more despicable and disgusting than raping and murdering people the way Ted Bundy did. At least Ted had the guts to look his victims in the eyes, and take a chance they might fight back. Doing something of such ultimate evil requires incredible courage, knowing that if the universe does indeed turn out to be just, you’re absolutely screwed. I’m proud of our men and women in uniform who have the guts to be evil scumbags a million times worse than the sickest civilian serial killer!

Interviewer
Okay, I have to admit you have a point. But even if we admit that the scumbags operating the drones have a certain amount of metaphysical courage, isn’t it the case that these weapons are completely ineffective? Just about every on-the-ground investigation of every predator drone attack has found that it’s innocent civilians, not terrorists, who are getting blown up. Women and children, wedding parties, groups of old men having tea. This just pisses off the enemy and increases his will to fight. Not a smart tactic.

Rumsfeld
Smart military tactic or no, sometimes you just have to do what’s right.

Interviewer
What’s right!? We’re talking about blowing up innocent civilians!

Rumsfeld
Exactly.

Interviewer
What’s right about that?

Rumsfeld
Think about it. When an aggressor invades somebody else’s country, the people of that country have two choices: They can either fight back, or they can choose not to fight back.

Interviewer
So?

Rumsfeld
So the decent ones, the brave ones, the ones whose lives are worth a good goddamn – in other words, the ones who deserve to live – are the ones who fight back. We call them “terrorists.”

Interviewer
Um…

Rumsfeld
While those who choose not to fight back are, by definition, worthless, cowardly scum – the kind of creeps and quislings who allow their country to be invaded and occupied by foreigners from halfway around the world, and don’t lift a finger to stop it.

Interviewer
I think I see where you’re going with this…

Rumsfeld
So when we slaughter so-called “innocent civilians” with our predator drones, we’re actually killing people who are worthless, cowardly scum. The brave ones, the ones who are fighting back, we avoid. So we’re really doing the right thing, even at the expense of our own interests. How can you argue with that?

At this point Rumsfeld hooked a ball fifty yards into the ganja field bordering the fairway, disappeared into the field, and, as far as I know, never re-emerged.

Related Posts:

• Murder and Torture, the Lasting Legacy of America
• Mainstream Media, the Anti-War Hypocrites
• Guardian: Bush Torture Prosecution Recommended
• GORDON DUFF: THE MACRO-ECONOMICS OF PHONY TERROR AND CONTRIVED CONFLICT
• GORDON DUFF: AMERICAN HATE; MILITARY “DEATH SQUAD” ARRESTED

Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=188193

Article source: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/02/22/exclusive-interview-donald-rumsfeld-defends-predator-drones/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=exclusive-interview-donald-rumsfeld-defends-predator-drones

by Sartre Batr

Do you remember the second terms under President William Jefferson Clinton and George Walker Bush? Even the most rabid partisans cannot say with a straight face that memorable government came during their last four years. Now the nation suffers from the Obama malaise that rivals the Jimmy Carter debacle. The dependency culture, especially in the post 911 incarnations, adjusted to the heavy hand of government omnipotence to accept the next level of political excess. Recent polls suggest that the enlightened voters of the nanny state are prepared to cast their ballot to give Barry Soetoro another term. Their answer to the proverbial question, are you better off today than four years ago, indicates just how far the collective mentality of the electorate has fallen.

The essential dialogue, which the mainstream press refuses to report, avoids the depth of the tyranny that government has achieved. Examine the range and scope of federal agencies and compare those to the most invasive and desperate days of World War II. If one awoke from a long Rip Van Winkle sleep and declared your loyalty to the American Revolution you would be judged a terrorist. This ironic twist from rising from a resting slumber as a British subject, to a free and independent citizen, is all upside down today. The American empire replaced the Crown and the sovereign individual became a doped dependent to a dominating despotism.

With this context in mind, can you blame the brain dead voter from casting their X on the ballot form and pay homage to the foreign-born dictator? If you are one of the parasites that feed off the public trough, you will hail the emperor that wears no clothes as your hero. This simple relationship may well explain why the prospects for four more Obama years are in the cards.

A site called Obama’s Achievements Center provided a laundry list of Obama Administration’s Achievements. The categories include:

Arts and Culture
Housing

Banking and Financial Reform
Humanitarianism

Civil Rights
Immigration

Commerce, Trade and technology
Infrastructure

Conservation
Labor

Economy
Law and Justice

Education: College
Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security

Education: Health of Children
Military and National Security

Employment: Jobs
Military Veterans and Families

Energy: Green
National Disasters and Emergencies

Energy: Old
National Service

Energy: Oil
Scientific and Medical Research

Foreign Affairs and International Relations
Space Exploration and Space Station

Government Efficiency
Taxes

Health and Wellness
Transparency and Accountability

Health Care Reform (See also Taxes)
Miscellaneous

Take the time to browse some of the items on this site and separate the promises from the results. If this is progress, can you imagine the giveaway programs in a second Obama Term? By any reasonable standard, the presidential election should stand or fall on the prospect of the economy. However, Michael Tefft sheds perspective on how one defines the political significance of the economy in It’s Official: Most Americans Make Their Living Off The Government.

“A widely covered report from TrimTabs Investment Research, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, has found that 35 percent of all earnings are now direct transfer payments from the government. According to CNBC, “social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960.”

But the real story is much worse. Nearly 8% of Americans work directly for the government while an additional 9.6% of Americans work as contractors for the government. Taken together, more than half of all Americans make their living directly from the government. “We have reached a tipping point,” says Grassfire Nation’s Steve Elliott. “That’s why what is happening in Wisconsin could have huge ramifications. Unless citizens stand now for less government and fiscal restraint, the government-dependent class will demand more and more government and our nation will be destroyed from within.”

A little historic context adds to the analysis. Michael Filozof in Prepare Yourself for Obama’s Second Term reminds what happens when the opposition loses their nerve.

“Does anyone remember the disaster that was Bill Clinton’s first term? The first attempt to put gays in the military, the first attack on the World Trade Center by Muslim fanatics, and the “Assault Weapons” Ban? The proposal to raise taxes, increase spending, and downsize the military? Hillary arrogantly proclaiming that she was no little Tammy Wynette standing by her man and baking cookies? That she would revamp the entire health care system, by herself, in secret, without congressional input? Does anyone remember the Waco debacle, which led directly to the Oklahoma City bombing, and Clinton’s allegation that it was the fault of talk radio? Does anyone remember the landslide Republican victory in the House in 1994, breaking forty straight years of Democratic control — a massive rebuke of the Clinton administration?

And yet…Clinton got re-elected in 1996. He didn’t just squeak by, either — he won a crushing 379-159 victory in the Electoral College and beat the Republican ticket by eight and a half percent in the popular vote.

Conservatives were in shock. How could this happen? Answer: after the 1994 conservative revolution in the midterm elections, the Republican 1996 presidential campaign turned into the Revenge of the Flaming Moderates.”

Nonetheless, most rational voters ignore the phony illusion that Republicans are really a counterweight to the madness of the Marxists that pose as Democrats. The preposterous pipe dream that the loyal opposition will act different from the current criminal regime is a true test of the mental health of the idiots that believe there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans.

A favorite leftist site alternet lists Nine Things Obama Should Do In a Second Term.

1. Free higher education at all public institutions of higher education
2. Add a million teachers (and teachers’ aides) to the public school system
3. Medicare for all
4. Manhattan Project for renewable energy
5. Financial transaction tax
6. Break up the big banks
7. Fifty-percent income tax on all income over $5 million a year (with no loopholes)
8. Get behind a constitutional amendment to end the buying of elections
9. Legalize pot/empty the prisons

Now some of these objectives as, break up the big banks seem appropriate in the abstract. However, the devil is in the details, which are written or managed by the very institutional interests that are viewed as the cause of serious problems. Some will reach out for a small glimmer of hope for gridlock. However, few astute observers project that a genuine reversal of the nanny state is possible much less likely.

From Outside the Beltway, Doug Mataconis theorizes in Obama’s Second Term Would Be Neither Groundbreaking Nor A Calamity.

“As I noted, the tendency for second Presidential terms to be largely a disappointment is something neither Democrats nor Republicans would like to acknowledge publicly. Democrats would prefer their supporters to think that a second Obama Administration would mean further progress on the goals set in the campaign, many of which have been abandoned over the past three years. Republicans, on the other hand, want their supporters to believe that a second Obama Administration would be an absolute calamity and, indeed, I’ve run into more than a few conservatives who seem absolutely convinced of the silly idea that the re-election of Barack Obama would mean the end of America. Neither of them would get much political mileage out of telling their supporters the truth, which is that a second Obama Administration is unlikely to be anywhere near as successful in achieving its goals, especially if one or both Houses of Congress is controlled by the opposition (or as long as the filibuster exists in the Senate).”

Most serious conservatives see every administration as a calamity because disappointment is the actual legacy of the last presidency. Even the venerable Daily Paul site fears that the Liberty message will die once again at another Republican convention. Consider the horror of this prospect. ‘Al Cardenas, head of the American Conservative Union, has said that Republican turmoil might lead to a brokered convention in which Jeb Bush, former Florida governor, would emerge as a ‘possible alternative’ party nominee.’

The tangible tragedy is why did not some “Blue Dog” Democrat challenge President Obama in a primary? The Loony Left can always draft Keith Olbermann as their standard-bearer if they were serious about their mindless ideology. Allowing the Obama clone another four years proves that big government proponents have lost their own self-respect.

The absurdity of staged elections should sicken every real American. Under a second Obama presidency, you will never be better off again. A vote for this pretender tool is the height of lunacy. What else can you expect from a society populated by comatose Rip Van Winkle snoozers? If you want your vote to have meaning, Ron Paul is the only choice.

SARTRE – February 19, 2012

• Read the entire article on the BATR archive page
• Discuss or comment about this essay on the BATR Forum

Related Posts:

• Obama’s War on the Catholic Church
• Newt Gingrich the Skunk Vomit NeoCon
• Iran, Gold and Oil – The Next Banksters War
• Psychology of Tyranny for a Philosophy of Despotism
• America, Welcome to the Fourth Reich

Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=188219

Article source: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/02/22/what-will-you-do-under-a-second-obama-presidency/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-will-you-do-under-a-second-obama-presidency