Eeyore's News and Views

I wanted to start out today with a couple of articles about kids and kids safety. SID's is a terrible thing and it can destory even a strong and good family.
Fan in baby's room may help prevent SIDS
By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
Fans may reduce the risk of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, a new study shows.
Babies who slept in a room with a fan were 72% less likely to die from SIDS, according to a study released today from Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The study included interviews with the mothers of 185 infants who died from SIDS and the mothers of 312 other babies.
Fans offered even more protection to babies sleeping in warm rooms, where temperatures were over 69 degrees, according to the study. Although opening a window also appeared to reduce the risk of SIDS, authors say this finding could have been due to chance.
Although doctors don't know exactly why fans seem to help, it's possible that fans improve air circulation, preventing infants from rebreathing exhaled carbon dioxide, which can pool up in the gap between a baby's face and the mattress, says author De-Kun Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist with Kaiser Permanente's research division.
Because a baby's neck muscles are weak, they may not be able to turn their heads to find fresh air, Li says.
BABY WORKOUT: Make playtime 'tummy time' to strengthen neck, arms
That's why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies sleep on their backs. Deaths from SIDS have fallen by half since 1992, to a rate of about 0.5 deaths for every 1,000 live births. Pacifiers also seem to protect babies, Li says, perhaps because the handles prevent a child's face from becoming pressed against the mattress.
Marian Willinger of the National Institutes of Health says that the new study, while intriguing, needs to be followed up by additional research. Putting babies to sleep on their backs is still the most important thing parents or caregivers can do to prevent SIDS, she says.
A study published Monday in Pediatrics, however, show that 26% of mothers of 3-month-olds don't follow that advice. One-third of mothers shared a bed with their 3-month-old, another practice that may increase the risk of SIDS.
Parents who are young, with low incomes or low education are least likely to follow safe sleeping guidelines, the study says.
Daycare providers are even less likely to put infants on their backs, according to a second study in Pediatrics. About 20% of SIDS deaths occur when someone other than a parent is in charge.
In a study of 1,993 infants, only 51% of babies were put to sleep on their backs at the beginning of the study, in which researchers measured the effect of educating childcare providers about SIDS. The program provided modest improvement. Observers noted that 62% of babies were put on their backs at childcare centers that received the training, compared to 57% of babies at centers that didn't receive the training.
Childcare providers are more likely to put babies on their backs if daycare centers have a written policy about safe sleeping, the study says. About half of states require childcare centers to put babies on their backs to sleep.
Study author Rachel Moon, a leading SIDS expert at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, says parents should talk to their childcare providers. "In our observations, parents go in and talk to the childcare provider about what creams to use for diaper rash much more than they talk about sleep position," Moon says.

WAYS TO REDUCE SIDS
Always put babies to sleep on their backs.
Never smoke around a baby.
Keep stuffed animals and loose bedding, such as blankets and pillows, out of the crib.
Don't use a bumper, or use one that is too firm to mold around a baby's face.
Give the baby a pacifier, as long as the baby is older than 2 weeks and already breastfeeding.
Sources: Ed Martin, Kaiser Permanente; Pediatrics.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-10-06-SIDS-fans_N.htm


Drug companies: No cold medicines for kids under 4 October 7, 2008 - 3:32pm
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Children under 4 should not be given over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, drug companies said Tuesday in a concession to pediatricians who doubt the drugs do much good and worry about risks.
The voluntary change in advice to parents comes less than a week after federal health officials said they also saw little evidence that the drugs work. But government officials were afraid that taking the medicines off store shelves might prompt parents to give their children adult medicines.
The drug makers said they will also add a warning that parents should not give antihistamines to children to make them sleepy. These are allergy-relief medications often found in medicines that combine several ingredients to treat a variety of symptoms.
The new measures "reflect industry's overall commitment to the continued safe and appropriate use of children's oral OTC cough and cold medicines," Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, said in announcing the changes on behalf of the companies.
"We are doing this voluntarily out of an abundance of caution," she added. The new instructions will appear on products distributed for the coming cold season. Last year, the companies pulled medicines for babies and tots under 2 from the market.
Pediatricians, who have been calling for a ban on OTC cough and cold remedies for children under 6, welcomed the industry's latest shift.
"It's a huge step forward," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner. "There is no evidence that these products work in kids, and there is definitely evidence of serious side effects."
Problems with OTC cough and cold medicines send some 7,000 children to hospital emergency rooms each year, with symptoms including hives, drowsiness and unsteady walking. Many kids overdose by taking medicines when their parents aren't looking.
Since a majority of the problems involve 2- to 3-year-olds, the industry's new instructions, if followed by parents, should help.
"The 2- and 3-year-olds are definitely the highest risk," said Sharfstein. "More than 50 percent of the problem is with these kids. "If they don't have this stuff around the home, they're less likely to grab it and ingest it."
Pediatricians still support recalling the medicines for children under 6, and the Food and Drug Administration is studying their effectiveness for children under 12. But federal health officials said at a public hearing last week that it could take them a year or more to make a final decision and order changes.
Leading cough and cold brands include Dimetapp, Pediacare, Robitussin, Triaminic, Little Colds and versions of Tylenol that have ingredients to treat cold symptoms. U.S. families spend at least $287 million a year on cold remedies for kids, according to Nielsen Co. statistics that do not include Wal-Mart sales.
The industry also said it is expanding an educational campaign aimed at getting parents to be more careful about giving their kids cough and cold medicines.
Parents should never:
_Give adult medicines to a child.
_Give two or more medicines with the same ingredients at the same time.
_Give antihistamines to make a child sleepy.
Parents should:
_Give the exact recommended dose, using the measuring device that comes with the medicine.
_Keep OTC medicines out of sight and out of reach.
_Consult their doctor if they have any questions.
Colds usually clear up by themselves after a few days, and many doctors say rest and drinking plenty of fluids are all that's needed.
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On the Net:
Consumer Healthcare Products Association statement: http://tinyurl.com/4bzj2f
http://wtop.com/?nid=773&sid=1492676

I have seen a lot (in the circles i read) about how bad this bailout is and it is for this Country as a whole. It is bad for this Constitutionally Limited Republic and our Sovereignty also. It opens the door for some much pork it is unbelievable. But with all that said and done i have seen this Bank Holiday thing pop up a bunch of time also. I doubt it is true. If it happens it will shake this Country to it core and i doubt the politicians want that right now. But it is out there and because it is out there then i should let you all know also.
Bailout Creating a Financial Black Hole to Suck Us All In
Posted: October 4 2008
A dish of Bailout with a side of pork, shareholders vaporized by Derivatives Death-Star, We all await the financial markets implosion, No problems solved by the bailout, Stay prepared for a full shutdown of the financial system with some cash on hand, Credit default swaps unregulated point in the chain
Well, what a surprise, we've been sold down the river for the usual "thirty pieces of silver" by our Congress and our President, working together in unison, for the nth time.
The $700 billion bailout, a mere sideshow, sweetened with 150 billion in pork, has now been approved so that Wall Street can continue to game the system and its hapless suckers, the American sheople. Just put some pork in, and the hungry piranha in Congress would legislate their own mothers into slavery for a nice juicy morsel of that pork. And never mind the moral hazard dripping from the pork, because that makes it taste all the sweeter.
If you were wondering why all the healthier financial institutions, and of course we say that with tongue-in-cheek because we know they are all eventually slated for destruction by the explosive blast of a Quadrillion Dollar Derivative Death-Star, were buying all the gargantuan commercial and investment banks that are laden with toxic waste, you now have your answer. This is why all the shareholders in these zombie-acquisition deals are getting vaporized. Their assets were more valuable than they thought, because unbeknownst to them, the US government was about to pay far more for these assets than they were worth. But since the shareholders were not Illuminists, they were not privy to this information. And look at the disgrace with Citibank and Wachovia. After Citigroup wipes out the Wachovia shareholders, with the help of the FDIC, suddenly Wells Fargo, which now sees the value of all of Wachovia's crap paper via the Paulson Ponzi-Plan, comes through with a better offer. The Wachovia shareholders should attack Citigroup based on their fraudulent balance sheets, because they were in no position to acquire anything on this scale, or any other scale for that matter.
The Illuminist insiders were all told in advance that Wall Street's Excellent Bailout Bonanza would be stuffed down the throats of gullible US taxpayers. Note how many of these zombie-acquisition-deals were done before the bailout plan was even proposed on September 20. As you can see, the masters of the universe are so arrogant that they were willing to bet hundreds of billions of dollars that the Paulson Ponzi-Plan would be successfully shoved up our collective butts by our bought-and-paid-for-or-compromised government "representatives," so-called, despite the hue and cry of the sheople against this monstrosity, sometimes by as much as 300 to 1. All that cesspool paper that they now own by virtue of these zombie-acquisition-deals is very valuable to them. It will be sold to the government for far more than it is worth so that financial institutions around the world can somehow pretend that the losses are far less than they really are. And never mind that everyone in the world knows this stuff is crap, because we will all now have some sort of collective pipedream in the United Goldilocks Matrix. We can just see Hank and Ben firing up the pods and installing the everything-will-turn-out-juuuust-right software, so we can all pretend that the credit-crunch never happened. We will just ignore it. This is another Illuminist fantasy that will turn out about as well as their subprime scam.
Of course, the reality is, whether this cesspool paper worth pennies on the dollar is sold for its hold-to-maturity value or for some lesser, but still outrageously exaggerated, figure, the sheople will eat just about everything they pay out for this toxic garbage via the bailout plan. This stuff is crap even under current conditions, which are worsening by the minute. Just imagine what this stuff will be worth as the real estate markets, and the value of our new collateral, continue to fade off into the sunset while we enter into the Very Large Depression, which is now insured to happen by virtue of the Paulson Ponzi-Plan. And how much less will it be worth as the rate of return on this garbage gets buried by the upcoming double-digit interest rates that will be born out of the hyperinflation generated by all these bailouts, thus reducing its present value quite drastically. Then throw in the proposed government workouts, complete with interest rate reductions and cram-downs, just for good measure, and that ten cents on the dollar paper that we paid thirty, forty or fifty cents on the dollar for, will soon become worthless. Making matters even worse, all this toxic waste will be sold by select Illuminist institutions at what will be sham "arranged" auctions where everyone gets to sell what they want for the price they want, as long as they are Illuminist insiders. Everyone else can of course go scratch. With Hanky Panky as the real, unsupervised or rubber-stamped auctioneer, you can bet that we, the sheople, will be taken to the Illuminati's slaughterhouse to be sliced up into some prime cuts for the elitist carnivores. Mutton chops anyone? Dinner is now served, complete with caviar and champagne. Bon appetite.
The Illuminati will now act like drunken sailors at a keg party. They will drain the keg in short order, and then ask for more. If they do not get what they want, they will get rowdy, pounding the tables with their mugs and threatening a brawl that will destroy the tavern if they do not get their next round, pronto. Out comes the next keg, which gets drained even faster than the first because everyone is inebriated, and the next round of table pounding and threats becomes manifest. This process will proceed until everyone at the party has more than they can handle and passes out. Then comes the derivatives tsunami that will drown them all in a sea of counterparty risk, an event which will be used to usher in a new Orwellian, corporatist fascist state, where the financial, manufacturing and other major industries are all nationalized. We, and our European and Canadian counterparts, will all then resemble our fellow fascists, Marxists and dictators in Russia, in China, in the Middle East, in Asia and in South America, and the formation of world government will seem like the most the most natural thing to do, when everyone is on the same page, after the pesky, arrogant United States has been humbled into submission.
As we mentioned, this Excellent Bailout Bonanza, this Paulson Ponzi-Plan, is just a sideshow to distract everyone from the real issue, which is of course the Derivative Death-Star, with a Quadrillion Dollar mass that is about to implode, detonate, and morph into a financial black hole that will suck the entire world economy into its dark, massive, foreboding center. The subprime debacle is just one of the many fuses leading into the gargantuan derivatives powder keg. The subprime paper to be auctioned is little more than a catalyst for the creation of the real disaster, which are the credit-default swaps and interest rate swaps, an entangled, Byzantine labyrinth of opaque, unregulated counterparty risk that will be ignited by continuing corporate bankruptcies and double-digit interest rates that will be created by a hyper-inflated economy awash in bailout dollars which the Fed will have created out of thin air.
Foreign nations with dollar forex cannot possibly keep buying all the treasuries that will have to be created to fund all these bailouts because they are all experiencing rampant inflation, and printing more of their own domestic currencies to absorb the dollars necessary to purchase treasuries is no longer possible without risking social upheaval and revolution as hyperinflation destroys their economies. This means that some, or even most, of the new treasuries that will be created by the Treasury and the Fed to fund the bailouts and deficits will have to be monetized, which is immediately inflationary. M3 is about to explode as these many monetizations and the Fed's trillions in liquidity injections continue to flood the fiat money and credit system, which will continue in its cryogenic state despite the Paulson Ponzi-Plan that will now be implemented in an attempt to re-inflate the credit markets, which are the lifeblood of our debt-based, fiat money system, thanks to the cessation of the gold standard. Everyone on Wall Street knows that the subprime paper is not the real problem. The real reason they distrust one another, and will not lend to one another, is the unknown counterparty risk that will go into a plasma state when the Derivative Death-Star detonates. It is the opaque, unregulated OTC derivatives market that they are really afraid of.
Due to the fact that you have 70 or more trillion of credit default swaps insuring 5 trillion in bonds, a ten billion dollar loss by a large corporation can on average morph into a 140 billion disaster of epic proportions that could wipe out several other companies, whose own credit-default swap counterparty risk would then ignite, in a chain reaction reminiscent of a thermonuclear explosion. Remember, credit default swaps are not true derivatives with a zero net sum. They are insurance policies. But unlike most insurance, there are no regulators or loss reserves, thanks to Slick Willie Clinton and the Congress, which passed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000. Worse yet, they can be used to insure property which the insured party does not even own. Hence, you can see why everyone trembles at the thought of this radioactive sector going thermonuclear.
Did you see how the stock market received the Paulson Ponzi-Plan? They used it as an opportunity to de-leverage, which is pretty much all it was good for, and the Dow was taken to a new low in the process. No problems have been solved, and we will continue on to our ignominious destiny with recession, depression, and a third world Banana Republic standing where we are all but irrelevant to the world economy. No one will have anything but worthless paper to spend for foreign tangible goods.
Americans and Europeans are too stupid to understand the necessity of owning precious metals under these disastrous circumstances, and they will have little of value to trade for the tangible goods exported by the world's manufacturing economies, who have taken over America's role as the lead producer thanks to free trade, globalization, off-shoring, outsourcing and both legal and illegal immigration. The main purpose of the IF is to wise these dolts up, and save them from the planned destruction of our economy at the hands of the Illuminati. This situation is survivable, but advance notice and preparation are the key to success. Gold and silver are the only remedy for what now ails our nation, and nations around the world.
The Senate financial market rescue bill would temporarily allow the FDIC to borrow unlimited amounts of money from the Treasury Department in order to provide larger government deposit coverage that would extend until the end of next year, which really means forever. This has all the earmarks of a banana republic.
The latest propaganda from the government and the Illuminist think tanks tells us that, treasuries are more secure than gold because they are backed by the US government and gold has a counter party risk by whoever is storing your gold as the counter party.