“Canadian and international research has shown that to be effective, health warnings must be noticeable and memorable,” Ms Aglukkaq said.

One of the new labels features a photograph of former Canadian model Barb Tarbox on her deathbed.

via BBC News – Canada plans larger warnings on cigarette packs.

That’s some pretty intense labeling. I think the FDA here in the states was thinking of some rather radical labels as well. I’m all for it!

Today on Fox News Sunday, the Oklahoma senator repeatedly said the federal government should reduce spending. Host Chris Wallace pressed for specifics, but Coburn couldn’t offer up much. “That remains to be seen,” he said, and, “We haven’t even done the hard work of identifying all the duplications in the federal government.” To his credit, Coburn noted that the Pentagon needs some auditing help, but he repeatedly threw out some random amounts of money that could be cut ($50 billion, $100 billion, $200 billion, and $350 billion) without saying exactly where that money would come from. But now that the tax cut deal is done and the President signed it into law, it appears that Coburn now thinks the rich are going to have to start sacrificing too…

via ThinkProgress » Now That Tax Cuts For The Rich Are Extended, Coburn Calls On The Rich ‘To Sacrifice To A Greater Extent’.

So after you give the wealthiest billionaires in this country a tax cut you now ask them to sacrifice? The people who will most likely have to sacrifice from Coburn’s undefined billions in cuts to spending will be everyone that is not in the wealthiest one percent (or even ten percent). The wealthy are less likely to depend on the cuts to programs and services that the rest of us rely on.

Tom Coburn is one of the most ineffective, feckless, nasty, crotchety,  and regressive members of the US Senate. He hurts the institution with his holds on legislation and &c. that are spiteful and unnecessary most of the time. He’ll hold things just for the sake of it. Jerk. I don’t get why the President is even friends with this man. Coburn, McCain, McConnell and Kyl the grumpy old men of the Senate.

In the coming weeks, the Obama administration will decide if it wants to significantly increase the amount of oil the country imports from Canadas controversial Alberta oil sands.

via Keystone oil sands pipeline U.S. expansion draws fire – Dec. 23, 2010.

People are trying to get the administration to see  the costs outweigh the benefits to the country.

Opponents, who have just wrapped up a $500,000 ad campaign in the D.C. area, say the project would bind the country to an unnecessary and dirty form of oil for decades to come.

If America continues to do this what message do we send to the rest of the world?

What’s a holiday without talking about some real grinches out there? Wyeth might actually be a Scrooge as well. You know, the whole putting profits before people thing that pharmaceutical corporations do.

The 14,000 plaintiffs who took the menopausal hormone therapy (HT) Prempro claim that Wyeth distorted study results and hid evidence of harm. Some patients traded the temporary inconvenience of hot flashes for the permanent inconvenience of death.

It was not as if Wyeth didn’t have reason to suspect serious risk. In 1975, an eight-fold increase in endometrial cancer was linked to estrogen use. To counter this side effect, Wyeth added progesterone and created Prempro. But the new combo not only failed to prevent cardiovascular disease, it increased the risk of breast cancer, stroke, dementia and incontinence, according to the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study.

They crated an entire “disease” out of aging and menopause to sell their wares.

Certainly, there’s nothing new about hard sells from TV charlatans. But these two represent something different, something apocalyptic—and I say that not merely because their maddening ubiquity has driven me to the brink of insanity. I say it because they are peddling the kind of commodity that offers little tangible worth, waging a fight that promises no valuable innovation, and representing a larger insurance and finance sector that’s hollowing out our economy.

via Faces of Economic Death — In These Times.

I was pleasantly surprised to come across the piece. I think Sirota is close to the rentier economy of Kevin Phillips.

Young men could be risking their sexual health by taking the world’s best selling anti-baldness drug, claim some doctors.

They say finasteride – sold in this country as Propecia – can cause serious side effects and that the drug’s labelling is inadequate.

via BBC – Newsbeat – Baldness drug Propecia ‘risking men’s sexual health’.

Well what do we have here? Merck said that less than two percent of men would suffer sexual side effects but it’s far worse than that. So it would seem Propecia is the anti-Viagra and anti-Cialis but it does treat male baldness rather well they say.

The proposed rules of the online road would prevent fixed-line broadband providers like Comcast and Qwest from blocking access to sites and applications. The rules, however, would allow wireless companies more latitude in putting limits on access to services and applications.

via Net Neutrality Rules Are Imminent From the F.C.C. – NYTimes.com.

While I am really, really glad that fixed-line broadband such as DSL and Cable will not be able to set up a two-tier Internet. I am saddened by the cave-in to the wireless broadband providers such at AT&T Mobility, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. But I do recall how much of a push back Comcast was initially giving net neutrality in 05-06 so to have fixed-line essentially regulated to allow for unrestricted access to sites and web applications is not to be overlooked.

But Mr Mahajan says he was worried by the reckless lending and feckless borrowing by micro-credit companies and villagers respectively.

This has now led to borrowers defaulting on payments and taking their lives and banks ceasing to lend to the cash-strapped micro-loan companies.

via BBC News – Why India’s small loans industry is in crisis.

This is really terrible. Almost anything can become a bubble. If you saw the new Wall Street sequel Gordon Gekko refers to tulip mania which was the first economic bubble occurring in the 1600′s. Sadly with micro-finance people saw an opportunity to make money in micro-loans and dumped tons of money into it. Micro-lending wasn’t supposed to be exhausted to the point where reckless lending followed by reckless borrowing became common. It was meant to help get people out of poverty. People who sought to make significant earnings should not have looked to micro-lending to do this. I’m sure Muhammad Yunus would frown on the current state of micro-lending in India.

Tulips anyone?

The Happy Meal is up for some well-deserved scrutiny. Last week a mom from Sacramento filed a class-action suit supported by the center to make McDonald’s stop using toys as bait to lure children. Last month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a measure requiring that meals sold with toys meet a minimum standard of nutrition.

via Not So Happy Meals – NYTimes.com.

I can’t tell you the last time I’ve eaten at McDonald’s and luring kids in with a toy is rather slimy no? I’m the first to say that I could be eating healthier but at least I know that fast food from McDonald’s and others is still horrible. There is a list of healthier fast food restaurants like Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain that I’d like to mention.

This is bad news for the nation’s workers, who are already facing one of the bleakest labor markets in recent history. Temporary employees generally receive fewer benefits or none at all, and have virtually no job security. It is harder for them to save. And it is much more difficult for them to develop a career arc while hopping from boss to boss.

via As Hiring Falters, More Workers Become Temporary – NYTimes.com.

As soon as I read the headline I knew that this could not be a good sign. What is sad is that even these temp jobs are being fought over. I guess this is what happens when you are at 9.8 percent unemployment nationwide. I just hope that this doesn’t become a permanent condition of the economy where we start to treat people like disposable workers. There have been corporations in the past like Mircosoft who have made hiring temp workers a religion hence the term “permatemp.”