News for today's 2018: 12/25/12

Happy Kwanzaa

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKVkoqFjSfnrTuHlV9VGKFwuQpmo3ucJl52AItJIcXXZ6KDDOYpDtP2p6rPvUXU_6oCDsqjHBZyhaxm7PH_6OzAuNb7kqSolEaG0QgsDcYBUCDJ4vj0nHIdQzcX6K2Bz9jwE_q90_d1gc/s1600/Kwanzaa_Santa_Claus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKVkoqFjSfnrTuHlV9VGKFwuQpmo3ucJl52AItJIcXXZ6KDDOYpDtP2p6rPvUXU_6oCDsqjHBZyhaxm7PH_6OzAuNb7kqSolEaG0QgsDcYBUCDJ4vj0nHIdQzcX6K2Bz9jwE_q90_d1gc/s400/Kwanzaa_Santa_Claus.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>Prior to Christmas, Jayman had a kick-back and one on one with Santa Claus, so as today marks the beginning of Kwanzaa, I am fortunate enough to have a jovial smack-down with Santa’s black (oh, excuse me, African-Americanized) counterpart, Bantu Claus…<br /><br />Matt:  So, Bantu Claus, if that is your <i>REAL</i> name…Ha Ha…what be up n‘shit?<br /><br />Bantu:  Whatchoo mean, what be up n’shit?  What the hell kinda vagary is dat?<br /><br />Matt:  Sorry…I was trying to speak your speak, and be all down with your sub-culture n’shit.<br /><br />Bantu:  Well stop it fool; you sound silly, and knock it off wif da “n’shit” shit.  That sounds foolish, pedestrian, and lactose-intolerant.<br /><br />Matt:  Yes it doe---wha?  Never mind…and I am sorry, but anyhow…Kwanzaa is known as the holiday of the first fruits; why is that?<br /><br />Bantu:  Hell, I don’t know.  Some know-it-all black ass professor from UCLA came up with that.  Wanted to give us black folk and our African heritage a reason for da season or sumthin.  First fruits mah ass…Hell the only fruits in Africa is the grapefruit of hate and the apple of angst…<br /><br />Matt:  So ya think he should have called it something else?<br /><br />Bantu:  He should have referred to Kwanzaa as, first heartaches.  Stupid tenyuhed-ass nigga!!<br /><br />Matt:  So do you, like Santa Claus, distribute gifts all over the world?<br /><br />Bantu:  I try, but it’s a little more difficult for me.<br /><br />Matt:  How so?<br /><br />Bantu:  See Matt-Man…Santa gots a sled powered by magic reindeer, and all I gots is a broken down ‘64 Buick Electra Deuce and a Quarter powered only by overpriced gasoline and an over powerful desire to gets out of my spoused-up crib one night a year, so I only do the forty-eight contigatory states.<br /><br />Matt:  Oh I thought Kwanzaaa was picking up in Canada as well.  You don’t go there?<br /><br />Bantu:  Do you even know how much it costs to get a passport these days, whitebread?<br /><br />Matt:  Well, no, no I---<br /><br />Bantu:  Sheeeeeet…It would take me four weeks of dumpster diving for beer cans in YOUR dumpster to get one.<br /><br />Matt:  Wow, that’s a lot.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMN29JofNucw2A8sut9RPNnV1q29Uqw3qRkZFK42D2HT9NApMOSlHoSQh91LOBnPXzHeGAU5E848oWDHWaHKmvROMx-1QW_oXnl3lbSYOdANaa_fWOWLk3syXnJL72RI211-u6ibX_72M/s1600/Hot+naked+-busty-black-women-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMN29JofNucw2A8sut9RPNnV1q29Uqw3qRkZFK42D2HT9NApMOSlHoSQh91LOBnPXzHeGAU5E848oWDHWaHKmvROMx-1QW_oXnl3lbSYOdANaa_fWOWLk3syXnJL72RI211-u6ibX_72M/s400/Hot+naked+-busty-black-women-5.jpg" width="306" /></a><br />Bantu:  “Wow that’s a lot.”  Is that you all got to say boy?  I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I’m just pissed.<br /><br />Matt:  Why?  What’s wrong?<br /><br />Bantu:  Well, my brethren and sisteren claim to want presents that reflect our Africanicity, so I show up with dictators, mosquito nets, and toy boy soldiers.<br /><br />Matt:  And they don’t appreciate that that?<br /><br />Bantu:  Well Hell No…All they want is a six pack of Steel Reserve and a bleach blonde with a big ass.<br /><br />Matt:  So typical…and the bruthas probably only appreciate it for a minute.<br /><br />Bantu:  Damn right my friend, and that is why I brought you some 211's and a hot babe, because I know you will love on both for hours.<br /><br />Matt:  Holy Cow, brutha Bantu…It’s a Kwanzaa Miracle!!<br /><br />Bantu: Word to your mutha, and Happy Kwanzaa, Matt-Man!!<br /><br /><i>Cheers!!</i><br /><br /><i><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a></i><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: blue;">@mattman_iws</span></i></a><br /><br /></div>

Happy Kwanzaa

Prior to Christmas, Jayman had a kick-back and one on one with Santa Claus, so as today marks the beginning of Kwanzaa, I am fortunate enough to have a jovial smack-down with Santa’s black (oh, excuse me, African-Americanized) counterpart, Bantu Clau…

Stop Subsidizing Obesity - NYTimes.com

6:43 PM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Not long ago few doctors – not even pediatricians – concerned themselves much with nutrition. This has changed, and dramatically: As childhood obesity gains recognition as a true health crisis, more and more doctors are publicly expressing alarm at the impact the standard American diet is having on health.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"I never saw Type 2 diabetes during my training, 20 years ago," David Ludwig, a pediatrician, told me the other day, referring to what was once called "adult-onset" diabetes, the form that is often caused by obesity. "Never. Now about a quarter of the new diabetes cases we're seeing are Type 2."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Ludwig, who is director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center in Boston, is one of three authors, all medical doctors of <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1487507" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">an essay ("Viewpoint")</a> in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association titled "Opportunities to Reduce Childhood Hunger and Obesity."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">That title that would once have been impossible, but now it's merely paradoxical. Because the situation is this: 17 percent of children in the United States <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">are obese</a>, 16 percent <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib-economic-information-bulletin/eib56.aspx" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">are food-insecure </a>(this means they have inconsistent access to food), and some number, which is impossible to nail down, are both. Seven times as many poor children are obese as those who are underweight, an indication that government aid in the form of food stamps, now officially called SNAP, does a good job of addressing hunger but encourages the consumption of unhealthy calories.<br><span id="more-138015"></span><br>The doctors' piece, which addresses these issues, was written by Ludwig along with <a href="http://newamerica.net/user/520" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">Susan Blumenthal</a>, a former assistant Surgeon General and U.S.D.A. medical adviser, and <a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/walter-willett/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">Walter Willett</a>, chair of Harvard's Department of Nutrition (and a stalwart of sound nutrition research for more than 30 years). It's essentially a plea to tweak <a href="http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailers/eligible.htm" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">SNAP regulations</a> Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefits, the program formerly and more familiarly known as Food Stamps) so that the program concerns itself with the quality of calories instead of just their quantity.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"It's shocking," says Ludwig, "how little we consider food quality in the management of chronic diseases. And in the case of SNAP that failure costs taxpayers twice: We pay once when low-income families buy junk foods and sugary beverages with SNAP benefits, and we pay a second time when poor diet quality inevitably increases the costs of health care in general, and Medicaid and Medicare in particular."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The argument that soda and other junk masquerading as food should be made ineligible for purchase by food stamps, as are alcohol and tobacco, is one that's been gaining momentum in the last few years. It's also one that has led to a split in what might be called the nutrition advocacy community.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">On the one side are "anti-hunger" groups who want to maintain SNAP's status quo; on the other are those who believe SNAP must be protected but also that it must be adjusted to take into account the changes in agriculture, marketing and diet that have occurred since SNAP was born 50 years ago, changes that have led to the obesity crisis.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I'm in that second camp, as are the authors of this article, who make a case that the rift is artificial, though both sides share the same fear: if we advocate any tinkering with SNAP, it may make the program more vulnerable to cuts which it can ill afford.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But the reality is that some billions of SNAP dollars (exact figures are unavailable, but <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/40452370/039soda_subsidy039_gives_tax_dollars_to_beverage_companies" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">the number most experts use is four</a>) are being spent on soda, which is strictly speaking not food, and certainly not a nutritious substance, and is a leading cause of obesity. <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/in-fight-against-obesity-drink-sizes-matter/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">Seven percent</a>of our calories come from sugar-sweetened beverages, none of them doing any of us any good.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Though there were those who argued against including soda when food stamps were created, the most pressing need was to address calorie deficiency, and that remains important. But the situation is different now: we recognize the harmful properties of added sugar, the importance of high-quality nutrients in children has been better analyzed, and obesity is a bigger problem than hunger. So funding low-quality, harmful calories is detrimental to both funders and recipients.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"It's time," says Ludwig, "for us to realize that the goals of anti-hunger and obesity prevention are not at cross purposes. In fact poor quality foods can actually increase hunger because they are inherently less filling." A child will become hungrier, sooner, after consuming 200 calories from a sugary beverage, compared to an apple and peanut butter with the same calories.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">What's to be done? How to improve the quality of calories purchased by SNAP recipients? The answer is easy: Make sure that SNAP dollars are spent on nutritious food.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">This could happen in two ways: first, remove the subsidy for sugar-sweetened beverages, since no one without a share in the profits can argue that the substance plays a constructive role in any diet. "There's no rationale for continuing to subsidize them through SNAP benefits," says Ludwig, "with the level of science we have linking their consumption to obesity, diabetes and heart disease." New York City proposed a pilot program that would do precisely this back in 2011; it was <a href="http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/snap-waiver-request-decision.pdf" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">rejected</a> by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) as "too complex."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Simultaneously, make it easier to buy real food; several cities, including New York, have programs that double the value of food stamps when used for purchases at farmers markets. The next step is to similarly increase the spending power of food stamps when they're used to buy fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, not just in farmers markets but in supermarkets – indeed, everywhere people buy food.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 166px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">Both of these could be set up as pilot programs by the USDA. Their inevitable success would lead to their expansion, and ultimately to better health for SNAP participants, who now number nearly 50 million. The impact of improving the diet of that many Americans would be profound; the impact of not doing so is tragic.</div></div><a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/stop-subsidizing-obesity/?smid=tw-nytopinion&seid=auto">http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/stop-subsidizing-obesity/?smid=tw-nytopinion&seid=auto</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Stop Subsidizing Obesity - NYTimes.com

Not long ago few doctors – not even pediatricians – concerned themselves much with nutrition. This has changed, and dramatically: As childhood obesity gains recognition as a true health crisis, more and more doctors are publicly expressing alarm at t…

ISRAEL AND TURKEY

3:52 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2m_yWXJIRXWZihtAO_XL6nqhYTrvXDFi-7UGOnXZnd7MuG2jPlC9OMqs_phopw4BgRmocf7xGFoFIvJXtGZ-Ktg90FLhAhqmyan7WEA0B8LtKzanJuzrXZqHLk3uFJeKncpEXhThIaRU/s1600/Turkey-and-Israel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2m_yWXJIRXWZihtAO_XL6nqhYTrvXDFi-7UGOnXZnd7MuG2jPlC9OMqs_phopw4BgRmocf7xGFoFIvJXtGZ-Ktg90FLhAhqmyan7WEA0B8LtKzanJuzrXZqHLk3uFJeKncpEXhThIaRU/s400/Turkey-and-Israel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY RESUMES NATO TIES WITH ISRAEL </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">On <span style="color: red;">29 Jan 2012</span>, Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring wrote amidst rising political tensions between ISRAEL and TURKEY, that:</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAELI Exports to TURKEY rise 42% to equal exports to GERMANY </span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/see-no-evil-hear-no-evil.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/01/see-no-evil-hear-no-evil.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As claimed in numerous articles on this Blog, TURKEY and ISRAEL can’t really afford to be at each other’s throat over (unofficially) energy issues in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA. Gas findings in the region were one of the main reasons, aside of geopolitical strategies in the wake of the Arab Spring, for the rift between the two countries, and <span style="color: red;"><u>not the Gaza flotilla incident</u></span>, as portrayed in mainstream media. </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: </span><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE TRUE REASON BEHIND TURKEYS WARMONGERING AGAINST ISRAEL </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/turkeys-middle-east-chess-game.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/turkeys-middle-east-chess-game.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">  </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">See also <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/mission-impossible-quest-for-natural.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/mission-impossible-quest-for-natural.html</a>and </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/warmongerning-between-israel-and-turkey.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/warmongerning-between-israel-and-turkey.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSXHDr85zJVHY6NdMdk4McqVz9rEM4VkcY4BqkFLhpc_XrRv3D3bNTj74v4i9aNvcvmL5L-dasVToBDrdZ_BE7Liy557yTQ97CMkBiaDcXsrlFApxyZd8iCKyRneKuhdtBzVu8oZm31sf/s1600/ET_060512Econo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSXHDr85zJVHY6NdMdk4McqVz9rEM4VkcY4BqkFLhpc_XrRv3D3bNTj74v4i9aNvcvmL5L-dasVToBDrdZ_BE7Liy557yTQ97CMkBiaDcXsrlFApxyZd8iCKyRneKuhdtBzVu8oZm31sf/s320/ET_060512Econo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_dispute"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_dispute</b></span></a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Now that the Arab Spring has almost evaporated into thin air, TURKEY reevaluated its stance in order to gain maximum geostrategic leverage, thus it comes as no surprise that…….</span></b></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Via debkafile</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">……..TURKEY dropped its ban on cooperating with ISRAEL as a third-nation NATO partner at the 28-member alliance meeting in Brussels on Dec. 4, in response to a reprimand from Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen that the ban had "created a lack of confidence among the partners." The same meeting approved the deployment of Patriots on the TURKISH border with Syria.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY REVIVES STRATEGIC COOPERATION WITH ISRAEL</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6vMYyR9O2ssHReAefLkhwA1GjNhUoterXIA1uMD6LwGi6g0JKhffYJyLuEH1yGbidoHjYxWOAabt-z-Yo6RSiQdiQwXeBB72stoW-QSLlHVhh6L7iTgsmT2xbyv6mv7h5mQLpw6qoMb4S/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6vMYyR9O2ssHReAefLkhwA1GjNhUoterXIA1uMD6LwGi6g0JKhffYJyLuEH1yGbidoHjYxWOAabt-z-Yo6RSiQdiQwXeBB72stoW-QSLlHVhh6L7iTgsmT2xbyv6mv7h5mQLpw6qoMb4S/s320/images.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY’S consent to effectively revive its strategic cooperation with ISRAEL represents a major breakthrough for Binyamin Netanyahu. As he runs for reelection on Jan. 22, he is constantly accused by opposition leaders of bringing ISRAEL into deep international isolation. TURKEY and NATO have undercut that charge<br /> President Barack Obama has strived hard to restore TURKISH ties with ISRAEL – and not only on ISRAEL’S behalf, but as a prop for his burgeoning Sunni Muslim Middle East bloc, headed by EGYPT, and a step on the path toward resuscitating the ISRAEL-Palestinian peace process.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />The two scenarios are part of a four-point understanding which President Obama and Netanyahu quietly concluded last fall when the US president was campaigning for reelection and which were made known to AMERICA’S EUROPEAN allies, as well as Moscow, Tehran and Ramallah.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">debkafile outlines those four points:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">1. The ISRAELI Prime Minister promised last fall not to rock the boat of Obama’s reelection campaign by a unilateral attack on Iran’s nuclear program until his inauguration for a second term on Jan. 21, 2013 – the day before the ISRAELI general election. Netanyahu also agreed to let the direct US-Iranian negotiating track launched in SWITZERLAND on Dec. 1, take its course for three months up to March 1.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />2.  President Obama counter-pledged that if at the end of those three months, IRAN’S ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had not delivered on the seven stipulations for curtailing on IRAN’S nuclear program, which administration officials put before IRANIAN representatives in those secret talks, the military option would move to the top of AMERICA’S agenda for IRAN.<br />This was not to say that AMERICA would go to war forthwith. However, if IRAN approached break-out capacity in 2013, as predicted, the US would find it hard to avoid a preemptive operation.<br />debkafile’s sources report that the direct US-IRAN negotiations launched on Dec. 1 quickly deadlocked. </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">OBAMA REWARDS NETANYAHU</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">3.  During Netanyahu’s critical three-month election campaign, Obama promised him a reprieve from outside pressures - on the understanding that ISRAEL and the Palestinians would get together in March to resume peace negotiations under joint US-Muslim sponsorship.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />4. The Moslem side of this sponsorship was projected to consist of EGYPT, TURKEY, QATAR and JORDAN. i.e. the Sunni Muslim-led axis which the Obama administration has been working on with ISRAEL ever since its anti-terrorist operation in the Gaza Strip in November.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Sunday, Dec. 23, it was revealed that TURKEY had assumed its role in the new pro-US axis by dropping its two-year boycott of military cooperation with ISRAEL within the framework of NATO. Ankara initially cut off ties of cooperation over the IDF raid of the TURKISH Mavi Marmara ship which was on a mission to break ISRAEL’S naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWZmRuzHRSfY-fxFQLm3fzSKZVOqdrmWjcOkjEucO2ZDGrABdPHWUe7TH4ng3uKzjGFCp1fFu9l9QJynC8gp8B5lgECdRXwc7cegizbRgAXH532Fw2eC8Rsj-88s6ovEMo6ujRHr9TEio/s1600/ISRA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWZmRuzHRSfY-fxFQLm3fzSKZVOqdrmWjcOkjEucO2ZDGrABdPHWUe7TH4ng3uKzjGFCp1fFu9l9QJynC8gp8B5lgECdRXwc7cegizbRgAXH532Fw2eC8Rsj-88s6ovEMo6ujRHr9TEio/s320/ISRA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In recent months, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo and the Turkish MIT intelligence director Fidan Hakan maintained back-channel interchanges and laid the groundwork for the two governments to start working together.  December saw the start of a process for healing relations between Ankara and Jerusalem, urged on both sides by the Obama administration. ISRAEL’S input was deemed necessary for US efforts to extinguish the flames in SYRIA together with its Middle East allies, chiefly EGYPT, and other ventures.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Sunday, Dec. 23, Netanyahu said that “far-reaching changes in the SYRIAN regime are close at hand with implications for the sensitive weaponry [chemical weapons] present there.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />He had obviously been authoritatively briefed on the state of play in the SYRIAN crisis.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE CHANGING WASHINGTON LANDSCAPE</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Obama’s new regional grouping was given its first spurt in mid-November as a product of Israel’s Pillar of Defense operation in the Gaza Strip. It has evolved into the mainspring of the US president’s Middle East policy for his second term.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Netanyahu has taken the four understandings he reached with Obama as the guidelines for his current and post-election policy. However, this week, certain changing circumstances evolving in Washington suggested that the new administration may again be veering away from US military action to curb IRAN’S drive for a nuclear weapon.<br />One such circumstance was Senator John Kerry’s nomination as Hillary Clinton’s successor in the State Department; another, informed speculation that Chuck Hagel is the frontrunner for defense in place of Leon Panetta.<br />Hagel’s views on war against IRAN - and ISRAEL per se - approximate those of Panetta’s predecessor, Robert Gates. Both these appointments would indicate that the US president may be stepping back from - rather than forward to - a military operation against IRAN.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Thursday, Dec. 12, two letters addressed to the White House were released in Washington by a group organized by Ambassador Thomas Pickering, the State Department’s No. 3, of former high-ranking US diplomats and generals. One of those letters strongly recommended Hagel’s appointment to defense, while the other just as strongly opposed an AMERICAN attack on IRAN - or even the stiffening of sanctions:<br />“US military action [against IRAN] would have grave consequences for the US and the region and, short of a full-scale occupation, would not stop IRAN’S nuclear program,” said that missive.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">IS THE OBAMA-NETANYAHU ACCORD IN JEOPARDY? </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Although there are still more than three months to go before the understandings he reached with Obama on IRAN are due to go into effect,  Netanyahu is nonetheless getting the feeling that the factions in Washington most adamantly opposed to Jerusalem’s policies and an Israeli role in Obama’s plans are working hard to pull them apart.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">ALLEGEDLY PALESTINIANS ARE PLANNING TO DESTABILIZE WEST BANK SECURITY, ENCOURAGING RUMORS THAT A “THIRD INTIFADA” IS IMPENDING </span><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></b></span> </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Another party keen to sabotage those understandings is Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). He set out, with the encouragement of some EUROPEAN governments, Western media and RUSSIA, on a campaign for turning up the heat around the Palestinian question. After the UN General Assembly approved his unilateral application for nonstate observer status, he threw out threats to prosecute ISRAEL’S leaders and IDF officers as “war criminals,” gave free rein to Palestinian hotheads acting to destabilize West Bank security, and encouraged rumors that a “third intifada” was impending.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Abu Mazen took those steps to ramp up Palestinian leverage ahead of peace negotiations and give vent to his wounded pride at the decision by Washington, Jerusalem, Cairo and Ankara to exclude him from partnership in the rising Sunni-led bloc.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Netanyahu responded by expanding Jerusalem and settlement expansion. He was visibly unconcerned by the international outcry and by the Palestinian leader’s steps.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Three major issues remain to be settled before the new axis can take off:</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />1.  The EGYPTIAN President Mohamed Morsi is by no means sure to weather the turmoil against his rule and be in a position to meet President Obama’s high expectations – even on the quiet. The US president had hoped Morsi would identify with his Middle East goals and take the lead in such pursuits as the ISRAELI-Palestinian peace process.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">2.   The SYRIAN conflict has an endless capacity for growing more savage. The approach of chemical and biological warfare on both sides – the government and the insurgents – may confront the US and ISRAEL with the imperative need for strong intervention.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />3. Al Qaeda and its affiliates are building up their assets in SYRIA, JORDAN and Sinai with the solid support of local Muslim Brotherhood branches. Those assets are linking up into a ring of terror, which is coiled to strike at JORDAN and ISRAEL and resort to the usual al Qaeda atrocities for thwarting Obama’s designs.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Comment</span></u></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: <b>Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</b> does not concur with claims that the US and ISRAEL are going to attack IRAN. These warmongering tactics have been used, by both ISRAEL and the US for geopolitical bargaining reasons. Both countries have no real intentions to endeavor such adventure, for the outcome is unpredictable. The same applies for US and NATO intervention in SYRIA. As indicated numerous times on this Blog, ISRAEL, unofficially at least, does not want the Assad regime to go, even if it means that IRAN is at its doorsteps, but at least Assad is predictable. <b>Toppling Assad would only make sense for ISRAEL if it was assured that the new Suni Muslim Brotherhood rulers of SYRIA would create a status-quo between SYRIA and ISRAEL, similar to that of the current regime in Syria and ISRAEL, something that in the light of developments in EGYPT and the evolving situation in SYRIA is utopia. </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

ISRAEL AND TURKEY

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With Help Here and There, Preserving Independence in Old Age - NYTimes.com

10:09 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div id="well" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div align="left"><div class="entry-content"><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">My 92-year-old aunt, who is cognitively impaired and requires a walker or wheelchair to get around, still lives in her own apartment, where round-the-clock home health aides help her get to and from the bathroom, bathe, dress and undress, and go outside each day for some fresh air. The aides shop, prepare and serve meals, do light housekeeping and make sure she takes her medications on time.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">But last month, my aunt's long-term care insurance ran out, and her meager savings will soon do the same. Then what?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Her daughters, both of whom work to support their families, cannot afford the $150 a day for 24-hour care by a certified home health aide, and my aunt has nothing to sell that could bring in the needed cash. Nor does she yet qualify for Medicaid or have a terminal illness that would justify hospice care, which would be covered by Medicare.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Complicating matters, her daughters long ago promised that they would not put her in a nursing home.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Such dilemmas are increasingly common as people live longer. The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to double to 80 million in the next three decades. People 85 and older are the fastest-growing age group; by 2020, there will be 6.6 million people in that age bracket, when rates of debilitating ailments soar.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Most Americans over 65 will eventually need help with the so-called tasks of daily living - eating, dressing, bathing, shopping and the like. But with family members spread all over the map or unable to be full-time caregivers for other reasons, the need for new and better options will only increase.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">When asked, 80 to 90 percent of older people say they want to remain in their own homes as long as possible. Yet remaining in one's home indefinitely is not always the best choice, even if it is financially feasible. As life draws near a close, many older adults need more care than can be provided safely at home. Simply finding reputable home health aides can be a nightmare, and family members often are forced to fill gaps in even the best caregiving plans.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">The challenge is all the more difficult when no one has thought through the options before a serious illness or injury makes it impossible for elders to return home without full-time help.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Many elders living independently need outside help long before they require round-the-clock care. A range of assistance and housing alternatives has rapidly sprung up to meet this demand. Many focus on improving accessibility in the home and access to neighborhood conveniences.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">An older person living in the suburbs who can no longer drive may become isolated, lonely and at risk of malnutrition if there is no person or community service to shop for her and take her places. Even stairs are a major obstacle.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Elinor Ginzler, director of the Cahnmann Center for Supportive Services at the Jewish Council for the Aging in Rockville, Md., writes that "the ability to age in place is greatly determined by the physical design and accessibility of a home, as well as community features like the availability of nearby services and amenities, affordable housing and transportation options."</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Organizations like Staying in Place, a nonprofit group of volunteers, helps people age 50 and older in Woodstock, N.Y., and surrounding communities "maintain active, independent, fulfilling lives in their own homes." For $125 a year (plus $50 for each additional household member over 50), the organization assists with paperwork and technology; free or low-cost transportation; referrals to discounted service workers; information about, and transport to, local classes and cultural and social activities; and recommendations for home health care agencies and personnel.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Other services that are free or low-cost include Meals on Wheels; friendly visiting; shopping services accessed by phone or computer; activities at senior centers; and adult day care centers.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">There are also more costly commercial organizations like Home Instead Senior Care, an international network of more than 900 independently owned franchises that provide in-home nonmedical care for elders and support for their caregivers.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">The organization sponsored a yearlong online study of 1,631 caregivers, 697 of whom were assisted by paid in-home nonmedical care. The study found that people receiving the additional paid care required 25 percent fewer doctor visits and were more likely to participate in adult day care.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Sadly, many aides are seriously underpaid. Home Instead, for instance, has lobbied to keep home health care aides exempt from minimum wage standards.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Henry Cisneros, former secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and editor of the book "Independent for Life: Homes and Neighborhoods for an Aging America," points out that "Americans are aging in traditional homes, neighborhoods and communities that were designed for yesterday's demographic realities, not those of today or the future."</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Mr. Cisneros advocates changing our communities so that the elderly can remain in them. "Homes can be retrofitted, new age-appropriate homes built, existing neighborhoods reconnected, and new communities planned," he wrote. For example, to accommodate declining eyesight, homes can be fitted with brighter bulbs, better lighting locations, easily accessed controls and nighttime guide lights.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Mr. Cisneros sees a pressing need for affordable packages of home modifications and maintenance to make residences more suitable for older people.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">"A certified renovation package for aging in place could include roll-under kitchen and bathroom sinks, grab bars, curbless showers, lever faucets and door handles, a zero-step entrance, and wider doors and hallways," he wrote.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">While such changes have a price tag, they may cost a lot less than current care alternatives for the elderly.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Needed changes at the community level include affordable small-scale housing and cluster housing situated in walkable communities with nearby amenities, businesses, health facilities and public transportation.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Borrowing from the design of assisted living facilities, individual dwelling units might be located around a common space that includes dining areas and social rooms.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">For elders who want to be near family members yet maintain their independence, so-called accessory dwelling units with their own kitchens and bathrooms are being built near or attached to family homes.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; "><strong>How to Know When Home Alone Is No Longer a Good Idea</strong></div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">Paula Spencer Scott, senior editor at <a href="http://Caring.com">Caring.com</a>, recently compiled a guide to help families determine when the time has come to move older relatives from their homes and into a more supportive environment or, alternatively, to bring in a home health aide who can provide assistance. These signs to look for and questions to ask are adapted from Ms. Scott's recommendations.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Recent accidents or close calls, like a fall, medical scare or minor car accident.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ A slow recovery. How well was a recent illness weathered? Did it develop into something serious? Was medical help sought when needed?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Worsening of a chronic health condition. As problems like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia or congestive heart failure progress, more help will be needed.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Greater difficulty managing the so-called activities of daily living, like dressing, bathing and cooking.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Bodily changes, like obvious weight loss or gain, increased frailty or unpleasant body odor.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ A loss of active friendships, including outings with friends, visits with neighbors or participation in religious or other group activities.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Days spent without leaving the house, perhaps because of difficulty driving or a fear of using public transportation.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Is someone checking in regularly? If not, is there a home-safety alarm system, a personal alarm system or a daily calling service in place?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Is someone nearby to assist if there's a fire, earthquake, flood or other disaster, and does the older resident understand plans for a catastrophe?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Mail in a chaotic state, scattered about and unopened. Are there unpaid overdue bills, surprising thank-you notes from charities, piles of unread magazines?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ If an older relative is still driving, go along for a ride and look for failure to fasten the seat belt or heed dashboard warning lights; signs of tension, preoccupation or distraction while driving; damage to the vehicle that may indicate carelessness.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ In the kitchen, signs of excess or forgetfulness, like perishables well past their expiration dates.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Favorite appliances are broken but not scheduled for repair.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Signs of fires. Look for charred stove knobs or pot bottoms, potholders with burned edges, a discharged fire extinguisher. Do smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have live batteries?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ A once-neat home now cluttered, spills that were not cleaned up, grime coating bathroom and kitchen appliances or an overflowing laundry basket.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Neglected plants or pets.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Signs of neglect outside the home, like broken windows, debris-filled gutters and drains, uncollected rubbish and an overstuffed mailbox.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Ask friends and neighbors whether your family member's behavior has changed lately.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Ask the person's doctor whether you should be concerned about the person's health or safety and whether a home assessment by a social worker or geriatric care manager may be advisable. If you expect resistance from the person, ask the doctor to "prescribe" a professional evaluation.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ If you are the primary caregiver, how are you doing? Are you increasingly exhausted, depressed or becoming resentful of the sacrifices you have to make to care for the person?</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: medium; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; ">¶ Consider your older relative's emotional state. If she is riddled with anxieties or increasingly lonely, then it may be time to make a move for reasons other than health and safety.</div></div></div></div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/staying-independent-in-old-age-with-a-little-help/?src=me&ref=general&pagewanted=print">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/staying-independent-in-old-age-with-a-little-help/?src=me&ref=general&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

With Help Here and There, Preserving Independence in Old Age - NYTimes.com

My 92-year-old aunt, who is cognitively impaired and requires a walker or wheelchair to get around, still lives in her own apartment, where round-the-clock home health aides help her get to and from the bathroom, bathe, dress and undress, and go outs…

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Stop Subsidizing Obesity - NYTimes.com

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With Help Here and There, Preserving Independence in Old Age - NYTimes.com

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