How Many Billions a Year Will the DSM-5 Cost? - Bloomberg

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">In preparing the DSM-5, the <a href="http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx" title="Open Web Site" rel="external" density="sparse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">revised manual</a> that is to be the next bible of psychiatric diagnosis, the <a href="http://psych.org/" title="Open Web Site" rel="external" density="full" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">American Psychiatric Association</a> has been extravagantly indifferent to all matters of cost.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">There are profound economic consequences to where boundaries are set between what is normal and what is considered a mental disorder. Diagnosis of mental illness brings on a cascade of costs, including doctor visits, tests, medications (and treatment for their complications), forensic and prison costs, disability obligations, the siphoning of educational resources and absenteeism.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">We are already experiencing an inflation in psychiatric diagnosis and an explosion in the use of expensive, and often unnecessary and harmful, psychotropic drugs.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">Now, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders will add new categories of mental illness with very high prevalence rates in the general population. A new diagnosis here, a new diagnosis there, and pretty soon you have millions of new patients and billions of dollars in expenditure.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">Seemingly small DSM-5 changes will make a big difference. Normal grief will become "<a href="http://www.dsm5.org/Lists/ProposedRevision/DispForm.aspx?ID=44" title="Open Web Site" rel="external" density="sparse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">major depressive disorder</a>," so that pills and medical rituals will be applied to a person's natural emotional reaction to the loss of a loved one.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">Excessive eating a dozen times in three months will become not mere gluttony but "binge eating disorder." Forgetfulness in old age will be "minor neurocognitive disorder," a label encompassing an enormous new patient population (only some of whom are at real risk of dementia) and incurring huge costs of unnecessary brain imaging when there is no effective treatment.</div><h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.3em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">New 'Patients'</h2><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">At the other end of the age continuum, temper tantrums will be diagnosed as "disruptive mood dysregulation disorder." And these are but a few of the <a href="https://my.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201212/dsm-5-is-guide-not-bible-ignore-its-ten-worst-changes" title="Open Web Site" rel="external" density="sparse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">many changes</a> in the DSM-5 that will create millions of new "patients," many of whom would do better without expensive, potentially harmful treatments.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">The new manual will also encourage doctors to <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201212/mislabeling-medical-illness-mental-disorder" title="Open Web Site" rel="external" density="full" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">misdiagnose physical disorders</a> as mental ones by creating a broad new category for patients who are anxious about their medical symptoms.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">No one has calculated the total direct and indirect monetary costs of the DSM-5 to the <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/u.s.-economy/" density="full" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">U.S. economy</a>, but the drain threatens to be enormous. And the extra money will probably be spent in the wrong places.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">Our scarce mental-health resources are already distributed in an irrational manner. We badly shortchange those with clear psychiatric disorders while overtreating essentially normal people. Many psychiatric patients wind up filling our overcrowded prisons at an <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/11/chart-one-year-of-prison-costs-more-than-one-year-at-princeton/247629/" title="Open Web Site" rel="external" density="full" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">annual cost per capita</a> greater than a year at <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/princeton-university/" density="sparse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Princeton University</a>.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">By further reducing the "normal" pool, the DSM-5 will divert even more resources away from those most in need of help.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">How will DSM-5 raise costs?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">First there are the direct and indirect costs of treating the newly diagnosed patients. These will be further amplified by the extension of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act to some 34 million more Americans, and its requirement that insurance include comprehensive care for mental disorders.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">This is a desirable policy change; a greater investment is certainly needed to shore up our badly shortchanged mental- health system. But the costs should be predictable and the money spent where it is likely to do the most good.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">Then there are indirect medical costs of treating complications from excessive medication use. Antipsychotics frequently cause enormous weight gain that can lead to diabetes and heart disease. Overdoses with <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/rxbrief/" title="Open Web Site" rel="external" density="sparse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">prescription drugs</a> now cause more visits to emergency rooms and expensive hospitalizations than overdoses with street drugs.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">Disability payments, workers compensation and veterans benefits spent on psychiatric care will also rise. And the newly diagnosed will, of course, incur increased sick days, resulting in a loss of productivity.</div><h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.3em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Inadequate Reviews</h2><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">The new DSM-5 diagnoses can be as dangerous as new drugs, but have not received the same kind of thorough risk-benefit review the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides before approving a new medicine. And they have received no cost-benefit review.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">Having been extremely profligate in its own expenditures -- the DSM-5 has already cost $25 million, five times as much as the DSM-IV in 1994 -- the association has taken no account of the potential costs to the public from its clinically risky diagnostic changes.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">It is now desperately dependent on DSM's perennial best- seller status to balance its books and is prematurely racing the new manual to press -- treating it as a publishing cash cow, not the public trust it should be.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">We need a broader national dialogue on mental health, its costs, and how best to spend precious resources. The DSM-5 is a giant step in the wrong direction -- away from good clinical common sense and fiscal responsibility.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; ">Clinicians and patients have a big stake in pushing back, and so do government and industry. The only sector that stands to benefit from the DSM-5 is the pharmaceutical business. The rest of us will pay the price.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 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; position: static; z-index: auto; ">(Allen Frances, a psychiatrist and professor emeritus at <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/duke-university-school-of-medicine/" density="sparse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Duke University School of Medicine</a>, was the chairman of the <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/task-force/" density="full" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); text-decoration: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">task force</a> that produced the DSM-IV. The opinions expressed are his own.)</div></div><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-20/how-many-billions-a-year-will-the-dsm-5-cost-.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-20/how-many-billions-a-year-will-the-dsm-5-cost-.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

How Many Billions a Year Will the DSM-5 Cost? - Bloomberg

In preparing the DSM-5, the  revised manual  that is to be the next bible of psychiatric diagnosis, the  American Psychiatric Association  h...

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Living With Cancer: Dancing With N.E.D. - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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 vocalist begins her song with people shocked by a diagnosis they cannot accept, women not yet ready to admit they have cancer.</div><blockquote 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-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); "><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; "><em>Starts with denial, there must be some mistake;<br>Check the name, check the lab, double-check the date.</em></div></blockquote><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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">While electric guitars and percussion join in, the lyrics of the song, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=55863004&ac=now" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">"Third-Person Reality,"</a> go on to describe turbulent anger, tension and fear that can only be eased by acceptance.</div><blockquote 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-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); "><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; "><em><br>Measure success one day at a time<br>Together we'll get to a better place<br>If you place your hand in mine.</em></div></blockquote><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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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 symbol of women with cervical, endometrial, ovarian, peritoneal, tubal, vaginal, and vulvar cancers- <a href="http://www.trocrf.org/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">a teal ribbon</a>-often goes unrecognized, but these patients do have their own rock band. Through the driving rhythms of folk-rock, the band members of N.E.D. accompany a refrain made especially meaningful by the fact that they are all surgeons who treat patients with gynecological cancers. The group started as a cover band to entertain doctors at a 2008 meeting of the Society of Gynecological Oncologists. Since then they have taken on a mission "to break through the silence of women's gynecological cancer." In the process, they have produced two albums to raise awareness and money for research.</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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 band's name strikes a special chord with anyone who has had cancer. The acronym, N.E.D., stands for that rapturous moment when patients are told that there is "no evidence of disease."</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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 band's debut year, 2008, happens to be the year I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and I find myself learning from <a href="http://www.nedtheband.com/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">N.E.D.'s Web site</a> about the umbrella term -- "gynecologic cancers" -- within which my disease resides. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 83,000 women are diagnosed each year with cancers "below the belt," and approximately 28,000 die from them. Yet with the notable exception of the brilliant comedienne Gilda Radner, who had ovarian cancer, no celebrity has emerged to represent the plight of these patients.</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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 fact may illustrate how stigmatized these diseases remain. Do women with gynecological cancers still find it difficult to overcome modesty about difficult-to-discuss body parts, even in this current age when such body parts seem weirdly chatty? Notwithstanding Eve Ensler's historic <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/14/theater/from-cringing-to-comfort-a-word-has-its-day.html?ref=eveensler" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">"Vagina Monologues"</a> and Naomi Wolf's narcissistic <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/books/review/vagina-a-new-biography-by-naomi-wolf.html?pagewanted=all" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">"Vagina,"</a> I suspect that quite a few women do not want to publicize their relationship with their genitals -- especially when sexual and reproductive organs are imperiled by disease. Who can blame them and more power to them, I think.</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">After all, the title of the song "Third-Person Reality" suggests that people with cancer often feel so traumatized that they lose the ability to experience or express their sense of themselves. Alas, they may have morphed from first-person individuals into third-person patients, waiting interminably for this test or undergoing that procedure or paying for another script for yet another drug -- even if, as in my lucky case, a caring oncologist offers a helping hand.</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">There are and have been prominent women whose recognition could call attention to gynecological cancers. Think of the award-winning actress <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYHEgTUzVoE" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">Carol Channing</a> or Miss America of 1945, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/video/chemo-vixen/ovca-psa-by-bess-myerson/6144204" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">Bess Myerson</a>. Other exceptional people were swirled into the swing and sway of N.E.D. for only a round or two. The British biophysicist Rosalind Franklin lived long enough to illuminate the molecular structure of DNA, but her death made her ineligible for the Nobel Prize accorded Watson and Crick (who barely acknowledged her contribution). President Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, raised two remarkable children while completing a Ph.D. in anthropology and helping to establish micro-industries in Indonesia before she was misdiagnosed with one gynecological disease and died of another. That Dr. Franklin was 37 years old and Ms. Dunham 52 reminds us that such cancers do not single out aged women.</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">A few weeks ago I received a heart-breaking e-mail from a mother whose daughter, Taylor Steele, died of ovarian cancer at 17. The Web site of the nonprofit foundation <a href="http://strong-as-steele.org/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">Strong as Steele</a> informs me that Taylor Steele loved to dance, but she did not get much time with N.E.D. after she was diagnosed at 12.</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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); ">And then there are people like me who are diagnosed later in life but can't fill out an N.E.D. dance card because, unfortunately, we still have E.D. (evidence of disease). That said, I am here to add that it is possible, if only intermittently, to hum along with E.D., which has its own sometimes somber but sometimes revitalizing rhythms.</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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 physician-musicians of N.E.D named their second CD <em>"Six Degrees"</em> for their six medical degrees, but also for the six degrees of separation between patients with gynecological diseases and everyone else. The title reminds me that every six minutes an American girl or woman discovers that she has a gynecological cancer. Let us hope that future research will develop new detection tools and improved treatments, giving each one a longer time to twist and shout with N.E.D.</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; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-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; "><em>Susan Gubar is a distinguished emerita professor of English at Indiana University and the author of "<a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/978-0-393-07325-6/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; ">Memoir of a Debulked Woman</a>," which explores her experience with ovarian cancer.</em></div></div><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/living-with-cancer-dancing-with-n-e-d/?pagewanted=print">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/living-with-cancer-dancing-with-n-e-d/?pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Living With Cancer: Dancing With N.E.D. - NYTimes.com

The vocalist begins her song with people shocked by a diagnosis they cannot accept, women not yet ready to admit they have cancer. Starts wi...

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Happy Kwanzaa

<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 enoug...

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Stop Subsidizing Obesity - NYTimes.com

<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 childho...

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ISRAEL AND TURKEY

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <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;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException 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UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--><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

TURKEY RESUMES NATO TIES WITH ISRAEL On 29 Jan 2012 , Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring wrote amidst rising political tensions between I...

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