Ebola is ‘disaster of our generation’ says aid agency
London (AFP) – Aid agency Oxfam on Saturday said Ebola could become the “definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation”, as US President Barack Obama urged against “hysteria” in the face of the growing crisis.
Oxfam, which works in the two worst-hit countries — Liberia and Sierra Leone — called for more troops, funding and medical staff to be sent to tackle the west African epicentre of the epidemic.
Chief executive Mark Goldring warned that the world was “in the eye of a storm”.
CDC Doled Out $25 Million In Bonuses While Blaming Cuts For Ebola Outbreak
By Kelly Riddell – The Washington Times
Top public health officials have collected $25 million in bonuses since 2007, carving out extra pay for themselves in tight federal budgetary times while blaming a lack of money for the Obama administration’s lackluster response to the Ebola outbreak.
U.S. taxpayers gave $6 billion in salaries and $25 million in bonuses to an elite corps of health care specialists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 2007, according to data compiled by American Transparency’s OpenTheBooks.com, an online portal aggregating 1.3 billion lines of federal, state and local spending. The agency’s head count increased by 23 percent during that time, adding manpower and contributing to higher payrolls despite relatively flat funding.
Police Officer in Ferguson Is Said to Recount a Struggle
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, MATT APUZZO and JULIE BOSMANOCT. 17, 2014
WASHINGTON — The police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., two months ago has told investigators that he was pinned in his vehicle and in fear for his life as he struggled over his gun with Mr. Brown, according to government officials briefed on the federal civil rights investigation into the matter.
The officer, Darren Wilson, has told the authorities that during the scuffle, Mr. Brown reached for the gun. It was fired twice in the car, according to forensics tests performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The first bullet struck Mr. Brown in the arm; the second bullet missed.
The forensics tests showed Mr. Brown’s blood on the gun, as well as on the interior door panel and on Officer Wilson’s uniform. Officer Wilson told the authorities that Mr. Brown had punched and scratched him repeatedly, leaving swelling on his face and cuts on his neck.
This is the first public account of Officer Wilson’s testimony to investigators, but it does not explain why, after he emerged from his vehicle, he fired at Mr. Brown multiple times. It contradicts some witness accounts, and it will not calm those who have been demanding to know why an unarmed man was shot a total of six times. Mr. Brown’s death continues to fuel anger and sometimes-violent protests.
Unable to Meet the Deductible or the Doctor (Gee Wiz)
By ABBY GOODNOUGH and ROBERT PEAROCT. 17, 2014
Patricia Wanderlich got insurance through the Affordable Care Act this year, and with good reason: She suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2011, spending weeks in a hospital intensive care unit, and has a second, smaller aneurysm that needs monitoring.
But her new plan has a $6,000 annual deductible, meaning that Ms. Wanderlich, who works part time at a landscaping company outside Chicago, has to pay for most of her medical services up to that amount. She is skipping this year’s brain scan and hoping for the best.
Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands Second Annual Daffodil Planting Day
Sun, October 19, 2014
Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Stable, 259 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Event DescriptionThis October community project involves the planting of thousands of daffodil bulbs throughout town. The project will culminate in April with a Daffodil Festival.
Humphrey the hamster unites Ridgewood school’s community
OCTOBER 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014, 3:35 PM BY JODI WEINBERGER STAFF WRITER | THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A hamster named Humphrey has taken over at Somerville School.
All the students in kindergarten through fifth grade, along with their parents and teachers, the administrators and custodial staff are reading a 144-page book about the furry rodent called “The World According to Humphrey” by Betty G. Birney.
Parents received a letter earlier this month explaining the project, called “One School, One Book,” which will run until Thanksgiving and has the children and their families reading two chapters a week of the book.
“One of the biggest parts of our jobs as elementary school people is to really promote kids loving reading,” said Somerville Principal Lorna Oates-Santos. “We want to create lifelong readers.”
Birney writes the story from the perspective of Humphrey, a hamster purchased from a store by a teacher to be a class pet. Through the book, Humphrey learns to read and write and has many adventures both in and out of the classroom.
There is no homework assigned with the book, but there will be weekly trivia contests at the school during the project and other activities, like a Humphrey healthy snack day where kids are encouraged to bring in snacks that a hamster might eat like carrots and cucumbers
CChurch Street Studio biohazard shoothurch Street Studio biohazard shoot
Are people preparing to wear Ebola-themed costumes being insensitive to the deaths of thousands of West Africans?
Actually, no, writes Kyle Smith, the West Africans have nothing to do with it… When we make fun of Ebola, we’re just mocking our own fears of death.
Why it’s OK to wear an Ebola costume for Halloween
By Kyle Smith
October 16, 2014 | 5:17pm
It’s unfortunate that so many deceased methamphetamine addicts had to have their condition belittled last year when “Breaking Bad” hazmat suits were a hot Halloween outfit. Three years ago, the October death of Steve Jobs was an occasion for national mourning, yet a mere three weeks later it inspired a turtleneck-wearing zombie Steveto trot around holding an iPad with a coffin labeled iDied. Wife-beaters and pedophiles aren’t funny, and yet people dress up as them for Halloween.
Today, people are dying of Ebola even as your fellow citizens try to think of ways to turn unimaginable suffering into cute costume ideas. You get the sense that people don’t have the proper serious attitude about a potentially nightmarish epidemic.
Medical professionals are objecting: the idea “definitely rubs me the wrong way,” Philadelphia physician’s assistant Maria McKenna told Associated Press. “This thing with the costumes, is it really that funny?”
RIDGEWOOD RECREATION PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS – Time to Register
FALL SESSION II – RETURNING FAVORITES AND NEW PROGRAMS AT THE STABLE
Registration is underway for Fall Session II with Ridgewood Parks and Recreation at the Stable, 259 N. Maple Avenue.
Several classes return with fun new projects while a few new enrichment classes are added.
Preschool offerings include Mini Doodler and My First Art, both with Abrakadoodle.
Elementary enrichment programs include “Green Kids Nature Club”, Drawing and/or Acrylics with Mrs. C, **New** 3D Clay Sculpture with Abrakadoodle, **New** Air-Mazing with Explore Science Inc., **New** Creative Cooking with Education Explorers and Tech Titans with Education Explorers.
Adult classes include Watercolors, Acrylics and a special holiday session of Healthy Gourmet. (Information/details for adult and senior programs at the Community Center to follow).
Visit the Recreation Homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net/recreation where you will find all program details and registration forms which may be
downloaded. You will also be able to link to Community Pass for online registration.
Please call the Stable Recreation Office at 201-670-5560 with any questions or if special accommodations are needed. New program suggestions are always welcome.
Please be sure to bookmark the Recreation homepage on your computer for easy access to updated program and special event information.
How Much Will Obamacare Cost? Bet on ‘More Than Expected’
Jason Keisling & Nick Gillespie | October 17, 2014
As the nation prepares for the second enrollment period under The Affordable Care Act in November, there is officially no way of figuring out what Obamacare is going to do to federal deficits compared to the estimates used to push the program through Congress.
Back in 2009, it was really important to President Obama that people understand he would not “sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits—either now or in the future. Period.” He sold the plan as costing about $938 billion in its first decade of operation (2010 through 2019) but saving about $143 billion overall because of the various taxes and other revenue it raised. A 2012 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report figured that Obamacare would shave $109 billion off the deficit between 2013 and 2022.
This past June, however, the CBO said it will no longer try to estimate the law’s effects on the deficit. There have been too many delays, postponements, modifications, you name it, to the original bill. “Isolating the incremental effects of those provisions on previously existing programs and revenues four years after enactment of the Affordable Care Act is not possible,” the CBO concluded.
So what’s going on? The deficit for fiscal year 2014, which ended on September 30, came in at “just” $483 billion and 2.8 percent of GDP, the lowest figures in years. President Obama was quick to say it was because of his signature health-care reform plan. “Healthcare has long been the single biggest driver of America’s future deficits,” reports The Hill. “Healthcare is now the single biggest factor driving those deficits down.”
At the same time, the CBO (and everyone else) expects deficits to start growing again in fiscal 2016, so it’s a bit premature to break out the bubbly just yet. Senate Republicans have just released a report based on CBO data claiming that Obamacare will end up adding $300 billion to federal deficits between 2015 and 2024.
The Republican report is ultimately a political document, so its methods and conclusions deserve to be taken with more than a few grains of salt. But if past experience with massive government-run health care programs is any indicator, the odds are high that Obamacare will end up costing way more than it was supposed to.
Rep. Scott Garrett and Senator David Vitter to Demand that Congress Reconvene to Address Ebola
Oct 17, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) and Senator David Vitter (R-LA) today sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid demanding that congress is immediately reconvened to address the threat raised by the Ebola virus.
“The Obama administration has failed to recognize this public health threat,” said Garrett and Vitter in the letter. “Thus far, the administration has refused to implement flight restrictions from affected countries, and provide effective screening process for travelers after they arrive on shores. The House and Senate must reconvene to direct the administration on what steps must be taken to protect the American people.”
Mr. Garrett has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration’s slow response to this epidemic. He joined his colleagues in calling on the president to institute immediate travel restrictions, enhance airport screenings, and develop quarantine measures for individuals who have traveled to, or from, the West African countries that have been impacted by Ebola.
Garrett’s opponent Roy Cho and NJ Sen Cory Booker are lock step with the presidents so far failed policies and are offering no new ideas .
New Czar has no background or infectious disease experience?
No he is not a Doctor
By David McCabe – 10/17/14 12:24 PM EDT
No sooner had the White House announced that it had selected Ron Klain to coordinate the administration’s response to concerns about the Ebola virus than several congressional Republicans were expressing anger about the pick.
Most highlighted Klain’s past as a political operative. He is a former chief of staff to Vice President Biden and a longtime aide to Democratic campaigns. Those criticizing Klain included Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), who chaired Thursday’s hearing on the response to the virus.
Photo Courtesy of Surabi Ragulan The Ridgewood girls tennis team bested Bergen Tech, 3-2, on Tuesday to claim its second straight North 1, Group 4 championship. BACK ROW, from left: Monica Vitting, Kelly Rekucki, Elizabeth O’Keefe, Katherine Bonfiglio, Brianna Patek and coach Medha Kirtane. FRONT ROW, from left: Kolby Erskine, Selin Tekgurler, Sara Canilang, Swathi Ragulan, Alexandria Absey and Julia Yoon.
Ridgewood Girls Tennis claims second straight sectional crown
October 17, 2014 Last updated: Friday, October 17, 2014, 12:31 AM
By Matthew Birchenough
RIDGEWOOD — A year after completing a long climb back to the top following an eight-year drought in the state-sectional tournament, the Ridgewood High School girls tennis wasn’t satisfied with just planting a flag at the summit. It wanted to set up camp there.
The Maroons have done just that, as they bested Bergen Tech, 3-2, on Tuesday afternoon to claim their second consecutive North 1, Group 4 championship.
“This just shows we’ve come here this far and we’re here to stay. We’re not going anywhere,” senior co-captain Swathi Ragulan said.
Ridgewood (12-3) is scheduled to take on Central section champ West Windsor-Plainsboro South (14-0) in the State Group 4 semifinals at 11 a.m. today at Mercer County Park in West Windsor. The winner of that match will meet the survivor of North 2 champion Ridge (15-1) versus South champion Lenape (12-2) at 3 p.m.
RHS lost last year in the semifinal round against Cherry Hill East.
The Maroons entered the sectional final with a slightly different lineup than they had employed throughout the season.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/girls-tennis/maroons-make-it-two-straight-in-states-1.1111428#sthash.a5OjFDXe.dpuf
The administration’s Ebola evasions reveal its disdain for the American people.
The administration’s handling of the Ebola crisis continues to be marked by double talk, runaround and gobbledygook. And its logic is worse than its language. In many of its actions, especially its public pronouncements, the government is functioning not as a soother of public anxiety but the cause of it.
An example this week came in the dialogue between Megyn Kelly of Fox News and Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control.
Their conversation focused largely on the government’s refusal to stop travel into the United States by citizens of plague nations. “Why not put a travel ban in place,” Ms. Kelly asked, while we shore up the U.S. public-health system?
Dr. Frieden replied that we now have screening at airports, and “we’ve already recommended that all nonessential travel to these countries be stopped for Americans.” He added: “We’re always looking at ways that we can better protect Americans.”
“But this is one,” Ms. Kelly responded.
Dr. Frieden implied a travel ban would be harmful: “If we do things that are going to make it harder to stop the epidemic there, it’s going to spread to other parts of—”
Ms. Kelly interjected, asking how keeping citizens from the affected regions out of America would make it harder to stop Ebola in Africa.
“Because you can’t get people in and out.”
“Why can’t we have charter flights?”
“You know, charter flights don’t do the same thing commercial airliners do.”
“What do you mean? They fly in and fly out.”
Dr. Frieden replied that limiting travel between African nations would slow relief efforts. “If we isolate these countries, what’s not going to happen is disease staying there. It’s going to spread more all over Africa and we’ll be at higher risk.”
Later in the interview, Ms. Kelly noted that we still have airplanes coming into the U.S. from Liberia, with passengers expected to self-report Ebola exposure.
Dr. Frieden responded: “Ultimately the only way—and you may not like this—but the only way we will get our risk to zero here is to stop the outbreak in Africa.”
Ms. Kelly said yes, that’s why we’re sending troops. But why can’t we do that and have a travel ban?
“If it spreads more in Africa, it’s going to be more of a risk to us here. Our only goal is protecting Americans—that’s our mission. We do that by protecting people here and by stopping threats abroad. That protects Americans.”
Hackensack University Medical Center teaming up to form N.J.’s largest hospital network
October 16, 2014, 9:06 AM Last updated: Thursday, October 16, 2014, 11:41 PM
By MARY JO LAYTON and LIN
Hackensack University Medical Center and its parent company are merging with Meridian Health and its six hospitals in Ocean and Monmouth counties to create the state’s largest hospital network.
The new organization, to be called Hackensack Meridian Health, will employ 23,400 people and have more than $3.4 billion in revenues, eclipsing Barnabas Health, currently the state’s largest health care system.
The “combined organization would serve a much broader geography, expanding access to services and developing a vast array of new non-hospital services to conveniently serve area communities,” Robert C. Garrett, president and CEO of Hackensack University Health Network, said. The plan to merge was announced Thursday.
Hackensack and Meridian together admit nearly 135,000 patients annually at nine hospitals and two children’s hospitals. Two additional hospitals are expected to join the network once Meridian’s proposed merger with Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy is completed, officials said.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/hackensack-university-medical-center-announces-merger-with-meridian-health-1.1110859#sthash.NqSm9Ghm.dpuf
NJ Senate Candidate Jeff Bell: ‘The Federal Government Hasn’t Handled A Single Thing Right’
October 14, 2014 2:28 PM
By Dom Giordano
“This federal government is completely dysfunctional. They haven’t handled a single thing right and their idea is that they can impose a top down model on every issue, whether it’s monetary policy, disease control, the Common Core education standards and the Affordable Care Act above all.” Jeff Bell
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Dom Giordano talked to New Jersey Senate Candidate Jeff Bell on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. Bell, a Republican, is challenging incumbent Corey Booker in November’s election.
Bell claimed that Senator Booker supports all of President Obama’s economic policies and said rather than helping the middle class, they put them at a disadvantage.
“Most people don’t want to get into the Wall Street stock market casino and it’s a tremendously wearing thing for the middle class, not for the rich people. People that don’t need a loan find it very easy to get a loan at these low interest rates.”
He believes returning to the gold standard would stabilize the economy and boost small businesses.
“The gold standard is the system that levels the playing field. If you know what you’re money is going to be worth one year from now, two years from now, five years from now, then you can navigate. It’s a simpler world. You can get interest on savings. The long term interest rate is up, enough to get savings. Small business is the most important element, from and economic standpoint, that would be liberated because they have a difficulty getting lines of credit that are so low that community banks don’t want to make risky loans when they have so little return.”
Bell also insists the federal government is not equipped to handle crises like Ebola.
“This federal government is completely dysfunctional. They haven’t handled a single thing right and their idea is that they can impose a top down model on every issue, whether it’s monetary policy, disease control, the Common Core education standards and the Affordable Care Act above all.”
