Monthly Archives: June 2012

American Liberty (OTCBB: OREO) Issues Progress Report on Nevada Wells

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NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire -06/06/12)- American Liberty Petroleum, Corp. (OREO) has recently announced a progress update to their Nevada based wells and has released that they have completed their second sale of crude to Foreland's Eagle Springs Refinery.

In its report on American Liberty Petroleum, Grass Roots Research noted that the U.S. demand for energy is forecast to grow 20% from 2009 to 2035. The main driving force for oil will be ever increasing demand for energy. Grass Roots believes that oil will remain a dominant fuel in the future as growing demand for energy is not likely to be fulfilled by alternative sources. Additionally, geopolitical tensions make oil imports from Middle East erratic. According to Grass Roots, this calls for substantial oil and gas investment domestically. OREO is one U.S. oil company that is looking to explore oil and gas domestically. Grass Roots also notes that OREO's two attractive oil prospects, which are situated in Western Nevada, are estimated to have a total reserve of approximately 4.6 billion barrels. (http://bit.ly/MeodIp)

Other active stocks are Isramco, Inc (ISRL), Hercules Offshore, Inc. (HERO) and Gulfport Energy (GPOR)

Information, opinions and analysis contained herein are based on sources believed to be reliable, but no representation, expressed or implied, is made as to its accuracy, completeness or correctness. The opinions contained herein reflect our current judgment and are subject to change without notice. We accept no liability for any losses arising from an investor's reliance on or use of this report. This report is for information purposes only, and is neither a solicitation to buy nor an offer to sell securities. A third party has hired and paid IO News Wire twelve hundred and ninety five dollars for the publication and circulation of this news release. Certain information included herein is forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements concerning manufacturing, marketing, growth, and expansion. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could affect actual results and cause them to differ materially from expectations expressed herein. We have no ownership of equity, no representation; do no trading of any kind and send no faxes or emails.

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American Liberty (OTCBB: OREO) Issues Progress Report on Nevada Wells

'The Daily Show' recap for 6/5/12

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Jon Stewart kicked off last nights Daily Show by discussing yesterdays gubernatorial election in Wisconsin. While Republican governor Scott Walker survived the recall, Stewart offered a dire prediction for the states future.

During a focus group with Wisconsin public schoolteachers, Stewart was quick to notice, a prophetic symbol. The room was decorated with portraits of Americas presidents. Curiously, one womans hair blocked the bottom half of Regans face, giving him a slightly sinister stache. Notice how that womans hair transforms Ronald Regans portrait into, I dont know, Stalin! he exclaimed.

For more information from the badger state itself, Stewart turned to Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac, who sat down to chat with Jeremy Levinson, attorney for the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

Levinson asserted that popular support for the recall demonstrates Walkers inadequacy. 1 million Wisconsinites cant be wrong, he said.

But apparently 1, 123, 591 can, Cenac noted. Thats how many voted for walker in 2010.

Cenac asked Levinson what exactly Walker had done to warrant such drastic action. Did he break a law or get caught with prostitutes? he asked. Levinson said no but described the recall as a safety valve used only in rare circumstances.

You say rare circumstances. You mean when somebody gets elected you dont agree with? Cenac said.

Cenac also sat down with Wisconsin Republican Isaac Weix. This is ridiculous! Cenac fumed. You dont just recall every dumb person because theyre a dumb person! After a short, contemplative pause, Weix nodded in agreement.

As Cenac noted, at least the state of Wisconsin has something to be grateful for: two political parties that are both ethical and mature.

In the second segment of the show, Stewart discussed double-digit unemployment among Americas blacks and Latinos. That could really hurt Obamas chances among, well lets be honest, just Latinos, he said.

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'The Daily Show' recap for 6/5/12

Was New York City’s subway worth the cost?

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All thanks to extensive public subsidies. (Mary Altaffer - AP) Tim Lee offers up a brief history of New York Citys subway system, based on Clifton Hoods book 722 Miles. Private companies had been building above-ground lines in the 19th century on their own. But there was no way to build an underground system without public subsidies:

The public subsidies for the subway system turned out to be quite large: The city eventually chipped in $36.5 million in 1900 and then an additional $123 million in 1911 to extend the lines. Those two early spurts of spending alone equal roughly $3.8 billion in todays dollars.

Lee goes on to ask whether these sorts of infrastructure projects pose a challenge to libertarianism. Were the critics of the vast subsidies used to build New York Citys subway wrong? After all, without the publicly funded system and its extensions, the bucolic farmland in Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens might never have been transformed into todays dense urban neighborhoods. A subway-less New York, Lee adds, would not only have a smaller population, it would likely be poorer per capita. ... Maybe over the long run, those subsidies paid for themselves through the expansion of the citys tax base.

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Was New York City’s subway worth the cost?

Don Draper: Libertarianism’s favorite ad man

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If an ad man like Don Draper saw the groveling, apologetic PR coming from big corporations today, Fred Smith thinks hed be appalled.

(SOURCE: CEI) Smith is president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think-tank dedicated to advancing the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty. On Tuesday evening, the group hosted a Mad Men-themed, $250-a-head gala dinner, where they lamented that todays corporations have lost the self-assurance business possessed in the 50s and 60s.

The advertisements of Drapers 1960s were offering the good life, products that allowed us to be healthier, wealthier, Smith told the packed ballroom at Washingtons Hyatt-Regency, standing in front of giant vintage photo of a nuclear family watching TV. These days, Smith continued, modern Mad Men have a rather more dispiriting message for consumers. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, he said, with mock chagrin. They dont say what theyre proud about. Instead, they say theyre not as bad as you think they are. He singled out BP as the exemplar of corporate Americas new era of shame. BP rushes around and asks customers to use less energy, he said. We shouldnt be ashamed of using it! The audiencea 600-strong room of conservatives and libertariansburst into wild applause.

The free-marketeers at the dinner saw themselves as the natural compatriots of Don Draperthe debonair, hard-driving, sometimes ruthless ad man, in the words of Loren Smith, the federal judge who MC-ed the program in a Guys and Dolls-style fedora and gray pinstriped suit. But its not clear whether Draper himself would have agreed.

Certainly, Jon Hamms character has no compunction about glorifying a corporate client amid accusations of harm to the public good. In a recent episode, Draper tells Dow, the chemical giant, how he would contain the backlash over the use of napalm in Vietnam. The government put it in flame-throwers against the Nazis, impact bombs against the Japanese, he tells them. The important thing is, when our boys are fighting and they need it...when America needs it...Dow makes it. And it works.

But Don Draper and his colleagues ultimately care more about the success of their own business than an ideological defense of free-enterprise capitalism. After Lucky Strike decided to dump his firm, Draper pens a vindictive letter published in the New York Times that channels the concerns that every public health-advocate and government regulator that cracked down on the cigarette industry at the time.

For over 25 years we devoted ourselves to peddling a product for which good work is irrelevant, because people cant stop themselves from buying it, he writes. And then, when Lucky Strike moved their business elsewhere, I realized, here was my chance to be someone who could sleep at night, because I know what Im selling doesnt kill my customers.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. But Don Draper doesnt write the letter because he believes the public-health crackdown is justified. He does it because he knows he wont get Lucky Strikes business backand perhaps because it could bring in new business from the likes of the American Cancer Society, as he explains to his colleagues while puffing away at a cigarette.

Likewise, BPs public-relations campaign after the 2010 oil spill didnt mean the company suddenly had a change of heart. It was an image-rehabilitation strategy meant to ensure that BPs business was protected in an era in which both customers and public officials will demand that our energy industry is, in fact, Beyond Petroleum. A mea culpa attitude can also be a pragmatic approach to business in the face of external constraintsbe they limited natural resources or new regulations.

The free-market advocates at CEI, however, dismisses the idea that corporationsor their ad menmust adapt to such constraints. The Malthusian dystopia that liberals warned about in Don Drapers time never came to pass, asserted Matt Ridley, the British author who received an award at the gala. In a video acceptance speech, Ridley listed the previous eras supposed paper tigers, to the audiences amusement: Global famine, food aid, cancer epidemics, nuclear winter...oil spill increases. And American businesses are going through the same charade today, with products walking through a minefield of political correctness, Smith said, bemoaning the ongoing war on sin products. (The galas gift bags each containing a cigar, ash tray, highball glasses, and candy cigarettesdrove his point home.)

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Don Draper: Libertarianism’s favorite ad man

Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. to Present at Sidoti's Semi-Annual New York Micro-Cap Conference

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GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS--(Marketwire -06/06/12)- Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. (CWCO), which develops and operates seawater desalination plants and water distribution systems in areas of the world where naturally occurring supplies of potable water are scarce or nonexistent, today announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Rick McTaggart, is scheduled to make a presentation at the Sidoti Semi-Annual New York Micro-Cap Conference at 8:40 a.m. EDT on Thursday, June 14, 2012. Mr. McTaggart will also meet with investors to discuss the Company's ongoing operations. The conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel in midtown Manhattan.

About Sidoti & Company, LLC

Sidoti & Company, LLC, founded in 1999, continues to set the Wall Street standard for independent small-cap equity research, while rapidly becoming a driving force in micro-cap research, launching coverage of more than 100 equities of $200 million market cap or less since inception in mid-2010. Its analysts mine dozens of industries to provide unbiased, institutional-quality research focusing on the investment merits of profitable companies at a sub-$3 billion market cap, and it anticipates extending coverage to 700 small-cap equities by the end of 2012.

CWCO-G

About Consolidated Water Co. Ltd.

Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. develops and operates seawater desalination plants and water distribution systems in areas of the world where naturally occurring supplies of potable water are scarce or nonexistent. The Company operates water production and/or distribution facilities in the Cayman Islands, Belize, the British Virgin Islands and The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. is headquartered in George Town, Grand Cayman, in the Cayman Islands. The Company's ordinary (common) stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "CWCO". Additional information on the Company is available on its website at http://www.cwco.com.

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Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. to Present at Sidoti's Semi-Annual New York Micro-Cap Conference

Profits rise at Falkland Islands but growth expected to slow

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LONDON (ShareCast) - Falkland Islands, an international services group, offset news of a rise in both revenue and profits with warnings of a slowdown in growth. Underlying pre-tax profits for the year rose 18.7% from 2.73m to 3.24m, slightly higher than expectations of 3.0m, despite higher financing costs this time round. Revenues were up 7.1% from 31.84m to 34.11m, ahead of expectations of 32.0m. Diluted earnings per share increased from 20.6p to 26.2p. The company believes that weakened consumer demand in the UK, the full utilisation of capacity, and increases to costs will all have an impact on the company's growth this year. However, the company was keen to emphasise that the medium term outlook remains positive and its financial position continues to be strong, with bank borrowings reduced to 3.0m at March 31st, while cash balances were 2.8m. Divisionally, Falkland Island Company had a satisfactory year with a small decline in profits from 1.61m to 1.52m on revenues 0.4% higher at 14.98m, continuing record levels seen the previous year. Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Company (PHFC) delivered another robust performance with revenues rising by 11.5%, reflecting the increase in fares and mild winter weather, which more than offset the substantial increase in operating costs following the June 2011 installation of the new pontoon at Gosport. Momart, the group's art handling and logistics business, continued the recovery seen in the first half and produced a much improved performance for the year. Helped by the strength of the commercial art market, total revenue increased by 13.5% to 15.0m (2011: 13.2m) and underlying operating profit rose by 0.43m (81%) to 0.96m (2011: 0.53m). Chairman David Hudd said: "Our market leading businesses continued to prove resilient and delivered good results in difficult economic conditions. "For the current year, trading has been satisfactory and in line with our expectations. Whilst we do not expect the rate of growth achieved across the group in the year ended March 2012 to be repeated in the coming year, in the medium term we are confident of further growth at Momart, steady progression at PHFC and in the Falklands our assets and businesses are well placed to take advantage of the transformational change which seems increasingly likely. "In the Falkland Islands, the Sea Lion discovery in the North Falkland Basin has confirmed the existence of commercially exploitable hydrocarbons. To the south, the Darwin well recently drilled by Borders & Southern Petroleum (Other OTC: BDRSF.PK - news) has proved the existence of a working hydrocarbon system and supports the prospectivity of the South Falkland Basin. Both outcomes make further exploration work certain." The share price rose 0.7% to 357.50p by 12:58. NR

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Profits rise at Falkland Islands but growth expected to slow

List of the Islands of Melanesia

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Geographically Melanesia incorporates the southern Pacific Ocean islands north and northeast of Australia, from New Guinea on the west to Fiji on the east. Over 5000 islands and islets, with a land area totaling about 386K sq. mi., cover over 500K square miles of water from the South Pacific Ocean to the Coral Sea, Solomon Sea, Bismarck Sea, Arafura Sea, Haimahera Sea, Ceram Sea, Banda Sea and Molucca Sea.

In order of size, the island groups/countries that make up Melanesia are:

Island of New Guinea 303,000 sq. mi.; population 7.5 million

Second largest island in the world (after Greenland), split in two politically the eastern half of the island being Papua New Guinea, formerly a territory of Australia, now an independent country since 1975; and the western half of the island, formerly a Dutch colony, now made up of two provinces of Indonesia (Papua and West Papua). Known as one of the most linguistically diverse regions of the world, with nearly a thousand different tribal groups, some of which are still considered uncontacted. Numerous opportunities for adventure tours and eco tours. Popular tourist activities include trekking, mountain climbing, surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, canoeing/kayaking, caving, wildlife and bird-watching, visiting World War II historical sites, and learning about the local tribes and cultures.

Islands of Papua New Guinea

Besides constituting half of the island of New Guinea (as described above), the country of Papua New Guinea has several island groups that belong to it. There is not much in the way of tourism facilities on most of these islands; so most tourists enjoy them through island-hopping live-aboard yacht or cruise tours from the main island of New Guinea. The islands include: 1) Bismarck Archipelago 19,000 sq. mi.; population 472,000; located to the northeast of the main island, part of the Islands Region, an archipelago of around 200 islands surrounding the Bismarck Sea, the largest of these islands is New Britain. 2) The Autonomous Region of Bougainville (previously known as the North Solomons) 3600 sq. mi.; population 175,000; includes the main island of Bougainville plus around 200 outlying islands. 3) The Milne Bay Province, at the southeast tip of Papua New Guinea, includes several island groups in the Solomon Sea totaling more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited. These include: the Amphlett Islands, the dEntrecasteaux Islands, the Trobriand Islands, the Louisiade Archipelago, and Woodlark Island.

Maluku Islands 29,000 sq. mi.; population 2,000,000

Also known as the Moluccas, and historically known as the Spice Islands for the growing of nutmeg and cloves; an Indonesian archipelago of over 1000 islands and islets, located just west of New Guinea and east of the main part of Indonesia. Minimal tourist facilities, but known for good snorkeling.

Solomon Islands 11,000 sq. mi.; population 585,000

A sovereign state (constitutional monarchy), previously a British protectorate, east of Papua New Guinea; bordered on the south by the Solomon Sea and the Coral Sea and on the north by the South Pacific Ocean; made up of nearly 1000 islands and islets with 3300 miles of coastline; mostly rugged mountains with some low coral atolls. Limited tourist facilities but popular tourist activities include scuba diving, snorkeling, World War II historical tours, wildlife viewing and photography.

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List of the Islands of Melanesia

Myriad Genetics Receives the Charles R. Smart Visionary Award From the American Cancer Society(R)

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SALT LAKE CITY, June 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myriad Genetics announced today that the Company is the honorable recipient of the 2012 Charles R. Smart Visionary Award from the American Cancer Society's Salt Lake City office, a part of the Great West Division. This award is presented annually at the Society's Legacy & Leadership event to recognize organizations that have made extraordinary efforts in the fight against cancer.

Myriad and its employees are dedicated to saving lives and improving the quality of life of patients with cancer. In addition to its life-saving molecular diagnostic tests, Myriad is a local community leader with the American Cancer Society in the fight against cancer. The Company and its employees have played an important role in events to benefit the American Cancer Society including the Hope Gala, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and Relay for Life.

"We are deeply honored to receive the Charles R. Smart Visionary award," said Peter Meldrum, President and Chief Executive Officer of Myriad Genetics. "Myriad and the American Cancer Society share the goal of improving the quality of life for patients with cancer. Everyday our activities are guided by this mission and therefore we have been pleased to offer our financial support, leadership involvement and volunteer participation to this cause."

The late Dr. Charles R. Smart, a lifelong resident of Utah, was a pioneer in the study of cancer. Dr. Smart spent more than 35 years focused on establishing computerized cancer research and was the founder of the Utah Cancer Registry, a population based registry that has been doing systematic cancer surveillance in the state since 1966.

About Myriad Genetics

Myriad Genetics, Inc., an internationally recognized leader in molecular diagnostics, is dedicated to making a difference in patient's lives through the discovery and commercialization of transformative tests to assess a person's risk of developing disease, guide treatment decisions and assess risk of disease progression and recurrence. Myriad's portfolio of molecular diagnostic tests are based on an understanding of the role genes play in human disease and were developed with a commitment to improving an individual's decision making process for monitoring and treating disease. Myriad is focused on strategic directives to introduce new products, including companion diagnostics, as well as expanding internationally. For more information on how Myriad is making a difference, please visit the Company's website: http://www.myriad.com

Myriad, the Myriad logo, BRACAnalysis, Colaris, Colaris AP, Melaris, TheraGuide, Prezeon, OnDose, Panexia and Prolaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Myriad Genetics, Inc. in the United States and foreign countries. MYGN-G

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to the Company's strategic directives under the caption "About Myriad Genetics". These "forward-looking statements" are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risk that sales and profit margins of our existing molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services may decline or will not continue to increase at historical rates; the risk that we may be unable to expand into new markets outside of the United States; the risk that we may be unable to develop or achieve commercial success for additional molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services in a timely manner, or at all; the risk that we may not successfully develop new markets for our molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services, including our ability to successfully generate revenue outside the United States; the risk that licenses to the technology underlying our molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services and any future products are terminated or cannot be maintained on satisfactory terms; risks related to delays or other problems with manufacturing our products or operating our laboratory testing facilities; risks related to public concern over genetic testing in general or our tests in particular; risks related to regulatory requirements or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries and changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems; risks related to our ability to obtain new corporate collaborations and acquire new technologies or businesses on satisfactory terms, if at all; risks related to our ability to successfully integrate and derive benefits from any technologies or businesses that we acquire; the development of competing tests and services; the risk that we or our licensors may be unable to protect the proprietary technologies underlying our tests; the risk of patent-infringement and invalidity claims or challenges of our patents; risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the United States and internationally; and other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Item 1A in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Myriad undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

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Myriad Genetics Receives the Charles R. Smart Visionary Award From the American Cancer Society(R)

Mass. House passes health care cost bill

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BOSTON (AP) -- The Massachusetts House of Representatives has passed a proposal that aims to reel in the state's spiraling health care costs by $160 billion over the next 15 years. The House and Senate must now resolve their differences over the measure before it can go to Gov. Deval Patrick.

Lawmakers have been working on legislation that tries to lower the costs resulting from the 2006 landmark Massachusetts health care legislation that mandates health insurance for nearly all state residents. The House passed its version of the bill 148-7 late Tuesday night.

This bill aims to contain health care costs by evening out disparities in the prices of health services. It would require hospitals that charge more than 20 percent above the state median price for a service to pay a 10 percent surcharge.

It also focuses on workforce development, overhauls medical malpractice laws and adopts alternative payment methods, such as global and bundled payments for services.

A conference committee will now reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill, which differ on certain provisions like the surcharge on hospitals and other health care providers. The Senate bill does not call for any surcharge.

Patrick, a Democrat, told reporters Wednesday that he is looking forward to the work of the committee.

"I'm confident we are going to get to a great and final bill," he said. "It will be a good bill for patients and for the industry as well."

During debate on the bill, Rep. Steven Walsh, D-Lynn, said health care costs in Massachusetts have been rising from 6.7 percent to 8 percent annually, with the state spending $66 billion on health care last year

Signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney, the 2006 law dramatically expanded access to health coverage in Massachusetts. But premiums and other health care costs have threatened to undermine the law's long-term fiscal stability.

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Mass. House passes health care cost bill

Prison health care fight may continue

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Our political team covers the goings on from the White House to the Statehouse. Follow our political team on Twitter for the latest news at @Ohio_Politics

Laura A. Bischoff has covered Ohio politics and the Statehouse since 2001. E-mail her at Laura.Bischoff@coxinc.com.

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Jessica Wehrman covers Washington, D.C. focused on Ohio.

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Prison health care fight may continue

Viridian Health Management Provides Best Practices to Integrate Safety and Health Promotion, Reduce Health-Care Costs …

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PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Faced with escalating health-care costs, many employers are turning to worksite health programs to help employees adopt healthier lifestyles, decrease their risk of developing costly chronic diseases and improve productivity. Chronic illnesses account for a staggering 75 percent of the nations estimated $2.6 trillion in annual health-care costs.1

Viridian Health Management, a national leader committed to changing employee health behaviors through targeted, outcomes-based health improvement programs and services, will be speaking at the CGI America conference in Chicago on June 7-8, 2012. Former President Clinton will host this annual event focused on developing solutions that promote economic recovery in the United States.

As a CGI America participant, Viridian will join one of 12 topic-specific working groups that will share knowledge, build partnerships and generate a Commitment to Action. Viridians Commitment to Action, Empowering Small Employers to Impact Health and Productivity, will cover innovative strategies to engage small employers in worksite health, as well as share implementation and sustainability strategies. Viridians President and CEO Brenda Schmidt will lead the Healthy Workforce Working Group and examine how individuals, employers and community organizations can work together to improve community health.

Promoting healthy lifestyle choices through worksite health programs can improve the health and productivity of employees and their families, while lowering health-care costs that are driven by chronic diseases and modifiable health-risk behaviors, said Schmidt. We look forward to working with President Clinton and CGI America to address the challenges in developing and implementing cost-effective wellness programs, as well as establishing partnerships with other organizations that are also committed to improving the health of American workers.

Andy Spaulding, Director of the Viridian Center for Community and Worksite Health, will also attend CGI America, and will share Viridians Commitment to Action with CGI Americas entire Wellness Working Group.

Few small employers have the knowledge, capacity and resources to implement evidence-based programs to cost-effectively implement worksite health programs, added Spaulding. As part of our Commitment to Action, Viridian will develop a robust technology platform to impact employee health and productivity through employer worksite health initiatives. These programs aim to improve the health of employees, resulting in increased productivity, fewer workplace-related injuries and lower health-care costs.

Industry Thought Leaders in Worksite Health

Further positioning Viridian Health Management as an industry leader in worksite health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded Viridian a national implementation contract in October 2011 to establish comprehensive worksite health programs based on Viridians proven ability to deliver evidence-based programs that enhance employee health, reduce chronic disease and lower health-care costs. The National Healthy Worksite Program (NHWP) will focus on employer and employee outcomes in the areas of implementing evidence-based interventions, improving nutritional status, increasing physical activity and reducing tobacco use through individual health coaching, environmental supports and workplace policies. As the NHWPs implementation contractor, Viridian will provide operational management of the program, conduct individual and organizational assessments, provide implementation support and data collection, and provide training to program participants.

Schmidt has also been invited to attend the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Colloquium in Washington, D.C. in June 2012. In addition, she will lead an innovator workshop at the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) Forum in October 2012.

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Viridian Health Management Provides Best Practices to Integrate Safety and Health Promotion, Reduce Health-Care Costs ...

Big Government, Bad Policy, and Rising Health-Care Costs

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Call it the war on supersizing. Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to restrict the size of New Yorkers' soft drinks. He's been on the vanguard of public health policy before, with a 2002 indoor smoking ban and a trans-fat fight in 2006. Later efforts -- including an attempt to restrict food stamp recipients' ability to buy sugary drinks and a failed soda tax -- have been decidedly less successful.

There are logical governance reasons for this nanny-state meddling. Obesity is a major health issue, and New York State has one of the costliest health-care burdens per person in the United States. Controlling obesity would help control out-of-control health-care spending, or so the argument goes. However, banning soda may be the wrong way to rein in rising obesity rates and control out-of-control health-care spending -- but not for the reasons you might think.

Don't tread on my waistline Americans love their freedom of choice. Many were vocal on the issue after news broke of Bloomberg's soda crackdown. "How dare the government infringe on my right to suck down an entire toilet tank's worth of high fructose corn syrup?!" they cried. What most failed to realize is just how influential the government really is on its citizens' health choices, directly and indirectly. It's the indirect influence that I'd like to talk about. The source of our modern obesity epidemic, a plague of cheap corn, can largely be laid at the government's feet.

The cost of commodity corn ranged near $2 per bushel for decades before its recent spike, and about 10% of that cost was subsidized by direct government payments to farmers. From 1995 to 2009, corn farmers received an average of $5.3 billion a year in direct and indirect subsidies. That amounted to about $0.48 of total subsidies per bushel of corn in 2005. In this last "cheap" year for corn, subsidies made up a quarter of corn's total commodity price.

Michael Pollan explains the history and effects of the American government's role in corn production with far more depth and detail than I ever could. The best distillation of his why-we-eat-what-we-eat best-seller, The Omnivore's Dilemma, is this: "When food is abundant and cheap, people will eat more of it and get fat." And corn, easy to grow, easy to store, and extremely nutrient-dense, makes an ideal starting point for all manner of inexpensive byproducts.

Amber waves of really cheap grain Modern American agricultural policy goes back to the early '80s, when major grain buyers Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) began to directly influence the language of congressional farm bills. Commodity corn has been sold at the same low levels, roughly $2 per bushel, ever since, with the exception of a wide-ranging commodity price spike that began in 2007. The primary reason for this recent price increase is a massive surge in exports to China, which means we're now effectively subsidizing a future Chinese obesity crisis, too. Still, the cost of commodity corn remains only a small part of our final food costs.

Cheap corn has made its way into about a quarter of the groceries found in most supermarkets, almost all of it processed. A box of cereal is worth about $0.08 to farmers. It's "magically delicious" thanks to science, not farm labor. The industrial-scale mass production of cheap meat is possible because there is always enough cheap corn for feed -- over a hundred million tons of the stuff is gobbled up by farm animals each year.

The hidden health costs of corn American waistlines were largely under control before the plague of cheap corn. Obesity trends changed very little from 1960 to 1980, but from 1980 to 2000, American obesity rates doubled. In 2010, more than 78 million adults, and 12.5 million children, were obese. This obesity epidemic costs the country about $190 billion a year, or 21% of all health-care spending, according to a Cornell University study released earlier this year.

People who choose to drink that jumbo Slurpee do affect you when you pay higher taxes for Medicare and Medicaid. These programs combined to cover 93 million people in 2010, and it's worth noting that the poor and elderly are more likely to be obese than the general populace.

A chart put together by my colleague Morgan Housel shows the impact cheap corn has had on the nation's youth, though he might not have intended it to:

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Big Government, Bad Policy, and Rising Health-Care Costs

Health Care REIT to Present at the NAREIT 2012 Investor Forum

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TOLEDO, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Health Care REIT, Inc. (HCN) announced today that senior management will present at the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) REITWeek 2012 Investor Forum in New York. The presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

The presentation will be simultaneously webcast and may be accessed at http://reitstream.com/reitweek2012/healthcarereit. An archive of the webcast will be available for 90 days after the event. Additionally, a written copy of presentation materials will be available on the Investor Relations section of Health Care REIT's website (www.hcreit.com).

About Health Care REIT

Health Care REIT, Inc., an S&P 500 company with headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, is a real estate investment trust that invests across the full spectrum of seniors housing and health care real estate. The company also provides an extensive array of property management and development services. As of March 31, 2012, the companys broadly diversified portfolio consisted of 956 properties in 46 states. More information is available on the companys website at http://www.hcreit.com.

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Health Care REIT to Present at the NAREIT 2012 Investor Forum

Phentermine / Adipex Non RX PhenObestin 37.5 Offsets Obesity Risk Predicted by Genetic Scores

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A recent study by researchers from Duke University that was published in Archive of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine identified and tracked specific genetic characteristics observable during childhood that led to a higher than average obesity risk during adulthood. The study identified Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with body mass indexes (BMIs) that are considered ...

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Phentermine / Adipex Non RX PhenObestin 37.5 Offsets Obesity Risk Predicted by Genetic Scores