Libertarian gubernatorial candidate to meet Victoria County voters

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Melissa Crowe Originally published October 10, 2013 at 10:30 p.m., updated October 11, 2013 at 8:44 a.m.

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Kathie Glass is making a campaign stop in the Crossroads to meet voters.

Glass will be at The Barn in Mission Valley, 12201 Farm-to-Market Road 236, for an informal meet and greet at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Glass, the Libertarian Party chairwoman for Harris County, said she wants to be a governor who makes "nullify" a household word.

She wants to put an end to the Affordable Care Act and the Environmental Protection Agency's cap and trade policy.

"I want to have a governor who will lead the nullification fight," she said. "If it has to be me, I will do it. I will be the leader Texas needs."

Bill Machnis, Victoria County Libertarian Party chairman, called it "a mini conference."

Saturday's meeting will include a strategic planning session with local Libertarians at 2 p.m. and Glass' talk at 4 p.m., he said.

Her other issues include the border, jobs and the economy, eminent domain and toll roads, property and franchise taxes, education, guns and voter guides.

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Libertarian gubernatorial candidate to meet Victoria County voters

Libertarian Candidate Not Invited to Final Gubernatorial Debate

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Blacksburg, VA - The Libertarian Candidate for Governor, Robert Sarvis, will not be participating in the third and final debate of the governor's race.

WDBJ, the host of the debate announced Thursday that Sarvis had fallen short of the 10 percentage points required to be invited to the stage on October 24th at Virginia Tech.

Recent polls showed Sarvis polling as high as 12 and as low as 8%.

In a statement released Thursday, he responded to the announcement by saying:

"We all know what happened here. As the goalposts kept changing over the past couple weeks, it became clear that the decision would be made on the basis of measures that have the patina of objectivity, but in fact are designed to exclude.

A decision made two weeks in advance of the debatean eternity this close to Election Daybased on an average of polls released over a three-week window effectively anchors us to the lower numbers of older polls, even though our numbers continue to rise in every poll. I am disappointed, but not surprised.

Our political system has been distorted for the benefit of the two incumbent parties and no longer serves the voters of Virginia. That's why this campaign is such a breath of fresh air for so many people and why I remain undeterred.

To the voters of Virginia, I say this: I won't let anyone take away your right to hear from all the candidates. I will carry on the campaign and show you why I am - and my vision for a Virginia that's both "Open-minded and Open for Business" is - the best choice for Governor of Virginia."

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Libertarian Candidate Not Invited to Final Gubernatorial Debate

Libertarian excluded from Va. debate

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The Libertarian candidate will not be invited to participate in the final debate of the Virginia governors race, a break for Republican Ken Cuccinelli.

WDBJ7, the CBS affiliate organizing the Oct. 24 debate on the campus of Virginia Tech, announced late Thursday that Robert Sarvis has fallen just short of the 10 percent threshold for a third candidate to get on stage.

As of this date, the third party candidate is polling at 9.0% based on the averages on realclearpolitics.com and would, therefore, not meet the guidelines agreed upon by the campaigns, emailed Kelly Zuber, the stations news director.

Thursday was the deadline for deciding who would participate.

With both major candidates viewed more unfavorably than favorably, the libertarian option has fared well among voters who dont want to pick between the lesser of two evils. Sarvis received 12 percent in a three-way POLITICO poll conducted over the weekend of likely voters, while Democrat Terry McAuliffe was at 44 percent and Cuccinelli 35 percent.

Cuccinellis campaign has warned that Sarvis could be a spoiler. The 37-year old ran unsuccessfully for state Senate as a Republican in 2011.

McAuliffes campaign had hoped he would be included. Sarvis being on stage would have given him the chance to criticize Cuccinellis views on social issues and taken some potential heat off McAuliffe.

This final debate is much more important for Cuccinelli, who is trailing in the polls, than McAuliffe, who has the money to significantly outspend his rival on television advertising.

The Sarvis campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in an interview earlier Thursday, he told POLITICO that if the debate decision didnt go his way well keep just trying to get ourselves in front of as many voters as possible, as much as possible, before the election.

I dont know that there is grounds for a lawsuit, maybe I can have people look into that, Sarvis added, but thats not really what Im trying to do, Id rather not go that route.

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Libertarian excluded from Va. debate

Libertarian Sarvis blocked from final debate for governor

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The final scheduled Virginia gubernatorial debate will proceed without Libertarian nominee Robert C. Sarvis.

Organizers of the Oct. 24 debate at Virginia Tech announced today that the debate will take place with Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

In a statement, Kelly Zuber, news director of WDBJ7, which is co-hosting the debate with Virginia Tech, said both major party campaigns agreed to language that the third-party nominee would be invited to participate if he was polling at 10 percent or greater in major statewide independent polls released within the three weeks ahead of Oct. 10.

The eligibility decision was to rely heavily on the averages of major polls on http://www.realclearpolitics.com and as of today they said Sarvis is polling at 9 percent based on the averages.

The debate will take place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 24.

In a statement tonight, Sarvis decried the decision.

"We all know what happened here. As the goalposts kept changing over the past couple weeks, it became clear that the decision would be made on the basis of measures that have the patina of objectivity, but in fact are designed to exclude.

"A decision made two weeks in advance of the debatean eternity this close to Election Daybased on an average of polls released over a three-week window effectively anchors us to the lower numbers of older polls, even though our numbers continue to rise in every poll. I am disappointed, but not surprised.

"Our political system has been distorted for the benefit of the two incumbent parties and no longer serves the voters of Virginia. That's why this campaign is such a breath of fresh air for so many people and why I remain undeterred.

"To the voters of Virginia, I say this: I won't let anyone take away your right to hear from all the candidates. I will carry on the campaign and show you why I am - and my vision for a Virginia thats both 'Open-minded and Open for Business' is - the best choice for governor of Virginia."

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Libertarian Sarvis blocked from final debate for governor

China claims Japan agreed to 'shelving' disputed islands issue

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This is the forth installment of a series.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is known as being well-informed about Japan, as he is fluent in Japanese and has served as Chinese ambassador to Japan. Such a person is now sending a message to the international community that Japan and China agreed in the past to "shelve" the territorial issue over the Senkaku Islands.

On Sept. 20, Wang told the audience during a lecture at a think tank in Washington: "Forty-one years ago, when China and Japan achieved the normalization of diplomatic relations, leaders of the two nations reached a very important agreement...that is...we can set aside our difference [on the Senkaku issue] and take care of it or resolve it at some later date."

What does China's "shelving" agreement claim mean?

To understand what Wang intended to say, one must look back at how the issue unfolded.

The Senkaku Islands were included in Japan's territories in January 1895, after the nation confirmed the islands were not under the control of China, or Qing, at that time. The confirmation came after Japan conducted research over a decade or so.

Following Japan's defeat in World War II, the nation lost its overseas territories in line with the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty. However, 48 nations, including the United States-which signed the treaty-considered the Senkaku Islands as part of Okinawa and put them under US administrative control.

Under the Okinawa Reversion Agreement signed on June 17, 1971, the islands were returned to Japan.

However, after a UN research team brought up the possibility of oil reserves being located near the Senkaku Islands in 1969, China and Taiwan began to assert territorial rights over the islands in 1971 for the first time.

Under such a delicate situation, Japan and China formally established diplomatic relations in 1972.

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China claims Japan agreed to 'shelving' disputed islands issue

Islands' alternate names confirmed

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The North and South Islands are now also officially known as Te Ika-a-Maui and Te Waipounamu, the Government has announced.

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson has this afternoon also formalised the names North and South which previously had no formal standing.

The alternative names were confirmed following a recommendation from the New Zealand Geographic Board that people be given a choice about whether to use the English or Maori names for the islands.

Te Ika a Maui meant ''the fish of Maui'' and Te Waipounamu ''the waters of greenstone''.

The Maori names were recorded in early Government maps of New Zealand but that ceased in the 1950s and had "historic and cultural significance", Williamson said.

The names North and South had never been made official, a fact which was only discovered when the board met to discuss adopting Maori names for the country's two main land masses.

"While these names appear in official publications, including maps and charts, they had been recorded names only and had no formal standing," Williamson said.

"As an integral part of New Zealand's cultural identity and heritage, it is only right the names North Island and South Island be made official under the New Zealand Geographic Board Act 2008."

Williamson said his decision to assign alternative names meant people could use whichever they preferred and would not be forced to use both the English and Maori names together.

"Instead, everyone will have the choice to keep calling the islands what they always have, or use the assigned alternatives, or use both together if they wish," he said.

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Islands' alternate names confirmed

New Zealand Finally Names Its Islands (And Gives Four Options)

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It took almost a decade and at least NZ$10,000 for the New Zealand Geographic Board to officially name the North Island and South Island, well, North Island and South Island, as theyve been known for decades. While these names appear in official publications, including maps and charts, they had been recorded names only and had no formal standing, explained Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson. As an integral part of New Zealands cultural identity and heritage, it is only right the names North Island and South Island be made official.

In what was perhaps more enlightening news, the Geographic Board also approved a recommendation to assign official alternative Maori names for the two islands, Te Ika-a-Maui (for the North Island) and Te Waipounamu (for the South Island). Te Ika-a-Maui means fish of Maui, reflecting the ancient Maori legend of Maui and his brothers, who were said to have fished up the North Island from their canoe. Te Waipounamu, meanwhile, translates to the place of greenstone, signifying the prevalence of jade, bowenite and serpentinite across the South Island.

These Maori names also have historic and cultural significance and appeared on early maps and charts, including government maps, until the 1950s, Williamson said, adding that the alternative names could be used by those who wished to do so.

My decision to assign alternative names means people can use whichever they prefer and they will not be forced to use both the English and Maori names together, he explained. Instead, everyone will have the choice to keep calling the islands what they always have, or use the assigned alternatives. Or they can use both together, as Land Information New Zealand will do with all new maps and charts going forward.

Reaction to the announcement was mixed Thursday, with many calling the project a waste of time and money. It seems like a lot of money spent just to officially name the islands the same as theyre already called, said Nicole Bamford of Balclutha. But Im glad they included the Maori names because they are recognizable and significant.

I grew up knowing that those were the Maori names for the islands, and they are in a lot of peoples Mihis (greetings or speeches) when they introduce themselves in Maori, Bamford continued. So when they announced the names, I knew I had heard them before.

While the Maori names have been around since Europeans first arrived, the English names have changed over time. Some early maps listed the islands as New Ulster and New Munster after Irish provinces, while others listed the South Island as Middle Island thanks to the much smaller Steward Island to its south. The names for the current North Island and South Island, defined mostly by their location, became widely accepted around the turn of the century and were endorsed by lawmakers in 1907.

Maori names were also used by the early European explorers, beginning with Captain Cook, and continued to be used throughout most of New Zealands history, explained Don Grant, chairman of the New Zealand Geographic Board. This decision simply brings them back as an option for those who want to continue using them.

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New Zealand Finally Names Its Islands (And Gives Four Options)

Judge Napolitano: ‘Nonsense’ for Obama And Democrats to Say Congress Has to Fund Health Care Law – Video

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Judge Napolitano: #39;Nonsense #39; for Obama And Democrats to Say Congress Has to Fund Health Care Law
We #39;re in Day 8 of ObamaCare and the partial government shutdown, and nine days away from reaching the deadline for the debt ceiling to be raised. Fox Frien...

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Judge Napolitano: 'Nonsense' for Obama And Democrats to Say Congress Has to Fund Health Care Law - Video

SSM Health Care eliminates 206 position in area

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ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KSDK) - More than 200 SSM Health Care positions will be eliminated, according to Steve Van Dinter, a spokesperson for SSM Health Care.

There are approximately 12,000 employees in the St. Louis area, and 206 positions will be eliminated.

Overall, SSM Health Care employs approximately 30,000 employees, and 586 of those positions will be eliminated. That is less than 2 percent of total positions.

Van Dinter says most of the positions are administrative, and not directly involved with patient care. Roughly 50 percent of the reductions will be through attrition.

These layoffs don't come as a surprise to health care experts.

Tim McBride a health care expert and professor at Washington University says he is not at all surprised by the job cuts.

He says this has been a growing trend for hospitals before health care reform came into the picture.

Just this year we've seen BJC lay off 160 workers, Liberty Hospital, a hospital in Kansas City, lay off 130 and the University of Missouri Health Care announce they will not fill 90 vacancies in the coming year.

Mcbride says while yes, there will be many more that have health insurance, they will be urged to go to primary care physicians not straight to the emergency rooms.

"That means that big systems like SSM and BJC need to restructure and take some of the dollars out their big health care systems and move them towards doctor's offices," said McBride.

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SSM Health Care eliminates 206 position in area

Cancer survivor becomes health care reform advocate

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The nations new health care law is complex, convoluted and controversial.

But in the long run, cancer survivor and health care reform advocate Charlie Kulander believes the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, will help millions of Americans.

Ive found myself becoming somewhat of an Obamacare evangelical, the local freelance writer said this week. Its a complicated piece of legislation, with many moving parts, but it is the greatest piece of social legislation since 1965, and will save countless lives.

Kulander said he hates to wade into the political debate over the 906-page law. But he thinks its wildly inappropriate that someone would tell another person not to sign up for insurance through the new health care marketplace at http://www.healthcare.gov.

The one thing that sticks in everybodys craw is the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to carry some form of health insurance, Kulander said.

Some people may be eligible for exemptions from the individual mandate, he noted. Regardless of the controversy over that provision, though, Kulander is convinced that the overall law has something for everyone.

That includes himself, his wife and his nephew all of whom were diagnosed with cancer in recent years.

Kulander and his wife received the news within eight months of each other almost five years ago.

The couple had maintained their health insurance policies over 25 years, and they were paying exorbitant premiums to remain covered, Kulander said.

Even so, their deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses were high, and they ultimately wound up taking on debt in order to pay for their medical care.

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Cancer survivor becomes health care reform advocate

Health Care Without Harm, World Health Organization to Help Achieve Convention Goal of Ending Manufacture, Import and …

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Kumamoto, Japan (PRWEB) October 11, 2013

As the worlds governments were signing a global treaty aimed at phasing out the use and emissions of mercury, Health Care Without Harm and the World Health Organization launched an initiative to achieve the Minamata Conventions goal to end the manufacture, import and export of mercury-based medical devices by 2020.

Today marks the culmination of a fifteen-year Health Care Without Harm effort that began with a single hospital in Boston, evolved into a global campaign that engaged the health sector on every continent, and has now resulted in a worldwide treaty, said HCWH President and co-founder Gary Cohen. It is also a day to redouble our efforts to phase-out mercury thermometers and blood pressure devices everywhere.

The Minamata Convention calls for the end of the manufacture, import and export of mercury-containing fever thermometers and sphygmomanometers. HCWH and WHO have been working together for this objective of mercury-free health care since 2008 by supporting the deployment of accurate, affordable, and safer non-mercury alternatives around the world.

Over the course of HCWHs fifteen-year effort and its more recent collaboration with WHO, many countries and regions, including the European Union, the United States, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Mongolia have already embraced mercury-free health care. Many more are on track to do so, including Brazil, India, China, South Africa and Mexico.

The tireless and committed work of nurses, doctors, and hospital leaders, along with NGOs, government and UN officials, has shown that switching to mercury-free health care is accurate, affordable, and also inevitable, said Josh Karliner, HCWH Director of Global Projects. The treaty enshrines this inevitability.

The WHO-HCWH Global Initiative for Mercury-Free Health Care is now gearing up to support health professionals, hospitals, health systems and ministries of health as they seek to implement the Minamata Convention. The Mercury-Free Health Care Initiative will provide guidance and technical support, while continuing to expand awareness raising and mobilization in the health care around the world. It aims to both shift demand toward alternative devices, and to educate societies as to the overall health impacts of mercury.

While the Minamata Convention is a huge win in terms of greening the health sector, HCWH remains critical of some of the Minamata conventions shortcomings. This is particularly true when it comes to the treatys weak strictures around mercury emissions that come from coal fired power plantsfactories that are expanding around the world. If the expansion of coal-based energy generation is not curbed, said Dr. Peter Orris, a Senior Adviser to HCWH, mercury emissions from coal threaten to undermine the mercury reduction the treaty is achieving elsewhere, curtailing its overall health benefits.

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Health Care Without Harm, World Health Organization to Help Achieve Convention Goal of Ending Manufacture, Import and ...

Improving Health Care Quality, Safety Defies Simple Solutions

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OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL--(Marketwired - Oct 10, 2013) - A viewpoint published in the October 2013 issue of Health Affairs contends that American health care will not get better or be safer until issues related to overuse of health services, process improvement tools, and organizational culture are addressed. The article "Improving the Quality of Health Care: What's Taking So Long?" by Joint Commission President and CEO Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., acknowledges that the lack of more rapid progress in fixing known problems is frustrating, and suggests that the task requires new approaches.

Nearly 14 years after the Institute of Medicine report To Err Is Human; Building a Safer Health System jolted health care professionals and the public alike by revealing that preventable health care adverse events cause more deaths than traffic accidents or breast cancer, Chassin contends that the way health care conducts improvement is itself in need of improvement. His Health Affairs commentary builds on his previous efforts to help health care make progress toward high reliability, which represents an extraordinarily high level of safety sustained over long periods of time -- safety levels achieved today by industries such as commercial air travel, nuclear power, and amusement parks. Chassin proposes three strategies:

"Harm-free health care does not exist today, but that should not prevent us from aspiring to achieve that goal," says Chassin.

Chassin's proposals to improve health care come more than two years after he and the late Jerod M. Loeb, Ph.D., executive vice president for health care quality evaluation, The Joint Commission, collaborated on the article "The Ongoing Quality Improvement Journey: Next Stop, High Reliability," also published by Health Affairs. The April 2011 article contended that health care could make major improvements in quality and safety by adapting lessons learned from other industries with consistently excellent safety records. They recently followed up on the April 2011 piece with a second article "High-Reliability Health Care: Getting There from Here," in the September 13 issue of The Milbank Quarterly, that provides a roadmap of specific changes hospitals should undertake to achieve the ultimate goal of zero patient harm by adapting lessons from high-risk industries.

The Joint Commission is leading this effort in its work with more than 20,000 accredited health care organizations. Joint Commission standards (Leadership, National Patient Safety Goals, Quality Improvement) emphasize the need to create a culture of safety and to continuously improve performance. In addition, the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare is helping health care organizations use RPI to create customized solutions to quality and safety issues such as hand hygiene, reducing errors in hand-offs between caregivers, wrong site surgery, surgical site infections, preventing falls that injure patients, and others.

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 10,300 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,500 other health care organizations that provide nursing and rehabilitation center care, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission currently certifies more than 2,000 disease-specific care programs, focused on the care of patients with chronic illnesses such as stroke, joint replacement, stroke rehabilitation, heart failure and many others. The Joint Commission also provides health care staffing services certification for more than 750 staffing offices. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at http://www.jointcommission.org.

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Improving Health Care Quality, Safety Defies Simple Solutions

Transgenics – Genetic Engineering in Geek Fiction: Kiriosity with Kiri Callaghan – Video

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Transgenics - Genetic Engineering in Geek Fiction: Kiriosity with Kiri Callaghan
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This Is What A Great '60s Futurist Thought The Present Would Look Like

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At some point US Steel decided they wanted to be supercool and impress all the cool steel-buying kids, so they did something very smart: they hired futurist Syd Mead to make a bunch of paintings showing a utopian future. Built from steel. With lots of great steel cars.

These paintings show an incredible, sleek future, one that seems to take its design inspirations from 1970s America, but filters them through an elongating lens of sexy science. Check out that car in the top shot there it's clearly inspired by 70s-era Cadillacs, but takes all the those design cues to their utomost extreme, and the result is pretty spectacular. And, interestingly, it suggests a significant change to DOT regulations that put a huge emphasis on side-marker lighting.

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Also, what's with that white genetically-modified tiger-cat thing? Did he come in the car, or are those things just wandering around in the Utopian future?

There's even a Hot Wheels version of the Mead-designed Sentinel 400! Who knew?

Anyway, I suggest getting really close to your monitor and staring into these images until you believe you're actually living in there. Enjoy.

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This Is What A Great '60s Futurist Thought The Present Would Look Like