Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America

Obama’s Nuclear Policy, Something For The ‘Left & Right’ (Los Angeles Times)

President Obama and his senior aides introduced a new nuclear weapons policy Tuesday with the promise that America would no longer build new nuclear weapons.

“No new testing, no new warheads,” Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pledged in a Pentagon briefing.

Yet officials said later that the policy could allow them to bring back older, tested warhead components and designs to build what would be, for all practical purposes, a new weapon.

The administration’s …

Obama Now Says “Drill, Baby, Drill! Article And Video Looking At His Stunning Reversal (Huffington Post)

President Obama announced today a new energy policy that will open up waters along the southern Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and part of Alaska to offshore oil and gas drilling.

The new policy represents a reversal not only of the current moratorium on any new oil drilling off most U.S. shores, but also of President Obama’s own support of the moratorium during the 2008 campaign.

And of course, the policy also revives the oft-heard 2008 …

BIG QUESTION: Will The Middle Class Really Pay Less For Health Care? (USA Today)

President Obama’s restructuring of the nation’s health care system will make it easier for poor and sick Americans to get and keep insurance. What’s less clear is whether it will reduce health care costs for most Americans, as the White House says it will.

Medical costs are rising fast — up 5.7% last year, while the economy declined 1.1%, according to the Centers for Medicare

…

NOW THEY TELL US: Nonpartisan CBO Reports Deficit Will Be Much Worse Than Obama Says (MONEYNEWS.COM)

A new congressional report released Friday says the United States’ long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by President Barack Obama’s grim budget submission last month.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama’s budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That’s $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration.

The agency says its future-year predictions of tax revenues are more pessimistic than the administration’s. That’s because CBO projects slightly slower economic …

Health Overhaul Likely To Strain Doctor Shortage (AP & Yahoo! News)

Better beat the crowd and find a doctor.

Primary care physicians already are in short supply in parts of the country, and the landmark health overhaul that will bring them millions more newly insured patients in the next few years promises extra strain.

The new law goes beyond offering coverage to the uninsured, with steps to improve the quality of care for the average person and help keep us well instead of today’s seek-care-after-you’re-sick …

Autism Signs Appear in Babies’ First Year (Health Key)

The social disengagement that is the hallmark of autism-spectrum disorders begins to appear in the second half of a baby’s first year of life, according to a new study. But Californiaresearchers found that parents typically do not notice the decline in their child’s behavior until well into his or her second year.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of …

How Alzheimer’s Disease Alters Lives (USA Today)

How an Alzheimer’s caretaker’s life and challenges may evolve as their loved one’s disease progresses:

Early stage

•May notice patient is more anxious, forgets friends’ names and telephone numbers, places everyday items in the wrong storage locations, leaves projects (laundry, meals) unfinished, has trouble making change and balancing a checkbook.

* May need to take over some household responsibilities — like bill-paying — if not already doing them.

•If patient’s work life is suffering, caregiver also may need to take on more financial responsibility.

TO CONTINUE READING …

HEALTH ALERT: Breast-Feeding Could Save Babies Live & Billions of Dollars (Yahoo! News)

The lives of nearly 900 babies would be saved each year, along with billions of dollars, if 90 percent of U.S. women breast-fed their babies for the first six months of life, a cost analysis says.

Those startling results, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, are only an estimate. But several experts who reviewed the analysis said the methods and conclusions seem sound.

“The health care system has got to be aware that breast-feeding makes a profound difference,” said Dr. Ruth Lawrence, who heads …

Can Eating Junk Food Really Be an Addiction? (TIME)

In 1982, Scientific American published an article suggesting that snorting cocaine was no more addictive than eating potato chips. People continue to use when the stuff is around, and simply stop when it’s gone, the researchers argued. The paper was later widely denounced for minimizing the risks of what soon became known as the most addictive drug all. Cocaine, that is, not Fritos.

In 1982, Scientific American published an article suggesting that snorting cocaine was no more addictive than eating potato chips. People continue to use when the …

BIG QUESTION: Will The Middle Class Really Pay Less For Health Care? (USA Today)

President Obama’s restructuring of the nation’s health care system will make it easier for poor and sick Americans to get and keep insurance. What’s less clear is whether it will reduce health care costs for most Americans, as the White House says it will.

Medical costs are rising fast — up 5.7% last year, while the economy declined 1.1%, according to the Centers for Medicare

…

Apple iPad Tablet. Is It Worth The Hype? (The Washington Post)

For months, the same questions have been bouncing around the computing industry: What will the Apple tablet do? Will it redefine the laptop? Can it reinvent the publishing industry? Could it even — gasp — save print media?

On Wednesday morning, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs made his latest bid for gadget immortality. A crowd of journalists, analysts and invited guests packed an auditorium here to see the thin, bespectacled Apple co-founder unveil the iPad, an 8-by-10-inch, wireless-enabled slab of metal, plastic and glass.

The iPad, due to …

Bloggers Left and Right Agree to Hate Health Care Reform (TIME)

In the snarkier precincts of the left-wing blogosphere, mainstream journalists like me are often called villagers. The reference, so far as I can tell, has to do with isolation: we live in this little village on the Potomac — actually, I don’t, but no matter — constantly intermingling over hors d’oeuvres, deciding who is “serious” (a term of derision in the blogosphere) and who is not, regurgitating spin spoon-fed by our sources or conjuring a witless conventional wisdom that has nothing to do with reality as it …

Word and Office Banned For Sale Starting January 11th After Microsoft Loses Appeal

Word and Office Banned For Sale Starting January 11th After Microsoft Loses Appeal

via Word and Office Banned For Sale Starting January 11th After Microsoft Loses Appeal.

Viruses Hit Facebook & Twitter Taking Over People’s Accounts (New York Times)

It used to be that computer viruses attacked only your hard drive. Now they attack your dignity.

Malicious programs are rampaging through Web sites like Facebook andTwitter, spreading themselves by taking over people’s accounts and sending out messages to all of their friends and followers. The result is that people are inadvertently telling their co-workers and loved ones how to raise their I.Q.’s or make money instantly, or urging them …

Facebook Accused Of Pushing Members To Share Personal Info (Telegraph)

The changes, which were announced last week and are now rolling out across the site, asks users to review their privacy settings, and adjust them to ensure they are only sharing personal information, videos and photos with the people they want.

But privacy campaigners say this “transition tool” is “nudging” Facebook’s 350 million users towards creating more open profiles, with details and information that can be viewed by anyone.

“Facebook is nudging the settings toward the ‘disclose everything’ position,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the …

RETIREMENT ALERT: 6 WAYS YOU’RE SABOTAGING YOUR RETIREMENT (SF GATE/INVESTOPEDIA)

Millions of senior citizens are discovering that they do not have adequate financial resources to retire. Some seniors are unable to retire due to the recent economic crisis and others due to poor financial habits. The stark truth is this: financial decisions that you make on a daily basis have a direct impact on your financial future. Poor financial habits will have you working longer, retiring later and finding yourself flat broke in your golden years. Here are six financial habits that could be keeping you from …

13 Things Your Pharmacist Won’t Tell You (Readers Digest)

What to bear in mind the next time you visit the pharmacy counter.

1. Don’t try to get anything past us. Prescriptions for painkillers or sleeping aids always get extra scrutiny.

2. We’re not serving fries in here. I’d think twice about using a drive-through pharmacy. Working there distracts us-not a good thing when it comes to pharmaceuticals.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/13-things-your-pharmacist-wont-tell-you-1262037/;_ylt=AlBe5S8IG0EER57A71P5ophhbqU5

Autism Signs Appear in Babies’ First Year (Health Key)

The social disengagement that is the hallmark of autism-spectrum disorders begins to appear in the second half of a baby’s first year of life, according to a new study. But Californiaresearchers found that parents typically do not notice the decline in their child’s behavior until well into his or her second year.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of …

7 New Taxes Laws You Need To Know About (Bankrate.com)

Facing a struggling economy, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., turned to the tax code to help get it, and us consumers, moving again. Most of the tax changes were part of the stimulus package enacted last February, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. There are seven new tax laws you should know, and some old tax laws with new amounts adjusted for inflation.

Tax breaks were created, or in some cases expanded, for autos and home purchases, as well as for certain residential …

CREDIT CARD NEWS: Late Credit Card Payments Don’t Justify Rate Hikes Anymore (Creditcards.com)

Late payments don’t justify rate instant rate hikes anymore
Passage of the Credit CARD Act protects those who slip up once in a while
QUESTION:
My husband and I are trying to pay off our debt. I keep track of the bills on Quicken and try to pay everything early. Today I was 3.5 hours late paying a credit card bill. Not like me at all, and I’ve never been late otherwise. Now I’m deathly afraid my interest rate will be raised. I tried calling after I paid my bill …

6 Ways To Reduce Your Energy Bill (Yahoo!)

There are a bunch of little tricks you can employ to cut back on power consumption at home—which not only has environmental benefits but keeps you from wasting cash too—and it’s highly unlikely you’ll even notice a difference. Between the National Resources Defense Council’s site and powerscorecard.org I found some really good tips. Here’s a re-cap of six simple, painless ways to cut back:

1. Check this: refrigerators suck up a whopping 20% of your household electricity use. Time to turn them down! Aim …