Monday afternoon, 3/8/10/, Supervisor Weinstein held an informal discussion with certain department heads.  Each one had 5 minutes to explain what their department was involved in at the present time.   The public in attendance were not allowed to ask questions.

Having this type of meeting demonstrated that Supervisor Weinstein can be innovative.  It could lead to discussions between the public and department heads.  This was a good beginning.

We all know there is an epidemic of obesity ravaging our country but what we don’t seem to be really comprehending is the deadly impact of this on our children.  Folks, let’s be clear about this.  Our children are going to DIE from this much earlier that their parents.  Baby fat that stays through childhood isn’t cute.  It’s deadly.

A rare study that tracked thousands of children through adulthood found the heaviest youngsters were more than twice as likely as the thinnest to die prematurely, before age 55, of illness or a self-inflicted injury.

Youngsters with a condition called pre-diabetes were at almost double the risk of dying before 55, and those with high blood pressure were at some increased risk. But obesity was the factor most closely associated with an early death, researchers said.

The study, published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, analyzed data gathered from Pima and Tohono O’odham Indians, whose rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes soared decades before weight problems became widespread among other Americans. It is one of the largest studies to have tracked children for several decades after detailed information on weight and risk factors like high cholesterol were gathered.

read more…

Do you have a preconcieved notion ow what a terrorist looks like?  Dark hair with dark eyes or blonde and blue-eyed?  The latest terrorist arrested recently is known as ‘Jihad Jane’.  She has been charged for recruiting terrorists.

“Jane” lived in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.  Known better as Colleen LaRose the 46 year old woman was also known as Fatima Larose.

An indictment against a suburban Philadelphia woman accused of recruiting jihadist fighters online and moving to Europe to try to kill a Swedish artist is a rare case of an American woman aiding foreign terrorists, authorities say, and shows the evolution of the threat of terrorism.Colleen R. LaRose agreed to murder the artist, marry a terrorism suspect so he could move to Europe and martyr herself if necessary, the indictment filed Tuesday said.

read more…

See Through NY allows the public to know just what public employees earn.  You can check payrolls, contracts, expenditures and other data by clicking on one of the icons.  Interesting stuff. 

Contact: Lise Bang-Jensen
             518.434.3100

New Yorkers today can search the complete 2009 state government payroll on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website.  The updated database includes names, titles, base pay rates and total pay received by the 298,247 people who worked in the state’s executive, legislative or judicial branches at any point last year.

The full text of this press release is available here.

Liz Cheney, shown with her father, has criticized lawyers who represented terrorism suspects.

In case we forgot – Cheney/Rove, even a gang member assassinating a person is represented.  The next stage would be denying rights of law-abiding citizens who are misunderstood.

A conservative advocacy organization in Washington, Keep America Safe, kicked up a storm last week when it released a video that questioned the loyalty of Justice Department lawyers who worked in the past on behalf of detained terrorism suspects.

But beyond the expected liberal outrage, the tactics of the group, which is run by Liz Cheney, the daughter of the former vice president, have also split the tightly knit world of conservative legal scholars.

read more…

 
A federal rule will soon require banks to get permission to provide certain overdraft services.

Have you incurred overdraft fees when you used a debit card because the bank allowed you to make a purchase that you did not have enough in your account to cover?  That has been a real money maker for banks.  Many of us cry “Foul” when that happens, but they did it over and over.  The Bank of America is not going to continue that practice.  You will simply be denied when they run your card through.

In a move that could bring an end to the $40 cup of coffee, Bank of America said on Tuesday that it was doing away with overdraft fees on purchases made with debit cards, a decision that could cost the bank tens of millions a year in revenue and put pressure on other banks to do the same.

Banks are bracing for a new federal rule that will require them to get permission from account holders before providing overdraft services for debit purchases and A.T.M. withdrawals. That change was already expected to wipe out billions of dollars in overdraft revenue for the banks.

read more…

Police Chief Askey

What can we d0 in Amherst to save even more than we are now.  Police Chief Askey offered several ideas for the Board to mull over when he addressed them at the Monday afternoon work session this week.  He spoke about two collaborative efforts with other town employees.  He also explained an idea tot have the police garage perform routine maintenance on town vehicles. 

The garage, which has two bays, currently services a fleet of 70 police vehicles, he said. In addition, he said, the department has two certified mechanics who perform preventive maintenance, annual inspections and routine repairs that do not require special equipment.

The police garage would be unable to take all town vehicles, he said, since the garage lifts are limited to 9,000 pounds. That may be enough to raise a large passenger van, he said, but not enough to raise a snowplow or a construction vehicle such as those from the Highway and Engineering departments.

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Franz Och, with a copy of the Rosetta Stone, said Google’s translation tool “can make the language barrier go away.”

Will you be traveling overseas soon?  Do you speak the language of the country you’re going to visit?  Take your laptop or notebook and connect with Google Translate.  It will get you through some pretty tricky situations.

Google Translate service handles 52 languages, more than any similar system, and people use it hundreds of millions of times a week to translate Web pages and other text.

“What you see on Google Translate is state of the art” in computer translations that are not limited to a particular subject area, said Alon Lavie, an associate research professor in the Language Technologies Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

read more…

Rep. Eric Massa used his final hours in office to settle scores with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.  Massa said Emanuel came up to him last year while he was trying to shower shortly after he entered Congress.  Emanuel wanted to give Massa grief about a budget vote.

Massa said, “I’m sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn’t gonna vote for the president’s budget,” Massa said.

In my opinion as Editor of the Amhersttimes.com website, it seems strange Rep. Massa was sitting on something as he was showering.  Massa said Emanuel walked over to him as he was showering and poked his finger in his chest.

Think about Massa’s statements.  Both ring of being made up.  He said Emanuel poked him in the chest as he was sitting taking a shower,which meant Emanuel had to stoop down to poke him in his chest.  Most people stand up while taking a shower.

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News Alert: Retired general tapped to lead TSA
07:20 AM EST Monday, March 8, 2010
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President Obama on Monday will tap retired Army Major Gen. Robert A. Harding to lead the Transportation Security Administration, according to administration sources.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is scheduled to make the announcement during a noontime appearance with Harding at DHS headquarters, the White House said.