as always:
It is best to read this journal from the beginning. . .
<http://theurbanhermit.livejournal.com/2006/02/08/>
it makes more sense then. ....
or just explore the journal at: <http://theurbanhermit.livejournal.com/>
may i recommend: <http://theurbanhermit.livejournal.com/2008/01/04/>
and a follow up to that: <http://theurbanhermit.livejournal.com/2008/10/12/>

and I do not know him and he does not know me - but it seems through Harvard our existences are intertwined; therefore, noting this is not an endorsement either way, but in the need to ask the readership of this journal to remain vigilent (as the bush leage asked of america but not for it's bad influence on america), I ask readers to keep abreast of www.whitehouse.gov and to help make sure Omaba and his harvard teams stays the course they claim to be on. . . for HUMFErs are in his ears as they are in mine - see previous entries. . .
-------------------------------------------

NEWS this morning -

boston.com:

GLOBE EDITORIAL
Public funds for public projects
January 24, 2009

AS STATE OFFICIALS from coast to coast cast about for "shovel-ready" projects that can be built with federal stimulus dollars, the Patrick administration has raised what could be a controversial option: using public funds to assist private real estate development. The money would go not to direct grants, but to the infrastructure improvements - highway ramps, sewer pipes, and the like - that make a project viable.

Perhaps, in tough times, the administration should consider almost any idea with the potential to preserve construction jobs. But in practice, private developments can be held back by shaky financing and planning hiccups - and by justified doubts over the fairness of a major taxpayer contribution.

The administration's plans aren't yet firm. As the Globe reported last week, the universe of eligible projects could include the $1.5 billion Westwood Station along Route 128 and the $810 million Columbus Center, an upscale complex in Boston.

Yet the Westwood project, which would benefit from a highway ramp and street and utility upgrades, is embroiled in a dispute between its host town and neighboring Canton, which complains of traffic woes that could cross municipal lines. Meanwhile, spending $50 million or so to build a deck over the Massachusetts Turnpike would be a significant help to Columbus Center developers, who originally were to build the structure themselves. But a concession of that magnitude is an argument for rebidding the entire project.

Even amid a recession, basic safeguards of public finance still apply. The Patrick administration espouses sound guiding principles: no bridges to nowhere; no money for projects without solid local support. But these rules would seem to preclude support for controversial megaprojects.

If Governor Patrick is committed to promoting private real estate development, there are low-sweat ways to do so. A year ago, the state gave Haverhill and Salisbury $1 million each to extend sewer lines into office parks. Similar grants now could prop up employment and promote business development in communities around the state. And the state shouldn't be shy about imposing use-it-or-lose-it rules on such money to force towns to get projects moving quickly.

By and large, though, taxpayer-provided stimulus dollars should go toward improving public facilities.

Patrick's economic development office is working on some promising ideas, such as repairing shabby public housing units and promoting broadband Internet service in sparsely populated areas. As office towers and condo developments proliferated during the boom years in Massachusetts, public infrastructure often was neglected. The economic crisis offers an opportunity to address the imbalance.
======

uh huh . . .

follow up form bostonherald.com (for 1) the maine flyover scientology connection; two the seizure/bahamas connection - hls - see previous entries; and 3) attempted extortion .. . ):

Two held in alleged John Travolta extortion plot

By Associated Press | Saturday, January 24, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Celebrity News

Photo by AP
NASSAU, Bahamas - Authorities here have detained an island lawmaker and a paramedic in an alleged plot to extort money from actor John Travolta after the death of his son, police said yesterday.

One of the suspects, ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne, was detained yesterday. Earlier, several tabloids quoted him describing efforts to revive the celebrity’s chronically ill son, Jett, who died of a seizure this month at their family vacation home on Grand Bahama.

Authorities did not reveal what the alleged extortion involved. Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, returned home to Florida with the ashes of their 16-year-old son, and Travolta’s publicist said yesterday he has no comment.

Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater, an attorney from Grand Bahama, has been held for questioning since Thursday, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames told The Associated Press.

Dames said Lightbourne was detained after police issued an alert that he was wanted for attempted extortion, was “considered dangerous and should be approached with caution.”

Another member of the Bahamas parliament, Obie Wilchcombe, was aiding the investigation.

Dames said Wilchcombe, a friend of the Travolta family, was brought to a police station to help authorities determine what charges if any to file against the two suspects.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/track/celebrity/view.bg?articleid=1147369

====

as well, consider this man's role in broken arrow . . .so freaking sad hte humf . . .

nytimes.com:

January 24, 2009
Credit Crisis Is Leaving Charities Low on Cash
By STEPHANIE STROM
SCO Family of Services, a nonprofit agency based on Long Island, started the year with a $25 million credit line at its bank, which it planned to use to pay its bills while awaiting government reimbursements and donations.

Now, after its bank has cut its credit line twice and withdrawn a promise to support a critical bond offering, the organization is worried about whether it can pay its employees this month.

“I spend a good part of my day every day just trying to manage cash flow,” said Johanna Richman, chief financial officer at SCO, which provides services to children with developmental disabilities.

SCO is one of hundreds of charities caught in the credit crunch as skittish banks reduce their lines of credit or cut them off entirely at a time when the need for their services is climbing sharply, nonprofit leaders say.

“While nonprofits are working feverishly to accommodate increased demand, they are facing severe financial constraints that are threatening their ability to go on, much less expand their services,” said Diana Aviv, president and chief executive of Independent Sector, a nonprofit trade association.

Almost three-quarters of nonprofits in the United States receive some type of government financing, according to new research by the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, and about half of those count on that aid for at least half of their budgets.

As a growing number of states delay payment, nonprofits must rely on lines of credit to help them get by. In Illinois, the state is running as much as 150 days late in making reimbursements, and California has told nonprofits to expect i.o.u.’s in lieu of payment starting next month.

“You can just imagine a nonprofit walking into a bank with this tattered envelope from Sacramento saying that some day the state government will pay it,” said Thomas Peters, chief executive of the Marin Community Foundation in Marin County, Calif. “How’s a bank to make a loan against that promise?”

The Marin foundation has been providing emergency and short-term grants to keep organizations like SCO alive, but Mr. Peters said it could not meet the demand for such money.

Independent Sector has asked Congress to have the federal government make payments for social services directly to nonprofits, rather than funneling the money through state governments, as is the current practice. It is also seeking a $15 billion bridge loan program for nonprofits that can no longer tap banks for short-term loans.

Nancy Biberman, president of the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation, or Whedco, which provides services like child care and low-income housing in the Bronx, endorsed the idea of a bridge loan fund.

“We don’t see any economic recovery money that’s clearly flowing into poor communities,” Ms. Biberman said. “Infrastructure projects are not really where it’s at when basic survival is at stake for so many people.”

Whedco has just finished building what it calls the largest low-income “green” housing development in the country. The project was financed with a $39 million loan from a major bank.

Last summer, New York City committed to provide $2 million more to the organization to underwrite additional amenities at the site, but the bank’s risk managers turned down its request to increase the loan by that amount because Whedco did not yet have the money in hand.

“They were essentially challenging the full faith and credit of New York City,” Ms. Biberman said.

Moreover, in December the bank froze a $500,000 reserve fund held to guarantee interest payments, even though the project was 95 percent complete. “That’s our money,” Ms. Biberman said, adding that, at most, Whedco would owe the bank 10 percent of that amount when it completed the project in the next few weeks.

The inability to access the reserve fund has forced Whedco to ask some vendors to extend payment terms, a juggling act many nonprofit leaders are now performing.

Despite such complaints, Ms. Biberman and other nonprofit leaders declined to identify their banks for fear of further souring relations with them.

Keith Leggett, a senior economist at the American Bankers Association, said banks were applying the same tighter credit assessment standards to nonprofits as they were to businesses. “Donations and gifts are down, and that affects nonprofit creditworthiness,” he said, adding that “diminished or delayed payments” from state and local governments were also having an impact.

Chicago Commons, a social services group with an annual budget of $17 million, was lucky to have a $700,000 line of credit at ShoreBank, which is known for its support of community-based nonprofits, when the state of Illinois fell $2.5 million behind in its reimbursements in December.

“If we hadn’t had that credit line,” said Dan Valliere, the executive director, “we would have missed payrolls, which probably would have meant service cuts.”

Nonetheless, the agency is postponing repairs to its facilities, including a new roof for a day care center.

This month, the state borrowed $1.4 billion to pay for services provided last summer and in the early fall, which reduced the amount it owed Chicago Commons by about half. Mr. Valliere said the organization used the money to pay down its credit line and catch up with some bills, “but the comptroller’s office told us not to get used to this.”

Moreover, Mr. Valliere said that use of the credit line was likely to increase the organization’s expenses by as much as $30,000, money that could be used to pay an employee or buy a new roof.

“Try getting a donor to pay your interest expenses,” said Paul S. Castro, executive director of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, which racked up roughly $70,000 in interest costs while California legislators wrangled over the state budget.

Now, the bank has told Mr. Castro that it will not allow any withdrawal from Jewish Family Service’s $3 million credit line without collateral — and it does not consider the promise of state payment sufficient collateral.

“That’s a real burden for us,” Mr. Castro said. “All we really have as assets are contracts with the public sector.”

At least that bank is willing to negotiate. SCO’s bank simply informed the organization one day that it would not provide a $12 million letter of credit needed for a bond offering for a new school for disabled children and renovations on other facilities.

That forced the organization to borrow that money from its credit line, which the bank has cut to roughly $16 million, from $25 million.

Kids Hope United, a nonprofit offering services in different states to support needy children and families, recently sought bids from 11 banks to handle virtually all of its banking needs. Seven declined to even make a proposal, “including two that have been taking me to lunch for years hoping for business,” said David McConnell, the organization’s chief financial officer.

“There’s a triple-witching effect,” Mr. McConnell said. “You simply have less money to run operations and the government is paying more slowly than ever on top of that, which means you need the bank’s money more, and that makes banks more nervous about lending it to you.”

==================

a deb malette (of the huntington and cartering) looialike this week at work with a stephanie nametag (and a stephanie shapiro form sharon mass in the 80s - andy relation to the shapiro burned buy th4e ponzi scheme, that mom mentioned ere the press released on it?) . . . thus - stephanie strom . . . secret tytler/test research operation medical/homeless. . .

washingtonpost.com:

Downturn Accelerates As It Circles The Globe
Economies Worse Off Than Predicted Just Weeks Ago

By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 24, 2009; A01



The world economy is deteriorating more quickly than leading economists predicted only weeks ago, with Britain yesterday becoming the latest nation to surprise analysts with the depth of its economic pain.

Britain posted its worst quarterly contraction since 1980 on the heels of sharper than expected slowdowns reported from Germany to China to South Korea. The grim data, analysts said, underscores how the burst of the biggest credit bubble in history is seeping into the real economies around the world, silencing construction cranes, bankrupting businesses and throwing millions of people out of work.

"In just the past few days, we've had a big downward revision, we're seeing that an even bigger deceleration is on the way than we thought," said Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The depth of the troubles, analysts say, indicates that nations may need to spend more than the billions of dollars already planned on stimulus packages to jump-start their economies, and that a global recovery could take longer, perhaps pushing into 2010.

Analysts are particularly concerned about the slowdown in China and the recession in Europe. There is mounting concern about the stability of the euro and the British pound, which dropped to a 24-year low against the dollar yesterday. Analysts are fretting about the possibility of a debt default in a euro-zone country that could send fresh shock waves through global financial markets.

The problems in Europe now appear to be as bad if not worse than those in the United States. In the last quarter of 2008, the British economy shrank at an annualized rate of 6 percent. That is worse than economists expected, but also showed the British recession may be even harsher than the one in the United States, where analysts predict data expected next week will show the U.S. economy to have contracted between 5 and 5.5 percent in the last quarter of 2008.

The meltdown is altering high streets in Britain, where retail icon Woolworths shuttered the last of its 807 branches this month after 99 years in business. Marks & Spencer, sometimes described as the bellwether of Britain's retail sector, said this month that it would close 27 stores and cut more than 1,000 jobs. The average price of a house has plummeted to mid-2004 levels, according to Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender. Car sales are at a 12-year low. The number of people out of work has climbed to nearly 2 million, a level not seen since 1997 when the Labor Party came to power.

In fact, the only sector to show growth in Britain was agriculture, which accounts for about 1 percent of the overall economy.

"The question now is not how bad will 2009 be, but will we recover in 2010 and if we recover, will it only be anemic?" said Andrew Scott, professor of economics at the London Business School, adding that the housing bubble is bigger, consumer debt is higher and the speed of the slowdown faster than in previous recessions.

Partial data released in recent days by Germany, Europe's single biggest economy, indicates its economy saw a major contraction in the last months of 2008, posting a 6 percent annualized drop, according to Howard Archer, chief Britain and European economist for IHS Global Insight in London.

That could get worse as problems mount in the European financial system. In recent days, major banks in Europe -- including the Royal Bank of Scotland -- reported surprisingly massive losses. European authorities are seen by some critics as falling behind the Americans in dealing with distress in the their financial sectors.

Standard & Poor's has downgraded Greek and Spanish bonds and warned that others, including Ireland's, may be next. The sense that some European countries are now more risky has driven up the borrowing costs for even large nations in the region, including Italy. That has made it harder for those countries to raise the vast sums needed to launch major stimulus packages aimed at economic recoveries.

Also troubling are signs that China, once a rare light in the global economy, may not prove to be the pillar of strength in Asia that many analysts had hoped. Beijing announced this week that its economy grew by 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 -- slower than the 7 percent analysts expected -- bringing total growth for 2008 to a seven-year low. Chinese data, however, are somewhat opaque, and analysts warned the slowdown there may be sharper than Beijing is willing to admit.

That is diminishing hopes for China as Asia's economic white knight, with its growth potentially propping up economies in the region. And as China grows at a far slower rate, it is importing fewer goods from neighbors, giving export-dependent nations in the region no way to pick up the slack from plummeting demand in the United States and Europe.

Particularly hard hit is South Korea, which saw trade with China soar in recent years. But as China slows, and the United States, Europe and Japan sink into deep recessions, unsold goods are piling up at South Korea docks. This week, the government said the economy in the fourth quarter staged its sharpest drop since the Asian economic crisis swept across the country in 1998.

Special correspondent Karla Adam in London contributed to this report
----------

hmmmm . . .i spoke with ADMan last night on the train about the HU departments of government and economics and law and whatnot doing nothing about hte house of cards of hte worls economy - and here a story with karla adam in london? as in kevin/trial automaton research live addiction? and ADAM from london - as in project ADAM?

you see, the worlsd has not been as well off as we have been led to believe - society is in fact broken . . .

oy . . .

thecrimson.com:

Book Stand To Close by April
Owner plans to depart after 2-year permit battle with city
Published On 1/24/2009 1:46:25 AM

By PETER F. ZHU and MICHELLE L. QUACH
Crimson Staff Writers

Frustrated by years of wrangling with city business restrictions and what he considers infringements of his First Amendment rights, Kenneth A. O’Brien—owner of the used book stand on Mass. Ave between Linden and Holyoke Streets—said he plans to give away his entire inventory by April.

O’Brien, who said he has spent most of his life on the streets, recently found a home in Cambridgeport with his partner and pets. But the 55-year-old said slow business has made paying the rent difficult, and now he faces possible eviction from his home.

While O’Brien said “the streets of Harvard Square can actually be as comfy for me as indoors,” he wants to trade the bustling sidewalk to move to the Rockies.

“Living indoors actually hurts me physically,” the Cambridge native said.

The book stand—officially named “Almost Banned in Harvard Square Booksellers”—is registered with the Harvard Square Business Association.

O’Brien said that if he cannot clear out his remaining 15,000 books in three months, he will have someone take them away.

WANDERLUST

After completing eighth grade, O’Brien left Cambridge to pursue the vagrant lifestyle popular among young people in the 1960s and 70s.

“It became addictive for me and I stayed on it,” he said.

O’Brien said that between hitchhiking and hopping freight trains, he has crisscrossed the country and held a variety of jobs.

“I left with 40 cents in my pocket and 80 pounds on my back, came back with a lot less weight and a lot more cash,” he said. “I learned how to walk into environments and survive.”

But O’Brien said that concern for his pets and his partner, Earlene French—whom he calls “Frenchie”—prompted him to return to Cambridge and establish a home off the streets.

“I’ve gone through a year of speed when I was a kid, drank really heavily for quite a while,” O’Brien said, “but I finally quit all the craziness because I got a dog.”

But he added that he was uncomfortable in the confines of a regular job and preferred self-employment.

“I’m psychologically incapable of working for anybody else anymore,” O’Brien said. “I have a tendency now to be overcritical of things, find ways of doing things better, ways of analyzing things down to the point where people get pissed off at me and tell me to screw.”

FIGHTING THE POWER

In June 2006, O’Brien started a book stand with his friend Gary Kibler. Shortly thereafter, Kibler was arrested by Cambridge police for allegedly violating a city ordinance that outlined the regulations for selling merchandise on the street.

Kibler challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance, saying that the First Amendment protects his right to sell books.

The judge in the case, Jonathan Brant, dismissed the city’s complaint against Kibler because of insufficient evidence.

Brant, however, ruled that while selling books is constitutionally protected, the city reserves the right to implement time, place, and manner restrictions, and identified a 50-cent peddler’s permit that would allow Kibler to continue his business. O’Brien said that Kibler soon left the book stand.

O’Brien said he tried to obtain this permit, but found himself mired in the city’s bureaucracy. When the city granted his request in Sept. 2006, the permit included restrictions that put him on MBTA property.

In June 2008, MBTA officials asked him to move, but O’Brien said he refuses to comply unless he is ordered to do so by a federal judge, as the city gave him permission to operate at that location.

“Unfortunately, sometimes the city will say one thing but the city’s not always right,” said City Councillor Craig A. Kelley, to whom O’Brien has voiced his concerns. “It may take a more vigorous challenge to figure out for sure that the city’s right.”

O’Brien said he has been “in and out” of the city solicitor and manager’s offices this past fall, seeking a “legitimate” business certificate, but to no avail.

In protest, O’Brien opened a second book stand in front of City Hall in December, hoping to publicize his plight. He handed out flyers stating, “I PUBLICLY ACCUSE THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE OF CONSPIRING TO DEPRIVE ME OF MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS!!!”

“I was hoping they would arrest me for not having a permit,” O’Brien said. “I came to the point that I realized, no matter what, I’m not going to be accepted in the business community, at least by officials.”

Kelley said that he still does not understand O’Brien’s complaint and that he doesn’t remember O’Brien’s presence outside City Hall.

“I don’t know what he wanted to do and I don’t know what he needed to do to get what he wanted,” Kelley said.

A DREAM DEFERRED

While the book stand was originally intended to be a means to support his family, O’Brien said he had hoped that the business could also give other homeless people an opportunity to become self-reliant.

“The basic plan behind that book stand is still solid,” O’Brien said. “My business plan was in three years to have six tables and 15 to 20 low-income homeless people working there, spread throughout Cambridge and Boston.”

In his pursuit of public service, O’Brien even became ordained as a minister online (he signed the flyer he handed out in front of City Hall “Rev. Kenneth A. O’Brien”). He explained that this designation allows him to feed runaway teenagers without legal repercussions.

But because of his conflicts with the city—which he says is treating him as a “second-class citizen”—he intends to shut down his business and panhandle for the summer.

“Why should I be part of a society that doesn’t want me?” O’Brien said. “I decided to stop being part of the solution and [start being] part of the problem.”

He added that soliciting in Harvard Square can actually be quite profitable.

“A single adult male can make $50 to $100 a day,” O’Brien said, pointing out that Supplemental Security Income—government assistance for low-income and disabled individuals—only provides about $650 a month.

O’Brien said he never bothered to apply for this money before, as he was wary of becoming dependent on such aid.

But because he plans to close the bookstand, O’Brien said he will accept $9,000 worth of retroactive Social Security checks. He said he will use the money to purchase supplies and rent a U-Haul for his journey.

He said his knowledge of herbs, tinkering, and bartering will ensure that he will never have to panhandle again.

In years past, O’Brien has offered free books during the holiday season, but always with the stated intention of reopening his stand for business in the spring. But this time, O’Brien said his decision to give away his books and leave was final.

“Homelessness is supposed to all be crazy drug addicts and unruly people,” O’Brien said. “I was trying to disprove that, but I didn’t.”

—Staff writer Michelle L. Quach can be reached at mquach@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu.
====================

O'Brien? see previous entries . . . hmmmm . . .

and this spam sent to the olfd yahoo accoount yeserday:

hmmmm . . .

--- On Sat, 1/24/09, Personal Assistant to Mikhail Khodorkovsky <info@pamk.com> wrote:

From: Personal Assistant to Mikhail Khodorkovsky <info@pamk.com>
Subject: RE!!
To:
Date: Saturday, January 24, 2009, 12:00 AM


Dear Friend,

I am David Isaakovich, a Personal Assistant to Mikhail Khodorkovsky. I have
a profiling sum in an excess of $25M which I seek your partnership in
accommodating for me. The said funds has been in fixed deposit for five years
in a Bank in the United Kingdom (name of the Bank undisclosed for now),
before the fund was deposited, my boss has long given me Power of Attorney to
carry out financial dealings on his behalf and that of the company before he
was arrested for his involvement in politics especially financing the leading
and opposing political parties.

I have been contacted by the Bank as the P.A. to Mr. Mikhail Khodorkovsky
that the fund has matured hence ready for profiling. All I need from you is
to stand as the beneficiary of the above quoted sum. With the Power of
Attorney, I will arrange for the documentation at my expense which will
enable transfer of the sum to you. You will be rewarded with 30% for your
partnership, 5% has been mapped out for any expenses that might be incurred
during the transaction while 15% will be spent on taxes in your country. I
have decided to use my share of this transaction to relocate and invest on
the Real Estate Venture. The transaction has to be concluded within a week.
As soon as I get your willingness to comply through my private email
d_isaakovich11@yahoo.com.hk, I will give you more details, sites for
verification, your role, how legal and genuine this transaction is and as we
progresses you shall see all the legal documents.
Thank you so much for your time.

I look forward to hearing from you soonest.

Yours truly,
David Isaakovich.

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.


--Este mensaje ha sido analizado por MailScanner
en busca de virus y otros contenidos peligrosos,
y se considera que está limpio.
For all your IT requirements visit: http://www.transtec.co.uk
=========

david as in 6/8 undercover david - who kew of hte randstad placement of me at abt associates before it happened- hence undercover knowledge of addictive research on a human live trials . . . and the spanish thing? ah - the Maine/Spanish phoners in front of sister's tofdday . . so freaking sad . . . but i wrote herein years ago that family knew - hence the rewards of housing the month i went into maine exile in 2004. . . so freaking sad . . .

washingtonpost.com:

A Fresh Look At How Best To Get Food To 35 Million

By Megan Greenwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 24, 2009; A01



In soup kitchens, food pantries and universities across the country, activists are planting the seeds for an overhaul of the way America feeds its more than 35 million hungry people, the first major challenge to a system largely developed in the 1960s.

They have begun providing food where people live and work, reconsidering the need for big, urban facilities and pushing for larger government food subsidies.

The goal is to make food more easily available to working poor women, children and others who, research shows, are a larger portion of the hungry than the urban homeless. They also hope to lessen the stigma associated with standing in line for a hot meal or groceries.

"The first generation of soup kitchens are getting to the point of outgrowing their kitchens and thinking they have to build new multimillion-dollar facilities," said Robert Egger, president of D.C. Central Kitchen and a nationally recognized anti-hunger activist. "And we're saying, 'We need to be adapting to future needs, not building the same things but bigger.' "

Soup kitchens, which provide hot meals, and food pantries, which offer groceries mostly to families, are the backbone of the current nonprofit food system. Most are in the hearts of cities and rely primarily on individual donations of food or bulk supplies from large food banks. They also need money for overhead, all of which leaves them vulnerable during economic downturns such as the current one, nonprofit leaders say.

Operating soup kitchens during traditional business hours shuts out a large group of hungry people. About 30 percent of households headed by single mothers reported going without food at least occasionally in 2007, almost four times the rate for single people, according to Feeding America, an umbrella group for 200 food banks nationwide.

Concerns about the nutritional value of food provided to the hungry have also plagued food banks. And several studies have indicated that many people avoid food pantries or soup kitchens out of embarrassment, leading activists to explore new ways of distributing food.

In response, Washington high school students are taking leftovers from corporate cafeterias to homebound seniors. In Austin, a local food pantry has gone mobile, traveling to rural parts of the region where people have no source of emergency food. A Harvard University professor suggests the money currently spent on food pantries would make more of a difference if it were put toward expanding food stamp programs.

"One weakness in the food pantry system is that it works through physical partner agencies, and so many of those agencies just open their doors and wait for people to walk through them," said David Davenport, a Baltimore native who took the helm of the Austin food bank in March. "That's not sufficient. We need to go to where the people are."

To be sure, the traditional system still reigns. Washington's Capital Area Food Bank broke ground last year on a $36 million warehouse that will double its capacity. The food bank serves about 700 food pantries and soup kitchens across the region, which helped feed about 383,000 people in 2006.

Leaders of the current system say that they value experimentation but that none of the newer projects could currently provide food to the millions who need it.

"There's certainly a place for new ideas and innovation, but when resources are limited, we need to focus on feeding people right now, and that's where food banks come in," said Kasandra Gunter Robinson, spokeswoman for the Capital Area Food Bank.

The food bank's expansion was sharply criticized by Egger and other activists, who said it does not address the root causes of hunger and does not take advantage of existing resources.

"There are school cafeterias that sit empty most of the day and food there being wasted, and so why can't we use those instead of building new facilities?" asked Maureen Roche, director of the Washington-based Campus Kitchens programs. The organization operates on high school and college campuses across the country, including at Gonzaga College High School in the District and at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Like Campus Kitchens, which began in 2001, several newer efforts focus on bringing meals to people in their schools or homes. At the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, based in Austin, a mobile pantry travels the region, offering people a week's worth of groceries from a refrigerated truck. The vehicle visits housing projects as well as rural communities of migrant workers who have no access to traditional food pantries.

The mobile food bank was Davenport's brainchild. The first vehicle hit the streets last spring, and Davenport plans to add one more each year. The program is similar to Meals on Wheels, which made its U.S. debut in 1954 and has lengthy waiting lists in many cities today. But the mobile food bank is not limited to seniors and focuses on providing groceries rather than pre-made meals.

Davenport's work is not done when families are holding bags of groceries, a sharp contrast to traditional soup kitchens. The food bank also helps clients enroll in food stamp or Medicare programs and attempts to address other needs. In Travis County, where Austin is located, just 29 percent of people eligible for food stamps are signed up for the program, he said.

Davenport is one of a growing number of food activists putting an increased emphasis on food stamps as an answer to hunger. The program, initially developed in the late 1930s, was cut back in the mid-1990s amid concerns about fraud and a growing government focus on personal responsibility. Today, people receive their food assistance money through debit cards, which has decreased reports of fraud, but many activists argue that the average per-person food stamp check -- about $21 a week -- is insufficient.

Last year, a study led by Harvard professor J. Larry Brown concluded that the United States could end hunger as a serious national problem by spending $12 billion more on federal nutrition programs, primarily food stamps. That is less than the $14.5 billion nonprofit groups spend to feed the hungry.

"There has never been a nation that I know of that has ensured the nutritional well-being of its population through charity," Brown said. "There is a federal responsibility here that is not being met."

But there is no significant increase in food stamp funding on the horizon. Instead, food bank leaders are seeking ways to operate more efficiently.

Campus Kitchens, which grew out of D.C. Central Kitchen, might be an important part of the future of feeding the hungry, according to several activists. Each of the 15 participating campuses has tailored its program specifically for the community it serves. Gonzaga College High students walk their Ward 6 neighborhood, and Northwestern University students provide free lunches during the summer to children in Evanston, Ill., who receive those meals at school during the year.

At Gonzaga, an all-boys Catholic school on North Capitol Street, most students do not go hungry at home, but many residents of the surrounding neighborhood do. Every Friday, boys in letterman jackets take meals donated by local corporations to residents' doors in apartment buildings near the school. The students don't stay long, but their brief visits often elicit grins from the mostly elderly population they serve.

Ultimately, Roche and Egger said, the goal of Campus Kitchens is to build a system where parents can pick up meals for their family when they pick up their children from school. That would allow parents to feed their children in their own homes rather than in soup kitchens, Egger said.

"The fact that it worked yesterday does not mean it is going to work tomorrow," Roche said of the traditional system.

==============

hmmmm . . .

washingtonpost.com:

Infections May Indicate Deadly Bug's Comeback

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 24, 2009; A06



Federal health officials are concerned that a recent uptick in so-called Hib infections in Minnesota infants may signal a comeback of the deadly bacterium as a consequence of a vaccine shortage and the reluctance of some parents to immunize their children.

Minnesota recorded five cases of infection by Haemophilus influenzae Type B last year, the highest number since 1992, including three in November and December. The death of a 7-month-old was the first Hib fatality in a child there since 1991.

In two cases, parents refused to have their child immunized. In a third, they asked to defer vaccination until the child was 5, long after the shots are usually given.

"Parents need to know this disease is still around and that it is very dangerous," Anne Schuchat, head of immunization at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said yesterday.

"I can't emphasize how important it is to use this tool in our toolbox," Ruth Lynfield, Minnesota's state epidemiologist, said of the Hib vaccine, normally given at 2, 4, 6 and 15 months of age.

Hib can cause several types of infection, all of them potentially fatal. Three of the Minnesota children had meningitis, one had pneumonia and one had epiglottitis, an infection of a structure in the back of the throat.

Since the Hib vaccine became widely available in 1990, infections have fallen by 99 percent nationwide. Minnesota used to have 200 to 250 each year in children; now sometimes there are none.

The five recent cases occurred independently, suggesting that the microbe is circulating widely in the population and is not just being passed in a high-risk environment such as a day-care center.

Whether this is happening elsewhere and has just not been noticed is the major unanswered question.

Minnesota traditionally has high vaccination coverage and is not known for having a vocal anti-vaccine community, as is the case in Oregon, Washington state Colorado, among other places. It also has unusually good disease surveillance, which could explain the discovery of the five cases.

"We don't know whether this problem is occurring in other states, but we really want to heighten the awareness of this problem," Schuchat said.

A relative shortage of Hib vaccine may also be contributing.

While two companies make the vaccine in the United States, only one, Sanofi Pasteur, is now supplying the market. The other producer, Merck, recalled its vaccine in December 2007 because of questions about its sterility. The company is not expected to be shipping vaccine again until the middle of this year, a spokeswoman said.

Because of the shortage, physicians have been asked to defer the fourth dose of Hib vaccine, the "booster," unless a child is at high risk for infection because of other illnesses.

Although theoretically there is enough vaccine to provide the first three shots for all American babies, a Minnesota survey suggests that may not be true everywhere. Infants there were nearly 20 percent less likely to have received their three Hib shots than to have had three shots of another vaccine (for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) given on the same schedule.

In addition to the three children who were never vaccinated, one of the Minnesota children received three doses but was found to have an immune-deficiency disease that increased risk. The fifth child had two doses.

Lynfield said that overall there appears to be a decline in "herd immunity" to Hib in Minnesota -- the situation in which the few susceptible children are protected by the many immunized ones, who block the microbe from entering the population.

The nation last year saw seven outbreaks of measles in the United States and 140 cases, the largest number since 1996. One occurred in a San Diego charter school where about 35 percent of parents signed vaccine exemptions for their children.

Vaccine refusal in Britain is now so widespread that measles, once eliminated there, is endemic again.

----------

Hib infections? harvard invasive biology? internet biology/blanton? and note the author: david brown . . . david as in undercover . . and bron the mom unit family name . . . hmmmm . . .

washingtonpost.com:

Virginia Tech Suspect Served as Victim's Mentor on Campus

By Brigid Schulte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 24, 2009; B01



At Virginia Tech, newly arrived international students from China are usually paired with other international students who have been at the school at least one semester to help them acclimate to their new environment. Xin Yang arrived on campus Jan. 8 and, university officials said, met her assigned buddy, Haiyang Zhu.

He spent the next two weeks showing her around campus, officials said, helping her look for a place to live. The two became familiar enough in that short time that Yang listed Zhu as one of two people to contact in case of an emergency.

Friends and former teachers of Zhu, 25, spent yesterday in shock as investigators continued searching his Blacksburg townhouse, laptop computer, cellphone and other personal items to try to piece together why the promising PhD economics student allegedly cut off the head of the 22-year-old woman he had only recently met.

Chinese-language Web pages of Zhu's began to surface yesterday, indicating that he had money problems. But university officials cautioned that one site in particular, which displays Zhu's mug shot and talks about him wanting to kill himself or someone else because of losses in the stock market, appears to be a "total fake."

Still, Will Segar, Zhu's landlord at Blacksburg's Sturbridge Square Apartments, said Zhu acted "strange" and was often "hostile and belligerent." He said Zhu was so concerned about money that he refused to turn the heat on in the three-bedroom townhouse he shared with two roommates. Instead, Segar said, throughout the fall, Zhu gathered sticks and dumped them in the middle of the living room to burn in the fireplace. The apartment had no furniture at the time, Segar said.

"He told my maintenance guy that it cost too much to heat the place, that he'd lost a lot of money in the stock market," Segar said yesterday.

When pipes began to freeze and a neighbor complained about balky plumbing, Segar installed a thermostat set permanently to 65 degrees, he said. Zhu turned it off at the breaker, he said. Segar said Zhu later accused Sturbridge staff of stealing his shoes. Segar said he last saw Zhu about a week ago when he brought Yang to the rental office so she could rent an apartment. But when Segar asked for Yang's passport, visa and Virginia Tech ID, Zhu said something to her in Chinese, and she balked.

"It looked like he was definitely in charge," Segar said. "She was looking to him for advice."

Zhu's roommates did not respond to several phone and e-mail messages. Segar said they "disappeared" after Wednesday's attack.

How a friend and protector could become an alleged executioner remains a mystery as authorities continued to search for a motive in the vicious attack. Virginia Tech and state police referred all calls to the university.

Authorities gave this account: Virginia Tech police, responding to two frantic 911 calls about 7 p.m. Wednesday, found Zhu standing in the Au Bon Pain cafe on campus, with Yang's severed head in his hands, according to an affidavit. A large, bloody kitchen knife lay nearby, and Zhu's backpack, on the floor, was filled with other sharp weapons. Seven people witnessed the attack, which came without as much as a raised voice as the two drank coffee.

"All of his friends are very, very shocked," said Kim Beisecker, director of Virginia Tech's Cranwell International Center. "They all indicated that they would never have expected this of him and are searching for understanding, for an explanation, as we all are. And we just don't have one."

Beisecker said both students participated in activities at the center. "She has just the sweetest, bubbly personality," Beisecker said. "She really did make an impression with her warmth in just those two weeks. He was polite and helpful."

Yang's friends hastily put together a tribute site dedicated to her memory on Facebook yesterday, calling her a "beautiful person" and wishing that she would "Rest in Peace."

University officials met with leaders of the Chinese student association yesterday. "There has been no backlash at this time," Beisecker said. "This university embraced our international community after the events of April 16, so we have a history of doing that," she said, referring to the April 2007 massacre of 32 students and teachers by Seung Hui Cho, a Korean American student who then killed himself.

Zhu remains in the Montgomery County jail, charged with first-degree murder and held without bond. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 5. Zhu's attorney, Stephanie Cox, has not returned phone calls seeking comment.

Representatives from the Chinese Embassy in Washington met with university officials yesterday and were scheduled to meet with Zhu. The university is working with the State Department to obtain visas for Yang's family to travel to the United States to retrieve her body but were having difficulty because of closings related to the Chinese New Year, which begins Monday. Yang is from Beijing.

Embassy officials did not return several phone calls.

Information emerging out of China yesterday indicates that Zhu, originally from the large seaport Ningbo, near Shanghai, is the son of a university professor and attended Shanghai Ocean University. One of his economics professors, Wei Yang, wrote that she had written him letters of recommendation to study abroad and that her heart "dropped" when she heard the news.

"In my impression, except hearing some people say that he is a little bit proud (this is usually a characteristic of a good student and not a big problem), he is really a good, aspiring and promising young man," she wrote. "I don't know what he is thinking now. As his previous teacher, I feel guilty."

On Zhu's q.com Web page, a popular social networking site in China, purple flowers and hearts float across an ocean-blue screen. A border of yellow daffodils highlights the site's motto: "Don't Worry. Be Happy!" A slideshow of Zhu standing in the snow in Boston and next to New York landmarks, including Wall Street and the World Trade Center, plays to the mournful breakup tune "A Complicated Heart."

On Jan. 15, he wrote his last entry. It was one sentence.

"A new semester will begin."

Washington Post staff researcher Zhang Jie reported from China.

==========

this one bothers me - for it kinda leads to the Cho-making of me on the harvard campus by those that hide - (and on that- the backtracked e-mail, so soon after hte dershowitz hate e-mail thing? the HUMF setting me up again>? oy . . .) - - - for foemre mentor is herein oft, and his wife;s name just appeared as a part of Project ADAM from england, where zittrain went (and beverly bradford f CA(org) for years ere getting tenure . . . )

and this form yahoo.com.news:

Newspaper claims suspect transformed into a goat
Fri Jan 23, 6:07 pm ET
LAGOS, Nigeria – One of Nigeria's biggest daily newspapers reported that police implicated a goat in an attempted automobile theft. In a front-page article on Friday, the Vanguard newspaper said that two men tried to steal a Mazda car two days earlier in Kwara State, with one suspect transforming himself into a goat as vigilantes cornered him.

The paper quoted police spokesman Tunde Mohammed as saying that while one suspect escaped, the other transformed into a goat as he was about to be apprehended.

The newspaper reported that police paraded the goat before journalists, and published a picture of the animal.

Police in the state couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Belief in black magic is widespread in Nigeria, particularly in far-flung rural areas.

=============

recall the nigerian of hte shelters (tyou're the best one) and hten the runup on that on JFK street yesterday - see previus entries - the i gott a record this thing . .. and turning to a goat, as in scapegoat? humf plots . . .

and this is something too, form washingtonpost.com:

After Hearing 911 Call, Judge Tosses Murder Charge

By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 24, 2009; B03



In a recorded 911 call played in court yesterday, a shaken 35-year-old Arlington County man said he had just killed a man. What he said next persuaded the judge to dismiss the murder charge against him: "He was going to kill me."

But immediately after General District Court Judge Thomas J. Kelley Jr. issued his ruling during a preliminary hearing, prosecutors said there was no evidence that the killing was done in self-defense and that they would seek an indictment from the grand jury when it meets Monday.

Police had charged Willie Donaldson, an Internet consultant, in the Dec. 8 shooting death of Matthew Hicks, 32, of Loudoun County. Hicks was found dead of gunshot wounds in Donaldson's home in 2100 block of South Arlington Ridge Road.

Police said the incident began after Donaldson responded to an "erotic service" advertisement on Craigslist. A couple arrived at Donaldson's home about midnight Dec. 7. The three drank, according to a police search warrant affidavit, and at one point the woman hopped into a hot tub and passed out.

About 4 a.m., Donaldson called 911, saying he killed a man who had beat him and was trying to rob him. In court yesterday, prosecutors played a recording of the call, in which Donaldson could be heard saying, "I just shot and killed someone in my house."

Kept on the line by the dispatcher, Donaldson said the person he had killed with a 9mm handgun had "attacked me and assaulted me and said he was going to kill me."

At one point, his voice shaking, Donaldson said: "He's dead. He's dead." He told the dispatcher that the man "beat the [expletive] out of me" and that he tried to rob him and force him to go to an ATM to get money.

At yesterday's hearing, prosecutors did not provide any additional information about what led to the shooting, and they did not call any law enforcement officers to testify.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Lisa Bergman said that Donaldson's claim of self-defense on the 911 tape was "self-serving," and she argued that the defense did not produce any evidence to back up the claim. There was no proof that Donaldson "was in any imminent danger," she said.

Defense attorney Jason Rucker argued that the 911 call proved that Donaldson was acting in self-defense when he shot Hicks. "We've argued all along this was self-defense," he said after the hearing.

He said that Hicks, a former Navy SEAL, beat Donaldson, who was scared for his life, and pointed to a mug shot of Donaldson after his arrest that showed his face bruised and swollen.

According to the Navy, Hicks was stripped of the SEAL qualification, a highly unusual act, and was other than honorably discharged before his enlistment was up.

==============================

this one is disturbing . . . judge thomas j kelley . . . see previous entries toms and kelleys. . . also a Lise Berg(man) . . . see previous entries . . .and a hicks? that's the name of the geological minded volunteer at the museum, the brain who the cvol coord said she wanted to pick - and on that the E young thing as well - the handyman offer of frree housing in chelsea. . . see previous entries . . . and a former navy seal? narcotics anonymous victim up;load secreat experiment addiction/automaton live/lab?

---------

on that too (the above):

wasdhintonpost.com:

High-tech sensors help seniors live independently

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
The Associated Press
Friday, January 23, 2009; 8:51 PM



COLUMBIA, Mo. -- After back-to-back hospital visits for congestive heart failure, Eva Olweean figured her health was back to normal. But the nurses at her retirement home knew better: Motion sensors in the 86-year-old's bed detected too many restless nights.

Tiny sensors hover unobtrusively over the toilet, shower and doorways to detect Olweean's movements inside her apartment. Pneumatic tubes tucked in the mattress and beneath her easy chair measure weight shifts. Caregivers and researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia study the data, noting changes in behavior that could signal medical problems.

Recognizing the coming "silver tsunami" of graying baby boomers, tech companies are racing to help aging Americans spend more time living independently instead of in nursing homes. For the first time earlier this month, the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas featured a special section devoted to high-tech senior living.

Among the advances at the show were motion sensors, the kind that allowed Olweean's nurses to figure out what was keeping her up at night. She was experiencing excessive bloating, a common symptom of congestive heart failure. So Olweean's cardiologist prescribed diuretics and made other adjustments to her medication that helped the woman again sleep soundly.

"We try to identify when those small problems occur, so we can fix them before they become big problems," said Marjorie Skubic, an electrical and computer engineering professor who works with Sinclair School of Nursing researchers on the aging-in-place project.

At Oatfield Estates in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, Ore., resident movements in the private retirement home are tracked by what employees call "bed bugs." Those are embedded motion sensors that detect when someone's behavior could trigger a medical alert.

Sensors like those, "smart carpets" and other tracking devices will be the norm in both private homes and group settings within the next decade, said Jason Hess, chief executive officer of Elite Care, the Portland company that owns Oatfield Estates. He said that will especially be true as insurers start embracing the cost-saving devices.

"You will see a lot more places implementing these," he said. "It comes down to cost, and out-of-the-box thinking."

At the Las Vegas show, on display were talking pill boxes that remind seniors to take their medicine at regular intervals, and which can notify out-of-town caregivers if that doesn't happen. There were robotic companion pets that mimic the real thing for lonely seniors in need of a psychological boost.

"We're talking about an important paradigm shift in how we think about aging," said Majd Alwan, director of the Washington-based Center for Aging Services Technologies. Alwan led a panel discussion on smart-home technology at the Las Vegas event.

Delaying institutionalization by a year or more, is a significant financial savings, he added. "Let alone the benefits in quality of life for the senior and for the caregiver."

Alwan previously led the eldercare technology unit of the University of Virginia's Medical Automation Research Center, which developed the passive sensor technology used in Missouri.

Unlike medical warning badges worn by seniors, the motion sensors' success doesn't depend on the cooperation of patients. Elderly people can be prone to forget the badges when dressing, or who might resist the devices as too obtrusive, said University of Missouri nursing professor Marilyn Rantz.

"Our intent with this project was to incorporate (it) into their daily lives _ and make it invisible to their daily lives," she said.

Olweean, a retired factory worker, said she barely notices the sensors.

"I don't even know they're here half the time," she said.

Fifteen of the 35 residents at her apartment complex take part in the motion sensor research project. The complex is named Tiger Place after the University of Missouri mascot and is owned by the university, though managed by a private company.

Researchers there are also fine-tuning a more advanced monitoring system using virtual-reality silhouette images to allow observation of posture, gait and other movements. The silhouettes are considered a preferred alternative to more invasive video cameras.

Rantz, Alwan and other experts acknowledge that rapid technological advances in elder care must be balanced with privacy protections. That dilemma concerns Fredda Vladeck, executive director of the United Hospital Fund's Aging in Place Initiative.

"Technology does have a role to play," she said. "It's a tool, not the answer."

___

On the Net:

Center for Aging Services Technologies:http://www.agingtech.org/index.aspx

MU Interdisciplinary Center on Aging, Tiger Place:http://www.aging.missouri.edu/programs/tigerplace.php

==========

recall the Pen Bay electronic ICU - the house hypersurveillance . . . and here is the story again (and me under this sonce at least 1998 the CA(org) lab house . . .

aythor? alan scher zagier?

alan (dershowitz - or addiction live automaton neurobiolocogal) secret coke/copntrol havrard experimental research zittrain automaton government/grant invasiver/internet experimental research - see previous entries . . .

is HU using me to see how the feds can release hte gotmo folks and hypersurveil them as they have me all thise yesrs? and mom up in maine right now gambling with joyce - and the hints at the maine like compitering herein - the maine plate in fornt of sis's . . . so freaking sad . . .

all this is way, way beyound the realm of coincidence; hence, there is a maliciousness to it all . . .

and i spoke, see previous entries, to the ad man (alder man of hls?); and this e-mail to myself:

tha ad man lasy night - and HP Ads covering things from washingtonpost.com and nytimes.com when i e-mail to myself fpor printing . . .

oy . . .

----------

harvard president/harvard project/harvard police? ads blocking news stories - ah: what wonderful conver for computere invasdion - a la the FAS IT thing, which i noted years ago herein . . .


as always:
It is best to read this journal from the beginning. . .
<http://theurbanhermit.livejournal.com/2006/02/08/>
it makes more sense then. ....
or just explore the journal at: <http://theurbanhermit.livejournal.com/>
may i recommend: <http://theurbanhermit.livejournal.com/2008/01/04/>
and a follow up to that: <http://theurbanhermit.livejournal.com/2008/10/12/>

and I do not know him and he does not know me - but it seems through Harvard our existences are intertwined; therefore, noting this is not an endorsement either way, but in the need to ask the readership of this journal to remain vigilent (as the bush leage asked of america but not for it's bad influence on america), I ask readers to keep abreast of www.whitehouse.gov and to help make sure Omaba and his harvard teams stays the course they claim to be on. . . for HUMFErs are in his ears as they are in mine - see previous entries. . .
-------------------------------------------