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More than half of the dogs and cats in the United States are either overweight or obese—much like their owners.

by: Candy Sagon | from: AARP Bulletin | March 2010

They need to cut back on the treats, stop eating such big meals, and, for goodness sake, get some exercise.

Think we’re talking about people? Nope, we’re talking about pets. The obesity epidemic among the two-legged couch potatoes in this country has unfortunately spread to the four-legged ones, say many veterinarians.

More than 50 percent of the 171 million dogs and cats in the United States are either overweight or obese, according to a 2009 study by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, a veterinarians’ group founded by North Carolina vet Ernie Ward. Based on data collected from 41 animal clinics, the study found weight problems in 45 percent of dogs and 58 percent of cats. Compare that to federal figures that show that 68 percent of American adults are either overweight or obese, and it’s clear why Ward thinks our pets’ problems are symptomatic of our own.

“The benefits of owning a pet for older Americans are enormous—it lowers your blood pressure and risk of stroke and makes you more socially active,” says Ward. “But a sedentary lifestyle and mindless eating as we age leads to a lack of activity” and contributes to dangerous weight gain for both animals and owners.

For fat pets, the health problems mirror those for overweight owners. Type 2 diabetes “is in epidemic proportions in cats,” says Ward. Because fat tissue secretes inflammatory chemicals, overweight dogs and cats frequently suffer from painful arthritis of their joints. Excess weight also causes respiratory problems. Overweight dogs, Ward estimates, live two years less than normal weight animals, “and those last few years of life the dog is miserable.” Plus, owners pay thousands of dollars in medical costs.

Misleading pet food claims

To make matters worse, pet owners who decide to buy weight-control pet food for their pudgy pooch or corpulent kitty will find calorie numbers and serving sizes as confusing as they are on some people foods.

A study published in January by the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University found a misleading hodgepodge of feeding instructions and calorie counts, as well as a huge range in cost.

The study examined nearly 100 dog and cat foods with weight-management claims. To their surprise, says lead author Lisa Freeman, “The calories ranged from 217 per cup to 440 per cup in dry dog food.” The recommended serving amounts varied as well, ranging from 25 percent less than a dog’s energy requirements to 50 percent more. More than half the pet foods labeled as light or low calorie exceeded federal guidelines for maximum calories.

“An owner could be feeding their dog food that they think is low calorie and actually be increasing their dog’s calories,” Freeman says.

The cost of weight-control pet food also ranged wildly, the study found. Freeman says the cost for an 80-pound Labrador retriever that needed to lose weight ranged from 42 cents to $9.23 a day, depending on the food, and “cost did not equate to quality.”

To add to the confusion, pet-food makers aren’t always required to include calorie counts. Under federal rules, pet foods labeled with terms like light or low calorie must provide calorie content. But if the label says “weight management,” or “healthy weight,” no calorie count is required.

One easy way to cut back on your pet’s calories: Avoid those high-calorie pet treats, which California veterinarian Bernadine Cruz considers the animal equivalent of junk food.

“When I was growing up, there was only one kind of treat—Milk Bones. Now there’s every kind of treat imaginable for dogs as well as cats,” says Cruz, an associate veterinarian at Laguna Hills Animal Hospital in Laguna Woods, Calif. A better dog treat would be baby carrots or a piece of apple—the same kind of healthy treat that people should be eating. For cats, a tiny amount of cooked fish is best.

Read more……………..

http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-03-2010/health_discovery_obese_dogs_and_cats_suffer_from_diabetes_arthritis.html

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Next time you hear a politician casually use the word BILLION………think of this……..

(1) A Billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

(2) A Billion years ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

(3) A Billion days ago no one on earth walked on two feet.

AND think of this…………………..

Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax (Fed)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes

None of these taxes were in effect 100 years ago and this country was much more prosperous…………………WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?

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FROM CNN, June 29, 2010

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — A bronze statue was unveiled in Seoul on June 22, honoring a young American hero who fell in the battlefield in September 1950. A doctorate candidate of honor at Harvard University, William Hamilton Shaw did not hesitate to answer the call to defend Korea and protect freedom and peace.

The Navy lieutenant fought courageously, being proud to be among the U.N. troops led by Commander-in-Chief Douglas MacArthur in the blitz Incheon landing against the North Korean Army. His dream of becoming a philosopher was cut short at the precious age of 28.

Still, his noble spirit remains alive in the hearts of Koreans, who remember his sacrifice for a cause greater than his life, for the ideals most cherished by all humanity.

The Korean War began at daybreak on a Sunday, on June 25, 1950.

The War was savage and destructive. Within a year of its outbreak, Seoul had changed hands four times and was in ruins. By the end of the War in 1953, the capital’s pre-war population of 1.5 million was down to 200,000, with people suffering from chronic and severe food shortages.

The rest of the country fared no better. Beside the unimaginable toll on human lives, whatever meager infrastructure there had been simply no longer was.

Sixty years later, the whole country is bursting with pride, as Korea successfully wins a bid to export a nuclear power plant to the United Arab Emirates, and as we stand to chair the 2010 G20 Seoul Summit and host the Nuclear Security Summit in 2012.

Starting from no capital, no infrastructure, and little human resources, we have come a very long way indeed. From a per capita income of 67 U.S. dollars at the end of the War, we attained 20,000 dollars in 2007, and total GDP grew 745 times during that time. Much of this was achieved through our own efforts and sacrifices.

As a former economics professor, I must say that strong investment in human capital was the essential sine qua non that propelled Korea’s economic growth. Next to that, stable politics provided a good backdrop, but the authoritarian rule that guaranteed three decades of stability and a relentless focus on growth-oriented policy also did exact personal tolls.

But, as much as we have to be proud of, we always bear in mind that we also have much to be thankful for. And the 60th anniversary of the Korean War is a very appropriate occasion for expressing our deep appreciation.

For the Republic of Korea’s very survival ………….
Read the rest of this entry »

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After four decades of steady decline, the number of new cases of rheumatoid arthritis in women has started to inch up, a finding that leaves researchers puzzled.

A study carried out by a team at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., determined that while the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis in men dropped slightly from 1995 to 2007, it increased by 2.5 percent a year in women. “This modest but statistically significant rise is unlikely to have occurred by chance alone,” says epidemiologist Sherine Gabriel, M.D., lead author of the study.

The Mayo team had previously analyzed trends from 1955 to 1994 among people living in Olmsted County, Minn., and found a steady drop in the number of cases of rheumatoid arthritis in both men and women. For this study they screened the records of 1,761 patients over age 18 who had received a diagnosis of arthritis. After reviewing the medical reports, a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis was made in 145 men and 321 women with an average age of 56 years.

Although it’s not clear why the rate of rheumatoid arthritis is rising among women, the researchers speculate that environmental factors are the likely cause. About 1.3 million Americans have rheumatoid arthritis—two and a half times as many women as men, according to the Arthritis Foundation.

Cigarette smoking is unquestionably associated with the development of rheumatoid arthritis and is perhaps the strongest environmental villain. While smoking rates are falling for both sexes, the rate of decline is significantly slower in women than men, which may help explain the upsurge of the disease in women. “Here’s yet another reason not to smoke,” says Gabriel. “As if we needed any more.”

The researchers also note that lower doses of synthetic estrogens found in modern oral contraceptives offer less protection against the development of rheumatoid arthritis than the higher doses found in older medications.

Further, the authors point to evidence that suggests vitamin D deficiency has a role to play in the development of rheumatoid arthritis. Coupled with reports that a growing number of adults, especially women, lack sufficient vitamin D, the Mayo researchers consider it a possible contributor to rising rates among women.

“Rheumatoid arthritis is a complicated disease caused by both genetic and environmental influences,” says University of California, San Diego rheumatologist Gary Firestein, M.D., who was not associated with the research. “These observations are extremely important because they provide clues that will allow us to understand the kinds of environmental changes that make people susceptible to developing the disease.”

The study appeared in the June issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Nissa Simon is a freelance writer who lives in New Haven, Conn.

AARP Bulletin read more……
http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-06-2010/health_discovery_rheumatoid_arthritis_on_the_rise_in_women.html?cmp=NLC-RSS-DAILY-BULLETIN

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Sen. Robert Byrd (1917-2010) dead at 92; West Virginia lawmaker was the longest serving member of Congress in history

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) served in the U.S. Congress longer than any member in history. The nine-term senator assumed office Jan. 3, 1959, after serving three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

By Joe Holley
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, June 28, 2010; 8:35 AM

Robert C. Byrd, 92, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who became the longest-serving member of Congress in history and used his masterful knowledge of the institution to shape the federal budget, protect the procedural rules of the Senate and, above all else, tend to the interests of his state, died at 3 a.m. Monday at Inova Fairfax Hospital, his office said.

Mr. Byrd had been hospitalized last week with what was thought to be heat exhaustion, but more serious issues were discovered, aides said Sunday. No formal cause of death was given.

read more……………..http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062801241.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

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Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
Published June 25, 2010

An international effort to broker new whaling regulations has collapsed, leaving in place loopholes for whalers to harvest some 1,500 whales a year—including whales in an Antarctic sanctuary.

Contentious discussions at the International Whaling Commission annual meeting this week in Agadir, Morocco, focused on proposals that would have allowed limited commercial whaling to resume at low levels—but under tight IWC regulation and quotas that may have reduced current kill levels.

“Ultimately after a three-year process and intense negotiations of very polarized positions, things broke down,” said Howard Rosenbaum, director of the Ocean Giants Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, a New York-based nonprofit.

“And now the way forward isn’t entirely clear. In the meantime, it seems like the situation will remain as the status quo,” said Rosenbaum, who is also a member of the IWC scientific committee.

That means the three whaling countries—Japan, Iceland, and Norway—will continue to pursue scientific and other unregulated whaling.

Those countries have killed more than 30,000 whales since a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.

Sanctuary No More?

The Southern Ocean Sanctuary was apparently a major sticking point that helped to sink compromise efforts during this week’s meeting.

In 1994 the IWC designated the Southern Ocean Sanctuary—19 million square miles (50 million square kilometers) of waters surrounding Antarctica—as a critical space safe from commercial whaling. Most of the world’s whales feed in these waters………read more

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100625-whaling-whales-ban-iwc-japan-hunting/

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The Apostle John
Photograph by Pier Paolo Cito, AP

A new found painting of the Apostle John (pictured in an underground Roman tomb on Tuesday) is among the oldest known depictions of some of the original 12 Christian Apostles, experts say.

The Santa Tecla catacombs—situated beneath an office building in Rome’s Ostiense area—contain fourth-century-A.D. paintings of the Apostles Paul, Peter, John, and Andrew, who were early followers of Jesus Christ.

The ancient art was revealed by lasers that burned off inches of calcium carbonate, which had accumulated on the paintings over the centuries in the humid chamber, according to Italian news reports.

The two-year restoration effort cost the Vatican—which maintains the catacombs—some $73,400 (60,000 Euros).

—Brian Handwerk

Published June 24, 2010
National Geographic

NOTE: The National Geographic is a wonderful publication inspiring people to care about our Planet

read more:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/photogalleries/100624-oldest-apostle-christian-icon-religion-pictures/#oldest-apostle-icons-found-lasers-john_22289_600x450.jpg

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By Scott Wilson and Michael W. Savage
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 27, 2010

TORONTO — President Obama and the new British prime minister, David Cameron, grabbed some time alone here Saturday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit. It was their first private meeting since Cameron became prime minister last month, and they had a lot to talk about, not least a “special relationship” burdened by the BP oil spill and the war in Afghanistan.

The men do not know each other well. But each is facing intense public pressure at home over the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and a war in Afghanistan in which command of NATO forces has just undergone dramatic change.

In an unusual show of camaraderie before their official meeting, Obama invited Cameron to join him aboard Marine One for the ride from the Muskoka region, where the Group of Eight had concluded its session, to the G-20 summit in Toronto.

Obama then used remarks after their talk to set the tone for the latest incarnation of the relationship between the long-time allies and to challenge the contention by commentators on both sides of the Atlantic that it is not particularly special any more.

“On foreign policy issues, the United States and the United Kingdom are not only aligned in theory, but aligned in fact,” Obama said. “We see the world in a similar way.”

The positive review belied evidence of the leaders’ differences heading over the U.S. response to the oil spill……………………..read more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/26/AR2010062602032.html?wpisrc=nl_headline

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McClatchy reporters Greg Gordon, Chris Adams and Kevin G. Hall were named 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalists for examining Wall Street’s role in the nation’s financial collapse.

more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/

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