A public health nurse gives an immunization injection.

As reported here on May 16, schools across Pennsylvania were forced to ban students from attending as part of an effort to catch up on required immunizations and record keeping. Reports suggest that the effort payed off in many school districts. It took eight months plus two weeks, and the exclusion of hundreds of students to reach that end.

Pennsylvania, like all states, has a list of immunizations that it requires students in public schools to have in order to attend school. The state allows a medical exemption, as well as a religious / personal belief exemption.

(b) Religious exemption. Children need not be immunized if the parent, guardian or emancipated child objects in writing to the immunization on religious grounds or on the basis of a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief.

Pennsylvania school districts, by law, cannot admit a student without proof of exemption or immunization. They have been, in the thousands.

The Republic:
Scranton School District – 139 students out of compliance on May 15
Bethlehem Area School District – 3,000 students out of compliance at start of school
Erie – 350 students on may 15
Lancaster – several dozen barred on May 17
Allentown – 3,000 unvaccinated in January
Philadelphia – 16% of student not in compliance in early spring

Tribune-Review:
Laurel Highlands School District – 17 students banned on May 14
Belle Vernon Area School District – 300 out of compliance in January / February
Southmoreland School District – 10 students excluded

Reading Eagle:
Reading School District – 40 students kept out of class

Lancaster Online:

As recently as two weeks ago, more than 2,000 county public school students lacked documentation that they had received the vaccines.

WJAC TV:

The Citizens’ Voice reports the Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Valley West districts each have more than 200 students who are not up-to-date on their shots. Officials say those students are still attending school but will be excluded next year without immunizations.

Pennsylvania school districts allowed thousands of students to attend school without proof of immunization or an exemption.

Here is a link to our coverage of the tornado that tore through Joplin Missouri just one year ago.

Joplin Missouri

The Minnesota Department of Health reports 670 cases of whooping cough in the state for the year through May 15. The cases are largely centered in and around the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro area.

Counties in Minnesota reporting pertussis cases in 2012 through May 15. Click for a larger image.

All 19 of the 2012 reports have shown Minnesota as having no pertussis cases. Media reports contradict that data.

Kristen from the CDC called with an explanation. The state of Minnesota is trying to implement a new electronic reporting system and they have reported nothing for the year as yet.

Claudia Miller from the Minnesota Department of Health verified that statement. The DoH is struggling to bring the system on-line. The deadline for reporting final case counts for 2011 to the CDC is coming up, so the DoH is concentrating on reporting the 2011 data first. Ms. Miller believes that the 2012 data will be reported by the end of June, 2012, and be reported weekly after that.

PLEASE NOTE:
The 670 pertussis cases in Minnesota in 2012 do not appear in the CDC’s data. Our reporting, until now, was based on that faulty data. The missing cases represent an additional 7.5 percent increase in the national case count.

Pie chart showing top states reporting pertussis in 2012. Click for a larger image.

The number of pertussis cases in the United States for 2012 through May 12 is 9,586. That represents 62 percent more cases of whooping cough than for the same 19 weeks in 2011. Minnesota ranks fourth nationally in cases.

A public health nurse gives an immunization injection.

When the school year began last September, large numbers of Pennsylvania school children lacked immunizations or the proof that they had received those immunizations. The Pennsylvania Department of Health notified families that they would have eight months to obtain immunizations, file the correct paperwork or provide the paperwork giving their student an exemption for medical, religious or philosophical reasons. The deadline passed and was extended for two weeks. Yesterday was it.

It was up to the district superintendents to ban students or not ban students for lack of immunizations. Some schools are permitting unvaccinated students to attend classes while others have refused and banned them from the building. The push to obtain immunizations and correct records has been successful in other districts.

The Pocono Record reports that some local schools have full compliance with the immunization policy. Two local schools were banning some students. The East Stroudsburg Area School District has reduced its backlog from 650 student to 70, and they were going to be banned. Pocono Mountain had gone from 300 to 50 by Tuesday’s deadline, and these students were set to be banned.

Wilkes-Barre Area and Wyoming Valley West are taking the opposite tack. The Times-Leader reports that Wilkes-Barre has about 300 students without all their immunizations. They are being allowed to finish the school year but will not be permitted to attend in the fall if the situation has not been corrected. WNEP-16 reports the same policy at Western Wayne, with the number of non-compliant students in that district at 67.

In Erie, 350 students were not allowed in class on Tuesday. By day’s end the number had been reduced to 206, as reported by GoErie.com.

In the Scranton area, the Times-Tribune surveyed local school districts. Many had full compliance while others reported very low numbers of students that would be banned. The Scranton district had about 300 students needing immunizations at the lend of last week and 155 students were banned on Tuesday.

Pennsylvania is one of twenty states that permit parents to exempt their children from immunizations based on a philosophical belief. The statute describes it as “a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief”. The state has reported nearly 500 cases of pertussis, whooping cough, in 2012 and ranks fifth nationally in the number of reported cases.

An annual Mother’s Day event at a Buddhist monastery in rural Putnam County, NY, was interrupted yesterday afternoon as participants began suffering gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea. The event drew hundreds to the Chuang Yen Monastery, and delawareonline.com states that about 500 arrived by bus from New York City’s Chinatown. Food for the event was provided by volunteers, similar to a pot luck supper.

Illness
Susan Hoffner, a spokesperson for the Putnam County Health Department, states that approximately 150 people were taken ill. Symptoms of the illness include vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and dehydration. Many became ill after they left the event. By evening, the Times Herald-Record states that local emergency services had received reports of dozens of cases of illness in travelers between the monastery and New York City. The outbreak is believed to be caused by some form of food poisoning.



Police Response
The Kent, NY, police department responded to the incident. Detective Gerald Locasio, a spokesman for the department, said that four officers from Kent and assistance from the Woodbury Police Department, responded. Fifteen patients were transported by ambulance from the area of the monastery. While there were some language barriers, Locasio said, there were enough English speaking individuals who could translate. The monastery shut down food service when notified of the problem. Detective Locasio states that there is no current indication that the incident was criminal in nature or that there was terrorist involvement. The investigators are working closely with the Putnam County Health Department.

Medical Response
The Putnam County News and Recorder reports that several fire and ambulance agencies from the region responded to the monastery as calls flooded the Putnam County 911 center. Triage was performed by EMS personnel on site and some patients were taken to nearby hospitals.

In Orange County, buses transporting people from the event stopped at a local shopping mall, where some of the travelers became ill. About two dozen patients were taken to local hospitals from this location. A spokesman for the Orange County Regional Medical Center, located in Middletown, estimated that around a dozen patients were treated and released from their facility. St. Luke’s Hospital in Cornwall reports that it treated eight from the incident. All were released. Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern also treated and released several patients.

Health Department Response
The Putnam County Health Department will be working with experts from the New York State Health Department to investigate the outbreak. Peter Constantakes, spokesman for the NYS Department of Health, said that the DoH has personnel on the ground in Putnam County at this time working with the county health department. The followup with patients is requiring the DoH to translate the standard questionnaire into Chinese. They will also need to translate the answers when they are received. Constantakes stated that any outbreak follow up in Chinatown would be conducted by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. If there is any indication that the illnesses resulted from a food product sold commercially, the Centers for Disease Control would be advised of the situation.

Enrique Ruiz was very sick when he went to the emergency room at New York City’s Lincoln Hospital in April. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and bronchitis. Less than a week later, he was being treated for second degree burns on his neck and chest.

Sunday’s New York Post reported on the ordeal by fire that Enrique Ruiz suffered at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. As doctors were trying to insert a breathing tube, Ruiz caught fire. The pain was severe enough that he woke up from sedation. An electronic scalpel being used to cut an opening in his neck combined with the oxygen he was being given causing a flash fire around the surgical site.

Surgical Fires

Mark Bruley, vice-president of investigations for the ECRI Institute, stated in the Post article that 500 to 600 surgical fires occur in the United States each year. The results can be serious or fatal. A spokesperson for the New York State Health Department (NYSDoH) states that the fire was originally reported as minor but additional information has now been provided. All injuries to patients are required to be reported to the DoH.

Causes of Surgical Fires

A fire needs oxygen, an ignitions source and fuel – something that will burn. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) points out that all of the requirements for a fire are routinely found in a surgical environment. The patient is supplied with oxygen. Alcohol skin preparations, anesthetics and surgical draping are among the fuels present. Ignition is provided by electronic surgical tools such as scalpels and lasers.

Other Surgical Fire Cases

Kira Reed was undergoing a cesarean-section in March 2010, according to the Syracuse, NY, Post-Standard. She was awake and smelled something burning. She was on fire. Her baby was delivered without injury but she suffered third degree burns to her side. An alcohol-based antiseptic skin preparation is being blamed.

In September 2009, Janice McCall died some six days after being burned by a fire on the operating table, MSNBC reports. While her death was ruled accidental, her family is pursuing legal action against Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Il.

In early December, 2011, two separate fires left two patients with severe burns to the face. ABC reports that Kim Grice was burned while undergoing an outpatient procedure in Crestview, Fl. Seattle’s qFox 13 has the story of Tommy Beams, who also suffered facial burns after a fire at Grays Harbor Community Hospital.

These fires are preventable, according to Mark Bruley in the Post. The FDA has a website with information for both patients and medical professionals on how to prevent surgical fires. The agency has no mandatory reporting requirement but does ask that voluntary reports of surgical fires be submitted.

An aerial view of debris from an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck northern Japan. The debris was inspected by a helicopter-based search and rescue team from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd

Debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami are beginning to arrive on the Pacific Coast. The debris is a collection of items that both float and have a high enough profile off the water to catch the wind. The wind-driven debris, as predicted, is arriving before the current-driven debris.

The Montreal Gazette reports on the discovery of a Harley Davidson motorcycle two weeks ago on a beach in British Columbia. It was stored in some sort of cube that floated, and had a Japanese license plate.

After surviving one the most devastating earthquake and tsunami ever recorded and a full year unmanned and adrift on the world’s largest ocean, the Ryou-Un Maru, aka the Tsunami Ghost Ship, has finally met its demise at the hands of the U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Thomas

In April, the U.S. Coast Guard used naval gunfire to sink the Ryou-Un Maru, a Japanese fishing vessel that had drifted to within 100 miles of the coast. The ghost ship was unsalvageable and a danger to navigation.

Debris from the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 lies on the ocean floor. NOAA photo

Estimates suggest that the tsunami may have swept as much as 25 million tons of debris into the Pacific as the waters receded from the Japanese islands. Much of the flotsam has become waterlogged and sunk over the last thirteen months. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that 1.5 million tons of debris remain afloat.

KTUU reports that Kayak Island and Montague Island off the Alaskan coast have beaches littered with debris unlike the normal objects deposited by the ocean. Many of the items carry Japanese markings.

For Additional Information:
Tsunami Debris Project – Maritime Museum of BC on Facebook
Japan Tsunami Debris: Information and FAQs from the NOAA Marine Debris Program
Marine and Tsunami Debris News from the International Pacific Research Center

UPDATE 5/8/2012 5:14 pm:  Let’s look at the arguments against Warren’s heritage.

1. The son gained no advantage by claiming his mother was Indian.
2. The area where O.C. Sarah Neoma Smith was born was Indian land.
3. The census records are only a valid proof if the census taker had the option to put Indian down for race. One of the comments states that assimilated Indians were listed as white at the time.
4. The Jonathan that is claimed to be the militia member is not Warren’s ancestor but a distant  cousin. There are two Jonathans in the family tree. The report linked below only covers her direct ancestry.

Everyone is forgetting that the Cherokee were one of the “civilized” tribes. They had adopted the English way of life to a great extent, including keeping slaves. They were as civilized as any white settler in the area at that time and cannot be differentiated based on occupation or residence.

UPDATE 5/1/2012 10:19 pm: Child is correct in his research. Neoma or Sarah Smith, born 1794 in North Carolina, seems to be Warren’s Cherokee ancestor. Two caveats. The family is not enrolled with the tribe. The sole reason to believe that she was Cherokee was her son, William’s statement upon his marriage. Clearly it would seem that Warren can claim to be 1/32 Cherokee.

I can find no support for the story that Warren told to the Boston Globe about her pioneering grandmother. While she was the oldest child at the time of the Oklahoma land rush, research appears to show that her mother was still alive.

UPDATE 5/1/2012 7:38 pm: A good Boston Globe article titled Document ties Warren kin to Cherokees. It reports the Chris Child finds but points out that it is not the end of the story. I continue to explore my findings, which are based on a 1880 Census report. Which John H. Crawford married Palina Bowen?

UPDATE 5/1/2012 noon: I sent this link to Hillary Chabot from the Boston Herald. She passed it on to Chris Child. Genealogist of the Newbury Street Press, New England Historic Genealogical Society, who believes that he has discovered the Cherokee link. He believes that I have the parents of John Huston Crawford (1858-1924) incorrect. Child feels that Crawford’s paternal grandmother was Cherokee.

Elizabeth Warren is the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts currently held by Republican Scott Brown. During her career, she was identified repeatedly as a member of a minority. She is currently claiming that family lore says that her ancestry includes Delaware and Cherokee blood, making her part Native American.

Her life story is compelling. Small town Oklahoma girl rises from poverty to make good. However, has any part of her success resulted from affirmative action programs and policies designed to assist minorities? The record is clear. Employers and colleagues considered her a minority.

Elizabeth Herring Warren is the daughter of Donald Herring and Pauline Reed. The claim is that her Native American heritage comes through her mother. The tribes involved are the Delaware and the Cherokee.

Pauline Reed was the daughter of Harry Gunn Reed and Hannie Elvira Crawford.

Harry Gunn Reed married Hannie Crawford on June 2, 1893, in Sebastian, Arkansas. Reed was born in 1873, in Illinois or possibly Ohio. Crawford was born in Missouri in 1875 or 1876, according to Warren in a February 2012 Boston Globe interview.

Warren’s family came to Oklahoma at the end the 19th century, part of the land rush that preceded statehood.

Her grandmother, Hannie Crawford Reed, who had already lost her own mother, drove a horse-drawn wagon from Missouri to the territory at the age of 13, according to family lore. Hannie’s father rode ahead on a horse.

“Her little brothers and sisters were bouncing around in the back of a wagon,” Warren said of her grandmother, who lived to age 94. “That woman made life happen.”

Harry Reed’s parents were Joseph Reed, born in Ohio, and Charity Gorman, born in Illinois.

Hannie Crawford’s given name was, apparently, Bethanie Elvina. Her parents were John Huston Crawford, born in Missouri, and Palina Ann Bowen, also born in Missouri.

Warren’s story falls apart. Grandmother did not lose her mother at an early age. Palina Crawford died in 1905, in Arkansas. Hannie was born in Missouri. She had siblings that were born after her, in Texas 1883, Arkansas in 1889 and finally Oklahoma 1894, 1896 and 1897.

Incorrect: John Houston Crawford was a druggist in Missouri. His father was a physician, born in Kentucky. His mother came from England.

Palina Bowen’s father was born in Indiana. Her mother was born in Kentucky. Both outlived Palina and both died in Clarksville, Arkansas, where Palina also died.

Incorrect: Nothing in Warren’s maternal ancestry leaps out as Native American. Her mother’s family was raised in the Indian Territory, and that is the most that can be said about Warren’s minority status.

The story in the Boston Globe just is not possible given the other records that seem to exist.

Here is the current report on Elizabeth Warren’s maternal ancestry.

In Afghanistan, a recent change of command ceremony saw Major General Charles M. Gurganus assume command of NATO’s Regional Command Southwest (RC-SW) from Major General John A. Toolan, Jr. RC-SW consists of the Afghan provinces of Helmand and Nimruz.

The U.S. Marine Corps has held the responsibility for RC-SW for some time. Helmand Province has been the scene of fierce fighting against the Taliban while Nimruz has been far calmer. MG Toolan spoke with reporters yesterday about the situation in his AOR at the end of his tour.

Toolan commanded about 20,000 Marines and just under 13,000 troops from Coalition partners. The United Kingdom made up the largest of these units, supplying 9,500 men and women. They have the responsibility for three districts in Helmand Province and also lead the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRC) for the province.

Gunner Peter Maina from Light Regiment Royal Artillery, 29 Commando, 3rd Commando Brigade, attached to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion the Rifles, and a native of Plymouth, England, checks a .50 caliber machine gun prior to taking over Sanger duty at Patrolling Base Seca in Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Sept. 12. Marine Corps photo.

He had high praise for the other Coalition partners.

• The Danes are operating with the British in securing what he described as “one of the most kinetic districts in Afghanistan.”
• The Georgians have been assigned their own battlespace, evidence of their abilities, and will add a second battalion to their forces in September.
• Jordan and Bahrain have troops providing base security.
• The UAE is providing rotary wing assets in support of special operations mission. They are supplying both attack helicopters and transport helicopters.

In Toolan’s words “Things are good. Not great, but good” At this time the local population sees the Afghan security forces and the Coalition troops as the “home team”. Two years ago, it was the Taliban that was seen in that role.

MG Toolan sees corruption as the greatest threat to continued progress in Afghanistan. He talked about both “parasitic” corruption and “predatory” corruption. Parasitic corruption derives from the powerbrokers in Kabul, and consists of crimes such as skimming, nepotism, “pay to play”, bribery and the like. Predatory corruption is at the local level, when police or military use their power to steal.

Another problem that Toolan discussed was the integration of the Afghan Local Police (ALP). The ALP has been effective in adding an additional layer of security, he told us, especially in the troubled Marjah area. But there are not enough slots in the various national police organizations to accept all the ALP. He hopes that a retraining program can be created to give these men usable skills in construction, etc.

Asked to reflect on successes during his command, the general pointed to two infrastructure needs that the Marines have filled.

A Marine with Support Company, 9th Engineer Support Battalion, uses a grader to improve road surfaces on Route Tiffany, April 6, 2012. Support Company cleared and constructed the improved-surface road to facilitate travel in northern Helmand province. Malrine Corps photo.

Road building opens up impoverished areas to trade and communication. The Marines have built over 1,000 miles kilometers of roads in RC-SW. MG Toolan pointed out that this alone undercut Taliban influence.

Afghan children give their approval of the new bridge constructed near Combat Outpost Rankel in the district of Garmsir, Helmand province, Jan. 29. The Marines of Bridge Platoon, Alpha Company, 9th Engineer Support Battalion endured a 5-day convoy in order to replace a temporary bridge with a more permanent structure that would increase mobility for Marines operating in the area. Marine Corps photo.

The Marine move into the region around the Kajaki Dam was the other accomplishment that Toolan cited. The hydroelectric dam was built by the U.S. in the 1960′s and for several years provided both electricity and irrigation to the Helmand River valley. These resources made the area very productive. After the Russian occupation, the civil war and the Taliban takeover, the dam fell into disrepair and was poorly used, if at all.

The Taliban controlled the dam until last October. A Marine offensive took the dam and the area surrounding it. This allowed the Government of Afghanistan to begin receiving the benefit of the dam.

MG Toolan pointed out the the Afghan security force still need support in some critical area. Electronic intelligence gathering, logistics and battlefield health care are still lagging. He would also like to see a point in time when the police can transition from anti-terrorism duties to a more traditional role of law enforcement.

Regional Command – South West resources:

• NATO / ISAF site for RC-SW
• RC-SW WordPress site for news
• RC-SW on Facebook
• RC-SW photos on Flickr
• Digital content from RC-SW on DVIDS

Major General Tony Cucolo, Director of Force Development for the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8 at Headquarters, Department of the Army, and several senior staff members briefed reporters recently on the future of the Army’s vehicle fleet. The over 270,000 vehicles used by the Army give it the lead in vehicle ownership in the Federal government, surpassing even the Postal Service. After over a decade of war, the lessons learned on the battlefield coupled with new budget constraints are changing the composition of the Army’s vehicle fleet. Some of the changes are:

HMMWV (High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle)
MG Cucolo stated that there is no future for the HumVee in national defense. Its use in combat is no longer feasible. The vehicle may still have uses with the National Guard, in disaster relief and other non-combat missions. The replacement vehicle is intended to be the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. The focus for the JLTV is for it to be light weight and have equivalent armor protection to the MRAP.

MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected)
COL Mark J. Barbosa spoke in detail about this vehicle, developed specifically for the conditions seen in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army has about 20,000 MRAPs. This is one of the Army vehicles that, according to Barbosa, for which additional uses are being sought. Current plans are to reset the older vehicles as they rotate from combat. Some 1,300 are currently receiving all the latest upgrades. This process will continue until all MRAPs have been rehabilitated. Refurbished vehicles are assigned to unit about to deploy that are in training. Barbosa told reporters that around 3,000 would be assigned to specific types of units, with the remainder being placed at contingency sites as pre-positioned.

M-113 (Armored Personnel Carrier)
Cucolo brought up the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program (AMPV). The AMPV will replace the M-113 which has been in service since Vietnam. Jon Lee, from the G-8 staff, reported that the program is on track for an acquisition decision in late FY 2012 or early FY 2013.

Bradley Fighting Vehicle
MG Cucolo said that the Army is replacing the Bradley. It cannot carry a full squad of infantry, requiring two Bradleys to transport on squad. Its electrical system is “maxed out” and unable to power the newest combat network equipment being fielded. And, the general said that improvements in armor protection are necessary. The successor is the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV).

Major General Cucolo and all of the staff that briefed reporters emphasized that the Army vehicle fleet for the foreseeable future will have to be both versatile and affordable. The mix of unit types and vehicles within units is under review at the highest levels, said Cucolo. A “healthy tension” exists between the two tracks that development is pursuing, off the shelf solutions versus the development of new technology.

The Romney campaign is highlighting the record of the Obama administration on employment for women. The following graphs illustrate the record. Click on the graph for a larger view.

Graph showing female unemployment rate in the US 1992 to March 2012. Created by Charles Simmins from BLS data.	This graph shows the unemployment rate for women age 20 and older from January 1992 to March 2012.
Graph showing female unemployment rate in the US 1992 to March 2012. Created by Charles Simmins from BLS data.	This graph shows the unemployment rate for women age 20 and older from January 2000 to March 2012. Note the record low during the last Clinton term in 2007.
Graph showing female unemployment rate in the US 2006 to March 2012. Created by Charles Simmins from BLS data.	This graph shows the unemployment rate for women age 20 and older from January 2006 to March 2012. The graph illustrates the onset of the recession and female unemployment rates during the Obama administration.
Graph illustrating the number of unemployed women in the US from 2000 to March 2012. Graph prepared by Charles Simmins using BLS data.	Graph illustrating the number of unemployed women in the US from 2000 to March 2012. Note the record low number and compare it to the number of women unemployed in March 2012. Over three million more women are unemployed now.
Graph illustrating the number of women employed in the U.S. from 2000 through March 2012. Prepared by Charles Simmins from BLS data.	This graph illustrates the number of American women over age 20 employed from 2000 through March 2012. Note the record number employed in June 2008. The loss of employment from June 2008 to March 2012 is 759,000 women.

The increase in unemployed women coupled with a net loss of women in the work force is dramatic. Couple that with the fact that 34 percent of Americans living in poverty live in a household headed by a woman and you can see the damage that the current economy has done to women.

Prepared by the Biological and Environmental Research Information System, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, genomicscience.energy.gov/ and genomics.energy.gov/.

Every cell in the human body, except eggs and sperm, has 46 chromosomes, arranged in 23 pairs. These chromosomes consist of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), four different proteins in a variety of sequences. In total, the 23 pairs of chromosomes are the blueprint for you. From the moment that your mother’s egg and father’s sperm joined to create a zygote, this complex arrangement of DNA has guided your body’s growth and functioning.

All animals and plants have chromosomes. The number varies. The aquatic rat has 92 chromosomes, believed to be the most for any mammal. The house cat has 38 and the dog has 78. The jack jumper ant has 2 chromosomes, the least possible since chromosomes are paired. Monkeys and apes have 48 chromosomes.

The 23 pairs of human chromosomes are numbered 1 to 23. The length of the chromosomal pair determines its place in the numeric sequence, with the exception being the twenty-third pair. In humans, the two chromosomes that make up the twenty-third pair determine the individuals sex.

All this leads up to an early observation about human chromosomes. There sure seems to be a lot of DNA for what we can see actually doing stuff. Junk DNA or “non-coding” DNA seems to make up most of the DNA sequences in human genetic makeup. This has created a great deal of contention within scientific circles. The theory that non-coding DNA does perform functions within the cell is growing in acceptance and more and more of those functions are being identified.

Women have known for generations that men lack a little something. The Y chromosome that determines male sexuality is significantly smaller than its pair partner, the X chromosome. It can be 14% to 33% the size of the X chromosome, meaning that the male 23rd pair contains far less DNA than the female pair.

It is not clear if you have junk in your genes. It is pretty clear that male junk is probably less than female junk, if it exists in 23 chromosomal pairs of human DNA.

Our work appears in a number of on-line venues. On the left of this page are two RSS feeds of some of this work. Several of the publishers, however, do not make an RSS feed available so we will pass on the information here from time to time.

February Unemployment Rate Unchanged

6-Year-Old Heads to National Spelling Bee

Super Tuesday to Decide Republican Nominee — or Not

King of Tonga Dies Suddenly

Paul Monachino was a sergeant in the East Rochester Police Department on June 14, 2011. After an evening celebrating the appointment of the new police chief, while in his personal car, he caused a motor vehicle accident and was arrested for DWI.

In December, 2011, Susan Walsh was the director of the Greater Rochester International Airport. After an evening of drinking, while driving her county vehicle, she caused a motor vehicle accident and was arrested for DWI.

Monachino and Walsh both resigned their jobs.

Monachino plead guilty and received a sentence of six months in jail with five years probation.

Walsh plead guilty and received a sentence of 100 hours of community service, a $750 fine, and will have an interlocking device installed on her vehicle for a year.

The circumstances of both offenses are virtually identical. One offender receives the maximum sentence and the other receives a slap on the wrist. Why?

Walsh has powerful political connections in Monroe County. Monachino does not. Did politics play a part in the differences in sentencing?

Georgetown law School third year student Sandra Fluke

Democratic members of the House had attempted to have Ms. Fluke testify before an Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on a religious exemption from Obama administration regulations on medical insurance and mandatory coverage for birth control. Fluke was not on the agenda and the committee chairman, Darrell Issa (R-CA), refused to allow her testimony. The Democratic Steering Committee hearing was scheduled to take that testimony.

• Sandra Kay Fluke was born in 1981 and is now age 31.
• 2003 Cornell University graduate with BA in Policy Analysis & Management, as well as Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
• Employed by Sanctuary for Families in New York City 2003-2009
• Entered Georgetown University Law School 2009
• 2010 recipient of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Fran Kandel Public Interest Grant

Georgetown University is a Roman Catholic institution. The medical insure that it provides does not cover the costs of contraception, which the Catholic Church views as immoral.

Fluke, in her testimony, stated “Without insurance coverage, contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school. For a lot of students who, like me, are on public interest scholarships, that’s practically an entire summer’s salary. 40% of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggle financially as a result of this policy.”

Radio personality Rush Limbaugh ignited a firestorm of controversy when he discussed Ms. Fluke and her testimony on his nationally broadcast show on February 29. “Well, what would you call someone who wants us to pay for her to have sex? What would you call that woman? You’d call ‘em a slut, a prostitute or whatever.”

In a March 3 statement, Limbaugh apologized for his remarks.

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.

Sandra Fluke resources:
Sandra Fluke on LinkedIn
Sandra Fluke at Georgetown Law
Transcript of testimony by Sandra Fluke before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee held on Feb. 23, 2012
Statement by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi at the February 23, 2012 hearing
Statement by Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney at the February 23, 2012 hearing
Law Students for Reproductive Justice statement about former President Sandra Fluke