The Buffalo News - Viewpoint http://www.buffalonews.com Latest stories from The Buffalo News en-us Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:07:04 -0400 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:07:04 -0400 <![CDATA[ The simple truth is children need a father ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130609/OPINION/130609104/1122 News that women increasingly are the leading or sole breadwinner in the American family has resurrected the perennial question: Why do we need men?

Maureen Dowd attempted to answer this question with her 2005 book, “Are Men Necessary?” I responded three years later with “Save the Males.”

With each generation, the question becomes more declarative and querulous. Recent demographic shifts show women gaining supremacy across a spectrum of quantitative measures, including education and employment. Women outnumber men in college and in most graduate fields. Increasingly, owing in part to the recession and job loss in historically male-dominated fields, they are surpassing men as wage-earners, though women still lag behind at the highest income and executive levels.

My argument that men should be saved is that, despite certain imperfections, men are fundamentally good and are sort of pleasant to have around. Most women still like to fall in love with them; all children want a father. If we continue to impose low expectations and negative messaging on men and boys, future women won’t have much to choose from.

We are nearly there.

The Pew Research Center recently found that four in 10 American households with children under age 18 include a mother who is either the primary breadwinner or the sole earner (quadruple the share in 1960). The latter category is largely owing to the surge in single-mother households.

This reflects “evolving family dynamics,” according to the New York Times, which sounds rather nice – evolution being a good thing and all. But what it really represents is a continuing erosion of the traditional family and, consequently, what is best for children and, therefore, future society.

Before you reach for the inhaler, permit me to introduce a few disclaimers. First, I’m all for women achieving all they can. Obviously, I’m on that treadmill myself. I’ve raised three children while working (mostly self-employed and briefly as a single mom). There is no moisture behind my ears.

Second, women have joined the workforce in greater numbers because they’ve had to. Children are expensive and one income seldom suffices. Thanks to the recession, many Americans count themselves lucky if even one member of the household has a job. And a single mother clearly has no other choice, though it is increasingly the case that women choose to be single parents as the biological clock runs down.

Nevertheless, trends that diminish the importance of fathers from the family unit cannot – or should not – be celebrated. Contrary to the Hollywood version of single motherhood, a trend that began with Murphy Brown, single mothers are more likely to be younger, black or Hispanic, and less educated, according to Pew, and they have a median family income of $23,000. In those families where married women earn more than their husbands, the woman is more often white, older and college educated and the median household income is $80,000.

Father, it seems, has become the new F-bomb. The term, along with the concept, seems to have receded from popular usage, displaced by the vernacular of drive-by impregnators, the inane “baby daddy.” Women, indeed, may not need men, though they seem to want them – at least until the estrogen ebbs. Women have become more self-sufficient (a good thing) and, given that they still do the lion’s share of housework and child rearing, why, really, should they invite a man to the clutter?

Because, simply, children need a father. That not all get a good one is no argument against what is true and irrevocable and everlasting. Deep in the marrow of every human child burbles a question far more profound than those currently occupying coffee klatches: Who is my daddy? And sadly these days, where is he?

– Washington Post Writers Group ]]> Sun, 9 Jun 2013 07:54:14 -0400 <![CDATA[ Studying the humanities greatly enriches our lives ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130609/OPINION/130609418/1122
“It is the greatest good for a man to discuss virtue every day … for the unexamined life is not worth living.”

- Socrates

“When life gives you lemons, suck citrus; lemonade is for children and humanities majors.”

– George Saunders

Why study the humanities? Don’t we know instinctively how to be human by virtue of birth? The answer is no, and, like Socrates, good teachers should argue in favor of the importance of the humanities even after retirement.

Everything that is important in education is grounded in the humanities. Without our humanness, we would have no need for math or science or computer repair technology. Without our humanness, we are reduced to the mere machinery of corporate America, passively assisting the store patron with that ubiquitous customer service response: “I don’t know; can I put you on hold?”

A recent faculty retreat illuminated the human questions of the ages: Why am I here? And what am I supposed to be doing?

It takes a lifetime of study to begin to answer what Sir Thomas Malory affirmed from his prison cell: that after all the battles have been fought, the king of choice is on the throne, and the kingdom expanded to the edges of the landscape; what’s left to occupy the survivors is service to others.

Good teachers know this instinctively. They realize that in order to encourage the Prince Hamlets of ECC, especially in a poor economy, they must welcome them into the vast conversation of formally educated people who say “yes” to the progress of human understanding.

True educators raise the consciousness of students through great literature. They fire like the great and powerful Oz to inspire the knowledge, heart and courage already kindling within each student, They use the words of Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, John Steinbeck and Kurt Vonnegut. They give students the tools to unlock poetic mystery; they acquaint them with the passion of Edna St. Vincent Millay, or the self-effacement of Emily Dickinson, or the self-deprecating humor of Dorothy Parker. They might find humility and the rewards of service in the works of Willa Cather or Lorraine Hansberry. Good teachers introduce their students to heroes and to losers; they invite them to choose which to become, and they try not to preach.

At ECC, we have discrete programs: degree and certificate. A training program guarantees licensure. A degree program implies education in the sense of its root word, i.e., “to lead out of,” or another definition, “the free and disinterested pursuit of knowledge.”

Recently, the economist and current president of Brown University, Christina Paxson, reminded educators that, “we progress in the humanities with ‘constructive irreverence.’ That means listening to dissent, questioning authority, following one’s individual conscience, but always within a framework of respect for the community.”

That is why we will never have complete agreement about the contents of any course in the humanities. We should teach according to our individual strengths, and we should be vigilant about strengthening the content of our courses. Why? Because doing so increases the value of education and contributes to the possibility that the essence of human life will continue.

Good stewards of the humanities understand the sacredness of class time and the immeasurable value of meaningful, face-to-face human exchange. They encourage their students to leave their egos, their problems, their cellphones and their chewing tobacco at the door; and to enter into the privilege of uninterrupted intellectual focus.

Let’s protect what could be a student’s only chance for immersion into the concentrated study of the mind of man and woman. Let’s not readily relinquish our opportunity for face-to-face persuasion to the sirens of monitors that have dominated the mental lives of most of our students. Those born in the 1990s – the “Wild West” of online education; the gaming and Facebook generation – are sometimes tired of being passed off to a screen. They need living and breathing role models to talk to them. Yes, yes, the screens are here to stay, but let’s keep the human in the humanities.

This semester, a hero at ECC South is a young student named Thomas Kujawski, who will graduate soon. The owner of a local car dealership offered him a job right out of high school, but he said he wanted to go to college, so the man is paying his tuition with the guarantee that he will work for two years after graduation. Kujawski appreciates poets of the auto-tech major, e.e. cummings and C.K. Williams. He is front and left for every class. He wants to work on cars, but he wants to understand more than machines.

It is our great privilege to introduce William Shakespeare to students like Kujawski. He may never get another chance to compare couplers to rhyming couplets. He is talented with a wrench, but his membership in the human race is what makes him want to learn what courses in the humanities have to offer.

Indeed, we do not always know the future benefit of what we study. Kujawski is wise enough to realize that there’s something about the outcome of college that means more than a job. It means he will become a valuable runner in the race that is human.



Rosemary Tomani is a professor of English at Erie Community College South Campus. ]]> Thu, 6 Jun 2013 17:14:49 -0400 By Rosemary Tomani

SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

]]> <![CDATA[ Citizen action makes a difference: Local environmentalists win campaign against Jamestown’s proposed coal plant ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130609/OPINION/130609419/1122 In April, atmospheric carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, reached its highest level in at least 3 million years. This level – 400 parts per million – is far above what many climate scientists regard as safe. Clearly, we need much more aggressive action on behalf of clean energy to dramatically reduce our near-total reliance on fossil fuels. Otherwise, we will see a much hotter future replete with severe heat waves, droughts, flooding, sea-level rise and hurricanes like Superstorm Sandy.

Fortunately, there have been many victories against the single-largest source of carbon dioxide pollution – coal-fired power plants. Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal program claims successful campaigns against nearly 150 U.S. coal plants, targeting hundreds more.

While power plant jobs and taxes to local communities are a concern, it’s good environmental news that coal plants in Dunkirk, Tonawanda and Somerset are closing because they are no longer economically competitive. Less publicized is the successful eight-year campaign to prevent city officials in Jamestown from building a new coal plant.In 1891, Jamestown’s first coal-burning power plant opened, powering street lights. Coal-generated electricity continued when the Samuel Carlson coal plant, a fixture in downtown Jamestown today, opened in 1951. Ten years ago, the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities (JBPU), part of city government, announced plans to replace Carlson with another coal plant.

Almost immediately, there was local opposition to this plan for a $145 million, 43-megawatt coal plant. Former Jamestown Mayor Don Alstrom and others organized the Concerned Citizens of the Jamestown Area, opposing the plant because they believed it was unnecessary and too expensive for a public utility with only 20,000 customers. They gathered 1,400 signatures on a petition.

Many in Jamestown believe that coal-burning is essential to meeting local electric needs. But for years the Carlson plant’s coal boilers have only occasionally operated, and the electricity they produced was mostly sold to customers outside of Jamestown. In reality, the city’s electric needs are primarily met by low-cost hydropower from the New York Power Authority.

“Why build a new coal plant when the existing plant provides almost no power to ratepayers?” asked Ron Melquist, a retired JBPU employee who played a key role opposing the new plant.

“When the BPU proposed building another coal plant, Carlson provided less than 20 percent of Jamestown’s electricity, a figure which has shrunk to near zero since then. Yet they wanted to keep burning coal and generating their own power. It made no sense. It was an insult to ratepayers,” Melquist said.

Opposition increased in 2005, as knowledge of the proposed plant spread. Buffalo-area environmentalists were shocked to learn that in this age of climate change, Jamestown was planning to build a new power plant that would burn coal for the next 50 or 60 years.

Environmentalists argued that if Jamestown was really concerned about an “energy supply gap” caused by the Carlson plant’s retirement, it should implement a far less expensive, more environmentally friendly Plan B – significant energy conservation plus locally installed renewable energy.Burned by environmental criticism of its first proposal, in 2007 the JBPU and its newly formed OxyCoal Alliance announced revised plans to build a coal plant that would also be a carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project. The project, if it worked, would burn coal in pure oxygen and then capture and bury a portion of its carbon dioxide emissions underground. It would cost $500 million ($25,000 per ratepayer) and be eligible for matching federal funds. OxyCoal Alliance members included Praxair Corp., Ecology & Environment and the University at Buffalo.

On June 10, 2008, New York Gov. David A. Paterson announced his support for this redefined project. To Paterson’s credit, he requested that the JBPU explore ways to hold ratepayers harmless of the project’s burgeoning costs, implement an effective energy-efficiency program and promise that climate-altering emissions from the new plant wouldn’t be greater than those of a natural gas-fired power plant. But none of these conditions was binding or enforceable. And opposition to the coal project increased.

Jamestown activists welcomed support from environmentalists from Buffalo and beyond. This support took shape in the Clean Energy for Jamestown coalition, eventually consisting of 20 local, regional, statewide and national organizations.

These organizations were skeptical of “clean coal” – with most rejecting it entirely as a flimsy excuse to keep building dirty coal plants. Few believed that CCS would work as promised or have competitive economics. And all agreed that Jamestown was not a suitable host for a test project. The groups were particularly disappointed in the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for its supportive role funding and supervising secret test well drilling in the Jamestown area to identify geological formations suitable for burying carbon dioxide.

While the proposed Jamestown coal plant was relatively small, environmental groups readily opposed the project because none wanted to see another coal plant built in New York. Jamestown city leaders may have been dumbfounded by the outside scrutiny, but it was inevitable given the regional and global impacts of burning coal as well as mining it.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi and JBPU General Manager Dave Leathers did not respond to requests to comment.By combing through JBPU public reports, activists and coalition members documented that the utility was spending more than a third of its electric division budget on its Carlson plant, even though low-cost NYPA hydropower supplied almost all of its ratepayers’ electricity. We also showed that JBPU self-generated power cost 13 cents per kilowatt hour to produce in 2010, compared to 2 cents for NYPA power.

Equally embarrassing, our analysis of JBPU documents revealed that the utility had spent or authorized (and was in the process of spending) $10 million to promote its new coal plant. We asked: Why would Jamestown’s utility spend an incredible $500 per ratepayer promoting an impossibly expensive new power plant that was unnecessary for meeting its ratepayers’ electric needs?

An obvious reason was the short-term “public works” or “corporate welfare” benefit of having hundreds of millions of federal and state tax dollars spent in Jamestown.

Process of elimination was used to identify other reasons Jamestown leaders pursued a new $500 million power plant even after the prospects for outside funding dimmed. While denied by power plant proponents, we concluded that the JBPU’s dogged pursuit of a new power plant was also based on protecting 30 power plant jobs and increasing JBPU tax payments to the city and its public schools.

The JBPU currently gives city government and schools more than $3 million a year in taxes. Unfortunately, the formula used to calculate these taxes is based on the dollar value of JBPU property and electric sales. As such, the formula provides a perverse incentive for the city to encourage the JBPU to increase its property value by, for example, building an expensive power plant. The formula also encourages higher levels of electricity sales, thereby discouraging conservation.

Our economic analysis steadily chipped away at the credibility of the project, leading a frustrated Paterson administration official to remark in the September 27, 2009, Jamestown Post Journal that it was just “mind-blowing” that environmentalists were criticizing the project on economic grounds.As with many social movements, only a small number of people worked on the campaign on a daily or weekly basis. I was pleased to work closely with environmental lawyers Alice Kryzan and her husband, Bob Berger, here in Amherst. With lively debate, we forged a close friendship researching and co-authoring numerous footnote-laden reports and strategizing next steps.

We activated Clean Energy for Jamestown coalition members when help was needed, focusing on organizational specialties. For example, Environmental Advocates of New York, New York Public Interest Research Group, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Sierra Club and others provided special assistance on state legislation. PACE provided guidance when we approached the New York State Public Service Commission. The Natural Resources Defense Council helped us contact key decision-makers.

Our “Cost of Power” report, written with the assistance of Buffalo energy consultant Dave Bradley, compared the “per kilowatt hour” costs of different Jamestown power supply options. These ranged from the already mentioned low of 2 cents for NYPA power to between 22 and 27 cents for electricity from the JBPU’s proposed OxyCoal plant. The report caused quite a stir. It was labeled “baseless” by the JBPU, which continued its remarkable policy of not releasing its own cost of power estimates for the new plant.

We knew the JBPU needed enabling state legislation to proceed, and our coalition defeated that legislation three times. We also knew the JBPU needed $250 million in federal funding. While we were worried when on July 23, 2010, Sen. Charles E. Schumer visited Jamestown to promise “relentless support” for the coal plant, federal funding was denied three times after we supplied information to the Department of Energy about deep flaws in the proposal.

In 2010, we used a JBPU mini-rate case before the PSC as an opportunity to explain the potential devastating ratepayer impacts of the proposed coal plant. We also shared a NYPA-funded study, which concluded that the JBPU could cost-effectively reduce its ratepayer electric demand by 17 percent within five years – more than enough to eliminate any conceivable need for costly self-generation.

While the JBPU won a modest rate increase, our efforts demonstrated the difficulty it would have securing PSC approval for a new coal plant.In 2012, the utility released a new future plan that did not call for a new coal plant. In fact, it barely acknowledged the 10 years and $10 million spent pursuing such a plant.

Ironically, the JBPU’s new plan calls for increasing natural gas-fired generation, which is also unnecessary and more expensive than our Plan B of ramping up energy conservation to reduce Jamestown’s electric load so it can be met more or less entirely with the city’s NYPA power allotment. We offered to work with Jamestown to implement our zero-emissions, ratepayer-friendly plan, but our offer was rejected.

Alstrom’s reaction to our victory against the coal plant was “absolute joy and a great feeling of accomplishment. We may have prevented the city from going bankrupt.”

Berger added, “Climate change is too serious a threat to ever be ignored. Our success shows that activists concerned about our climate can make a difference.”

“This incredible victory demonstrates the power of community members to shape big decisions that affect our health, economy and environment,” said Jennifer Tuttle of Sierra Club’s New York Beyond Coal Campaign. “The Jamestown victory is proof-positive that everyday voices are incredibly powerful.”

Walter Simpson is a local environmental activist and an educator who organized the Clean Energy for Jamestown coalition. He was energy officer at the University at Buffalo from 1982 to 2008, developing a nationally recognized energy conservation program credited with $100 million in savings. His website is www.energyreallymatters.com. ]]> Thu, 6 Jun 2013 17:14:46 -0400 By Walter Simpson

SPECIAL TO THE News

]]> <![CDATA[ Selective, and green, shopping can boost the economy ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130602/OPINION/130609976/1122
But the consumer attitudes and behavior that image caricatures may be changing. If the business of America is business, then consumer spending, which makes up about 70 percent of our economic activity, is central to our economic health. We need to pay attention to what happens in that sector.

And recent trends appear to be good news.

A 2011 book titled “Spend Shift,” by advertising executive John Gerzema and former Newsday journalist Michael D’Antonio, reports on consumer behavior and attitudes over several decades. A lot of the changes they report are encouraging. Among them:

People are shopping more carefully, buying less and focusing more on what they need, less on what they want.

Young adults are more comfortable than any other group in “reordering priorities and adapting,” whether we’re talking about shopping, living style or career choices.

Millennials – the generation born between 1980 and 1998 – “want to learn more skills, take responsibility for their own well-being, and tackle problems and projects on their own.” This makes them more independent and discerning as consumers, and more engaged as citizens.

Consumers have developed a sense that they can “align their values with their spending” and “force capitalism to not be just about more but about better.”

The shifts in attitudes observed over just the past few years suggest that consumers, particularly younger ones, are paying more attention to how and where the things they’re buying are made and the values of the companies that are selling to them. If they know that the company selling a desk chopped down a rain forest to make it, they won’t buy it. The data behind these attitudes suggest they are linked to a generational change as a new group of consumers comes of age, and as such were under way before the financial earthquake of 2008-2009.

A good reality check for these observations is to look at the reactions of the high priests of mass consumption in the United States: Walmart stores. The world’s largest retailer has embarked on an intensive effort to make sure that what it sells is produced in environmentally and socially responsible ways. For example, the chain has told suppliers they will be dropped unless they reduce their carbon emissions and use energy more efficiently. My suspicion is that Walmart executives didn’t wake up one morning with a sudden concern for global warming, endangered species or tropical forests. My bet is they have been studying consumer attitudes and figured they were going to lose customers unless they shaped up.

These broad consumer trends may help at the margin to redress several imbalances that had become excessive. In the United States, manufacturing has declined; cheaper production overseas has made some American businesses uncompetitive. The shift toward buying less and using it more efficiently helps in part to compensate for some of that lost economic activity; rather than continuing to buy more things made overseas, the new generation buys less and repairs and services what it buys here, which keeps some money in our economy.

And when Americans started saving more and charging less on their credit cards after the recent financial crisis, that also strengthened the American economy.

Walmart’s effort to clean up its act environmentally requires it to focus on China, where the majority of its suppliers are. Talk about odd couples: Walmart and the Chinese government are working together, because there is no place in the world that more desperately needs less pollution and more conservation of clean water than China. If China, Walmart and young consumers are all singing the same song, that’s a tune that’s here to stay.



Peter Goldmark, a former budget director of New York State, is a member of the State Budget Crisis Task Force. ]]> Thu, 30 May 2013 15:27:28 -0400 By Peter Goldmark

Newsday

]]> <![CDATA[ BPO concert in Carnegie Hall was a grand slam for region ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130602/OPINION/130609977/1122
Since our return I have had many use another sports metaphor to describe our success. They say, “The BPO really hit it out of the park.” Yes, but I would say it was not just a home run, it was a grand slam!

The concert was not only an artistic and financial success, but a branding and marketing success for the region. This was accomplished through unique collaborations that ensured the impact went beyond the music. It was really a multifaceted mission, with the BPO and friends serving as ambassadors for our region. Therefore, “bases got loaded” when a number of strategies came together perfectly.

Dottie Gallagher-Cohen of Visit Buffalo Niagara arranged for cultural leaders to meet with arts and travel writers to talk about Buffalo’s cultural renaissance. The new director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Janne Siren, and Burchfield Penney Art Center Director Tony Bannon joined the BPO’s JoAnn Falletta and Dan Hart for a lunch with representatives from the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Arts and Leisure Magazine and “CBS Sunday Morning,” among others.

The president of CNN News Operations, Greg D’Alba, a native Buffalonian and University at Buffalo graduate, welcomed a large group to CNN for a welcome reception where he espoused his love of the region and the importance of the arts, and spoke of fond childhood memories of the BPO at Kleinhans.

Canadian Consul General John Prato welcomed a small group to his residence for a special luncheon, where he spoke passionately about the important relationship between Buffalo and Canada and gave the BPO good wishes.

Tom Kucharski of the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise used the opportunity to meet with and entertain site selectors for corporate relocation prospects and was effusive about the great level of interest he encountered.

A preconcert reception attracted alumni from UB, Canisius College, Hilbert College, Niagara University, SUNY Buffalo State, Park School, Nardin Academy, Buffalo Seminary, Nichols School and Canisius High School, along with Buffalo Ex-Pat Network members, while Canisius College President John Hurley hosted another alumni gathering close by.

Our presenting corporate sponsor, M&T Bank, created a program in partnership with the United Way of New York that brought 340 students to the concert, many of whom had never been in Carnegie Hall nor had heard an actual orchestra.

As for the BPO, we set a Spring for Music record, selling more than 1,500 tickets to our fans, and almost bested the all-time attendance record of 2,400 for the festival with a nearly sold-out house.

When the orchestra took the stage, the auditorium erupted with cheers and the waving of the green fan flags that symbolized our support. It was nearly overwhelming for our musicians and they then gave the performance of a lifetime.

Beyond the coverage in The Buffalo News and New York Times, the performance also had a global audience as WNED streamed the concert live and New York’s WQRX broadcast the concert around the globe. Throughout the night, the BPO received message after enthusiastic message on Twitter and Facebook from across the United States and as far afield as Japan, Germany and Russia.

This was an unforgettable moment for the BPO and a grand opportunity for our community to showcase all we have to offer. We are grateful for the outpouring of individual, foundation and corporate support and we hope to see you at a BPO concert soon.



Cindy Abbott Letro is former board chairwoman of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and chairwoman of the Carnegie Hall Concert Committee. ]]> Thu, 30 May 2013 15:27:23 -0400 By Cindy Abbott Letro

SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

]]> <![CDATA[ The Sunday News is getting bigger and better ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130526/OPINION/130529645/1122 Starting next week, the Sunday Buffalo News gets bigger.

We are adding a new section called Gusto Sunday, with more weekend reviews and more arts and entertainment features. Niagara County readers get an improved Niagara Weekend section.

And a change we are especially excited about: Free wedding announcements return to the Spotlight section.

Five years after the Great Recession forced The News – and almost everyone else in the news business – to cut back, we are thrilled to build a bigger and better Buffalo News.

The new features:

Gusto Sunday. The weekly Gusto section, now part of your Thursday newspaper, has been one of the most popular parts of The News since it was introduced almost exactly 36 years ago – June 3, 1977. Two years ago, we expanded Gusto with a Gusto Extra page in the Sunday News, creating a home for weekend reviews and a new column by art and theater critic Colin Dabkowski.

Starting next Sunday, the Gusto Extra page grows into a full section. In the new Gusto Sunday:

• Smart features on Buffalo’s vibrant arts and entertain- ment scene.

• Reviews of weekend shows, including Saturday night events.

• Columns by Dabkowski, arts editor Jeff Simon and TV critic Alan Pergament.

• The Books pages that are now part of the Sunday Spotlight section.

• Other arts and entertainment favorites, including the Listening Post music reviews, movie and theater capsules, radio highlights and poetry.

Spotlight. The other big change next Sunday: wedding announcements return to Spotlight.

In newspapers across the country, features like wedding announcements were a victim of the Great Recession. That was a shame. Wedding announcements and obituaries chronicle the life of the community. Every wedding is welcome; go to buffalonews.com/weddings to submit information and photos.

Business. With these changes, the weekend stock listings are moving from the Sunday newspaper to Saturday. The same listings, just a day earlier.

Replacing stocks in the Sunday Business section: the real estate listings that are now published in Monday Business.

Let us know how you like the expanded Sunday Buffalo News – and let us know what you would like next.



email: editor@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 16:46:05 -0400 <![CDATA[ Fuming over pollution: Air quality near Peace Bridge linked to high asthma rates on West Side ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130526/OPINION/130529646/1122
D’Youville Porter School is a few blocks from the Peace Bridge.

Some 660 students attend the elementary school. A quarter have asthma.

Instruction at the school includes reading, writing and, for some pupils, how to use an inhaler.

“It is very difficult for these kids who are having asthma problems,” said Assunta Ventresca, director of health-related services for the Buffalo Public Schools.

Asthma is an epidemic on the Lower West Side. The victims, sometimes wheezing and struggling for breath, are in one of every three households.

Studies found asthma rates are nearly four times the national average in the neighborhoods that share their air with the Peace Bridge and the 6 million cars, trucks and buses that cross it annually. The vehicles, especially diesel trucks, spew fumes that are known to worsen asthma symptoms.

“It’s the volume and the accumulative effect,” said Judith Enck, the Environmental Protection Agency’s ranking administrator in the Northeast. “The volume is what affects the air quality, and at the Peace Bridge there is a large volume of vehicles.”

Politicians have long pushed for bridge improvements to relieve bridge congestion and promote commerce.

And the toll barrier that frequently created big backups of trucks on this side of the border was moved from the United States to the Canadian side of the bridge in 2005.

Meanwhile, state bureaucrats in September 2012 released an unsigned report that downplayed the relation between bridge traffic fumes and the high asthma rates.

But an Investigative Post analysis of data and scientific studies found a strong body of evidence linking bridge traffic pollution with high asthma rates and other respiratory ailments among Lower West Side residents.

One study found that emergency room and hospital admissions for respiratory problems dropped dramatically when bridge traffic did after the 9/11 attacks and increased when traffic picked up.

Another study found airborne toxins, including those linked to agitating asthma symptoms, were most heavily concentrated in and around the bridge.

A third determined that asthma rates increased closer to the bridge.

The four most comprehensive studies, and the most recent, were done between the mid-1990s and 2005, all in association with the same researcher.

“A lot of people are just ignoring the fact that you’ve got all these trucks and vehicles constantly congesting the place. The fumes from an exhaust are very, very horrible,” said Junior Vidal, a West Side resident whose wife and step-daughter have asthma.

Dr. Myron Glick, one of two Lower West Side doctors with a private practice, also knows firsthand the toll of asthma.

“We have definitely seen, kids especially, sometimes teenagers, sometimes young adults, who are having such trouble breathing that the only treatment right now is to put a breathing tube down into their throat to breathe for them,” he said.

Ron Rienas, general manager of the Public Bridge Authority that operates the Peace Bridge, refused to comment about the impact of bridge fumes on public health. But in previous interviews, he has noted tougher EPA standards for diesel trucks.

Such vehicles built since 2007 are equipped with filters that are designed to remove 70 percent to 90 percent of harmful emissions. However, the EPA estimates that older, dirtier trucks won’t all be off the road for another 17 years.

The white paper estimates that the new standards have already cut pollution from trucks by 50 percent, but it has no scientific study to back up that claim.The neighborhood around the bridge is one of the poorest and most diverse in the city.

Some 15,800 residents live in the four Census tracts closest to the bridge. About one-third are Hispanic, another third are white. Most of the balance are black or immigrants, many Somalis, Ethiopians, Burmese and Cambodians.

Poverty is pervasive. Nearly half of the residents live below the poverty line, including two-thirds of children. The median income in one Census tract was the lowest in all of Erie and Niagara counties.

An average of 13,000 cars and 3,500 trucks cross the bridge daily, making it the second-busiest crossing between Canada and the United States. Trucks idle on the bridge, in the U.S. plaza waiting for secondary inspections and at the Duty Free store parking lot that abuts the neighborhood. A strong odor of vehicle fumes at the U.S. plaza permeates the air on some days.

The volume of traffic is a health problem because an EPA report from 2002 concluded that breathing diesel fuel emissions can exacerbate asthma and other respiratory illnesses and cause lung cancer.

Madelyn Crespo, 40, and her three boys live a stone’s throw from the bridge complex. She never had asthma until she moved to the Lower West Side, and all three of her sons were born there and developed respiratory illnesses. Crespo and her 6-year-old have had to visit emergency rooms six times for their asthma.

“It is pretty scary. We are talking about having to open up your child’s airway to breathe by giving him the treatment and sometimes that doesn’t even work right away,” Crespo said.

She made the connection between bridge traffic fumes and her family’s asthma after talking with other “hacking and coughing” neighbors and taking note of all the heavy truck traffic.

“A lot of big rigs come through here and those big rigs have those pipes that blow out that thick smoke,” she said.

Vidal, the other West Side resident, said he sees the link between his family’s asthma and living close to the bridge.

“The asthma started acting up a lot more when we moved closer to the Peace Bridge,” he said.

Dr. Jamson Lwebuga-Mukasa, then an associate professor of medicine at the University at Buffalo, discovered an unusually high number of hospital admissions for asthma almost 20 years ago on the East and West Sides of Buffalo. The pulmonologist and epidemiologist set out to find out why with a team of researchers.

One study reviewed bridge commercial traffic volumes, hospital discharges for asthma and outpatient visits before and after the North American Free Trade Act. The results suggested that an increase in commercial traffic had a negative impact on asthma sufferers who live near the bridge.

Researchers took this study a step further in an effort to determine whether decreases in bridge traffic after the 9/11 terrorist attacks resulted in fewer hospital admissions and emergency department visits for respiratory illnesses by West Side residents. The study found that when traffic dropped, so did the number of respiratory cases, by as much as 75 percent from the previous year. They concluded that bridge traffic levels may be impacting the respiratory health of nearby residents.

In 2002, Mukasa led a different study that found 37 percent of West Side households had at least one person with asthma, which is roughly four times the national average. The survey found 46 percent of households reported at least one case of chronic respiratory illness.

The East Side also has high asthma rates, but the study found that the odds of having at least one person with asthma in a home was 2.57 times higher on the West Side, even when correcting for race, socioeconomics and six household triggers.

Mukasa’s team monitored the air in 2001-02 and found concentrations of airborne particles that can exacerbate asthma increased closer to the bridge. Researchers also documented more cases of asthma in neighborhoods closest to the bridge. Together, this led them to conclude that bridge traffic played a role in the high number of asthma cases near the bridge.

In 2004, Harvard University’s Health Effects Institute teamed up with Mukasa and other universities to monitor air quality along the waterfront and in the neighborhood abutting the bridge. They found high levels of air toxins when the wind was blowing from the bridge toward the neighborhood. Some of the pollutants reached as deep as six blocks into the neighborhood.

The researchers concluded the Peace Bridge area should be considered a toxic hot spot. But a peer review committee nixed that recommendation.

Its reasons: Pollution levels were not as high as in other cities such as Houston and Los Angeles, and are influenced by wind direction, suggesting that nearby Thruway traffic could be a contributing factor.

“While the bridge is a big, obvious source that could be contributing to the neighborhood, there are other sources,” said Dan Greenbaum, president of the Health Effects Institute.

Mukasa said state bureaucrats should not downplay the role bridge traffic has on asthma in the Lower West Side.

“In the immediate area, the bridge traffic contributes significantly to the asthma,” Mukasa said.An Investigative Post analysis of state Health Department data for 2008-2010 shows West Side residents are discharged from hospitals with an asthma diagnosis or treated in emergency rooms for asthma at a rate more than double the national average. The rate of West Side children discharged from a hospital for asthma is more than three times the national average.

Dr. Raul Vazquez of Urban Family Practice on Niagara Street said he has seen about 5,000 patients with respiratory conditions, more than half from the Lower West Side. His office prescribes roughly $800,000 annually in respiratory medications, which is the most in Western New York for a primary care physician.

A pharmacist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said employees compared rescue inhaler sales from a West Side pharmacy to a comparable drugstore on the East Side.

“The use of rescue inhalers at the West Side pharmacy was four times greater than the one on the East Side for that month,” the pharmacist said. “It was an eye opener, for sure.”

The West Side drugstore, one of several in the neighborhood, sells some 9,000 inhalers annually.

Buffalo school officials concerned about the proposed bridge plaza expansion plans informed the Bridge Authority and federal transportation officials in 2009 that at least 544 students attending West Side schools had asthma. That number has since increased by 10, in part because of a 16 percent increase at D’Youville Porter School.The state’s white paper attributes smoking, pollen, housing conditions, poverty and race – rather than bridge traffic fumes – as major contributors to the high asthma rates.

“Since most people are typically exposed to a wide range of asthma triggers (including colds/flu, stress, dust mites, pollen and others), the relative contribution of traffic in the development or exacerbation of asthma within a particular individual or community is uncertain,” the white paper states.

Scientists working with community organizations have disputed its conclusions.

“All this report did was cherry-pick things from certain studies that support a particular conclusion,” said Joseph Gardella, professor of chemistry at UB and chairman of the city’s Environmental Management Commission.

State officials in three agencies, when pressed to explain and defend their report, declined to do so. They rejected five interview requests from Investigative Post.

Jacob McDonald, a director for Lovelace Respiratory Research Center in Albuquerque, N.M., thinks improved air quality is inevitable, especially since the new filters were installed on diesel trucks in 2007.

“Arguably, the changes that the diesel industry made to meet those standards in 2007 should have a substantial benefit to the community in terms of health because they made a very significant change in the potential exposure that is going to occur,” he said.

Investigative Post determined other problems as well: few doctors on the Lower West Side to treat asthma, and the absence of a coordinated effort to address health-related issues.

Census data shows that there are 11 doctor’s offices for the two ZIP codes closest to the bridge – only two on the Lower West Side – for about 36,000 people. In contrast, there are 280 offices in Amherst for 122,000 people.

“You need more people engaged who really want to solve the problem,” Vazquez said. “The services may be there but they are so fragmented.”



Dan Telvock is environmental reporter with Investigative Post, a non-profit investigative reporting center based in Buffalo. Its website is InvestigativePost.org. ]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 16:40:52 -0400 By Dan Telvock / Investigative Post

]]> <![CDATA[ Businesses can learn from the demise of Your Host ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130519/OPINION/130519222/1122
Your Host started life as a hot dog stand in 1944 and from this humble beginning Alfred Durrenberger Jr. and Ross Wesson grew the fledgling enterprise to 40 locations. Calling Your Host a restaurant makes it seem more upscale than it actually was. In reality, it was a diner along the lines of both the fabled Route 66 diners and mythical small-town diners of the Eisenhower era. If Edward Hopper had chosen to base his iconic painting “Nighthawks” in Buffalo, he would have used Your Host as the model.

The food was a step above McDonald’s and Red Barn (another casualty of the fast-food/diner wars) and Your Host eventually outlasted its main local competitor, Deco Restaurants, which went out of business in 1979. Any teenager with a car, or who had a friend with a car, knew the nearest Your Host location. On Friday nights and weekends in the 1960s and 1970s, when the drinking age was 18 and bars stayed open until 4 a.m., they were drawn like the proverbial moth to the flame to Cleve-Hill Plaza, the Hamburg Shopping Center and even to Dunkirk and Rochester. Once crammed into the tiny booths, the crowds of semi-sober young people scarfed down greasy burgers and french fries soaked in ketchup or gravy.

Times change, and in many ways Your Host failed to change with them, but the seminal reasons for the restaurant’s demise are eerily similar to what many local businesses face today. Some of the reasons in 1993 for the closure of Your Host were a faltering economy, escalating costs, a failure to modernize and update its stores and an increase in competition from national chains. Small businesses still face these same challenges in 2013.

Although the economy has recovered somewhat since it went into a free-fall in 2008, the unemployment rate and the number of workers who have given up looking for work remains remarkably high. Household income has flat-lined and consumer confidence is low. These factors have stunted the growth of small business, and it does not appear the economy will fully recover in the near term.

Small businesses are particularly impacted whenever government issues new mandates. Costs of the new health care law, called Obamacare by many, are gradually coming into focus and are not good news for small businesses. They may have to lay off full-time workers and replace them with part-time workers to prevent paying insurance costs they can’t afford. The increase in the minimum wage that New York State recently passed will not only hurt small businesses’s ability to survive but may also cause higher unemployment among teens and minorities. In New York City, billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s strangely Orwellian attempt at social engineering is driving up costs for small business.

Sears and Kmart are examples of what happens to companies with poor business plans and older, run-down stores. The mom-and-pop operations in your village or down the street need to remember that first impressions are most often the only impression customers will remember. Clean and welcoming stores make customers want to come back. Run-down and dirty stores cause them to flee.

The competitive environment has become more treacherous as national chains such as Walmart, Denny’s and McDonald’s expand into smaller and smaller geographic areas. Online tax-free purchases hurt local brick-and-mortar stores by stealing their customers or squeezing their profit margins. Locally Tops has taken a preventative step by opening Orchard Fresh in Orchard Park. This store, which specializes in upscale, gourmet foods and sundries, is partially an effort to stop other chains from competing in Western New York.

Like the television show “Cheers,” at Your Host it seemed everybody knew your name. Your Host was local people serving and supporting local people. While there are memories left behind by Your Host there are also business lessons. Small business needs less government interference and fewer mandates. What it needs from government is less of the economic illiteracy we see from the current state and federal administration and a more pro-growth agenda. Small businesses need to continue to evolve, adapt, modernize and adopt new technology in the face of ever-growing competition, both nationally and online. Ultimately, small local businesses desperately need our support.



Remy C. Orffeo, a resident of Orchard Park, is a professor of business administration at Erie Community College South Campus and a freelance writer who has published business case studies in “Decision Making in Business.” ]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 10:56:17 -0400 By Remy C. Orffeo

Special to The News

]]> <![CDATA[ America is in trouble: Economy peaked 40 years ago, and we’ve been living off borrowing and bubbles ever since ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130519/OPINION/130519223/1122
President Obama held this year’s State of the Union address on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. While Obama is hardly facing the same problems as Lincoln, the state of the union in 2013 is still troubled. I hate to bring more bad news to a country facing lingering unemployment and record deficits, but the fact is we haven’t created much long-term real wealth since the early 1970s. We’ve just been treading water economically, while getting deeper and deeper into debt. While I believe these were mostly problems Obama inherited, the state of the union is simply not good and we’re likely facing a massive rebuilding effort.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the U.S. economy peaked sometime between 1967 and 1973, and we’ve been struggling to get back on track ever since the OPEC oil embargo in late 1973 that sparked the first energy crisis. The percentage of Americans under age 62 not working has remained at roughly 15 percent for the last five years, the worst run since the Great Depression. Only 64 percent of Americans are participating in the labor force (i.e., working or actively looking), which means that nearly 100 million Americans are not working.

The average hourly wages of ordinary workers adjusted for inflation are now 5 percent lower than they were in 1973, according to the bureau, $9.26 per hour in 1973 compared to $8.74 in 2012. The minimum wage reached its purchasing peak in 1967, the same year wages peaked for American men. (Women, on the other hand, have greatly improved their educational status and earnings). Our standard of living has simply declined on a quantitative basis.

How could this be when everyone has more of everything: more cars, more big-screen TVs, more cellphones, more home computers and bigger houses? The answer is that most of those goods were bought with borrowed money. Total personal debt reached an all-time record level of $12 trillion in the last five years, or roughly equal to the nation’s yearly output. Household debt as a percentage of disposable income peaked during the financial crisis of 2007-09 at more than 100 percent of family income.

High-tech workers, professionals and government employees are also important in the rising Gross Domestic Product. They have all done much better economically than private sector blue-collar workers over the last generation. For example, most of the business growth in the 1970s and 1980s came from corporate mergers, which made lawyers, investment bankers, brokers and executives richer, but didn’t do a lot for the average worker.

The other reason we’ve been able to keep consuming more is most families now have two parents working. In 1990, just as a recession was starting, Chicago Tribune columnist Joan Beck wrote that the main thing keeping the economy going was the work of “superwomen.” She had an excellent point. In the 1950 Census, less than half of American women worked outside the home, and women earned on average less than half of men. In the 21st century, there are more women than men in college. With wages for men stagnant since about 1967, every dollar of family income added since the 1970s has come from spouses (mainly wives) going to work outside the home. But even with the higher incomes from both parents working, are we really better off than our parents were a generation ago?

Ten years ago, Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren and her daughter Amelia wrote a book answering that question titled, “The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke.” Their simple answer was no, on average, we are not better off than the single-income families of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

They wrote: “The average two-income family earns far more today than did the single-breadwinner family of a generation ago. And yet, once they have paid the mortgage, the car payments, the taxes, the health insurance, and the day-care bills, today’s dual-income families have less discretionary – and less money to put away for a rainy day – than the single-income family of a generation ago.”

Big-ticket items, especially housing prices, health care, college costs and local taxes, have simply outpaced most families’ incomes – even with both parents working. There was a satirical bumper sticker from the ’80s that read: “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.” It is no longer a joke.

In 2009, Paul Krugman said that “we’ve spent the last 20 years lurching from bubble to bubble. … The excesses that got us to this point are ready to do it to us again even if we get out of this current trap.”

The bubbles Krugman was referring to include the defense spending/real estate/stock market bubble of the mid-to-late-1980s under President Ronald Reagan, the high tech/stock market bubble of the 1990s under President Bill Clinton, and the real estate/stock market bubble of the last decade under President George W. Bush. All three resulted in quick, but spectacular, booms. However, all three failed to create long-term sustainable growth and ended with serious recessions. They essentially papered over the nation’s long-term stagnation while producing only short-lived boosts.

This fundamental economic slowdown since the late ’60s explains why our politics has been so volatile, why racial frictions have been exacerbated, why the two parties are so polarized and engaged in chronic trench warfare, why family life is so strained and why people generally keep saying they believe the nation is on the wrong track. In the last Gallup Poll on the subject, 68 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with the country’s condition.

Americans are clearly correct when they say something is wrong with the state of the nation. Most of us have been struggling to just keep up for the past generation. These economic struggles also explain why our politics has seemed so negative. Simply put, when the economic pie isn’t growing, people fight even harder to keep their share.

So, the problems are massive and real. How can we get a start on solving them? To oversimplify greatly, economic growth generally results from one of two factors. The first is development of natural resources: water, gold, silver, oil, natural gas, soil, minerals and so on. North America was blessed with abundant natural resources and we became the richest continent exploiting them. But there are limits to resources, as we discovered in the last generation. The second is a new technology that vastly increases worker productivity. Classic examples would be the steam engine, cars, telephones, airplanes and computers. We’ve certainly had our share of inventors and innovators: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers and Bill Gates, to name a few. Walter Meade Russell was surely right when he wrote that we’re all waiting for the “next American upgrade.” The difficulty with new inventions is that we now have so many efficient competitors in Asia and Europe. Even if some young American genius invented, say, an engine that ran on water, there’s no guarantee that it would be made in Detroit.

With the highest long-term unemployment since the Depression, it is now imperative that both parties come up with a plan to restore real growth. Obama hoped to create new industries in the field of alternative energy, but the technology hasn’t appeared yet. The high-tech industry continues to create dazzling new products, but it may also be a “mature” industry in that families can only buy so many new gadgets.

Republicans can greatly help themselves win in 2016 by offering jobs and hope. In the past, wealth has been created through “mining, manufacturing and farming.” Manufacturing has been in decline for years and farming is stable, that leaves the “mining” of energy sources.

Perhaps the best chance for Russell’s “upgrade” would be the development of natural resources, particularly natural gas. And that would be in the Republican Party’s traditions: after abolishing slavery and preserving the Union, Lincoln’s next biggest achievement was opening up the American West, mainly via the transcontinental railroad, which was completed after his death. This “growth plan” turned out to be both good policy (the West provided jobs and wealth) and good politics (the Mountain West and Farm Belt often voted Republican). Western farmers, ranchers, small businessmen and oil and gas workers (outside the South) were usually a good source of votes and contributions to the Republicans.

The guess here is that the “fracking” revolution in the oil and natural gas fields is the Republican Party’s best chance to restore real growth. According to the International Energy Agency, North American energy supplies and production could easily surpass Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest source by 2030. We may be on the edge of what the IEA calls “the Golden Age of Gas.”

But is fracking environmentally safe? Could injecting a mixture of hot water and chemicals into the earth permanently, fatally damage the water supply? Those are the $20 trillion questions.

Since I’m not a scientist, I can’t answer those questions. But if it turns out to be safe, the natural gas revolution could get the nation back on track. Massive exports of oil and gas to Asia and Europe would go a long way toward creating numerous jobs, putting revenue into coffers and reducing our trade deficits. The oil boom of the 19th century coincided with Republican dominance of national elections after the Civil War. Might history repeat itself?

Incidentally, Warren will now have a more direct chance to raise the incomes of ordinary Americans: In November 2012, she was elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. We should all wish her well in this goal, because with the nation going sideways economically for last four decades, the task is going to be Herculean.



Patrick Reddy is a Democratic political consultant in California. He is the co-author of “California After Arnold” and the author of the forthcoming “21st Century America,” a study of national politics. ]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 10:56:03 -0400 By Patrick Reddy // Special to the News

]]> <![CDATA[ 150 years ago, Nelson Baker answered his country’s call ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130512/OPINION/130519983/1122 Nelson Baker is a name that is universally recognized throughout Western New York. Now that he is called “venerable” by the Catholic Church in recognition of his path to sainthood, knowledge of this holy man has widened. Even before his death in 1936, people had a strong connection with Father Baker. Well-known are the stories of his devotion to orphans, the poor, the homeless and the downtrodden. The institutions that this “apostle of charity” founded are vibrant and integral in service to the community to this very day. His devotion to the Blessed Mother and his determination to honor her with a shrine is known worldwide, as is his service and devotion to others. It is his legacy.

Perhaps less well-known and another example of service attributed to Baker is his patriotism and military service. Prior to his ordination as a priest, Baker enlisted at the age of 21 during the Civil War. He joined the 74th New York Militia Regiment, Company A (part of the New York National Guard) as an infantryman – not as a drummer boy, as some have alleged – most likely in 1862. The regiment had been organized in Buffalo in 1854. In response to the request of U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to New York Gov. Horatio Seymour for 20,000 new troops, the 74th was called to active duty in June 1863, the third summer of the war.

Confederate States Gen. Robert E. Lee had raised apprehensions in the North by moving his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania. His target appeared to be Harrisburg, the state capital and a transportation hub. The strategy of Lee’s second invasion of the North was to relieve pressure on Virginia, where most of the fighting had been so far, and in addition to win a significant victory on Northern soil. Such a victory would, Lee hoped, lead to official recognition of the Confederate States by several European nations, and also leave Washington, D.C., open to attack. (Lee’s first invasion of the North at Antietam Creek, Md., was blunted by Union forces, and ended with a Confederate withdrawal to Virginia.) As Lee’s army advanced, Union forces rushed to meet the challenge. The two armies clashed at Gettysburg, Pa., on July 1, 1863, precipitating the largest and bloodiest battle ever on American soil.

Unfortunately, Private Baker kept no diary that we know of until 1866. However, the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, officer reports from the 74th Regiment and material from the Father Baker Archives provide a clear picture of where he went and what he saw. Departing Buffalo on June 19, the 74th arrived in Harrisburg, Pa., the next afternoon. After being supplied, the troops were deployed to Mount Union, Pa., (some 80 miles from Harrisburg) on June 27, to be placed on picket duty protecting the strategic Pennsylvania Railroad right of way through the mountains, as well as two significant railroad bridges and the locks of the Pennsylvania Canal. It was “all quiet” at Mount Union until July 3. As America’s bloodiest battle raged at Gettysburg to the south, 500 Rebel cavalry from Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden’s brigade appeared at the Mill Creek railroad bridge apparently with intent to destroy it. After reconnoitering, the outnumbered Rebels withdrew without attacking the well-defended bridge. On July 5, as Lee’s army withdrew into Virginia and Maryland, Baker’s regiment joined others in pursuit. Much to the dismay of President Abraham Lincoln, Lee got away again, but official reports show that the 74th exchanged fire with retreating Rebels at Clear Springs, Md., on July 10. No casualties were reported.

The Gettysburg Campaign had ended, but before Baker and his fellow soldiers could return to Buffalo, the 74th and other units were ordered to report “with all haste to New York City.” Serious, destructive and bloody riots had broken out on July 13. The New York Draft Riots had a number of complex social and economic causes that simmered below the surface, but when a new Federal Conscription Act allowed the procuring of substitutes (usually for $300) for those drafted, anger and frustration exploded among working-class New Yorkers, many of whom were ethnic Irish. “Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight” became an epithet. It took days to suppress the disturbances. The death toll and property destruction were shocking. Black New Yorkers seemed to be a particular target of the rioters.

The 74th arrived on July 17 to assist in “mop up” and stabilizing efforts as the riots waned. Without leaving too much to speculation, it is clear that Baker and his comrades were witnesses to the horrors of this incident. This, in addition to a nerve-wracking stint on the periphery of the clash at Gettysburg. Fortunately, the 74th suffered no casualties. According to a regimental history, only one soldier died (of disease) during active duty. The regiment returned to Buffalo on July 24. Yet Baker’s Civil War duty was not over. On Nov. 16, 1863, the 74th was reactivated to protect Buffalo from an impending Confederate invasion. It seems that Stanton had received intelligence that Buffalo was to be destroyed in the attack. The invasion never materialized, however, and Baker’s call to service had ended.

Baker was among many thousands of individuals who answered the call of their nation to serve. It reveals a strength of character and bravery, for no one who serves in the “crucible of war” can predict if he will return. No one who has ever written or spoken of being in war has described it as enjoyable. It does leave an impression. In fact, Baker rarely, if ever, spoke of his military experiences. He was an infantryman in Company A. No doubt he experienced the fear of engagement and boredom of camp life (incidentally, he may have contracted a severe skin disease, erysipelas, from unsanitary camp conditions). It became an element of his life experience.

Patriotism and service to country is one component in the character of the humble Buffalonian of Irish and German descent. Coupled with his intense spiritual devotion and concern for others, this former soldier became known as “The Apostle of Charity.” He may someday be known as Saint Nelson Baker.



Timothy Ellis is a retired history teacher from Hamburg. ]]> Thu, 9 May 2013 14:52:16 -0400 By Timothy Ellis

Special to The News

]]> <![CDATA[ Look before you leap: Society will bear substantial costs if state legalizes marijuana ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130505/OPINION/130509839/1122
Colorado and Washington now have laws that permit adults to openly grow, sell and possess marijuana; no other jurisdictions in the world have implemented this level of tolerance.

The success has come in part by emphasizing potential benefits of marijuana and minimizing likely risks.

Therefore, before New York State jumps on the bandwagon, it is essential that the full picture of risks and benefits is discussed and incorporated into wise policy making.

Three types of arguments have been put forth to support legalizing marijuana: health, economic and legal.First, “marijuana has proven health benefits and is safe.” Typically, stories report on individuals who believe that smoking marijuana has helped their chronic pain or spasms. While important, the experience of isolated cases may not generalize what will happen to others: benefit or risk.

To date, no large-scale and systematic studies have shown major benefits of smoked marijuana. In fact, benefits are often limited by a significant incidence of central nervous system side effects, such as hallucinations and uncoordination. A doctor cannot recommend smoked marijuana based on the strength of medical studies documenting reasonable medical benefit with reasonable side effect risks, as there are no such studies.

Advocates often repeat their belief that marijuana has been available for thousands of years and is known to be safe. In fact, the rest of the story, based on a growing body of scientific literature, proves otherwise. In short-term use, it impairs coordination, impairing driving and other complex tasks. Several studies have shown that it is a significant contributor to automobile accidents, the rate of which has risen in Colorado since the state has promulgated medical marijuana.

With long-term use, marijuana can be physically addicting in some people. One in 10 adults who try it will go on to develop patterns of compulsive use, inability to limit their use and significant negative life events. Potential effects in teens are more troublesome, where the likelihood of dependency increases to one in six. Frequent smoking has been shown to affect rates of psychosis, depression, anxiety, lung function, school and work performance and newborn weight. The statement that marijuana is safer than alcohol or tobacco may be partly true; but circulating via the lungs several hundred chemicals, many of known toxic potential, most of unknown effects, cannot be safe.

Most reports of the benefits of marijuana focus on severe debilitating conditions such as end-stage cancer or unremitting pain and hope to focus our compassion so that we will make this “magic medicine” marijuana particularly accessible to those who have no other treatment hope. In such cases, even modest benefit would seem to outweigh nearly all risks. In fact, in areas that have reported their experience, the vast majority of people who are authorized to possess medical marijuana do not have these types of conditions. In fact, in states that approve medical marijuana, folks believe that marijuana has improved almost everything from ADHD to insomnia, leaving the risk-benefit balance unclear. Thus it seems apparent that proposing to use marijuana as a medicine opens the door to nearly any problem, making nearly everyone eligible.

More importantly, underreporting of risk will likely contribute to use by people who have no health problems. It has been shown that perceived risk is an important contributor to the decision to use; if the risk is minimal, why not? While firm data are not yet available from medical marijuana areas, it seems reasonable that more people will use marijuana and be exposed to its associated risks.

Recently, The Buffalo News reported that the director of a national marijuana advocacy group is promoting that marijuana should be regulated like other herbs, which are only superficially monitored. However, no other herb has such known health risks. This proposal highlights the advocates’ goal of providing the least possible restrictions on marijuana regulation. No doubt commercialization of distribution of marijuana will magnify that trend.The second group of justifications often raised in support of expanded marijuana use is that it will improve the economy through new jobs and taxes. The RAND research group raised a number of critical economic questions undermining the credibility of these assertions. For example, how expensive will it be to create the required extensive regulatory structure needed to support new tax collectors, safety monitoring and health side effects? Many of the new jobs will be relatively low paying and unskilled and therefore not likely to add much to our economic progress. While long-term economic projections for marijuana are difficult, it is well-established that the revenues generated to governments from the sale of alcohol and tobacco do not support the billions of additional costs to society that result from the sale of these substances.

It is also said that by removing the profits of illegal marijuana sales and distribution, the costs of enforcement against drug cartels and police interdiction will go down. These benefits may not be substantial either, since it is estimated that only a small percentage of the profits to the cartels comes from marijuana. If they dropped out of the marijuana business completely, it seems likely they would find other ways to maintain their bottom line. Also, it is possible that expanded marijuana use will also expand other legal problems that police will need to deal with, such as an increase in driving under the influence of drugs. Thus, for marijuana, it seems reasonable to expect that while some entrepreneurs may end up making large profits, the costs to the rest of society will be substantial.A third set of justifications related to the impact of implementing current marijuana laws relates to civil rights and the criminal justice system. Advocacy groups often report on large numbers of people convicted and incarcerated for simply possessing marijuana, again oversimplifying a complex problem.

For example, in New York State, an individual who possesses moderate amounts of marijuana for personal use in a civil violation is subject to fines, but not incarceration. Those who are in jail for marijuana-related crimes are there either for sales or other crimes, but not the simple possession of marijuana. Unique to our state, high rates of “stop and frisk,” especially in New York City, appear to impact minorities disproportionately. This is an area of concern and should be subjected to further legal review. Having a punishment that is appropriate to the crime should remain a cornerstone.

Advocates say widespread use of marijuana in contradiction to laws undermines public support for the legal system. But the vast majority of people do not smoke marijuana. By overstating prevalence of use, they are supporting teen misinformation; “everyone does it, so why can’t I?”

Advocates also state that the choice to use marijuana, like other individual decisions, should be purely personal, not subject to governmental restraints. Most of us would agree that government should interfere with personal behavior only by exception. However, when such individual behavior affects us all, such as driving while under the influence, as a society we have a right to attempt to modify individual behavior. Further, we are all affected by unnecessary health care costs of marijuana abuse.

It is also stated that making marijuana illegal has not reduced levels of marijuana use. “Prohibition of alcohol failed, and so it has with pot.” In fact, alcohol prohibition did reduce alcohol abuse and health consequences of drinking, such as cirrhosis. It was repealed, however, due to lack of strong public support and impact on other criminal activity.

Since it is well-documented that availability, societal attitudes and perceived levels of risk of abusable substances predict levels of use, it seems likely that the efforts of marijuana advocates will increase use of marijuana. An extensive body of studies has shown that the number of people who use mood-altering substances is closely related to the interaction of several identifiable individual and social factors. These include price, availability, perceived risk and the generally held public view of the substance. Current proposals – potentially decreasing the price, making marijuana more readily available and enhancing societal acceptance of it – reduce the protective factors. These effects are especially important for vulnerable populations: teens and those with mental health issues and/or behavioral problems.

Admittedly, our current societal response to marijuana oversight is not optimal either. The past 10 years of rising rates of marijuana use have undermined the prior 20 years of major decline of use. The strong emphasis and expense of supply reduction has not been sufficiently successful. However, radically changing laws, regulations and how they are implemented is not the right direction.

Have we forgotten the advice that parents and others have given us? Just because everyone else does it, doesn’t mean it is a good idea for us. However, knowledge gained from prior experience does provide a path to improvement. For example:

• Expand a public health campaign to accurately inform, in culturally and age-appropriate ways, the risks of marijuana use and abuse.

• Expand relevant research to identify likely benefits of chemical components of marijuana, resulting in products of known safety, dosage, routes of delivery and side effects.

• Expand the use of appropriate interventions, coordinated with legal sanctions, for those with impairment related to sustained marijuana use, such as via drug courts.

• Re-evaluate the role and scope of demand reduction efforts to make them more effective and less intrusive.



Robert Whitney, M.D., is the former medical director for the Addictions Unit at Erie County Medical Center. He has been a board member for the Erie County Council for the Prevention of Alcohol and Substance Abuse since 2005 and the public policy committee chairman for several years. ]]> Thu, 2 May 2013 14:39:44 -0400 By Robert Whitney, M.D.

Special to The News

]]> <![CDATA[ New York’s small businesses and workers will benefit fom Affordable Care Act ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130428/OPINION/130429413/1122
But because of the Affordable Care Act, New York’s small businesses and their employees are getting better choices, starting with new protections that limit the outrageous rate hikes many small business owners faced in the past.

Insurance companies must now publicly justify every rate increase of 10 percent or more, which has led to a sharp decline in double-digit rate hikes. Starting in 2014, insurers will have to justify every proposed rate increase, even if it’s a 1 percent bump.

Additional rules require insurers to spend at least 80 percent of small employer premium dollars on employees’ actual health benefits, instead of the insurer’s own administrative costs. These limits have already resulted in more than $1 billion being returned to small business owners and other consumers.

The law has also begun to slow rising costs across the system by reducing waste and fraud and promoting higher quality care that emphasizes coordination and prevention. These changes in care delivery have contributed to the slowest sustained national health spending growth in 50 years.

Small businesses are the backbone of New York’s economy. Across the state, nearly 349,000 businesses employ 25 or fewer workers. They are also seeing savings thanks to new tax credits available to help them cover their employees. Many of them have already received a tax credit of up to 35 percent of their health insurance costs. And beginning in 2014, this tax credit will go up to 50 percent.

And, in an economy where small businesses create two-thirds of jobs, owners and employees deserve a health insurance market with fairer prices, better choices and greater certainty. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, that market is on its way.

Beginning in 2014, New York small business owners will have access to a new Health Insurance Marketplace – the New York Benefit Health Exchange, which opens for enrollment on Oct. 1 – that will allow them to make side-by-side comparisons to find a plan that fits their budget and that’s right for their businesses and employees. Each Marketplace will operate a Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, focused just on small businesses.

And while many small business owners have questions about the employer responsibility provision, it is important to note that businesses with fewer than 50 employees – that’s 96 percent of small businesses – are not required to purchase insurance. Of the remaining 4 percent of small businesses with more than 50 employees, most already provide insurance. So the number of businesses that will have to begin offering employee health insurance or pay a penalty is very small.

No business owner wants to drop coverage for his employees. For many, the employees are like a family. For others, offering health insurance is critical to attracting the kind of workers they need to succeed.

By making the health insurance market work better for New York small businesses, the law is letting them focus on what they do best: delivering great products and services, creating jobs and growing our economy.

For more information, visit www.sba.gov/healthcare or healthcare.gov or contact your local SBA or Health and Human Services office.



Jaime R. Torres, M.D., is regional director of U.S. Health and Human Services. Bernard Paprocki is acting regional administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. ]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:06:04 -0400 By Jaime R. Torres, M.D., and Bernard Paprocki

Special to The News

]]> <![CDATA[ Women’s Equality Agenda allows doctors to be doctors ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130428/OPINION/130429414/1122
In the coming weeks, the New York State Legislature will consider Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Agenda, a ground-breaking piece of legislation that will address many serious issues from achieving pay equity, to eradicating workplace sexual harassment, to ensuring safety for victims of domestic violence. It also contains a critical provision to protect reproductive health decisions, which has everything to do with how I care for my patients, and how I address emergencies.

Most everyone has heard of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. New York was a national leader, providing women with safe, legal abortions three years before Roe. However, we haven’t updated our state laws regarding abortion in 40 years, and we lack a provision that allows later abortion in order to save a woman’s health.

The Women’s Equality Agenda will align our law with federal law and current medical practice, ensuring that a woman’s health is front and center in every decision that a health care professional makes. Additionally, the agenda clarifies and affirms that New York already regulates health care providers and sets up-to-date standards for what medical professionals can and cannot do in our state.

Federal law says I can perform a later abortion to save a woman’s health; New York law does not. This leads to confusion. Confusion that could have had disastrous consequences for my patients, like one I saw just this month whom I’ll call Janet.

Janet came to me with a wanted pregnancy in the 23rd week, but her health was rapidly declining due to complications. Nothing was going well and, in consultation with me, Janet and her husband decided to make the heartbreaking decision to end the pregnancy to save her health. Before this could happen, however, her condition worsened dramatically. I needed to make a medical decision and I needed to make it fast. Janet was so sick that she might not have survived a cesarean. Abortion was our only safe option.

I performed the abortion, and within hours, Janet’s condition completely turned around and she was soon back in good health. I understood federal protections allowed me to move forward with that medical directive. A less-seasoned physician may not have known this – jeopardizing a patient’s health and well-being because of fear of criminal prosecution.

Let me ask you this: If someone you loved were in my operating room, would you want me to wait and consult with a hospital lawyer about the nuances of state and federal law before providing desperately needed care? Would you want me to be guided by fear of prosecution or by experience and medical judgment along with public health laws?

This should matter not only to medical professionals, but to all New Yorkers. It is my sincere hope that no family needs to face a life- or health-threatening situation. But if people do, I want their doctor to be able to do everything possible for that family and that patient.

The Women’s Equality Agenda does many things to improve women’s lives, from safer workplaces to better pay, but it also lets doctors be doctors. It allows us to save lives, protect women’s health and support families.



Anne Davis, M.D., M.P.H., is an associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and director of the Kenneth Ryan Family Planning Fellowship. She served on the board of Physicians for Reproductive Health from 2002 to 2008 and is now its consulting medical director. ]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:06:01 -0400 By Anne Davis, M.D.

Special to The News

]]> <![CDATA[ Americans must remain vigilant; Community, family members who witness extremist behavior have a duty to alert authorities ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130428/OPINION/130429415/1122 WASHINGTON – Three years ago, al-Qaida’s magazine, Inspire, published an article titled, “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom.” The article explained how to build a pressure cooker device like the ones that blew up at the Boston Marathon. But the recipe left out the most important ingredient. To make a bomb in your mom’s kitchen, the first thing you need is an inattentive mom.

That’s what Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had. We don’t yet know where or when they made the bombs they’re accused of planting at the marathon. But we do know that their father, Anzor Tsarnaev, and their mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, had plenty of warnings that Tamerlan was becoming dangerous. Tamerlan was a human pressure cooker loaded with zeal, violence and destructive ideology. His parents, blinded by adoration and excuses, refused to see it.

Most people who met or knew Tamerlan, including family members, say he was a jerk. His dad, however, insists Tamerlan was “kind” and “very nice.”

Anzor “lost control over that family quite a time ago,” says his brother Ruslan Tsarni.

In every interview, Anzor claims to know exactly what his kids have been up to, though he hasn’t seen them since he moved back to Dagestan a year ago. He also claims, falsely, that Tamerlan “was never out of my sight” during the young man’s visit to Dagestan last year.

According to Anzor, Tamerlan was such a boxing stud that “in the U.S. everyone knows he is a celebrity.” When Anzor left Boston, he asked Tamerlan to keep an eye on Dzhokhar. He thinks the elder brother has been keeping the younger one away from bad influences.

Tamerlan’s mother is just as deluded. She swears Tamerlan and Dzhokhar couldn’t be involved in a bomb plot because “my sons would never keep a secret.” Instead of correcting Tamerlan’s conspiracy theories, she swallowed them.

According to one of her spa clients, Zubeidat recently called the 9/11 attacks a U.S. plot to stoke hatred of Muslims. “My son knows all about it,” she allegedly told the client. Zubeidat also says the FBI has been watching her family constantly for years, which the FBI denies. Last year, she was arrested, but apparently never prosecuted, for shoplifting $1,600 worth of clothes.

Anzor and Zubeidat were given several warnings that Tamerlan was headed for trouble. Sometime between 2007 and 2009, Tamerlan and Zubeidat turned to religion. Zubeidat became observant, but Tamerlan became intolerant and hostile. He pushed his strict views on the rest of the family, causing tensions. When his sister married a non-Muslim, Tamerlan didn’t accept the man.

Tamerlan’s uncle perceived a change in his nephew’s personality. Tsarni says a family friend told him in 2009 that a Muslim convert had “brainwashed” Tamerlan.

The tension exploded when Tamerlan, in a conversation during that period, called Tsarni an “infidel.” Tamerlan also challenged another uncle, Alvi Tsarni, to a fight. No one in the family has explained what words ensued between the parents and the uncles, but both uncles cut off contact with the Tsarnaevs. Ruslan Tsarni says his beef was with “the way they were bringing the children up.”

Anzor, unchastened even by the marathon bombings, says the uncles don’t really know his kids. “They are just blabbing what they know nothing about,” he told the New York Times.

Around that time, Tamerlan was arrested and charged with domestic violence for hitting his girlfriend. “Yes, I slapped her,” he told police. The case was eventually dismissed, and Anzor brushed it off. “He hit her lightly,” Anzor told the Times. “There was jealousy … In America you can’t touch a woman.”

In early 2011, two FBI agents, provoked by an alert from Russian intelligence, came to the Tsarnaevs’ apartment to speak to the family about Tamerlan. Zubeidat says the agents explained that Tamerlan was visiting “extremist sites” and that “they were afraid of him.” She says Tamerlan answered the agents defiantly, “I am in a country that gives me the right to read whatever I want and watch whatever I want.”

Anzor shrugged off the warning: “I knew what he was doing, where he was going. I raised my children right.” Zubeidat says the agents investigated Tamerlan only because “he loved Islam.”

So the warnings passed. When the marathon bombs exploded, and videos implicated Tamerlan and Dzhokhar, the uncles acknowledged the evidence, but the parents didn’t. They didn’t just stammer, as many parents would, that their sons couldn’t have done it. They declared that the young men had been “set up,” and they hurled conspiracy theories at the authorities.

“The police are to blame,” said Anzor. “Being cowards, they shot the boy dead. There are cops like this.” He denounced the pursuit of his sons by law enforcement as “a provocation of the special services who went after them because my sons are Muslims and don’t have anyone in America to protect them.”

Zubeidat said the authorities “wanted to eliminate [Tamerlan] as a threat because he was in love with Islam.”

Anzor’s sister, Maret Tsarnaeva, echoed these self-deceptions. “Growing up, within the family, everything was perfect,” she told reporters. Her nephews had no motive to bomb anyone, she insisted: “For what beliefs? I don’t know them to have any strong beliefs.” She concluded that “our boys were framed.” When reporters showed her video evidence implicating them, she replied: “The picture was staged.”

Neighbors and congregants at Tamerlan’s mosque had warnings, too. In November 2012, he angrily rebuked a merchant in Cambridge for advertising Thanksgiving turkeys, which Tamerlan viewed as an affront to Islamic law. At Friday prayers, he disrupted and criticized a sermon that defended the celebration of Thanksgiving and July 4.

Two months later, he interrupted an imam who suggested that Martin Luther King Jr., like the Prophet Mohammed, was worthy of emulation. Tamerlan protested that King was “not a Muslim,” and he called the imam a “Kafir,” or non-believer. Some of the congregants threatened to expel Tamerlan, but apparently, none of them reported him to the authorities, since, as far as they knew, he hadn’t preached or committed any violence.

You can’t expect witnesses to report every fanatical outburst to the FBI. But when family members are repeatedly exposed to signs that a loved one is drifting into the vortex of violent extremism, they have a duty to intervene, or at least to alert someone. If they don’t, and the fanatic becomes a killer, they bear an awful responsibility. If they deny that responsibility by accusing the police and the government of anti-Islamic conspiracies, they forfeit our sympathy, our respect and our trust.

Police your family. Police your congregation. Police your community. If you don’t, the rest of us will do it for you.



William Saletan covers science, technology and politics for Slate. ]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:05:57 -0400 By William Saletan

Slate

]]> <![CDATA[ Earth is at risk: Unless we change our ways, future generations will inherit a hostile planet ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130421/OPINION/130429976/1122 Earthrise is one of the best-known photographs of the 20th century. It was taken by Apollo 8 astronauts on Christmas Eve, 1968. It shows the incredible beauty of the Earth. At the same time, it hints at the planet’s fragility and smallness in the emptiness of space. Earth has provided us with everything we have. However, the Earth, and we as its inhabitants, are paying a steep price because of what we have done to it and what is likely to happen.

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. That same year, Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air Act. The EPA’s mission is “to protect human health and the environment.” The act required the EPA to identify the most dangerous and common air pollutants and establish air quality standards for each. These are known as National Ambient Air Quality Standards or NAAQS. They are designed to protect everyone. They emphasize those who are the most vulnerable to these pollutants, such as asthmatics, children and the elderly.

There are six of these criteria pollutants: lead, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, oxides of sulfur, ground-level ozone and particulate matter. The smallest particulates are the deadliest. They measure 2.5 millionths of a meter in diameter or less and are known as PM2.5. Typical hairs measure about 70 millionths of a meter in diameter. Ozone is formed from oxides of nitrogen in chemical reactions powered by sunlight, so emission data can’t be compiled.

Counties where there is a persistent failure to meet NAAQS standards are known as non-attainment areas. In 2012, Erie, Niagara, Orleans and Genesee counties failed to meet standards for one pollutant. Chautauqua County failed to meet two. Across the nation, 158 million Americans live in non-attainment areas.

The EPA monitors the amount of carbon monoxide, oxides of sulfur, ground-level ozone and PM2.5 at more than 1,000 sites. These data become the Air Quality Index. This index can be found at the EPA website known as Enviroflash, apps for smartphones and the Buffalo News weather forecast. The index ranges between 0 and 500, and is a predictor of how likely your air will cause a health problem, such as an asthma attack, in the relatively near future. An index of 50 or less indicates good air. Anything above 300 warns of an immediate serious health hazard. However, there is no completely safe level for any of these pollutants.

Numerous studies published by leading scientists, doctors and epidemiologists in top-tier medical journals have provided unequivocal evidence linking criteria pollutants to the top four causes of death in the United States. These are, in order, heart disease, cancers of all types, diseases of the lungs and respiratory system, and stroke.

The newest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed almost 1.5 million deaths to these diseases in 2008. Many of these deaths and associated serious and minor illnesses can be prevented by making our air cleaner and safer to breathe.Investigators in Taiwan and Korea have linked small particles, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and oxides of sulfur with an increased risk for stroke. These studies were reinforced by results from the Women’s Health Initiative, which included research done at the University at Buffalo. They found a significant link between increases in small particles and heart attacks, strokes and the need for coronary artery bypass surgery.

Other studies using the Medicare database showed links between PM2.5 concentrations and hospitalization rates for heart failure, abnormal heart rhythms and cardiovascular disease. More recently, transient increases in the concentration of small particles that do not exceed the EPA criteria increase the risk of a stroke by about 10 percent. The list of other studies is very long.

As health care research has advanced, air pollution has been tied increasingly to the severity of disease, the numbers of patients affected and the number of diseases involved. Preliminary studies suggest that air pollution may increase the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease and Type II diabetes.But there is good news amidst the bad. The Clean Air Act Acid Rain Program has led to dramatic reductions in the emissions of oxides of sulfur and nitrogen. As a result, we have healthier air to breathe, and lakes in New York and elsewhere are coming back to life. Small particle concentrations have fallen.

Buffalo is a big winner in this regard. In a study of 51 metropolitan areas between the years 1978 and 1982, the Erie County life expectancy was 73.5 years when the average PM2.5 concentration was 26.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air. By 1999 and 2000, life expectancy had risen by 3.4 years. A good deal of that increase was due to a reduction in the PM2.5 concentration of just over 50 percent.

An EPA report to Congress predicts that by 2020, the Clean Air Act will prevent 230,000 premature deaths and result in about 2.4 million fewer asthma attacks, 17 million fewer lost days at work, 200,000 fewer heart attacks and many other health benefits. Associated health care savings are expected to be around $2 trillion per year, at a cost to industry of around $65 billion – a 30 to 1 return. This is a win-win-win situation. Americans enjoy better health, we curb health care costs and reduced federal and state expenses provide debt relief.There is a dark cloud on the horizon – global warming. As a result of expanding economies and the need for more energy, we inject trillions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year. From measurements of concentrations in air bubbles trapped in ancient ice, we know that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are higher now than at any other time in the past 435,000 years. The concentration of other global warming gases such as methane and nitrous oxide are also rising.

Four independent studies conclude that current global temperatures have risen by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit compared to a 1950 to 1970 baseline. Multiple lines of evidence show that the rise in carbon dioxide and increasing temperatures are the result of human activity – mainly, burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.

We can see the health consequences of global warming in the form of heat-related deaths and illnesses, worsening epidemics of diseases such as West Nile encephalitis and dengue, or break-bone fever, malaria and others. Severe weather events, such as droughts and superstorm Sandy, are becoming more frequent, causing deaths, injuries and refugees. Rising ocean waters are likely to displace 8 million people by 2050 as low-lying deltas flood.

According to the World Bank, last summer’s droughts caused a 10 percent increase in world food prices in July 2012 alone. This will worsen childhood malnutrition that already nears 50 percent in many Third World nations, according to another World Bank report. Climate scientists tell us that unless we curtail greenhouse gas emissions very soon, global temperatures will reach what they call the tipping point – the point of no return.The EPA has classified carbon dioxide as a pollutant and is taking steps to curtail its emissions. Courts have upheld these actions, declaring that “the agency was unambiguously correct” and “this is how science works.”

A recent report by Stanford University and Cornell University professors shows how New York can lead the way in combating climate change by using wind, water and solar energy to supply all of the energy used for virtually all purposes by 2030. Installing about 16,000 wind turbines, rooftop solar cells on homes, governmental and commercial buildings, and taking better advantage of geothermal, hydroelectric and tide energy could meet the demand. Energy efficiency would increase.

And once generators are in place, fuel prices would drop to zero along with the emission of the worst pollutants. Most of New York’s energy jobs are out-of-state, so their plan creates more in-state jobs than would be lost. They estimate that pollution reductions would save New Yorkers about 4,000 lives per year and $33 billion in morbidity-mortality costs.

In medical school, we grew bacteria in petri dishes. When there were only a few, they grew rapidly in the seemingly inexhaustible food supply. With time, food was depleted and metabolic wastes halted their growth. They died. We humans on Earth are a bit like the bacteria – the resources of the Earth once seemed infinite, but they are not. The Earthrise photograph puts this in perspective, and Earth Day should remind us of Earth’s bounty and peril. Our activities have placed us and our planet at risk. Unless we change our ways, our children and grandchildren will inherit a very different and much more hostile planet.

As a neurologist, I know how magnificent our brains are and what they can do. The question is whether we have the wisdom that matches our potential.



Alan H. Lockwood, M.D., F.A.A.N., is emeritus professor of neurology and nuclear medicine at the University at Buffalo and director and co-chairman of the Environment and Health Committee for Physicians for Social Responsibility. ]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:32:04 -0400 By Alan Lockwood, M.D.

Special to The News

]]> <![CDATA[ South Koreans don’t bat an eye in response to threats ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130421/OPINION/130429977/1122
Eating toast, eggs and oatmeal, winking away at our coffee, my wife and I listened to the news as calmly as if we were back home in Olean. For almost two years, we’ve been working as public school teachers in Asan, a 40-minute high-speed train ride from Seoul, which North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has said he intends to ignite into a “sea of fire.”

One would be hard-pressed to have called us foolhardy that morning, though. You would have a better case calling it group-think.

None of my co-workers was buzzing about anything – despite the newspapers with pictures of the B-2 stacked in the teachers’ room. We had the same reaction when Kim Jong Il died last year. People at home talked about his passing more than anyone in the hermit country did. Some teachers mentioned it during lunch. My colleague’s firefighter husband told her they were on higher alert. That was it.

Does this seem odd to you? A Communist dictator claims he’s going to incinerate the capital of America’s “puppet state,” and no one bats an eye.

I often drink coffee and watch the kids play during my lunch break. It’s not uncommon to hear a thudding in the air. I look up from their soccer game to see a two-pronged military chopper flying around. It makes me think of home. I used to look up and see Mercy Flight helicopters whirring over my house. Not exactly the same. I look back down – the kids don’t even notice. They’re usually chasing their soccer ball after it bounces off the goal post.

We chat on Skype with my mother on Sunday evenings. No matter what I say, she always tells me how good it will be to have us safe on U.S. soil again.

“We’re fine,” I tell her. “Nobody’s worried here. It’s business as usual.”

Is that what they thought in 1950? In the beginning of the Korean War, North Korean troops stormed through South Korean territory in a veritable blitzkrieg. They captured Seoul in three days, and weren’t stopped until Busan, the very southern end of the peninsula.

Later in the summer, reinforced American, U.N. and South Korean troops began sprinting north as resistance crumbled. When they neared the border with China, Chinese forces intervened and pushed them back down. At the end of the Forgotten War, the border was reinstated where it had been to begin with. Since then, the two Korean brothers have lived at a stand-off. Sort of.

In 1976, U.S. and South Korean soldiers attempted to cut down a tree obstructing strategic vision in the Demilitarized Zone. In rebuttal, North Korean soldiers attacked with axes. In less than four minutes, two U.S. soldiers were killed and eight others (four U.S., four South Korean) were wounded. North Korean infiltration tunnels have been found as recently as 1990. Although the Armistice was signed in 1953, it’s claimed the tunnels weren’t started until 1972. This is not so very long ago.

And yet, maybe the most tragic part about the Korean War is that despite its brutality, people don’t even remember it’s still technically going on.

I met a man in an Olean bank before we expatriated. He asked if we were going to North Korea. Another person did not even realize there was more than one Korea. The Forgotten War. There are still people breathing who fought it.

The next generation of South Koreans doesn’t seem much better. Known as one of the most wired countries in the world, I have seen its kindergarten children sending text messages on smartphones before class begins. They whine and scream when they can’t play Angry Birds. Buses and subways are filled with the digital glow of smartphones, never more than inches from their owners’ faces. Just past the DMZ, people are starving.

What a different land these children will grow up in than the Korea of their parents and grandparents, whose country was so ravaged by war that a current staple soup, called budae jjigae, was born out of scraps from U.S. soldiers. Street corners abound with private academies for piano, English and dance lessons. Cosmetics stores fill in the gaps, mingled with McDonald’s, KT cellphone stores and the designer handbags to put it all in.

Look at it this way: the two most prevalent Korean figures in international headlines this year have been Psy and Kim Jong Un. These are the two Koreas: one is a warmonger, and the other can’t hear over the horse-dance clatter.



Western New York native John Loyd is a former reporter for the Olean Times Herald, now living in South Korea. He was a contributor for the book “Minutes to Midnight.” ]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:31:56 -0400 By John Loyd

Special to The News

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