ROADSIDE DRUG TESTING LAW FLOPS

DEARBORN – Michigan drivers may be subjected to questionable roadside drug testing under a recently proposed law.  The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge), claims that roadside saliva tests offer a quick and inexpensive alternative to blood testing.  No other state has adopted roadside saliva tests, which are riddled with potential errors, and taxpayers will incur hefty costs to implement the dubious program.

Drugged driving is a serious public safety concern, but Michigan has repeatedly rebuffed traditional methods of combating this problem.  State police and lawmakers turn to quick, easy solutions, scoffing at the efforts undertaken in other states that focus on police officer training.
        
Saliva testing is a quick, easy solution to drugged driving that flops.  Saliva tests have been researched for nearly two decades as a potential roadside screening tool for police officers.  To date, no one has established a workable model to employ for law enforcement purposes.  Saliva tests have various cutoff levels, and at lower cutoff levels, false positives become problematic.  At higher cutoff levels, saliva tests fail to flag drug abusers.  Sensitive saliva tests reveal drug exposure for days or weeks after the substance has been ingested, confusing past exposure for intoxication.

As a preliminary roadside test, saliva testing has appeared promising, but its limited evidential value has plagued implementation.  Jones, a former law enforcement officer, ignores the research and proposes to use saliva testing as evidence of intoxication as opposed to a preliminary screening tool.

The Michigan State Police toxicology unit favors using blood for drugged driving enforcement.  Blood accurately reveals current active drugs in a driver’s body. Jones complains that blood testing takes too long to complete.  Saliva, he claims, will produce faster, cheaper results, pointing to the $15 price tag attached to each drug kit. 

Saliva testing will prove to be expensive and time consuming.  To implement the new law, the Michigan State Police toxicology unit will be forced to purchase a new machine that costs a whopping $400,000.00 per unit.  Unless the state invests in several units, testing will actually take longer than blood tests. 

Jones never contacted the Michigan State Police toxicology unit before proposing the new law.  A source at the toxicology unit has confirmed that the lab would continue to encourage blood testing even if the law passed, since blood produces more reliable results.

To tackle drugged driving, lawmakers should focus on police officer training by implementing the Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Program.  This intense training program has been adopted by 37 other states and has a track record of proven results.  On the other hand, roadside drug testing is an expensive gimmick that has no track record and raises too many concerns.

UNDP CALLS FOR USD 89M TO HELP PAKISTANIS BACK ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

Islamabad, Pakistan, 17 September 2010―The United Nations today appealed for just over US$2 billion for humanitarian and early recovery needs for flood-ravaged Pakistan. Within the overall context of the UNresponse to the disaster, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) put forth a host of early recovery programmes designed to help communities get back on their feet. This package   includes restoring livelihoods through job creation, repairing community infrastructure, and re-establishing local government offices to get public services running again.

 

Heavy rain and flash floods have inundated more than a fifth of the country since July, leaving 20.5 million people significantly affected, and 1,750 dead. Seventy percent of roads and bridges in the flooded areas were washed away, along with millions of homes and livelihoods.

 

“Millions of people have lost their livelihoods and their communities to these devastating floods, and they need help now to get back on the road to recovery,” said Jordan Ryan, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and the Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.  “With the early recovery initiatives outlined in the Revised Response Plan, millions of affected families will be able to get back on their feet and reclaim their lives.”

 

Europeans Push Global Tax to Fund Poverty-Reduction, Climate Change Causes

By Patrick Goodenough

Flags of member nations flying at United Nations headquarters in New York City. (U.N. Photo by Araujo Pinto)

(CNSNews.com) – A group of 60 nations will meet next week at the United Nations to push for a tax on foreign currency transactions as a way to generate revenue to meet global poverty-reduction goals, including “climate change” mitigation.

Spearheaded by European Union countries, the so-called “innovative financing” proposal envisages a tax of 0.005 percent (five cents per $1,000), which experts estimate could produce more than $30 billion a year worldwide for priority causes.

LOGIC 101

 An interesting letter in the Australian Shooter Magazine this week, which  I quote:


"If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000  troops in the Iraq Theater of operations during the past 22 months, and a total of 2112
deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.

The firearm death rate in Washington , DC is 80.6 per 100,000 for the same period.   

 That means you are about 25 per cent more likely to be shot and killed in the US capital, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the U.S. , than you are in Iraq .

Conclusion: The U.S. should pull out of Washington

National Employ Older Workers Week (Sept. 19-25)

Need for Assistance for Michigan’s
Older Workers Reaches Critical Levels

National Employ Older Workers Week, Sept. 19-25

National Employ Older Workers Week, Sept. 19-25, carries special significance this year as older workers face historical challenges in today’s workplace, according to workforce experts in Michigan.  

“Today’s reality is that we have record numbers of older people in the workforce, many on the sidelines who can’t find work, and a sizable group who have given up on finding employment all together,” said Andrea Bridgewater, Michigan state director for Experience Works, the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of community service, training and employment opportunities for older workers. 

National Employ Older Workers Week, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, recognizes the great contributions that workers age 55 and older provide to employers. These benefits include experience, knowledge and dependability. 

The economic downtown has been particularly difficult on older workers. In August 2010, the average duration of unemployment for people age 55 and older was 38.2 weeks, a 33 percent increase from August 2009. During this same time, the number of discouraged workers in this age group increased 73 percent. Discouraged workers are people who have stopped looking for work because they believe employment opportunities are not available.  

“We’ve seen a record number of older workers calling us or visiting our website for assistance and we don’t foresee that trend changing any time soon,” said Bridgewater. According to Bridgewater, the current need outpaces the available resources for unemployed older workers.  

Through the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), Experience Works provided services to 1,060 older workers in Michigan during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2010.

SCSEP participants, who must meet low-income and employment qualifications, receive self assessments, skills training, assistance with the job search process and placement in an appropriate training assignment with a local community service agency. Participants earn the minimum wage while acquiring the skills and tools they need to transition from community service assignments to employment with a local employer. In fiscal 2009-2010, SCSEP participants in Michigan provided 504,821 hours of community service to local agencies.  

For more information about Experience Works or to see if you qualify for the Senior Community Service Employment Program, log on to www.experienceworks.org or call 866-976-5939. Experience Works, formerly known as Green Thumb, serves the needs of older workers in Michigan, Puerto Rico and 29 other states.  

Rutherford Institute Urges Governor McDonnell to Respect Value of Human Life, Grant Clemency in Sept. 23 Execution of Teresa Lewis

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—Calling on the Commonwealth of Virginia to lead the nation in promoting respect for the value of all human life, innocent and guilty alike, The Rutherford Institute is urging Gov. Robert McDonnell to commute the death sentence of 41-year-old Teresa Lewis, who is scheduled to be executed on September 23, 2010. If the execution is not halted, Lewis, who has an IQ of 72, which is two points above the threshold for clinical mental retardation, would be the first woman put to death in Virginia in nearly 100 years.

The Institute’s letter is available at www.rutherford.org.

Teresa Lewis was convicted in 2003 of conspiring to have two men kill her husband and stepson. Despite her mental deficiencies and her history of non-violence, Lewis was the only one of the three persons involved in the criminal plot who received a capital sentence. Her co-conspirators struck deals for and were granted life sentences. While the justice system was unwilling to compare Teresa’s sentence with those of her co-defendants upon review in March 2005, Dr. Costanzo, a professor of psychology and witness for the defense, noted that “From a psychological standpoint, a woman who is functionally retarded intellectually, with passive dependent personality disturbance, and a habit of submissively seeking men’s approval throughout her life, is a poor bet as the mastermind of a brutal murder plot.” In recent years, Lewis has become a devout Christian and spends much of her time praying for her fellow inmates at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women and for the families she helped hurt.

States' suit on Obama health plan may go to trial

PENSACOLA, Fla. – A federal judge says he likely will let go to trial portions of a lawsuit by Florida and 19 other states challenging the president's health care overhaul as unconstitutional.

But U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson said at a Tuesday hearing in Pensacola that he expects to dismiss other parts.

Vinson didn't specify which parts of the lawsuit likely will go to trial but said he will issue a ruling by Oct. 14.

The states and the administration disagree over sections of the law that will require people to have health insurance or face tax penalties. They also disagree over whether states should pay additional Medicaid costs not covered by the federal government.

The lawsuit is likely to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Law Enforcement Torch Run Due in Munising about 1 pm Today - 9-14

Michigan law enforcement officers, raising money for Special Olympics, began a 750 mile run in Copper Harbor Monday.

The central route of the 29th Annual Law Enforcement Torch Run kicked off at Fort Wilkins State Park.
    
Keweenaw County Sheriff Ron Lahti joined a group of corrections officers for the first few miles of the five-day run.
    
Each runner does five miles at a time and the journey continues 24 hours a day.

"We have the longest non-stop run in the U.S. for Special Olympics.  These teams have been raising money all year to participate in this event.  It's a very prestigious event," said Ken Bennett, Director of the run.   

The runners raised over $500,000 this year.
    
The central route is expected to finish in Sterling Heights on Friday night.

The Book Tour for the Novel called "U.P." is not Fiction

"U.P." Author and Movie Producer To Embark On Book Tour Of The U.P. In September

Both of their fathers taught mathematics at Westwood High School.

Both are graduates of Negaunee High School (1987 & 1991)

Both attended Northern Michigan University.

Both are working to turn the novel "U.P." into a film.

Ronald "R.A." Riekki is the author of "U.P." - the best-selling novel from Ghost Road Press published in 2008 that actor ("Into The Wild", "Milk") and producer Steven Wiig is working to bring to the big screen.  The novel is "brutal coming of age story" about four boys set in Marquette County in 1989.

The two Negaunee-natives, who both attended Northern Michigan University, are currently setting up appearances throughout the Upper Peninsula for mid-September.  All outlets - from high schools to libraries to book stores to radio stations to television news stations to newspapers to magazines - are being considered for the tour as the two spread the word on a grass roots campaign to give readings, gather support and hold discussions with "anyone interested in the world of literature and film."  They also intend to scout locations and document the tour.

CURRENT U.P. BOOK TOUR DATES/APPEARANCES  (more to come)

Sep 13--Bay de Noc Community College, Escanaba, 7pm

Sep 13--Negaunee High School, Negaunee, time TBA

Sep 14--North Wind Books, Finlandia University, Hancock, 4pm

Sep 14--Portage Lake District Library, Houghton, 6:30pm

Sep 15--Country Village Book Store, Ishpeming, 1pm

Sep 15--Peter White Public Library, Marquette, 7pm

Sep 16--Safe Harbor Books, Cedarville, 2pm

Sep 16--Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore, Munising, 7pm

Both the novel & merchandise are planned to be sold at each event.

For updates, go to: facebook.com/u.p.movie