President Barack Obama

So says Ellen Raphael, UK director of Sense About Science, regarding the #8220;bad science tips#8221; made by various celebrities and public figures (from Tom Cruise on psychiatry to, yes, President-Elect Barack Obama on vaccines and autism).
Here#8217;s hoping that they#8217;ll all take a New Year#8217;s resolution to do a little fact-checking, or at least web-surfing, before offering those tips in 2009.
Tags: asd, asperger syndrome, autism, barack obama, pdd-nos, president-elect, Psychiatry, Science, tom cruise, VaccinesShare This (Source: Autism Vox)

pOn Election Day, we spoke to some of the thousands of people as they gathered in Grant Park in Chicago before Barack’s Election Night speech:/pobject width=”425″ height=”344″param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/LAoC2Fwd1yYamp;hl=enamp;fs=1″/paramparam name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”/paramparam name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”/paramembed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/LAoC2Fwd1yYamp;hl=enamp;fs=1″ width=”425″ height=”344″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always”/embed/objectpAs one supporter said:/pblockquotepHe can’t do it by himself… He has to do it with each and every one of us. Just like we showed up to the polls today to cast our vote, we have to continue to show up and do what we’re suppossed to do… to help this world be a better place. /p/blockquotepOver the past two years grassroots supporters across the country have shown up, day after day, to work for change. For many of you, we know that this is just the beginning. a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/pesurvpage1″We want your feedback/a on what’s next and where we go from here. You can also a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/history”share your memorable stories and experiences/a over the course of this historic campaign./p

Some of the names reportedly on the Obama transition team#8217;s short list for FDA commissioner have led a coalition of worried patient and research groups to seek a friendlier hand to run the agency in the new administration.
Bloomberg News/Landov
Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore health commissioner, is leading a review of the FDA for the Obama transition team.

In a letter to HHS Secretary in Waiting Tom Daschle, the newly formed FDA Commissioner Coalition said the agency needs a leader who can make decisions free from #8220;pressure from elected and appointed officials and from the news media,#8221; the WSJ reports.
The group stops short of offering up its own candidate. But it hardly seems a coincidence that the correspondence appears as the candidacy of two outspoken critics of drugm…

Major drug makers want their voices heard as Democrats, traditionally critics of the industry, start crafting plans to expand health insurance coverage and cut the escalating costs of care. And so pharma is actively promoting the success of Medicare#8217;s prescription drug coverage and meds to save money in the long run, Reuters writes.
#8220;We need first a seat at the table,#8221; Fred Hassan, Schering-Plough#8217;s ceo, tells the news service. And so pharma execs are meeting in Washington this week at a gathering of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations. Hassan, the group#8217;s current president, says the location was chosen in recognition of the coming political changes.
The backdrop: President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats, who …

The networks are now projecting that Barack Obama will win the state of Minnesota.

pThe official kick-off of the a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/changeiscoming/”Change is Coming house meetings/a is tomorrow, although there are over 200 early meetings taking place tonight. Altogether over 4200 event have been organized throughout the country, from small local gatherings to a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/changeiscoming/gsxpbw”an event in Los Angeles with nearly 500 attendees/a. /ppMany of the hosts we spoke with last night were busy making final preparations for the weekend.nbsp;/ppJan Biederman in Cleveland explained: /pblockquotepThe goals of our get-together will be multi-fold, not the least of which will be to keep the grass-roots momentum going. I think that myself and many others view this as not only another political election, but as a progressive movement to really change some of the awful ways our country was run during the Bush administration. /ppI plan to facilitate a discussion on what we can do locally to help bring about the change we all want, and not just wait for Washington./ppI hope that by getting people together, even if we did not know each other before the event, we will leave with some of the same warm feeling we had during the election, knowing there are many others like ourselves out there willing to actually walk the walk …nbsp; /p/blockquotepIt’s not too late to a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/changeiscoming/”find an event near you/a. And if you’re attending a meeting this weekend, send us your photos and stories at a href=”mailto:blog@barackobama.com” blog@barackobama.com/a. /p

chers#8212;
the embedding code doesn’t work at aids-write. please go to
msnbc:
The wrong choice?
Dec. 23: Pastor Rick Warren released a 22 minute web video addressing the uproar over his invitation to President-elect Obama’s inauguration. Should Obama rescind his invitation? Rachel Maddow is joined by The Nation’s Katha Pollitt.
or towleroad:
#8220;He has snatched the possibility of open-mindedness from the jaws of possibility.#8221;
Rachel Maddow takes apart the latest Rick Warren developments
namasté
#8212;rk (Source: aids-write.org)

Ideas about how the U.S. can achieve universal health care are coming thick and fast. The insurance industry itself is stepping up to the nation#8217;s suggestion box with another proposal.
The trade group America#8217;s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, called for universal coverage, a more centralized insurance market and cost-reduction that would slow the growth of the nation#8217;s ballooning health-care spending by 30% in five years.
Savings, AHIP says, could amount to more than $500 billion, which could be used to fund coverage of the uninsured and lower costs for everyone else.
The new proposal would involve the creation of a public-private advisory group. The WSJ has the details.
It was only last month that AHIP, facing a growing chorus in Washington calling for reform, said in…

Shepard Fairey’s Obama Time Magazine Cover
December 19th, 2008
Starting today, you’ll be able to pick up Shepard Fairey’s newest Barack Obama illustration on almost every newsstand in the world. He has created the image for the cover of Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” issue. Here is what he had to say about his involvement with the project:
“Tomorrow my illustration for Time Magazine’s “Person of The Year” hits the newsstands. While I’m very honored to be validated by a periodical that is nothing short of an American institution, the moment is bittersweet because I’m very disappointed by Obama’s appointment of Rick Warren to deliver his invocation during Obama’s inaugural address. Rick Warren is against gay marriage and reproductive rights, and he does not…

blockquotepOne of the most inspiring things about this campaign was to see how generous people actually are when they are exposed to tools and information that they can use for the greater good. — Jade from Rochester, New Yorkbr / /p/blockquotepTwo weeks after Election Day, supporters are continuing to use the online tools at My.BarackObama.com to gather together to celebrate, to reconnect, and to find ways to stay involved politics and in their communities./ppThere are hundreds of events planned for the upcoming weeks. Cambridge, Massachusetts supporters are organizing a quot;a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/meeting/gsx2yx”Thank You Party/aquot; for which over 350 people have already signed up - so many that they had to relocate the meeting to a larger venue./ppIn Michigan City, Indiana a quot;a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/meeting/gsx2r7″One Month Anniversary Celebration/aquot; already has nearly 60 members from a dozen local groups signed up to attend.nbsp;nbsp; /ppIn a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/meeting/gsx2jz”Sanford, Florida/a supporters are turning their attention to local issues. /ppa href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/xZVKg5M”Judy/a from Camdenton, Missouri reported that:/pblockquotepCamden County Missouri Obama volunteers are determined to stay together in the spirit of this movement! We are considering a community service mission. Our first projects may be helping some of the neighbors we canvassed: an elderly woman who needs someone to help with her fall leaves or another elderly neighbor who would just enjoy a post-election visit. Our field organizer David encouraged us from the beginning to keep our group together and as we grew in numbers and spirit we knew we had to keep moving forward. /p/blockquotepAnd in Georgia, local supporters are using MyBO to help organize for the a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGxXQW”December 2nd Senate runoff/a. There are nearly 60 separate events scheduled in the upcoming days, including phonebanking, canvassing and organizational meetings (you can check out a href=”http://ga.barackobama.com”Georgia.BarackObama.com/a for the latest on the Georgia runoff)./ppEven though the 2008 presidential election has ended, the tools here at My.BarackObama.com remain active. You can still find a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_simple”events/a and a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/group”groups/a near you, or reach out in your community and a href=”http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/create”create your own/a. We’ve already seen that, as powerful as the tools themselves are, it’s the relationships and groups that they’ve helped form that are one of the true strengths and lasting legacies of this campaign. /p