Favorite Link Friday January 22, 2016

Alaskanomics Blog: Legislative Session Week 1

The Alaska Legislature is back in session this week and all eyes are on the budget. In two separate meetings on Wednesday, presentations were given by David Teal, the Legislature’s Chief Fiscal Analyst, and Diane Kaplan, President of the Rasmuson Foundation. Both discussed the current situation and the need for action from the legislature. Teal noted that the Governor’s plan to fix the $3.8 billion budget gap was a step in the right direction. He also stated that using the earnings from the Permanent Fund “is the most painless and sustainable way to fill deficits.” Things have to change in order to balance the budget.

The survey, conducted between January 3 and 10, 2016, showed that there is increasing concern regarding the fiscal crisis. It also showed that Alaskans prefer to see the fiscal gap filled by both cuts and new revenue. Legislators should have a clear message from the survey. Seventy-five percent of respondents said that they were more likely to support or no difference in their vote if their legislator voted for a combination of cuts and new revenue. Respondents were split on how their support would change or not when it came to including taxes and a reduction in the Dividend. Eighty-three percent would be less likely to support a legislator that took no action to address the budget shortfall. [Read the Rest Here]

Book Review: Depression Delusion, by Terry Lynch, MD, MA

“The world is engulfed in a mass delusion regarding depression. The widespread belief that brain chemical imbalances are present in depression has no scientific basis. In fact, this is a fixed belief that meets all the criteria of a mass delusion. If you are one of the millions of people who believe that biochemical brain imbalances are known to occur in depression, then you too have become seriously misinformed.” (p 1)

“Providing societies with an apparently trustworthy rationale for avoiding the reality of human distress has resulted in increasingly costly mental health services within which recovery is a far rarer outcome than it should be. Since the core issues are repeatedly side-stepped, they are not addressed or recognized within these mental health systems. It is not surprising that the costs of such systems keep increasing with little hard evidence that these systems are providing value for money in terms of recovery.” (p 237)

“When basic principles of correct reasoning and science are applied to the brain chemical imbalance idea, the flaws and inconsistencies of this belief become obvious. When the depression brain chemical imbalance idea is rigorously examined, we find that like the emperor, it has no clothes. These flaws and inconsistencies were known prior to Prozac coming on stream in 1988. They were dismissed because they risked ruining a great story, from which many groups could profit enormously.” (p 342) [Read the Rest Here]

This building in Stalingrad became the Russian version of The Alamo in World War II

In the fighting at Stalingrad, Russian and German soldiers clashed in bloody, close-quarters combat. Some buildings held Germans and Russians on different floors for days, fighting the other side through the stairwells.

One of these heavily contested buildings was a four-story apartment building that overlooked the Volga river and had a clear line of fire down two roads intersecting in front of it. Whoever controlled that building could stop nearly any traffic moving within a kilometer of it.

The Russian Army sent a 30-man platoon to take the building from German occupiers, but only four survivors were left victorious. Junior Sgt. Pavlov, now the acting platoon commander, and his three men began constructing defenses of barbed wire and mines while also requesting reinforcements. In the basement of the building, 10 Russian civilians huddled with slim hopes of surviving the battle.

When 21 Russian soldiers arrived, they helped prepare the building for an extended siege. A PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle was placed on the roof, machine guns were placed in every available window facing the main square, mortars were emplaced, and walls were knocked out to facilitate communications between the men. Then the Nazis came... [Read the Rest Here]

Free E-Books and Audio Book Rentals Through Alaska Libraries

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Bill Cosby Defamation Lawsuit Dismissed

Renita Hill, one of the more than 50 women who have publicly accused Cosby of assault, filed the civil suit in October alleging that the actor and his lawyer defamed Hill in the media, court records show.

Judge Arthur J. Schwab dismissed the three claims against Cosby, ruling that the statements "do not support a claim for defamation as defined by Pennsylvania law," according to the ruling.

Hill's claims of defamation cite three instances in which Cosby and his team said the accusers needed to be fact-checked.

In November 2014, following Hill's public accusation of rape, Cosby and his lawyer told The Washington Post that the women coming forward had "unsubstantiated, fantastical stories."

That same day, Cosby declined to respond to the "innuendos" being made about him to Florida Today, stating that "people should fact-check." [Source]