did you get an email about so-and-so losing her/his wallet in Nigeria?

Be careful of Internet scams.

I received the following email from the local public figure.

Hello,

How are you doing?Please i need a huge favor from you.I have to be quite brief about my present situation which requires your urgent response and help..Actually, I had a trip to Nigeria for a official purpose but unfortunately for me i was robbed on my way back from a meeting and the robbers went away with my money and some other valuablesi
I am so confused right now, I dont know what to do or where to go.I have access to only emails at the moment because my cell can't work here so i didn't bring it along.Even if it is a loan i can pay back when i get home.I need about $3200 to get the hotel bills sorted out.As soon as I get home i would refund it immediately.
Write me so i can let you know how to send it.Even if you can't afford all please try and arrange the little you can so i can come back home.I hope you read and
respond to this email on time because i am desperately in need of urgent help.
Await your swift response
[name redacted]

I don't have this person's phone number in my mobile phone, but I strongly suspect this is a scam.

The New York Times (David F. Gallagher) has an article on this.

Here’s how it works: The scammer somehow breaks into a victim’s Web-based e-mail account. He then impersonates the victim and sends an emergency plea for help to everyone in the account’s address book, asking them to wire money to Nigeria. The e-mail includes some variation on a story about getting mugged or losing a wallet while on a trip to Nigeria.

I'll put some research into verifying this public official is OK, but my guess is that s/he is fine, minus getting control of his/her Yahoo email account.

I've learned to hate strongly dislike (MLK said, "Hate is too great a burden to bear.") Yahoo at my place of employment. The spam filter sends legit emails to spam and allows way too much spam. Other web-based email seems to be much better, especially Gmail.

Todd Stroger wants to kill poor women

Yahoo (Reuters--Julie Steenhuysen) reports that Partnership for Prevention, a nonprofit health policy group, has written a report saying that 100,000 lives per year could be saved in the United States by five preventive health procedures.

From the Partnership for Prevention website:

3,700 additional lives would be saved each year if we increased to 90 percent the portion of women age 40 and older who have been screened for breast cancer in the past 2 years. Today, 67 percent of women have been screened in the past 2 years.

Remember, African-American women are disproportionately victims of breast cancer. This is especially true in Chicago. And Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wants to cut breast cancer screening. See this earlier entry on Proviso Probe.

When Mark Pera (D-Western Springs, challenging Congressman Dan Lipinski in primary) took grief from Democracy for America activists for not supporting universal health care he pleaded that he supported making health care accessible.

Breast cancer is a very good example of why accessible health care is inferior to universal health care.

The difference between universal health care and accessible health care is the difference between living and dying. Under universal health care a woman gets mammograms in acordance with the current recommended practices. This allows detection and treatment.

Under a system that emphasizes health care accessibility the cancer is allowed to get more advanced before being treated.

The galling thing is that in most cases it's cheaper to detect cancer early and treat it than to let it progress and then treat it.

When Todd Stroger says he wants to cut mammograms he is advocating policy that will kill poor women.

And when politicians say they are for something less than universal health care they are advocating policies that will kill people with preventable illnesses, like the flu, colorectal cancer and breast cancer.

MEDIA, don't fall for the lies about Iran

Yahoo (AP) headline: Bush: Iran supplying weapons in Iraq

Proviso Probe headline: Nyberg: Bush supplying lies to gullible media

Atrios put it like this:

Did the last 4 years not happen? Did these reporters not live through it? Did we not have a big discussion about how journalists should stop relying on the statements of administration officials and start asking for a little actual evidence?

The media deserves contempt for how it enabled the Iraq War. Partially they used 9/11 and the national mood as an excuse for their gullibility. "It just didn't seem right to question the President at that time," seemed to be the mood of journalists, editors, producers, publishers, CEOs and owners.

What's the #%&$ing excuse this time? Bush isn't popular. Americans are clearly sour about occupying Iraq indefinitely.

Yet the sheep in the national media are getting played the exact same way as with Iraq.

Here's what you need to know about Iran: it isn't a threat to U.S. national interests. And going to war against Iran whether by bombing or invasion will result in large numbers of Americans being killed.

Attacking Iran will hurt U.S. national interests. The Democratic Party has the votes to keep Bush from attacking Iran.

[UPDATE2: See TPMmuckraker.com (Spencer Ackerman) for details on how CNN's Barbara Starr got the story about Bush's claims about Iran wrong.]

[UPDATE: This Saturday there will be an anti-war meeting at the Maywood Public Library.]

The people voted against the war…
Tell the new Congress…

“Not One Penny More for the War!”

We don’t need Congress to spend another $100 billion for the Iraq War!

We need money to pay our heating and electric bills!
We need money to stop foreclosures!
We need money to stop water shutoffs!
We need money to feed our children!
We need money to pay for medical care!
We need money for jobs and education!

FEBRUARY 17TH has been declared NO MORE $$$$ FOR WAR DAY
It is a national day of coordinated protests across the country to demand that Congress VOTE NO!to any future funding of the war in Iraq

Come and Testify
at a COMMUNITY MEETING

(Congressman Danny Davis has been invited to come and listen. He is a cosponsor of Bill H.R. 508: To Require United States Military disengagement from Iraq)
Saturday – February 17, 2007 – 3:30 PM
Maywood Public Library (Room 202)
121 S. 5th Ave, Maywood Illinois

Bring the bills you can’t pay!
Bring your family!
Bring your determination to stop the endless war spending!

ALSO JOIN US IN WASHINGTON MARCH 17 AND CHICAGO MARCH 20
TO DEMONSTRATE TO END THE WAR AND BRING THE TROOPS HOME

Sponsored by: International Action Center
Chicago Chapter (773) 381-5839