Citizen Cartwright

Note to readers

Citizen Cartwright needs to take a couple of days off. See you Thursday!

Mexican president to U.S.: Do something about your drug use

In the wake of last week's extortion-related attack that killed more than 50 gamblers and employees in a casino in Monterrey, Mexico, President Felipe Calderon said the United States must do more to cut both the country's demand for drugs and its gun smuggling to drug cartels.

"Part of the tragedy that Mexicans are living has to do with the fact that we are alongside the biggest consumer of drugs in the world, and at the same time, the biggest vendor of weapons in the world," he said.

Fed, IMF chiefs have a message for policymakers

At the meeting of central bankers Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said, "... the country would be well served by a better process for making fiscal decisions. The negotiations that took place over the summer disrupted financial markets and probably the economy as well, and similar events in the future could, over time, seriously jeopardize the willingness of investors around the world to hold U.S. financial assets or to make direct investments in job-creating U.S. businesses."

He called for a better budget process. But, he said, "formal budget goals and mechanisms do not replace the need for fiscal policymakers to make the difficult choices that are needed to put the country's fiscal house in order, which means that public understanding of and support for the goals of fiscal policy are crucial."

Bernanke didn't announce any new Fed efforts to boost the economy.

International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde told the bankers' group on Saturday that risks to the global economy "have been aggravated further by a deterioration in confidence and a growing sense that policymakers do not have the conviction, or simply are not willing, to take the decisions that are needed."

Congressional leaders hoping for 'minimal acrimony' over funding bills

The must-do task for Congress each year is passing the 12 bills appropriating money for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. But of course, that must-do usually doesn't get done, and a string of giant continuing resolutions usually are needed to keep the government from shutting down.

But in the debt limit bill, Congress allotted $1.043 trillion for spending on federal agencies and national security in 2012, and leaders hope that since the figure is already agreed on there will be little to fight over.

But, The Washington Post says, "It is not yet clear if rank-and-file members, many of whom were elected in 2010 promising never to back down from an opportunity to cut spending, will sign on."

Why lawmakers are holding fewer town hall meetings

Activist groups on both sides are pushing more aggressive strategies that tend to involve shouting down the lawmaker who's holding the meeting, The Washington Post says.

For those groups, it now counts as a defeat if one’s opponent is allowed to make a point without interruption, the paper says.

Also in the news

Al Qaeda's No. 2 killed by drone strike in Pakistan, U.S. officials say

Libyan rebels pushing toward a last bastion of Gadhafi support: His hometown

Chinese state TV deletes video implying hacking of Western sites

Japan's finance minister to become next prime minister

U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants to rein in law banning overseas bribery

Watch out for drugs marketed as dietary supplements

Spending the weekend with Irene

Sixty million Americans from North Carolina to Maine are expected to be impacted by the hurricane.

Here is a preparedness checklist from the National Hurricane Center.

Republicans like the field of presidential candidates

Two-thirds of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are pleased with their presidential options, compared with half in June, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll.

Experts to government: Get tough on obesity

Half of American adults will be obese by 2030 unless the government changes food policy, according to a report on what's being called the international obesity crisis.

The changes include making healthy foods cheaper and taxing unhealthy foods, says the report in the British medical journal the Lancet.

Changes over the past century in the way food is made and marketed have contributed to the creation of an “obesogenic” environment where personal willpower and efforts to maintain a healthy weight are largely impossible, the report says.

Vaccines are generally safe

That's the word from the Institute of Medicine in the first comprehensive safety review of vaccines in 17 years.

While vaccines can cause some side effects, serious ones appear to be very rare and there's no link to autism and Type 1 diabetes, the report says.