July 2013


Healthy Vision: Take Care of Your Eyes Taking care of your


Health


vision should be a priority, just like eating healthy and engaging in physical activity. Having healthy vision can help keep you safe when you are driving, while at work, home or school, participating in sports, or taking part in recreational activities. Fortunately, many eye problems and diseases can be treated if caught early.


To make sure you keep


seeing clearly, get a comprehensive dilated eye exam as often as your eye care professional recommends. An eye care professional will examine your eyes for signs of vision problems or eye diseases. It's the best way to find out if you need glasses or contacts, or are in the early stages of an eye disease.


You should have a comprehensive


dilated eye exam regularly to check for common eye problems. If you haven't had an exam for some time, schedule one this month. CDC's Vision Health Initiative and the National Eye Institute are encouraging Americans to take care of their eyes to make sure they can see well throughout their lives.


Visit an eye care professional if


you have decreased vision, eye pain, drainage or redness of the eye, double vision, or diabetes, or if you see flashes of light, floaters (tiny specks that appear to float before your eyes), or circles (halos) around light sources.


There are nine ways you can help protect your vision:


1. Get a comprehensive dilated


eye exam for yourself and your family members.


2. Know your family's eye health


history. It’s important to know if anyone has been diagnosed with an eye disease or condition, since many are hereditary.


3. Eat right to protect your


sight—in particular, eat plenty of dark leafy greens such as spinach, kale, or collard greens, and fish that is high in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, albacore tuna, trout and halibut.


4. Maintain a healthy weight. 5. Wear protective eyewear when


playing sports or doing activities around the home, such as painting, yard work, and home repairs.


6. Quit smoking or never start. 7. Wear sunglasses that block 99


percent to 100 percent of ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation.


8. Clean your hands prior to taking


out your contact lens and be sure to cleanse your contact lenses properly to avoid the risk of infection.


9. Practice workplace eye safety. Taking care of your eyes also may


benefit your overall health. People with vision problems are more likely than those with good vision to have diabetes, poor hearing, heart problems, high blood pressure, lower back pain and stroke, as well as have increased risk for falls, accidents, and depression. Among people age 65 and older, 54.2 percent of those who are blind and 41.7 percent of those with impaired vision say their overall health is fair or poor. Just 21.5 percent of older Americans without vision problems reported fair to poor health.


Although older adults tend to have


more vision problems, preschoolers may not see as well as they should. Just one out of seven preschoolers receives an eye screening, and fewer than one out of four receives some type of vision screening. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends vision screening for all children ages 3 to 5 years to find conditions such as amblyopia, or lazy eye, which can be treated effectively if caught early.


Park Wins U.S. Women's Open For 3rd Straight Major


BY KOREAM JOURNAL South Korean golfer Inbee Park


edged out I.K. Kim to win the 68th U.S. Women’s Open at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.


Park, the world’s top-ranked


women’s golfer, finished at 8-under to beat out fellow South Korean Kim by just four strokes. She went 2-over 74 in the final round to secure the win, as Kim shot 74 for the runner-up finish.


It was the third straight major


title of the year for Park, who won the Kraft Nabisco Championship and the Wegmans LPGA Championship before heading into the U.S. Women’s Open


The 24-year-old is only the


second player to win the first three majors of the year after Babe Zaharias. She is also the fourth player to win three majors in one year after Zaharias (1950), Mickey Wright (1961) and Pat Bradley (1986).


By winning her second U.S.


Women’s Open, Park achieved her lifelong dream of putting her name alongside Zaharias.


“Trying to put my name next to


hers means just so much,” Park told NPR. “I would think I would never get there. It’s somewhere that I’ve never dreamed of. But all of a sudden, I’m there.”


Park is two wins away from the


Grand Slam. She will have to win next month’s British Open and the Evian Championship (a fifth major tournament that the LPGA added this year) in September.


BY BRE PAYTON ALEXANDRIA — Who is funding


the efforts to get ex-felons registered to vote in Virginia?


Apparently it’s the George


Soros-funded Tides Foundation. The foundation has long supported


felony rights restoration by writing large checks to groups that work with states to register former felons.


In the past, the foundation set up


the Civic Participation Fund, which was aimed at aiding social-change organizations focused in new-majority communities that “need money, and need it fast,” says the Tides website.


The fund, formerly known as the


Voter Action Fund, granted more than $8 million to advocacy groups “working to address the legal, procedural, and technological barriers to electoral participation.”


Two groups that have received


funding from Tides — Advancement Project and the Virginia New Majority — are working with Virginia officials to restore felons voting rights, according to documents given to Watchdog. org by the Washington, D.C.-based Capital Research Center, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the politics behind nonprofit operations.


The Advancement Project and


Virginia New Majority also are working to register the newly enfranchised voters by November, when the gubernatorial, lieutenant governor, attorney general, some state senate and all delegate seats up for grabs.


“I find it alarming that a radical


left-wing group has anything to do with the governor’s office,” said Matthew Vadum, senior editor of the Capital Research Center.


The Tides Foundation would


not confirm that it has given money to the Virginia organizations, but tax documents filed by the groups show they received the Tides grants.


Francisco Martinez, a philanthropic


adviser to the Tides Foundation, wouldn’t respond directly to questions about the groups, but said, “Throughout our history, we have supported groups in almost every state, including Virginia. Like many foundations, we fund the strongest groups that we think would have the most impact in their communities and fuel the most civic participation.”


The Advancement Project, a civil


rights organization, received more than $895,000 in grants from the Tides Foundation from 2007-2011, according to documents provided by the CRC.


In 2011, Tides also gave $15,000


to Virginia New Majority, a civic- engagement group aimed at getting progressive voters to show up at the polls, CRC said.


When Gov. Bob McDonnell


announced in late May that he would automatically restore rights to non-violent felons, he also called for a full review of Virginia’s traditionally low threshold for what constitutes a violent felony.


McDonnell has been seeking


input from the Advancement Project throughout the evaluation process, said Edargo Cortez, director of the Advancement Project’s Virginia Voting Rights Restoration campaign.


The project also is assisting


to help the state with its lack of a comprehensive database by providing a hotline for felons to call and get their contact information relayed to the governor’s office.


“I think we have been doing a lot


to help provide information to the state so they can figure out the real world implications of what they’re setting up,” Cortes said. “Hopefully this can impact and restore rights to the greatest number of people as possible.”


The Advancement Project has


been working in tandem with its statewide partner, Virginia New Majority, to ensure the highest number of previously disenfranchised people can use the newly automated system, Cortes said.


In a news release celebrating


McDonnell’s announcement as a victory, the Virginia New Majority said the group was to have statewide voter registration drives to ensure that each newly enfranchised voter could cast his ballot in the November elections.


There are an estimated 350,000


people ineligible to vote in the state because of a felony conviction. About 100,000 of those would be eligible for automatic rights restoration, according to the governor’s office.


The estimates come from the


Sentencing Project, which conducted a felon disenfranchisement impact study based on 2010 U.S. Census information. The study was funded in part by the Tides Foundation.


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


The Hampton Roads Messenger


5


Tides Foundation Behind Push to Restore Felon Voting Rights in VA


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