Tuesday, May 31, 2011

World Health Organization: Cell Phone Use Can Cause Brain Cancer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/20/cell-phone-radiation_n_864799.html

Important info. to consider...especially for constant cell phone users.

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Dispatches from the End of Empire -- a must-read!

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/david-michael-green/36487/dispatches-from-the-end-of-empire

Once again, the astute David Michael Green has hit the nail on the head.  This essay says it all.  It remains to be seen if the majority of American voters will turn to sanity (don't hold  your breath).  But, even if they do, where can a candidate be found who would truly represent their interests?  Certainly not anywhere in either of the major parties that are both ruled/owned by the oligarchic string-pullers.  Read this entire essay to hear unfiltered truth about what has happened in America -- and  how we have been brought to the sad state we are in today.  A wake up call is being heard by some, but most probably for the wrong reasons.

EXCERPT:

Well folks, there's good news, and there's bad news in America today.

The good news is that people seem to be waking up just a bit to what's being done to them.

The bad news is that it really is just a bit that they're waking up.

The good news is that the Republican Party is showing some serious signs of preparing for self-immolation.

The bad news is that that leaves us with Barack Obama and the other Republican Party as an 'alternative'.

Such is the state of America at the end of empire....

Even the magic of religion is not enough to turn lead into gold, try as one desperately might. If you insist on spending even more for 'defense' than we already do, and if you insist on cutting tax revenues even more than we already have, and if you agree that defaulting on the interest owed from previous borrowing would be a very bad idea, you then come up headlong against a very stiff and well constructed wall otherwise known as basic math. Even by slashing social spending mercilessly, you still cannot remotely balance the budget given the above sacred cow assumptions as your starting point. Indeed, since the Ryan plan calls for slashing taxes even more than they already have been these last thirty years, what Republicans never tell you is that - according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office analysis - it will actually produce the precise opposite effect to that which is being claimed in order to sell it. It will actually increase debt, not lower it. That's right. When all is said and done, and the smoke clears, seniors will be far sicker and far deader, in exchange for which the national debt will have only grown fatter. Such a deal.

But the thing for the GOP today is that they have become so rabid that they cannot divorce themselves from their own litmus tests and fairytales, and they are now eating themselves up from within, like the rapacious cancer they in fact truly are. What can you possibly say, this side of Lewis Carroll or Salvador Dali, about a party in which the likes of Newt Gingrich is drummed out for being insufficiently regressive, and just plain lacking in an adequate degree of meanness?

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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Polls show most Americans are not opposed to gay marriage

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/28/gay-relationship-marriage-debate-us_n_868515.html

I think the rise in the poll numbers on this issue, since 1996, when just 27% of Americans approved of gay marriage, is due to education through TV shows, movies, documentaries, news and medical  reports, and online news. Most people have open minds and are willing to change their opinions once facts are made clear to them.  Facts are that homosexuality is not a choice -- sexual orientation is already determined at birth.  The medical field has come to understand this, and have put forth this information to the public in every way possible.  It's also helped that prominent/famous people have openly gay children (i.e., Dick Cheney, Dick Gephardt, Cher, etc.)

Of course, there will always be the fanatical haters who call themselves "Christians" but follow none of the teachings of Christ.  And there will always be ignorance among those who refuse to become educated to facts.  And once in a while, there will be a change of tune, if not of heart, when a rabid judge of others discovers his own child is gay -- oops. (i.e.,
conservative Illinois Republican Alan Keyes once described Mary Cheney as "a selfish hedonist" on a radio talk show.  Keyes no doubt regretted his words when, in running for a Senate seat in 2004, he found out he had a lesbian daughter situation of his own. The internet and even some traditional news outlets buzzed for days with the assertion that Keyes's 19-year-old daughter Maya is a lesbian, based on a blog she published for three years on the web detailing her relationship with another young woman. Neither Keyes nor his daughter refuted the reports.)  I like to think of this as God's own way of educating a particularly hard-headed Tea Party type. (~.~) By the way, Keyes did not win the Senate seat in that election--he was trounced by a guy named Barack Obama, who garnered 70% of the vote. Keyes, in his usual "Christian" way, turned his daughter out of her apartment in 2005, leaving her essentially homeless. She has since become an activist, and reportedly believes access to health care, education, housing, food and jobs should be considered human rights.  Alan Keyes quit the Republican Party in 2008 and joined the ultra-ultra-conservative Constitution Party (very similar to the Tea Party).

 

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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Please Sign for Elizabeth Warren's appointment to go through!

Republicans want to weaken the Consumer Protection Bureau!!! Their corporate/Wall Street masters do not want Elizabeth Warren, a proven and outspoken champion of the people's right to be protected from cheats and fraud, to be appointed as head of that Bureau. Please click on the credoaction.com link below and sign the petition to President Obama supporting a recess appointment of Elizabeth Warren to the post.

Subject: Stand up for Elizabeth Warren.

Dear Friend,

Earlier this month, 44 Republican Senators pledged to filibuster the nomination of anyone to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless the agency itself is significantly weakened.

This threat makes it much more likely that President Obama will have to use his constitutional authority to make a recess appointment to fill the top slot at the agency.

A number of great progressive groups and leading academics have signed a letter to President Obama supporting a recess appointment. And now I've signed it too.

I hope you join me in co-signing the letter. You can read it and add your name to it at the link below.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/franken_warren/?r_by=21640-1322170-X7tqNTx&rc=paste1


BUT LOOK WHAT THE REPUBLICANS (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels!) ARE PLANNING  (How can anyone with a conscience or a brain still be a Republican these days?  They continually vote against their own interests!)

Republicans Block Elizabeth Warren Recess Appointment
Ian Millhiser, ThinkProgress
Excerpt: "Senate Republicans will prevent the Senate from recessing next week in order to halt President Obama's ability to make temporary recess appointments: ... including Elizabeth Warren, Obama's pick to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

READ MORE

 

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Friday, May 27, 2011

Lawrence O'Donnell: An MSNBC cable newsman with substance

By Brent Budowsky

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/brent-budowsky/36438/msnbcs-lawrence-odonnell-a-cable-star-with-substance

I agree with the author:  O'Donnell is a rational journalist who, unlike many others on FOX and on other channels, only presents facts that can be backed up with absolute proof. His is the one news program I trust fully for its integrity.

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Video tour of Sarah Palin's new Arizona home

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/27/sarah-palins-new-home-may_n_867861.html

Take the tour and see what you think. Not what you'd call a cozy little place. Cold, concrete, ugly (in my humble opinion) but huge -- a fitting place for Sarah and her tribe.  Only cost a million and a quarter -- pocket change for Sarah since she became the darling of the Tea Party and FOX Noise (thanks for nothing, John McCain!). Her every word is music to the right-wing ears.  And she is going to run for President (as an Arizonan? An Alaskan? Stay tuned.)  I think her daughter Bristol moved to Arizona to get away from the whole Sarah scene -- no such luck, Bristol.  You can run--but you can't hide--f
rom Devil Mom.
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Thursday, May 26, 2011

GOP is attacking American Consumers - IMPORTANT TO READ

There is no mystery as to what the Republican Party is all about -- they serve their masters on Wall Street.  And we, the people are the losers.  We have lost our democratic republic, which has been replaced by an oligarchy, whose self-enriched royal members are answerable to no one but themselves.  When a true champion of democracy like Elizabeth Warren stands up to them and tries to preserve the few rights we have left, she is attacked by bought-and-paid-for congressional GOP goons like McHenry of South Carolina.  Those who support the Republican Party (whether they be the dastardly disciples of Wall Street or just everyday folks who are ignorant of the real agenda going on) are hastening the death of our country and the principles on which it was founded.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/rj-eskow/36412/rep-patrick-mchenrys-wall-street-goon-squad-targets-elizabeth-warren-and-americas-consumers

WALL STREET GOON SQUAD ATTACKS ELIZABETH WARREN -- AND AMERICAN CONSUMERS
By RJ Eskow

EXCERPT:  
The savage attack by Republican Patrick McHenry on Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was an obscenity by any definition except the FCC's, an assault on human decency which proves once again that Wall Street's Capitol Hill goon squad is prepared to discard decency at a moment's notice to serve its masters.  McHenry, like other Republicans before him, is just the latest symbol of a party that's stopped pretending that its actions are motivated by anything except a desire to serve Wall Street and other large corporate interests.

It was ironic that McHenry chose to attack Warren's integrity by claiming she was lying, of all things, since the attack on the CFPB has been nothing but a series of lies. McHenry's statement today promoted the GOP's biggest Big Lie, that the CFPB has unrestrained and excessive executive power. Actually the opposite is true: GOP cynics and complicit Wall Street Democrats worked to weaken the agency so much that it now has the bare minimum authority it needs to function, and it should be strengthened in years to come.

It's important to remember what Elizabeth Warren has done that's frightened the banks so much. So far she's merely tried to offer suggestions on how to rectify widespread bank criminality in the forging of documents and other illegal foreclosure actions. She's begun building a consumer-friendly organization. And she's tried to design a simpler mortgage loan application, so that borrowers actually understand the contract they're signing. Amusingly, banks have suggested a readable mortgage contract would "stifle innovation" -- which is true only when the word "innovation" is used as it often is in financial circles: as a synonym for "deception" or "predation."

Warren tells the truth, talks straight, and fights for the middle class, and that makes her dangerous to the people who call the shots for "leaders" like Patrick McHenry and Spencer Bachus. Those "leaders" are serving the interests of Wall Street firms who fear Warren and the CFPB because they'll interfere with some of their core business practices: Mortgage documents that are unreadable and contain secret traps for unwary consumers; credit card ripoffs and deceptions; and dishonest underwriting practices that threaten borrowers, investors, and the entire economy.

For America's top banks, deception and trickery are part of the business model. That's why the CFPB and Elizabeth Warren are a threat.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Sarah Palin: The Movie It's a-comin'!!!

She's a'comin; round the mountain...and she's moving to Arizona (Lucky Alaskans -- poor Arizonans).  Time for the Tea Party to get REAL EXCITED!  Their dream candidate is cookin' up a new recipe for 2012 in the GOP Bake-Off (so many entries, but nothing edible). 

From realclearpolitics and crooksandliars:


You knew it was coming, and just in time to revive some wingnuts' hopes of a Palin presidential bid. Oh, and the title is just...Palinesque. "The Undefeated" is a 2-hour "epic film" about...Sarah Palin. Move over to make room for her ego, please. It is produced by Steve Bannon, a former Goldman-Sachs executive turned conservative filmaker. Other titles he's produced include Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration, Fire from the Heartland, and Battle for America with Dick Morris, under the Citizens United Productions banner.

Via Real Clear Politics:

The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska's most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin's prospective presidential campaign -- an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won't run.
RealClearPolitics was recently given an exclusive screening of a rough cut of the now finished film, which Bannon designed, in part, to help catapult Palin from the presidential afterthought she has become in the eyes of many pundits directly to the front lines of the 2012 GOP conversation.

Palin initially learned about Bannon's work after she saw one of his previous films about the origins of the tea party movement, "Generation Zero," which premiered last year in Nashville and was later aired in prime time on the Fox News Channel. Impressed, Palin promoted "Generation Zero" via Twitter before later reaching out to Bannon about creating something to highlight her record in Alaska, where her performance in office was overshadowed by her resignation eight months after the 2008 presidential election.

We can only hope it does as well as Atlas Shrugged did at the box office.

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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

FOX News is bad for journalism, America, and the GOP

http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/72-72/6036-fox-bad-for-journalism-america-and-the-gop

An excellent article by Mark Howard. By their behavior, the Tea Party types of right wingers prove they have no ability to discriminate real news from faux news. They swallow whole whatever Fox Noise tells them. Although the white supremacists among them are proud of their racist beliefs, many other Tea Partiers don't seem to recognize their own racial prejudice against Obama, and try to justify their hatred of him and all things "liberal" by listening to the Fox ideologues spouting fanatical/fantastical lies -- and proclaiming it to be "truth."  They send out e-mails filled with neocon "truthiness" (I love Stephen Colbert's euphemism for "lies") that are often tinged (or liberally (oops-pardon the word) splashed) with racist remarks. Yet they protest loudly and deny it vehemently if their prejudicial proclivities are pointed out to them.  Their leaders, such as Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and the like, are the blind leading the blind.  Bill O'Reilly's quote in the Excerpt below is a laugh-out-loud example of right-wing blindness.

“If crazy ideologues have infiltrated the news business, we need to know about it.” ~ Bill O’Reilly, 7/16/09  (an incurable case of inability to recognize oneself in the mirror)

Well said. The Fox News audience is being dumbed down by a parade of paranoid know-nothings. This strategy appears to be successful for Fox in that it has attracted a loyal viewership that is eager to have their twisted preconceptions affirmed. The conflict-infused fare in which Fox specializes has been a ratings juggernaut – just like any good fiction. However, this perceived popularity is having an inordinate impact on the GOP platform. By doubling down on crazy, Fox is driving the center of the Republican Party further down the rabid hole. They are reshaping the party into a more radicalized community of conspiracy nuts. So even as this helps Rupert Murdoch’s bottom line, it is making celebrities of political bottom-feeders.

That can’t be good for the long-term prospects of the Republican Party. Most Americans do not believe that we are on a march toward socialism, led by a Muslim alien, and bankrolled by a Jewish Nazi sympathizer. The truth is that most Americans think that the loopy yarns spun by Fox News are fables told by madmen – and believed by even madder men and women who wallow in their doomsday utopia.

Consequently, the Party of Fox News has materially damaged their political allies in the GOP. Many of the recent candidates endorsed by Fox were embarrassing losers. There was Christine O’Donnell (DE), Joe Miller (AK), Ken Buck (CO), Linda McMahon (CT), Carly Fiorina (CA), Sharron Angle (NV), and Carl Paladino (NY). In every one of those cases the Tea Party candidate ousted the more establishment Republican, and then went on to defeat. And that was during a Republican wave election cycle.

This is a textbook example of how the extreme rises to the top. It is also fundamentally contrary to the interests of the Republican Party. The more the population at large associates Republican ideology with the agenda of Fox News, and the fringe operators residing there, the more the party will be perceived as out of touch, or even out of their minds.
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Some revealing facts about the American Cancer Society

Before you donate any more money to the American Cancer Society, you might want to read this:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/24/american-cancer-society--more-interested-in-wealth-than-health.aspx

EXCERPT:
In the report titled AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY—More Interested In Accumulating Wealth Than Saving Lives, Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, plainly lays bare the many conflicts of interest that hamper the effectiveness of this organization.

For example, the ACS has close financial ties to both makers of mammography equipment and cancer drugs. But that's just for starters. Other conflicts of interest include ties to, and financial support from, the pesticide-, petrochemical-, biotech-, cosmetics-, and junk food industries—the very industries whose products are the primary contributors to cancer!

Once you realize that these conflicts of interest are there, it becomes quite easy to understand why the ACS never addresses the environmental components of cancer, and why information about avoidable toxic exposures are so conspicuously absent from their National Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns.


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Monday, May 23, 2011

Rapture did happen -- partially

Republican Candidates Vanish From Earth

Gingrich Left Behind


NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) – In what some fundamentalist preachers are calling a “partial Rapture,” all credible candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination have mysteriously vanished from Earth.

While this seemingly Biblical phenomenon has been developing over the past several months, the disappearance of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels over the weekend confirmed what many apocalyptic prophets had been predicting: a partial Rapture was underway.


For Rev. Harold Camping, the minister who made headlines by predicting that the entire world would end on May 21, the partial Rapture offered some measure of vindication, he said.


“The world really did end, Republican-wise, when Daniels dropped out of the race of May 22,” he said.  “So I was only off by one day.”


According to Camping’s prophecy, Republicans with a shot of winning the White House have completely vanished from the face of the Earth while a series of surefire losers have been “left behind,” including Herman Cain, the former chairman of the Godfather’s Pizza chain, who announced his candidacy – significantly, Camping notes – “on May 21.”


As for the Biblical prophecy that those left behind after the Rapture faced “five months of Hell on Earth," Camping said, “That’s a pretty clear reference to what Newt Gingrich has in store.”

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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Want to know the real truth about the JFK Assassination? It's all on youtube!

Go into this site and then search other links offered:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j5xgNH-P6M&NR=1   There are many video links to follow, many of them short but full of information -- you will find truth about the assassinations of JFK and RFK, too.  The same CIA operatives were involved in both.  And we're not talking about theories -- no, these are cold hard facts revealed by the people involved and those around them at the time.  Want to know who ordered and planned the kills? Ever wondered why Jack Ruby killed Oswald? All answers can be found online.

Very revealing videos and audios of LBJ, E. Howard Hunt, LBJ's mistress, J Edgar Hoover and LBJ -- a photo of Bobby Kennedy hitting a post beside which LBJ is standing (Bobby looking enraged, saying, "Why did you have my brother killed?")  All evidence points to LBJ -- and the 80-minute interview with LBJ's mistress of more than 20 years is revelatory.  Also video interviews of Marina Oswald, June Oswald (Lee's daughter, as a beautiful adult woman), Rachel Oswald (Lee's youngest daughter), and an interview of E. Howard Hunt's son with George Noory -- A real boatload of fascinating videos, giving the true story of the "big event" (code name for the assassination, as revealed by E. Howard Hunt just before he died).  Hunt's full confession/report to his son is contained in the videos, and a full story was written about it in Rolling Stone in 2005 (when he revealed the info). You can read it at: http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/jfk_hunt_last_confessions_rolling_stone.htm

To read the complete story of WHY, you will definitely want to read the book JFK and the UNSPEAKABLE: Why He Died and Why It Matters.  Many questions can be cleared up by the interviews with those involved in the plot and with those innocent people who were caught up in the intrigue accidentally or purposefully -- and then had to be gotten rid of.  It's a tangled web of power lust, dastardly deceit, assassination, coverups, and chains of murders.  A deadly Shakespearean drama in our own time. 

Oh so MANY coverups! -- but you can't keep the truth hidden forever.  Same thing with our government today...so many things are not being revealed to us, but eventually the truth will come out. 

I send this e-mail in hopes we all can become as informed as possible about what we are really dealing with in our country.  Rather than always swallowing what the authorities/officials tell us, it's imperative to question--and do research that can lead us to truth.  Statistics show that 80% of the American people don't believe Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman in the JFK assassination.  They are right -- and the truth is now available, being told by those who were involved and want to get it off their chests before dying.  I believe it's better to know the truth, no matter how difficult it is to accept it, than to hide one's head in the sand.  The people deserve to know the truth about many historical events that we have been lied to about.  Let's start with at least knowing the truth about JFK -- and RFK -- and MLK and their murders by our own government.
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Good article on Roger Ailes and FOX "News"

From NEW YORK magazine, and a "must-read" if you want to know the power of Ailes (real leader of the Republican Party) and the inner workings at FOX. Very interesting:

http://nymag.com/news/media/roger-ailes-fox-news-2011-5/

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Saturday, May 21, 2011

How things REALLY work in the right wing: the Schwarzenegger story

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/21/schwarzenegger.times.story/index.html?hpt=C1

Right wingers love to bash the "liberal" press -- and they won't believe their right wing heroes have feet of clay.  Even when the stories are proven to be true, they will live in denial, rather than believe them. They lash out at the reporters, and, like lemmings, the "true believers" follow the course dictated to them on FOX News.  In this case, it was to support Arnold the Beast for California's governor, in the face of 16 women who came out telling how he had groped/sexually assaulted them. His wife Maria, who married a well-known snake but did not expect to get bitten (foolish woman!) supported the Beast by lying for him. Now she has been bitten, Big Time.

I did not then and would not ever vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the naive right wingers, with their heads in the sand, pushed the Grope-a-nator into the position of governor, which we all had to endure because of their stupidity/ignorance.  The same thing was true of Dubya Bush's supporters, who would rather believe lies concocted by the right wing machinery than delve into finding the truth themselves (i.e., pointing lying fingers at Kerry, a man who served honorably in military service, while trying to hide the proof about Bush's going AWOL from his military duty).  This kind of deception comes so easily to the GOP, they have become masters of it -- while their lemming followers hang on every lie, believing it to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  I mean, why investigate to see if it's true? If Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly say it, it MUST be true!  (Oh, Puhleeze! Give me a break!)



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Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice


You won't see this in the major media.  When a cancer cure can't make money for Big Pharma, it is always ignored and/or swept under the carpet. Worse yet, those doctors and scientists who can help people recover from cancer are usually ridiculed and called "quacks" -- their offices are raided by the FDA, they are sometimes even jailed and, in many cases, are driven out of medicine.  I hope people are catching on to what is happening in our medical field, which is ruled by the AMA and Big Pharma, just as Big Oil rules the energy field.  One reader of the following report offered some good advice: Read Ty Bollinger's book "Cancer - Think Outside the Box". Very well researched, easy to read and FULL of Cancer cures. We just have to be brave and know that that toxic medicines being forced on us as cures aren't our answer. Here is Ty's link [Link]

Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice

EXCERPT: Canadian researchers find a simple cure for cancer, but major pharmaceutical companies are not interested.

Researchers at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada have cured cancer last week, yet there is a little ripple in the news or in TV. It is a simple technique using very basic drug. The method employs dichloroacetate, which is currently used to treat metabolic disorders. So, there is no concern of side effects or about their long term effects.


This drug doesn't require a patent, so anyone can employ it widely and cheaply compared to the costly cancer drugs produced by major pharmaceutical companies.
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Friday, May 20, 2011

An OH, YES! Quote


"As scarce as truth is, the supply has always exceeded the demand."

--Josh Billings, humorist

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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Great documentary on Netflix

Under Our Skin is an enlightening documentary re. Lyme disease -- If you missed it in the movie theater, it's a 5 star documentary, well worth watching.  Is now in Netflix Instant Play.  Here's a review of it:
Informative documentary about a highly controversial subject: the chronic effects of Lyme disease if not promptly diagnosed and properly treated. While the mainstream medical community now recognizes Lyme disease as a bacterial infection usually transmitted by ticks found in wooded areas of the East and West coasts, usually amenable to treatment with antibiotics if caught early, others studying the disease believe that the territorial scope and rate of infection and its long-term effects are much greater. This film takes the latter view and addresses the issue both from the perspective of patients struggling with debilitating symptoms (and their families) and from those medical experts struggling to help such patients despite the dearth of research and widely recognized treatments. Because chronic symptoms (including fatigue, muscle pain, swollent joints, and neurologic deficiencies) often mimic those of more widely known diseases, patients often see multiple doctors, receive other diagnoses and misinformation, and treatment/non-treatment that fails to improve their symptoms. Recommended for anyone interested in learning more about this issue or interested in medical issues generally.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Interview with Nuclear Engineer re. Fukushima

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vivian-norris-de-montaigu/interview-with-akira-toku_b_863297.html

EXCERPT:
...a strong dose of a deep understanding of the Japanese culture. "There is a cultural element in this. The Japanese do not want to be embarrassed. ... TEPCO is a large entity which only has to answer to the Prime Minister.  The mass media in Japan is only given the information TEPCO and the government want to give them. Labor practices in Japan are quite brutal and when you get to the bottom of the labor force, those at the top of society do not really care about them."

The numbers are disturbingly higher than we have been led to believe, the number of homes in the villages which are contaminated, the rice paddies, the fact that the "official" six to nine month cleanup is virtually impossible, no matter how much they do accomplish... all of this is what is being kept off the front pages of the mass media.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Documentary "I Am" -- my review


I saw the documentary I Am last night at a local theater. (A trailer of it can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYtfnONazTU)   I highly recommend it.

In it, the writer/director asked 2 questions in interviews
with journalists/teachers/philosophers/quantum physicists/scientists/leaders: What Is Wrong with Our World? and What Can We Do About It?  It became apparent very quickly that what is wrong is the unawareness and unconsciousness of so many.  Ignorance of our own nature has caused humanity to go in the wrong direction.  Many points were made about the innate goodness and empathy of human beings.  The writer was saying, "We are not hardwired to be confrontational and violent/warlike. We are actually hardwired to be compassionate, empathetic, and loving."  By showing videos of people getting hurt and experiencing joyful moments, which would make anyone gasp in empathy and feel it themselves, he said that our own reactions prove our natural, innate tendency to love and empathy. 

The "I Am" referred to in the movie's title is the answer to the question: "Who is responsible for the way things are?" (I Am!)  The presentation of many proven scientific facts that most people are unaware of was eye-opening, and I was very touched by the statements made in the interviews with people who have discovered the secret of happiness/love/oneness.  Making this information available to the public at large is an important step in helping people to understand our own real nature. The truth was given over and over that we are all One -- and, from the deep understanding of our Oneness, the needs of all are connected.  It is hoped that in that realization of Oneness, hearts will open and those who have so much will recognize the need to give up their desire to acquire unnecessary material possessions above and beyond their real needs (i.e., do you really need 7 homes and 6 yachts? I'm sorry to say, though, as things stand now, do you see that happening any time soon?).  It also offered a variation on the Hundredth Monkey theme, showing how a herd of red deer make a decision to go to a watering hole, without any apparent outward interaction--proving there is only this One Mind at work in all of nature--including us. Quantum physicists told how what we perceive as
"the solid, real world" is an illusion, much as our last night's dream produced a world and all its characters. Yet, when we wake up, where is that world and all its characters and all its problems? And where did it come fromFrom our own consciousness, which produced it and called it "real" and "solid."  In their research, these scientists have discovered the Oneness of all being -- and how each action of each one of us affects the entire whole.  In each moment, our consciousness is literally creating the world as it appears to us. 

HeartMath scientists (HeartMath is located right here in Boulder Creek, near my home) told how the physical heart propels action of all kinds (love, fear, flight, etc.) before the signals even reach the brain.  They say we actually live by the heart, not the mind.  This is fascinating scientifically factual information. See: http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/nov1/hmath.htm  (I've included a copy of the site's important message at the end of this e-mail, but here's a short excerpt:   For centuries poets and philosophers have sensed that the heart is the very center of our lives. Throughout the ages, the heart has been referred to as a source not only of virtue but also of intelligence. Even today we use phrases like, ''I know in my heart it's true,'' indicating that we know the heart is more than merely a pump. Even our gestures indicate the importance of the heart. When people point to themselves they generally point to the area of the heart.  Looking at the heart biologically, it's an amazing phenomenon. It can beat on its own without any connection to the brain, and beats 100,00 times a day and approximately 40 million times a year. It starts to form in the fetus before there is a brain. Scientists still don't know exactly what triggers this self-initiated heartbeat.
)

In spite of all of the enlightening scientifically-proven information, so well presented by experts in the film, it seems apparent to me now that, because of ignorance in the many, the world will go on as it is -- possibly until a great catastrophe wipes out billions of us -- and the whole thing starts over.  Unless and until each one becomes conscious of the need to discover who he/she really is and hears the simple fact of their own nature and our real, actual Oneness, the same old patterns will continue to reappear, created by minds that are ignorant of this proven fundamental Truth.  Still, I think the movie has great value in helping to open willing minds to quantum truths.  The key word there is "willing."  I have a hard time thinking that those who go ballistic whenever raising taxes on the rich is even mentioned, can be reached with a movie like this.  I pictured some of the Wall Street tycoons and corporate execs watching the movie and could almost see the sneers that would appear on their faces if they were asked to help ease the burdens of the poor on the planet by sharing some of their own largesse.  It's unfortunate that the Tea Party types are not ready to learn of the Oneness of all creation.  It seems they would rather believe the fairy tale concocted by the wealthy, that wealth trickles down to the middle class and poor, even in the face of absolute evidence it does not.  Interviews and facts presented in the movie showed that acquiring tons of wealth and material possessions does not make one happy. Yet the bill of goods we have been sold says that's the way to perfect happiness and fulfillment. And so the rich keep acquiring more and more -- hoping to finally reach the happiness and satisfaction that continually eludes them.

The movie was a noble attempt at presenting spiritual/scientific Truth -- and it may have some temporary (hopefully, permanent) impact on the viewers. I suspect that those who most need to hear and see the message so wisely stated in the movie will never see the film--or even hear about it. It's hard to imagine Southern rednecks/white supremacists being drawn to it--or even knowing it exists. And the wealthy and their followers/believers, convinced they are on the right track in acquiring ever more material possessions, will close their ears and ridicule it.  Even church goers who can connect in heartfelt love at times may not agree with the premises/suggestions of the film maker.  As his own father (who created St. Jude's Children's Hospital along with Danny Thomas) pointed out to the movie's creator, he goes to a wonderful church where the multi-race, multi-culture people turn to each other on Sundays and, with broad smiles and generous hearts, give a hug of love and peace to each other. And then, after Mass is over, they go to their cars in the parking lot and back to their everyday lives, where they would NEVER give a hug like that--or even a hello--to each other on the street.  We can only hope that the Hundredth Monkey*/red deer herd principle that works so well in nature, will eventually reach a critical mass in humans, causing a quantum shift in consciousness, before the ignorance of the oligarchic corporatists/Cheneys/rednecks/racists/Tea Partiers/Al Qaedas/religious fanatics, and their believers and followers, brings more misery and eventual destruction to the entire world.

The writer/director of the documentary suffered a cataclysmic health event in his own life, which brought him to the realization that his multi-millions and innumerable material acquisitions (huge Hollywood and Florida palatial mansions, estates and furnishings) did not and could not bring him the happiness he craved.  That was when he started asking the questions that developed into the movie.  He sold all his material things and now lives simply, serving others, riding his bicycle instead of driving a car to work, and living in a mobile home.  He claims to be much happier--and he looks it.

This is a film I want to own -- and give as gifts.   Who knows what possibly small impact it can make in helping to raise consciousness and help people to understand who they really are?  As was pointed out in the film, even the flutter of a butterfly's wings in one part of the world affects the whole of creation.  And who knows when the Hundredth Monkey* will be reached?

*The Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon is today well enough known, and in short propounds the theory that when a 'critical mass' number of people adopt a new behavior, or way of thinking, it is spontaneously adopted by everyone.

Research scientists observed that, in 1952, on the Japanese island of Koshima, a young macaque monkey known as Imo learned that washing the sand and dirt off her sweet potatoes made them taste better. Other monkeys, including Imo's mother, began to follow suit, and over the next few years many more monkeys learned to wash their sweet potatoes as well.  By 1958, a sufficient number of monkeys – the 'critical mass' number – had all learned the trick, and as a result the monkeys on the other islands--even though they had not witnessed the behavior themselves--spontaneously began washing their sweet potatoes, too.

Whether or not 100 was the precise number of Koshima monkeys who learned to wash their sweet potatoes, is uncertain. And it probably doesn't matter. The point is that, metaphorically speaking, 100 monkeys came to represent the critical mass number required to trigger the phenomenon.

Translated into human terms, this theory states that when enough people free themselves from the shackles of mundane materialism and start to think in a more liberated, more enlightened way, a new aspect of consciousness will spontaneously awaken in the collective mind, bringing with it a new reality.



INFORMATION FROM THE HEARTMATH INSTITUTE

The heart. For centuries poets and philosophers have sensed that the heart is the very center of our lives. Throughout the ages, the heart has been referred to as a source not only of virtue but also of intelligence. Even today we use phrases like, ''I know in my heart it's true,'' indicating that we know the heart is more than merely a pump. Even our gestures indicate the importance of the heart. When people point to themselves they generally point to the area of the heart.

Looking at the heart biologically, it's an amazing phenomenon. It can beat on its own without any connection to the brain, and beats 100,00 times a day and approximately 40 million times a year. It starts to form in the fetus before there is a brain. Scientists still don't know exactly what triggers this self-initiated heartbeat.

The Intelligent Heart

Currently some of the most revolutionary research on the heart is coming out of the Institute of HeartMath (IHM) in Boulder Creek, California. In The HeartMath Solution (HarperSanFrancisco 1999), Institute of HeartMath founder Doc Childre and co-author Howard Martin take a provocative, in-depth look at the heart and it's alliance with the mind, body and spirit. They depict fascinating information on how every beat of our heart carries intricate messages that affect our emotions, our physical health, and the quality of life we experience.

In recent years, neuroscientist Dr. J. A. Armour made the exciting discovery that the heart has its own intrinsic brain and nervous system. This has helped to explain what physiologists at the Fels Research Institute found in the 1970s -- that the brain (in the head) was dutifully obeying messages being sent from ''the brain in the heart.'' Doc Childre and colleagues at the Institute of HeartMath take these discoveries even further. HeartMath researchers have established the heart's capacity to ''think for itself.'' Their aim was to determine how the heart formulates logic and influences behavior (for references, see HeartMath Bibliography.)

HeartMath researchers believe that the heart communicates with the brain and the rest of the body through four biological communication systems. Through these systems, the heart has a significant influence on the function of our brains and all our bodily systems. IHM's extensive research led to a number of published studies in medical journals such as The American Journal of Cardiology, Stress Medicine and Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science.

The Emotions and the Heart

IHM studies found a critical link between the heart and emotions. The studies explain how the heart responds to emotional and mental reactions. As we experience emotional reactions like anger, frustration, anxiety, and insecurity, heart rhythms become incoherent or more jagged, interfering with the communication between the heart and brain. Thus, negative emotions create a chain reaction in the body -- blood vessels constrict, blood pressure rises, and the immune system is weakened. This kind of a consistent imbalance can put a strain on the heart and other organs, and eventually lead to serious health problems.

When we experience heart-felt emotions like love, caring, appreciation, and compassion the heart produces coherent or smooth rhythms that enhance communication between the heart and brain. Positive heart qualities produce harmonious rhythms that are considered to be indicators of cardiovascular efficiency and nervous system balance. They've also been shown to produce beneficial effects that include enhanced immunity and hormonal balance.

The ability of the brain-in-the-head to process information and make clear decisions is affected by how we react emotionally to any given situation. According to Childre and Martin, as we learn to become more heart- intelligent and increase our emotional balance and heart/brain coherence, we may well be surprised by new and enhanced levels of mental clarity, productivity, physical energy, overall attitude, and quality of life.

Solutions at Work

Based on these findings Doc and his colleagues have developed The HeartMath Solution, a systematic approach to maintaining coherence and emotional balance and developing the heart's intelligence. This may sound as though it would be complicated, but the Institute of HeartMath has successfully created a very user-friendly approach that considers today's challenges and time restrictions.

''We recognize that one of the biggest stressors in people's lives today is the lack of time,'' Howard comments. ''We knew the Solutions would have to be so simple you could learn them during your commute to work, listening to a tape in the car. The Solutions would have to be easy to remember, and not interfere with people's lifestyles or schedules. I really feel we've done this.''

Numerous HeartMath case studies have illustrated the effectiveness of heart intelligence at work. One study with Motorola showed that tension, anxiety, nervousness, and physical stress symptoms significantly decreased. In this study, 25% of the participants began with high blood pressure. But after only six months of using HeartMath techniques their blood pressure had normalized, and no conventional medical interventions were used (see Motorola Study).

Another study, at Hewlett-Packard, said HeartMath techniques made an amazing difference to team morale. Before the program, 46% said they often felt exhausted. After the training, this figure fell to 9%. Organizations like Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Royal Dutch Shell (UK), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Cathay Pacific Airways (Hong Kong) are repeat clients, as well as many state and federal government agencies throughout North America. HeartMath Solutions are presented to more than 20,000 people a year (see Corporate Studies).

Based on HeartMath's breakthrough discoveries, we now know that the heart is the control tower of our body and connects us deeper with our life experience. The HeartMath Solutions reveal the vital importance of the heart's influence on our health, and offer user-friendly techniques for restoring balance in our lives during these rapidly changing times.

-- from the HeartMath Institute

Heart Centering Exercise

The HeartMath Solution describes in detail many exercises you can use to relieve stress and painful emotions. Here's a sample exercise adapted from the book. We've chosen it because if has value in boosting your immune system!

  1. Arrange not to be disturbed. Take a comfortable position, close your eyes, and relax.

  2. Start breathing in and out very slowly. As you do this, feel, imagine, or visualize that your breath is going directly through your heart. Do this for about 15 seconds.

  3. Think of someone whom it's very easy for you to love and cherish -- a friend? a child? Whomever you choose, make sure it's someone for whom you feel great love and appreciation. And start to focus on the love you have for them. Think of times when you looked at them. Picture them with love. Remember the sound of their voice, and your own voice speaking to them. Think of times when you held or were held. Think of touching them. Think of being touched by them. Keep thinking of all of the exchanges of love and appreciation with this person. Do this for as long as fifteen minutes, but at least for five minutes.

  4. If outside thoughts come into your mind, gently let them go and draw your attention back to breathing through your heart. Then go back to your love for this person.

  5. If outside emotions intrude, or you feel blocked in feeling the love, picture the heart softening. Tell yourself it's not important that everything go perfectly this time, it's okay just to be doing this. Breathe through your heart, and see, feel, or imagine your heart becoming soft. Ask yourself, ''What would it be like to be soft and yielding and totally relaxed.'' It's okay if it doesn't all happen perfectly today. You are just doing something good for yourself. It's okay.

  6. Now, go outside yourself, and see or imagine yourself sitting there, in your relaxed position, doing this exercise. And take this love that you have felt for the other person, and send it to yourself.

  7. Now send the love to others. First, send it to other people you find it easy to love. If you feel ready, you can try sending the love to others, even people it's difficult for you to love. If you can't feel the love, say to yourself, ''I want to be able to feel this love and send it to this person, and meanwhile I am willing that they will receive it from God and my higher self and the universe.'' Just be willing that they receive love.

  8. When you are ready, feel, picture, or imagine yourself completely wrapped up in a blanket of love, and open your eyes. Write down your experiences, intuitions, thoughts, or feelings of inner peace. Tell yourself that you are going to remember to act upon these feelings in your life.


For more exercises and scientific studies backing up the information in this article, please visit the HeartMath main website, and especially the HeartMath Research website.


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Monday, May 16, 2011

America is being held hostage by the oligarchy

Paul Krugman | America Held Hostage
 
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
EXCERPT: "This is a hostage situation. If the president and his allies operate on the principle that failure to raise the debt ceiling is an unthinkable outcome, to be avoided at all cost, then they have ceded all power to those willing to bring that outcome about. In effect, they will have ripped up the Constitution and given control over America's government to a party that only controls one house of Congress, but claims to be willing to bring down the economy unless it gets what it wants."
READ MORE

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Trump will be sorely missed -- by Comedians

May 16, 2011

Comedians Beg Trump to Reconsider

20,000 Jokers March on Trump Tower


NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) – Distraught at the news that Donald Trump will not seek the Republican nomination for President, the nation’s comedians took to the streets today, begging Mr. Trump to reconsider.

The largest gathering of comedians took place in Mr. Trump’s hometown of Manhattan, where an estimated crowd of 400,000 jokers marched on Trump Tower.


“I for one am devastated that Donald Trump has decided not to throw his hair in the ring,” said Jackie LaRossi, a comedian who is a regular at Manhattan’s Chuckle Barrel comedy club.


Shelley Schwartzenbaum, who headlines at the Komedy Kantina in Teaneck, New Jersey, added, “I guess he wanted to spend more time with the family of ferrets who nest on his head.”


A huge roar came up from the crowd when Mr. Trump made a brief appearance, reassuring the comedians that he would continue to be a laughingstock in the private sector.


But according to Mr. LaRossi, Mr. Trump’s departure from the race will have a severe economic impact on a comedy industry that is still reeling from last fall’s defeat of Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell.


“Sure, we’re happy that Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are in, but frankly, that’s not enough to compensate for Trump being out," he said.  “In the days and weeks ahead you’re going to see comedians putting more pressure on Palin to announce.”


In other political news, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the sexual misconduct charges against him would force him to drop out of the race for President of France and run for Prime Minister of Italy instead.
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The epitome of self-glorifying egomania

An even better description of Donald Trump could also be: Total Asshole  (but I don't use such language)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/donald-trump-not-running-president-2012_n_862514.html

Trump maintains (now that he's not running and can never prove his boast) that he would win the primary and the general election.  You might wonder how ANYone could have taken him seriously as a candidate for President.  But the Tea Party folks think he's just Great--and they'll continue to watch him on his egomaniacal TV show, which has been confirmed for next season.  And if that doesn't tell you about the Tea Party members and their level of consciousness enough to recognize them as people who should be in institutional confinement, well.....then, you must be one of them (god help you).  If Trump was your hero, you're gonna' love Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, and the rest of the pathetic field of GOP candidates.
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Friday, May 13, 2011

TEPCO Now Admits Nuclear Meltdown, but US media wants to keep it quiet


As usual, in a case where widespread public health may be at risk, our news media is downplaying the nuclear plant disaster, which FINALLY the Japanese are admitting is a complete nuclear Meltdown, the worst possible case -- as bad or worse than Chernobyl.  In order to keep "we, the sheeple" from being concerned, we have all been lied to.  This has been a disaster of MAJOR proportions -- much more than has been reported to us.  Radiation contamination of our food products (i.e., milk!) has taken place.  Because radiation is invisible, we are easily misled to think it hasn't been harmful to us.  It would be wise for everyone (especially in Hawaii and on the west coast where exposure has been the greatest) to take a tsp. of French green clay in a glass of water every day.  French green clay binds to radiation and pulls it out of the body.  You can get this clay in most health food stores--or you can order it online.  It is not expensive and is an important safeguard to your health and your children's health.

(NaturalNews) TEPCO has now publicly admitted it wasn't telling the truth about the severity of the damage to Fukushima reactor No. 1. We're now being told what we've suspected all along -- that nuclear fuel rods in that reactor are totally exposed and have suffered a nuclear meltdown, releasing vast amounts of radiation comparable to Chernobyl. As Bloomberg now reports, the water level in reactor No. 4 is one meter below the fuel assembly itself. This means, of course, that the water isn't high enough to cover the fuel rods, which is why those fuel rods have suffered a nuclear meltdown. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...)

The Associated Press is also reporting that "other fuel has slumped to the bottom of the pressure vessel and is thought to be covered in water." This statement is astonishing all by itself because it means the fuel rods were in a total meltdown hot enough to cause their metal containment cylinders to "slump" and melt their way down to the lower levels of the coolant pools. Notably, AP carefully avoids using the term "melt" and instead says the fuel rods "slumped." This is all part of the AP's determined downplaying of the Fukushima

Not surprisingly, as AP now reports, "The findings also indicate a greater-than-expected leak in that vessel." But the laws of nuclear physics don't care what you "expect," you see. They don't care about media spin or power company B.S. The laws of physics simply follow their natural course, regardless of what you hope they do.

And in the case of Fukushima, the laws of physics led directly to a core fuel meltdown that now even the mainstream media cannot deny (although they still aren't calling it a "nuclear meltdown"). As AP reports:

Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency officials said the new data indicates that it is likely that partially melted fuel had fallen to the bottom of the pressurized vessel that holds the reactor core together and possibly leached down into the drywell soon after the March 11 quake and tsunami that struck Japan's northeastern coast.


Undeniable meltdown

What AP is describing, of course, is a nuclear meltdown. It doesn't get any more obvious than this: The fuel reached melting temperature and melted down. Along with this, there would have had to be a massive release of radiation into the containment vessel, which just happens to have numerous holes in it that allow highly radioactive water to leak directly into the environment. No wonder TEPCO discovered its radiation detectors had all maxed out there and become non-functional. No wonder TEPCO had to selectively stop reporting radiation releases -- it was in the middle of a Chernobyl-like core fuel meltdown!

The Telegraph in the UK is refreshingly printing the truth on this story: "One of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant did suffer a nuclear meltdown, Japanese officials admitted for the first time today, describing a pool of molten fuel at the bottom of the reactor's containment vessel." (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...)

But the mainstream media in the U.S. has obviously been instructed by the White House to avoid using the term "nuclear meltdown" in describing what happened at Fukushima. There is a rather blatant downplaying of the facts going on behind the scenes at the media giants.

Some of this spin can only be called blatant lies, by the way. In the same story linked above, AP claims "Unit 4 contained no fuel rods at the time of the earthquake..."

Huh? No fuel rods in reactor No. 4? This what on Earth is this video showing? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKHW...

I love how the media admits it has been misreporting the truth of the situation all along, and then it comes up with new fairytale spin stories in practically the same sentence. They might as well just report, "There was no nuclear fuel in Fukushima at the time of the tsunami, and that's why governments have stopped monitoring radiation levels."


TEPCO once again meets Murphy's Law

In any case, this sudden revelation that reactor No. 4 has already experienced a nuclear fuel meltdown is, not surprisingly, causing considerable setbacks to TEPCO's plan to have the whole facility deactivated by Christmas. Just as NaturalNews publicly predicted, the Christmas shutdown plan was little more than a combination of fantasyland thinking and industry spin.

"What this means is this is probably going to be a much more difficult cleanup than they originally planned for," said particle physicist Paul Padley in a Bloomberg story (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...). The government and Tepco "have consistently appeared to be underestimating the severity of the situation."

And that's the story of modern science: Arrogant in its confidence over the laws of nature, yet utterly dishonest in reporting the truth when its Tower of Babel crumbles to the ground. No wonder the reputation of the conventional scientific community continues to plummet as people realize just how dangerous these people really are. Read my related story on this to learn the truth of how modern conventional science is based on a mindless, soulless, false belief that human beings have no free will or consciousness. And therefore, human beings are all expendable in science's big experiments: Nuclear power, GMOs, vaccines and much more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032372_s...
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Tokyo Electric Power Co. reports: nuclear plant is in meltdown


Not good news from Japan on Friday, the 13th.  More about this at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8509502/Nuclear-meltdown-at-Fukushima-plant.html

No.1 reactor is in a "meltdown" state

Tokyo Electric Power Company says the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is believed to be in a state of "meltdown".

The utility company said on Thursday that most of the fuel rods are likely to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the reactor. Earlier in the day, it found that the coolant water in the reactor is at a level which would completely expose nuclear fuel rods if they were in their normal position.


The company believes the melted fuel has cooled down, judging from the reactor's surface temperature.
  But it suspects the meltdown created a hole or holes in the bottom of the reactor causing water to leak into the containment vessel.  It also suspects the water is leaking into the reactor building.

The company is planning to fully fill the containment vessel with water by increasing the amount injected.
  The company says, however, it must review the plan in light of the latest finding.


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Thursday, May 12, 2011

Rand Paul (Idiot): "Right to Health Care is Slavery"

An Idiot Speaks Absolute Nonsense

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/11/kentucky-senator-rand-paul-right-to-health-care-is-slavery/   by Eric W. Dolan

How did this fool ever get elected?  Do Kentucky voters have any brains? I wonder how Kentuckians are liking his assessment of the right to health care for themselves, now that they have put this moron in office?

One Reader's Comment, with whom I am in Complete Agreement:
I am so sick of these Libertarian,T/Bagging, Koch Brothers Tools constantly attacking and belittling our entire Government when it's these very Right Wing Corporate criminals and their Republican Pimps that have bought, sold, usurped, ruined and destroyed everything that they touch!

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Gingrich running for President --let the fun begin

Did you ever feel you were caught in one of those Grade-Z movies?  That's how this world is beginning to feel to me. Just look at the field of candidates the GOP is coming up with this time around...not a one with enough brains to run for dog catcher, let alone President.  And yet, the Tea Party types believe these people are qualified...probably thinking: "They're just like me!"  (And That is the Problem!)

WELCOME TO THE FREAK SHOW
By Matt Taibi

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/newt-gingrich-running-for-president-welcome-to-the-freak-show-20110511

EXCERPT:
Purely from a political-theater standpoint, Gingrich brings several really outstanding qualities to this race. For one thing, he’s a legit threat to win the nomination. He wouldn’t be in any normal year, but when the field is Donald Trump, Michelle Bachman and Rick Santorum, anyone who can successfully lick a postage stamp without an instruction booklet is going to be a contender.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Political disaster in Florida

And Floridians like to ridicule California!  They should look to their own state for the shabbiest of politics.  The Tea Party mentality is the lowest of the low, so typical of Republican thinking these days...  EXCERPT from article:  They despise government so they take as many steps as they possibly can to kill it, while abusing government power to discriminate against women, minorities, the poor, and children. With Rick Scott at the helm, Florida is managing to destroy itself, one teabag at a time.

FLORIDA: A TEA PARTY TRAIN WRECK
By Karoli

The end of the current Florida legislative session should leave most Floridians heaving a sigh of relief that they won't be around to do more damage in the days to come. One Democratic legislator's description of it as a "tea party train wreck" is more apt than he would have liked, given that 15 states and Amtrak are the happy recipients of $2 billion in federal funds that Florida could have had for high speed rail, had Governor Rick Scott not refused them.

Instead, in the high tradition of the 2010 GOP, Republican supermajorities in Florida passed laws banning abortion coverage in private health insurance plans, baggy pants, bath salts, bestiality, and firearm regulation by local governments. They also tried to pass a measure requiring the Division of Recreation and Parks to hire Jack Nicklaus Design to build golf courses in every state park in Florida and create the Jack Nicklaus Golf Trail. Fortunately, that one failed, but the voter suppression bill passed, ensuring that working voters, students and those voters most likely to vote Democrat won't have as much of an opportunity to do so. The Reid Report has the full list.

Despite end-of-session wrangling over an Arizona-style illegal immigration measure (opposed by corporate interests), and internecine fighting over who owns the power base and how much should be done behind the scenes, Scott and his merry band of Republicans still did plenty of damage. They cut school funding by $542 per student, changed how teachers are compensated, and yet still managed to create a statewide boarding school to be run by a private non-profit for at-risk students.

Oh, and how could I forget this bill to deregulate the interior design industry?

A House-backed bill (HB 5005) to deregulate several professions, including interior designers, was overwhelmingly rejected by the Senate late Friday night in a dramatic 6-32 vote, reports the News Service of Florida. Senators complained that the bill had not been properly vetted and harmed too many professions. Interior designers showed up in droves when the bill was considered by budget committees earlier in the session, with hours of tearful testimony about the harm deregulation would cause their industry.

The infighting stopped Governor Scott's efforts to expand the state Supreme Court so he could pack it, however. I'm sure it will come back in the next session, especially now that Florida allows for unlimited contributions to state lawmakers with absolutely no accountability or disclosure.

Amid surveys of the carnage, one state Senator admits that after that flurry of activity, they not only didn't create any jobs, they probably killed some, too.

Of course, it was never, ever about jobs. This is Republican shangri-la. They despise government so they take as many steps as they possibly can to kill it, while abusing government power to discriminate against women, minorities, the poor, and children. With Rick Scott at the helm, Florida is managing to destroy itself, one teabag at a time.

Progress Florida:

"If making it harder to vote, gutting public schools, salary cuts for first responders and paving paradise were what Floridians wanted, Gov. Scott and this legislature deserve a standing ovation."


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Monday, May 09, 2011

The Protection of bin Laden throughout the Bush Years

The author, a man who sees clearly, makes some excellent points here.  I have often wondered about Bush's lack of interest in really pursuing bin Laden, starting with allowing all the bin Laden relatives who lived in the U.S. to leave after 9/11, without being interrogated, and even providing them with planes to take them back to the middle East.  This article should be read by those who still support Bush/Cheney and who are even trying to give credit to that nefarious duo for the killing of bin Laden.  Their hatred of Obama is such that they cannot even bring themselves to give him a word of praise for his competence in accomplishing what Bush/Cheney were unwilling/unable to do.  The article points out it was to Bush's advantage to have bin Laden on the loose as the bogey man Bush and Cheney could point to for fear purposes in controlling those Americans who could be easily duped.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-parry/36051/the-curious-bush-bin-laden-symbiosis

The Curious Bush/Bin Laden Symbiosis
By Robert Parry

EXCERPT:
While criticism has fallen on Pakistani authorities for being either complicit or incompetent, almost no attention has focused on the curious symbiotic relationship that has existed since 9/11 between Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush – and even longer between the bin Laden family and the Bush family.

At nearly every turn, President George W. Bush acted – presumably with incompetence, not complicity – in ways that enabled bin Laden to remain free, and the terrorist leader repaid the favor by surfacing at key political moments to scare the American people back into Bush’s arms.

Although Bush talked tough about getting bin Laden “dead or alive,” he consistently failed to follow through.

Just six months after 9/11 and three months after bin Laden evaded capture at Tora Bora, Bush personally began downplaying the importance of capturing al-Qaeda's leader. “I don’t know where he is,” Bush told a news conference. “I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.”

Using Osama

Yet, with bin Laden at large, Bush enjoyed an advantage. He could use the specter of bin Laden as an all-purpose bogeyman to scare the American people. A living bin Laden allowed Bush to create a plausible scenario for additional al-Qaeda attacks inside the United States and thus the justification for Bush to assert unprecedented powers as Commander in Chief.

Bush also cited the continued threat from bin Laden to stampede the American people and Congress into allowing the invasion of Iraq.

To read rest of the article, go to: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-parry/36051/the-curious-bush-bin-laden-symbiosis



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