You don't need to throw away expired prescription drugs

Most expired drugs work fine, study says
October 16, 2012, San Francisco Chronicle (SF's leading newspaper)
http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Most-expired-drugs-work-fine-study-says-3954188.php

Thinking about going through your medicine cabinet and throwing out all your expired prescriptions? That might not be necessary, according to a UCSF-led study. Researchers analyzed eight prescription drugs with 15 active ingredients that expired between 28 and 40 years ago and found that most remained just as potent as they were on the day they were made. In 12 of the 14 drug compounds, or 86 percent of the time, the amount of active ingredient present in the drugs was at least 90 percent of the amount indicated on the label. That's well within the "reasonable variation" allowed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of 90 percent to 110 percent. Only two compounds - aspirin and the stimulant amphetamine - fell below the 90 percent threshold. Another medication, the painkiller phenacetin, fell below the threshold in one sample but was found in levels greater than 90 percent in another. The study was published online last week in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Note: A drug listed expired as 40 years ago is still just as potent as the day it was made. Could short expiration dates be an example of drug companies finding a way to make more money through unnecessary disposal of older medications?  Think of all the money that could be saved by people on prescription drugs.  Big pharma can't be happy about this news getting out.

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Pedophilia in high society and high government covered up

We all know how the Catholic Church covered up pedophilia and other terrible abuse of children.  We all know about Jerry Sandusky and Penn State's coverup of his pedophilia. But have you heard about the UK scandal that only now is coming to light after years of "pretending not to notice" while little children were sexually abused by a revered and celebrated member of British society?

Predators on Pedestals
October 15, 2012, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/opinion/keller-predators-on-pedestals.html

[Jimmy] Savile’s case is worth mulling, if only because the institution in which his serial child abuse took place is one of the most respected media organizations in the world: the BBC. Gossip about Savile’s fondling of young teenagers was rife, but never rose to a level deemed newsworthy during his life. To appreciate Jimmy Savile’s place in English culture, imagine a combination of Dick Clark of “American Bandstand” and Jerry Lewis, maestro of the muscular dystrophy telethon. Savile was the longest-serving host of the immensely popular BBC music show “Top of the Pops,” and the star of another long-running show called “Jim’ll Fix It,” in which he pulled strings to grant the wishes of supplicants, mostly children. He buffed his reputation by throwing himself into charity work. He seems to have used his philanthropy both to identify vulnerable children for his personal sport and to inoculate himself against suspicion. The good deeds helped earn Savile two knighthoods, one bestowed by the queen, the other by the pope. He was Sir Jimmy, confidant — or at least photo-op accessory — of royals, prime ministers, even Beatles. He cultivated an aura of flamboyant eccentricity. Being the man-child Pied Piper of the pubescent was his shtick, his job, and cover for a brutal cunning. London police now say they are pursuing more than 300 leads, and that they believe Savile abused girls as young as 13 over the course of four decades — in his BBC dressing room, in hospitals where he was a benefactor, in the back of his white Rolls-Royce.

Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on sexual abuse, click here..

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We were all part of a conspiracy of silence
October 7, 2012, The Telegraph (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9591322/Esther-Rantzen-How-I-long-to-turn-the-clock...

For decades, nobody said anything, at least not publicly, not officially. Everyone knew – that is, everyone in the television and pop music industries knew. The rumours swirled around [Jimmy Savile], that he sexually abused young girls. So for decades the abuse was an open secret, and Jimmy easily rebuffed the rumours when interviewers like Louis Theroux and the psychiatrist Anthony Clare dared to put them to him. So what is the truth about Sir James Savile? When he died almost a year ago, he was given a grand and glorious funeral befitting a folk hero. But now the truth is out. More victims are emerging every day, telling stories of the sexual abuse by Sir Jimmy of children as young as nine, on one occasion alongside the convicted paedophile pop star Gary Glitter. They reveal that, like every practised paedophile, he targeted the most vulnerable children, including those in care. Jimmy, for instance, reportedly visited the notorious Jersey children’s home, Haut de la Garenne, several times in the Sixties and Seventies, where seven people have since been prosecuted for child abuse. Knighted by both the Queen and the Pope, Sir Jimmy hid the private reality that he was also a prolific, predatory paedophile. All of his crimes – the multitude of attacks committed in his famous Rolls-Royce, in his caravan, in schools and children’s homes, in his dressing room and in a London taxi – remained an open secret. In spite of the fact that he flaunted his taste for underage children, police investigations failed, newspaper investigations were never published, a Newsnight film was dropped, and through it all Jimmy’s image remained intact.

Note: If you are ready to see how investigations into a massive child sex abuse ring have led to the highest levels of government, watch the suppressed Discovery Channel documentary "Conspiracy of Silence," available here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on sexual abuse, click here.

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Sadly, this will only be of interest to Democrats

The first two articles below tell us more about Romney and others just like him who have no empathy, no understanding and no compassion for the now-struggling middle class. Republicans don't want to hear the facts. They'd like to keep their fantasies that will allow them to vote for men like Romney and Ryan, whose policies and beliefs are in every way against the interests of the middle class.  A Romney/Ryan victory will deliver the final death blow to the 47% (Romney's term) of us who are so detested by the plutocrats. 

A Startling Gap Between Us And Them In 'Plutocrats'
October 15, 2012, NPR
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/15/162799512/a-startling-gap-between-us-and-them-in-plutocrats

Journalist Chrystia Freeland has spent years reporting on the people who've reached the pinnacle of the business world. For her new book, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, she traveled the world, interviewing the multimillionaires — and billionaires — who make up the world's elite super-rich. Those at the very top, Freeland says, have told her that American workers are the most overpaid in the world, and that they need to be more productive if they want to have better lives. "It is a sense of, you know, 'I deserve this,' " she says. "I do think that there is both a very powerful sense of entitlement and a kind of bubble of wealth which makes it hard for the people at the very top to understand the travails of the middle class." How are the super-rich ... different from the super-rich of the past — say, 1955? Well, there are many more of them, and they're a lot richer than they used to be. "One of the things which is really astonishing is how much bigger the gap is than it was before," she says. "In the 1950s, America was relatively egalitarian, much more so than compared to now." CEOs earn exponentially more now, compared with their workers, than they did 60 years ago. Freeland says she's worried about what she calls an inevitable human temptation — that people who've benefited from a mobile society, like America, will get to the top and then rig the rules to benefit themselves." You don't do this in a kind of chortling, smoking your cigar, conspiratorial thinking way," she says. "You do it by persuading yourself that what is in your own personal self-interest is in the interests of everybody else.

Note: For a fascinating excerpt from this book, click here. For revealing major media articles showing the stark gap between the uber-rich and the rest of us, click here.

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An Excerpt: 'Plutocrats'
October 15, 2012, NPR
http://www.npr.org/books/titles/162800856/plutocrats-the-rise-of-the-new-global-super-rich...

Branko Milanovic is an economist at the World Bank. He first became interested in income inequality studying for his PhD in the 1980s in his native Yugoslavia, where he discovered it was officially viewed as a "sensitive" subject — which meant one the ruling regime didn't want its scholars to look at too closely. But when Milanovic moved to Washington, he discovered a curious thing. Americans were happy to celebrate their super-rich and, at least sometimes, worry about their poor. But putting those two conversations together and talking about economic inequality was pretty much taboo. "I was once told by the head of a prestigious think tank in Washington, D.C., that the think tank's board was very unlikely to fund any work that had income or wealth inequality in its title," Milanovic ... explained in a recent book. "Yes, they would finance anything to do with poverty alleviation, but inequality was an altogether different matter." "Why?" he asked. "Because 'my' concern with the poverty of some people actually projects me in a very nice, warm glow: I am ready to use my money to help them. Charity is a good thing; a lot of egos are boosted by it and many ethical points earned even when only tiny amounts are given to the poor. But inequality is different: Every mention of it raises in fact the issue of the appropriateness or legitimacy of my income." When the discussion shifts from celebratory to analytical, the super-elite get nervous.

Note: Excerpted from Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland. For revealing major media articles showing the stark gap between the uber-rich and the rest of us, click here.

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Laugh time with The Jovers -- husband and wife comedy team

Subject: Fwd: The Jovers -- husband and wife team

I laughed out loud in a room by myself when I watched this.  Her laugh is so genuine and contagious.....  They do this so effortlessly.  One of the beauties of the routine that also make it funnier is that she is in a dress and heels.

I hope you enjoy a good laugh!  
http://biggeekdad.com/2012/05/the-jovers/> http://biggeekdad.com/2012/05/the-jovers/

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Rigging the voting machines in Romney's favor

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news to my progressive friends, but this is definitely something to expect, especially since the vote machine creator publicly promised to deliver Ohio to the GOP in the Bush/Cheney selection against Kerry--and then did so.  Diebold's founder, Walden O'Dell, had vowed to deliver Ohio's electoral votes---and thus the presidency---to his friend George W. Bush. That it was done in part on electronic voting machines and software O'Dell happened to own (Diebold has since changed hands twice) remains a cautionary red flag for those who believe merely winning the popular vote will give Barack Obama a second term.  Don't forget, the corporate owners of the voting machines are all Romney pals, too.  You can read how rigging the Ohio vote for Bush was accomplished at https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/14-4 and let the horror sink in that Bush and Cheney never really won the presidency either time.  We the people are being snookered every time. 

If you are doubtful that vote flipping can occur in electronic machine voting, please read the following article for factual statistical information that may change your mind and then make sure you also read the most informative article at https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/14-4.  We have seen the Republicans try every trick in the book to make sure Romney voters show up at the polls and Obama voters don't. They've changed voting districts, they've insisted on voter photo ID when there is practically no voter fraud on the personal level. The courts have ruled against the imposition of voter photo ID, but the GOP never gives up on their dirty tricks.  When all else fails, the electronic voting machines are a great backup to their plans to install Romney/Ryan in the White House.  If this happens, it will be revolution time for We, the people.  Actually, it is way past revolution time for us!!!

RIGGED ELECTIONS FOR ROMNEY
By Michael Collins  https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/14-4

A group of independent researchers caught a pattern of apparent vote flipping during the 2012 Republican primaries that consistently favored Mitt Romney. A form of election fraud, vote flipping occurs when votes are changed from one candidate to another or several others during electronic voting and vote tabulation. (Image: Dean Terry)

Vote flipping is difficult to detect because the vote totals remain the same for each precinct. In one of several possible scenarios, an instruction is given to a precinct level voting machine or to a county-level central tabulator. The corrupted totals from precincts are sent from county election officials to state elections board and published as final results. (Primary documents for this article: Republican Primary Election 2012 Results: Amazing Statistical Anomalies, August 13, 2012 and 2008/2012 Election Anomalies, Results, Analysis and Concerns, September 2012).

The group's analysis is based on raw data from primary sources, local precincts, and state and county election records. The pattern of vote flipping raises serious doubts about the Romney victories in the 2012 Republican primaries in Wisconsin and the Ohio. Apparent vote flipping was demonstrated in the group’s paper for at least nine other 2012 Republican primaries as well.

The findings showed a consistent pattern of increasing votes and vote percentages for Romney in the precinct vote tally. The pattern emerges when precinct vote tallies are presented by candidate based on the size of a county precinct.

Wisconsin, for example, is represented in the graph below. Moving from the smallest to largest precincts, you can see Romney's percent of the vote takes off and those of the others drop after about 7% of the votes are counted. Romney's percentage of precinct votes goes up (the upward slope of the green line) while those of the three other candidates decline.

The steady increase in Romney's percent of the vote and steady decline in Santorum's represents a statistical anomaly. In this case, the anomaly is amazing according to the researchers. They argue that the probability of this happening by chance alone is so small it exceeds the capability of statistical packages to handle. Their software says Romney’s share of the vote, increasing with precinct size has zero probability of occurring by chance alone.

The significance of the Wisconsin analysis is of grave concern. Presuming the use of appropriate statistical measures and analysis, human intervention is the most likely available explanation.

Vote flipping gave Romney a 57,000-vote victory over Santorum in Wisconsin. Absent vote flipping, Santorum would have won over Romney by about 54,000 according the group's analysis.

Was Wisconsin the only state where Romney’s share of the vote increased in this way as precinct size increased?

There were eleven states that showed this amazing anomaly, Romney gaining in votes and margins as precinct size increased. The chart below shows the estimated vote flipping for eleven of the fifty states analyzed by the group using precinct-level data.

Estimated Votes Lost/Gained in 11 State Primaries - 2012 - Vote Flipping

Take a look at data for the Ohio Republican primary. A similar pattern emerges as seen in the graph below. Romney percentages increase from 30% in the smaller precincts to 38% as precinct size increases. The slope of increased votes for Romney violates acceptable levels for probability and must attributed to external intervention. The 65,777 estimated flipped votes provided Romney with a win over Santorum instead of a loss.

Why attribute the anomaly to intervention rather than an innocent trend? Consider what happens when there is no opportunity for human intervention through voting machines or central tabulators. Ohio has a variety of computerized voting systems. The results are recorded by computer at the precinct level and transferred to a central tabulator operated by election officials. Similarly, the vast majority of votes in Wisconsin are cast using electronic voting machines and central tabulators. However, eight counties still use paper ballots that are counted at the precinct level. The paper ballot counties have no central tabulators. They show no pattern of vote flipping. (See Figure 3: WI Outagamie County in document 2008/2012 Election Anomalies, Results, Analysis and Concerns, September 2012)

New Hampshire offers an even better comparison between precincts that use central tabulators (hand counted paper ballot precincts) and those without. Watchthevote2012.org, a citizen voting rights group, deployed volunteers at 27 precincts on election night to witness all aspect vote counting. Additional data was added for the 79 paper ballot-no tabulator precincts (See "NH Primary Vote Count for Jan 10, 2012" at http://www.watchthevote2012.com ).

The graphs below reveal the Romney pattern of vote flipping in precincts with electronic voting machines and central tabulators. No such pattern shows up in areas with hand-counted paper ballots. (Note, Watchthevote2012.org figures for the precincts differ from the published figures by state election officials.) See the graphs illustrating the difference at this link.

One criticism of this research is based on an assumption concerning the demographics of rural, suburban, and urban voters. The argument is that Romney was more likely gain votes as the larger precincts were counted since these larger precincts were closer to cities. City dwellers were presumed to be more sympathetic to Romney than Santorum, Gingrich, and Paul.

The research group considered the demographic question in detail in their second study. Their analysis debunks that presumption and further demonstrates the validity and reliability of the analysis.

The suggested vote flipping favoring Romney is based on 2008 and 2012 precinct data and statistical analysis. The process is transparent as demonstrated by the two papers produced by the groups.

Significance for the 2012 Presidential Election

The probability that systematic election fraud benefitted Mitt Romney is a significant concern in the upcoming presidential election. The election is close in battleground states. The stakes are high. The precinct data and analytic techniques used by the researchers are available from the authors for election analysis (see contact information on research papers). Post-election analysis can capture this pattern of vote flipping. But that will be too late.

Public officials and elected representatives need a wakeup call before the election. They need to know about the amazing anomaly described by the researchers. The two research group papers and this article are available for open distribution. Forward one or all of the publications to your county elections division and elected officials. Look for the “County Election Clerk” or “Registrar of Voters” on your county website. The Secretary of State for each state has an election division as well (state boards of elections listing)

Citizen-based exit polling is more important now than ever before. Exit polls by the television networks have been drastically curtailed. They will be conducted in only nineteen states. The media-sponsored exit polls may be of little use in detecting vote flipping. Raw data is rarely offered to citizens for objective analysis. In addition, the media sponsored exit polls presume the accuracy of officially announced vote totals. These pollsters adjust their raw data to conform to the official results.

Citizen exit polling is a vital alternative. Motivated citizens can perform their own analysis of raw data from precincts with the analytic techniques used by the researchers discussed in this article. In addition, experienced researchers with a track record of election fraud analysis should be consulted both before and after November 6.

Election fraud has been a part of politics in the United States throughout its history. From the disenfranchisements of minorities and immigrants to the wide array of suspected election fraud in the 2004 presidential election, the perpetrators of election fraud lurk in the shadows awaiting the every-four-year, high-yield opportunity to select the next president of the United States. Vigilance, citizen monitoring, and public discussion are the only protections we have left.

END

This article may be reproduced with attribution of authorship and a link to this article.

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Even conservative economist Ben Stein agrees taxes on rich are too low

You don't have to be an Einstein to do the math -- anyone who can add should be able to see taxes on the wealthy are too low.  I heard an economist say the other day that taxes were 51% on the rich in the ' 50s and we were an extremely prosperous nation at that time.  I wish Romney supporters would look at the facts.  And do the math!

Conservative economist Ben Stein on Thursday seemed to know that he had wandered off message when he joked that the hosts of Fox & Friends might murder him for saying that it was not possible to balance the budget without raising taxes.

"I hate to say this on Fox -- and I hope I'll be allowed to leave here alive -- but I don't think there is anyway we can cut spending enough to make a meaningful difference," Stein told the three shocked co-hosts. "We going to have to raise taxes on very rich people, people with incomes of like say, 2, 3 million a year and up, and then slowly move it down."

"You do not think Washington just has a spending problem?" Steve Doocy wondered.

"I do not think they just have a spending problem," Stein explained. "I think they also have a too-low taxes problem. And while all due respect to Fox, whom I love like brothers and sisters, the taxes are too low."

The economist noted that even more revenue could have been brought in during President George W. Bush's presidency if taxes had not been cut.

"The evidence is that there is no connection between the level of taxation and the level of economic activity," he pointed out. "The biggest growth we've ever had in this country was roughly 1941 to roughly 1973, that was the best years we ever had and those were years of much, much higher taxes than we have now, during war time and during peace time. So, the economy can grow very fast, even with much higher taxes. And we're going to have to do something."

"Taxes were like 70, 80 percent!" Doocy exclaimed.

"I know," Stein agreed. "And yet, we were very prosperous, we were extremely prosperous. I mean, the highest rate was in the 90s during parts of the 50s and, yet, we were very prosperous."

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Chooka Parker

Subject: Chooka Parker

 
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 A feel-good video -- from Australia's Got Talent

Amazing.....  

This kid lives on a   farm in Australia - middle of nowhere. No bars, no TV ....

 

Thought he'd teach himself the piano

http://www.chookaparker.com.au/

Be sure to watch what the judges say at the end!!!!!!

 

 

 

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Saturday Night Live on the Veep Debate

If you missed the Saturday Night Live actress playing Arianna Huiffington to perfection, you missed a great show...so here it -- Get ready for BIG laughs!  It reminded me of the old Gilda Radner days...

 

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-arianna-huffington-on-martha-raddatz/1420802

 

 

 

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Romney did not tell truth about "binder full of women"

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/17/report-romneys-binders-full-of-women-story-not-true/

Oh NO, Romney is not a truth teller! (By now, how can anyone be surprised at this latest revelation? The man spins like a top, but his supporters don't mind at all. They get their "news" from FOX and aren't used to hearing truth and actual facts.)

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What should the punishment be for raped girls who have abortions?

HOW WOULD PAUL RYAN AND THE GOP PUNISH RAPE VICTIMS WHO GET ABORTIONS? (article and video)
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/16/maddow-how-would-ryan-and-the-gop-punish-rape-victims-who-get-abortions/

This is an excellent question, for which Ryan and his Republican men cohorts apparently have no answer (or, more pointedly, no answer they feel safe in giving until they are elected).  If elected, Ryan and his GOP men buddies would (will) make it a crime for a woman/girl who has been raped to get an abortion. In addition to the devastating pain she has endured in being raped, they would (will) make her carry for 9 months and give birth to the rapist's progeny. This would apply across the board to young teenage girls as well as women. Besides being horrendously cruel to the women, it is also tragically cruel to the unwanted child who was conceived not in love but in violence.  The hard-minded harshness of the Republican men's mindset against women's rights is chilling. They and the Catholic bishops who applaud them remind me of the Taliban in the way they regard women.  Makes you wonder what kind of a decision they would make if it were their bodies (or the bodies of their wives or daughters).  

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Profoundly important article/video re. global warming

Critically important information for those with minds open to hear actual facts without immediate reactive denial:   http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/12/bill-moyers-examines-global-warmings-effects-with-documentarian/

James Balog is an excellent photographer and a superb human being, putting his own life on the line time and time again, in order to bring indisputable factual data and photos to the public, proving that global warming is being caused by humans.  His photographic evidence, acquired at great personal risk over many years, proves our disruption of the environment in which we live.  His interview with Bill Moyers is exceptional in its scope and in Balog's candidness in presenting his evidence.  He has written a book about it and now a documentary is being released, called simply "Ice."  Critics are hailing it as a masterpiece of information and breathtaking beauty (even while your heart is in your throat while viewing it, because of the devastating information it brings). 

One thing that, sadly, is never discussed in regard to this issue is the factual evidence of chemtrails in the skies above our heads.  Chemtrails are something we live with almost daily in our western world.  They are done without our consent or our even being informed about them (other than seeing these things constantly in our skies).  High-flying jets streak across the skies, laying down white murky criss-crossing trails that spread across the sky, obscuring the blue from our sight. A group of concerned scientists who want real answers have pursued truth in regard to chemtrails and have put together a very informative documentary entitled "Why In the World Are They Spraying?"  The film offers proof that chemicals and metallic particles are being sprayed constantly into our atmosphere as a weather modifying attempt to cool the planet.  Great amounts of aluminum, barium, and strontium are being detected in our air, water and earth, contributing to the death of plants and wildlife and illness/death of humans. This spraying is being done by governments/military all across the western world.  None of us ever gave our consent to this, yet it has been going on for dozens of years right over our heads.  And no one ever mentions it in mainstream news!  Astounding, isn't it?  Watch the film for yourself and see how its information pieces together with Balog's documentary. It is evident that western world governments are concerned about global warming and have been trying to alleviate it for years, along with directed free-energy radio wave technology such as HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program).  Without our consent we are being subjected to experimentation of all kinds that are dangerous and deleterious to our health and well being.  

For whatever reason, Bill Moyers has never addressed chemtrails and this subject is not mentioned in his interview with Balog.  We can educate ourselves by watching both documentaries and piecing together the information in both of them for our own understanding.  You can see the chemtrails documentary online for free at:

► 72:55► 72:55

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEfJO0-cTis       If you have an hour and a half to spare one day, you may want to watch them both together, as they will give you a full picture of what we are doing to ourselves--and what is being done to us.  You had better view them soon, as Balog and the scientists agree that we are at a crisis point of no return.  As Balog says, he used to be a skeptic because he didn't believe we humans had the power to change/ruin the environment of the entire planet.  But he knows better now.  And you will, too, when you watch these films that are bringing to our attention a major planetary catastrophe taking place right before our very eyes -- and is never being mentioned by our political leaders.

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Bible belt man writes book after living as a gay man for a year

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/13/why-a-bible-belt-conservative-spent-a-year-pretending-to-be-gay/

Walking a year in a gay man's shoes, so to speak, gave this fundamentalist Christian man a different view of homosexuals.  It changed his mother's mind, too.  This is a great story!  I applaud him for his willingness to keep an open mind and develop empathy for others.  In my opinion (and seemingly in his, too), now he is truly following the teachings of Christ.

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Saddest story ever

Bullied teen kills herself in British Columbia.   http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/11/amanda-todd-teen-bullying-suicide-youtube_n_1959668.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

The video she made of herself is pathetically sad-- the boy and other kids who bullied her to death will have this on their karmic ledger, whether or not they feel any responsibility now for their terrible persecution of  Amanda.  When people have no empathy for others or conscience about their actions, they are sociopaths.  Psychologists tell us there are 4 sociopaths in every 100 people, guaranteeing that everyone will meet sociopaths in their everyday lives at one time or another. Conscienceless bullies are prolific in business and politics, in sports, in the military--and even in religions.  Amanda, at age 15, was unequipped to deal with them.  She didn't have the wisdom of experience that she could have gathered, had she been able to weather this storm.  The bullies were just too overpowering for this little girl. What a tragedy for her family.  My heart goes out to them.

Parenting is the hardest job in the world and, no matter how much they try, sometimes parents are just not able to give the necessary help and guidance to steer their child past huge bumps that come too soon in the young life.  The teen years are especially hard, and parents have to be continually vigilant -- and wise -- in order to guide their children.  That is a tall order and many parents are unable to deliver on it.  If only an instructions book could be issued with every child at birth! 

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Beautiful essay about our Earth and its future

Thanks to my dear Sis/friend Ellen who sent this to me:

http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/09/abusing_earth_threatens_mankin.html

From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

To the Editor:

Several years ago, this simple country man received a personal letter from a Cornell University superstar: the famous astronomer/philosopher Carl Sagan.

I reread his letter earlier this month as the world celebrated the 35th anniversary of the launching of the Voyager I spacecraft in a thunderous roar into the blue Florida sky.

Both Voyager I (and its insurance policy cousin, Voyager II) are about to break through the Milky Way galaxy's heliospheric bubble into the interstellar universe beyond.

The estimated universe numbers are mind-boggling. Astronomers estimate there may be 100 billion galaxies in addition to our own.

Sometime around 2025, radio transmissions from the Voyagers will end. From then on, they will silently explore forever the truly great universe (unless, of course, an interstellar alien space ship attacks and is able to play their gold-plated copper disk. This 12-inch ''Golden Record'' contains fascinating information - and sounds - about the people and distant civilization that sent these spaceships exploring the universe).

The Voyagers' amazing odyssey and discoveries have been truly astronomical. As one astronomer observed: ''Voyager is an incredible discovery machine discovering things we hadn't even know we didn't know.''

Voyager I is at least 11 billion miles from Earth. If one could somehow look back toward Earth, our sun is just a bright star. Earth is invisible in its glare.

Among its greatest accomplishments was that for the very first time, we were able to see ''our world'' as it truly and objectively is; a tiny, insignificant fleeting: a solitary speck of blue light suspended in an endless sea of cosmic darkness.

On Valentine's Day 1990, Sagan, a powerful and influential champion and popularizer of America's space program, persuaded NASA to program Voyager I to take 640,000 digitally-transmitted images of all the sun's planets.

Voyager I was then ''only'' 3.7 billion miles from Earth. Having traveled more than 40,000 mph since leaving Earth in 1977, it was still in our galaxy's neighborhood. Even at that distance, our sun, as stars go, is medium-sized - an unremarkable pinpoint of light among billions in the cosmic arena.

And Earth? Out of 640,000 images, Earth - our only home - appears on only one of them. We are Carl Sagan's famous pale blue dot: ''There are no nations, no continents, no oceans, no people - nothing but a dot.''

Sagan mused, ''Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.''

If we continue man's ignorant self-centeredness, if we abuse this planet - destroying our ozone layer, the oxygen-making forests, the life-sustaining oceans - we have no other place to go. No help will come here from the universe to save us from ourselves. Our one and only hope is here - and it is us!

As this simple country man looks into the vast night sky, he wonders if mankind's Earthly presence will eventually disappear and never be heard from again. Will there only be a lifeless Earth? Will our only legacy be two spaceships, wandering forever through a lifeless universe?

I humbly stand and wonder about these questions. But tonight I am awed by the stillness and the loneliness of the magical night sky. I feel peaceful and happy. I am enjoying this marvelous spectacle with profound thankfulness that I am here now. And yet a sadness gnaws deep inside me about Earth - and mankind's - future.

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Strong candidate for Darwin Award

32-year-old male dies from eating cockroaches in contest where who can eat the most worms and cockroaches wins (sort of).  The winner of the prize (a live python!) died shortly after the contest.  This all took place in Florida (where else??!!!).  Now there is one less Romney/Ryan voter in that state.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/10/14343815-death-of-cockroach-eating-contest-winner-in-florida-puzzles-experts?lite

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Something serious to consider--A letter from a soldier

The letter from the soldier to his Republican congressman changed the congressman's mind about the war in Afghanistan.  Poignant, important information for all voters to contemplate.  If you consider this e-mail important, please forward it to others:

Killing the Kids that Don’t Need to Die

October 9, 2012

by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship

Matt Sitton knew the war in Afghanistan was going badly. He knew it because he was fighting it. He could see for himself. Twenty-six years old, with a wife and child back home, Staff Sergeant Sitton was on his third combat tour there.

Time and again, he and his men were sent through what he called “a minefield on a daily basis.” His comrades were being blown apart — at least one amputee a day, he said, “Because we are walking around aimlessly through grape rows and compounds that are littered with explosives.”

Morale was low; the men struggled to remain alert. Sitton said he asked his officers to give them a break but was told to stop complaining.

“I am all for getting on the ground and fighting for my country when there is a desired endstate and we have clear guidance of what needs to be done,” he wrote. “But when we are told basically to just walk around for a certain amount of time is not sitting well with me.”

At home in Florida, Matt Sitton had attended a Christian school run by the Baptist church attended by Congressman Bill Young. He wrote Congressman Young and told him what was happening. “I’m concerned about the well-being of my soldiers,” he said. “… I just want to return my guys home to their families healthy.” He ended: “If anything, please pray for us over here. God bless.”

On August 2, while on patrol, Matt Sitton and a buddy were killed, blown apart by an IED, a hidden bomb. They flew Sitton’s body home and held his funeral at that same Baptist church.

For a long time before Matt Sitton died, Congressman Young, the longest serving Republican in the House, called for sticking it out in Afghanistan.  The powerful chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, he had helped continue the war by voting against an amendment requiring the President to set a timetable for withdrawal.

He’s changed his mind. Touched by what Matt Sitton wrote him, Young asked that the letter be read into the Congressional Record, and has been talking to other veterans, hearing from them what “a real mess” the war is. Now he tells the Tampa Bay Times: “I think we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan as quickly as we can. I just think we’re killing the kids that don’t need to die.”

“I think we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan as quickly as we can. I just think we’re killing the kids that don’t need to die.”
– Congressman Bill Young

Killing the kids that don’t need to die. Let those words sink in. And this, too: Congressman Young says many of his colleagues in Congress feel the same way he does, but “they tend not to want to go public.”

A few days ago, just shy of the 11th anniversary of our invasion of Afghanistan, we marked a sad and tragic milestone: the 2000^th member of the American armed forces to die in combat there. There are now 68,000 American men and women in Afghanistan, down from 100,000 as President Obama has ended the surge he first ordered in late 2009. Seventeen thousand Americans have been wounded, and in the last five years alone, according to the UN, more than 13,000 Afghan civilians have died. That’s a very conservative estimate.

How can we continue to justify this war begun to avenge the 9/11 attacks and punish those responsible, but now too long, too deadly, too mired in waste and corruption in a land that has resisted the ambitions of empire since the ancient Persians and Macedonians?

“Look at it this way,” journalist Dexter Filkins recently wrote in The New Yorker. “After eleven years, more than four hundred billion dollars spent and two thousand Americans dead, this is what we’ve built: a deeply dysfunctional, predatory Afghan state that seems incapable of standing on its own — even when we’re there.”

There are two more presidential debates. They will be yet another hoax unless someone puts to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney the same question asked by Congressman Young: “Why are we killing the kids that don’t need to die?” And then asks it again and again to each of them until we get an honest answer.

Related Features

• A Soldier’s Letter to his Congressman

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The hypocrisy of Tennesee candidate

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/scott-desjarlais-abortion-pro-life_n_1953136.html

OK -- so this Tea Party congressman/doctor is pro-life. But while married he had 4 (or more) mistresses, got one of them pregnant and then insisted she have an abortion. His conversation with her is recorded and on tape.  And now he insists this information about him is irrelevant.  He says Tennessee voters don't care about it.  Hmmmm.... I wonder. Seems like relevant information to me.  If I were a Tennessee voter, I would care about it ... wouldn't you?  How do pro-life Tea Party voters twist their minds around the hypocrisy and (in their oft-stated judgments/beliefs) the sins of this man?  Just asking.

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Latest cult in Australia -- "Jesus" has returned

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML2Oa4Oigvo

This A J guy looks a lot like David Koresh and claims to be the Messiah.  It's chilling that so many people think he is worth following.  This interview with him is from the Australian version of  "60 Minutes."  Watch it and see what you think!  Is this another Koresh or Jim Jones in the making?  Discrimination/discernment is SO important in the spiritual marketplace! Without it, seekers are like babes in the woods, at the mercy of every sociopath who comes along, declaring themselves to be Jesus, Krishna, or just "Enlightened" -- and there are so many of these imposters out there!  First things to look for:  If they want your money, encourage you to join their group, present themselves as "special," and they promise you satisfaction/fulfillment/enlightenment in some future time, run as fast as you can to the EXIT.  They are phonies.

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Which is the Real Mitt Romney????

To all Republican voters:  Which Mitt Romney are you going to vote for?  The one who is pro-life or the the one who is pro-choice?  The one who believes 47% of Americans are lazy, looking for "unearned" entitlements (like Social Security and Medicare) and "take no personal responsibility for themselves" or the one who says he didn't mean that when he said it and he is really for 100% of the American people?  The one who has proposed a tax cut plan that will cost $5 trillion or the one who denies that he has ever proposed such a plan?  (Romney has proposed a 20 percent cut income taxes along with other tax cuts, and to do that along with vastly increasing the military budget without exploding the deficit he will, at the very least, have to get rid of popular deductions and exemptions that he will not specify, and even then he'll likely have to dramatically cut spending on programs that benefit the less well off.)

Will you vote for the Romney who brought RomneyCare to Massachusetts, and who still claims it as one of his best accomplishments, or the Romney who says ObamaCare (so much like RomneyCare it is its twin) should be abolished because it is so terrible?  I could go on and on; Romney has come down on both sides of so many issues, it's as if he is identical twins with completely opposing views on every imaginable issue.  So if there are 2 Mitt Romneys, which is the real one--the one who will show up as president if elected?  I think it's the far right wing one, but are Republicans willing to take that chance? 

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Catholic Church still in Dark Ages with boarding school torture

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/08/catholic-boarding-school-torture-on-thousands-of-children-uncovered-in-switzerland/

Who can say whether this may still be going on?  This article describes torture of children by nuns and priests from 1930-1970!

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