54% of americans believe that drugs will never be legalized because
the cops would have to buy their own.
the cops would have to buy their own.
- Poll taken for Michael Moore's "The Awful Truth"
Friday, December 21, 2007
Mark Morford: Priests now coming with warning labels
" ... Take the Archdiocese of New York. It has apparently just released a
coloring book for kids all about how to be safe in an age of fear and
predation. It is full of nice pictures of kids being sweet and
virginal and right, engaging in happy activities that praise Almighty
God while protecting themselves from, say, online predators and vegans
and atheists. It is about awareness, about listening to your parents
and saying your prayers and never, ever being alone with a priest and
being nice to animals and never hitting your sister and ...
Wait, what? What was that, about the priests? ... "
coloring book for kids all about how to be safe in an age of fear and
predation. It is full of nice pictures of kids being sweet and
virginal and right, engaging in happy activities that praise Almighty
God while protecting themselves from, say, online predators and vegans
and atheists. It is about awareness, about listening to your parents
and saying your prayers and never, ever being alone with a priest and
being nice to animals and never hitting your sister and ...
Wait, what? What was that, about the priests? ... "
~ Full article ~
'There are different ways of doing it. It's like swimming, freestyle, backstroke'
11 Dec 2007 " ... GWEN IFILL: Let me ask Senator Bond a little bit about this issue of waterboarding. And let me describe for our viewers first to remind them what it is. It's when there's a piece of cloth that's placed over the mouth of a person who's been strapped down, and water is poured on their face so they feel like they're inhaling water, and it gives a sensation of drowning. Do you think that's torture? SEN. KIT BOND: First, let me go back and take issue with some of the things that have just been said. Number one, what the CIA is doing is not torture. It conforms to the Detainee Treatment Act, the Geneva Convention, the Convention against Torture. None of these things that are being used, by any stretch of the imagination, could be described as torture. Now, I think it was a terribly bad idea that in the intelligence authorization bill there was a ban imposed on the CIA using any techniques other than those in the Army Field Manual. The Army Field Manual is meant to advise junior officers in the field who are questioning the people picked up in the field who perhaps have tactical knowledge. The information in those field manuals are included in all of the al-Qaida training, and they know how to resist those. If we are to get any information from high-value detainees, such as the ones on whose these enhanced techniques were used, then there have to be different techniques. And I think, as a side note, I think it was absolutely outrageous that a former CIA agent would discuss these kinds of things, because once you describe what techniques are being used, and they are far less serious and threatening than techniques we use on Marines and pilots who go through our training, then the high-value detainees will never speak to us. That's why they used.... GWEN IFILL: I just would like to -- but do you think that waterboarding, as I described it, constitutes torture? SEN. KIT BOND: There are different ways of doing it. It's like swimming, freestyle, backstroke. The waterboarding could be used almost to define some of the techniques that our trainees are put through, but that's beside the point. It's not being used. There are some who say that, in extreme circumstances, if there is threat of an imminent major attack on the United States, it might be used, but I certainly would not favor it in any circumstance... " ~ Full transcript ~Lawmakers Investigate CIA Interrogation Tape Disposal
'Contrary to belief, fluoridation is damaging teeth with little cavity reduction'
Fluoridation Doing More Harm Than Good, Studies Show - New York State Coalition Opposed To Fluoridation, Inc
12 May 2007Contrary to belief, fluoridation is damaging teeth with little cavity reduction, according to a review of recent studies reported in Clinical Oral Investigations.(1)
Pizzo and colleagues reviewed English-language fluoridation studies published from January 2001 to June 2006 and write, "Several epidemiological studies conducted in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities suggest that [fluoridation] may be unnecessary for caries prevention…"
They also report that fluoride-damaged teeth spiked upwards to 51% from the 10-12% found over 60 years ago in "optimally" fluoridated communities. Dental fluorosis is white-spotted, yellow, brown-stained and/or pitted teeth.
Fluoridation began in 1945 when dentists thought that ingested fluoride incorporated into children's developing tooth enamel to prevent cavities. However, Pizzo's group reports that fluoride ingestion confers little, if any, benefit and fails to reduce oral health disparities in low-income Americans.
Also, any difference in fluoride tooth enamel surface concentration between fluoridated and low-fluoridated areas is minimal. And the relationship between higher enamel fluoride levels to less tooth decay was not found.
"Some risk of increasing fluorosis may be attributed to the ingestion of powdered infant formula reconstituted with fluoridated water… [and] foods and beverages processed in fluoridated areas… Furthermore, the use of dietary fluoride supplements during the first 6 years of life is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing fluorosis," they write.
Lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation says, "Recent news reports claiming fluoride-free bottled water caused the cavity increase trends in toddlers are implausible because rising fluorosis rates clearly indicate that children are over-fluoridated, not under-fluoridated."
"There's no dispute that too much fluoride damages teeth, actually making them more decay-prone. Research is indicated to see if fluoride is causing the cavity escalation," says Beeber.
Some studies Pizzo reviewed focused on communities that stopped water fluoridation. "…after the cessation, caries prevalence did not rise, remained almost the same or even decreased further," writes Pizzo's group.
"In most European countries, where [water fluoridation] has never been adopted, a substantial decline [75%] in caries prevalence has been reported in the last decades," they report.
To avoid dental fluorosis, the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control advise against mixing concentrated infant formulas with fluoridated water.
"Fluoride is bone- and health-damaging as well," says Beeber.
-- www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/Pizzo-2007.pdf
New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc
PO Box 263
Old Bethpage, NY 11804
www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof www.FluorideAction.Net
Pizzo and colleagues reviewed English-language fluoridation studies published from January 2001 to June 2006 and write, "Several epidemiological studies conducted in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities suggest that [fluoridation] may be unnecessary for caries prevention…"
They also report that fluoride-damaged teeth spiked upwards to 51% from the 10-12% found over 60 years ago in "optimally" fluoridated communities. Dental fluorosis is white-spotted, yellow, brown-stained and/or pitted teeth.
Fluoridation began in 1945 when dentists thought that ingested fluoride incorporated into children's developing tooth enamel to prevent cavities. However, Pizzo's group reports that fluoride ingestion confers little, if any, benefit and fails to reduce oral health disparities in low-income Americans.
Also, any difference in fluoride tooth enamel surface concentration between fluoridated and low-fluoridated areas is minimal. And the relationship between higher enamel fluoride levels to less tooth decay was not found.
"Some risk of increasing fluorosis may be attributed to the ingestion of powdered infant formula reconstituted with fluoridated water… [and] foods and beverages processed in fluoridated areas… Furthermore, the use of dietary fluoride supplements during the first 6 years of life is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing fluorosis," they write.
Lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation says, "Recent news reports claiming fluoride-free bottled water caused the cavity increase trends in toddlers are implausible because rising fluorosis rates clearly indicate that children are over-fluoridated, not under-fluoridated."
"There's no dispute that too much fluoride damages teeth, actually making them more decay-prone. Research is indicated to see if fluoride is causing the cavity escalation," says Beeber.
Some studies Pizzo reviewed focused on communities that stopped water fluoridation. "…after the cessation, caries prevalence did not rise, remained almost the same or even decreased further," writes Pizzo's group.
"In most European countries, where [water fluoridation] has never been adopted, a substantial decline [75%] in caries prevalence has been reported in the last decades," they report.
To avoid dental fluorosis, the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control advise against mixing concentrated infant formulas with fluoridated water.
"Fluoride is bone- and health-damaging as well," says Beeber.
-- www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/Pizzo-2007.pdf
New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc
PO Box 263
Old Bethpage, NY 11804
www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof www.FluorideAction.Net
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/70558.php
Ancient flood brought Gulf Stream to a halt
" ... It was the biggest climate event of the last 10,000 years and caused the most dramatic change in the weather since humans began farming. And it may yet hold important lessons about climate change in the 21st century. Just over 8000 years ago, a huge glacial lake in Canada burst, and an estimated 100,000 cubic kilometres of fresh water rushed into the North Atlantic. Researchers now say they know for sure that this catastrophic event shut down the Gulf Stream and cooled parts of the northern hemisphere by several degrees for more than a hundred years. They say the findings show modelling studies are right to suggest that something similar could happen with equal abruptness as the planet warms under human influence. The film The Day After Tomorrow, which portrays such a scenario, may have exaggerated – but not by much. ... " ~ Read on... ~6 Dec 2007 NewScientist.com news service Fred Pearce
How the Nazis Stole Christmas
A seasonal tale of politics, propaganda and paganism in Hitler's Third Reich
By David Sutton
By David Sutton
December 2007
If the Nazis were sworn enemies of Christianity, why were they so obsessed with Christmas? And how did they square celebrating the season of goodwill with their racialist policies?
The Grateful Dead - The History of a Folk Story
New addition at Sacred Texts:
The Grateful Dead
The History of a Folk Story
by Gordon Hall Gerould
[1908]
The History of a Folk Story
by Gordon Hall Gerould
[1908]
"Every rock band has its own mythological creation story. The Grateful Dead claim that Jerry Garcia was looking through a 'large book' one day (no doubt in some altered state of mind), and the phrase just popped out at him. The specific book is unknown, but scholars of the band have suggested it was a large dictionary of folklore, with an article on the topic originally proposed in this book.
The term The Grateful Dead originally referred to a set of folklore motifs relating to stories where the hero does a good turn for a dead person and gets rewarded thereby. This motif appears in a wide set of cultures, not all of which have an obvious connection. In the late 19th and early 20th century the field of folklore had matured to the point to where there was enough data to analyze these motifs cross-culturally. This book was one of the first to do a comprehensive study of one such motif on a world-wide basis, and as such occupies an important position in the study of folklore. Gerould analyzed over a hundred variants of the story, mostly from European, Near East and Asian sources. He used techniques originally used by comparative linguistics to compare the stories and untangle the development of the motif.
Of course, there is also extensive folklore about the band of the same name, much of which I was exposed to in college. A popular motif in deadhead lore is the Magic Ticket. However, I've never encountered any variant where the Ticket appeared because someone did an actual dead person a favor. . . "
Complete book at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/gd/index.htm
'It's How You Slice the Pie (or stack the coins, or count the beans)...'
FCNL Budget Analysis: It's How You Slice the Pie
3/9/2007
Why does FCNL's budget analysis differ from analyses by some other national
groups - and why do they differ from each other?
Among the handful of groups that monitor either the whole budget, or the
parts of the budget devoted to military spending, the figures and
percentages vary. The differences have to do with which specific programs
each group includes in a "slice" and how finely they cut each slice.
First - what pie? FCNL's analysis looks at the federal funds budget. This is
the overall budget, including discretionary, entitlement, and mandatory
spending, supported by general revenues, including income taxes and estate
and gift taxes. Because the FCNL analysis aims to illustrate how our income
dollars are spent, it does not include trust funds, such as Social Security
and Medicare, which have their own dedicated revenues.
Here's how that makes a difference: When president's proposal says that only
21% of the budget goes to the military, it includes Social Security and
Medicare in his definition of the budget. Because this analysis starts with
a bigger pie (called the "unified budget"), the military appears as a
relatively smaller slice, and social spending looks larger.
Conversely, some national organizations look only at "discretionary
spending" - the part of federal spending that Congress handles through
appropriations bills. In this case, they're starting with a smaller budget
pie than FCNL, so military spending appears to be a bigger slice.
But Congress has control over entitlement or "mandatory" spending as well as
discretionary spending. Changes can be (and often are) made in the budgets
for entitlement programs - they're just made through a different
congressional process. Whether discretionary or entitlement spending, the
money still comes out of your income tax dollars.
Second - what's included in the slice? When FCNL talks about military
spending, we talk about two slices - current military spending and spending
due to past wars and military activity. The first slice, current military
spending, is what most other analyses report on and what is most
understandable on Capitol Hill. On the Hill, decisions before Congress
generally focus on current military spending rather than the
already-accumulated responsibilities for past military spending. At the same
time, we recognize that the obligations of past wars are indeed a component
of military spending and should be taken into account when Congress
considers new or additional military commitments.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) looks only at current military
spending; some organizations add current and past military spending together
and present just one figure.
What's in the current military slice? FCNL's analysis of current military
spending includes the following:
. all spending for the Department of Defense (DOD).
. the "050 function," a categorizing number that OMB uses to identify
defense-related spending, regardless of the agency that spends the funds.
This category includes funding in many "independent agencies" as well some
parts of the Department of Homeland Security, parts of the Coast Guard, and
other bits and pieces sprinkled through the budget.
. responsibility for the Defense Department retirees as a military expense,
although it is not listed as such by OMB.
. portions of the foreign aid budget that are, in fact, military programs.
These include the foreign military assistance accounts and international
military training.
In the past, we included portions of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) budget. We no longer include that money because NASA
changed its arrangements with the Defense Department so that any work done
for the DOD by NASA is paid for out of the DOD's budget.
Most analyses of current military spending are similar. Differences arise in
how much is included from agencies that include some defense-related
functions. See "how finely do you slice it?" below.
What's in the "past military" slice? This slice includes primarily the
Veterans' Administration and a portion of the interest paid on the federal
debt.
This slice is where some of the big differences between FCNL's analysis and
those of other groups arise. FCNL calculates the portion of the debt due to
military spending by accumulating, year to year, the portion of each year's
budget that went to military spending. We don't assume that the deficit
would not have existed if military spending had been lower - we simply add
up how much was added to the debt each year and allocate the percentage that
was spent on the military that year. FCNL's current calculations show about
47% of the debt is due to past military spending.
How finely do you slice it? Some pies include some guesswork or assumptions
about future congressional behavior. Some of these guesses may be fairly
well rooted in recent experience and may be quite valid. FCNL has chosen to
report only what the president proposes for the upcoming fiscal year and
what was actually spent (outlays) in the past fiscal year.
We also examine closely agencies with a "mixed" mission and include only
specific military-related activities in our military numbers. For example,
eighty-five percent of the budget of the Department of Homeland Security is
allocated to immigration and border activities, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), and the non-military activities of the Coast Guard
(boat safety, rescues, etc.). While some of these activities are
police-related, we do not categorize them as military activities.
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