Posted 7/7/2011 1:13 PM CDT
North Carolinian 'Tea Party' Freshman Congresswoman "Renee Ellmers" introduced a bill (H.R. 2059) last month that would eliminate funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Current funding is $40 million annually. [Hmmm - that's about 12 cents annually per American in a country that's serving as an overpopulation release valve for parts of the world where "increased" (NOT decreased) 'family planning' is needed.]
What else does UNFPA do? It supports countries using population data to develop policies and programs to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. UNFPA helps reduce maternal mortality, infant mortality, and child mortality; helps stem the spread of disease, and helps promote policies that enable people, especially the poorest, to live in dignity.
UNFPA does not provide abortions, abortion services, or abortion-related equipment to governments in other countries, but it does help governments strengthen their national health systems to address complications of unsafe abortion, thereby saving women's lives.
What Representative Ellmers calls "wasteful spending" saves the lives of mothers and infants, keeps families healthy, saves girls from becoming child brides AND reduces the need for abortion by "expanding access to voluntary family planning services to the very poorest".
[Here we go again. Expedient political shortsightedness that will cost us all more in the long run. Evidently it's okay to spend trillions on a war in the Middle East to promote democracy; but, when it comes to supporting what actually engenders freedoms, Tea Partiers are displaying symptoms of being so myopic that they fail to see that they're actually being UN-patriotic [Read the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution for genuine inspiration. Also, they need to stop for a moment and ask themselves: What would Jesus do?]
Irrationality, such as what Ellmers is proposing in order to consolidate her popularity with her constituency, tends to discredit her Tea Party on the national level because it leaves no "room in the middle". If they want to breath new life into our Democratic Republic, then they need to use fresh air -- not gussy up old isolationisms in seguined red, white and blue platitudes.
Read:
http://www.unfpa.org/public/
Take Action:
https://secure.globalproblems-globalsolutions.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=303
What else does UNFPA do? It supports countries using population data to develop policies and programs to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. UNFPA helps reduce maternal mortality, infant mortality, and child mortality; helps stem the spread of disease, and helps promote policies that enable people, especially the poorest, to live in dignity.
UNFPA does not provide abortions, abortion services, or abortion-related equipment to governments in other countries, but it does help governments strengthen their national health systems to address complications of unsafe abortion, thereby saving women's lives.
What Representative Ellmers calls "wasteful spending" saves the lives of mothers and infants, keeps families healthy, saves girls from becoming child brides AND reduces the need for abortion by "expanding access to voluntary family planning services to the very poorest".
[Here we go again. Expedient political shortsightedness that will cost us all more in the long run. Evidently it's okay to spend trillions on a war in the Middle East to promote democracy; but, when it comes to supporting what actually engenders freedoms, Tea Partiers are displaying symptoms of being so myopic that they fail to see that they're actually being UN-patriotic [Read the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution for genuine inspiration. Also, they need to stop for a moment and ask themselves: What would Jesus do?]
Irrationality, such as what Ellmers is proposing in order to consolidate her popularity with her constituency, tends to discredit her Tea Party on the national level because it leaves no "room in the middle". If they want to breath new life into our Democratic Republic, then they need to use fresh air -- not gussy up old isolationisms in seguined red, white and blue platitudes.
Read:
http://www.unfpa.org/public/
Take Action:
https://secure.globalproblems-globalsolutions.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=303
Posted 7/6/2011 1:16 AM CDT Long before gaining attention for sponsoring Rick Perry's 'prayer and praise' meeting, the American Family Association (AFA) was making headlines with tenacious campaigns targeting gay rights, abortion and such that are offensive to fundamentalistic Christianity. The organization has been prominent in the nation's culture wars for more than three decades. http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/perry-partner-in-prayer-event-a-focus-of-1577995.html Tax records show that last year, AFA raised $18.4 million in donations and spent $7.5 million on campaigns against activities it deems anti-Christian. To mobilize supporters, the association issues "action alert" emails to publicize the latest offenses. American Family Association: http://www.afa.net/ Seems to me I remember Bush Jr. hitching his wagon to this same demographic group. It had the advantage of providing a core voting block. However, it narrowed his platform by removing some "planks" that this particular group couldn't support. For example, by focusing on the popular hate of abortions [after all, nobody 'likes' abortions], the need for sex education and contraception gets dumped for a mind-numbing "Just Say No" approach that even Bristol Palin recognizes as inadequate. Note: All political parties 'effectively' still support an 'open border' policy because various constituencies, be they the Chamber of Commerce or La Raza (both want to defang the E-verify Bill) and support the "granting-amnesty" approach. If we're going to invite the illegals in (by default), then we need to at least provide enough education and family planning services to 'soften the blow' of exponentially higher birth rates. |
Posted 7/5/2011 6:03 AM CDT Foods can be addictive because added chemicals trigger the same kinds of brain activity seen in substance dependence. These addictive reactions are the result of the many refined foods consumed. The compounded increase in rates of obesity and other modern diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, high triglycerides and hypoglycemia, to name a few are the end result of consuming too many of these ‘engineered’ modern foods in our daily diets. They all contain refined carbohydrates which, after becoming nutritionally neutered via processing, are often produced with additional refined sweeteners (both real and artificial), fats and problematic trans-fats, unnaturally high amounts of dietary omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable and manufactured oils, salt, a cornucopia of artificial chemicals, dyes and additives that make these packaged items lethal to our health and addictive to many. Processed food manufacturers know this and deliberately design and create foods that deliberately stimulate and excite our taste buds and brains -- in other words, 'engineered' for addiction. [Remember how this is currently accomplished with tobacco additives]. They work hard to develop "increased sensitivity" to their products. Packaged food items are the highest-profit items in a grocery store; consequently, they are allotted the most space. It is "their" profits, NOT "your" health, that drive these products, advertising and sales. Manufacturers would like us to believe that if it tastes good, it can’t be that bad and use marketing gimmicks and artificial food dyes to fool consumers into thinking that this stuff is healthier than it is. Conclusion: Refined and processed foods are hazardous to your health. http://www.dailyrx.com/news-article/modern-foods-contain-combination-added-chemicals-may-create-cravings-12560.html [I know that if you are one of those with strong processed food cravings (and this does include foods made from milled flour, etc. -- note previous posting, "The Whiter The Bread"), then you're going to tend to discount what I just said above (which is just as an confirmed alcohol or tobacco user would do). Which is why -- that though it's known that putting graphic pictures on cigarette packs won't deter those already hooked -- it's done to discourage those not yet afflicted from 'falling prey'... ] |
Posted 7/4/2011 2:20 PM CDT ... the sooner you're dead. [No, I'm not making an ethnic joke. I'm talking about an across-the-board 'melting pot' issue ofsomething that contributes to poor nutrition.] White bread is made from wheat flour from which the bran and the 'wheat germ' have been removed through a process known as milling. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal_germ The bran is then sold separately as livestock food and put into bran flakes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran#Uses_of_bran The wheat germ is then sold separately as a health food. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal_germ#Other_uses In 1911, white bread, which made up 40% of the diet in Britain, was blamed for widespread poor health. Modern nutritional science confirms the accuracy of this assessment. White flour contains almost no natural minerals and vitamins. Then white bread was actually banned during World War II in Britain -- Britons were said to be in better health by 1947 after subsisting on limited rations of wholegrain breads for eight years. http://tinyurl.com/4xb5ywc Add to this the greater percentage of today's foods being refined / and also, a greater number of additives and flavor enhancers that 'improve' the appeal of the food to compensate for the missing natural flavor that was stripped out when the nutrients were removed by our improved technological advances -- and you have the formula for trouble. Note: Combinations of certain additives help create habituations 'aka' cravings -- which helps sell more. Note: There's no such thing as whole wheat bread unless the baker grinds the wheat himself and avoids using milled flour. Further note: Not everyone's biochemistry is amenable towards grains (especially wheat). If someone is suffering from depression or any other mental condition, you may want to totally eliminate any grain sourced food (or drink, like beer, etc.) for a few weeks to see if you notice any improvement. One possible link: wheat can inhibit production of serotonin. |
Posted 7/3/2011 12:34 AM CDT Kudos to Arnold Garcia in today's AAS paper (D-6) "Sanctuary cities bill's death..." for pointing out that the so-called 'sanctuaries cities bill' had some powerful business types who wanted the legislation dead because of its possible impact on a cheap labor pool that keeps their overheads down. So they hired some equally high-powered lobby talent to kill it. http://tinyurl.com/6ybsdmw Dovetailing nicely with the article (and picture gallery) is the opinion piece, "In Texas, faces of newly minted U.S. citizens". A good article that bears reading it in its entirety: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/insight/in-texas-faces-of-newly-minted-u-s-1577894.html http://galleries.statesman.com/gallery/photos-sworn-us/# One thing that struck me in this was that of the nearly 620,000 people being naturalized this year, only 67,062 were from Mexico (as compared to 61,142 from India). With the astounding number of Latin American immigrants swelling our population, how does one account for their missing numbers? [That's a rhetorical question: Some are legal immigrants, but many are here illegally waiting for the next amnesty to be granted. I asked it this way because I'm wondering what the number of "newly minted U.S. citizens" will be after that?] |
Posted 6/30/2011 8:53 PM CDT U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates calls NATO "militarily irrelevant" because of the failure of Europeans to spend on military hardware and training. As an example, he observes that NATO has already ran out of ammunition for the Libyan mission and is turning to the U.S. for more. The Europeans have cut back on military spending to the point that the U.S. funds 75% of NATO's cost. Only four of NATO's other 27 members spend 2% of their GDP on defense, as "required by treaty". [Note: The following is a copy and paste of the article summarized above. I couldn't provide a link. It's from "The Week" / 06-24-2011.] "In his farewell speech in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates took his European colleagues to task over their failure to spend enough money on defense." "This is what’s called “going out with a bang,” said Jean-Jacques Mevel in the Paris Le Figaro. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is retiring in the next few weeks, bade farewell to his European counterparts in Brussels last week with a withering speech accusing them of “collective military irrelevance.” Gates said the failure of European leaders to spend on military hardware and training had consigned the alliance to a “dim, if not dismal future.” His fellow NATO defense ministers sat in stunned silence as Gates listed their failings. Just 11 weeks into the Libya mission, he noted, NATO was already running out of ammunition and turning to the U.S. for more. There is an “unacceptable” division, he said, “between those willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership—be they security guarantees or headquarters billets—but don’t want to share the risks and the costs.” "European leaders greeted this tongue-lashing with “a deafening silence,” said Pablo Pardo in the Madrid El Mundo. And really, what can they say? Even 10 years ago, when the U.S. was preparing to invade Afghanistan after 9/11, it “explicitly rejected the proposal to involve NATO in the overthrow of the Taliban,” preferring instead to cobble together a “coalition of the willing.” And since then, European countries have slashed their defense budgets, with the result that, while the U.S. used to account for half of NATO’s funding, it now makes up 75 percent. Spain, in particular, has resisted U.S. pleas to increase its defense spending, but we’re not alone. Only four of NATO’s other 27 members spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense, as required by the treaty." "But this isn’t just about a budgetary discrepancy, said the London Observer in an editorial. “In venting American anger, Gates has articulated the existential questions that have been hanging over NATO since the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, when its primary purpose evaporated: What is NATO for and can it actually deliver?” It sat idly by during the Yugoslav wars, only to jump in on the side of the Kosovars at the very end, in 1999, with the bombing of Serbia’s capital, Belgrade—a job it botched, by the way. In Afghanistan, which NATO took on only after the U.S. had toppled the Taliban, very few member states are willing to shoulder combat missions. And in Libya, it lacks not only ammunition but also a clear mandate. “The reality is that NATO feels like an anachronism, risk-averse, bloated, and militarily inefficient.” "That’s because it is an anachronism, said the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Arab News. “What will it take for the West to face the reality that the Cold War is over and that NATO is long past its sell-by date?” The alliance played a useful role in controlling the Soviet Union. But with that empire long gone, there is no need for a U.S.-dominated alliance to play global policeman. “If the world needs an international peacekeeping force to deal with trouble spots like Libya, it should exist under the U.N.’s command.” [Note: With NATO fading and the UN peacekeeping force being only marginally effective, that still leaves us as the world's policeman, a role that's bankrupting us as we continue to guard oil supplies that everyone shares in (but without contributing much towards). It's a long-term losing proposition as conflicts in overpopulated Asia Minor will increase no matter what anybody does or doesn't do.] http://theweek.com/article/index/216814/how-climate-change-could-cause-a-30-year-war |
Posted 6/28/2011 11:06 AM CDT In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 -- solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline. Bacteria, viruses and fungi do not like weak alkaline blood conditions. The pH of blood is usually slightly basic with a value of pH 7.365. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH#Living_systems Different parts of the body have different pH levels. So, if you're using litmus paper to generally gauge your body's pH level, know that urine should be about 6.0 Foods can be considered alkaline or acidic based on the residues they produce in the body, rather than whether they are alkaline or acidic themselves. For example, acidic grapefruit and apple cider vinegar are metabolized into alkaline residues (but regular vinegar is acidic). Internal fungal infections have been known to have been dealt with by drinking apple cider "vinegar-ade". The typical American diet is rich in protein, cereal grains and other acid-producing foods. Read: http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm After reading the above chart, if you find yourself eating heavily from the right hand chart, you need to re-evaluate your diet. http://altmedicine.about.com/od/popularhealthdiets/a/alkalinediet.htm http://www.alkaline-alkaline.com/ph_food_chart.html pH Scale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PH_Scale.svg |
Posted 6/28/2011 2:44 AM CDT |
Posted 6/26/2011 10:06 AM CDT Who killed Syed Shahzad? Was it 'al Qaida' or sympathizers from ISI - Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's premier intelligence agency? A Pakistan reporter, Syed Shahzad (bureau chief of "Asia Times Online"), was brutally beaten to death after revealing ties between the Pakistani navy and 'al Qaida'. Several navy personnel had been jailed for links to the the terrorist group -- and the Navy was negotiating over their possible release. The attack on the Karachi naval base last month (and other attacks against the navy) was a reaction to massive internal crackdowns on al-Qaeda affiliates within the navy... [those arrested were held in a specific location, but before proper interrogation could begin, those in-charge of the investigation received direct threats from militants who made it clear they knew where the men were being detained. The detainees were promptly moved to a safer location, but the threats continued. Officials involved in the case believe the militants feared interrogation would lead to the arrest of more of their loyalists in the navy. The militants therefore made it clear that if those detained were not released, naval installations would be attacked]. A 'must read' article, the one that got him killed: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ME27Df06.html What really put the nails in his coffin was the subtitle: "This is the first article in a two-part report... Next: Recruitment and training of militants" I think whoever killed him wanted for Part Two not to surface. I'd imagine that it was already written / at least in rough draft form. Will his news agency be brave enough to publish it? If he had it to do over again, he'd have printed everything he had. Note: Significant is the article's quote of a Pakistani naval officer: "Islamic sentiments are common in the armed forces. We never felt threatened by that. All armed forces around the world take some inspiration from religion to motivate their cadre against the enemy. Pakistan came into existence on the two-nation theory that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations and therefore no one can separate Islam and Islamic sentiment from the armed forces of Pakistan. "Nonetheless, we observed an uneasy grouping on different naval bases in Karachi. While nobody can obstruct armed forces personnel for rendering religious rituals or studying Islam, the grouping we observed was against the discipline of the armed forces. That was the beginning of an intelligence operation in the navy to check for unscrupulous activities....." NOTE: I am turning the Comments off. I'm going to be preoccupied with family business & will not have the time and energy to properly monitor and respond to comments being made. I'll try to continue posting -- though it may be intermittent. |
Posted 6/26/2011 10:00 AM CDT
The left and right halves of the brain have separate stores for 'working memory' (of information that we actively keep in mind). People can usually hold only four pieces of information in their working memory (working memory capacity is 'two plus two' / two items stored in each side of the brain). Moral: When trying to make a point, keep it simple and make it short.
www.tinyurl.com/3ovjhv4
This reminds me of the fact that many animals are able to 'count' up to four. 'Number sense' allows them to 'intuitively' know if there's one or two, three or four items -- but after that, it becomes a 'more than' or 'less than' approximation. It is language that allows humans to conceptualize numbers 'ad infinitum'.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3326801/Fish-can-count-to-four-but-no-higher.html
Do the above two articles correlate? Maybe yes, maybe no; but, it does remind me 'how much' our consciousness is dependent upon precise vocabulary in language usage in order to allow us to formulate, express and utilize concepts. Successful individuals and viable human cultures depend upon a "pattern of knowledge, belief, and behavior that demonstrate a capacity for continued learning".
Quote:
"Don't judge what you don't understand."
NOTE: I am turning the Comments off. I'm going to be preoccupied with family business & will not have the time and energy to properly monitor and respond to comments being made. I'll try to continue posting -- though it may be intermittent.
