Check out these voices from this historical archive
This is Britain.
We live here. We are called the British people. Find out all about us and the way we live!
This is a guide to Britain written for Americans who may be planning a visit here. Use this guide to help you become familar with the many complex, sometimes strange customs of the British People.
Click here to find a guide to British language, culture and customs which will help to know the people better.
Someday I hope to visit England as that's where my roots are. The Stancliff's have lived in America for nine generations, going back to William Stanclift. Before that we were stonecutters in Yorkshire and other areas.
President Obama is the target of more than 30 potential death threats a day and is being protected by an increasingly over-stretched and under-resourced Secret Service, according to a new book. Since President Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of "In the President's Secret Service."
Some threats to Obama, whose Secret Service codename is Renegade, have been publicized, including an alleged plot by white supremacists in Tennessee late last year to rob a gun store, shoot 88 black people, decapitate another 14 and then assassinate the first black president in American history.
Click here to read the rest at The Telegraph
An international team of geneticists have found an astonishing statistic; one in every 200 men alive today is a relative of Genghis Khan. These men have the same male Y chromosome as the great warlord Genghis Khan. 
We are now entering the era of pollution free driving. Car maker Nissan has unveiled the world's first affordable zero-emission car. The car can be easily charged from home (like your cell phone) and will have a range of 100 miles after it is juiced up. Nissan has not announced the cost of this vehicle yet, but they state it will be "competitively priced." The car will be launched late 2010 in Japan, the USA, and Europe.
By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-StandardA $4 billion industry and a piece of Americana are under fire from the American Institute for Cancer Research.
The group filed a lawsuit in a New Jersey Superior Court in Newark against three New Jersey firms on July 22, asserting that hot dogs are hazardous to your health and should carry warning labels on the packages.
Click here to read the rest in The Times-Standard
DNA Evidence on a Remote Island May Reveal the Truth About Earhart's Disappearance Now researchers at the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, or Tighar, say they are on the verge of recovering DNA evidence that would demonstrate Earhart had been stranded on Nikumaroro Island (formerly known as Gardner Island) before finally perishing there.
During May and June of next year, Tighar will launch a new $500,000 expedition, continuing the archaeological work it has been doing on the island since 2001.
"We think we will be able to come back with DNA," said Tighar's Executive Director Ric Gillespie, who is working with two DNA labs in Ontario, Canada, Genesis Genomics and Molecular World. "We were out there in 2007 under the impression that in order to extract DNA we would need to find a piece of a human, and we didn't find anything like that. But we did find what's best described as personal effects of the castaway that died there."
Photo and story via ABC News online
They'll always have a very different outlook on life.
But even though Gerald the giraffe is rather lofty and Eddie the goat is more down to earth, they are the perfect pairing.
They have formed an unlikely bond after Eddie was placed with 15ft Gerald as a short-term solution to keep the giraffe company at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm in Bristol.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1203459/Pen-pals-Giraffe-goat-form-unlikely-friendship-kept-enclosure.html#ixzz0MxBM5QNG
It will take conservatives and women to help turn tide against pot prohibitionCalling for a new approach doesn't make me a pothead. In fact, while I freely admit to having previously smoked marijuana -- as do more than 95 million other Americans, including our last three presidents -- I choose not to be an active marijuana user today.
While opponents may argue that legalization is all about a bunch of twentysomethings wanting to get high, the debate deserves a more respectful and truthful analysis.
Take medical marijuana. On July 20, Colorado's Health Board voted down a proposal that would have effectively shuttered the medical marijuana dispensaries serving as crucial sources of legal marijuana across the state. As a result, courageous patients, including AIDS survivor Damien LaGoy, will not have to take to dangerous streets to obtain marijuana.
Instead, the state's nearly 10,000 patients can continue their existing relationships with dispensaries, many of who deliver to the homebound and hold extensive knowledge about the benefits and side effects of specific strains.
Click here to read the rest at the Colorado Daily.com
photo is of Jessica Peck Corry
Whether you admit it or not, being raised in America, we all know the racial stereotypes that have traversed through our colorful history. What do people really think about the Asians-good-at-math stereotype? Oh, I know, it’s because they’re smarter. Well, no, if we accept Asians are good at math because Asians are smarter, we fall into the same whirlpool of ignorance the Conquistadors used to justify their dominance over Meso-Americans or 19th century American slave owners who believed African slaves could only become civilized through hard work. Fortunately, Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent book, Outliers, has shed some light on the Asian math stereotype.
To continue reading click here at Chinese & Japanese
By J.D. Tuccille
Police chiefs in towns like Auburn and Clinton, Massachusetts would undoubtedly deny that they have any interest in legalizing marijuana, but that's what they've effectively accomplished.
Bent out of shape by the details of Question 2, the decriminalization measure that voters passed in November, those law-enforcement officials have announced that they won't bother issuing tickets to people caught smoking marijuana.
The new law, in effect since January, replaces criminal penalties with a $100 fine for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. The text of the law also forbids any repercussions whatsoever, from denial of student loans to inclusion in a criminal record to consideration during applications for status as an adoptive parent.
But in what is likely a clever sleight of hand by legalization advocates, the law, by pulling arrest off the table as an option, deprives police officers of any means to compel people caught with marijuana to show identification. Anybody willing to say "Donald Duck" to a cop who nabs him with a joint and asks for a name can escape even the $100 fine.
And that's a good thing.
Marijuana is now not only de facto legal in a few Massachusetts communities because police find the requirements of decriminalization too demanding, it is now effectively sanction-free in the entire state for anybody willing to face down a cop.
The added benefit is that the state will not be collecting much revenue from those fines. Anything that denies resources to the government is a good thing.
Governments never had the right to tell consenting adults what they can and can't buy from and sell to each other, or put into their own bodies. We're not quite at the point where politicians are willing to concede that point. But we're getting closer when police simply throw up their hands and effectively allow people to exercise their rights unmolested.
Article from the National Examiner
For your Thursday morning "Ahhh Gee!" moment while drinking that first cup of coffee.As noted in an Animal Planet blog post:
“All of these Santa Barbara area animal rescue organizations have put out a national plea for donations because of the overwhelming need for animal food, medicines, and space to house displaced animals. ART currently leases a 1.5-acre plot of land that houses rescued animals in enclosures on the property, which require around-the-clock care, and the organization is desperate to purchase the land. The morning after Di Sieno – along with an insanely cute bobcat cub and fawn photo – appeared on the Ellen Degeneres show – the landowner decided he needed to sell it and she’s concerned for the future of the animals she and her fellow workers just rescued. The WCN also seeks funds for their Oiled and Injured Seabird Rehab Center, and receive no City, State or federal funding. One of their volunteers, Nancy Callahan, runs W.I.L.D.E. Services which focuses on raccoons and opossums, had her home and facility burnt to the ground and must start over from scratch. After rehabilitation, the groups reintroduce rescued animals to the wild.”
Fire season is just starting, and with drought conditions in Southern California, there could be more wildfires in the coming months. If you’d like to make a donation to help the animal rescue organizations, follow the links above to the non-profits’ websites. Bobcat and fawn thank you!
Text via Peachy Green
“If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night,This is the amazing story of social worker, Julio Diaz, who was on his way home one evening. His normal routine was to get off the train one stop early, to visit his local diner.
The station platform was empty, but as he was walking towards the stairs something dramatic and unexpected happened.
Suddenly a young teenager came up to Julio, pulled a knife and demanded money.
Julio just handed over his wallet, saying: “Here you go”.
But as the teenager turned to go, Julio said: “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”
The story unfolds with Julio offering to take the teenager to the diner to eat with him. He explains: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money… I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.”
When they have finished eating, Julio asks for his wallet back in order to pay for the meal. He then offers to give the teenager $20 in exchange for one thing…
His knife.
Listen to Julio tell his story (opens in a new window)Read the Full Story on NPR.com
Compiled by Zen Moments
#1.Women are buried up to their necks before a stoning. If convicted of adultery, Iranian law requires the stones not be too big or too small so that the probable death is not merciful or prolonged. If a woman miraculously survives a stoning, she must then serve a jail sentence.
For men, the stoning procedure is a bit different. Men are buried up to their waists before a stoning. If they confess and manage to escape, they are free.
To read about a dozen more methods
click here at BRAINZ
Organic food is no healthier than ordinary food, a large independent review has concluded.There is little difference in nutritional value and no evidence of any extra health benefits from eating organic produce, UK researchers found.
The Food Standards Agency who commissioned the report said the findings would help people make an "informed choice".
But the Soil Association criticized the study and called for better research.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine looked at all the evidence on nutrition and health benefits from the past 50 years.
Click here to read the rest at BBC News
Can't get enough of my opinions, sometimes bizarre posts, interesting photos, news, and entertaining columns?
From The Associated Press today
Oakland pot activists fresh off a victory at local polls on the taxing of medical marijuana took their first official step Tuesday toward asking California voters to legalize pot.
A proposed ballot measure filed with the California attorney general's office would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of pot. Homeowners could grow marijuana for personal use on garden plots up to 25 square feet.
The measure's main backer is Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee, who helped push a first-of-its-kind tax on city medical marijuana dispensaries that passed with 80 percent of the vote last week.
The statewide measure needs nearly 434,000 signatures to make the November 2010 ballot.
”It's one more pretty amazing element in the momentum toward ending statewide prohibition,” said Stephen Gutwillig, California director of the pro-legalization Drug Policy Alliance.
His group would rather wait until 2012 to build more support for a ballot initiative but would be happy with an earlier victory, he said.
A similar but less restrictive pot legalization initiative was filed two weeks ago by a group of Northern California criminal defense lawyers.
The Tax, Regulate and Control Cannabis Act of 2010 would set no specific limits on the amount of pot adults could possess or grow for personal use. The measure would repeal all local and state marijuana laws and clear the criminal record of anyone convicted of a pot-related offense.
Both ballot measures would be competing with a bill introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol.
The San Francisco Democrat is pushing legalization as a way to generate revenue for the cash-starved state from California's massive marijuana industry. He plans to hold hearings on the legislation this fall.
image via Google Images
So the U.S. government wants to scan our e-mail, blogs & websites for “our own protection” I think every e-mail that is sent, every website and every blog should include a sentence or two that will trigger an alert.
We should never say (or do) anything threatening but we should say things that can be misinterpreted by a computer. Add a trick line to every e-mail. Make it your signature. Here are some examples:
At the end of your trick sentence you can include the phrase: “How are you doing Big Brother? Nice to see you.”
Click here to read the rest at TvNewsLies
The links below will take you to pages on my website where information on the ECHELON system can be found. Visitors can obtain a list of the keywords used by the system along with some of the IP addresses it uses.
You can also discover how to protect your PC from being eavesdropped upon, and how to throw a spanner in the works of ECHELON.
The government does not have the manpower to spy on everyone simutaneously, and if enough of us bombard the system we can inflict chaos on those who seek to monitor us.
http://planetquo.net/References/ECHELONKeywords.html
http://planetquo.net/References/ECHELONIPAddresses.html
Get the real news and subscribe to our free daily newsletter: http://tvnewslies.orgEvery now and then I need to take a break from my blog and defending Democracy to just chill out. No politics. Just play. I'll be back ...
