Tired off the same old food? Try some of these goodies!

 

To see more scrumptious foods click here.

images via foodnetworkhumor.com

Joe Blow (conspiracy) Report staff bawl like babies!

Well readers, this is what I have to contend with sometimes. Extremists tend to attack anything that doesn't fit their world view. There's a group at the Joe Blow Report blog that decided to attack me on May 31st and who posted a hate-filled rant about a column I did on trolls (of all the ironies!) This is a group that has the mind-set of a steel trap.

Now they have their crying towels (it took them two weeks to think of a reply) out and are blubbering to all that will read their raving. I'm not going to be intimidated by a bunch of cowards who are whining about a conspiracy between me and the Times-Standard to attack trolls! Good grief! Get a life you blowhards.

I don't know who you think you are, but I do know that you seek to impose your will upon others by reading your past posts. Now you think you can silence me by making outrageous accusations and trying to get the newspaper to drop my column. Guess again gang. You'll never be able to silence me. You best bet is to change your soiled diapers and to find someone else to pick on!

image via Google Images

Gas prices keep climbing as a meek public pays the piper!

                              By Dave Stancliff    
       Did you happen to notice that gas prices rose again today?
That’s 48 straight days of getting gouged which matches a record for this decade. We keep getting ripped off despite the fact that the demand for gas is weak.
       Crude oils upward swing has been mirrored by the declining value of the dollar. That's because crude futures are bought and sold in U.S. currency, meaning that crude gets cheaper for many buyers as the dollar falls.
      Prices at the pump rose 0.6 cents to $2.669 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Services. Prices are a nickel above where they were a week ago and 30.8 cents above month-ago levels, but remain $1.408 below year ago levels.
       Consumers are now paying about $1 billion a day for gasoline compared with about $600 million a day over New Year's weekend and $1.5 billion a day or more a year ago, according to Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.
       The more than 60 percent increase in prices so far this year exceeds anything going as far back as the 1970s, Kloza recently told the press. With all of this in mind, my next question is why haven’t these rising oil prices made front page headlines? Have we already forgotten about last year’s high point in ripping us off at the pump?
       Worse yet, are we just so blown away by this bad economy that we are now accepting whatever hits us like a bunch of sheep? I’m not sure what to make of this. Some experts are saying the good news is that prices look like they may be peaking.
       I wouldn’t bet on that however. It’s rapidly becoming clear to me that we’re going to be back at $4 plus per gallon by Christmas! That should really help stimulate the economy. People are struggling to have the very basics in life right now.
       It seems to me that something is fundamentally wrong with a system of speculators that can make life hell for the majority of Americans by driving up the price of gas whenever they feel like it. I’d call it un-American, but we are a capitalist society, and this is one of the scummy by-products that result.
        I’m trying to think of some upside to all of this. The best I can do is note that fuel-efficient cars will become more prevalent in the future. That is, of course, assuming that we just don’t go back to walking and riding bicycles like many third world nations today!
       As It Stands, we’ll never be free until fossil fuel is no longer part of our economy.

image via Seeds of Doubt    

Did you remember to get a digital converter box?

Cartoon via Rob Rogers @ Yahoo News

GOP activist DePass compares First Lady Michelle Obama to a Gorilla

 It's comments like Depass's, that make the Republicans look like asses!

From The Raw Story...

By Daniel Tencer

A high-ranking South Carolina Republican activist has issued an apology after comparing First Lady Michelle Obama to a gorilla.

Rusty DePass, a former chairman of the Richland County Republican Party, made the comments in a friend’s Facebook status update line after a gorilla was reported to have escaped from Columbia’s Riverbanks Zoo.

According to FitsNews, the status line read: “I’m sure it’s just one of Michelle’s ancestors — probably harmless.”

DePass told the Associated Press that he made the comment in reference to President Barack Obama’s views on evolution.

From FitsNews:

"We’re all for First Amendment freedoms and politically incorrect remarks around here, but this strikes even our most indelicate of sensibilities as out of bounds.

And while we will defend DePass’ right to make such a comment, it’s insanely racist - sort of like the anti-Obama flyer found on S.C. Rep. Bill Sandifer’s desk last year."

That was in reference to a controversy last year in which a South Carolina state House Representative was caught with a flyer claiming that Obama had promised a job to all black Americans, but that those black Americans were too lazy to actually want the jobs.

photo via The Raw Story

Lakers close out Magic and earn 15th NBA title banner!

It's been a great series. The Lakers had to fight hard to win the Western Conference, and when it came time for the whole ball of wax, they shut the Magic down 4 games to 1. Read more here.

Photo via Wally Skalij /LA Times

Clean energy bill should have 100 percent auction of carbon emission permits

Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 06/14/2009 01:27:09 AM PDT

Congress is debating a comprehensive energy bill, known for short as “ACES,” that will be a winning hand for pollution-generating corporations, or for the American public. It's that simple.

The bill, HR 2453 -- The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 -- was introduced by Congressmen Waxman and Markley. It needs to be modified, but it's a step in the right direction. Everyone agrees something has to be done and it's important that we do it soon.

However, as currently worded, the bill allocates most of the revenue generated from new carbon emission permits to major corporations. Chesapeake Climate Action Network's (CCAN) Policy Director Ted Glick recently went to Washington, D.C., to deliver a sign-on letter to Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and other members of the House Ways and Means Committee, addressing the issue of carbon credits in the new legislation.

Click here for the rest of the column.

image via Google Images

Rep. Frank Re-Introduces Bill to Recognize State Medical Marijuana Laws - HR 2835

Press release from NORML

Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, along with a bipartisan coalition of co-sponsors, is seeking to strengthen legal protections for state-authorized medical marijuana patients.

The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act of 2009 would ensure that medical cannabis patients in states that have approved its use will no longer have to fear arrest or prosecution from federal law enforcement agencies.

Thirteen states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- have enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution. Yet in all of these states, patients and providers still face the risk of federal sanction -- even when their actions are fully compliant with state law.

It is time that we allowed our unique federalist system to work the way it was intended. Patients and their state representatives should have the authority to enact laws permitting the medical use of cannabis -- free from federal interference.

Previous versions of The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act were introduced in both the 108th and 109th Congress, but failed to receive a public hearing or a committee vote. Please write your members of Congress today and tell them to stop targeting and prosecuting medical marijuana patients and providers. For your convenience, a prewritten letter will be e-mailed to your member of Congress when you enter your contact information below.

Thank you for assisting NORML's federal law reform efforts.

image via fotosearch

A Foxy Foot Fetish: or how the locals found their footwear in a lair!

More than 120 shoes have gone missing from homes and gardens in Germany after a fox developed a bizarre fetish.

The mystery was only solved when a forestry worker found a stash of the missing footwear in the fox's lair near Fohren.

Tiny tooth marks on the leather show the vixen - dubbed Imelda Marcos after the shoe-mad president's wife - may have used them as toys for her cubs to play with.

Local landowner Count Rudolf Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt said: "She's clearly got a thing about shoes.

"We found 86 shoes in the den and a further 32 in a nearby quarry where they like to play. That includes 12 or 13 matching pairs of shoes."

image and story via Ananova

Clashes erupt in Iran over disputed election: Ahmadinejad accused of fraud

From the Associated Press this morning...

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and ANNA JOHNSON, AP Writers Ali Akbar Dareini and Anna Johnson, AP Writers –

TEHRAN, Iran – Supporters of the main election challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires Saturday as authorities claimed the hard-line president was re-elected in a landslide. The rival candidate said the vote was tainted by widespread fraud and his followers responded with the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade.

Several hundred demonstrators — many wearing the trademark green colors of pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign — chanted "the government lied to the people" and gathered near the Interior Ministry as the final count from Friday's presidential election was announced. It gave 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 to Mousavi — a former prime minister who has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties and a gentler face for Iran abroad.

Mousavi rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship."

Read the rest of the story here.

photo via AP

Weed, Booze, Cocaine and Other Old School "Medicine" Ads

From Pill Talk we have some great ads that were run in the past...

Lloyd Cocaine Toothache Drops
In the US, cocaine was sold over the counter until 1914 and was commonly found in products like toothache drops, dandruff remedies and medicinal tonics.

Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but some awfully strange substances have been used for pharmaceutical purposes in the past -- and some might argue, continue to be used today. Here are some more vintage advertisements touting items that we might balk at taking today.

images via Pill Talk

 

Life is a mystery not to be solved, but to be experienced...

image via AMO

Radioactive wasps are nesting at Hanford reservation

I know. The following story almost sounds like prelude to an old B Movie. As a matter of fact I found this movie poster with it's wasp/human woman "getting her man!"

After reading it I'm also left wondering what "fairly highly contaminated" really means? It wouldn't be very comforting to me if I lived anywhere near those toxic wasps. Then again, it wouldn't be very comforting to me if I lived anywhere near a nuclear reactor!

 From the Associated Press...

 Workers cleaning up the Hanford nuclear reservation are going after radioactive wasp nests.

The Tri-City Herald reports 6 to 12 inches of top soil are being dug up this month from 6 acres near the H Reactor.

And, workers will dig up more individual mud dauber wasp nests over about 75 acres of the nuclear reservation in southeast Washington.

The contractor handling the clean-up, Washington Closure, says the nests were all built in 2003 when water was used to dampen dust during demolition of an H Reactor basin.

That attracted the wasps that used the mud to make tube-shaped nests for eggs.

Spokesman Todd Nelson says the nests are "fairly highly contaminated."

 image via Google Images

The Ice Age Cometh for the Republican Party...

From Search Time...

By Mike Murphy

Despairing Republican friends have been asking me what I think we should do to rebuild the GOP and begin our certain and inevitable comeback. My answer disappoints them: "Build an ark."

I say this because I've made a career out of counting votes, and the numbers tell a clear story; the demographics of America are changing in a way that is deadly for the Republican Party as it exists today. A GOP ice age is on the way.

Demographic change is irritating to politicos, since it works on elections much as rigged dice do on a Las Vegas craps table: it is a game changer. For years, Republicans won elections because the country was chock-full of white middle-class voters who mostly pulled the GOP lever on Election Day. Today, however, that formula is no longer enough. (See pictures of Republican memorabilia.)

It was a huge shock to the GOP when Barack Obama won Republican Indiana last year. The bigger news was how he did it. Latino voters delivered the state. Exit polls showed that they provided Obama with a margin of more than 58,000 votes in a state he carried by a slim 26,000 votes. That's right, GOP, you've entered a brave new world ruled by Latino Hoosiers, and you're losing. Click here to read the rest of the article.

image via searchtime.com

My great uncle was freed in the famous WW II Guerrila Raid on Los Banos with the author of this terrible experience

My Great-Uncle Leo Stancliff from Bakersfield (who I never got to meet), was a civilian POW during WW II.This account also mentioned someone from Hydesville (here in Humboldt County).

His name was Herman Beaber and he (with foot notes from his son John) wrote a book about his experiences titled: "Deliverance! It Has Come!" Click here to get more detailed information on Herman Barber.

In late 1941 war broke out in the Philippines with the Japanese. Many endured imprisonment, including some ministers who were interned at the Los Baños Internment Camp located about 40 miles south of Manila in the Philippines.

They were Willie Jamieson from Chirnside, Scotland; Ernest Stanley from England (internment at Santo Tomás); Leo Stancliff of Bakersfield, California; Cecil Barrett of New Zealand; and Herman Beaber of Hydesville, California, who kept a diary during their time as prisoners of war (1942-1945).

On January 6, 1942 Herman and his fellow ministers were picked up by the Japanese and were taken first to the Rizal Memorial Stadium where they were registered. Then they were bundled back into the car and taken to Santo Tomás University grounds.

They later were released and allowed to continue their church work. (with the exception of Ernest Stanley who chose to remain in Santo Tomás as an official interpreter for the Internee Government). They were allowed to have religious services (Sundays only), from January 15, 1942 until they were taken to prison at Los Baños on July 8, 1944, along with all the other American missionaries in the area.

"Los Baños was the former University of the Philippines, the Agricultural School at Los Baños was located in a town on the island of Luzon.

It had been converted into an internment camp. It was a plot of about 55 or 60 acres with a barbed wire fence around it, for more than 2,000 civilians who had the misfortune of falling into Japanese hands at the beginning of the war.

As time passed and as the Japanese began to lose the war, things became very desperate at the Los Baños prison camp. While Herman Beaber's diary does not record that they were tortured, they nearly starved, and many in the camp died from disease and slow starvation.

Herman wrote in his diary... "Naturally there is theft of food in camp. It is considered a major crime. We see people (respectable people) looking into garbage cans for banana skins, etc. (If you want a real delicacy... Fry some banana skins in rancid coconut oil.) People going to points in camp several blocks away will have to sit down to rest. Fights occur in the food lines. Some have eaten bugs and beetles - so they say."
Herman left from the United States for the Philippines in 1940 weighing 202 lbs at 6'3" and he weighed 140 lbs when he was finally rescued on February 23, 1945. On that day American soldiers freed over 2000 prisoners at Los Baños in a daring guerrilla and paratrooper rescue, just one day before they were all to be executed by the Japanese. Army Chief of Staff General

Herman left from the United States for the Philippines in 1940 weighing 202 lbs at 6'3" and he weighed 140 lbs when he was finally rescued on February 23, 1945. On that day American soldiers freed over 2000 prisoners at Los Baños in a daring guerrilla and paratrooper rescue, just one day before they were all to be executed by the Japanese.

Army Chief of Staff General Colin Powell (now former Secretary of State) proclaimed- "I doubt that any airborne unit in the world will ever be able to rival the Los Baños prison raid. It is the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies."

Herman Beaber wrote..."Let me say that you who have never been deprived of seeing Old Glory and all she stands for, for three long years, cannot understand what that sight would mean. We feel heavily indebted to our rescuers. (No greater love has a man, than to lay down his life for another) We are mighty proud to be citizens of a great country like the United States. On the other hand, we are grateful to God for His care and protection, and now that He has spared our lives... we feel more inclined than ever to give Him our best."

My Great Uncle Leo passed away on Oct.29th, 2005. Herman Beaber passed away on Feb. 5th, 2001

6,000-Year-Old Tombs Found Next to Stonehenge

 From SciTech this morning...

A prehistoric complex, including two 6,000-year-old tombs, has been discovered by archaeologists in Hampshire.

The Neolithic tombs, which until now had gone unnoticed under farmland despite being just 15 miles from Stonehenge, are some of the oldest monuments to have been found in Britain.

Archaeologists say they will hold valuable clues about how people lived at the time and what their environment was like.

The discovery is also close to Cranborne Chase, one of the most well researched prehistoric areas in Europe.

Click here to read the rest.

 image via AP/National Graphic

One of my favorite poems by Robert Frost...

The Road Not Taken

 by Robert Frost
 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood 
And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
      Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
      Though as for that the passing there
      Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

photo via Read Print

Scientists are working on a fat enzyme that would allow everyone to be skinny

• I'm not sure how I feel about the possibility of everyone being skinny someday. I personally don't think skinny is sexy. But, like you, I do associate thinness with health. Right or wrong that's the general impression. So when I stumbled across this article I thought it would be interesting to share and see what you think.

•  From Discover Magazine we have this interesting tidbit...

Remember the guy from Super Size Me who ate about 23,000 Bic Macs and never got fat? Ever wonder how he did it? Turns out he may have been born without the “fat enzyme.”

The enzyme MGAT2 is found in the intestines and determines the fate of our food by regulating how it is metabolized: It either makes fat go straight to your waistline, or converts it into energy. Scientists in California have discovered that when mice are missing the gene for MGAT2, they can eat whatever they want and never have to worry about getting fat.

The University of California at San Francisco knocked out the gene in experimental mice to see how their bodies grew after feeding them different diets. When the normal and experimental mice were fed a diet low in fat, both sets of mice grew the same way. But when the mice were eating a 60 percent fat diet (i.e., a typical American diet), the experimental mice weighed 40 percent less and had 50 percent less fat than the normal mice.

Not only does decreasing MGAT activity in mice reduce their chances of packing on the pounds, it also prevents them from developing other obesity-related problems such as fatty livers and glucose intolerance. While the researchers are unsure of precisely how the experimental mice kept the weight off, they think that when the mice are missing the MGAT2 enzyme, their body ultimately doesn’t store or use the fat.

Still, don’t go on a Big Mac binge just yet: Until scientist can figure out how to manipulate this gene to create the magic skinny pill, we will continue to metabolize food like we did when we were hunters and gathers.

Related Content:
DISCOVER: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Fat
DISCOVER: Killer Fat
DISCOVER: Fat Is Not The Enemy

image via Google Images

Animals made from old computer parts previewed

 

 

Click here to see more of these works of art made from recycled computer parts.

Images via artsdesignblog.com 

Solar powered hatchback van hits the streets in Europe!

I wonder if American manufacturers are going to be turning out vehicles like this in the near future? A worldwide vehicle revolution is currently underway, and the good news is that renewable energies are leading the way! I sure wouldn't mind having this van.

From Inhabitat.com this morning...

Starting this coming spring, a slick new solar-powered electric vehicle will be hitting the streets of Europe. Italian car designer Pininfarina and French battery manufacturer Bolloré have officially announced that the five door Blue Car hatchback is now ready for production. A fully-electric vehicle with solar panels by 2010!

Previously unveiled at last years Geneva Show, the Blue Car is a fully-electric vehicle that comes equipped with solar panels on the rooftop. The vehicle is 3.65 meters long, 1.6 meters high and 1.72 meters wide, and features a 50kW electric motor that provides an acceleration of 0-60mph in around 6 seconds and a top speed of 80mph.

The solar panels on the vehicle’s roof provides some power to the vehicle’s systems. It comes with regenerative brakes and a Lithium Metal Polymer batteries, and has a range of 155 miles per charge. According to the manufacturer, all the materials in the construction have been made to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

Photo via Inhabitat

Classic Crime Comic Books of the 1940s and 1950s...

 

From CrimeBoss.com

Welcome to my gallery of crime comic covers. Crime comics from the 1940s and 1950s have some of the best covers ever created. It’s a good thing, too, because oftentimes the interior content (especially the Fox titles) is terrible. 

Check out favorite covers, too. It includes “thumbnail” images of some covers.  Image via Crime Boss.

 

 

I wonder what the Moral majority thinks about this web site?

 

From Ananova this morning...

A web site called Christian Nymphos has been set up by a group of wives to encourage young women to embrace intimacy in their marriages.

 The site dispenses advice on how couples can spice up their love life without breaking God's laws, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Suggestions for new sexual positions, scenarios and games are published alongside to links to Bible study websites.

"God wants us to be madly in love with our husbands," wrote the anonymous women behind the site. "He wants us to keep that fire burning in our marriage beds."

Of the web site's provocative name, they add: "The word Nympho has a negative connotation for some. It doesn't have to stay this way."

Although the tone of discussion can be explicit - oral sex, orgasms and sex aides are frequently discussed - the moral message is still strong.

Sex outside of marriage is forbidden, masturbation is frowned upon, and erotica is only acceptable if the characters are married.

Christian Nymphos has had more than 800,000 visits since its launch last year.

"It's good to know that there are Godly women who are not ashamed of the blessing of marital sexual love," wrote one reader.

Image via Ananova

Don't let it bug you if you don't recognize these musicians...

If you do know who is pictured above, than I have a treat for you. There's a whole slew of old photos of these guys that you may never have seen on Targinga!

Massachusetts firefighters rescue kitten stuck in pipe

By KELLY ONANIAN

WAREHAM — Firefighters are known to rescue cats in trees but on Friday, Onset firefighters saved a kitten that was stuck in a PVC pipe for days.

The kitten, named Piper by volunteers at A Helping Paw Animal Shelter, was discovered by Onset resident Myrna Amado as she walked between her properties on Aunt Hannah's Lane.

For several days, she had heard a strange noise coming from one of her garages.

On Friday, she discovered the kitten, its face swollen, stuck in the pipe on the side of the garage.

Click here to see what happened.

Image and story via South Coast Today

Cell Phone controversy heats up: more reader input

Since writing about the dangers of cell phone use for youngsters last Sunday I have received 58 emails on the subject. Here are a few more examples:

The cell phone industry replies:

Dear Dave Stancliff,
Your Sunday story (June 7th) on the “dangers of cell phones” did not adequately address what professional scientists, researchers and U.S. Courts have found on the health impact of cell phone usage.
Since I am not a doctor or scientist, I choose to rely on organizations whose sole mission is to keep us safe.  Leading global heath organizations such as the American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, World Health Organization and the United States Food and Drug Administration have conducted and reviewed scientific research and evidence and have come to a consensus that there is no reason for concern about using your wireless devices. 
CTIA and the wireless industry take the health of our customers very seriously. That is why we work directly with the Federal Communications Commission to comply with the strict safety guidelines that are required for all wireless devices in the US.
Regards,
John Walls
Vice President of Public Affairs
CTIA-The Wireless Association®
(202) 736-3656 (day)
(202) 360-5430 (cell/evening)
JWalls@ctia.org

From the University of Maryland School of Nursing...

Hi Dave,

I just read your article:  http://www.times-standard.com/othervoices/ci_12539875

Do you have citations for the studies you refer to in this article?  I share your concerns and I’d like to have the studies to back these concerns up.’

Thanks

Louise

Louise Mitchell, Sustainable Foods Coordinator
Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (MD H2E) 
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street, Room 642
Baltimore, MD  21201
410-706-1924  phone
410-706-0253  fax
lmitc001@son.umaryland.edu
www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org
www.mdh2e.org

From England...

Dear Dave,
I had to reply to your article, because I have known since 2002 that the damage to health is factual. I attach your article plus my comments and the history of activation of the Orange mast in our village in Sept 2001.
No-one has cancer yet *(apart from two pets 20 to 40 meters from the mast who died within a couple of years after suffering symptoms and cancer - their symptoms started as soon as the mast was activated) although one man (Alan Brooks) had a lump removed from his neck about 4 weeks ago.
Best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Gill Lyden

172 Common Road

Kensworth Dunstable Beds.

More Reader Input on this week's cell phone column

UPDATE:

From

Henry Padolsey - UK

Dave,

I agree totally with the comments regarding Cell Phones, but as you probably aware that pulsed microwave emissions also come from your DECT cordless phone (at a similar frequency to cell phones). However, what you may be unaware of is that cordless phone base stations continue to emit this radiation 24/7/365 even if you are not making or receiving a call! This is a design flaw in the majority of cordless DECT phones. Generally people use their cordless phones for longer periods.

Also, it might be worth you taking a look at http://tinyurl.com/5ru6e6  similar research to Dr. Neil Cherry?

The problem has been partly solved in Europe with the availability of Low Radiation cordless DECT phones that switch off microwave emissions between calls and adjust their power output levels dependant of distance from base station.

Best regards

Henry Padolsey
Rowtex Limited, UK

image via photobucket

UPDATE:

From: Mastsanity

Dave,

All the research on brain tumors is now listed here
www.wiredchild.org
also see
www.mastsanity.org with more brain surgeons speaking out from Australia on
the front page (scroll down a little way)
and a fun rap song!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WJCKgknZoE
Regards
Sarah

UPDATE:

From: Nancy Evans:

Thanks for the op-ed in the Eureka Times-Standard, Dave.

You are right on point to sound the alarm on this issue--and fortunate that the paper published your piece. Wish the SF Chronicle would allow a similar alert to readers here.  You'll find lots more on this issue at www.healthandenvironment.org the website for the Collaborative for Health and the Environment (CHE).  There's a very comprehensive brochure/fact sheet which I helped prepare for the President's Cancer Panel on Radiation. 

I co-facilitate the CHE working group on EMF with Cindy Sage, principal of Sage Associates in Santa Barbara.  The science on EMF/RF exposure and health effects is extensive and compelling--and the news isn't good. When marketing gets ahead of science, people suffer.

Thanks again for your efforts,

Nancy
Nancy Evans
Health Science Consultant
415-285-7267

It's been wonderful getting all of your emails (37 from all around the world thus far) and I'm going to keep sharing some of the best ones with you. This one comes from a reader in Canada.

"Their not only selling their souls, but the souls of another generation"

  By S.A.Joyce

Hello Mr. Stancliff.

And thank you for being courageous enough to speak out about the growing evidence connecting exposure to EMF and microwave radiation to brain tumors, leukemia and various forms of cancer.

As you probably know, the Bioinitiatives group last year did a meta-analysis of all the available scientific studies to date and found a clear correlation of harm, and there are new studies being published almost every day somewhere in the world. 

The telecommunications industry has done a masterful job of obscuring the issue, the same as the tobacco industry did for 50 years after they had the evidence, the same as the energy industry did about global warming 20 or 30 years after they had the evidence. No one in those industries is willing to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, no matter how many people suffer and die.

So far every study done on microwave radiation exposure from cell phones that has been funded by the industry has—surprise!—shown either a negative or inconclusive result. That we still allow such conflict of interest in science to be accepted by our governments is a travesty, and one of the corporation's greatest disinformation weapons.

You have only to read Dr. George Carlo's book 'Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age' and learn of his experience working as a scientific researcher in the industry to realize how the entire game is corrupt and was rigged from the start. The telecom industry bribed government into allowing this product on the market with no pre-market safety testing—quite a political/economic feat in itself!

They then helped write the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which specifically—and tellingly—states that no community may object to the placement of cell phone broadcast towers based on health concerns. In other words, like Big Tobacco, they knew from the beginning.

In Canada we have followed the same pathetic regulatory regime as in the U.S., giving the telecom industry carte blanche to put up broadcast towers in any neighborhood they choose with no consultation and no recourse. In one neighborhood in BC's capital city Victoria (actually a suburb, Colwood) after an FM/cell phone broadcast tower was put up literally right in the midst of a block of houses, pets started dying, insomnia became pandemic and everyone on the block started coming down with various cancers and other illnesses. They have formed a citizens' group and are fighting to have the tower removed or at least the power levels turned down but are getting nowhere.

The simple fact is that government and industry are de facto business partners. This is how industry gets government to look the other way on products that are known to be hazardous before they are ever released. In the case of the telecom industry, the government which regulates and licenses the airwaves gets a billion dollars every time it chops up another slice of the microwave bandwidth to auction off. And the industry itself then makes billions more selling phone plans to its customers.

The fact that telecom corporations are willing to market these dangerous toys to children, knowing they are five times more susceptible to brain tumors and leukemia than adults, confirms that they are completely evil. They are selling not only their souls but the souls of the next generation for money.

Hate to sound like a Jeremiah, but there it is.

Take care.

Sean Arthur (Art) Joyce

image via Revolution 21

Reader suggests conspiracy in cell phone industry

Backround:

Sunday's column:

Are young people facing a brain cancer epidemic caused by cell phones?

From an alert reader today, we have the following email.

Please note I didn't use the reader's name or address (as they requested), due to the sensitivity of the information. I've heard many things about cell phones, and I know for sure they are a powerful lobby with enough power to submerge scientific facts. Some links to more information on this subject are: www.wirechild.org and www.mastsanity.org .

"There is, in fact a direct association between brain cancer and cell phone usage since way back when. The cell phone industry almost lost their product under a lawsuit brought on to Ameritech Cellular by a consumer. 

This lawsuit was quickly resolved, and pushed under the rug by the courts, Ameritech Cellular, the FCC, Cellular Phone company scientists, and the Federal Government.

The Federal Government took the Cell Phone company scientist's findings, instead of asking the FCC and the Cell Phone companies to run an independent test.

I have been in the cell phone business for quite some time, and have seen severe brain cancers of my own colleagues, at quite a young age, caused by radio frequency waves, and taking their lives. 

The government and our Skunk Testing Sites constantly are trying to find out ways to improve and use these radio frequencies, they call harmless, and get them implemented into our arsenal of fighting equipment and to the battlefield for use. 

It shall be extremely hard for you to dig this information back up, and you possibly may want to use the "Disclosure of Information Act" to do so BUT, I caution you, you will be stepping on some very big toes.

The Telecommunications Industries, Cell Phone Companies at the top of the list, spend billions of dollars a year for lobbyist at the White House, so that anything that comes up negative about the cellular industry, will be spun off for the president, our senators, legislators, and of course the public.

I had worked in the Cellular communication field for about 15 years prior to being fired for telling the CEO of Verizon Wireless, that AT&T has the most cellular coverage, which was very true at the time.  His name, Lowell McFadden, the most scrupulous person in the Cellular Communication Corporation.
If you still want to push this subject, and it is not just a news article to you, I wish you lots of luck.
I will ask that my name and e-mail address remain anonymous, for reasons you now know." 

Image via MotherJones.com

Are young people facing a brain cancer epidemic caused by cell phones?

 AS IT STANDS 

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 06/07/2009 01:27:20 AM PDT

It always troubles me when people get sick, or even die, from a product that hasn't been thoroughly tested.

You see that kind of thing often in the pharmaceutical market. Big companies are more concerned about releasing new products to make a profit than they are about the long-term effects these products may have.

Despite the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) efforts, the practice of releasing products to the public before their long-term effects have been thoroughly studied, continues to this day.

Take cell phones for example. The FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is supposed to make sure that radiation-emitting products, such as microwave ovens, TV sets, cell phones, and laser products meet radiation standards.

According to the CDRH Web site (www.fda.gov) “the center monitors devices throughout the product life cycle, including a nationwide post-market surveillance system.” If that's the case, why are the FDA's only mobile phone studies relatively short term, with absolutely no data available on the consequences of childhood exposure to cell phones? Click here to read the rest.

photo via www.cafemom.com/.

One in seven scientists make up fake results, say peers

From Times Online...

By Hannah Devlin

 Faking scientific data and failing to report commercial conflicts of interest are far more prevalent than previously thought, a study suggests.

One in seven scientists says that they are aware of colleagues having seriously breached acceptable conduct by inventing results. And around 46 per cent say that they have observed fellow scientists engage in “questionable practices”, such as presenting data selectively or changing the conclusions of a study in response to pressure from a funding source.

However, when scientists were asked about their own behavior only 2 per cent admitted to having faked results.

Click here to read the rest.

Image via www.biojobblog.com

The safest play to live in the world is New Zealand

 From Ynet  Israel News

Far, far away: New Zealand is the safest place in the world, while Israel is almost at the bottom of the new Global Peace Index (GPI), an annual ranking of 144 of the world's nations based of how peaceful they are, which was published Wednesday by British newspaper The Guardian.

The top of the list saw an overthrow, after Iceland lost its title as the safest place in the world and fell to the fourth place, following the financial collapse in the northern European island.

 Israel ranked fourth from the end, falling one place compared to last year. Even Sudan and Congo are considered safer. The Jewish state is followed by only Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, which is still defined as the most dangerous country in the world despite the improvement in its security following the US activity there.

To find out where the United States ranks and more world statistics click here.

image via Google Images

How long do you plan on living? Find out you life expectancy here...

From the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network...

How long can you expect to live? We developed the Longevity Game to give you a peek into your future by identifying the factors that can lead to a healthier, more productive life.

At Northwestern Mutual, we know a thing or two about longevity because we’ve been tracking statistics that impact life since 1857. And that wealth of knowledge helped us shape the Longevity Game.

Through the game, we hope to give you insight into your daily lifestyle—plus tips on how you can make some positive changes.

 Click here to find out your expected life span.

Image via Google Images

Trolls Exposed: what kind of troll is disrupting your online community?

I've encountered Satanists - The Wren's Nest who ran my July 20, 2008 column IRS Recognized The Church of Satan as a Religion

and now I've strolled into a troll's cave....

UPDATE JUNE 3rd

Check out The Joe Blow Report blog.

What's really interesting about "Joe Blow" is that he's threatening me -

to paraphrase:

"If he (Dave) honestly thought I, or any of us, were actually paranoid and hostile as he claimed, I doubt he would have the termerity, let alone the courage to say it directly to me."

What does a coward afraid to use his own name think he's doing by questioning my courage?

I made the mistake of making a comment on his (their) little hate-filled blog because he (they) devoted a post to attacking my column on trolls. Please read his (their) blog and see what you think. I probably should have realized he (they) are a paranoid lot of losers and just let them be. The thinly veiled threats warning me that I didn't have a clue who I was talking to is just further proof of the hate that is spewing out from The Joe Blow Report blog.

-Dave

Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 05/31/2009 01:27:12 AM PDT

Don't feed the trolls.

You know the ones I'm talking about. They prey on news forums, chat rooms, and other online communities. Their purpose: to disrupt any conversation or thread, and to get an emotional response from some unwary person. Ignoring them and not responding to their posts is your best option.

What kind of people are trolls? They're cowards. Lonely cowards. Their posts seldom show any real imagination and often resort to childish name-calling.

Click here to read the rest.

image via Google Images

Savant Art: A window into their formidable brains

Click here to see a collection of art created by various prodigious savant artists from around the world. Each piece of art has been chosen because it shines some light on the way the mind of a savant works.

The above image

Pi Landscape, by Daniel Tammet

Daniel Tammet shot to fame when he set a European record for the number of digits of pi he recited from memory (22,514). He has also learned Icelandic in a week and made up his own language. How does he do it?
He attributes his ability to remember numbers to his mixture of autism and synaesthesia. The autism focused his mind on numbers at a very young age, while the synaesthesia allows him to visualize each number as having a particular shape, color and texture.
This leads him to a number landscape that is easier to remember than a simple string of numbers.
See Inside the mind of an autistic savant
(Image: Daniel Tammet)

Grin and Bear It: Ancient Death-Smile Potion Decoded?

 From National Geographic...

By James Owen

Thousands of years before the Joker gassed comic book victims into a grinning death, Phoenician colonists on the island of Sardinia (map) were forcing smiles on the faces of the dead.

Now scientists say they know just how the ancient seafaring traders created the gruesome smiles some 2,800 years ago—not with a toxic gas like Batman's nemesis but with a plant-based potion.

And someday that plant might be used to Botox-like effect, perhaps reducing rather than adding smile lines, the researchers speculate.

(Related: "Phoenician Blood Endures 3,000 Years, DNA Study Shows.")

Ancient Death Grins

By the eighth century B.C., Homer had coined the term "sardonic grin"—"sardonic" having its roots in "Sardinia"—in writings referring to the island's ritual killings via grimace-inducing potion.

Click here to read the rest.

Image via National Geographic Online

Are urban villages in store for the city of Detroit?

Planners say Detroit could one day resemble the English countryside

From The Detroit Free Press...

BY JOHN GALLAGHER •

In a new vision of Detroit's future, a team of visiting urban planners suggests the city might one day resemble the English countryside, with distinct urban villages surrounded by farms, fields and meadows.

The idea may sound improbable, but Alan Mallach, a New Jersey-based planner who led the visiting team, said Detroit is evolving in that direction anyway, with large chunks of the city now largely abandoned.

"In a way, think of it as a 21st-Century version of a traditional country pattern," Mallach said. "You have high-density development on one side of the street and cows on the other, quite literally."

The team's recommendations, contained in a draft report by a committee of the American Institute of Architects, are the latest in a flurry of ideas for dealing with Detroit's growing vacancy.

Click here to read the rest.

Image via The Detroit Free Press Online

There goes one of his nine lives:Cat survives a 26 story fall

From Gothamist...

By Jen Chung

WABC 7 had this crazy story over the weekend: A cat fell 26 stories from a lower Manhattan building—and survived! And the cat's name is...Lucky! Apparently Lucky's owner had left a window in her apartment open 6 inches wide—which is more than enough for any enterprising cat to wander through. Lucky decided to walk out onto the ledge, but he slipped.

What's also amazing is that a window washing crew across the street took pictures! See them here—WABC 7 describes them, "First of Lucky perched dangerously on the ledge, and then a stomach-turning shot of Lucky midair. Finally, they captured Lucky, after landing, on his feet on a neighbor's balcony 26 stories below." Lucky was hospitalized briefly and seems to be fine and as cute as ever, judging by the video.

If you have any pets, do not leave unscreened windows open more than a inch. Here's the ASPCA on high rise syndrome.

The Animal Communication Project: FROG CALLS

Ever wonder what all the croaking is about when you hear Frogs communicating? You knew those "ribbits" had a story to tell. Here it is:

From the Animal Communication Project...

The concave-eared torrent frog (Amolops tormotus) produces and responds to ultrasonic calls.

   "As dusk falls over a swampy pond, the chorus begins. First one frog croaks, a little hesitantly. Soon another joins in. Suddenly the pond resonates with the voices of dozens of male frogs, each signaling his species, availability and qualifications as a father.

Two populations of the same species, separated geographically—a highway running through a swamp, for example—develop dialects, slight differences in their calls. In most species, only males call, though the female midwife toad out shouts her mate. A sudden foreign sound silences them one and all. But soon a single voice starts again, followed by another and another.

The sound of a pond full of frogs can reach deafening levels, far out of proportion to the tiny bodies producing the sound. An air sac on the floor of the frog’s mouth enables it to do two remarkable things. First, when it’s expanded, the sac acts as a resonator, like the hollow body of a violin. Second, by forcing air into the sac from the lungs, then back into the lungs, a frog can croak continuously, even under water. The loudest frogs breed in temporary ponds. When the water’s available, the males muster mates quickly, for all frogs lay eggs only in water, and the tadpoles must grow legs before the temporary ponds dry up.

Click here for the rest of the story.

Photo © 2006 Albert S. Feng

Hendrix murdered by his manager, says former aide

From The Independent People

By Sadie Gray

The rock legend Jimi Hendrix was murdered by his manager, who stood to collect millions of dollars on the star's life insurance policy, a former roadie has claimed in a new book.

James "Tappy" Wright says that Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffrey, drunkenly confessed to killing him by stuffing pills into his mouth and washing them down with several bottles of red wine because he feared Hendrix intended to dump him for a new manager, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.

In his book, Rock Roadie, Mr Wright says Jeffrey told him in 1971 that Hendrix had been "worth more to him dead than alive" as he had taken out a life insurance policy on the musician worth $2m (about £1.2m at the time), with himself as the beneficiary. Two years later, Jeffrey was killed in a plane crash.

Click here to read the rest.

Image via The Independent People

On this day in 1928 there was still Civil War Veterans...

TODAY IN PHOTOGRAPHS: By Steven Mikulan in City News

Civil War veterans join a Memorial Day celebration at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The original newspaper caption read: "Old in years but young in spirit those who fought in the War of the Rebellion again paid tribute to the hero dead of the nation."

image via LA Weekly

Lakers back in NBA Finals - They wrap up Nuggets in 6th game

photo by Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles Lakers are back in the NBA Finals after taking care of a tough Nugget team 119-92. It was another hard-fought series, but the Lakers survived. Now the question is, who will they play in the Finals? Cleveland is down 3-2 and plays the Magic tonight. If the Magic win then it's LA vs Orlando. Go Lakers!

A History of Credit Cards: Americans embrace concept in 1951

These early credit pioneers led to the blood-sucking credit cards companies of today who are so bad that Congress has recently had to make them clean up their act. However, I think they will narrowly apply the mandated regulations while thinking up new ways to fleece customers.

From The Big Money...

By Caitlin McDevitt

Diners Club Card, 1951

As the story goes, 60 years ago, Frank McNamara, the founder of what's considered the first credit card, was eating out at a restaurant, and when the check arrived, he realized that he had not brought along his wallet.

The embarrassing situation led him to eventually create the Diners Club card, which allowed members to pay restaurant bills monthly.

The card itself was wallet-sized and made of paper and wasn't any fancier than a library card. But the idea behind it-a third party facilitating a "buy-now, pay-later" process-was revolutionary.

BankAmericard, 1958

The first bank credit card, the BankAmericard, was unveiled when Bank of America gave out 60,000 unsolicited cards in Fresno, Calif., in 1958.

Unlike in the past, when getting a loan might have meant taking a trip to the bank’s basement, this card was a ticket for anyone to spend freely and decide when was best to pay it back.

American Express Card, 1959

Plenty of large and small players saw the opportunity in the card business and jumped in quickly. American Express (AXP) differentiated itself from other providers by offering the first-ever plastic credit card in 1959. As opposed to flimsier cards, the plastic alternative was designed to “better withstand day-to-day use

Some other milestones are: The American Express Executive Card, 1968; Master Charge, 1970; Chase Visa Card, 1984; Discovery Card, 1986; and the Visa/NFL Co-Branded Credit Card in 1989.

images of Diner Club and BankAmericard via creditcollectibles. American Express Card image via American Express Corporate Archives.

Oklahoma State Trooper Assaults, Attempts to Arrest EMT Headed for Hospital

This is another example of why people think cops are bullies. Anyone who has ever been pulled over by State troopers in Oklahoma or Texas knows it can be a scary experience. I've been there and done that!

By William Grigg

Who cares about the needs of a critical care patient when there's a State Trooper's hungry ego to feed?

Emergency Medical Technician Maurice White, Jr., a paramedic with the Creek Nation EMS in Oklahoma, was shuttling a patient to the hospital when he was stopped by a State Trooper. White, intent on getting the patient the care she needed, hadn't noticed that the trooper had been behind him with lights flashing; when the trooper zoomed by, he made radio contact and snarled at White that he "should consider checking [his] rear view mirrors."

A little while later the Trooper, operating his vehicle with typical recklessness, cut off a car driven by a family member of the patient and signaled for White to pull over. Seeing a woman sitting next to the Trooper, and thinking she might need medical care, White complied -- only to find himself under assault and the subject of a spurious arrest on the way to the hospital.

Several other brown-shirted state police materialized, and White was swarmed; at one point, one of the skinheaded state stormtroopers had his hand on White's throat.Once again, in keeping with the quasi-official media protocol, this episode was described by local ABC affiliate news as a "scuffle" or a "confrontation," rather than a criminal assault by several armed tax-feeders on a medical professional in the course of carrying out a task that actually helps people, rather than harassing or plundering them.

image via the LRC Blog

Illinois Senate narrowly passes Marijuana bill

I almost forgot to mention that Illinois is joining a growing number of states that will be legalizing marijuana (see story below about Delaware).

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Associated Press) — The push to legalize medical marijuana in Illinois has taken a big step forward.

The Illinois Senate voted 30-28 in favor of a plan to let sick people use pot for relief from diseases like cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

The bill now goes to the Illinois House, where a committee passed a medical marijuana measure earlier this year.

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, says that if the bill is eventually signed into law, Illinois would join 13 other states that have such measures in place.

Critics argue allowing medical marijuana would make it harder for police to enforce other marijuana laws and would be a step toward wholesale legalization of pot.

 

image via Google Images

Not Outright Decriminalization, but Delaware bill would legalize marijuana

From the 10th Amendment Center today...

source from the Delaware Sussex Countian

Delawareans afflicted with a variety of chronic and painful conditions would be able to legally use medical marijuana to ease their suffering under a bill now under consideration in the Delaware State Senate.

Sen. Margaret Rose Henry (D-Wilmington East), said her bill isn’t an outright decriminalization of marijuana and is aimed at balancing compassion for the sick with maintaining tight controls on access and the amount of marijuana a person can have.

“Modern science shows us that marijuana can have beneficial effects for people suffering from a number of conditions including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and HIV-AIDS,” Henry said. “While we don’t want to encourage the use of marijuana as a recreational drug, it makes no sense at all to deny the comfort it can give to people suffering from truly debilitating and painful diseases.”

If passed, Henry’s bill would: Click here to keep reading.

image via Wikipedia Commons