Sololink

Master Art

2008-02-19T01:46:00.001-06:00

A Master Art By Shakspiaer:

Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
For that deep wound it gives my friend and me!
Is't not enough to torture me alone,
But slave to slavery my sweet'st friend must be?
Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken,
And my next self thou harder hast engross'd:
Of him, myself, and thee, I am forsaken;
A torment thrice threefold thus to be cross'd.
Prison my heart in thy steel bosom's ward,
But then my friend's heart let my poor heart bail;
Whoe'er keeps me, let my heart be his guard;
Thou canst not then use rigor in my gaol:
And yet thou wilt; for I, being pent in thee,
Perforce am thine, and all that is in me.

FCC

2008-01-02T00:13:00.001-06:00

FCC Pressured To Admit It Sucks

By Jason Lee Miller -

Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) opened up a can of Congressional hearings on the Federal Communication Commission over the regulatory agency's understanding of what, exactly, constitutes broadband and how many people in the US actually have access to it.

200Kbps is not broadband, asserts Markey, and he's going to keep FCC chairman Kevin Martin in a headlock until he admits it.

Well, Markey's actually drafting a bill, called the Broadband Census of America Act, that would define "broadband" as speeds exceeding 2Mbps – quite a bit higher than the 768Kbps available via most DSL lines.

The bill also requires the FCC to reform its broadband reporting. Under current measurements, based on ZIP codes, artificially inflates the reach of American broadband access.

As he gave Martin a righteous noogie, Markey reminded him that broadband access in the US is dismally sub-par compared to the rest of the world, especially compared to Japan, where 50Mbps fiber connections are available for about $30 per month.

And that stinks, especially since the telecommunications and cable industries were given $200 billion to build out that broadband infrastructure over 10 years ago. The current speeds they're calling broadband were defined nine years ago, according to Free Press' Ben Scott.

"We have always been limited by the FCC's inadequate and flawed data," Scott said, as quoted by ArsTechnica.

politicians' space in Tokyo

2007-12-27T01:13:00.001-06:00

UFO debate invades politicians' space

TOKYO (Reuters) - A debate over flying saucers has kept Japanese politicians occupied for much of this week, ensnaring top officials and drawing a promise from the defense minister to send out the army if Godzilla goes on a rampage.

"There are debates over what makes UFOs fly, but it would be difficult to say it's an encroachment of air space," Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba told a news conference Thursday.

"If Godzilla were to show up, it would be a dispatch for disaster relief."

His remarks came after the top government spokesman was asked Tuesday about an opposition politician's demand that the government confirm the existence of unidentified flying objects.

"Personally, I definitely believe they exist," chief cabinet secretary Nobutaka Machimura said, drawing laughter from reporters.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda took a more guarded stance later in the day, saying he has yet to confirm their existence.

The debate started Tuesday when the cabinet issued a statement in response to the opposition lawmaker's question, saying it could not confirm any cases of UFO sightings.

Not all lawmakers are enthralled.

"Give me a break," ruling party lawmaker Toshihiro Nikai was quoted as saying by the Yomiuri newspaper. "There are many (other) things politics has to respond to."

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota and George Nishiyama; Editing by Mike Miller)

Acne

2007-12-11T22:11:00.001-06:00

About Acne

What is acne?

All acne begins with one basic lesion: the comedo, an enlarged hair follicle plugged with oil, dead skin cells and bacteria. Invisible to the naked eye, the comedo lurks beneath the surface of your skin waiting for the right conditions to grow into an inflamed lesion. As the skin continues to produce more oil, bacteria flourish within the swollen follicle. The surrounding skin becomes increasingly inflamed as your white blood cells fight against the intruders.

Though all pimples start the same way, they can take many forms and may react differently for different people. Please note that the following guide is not intended to be used for conclusive self-diagnosis. These definitions may be used to help you decide whether or not you should consider seeking medical attention.

None inflammatory:

Closed comedo, or whitehead: If the plugged follicle stays below the surface of the skin, the lesion is called a closed comedo, or whitehead. They usually appear on the skin as small, whitish bumps.

Open comedo, or blackhead: If the plug enlarges and pushes through the surface of the skin, it's called an open comedo, or blackhead. The plug's dark appearance is not due to dirt, but rather to a buildup of melanin, the skin's dark pigment.

Inflammatory:

Papule: The mildest form of inflammatory acne is the papule, which appears on the skin as a small, firm pink bump. These can be tender to the touch, and are often considered an intermediary step between non-inflammatory and clearly inflammatory lesions

Pustule: Like papules, pustules are small round lesions; unlike papules, they are clearly inflamed and contain visible pus. They may appear red at the base, with a yellowish or whitish center. Pustules do not commonly contain a great deal of bacteria; the inflammation is generally caused by chemical irritation from sebum components such as fatty free acids.

Nodule or Cyst: Large and usually very painful, nodules are inflamed, pus-filled lesions lodged deep within the skin. Nodules develop when the contents of a comedo have spilled into the surrounding skin and the local immune system responds, producing pus. The most severe form of acne lesion, nodules may persist for weeks or months, their contents hardening into a deep cyst. Both nodules and cysts often leave deep scars.

Acne conglobata. This rare but serious form of inflammatory acne develops primarily on the back, buttocks and chest. In addition to the presence of pustules and nodules, there may be severe bacterial infection.

Bipolar Disorder

2007-12-11T07:55:00.001-06:00

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Steven Gans, MD

Patient Empowerment

We are very excited to share that About.com has now added a Patient Empowerment site to its lineup. Trisha Torrey serves as the guide to this topic, which gives focus to "the concept of the patient taking an active role in his own disease management, and supporting that participation by learning all he can about his disease or condition and treatment options" ( The Wise Patient's Guide to Being an Empowered Patient).

Trisha shares, "I began my quest to help others navigate their own health care after being diagnosed with a very rare, life-threatening cancer in 2004. I was told two labs had independently confirmed the diagnosis, and I needed to start chemotherapy immediately or I would die within six months.

"Trusting my intuition that I was not nearly so sick as the lab reports indicated, I set about finding the right professionals, asking questions, researching on the Internet, analyzing medical terms and being doggedly persistent to learn more about the disease I was told would be my demise" ( Bio: Trish Torrey).

Poem By Shakspayer

2007-12-11T01:20:00.001-06:00

Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth,
That having such a scope to show her pride,
The argument all bare is of more worth
Than when it hath my added praise beside!
O, blame me not, if I no more can write!
Look in your glass, and there appears a face
That over-goes my blunt invention quite,
Dulling my lines and doing me disgrace.
Were it not sinful then, striving to mend,
To mar the subject that before was well?
For to no other pass my verses tend
Than of your graces and your gifts to tell;
And more, much more, than in my verse can sit
Your own glass shows you when you look in it.

Teen Birth Rate In USA & Public Conserning

2007-12-06T03:59:00.000-06:00

Teen Birth Rate Rises in U.S., Reversing a 14-Year Decline

By Rob Stein

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

After falling steadily for more than a decade, the birth rate for American teenagers jumped last year, federal health officials reported yesterday, a sharp reversal in what has been one of the nation's most celebrated social and public health successes.

The birth rate rose by 3 percent between 2005 and 2006 among 15-to-19-year-old girls, after plummeting 34 percent between 1991 and 2005, the National Center for Health Statistics reported.

This is concerning," said Stephanie J. Ventura, who heads the center's reproductive statistics branch. "It represents an interruption of 14 years of steady decline. Now unexpectedly we have an increase of 3 percent, which is a significant increase."

Ventura said it is too soon to know whether the increase was an aberration or the beginning of a trend. But she said the magnitude of the rise, especially after many years of decline, is worrisome.

"This early warning should put people on alert to look at the programs that are being used to see what works," Ventura said.

While experts said it was unclear what may be causing the reversal, the new data reignited debate about abstinence-only sex-education programs, which receive about $176 million a year in federal funding. Congress is currently debating whether to increase that by $28 million.

"The United States is facing a teen-pregnancy health-care crisis, and the national policy of abstinence-only programs just isn't working," said Cecile Richard, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America . "It is time for everyone who cares about teenagers to start focusing on the common-sense solutions that will help solve this problem."

But proponents of abstinence education defended the programs, blaming the rise on the ineffectiveness of conventional sex-education programs that focus on condom use and other contraceptives, as well as the pervasive depiction of sexuality in the culture.

"This shows that the contraceptive message that kids are getting is failing," said Leslee Unruh of the Abstinence Clearinghouse. "The contraceptive-only message is treating the symptom, not the cause. You need to teach about relationships. If you look at what kids have to digest on a daily basis, you have adults teaching kids about the pleasures of sex but not about the responsibilities that go with it."

Other experts said many factors could be playing a role. It could be, for example, that complacency has set in, or that the increase reflects of a broader trend cutting across all ages. Birth rates have also increased for women in their 20s, 30s and early 40s.

The teen birth rate rose sharply between 1986 and 1991, when it hit an all-time high of 61.8 births per 1,000 girls. The increase led to a massive campaign to counter the trend, and the rates of both teenage sexual activity and teen births began falling steadily every year. Locally, teen birth rates followed that trend, plummeting between the 1990s and 2005.

This summer, however, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the long decline in teenage sexual activity appeared to have stalled nationally, raising fears that it could presage an increase in teen births.

The most recent data come from birth certificates nationwide. While the birth rate among 10-to-14-year-old girls continued to fall, the rate for those ages 15 to 19 increased from 40.5 per 1,000 girls to 41.9 births per 1,000 in 2006.

"It's a pretty astounding increase," John Santelli, who studies teen health issues at Columbia University. "It's really a sea change, since it's been going down and getting better for so long."

Advocates noted that despite the 14-year decline, U.S. teens are still far more likely to get pregnant and have children than those in other developed countries, and teenage mothers and their children are far more likely to live in poverty.

"The vast majority of teenage mothers never finish high school," said Sarah Brown of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "Teen pregnancy and child care is directly related to poverty, both for the mother and the child. This should be a wake-up call for a renewed focus on preventing teen pregnancy."

The increase was greatest among black teens, whose birth rate rose 5 percent between 2005 and 2006, reaching 63.7 per 1,000 teens. That was particularly disappointing because black teens had previously made the greatest gains, with the rate among 15-to-17-year-olds dropping by more than half.

"There had been dramatic, dramatic improvement in that community," Brown said. "All of us had hoped it would continue to decline."

The rate rose 2 percent, to 83 births per 1,000, for Hispanic teens, and 3 percent, to 26.6 per 1,000, for white teens.

The report did not include the latest rates for individual states or the District.

Federal officials also reported other disturbing trends, including a continued increase in the rate of babies being born preterm and underweight, as well as another increase in the rate at which babies were born by Caesarean section, which reached an all-time high.

"These are all trends we'd like to reverse," Ventura said.

Garlic and Cancer

2007-12-06T03:49:00.001-06:00

Garlic and Cancer: Can Garlic Prevent Cancer?

From Lisa Fayed,

Garlic is famed for its supposed health benefits. In fact, it has been used medicinally for over 5000 years for various ailments. From lowering blood pressure to it's anti-bacterial properties, garlic appears to be effective. The question still remains, however, whether garlic can prevent cancer.

Does Garlic Prevent Cancer?

Studies concerning garlic's anti-cancer abilities look promising. Of 37 studies done to examine garlic's effectiveness as a cancer inhibitor, 28 were successful. Preliminary studies show an increased cancer inhibiting effect on prostate cancer and stomach cancer.

Researchers believe that there are many factors in garlic's ability to fight cancer. One factor is the many compounds found in garlic, including ally sulfur. Ally sulfur can slow down damage the progress of cancerous cell growth.

Myth & Mad

2007-12-06T00:07:00.001-06:00

The Myth of the Mad Mullahs

By David Ignatius

Wednesday, December 5, 2007; Page A29

In the entryway of "Persia House," as the CIA's new Iran operations division is known internally, hangs a haunting life-size poster of Hussein, the martyr revered by Iran's Shiite Muslims. The division was created last year to push more aggressively for information about Iran's nuclear program and other secrets.

Creating Persia House and spinning off Iran from its old home in the agency's Near East division were part of a broader effort to "plus up" collection of secret information, in the words of one senior official. The CIA made it easy for disgruntled Iranians to send information directly to the agency in cases known as "virtual walk-ins." The National Security Agency and other intelligence organizations made similar drives to steal more of Iran's secrets.

Meanwhile, the intelligence analysts responsible for Iran were given new encouragement to think outside the box. To break the lock-step culture that allowed the disastrous mistake on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Deputy Director of National Intelligence Thomas Fingar ordered that analysts be given more information about sources and, rather than trying to fit information into preexisting boxes to prove a case, they should simply explain what it meant.

All these strands converged in the bombshell National Intelligence Estimate on Iran that was released Monday. That document was as close to a U-turn as one sees in the intelligence world. The community dropped its 2005 judgment that Iran was "determined to develop nuclear weapons" and instead said, "We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program" because of international pressure.

The secret intelligence that produced this reversal came from multiple channels -- human sources as well as intercepted communications -- that arrived in June and July. At that time, a quite different draft of the Iran NIE was nearly finished. But the "volume and character" of the new information was so striking, says a senior official, that "we decided we've got to go back." It was this combination of data from different sources that gave the analysts "high confidence" the covert weapons program had been stopped in 2003. This led them to reject an alternative scenario (one of six) pitched by a "red team" of counterintelligence specialists that the new information was a deliberate Iranian deception.

A senior official describes the summer's windfall as "a variety of reporting that unlocked stuff we had, which we didn't understand fully before." That earlier information included technical drawings from an Iranian laptop computer purloined in 2004 that showed Iranian scientists had been designing an efficient nuclear bomb that could be delivered by a missile. Though some U.S. analysts had doubted the validity of the laptop evidence, they now believe it was part of the covert "weaponization" program that was shelved in the fall of 2003.

The most important finding of the NIE isn't the details about the scope of nuclear research; there remains some disagreement about that. Rather, it's the insight into the greatest mystery of all about the Islamic republic, which is the degree of rationality and predictability of its decisions.

For the past several years, U.S. intelligence analysts have doubted hawkish U.S. and Israeli rhetoric that Iran is dominated by "mad mullahs" -- clerics whose fanatical religious views might lead to irrational decisions. In the new NIE, the analysts forcefully posit an alternative view of an Iran that is rational, susceptible to diplomatic pressure and, in that sense, can be "deterred."

"Tehran's decisions are guided by a cost-benefit approach rather than a rush to a weapon irrespective of the political, economic and military costs," states the NIE. Asked if this meant the Iranian regime would be "deterrable" if it did obtain a weapon, a senior official responded, "That is the implication." He added: "Diplomacy works. That's the message."

While the intelligence community regards Iran as a rational actor, the workings of the regime remain opaque -- a "black box," in the words of one senior official. "You see the outcome [in the fall 2003 decision to halt the covert program] but not the decision-making process." This official said it was "logical, but we don't have the evidence" that Iran felt less need for nuclear weapons after the United States toppled its mortal enemy, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, in April 2003.

The debate about what the NIE should mean for U.S. policy toward Iran is just beginning. But for the intelligence community, this rebuttal of conventional wisdom will restore some integrity after the Iraq WMD debacle. In challenging the previous certitudes about Iran and the Bomb, the NIE recalls the admonition many decades ago by the godfather of CIA analysts, Sherman Kent: "When the evidence seems to force a single and immediate conclusion, then that is the time to worry about one's bigotry, and to do a little conscientious introspection."

A poem by Shakespear

2007-10-09T23:40:00.001-05:00

Why is my verse so barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth and where they did proceed?
O, know, sweet love, I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.

Russian & Iran

2007-10-06T00:52:00.001-05:00

Russian Roulette on Iran

by Michael Rubin
Wall Street Journal
October 3, 2007
http://www.meforum.org/article/1762

Last week, the United States turned to the United Nations in an attempt to increase pressure on Iran. The U.S. wanted to expand sanctions against the budding nuclear power.

Neither China nor Russia would go along. And faced with the prospect of one or the other vetoing sanctions at the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice punted. She put off further action against Iran until at least November.

It's hard to see how much will change in a month. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is firm in his opposition to sanctions. "Interference by way of new sanctions would mean undermining" the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as it puts pressure on Iran, he said.

This is a charade. The statement came three days after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that, based on his talks with IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei, he considered the nuclear file closed. Not only could Iran continue enriching uranium regardless of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the Iranian president said, but Tehran could also export its enriched uranium and nuclear know-how to other Muslim countries.

Yet, the Bush administration continues to seek agreement with Russia with Ms. Rice's undersecretary Nicholas Burns talking about Washington's desire for "compromise" with Moscow. British Foreign Minister David Milbrand is no better. He puts unity above all else: "The most important thing is that the unanimity of the international community."

The debate over Iran then reflects two much larger debates: Whether foreign policy should be unilateral or multilateral and whether it should be based on "realism" or on principle.

Unilateralism, of course, has become a dirty word since the invasion of Iraq. But international venality -- expressed in French and Russian business deals with Saddam Hussein -- had undercut sanctions against Iraq. That left Mr. Bush with little choice other than to stick with a failing multilateralist policy or to act unilaterally.

Now we're seeing that in the case of Iran, "realism" and multilateralism may be mutually exclusive in the effort to curtail proliferation. Or put another way, multilateralism empowers Moscow and Moscow isn't inclined to make a multilateral sanctions regime effective.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin, realism is a zero-sum game that maximizes Russian power at U.S. expense. The U.S. can seek Russian cooperation, but for Russian realists, inaction looks like the best option. A nuclear capable Iran is inimical to Russian interests, but Mr. Putin may have seen in Mr. Bush's soul a commitment to deny Tehran nuclear capability at any cost. So why not profit both financially and strategically?

Russia and China have made billions as enablers to Iran's military ambitions. Less than a month after the 9/11 terror attacks, Moscow signed a $7 billion arms deal with Tehran. The Iranian government has paid Russia's state-owned Atomstroiexport more than $1 billion to construct the Bushehr nuclear plant. A 2003 CIA issued report credited Russian, Chinese and North Korean experts for Iran's ballistic-missile advances.

Alexander Denisov, deputy director of the Russian Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation said bluntly in 2005, "First of all, we have to count in our national interests. In Syria, we have a huge market, over 80% of Soviet-made arms. The same is true about Iran." Late last year, Russia's state-run Rosoboronexport shipped a $700 million air-defense and missile system to Iran. Last month, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said his government had won a Russian commitment to complete the Bushehr reactor prior to a visit by Mr. Putin to Tehran later this month.

While a nuclear Iran would threaten U.S. national security and shred the international non-proliferation regime, a U.S. military strike on Iran would be costly. Iranians may find Mr. Ahmadinejad odious, but they may respond to a strike by rallying around the flag. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is also capable of striking anywhere from Baghdad to Buenos Aires and is able to set Lebanon and even northern Israel aflame.

On Sept. 29, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed the ability to monitor all movement in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf. The threat is clear: Any conflict with Iran could drive oil over $120 a barrel. This would likely hurt the U.S. economy, but it would also accelerate Russia's return to a dominant position in the world.

Russian realists relish such a scenario. The Kremlin has converted its multibillion-dollar oil windfall into power and influence. Mr. Putin has increased defense procurement by more than 50% over the past two years. Russia has developed a new class of nuclear submarines and a new generation of nuclear missiles. Moscow leverages money into military strength.

Already, Russia uses European aversion to conflict to its advantage. The same European leaders upon whose good faith Ms. Rice pegs U.S. national security have been willing to demote the Czech Republic and Poland to second-class status within NATO to assuage the Kremlin.

During the George H.W. Bush administration, Ms. Rice was the point woman for Soviet affairs on the National Security Council. She distinguished herself for poor instincts with her opposition to Ukrainian independence, among other issues. What Ms. Rice believes conciliatory, Mr. Putin sees as weakness. She may confuse realism with idealism; Mr. Putin, the former KGB apparatchik, will not.

Realism may prevail, but not Washington's realism. The defiant Mr. Ahmadinejad offers the White House a stark choice: Live with a nuclear Iran, or take action to stop it. Winning Russian approval is a chimera, delaying an inevitable decision.

Mr. Rubin, editor of the Middle East Quarterly, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

honor killing

2007-08-15T04:01:00.001-05:00

Honor Killing

An honor killing is a murder, nearly exclusively of a woman, who has been perceived as having brought dishonor to her family. Such killings are typically perpetrated by the victim's own relatives and/or community and unlike crimes of passion or rage-induced killings, usually planned in advance.

In societies and cultures where they occur, such killings are often regarded as a "private matter" for the affected family alone, and courts rarely become involved or prosecute the perpetrators.

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that the annual worldwide total of honor-killing victims may be as high as 5,000 women.

Definitions

Human Rights Watch defines "honor killings" as follows:

Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are perceived to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce — even from an abusive husband — or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a specific way to "dishonor" her family, is sufficient to trigger an attack.^[1]

For example, honor killings can sometimes target those who choose boyfriends, lovers or spouses outside of their family's ethnic and/or religious community. Some women who adopt the customs (or religion) of an outside group, may also be more likely to be victims.[3] Furthermore, in certain cultures a raped single woman will garner no bride price if she marries, and thus be considered "worthless" to the family. There is some evidence that homosexuality can also be grounds for honor killing by relatives. Several cases have been suspected but not confirmed. There is also a documented case of a gay Jordanian man who was shot (but not fatally) by his brother.^[2]

Many hold the practice to be self-contradictory, since an honor killing is sometimes justified by its participants or supporters, as an attempt to uphold the morals of a religion or a code, which at the same time generally forbids killing as morally wrong.

Honor suicides

Dandruff & Natural Remedy

2007-08-14T23:43:00.001-05:00

Natural Remedies for Dandruff

What is Dandruff?

Dandruff is a common scalp condition marked by white flakes on the scalp and itching.

It appears to be caused by a yeast-like fungus called malassezia, also known as pityrosporum. Malassezia is normally found on the scalp without causing problems, however, if it grows unchecked (possibly due to hormone imbalances, stress, immune suppression, infrequent shampooing, illness, or increased oil production), there is mild inflammation that produces dead skin cells. The dead cells mix with oil and clump together, making them appear white and flaky.

1) Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil is an essential oil that comes from the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia, a plant native to Australia. It has been used for centuries as an antiseptic and anti-fungal agent.

There are many tea tree oil shampoos available in health food stores and some drug stores, and many people report these products help with dandruff.

There haven't been many research studies on tea tree oil for dandruff. One study involved 126 people with mild to moderate dandruff. They used either a five percent tea tree oil shampoo or a placebo daily for four weeks. At the end of the study, the tea tree oil shampoo significantly reduced dandruff. No adverse effects were reported. Although promising, this was not a double-blind study (which means that the researchers knew which participants were using tea tree oil and which were using the placebo), so it cannot be considered solid evidence that tea tree oil works. For more information about tea tree oil, read the Tea Tree Oil Fact Sheet.

2) Apple Cider Vinegar

A home remedy for dandruff is to mix 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar with 1/4 cup water.

Pour this mixture into a spray bottle and spritz it on to your hair and scalp, being careful to avoid the eye and ear area. Wrap your head in a towel.

After 15 minutes to an hour, remove the towel and wash your hair. This is generally done once to twice a week.

3) Biotin

Biotin is a water-soluble B vitamin that helps to break down fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. It is sold in supplement form and is also found naturally in foods.

Food sources of biotin are egg yolk, liver, milk, soy, barley, brewer's yeast, and royal jelly. Biotin is also produced naturally by bacteria in the intestines.

Eating raw egg whites and prolonged use of antibiotics are thought to be causes of biotin deficiency.

Sources
____________________

Satchell AC, Saurajen A, Bell C, Barnetson RS. Treatment of dandruff with 5% tea tree oil shampoo. J Am Acad Dermatol. 47.6 (2002): 852-855.

gain weight

2007-08-14T08:40:00.001-05:00

how to gain weight - weight gain information!

Before you go any further down on this page, let me make sure you know that this weight gain information will be totally FREE. I will not make you buy any kind of "how to gain weight book" or "manual" like some other useless websites do. Instead, I will provide you with completely FREE detailed information regarding everything you need to know about how to gain weight. Enjoy...

How to gain weight

Weight gain is something that isn't easy to do and you probably know this already. I know first hand because it is something I have to do every day. I am an ectomorph by genetics, which is the "skinny body type" and the one with the fast metabolism which makes gaining so hard for guys like me. The key to weight gain is to do everything BIG. You have to eat big, to lift big, to get big. Say that over and over again in your head until you fully understand it. A lot of people think weightlifting is the key to gaining weight, and I won't argue, it is an extremely important part. BUT, there is another thing that is just as important when it comes to how to gain weight, and that is your diet.

So, to put it as simply as possible, there are 5 simple steps to how to gain weight, and here they are:

1) Count how many calories you eat in a normal day. Don't change anything, just eat like you normally would and count how many calories you consumed. This is an extremely important step, so try to be as exact as possible. Also, weigh yourself.

2) Starting the day after you counted calories, eat 500 calories MORE then you normally do. So, lets pretend that the day you counted calories you counted 2000. For the rest of the week, you would now eat 2500 calories a day. Instead of eating 3 big meals a day or eating all day all the time, spread those calories out over 5-6 smaller meals. Eat one meal every 2 and a half to 3 hours. To get big, you have to eat big! Remember that.

3) Weightlifting! Get in the gym and lift! This is another important step to how to gain weight, so make sure you are doing it correctly. For more information on weightlifting workout routines and splits, read the workout routines and splits section.

4) At the end of that week, weigh yourself. You'll notice you're gaining just after one week! Now, don't expect to see a 10lb increase. Gaining anymore then 1 or 2 pounds a week is unhealthy and means you're putting on way to much fat. So look for 1 or 2 pound gains at the end of the week. Don't sound like much? You can be gaining 5-8 pounds a month!

5) Heres an important one. At some point, you will stop seeing weight gain. At this point, you will have to eat even more. So, when you stop gaining for at least 2 weeks, it means it is time to start eating an extra 250 calories a day. Every time you see you haven't gained weight for at least 2 weeks, add an extra 250 calories.

More tips for how to gain weight (extremely important!)

- Stay away from bad fat! Even though weight gain is your goal, you don't want to be gaining fat and eating junk. Get rid of the chips and candy. No more fast food, nothing fried. Stick to high protein, low (saturated) fat foods like fish (and fish oil supplements), chicken breast, turkey, lean meats, rice, pasta, fruits and vegetables, nuts, flax seed oil, etc. (For more information, go here: Diet Plans And Diets)

- Track your progress! Weighing yourself once a week is extremely important, but so is figuring out if the weight you are gaining is muscle or fat. In order to know this information, you need to also track your body fat percentage!

- WATER! Drink water! Drink around a half gallon a day, more if you can. Yes that's a lot of water, but it's that water that will give you the energy you need to gain that weight!

- Sleep! YES! Sleep! The easiest, yet most over looked step. Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. You're gonna need it!

Now the concern some people have about how to gain weight, is how to do it without putting on extra fat. Let me tell you how, YOU CAN'T! Unless you are using steroids, it is basically impossible to gain weight without putting on a little bit of extra fat. But hey, you want to see some weight gain right? Well then who cares about the little bit of extra fat you might put on while gaining. You will be able to burn that off later on, right now gaining is your main concern, so that is all you need to worry about.

Laser Printers

2007-08-09T02:06:00.001-05:00

Laser Printers Can Be....

Hazardous to Your Health.....

Last week, researchers from Queensland University of Technology in Australia published a study that indicates that some laser printers create as much fine-particle pollution as cigarette smoke. The researchers warn that laser printer-emitted pollution can affect people's lungs in the same way that cigarettes can, making it a legitimate health threat to people who work around active laser printers in poorly ventilated spaces. The researchers also warn that beyond posing a threat to lung health, exposure to laser printer pollution can ultimately increase one's risk of developing cardiovascular disease and even cancer.

Here are the key findings reported in this study:

New toner cartridges and graphic-heavy printing projects tend to emit the most ultra-fine powder -- believed to be toner -- into the air.
Some well known brand printers release enough toner into the air to increase the total amount of fine particles in a typical office environment by 500 percent during work hours.
Seventeen of the 62 printers that were tested were categorized as "high particle emitters." Specific models that were identified as high or potentially high emitters are as follows:
- HP Color LaserJet 4650dn
- HP Color LaserJet 5550dtn
- HP Color LaserJet 8550N
- HP LaserJet 1320N
- HP LaserJet 1320n
- HP LaserJet 2420dn
- HP LaserJet 4200dtn
- HP LaserJet 4250n (old)
- HP LaserJet 4250n (new)
- HP LaserJet 5(a)
- HP LaserJet 8000DN
- HP LaserJet 8150N
- Toshiba Studio 450
Thirty-seven of the 62 printers that were tested did not release particles that compromised air quality, six released low levels, and two released medium levels.
Printers that were tested to be in the non-emission category were made by Toshiba, Mita, Ricoh, and HP LaserJet.
Low-level emitters were made by Canon, Ricoh, and HP.
The two printers that were categorized as mid-level emitters were made by HP.

The findings in this study were stumbled upon by accident while researchers were testing the efficiency of ventilating systems in different office settings. They quickly found that laser printers were diminishing air quality.

Bush's Promises

2007-08-01T01:06:00.001-05:00

President Bush's Broken Promises

by Michael Rubin
Wall Street Journal
http://www.meforum.org/article/1715

During his last 18 months in office, President Bush confronts a broader set of international crises than in his first 18 months. While pundits blame unilateralism and the Iraq war, the deterioration of Washington's relations with once-staunch allies has less to do with a lack of diplomacy and more to do with its kind.

Too often, the administration has sacrificed long-term credibility for short-term calm. Take Turkey. At the June 2004 NATO summit in Istanbul, President Bush promised Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the U.S. military would shut down Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorists in Iraq. He did not. Three years later, the Turks no longer trust U.S. promises and may send their army into Iraqi Kurdistan.

Already the damage to U.S. prestige is severe. Once among America's closest allies, Turkey, according to a Pew Global Attitudes Project poll last month, is the most anti-American country in the world. Only 9% of Turks have a favorable impression of the U.S.; 83% hold the opposite view. Most blame U.S. inaction against the PKK.

On June 24, 2002, Mr. Bush declared, "The United States will not support the establishment of a Palestinian state until its leaders engage in a sustained fight against the terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure." Less than a year later the State Department reversed course, eliminating the cessation of terror as a precondition for engagement. Palestinian terrorism grew.

While the White House condemns Hamas terrorism, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, to which Mr. Bush promised a half billion dollars in July, is equally culpable. A year ago Fatah's military wing threatened to "strike at the economic and civilian interests of these countries [the U.S. and Israel], here and abroad," and it claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on the Israeli town of Sderot in June.

Empty promises of accountability encourage terror by diminishing the costs of its embrace.

While terrorists benefit, Arab liberals pay the price for the president's rhetorical reversals. His promise in the second inaugural speech to "support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture" rings hollow as Egyptian police beat, arrest and sodomize protestors rallying to demand the rule of law.

Mr. Bush has yet to act on his promise to resolve the case of Palestinian banker Issam Abu Issa, whose visa the State Department revoked in February 2004 as he prepared to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Palestinian Authority corruption. Nor has the president fulfilled a promise to demand the release of Libyan dissident Fathi Eljahmi, imprisoned by Moammar Ghadafi since March 2004. State Department officials say Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Libyan dictator this autumn, regardless of Mr. Jahmi's fate.

On June 5, 2007, Mr. Bush endorsed the Prague Declaration, which calls upon governments to instruct diplomats "to actively and openly seek out meetings with political prisoners and dissidents committed to building free societies through non-violence," and announced that he'd tasked Secretary Rice to implement it. U.S. embassies in the Middle East have yet to reach out to any dissident or political prisoner.

Increasingly, friends view Washington as an unreliable ally; foes conclude the U.S. is a paper tiger. This latter conclusion may transform broken promises into a national security nightmare.

Way back in April 2001, the president established a moral redline when he declared that the U.S. would do "whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself" in the face of Chinese aggression. But amid Beijing's steady military build-up, Mr. Bush stood in the Oval Office beside Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and condemned Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian for holding a referendum on missile defense. Unlike his predecessors, Mr. Bush has yet to send a single cabinet-level official to demonstrate commitment to the island nation. Such contradictions may raise doubt in Beijing and encourage Chinese officials to test U.S. resolve.

After promising Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in May 2003 that Washington would "not settle for anything less than the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of nuclear weapons program," Mr. Bush directed his administration to do just that. Despite the administration's self-congratulations over its ephemeral deal with North Korea in February of this year, the fact remains that, against its allies' wishes, Washington acquiesced to Pyongyang's continued custody of its reactor and nuclear weapons. This broken promise is guaranteed to haunt the next U.S. administration.

Kicking diplomatic problems down the road is not a strategy. Addressing crises with insincere promises is as counterproductive as treating a hemorrhagic fever with a band-aid. Empty promises exacerbate crises. They do not solve them. While farsighted in his vision, it is the president's failure to abide by his word that will most shape his foreign policy legacy. It would be ironic if he justifies the "Bush lied, people died" rhetoric of protestors across the White House lawn in Lafayette Park, though not for the reasons they believe.

Mr. Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, is editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

Symptoms of High Cholesterol

2007-07-25T02:39:00.001-05:00

Only a Blood Test Can Detect High Cholesterol

Heart disease has now surpassed cancer as the number one cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. High cholesterol is one of the important components risk factors for heart disease. Unfortunately, there are no symptoms that are associated with high cholesterol. It is usually diagnosed through a routine blood test, and may come as a surprise to the person who is diagnosed, because he or she may feel OK otherwise.

In some cases, people may not find out that they have high cholesterol levels until they have had their first heart attack or stroke.

Although there are no symptoms associated with high cholesterol, it is the most modifiable risk factor for heart disease.

This is why getting your cholesterol checked is extremely important.

Get Your Cholesterol Checked

The current guidelines recommend that everyone over the age of 20 should get their cholesterol checked at least once every five years. However, if you have a family history of high cholesterol, or you have been diagnosed with a chronic condition, such as diabetes or heart disease, you may consider checking your cholesterol more frequently. Once diagnosed, lifestyle modifications, and possibly medication, may lower your cholesterol. Even if you have not been diagnosed as having high cholesterol, there are many preventative measures that can be taken to reduce your cholesterol, as well as your risk for heart disease.

on flage or not?

2007-07-23T07:51:00.001-05:00

Is My Period Normal?

From time to time, every women suspects that her menstrual cycle is abnormal for one reason or another. However, often what we think is an abnormal period is actually normal menstruation. How do you know when you're experiencing abnormal periods? What are the signs and symptoms of abnormal periods? You may be experiencing an abnormal period, abnormal uterine bleeding, or an abnormal menstrual cycle if...

your menstrual cycle is longer than 31 to 35 days apart, or less than two weeks from day one of your period to day one of your next period.
you need to change tampons or sanitary pads after only one or two hours.
your period lasts longer than 7 days.
you suddenly begin experiencing severe menstrual cramps. While it's normal to experience a small amount of cramping during your period and some women never experience cramps during menstruation, it's not normal to experience severe menstrual cramps.
If you suddenly begin having severe cramps you should be evaluated by your health care provider to determine the cause of the increased pain you experience during your period.
you see blood clots which are actually clots of tissue in your menstruation -- don't worry, this is a normal occurrence and is no cause for alarm. Blood clots such as these are perfectly normal because menstruation involves the shedding of the lining of the uterus.
you have recently experienced the onset of menstruation, don't worry if you skip periods or have irregular periods for the first few years. This is a normal process that most young ladies experience.
you're extremely active in sports activities, periods are often skipped for long periods of time. Nobody is sure why this occurs, but it's a normal occurrence for many women who regularly participate in intense sports or other activities.
you're a woman who is postmenopausal or younger than eleven should see a doctor immediately if you experience any amount of vaginal or uterine bleeding.
you are over 16 and haven't had a period yet. In this case your health care provider should be consulted to determine the cause. One possibility that you should be sure and ask about is polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS.
Things to Remember About Menstruation
- Normal menstrual bleeding lasts about 5 days.
- The normal amount of blood lost during menstruation is about 2 to 8 tablespoons, although it may seem like more than that.
- The average menstrual cycle is 28 days from Day 1 to Day 1 of your period. However, anywhere from 25 to 31 days between periods is considered a normal menstrual cycle.
The best thing to do when you suspect that you're experiencing abnormal bleeding or menstrual cycles is to consult with your health care provider.

sax abuse charges

2007-07-22T06:48:00.000-05:00

Md. Judge Dismisses Sex-Abuse Charges

Clerk Is Unable To Find Suitable Translator In Time

By Ernesto Londoño

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 22, 2007; Page C05

A 7-year-old girl said she had been raped and repeatedly molested over the course of a year. Police in Montgomery County, acting on information from a relative, soon arrested a Liberian immigrant living in Gaithersburg. They marshaled witnesses and DNA evidence to prepare for trial.

What was missing -- for much of the nearly three years that followed -- was an interpreter fluent in the suspect's native language. A judge recently dropped the charges, not because she found that Mahamu Kanneh had been wrongly accused but because repeated delays in the case had, in her view, violated his right to a speedy trial.

This is one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make in a long time," Katherine D. Savage said from the bench Tuesday, noting that she was mindful of "the gravity of this case and the community's concern about offenses of this type."

Loretta E. Knight, the Circuit Court clerk responsible for finding interpreters, said her office searched exhaustively for a speaker of Vai, a tribal language spoken in West Africa. They contacted the Liberian Embassy, she said, and courts in all but three states. Linguists estimate that 100,000 people speak Vai, mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In arguing to save the case, Assistant State's Attorney Maura Lynch said that dismissing the indictment "after all the efforts the state has made to accommodate the defendant would be fundamentally unfair."

Prosecutors, who cannot refile the charges against Kanneh, are considering whether to appeal Savage's ruling. Kanneh was granted asylum in the United States, according to State's Attorney John McCarthy. A conviction could have led to deportation proceedings.

His attorney, Theresa Chernosky, declined to comment. Delays were compounded by a dispute about whether Kanneh required an interpreter at all.

In Montgomery and elsewhere, the proliferation of languages resulting from immigration is presenting courts with a novel challenge, legal and linguistics experts say. Rarely, however, does a court have such difficulty finding an interpreter that a criminal case must be dropped.

Court interpreters and linguists say a national database of court interpreters would help quickly locate people fluent in uncommon languages. "The burden of increased requests for rare languages makes it a necessity," said Nataly Kelly, author of a book on interpreting.

Knight said the county spent nearly $1 million on interpreters last year, 10 times the amount it spent in 2000. "It's a constant struggle, and it is extremely expensive," she said.

Kanneh was arrested in August 2004 after witnesses told police that he raped and repeatedly sexually molested the girl, a relative.

In a charging document, Detective Omar Hasan wrote that the girl "attempted to physically stop the behavior from the defendant, but was unsuccessful." Hasan wrote that Kanneh threatened the young girl "with not being able to leave the apartment unless she engaged in sexual behavior with the defendant."

Kanneh spent one night in jail and was released on a $10,000 bond with the restriction that he have no contact with minors. He later waived his right to a speedy trial -- in Maryland, defendants have a right to be tried within 180 days following an indictment -- because the defense wanted time to conduct its own analysis of DNA evidence. That waiver was effective only until the next trial date, Chernosky argued in court.

The trial date was extended repeatedly as the state and the defense argued over whether Kanneh needed an interpreter and whether he understood the legal proceedings. The state noted that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English. The defense insisted that he needed an interpreter to fully understand the proceedings.

The matter was resolved after a court-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Kanneh recommended that an interpreter be appointed. Judges who handled subsequent hearings heeded that advice.

The first interpreter stormed out of the courtroom in tears because she found the facts of the case disturbing. A second interpreter was rejected for faulty work. After calling the Liberian Embassy and exhausting other avenues, the clerk's office contacted the administrator of the state's court interpreter program in Annapolis. He located a third Vai interpreter, but at the last minute, that person had to tend to a family emergency.

In recent weeks, court officials had found a suitable interpreter who could have assisted in the trial, but it was too late.

Earlier this month, Chernosky filed a motion seeking to have the indictment dismissed, arguing that Kanneh's right to a speedy trial had been violated. "This delay is just too long," she argued in court. "The reasons for the delay are not the defendant's fault."

With help from the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, The Washington Post identified three Vai interpreters Thursday, including one in Gaithersburg. Lionbridge, a company that offers interpretation services, said it could provide Vai speakers on short notice. Knight said her office had been diligent. "It's these rare languages we're struggling with so much," she said.

In court, Savage attributed no blame for the delay. She called the prosecutor's efforts to help locate an interpreter "Herculean" and said the court system had learned from the case. "Time has become the enemy," the judge said.

Harry Potter

2007-07-22T06:41:00.001-05:00

Peeking at Potter

Is it wrong to skip to the end of a book?

By Juliet Lapidos

When a few media outlets published early reviews of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this week, author J.K. Rowling protested that the articles contained spoilers. She declared herself "staggered that American newspapers have decided to … [ignore] the wishes of literally millions of readers, particularly children, who wanted to reach Harry's final destination by themselves, in their own time." Presumably, Rowling assumes that half the pleasure of reading a fat, event-filled tome lays in our uncertainty about how it will end. But not every boy-wizard devotee thrives on guesswork and anticipation. According to a poll of 500 children taken for the British bookstore chain Waterstone's, nearly one-fifth of Harry Potter fans will skip straight to the end of the final book in the series. Is there something wrong with sussing out an ending in advance?

Readers are, of course, free to experience books in any way they see fit. It's customary to read page by page, but there are no set rules. And as any Ian Fleming enthusiast can attest, knowing that 007 will eventually escape doesn't mean you feel cool and collected when he's fighting against a giant squid. Yet peeking seems unfair and, ultimately, counterproductive. Authors spend years crafting a story, agonizing over when and how to reveal that Pip's benefactor is really a criminal or that Voldemort is Harry's alter ego. If you skip, you thwart the author's intentions and cheat yourself of maximal enjoyment. Surely it's more fun to speculate about the outcome along the way, and then feel humbled, or exhilarated, or despondent when you realize you got it all wrong.

Peeking feels like cheating, but is there any evidence that flipping to the back of the book suggests dark things about your character? A professor of psychology at Smith College, Phil Peake, says page-skipping may relate to broader issues of impulse control. And according to at least one "delay of gratification" study, bad things come to those who can't wait. In the early 1970s, Harvard professor David Funder and UC Berkeley professors Jeanne Block and Jack Block conducted an experiment in which 116 4-year-old children were shown a wrapped present and told they could open it as soon as they completed a puzzle. The researchers helped the children with their task and then spent 90 seconds shuffling papers before telling the kids to open their present. After each go-round, the researchers calculated a "delay score"—a composite of how many times the child mentioned the gift while toiling away, how long it took the child to grab the gift after completing the puzzle, and whether or not the child unwrapped the gift immediately.

When independent examiners interviewed the kids seven years later, they found significant personality differences between the patient test subjects and the impatient ones. Using a "California Q-set," which consists of 100 character descriptions, the examiners reported that boys who had delayed gratification were "deliberative, attentive, and able to concentrate." Conversely, boys who had not delayed were "irritable, restless and fidgety, aggressive, and generally not self-controlled." Likewise, girls who had displayed restraint under laboratory conditions seemed "intelligent, resourceful, and competent," while those who had not "tended to go to pieces under stress, to be victimized by other children, and to be easily offended, sulky, and whiny."

The parallel between the "gift delay task" and Harry Potter reading habits isn't exact. For one thing, the test subjects knew they were waiting for something good, but J.K. Rowling fans worry that the seventh Harry Potter book will end with something bad—the death of Harry, or some other beloved character, or both. Still, both cases reveal how children regulate their impulses in the face of behavior-constraining norms.

So, it's not crazy to posit that peekers and page-by-pagers may represent two opposing personality types. Maybe the tenacious tots who read Harry Potter all the way through will show great self-restraint, competence, and resourcefulness later in life. And maybe when the peekers come of age they'll whine, sulk, fidget, and try to get ahead by taking shortcuts. To date, I've only heard one convincing reason to flip to the back, from another famous Harry. In When Harry Met Sally..., Harry says "I always read the last page first. That way in case I die before I finish, I know how it ends."

How Do I Love Thee?

2007-07-22T06:36:00.001-05:00

How Do I Love Thee?

Poem lyrics of How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death

Sex Abuse

2007-07-17T05:57:00.001-05:00

Insurance for Sex Abuse

A policy tailor-made for the Catholic Church.

By Michelle Tsai

Over the weekend the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to settle lawsuits from hundreds of sex-abuse victims. About $250 million will come out of the diocese bank account; $60 million will come from other religious orders and another $123 million from litigation with orders that chose to sit out the deal. Insurance companies will pay the remaining $227 million. Hold on—can churches buy insurance for sex abuse?

Yes. Like any business, churches, synagogues, and other religious organizations purchase insurance to protect themselves from lawsuits, like discrimination claims or negligence charges against officers. Since the spike in sex-abuse lawsuits in the mid-1980s, churches have also had the option to take out extra liability policies for damages related to sexual misconduct. These policies don't come cheap, and they protect just the institutions, for the most part. Insurers will mount a legal defense for accused individuals, but the support extends only so far: Perpetrators are on their own if they're found guilty or choose to settle out of court.

But insurance companies created these abuse-specific policies only after the lawsuits of the mid-80s forced them to make large payouts. Until then, general liability policies didn't specifically rule out sex abuse, so churches that needed to pay damages argued that insurers should pay. Thus, even though sex-abuse insurance is available today, many of the big payouts actually come from the churches' general policies, since the abuse happened decades ago. (The Los Angeles settlement probably came out of these general policies.)

According to GuideOne, a major insurer for Protestant churches, most of its clients choose $100,000 of coverage for sex abuse. That might cost a small church with one pastor as little as $100 a year. A much larger church that also runs, say, a day-care center, might pay $6,000 to have $1 million in coverage. Religious organizations buying a lot of coverage may need to prove that they're taking precautions to lower the risk of sex abuse. GuideOne, for instance, requires some churches to conduct criminal background checks on employees, to allow volunteers to work with kids only after they've completed six months of service with the church, and to make sure that no child is ever left alone with just one adult. The policy won't cover everything. Insurers may put a limit on how much they will pay in aggregate, or for each case. (Recently, three major Protestant insurers reported that they receive 260 reports of child abuse every year.)

Partly because of rising insurance costs, a small number of churches are foregoing the coverage. More than half of Catholic dioceses buy their insurance from Catholic Mutual, which operates a self-insurance fund for the Catholic Church in North America. No matter who forks over the money for damages, awards today are so large that some dioceses are facing bankruptcy.

Fire and Ice

2007-07-17T05:48:00.001-05:00

Fire And Ice

Poem lyrics of Fire And Ice by Robert Frost.

Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Pregnancy & Childbirth

2007-07-12T04:04:00.001-05:00

Hazy Days of Summer

If you're like me you consider summer to be a pretty hot and uncomfortable time of year. I often look at my clients who are so very pregnant and due in the summer months with pity, because I know that pregnancy adds an extra burden to the usual summer heat.

Here are some things that you need to keep in mind during the summer while pregnant, no mater when you're due!

Hydration

Drinking water during pregnancy is very important because of the increased demands on your body. During the summer time it is even more important because even slight dehydration can cause severe problems like preterm labor.

Signs of Dehydration

Dizziness and light-headedness

Nausea and headaches

Muscle cramps

Increase in body temp (leads to heat exhaustion)

Drink at least 2 liters of clear liquids, preferably water, a day. If you are outside you need at least eight ounces of water for every hour you are outside. Drink before you get thirsty, thirst can be a sign that you've waited too long.

When dehydration occurs you lose part of your blood volume. This in turn increases the concentration of the normal amounts of oxytocin (hormone that causes contractions), therefore causing contractions. These contractions can lead to the premature birth of your baby.

Swelling

Swelling can be a normal physiologic part of pregnancy. You need to learn to tell the difference between this normal swelling, which usually increases in the summer, particularly if you are later in pregnancy.

Normal swelling in pregnancy will go down after you have rested. It will not appear suddenly. Any swelling that appears suddenly, does not go away after rest (For example, you wake up swollen.), or is worrisome needs to be checked out by your practitioner.

Normal swelling can be dealt with by salting your food to taste. This means you need to neither restrict salt completely or overdo it on the salt. Many people are not aware that too little salt will also cause swelling to occur.

Rest with your feet up whenever possible. Remove your rings if they are tight, don't risk the pain and misery of having them cut off. Being in water will also help swelling, particularly water that is deeper, like shoulder length. This also works really well for women who have higher blood pressure.

Sun

Ah, what would summer be without the sun? During pregnancy it's best to avoid direct sunlight. If you are in the sun use a 30-45 SPF sun screen. Avoid restrictive clothes, because this can increase your discomfort and add to swelling problems. Try to go outside in the cooler parts of the sunshine, early morning and late afternoon, rather than high noon. Use common sense.

Summer can be a great time of year to get out and enjoy your pregnancy. There are many activities that can still be done during pregnancy, and with a few simple precautions, there is no reason you shouldn't enjoy summer. Remember to watch out for warning signs of dehydration, problematic swelling, or other signs that you need to call your practitioner.

When to Call Your Practitioner

Contractions or cramps, more than 5 in one hour

Bright red blood from your vagina

Swelling or puffiness of the face or hands, a sign of preeclampsia

Pain during urination, possible urinary tract, bladder or kidney infection

Sharp or prolonged pain in your stomach (preeclampsia signs)

Acute or continuous vomiting (preeclampsia signs)

Sudden gush of clear, watery fluid from your vagina

Low, dull backache

Intense pelvic pressure

Management of Adverse Reactions to Medications

2007-07-11T09:33:00.001-05:00

Drug Side Effects

Severe reactions to cephalosporins are much less common than with penicillins. However, there is a small chance that someone with a true penicillin allergy could also react to cephalosporins, since the drugs are related. An allergist may be able to help determine if these antibiotics are safe for you.

Sulfonamides

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

IV Contrast/Dye

Local Anesthetics

General Anesthesia

8. Anti-Seizure Medications. Many medications used for treatment of epilepsy can cause non-allergic reactions as a result of certain enzyme deficiencies in the person taking the medication. Symptoms can include a rash, fever, body aches and hepatitis. There is no test available for this type of reaction.

Management of Adverse Reactions to Medications

1. Avoidance/Removal of the suspect medication. Most often, if a medication is causing a person to have an unpleasant reaction, the medication is stopped. Usually this is all that is needed to resolve the problem.

2. Treatment of any allergic or non-allergic symptoms. If the reaction is severe, such as anaphylaxis, or in Stevens-Johnson Syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis, emergency treatment may be required.

3. Consideration of testing by an allergist. An allergist may be able to help determine what medication caused the reaction and if there is testing that can be accomplished.

4. Determination of a need for current or replacement medication. If the person still has an infection, for example, another antibiotic may be required.

5. Consideration of desensitization. In some unique cases, a very specific medication is needed. In most forms of true medication allergy, a person can be desensitized to the medication by giving very small amounts initially (orally or intravenously) with increasing doses over many hours. This is usually done in a hospital given the chance of life-threatening anaphylaxis, and should only be done under the supervision of an allergist.

2 months

2007-07-11T08:48:00.001-05:00

Two Months

By Daniel Politi

The Washington Post leads with the growing divide between Republican lawmakers, as some continue to clamor for a change in Iraq, while others are standing behind the White House. The Wall Street Journal tops its worldwide newsbox with President Bush promising to veto any legislation that sets a date for withdrawal. Bush implored lawmakers to wait until the September progress report before passing any Iraq-related legislation. But there's an earlier report coming down the pipeline this week, and the Los Angeles Times leads with its own assessment of the overall Iraq strategy. Although the administration can point to some successes, it's unclear whether they're very meaningful or if they can even be sustained. Meanwhile, Iraq continues to be plagued by many of the same problems, and the chances that things could improve by September are slim at best.

The New York Times leads with Dr. Richard Carmona, the surgeon general from 2002 until 2006, telling Congress that the Bush administration frequently tried to shape his public statements so that they would fit its political goals and prevented him from speaking out about several issues. Carmona has thus become the latest in a string (the WP has a good rundown) of officials who have said that political considerations take precedence over scientific facts at the Bush White House. USA Today leads with a look at how more states are providing discounts in college tuition for veterans, partly as a way to make up for severe deficiencies in the federal GI Bill. Some of it has to do with the increased number of National Guard troops that are being sent into battle, but also because often the money provided by the federal government is simply not enough. But as more state lawmakers are dealing with budgetary woes, some are considering cutting back.

GOP leaders are counting on the fact that Democrats need 60 votes in order to get any legislation passed in the Senate, and the administration went into an all-hands-on-deck mode to try to prevent any more defectors. There are several amendments being discussed in the Senate, but the ones that have the greater chance of getting Republican support do not include a precise withdrawal date and give Bush greater flexibility. Meanwhile, lawmakers aren't the only ones defecting, as the LAT fronts a look at how the three Republican front-runners have been " quietly backing away" from supporting a continuation of the "surge.

As more troops have moved into Baghdad neighborhoods, they continue to face a barrage of attacks and "have been unable to establish security, even for themselves," says the LAT. Iraqis who live in mixed neighborhoods continue to leave their homes in a massive scale. So, while the administration is likely to point to a decrease in sectarian violence in Baghdad, some suspect it is merely a sign that most neighborhoods have become segregated. And although Iraqis are moderately optimistic that U.S. troops could have some success against al-Qaida in Iraq, it's less clear whether they can be effective in creating political unity and economic opportunities, two factors that everyone says are crucial to bring about security.

The LAT points out inside that Bush once again talked about the fight in Iraq as a battle against "the same people that attacked us on September the 11th." As any faithful TP reader should know by now, there's little evidence of a connection between al-Qaida in Iraq and Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network. In other Iraq news, everyone mentions what the NYT calls the "most intense mortar attack to date on the Green Zone" that killed three people , including an American service member, and wounded 18.

Carmona said he was prevented from speaking out on several issues, including stem cells, sexual education, and prisoners' health care. On the issue of sexual education, Carmona said he wanted to discuss contraceptives, but he was blocked due to the focus on abstinence-only policies. Carmona was one of three former surgeon generals who testified yesterday, and although the three discussed some sort of political interference with their jobs, they all said it seems to have gotten worse under Bush.

The NYT and WP front the big changes in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign team as two of his top aides resigned. Despite McCain's insistence that he's still in the race, everyone says this brings further doubt to whether the man who was once considered a shoo-in for his party's nomination will be able to continue his campaign for much longer. The resignations came after several contentious meetings where McCain expressed bewilderment over the news that his campaign was in such poor financial shape. The NYT says McCain only realized the extent of the problem late last month .

USAT fronts a blunt look at the massive problems that Bush will leave for whoever ends up taking his place. "I can't think of a single modern president about to bequeath to his successor such a difficult agenda and such a damaged presidency," says Paul Light of New York University.

The WP goes inside with two Justice Department officials saying that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales didn't lie to Congress when he affirmed there hadn't been "one verified case of civil liberties abuse." Even though he knew of the reports that detailed how FBI officials had frequently overstepped their bounds, it turns out they weren't abuses because they weren't intentional.

The LAT fronts news that the Chinese government executed the former head of its food and drug safety agency for taking bribes to approve medicines. Messages supporting the execution were quick to appear online in a show of what the LAT says is the average citizen's frustration with the lack of safety in national products.

USAT reports that Springfield, Vt. (population: 9,300), was the winner of the competition to host the premiere of the Simpsons Movie that pitted 13 Springfields from across the country against each other. They each created a video to make the case for their town, and people voted online for their favorite.

Stress Management

2007-07-09T08:51:00.001-05:00

Preventive Stress Management

We all know what it feels like to be overwhelmed by stress, and this site has many techniques that can effectively reduce high levels of stress to more manageable levels so you don't suffer negative health consequences. However, the best way to manage severe stress is to prevent it, or catch it while it's still low-grade stress and prevent it from becoming severe and chronic. This article contains some important suggestions that have also been recommended by the Mayo Clinic on how to manage stress day-by-day to prevent it from becoming overwhelming.

Relaxing –It's important to keep your mind and body relaxed. Meditation, prayer, having a creative outlet, listening to music and laughter all help.
For other relaxation techniques, visit the Tension Tamers section.
Watch Your Body – Before you experience ulcers, heart disease and other major health problems from stress , your body will experience milder forms of discomfort, such as headaches, stomach upset and poor sleep. When you feel these early warning signs, start practicing your tension taming techniques and put a stop to low-grade chronic stress before it becomes a bigger problem.
Psysical Activity –Practicing martial arts, jogging, lifting weights, or even a short walk can improve mood and reduce feelings of stress by increasing endorphins, lowering cortisol levels, and providing many other benefits. Here are some of the best ways to reduce stress with exercise.
Eat Well --A healthy diet gives you the energy to handle daily stress, and keeps your blood sugar levels stable so you don't experience mood swings due to low blood sugar levels. Skipping meals and making poor food choices can contribute to fatigue, greater susceptibility to illness, greater feelings of stress, and a general feeling of poor health.
Setting Boundaries – Being overscheduled and rushed can be a significant cause of stress. By prioritizing your commitments and saying no to some tasks can help you be more successful with what you find to be really important, and you'll have extra time for additional stress management activities.
Maintain Social Support—Having a supportive network of friends can help you stay healthy and reduce stress in many ways. Friends can provide resources that you may need when you're in a bind, or a supportive ear that helps you feel accepted and understood. Studies show that having a sense of belonging can reduce your risk of depression. And having a friend who makes you laugh can also make you healthier and less stressed.
Find Fun Distractions –Playing games, reading, watching movies and t.v. can all help you get your mind off of what's stressing you and onto something more pleasant. Sometimes this is just the break you need to stop a pattern of obsessing over your problems, and enable your body and mind to enter a relaxed state. When you come back to your stressors, they may not have the same powerful grip on you.
Keep a Positive Perspective --Throughout the day, stop and evaluate the endless stream of thoughts that run through your mind. If they're negative, try to reframe those thoughts in a positive way. (This isn't the same as pretending everything's great when it isn't, a form of denial that doesn't always help.) Using less negative language in your self-talk, looking for the hidden benefits as well as the obvious drawbacks of stressful situations, and reminding yourself that this, too, shall pass are all effective strategies in positive thinking that have helped many people.
Get Help If You Need It --If stress is affecting your ability to work or find pleasure in life, seek help from your doctor, mental health provider or other professional. There's no need to let stress overwhelm your life, and there are many effective forms of help available. Finding it could give you the life you want and deserve.

Working toward implementing these practices into your daily routines can go a long way toward reducing stress in your life and leaving you healthier and happier. Take baby steps at first, and reward yourself for the progress you make, and in no time, these new practices will be old habits.

Defector Prevention

2007-07-09T08:12:00.001-05:00

Defector Prevention Program

By Daniel Politi

The New York Times leads with the growing debate within the White House over whether President Bush should announce a plan to start gradually withdrawing troops from Iraq in order to avoid more Republicans from speaking up against the war. Although administration officials were hoping to avoid this kind of talk until the much-anticipated progress report in September, waiting no longer seems to be an option. "Sept. 15 now looks like an end point for debate, not a starting point," one official tells the paper. The Washington Post leads with an early look at a congressional report that says approximately one-quarter of the top positions at the Department of Homeland Security are unfilled. Congressional leaders worry that the vacancies mean the nation is vulnerable to threats, and they see it as another example of the management problems that have been plaguing the department since its inception.

USA Today leads with the increasing number of attacks against supply convoys in Iraq, which are protected by private contractors. From the beginning of June 2006 until May of this year, there were 869 attacks, a large increase from the 281 in the previous 12 months. Meanwhile, the paper also notes the Pentagon is considering expanding the role of private contractors to include the security of military supply convoys in Iraq, a role currently carried out by U.S. troops. The Wall Street Journal tops its world-wide newsbox with word that the Bush administration is looking into ways that to formally end "more than 50 years of Cold War hostilities" between the United States and North Korea. U.S. officials have been meeting with regional leaders to try and figure out how a peace accord to officially mark the end of the Korean War could be implemented. The Los Angeles Times leads with a look at the local police in Mexico's small towns, who are often unprepared to fight against the country's drug traffickers. These "underarmed, under-prepared, and often corrupt" officials "are the Achilles' heel of President Felipe Calderon's" war against the traffickers.

As four high-profile Republicans have recently expressed disagreement with the administration's Iraq policy, some are pressuring President Bush to avoid more public defections by announcing a plan for a gradual withdrawal of troops from some key areas in Iraq. And get ready for the new catchphrase as administration officials are apparently calling this a "post-surge redeployment." Defense Secretary Robert Gates canceled a planned trip in order to be present at the meetings this week. But as the NYT makes clear near the end of the story, all that Bush might have to do is come up with something that will eat up some time until early August, when Congress closes shop until September.

As of May 1, the Department of Homeland Security had 138 unfilled positions out of its top 575, according to the congressional report. Homeland Security insists the high number of vacant slots has to do with a recent increase in positions, but critics say the department is overly dependent on contractors, and the unfilled jobs are contributing to the decline in morale among employees.

The WP fronts word that several satellite photographs show there has been some digging in a mountainside in central Iran, which some are concerned could be an attempt by the government to move a chunk of its nuclear operations underground. Although no one can really be sure of their purpose, the nonprofit that provided the photos to the Post says the tunnels could provide "excellent protection from an aerial attack."

The WP fronts, and the NYT goes inside with, a follow-up to the massive bombing in Amerli, which is 50 miles south of Kirkuk. Although no one has exact numbers of casualties, everyone's estimates are approaching 150, and the NYT has someone who says it was 155, which would officially make it the worst single bombing in the war (the March bombing in Tal Afar killed 152). In Amerli, "almost everyone seemed to have lost relatives or friends, if not entire families," says the Post. Meanwhile, the NYT notes American commanders admitted most of the insurgent leaders managed to escape Baquba, where U.S. troops have been carrying out operations.

The LAT, NYT, and WP go inside with the continuing standoff at Pakistan's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque. Officials have been holding off on raiding the mosque because they don't really know how many militants are inside or the number of people they are holding hostage. The militants are showing no signs of giving in, and the leader of the mosque made it clear he was prepared to die. Meanwhile, Pakistani officials said those inside the mosque are "terrorists, militants, who are wanted within, and outside, the country" and said they, and not the mosque's cleric, are in charge.

As some Dow Jones board members continue looking for other potential bidders who could come close to matching Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion offer, the NYT points out that if the deal falls through, there will be "significant cuts in the [WSJ's] newsroom staff." Some executives say that if it weren't for Murdoch's bid, the staff would have already been trimmed.

The LAT notes some in the military are concerned soldiers deployed in Iraq are eating too many fattening foods, which is resulting in weight gain and general health problems, such as high cholesterol.

The NYT fronts a look at how a growing number of New York wineries are taking steps to keep away the people who "are looking more for a good time than a good wine." Many are forbidding tour buses and limos, while some have even started charging for tastings . "You'll pour a wine for a guy and he'll say, 'What, this is all I get? Fill it up,' " said a salesman at one of the vineyards. "I'll tell him, 'Sir, this is a wine tasting, not a bar.'

Heart Attack & Heavy" Drinking

2007-07-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

Heavy Drinking Increases Risk After Heart Attack

Even moderately heavy drinking is bad after myocardial infarction

By DrRich

Several studies have indicated that light usage of alcohol (one or two drinks per day) may help protect against cardiac disease. However, because alcohol causes so many medical problems, and because for many people it is difficult to limit alcohol to light usage, it is the position of the American Heart Association (a position DrRich endorses) that people who don't drink should not take up alcohol in order to benefit the heart. Click here to read a brief summary of the potential cardiac benefits of light alcohol usage, and the AHA policy on "ask, but don't tell."

Now new evidence has come to light that ought to raise even more cautionary flags. Researchers from Boston studied 1835 patients admitted to the hospital with heart attacks, and recorded the amount and frequency of their alcohol consumption for the year prior to their heart attack.

Specifically, they recorded whether patients consumed at least 3 drinks within a two-hour period during the past year - which they defined as "binge drinking."

After their heart attacks, patients who had done any binge drinking during the previous year had a death rate that was 73% higher than patients who did not do any binge drinking. Even occasional binge drinking - as they defined that term in this study - increased the risk of death. The type of alcohol consumed - beer, wine, and/or liquor - did not make any difference. The researchers found that, on average, patients who reported any binge drinking were relatively heavy drinkers overall - they drank an average of three beers a day.

Even if you believe the substantial body of data suggesting that a drink a day can be cardioprotective, this new information has to be, well, sobering. While a little alcohol can be moderately beneficial, a little more alcohol can be very, very bad. The AHA's policy of not encouraging patients to drink "a little" seems even more correct now than it might have before this study was reported.

Fibrocystic Breasts

2007-07-09T06:43:00.001-05:00

Lumps, Bumps, and Pain

Thirty-three percent of all women between the ages of 30 and 50, and 50 percent of women of all ages, may at some point, be told by their physician that they have fibrocystic breast disease or other benign breast conditions. Other terms women may hear include benign breast disease, chronic mastitis (inflammation), and mammary dysplasia.

What is Fibrocystic Breast Disease?

Controversy exists about the name - fibrocystic breast disease. Some argue that fibrocystic breast disease is not a disease, but a common and harmless condition experienced by women as they encounter hormonal changes during their menstrual cycles.

Others argue that fibrocystic breast changes are a precursor for future breast cancer. Current research suggests that women with fibrocystic breast disease or other benign breast conditions are more likely to develop breast cancer later only if a breast biopsy shows "atypia" or abnormal breast cells.

Most women with fibrocystic breasts will not show atypia when a breast biopsy is performed.

Fibrocystic breast disease is common and usually benign condition. Symptoms include swollen, tender breasts, and/or one or more lumps. Frequently, symptoms worsen just before a woman's menstrual cycle, subsiding near the end. For the majority of women these symptoms are a temporary discomfort, however some women experience severe pain.

Fibrocystic breast disease may affect one or both breasts. Women often discover the existence of this condition when, during their monthly breast self-exam, they detect a lump. As frightening as discovering a lump in your breast is it's important to remember that most breast lumps are not breast cancer. However, all breasts lumps must be investigated to rule out breast cancer and/or to begin immediate treatment if breast cancer is diagnosed.

What to Do When You Find a Lump in Your Breast

Call your physician to schedule an appointment and ask yourself the following questions:

What is the date of your last period?
When did you discover the lump?
Is there a family history of breast problems?
Have you had any previous breast problems?
Have you had a previous breast biopsy or other breast surgery?
How does the lump feel? Is it hard or soft? Does it feel grainy?
How big is the lump and has is grown larger or smaller since you discovered it?
Do you have any nipple discharge?
Are you taking any medications?

See: Understanding Benign Breast Changes

Diagnostic Methods

Your physician will examine your breasts, manually, to determine which, if any, diagnostic tools to use for further evaluation of your breast lump. These diagnostic tools include mammography, ultrasound, needle aspiration, and biopsy.

Steps to Reduce and/or Eliminate Symptoms Naturally

One of the most important dietary changes you can make to prevent or reduce the symptoms of fibrocystic breast disease is eliminating all forms of cafeine-containing foods from your diet. This includes foods such as chocolate, sodas, and coffee and tea. Reducing sugar may also help reduce overall symptoms.

Decrease sources of estrogen from your diet such as commercially raised meats which contain excessive amounts of hormones that can exasperate your symptoms. And don't forget pharmaceutical sources of estrogen such as birth control pills that can worsen symptoms of benign breast conditions.

According to Dr. John Lee's book, "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause," natural progesterone cream applied at a dose of "15 to 20 mg per day from ovulation until a day or two before your period returns will usually result in a return to normal breast tissue in three to four months." Dr. Lee further advises that once the desired results have been obtained that you should taper your dose of natural progesterone down until you have reached the minimum dosage required for you to maintain your results.

Dr. Lee and others, also recommend the use of Vitamin E, in doses ranging from 400 IU to 600 IU per day, to reduce symptoms associated with fibrocystic breast changes. Other vitamin suggestions include Vitamin B6, a B complex, and magnesium.

If you have tried everything and still find yourself suffering with unbearably painful breasts, some physicians recommend that women who experience severe discomfort may find relief by wearing a good support bra during intolerable episodes.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

2007-07-09T00:13:00.001-05:00

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Will Provide New Solutions for Airlines, Passengers

Extract: Boeing

Responding to the overwhelming preference of airlines around the world, Boeing Commercial Airplanes' new airplane is the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a super-efficient airplane. An international team of top aerospace companies is developing the airplane, led by Boeing at its Everett facility near Seattle, Wash.

Unparalleled Performance

The 787-8 Dreamliner will carry 210 - 250 passengers on routes of 7,650 to 8,200 nautical miles (14,200 to 15,200 kilometers), while the 787-9 Dreamliner will carry 250 - 290 passengers on routes of 8,000 to 8,500 nautical miles (14,800 to 15,750 kilometers). A third 787 family member, the 787-3 Dreamliner, will accommodate 290 - 330 passengers and be optimized for routes of 2,500 to 3,050 nautical miles (4,600 to 5,650 kilometers).

In addition to bringing big-jet ranges to mid-size airplanes, the 787 will provide airlines with unmatched fuel efficiency, resulting in exceptional environmental performance. The airplane will use 20 percent less fuel for comparable missions than today's similarly sized airplane. It will also travel at speeds similar to today's fastest wide bodies, Mach 0.85. Airlines will enjoy more cargo revenue capacity.

Passengers will also see improvements with the new airplane, from an interior environment with higher humidity to increased comfort and convenience.

Advanced Technology

The key to this exceptional performance is a suite of new technologies being developed by Boeing and its international technology development team.

Boeing has announced that as much as 50 percent of the primary structure -- including the fuselage and wing -- on the 787 will be made of composite materials.

An open architecture will be at the heart of the 787's systems, which will be more simplified than today's airplanes and offer increased functionality. For example, the team is looking at incorporating health-monitoring systems that will allow the airplane to self-monitor and report maintenance requirements to ground-based computer systems.

Boeing has selected General Electric and Rolls-Royce to develop engines for the new airplane. It is expected that advances in engine technology will contribute as much as 8 percent of the increased efficiency of the new airplane, representing a nearly two-generation jump in technology for the middle of the market.

Another improvement in efficiency will come in the way the airplane is designed and built. New technologies and processes are in development to help Boeing and its supplier partners achieve unprecedented levels of performance at every phase of the program. For example, by manufacturing a one-piece fuselage section, we are eliminating 1,500 aluminum sheets and 40,000 - 50,000 fasteners.

Continuing Progress

The Boeing board of directors granted authority to offer the airplane for sale in late 2003. Program launch occurred in April 2004 with a record order from All-Nippon Airways. Since that time, 45 customers have placed orders for 584 airplanes from six continents of the world, making this the most successful launch of a new commercial airplane in Boeing's history.

The program has signed on 43 of the world's most capable top-tier supplier partners and together finalized the airplane's configuration in September 2005. These partners have started detailed design and, with Boeing, are connected virtually at 135 sites around the world to work toward major assembly in 2006. Eleven partners from around the world started facility construction for a total of 3 million additional square feet to create their major structures and bring the next new airplane to market.

The 787 program will open its final assembly plant in Everett in 2007. First flight is expected in 2007 with certification, delivery and entry into service occurring in 2008.

Alone - Edgar Allan Poe

2007-07-08T05:03:00.001-05:00

Alone

Poem lyrics of Alone by Edgar Allan Poe.

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then - in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life - was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

Happiness and Life Satisfaction

2007-07-08T02:14:00.001-05:00

Top 5 Changes You Can Make for Increased Happiness and Life Satisfaction

We all want to be happy, and often we strive for that new car, bigger house, or promotion at work in order to find the elusive goal of a happy and satisfied life. However, often the car or house or new position come, but doesn't bring the happiness we expected. The following goals and changes can be relatively easily attained and can bring increased and lasting happiness. Now is the time to start incorporating them into your life!

1. Find More Time For Yourself

The feeling of not having enough freedom to pursue quality time with our families, revitalizing solitary activities, or other things that would nurture us can leave us feeling stressed and unhappy. If you would like to increase your level of happiness and life satisfaction this year, one of the best changes you can make is to find more time in your schedule for a life that reflects what you'd really like to be doing. These steps can help.

2. Make Smart Money Choices

Many people think they'll be happier if they can just get their hands on more money. However, once beyond the poverty level, more money doesn't usually bring more happiness, because with increased means often come increased desires. A more helpful solution is to make the money you already have to feel a greater sense of freedom and satisfaction in life. These tips can show you how to make the most of your current financial situation.

3. Take Care of Your Body

f your health fails, it can overshadow everything else that's going on in your life. From major health problems to minor aches and pains, health can really impact happiness and stress levels. Making a commitment to taking on healthier habits this year can have a far-reaching payoff: you'll feel better in everything you do. Here are a few healthy habits that carry a big impact.

4. Adopt Stress Relievers That Work For You

There are many things that contribute to a happy and satisfied feeling about life, but excess stress can put a damper on even the best conditions. If you're in a state of chronic stress, it's much more difficult to enjoy life. Find some stress relievers you can use and you will feel more at peace when things get hectic.

5. Get Involved In A Cause That You Believe In

People are generally happier when they're living a life of meaning. And while you may not be able to cast off all of your worldly posessions in search of the true meaning of life, you can get involved in a cause that's important to you with minimal time, effort or cost. And even though you can get tax breaks, new friends or a cleaner house out of the deal, what you find in the way of life satisfaction will be the real reward. While you'll be helping others, you will truly receive more than you give. Why not start now?

Breast Changes

2007-07-07T08:20:00.001-05:00

Understanding Benign Breast Changes

Over her lifetime, a woman can encounter a broad variety of breast conditions. These include normal changes that occur during the menstrual cycle as well as several types of benign lumps. What they have in common is that they are not cancer. Even for breast lumps that require a biopsy, some 80 percent prove to be benign.

Each breast has 15 to 20 sections, called lobes, each with many smaller lobules. The lobules end in dozens of tiny bulbs that can produce milk. Lobes, lobules, and bulbs are all linked by thin tubes called ducts. These ducts lead to the nipple, which is centered in a dark area of skin called the areola. The spaces between the lobules and ducts are filled with fat. There are no muscles in the breast, but muscles lie under each breast and cover the ribs. These normal features can sometimes make the breasts feel lumpy, especially in women who are thin or who have small breasts.

In addition, from the time a girl begins to menstruate, her breasts undergo regular changes each month.

Many doctors believe that nearly all breasts develop some lasting changes, beginning when the woman is about 30 years old. Eventually, about half of all women will experience symptoms such as lumps, pain, or nipple discharge. Generally these disappear with menopause.

Some studies show that the chances of developing benign breast changes are higher for a woman who has never had children, has irregular menstrual cycles, or has a family history of breast cancer. Benign breast conditions are less common among women who take birth control pills or who are overweight. Because they generally involve the glandular tissues of the breast, benign breast conditions are more of a problem for women of child-bearing age, who have more glandular breasts.

A rigid question about parents and their kids

2007-07-05T00:35:00.001-05:00

When should we stop being naked in front of our kids?

I was born in the US but my parents are Swedish and we had a family bed for many years, and no discomfort with nudity. I feel like my comfort with sex came from the way I was raised, never to feel ashamed or embarrassed about my body.

I'm now a mother myself (of a 6-year-old boy) and my partner was raised in a very different kind of house, where no one was ever naked in front of each other and doors were closed all the time. She's never been as comfortable as I am with nudity and feels like now that our son is getting older, it isn't appropriate for us to be naked in front of him anymore. I think this is ridiculous, but am wondering if there is an age when you're supposed to stop being naked in front of your kids?

This is a great question, and I'm surprised how often it comes up when I'm talking with new parents about sexuality. Parental nudity can be a controversial subject to raise. There will always be people who incorrectly confuse nudity with sexuality and think that what you're talking about is sexual activity in a family. Obviously this is not what you're asking about, and it isn't what I'm addressing.

Maybe one of the reasons it remains controversial is that there is a huge divide between the theory and the research on this subject. You don't have to go far to find "parenting experts" and theorists who believe that it is wrong to be naked in front of your kids, and that family nudity can lead to all sorts of problems. And, as you've described, people often feel strongly about this based on their own experiences.

On the other hand, research doesn't support the idea that nudity leads to problems. While there hasn't been very much research on this topic, and most of it relies on adults remembering their childhood experiences, overall the research doesn't point to any grand negative impact of parental nudity in the home.

So how does a parent decide what to do, and when to change a family practice like allowing nudity in the home?

There is no one way to deal with the situation. But here are some points to consider in thinking about the issues involved:

Be genuine.
Don't force yourself to be more open or closed than you actually feel. If you're raising children with a partner you'll need to negotiate this, but you don't have to feel or act the same way. But if you betray your own feelings and force a behavior on yourself your children will subtly pick up on this, and the last thing you want to be teaching your kids is to mistrust their own judgment and boundaries.

Be consistent.
Don't feel pressured into acting a certain way because you think it's the "right" thing to do. Research indicates there aren't any right and wrong answers here. If you're comfortable with nudity that's great. If you're not, then establish where and when you want privacy. What's important is that you are consistent in the way you model behavior for your kids.

Be able to explain your feelings and actions without judgment.
Regardless of what you do, if your children ask you about it, you should be able to respond without being judgmental. For example, if they ask why you always keep your door closed, or why they're not allowed to come into the bathroom when you're getting ready, you should be able to explain why without making them feel badly about their body and without being negative about your body. Saying "because it's not right" is sending a vague and judgmental message about your body and by extension, about all bodies. Saying "I close the door because it's private time for me" is a very different way of explaining a boundary without resorting to judgment. If your child asks why you walk around your bedroom naked when he knows that doesn't happen in his friends' homes, you should be able to explain your beliefs without putting down how nudity is dealt with in other homes.

Use difference as a positive, not a negative.
If you're raising your children with a partner and your partner doesn't feel the way you do about nudity, don't force a single solution. It's okay for each of you to behave in a way that feels right as long as you can each explain your feelings. This approach offers your children the opportunity to see that nudity can be handled in many ways, and not one way is correct.

Pay attention and check in with your pre-teen and teenage children.
If your comfortable with nudity in the home, but aren't sure if there is an age when it should stop, it is likely that your children will let you know when they want something to change. But they might not be comfortable saying something direct, so pay attention to your children and how they are reacting to your nudity. If they start spending more time in their room with their door closed, encourage them to know that's okay, but also talk to them about what's going on. Don't force them to talk, but make sure they know you're available and open to discussion. You may also want to offer that you can keep your door closed if that would make them more comfortable (or you may not want to offer this option, depending on your beliefs).

Take advantage of these opportunities to talk about bodies and sex.
Even though nudity isn't the same thing as sex, in our culture the two are strongly equated. Talking about being naked opens up the opportunity to see if your children have any questions about sex. You never want to push your kids to talk to you about sex, but this may be one more chance to let them know that if they have questions, you're open to answering them.

Premature Labor

2007-07-04T23:53:00.001-05:00

Preterm Labor Signs and Symptoms

Premature labor, also known as preterm labor, is a very serious complication of pregnancy. This is defined as labor that begins prior to 37 weeks gestation. Unfortunately, many women do not understand the signs of premature labor. Early detection can help prevent premature birth and possibly enable you to carry your pregnancy to term or to give your baby a better chance of survival.

Signs of Premature Labor

Call your practitioner if you have any of the following:

Contractions or cramps, more than 5 in one hour
Bright red blood from your vagina
Swelling or puffiness of the face or hands, a sign of preeclampsia
Pain during urination, possible urinary tract, bladder or kidney infection
Sharp or prolonged pain in your stomach (preeclampsia signs)
Acute or continuous vomiting (preeclampsia signs)
Sudden gush of clear, watery fluid from your vagina
Low, dull backache
Intense pelvic pressure

Prevention of Preterm Labor

While not all cases of preterm labor can be prevented there are a lot of women who will have contractions that can be prevented by simple measures.

One of the first things that your practitioner will tell you to do if you are having contractions is staying very well hydrated.

Signs of Premature Labor

We definitely see the preterm labor rates go up in the summer months. What happens with dehydration is that the blood volume decreases, therefore increasing the concentration of oxytocin (hormone that causes uterine contractions) to rise. Hydrating yourself will increase the blood volume.

Others things that you can do would be to pay attention to signs and symptoms of infections (bladder, yeast, etc.) because they can also cause infections. Keeping all of your appointments with your practitioner and calling whenever you have questions or symptoms. A lot of women are afraid of "crying wolf," but it is much better to be incorrect than to be in preterm labor and not being treated.

Management of Preterm Labor

There are a lot of variables to managing preterm labor, both in medical options and in terms of what is going on with you and/or your baby. Here are some of the things that you may deal with when in preterm labor.

Hydration (Oral or IV)
Bedrest (Home or Hospital), usually left side lying
Medications to stop labor (Magnesium sulfate, brethine, terbutaline, etc.)
Medication to help prevent infection (More likely if your membranes have ruptured or if the contractions are caused by infection)
Evaluation of your baby (Biophysical profile, non-stress or stress tests, amniotic fluid volume index (AFI), ultrasound, etc.[/link])
Medications to help your baby's lung develop more quickly (Usually if preterm birth in inevitable)

Preparation for preterm birth

The best key is always prevention and early detection. Make sure to ask your practitioner to discuss the signs and symptoms of preterm labor to you and your partner at your next visit.

Prison

2007-07-03T06:34:00.001-05:00

Break

By Daniel Politi

All the papers lead with President Bush commuting Scooter Libby's 30-month prison sentence. Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff won't have to serve a day in prison but his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case still stands, which means he has to pay the $250,000 fine and will be on probation for two years. The president made his announcement after a group of judges denied Libby's request to stay out of prison while he appealed. In a written statement, Bush said he respects "the jury's verdict" but characterized the prison sentence as "excessive."

USA Today notes up high that Libby never filed a formal request and Bush didn't discuss the commutation with the Justice Department. In fact, many Justice officials were already on their way out of the office when they got the news on their Blackberries . "They were floored," says the New York Times. By all accounts, Bush appears to have come to the decision mostly on his own and consulted few of his close advisers, says the Washington Post in a separate Page One piece. In pursuing the strategy the president may have been trying to avoid the accusation that he had succumbed to political pressure. Both the NYT and WP point out that it's unclear what kind of role Cheney played in the process. The Wall Street Journal says the decision could affect Republican presidential candidates who may find themselves in the position of having to "defend the commutation for the remainder of the campaign." The Los Angeles Times notes that while the decision can't be overturned, "It can be criticized … and Democrats were quick to do so."

Everyone quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying that Libby's conviction "was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence." And proving that lawmakers can drop pop culture references like the best of them, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois noted that "even Paris Hilton had to go to jail." Several Democratic presidential candidates joined in and also criticized the decision. For their part, conservatives were mostly pleased, although some expressed disappointment that Bush didn't issue a full pardon. But, as several note, Bush could still do that at a later date.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald issued a statement disputing Bush's characterization of the sentence as excessive saying that "an experienced federal judge … imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws." The Post quotes a law professor who calls the commutation " hypocritical" since Bush's Justice Department often argues against attempts by judges and lawyers to give lower sentences than those outlined by federal guidelines.

The NYT quotes from Justice Department standards that say "requests for commutation generally are not accepted unless and until a person has begun serving that sentence." But, of course, the president has wide latitude in these matters.

Everyone points out, as was often talked about in the will-he-or-won't-he days, Bush seems to have come to the conclusion that he didn't have much to lose by commuting Libby's sentence. Those who criticize the decision are not fans of the president, so he may have decided that he needed to appeal to the base, especially after their widespread anger over the immigration bill .

Several of the editorial pages weigh in and they aren't too happy with the decision. The WP agrees with the president that Libby's sentence was excessive, "but reducing the sentence to no prison time at all … is not defensible." The NYT is more critical and says the commutation "only underscored the way this president is tough on crime when it's committed by common folk." The WSJ calls Bush's statement "another profile in non-courage" and says "Libby deserved better from the president whose policies he tried to defend when others were running for cover."

The NYT, LAT, and WP front the latest in the attempted bombings in London and Glasgow, where a pattern seems to be emerging as authorities are focusing on foreign-born doctors. As many as five of the eight people in custody are either doctors or in medical school, say the WP and NYT. Notably, they're also from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The investigation has even extended to Australia, where authorities arrested a foreign doctor. The WSJ points out officials are investigating links between this plot and a British terrorist investigation known as " Operation Rhyme," where there were plans to blow up buildings using limousines.

In a Page One piece, the WP says that officials think the next attack in the United States is likely to follow the same pattern as the failed car bombs, where people with little training, no experience, and scant connection to al-Qaida carry out simultaneous attacks. The Post talks to an analyst who disagrees with the characterization of the attackers as amateurs simply because they couldn't ignite the bombs, "of all the al-Qaida plots we've seen, their sophistication is in their simplicity."

The NYT fronts, and the rest of the papers go inside with, a U.S. military spokesman accusing Iranian security forces of using Hezbollah as a "proxy" to train Iraqi Shiite militias and added that Iran's leadership knows about this. The general said Iran's agents helped plan an attack in January where five U.S. soldiers were killed.

The WSJ fronts word that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is working on getting bipartisan support for a plan to withdraw a "significant" number of troops from Iraq, in exchange for a commitment to keep a long-term presence in the country. The main question now is how long the "surge" will last, as there are fears that if a change of strategy isn't announced soon Congress could force a withdrawal that would create chaos in the region.

The WP and NYT front Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign handing out pink slips as it has failed to turn around its money problems and only has $2 million in the bank. McCain's advisers blamed the immigration bill, and noted that the senator might accept public funds for the primary.

Everyone fronts the death of Beverly Sills, the all-American opera singer who became popular even among those who had no interest in the genre. She was 78.

Your Power Point really made me think … Next time your boss chastises you for yawning at another interminable meeting, make sure you defend yourself against charges that you're bored. The NYT reports that a new study shows yawning regulates brain temperature, and helps the yawner stay alert since "a cooler brain … is a clearer brain."

ANGELINA JOLIE BIOGRAPHY

2007-07-03T02:00:00.001-05:00

ANGELINA JOLIE (whole life)

While most Hollywood stars do everything they can to appear cool, professional and squeaky-clean, diligently concealing all their nasty little secrets, Angelina Jolie appears wholly unconcerned by controversy. Ever-keen to talk about her breakdowns, her disorders, her fantasies and her world-famous penchant for S&M, many would say she's built a career on titillating public confession. But she's also an increasingly fine and award-winning performer, her Oscar for Girl, Interrupted being only the first in a string of prestigious honours. Onscreen, as in bed, she is a risk-taker, and perhaps deserves to be seen as the spiritual sister of such greats as Streep, Pfeiffer and Lange. Beyond this, her international efforts on behalf of children and refugees have made her the most public-minded superstar since Audrey Hepburn.

She was born Angelina Jolie Voight in Los Angeles, on June 4th, 1975 - her name meaning Pretty Little Angel. Her father, Jon, was already an established superstar, having topped the bill in such classics as Midnight Cowboy and Deliverance. When Angelina was 2, he'd scoop the Best Actor Oscar for Coming Home. By then though, he'd already split from her mother, the part-Iroquois actress and model Marcheline Bertrand (now Angelina'smanager), who'd moved with Angelina and her brother James to the East Coast - to the Palisades, New York, to be more precise.

Living here, Jolie was a happy child. She collected snakes and lizards - her favourite lizard being named Vladimir, and her favourite snake Harry Dean Stanton - and, oddly, like many females of her age, she had a major crush on Mr Spock. She would wear glittery clothing, including sparkly underwear, and flounce around, already performing, keen to make people laugh, to make them like her. She was a member of the Kissy Girls, who hunted boys down and kiss them till they screamed - until the school was forced to call the parents and the gang broke up. Marcheline would take the kids to the movies often, and Jolie claims this is where she got the notion to be an actress - not from her uncle, Chip Taylor (an actor and composer), not from her godmother Jacqueline Bisset, and definitely NOT from her father, though at age 7 she did appear in Lookin' To Get Out, a movie about inveterate gamblers, co-written by and starring Jon Voight.

When Jolie was 11, her mother moved the family back to Los Angeles. They had already moved often, making the young girl feel constantly uprooted "I always dreamed", she says "of having an attic of things that I could go back up and look at". Now Angelina decided she wanted to act and, as ever jumping in at the deep end, enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she trained for two years, appearing in several stage productions. As a pupil at Beverly Hills High School, she was not alone in her cinematic ambitions. But she certainly FELT alone in the midst of all those good-looking, pampered children, children who teased her mercilessly for wearing braces and glasses and being so painfully skinny. Unlike the other parents, Marcheline was not rich - so Angelina also had to seek her clothes at thrift stores like Aardvark. Her confidence received a further battering when her attempts at modelling proved fruitless. She never got picked - too short, too thin, too fat, too scarred.

Scarred - yes. Perhaps it was the many moves, maybe it was to do with her father, a lonely, detached figure who did not want to live with his family (Angelina always feared she would be like that herself). Maybe it was the relative poverty, or the taunting, or the way she felt that -with her big eyes, big lips, big everything - she looked like a muppet. But Angelina had come to hate herself, to feel absolutely worthless. She felt unworthy, didn't like to be touched (she still has this problem sometimes). So, like too many young girls, she started to cut herself. At 14, she dropped out of acting classes and began an existence of fast-living and active self-loathing. She wore black, dyed her hair purple and went out slam-dancing with her live-in punk boyfriend. They experimented heavily in S&M, Angelina once asking him to draw a blade along her jawline (the scar is now faint, but still there).

At 16, her relationship ended. She moved to an apartment opposite her mother and went back to theatre. Now committed to acting, her first role was, unsurprisingly, as a German dominatrix. She began to learn from her father, noticed how he would watch people, talk to them, become like them. She stopped fighting with him so much too, realising that they were both "drama queens". For his part, Voight noticed her talent, being moved to tears by her reading of the part of Catherine in A View From The Bridge.

With the braces and glasses gone, she became a model too, working in Los Angeles, New York and London. She also appeared in the video for Meat Loaf's Rock'n'Roll Dreams Come Through - she'd later turn up in promos for Lenny Kravitz, Lemonheads and The Rolling Stones. Her confidence rose, though it would often plummet back down. She tells a story of how once she was so down she actually tried to hire a man to kill her. Being a compassionate sort of assassin, he told her to think about it for a month. Obviously, she didn't call him back.

Jolie had appeared in five of her brother's student films, made while he attended the USC School of Cinema (he was now known as James Haven), but her movie career proper began in 1993, when she starred as Casella "Cash" Reese, alongside Elias Koteas and Jack Palance in Cyborg 2. Here, a near-human robot-thing, she was designed to seduce her way into the HQ of her creators' rivals and blow up. Already, her sexual charisma had been noted. Next came Hackers, where she met her first husband, Jonny Lee Miller, then riding high after his performance as Sick Boy in Trainspotting. Miller played a computer whizz-kid on the wrong side of the law, trying to save the world from a swine intent upon unleashing a vicious virus, while being pursued by the Secret Service. Jolie was Acid Burn, one of his team.

The pair fell for each other big-time and were married, Jolie possibly looking for some kind of stability in her life. Now began her explicit openness in the press, as she told lurid tales of their sexual exploits. "You're young, you're drunk, you're in bed, you have knives; shit happens", she said jokingly. It was also announced that, when getting married, Jolie had worn black leather pants and a white shirt with Miller's name scrawled across the back in her own blood (well, who else's blood would she use?). In interviews, Jolie explained that her interest in blood and death was of long standing. She not only collected knives, she said, but had a fascination with mortuary science and, as a child, had dreamed of becoming a funeral director. Less Maude than Harold, then.

Now the roles started coming fast and thick. Jolie starred with David Duchovny in the nasty, stylish thriller Playing God (she'd later date her other co-star, Timothy Hutton). Then, in the road-movie Mojave Moon, she was a youngster, named Eleanor Rigby, who falls for Danny Aiello, while he takes a shine to her mother, Anne Archer. In Foxfire, she was one of a group of teenage girls who kill a teacher who harasses them, then gradually go wholly out-of-control. Directed by Annette Haywood-Carter, this was very much a girl-thing, as was Jolie's next release, the TV movie True Women, a Herstorical romantic drama set in the West, based on the book by Janice Woods Windle.

As a child, Jolie had always been encouraged to express her feelings, and now it really began to work for her. In biopic George Wallace, she played the wife of the segregationist Governor of Alabama who was shot and paralysed while running for President. This starred Gary Sinise and was directed by John Frankenheimer, but she more than held her own, picking up a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination. Next came Gia, another biopic, this time of Gia Carangi, a lesbian supermodel from the Seventies. This was crammed with sex, drugs and fearsome emotional drama, as Carangi crashed, burned and was eventually taken by AIDS. For the second consecutive year, Jolie won a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy. At the Golden Globes, by way of celebration, she jumped into a swimming-pool, clad in a hand-beaded Randolph Duke gown.

The emotional extravagance of these parts, added to her own confusion and pain, made living with Jolie an impossibility. She was breaking down and Miller could take no more. The couple split, Jolie living alone in Manhattan, getting her head together, and attending film classes at NYU. Now notorious for her candid quotes, her name stayed in the papers. The sexuality of Gia had got tongues wagging, and Jolie had made them wag some more by admitting to bi-sexuality, and a relationship with actress Jenny Shimizu.

Now came the comedy-drama Pushing Tin, about two air traffic controllers who engage in macho conflict. John Cusack was one, the other was Billy Bob Thornton, acclaimed director, writer and star of Sling Blade. Jolie played Thornton's wife, an extremely sexy sort who sends the guys crazy and sleeps with Cusack. The film was excellent. More importantly for Jolie, she fell for Thornton, 15 years her senior, who proceeded to dump his longtime girlfriend Laura Dern. The pair became infamous for their salacious quotes, Thornton admitting that he liked to wear Jolie's underwear, even to work, as it made him feel close to her. Actually, their quotes were often rude, but clearly loving.

Jolie was about to become a huge star. Winona Ryder has claimed that her character in Girl, Interrupted could have been her as a young girl. But Jolie's character, Lisa Rowe - insanely ebullient then horribly depressed, hating but needing some form of structure to her life, even an institution - really WAS Jolie. Stealing the show entirely, she won the Oscar, and herein lies a sweet tale. At the time filming Original Sin down in Mexico, Jolie flew to the Oscar ceremony (she'd attended before, age 12 and all glammed up in lace and pearls, with her dad), won, then flew straight back, arriving at 4.30 am and going straight to sleep. Suddenly, she was awoken by a mariachi band, hired by co-star Antonio Banderas and director Michael Cristofer. Stumbling from her trailer, she was handed a single rose by every member of the crew, many of whom, along with Cristofer, had worked on Gia and, remembering her at her lowest ebb, wished to recognise this moment of triumph. In the press, meanwhile, her victory was quickly overshadowed by freakish reports that she was having an affair with her own brother. They must have assumed she'd try anything once. This is a big part of the Jolie phenomenon - she has a searing reputation for being sexually voracious and promiscuous, yet says she's slept with only a tiny handful of people.

After Girl, Interrupted came the psycho-thriller The Bone Collector, where she aided a bedridden Denzel Washington in his pursuit of a killer, then Gone In 60 Seconds, where Jolie played Sarah "Sway" Wayland, ex-girlfriend of super-car-thief Nicolas Cage. She didn't have much to do but be charismatic, which she managed with ease - though she did look thin and drawn, something noted by Cristofer when Jolie moved directly from Gone In 60 Seconds on to the set of Original Sin. Based on Cornell Woolrich's Waltz Into Darkness, this would be a steamy bodice-ripper where she played a mail order bride for Banderas' coffee planter in 1900s Cuba, a bride who turns out to be dominating, manipulative and thoroughly untrustworthy. It was a wonder he didn't mail her straight back.

Next would come the big one - Tomb Raider. To play videogame heroine Lara Croft, Jolie had to master a Brit accent and upper-class manners, plus kick-boxing, street-fighting, yoga, ballet, car racing and dog-sledding. Few actresses have the outlandish features and sheer physical power to pull off such a character, but Jolie managed it with some aplomb as Croft criss-crossed the globe, trying to prevent the Illuminati from using a magic triangle to control Time Itself. She would revisit the part in 2003 with the superior Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life. Here a Chinese crime boss and evil mastermind would attempt to unleash a deadly plague that, for some reason, chose to remain in Pandora's Box when all the other bad stuff sprang forth. Naturally, only Lady Lara Croft (in the original her aristocratic dad was played by Jon Voight) can save the day. Once again, Jolie impressed with her straight face, dry wit and comically unbreakable British resolve - she certainly gained more prestige than she would have done had she instead taken the role in Charlie's Angels eventually filled by Lucy Liu.

Before the sequel, though, would come Life Or Something Like It where she played a Seattle TV reporter seemingly ambitious beyond her abilities. Stuck in a love triangle with a baseball pitcher and a cameraman, she's informed of her own imminent death by a street preacher and must get her life in order before popping her clogs. It doesn't sound good and it wasn't, Jolie hardly being tested by such weak material.

Personally speaking, this was a hard time for Angelina. Having in 2001 adopted a Cambodian boy named Maddox, and having made clear her sympathy for nations much poorer than her own, she was made a Good Will Ambassador for the United Nations. It was a role she took seriously, visiting Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan and the Western Sahara. She examined first-hand the plight of refugees from Thailand and Chechnia, called for peace in Sri Lanka and pledged $5 million to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia (having been paid $12 million for Tomb Raider 2, this was something she could well afford).

Unfortunately, her relationship with Thornton did not survive this burst of activity. He, she later claimed, was more interested in his career (he was at the time concentrating on his music) and left her and Maddox to go out on tour. The couple would officially split up in May 2002 and divorce a year later, after almost exactly three years of marriage. And the split would bring about another when father Jon Voight used TV interviews to reach out to a daughter he said had "serious mental problems". Angelina did not appreciate his words or tactics.

Having worked extensively in the UK on the Tomb Raider movies, Jolie would buy herself a house in Buckinghamshire and often be seen out with former husband Jonny Lee Miller. Despite giving much of her time to the UN, she was still fairly prolific on-screen. After Tomb Raider 2 would come Beyond Borders, long delayed after the sacking of Kevin Costner (for being too demanding) and the subsequent departure of Oliver Stone. Interestingly, the movie would see her as the daughter of a rich industrialist, meeting a renegade doctor (Clive Owen replacing Costner) and, inspired by his impassioned desire to save lives, helping him do just that in war-torn Africa and beyond. There were clear parallels with her own life.

2004 would bring a welter of work and another tumult of rumours. Onscreen, she'd open the year with Taking Lives, playing an intuitive American detective called up to help Montreal cops track down a serial killer. Through a strange and near-psychic process (as well as dogged police work), she reveals that the murderer, a major self-loather, has been offing people of gradually increasing age, stealing their identities and thereby living a series of different lives. Artist Ethan Hawke is able to sketch the killer, but will that do any good? The movie was quite complex, full of clues, shocks and sly cheats, but it was rather overshadowed by the break-up of Hawke's marriage to Uma Thurman. Naturally, rumours abounded that Jolie was the scarlet woman - in fact, it was model Jen Perzow.

Next came Shark Tale, an animation where Will Smith's funky fish took credit for the accidental death of the son of shark mobster Robert De Niro. Now famous, Smith would attract the amorous, glamorous Angelina (a fish called Lola, of course) who'd tempt him to betray his long-time gal Rene Zellweger. Critics would complain that the film's welter of references to the likes of Jaws and The Godfather would put it beyond the ken of most kids. Nevertheless, without challenging the monolithic success of Shrek, it was still a big hit.

After Shark Tale would come a real oddity, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow. Inspired by 1950s sci-fi comics, this would see a crazed German scientist kidnap the world's greatest minds and then send giant robots rampaging through the streets of New York City. Teaming up to foil this megalomaniac would be Jude Law's freelance buccaneer, Gwyneth Paltrow's scoop-hungry hack and Angelina, a sexy, piratical pilot who may well have caused the break-up of an earlier relationship between Law and Paltrow. Really, you couldn't blame him.

Sky Captain, an FX marvel that had seen the actors working mostly against green screens, was a cinematic wonder, but not a hit. Much the same could be said of Jolie's next venture, Oliver Stone's epic Alexander. This saw her as Olympias, mother of Colin Farrell's great conqueror. Married to a drunken Val Kilmer, she's beaten and banished, but returns when her young son acquires the crown of Macedon, henceforth acting as his inspiration as he subjugates the nations. It was an odd movie, glorious in its scope, thrilling in its battle sequences, but undermined by the complexity of its message and its shy handling of Alexander's bisexuality. Indeed, it was undermined to the extent that, having cost $150 million to make, its US box office takings stalled at $34 million. Ouch.

Generally slating the movie, the critics paid special attention to the eastern European accent Angelina adopted. Fans would say this was a tad unfair - after all, Macedonia borders on Bulgaria which, like Russia, touches the Black Sea. She wasn't THAT far off. But her career did not suffer. Branching out artistically, she'd move on to The Fever, directed by Vanessa Redgrave's son Carlo Gabriel Nero. This was an HBO take on Wallace Shawn's play about a middle-class woman's political awakening. Ambitiously switching from action to filmed theatre to into-camera monologues, it would see Redgrave educated in the world's political hot-spots by journalist Michael Moore and Jolie's angry, pistol-packing revolutionary. Jolie would then take on another major release, 2005's Mr And Mrs Smith, where she and Brad Pitt starred as a bored couple whose marriage is both stimulated and endangered when they discover they're both secret assassins, now unfortunately hired to kill one another. Even before its release the film would cause something of a stir. Firstly, extra shoots meant that Jolie could not carry the Olympic torch through Athens - her work for the United Nations High Commission For Refugees was to have seen her represent the world's refugees. And there were the inevitable rumours of sexual misbehaviour. With Pitt and Jennifer Aniston the world's most famous couple and Jolie Hollywood's most notorious femme fatale, the tabloids, understandably, went bananas. For once they had good reason.

Mr And Mrs Smith was, understandably, a massive hit, taking $186 million at the US box office. Much of the press surrounding it, though, concerned the stars themselves, the couple eventually being forced to ban questions about their relationship. For a full year they remained tight-lipped. Pictures of them together sporadically appeared, one set making upwards of $500,000. Pitt officially split from Aniston, divorcing in 2005. Only in 2006 would they come clean, with Pitt adopting Maddox and Zaharah Marley, an Ethiopian girl Jolie had herself adopted the year before. By the end of May they would have a child of their own, Shiloh Nouvel being born in Namibia. With Pitt now helping Jolie in her ambassadorial duties, it came as no surprise when they agreed to sell exclusive photos of the new arrival and donate all proceeds to charity.

Charitable work and motherhood would now take up much of Jolie's time. Having in 2004 been made an Honorary Citizen of Cambodia due to her efforts in the region, she'd visit post-earthquake Pakistan and involve herself in the huge Live 8 concert. She'd also address the World Economic Forum, highlighting the plights of Darfur, Afghanistan and Nepal. But there would be the occasional cinema release. 2006 would see the long-anticipated premiere of The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro. This would tell the story of the early years of the CIA by following the career of operative Edward Wilson, played by Matt Damon, as he's recruited before WW2 then becomes a player in the Cold War. Jolie would deliver a highly dramatic turn as Wilson's wife Clover, first jumping him at a picnic and getting pregnant, then becoming estranged as war separates them, loneliness eventually driving her to cynicism and alcoholism. With an all-star cast featuring John Turturro, Michael Gambon and William Hurt, the movie would be both entertainment and history lesson. So would Jolie's next effort, Beowulf, where Robert Zemeckis told the old Norse legend using the same performance-capture animation technique he'd employed so successfully with The Polar Express. Playing one of history's most notorious female monsters, Jolie would be joined by John Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins, Crispin Glover and Ray Winstone.

Still struggling with herself, and still publicly discussing her pleasures and pains (as well as her ever-increasing charity work - covered in part in her 2003 book Notes From My Travels), Jolie is one of Hollywood's more complicated characters. She may have found happiness with Brad Pitt but, as of 2006, she hadn't spoken to her father in four years. She's both a sex object and an international diplomat, an action star and an Oscar-winning thespian, a constant contradiction. Alongside the Japanese sign for death, Billy Bob, H, two Native American symbols, a dragon and a black cross, she has marked on her body a Tennessee Williams line "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages", and "Quod me nutrit me destruit" - What nourishes me also destroys me. Let's hope she continues to benefit from the nourishment. And the cage.

history of fire

2007-07-03T01:19:00.001-05:00

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FIRE AND ITS USES

- by Ed Semmelroth

THROUGH the centuries there has been such an intimate connection of fire with the cultural growth of humanity that whatever relates to the antiquity of fire is important in tracing- the history of early progress.' And because all inventions make use of what has gone before, the steps, which lead up to the making of the first stoves, are necessary in writing of their history.

Logically, of course, we may assume there was once a time when man had no fire, but very early he must have become acquainted with fire derived from natural sources, and made use of it; for no remains of man's art show him without fire as his companion. Much later in the scheme of things he invented processes for making fire artificially.

Many of the legends or myths relating to the origin of fire are vivid and dramatic, and while they vary in detail there appears to be a similarity in many of the episodes that form the fire-origin story in all countries of the world.'

Stealing fire from the gods, one of the first incidents, was made more or less exciting by the strategy employed in acquiring, it. Prometheus, for example, stole fire from the heavens in a hollow tube, one of the feats which gave him the reputation of being a great benefactor of men.'

After the transportation of fire was solved, it was occasionally borrowed, and while the meaning is lost, the phrase is still used when one says: "May I borrow a light?"'

CURFEW OR "FIRE-COVER"

With the acquisition of fire came the problem of preserving, it and interesting examples of the ingenuity of man were presented. First, the fire was buried; preserved in the ashes of the fire itself. Next, a type of slow-match or fire-stick was developed, and later, when man worked with metals, the curfew, or "fire-cover" was invented. The coals were raked together and collected in the chimney recess; the curfew set over them, preserving the fire until morning.' Those surviving are of sheet brass having perforations, and a handle.

Beating drums was one of the earliest methods used to tell members of a community that it was curfew time. The use of bells for this purpose is also of great antiquity, and in 1068, during the reign of William the Conqueror, the bells were rung by law, at seven in the evening, so that all might cover the fire and extinguish the lights. This also prohibited nocturnal assemblies.

Henry 1 repealed this law about 1100, but bells' have continued to be rung for curfew until very modern times. In the United States, an ordinance establishing a curfew was adopted by many towns in colonial days and existed until the first quarter of the 20th Century. In the later years it provided in general that children under 15 should not frequent the streets after 9 o'clock in summer and 8 o'clock in winter. In April 1943 the curfew law was again invoked in Massachusetts so that no one under 17 could be on the streets after 11 p. m. during the existence of dim-out regulations.

Fires -needed watching, not only to keep them from going out, but from spreading, or theft, so a fire-keeper was delegated to the work, thus starting a social organization.

The early fires also formed a nucleus for human grouping, and became tribal or communal fires, from which the individual family fires derived.

Symbolic and superstitious uses of fire have been common to all faces, and at an early period the altar fires were kept sacred - the symbol of religion - but as time went on the significance gradually lessened, and finally the hearth became the center- of the home, with its hospitality and good cheer.' So through the centuries the lure of fire has remained one of the strongest instincts of the human race.

When possible the communal fire was placed in front of a rock shelter or cave; in a place safe and convenient for the use of everyone, and the necessity for a screen to protect the early bonfires from the wind may have been the reason for the round form of house thought to be the earliest.' Later individual fires were built in the center of the family shelters, where the hearth became known as the chimney. The term, chimney, then was used to include the hole or flue which carried off the smoke of the fire burning- in a pit in the center of the floor.

History has failed to record the inventor, or to tell the place where chimneys as we might recognize them were first used, but they seem to have been common in Venice before the middle of the 14th Century, for- a number of them were thrown down by an earthquake there in 1347."

And chimneys apparently were built in Padua before 1368, for in that year Francesco de Carrao, Lord of Padua, with a large retinue arrived in Rome. There were no chimneys in the inn where he stayed, and the smoke from the fire (built in a hole in the floor) was just too much for him. So he had two chimneys built by workmen (masons and carpenters) he brought with him (anticipating the situation, no doubt) and over the chimneys he placed his arms."

In England, the oldest actual remains of chimneys are supposed to be those of Winwall House, Not-folk, and of Kenilworth and Conway Castles, built in the 12th Century."

Leland, in his Itinerary, mentioned those of Bolton Castle: "One thing I muche notyed in the haulle of Bolton, how chimneys were conveyed by tunnels made on the sides of the walls bytwixt the lights in the haulle, and by this means, and by no covers, is the smoke of the bai-tbe in the haulle wonder strangely conveyed."

During the reign of the Tudors, chimneys became a prominent and beautiful architectural feature, but even while Elizabeth was queen, apologies were made to guests if they could not be given rooms with chimneys, and ladies were often sent to the neighbors where they could enjoy this luxury, available for some time only in the homes of the wealthy.

In the homes of the common people the fire was still being kindled against a hob of clay in the back or center of the room. Only part of the smoke which filled the room ever found its way out through the opening- in the roof or wall, sometimes only a few feet above the level of the hearth."

Wattle and clay chimneys were being erected as late as 1621, when a Mr. Skinner of Sudbury, England was ordered to "amend his dangerous chimney," and afterwards were fined for not doing it. This caused the following -General order by

The court: That no man shall elect and build up any chimney within the borough but only of brick, and to be builded above the roof of the house fower feete and a halfe, upon the pain for every such offense to be here-After committed the summe of vl."

On April 7, 1719 other clay chimneys were ordered to be rebuilt of brick."

In the New England colonies, chimneys on the first houses were built of wood. Logs or sticks were placed one above another at right angles, and plastered with clay or mortar, and roofs were thatched with reeds or flags.'7

Great exposure to fire was always imminent with this style of building-, although chimneys and roofs were subject to frequent inspection by officers detailed for the duty.

The first fire in the town of Boston occurred on the 16th of March, 1631 from the imperfect claying of one of the cattied" chimneys, and two buildings were destroyed.

Later, officers known as "firewards" were appointed by the justices of peace and selectmen of the towns from time to time, and were distinguished by a staff five feet in length, colored red, and headed by a brass spire six inches long."

Governor Dudley prohibited wooden chimneys and thatched roofs, and they were also forbidden in the Dutch colony at Manhattan.

Despite the law, inflammable materials must have continued long in use, for President Washington, in his tour of the eastern states in 1789, considered the fact that dwellings generally hid stone or brick chimneys an item worthy of record in his diary.

The principles of the chimney were but poorly understood for many years. No matter how perfect they seemed the builders were never sure they wouldn't smoke, and with a mysterious pertinacity the smoke which should -o up, came down. For a long time too, so-called chimney doctors (who professed to remedy smoky chimneys) flourished; engaged in what today would be termed a racket."

The first recorded effort to study the matter of smoky chimneys on a scientific basis was that of Louis Savot, a physician of Paris, during the 16th Century. He failed to find the real trouble, although he did improve the form of the fireplace opening by narrowing the width, so that less air could enter on each side of the fire. And he showed that the flue should be smooth to lessen the friction of the ascend-ing smoke.

Benjamin Franklin spent a great deal of time trying to find a cure for smoky chimneys, and after his reputation as an heating expert had been established, he complained that wherever he visited he was asked to remedy one.

He repeatedly spoke of the disadvantages of the large fireplace, and the necessity of the chimney-cloth (a contrivance placed at the upper opening of the fireplace to lower the opening) to keep smoke from coming out into the room.

In his pamphlet published in 1745, Franklin listed the inconveniences of the large fireplace, when he wrote:

"They almost always smoke, if the door were not left open. They require a large funnel, and a large funnel carries off a great quantity of air, which occasions -hat is called a strong draft to the chimney, without which strong draft the smoke would come out of some part or other of so large an opening, so that the door can seldom be shut; and the cold air so nips the backs and heels of those that sit before the fire."

Used with permission...written by Ed Semmelroth, www.antiquestoves.com - Illustrations by Sandy Sandy

Poverty Lurking

2007-07-03T01:16:00.001-05:00

About Poverty
Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen.
1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).

Poverty is the state for the majority of the world's people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their government? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But often less discussed are deeper and more global causes of poverty.

Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization, are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people.

In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle.

These next few articles and sections explore various poverty issues in more depth:

Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty

Cutbacks in health, education and other vital social services around the world have resulted from International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank-prescribed structural adjustment policies as condition for loans and repayment. In addition, developing nation governments are required to open their economies to compete with each other and with more powerful and established industrialized nations. To attract investment, poor countries enter a spiraling race to the bottom to see who can provide lower standards, reduced wages and cheaper resources. This has increased poverty and inequality for most people. It also forms a backbone to what we today call globalization. As a result, it maintains the historic unequal rules of trade. Last updated Monday, July 02, 2007.

Read article: Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty

Poverty Around The World

Inequality is increasing around the world while the world appears to globalize. Even the wealthiest nation has the largest gap between rich and poor compared to other developed nations. In many cases, international politics and various interests have led to a diversion of available resources from domestic needs to western markets. Historically, politics and power play by the elite leaders and rulers have increased poverty and dependency. These have often manifested themselves in wars, hot and cold, which have often been trade and resource-related. Mercantilist practices, while presented as free trade, still happen today. Poverty is therefore not just an economic issue, it is also an issue of political economics. Last updated Thursday, February 15, 2007.

Read article: Poverty Around The World

Today, over 27,000 children died around the world

Around the world, 27–30,000 children die every day. That is equivalent to 1 child dying every 3 seconds, 20 children dying every minute, a 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every week, or 10–11 million children dying every year. Over 50 million children died between 2000 and 2005. The silent killers are poverty, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. In spite of the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage. Posted Sunday, May 06, 2007.

Read article: Today, over 27,000 children died around the world

Economic Democracy

This next page is a reposting of a flyer about a new book from J.W. Smith and the Institute for Economic Democracy, whom I thank for their kind permission. The book is called Economic Democracy: The Political Struggle Of The 21st Century. Typically on this site, I do not advertise books etc, (although I will cite from and link to some, where relevant). However, in this case, I found that just the text in this flyer alone to provide an excellent summary of the multitude of issues that cause poverty and its historic roots. (Please also note that I do not make any proceeds from the sale of this book in any way.) Posted Sunday, November 26, 2000.

Read article: Economic Democracy

World Hunger and Poverty

People are hungry not because of lack of availability of food, or "over" population, but because they are too poor to afford the food. Politics and economic conditions have led to poverty and dependency around the world. Addressing world hunger therefore implies addressing world poverty as well. If food production is further increased and provided to more people while the underlying causes of poverty are not addressed, hunger will still continue because people will not be able to purchase food. Last updated Thursday, February 15, 2007.

Read article: World Hunger and Poverty

Food Dumping [Aid] Maintains Poverty

Even non-emergency food aid, which seems a noble cause, is destructive, as it under-sells local farmers and can ultimately affect the entire economy of a poor nation. If the poorer nations are not given the sufficient means to produce their own food and other items then poverty and dependency may continue. In this section you will also find a chapter from a book which describes this situation in detail and looks at the myth that "more US aid will help the hungry" as the chapter is titled. A must read! Last updated Saturday, June 25, 2005.

Read article: Food Dumping [Aid] Maintains Poverty

Corruption

We often hear leaders from rich countries telling poor countries that aid and loans will only be given when they show they are stamping out corruption. While that definitely needs to happen, the rich countries themselves are often active in the largest forms of corruption in those poor countries, and many economic policies they prescribe have exacerbated the problem. Corruption in developing countries definitely must be high on the priority list, but so too must it be on the priority list of rich countries. Last updated Wednesday, June 20, 2007.

Read article: Corruption

United Nations World Summit 2005

The UN World Summit for September 2005 is supposed to review progress since the Millennium Declaration, adopted by all Member States in 2000. However, the US has proposed enormous changes to an outcome document that is to be signed by all members. There are changes on almost all accounts, including striking any mention of the Millennium Development Goals, that aim for example, to halve poverty and world hunger by 2015. This has led to concerns that the outcome document will be weakened. Developing countries are also worried about stronger text on human rights and about giving the UN Security Council more powers. Last updated Sunday, September 18, 2005.

Read article: United Nations World Summit 2005

IMF & World Bank Protests, Washington D.C.

To complement the public protests in Seattle, the week leading up to April 16th/17th 2000 saw the other two global institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, as the focus of renewed protests and criticisms, in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the mass demonstrations were to protest against the current form of globalization, which is seen as unaccountable, corporate-led, and non-democratic and to show the link with poverty due to the various policies of the IMF and World Bank. Last updated Friday, July 13, 2001.

Read article: IMF & World Bank Protests, Washington D.C.

Poverty Facts and Stats

While the world is globalizing and the mainstream media in many developed nations point out that economies are booming (or, in periods of downturns, that the current forms of "development" and economic policies are the only ways for people to prosper), there are an increasing number of poor people who are missing out on this apparent boom, while increasingly less people are becoming far more wealthy. Some of these facts and figures are an eye-opener to say

Mujahedin al-Khalq & Iran

2007-07-03T00:04:00.001-05:00

Monsters of the Left: The Mujahedin al-Khalq

by Michael Rubin
FrontPageMagazine.com

Few terrorists groups garner the bipartisan endorsement and support that Iran's Mujahedin al-Khalq Organization [MKO] has. On October 20, 2005, several congressmen and many aides attended a briefing in Congress. Maryam Rajavi, co-leader of the group and self-styled president-elect of Iran, addressed the gathering by video from France.[1] She received a warm reception. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) thanked "Sister Maryam." [2] A bipartisan group of U.S. Congressmen have signed petitions calling for the U.S. Department of State to lift its 1997 classification of the group as a terrorist organization.[3] In an April 8, 2003 interview, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House International Relations Committee's Central Asia and Middle East Subcommittee said, "This group loves the United States. They're assisting us in the war on terrorism; they're pro-U.S. This group has not been fighting against the U.S. It's simply not true."[4] Ros-Lehtinen is wrong. Unfortunately, hers is a mistake common to some on the left and the right who care deeply about Iranian freedom but fail to understand the nature of a group which, in public, says the right things about freedom and democracy but, in reality is dedicated to the opposite. Maryam Rajavi and her husband Masud are adept at public relations and adroit at reinvention, but the organization over which they preside eschews democracy and embraces terrorism, autocracy, and Marxism.

Origins

The roots of the MKO lie in the early 1960s. For years, clerical and feudal interests had blocked real reform in Iran. Society was paralyzed. In 1961, under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Shah appointed as prime minister 'Ali Amini, an Iranian aristocrat and former ambassador to the United States, whom Washington respected as a reformer. Amini began to challenge the traditional classes and interest groups who had long hampered reform. In January 1962, the Shah decreed Iran's first real land reform. The Shah assumed the mantle of reforming crusader. He launched "the Shah-People Revolution," better known as the "White Revolution." Its six points were: land reform, nationalization of forests, sale of government-owned factories to finance land reform, women's suffrage, a Literacy Corps in which conscripts could serve as an alternative to the army, and distribution to workers of part of factories' profits. Such reform cut deep into the fabric of Iranian society, angering social conservatives, clerics, and xenophobic nationalists.

Against this backdrop and angered by both the growing secularization of Iranian politics and the influx of foreigners, engineer and Islamic activist Mehdi Bazargan formed the Liberation Movement of Iran. His goal was to combine Iranian nationalism with Islamism. "We refuse to divorce religion from politics… because Shi'i Islam is an integral part of our popular culture,"[5] the group stated in its inaugural declaration. Ayatollah Mahmud Taleqani, a free-thinking and modernizing cleric introduced to Marxist thought while imprisoned in the 1930s, became a mentor to Bazargan who, in turn, would become provisional prime minister during the first days of the 1979 revolution.

In July 1962, Amini resigned in anger over both the Shah's military spending and anger at what he considered the stinginess of other U.S. aid. Chaos reigned supreme. The ayatollahs seized the initiative. Islamic groups marched against social reforms and the new laws which restricted the clergy's traditional privileges. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini rose to prominence as the head of the clerical opposition.

By 1963, what little tolerance the Shah had for the opposition evaporated. On June 5, 1963, he ordered Khomeini's arrest. Rioting erupted and ended only after the police killed several hundred students and demonstrators.

Ironically, even as the Shah's crackdown sent oppositionists underground, his reforms catalyzed their growth. State scholarships enabled a far greater range of Iranians to receive higher education than at any previous time in history. University campuses became incubators of opposition. Young radicals looked abroad and drew inspiration from revolutionary movements in Algeria, Vietnam, Cuba, and elsewhere.

The Birth of the Mujahedin-i Khalq

Following the 1963 crackdown, Bazargan's Liberation Movement splintered. While older members drew inspiration from the left-leaning nationalist and ousted Prime Minister Muhammad Musaddiq who flirted with mob violence but did not sanction terrorism, many younger members argued political reform impossible and embraced armed struggle. These younger members, including a University of Tehran political science student named Masud Rajavi, coalesced into a discussion group which, in 1965, would form the Mujahedin al-Khalq. It would be another seven years before the MKO would emerge from its self-imposed veil of secrecy and declare itself to the wider world.

The MKO preached a combination of Marxism and Islamism. They argued that not only did God create the world, but he also set forth a historical evolution in which a classless society would supplant capitalist inequity. Such a radical re-interpretation of Islam bred division, not only with the secular and capitalist state, but also with the traditional, conservative clergy which resented the MKO argument that "Shi'i 'ulama [religious scholars], just like the Sunnis, have failed to grasp the real essence of Qur'anic dynamism." [6] Rajavi and other MKO ideologues reinterpreted religion to justify terrorism. Death during armed struggle, they said, was consistent with traditional Shi'i glorification of martyrdom. They created a precedent from which they and later terrorist groups like Lebanese Hizbullah could and did justify suicide bombing, a plague which afflicts the region to the present.

In order to prepare itself for armed struggle, the MKO reached out to the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In 1970, several leading MKO, including Rajavi received terrorist training in PLO camps in Jordan and Lebanon. The group subsequently cemented links to the Libyan regime of Mu'ammar Qadhafi and to the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, the Soviet Union's Arabian Peninsula satellite.

The MKO's first attempt to create a terrorist spectacle failed. A prison informant betrayed their plans to blow up a power station to disrupt the 1971 celebrations surrounding the 2500^th anniversary of the Persian monarchy. An attempt to kidnap the Shah's nephew also failed. However, the subsequent trial and execution of those involved bolstered the prestige of the organization. At his trial, Rajavi gave a rousing anti-imperialist speech in which he accused the United States, western banks, and multinational corporations of most of Iran and the developing world's ills. "The main goal now," Rajavi declared, "is to free Iran of U.S. imperialism."[7] The military tribunal was harsh: They condemned 11 MKO leaders, including Rajavi, to death. The Iranian government commuted the sentences of one co-conspirator and Rajavi to life imprisonment after Rajavi's brother launched an international clemency campaign. The execution of the MKO's founders and so many early members positioned Rajavi well to consolidate organization control upon his January 1979 release.

While dealt a mighty blow, the MKO rebounded. It recruited new members in Iranian high schools, universities, prisons, and among the thousands of Iranian university students studying in Western Europe and the United States. The group also established a radio station in Baghdad from which to broadcast anti-regime propaganda into Iran. The MKO latched onto the teachings of the left-leaning Ayatollah 'Ali Shariati, who openly preached a similar but less radical message. They used Shariati's preaching as a launching point for underground discussion and indoctrination.

The imprisonment and execution of its leadership did not eviscerate the organization. It soon struck again. In May 30 and 31, 1972, shortly before President Richard Nixon's state visit to Iran, the MKO launched a wave of bomb attacks which targeted the Iran-American Society, the U.S. Information Office, the Hotel International, Pepsi Cola, General Motors, and the Marine Oil Company. They failed to assassinate General Harold Price, head of the U.S. Military Mission in Iran. Less than three months later, they bombed the Jordanian embassy to revenge King Hussein's September 1970 crackdown on their PLO patrons. In 1973, the MKO bombed the Pan-American Airlines building, Shell Oil, and Radio City Cinema in Tehran, and assassinated Colonel Lewis Hawkins, the deputy chief of the U.S. military mission. They did not only target foreigners. In a wave of bombings that continued into 1975, the MKO group attacked clubs, stores, police facilities, minority-owned businesses, factories it accused of having "Israeli connections," and symbols of state and capitalism.

Not all was well within the MKO leadership. In 1975, the group divided into a Marxist faction that eschewed Islam, and a Muslim faction which did not. Baruch College historian Ervand Abrahamian, whose dispassionate and academic study of the MKO is the most thorough, argued that the shift of many MKO leaders to Marxism stemmed had three causes: Disillusionment with Ayatollah Khomeini, inability to win over the secular intelligentsia, and the influence of other radical groups like the Feda'iyan.[8] Rajavi headed the Muslim Mujahedin branch in Qasr prison. Both groups continued their attacks on government and Western targets, all the while striking at each other. While the Marxist MKO was unsuccessful in an attempt to assassinate a senior U.S. diplomat, it killed three American employees of Rockwell International.

The Islamic Revolution

While both MKO factions participated in the Islamic Revolution, the Muslim MKO found shelter under the banner of Taleqani and rode the Revolution to prominence. They claimed some credit for the seizure of the U.S. embassy and subsequent hostage taking, and later demonstrated against their release. The Muslim faction did not eschew Marxism. Rajavi and the MKO supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and opposed the Afghan mujahedin struggling against it.

In the wake of the Islamic Revolution, Rajavi consolidated his control over the organization.[9] Rajavi divided the leadership into a Politburo and a Central Committee, and created a number of organizations to recruit and train new members. This proliferation of front organization, all serving an ideological and disciplined leadership, remains characteristic of the group today.

It was not long before Rajavi and the MKO came into conflict with the clerical circles surrounding Khomeini. Relations between the MKO and Khomeini had been long strained. While Khomeini's theological justification of clerical rule was a radical reworking of traditional Shi'i jurisprudence, he was otherwise conservative. He considered the MKO's blending of Islam with Marxism, as well as the group's denial of past jurisprudence, to be anathema. When an MKO delegation had visited Khomeini in Najaf in 1972, rather than offer the support they sought, he lectured them on true Islam.

Within a year of Khomeini's return to Iran, his followers began to label Rajavi and the MKO "unbelievers" and "hypocrites." The MKO, in return, accused Khomeini of hijacking the revolution and imposing dictatorship. Prior to the Islamic Revolution, Khomeini promised the masses Islamic democracy, even as he consolidated dictatorship. The MKO sought to replicate his strategy, for practical, not idealistic, aims.

Khomeini had the upper hand, though. He closed the group's offices, banned its papers, and forced the MKO underground. The MKO was not his only target, though. As he consolidated power, he moved against President Abulhasan Bani Sadr [10] whose independence and moderation undercut Khomeini's theocratic ambitions. While Bani Sadr did not join the MKO, he formed a tacit alliance with the group which, in turn, benefited from the President's prestige.

Both Bani Sadr and the MKO called for national protests on June 20, 1980, and demonstrators heeded their call. Perhaps a half million poured into the streets in Tehran; many more turned out in cities across Iran. But Khomeini and his supporters in the Islamic Republic Party were ready. They labeled anyone marching in support of the MKO to be enemies of God, subject to summary execution. They kept their word. Khomeini's followers killed hundreds. The warden of Evin Prison, Tehran's main political prison, bragged of his execution of teenage girls.

Khomeini's opponents responded. Terrorists—their affiliation unclear—blew up the Islamic Republic Party headquarters, killing hardline Ayatollah Mohammed Hosseini Beheshti, founder of the Islamic Republic's judiciary, and 72 party members. Khomeini used the attack as reason to accelerate his purge. A reign of terror began. Thousands perished before Islamic Republic firing squads and upon its gallows. As Khomeini consolidated control, Iranians' willingness to support for the MKO evaporated.

The MKO did not surrender, though. It drove its terrorist campaign to a fever pitch, assassinating several hundred regime officials and Revolutionary Guards, and bombing the homes and offices of clerics. The group also targeted judges who passed sentence against their members. The MKO used suicide bombers with deadly effect, killing in separate incidents the Friday prayer leaders of Tehran and Shiraz. At its peak in July 1982, the group assassinated, on average, three regime officials per day; publicly, the MKO has claimed responsibility for the murders of over 10,000 people in Iran since 1981. But while the terrorist campaign shook the Islamic Republic to its core, it also claimed many innocent victims.

Rajavi and Bani Sadr both fled to Paris during Khomeini's crackdown. While Bani Sadr and others had joined with the MKO under the banner of the National Council, such formal ties were short-lived. By 1984 the former president and many other groups left the umbrella, upset with the MKO's ideology and Rajavi's dictatorial tendencies.

Still more MKO supporters fled to Iraq, where they accepted the protection of President Saddam Hussein. What little support the group had once enjoyed in Iran evaporated, as Iranians saw the MKO rally in support of a dictator who launched a war that, by its conclusion in 1988, killed several hundred thousand Iranians. Ordinary Iranians are quite vocal in their hatred of the Islamic Republic and ridicule its current Supreme Leader 'Ali Khamene'i. Many ask about Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of the late Shah. Others speak of other opposition groups, and many more rally to the names of the Islamic Republic's own dissidents. But, without exception, all spew venom toward the MKO. The group violence and its betrayal of Iranian nationalism lost it all popular support in Iran.

Nor did the MKO win Iraqi support. Iraqi intelligence coordinated MKO activities.[11] Iraqi Kurds and Shi'a accuse the group of participating in reprisals against Iraqi civilians following the March 1991 uprising. According to Qubad Talabani, son of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, "Up until the fall of the regime, they were part and parcel of the Iraqi military. And they were heavily involved in suppressing the Kurdish uprising of 1991."[12]

Reinvention

While the MKO lost both its revolutionary power struggle and the battle for Iranian hearts and minds, Rajavi has worked tirelessly to reinvent the MKO's image. Again, he sought power in and sympathy from so many members' martyrdom. At first, the group reached out to its old leftist and Arab nationalist patrons in Algeria, Lebanon, and among the PLO. It also sent delegations to the Italian and Greek Communist Parties, the Indian Socialist Party, and the British Labour Party. It found a sympathetic audience among left-leaning human rights organization and academics. The group targeted European parliamentarians. More than 3,000 parliamentarians signed a 1986 petition of support.[13]

The admission of Ayatollah Hossein 'Ali Montazeri, long-time Khomeini deputy, that Khomeini ordered the executions of 3,000 incarcerated MKO allowed the organization to further play the martyr card.[14] The National Council of Resistance's website describes an international organization with "official contacts with most European countries… [and] amicable relations with Middle Eastern nations." The group has continued its petition drives. Congressional aides describe how the group sends pretty young women into the halls of Congress and various parliaments with innocuous petitions. Most lawmakers have little idea of the baggage the group carries. The MKO devotees get results. The group brags, "In 1992, in a joint global initiative, 1,500 parliamentarians declared their support for the NCR as the democratic alternative to the Khomeini regime. This included a majority in the US House of Representatives."[15] Abrahamian speculated that the MKO sought to replicate the PLO's strategy of winning recognition as the representatives of the Palestinian people through the international community. It continues to post endorsements, many taken out of context, on its website.[16]

Within the United States, MKO members tell Congressmen, their staffs, and other policymakers what they want to hear: That the MKO is the only opposition movement capable of ousting the unpopular and repressive Islamic Republic. They are slick. Friendly lawmakers and commentators get Christmas baskets full of nuts and sweets. Well-dressed and well-spoken representatives of MKO front organizations approach American writers, politicians, and pundits who are critical of the regime.

The enemy of an adversary is not necessarily a friend, though. Such is the logic that caused State Department realists in the Reagan administration to support a dictator like Saddam Hussein. The MKO have little in their record to suggest democracy to be a goal. While they opposed the Islamic Republic only after Khomeini purged them from power, the group sought to replace Khomeini's dictatorship with its own. They omit and often deny their past anti-U.S. and anti-Western terrorism.

Today, Masud Rajavi—and his second wife Maryam—work to impose totalitarian control over its membership. Portraits of Masud and Maryam loom large in MKO demonstrations and facilities. In the West, the group forbids its members from reading anything but MKO newspapers and publications. Many MKO live in communal households and participate in mandatory study groups. In Camp Ashraf, Iraq, where many members sit in limbo following Saddam's fall, MKO minders enforce celibacy, employ cult methods to break down individual will, and shield members from unsupervised exposure to outsiders.[17]

How the Left Empowers the MKO Today

Prior to Iraq's liberation, there was rare interagency agreement about the MKO within the U.S. government. From Foggy Bottom to the Pentagon to the Old Executive Office Building, there was rare unanimity. As a terrorist organization closely allied with Saddam's regime, the MKO should be considered combatants if they raised arms, and prisoners if they did not. The Islamic Republic might want the group for crimes both real and imagined, but the fate of MKO stranded in Iraq would ultimately rest with the new Iraqi judiciary, which might want to try individual members for atrocities committed in 1991.

During Iraq's liberation, U.S. troops surrounded Camp Ashraf, the main MKO base in Iraq. Those MKO who did not flee during the war stood down. The U.S. military confined 3,800 MKO "security detainees" in the Camp.[18] The Iranian government demanded forced repatriation and, through intermediaries, offered to trade al-Qaeda members sheltering in Iran for MKO members captured in Iraq. This offer was refused for three reasons: The priority of the Iraqi judiciary in the matter, Iran's own lack of due process, and the fact that belief that Iran should turn over al-Qaeda terrorists in the interest of justice, not for a quid pro quo.

How did the Left subsequently bolster Rajavi and empower the MKO? On May 10, 2003 Agence France Presse quoted General Ray Odierno, commander of the 4^th Infantry Division, as saying, "I would say that any organization that has given up their equipment to the coalition clearly is cooperating with us, and I believe that should lead to a review of whether they are still a terrorist organization or not." Odierno's statement was unwise. He had no authorization to make such a comment nor did it reflect anything but his own opinion. The MKO are masters of propaganda; he was unaware of the group's history. Complacency in the face of an opponent's overwhelming firepower makes an adversary smart, not democratic.

The gaffe made, the Pentagon fumbled its response. Its policy hierarchy and public affairs machinery were more effective at editing each others' grammar than at damage control. Despite subsequent interagency clarifications, left-wing pundits and academic conspiracy theorists went into overdrive. They knowingly conflated a single general's off-hand remark into a statement of policy, and then they conflated the uniformed services with civilian staff. "…The Neocons in the Pentagon have some sort of weird alliance with the MEK [MKO] mad bombers," University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole wrote.[19] Cole's anti-Semitic and partisan-driven conspiracy theories played into Rajavi's hands by enabling the group to project a false image of support where none existed. Partisan bloggers like Laura Rozen, off-kilter academics like Cole and Brown University anthropologist William O. Beeman, Knight-Ridder and Washington Post correspondents, and New York Times' columnists, repeated the story, substituting hypothesis for fact, citing each other and justifying their beliefs with anonymous sources. None can produce an iota of evidence. While the MKO has the support of a handful of congressmen and a small number pundits, Rajavi has no support in the power centers of Washington. Nevertheless, he bolsters his supporters' morale and basks in the claim of support, however false.

Even in the era of resurgent realism, some issues should remain absolute. Terrorism, the deliberate targeting of civilians for political gain, should never be acceptable. Mitigating factors do not exist. True, in August 2003 the MKO exposed Iran's covert nuclear enrichment program. It continues to penetrate Iran's defenses and assassinate its opponents. This, though, is more a result of corruption and the Islamic Republic's crumbling control over its periphery. The MKO—and any other group—can bribe officials and penetrate defenses. This should not give reason, on the hundredth anniversary of Iran's Constitutional Revolution, to advance or reward Rajavi's life-long megalomaniacal quest for power and his backward blend of Marxism and Islamism. Many "monsters of the left" use the rhetoric of democracy to realize their ambition. Masud and Maryam Rajavi, and the organization over which they exert dictatorial control, are no exception. The Islamic Republic of Iran victimizes its people and threatens U.S. and regional security. The solution to the problem rests, not with empowering a group or individuals just as bad, but rather in supporting the Iranian people in their quest for liberty, freedom, and democracy.

Foundations of Suicide Bombings

2007-07-02T23:53:00.001-05:00

The Religious Foundations of Suicide Bombings

Islamist Ideology

by David Bukay
Middle East Quarterly

Suicide terrorism has been the scourge of the last quarter century. A suicide bomb attack on the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut compelled Ronald Reagan in 1983 to withdrawal peacekeepers from Beirut. Palestinian leaders deploy suicide bombers to force Israeli concessions, and Iraqi insurgents use suicide bombings to derail the new political order. Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the U.S.S. Cole in Aden in 2000 and, on September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center and Pentagon. While some scholars argue there is no religious component to suicide bombing[1]—often citing Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, who are not Muslims—they are wrong. All Muslim suicide bombers justify their actions with their religion and, more specifically, with the concept of jihad.

What Is Jihad?

Muslim self-justification of suicide bombing lies in interpretation of jihad. While Western scholars of late argue that jihad refers primarily to internal struggle,[2] Islamic writings feature jihad as physical warfare. [3] Historian Bernard Lewis finds that "the overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists and traditionalists ... understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense."[4]

Islamic jurisprudence has distinguished four different ways in which a believer may fulfill jihad obligations: 1) with faith in his heart; 2) by preaching and proselytizing with his tongue; 3) by good deeds with his hands; and 4) by confronting unbelievers or enemies with the sword.[5] In practice, the first three are part of the da'wa (missionary activity), actions that support jihad by the sword. [6]

Muslim theologians were explicit in the combination of nonviolent and violent jihad to spread Islam.[7] Jihad is central to the Muslim perception of the world, dividing it into dar al-Islam (abode of Islam) and dar al-harb (abode of war) which is destined to come under Islamic rule. [8] Jihad both purifies the dar al-Islam and is the tool to shrink and eradicate the dar al-harb. As a doctrine, the aim of jihad is clear: to establish God's rule on earth by compelling non-Muslims to embrace Islam, or to force them to accept second class status if not eradicate them altogether. Such an understanding constituted one of the main ideological bases of the dynasties that ruled the Islamic world from the late seventh century until Mongol hordes put an effective end to their control in the thirteenth century.

A comparison between the concept of martyrdom in Islam on one hand and in Judaism and Christianity on the other illustrates the emphasis on violent jihad within Islamic jurisprudence. In Islamic practice, the martyr is one killed in jihad. He is entitled to special status in paradise and on Judgment Day. In Judaism and Christianity, a martyr is someone who endures torture and death rather than renounce his or her belief.[9]

Jihad against Unbelievers

All four schools of Sunni Islam as well as mainstream Shi'ism consider idolatry (shirk), apostasy (irtidad), and hypocrisy (nifiq, munafaqah, or riya') to be capital offenses.[10] In each case, jihad is a means to counter such threats and assert the predominance of Islam.

There is little tolerance for idolaters within Islam: the first article of faith is the profession, la ilah illa-llah (there is no deity but God). [11] Muslim jurisprudence considers shirk to be the worst form of disbelief.[12] The Qur'an commands Muslims to kill those who commit shirk[13] and is replete with examples calling for jihad against idolaters. For example, sura (chapter) 9:5 reads, "When the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters whenever you find them, and take them captive or besiege them."[14] Sura 8:39 reads, "So fight them so that sedition might end and obedience is wholly Allah's"; and sura 9:123 states, "Fight the unbelievers who are near to you, and let them find ruthlessness in you."[15] Muslims living under the rule of idolaters are obliged to fight their rulers. [16] The Qur'an likewise commands believers to conduct jihad against hypocrites, [17] seize them, and do away with them.[18] All infidels, unbelievers, and hypocrites—those who commit blasphemy or treason—are relegated to hell. [19]

Prominent Muslim scholars consider the general jihad declaration against the unbelievers to be crucial to Islamic success. [20] Those who sacrifice their material comfort and bodies for jihad win salvation.[21] By their sacrifice, they obtain all the pleasures of paradise, be they spiritual—the close presence of God—or material. [22] As an additional incentive, Muhammad promised those mujahideen who fight in a jihad war a reward of virgins in paradise. [23] Importantly, those conducting suicide bombings do not consider themselves dead but rather living with God. As sura 2:154 explains, "Do not think that those who are killed in the way of Allah are dead, for indeed they are alive, even though you are not aware."[24][25] for it transformed the odds of war by offering a promise of immortality. [26] Therefore the prohibition on suicide need not apply to bus bombers or other kamikaze jihadists. Martin Lings, a British scholar of Sufism, argues that this linkage between martyrdom and paradise was probably the most potent factor that Muhammad brought to the annals of warfare,

Jihad in the Hadith

The Hadith collections, the second important source of Shari'a after the Qur'an, devote considerable attention to jihad, most often in terms of military action against non-believers. Indeed, most Islamic theologians in the classical period (750-1258 C.E.) understood this obligation to jihad as military.[27] There is a whole genre of hadith known as fada'il al-jihad (the merits of the holy war), [28] based on the nine-volume Hadith collection of Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari (810-70) and considered to be the most respected and authoritative collection. He dedicates almost one-third of his fourth volume on jihad as physical holy war against infidels. For example, he relates a hadith of Muhammad commenting that there are one hundred stages in paradise for those who fight for the way of God. [29] Only those who participate in jihad deserve paradise without any checks and reservations. To exemplify this notion, Bukhari relates a story of a woman asking Muhammad if her son, who was killed in the battle of Badr, is in paradise, and he replied that her son is in a higher paradise.[30]

Consistent with the Qur'an, these hadith generally demonstrate the necessity for Muslims to spare no means to spread Islam by force and strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of God. The main motif of jihad in the Hadith reinforces the concept that death on the battleground in the cause of God leads to paradise and receipt of a "sacred wedding" to black-eyed virgins.[31] From among 262 traditions that are mentioned by Abdallah Ibn al-Mubarak (736-97), a renowned Khorasani scholar who concentrated on jihad warfare as the most important method to Islamic success, thirteen reinforce the concept of virgins in paradise as a reward for martyrdom.[32]

The Hadith also emphasize the necessity for all believers, whenever called upon, to commit to a jihad war. [33] In one example, Bukhari cites Ibn 'Umar, one of the transmitters of accounts about the Prophet traditionally accepted by Muslims, who relates, "Muhammad said: 'I have been ordered to fight against all the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's messenger, and offer the prayers perfectly, and give the obligatory charity. So if they perform all that, then they save their lives and property from me and their reckoning will be done by Allah.'"[34]And, in another, a transmitter narrated, "O Allah, you know that there is nothing more beloved to me than to fight in your cause against those who disbelieved your messenger."[35]

Just as in the Qur'an, the Hadith give ample justification for those who would fight heterodox interpretations of Islam within their own society. Muslim jurists in four schools of law have agreed that the apostate should be given three days to repent and, if he did not, he was to be killed by believer's jihad.[36] Bukhari cites Abu Musa, another accepted transmitter, who related how "a man embraced Islam and then reverted back to Judaism. Ibn al-Mu'azz, one of the Hadith story tellers, said: 'I will not sit down unless you kill him, as the verdict of Allah and his messenger.'"[37]hadith, Ali bin Abu Talib, Muhammad's nephew and son-in-law, narrated, "I heard the Prophet saying ... whenever you find the apostates, kill them, for there will be a reward on the Day of Resurrection."[38] The Hadith are graphic about punishment for such apostates. According to Anas bin Malik, an Arab thinker and theologian from Medina (d. 795) and founder of the Maliki School of Islamic jurisprudence, "The Prophet ordered the apostates to have their hands and feet cut off. Then he ordered nails, which were heated and passed over their eyes, and they were left in the Harra [a rocky land in Medina], till they died."[39] In another

Not as theologically important and seldom cited by modern jihadists are the Assassins, a twelfth and thirteenth century Shi'ite movement which staged assassinations against prominent political leaders who did not share their ideas. While their actions do not directly affect the intellectual evolution of contemporary suicide bombers, their actions demonstrate precedent and the ability of theologians to interpret Islamic doctrine to justify suicide terrorism. As with today's terror masters, the group's founder Hasan al-Sabbah (d. 1124) promised its members paradise if they died in the course of their missions.[40]

Contemporary Jihad

Early interpretations of jihad contributed a theological framework which proponents of suicide bombing adopted. First was the idea that jihad was violent. It was a tool not only to purify the domains of Islam and purge the heterodox but also to defeat non-Muslims. Today, academics and scholars may argue that jihad is peaceful and represents internal struggle,[41] but they either obfuscate or misunderstand that for most Islamic theologians and as described in detail by Islamic historians, [42] the first three nonviolent components of jihad form a larger, more violent aggregate.

Those who argue that jihad is peaceful base their assertions almost entirely on Qur'anic verses from the Meccan period, [43] in which Muhammad and his band of followers were small and relatively weak and so prone to compromise.[44] Islamists, though, justify their violence with verses revealed to Muhammad after his December 623 expedition to Nakhlah. [45] Prominent classical scholars acknowledged the principle of nasikh wa-mansukh (abrogation) which placed greater emphasis on later Medinan verses of violence and jihad. ^{^[46]} For contemporary Western scholars and journalists to down play Medinan verses suggests a critical misunderstanding of Qur'anic studies.

Many Islamists are unapologetic about violent jihad. They use Qur'anic interpretation to justify terrorism, suicide bombings, and beheadings.[47][48] These are the Islamic apocalyptic terrorist groups of today who agree with the idea that jihad is so important that every believer must accept it as a compulsory duty, even when unbelievers have not started it.[49] They seek to emulate the aggressive jihad waged by Muhammad and his successors from 626 to 740 in their own struggle.

While some academics and commentators argue that jihad is restricted to religious wars, from an Islamic perspective, all wars against non-Muslims (or Muslims redefined by jihadists as non-Muslims) are religious. This is the reason why some Muslim scholars regard jihad as the sixth pillar of Islam, as it is in Shi'ite doctrine.[50] The most influential Islamist thinkers of the twentieth century—Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi (1903-79), Hasan al-Banna (1906-49), and Sayyid Qutb (1906-66)—have addressed the centrality of jihad at length.[51] Activists such as Muhammad Abd al-Salam Faraj, an Egyptian electrical engineer and a follower of Qutb, call it "the neglected duty,"[52] and interpret it to justify a fight against any ruler or government that does not adhere to the Shari'a.

Most recent jihadists have relied on Qutb to justify their own theories of violent jihad. 'Abdullah Yusuf 'Azzam (1941-89), a Palestinian who fled to Jordan after the Six-Day war, adopted many elements of both Ibn Taymiya, an early fourteenth century Islamic scholar who laid the philosophical groundwork for the Islamic fundamentalism adopted by Saudi Arabia centuries later, and Qutb to promote the belief in an inevitable clash of civilizations. He emphasized the necessity of violent revolution through jihad against both secular governments in majority Muslim states and against the West. He is credited with being the first Sunni Islamic figure to instill the Islamic community with a divine myth of invincibility of jihad and terrorism.[53]

'Azzam was a major intellectual influence upon Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.[54] In his book Knights under the Banner of the Prophet , bin Laden's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, identified his organization's goals as da'wa and violent jihad against both an "internal enemy," i.e., existing Arab infidel regimes, and an "external enemy" in areas not controlled by Muslims. To Zawahiri, Muslims who accept Western values such as democracy and those who renounce jihad as a means to establish the Islamic state are infidels deserving of death. The Islamic nation, he maintained, would be established only through jihad for the sake of God, compulsory duty vested upon all the Islamic community. He believed that a "Crusader-Jewish" alliance would mobilize all its resources to counter Islamic power.[55]

Bin Laden embraced similar logic. Beginning in August 1996, he used verses from the Qur'an and the Hadith to argue that jihad was compulsory to expel non-Muslims and Westerners from Saudi Arabia.[56] On February 23, 1998, though, he expanded his jihad when, with Zawahiri at his side, he announced the creation of the International Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders.[57]

The writings of Qutb also influenced Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, the late leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Zarqawi peppered his speeches and declarations with verses from the Qur'an and Hadith to demonstrate God's promise of the inevitability of the creation of a pure Sunni Islamic state so long as Muslims fight jihad against the enemies of Islam by jihad. Zarqawi called jihad "the crest of the summit of Islam."[58]

Bin Laden granted Zarqawi permission to kill Iraqi security forces and Shi'ites in order to achieve a "state of truth" and uproot the "state of the lie."[59] Zarqawi did so with both car bombs and suicide bombers. On May 18, 2005, Zarqawi legitimized the killing of Muslims under the principle of overriding necessity and the victory of jihad. "Islamic law states that the Islamic faith is more important than life, honor, and property," and the Shi'ites are worse than the Crusaders, he argued.[60] He declared both collateral killing of Muslims and murder of noncombatant non-Muslims legitimate [61] and, on September 14, 2005, declared jihad war on the Shi'ites.[62]

In the words of Rudolph Peters, an expert on contemporary Islam, the ultimate aim of jihad is the subjection of the non-believers and the eradication of non-belief.[63] Islamic law is the ultimate solution, and it has full answers to all possible situations and problems, present and future. This is why the fanatic Muslims of today—religious, ideologists, and practitioners—denounce all the existing political systems and demand their liquidation. The current Arab-Islamic system represents a "new age of ignorance" and the Western political systems are "the new Crusaderism," all doomed to extermination by jihad warfare.

Jihad becomes a binding duty on all Muslims as individuals. Abdulaziz A. Sachedina, an Indian Muslim expert on the Shi'ites who lives in the West, explained, "There is no doubt that the Muslim jurists conceived jihad in the sense of engaging in a war to increase the Dar al-Islam as an integral part of Islamic faith ... with the essential aim of uprooting unbelief and preparing the way for a creation of Islamic order on earth."[64]

The violence of contemporary jihad was also apparent in the reaction of Islamists to cartoons published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Muslim rioters and Arab and Islamic governments seized upon the contention that it is against Islam to depict the Prophet Muhammad and to argue that the apostates and non-believers should be punished. Violence accompanied demonstrations in Europe and in Muslim countries. By far the greatest number of fatalities was in Nigeria, which is neither European nor Muslim. In London, protestors marched under banners reading, "Slay those who insult Islam," "Butcher those who mock Islam," "Behead those who insult Islam," "Exterminate those who slander Islam," "Massacre those who insult Islam," "Europe is the cancer, Islam is the answer," "Europe take lessons from 9-11," "Europe you will pay. Your 9-11 is on its way," "Be prepared for the real holocaust," and "Islam will dominate the world."[65] To many jihadists, such threats are literal, not hyperbole. Suicide bombing becomes a legitimate technique to carry them out.

The Islamic Roots of Suicide Bombings

What is the connection between religious sources of over a millennium ago to the suicide bombings of today? There is a direct link between the jihadists of yesterday and contemporary jihadists. Many jihadists cite the works of Taqi al-din Ahmad Ibn Taymiya (1263-1328), an Islamic scholar born in Harran, in modern-day Turkey, who wrote extensively on the need for jihad and exalted it even above the Islamic obligations of fasting and pilgrimage (hajj).[66] He attacked many practices prevalent among Muslims of his time and favored a literal interpretation of the Qur'an. Modern jihadists have used his fatwas commanding Muslims to fight the Mongols as precedents legitimizing suicide bombing. Mawdudi, Banna, and Qutb have also developed Ibn Taymiya's philosophy,[67] writing extensively on jihad as the means to fight the re-emergence of the age of ignorance, with its tribal savagery and anarchy. They also suggested that the Islamic order can be maintained and protected, if not expanded, through violence.

In recent decades, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has embraced suicide bombings to lethal effect. Its 1987 charter shows its intellectual and theological justifications. It cites the Qur'an[68] to promote the idea of Muslim exclusivity and hadith from Bukhari and the Sahih Muslim calling for the murder of Jews to hasten the Day of Judgment. More recent exegesis also influenced Hamas. The charter cites Banna's call for Islam to obliterate Israel and is explicit about the violent nature of jihad: Article 13 argues that there is no solution to the Palestinian question but through jihad, and Article 15 declares the necessity to instill jihad in the heart of the Muslim nation.

The 9-11 suicide attacks sparked significant debate in the Islamic world about the merits of suicide attacks. [69] Sheikh Muhammad Sa'id al-Tantawi, head of Cairo's Al-Azhar, the most prestigious university for Sunni jurisprudence, declared that the Shari'a rejects all attempts on taking human life, and Sheikh Muhammad bin 'Abdallah al-Sabil, a member of the Saudi Council of Islamic Clerics and imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, decried the suicide attacks on the basis that Islamic law forbids killing civilians, suicide, and protects Jews and Christians. But both Tantawi and Sabil sidestep the question of "martyrdom operations." Because preserving the life of dhimmis (Jews and Christians) is conditional to their acceptance of Muslim rule, suicide attacks upon Israelis or Jews and Christians outside majority Muslim countries may be permissible. Indeed, other Al-Azhar scholars, for example, 'Abd al-'Azim al-Mit'ani, say it is permissible to kill Israeli civilians in the cause of jihad.[70]

Today's Al-Qaeda splinter and successor groups and their fellow travelers use the writings of Ibn Taymiya and those influenced by him. The linkage is concrete. They often cite the same Qur'anic passages and hadith that justified the violent jihad of the seventh century. Religious clerics issue fatwas citing them. Perhaps the most prominent of these is Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, [71] who has built upon such interpretations to justify suicide bombing, other acts of terrorism, and the murder of civilians, all in the cause of jihad. He has called suicide bombing a supreme form of jihad for the sake of God and, therefore, religiously legitimate.[72] Those who object to his ideas he labels as agents of ignorance. [73] While he argues that the Qur'an does not allow attacks against the innocent,[74] his definition of innocence is so narrow as to obviate such assurances.

September 11 hijacker Muhammad Atta's last will and testament[75] shows how deep such interpretations of jihad have penetrated Muslim life as his verbiage and instructions for burial showed how he believed himself a good Muslim, even as he participated in an event which murdered almost 3,000 civilians.

Conclusion

Suicide bombing in the Muslim world cannot be separated from religion. Its perpetrators believe jihad to be synonymous with war and mandate Muslims to strike not only at non-Muslims but also at co-religionists deemed insufficiently loyal to their radical cause. The ideological basis of such an interpretation has deep roots in Islamic theology, but it came to prominence with the twentieth-century rise of Muslim Brotherhood theorists such as Banna and Qutb and was further developed by their successors. While much of the exegesis developed out of Sunni jurisprudence, the Islamic Republic in Iran encouraged the phenomenon. Many of Tehran's proxy groups embraced the tactic.

It is fashionable among Western analysts and academics to explain away suicide bombing with discussion of "root causes" that omit religion. Many cite a history of exploitation by Western powers, Israel's existence, government oppression, poverty, lack of education, and alienation as reasons why desperate individuals decide to blow themselves up to murder others. But attention to suicide bombers' own justifications suggest that, for them, Islam and its call for jihad is the primary motivation.

David Bukay is a lecturer in the school of political science at the University of Haifa.

U.S - Iran

2007-07-02T23:46:00.001-05:00

Opposing view: Don't blink, don't back down
U.S. should maintain pressure on Iran, but avoid engagement

http://www.meforum.org/article/1709

It may be comforting to believe that, with diplomacy, Washington and Tehran can resolve their differences. But it is dangerous and naïve. Democracy in Iran is a charade, and factionalism between hard-liners and reformers is a sideshow. Iranians elect a president, but absolute power resides with the supreme leader who rules for life. Because sovereignty resides not with the people, but with God, popular will is irrelevant. What the parliament believes doesn't matter. The Revolutionary Guards, chosen for their loyalty and discipline, answer to the supreme leader. His appointees crush dissent.

What should Washington do? It should not engage. Diplomacy absent Iranian sincerity is dangerous. Between 2000 and 2005, the height of Iran's reformist period, European Union trade with Tehran tripled. Rather than reform, the regime invested the hard currency into its ballistic missile and covert nuclear program. Today, Iran uses engagement to spin its centrifuges and run the clock.

The United States wants Tehran to stop its nuclear program. Iranians want democracy, not theocracy. Here, interests converge. Although military action can delay Tehran's nuclear program, it cannot stop it. The real danger isn't Iran's bomb, however, but the regime that would wield it.

While Europe embraces the China model of trade and dialogue, the Supreme Leader looks to Tiananmen Square. So should Washington. Rather than fund outside groups, Washington should invest in a template for change. No one knew ahead of time the Chinese student who stopped a line of tanks; the important thing was he had the space to emerge. U.S. policy should create such space. Independent labor would make the regime more accountable to its people. Unions could force the regime to invest in schools, not centrifuges. Independent media and communications could let a real civil society to emerge. This takes money. Those denouncing U.S. funding are not the imprisoned student and labor activists, but reformists loyal to theocracy, and gullible pundits. Tehran's crackdown on dissent predates U.S. support for civil society. And the Iranian overreaction shows both its vulnerability and the efficacy of U.S. pressure.

Pacemakers

2007-07-02T23:37:00.001-05:00

Pacemakers - What You Should Know

What is a pacemaker?

A pacemaker is a sophisticated electronic device that does two things: 1) It analyzes the function of the heart's own electrical system. 2) When necessary, it sends tiny, precisely-timed electrical signals to the heart, to correct certain abnormalities in the heart's electrical system.

The cardiac electrical system regulates the frequency of the heart beat (i.e., it sets the heart rate), and it coordinates the contraction of the heart muscle, so that the heart beats efficiently. (Click here for a quick and easy review of the normal cardiac electrical system.)

Abnormalities of the cardiac electrical system are manifested by cardiac arrhythmias. Abnormally slow arrhythmias are called the bradycardias, and abnormally rapid arrhythmias are called tachycardias.

(Click here for a quick and easy review of cardiac arrhythmias .)

Most pacemakers are designed to correct the bradycardias (the slow arrhythmias.) Abnormally slow heart rhythms can cause weakness, fatigue, lightheadedness, dizziness, loss of consciousness, or even death. Pacemakers, properly used, effectively eliminate all of these symptoms.

How do pacemakers work?

Pacemakers consist of two major parts: the generator and the leads.

The generator is essentially a tiny, hermetically sealed computer – along with a battery to run it – housed in a titanium container. Most modern pacemaker generators are roughly the size of a 50-cent piece, and approximately three times as thick. The battery life of most pacemaker generators today is 5 – 8 years.

The lead is a flexible insulated electrical wire. One end is attached to the generator and the other end is passed through a vein into the heart. Most pacemakers today use two leads – one placed in the right atrium and the other in the right ventricle. (Click here for a quick and easy review of the cardiac chambers.)

How it works. The pacemaker leads detect the heart's own electrical activity (in the right atrium and right ventricle,) and transmit that information to the pacemaker generator. The generator – which, again, is a computer – analyzes the heart's electrical signals, and uses that information to decide whether, when, and where to pace. If the heart rate becomes too slow, the generator transmits a tiny electrical signal to the heart, thus stimulating the heart muscle to contract. (This is called pacing.)

Pacemakers that have two leads not only keep the heart rate from dropping too low, they can also maintain the optimal coordination between the atria and the ventricles (by pacing the atrium and the ventricle in sequence.)

Thus, pacemakers do not take over the work of the heart – the heart still does its own beating – but instead, pacemakers merely help to regulate the timing of the heart beat.

What are "rate-responsive" pacemakers?

In the early days, pacemakers were set to work at a certain heart rate. That is, if the heart's own intrinsic rate dropped below that pre-set number (say, 70 beats per minute) the pacemaker would begin to pace at that rate. Today, most pacemakers have a means of determining what the heart rate should be from moment to moment, and of setting the rate of pacing to that optimal heart rate. These pacemakers are said to be rate-responsive.

Rate-responsive pacemakers can use several technologies to determine the optimal heart rate, but two in particular have proven quite useful. One of these technologies is the activity sensor, sensors that detect body movement. The more the patient's body is moving (so the reasoning goes) the faster the heart rate should be. The other is the breathing sensor, which measures the patient's rate of breathing. The faster the breathing, the faster the heart rate should be. Either of these technologies allow rate-responsive pacemakers to mimic the moment-to-moment changes in heart rate seen in patients with normal cardiac electrical systems.

Heartburn

2007-07-02T23:34:00.001-05:00

Risk Factors for Heartburn

A risk factor is something that increases your chances of getting a disease or condition. The same is true with heartburn. Some of the risk factors for heartburn may be beyond our control, such as another medical condition. Other factors, such as certain lifestyle habits, can be modified to help reduce the occurrence of heartburn symptoms.

What increases your risk of suffering from heartburn?

Being overweight (obesity)
While researchers are still studying exactly how obesity increases the risk of heartburn, they do state that it is biologically possible. Excess body fat pushes on the stomach, increasing gastric pressure. Also noted in obese patients are decreased lower esophageal sphincter (LES) pressure and impaired gastric emptying. Each of these can contribute to an increase in heartburn occurrence.

Being pregnant
You can experience heartburn duing pregnancy because of increased levels of hormones in your body while pregnant can soften the ligaments that normally keep the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) tightly closed.

If the LES relaxes at inappropriate times, food and stomach acids can reflux back up into your esophagus and throat. Also more pressure is put on your stomach as your body changes and your baby grows. This, in turn, can force stomach contents through the LES and into your esophagus.

Smoking
Smoking stimulates the production of stomach acid. It can also weaken and relax the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Smoking has also been shown to slow the production of saliva. Saliva is one of your body's defenses against damage to the esophagus. Saliva even has acid-neutralizing chemicals called bicarbonates. Research shows that the saliva of smokers contains smaller amounts of bicarbonates, thus reducing the ability of the saliva to neutralize the acid. Saliva also bathes the esophagus and lessens the effects of acid that has refluxed up from the stomach, and helps wash the acid down to the stomach.

Drinking alcohol
Alcohol increases the production of stomach acid, and relaxes the LES. Alcohol also makes the esophagus more sensitive to stomach acid. Alcohol can lead to the development of peptic ulcers and interfere with the healing of ulcers already present.

Eating certain foods
Some foods can increase the odds of having heartburn. These include:

Fried foods
Fatty foods
Citrus fruits (such as oranges)
Tomatoes and tomato-based products (such as tomato sauce, tomato paste, many spaghetti sauces)
Coffee
Alcoholic beverages
Citrus fruit drinks (such as orange and grapefruit)
Chocolate
Peppermint
Pepper

Having a hiatal hernia
A hiatal hernia can weaken the (LES) and cause reflux. It can also result in the retention of acid and other stomach contents above the opening in the diaphragm, where the esophagus connects with the stomach (hiatus), and can result in this being easily refluxed into the esophagus.

Having a peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer is a sore or lesion that forms in the lining of the stomach or duodenum. These ulcers can cause a gnawing or burning pain in the abdomen between the breastbone and navel. There can also be acid reflux, the sensation of acid backing up into the throat.

Having gastroparesis
Gastroparesis, also called delayed gastric emptying, is a disorder in which the stomach takes too long to empty its contents. It often occurs in people with type I diabetes or type II diabetes. Gastroparesis happens when nerves to the stomach are damaged or stop working. The vagus nerve controls the movement of food through the digestive tract. If the vagus nerve is damaged, the muscles of the stomach and intestines do not work normally, and the movement of food is slowed or stopped. This delayed stomach emptying can increase gastric pressure, which can lead to heartburn.

_Sources:

_{"Heartburn, Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER), and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)." NIH Publication No. 07–0882 May 2007. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse - National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health. 26 Jun 2007.}

_{Oliveria SA, Christos PJ, Talley NJ, Dannenberg AJ, " Heartburn risk factors, knowledge, and prevention strategies: a population-based survey of individuals with heartburn" 1999 Jul 26;159(14):1592-8. National Center for Biotechnology Information - U.S. National Library of Medicine. 26 Jun 2007.}

_{Howard Hampel, MD, PhD; Neena S. Abraham, MD, MSc(Epi); and Hashem B. El-Serag, MD, MPH, " Obesity and the Risk for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and Its Complications." 2 August 2005 | Volume 143 Issue 3 | Pages 199-211. Annals of Internal Medicine - The American College of Physicians. 26 Jun 2007.}

(HPV)+(STD)

2007-07-02T04:59:00.001-05:00

Human Papillomavirus HPV

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common causes of sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the world. Experts estimate that as many as 24 million Americans are infected with HPV, and the frequency of infection and disease appears to be increasing. More than 60 types of HPV have been identified by scientists. Some types of the virus cause common skin warts. About one-third of the HPV types are spread through sexual contact and live only in genital tissue. Low-risk types of HPV cause genital warts, the most recognizable sign of genital HPV infection. Other high-risk types of HPV cause cervical cancer and other genital cancers.

Like many sexually transmitted organisms, HPV usually causes a silent infection, that is one that does not have visible symptoms.

One study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reported that almost half of the women infected with HPV had no obvious symptoms. Because the viral infection persists, individuals may not be aware of their infection or the potential risk of transmission to others and of developing complications.

Pregnancy

2007-06-30T00:38:00.000-05:00

When Does Pregnancy Occur? Study Shows Few "Safe" Days During Menstrual Cycle

Forget everything you have heard about when pregnancy occurs. According to researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, only about 30 percent of women actually have their fertile period between days 10 and 17 of their menstrual cycle. This adds validity to what many 'accidentally' pregnant women, including myself, have long suspected.

Researchers found that the potential for fertility exists on almost every day of a woman's menstrual cycle. Most women in the study were between the ages of 25 and 35--prime reproductive age and the age when menstrual cycles are most regular. The window of fertility was found to be even more unpredictable for teenagers and women approaching menopause.

Data on tests of 213 women during almost 700 menstrual cycles concluded that even women with normally regular menstrual cycles should be advised that their fertile window can be significantly unpredictable.

The NIEHS' Allen J. Wilcox, M.D., Ph.D., statistician David Dunson, Ph.D., and epidemiologist Donna Day Baird, Ph.D., described the results of these tests of otherwise healthy North Carolina women in a recent report in the British Medical Journal.

Women who seek to use their cycles to avoid pregnancy may face poor odds, according to the new scientific report. Data from the study suggests that there are "few days of the menstrual cycle during which some women are not potentially capable of becoming pregnant-- including even the day on which they may expect their next menses to begin."

According to Dr. Wilcox, "If the average healthy couple wants to get pregnant, they are just as well off to forget 'fertile windows' and simply engage in unprotected intercourse two or three times a week."

Researchers showed that 2% of women started their fertile window by day four of their menstrual cycle, and 17% by day seven. Day one of the menstrual cycle is the day that menstruation begins. More than 70% of women were in their fertile window before day 10 or after day 17. Women who regarded their menstrual cycles as "regular" had a 1 to 6 percent probability of being fertile even on the day that their next period was expected to begin. This leaves few "safe" days for natural birth control methods such as the "rhythm method." Women who participated in the study were required to provide daily urine samples that were tested for estrogen and progesterone. A sudden change in these hormones marks the occurrence of ovulation. This test was used to identify ovulation days during 696 menstrual cycles.

Previous reports by Dr. Wilcox and colleagues had shown that the fertile window spans six days and ended on the day of ovulation; however the new report found that even women whose menstrual cycles are normally regular can experience sporadic ovulation. Late ovulation causes 4 to 6 percent of women to potentially be fertile during the fifth week of their cycles--more than 28 days after menstruation last started.

Having sexual intercourse on your fertile day does not guarantee you will become pregnant. Other factors including the viability of the sperm and egg, and the receptivity of the uterus, as well as other individual factors among couples also influence whether pregnancy will result.

According to the NIEHS researchers, this report is the only modern test data that they are aware of on the range of the fertile window. During World War I, a German physician reported 25 pregnancies that were produced by single acts of sexual intercourse that occurred between menstrual cycle days 2 and 30 while soldiers were on leave--today, 84 years later this study suggests that the doctor's report was entirely plausible.

A Dream of William Blake

2007-06-30T00:34:00.001-05:00

A Dream

Poem lyrics of A Dream by William Blake.

Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my angel-guarded bed,
That an emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.

Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangle spray,
All heart-broke, I heard her say:

"Oh my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me."

Pitying, I dropped a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied, "What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?

"I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home!

A Dream - by Edgar Allan Poe

2007-06-27T05:44:00.001-05:00

Poem lyrics of A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe.

In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream - that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,
So trembled from afar
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?

Against Suicide

2007-06-27T05:42:00.001-05:00

Male U.S. Veterans More Likely to Commit Suicide

According to a new report, male U.S. veterans are more likely to commit suicide than those who have never served in the military.

Mark Kaplan, a professor of community health at Portland State University, and colleagues collected data on 320,000 men over the age of 18 who participated in the National Health Interview Survey. The men were followed for a period of 12 years.

When they analyzed the data, they found that men who had served in the military at any time between 1917 and 1994 were twice as likely to die of suicide than men who had never served in the armed forces. Veterans were also more likely to own a gun and to use a gun to commit suicide.

The study authors expect this trend to continue with service members who are currently serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and recommend that returning veterans should be screened by their primary care physician for depression and suicidal thoughts.

The study will appear in the July issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Fairfax is in Blacks?

2007-06-27T04:16:00.001-05:00

Blacks in Fairfax, Montgomery Outdo U.S. Peers in AP

By Daniel de Vise

Washington Post Staff Writer

Black students in Montgomery and Fairfax high schools are far more successful in Advanced Placement testing than their peers in nine of the 10 school systems in the nation with the largest black populations, according to a Washington Post analysis.

Participation in the AP program has more than doubled in 10 years. But this surge in college-preparatory testing has not reached most African American students, according to a review of 2006 exam results in 30 school systems with about 5,000 or more black high school students.

Still, black students in both Montgomery and Fairfax counties passed AP tests in spring 2006 at the rate of more than eight tests for every 100 black students enrolled in the high school grades, the analysis found.

That is far greater than the success rate of African Americans nationwide, who produced about one passing AP test for every 100 students. None of the other school systems studied produced successful AP tests at even half the rate of Maryland's and Virginia 's largest school systems.

Jerry D. Weast, Montgomery's superintendent, said that the county's black students generated a larger number of passing AP tests last year -- 851 exams from 10,326 students -- than any other school system in the nation except New York City, although they trail whites and Asians in Montgomery.

AP experts believe Weast, although the claim is difficult to prove, because each system's scores are proprietary. School districts provided their AP data to The Post.

"Eight years ago, we started knocking down barriers and eliminating prerequisites so more African American students could enroll in rigorous AP courses," Weast said, "because the bottom line is that AP is the way to go. It is the best way to prepare kids for success in college."

Fairfax, with 5,771 black high school students, had 494 passing tests from African Americans.

The AP program began in 1955 as a means for top high school students to take college courses. A national surge in AP testing began in the late 1990s as a quest for greater rigor for a broader spectrum of high school students. Participation among black students has tripled in 10 years. But the numbers were so low 10 years ago that by 2006, none of the largest school systems in the country could meet the goal of having 1,000 passing tests from black students.

In the 1 million-student New York City system, the nation's largest, black students produced 987 AP tests that earned scores of 3 or higher on the five-point AP grading scale in 2006. Philadelphia yielded 144 passing AP tests from black students. District schools had 108.

Four other school systems in the Washington and Baltimore suburbs with large black populations -- Prince George's County, Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County in Maryland and Prince William County in Virginia -- each outperformed black students in the nation as a whole in AP testing, although none approached the national average for all public school students.

Baltimore City, on the other hand, yielded only 90 passing AP tests from a population of more than 20,000 black high school students.

The affluence of Montgomery and Fairfax counties partly explains the success of their African American students on AP tests. But school officials note that those systems' minority populations are not particularly affluent. In Montgomery, for example, 45 percent of black students in the Class of 2006 who took AP tests qualified for federal meal subsidies.

The two school systems -- and others with strong minority AP performance -- have actively recruited black and Hispanic students into AP coursework. In the past, teachers and counselors routinely steered minorities away from the program, which was considered the province of a mostly white academic elite.

Montgomery and Fairfax use standardized tests such as the PSAT, taken early in high school, to identify and recruit promising students of all races into an AP pipeline. They place large numbers of minorities in accelerated studies as early as elementary school and into honors classes in the first two years of high school. Fairfax pays for all AP tests, removing a potential economic barrier. Montgomery has done away with AP course prerequisites that used to disqualify many minorities.

The analysis of AP performance began as a project of Weast's -- he surmised that his school system, with its strong black AP performance, was "a tall tree in a short forest."

The College Board, which administers the AP program, has repeatedly noted a dearth of African Americans in the courses, a particularly stark example of the historic achievement gap separating white and black students.

Education leaders regard taking and passing AP tests as a boon to students, increasing the odds of college admission, scholarships and advanced standing.

The Post reviewed AP data from nine of the 10 school systems in the nation with the largest black populations, from New York City, with 115,963 African American students in grades 9 through 12, to Baltimore City, with 22,225. One of the 10, Detroit, declined to provide data. The analysis considered 20 other school systems, all among the 80 largest for black high school populations, that are known for their rigor. The smallest systems studied were Prince William and Anne Arundel, each with about 5,000 black high school students.

The analysis considered the number of passing exams by black students and weighed it against black student enrollment in grades 9 through 12. A score of 3 or higher on the five-point AP scale is considered passing because it is the typical cutoff for credit and advanced standing in college.

Outside the Washington region, no school system analyzed produced more than four passing AP tests for every 100 black high school students -- half the success rate of Montgomery and Fairfax.

"I get very upset when I'm looking at the scores," said Terry Grier, superintendent of schools in Guilford County, N.C., and a national authority on AP. Guilford schools are known for black AP achievement: The system pays for exams, recruits vigorously from the minority student population and, in spring 2006, produced passing tests from African Americans at more than twice the national rate.

Comparing the number of passing tests to the overall student population illustrates a twofold problem: Black students take AP tests at a much lower rate than others, and blacks who take AP tests are less likely to pass -- one-quarter of blacks tested in spring 2006 earned passing grades, well below the overall pass rate of 58 percent in U.S. public schools.

Superintendents, scholars and students point to several factors hindering black students' success in the AP program. Many African Americans are reluctant to enroll in AP courses, particularly if it means being the only minority student in the class. And those who enroll in AP study without adequate preparation might not be ready for the "shock of rigor" in a college-level course, said Trevor Packer, director of the AP program.

Research suggests that black students, who are concentrated in high-poverty, urban school systems, tend to have less effective teachers than those in other schools. Some urban high schools are therefore filled with courses that are AP "in name only," said Daria Hall, a senior policy analyst at Education Trust, a D.C. nonprofit dedicated to closing the achievement gap.

Fairfax schools host programs to identify minority students "who had the ability but might not have the background or the confidence" to aim for AP study, said Faye Brenner, advanced academic program specialist for the system. A Young Scholars program identifies talented minority students in elementary school; a middle school program called Quest prepares minority students for AP courses by teaching study skills and critical thinking. Many high schools offer summer programs to raise minority achievement in AP.

Montgomery high school principals get spreadsheets and sort students by PSAT scores and grade-point averages to identify anyone capable of AP study but not yet enrolled. Half of all African American high school students in the system are enrolled in at least one honors or AP course.

Britney Pope, 18, who graduated this month from Gaithersburg High School, is going to Columbia University in the fall. Like many talented black students, she had a hit-or-miss experience with AP. She took four AP tests before her senior year but passed only one, in world history. She earned scores of 1 or 2, indicating partial mastery, on the others.

For her success in AP world history, Pope credits her teacher: "She came in on Saturdays to prepare us for the exam." For her performance on the other tests, she mostly blames herself.

"I'm just a poor test-taker, period," she said. "It takes more effort from the teacher to get me prepared."

Garlic,Unpleasant Or Pleasant Friend

2007-06-27T01:44:00.001-05:00

Garlic

Garlic is one of the most widely purchased herbal supplements used to lower cholesterol levels.

So, does it work? Yes and no. Most of the research studies involving both animals and humans suggest that garlic can lower cholesterol levels. In most of the studies that produced cholesterol lowering results, about one-half gram or one gram of garlic was consumed a day. Additionally, it seemed that the garlic lowered total cholesterol and triglyceride levels by up to 20 mg/dL in humans. LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) levels were very modestly lowered (if at all) whereas HDL ("good" cholesterol) was not affected by the administration of garlic. The cholesterol-lowering abilities of garlic appear to be dose-dependent. That is, the more garlic you take, the lower your cholesterol will drop. In the very few studies that looked at the long-term effects of cholesterol, it appears that the cholesterol-lowering effect of garlic may be only temporary.

Additionally, there is some debate as to which form (powder, extract, oil, tablet, raw) of garlic is the best in lowering cholesterol levels. Some studies suggest that garlic powder may have lower amounts of allicin, one of the active ingredients in garlic. This, too, remains under debate.

It is important to note that these studies are very conflicting. While there are many studies that conclude garlic works well to lower cholesterol levels, there are also other studies that conflict with this, contending garlic is ineffective in lowering cholesterol. Therefore, until more studies are performed, garlic may not be the best choice for you if you are solely relying on it to lower your cholesterol.

What Should I Know About Taking Garlic?

Most of the studies that examined the effectiveness of garlic on cholesterol used anywhere from 500 –1000 mg of cholesterol in their study. The garlic preparations vary widely, from powders used in tablets to raw garlic used in cooking.

Be sure to tell your health care provider that you are taking garlic supplements to lower your cholesterol, since they may interact with certain disease conditions or medications you are taking.
The most notable side effect of garlic is the presence of its persistent, distinctive odor being present on your breath and body. Some commercial preparations may boast of lowering this side effect, but you should still be aware that this undesirable side effect might occur.
Additionally, if you are taking any type of blood thinner (anticoagulants like Coumadin®, warfarin) or need surgery soon, you should not take garlic without first consulting your health care provider because this may lower your ability to clot your blood.
Although there is not a definite limit on how much garlic you can consume a day, some studies have suggested that too much garlic may be harmful to your liver. One study concluded that doses of garlic above 0.25 g/kg and above per day may harm your liver. For instance, if you weighed 150 lbs, this would roughly equal to consuming 70 grams of garlic today. This would be equivalent to eating 18 cloves of garlic or taking over 100 commercially available tablets (1 tablet = 400 mg).

Sources:

Rana SV, Pal, R, Vaiphei, K, Singh K. Garlic hepatotoxicity: safe dose of garlic. Trop Gastroenterol.2006 Jan-Mar;27(1):26-30.

Van Doorn M, Santo SM, Meijer P. Effect of garlic powder on C-reactive protein and plasma lipids in overweight and smoking subjects American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2006 December 84:1324-1329.

Gorinstein S, Leontowicz M. Dose-dependent influence of commercial garlic (Allium sativum) on rats fed cholesterol-containing diet.J Agric Food Chem. 2006 May 31;54(11):4022-7.

Tattelman E. Health Effects of Garlic. Am Fam Physician 2005;72:103-6.

Culture & Saddamism...

2007-06-26T23:20:00.001-05:00

Culture in Post-Saddam Iraq

by Nimrod Raphaeli
Middle East Quarterly
Summer 2007
http://www.meforum.org/article/1707

The culture of a nation embodies its institutions, values, and norms of behavior rooted in history and collective memory. As U.S. and coalition forces work to stabilize Iraq and transform Iraqi society, the nature of Iraqi identity and culture becomes relevant not only to anthropologists and archaeologists but also to policymakers and military officers. While violence might appear to predominate on the television news and in newspapers, beneath the surface there is a vibrant culture struggling to reassert itself.

If asked about their culture, many Iraqis will recall their country's role as "the cradle of civilizations" and claim descent from Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Today, many television commercials and billboards in Baghdad make reference to Iraq's ancient heritage. But modern Iraqi culture is also marked by tribalism and violence. On October 29, 1936, Iraqi general Bakr Sidqi led the first military coup in the Middle East. He was assassinated less than a year later. While military coups became frequent in Middle Eastern states, Iraq set another first when, on July 14, 1958, it became the scene of the first Middle Eastern coup to culminate in the execution of the head of state. Another coup led to the execution of General 'Abd al-Karim Qasim, the 1958 coup leader. Several other leaders subsequently died under suspicious circumstances. After a short-lived 1963 attempt to seize power, the Baath party tried again and consolidated control after a 1968 coup. In 1979, vice president Saddam Hussein deposed the president, General Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, who subsequently died from apparent poisoning.Very few Iraqi leaders die of natural causes.

The distinguished Iraqi historian and sociologist 'Ali al-Wardi argues that Bedouin culture formed the bedrock of Iraqi society. Characterizing Bedouin culture, he writes, are three elements: tribalism, raiding, and chivalry. Each of these elements is defined by the concept of taghalub (predominance). The Bedouin individual seeks to persuade by the force of his tribe, his personal strength, and his sense of superiority. Because of a lack of rules to adjudicate conflict, Bedouins use force to avenge transgressions. This, Wardi argues, explains why there is near permanent war in Bedouin society. "War in the desert is the reality; peace is a fleeting phenomenon," he writes.[1]

Writing in Al-Jandul, a monthly Iraqi literary magazine, Hamid al-Hashimi, a professor of sociology at the Europe University in Schiedam, the Netherlands, seconds such theories. [2] Ahmad al-Asadi, a poet born in 1979, also examined the same question. He suggests that Iraqi society is experiencing "an intellectual crisis in terms of structures and the relationship between the individual, the society, and the government" and argues that a tribal mentality dominates. "It is true that we have shifted from a nomadic to an urban lifestyle and from the village to the city, but we [continue] to carry in our minds the rustic and nomadic values," he writes. [3]

Cultural Life under Saddam

Iraqi president Saddam Hussein glorified violence in his efforts to shape Iraqi culture and society. He embraced a curriculum which required high school students to memorize a speech delivered by the seventh-century governor of Iraq, Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf ath-Thaqafi, to dignitaries of Kufa, then the most important city in Iraq. In 694 C.E., Thaqafi warned:

Oh, People of Iraq, Oh, People of Hypocrisy
My name is Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf ath-Thaqafi. When I take off my turban, you will know me
I see heads that have ripened and need to be harvested, and I shall harvest them.

Saddam adopted a model of power which glorified terror. On television, he hugged a father who killed his own son for disloyalty to the president. He politicized culture; the regime suppressed any expression of human creativity not in conformity with the dogmatic and often capricious nature of the regime. Those who violated such prescriptions could pay with their lives. Baathist loyalists oversaw all cultural endeavors. A half-year after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, Sayyar al-Jamil reflected in Az-Zaman, a major Iraqi daily, about how decades of strict control had affected Iraqi culture. He wrote that the centralization of cultural life had "produced chauvinistic enclosure and official, parrot-like dogmatic culture cast in molds prepared in advance in accordance with preordained specifications." As a result, authentic Iraqi intellectuals, novelists, poets, and artists found themselves marginalized for almost four decades. Instead, state-crafted culture bombarded the Iraqi masses with "meager portions of defunct culture, fabricated propaganda, fiery hero-worshiping poems, fancy carnivals and political gatherings in the service of the dictates of the president and the political party."[4] This, in a nutshell, justifies the thesis of Kanan Makiya's The Monument: Art and Vulgarity in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. First published in 1991, Makiya's book depicts Saddam's efforts to link himself with such heroic figures of Islam as fourth Caliph 'Ali bin Abi Talib, his son Hussein, whose murder in the seventh century precipitated the schism between Sunni and the Shi'a, and Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas, an early Arab warrior who brought Islam to Iran. [5]

U.N. sanctions during Saddam's rule also had an impact on Iraqi cultural life, albeit in mundane ways. The sanctions, in practice if not intent, contributed to a shortage of printing material. Before the U.N. sanctions, Iraq imported 100,000 tons of paper per year, but under sanctions, this declined 90 percent. [6] Political isolation and the Iraqi government's own regulations narrowed the ability of Iraqi writers, journalists, and artists to attend meetings outside their country. Those who did leave often did not return. This led to a bifurcation of culture: There was the thaqafat al-kharij (culture of exile) and the thaqafat ad-dakhil (domestic culture). While a sense of Iraqness permeated both cultures, over time, the culture of exile became richer and more critical.

Historically, Iraqis have considered poetry to be superior to playwriting or other literature. This balance reflects a legacy of a tribal tradition that favored spontaneity and public recitation. Often, praise of the ruler was the best way to gain financial rewards. The Saddam regime paid court poets to praise Saddam as a leader who epitomized glory, heroism, generosity, magnanimity, and even prophetic perception of the future.

Saddam's military acumen became a central theme for the home culture. The Iraqi press called the Iran-Iraq war Al-Qadisiya or Qadisiyat Saddam, a reference to the battle in which the Arabs defeated the Persian Empire to Islamize Iran. The Iraqi press used the term umm al-ma'arik (mother of all battles) to designate the heroic stand of Saddam's army against the multinational coalition which expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991. It referred to the 2003 war as umm al-hawasum (the mother of decisiveness). All battles became epic, and even defeat became victory.

Hair Removal Methods For Women

2007-06-26T09:42:00.001-05:00

Hair Removal Methods

Bleaching, Shaving, Plucking, Waxing, and Sugar Waxing

The desire to remove excess or dark hair usually begins in adolescence and seems to continue until the day we die. Whether it is hair on the face, armpits, legs, bikini line, or other body parts, many women AND men are intent upon having the hair on their scalp be the only visible hair on their bodies. With the emphasis on smooth, hairless skin, it is interesting to note that excess hair, especially in women, is still a taboo subject.

There are many options available to remove unwanted hair, but few options to get rid of hair permanently. The different methods of hair removal from the old stand-by, shaving, to the new treatments, lasers and Vaniqa, are discussed here. Each person should chose a method or combination of methods that works best for them depending on cost, time available, skin type, and the desired hair-free area.

Hair Growth
Understanding how hair grows helps us understand how to keep hair from growing. Each hair is contained in a pilosebaceous unit, which consists of a hair shaft, hair follicle, sebaceous gland, and erector pili muscle. Hair growth and shedding is a continuous cycle through 3 phases. The anagen phase is the growth phase, the catagen phase is a transitional state, and the telogen phase is the resting phase. Hairs spend a variable amount of time in each phase determined by genetics, hormones, and area of the body. Hair in the anagen phase is more susceptible to injury than hair in the telogen phase. All of these factors must be considered when choosing a method of hair removal.

Bleaching
Bleaching is actually not a hair removal method, but rather a way to make the hair less noticeable. This is especially useful for areas that already have thin but dark and therefore noticeable hair like the arms, face, or neck. Bleaching is performed by applying a chemical to the desired area, which removes the pigment from the hair.

Hair Removal with Shaving
Shaving is the most temporary method of hair removal because it merely cuts the hair off at the skin surface. Shaving does not make the hair shaft thicker, darker, or grow faster or slower. However, the short hair shaft may be more noticeable as it grows out because it has a blunt tip instead of the normal tapered tip. Shaving should be done after applying some type of moisturizer to the skin to help the razor glide over the skin, not cut or scrape it. Common moisturizers include water, shaving cream, hair conditioner, or body wash.

Physical Hair Removal
Physically pulling the hair out of the follicle is a common and fairly inexpensive method of hair removal. None of these methods changes the color, texture, or density of the hair. The hair takes longer to grow back because it must grow to the surface of the skin before it is noticed. Because hair grows at different rates, some of the hair that has been physically removed may take more time to grow back in. Repeatedly pulling hair out of the follicle may damage the follicle enough over time to keep it from producing more hair.

Physical Hair Removal - Plucking
Plucking hair with tweezers is an effective way to remove hair but can be very time consuming. The hair shaft must be long enough to grasp with tweezers.

Physical Hair Removal - Waxing
Waxing is an effective method of removing large amounts of hair at one time. In this method wax is warmed to allow it to be spread easily over the skin in the direction of hair growth. The hair becomes embedded in the wax, which cools and firms up grasping the hair. The wax is then quickly pulled off in the opposite direction of the hair growth, pulling the hairs out of the follicles. Cold waxes are available usually attached to strips, which are patted onto the skin. Wax that is still left on the skin must be peeled or scratched off. Caution must be used when heating wax so as not to burn the skin.

Physical Hair Removal - Sugar Waxing
Sugar waxing is a popular form of hair removal that works in the same way traditional waxing does. A thick sugary substance similar to caramel is spread on the skin in the direction of hair growth. The hair becomes embedded in the caramel. A cloth or paper strip is patted onto the caramel and then pulled off quickly in the opposite direction of the hair growth, pulling the hairs out of the follicles. The advantage of this method over traditional waxing is the clean up. The sugar substance is water-soluble and can be removed easier than wax by rinsing with water.

Fear Is Unknown Point Of Our World

2007-06-26T07:32:00.000-05:00

addiction 4 Ever

2007-06-26T05:58:00.001-05:00

Will addicts stay addicted for the rest of their lives? Are there any really successful addiction recovery solutions?

An addiction can vary in seriousness. You don't get addicted from one day to another; getting addicted is a process that can take many years. Sometimes people take steps at a time; they decrease or discontinue. Others will go on until the end.

In the case of less severe forms of addictions, the addiction is a temporary disorder, and treatment can help a lot. In the case of more severe addictions, the disorder has a more lasting character. In these cases, the goal of the treatment is to discontinue use. More severe addictions often mean that there is a long history of use and many physical and social problems. Addiction to alcohol, for example, often shows that the brains are damaged in such a way that the addicts can no longer resist the impulse to drink.

However, "addicted once, addicted forever" never means that an addiction can't be treated or overcome. The problem is that addicted people often draw that conclusion. They say: "I can't be helped", "it is within me" or "I can't help it". Also, the family and other people around the addict often draw this conclusion. This usually happens when the addicted person starts to use, drink or gamble again. This creates a feeling of dejection, which has a negative effect. It can be the reason to keep on drinking and not seek help.

It is very important to see how the addict and the people around him react to the relapse. Instead of being dejected, it is better to find out what you can learn from a relapse. You can determine under what circumstances the relapse happened and how you can react better to alcohol, drugs or gambling next time when you are in the same circumstances. In other words, you can also get stronger from a relapse. An addict must realize that getting addicted is a process, as well as getting off of it. Breaking the habit means that there is also the possibility of a remission.

Answer of A Panic Queation

2007-06-26T05:55:00.000-05:00

Could I learn to handle my panic attacks on my own?

When we are in pain, we are trying to find the reason why and an take appropriate measures. If, for example, your foot hurts underneath, it could be a corn and you ask a pedicurist to remove it.

Anxiety is a way for the soul to express that something is wrong. It is the soul's pain system. Anxiety means that your soul is hurt. Anxiety wants to tell you that there is something in your life that is not right or that you have some kind of problem you need to solve. Here is how to cure yourself from anxiety :

Lie down on your bed and concentrate on the unpleasant feelings of anxiety. How does your body feel? Try getting in intensive contact with the strong feelings of discomfort. Do not get up! Feel! Experience the worst feeling you have ever felt! Stay in this state of discomfort until it has reached climax and starts to subside!

You may need to repeat this each time you are feeling anxious. Deal with the uncomfortable feelings by letting them get worse and worse instead of running away from them. You are afraid because you think that the feelings of discomfort might never go away. But an average panic attack usually lasts for not more than ten minutes. The more intense your feelings of anxiety can get, the faster they will subside.

It is possible that your psychological defense mechanisms will switch on and you are suddenly not feeling anything at all. You might then need help from a skilled psychotherapist to be able to move on.

An anguished experience like this will often lead to a better understanding and gradually you will realize the truth and what you need to do.

Panic Attack Syndrome

2007-06-26T05:38:00.001-05:00

Defining Panic Attack Syndrome

Panic Disorder is characterized by feelings of spontaneous, unexpected panic accompanied by acute anxiety. The typical panic attack includes symptoms such as tachycardia, dyspnea, palpitations, and sweating, increasing rapidly during a period of 5-10 minutes. Symptoms may feel life threatening, and great fear arises, resulting in a further worsening of the situation. Panic attacks most typically occur in closed-in places, such as a crowded bus or any place from which the sufferer cannot exit immediately, although these incidents may happen anywhere, at any time. The attack typically endures for 20-30 minutes, up to a maximum of one hour. Soon after the first one or two attacks, considerable fear and apprehension about future episodes develop. Because of this fear, precautionary measures are taken to avoid trigger situations and to ensure a feeling of safety.

More often than not, such persons avoid going out in public unless accompanied by someone they know well. There is considerable fear that a sudden panic attack would expose them publicly. This is known as "agoraphobia," termed Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia. Claustrophobia, a situation in which the person avoids closed-in spaces or vehicles such as tunnels, bridges, elevators, buses, trains, or airplanes, may also develop. If such a person attends an indoor event at a theatre or cinema, for example, an attempt will be made to sit next to the aisle, preferably near the exit, in case panic symptoms erupt.

Painful Periods

2007-06-26T05:34:00.001-05:00

Menstrual Cramps

Causes and Treatments for Menstrual Cramps

If you are like most women, you have probably experienced menstrual cramps at one time or another. For some women menstrual cramps are debilitating, while others experience only mild discomfort during their period. Menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea) may be primary or secondary. Primary dysmenorrhea occurs most often in young women who have just begun their menstrual cycles and often becomes less severe after a woman has given birth or when she reaches her mid-twenties. Secondary dysmenorrhea is diagnosed when menstrual cramps are caused by other conditions such as endometriosis, fibroid tumors, pelvic adhesions, and ovarian cysts or by the use of an interuterine device (IUD) for birth control.

Menstrual cramps are thought to be related to a hormone-like naturally occurring substance called prostaglandins which causes the uterus to contract.

If a woman does not ovulate it is unlikely that she will encounter cramps during her period, for this reason physicians often prescribe oral contraceptives to ease painful periods. However, you should be aware that birth control pills cause abnormal bleeding in some women.

How Can You Beat the Cramps?

Over-the-counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen or naproxen sodium used around the clock as soon as you notice the first sign of your period help to reduce the severity of cramps in many women by inhibiting the release of prostaglandins. Acetaminophen (e.g.-Tylenol) will help the pain but does not have the effect on the prostagladins.

Regular physical activity often reduces cramping in some women.

Natural progesterone may help reduce the symptoms that are causing menstrual cramps.

Supplementing your diet with zinc and calcium has been found to reduce cramps, bloating, and related PMS symptoms.

Herbal remedies such as Viburnum prunifolium, Scutellaria spp., and Cimicifuga raemosa have an antispasmodic effect that may reduce some menstrual cramps. Other useful herbs include cramp bark, squaw vine, unicorn root, bromelain, evening primrose oil, and blue cohosh.

Try taking a warm bath and using aromatherapy or using a heating pad on your lower abdomen or back. If you don't have a heating pad, a heating pad can be made by filling a sock with rice and heating it in the microwave.

Taking time for yourself, relaxing, and letting those around you know that you are not feeling yourself will help by reducing the stress of your everyday life that may contribute to your menstrual cramps.

A Poem By: William Blake

2007-06-26T05:30:00.001-05:00

A Divine Image

Poem lyrics of A Divine Image by William Blake.

Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And secrecy the human dress.

The human dress is forged iron,
The human form a fiery forge,
The human face a furnace seal'd,
The human heart its hungry gorge.

Earth Numirical Statistics

2007-06-26T02:09:00.001-05:00

Earth Statistics
Mass (kg)	5.976e+24
Mass (Earth = 1)	1.0000e+00
Equatorial radius (km)	6,378.14
Equatorial radius (Earth = 1)	1.0000e+00
Mean density (gm/cm^3)	5.515
Mean distance from the Sun (km)	149,600,000
Mean distance from the Sun (Earth = 1)	1.0000
Rotational period (days)	0.99727
Rotational period (hours)	23.9345
Orbital period (days)	365.256
Mean orbital velocity (km/sec)	29.79
Orbital eccentricity	0.0167
Tilt of axis (degrees)	23.45
Orbital inclination (degrees)	0.000
Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec)	11.18
Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2)	9.78
Visual geometric albedo	0.37
Mean surface temperature	15°C
Atmospheric pressure (bars)	1.013
Atmospheric composition Nitrogen Oxygen Other	77% 21% 2%

DHS , Trending Up...

2007-06-26T00:35:00.001-05:00

DHS' turn in the hot seat

One popular line from the "Seinfeld" TV show ponders the ramifications of responsibility. Jerry asks, "Who wants to be responsible? Whenever anything goes wrong, the first thing they ask is: Who's responsible for this?" Last week, lawmakers poked into the Homeland Security Department's cybersecurity measures and asked, "Who's responsible for this?"

Unfortunately for Scott Charbo, DHS' chief information officer, lawmakers looked to him for an answer.

DHS and Charbo got their turn in the hot seat last week because of the agency's troubled cybersecurity systems.

During a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee's Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Subcommittee, lawmakers and auditors took DHS officials to task for failing to address even the low-hanging fruit.

"It was a shock and a disappointment to learn that the Department of Homeland Security — the agency charged with being the lead in our national cybersecurity — has suffered so many significant security incidents on its networks," said Rep. James Langevin (D-R.I.), the subcommittee's chairman.
DHS reported 844 cybersecurity incidents in fiscal 2005 and 2006. And lawmakers implied that DHS has been lucky rather than necessarily good.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) took to the airwaves last week to equate Charbo with Michael Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "He is clearly a long ways away from being the best-qualified person for the job," Thompson told Federal News Radio.

For his part, Charbo said DHS was making progress. He added that the agency, which has been largely decentralized, has a new governance model that gives the CIO control of the purse strings and, therefore, more control over the agency.

Thompson, at least, was not convinced. "Our committee was very disappointed with his testimony," he said.

So who else wants to be responsible?

I-PASS & SPEED

2007-06-26T00:20:00.001-05:00

I-PASS allows Illinois drivers to pay at highway speeds

Unisys has upgraded the e-commerce system it hosts for the Illinois Tollway.

Unisys developed and hosts the I-PASS Online Account Management System at its Eagan, Minn., data center. The application, which Unisys has supported for several years, won an Outsourcing Excellence Award last month under a program sponsored by the consulting firm Everest Group and Forbes magazine.

Last year, the Illinois Tollway finished converting its toll plazas from the barrier style to open-road tolling in which vehicles equipped with transponders cruise through the toll plaza at highway speeds. The tollway reports that 2.8 million transponders are in use, and 77 percent of tolls are paid electronically every day.

The I-PASS system lets customers review and update their prepaid toll accounts online. It also allows drivers to buy and activate I-PASS transponders.

In recent months, Unisys has brought new features into production, including a missed-tolls capability that lets motorists who accidentally drive through a plaza's I-PASS lane without a transponder pay the toll via the Web, said Richard Concaildi, an account manager at Unisys.

A payment received within a week of the missed tool is not processed as a violation, according to the tollway's Web site.

Unisys has also provided a violation-enforcement system that identifies vehicles that consistently use open-road toll lanes without paying, Concaildi said. The system's Web interface has also been revamped to provide users with direct links to the system's most popular modules, he added.

John Moore is a freelance writer.

Tracking Cases

2007-06-26T00:07:00.001-05:00

Firms to Help Justice Dept. Track Cases

By Wilson P. Dizard III

Special to The Washington Post

The Justice Department has awarded a $950 million contract to three companies to maintain the hodgepodge of systems used to track its litigation caseload while it rolls out a new information-sharing platform.

CACI International of Arlington, Labat-Anderson of McLean and Lockheed Martin of Bethesda each received awards under an umbrella contract that could generate as much as six years of work.

The contract calls for the companies to provide training, software maintenance and upgrades, database services and similar technology support. The firms will compete against each other for specific tasks.

Case management systems help Justice Department attorneys organize the mountains of evidence, legal briefs and other information used in prosecutions and civil suits. Senior department executives also use the systems to help supervise attorneys and track how the department allocates its resources.

The department's civil, antitrust, civil rights, criminal, environmental and natural resources divisions all keep their own case management systems, as do dozens of U.S. attorney's offices nationwide. The tax division is also developing a separate litigation support program, according to procurement documents.

But the separate case management systems don't yet permit seamless information exchange. Such information sharing can become critical in major cases that might, for example, involve both charges brought by the criminal division and related accusations of tax law violations.

In June 2006, the Justice Department awarded a $42 million contract to Computer Sciences of El Segundo, Calif., to build a central database and tools to allow officials to pool information from different case-management systems. Justice directed the company to deploy the system across the department in stages through 2010.

The department's plan for a centralized data sharing pool among the case management systems implements a key part of the Office of Management and Budget's Case Management Line of Business program. The OMB program calls for developing case management systems that meet the varying needs of investigative and administrative work as well litigation. Justice is the lead agency for the litigation case management phase of the program, while the FBI is carrying out the investigative system phase. No contracts have been awarded and a lead agency has not yet been named for the administrative phase.

The FBI's attempts to build a case-management system for law enforcement agencies, now known as Sentinel, illustrate the difficulties of the task. An earlier version of Sentinel, known as Virtual Case File, failed at the cost of more than $100 million. That forced the FBI to change its investigative business methods and adopt new software project management controls.

CACI, which has provided case management services to the department since 1978, said the company's Online Mega Web Portal, or OMega, would be included in the Justice litigation support project. OMega will give case managers "fast, secure and easy access to shared libraries, court calendars, project milestones and associated tools," CACI said.

Lockheed Martin said in a written statement that "through the acquisition of Aspen Systems, [it] has been providing litigation support services to federal customers since 1987." Labat-Anderson did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.

Wilson P. Dizard III is deputy news editor of Government Computer News. For more information on this and other technology contracts, go tohttp://www.gcn.com.

Sony Tech

2007-06-26T00:06:00.001-05:00

Sony Connect Disconnecting?

Is Sony going to pull the plug on its Connect music-download store? A report at the PaidContent.org site last weekend said so, citing unnamed sources at Sony.

Axing Connect would make a lot of sense, as the store has been one of the biggest failures in the digital-music business. But on Tuesday, Sony spokeswoman Jennifer Glass said Connect would continue operating: "We intend to continue to support the existing Connect services."

Now, "intend to continue to support" is not quite an unequivocal declaration; people can change their intentions all the time. In a follow-up e-mail sent late Wednesday, however, Glass said that Sony would continue adding songs to Connect's 3-million-title inventory.

The company is, however, apparently laying off people at Connect, according to this Associated Press story. And PaidContent.org is standing by its original report, saying that Connect is still headed for a shutdown.

If Sony does close Connect, it may face one embarrassing problem: Will anybody notice?

Connect's hideously bad SonicStage software, proprietary ATRAC file format, thin inventory, weak hardware support and punitive usage restrictions put it behind competitors from the start (here's my original review) and never got much better. This store probably won't be missed. It may not even be remembered.

But maybe I'm wrong here. If you shop at Sony Connect, tell me what you like about it. If you once did but then gave up, tell me what drove you away.

(True confession: I shopped at Connect myself, even after writing that scathing review! Details after the jump.)

OK, I shopped--but I never spent any money. Sony had a promotion running at somebody else's Web site (as I recall, it was a car manufacturer), where signing up for some newsletter would get you a handful of free Connect downloads. I grabbed a few songs, burned them onto an audio CD, and then promptly copied the music right back off the CD in MP3 format. Then I unsubscribed from the newsletter.

A poem by:Shakespeare

2007-06-25T23:48:00.001-05:00

Shakespeare

If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover,
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
Compare them with the bettering of the time,
And though they be outstripp'd by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O, then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:
'Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought,
To march in ranks of better equipage:
But since he died and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love.'

Treatment of Hypertension

2007-06-25T23:26:00.001-05:00

Individualizing the Treatment of Hypertension

Impedance Cardiography - A new way of tailoring blood pressure therapy
By DrRich

The "best" way to treat hypertension (high blood pressure) has engendered tremendous controversy over the years, at least among hypertension specialists. Part of the problem is that a huge array of drugs are available to treat hypertension, each with its own profile of effectiveness and side effects, each with its own faction of supporters among the experts, and (seemingly) each with its own large randomized clinical trial "proving" that it ought to be among the first drugs used in the hypertensive patient.

Subsequently, the unfortunate primary care doctors - the ones who do most of the actual heavy lifting in treating patients with high blood pressure - often are left in a state of high confusion. At best, they have adopted an organized trial-and-error approach to treating hypertension.
More commonly they bounce around from approach to approach depending either on the latest randomized trial, or on the latest "key opinion leader" to have been brought in (usually by a drug company) to deliver a lecture at Grand Rounds.

A study published in the April issue of Hypertension may help lead the way toward a more logical approach to treating high blood pressure. Doctors from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine used a relatively new non-invasive tool (impedance cardiography) that measures various aspects of patients' cardiovascular status - such as fluid volume, the amount of blood being pumped by the heart (the cardiac output), and the amount of tension present in the lining of the blood vessels (the vascular resistance) to tailor blood pressure therapy for individuals. These impedance cardiography measures allowed doctors to more accurately assess exactly why the blood pressure was elevated in specific individuals, and thus tailor drug therapy to address the specific underlying cause. When they randomized therapy in 164 patients to treatment based either on impedance cardiography or on standard "empiric" methods, patients whose blood pressure was managed according to the results of impedance cardiography measurements achieved significantly better blood pressure control. The authors, as well as the author of an accompanying editorial in the same edition of Hypertension, believe that more widespread usage of impedance cardiography in managing hypertension will take the guesswork out of designing therapy for individuals, and will result in improved blood pressure control for the population.

DrRich Comments:

Trying to improve blood pressure has some similarities with trying to improve miles per gallon. There are many factors that affect miles per gallon, including (among many others) tire wear and pressure, patterns of driving (such as acceleration and deceleration patterns), total weight of the car, and engine maintenance. So if you did a randomized automotive trial to see whether optimizing tire pressure resulted in an improvement in miles per gallon, you would probably find that it did. However, in applying the results of that randomized trial to individuals, you would find that in some individuals optimizing tire pressure would make a big difference, while in others (whose tire pressure is already pretty good) it would not. Maybe in that latter group, advising the driver and his spouse to each lose 75 pounds would be the best way to pick up an extra 2 miles per gallon.

Blood pressure is similar to miles per gallon in that it is the product of many, many determining factors, including some of the factors assessed by impedance cardiography. So if a doctor can assess whether the hypertensive patient's vascular resistance is elevated (so that a vasodilator like an ACE inhibitor or calcium channel blocker might be a logical first-line therapy), or that the patient's cardiac output is depressed (so that a beta blocker would probably best be avoided), it just makes sense that relying on such information is likely to give better results than relying on a study that measured the average response to a particular drug of a large group of patients. Impedance cardiography is one way (there are probably others) of individualizing the approach to blood pressure based on which factors are most likely causing the hypertension in the individual patients.

Note: Impedance cardiography is NOT something most doctors have access to, and most will look at you cross-eyed if you ask for such a thing. Before the individualization of blood pressure therapy becomes routine, even though it makes sense and even though this early research looks very promising, decades of tradition and scores of exalted academic careers favoring population-based therapy will have to be overcome.

Sources:

Smith RD, Levy P, Ferrario CM, et al. Value of noninvasive hemodynamics to achieve blood pressure control in hypertensive subjects. Hypertension 2006; 47:769-775.

Flack JM. Noninvasive hemodynamic measurements. An important advance in individualizing drug therapies for hypertensive patients. Hypertension 2006; 47:646-647.

The missing link

2007-06-25T06:45:00.001-05:00

U.S. authorities have about 14,000 sets of human remains lacking identification

John Doe backlog grows by nearly 1,000 a year

By Richard Willing
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON � American medical examiners and coroners held at least 14,000 sets of unidentified human remains as of 2004 � more than twice the number of John Doe cases acknowledged by the FBI, the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics says.

In a report due out today, the agency says the backlog of unidentified remains � murder and accident victims and missing or homeless people who die of natural causes � grows by about 1,000 each year.

Agency director Jeffrey Sedgwick said in an interview that a large number of the unidentified probably are murder victims. He said advances in DNA technology could make it possible for grieving families "to have some closure" and for "those responsible (to) meet justice."

"The missing link has been a good inventory of remains," Sedgwick said. The John Doe census is the first such survey undertaken by the federal government.

The true number of remains probably is far higher than the 14,000 the agency located, Sedgwick said. In Louisiana alone, there are incomplete or missing records from every coroner or medical examiner, he said. Louisiana's coroners and medical examiners have been challenged since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The FBI's National Crime Information Center, the only other national registry of unidentified remains, has collected information on about 6,200 John Doe cases, according to Justice Department records. Reporting to the FBI's crime center is voluntary, and the FBI has not claimed that the list is exhaustive.

The statistics bureau plans a follow-up study that will describe the remains and where they are stored.

The nation's roughly 2,000 coroners and medical examiners determine the cause and manner of suspicious or violent deaths or deaths without a physician in attendance. The study found that medical examiners, often physicians, are usually appointed, while coroners, often laypersons, are elected.

Other survey findings, which focused on 2004, the most recent year for which data were available:

•Five large offices in New York, California, Ohio and Texas held more than half of all unidentified remains.

•Some coroners and medical examiners dispose of remains rather than store them indefinitely. About 600 John and Jane Does were buried or cremated in 2004.

•About half take DNA or fingerprints from unidentified remains before disposing of them.

William Hagmaier, executive director of the International Homicide Investigators Association, says the survey highlights the need for a "national policy" requiring coroners and medical examiners to take DNA samples from unidentified remains before they are destroyed.

Clark County, Nev., coroner Michael Murphy says coroners and medical examiners should be allowed to post information about unidentified remains cases on a common website. Since 2003, his office has made 12 identifications through postings to its own site.

Environment & Polution

2007-06-25T03:48:00.001-05:00

Toxics, trash and truth

When polled the vast majority of Americans consider themselves Environmentalists, although they cannot easily define the term. Over the past few years polling has also found the number of Americans who felt environmental issues should take precedence over economic concerns has declined. Nonetheless, the majority still feel the environment should be protected even at the expense of economic progress.

Yet, when Americans are asked to list reasons for electing a presidential candidate, the environment rarely even makes bottom of the list. Clearly, there is a double standard arising from a dilemma between personal demands and popular desires. Although Americans often list air quality concerns as a primary environmental issue, the average number riding in an automobile each day to work is about one. Despite the realities, Americans have decided to believe the rhetoric of perception and ignore the language of reality. There is an issue related to reliability of the informational sources of this rhetoric and how it is presented. It seems regardless of the approaches employed, the importance of the resource industries cannot get its message to the public in a balanced fashion.

Views similar to those of Americans are echoed in countries throughout the world regardless of their level of prosperity. Industry is seen as a nebulous entity devoid of moral principles with profit taking precedence over people. Industry is often considered the source of most pollution and devastation to the environment. These perceptions build over time allowing individuals to set aside their personal responsibility in favor of shifting blame for environmental problems somewhere else. The reality is industrial development if conducted within the rule of law and respect for human rights is at the core of economic development, poverty alleviation, and the hope for a better life.

Politicians adore agendas and the environment provides the perfect venue to express them from cancer to climate change. In an attempt to show progress in protection of the environment and to demonstrate industry is a primary culprit, the USEPA established the Toxics Release Inventory known as the TRI. Federal sites and municipal landfills were exempted from reporting the release of toxic substances within TRI. Certainly, there were no political motives in this decision. Maybe it was thought chemicals released from sources other than industry are somehow less toxic.

In July 1999, the mining industry came under the TRI program and had to begin reporting so-called releases of metals and other constituents to the environment. The reporting, which included naturally occurring substances in waste rock being moved and processed ores being disposed of, resulted in the mining industry becoming the number one industrial polluter in America. Under the USEPA definition, naturally occurring substances were defined as being "released" into the environment simply because they had been moved from the mine to an approved waste rock disposal site or tailings storage facility. There is a need to reexamine the TRI process as well as other government mandated environmental policies and programs. Over protection and excessive regulation is prevalent in many water quality standards. Empirical evidence from long term monitoring suggests alternative or site specific water standards are not only protective but less costly to comply with through monitoring and treatment. A proper "ecolibrium" results from this approach.

A long awaited reality check came in April 2003 as the result of a challenge to the TRI reporting rules through litigation initiated by a Barrick mining operation. There is now a de minimus exemption associated with reporting of these naturally occurring substances in mined materials depending upon their respective content. This decision was justified and brought some much needed common sense to the TRI process. Imagine the impacts if the original principle applied to the mining industry had been adopted by the USEPA for other industries including construction or sand and gravel operations. Even if the reporting requirements of TRI are appropriate, the accuracy of the data can also come into question. Discrepancies have been reported between the USEPA TRI data and that submitted by industry and other reporting entities. These discrepancies do not take into account the additional potential errors associated with non-representative sampling and analytical measurements. Taken collectively, the existence of discrepancies and the potential for other more subtle reporting errors brings into question the validity and value of TRI.
In contrast there are several thousand municipal landfills in the United States many of which are not routinely monitored, lined, or have leachate collection and treatment systems. A simple breakdown of municipal waste contents reported by the USEPA include such categories as food scraps, glass, metals, paper products, plastics, and wood. Compare this level of reporting with the measurement of scores of individual constituents in industrial wastes down to the part per billion. The estimates of quantities of municipal solid wastes disposed of in the United States exceed hundreds of million of tons per year. In a recent research study conducted at the Texas A&M University, the composition of leachates from 58 municipal and hazardous waste landfills were examined. The researchers found 50% more individual toxic chemicals in leachates from municipal rather than hazardous waste landfills. Furthermore, unlike most mining operations, most landfills are located around communities.

There is a justified need to challenge conventional wisdom and institute reality checks. Another is emerging related to the United States National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. In June 2005, Ms. Debra Struhsacker on behalf of the Women's Mining Coalition presented testimony to the House of Representatives Resources Committee regarding the effectiveness of NEPA as it is being applied today. She noted this legislation has gone from one of collaboration and communication to one of confrontation and conflict. Many argue under the Bush Administration the environment has suffered. In reality, environmental regulations and protections have not been reduced. One of President Bush's first acts was to sign an environmental bill put forth by former President Clinton further lowering the allowable arsenic level in drinking water. The cost to taxpayers and society of this overregulation based upon statistical prophecy was unnecessary and unwarranted, and has contributed to the economic malaise in America.

The point made is that in the rush to protect the environment in developing countries or emerging nations, simple and blind adoption of existing regulations implemented in Western society without proper scrutiny or a means of modifying them is harmful on many levels in countries that desperately need hope for a better life. Education and reality checks are needed now more than ever with sound information supporting them. The examples using TRI and NEPA are an excellent beginning. To merely continue assuming increasing the stringency of regulations is beneficial to all is naïve and counter productive. The impacts of taking this approach are obvious in Westernized countries. This is an issue affecting not only the mining industry throughout the world but also anyone or organization seeking long term solutions to pervasive poverty. The implementation of the most stringent environmental regulations possible in Eastern Europe does not seem reasonable or fair in light of the limited environmental controls in rapidly expanding economies such as China.

Environmental regulations must be developed and applied in a consistent but realistic manner providing the proper balance between protection and prosperity. Relying solely upon international organizations to provide the necessary assistance is not the entire solution. In light of reported record profits, a cohesive and collaborative global program sponsored by the international mining and resource industries to educate the public and aid countries in establishing proper levels of environment protection would be of the greatest benefit to all.
Tags: Environment

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