“Dr. Mercola” - Grocery-Shopping Mistakes to Steer Clear of

Dr. Mercola

March 14 2011

USA Today highlights some common mistakes consumers make, including:

Shopping without a list

Preparing a list keeps you focused on the healthiest food purchases, and saves time.

Forgetting to shop the store's perimeter

Remember that the outermost edge of the supermarket contains the healthier, non-processed foods.

Skimping on vegetables

Be aware that the deeper and more vibrantly colored produce is packed with the most nutrients.

Ignoring the nutrition label

The label helps you to identify ingredients, maximize nutrients and compare products.



“Page McBee” - I want to be more than just a man or a woman

I had my breasts removed to fit how I feel inside -- like someone beyond genders

By Page McBee

March 14, 2011

http://www.salon.com/life/gender/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/03/14/neither_man_nor_woman

In June of 2008 I woke up in a surgery recovery room in San Francisco with a man's chest. I couldn't see it yet, of course. My torso was bruised and bandaged after the three-hour procedure and drains dangled wildly at my sides. My breasts sat idly, waiting for pickup in the biohazard bin in the cold operating room. A nice nurse gently held me down as I tried to stumble out of bed, slurry but clear in my ambition to get out and on with my new life: created, like my unicorn body, with a big-hearted hope that I could be both of this world and fully myself. 

I'd bought a whole new wardrobe of tight men's T-shirts I knew I'd be proud to wear in the days ahead and that's pretty much all I'd planned. Living in the Bay Area, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by transgender and queer people, but many of them assumed I'd be transitioning genders. I hadn't decided if I wanted to begin hormone therapy and become a man. I also hadn't anticipated how complicated it would be not to.

I was born female and I'd always dreamed not of manhood, exactly, but of a manly ambiguity: lithe but masculine, more James Dean minus the facial hair than Bowie-eque glam-rock performativity. It's hard to explain, but I didn't want to be a man or a woman. I wanted to be myself: tattooed, rebellious and stylishly unnameable. I wanted to live outside of bathroom politics and stereotypes, of Mars/Venus expectations and limitations. Gender, for me, is a slippery place -- not easily defined but also not what defines me.

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"Stephen C. Webster - 17 US Navy crewmembers in Japan test positive for radioactivity

By Stephen C. Webster

03.14.11

http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/03/17-us-navy-crewmembers-in-japan-test-positive-for-radioactivity/

As Japan struggles to contain three nuclear power reactors following a devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, there have been a series of explosions and subsequent releases of radioactive stream, leading authorities to set up a 13-mile exclusion zone to help protect the local population.

In spite of the safeguards, 17 US Navy helicopter crewmembers have been tested and found to be radioactive, according to CNN.

A Navy spokesman said they were cleared free of radiation after they washed themselves thoroughly, but US forces are taking no chances. The 7th Fleet said Monday morning it was moving its ships clear of the reactor to avoid any threat to their mission: helping the people of Japan.



“Rodrigo Campos and Al Yoon” - GLOBAL MARKETS-World shares hit on Japan quake impact, oil down

Rodrigo Campos and Al Yoon

Mar 14, 2011

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/14/markets-global-idUSN1416194920110314

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 dropped 1.2 percent, while emerging markets stocks .MSCIEF rose 0.7 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 116.33 points, or 0.97 percent, to 11,928.07. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX declined 14.37 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,289.91 and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC fell 23.51 points, or 0.87 percent, to 2,692.10.

Among shares most affected were those in the nuclear industry after explosions and damage at Japanese nuclear plants created doubts about the prospects of the industry. A second hydrogen explosion rocked a stricken nuclear power plant in Japan, sending authorities scrambling to avert a meltdown.

General Electric Co (GE.N) which has combined nuclear ventures with Hitachi Ltd (6501.T), fell 4 percent to $19.53.

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“Justin Elliott” - Nuke industry continues desperate spin effort

Justin Elliott

March 14, 2011

http://www.salon.com/news/japan_earthquake/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/03/14/nuclear_industry_new_spin

Yesterday I wrote about the emerging spin from the nuclear industry -- that Americans should be "reassured" by the Japanese disaster because U.S. power plant operators will be able to learn from mistakes there.

Now, the industry trade group has posted a Q&A on its website that does not reiterate the "reassured" claim, but still makes some statements that deserve scrutiny.

The Nuclear Energy Institute document, which was updated Sunday at 3:30 p.m., says in part (emphasis added):

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Researchers Urge the Removal of Mercury From Flu Shots

As the United Nations, the European Commission, and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluate the health and environmental risks associated with mercury, a known neurotoxin, carcinogen, mutagen, teratogen, and immune-system disruptor, new research continues to fuel concerns about Thimerosal (THIM), a mercury-based compound used as a preservative in inactivated flu vaccines.

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Parting ways: President’s path is diverging from Senate Dems

The political fortunes of Senate Democrats and President Obama are moving in opposite directions, complicating their efforts to win a titanic battle against Republicans over federal spending.

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Japan Quake Shifts Earth Axis: Though Slight, Days Will Be Shortened In Centuries

Initial results out of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology show that the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that rattled Japan Friday shifted the earth’s rotation axis by about 25 centimetres. INGV’s report, which came hours after the devastating incident, is equivalent to “very, very tiny” changes that won’t be seen for centuries, though, Canadian geologists say.

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Chris Hedges: Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand

The liberal class is discovering what happens when you tolerate the intolerant. Let hate speech pollute the airways. Let corporations buy up your courts and state and federal legislative bodies. Let the Christian religion be manipulated by charlatans to demonize Muslims, gays and intellectuals, discredit science and become a source of personal enrichment. Let unions wither under corporate assault. Let social services and public education be stripped of funding. Let Wall Street loot the national treasury with impunity. Let sleazy con artists use lies and deception to carry out unethical sting operations on tottering liberal institutions, and you roll out the welcome mat for fascism.

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Outlook for Democracy Dims Across Much of the Middle East

A poster depicting 15 Middle Eastern heads of state stood out among the other signs hoisted in the air Saturday by hundreds of protesters at a rally outside the Arab League meeting in Cairo.

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