“Jess Zimmerman” - Guess what else the GOP wants to cut? Tsunami monitoring!

Jess Zimmerman

11 Mar 2011

http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-11-guess-what-else-the-gop-wants-to-cut-tsunami-monitoring

If we had any evidence that Republican House members were capable of feeling shame, we'd expect them to be so red right now. Mother Jones reports that one of the items on the GOP's budgetary chopping block is ... tsunami monitoring. Last month, they voted to hack out nearly a third of the funding for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which (go figure) warns about tsunamis in the Pacific:

In February, the union representing the National Weather Service warned that the Republican cuts could place the residents of Hawaii in mortal danger. "People could die... It could be serious," Barry Hirshorn, Pacific region chairman of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, told Hawaii's Star Advertiser. The House budget includes a 28 percent cut to the National Weather Service that would result in staffing cutbacks to Hawaii's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which monitors potential tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.

Click to read more ...

“Christopher Mims” - Oil-fattened Congress well on way to preventing EPA from regulating greenhouse gases

by Christopher Mims

11 Mar 2011

http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-11-oil-fattened-congress-well-on-way-to-preventing-epa-from-regulat

Congress is now moving to make it illegal for the government to regulate greenhouse gases, under any circumstances. Apparently killing off possibly the last chance the U.S. had to act on climate change in time to avoid its worst impacts wasn't enough to sate their appetite for destruction?

On Friday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce -- whose leaders are backed by ag, chemical, and fossil fuel industries -- voted to strip the EPA of its existing powers to regulate carbon dioxide, methane, and other agents of global warming. That sucks. What sucks worse: Their efforts might just survive a presidential veto and become law.

Click to read more ...

“Steve Watson” - Justice Department: TSA Has Authority To Literally Strip Search People

Naked body scanners court case underway, throws up disturbing precedents

Steve Watson

March 11, 2011

A government attorney has told federal appeals court judges that the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to literally strip search Americans inside airports if it determines that is the correct course of action to deal with “ever-evolving threats”.

The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) “should not have to stop every five minutes for comment and rulemaking” said Justice Department lawyer Beth Brinkmann in oral testimony before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In a hypothetical scenario, a three-judge panel, hearing testimony both for and against the use of body scanning technology within airports, questioned whether the TSA would be required to seek public input before initiating mandatory strip search procedures.

Click to read more ...

“Paul Joseph Watson” - Global Warming Did Not Cause The Japanese Earthquake

BBC reporter spouts lies about “disappearing” South Pacific island to imply man-made climate change connection to devastating tsunami

Paul Joseph Watson

March 11, 2011

http://www.prisonplanet.com/global-warming-did-not-cause-the-japanese-earthquake.html

Just hours after the horrific earthquake and tsunami devastated coastal areas of Japan, global warming alarmists like the BBC are already injecting climate change propaganda into their coverage of the story, hastily exploiting the tragedy as a vehicle through which to push their increasingly desperate and discredited enviro-fascist agenda.

Click to read more ...

“Matthew Barakat” - Twitter Must Give Up WikiLeaks Info

By MATTHEW BARAKAT

Mar 11, 2011

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/twitter-must-give-up-wikileaks-info/hand-it-over/?cid=cs:headline4

A magistrate ruled Friday that federal prosecutors pursuing WikiLeaks can request user information from Twitter. The three targeted users, all of whom have some association with WikiLeaks, had argued that prosecutors were abusing a law that allows prosecutors to obtain certain online information without a warrant, and were endangering Twitter users' constitutional free speech and association rights. Lawyers for the Twitter users said they plan to appeal the decision.

Read it at Associated Press



“Alex Seitz-Wald” - Front-Group Mailer Attacks Female Candidate For Being ‘Unmarried’

By Alex Seitz-Wald

March 11, 2011

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/11/mailer-unmarried-women/

Less than two weeks ahead of Election Day in Tampa, FL, a nasty mail advertisement surfaced yesterday attacking candidate Rose Ferlita. Funded by Less Government Now, a 527 group, the mailer urges voters to vote against Ferlita because she is “Unmarried. Unsure. Unelectable.”

The mailer suggests that because Ferlita is not married, she is incapable of valuing family or holding public office. “Rose Ferlita has put her political ambition first and foremost, while her opponent is a dedicated family man with two children — Ferlita is an unmarried woman with a suspect commitment to family values,” it reads. Moreover, as Florida blog Saint Petersblog notes, “unmarried” is a “codeword” — “if you read between the lines is a subtle way of casting doubt on Ferlita’s sexual orientation.” Other mailers sent by Less Government Now going after men have focused on the candidates’ record or policy positions, not their personal lives, marital status, or sexual orientation.

Less Government Now appears to be tied to Scott Maddox, a Democratic operative who unsuccessfully ran for Agricultural Commissioner last year, and has been used to bolster tea party candidates in an attempt to split the GOP vote. Tampa has non-partisan mayoral elections, but Ferlita, a current county commissioner, is a Republican.

Click to read more ...

“Gillian Orr” - Our green cathedral: Look how the Eden Project has grown

Ten years ago, a rural corner of Cornwall was transformed into an environmental paradise.

By Gillian Orr

Friday, 11 March 2011

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/our-green-cathedral-look-how-the-eden-project-has-grown-2238529.html

For ten years now the Eden Project has been thrilling all those who enter its remarkable biomes with the environmental wonders that greet them. More than 13 million people have made the journey to the corner of Cornwall, where the Project's domes rise from the rural countryside like visitors from outer space. Home to plant species from all over the world, the tropical, Mediterranean and outdoor environments highlight the interdependence between plants and people, and encourage a greater empathy for environmental matters.

Some go to take in Nicholas Grimshaw's futuristic architecture, or the numerous sculptures on show, which include a giant bee and a robot made from used electrical appliances. Many have been to attend one of the outdoor concerts that the venue hosts each summer, where artists such as Oasis and Lily Allen have entertained crowds in the past.

Eden: The Whole Inspiring Story of the Eden Project was the bestselling environment book of the decade and has now been revised and updated for the Project's tenth anniversary.

Click to read more ...

"Mike Adams" - Twelve unsustainable things that will soon come to a disastrous end on our planet

http://www.naturalnews.com/031669_life_on_earth_unsustainable_agriculture.html

By: Mike Adams,  The Health Ranger

(NaturalNews) If you look around what's really happening in our world today, there's an inescapable pattern that curiously emerges: Much of what's going on is simply unsustainable. It can't go on for much longer, in other words. And it must collapse due to the laws of economics or physics.

Here, I've put together a collection of twelve systems that are utterly unsustainable on our planet. Each of these twelve is scheduled for some sort of collapse or shut down in the coming years. They range from economics to medicine, population and the environment. And interestingly, the collapse of just one of these twelve would have devastating consequences across human civilization. What happens when two, three or ten of these things collapse?

Click to read more ...

“Dr. Mercola” - Lavender Oil has Potent Antifungal Effect

Posted By Dr. Mercola

March 11 2011

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/03/11/lavender-oil-has-potent-antifungal-effect.aspx

Lavender oil could be a weapon in the fight against antifungal-resistant infections. The essential oil shows a potent effect against fungi responsible for common skin and nail infections.

Scientists tested lavender oil and found it to be lethal to a range of skin-pathogenic strains known as dermatophytes, as well as various species of Candida. Dermatophytes cause infections of the skin, hair and nails, and Candida species can cause mucocutaneous candidosis, also known as thrush.

Science Daily reports:

"Currently, there are relatively few types of antifungal drugs to treat infections and those that are available often have side effects ... Essential oils distilled from the Lavandula genus of lavender plants are already used widely, particularly in the food, perfume and cosmetic industries. Studies of the biological activities of these oils suggest Lavandula oils have sedative and antispasmodic properties as well being potent antimicrobials and antioxidants."

Click to read more ...

“Dr. Mercola” - The War on Cancer: a Progress Report for Skeptics

Posted By Dr. Mercola

March 11 2011

http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2011/03/11/the-war-on-cancer-a-progress-report-for-skeptics.aspx

In 1971 President Nixon and Congress declared war on cancer. So what’s happened in the 40 years since? After weeding out the hype and filling in the actual statistics, it turns out not much.

“These summary statistics show that the war on cancer has not gone well,” says the article’s author, Reynold Spector. “This is in marked contrast to death rates from stroke and cardiovascular disease (adjusted for the age and size of the population), which have fallen by 74 percent and 64 percent, respectively, from 1950 through 2006; and by 60 percent and 52 percent, respectively, from 1975 through 2006 (Kolata 2009a).

“These excellent results against stroke and heart disease are mainly due to improvements in drug therapy, especially the control of high blood pressure to prevent stroke and the use of statins, aspirin, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and ACE inhibitors (now all generic) to prevent and treat heart disease. Cancer therapy is clearly decades behind.”