Ed Bauman -- Studies Show Microwaves Drastically Reduce Nutrients In Food

I can remember the days growing up in the 1950's and 1960's, when we prepared foods without a microwave oven. Water was boiled on the stove. Chicken was baked in an oven. Vegetables were steamed, baked, or sautéed. Food was whole and fresh. Even a TV dinner was baked in the oven, which took about 15 minutes to warm. And then, modern science and technology brought us the microwave oven that could heat food rapidly, from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes.

The industry has claimed that microwave cooking protects the nutrient content of foods. Somehow, in tasting foods that came out of a microwave oven, the texture was changed as was the flavor. Foods cooked or reheated in microwave ovens became rubbery and lacked the savory smells and layered flavors that come from cooking foods slower and longer.

Nevertheless, people bought the convenience aspect, the speed, the simplicity of heating and eating prepared foods. The science, which has been supported by the food industry, has continued to claim the health benefits of microwave cooking. Recently, published data from reliable sources questions the health benefits of microwaved food.

Does this mean an occasional microwaved meal will be harmful? Not likely. But what about a steady diet of eating foods cooked at such a high heat? Do the sensitive compounds in food, such as amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins and phytonutrients change? It appears so. Read on to follow the scientific literature surrounding the depletion of our soil, foods, and health as a result of modern farming, food processing, microwave cooking, and not eating enough fresh, natural, uncooked, organic whole foods.

• Three recent studies of historical food composition have shown 5-40% declines in some of the minerals in fresh produce, and another study found a similar decline in our protein sources (1)
• A 1999 Scandinavian study of the cooking of asparagus spears found that microwaving caused a reduction in vitamins (3)
• In a study of garlic, as little as 60 seconds of microwave heating was enough to inactivate its allinase, garlic's principle active ingredient against cancer (5)
• A study published in the November 2003 issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli "zapped" in the microwave with a little water lost up to 97%of its beneficial antioxidants. By comparison, steamed broccoli lost 11% or fewer of its antioxidants. There were also reductions in phenolic compounds and glucosinolates, but mineral levels remained intact (6).
• A recent Australian study showed that micro- waves cause a higher degree of "protein unfolding" than conventional heating (2)
• Microwaving can destroy the essential disease-fighting agents in breast milk that offer protection for your baby. In 1992, Quan found that microwaved breast milk lost lysozyme activity, antibodies, and fostered the growth of more potentially pathogenic bacteria (4).

Quan stated that more damage was done to the milk by microwaving than by other methods of heating, concluding: "Microwaving appears to be contraindicated at high-temperatures, and questions regarding its safety exist even at low temperatures."

Read more.. http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/studies-show-microwaves-drastically-reduce-nutrients-food

Paula Alvarado -- A landmark ruling against agrochemicals in Argentina receives mixed reactions

Argentine activist Sofia Gatica did not win the Goldman Environmental Prize this year for a small reason: for more than a decade, she has been leading a joint complaint with neighbors from her town Ituzaingo, in Cordoba province, against producers who were spraying agrochemicals too close to the community, making people sick. (The public attorney claimed 169 people from the 5,000 neighbors got cancer from pollution from 2002 until 2010.)

Argentina being the third largest exporter of soybeans and a consumer of over 50 million gallons of glyphosate and endosulfan, her efforts were not small. In fact, she became the voice for a problem nobody wants to talk about.

Since the government depends on soy exports to collect taxes and keep the economy alive, the subject is not one eagerly discussed politically. There was a call by president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to create a commission to investigate agrochemicals in 2009, but its final recommendation, as IPS notes, was, "Because there is not enough data in Argentina on the effects of glyphosate on human health, it is important to promote further research."

The media is not crazy about it either, and you can see why by flipping the pages of the Country supplements from the nation's major newspapers, filled with ads from Monsanto et al. In 2009, a local scientist presented a study with evidence of the impact of glyphosate on amphibious embryos and received death threats plus an aggressive discredit campaign.

But this afternoon, Gatica and other environmental movements pushing the issue were preparing to receive a pat in the back. A court in Cordoba Province was going to give its final ruling on whether two farmers and an aviator were guilty of causing environmental damage and potential health hazards to the people of Ituzaingo.

Five hours after the initial time of the announcement, the verdict was in: one farmer was absolved due to lack of evidence, but the other and the aviator were found guilty and sentenced to three years of jail. Well, actually, conditional jail. Which means they can very much get out of doing any time, although they will be obliged to do social work.

Read more.. http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/a-landmark-ruling-against-agrochemicals-in-argentina-receives-mixed-reactions.html

America In Decline: The Soul Crushing Despair Of Lowered Expectations

All over America tonight there are people that believe that their lives are over.  When you do everything that you know how to do to get a job and you still can't get one it can be absolutely soul crushing.  If you have ever been unemployed for an extended period of time you know exactly what I am talking about.  When you have been unemployed for month after month it can be very tempting to totally cut yourself off from society.  Those that are kind will look at you with pity and those that are cruel will treat you as though you are a total loser.  It doesn't matter that America is in decline and that our economy is not producing nearly enough jobs for everyone anymore.  In our society, one of the primary things that defines our lives is what we do for a living.  Just think about it.  When you are out in a social situation, what is one of the very first things that people ask?  They want to know what you "do".  Well, if you don't "do" anything, then you are not part of the club.  But the worst part of being unemployed for many Americans is the relentless pressure from family and friends.  Often they have no idea how hard it is to find a job in this economy - especially if they still have jobs.  Sometimes the pressure becomes too great.  Sadly, we are seeing unemployment break up a lot of marriages in America today.  Things are really hard out there right now.  A very large number of highly educated Americans have taken very low paying service jobs in recent years just so that they can have some money coming in even as they "look for something else".  Unfortunately, in many cases that "something else" never materializes.  In the past, America was "the land of opportunity" where anything was possible.  But today America has become "the land of lowered expectations" and the worst is yet to come.

We live during a time when "the American Dream" is literally being redefined.  In the old days, just about anyone could get a good job that would pay enough to make it possible to buy a house, buy a nice car and raise a family.

Read More:

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/america-in-decline-the-soul-crushing-despair-of-lowered-expectations

Sam Rolley - DHS Is Watching

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, bloggers and social media users now know the hundreds of words that they should avoid using online to keep from being scrutinized by the Department of Homeland Security.

The words are included in the DHS’s 2011“Analyst’s Desktop Binder,” which is used by workers at the National Operations Center where agents learn to identify “media reports that reflect adversely on DHS and response activities.” The goal of the agency is to track any remarks that show signs of general dissent against the government or its agencies, though DHS officials insist that the data collection is only to assess threats.

Read More:

http://personalliberty.com/2012/05/30/dhs-is-watching/?eiid=

Vienna dismisses Beijing objections to Dalai Lama meet

Up to 10,000 people came out to greet the Dalai Lama on Saturday after Vienna ignored warnings from China that ties with Beijing could be harmed by hosting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

China made its objections clear to the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Laureate's meetings with Austrian leaders but Chancellor Werner Faymann said he would decide whom to meet.

The Dalai Lama, who is on an 11-day visit to Austria with the prime minister of Tibet's government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay, spoke at Vienna's historic Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square) for about 30 minutes to a crowd of 10,000, organisers said.

Speaking from a stand emblazoned with the words "Tibet needs you now", he underscored the importance of protecting Buddhist culture, the environment and human rights.

"Our time will come, it is close. Democracy is universal," said Sangay, who spoke before the Dalai Lama.

He referred to the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled veteran dictators in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia as well as Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who was released from seven straight years of house arrest in November 2010 and has now been issued with a passport, enabling her to travel abroad for the first time in 24 years.

"All the promises that were made in 2008 at the time of the Olympic games have been broken. The Tibetans are in a minority in their own region," a member of the Save Tibet organisation who gave her name as Erika told AFP at the rally.

Read More:

http://www.sinodaily.com/reports/Vienna_dismisses_Beijing_objections_to_Dalai_Lama_meet_999.html

China hits back at critical U.S. human rights report

China hit back on Friday at the U.S. State Department's annual survey of human rights, saying that only the Chinese people could pass judgment on what the Foreign Ministry said were the country's obvious achievements in the area.

Asked about criticism of China in the report, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei condemned it for being prejudiced.

"The United States State Department's annual report on human rights maligns other countries, and the content concerning China ignores the facts and is filled will prejudice, confusing black and white," he told a daily news briefing.

Since the launch of landmark economic reforms more than three decades ago, Hong said: "China's human rights endeavors have made achievements that are plain for all the world to see. The Chinese people themselves have the most right to speak about China's human rights situation".

"In human rights, there is no such thing as the best; there is only doing even better," he added.

Human rights have long been a source of friction between China and the United States, especially since 1989 when the United States and other Western countries imposed sanctions on China after a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Read More:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/us-china-usa-rights-idUSBRE84O0DM20120525

Amnesty Report Slams UN as Failure in the Wake of Global Uprisings

In its 50th global human rights report, rights group Amnesty International slammed the UN Security Council as a failure and "unfit for its purpose" in the wake of global uprisings.

In the backdrop of courageous protesters worldwide, the group says that the UN Security Council is "tired, out of step and increasingly unfit for purpose."  Salil Shetty, Amnesty International Secretary General, said, “Failed leadership has gone global in the last year, with politicians responding to protests with brutality or indifference."

“In the last year it has all too often become clear that opportunistic alliances and financial interests have trumped human rights as global powers jockey for influence in the Middle East and North Africa,” added Shetty. “The language of human rights is adopted when it serves political or corporate agendas, and shelved when inconvenient or standing in the way of profit.”

Amnesty cites the UN Security Council's lack of action on crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka and Syria.

Read More:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/24-4

Matt Stoller - In Greek Humanitarian Crisis, It Will Be Leftists Or Neo-Nazis

Austerity doesn’t just lead to unemployment and misery.  If it goes on long enough, it will inevitably lead to the emergence of “swamp thing” extremists into positions of power.  Take the situation in Greece, a country which until recently was a wealthy Western democracy with a relatively stable political system.  After five years of depression, voters in Greece just fired their equivalent of the Democrats and Republicans, and replaced them with anti-bailout groups, mostly on the left (Syriza and Communists), but also with the neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn on the right.

This should be a wake-up call to political elites globally, because Greece could simply be the start of a trend of collapsing centrist politics and the rise of dangerous political actors.  7% of Greeks, including a substantial number of the police, voted for a fascist anti-immigrant party whose platform is a mixture of economic populism and xenophobic racist lunacy.  21 Golden Dawn members were elected to Parliament.  Golden Dawn political machine includes roving gangs of thugs that routinely beat up immigrants, and its political platform includes placing mines on the border between Greece and Turkey to prevent immigrants from coming into the country.

This is what austerity produces – extremism.  Fortunately, Golden Dawn only got 7% of the vote, and only 21 seats in Parliament.  And mostly, the Greeks voted for parties on the left who reject austerity.  Greeks don’t want neo-Nazi groups running the country, they just don’t want corrupt bankers running it either.  The man who garnered the most power from the election, leftist Alexis Tsipras of Syriza, has called the situation in Greece a “humanitarian crisis”.  That’s just reality.  Greece has a large, untouchable patronage system, a big defense sector, wealthy who escape from taxation – and yet international bankers are demanding radical cuts in wages, pensions, and jobs for honest workers.

Read More:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/in-greek-humanitarian-crisis-its-liberals-or-nazis.html

Anuradha Mittal - Large-Scale Land Investments are Violating Human Rights and Undermine Food Security in Ethiopia

Ethiopia's Land Lease Project

May 17, 2012, Oakland, CA: On the eve of upcoming meeting at Camp 
David on May 19, 2012, with four African leaders to discuss food 
security, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi,  the 
Oakland Institute and the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia 
(SMNE),  call upon  President Obama to address what may be the single 
largest man-made contributor to food insecurity on the continent 
today: large-scale land investments by foreign investors.

In an Open Letter to President Obama, the Oakland Institute and SMNE 
are delivering a petition signed by over 8,000 supporters of the 
indigenous and local communities of Gambella, Ethiopia - 70,000 
people in all - who are being forcibly relocated to make land 
available for investment in agriculture. There are plans to relocate 
an additional 150,000 people, most of whom are subsistence farmers 
who have been able, until now, to feed their families without 
receiving government or foreign aid over the last twenty years.

The letter points out that in addition to the many problems 
surrounding forced relocations and human rights abuses, the loss of 
ancestral lands where people farm equals the loss of their ability to 
feed themselves. Farmers and pastoralists are being turned into 
plantation workers with false promises that result in menial seasonal 
jobs that do not put food on the table or provide for their basic 
needs.

The Oakland Institute's field research in Ethiopia revealed a grim 
picture of violence, coercion, and unrealized benefits by relocated 
communities. These findings are confirmed by Human Rights Watch's 
independent study involving 100 interviews and sixteen site visits 
this year.

The burden of the Ethiopian government's objective of economic growth 
is being borne by the indigenous and local people of Gambella and the 
Lower Omo Valley, where a half million will lose their lands. This is 
too great a cost. As Ethiopia is one of the largest recipients of US 
aid (more than $1 billion a year since 2007), the US bears 
responsibility on matters of such grave consequence. The letter 
cautions that something has to be done to ensure that the United 
States is not an unwitting partner in this current tragedy.

The Oakland Institute and Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia are 
urging President Obama to look beyond the charade of so-called 
responsible investment that will supposedly benefit all in the long 
run, and instead, calls for the US to reassess the terms of its 
support to the Ethiopian regime.

Our hope is that President Obama will take leadership in responding 
to an international call asking him to put the brakes on this 
impending and present-day catastrophe.

Bianca Jagger - Why Tibet Matters

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is in London this week to receive the Templeton Prize in recognition of his outstanding achievements and spiritual wisdom.

Tibet has a long-standing connection to Britain. Prior to the Chinese invasion in 1949-50, Britain was the only country to formally recognize Tibet as an independent nation. British representatives were stationed in Lhasa from 1904 to 1947 to liaise with the Tibetan government. In 1949 the newly-victorious leader of the China Communist Party Mao Zedong announced, over the radio waves, his intention to "liberate" Tibet from this "foreign imperialism."

Over the past 60 years, Tibet has been anything but "liberated" by the Chinese Communist Party.

On the 10th of May I delivered two reports to 10 Downing Street. The reports, by the Society for Threatened People and the International Campaign for Tibet, document the devastating impact of Chinese Communist Party rule in Tibet.

Read More:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/15-2