The so-called Monsanto Protection Act signed into law earlier this year caused such an outrage that people around the world are planning to protest the biotech company later this month. Now a United States Senator is expected to try and repeal that law after mounting pressure . The notorious ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ rider stuffed into the non-related Senate spending bill...
The healthcare industry is a textbook example of what Ivan Illich (in Tools for Conviviality ) called a “radical monopoly.” The central function of the government’s “safety” and “consumer protection” regulations, in most cases, is either to exclude competing providers of a good or service from the market, to circumscribe the areas of competition...
Beach Cleanup in Petitenget Beach Cleanup in Petitenget For those of you that have been to Bali, you know it's a beautiful island with a dirty little secret. Lots of trash. When I arrived in Bali in Novembe
In America today it seems like we can either have fast food or healthy food, but it’s rare to find both at once. When it comes to nutrition and taste, there’s no substitute for old-fashioned home-cooked food that is lovingly prepared. But that doesn’t mean that we have to spend all day slaving over a hot stove in order to have food that is delicious and nutritious...
There are varying legends on how coffee was first discovered, what we do know is that coffee’s early uses held a mystical and spiritual importance among many cultures Initially, coffee was prepared and consumed as part of religious ceremonies, Monks used it to stay awake during periods of prayer and to attain heightened states of consciousness . So, we have evolved from only a handful...
The End of Polio is within reach. Together, we can make it reality. Our generation stands on the brink of eradicating the second human disease in history. Polio - a disease which has disabled millions and pulled individuals further into poverty - has been reduced by 99% over the past 30 years, and its end is within our reach. Global efforts have delivered incredible progress...
A plant-based diet: good for us & for the planet Author | Dr Rosemary Stanton, Nutritionist Most people are aware of the vital roles that vegetables, fruits, wholegrains and nuts can play in a healthy diet. And yet, meat eaters get prickly and many doctors and dietitians tack warnings onto any discussion of vegetarian diets.
Reducing your carbon footprint by eating less red meat rarely gets attention. This strategy has been recommended by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, epidemiologists writing in The Lancet and a host of other highly-regarded researchers and organisations. But it appears we don’t want to be put off our food by acknowledging the implications of our Western diet. Our...
Rice. It’s just one of the basics, right? Whether eaten on its own, or in products like pastas or cereal, this inexpensive and healthy food is a staple for Asian and Latino communities, as well as the growing number of people looking to avoid gluten. Here’s the bad news (cue Debbie Downer sound effect ): The food most of us think we have more or less locked down is shockingly...
Reboxetine is a drug I have prescribed. Other drugs had done nothing for my patient, so we wanted to try something new. I'd read the trial data before I wrote the prescription, and found only well-designed, fair tests, with overwhelmingly positive results. Reboxetine was better than a placebo, and as good as any other antidepressant in head-to-head comparisons. It's approved for use by the...
New Orleans, LA - "The fishermen have never seen anything like this," Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera. "And in my 20 years working on red snapper, looking at somewhere between 20 and 30,000 fish, I've never seen anything like this either." Dr Cowan, with Louisiana State University's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences started hearing about fish with sores and lesions from fishermen...
A chemical widely used in plastic food and drink containers may narrow coronary arteries, raising the risk of heart attacks, research suggests. High levels of bisphenol-A (BPA) in the urine were seen significantly more often in patients with severe damage to the arteries supplying blood to the heart. Scientists, led by Professor David Melzer, from the University of Exeter, analysed data...
It usually starts with a lack of sleep. Then I notice I'm only eating carbohydrates, and mostly things which require less than 10 minutes to prepare. I find myself waking in the middle of the night to check my Blackberry, or worse, getting up to read and respond to emails at 3AM. Somehow my email will have strangely tripled in volume, seemingly without my noticing. I'll become nervous, kinda...
After years of sweeping the issue under the rug and hoping no one would notice, the FDA has now finally admitted that chicken meat sold in the USA contains arsenic , a cancer-causing toxic chemical that's fatal in high doses. But the real story is where this arsenic comes from: It's added to the chicken feed on purpose! Even worse, the FDA says its own research shows that the arsenic...
I wrote this originally in 2010, and, it is based on decades of work by some of our best. Our scientists do not get credence from media. http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/publications/annrpt25/Manning.pdf This document is pages 121 to 126 of a longer set of data about our monitoring of our Homeworld, and specifically, the composition of our air, or, atmosphere. Unlike the countless tens and...
Frack! tells the story of the unconventional gas-drilling ("fracking") frenzy sweeping the Marcellus region, including the Catskills and Upper Delaware River watershed, threatening pristine areas which provide clean drinking water for over 15 million people. Without a massive public outcry, once idyllic rural landscapes could become toxic industrial wastelands, and New York State a gas...
March 14, 2011 (1400 hrs) - Watching scenes of the devastation is emotionally taxing. Bodies continue to be found everywhere. The body count in Miyagi Prefecture alone is now over 10,000. Whole towns completely wiped off the map. Even if people escaped with their lives, those lives are now shattered. And now it looks as though the 20-year slow-motion collapse of Japan’s economy could be...
The Honeywell complex in Kansas City owned by the General Service Administration (GSA) and regulated by the NNSA is a toxic waste dump. Instead of holding the corporations liable for the mess they have created the EPA has created a program referred to as a Superfund. The EPA states: Superfund is the federal government’s program to clean up the nation’s uncontrolled hazardous waste...
Kansas City, Thursday March 1, 2011 a group of concerned citizens gathered at the Cherith Brook Community House ( A Catholic Worker House ) to educate and plan protests against the building of nuclear warheads in Kansas City. Dorothy Day was the matriarch of an anarchist movement in the earlier part of the twentieth century. She began what is known as the catholic worker movement. The...
These days, I’m more likely to feel hopeless than sad, more likely to feel as if nothing is ever enough, as if nothing really makes a difference, as if our whole human civilization is unraveling and there is nothing I or anyone can do about it. It’s a different feeling from sadness, and perhaps it needs a different, more complex set of ideas for coping with it. Here’s what I...
I represent LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) an international nonprofit educational organization that was created to give voice to all the current and former members of law enforcement who believe the war on drugs is a failed policy and who wish to support alternative policies that will lower the incidence of death, disease, crime and addiction - four categories of harm that were...
Will Stewart-Starks, an Iraq Veteran and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) gives an audience of Lawrence art enthusiasts and local activists a summary of his organizations recent campaign to address military deployments of wounded soldiers. Ar t show introduces Lawrence community to Operation Recovery Campaign February 12, 2011, Lawrence, KS --
A new study says 3-year-olds who mostly eat processed foods have lower IQs five years later. (So Pop-Tarts and Sunny-D are why we're " falling behind " China in math and science?) The study, cited in The Guardian , examined the diets of 14,000 wee Britlets, based on what their parents reported feeding them. Three is the magic number: Your brain grows the fastest from birth to age 3...
Food coloring is the reason glace cherries are red rather than beige and that children's tongues sometimes appear freakishly blue. But man-made dyes may do more than make processed food look vibrant and whimsical. Some blame the additives for triggering behavioral problems in youngsters. Acting on research published in the Lancet, the European Parliament last year began requiring products...
In the spring of 2009, a Republican strategist settled on a brilliant and powerful attack line for President Barack Obama's ambitious plan to overhaul America's health insurance system. Frank Luntz, a consultant famous for his phraseology, urged GOP leaders to call it a "government takeover." "Takeovers are like coups," Luntz wrote in a 28-page memo. "They both lead to dictators and a loss...
At the height of the health care reform debate last fall, Bill Sammon, Fox News' controversial Washington managing editor, sent a memo directing his network's journalists not to use the phrase "public option." Instead, Sammon wrote, Fox's reporters should use "government option" and similar phrases -- wording that a top Republican pollster had recommended in order to turn public opinion...
The food industry is no longer a free market. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it's becoming the most glaring example of corporate-government fascism in America. Actual monopolies fully control the basic building blocks of the food that makes up the majority of the American diet -- and no one seems to care. Simply put, those who control the corn, wheat, and soybeans control all food, since...