Snipped from HeraldNews.com.

It seems that our government is still trying to figure out if they want to break our constitutional laws and civil liberties or just do away with them entirely. Looks like Bush is still trying to remove all individual privacy, and increase all governmental secrecy — well, at least when it comes to the executive branch’s secrecy. This is a continuation of the amazing, unethical lengths that Bush is willing to go to “secure” his country. Ashcroft spoke to the House panel on Thursday about his points of view on the White House’s new controversial eavesdropping policies.

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Snipped from msnbc.msn.com

Yes, this is for real. Having lived in Saudi Arabia for over a year, I observed first hand the heavy handed and ruthless tactics employed by the “religious police”. These are men who you wouldn’t recoginze as “police” except for their signs of piety sporting scraggly beards, traditional white robes falling slightly above the ankle and red-and-white checkered head scarves minus the black cords on their head to hold them down. Oh, and the other thing — they carry a big stick and I mean BIG stick. They patrol the streets to make sure shops are closed during prayer times by banging on the store fronts with their big stick. And they also don’t hesitate to bang on people’s heads (literally) if an unrelated man attempts to mingle with a woman, or if a woman isn’t properly covered. Well, it seems maybe they have gone too far because there is an unprecedented trial going on in Saudi Arabia in which the religious police are accused of murdering two men. And, you won’t believe what their “crimes” were.

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Severn Cullis-Suzuki speaking at
the University of Alberta Myer
Horowitz Theatre.

A 12 year old ordering UN delegates to stop their ignorance

Severn Suzuki, an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author, spoke in front of the UN during an Earth Summit in 1992 while she was just 12 years old. This has got to be the most amazing, saddening, yet strangely empowering video of someone speaking about environmental issues. Here is what Wikipedia says about Ms. Suzuki:

“Born in 1979 to writer and former Harvard University instructor Dr. Tara Elizabeth Cullis and famed Canadian geneticist and environmental activist Dr. David Suzuki, Cullis-Suzuki received a B. Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University in 2002. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind, and take individual responsibility.

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Snipped from Boston.com.

Any regular reader of Blog4Brains can tell you where I stand on abortion, gay marriage and many other personal issues in which our “wonderful” government wants to intrude. I will say that most of this Constitutional travesty is created out of religious righteousness even though our First Amendment declares that this is unAmerican. If you are interested in what I have to say about these issues you can read The Fear of Abortion — Wiping Out Freedoms and Why Gay Marriage is Politically Important. The problem with these articles is that it is me talking about why it is important to address these issues, yet who am I to say anything? But, here I found a prominent lawmaker Representative Gale Candaras, a Democrat from Wilbraham, discuss why she has changed her view on this very important issue.

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Midwestern corn field.

Are the wrong farmers getting all the money?

Cerebral, one of the editors of this site and being very knowledgeable about health and nutrition, has always told me that if you want to eat a healthful, nutritious diet, only shop the perimeters of the grocery store. I never really thought about it, but most of the processed food, junk food and empty calories is in the middle of the store, or the aisles. So, it makes sense. However, when you buy only fresh fruits and vegetables, it can be quite expensive. Have you ever really thought about why that is? If you are a fan of fresh produce or eating healthy, this article may just make you mad. And, it all has to do with the Farm Bill.

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Snipped from dailymail.co.uk.

Holy smokes this girl is smart. As Matilda, the smart two year old, grew up, she amazed her parents with things that children her age were not supposed to be able to do. She started crawling early, walking early, talking early, dabbling in French early — yea, she was already conquering English so… After Matilda watched Beauty and the Beast with her parents, she mentioned how she did not like Gaston, the villain in the movie, because he was “mean and arrogant.” This obvious use of advanced language motivated her parents to question where she might need to go to school. So they sent her to “Professor Joan Freeman, a specialist educational psychologist, for advice.”

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Snipped from CNNMoney.com.

I knew there was a reason I like those Google guys. In surfing the net every day, I find things that make me smile. This is one of those times. Google has broken the mold again. They are walking the talk with an offer in the millions for the development of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle which are either cars or trucks that have a gasoline engine and advanced batteries that the consumer can plug into an electric outlet. With Google’s philanthropic organization, they are attempting to make a difference in proving that it can be done with a little money and ingenuity. I am thrilled that someone is taking on Detroit and who better to get out in front but Google.

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Don’t end up here, get
tested for metabolic syndrome!

I am sure you have heard by now about the link between metabolic syndrome and cardiac disease. It now has been added as a risk factor in this dreaded disease. Well, now there is something else for those of you who are plagued with this syndrome to be aware of. A recently released study this month from Portugal points to metabolic syndrome being associated with compromised heart structure and function. So, for those of you who thought you were safe, you may want to read more about this increased risk.

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Snipped from WhiteHouse.gov.

All Bush needs to do now is just change the Constitution so that he can stay in office indefinitely. If you haven’t been paying attention to what Bush has been doing lately, you may be in for a surprise. There has been a new “National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive”, and it is quite a doozy. This directive was written just in case America ever gets attacked by, well, anything — like a hurricane, terrorist group, tsunami, foreign country — the President assumes dictator like power until the emergency is declared over. The document describes this catastrophic event as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions …” Well then, that is quite general and subjective. It could mean anything depending on how it is read.

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Bush speaking to AIPAC.
Photo by AP.

Israeli lobbies may influence our foriegn policy more than people think.

Just like anyone else, I am reluctant to report on what I see as a too powerful Israeli lobby. All too often, any discussion about Israel, and its politics are characterized the same as Bush would characterize his Iraq War stance — “either you’re with us, or you’re against us”. So, any criticism of the Israeli lobby is usually labeled anti-Semitic and rooted out. I fully understand that this is an emotional issue for many people who have strong political fervor over the state of Israel. But, just what has happened that causes us to offer unquestioned and unconditional support for Israel no matter the consequences (US grants to Israel: 2.3 billion dollars a year paid for by U.S. taxpayers and 7.1 billion dollars of arms deliveries to Israel in the 1997-2004 period.)? And, why don’t we read in the media any objective discussions about the Israeli/Palestinian issues?

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