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12 Surprising Sources of Hidden Sugar

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Sugar hides in many unexpected places. Considering sugar consumption has been linked to many illnesses — and even a few teaspoons shuts down the immune system for up to six hours — it is important to be on the lookout for sugar.  Be sure to read labels to identify ingredients that end in “-ose” such as glucose, maltose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, etc.  All of these ingredients are sugar in its myriad forms. Additionally, there are many ways that sugar can sneak into your diet, even without labeling. Here are 12 surprising sources of hidden sugar 

1.  The breading on most packaged and restaurant foods contains sugar.

2.  Sugar (in the form of corn syrup and dehydrated molasses) is often added to hamburgers sold in restaurants to reduce meat shrinkage during cooking.

3.  Before salmon is canned, it is often glazed with a sugar solution.

4.  Many meat packers feed sugar to animals prior to slaughter to “improve” flavor and color of cured meat.

5.  Some fast-food restaurants sell poultry that has been injected with a sugar or honey solution.
6.  Some salt contains sugar! Seriously.

7.  Sugar is used in the processing of luncheon meats, bacon, and canned meats.

8.  Most bouillon cubes contain sugar (and usually MSG as well).

9.  Peanut butter tends to contain sugar.

10.  Dry cereals often contain high amounts of sugar.

11.  Almost half of the calories from commercial ketchup comes from sugar.

12.  More than 90 percent of the calories found in a can of cranberry sauce come from sugar.

This list is by no means complete.  Sugar hides almost anywhere and as it becomes increasingly genetically-modified, it is important to reduce your consumption of it.  


Ginger is Better than Drugs for Pain, says Study

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A new study published in the journal Arthritis compared ginger extract to the common drugs betamethasone (cortisone) and ibuprofen for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
While ibuprofen is a popular pain remedy (such as Advil or Motrin), in this study it showed no effect on cytokine production.  Cytokines are immune-regulating substances that can have inflammatory effects on the body, and are therefore linked to pain.  In this study, both betamethasone and ginger extract reduced cytokines in comparable amounts.   The authors of the study indicate that,n “ginger extract was as effective an anti-inflammatory agent as betamethasone in this in vitro model.”
While betamethasone has been used for decades to relieve pain, it is also linked with many serious side-effects, including:  vision problems, weight gain, swelling, shortness of breath, depression, seizures, pancreatitis, heart arrhythmias, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, severe headaches, anxiety, chest pains, sleep problems, acne, slow wound healing, and more.  Ginger, however, is a powerful anti-inflammatory that is safe for use. For more information, consult Arthritis-Proof.
Other research by Dr. Krishna C. Srivastava, a world-renowned researcher on the therapeutic effects of spices, at Odense University in Denmark, found that ginger is an effective and superior anti-pain remedy. In one study, Dr. Srivastava gave arthritic patients small amounts of ginger daily for three months.  The majority of people had significant improvements in pain, swelling, and morning stiffness by eating ginger daily.

Dr. Srivastava also found that ginger was superior to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Tylenol or Advil because NSAIDs only work on one level:  to block the formation of inflammatory compounds.  Ginger, on the other hand, blocks the formation of the inflammatory compounds–prostaglandins and leukotrienes–and also has antioxidant effects that break down existing inflammation and acidity in the fluid within the joints.

Further research in the Journal of Pain also report that ginger is an effective natural anti-inflammatory that helps reduce pain and inflammation. Both raw ginger and heated ginger were used in the study with similar effectiveness. The scientists specifically explored ginger’s effects on muscle pain.
 Ginger has been used medicinally for thousands of years in Ayurvedic medicine in India as a natural anti-inflammatory food.

How to Reap the Anti-Pain Benefits of Ginger (adapted from Arthritis-Proof):
-Add chopped, fresh ginger to soups, stews, stir-fries, and other recipes.  Ginger is delicious in many savory and sweet dishes alike.
-Add fresh ginger to a juicer while making juices.  It combines well with many other vegetables and fruits, such as carrots or apple.
-Ginger capsules (Zingiber officinale) are available for supplementation.  Follow package directions.
-Chopped, fresh ginger can be added to water and boiled in a pot for 45 minutes to an hour. Drink warm or with ice, as a tea.  Add a few drops of stevia to sweeten (stevia is a naturally-sweet herb).
-Ginger is available in alcohol tincture form.  A typical dose is 30 drops three times daily.  Avoid the alcohol extract if you are an alcoholic, suffering from liver disease, or diabetic.
Medicine never tasted so good.

Israel has conducted an airstrike into Syria

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The attack took place after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved it in a secret meeting on Thursday night, the security source said.

CNN quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying Israel most likely conducted the strike "in the Thursday-Friday time frame" and its jets did not enter Syrian air space.

The Israeli air force has so-called "standoff" bombs that coast dozens of kilometers (miles) across ground to their targets once fired. That could, in theory, allow Israel to attack Syria from its own turf or from neighboring Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities reported unusual intensive Israeli air force activity over their territory on Thursday and Friday.
A Lebanese security source said his initial impression was that Israeli overflights were monitoring potential arms shipments between Syria and Lebanon, potentially to Hezbollah, a militant Shi'ite Muslim ally of Iran and Assad.
"We believe that it is linked to Israel's concerns over the transfer of weapons, particularly chemical weapons, from Syria to its allies Lebanon," said the official, who asked not to be named.

Syrian opposition sources, usually quick to announce rumors of Israeli air strikes, said they had not heard of an attack on Syrian territory.

Syrian government sources also denied having information of a strike. Bashar Ja'afari, the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, told Reuters: "I'm not aware of any attack right now."
In January this year, Israel bombed a convoy in Syria, apparently hitting weapons destined for Hezbollah, according to diplomats, Syrian rebels and security sources in the region.
Israel has not formally confirmed carrying out that strike.

Hezbollah fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006.
Israeli remains technically at war with neighboring Syria. It captured Syria's Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war, built settlements and annexed the land. Yet belligerence was rare and the borderland has remained largely quiet for decades.

But Israeli concerns have risen since Islamist fighters linked to al-Qaeda assumed a prominent role in the armed insurrection against Assad. Israelis believe one in 10 of the rebels is a jihadi who might turn his gun on them once Assad is gone. They also worry that Hezbollah guerrillas allied to Assad could obtain his chemical arsenal and other advanced weaponry.

Giora Eiland, a former Israeli army general and national security adviser, said the apparent deadlock in Syria's civil war, now in its third year, meant the Netanyahu government had to be prudent in any military intervention.

"I don't anticipate far-reaching consequences in Lebanon or Syria (from Israel's actions)," Eiland told Israel Radio. "Israel appears to be conducting itself judiciously."
 Israeli warplanes have carried out an air strike on a target in Syria, asecurity source in the region said on Saturday, confirming a disclosure by a U.S. official.

The target of Friday's raid was not a Syrian chemical weapons facility, the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Israeli officials have declined all comment on the event, which was reported by American media on Friday.

The Jewish state had previously made clear it was poised to resort to force to prevent advanced Syrian weapons, including President Bashar al-Assad's reputed chemical arsenal, reaching Islamist rebels fighting to topple him or his Hezbollah guerrilla allies in Lebanon.
A U.S. official, who also declined to be identified, told Reuters on Friday the air strike apparently targeted a building.

Lost hikers may pay $160K for their rescue

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Two teen hikers lost for days in a California forest might have to pay for part or all of the $160,000 search after a small amount of drugs was found in their car, authorities said.

The discovery of drugs inside the car of a pair of hikers rescued in a multiday search has prompted Orange County officials to consider charging them for the $160,000 operation and fanned a debate on when people should pay for their misadventures.
One of the hikers, Nicolas Cendoya, was charged Tuesday with a felony count of methamphetamine possession after authorities said they found a small amount of the drug in the car the pair parked before setting off on an Easter Sunday hike.
Cendoya, 19, and with Kyndall Jack, 18, had little water and quickly got into trouble, calling authorities that night on a cellphone that stopped functioning before officials could pinpoint their location. They later spoke of becoming lost, disoriented and having hallucinations.
Two days into the multi-agency search for the couple in Trabuco Canyon, deputies looked through Cendoya's green BMW for clues and found 497 milligrams of meth, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.
Cendoya was ultimately found wandering shoeless and disoriented about half a mile from the car, and Jack was rescued the next day in shoulder-high brush. Officials said both were weak and suffering from dehydration.
Jack later said she had experienced vivid hallucinations that left her thinking she was being attacked by animals and that twigs were straws from which she could suck water. Cendoya said he thought he might be "in the afterlife" and grew so convinced he was being stalked by predators that he grabbed a sharp stick for defense
Both were briefly hospitalized.
The Sheriff's Department said Tuesday that the hikers would not be billed for the effort, but by Thursday it had reversed course and said it was evaluating the emergency response to determine whether the hikers should be billed.
Gail Krause, a spokeswoman with the Sheriff's Department, said in an e-mail that there is legal authority for seeking reimbursement from counties if one of their residents has to be rescued in another county. But Cendoya and Jack are Orange County residents.
"The recent drug charge on Cendoya may change things," she said.
Todd Spitzer, a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, said he called for an independent investigation of the case before the drug charges were announced.
"They didn't go out there to hike, they went out there to get high. And they got disoriented," Spitzer alleged.
The supervisor said he's evaluating all remedies, including civil and criminal action. He hopes to have a recommendation to the board in the coming weeks.
"The financial implications of this are way more than $160,000," he said, adding that it will cost the county six figures in workers' compensation to care for the reserve deputy who seriously injured his vertebrae during the rescue. The Sheriff's Department said its figure did not include the man's care.
Shawn Nelson, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said charging the hikers for the cost of their rescue could be tricky because public safety agencies shouldn't make such decisions based on costs. He said that although the hikers' actions were "stupid" and possibly "illegal," the debate required more than a knee-jerk reaction.
"I guess the struggle is, when do people make stupid mistakes and when do people put others in harm?" he said.
Nelson said there is a conversation worth having, but it shouldn't be under the purview of county supervisors.
"If we know in advance that an individual can't pay, does that mean we don't bother looking for him?" he asked.
John Moorlach, a supervisor and avid hiker, asked why taxpayers should be penalized for what he saw as the reckless actions of the teenagers.
Moorlach said he had a hunch about the teenagers during the search.
"We certainly want to save them but, by golly, you were saved and you owe your society a debt of gratitude," he said, "and you need to pay the bill."


Man wearing ‘jail sucks’ T-shirt arrested and sent to jail

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Don Castner was already in danger of arousing the suspicions of the fashion police. But the 39-year-old Floridian got a taste of delicious irony when he was arrested Wednesday by the actual police while wearing a T-shirt that read, “jail sucks!”
Castner was arrested on charges of welfare fraud as part of a Manatee County sheriff's office undercover sting entitled Operation Meal Ticket.
Manatee deputies arrested 40 other people Wednesday and have warrants out for dozens more in the undercover sting operation.
Manatee Sheriff Brad Steube said some of the people caught in the sting said they were using money from selling the cards to buy "rock cocaine, drugs and alcohol."
After he was booked, Castner was forced to ditch his ironic T-shirt for more traditional prison garb and a mug shot.
There is a feel-good angle to this story. WBTV reported that the sheriff’s office used $9,000 in recovered food stamp money to buy baby formula for the Manatee County food bank.

Miami cop fired 8 times could make it 9

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For one police officer, will the ninth strike mean he's out?
This time around, Sgt. German Bosque—who has been fired eight times from three different police departments—has been charged with leaving his assault weapon with his girlfriend’s father, a trained security guard, while on an eight-day leave.
That’s a no-no, says the Opa-locka Police Department, which presented its case to dismiss him in front of an arbitration officer on Wednesday.
The station, which covered Bosque's hearing, spoke with City Attorney Joe Geller, who said, "We’re here on a very simple matter. It’s going to be up to the arbitrator. We think what the officer did was wrong.”
Geller is arguing that Bosque violated the department’s policy that an officer’s weapon should be secured at all times.
But like the Terminator, Bosque has a history of coming back: He's the most fired, fined and disciplined officer in the state, according to CBS4.
The Miami cop has managed to return to his post despite his alleged vices. The Miami Herald reports Bosque has beaten back a long list of head-turning charges, including:
- busting the skull of a handcuffed suspect
- beating juveniles
- having dope and booze in his squad car
- ripping off suspects
- falsifying reports
- participating in an unauthorized chase where four people were killed
- calling in sick … from Cancun
“It’s allegations. Allegations are not convictions,” said Bosque’s union-provided attorney, Andrew Axelrad. “We have a system in place, and that system is a fair system.”
To hear Bosque tell it, he just loves his job. “I love serving the community. I love what I do for a living, and I’m very proud,” he said.

Former FBI agent apparently says that all US phone calls are recorded and accessible by the government

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The real capabilities and behavior of the US surveillance state are almost entirely unknown to the American public because, like most things of significance done by the US government, it operates behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy. But a seemingly spontaneous admission this week by a former FBI counterterrorism agent provides a rather startling acknowledgment of just how vast and invasive these surveillance activities are.
Over the past couple days, cable news tabloid shows such as CNN's Out Front with Erin Burnett have been excitingly focused on the possible involvement in the Boston Marathon attack of Katherine Russell, the 24-year-old American widow of the deceased suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. As part of their relentless stream of leaks uncritically disseminated by our Adversarial Press Corps, anonymous government officials are claiming that they are now focused on telephone calls between Russell and Tsarnaev that took place both before and after the attack to determine if she had prior knowledge of the plot or participated in any way.
On Wednesday night, Burnett interviewed Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, about whether the FBI would be able to discover the contents of past telephone conversations between the two. He quite clearly insisted that they could:
BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It's not a voice mail. It's just a conversation. There's no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them?
CLEMENTE: "No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.
BURNETT: "So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.
CLEMENTE: "No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not."
"All of that stuff" - meaning every telephone conversation Americans have with one another on US soil, with or without a search warrant - "is being captured as we speak".
On Thursday night, Clemente again appeared on CNN, this time with host Carol Costello, and she asked him about those remarks. He reiterated what he said the night before but added expressly that "all digital communications in the past" are recorded and stored: 
Let's repeat that last part: "no digital communication is secure", by which he means not that any communication is susceptible to government interception as it happens (although that is true), but far beyond that: all digital communications - meaning telephone calls, emails, online chats and the like - are automatically recorded and stored and accessible to the government after the fact. To describe that is to define what a ubiquitous, limitless Surveillance State is.
There have been some previous indications that this is true. FormerAT&T engineer Mark Klein revealed that AT&T and other telecoms had built a special network that allowed the National Security Agency full and unfettered access to data about the telephone calls and the content of email communications for all of their customers. Specifically, Klein explained "that the NSA set up a system that vacuumed up Internet and phone-call data from ordinary Americans with the cooperation of AT&T" and that "contrary to the government's depiction of its surveillance program as aimed at overseas terrorists . . . much of the data sent through AT&T to the NSA was purely domestic." But his amazing revelations were mostly ignored and, when Congress retroactively immunized the nation's telecom giants for their participation in the illegal Bush spying programs, Klein's claims (by design) were prevented from being adjudicated in court.
That every single telephone call is recorded and stored would also explain this extraordinary revelation by the Washington Post in 2010:
Every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications.
It would also help explain the revelations of former NSA official William Binney, who resigned from the agency in protest over its systemic spying on the domestic communications of US citizens, that the US government has "assembled on the order of 20 trillion transactions about US citizens with other US citizens" (which counts only communications transactions and not financial and other transactions), and that "the data that's being assembled is about everybody. And from that data, then they can target anyone they want."
Despite the extreme secrecy behind which these surveillance programs operate, there have been periodic reports of serious abuse. Two Democratic Senators, Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, have been warning for years that Americans would be "stunned" to learn what the US government is doing in terms of secret surveillance.
 
Strangely, back in 2002 - when hysteria over the 9/11 attacks (and thus acquiescence to government power) was at its peak - the Pentagon's attempt to implement what it called the "Total Information Awareness" program (TIA)sparked so much public controversy that it had to be official scrapped. But it has been incrementally re-instituted - without the creepy (though honest) name and all-seeing-eye logo - with little controversy or even notice.
Back in 2010, worldwide controversy erupted when the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates banned the use of Blackberries because some communications were inaccessible to government intelligence agencies, and that could not be tolerated. The Obama administration condemned this move on the ground that it threatened core freedoms, only to turn around six weeks later anddemand that all forms of digital communications allow the US government backdoor access to intercept them. Put another way, the US government embraced exactly the same rationale invoked by the UAE and Saudi agencies: that no communications can be off limits. Indeed, the UAE, when responding to condemnations from the Obama administration, noted that it was simply doing exactly that which the US government does:
"'In fact, the UAE is exercising its sovereign right and is asking for exactly the same regulatory compliance - and with the same principles of judicial and regulatory oversight - that Blackberry grants the US and other governments and nothing more,' [UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al] Otaiba said. 'Importantly, the UAE requires the same compliance as the US for the very same reasons: to protect national security and to assist in law enforcement.'"
That no human communications can be allowed to take place without the scrutinizing eye of the US government is indeed the animating principle of the US Surveillance State. Still, this revelation, made in passing on CNN, that every single telephone call made by and among Americans is recorded and stored is something which most people undoubtedly do not know, even if the small group of people who focus on surveillance issues believed it to be true (clearly, both Burnett and Costello were shocked to hear this).
Some new polling suggests that Americans, even after the Boston attack, are growing increasingly concerned about erosions of civil liberties in the name of Terrorism. Even those people who claim it does not matter instinctively understand the value of personal privacy: they put locks on their bedroom doors and vigilantly safeguard their email passwords. That's why the US government so desperately maintains a wall of secrecy around their surveillance capabilities: because they fear that people will find their behavior unacceptably intrusive and threatening, as they did even back in 2002 when John Poindexter's TIA was unveiled.
Mass surveillance is the hallmark of a tyrannical political culture. But whatever one's views on that, the more that is known about what the US government and its surveillance agencies are doing, the better. This admission by this former FBI agent on CNN gives a very good sense for just how limitless these activities are.

No Somali pirate hijacking in nearly a year, says UN

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The fight against Somali pirates has been so effective that they have not been able to mount a successful hijacking in nearly a year, the chair of the global group trying to combat the pirates has said.
American diplomat Donna Leigh Hopkins credited the combined efforts of international naval forces and increased security on ships, including the use of armed guards. But she also pointed to the jailing of 1,140 Somali pirates in 21 countries, "which started de-glamorising piracy".
Somali pirates hijacked 46 ships in 2009, 47 in 2010, but only 25 in 2011, an indication that new on-board defences were working. In 2012, there were 75 attacks reported off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden – down from 237 in 2011 – and only 14 ships were hijacked, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
"Pirate attacks are down by at least 75%," Hopkins said. "There are still pirate attacks being attempted but there has not been a successful hijacking since May 2012," she said. "12 May will be the one-year anniversary of no successful hijacking off the coast of Somalia."
On Wednesday, the UN discussed combating pirates at a meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy, off the Coast of Somalia, which includes more than 85 countries as well as international organisations and private-sector representatives.
Hopkins, the group's chairman, and the Danish ambassador, Thomas Winkler, who leads its legal committee, stressed there was no room for complacency, citing havens for pirates on the northern Somali coast and million-dollar ransoms to release hijacked ships and crews that continue to attract young men to piracy.
Winkler said prosecuting more than 1,000 pirates and transferring them to Somali prisons, where conditions are grim, appeared to be having a preventive effect.
"The number of active pirates is perhaps 3,000," Winkler said. "So if you put a thousand behind bars, and 300-400 die every year at sea from hunger (or) drowning … you will quickly come down."
Hopkins said ships from Nato, the EU, China, Russia and other countries have succeeded in disrupting and discouraging Somali pirates but they still roam the Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden looking for vessels to attack.
The last successful hijacking – on 12 May 2012 – was of the MV Smyrni, a Greek-registered tanker less than two years old and loaded with crude oil worth tens of millions of dollars. It was released after 11 months of negotiations and payment of "a record-breaking ransom nearing $15m", Hopkins said.
"In my opinion, it is a poster child for what happens when ship owners don't employ the best management practices … to prevent your ship from being hijacked," she said. "They did none of them, and they got exactly what one might expect. They got hijacked and they paid a very heavy price for it."
Hopkins said that while "not a single ship that has employed armed security has ever been hijacked", there were also many other security measures that have proved effective, including training crew and posting lookouts.
When asked how optimistic he was that there would not be a hijacking before 12 May, she said: "I'm not going to count days. Every day without a successful attack is a good day."

Health Benefits of Mustard Essential Oil

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The health benefits of Mustard Essential Oil can be attributed to its properties like stimulant, irritant, appetizer, anti bacterial, anti fungal, insect repellant, hair vitalizer, cordial, diaphoretic, anti rheumatic and tonic.
Mustard Oil has contrary reputations in different parts of the world. It is very-very popular oil in the Indian Subcontinent, more precisely in the Eastern parts of India and in Bangladesh, as edible oil and is considered very healthy, whereas in the rest of the world, it is considered toxic, irritable and not suitable for edible purposes. In some parts of Europe, there is ban on selling of this oil and in some other; it is sold as massage oil only for external application.

Mustard Essential Oil is totally different from Mustard Oil (No! I don’t mean that it is extracted from anything else!), in terms of process of extraction, chemical composition and medicinal properties. Both of these are extracted from the seeds of Mustard which bears a scientific name Brassica Nigra (Black Mustard) or Brassica Hirta (White Mustard).
While Mustard Oil is extracted by cold compression of mustard seeds, its essential oil is extracted by steam distillation of mustard seeds soaked in water, and here is where the difference occurs. Mustard Seeds (Black or White) contain an enzyme called Myrosinase and a glucosinolate called Sinigrin. These two remain isolated in mustard seeds under normal conditions, but react when the seeds are subjected to pressure or heat. In presence of water, these two components react to form Allyl Isothiocyanate (in case of Black Mustard) and normal Isothiocyanate (in case of White Mustard), a toxic compound.

This Allyl Isothiocyanate, which is present in the Mustard Essential Oil by above 90% of volume, accompanied by certain fatty acids like Oleic Acid, Linoleic Acid and Erucic Acid, may prove to be of certain health benefits discussed as under.

Health benefits of mustard essential oil

Stimulant: Mustard Essential Oil is a very strong stimulant, just like Mustard Oil. It is particularly effective in stimulating circulation, digestion and excretion. This oil, if used externally for massage, stimulates circulation very well. The effects are even visible. It stimulates digestion by stimulating secretion of gastric juices and bile from spleen and liver. The excretory system is also stimulated by this oil since the peristaltic motion of the intestines is stimulated.

Irritant: Although being an irritant is not viewed upon as beneficial, yet it can be beneficial in some cases too. Irritation is nothing but a way of reaction of an organ to an external agent. It also shows that the organ is responding to external stimuli. And here where the benefit is. This property can be used to bring back sensation to those organs which are suffering from numbness or lack of sensation. This property is also used to pump up muscles.

Appetizer: This essential acts as an appetizer and boosts up huger. This again, can be a side effect of the irritant and stimulant nature of Mustard Essential Oil. It irritates the inner lining stomach and intestines, stimulates digestive juices and gives a feeling of hunger.

Antibacterial: This essential oil has bactericidal or anti bacterial properties. Internally it fights bacterial infections in the colon, digestive system, excretory system, urinary tract etc. Externally applied, it can treat bacterial infections on skin.

Antifungal: This oil serves as an anti fungal agent, due to presence of Allyl Isothiocyanate. It does not allow fungal growth and also inhibits if there is any.

Insect Repellant: Insects and even some smaller animals avoid this oil and keep away from it. That is why Mustard Essential Oil acts as an insect repellant too. It can be used in fumigants and vaporizers to drive away insects.

Hair Vitalizer: The stimulating effects and the presence of certain fatty acids such as oleic acid and linoleic acid, when combined together, make Mustard Essential Oil an efficient hair vitalizer. Its stimulating effects increase blood circulation in the scalp while the fatty acids nourish the hair roots. It has been seen that prolonged use of this oil on hair may give it a brown tint but strengthens it and prevents hair fall effectively.

Cordial: The feeling of warmth that this oil gives makes it a cordial. It warms up the internal systems such as the respiratory system and protects it from formation and accumulation of phlegm. It also warms up the body in winter to some extent. This again, may be due to its stimulating and mild irritating effects.

Diaphoretic: It promotes sweating both when consumed and applied externally. It stimulates sweat glands to produce more sweat as well as enlarges the openings of the pores on skin. This property is helpful in lowering body temperature as well as removing toxins and excess salts and water from the body.

Tonic: This oil serves as an all-rounder tonic for the health. It tones up all the systems operating in the body, gives strength and boosts up immunity.

Anti-rheumatic & Anti-arthritic: It gives good relief in rheumatism and arthritis and for long has been in use as a rub in such cases.

Other Benefits: It is beneficial in treating cold & cough, headache, congestion resulting from cold, aches and body-pain and for muscular growth. It is also used to rub on gums for strengthening them. This also protects teeth from germs. This oil also contains good percentage of OmegAlpha3 and OmegAlpha6 fatty acids, anti oxidants and vitamin-E which have their own benefits.

Few Words of Caution: Despite various adverse reports regarding its toxicity and warnings against usage by pregnant women, no such effects have been observed in India and Bangladesh where both mustard and its oil have been in use for centuries as edible stuff. At the same time, it is also true that this oil has irritating effects on the mucus membrane, although it may not be a threat otherwise. It may be difficult for them who are not habituated to this oil.

13 Reasons You Should Start Biking To Work

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Though the U.S. has seen 40 percent growth  in bicycle commuters since 2000, their numbers have yet to surpass 1 million. In contrast, there are 204 million personal vehicles on the road on a given day.
That's a shame.
Not only does biking to work have the potential to improve individuals' health, wealth and standard of living, but the combination of more cyclists and fewer cars on the road could give the entire country a much-needed boost. 

Here's why:

It is vastly cheaper than driving. Due to rising fuel costs and tire upkeep, the cost of owning a car  increased nearly 2 percent in 2012  to $8,946, according to AAA. It costs just $308 per year to keep bikes in shape––nearly 30 times less than cars, according to the Sierra Club: "If American drivers were to make just one four-mile round trip each week with a bicycle instead of a car, they would save nearly 2 billion gallons of gas. At $4 per gallon, total savings would be $7.3 billion a year."

It's a free gym on wheels.  On average, bicycle commuters  lose 13 pounds  in their first year of cycling alone.
"[Bike commuting] can be a very effective cardiovascular benefit," says Lisa Callahan, MD, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.  "If you're overweight and start an exercise program, sometimes it's harder on your joints because you are overweight ... so something like swimming or biking that's not pounding on the joints can be a good thing." 

You won't miss morning traffic jams. Americans spend more than 25 minutes driving to work each day, according to the latest U.S. Census data , and trips can take nearly twice as long in populous cities like New York and Atlanta.  Cycling could help you get there faster. 
"Half of the working population in the U.S. commutes five miles or less to work, with bike trips of three to five miles taking less time or the same amount of time as commuting by car," writes  Kiplinger editor Amanda Lilly .

You don't even have to own a bike. There's been a wave of new bike share programs  in major cities like Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago and Miami, which typically allow riders 30 to 45 minutes of free transportation for a small annual fee. When  New York City's bike share  launches in Spring 2013, annual memberships  will cost $95 ––  about $10 less than subway commuters spend per month.

We could save hundreds of millions on healthcare expenses. "The most important socio-economic impact of cycling lies in the area of health care," says  Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists . Nowhere is that more clear than in Portland, Ore. A study published in the  Journal of Physical Activity and Health  found that "during the next 30 years, Portland’s residents could save as much as $594 million in health care costs because of an investment into biking culture" and "fuel savings of $143 to $218 million." 

Businesses will save millions in lost productivity. A recent study by  Dutch economic think tank TNO  found people who commuted to work by bike were less likely to call in sick.  "Commuting to work by bicycle by just 1 percent could save [Denmark’s] employers approximately $34 million in lost productivity from absenteeism," Oregon state rep. Earl Blumenhauer writes in American Bicyclist.  "That’s assuming a workforce of 7.1 million people. The U.S. has more than 154 million people in its workforce."

It would make cycling safer for everyone. Much unlike cars, the more bicycles on the road, the safer it becomes for cyclists, research shows. "It's a virtuous cycle," Dr. Julie Hatfield, an injury expert from UNSW, says . "The likelihood that an individual cyclist will be struck by a motorist falls with increasing rate of bicycling in a community. And the safer cycling is perceived to be, the more people are prepared to cycle."

You're way more likely to get sick taking the bus. Fresh air does a body good. A recent study by the University of Nottingham found public transit riders were "six times more likely to suffer from acute respiratory infections," the New York Daily News reports. Supposedly, occasional riders were even more at risk. Another study found a host of illness-causing viruses lurking in passenger vehicles, including  E. coli, salmonella, and campylobacter, according to Safetyissues.com. 

Uncle Sam will pay you to bike. Since January 2012, cyclist commuters have been entitled to a  $20 per month tax-free reimbursement for bike-related expenses.  This applies to workers who bike at least three days per week to the office. Qualifying expenses include bike repairs and storage expenses, according to the National Center for Transit Research. 

Women could use the extra bone support. As women age, they become increasingly susceptible to bone deterioration through osteoporosis.  A team of researchers from a Swedish university found middle-aged  women were less likely to sustain wrist fractures  if they commuted by bike or participated in other physical activities like walking.

You inhale more harmful exhaust in your car than on a bike.  While fuel emissions are bad news for any set of lungs, drivers are actually more susceptible to harmful air than bicyclists. "Studies show you get the biggest hit of the nasties when you’re inside a car," notes  the Grist's Umbra Frisk . "Sure, a personal Mobile Emissions Source [ie: cars] appears hermetic, but it’s an illusion: MES occupants are very close to sucking on the tailpipe of the MES just ahead of them. In a bus, riders’ lungs are a bit above these sources. And bikers and pedestrians are on the outskirts."

You'll never have to worry about a parking spot again. Hundreds of major companies have entered the American League of Bicyclists' "Bicycle Friendly Business"  program and c ities like New York require commercial office buildings by law to offer some sort of bike storage. Otherwise, invest in a sturdy bike lock and all you need is a spare bike rack or street sign to park your ride. Folding bikes are another useful option, as they can be packed into a bag and stashed easily under a desk or a closet. 

Our economy could use a boost. Cyclists in cities like Copenhagen have become the poster children for the benefits of cycling, both at the micro- and macroeconomic level.  In its  2012 Bicycle Account , the city says bike commuters generated savings ($0.42 for each mile biked) in just about every way imaginable: lowered transportation costs, security, branding/tourism, traffic infrastructure and public health.

10 ingredients to keep out of your smoothie

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Whether you enjoy smoothies for breakfast, a snack or even dessert, they're a great way to increase your daily servings of fruits and vegetables. But depending on the ingredients they're made with, smoothies can quickly turn into unhealthy calorie-bombs filled with sugar and saturated fat. And drinking too many high-calorie smoothies could counteract their health benefits and sabotage your efforts to stay--or get--slim.


The healthiest way to enjoy a smoothie is to make your own. Blending your own choice of ingredients assures you know how much of and what foods you are getting. Wondering how to make a smoothie? A good smoothie should contain a blend of ingredients with protein and fiber to help keep you full and provide antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.
And when it comes to smoothies, don't forget to keep an eye on portion sizes! If you are having a smoothie as a meal, aim for 300-400 calories. If your smoothie is a snack between meals, make it small and aim for less than 300 calories.
Here is a list of the best healthy smoothie ingredients based on their protein, fiber and nutrient contents: 

Best High-Protein Smoothie Ingredients:
• Nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt
• Nonfat or low-fat plain milk
• Nonfat or low-fat plain kefir
• Tofu
• Natural peanut butter
• Almond butter
• Plain soymilk
• Plain almond milk 


Best Fruits for Smoothies (use fresh fruit, frozen fruit or fruit canned in water or its own juice):
• Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Peach
• Banana
• Apple
• Melon
• Cherries
• Apricot 


Best Vegetables for Smoothies (use raw):
• Carrot
• Kale
• Spinach
• Avocado
• Cucumber 



Healthy Smoothie Additions for Flavor and Additional Nutrition:
• Flaxseed
• Chia seed
• Old-fashioned oats
• Spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)
• Vanilla extract
• Coconut water
• Unsweetened cocoa powder

 
Smoothie Ingredients to Ditch
To keep your smoothie as healthy as possible, avoid adding these ingredients, which provide a lot of calories in the form of sugar and saturated fat, with little or no fiber or other nutrients.
• Sugar-sweetened fruit juice or concentrate
• Full-fat dairy products, such as milk or yogurt
• Flavored yogurt
• Whipped cream
• Ice cream
• Sorbet
• Sherbet
• Chocolate syrup
• Full-fat coconut milk
• Canned fruit in syrup

Famous Scientists Who Believed in God

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Belief in God

Is belief in the existence of God irrational? These days, many famous scientists are also strong proponents of atheism. However, in the past, and even today, many scientists believe that God exists and is responsible for what we see in nature. This is a small sampling of scientists who contributed to the development of modern science while believing in God. Although many people believe in a "God of the gaps", these scientists, and still others alive today, believe because of the evidence.
Rich Deem
  1. Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)
    Copernicus was the Polish astronomer who put forward the first mathematically based system of planets going around the sun. He attended various European universities, and became a Canon in the Catholic church in 1497. His new system was actually first presented in the Vatican gardens in 1533 before Pope Clement VII who approved, and urged Copernicus to publish it around this time. Copernicus was never under any threat of religious persecution - and was urged to publish both by Catholic Bishop Guise, Cardinal Schonberg, and the Protestant Professor George Rheticus. Copernicus referred sometimes to God in his works, and did not see his system as in conflict with the Bible.
  2. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627)
    Bacon was a philosopher who is known for establishing the scientific method of inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning. In De Interpretatione Naturae Prooemium, Bacon established his goals as being the discovery of truth, service to his country, and service to the church. Although his work was based upon experimentation and reasoning, he rejected atheism as being the result of insufficient depth of philosophy, stating, "It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate, and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity." (Of Atheism)
  3. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
    Kepler was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer. He did early work on light, and established the laws of planetary motion about the sun. He also came close to reaching the Newtonian concept of universal gravity - well before Newton was born! His introduction of the idea of force in astronomy changed it radically in a modern direction. Kepler was an extremely sincere and pious Lutheran, whose works on astronomy contain writings about how space and the heavenly bodies represent the Trinity. Kepler suffered no persecution for his open avowal of the sun-centered system, and, indeed, was allowed as a Protestant to stay in Catholic Graz as a Professor (1595-1600) when other Protestants had been expelled!
  4. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
    Galileo is often remembered for his conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. His controversial work on the solar system was published in 1633. It had no proofs of a sun-centered system (Galileo's telescope discoveries did not indicate a moving earth) and his one "proof" based upon the tides was invalid. It ignored the correct elliptical orbits of planets published twenty five years earlier by Kepler. Since his work finished by putting the Pope's favorite argument in the mouth of the simpleton in the dialogue, the Pope (an old friend of Galileo's) was very offended. After the "trial" and being forbidden to teach the sun-centered system, Galileo did his most useful theoretical work, which was on dynamics. Galileo expressly said that the Bible cannot err, and saw his system as an alternate interpretation of the biblical texts.
  5. Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
    Descartes was a French mathematician, scientist and philosopher who has been called the father of modern philosophy. His school studies made him dissatisfied with previous philosophy: He had a deep religious faith as a Roman Catholic, which he retained to his dying day, along with a resolute, passionate desire to discover the truth. At the age of 24 he had a dream, and felt the vocational call to seek to bring knowledge together in one system of thought. His system began by asking what could be known if all else were doubted - suggesting the famous "I think therefore I am". Actually, it is often forgotten that the next step for Descartes was to establish the near certainty of the existence of God - for only if God both exists and would not want us to be deceived by our experiences - can we trust our senses and logical thought processes. God is, therefore, central to his whole philosophy. What he really wanted to see was that his philosophy be adopted as standard Roman Catholic teaching. Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon (1561-1626) are generally regarded as the key figures in the development of scientific methodology. Both had systems in which God was important, and both seem more devout than the average for their era.
  6. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
      Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and theologian. In mathematics, he published a treatise on the subject of projective geometry and established the foundation for probability theory. Pascal invented a mechanical calculator, and established the principles of vacuums and the pressure of air. He was raised a Roman Catholic, but in 1654 had a religious vision of God, which turned the direction of his study from science to theology. Pascal began publishing a theological work, Lettres provinciales, in 1656. His most influential theological work, the Pensées ("Thoughts"), was a defense of Christianity, which was published after his death. The most famous concept from Pensées was Pascal's Wager. Pascal's last words were, "May God never abandon me."
  7. Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
    In optics, mechanics, and mathematics, Newton was a figure of undisputed genius and innovation. In all his science (including chemistry) he saw mathematics and numbers as central. What is less well known is that he was devoutly religious and saw numbers as involved in understanding God's plan for history from the Bible. He did a considerable work on biblical numerology, and, though aspects of his beliefs were not orthodox, he thought theology was very important. In his system of physics, God was essential to the nature and absoluteness of space. In Principia he stated, "The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."
  8. Robert Boyle (1791-1867)
    One of the founders and key early members of the Royal Society, Boyle gave his name to "Boyle's Law" for gases, and also wrote an important work on chemistry. Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "By his will he endowed a series of Boyle lectures, or sermons, which still continue, 'for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels...' As a devout Protestant, Boyle took a special interest in promoting the Christian religion abroad, giving money to translate and publish the New Testament into Irish and Turkish. In 1690 he developed his theological views in The Christian Virtuoso, which he wrote to show that the study of nature was a central religious duty." Boyle wrote against atheists in his day (the notion that atheism is a modern invention is a myth), and was clearly much more devoutly Christian than the average in his era.
  9. Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
    Michael Faraday was the son of a blacksmith who became one of the greatest scientists of the 19th century. His work on electricity and magnetism not only revolutionized physics, but led to much of our lifestyles today, which depends on them (including computers and telephone lines and, so, web sites). Faraday was a devoutly Christian member of the Sandemanians, which significantly influenced him and strongly affected the way in which he approached and interpreted nature. Originating from Presbyterians, the Sandemanians rejected the idea of state churches, and tried to go back to a New Testament type of Christianity.
  10. Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
    Mendel was the first to lay the mathematical foundations of genetics, in what came to be called "Mendelianism". He began his research in 1856 (three years before Darwin published his Origin of Species) in the garden of the Monastery in which he was a monk. Mendel was elected Abbot of his Monastery in 1868. His work remained comparatively unknown until the turn of the century, when a new generation of botanists began finding similar results and "rediscovered" him (though their ideas were not identical to his). An interesting point is that the 1860's was notable for formation of the X-Club, which was dedicated to lessening religious influences and propagating an image of "conflict" between science and religion. One sympathizer was Darwin's cousin Francis Galton, whose scientific interest was in genetics (a proponent of eugenics - selective breeding among humans to "improve" the stock). He was writing how the "priestly mind" was not conducive to science while, at around the same time, an Austrian monk was making the breakthrough in genetics. The rediscovery of the work of Mendel came too late to affect Galton's contribution.
  11. William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907)
    Kelvin was foremost among the small group of British scientists who helped to lay the foundations of modern physics. His work covered many areas of physics, and he was said to have more letters after his name than anyone else in the Commonwealth, since he received numerous honorary degrees from European Universities, which recognized the value of his work. He was a very committed Christian, who was certainly more religious than the average for his era. Interestingly, his fellow physicists George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) were also men of deep Christian commitment, in an era when many were nominal, apathetic, or anti-Christian. The Encyclopedia Britannica says "Maxwell is regarded by most modern physicists as the scientist of the 19th century who had the greatest influence on 20th century physics; he is ranked with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental nature of his contributions." Lord Kelvin was an Old Earth creationist, who estimated the Earth's age to be somewhere between 20 million and 100 million years, with an upper limit at 500 million years based on cooling rates (a low estimate due to his lack of knowledge about radiogenic heating).
  12. Max Planck (1858-1947)
    Planck made many contributions to physics, but is best known for quantum theory, which revolutionized our understanding of the atomic and sub-atomic worlds. In his 1937 lecture "Religion and Naturwissenschaft," Planck expressed the view that God is everywhere present, and held that "the holiness of the unintelligible Godhead is conveyed by the holiness of symbols." Atheists, he thought, attach too much importance to what are merely symbols. Planck was a churchwarden from 1920 until his death, and believed in an almighty, all-knowing, beneficent God (though not necessarily a personal one). Both science and religion wage a "tireless battle against skepticism and dogmatism, against unbelief and superstition" with the goal "toward God!"
  13. Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
    Einstein is probably the best known and most highly revered scientist of the twentieth century, and is associated with major revolutions in our thinking about time, gravity, and the conversion of matter to energy (E=mc2). Although never coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in "Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the harmony of what exists." This actually motivated his interest in science, as he once remarked to a young physicist: "I want to know how God created this world, I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the "uncertainty principle" was "God does not play dice" - and to him this was a real statement about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying of his was "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

Republican introduces bill to require political approval of scientific papers

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Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas really does not understand science. Not scientific method, not scientific theories or laws, none of it. Which is why he submitted a bill draft titled the “High Quality Research Act” which would in effect add a politician into scientific studies.
The bill says that any research done using federal funds (which is the majority of research done in the United States) must have its results and finding approved by the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives. If the findings are not agreed to, the research is taken from the researchers and disposed of by Congress as it sees fit.

Congressman Smith has already landed himself in scientific hot water over his April 25th Letter to the National Science Foundation where he demanded that the NSF conduct an investigaton into five research programs which contradict policies his donors want passed. This is what was expected when the noted anti-science Texan was appointed to the Congressional Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
In response to Congressman Smith’s letter to the NSF, fellow committee member, and fellow Texan, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, had this to say according to the LA Times:
Politicians, even a distinguished chairman of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, cannot be ‘peers’ in any meaningful sense.
Peer in this case referring to the peer review methodology employed by scientists to ensure that their papers are concise, clear, and accurate.
In response to the criticism, Congressman Smith issued his own statement in which he defended the bill by saying:
The draft bill maintains the current peer review process and improves on it by adding a layer of accountability. The intent of the draft legislation is to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent on the highest-quality research possible.
One must ask, how does making peer review accountable to politicians an “improvement?” The scientific method has proven itself over centuries. This “improvement” is nothing but a way to attempt and strong arm scientists into pushing political agendas, typically those held by whomever donates the most money to a politician during the campaign.
Congressman Lamar Smith is a leading example as to the disconnect within the Republican Party and reality. His “improvement” would compromise scientific research, and dismantle what little America has left for integrity. Despite how many other industries have fallen apart across the United States, we as a nation remain the gold standard of scientific research. It appears Lamar Smith will not rest until that too joins our other areas of once excellence, and we surrender to our national collapse.

Police raid family for visiting hydroponics store, find only tomatoes

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It took eight months for authorities to decide to raid the Leawood home of Robert and Adlynn Harte for drugs.
And then it took a year for the Hartes to find out why sheriff’s deputies thought they had drugs in the first place.
The Hartes finally have the court documents to explain it, and they show the raid was prompted by two events:
The Hartes’ visit to a hydroponics store, and tests that deputies did on some leaves they found in the Hartes’ trash.
Those tests, the documents show, later proved to be inaccurate. In fact, the Hartes think the leaves were tea.
In all, say a law professor and two attorneys, the evidence for the raid was flimsy at best.
As for the Hartes, they were both ecstatic and angry on Friday.
“On the one hand, it’s a bit of a relief to know we are not crazy, to know what actually went on,” said Adlynn Harte, an attorney who with her husband had filed a lawsuit in March to get the records.
“But then it is disheartening. We put our faith in law enforcement to do good police work, and we had to suffer through this for the last year.”
Lawrence L. Ferree III, a private attorney representing the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, said there would be no comment on any aspect of the case because of the pending litigation.
The Hartes had fought for a year to get law enforcement records that would show why a Johnson County tactical team chose their house in an upscale subdivision to search for marijuana. This week, the sheriff’s department turned over the records.
The Hartes feel exonerated. They hadn’t been charged after the raid, and now they — and their neighbors — know that deputies ultimately had no evidence against them.
Events played out this way:

•  Robert Harte and his two children visited a Kansas City hydroponic store in August 2011, according to the documents. (Hydroponic stores sell equipment for indoor gardening.) Harte left with a small bag of merchandise. Deputies found out in March 2012 about his visit from Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Jim Wingo, who said he had a record of Harte’s license plate being spotted at the store. Mark Burns, a deputy sheriff, later used the visit as evidence in the affidavit, saying the equipment is commonly used to grow marijuana.
•  Eight months after the visit to the store, deputies pulled trash bags three times from the Hartes’ trash can when they placed it at the end of their driveway, according to the documents. About a cup of a leafy green substance that deputies believed to be marijuana was found in each of two trash bags. They conducted a field test on the material, and it tested positive for marijuana.
•  The Harte house was searched April 20, 2012, a date that has been known as a long-celebrated marijuana holiday. Area law enforcement officers were conducting several searches as part of a sting in a response to pot smokers’ blatant flaunting of the law.
Ten search warrants were served that day, and the Hartes’ home was one.
When the tactical-dressed deputies arrived at the home in the 10300 block of Wenonga Lane, Robert Harte was forced to lie shirtless on the foyer while a deputy with an assault rifle stood over him, according to the Harte’s lawsuit. The children, a 7-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, reportedly came out of their bedrooms terrified, the teenager with his hands in the air.
•  But a lab test done 10 days after the raid and again four months later in August found that the leafy material was not marijuana.
“It does not look anything like marijuana leaves or stems,” a lab report said.
Still the sheriff’s department never told the Hartes despite their requests for answers and records over the past year.
Melanie Wilson, a law professor at the University of Kansas, said there is a low bar for evidence needed to justify a search, but that even then the Harte search raised questions. The positive field tests were evidence, but the information about the visit to the hydroponics store was old.
“If the standard (for a search) was met, it was barely met,” Wilson said.
Max E. Kautsch, a Lawrence attorney, said the warrant didn’t contain enough allegations to lead a reasonable person to believe that crimes were being committed on the premises.
Usually that takes some deeper involvement by detectives to learn who is visiting the home, what their habits are and who their friends and associates are, said Tai J. Vokins, a Johnson County criminal and civil rights attorney.
“If they had done some more checking on these people, or maybe they had just asked them, they would have found out it’s no big deal,” Vokins said. “For law enforcement to have time to troll gardening stores and find out who is buying a light kit and mill through people’s trash in hopes they might find something is troublesome. I think everybody should be concerned.”
Johnson County District Judge James Franklin Davis would not specifically address the Harte case, which he was not involved in, but said that a search warrant affidavit should not be judged on just one or two pieces of evidence cited. Often it contains many facts and important context, he said.
The Hartes believe the green leafy plant material deputies found was tea. Adlynn Harte makes a big container of freshly brewed tea daily.
“When we realized it might have been actually tea, the absurdity of it is unbelievable,” Adlynn Harte said.
“We have tried the last year, trying desperately, racking every part of our brain, trying to figure out what could have led them to our house. How did anything incriminating get onto our property? We have tortured ourselves trying to figure this out.”

Man kills himself in Houston airport with suicide note saying: "The monster within me was getting stronger and while I could not save myself I could spare others."

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Before Carnell Marcus Moore opened fire Friday at Houston's busiest airport, he wrote out a chilling suicide note.
The monster within me was getting stronger and while I could not save myself I could spare others," the 29-year-old shooter was quoted as writing, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Beaumont man's suicide note was found in a black rolling suitcase also containing a loaded AR-15 rifle and a Gideon Bible, according to the Associated Press.
"'Here in the last hour, I yield to mercy when this could have turned bad,'" Moore said in the signed note, according to Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Brian Harris.
The Houston Chronicle details Moore's final days, in which he kidnapped a woman with whom he worked at an apartment complex.
A HPD official told the paper that he had become infatuated with the woman but had no romantic relationship with her. That woman was able to convince Moore to let her go.
"45 minutes and 59 seconds in God's Shadow and Time Stops," Moore wrote on Thursday.
"This Life Will Crash Tomorrow!" he wrote on Wednesday. "I recently had the chance of staring death in the face, and she was beautiful"
Moore shot himself in the temple with a 40-calliber semi-automatic pistol. Police opened fire after he fired twice into the ceiling. Moore was struck in the shoulder by gunfire, before he turned his weapon on himself, according to the AP.

White Supremacist kills child molester after finding out where he lives on a website due to "Megan's Law" requiring their location be publicly documented

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A Northern California white supremacist convicted of killing a child molester has been sentenced to 26 years to life in prison, while his wife — convicted of being an accessory — will be released from jail in about two months, The Sacramento Bee reported Saturday.

Charles Francis Gaskins, 48, was sentenced Friday after pleading no contest in March for the killing of Neil Hayes in 2009. A probation report said Gaskins was a member of a supremacist group that required its members to attack anyone with a history of child molestation.

Gaskins and his wife — Sandra Sheaves — was living in a home she owned in Carmichael, a community outside of Sacramento, when they allowed the 66-year-old Hayes to move in. Gaskins had met Hayes while they were both serving time in prison, The Bee said.

When Sheaves discovered on the Megan's Law website that Hayes was a registered sex offender, she told Gaskins.

Gaskins and Sheaves confronted Hayes in the garage of the home, with Gaskins killing him by repeatedly hitting him in the head with a large rock, prosecutors said.

Hayes' body was later found dumped along the side of a rural road about 35 miles away in Placerville.

As part of his no-contest plea, Gaskins insisted authorities go easy on Sheaves, who also was charged with Hayes' murder.

Prosecutors agreed, allowing her to plead no contest to accessory to murder. Sheaves, 43, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

"In a way, you almost instigated this, by showing the information from Megan's Law to Mr. Gaskins," Sacramento Superior Court Judge Sharon Lueras said in sentencing Sheaves.

With time served and other factors, Sheaves is expected to be released in 66 days, according to her attorney, James Warden.

“If you’re not a terrorist, if you’re not a threat, prove it. This is the price you pay to live in free society" -NYPD official speaking out in favor of increased social media surveillance.

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The case of teenager Cameron Dambrosio might serve as an object lesson to young people everywhere about minding what you say online unless you are prepared to be arrested for terrorism. The Methuen, Mass., high school student was arrested last week after posting online videos that show him rapping an original song that police say contained “disturbing verbiage” and reportedly mentioned the White House and the Boston Marathon bombing. He is charged with communicating terrorist threats, a state felony, and faces a potential 20 years in prison. Bail is set at $1 million.
Whether the arrest proves to be a victory in America's fight against domestic terrorism or whether Cameron made an unfortunate artistic choice in the aftermath of the Boston bombing will become clear as the wheels of justice advance. What is apparent now, however, is that law enforcement agencies are tightening their focus on the social media behavior of US teenagers – not just because young people often fit the profile of those who are vulnerable to radicalization, but also because the public appears to be more accepting of monitoring and surveillance aimed at preventing attacks, even at the risk of government overreach.
“When I was young, calling a bomb threat to your high school because you didn’t want to go to school that day was treated with a slap on the wrist. Try that nowadays and you’re going to prison, no question about it. They are taking it more seriously now,” says Rob D'Ovidio, a criminal justice professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia who specializes in high-tech crime.
Teenagers are generally blissfully unaware that law enforcement agencies are creating cyber units to track and investigate developing ways that criminals, or would-be criminals, research, socialize, and plot nefarious actions, from child molestation to domestic terrorism. The Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, fit this profile: One maintained a YouTube page and the other a Twitter feed, where both promoted the teachings of a radical Muslim cleric, alongside innocuous postings about music and sports. For law enforcement officials, filtering what does and does not constitute a threat is a delicate balancing act that, since the April 15 bombing, may be tilting to the side of additional caution. 
“The danger of this in light of the tragedy in Boston is that law enforcement is being so risk-averse they are in danger of crossing that line and going after what courts would ultimately deem as free speech,” Mr. D'Ovidio says.

Three people were killed and at least 260 injured in the two bomb blasts near the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15. Since then, questions have been raised about how authorities missed signals, especially after alerts from Russian intelligence, that one of the bombing suspects had become radicalized. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, killed after a gunfight with police, had been under surveillance by Russia when he traveled there for six months in 2012, besides his activity on social media. 
“The bottom line is that the public wants to know, after the fact, why [an attack] was not stopped.… Most Americans are prepared to maintain a sophisticated watch on this without [government] overreach, but most Americans also feel if these things can be stopped before they begin, they want to see that happen,” says Michael Greenberger, a law professor at the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security.
Some authorities say that zooming in on unusual behavior online fits squarely with how police have conducted random searches on the street.

“The greatest mystery in life is the human mind. We don’t know what other people do until it becomes known. Our job is to figure it out, but we need indicators to know something’s not right,” says Sgt. Ed Mullins of the New York Police Department, who is also president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, the city’s second-largest police union.Using a zero tolerance approach to track domestic terrorists online is the only reasonable way to analyze online threats these days, especially after the Boston Marathon bombing and news that the suspects had subsequently planned to target Times Square in Manhattan, Mullins says. The way law enforcement agencies approach online activity that appears sinister is this: “If you’re not a terrorist, if you’re not a threat, prove it,” he says.
“This is the price you pay to live in free society right now. It’s just the way it is,” Mullins adds.
That method can result in arrests of teenagers whose online activity may be more aptly characterized as stupid pranks.
In February, Jessica Winslow and Ti'jeanae Harris, two high school girls in Rapids Parish, La., were arrested and charged with 10 counts of terrorism each after they allegedly e-mailed threats to students and faculty “to see if they could get away with it,” detectives told a local television news station. “We take every threat in our schools as a credible threat, and I am happy to say we have made these arrests,” Sheriff William Earl Hilton told reporters.
In January, Alex David Rosario, a high school student in Armada Village, Mich., was charged with domestic terrorism after he allegedly threatened to shoot fellow employees at the Subway shop where he worked. He told police it was a joke. “We feel threatening to kill somebody is not a joke. It doesn’t appear the prosecutor takes it as a joke either and the judge certainly doesn’t,” said Armada Police Chief Howard Smith.
Then there is the case of Abdella Ahmad Tounisi, a Chicago-area teenager arrested in April on terrorism charges related to communicating with a website set up by the FBI that he thought was a Syrian militant group linked to Al Qaeda.
Militant and hate groups are known to use the Internet to lure teenagers “to gain their sympathy” through video games, music, or rhetoric that plays to themes of alienation, D'Ovidio says. Connecting with terrorists would have been impossible in the past, but today, as is alleged in the Tounisi case, anyone with a grudge or curiosity, or both, and an Internet connection can open that dialogue. Foolishly, the teens perceive that they are operating anonymously and within a safe environment, D'Ovidio says.
“We know these groups are catering and looking for these individuals," he says. "They create the right environment for experimentation for kids who may have a proclivity of being disgruntled toward the US government.” 
Easy access to online media, plus the urge to rebel, is a combustible mix that should make parents vigilant, cautions Stephen Balkam, chief executive officer of the Family Online Safety Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington that wants teenagers to be better informed about the outcomes of what they post, tweet, or upload online.
“Every generation of teenagers has figured out a way of rebelling against their parents, or giving it back to ‘the man.’ What I think is unprecedented is the very ‘man’ and the system they want to rebel against can track them and find their digital footprints online,” Mr. Balkam says. “In a sense, it’s good that we can catch kids who are getting radicalized sooner than later, but by the same token, it’s a challenge for kids to grow and develop, which is their job as a teenager, if they are being scrutinized too much.”

No jab, no play campaign launched to ban unvaccinated kids from childcare centres and preschools

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CHILDCARE centres should have the right to ban unvaccinated kids from childcare centres and preschools under a proposed "no jab, no play" policy.

The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph are today launching a campaign to stop the rise in the number of children succumbing to preventable diseases because parents are failing to have them fully immunised.

Although only 1.5 per cent of parents are "vaccine refusers" or conscientious objectors, many parents are forgetful, leaving areas of NSW with vaccination rates below 85 per cent - despite the inarguable scientific proof that the vaccination program has saved thousands of lives and eradicated diseases that crippled children just a generation ago, including polio.
Despite effective vaccines, Australia has been unable to eradicate diseases such as whooping cough because some parents do not immunise, leaving small babies and children with cancer and other immune-compromising conditions vulnerable.
Nine local areas were recently identified by the National Health Performance Authority as being "at risk" of outbreaks of preventable and potentially deadly diseases such as measles and chicken pox, with vaccination rates as low as, or below, 85 per cent. A high rate of immunisation is defined as 95 per cent.

The eastern suburbs, inner Sydney, Manly and the north shore now record the lowest rates of immunisation in the city with an estimated 77,000 children not fully immunised.
The Australian Medical Association believes tougher measures - potentially including bans for non-immunised children - should be introduced to make life harder for "free-riding" parents who refuse or forget to vaccinate.

"We need to lift the barriers, we need people to make an active decision to immunise because we have a responsibility to our children to protect them, and a responsibility to the community to contribute to herd immunity," Dr Steve Hambleton said.

Vaccinations

Vaccinations

A child will die of measles - a preventable disease - in the near future if another outbreak occurs and the immunisation rate remains below 95 per cent, Dr Hambleton warned.
He wants childcare centres to be more vigilant with checking immunisation certificates. "Sadly we will see a death," he said. "The free-riders will actually cause a disease to occur in vaccinated children whose parents did the responsible thing."

Under current laws, daycares and schools cannot refuse non-immunised children entry. These children can be temporarily excluded only if there is an outbreak of a communicable disease, NSW Health's director of health protection Dr Jeremy McAnulty said.
The campaign has two specific aims: first, to demand the NSW government amend the Public Health Act 2010 to allow childcare centres to ban unvaccinated children if they so wish.
Second, for the federal government to close a loophole enabling parents to claim they are "conscientious objectors" to avoid the rule that only vaccinated children are eligible for the 50 per cent childcare rebate.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the government had no plans to toughen laws. "Additional measures could be considered in future to maximise rates of vaccination in children, however the NSW government has no current plans to legislate compulsory immunisation," she said.
The federal government instituted financial penalties in July with the new Family Tax Benefit A supplement of $726 reliant on a child being fully immunised. But the carrot-and-stick approach does not affect wealthy parents in the identified areas who do not qualify for the benefit.
Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has replaced the term "conscientious objectors" in government communications with "vaccine refusers". There is also a move to make the same change in legislation.

Ms Plibersek rubbished fear campaigns about the risks of immunisation.
"As a mother of three, I support immunisation and my children are fully immunised," she said.
"No vaccine or medicine can be guaranteed to be without side-effects, but these are infrequent and in the main are very mild.
"The alleged link between autism and immunisation has been disproved. It is absolutely 100 per cent not true. Unfounded allegations regarding adverse events from vaccines lead to downturns in immunisation rates and outbreak of disease."

Gun Protesters Plan March On Washington With Loaded Rifles To ‘Put The Government On Notice’

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Almost 900 people are RSVPed for a July 4th march on Washington, D.C. where protesters plan to carry loaded rifles. In D.C., openly carrying guns is against the law. But the organizer of the event, libertarian radio host Adam Kokesh, says the march is an act of “civil disobedience” that attempts to prove gun advocates’ point in the “SUBTLEST way possible.”
The event’s Facebook invitation describes the march as a nonviolent demonstration, “unless the government chooses to make it violent”:
This is an act of civil disobedience, not a permitted event. We will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny. We are marching to mark the high water mark of government & to turn the tide. This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent. Should we meet physical resistance, we will peacefully turn back, having shown that free people are not welcome in Washington, & returning with the resolve that the politicians, bureaucrats, & enforcers of the federal government will not be welcome in the land of the free.
There’s a remote chance that there will be violence as there has been from government before, and I think it should be clear that if anyone involved in this event is approached respectfully by agents of the state, they will submit to arrest without resisting. We are truly saying in the SUBTLEST way possible that we would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.
It is not exactly clear whether Kokesh will carry through with the event, since he says it needs to reach a critical mass of 10,000 RSVPs first. However, the National Rifle Association is newly reenergized after the Senate filibuster of background check legislation.
Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald notes that Kokesh has expressed increasingly radical views on his show and on Twitter. Just this week, he called for the abolishment of the U.S. government.
Generally, open carry demonstrations have occurred in places with weaker gun laws, as well as a litmus test for how far gun violence laws can be challenged. Most recently, a group of menbrought their rifles to intimidate moms who rallied for action on gun violence. “Another group brought guns into a Virginia public library full of children, while demonstrators in Oregon brandished assault rifles in the State Capitol.

Fox News chief ordered Geraldo Rivera’s mic cut for defending Obama on Benghazi

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A new report says that Fox News President Roger Ailes ordered the Fox News control room to cut host Geraldo Rivera’s mic just two days before November’s election because he was defending President Barack Obama against the network’s “misinformation” about terrorist attacks in Benghazi.
The New York Times reported on Monday that Bloomberg View columnist Jonathan Alter’s new book, “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies,” is expected to tell a story about how Fox News tried to use the Benghazi attacks to prevent Obama’s re-election.
“Roger Ailes covered the Benghazi story as if it were Watergate just before Nixon’s resignation, with almost wall-to-wall coverage,” Alter wrote, noting that Rivera was the only host “allowed to offer a dissenting view.”
But Rivera apparently went too far during his Nov. 2 appearance on Fox & Friends when he accused guest host Eric Bolling of telling a “lie” by suggesting that the president “went gambling in Las Vegas when he could have been saving our people in Benghazi.”
“After the argument continued for several minutes, Ailes called the control room and told the producers to cut Rivera’s mic,” Alter explained.
Alter, who is also an MSNBC contributor, also noted that the order from Ailes was unusual because Fox News employees “generally reflected Mr. Ailes’s views without his explicit instructions,” according to the Times.
Update (11:50 a.m. ET): An unidentified Fox News “spokesperson” told Mediaite’s Andrew Kirell that Ailes never ordered Rivera’s mic cut, but another Fox News exec made a call to “urge the show to move on because the segment had come to its conclusion.” In a tweet, Rivera also denied that anyone cut his mic.
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