IMHO Feb 17

Have you ever noticed when the maimstream press reports news it's always in the most negative terms? For example when reporting the stock market they'll say the DOW "plunges" 50 points, but when there is positive news they'll write the DOW "edges” higher 150 points...

Study:Men Hard-Wired to Ignore Wives

February 14, 2007

When a man fails to help out around the house, his poor performance might be related to a subconscious tendency to resist doing anything his wife wants, a new study suggests.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251966,00.html

On-the-job naps might cut risk for heart problems

2/12/2007

CHICAGO (AP) — New research on napping provides the perfect excuse for office slackers, finding that a little midday snooze seems to reduce risks for fatal heart problems, especially among men.

In the largest study to date on the health effects of napping, researchers tracked 23,681 healthy Greek adults for an average of about six years. Those who napped at least three times weekly for about half an hour had a 37% lower risk of dying from heart attacks or other heart problems than those who did not nap...

...It's likely that women reap similar benefits from napping, but not enough of them died during the study to be sure, said Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the study's senior author and a researcher at Harvard University and the University of Athens Medical School….

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-02-12-naps-heart_x.htm

New Mexico orders 500 Talking Urinal Cakes

(Do we flush once for English and twice for Spanish?)

February 14, 2007

New Mexico is taking its fight against drunken driving to men's restrooms around the state. The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-DWI message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel.

"Hey there, big guy. Having a few drinks?" a female voice says a few seconds after an approaching male sets off a motion sensor in the device. "It's time to call a cab or ask a sober friend for a ride home."

...The state spent $21 for each talking urinal cake for the pilot program but will ask bars and restaurants to pay for future orders if the idea catch on, Mahesh said.

The cakes have enough battery power to last about three months... (OK, your job is to change the batteries in the urinal cakes this month...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070214/ap_on_fe_st/dwi_urinals

Grandma got run over by a hybrid...walking home from our house Christmas Eve… Some people are just never satisfied...

Group Says Hybrid Cars Are Too Quiet, Threaten Pedestrian Safety

February 14, 2007

Hybrid cars have been hailed as the answer to a litany of problems in the U.S., from global warming to gas prices. But now one group is labeling them as something else: a threat.

According to the National Federation of the Blind, hybrid cars, which run on an energy efficient mix of gasoline and electricity, are problematic for children, elderly pedestrians and the blind.

Why? Hybrids are much quieter than their conventional counterparts, so silent that the NFB says that they can be difficult to hear coming down the street. The group conducted tests to try to prove their point...

...In order to make the cars more audible and safer, the NFB would like to see manufacturers of the vehicles emit a signal or sound that would alert pedestrians and others of an oncoming car....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251998,00.htm l

so much for reducing noise pollution…

Study: Office Desks Havens for Bacteria

Feb 15 TUCSON, Ariz.-- Your office desk harbors far more bacteria than your workplace restroom, and if you're a woman, chances are your workspace has more germs than your male co-workers', a new research report shows.

Women have three to four times the number of bacteria in, on and around their desks, phones, computers, keyboards, drawers and personal items as men do, the study by University of Arizona professor Charles Gerba showed...

...Women's desks typically looked cleaner. But the knickknacks are more abundant, and cosmetics and hand lotions make prime germ-transfer agents, Gerba said. Makeup cases also make for fine germ homes, along with phones, purses and desk drawers.

Food in desk drawers also harbors lots of microorganisms, and it is more abundant among female office workers. Gerba found 75 percent of women had munchies in their desks…

...the worst overall office germ offender is men's wallets.

...The average office desktop has 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat, Gerba said. (I've heard this before and find it hard to believe... I’ll still take my chances with desk)

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/15/D8NA5FH00.html

I could have told them this without a study. What did they think would happen when the wolves were "reintroduced"?

Study: Wolves alter elk breeding pattern

Feb 16 BILLINGS, Mont. - The presence of wolves in and around Yellowstone National Park has led to changes in elk breeding patterns, likely a significant factor in the decline in elk populations…

… In addition to depredation by wolves, those herds regularly targeted by packs produced fewer pregnancies and calves, the study found...

...The reintroduction of wolves to the Yellowstone ecosystem more than a decade ago has led to numerous studies of the effects of the predators on everything from moose and beavers to willow trees and other plants.

[prior to reintroduction] ...no one had looked at how wolves might affect pregnancy rates...

(opps!!!!)

… Between 1994 and 2004, the elk count fell from 19,035 to 8,335... (That’s over 65%)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070217/ap_on_sc/wolves_and_elk

The wolf reintroduction is brought to you by the same type of environmental-whackos who are screeching about global warming...

UN report says US, UK 'worst places for children'

FEBRUARY 14, 2007

Britain and the United States are the worst places in the industrialised world for children to live, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). (Something to remember the next time kids come by colling money for UNICEF...)

They ranked among the bottom third in the study which looked at overall well-being, health and safety, education, relationships, risk and their own sense of well-being.

The study said that child poverty - defined as the percentage of children living in homes with incomes below 50 per cent of the national median - remains above the 15 per cent mark in Britain, the US and Ireland, as well as Spain, Portugal and Italy…

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FA0A688B-23CF-4A63-8AA0-C06FA3A7689E.htm

The study said that child poverty - defined as the percentage of children living in homes with incomes below 50 per cent of the national median… On this basis the kids in Mexico and any poor country are much better off than the kids in the US.

US, UK are worse than Sudan? The bottom 2% in the US still live better than 90% of the global population.

'Natural family' called derogatory to 'gays'

February 15, 2007 A special session of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is being held today at the Stanford University Law School where lawyers are arguing whether the words "natural family, marriage and family values" constitute "hate speech" that could intimidate city of Oakland workers.

The words were used by two city employees who wanted to launch a group of people who shared their interests and posted a notice on a city bulletin board after a series of notices from homosexual activists were delivered to them via the city's e-mail system, bulletin boards and memo distribution system.

But Robert Bobb, then city manager, and Joyce Hicks, then deputy director of the Community and Economic Development Agency, ordered their notice removed, because it contained "statements of a homophobic nature" and promoted "sexual-orientation-based harassment."

more at:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54265

Public school lawyers say parents have no say if public schools teach homosexuality

'State interest' argued in teaching homosexuality

February 14, 2007

Lawyers representing a Massachusetts school district named as a defendant in a parent's civil rights complaint have said teachers at Estabrook Elementary School have a "legitimate state interest" in teaching the homosexual lifestyle, and parents have no input into those decisions.

The arguments came in a recent hearing on the district's motion to dismiss the complaint filed by David Parker, a parent whose concern over the school's promotion of the homosexual agenda to grade-schoolers prompted a meeting with school officials, for which they had him arrested for trespassing...

...the school district argued...explained to the judge that, in their opinion, parents have no right to control what ideas the school presents to elementary schoolchildren, and if parents disagree with that dictate, they can take their children elsewhere.

"Once I have elected to send my child to public school, my fundamental right does not allow me to direct what my child is exposed to in the public school," said the school's lawyer...

Parker was represented by lawyers...who argued before Judge Mark Wolf that what the school calls "diversity training" more accurately would be called "indoctrination," since several viewpoints were absent from the school's presentations, and only the pro-homosexual position was present...The elementary curriculum promoting homosexuality, he said, was specifically intended to change a child's outlook of the world to something that his parents didn't teach him.

An ACLU lawyer, however, told the judge that "it is a tremendous bonus" for children to be given information of which their parents wouldn't approve, and that teaching children homosexuality when their parents' Biblical beliefs do not support that has nothing to do with a violation of religious freedom, according to the MassResistance.org reports...

...The brief filed earlier by the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders in support of the school's homosexual promotions said parental rights "have never meant that a parent can demand prior notice and the right to opt a child out of mere exposure to ideas in the public schools that a parent disapproves of."

...Parker was arrested and jailed in Lexington in April 2005 over his request – and the school's refusal – to notify him when adults discuss homosexuality or transgenderism with his elementary-age son. The school took that position despite a state law requiring such notification.

Then in April 2006 the same school chose to present the same single-perspective information, and again refused to notify Parker, who followed with the federal civil rights lawsuit.

Just days later, David Parker's son, Jacob, was beaten up at the school, officials said. MassResistance said a group of 8-10 kids surrounded him and took him out of sight of "patrolling aides," then pummeled and beat him...

...The school is claiming a state law permitting parents to pull their children applies only to classes in which such sensitive topics are the main focus, and the books promoting homosexuality were not the main focus...

...The European Human Rights Court several months ago concluded in a case involving similar objections that parents do not have an "exclusive" right to lead their children's education and any parental "wish" to have their children grow up without adverse influences "could not take priority over compulsory school attendance."

That court said a German family had no right to provide homeschooling for their children. The family had argued the public school endangered their children's religion beliefs and violated the family's Christian faith.

Irrelevant, said the court. "The parents' right to education did not go as far as to deprive their children of that experience," it said..

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54241

Analysis: Al Gore Ducks Northeast Blizzard

...The world's oceans are being heated by underwater tectonic activity — underwater volcanic eruptions and blisteringly hot magma seeping up from cracks in the sea floor.

The heated ocean water creates high levels of CO2 that it sends aloft along with huge amounts of moisture. That moisture becomes precipitation — rain in the spring, summer, and fall, and snow in the winter. Increased amounts of moisture in the upper atmosphere equals increased amounts of precipitation.

The hotter the oceans, the more water vapor sent heavenward and the heavier the precipitation. This explains the large number of record-breaking rainfalls we've been seeing in the past couple of years — with as noted above, areas of the United States getting 20 inches of rain in a day or so...

...The befuddled Gore keeps blathering about how the oceans are being heated by global warming, instead of the warming being created by the oceans, as the facts clearly show.

On his Web site www.iceagenow.com , Robert W. Felix provides the following information about ocean warming as a result of hydrothermic activity under the seas....

more at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/2/14/151325.shtml?s=lh

Scientific consensus - except for those other scientists

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/02/scientific_consensus_except_fo.html

Drop in smoking means less tax revenue

Feb 15, (That’s the fallacy of taxing ciggies. The purpose of taxes is to either raise revenue or discourage a certain behavior. I’ve always said they can’t have it both ways).

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Roland Henkel quit smoking in September and has been doing the math ever since: A week added to his life. More than 2,100 Marlboro Lights he hasn't smoked. And more than $400 he didn't spend on cigarettes...

...The state of Minnesota has been doing the math, too, and isn't quite as delighted.

Because of quitters like Henkel, Minnesota's tobacco tax revenue is expected to go into a gradual slide later this year — a drop that may grow even steeper with the expected passage of a statewide smoking ban.

Across the country, states are putting their treasuries under pressure by adopting smoking restrictions as well as higher cigarette taxes, which appear to be discouraging people from lighting up, as many health activists had hoped would happen.

State Sen. David Tomassoni, a Democrat who opposes a statewide smoking ban, said he worries about the lost tax dollars.

"The taxes on smoking are being used to fund education, they're being used to fund health care, they're being used to fund real things. Now, if we eliminate smoking, does it mean that those things go away?" Tomassoni said.

...It is clear that states could see some medical savings from reduced smoking, but it is difficult to say how much, and whether those savings might offset the lost tax revenue...

...Because of the downturn, states levied taxes on 2.8 billion fewer packs in 2005 than they did just five years earlier.

...Similarly, the federal cigarette tax has been bringing in less money each year since 2002. The amount dropped from $8.1 billion in 2002 to $7.7 billion in 2005, according to the same study...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070215/ap_on_re_us/smokers__money

It's always been about the money...if the governments really cared about your health they'd have banned smoking years ago, but they just couldn't let the $$ go. So much for caring!

Makes you wonder what the Muslims are finding, and destroying…

Muslims Dig Under Temple Mount, Don't Want Jews Digging Nearby

February 16, 2007

Jerusalem- Amid an ongoing storm over an Israeli archeological excavation near Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a top Islamic official declared Thursday that all digging in the city should be stopped - but an Israeli archeologist pointed out that the biggest excavation in the entire area has been carried out by Muslims, unauthorized, underneath the Mount itself…

...The Mount - the location of the biblical Temples - is Judaism's most revered site, but although Israel maintains overall sovereignty of the area, it allows an Islamic authority, the Waqf, to administer the site.

Below and to the west of the Mount, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is conducting excavations, about 100 meters (325 feet) from the mosque.

The IAA says the work is taking place now because archeologists want to recover artifacts before construction begins on a new bridge leading up to the Mughrabi Gate - the only entrance used by non-Muslims to access the Temple Mount. (Muslims use other entrances.)

...Israeli archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University said it was "cynical" for Husseini to call for all digging in the city to cease, as Muslims themselves have dug extensively beneath the Temple Mount.

In the late 1990s, the Waqf received a permit to open an emergency exit from a subterranean mosque below the Temple Mount. Instead, the Muslim authority carried out a massive building project, creating what has been called the largest mosque in the Middle East, the al-Marwani mosque, located beneath the Mount itself.

During that process, there was no archeological supervision, and tons of dirt containing artifacts from previous generations was dumped, archeologists said at the time. Israel chose not to intervene for fear of setting off a worldwide Islamic backlash, but many experts fear the unauthorized work may have destabilized the platform...

...She said the current IAA dig was "very important," having already yielded items dating back some 3,000 years to the first Jewish Temple period…

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200702/FOR20070216a.html

Homeschoolers fight bogus poisoning claim

Another family accused of letting children 'eat Cheerios dry' and listening to Christian music

February 16, 2007

..the Marrero family...were shocked when a social worker from the local Division of Children and Family Services visited, informing the family only that he was investigating them for alleged abuse and neglect of their children.

He later elaborated that he knew that the family's 12-year-old daughter had tested positive for abnormally high levels of arsenic...

..the Marrero family attorney Thomas Schmidt confirmed to the social worker that the test results indicating arsenic in the child's blood were anomalous because of a simple math error.

No matter, said the social worker, the case will go on because of "other" allegations, which turned out to be claims of Munchausen by Proxy syndrome...

...the entire investigation was based on a lab error, and the HSLDA would have various doctors testify that all medical testing and evaluation of the children gave no evidence of Munchausen by Proxy," the organization said...Weeks later, and after contacting the social worker's supervisor, the case was closed, officials said.

A second case arose a short time later, when a family in the Port Huron, Mich., area, whose name was withheld, was confronted by a social worker at their front door demanding entry.

The social worker crumpled up a document the mother handed her explaining why she wouldn't allow her entry into the home, then yelled that she would "come in now" and do a strip search of one of the children.

The tirade had been triggered by an anonymous tipster, who accused the family of "only allowing their two boys to listen to Christian music." The tipster also said the children "ate their Cheerios dry" and got nearly all their "socialization through their church."

...Then the tipster struck again, and the social worker jumped into action, renewing her demands for a strip search of the children.

When the social worker threatened she would seek a court order, Klicka noted that anonymous tips do not rise to the level of probable cause legally, so no court order was available.

The family later was notified the investigation was being dropped.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54292

Home School Legal Defense Association

http://www.hslda.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1

David Bennett <><

http://www.freewill-predestination.com