Clueless Emma

Evolution News & Views: The Fact-Free “Science” of Matheson, Hunt and Moran: Ridicule Instead of Reason, Authority Instead of Evidence

One might think that professors Matheson, Hunt and Moran would address the conceptual issue calmly, rationally, and collegially. But they don’t; instead, they stoop to misrepresentation and ridicule. And one might think that they would address the empirical issue by citing published scientific evidence. But they don’t; instead, they simply proclaim themselves the only authorities on the subject.

via www.evolutionnews.org

This is true of everyone on the Left of any issue, in my experience.

Hitler and Eugenics, Dawkins and Boteach, Concepts of God | Hitler and Christianity

When we National Socialists speak of a belief in God, we do not understand by God, like naïve Christians and their spiritual opportunists, a human-type being, who sits around somewhere in space . . . The force of natural law, with which all these innumerable planets move in the universe, we call the Almighty or God.

. . . we National Socialists impose on ourselves the demand to live naturally as much as possible, i.e., biologically. The more accurately we recognize and observe the laws of nature and of life, the more we adhere to them, so much the more do we conform to the will of the Almighty.

via hitlerandchristianity.com

Why Aren't Earth's Oldest Trees Older?

The sheer girth of certain ancient, wizened trees can take one’s breath away. Wired Science recently featured a collection of images of some of earth’s oldest trees. Although the age estimates given for these antique specimens vary from a few to tens of thousands of years, the majority of them are consistent with a biblical timeframe for earth history.

via www.icr.org

The Alphabet of Life

"DNA are three letters full of paradox. What they represent remains little understood by the public, yet they are on everyone's tongue. Amid the chatter of popular culture, the truth gets lost that DNA is one of the most powerful clues we have of the existence of a spiritual reality, maybe to the existence of God.

"For a fee, DNA testing can shed light on anyone's genetic ancestry, including whether you have "Jewish genes." There is supposed to be a "God gene" for religious belief in general. And a "gay gene." And so on.

"But all this is trivial compared to the largely unheralded insight gained from the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003. The insight is disturbing. It is that while DNA codes for the cell's building blocks, the information needed to build the rest of the creature is seemingly, in large measure, absent.

"CONSIDER THE HOX "master" genes that supposedly determine the spatial configuration of the front and back ends of creatures as diverse as frogs, mice and humans. As British physician James Le Fanu writes in a fascinating new book, Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves (Pantheon), Swiss biologist Walter Gehring showed that "the same 'master' genes mastermind the three-dimensional structures of all living things... The same master genes that cause a fly to have the form of a fly cause a mouse to have the form of a mouse." The physically encoded information to form that mouse, as opposed to that fly, isn't there. Instead, "It is as if the 'idea' of the fly (or any other organism) must somehow permeate the genome that gives rise to it."

"Such an understanding, of nature driven by a force outside nature, was dominant in biology before Darwin. Baron Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), director of Paris's Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, held that there was an unknown biological "formative impulse," an organizational principle of some kind that directed the formation of diverse kinds of life."

From The Berean Call email

The Truth is: "I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well" (Psalm 139:14).

Babies Grasp Dog's Emotions

A new study found that 6-month-olds can match the sounds of an angry snarl or friendly yap with photos of dogs showing the corresponding body language.

[Well, I dunno. I'm not sure one can determine what a baby is thinking just because she looks at a photo. Taxpayer dollars at work, I'm sure.]

True Love Can Last a Lifetime

Love's first blush fading? Lost that loving feeling? Love is not all around?
Scientists have used brain scans to study how long love lasts between couples.

Using brain scans, researchers at Stony Brook University in New York have discovered a small number of couples respond with as much passion after 20 years together as most people only do during the early throes of romance, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported.

The researchers scanned the brains of couples together for 20 years and compared them with results from new lovers, the Sunday Times said.

About 10 percent of the mature couples had the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as those just starting out.

Previous research has suggested that the first stages of romantic love fade within 15 months and after 10 years it has gone completely, the newspaper said.

"The findings go against the traditional view of romance -- that it drops off sharply in the first decade -- but we are sure it's real," said Arthur Aron, a psychologist at Stony Brook, told the Sunday Times.

[The Berean Call: "The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you" (Jeremiah 31:3). "Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old" (Psalm 25:6).]

APA revises 'gay gene' theory

The attempt to prove that homosexuality is determined biologically has been dealt a knockout punch. An American Psychological Association publication includes an admission that there's no homosexual "gene" -- meaning it's not likely that homosexuals are born that way.

For decades, the APA has not considered homosexuality a psychological disorder, while other professionals in the field consider it to be a "gender-identity" problem. But the new statement, which appears in a brochure called "Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality," states the following:

"There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles...."

That contrasts with the APA's statement in 1998: "There is considerable recent evidence to suggest that biology, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors, play a significant role in a person's sexuality."

DESIGNED NATURE

An element of nature "designed"-a slip-up or a rare admission?

"Sea urchin digging teeth are designed to stay sharp," begins a news release from the Weizmann Institute of Science. Two of the Institute's scientists, in conjunction with researchers elsewhere, have spent more than a decade studying how urchins dig holes into the seabed floor. The mystery is, how can urchins dig into solid limestone again and again without their five specialized teeth becoming blunt?

The answer is a "combination of ingenious design strategies." First, the scientists discovered crystals of strong magnesium calcite at the grinding tip of each tooth, which are in turn surrounded by a matrix of regular calcite crystals. This softer supporting structure allows the magnesium calcite crystals to remain at the surface of the tooth for maximum grinding effectiveness.

Second, the researchers used X-rays and other imaging technology to determine that the crystals are carefully aligned in two different arrays. The two arrays are interlocked right at the tip of the tooth in a way that resembles a file, augmenting the grinding capabilities of the tooth. Not only that, but the feature keeps itself sharp; wear on the tooth causes the crystals to break off in such a way that the tooth remains uneven and sharp.

We may never know exactly what God's original purpose was in designing the urchin teeth. What is clear, however, is that the teeth are yet another marvelous design-a word the news release can't avoid-and that this discovery adds to the ever-growing burden of complexity that evolution can only explain with time and chance.

(Answers in Genesis, News to Note, 5/9/09)

Heroism in the face of adversity: Dr Ben Carson

Well, now, why even bother with a plan at all? For that matter, why ever use condoms?

Plan B is a contraceptive that reduces the chance of pregnancy if taken within three days after sex. It contains a high dose of of birth control drugs. The drug works by preventing ovulation or by interfering with implantation of a fertilized egg. Opponents argue that is the equivalent of abortion.

In 2006, the FDA allowed Plan B to be sold without a prescription to adults, but only by pharmacies that checked photo ID before selling the pills. Girls 17 and younger were required to obtain a prescription.

Today a federal judge ordered the FDA to let 17-year-olds obtain the medication without a prescription [and without parental notification or permission].

Global Warming Skeptics Speak Out

Dr. Richard Lindzen, a well known atmospheric physicist and professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently spoke at the International Conference on Climate Change in New York...In the video, Lindzen says that endorsing global warming has made many scientists lives easier. One example is through funding of research.

President Klaus has been one of the few politicians in Europe speaking out against global warming alarmism. In this video, Klaus questions the motives of environmentalists.

Source: AccuWeather

Ahhhh...how cute!

Pinky, the rare albino dolphin who has been spotted in the lake Calcasieu In Louisiana, USA. Photograph: Captain Erik Rue /Caters News Agency Ltd

FOSSIL FACTS

Science journalist Richard Milton, who is not a Christian, sums up the evidence for ape-to-human evolution from the fossil record: "The position today is that all fossil remains which were previously assigned some intermediate status between apes and humans have later been definitely reassigned into the categories of either extinct ape or human, and this reassignment has been accepted by all but the most fanatical devotees of this or that fossil...the missing link is still missing." (Richard Milton, Shattering the Myths of Darwinism, Rochester, Virginia: Park Street Press, 1997, 207).

Your family tree does not trace back to apes. Rather you (and all humans) are the result of a special creation by God. You are made in the image of a good and all-powerful God who loves you deeply (Genesis 1:26-27). He has equipped you with the capacity to think, love, feel, and worship. That truth sets you above all other life forms. YOU are God's masterpiece (Psalm 139).

SURPRISING EVIDENCE FOR INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Discover [magazine] is one of the most widely read popular-level science magazines. And like the vast majority of science journals and magazines, it is decidedly naturalistic. Nevertheless, the article ["A Universe Built for Us" (pp. 52-58) describes] how our cosmos "seems inexplicably well designed for life" (p. 52).

The reason the author of the article, concluded the universe appears designed is because of how exquisitely the laws of physics are fine-tuned for the emergence and sustenance of life....the properties of the universe "are uncannily suited for life. Tweak the laws of physics in just about any way and-in this universe, anyway-life as we know it would not exist" (p. 52).

One example of fine-tuning of life is the mass of the proton. If protons were 0.2 percent more massive than they actually are, they would be unstable and would decay into simpler protons. As a result, atoms could not exist-and neither could we! There are so many other examples like this..."that physicists can't dismiss them all as mere accidents" (p. 54). So, what is the cause of these striking "accidents?" [the author] concludes:

"Call it a fluke, a mystery, a miracle. Or call it the biggest problem in physics. Short of invoking a benevolent creator, many physicists see only one possible explanation: Our universe may be one of perhaps infinitely many universes in an inconceivably vast universe" (p. 54).

Sit down and enjoy a cold one. One.

In a study of 1580 Australian men, drinkers reported up to 30 per cent fewer [romantic] problems than teetotallers.

Eat More Worms and Dirt!

Researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma.

These studies, along with epidemiological observations, seem to explain why immune system disorders like multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies have risen significantly in the United States and other developed countries.

Twins of a Different Color

Twins of different skin color are now the older siblings of another set of twins of different skin color! Twins Hayleigh and Lauren Durrant were newsworthy from their birth in 2001: Hayleigh's skin and hair is dark brown like her dad, while Lauren has light skin, blue eyes, and red hair like her mom. Their parents are described by the Sun as "mixed race," which is misleading: the girls and their parents are all part of the human race, with the most noticeable (but superficial) difference being different amounts of skin pigment. That's why Hayleigh and her dad have darker brown skin, while Lauren and her mom have lighter brown skin. It is a powerful reminder of the Bible's teaching that we are all equally human, descendants of the same ancestors (through Noah), with "race" an artificial human construct. If that story's not powerful enough, mother Alison has now "repeated the two-tone miracle," the Sun reports. The family's newest additions, twins Leah and Miya, are likewise not the same skin shade. Leah's skin, like Lauren's and their mother's, is light brown, while Miya's, like Hayleigh's and their father's, is dark brown. Alison reports that "Lauren and Hayleigh think the new arrivals are fantastic," and the Sun story includes several photographs of the now six-member family. Thankfully, father Dean says that while "some people have looked at us a little bit funny . . . [l]ooking so different has never caused them any problems." Nonetheless, schoolmates of Hayleigh and Lauren have erroneously said, "You can't be twins because you're different colors." Of course, it's sad that this story has to be any more surprising than twins born with different hair color. In reality, siblings-or a couple-with different skin color is essentially as genetically trivial as siblings or a couple with different hair or eye color. Only about one hundredth of a percent of human biological variation concerns "racial" characteristics-so two people of different races can actually be more similar, genetically, than two people of the same race. But the schoolmates' comments reveal how society's imposed construct of "race" is distorted-even to the point of not recognizing others as fully human. How tragic the crimes that have been committed in the name of "races"!

Ann Coulter--MURDER SPREE BY PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO ASK FOR DIRECTIONS

...The Treason Times' banner series about Iraq and Afghanistan veterans accused of murder began in January last year but was quickly discontinued as readers noticed that the Times doggedly refused to provide any statistics comparing veteran murders with murders in any other group.

So they waited a year, hoping readers wouldn't notice they were still including no relevant comparisons.

What, for example, is the percentage of murderers among veterans compared to the percentage of murderers in the population at large -- or, more germane, in the general population of young males, inasmuch as violent crime is committed almost exclusively by young men?

Any group composed primarily of young men will contain a seemingly mammoth number of murderers.

Consider the harmless fantasy game, Dungeons and Dragons -- which happens to be played almost exclusively by young males. When murders were committed in the '80s by (1) young men, who were (2) Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts, some people concluded that factor (2), rather than factor (1), led to murderous tendencies.

Similarly, for its series about how America's bravest and finest young men are really a gang of psychopathic cutthroats, the Times triumphantly produced 121 homicides committed by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in order to pin the blame for the murders on the U.S. military.

Perhaps the Times' next major expose could be on how a huge percentage of murderers are people who won't ask for directions or share the TV remote.

Let's compare murders by veterans to murders by other 18- to 35-year-olds in the U.S. population at large. From 1976 to 2005, 18- to 24-year-olds -- both male and more gentle females -- committed homicide at a rate of 29.9 per 100,000. Twenty-five- to 35-year-olds committed homicides at a rate of 15.8 per 100,000.

Since 9/11, about 1.6 million troops have served in either Iraq or Afghanistan. That makes the homicide rate among veterans of these wars 7.6 per 100,000 -- or about one-third the homicide rate for their age group (18 to 35) in the general population of both sexes.

But fewer than 200,000 of the 1.6 million troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have been women, and the murder rate for the general population includes both males and females. Inasmuch as males commit nearly 90 percent of all murders, the rate for males in those age groups is probably nearly double the male/female combined rates, which translates to about 30 to 55 murderers per 100,000 males aged 18 to 35.

So comparing the veterans' rate of murder to only their male counterparts in the general population, we see that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are about 10 times less likely to commit a murder than non-veterans of those wars.

But as long as the Times has such a burning interest in the root causes of murder, how about considering the one factor more likely to create a murderer than any other? That is the topic we're not allowed to discuss: single motherhood.

As I describe in my new book, "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America," controlling for socioeconomic status, race and place of residence, the strongest predictor of whether a person will end up in prison is that he was raised by a single parent. (The second strongest factor is owning a Dennis Kucinich bumper sticker.)

...By 1996, 70 percent of inmates in state juvenile detention centers serving long-term sentences were raised by single mothers. Seventy percent of teenage births, dropouts, suicides, runaways, juvenile delinquents and child murderers involve children raised by single mothers. Girls raised without fathers are more sexually promiscuous and more likely to end up divorced.

A 1990 study by the left-wing Progressive Policy Institute showed that, after controlling for single motherhood, the difference in black and white crime disappeared.

Various studies come up with slightly different numbers, but all the figures are grim. A study cited in the far left-wing Village Voice found that children brought up in single-mother homes "are five times more likely to commit suicide, nine times more likely to drop out of high school, 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances, 14 times more likely to commit rape (for the boys), 20 times more likely to end up in prison, and 32 times more likely to run away from home."

With new children being born, running away, dropping out of high school and committing murder every year, it's not a static problem to analyze. But however the numbers are run, single motherhood is a societal nuclear bomb.

Think I'm being cruel? Imagine an America with 60 to 70 percent fewer juvenile delinquents, teenage births, teenage suicides and runaways, and you will appreciate what the sainted "single mothers" have accomplished.

Even in liberals' fevered nightmares, predatory mortgage dealers, oil speculators and Ken Lay could never do as much harm to their fellow human beings as single mothers do to their own children, to say nothing of society at large.

But the Times won't run that series because liberals adore single motherhood and the dissolution of traditional marriage in America. They detest the military, so they cite a few anecdotal examples of veterans who have committed murder and hope that no one asks for details.

Ann Coulter

Financial success determined by length of ring finger?

The length of a man's ring finger may predict his success as a financial trader. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England report that men with longer ring fingers, compared to their index fingers, tended to be more successful in the frantic high-frequency trading in the London financial district.

The same ring-to-index finger ratio has previously been associated with success in competitive sports such as soccer and basketball, the researchers noted.

The length ratio between those two fingers is determined during the development of the fetus and the relatively longer ring finger indicates greater exposure to the male hormone androgen, the researchers noted.

Previous studies have found that such exposure can lead to increased confidence, risk preferences, search persistence, heightened vigilance and quickened reaction times.

In a separate study last year, Coates and colleagues reported that the hormone that drives male aggression and sexual interest also seemed able to boost short term success at finance.

Bipolar Kids Need Nutrition, Not Junk Food and More Drugs

The NY Times Magazine's cover story, "The Bipolar Kid" (September 14, 2008), is a very bleak article. While emphasizing the miseries of living with such a child, Jennifer Egan's article offers little hope except for ever-increasing doses of lithium. Long on discussions of definitions and diagnoses, it is remarkably short on treatment alternatives. Not a word about diet. Not a word about vitamins. Indeed, in this 9,500 word feature, describing the daily life of an out-of-control, beyond-ADHD boy, the word "nutrition" is not mentioned at all. Neither are the words "sugar" or "caffeine." What astounding omissions. Pediatrician Lendon H. Smith, M.D., nationally famous as "The Children's Doctor," was very plain in stating that sugar causes profound mood disorders. He specifically advised parents to give their children a "sugarless diet without processed foods." (1) It is not easy. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has reported that children between the ages of six and eleven drink nearly a pint of soda pop a day. 20% of toddlers drink soda pop, nearly a cup daily. (2) And, of the seven best selling soft drinks, six have caffeine in them. In sensitive persons, caffeine can cause psychotic behavior. (3) Another word totally absent from the Times article is "vitamin." Psychiatrist Abram Hoffer, M.D., has had decades of experience and considerable success treating children's behavioral disorders with vitamins. High doses of vitamin B-3 (niacin, or niacinamide) were first used by Hoffer and colleague Dr. Humphrey Osmond in the early 1950s. The trials were double-blind and placebo controlled. Over half a century later, vitamin therapy has still been largely ignored by the psychiatric profession, and, evidently, by some newspapers. References: (1) Smith L. Foods for Healthy Kids. Berkley, 1991. ISBN-10: 0425127087; ISBN-13: 978-0425127087 (2) Jacobson MF. Liquid Candy: How soft drinks are harming Americans' health. http://www.cspinet.org/sodapop/liquid_candy.htm Accessed Sept 18, 2008. (3) Whalen R. Welcome to the dance: caffeine allergy, a masked cerebral allergy and progressive toxic dementia. Trafford Publishing, 2005. ISBN-10: 1412050006; ISBN-13: 978-1412050005. Reviewed in J Orthomolecular Med, 2005. Vol 20, No 3, p 215-217 and at http://www.doctoryourself.com/news/v5n11.rtf Synopsis at http://www.doctoryourself.com/caffeine_allergy.html (Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 16, 2008) from: www.thebereancall.org

What Happens to Religion When It Is Biologized?

"Zoloft works better than God," a Catholic priest once told me during a conversation about depression. This is not the kind of man to give up on faith; our talks always finish with his reminders to pray. But in matters of body, and in matters of mind more and more, he and many others sense the right thing to do-religiously--is to consult a scientist. In recent years, such common sense has given rise to a new paradigm in the study of human religiosity, one founded in a laboratory understanding of biology and the human mind. Together, these researchers are attempting to "biologize" religion, recalling E.O. Wilson's notorious call for inquiry into human values "to be removed temporarily from the hands of philosophers and biologized." And, like Wilson's, their efforts have been fraught with controversy. Driven by a growing confidence in cognitive science, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and genetics, the wider public has begun to embrace truly scientific (as well as pseudo-scientific) explanations of religious beliefs and practices. This idea takes root in an era that led the first President Bush to declare the 1990s "the decade of the brain," one in which mental illnesses are treated increasingly through psychiatric drugs rather than analysis or spiritual practice alone. Popular magazines, from Newsweek and Time to the New York Times Magazine, have paraded the research around with catchy labels like "the God spot," "the God gene," and "Darwin's God." People with a variety of religious perspectives, from Western Buddhists to evangelical Christians to the anti-religious, have explored and discussed biological accounts of belief, each bringing to it their sometimes contradictory assumptions and interpretations. Biologizing is a research project, but it is also a manifestation of a public desire to understand religiosity in the terms of science. So what happens to religion when it is biologized? Many would intuitively believe philosopher and "New Atheist" Daniel Dennett, whose best-selling Breaking the Spell framed biologizing religiosity and overcoming it as two sides of the same coin; one leads naturally to the other. Confident in the possibility of this research, Dennett contends that "we" should "gently, firmly educate the people of the world, so that they can make truly informed choices about their lives," choices that he believes will involve dispelling religion. Less optimistically, but along similar lines, cognitive anthropologist Scott Atran suspects that "religious belief in the supernatural will be here to stay" despite those who come to understand it scientifically. He and other biologizers prefer to maintain a more agnostic stance than Dennett, purporting to pursue a scientific study of religion apart from biases and agendas. Scientific methods, they suggest, liberate the study of religion from ideological and theological debates. http://www.searchmagazine.org/May-June%202008/full-bioreligion.html [The Berean Call: It was Sigmund Freud who declared that "religion is the universal neurosis of humanity." Furthermore, there is evidence that Freud hated Christianity, which he erroneously regarded as anti-Semitic. How then would this atheistic rejecter of organized religion advance doctrines of devils? By founding the "religion" of psychoanalysis. None of Freud's theories, whether psychic determinism or psychosexual development or belief in the unconscious, have any scientific validity; moreover, they are religious beliefs that are antithetical to the doctrines of the Bible. Research psychiatrist Thomas Szasz had Freud primarily in mind when he declared, "...modern psychotherapy...is not merely a religion that pretends to be a science, it is actually a fake religion that seeks to destroy true religion."

Ecological Footprint Television Ad Campaign

The TV spots point out that when immigrants settle in the U.S., their energy use quickly becomes Americanized. As a result their carbon emissions skyrocket.  The result is a quadrupling of immigrants’ carbon footprints compared to the amount of carbon emissions they produced in their home countries.

The TV spot is based on a Center for Immigrations Studies (CIS) report about U.S. immigration and carbon emissions.  While the CAPS TV spot is focused more on future carbon emissions, the CIS study looks at current carbon emissions.  Currently, US immigrants produce an estimated 637 million metric tons of CO2 annually or the same amount of carbon emissions currently produced by Great Britain and Sweden, combined. CAPS' TV campaign is running as America faces the largest population increase in its history. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau projections, U.S. population will jump from 305 million today to more than 400 million by 2040. That's a 33 percent increase yielding an additional 100 million more people in just the next thirty years. It’s an increase equivalent to adding another entire Western half of the country. According to Pew Research, 82 percent of that growth will be a result of immigration and births to immigrants.

US Army awards contract to develop ways to harness soldiers' thoughts

...A soldier could radio commands to one or many comrades by thinking of the message he wanted to relay and who should get it. Initially, the recipients would most likely hear transmissions rendered by a robotic voice via earphones. But scientists eventually hope to deliver a version in which commands are rendered in the speaker's voice and indicate the speaker's distance and direction from the listener.

Sleazeballs. Is there nothing off limits in the mentally deficient Leftist mind?

From Michelle Malkin:

Former DNC chair Don Fowler (via redstate diarist Absentee, who caught Fowler and Democrat Rep. John Spratt’s candid, malicious comments on a plane from Denver to Charlotte.) Transcript via Ed Morrissey.

    The hurricane’s going to hit New Orleans about the time they start.             [Chuckle] The timing is — at least it appears now that it’ll be there Monday. That just demonstrates that God’s on our side. [Laughter] … Everything’s cool.

God is not on your side, gloating sleazeballs.

Alan Combes suggests Governor Sara Palin did not take care of herself, resulting in Trig's Down Syndrome

Speechless. Truly.

The cruelty. The ignorance. The stupidity.

Always shocking to see just how twisted is the liberal mentality/lack of morality. Better to kill "imperfect" babies. Freedom of choice is mandatory...unless a woman chooses life.

I feel sick.

A MYTH THAT KILLS--here ya go, Libs

July 3, 2008 --New York Post

THE Senate is near to passing a massive $50 billion Emergency Plan for HIV/ AIDS Relief - a bill whose priorities are based on myth, just like virtually all anti-AIDS efforts worldwide.

The world's top AIDS bureaucrat recently admitted the truth: "It is very unlikely that there will be a heterosexual epidemic" outside Africa, Kevin de Cock, director of the World Health Organization, told London's Independent newspaper. His bosses at the United Nations issued an official denial - but couldn't truly challenge his science.

The effort to "democratize" AIDS dates back to the mid-1980s, when the media and health officials began a desperate and concerted effort to divert attention and make it seem everyone was at risk. The 1985 Life magazine cover, blaring "NOW NO ONE IS SAFE FROM AIDS" in huge red letters, represents this effort. Surgeon General Everett Koop coined the term "heterosexual AIDS explosion" in 1987, while in 1993 HHS Secretary Donna Shalala told Congress that AIDS may leave "nobody left."

Even today, the Centers for Disease Control's HIV/AIDS Web site refuses to acknowledge any difference in the risks of AIDS between anal, vaginal or oral sex.

Peter Piot, now executive director of UNAIDS, warned as late as 1997 that "HIV will cut through Asian populations like a hot knife through cold butter." UNAIDS's 2001 estimate had 30 million infected adults in sub-Saharan Africa.

Last year, the UN had to cut that Africa figure by almost half - and drop its Asia number by 38 percent from just the year before. Dr. James Chin, a former top AIDS epidemiologist at the World Health Organziation, has long declared the UN figures to be to too high and insists they still are.

In fact, there was never any indication AIDS had or would "break out" from the well-defined risk-behavior groups, as I was writing as far back as 1987 and in my 1990 book "The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS."

I'm no Nostradamus. I merely analyzed public data and studies showing how terribly difficult the disease is to transmit vaginally or orally. But the myths are still the basis for AIDS policy.

The group Fair Allocations in Research compiles statistics on federal spending to fight various diseases, compared to how many Americans each disease kills. Measured that way, we spend 21 times as much on AIDS as cancer - and 78 times what we spend on coronary artery disease, 97 times anti-stroke spending.

Plus, the Ryan White Act mandates taxpayer handouts to HIV/AIDS victims of about $1.2 billion a year. We have no remotely similar program for victims of any other disease.

The same official grotesque distortion holds internationally. Chin charges that the United Nations puts HIV/AIDS victims on a pedestal while other disease victims stay submerged in deadly muck.

Robert England (who heads the charity Health Systems Workshop) recently made the same point in the British Medical Journal: "Although HIV causes 3.7 percent of [worldwide] mortality, it receives 25 percent of international health-care aid."

"In the fight against AIDS, profiteering has trumped prevention," declared Sam L. Ruteikara, co-chair of Uganda's National AIDS-Prevention Committee, in a Washington Post essay this week. "AIDS is no longer simply a disease; it has become a multibillion-dollar industry."

Consider: A 2008 WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF report demands AIDS drugs for every victim worldwide, requiring spending hikes from $8.1 billion now to $35 billion by 2010. Yet AIDS remains incurable. Conversely, an African with non-resistant tuberculosis is curable with merely $25 of drugs.

"Easily preventable diseases are still killing millions of children each year, while billions of dollars are being squandered annually by AIDS programs . . . who are not at risk," says Chin. (Yes, the Senate bill funds anti-TB and -malaria programs - but not anything like its anti-AIDS spending.)

The skewed priorities even hurt AIDS efforts. "UNAIDS' perpetuation of the myth that everyone is at risk of AIDS has led to billions wasted on prevention programs," Chin insists. "Insufficient outreach programs for those in the highest-risk population have clearly led to infections that could have been prevented."

Ruteikara says, "The proportion of Ugandans infected with HIV plunged from 21 percent in 1991 to 6 percent in 2002. But international AIDS experts who came to Uganda said we were wrong to try to limit people's sexual freedom. Worse, they had the financial power to force their casual-sex agendas upon us." And now, "as fidelity and abstinence have been subverted, Uganda's HIV rates have begun to tick back up."

There is no precedent in history for such myth-driven "democratization" of a disease, nor for the abominable unfairness in allocating funds away from so many curable illnesses. Says England: "We have created a monster with too many vested interests and reputations at stake."

Michael Fumento is director of Education and Research for the American Security Council Foundation in Washington, DC.

WHOO-HOO!!

A type of fat that accumulates around the hips and bottom may actually offer some protection against diabetes, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They said subcutaneous fat, or fat that collects under the skin, helped to improve sensitivity to the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar.

Bad Allergies? Ditch the tech stuff!

Fox News reports that exposure to the nickel in cell phones and the radiation from ipods may increase sensitivity to allergies and trigger similar symptoms.


This makes sense, in a way...my kids and I have had allergy symptoms throughout the winter, which is odd--usually it's mostly in the spring, and this was a particularly long, cold winter.

There is also a claim that the radiation messes with the central nervous system, which is rather scary and certainly something to look into!

Sin, not evolution, is the cause of racism

[W]hile racism did not begin with Darwinism, the theories promoted by Darwin did fan the flames of racist thought and ideology. The founder of... Answers in Genesis says in the book The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin applied his evolutionary ideas to humans, saying the Australian aborigines and the dark-skinned people of Africa were more closely related to apes then to Caucasians.

"[In Darwin's eyes] the Caucasians were the highest race. He talks about the lower races ... the savage races, and so it goes on." "So we have to understand that evolution inherently is a racist philosophy. We wanted to highlight this and help people understand that connection -- how evolution was used by Hitler, for instance, to justify what he did to the Jews and gypsies and mentally handicapped and others."

Sin -- not evolution -- is the cause of racism..."Just like evolution is not the cause of abortion or the cause of gay marriage or whatever....But when people are taught that they're just animals and ... evolve from ape-like ancestors, and [that] there's no God and you're the result of natural processes, then why shouldn't you look down on another particular people group?"

The solution to racism, according to [author Ken] Ham, is to get back to the foundational truths of God's Word, which states that there is only one race, with all humans descended from Adam and Eve and all equal before God. 
 

SORRY, BUT TURBO STAYS IN MY BED

As if we aren't paranoid enough with constant fearmongering sky-is-falling media pronouncements, English doctor warns not to let dogs sleep in bedrooms!

Will Feminists Again Attempt To Censor Science?

Last week, Science Daily reported on a study from Northwestern University which proved "that girls have superior language abilities than boys...and gender differences in language appear biological." Through MRI scans, the researchers discovered that girls’ brains work harder and use more areas during language tasks than boys’—leading them to conclude that "boys’ and girls’ brains are different."

This is bad news for feminists, who insist that men and women are really the same (besides the obvious physical distinctions), and that any differences are the products of socialization, 'gender roles' and discrimination—and any scientist who suggests otherwise will be punished.

1 IN 4 TEENS HAS STD

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that one in four teenagers has a sexually transmitted disease (STD). CWA President Wendy Wright comments on this shocking revelation and the policy decisions by government agencies, lawmakers and even some physicians that have led to this epidemic. She also shares some common sense responses for parents who want their children to make healthy decisions based on God's will and scientific fact. Listen | Download

DON'T FORGET TO SPRING FORWARD!

The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time. Saving is used as a verbal adjective a participle. It modifies time and tells us more about its nature; namely, that it is characterized by the activity of saving daylight. It is a saving daylight kind of time. Because of this, it would be more accurate to refer to DST as daylight-saving time. Similar examples would be a mind-expanding book or a man-eating tiger. It usage is the same as in saving a ball game, rather than as in savings account. Nevertheless, many people feel the word savings with an "s" flows more mellifluously off the tongue. Daylight Savings Time is also in common usage, and can be found in dictionaries. Adding to the confusion is that the phrase Daylight Saving Time is inaccurate, since no daylight is actually saved. Daylight Shifting Time would be more accurate, but the phrase is not politically desirable.

Although some of the stuff here is interesting, the website offering this information seems politically Leftist--under the bubble "anecdotes" is a "haha funny" story about fighting Israelis, here called terrorists, who were confused about the time change and blew themselves up. 

NO SINGLE PAYER GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE!!

DIY, New Age Religions Do More Harm Than Good

Meditation, crystal therapy, self-help books - think they're making you happier? Think again. A Brisbane academic has found a strong link between new-age spirituality and poor mental health in young people.

Rosemary Aird examined a possible correlation between new forms of spirituality and mental health as part of her University of Queensland PhD studies.

After surveying more than 3700 Brisbane-based 21-year-olds, she found spirituality and self-focused religions may undermine a person's mental health.

"I had a look at two different beliefs - one was a belief in God, associated with traditional religions, and the other was the newer belief in a spiritual or higher power other than God," Dr Aird said.

The research found non-traditional belief was linked with higher rates of anxiety, depression, disturbed and suspicious ways of thinking and anti-social behaviour.

"Traditional religion tends to promote the idea of social responsibility and thinking of others' interests, whereas the new-age movement pushes the idea that we can transform the world by changing ourselves.

Young people with new-age beliefs were twice as likely to be more anxious and depressed than those with traditional beliefs, the research found.

As people have moved away from traditional religious beliefs in recent times, most have been left with a desire to find meaning and purpose in life, she said.

The popular self-help and how-to book phenomenon has also created a DIY-spirituality process and further removed the community aspect from development and religion.

Top psychiatrist concludes liberals clinically nuts

Just when liberals thought it was safe to start identifying themselves as such, an acclaimed, veteran psychiatrist is making the case that the ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder.

"Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Dr. Lyle Rossiter, author of the new book, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness."

"Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave."

While political activists on the other side of the spectrum have made similar observations,

Rossiter boasts professional credentials and a life virtually free of activism and links to "the vast right-wing conspiracy."

For more than 35 years he has diagnosed and treated more than 1,500 patients as a board-certified clinical psychiatrist and examined more than 2,700 civil and criminal cases as a board-certified forensic psychiatrist. He received his medical and psychiatric training at the University of Chicago.

Rossiter says the kind of liberalism being displayed by the two major candidates for the Democratic Party presidential nomination can only be understood as a psychological disorder.

WATER FLOODED ALL THE WAY TO THE HEAVENS? HMMMM...WHERE HAVE I HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE...

Sudden, tremendous gushes of water from underground most likely carved out unusual fan-shaped geological formations with steps like a staircase long ago on the surface of Mars, scientists said on Wednesday.

Erin Kraal, a researcher at Virginia Tech University who led the study published in the journal Nature, said these Martian formations probably formed quickly -- in a period of decades not hundreds, thousands or millions of years.

And they involved a lot of water. Hmmm...maybe like a catastrophic flood?

PANIC, PANIC, PANIC! WATERS OFF OREGON COAST DEADZONE, GLOBAL WARMING DANGER!

Oh, but we really don't know what is causing sea life to die in certain waters, so we'll just call it global warming. And really, it doesn't hurt the fishing industry, but we'll just add fuel to the fire. And it's normal in deeper waters, but we don't dare suggest this may just be a natural change. And maybe it's due to warming trends, but we'll ignore that it may be temporary, since we like to blame human beings for everything, and demand lots of taxpayer money to burn in an attempt to say we're doing something but really, there is nothing we can do.

On The "Moral Instinct"

Scientists work feverishly to unravel the mysteries of the mind and they are many. In The Time's Magazine this week, Stephen Pinker writes about what motivates man's moral decisions. He calls it the "moral instinct". Instinct implies that men are born encoded with morality--it's instinctual. Perhaps. My thought is that man is born with the bias toward morality.

So there are five factors that appear to be encoded to people's moral sense no matter where they live in the world:

When anthropologists like Richard Shweder and Alan Fiske survey moral concerns across the globe, they find that a few themes keep popping up from amid the diversity. People everywhere, at least in some circumstances and with certain other folks in mind, think it's bad to harm others and good to help them. They have a sense of fairness: that one should reciprocate favors, reward benefactors and punish cheaters. They value loyalty to a group, sharing and solidarity among its members and conformity to its norms. They believe that it is right to defer to legitimate authorities and to respect people with high status. And they exalt purity, cleanliness and sanctity while loathing defilement, contamination and carnality.

The exact number of themes depends on whether you're a lumper or a splitter, but Haidt counts five -- harm, fairness, community (or group loyalty), authority and purity -- and suggests that they are the primary colors of our moral sense. Not only do they keep reappearing in cross-cultural surveys, but each one tugs on the moral intuitions of people in our own culture.

So every culture exhibits these traits to one extent or another.

[TheBereanCall: According to Scripture, "...when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts..." (Romans 2:14-15). It should not be surprising then, when researchers find evidence of the same.]

OOOH, CAN TEACHERS HAVE ONE, TOO?

SONIC DEVICES CHASE KIDS AWAY

PARENTS SUE B/C THEY UNKNOWINGLY BURIED THEIR SON WITHOUT HIS BRAIN

It was years after Mark and Diane Albrecht laid their son Christopher to rest that they discovered they had not buried all of him.

His brain had been removed for tests by an Ohio county coroner trying to determine why the seemingly healthy 30-year-old man had died. It was never returned.

The Albrechts' discovery that they had buried their son without his brain has led to a federal class-action suit that could cost local governments millions of dollars, force changes in the way medical examiners perform their jobs and establish new rights for the next of kin.

The suit argues that the next of kin, not the state, should make decisions on how to dispose of organs no longer needed for testing, and that denial of such a right violates the Constitution's promise of due process. The federal lawsuit names 87 of Ohio's 88 counties; the other, Hamilton County, which encompasses Cincinnati, has already settled with families for $6 million.

Beyond that, the case has presented two separate courts with existential questions about death and burial rites, religion and grief, and the interests that loved ones have in the remains of the departed.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. The Washington Post article continues to "examine" the  issue.

Here's the deal: Thank God, I can only imagine the pain of losing a child. We suddenly lost my 32-year old brother in November, just before Thanksgiving. I grieved with my parents in their emptiness, loss, inevitable guilt (what could we have done better), etc, etc. It shook me to the core to peek into the depth of such a loss, made me hold on tighter to my babies.

But our bodies are temporary. They are temples, which with we are to honor God in this life before eternity. When we lose a leg or an arm, we continue with the opportunity to live full lives--body parts are not significant to the individual soul.

We survive heart transplants, and if any organ should make a difference to life, it would be the heart! We don't become different individuals with different personalities. We can become blind, or even endure brain injuries, and though sadly, we may change in ability or memory, our soul remains.

To suggest that we are not burying our loved ones because they're missing an organ is simply unsubstantiated, over-emotional, and, in this case, egregious. I'm appalled that this family is suing the medical examiner, that this case could impact small town laws and budgets, horrified at what I imagine could transpire in the name of grief.

Sometimes it is best to step back, accept fate or karma or God's will, experience the pain, and just let them go.

WHO KNEW??

Sneezing etiquette and the efficacy of masks in the operating theatre remain a subject of debate.

Gene study suggests Native Americans came from Siberia

A US genetic study bolsters claims that Native Americans are descended from one migrant group that crossed a lost land link from modern Siberia to Alaska -- not waves of arrivals from Asia, as rival theories say.

The new study by the University of Michigan, published Monday, examined genes of indigenous people from North to South America and from two Siberian groups, the university said in a report introducing the research.

Analysis found one unique genetic variant widespread across both the northern and southern American continents -- suggesting that all Native Americans were descended from a single group, not various ones as the rival theory holds.

This variant "has not been found in genetic studies of people elsewhere in the world except eastern Siberia," the report said.

"If there were a large number of migrations, and most of the source groups didn't have the variant, then we would not see the widespread presence of the mutation in the Americas," Noah Rosenberg, a geneticist who worked on the study, was quoted as saying.

The study also found that genetic diversity increased the further away people were from the Bering Strait -- as would be expected if the migration were "relatively recent," the report said, citing the authors of the study.



[The Berean Call: This article does a number of things. One, it is another nail in the Book of Mormon's coffin, dismantling further the idea of a semitic origin for American Indians. Secondly, it also would support the Bible's account of the dispersion from
Babel]

TALK ABOUT PUTTING THE BEAR BEFORE THE CART

Do polar bears, which have become the poster child for the potential ravages of future global warming, need special protection from Uncle Sam now?       

That's the question under consideration at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which is poised to recommend whether the icon of the Arctic should be officially designated as a threatened species – even though the bear's numbers currently are not in precipitous decline.

The judiciousness of protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), in anticipation that its frozen habitat will be thawing as a consequence of climate change, is a matter of hot debate. Many scientists say Arctic wildlife is experiencing the repercussions of a warming planet more rapidly than organisms in other regions, but others say listing the bear would cause economic hardship and do next to nothing to save its habitat.        

"This is a complex issue because we have most polar bear populations not showing significant declines at the moment, but we have a lot of climate models and data showing great losses in the foreseeable future," says Chris Tollefson of the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the federal agency responsible for protecting wildlife and their habitats. The service's recommendation is due by Jan. 9.

      

If listed, the polar bear would be the first mammal listed as threatened as a consequence of global warming, and the federal government would be required to take action to protect it in Alaska, the only place in the US the bear lives, and in places the US issues permits. The ESA defines a threatened species as one likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.

      

With as many as 25,000 wild polar bears dispersed across five countries, the species is not exactly teetering on the edge of oblivion, say opponents of the effort. The World Conservation Union (IUCN), though, reports that five of the Arctic's 19 polar bear populations are already experiencing declines, as the bears lose habitat and food because of melting sea ice.

Even within the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, where global warming is considered a threat to the state, many regard the reasoning behind preemptively listing the polar bear as flimsy.  

"There is currently a healthy population of polar bears worldwide," says Ken Taylor, the department's deputy commissioner. "We are concerned that if they use climate modeling to project 45 years ahead, we might be getting too subjective scientifically."

 

HEHEHEHE....BRING ON THE ILLEGAL RAPISTS. DARE YA.

Taser, the world's leaders in delivering high-voltage shocks to the target of your choice, are releasing a handy all-in-one stun-gun and mp3 player carry case.

The product was unveiled at the massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Music Player Holster's mp3 player can hold up to 1GB of music – enough for 150 or so songs – and the C2 stun gun can deliver 50,000 volts into your desired shockee, via a pair of darts. The wires that connect the darts give it a range of up to 15 feet, so you can shock to your heart's content.

OCTOPUS LOVES HIS TATER HEAD

The 1.8m-wide (6ft) creature is so attached to Mr Potato Head that he turns aggressive when aquarium staff try to remove it from his tank.

 

Louis cuddles his Mr Potato Head

The giant Pacific octopus was given the toy for Christmas and has even learned to dig out food hidden in a secret box at the back of it.

OMG--COULD SUGARLESS GUM BE THE CULPRIT OF MY STOMACH PROBLEMS? I DON'T CHEW EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF GUM, BUT AT LEAST A COUPLE PACKS A WEEK...IT'S SOMETHING TO LOOK INTO! THIS COULD BE THE ANSWER I'VE BEEN PRAYING FOR!

Many sugar-free chewing gums contain a sweetener called sorbitol. Sorbitol is a laxative which is poorly absorbed by the small intestine. An article in this week's British Medical Journal (BMJ) warns of the dangers of excess sorbitol intake.

The warning comes after doctors came across two patients who had chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and dangerously excessive weight loss. After lengthy investigations which could not identify why the patients were losing so much weight and had chronic diarrhea and pains, a detailed analysis of eating habits put the problem down to eating too much chewing gum with sorbitol.

...As soon as sorbitol intake was stopped, both patients started having normal bowel movements (diarrhea subsided) and normal weight gain was achieved.

The authors say consumers are generally unaware of the possible side-effects of sorbitol, even though details are included in the small print of foods containing it. When consumers have gastronomical problems they are unaware that they may be caused by the laxative effects of sorbitol.

The authors conclude that sorbitol consumption may not only cause chronic diarrhea and functional bowel complaints, but also significant unplanned weight loss of about 20% of body weight. Any investigation of unexplained weight loss should include a detailed dietary history with regard to sorbitol-containing foods.

What is Sorbitol?

Also known as glucitol, sorbitol is a sugar alcohol. The body metabolizes it slowly. It is obtained by reduction of glucose changing the ether group to an addition hydroxyl group - hence the name sugar alcohol.

Sorbitol can be found in cough syrups, sugar free mints, chewing gum, diet foods, diet drinks and ice creams. Sorbitol occurs naturally in some stone fruits and berries from trees of the Sorbus genus.

Sorbitol provides dietary energy of 2.6 kilocalories (11 kilojoules) per gram, compared to sugar which provides about 4 kilocalories (17 kilojoules). Sorbitol retains 60% of the sweetness.

As a food additive Sorbitol has an E-number E420 and is categorized as a sweetener, emulsifier and humectant.

Sorbitol is also used as a non-stimulant laxative. It is either an oral suspension or a suppository. It draws water into the large intestine, stimulating bowel movements.

Christian Nordvqist

COCAINE VACCINE? PRETTY COOL. BETTER YET, LET'S JUST NOT START.

Two Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston are working on a cocaine vaccine they hope will become the first-ever medication to treat people hooked on the drug.

The vaccine, currently in clinical trials, stimulates the immune system to attack the real thing when it's taken.

The immune system -- unable to recognize cocaine and other drug molecules because they are so small -- can't make antibodies to attack them.

To help the immune system distinguish the drug, Kosten attached inactivated cocaine to the outside of inactivated cholera proteins.

In response, the immune system not only makes antibodies to the combination, which is harmless, but also recognizes the potent naked drug when it's ingested. The antibodies bind to the cocaine and prevent it from reaching the brain, where it normally would generate the highs that are so addictive.

I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM, NOT IN A BOX, OR WITH A FOX...

A cloned pig whose genes were altered to make it glow fluorescent green has passed on the trait to its young, a development that could lead to the future breeding of pigs for human transplant organs, a Chinese university reported.

TEEN DERAILS TRAMS WITH RIGGED TV REMOTE

A Polish teenager allegedly turned the tram system in the city of Lodz into his own personal train set, triggering chaos and derailing four vehicles in the process. Twelve people were injured in one of the incidents.

The 14-year-old modified a TV remote control so that it could be used to change track points, The Telegraph reports. Local police said the youngster trespassed in tram depots to gather information needed to build the device. The teenager told police that he modified track setting for a prank.