Mathematics of Sex

The Mathematics of Sex
30-Mar-2006

But does the math work?

When men and women are asked how many sexual partners they have had, men report having had far more than women, which is statistically impossible—unless the man is an artist. New research shows that professional artists and poets have two or three times as many sex partners as other people.
Full Story sex math

Imperial Overreach

Imperial overreach is accelerating the global decline of America

The disastrous foreign policies of the US have left it more isolated than ever, and China is standing by to take over

Martin Jacques
Tuesday March 28, 2006
The Guardian

'Our power, then, has the grave liability of rendering our theories about the world immune from failure. But by becoming deaf to easily discerned warning signs, we may ignore long-term costs that result from our actions and dismiss reverses that should lead to a re-examination of our goals and means."

These are the words of Henry Hyde, chairman of the House international relations committee and a Republican congressman, in a recent speech. Hyde argues that such is the overweening power of the US that it may not hear or recognise the signals when its policy goes badly wrong, a thinly veiled reference to Iraq. He then takes issue with the idea that the US can export democracy around the world as deeply misguided and potentially dangerous. He argues: "A broad and energetic promotion of democracy in other countries that will not enjoy our long-term and guiding presence may equate not to peace and stability but to revolution ... There is no evidence that we or anyone can guide from afar revolutions we have set in motion. We can more easily destabilise friends and others and give life to chaos and to avowed enemies than ensure outcomes in service of our interests and security."

It is clear that the US occupation of Iraq has been a disaster from almost every angle one can think of, most of all for the Iraqi people, not least for American foreign policy. The unpicking of the imperial logic that led to it has already commenced: Hyde's speech is an example, and so is Francis Fukuyama's new book After the Neocons, a merciless critique of Bush's foreign policy and the school of thought that lay behind it. The war was a delayed product of the end of the cold war and the triumphalist mentality that imbued the neocons and eventually seduced the US. But triumphalism is a dangerous brew, more suited to intoxication than hard-headed analysis. And so it has proved. The US still has to reap the whirlwind for its stunning feat of imperial overreach.

In becoming so catastrophically engaged in the Middle East, making the region its overwhelming global priority, it downgraded the importance of everywhere else, taking its eye off the ball in a crucial region such as east Asia, which in the long run will be far more important to the US's strategic interests than the Middle East. As such, the Iraqi adventure represented a major misreading of global trends and how they are likely to impact on the US. Hyde is clearly thinking in these terms: "We are well advanced into an unformed era in which new and unfamiliar enemies are gathering forces, where a phalanx of aspiring competitors must inevitably constrain and focus options. In a world where the ratios of strength narrow, the consequences of miscalculation will become progressively more debilitating. The costs of golden theories [by which he means the worldwide promotion of democracy] will be paid for in the base coin of our interests."

The promotion of the idea of the war against terror as the central priority of US policy had little to do with the actual threat posed by al-Qaida, which was always hugely exaggerated by the Bush administration, as events over the last four and a half years have shown. Al-Qaida never posed a threat to the US except in terms of the odd terrorist outrage. Making it the central thrust of US foreign policy, in other words, had nothing to do with the al-Qaida threat and everything to do with the Bush administration seeking to mobilise US public opinion behind a neoconservative foreign policy. There followed the tenuous - in reality nonexistent - link with Saddam, which provided in large measure the justification for the invasion of Iraq, an act which now threatens to unravel the bizarre adventurism, personified by Donald Rumsfeld, which has been the hallmark of Bush foreign policy since 9/11. The latter has come unstuck in the killing fields of Iraq in the most profound way imaginable. -(cont.)

Answered Prayers

vgmerchandise.com
The official website for Vincent Gallo merchandise

Music | Print | Film | Art Clothing
Gallo's Personal Poster Collection

VINCENT GALLO evenings, weekends escort.

wish, dream or fantasy with VINCENT GALLO, ladies only

Have you ever watched a movie and fallen in love with one of the actors? The way they looked or a character they played? Afterwards you thought of them over and over. Daydreaming, imagining things, sexy things. When I was very young I was madly in love with Tuesday Weld and Charlotte Rampling. On my 14th birthday I went to see the film Rolling Thunder and had my biggest crush of all on the actress Linda Haynes. I wished and wished and wished everyday that I could meet all these girls. I thought of a lot of sexy things with Susan Blakely after seeing her in Lords of Flatbush. In my mind I could do with her anything I wanted to do. So believe me, I know and understand what it's like to wish and dream about spending time with a movie star. Doing things that couples do. Couples in love. At least couples where the guy is hot and knows how to handle a chick.

I, Vincent Gallo, star of such classics as Buffalo 66 and The Brown Bunny have decided to make myself available to all women. All women who can afford me, that is. For the modest fee of $50,000 plus expenses, I can fulfill the wish, dream, or fantasy of any naturally born female. The fee covers one evening with Vincent Gallo...

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Authentic Charles Manson Artwork
Given to Vincent Gallo on his 33rd birthday by Johnny Ramone

$6,000.00*

Only One Available!

This is an authentic artwork by the multitalented Charles Manson. It is not dated, but it is clearly one of the earlier pieces Manson created while unfairly imprisoned. Johnny Ramone purchased this piece especially for his buddy Gallo and handpicked out the beautiful pink frame. He gave it to Vincent on his 33rd birthday. In his lifetime, Vincent has received only a few presents. This beautiful artwork is certainly the finest gift he ever received. With the Manson girls aging by the minute, the passing away of his friend Johnny Ramone, and the thought that Manson may never get out, the painting has become less uplifting than it once was. Hence, the sale. The piece is signed by Charles Manson. Vincent Gallo signed the back and added "Charles + Vincent". A letter of authenticity is available with purchase.

The frame and piece measure 9 1/2 inches high x 8 inches wide

Domestic Shipping and Handling is $6.00

*International shipping charges and California Sales Tax billed separately. This item requires insured shipping to complete sale.

**Clicking "Buy Now" will charge a $1,000 deposit via Paypal. The remaining balance will be due by cashiers check, wire transfer, or personal check and is due within seven days of purchase date. Item will ship when full payment has cleared.

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Vincent Gallo's Childhood Nixon Campaign Pin
Autographed Box

$250.00*

Only One Available.

This is the actual campaign pin the young budding Republican Vincent Gallo wore all through Elementary, and on through Junior High School. Nixon has always been Vincent Gallo's idol. On the day of Nixon's unjust resignation, a young Gallo cried his beautiful heart out. That night before falling asleep he prayed and asked God to save a special place for him when it was time for Nixon to go to heaven. With Nixon in heaven now, Gallo has decided to part with the pin. He presents it to you in a box that is titled "Hero" and is autographed by Gallo on the inside top cover alongside "Go Richard."

The pin is sparkly with tiny costume pearls. It measures 1 inch long x 1/4 inch high.

A letter of authenticity is available with purchase.

Domestic Shipping and Handling is $3.00

*International shipping charges and California Sales Tax billed separately.

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much, much more... (form an orderly queue)

Good Night

GOOD LUCK

Just watched Clooneys "Good Night and Good Luck". Fantastic. Watch it.

It starts with Edward R Murrows speech at the RTNDA Convention in Chicago, October 15, 1958.

We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.

Fantastic. Read it.

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Shamelessly borrowed, in its entirety, from malung-tv-news

Decisions, Decisions

Decisions, Decisions

Posted by Greg Bjerg @ Damn Interesting on March 20th, 2006 at 2:02 pm

Recently I decided to buy a new home and a new printer for my computer. Guess which decision took the most effort? If you guessed the printer, you guessed right. Turns out that that my choice of a house was perfect, and my new printer was a good choice too. Did I get lucky, or is there something else happening?

Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not always advantageous to engage in thorough conscious deliberation before choosing. Several different experiments looked at what researchers called the “deliberation without-attention" effect. It's a take on when to "follow your gut" and when to make a well-thought-out decision.

For relatively simple decisions (like buying a printer) it is better to use a highly rational and researched approach. However, when making a complicated decision (like buying a house) the unconscious appears to do a better job of resolving factors and making a sound conclusion. Of course this goes counter to the conventional approach most of us use to make everyday decisions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Healing ‘Miracle’

Doctor Verifies Healing ‘Miracle’

Cadillac News

This is the story of a spontaneous healing, the miraculous disappearance of a brain tumor.

Last year Donna Sikes had an 8-mm tumor on her brain. On her drive to the hospital for a final MRI, she listened to the tape Infinite Power — God’s Plan for Miracle Living. “The tape said to put your hand on where your sickness is so I did and I was in the spirit all the way down there and I said — Jesus take it away, I’m all alone and I have no one to help me.” Sure enough, when her doctor examined the new MRI, he was amazed, telling her “ ... there’s an empty pocket of nothing in your head.” The tumor had vanished.

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Naked Came The Stranger

Cops: Woman, 23, showed up at Utah home for impromptu shower

MARCH 24--Meet Natalie Peterson. The 23-year-old Utah woman was arrested yesterday afternoon when she showed up naked to take a shower in a stranger's home. According to cops, prior to Peterson wandering into the home in Roy, she had been in an argument at a relative's house. There, she stripped off her clothes and jumped into her '98 Ford Escort and drove off. A half mile away, Peterson walked into a house occupied by three young siblings, who she ordered to leave "her home." Peterson told the trio she was going to take a shower and headed for the basement. One of the occupants then called cops to report an intrusion by a naked woman. When Roy Police Department officers responded, they found Peterson barricaded in a bedroom and in a highly agitated state. Along with throwing items from the bedroom at police, Peterson urinated in her cupped hand and tossed it at cops. Peterson, apparently under the influence of drugs, was subdued and transported to a local hospital before being booked into the Weber County jail, where the... mug shot was snapped. She is facing a variety of misdemeanor charges, including criminal trespass, assaulting a police officer, and propelling a substance onto an officer.

Fame

Be Very Worried

From the Magazine | Cover

Be Worried. Be Very Worried.

The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame. Why the crisis will hit so soon—and what we can do about it

By JEFFREY KLUGER
No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth. Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.

Apocalyptic Times

by Maureen Farrell

"We are living in dangerously weird times now. Smart people just shrug and admit they're dazed and confused. The only ones left with any confidence at all are the New Dumb. It is the beginning of the end of our world as we knew it. Doom is the operative ethic."
-- Hunter S. Thompson, Nov. 20, 2000

A few years ago, a Time/CNN poll found that that more than a third of Americans search the news for signs of the Apocalypse. Since Sept. 11, they've not had to look very hard. In the immediate aftermath of World Trade Center attacks, for example, the Associated Press reported on Satan's visage in the smoke clouds, an incident Peggy Noonan wrote about in the Wall Street Journal. "If you are of a certain cast of mind, it is of course meaningful that the face of the Evil One seemed to emerge with a roar from the furnace that was Tower One," she wrote, before reminding readers that a cross emerged unharmed amid the falling concrete and wreckage.

Of course Jesus made his fair share of appearances, too. A "winking Jesus" from Hoboken, N.J. was featured in the New York Daily News while a Jesus-in-a-window got considerable airtime on a Texas NBC affiliate. One North Carolina TV station was prophetically prolific, reporting on the Messiah's apparitions on everything from tail gates to dental x-rays to fish bones.

Yes, since Sept. 11, the news has gotten more surreal, with divine sightings and apocalyptic musings becoming more commonplace. Such talk has always been with us, of course, but it's no longer tied to David Koresh or Marshall Applewhite or Jim Jones-type cultists. "One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress," Bill Moyers wrote, regarding the shifting political realities fueling this mindset.

From the political to the personal, people are reporting on, and preparing for, the end of the world. And though apocalyptic reports have ranged from the superstitious and silly to the sensational and scary, few can argue that they're not on the rise. How weird have things become? Consider the following ->

Apocalyptic President

Even some Republicans are now horrified by the influence Bush has given to the evangelical right

Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday March 23, 2006
The Guardian

In his latest PR offensive President Bush came to Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday to answer the paramount question on Iraq that he said was on people's minds: "They wonder what I see that they don't." After mentioning "terror" 54 times and "victory" five, dismissing "civil war" twice and asserting that he is "optimistic", he called on a citizen in the audience, who homed in on the invisible meaning of recent events in the light of two books, American Theocracy, by Kevin Phillips, and the book of Revelation. Phillips, the questioner explained, "makes the point that members of your administration have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse. Do you believe this? And if not, why not?"

***

In American Theocracy, Phillips describes Bush as the founder of "the first American religious party"; September 11 gave him the pretext for "seizing the fundamentalist moment"; he has manipulated a "critical religious geography" to hype issues such as gay marriage. "New forces were being interwoven. These included the institutional rise of the religious right, the intensifying biblical focus on the Middle East, and the deepening of insistence on church-government collaboration within the GOP electorate." It portended a potential "American Disenlightenment," apparent in Bush's hostility to science.

Even Bush's failures have become pretexts for advancing his transformation of government. Exploiting his own disastrous emergency management after Hurricane Katrina, Bush is funneling funds to churches as though they can compensate for governmental breakdown. Last year David Kuo, the White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives, resigned with a statement that "Republicans were indifferent to the poor".

Within hours of its publication, American Theocracy rocketed to No 1 on Amazon. At US cinemas, V for Vendetta - in which an imaginary Britain, ruled by a totalitarian, faith-based regime that rounds up gays, is a metaphor for Bush's America - is the surprise hit. Bush has succeeded in getting American audiences to cheer for terrorism.

A Time for Heresy

A Time for Heresy

By Bill Moyers, AlterNet. Posted March 24, 2006.

Unless we choose to renew our commitment to America's deepest values, the day will come when we no longer recognize the country we love.

Editor's Note: This is the prepared text of Moyers' remarks delivered on March 14 upon the establishment by Marilyn and James Dunn, of the Wake Forest Divinity School, of a scholarship in religious freedom in the name of Judith and Bill Moyers.

When Dean Bill Leonard asked James Dunn to join him here at Wake Forest's new Divinity School, my soul shouted "Yes!" These two men personify the honesty and courage we need to meet the challenge of faith in the fundamentalist dispensation of the 21st century as radical interpretations of both Islam and Christianity seek, in the words of C. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance, "to take over the government and use cause structures to advance the ideology, hierarchy, and laws" of their movement.

James Dunn and Bill Leonard are Baptists. What kind of Baptist matters. At last count there were more than two dozen varieties of Baptists in America. Bill Clinton is a Baptist. So is Pat Robertson. Jesse Jackson is a Baptist. So is Jesse Helms. Al Gore is a Baptist. So is Jerry Falwell. No wonder Baptists have been compared to jalapeno peppers: one or two make for a tasty dish, but a whole bunch together will bring tears to your eyes.

Many Baptists are fundamentalists; they believe in the absolute inerrancy of the Bible and the divine right of preachers to tell you what it means. They also believe in the separation of church and state only if they cannot control both. The only way to cooperate with fundamentalists, it has been said, is to obey them. James Dunn and Bill Leonard are not that kind of Baptist. They trace their spiritual heritage to forbearers who were considered heretics for standing up to ecclesiastical and state power on matters of conscience. One of them was Thomas Helwys, who, when Roman Catholics were being persecuted by the British crown, dared to defend the Catholics. Helwys went to jail, and died there, for telling the king of England, King James -- yes, of the King James Bible -- that "Our Lord the King has no more power over their [Catholic] conscience than ours, and that is none at all."

Baptists helped to turn that conviction into America's great contribution to political science and practical politics -- the independence of church and state. Baptists in colonial America flocked to Washington's army to fight in the Revolutionary War because they wanted to be free from sanctioned religion. When the war was won they refused to support a new Constitution unless it contained a Bill of Rights that guaranteed freedom of religion and freedom from religion. No religion was to become the official religion; you couldn't be taxed to pay for my exercise of faith. This was heresy because, while many of the first settlers in America had fled Europe to escape religious persecution at the hands of the majority, once here they made their faith the established religion that denied freedom to others. Early Baptists considered this to be tyranny. Said John Leland: "All people ought to be at liberty to serve God in a way that each can best reconcile to their own consciences."

-read the rest (very tasty)

Climate Change Will Destroy Us

Pentagon Tells Bush - Climate
Change Will Destroy Us

By Mark Townsend and Paul Harris in New York
The Observer - UK
3-22-6

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters.. * Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war * Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years * Threat to the world is greater than terrorism A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world. The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents. 'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.' The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has insisted national defence is a priority.

Resurrect the '60s

Bring the Sixties Out of the Closet

By Don Hazen, AlterNet. Posted March 23, 2006.

We need to resurrect the good '60s -- a time when acting, despite being messy and imperfect, made a lot of good things happen.

Photo courtesy of David Fenton, from his book Shots, published by Ten Speed Press.

Late into Dana Spiotta's brilliant new novel, "Eat the Document," the protagonist, a woman who has lived "underground" for years, hiding from the consequences of a 1960s political protest gone badly awry, flashes back to the moment of choice:

"The question is, do we want to leave action to the brutes of the world? … There are some inherent problems built into acting. It lacks perfection. But I believe we must fight back, or we will feel shame all our lives. We, the privileged, are more obligated. It is a moral duty to do something, however imperfect. … If we don't do something, all our lives we will feel regret."

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the '60s (actually the period from '67 to '73) -- that political era so filled with possibility, so much a part of the blood and souls of millions of aging baby boomers like myself. The period was profoundly effective in the changes it provoked, yet is so persistently pilloried for its exaggerated excesses. One reason I find myself looking back is the pervasive feeling of political impotence so many of us feel at this moment in history, and our seeming inability to act -- to be noticed, to make a difference.

There are some present-day chilling parallels to the repression of the Nixon era -- and of course many differences -- but there is a feeling in the air that smells like the '60s, that sends paranoid vibes through the body politic. The events taking place -- warrantless wiretapping, political corruption, torture, the war in Iraq with its disgusting profiteering while tens of thousands of people die -- demand a response equal to the situation, Yet we sit without a clear path showing us our step.

Surfing the Maelstrom

Posted on Wed, Mar. 22, 2006

Missouri teen survives ride in tornado

By KEVIN MURPHY
Kansas City Star

FORDLAND, Mo. — Matt Suter can’t get the tornado out of his head — or his ears.

Every time a late-night freight train thunders past, Suter wakes up and remembers the vicious twister that pulled him from his home March 12 and landed him in a pasture — a quarter-mile away.

Suter’s harrowing encounter has brought him sudden fame, with national media exposure. One tornado expert said he knew of no one who traveled as far as Suter did in a tornado and lived to tell about it.

“It’s a pretty awkward record to have,” the 19-year-old senior at Fordland High School said.

The soft-spoken Suter did not court attention about his experience, which was not reported publicly until a week after it happened.

On the night of the tornado, Suter said, he was watching television news in only his boxer shorts when he heard a jetlike roar approaching the trailer he shared with his grandmother and uncle.

He was trying to shut a window in the living room, and his grandmother was in the kitchen, when the tornado struck, he said.

“The window busted, and the door got sucked out,” Suter said. “I looked at my grandmother, and the walls were like Jell-O. The trailer was rocking back and forth. I jumped between the coffee table and couch, and I remember the trailer tipping.”

His grandmother, Linda Kelley, said Suter had hollered at her in the trailer, and when she came into the kitchen “I turned around to look at where he was, and that whole end of the trailer was just gone.”

A large heavy glass lamp struck Suter on the top of his head, knocking him unconscious, he said.

When he came to, Suter found himself in a soft, grassy pasture. Last week a global positioning satellite device used by National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Gaede measured the distance at 1,307 feet from the trailer site.

Shocking Medical Experiments

Human medical experimentation in the United States: The shocking true history of modern medicine and psychiatry (1833-1965)

Posted Monday, March 06, 2006 by Dani Veracity

Introduction by the Health Ranger: The United States claims to be the world leader in medicine. But there's a dark side to western medicine that few want to acknowledge: The horrifying medical experiments performed on impoverished people and their children all in the name of scientific progress. Many of these medical experiments were conducted on people without their knowledge, and most were conducted as part of an effort to seek profits from newly approved drugs or medical technologies.

Today, the medical experiments continue on the U.S. population and its children. From the mass drugging of children diagnosed with fictitious behavioral disorders invented by psychiatry to the FDA's approval of mass-marketed drugs that have undergone no legitimate clinical trials, our population is right now being subjected to medical experiments on a staggering scale. Today, nearly 50% of Americans are on a least one prescription drug, and nearly 20% of schoolchildren are on mind-altering amphetamines like Ritalin or antidepressants like Prozac. This mass medication of our nation is, in every way, a grand medical experiment taking place right now.

But to truly understand how this mass experimentation on modern Americans came into being, you have to take a close look at the horrifying history of conventional medicine's exploitation of people for cruel medical experiments.

WARNING: What you are about to read is truly shocking. You have never been told this information by the American Medical Association, nor drug companies, nor the evening news. You were never taught the truth about conventional medicine in public school, or even at any university. This is the dark secret of the U.S. system of medicine, and once you read the true accounts reported here, you may never trust drug companies again. These images are deeply disturbing. We print them here not as a form of entertainment, but as a stern warning against what might happen to us and our children if we do not rein in the horrifying, inhumane actions of Big Pharma and modern-day psychiatry.

-more-

Field Guide to Evangelicals

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A Field Guide to Evangelicals and Their Habitat includes useful chapters on

• What Evangelicals Believe - Plus a Master List of Who Is Going to Hell
  
  
• How to Party Like an Evangelical - Ambrosia, Li'l Smokies, and Potluck Fever
  
  
• The Diversity of Evangelical Politics - From Right-Wing to Wacko
  
  
• How to Talk and Act Like an Evangelical Without Being One
  
  
• Evangelical Mating Habits - The Shocking Truth
  
  
• Identifying Evangelicals in the Field
  
  
• Sighting Evangelicals Overseas
  
  
• Planning Your Field Trip to an Evangelical Church
  
  
• Decorating Like an Evangelical

And much more!

Liberal/Conservative

How to spot a baby conservative

KID POLITICS | Whiny children, claims a new study, tend to grow up rigid and traditional. Future liberals, on the other hand ...

Mar. 19, 2006. 10:45 AM

KURT KLEINER

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative. At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.

Non Sequitur

The Peace Jukebox

The Peace Jukebox plays hours of anti-war music for free. Songs written during the Bush Presidency can be heard as high-quality MP3s, with lyrics, on this ad-free independent website. The Peace Jukebox features anti-war songs by Sonic Youth, Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5, Public Enemy, Jane's Addiction, The Cure, Ani DiFranco, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Faithless, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Lenny Kravitz, Paris, System of a Down, Propagandhi, Banco de Gaia, Zach de la Rocha, Noam Chomsky... hiphop, rock, punk, acoustic, classical and spoken word.

This is the most prolific period of protest song-writing in history, and home-studio technology makes it possible for the world to hear these radical songs. The Peace Not War Music Project has received over 500 anti-war songs from different kinds of musicians, and they will all be going online. Big apologies for all those musicians who have been waiting a long time for their song to get uploaded. We have only now managed to sort out the technical and funding problems, and put the Jukebox online, and there is only a small collective of volunteers running this project. Everyone's CDs and MP3s are safe, and will be uploaded as soon as possible.

Musicians are invited to submit their songs as MP3s (192kbps, best quality), with full lyrics and credit information included, by email to jukebox@peace-not-war.org. A translation facility is being developed for non-English speakers to read the lyrics in multiple languages (email us if you can help). We prefer that you also post your songs on a CD, with printed lyrics and credit information, to Peace Not War, Synergy Centre, 220 Farmers Rd, Camberwell, London SE5 0TW, UK. If you post your song, it will be included in the official library archive of anti-war songs, and it will be considered for inclusion in another CD (if we do another). Other content also needed: speeches (MP3), visual art (JPG), movies (MOV), contact information for peace groups.

Peace Not War CDs are being sold by local peace groups to raise funds for their campaigns, and the Jukebox is an inspiring resource for everyone involved in the new global peace movement.

Religious Adaptation

"Religious belief itself is an adaptation"

Sociobiology founder Edward O. Wilson explains why we're hard-wired to form tribalistic religions, denies that "evolutionism" is a faith, and says that heaven, if it existed, would be hell.

By Steve Paulson

For a man who's obsessed with tiny critters, Edward O. Wilson has a strange knack for stirring up controversy about life's biggest questions. The Harvard biologist is a renowned expert on insects, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Ants." But it was his seminal 1975 book "Sociobiology," which laid the groundwork for the new field of evolutionary psychology, that made Wilson a scientific luminary -- and a major intellectual force in America. That book, along with its Pulitzer Prize-winning sequel, "On Human Nature," argued that many human behaviors -- including aggression, altruism and hypocrisy -- are shaped by evolution. Wilson's tilt toward nature in the age-old nature/nurture debate may have put him on the map, but it also made plenty of enemies. Fellow Harvard biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin denounced sociobiology, saying it provided a genetic justification for racism and Nazi ideology. Wilson's classes were picketed. In one famous incident, demonstrators at a scientific meeting stormed the stage where he was speaking and dumped a pitcher of water over his head, chanting, "Wilson, you're all wet!"

Over the years, sociobiology -- once so controversial -- became a widely accepted branch of science. Ultimately, Wilson won the National Medal of Science for his scholarship. And his own popularity soared when he emerged as a champion of biodiversity and a passionate advocate for endangered species. His 1992 book "The Diversity of Life" became a bestseller. But he stirred up more trouble in the late '90s with another book, "Consilience." This was his attempt to outline a unified theory of knowledge, which had the effect of elevating science at the expense of religion and the arts. In his view, knowledge of the world ultimately comes down to chemistry, biology and -- above all -- physics; people are just extremely complicated machines. Wendell Berry, among other critics, railed against Wilson's scientific reductionism, calling it a "modern superstition."

Loose Change

"Loose Change 2nd Edition" is the follow-up to the most provocative 9-11 documentary on the market today. This film shows direct connection between the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the United States government. Evidence is derived from news footage, scientific fact, and most important, Americans who suffered through that tragic day. IT IS EVERYONE'S duty TO VIEW THIS FILM!

*Endorsed by Malung TV

Man on a Bridge

Man on a bridge

Written by the comedian Emo Philips.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Are you religious?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

"Christian."

"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"

He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."

I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

Do NOT Pass Go

The object of the game is simple: the last player to maintain his or her civil liberties wins. The equipment consists of a board, dice and tokens. There is a Homeland Security deck, a Free Speech deck, play Civil Liberties (hereby referred to as CL) and a Vault to deposit lost liberties into.

To begin, each player fills out a Security Profile by rolling the dice to determine amount of civil liberties (CL) for each category:
• Citizenship Status
• Race/Ethnicity
• Religion
• Employment
• Political Affiliation

The player with the most civil liberties goes first, starting on Bring it On! the tokens move in the direction of the arrow the number of spaces indicated. The color-coding of the Terror Alert System determines if a player is at risk of losing CL at the hands of another player.
Alert Color Coded Spaces:
• Red (Severe)
• Orange (High)
• Yellow (Elevated)
• Blue (Guarded)
• Green (Low)

The playing board also consists of spaces marked FBI, Homeland Security, Airport Security Screening, Pro War and Anti War spaces and a Free Speech Zone. What happens to the players on each space depends on their Security Profile and how many Civil Liberties they are in possession of. If a player lands on Go to GTMO, or draws a card with the same command, or loses CL due to die roll, the player will wind up in Guantanamo Bay Detention and will continue to lose CL until the proper roll is achieved.

The Free Speech Zone allows players to read aloud statistics about the Patriot Act and gives that player a soapbox to pontificate (pro or con) about the merits of the legislation.

The game ends when one player is left still in possession of CL and not held in Detention.

No Truth, No Consequences

No truth, no consequences

John Steinberg - Raw Story Columnist
Published: March 13, 2006

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One of the more unusual places I have visited in my travels is Rotorua, on the north island of New Zealand. The area sits directly over the Pacific ring of fire, which manifests in this spot with geothermal activity in the form of hot mineral springs, geysers, and bubbling mud. When I first arrived near sunset, the stench of sulfur in the air was overpowering. Yet by the time I awoke the next morning, my brain had somehow accepted the smell of decay as part of the normal background, and I no longer noticed it at all.

Though I have not personally visited such a place here in the United States, I am certain they exist. Such as, for example, the Bush Administration. A newcomer would likely be quickly overcome by the lies that spew forth continuously like the malodorous emanations from a Rotorua geyser. The fact that so many in Washington seem to continue to live with the pervasive stench supports the notion that people can get used to just about anything.

How else can we explain the reaction to the latest chapter in the book of Republican Revelations? The recently surfaced video that that shows unequivocally that George Bush was warned of the likelihood of the failure of New Orleans' levees just days before it happened ought to unleash a hurricane of criticism.

***

As has been chronicled ad infinitum, Dubya's life has been incredibly deficient in the corrective and formative effects of negative consequences. His presidency has been a microcosm of that fact, and its sequelae.

Journalism professor Mark Danner has written of our current state of frozen scandal --

"so-called scandals, that is, in which we have revelation but not a true investigation or punishment: scandals we are forced to live with. A story is told the first time but hardly acknowledged …, largely because the broader story the government is telling drowns it out. When the story is later confirmed by official documents, (such as) the Downing Street memorandum, the documents are largely dismissed because they contain 'nothing new.'"

In a recent interview, he explained:

"Before, you had, as Step 1, revelation of wrongdoing by the press, usually with the help of leaks from within an administration. Step 2 would be an investigation which the courts, often allied with Congress, would conduct, usually in public, that would give you an official version of events. We saw this with Watergate, Iran-Contra and others. And finally, Step 3 would be expiation -- the courts, Congress, impose punishment which allows society to return to some kind of state of grace in which the notion is, Look, we've corrected the wrongdoing, we can now go on. With this administration, we've got revelation of torture, of illegal eavesdropping, of domestic spying, of all kinds of abuses when it comes to arrest of domestic aliens, of inflated and false weapons of mass destruction claims before the war; of cronyism and corruption in Iraq on a vast scale. You could go on. But no official investigation follows."

-more-

Hope for Politics

Laryngeal Bleep Implant Improves Political Discourse By Ion Zwitter, Avant News Editor Washington, D.C., November 9, 2015 The level of political discourse in America has improved by a whopping 43% since the Laryngeal Bleep Implant became a requirement for all politicians early last year, a new study shows. Proponents of the Laryngeal Bleep Implant hail the latest polling as a resounding success for the initially controversial measure, while skeptics tend to complain much of the voyeuristic drama has been removed from traditional rough-and-tumble politics.

> Full story

Velikovsky's Ghost

Velikovsky's Ghost Returns The electric universe by Michael Goodspeed

Abridged version

The Russian-born scholar Imanuel Velikovsky was a friend and colleague of Albert Einstein, a student of Freud's first pupil Wilhelm Stekel, and Israel's first practicing psychoanalyst. Some of his writings appeared in Freud's Imago. In 1930 he published the first paper to suggest that epileptics would be characterized by abnormal encephalograms. He was the founder and editor of the scholarly publication, Scripta Universitatis, the physics and mathematics section being prepared by Einstein. It was while researching a book on Freud and his heroes that Velikovsky first wondered about the catastrophes said to have accompanied the Hebrew Exodus, when fire and hailstones rained upon Egypt, earthquakes decimated the nation, and a pillar of fire and smoke moved in the sky. Biblical and other traditional Hebrew sources speak so vividly that Velikovsky began to wonder if some extraordinary natural event might have played a part in the Exodus. To explore this possibility, Velikovsky sought out a corresponding account in ancient Egyptian records, finding a remarkable parallel in a papyrus kept at the University of Leyden Museum, called the Papyrus Ipuwer. The document contains the lamentations of an Egyptian sage in response to a great catastrophe overwhelming Egypt, when the rivers ran red, fire blazed in the sky, and pestilence ravaged the land. Velikovsky also encountered surprising parallels in Babylonian and Assyrian clay tablets, Vedic poems, Chinese epics, and North American Indian, Maya, Aztec, and Peruvian legends. From these remarkably similar accounts, he constructed a thesis of celestial catastrophe. He concluded that a very large body -- apparently a "comet" -- passed close enough to Earth to violently perturb its axis, as global earthquakes, wind and falling stone decimated early civilizations.

Perfect Memory

commentary by Lee Dye -abc

Woman With Perfect Memory Baffles Scientists

Patient Remembers Every Day and Almost Every Detail of Her Life.

March 20, 2006 -- James McGaugh is one of the world's leading experts on how the human memory system works. But these days, he admits he's stumped.

McGaugh's journey through an intellectual purgatory began six years ago when a woman now known only as AJ wrote him a letter detailing her astonishing ability to remember with remarkable clarity even trivial events that happened decades ago.

Give her any date, she said, and she could recall the day of the week, usually what the weather was like on that day, personal details of her life at that time, and major news events that occurred on that date.

Like any good scientist, McGaugh was initially skeptical. But not anymore.

"This is real," he says.

V For Vendetta

V FOR VENDETTA IS THE MOST DANGEROUS FILM OF THE YEAR

02.26.06

By Devin Faraci

V For Vendetta is the most dangerous film of 2006.

If you’re an idiot or a fascist, that is. Remember that when people begin complaining about this film, and try to figure out which of the two categories they fit in. Or maybe they’ll fit in both!

***

It’s shocking that a film like V For Vendetta, in which the hero can be described in no other terms but terrorist, has been made by a major movie studio, which is itself a part of a major, world-dominating corporation. Either the folks at Warner Bros and Time-Warner weren’t paying a lot of attention or they just don’t think that a movie will make any bit of difference at this point. I couldn’t disagree more, and I have to tell you that if I was still actively working as a political organizer I would be standing outside theaters showing V and handing out anti-Bush and anti-Iraq War pamphlets to exiting moviegoers. Sure, this film is about a fictional fascist state that denies its people basic liberties and makes them live in fear, and sure it’s set in the London of the future, but there’s no hiding the fact that the film’s timeline is one that begins today.

***

The film is being very specific – the policies that we are pursuing have one end-point, and that is a society where our basic freedoms are curbed for supposed security and comfortable routine. We see it now – the right to privacy is under astonishing attack, and the only thing more worrying than how much our government wants to listen in on our conversations and know what books we check out of the library is how little the people care. “I don’t have anything to hide,” is the refrain, a bit of sick logic that implies the person who wants privacy does have something dark to hide.

Of course there’s also a universality to this – while the specific circumstances that lead to the creation of the world in the film are undeniably rooted in the Bush Administration’s Orwellianly infinite war on terror, the suppression of rights for security has long been a hallmark of American politics. Hell, John Adams, the second president of the United States, passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which used fears of the new French revolutionary government to ban spoken or written criticism of the government, the Congress and the president. I once thought that, right or left, all Americans with a serious love for liberty could agree that limiting freedom is no way to save it. The last few years have proved me right in that those who would limit freedom, who would support illegal wiretaps or endless detentions, must despise liberty. So yes, the basic concepts and warnings of this work, which were crafted 25 years ago, could be easily adapted to deliver the same message in a timely way throughout history. But this film has been crafted to deliver that message specifically in relation to the world we currently live in.

via: What the Futch?

Apocalypto Now

Sunday, Mar. 19, 2006

Apocalypto Now

EXCLUSIVE: You’d think Mel Gibson was all done with violent movies about the past told in a foreign tongue, right? Think again

By TIM PADGETT / VERACRUZ

"I need to see the blood!" shouts Mel Gibson. "Your character is going to die soon!" He picks up a bullhorn: "Attention! We are all dying here! We are all dying!" The Oscar-winning director is standing in a rock quarry near Veracruz, Mexico, shooting a hellish scene for Apocalypto, his action epic about the ancient Maya. Hundreds of local extras—many of whom have never seen a movie, let alone acted in one—are pounding fake limestone to build a temple used for human sacrifices. Gibson wants one of the extras, covered in white lime dust, to visibly cough up a glob of fake blood. But something keeps getting lost in translation. Take after take, the young man, who speaks only Spanish, politely covers his mouth as he hacks. A second candidate for the role does the same. Gibson finally lets out a tortured howl, digs vainly for a cigarette in his empty pack of Camels and turns the set into his own Thunderdome. The translator does his best to convey the passion of the Mel.

The blasts turn to laughs soon after when, to lighten the mood, Gibson has the crew bring out a stuffed jaguar and leads the extras running away in mock terror. But later he admits to time, which this month was given the first look at Apocalypto's production, that the utter inexperience of most of the cast is a price he's paying for the authentic feel he wants in the film, in which dialogue is spoken solely in Yucatec Maya. If people were imagining that Gibson, 50, might coast a little after his 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ, inspired not only months of controversy but also nearly $1 billion worth of ticket sales, the director has given his answer: Nope. If anything, this film is a more ambitious project than The Passion—although success does make some things a mite easier. Gibson had to walk a via dolorosa to find a distributor for The Passion and ended up distributing it more or less himself, but Disney's Touchstone Pictures needed only to read Apocalypto’s script before signing on to release it in early August.

The Passion experience—especially the part in which critics hurled anti-Semitism charges at Gibson, an ultraconservative Roman Catholic whose father has questioned whether the Holocaust happened—thickened Gibson’s hide along with his wallet. So if there are complaints about Apocalypto's portrayal of human sacrifice by the Maya, whose mostly impoverished descendants today are a cause célèbre for liberals, Gibson says he won't care. "After what I experienced with The Passion, I frankly don't give a flying f___ about much of what those critics think." Still, he likes to confound expectations — he wears a cross containing relics of martyred saints, but he can swear like a Quentin Tarantino character —and those who peg him as a reactionary may be surprised to learn that his new film sounds warnings straight out of liberal Hollywood's bible. Apocalypto, which Gibson loosely translates from the Greek as "a new beginning," was inspired in large part by his work with the Mirador Basin Project, an effort to preserve a large swath of the Guatemalan rain forest and its Maya ruins. Gibson and his rookie cowriter on Apocalypto, Farhad Safinia, were captivated by the ancient Maya, one of the hemisphere’s first great civilizations, which reached its zenith about A.D. 600 in southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. The two began poring over Maya myths of creation and destruction, including the Popol Vuh, and research suggesting that ecological abuse and war-mongering were major contributors to the Maya's sudden collapse, some 500 years before Europeans arrived in the Americas.

Those apocalyptic strains haunt Apocalypto, which takes place in an opulent but decaying Maya kingdom, whose leaders insist that if the gods are not appeased by more temples and human sacrifices, the crops will die. But the writers hope that the larger themes of decline will be a wake-up call. "The parallels between the environmental imbalance and corruption of values that doomed the Maya and what's happening to our own civilization are eerie," says Safinia. Gibson, who insists ideology matters less to him than stories of "penitential hardship" like his Oscar-winning Braveheart, puts it more bluntly: "The fearmongering we depict in this film reminds me a little of President Bush and his guys."

Stop the War

London, Sydney, New York, Toronto, Washington, Stockholm, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Seoul, Boston...

Crazy Laws

A funny list of dumb laws in the United States

Alabama
• It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle.
• It is illegal to maim oneself to escape duty.
• It is illegal to stab yourself to gain someone's pity.
• It is illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church.
• It is legal to drive the wrong way down a one-way street if you have a lantern attached to the front of your automobile.
• Putting salt on a railroad track may be punishable by death.
• Slavery is still legal in Decatur, Alabama.
• You cannot chain your alligator to a fire hydrant.
Arizona
• A man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month.
• Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony.
• Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.
• Glendale: Cars may not be driven in reverse.
• In Arizona it is illegal to take naked photographs before noon on Sunday.
• It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling.
• It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona.
• It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water.
• Maricopa County: No more than six girls may live in any house.
• Mohave County: A decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.
California
• A city ordinance states that a $500 fine will be given to anyone who detonates a nuclear device within city limits.
• Animals are banned from mating publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship.
• A regulation in San Francisco makes it unlawful to use used underwear to wipe off cars in a car wash.
• Belvedere City Council order reads: "No dog shall be in a public place without its master on a leash."
• Blythe: You are not permitted to wear cowboy boots unless you already own at least two cows.
• California only fairly recently legalized the sale of alcoholic beverages in nudist colonies.
Texas
• A recently passed anticrime law requires criminals to give their victims 24 hours notice, either orally or in writing, and to explain the nature of the crime to be committed.
• Abilene: It is illegal to idle or loiter anyplace within the corporate limits of the city for the purpose of flirting or mashing.
• Clarendon: It is illegal to dust any public building with a feather duster.
• Dallas: It's illegal to possess realistic dildos.
• Houston: Beer may not be purchased after midnight on a Sunday, but it may be purchased on Monday. It is illegal to sell Limburger cheese on Sunday.
• If two trains going in opposite directions on the same track meet each other, one can't move until the other does.
• In Kingsville, there is a law against two pigs having sex on the city's airport property.
• In Lefors, Texas it is illegal to take more than three swallows of beer at any time while standing.
• In Mesquite, Texas it is illegal for kids to have unusual haircuts.
• In Texas it's legal for a chicken to have sex with you, but it's illegal to reciprocate.
• It is illegal for one to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel.
much, much more

Jesus: The Man, The Myth

Jesus: The Man, The Myth

A Dig led by The Rev. Madison Shockley

What is the truth about Jesus? What is the truth about the Christ? Are they the same truth? Are they the same person? Most people (religious and nonreligious) think of one person to whom they commonly refer as Jesus Christ as though Christ were this person’s surname. Christ is not Jesus’ last name but instead is an honorific title. It comes from the Greek word christos. The Greek christos is a translation of the Hebrew word messiah, meaning anointed one. This was the title of leadership given to Israelite kings and priests because they were doused or anointed with oil as a sign of their office. As it pertains to Jesus, he was called Christ as an expression of faith that he had been anointed by God as king and priest. The followers of this Jesus eventually gathered themselves into congregations of the Christ and ultimately into the Christian Church.

The truth about Jesus is that he was a human being who lived and died as every person born ever has. Jesus was most likely born in Nazareth of the Galilee and certainly was raised there. He was a Jewish wisdom teacher and exorcist/healer who lived in the Galilee province of the Roman Empire between 4 BCE (before the Common Era) and 30 CE. His mother was known as Mary. His father was likely Joseph.

The truth about Jesus is that he never intended to start a church or a new religion. He did not understand himself to be the divine Son of God; rather, he saw himself as the “Son of [hu]Man[ity]” or an “average Joe.” Not only did he not start a church, he joined the reform movement of John the Baptizer (aka John the Baptist), who was a popular and charismatic Jewish prophet.

So who is Jesus Christ? The Jesus Christ of most traditional theology is a distortion of both the Jesus of history and the Christ of the Christian faith—an attempt to take the metaphor of Christ and invest it totally in the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a distortion because it makes a very Jewish Jesus into the first Christian and not the faithful Jew that he was. The truth about “Jesus Christ” is that when we look only at this hybrid concept we lose clear sight of both the human being and the mythological icon. What we hope to do in this dig is excavate separately the man (Jesus) and the myth (Christ) and unearth a new meaning for the statement “Jesus [is] Christ.”

Dial-a-Yield Nukes

Dial-a-Yield Nukes: Regular or Extra-Crispy

Posted by Alan Bellows on February 25th, 2006 at 12:16 pm

In regards to nuclear weaponry, a kiloton is equivalent to the explosive destructive power 1,000 metric tons of TNT. Most tactical nuclear weapons in operational deployment today have yields measured in tens or hundreds of kilotons, which tends to make them overkill for any kind of tactical use.

Consider, for example, the fact that Hiroshima was leveled by a 13 kiloton weapon, resulting in an estimated 80,000 deaths. By comparison, the modern W80 nuclear warhead– one of the most common in U.S. active deployment– has a maximum yield of about 150 kilotons. This weapon is so powerful that it can completely wipe out a typical medium-sized city, but at the flick of a switch, the warhead's potency can be reduced to as little as five kilotons. This handy feature is called Dial-a-Yield, and it allows nuclear stockpiles to take advantage of the one-size-fits-all approach.
Read the rest of this entry »

via: damn interesting

Evil Beatles

Filed under: If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right. -Ib

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Evil Beatles

The Beatles were satanists that had made a pact with the devil, and the bill had to be paid to the coven. Every band that has made a pact with satan has had a member die. Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, The Who, etc. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Lennon assassin Mark David Chapman clearly demonstrated that he was a satanist. In other words he was an errand boy collecting the payment for satan’s bill.

"Alone in my apartment back in Honolulu, I would strip naked and put on Beatles records and pray to Satan to give me the strength. I prayed for demons to enter my body to give me the power to kill" (cited by Evangelist Richard Ciarrocca, Observations, Dec. 1990).

“In his book, The Ultimate Evil, investigator-author Maury Terry writes that between 1966 and 1967, the Satanic cult, the Process Church, 'sought to recruit the Beatles.'"

The Beatles' Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album was dedicated to satanist Aleister Crowley. It was released 20 years, nearly to the day, after Crowley's death in 1947. The title song with the lyrics, "It was twenty years ago today..." On the album cover we see a collection of the Beatles personal heros. Aleister Crowley appears there.

Crowley was born in 1875 and was called the "Great Beast." He was known to practice ritual child sacrifice regularly, in his role as Satan's high priest or "Magus." Crowley died in 1947 due to complications of his huge heroin addiction. Before dying, he succeeded in establishing Satanic covens in many U.S. cities including Hollywood. Kenneth Anger, like Crowley, is a Magus, and appears to be the heir to Crowley. Anger was seventeen years old when Crowley died. In that same year, 1947, Anger was already producing and directing films which, even by today's standards, reek of pure evil.” - http://www.geocities.com/mmiddleton87/

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What a buttload of bullshit. -Ib

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via: The map is not the territory

Hot Peppers/Healthy Prostate

Scorched mouth, but healthy prostate

By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 16, 2006

Gentlemen, eat your chili peppers. Habanero, jalapeno, Scotch bonnet -- those hot but tasty varieties of the capsicum frutescens have multiple health benefits -- including the ability to drive prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, researchers announced yesterday.

According to a team from the University of California at Los Angeles and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the hot stuff in peppers -- capsaicin -- caused 80 percent of active prostate cancer cells growing in mice to "follow the molecular pathways leading to apoptosis," or cell death.

The cancer cells literally committed suicide. What's more, the cancer tumors of the mice treated with a hot pepper extract were one-fifth the size of untreated mice.

"Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture," said Dr. Soren Lehmann. "It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models."

What does this mean in the kitchen? Tex-Mex or curry fans are in luck: the hotter the pepper, the more the benefit. According to Dr. Lehmann, the mice were fed a dose of pepper extract equivalent to what a normal man might consume -- 400 milligrams of extract three times a week. That amount translates to three to eight fresh habanero peppers.

Medically speaking, capsaicin inhibited the action of NF-kappa Beta, a substance found in cells that causes them to grow out of control. Capsaicin also regulates certain proteins that effect the growth of the cells.

"Increased concentrations of capsaicin caused more prostate cancer cells to freeze in a non-proliferative state," according to the study.

Dying Visions

Visions of the dying
REBECCA McQUILLAN	March 13 2006
'Iknew something had happened to him – I just knew it"; "There was this light which seemed to come from him"; "She smiled, as if she was greeting someone – and then she died". Intimations of a loved one's death; warm, enveloping lights; visions of dead relatives – deathbed phenomena such as these have become a passion for Dr Peter Fenwick, a consultant in neuropsychiatry at the universities of London and Southampton. Typical among them is the account of a young woman and her father who went to tell a woman called Kate, a sheep farmer near Inverness, that her brother John had died. "Dad and I drove the 20 or so miles and up a hill track to the farmhouse, to be met by Kate who said 'I know why you've come – I heard him calling me saying "Kate, Kate" as he passed over'. She was quite matter of fact about it and gave us the time of death, which was exactly the same as that recorded by the hospital. I found it an amazing experience." Dr Fenwick has heard many such stories. "That deathbed coincidences occur is supported by accounts from different cultures throughout history," he says. Yet he is one of a very small number of researchers to study the phenomena – as he cheerfully admits, "to be a world expert, you only have to read three or four papers". It is still regarded as controversial by a scientific fraternity that baulks at its associations with beliefs in life after death, what Dr Fenwick refers to as its "black magic sort of feel". "It's not the sort of thing you'd be happy to give a lecture on at the Royal Academy," he says. So it has come down to a small, international group of doctors, nurses and neuroscientists to collect data.