World News

Experts Say Sex Abstinence Program Doesn't Work

Alex Birch — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:12:25 -0700

Programs teaching U.S. schoolchildren to abstain from sex have not cut teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases or delayed the age at which sex begins, health groups told Congress on Wednesday.

1) Not all kids are equal, and many are born to copulate like bonobos
2) You have to give kids something to live for, like romance and family, that isn't dysfunctional in their experience; you can't just hand them negativity.

Criminals Target Energy Resources

Alex Birch — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:21:26 -0700

Attorney General Michael Mukasey warned Wednesday that organized criminal networks have penetrated portions of the international energy market and tried to control energy resources.

Energy resources, including water and food, will be the cause of many future wars.

The Baltic Sea Is Threatening To Collapse

Alex Birch — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:11:46 -0700

The levels of toxic pollution in the Baltic from farming, and the levels of sewage from places like St. Petersburg, are distressing. The Baltic Sea is threatening to collapse, and the fishing industry is in desperate danger. We need a radical change in direction.

Let's go and buy some green light bulbs, that'll do it. Seriously, why does it take such a long time for us to wake up?

Jews And Blacks In Racial Conflicts

Alex Birch — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:43:15 -0700

Nearly 17 years after riots tore Crown Heights apart, the recent beating of a black college student by Jewish assailants has exposed rising tensions between blacks and Jews in my neighborhood.

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The man on the bike sprayed Charles with tear gas, and a few minutes later a contingent of Jewish men arrived by car and in scooters and began chasing them.

[---]

In the neighborhood's calculus of tribal resentments, the attack on Charles was the mirror image of a January incident in which a teenage yeshiva student named Samuel Balkany said five black kids jumped and beat him, shouting "little Jew boy, you think you own this neighborhood," and such.

No, we can't all just get along: we want our own cultures, and our own identities, so we can find a consensus that works for who we are genetically.

Pluralism/multiculturalism/globalism are the same thing and they make people alienated by giving them no framework of values in which to exist. Our future is endless racial conflict, culminating in a grey lumpenproletariat, until we figure this one out.

- Brett Stevens

Haitian Prime Minister Ousted Over High Food Prices

Alex Birch — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:58:07 -0700

Haiti's Parliament has voted to dismiss Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis after deadly protests over rising food prices.

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Globally, food prices have risen 40 percent since mid-2007. Haiti, where most people live on less than $2 a day, is particularly affected because it imports nearly all of its food, including more than 80 percent of its rice.

Much of Haiti's once-productive farmland has been abandoned as farmers struggle to grow crops in soil decimated by erosion, deforestation, flooding and tropical storms.

40 %!! That's quite a lot..

Freedom Of Choice Makes Us Confused

Alex Birch — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:46:59 -0700

Woe to the caffeinated, for gone are the days of simply grabbing a coffee. Today's order requires surviving a gauntlet of choices: Latte or Americano? Flavored or plain? Cream and sugar? Small, medium or large? And the list goes on.

New research shows that such daily decisions eat up limited mental resources, ultimately rendering our self-control into mush. Which means making too many decisions might be why many people can't stick to a diet, finish a big project or even complete simple daily tasks.

"It's a strange paradox because human beings are drawn to choice," said study co-author Kathleen Vohs, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "We love having more choices, but at the same time the human psyche is easily overcome by them."

Democracy and free choice make us confused and poor decision-makers.

Smog Contributes To Premature Death

Alex Birch — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:20:54 -0700

Short-term exposure to smog, or ozone, is clearly linked to premature deaths that should be taken into account when measuring the health benefits of reducing air pollution, a National Academy of Sciences review concludes.

The findings contradict arguments made by some White House officials that the connection between smog and premature death has not been shown sufficiently and that the number of saved lives should not be calculated in determining clean air benefits.

Unbelievable that we need "evidence" to "prove" that the industrialization has gone too far.

US Engineer Arrested For Spying For Israel

Alex Birch — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:39:45 -0700

A former U.S. Army mechanical engineer was arrested Tuesday on charges that he spied for Israel over 20 years ago. Government officials in Israel said they were not familiar with the case.

Ben-Ami Kadish, 84, was to be charged with slipping classified documents about nuclear weapons, fighter jets and air defense missiles to an Israeli Consulate employee who also received information from convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, authorities said.

America is as safe as a Swiss cheese.

How Air Pollution Hurts Your Kids' Lungs

Alex Birch — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:36:15 -0700

Children are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution because their lungs don't fully form until they are adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics noted.

The leading pediatricians group added that "because children spend more time outdoors than do adults, they have increased exposure to outdoor air pollution."

"If you live near a polluted area of a city, it's like the child is smoking," said best-selling author and pediatrician Bill Sears. "We all know what smoking does for the lungs."

City life is unhealthy in many respects, but this is completely intolerable.

Auto Thefts Near Mexican Border Worry American Police

Alex Birch — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:09:30 -0700

Most of the cities that are seeing high theft rates are near the nation's border with Mexico, a fact that can make it tricky for authorities to recover the vehicles.

"When the car is stolen, it takes a period of time for a person to realize the car is gone," said Scafidi. In the meantime, cars are driven right across the border.

"Once it is Mexico or Canada, then you are dealing with another country and you can't go in there and route around," Scafidi said.

Finger im po, Mexiko!