Posts
Surprise, the package you just found on you're doorstep, was part of a lost shipment. Who lost it and what was in it! Oh, only things considered to be some of the world's deadliest germs. Say what!
Just read in the Chicago Sun Times, 10/ 3 / 07, that there were some 100 accidents and missing shipments, involving anthrax, bird flu virus, monkeypox,and plague-causing bacteria, in 44 labs in 24 states. Not to worry though, no one died, and the public was never at risk! Seems that I hear lies of that nature every so often. Stated was that the lab workers had experienced bites, or scratches by infected animals, skin cuts, needle sticks,and more! There is no cure , if infected, for some of these illnesses! So who is steering the ship, and watching mishaps of this nature? The article states " No single federal agency has the mission to track the overall number of these labs in the United States ", says a report from the Government Accountability Office. During the past seven months of 2007, labs reported 36 accidents and LOST SHIPMENTS, nearly double the number reported during ALL of 2004. Not to worry though, the government is " watching you ", oop's, that was a slip, should be " watching out for you ", right! With all the monitoring taking place, like, illegal wire taps, listening-in on telephone calls, watching you're E-mails, and making you throw away you're tooth-paste at the airport, perhaps the " lost deadliest germs " shipments will show-up. Why worry about the worlds deadliest germs, when it is much easier to go after alternative medicine practitioners, and protect private security forces in Iraq from prosecution for wrong doings, while holding US troops responsible for lessor violations. Maybe I expect to much from people. Traits like common sense and integrity, are easily forced out by certain opportunities.
Showing posts with label common sense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label common sense. Show all posts
Friday, October 05, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
# 109 Applied Common Sense and Mercury In Your Baby !
With all the published guidelines, stating that people should make every effort to avoid ingesting mercury contaminated fish and foods, where is the applied common sense in this situation? Of course, how stupid of me, sell the toxic mercury, and bank tons of dollars, while ignoring the very real dangers of eating mercury. Oh, more stupid me, just think on it, some group somewhere, can become billionaires, selling 10 million pounds of toxic mercury, at your healths risk.
...................................................................................................
WASHINGTON (November 16, 2006) -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is considering selling some 1,300 tons of surplus mercury on the international market, prompting urgent warnings from health organizations that the toxic metal would easily find its way back into the domestic food chain from the developing world where it's typically used today.
There is no question that mercury from this sale would find its way up the food chain, onto our plates, and into our bodies," said Dr. Linda Greer, an environmental toxicologist and director of NRDC's Environmental Health Program. "Inviting less developed countries to a close-out sale on surplus American poison is sheer lunacy given what we know about how easily mercury moves around the globe."
Prenatal and infant mercury exposure can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness. Even in low doses, mercury may affect a child's development, delaying walking and talking, shortening attention span and causing learning disabilities. In adults, it can adversely affect fertility and blood pressure, and cause memory loss, tremors, vision loss and other problems. Growing evidence suggests exposure to mercury may also lead to heart disease.
"We've got to stop the cycle of toxic mercury trade that winds up contaminating the fish we eat," said Dr. Greer.
Mercury also poses a substantial direct health risk to workers around the world, said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project. "As many as 15 million gold miners in more than 40 countries, for example, are at risk from high-concentration mercury vapors and mercury intoxication, which can lead to severe nervous system poisoning," he said. "The U.S. government has a moral obligation to restrict its exports to developing countries, as the European Union recently proposed to do by 2011"
FEDERAL AGENCY THREATENS TO DUMP TOXIC MERCURY STOCKPILE ON OPEN MARKET; EXPERTS WARN POTENT TOXIN WOULD BOOMERANG BACK TO U.S. DINNER PLATES
" current federal stockpile of about 10 million pounds "
.................................................................................................................
Bush Plans to Veto Removal of Mercury From Infant Vaccines
Despite a 2004 campaign promise to the contrary, President Bush continues to allow the mercury-containing vaccine preservative thimerosal to be added to childhood flu vaccines.Thousands of parents believe the preservative has caused mercury poisoning and autism in their children. Still, President Bush plans to veto the HHS-Labor-Education Appropriations Bill, which includes a measure to ban childhood flu vaccines that contain thimerosal, because of the cost and “objectionable provisions.”As it stands, flu vaccines which contain thimerosal, are recommended for all pregnant women, infants and children, even though the Institute of Medicine recommended in 2001 that these population groups not be exposed to thimerosal-containing vaccines. One in every six women of childbearing age has enough mercury in their bloodstream to cause neurological damage to their unborn children, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Max Health July 20 2007
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health Service requested that all mercury-containing thimerosal be removed from vaccines all the way back in 1999.Now, nearly a decade later, mercury is not only still a part of flu vaccines, but health officials are recommending them to the very population that mercury stands to harm the most: babies, children and pregnant women.Children’s developing systems often cannot tolerate the assault from a potent neurotoxin like mercury, and there are many who believe mercury-containing vaccines have fueled the autism epidemic in America.Aside from autism, mercury exposure has been liked to an alarming array of chronic health issues, including:
Multiple sclerosis
Central nervous system disorders
Alzheimer’s disease
Lower IQ levels
Learning disabilitiesThe fact that thimerosal is still in vaccines is morally reprehensible, plain and simple. If you are a new parent or parent-to-be, please read up on the risks of vaccinations so that you can make an informed decision for the health of your child. And if you’re considering getting a flu vaccination, remember that there are plenty of natural ways to avoid getting the flu, without having to inject yourself or your child with a dangerous toxin.
Related Articles:
Thimerosal Battle Heads to "Vaccine Court" Childhood Vaccines Exceed Federal Guidelines for Mercury How the Mercury in Vaccines Can Kill Your Baby
http://www.mercola.com/2004/aug/28/thimerosal_vaccine.htm
http://www.mercola.com/2004/mar/31/mercury_vaccines.htm
http://www.mercola.com/2003/apr/5/vaccines_mercury.htm
http://www.mercola.com/2001/jun/13/autism_mercury.htm
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
# 108 What The World Needs Now : Applied Common Sense
What the World Needs Now : Applied common sense.
What is happening now, in our world, makes no sense.
With that in mind, the following makes sense.
Talker
..............................................................
Power Corrupts
by Ben Moreell, August 1997
When a person gains power over other persons — the political power to force other persons to do his bidding when they do not believe it right to do so — it seems inevitable that a moral weakness develops in the person who exercises that power.
It may take time for this weakness to become visible. In fact, its full extent is frequently left to the historians to record, but we eventually learn of it. It was Lord Acton, the British historian, who said: "All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Please do not misunderstand me. These persons who are corrupted by the process of ruling over their fellow men are not innately evil. They begin as honest men. Their motives for wanting to direct the actions of others may be purely patriotic and altruistic. Indeed, they may wish only "to do good for the people." But, apparently, the only way they can think of to do this "good" is to impose more restrictive laws.
Now, obviously, there is no point in passing a law which requires people to do something they would do anyhow; or which prevents them from doing what they are not going to do anyhow. Therefore, the possessor of the political power could very well decide to leave every person free to do as he pleases so long as he does not infringe upon the same right of every other person to do as he pleases. However, that concept appears to be utterly without reason to a person who wants to exercise political power over his fellow man, for he asks himself: "How can I 'do good' for the people if I just leave them alone?" Besides, he does not want to pass into history as a "do nothing" leader who ends up as a footnote somewhere. So he begins to pass laws that will force all other persons to conform to his ideas of what is good for them.
That is the danger point! The more restrictions and compulsions he imposes on other persons, the greater the strain on his own morality. As his appetite for using force against people increases, he tends increasingly to surround himself with advisers who also seem to derive a peculiar pleasure from forcing others to obey their decrees. He appoints friends and supporters to easy jobs of questionable necessity. If there are not enough jobs to go around, he creates new ones. In some instances, jobs are sold to the highest bidder. The hard-earned money of those over whom he rules is loaned for questionable private endeavors or spent on grandiose public projects at home and abroad. If there is opposition, an emergency is declared or created to justify these actions.
If the benevolent ruler stays in power long enough, he eventually concludes that power and wisdom are the same thing. And as he possesses power, he must possess wisdom. He becomes converted to the seductive thesis that election to public office endows the official with both power and wisdom. At this point, he begins to lose his ability to distinguish between what is morally right and what is politically expedient.
Mr. Moreell was the chairman of the board of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation.
This essay originally appeared in Volume 1 of Essays on Liberty , published in 1952
by The Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.
Subscribe to Freedom Daily.
..........................................................................................
It's time for America to admit mistakes in Iraq, academic says
--------------------
By Nara Schoenberg
Tribune staff reporter
( Tempo -section 5 - Q & A )
July 10, 2007
Princeton professor Anne-Marie Slaughter's new book is plastered with glowing blurbs from the likes of former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright ("a brilliant book, deeply moving, exquisitely timed") and George Shultz ("Read this book and be challenged to ... work for American values").
"The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World" is also wrapped in an image of the flag, packed with American history, sprinkled with quotes from the Founding Fathers -- and profoundly critical of this nation's post 9/11 foreign policy, at one point referring to a law limiting the rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees as "democracy at its lowest."
Intrigued, we picked up a copy and read Slaughter's impassioned argument that America has strayed from the bedrock values -- liberty, equality, democracy -- embodied in documents such as the Declaration of Independence. "What I really want is an America that will simply stand up and say, as President Bush did when he saw the Abu Ghraib photographs, that this is not who we are," she writes in a passage condemning the use of torture against suspected terrorists. "I want a president, and a country, who means it."
We caught up with Slaughter, 48, dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, during a recent stop on her book tour.
The following is an edited transcript.
Q So it's time for America to eat some humble pie?
A I do think that. We would gain a huge amount of capital if we just admitted that we've made some major mistakes, and I find it so incredible that we don't have the guts to do that. You know, I'm a mother and I spend my time telling my kids -- they're 8 and 10 -- look, you did [something wrong], admit it, take the responsibility and move on. That's what character's about. And we seem incapable of doing that as a nation.
Q Were we wrong to go into Iraq?
A We were wrong about weapons of mass destruction. We were wrong about what it was going to take to rebuild Iraq. We were incredibly arrogant -- thinking that we knew [the weapons of mass destruction] were there, even when the rest of the world was telling us: why don't we wait a little longer? No, no, we knew [better]. And then [it was], we could do this in a month. And then, we only needed 150,000 troops and the Iraqis were going to greet us in the streets.
We've made some really big mistakes.
Q. What about the people who say, maybe we were wrong, maybe we made mistakes, but under Saddam Hussein, innocent people were tortured and the Kurds were gassed. Why are we the ones who have to step forward and admit we were wrong?
A. Well, two wrongs don't make a right. I mean, [this is] really basic, right? You tell your kids this. Your kid says, "Well, Johnny did it." OK, great, Johnny did it -- but you don't. This is not about groveling. It's not about going around apologizing all the time. It's about having the strength and character to be humble and recognize that you don't know everything. It's about being stronger because you show people that you're big enough to acknowledge when you've made errors.
Q. You're a liberal, right?
A. I am a liberal, but I am deeply bipartisan, and indeed, when I submitted the book proposal, many publishers didn't want it because they wanted it to be much more partisan.
Q. You do make some fairly liberal assumptions -- for instance, that readers look favorably on gay marriage. Are you talking to the Red States in this book?
A. I think I'm very much talking to people in the Red States; indeed, the most supportive radio interview I've gotten has been [Dan] Gresham on Fox radio. Absolutely. Because this is the language of the Red States. I grew up in the South, and I've had people come up to me -- I just gave a talk in Washington -- and three people came up, two from the military and one from Texas, and [one] said, "Ah, this is exactly what I need because this is the language that the people I talk to are comfortable with. This is the language of American values. It's the language of our heritage. It's the language of the flag." And it is not a language that I think many liberal Democrats are comfortable with.
This radio interviewer, he said at the end, "Ya know, I'll follow you anywhere."
Q. Did he agree with, say, the idea of a PAR index -- that other countries should rate us in terms of our government's accountability, respect for rights and representativeness?
A. [Laughs] We didn't get that far, but we definitely talked about Abu Ghraib. We talked about what this country was standing for in the world, and he actually said that we need to get back to something that crosses the political divide. You cannot doubt, if you read this book, that I love this country as much as you do. You cannot doubt it. Now, I have my set of experiences, and you have yours, and we [may] disagree, but there is this common heritage that we have, and we should be assuming that we're [all] trying to find our way forward, according to our principles.
Q. For me, one of the most eye-popping statistics in your book is that 95 percent of Jordanians think that Americans should be more religious, not less. Can you explain that?
A. I think it's because of what the average Jordanian sees of America, and what they see is Hollywood -- what they see are reruns of "Baywatch," or movies, or the Super Bowl halftime with Janet Jackson.
Q. And you're saying that perception hurts us?
A. Absolutely.
Q. And what can we do to change it?
A. One of the things we could do -- I talk about our convening a dialogue of civilizations. And our talking about what we value in other civilizations. The hall of the lawgivers in Congress has Hammurabi -- a great Babylonian, well, that's Iraq. It has Suleiman -- a great Muslim lawgiver. It has, of course, Moses. It has Maimonides. It has Greek and Roman lawgivers.
And that's [a] conception of Western civilization that is deeply embracing of the Islamic tradition, even the pre-Islamic tradition. That would be a different notion [of America for Muslim nations]: We [in America] stand for universal values. America has contributed one very distinct set of experiences to the realization of those values. But only one. And that would create a space for Muslims to look at the glories of their civilization.
Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune
...................................................................
The Idea that Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World
(Hardcover)
by Anne-Marie Slaughter (Author)
Key Phrases: ordered liberty, United States, New York, Geneva Conventions
(more...)
ISBN-10: 0465078087
ISBN-13: 978-0465078080
Book Description
A leading voice in global affairs calls us back to America's founding principles--and shows how they can guide us forward into the twenty-first century. When Army Captain Ian Fishback decided to blow the whistle on prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, he posed the central question facing America in the new century:
"Will we confront danger in order to preserve our ideals, or will courage and commitment to individual rights wither at the prospect of sacrifice?... I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is 'America.'" But what is this idea? George W. Bush waged war in Iraq in the name of American values--liberty and democracy. His critics in the United States and around the world also use the language of values, and attack him for deceiving a nation to wage an unjust war. What are the values that America truly stands for?
In The Idea That Is America, a preeminent foreign policy scholar eloquently reminds us of the essential principles on which our nation was established: liberty, democracy, equality, tolerance, faith, justice, and humility. Our ongoing struggle to live up to America's great promise matters not only to us, but also to the billions of men and women everywhere who look to the United States to lead, protect, and inspire the world. In The Idea That Is America, Anne-Marie Slaughter shows us the way forward.
From the Publisher
"If an American renaissance is to happen, Anne-Marie Slaughter shows, it will be because US leaders and citizens return to the bedrock ideals that fueled the American dream. In this forceful and necessary book, Slaughter elegantly mines pivotal moments in US history for contemporary insight, and she shows that leaders who take heed of law and justice, and who proceed with humility, can leave behind a more peaceful and just America, and a more stable world."--Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide "Passionately argued, yet plainly written, The Idea that is America is part credo, part manifesto -- a wholehearted return to first principles by one of America's most talented and distinguished legal minds. Anne-Marie Slaughter's analysis of the U.S. constitution and its legacy encapsulates the liberal interpretation of American history, while her recommendations point the way to a paradigm shift in American
foreign policy."--Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, Harvard University and author of The War of the World and Colossus
"Slaughter's book focuses on an important theme and one close to my heart: the relationship between power and principle. Her arguments, stated with passionate conviction and intellectual clarity, appeal both to my heart and to my reason."--Zbigniew Brzezinski
"Anne-Marie Slaughter has written a book that will educate and inspire all Americans. At a time when many claim that we cannot afford the luxury of our liberties, she explains why America's values remain vital, how they can be preserved and strengthened, and what it means to live by these ideals. This book should be required reading for every citizen."--Fareed Zakaria, author of The Future of Freedom and editor, Newsweek International
"The Idea That is America is a brilliant book, deeply moving, exquisitely timed, authored by one of our country's leading scholars."--Madeleine K. Albright, Former Secretary of State
"Read this book and be challenged to think about, to aspire to, and to work for American values."--George P. Shultz, Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Former Secretary of State
...................................................................................
A New World Order (Paperback)
by Anne-Marie Slaughter (Author) "THE BEST EVIDENCE OF THE
DISAGGREGATED STATE MAY BE FOUND IN logs of embassies around the
world..." (more)
ISBN-10: 0691123977
ISBN-13: 978-0691123974
From Publishers Weekly
Breaking new ground in international relations theory, Slaughter urges readers to lose their "conceptual blind spot" and see how the world really works. Scholars, pundits and policymakers, she writes, have traditionally seen nations as "unitary"—that is, as single entities that "articulate and pursue a single national interest." In fact, she says, we would do better to focus on government networks, both horizontal and vertical. Horizontal networks link counterpart national officials across borders, such as police investigators or financial regulators. Vertical
networks are relationships between a nation's officials and some supranational
organization to which they have ceded authority, such as the European Court of Justice. Networks, she says, are the solution to the "globalization paradox": The world needs global governance to combat problems that jump borders, like crime and environmental degradation, and yet most people fear—rightly, Slaughter implies—the idea of a centralized, all-powerful world government. The book both describes the here and now and plots a course for the future: Strengthening existing networks and developing new ones "could create a genuine global rule of law without centralized global institutions." The author, who is the dean of the Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton as well as president of the American Society of International Law, is steeped in these issues and offers genuinely original thinking. Written in dense academic language, this book will not pick up many casual readers, but it will likely attain instant textbook status and generate much discussion about foreign policy and whether, as Slaughter believes, the U.S. should welcome such networks in a globalized world.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
What is happening now, in our world, makes no sense.
With that in mind, the following makes sense.
Talker
..............................................................
Power Corrupts
by Ben Moreell, August 1997
When a person gains power over other persons — the political power to force other persons to do his bidding when they do not believe it right to do so — it seems inevitable that a moral weakness develops in the person who exercises that power.
It may take time for this weakness to become visible. In fact, its full extent is frequently left to the historians to record, but we eventually learn of it. It was Lord Acton, the British historian, who said: "All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Please do not misunderstand me. These persons who are corrupted by the process of ruling over their fellow men are not innately evil. They begin as honest men. Their motives for wanting to direct the actions of others may be purely patriotic and altruistic. Indeed, they may wish only "to do good for the people." But, apparently, the only way they can think of to do this "good" is to impose more restrictive laws.
Now, obviously, there is no point in passing a law which requires people to do something they would do anyhow; or which prevents them from doing what they are not going to do anyhow. Therefore, the possessor of the political power could very well decide to leave every person free to do as he pleases so long as he does not infringe upon the same right of every other person to do as he pleases. However, that concept appears to be utterly without reason to a person who wants to exercise political power over his fellow man, for he asks himself: "How can I 'do good' for the people if I just leave them alone?" Besides, he does not want to pass into history as a "do nothing" leader who ends up as a footnote somewhere. So he begins to pass laws that will force all other persons to conform to his ideas of what is good for them.
That is the danger point! The more restrictions and compulsions he imposes on other persons, the greater the strain on his own morality. As his appetite for using force against people increases, he tends increasingly to surround himself with advisers who also seem to derive a peculiar pleasure from forcing others to obey their decrees. He appoints friends and supporters to easy jobs of questionable necessity. If there are not enough jobs to go around, he creates new ones. In some instances, jobs are sold to the highest bidder. The hard-earned money of those over whom he rules is loaned for questionable private endeavors or spent on grandiose public projects at home and abroad. If there is opposition, an emergency is declared or created to justify these actions.
If the benevolent ruler stays in power long enough, he eventually concludes that power and wisdom are the same thing. And as he possesses power, he must possess wisdom. He becomes converted to the seductive thesis that election to public office endows the official with both power and wisdom. At this point, he begins to lose his ability to distinguish between what is morally right and what is politically expedient.
Mr. Moreell was the chairman of the board of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation.
This essay originally appeared in Volume 1 of Essays on Liberty , published in 1952
by The Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.
Subscribe to Freedom Daily.
..........................................................................................
It's time for America to admit mistakes in Iraq, academic says
--------------------
By Nara Schoenberg
Tribune staff reporter
( Tempo -section 5 - Q & A )
July 10, 2007
Princeton professor Anne-Marie Slaughter's new book is plastered with glowing blurbs from the likes of former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright ("a brilliant book, deeply moving, exquisitely timed") and George Shultz ("Read this book and be challenged to ... work for American values").
"The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World" is also wrapped in an image of the flag, packed with American history, sprinkled with quotes from the Founding Fathers -- and profoundly critical of this nation's post 9/11 foreign policy, at one point referring to a law limiting the rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees as "democracy at its lowest."
Intrigued, we picked up a copy and read Slaughter's impassioned argument that America has strayed from the bedrock values -- liberty, equality, democracy -- embodied in documents such as the Declaration of Independence. "What I really want is an America that will simply stand up and say, as President Bush did when he saw the Abu Ghraib photographs, that this is not who we are," she writes in a passage condemning the use of torture against suspected terrorists. "I want a president, and a country, who means it."
We caught up with Slaughter, 48, dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, during a recent stop on her book tour.
The following is an edited transcript.
Q So it's time for America to eat some humble pie?
A I do think that. We would gain a huge amount of capital if we just admitted that we've made some major mistakes, and I find it so incredible that we don't have the guts to do that. You know, I'm a mother and I spend my time telling my kids -- they're 8 and 10 -- look, you did [something wrong], admit it, take the responsibility and move on. That's what character's about. And we seem incapable of doing that as a nation.
Q Were we wrong to go into Iraq?
A We were wrong about weapons of mass destruction. We were wrong about what it was going to take to rebuild Iraq. We were incredibly arrogant -- thinking that we knew [the weapons of mass destruction] were there, even when the rest of the world was telling us: why don't we wait a little longer? No, no, we knew [better]. And then [it was], we could do this in a month. And then, we only needed 150,000 troops and the Iraqis were going to greet us in the streets.
We've made some really big mistakes.
Q. What about the people who say, maybe we were wrong, maybe we made mistakes, but under Saddam Hussein, innocent people were tortured and the Kurds were gassed. Why are we the ones who have to step forward and admit we were wrong?
A. Well, two wrongs don't make a right. I mean, [this is] really basic, right? You tell your kids this. Your kid says, "Well, Johnny did it." OK, great, Johnny did it -- but you don't. This is not about groveling. It's not about going around apologizing all the time. It's about having the strength and character to be humble and recognize that you don't know everything. It's about being stronger because you show people that you're big enough to acknowledge when you've made errors.
Q. You're a liberal, right?
A. I am a liberal, but I am deeply bipartisan, and indeed, when I submitted the book proposal, many publishers didn't want it because they wanted it to be much more partisan.
Q. You do make some fairly liberal assumptions -- for instance, that readers look favorably on gay marriage. Are you talking to the Red States in this book?
A. I think I'm very much talking to people in the Red States; indeed, the most supportive radio interview I've gotten has been [Dan] Gresham on Fox radio. Absolutely. Because this is the language of the Red States. I grew up in the South, and I've had people come up to me -- I just gave a talk in Washington -- and three people came up, two from the military and one from Texas, and [one] said, "Ah, this is exactly what I need because this is the language that the people I talk to are comfortable with. This is the language of American values. It's the language of our heritage. It's the language of the flag." And it is not a language that I think many liberal Democrats are comfortable with.
This radio interviewer, he said at the end, "Ya know, I'll follow you anywhere."
Q. Did he agree with, say, the idea of a PAR index -- that other countries should rate us in terms of our government's accountability, respect for rights and representativeness?
A. [Laughs] We didn't get that far, but we definitely talked about Abu Ghraib. We talked about what this country was standing for in the world, and he actually said that we need to get back to something that crosses the political divide. You cannot doubt, if you read this book, that I love this country as much as you do. You cannot doubt it. Now, I have my set of experiences, and you have yours, and we [may] disagree, but there is this common heritage that we have, and we should be assuming that we're [all] trying to find our way forward, according to our principles.
Q. For me, one of the most eye-popping statistics in your book is that 95 percent of Jordanians think that Americans should be more religious, not less. Can you explain that?
A. I think it's because of what the average Jordanian sees of America, and what they see is Hollywood -- what they see are reruns of "Baywatch," or movies, or the Super Bowl halftime with Janet Jackson.
Q. And you're saying that perception hurts us?
A. Absolutely.
Q. And what can we do to change it?
A. One of the things we could do -- I talk about our convening a dialogue of civilizations. And our talking about what we value in other civilizations. The hall of the lawgivers in Congress has Hammurabi -- a great Babylonian, well, that's Iraq. It has Suleiman -- a great Muslim lawgiver. It has, of course, Moses. It has Maimonides. It has Greek and Roman lawgivers.
And that's [a] conception of Western civilization that is deeply embracing of the Islamic tradition, even the pre-Islamic tradition. That would be a different notion [of America for Muslim nations]: We [in America] stand for universal values. America has contributed one very distinct set of experiences to the realization of those values. But only one. And that would create a space for Muslims to look at the glories of their civilization.
Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune
...................................................................
The Idea that Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World
(Hardcover)
by Anne-Marie Slaughter (Author)
Key Phrases: ordered liberty, United States, New York, Geneva Conventions
(more...)
ISBN-10: 0465078087
ISBN-13: 978-0465078080
Book Description
A leading voice in global affairs calls us back to America's founding principles--and shows how they can guide us forward into the twenty-first century. When Army Captain Ian Fishback decided to blow the whistle on prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, he posed the central question facing America in the new century:
"Will we confront danger in order to preserve our ideals, or will courage and commitment to individual rights wither at the prospect of sacrifice?... I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is 'America.'" But what is this idea? George W. Bush waged war in Iraq in the name of American values--liberty and democracy. His critics in the United States and around the world also use the language of values, and attack him for deceiving a nation to wage an unjust war. What are the values that America truly stands for?
In The Idea That Is America, a preeminent foreign policy scholar eloquently reminds us of the essential principles on which our nation was established: liberty, democracy, equality, tolerance, faith, justice, and humility. Our ongoing struggle to live up to America's great promise matters not only to us, but also to the billions of men and women everywhere who look to the United States to lead, protect, and inspire the world. In The Idea That Is America, Anne-Marie Slaughter shows us the way forward.
From the Publisher
"If an American renaissance is to happen, Anne-Marie Slaughter shows, it will be because US leaders and citizens return to the bedrock ideals that fueled the American dream. In this forceful and necessary book, Slaughter elegantly mines pivotal moments in US history for contemporary insight, and she shows that leaders who take heed of law and justice, and who proceed with humility, can leave behind a more peaceful and just America, and a more stable world."--Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide "Passionately argued, yet plainly written, The Idea that is America is part credo, part manifesto -- a wholehearted return to first principles by one of America's most talented and distinguished legal minds. Anne-Marie Slaughter's analysis of the U.S. constitution and its legacy encapsulates the liberal interpretation of American history, while her recommendations point the way to a paradigm shift in American
foreign policy."--Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, Harvard University and author of The War of the World and Colossus
"Slaughter's book focuses on an important theme and one close to my heart: the relationship between power and principle. Her arguments, stated with passionate conviction and intellectual clarity, appeal both to my heart and to my reason."--Zbigniew Brzezinski
"Anne-Marie Slaughter has written a book that will educate and inspire all Americans. At a time when many claim that we cannot afford the luxury of our liberties, she explains why America's values remain vital, how they can be preserved and strengthened, and what it means to live by these ideals. This book should be required reading for every citizen."--Fareed Zakaria, author of The Future of Freedom and editor, Newsweek International
"The Idea That is America is a brilliant book, deeply moving, exquisitely timed, authored by one of our country's leading scholars."--Madeleine K. Albright, Former Secretary of State
"Read this book and be challenged to think about, to aspire to, and to work for American values."--George P. Shultz, Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Former Secretary of State
...................................................................................
A New World Order (Paperback)
by Anne-Marie Slaughter (Author) "THE BEST EVIDENCE OF THE
DISAGGREGATED STATE MAY BE FOUND IN logs of embassies around the
world..." (more)
ISBN-10: 0691123977
ISBN-13: 978-0691123974
From Publishers Weekly
Breaking new ground in international relations theory, Slaughter urges readers to lose their "conceptual blind spot" and see how the world really works. Scholars, pundits and policymakers, she writes, have traditionally seen nations as "unitary"—that is, as single entities that "articulate and pursue a single national interest." In fact, she says, we would do better to focus on government networks, both horizontal and vertical. Horizontal networks link counterpart national officials across borders, such as police investigators or financial regulators. Vertical
networks are relationships between a nation's officials and some supranational
organization to which they have ceded authority, such as the European Court of Justice. Networks, she says, are the solution to the "globalization paradox": The world needs global governance to combat problems that jump borders, like crime and environmental degradation, and yet most people fear—rightly, Slaughter implies—the idea of a centralized, all-powerful world government. The book both describes the here and now and plots a course for the future: Strengthening existing networks and developing new ones "could create a genuine global rule of law without centralized global institutions." The author, who is the dean of the Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton as well as president of the American Society of International Law, is steeped in these issues and offers genuinely original thinking. Written in dense academic language, this book will not pick up many casual readers, but it will likely attain instant textbook status and generate much discussion about foreign policy and whether, as Slaughter believes, the U.S. should welcome such networks in a globalized world.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
# 106 Frankenfoods Update: US Rice Supply Is Contaminated
See posts #67-#68-#71-#73-#74-#84-#89-#90-#102-#103-#105, and you can see where the Frankenfood supply is headed. Common sense has been and is being replaced by corporate greed, intentional or not.
................................................
U.S. Rice Supply Contaminated
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that small amounts of an experimental genetically engineered rice, LLRICE 601, have appeared in long-grain rice shipments earmarked for Europe.
The European Union stated in response that it would require that all long-grain rice imported from the United States be certified as free of unauthorized genetically engineered grains.
This is the first time such rice has been found in the U.S. commercial rice crop. How the GM rice got mixed into the shipments is unknown. It is possible that some seeds or pollen escaped from the test plots five years ago, and have been growing since that time.
LLRICE 601 is a type of genetically modified rice developed by Bayer CropScience. It has a genetically modified protein that makes the rice plants resist glyphosate, the weed killer also known as Round-Up. LLRICE 601 has not been approved for sale in the United States.
Washington Post August 19, 2006
Christian Science Monitor August 31, 2006
USA Today August 23, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
The blight of genetically modified (GM) grass that may be growing on your lawn so spooked the USDA recently, the agency is conducting their first environmental assessment. Now a species of GM rice -- illegal for sale to humans -- has contaminated long-grain rice shipments earmarked for Europe.
The problem began in January when one Southern U.S. farming co-op detected the biotech contamination. However, they waited five months before notifying Bayer about the problem.
Then, Bayer waited two more months before contacting the USDA on July 31, about three weeks before the feds made a public announcement. Chalk up part of the delay to a test developed by Bayer and certified in late August by the USDA that identifies unapproved strains of GM rice mixed with commercial rice.
(This is a division of the German Bayer company that sold AIDS-infected drugs in Europe and Asia that were banned in the United States).
The European Union isn't so trusting, however, and for good reason: It imports more than 260,000 tons of long-grain rice from America annually, and its customers want no part of biotech foods.
Make no mistake -- GM plants will accidentally intermix with other plants. In fact, they have already done so. Unless a halt is put on the entire process, some day in the not-too-distant future you may be completely unable to avoid GM foods, even if that is your major goal in life. It will simply be impossible due to the widespread contamination.
One of the issues that is frequently overlooked with GM crops is intellectual property. Monsanto patents are able to patent all these crops because they manipulated the U.S. legal system. So now it is entirely possible to contaminate a crop with patented seeds and then sue innocent organic farmers for patent infringement unless they buy a license to grow their Frankenfoods.
Oh, did I neglect to say Monsanto added a neat twister to this? That twist is called the terminator gene. So once the organic farmer crops become contaminated they also become "sterile." The farmer then has no choice but to purchase the seeds from Monsanto as his contaminated crops will not produce any seeds he can plant the following year.
With that in mind, I urge you to read a detailed list of tips I posted last summer to protect your health and steer clear of GM products as much as is reasonably possible:
Reduce or eliminate processed foods. Roughly 75 percent of all the processed foods you see at your corner store contain some GM ingredients.
There are many other reasons why processed foods are not optimal for your health -- for instance they often contain trans fat, acrylamide and little nutritional value -- so avoiding them will not only help you to cut back on the amount of GM foods you are consuming, but will also boost your health.
Read produce and food labels. GM soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically modified crops. When looking at a product label, if any ingredients such as corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu (to name a few) are listed, there's a good chance it has come from GM corn or soy, unless it's listed as organic.
Buy organic produce. Buying organic is currently the best way to ensure that your food has not been genetically modified. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs.
Look at produce stickers. Those little stickers on fruit and vegetables contain different PLU codes depending on whether the fruit was conventionally grown, organically grown or genetically modified. The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine, and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.
Related Articles:
The Damage GM Foods Can do to Your Body
Genetically Modified (GM) Foods Prepare a Takeover
Prominent Scientists Form Group to Counter GM Food
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
©Copyright 2007 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.
................................................
U.S. Rice Supply Contaminated
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that small amounts of an experimental genetically engineered rice, LLRICE 601, have appeared in long-grain rice shipments earmarked for Europe.
The European Union stated in response that it would require that all long-grain rice imported from the United States be certified as free of unauthorized genetically engineered grains.
This is the first time such rice has been found in the U.S. commercial rice crop. How the GM rice got mixed into the shipments is unknown. It is possible that some seeds or pollen escaped from the test plots five years ago, and have been growing since that time.
LLRICE 601 is a type of genetically modified rice developed by Bayer CropScience. It has a genetically modified protein that makes the rice plants resist glyphosate, the weed killer also known as Round-Up. LLRICE 601 has not been approved for sale in the United States.
Washington Post August 19, 2006
Christian Science Monitor August 31, 2006
USA Today August 23, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
The blight of genetically modified (GM) grass that may be growing on your lawn so spooked the USDA recently, the agency is conducting their first environmental assessment. Now a species of GM rice -- illegal for sale to humans -- has contaminated long-grain rice shipments earmarked for Europe.
The problem began in January when one Southern U.S. farming co-op detected the biotech contamination. However, they waited five months before notifying Bayer about the problem.
Then, Bayer waited two more months before contacting the USDA on July 31, about three weeks before the feds made a public announcement. Chalk up part of the delay to a test developed by Bayer and certified in late August by the USDA that identifies unapproved strains of GM rice mixed with commercial rice.
(This is a division of the German Bayer company that sold AIDS-infected drugs in Europe and Asia that were banned in the United States).
The European Union isn't so trusting, however, and for good reason: It imports more than 260,000 tons of long-grain rice from America annually, and its customers want no part of biotech foods.
Make no mistake -- GM plants will accidentally intermix with other plants. In fact, they have already done so. Unless a halt is put on the entire process, some day in the not-too-distant future you may be completely unable to avoid GM foods, even if that is your major goal in life. It will simply be impossible due to the widespread contamination.
One of the issues that is frequently overlooked with GM crops is intellectual property. Monsanto patents are able to patent all these crops because they manipulated the U.S. legal system. So now it is entirely possible to contaminate a crop with patented seeds and then sue innocent organic farmers for patent infringement unless they buy a license to grow their Frankenfoods.
Oh, did I neglect to say Monsanto added a neat twister to this? That twist is called the terminator gene. So once the organic farmer crops become contaminated they also become "sterile." The farmer then has no choice but to purchase the seeds from Monsanto as his contaminated crops will not produce any seeds he can plant the following year.
With that in mind, I urge you to read a detailed list of tips I posted last summer to protect your health and steer clear of GM products as much as is reasonably possible:
Reduce or eliminate processed foods. Roughly 75 percent of all the processed foods you see at your corner store contain some GM ingredients.
There are many other reasons why processed foods are not optimal for your health -- for instance they often contain trans fat, acrylamide and little nutritional value -- so avoiding them will not only help you to cut back on the amount of GM foods you are consuming, but will also boost your health.
Read produce and food labels. GM soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically modified crops. When looking at a product label, if any ingredients such as corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu (to name a few) are listed, there's a good chance it has come from GM corn or soy, unless it's listed as organic.
Buy organic produce. Buying organic is currently the best way to ensure that your food has not been genetically modified. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs.
Look at produce stickers. Those little stickers on fruit and vegetables contain different PLU codes depending on whether the fruit was conventionally grown, organically grown or genetically modified. The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine, and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.
Related Articles:
The Damage GM Foods Can do to Your Body
Genetically Modified (GM) Foods Prepare a Takeover
Prominent Scientists Form Group to Counter GM Food
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
©Copyright 2007 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.
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