May 30th, 2008 cate
This is a call to action: read this book
.
Famed Charles Manson prosecutor and three time #1 New York Times bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi has written the most powerful, explosive, and thought-provoking book of his storied career.
In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Bugliosi sets forth the legal architecture and incontrovertible evidence that President Bush took this nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has not only caused the deaths of American soldiers but also over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, and children; cost the United States over one trillion dollars thus far with no end in sight; and alienated many American allies in the Western world.
As a prosecutor who is dedicated to seeking justice, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines and instead based upon hard facts and pure objectivity.
A searing indictment of the President and his administration, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder also outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions, thereby creating a framework for future occupants of the oval office.
Vincent Bugliosi calls for the United States of America to return to the great nation it once was and can be again. He believes the first step to achieving this goal is to bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice.
Get the book: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
Posted in books, dangerous / warnings, general, news, recommendations and favorites, wisdom | No Comments »
May 29th, 2008 cate
According to the Associated Press, since meat prices have skyrocketed, people have resorted to buying canned meat, namely: Spam. ICK!
All I can say is: DON’T DO THAT!
Why? Because anything processed and canned is treated with chemicals such as sodium nitrites (to keep its color and to preserve it) and salt. That’s why it can live in your cupboard for…ever! (I’m not kidding, you can keep spam indefinitely. That’s gotta tell ya something.) Anyway, in spam, these dangerous ingredients are included in high doses. There’s also a lot of FAT in it.
Try to replace meat with more healthful options. Here are some suggestions:
1. Beans (legumes) / Lentils & Sprouts – kidney beans, black beans, soy beans, chickpeas, peas, pinto beans, black-eyed peas, lima beans, to name just a few.
2. Organic Eggs and Cheese and yogurt – eggs are fortified with omega 3 fatty acids and protein. Organic dairy products are rich in protein and calcium.
3. Tofu / Seitan / Tempeh – Seitan and Tempeh are extremely high in protein while tofu contains about 1/4 of the protein of seitan and tempeh, but still a good source.
4. Vegetables! – Eat a variety of veggies and you will get a variety of nutrition. For example, the leafy parts of some veggies are really great for you: beet leaves, carrot stems, pumpkin leaves, mustard green, etc. Some other vegetables to explore are: broccoli, spinach, carrots, beets, kale, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, bamboo shoots, bok choy, chard, etc.
5. Whole Organic Milk – great source of calcium, protein, vitamin a, d, b6, b12, potassium, thiamin, riboflavin, folic acid, magnesium, zinc. Make sure to get some natural sunlight for vitamin d, which helps your body to absorb the calcium.
6. Nuts & Seeds – Almonds, cashews, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc. and their “butter” form, i.e., peanut butter, almond butter, walnuts, hazelnuts etc. (*make sure you are not allergic to these nuts and seeds)
7. Protein rich grains – bulgar, quinoa, amaranth, oats, whole wheat, brown rice, millet, etc.
8. Supplements – B12 is an important vitamin in meat and can be found in vitamins and fortified foods. (Check with your health care provider.)
9. Real Grass Fed Meat once a week – If you do not want to be a vegetarian, limit your meat intake to once a week. You really do not need more than this. This is relatively easy on the wallet and better for you. Eat grass fed meats (chicken, beef) or organically raised pork.
10 – Seaweed – is high in protein and very nutritious – and is great with sushi maki.
The combination of grains and legumes give a complete amount of protein, i.e., brown rice and beans. Make certain you eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, and a variety of those. Never overeat and never eat excessive amounts of one thing.
Notes: Make sure you’re not allergic to anything of these things and be sure to consult a doctor before making changes to your diet, to verify you are getting the right amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals, etc.
Posted in body, diet, eco living, general, health, healthy recipes, kids, online self help, organic, parenting, real food, recommendations and favorites, safe products, self improvement | No Comments »
May 28th, 2008 cate
From wikihow:
“Whether genetically modified (GM) foods are safe or beneficial is still controversial, but some people would prefer to avoid them until the evidence is clear. Most foods we eat may contain ingredients derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs)–everything from baby formula and food to our dairy to even our meat. If you live in Europe, avoiding GM foods is easier since laws require labeling. However in the US and Canada food manufacturers are not required to label if their food is genetically modified or not. As such, here are some guidelines for steering clear of GMs in your diet, if that is your choice.
Become familiar with the most common applications of genetic modification. These are the products (and their derivatives) that you have to be the most careful with:
Soybeans – Gene taken from bacteria and inserted into soybeans to make them more resistant to herbicides. See How to Live With a Soy Allergy for more information on avoiding soy products.
Corn – Gene added/transferred to make crop more resistant to pesticides. May be present in high fructose corn syrup which is prevalent in a wide variety of foods in America.
Tomatoes – Genetically modified to limit production of substances that cause rotting
Rapeseed (canola) – Gene added/transferred to make crop more resistant to pesticides
Sugar cane – Gene added/transferred to make crop more resistant to pesticides
Sweet corn – Gene taken from bacteria and inserted into corn so they produce an insecticide
Rice – Genes implanted from daffodils and bacteria for higher amounts of Vitamin A; also known as “Golden Rice”
Canola – oil from rapeseed.
Cotton – Used for making cottonseed oil.
Dairy – Cows injected with GE hormone rBGH/rBST; possibly fed GM grains and hay.
Buy food labeled 100% organic. The US and Canadian governments do not allow manufacturers to label something 100% organic if that food has been genetically modified or been fed genetically modified feed. However, you may find that organic food is often expensive. Also, just because something says “organic” on it does not mean that it does not contain GMs. In fact, it can still contain up to 30% GMs, so be sure the labels say 100% organic.
This applies to eggs, as well. Eggs labeled “free-range”, “natural”, or “cage-free” are not necessarily GE-free; look for eggs to be 100% organic.[1]
Purchase beef that is 100% grass-fed. Most cattle in the U.S. are grass-fed, but spend the last portion of their lives in feedlots where they may be given GM feed. If you’re looking to stay away from GMOs, make sure the cattle 100% grass-fed or pasture-fed (sometimes referred to as grass-finished or pasture-finished). The same applies to meat from other herbivores such as sheep. There is also the slight possibility that the animals were fed GM alfalfa, although this is less likely if you buy meat locally. With non-ruminants like pigs and poultry that cannot be 100% grass-fed, it’s better to look for meat that is 100% organic.
Seek products that are specifically labeled as non-GM or GMO-free. However, it is rare to find products labeled as such. You can also research websites that list companies and foods that do not use genetically modified foods.[2]
Shop locally. Although more than half of all GM foods are produced in the US,[3] most of it comes from large, industrial farms. By shopping at farmers’ markets, signing up for a subscription from a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, or patronizing a local co-op that stresses GM-free food, you may be able to avoid GM products and possibly save money at the same time.
More and more small farms are offering grains and meat directly to customers, in addition to the usual fare (vegetables, fruit, herbs).
Shopping locally may also give you the opportunity to speak to the farmer and find out how he or she feels about GMOs and whether or not they use them in their own operation.
Buy whole foods. Favor foods that you can cook and prepare yourself, rather than foods that are processed or prepared (e.g. anything that comes in a box or a bag, including fast food). What you lose in convenience, you may recover in money saved and satisfaction gained, as well as increased peace of mind. Try cooking a meal from scratch once or twice a week–you may enjoy it and decide to do it more often.
Tips
If you have the land, time, and resources, grow your own food. As long as you make sure you’re not buying GM seeds, you’ll know for sure that the food which comes from your garden is not genetically modified.
At chain and non-chain restaurants, you can ask which, if any, of their foods contain GMs, but the wait and kitchen staff are not likely to know.”
From wikihow
Posted in articles, dangerous / warnings, diet, eco living, general, health, healthy recipes, kids, news, online self help, organic, parenting, real food | No Comments »
May 16th, 2008 cate
Did you know that many of the drugs you’re prescribed, can actually HARM you? It is so shocking that these things are supposed to be helping us but in most cases, they don’t. They simply feed the greedy pockets of big pharmaceutical companies. How do we know which drugs do damage?
The 24-Hour Pharmacist- is the perfect pill for anyone seeking insight on overall health from a resource that is thorough and fun to read. With chapter titles such as “Frazzled, Frustrated and Freaked Out: Coping with Anxiety and Stress” to “More Jiggle, Less Joint Pain: What You Can Do About Arthritis” you get the sense that the author well knows what course to recommend but also truly enjoys educating others. One feature I found especially enlightening were the sections in each chapter entitled “Suzy’s Secrets From Behind The Counter”. Here is where she (Suzy) offers great little insights to live by with a perspective that only a pharmacist can give. One good example of this is in the chapter about weight loss where she explains that some drugs can make you hungry. Included in her list are sedatives and tranquilizers, antidepressants, allergy pills, female hormones and diuretics. Wow, who knew?
Read more about it here: The 24-Hour Pharmacist
Posted in body, books, dangerous / warnings, depression, general, healing, health, herbal medicine, hope, kids, online self help, organic, parenting, recommendations and favorites, safe products, self improvement, success stories, wisdom | No Comments »
May 14th, 2008 cate
From the positivityblog:
1. Change yourself.
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”
“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”
If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you wouldn’t have – or maybe even have thought about – while stuck in your old thought patterns.
And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies etc. intact.
And so in this new situation you will still not find what you hoped for since your mind is still seeping with that negative stuff. And if you get more without having some insight into and distance from your ego it may grow more powerful. Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.
2. You are in control.
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. There may be a “normal” or a common way to react to different things. But that’s mostly just all it is.
You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don’t have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way. Perhaps not every time or instantly. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction just goes off. Or an old thought habit kicks in.
And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.
3. Forgive and let it go.
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. And as said in the previous tip, you always choose how to react to something. When you can incorporate such a thought habit more and more into your life then you can react in a way that is more useful to you and others.
You realize that forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service. And spending your time in some negative memory won’t help you after you have learned the lessons you can learn from that experience. You’ll probably just cause yourself more suffering and paralyze yourself from taking action in this present moment.
If you don’t forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.
4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere.
“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”
Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard and difficult. There can be much inner resistance.
And so you may resort to preaching, as Gandhi says. Or reading and studying endlessly. And feeling like you are moving forward. But getting little or no practical results in real life.
So, to really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.
You can check out a few effective tips to overcome this problem in How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips. Or you can move on to the next point for more on the best tip for taking more action that I have found so far.
5. Take care of this moment.
“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”
The best way that I have found to overcome the inner resistance that often stops us from taking action is to stay in the present as much as possible and to be accepting.
Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment that you can’t control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences – or reflecting on past failures – of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.
Have a look at 8 Ways to Return to the Present Moment for tips on how quickly step into the now. And remember that reconnecting with and staying in the now is a mental habit – a sort of muscle – that you grow. Over time it becomes more powerful and makes it easier to slip into the present moment.
6. Everyone is…
Read the rest
Posted in articles, general, healing, hope, inspiration, kindness, laugh, lifestyle, mind, online self help, pain, personal development, personal growth, recommendations and favorites, self improvement, setting goals, spirit, wisdom | No Comments »