Tibet

China is trying to convince the rest of the world that they have free speech and they are an open country. If that really is true, why have they blocked access to sites that are covering the happenings in Tibet?

“Popular sites which assimilate news from different sources – such as Google News – have been subject to what is known as ‘keyword filtering’, where a Chinese internet user attempting to load a page which contains words such as ‘Tibet’ or ‘Dalai Lama’ will see the site stall.

Times Online has also learned that the editors of some of the most popular ‘forum’ – or bulletin board – sites in China have been directly contacted by government officials and told not to publish any content relating to the recent protests.”

Yet this is the country we are supposed to be enthralled with during the Olympics this summer.

Go figure.

Technorati Tags: China, Tibet, freedom, free press

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The New Great Pyramid

Isn’t this charming:

“It sounds like an absurd idea. The plan is to build a massive pyramid, filled with human remains, on a windswept field near the city of Dessau, eastern Germany.”

Did you catch that-they want to fill it up with human remains. And here is their reasoning:

“But the organisers of the project are adamant that this is not a PR stunt. There were pyramids in ancient Egypt, so why not in modern-day Germany, they argue.”

There were lots of things done in ancient Egypt-does this mean that Germany should copy all of them? That would mean no electricity, no cars, and slaves. Not to mention the fact that Egypt is not and never will be a great nation again. Is that what they want for themselves?

The backers for this graveyard have already secured a government grant. This means that the people of Germany and the EU are the ones paying the bill for this pyramid, which has no limit:

“The organisers say the pyramid would grow gradually over the years.”

Meaning that this will be a never ending tax for the people of the EU. I wonder how they feel about that?

The article goes on to say that having the pyramid would make it a theme park about life and death. I don’t know how they come to that conclusion, since there was nothing mentioned about having a display of life there.

They also quoted a person saying that this is a graphic way of dealing with death. The memorial will only have an impact if you know someone buried there. Otherwise once people move on to the next attraction, the pyramid will be forgotten. Not to mention that if you have had someone you were close to die, death is very graphic for you.

Technorati Tags: pyramids, Germany, death, cremation, remains

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115th Edition

This week’s Homeschooling Carnival is here.

Technorati Tags: homeschooling. learning, teaching, education

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Vaccines in Food?

Researchers at the University of Tokyo are working on ways to get vaccines and other drugs in foods. They are working on putting cholera proteins in rice, which would effectively act as a vaccine in the body to prevent cholera. They have also put influenza vaccines in rice and anti-cancer interferon drugs in strawberries.

I have a feeling that these foods will go the same way as GM (genetically modified) foods which means that the foods will not be labeled as having drugs or vaccines in them. Therefore you will have no idea what kind of drugs you are getting in the food.

What will be the consequences for folks who have gotten vaccines and then end up getting even more doses through these foods?

Technorati Tags: vaccinations, health, food, drugs

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Demon Possession

I found this article fascinating. A psychiatrist who is part of the faculties of New York Medical College and Columbia University has written an article to document a case of demonic possession.

I found it fascinating because the majority of people in his profession work hard to convince people there is no such thing as the devil or demons and therefore one cannot be possessed. Here is Dr. Gallagher admitting it does exist.

Even more interesting is that the woman in this case was convinced she was under demonic attack from the beginning:

“Julia requested a Roman Catholic exorcism ritual, convinced from the beginning of her consultations that she was under demonic attack.“

Technorati Tags: faith, spirituality, religion, possession, demons

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Carnival of Principled Government

This is a monthly carnival. Dana at Principled Discovery has this months’ edition.

Technorati Tags: government, carnivals, principles

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Carlyle Funds Will Be Seized

Carlyle Capital funds will be seized because discussions with banks to bail them out failed. Part of the reason Carlyle is in trouble is due to their involvement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack:

“Carlyle Capital invested in triple-A rated mortgage debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and like other investment vehicles it had leveraged its capital aggressively, borrowing $31 for every dollar of equity.”

Thirty-one dollars for every dollar of equity?! No wonder they are in trouble. The results are far reaching, as Asian and European markets fear more funds will run into trouble.

Technorati Tags: funds, mortgages, debt, depression

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Belgian Parents Face Jail

“Two sets of parents in Belgium were recently handed five month prison terms for failing to vaccinate their children against polio. Each parent was also fined 4,100 euros ($8,000)

….

The parents can still avoid prison — their sentences were delayed to give them a chance to vaccinate their children. But if that deadline also passes without their children receiving the injections, the parents could be put behind bars.”

Even though polio outbreaks in Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Philippines, Madagascar, China and Indonesia were caused by the vaccine. The article says it was because unvaccinated children got the virus, and then spread it to others. I don’t believe that the only people unaffected were the non-vaccinated. The article does admit on the second page that “no vaccine is risk-free.”

Something the Belgian parents may have already discovered. If the children were to get the vaccine and have a bad reaction to it, is the Belgian government going to pay for the care those children will need, even if it is for the rest of their lives?

Technorati Tags: vaccinations, parents rights, children, health

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Pregnancy is a Mental Illness

This is what “The Mothers Act” would like us to believe. Health professionals would strongly encourage pregnant women into mental health programs-that means drugs-to combat even mild depression during or after giving birth.

The odd thing is that the they even admit that drugs don’t help this problem nor do they know what causes it:

“As the bill freely acknowledges “The causes of postpartum depression are complex and unknown.” In a mysterious leap of faith the bill says that this condition requires medication to treat it even though such medication has never been proven clinically effective and carries serious side effect risks for the mother and baby, including cardiovascular birth defects.”

This bill already passed the House. The Senate can vote on it any day now. Clicking the link above gives you the rest of the article as well as a way to contact your Senators and ask them to stop this bill.

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Carnival-Spring Into Action

This week’s homeschooling carnival is here.

Technorati Tags: homeschooling, education, teaching, learning

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