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How many members are in the "actual group" of the Recording Industry Association of America? How many members are in the 'actual group' of the Recording Industry Association of America? How many members are in its 'potential group'?

What is the Recording Industry Association of America? because for American Expenditures on fast food, Eric Schlosser in "Fast Food Nation" cites his source as being the Recording Industry Assn of America. Yet I can't find that same information on the Recording Industry Assn. of America, as it appears to be site related to the recording/music/industry.

The Recording Industry Association of America ? Can the The Recording Industry Association of America sue me for downloading music off limewire? I am in canada so am i immune to amarican companys!

Does anyone know the history of the Recording Industry Association of America? How it formed, who founded it? Year established, whether any events served as a catalyst for its founding?

History of the Recording Industry Association of America.......? I need a very brief history of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), including founders and year established. Also, did a specific situation/event/problem serve as a catalyst for the group's founding? How?

why did the recording industry association of america filed law suit against napster?

Is PARI -Philippine Association Recording Industry a dummy of RIAA -Recording Industry Association America? It has been decades that PARI members have carried music titles belonging to RIAA members -- is this nowadays a two-way affair, or is PARI still a dummy of the RIAA with no reciprocal benefits? With globalization comes localization. PARI is registered in the Congress of the Philippines as an arbitration/advisory arm of the government in matters regarding the Recording Industry. However, their members manufacture &/or market foreign titles at par with local titles in the Philippines. Unfair global trade?

What best describes the music industry at this time: MTV or eMpTyV? I don't mean to go off on whatever genre or band that you like to listen to, but because of censoring by Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) and what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) thinks is marketable, the current state of mainstream music is terrible. If anything, mainstream music is MANUFACTURED. So why do people still listen to this kitch that is marketed and censored by old white rich people whose favorite recording artist is Lawrence Welk? Why do people continue to propogate and encourage crappy mainstream music?

Why would these Recording Industries - both lobbying groups be perplexed about copying dvds? the recording industries are Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America

Where can I find a job Audio Recording industry in Australia? I am a 53 year old male with an excellent voice and oral reading skils. I am good at reading poetry, verse,prose, stories,plays,narations, and also legal and scientific script. i could even try radio and t.v voice overs. Unfortunately I have very poor life skills and I ido not know how to market myself. I am also willing to do oral reading on voluntary basis for a few months. Please tell me are there associations, companies , and agents I should talk to. Anywhere in Australia.

Where can I find a job Audio Recording industry? I am a 53 year old male with an excellent voice and oral reading skils. I am good at reading poetry, verse,prose, stories,plays,narations, and also legal and scientific script. i could even try radio and t.v voice overs. Unfortunately I have very poor life skills and I ido not know how to market myself. I am also willing to do oral reading on voluntary basis for a few months. Please tell me are there associations, companies , and agents I should talk to.

What would keep you from free music downloading? Your friend has e-mailed you the URL of a new Web site that permits free music downloading. The site maintains a central database of thousands of the most current and popular music tracks. You vaguely remember that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued thousands of subpoenas to Intrnet service providers across the United States in an attempt to get the names of people offering music on file-sharing networks, such as KaZaA and Grokster. But this is different, isn't it? You are simply downloading from a central database; you're not sharing your music with others. Are there any legal or ethical issues that would keep you from accessing this Web site?

How does a defendant pay off damages awarded to a plaintiff? According to this article (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=0110010E6SH4); Jammie Thomas, a 30-year-old Minnesota mother accused of piracy by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), has to pay them $220,000 in damages. I was wondering how just an independant person like that could pay that sort of. I mean RIAA was asking for up to 3.9 MILLION dollars. How does that work? If the damages were that amount... would this woman have to go to prison? Because I'm pretty sure you couldn't take out a loan for $3.9 million dollars and pay it off.

Are there any legal or ethical issues that would keep you from accessing this Web site? Your friend has e-mailed you the URL of a new Web site that permits free music downloading. The site maintains a central database of thousands of the most current and popular music tracks. You vaguely remember that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued thousands of subpoenas to Intrnet service providers across the United States in an attempt to get the names of people offering music on file-sharing networks, such as KaZaA and Grokster. But this is different, isn't it? You are simply downloading from a central database; you're not sharing your music with others. Are there any legal or ethical issues that would keep you from accessing this Web site?

what are your comments about Britney's sixth studio album circus? Britney spears sixth studio album circus has become number 1. jive records confirmed that Circus has officially been certified PLATINUM by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling at least 1 million copies!

Is the RIAA supported by the US government? I am writing a paper and i need to know whether or not the Recording industry Association Of America is supported by the US government?

Which crime is more severe? Stealing somebody's new laptop, or downloading ONE song from limewire? Because according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), downloading ONE song from Limewire is more severe than stealing somebody's new laptop. You apparently have to pay $750 for every song you downloaded for free to the RIAA if they catch you.

Would the RIAA come out for us? Would the RIAA come out for us? RIAA means recording industry association of america. I download episodes from a former TV show on youtube via realplayer. Is that illegal?? If it is why is real player out in the public?

POLL: Which crime is more severe? Stealing somebody's new laptop, or downloading ONE song from limewire? Because according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), downloading ONE song from Limewire is more severe than stealing somebody's new laptop. You apparently have to pay $750 for every song you downloaded for free to the RIAA if they catch you.

Garth Brooks best selling solo artist? "The Recording Industry Association of America announced that Garth Brooks was the best-selling solo artist of the 20th century in America." what does that mean? cause i know artists like michael jackson, the beatles, cher, etc have sold a lot more then him

Shouldnt record labels pay radio stations? For the free promotion instead of vice versa? BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is asking Congress to establish a performance royalty on free radio, despite the unparalleled promotional value the record labels and artists receive from radio airplay. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy (D-VT) and House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Chairman Berman (D-CA) have both introduced legislation (S. 2500 and H.R. 4789) that would mandate broadcasters pay to play and promote music. The impact would be catastrophic - for free radio and the local communities who rely on us for their news and information, forcing dramatic cuts both in personnel and content. Greed strikes again.

Twenty-eight percent of Canadians admit knowingly buying counterfeit goods? TORONTO (Reuters) - Twenty-eight percent of Canadians admit knowingly buying counterfeit goods such as knockoff clothes, watches, purses and movies, according to a survey released on Tuesday. The survey, conducted by polling firm and also found that 12 percent of respondents found out later that a product they bought was a knockoff. "The combined figure is slightly more than triple the proportion found in the United States by (polling firm) Gallup," the CACN said in a statement. "There, just 13 percent of Americans purchased, copied or downloaded imitation or counterfeit products." The CACN represents companies and industry associations fighting product counterfeiting and copyright piracy in Canada and abroad. Its members include Adidas, Microsoft Canada, Nike and the Canadian Recording Industry Association. The survey found that when they are informed that proceeds from the knockoff market go to organized crime, 86 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to buy counterfeit products. "If there is a silver lining here, it is the evidence that Canadians will refrain from buying counterfeit goods when they know about the involvement of organized crime," Lorne Lipkus, chairman of the CACN's education and training committee, said in a statement. "This tells us that, if we pass the right laws, empower our police forces, and educate our citizens, then we can solve this problem."www.eluxurybay.com The survey found that 70 percent of respondents favor heavy fines as a counterfeiting deterrent, while 43 percent favor jail time and 4 percent would "leave things as they are." The online poll surveyed 2,034 households between February 16 and February 20 and has an estimated sampling error of plus or minus 2.2 percent in 19 out of 25 cases.

Which of these famous hot blond girls is the best. Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Maria Sharapova? Rank them. Britney Spears: A very popular American pop music singer, songwriter, and dancer. Spears has sold over seventy-six million albums worldwide according to Time magazine. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ranks her as the eighth best-selling female artist in American music history, having sold thirty-one million albums in the U.S. Paris Hilton: A very famous American celebutante, businesswoman, model, actress and recording artist. She is an heiress to a share of both the Hilton Hotel fortune and the real estate fortune of her father Richard Hilton. Maria Sharapova: A very famous Russian professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. She is currently the world's highest-paid female athlete. She has won two Grand Slam singles titles. She is a former U.S. Open champion, having defeated Justine Henin in the final of the 2006 U.S. Open. Two years earlier, she defeated Serena William in the final at Wimbledon.

Will vunyl records become dominant and replace CDs and Ipods? Will vinyl records and turntables replace CDs, MP3s, and Ipods? The following article says that vinyls are making a comeback and that more retailers are stocking them: Some retailers give vinyl records a spin Email this Story Jun 9, 8:22 PM (ET) By SARAH SKIDMORE Google sponsored links Convert Vinyl to CDs Fast - Complete System. Free Tutorials Easy Do it yourself -LPs-45s-Tapes www.DAK.com OfftheRecord: Vinyl to CD - Simple & Affordable w/Original Look Free shipping + extras for $15.99 www.offtherecord-online.com PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - It was a fortuitous typo for the Fred Meyer retail chain. This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition of R.E.M.'s latest release "Accelerate" inadvertently entered the "LP" code instead. Soon boxes of the big, vinyl discs showed up at several stores. Some sent them back. But a handful put them on the shelves, and 20 LPs sold the first day. The Portland-based company, owned by The Kroger Co. (KR), realized the error might not be so bad after all. Fred Meyer is now testing vinyl sales at 60 of its stores in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The company says, based on the response so far, it plans to roll out vinyl in July in all its stores that sell music. Other mainstream retailers are giving vinyl a spin too. Best Buy is testing sales at some stores. And online music giant Amazon.com, which has sold vinyl for most of the 13 years it has been in business online, created a special vinyl-only section last fall. The best-seller so far at Fred Meyer is The Beatles album "Abbey Road." But musicians from the White Stripes and the Foo Fighters to Metallica and Pink Floyd are selling well, the company says. "It's not just a nostalgia thing," said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for Fred Meyer. "The response from customers has just been that they like it, they feel like it has a better sound." According to the Recording Industry Association of America, manufacturers' shipments of LPs jumped more than 36 percent from 2006 to 2007 to more than 1.3 million. Shipments of CDs dropped more than 17 percent during the same period to 511 million, as they lost some ground to digital formats. The resurgence of vinyl centers on a long-standing debate over analog versus digital sound. Digital recordings capture samples of sound and place them very close together as a complete package that sounds nearly identical to continuous sound to many people. Analog recordings on most LPs are continuous, which produces a truer sound - though, paradoxically, some new LP releases are being recorded and mixed digitally but delivered analog. Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well. But it's not just about the sound. Audiophiles say they also want the format's overall experience - the sensory experience of putting the needle on the record, the feeling of side A and side B and the joy of lingering over the liner notes. "I think music products should be more than just music," said Isaac Hudson, a 28-year-old vinyl fan standing outside one of Portland's larger independent music stores. The interest seems to be catching on. Turntable sales are picking up and the few remaining record pressers say business is booming. But the LP isn't going to muscle out CDs or iPod soon. Nearly 450 million CDs were sold last year, versus just under 1 million LPs, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Based on the first three months of this year, Nielsen says vinyl album sales could reach 1.6 million in 2008. "I don't think vinyl is for everyone; it's for the die-hard music consumer," said Jay Millar, director of marketing at United Record Pressing, a Nashville based company that is the nation's largest record pressing plant. Many major artists - Elvis Costello, the Raconteurs and others - are issuing LPs and encouraging fans to check out their albums on vinyl. On Amazon.com, one of the best-selling LPs is Madonna's latest album, "Hard Candy". Some artists package vinyl and digital versions of their music together, including offers for free digital downloads along with the record. "We've definitely had some talks with the major retailers about exclusives on the manufacturing end," Millar said of United Record Pressing, which focuses primarily on independent recordings. An avid music fan himself, Millar says he has moved to vinyl in recent years. "Once I got my first iPod ... I'm looking at my wall of CDs and trying to justify it," Millar said. "The things I like - the artwork, the liner notes, the sound quality - it dawns on me, those are things I like better on vinyl." He welcomed back the pops and clicks, even some of the scratches. "I like that fact that it's imperfect in a lot of ways, live music is imperfect too," Millar said. Independent music stores, which have been the primary source of LPs in recent years, say many fans never left the medium. "People have been buying vinyl all along," said Cathy Hagen, manager at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland. "There was a fairly good supply from independent labels on vinyl all these years. As far as a resurgence, the major labels are just pressing more now." In this game, big retailers aren't necessarily competing head to head with independent sellers' regular clientele of nostalgic baby boomers, independent label fans and turntable DJs. "I cannot see that Best Buy or Fred Meyer would order the same things we would," Hagen said. "They aren't going to be ordering the reggae, funk, punk or industrial music." The question is: Will vinyl records become dominant and replace CDs and Ipods?

Will vinyl records become dominant and replace CDs and Ipods? Will vinyl records and turntables replace CDs, MP3s, and Ipods? The following article says that vinyls are making a comeback and that more retailers are stocking them: Some retailers give vinyl records a spin Email this Story Jun 9, 8:22 PM (ET) By SARAH SKIDMORE Google sponsored links Convert Vinyl to CDs Fast - Complete System. Free Tutorials Easy Do it yourself -LPs-45s-Tapes www.DAK.com OfftheRecord: Vinyl to CD - Simple & Affordable w/Original Look Free shipping + extras for $15.99 www.offtherecord-online.com PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - It was a fortuitous typo for the Fred Meyer retail chain. This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition of R.E.M.'s latest release "Accelerate" inadvertently entered the "LP" code instead. Soon boxes of the big, vinyl discs showed up at several stores. Some sent them back. But a handful put them on the shelves, and 20 LPs sold the first day. The Portland-based company, owned by The Kroger Co. (KR), realized the error might not be so bad after all. Fred Meyer is now testing vinyl sales at 60 of its stores in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The company says, based on the response so far, it plans to roll out vinyl in July in all its stores that sell music. Other mainstream retailers are giving vinyl a spin too. Best Buy is testing sales at some stores. And online music giant Amazon.com, which has sold vinyl for most of the 13 years it has been in business online, created a special vinyl-only section last fall. The best-seller so far at Fred Meyer is The Beatles album "Abbey Road." But musicians from the White Stripes and the Foo Fighters to Metallica and Pink Floyd are selling well, the company says. "It's not just a nostalgia thing," said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for Fred Meyer. "The response from customers has just been that they like it, they feel like it has a better sound." According to the Recording Industry Association of America, manufacturers' shipments of LPs jumped more than 36 percent from 2006 to 2007 to more than 1.3 million. Shipments of CDs dropped more than 17 percent during the same period to 511 million, as they lost some ground to digital formats. The resurgence of vinyl centers on a long-standing debate over analog versus digital sound. Digital recordings capture samples of sound and place them very close together as a complete package that sounds nearly identical to continuous sound to many people. Analog recordings on most LPs are continuous, which produces a truer sound - though, paradoxically, some new LP releases are being recorded and mixed digitally but delivered analog. Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well. But it's not just about the sound. Audiophiles say they also want the format's overall experience - the sensory experience of putting the needle on the record, the feeling of side A and side B and the joy of lingering over the liner notes. "I think music products should be more than just music," said Isaac Hudson, a 28-year-old vinyl fan standing outside one of Portland's larger independent music stores. The interest seems to be catching on. Turntable sales are picking up and the few remaining record pressers say business is booming. But the LP isn't going to muscle out CDs or iPod soon. Nearly 450 million CDs were sold last year, versus just under 1 million LPs, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Based on the first three months of this year, Nielsen says vinyl album sales could reach 1.6 million in 2008. "I don't think vinyl is for everyone; it's for the die-hard music consumer," said Jay Millar, director of marketing at United Record Pressing, a Nashville based company that is the nation's largest record pressing plant. Many major artists - Elvis Costello, the Raconteurs and others - are issuing LPs and encouraging fans to check out their albums on vinyl. On Amazon.com, one of the best-selling LPs is Madonna's latest album, "Hard Candy". Some artists package vinyl and digital versions of their music together, including offers for free digital downloads along with the record. "We've definitely had some talks with the major retailers about exclusives on the manufacturing end," Millar said of United Record Pressing, which focuses primarily on independent recordings. An avid music fan himself, Millar says he has moved to vinyl in recent years. "Once I got my first iPod ... I'm looking at my wall of CDs and trying to justify it," Millar said. "The things I like - the artwork, the liner notes, the sound quality - it dawns on me, those are things I like better on vinyl." He welcomed back the pops and clicks, even some of the scratches. "I like that fact that it's imperfect in a lot of ways, live music is imperfect too," Millar said. Independent music stores, which have been the primary source of LPs in recent years, say many fans never left the medium. "People have been buying vinyl all along," said Cathy Hagen, manager at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland. "There was a fairly good supply from independent labels on vinyl all these years. As far as a resurgence, the major labels are just pressing more now." In this game, big retailers aren't necessarily competing head to head with independent sellers' regular clientele of nostalgic baby boomers, independent label fans and turntable DJs. "I cannot see that Best Buy or Fred Meyer would order the same things we would," Hagen said. "They aren't going to be ordering the reggae, funk, punk or industrial music."

Will vinyl records and turntables replace CDs, MP3s, and Ipods? The following article says that vinyls are making a comeback and that more retailers are stocking them: Some retailers give vinyl records a spin Email this Story Jun 9, 8:22 PM (ET) By SARAH SKIDMORE Google sponsored links Convert Vinyl to CDs Fast - Complete System. Free Tutorials Easy Do it yourself -LPs-45s-Tapes www.DAK.com OfftheRecord: Vinyl to CD - Simple & Affordable w/Original Look Free shipping + extras for $15.99 www.offtherecord-online.com PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - It was a fortuitous typo for the Fred Meyer retail chain. This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition of R.E.M.'s latest release "Accelerate" inadvertently entered the "LP" code instead. Soon boxes of the big, vinyl discs showed up at several stores. Some sent them back. But a handful put them on the shelves, and 20 LPs sold the first day. The Portland-based company, owned by The Kroger Co. (KR), realized the error might not be so bad after all. Fred Meyer is now testing vinyl sales at 60 of its stores in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The company says, based on the response so far, it plans to roll out vinyl in July in all its stores that sell music. Other mainstream retailers are giving vinyl a spin too. Best Buy is testing sales at some stores. And online music giant Amazon.com, which has sold vinyl for most of the 13 years it has been in business online, created a special vinyl-only section last fall. The best-seller so far at Fred Meyer is The Beatles album "Abbey Road." But musicians from the White Stripes and the Foo Fighters to Metallica and Pink Floyd are selling well, the company says. "It's not just a nostalgia thing," said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for Fred Meyer. "The response from customers has just been that they like it, they feel like it has a better sound." According to the Recording Industry Association of America, manufacturers' shipments of LPs jumped more than 36 percent from 2006 to 2007 to more than 1.3 million. Shipments of CDs dropped more than 17 percent during the same period to 511 million, as they lost some ground to digital formats. The resurgence of vinyl centers on a long-standing debate over analog versus digital sound. Digital recordings capture samples of sound and place them very close together as a complete package that sounds nearly identical to continuous sound to many people. Analog recordings on most LPs are continuous, which produces a truer sound - though, paradoxically, some new LP releases are being recorded and mixed digitally but delivered analog. Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well. But it's not just about the sound. Audiophiles say they also want the format's overall experience - the sensory experience of putting the needle on the record, the feeling of side A and side B and the joy of lingering over the liner notes. "I think music products should be more than just music," said Isaac Hudson, a 28-year-old vinyl fan standing outside one of Portland's larger independent music stores. The interest seems to be catching on. Turntable sales are picking up and the few remaining record pressers say business is booming. But the LP isn't going to muscle out CDs or iPod soon. Nearly 450 million CDs were sold last year, versus just under 1 million LPs, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Based on the first three months of this year, Nielsen says vinyl album sales could reach 1.6 million in 2008. "I don't think vinyl is for everyone; it's for the die-hard music consumer," said Jay Millar, director of marketing at United Record Pressing, a Nashville based company that is the nation's largest record pressing plant. Many major artists - Elvis Costello, the Raconteurs and others - are issuing LPs and encouraging fans to check out their albums on vinyl. On Amazon.com, one of the best-selling LPs is Madonna's latest album, "Hard Candy". Some artists package vinyl and digital versions of their music together, including offers for free digital downloads along with the record. "We've definitely had some talks with the major retailers about exclusives on the manufacturing end," Millar said of United Record Pressing, which focuses primarily on independent recordings. An avid music fan himself, Millar says he has moved to vinyl in recent years. "Once I got my first iPod ... I'm looking at my wall of CDs and trying to justify it," Millar said. "The things I like - the artwork, the liner notes, the sound quality - it dawns on me, those are things I like better on vinyl." He welcomed back the pops and clicks, even some of the scratches. "I like that fact that it's imperfect in a lot of ways, live music is imperfect too," Millar said. Independent music stores, which have been the primary source of LPs in recent years, say many fans never left the medium. "People have been buying vinyl all along," said Cathy Hagen, manager at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland. "There was a fairly good supply from independent labels on vinyl all these years. As far as a resurgence, the major labels are just pressing more now." In this game, big retailers aren't necessarily competing head to head with independent sellers' regular clientele of nostalgic baby boomers, independent label fans and turntable DJs. "I cannot see that Best Buy or Fred Meyer would order the same things we would," Hagen said. "They aren't going to be ordering the reggae, funk, punk or industrial music." * 1 hour ago * - 3 days left to answer.

Which modern artist / band did the highest album sale ever??? Which modern artist / band did the highest album sale ever (certified by the RIAA / Recording Industry Association of America) ???

what do you think anout file sharing and p2p? September 19, 2006 Last week, prominent P2P network eDonkey announced it was settling a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by the Recording Industry Association of America for $300 million and closing up shop forever. Users who clicked a button to update their eDonkey2000 software reported the "update" initiated an uninstallation of the product. Visitors to the eDonkey Web site are now greeted by an intentionally blunt message advising surfers they are not anonymous online (and playfully proving it by displaying visitor IP addresses). Only a month ago, we learned that former top file-sharing program Kazaa settled with the RIAA for $115 million, and that current top P2P application LimeWire was being sued for an estimated $476 million. The LimeWire case is expected to go to court next month. source: Peter Butler Senior Editor, CNET Download.com

Is it pronounced "r-i-a-a" or "r-i-double-a"? which is the correct way to say the acronym of the Recording Industry Association of America i have to do a speech about drm and i don't want to look dumb by saying the wrong thing

What's the most ridicules court ruling you have ever read/heard of/witnessed? Omg i just opened the yahoo web page and their it was the most retarded court ruling i have ever read i mean wtf but you have to read it just to see how retarded it is MINNEAPOLIS – A replay of the nation's only file-sharing case to go to trial has ended with the same result — a Minnesota woman was found to have violated music copyrights and must pay huge damages to the recording industry. A federal jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song. Thomas-Rasset's second trial actually turned out worse for her. When a different federal jury heard her case in 2007, it hit Thomas-Rasset with a $222,000 judgment. The new trial was ordered after the judge in the case decided he had erred in giving jury instructions. Thomas-Rasset sat glumly with her chin in hand as she heard the jury's finding of willful infringement, which increased the potential penalty. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when the jury's penalty of $80,000 per song was read. Outside the courtroom, she called the $1.92 million figure "kind of ridiculous" but expressed resignation over the decision. "There's no way they're ever going to get that," said Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old mother of four from the central Minnesota city of Brainerd. "I'm a mom, limited means, so I'm not going to worry about it now." Her attorney, Kiwi Camara, said he was surprised by the size of the judgment. He said it suggested that jurors didn't believe Thomas-Rasset's denials of illegal file-sharing, and that they were angry with her. Camara said he and his client hadn't decided whether to appeal or pursue the Recording Industry Association of America's settlement overtures. Cara Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the RIAA, said the industry remains willing to settle. She refused to name a figure, but acknowledged Thomas-Rasset had been given the chance to settle for $3,000 to $5,000 earlier in the case. "Since Day One we have been willing to settle this case and we remain willing to do so," Duckworth said. In closing arguments earlier Thursday, attorneys for both sides disputed what the evidence showed. An attorney for the recording industry, Tim Reynolds, said the "greater weight of the evidence" showed that Thomas-Rasset was responsible for the illegal file-sharing that took place on her computer. He urged jurors to hold her accountable to deter others from a practice he said has significantly harmed the people who bring music to everyone. Defense attorney Joe Sibley said the music companies failed to prove allegations that Thomas-Rasset gave away songs by Gloria Estefan, Sheryl Crow, Green Day, Journey and others. "Only Jammie Thomas's computer was linked to illegal file-sharing on Kazaa," Sibley said. "They couldn't put a face behind the computer." Sibley urged jurors not to ruin Thomas-Rasset's life with a debt she could never pay. Under federal law, the jury could have awarded up to $150,000 per song. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, who heard the first lawsuit in 2007, ordered up a new trial after deciding he had erred in instructions to the jurors. The first time, he said the companies didn't have to prove anyone downloaded the copyrighted songs she allegedly made available. Davis later concluded the law requires that actual distribution be shown. His jury instructions this time framed the issues somewhat differently. He didn't explicitly define distribution but said the acts of downloading copyrighted sound recordings or distributing them to other users on peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa, without a license from the owners, are copyright violations. This case was the only one of more than 30,000 similar lawsuits to make it all the way to trial. The vast majority of people targeted by the music industry had settled for about $3,500 each. The recording industry has said it stopped filing such lawsuits last August and is instead now working with Internet service providers to fight the worst offenders. In testimony this week, Thomas-Rasset denied she shared any songs. On Wednesday, the self-described "huge music fan" raised the possibility for the first time in the long-running case that her children or ex-husband might have done it. The defense did not provide any evidence, though, that any of them had shared the files. The recording companies accused Thomas-Rasset of offering 1,700 songs on Kazaa as of February 2005, before the company became a legal music subscription service following a settlement with entertainment companies. For simplicity's sake the music industry tried to prove only 24 infringements. Reynolds argued Thursday that the evidence clearly pointed to Thomas-Rasset as the person who made the songs available on Kazaa under the screen name "tereastarr." It's the same nickname she acknowledged having used for years for her e-mail and several other computer accounts, including her MySpace page. Reynolds said the c

Ethicel question? Your friend has e-mailed you the URL of a new Web site that permits free music downloading. The site maintains a central database of thousands of the most current and popular music tracks. You vaguely remember that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued thousands of subpoenas to Intrnet service providers across the United States in an attempt to get the names of people offering music on file-sharing networks, such as KaZaA and Grokster. But this is different, isn't it? You are simply downloading from a central database; you're not sharing your music with others. Are there any legal or ethical issues that would keep you from accessing this Web site?

HEADLINE TODAY! Music piracy crackdown nets college kids ,? The Recording Industry Association of America has sent Emails to 500+ College kids for downloading music on their computers and listening to it. Is this right or wrong, this is just music they could have TAPED with cassetts off the Radio. What is next? Being sued for that? For Singing a song without permission in the shower? My Opinion is that they are losing money in all aspect of the business, and driving away actual customer with their $20 CD prices, that they are using any means possiable to scare people away from anything that gives them the choice of what they want to listen to when except by buying their products. Whats next? Paying for Radio? (Free Radio, I am a XM Radio person myself) Or Commercials on the CDs you do buy? Opinions?

Do you support the RIAA? THe Recording Industry Association of America. This is the same group that just sued a 32 year old mother and won 1.9 million for the illegal downloading of music. Is this an organization you support? http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/06/19/riaa-wins-filesharer-ordered-to-pay-192-million/

I have a 5-7 page paper due next month on the Radio Performance Rights Act.? I've got time, but I don't know where to start. I looked it over and it looks boring. Can someone give me some motivation so I actually feel like writing it? I'd also like some sources I can use for my paper. Here's the assignment. Introduction Terrestrial Radio Broadcasters, defined as those stations broadcasting over the AM and FM bands, have always had to pay composers of music, through ASCAP and BMI, a blanket licensing fee (royalties) for playing music on their stations. Copyright law has always exempted radio from paying a similar licensing fee for the performance, the recorded music, these royalties that would go to the recording company and performer. In February 2009, the House of Representatives introduced the Radio Performance Rights Act (H.R. 848, Sponsor Rep. John Conyers, D-MI) which amends federal copyright law to grant performers of sound recording equal rights to compensation from terrestrial radio broadcasters by establishing a flat annual fee (blanket license). The bill itself can be found online. Performing Artists and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are for the Performance Rights Act and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is against it. The bill is now pending in the House of Representatives. Perform research examining both sides of the issue. Your research will show there is two sides to this issue and interested parties are deeply divided. After, performing your research and collecting information, take a stand on this controversial issue in the form of a thesis for your paper and then build an argument for or against the Performance Rights Act. Examine the history exploring why Congress exempted the radio industry from paying these fees in the first place and why the change now, looking closely at what factors caused this bill to be introduced. Are there other forms of radio that pay performance royalties? There are two sides to this issue. Build your argument based on good quality research and the facts. Assignment Write a 5-7 page research essay (not including any Title or Works Cited page) and argue your position in favor or against the Radio Performance Rights Act. Your thesis statement must be in the first paragraph. The paper must be in MLA format and therefore it should have inline citations and a Works Cited page. Briefly explain why the radio industry was exempted from paying these fees in the first place and what has changed to cause this bill to be introduced now. Spend the rest of the paper defending your position and proving your thesis. The paper must be in Times New Roman Font, double spaced with 1-inch margins and can either be dropped off in the classroom on December 16 at 11am or can be placed in the drop box on the Blackboard Home Page as an attachment in either .doc, .docx, .rtf or .pdf format. Note: Research must be from reputable sources avoiding Wikipedia and the like. If anyone can point me in the direction of some good sources I'd be forever grateful. If I can get this out of the way it's smooth sailing for the rest of the quint. Thanks all. I really have nowhere to start. The law website didn't turn anything up : (

just thought you ought to know......? I am just telling everyone on August 4, 2006, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) sued Limewire, alleging that it was profiting from illegal downloads. Just a friendly reminder. :) By the way I'm thirteen. Thought you ought to know.

Isn't this a far better idea than lawsuits against cheap skate thieves who illegally download music? I love the idea of just making life on line unbearable to these people.....What do you think? After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy. The decision represents an abrupt shift of strategy for the industry, which has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people since 2003. Critics say the legal offensive ultimately did little to stem the tide of illegally downloaded music. And it created a public-relations disaster for the industry, whose lawsuits targeted, among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl. Instead, the Recording Industry Association of America said it plans to try an approach that relies on the cooperation of Internet service providers. The trade group said it has hashed out preliminary agreements with major ISPs under which it will send an e-mail to the provider when it finds a provider's customers making music available online for others to take. Depending on the agreement, the ISP will either forward the note to customers, or alert customers that they appear to be uploading music illegally, and ask them to stop. Related If the customers continue the file-sharing, they will get one or two more e-mails, perhaps accompanied by slower service from the provider. Finally, the ISP may cut off their access altogether. This story is currently on foxnews.com I don't steal, nor have I ever been accused of doing so. It just bugs me that people steal from artists. This is their living. Do you folks endorse shoplifting also?

AT&T to begin issuing Copyright warnings? NEW YORK - AT&T Inc., the nation's largest Internet service provider, will start sending warnings to its subscribers when music labels and movie studios allege that they are trafficking in pirated material, according to an executive. The phone company thus joins other major ISPs that either go beyond legal requirements or interpret their duties under the law to mean that they have to forward such notices. Jim Cicconi, AT&T's top executive in Washington, confirmed this week that the company is looking to expand a trial program it ran late last year with movie studios. It is currently testing a system with the Recording Industry Association of America and will expand the program with other rights organizations. Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. already forward such notices, but the approaches differ, and the legal situation is muddled. Copyright holders like movie studios can, in many cases, identify Internet users who download or provide pirated material by their numerical Internet address, but cannot match it up with a subscriber name without the cooperation of the Internet service provider. ISPs have previously identified their customers to copyright holders who bring court orders. The copyright holders and their representatives, like the RIAA, have then been able to sue the customers. But that strategy had been widely criticized, and the RIAA said late last year it was abandoning its policy of filing lawsuits, opting instead to work with ISPs to cut abusers' access if they ignore repeated warnings. At the time, the RIAA said it agreed with several leading ISPs, without naming which ones, to notify alleged illegal file-sharers and cut off service if they failed to stop. Cicconi said AT&T's program was not the result of a deal with the RIAA, and the music industry organization was not part of the first trials the company conducted of the notification system last year. Under the new system at AT&T, copyright holders would send a notice to the ISP that a certain numerical Internet address is associated with piracy. The ISP would then automatically forward the notice to the customer via e-mail, without telling the copyright holder who the customer is, Cicconi said. AT&T and other participating ISPs are doing more for copyright owners than they are legally obliged to, according to Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. However, they do have an obligation to have a policy in place to kick off repeat offenders, he said. AT&T will only forward the notice and won't threaten its customers with suspension of service or any other sanction, Cicconi said. If copyright holders want to go further, it's up to them to bring court orders, he said. "It seems to engender a good response from customers, and we've seen a fairly dramatic drop-off in file-sharing activity once people receive a notice, so we feel this works," Cicconi said. Cox, the fifth-largest ISP in the country with about 4 million Internet customers, forwards thousands of notices per month and has cut off a few repeat offenders, spokesman David Grabert said. It interprets the law as requiring it to forward the notices. There's confusion about the legal obligations of ISPs, von Lohmann said, because "nobody on either side has had the nerve to go to court over it, probably because the stakes are so high, neither side wants to gamble on what the ultimate answer might be." In Ireland, the association representing RIAA members sued a local ISP, forcing it to disconnect a subscriber after three recorded copyright violations. Internet lawyers and consumer advocates have pointed out that many reports of violations from copyright holders are inaccurate. Cox and AT&T said that in many cases, the notices have gone out to parents who didn't know that their children were pirating copyrighted material. In other cases, AT&T's Cicconi said, customers hadn't secured their wireless routers, and someone else near had been using them for downloading, so AT&T has helped customers secure their routers.

Are you someone in favor downloading music on P2P networks then you might be interested in this?look below? Help the EFF to stop the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) they are suing millions of P2P file sharing users http://www.eff.org/share/petition/

math problem? According to the Recording Industry Association of America, 25 million music videos were shipped to retailers in 1998. In 2993, only 12 million music videos were shipped to retailers. y=mt + b In what year were 18 million music videos shipped to retailers? oh mahn, i meant 2003

Do You Think I Will Get An A+ On This Project On Linkin Park? Linkin Park is an American rock band that formed in 1996. This band formed in Agoura Hills, California, U.S.A. They have won two Grammy Awards and have sold more than 50,000,000 (50 million) albums. They have succeeded all of these awards with their hit album “Hybird Theory.” “Hybird Theory” was loved by a trade group called the RIAA (or the Recording Industry Association of America). They have also continued their success with their following studio album, “Meteora”, and topping the Billboard 200’s album charts in the year 2003. Linkin Park was founded by three high school friends, Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, and Rob Bourdon. Later on these three friends graduated from high school, the California natives started to take their music more seriously, and adding three new members to their band, Joe Hahn, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, and Mark Wakefield (Mark was later on know as “Xero”). Soon tensions and frustration grew within the band after they failed to land their last record deal and due to the lack of success caused two members to leave the band, Wakefield the vocalist and Farrell. After spending some times looking for a replacement vocalist, Xero enlisted a vocalist from Arizona, Chester Bennington. Later on Jeff Blue, the vice president of Zomba Music had directed Bennington to the band for help in March 1999. Bennington became a great standout because of his unique singing style. Therefore the band had changed their name from Xero to Hybird Theory. Later on the bands rebirth culminated with the change in the name; from Hybird Theory, the band had changed their name to the present day name – LINKIN PARK. However, despite these changes the band still struggled to sign a record deal. After facing lots of rejection from many of the biggest record labels, Linkin Park asked Jeff Blue for a little bit more help. Jeff was now the V.P. of Warner Bros. Records. He helped the band sign a deal with the company on the year 1999. The band released their new album Hybird Theory, in year 2000. Hybird Theory consists of these 14 songs, “Papercut”, “One Step Closer”, “With You”, “Points of Authority”, “Crawling”, “Runaway”, “By Myself”, “In the End”, “A Place for My Head”, “Forgotten”, “Cure for the Itch”, “Pushing my Away”, “My December”, and “High Voltage.” Hybird Theory was released on 10/24/00 (October 24th, 2000). Hybrid Theory represented the 5 years of the band’s work was edited by music producer Don Gilmore. The Band sold more than 4,800,000(4.8 million) records during the current year the album was released. The band earned the status of the best-selling album of 2001. Hybird Theory was nominated for its third Grammy Award, including best new artist, best rock album, and best hard rock performance (for "Crawling"). MTV awarded the band their Best Rock Video and Best Direction awards for "In the End” (In the End is based on one person’s failure). The band also formed their own tour, Projekt Revolution which featured artists like Cypress Hill, Adema, and Snoop Dogg. The average concerts performed by Linkin Park are 320 a year! The experiences and performances the band was documented in their first DVD, Frat Party at the Pankake Festival, which debuted in November 2001. Now reunited with former bassist Dave Farrell, the band began work on a remix album, nicknamed Reanimation, which included the songs from Hybird Theory and Hybrid Theory EP (extra play).Reanimation debuted on July 30, 2002, featuring the likes of Black Thought, Jonathan Davis, Aaron Lewis, and many others. Reanimation claimed the second spot on the Billboard 200, and sold nearly 270 thousand (270,000) copies during its debut week. A little time after the success and fame of the two hit albums, Hybird Theory and Reanimation, the band spend lots of time touring the United States of America. The band began working on new types of music. The band spent more than half of their free time in their tour bus’ radio. Sooner after that the band themselves announced the production of their new studio album in December 2002. Their new work was inspired by the region of Meteora in Greece, where numerous monasteries have been built on top of the rocks. Meteora was a mixture of the band’s previous “nu metal” and “rapcore” song styles. Meteora included newer effects like the shakuhachi, which is a Japanese flute made of bamboo, and other instruments. The band’s second album came out on March 25, 2003 and in a snap the whole world new about it. It was the #1 album recognized in the United States and United Kingdom and was the second most recognized album in Australia. More than 800,000 copies of the new hit album Meteora were sold the first week it cam into stores! It was also ranked best-selling album on the Billboard charts at the time when it came out. By October 2003 Meteora was really noticed around the world, over 2,500,000 (2.5M) copies of the hit album Meteora was sold! The success of the hit album Meteora gave Linkin Park the opportunity to

can I hav the traduction of this text in italian??? thanks? mi traducete questo pezzo in italian??? Pleaseeeeee è urgenteeeeeeee :'( The Beatles were a pop and rock group from Liverpool, England formed in 1960. Primarily consisting of John Lennon (guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (guitar, vocals), and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals) throughout their career, The Beatles are recognised for leading the mid-1960s musical "British Invasion" into the United States. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and homegrown skiffle, the group explored genres ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, styles, and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. After the band broke up in 1970, all four members embarked on solo careers. The Beatles are one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music.[1] The BeaBeatles are the best-selling musical group in history, selling over a billion records worldwide. [2] In the United Kingdom, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one, earning more number one albums (15) than any other group in UK chart history.[3] This commercial success was repeated in many other countries; their record company, EMI, estimated that by 1985 they had sold over one billion records worldwide.[4] According to the Recording Industry Association of America, The Beatles have sold more albums in the United States than any other band.[5] In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Beatles number one on its list of 100 Greatest Rock & Roll Artists of All Time.[6] According to that same magazine, The Beatles' innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still evident today.[1] tanto non mi capisci e ioooo non capisco teeee :'(

Unsung Heroes Of R&P...Volume 1? This Star solo artist was born September 27, 1984 and is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has sold more than 30 million copies of her albums worldwide. She is currently one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the United States, with over 10.25 million copies certified by the Recording Industry Association of America. She has been dubbed as the 'pop-punk princess' by various sources. She broke into the recording industry with her debut album in 2002. As of 2009, over 16 million copies were sold worldwide, more than 6 million of which were sold in the United States. Her second and third albums both reached number one on the Global charts. She has scored five number-one singles worldwide. So R&P lets hear the outpouring of love for Avril Lavigne. MQ. Favourite song? MA. Favourite album? (Sarcasm will be greatly appreciated when answering this question)

The Rev. from Avenged Sevenfold too?! How many more are gonna die this year!? Okay so you either do or don't known about The Rev., drummer for Avenged Sevenfold's, death. Isn't that number two now? Who's gonna be the third to die? I didn't believe that death always happens in threes til June when we had at least 4 celebrities dead. So now who? The drummer with Avenged Sevenfold, a rising force in the heavy metal scene, died on Monday at his home in southern California, the group and authorities said. James Owen Sullivan, nicknamed "The Rev," appeared to have died of natural causes, Huntington Beach police Lt. John Domingo told the Orange County Register. He was 28. The Orange County Coroner's Office is investigating, the paper said. "It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy 'The Rev' Sullivan," the band said on its Web site. "Jimmy was not only one of the world's best drummers, but more importantly he was our best friend and brother." Avenged Sevenfold, which Sullivan co-founded in 1999, hit No. 4 on the U.S. pop album chart in 2007 with its most recent album, a self-titled release that went on to ship more than 500,000 copies, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Sullivan contributed "A Little Piece of Heaven," a tongue-in-cheek, eight-minute paean to necrophilia and mass murder. The band shot an appropriately gruesome videoclip. In recent years, Avenged Sevenfold tried to live down its reputation for debauchery. Sullivan, in particular, had raised eyebrows after a 2006 cover story in metal magazine Revolver described his penchant for cocaine and other drugs. Inspired by such bands as Iron Maiden, Metallica and Guns N' Roses, the quintet built its musical reputation through heavy touring. It played Ozzy Osbourne's annual Ozzfest tour in 2006, and co-headlined a national trek with Buckcherry in 2008 and 2009. It recently announced plans to record a third studio album for Warner Music Group Corp. Police say James Owen Sullivan, a drummer and backup vocalist for the Southern California band Avenged Sevenfold, has been found dead at his home in Southern California. Lt. John Domingo says the 28-year-old Sullivan, who went by the stage name The Rev, appears to have died of natural causes on Monday in Huntington Beach. The Orange County coroner's office is investigating the death. Avenged Sevenfold formed in Huntington Beach in 1999 and won Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2006. According to their MySpace page, the five-man metalcore band was working on their fifth album. The band released a statement Monday expressing their sadness and calling Sullivan "one of the world's best drummers," and "our best friend and brother." Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan Update : Avenged Sevenfold Drummer is Dead! On this recent news Avenged Sevenfold drummer , James Owen Sullivan at 28 was found dead. The authorities who investigate this issue about “The Rev” stated that Jimmy Sullivan was found dead and appeared to died in natural causes as Lt. John Domingo said of Huntington Beach. It’s been a long while to see good drummers in our time and it’s heartbreaking to know that young people died early. Currently police is looking further for more circumstances on the death of The Rev and they also looking for some drug abuses. Still we are very sad because of this news and RIP Jimmy Sullivan. Rest In Peace Jimmy Sullivan. May you have eternal peace. Rock heaven with that drum set of yours babe!

Who's mad that Taylor Swift STOLE "Artist of the Year" from Beyonce...AGAIN!? Now THAT'S unfair:poor Beyonce relegated to second-banana status by that no-talent Taylor Swift!... I blame her control-freak mother-from-hell AND the Recording Industry Association of America for kowtowing to Miss Swift's off-key singing "ability" and giving HER the "Artist of the Year" award...remember last year, when the RIAA "gave" TS that same award, and Kanye West bravely and proudly RUINED her acceptance speech for being "all that"!...Beyonce had better talent and MORE fans than that "moron-ette"! Hopefully, next year, Beyonce will win that coveted category and teach TS a lesson:DON'T mess w/ REAL talent! Who agrees w/ me on this? SWIFT-HATERS UNITE!...and get upset that ol' Kanye was a no-show this year!...

I got caught using ares (kind of like limewire) HELP!?!? Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sent my mom an e-mail through cox that they caught me sharing/downloading a song. right now-akon. they wrote the ip address and it matched my laptops address! so i think it happened because i synced all my songs from ares to my brother's cell phone. and maybe just that song had the copyright. so they said this was a warning and if i get caught again, they will suspend my mom's internet service. im so scared! i promised myself to not sync songs anymore, unless i buy them from itunes. but i'm wondering would they be able to catch me again if i continue to download songs from ares?(NOT Sync them but only download them?) please help! best answer 10 points!!

true or false? According to Recording Industry Association of America Led Zeppelin song Stairway to Heaven is considered the greatest classic rock song of all time. Led Zeppelin hails from Britain and is known to the rock world as the most influential and popular rock group of all times. answer the question - true or false answer the question - true or false The original line up for Led Zeppelin members were Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham and Chris Dreja. Stairway to Heaven is ranked number 1 on rock.com's top 500 classic rock songs Stairway to Heaven is ranked number 1 on rock.com's top 500 classic rock songs

Limewire, and I'm being sued..Any Lawyers/ Computer Nerds out there that can help me out?? Okay so my dad just got a letter in the mail today from Time Warner Cable and RIAA (recording industry association of america) saying that we are being SUED for illegalling downloading music. I really need some help on this, I'm 19 and my brother is 18, and we are the ones who have LimeWire. I always thought LimeWire was safe to use. I guess Time Warner is working with RIAA, they looked up our IP adress and saw that we had music on our computers I suppose. I dont really know how it all works, but I think it's random how they do this. So my question is HOW can I get out of this without having to pay rediculous fines? I dont have the money, and I dont want my dad to have to pay the fine. I honestly didn't know I was doing anything wrong, if you ask me, I tihnk its an invasion of privacy that they can even see into your computer use.... Help me out, thanks I just want answers that can give me some hope of help, thats all..

Need help understanding this article...? http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/28/1080412234274.html At first, i thought it meant that sales for the ARIA (australian record industry association) are increasing, but then i checked another website and it said the sales were decreasing... http://www.mipi.com.au/faqs.htm

Congress should also form an air passenger assn to counter the powerful airline industry lobby. Do you agree? Ralph Nader; In some areas it regulates, the aviation agency is not even living up to the safety requirements in its rule books. For example, it is allowing safety systems in some new airliner designs to be evaluated by analysis based on past tests, mathematical models and computer simulations, rather than requiring actual testing. The agency waived full-scale emergency evacuation tests for the Boeing 777-300, for example, and certified the plane in 1998 to carry 550 occupants even though actual tests had been used only for a smaller model model (the Boeing 777-200) that carried 419 people. Every year, the agency also grants the airline industry an astounding 300 waivers or exemptions from federal safety rules. For example, while a rule requires that the aisle between seats leading to emergency window exits be 20 inches wide, the F.A.A. has made exceptions to allow spaces as small as 14 inches and is considering a further relaxation to 10 inches. Today there are more than 3,000 waivers of various kinds. It is true that commercial air travel continues to be among the safest forms of travel. But if standards are not kept high, the industry's record could quickly deteriorate. To assure that they are, the United States should establish an independent federal aviation safety and security agency, leaving the F.A.A. to operate air traffic control. Congress should also form an air passenger association, financed in part by a two-cent refundable fee on each ticket and controlled by passengers, to counter the powerful airline industry lobby. And Congress should hold regular, vigorous aviation safety oversight hearings. Neglecting air safety is like stretching a rubber band. At a certain point, the rubber band snaps.

Is it good to drink milk? The text is too long but worthwhile read....? "MILK" Just the word itself sounds comforting! "How about a nice cup of hot milk?" The last time you heard that question it was from someone who cared for you--and you appreciated their effort. The entire matter of food and especially that of milk is surrounded with emotional and cultural importance. Milk was our very first food. If we were fortunate it was our mother's milk. A loving link, given and taken. It was the only path to survival. If not mother's milk it was cow's milk or soy milk "formula"--rarely it was goat, camel or water buffalo milk. Now, we are a nation of milk drinkers. Nearly all of us. Infants, the young, adolescents, adults and even the aged. We drink dozens or even several hundred gallons a year and add to that many pounds of "dairy products" such as cheese, butter, and yogurt. Can there be anything wrong with this? We see reassuring images of healthy, beautiful people on our television screens and hear messages that assure us that, "Milk is good for your body." Our dieticians insist that: "You've got to have milk, or where will you get your calcium?" School lunches always include milk and nearly every hospital meal will have milk added. And if that isn't enough, our nutritionists told us for years that dairy products make up an "essential food group." Industry spokesmen made sure that colourful charts proclaiming the necessity of milk and other essential nutrients were made available at no cost for schools. Cow's milk became "normal." You may be surprised to learn that most of the human beings that live on planet Earth today do not drink or use cow's milk. Further, most of them can't drink milk because it makes them ill. There are students of human nutrition who are not supportive of milk use for adults. Here is a quotation from the March/April 1991 Utne Reader: If you really want to play it safe, you may decide to join the growing number of Americans who are eliminating dairy products from their diets altogether. Although this sounds radical to those of us weaned on milk and the five basic food groups, it is eminently viable. Indeed, of all the mammals, only humans--and then only a minority, principally Caucasians--continue to drink milk beyond babyhood. Who is right? Why the confusion? Where best to get our answers? Can we trust milk industry spokesmen? Can you trust any industry spokesmen? Are nutritionists up to date or are they simply repeating what their professors learned years ago? What about the new voices urging caution? I believe that there are three reliable sources of information. The first, and probably the best, is a study of nature. The second is to study the history of our own species. Finally we need to look at the world's scientific literature on the subject of milk. Let's look at the scientific literature first. From 1988 to 1993 there were over 2,700 articles dealing with milk recorded in the 'Medicine' archives. Fifteen hundred of theses had milk as the main focus of the article. There is no lack of scientific information on this subject. I reviewed over 500 of the 1,500 articles, discarding articles that dealt exclusively with animals, esoteric research and inconclusive studies. How would I summarize the articles? They were only slightly less than horrifying. First of all, none of the authors spoke of cow's milk as an excellent food, free of side effects and the 'perfect food' as we have been led to believe by the industry. The main focus of the published reports seems to be on intestinal colic, intestinal irritation, intestinal bleeding, anemia, allergic reactions in infants and children as well as infections such as salmonella. More ominous is the fear of viral infection with bovine leukemia virus or an AIDS-like virus as well as concern for childhood diabetes. Contamination of milk by blood and white (pus) cells as well as a variety of chemicals and insecticides was also discussed. Among children the problems were allergy, ear and tonsillar infections, bedwetting, asthma, intestinal bleeding, colic and childhood diabetes. In adults the problems seemed centered more around heart disease and arthritis, allergy, sinusitis, and the more serious questions of leukemia, lymphoma and cancer. I think that an answer can also be found in a consideration of what occurs in nature & what happens with free living mammals and what happens with human groups living in close to a natural state as 'hunter-gatherers'. Our paleolithic ancestors are another crucial and interesting group to study. Here we are limited to speculation and indirect evidences, but the bony remains available for our study are remarkable. There is no doubt whatever that these skeletal remains reflect great strength, muscularity (the size of the muscular insertions show this), and total absence of advanced osteoporosis. And if you feel that these people are not important for us to study, consider that today our genes are programming our bodies in almost exactly the same way as our ancestors of 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. WHAT IS MILK? Milk is a maternal lactating secretion, a short term nutrient for new-borns. Nothing more, nothing less. Invariably, the mother of any mammal will provide her milk for a short period of time immediately after birth. When the time comes for 'weaning', the young offspring is introduced to the proper food for that species of mammal. A familiar example is that of a puppy. The mother nurses the pup for just a few weeks and then rejects the young animal and teaches it to eat solid food. Nursing is provided by nature only for the very youngest of mammals. Of course, it is not possible for animals living in a natural state to continue with the drinking of milk after weaning. IS ALL MILK THE SAME? Then there is the matter of where we get our milk. We have settled on the cow because of its docile nature, its size, and its abundant milk supply. Somehow this choice seems 'normal' and blessed by nature, our culture, and our customs. But is it natural? Is it wise to drink the milk of another species of mammal? Consider for a moment, if it was possible, to drink the milk of a mammal other than a cow, let's say a rat. Or perhaps the milk of a dog would be more to your liking. Possibly some horse milk or cat milk. Do you get the idea? Well, I'm not serious about this, except to suggest that human milk is for human infants, dogs' milk is for pups, cows' milk is for calves, cats' milk is for kittens, and so forth. Clearly, this is the way nature intends it. Just use your own good judgement on this one. Milk is not just milk. The milk of every species of mammal is unique and specifically tailored to the requirements of that animal. For example, cows' milk is very much richer in protein than human milk. Three to four times as much. It has five to seven times the mineral content. However, it is markedly deficient in essential fatty acids when compared to human mothers' milk. Mothers' milk has six to ten times as much of the essential fatty acids, especially linoleic acid. (Incidentally, skimmed cow's milk has no linoleic acid). It simply is not designed for humans. Food is not just food, and milk is not just milk. It is not only the proper amount of food but the proper qualitative composition that is critical for the very best in health and growth. Biochemists and physiologists -and rarely medical doctors - are gradually learning that foods contain the crucial elements that allow a particular species to develop its unique specializations. Clearly, our specialization is for advanced neurological development and delicate neuromuscular control. We do not have much need of massive skeletal growth or huge muscle groups as does a calf. Think of the difference between the demands make on the human hand and the demands on a cow's hoof. Human new-borns specifically need critical material for their brains, spinal cord and nerves. Can mother's milk increase intelligence? It seems that it can. In a remarkable study published in Lancet during 1992 (Vol. 339, p. 261-4), a group of British workers randomly placed premature infants into two groups. One group received a proper formula, the other group received human breast milk. Both fluids were given by stomach tube. These children were followed up for over 10 years. In intelligence testing, the human milk children averaged 10 IQ points higher! Well, why not? Why wouldn't the correct building blocks for the rapidly maturing and growing brain have a positive effect? In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1982) Ralph Holman described an infant who developed profound neurological disease while being nourished by intravenous fluids only. The fluids used contained only linoleic acid - just one of the essential fatty acids. When the other, alpha linoleic acid, was added to the intravenous fluids the neurological disorders cleared. In the same journal five years later Bjerve, Mostad and Thoresen, working in Norway found exactly the same problem in adult patients on long term gastric tube feeding. In 1930 Dr. G.O. Burr in Minnesota working with rats found that linoleic acid deficiencies created a deficiency syndrome. Why is this mentioned? In the early 1960s pediatricians found skin lesions in children fed formulas without the same linoleic acid. Remembering the research, the addition of the acid to the formula cured the problem. Essential fatty acids are just that and cows' milk is markedly deficient in these when compared to human milk. WELL, AT LEAST COW'S MILK IS PURE Or is it? Fifty years ago an average cow produced 2,000 pounds of milk per year. Today the top producers give 50,000 pounds! How was this accomplished? Drugs, antibiotics, hormones, forced feeding plans and specialized breeding; that's how. The latest high-tech onslaught on the poor cow is bovine growth hormone or BGH. This genetically engineered drug is supposed to stimulate milk production but, according to Monsanto, the hormone's manufacturer, does not affect the milk or meat. There are three other manufacturers: Upjohn, Eli Lilly, and American Cyanamid Company. Obviously, there have been no long-term studies on the hormone's effect on the humans drinking the milk. Other countries have banned BGH because of safety concerns. One of the problems with adding molecules to a milk cows' body is that the molecules usually come out in the milk. I don't know how you feel, but I don't want to experiment with the ingestion of a growth hormone. A related problem is that it causes a marked increase (50 to 70 per cent) in mastitis. This, then, requires antibiotic therapy, and the residues of the antibiotics appear in the milk. It seems that the public is uneasy about this product and in one survey 43 per cent felt that growth hormone treated milk represented a health risk. A vice president for public policy at Monsanto was opposed to labelling for that reason, and because the labelling would create an 'artificial distinction'. The country is awash with milk as it is, we produce more milk than we can consume. Let's not create storage costs and further taxpayer burdens, because the law requires the USDA to buy any surplus of butter, cheese, or non-fat dry milk at a support price set by Congress! In fiscal 1991, the USDA spent $757 million on surplus butter, and one billion dollars a year on average for price supports during the 1980s (Consumer Reports, May 1992: 330-32). Any lactating mammal excretes toxins through her milk. This includes antibiotics, pesticides, chemicals and hormones. Also, all cows' milk contains blood! The inspectors are simply asked to keep it under certain limits. You may be horrified to learn that the USDA allows milk to contain from one to one and a half million white blood cells per millilitre. (That's only 1/30 of an ounce). If you don't already know this, I'm sorry to tell you that another way to describe white cells where they don't belong would be to call them pus cells. To get to the point, is milk pure or is it a chemical, biological, and bacterial cocktail? Finally, will the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protect you? The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) tells us that the FDA and the individual States are failing to protect the public from drug residues in milk. Authorities test for only 4 of the 82 drugs in dairy cows. As you can imagine, the Milk Industry Foundation's spokesman claims it's perfectly safe. Jerome Kozak says, "I still think that milk is the safest product we have." Other, perhaps less biased observers, have found the following: 38% of milk samples in 10 cities were contaminated with sulfa drugs or other antibiotics. (This from the Centre for Science in the Public Interest and The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 29, 1989).. A similar study in Washington, DC found a 20 percent contamination rate (Nutrition Action Healthletter, April 1990). What's going on here? When the FDA tested milk, they found few problems. However, they used very lax standards. When they used the same criteria, the FDA data showed 51 percent of the milk samples showed drug traces. Let's focus in on this because it’s critical to our understanding of the apparent discrepancies. The FDA uses a disk-assay method that can detect only 2 of the 30 or so drugs found in milk. Also, the test detects only at the relatively high level. A more powerful test called the 'Charm II test' can detect drugs down to 5 parts per billion. One nasty subject must be discussed. It seems that cows are forever getting infections around the udder that require ointments and antibiotics. An article from France tells us that when a cow receives penicillin, that penicillin appears in the milk for from 4 to 7 milkings. Another study from the University of Nevada, Reno tells of cells in 'mastic milk', milk from cows with infected udders. An elaborate analysis of the cell fragments, employing cell cultures, flow cytometric analysis , and a great deal of high tech stuff. Do you know what the conclusion was? If the cow has mastitis, there is pus in the milk. Sorry, it’s in the study, all concealed with language such as "macrophages containing many vacuoles and phagocytosed particles," etc. IT GETS WORSE Well, at least human mothers' milk is pure! Sorry. A huge study showed that human breast milk in over 14,000 women had contamination by pesticides! Further, it seems that the sources of the pesticides are meat and--you guessed it-- dairy products. Well, why not? These pesticides are concentrated in fat and that's what's in these products. (Of interest, a subgroup of lactating vegetarian mothers had only half the levels of contamination). A recent report showed an increased concentration of pesticides in the breast tissue of women with breast cancer when compared to the tissue of women with fibrocystic disease. Other articles in the standard medical literature describe problems. Just scan these titles: 1.Cow's Milk as a Cause of Infantile Colic Breast-Fed Infants. Lancet 2 (1978): 437 2.Dietary Protein-Induced Colitis in Breast- Fed Infants, J. Pediatr. I01 (1982): 906 3.The Question of the Elimination of Foreign Protein in Women's Milk, J. Immunology 19 (1930): 15 There are many others. There are dozens of studies describing the prompt appearance of cows' milk allergy in children being exclusively breast-fed! The cows' milk allergens simply appear in the mother's milk and are transmitted to the infant. A committee on nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics reported on the use of whole cows' milk in infancy (Pediatrics 1983: 72-253). They were unable to provide any cogent reason why bovine milk should be used before the first birthday yet continued to recommend its use! Doctor Frank Oski from the Upstate Medical Centre Department of Pediatrics, commenting on the recommendation, cited the problems of acute gastrointestinal blood loss in infants, the lack of iron, recurrent abdominal pain, milk- borne infections and contaminants, and said: Why give it at all - then or ever? In the face of uncertainty about many of the potential dangers of whole bovine milk, it would seem prudent to recommend that whole milk not be started until the answers are available. Isn't it time for these uncontrolled experiments on human nutrition to come to an end? In the same issue of Pediatrics he further commented: It is my thesis that whole milk should not be fed to the infant in the first year of life because of its association with iron deficiency anemia (milk is so deficient in iron that an infant would have to drink an impossible 31 quarts a day to get the RDA of 15 mg), acute gastrointiestinal bleeding, and various manifestations of food allergy. I suggest that unmodified whole bovine milk should not be consumed after infancy because of the problems of lactose intolerance, its contribution to the genesis of atherosclerosis, and its possible link to other diseases. In late 1992 Dr. Benjamin Spock, possibly the best known pediatrician in history, shocked the country when he articulated the same thoughts and specified avoidance for the first two years of life. Here is his quotation: I want to pass on the word to parents that cows' milk from the carton has definite faults for some babies. Human milk is the right one for babies. A study comparing the incidence of allergy and colic in the breast-fed infants of omnivorous and vegan mothers would be important. I haven't found such a study; it would be both important and inexpensive. And it will probably never be done. There is simply no academic or economic profit involved. OTHER PROBLEMS Let's just mention the problems of bacterial contamination. Salmonella, E. coli, and staphylococcal infections can be traced to milk. In the old days tuberculosis was a major problem and some folks want to go back to those times by insisting on raw milk on the basis that it's "natural." This is insanity! A study from UCLA showed that over a third of all cases of salmonella infection in California, 1980-1983 were traced to raw milk. That'll be a way to revive good old brucellosis again and I would fear leukemia, too. (More about that later). In England, and Wales where raw milk is still consumed there have been outbreaks of milk-borne diseases. The Journal of the American Medical Association (251: 483, 1984) reported a multi-state series of infections caused by Yersinia enterocolitica in pasteurised whole milk. This is despite safety precautions. All parents dread juvenile diabetes for their children. A Canadian study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Mar. 1990, describes a "...significant positive correlation between consumption of unfermented milk protein and incidence of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in data from various countries. Conversely a possible negative relationship is observed between breast-feeding at age 3 months and diabetes risk.". Another study from Finland found that diabetic children had higher levels of serum antibodies to cows’ milk (Diabetes Research 7(3): 137-140 March 1988). Here is a quotation from this study: We infer that either the pattern of cows' milk consumption is altered in children who will have insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or, their immunological reactivity to proteins in cows' milk is enhanced, or the permeability of their intestines to cows' milk protein is higher than normal. The April 18, 1992 British Medical Journal has a fascinating study contrasting the difference in incidence of juvenile insulin dependent diabetes in Pakistani children who have migrated to England. The incidence is roughly 10 times greater in the English group compared to children remaining in Pakistan! What caused this highly significant increase? The authors said that "the diet was unchanged in Great Britain." Do you believe that? Do you think that the availability of milk, sugar and fat is the same in Pakistan as it is in England? That a grocery store in England has the same products as food sources in Pakistan? I don't believe that for a minute. Remember, we're not talking here about adult onset, type II diabetes which all workers agree is strongly linked to diet as well as to a genetic predisposition. This study is a major blow to the "it's all in your genes" crowd. Type I diabetes was always considered to be genetic or possibly viral, but now this? So resistant are we to consider diet as causation that the authors of the last article concluded that the cooler climate in England altered viruses and caused the very real increase in diabetes! The first two authors had the same reluctance top admit the obvious. The milk just may have had something to do with the disease. The latest in this remarkable list of reports, a New England Journal of Medicine article (July 30, 1992), also reported in the Los Angeles Times. This study comes from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and from Finnish researchers. In Finland there is "...the world's highest rate of dairy product consumption and the world's highest rate of insulin dependent diabetes. The disease strikes about 40 children out of every 1,000 there contrasted with six to eight per 1,000 in the United States.... Antibodies produced against the milk protein during the first year of life, the researchers speculate, also attack and destroy the pancreas in a so-called auto-immune reaction, producing diabetes in people whose genetic makeup leaves them vulnerable." "...142 Finnish children with newly diagnosed diabetes. They found that every one had at least eight times as many antibodies against the milk protein as did healthy children, clear evidence that the children had a raging auto immune disorder." The team has now expanded the study to 400 children and is starting a trial where 3,000 children will receive no dairy products during the first nine months of life. "The study may take 10 years, but we'll get a definitive answer one way or the other," according to one of the researchers. I would caution them to be certain that the breast feeding mothers use on cows' milk in their diets or the results will be confounded by the transmission of the cows' milk protein in the mother's breast milk.... Now what was the reaction from the diabetes association? This is very interesting! Dr. F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, the president of the association says: "It does not mean that children should stop drinking milk or that parents of diabetics should withdraw dairy products. These are rich sources of good protein." (Emphasis added) My God, it's the "good protein" that causes the problem! Do you suspect that the dairy industry may have helped the American Diabetes Association in the past? LEUKEMIA? LYMPHOMA? THIS MAY BE THE WORST--BRACE YOURSELF! I hate to tell you this, but the bovine leukemia virus is found in more than three of five dairy cows in the United States! This involves about 80% of dairy herds. Unfortunately, when the milk is pooled, a very large percentage of all milk produced is contaminated (90 to 95 per cent). Of course the virus is killed in pasteurisation-- if the pasteurisation was done correctly. What if the milk is raw? In a study of randomly collected raw milk samples the bovine leukemia virus was recovered from two-thirds. I sincerely hope that the raw milk dairy herds are carefully monitored when compared to the regular herds. (Science 1981; 213:1014). This is a world-wide problem. One lengthy study from Germany deplored the problem and admitted the impossibility of keeping the virus from infected cows' milk from the rest of the milk. Several European countries, including Germany and Switzerland, have attempted to "cull" the infected cows from their herds. Certainly the United States must be the leader in the fight against leukemic dairy cows, right? Wrong! We are the worst in the world with the former exception of Venezuela according to Virgil Hulse MD, a milk specialist who also has a B.S. in Dairy Manufacturing as well as a Master's degree in Public Health. As mentioned, the leukemia virus is rendered inactive by pasteurisation. Of course. However, there can be Chernobyl like accidents. One of these occurred in the Chicago area in April, 1985. At a modern, large, milk processing plant an accidental "cross connection" between raw and pasteurized milk occurred. A violent salmonella outbreak followed, killing 4 and making an estimated 150,000 ill. Now the question I would pose to the dairy industry people is this: "How can you assure the people who drank this milk that they were not exposed to the ingestion of raw, unkilled, bully active bovine leukemia viruses?" Further, it would be fascinating to know if a "cluster" of leukemia cases blossoms in that area in 1 to 3 decades. There are reports of "leukemia clusters" elsewhere, one of them mentioned in the June 10, 1990 San Francisco Chronicle involving Northern California. What happens to other species of mammals when they are exposed to the bovine leukemia virus? It's a fair question and the answer is not reassuring. Virtually all animals exposed to the virus develop leukemia. This includes sheep, goats, and even primates such as rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees. The route of transmission includes ingestion (both intravenous and intramuscular) and cells present in milk. There are obviously no instances of transfer attempts to human beings, but we know that the virus can infect human cells in vitro. There is evidence of human antibody formation to the bovine leukemia virus; this is disturbing. How did the bovine leukemia virus particles gain access to humans and become antigens? Was it as small, denatured particles? If the bovine leukemia viruses causes human leukemia, we could expect the dairy states with known leukemic herds to have a higher incidence of human leukemia. Is this so? Unfortunately, it seems to be the case! Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin have statistically higher incidence of leukemia than the national average. In Russia and in Sweden, areas with uncontrolled bovine leukemia virus have been linked with increases in human leukemia. I am also told that veterinarians have higher rates of leukemia than the general public. Dairy farmers have significantly elevated leukemia rates. Recent research shows lymphocytes from milk fed to neonatal mammals gains access to bodily tissues by passing directly through the intestinal wall. An optimistic note from the University of Illinois, Ubana from the Department of Animal Sciences shows the importance of one's perspective. Since they are concerned with the economics of milk and not primarily the health aspects, they noted that the production of milk was greater in the cows with the bovine leukemia virus. However when the leukemia produced a persistent and significant lymphocytosis (increased white blood cell count), the production fell off. They suggested "a need to re-evaluate the economic impact of bovine leukemia virus infection on the dairy industry". Does this mean that leukemia is good for profits only if we can keep it under control? You can get the details on this business concern from Proc. Nat. Acad. Sciences, U.S. Feb. 1989. I added emphasis and am insulted that a university department feels that this is an economic and not a human health issue. Do not expect help from the Department of Agriculture or the universities. The money stakes and the political pressures are too great. You're on you own. What does this all mean? We know that virus is capable of producing leukemia in other animals. Is it proven that it can contribute to human leukemia (or lymphoma, a related cancer)? Several articles tackle this one: 1.Epidemiologic Relationships of the Bovine Population and Human Leukemia in Iowa. Am Journal of Epidemiology 112 (1980):80 2.Milk of Dairy Cows Frequently Contains a Leukemogenic Virus. Science 213 (1981): 1014 3.Beware of the Cow. (Editorial) Lancet 2 (1974):30 4.Is Bovine Milk A Health Hazard?. Pediatrics; Suppl. Feeding the Normal Infant. 75:182-186; 1985 In Norway, 1422 individuals were followed for 11 and a half years. Those drinking 2 or more glasses of milk per day had 3.5 times the incidence of cancer of the lymphatic organs. British Med. Journal 61:456-9, March 1990. One of the more thoughtful articles on this subject is from Allan S. Cunningham of Cooperstown, New York. Writing in the Lancet, November 27, 1976 (page 1184), his article is entitled, "Lymphomas and Animal-Protein Consumption". Many people think of milk as “liquid meat” and Dr. Cunningham agrees with this. He tracked the beef and dairy consumption in terms of grams per day for a one year period, 1955-1956., in 15 countries . New Zealand, United States and Canada were highest in that order. The lowest was Japan followed by Yugoslavia and France. The difference between the highest and lowest was quite pronounced: 43.8 grams/day for New Zealanders versus 1.5 for Japan. Nearly a 30-fold difference! (Parenthetically, the last 36 years have seen a startling increase in the amount of beef and milk used in Japan and their disease patterns are reflecting this, confirming the lack of 'genetic protection' seen in migration studies. Formerly the increase in frequency of lymphomas in Japanese people was only in those who moved to the USA)! An interesting bit of trivia is to note the memorial built at the Gyokusenji Temple in Shimoda, Japan. This marked the spot where the first cow was killed in Japan for human consumption! The chains around this memorial were a gift from the US Navy. Where do you suppose the Japanese got the idea to eat beef? The year? 1930. Cunningham found a highly significant positive correlation between deaths from lymphomas and beef and dairy ingestion in the 15 countries analysed. A few quotations from his article follow: The average intake of protein in many countries is far in excess of the recommended requirements. Excessive consumption of animal protein may be one co-factor in the causation of lymphomas by acting in the following manner. Ingestion of certain proteins results in the adsorption of antigenic fragments through the gastrointestinal mucous membrane. This results in chronic stimulation of lymphoid tissue to which these fragments gain access "Chronic immunological stimulation causes lymphomas in laboratory animals and is believed to cause lymphoid cancers in men." The gastrointestinal mucous membrane is only a partial barrier to the absorption of food antigens, and circulating antibodies to food protein is commonplace especially potent lymphoid stimulants. Ingestion of cows' milk can produce generalized lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and profound adenoid hypertrophy. It has been conservatively estimated that more than 100 distinct antigens are released by the normal digestion of cows' milk which evoke production of all antibody classes [This may explain why pasteurized, killed viruses are still antigenic and can still cause disease. Here's more. A large prospective study from Norway was reported in the British Journal of Cancer 61 (3):456-9, March 1990. (Almost 16,000 individuals were followed for 11 and a half years). For most cancers there was no association between the tumour and milk ingestion. However, in lymphoma, there was a strong positive association. If one drank two glasses or more daily (or the equivalent in dairy products), the odds were 3.4 times greater than in persons drinking less than one glass of developing a lymphoma. There are two other cow-related diseases that you should be aware of. At this time they are not known to be spread by the use of dairy products and are not known to involve man. The first is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and the second is the bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV). The first of these diseases, we hope, is confined to England and causes cavities in the animal's brain. Sheep have long been known to suffer from a disease called scrapie. It seems to have been started by the feeding of contaminated sheep parts, especially brains, to the British cows. Now, use your good sense. Do cows seem like carnivores? Should they eat meat? This profit-motivated practice backfired and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease, swept Britain. The disease literally causes dementia in the unfortunate animal and is 100 per cent incurable. To date, over 100,000 cows have been incinerated in England in keeping with British law. Four hundred to 500 cows are reported as infected each month. The British public is concerned and has dropped its beef consumption by 25 per cent, while some 2,000 schools have stopped serving beef to children. Several farmers have developed a fatal disease syndrome that resembles both BSE and CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob- Disease). But the British Veterinary Association says that transmission of BSE to humans is "remote." The USDA agrees that the British epidemic was due to the feeding of cattle with bonemeal or animal protein produced at rendering plants from the carcasses of scrapie-infected sheep. The have prohibited the importation of live cattle and zoo ruminants from Great Britain and claim that the disease does not exist in the United States. However, there may be a problem. "Downer cows" are animals who arrive at auction yards or slaughter houses dead, trampled, lacerated, dehydrated, or too ill from viral or bacterial diseases to walk. Thus they are "down." If they cannot respond to electrical shocks by walking, they are dragged by chains to dumpsters and transported to rendering plants where, if they are not already dead, they are killed. Even a "humane" death is usually denied them. They are then turned into protein food for animals as well as other preparations. Minks that have been fed this protein have developed a fatal encephalopathy that has some resemblance to BSE. Entire colonies of minks have been lost in this manner, particularly in Wisconsin. It is feared that the infective agent is a prion or slow virus possible obtained from the ill "downer cows." The British Medical Journal in an editorial whimsically entitled "How Now Mad Cow?" (BMJ vol. 304, 11 Apr. 1992:929- 30) describes cases of BSE in species not previously known to be affected, such as cats. They admit that produce contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy entered the human food chain in England between 1986 and 1989. They say. "The result of this experiment is awaited." As the incubation period can be up to three decades, wait we must. The immunodeficency virus is seen in cattle in the United States and is more worrisome. Its structure is closely related to that of the human AIDS virus. At this time we do not know if exposure to the raw BIV proteins can cause the sera of humans to become positive for HIV. The extent of the virus among American herds is said to be "widespread". (The USDA refuses to inspect the meat and milk to see if antibodies to this retrovirus is present). It also has no plans to quarantine the infected animals. As in the case of humans with AIDS, there is no cure for BIV in cows. Each day we consume beef and diary products from cows infected with these viruses and no scientific assurance exists that the products are safe. Eating raw beef (as in steak Tartare) strikes me as being very risky, especially after the Seattle E. coli deaths of 1993. A report in the Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research, October 1992, Vol. 56 pp.353-359 and another from the Russian literature, tell of a horrifying development. They report the first detection in human serum of the antibody to a bovine immunodeficiency virus protein. In addition to this disturbing report, is another from Russia telling us of the presence of virus proteins related to the bovine leukemia virus in 5 of 89 women with breast disease (Acta Virologica Feb. 1990 34(1): 19-26). The implications of these developments are unknown at present. However, it is safe to assume that these animal viruses are unlikely to "stay" in the animal kingdom. OTHER CANCERS--DOES IT GET WORSE? Unfortunately it does. Ovarian cancer--a particularly nasty tumour--was associated with milk consumption by workers at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, New York. Drinking more than one glass of whole milk or equivalent daily gave a woman a 3.1 times risk over non-milk users. They felt that the reduced fat milk products helped reduce the risk. This association has been made repeatedly by numerous investigators. Another important study, this from the Harvard Medical School, analyzed data from 27 countries mainly from the 1970s. Again a significant positive correlation is revealed between ovarian cancer and per capita milk consumption. These investigators feel that the lactose component of milk is the responsible fraction, and the digestion of this is facilitated by the persistence of the ability to digest the lactose (lactose persistence) - a little different emphasis, but the same conclusion. This study was reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology 130 (5): 904-10 Nov. 1989. These articles come from two of the country's leading institutions, not the Rodale Press or Prevention Magazine. Even lung cancer has been associated with milk ingestion? The beverage habits of 569 lung cancer patients and 569 controls again at Roswell Park were studied in the International Journal of Cancer, April 15, 1989. Persons drinking whole milk 3 or more times daily had a 2-fold increase in lung cancer risk when compared to those never drinking whole milk. For many years we have been watching the lung cancer rates for Japanese men who smoke far more than American or European men but who develop fewer lung cancers. Workers in this research area feel that the total fat intake is the difference. There are not many reports studying an association between milk ingestion and prostate cancer. One such report though was of great interest. This is from the Roswell Park Memorial Institute and is found in Cancer 64 (3): 605-12, 1989. They analyzed the diets of 371 prostate cancer patients and comparable control subjects: Men who reported drinking three or more glasses of whole milk daily had a relative risk of 2.49 compared with men who reported never drinking whole milk the weight of the evidence appears to favour the hypothesis that animal fat is related to increased risk of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer diagnosed in US men and is the second leading cause of cancer mortality. WELL, WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? Is there any health reason at all for an adult human to drink cows' milk? It's hard for me to come up with even one good reason other than simple preference. But if you try hard, in my opinion, these would be the best two: milk is a source of calcium and it's a source of amino acids (proteins). Let's look at the calcium first. Why are we concerned at all about calcium? Obviously, we intend it to build strong bones and protect us against osteoporosis. And no doubt about it, milk is loaded with calcium. But is it a good calcium source for humans? I think not. These are the reasons. Excessive amounts of dairy products actually interfere with calcium absorption. Secondly, the excess of protein that the milk provides is a major cause of the osteoporosis problem. Dr. H egsted in England has been writing for years about the geographical distribution of osteoporosis. It seems that the countries with the highest intake of dairy products are invariably the countries with the most osteoporosis. He feels that milk is a cause of osteoporosis. Reasons to be given below. Numerous studies have shown that the level of calcium ingestion and especially calcium supplementation has no effect whatever on the development of osteoporosis. The most important such article appeared recently in the British Journal of Medicine where the long arm of our dairy industry can't reach. Another study in the United States actually showed a worsening in calcium balance in post-menopausal women given three 8-ounce glasses of cows' milk per day. (Am. Journal of Clin. Nutrition, 1985). The effects of hormone, gender, weight bearing on the axial bones, and in particular protein intake, are critically important. Another observation that may be helpful to our analysis is to note the absence of any recorded dietary deficiencies of calcium among people living on a natural diet without milk. For the key to the osteoporosis riddle, don’t look at calcium, look at protein. Consider these two contrasting groups. Eskimos have an exceptionally high protein intake estimated at 25 percent of total calories. They also have a high calcium intake at 2,500 mg/day. Their osteoporosis is among the worst in the world. The other instructive group are the Bantus of South Africa. They have a 12 percent protein diet, mostly p lant protein, and only 200 to 350 mg/day of calcium, about half our women's intake. The women have virtually no osteoporosis despite bearing six or more children and nursing them for prolonged periods! When African women immigrate to the United States, do they develop osteoporosis? The answer is yes, but not quite are much as Caucasian or Asian women. Thus, there is a genetic difference that is modified by diet. To answer the obvious question, "Well, where do you get your calcium?" The answer is: "From exactly the same place the cow gets the calcium, from green things that grow in the ground," mainly from leafy vegetables. After all, elephants and rhinos develop their huge bones (after being weaned) by eating green leafy plants, so do horses. Carnivorous animals also do quite nicely without leafy plants. It seems that all of earth's mammals do well if they live in harmony with their genetic programming and natural food. Only humans living an affluent life style have rampant osteoporosis. If animal references do not convince you, think of the several billion humans on this earth who have never seen cows' milk. Wouldn't you think osteoporosis would be prevalent in this huge group? The dairy people would suggest this but the truth is exactly the opposite. They have far less than that seen in the countries where dairy products are commonly consumed. It is the subject of another paper, but the truly significant determinants of osteoporosis are grossly excessive protein intakes and lack of weight bearing on long bones, both taking place over decades. Hormones play a secondary, but not trivial role in women. Milk is a deterrent to good bone health. THE PROTEIN MYTH Remember when you were a kid and the adults all told you to "make sure you get plenty of good protein". Protein was the nutritional "good guy”" when I was young. And of course milk is fitted right in. As regards protein, milk is indeed a rich source of protein- -"liquid meat," remember? However that isn't necessarily what we need. In actual fact it is a source of difficulty. Nearly all Americans eat too much protein. For this information we rely on the most authoritative source that I am aware of. This is the latest edition (1oth, 1989: 4th printing, Jan. 1992) of the Recommended Dietary Allowances produced by the National Research Council. Of interest, the current editor of this important work is Dr. Richard Havel of the University of California in San Francisco. First to be noted is that the recommended protein has been steadily revised downward in successive editions. The current recommendation is 0.75 g/kilo/day for adults 19 through 51 years. This, of course, is only 45 grams per day for the mythical 60 kilogram adult. You should also know that the WHO estimated the need for protein in adults to by .6g/kilo per day. (All RDA's are calculated with large safety allowances in case you're the type that wants to add some more to "be sure.") You can "get by" on 28 to 30 grams a day if necessary! Now 45 grams a day is a tiny amount of protein. That's an ounce and a half! Consider too, that the protein does not have to be animal protein. Vegetable protein is identical for all practical purposes and has no cholesterol and vastly less saturated fat. (Do not be misled by the antiquated belief that plant proteins must be carefully balanced to avoid deficiencies. This is not a realistic concern.) Therefore virtually all Americans, Canadians, British and European people are in a protein overloaded state. This has serious consequences when maintained over decades. The problems are the already mentioned osteoporosis, atherosclerosis and kidney damage. There is good evidence that certain malignancies, chiefly colon and rectal, are related to excessive meat intake. Barry Brenner, an eminent renal physiologist was the first to fully point out the dangers of excess protein for the kidney tubule. The dangers of the fat and cholesterol are known to all. Finally, you should know that the protein content of human milk is amount the lowest (0.9%) in mammals. IS THAT ALL OF THE TROUBLE? Sorry, there's more. Remember lactose? This is the principal carbohydrate of milk. It seems that nature provides new- borns with the enzymatic equipment to metabolize lactose, but this ability often extinguishes by age 4 or 5 years. What is the problem with lactose or milk sugar? It seems that it is a disaccharide which is too large to be absorbed into the blood stream without first being broken down into monosaccharides, namely galactose and glucose. This requires the presence of an enzyme, lactase plus additional enzymes to break down the galactose into glucose. Let's think about his for a moment. Nature gives us the ability to metabolize lactose for a few years and then shuts off the mechanism. Is Mother Nature trying to tell us something? Clearly all infants must drink milk. The fact that so many adults cannot seems to be related to the tendency for nature to abandon mechanisms that are not needed. At least half of the adult humans on this earth are lactose intolerant. It was not until the relatively recent introduction of dairy herding and the ability to "borrow" milk from another group of mammals that the survival advantage of preserving lactase (the enzyme that allows us to digest lactose) became evident. But why would it be advantageous to drink cows' milk? After all, most of the human beings in the history of the world did. And further, why was it just the white or light skinned humans who retained this knack while the pigmented people tended to lose it? Some students of evolution feel that white skin is a fairly recent innovation, perhaps not more than 20,000 or 30,000 years old. It clearly has to do with the Northward migration of early man to cold and relatively sunless areas when skins and clothing became available. Fair skin allows the production of Vitamin D from sunlight more readily than does dark skin. However, when only the face was exposed to sunlight that area of fair skin was insufficient to provide the vitamin D from sunlight. If dietary and sunlight sources were poorly available, the ability to use the abundant calcium in cows' milk would give a survival advantage to humans who could digest that milk. This seems to be the only logical explanation for fair skinned humans having a high degree of lactose tolerance when compared to dark skinned people. How does this break down? Certain racial groups, namely blacks are up to 90% lactose intolerant as adults. Caucasians are 20 to 40% lactose intolerant. Orientals are midway between the above two groups. Diarrhea, gas and abdominal cramps are the results of substantial milk intake in such persons. Most American Indians cannot tolerate milk. The milk industry admits that lactose intolerance plays intestinal havoc with as many as 50 million Americans. A lactose-intolerance industry has sprung up and had sales of $117 million in 1992 (Time May 17, 1993.) What if you are lactose-intolerant and lust after dairy products? Is all lost? Not at all. It seems that lactose is largely digested by bacteria and you will be able to enjoy your cheese despite lactose intolerance. Yogurt is similar in this respect. Finally, and I could never have dreamed this up, geneticists want to splice genes to alter the composition of milk (Am J Clin Nutr 1993 Suppl 302s). One could quibble and say that milk is totally devoid of fiber content and that its habitual use will predispose to constipation and bowel disorders. The association with anemia and occult intestinal bleeding in infants is known to all physicians. This is chiefly from its lack of iron and its irritating qualities for the intestinal mucosa. The pediatric literature abounds with articles describing irritated intestinal lining, bleeding, increased permeability as well as colic, diarrhea and vomiting in cows'milk-sensitive babies. The anemia gets a double push by loss of blood and iron as well as deficiency of iron in the cows' milk. Milk is also the leading cause of childhood allergy. LOW FAT One additional topic: the matter of "low fat" milk. A common and sincere question is: "Well, low fat milk is OK, isn't it?" The answer to this question is that low fat milk isn't low fat. The term "low fat" is a marketing term used to gull the public. Low fat milk contains from 24 to 33% fat as calories! The 2% figure is also misleading. This refers to weight. They don't tell you that, by weight, the milk is 87% water! "Well, then, kill-joy surely you must approve of non-fat milk!" I hear this quite a bit. (Another constant concern is: "What do you put on your cereal?") True, there is little or no fat, but now you have a relative overburden of protein and lactose. It there is something that we do not need more of it is another simple sugar-lactose, composed of galactose and glucose. Millions of Americans are lactose intolerant to boot, as noted. As for protein, as stated earlier, we live in a society that routinely ingests far more protein than we need. It is a burden for our bodies, especially the kidneys, and a prominent cause of osteoporosis. Concerning the dry cereal issue, I would suggest soy milk, rice milk or almond milk as a healthy substitute. If you're still concerned about calcium, "Westsoy" is formulated to have the same calcium concentration as milk. SUMMARY To my thinking, there is only one valid reason to drink milk or use milk products. That is just because we simply want to. Because we like it and because it has become a part of our culture. Because we have become accustomed to its taste and texture. Because we like the way it slides down our throat. Because our parents did the very best they could for us and provided milk in our earliest training and conditioning. They taught us to like it. And then probably the very best reason is ice cream! I've heard it described "to die for". I had one patient who did exactly that. He had no obvious vices. He didn't smoke or drink, he didn’t eat meat, his diet and lifestyle was nearly a perfectly health promoting one; but he had a passion. You guessed it, he loved rich ice cream. A pint of the richest would be a lean day's ration for him. On many occasions he would eat an entire quart - and yes there were some cookies and other pastries. Good ice cream deserves this after all. He seemed to be in good health despite some expected "middle age spread" when he had a devastating stroke which left him paralyzed, miserable and helpless, and he had additional strokes and d ied several years later never having left a hospital or rehabilitation unit. Was he old? I don't think so. He was in his 50s. So don't drink milk for health. I am convinced on the weight of the scientific evidence that it does not "do a body good." Inclusion of milk will only reduce your diet's nutritional value and safety. Most of the people on this planet live very healthfully without cows' milk. You can too. It will be difficult to change; we've been conditioned since childhood to think of milk as "nature's most perfect food." I'll guarantee you that it will be safe, improve your health and it won't cost anything. What can you lose? es esta pagina link http://notmilk.com/kradjian.html The most important information dissemination my. Not that, but I can make your text too long jajaja. If I write bad is that I am leading a translator jaja

Is the USA now headed into a Depression? Mortgage delinquencies hit another record: MBA http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mortgage-delinquencies-hit-another-record-mba-2009-08-20-10100?siteid=bnbh Quote: - "CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Mortgages either in foreclosure or with at least one payment past due hit 13.16% in the second quarter, the highest percentage ever recorded by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the industry group reported on Thursday."

i got caught using ares (kind of like limewire) HELP!?!? Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sent my mom an e-mail through cox that they caught me sharing/downloading a song. right now-akon. they wrote the ip address and it matched my laptops address! so i think it happened because i synced all my songs from ares to my brother's cell phone. and maybe just that song had the copyright. so they said this was a warning and if i get caught again, they will suspend my mom's internet service. im so scared! i promised myself to not sync songs anymore, unless i buy them from itunes. but i'm wondering would they be able to catch me again if i continue to download songs from ares?(NOT Sync them but only download them?) please help! best answer 10 points!!

can you have chocolate with out the cocoa,has any one heard about this? Thank you for visiting the Don't Mess with Our Chocolate web site forum. Its purpose is to provide information regarding how to get involved in saving the real chocolate that we all love and enjoy. Through the years, consumers have had a passionate love affair with chocolate. Chocolate is an indulgence that everyone can afford, and it provides comfort, pleasure and happiness. It truly is one of the world’s most unique and special foods However, it appears some members of the U.S. Chocolate Industry are supporting a change in the basic formula of chocolate, by allowing the use of vegetable fat substitutes in place of cocoa butter. In our opinion, these changes will adversely affect the eating, physical and nutritional qualities of chocolate, begging the question: What consumer benefit is associated with implementing such change? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a chocolate standard of identity requiring manufacturers to use approved ingredients in making chocolate, and it protects the consumer from any substitution of inferior ingredients. As a result, the Chocolate Industry must obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration to make any changes to the standard of identity for chocolate. Recently, the U.S. Chocolate Industry, through its Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA), along with 11 other food industry associations, have joined with the Grocery Manufacturers Association(GMA) in supporting what is called a citizen’s petition asking the FDA for approval to change current requirements for a number of food categories, of which chocolate is included. The petition has been recorded with the FDA as Docket # 2007P-0085. While the FDA has heard from the chocolate industry, they encourage consumers to weigh in as well in order to obtain a balanced viewpoint on any such topic. If you want the standard of identity for chocolate to remain the same, please communicate your opinion to the FDA by going to the "How to Help" tab on this site. Your opinion is important and needs to be heard along with the collective voices from other consumers. We hope this effort will have a favorable impact on the FDA’s decision-making process and will cause it to reject the proposed changes recommended for chocolate. http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/whatsthisabout.asp

Does this news article about textbook piracy make any sense? A textbook case of piracy By Alex Beam Globe Columnist / September 9, 2008 I was heartened to learn that college kids are wielding the same Internet piracy tools they used to bring down the recording industry to download textbooks. Although the textbook oligopolists are fighting back mightily - the Association of American Publishers uses Covington & Burling, a take-no-prisoners law firm in Washington, D.C., to hunt down malefactors - there are at least two sites still around offering books: Textbook Torrents tends to be shut down, and moves around the Web, but the last time I checked, thepiratebay.org was offering such books as - well, you'll see. As a writer, how can I support this? I should be an absolutist on copyright protection for all books, magazines, and newspapers. But I'm not. The publishers have disgraced themselves, and they are paying the price. Three-hundred-dollar textbooks in the hard sciences are not unusual, and the companies are selling to a captive audience. Hundred-dollar add-ons, masquerading as digital workbooks, or problem-solving sets, are not uncommon. Publishers love to put out bogus "new" editions to drive a stake though the heart of the used textbook market, which was gaining its second wind at online auction sites. It's not as if calculus changed since Newton invented it, is the rallying cry you hear from student activists. How do I know textbook publishers are nothing but pirates in pin-striped suits? Because when the fast-buck artists take over a company like Houghton Mifflin, they never talk about how proud they are to be publishing Philip Roth and J.R.R. Tolkien. They know they are going to make a killing in the profit-choked textbook division, which gorges on the goodwill of parents who want their children to be properly equipped for college courses. Now most textbook publishers are going digital, and Amazon is promising a larger-format Kindle reader for the student market. The publishers say that iTexts, which often cost less than $100, save students money. But their opponents, led by a coalition of Student Public Interest Research Groups, point out that the password-protected digi-texts put the sword to the used-book market so despised by the publishers. Congress has gotten into the act, legislating more "transparency" in textbook pricing in the just-passed Higher Education Opportunity Act. It looks like a jumble of half-measures to me. If it had any teeth, the publishers would be squawking madly. A young Northeastern University student named Shawn Fanning wrung billions of dollars of excess profits from the record companies when he invented Napster. Yes, it's true that recording "artists" now gouge young people 10 times more aggressively at the concert turnstiles than they ever did at Tower Records stores, which no longer exist around here. But Steve Jobs found the right price point for music at iTunes. Between the pirates and the publishers, we'll find our way to the right price point for textbooks, too. Now it's time to arbitrage . . . tuition. Don't steal this book Inevitably, a reviewer will call John Hanson Mitchell, author of "The Paradise of All These Parts: A Natural History of Boston," a latter-day Henry David Thoreau, not necessarily a compliment. Call him what you will - in real life, he edits the Massachusetts Audubon Society magazine Sanctuary - he is a smart guy, walking around, paying attention. I'd name his genre nostalgic realism; Mitchell certainly knows where this city and its many peculiar institutions come from, and he understands modernity as well. I love that his brother owns a boat named after Richard Henry Dana, and that it doesn't have an engine - there's Boston in a nutshell. I think this book will take its place next to Walter Muir Whitehill's "Boston," with engravings by Rudolph Ruzicka, as one of the treasured Hub tomes of our time. Able was I . . . Ere I saw Alaska? Send in your Sarah Palin-dromes! A palindrome is a phrase that makes sense read forward and backward - e.g., "Madam, I'm Adam." I think there's a lot to work with here: Is Levi vile? Close, but no cigar. I'll buy the winner a used copy of the kind of book that Governor Palin wanted to keep out of her local library - "Huckleberry Finn," perhaps. Alex Beam is a Globe columnist. His e-dress is beam@globe.com. http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2008/09/09/a_textbook_case_of_piracy/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Living+%2F+Arts+News

What do you think about our taxpayer money spent on ....? WALL STREET JOURNAL............ Order a reprint of this article now JULY 2, 2009.Congress's Travel Tab Swells Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold; From Italy to the Galápagos.ArticleComments (171)more in Politics ». By BRODY MULLINS and T.W. FARNAM WASHINGTON -- Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands. The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago. The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data. View Full Image Gov. Bob Riley via Flickr Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (left) and Sen. Richard Shelby in June on a river cruise in Paris, where U.S. politicians met with defense-industry executives. . Lawmakers say that the trips are a good use of government funds because they allow members of Congress and their staff members to learn more about the world, inspect U.S. assets abroad and forge better working relationships with each other. The travel, for example, includes official visits to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. Some members of Congress have complained in recent months about chief executives of bailed-out banks, insurance companies and car makers who sponsored corporate trips to resorts or used corporate jets for their own travel. Although complete travel records aren't yet available for 2009, it appears that such costs continue to rise. The Journal analysis shows that the government has picked up the tab for travel to destinations such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Lawmakers frequently bring along spouses on congressional trips. If they take commercial flights, they have to buy tickets for spouses. If they fly on government planes -- as they usually do -- their spouses can fly free. Paris Air Show In mid-June, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) led a group of a half-dozen senators and their spouses on a four-day trip to France for the biennial Paris Air Show. An itinerary for the event shows that lawmakers flew on the Air Force's version of the Boeing 737, which costs $5,700 an hour to operate. They stayed at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel, which advertises rooms from $460 a night. The lawmakers were invited to a dinner party at the U.S. Embassy and had cocktails at a private party at the Eiffel Tower. Mr. Inouye attended a dinner sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, a U.S. trade group. Another senator on the trip, Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, took a cruise on the River Seine with defense-industry executives and elected officials from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Mr. Inouye and Mr. Shelby declined to comment. . Often, lawmakers combine trips to war zones with visits to more tranquil spots. In February, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Democratic lawmakers to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a day. Before landing in Kabul, the eight lawmakers and their entourage of spouses and aides spent eight days in Italy, spending $57,697 on hotels and meals. A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi says that she was working in Italy, meeting with U.S. troops at Aviano Air Base, laying a wreath at the Florence American Cemetery, giving a speech to Italian lawmakers and visiting the Pope, among other things. Homeland Security Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, led a group to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Panama. "This trip further solidified the message that homeland security does not begin or end at our borders," says Mr. Thompson's spokeswoman. Journal Communitydiscuss..“ The very people who try to scold executives for flying on private jets turn around and hop on their private jet – paid for by you, the taxpayer. ” .— Daniel Baker. Many congressional trips have been to Iraq or Afghanistan. In 2008, lawmakers and aides took 113 trips to Iraq, according to the Journal analysis, down slightly from the prior year. Not much money is spent in the war zones. Lawmakers are not allowed to stay overnight in Iraq and receive only minimal spending allowances for their one-day visits. In mid-February, for example, six House lawmakers traveled to Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain and Afghanistan. Each lawmaker reported spending $1,500

Why doen't the US begin using coal to produce oil? South Africa has been doing do for years!? SECUNDA, South Africa -- Every day, conveyor belts haul about 120,000 metric tons of coal into an industrial complex here two hours east of Johannesburg. The facility -- resembling a nuclear power plant, with concrete silos looming over nearby potato farms -- superheats the coal to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It adds steam and oxygen, cranks up the pressure, and pushes the coal through a series of chemical reactions. Then it spits out something extraordinary: 160,000 barrels of oil a day. For decades, scientists have known how to convert coal into a liquid that can be refined into gasoline or diesel fuel. But everyone thought the process was too expensive to be practical. The lone exception was South Africa, a one-time pariah state that had huge reserves of coal and, thanks to anti-apartheid sanctions, limited access to foreign oil. Sasol Ltd., a partly state-owned company, built several coal-to-liquids plants, including the ones at Secunda, and became the world's leading purveyor of coal-to-liquids technology. Now, oil prices are above $70 a barrel, and Sasol has emerged as the key player at the center of the world's latest alternative-energy boom. China is building a coal-to-oil plant costing several billion dollars in Inner Mongolia and may add as many as 27 facilities -- including some with Sasol's help -- over the next several years, according to a recent tally by Credit Suisse. In the U.S., the Defense Department is studying coal-to-oil technology as a way to reduce the American military's dependence on Middle Eastern crude oil. And the National Coal Council, an industry association, is pushing for government incentives to help generate some 2.6 million barrels of liquid fuel a day from coal by 2025. That would satisfy some 10 percent of America's expected oil demand that year. The plan would require 475 million tons of coal a year, which represents more than 40 percent of current annual U.S. production. Industry officials believe America's coal reserves are big enough to allow for the extra production. Coal-to-liquids "is not going to replace oil," says Lean Strauss, a Sasol executive who directs the company's overseas energy business. "But it's an important substitute. It is one of the solutions to energy security." In June, two senators from coal-producing states, Barack Obama of Illinois and Jim Bunning of Kentucky, introduced a bill to offer loan guarantees and tax incentives for U.S. coal-to-liquid plants. Sasol has found a particularly receptive audience in Montana's Democratic governor, Brian Schweitzer, who says he carries a lump of coal and a vial of liquefied coal with him at all times. He is lobbying coal companies and others to build coal-to-liquid plants across his state, which has some of the biggest coal reserves in the U.S. Current estimates indicate the world has just 41 years of known oil reserves and 65 years of natural-gas supplies. It has enough coal reserves to last an estimated 155 years, with some of the largest reserves in the two biggest oil-consuming countries, the U.S. and China. It's far from clear, however, that the world would be better off -- economically or environmentally -- by burning more coal to fuel cars and trucks. One problem is that coal-to-oil projects are extremely expensive. A single plant capable of producing about 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day -- less than 0.5 percent of America's daily oil diet -- would cost an estimated $6 billion or more to build. Energy analysts reckon that some coal-to-liquids projects can offer an acceptable return on investment when oil is priced as low as $30 or $35 a barrel, though such ventures might require government tax incentives to reduce operating costs. It seems likely that oil prices will stay above that level for a while, but the longer-term outlook is anyone's guess. An earlier flurry of interest in coal-to-oil facilities in the U.S. during the Carter administration in the late 1970s died after oil prices collapsed. Coal-to-oil projects also pose serious environmental questions. When the South African facility superheats coal and turns it into a gas, one of the main waste products is carbon dioxide, thought to be a significant cause of global warming. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S.-based environmental advocacy group, estimates that the production and use of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other fuels from crude oil release about 27.5 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon. The production and use of a gallon of liquid fuel originating in coal emit about 49.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, they estimate. Even some boosters of the coal-to-oil plants describe them as carbon-dioxide factories that produce energy on the side. "Before deciding whether to invest scores -- perhaps hundreds -- of billions of dollars in a new industry like coal-to-liquids, we need a much more serious assessment of whether this is an industry that should proceed at all," said David Hawkins, director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, at a recent U.S. Senate hearing. Coal-to-oil is one of several promising but potentially polluting technologies that are receiving new attention amid high oil prices. Energy companies are trying to unlock natural gas trapped in shale and other difficult rock formations. They're also tapping oil-soaked sands in Canada and so-called heavy oils in politically challenging places such as Venezuela. Environmentalists fear these new sources will outshine conservation as the way to address the world's growing thirst for energy. In South Africa, environmental groups say Sasol's facilities have emitted huge volumes of carbon dioxide and pollutants, including sulfur dioxide. They say these have caused a host of respiratory problems in nearby communities. Sasol says its emissions of these pollutants are small compared to emissions by other companies' coal-burning electricity plants in the region. Sasol officials acknowledge their facilities emit greenhouse gases and that building more coal-to-liquids facilities around the world "could have potentially significant implications, in the long run, for our commitment to reducing carbon intensity," according to a recent company report on its social and environmental programs. Sasol says it plans to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions per ton of product by 10 percent by 2015. Sasol and many other coal-to-oil proponents say that future coal-to-liquids plants can be built with newer technologies that trap carbon dioxide and store it, sharply reducing their emissions. To many South Africans, Sasol is a huge success story. The company's daily production now meets about 30 percent of South Africa's transport-fuel needs. The country's 50-rand bank note even features a picture of one of Sasol's plants. Sasol's share price has more than tripled over the past three years. Analysts estimate it earned about $2 billion in the year ended June 30, about 35 percent higher than the year before -- such a sharp rise that South African authorities are contemplating a "windfall tax" on the company. Coal-to-oil technology dates back to the 1920s, when two German chemists, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, developed a process to convert coal into a gas and then use it to make synthetic fuels. Coal-to-oil technology helped fuel the Nazi war machine, which lacked access to sufficient crude oil. International oil companies also experimented with the process but put it aside because oil was cheaper. South Africa took a different view. The country lacked oil, but had enormous deposits of coal, much of which had limited market value because of its poor quality. In 1950, the government set up Sasol as a state-owned company and authorized funding for its first project, a coal-to-liquids facility called Sasolburg in the South African countryside. When oil prices soared in the 1970s, South African officials decided to up the ante. They lent Sasol $6 billion to build two new facilities at Secunda -- each 10 times as large as Sasolburg. The government also privatized the company, listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1979. (The government maintains a 23.5 percent stake). By the time the facilities were completed in the early 1980s, international oil prices were collapsing. The project was nonetheless a success for the white-dominated apartheid government because international sanctions were restricting South Africa's ability to buy foreign oil. The plants managed to stay profitable by continually boosting efficiency and expanding their end products to include plastics, fertilizers and explosives. Besides the government loans, Sasol at various times received cash payments from the government when oil prices fell below a certain level. It eventually paid back the loans and stopped receiving subsidies for its coal-to-oil business by 2000. Today, Secunda is a buzzing industrial hub with 16,000 employees, miles of interlocking pipes and cables, and eight colossal silos. The silos, each big enough to contain a football field, cool steam involved in the conversion process. Fuel trucks wait along the edge of the facility to fill up with gasoline. Nearby mines produce more than 40 million metric tons of coal a year -- as much as all of Illinois. Outside the plant gates, Secunda has a boomtown feel. It has some 35,000 people, a BMW dealership and a multistory casino hotel called Graceland designed to evoke the "grand old age of Colonial America." A growing focus for Sasol is marketing its technology overseas. The company first tried to do so in the 1990s, after apartheid ended, but executives found doors slammed in their faces. Oil was trading for less than $25 a barrel at the time. "We sat in corridors waiting for meetings that never happened because they didn't even know who Sasol was," recalls Pat Davies, Sasol's chief executive. Sasol made its first inroads in countries such as Qatar that have big stockpiles of hard-to-transport natural gas. These countries were interested in Sasol's technology for turning natural gas into liquid fuel. As oil prices began to perk up, Sasol drew interest on the coal front from China, with its big coal reserves and energy needs. In marketing materials produced for Chinese government officials and investors, Sasol offers a simple message: By 2015, 70 percent of China's oil imports will come from the Middle East. Yet the country has coal reserves equivalent to more than half the oil in the Middle East. By 2004, Chinese energy planners began meeting with Sasol executives in Beijing to discuss the coal-to-oil process. That was followed by a series of meetings with policy makers and Chinese companies, capped by a gathering in Cape Town in June attended by visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Coal-generated pollution is emerging as a major environmental crisis in China. Yet Chinese officials are apparently willing to accept more coal use if it means improving the country's energy security, especially if local companies can design facilities to use relatively clean-burning varieties of coal. Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer, has started work on China's first commercial coal-to-oil facility, designed eventually to produce as many as 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Although that plant uses a different process from Sasol's at Secunda, Shenhua officials are in negotiations with Sasol to jointly build at least one additional 80,000-barrel-a-day plant using the South African company's technique. While Sasol would charge a fee for licensing its technology, its main interest is to share ownership in the facilities once they're built because it wants a share of the long-term profits. In China, Sasol is asking for a 50 percent equity stake in the projects. A Shenhua official says negotiations are going smoothly and the company hopes to begin construction soon. In Montana, at least two companies, including the world's largest private-sector coal company, Peabody Energy Corp. of St. Louis, have said they are looking at potential coal-to-oil sites. Montana's Gov. Schweitzer says any excess carbon dioxide from a facility could be given to oil companies to be injected back into the ground to enhance recovery from old wells. Bringing Sasol on board is critical, says Gov. Schweitzer. He says Wall Street banks want the South Africans to play a role because Sasol is the only company with a track record in the business. To woo Sasol executives, he says, he took them on a flight over Montana coal country last year. "These are the guys everyone wants to take to the prom," Gov. Schweitzer says. Sasol officials say they're interested in Montana and other potential sites in the U.S., provided they can find a suitable partner and receive tax or other incentives. Coal-to-oil "is coming to the United States," Gov. Schweitzer proclaims. When it does, he says, other countries "will be scrambling to protect their oil supplies -- and we'll be energy independent." First published on August 17, 2006 at 12:00 am Shai Oster in Beijing contributed to this article. Sorry for long article. Simple fact is that the US has th largest reserve of coal in the world. Coal to Oil technology is a proven fact, used be Germany in WWII and more recently by South Africa during there period of Aparthide. This country needs long term options and this seems like a viable option. -5dollar galon gas may make people demand for solutions at a louder scream

Why doen't the US make oil from coal, South Africa's been doing this for years. Don't we have alot of coal ? SECUNDA, South Africa -- Every day, conveyor belts haul about 120,000 metric tons of coal into an industrial complex here two hours east of Johannesburg. The facility -- resembling a nuclear power plant, with concrete silos looming over nearby potato farms -- superheats the coal to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It adds steam and oxygen, cranks up the pressure, and pushes the coal through a series of chemical reactions. Then it spits out something extraordinary: 160,000 barrels of oil a day. For decades, scientists have known how to convert coal into a liquid that can be refined into gasoline or diesel fuel. But everyone thought the process was too expensive to be practical. The lone exception was South Africa, a one-time pariah state that had huge reserves of coal and, thanks to anti-apartheid sanctions, limited access to foreign oil. Sasol Ltd., a partly state-owned company, built several coal-to-liquids plants, including the ones at Secunda, and became the world's leading purveyor of coal-to-liquids technology. Now, oil prices are above $70 a barrel, and Sasol has emerged as the key player at the center of the world's latest alternative-energy boom. China is building a coal-to-oil plant costing several billion dollars in Inner Mongolia and may add as many as 27 facilities -- including some with Sasol's help -- over the next several years, according to a recent tally by Credit Suisse. In the U.S., the Defense Department is studying coal-to-oil technology as a way to reduce the American military's dependence on Middle Eastern crude oil. And the National Coal Council, an industry association, is pushing for government incentives to help generate some 2.6 million barrels of liquid fuel a day from coal by 2025. That would satisfy some 10 percent of America's expected oil demand that year. The plan would require 475 million tons of coal a year, which represents more than 40 percent of current annual U.S. production. Industry officials believe America's coal reserves are big enough to allow for the extra production. Coal-to-liquids "is not going to replace oil," says Lean Strauss, a Sasol executive who directs the company's overseas energy business. "But it's an important substitute. It is one of the solutions to energy security." In June, two senators from coal-producing states, Barack Obama of Illinois and Jim Bunning of Kentucky, introduced a bill to offer loan guarantees and tax incentives for U.S. coal-to-liquid plants. Sasol has found a particularly receptive audience in Montana's Democratic governor, Brian Schweitzer, who says he carries a lump of coal and a vial of liquefied coal with him at all times. He is lobbying coal companies and others to build coal-to-liquid plants across his state, which has some of the biggest coal reserves in the U.S. Current estimates indicate the world has just 41 years of known oil reserves and 65 years of natural-gas supplies. It has enough coal reserves to last an estimated 155 years, with some of the largest reserves in the two biggest oil-consuming countries, the U.S. and China. It's far from clear, however, that the world would be better off -- economically or environmentally -- by burning more coal to fuel cars and trucks. One problem is that coal-to-oil projects are extremely expensive. A single plant capable of producing about 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day -- less than 0.5 percent of America's daily oil diet -- would cost an estimated $6 billion or more to build. Energy analysts reckon that some coal-to-liquids projects can offer an acceptable return on investment when oil is priced as low as $30 or $35 a barrel, though such ventures might require government tax incentives to reduce operating costs. It seems likely that oil prices will stay above that level for a while, but the longer-term outlook is anyone's guess. An earlier flurry of interest in coal-to-oil facilities in the U.S. during the Carter administration in the late 1970s died after oil prices collapsed. Coal-to-oil projects also pose serious environmental questions. When the South African facility superheats coal and turns it into a gas, one of the main waste products is carbon dioxide, thought to be a significant cause of global warming. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S.-based environmental advocacy group, estimates that the production and use of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other fuels from crude oil release about 27.5 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon. The production and use of a gallon of liquid fuel originating in coal emit about 49.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, they estimate. Even some boosters of the coal-to-oil plants describe them as carbon-dioxide factories that produce energy on the side. "Before deciding whether to invest scores -- perhaps hundreds -- of billions of dollars in a new industry like coal-to-liquids, we need a much more serious assessment of whether this is an industry that should proceed at all," said David Hawkins, director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, at a recent U.S. Senate hearing. Coal-to-oil is one of several promising but potentially polluting technologies that are receiving new attention amid high oil prices. Energy companies are trying to unlock natural gas trapped in shale and other difficult rock formations. They're also tapping oil-soaked sands in Canada and so-called heavy oils in politically challenging places such as Venezuela. Environmentalists fear these new sources will outshine conservation as the way to address the world's growing thirst for energy. In South Africa, environmental groups say Sasol's facilities have emitted huge volumes of carbon dioxide and pollutants, including sulfur dioxide. They say these have caused a host of respiratory problems in nearby communities. Sasol says its emissions of these pollutants are small compared to emissions by other companies' coal-burning electricity plants in the region. Sasol officials acknowledge their facilities emit greenhouse gases and that building more coal-to-liquids facilities around the world "could have potentially significant implications, in the long run, for our commitment to reducing carbon intensity," according to a recent company report on its social and environmental programs. Sasol says it plans to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions per ton of product by 10 percent by 2015. Sasol and many other coal-to-oil proponents say that future coal-to-liquids plants can be built with newer technologies that trap carbon dioxide and store it, sharply reducing their emissions. To many South Africans, Sasol is a huge success story. The company's daily production now meets about 30 percent of South Africa's transport-fuel needs. The country's 50-rand bank note even features a picture of one of Sasol's plants. Sasol's share price has more than tripled over the past three years. Analysts estimate it earned about $2 billion in the year ended June 30, about 35 percent higher than the year before -- such a sharp rise that South African authorities are contemplating a "windfall tax" on the company. Coal-to-oil technology dates back to the 1920s, when two German chemists, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, developed a process to convert coal into a gas and then use it to make synthetic fuels. Coal-to-oil technology helped fuel the Nazi war machine, which lacked access to sufficient crude oil. International oil companies also experimented with the process but put it aside because oil was cheaper. South Africa took a different view. The country lacked oil, but had enormous deposits of coal, much of which had limited market value because of its poor quality. In 1950, the government set up Sasol as a state-owned company and authorized funding for its first project, a coal-to-liquids facility called Sasolburg in the South African countryside. When oil prices soared in the 1970s, South African officials decided to up the ante. They lent Sasol $6 billion to build two new facilities at Secunda -- each 10 times as large as Sasolburg. The government also privatized the company, listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1979. (The government maintains a 23.5 percent stake). By the time the facilities were completed in the early 1980s, international oil prices were collapsing. The project was nonetheless a success for the white-dominated apartheid government because international sanctions were restricting South Africa's ability to buy foreign oil. The plants managed to stay profitable by continually boosting efficiency and expanding their end products to include plastics, fertilizers and explosives. Besides the government loans, Sasol at various times received cash payments from the government when oil prices fell below a certain level. It eventually paid back the loans and stopped receiving subsidies for its coal-to-oil business by 2000. Today, Secunda is a buzzing industrial hub with 16,000 employees, miles of interlocking pipes and cables, and eight colossal silos. The silos, each big enough to contain a football field, cool steam involved in the conversion process. Fuel trucks wait along the edge of the facility to fill up with gasoline. Nearby mines produce more than 40 million metric tons of coal a year -- as much as all of Illinois. Outside the plant gates, Secunda has a boomtown feel. It has some 35,000 people, a BMW dealership and a multistory casino hotel called Graceland designed to evoke the "grand old age of Colonial America." A growing focus for Sasol is marketing its technology overseas. The company first tried to do so in the 1990s, after apartheid ended, but executives found doors slammed in their faces. Oil was trading for less than $25 a barrel at the time. "We sat in corridors waiting for meetings that never happened because they didn't even know who Sasol was," recalls Pat Davies, Sasol's chief executive. Sasol made its first inroads in countries such as Qatar that have big stockpiles of hard-to-transport natural gas. These countries were interested in Sasol's technology for turning natural gas into liquid fuel. As oil prices began to perk up, Sasol drew interest on the coal front from China, with its big coal reserves and energy needs. In marketing materials produced for Chinese government officials and investors, Sasol offers a simple message: By 2015, 70 percent of China's oil imports will come from the Middle East. Yet the country has coal reserves equivalent to more than half the oil in the Middle East. By 2004, Chinese energy planners began meeting with Sasol executives in Beijing to discuss the coal-to-oil process. That was followed by a series of meetings with policy makers and Chinese companies, capped by a gathering in Cape Town in June attended by visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Coal-generated pollution is emerging as a major environmental crisis in China. Yet Chinese officials are apparently willing to accept more coal use if it means improving the country's energy security, especially if local companies can design facilities to use relatively clean-burning varieties of coal. Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer, has started work on China's first commercial coal-to-oil facility, designed eventually to produce as many as 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Although that plant uses a different process from Sasol's at Secunda, Shenhua officials are in negotiations with Sasol to jointly build at least one additional 80,000-barrel-a-day plant using the South African company's technique. While Sasol would charge a fee for licensing its technology, its main interest is to share ownership in the facilities once they're built because it wants a share of the long-term profits. In China, Sasol is asking for a 50 percent equity stake in the projects. A Shenhua official says negotiations are going smoothly and the company hopes to begin construction soon. In Montana, at least two companies, including the world's largest private-sector coal company, Peabody Energy Corp. of St. Louis, have said they are looking at potential coal-to-oil sites. Montana's Gov. Schweitzer says any excess carbon dioxide from a facility could be given to oil companies to be injected back into the ground to enhance recovery from old wells. Bringing Sasol on board is critical, says Gov. Schweitzer. He says Wall Street banks want the South Africans to play a role because Sasol is the only company with a track record in the business. To woo Sasol executives, he says, he took them on a flight over Montana coal country last year. "These are the guys everyone wants to take to the prom," Gov. Schweitzer says. Sasol officials say they're interested in Montana and other potential sites in the U.S., provided they can find a suitable partner and receive tax or other incentives. Coal-to-oil "is coming to the United States," Gov. Schweitzer proclaims. When it does, he says, other countries "will be scrambling to protect their oil supplies -- and we'll be energy independent." First published on August 17, 2006 at 12:00 am Shai Oster in Beijing contributed to this article.

Obama takes funds from lobby partners? Obama takes funds from lobby partners Sen. Barack Obama, who has refused donations from federal lobbyists and paints his Democratic presidential rival as a Washington insider for accepting their contributions, took hundreds of thousands of dollars from partners at dozens of firms that lobbied Congress in 2007. The partners — who often share in a law firm's overall profits — gave at least $214,000 to the Obama campaign from October through December, according to a review of Federal Election Commission records and lobbying-disclosure reports with the Senate. Partners at the Chicago-based law firm of Kirkland Ellis LLP, which has a lobbying arm in Washington, gave Mr. Obama more than $70,000 in contributions last year. The firm represented a pharmaceuticals company and the Futures Industry Association. For the whole story: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080222/NATION/853452725/1002

Why does the Media Ignore Farrakhan’s Endorsement of Obama? Why does the media constantly protect obama and ties? Remember Michelle Obama's Famous Anti White Paper. Well check this out. And yet the Obama's say they have no ties with Farrakhan. Imagine the media frenzy that would ensue if David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan endorsed John McCain for president. Yet Louis Farrakhan’s endorsement of Barack Obama has been virtually ignored by the mainstream media. Speaking to a convention of the Nation of Islam, Farrakhan not only declared his support for Obama, but also told his followers that Obama was the “Messiah.” [Editor's Note: Editor's Note: See the video of Louis Farrakhan calling Obama "The Messiah" — Go Here Now]. “You are the instruments that God is gonna use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth,” Farrakhan said. “And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn’t care anything about. That’s a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking.” Farrakhan compared Obama to Nation of Islam founder Wallace D. Fard Muhammad, whom Farrakhan says also had a white mother and black father. “A black man with a white mother became a savior to us,” Farrakhan said. “A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.” Incredibly, only Fox News and a few other news outlets have run Farrakhan’s endorsement. Farrakhan made the statement last February, but it only recently appeared on YouTube. While Obama has no control over who endorses him, the nature of those who express affinity with him provides insight into who he is and what his agenda could be. Obama’s endorsers and supporters range from admitted terrorist William Ayers and Weatherman Underground leader Bernardine Dohrn to Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, the New Black Panthers, the New SDS, and a host of other radical organizations and individuals. Among other things, the New Black Panthers favors releasing all blacks from jails throughout the world and giving blacks reparations for slavery. The group asserts that until that happens, blacks should be exempt from all taxes. The media blackout on Obama’s associations goes back to last January, when Newsmax began running stories on his minister’s sermons and the fact that his church gave an award for lifetime achievement to Farrakhan. When the media finally began picking up the stories in mid-March, the primaries began favoring Hillary Clinton instead of Obama. Farrakhan has called whites “blue-eyed devils” and the Antichrist. He has described Jews as “bloodsuckers” who control the government, the media, and some black organizations. “Do you know some of these satanic Jews have taken over BET [the Black Entertainment Network]?” Farrakhan said in a speech on Nov. 11, 2007. “Everything that we built, they have. The mind of Satan now is running the record industry, movie industry, and television. And they make us look like we’re the murderers; we look like we’re the gangsters, but we’re punk stuff.” The month after that speech, Obama’s minister and friend, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. and his Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, honored Farrakhan at a gala, bestowing on him its Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Lifetime Achievement Trumpeteer award. Obama has said he found religion through Wright in the 1980s and consulted him before deciding to run for president. He prayed privately with Wright before announcing his candidacy last year. In the November/December issue of his church’s magazine, Trumpet, Wright heaped praise on Farrakhan, whom he helped in organizing the Million Man March in Washington in 1995. Wright lauded Farrakhan as one of the giants of the African-American religious experience in the 20th and 21st centuries. “When Minister Farrakhan speaks, black America listens,” Wright said. “His depth on analysis [sic] when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye opening. He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest.” Hailing Farrakhan’s “integrity and honesty,” Wright said, “His love for Africa and African-American people has made him an unforgettable force, a catalyst for change, and a religious leader who is sincere about his faith and his purpose.” When no one in the media was picking up Newsmax’s stories on Wright’s award to Farrakhan and his sermons saying America created the AIDS virus to kill off blacks, a reporter for one of the cable news networks told me that if she proposed running such a story, her network would accuse her of “bias against Obama.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha5HEc-vOJs And King you are wrong Actually the klan is supporting obama...get your facts straight before you spew lies. Thankyou.

What do you think of this Article written by a Russian but sent to me by the American Family Association? This article is for your information. Please read. Note from Don Wildmon: For years I have refused to use words such as Marxism, socialism or similar words when describing our current situation. However, it is time to call a spade a spade, regardless of how those who oppose us label us. Rome is burning. The article below was written by Stanislav Mishin, a blogger and columnist for the Russian newspaper Pravda. American capitalism gone with a whimper . . . . . It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists. Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters. First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather than the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas than the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us (Russia) about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blinds the foolish. Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox (Russian Orthodox) churches are scandalously liberalized in America. The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more than another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe. These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more than ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them? These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters. Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions. So it should be no surprise that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride. Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper. So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power I hope we can stop this from happening.

Should the Oil companies be allowed to hold consumers hostage to high oil prices when profits are exorbitant? Oil companies retaliate against Congress & the American People- resist change Gasoline refinery expansions scaled back By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer Sun Jun 17, 6:03 AM ET WASHINGTON - With Congress and the White House pushing to increases the use of ethanol, the oil industry is scaling back its plans to expand refineries ¡ª which could keep gasoline prices high, possibly for years to come. But oil companies already have scaled those expansion plans back by nearly 40 percent. More cancellations are expected if Congress passes legislation now before the Senate calling for 15 billion gallons of ethanol use by 2015 and more than double that by 2022, say industry and government officials. "These (expansion) decisions are being revisited in boardrooms across the refining sector," says Charlie Drevna, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association "By creating a situation of extremely tight supply, the oil companies gain control over price at the wholesale level," says Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America. He argues the refining industry "has no interest in creating spare (refining) capacity." President Bush has called for a 20 percent decline in gasoline use by 2017 and the Senate is debating legislation for huge increases in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel. So, oil companies see a growing uncertainty about future gasoline demand and less need to increase refinery capacity to make more gasoline. A shortage of refineries frequently has been blamed by politicians for the sharp price spikes in gasoline. This spring, refiners, hampered by outages, could not keep up with demand and imports were down because of greater fuel demand in Europe and elsewhere. Despite stable ¡ª even sometimes declining ¡ª oil prices, gasoline prices soared to record levels and remain well above $3 a gallon. Consumer advocates maintain the oil industry likes it that way. "By creating a situation of extremely tight supply, the oil companies gain control over price at the wholesale level," says Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America. He argues the refining industry "has no interest in creating spare (refining) capacity." Only last year, the Energy Department was told that refiners, reaping big profits and anticipating growing demand, were looking at boosting their refining capacity by 1.6 million barrels a day, a roughly 10 percent increase. But oil companies already have scaled those expansion plans back by nearly 40 percent. More cancellations are expected if Congress passes legislation now before the Sensate calling for 15 billion gallons of ethanol use by 2015 and more than double that by 2022, say industry and government officials. "These (expansion) decisions are being revisited in boardrooms across the refining sector," says Charlie Drevna, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association

What does this contract mean? PERSONAL MANAGEMENT CONTRACT I desire to obtain your advice, counsel and direction in the development and enhancement of my artistic and theatrical career. The nature and extent of the success or failure of my career cannot be predetermined and it is therefore my desire that your compensation be determined in such manner as will permit you to accept the risk of failure and likewise benefit to the extent of my success. In view of the foregoing we have agreed as follows: I do hereby engage you as my personal manager for a period of years from date. As and when requested by me during and throughout the term hereof you agree to perform for me one or more of the services as follows: advice and counsel in the selection of literary, artistic and musical material; advice and counsel in any and all matters pertaining to publicity, public relations and advertising; advice and counsel with relation to the adoption of proper format for presentation of my artistic talents and in the determination of proper style, mood, setting, business and characterization in keeping with my talents; advice, counsel and direction in the selection of artistic talent to assist, accompany or embellish my artistic presentation; advice and counsel with regard to general practices in the entertainment and amusement industries and with respect to such matters of which you may have knowledge concerning compensation and privileges extended for similar artistic values; advice and counsel concerning the selection of theatrical agencies and persons, firms and corporations to counsel, advise, seek and procure employment and engagements for me. You are authorized and empowered for me and in my behalf and your discretion to do the following: approve and permit any and all publicity and advertising; approve and permit the use of my name, photograph, likeness, voice, sound effects, caricatures, literary artistic and musical materials for purposes of advertising and publicity and in the promotion and advertising of any and all products and services; execute for me in my name and/or in my behalf any and all agreements, documents and contracts for my services, talents and/or artistic literary and musical materials, collect and receive sums as well as endorse my name upon and cash any and all checks payable to me for my services, talents and literary and artistic materials and retain therefrom all sums owing to you; engage, as well as discharge and/or direct for me, and in my name theatrical agents and employment agencies as well as other persons, firms and corporations who may be retained to obtain contracts, engagements or employment for me. The authority herein granted to you is coupled with an interest and shall be irrevocable during the term hereof. I agree to at all times devote myself to my career and to do all things necessary and desirable to promote my career and earnings therefrom. I shall at all times engage proper theatrical agencies to obtain engagements and employment for me and I agree that I shall not engage any theatrical or employment agency of which you may disapprove. It is clearly understood that you are not an employment agent or theatrical agent, that you have not offered or attempted or promised to obtain employment or engagements for me that you are not obligated, authorized or expected to do so. This Agreement shall not be construed to create a partnership between us. It is specifically understood that you are acting hereunder as an independent contractor and you may appoint or engage any and all other persons, firms and corporations throughout the world in your discretion to perform any or all of the services which you have agreed to perform hereunder. Your services hereunder are not exclusive and you shall at all times be free to perform the same or similar services for others as well as engage in any and all other business activities. You shall only be required to render reasonable services as and when reasonably requested by me. Due to the difficulty which we may have in determining the amount of services to which I may be entitled, it is agreed that you shall not be deemed to be in default hereunder until and unless I shall first deliver to you a written notice describing the exact service which I require on your part and then only in the event that you shall thereafter fail for a period of fifteen consecutive days to commence the rendition of the particular service required. You shall not be required to travel or to meet with me at any particular place or places except in your discretion and following arrangements for costs and expenses of such travel. In compensation for your services I agree to pay to you, as and when received by me, and during and throughout the term hereof, a sum equal to percent of any and all compensation, sums and other things of value which I may receive as a result of my activities in and throughout the entertainment, amusement, musical recording and publishing industries, including any and all sums resulting from the use of my artistic talents and the results and proceeds thereof and, without in any manner limiting the foregoing, the matters upon which your compensation shall be computed shall include any and all of my activities in connection with matters as follows: motion pictures, television, radio, music, literary, theatrical engagements, personal appearances, public appearances, in places of amusement and entertainment, records and recordings, publications, and the use of my name, likeness and talents for purposes of advertising and trade. I likewise agree to pay you a similar sum following the expiration of the term hereof upon and with respect to any and all engagements, contracts and agreements entered into during the term hereof relating to any of the foregoing, and upon any and all extensions, renewals and substitutions thereof. In the event of any dispute under or relating to the terms of this agreement it is agreed that the same shall be submitted to arbitration to the American Arbitration Association in (Insert New York City or Los Angeles) and in accordance with the rules promulgated by the said association. In the event of litigation or arbitration the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover any and all reasonable attorney's fees and other costs incurred in the enforcement of the terms of this agreement. This agreement shall be deemed to be executed in the State of and shall be construed in accordance with the laws of said State. In the event any provision hereof shall for any reason be illegal or unenforceable then, and in any such event, the same shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions and provisions hereof. This agreement is the only agreement of the parties and there is no other or collateral agreement (oral or written) between the parties in any manner relating to the subject matter hereof. If the foregoing meets with your approval please indicate your acceptance and agreement by signing in the space hereinbelow provided. Very truly yours, ____________________________________________________ (Artist) I DO HEREBY AGREE TO THE FOREGOING Manager___________________________ Date:_____________________________

Court overturns air passenger rights law. Your thoughts? By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer Tue Mar 25, 2:32 PM ET NEW YORK - A federal appeals court Tuesday struck down a state law requiring airlines to give food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers stuck in delayed planes, saying the measure was well-intentioned but stepped on federal authority. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said New York's law — the first of its kind in the country — interferes with federal law governing the price, route or service of an air carrier. The law was passed after thousands of passengers were stranded aboard airplanes for up to 10 hours on several JetBlue Airways flights at Kennedy International Airport on Valentine's Day last year. They complained they were deprived of food and water and that toilets overflowed. A month later, hundreds more passengers of other airlines were stranded aboard planes at JFK after a daylong ice storm. The law was challenged by the Air Transport Association of America, the industry trade group representing leading U.S. airlines. The court said that while the goals of the law were "laudable" and the circumstances prompting its adoption "deplorable," only the federal government has the authority to pass such regulations. "If New York's view regarding the scope of its regulatory authority carried the day, another state could be free to enact a law prohibiting the service of soda on flights departing from its airports, while another could require allergen-free food options on its outbound flights, unraveling the centralized federal framework for air travel," the court wrote. Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, the prime sponsor of New York Airline Passenger Bill of Rights, said in a statement that the ruling "is a disappointment to anyone who has suffered at the hands of airlines that care more about profits than their customers." "This is far from over," the Democrat said. Options for proponents of the law include an appeal, a new law or putting pressure on the federal government to create similar rules for long-delayed flights. In a statement, the air transport association said the ruling vindicates its position that airline services are regulated by the federal government and that a "patchwork" of state and local measures would not benefit customers. During appellate arguments earlier this month, Seth Waxman, a lawyer for the trade group, said a dozen other states and Congress were considering laws similar to New York's. A recent federal report showed that about 24 percent of flights nationally arrived late in the first 10 months of last year, which was the industry's second-worst performance record since comparable data began being collected in 1995. Kennedy airport had the third-worst on-time arrival record of any major U.S. airport through October, behind the New York area's other two major airports, LaGuardia and Newark, according to the report. The court said that while the goals of the "law were "laudable" and the circumstances prompting its adoption "deplorable," only the federal government has the authority to pass such regulations." Ok then Federal Government, get off your ***** and fix this!

Who owns your cell phone data, you or the phone carrier?

Do you belong to the "new Church of Global Warming"?

I have a criminal record (serious crime)something I did over 23 years ago. should I omit on job applications? If I list this on the application I definitely won't get the job. If I omit and get the job, if they find out later I'll get fired. I have a wife and children to take care of. Sometimes the only jobs ex-felons can get are BS non professional jobs. Post incarceration, I have graduated from college, obtained several industry certifications, and have been drug an crime free. Yet my past keeps coming back to haunt me. Should I lie and get the job only to be fired later, or be honest and never get the job and rely on welfare to support us? Most ex-felons get jobs as movers or working at a wherehouse. Working with ex-felons is a recepie for disaster (something will always get stolen) and you are guilty by association. Working at McDonalds is out of the question. I have spoken with other ex-felons and it this type of delima that they use to justify returning back to selling drugs or other crimial activities. This is not who I am. Employer background checks usually go back 7-10 yrs.

Can someone please proofread this synthesis essay for me ? Jon Jones Honors English 10 Rough Draft 12/18/08 When piracy first started to be popular everyone was almost unanimously against it, but now there is some debate about how much it actually harms the artist and whom it benefits. Some of the people debating the issue argue that Internet piracy is sometimes beneficial. Almost everyone agrees that there is a lot of online piracy going on, but experts argue about if piracy is harmful to the artist and if it should be stopped or another technological advance that will end up benefiting the music industry. One of the arguments in favor of online piracy is that there have been scenarios like this before. As said by James Boyle that the film industry once thought that video recorders would ruin the film industry just as the music industry thinks that piracy will destroy the music industry, but the film recorder makes the movie industry more than 50 percent of its revenue (4). Orson Scott Card also agrees that events like this have happened before like when the radio started playing records instead of just live performances the music industry believed that it would drastically hurt sales (2). When most people hear a song on the radio that they like they want to have it so they can listen to it whenever they would like to. Orson Scott Card also states that with the arrival of the VCR "With the VCR studios were terrified that people would tape things off the air and stop paying money for movies. (And the TV networks were terrified that people would tape shows and skip over the ads; they didn’t realized that most of us are too lazy to skip over commercials.)" (2). Now just about everyone has a VCR or other device for playing movies at their home and either rent or buy movies to use on it. Orson Scott Card is of the opinion that sharing songs spreads the word of mouth about an artist and influences others to attend his or her concerts or buy his or her CDs (3). James Boyle is also of that opinion (2). Some people arguing this point instead try to blame the music industry and record companies. Orson Scott Card says that the record companies are hiding the actual amount of money they are losing from piracy which is much less than reported, but actually those losses are caused by people who had been changing their collection of tapes and vinyl records to CDs and now most of them have completely replaced their collections (1). Card also states that the record companies should say that taking a couple songs as a sample is ok but putting up entire albums of music that you did not create is wrong and harms the artist (4). James Boyle, a professor at Duke Law School, thinks that the excessive use of intellectual property rights by the music company are wrong and that under the U.S. Constitution you can only give intellectual property rights to authors and inventors to persuade them to make a new piece of work, and that they can only grant private rights for a limited time (3). And Orson Scott Card argues that the music and movie industry have been using so called creative accounting to make sure their work never makes a profit and in that way robbing the artists of their percentage of profits bonus (1). James Boyle states that the record companies should stop complaining to congress about the need of stronger protection of their copyright laws because the last time something like this happened the courts denied their request and it turned out beneficial to the companies (3). Orson also thinks that CDs are incredibly overpriced and that you can easily figure that out by subtracting the amount that the CD costs and the cost of a blank recordable CD and of that only a small percentage goes to the artist and songwriters and the rest finds its way to the record company CEO (1). Most of the record company executives seem quite well off to most people when they arrive places in their stretch limos or private jets. Card says that it is indecent to punish people who use online piracy as their form of music when he says that the record companies have been controlling the copyright laws to their advantage for a long time (1). People are also arguing the point that the music industry is losing some serious money because of Internet piracy. It is common knowledge that over the past few years the sales of CDs and other legitimate music sources has been dropping but there has been debate as to how much piracy has to do with it. Even though Orson Scott Card says that the recent drop is mostly caused by the loss of windfall profits (2) Mitch Bainwol, the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, a association that represents most of the U.S. recording industry, argues that the drop of some 26 percent drop of music shipments in 2002 is caused by the huge problem of online piracy and that the online pirates download more than 2.6 billion files a month (1). Steve Marks agrees that the usage

the kamal karna roy strategy to close gap of right viz leadership viz u s president 08 elite vs. have_nots ?

Are Dems turning into REPs & are REPS turning into DEMS? Rep. Nick Rahall DEM. West Virginia,(coal) chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, is pushing legislation that would more strictly regulate wind energy to protect birds, bats and other wildlife killed when they fly into the giant turbines A release from the American Wind Energy Association last month said Rahall's plan could "essentially outlaw" the generation of electricity from new wind power plants in the United States Does he think birds and bats are that stupid? I have yet to see piles of bird and bat carcasses under windmills. GOP Sen. John Thune (news, bio, voting record), who has introduced legislation that would give the industry more incentives, was more blunt. "This proposal is badly misguided and is a step in the wrong direction," said Thune of South Dakota, one of the windier states. "Congress should not be blocking the development of one of the nation's cleanest energy resources ... I will fight any efforts to stymie its development A GOP for windpower?

newer horizon demanded in usa politicking. can non natural born + nonbinding resolution senate run pres U S ?

do you think marijuana should be legal ? read the history before you ansewer plz, i know its long but its goo? THIS WILL EXPLAIN HOW WE CAN SAVE ON GAS A MAJOR ISSUE NOW, AND WORLD HUNGER CAN STOP AND MEDICINE SHOULD BE MADE AND THE CONFLICT W/ ALCHOL AND TOBACOO COMPANIES, PLZ READ AND REPLY , SERIOUS ANSEWERS , ONLY ANSEWER IF YOU READ , THX READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT WEED!! (i know it’s long but its good information) The Marijuana Conspiracy THE REAL REASON HEMP IS ILLEGAL by Doug Yurchey And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land. — Ezekiel 34/29 The real reason Cannabis has been outlawed has nothing to do with its effects on the mind and body. MARIJUANA is DANGEROUS. Pot is NOT harmful to the human body or mind. Marijuana does NOT pose a threat to the general public. Marijuana is very much a danger to the oil companies, alcohol, tobacco industries and a large number of chemical corporations. Various big businesses, with plenty of dollars and influence, have suppressed the truth from the people. The truth is if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb! Entrepreneurs have not been educated on the product potential of pot. The super rich have conspired to spread misinformation about an extremely versatile plant that, if used properly, would ruin their companies. Where did the word 'marijuana' come from? In the mid 1930s, the M-word was created to tarnish the good image and phenomenal history of the hemp plant...as you will read. The facts cited here, with references, are generally verifiable in the Encyclopedia Britannica which was printed on hemp paper for 150 years: * All schoolbooks were made from hemp or flax paper until the 1880s; Hemp Paper Reconsidered, Jack Frazier, 1974. * It was LEGAL TO PAY TAXES WITH HEMP in America from 1631 until the early 1800s; LA Times, Aug. 12, 1981. * REFUSING TO GROW HEMP in America during the 17th and 18th Centuries WAS AGAINST THE LAW! You could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp from 1763 to 1769; Hemp in Colonial Virginia, G. M. Herdon. * George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers GREW HEMP; Washington and Jefferson Diaries. Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America. * Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America and it processed hemp. Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow’s export to England; Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer. * For thousands of years, 90f all ships' sails and rope were made from hemp. The word 'canvas' is Dutch for cannabis; Webster’s New World Dictionary. * 80f all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin. * The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross’s flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp; U.S. Government Archives. * The first crop grown in many states was hemp. 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons. Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th Century; State Archives. * Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China, although hemp industrialization probably goes back to ancient Egypt. * Rembrants, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen. * In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs; Department of Agriculture * Quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937. 58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935; Sherman Williams Paint Co. testimony before Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. * Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, 'grown from the soil,' had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel; Popular Mechanics, 1941. * Hemp called 'Billion Dollar Crop.' It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars; Popular Mechanics, Feb., 1938. * Mechanical Engineering Magazine (Feb. 1938) published an article entitled 'The Most Profitable and Desirable Crop that Can be Grown.' It stated that if hemp was cultivated using 20th Century technology, it would be the single largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and the rest of the world. The following information comes directly from the United States Department of Agriculture’s 1942 14-minute film encouraging and instructing 'patriotic American farmers' to grow 350,000 acres of hemp each year for the war effort: '...(When) Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850, all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable... ...Now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese...American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our industries... ...the Navy’s rapidly dwindling reserves. When that is gone, American hemp will go on duty again; hemp for mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen shrouds and hempen sails. Hemp for victory!' Certified proof from the Library of Congress; found by the research of Jack Herer, refuting claims of other government agencies that the 1942 USDA film 'Hemp for Victory' did not exist. Hemp cultivation and production do not harm the environment. The USDA Bulletin ..404 concluded that hemp produces 4 times as much pulp with at least 4 to 7 times less pollution. From Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1938: 'It has a short growing season...It can be grown in any state...The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for the next year’s crop. The dense shock of leaves, 8 to 12 feet above the ground, chokes out weeds. ...hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.' In the 1930s, innovations in farm machinery would have caused an industrial revolution when applied to hemp. This single resource could have created millions of new jobs generating thousands of quality products. Hemp, if not made illegal, would have brought America out of the Great Depression. William Randolph Hearst (Citizen Kane) and the Hearst Paper Manufacturing Division of Kimberly Clark owned vast acreage of timberlands. The Hearst Company supplied most paper products. Patty Hearst’s grandfather, a destroyer of nature for his own personal profit, stood to lose billions because of hemp. In 1937, Dupont patented the processes to make plastics from oil and coal. Dupont’s Annual Report urged stockholders to invest in its new petrochemical division. Synthetics such as plastics, cellophane, celluloid, methanol, nylon, rayon, Dacron, etc., could now be made from oil. Natural hemp industrialization would have ruined over 80f Dupont’s business. THE CONSPIRACY Andrew Mellon became Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury and Dupont’s primary investor. He appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Secret meetings were held by these financial tycoons. Hemp was declared dangerous and a threat to their billion dollar enterprises. For their dynasties to remain intact, hemp had to go. These men took an obscure Mexican slang word: 'marihuana' and pushed it into the consciousness of America. MEDIA MANIPULATION A media blitz of 'yellow journalism' raged in the late 1920s and 1930s. Hearst’s newspapers ran stories emphasizing the horrors of marihuana. The menace of marihuana made headlines. Readers learned that it was responsible for everything from car accidents to loose morality. Films like 'Reefer Madness' (1936), 'Marihuana: Assassin of Youth' (1935) and 'Marihuana: The Devil’s Weed' (1936) were propaganda designed by these industrialists to create an enemy. Their purpose was to gain public support so that anti-marihuana laws could be passed. Examine the following quotes from 'The Burning Question' aka REEFER MADNESS: a violent narcotic. acts of shocking violence. incurable insanity. soul-destroying effects. under the influence of the drug he killed his entire family with an ax. more vicious, more deadly even than these soul-destroying drugs (heroin, cocaine) is the menace of marihuana! Reefer Madness did not end with the usual 'the end.' The film concluded with these words plastered on the screen: TELL YOUR CHILDREN. In the 1930s, people were very naive; even to the point of ignorance. The masses were like sheep waiting to be led by the few in power. They did not challenge authority. If the news was in print or on the radio, they believed it had to be true. They told their children and their children grew up to be the parents of the baby-boomers. On April 14, 1937, the Prohibitive Marihuana Tax Law or the bill that outlawed hemp was directly brought to the House Ways and Means Committee. This committee is the only one that can introduce a bill to the House floor without it being debated by other committees. The Chairman of the Ways and Means, Robert Doughton, was a Dupont supporter. He insured that the bill would pass Congress. Dr. James Woodward, a physician and attorney, testified too late on behalf of the American Medical Association. He told the committee that the reason the AMA had not denounced the Marihuana Tax Law sooner was that the Association had just discovered that marihuana was hemp. Few people, at the time, realized that the deadly menace they had been reading about on Hearst’s front pages was in fact passive hemp. The AMA understood cannabis to be a MEDICINE found in numerous healing products sold over the last hundred years. In September of 1937, hemp became illegal. The most useful crop known became a drug and our planet has been suffering ever since. Congress banned hemp because it was said to be the most violence-causing drug known. Anslinger, head of the Drug Commission for 31 years, promoted the idea that marihuana made users act extremely violent. In the 1950s, under the Communist threat of McCarthyism, Anslinger now said the exact opposite. Marijuana will pacify you so much that soldiers would not want to fight. Today, our planet is in desperate trouble. Earth is suffocating as large tracts of rain forests disappear. Pollution, poisons and chemicals are killing people. These great problems could be reversed if we industrialized hemp. Natural biomass could provide all of the planet’s energy needs that are currently supplied by fossil fuels. We have consumed 80f our oil and gas reserves. We need a renewable resource. Hemp could be the solution to soaring gas prices. THE WONDER PLANT Hemp has a higher quality fiber than wood fiber. Far fewer caustic chemicals are required to make paper from hemp than from trees. Hemp paper does not turn yellow and is very durable. The plant grows quickly to maturity in a season where trees take a lifetime. ALL PLASTIC PRODUCTS SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP SEED OIL. Hempen plastics are biodegradable! Over time, they would break down and not harm the environment. Oil-based plastics, the ones we are very familiar with, help ruin nature; they do not break down and will do great harm in the future. The process to produce the vast array of natural (hempen) plastics will not ruin the rivers as Dupont and other petrochemical companies have done. Ecology does not fit in with the plans of the Oil Industry and the political machine. Hemp products are safe and natural. MEDICINES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. We should go back to the days when the AMA supported cannabis cures. 'Medical Marijuana' is given out legally to only a handful of people while the rest of us are forced into a system that relies on chemicals. Pot is only healthy for the human body. WORLD HUNGER COULD END. A large variety of food products can be generated from hemp. The seeds contain one of the highest sources of protein in nature. ALSO: They have two essential fatty acids that clean your body of cholesterol. These essential fatty acids are not found anywhere else in nature! Consuming pot seeds is the best thing you could do for your body. Eat uncooked hemp seeds. CLOTHES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. Hemp clothing is extremely strong and durable over time. You could hand clothing, made from pot, down to your grandchildren. Today, there are American companies that make hemp clothing; usually 50emp. Hemp fabrics should be everywhere. Instead, they are almost underground. Superior hemp products are not allowed to advertise on fascist television. Kentucky, once the top hemp producing state, made it ILLEGAL TO WEAR hemp clothing! Can you imagine being thrown into jail for wearing quality jeans? The world is crazy...but that does not mean you have to join the insanity. Get together. Spread the news. Tell people, and that includes your children, the truth. Use hemp products. Eliminate the word 'marijuana.' Realize the history that created it. Make it politically incorrect to say or print the M-word. Fight against the propaganda (designed to favor the agenda of the super rich) and the bullshit. Hemp must be utilized in the future. We need a clean energy source to save our planet. INDUSTRIALIZE HEMP! The liquor, tobacco and oil companies fund more than a million dollars a day to Partnership for a Drug-Free America and other similar agencies. We have all seen their commercials. Now, their motto is: It’s more dangerous than we thought. Lies from the powerful corporations, that began with Hearst, are still alive and well today. The brainwashing continues. Now, the commercials say: If you buy a joint, you contribute to murders and gang wars. The latest anti-pot commercials say: If you buy a joint...you are promoting TERRORISM! The new enemy (terrorism) has paved the road to brainwash you any way THEY see fit. There is only one enemy; the friendly people you pay your taxes to; the war-makers and nature destroyers. With your funding, they are killing the world right in front of your eyes. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY TOBACCO. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY ALCOHOL. NO ONE HAS EVER, EVER DIED FROM SMOKING POT!! In the entire history of the human race, not one death can be attributed to cannabis. Our society has outlawed grass but condones the use of the KILLERS: TOBACCO and ALCOHOL. Hemp should be declassified and placed in DRUG stores to relieve stress. Hardening and constriction of the arteries are bad; but hemp usage actually enlarges the arteries...which is a healthy condition. We have been so conditioned to think that: Smoking is harmful. That is NOT the case for passive pot. Ingesting THC, hemp’s active agent, has a positive effect; relieving asthma and glaucoma. A joint tends to alleviate the nausea caused by chemotherapy. You are able to eat on hemp. This is a healthy state of being. The stereotype for a pothead is similar to a drunk, bubble-brain. Yet, the truth is ones creative abilities can be enhanced under its influence. The perception of time slightly slows and one can become more sensitive. You can more appreciate all arts; be closer to nature and generally FEEL more under the influence of cannabis. It is, in fact, the exact opposite state of mind and body as the drunken state. You can be more aware with pot. The pot plant is an ALIEN plant. There is physical evidence that cannabis is not like any other plant on this planet. One could conclude that it was brought here for the benefit of humanity. Hemp is the ONLY plant where the males appear one way and the females appear very different, physically! No one ever speaks of males and females in regard to the plant kingdom because plants do not show their sexes; except for cannabis. To determine what sex a certain, normal, Earthly plant is: You have to look internally, at its DNA. A male blade of grass (physically) looks exactly like a female blade of grass. The hemp plant has an intense sexuallity. Growers know to kill the males before they fertilize the females. Yes, folks...the most potent pot comes from 'horny females.' The reason this amazing, very sophisticated, ET plant from the future is illegal has nothing to do with how it physically affects us.. POT IS ILLEGAL BECAUSE BILLIONAIRES WANT TO REMAIN BILLIONAIRES!

Can You say WAR CRIMINALS ? THE TOP FIVE LIES ABOUT THE AFGHANISTAN WAR Produced by the Anti-War Committee of Students in Solidarity at the University of Pittsburgh How many people do you know who claim to be skeptical, who pride themselves on their distrust for authority, who like to pretend that they're wise to the ways of the world -- and then, every time there's a war, they swallow the lies of the government with all the gullibility of a three-year-old child in the lap of a department store Santa Claus? Don't fall into that trap yourself! Learn to identify and refute official misinformation when you see it. Let's count down some of the common misconceptions about this war: Lie #5: "We're not at war with the Afghan people -- look, we're bringing them food!" Reality: Afghanistan is in the midst of a severe drought which threatens literally millions of people with starvation. Even before the threat of U.S. bombing, the World Food Program (WFP) said that nearly 6 million people were in need of immediate food assistance. When the threat of war caused massive movements of refugees and internally displaced people, the WFP raised that number to 7.5 million. UN agencies were keeping huge numbers of people alive, but the war danger -- as well as the U.S. demand that Pakistan seal its border with Afghanistan -- caused the WFP to suspend deliveries of wheat flour to the country. We have no idea how many people have already died as a result. Meanwhile, the U.S. dropped 37,000 individually-wrapped packages of food from the sky. You do the math. That's enough to feed about 37,000 people for one day, in a country where seven and a half million are in danger of starvation. Additionally, the spokesman for an international charity active in Afghanistan told the London Independent that "Random food drops are the worst possible way of delivering food aid. They cause more problems than they solve." Not the least of which is the fact that Afghanistan has the highest number of unexploded land mines in the world. There are already 10 or 15 mine incidents every day, and with people scrambling into mine-ridden areas to pick up random packages of food dropped from U.S. planes, that number is only going to go up. Congresswoman McKinney holds up a mockup of a food packet and an unexploded cluster munition, both of which are being dropped on Afghanistan. Can you tell which is okay to pick up and try to eat? Lie #4: "Oil? Who said anything about oil?" Reality: The Caspian Sea region has potentially the world's largest oil reserves, likely making Central Asia the next Middle East. The problem is piping it out. Afghanistan occupies a strategic position between the Caspian and the markets of the Indian subcontinent and east Asia. It's prime territory for building pipelines, which is why the oil company Unocal -- as well as the U.S. government -- welcomed the Taliban's rise to power in 1996 as a promising source of "stability." That turned out to be a pipe dream (so to speak), but people like our Commander-in-Chief and the oil men around him have never given up on the tremendous profit possibilities that Central Asia offers. And if you don't think such considerations are crossing their minds at this time of crisis, may we suggest a refresher course in The Facts of Life? Lie #3: "The U.S. is trying to liberate the people of Afghanistan from Taliban tyranny." Reality: The U.S., Russia, and Iran have been aiding a rough coalition of armed groups called the Northern Alliance. The Northern Alliance's fighters are drawn mainly from ethnic minority groups in Afghanistan who have been persecuted by the Taliban. But their record is also a bloody one. Groups like the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), which have been fighting against fundamentalism and for democracy in Afghanistan for years, have publicly stated that the fundamentalist gangsters of the Northern Alliance are not an acceptable alternative to the fundamentalist gangsters of the Taliban. No wonder: Human Rights Watch implicates the Northern Alliance in "indiscriminate aerial bombardment and shelling, direct attacks on civilians, summary executions, rape, persecution on the basis of religion or ethnicity, the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, and the use of antipersonnel landmines." By now everyone knows that Osama bin Laden was among the mujihadin recruited by the CIA to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Meet the next generation. Lie #2: "America is coming together." Reality: Tens of thousands of people have been laid off in the airline industry alone. The government quickly responded to the airline industry crisis with a multi-billion-dollar bailout package for the companies in order to keep afloat the profits of shareholders and the salaries of CEOs, but when it came to aiding the thousands of workers laid off, Congressman Dick Armey said that that would be contrary to "the American spirit." Maybe it is. Maybe it's the "American spirit" to make common working people pay for a crisis and to bear the burdens of an expensive war. But it certainly doesn't have anything to do with "togetherness." And the biggest lie of them all . . . Lie #1: "It's possible to win a 'war against terrorism.'" Reality: Terrorism is a tactic, not a political or social force in and of itself. Anyone can use it, and the idea that you can wage a "war" against it is as dishonest as the idea behind the "War on Drugs." The use of food as a political weapon, indiscriminate aerial bombardment, and the arming of gangsterish groups of religious fanatics all count as "terrorism" by any reasonable definition of the word, and the United States has long employed all of them -- and more. This war is really about sordid material interests and power (see especially Lies numbers 2 and 4, above), and in defense of these interests the U.S. is prepared to shift the label "terrorist" as it sees fit, to apply to all manner of dissident political movements and not just marginal bands of fanatics like bin Laden's al-Qa'ida. Conversely, it's willing to call its own terrorists "freedom fighters" (see Lie number 3 above). Maybe some of them will get transformed into "terrorists" again in a few years. It's a sick game and a charade, and the government is manipulating the very real grief and anger of the people of the United States after the September 11 atrocities to get us all to fall for it again. Don't believe them for a second.

why is yahoo removing this question ? the truth about hemp? The farther you question, the more they will hate? (i know it’s long but its good information) The Marijuana Conspiracy THE REAL REASON HEMP IS ILLEGAL by Doug Yurchey And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land. — Ezekiel 34/29 The real reason Cannabis has been outlawed has nothing to do with its effects on the mind and body. MARIJUANA is DANGEROUS. Pot is NOT harmful to the human body or mind. Marijuana does NOT pose a threat to the general public. Marijuana is very much a danger to the oil companies, alcohol, tobacco industries and a large number of chemical corporations. Various big businesses, with plenty of dollars and influence, have suppressed the truth from the people. The truth is if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb! Entrepreneurs have not been educated on the product potential of pot. The super rich have conspired to spread misinformation about an extremely versatile plant that, if used properly, would ruin their companies. Where did the word 'marijuana' come from? In the mid 1930s, the M-word was created to tarnish the good image and phenomenal history of the hemp plant...as you will read. The facts cited here, with references, are generally verifiable in the Encyclopedia Britannica which was printed on hemp paper for 150 years: * All schoolbooks were made from hemp or flax paper until the 1880s; Hemp Paper Reconsidered, Jack Frazier, 1974. * It was LEGAL TO PAY TAXES WITH HEMP in America from 1631 until the early 1800s; LA Times, Aug. 12, 1981. * REFUSING TO GROW HEMP in America during the 17th and 18th Centuries WAS AGAINST THE LAW! You could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp from 1763 to 1769; Hemp in Colonial Virginia, G. M. Herdon. * George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers GREW HEMP; Washington and Jefferson Diaries. Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America. * Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America and it processed hemp. Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow’s export to England; Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer. * For thousands of years, 90f all ships' sails and rope were made from hemp. The word 'canvas' is Dutch for cannabis; Webster’s New World Dictionary. * 80f all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin. * The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross’s flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp; U.S. Government Archives. * The first crop grown in many states was hemp. 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons. Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th Century; State Archives. * Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China, although hemp industrialization probably goes back to ancient Egypt. * Rembrants, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen. * In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs; Department of Agriculture * Quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937. 58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935; Sherman Williams Paint Co. testimony before Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. * Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, 'grown from the soil,' had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel; Popular Mechanics, 1941. * Hemp called 'Billion Dollar Crop.' It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars; Popular Mechanics, Feb., 1938. * Mechanical Engineering Magazine (Feb. 1938) published an article entitled 'The Most Profitable and Desirable Crop that Can be Grown.' It stated that if hemp was cultivated using 20th Century technology, it would be the single largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and the rest of the world. The following information comes directly from the United States Department of Agriculture’s 1942 14-minute film encouraging and instructing 'patriotic American farmers' to grow 350,000 acres of hemp each year for the war effort: '...(When) Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850, all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable... ...Now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese...American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our industries... ...the Navy’s rapidly dwindling reserves. When that is gone, American hemp will go on duty again; hemp for mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen shrouds and hempen sails. Hemp for victory!' Certified proof from the Library of Congress; found by the research of Jack Herer, refuting claims of other government agencies that the 1942 USDA film 'Hemp for Victory' did not exist. Hemp cultivation and production do not harm the environment. The USDA Bulletin ..404 concluded that hemp produces 4 times as much pulp with at least 4 to 7 times less pollution. From Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1938: 'It has a short growing season...It can be grown in any state...The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for the next year’s crop. The dense shock of leaves, 8 to 12 feet above the ground, chokes out weeds. ...hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.' In the 1930s, innovations in farm machinery would have caused an industrial revolution when applied to hemp. This single resource could have created millions of new jobs generating thousands of quality products. Hemp, if not made illegal, would have brought America out of the Great Depression. William Randolph Hearst (Citizen Kane) and the Hearst Paper Manufacturing Division of Kimberly Clark owned vast acreage of timberlands. The Hearst Company supplied most paper products. Patty Hearst’s grandfather, a destroyer of nature for his own personal profit, stood to lose billions because of hemp. In 1937, Dupont patented the processes to make plastics from oil and coal. Dupont’s Annual Report urged stockholders to invest in its new petrochemical division. Synthetics such as plastics, cellophane, celluloid, methanol, nylon, rayon, Dacron, etc., could now be made from oil. Natural hemp industrialization would have ruined over 80f Dupont’s business. THE CONSPIRACY Andrew Mellon became Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury and Dupont’s primary investor. He appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Secret meetings were held by these financial tycoons. Hemp was declared dangerous and a threat to their billion dollar enterprises. For their dynasties to remain intact, hemp had to go. These men took an obscure Mexican slang word: 'marihuana' and pushed it into the consciousness of America. MEDIA MANIPULATION A media blitz of 'yellow journalism' raged in the late 1920s and 1930s. Hearst’s newspapers ran stories emphasizing the horrors of marihuana. The menace of marihuana made headlines. Readers learned that it was responsible for everything from car accidents to loose morality. Films like 'Reefer Madness' (1936), 'Marihuana: Assassin of Youth' (1935) and 'Marihuana: The Devil’s Weed' (1936) were propaganda designed by these industrialists to create an enemy. Their purpose was to gain public support so that anti-marihuana laws could be passed. Examine the following quotes from 'The Burning Question' aka REEFER MADNESS: a violent narcotic. acts of shocking violence. incurable insanity. soul-destroying effects. under the influence of the drug he killed his entire family with an ax. more vicious, more deadly even than these soul-destroying drugs (heroin, cocaine) is the menace of marihuana! Reefer Madness did not end with the usual 'the end.' The film concluded with these words plastered on the screen: TELL YOUR CHILDREN. In the 1930s, people were very naive; even to the point of ignorance. The masses were like sheep waiting to be led by the few in power. They did not challenge authority. If the news was in print or on the radio, they believed it had to be true. They told their children and their children grew up to be the parents of the baby-boomers. On April 14, 1937, the Prohibitive Marihuana Tax Law or the bill that outlawed hemp was directly brought to the House Ways and Means Committee. This committee is the only one that can introduce a bill to the House floor without it being debated by other committees. The Chairman of the Ways and Means, Robert Doughton, was a Dupont supporter. He insured that the bill would pass Congress. Dr. James Woodward, a physician and attorney, testified too late on behalf of the American Medical Association. He told the committee that the reason the AMA had not denounced the Marihuana Tax Law sooner was that the Association had just discovered that marihuana was hemp. Few people, at the time, realized that the deadly menace they had been reading about on Hearst’s front pages was in fact passive hemp. The AMA understood cannabis to be a MEDICINE found in numerous healing products sold over the last hundred years. In September of 1937, hemp became illegal. The most useful crop known became a drug and our planet has been suffering ever since. Congress banned hemp because it was said to be the most violence-causing drug known. Anslinger, head of the Drug Commission for 31 years, promoted the idea that marihuana made users act extremely violent. In the 1950s, under the Communist threat of McCarthyism, Anslinger now said the exact opposite. Marijuana will pacify you so much that soldiers would not want to fight. Today, our planet is in desperate trouble. Earth is suffocating as large tracts of rain forests disappear. Pollution, poisons and chemicals are killing people. These great problems could be reversed if we industrialized hemp. Natural biomass could provide all of the planet’s energy needs that are currently supplied by fossil fuels. We have consumed 80f our oil and gas reserves. We need a renewable resource. Hemp could be the solution to soaring gas prices. THE WONDER PLANT Hemp has a higher quality fiber than wood fiber. Far fewer caustic chemicals are required to make paper from hemp than from trees. Hemp paper does not turn yellow and is very durable. The plant grows quickly to maturity in a season where trees take a lifetime. ALL PLASTIC PRODUCTS SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP SEED OIL. Hempen plastics are biodegradable! Over time, they would break down and not harm the environment. Oil-based plastics, the ones we are very familiar with, help ruin nature; they do not break down and will do great harm in the future. The process to produce the vast array of natural (hempen) plastics will not ruin the rivers as Dupont and other petrochemical companies have done. Ecology does not fit in with the plans of the Oil Industry and the political machine. Hemp products are safe and natural. MEDICINES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. We should go back to the days when the AMA supported cannabis cures. 'Medical Marijuana' is given out legally to only a handful of people while the rest of us are forced into a system that relies on chemicals. Pot is only healthy for the human body. WORLD HUNGER COULD END. A large variety of food products can be generated from hemp. The seeds contain one of the highest sources of protein in nature. ALSO: They have two essential fatty acids that clean your body of cholesterol. These essential fatty acids are not found anywhere else in nature! Consuming pot seeds is the best thing you could do for your body. Eat uncooked hemp seeds. CLOTHES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. Hemp clothing is extremely strong and durable over time. You could hand clothing, made from pot, down to your grandchildren. Today, there are American companies that make hemp clothing; usually 50emp. Hemp fabrics should be everywhere. Instead, they are almost underground. Superior hemp products are not allowed to advertise on fascist television. Kentucky, once the top hemp producing state, made it ILLEGAL TO WEAR hemp clothing! Can you imagine being thrown into jail for wearing quality jeans? The world is crazy...but that does not mean you have to join the insanity. Get together. Spread the news. Tell people, and that includes your children, the truth. Use hemp products. Eliminate the word 'marijuana.' Realize the history that created it. Make it politically incorrect to say or print the M-word. Fight against the propaganda (designed to favor the agenda of the super rich) and the bullshit. Hemp must be utilized in the future. We need a clean energy source to save our planet. INDUSTRIALIZE HEMP! The liquor, tobacco and oil companies fund more than a million dollars a day to Partnership for a Drug-Free America and other similar agencies. We have all seen their commercials. Now, their motto is: It’s more dangerous than we thought. Lies from the powerful corporations, that began with Hearst, are still alive and well today. The brainwashing continues. Now, the commercials say: If you buy a joint, you contribute to murders and gang wars. The latest anti-pot commercials say: If you buy a joint...you are promoting TERRORISM! The new enemy (terrorism) has paved the road to brainwash you any way THEY see fit. There is only one enemy; the friendly people you pay your taxes to; the war-makers and nature destroyers. With your funding, they are killing the world right in front of your eyes. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY TOBACCO. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY ALCOHOL. NO ONE HAS EVER, EVER DIED FROM SMOKING POT!! In the entire history of the human race, not one death can be attributed to cannabis. Our society has outlawed grass but condones the use of the KILLERS: TOBACCO and ALCOHOL. Hemp should be declassified and placed in DRUG stores to relieve stress. Hardening and constriction of the arteries are bad; but hemp usage actually enlarges the arteries...which is a healthy condition. We have been so conditioned to think that: Smoking is harmful. That is NOT the case for passive pot. Ingesting THC, hemp’s active agent, has a positive effect; relieving asthma and glaucoma. A joint tends to alleviate the nausea caused by chemotherapy. You are able to eat on hemp. This is a healthy state of being. The stereotype for a pothead is similar to a drunk, bubble-brain. Yet, the truth is ones creative abilities can be enhanced under its influence. The perception of time slightly slows and one can become more sensitive. You can more appreciate all arts; be closer to nature and generally FEEL more under the influence of cannabis. It is, in fact, the exact opposite state of mind and body as the drunken state. You can be more aware with pot. The pot plant is an ALIEN plant. There is physical evidence that cannabis is not like any other plant on this planet. One could conclude that it was brought here for the benefit of humanity. Hemp is the ONLY plant where the males appear one way and the females appear very different, physically! No one ever speaks of males and females in regard to the plant kingdom because plants do not show their sexes; except for cannabis. To determine what sex a certain, normal, Earthly plant is: You have to look internally, at its DNA. A male blade of grass (physically) looks exactly like a female blade of grass. The hemp plant has an intense sexuallity. Growers know to kill the males before they fertilize the females. Yes, folks...the most potent pot comes from 'horny females.' The reason this amazing, very sophisticated, ET plant from the future is illegal has nothing to do with how it physically affects us.. POT IS ILLEGAL BECAUSE BILLIONAIRES WANT TO REMAIN BILLIONAIRES!

hedge-fund managers are consistent Democratic donors.? Hedging Your Votes Taxing questions. Democrats have so far gotten the lion’s share of hedge-fund managers’ campaign contributions in the 2008 presidential money race — 75 percent, according to a Center for Responsive Politics/Absolute Return magazine analysis of the candidates’ first-quarter financials. Next week, when financials are due, we’ll know if the trend kept up in the second quarter. For now the more interesting question is: Will it continue after the Democrats raise taxes on private-equity and hedge-fund managers, as they appear determined to do? Last Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on “carried interest” — the percentage of a fund’s returns that its managers keep as compensation. This comes after 14 House Democrats proposed a bill that would more than double the taxes that fund managers pay on these fees. Your typical fund manager takes around two percent of the fund’s value as a fee for managing the money, and on this he pays regular income tax of up to 35 percent. In addition, he keeps around 20 percent of the returns on the fund’s investments — on this he pays the capital-gains tax rate, which President Bush cut to 15 percent in 2003. These funds are quite large, in the billions, and generate outsized returns, so these guys have been in the news lately for their astronomical take-home pay. Now the Democrats want their cut. They say it’s not fair that these managers pay such a low rate on so much income. They want them to pay the regular income-tax rate — 35 percent. Here’s where things get weird. Typically political parties crack down on the other party’s donors, not their own. But unlike their financial brethren in the greater securities/investments community, hedge-fund managers are consistent Democratic donors. While the industry overall only shifted its giving to the Democrats in 2006 when a power-shift looked all-but-certain, CRP/Absolute Return data show that hedge funds have favored Democrats for longer and by wider margins. In 2006 hedge funds gave 69 percent of their campaign cash to Democrats (the industry overall was more closely divided at 53-45). They gave 67 percent to Democrats in 2004. In 2002, it was 84 percent. As mentioned above, first-quarter filings from the 2008 presidential candidates show that the funds continue to favor Democrats. Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd received the most — close to $350,000 — which reflects the large number of hedge funds in his state as well as his position as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. John Edwards came in second with over $190,000. Almost all of that money came from the Fortress Investment Group, which also paid him close to $500,000 in consulting fees last year. (Edwards told the Associated Press that he took the job “primarily to learn” about financial markets and their relationship to poverty.) Hillary Clinton came in third, followed by Rudy Giuliani and then Barack Obama. A top Republican fundraiser I talked to simply didn’t believe these numbers could be accurate. He pointed to a number of high-profile hedge-fund managers who have given to Republicans, such as Paul E. Singer, a founding partner at Elliott Associates and major Giuliani backer. When I asked him to assume that the numbers were correct for argument’s sake, he said, “Then it would be the stupidest thing I could imagine.” Evidence that hedge-fund giving runs counter to the sector’s best interest also comes from the fact that the Managed Funds Association, which represents hedge funds in Washington, directs most of its giving to Republicans. In 2004 the split was 68-32. Even in 2006, with the rest of the industry trending Democratic, the MFA favored the GOP 57-41. CRP executive director Sheila Krumholz says, “The Managed Funds Association is a good example of a business association giving for more pragmatic reasons, based on its legislative agenda and more in the general interest of these firms. Yet many companies,” she says, “even members of the association, give 100 percent to Democrats.” Avenue Capital Group, D.E. Shaw, Farallon, Fortress, and yes, Soros Fund Management are among the major Democratic donors who populate the association’s membership list. One can think of several reasons why hedge-fund giving is so at odds to what one would perceive to be the best interest of the industry. First, most hedge funds are located in blue states and therefore represented by Democrats. It probably makes sense for these managers to give to a Chris Dodd, a Hillary Clinton, a Nancy Pelosi, even if they don’t share their ideologies. That could skew the data. But a closer look at the giving patterns of some of the top donors finds political contributions spread out over a large number of Democratic candidates and PACs. Thomas F. Steyer, senior partner at Farallon Capital Management in San Francisco, gave $1,000 to Nancy Pelosi (and $5,000 to her PAC), sure. But he’s given tens of thousands more to other Democrats, running the gamut from the hawkish Joe Lieberman to the very liberal Russell Feingold. Not all hedge funds are located in blue states, either. David Bonderman, a big Democratic donor, runs the Texas Pacific Group from Fort Worth, Texas. Second, one could argue that influential lawmakers from both parties support higher taxes and more regulation on hedge funds, so it doesn’t matter whether they give to Republicans or Democrats. Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, has long favored forcing hedge funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission, something they argue they shouldn’t have to do. And in a statement at Wednesday’s hearing, Grassley defended the idea of raising taxes on publicly traded partnerships like Fortress and Blackstone. But this explanation is also lacking. It is the Democratic party, not the GOP, that seeks to roll back Bush’s investment-friendly tax cuts on dividends and capital gains. Carried interest and hedge-fund managers are merely the softest targets in what promises to be a broader Democratic attack on the Bush tax cuts. The fundamental logic — that the investor class is overcompensated and ought to pay more — is the same. Listening to the Democratic vs. the Republican candidates for president provides an even clearer demonstration of the difference between the parties. John Edwards, ardent student of the industry though he may be, has come out in favor of higher taxation and increased regulation of private-equity and hedge funds. And Thursday the New York Sun reported that Barack Obama has also come out in support of doubling taxes on publicly traded partnerships. Hillary Clinton, who along with Chuck Schumer represents Wall Street in the Senate, is the only holdout so far (a spokesman told the Sun she is still “evaluating” the issue). This bit of politically-motivated reticence aside, the Democrats’ track record on taxes speaks for itself. By any measure of common sense, a smart man would bet on the GOP to keep taxes low and capital deregulated. Finally, there’s the Soros factor. But while this can partially explain large discrepancies in past cycles, particularly 2004, Soros’s pocketbook was silent during the first quarter of 2007, and the Democrats dominated anyway. What’s left is the explanation offered by CRP’s Krumholz: “I sense that, for these individuals, a lot of them are ideologically allied with the Democrats possibly in spite of economic interests that would seem to favor a Republican alliance.” In other words, it’s Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter With Kansas, only in reverse. Hedge-fund managers tend to live near the top of cosmopolitan, culturally liberal societies. They tend to find Republican positions on embryo-destroying stem-cell research and gay marriage to be nothing short of primitive. They tend to be extremely bright and thus prone to the fallacious idea that if more people like them ran the government, they could solve just about any problem with a new government program. They can afford higher taxes. Unfortunately, the rest of America can’t. Investment capital is the lifeblood of business expansion and job creation, and the idea that Congress can’t find offsets in the bloated federal budget and must raid Wall Street for more money is preposterous. I know — no one deserves to have their taxes raised quite like these extremely well-compensated benefactors of the party that seeks to destroy them. However, as usual, it’s up to conservatives to know better.