conceptualclarity's Blog

From Donna Hendrix : "You are a Winner of a BMW X6 X Drive Car and a £750,000.00GBP.

 Contact Mr Gabriel Johnson with your Full name:Country:Address:
Telephone no sex :via  bmwpromo394@yahoo.com.hk

Visit us at www.UHhospitals.org."

[Piggybacking on what appears to be a legitimate website.]


From Allen L. McKeehan : "You have been selected to receive grant sponsorship of $ 2,500,000 USD from QATAR Foundation Funds for International Development Contact us for more details: qfoundation@asia.com"

From zadi diane : "Hello, my name is Zzadi Diane , is my pleasure to communicate with you after seeing your profile here . it will be better if you can confirm this message by writing me back via my email so that i will detail you my purpose of writing you . i have something very important to share with you . i will be waiting to hear from you. have a blessed day."


From ICC T20 CRICKET PROMO  tO UNDISCLOSED RECIPIENTS : "YOU HAVE A BANK DRAFT OF $850,000 CONTACT US WITH UR DETAILS"

From Melody Mayer to Undisclosed recipients : "YOU WON 500,000.00 GBP in our Chevron / Texaco. Provide your Fullname, Address, Country, Telephone number, Occupations, and send them to Mr Brian  Williams Email:claimsagent04@gmail.com"

From Johnny B CARSWELL to undisclosed-recipients : "Dear Beneficiary,

I have registered your ATM MASTER CARD with DHL COMPANY this morning and we agreed up that the delivery of your ATM Card will take off tomorrow morning, So reconfirm your delivery address to DHL Director Dr. Maxwell Landry via below email or fax:

Contact Dr Maxwell Landry.
Tel: +(299)-99 211 482
Email: dhlcc@superposta.com

Contact him urgently because I will not be at office till November 15th, 2012. the amount in your Card is US$3.7Million and your Pincode is: (0609).

Thanks
Mr Johnny B CARSWELL"


From DR PHILLIP HILLS 10/20/2012
Western Union 
Money Transfer Service
 Dear Customer,
 Western Union Office
Mr Godwin Ben Call +229-968363952   I want to inform you that we have already sent you $5000.00 US Dollars through Western union as we have been given the mandate to transfer your full over due payment total sum of $7.800.000.00 USD, via western union by the Ministry of Finance.I tried reaching you on phone to give you all the information on phone but I couldn't get through yesterday,   So I decided to email you the MTCN and sender name so that you can pick up the $5000.00 to enable us send another $5000.00 today as you know we will be sending you $5000.00 only per day. And it was agreed that you will pay the transfer charge sum of $87 before the release of the payment to you.   Below is the western union information to pick up the $5000.00; which you will be receiving daily after you sent them their transfer charge of $87 and it will serve as re-confirmation of your payment file in their office.   Here is the Senders Information; 1.SENDER NAME:... Daniel Jerry Williams
2.TEST QUESTION:....How Much ?
3.TEST ANSWER:......: $5,000.00 
4.AMOUNT ..........$5,000 USD 
5.MTCN..... 3549027839   They will be waiting to hear from you with the transfer charge payment of $87 today;
Receiver Name....Mr Onyibor Sunday Country------Benin Republic
Your. City-----Cotonou
Your.Question----A
Your. Answer-----B   Be advice that $87.00 transfer charge is compulsory as they told me that is the only money you will pay until you receive your payment completely. Endeavor to E-mail your direct telephone number because you will call once the payment
informations is sent to you,   Regards
DR PHILLIP HILLS Call him immediately you receive this massage +229-968363952 western union department
Yours In Service
                                                                                DR PHILLIP HILLS                         


From:  Grace Muna  To: undisclosed recipients
Hello dear,

Its really a pleasure to come along your profile. I am Miss Grace by name. please contact me direct with my e-mail address, so that i will send to you my pictures and other information's about me. (distance or colour even age does not matter but love matters alot) I am waiting for your mail to my e-mail address.

GRACE


From: Jarno-Deshayes Joelle   To: undisclosed-recipients --
I have a deal worth 25 Million USD if interested,  email me: wlei082@qq.com

Here's a new twist  : a scam for scam victims!

From: Mark Daniel     To: undisclosed recipients:
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2012 6:00 AM Subject: [Released] Your attention is urgently needed.

Attention: E-mail Address Owner

            2012 SCAM VICTIM'S COMPENSATION FROM THE IMF BENIN

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is compensating all the scam victims
and your email address was found in the scam victim's list. This Western
Union® office has been mandated by the IMF to transfer your compensation
to you via Western Union® Money Transfer.

However, we have concluded to affect your own payment through Western
Union® Money Transfer, $5,000 twice daily until the total sum of
$500,000.00USD is completely transferred to you. We can not be able to send
the payment with your email address alone, thereby we need your information
as to where we will be sending the funds, such as,
Receiver's name:....
Address:....
Country:......
Phone number:.....
Attached copy of yourIdentification...
Email;   markdaniel@kimo.com  with your full information.

Note that your payment files will be returned to the IMF within 72 hours if
we did not hear from you, this was the instruction given to us by the IMF.
We will start the transfer as soon as we received your information. For
urgent inquiry, call  +229 98058488.

Thanks,
Mr Mark Daniel Director Western Union® Money Transfer,
Head Office Benin Republic.
Tel,  +229 98058488 Email;  markdaniel@kimo.com
CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE

This email is intended for the owner of this E-mail Address only and
contains privileged and confidential

 
From: "Rose Lee Wai Mun" <rosel455@yahoo.com.cn>  To: <waiimun@cpll.cn> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 3:38 PM  Subject: [Released] Re: Hello

Hello Friend,

I am Ms Rose LEE Wai Mun, Chief Executive Director and Financial Officer of the operations of the HANG SENG BANK 
Ltd, I wish to bring to your notice a request that would be of immense benefit to the both of us.I shall give you a
comprehensive detail of what I propose as soon as I get a word from you.

Yours truly,

Ms Rose Lee Wai Mun
rosel455@yahoo.com.cn


From: Mr.Crue Holmes  To: undisclosed recipients:
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 1:36 PM

375,000.00GBP was WILLED to your name for more info contact.B.Miroslav

From: MR ANDREW To: Undisclosed recipients: Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2013 9:39 PM   I Have a business transfer that requires confidentiality, trust and transparency, where both of us have a lot to benefit.

From: kelly To: Undisclosed recipients: Sent: Friday, February 22, 2013 1:24 PM  Subject: Thank You

Hello, It is my pleasure to seek your assistance to receive U$D14.7M in your account, and we will discuss what we both stand to benefit, Please kindly get back to me for more info. Thanks Mr. K. Khumalo [With an attachment I certainly did not open]
 
From: "Anita Bedie" <anita87@suomi24.fi>  To: <anitadonatus4@yahoo.com>   Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 1:25 PM  Subject: [Released] Hello   Hello
Happy valentine season
i am miss Anita i want to be your
friend if you care
please contact me
here in my private
email ok have a lovely day

 From: Mr. Lucky Kadir  To: undisclosed-recipients: Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2013 11:14 AM Subject: [Released] Contact Check Please   I have a very important mail to send to you. Please confirm that your email address is still active.   Mr. Lucky Kadiri

From: <a.younes@gatasgroup.com>  To:   Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 4:36 PM Subject: [Released] Hello
Hi, I'm Newton Barbour from NatWest Bank London. i have a very Urgent 
Business proposal of (£18,500,000.00 Million Pounds) for you to handle 
with me from my bank.And finally I shall provide you with more details 
of this transaction. (newtonbarbour@hotmail.com)

Conceptualclarity : So you say you're Newton Barber, but the header says you're a.younes!
 
From: "Philips Graham" <maildesk01@london.com>  To: Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 6:53 PM  Subject: [Released] Batch:074/06/ZY267   > Your e-mail address with e-ticket number:31475600847 199 winning  Ref: UK/9728X3/62 Batch:074/06/ZY267,which won you  the lottery sum of US$2,500,000.00.Contact Us fidicialdesk@yahoo.com.hk

I know Google has practices that are justly reproached. But I liked this stipulation that I read at
http://www.google.com/policies/terms/.

"Some of our Services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours."

That ought to be EP's policy. EP's claim to ownership over what we write here may be legal, but I consider it to be deplorable and dishonorable.

Excerpted from :

http://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2011/12/20/creators_oped/page/full/

"Second Period of Islamic Power"

Pat Buchanan

...In international test scores of high school students in reading, math and science, not one Muslim nation places in the top 30. Take away oil and gas, and from Algeria to Iran these nations would have little to offer the world. Iran would have to fall back on exports of carpets, caviar and pistachio nuts.

Not one Muslim nation is a member of the G-8 economic powers or the BRIC-four emerging powers -- Brazil, Russia, India, China.

In the 20th century, the world saw the rise of the Asian "tigers" -- South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong. Where are the Muslim tigers?

A few years back, the gross domestic product of the entire Arab world was only equal to Spain's. Take away oil and gas, and its exports were equal to Finland's.

Measured by manufacturing power, the Islamic world, though more populous, cannot hold a candle to China....

Thomas Friedman is more intelligent than most of the talking heads of the Left these days. He can come across as very charming and reasonable. But as with most progressives, there is an underlying nastiness and intolerance that eventually manifests plainly.

http://townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2011/12/20/why_thomas_friedman_abetted_antisemitism/page/full/

Why Thomas Friedman Abetted Anti-Semitism
Dennis Prager

After a lifetime of studying the left, I have concluded that leftism is a form of moral poison. It causes otherwise decent and kind people who take it into their systems to say and/or do cruel and sometimes evil things.

While not specifically about the left, a major new scholarly book, "Pathological Altruism" (Oxford University Press), explores this phenomenon of people wanting to do good things yet ending up doing bad. It applies to The New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who has a deep altruistic urge to bring peace to the Middle East. But because he sees the world through the liberal/left prism, he says morally reprehensible things -- statements that individuals associated with hate-filled, non-altruistic groups and ideologies would make.

In his Dec. 13 column, yet another of his attacks on Israel and its supporters, Friedman wrote: "The standing ovation (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) got in Congress this year was ... bought and paid for by the Israel lobby."

If a non-Jew had written this, he would have been severely condemned for writing something outright anti-Semitic. The notion that Jews manipulate the levers of power in Western societies for their own nefarious ends is probably the most enduring of all the West's Jew-hating myths. It was a staple of Nazi anti-Semitism and is the single most repeated charge of those in the Arab and larger Muslim worlds who seek to annihilate Israel, since its purpose is to convince people that non-Jews who support Israel have been paid off by Jews.

But Friedman, who is a Jew and a liberal, can get away with it -- even though it is so morally repulsive that Jew-haters can now assert they are merely quoting a well-known Jew. Who's going to call him on it? The New York Times?

To his credit, one congressman did condemn Friedman. Rep. Steven R. Rothman (D-N.J.) released this statement: "Thomas Friedman's defamation against the vast majority of Americans who support the Jewish State of Israel, in his New York Times opinion piece today, is scurrilous, destructive and harmful to Israel and her advocates in the U.S. Mr. Friedman is not only wrong, but he's aiding and abetting a dangerous narrative about the U.S.-Israel relationship and its American supporters.

"I gave Prime Minister Netanyahu a standing ovation, not because of any nefarious lobby, but because it is in America's vital national security interests to support the Jewish State of Israel, and it is right for Congress to give a warm welcome to the leader of such a dear and essential ally. Mr. Friedman owes us all an apology."

Friedman's charge, as Rothman points out, is not only "scurrilous, destructive and harmful" to Israel, but it is also a lie. The Congress of the United States -- including Republicans who have virtually no Jews in their district or state -- supports Israel for the same reasons Harry Truman recognized Israel against the advice of the U.S. State Department, Richard Nixon saved Israel during the 1973 War despite his anger at Jewish liberals, and Dick Cheney vigorously supported Israel despite Wyoming's having almost no Jewish population. They all believed that Israel shares America's moral values, while Israel's enemies (who happen to hate America as well as Israel) do not.

So how does Mr. Friedman, whom I assume is an honorable man and well-intentioned seeker of peace in the Middle East, write something that is equally mendacious and hateful, that abets anti-Semitism and that labels every pro-Israel congressman and senator a political whore?

Because he is a man of the left.

When good people adopt the leftist worldview, they eventually support ideas and say things that are cruel. Thomas Friedman did not write this anti-Semitic libel because he is an anti-Semite. Of course he is not an anti-Semite. He wrote it because he is a leftist.

Leftism poisons everything it influences -- from journalism to the arts to universities to religion to government to male-female relations. And ultimately leftism poisons character. This does not mean that everyone with left-wing views becomes a bad person, and it doesn't mean that everyone with conservative views is a good person. Both judgments are untrue and foolish.

But it does mean that leftism leads to pathologic altruism, i.e., bad things done by people with pure intentions. Just as Mahatma Gandhi's hatred of violence led him to tell the Jews of Europe not to resist Hitler, so too has leftism led decent people who would weep at Israel's destruction to mouth the very same lies about Israel as those who seek its annihilation.

Dennis Prager is a radio show host, contributing columnist for Townhall.com, and author of 4 books including Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual.

(Emphases added by conceptualclarity)
Conceptualclarity : How true that progressivism poisons everything! And there is virtually no aspect of life that progressives do not seek to take over and politicize. A number of years ago, progressives took over the American Bar Association and changed it from an organization for all US lawyers to one in which conservative lawyers are unwelcome. The only forms of ostensible Christianity the Left can stomach are those forms which consciously and openly promote a left-wing political agenda. They also happen to be the least vibrant forms of Christianity.

 

 

Lately there has been an even greater than normal misrepresentation of the facts concerning poverty and economic mobility in the USA.. It turns out that hunger is not rampant in America; the American middle class and lower class have not had stagnant standards of living in recent decades; the poor in the US still have what would be a middle-class lifestyle in Western Europe; and economic mobility--upward for the lower class and downward for the upper class--are very much alive.

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2011/11/16/poverty_in_america/page/full/

"Poverty in America?"

According to CBS News, "the number of people in the U.S. living in poverty in 2010 rose for the fourth year in a row, representing the largest number of Americans in poverty in the 52 years since such estimates have been published by the U.S. Census Bureau." MSNBC said, "The U.S. poverty rate remains among the highest in the developed world." Let's look at a few poverty facts.

Heritage Foundation researchers Dr. Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield laid out some facts about the poor in their report "Understanding Poverty in the United States: Surprising Facts About America's Poor" (9/13/2011). Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more. Two-thirds have cable or satellite TV. Half have one or more computers. Forty-two percent own their homes. The average poor American has more living space than the typical non-poor person in Sweden, France or the U.K. Ninety-six percent of poor parents stated that their children were never hungry during the year because they couldn't afford food.

"The Material Well-Being of the Poor and the Middle Class Since 1980" (10/25/2011) is a research paper by professor Bruce D. Meyer of the University of Chicago and The National Bureau of Economic Research and professor James X. Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame. In it they report: "Our results show evidence of considerable improvement in material well-being for both the middle class and the poor over the past three decades. Median income and consumption both rose by more than 50 percent in real terms between 1980 and 2009. In addition, the middle 20 percent of the income distribution experienced noticeable improvements in housing characteristics: living units became bigger and much more likely to have air conditioning and other features. The quality of the cars these families own also improved considerably. Similarly, we find strong evidence of improvement in the material well-being of poor families."

The grim official measures of poverty or income stagnation reported are the result of a number of biases that understate well-being, such as relying exclusively on narrow income measures that do not reflect all the resources available to the household for consumption. Income measures fail to capture important components of economic well-being, such as wealth and the ownership of durables, e.g., houses and cars. For example, official measures would consider a retired couple who owned their car and mortgage-free $700,000 home and lived on $20,000 savings to be poor. Clearly, their income does not reflect their material well-being.

"Income Mobility in the U.S. from 1996 to 2005" (11/13/2007) is a report by the U.S. Department of the Treasury that shows considerable income mobility of individuals in the U.S. economy. "Roughly half of taxpayers who began in the bottom income quintile in 1996 moved up to a higher income group by 2005. Among those with the very highest incomes in 1996 -- the top 1/100 of 1 percent -- only 25 percent remained in this group in 2005. Moreover, the median real income of these top taxpayers declined over the study period." These findings confirm previous studies dating back to the 1960s reaching the same conclusion, namely: At different periods of time, different people occupy different income groups, but the overall trend is upward.

What about the concentration of wealth? In 1918, John D. Rockefeller's fortune accounted for more than half of 1 percent of total private wealth. To compile the same half of 1 percent of the total private wealth in the United States today, you'd have to combine the fortunes of Microsoft's Bill Gates ($59 billion) and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($19 billion), but with 10 other multibillionaires in between.

Our congressionally caused recession has indeed caused needless hardship for many Americans, but the big poverty and income stagnation hype is part and parcel of an agenda to make us more accepting of politicians getting their hands deeper into our pocketbooks in the name of helping the poor.

Walter E. Williams Dr. Williams serves on the faculty of George Mason University as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and is the author of 'Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?' and 'Up from the Projects: An Autobiography.' 
 
[Emphases added by conceptualclarity]
 

 

 

http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2003_05.htm?utm_source=2011Wk48-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Archive&utm_content=WhatsHot&utm_campaign=eNewsletter&l=0#vbsp

May 12, 2003

Low folate levels associated with depression

A study published in the March-April 2003 issue of the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics found an association with low levels of folate in depressed individuals. Folate is the natural form of the vitamin folic acid that occurs in the body and in many plant-based foods. The association was strongest in those who had recently recovered from the condition.

Two thousand nine hundred forty-eight subjects, ages 15 to 39 years, who were participants in the third US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) were interviewed for assessment of major depression and dysthymia (mild depression), and information concerning physical health, socioeconomic status and nutrition. Fasting blood samples were analyzed for serum folate as well as red blood cell folate, considered to be a better indicator of body folate stores than serum levels which fluctuate with dietary intake. Serum total homocysteine was also measured.

Of the total participants in this study, 301 reported major depression and 121 reported dysthymia. While red blood cell folate levels in subjects who reported never having been depressed averaged 365 nanomoles per liter, levels for depressed subjects were significantly lower at 320 nanomoles per liter for dysthymic individuals and 340 nanomoles per liter for those with major depression. When serum folate levels were examined, both dysthymic subjects and subjects with major depression had similarly low levels compared to participants who had never been depressed. Participants who reported depressive symptoms occurring six to twelve months prior to the study had the lowest folate levels. Serum homocysteine levels, which can be inversely related to folate levels, were not found to be associated with lifetime depression.

The authors write, “Our results should provide greater impetus for supplementing depressed people with folate, in that we have shown that folate status after a depressive episode may be very low.” (Morris MS et al, “Depression and folate status in the US population,” Psychother Psychosom 2003;72:80-87)

—D Dye

 

http://life.familyeducation.com/mental-health/social-emotional/35987.html?page=3&detoured=1

 

DHA, more than EPA, is highly concentrated in our brains and nervous systems, and improves not only learning and age-related memory but also mood. The higher your blood levels of DHA, the higher your levels of acetylcholine and serotonin are likely to be. The reason for this is that DHA builds receptor sites and improves reception. According to Dr. J. R. Hibbeln, who noticed that fish eaters are less prone to depression, "It's like building more serotonin factories, instead of just increasing the efficiency of the serotonin you have."

In one study, when people with bipolar or manic depression were given 9.6 mg of omega-3 oils over a four-month period, they experienced substantial improvement. DHA has also been found to improve dyslexia (difficulty reading) and dyspraxia (clumsiness). Dr. Jaqueline Stordy of the University of Surrey found that DHA improves the reading ability and behavior of adults with dyslexia.

Excerpted from:

NATURAL HIGHS: Supplements, Nutrition, and Mind/Body Techniques to Help You Feel Good by Hyla Cass and Patrick Holford. Copyright © Hyla Cass, M.D., and Patrick Holford. Used by arrangement with Avery, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.



 

Yes, I preferred the good old days in college sports when you had reasonable-sized, regionally-based conferences. Conference championships were settled by the records accumulated over the course of the regular season. Now you have overly large, trans-regional athletic conferences with conference title games settled in playoff games which frankly exist essentially to make money, like the postseason conference tournaments in college basketball.

Look at the games this weekend. No. 1-ranked LSU plays for the SEC title against a vastly inferior Georgia team. Georgia is no better than the third best team in the SEC, probably no better than fourth behind Arkansas. Oregon plays for the Pac 12 title against an extremely inferior UCLA which just lost 50-0 to Southern Cal. Virginia Tech, clearly the best team in the ACC, plays against a fading Clemson team which has lost three times in the late season. Of course, there might be an upset in one of these games. That will make only the fans of the lesser program happy and will be to the detriment of the conference which has to present a lesser team as its champion.

This whole mess started years ago when Arkansas got greedy and jumped from the Southwest Conference to the SEC, which led to the SEC admitting South Carolina to keep an even number and moving to divisional play. Arkansas' jump played a big role in the demise of the Southwest Conference, forcing its better members to merge with the Big 8 to make a second oversized conference with a title game. Now greed runs wild. Schools abandon rivalries that go back a century in pursuit of a conference with a more lucrative television contract. Nebraska and Penn State in the same conference? But it's going to get worse : West Virginia joining the Big 12, hitherto a conference entirely west of the Mississippi River, a totally nonsensical development. The Big East taking in teams from the far western US. Arrgghh, the love of money...

Excerpted from :
http://al-hikmah.org/power-of-sex-interview.htm

The power of sex: an interview with Nancy Friday
by Daphne Howland

For more than 20 years, Nancy Friday has been making headlines with her books on women and sexuality. From the moment that she started work on My Secret Garden, her groundbreaking book on women's sexual fantasies, she has found herself embroiled in controversy. That hasn't stopped Friday, however, who has since published several other books.

HealthGate contributing writer Daphne R. Howland spoke with Friday about her thoughts on sexuality.  ....

HealthGate: That sounds like an empowering, feminist message. But youve been somewhat at odds with the feminist movement.


Nancy Friday: The original feminists were never in favor of heterosexual sex. It just wasn't on the agenda. In the Ms. magazine school of feminism, it's still not on the agenda. It's a man-hating, beauty-hating, sex-hating thing.

I aimed a lot of arrows at feminists in this last book. Because of this, feminists have begun to talk about sex, but they still won't include men in their feminism. But there were a lot of men who marched with us in the 70s.

I just got back from Asia where I talked with women about feminism in the United States. I told them: "Look, don't get caught up in the word "feminism." You don't fit into old feminism. You are a new generation. Find another word if you must, but don't let the word hang you up in thinking about this new world. It is a very different world. Women today in their 20s and early 30s don't like the word feminism. I am reluctant to use it to describe myself because it holds me back. And yet I want the world to know that I was an early feminist.

[Emphasis added by conceptualclarity]

 

http://antimisandry.com/articles/wage-gap-myth-women-execs-earn-more-than-men-not-less-142.html
Wage Gap Myth... women execs actually earn MORE than men, not less.

by Marx
Published on 26th-June-2011 06:51 PM

As much as feminists love to parrot the statistic that women earn only 76 cents on the male dollar, they rarely bother to provide an explanation or solid evidence for this claim. But fortunately a smart new book has hit the shelves just in time for Equal Pay Day to help them out.

Equal pay for equal work has been enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act since it was made law in 1972. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also ban sex-based wage discrimination. So it seems pretty remarkable that the wage gap is so wide and pervasive even today. Attorneys should be having a field day with class-action lawsuits. But they are not. Could it be that even the legal establishment is complicit in this glaringly obvious patriarchal conspiracy?

The 76-cent statistic (now actually 80 cents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau) is misleading because it is a raw comparison of all working men and women. Thus a female receptionist working 40-hour weeks is tossed in with the male orthopedic surgeon putting in 70-hour weeks.

A study of the gender wage gap conducted by economist June O' Neill, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, found that women earn 98 percent of what men do when controlled for experience, education, and number of years on the job.

Warren Farrell, three-time board of directors member of the National Organization for Women New York City, exhaustively debunks the wage gap myth in his book "Why Men Earn More." Farrell documents occupations requiring bachelor's degrees in which women's starting salaries actually exceed men's. Female investment bankers and dieticians, for example, can expect to earn 116 percent to 130 percent of their male counterparts' salaries.

The real reason than men tend to out-earn women is the choices they make. Men are far more likely to take unpleasant and dangerous jobs, what Farrell calls the "death and exposure professions." For example, firefighting, truck driving, mining and logging -- to name just a few high-risk jobs -- are all more than 95 percent male. Conversely, low risk jobs like secretarial work and childcare are more than 95 percent female.

Farrell points out that in California, prison guards can earn $70,000 per year plus full medical benefits and retire after thirty years with a hefty retirement package. But it takes little imagination to figure out why California still has a difficult time staffing its prisons, and it goes without saying that most prison guards are male. Says Farrell, "As with most jobs, there's an inverse relationship between fulfillment and pay."

Because men are more likely to take jobs that are unpleasant, dangerous or dull in exchange for higher pay, they reap the financial benefit. Farrell summarizes this phenomenon this way: "Jobs that expose you to the sleet and the heat pay more than those that are indoors and neat."

Another reason women's average earnings are less than men's is that they take more time out of the workforce for care-giving. Women, more so than men, adjust their work schedules to accommodate their families, and in poll after poll, they express a preference to do so.

"Well, why can't men and women share domestic responsibilities 50-50 so women will be just as free and unencumbered as men are?" the conventional feminist argument goes. Such an arrangement is unrealistic as it requires both husband and wife to work part-time. Couples typically find it easiest for each partner to specialize and make the sacrifices required to sustain the family.

Scholars can debate whether it is societal pressure or innate desire that makes women elect to spend more time with their children. But so long as these decisions are a reflection of women's expressed preferences, this isn't a problem that needs to be solved.

Arrah Nielsen is a junior fellow at IWF.

See 48 comments at the above URL.

I just watched this week's episode of the PBS series Nature. It was on the subject of wildlife in the vast zone of Ukraine and Belorussia that was contaminated by the famous Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 in the old Soviet Union, which I remember well.

 

It turns out that wildlife is flourishing in the evacuated "dead zone" contaminated by the meltdown, including storks, wolves, and of course, wolve's prey. It's remarkable that an environmentalist TV program would make this admission. For years I was repelled as I watched nature programs on TV and heard the environmentalist voiceovers which tried their best to give people the impression that all vertebrate species other than rabbits and kangaroos are in deathly danger from MAN. On those programs and elsewhere environmentalists have prevented the views that nature is exquisitely fragile and that one false move by MAN would cause irretrievable harm. Well, Chernobyl was MAN messing things up at his very worst, because of the system of Communism which fostered the world's greatest environmental irresponsibility. Yet wildlife has made a roaring comeback in the "dead zone." This illustrates a truth about the resiliency of nature that has long been evident to many others and to me.

 

This false view of nature as exquisitely fragile is the basis for the elevation of environmentalists to extraordinary power in the Western world. In the US state bureaucracies and the EPA at the federal level issue myriads of regulations that make all sorts of projects absurdly slow and inefficient, kill many jobs, and keep us from utilizing our abundant endowment of natural energy resources. It is useful to have the environmentalist voice be part of the public discourse, but it should not be nearly all-powerful.

http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP08275283.pdf

Excerpted from p.278, 
Book Review

"Why it’s interesting why women have sex"

A review of Cindy M. Meston and David M. Buss, Why Women Have Sex: The Psychology of Sex in Women’s Own Voices. Times Books: New York, 2009.

J. Brett Smith, Evolution Working Group, University of Alabama and Christopher D. Lynn, Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama
Evolutionary Psychology 2010. 8(2): 275-283

"Chapter 4, “The Thrill of Conquest: From Capturing a Mate to Poaching One,” deals with competition in the mating market. The authors explain why there is a kind of marketplace in which women, as well as men, compete for quality mates, both for short- and long-term....Data that may surprise some readers indicates the double-standard that judges promiscuous women more harshly than promiscuous men is often enforced more nowadays by women rather than by men as a dimension of this intrasexual rivalry."

http://news.health.com/2011/01/25/rise-in-some-head-and-neck-cancers-tied-to-oral-sex-study/

Rise in Some Head and Neck Cancers Tied to Oral Sex: Study

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) — There’s a worrisome uptick in the incidence of certain head and neck cancers among middle-aged and even younger Americans, and some experts link the trend to a rise in the popularity of oral sex over the past few decades.

That’s because the human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major trigger for these cancers, and HPV can be transmitted through this type of sexual activity.

“It seems like a pretty good link that more sexual activity, particularly oral sex, is associated with increased HPV infection,” said Dr. Greg Hartig, professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.

According to Dr. William Lydiatt, professor and chief of head and neck surgical oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the overall incidence of head and neck cancers is going down, largely because fewer people are smoking (tobacco and drinking are the major traditional risk factors).

But the incidence of cancers of the tonsil and base of the tongue have been going up over the past decades, he said. And those are the ones that are more likely to test positive for HPV.

“It’s gotten to the point now where 60 to 70 percent of all tonsil cancers in the U.S. are HPV-related,” Lydiatt said.

Although the link between HPV and these types of cancers is indisputable, the association with oral sex is strong but a little more speculative, experts say.

A 2007 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that younger people with head and neck cancers who tested positive for oral HPV infection were more likely to have had multiple vaginal and oral sex partners in their lifetime.

In the study, having six or more oral sex partners over a lifetime was associated with a 3.4 times higher risk for oropharyngeal cancer — cancers of the base of the tongue, back of the throat or tonsils. Having 26 or more vaginal-sex partners tripled the risk.

And the association increased as the number of partners — in either category — increased.

The researchers also reported that cancers of the tonsil and base of the tongue have been increasing every year since 1973, and wrote that “widespread oral sex practices among adolescents may be a contributing factor in this increase.”

The researchers concluded that in their study, oral sex was “strongly associated” with oropharyngeal cancer, but noted that they could not “rule out transmission through direct mouth-to-mouth contact” such as French kissing.

In 90 percent of cases of HPV infection in the body, the immune system clears HPV naturally within two years, according to federal health agencies, but in some cases, certain types of HPV can lead to cervical cancer or less common malignancies, such as oropharyngeal cancer. A 2010 Swedish study, in fact, suggested that the rise in oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer in a number of countries “is caused by a slow epidemic of HPV infection-induced [cancers].”

HPV tends to be site specific, explained Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, an adjunct instructor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In other words, it tends to stay wherever it first enters the body, be it the vagina (which in some cases could lead to cervical cancer), or the mouth and throat.

So does the increase in incidence mean that recent generations are having more sex than their grandparents?

“The general consensus on the street is that because people’s [sexual] practices have changed over time, we’re seeing an increase in these cancers,” said Hartig. “I don’t know why they’re having more oral sex [but] the concept of having oral sex is something that seems less obscure to you than it did to your parents or grandparents.”

“The thought would be that the Baby Boomers — the 60s and early 70s generation — probably had more freedom in sexual relationships in general, including oral sex,” added Dr. Bert W. O’Malley, Jr., chair of otorhinolaryngology–head and neck surgery at the University of Pennsylvania.

And at least in terms of oral sex, that appears true for those younger than Boomers.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that, in 2002, some 90 percent of males and 88 percent of females aged 25 to 44 reported ever having oral sex with a partner of the opposite sex.

Comparable figures from 1992 showed that about three-quarters of men aged 20 to 39 and closer to 70 percent of women aged 18 to 59 having ever given or received oral sex.

The silver lining is that the HPV-related head and neck cancers are eminently more treatable than those attributable to smoking or drinking, even though they tend to be diagnosed at a later stage.

“[HPV-related head-and-neck cancers] have been a lot easier to treat. You can use less-intensive radiation,” said Dr. D.J. Verret, clinical assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and a facial plastic surgeon in Plano, Texas.

About 85 percent of non-smoking people with HPV-positive tumors survive. That number drops to 45 or 50 percent in people who smoke and are HPV-negative, Lydiatt said.

And tongue and tonsil cancers remain relatively rare in the United States. The other good news — at least for the younger set — is that there is a relatively new vaccine to prevent against HPV infection. It’s not going to help those who are already infected, but it “absolutely” could help those who aren’t yet infected with the ubiquitous virus, Verret said.

Meanwhile, people, especially younger people, need to realize that smoking is not the only risk factor for head and neck cancer. If you find a lump in your neck, even if you’re only 20 or 30, “pay attention to it,” Lydiatt said.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on head and neck cancers.

SOURCES: Gregory Hartig, M.D., professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wis.; Bert W. O’Malley, Jr., M.D., chair of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and co-director, Head and Neck Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia; D.J. Verret, M.D., clinical assistant professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and facial plastic surgeon, Plano, Texas; William Lydiatt, M.D., professor and division chief, head and neck surgical oncology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., adjunct instructor, division of infectious diseases, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; May 10, 2010, New England Journal of Medicine

Another study has found that male infidelity is not the norm as is claimed by disappointed wives and misandristic feminists. The study is "Infidelity in Heterosexual Couples: Demographic, Interpersonal, and Personality-Related Predictors of Extradyadic Sex" by Kristen P. Mark, Erick Janssen , and Robin R. Milhausen of Indiana University. It is published in Archives of Sexual Behavior and is available free at http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/publications/PDF/Infidelity%20in%20hetero%20couples.pdf.

The study found infidelity rates in heterosexual relationships (not marriages only) of 23.2% among men and 19.2% among women.

I was interested by the findings that 74% of men "who had engaged in infidelity reported lower compatibility in terms of frequency of sexual contact, compared to 59%of men who did not" and "70% of men who engaged in infidelity reported lower compatibility in terms of importance of sex compared to 51% of men who did not." It is my belief that sexual stinginess on the part of a significant minority of wives is a major factor in male infidelity.

The study's 918 participants completed an online questionnaire posted on the website of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex,Gender,and Reproduction. I would not consider it therefore to be a true scientific study.

A number of other studies have found the male infidelity rate in the US is well under 30%. I intend to post information about them. This refers to the lifetime infidelity rate; the percentage of husbands who cheat within a calendar year would be much lower.

http://life.familyeducation.com/mental-health/social-emotional/35987.html

Natural Mind and Memory Boosters

If smart drugs are out, what about smart nutrients? There are several natural mind and memory boosters that can restore your clarity of thought and banish memory lapses. They are:

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  Choline and DMAE – building blocks of acetylcholine.
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  Pyroglutamate, phosphatidylserine, and omega-3 fats – receptor enhancers.
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  Ginkgo (ginkgo biloba) and vinpocetine – circulation improvers.
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  Acetyl-L-carnitine and glutamine – fuel for brain cells.
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  Specific supporting vitamins and minerals.

With the exception of ginkgo, these are all substances found in food and the brain. They're becoming widely available, and you can buy combination state-of-the-art brain-boosting supplements in health food stores. We'll look at each in turn, then discuss why combining smart nutrients works best.

Choline: The Building Block Of Memory
The key brain chemical for memory is acetylcholine. A deficiency in this chemical is probably the single most common cause for declining memory. Acetylcholine is derived from the nutrient choline. Fish, especially sardines, are rich in it, hence the old wives' tale of fish being good for the brain. Eggs are also a major source of choline, followed by liver, soy beans, peanuts, and other nuts. Ever since egg phobia set in, the average intake of choline from the diet has dropped dramatically. From the point of view of memory enhancement, it is certainly worth eating more eggs. But just eating choline-rich foods won't do it. You also need vitamins B5(pantothenic acid), B1, B12, and C to form acetylcholine in your body.

Supplementing choline has some truly remarkable effects. Recent research at Duke University Medical Center demonstrated that giving choline to pregnant female rats created the equivalent of "superbrains" in the offspring. The researchers fed pregnant rats choline halfway through their pregnancy. The infant rats of mothers who received choline had vastly superior brains with more neuronal connections and, consequently, improved learning ability and better memory recall, all of which persisted into old age. This research showed that giving choline helps restructure the brain for improved performance. based on this and numerous other studies that support the brain-enhancing properties of choline, and the fact that choline has no known toxicity, supplementing with choline during pregnancy is likely to enhance an infant's brain development.

High doses of choline has also been proven to boost memory in adults. For example, Florence Safford of Florida International University gave forty-one people, ages fifty to eighty, 500 mg doses of choline every day for five weeks. The subjects reported having only half the number of incidents of memory lapses – such as forgetting names or losing things – as before. If you combine choline with other smart nutrients, such as pyroglutamate, you can achieve the same memory-boosting effect at lower doses.

In addition to making the memory neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, choline is also a vital raw material for building nerve cells and receptor sites for neurotransmitters. According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Dr. Richard Wurtman, piracetam and other nootropic drugs that stimulate the release of acetylcholine should always be taken with choline. Otherwise, if choline levels are depleted, your body will divert the choline needed to build vital nerve cells into the production of more acetylcholine.

Some forms of choline cross more easily from the blood into the brain, referred to as "crossing the blood-brain barrier." These forms include phosphatidyl choline and a precursor for choline called DMAE (short for dimethylaminoethanol), which we'll investigate below. Phosphatidyl choline, or PC for short, is also found in lecithin, a supplement widely available in granules or capsules. Pure choline imparts a fishy smell, so you may prefer to use lecithin or PC.

A form of choline called citicholine has been used as a precursor to acetylcholine. It also boosts levels of dopamine and other neurotransmitters. It has even been used to treat victims of head injuries and strokes, since it protects brain cells from ischemia (decreased blood flow). It has also been shown to improve memory and learning in the elderly.

Recently a more potent form of choline, derived from soy lecithin, has become available in the United States. Alpha-GPC (L-alpha-glyceryl-phosphorylcholine, or choline alfoscerate) has a long history of use in Europe. Research on more than 3,000 patients and volunteers has shown Alpha-GPC to be more effective than citicholine, and with very few side effects (fifteen reported cases of diarrhea, dizziness, insomnia, or restlessness that resolved when the product was stopped). Besides possessing all the positive effects of citicholine, Alpha-GPC has also been shown to enhance the release of human growth hormone, the master antiaging hormone. Research with athletes has shown that it improves coordination, balance, and endurance. A limiting factor in its use has been its unavailability. However, we have discovered a source, which is listed in the Resources. Their Web site carries further product information (www.futurefoods.com). The recommended dose is 500-1,500 mg daily.

Choline

How it works:Precursor for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine; part of the structure of neuronal membranes.

Positive effects:More alert, clear-headed, better memory and concentration; improved brain development during gestation (pregnancy).

Cautions:None.

Dosage:5-10 g (approximately 1 tablespoon) of lecithin, or 2.5-5 g (a heaping tablespoon) of hi-phosphatidylcholine lecithin, or 1-2 g of phosphatidyl choline, or 500 mg-2 g of choline chloride (fishy smelling); and 500-1,000 mg of citicholine and 500-1,500 mg of alpha-GPC. Take daily.
...

Conceptualclarity : I take two tablespoons a day of non-GMO NSI lecithin granules.