Obesity rates climbed in 31 states in U.S.

Mississippi ranked No. 1 with 30 percent overweight, study found
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Loosen the belt buckle another notch: Obesity rates continued to climb in 31 states last year, and no state showed a decline.

Mississippi became the first state to crack the 30 percent barrier for adults considered to be obese. West Virginia and Alabama were just behind, according to the Trust for America’s Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention.

A lack of exercise is a huge factor in obesity rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found last year that more than 22 percent of Americans did not engage in any physical activity in the past month. The percentage is greater than 30 percent in four states: Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

See: Obesity rates rise in 31 states

KNN Exclusive-Ben Ammi visits Guyana

Excited crowd greets Ben Ammi with the shouts of Halleluyah and Yah Khai
By Ahk Shmuel Ha Moreh
KNN-Guyana

Ben Ammi was greeted with the shouts of HalleluYAH and YAH KHAI as he cleared immigration at the Cheddi Jagan International airport, Timehri, Guyana. The saints and guests that greeted him and his entourage were filled with excitement. We were trilled the he had graciously accepted our invitation and was present to celebrate with us on our 30th anniversary.

From the first day Ben Ammi’s itinerary was packed with daily television interviews with many local stations. He also paid courtesy calls to Hamilton Greene the mayor of Georgetown (the capital city); and to the leader of the opposition party Robert Corbin.

He also visited our community farm where he planted a Sour SapTree and reaped a pumpkin and our first pineapple. He said that nations are lifting up their weapons and boasting of their firepower, but we are lifting up fruits and vegetables. He went on to say that we will sit at our meal tables and speak of the nutritional values and abilities of these fruits and vegetables to heal the nations, which would make them trees of renown. The farmers were invited later in the week to dine with Ben Ammi and share the huge pumpkin that was too much for our household to consume. Abba Ben Ammi said, “the pumpkin is already renowned”.

The community center is also being renovated and Ben Ammi was given a tour. He was introduced to the workforce who included zaqwaineem Gad and Yoel, who are from the Philadelphia extension, who came and spent a month with us to assist us with their building expertise.

Abba Ben Ammi also made public appearances at the local emancipation celebration on August 1st. The celebration was in commemoration of when the slaves in this region were emancipated on August 1st 1834. His message to the packed arena was for them to celebrate the fact that the citizens of the country have not succumbed or given up their country to industrialization that the earth has rejected.

Ben Ammi's final message was at the National Cultural Center. The audience was entertained with our local talent of the drummers, Y.O.M and Sisterhood dancers and the extraordinary poetry of Kamadyah Baht Cohane Mikael who has recently released her first CD ”Listen”. The audience was blessed with Ben Ammi's redemptive message as he gave them the keys of discernment.

Finally, Ben Ammi had two in-house Shabbat day services; the messages were redemptive and prophetic and lefted the saints here on a high. The audience was made up of saints from Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados, Antigua, French Guyana and the United States.

We will never forget this special visit to Guyana. We are eternally thankful to The Holy One of Israel for allowing his Anointed Son to visit our humble country. Yah Khai!!!!

Ben Ammi reaps comminities first pineapple

The Guyana Extension celebrates 30 years outside of America

The two sticks are one
By Ahk Shmuel Ha Moreh
KNN-Guyana

The Guyana extension was started in Guyana in 1977 when Cohane Mikael was sent here by Cohane Levi the leader of the then Hashabah Yisrael Temple in New York. Abba Ben Ammi and Cohane Mikael later met and formed a bond that they swore they would never break especially by the slight differences that existed. Hashabah Yisrael later broke up and Cohane Mikael subsequently did the inevitable, joined up with The Anointed leader Abba Ben Ammi and the long awaited Kingdom of Yah.

During Ben Ammi’s visit he was able to speak to fellow Hebrews from Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados, Antigua, French Guyana and the United States. He was able to seal the unity and erase the discrepancies and rumors that some of the camps had. Following Ben Ammi’s visit many of the brothers expressed a willingness to join up with The Kingdom’s Divine Leadership.

Ben Ammi closed by saying, “The sticks of Judah and Israel are one again”. Yah Khai!!!

First Health Fair opens in Ghana

Ghanaweb.com

Accra, Aug. 22, GNA - The First Ghana International Health fair aimed at showcasing preventive and curative health alternatives to Ghanaians opened in Accra on Wednesday with high patronage from the public, corporate institutions and health specialists. The fair, expected to encourage Ghanaians to practice healthy lifestyles would be an annual affair that would promote the preventive benefits of regular exercise, proper dietary choices and showcase products and services which would provide an opportunity for corporate bodies to reach out to the public.

The fair on the theme; "Health Productivity and Development; staying Fit for Life and a Better Ghana" and dubbed: "Fit For Life 2007" was opened by President John Agyekum Kuffour.

The fair, which is expected to end on Sunday, would be crowned with a quiz competition for students, with a trip to Dimona in Israel as the prize for the overall winner.

See: First Health Fair opens

Spending soars on U.S. drug ads

Spending on drug advertising in the United States rose by a staggering 330%
Helen Branswell
Canadian Press

Spending on drug advertising aimed directly at consumers in the United States rose by a staggering 330 per cent in the first decade after drug companies were freed to pitch their wares directly to the public, a new study shows. The amount rose to just under $30 billion U.S. for the year 2005.

The work, published the New England Journal of Medicine last week, revealed that new ad campaigns typically start within a year of a drug's arrival on the market – a time when it has been suggested that drug companies should not be allowed to advertise a drug.

Earlier this year a report published by the U.S. Institute of Medicine recommended that the American drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, bar drug companies from advertising prescription drugs in the first two years after they come to market.

See: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/247830

Taller? Faster? Cuter? Why not?

Enhancing humans: Ethicist says we have a duty to make it happen.
By Richard Halicks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

John Harris' new book starts out with a wonderful quotation from a 1950s Sicilian novel: "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change."

In "Enhancing Evolution: The Ethical Case for Making Better People," the British philosopher and bioethicist challenges conventional thinking about genetic engineering, stem-cell research, designer children and other concepts that make most people uneasy.

In sum, says Harris, using chemistry and genetics to make ourselves better, stronger, smarter or prettier is not just morally defensible. It's morally obligatory.

"The same duty that leads us to prevent harm leads us also to help," said Harris, professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester. "Insofar as enhancements are good for people, enable people to do things that they want to do, and do not harm others, then I believe there is a moral imperative to help people do those things."

Harris, 61, who is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Ethics, sees the world through a different lens from most.

He believes, for example, that there's nothing wrong with athletes using performance-enhancing drugs, as long as the drugs are safe and are permitted by the league.

He also thinks that people should be free to design their children (or free not to), that humans should be in charge of human nature, and that there's little difference between using technology to cure people vs. using it to improve them.

One of his favorite analogies is our use of reading glasses as we grow older.

"People say, 'Ah, but that just restores normal functioning,'" he said. "And I point out that we also use binoculars and telescopes and microscopes. And they don't restore normal functioning; they enhance the functioning of the eye. ... Nobody, I think, believes that we cross a moral divide when we move from reading glasses to binoculars."

See: Taller? Faster? Cuter?

FDA warns about cold medicines for babies

Children under age 2 should not be given over-the-counter drugs

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The government is warning parents not to give cough and cold medicines to children under 2 without a doctor’s order, part of an overall review of the products’ safety and effectiveness for youngsters.

Amid questions about benefits and risks, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday its Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee will meet Oct. 18-19 to discuss the use of cough and cold drugs by children.

The FDA issued a public health advisory that cited serious adverse effects linked to children — particularly those 2 and younger — who have received too great a dose of over-the-counter medications for coughs and colds. See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20296649/

Reflections of Marriage

Marriage Of The Lamb At Our 7th Anniversary
By Yehuda H. Cohane
KNN Staff

"And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yeah, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt truly know the lord Yah."

Hosea 2:19- 20

It is a joyous season in the Kingdom of Yah as we have celebrated the seventh year of Marriage to the Lamb of Yah on August 7th, 2007. This is a time for all citizens of Yah's Kingdom to introspect and consider retrospectively the magnitude of your calling and ask yourself have you been aligned / in harmony with your purpose. The purpose of any Saint/Wife of Yah is to glorify Yah your husband through his Anointed Messianic Leadership; to give infinite tenure, presence, form, and dominion to his way of life. It is what's called being committed to his prophetic vision, which is simply becoming an active component in helping to manifest that which he wants to create on Earth.

The inhabitants of this planet, particularly our Edenic family needs redemptive institutions like trees of life from which they can be spiritually nurtured. The greatest manifestation of your Yah power will be seen in your capacity to realize your purpose and be aligned with it. Your dedication and commitment to being a divine helpmate to your husband is the essential key to receiving your prophetic power. One may ask, "the power to do what?" the power to release yourself and the human family from the mental prisons that hold our families captive. Captive to self induced destruction through the consumption of and participation in alien evil lifestyles. We have been made "wise to do evil, but to do good we have no understanding".

"The Marriage of the Lamb represents one of the most significant prophetic undertakings in our generations. The significance of the event cannot be overstated. Many may not understand but it is incumbent upon us to continue to lift up the great signs before the nations, the signs of the Great Alignment".

Adonaynu HaMasheahk2007 Unity Day Elevations Speech

The Marriage of the Lamb was the great observable sign of the restoration of Yah's people who would be obedient to his anointed personage. Our people had been stubborn and hardheaded throughout our history; from Noah all the way down to Malachi. They stoned the prophets; they had a problem with anointed leadership.

We are a blessed generation to witness restoration, a restoration and salvation that were brought about by hearing anointed messianic leadership. We have indeed made it through the realms of judgment and are in the realms of post judgment now inheriting all of the blessings and promises. At this stage, what, you may ask is required our people? Continuity of that which we have already done. Apply the teachings (new covenant laws) with all of your heart, soul and might; that is what has made you great in the eyes of Yah Yisrael, and has brought us to this prophetic point in history. We are in possession of observable blessings; an observable sign of resurrection, salvation, restoration, and reestablishment. Hold that alignment, this is a happy marriage.

"And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and Yah himself shall be with them, and shall be their God."

Revelation 21: 3

"Behold, the day has come saith the Lord Yah, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, who brought up the Children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt,But, the Lord liveth who brought up, and who led the seed of the House of Israel out of the North Country, and from all countries to which I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land."

Jeremiah 23:7 &8(divinely paraphrased)

For anyone interested in purchasing downloadable class transcripts or audio CD's please contact Yehuda Ha Cohen at pmhg2005@yahoo.com or Ahtur Keymah at keymah777@aol.com.

Selah!

St. Louis Then… Israel Now

She could spell her name as “Chaya” or “Haya.” Instead she chose “Khaiyah” – an original choice
From
Jewishinstlouis.org

St. Louis
Jennifer Mass is a third-generation St. Louisan. Her parents, Joan Husch Mass and Larry Mass, and her maternal and paternal grandparents, are all from St. Louis.

Jennifer and her two siblings, Jesse and Paula, grew up in University City and Jennifer graduated University City High School in 1998. “Our family belonged to Central Reform Congregation and I had a Bat Mitzvah there, but religion never made much sense to me growing up, so there was kind of a void in that aspect of my life.”

Moving West
“I was always searching, and while studying at the University of North Carolina, I explored some Eastern philosophy. But it didn’t speak to me. After I received my Master’s Degree in Secondary Education, I accepted a teaching position in Los Angeles, where my brother Jesse lived. It was wonderful to be close to my brother, but my first year of teaching was problematic.
“The next year was the low point of my life. I was underemployed and I weighed about 180 pounds.”

Here’s how it turned around. “My brother Jesse had a business relationship with Nelly, the well-know St. Louis rapper. Nelly has an uncle, Amicham, who belongs to an extension of the Hebrew Israelite Community. Amicham became Jesse’s friend. When Jesse went to Israel with our grandmother, Rose Mass, for a two-week visit, Jesse insisted that they visit the Hebrew Israelite community in Dimona. Jesse was extremely impressed with the community and encouraged me to go and check it out for myself.”

Moving East
“Israel was never on the radar screen when I was growing up. It was one of the last places I ever thought I’d end up. Neither of my parents had ever visited. My only connection with the country was through my grandmother, Rose Mass. She always encouraged us to visit and offered to pay for the tickets.

“Thanks to my grandmother, I bought my ticket for Israel in December, 2005. I planned to stay for a few months. I stayed for 9 months. After spending some time in the US, I officially moved to Israel as a new immigrant in December, 2006.”

How does her mother, Joan, feel about this decision? “I am truly inspired by her decision. She had the courage to travel to a foreign country, not knowing anyone. She opened herself to a new society, a new way to eat and care for her body. She is a sensitive woman who cares deeply for others, especially for people who have less than herself. In the past, she was always selective and somewhat slow to choose things for herself. But after nine months in Israel, she knew it was the country for her. And she is flourishing.”

Coming Home
“Socially, physically, and intellectually I feel at home with the Hebrew Israelite Community in Dimona, a town in southern Israel,” says Khaiyah. “Socially, I felt comfortable from the very beginning in this mostly black community of about 2,000 members, known as Kibbutz Shomrei Hashalom (Guardians of Peace), one of the largest urban kibbutzim in Israel. I was adopted in three households. Language was not a barrier as their native tongue is English.

“Physically I have never felt better. I went from being a size 18 to a size 6. I am thriving on the community’s holistic life style. We are vegans, eating no meat, eggs, dairy products or foods with chemical additives. And intellectually, I accept their commitment to a New Humanity.”

For a 27-year old St. Louis woman, this is a new world. “It is a highly regimented world, with laws regulating what you eat and what you wear,” says Khaiyah. The name “Khaiyah” means that “G-d lives.” That’s the essence of my being,” she adds.

Khaiyah seems fulfilled. Is there anything she misses from St. Louis? Without skipping a beat, she responds – “my family and the St. Louis Cardinals.”

Written by former St. Louisan Leah Hakimian, who now lives in Jerusalem.

See: http://www.jewishinstlouis.org/page.html?ArticleID=45379&page=10

Magnitude 7.9 earthquake jolts Peru

Lima shaken; 17 reported killed in coastal city; tsunami warning canceled
MSNBC News Service

LIMA, Peru - A powerful earthquake shook Peru’s coast near the capital on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and injuring 200 as it toppled homes and caused many residents to flee buildings. Authorities said the quake had generated a small tsunami but it wasn't destructive.

The Lima newspaper Cronica Viva and other news services reported that 17 people were killed in the southern coastal city of Ica, the site of a popular annual Catholic pilgrimage at the Church of Lúren, which collapsed. At least 70 others were wounded there, witnesses said.

See: POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE ROCKS PERU

Passport rules snag child support cash

New regulations snarled travel this summer, but uncovered scofflaws
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The price of a passport: $311,491 in back child support payments for a U.S. businessman now living in China; $46,000 for a musician seeking to perform overseas, and $45,849 for a man planning a Dominican Republic vacation.

The new passport requirements that have complicated travel this summer also have uncovered untold numbers of child support scofflaws and forced them to pay millions.

The State Department denies passports to noncustodial parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support. Once the parents make good on their debts, they can reapply for passports.

See: Passport rules snag child support cash

Tropical Storm Churns Toward Texas

South Texas braced Wednesday for Tropical Storm Erin
By LYNN BREZOSKY,
Associated Press

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (Aug. 16) - South Texas braced Wednesday for Tropical Storm Erin to bring torrential downpours to a state that already has had one of its rainiest summers on record.

As the storm's outermost bands of rain touched the Texas coast, homeowners perused hardware stores in the Rio Grande Valley for supplies to board up their houses.

"They know the drill; they're familiar with it," said Ruben Dimas, assistant store manager at a Home Depot in Harlingen. Gov. Rick Perry ordered emergency vehicles and personnel, including National Guard troops, to the Harlingen and Corpus Christi areas. See: When Will Erin Make Landfall?

U.S. lags behind 41 nations in life span

Yahoo News

"Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries."

"Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.

"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington."

"Forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe had lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. in 2004."

"A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, according to the Census Bureau. It was followed by Japan, Maucau, San Marino and Singapore."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

Imus' settlement means he could return to air

Imus and CBS Radio agreed to a settlement
Associated Press

NEW YORK - Don Imus overcame a major obstacle Tuesday in his widely expected comeback bid, reaching a settlement with his former employer that allows him to return to the airwaves at a new station four months after he made a sexist and racist remark about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.

Imus and CBS Radio agreed to a settlement that pre-empts the fired radio personality’s threatened $120 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS, the company and Imus’ attorney said in a statement Tuesday. See : Imus could resume show

Megachurches, Megabusinesses

Today's churches aren't so different from corporations
Forbes.com

NEW YORK - Maybe churches aren't so different from corporations. World Changers Ministries, for instance, operates a music studio, publishing house, computer graphic design suite and owns its own record label.

Welcome to the megabusiness of megachurches, where pastors often act as chief executives and use business tactics to grow their congregations. This entrepreneurial approach has contributed to the explosive growth of megachurches--defined as non-Catholic churches with at least 2,000 members.

In 1970, there were just ten such churches, according to John Vaughn, founder of Church Growth Today, which tracks megachurches. In 1990, 250 fit that description. Today, there are 740. The most common trait that these churches share is their size; average number of worshippers is 3,646, up 4% from last year, according to Vaughn. But they also demonstrate business savvy, with many holding conferences (47%) and using radio (44%) and television (38%), according to a 1999 survey conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The average net income of megachurches was estimated at $4.8 million by that same survey.

See Complete Article: Megachurches, Megabusinesses - Forbes.com

Scientists create artificial sperm cells

Papers hype all-female conception
Yahoo News


Scientists say they have managed for the first time to create artificial sperm cells, a development that the popular press has seized upon as a sign that sterile men -- and even women -- may be able to fertilize eggs in the future.

The researchers turned adult stem cells from bone marrow into immature sperm cells. They're excited about the discovery, but say that it could take three to five years to develop a process whereby the cells develop into the more mature sperm cells found in the testes.

"This finding is of interest but we really need to be very cautious about the interpretation," a leading biologist tells BBC News.

No one seems to have shared that word of caution with the headline writers on Fleet Street. Here's how the story's being covered by the British press:

• Daily Mail: "A transplant technique has been devised that could effectively remove men from the process of creating life."

• Daily Telegraph: "Women could one day grow their own sperm, says a scientist who today claims to have turned bone marrow into early-stage sperm cells."

• The Independent: "Women might soon be able to produce sperm in a development that could allow lesbian couples to have their own biological daughters, according to a pioneering study published today."

On Your Feet: High Heels' Effects on the Body

Submitted by Tovleeyah
KNN-Ghana

Experts warn against what one group of foot doctors calls "cruel shoes" -- such as the high heels that Semmelhack says have historically been "one of the primary ways to express what [people] don't have to do," such as walk long distances and do strenuous work.

Shoes with "pointed toes, shoes with thin soles, and shoes with high spike heels" are of the cruel variety, according to the Web site of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society, because they can "cause crowding of the toes and increased pressure," which can result in hammertoes and bunions. The American Society of Podiatric Sports Medicine reports that a three-inch heel creates seven times more stress than a one-inch heel.

See:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/05/07/GR2007050700484.html?referrer=emaillink

Bonding with the New Covenant

Promoting a wave of Yah consciousness
By Yehuda H. Cohane -
KNN Resident Priest

In a world filled with deception, much misdirection and confusion, it is difficult for the human family to know where to turn for guidance; they have had no choice but to choose, that which has been given to them. They have been desensitized to the evil that fuels this contemporary civilization. We as the children of the Most Holy must be more inspired than ever to hasten an alternative into the consciousness of those who are seeking life and truth.

The Kingdom of Yah at Jerusalem possesses a people who have distinguished themselves in the eyes of the God of Israel. For forty years we have been on this course that has lead us now to a time in prophetic history wherein the record of our Fathers, the reputation that they obtained with him has been washed away/ cleaned up / repaired.

It is essential that you now know who you are in this prophetic development, and what you must do to continue to strengthen this unique relationship, this unique agreement known prophetically as the “New Covenant”.

We have got to understand the Covenant that has been made with us, our generation. We are bonded with a new Covenant now…and [I] will be their God, and they shall be my people.

“The Teaching Priests have certainly convinced us that there are Teaching Priests again! They have not had the opportunities to articulate during the course of the year in the fullness of classes so now every home during the course of the year they will visit the homes to teach and to restore honor, glory and the beauty of Yah (Yah’s Laws). Every individual from the smallest to the greatest in that intimate setting can understand this great inheritance and the great honor it is to be a part of this High, Holy and Sacred culture that we have.”
Ben Ammi. Memorial Passover Close-out message 2007

We are inviting you to strengthen your understanding by acquiring classes and study materials from the Prophetic Priesthood during this season.

Resident Priest and Scholar Yehuda H. Cohane will be offering classes and spiritual guidance available through KNN. For more information please contact Yehuda H. Cohane at pmhg2005@yahoo.com or Ahk Keymah at keymah777@aol.com. Yah Khai!!!!

DC to host it's 8th Annual "Return to Royalty River Cruise"

Join us on the evening of Saturday, August 18, 2007 from 8-11:00 p.m. For more info call (301) 324-6900 or go to http://www.everlastinglife.net/. We are looking forward to seeing you there!! Yah Khai!!!