America's Two Economies

America's Two Economies, and Why One Is Recovering and the Other Isn't
By Robert Reich
Robert Reich's Blog

Next time you hear an economist or denizen of Wall Street talk about how the "American economy" is doing these days, watch your wallet.

There are two American economies. One is on the mend. The other is still coming apart.

The one that's mending is America's Big Money economy. It's comprised of Wall Street traders, big investors, and top professionals and corporate executives.

The Big Money economy is doing well these days. That's partly thanks to Ben Bernanke, whose Fed is keeping interest rates near zero by printing money as fast as it dare. It's essentially free money to America's Big Money economy.

Free money can almost always be put to uses that create more of it. Big corporations are buying back their shares of stock, thereby boosting corporate earnings. They're merging and acquiring other companies.

And they're going abroad in search of customers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is back to where it was before the Lehman bankruptcy filing triggered the financial collapse. And profits at America's largest corporations are heading upward.

But there's another American economy, and it's not on the mend. Call it the Average Worker economy.

Last Friday's jobs report showed 159,000 new private-sector jobs in October. That's better than previous months. But 125,000 net new jobs are needed just to keep up with the growth of the American labor force. So another way of expressing what happened to jobs in October is to say 34,000 were added over what we need just to stay even.

Yet the American economy has lost 15 million jobs since the start of the Great Recession. And if you add in the growth of the labor force - including everyone too discouraged to look for a job - we're down about 22 million.

Or to put it another way, we're still getting nowhere on jobs.

One out of eight breadwinners is still out of work. Most families in the Average Worker economy rely on two breadwinners. So if one out of eight isn't working, chances are high that family incomes are down compared to what they were three years ago.

And that means the bills aren't getting paid.

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Vatican synod calls for end to Israel’s ‘occupation’

At conference on Christians in the Middle East, US Melkite archbishop says: "There is no longer a chosen people."
By Lisa Palmieri-Billig
Jerusalem Post Correspondent

ROME – Bishops from the Middle East who were summoned to Rome by the pope demanded on Saturday that Israel accept UN resolutions calling for an end to its “occupation” of Arab lands.

In a final joint communique, the bishops also told Israel it shouldn’t use the Bible to justify “injustices” against the Palestinians.

The bishops issued the statement at the close of their two-week meeting, called by Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the plight of Christians in the Middle East amid a major exodus of the faithful from the region.

The Catholic Church has long been a minority in the largely Muslim region but its presence is shrinking further as a result of war, conflict, discrimination and economic problems.

“The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands,” Monsignor Cyril Salim Bustros, Greek Melkite archbishop of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, Massachusetts, and president of the “Commission for the Message,” said at Saturday’s Vatican press conference.

Click here to see complete article: Vatican synod calls for end to Israel's 'occupation'

UK announces 490,000 job cuts

Harshest austerity measures since second world war unveiled as public spending is slashed to deal with country's debts

KNN News

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Britain will cut 490,000 public sector jobs over four years under austerity measures designed to reduce the country's record deficit.

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George Osborne, the finance minister, told parliament on Wednesday that the job losses were "unavoidable when the country has run out of money".

"Today is the day that Britain steps back from the brink.

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It is a hard road but it leads to a better future," he said.He said he had ordered $130bn in spending cuts by 2015, aiming to reduce Britain's deficit of 11 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to around two per cent within five years.

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The measures will also hit the welfare state, cutting child benefits and pushing the state pension to 66 by 2020.The cuts come as figures reveal British public sector spending in September reached $25.5bn - a record high level for the month.

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Analysts had initially forecast a slight rise from September 2009's public net borrowing of $24.4bn.ProtestsSmall protests against the cuts are already taking place with larger marches and rallies scheduled to take place in London, the capital, later on Wednesday.

Nazanine Moshiri, Al Jazeera's correspondent in London, said demonstrations so far were not matching the scale of anti-austerity protests seen previously in Europe."We're not seeing anything like the kind of protests we've seen in the streets of Paris in the last few days. "People here are looking at this as a way of blaming the previous government of the Labour party for what has happened, rather than blaming the current coalition government."

But she added the move was a "big gamble" for the Conservative-Liberal Democrat alliance."If the economy doesn't start to grow, who knows what could happen here," she said.

"Double Dip" Risk
Ruth Lea, a British economist, told Al Jazeera that Wednesday's cuts were needed to reduce the deficit.

"If we don't cut now the generations to come will have to pay for all this," she said.

Lea added that the prospect of a "double-dip" recession was unlikely, saying: "Even though we talk about these enormous cuts they only mean one per cent year-on-year," she said.

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The International Monetary Fund has strongly backed plans for an aggressive reduction of Britain's record high public deficit, describing spending cuts as an "essential" weapon.

But some economists have warned that the measures will tip Britain back into recession.

Mervyn King, the central bank governor, painted a gloomy picture late on Tuesday, saying it would be a long while before Britain could recover from the 10 per cent drop in output seen in the last recession.

The opposition Labour Party, which the current Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government blames for running up Britain's massive debt when it was in power, has agreed there is a need for fiscal discipline.

But it says that the coalition are cutting too much too soon.

Alan Johnson, Labour's shadow finance minister, accused Osborne of "economic masochism", warning that his cuts would leave Britain trapped in a cycle of low growth and high unemployment for years.

Wednesday's measures will see spending cut across government departments, including the Foreign Office, which will lose 24 per cent from its budget, the police force, and the interior and justice departments.

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The BBC is also being affected by the measures, with the government cutting funding to the World Service.The plans are also extending to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, with royal household spending falling by 14 per cent in 2012 to 2013.

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However the National Health Service, schools and overseas aid have been protected under the spending review.The National Institute of Economic and Social Research think tank has said it believes the government will only be able to push through half the planned cuts.

7 Ways to Boost Your Energy

Many of us are looking for energy in all the wrong places
by Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

Fatigue is one of the biggest problems of modern life, but we’re trying to fix that problem in all the wrong ways.

Trying to “get” or “find” energy is like trying to grab a fistful of water. If you want water (energy) to sit in your hand, you have to first create the conditions under which it’s possible — in the case of water, keeping your fingers tightly together and your hand cupped while open will do the trick — but trying to grab the water will not. It’s the same thing with energy.

Energy isn’t something you get or grab, but rather the by-product of certain conditions that allow it to show up in your life. If your health and attitude and body and mind are all aligned in the right way, there’s nothing else for you to do but to feel energized. It’s the natural “side-effect” of a healthy life — it just comes with the territory.

Let’s say you were a swimmer wearing a weight belt and you wanted to increase your time in the 50-yard freestyle. You could spend a lot of effort researching the latest titanium high-tech bathing suit — which might add a second or two to your time — but wouldn’t it be a lot more effective to simply drop the weight belt?

Most of us are carrying around weight belts and looking to increase our energy with coffee and stimulants when in fact if we just dropped the weight belt we’d automatically go faster.

Some of the items on our weight belt are: too little sleep, disorganization, toxic relationships, high-carb diets, undetected food sensitivities, and all sorts of other facts of modern life that I discuss in detail in my book, The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy. In this article I’m going to suggest seven ways to help drop the weight belt from your energy tank. Do them and you may be surprised at what a boost in energy they give you.

1) Support your liver.
You can help your liver do its job more effectively — and boost your energy in the bargain — by taking a daily dose of an herb called milk thistle. I consider the liver to be the most misunderstood and under-appreciated organ in the human body, because when it’s not working right, the first thing to suffer is your energy. Giving the liver all the nutrients it needs to perform its daily tasks is one of the most important things you can do to boost your energy.

2) Get ten minutes of sun every day.
“The sun gives you strength, lifts your spirits and is a source of energy”, says my friend Al Sears, MD, author of Your Best Health Under the Sun. Like a growing body of health experts, Sears thinks we’ve become so sun phobic that we’re missing out on the myriad mood-boosting and energy-enhancing benefits that vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin has to offer.

3) Disconnect for a day.
One of the great energy drainers of the 21st century is information overload. We’re deluged with stuff coming at us from emails, RSS feeds, blogs, social networking sites, TV, magazines, radio, fax machines, Blackberries… you get the picture. Knowledge may be power, but information overload is just… well, noise. Try a media-free day and feel your own energy accumulate — rather than dissipate as you attend to millions of distractions. Most of the chatter, when you think about it, won’t make much difference in the long run anyway. (If you find the idea of disconnecting for a day a frightening thought, you are exactly the person who needs to do it the most!)

4) Try the “No-Frills, No-Excuses, Anytime-Anywhere” workout.
We all know that exercise helps with energy — at least I hope we do — but when it comes to working out, time remains a big obstacle for many people. Here’s my own “no excuses” lo-tech workout that you can do just about anywhere in as little as 15 or 20 minutes for an amazing boost in energy: 1) run a mile, 2) do some squats, 3) do some push-ups, 4) do some crunches. Stretch and go about your business refreshed and energized. And if you can’t go out and run the mile, do some jumping jacks in your office, or run the stairs.

5) Revive your “qi”.
Acupuncture is based on the precepts of traditional Chinese Medicine that says the body and mind are inextricably linked; that vital energy, or qi, regulates a person’s spiritual, mental and physical health; that each of us is a delicate balance of opposing and inseparable forces called yin and yang — and when that balance is disrupted, vital energy becomes blocked or weakened. When our qi (energy) is at optimal levels and flowing smoothly, we’re ready to take on the world. Spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically we’re strong, healthy and energized. One terrific way to balance that energy is through acupuncture.

6) De-clutter and deep-six the energy drain. Here’s a rule I’ve found to be a universal truth: your energy has a perfect inverse relationship to the accumulation of stuff you don’t need. The more unwanted, unused, unneeded stuff you have cluttering up your life, the less energy you have. Believe it or not, the condition of your desk (and desktop) and office and living space actually reflects a lot of what’s going on in your head. If you take time to organize and de-clutter, you’ll actually be freeing up a lot of psychic space, and that can really turbo-charge your energy.

7) Take the right supplements.
While supplements don’t really “give” you energy, they can correct metabolic issues that are draining it. They can also speed along certain pathways that are nutrient-dependent and that get sluggish (and energy draining) when those nutrients are in short supply. One terrific energizing nutrient is coenzyme Q10. It helps transform fats and sugars into energy and is a potent antioxidant.

Vegan spot offers flavor

Soul Vegetarian restaurant serves one hundred percent vegan cuisine
By McQuisha Smith
FAMU - Staff Editor

At 11 a.m. Ahmahtsiyah B. Rahm opens Soul Vegetarian with a smiling face peeking from behind his salt-and-pepper beard. Customers inhale the aroma of barbeque tofu, vegan macaroni and cheese and fresh steamed collard greens.

Soul Vegetarian is a vegan restaurant that features a full menu of lunch platters, sandwiches, specialty drinks and more.

"Soul Vegetarian is an off-shoot of the African Hebrew Israelite community of Jerusalem," said Rahm.

"Part of our culture is a vegan diet, so we opened restaurants for the public to partake in a one-hundred percent vegan cuisine with no animal products," Rahm said.

In 1996, the Jerusalem community participated in the Olympics in Atlanta. Customers were served from three mobile food trailers.

"Once the Olympics were over, there was an opportunity for us to purchase a food trailer here in Tallahassee," Rahm said.

Soul Vegetarian began first serving on Florida A&'M's campus in 1997.

"We worked the food trailer for 13 years on ‘The Set' every Friday up until last year, but now we have our own building," Rahm said.

"I found out about Soul Vegetarian my freshman year," said Craig Beacham, a senior philosophy student from Prince George's County, Md.

Beacham has been vegan for almost three years, and visits Soul Vegetarian to go to get a quick meal.

"It's definitely makes it easier; it's convenient when you're on the move," Beacham said.

Beacham believes his support of small chains like Soul Vegetarian is a part of what helps sustain the vital community restaurant.

"You're supporting a business, you're supporting a family and community with a positive vision," Beacham said.

"It works for people in a transition from a meat-based diet to a plant-based diet," said Ariel Wright, a master of social work student at Florida State and two-year vegetarian from Alexandria Va., also agrees that Soul Vegetarian is a good place for students.

"They bring a lot of different communities together, you have people who are vegan and non-vegan come together." Wright said.

Beacham and Wright said some of their favorites include the vegan pizza, Garvey burger and their blue berry smoothie.

"Our goal is to motivate people to eat better and live better." Rahm said.

Soul Vegetarian is located on 1205D South Adams St.

"I recommend Soul Vegetarian to people who are vegetarian and who aren't, the food there is good." Beacham said.

Rahm is glad to be able to give another alternative of food for his customers; he believes that having a healthy diet is crucial. "Our goal is to motivate people to eat better and live better." Rahm said.

Soul Vegetarian is located on 1205d South Adams Street, they are open Monday-Friday 11a.m to 7p.m., and Saturday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Recession rips at US marriages, expands income gap

Pleas for food stamps have reached a record high
Associated Press

The recession seems to be socking Americans in the heart as well as the wallet: Marriages have hit an all-time low while pleas for food stamps have reached a record high and the gap between rich and poor has grown to its widest ever.

The long recession technically ended in mid-2009, economists say, but U.S. Census data released Tuesday show the painful, lingering effects. The annual survey covers all of last year, when unemployment skyrocketed to 10 percent, and the jobless rate is still a stubbornly high 9.6 percent.

The figures also show that Americans on average have been spending about 36 fewer minutes in the office per week and are stuck in traffic a bit less than they had been. But that is hardly good news, either. The reason is largely that people have lost jobs or are scraping by with part-time work.

"Millions of people are stuck at home because they can't find a job. Poverty increased in a majority of states, and children have been hit especially hard," said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau.

The economic "indicators say we're in recovery, but the impact on families and children will linger on for years," he said.

Take marriage.

In America, marriages fell to a record low in 2009, with just 52 percent of adults 18 and over saying they were joined in wedlock, compared to 57 percent in 2000.

The never-married included 46.3 percent of young adults 25-34, with sharp increases in single people in cities in the Midwest and Southwest, including Cleveland, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Albuquerque, N.M. It was the first time the share of unmarried young adults exceeded those who were married.

Marriages have been declining for years due to rising divorce, more unmarried couples living together and increased job prospects for women. But sociologists say younger people are also now increasingly choosing to delay marriage as they struggle to find work and resist making long-term commitments.

In dollar terms, the rich are still getting richer, and the poor are falling further behind them.

The income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew last year to its largest margin ever, a stark divide as Democrats and Republicans spar over whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy.

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New 'McDonald's death ad' Promotes Vegetarianism

'McDonald's (video) death ad' airs, proclaims "I was lovin' it"

Click here to view video or view below.

Tonight's "Daily Show" probably will have a pretty big audience thanks to Bill Clinton dropping by for a chat with host Jon Stewart. But some doctors will be watching for a different reason: the commercials.

During tonight's show, a commercial called the "McDonald's death ad" will run in the D.C. area. And it has stirred up controversy before it has even aired.

The 30-second spot, produced by the nonprofit group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, features an off-tune McDonald's theme song playing while a weeping women stands above a dead man. As the camera pans away, the golden McDonald's arches are drawn over the man's feet.

The tagline appears: "I was lovin' it" -- a riff on McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" ad campaign.

Susan Levin, the director of nutrition education at PCRM, says the group hopes the ad educates people on the dangers of eating fast food.

In case the ad's viewers missed the connection, the corpse is covered by a sheet, but his hand still grips a half-eaten hamburger.

Steve Siebold, the author of "Die Fat or Get Tough," said the advertisement shoulders McDonald's with the responsibility for obesity but people should be blamed for lacking control. "We're eating ourselves to death," he says. "Every eighth-grader knows McDonald's is not good for you."

Levin, a registered dietitian, said that may not be true. "McDonald's would say, 'We have a healthy menu.' They spend billions of dollars to convince us that's true. I think it's naive to assume that everyone thinks that eating at McDonald's is wrong for you."

She hopes the ad makes a small dent in what she sees as misleading advertising from McDonald's. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine advocates for a meat-free diet. The commercial ends with the words, "Tonight, Make It Vegetarian."

The ad will roll out in Washington first Levin said, as it has high concentration of fast-food restaurants and about 1,500 area residents who die annually from heart disease. The commercial will be shown in other U.S. cities in the next few days.

Bridget Coffing, vice president of McDonald's Global Communications, responded to the advertisement with an e-mailed statement: "This commercial is outrageous, misleading and unfair to all consumers. McDonald's trusts our customers to put such outlandish propaganda in perspective, and to make food and lifestyle choices that are right for them."

The Link Between Poverty, Obesity and Diabetes

In the wealthiest nation in the world, one in five children live in poverty
Mark Hyman, MD
Practicing Physician
The Huffington Post

Not having enough food to eat may cause obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Most of us think the chronic disease epidemic is fueled by abundance, but it may be fueled as much by food scarcity and insecurity as it is by excess. And, right now, America is suffering from the highest levels of poverty and food insecurity that it has seen in more than a decade.

In 2008 49 million Americans--including 16.7 million children--lived in a home at risk of not having enough food on the table every day. After working in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, I learned that one in two Haitians wake up every day not knowing where their next meal will come from. But right here in the wealthiest nation in the world, one in five children live in poverty, one in four children live on food stamps, and one in 10 people don't know where their next meal will come from.

The Census Bureau recently reported that the nation's poverty rate increased to 14.3 percent in 2009--the highest level we've seen since 1994. 43.6 million Americans lived below the poverty line in 2009, earning less than $21,954 per year for a family of four or $10,956 for an individual. We now have the highest number of people living on the threshold of poverty in the history of government record keeping.

The poorest areas of the country are also the sickest and have the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and premature death. These people are dying younger, and life expectancy is plummeting in the poorest states. These states also happen to be the fattest. For example, Mississippi--the poorest state in the union--has poverty rates over 20 percent, obesity rates over 33 percent, and extremely high childhood obesity rates. This is no coincidence.

How does not having enough to eat cause obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and early death? Let's investigate.

Food Insecurity: The Root of Obesity and Disease
The Life Sciences Research Office says food insecurity exists "whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (e.g., without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies) is limited or uncertain." This may mean going hungry for some. But for a large portion of Americans floating on or sinking beneath the poverty line this means bingeing on cheap, sugary, starchy, fatty calories in order to avoid hunger.

Many poor people in this country are consuming an excess of nutritionally-depleted, cheap calories from sodas, processed foods, and junk food. These folks scarcely eat whole, fresh foods at all, and for good reason: We have made calories cheap, but real food expensive.

Almost $300 billion of government subsidies support an agriculture industry that focuses on quantity not quality, on producing cheap sugar and fats from corn and soy that fuel both hunger and obesity. These calorie-rich, sugary, processed foods are what most people buy if they don't have enough money. You can fill up on 1200 calories of cookies or potato chips for $1, but you'll only get 250 calories from carrots for that same $1. If you were hungry, what would you buy?

Processed foods have become cheaper as real food grows more expensive. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that between 1985 and 2000 the retail price of carbonated soft drinks rose by 20 percent, fats and oils by 35 percent, and sugars and sweets by 46 percent. Compare that to the 118 percent increase in the retail price of fresh fruits and vegetables. In fifteen years the price of vegetables ballooned six times as fast as the cost of sugary, calorie-rich, nutrient-poor sodas.

This is further compounded by the fact that in some communities in America, the only place to buy food is a local convenience store where fruits, vegetables, or other whole, fresh, real foods cannot be found. Without a car in an urban setting you may have to walk miles to find anything resembling real food.

Social factors like these set the stage for the epidemics of obesity and disease we are facing. This in combination with the nature of human metabolism put our nation's poor in a trap from which it is very difficult to escape.

How the Biology of Starvation Contributes to Disease
What often happens in poverty-stricken families is a hunger-bingeing cycle that follows the economic conditions in the household. When resources come in, people buy cheap, abundant calories in the form of junk and processed foods that fill them up and stave off hunger. This leads to rapid fat storage--a common biological effect after a period of lower calorie intake or hunger. This is simply how human metabolism works.

When calories are scarce metabolism slows down and muscle is lost. As a result the blood sugar imbalances that drive the process of insulin resistance and lead to pre-diabetes and diabetes worsens, and soon people are caught in a recurrent pattern of bingeing on nutrient-poor calories once resources are again available.

Certainly people can learn to eat better for less as I pointed out in my recent blog on the topic, and doing so is an essential part of what needs to happen to break out of this cycle of poverty and disease as I will discuss more below. That said, breaking the hunger-binge cycle is easier said than done. Bingeing after food scarcity and the increased fat accumulation and insulin resistance that come along with it are hard-wired biological mechanisms to prevent us from starvation. Once you have diabetes, engaging in this cycle makes blood sugar control that much more difficult and leads to the swings of high and low sugar that drive health problems and their related costs.

Diabetics without access to adequate food have fives times as many doctor visits as diabetics who have enough to eat on a regular basis. The burden this creates in families already struggling to stay afloat is unspeakable. It's like they are caught in a Grecian hell--pushing the boulder of economic burden up a hill they will never see the top of, reaching for fruit that grows ever further from their reach.

We need to rethink how and what we feed our nation or the epidemics of disease and obesity will consume us. In Haiti, one in two people worry about where their next meal will come from. In America it is one in 10. In order to shift this we need a bold new vision and initiatives that can change our food culture and food availability.

Here are a few initiatives and ideas that may help shift this frightening tide of poverty and disease:

1. Stop or reduce subsidies of agriculture products that allow for the glut of cheap, high-calorie, nutrient-poor sugars and fats from corn and soy into the marketplace.

2. Consider taxing sugar and processed food to support national food programs and community projects, and help cover the hundreds of billions of dollars of health care costs from increasing obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

3. Fund community-based initiatives to support healthy eating including community kitchens, gardens, and cooking classes that teach how to make good food cheaply. This is part of the new health care bill, and on the agenda of the new Council on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health.

4. Make school lunches healthy by providing only real food and modeling healthy eating. Food can be both fun for you and good for you. Create national standards based on sound 21st century nutritional science and common sense. Most schools have only a microwave or deep fryer, hardly the tools needed to feed our children real, fresh food.

5. Expand the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp Program). Increasing eligibility, helping those who are not aware they are eligible enroll, and creating new programs that support consumption of more healthful foods could shift the tide of the widening socioeconomic disparities in chronic disease. You should not be able to buy chips and soda with food stamps.

Everyone reading could also sign up for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and learn a recipe using inexpensive, fresh, whole food to create a delicious meal and teach that recipe to three people. They, in turn, could teach three more people. After just a few rounds of that, all of America would learn how to feed themselves again.

We need to reclaim our food supply and revive traditional ways of eating. As Michael Pollan says, "If 'food' was made in a plant, don't eat it. If it grows on a plant, then enjoy!"
To your good health,

The Return of Edenic Soul

by Ahdeerah E. Michael
KNN-Atlanta

Edenic Soul is a live music series that features mostly independent artists who are committed to making music with a message. Hosted by spoken soul artist Fhena, it is a blend of open mic for vocalists and poets, feature performances and after party. Committed to presenting the highest quality entertainment in an atmosphere that is positive and peaceful, Edenic Soul is offering a new vibration of soul. The venue is non-smoking, non-alcoholic so all ages are welcome.

This installment features Atlanta based Starchile (starchile.com) and Ammi from Antigua. Check out www.myspace.com/edenicsoul to hear Ammi's fire vibe. Providing the backdrop for the evening is house band Fuzzy Logic and special guest sound moderator DJ 4th Wurld! Don't hear about it, be a part of the experience!

Sugarless & Live Weeks are coming soon!

KNN-Village of Peace
Dimona, Israel

In its continual ascension into the higher realms in pursuit of perfect health and Everlasting Life, the Ministry of Divine Health under the auspices of the African Hebrew Israelite Community of Jerusalem has taken the reigns in regulating Sugarless and Live (raw) Foods consumption Weeks. This quarterly cycle of cleansing and rejuvenation was created by and for the Community's members, and has been observed worldwide for several years. This cycle is a viable health-enhancing lifestyle addition for anyone in pursuit of excellent health, a more vibrant life, more abundant strength, energy and longevity.

For ample time to prepare and put in place necessary procedures and items relative to this cycle such as obtaining maple syrup and other suitable sweeteners, fitting colon cleansers into the routine, scheduling colonics/colemas, ionic foot baths, etcetera, prior to the upcoming seasonal cycle, please make a note of the following dates:

03 September-Sugarless Week will begin at sunset on Yom Sheshe (Friday).
11 September-Sugarless Week will end on Mohtsai Shabbaht (Saturday at sunset).

11 September-Live Week will begin on Mohtsai Shabbaht (Saturday at sunset).
17 September-Live Week will end on Yom Sheshe (Friday) at sunset.

To date, the manifold benefits and blessings of Sugarless and Live Foods Weeks have been appreciated worldwide by thousands of Community members and non-members alike. Each season, these individuals reap its delicious fruits and bear precious personal testimonies of health success towards the attainment and maintenance of optimal health.

The standard, "curative" global health model's un-healthy evidence has been well documented. An alternative, "preventive" healthy model testifies of decreases in:

•frequency of hospital, doctor and pharmacy visits,
•occurrences of unpaid leave and "sick days" off of work due to illness,

•dependency on high-cost, high-risk pharmaceuticals and medical interventions.


Healthy lifestyle adjustments also brings in testimonies of increases in:
•weight loss,
•a more youthful appearance,
•intestinal (bowel) regularity,
•greater overall sense of well-being,
•ability to think/reason more clearly,
•ability to achieve a more sound sleep,
•greater relief from former troubling ailments,
•sense of empowerment, control of and responsibility for one's own health,
•greater financial freedom (more time at work earning full salary due to better health),

These health benefits are best achieved through consistent, conscientious application of the tried and proven health-enhancing lifestyle practices as a safeguard in the prevention of dis-ease.

To learn more about Sugarless and Live Foods consumption weeks, please click here. Otherwise, simply stay tuned to KNN for seasonal Sugarless and Live Foods Week updates.

For holistic health-related inquiries, The Ministry of Divine Health may be contacted at divine.healers@yahoo.com


"We are encouraging all to utilize this special cycle of Sugarless and Live Foods Weeks to prepare the Adamic mind/soul/body complex for the physical and spiritual elevation of THE NEW MAN."
-Ministry of Divine Health

KNN Offers Wholesale Maple Syrup

Maple Syrup can be sweet for your health and pocket
by Ahtur Keymah
KNN-Cleveland

Maple syrup is one of the many wonders of the world. It is an excellent source of manganese and a good source of zinc. Maple syrup can also be sweet for your health as it is an excellent source of manganese and zinc.

The trace mineral manganese is an essential cofactor in a number of enzymes important in energy production and antioxidant defenses. For example, the key oxidative enzyme superoxide dismutase, which disarms free radicals produced within the mitochondria (the energy production factories within our cells), requires manganese. One ounce of maple syrup supplies 22.0% of the daily value for this very important trace mineral.

Maple syrup is also a good sweetener to use if you are trying to protect the health of your heart. The zinc supplied by maple syrup, in addition to acting as an antioxidant, has other functions that can decrease the progression of arteriosclerosis. Zinc is needed for the proper function of endothelial cells and helps to prevent the endothelial damage caused by oxidized LDL cholesterol and other oxidized fats. Additionally, studies have found that in adults deficient in manganese, the other trace mineral amply supplied in maple syrup, the level of HDL (the "good" cholesterol) is decreased.

Zinc and manganese are important allies in the immune system. Many types of immune cells appear to depend upon zinc for optimal function. Particularly in children, researchers have studied the effects of zinc deficiency (and zinc supplementation) on their immune response and their number of white blood cells.

Maple syrup may help to support reproductive health and provides special benefits for men. Zinc is concentrated more highly in the prostate than in any other human tissue, and low levels of zinc in this gland relate to a higher risk for prostate cancer. In fact, zinc is a mineral used therapeutically by healthcare practitioners to help reduce prostate size. Manganese may also play a role in supporting men's health since, as a catalyst in the synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol, it also participates in the production of sex hormones, thus helping to maintain reproductive health.

For more info and to place your orders for maple syrup and granulated maple sugar, contact Ahtur Keymah today at keymah777@aol.com.

The Bitter Truth About Energy Drinks

Recent Study Highlights The Potential Harm In Energy Drinks
by Scott James
ArticleTrader.com

A recent study has provided interesting outline evidence that suggests that possibly drinking energy drinks can cause significant irregularities within the drinker’s blood pressure. Now it has to be said right at the start that while this is a fairly small survey, the results it provides do make interesting reading and are well worth paying attention to.

Basically the issue is this. “Energy” drinks unlike sports drinks that contain water, sugar and salts are known to contain quite high levels of Caffeine and a substance known as Taurine that is aimed purely at increasing energy and/or “alertness”. Now Taurine, which is an Amino acid and is found in protein foods like fish or meat also has the same properties as Caffeine and hence as has been proved in the past can lead to raised blood pressure.

Now the initial results of this survey and study and I do need to re-emphasize at this particular point in time that it is indeed a small study, have provided us with the results that showed the following:

Basically researchers took 15 healthy young adults, who were volunteers and the group comprised of seven men and eight women whose average age was about 26 years and got them to stop consuming caffeine from other sources two days before also during the duration of the study. The researchers took the volunteers and at the outset of the study recorded the blood pressure and heart rate and carried out an ECG (electrocardiogram) to assess the heart function of each volunteer.

To Read More Click Here: Recent Study Highlights The Potential Harm In Energy Drinks

Solar Tsunami to Strike Earth Tonight

The Sun's surface erupted early Sunday morning, blasting tons of plasma into interplanetary space -- directly towards the Earth.

That wall of ionized atoms should hit the planet tonight, say scientists, creating a geomagnetic storm and a spectacular light show and possibly threatening satellites in orbit.

"This eruption is directed right at us and is expected to get here early in the day on Aug. 4th," said Leon Golub of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "It's the first major Earth-directed eruption in quite some time."

The solar eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, was spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which captures high-definition views of the sun at a variety of wavelengths. SDO was launched in February and peers deep into the layers of the sun, investigating the mysteries of its inner workings.

"We got a beautiful view of this eruption," Golub said. "And there might be more beautiful views to come if it triggers aurorae."

Views of aurorae are usually associated with Canada and Alaska, but even skywatchers in the northern U.S. mainland are being told they can look toward the north Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for rippling "curtains" of green and red light.

When a coronal mass ejection reaches Earth, solar particles stream down our planet's magnetic field lines toward the poles. In the process, the particles collide with atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere, which then glow, creating an effect similar to miniature neon signs.

The interaction of the solar particles with our planet's magnetic field has the potential to create geomagnetic storms, or disturbances in Earth's magnetosphere. And while aurorae are normally visible only at high latitudes, they can light up the sky even at lower latitudes during a geomagnetic storm.

The solar particles could also affect satellites, though scientists think that possibility is remote. Orbital Sciences Corp. believe a similar blast may have been knocked its Galaxy 15 satellite permanently out of action.

The sun's activity usually ebbs and flows on a fairly predictable cycle. Typically, a cycle lasts about 11 years, taking roughly 5.5 years to move from a solar minimum, a period of time when there are few sunspots, to peak at the solar maximum, during which sunspot activity is amplified.

The last solar maximum occurred in 2001. The latest minimum was particularly weak and long- lasting. The most recent solar eruption is one of the first signs that the sun is waking up and heading toward another maximum.

Bubonic Plague outbreak hits northern Peru

Associated Press
Lima, Peru

Peru's health minister says an outbreak of plague has killed a 14-year-old boy and infected at least 31 people in a northern coastal province.

Health Minister Oscar Ugarte says authorities are screening sugar and fish meal exports from Ascope province, located about 325 miles (520 kms) northwest of Lima. Popular Chicama beach isn't far away.

Ugarte says the boy, who had Down syndrome, died of bubonic plague July 26.

He said Monday that most of the infections are bubonic plague, with four cases of pneumonic plague. The former is transmitted by flea bites, the latter by airborne contagion. The disease is curable if treated early with antibiotics.

The first recorded plague outbreak in Peru was in 1903. The last, in 1994, killed 35 people.

Gulf separating rich and poor widest ever

Maude Barlow:
“The World Has Divided into Rich and Poor as at No Time in History”
DemocracyNow.org

As world leaders gathered in Toronto for the G20 summit last week, leading activists from around the world joined thousands in Toronto's Massey Hall to oppose the G20 agenda. Among those who spoke was Maude Barlow. She heads the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest public advocacy organization. She's founder of the Blue Planet Project. This is a part of what she had to say.

MAUDE BARLOW: On the eve of this G-20 gathering, let's look at a few facts. Fact, the world has divided into rich and poor as at no time in our history. The richest 2% own more than half the household wealth in the world. The richest 10% hold 85% of total global assets and the bottom half of humanity owns less than 1% of the wealth in the world. The three richest men in the world have more money than the poorest 48 countries. Fact, while those responsible for the 2008 global financial crisis were bailed out and even rewarded by the G-20 government's gathering here, the International Labor Organization tells us that in 2009, 34 million people were added to the global unemployed, swelling those ranks to 239 million, the highest ever recorded.

Another 200 million are at risk in precarious jobs and the World Bank tells us that at the end of 2010, another 64 million will have lost their jobs. By 2030, more than half the population of the megacities of the Global South will be slumdwellers with no access to education, health care, water, or sanitation. Fact, global climate change is rapidly advancing, claiming at
least 300,000 lives and $125 billion in damages every year. Called the silent crisis, climate change is melting glaciers, eroding soil, causing freak and increasingly wild storms, displacing untold millions from rural communities to live in desperate poverty in peri-urban centers. Almost every victim lives in the Global South in communities not responsible for greenhouse gas emissions and not represented here at the summit.

The atmosphere has already warmed up a full degree in the last several decades and is on course to warm up another two degrees by 2100. Fact, half the tropical forests in the world, the lungs of our ecosystem, are gone. By 2030, at the present rate of extraction or so-called harvest, only 10% will be left standing. 90% of the big fish in the sea are gone, victim to wanton predatory fishing practice. Says a prominent scientist studying their demise, there is no blue frontier left. Half the world's wetlands, the kidneys of our ecosystem, have been destroyed in the 20th century.

Species extinction is taking place at a rate 1,000 times greater than before humans existed. According to a Smithsonian scientist, we are headed toward of biodiversity deficit in which species and ecosystems will be destroyed at a rate faster than nature can replace them with new ones. Fact, we are polluting our lakes, rivers and streams to death. Every day, two million tons of sewage and industrial agricultural waste are discharged into the world's water. That's the equivalent of the entire human population of 6.8 billion people. The amount of waste water produced annually is about six times more water than exists in all the rivers of the world. We are minding our ground water faster than we can replenish it, sucking it to grow water guzzling chemical-fed crops in deserts or to water thirsty cities who dump an astounding 700 trillion liters of land-based water into oceans every year as waste.

The global mining industry sucks up another 800 trillion liters which it also leaves behind as poison and fully one-third of global water withdrawals are now used to produce biofuels, enough water to feed the world. Nearly three billion people on our planet do not have running water within a kilometer of their home and every eight seconds, somewhere in our world, a child is dying of waterborne disease. The global water crisis is getting steadily worse with reports of countries from India to Pakistan to Yemen facing depletion. The World Bank says that by 2030, demand for water will outstrip supply by 40%. This may sound just like a statistic, but the suffering behind that is absolutely unspeakable. Fact, knowing there will not be enough food and water for all in the near future, wealthy countries and global investment pension and hedge funds are buying up land and water, fields and forests in the Global South, creating a new wave of invasive colonialism that will have huge geopolitical ramifications.

Rich countries faced by food shortages have already bought up an area in Africa alone more than twice the size of the United Kingdom. Now I don't think I exaggerate if I say that our world has never faced a greater set of threats and issues than it does today. So what are the twenty leaders who have gathered here, some already here and the others coming in tonight, what are they going to talk about over the next two days? By the way, their summit costs $1 million a minute. By the way, we figure it's going to be closer to $2 billion when it's finished, and the annual budget to run the United Nations is $1.9 billion. I assure you, they are not going to tackle the above issues in any serious way. The declarations have already been drafted, the failures already spun.

Instead, this global royalty who have more in common with one another than they do with their own citizens and they are here really to advance the issues and interest of their class are also here just to advance the status quo that serves the interest of the elite in their own countries and the business community or the B-20, the new term, a community that will get
private and privileged access to advance their free market solutions to these eager leaders. The agenda is more of the bad medicine that made the world sick in the first place. Environmental deregulation, unbridled financial speculation, unlimited growth, unregulated free trade, relentless resource exploitation, tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to Social Security and a war on working people. In other words, savage capitalism. Now let's look at our own country here and the assault that has been launched on the work of generations of Canadians toward a just society. Stephen Harper's government has cut the heart out of any group that dissents, from First Nations people, to women, to international agencies and church groups like KAIROS, Alternative, and the Canadian Council for International Cooperation.

AMY GOODMAN: Maude Barlow, one of the major speakers at the event at Massey Hall on Friday night. Three thousand people packed-in to the Toronto event. This was at the same time the G8 and then the G20 met. Between 900 and 1,000 people are believed to have been arrested, the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Among them, many journalists. More than a billion dollars, it's believed, were spent on so-called security, the most expensive security event in Canadian history.

Calling All Future-Eaters

by Chris Hedges
TruthDig.com

The human species during its brief time on Earth has exhibited a remarkable capacity to kill itself off. Modern industrial warfare in the 20th century took at least 100 million lives, most of them civilians. And now we sit passive and dumb as corporations and the leaders of industrialized nations ensure that climate change will accelerate to levels that could mean the extinction of our species. Homo sapiens, as the biologist Tim Flannery points out, are the "future-eaters."

In the past when civilizations went belly up through greed, mismanagement and the exhaustion of natural resources, human beings migrated somewhere else to pillage anew. But this time the game is over. There is nowhere else to go. The industrialized nations spent the last century seizing half the planet and dominating most of the other half. We giddily exhausted our natural capital, especially fossil fuel, to engage in an orgy of consumption and waste that poisoned the Earth and attacked the ecosystem on which human life depends. It was quite a party if you were a member of the industrialized elite. But it was pretty stupid.

Collapse this time around will be global. We will disintegrate together. And there is no way out. The 10,000-year experiment of settled life is about to come to a crashing halt. And humankind, which thought it was given dominion over the Earth and all living things, will be taught a painful lesson in the necessity of balance, restraint and humility. There is no human monument or city ruin that is more than 5,000 years old. Civilization, Ronald Wright notes in "A Short History of Progress," "occupies a mere 0.2 percent of the two and a half million years since our first ancestor sharpened a stone." Bye-bye, Paris. Bye-bye, New York. Bye-bye, Tokyo. Welcome to the new experience of human existence, in which rooting around for grubs on islands in northern latitudes is the prerequisite for survival.

We view ourselves as rational creatures. But is it rational to wait like sheep in a pen as oil and natural gas companies, coal companies, chemical industries, plastics manufacturers, the automotive industry, arms manufacturers and the leaders of the industrial world, as they did in Copenhagen, take us to mass extinction? It is too late to prevent profound climate change. But why add fuel to the fire? Why allow our ruling elite, driven by the lust for profits, to accelerate the death spiral? Why continue to obey the laws and dictates of our executioners?

The news is grim. The accelerating disintegration of Arctic Sea ice means that summer ice will probably disappear within the next decade. The open water will absorb more solar radiation, significantly increasing the rate of global warming. The Siberian permafrost will disappear, sending up plumes of methane gas from underground. The Greenland ice sheet and the Himalayan-Tibetan glaciers will melt. Jay Zwally, a NASA climate scientist, declared in December 2007: "The Arctic is often cited as the canary in the coal mine for climate warming. Now, as a sign of climate warming, the canary has died. It is time to start getting out of the coal mines."

But reality is rarely an impediment to human folly. The world's greenhouse gases have continued to grow since Zwally's statement. Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO22) from burning fossil fuels since 2000 have increased by 3 per cent a year. At that rate annual emissions will double every 25 years. James Hansen, the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the world's foremost climate experts, has warned that if we keep warming the planet it will be "a recipe for global disaster." The safe level of CO22 in the atmosphere, Hansen estimates, is no more than 350 parts per million (ppm). The current level of CO22 is 385 ppm and climbing. This already guarantees terrible consequences even if we act immediately to cut carbon emissions.

The natural carbon cycle for 3 million years has ensured that the atmosphere contained less than 300 ppm of CO22, which sustained the wide variety of life on the planet. The idea now championed by our corporate elite, at least those in contact with the reality of global warming, is that we will intentionally overshoot 350 ppm and then return to a safer climate through rapid and dramatic emission cuts. But as Clive Hamilton in his book "Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change" writes, even "if carbon dioxide concentrations reach 550 ppm, after which emissions fell to zero, the global temperatures would continue to rise for at least another century."

Copenhagen was perhaps the last chance to save ourselves. Barack Obama and the other leaders of the industrialized nations blew it. Radical climate change is certain. It is only a question now of how bad it will become. The engines of climate change will, climate scientists have warned, soon create a domino effect that could thrust the Earth into a chaotic state for thousands of years before it regains equilibrium. "Whether human beings would still be a force on the planet, or even survive, is a moot point," Hamilton writes. "One thing is certain: there will be far fewer of us."

We have fallen prey to the illusion that we can modify and control our environment, that human ingenuity ensures the inevitability of human progress and that our secular god of science will save us. The "intoxicating belief that we can conquer all has come up against a greater force, the Earth itself," Hamilton writes. "The prospect of runaway climate change challenges our technological hubris, our Enlightenment faith in reason and the whole modernist project. The Earth may soon demonstrate that, ultimately, it cannot be tamed and that the human urge to master nature has only roused a slumbering beast."

We face a terrible political truth. Those who hold power will not act with the urgency required to protect human life and the ecosystem. Decisions about the fate of the planet and human civilization are in the hands of moral and intellectual trolls such as BP's Tony Hayward. These political and corporate masters are driven by a craven desire to accumulate wealth at the expense of human life. They do this in the Gulf of Mexico. They do this in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, where the export-oriented industry is booming. China's transformation into totalitarian capitalism, done so world markets can be flooded with cheap consumer goods, is contributing to a dramatic rise in carbon dioxide emissions, which in China are expected to more than double by 2030, from a little over 5 billion metric tons to just under 12 billion.

This degradation of the planet by corporations is accompanied by a degradation of human beings. In the factories in Guangdong we see the face of our adversaries. The sociologist Ching Kwan Lee found "satanic mills" in China's industrial southeast that run "at such a nerve-racking pace that worker's physical limits and bodily strength are put to the test on a daily basis." Some employees put in workdays of 14 to 16 hours with no rest day during the month until payday. In these factories it is normal for an employee to work 400 hours or more a month, especially those in garment industry.

The leaders of these corporations now determine our fate. They are not endowed with human decency or compassion. Yet their lobbyists make the laws. Their public relations firms craft the propaganda and trivia pumped out through systems of mass communication. Their money determines elections. Their greed turns workers into global serfs and our planet into a wasteland.

As climate change advances we will face a choice between obeying the rules put in place by corporations or rebellion. Those who work human beings to death in overcrowded factories in China and turn the Gulf of Mexico into a dead zone are the enemy. They serve systems of death. They cannot be reformed or trusted.

The climate crisis is a political crisis. We will either defy the corporate elite, which will mean civil disobedience, a rejection of traditional politics for a new radicalism and the systematic breaking of laws, or see ourselves consumed. Time is not on our side. The longer we wait, the more assured our destruction becomes. The future, if we remain passive, will be wrested from us by events. Our moral obligation is not to structures of power, but life.

Socially active environment can cause cancer tumors to shrink and even disappear

Making Friends Can Cause You To Live Longer
by S. L. Baker, features writer
NaturalNews.com

Submitted by Ahk Yehoeshahfaht - London

The new study, published in the July 9th issues of the journal Cell found that when mice with cancer were given enriched living conditions and a boost in their social life, their tumors shrank -- and some of their cancers disappeared completely.

That's powerful evidence, the scientists say, that social connections and an individual's mental state, play an important role in the way the body responds to malignancies. "Animals' interaction with the environment has a profound influence on the growth of cancer -- more than we knew was possible," Matthew During, who headed the study, said in a statement to the press.

The lab rodents were originally housed in groups of about five, given all the food they wanted and allowed to play all day. However, for the research project, mice with cancer were placed in an even better, enriched environment. They had bigger living groups with 15 to 20 other animals to interact with. They also had more space and extra toys, hiding places and running wheels.

During and his colleague, Lei Cao, found that malignant tumors in animals living in this enriched environment started to shrink. In fact, tumors decreased by an impressive 77 percent in mass and decreased in volume by 43 percent, the researchers report. Moreover, five percent of mice with cancer showed no evidence of the disease at all after just three weeks of living in their new home. That seemingly spontaneous cancer cure never happened in control animals kept in standard housing.

So what specifically is going on here that impacts cancer? Animals in a regular mice environment in the lab who exercised more didn't experience improvements in their cancer, so the scientists say more exercise isn't the total explanation. Instead, they think the complex social dimension in the new living arrangement was apparently the key.

The enriched living environment appears to have sparked more, but apparently cancer-fighting, stress in the cancer-stricken mice. The animals showed higher levels of stress hormones called glucocorticoids. What this means, the researchers said in statement to the media, is that low levels of stress, or certain kinds of stress, are probably beneficial.

Click Here To Read More: http://www.naturalnews.com/029305_socialize_cancer.html

100 days of oil: Gulf life will never be the same

A gut-wrenching time for folks who work, play and live along the Gulf Coast
By Greg Bluestein, Mary Foster and Tamara Lush
Associated Press

Submitted by Ahk Eitai B.N. Aharon

A hundred days ago, shop owner Cherie Pete was getting ready for a busy summer serving ice cream and po-boys to hungry fishermen. Local official Billy Nungesser was planning his wedding. Environmental activist Enid Sisskin was preparing a speech about the dangers of offshore drilling.

Then the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded off the coast of Louisiana, and in an instant, life along the Gulf Coast changed for good.

Pete spends her days worrying that the fishing industry may never recover. Nungesser has put his wedding on hold while he sits in meetings and argues with federal officials. And Sisskin continues to talk about the dangers of drilling — only now, people are listening.

The 100 days since the April 20 explosion have been a gut-wrenching time for folks who work, play and live along the Gulf Coast. The Gulf is a sanctuary for some, an employer for others, and now, a tragedy.

These are their stories.

Click Here for Full Story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill100_days

Wall St to Hollywood to Sports, American Icons Falling from Grace

Photo: Lebron James & Warren Buffet

Americans Fed Up With Their Athletes And Rejecting Wall Street
by Keegan Bales
Yahoo News

Over the past year, the public images of Tiger Woods and LeBron James, who are not only professional athletes but lucrative brands, have been irrevocably tarnished. Likewise, Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, which were once revered, were helped by government bailouts, their ethics called into question.

Todd Harrison, founder and CEO of Minyanville, tells Tech Ticker that the perception of the American icon, particularly in the sports world, crumbled with the stock market. He says that the recession and society's recent cynicism toward athletes and bankers are connected.

Socionomics

Harrison's argument is based on socionomics, a theory by Robert Prechter, a prominent stock market analyst and occasional guest on Tech Ticker. Prechter hypothesized that social mood drives economic and political activity, not the other way around as commonly believed.

According to socionomics, a person's decision making process is influenced by what is happening in their environment and their choices impact the market. He would say that the stock market crash did not cause the recession, rather the recession caused the stock market crash. Furthermore, it was an overall change in public attitude, a rise of pessimism and distrust in public figures, which sank the economy.

Americans Fed Up With Their Athletes

Sports traditionally provided Americans with an escape from turmoil going on in the country, something relaxing to watch for a couple hours. Harrison says that in today's tense social and political climate, the lurid scandals and massive pay checks that have become standard in professional sports are no longer acceptable. People are fed up with athletes and are rejecting their wealth.

"When you have these high profile brands like these athletes, that are going out there and grand standing for a $100 million contracts, it's going to rub people the wrong way," Harrison says.

Rejecting Wall Street in an Age of Austerity

The social mood is similarly negative toward bankers. Once considered to be at the pinnacle of society, they are now regarded as reckless, greedy and sometimes criminal. Warren Buffett, who was for years considered the patriarch of finance, has even come under question for his close relationship with Goldman Sachs and Moody's. Harrison says that this shift is part of a movement toward austerity.

"Money can buy a lot of things, but it can't buy public opinion," Harrison says. "Free will is going to be free will. That's endemic of a much larger shift for the economic social movement."

Texting as main source of communication?

Is texting the new form of communication?
By Tara Twietmeyer
NewsNet5.com

"Beep, beep, beep.” Another text message alert goes off.

Why can’t he just pick up the phone and call me? How on earth is anyone supposed to get to know someone in 160 characters or less?

More and more, women are talking about men using text messages these days as their main source of communication in relationships.

And guess what guys? Many women are calling it an “unsettling” trend, saying they almost always prefer a phone call and are sick and tired of all the beeping and dinging!

“I understand if it is just a quick text to say, 'Hey' or 'I’m running late,'" said Leigh Walsh, a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, and single mom. “But, what drives me crazy is when it is a full on conversation over texting. It is so impersonal and quite frankly, annoying."

More often than not, women say they know what kind of mood a man is in by listening to the tone of a voice. But how is a woman supposed to do that over text messaging?

Texting has become the new form of communication, but is it going too far? Texting is great for a quick message, but it’s becoming the only way of communication. Now that the phones offer keypads, it just gets easier and more convenient to text message rather then picking up the phone, but it’s not as personal.

2.5 billion text messages are sent each day in the US. Most of the text messaging is being done by 13-17 age range. The next most popular age is 18-24. The average text message used each month is 357 compared to 204 phone calls. Text messaging is replacing talking, and hindering the ability to form a face-to-face relationship. Some of the concerns are that kids are not learning to communication with people directly.