American Buddhist Net

Much of the medical marijuana discussion has focused on the safety of marijuana compared to the safety of FDA-approved drugs. On June 24, 2005 ProCon.org sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to find the number of deaths caused by marijuana compared to the number of deaths caused by 17 FDA-approved drugs. Twelve of these FDA-approved drugs were chosen because they are commonly prescribed in place of medical marijuana, while the remaining five FDA-approved drugs were randomly selected because they are widely used and recognized by the general public.

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Three years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees determined that synthetic additives in organic baby formula violated federal standards and should be banned from a product carrying the federal organic label. Today the same additives, purported to boost brainpower and vision, can be found in 90 percent of organic baby formula.

The government's turnaround, from prohibition to permission, came after a USDA program manager was lobbied by the formula makers and overruled her staff. That decision and others by a handful of USDA employees, along with an advisory board's approval of a growing list of non-organic ingredients, have helped numerous companies win a coveted green-and-white "USDA Organic" seal on an array of products.

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Full Interview here

...She says Palin is "resigning as part of damage control" due to a scandal that is "not of a family nature." ...

"The governor would not be able to continue her job when it comes out," she told me on the phone just now, before adding: "Why would Mark Sanford not resign, but Sarah Palin did? Her family didn't even know about the resignation until they were standing with her by the lake" when she made her announcement.

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By Paul Craig Roberts

...The US has no media. But it does have a Ministry of Propaganda. Americans were programmed with days of propaganda that Islamic Iran, a member of the US-designated “axis of evil,” stole the election from the Iranian people. According to the US Ministry of Propaganda, the Iranian people are allied with the US government against the Iranian government.

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Yes, we are now secretly ruled by maniacs rather than openly ruled by them. ABN

Somebody wanted Larry Franklin out of the way.

In court documents filed last week, a sketchy tale surfaced suggesting that someone wanted Franklin, the former Pentagon analyst who had agreed to testify against two pro-Israel activists on charges of espionage, dead.

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Two years before the invasion of Iraq, oil executives and foreign policy advisers told the Bush administration that the United States would remain "a prisoner of its energy dilemma" as long as Saddam Hussein was in power.

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AfPak--same policy, different theater. ABN

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan — The mood of the Afghan people has tipped into a popular revolt in some parts of southern Afghanistan, presenting incoming American forces with an even harder job than expected in reversing military losses to the Taliban and winning over the population.

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Of course we face resentment. Why are we even there? 1) If you believe we are there to fight terrorists and keep America safe, the warring makes no sense because it obviously causes more enmity and resentment than it relieves. We are basically using a divide-and-conquer technique in Afghanistan, paying one faction to fight another. What for? Are we trying to get them to kill each other off? 2) If you believe we are there to forestall Chinese or Russian adventurism in the area, then why do all the fighting? A base or two with a decent aid package would be enough. 3) If you believe we are there to gain control of central Asia and/or secure oil and gas pipelines, then the fighting makes very limited, completely unethical and inhumane sense based on that single aim and no other. But consider how much China and Russia have been gaining for themselves by making shrewd deals in central Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. Without using force they are getting much more than we are and spending far less. 4) Are our activities the prelude to something much bigger--WW3? A pincer movement around Iran? Far as I can tell, option 2 above is the only rational reason to be there, though clearly our policy is not in good accord with that goal. The reality of the situation is we are probably engaged in a complete muddle of conflicting aims, corporate greed, ideological fantasies, a mix of all of the above plus sheer delirium. ABN

July 2, 2009 -- An inflatable tower nine miles tall and tethered to a mountain top could cut the cost to launch spacecraft, reduce the need for geostationary communications satellites, and improve cell phone signals.

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The Seasteading Institute, committed to the ongoing development of ocean communities, has just announced the winners of their first annual design content. Could people really end up living in these hypothetical off-shore communities?

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Medical research out of the University of British Columbia suggests the number of children taking medications known as atypical antipsychotics has increased tenfold over the past decade, CBC News has learned.

The drugs — a class of medicines used to treat psychosis and other mental and emotional conditions — can have potentially serious side-effects, and are linked to increases in stroke and sudden death in adults.

Health Canada has not approved atypical antipsychotics for children.

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Turkish gameshow enlists imam, Greek Orthodox priest, rabbi and monk to try to convert atheists, with pilgrimage as reward

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My name is Richard Johns, and I'm a philosopher of science, teaching in the philosophy department at the University of British Columbia. My doctoral thesis was a study of the kind of probability that physicists deal with, now published as a monograph *A Theory of Physical Probability* with the University of Toronto Press. My other main research interests are in logic, and the physics of self organisation.

I became aware of the anomalous failures of the WTC towers through a friend who is a civil engineer. I have done some reading about these "collapses", and am especially interested in Bazant's work. It is fascinating to see (apparently) absurd views published by such an able scholar in a reputable academic journal. I'm determined to get to the bottom of this.

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(RTTNews) - Japan's Defense Ministry reports that it is mulling the deployment of troops on an island in the East China Sea near a group of disputed islets that is claimed by Tokyo, Beijing and Taipei.

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June 22, 2009 -- In Alaska, Canada, Greenland and other Arctic regions, people depend on caribou and reindeer as both a food source and a spiritual anchor. A new study reports that the animals have declined dramatically in recent decades.

Overall, caribou and reindeer populations have dwindled by an average of nearly 60 percent, the study found. In some cases, dips have been far more extreme than that.

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Naked blondes, interviews with celebrities, hardboiled detective stories ... Up until it disappeared from newsstands last November, the Japanese version of American men's magazine Playboy -- Monthly Playboy, published by Shueisha -- was crammed with Japan's vision of the U.S.

The first issue of "the men's magazine of the world" went on sale in May 1975. Just 11 years after restrictions on foreign travel were relaxed, the U.S. was still something of a mystery in Japan, with just 750,000 people travelling there a year. Its 440,000 first print run sold out in a few hours; and after six months, it had a circulation of around 900,000 copies.

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KATHMANDU: Nepal's first gay lawmaker has hailed Delhi High Court's ruling legalising homosexuality and said that it will give positive message
in the entire South Asia region regarding the rights of the sexual minorities.

"We are very happy to learn about the Delhi High Court's ruling to decriminalise the same sex marriage as it would spread a positive massage in the whole of South Asia in favour of the sexual minorities," said Sunil Babu Panta, Nepal's first gay Lawmaker.

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IN what could be a world first, a toad has been caught on camera eating a whole snake in just five minutes, in a direct reversal of their normal roles.

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Out of curiosity I decided to see who was spending the most on lobbying in America. And Oh My Goodness - NO WONDER our policy sucks. No wonder it's nearly impossible to pass health care reform that provides all Americans with affordable care, a global warming bill that doesn't suck, and the Employee Free Choice Act. No wonder we're in these two stupid wars. I know everyone's aware of the problems lobbying poses to our country, but good lord, if people saw the sheer magnitude of it (and the comparatively paltry amounts spent in the people's interest) they would be outraged. So here goes. Here's the list of the top 100 (ranked by amount spent on lobbying in Q109). Enjoy.

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And these are just the payouts that are reported. Consider also the very obvious--how cheap it is to bribe Congress. The return on lobbying and campaign "donations" is probably the best for a legal investment a corporation can make. The central political question of our time is how do you get good information to good people so they can make good decisions? Stated another way--how do you get science-based/objective/realistic information to honest/rational/unbiased people so they can make reasonable decisions that benefit all citizens without harming the environment? I definitely believe we can get better at doing that. ABN

Our Bureau of Investigation has found that at least half of the processed foods advertised as 100 per cent vegetarian that they inspected contained meat. Altogether 31 vegetarian food retailers were inspected. Residues of meat were found in the products on the shelves of 17 of them. DNA tests showed pork and beef were mixed in their vegetarian patties, ham, chicken and shredded pork.

...Police are threatening to have vegetarian food fakers prosecuted, while cheated customers are up in arms against “black-hearted merchants” who purposely make them violate their cardinal Buddhist commandment of ahimsa.

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MUNICH, Germany (CNN) -- Juliane Koepcke is not someone you'd expect to attract attention. Plainly dressed and wearing prescription glasses, Koepcke sits behind her desk at the Zoological Center in Munich, Germany, where she's a librarian.

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In an about face, the United Nations on Wednesday lavishly praised drug decriminalization in its annual report on the state of global drug policy. In previous years, the UN drug czar had expressed skepticism about Portugal's decriminalization, which removed criminal penalties in 2001 for personal drug possession and emphasized treatment over incarceration. The UN had suggested the policy was in violation of international drug treaties and would encourage "drug tourism."

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Narathiwat - A total of 148 Buddhist monks were flown here in an Air Force plane so that they could stay at temples during the Buddhist Lent, which starts on Wednesday.

The monks came from northern and northeastern provinces.

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BANGKOK (AP) - Police said Friday they will investigate a criminal complaint against the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand for allegedly insulting the country's monarchy by distributing copies of remarks made by a Thai politician on the club's premises.

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It's a first, and it's already causing controversy. An unofficial delegation of Australian MPs has met the Dalai Lama in the Indian town of Dharamshala, drawing criticism from China's diplomats in Canberra.

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Retreats can deepen spiritual practice or energize a stagnant meditation routine. Though the practice of meditation is personal, joining a group of like-minded individuals on a short retreat may provide the support and affirmation needed to stay focused. The following is a round-up of area temples or centers offering a peaceful refuge.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge has tentatively thrown out the convictions of a Missouri mother for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor girl who ended up committing suicide.

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