Downing Street Memo forum to be held June 16th in response to petition of 500,000

Thursday, June 16, 2005

The “Downing Street memo” is the subject of a forum at the Washington Capitol complex today headed by Congressman John Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee and televised on C-SPAN 3. Conyers said that “there was a secret decision well ahead of the authority Congress had given” and that as the Bush administration “was assuring Congress, they were secretly planning war.”

The Downing Street Memo is the leaked minutes of a July, 2002 meeting in British prime minister Tony Blair’s office which occurred eight months before the war in Iraq. The minutes say that “Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”

Gold Star Families for Peace is a group of families of Americans who were killed in Iraq. They also have been focusing on the British document and asking members of Congress to press for answers. The organization’s leader, Cindy Sheehan, said the forum is “calling on Congress to do the right thing, to investigate the memo. I would hope that we would get an investigation going into the lies that lead our country into war and hold somebody accountable for those lies.”

Schneider said the minutes imply that “The Bush administration had already decided to go to war before asking for a vote of Congress, before going to the United Nations. The question the memo raises is, did the United States and Britain go to the United Nations to avoid going to war or to justify going to war?”

At their June 7 press conference, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair were asked about the issues raised by the memo:

TONY BLAIR, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: But the facts were not being fixed in any shape or form at all.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Somebody said, well, you know, we had made up our mind to go — to use military force to deal with Saddam. There’s nothing farther from the truth.

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Ready For Success? Eat What You Want.}

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Submitted by: Lorraine Matthews Antosiewicz

Intuitive eating (also called mindful eating) is structured around the belief that people need to trust themselves enough to believe that they will eat what and how much food they need. When you eat intuitively, you use your internal cues for hunger, appetite and satiety to guide you. The truth is, only by eating what you truly want can you adequately nourish yourself and achieve optimal health – including a healthy weight.

After many years of working with people who want to lose weight, one thing I know for sure is that very few people are able to achieve lasting success with traditional weight loss diets. Research clearly shows that dieting doesn’t work. While you may lose weight initially when dieting, there’s a good chance you will fail to keep it off, and may regain even more pounds than you lost. “Dieting” is a temporary attempt to lose weight and it often leads to an endless cycle of restriction, bingeing, and guilt. It’s all very negative.

Intuitive eating, on the other hand, is a positive supportive approach to eating using your body’s cues to guide you in deciding what, when, and how much to eat. It is centered on listening to your inner signals of hunger and fullness and responding accordingly. It can include any kind of food that makes you feel well, and can vary from day to day. For example, you may decide that a piece apple pie topped with ice cream is a better choice today than an apple.

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Stop dieting and start eating consciously in a way that makes your body feel well.

Eating with intuition is different for every person, but the general aspect of listening to your body remains constant. In my practice, I find that more people are able to achieve their personal best weight with intuitive eating than with traditional dieting. I suggest you give it a try. These 3 steps will guide you in getting started.

1. Eat when you are hungry.

Watch for your body’s hunger cues as your signal that it is time to eat. Eat enough to feel satisfied and comfortably full, not stuffed. For most of people, this means eating every 3-4 hours or so. Balanced meals that include whole grains, protein foods, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and healthy fats promote satisfaction and satiety.

2. Eat what you want.

If you don’t, you’ll likely feel deprived and find yourself overeating. Restricting yourself from certain foods may also keep you on the hunt for food whether you’re hungry or not. If you notice that what you want is always the richer choice, you may still be caught up in feeling deprived from years of dieting. Try compromising by using richer foods in smaller quantities. For example, use real butter to spread on a small piece of your favorite crusty bread.

3. Eat until you’ve had enough.

If you are used to eating until you’re uncomfortably full, you may need to work on redefining your definition of how much is enough. You may have normalized feeling stuffed. Consistently eating this way is not good for your health and it probably means that you are not listening to your body’s signal of fullness. Occasional overeating is normal; it’s the habit that you want to avoid.

As you begin to practice intuitive eating, it may be helpful to use the Healthy Eating Plate Method as a guide. It’s a tool to use until you learn to trust your cues of fullness. It can help eliminate the anxiety of knowing how much is the right amount by providing estimated portion sizes without measuring, weighing, or counting. Although it’s your job to put onto the plate what you desire, it will guide you in balancing your meals for satisfaction and satiety.

About the Author: Lorraine Matthews-Antosiewicz, MS RD, is a food and nutrition expert specializing in weight management and digestive health. She is committed to empowering people through education, support, and inspiration to make real changes that lead to optimal health and lasting weight loss. Take her Free Self-Assessment and learn how you can lose 20 lb. – or more. Jump Start your weight loss today!

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Rhode Island District Court freezes Palestinian Authority assets in the US

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

A Rhode Island district court has frozen all the US assets of the Palestinian Authority (PA), prompting Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayyad to request the aid of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The frozen assets include US holdings in an investment fund worth $1.3 billion, which was used to finance economic development, and $30 million from the Palestinian Monetary Authority.

The ruling was passed upon the PA when they refused to compensate the relatives of a Jewish couple shot dead by members of Hamas in 1996.

US citizen Yaron Ungar and his wife Efrat were killed while returning from a wedding near the West Bank, when their car was shot at repeatedly, killing the couple. Three Hamas militants were jailed as a result.

A lawsuit was filed in 2000 against the Palestinian Authority, the PLO, Hamas, and Yasser Arafat in Rhode Island.

Yasser Arafat hired lawyer and former attorney general Ramsey Clark as his defense. In the case, Clark argued that the PA was a sovereign state, and that it deserved immunity from prosecution accorded to most countries. The court disagreed with this, and in 2004 they ruled that Palestine is not a state, and ordered them to pay the Ungars $116 million. A federal appeals court upheld the verdict in March.

The head of Washington’s PA office, Hasan Abdul Rahman said that his office had been “paralysed” by the verdict.

“It paralyzes the function of the office, and I think that is the intention of the plaintiffs.” he told Associated Press shortly after the decision, and called upon the US administration to intervene.

Criticism over Qingzang Railway as opening nears

Friday, April 28, 2006

            Claimed by Tibetan exile groups.
Tibetan areas designated by PRC.
Tibet Autonomous Region (actual control).
Claimed by India as part of Aksai Chin.
Claimed by the PRC as part of TAR.
Other historically culturally-Tibetan areas.

The Qingzang Railway is a project by the Chinese Government to build a unique railway linking Tibet with Mainland China. The railway will include sections at high altitude, crossing 5000 metre high mountains, long tunnels and lots of track laid on permafrost. The railway is being hailed in China as “an engineering miracle”, but has attracted criticism from across the world over fears that the railway, the first to link it to outside the region, will increase Chinese control over the Tibetan autonomous region and will erode Tibetan culture and traditions.

Currently, Tibet can only be reached by air and by road. Departing from lower-altitude airports to fly into Tibet carries the risk of experiencing high altitude sickness, and the landing at Lhasa can be ‘hair-raising’. Travelling by road means several days on a bus or hitchhiking on trucks over windy mountain roads. When the Quingzang Railway opens, it is expected that direct trains will run from Beijing and other cities.

China has long received criticism over its treatment of Tibet. The Tibet Autonomous Region excludes many areas claimed to be part of ‘historic Tibet’, and the former government of Tibet, headed by the Dalai Lama, now live in exile in India. China claims that the railway will bring greater freedoms and economic opportunities to the people of Tibet. For an area that has long been in relative isolation though, the railway is bound to have a profound effect. Locals may worry about what would happen to their trade if they were suddenly forced to compete with businesses from Mainland China. Much of Tibet is also ancient, with old buildings and traditional practices, which may be under threat from the new physical link with China.

There are also concerns from environmentalists. The passage between Tibet and China contains some unique flora and endangered animal species, such as Tibetan antelope, which may be threatened by the railroad. Construction of the railway will generate 7,000 tons of rubbish from 20,000 builders. Some of this rubbish will have been buried on the spot whilst some forms of non-degradable rubbish which may pollute water is said to have been transported to Golmud or Lhasa for treatment. A bridge is also said to have been built at Wudaoliang Basin to enable animals to cross. Once open the railway will generate more waste, and whilst the carriages are said to be enclosed, preventing passengers from throwing out rubbish, it remains to be seen what additional impact the running of the railway will create.

As well as passengers, the railway will also have a strong use in transporting freight, currently carried on trucks. This will mean that more coal and petroleum-based products will be brought into Tibet. Whilst China claims that this will enable Tibetans to stop logging pine trees for fuel, aiding the local ecology, the railway will accelerate Tibet’s use of climate-damaging fossil fuels.

Some Canadian student groups had called for a boycott of the Bombardier Transportation group, who has a contract with China to provide some of the carriages.

Most of the line is now complete, ahead of schedule. Signaling equipment is currently being installed, with trials said to begin in July. The railway is scheduled to open fully in 2007. Luxury carriages will carry tourists, with sleeping compartments and oxygen tanks to enable breathing within the high-altitude areas.

What Good is an Advice from your Financial Planner?

Paying for a service like financial planning should be worth every penny. How will financial planning give you a guided road to financial security? This is the topic of the article and will tell you the reason why this is worth more than any other investment tool.

Do you have any idea what exactly is the right financial planning? Every mature individual right now with a savings to spare must get one to be financially ahead for the future. Financial planning is simply a move where you are consciously guiding yourself to set some goals with your finances.

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A good financial plan can save you a lot of headaches while giving you security for the future. It is some basic planning successfully customized to meet your financial needs. It should always be based on your preferences and should be time-bound as well. This gives you a clear picture of your financial goals.

You may start looking out for someone who has the basic education coupled with experience and skills to help you with your financial success. Just limit your choices with only the Certified Financial Planners. The CFP designation are the most trusted internationally and you can be assured of their strictest ethical standards. Only CFP is exactly the type of person who will give you the best financial planning.

With hiring a financial planner, you always know how they are paid. One of the ways a financial planner is paid is through commissions. One of the benefits of commission-based financial planning is that it appears to be accessible and affordable. Usually, commission-based planners do not charge a fee for the financial advice. They are expecting to earn their income from the back end when they sell the financial products to implement their recommendations.

The down side however is that you may pay later in the form of accepting a poor advice. When a commission-based financial planner earns most of his or her money as a financial salesperson, have some precautions. In this situation, the product sales have a tendency to drive the process. In most scenarios, the financial planning consultation and advices are rather a window dressing to attract clients for the business of selling their financial products.

Unfortunately, you might be offered a one-size-fits-all plan that inevitably leads to the purchase of their high-commission products. As you can see, always look for non-commission financial planners. These are planners paid with a fee for their financial advice. You are mostly assured of an objective financial plan and you get the best out of that plan. In hindsight, it is not hard to get a professional and objective financial planning.

Just do some research and try to listen to their advices first. Check their credentials. If they don’t seem too inclined with a certain productFree Reprint Articles, you are probably good to go. Have the best of luck to your financial future and be wise.

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Hair Loss – The Truth About Male Pattern Baldness

Hair loss is an emotive subject so it is no wonder that people are continually looking for something or someone to blame when their hair starts to become thinner. There are a great number of myths surrounding male pattern baldness, the most common form of hair loss in the UK, and here are just a few of them:

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Myth 1: Male pattern baldness is inherited from your mother’s side

Truth: Although male pattern baldness is a genetic condition it can actually be inherited from either one of your parents.

Myth 2: Male pattern baldness is a sign of virility

Truth: This condition is related to the hormone testosterone, but people with male pattern baldness don’t have more testosterone than other people; their hair follicles are just more sensitive to it.

Myth 3: Hair loss is caused by wearing a hat or frequent hair washing

Truth: Male pattern baldness is a genetic condition. Unless your hat is tight enough to cut off the oxygen to the hair follicles it will not contribute to hair loss, it will actually protect your hair from the sun. Unless you wash your hair very aggressively, frequent shampooing should not cause hair loss.

So what does cause male pattern baldness?

This type of hair loss is caused by oversensitive hair follicles, which you will have inherited from one of your parents. These follicles react to a substance called DHT (dihydrotestosterone) which is produced by the male hormone testosterone.

DHT causes the hair follicles to shrink meaning that the hair is less well anchored in the scalp and is more likely to fall out causing thinning patches. Eventually the hair follicles affected by DHT will stop working altogether resulting in bald patches.

And why is it called male pattern baldness?

This hair loss condition is known as male pattern baldness because the hair tends to be lost in a very distinctive shape or pattern. In the initial phases you may notice some thinning of the hair around the crown and temples, and your hairline may start to recede upwards towards your crown.

In cases where male pattern baldness has progressed further, the balding area at the crown and the receding hairline will join up, leaving just a horseshoe shaped piece of thick hair around the back of the head. In rare cases all the hair is eventually lost, but most people retain some hair at the back of their head.

Is there anything I can do to prevent it?

As it is a genetic condition, male pattern baldness can’t be stopped altogether. However you can slow down its progression with various medication based treatments designed to reduce hair loss and stimulate regrowth. You can also look into hair transplant techniques, which take hairs from the parts of your head where hair is growing well and implant them into the thinner areas. Finally you could look into a natural looking cosmetic hair replacement solution for your hair loss condition

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Creating That Perfect Gated Entrance Design!

The circuit, which is devised for this kind of automated gate openers are made in this kind of a way, that it would instantly manage the gates to open or near. When it receives the instruction or the signal from the controls it slides or rolls open.

If you are setting up automatic gate openers for by yourself, then be sure to study all the information in the manual and comply with the guidelines of security. Correct set up would guarantee that the automated gate openers are ready to prevent the safety threats on the consumer and previous for several years to come in the future.

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There are unique forms of gadgets obtainable for automated gate openers. There are many entry controls for them as properly this kind of as keypads, remote, exit sensors and via intercoms. There are separate concepts run for each of these sets and the gate kind that is set up.

How you can set up an opener?

There are three issues that you want to do prior to you embark on beginning off with the installation. You need to have to determine the spot, where by you would install the gadget. The exit sensor has to be buried in these kinds of a way that 1 can link the wires to the gate manage box comfortably.

six) A few wires would come into the command box. The wires will be from the keypad, a person from the exit sensor and another 1 from the ability resource.

seven) The important pad article need to be set up thoroughly

eight) As a final point the handle box demands to be mounted securely. Because the command box is the vital to all the accessory units of the gate opener, it is positioned near to the hinge posts of the gate. If the gate opener is battery operated, then the wires to the battery should be linked to the opener as perfectly. It is required the charge the batteries fro time to time. It is also needed to adjust the battery when the will need be. If the management is electrically operated, then one wants to verify the electrical lines from time to time.

The important facts of installation is provided in the manual. An individual need to generally go through it meticulously and should also make certain that the safety measures are observed properly and securely.

Where by to start out? The 1st matter to look at when coming up with a new entrance design is the location. If it is a new property you may have a lot of solutions, while Comfort is one of the most important points to consider. You don’t want to have to make a “U-Turn” to get into your house, you also have to take into account who/what will be coming by that entrance…guests, contractors, builders, cement trucks, semi trucks, all will have to have the Area to enter your house securely. For present properties the decisions can be limited, but that does not signify you have to have an unsightly entrance.

You have the best site, now what? Unless of course you are a contractor or designer, it is best to allow a skilled do the style and design function for you. We have generally been capable to come up with enjoyable Entrance Designs to nearly any home.

Tips for Financial Planning

Financial planning, something we all know we need to do, but always put off to the future. Financial planning is hard simply because it requires financial discipline, which is difficult to have in this consumer society. However, financial planning is very important because you want to retire one day, be financially stable in the event of an accident, or unexpected loss of a job. Financial planning will help you rest easy as you age.

The following tips will help get you in gear to start your financial planning. Once you have made financial planning part of your routine, it won’t seem so difficult. But getting your financial planning started can be the most difficult thing. These tips will help motivate you to make financial planning one of your main goals.

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Financial Planning Tip #1 Pay off Debt
One of the biggest factors fighting against financial planning is debt, especially credit card debt. If something starts off as a small debt it turns into a big one simply because you were not paying off the debt. Financial planning means you have a plan and paying off debt should be the first goal of your plan.

Financial Planning Tip #2 Invest
Another financial planning tip is to invest. Financial planning means you are saving for the future in many cases, so you will want to take money you earn today and invest in the stock market, in bonds, IRAs, 4019k) or a mixture of all of the above. Saving your money with the help of financial planning will help money grow all on its own.

Financial Planning Tip #3 Spend Less than You Earn
This is tough for people to understand and often times what they resist most when they begin financial planning. This is because Americans always want what is bigger and better. RegardlessPsychology Articles, financial planning is more important than consumerism. Make spending less than you earn part of your financial planning.

Financial Planning Tip #4 Budget
A great financial planning tip is budgeting. You won’t be able to save unless you know what you spend. Make budgeting part of your financial planning and you will realize saving is not so hard.

Iran nuclear impasse continues

Friday, April 28, 2006

The Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, warned the United States against any attack on his country saying “The Americans should know that if they launch an assault against Islamic Iran, their interests in every possible part of the world will be harmed.” Earlier this week Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran was ready to begin offering nuclear technology to developing countries.

Speaking at a rally in North-West Iran this Thursday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying “Those who want to prevent Iranians from obtaining their right, should know that we do not give a damn about such resolutions.”

Iran says that its nuclear program is meant for producing energy and that it has a right under Article IV of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to enrich fuel for that purpose. The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated,”[Iran] won’t back down one iota”. The US has called on Iran to stop its enrichment work and accuses Iran of trying to build a nuclear bomb. The US “is leaving all options on the table” not excluding military strikes with nuclear weapons or with conventional weapons in the eventuality of sanctions being ineffective. Iranian leaders have made strong statements against possible sanctions or military action against their country. The Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The Iranian nation will give a double response to any strike.” Tehran has vowed to respond against US targets worldwide in the case of a US led attack against Iran.

According to some claims, the US has already started attacking Iran. On April 18, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) wrote a letter to George W. Bush requesting information about claims that the US has already sent US covert operatives and/or retrained ex-members of MEK and the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK, associated with the PKK) into Iranian territory in order to provoke existing ethnic tensions by incidents of violence. MEK and PKK are classified by the U.S. State Department and by the Council of the European Union as terrorist organizations.

The UN Security Council has called on Iran to suspend its enrichment work by Friday and permit additional inspections of its nuclear programme. Iran has rejected the demands. The IAEA is scheduled to report on Iran’s compliance of the Security Council resolution on Friday.

A 90 minute meeting between Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the president of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA provided no breakthrough and no new proposals were made, although Aghazadeh’s deputy Mohammed Saidi said the talks were “encouraging.”

Speaking Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke in Vienna at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers over Iran’s nuclear program. “The United States believes … that in order to be credible the Security Council of course has to act,” to reporters. Condoleezza Rice also said that it was “highly unlikely” Tehran would comply with the US’s demands and that the UN “cannot have its word and its will simply ignored by a member state.” Further, Rice stated that “I look forward to discussing this with my colleagues and to I and others making that case, and I would certainly hope the Security Council is prepared to take some action.”

The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, “We expect [Iran] to meet international standards and … to allay world suspicions that its civil nuclear operations are being used to develop a possible weapons program.”

Russia and China have called for negotiations to resolve the issue with President Vladimir Putin saying that the IAEA must retain the lead in the process.

Widespread resentment of western influence on past Iranian internal affairs, such as Operation Ajax which removed the democratically elected prime minister of Iran in 1953, has called some experts to bring into question the possibility of a coalition of NATO or U.S. led forces against Iran. The likelihood of any preventive strike against Iran is uncertain, apart from the claims that US troops and or proxy troops have already started small scale attacks. With a large young population increasingly pro-western, there are fears that any strike against Iran could damage any democratic movement as the population as a whole resents pro-Western influence in its internal affairs.

Iran has nearly four times the land area of Iraq. Iran’s military is estimated to 768,000/350,000 active/reserve military troops and the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps include 11,000,000 troops.

Listen To Your Body Talk

If we listen very close our body speaks to us. Our inner voice tells us when something is not right. Our body talks to us in the form of physical symptoms and reveals to us problems within through these symptoms. What we must do is ask the question of what is causing these symptoms our body reveals to us and what needs to be changed to fix the underlying problems. Symptoms need to be corrected and not suppressed.

When we get a headache the first thing we do is reach for a pain reliever, and in most cases the pain reliever then takes the pain away. What we must ask is what caused the pain, which is a symptom of our body telling us of a problem. What you actually got was a temporary fix to head pain, however what caused the pain in the first place is still there.

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Several years ago, I sat at my doctors office frustrated to tears because I had a chronic skin condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa. This chronic skin condition affects the glandular areas of the body in which causes boil type lesions that are very painful. With no known cure or cause of this condition, the doctors I saw could not offer me much help. This is when I knew that I must help myself and find the reason for my condition. I listened to my body by taking a good look at the symptoms my body was using to tell me something was wrong.

This is when I really took a good look at what I was putting into my body on an every day basis. My diet consisted of fast foods and lots of sugar filled snacks. Does this sound familiar to you? If it does then you are in the same boat as I was along with the majority of others. Eventually this diet or lifestyle leads to an illness or disease. It may not be right now but eventually in most cases some sort or illness will strike. It may not be the condition I had however, your body may react differently to your lifestyle and cause a different condition than that of mine.

So what can we do? What we can do is change our lifestyle or eating habits to whole natural foods. We can start now by eliminating refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, white flour products and cut back on red meat if not eliminate red meat completely form our diets, and start eating more whole natural foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, natural sweeteners and oils. This is what our body wants and needs to be healthy.

Even if you start by making one change a day towards eating whole natural foods, you are taking a step towards better health and having more energy. Not only will you gain more energy, but also you can lose weight in the process. And it works because it is according to nature’s laws. Happily eating whole natural foods and correcting my body’s balance and function, I was able to heal from the chronic skin condition I suffered with for seven years and in the process lose 70 pounds.

Shhhhhhh, listen close, your body is talking to you. What is your body saying to you? Learn to listen close and to give your body what it needs to be healthy. Only you can make the changes, there are no magic pills, and remember, you are what you eat! What you put in is what you get out. When you fuel your body with whole natural foodsComputer Technology Articles, your body will thank you for it and you will reap the rewards.

Good Health To all!
Barbara Collins
©Barbara Collins 2003 all rights reserved
True Natural Weight Loss
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