UPDATES ARCHIVE FOR MARCH 2006
HOME PAGE	Kleiner's Korner For Week of March 27, 2006 Dear Readers, This writer watches no network television except one weekly program - CBS News 60 Minutes. A KK reader sent this clip from a show I have never seen and presented in this 5-minute scene from ABC's Boston Legal is one of the most compelling descriptions of the current state of compromise among Americans' political and personal freedoms. While one's politics does not win court cases, this argument to a jury is worth sharing with all Americans. Turn up your volume, click this link and prepare to be moved: link here Or: link here And the transcript: link here This very issue has trickled down to the local level (perhaps to your town as well) with the City of Yelm's embarrassingly ignorant "moratorium on moratoriums" and the public restriction from mentioning the W-word, "Wal-Mart" in Council Chambers. This in a town where 5 persons from the public are limited to 3 minutes each to speak twice a month before the Mayor & Council in meetings that rarely run more than 30 minutes total. Why can’t the public speak here at ANY Council meeting for their collective 15 minutes on ANY subject? Why? Because the Council wishes not to have discourse taken up by one subject? Not good enough! This is a republic where government is supposed to serve the citizens, not restrict their interactions by said government. There is no other opportunity to meet collectively with our elected City Hall officials because this Mayor & Council hold no Town Forums. And in Yelm, we have Baptist ministers assailing divergent views to their own parishioners and writing letters to the local newspaper condemning differences of opinion and breeding fear, when empowering through encouragement of self-discovery would uplift their fellow citizens. And anyone challenging their views in this day is smeared as a heretic or worse. The voting public should strongly consider electing officials that will listen to their constituents and booting out the ones that act otherwise. This writer has always been for as long as I can remember, for regular open debate among citizens and elected officials and will be a supporter for this Mayor and Council's Town Hall Forums when and if they hold such and as vigorously as I am with the upcoming Fire/EMS co-chiefs' meeting. Quoting The Olympian on October 12, 2005, "Klein is a strong advocate for residents being allowed to express their views at council meetings..." link here This whole affair between church and state unfolding in this country right down to the local level has never been so eloquently expressed than in an actual courtroom earlier this month. Please see 'QUOTE OF THE WEEK' at the bottom of this KK for that story. 1. WHITE HOUSE RESTRICTING & REWRITING WHAT SCIENTISTS REPORT "As a government scientist, James Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn't want you to hear but he's going to say them anyway. Hansen is arguably the world's leading researcher on global warming. He's the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the science. But he didn't hold back speaking to Pelley, telling 60 Minutes what he knows...Restrictions like this e-mail Hansen's institute received from NASA in 2004. "… there is a new review process … ," the e-mail read. "The White House (is) now reviewing all climate related press releases," it continued. Why the scrutiny of Hansen's work? Well, his Goddard Institute for Space Studies is the source of respected but sobering research on warming. It recently announced 2005 was the warmest year on record. Hansen started at NASA more than 30 years ago, spending nearly all that time studying the earth. How important is his work? 60 Minutes asked someone at the top, Ralph Cicerone, president of the nation’s leading institute of science, the National Academy of Sciences. "I can't think of anybody who I would say is better than Hansen. You might argue that there's two or three others as good, but nobody better," says Cicerone. And Cicerone, who’s an atmospheric chemist, said the same thing every leading scientist told 60 Minutes," quoting CBS News. link here NASA says 2005 warmest on record, Mr. Bush: link here “USA WINTER IN TOP 5 RECORD-MAKER" "Record warmth in January helped boost the winter of 2005-2006 to the fifth warmest on record. For all the states except Alaska and Hawaii, the average winter temperature was 36.29 degrees Fahrenheit, 1.2 degrees above average. The three months, December through February, are considered meteorological winter. The warmest winter on record was 1999-2000 at 36.95 degrees. Others warmer than this year were 1998-1999, 1991-1992 and 1997-1998," quoting the AP. link here And in Alaska's Arctic: "The global warming felt by wildlife and increasingly documented by scientists is hitting first and hardest here, in the Arctic where the Inuit people make their home. The hardy Inuit -- described by one of their leaders as "sentries for the rest of the world" -- say this winter was the worst in a series of warm winters, replete with alarms of the quickening transformation that many scientists believe will spread from the north to the rest of the globe," quoting the Washington Post. link here And for you Canadians: “Canada has experienced its warmest winter since modern record-keeping began, with average temperatures 3.9 degrees above normal and all regions of the country basking in abnormal mildness, according to preliminary figures compiled by Environment Canada,” quoting the Globe & Mail. link here . 2. DEAR MR. BUSH; USA’S NOAA RECORDS STARTLING RISE IN CO2 “US climate scientists have recorded a significant rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, pushing it to a new record level. BBC News has learned the latest data shows CO2 levels now stand at 381 parts per million (ppm) - 100ppm above the pre-industrial average. The research indicates that 2005 saw one of the largest increases on record - a rise of 2.6ppm. The figures are seen as a benchmark for climate scientists around the globe. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has been analysing samples of air taken from all over the world, including America's Rocky Mountains,” quoting the BBC. link here . 3. USA MAYORS TAKING ISSUES INTO THEIR OWN HANDS, BYPASSING BUSH "Calling global warming a "planetary emergency," elected officials and a mayoral commission presented a series of recommendations Friday [Mar. 24] for curtailing Seattle's greenhouse gas emissions. Mayor Greg Nickels and the city were praised for leading the nation on the issue and were urged to continue in their fight against planet-warming pollution in a packed event at City Hall. 'The United States of America has really messed up on this,' said former Vice President Al Gore, the event's featured speaker. 'But let me tell you about Seattle.' Over the past year, Nickels has led a campaign to get U.S. cities to pledge to meet or beat the goals set in the international Kyoto Protocol, an agreement rejected by the Bush administration that strives to cut global warming emissions. By Friday, 219 cities had joined the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012," quoting Seattle's Office of the Mayor on US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement." [Ed. Note: Has YOUR Mayor joined this list?] link here . 4. HOLY MOTHER CHURCH FOLLOWING BUSH SPIN: NOW WANTS TO CHANGE CONTEXT OF CRUSADES "THE Vatican has begun moves to rehabilitate the Crusaders by sponsoring a conference at the weekend that portrays the Crusades as wars fought with the “noble aim” of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity...The late Pope John Paul II sought to achieve Muslim- Christian reconciliation by asking “pardon” for the Crusades during the 2000 Millennium celebrations. But John Paul’s apologies for the past “errors of the Church” — including the Inquisition and anti-Semitism — irritated some Vatican conservatives. According to Vatican insiders, the dissenters included Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI," quoting the Times of UK. [Ed. Note: Killing millions in the name of one's God and now changing his-story to speak of the Crusades as noble? This writer asks: what next from a Church that still has not apologized for the burning-at-the stake of genius Giordano Bruno in 1600 and took 350 years to exonerate Galileo, labeling him a heretic from 1642 until 1992? PULEEZ!]. link here . 5. “HIGH-TECH MEDICINE EXPECTED TO INCREASE LIFE-EXPECTANCY…” ”Modern medicine is redefining old age and may soon allow people to live regularly beyond the current upper limit of 120 years, experts said Wednesday [Mar. 23]. It used to be thought there was some built-in limit on life span, but a group of scientists meeting at Oxford University for a conference on life extension and enhancement consigned that idea to the trash can. Paul Hodge, director of the Harvard Generations Policy Program, said governments around the world — struggling with pension crises, graying work forces and rising health-care costs — had to face up to the challenge now," quoting Reuters. link here . 6. WHY DO SOME PEOPLE LIVE SO LONG? “Nir Barzilai is tracking down genes that help centenarians elude killer disease. His discoveries may help you live longer and healthier, too,” quoting AARP Bulletin. link here . 7. ORGANIC FOOD CO-OPS WORTH A LOOK- FOR BETTER NUTRITION “Most food in the world today — even organic food — is grown far from those who consume it and is distributed by companies only interested in profit. But Organic Valley, North America’s second-largest producer of organic dairy products, has helped revolutionize the food business over the past 18 years, and has changed the way Americans eat — for the better. Its commitment to farmers and to the health of their communities puts the cooperative’s products a little closer to the ideal... Organic Valley is owned by a cooperative of 723 family farmers from 22 states. The essential difference between a cooperative and a traditional company is the distribution of wealth. All the members of the cooperative share in the organization’s success — not just a few shareholders,” quoting Mother Earth Living. [Ed. Note: This writer uses Organic Valley’s products.] link here . 8. 2004 STUDY: CROPS NUTRIENT DECLINE OVER LAST 50 YEARS "A recent study of 43 garden crops led by a University of Texas at Austin biochemist suggests that their nutrient value has declined in recent decades while farmers have been planting crops designed to improve other traits. The study was designed to investigate the effects of modern agricultural methods on the nutrient content of foods. The researchers chose garden crops, mostly vegetables, but also melons and strawberries, for which nutritional data were available from both 1950 and 1999 and compared them both individually and as a group...'We conclude that the most likely explanation was changes in cultivated varieties used today compared to 50 years ago,” Davis said. “During those 50 years, there have been intensive efforts to breed new varieties that have greater yield, or resistance to pests, or adaptability to different climates. But the dominant effort is for higher yields. Emerging evidence suggests that when you select for yield, crops grow bigger and faster, but they don’t necessarily have the ability to make or uptake nutrients at the same, faster rate,'" quoting The University of Austin at Texas News. link here . 9. THANKS TO CONGRESS - ANOTHER SLAM DUNK FOR CORPORATE ABUSE FROM FOOD PURVEYORS "The House voted Wednesday [Mar. 8] to strip many warnings from food labels, potentially affecting alerts about arsenic in bottled water, lead in candy, and allergy-causing sulfites, among others. Pushed by food companies seeking uniform labels across state lines, the bill would prevent states from adding food warnings that go beyond federal law. States could petition the Food and Drug Administration to add extra warnings, under the bill. Lawmakers approved the bill on a 283-139 vote. Supporters expect a Senate version of the bill to be introduced soon," quoting the AP. link here [Ed. Note: Is overturning food labeling going to lead next to overturning Roe vs. Wade? A good chance with the same political party occupying the White House, Congress and stacked with judicial appointments.] And this from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI): "Shredding the Food Safety Net: A Partial Review of 200 State Food Safety and Labeling Laws Congress is Poised to Effectively Kill with H.R. 4167, March 7, 2006" link here . 10. FOLLOW-UP: EGYPTIAN TOMB FOUND WAS MUMMY WORKROOM "A chamber discovered last month in the Valley of the Kings was a room used by the ancient Egyptians for mummifying pharaohs buried in the area, rather than a tomb, Egypt’s top archaeologist said Monday [Mar. 13]. Zahi Hawass said five sarcophagi found in the chamber contained remnants of pottery, shrouds and materials used in mummification. The American researchers from the University of Memphis who discovered the chamber had also opened 10 sealed jars found there to discover other materials used in mummification," quoting Reuters. link here . 11. WEDNESDAY HAS 2006’S FIRST TOTAL ECLIPSE "The year's first solar eclipse occurs on Wednesday, March 29. A total eclipse will be visible from within a narrow corridor, which traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Brazil and extends across the Atlantic, northern Africa, and central Asia, where it ends at sunset in western Mongolia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and central Asia." quoting this NASA site. link here And: link here . 12. 2006 LAST YEAR FOR APRIL DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME START “This is that last year America's clocks move ahead in April (this Sunday, April 2, 2006 at 2:00am). "On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday of March and end the first Sunday of November. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to revert the Daylight Saving Time back to the 2005 time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete," quoting this site. link here . RAMTHA SCHOOL NEWS Our productive students expand their businesses to Olympia. “At its best, Cielo Blu balances global flavors and local ingredients…” quoting The Tacoma News Tribune. link here "Sitting in Basilico Ristorante Italiano, I forgot that I was in Olympia — or even in America. The restaurant’s owners are from Italy, and the chef speaks little English. The pastry chef trained in Italy, too. And everything about this cozily sophisticated restaurant reflects a different sensibility: the authentic Northern Italian menu, the pacing of the meal, and the warmth of the service. The atmosphere manages to be both upscale and intimate, with creamy walls, a lot of dark wood and beautifully framed art. It’s refreshingly subtle," quoting The Olympian. link here . OF LOCAL NOTE “Yelm Community Schools announced at the March 14, 2006 Chamber of Commerce Forum that they just enrolled their 5,000th pupil, which doubled their student numbers in 25 years. What they did not say is that student enrollments could double again in as little as 5 years with new housing developments approved by the Yelm City Council. [Ed. Note: You do the math; 1,800 new single family homes in Yelm’s City Limits to be built within 5 years & each with 2.1 students average = 3,600+ new students, plus the growth in school enrollments from the county outside of city limits, and Yelm could well have 10,000+ students within 5 years.] link here . QUOTE OF THE YEAR "On Wednesday, March 1, 2006, at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU, was requested to testify. At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: 'Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?' Raskin replied: 'Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.' The room erupted into applause." Source: Urban Legends link here . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2006. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner for Week of March 20, 2006 Happy Spring to those readers in the Northern Hemisphere. Southern Hemisphere residents can enjoy Autumn. The Vernal Equinox in Yelm WA. is at 10:19am on Monday, March 20th: link here 1. “LIBERATING WOMEN FROM MACHO CULTURE FREES ALL” “Women's liberation may yet rescue the world from a population calamity. That revelation came to me as I sat at a rickety child-desk inside a decrepit schoolroom in the hill village of El Salto north of Mexico City. Around me were several smiling children with their mothers and grandmothers. Each of their faces reflected a genetic heritage shared with the ancient people who lived in that land long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors…But what if we look at it another way? What if we consider the example of Rosa Lopez and the women of El Salto? What if we make the liberation of women our focus? Suddenly, a happy result might seem more attainable because woman by woman in poverty-stricken villages throughout the developing world progress is being made. Micro loans in Central America, AIDS education in Africa, schools for girls in Asia -- in more and more places the seeds of change are being planted. And when women are better educated, when they can find work that will lift them from poverty, when they are freed from traditional religious and cultural practices that subject them to the cruel whims of unenlightened men, there is an inevitable byproduct: They bear fewer children. Liberate women and humanity might just be able to save itself from too much of a good thing,” quoting a very observant writer for the Seattle PI. link here . 2. SUBTERRANEAN TUNNELS USED TODAY & YESTERDAY; U. S. HAS MASSIVE TUNNELING MACHINES “Since the 1950s, the US Government has had nuclear powered tunneling machines. They were patented in the 1970s (US Patents #3,693,731). As it burrows through the rock hundreds of feet below the surface, the Subterrene heats whatever stone it encounters into molten rock, or magma, which cools after the Subterrene has moved on. The result is a tunnel with a smooth, glazed lining, somewhat like black glass, which is also apparently strong enough that it doesn’t even require reinforcing of the walls. It was featured in OMNI magazine, Sept 1983, p. 80,” quoting this site. [Ed. Note: Always use your own discernment and trust your own knowingness on stories such as this. This writer has heard his Master Teacher Ramtha mention this subject several times over the years.] link here ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND ANCIENT ISRAELI TUNNELS “Underground chambers and tunnels used during a Jewish revolt against the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago have been uncovered in northern Israel, archaeologists said Monday [Mar. 13]. The Jews laid in supplies and were preparing to hide from the Romans during their revolt in A.D. 66-70, the experts said. The pits, which are linked by short tunnels, would have served as a concealed subterranean home. Yardenna Alexandre of the Israel Antiquities Authority said the find shows the ancient Jews planned and prepared for the uprising, contrary to the common perception that the revolt began spontaneously,” quoting the AP. link here . 3. "COSMIC 'DNA': DOUBLE HELIX SPOTTED IN SPACE" "Magnetic forces at the center of the galaxy have twisted a nebula into the shape of DNA, a new study reveals. The double helix shape is commonly seen inside living organisms, but this is the first time it has been observed in the cosmos. 'Nobody has ever seen anything like that before in the cosmic realm,' said the study's lead author Mark Morris of UCLA. 'Most nebulae are either spiral galaxies full of stars or formless amorphous conglomerations of dust and gas—space weather. What we see indicates a high degree of order.' These observations, made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, are detailed in the March 16 issue of the journal Nature," quoting Space.com. link here . 4. GREAT BARRIER REEF CORAL DYING - FROM WARM OCEAN “When marine scientist Ray Berkelmans went diving at Australia's Great Barrier Reef earlier this year, what he discovered shocked him — a graveyard of coral stretching as far as he could see. ‘It's a white desert out there,’ Berkelmans told Reuters in early March after returning from a dive to survey bleaching — signs of a mass death of corals caused by a sudden rise in ocean temperatures — around the Keppel Islands. Australia has just experienced its warmest year on record and abnormally high sea temperatures during summer have caused massive coral bleaching in the Keppels. Sea temperatures touched 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit), the upper limit for coral,” quoting ABC News. link here GROUNDWATER INFILTRATION MAY AID CORAL, YET POLLUTE THIS OCEAN LIFE "Coffee drinkers may be unknowingly sharing their double lattes with coral reefs, according to Stanford University researchers who have studied the effect of groundwater discharge on coastal oceans. Their study, published in the January 2006 issue of Limnology and Oceanography, establishes groundwater as an important source of nutrients to coral reefs around the world. Groundwater, the scientists caution, also may increasingly contribute to reef pollution as growing coastal populations introduce foreign chemicals into the marine environment. 'We've seen estrogen, caffeine and fertilizer—all sorts of things you don't naturally find in the ocean,' said Adina Paytan, an assistant professor in Stanford's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences and lead author of the study. 'The same is true of ibuprofen, pharmaceuticals and bacteria that has to do with human, bird or dog feces,'" quoting Stanford News Service. link here . 5. “SCIENTISTS AIM TO REGENERATE SOLDIERS’ LOST LIMBS- IRAQ’S LEGACY OF HUNDREDS OF AMPUTEES SPURS RESEARCH RACE” "Like no war before, the war in Iraq has seen unprecedented numbers of injuries due to surprise bomb attacks. And like no other war before, troops are often surviving those attacks, though many of them lose limbs or suffer severe burns. That has led researchers to create the Soldier Treatment and Regeneration Consortium with the goal of growing back body parts, like ears and fingers, and treating burns. Researchers say the advancements could have a broad impact well beyond the battlefield. The consortium, which includes the backing of the military, received $1 million in funding from the federal government last week. ‘It's a starting point and it will enable us to get organized and prepare and hopefully treat one or two patients this year and generate clinical experience,’ said Alan J. Russell, director of the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and executive director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative," quoting the AP. link here . 6. EXHUMED BUDDHIST LAMA BODY SHOWS NO DECAY AFTER 75 YEARS “The body of Hambo Lama Itighelov, who was a spiritual leader of Russian Buddhists from 1911 to 1927, was first exhumed from the grave in 1955, at the Lama's request. When after the third exhumation in 2002 after 75 years since the Lama's death, his body still showed no signs of decay, medical experts decided to examine the miracle. The grave contained a wooden box and there was a sitting Buddhist lama in a 'lotus' position. His body was preserved as if it were mummified, however it was not. The body was covered with silk clothes and fabric. ‘Samples taken 75 years after the body had been buried, show that the organics of the skin, hair, and nails of the dead man aren't any different from that of a living human,’ a professor of history at the Russian State University for Humanities, Galina Yershova stated at a press-conference in "Interfax" central office in Moscow, according to Pravda.ru. ‘His joints flex, the soft tissues are elastic just like in a living person, and after they opened the box, where the body of the Lama lay for 75 years, there was a very pleasant fragrance,’ Yershova was quoted as saying," quoting Epoch Times of San Francisco. link here And from Russia's Pravda: link here . 7. "ACCELERATED TELOMERE SHORTENING IN RESPONSE TO LIFE STRESS" "Numerous studies demonstrate links between chronic stress and indices of poor health, including risk factors for cardiovascular disease and poorer immune function. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of how stress gets ‘‘under the skin’’ remain elusive. We investigated the hypothesis that stress impacts health by modulating the rate of cellular aging. Here we provide evidence that psychological stress—both perceived stress and chronicity of stress—is significantly associated with higher oxidative stress, lower telomerase activity, and shorter telomere length, which are known determinants of cell senescence and longevity, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy premenopausal women. Women with the highest levels of perceived stress have telomeres shorter on average by the equivalent of at least one decade of additional aging compared to low stress women. These findings have implications for understanding how, at the cellular level, stress may promote earlier onset of age-related diseases," quoting the University of California/San Francisco. link here . 8. “THE SCIENCE OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION” "There are few issues as hotly contested — and as poorly understood — as the question of what makes a person gay or straight. It's not only a political, social, and religious question but also a scientific question, one that might someday have an actual, provable answer. The handful of scientists who work in this under-funded and politically charged field will tell you: That answer is a long way off. But as Lesley Stahl reports, their efforts are already yielding tantalizing clues. One focus of their research is twins," quoting CBS News 60 Minutes broadcast of March 12, 2006. link here MIKE WALLACE HAS BEEN WITH CBS NEWS 60 MINUTES PROGRAM SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1968 AND IS BY FAR, THIS WRITER'S FAVORITE REPORTER. WE WISH HIM WELL AS HE RETIRES NEAR HIS 88TH BIRTHDAY: link here . 9. OLIVE OIL PROVIDES MANY BENEFITS-RICH IN ANTIOXIDANTS: "It’s no surprise that the Mediterranean diet is linked to good health. Small reliance on meat and scant use of butter limit the saturated fat that raises blood cholesterol and possibly promotes development of some cancers. The Mediterranean diet includes a large proportion of fish, which is rich in omega-3 fats that reduce inflammation, which seems to raise both heart and cancer risks. An abundance of fruits, vegetables and beans provides the many different phytochemicals that protect blood vessels and guard cells against cancer-causing substances. Now, studies show that olive oil may bolster each one of these benefits," quoting MSNBC.com. link here OLIVE USED FOR FUEL: “More than 300 buildings in Madrid now run on energy extracted from olive cores, raising hopes that olives -- of which Spain is the world's largest producer -- will become an alternative source of cheap power. But ecologists have questioned the merits of the scheme," quoting AFP. link here . 10. COW IN ALABAMA TESTED POSITIVE FOR MAD COW "A cow in Alabama has tested positive for mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department said Monday [Mar. 13], confirming the third U.S. case of the brain-wasting ailment. ‘The animal was a beef cow but hadn’t entered the food supply for people or animals,’ said the department’s chief veterinarian, John Clifford, ‘which means the citizens of Alabama — and the nation — have no reason to believe their food supply from cattle is unsafe. It’s just as safe as it was yesterday,' Alabama Health Officer Dr. Donald Williamson told a news conference on Monday [Mar. 13]," quoting MSNBC. [Ed. Note: This writer has ALWAYS said to know from where your beef comes that you consume.] link here USA TO SCALE BACK MAD COW TESTING! "Despite the confirmation of a third case of mad cow disease, the government intends to scale back testing for the brain-wasting disorder blamed for the deaths of more than 150 people in Europe. The Agriculture Department boosted its surveillance after finding the first case of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003. About 1,000 tests are run daily, up from about 55 daily in 2003. The testing program detected an infected cow in Alabama last week, and further analysis confirmed Monday [Mar. 13] that the animal had mad cow disease. link here . 11. DID AMERICA SEE THIS STORY ON THEIR FRONT PAGES??? NO! AND BUSH & CO. WANT TO DRILL MORE ON THE NORTH SLOPE! "An oil spill discovered at Prudhoe Bay field is the largest ever on Alaska's North Slope region, US officials say. They estimate that up to 267,000 gallons (one million litres) of crude leaked from a corroded transit pipeline at the state's northern tip. The spill was detected on 2 March and plugged. Local environmentalists have described it as "a catastrophe". In 1989, the Exxon Valdez shipping disaster spilled 11m gallons (42m litres) of oil onto the Alaskan coast. 'I can confirm it's the largest spill of crude oil on the North Slope that we have record of,' Linda Giguere, from Alaska's state department of environmental conservation, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency," quoting the BBC. link here Further: “Last week, the Senate Budget Committee caved in to Big Oil and passed a budget resolution that includes a provision designed exclusively to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," quoting the NRDC. link here "The Senate narrowly passed a budget bill Thursday [Mar. 16] that could lead to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Resolution, but there are more hurdles ahead and an end to the decades-old controversy is far from certain," quoting the Anchorage Daily News. link here HERE IS ANOTHER VIEW ON THE ISSUE OF THE IRAN BOURSE RAISED HERE PREVIOUSLY: link here . 12. GOOGLE? NOW THE U. S. GOVERNMENT WANTS TO KNOW FOR WHAT YOU SEARCH “Privacy campaigners in the US hailed a victory of sorts for internet search engine Google yesterday [Mar. 15] after a court case focusing on demands from the Bush administration for access to its data appeared to swing in Google's favour. The White House had served a subpoena on several web search giants demanding data on billions of search requests and website addresses as part of its defence of an online pornography law. But a US district judge in San Jose, California, indicated repeatedly on Tuesday that he shared Google's concerns about privacy, and he did not want to create the impression government could keep track of individuals searching the internet," quoting UK's Guardian. link here . RAMTHA SCHOOL NEWS “Ramtha.tv is an online video service for current students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. Ramtha.tv provides a way for current students to view archived teachings and to view live streaming events from around the world. The next Live Streaming events will be from New York City this weekend. link here "The Corruption of Scripture: An In-Depth Look at how the Fundamentals of Early Christianity Were Corrupted" by Dr. Miceal Ledwith is a three-evening internent-streaming series beginning Tuesday, March 21st at 7pm PST. The course overview is here: link here . OF LOCAL NOTE The Yelm Food Co-op is owned by its members and are registered with the State of Washington as a non-profit organization, with their motto “Co-ops Build Community”! They provide quality food and supplies both for everyday use and long term storage to the greater Yelm community. They are soliciting members now to build funds for a matching grant of $10,000, which will be used to open their store. They are 60% to their goal. Will you consider a membership? link here Membership information: link here "Court Clear way for Yelm Wal-Mart" quoting this Olympian story title. This means Wal-Mart can now pick-up their building permit anytime from Yelm City Hall to begin construction. [Ed. Note: The face of this town will be forever changed and Yelm area citizens will have to deal with the consequences of such a decision, consequences that will cause them to look back in a few years and see that the opponents of this behemoth were correct. Unfortunately, that will be too late!] link here . QUOTE OF THE WEEK “The best mind-altering drug is the truth.” Lily Tomlin (1939- ) Oscar-nominated American actress and comedian . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2006. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner For Week of March 13, 2006 This movie trailer ask the same question this writer speaks about weekly: link here "Producer Robert Greenwald and filmmaker Nonny de la Pena present a devastating account of the erosion of American liberties following the passage of the USA Patriot Act in 2001. First-hand testimony and commentary from noted public figures -- ranging from Professor David Cole and the American Civil Liberties Union's Anthony Romero to former congressman Robert Barr -- recount unprecedented searches, abusive ethnic profiling and covert surveillance of political organizations, enacted under the guise of national security," quoting the Sundance Channel, to be aired March 22, 2006. link here 1. FOLKS, THIS IS FROM USA TODAY, NOT SOME UNKNOWN NEWS SOURCE "Congress is headed toward approving a plan that would require employers to check every worker's Social Security number or immigration work permit against a new federal computer database. Critics see the move — aimed at stemming illegal immigration — as the beginning of a government information stockpile that could be used to track U.S. residents. 'We're getting closer and closer to a national ID card,' says Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union," quoting USA Today. [Ed. Note: Nothing we do is private. Everything is known. Orwell's 1984 will be surpassed by Big Brother's thoroughness and in ways he never considered, especially with food and water.] link here Thanks to President Bush signing the Patriot Act into law, you have NO privacy or rights anymore. Those are now Gone With The Wind! And not even a peep from the public. We impeached President Nixon a mere 32 years ago for less than what this man has done.] link here . 2. WARNING ABOUT BUYING MULCH IN THE U. S. THIS SPRING Much of the Louisiana Hurricane debris has been turned into mulch and shipped to all parts of the country. "Cleaning up wood debris after a hurricane or other severe windstorm can spread one of Louisiana’s most destructive pests – the Formosan subterranean termite...A scourge of New Orleans and South Louisiana could find its way to other parts of the state and country if people move wood that’s infested with Formosan subterranean termites...Efforts are under way to prevent the spread of Formosan subterranean termites in mulch from New Orleans and Louisiana following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It is true that there is a lot of cellulose debris (wood, paper and their products) in Louisiana following these two hurricanes," quoting the LSU AgCenter site. [Ed. Note: Know before you buy where any mulch originates this year.] link here . 3. MP3 PLAYERS' VOLUME CAUSE HEARING-LOSS CONCERN "Fligor is researching safe-listening levels in MP3s. He and colleagues published a study in 2004 that determined safe-listening levels with portable music players such as the Sony Walkman; the study found that one hour a day at about 60% volume was safe. Preliminary results of the MP3 study show figures in the same ballpark,” he says. “If it's not healthy, why give listeners the option to pump it up to 120 decibels? Pure pleasure,” Fligor says. “There are just some songs you want to rock out on,” says iPod user and Texas musician Bob Schneider, 40, who has been performing for 17 years and concedes he probably has some hearing damage. “At this stage of the game, I still play the music pretty loud. I can still hear pretty well, but that might be a whole different story when I'm 60.” By then, it might be too late for Schneider or families such as the Nelsons who sometimes listen to their MP3s more than three hours a day. Using earphones for hours at high volumes basically causes "shock and awe" to delicate hair-like cells deep within the inner ear that help the brain process sound, says Ron Eavey, director of pediatric otolaryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. After years of abuse, those structures won't function anymore, he says,” quoting USA Today. link here . 4. HOPI INDIAN RUNNERS ON 1,500-MILE RUN FROM ARIZONA TO MEXICO CITY “Relying on their own feet and centuries of tradition, Hopi Indians runners 12 to 75 years of age will run from their desert mesa homelands of Arizona some 1,500 miles south to Mexico starting March 2. They will carry an ancient message about water to the 4th World Water Forum March 16 to 20 in Mexico City. 8,000 delegates are officially expected to attend representing the commodification of water – municipal utilities, pipeline companies, bottling companies, political and government representatives – are expected to attend. They will discuss the global crisis of equitable drinking access, food production, wide-spread contamination of water sources and global climate change. Along with hundreds of other Native American nations, non-governmental organizations and environmental groups who will also attend on their own, the Hopi do not have an official invitation. But they will be coming with a message – a spiritual ceremony to place water as a living sentient being, "the first living spirit on Earth," at the center of the global forum. The Hopi delegation is being hosted by the University of Puebla in Mexico,” quoting this site. link here And, the 4th WORLD WATER FORUM in Mexico City: link here . 5. NATION'S HOSPITAL CHARGES UNDER ASSAULT FOR DISPARITIES "Most Americans know that if you get sick enough to go to a hospital, it's going to be expensive. But you may be surprised to learn that hospitals all over the country charge their highest prices, by far, to those who can afford it least — the 46 million Americans who don’t have health insurance. Hospitals charge uninsured patients two, three, four or more times what an insurance company would pay for the same treatment. And, when the uninsured can’t pay, they often find themselves the target of collection agencies or in bankruptcy court. 60 Minutes had no idea how much hospitals can charge people without insurance, until we met Carlos Ferlini and his daughter Peggy," quoting CBS News. [Ed. Note: Don’t play the insurance/hospital games? Expect to be gouged AND call them on it.] link here . 6. “ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET DECLINE STARTLES SCIENTISTS” “The Antarctic ice sheet, which contains 90% of the world's ice, has lost significant mass in the past few years. The discovery comes as a surprise to scientists, who thought that the continent would gain ice this century because of increased snowfall in a warming climate. A research team from the University of Colorado used satellite data to estimate that the ice sheet is losing up to 36 cubic miles of ice every year. By comparison, a city the size of Los Angeles uses one cubic mile of fresh water every year. ‘This is the first study to indicate the total mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet is in significant decline,’ said Professor Isabella Velicogna of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (Cires). According to the British Antarctic Survey, if the West Antarctic ice sheet - which is about eight times smaller in volume than the East Antarctic ice sheet -melted completely, global sea levels would rise by more than six metres (20 ft)," quoting The Guardian. link here And: link here . 7. “RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY EXTINCTION HOT SPOTS” "From frigid northern Canada and Alaska to tropical Asian islands, lands where wildlife seems safe today may pose some of the greatest extinction dangers in the future. In particular peril are animals with a relatively small geographic range and those that have a large body mass and reproduce slowly. Researchers identified regions where they felt there was a high “latent extinction risk” for nonmarine mammals, often areas that have had little human impact so far. Latent risk is low in parts of the world already heavily populated by people, where species likely to succumb to the pressure have already done so. The findings are reported in Monday’s [Mar. 6] online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," quoting the AP. See the map: link here . 8. MAJOR DROUGHT INFLICTING PARTS OF THE USA & UK "One of the driest winters ever in the Southwest is killing trees and plants, stressing wildlife, choking the air in Phoenix and leaving much of the region prone to severe wildfire," quoting USA Today. link here "In Britain, where obsessing over the weather is a national pastime, the talk these days is not about the rain, but the lack of precipitation. The reason: Despite its reputation for wet, dreary weather, London and much of southeastern England are on the verge of the worst drought in nearly a century," quoting USA Today. link here . 9. KENTUCKY SCHOOLS SPEAK TO IMMINENT THREAT TO NATION “Seven Kentucky colleges and universities, along with 13 state and community Organizations throughout the region have organized a conference that speaks to the severe and imminent threats to sustainability that face our nation. The Campus--Community Partnerships for Sustainability Conference, which will take place April 21-23 at Berea College -- is unique in that it is the first one in this area to recognize the extensive resources available within our communities and campuses and to encourage people to work together to find local solutions to broad-scale problems. ‘In the face of climate change, farmland loss, depletion of our resources, degradation of our water, land, and air, increasing budget and trade deficits, we must build up the infrastructure of our Communities and become better informed about what we need to do,’ said Richard Olson, associate professor and director of the Sustainability and Environmental Studies Program at Berea. ‘The solution to the problems we face is not going to come from a national or global level. It must come from within our communities.” link here Berea College Public Relations: link here . 10. THIS STORY IS VERY ASTUTE: "OSAMA'S SECRET WEAPON" “Several times a year Osama Bin Laden emerges from seclusion to taunt America. There is always a quiet confidence about him as he proclaims that victory for Islam and God over America is inevitable. In addition to promising more attacks on us, Osama says he is patient and willing to wait for our demise as long as it takes. Is he crazy? Where does he get the idea that a group of rag tag thugs who live in caves is going to defeat the greatest superpower nation in history? After all, as horrendous as the 9-11 attacks were, our economy rebounded quickly. To find out where Osama gets his mojo, go to your computer and Google “Peak Oil.” One of the websites that will come up is www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net. This meticulously documented site is authored by Matt Savinar, a recent law school graduate. It begins with the statement: “Dear Reader, civilization as we know it is about to come to an end.” Mr. Savinar is not referring to Osama’s vision of civilization but our modern, petroleum-based civilization that Dick Cheney refers to as “The American Way of Life” that is not negotiable according to Mr. Cheney," quoting Energy Bulletin. link here . 11. CLOONEY'S OSCAR WIN ELEVATES SYRIANA AS IMPORTANT STORY [Ed. Note: All Americans along with the Western World should see this film told with exquisite detail the intertwining of corporate and government interests of oil interests in the Middle East. If you have not seen this film, make sure you get the DVD.] link here Syriana -- The Movie has an all-star cast with ithe film's executive producer George Clooney, Christopher Plummer, Matt Damon & Jeffrey Wright. Turn up your volume and listen to the chilling trailer: link here . 12. A MUST READ FOR ALL AMERICANS BEST STORY THIS WRITER HAS SEEN ON WHY USA SABIR-RATTLES IRAN “The man that actually did demand Euro for his oil was Saddam Hussein in 2000. At first, his demand was met with ridicule, later with neglect, but as it became clearer that he meant business, political pressure was exerted to change his mind. When other countries, like Iran, wanted payment in other currencies, most notably Euro and Yen, the danger to the dollar was clear and present, and a punitive action was in order. Bush’s Shock-and-Awe in Iraq was not about Saddam’s nuclear capabilities, about defending human rights, about spreading democracy, or even about seizing oil fields; it was about defending the dollar, ergo the American Empire. It was about setting an example that anyone who demanded payment in currencies other than U.S. Dollars would be likewise punished. Many have criticized Bush for staging the war in Iraq in order to seize Iraqi oil fields. However, those critics can’t explain why Bush would want to seize those fields—he could simply print dollars for nothing and use them to get all the oil in the world that he needs. He must have had some other reason to invade Iraq. History teaches that an empire should go to war for one of two reasons: (1) to defend itself or (2) benefit from war; if not, as Paul Kennedy illustrates in his magisterial The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, a military overstretch will drain its economic resources and precipitate its collapse. Economically speaking, in order for an empire to initiate and conduct a war, its benefits must outweigh its military and social costs. Benefits from Iraqi oil fields are hardly worth the long-term, multi-year military cost. Instead, Bush must have went [sic] into Iraq to defend his Empire. Indeed, this is the case: two months after the United States invaded Iraq, the Oil for Food Program was terminated, the Iraqi Euro accounts were switched back to dollars, and oil was sold once again only for U.S. dollars. No longer could the world buy oil from Iraq with Euro. Global dollar supremacy was once again restored. Bush descended victoriously from a fighter jet and declared the mission accomplished—he had successfully defended the U.S. dollar, and thus the American Empire. The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate “nuclear” weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. That weapon is the Iranian Oil Bourse slated to open in March 2006. It will be based on a euro-oil-trading mechanism that naturally implies payment for oil in Euro. In economic terms, this represents a much greater threat to the hegemony of the dollar than Saddam’s, because it will allow anyone willing either to buy or to sell oil for Euro to transact on the exchange, thus circumventing the U.S. dollar altogether. If so, then it is likely that almost everyone will eagerly adopt this euro oil system:" Check out the options for President Bush by reading this enlightening story. link here "Iran faces “tangible and painful consequences” if it continues its nuclear activities and the United States will use “all tools at our disposal” to stop this threat, a senior U.S. official said Sunday [Mar. 5], ahead of a crucial international meeting on Iran." link here Further: This is one of the best books yet and the title says “it all”: State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration (Hardcover). link here Available at RSE online in audio or hardcover editions or at the Outback Boutique in Yelm. link here . RAMTHA SCHOOL NEWS "Ramtha.tv is an online video service for current students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. Ramtha.tv provides a way for current students to view archived teachings and to view live streaming events from around the world," quoting Ramtha.tv. [Ed. Note: The next live-streaming event will be with Ramtha from the Primary Retreat in Yelm, WA. Saturday, March 18 at 3pm Pacific Time. link here The Corruption of Scripture An In-Depth Look at how the Fundamentals of Early Christianity Were Corrupted with Dr. Miceal Ledwith, L.Ph., B.A., L.D., D.D. (Theologian, Star of What the Bleep Do We Know and Creator of The Hamburger Universe) Copyright Michael F. Ledwith 2006 SESSION ONE: The Corruption of Scripture: How the Bible was Changed and Why, Tuesday, March 21, 2006 6pm PST | 7pm MST | 8pm CST | 9pm EST Turn up your speakers, click on the link below and listen to a special message from Dr. Miceal Ledwith, star of WHAT THE BLEEP? link here At the 78th annual Academy Awards March 5th in Hollywood, Ca. "Salma Hayek was the standout in an off-the-shoulder pleated slate blue dress, with her hair let down in soft waves," quoting MTV. link here [Ed. Note: Ms. Hayek was stellar in her singular role acknowledging the Academy’s Orchestra and handling Best Musical Score nominations accompanied by violin virtuoso Isak Pearlman. She presented the Oscar to Argentinian composer Gustavo Santaolalla for Brokeback Mountain. link here ] The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences official press release on Ms. Hayek's presentation: link here . OF LOCAL NOTE Yelm & Rainier Area residents please mark your calendar to attend an evening Open House with the co-Fire Chiefs Rita Hutcheson & Mark King as they explain their funding and the needs for a levy. This writer mentioned that an Open House would provide an opportunity to bridge the gap in knowledge and understandings amongst the whole community. Please mark Thursday, March 30th at 7pm at Yelm Middle School to show support for these fine people who serve all of us. This writer told them I would do my best to spread the word. The "Official" Web Site for the S.E. Thurston Fire / EMS District. link here And: "The Yelm Chapter of TC Pro-Net presents the film "The Corporation" at Gordon's Grange on Friday, March 17. Doors open at 6:30, film begins at 7:00--length of film is 2 hours and a $3 donation is suggested for rental of the grange," quoting their site. link here And: "Important information on the Washington Farm Bureau Property Fairness Initiative will highlight a special meeting for Thurston County Farm Bureau members and interested citizens on Thursday, March 23. The 7 - 8:30 p.m. meeting is at the Lacey Community Center (6729 Pacific Ave SE in Lacey, Woodland Creek Community Park)." link here . QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Courage is not simply ONE of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point. C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English Literary Scholar . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2006. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com . Kleiner's Korner For Week of March 6, 2006 1. GETTING READY --- PANDEMIC COMING IN GOVERNMENT'S MIND "Businesses need to plan on having 40 percent of their workforces out if a flu pandemic strikes and need to start rewarding employees for staying home when they are sick, government advisers told a conference Tuesday [Feb. 28]. The H5N1 avian influenza virus will almost certainly spread to birds in the United States eventually, and if it mutates into a form that easily infects people it will spread globally within weeks, they noted. If that happens, up to a third of people will be sickened by the virus in the space of a few weeks, another third will have to stay home to care for ill relatives or children kept out of school, and others will be afraid to come to work or may have trouble getting in if mass transit systems break down," quoting Reuters. link here . 2. BIRD FLU NOW HAS JUMPED TO A MAMMAL IN EU--- A CAT "The deadly strain of bird flu was confirmed Tuesday [Feb. 28] in a cat in northern Germany, the first time the virus has been identified in a mammal in the 25 nations of the European Union. The cat was on the northern island of Ruegen, where most of the more than 100 wild birds infected by the H5N1 strain were found, the Friedrich Loeffler institute said. The cat was found dead over the weekend and then tested positive for H5N1, laboratory leader Thomas Mettenleiter said. In Geneva, World Health Organization spokeswoman Maria Cheng said this was the first time she knows of an animal other than a bird being infected in Europe. Tigers and leopards were infected by H5N1 in Thailand, where they were fed chicken carcasses in a zoo," quoting the AP. link here . 3. HEALTH SECRETARY SAYS BIRD FLU TO HIT USA SOON "The lethal avian flu that is spreading rapidly around the world could soon infect wild birds and domesticated flocks in the United States, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Wednesday [Mar. 1]. In testimony to a congressional panel on his agency’s budget for combating a possible avian flu outbreak among humans, Leavitt told senators that no one knows when or if the virus will pose a threat to people. But, he said, “it’s just a matter of time -- it may be very soon” when wild birds and possibly poultry flocks contract the disease. Leavitt said that infection of birds alone in the United States with the H5N1 virus would not create a public health emergency. Such an emergency would occur if the disease mutated so that it became easily transferred from human to human," quoting Reuters. link here . 4. CLINTON: FOR BETTER HEALTH, EXERCISE & REDUCE CALORIC INTAKE "Former President Clinton, a reformed overeater, urged the nation’s governors on Tuesday [Feb .28] to embrace a long-term effort to change the nation’s culture of too much food and too little exercise. Clinton changed his eating habits after undergoing heart bypass surgery in September 2004. He warned the governors that failure to change the nation’s eating habits will weaken the economy and threaten the lives of its children. 'We have a huge cultural problem and unless we change it our children may grow up to be the first generation with shorter life spans than we had,' the former Arkansas governor told the National Governors Association at the last day of its annual winter meeting," quoting the AP. link here . 5. DUTCH STUDY: CHOCOLATE CONSUMPTION MAY REDUCE BLOOD PRESSURE IN OLDER MEN “Leave it to the Dutch to help demonstrate the health benefits of chocolate. A study of older men in The Netherlands, known for its luscious chocolate, indicated those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death. The researchers say, however, it’s too early to conclude it was chocolate that led to better health. The men who ate more cocoa products could have shared other qualities that made them healthier. Experts also point out that eating too much chocolate can make you fat – a risk for both heart disease and high blood pressure,” quoting the AP. link here And, Forbes report on this story: link here . 6. “MIND CONTROL: THE ULTIMATE BRAVE NEW WORLD” “The questions which this section raises are profound. Is it possible to transmit a signal to the brain of a person, from a distance, which deposits specific sounds, voice or other information, which can be understood? Is it possible to transfer sound in a way where only the targeted person can hear the “voice in the head” and no one else hears a thing? Is it possible to shift a person’s emotions using remote electromagnetic tools? The answer to each of these questions is a resounding “Yes!” The state of the science has passed even the most optimistic predictions, and the capabilities are here now,” quoting Nexus Magazine. link here . 7. “VOYAGE TO OUR HOLLOW EARTH” THIS SUMMER “Would you be interested in a once-in-a-lifetime chance to discover Our Hollow Earth first hand? If so, we invite you to join us for an expedition to the North Pole with Steve Currey, one of the leading river explorers in the world! Indigenous Eskimos believe that there is a hole in the Arctic Ocean and observations by several Arctic explorers like Olaf Jansen and Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, U.S.N., who claim to have seen mirages of exposed land near the North Pole, indicate that the most plausible location for an opening is located at 84.4 N Latitude, 141 E Longitude. Steve Currey's Expedition Company has chartered the Russian Nuclear IceBreaker YAMAL, to take 100 adventurers to the North Pole for an expedition to conduct scientific observations that could resolve once and for all whether the Hollow Earth Theory has any validity! Departure date is scheduled for June 26, 2006.” quoting Steve Currey’s Expedition Company. link here . 8. GIANT YELLOWSTONE CALDERA INCREASING IN SIZE “Forces brewing deep beneath Yellowstone National Park could be making one of the largest volcanoes on Earth even bigger, a new study reveals. In the past decade, part of the volcano has risen nearly five inches, most likely due to a backup of flowing molten rock miles below the planet's crust. Yellowstone last erupted about 640,000 years ago, spewing 240 cubic miles of material. Despite the newly discovered activity, researchers don't expect it to erupt any time soon. Eventually, however, it could explode again as a super-volcano that would destroy life for hundreds of miles around and coat the entire country in ash. Radar observations from the European Space Agency's ERS-2 satellite reveal that the jellybean-shaped Yellowstone caldera — a giant depression caused by past volcanic explosions — began to rise in 1995,” quoting Live Science. link here And: link here Further, the other huge caldera is California’s Long Valley Caldera: link here “Super Volcanoes will chill the world someday” link here . 9. “DEPRESSION, HEART DISEASE OFTEN CONNECTED” “Depression is one of the most common health disorders in the U.S., and heart disease is a leading cause of death. ‘Although they can and do occur separately, research shows that the two conditions are often connected,’ health experts write in the February issue of the Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource. Previous studies have shown that depression is more common among people with heart disease than among those without. Researchers found that one in three heart attack survivors experience depression, compared to about one in 20 adults in the general population. Depression has also been shown to be a precursor to heart disease. In one study of postmenopausal women, investigators found that those with symptoms of depression were 50 percent more likely to develop or die from heart disease than those without such symptoms, even though they had no prior history of heart disease,” quoting Reuters. link here . 10. SURVEY SHOWS WHY U.S. CONSTITUTION BEING TRASHED: LACK OF KNOWLEDGE. “Americans apparently know more about “The Simpsons” than they do about the First Amendment. Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey. The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms. Joe Madeira, director of exhibitions at the museum, said he was surprised by the results,” quoting the AP. link here The Patriot Act looks like a Slam Dunk, so by-by to your Constitutional Rights as the US Senate votes overwhelmingly to renewing Patriot Act. Now goes to House & then President Bush. [Ed. Note: Slam Dunk that more of our Constitutionally guaranteed rights are history. Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) echoes this writers views below.] link here "There are few roles in our constitutional government that are more frustrating than being a member of the minority party during a period of one party control of the government. However, at a time when the majority party in general - and the president in particular - appears to be acting in open violation of the laws and the constitution, there are few jobs which are more important to the future of our democratic form of government. People think of Watergate, or Iran Contra as constituting crises. They were in the sense that an executive branch was acting in violation of the law, and in tension with the majority party in the congress. But in the end, the system worked, the abuses were investigated, and actions were taken - even if presidential pardons ultimately prevented a full measure of justice. Today, the crisis is substantively and systemically far worse. The alleged acts of wrongdoing - lying about the decision to go to war; manipulation of intelligence; facilitating and countenancing torture; using confidential information to out a CIA agent; open and flagrant violations of federal wiretap laws - are far more egregious than any I have witnessed in my 41 years in Congress. The majority party has shown no ability to engage in simple oversight, let alone challenge the Administration directly. The courts, while operating as an occasional and partial check, are institutionally incapable of delving into most of the controversies we are presented with as a result of limitations on standing, ripeness, and other doctrines. The media, which is increasingly concentrated, was shell-shocked and in some respects cowered by 9/11, and for the most part unwilling to alienate the party in charge," quoting Michigan Congressman John Conyers. link here "I Will Vote No on Patriot Act" By Senator Patrick Leahy [Ed. Note: Senator Leahy is a family friend of an RSE student who was raised in Vermont.] link here . 11. NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION MOVEMENT FOR WORLD PEACE Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D., author of Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, has taken up where Gandhi, King, and other past visionary leaders for peace left off. An internationally renowned visionary himself, Rosenberg 's credentials rank him as one of the foremost new leaders for world peace. His equally visionary communication process, Nonviolent Communication (NVC), is the cornerstone of what global leaders, educators, and beyond are identifying as the missing link to the solution we all seek. Viewed through NVC eyes, all anger and violence--both in the world at large and in our own personal lives--is a counter-productive attempt by people to meet their needs. link here . 12. SEE WITH WHOM YOU SHARE YOUR BIRTHDAY “You Share a Birthday with Famous People: Paul Revere--you know, "The Redcoats are coming"--was born on January 1. Find out what famous people were born on YOUR birthday,” quoting World Almanac for Kids. link here . RAMTHA SCHOOL NEWS “Virato speaks with J. Z. (sic) Knight, notorious channel for a 35,000 year old disincarnate being, Ramtha, and who appeared in the film What The Bleep Do We Know?! She introduced Ramtha to the media in 1978 in her first public appearance channeling Ramtha. In fact she is credited with the first use of the term "channeling." Saturday, March 11, 11:06 AM-Noon EST,” quoting Virato Live. link here As Primary Group students gather in Yelm from around the world, this is a good reminder to patronize our local students' businesses who work hard providing varied quality products and services for this little town. Before and after your event, won't you consider spending your dollars locally by visiting places like: - Annie's Bistro: a fabulous little restaurant with a diverse menu offering great food, quality and value. Annie's is in her 4th year, quite a feat in the difficult restaurant business. - Blue Bottle Espresso: A mother/daughter team serving up love in every organic coffee cup, sandwich, dessert. Celebrating their 1st anniversary in business March 16th. link here If we do not support our local businesses, they fold, as witnessed with the closing of students' wine shops. Other Yelm area RSE student businesses can be accessed here: link here Further, Bertha Rainen and Myra Hansen will be booksigning their stories at Lemuria in Yelm on Friday, March 10 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. You Primary Group visitors and all others please stop, buy their books and give them a hug for their courage in writing their stories; these are both silver-haired beauties with wisdom gained from a long life who have written simply of their experiences meeting their Master Teacher and how their lives have been changed forever. Bertha Rainen's book is No Excuses: My Plea For World Peace: link here Myran Hansen's book is titled: Grandmother's God. Also, buy Amber Wiltsie's book from the RSE Student Authors' Table directly in front of you when you enter the Quantum Cafe or at Yelm's Outback Boutique: Ramtha & Me: One Woman's Journey in a School of Anicent Wisdom . OF LOCAL NOTE “Established in 1989, the Nisqually Land Trust is a nonprofit group of farmers, business, and professional people, homemakers, and others. Together, we are working to protect the Nisqually River basin through private, nongovernmental means. Our goal is to provide for the conservation of: waters and wetlands • aquatic and wildlife habitats • scenic areas and open spaces • historic, cultural and archeological sites • recreational and agricultural timberlands Their Fourteenth Annual Auction is Saturday, March 18th, 2006. link here . QUOTE OF THE WEEK “What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.” Mark Twain (Samuel Longhorne Clemens) 1835-1910 American Writer . Kleiner’s Korner is copyrighted by Stephen R. Klein, 2006. For archived issues of Kleiner’s Korner, click on "Current Kleiner’s Korner and Archives" at link here Send comments to steve@kleinerskorner.com .