Free Republic

Dear EarthTalk: What is the best way to measure how close we are to the dreaded "point of no return" with climate change? In other words, when do we think we will have gone too far? — David Johnston, via EarthTalk.org While we may not yet have reached the “point of no return” - when no amount of cutbacks on greenhouse gas emissions will save us from potentially catastrophic global warming - climate scientists warn we may be getting awfully close. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution a century ago, the average global temperature has risen some 1.6 degrees...

While childhood vaccination rates are well over 90%, adults are far more likely to be behind on vaccinations http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/national_adult_immunization_plan_final.pdf Think you're up to date on your vaccinations? You might be surprised at how many vaccinations are now recommended for American adults -- and the federal government plans to start tracking which of those vaccines you're behind on. The Department of Health and Human Services released its preliminary draft of a new five year plan to increase adult vaccinations this month. The newly revised 52-page National Adult Immunization Plan says: While the NVP provides a vision for improving protection from vaccine-preventable...

<p>Why won't they release the rules?!?!</p> <p>It's been less than 24 hours since the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve strict new regulations on Internet providers, but that's the leading question coming from its critics.</p> <p>Conservatives are demanding that the FCC release a full copy of the regulations that it's planning to impose on companies such as Comcast and Verizon — and taking the agency's silence as evidence of a cover-up. Readers of an FCC blog post  have suspiciously mused that "these new regulations should have been published by now." It's much the same over on Twitter.</p>

Rand Paul: Most vaccines should be ‘voluntary’ By ADAM B. LERNER 2/2/15 2:42 PM EST Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) waded into the debate over vaccinations Monday, telling conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham that he thinks most vaccines should be “voluntary.” Paul, an ophthamologist and likely 2016 White House hopeful, expressed particular concern over mandatory vaccinations for sexually transmitted diseases. He criticized former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for his executive order mandating that Texas children receive the HPV vaccine. “I’m not anti-vaccine at all,” Paul said, but “I think that’s a personal decision.” Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/rand-paul-vaccines-114834.html#ixzz3QhA3J7zr

The U.S. Department of Justice secretly spies on millions of cars by gathering and storing information about motorists in order to build a national database to track movements, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. The database was originally used by the Drug Enforcement Administration to hunt vehicles involved in drug crimes by tracking license plates, but according to the WSJ, the program expanded to hunt for criminals sought for crimes that were non-drug related. DEA officials have been on record saying they track vehicles near the U.S.-Mexico border to help fight drug cartels, but the new...

The United States intelligence community funded, nurtured and incubated Google as part of a drive to dominate the world through control of information. Seed-funded by the NSA and CIA,Google was merely the first among a plethora of private sector start-ups co-opted by US intelligence to retain ‘information superiority.’ The origins of this ingenious strategy trace back to a secret Pentagon-sponsored group, that for the last two decades has functioned as a bridge between the US government and elites across the business, industry, finance, corporate, and media sectors. The group has allowed some of the most powerful special interests in corporate...

President Obama was not the only member of his household that fought to improve the P-20 education system in 2014. Michelle Obama carried out an impressive education agenda that rivaled her husband's in many respects. It seems that the two are a tag team for the ages, and P-20 education is lucky to have this duo championing it. Michelle Obama spent 2014 front and center for education -- in more ways than one. 1. First Lady endorses arts education. This past spring, First Lady Michelle Obama joined the stage with middle- and high-schoolers who performed in the first ever White...

New York City preschoolers will be heading back to class next week with memories of new holiday toys, vacation adventures, and, health officials hope, a flu shot.In fact, because of a new city requirement, young children can, for the first time in the city’s history, be excluded from class if they have not received a flu vaccination.The new rule, which applies to some 150,000 children in city-licensed day care centers and preschools, was quietly adopted by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the waning days of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration. 

The Benefits of Being Politically Correct By Anna North November 10, 2014 1:20 pm 30 Comments When people bring up political correctness, they’re often talking about how much they hate it. Unlike, say, “diversity” or “inclusion,” the term is perhaps most frequently used by those who object to what it stands for, who feel that calls to change the way they speak harm them or society in some way. These objections inspired Jack Goncalo, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell, and his team to study the actual effects of political correctness. They’d heard “this idea that the effort to...

On Monday, ABC’s Good Morning America provided First Lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch program, entitled the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, with some free publicity. Co-host George Stephanopoulos touted how “new federal guidelines pushed by the First Lady have cafeterias serving up healthier foods. And a new study finds those lunches may be better than the ones parents pack for their kids.”The ABC co-host then turned to contributor Claire Shipman, wife of former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, to further promote the study’s findings: School cafeteria lunches. For years, they've been the butt of jokes. But this morning a new...

London's police chief today warns society against letting parts of the  internet become a “dark and ungoverned” space populated by paedophiles, murderers and terrorists. In a call for action, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe says encryption on computers and mobile phones is frustrating police investigations, meaning parts of the web are becoming “anarchic places”. He was telling a New York law enforcement conference: “We can’t allow parts of the internet, or any communications platform, to become dark, ungoverned space where images of child abuse are exchanged, murders are planned and terrorist plots are progressed. “In a democracy we cannot accept...

911 emergency dispatchers in New York have been instructed not to use the work 'Ebola' over the radio. According to the New York Post, officials made the decision in an effort to minimize fear and panic since the radio channels are often monitored by civilians and the media. The Post reports that dispatchers have been instructed to use the code ‘F/T' when discussing callers that have a fever and have a history of travel to West Africa.

TUESDAY, Oct. 7, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Every American over the age of 45 should be screened for both type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, a U.S. task force has recommended. "For people with abnormal blood sugar, changes in their lifestyle, such as eating healthier and exercising more often, can help prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. The best way to do that is to participate in a program that supports these behaviors. That's why we're recommending that people who are at increased risk be screened," Dr. Michael Pignone, a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,...

The information leaked by Edward Snowden last year raised the public consciousness quite a bit about user privacy and security in using certain services (not to mention the hope that companies won’t be that willing to acquiesce to government requests for user information). In recent weeks, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been emphasizing a new focus on user security and encryption. Both Apple and Google have implemented stronger data encryption so it’s harder to compromise user data. The problem is, however, that it would be harder for law enforcement to access that data too. And FBI Director James Comey isn’t...

Eating too much protein could be as dangerous as smoking for middle-aged people, a study has found. Research which tracked thousands of adults for nearly 20 years found that those who eat a diet rich in animal protein are four times more likely to die of cancer than someone with a low-protein diet. The risk is nearly as high as the danger of developing cancer from smoking 20 cigarettes each day. Previous studies have shown a link between cancer and red meat, but it is the first time research has measured the risk of death associated with regularly eating too...

(CNSNews.com) – The average price for all types of ground beef per pound hit its all-time high -- $3.884 per pound -- in the United States in July, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That was up from $3.880 per pound in June. A year ago, in July 2013, the average price for a pound of ground beef was $3.459 per pound. Since then, the average price for a pound of ground beef has gone up 42.1 cents--or about 12 percent. Five years ago, in July 2009, the average price for a pound of...

The school teachers lounge is a respite from more than just bratty kids. It’s a safe zone from the long arm of Michelle Obama’s food police. Students are already revolting against the newly-implemented school snack regulations that affect what is sold in vending machines. They will probably be equally upset to learn the vending machine just across the hall – in the teachers lounge – is exempt from the regulations.

WAUKESHA, Wis. —As parents get their children ready to go back to school, getting them vaccinated is probably on the list. A popular shot for young girls is the HPV vaccine, but a Waukesha mother said her daughter died hours after getting the shot.

I was in another thread and somehow my brain decided to come up with a new apt term to describe liberal control freak policies... The 3lbs of grey matter between my ears came up with the term "Feel Good Fascism". I think it encapsulates their ideology quite well. Fat People are bad and drink too much soda, so ban people from buying soda = Feel Good Fascism. Poor People Exist, so you Steal using government power to give help to people who are unable to or unwilling to work = Feel Good Fascism. Liberal policies have two components, One is...

In a case weighing the government’s ability to require vaccination against the individual right to refuse it, a federal judge has upheld a New York City policy that bars unimmunized children from public school when another student has a vaccine-preventable disease. Citing a 109-year-old Supreme Court ruling that gives states broad power in public health matters, Judge William F. Kuntz II of Federal District Court in Brooklyn ruled against three families who claimed that their right to free exercise of religion was violated when their children were kept from school, sometimes for a month at a time, because of the...