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[In a vision] I see America as a prizefighter. I see her in a boxing ring fighting a boxing match.She has been egging the opponent on. In reality, the opponent is God. She is egging God on, saying, "I dare ya, I dare ya" She took her first major punches on 9-11, 2001. She was hit hard, but she did not go down. She continued to challenge her opponent. Her greatest sin is PRIDE. Her pride enabled her to "take" the punch, but it did not "do her in". She kept on asking for more. She still wanted to fight....

Publishers are coming to the rescue of baby boomers who are having trouble reading the small print of mass market paperbacks. Simon & Schuster's Jack Romanos says, "We've been losing the foundation of our customer base because their eyesight is getting worse, and the books are getting harder and harder to read." So they are printing new paperbacks in a bigger size with larger type and more space between lines. These aren't to be confused with the "large print" version of books. These new books will still fit on the same shelf at the airport store, so boomers will be...

17,000 blinded by fags By EMMA MORTON MORE than 17,000 Britons have gone blind because they SMOKE, it was revealed yesterday.  The shock statistic shows the link between fags and sight loss is as strong as that between cigs and lung cancer.The cigarettes cause a form of blindness called Age-Related Macular Degeneration, known as AMD.Smoke destroys cells in an area at the back of the eye named the macular. And smokers do not absorb nutrients from food essential for good eyesight.Cigarette puffers are four times more likely to develop AMD or lung cancer than those who shun the weed. And...

ORLANDO, FL, Sept. 2, 2005 – A relevant, reliable, ready, and accessible National Guard. It’s the mantra Chief of the National Guard Bureau, Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, has taken on the road with him every where he goes. On Aug. 21 Blum brought his message to the Rosen Centre Hotel, location of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States’ 2005 National Conference. Prior to Blum taking the podium, conference attendees were shown a short video where Blum outlined his vision of the future for the National Guard. The key point in the presentation was the...

When I was a boy, my parents used to enjoy a comedian named Ronnie Graham. One of his jokes was, "The other day a cat came up to me and said, 'How do I get to Carnegie Hall?' and I said 'Practice, man, practice.' This other cat came up to me and said, 'Meow.' He was a real cat." We talk a lot in our movement about spiritual practices. I am a Religious Science Practitioner; the root word of Practitioner is practice. But why do we practice? Ernest Holmes said that a central concept of our movement is "Perfect God,...

THE FACTS It was more than 70 years ago that television sets first went on sale in the United States, and perhaps it was just as long ago that a cautious mother, noticing a son or daughter propped in front of that mesmerizing new invention, snapped and barked the words that generations of children would grow up hearing: "Don't sit so close; you'll ruin your eyesight!" Now, scientists can say with certainty that the age-old warning is outdated. Before the 1950's, television sets emitted levels of radiation that after repeated and extended exposure could have heightened the risk of eye...

The Food and Drug Administration said today that it had asked Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, to amend its warnings on Viagra in response to scattered reports of vision loss by people taking the drug. Some blindness was reported by 38 men taking Viagra - a tiny fraction of the 23 million people who have used the drug - and among four men taking Cialis, a newer competitor. None of the 100 or so clinical trials on Viagra have suggested that the drug causes vision loss, but the F.D.A. said it had suggested updating the drug's warning label...

Ayn Rand, Doctors, and a Good Book by Reginald Firehammer Students of Objectivism frequently note the number of things Ayn Rand predicted about society, culture, and the world which have actually happened just as she predicted. It is not what she wanted. She hoped her predictions would not come true, that her writing would serve as a warning that would stop the growth of the anti-intellectualism, altruism, and collectivism that is slowly eating away at western culture and civilization, creating the very horrors she predicted. Then DoctorsIn Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, in the chapter, "Is Atlas Shrugging?" Ayn Rand identified...

Stem cells used to restore vision A hospital in West Sussex is pioneering the use of stem cells to restore the eyesight of patients. The trial, being carried out at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, has already helped 40 people see again. The surgery at the hospital has been developed over the past five years. Stem cells from the patient or a donor are used to redevelop the cornea, the transparent film at the front of the eye which lets in light. Opthalmic surgeon Sheraz Daya said: "Many people who've had injuries to their eyes, or even people born...

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin became today the first Kremlin leader in history to visit Israel, but there was a cool reaction to his idea for a major regional peace conference. The proposal for a Middle East peace conference, Israeli concern over Russian nuclear cooperation with Iran, and bitter opposition to Moscow's planned sale of anti-aircraft weapons to Syria were expected to top the agenda. Flying to Israel from a two-day visit to Egypt, Mr Putin travelled to holy sites in Jerusalem, where he was meeting tomorrow with Israeli President Moshe Katsav and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. On Friday, Mr Putin...

The Nation, a left-leaning magazine, published an article about House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's influence over NASA and its budget. The article largely rehashes the issues most regular readers of this blog are familiar with: DeLay's addition of JSC into his Congressional district, his last-minute move to top off NASA’s FY05 budget request, and the recent reorganization of the House Appropriation Committee's subcommittee structure. Like many such articles, it includes an arguably questionable comment from John Pike: "With NASA changing its spending priorities to support President Bush's vision for space exploration that will return humans to the moon and take...

I was intending to write an article about how the ISS needs to be a key part of the Vision for Space Exploration. What I have learned recently, though, made me realize there is something much more important to talk about. There have been several discussions in the mass media of late about “tipping points” in history. Some say that the recent elections in Iraq are a major tipping point that will reshape the Middle East and the West’s relationship with it. While the elections in Iraq and the courage of the people braving threats to vote are by no...

LIKE many funerals, the service for Pope John Paul II brought friends and foes together. Alphabetical seating forced sworn enemies to sit side by side, with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami placed next to Israeli President Moshe Katsav. "Maybe today will make us hope of a future of peace, not of conflict and hatred," Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said before the funeral. State leaders and dignitaries from more than half the world's nations attended the funeral. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan chatted with several leaders beforehand. US President George W. Bush was accompanied by his wife Laura. Former US president Bill Clinton,...

Fourteen men reportedly have had vision loss while taking the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, say ophthalmologists at the University of Minnesota. The men lost only part of their vision. Cases appear to be very rare. Most of the affected men had other health problems and the structure of their optic nerve (the nerve that handles vision) raised their risk of the condition. “The number of cases is extremely small,” says Howard Pomeranz, MD, PhD, who details seven of those cases in a new report. The condition is called nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). “The likelihood of this happening in...

What happened? Hello? Hello? Anybody home? "MESSAGE TO DISABLED FLORIDIANS" December 1998, Florida By Governor-elect Jeb Bush "Talking with a variety of Floridians with disabilities and their families has helped understand a lot more about the lives, challenges and dreams of those with disabilities. However, I know that my education continues with everyone new I meet. People with disabilities are no different than anyone else. They want to work, have families, and live independently. As Governor, I would work hard to create an environment that gives people with disabilities every opportunity to be independent and play an active role in...

Chennai: A mother of two visually-impaired sons committed suicide to donate her eyes to them. However, her wish could not be fulfilled as doctors examined the eyes and declared them unsuitable for transplant. Following doctors’ advice that an eye transplant was the only way to help the boys get vision, Tamilselvi (37) and her husband Sankar of Kodungaiyur, desperately tried to get donors for their sons, Kumaran (17) and Mohan Kumar (15), but failed. Pledging to bring light to their lives, Tamilselvi had reportedly registered with an eye bank to donate her eyes to her sons. After her husband, a...

CARACAS, Mar 3 (IPS) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez called for the creation of a debtor nations' club, the adoption of a Social Charter by the Organisation of American States (OAS), and the forging of a new socialist model for the 21st century during the 4th Social Debt Summit in Caracas. ”We must abandon the capitalist model of development, because it is incapable of serving as a framework to overcome the drama of poverty and inequality,” said Chávez, a former lieutenant-colonel now heading a ”Bolivarian Revolution” of peaceful political and social transformations (named for Simon Bolívar, the founding father of...

Europe decides that Bush may be right after all. Friday, February 25, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST Visits by U.S. Presidents to Europe tend to have a template-making quality: Wilson, the peace maker, in Paris, 1919; Truman, the victor, at Potsdam, 1945; Kennedy, the stalwart, in Berlin, 1963; Reagan, the visionary, in Berlin, 1987. If President Bush's trip this week has some kind of new theme, the word for it is probably conciliation. But our sense is that Mr. Bush is really following in Reagan's footsteps. Admittedly, this thought is not original: Der Spiegel beat us to it. Still, it says...

“Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, God will honor.” Jesus (John 12:26) In July, 2002, Dallas Willard spoke at the Washington, D.C. Servant Leadership School. In conversation over lunch one day, Gordon Cosby asked Dallas, “Why do churches and ministries so often lose the essence of their founding vision, to the point that the resulting institution, years later, is quite unlike the original dream? What happens along the way?” This essay is Dallas’s response to that question. We are grateful to him for his gift of words...

A REVOLUTIONARY night-vision system developed for the Dutch military makes night-time video images look as clear and colourful as those shot in broad daylight. The idea was to improve on the fuzzy grey or green pictures that are the hallmark of today's night-vision systems. Although these monochrome images are an improvement on unaided night vision, their lack of colour can make them hard to interpret. Full-colour night vision would help emergency services and the military better assess their surroundings, says Alex Toet of the TNO research lab in Soesterberg, the Netherlands, who led the team that developed the system. He...

Sharon & Abu Mazen Invited to the White House 22:30 Feb 07, '05 / 28 Shevat 5765 US President George W. Bush has extended invitations to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PA leader Abu Mazen to visit the White House separately in the springtime.

My introduction to floaters came on a sunny September afternoon in the orchard. I was high on a ladder picking Jonagold apples when I felt a pop in my left eye, followed by blurriness. I thought that maybe a branch had slapped across my glasses, dirtying the lens, and I went inside to clean it. But the blurriness - a sort of floating haze - persisted overnight. After hearing the symptoms, my ophthalmologist, Dr. William Kirber, diagnosed a posterior vitreous detachment, one of several causes of floaters, sensations that many people describe as specks, bugs or cobwebs floating in their...

REALLY? THE FACTS Glasses can bring a blurry world into focus, but some people suspect that by doing all the heavy lifting the glasses may speed the natural decline of vision. But ophthalmologists say this is an illusion. How well a person can see is largely determined by the size of the eyeball, something a pair of glasses cannot change. The average eye is about an inch from the cornea, in the front, to the retina, in the back. When the eyes are either too large (shortsightedness) or too small (farsightedness), the cornea cannot properly focus images on the retina,...

Some of you may have heard of this guy when I posted about his Bear-proof Suit. Others may have seen him on t.v. with his Fire paste. It is now my pleasure to bring you the latest product of this modern Edison. Well, no, not Edison. I don't think Edison was a nutjob. Anyway, enjoy the rubber science for what amusement it's worth. Troy Hurtubise has done the seemingly impossible with his newest invention and defied all known rules of physics, he says. The Angel Light—Hurtubise claims the concept came to him in a recurring dream—can reportedly see through...

HOUSTON – When NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart over East Texas almost two years ago, killing its crew of seven, many wondered: What will become of the struggling space agency? Prior to the accident, there was growing criticism of cost overruns, poor management, and lack of a clear mission. After the accident, NASA found itself without a shuttle to continue its work on the International Space Station; even today, the shuttle is incomplete. And leading the agency through these years of turmoil was a self-described bean counter with no aerospace experience. Now, after three years, Sean O'Keefe has announced...

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- World Vision, a Christian relief agency with operations in some of the world's riskiest areas, has pulled out of Iraq after the shooting death of one of its Iraqi workers. "It's just too dangerous," spokesman Dean Owen said Friday...

Men who spend hours staring at a computer screen may be at increased risk for glaucoma, a disease that can cause blindness, Japanese doctors say. Researchers studied more than 10,200 workers with an average age of 43 for signs of glaucoma, a gradual disease of the optic nerve leading to loss of peripheral vision. The workers were randomly selected for testing at their medical check-up. Participants filled out questionnaires about their eye health and use of computers at home and in the office. Dr. Masayuki Tatemichi of Toho University School of Medicine in Tokyo and his colleagues found one-third of...

"I think it's very important for our friends, the Israelis, to have a peaceful Palestinian state living on their border. And it's very important for the Palestinian people to have a peaceful, hopeful future." So spoke President Bush just two days after his re-election, just exactly as news reports were leaking Yasser Arafat's demise.The combination of Mr. Bush's stunning new mandate and Mr. Arafat's near-death condition will lead, I predict, to a quick revival of Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy after months of relative doldrums and to massive dangers to Israel.The doldrums will cease because the Bush administration views Mr. Arafat as the...

Nearly four years have elapsed since the Oslo process (1993-2000) between Israelis and Palestinians foundered in bloodshed. Over that period, two U.S. administrations have tried to forge policies that would reduce the violence and point toward a solution to the conflict.It has not been a single-minded pursuit. Since September 11, 2001, the prime focus of Washington has been the management of unprecedented U.S. military interventions in the region, which removed regimes from power in Afghanistan and Iraq. The notion of Israeli-Palestinian peace as the key to regional stability has been replaced by the war on terror and the insistence on...

Representatives of Bush, Kerry Debate Space By Colin Clark Space News Staff Writer posted: 15 October 2004 11:44 am ET WASHINGTON -- It may not have had the global audience of the last Bush-Kerry debate, but about 100 members of the civil space community watched with rapt attention as representatives of the two campaigns conducted a spirited debate Oct. 14 about the future of space between representatives of the two campaigns. Former NASA associate administrator for policy and plans, Lori Garver, represented Sen. John Kerry. Frank Sietzen, an aerospace journalist, represented President George Bush. Kerry would adopt “a strong...

A Redmond teenager, missing for eight days, was found alive yesterday at the bottom of a woodsy ravine by a member of her church who said a vision led her to the girl. Laura Hatch, 17, was found in the back seat of her smashed car, about 150 feet below Northeast Union Hill Road in Redmond, according to the King County Sheriff's Office. She was last seen in Redmond on Oct. 2. Family and friends had been searching for her since then. Hatch was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where she was being treated for severe dehydration, a possible blood...

WASHINGTON - There's a new option for people who suffer from extreme nearsightedness, whose world loses its crisp edge just a few inches from their noses. The first implantable lens for nearsightedness was approved Monday by the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites). A surgeon slips the lens through a small incision and implants it in front of the natural lens. Like a photographer swiveling a camera lens into focus, the tiny hard plastic lens works behind the scenes to help the eye create in-focus images. An estimated 53 percent of Americans use contact lenses or eyeglasses to...

Eyetech Pharmaceuticals' drug to treat the leading cause of blindness in the elderly appeared to move closer to a broad government approval yesterday after an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration spoke favorably about it. The advisory panel was not asked to vote on whether the drug, Macugen, should be approved as a treatment for age-related macular degeneration. But committee members ruled unanimously that Eyetech had provided the F.D.A. with enough information to evaluate the drug. The panel members also did not seem to raise any serious new issues that would block approval. "It appears to me very...

Conviction. Resolve. Vision.All words that local supporters of George W. Bush have been using to describe the President since I returned from the Democratic convention.Those descriptions aren't surprising. People have said these things about Bush at least since Sept. 11, 2001. But what struck me was that the words could apply to the supporters themselves. They are as fervent in their support of the President as his detractors are in their fear and loathing of the man. It's not a blind faith. They are quick to point out flaws in policy and disagree on issues.And they will acknowledge that this...

It's long been an irony that the same American who gushes over a delightful corner patisserie in the 16th arrondissement buys into a subdivision that is the antithesis of Parisian street life. There are no corner bakeries in the gently curving streets of suburbia, for an Old World clutter of transit, shops and residences is precisely what's been designed out of the suburban landscape. Does the irony lie in our rote desire for a suburban home, or in the fact we've had so few choices? Many of us would love to live in an urban neighborhood rich with transit and...

Southwest Missouri State University Hammons Field Springfield, MissouriTHE PRESIDENT: Thank you, all.THE AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thank you, please be seated. Thanks for coming. (Applause.) It's great to be in the heartland of our country. (Applause.) And I want to thank you all for being here this morning to help kick off our Heart and Soul of America Tour. (Applause.)There will be big differences in this campaign. They're going to raise your taxes, we're not. (Applause.) I have a clear vision on how to win the war on...

Los Angeles Daily News Daily News exclusive - President Bush in his own words By Trude B. Feldman In an exclusive interview in the Oval Office, President George W. Bush was both philosophical and confident as he spoke about the powder keg that is today's Mideast. With the transfer of Iraq's sovereignty completed, and with the satisfaction that Saddam Hussein will be brought to justice for his war crimes, Bush expressed the belief that events were moving in the direction he had originally charted: "My vision is for a free and democratic Iraq, and a free and peaceful and democratic...

After almost 40 years of wearing glasses and contact lenses, vision correction was no longer a matter of mere vanity for Phyllis Ward. "I just wanted to see better. I first got contacts in elementary school, but I never felt as though I could really see," said Ward, 50, who lives in Houston with her husband and three children. In May 2001, Ward underwent Lasik surgery on both eyes. Lasik is short for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis, a treatment for nearsightedness that uses pulses of ultraviolet laser light to sculpt the cornea, the transparent frontal portion of the eyeball. More...

George Washington's vision is recorded at the Library of Congress Valley Forge, the winter of 1777, American forces were fighting against the British, the most powerful nation in the world. Many believe that only 3% of the American people took part in the struggle for independence, while "Tories" gave aid and comfort to the British cause. "This afternoon, as I was sitting at this table engaged in preparing a dispatch, something seemed to disturb me. Looking up, I beheld standing opposite me a singularly beautiful female. So astonished was I, for I had given strict orders not to be disturbed,...

Somewhere amidst the media's ecstasy over the release of former President Clinton's new book and the incessant coverage devoted to the ranting of a certain rotund independent film maker has fallen the story of a landmark aviation event...the first manned voyage into space funded by the private sector. At around a quarter till eight yesterday morning a rocket plane piloted by Michael Melvill detached from a parent aircraft 46,000 feet over the western United States and ignited its motor. SpaceShipOne, as the test space place is called, shot upward to an altitude of just over 62 miles before starting its...

Like Reagan, Bush Must Seize Moment Chicago Sun-Times, by Mark Steyn I feel a bit like a guy who's been dating a pleasant lady in the office for a couple of years and suddenly bumps into the gal he always adored in high school. As readers will know, I'm very supportive of George W. Bush, especially on the foreign policy front. But it was unfortunate that a week of 24/7 Ronald Reagan greatest hits on the cable networks should have had to stop once or twice a day to cross to a blinking, groggy Dubya at some G-8 press conference...

Some 15 years have gone by since President Ronald Reagan concluded his triumphant second term on a wave of unprecedented job creation and economic abundance, with inflation conquered and growth restored after the horrendous stagflation of the 1970s. But there still seems to be a curious lack of appreciation and total absence of understanding -- especially in the elite media -- of one of the Gipper's most enduring legacies: the restoration of confidence, prosperity, and direction to a sick and floundering U.S. economy that had lost its way before Reagan rode to the rescue. Amid the resounding tributes now being...

ON June 6, 1984, almost 20 years to the day before his death at 93, president Ronald Reagan stood on the beach at Normandy, just as another US president did yesterday. Addressing Allied veterans on the anniversary of D-Day, Mr Reagan said their deeds 40 years earlier had been motivated by the knowledge that "there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest" and by the conviction that "democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honourable form of government ever devised by man". Mr Reagan's revolutionary...

We're living in the age of the great dispersal. Americans continue to move from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West. But the truly historic migration is from the inner suburbs to the outer suburbs, to the suburbs of suburbia. From New Hampshire down to Georgia, across Texas to Arizona and up through California, you now have the booming exurban sprawls that have broken free of the gravitational pull of the cities and now float in a new space far beyond them. For example, the population of metropolitan Pittsburgh has declined by 8 percent since 1980, but as...

The Importance of a God Given Vision "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:1,5). I'm not so sure that it would be a settling experience to have a vision of God. The scripture records a variety of divine...

<p>It happened on the 21/2-year anniversary of the attacks on Manhattan and Washington - 30 months to the day. The symbolism was intentional.</p> <p>The facts are still coming in. The Spanish government initially blamed the ETA, a Basque separatist organization with minimal popular support and a maximum will to violence. But evidence of al Qaeda links - including a letter claiming responsibility - soon surfaced.</p>

Another Scriptwriter for Mel Gibson's 'Passion'? The movie draws from the mystical writings of a 19th-century nun who saw detailed visions of a bloody Passion. ____________________ By Laura Sheahen How is Sister Anne Emmerich connected to Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ"? Gibson has said he was influenced by Sister Emmerich's visions as recorded in The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which was transcribed by Emmerich's secretary, Clemens Brentano. Many non-biblical events in the movie can be traced to this book. Who was Sister Anne Emmerich? Anne Catherine Emmerich was an Augustian nun who lived in...

STATUS REPORT Date Released: Thursday, January 22, 2004 Source: NASA HQ Guiding Principles for Exploration Pursue Compelling Questions Exploration of the solar system will be guided by compelling questions of scientific and societal importance. Consistent with the NASA Vision and Mission, NASA exploration programs will seek profound answers to questions of our origins, whether life exists beyond Earth, and how we could live on other worlds. Across Multiple Worlds NASA will make progress across a broad front of destinations. Consistent with recent discoveries, NASA will focus on likely habitable environments at the planet Mars, the moons of Jupiter, and in...

<p>HONOLULU — Up until about three months ago, Army 2nd Lt. James Harris had 20/400 vision — bad enough that without glasses or contacts, it was difficult to recognize someone across the room. And that was a concern as he prepared for a yearlong deployment to Iraq.</p>

It's not just another game. It didn't take new Bears coach Lovie Smith long to do what his predecessors, Dick Jauron and Dave Wannstedt, never could -- admit beating the Green Bay Packers comes first. Smith was introduced as the 13th coach in franchise history Thursday at Halas Hall, and the auditorium packed with owners and team officials went up in a roar when Smith made clear the path to success starts with breaking out of a prolonged slump against the Bears' fiercest rival. ''The No. 1 goal is to beat Green Bay,'' Smith said. ''One of the first things...