Going On Vacation?
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 31st, 2010
I love to travel. And August is a big month for it. But there are scams out there that one needs to be aware of. Don’t let you guard down just because you’re out vacationing and having a good time. That’s when you’re most likely to relax and get into the groove with the locals. And mingling with the locals is fun, but those wanting to scam you are watching, and tourists are they ones the scammers prey on. Have fun but be aware – don’t let your hard-earned vacation turn into a disaster. Here’s the latest from Scambusters. Check it out:
If you’re about to take your annual summer vacation abroad, watch out for a travel scam.
In popular tourist countries like China, Mexico and the historic sites of the Middle East, together with new destinations such as Turkey, we’ve identified several new global travel scams.
We explain how they work and how to avoid them.
New Travel Scam Tricks Target Vacationers Abroad
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On every vacation at every location, a travel scam lurks to catch the unwary tourist.
Over the years, here at Scambusters, we’ve highlighted many travel scams.
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And with the 2010 vacation season now in full swing, we’ve identified a new batch of travel scams to look out for.
As previously reported, overseas vacationers are a favorite target of global travel scam artists who exploit their unfamiliarity with the language and the locale.
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So we’ll focus on these for this issue. Here we go…
The Beijing Tea Scam
China is an increasingly popular tourist destination, and the nation’s capital, Beijing, lures the vast majority of the country’s visitors to its fabulous culture and architecture. So it’s a well-tried travel scam hangout too.
For instance: In the most popular haunts, a couple of young women approach you, claiming to be English students and saying they want to chat to improve their language skills.
Eventually, as a sort of thank you, they invite you to a Chinese tea ceremony and you follow them to a backstreet tea house.
You and your “friends” drink copious amounts of tea, without thinking of the price (if there’s a menu, it won’t list prices).
Then they disappear, the bill comes — for $100 or more (you discover refills aren’t free) — forcing you to pay. Don’t waste your time trying to protest: you drank the tea!
Action: These travel scam artists, who earn commission from the tea house, are persistent but just refuse their attention. Eventually, they give up.
The Turkey Trot
Perhaps due to the low prices and a fascinating cultural history, Turkey has experienced a huge tourist boom in recent years, giving the less scrupulous locals a chance to practice the art of theft.
There’s nothing sophisticated about these tricksters; they’re just adept at pick pocketing and bag snatching. In particular, they scout out distracted tourists, usually alone, carrying shoulder bags loosely or those weighed down with shopping bags.
Often, they grab your purse, bags, or your camera as you’re trying to get into a taxi and therefore have your back to them. They also use these occasions to pick pockets.
It’s no use following. They make their escape fast. And, anyway, catching them could land you in more trouble if there’s no one around to help.
Action: Keep your money and valuables out of sight – preferably at your hotel — and be wary of going out alone.
Not So Ancient Wonders
Whenever you visit the ancient worlds of the Middle East, North Africa and India, traders can drive you nuts trying to sell you souvenirs.
Seems like they’ll never give up, but they’re just doing their job, trying to make a living. In a way, it’s part of the whole tourist scene. If it gets you down too badly, you might want to consider not going.
However, one thing you should definitely be wary of is attempts to sell you what the trader claims is an ancient artifact.
The truth is that a whole backstreet industry churns this stuff out around the clock — and they’re experts at the con, whereas you’re probably not!
Still, if it looks good and the price is right, maybe these things make suitable mementos of your visit.
On the other hand, if, by any chance, the item is a genuine relic of ancient times, buying it could break the law.
Many countries, like Egypt and Israel, forbid the sale of certain artifacts, and airport searches (sometimes by less than honest officials) are common.
Action: It’s best to check the laws online for the countries you’re visiting before you go. If you’re not sure, check with the countries’ embassies. And if you’re still not sure, don’t buy.
The Mayan Dollar
We’ve mentioned currency confusion before but this is a new one on us.
In Mexico’s Riviera Maya earlier this year, Scambuster Keith was mightily impressed by the low prices offered by traders for souvenirs at the famous Chichen Itza heritage site.
“Only five dollars,” the trader would shout, thrusting a handmade bag or an ornate stone carving in front of him.
But once hooked, he discovered this price turns out to be ”Mayan dollars,” a non-existent currency that someone apparently dreamt up and many traders now use.
This means the exchange rate can be whatever the trader wants it to be — US$10 seems to be the most popular, but US$5 is also used.
Of course, once you discover this, you can back out of the deal but if you already agreed to the purchase, this can be an uncomfortable experience.
Since Keith’s experience, use of the “Mayan dollar” ruse has been reported from other parts of this beautiful area. It does a great disservice to the Mayan people.
Action: Well, now that you know about this one, you won’t fall for it. But it does emphasize the point about knowing your exchange rates. If you struggle with this, carry a pocket calculator with you.
Also, it’s probably not a bad idea to ask what currency the sale price is in before agreeing to the purchase.
It Didn’t Look Like That in the Brochure
How many times have you arrived at a hotel or vacation rental disappointed that the place looks nothing like you imagined, and not even like any photos you saw of it when you booked at the travel agency or online?
These are hard times and the travel trade is tough right now, and in the scramble for business, some owners, especially in Mediterranean Europe, exaggerate the amenities and benefits of their properties.
You may have to stand on tiptoe on the roof to get that “ocean view.” Or they may just forget to mention you’ll be miles out of town, with no transport.
Action: Reduce the risk of being fooled by checking independent reviews and photographs of the place.
TripAdvisor.com is a good starting point.
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That Volcano!
Scambusters’ home page already sounded an alert about bogus cash pleas from people claiming to be stranded as a result of the Iceland volcano eruption.
Now, travelers who have been genuinely stranded are targets.
A bogus email, supposedly from the Chief Consumer Protector of Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), claims the organization has set up a fund to compensate them.
All you have to do is send your name, address, phone number and a copy of your passport. Then he sends you a check, which you bank immediately, and pay the phony CAA an administration fee, by wire transfer, of course.
Action: Need we say more? This is a very thinly-veiled attempt at both ID theft and an advance payment scam. These crooks show no mercy.
By staying informed and being alert, you can avoid all of these travel scams. Also, be sure to check out our earlier list of tips on the subject.
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It’s important to point out that the vast majority of locals in popular tourist countries are decent, honest people — even when they live in extreme poverty.
In some ways, because of their bad compatriots, they too are the victims of a travel scam, if it deters vacationers from visiting.
Readers: Good stuff huh? If you have been traveling and you got scammed…bummer. But how about sharing your story so we can be enlightened? Blog me.
Peacin’ out…I have an early appointment today, so I’m outta here. Enjoy your Saturday!
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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July 31st, 2010 at 8:47 am
How to Be Happy When You Have Every Reason Not to Be
Scott Hamilton
Figure skater Scott Hamilton, who won a gold medal in the 1984 Winter Olympics, has had to endure more than his share of tough times.
A childhood digestive disease, never properly diagnosed, permanently stunted Hamilton’s growth and nearly killed him. His mother died of cancer while he was in his teens.
Hamilton was dropped by the Ice Capades just two years after his Olympic win, putting his professional skating career in doubt. He battled testicular cancer in 1997 and a brain tumor (benign) in 2004.
Hamilton once lived in fear of the problems that seemed to lurk around every corner, but now he remains happy and optimistic even during difficult times. Here are his secrets for happiness in a very imperfect world…
Consider all problems temporary… and temporary problems unimportant. As a skater, I knew that I would fall when I tried to learn a new jump. I also knew that these falls were irrelevant as long as I got up after each one and tried again.
I try to apply this lesson to my life off the ice as well. I might have a problem right now, but “right now” is just a moment in time that soon will be gone forever…
and my “problem” really is just the starting point of a journey that will lead to a solution to my problem. Why let a starting point affect my mood? What matters is where I end up, and that’s going to be somewhere better.
It might take me a while to solve my problem, but I will start to feel better as soon as I begin working toward a solution. I find tremendous joy in tackling my problems.
It breaks the “victim mentality” — a sure path to unhappiness — and puts me back in control of my life.
Don’t face problems alone. Men’s figure skating is a solo sport, but I still needed a coach to get the most out of my abilities. Life often seems like a solo sport, too, but finding a coach –
a spouse or a friend with whom we can share our problems — will make our attempts to solve those problems more enjoyable and more successful. Humans are social animals, as my coach, Don Laws, used to remind me. We’re not designed to face problems alone, so we shouldn’t try to do so.
Find strength in challenges. My mother’s struggle with breast cancer taught me that there are positive aspects to even the most devastating losses.
For three years, my mother continued to earn a living… work toward her master’s degree… and raise three children, even as she endured chemotherapy.
As awful as it was when she died at age 49, the lessons I learned from her strength in the face of the challenges were the most important lessons of my life. I had been an underachiever as a boy, but following her example transformed me into an Olympic champion.
We cannot completely control the events of our lives, but we can control how we respond to them. It’s this that defines us. I choose to be happy about the wonderful example my mother set for me in those final years, not sad about her death.
Don’t delay difficult conversations. My first inclination when someone does something that bothers me is to bite my lip and remain quietly unhappy. Over the years, I have learned that stoicism only prolongs my displeasure. As much as I dislike confrontations, they often are the quickest path back to happiness.
Example: My agent, Bob Kain, no longer had much time for me by the early 1990s. He had added new clients and taken on a management role in his firm. My career was suffering — but for years, I said nothing.
I didn’t want to damage my relationship with Bob. Instead, I let my resentment build until our relationship was almost irreparably harmed. After I finally spoke up, we found a solution –
a different agent at the company would handle the details of my career while Bob served as adviser. I could have avoided years of unhappiness if I had just voiced my displeasure sooner.
Sell your smile… even to yourself. I once saw Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi miss her landing on a triple lutz and fall hard on her back in front of a large crowd. She must have been in pain –
not to mention disappointed and embarrassed — but she immediately bounced back up with a huge smile on her face. The remainder of her routine was flawless.
The crowd gave Kristi a big ovation. Her smile had convinced them that the fall didn’t matter — everything was okay.
Kristi’s smile also convinced Kristi herself that everything was okay. It’s easy to lose confidence and feel bad when we “fall.” Smiling or laughing releases endorphins, hormones that trigger feelings of happiness and well-being.
In other words, we don’t have to wait until we are happy to smile — we can use a smile to make ourselves happy.
I put this lesson to use in my own life by searching for the humor in my darkest moments. If I can laugh at myself, my problems seem less daunting.
Example: I was scheduled to skate in Peoria, Illinois, just hours after I learned that I had testicular cancer. I feared that this could be the last performance of my life, and I desperately wanted to do well — but my mind was on my cancer, not my skating.
Suddenly I noticed a woman in the front row ignoring my routine entirely and casually applying makeup. It made me chuckle to think that this performance that was so important to me was so meaningless to her. My mood immediately lightened, and I was able to get through the rest of the routine.
Fight for change. The world changes. We change. It’s inevitable. The only way to remain happy is to embrace change and enjoy it.
We need to take pleasure in meeting new challenges and take pleasure in the surprises that lie around every corner. The changes that we fear often make our lives much better in the end.
Example: When the Ice Capades didn’t renew my contract, I feared that my professional skating career was over. As it turned out, getting fired led to one of the greatest successes of my life.
My agent, Bob Kain, and I started a rival skating tour, Stars on Ice, that is still going strong and earning money today — while the Ice Capades folded years ago.
Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Scott Hamilton, who won a gold medal in figure skating in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and cofounded the Stars on Ice professional figure-skating tour in 1986.
He is a member of the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and author of The Great Eight: How to Be Happy (Even When You Have Every Reason to Be Miserable) (Thomas Nelson). http://www.scottcares.com.
July 31st, 2010 at 9:03 am
Another way the Dems act to hold corps responsible for their actions and thereby improve the lives of all America’s citizens.
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House Passes H.R. 5320 – The Assistance, Quality, and Affordability Act
The U.S. House of Representatives today voted to pass H.R. 5320, the Assistance, Quality, and Affordability Act, by voice vote.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman from California introduced this legislation on May 18, 2010, in an effort to improve drinking water infrastructure around the country.
The legislation would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act and increase federal assistance for the drinking water state revolving fund.
Included in H.R. 5320 is a provision increasing the state revolving funds available to Guam, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This amendment would increase the federal government’s contributions from .33% to 1% of available funds and was introduced by Congresswoman Donna Christensen of the Virgin Islands. Congresswoman Bordallo also co-sponsored the amendment.
“The passage of the Assistance, Quality, and Affordability Act today is an important step toward more permanently addressing our island’s water infrastructure needs. If signed into law by President Obama, this legislation would triple the funds available to Guam which are needed to improve its water infrastructure,”
Congresswoman Bordallo said today. “These funds would prove critical to increasing access and improving the quality of our island’s drinking water. I would like to thank Congresswoman Christensen for her work on this issue.
I would also like to thank Chairman Waxman and the House leadership for their efforts in the passage of H.R. 5320. There is still more work to be done to improve Guam’s water infrastructure and I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to address this issue.”
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Here on Guam we applaud their good work.
Hafa Adai
Kris
July 31st, 2010 at 9:45 am
Gosh, I wish you guys had told us that you were going to Harry’s. I would have loved to meet you.
Raina
July 31st, 2010 at 9:46 am
HUMPTY DUMPTY sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings’ horses,
And all the kings’ men.
Had scrambled eggs,
For breakfast again.
July 31st, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Michelle
I have ran the Bej. Tea Scam. But please understand most of the time we are forced to do what we are told.
We have no choice. If we refuse our families are punished.
Zhi
July 31st, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Michelle and Zen Lill
Sometimes, I think Harris is a fraud. He gets up before a few hundred people and sells them super bullshit and smiles as they buy his company’s products.
But out in public he runs from people who ask us if we are us.
July 31st, 2010 at 8:30 pm
I am a good ole boy form the wonderful state of Miss. Yesterday I got my credit card fee raised by Chase. The bastards ruined my credit rating because they had to justify raising my rates under the new rules passed by that boy running the government now.
My wife and I are on a limited income. Now everything will cost us more because our credit will be worse. She cried and said God if that man you call a “boy” hadn’t won, the party you support would have let them raise our rates without having to resort to ruining our credit.
I thought about that for a few hours. Then I decided that I will no longer support the republican party. As much as it is the white man’s party, it is not for helping us either.
That party has sold out to the bastards that are pillaging this country. Whites, muds, niggers and the rest. They tell us that the party will see to it that we get back control of our country,
But what they really mean is that we can be on top of a country run by big money. At least the nigger is fighting for some parity. He may be doing it for his own kind, but us whites will certainly benefit from it too.
This republican party is only out to get as much money from the rich as they can. They could care less about what happens to the white man. We are just getting lip service from them.
I will be fooled no more. I can’t abide joining a party that works for niggers so I am going independent. Or maybe I’ll take a second look at the Tea Party.
But the republican party will remain on my shit list until I see them standing up to the big money.
Leroy
July 31st, 2010 at 8:42 pm
This is a very interesting article. It may explain why we can expect more disasters in the near future.
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For No Signs of Trouble, Kill the Alarm
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: July 31, 2010
When an oil worker told investigators on July 23 that an alarm to warn of explosive gas on the Transocean rig in the Gulf of Mexico had been intentionally disabled months before, it struck many people as reckless.
Reckless, maybe, but not unusual. On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said that a crash last year on the Washington subway system that killed nine people had happened partly because train dispatchers had been ignoring 9,000 alarms per week. Air traffic controllers, nuclear plant operators, nurses in intensive-care units and others do the same.
Mark R. Rosekind, a psychologist who is a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the cases had something in common. “The volume of alarms desensitizes people,” he said. “They learn to ignore them.”
James P. Keller Jr., vice president of the ECRI Institute, formerly the Emergency Care Research Institute, has a name for it: “alarm fatigue.” In a recent Web seminar for health care professionals, he asked participants if their hospital colleagues had become desensitized to any important alarms in the last two years. Three-quarters said yes. “This suggests it’s a pretty pervasive problem,” he said.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster was BP’s second in recent years. An explosion at BP’s refinery in Texas City, Tex., in March 2005 killed 15 people and injured 180.
Technicians were supposed to check that all alarms worked before starting up the chemical processing unit, but a supervisor told a technician to stop checking because there was not enough time, according to a report by the Chemical Safety Board, a federal investigative agency.
So they did stop, and it turned out that one alarm was not working, leading a control room operator to make a wrong decision in the hours before the explosion.
In August 1997, a Korean Air jumbo jet hit the jungle four miles short of the runway in Guam because of pilot error, even though the Federal Aviation Administration had installed a system in the control tower to prevent such accidents — a “minimum safe altitude warning” alarm, to tell controllers that a plane on approach was too low.
After the crash, investigators found that controllers thought the alarm had sounded too often, so they persuaded a technician to prevent it from sounding under normal circumstances.
In New York in 1980, control room technicians at the Indian Point 2 nuclear reactor ignored alarms indicating that there was water in the basement of the containment building; by the time they discovered the problem — by seeing it — 100,000 gallons of Hudson River water had leaked into the building, and the hot reactor vessel was sitting in it. Such a situation, engineers thought, risked cracking the vessel.
In all the cases, the alarms were installed because the things they were watching could not be easily monitored by a person. The common problem was that the humans did not trust the systems set up to assist them.
On the oil rig and in the Guam control tower, the operators were annoyed by false alarms, which sometimes went off in the middle of the night. At the refinery and the reactor, the operators simply did not believe that the alarms would tell them anything very important.
In other words, the alarms conveyed no more urgency to these operators than the drone of a nagging spouse — or maybe the shepherd boy in Aesop’s fable, who cried “Wolf!”
Mr. Rosekind, a former operations specialist at NASA, said even astronauts were vulnerable. “There’s so much information overload,” he said. “If that alarm doesn’t have meaning for that user, that operator, they’re going to start ignoring it. It doesn’t matter what environment you’re in.”
In separate interviews, he and Mr. Keller, who is a biomedical engineer, said the alarms had to be smarter, crying wolf less often. Of course, it would help if users behaved a little smarter, too — as if they understood why the devices are there in the first place.
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God knows that I will be paying more attention to the alarms that I usually ignore.
Judy
July 31st, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Dear MoveOn member,
As early as tomorrow, the White House Correspondents’ Association will decide which news organization will be awarded a recently-vacated front-row center seat in the White House briefing room.
The contenders? National Public Radio, Bloomberg News—and Fox.
Yes, Fox—which we all know is actually a tool in the right-wing propaganda machine, not a legitimate news organization. They simply don’t deserve the best seat in the White House briefing room—a seat held for years by journalist Helen Thomas until she retired recently.
So we’re joining our friends at CREDO Action to petition the Correspondents’ Association to award the seat to a real, public news organization: NPR.
Can you sign the petition today? Tell the Correspondents’ Association to give the best seat in the briefing room to NPR, not Fox.
http://pol.moveon.org/nprvsfox/?id=22189-7692656-ZMbKHux&t=3
The petition says, “Give Helen Thomas’ former briefing room seat to NPR, which has provided public interest coverage for decades—not Fox, which is a right-wing propaganda tool, not a legitimate news organization.”
Then, please forward this email to your friends and post on Facebook and Twitter so we can spread the news faster. Already 200,000 people have signed onto this call through CREDO Action. Help us get up to 300,000 before the meeting on Sunday!
Winning this seat would give Fox legitimacy it simply doesn’t deserve—not after years of race-baiting, smears against progressives and Democrats, and spreading right-wing propaganda 24/7.
So instead we’re calling on the Association to award the seat to one of our nation’s premiere news organizations, which has served the public for years and currently reaches an audience of 27 million.
Will you sign the petition today? Just click here:
http://pol.moveon.org/nprvsfox/?id=22189-7692656-ZMbKHux&t=4
Thanks for all you do.
–Kat, Marika, Jeff, Duncan, and the rest of the team
July 31st, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Leroy
Maybe you should broaden your information sources. A steady diet of Fox could fuck up anyone’s logic. Here’s an article from Huffington Post that may enlighten you a little.
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Robert L. Borosage: Congress excels at setting lofty goals that it is certain to forget or ignore. But we’ve got an economy where corporate profits are up, bank profits are up, inequality is rising — and there are no jobs.
This cannot become the new normal. Congress and the president must define full employment as the measure by which their actions should be judged. Or alternatively, admit that full employment is no longer plausible, in which case we must build a strong social contract — of training, guaranteed income, health care — for those discarded from the workforce. Click here to read more.
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Perhaps you could also lighten up on the racial slurs. How does it make you superior to use disparaging words when discussing others?
Just a thought
Victory
July 31st, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Leroy, I am a chinese american so you may not want to hear this from me. But my father recently decided to switch from the republican party too.
He said “The republicans are amazing. Imagine what would have happened if Obama hadn’t won.
The republicans would have done nothing and the banks would just be piling on. It is incredible that whites are so racists and self absorbed that they will accept any indignity to remain the favored race in America.
It seems that that is not true for all whites. I am happy to see that at least one has learned something.
That’s a start.
Lan
July 31st, 2010 at 9:19 pm
MARRIAGE SEMINAR??
While attending a Marriage Seminar dealing with communication,??Tom and his wife Grace listened to the instructor,
??’It is essential that husbands and wives know each other’s likes and dislikes.’??He addressed the man,??’Can you name your wife’s favorite flower?
‘??Tom leaned over, touched his wife’s arm gently and whispered, ‘It’s Pillsbury, isn’t it?
August 1st, 2010 at 9:46 am
Michelle
I was at the bar too. Well actually I was called I was downstairs having dinner with my parents who were visiting to check out Hasting, where I am attending school.
I came up to verify whether it was really you. No one knew what Zen Lill looked like. But I have had a crush on you for more than a year. I actually chose my law school to be near to you.
Everyone knows about my crush. So Wild-But-Broke-Becky called the Playboy who-was-played-Pete, me. I assured them it was you. Handsome legs and all.
No one knew it was Zen Lill until she broke cover the next morning. We all took a few cell phone shots.I took the most. I have you as my screen saver.
You have officially put me to sleep every night since. Well, actually last night I went to bed with a school mate, but who’s counting?
Brad
August 1st, 2010 at 9:48 am
Leroy,
I am happy to hear your GOP sentiments. Your thoughts are a good example of the paradigm shift that is needing and slowly taking place. Tell all of your friends of your new insights to your failed party. I will add that it is not a partisan issue, it is an inherently right and wrong issue, and we must get by the societal walls that are constructed called racism, sexism, classism, and reach the point of understanding. Then, will there be enough mass energy to defeat the elitists, from both sides of the isle, who defy the rights of the poor and minority.
In understanding that it is the elitists, lobbyists, and the corporations that corrupt, lie, steal, manipulate, to keep the huddled masses huddling in a mass will we then begin to attain the necessary energy as a society to create the change that the masses are truly searching for.
August 1st, 2010 at 9:50 am
Leroy
Here’s another peep into that slime hole you call the republican party.
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Late last week, Senate Republicans blocked the DISCLOSE act—a bill that would have stopped big business from secretly funneling money into elections through fly-by-night front groups.
11 of these Senators are up for reelection and this fall if we’re going to take control of our democracy back from corporate interests we need show them that siding with their corporate backers instead of with the people has real consequences.
This bill was pretty modest. It wouldn’t even have barred corporations from buying elections—it just would have told us when they did it, by requiring disclosure of corporate election spending.
The politicians who sided with BP and AIG to block it need to see immediate repercussions—so we’re working over the weekend to make creative, hard-hitting ads telling their constituents how they voted, and if we can raise enough money to air them, we’ll run them right away.
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Too bad you can’t wake up more of your fellow racists to alert them that thy are being had by crooked creeps using the race card to get votes.
Shelia
August 1st, 2010 at 9:57 am
DOES CHOLESTEROL CAUSE DEMENTIA?
It’s beginning to seem that there’s no end to the possible number of pathways leading to dementia — the latest, according to new research, is elevated cholesterol earlier in life.
It’s not only bad for your heart but also for your brain. So, what does this mean for those of us who didn’t take steps to bring down — or didn’t even know about — our high cholesterol when we were younger?
HOW HIGH IS TOO HIGH?
At Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, Rachel Whitmer, PhD, and her colleagues analyzed the records of 9,844 patients who completed health evaluations as part of a preventive screening program in the 1960s and 1970s, when they were 40 to 45 years old.
Decades later (when the participants were 61 to 88 years old), 596 of them had been diagnosed with dementia — either Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia, the second most common type of dementia.
Dr. Whitmer looked back at all participants’ cholesterol levels — and found that those who had had high total cholesterol (240 mg/dL or higher) when screened in their 40s now had a 57% higher risk for Alzheimer’s and a 26% higher risk for vascular dementia. Participants whose cholesterol had been borderline-high (200 mg/dL to 239 mg/dL) when screened now had a 23% higher risk for Alzheimer’s and a 50% higher risk for vascular dementia than those with cholesterol under 200 mg/dL.
The study had some limitations, including a lack of information about whether participants had cholesterol-lowering therapy and no differentiation among types of cholesterol, which we now know is an important health factor.
Additional research also is needed to answer some key questions, including why high cholesterol raises dementia risk. Findings were published in the August 2009 issue of Dementia & Geriatric Cognitive Disorders.
FOR A LONG, HAPPY, HEALTHY LIFE…
It’s fair to say that these results do suggest that you have a higher risk of dementia if you have even moderately high cholesterol earlier in life. Study coauthor Alina Solomon, MD, PhD, of the department of neurology at the University of Kuopio in Finland, told me that this doesn’t mean that people with elevated cholesterol should automatically begin taking statin drugs — as we’ve pointed out before, they have potentially serious side effects.
Consult with your doctor, suggests Dr. Solomon, and if appropriate look first at making lifestyle changes, which will definitely have a positive effect on your cholesterol and your brain.
Though you may not be able to control such risk factors as age and genetics, you can help prevent age-related diseases by eating well, exercising, maintaining a healthy weight and controlling stress. Not only are these measures key to living a good, long life but also, it seems, to being able to enjoy it.
Source(s):
Alina Solomon, MD, PhD, department of neurology, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland.
Rachel Whitmer, PhD, research scientist, division of research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California.
August 1st, 2010 at 10:00 am
Ditto Main Dude.
I could hug you.
Don’t zap Me Michelle. I meant that in a good way.
Mandy
August 1st, 2010 at 10:02 am
Sure you did Mandy. Which brings to mind. How about publishing a picture of the Main Dude? So those that don’t have wet panties over his comments can keep an eye on him for you.
Joyce
August 1st, 2010 at 10:03 am
F**k you Joyce. You are just some kind of pervert looking to score through some kind of perverse vicarious peep.
August 1st, 2010 at 10:08 am
Girls, girls, let a man get a word in edge-wise. I’m gay so I would love to see a sweet shot of your Honey, Sugar.
He heats me up with those heavy analysis’s of your blog articles. I’d f**k him. Oh, be still lil head.
Just funning Michelle. Don’t send Madaline after me. She might rape me with her bad ass.
Ciao Doug.
Sweets for the sweet, I always say.
And I am mighty Sweet, Sweetie.
Hank
August 1st, 2010 at 10:10 am
I’m betting that “high cholesterol “study” was done by the Pharma, specifically those companies pushing all the statin drugs.
Evelyn
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:40 am
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