Good morning!

Readers: We’re heading into a holiday here in America. Which means you’ll possibly be doing things to your body in excess. If you have a sweet tooth you might just reconsider what the sweets are doing to your health as you party into the 3-day weekend and beyond.

Here’s the write:

Sweetened to Death: Exposing Sugar for What It Is

What you don’t know IS hurting you… and I don’t just mean weight problems. I mean chronic disease. I mean a whole generation dying younger than their parents for the first time in modern history.⁽¹⁾ If you were ever looking for a single smoking gun for obesity and health problems, this is it. And you’re about to learn how to dodge the bullet and come out on top.

Poison.

Addictive substance.

Alcohol without the buzz.

Worse than cocaine.

The reason we can’t stop eating.

The culprit behind the chronic disease epidemic of our times.

These are just a few of the things it’s been called.

And that’s not by extremists or fanatics… but by some of the most influential and respected medical experts on the planet.^2,3,4

But you know it as sugar.

And right now, we’re all eating it in unprecedented amounts, often without even knowing it.^5,6

And it’s doing far worse things in our bodies than just making us fat… though it’s definitely doing that, too.

Sugar is killing people. And I’ll prove it in this article.

I’ll show you how it managed to dominate your diet and how unnatural it actually is.

I’ll show you how it behaves in your body like both cocaine and alcohol. (It does this in your children’s bodies, too.)

I’ll also show you how to overcome the need for it. It’s very doable… and very necessary.

And no, this doesn’t mean you can’t have anything sweet. Trust me on this. I’ll explain everything.

Really quickly, though… Before I get down and dirty on sugar, let me address something a few people have asked me about the articles I’ve been writing lately:

April 1973.

Senator George McGovern was presiding over the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. This was the Committee’s first meeting on diet and disease.⁷

However, just a couple of years prior, he’d retired to write a controversial book titled Pure White and Deadly: The Problem of Sugar.⁹ In it, he proposed that sugar — not fat — caused obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.¹⁰ This flew right in the face of the popular low-fat diet advice of the time.^11,12

After Yudkin explained his sugar theory to the Committee, Senator McGovern, in utter disbelief, asked:

Yudkin responded in his usual polite, precise manner:

Yudkin went on to insist that cutting dietary fat was not the answer to the growing public health concerns. But McGovern, unable to accept this, responded:

And after the hearing, things went straight downhill for Yudkin. He was shut out of international nutrition conferences, and several prominent scientists who supported the the low-fat theory publicly blasted him.¹⁴

One of these scientists was Ancel Keys, the most famous nutritionist in America. He published a scathing critique of Yudkin, calling his research “propaganda.”¹⁵

Scientists everywhere then began to distance themselves from Yudkin and his theories. Almost overnight, he went from being England’s premier nutritionist to being a complete outsider.¹⁶

After all, he’d contradicted the establishment. Right or wrong, he had to pay the price. And no one else wanted to end up like him.

Sheldon Reiser, another prominent nutritionist of the day, later recalled:

By the time Yudkin died in 1995, his book was out of print, and he had faded largely into obscurity.¹⁸

Meanwhile, the low-fat diet advice of Keys and his colleagues became mainstream and was treated as gospel, giving rise to dangerous U.S. Government health recommendations.¹⁹

The food industry responded with sugary low-fat and fat-free foods. The American public responded with growing waistlines and declining health.^{20,21,22,23,24}

In fact, it wasn’t until 36 years later that everyone finally started to realize that Yudkin had been right all along. And it was largely thanks to a prominent endocrinologist named Robert Lustig.^25,26,27

And this brings us to…

May 2009.

Professor Robert Lustig was just over a half an hour into a lecture on sugar at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A charming public speaker, he’d gotten a few laughs from the crowd over the past 30 minutes. But now, the lecture hall was dead silent.²⁸

UCSF was one of the top-ranked medical schools in the world.²⁹ And Lustig, its star pediatric endocrinologist, had just steamrolled over the past 30 years of undisputed nutrition guidelines. He was going against the grain with a vengeance.³⁰

-Dr. Robert Lustig on Keys’ Seven Countries Study

You see, most nutrition advice had been based on Ancel Keys’ legendary Seven Countries Study — the one that landed him on the cover of Time Magazine.³¹ And Lustig had just spent the past several minutes pointing out flaw after flaw in that study’s science.

And this was only a third of the way in. The lecture was almost 90 minutes long. Lustig was just getting warmed up.

He spent the next hour using a mountain of research to thoroughly make the case for sugar being most damaging toxin of our time.

Two months later, UCSF posted a video of the lecture on YouTube, and it promptly went viral. To date, it has more than 6.4 million views.³²

Lustig had clearly struck a nerve. People were tired of being fat and sick. The nutrition advice they’d gotten their whole lives hadn’t been working at all.

In the aftermath, several New York Times bestsellers emerged highlighting the dangers of sugar.^33,34,35 Articles on the topic appeared in multiple newspapers and journals.^36,37,38,39 News programs like 60 Minutes did stories on it.⁴⁰

book — Pure White and Deadly — was re-released to a more welcoming public.⁴¹ After all, Lustig had made several references to it in the lecture.⁴²

The tides had finally shifted. Sugar — in all its forms, including high-fructose corn syrup — was now being called out for the poison it was.

And on that note, it’s about time we got into the nitty-gritty of sugar’s toxicity.

Natural?

Lately, I’ve heard many people say, “Cane sugar is natural. How can it be poisonous?”

Red kidney beans are natural, too. Yet, as the FDA’s own Bad Bug Book points out, eating just five of them raw can land you in the hospital.⁴³

Natural doesn’t mean healthy. Most toxins are natural. Cyanide is perfectly natural.

And I should also point out that sugar manufacturing starts with this:

…and ends with this:

What’s natural about a man-made process that turns dirty sticks into sweet, paper-white, granulated crystals?

The truth is that it’s an extensive operation that involves multiple rounds of high-temperature treatment, evaporation, filtering, and spinning.⁴⁴ Not to mention, industrial chemicals like sulfur dioxide are bubbled through the sugar to bleach it.⁴⁵

Long story short: You won’t find this stuff anywhere in nature.

And yet you’re likely eating it at every meal.

However, as bad as this all sounds, simply being unnatural isn’t what makes sugar so harmful. You’re about to find out what is, though. Read on.

The devil’s in the details.

I’ll get right to it. There’s one thing above all else that makes sugar poisonous. And that thing is fructose.

You see, sugar, otherwise known as sucrose, is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. Fructose is the sweetest part of sugar. It’s the thing that makes your favorite candy irresistible.⁴⁶

And it’s not just in sucrose. Fructose is highly present in high-fructose corn syrup (55%), agave syrup/nectar (84%), honey (50%), and any other syrup/added sugar you can think of.^47,48,49

And why is fructose so bad?

Well, unlike glucose, which is mostly broken down by insulin, fructose is 100% processed by the liver. This is very similar to how alcohol behaves in the body.^50,51 In the process, the following things happen:

• Fat deposits in your liver increase, which ultimately leads to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.⁵² (Hint: It’s essentially the same effect as alcoholic liver disease.⁵³)

• Insulin resistance increases, which makes your pancreas start producing way too much insulin. This shortchanges your brain’s ability to read signals that you’re full, causing you to overeat.^54,55 It also leads to Type II Diabetes.⁵⁶

• The insulin resistance elevates insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which can dramatically increase your risk for multiple types of cancer.⁵⁷

• The fats in your blood rise out of proportion, skyrocketing VLDL — the worst cholesterol in human nutrition. This condition is known as dyslipidemia, and it’s a MAJOR marker for heart disease.^58,59,60

• Uric acid, a byproduct of fructose metabolism, rises in your blood. This cranks up your blood pressure (hypertension). It also increases your risk for developing gout.⁶¹

And here’s something that will really shock you…

30% of the fructose you consume becomes fat in your body.^62,63

Yep, you read that right. 30%. And that’s compared to around 2% of glucose (think potatoes and rice) turning into fat.^64,65

So, take a look at that sugar cube next time you want to drop it into your coffee. You can actually see the portion of it that will become fat inside you.

And there’s another feature of fructose that makes all of this much, much worse…

Sweet Cocaine?

Perhaps the most insidious part about sugar is how hard it is to stop eating it. Sugar is, in fact, genuinely addictive.^66,67

And much of this addictiveness has to do with reward signals in your brain — specifically, the sweet reward, which is supplied directly by fructose.^68,69

The effect is so powerful that scientists in France, the U.S., and Canada have observed cocaine-addicted rats demonstrating a clear preference for the sweet reward over the cocaine they were addicted to.^70,71,72

And it doesn’t stop there. Fructose actually reprograms your body to overdose on sweet food.

You see, fructose messes up two things your brain uses to regulate your eating:⁷³

1. It blinds your brain to leptin, the hormone that makes you feel full.
2. It fails to stop ghrelin, the hormone that makes you feel hungry.

This brutal 1-2 punch turns you into an unstoppable eating machine. Combine this with the drug-level addictiveness of the sweet reward, and you have a serious problem on your hands.

To experience this effect in the real world, eat your fill of raw vegetables. When you feel like you can’t eat anymore, grab a piece of your favorite chocolate or candy and put it in your mouth. Chances are, you’ll reach for seconds.

In fact, if you’re anything like me, your eyes probably dilated at the thought of tasting that candy just now. Perhaps you even considered going and getting some.

Now you know why you can’t stop eating.

And now you know that what you can’t stop eating is a toxin.

And it gets even worse…

It’s everywhere you turn.

The absolute worst part about sugar (and the fructose it carries) is that food manufacturers put it in so much of what you eat. Here’s a few of the less obvious things that have added sugar in one form or another:

Sneaky Sugar Foods:

Beef jerky hides a surprising amount of sugar.

Bread
Beef Jerky
Yogurt
Pasta Sauces
Barbecue Sauces
Pretty Much ANY Sauces
Salad Dressings
Canned Soup
Peanut Butter
Coleslaw
Ketchup
Dried Fruits
Canned Fruits
Smoothies
Instant Oatmeal
Granola
Anything labeled “lowfat” or “fat free”
Anything processed

And then, there’s the matter of what we drink, which is one of the main ways we’re getting way too much fructose.

Sodas, for example, are loaded with fructose. And fruit juice has even more fructose than sodas.⁷⁴ Both drinks are bad news. And do you like to sweeten your coffee? How about your tea? Do you like flavored waters?

Thanks to the food industry’s penchant for feeding us sugar, fructose is coming at us from all angles.

You see, for most of our existence, we consumed 16-20 grams of fructose per day. Most of that came from whole fresh fruits. However, we’re now consuming 85-100 grams per day.⁷⁵

And most of that has happened in the last 30-40 years.⁷⁶ Is it any wonder we’re having so many health problems?

(Click here to share this with others on Facebook while you keep reading!)

So, what do I do?

You’ve stayed with me through the bad news, so here’s the good news:

While the problem is complicated, the solution is not.

Lustig made key suggestions I agree with in his presentation, and I’ve added some of my own. Here’s the combined list:⁷⁷

1) Cut out sugary drinks. This includes fruit juice.

This will remove a HUGE amount of fructose from your diet. If you do nothing else, do this. And avoid sugar in your coffee and tea. If you must sweeten it, use stevia. Drink water (regular, unflavored) more than anything else.

2) When you eat carbs, eat them with fiber.

3) When you’ve eaten, wait 20 minutes before going back for seconds.

4) For every minute you spend watching videos/movies/shows, exercise for one minute.

• Decreases stress and cortisol release, helping to keep you from stress-eating and storing fat.
• Speeds up metabolism. Basically, you burn off the sugar before it can turn into fat.
• Reduces insulin resistance, and all the problems that come with it.

5) Drink MORE water. PLAIN water.

And there you have it. The truth about sugar, and how to deal with it.

I urge you to start acting on these steps today. But don’t worry… You don’t have to do the whole list on the first day.

Many people incorporate these 7 steps one at a time. Take your time, and pay attention to how you feel. And don’t forget to congratulate yourself on your progress!

And as always, I hope you’ve found this enlightening. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. And if you’ve found this information helpful…

Don’t forget to share it with your friends and family!

So…what do you think of sugar now?

Blog me.

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 :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

The comments referring to Al and the article that he posted inspired me to post this write. If you don’t think other republicans think the same same way, you are very mistaken, and up for a rude awakening. Vote the racist and sexist repubs OUT. Your chance to do that is NOW. Don’t miss out.

From the Huff Po:

Next Time Someone Says ‘White Privilege Isn’t Real,’ Show Them This

Think white privilege doesn’t exist in America? Consider just how much the color of a child’s skin changes his or her odds of escaping poverty later in life.

Roughly 16 percent of white children born into the poorest one-fifth of U.S. families will rise to become a member of the top one-fifth by the time they turn 40 years old, according to a new study by Brookings Institution researchers for the Boston Federal Reserve.

Those are fairly bleak odds, but for poor black children the odds of making it to the top are even longer: Only 3 percent of black children born into the poorest one-fifth of families will ever make the leap to the top income group, according to the study.

Even if they don’t always make it to the top of the income ladder, poor whites escape the worst forms of poverty more often than poor blacks. Only 23 percent of poor white children will still be counted among the poorest Americans when they turn 40, while a whopping 51 percent of poor black children will, the researchers found.

This chart shows the social mobility levels for white Americans. The horizontal axis shows where families start out on the income ladder, and the vertical axis shows the percentage of children from those families that end up at each income level by the age of 40.

As you can see, the poorest white Americans have a decent shot of ending up in a higher tier than their parents — 58 percent of white children from the poorest families end up in one of the top three income brackets.

But for black Americans, escaping poverty is far more difficult:

Just 22 percent of the poorest black children manage to get into the top three income brackets by the time they are 40. And note that there aren’t even enough black families in the top income bracket to do statistically significant analysis.

The findings in the paper, co-authored by Brookings economists Richard V. Reeves and Isabel V. Sawhill, run counter to the beliefs of some, like Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, who argue that racism in this country has diminished to the point that white privilege no longer exists. O’Reilly visited The Daily Show last week and argued that any person, regardless of race, can get rich in America so long as they work hard.

But opportunities for success are clearly not that simple, for a host of reasons: The myriad legacies of slavery and Jim Crow, decades of racist housing policies,educational disparities, employment discrimination, and a race-fueled War on Drugs.

Where you start in life financially matters a lot, too: If you’re born in the poorest 20 percent of families of any race, yet still earn a college degree, you have roughly the same chance of being stuck in the poorest bracket as rich high-school dropouts do of staying in the richest bracket (16 and 14 percent, respectively).

Upward mobility is a much harder climb than it would seem.

*****

Readers: You think upward mobility is tough now. Put the repubs in charge and you’ll experience just how tough it can really be (since they don’t seem to think “white privilege” even exists! – yeah right. They’re just racist and choose not to see. You know nothing will get done to with that kind of thinking)

Or…do the smart, logical thing and ensure the Dems are successful and experience just how much more Obama can really do for you…for everyone. The choice is yours. Your future lies in your hands, and how you mark that ballot. I trust you’ll do the smart, logical, right thing, that is best for our country.

Blog me.

Peace out. 

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 :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

From the National Post:

The most expensive U.S. midterm election ever: Why both sides know they have everything to play for

It’s the most expensive U.S. midterm election ever, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CPR), which estimates that almost $4-billion will be spent. CPR, which tracks money spent in politics, reports that an “explosion” in outside cash is a dominant theme of the election.

The group says at least $663-million has been spent by outside groups, like Super PACs, but estimates another $233-million will be spent in the last 12 days, a rate of $19.4-million a day.

And the race for the Senate, which could flip from Democrat to Republican, has attracted huge sums of outside spending — about $338-million, according to the group. The North Carolina senate race is expected to be awarded the dubious honour of being the most expensive in U.S. history with a total of $100-million being spent.

Both sides know they have everything to play for. If Republicans can capture six seats, they can take the Senate and control of Congress. Republicans could then aggressively push policies of free trade, tax reform, and deficit reduction as well as the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from Canada to the U.S. The election is Nov. 4. So which are the key states to watch and how much outside money has been spent in them?

National Post GraphicsClick or tap to enlarge

Here is a look at the most interesting Senate races ahead of the midterm elections on Nov. 4:

ALASKA
This state could be a key decider. Democratic senator Mark Begich is up against Republican candidate Dan Sullivan. The state was Republican for years, before opting for Begich in 2008. Polls suggest Sullivan has a slight lead, but in the state they are notoriously inaccurate and untrustworthy.

THEY SAID IT: Begich with 90 staffers (as opposed to Sullivan’s 14) has campaigned heavily in Alaska’s far-flung communities. “We have knocked on every single door in rural Alaska. This is unbelievable. No one’s ever done it like this — ever,” he told The Washington Post.

ARKANSAS
Democratic Senator Mark Pryor is trailing Representative Tom Cotton in the former Democratic bailiwick. Pryor’s support for President Barack Obama’s agenda, most notably the Affordable Health Act, is the stick Cotton is using to beat Pryor. Pryor counters Cotton is an extremist, pointing to his votes against the Farm Bill, the Violence Against Women Act, etc.

THEY SAID IT: Foreign policy — especially the threat posed by Islamic terrorists — is providing an unexpected boost for Cotton, a former infantryman in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. “Folks want to look at people making those decisions and know they’ve walked the walk,” said Kevin McLaughlin, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

COLORADO
Mark Udall, the Democratic incumbent, has made abortion and contraception the centrepiece of his campaign, attacking the stance of his Republican rival, Cory Gardner. But Gardener is ahead in the polls, despite backing “personhood” amendments in Colorado that would redefine a person’s rights as beginning at conception, making contraception and abortion illegal.

THEY SAID IT: Gardner’s success suggests Republicans have learned how to counter the perception they are anti-women and voters are being turned off by the issue. “If Colorado’s Senate race were a movie, the set would be a gynecologist’s office,” said an article in the Denver Post, which surprised many by endorsing Gardner.

GEORGIA
Money in a Swiss banking account has become a key topic for debate in the open race to become the U.S. senator from Georgia. Democrat hopeful Michelle Nunn is squaring off against Republican David Perdue. With barely two weeks to go, pollsters agree on only one thing — the race is too close to call.

THEY SAID IT: Nunn’s campaign is asking pointed questions about Perdue’s reported $1-million stashed in a Swiss private bank. He “needs to be honest with Georgians about his investments, career and how he made millions while those who worked for him often found themselves worse off,” says a Nunn spokesman.

IOWA
Even though it’s the 21st century, Republican state Senator Joni Ernst is trying to become the first woman U.S. senator from Iowa in her race against Democratic U.S. Representative Bruce Braley. This is although Republicans typically do well with male voters, Democrats with female ones. Ernst, who is also an officer in the Iowa Army National Guard, is hoping to change that.

THEY SAID IT: Stumping for Braley, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told voters billionaires aren’t going to decide who will be their next senator, hinting at Ernst’s alleged ties to the conservative donors Charles and David Koch. “I think you are going to decide,” she said.

AP Photo/Orlin Wagner // AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, FileRepublican Pat Roberts, right, was thrown for a curveball when his Democratic challenger dropped out of the race, leaving it just between him and independent Greg Orman, left.

KANSAS
What started as a three-way race has turned into two-man slugfest after Democratic hopeful Chad Taylor dropped out. Now Republican incumbent Pat Roberts is trying to fend off a serious challenge from Greg Orman, an independent businessman. But as voting day approaches, the gap has narrowed.

THEY SAID IT: Roberts’ campaign has been hammering away at Orman’s links to private equity firm CEO Raj Gupta, convicted of insider trading in 2012, and financier George Soros. “As we’ve begun to educate people about the real Greg Orman, his support has begun to rapidly decline,” a source close to the Roberts campaign told Business Insider.

LOUISIANA
In an ultra-red state that went for Mitt Romney by a landslide in 2012, Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu is sounding more like an anxious novice than a seasoned lawmaker, with 18 years under her belt, as she battles Republican challenger Bill Cassidy. The presence of a third contender, Rob Maness, could lead to a runoff vote.

THEY SAID IT: Landrieu has attacked Cassidy for not turning up for candidates’ debates. “If you are not man enough or strong enough to come to these debates, how in heavens are you going to be strong enough to represent the citizens of Louisiana?” she asked. A Cassidy spokesman dismissed her complaint as “silly.”

MICHIGAN
In one of the few races to offer comfort to Democrats, their candidate, U.S. Representative Gary Peters solidly leads the Republican Terri Lynn Land, a former secretary of state, in every public poll. Even Republican observers agree she has little chance.

THEY SAID IT: Part of the problem for Land is the lack of excitement. The race has been “sort of boring,” says Democratic consultant Mark Grebner. There has been no game-changing remark. There were no debates. so there was “no zinger moment,” adds Republican consultant Dennis Darnoi.

MONTANA
Steve Daines could carry the state for the Republicans after the Democratic incumbent John Walsh withdrew, admitting he had plagiarized a paper while at Army War College. Instead, Daines will face state Representative Amanda Curtis, a relative neophyte, whose left-wing views, freely viewable on You Tube, could turn off voters.

THEY SAID IT: Curtis emerged as her party’s choice after other prominent Democrats, including former Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the actor Jeff Bridges, declined to enter the race. Nonetheless, she says she running to win and “is not a sacrificial lamb.” Analysts put her chances as slim at best.

AP Photo/Jim ColeU.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, left, and former Massachusetts Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown before a live televised debate.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Former Republican senator Scott Brown from neighbouring Massachusetts could be poised to upset Jeanne Shaheen, an institution in New Hampshire. In doing so, he has to combat charges of being a carpet bagger and opportunist by running in the state where he has a vacation home.

THEY SAID IT: Despite the recent threat posed by the newcomer, analysts believe the former governor will win the day. “Shaheen is such a known quantity. She’s been part of politics in the state for such a long time. And she’s running a really good campaign,” said Jennifer Duffy, of the Cook Political Report. “The only election she’s ever lost was the Senate in 2002.”

NORTH CAROLINA
The senatorial contest in North Carolina appears certain to become costliest in U.S. electoral history as Republicans try to take over the upper house. An estimated US$100-million is being spent to promote two candidates most people have never heard of: Senate Democrat Kay Hagan, who is clinging to a razor-thin lead, and Republican Thom Tillis.

THEY SAID IT: Tillis has been building grass-roots support, reports Politico. Amid shouts of “You’ve got my vote, speaker,” and “There’s my next U.S. senator,” at the North Carolina State Fair last week, he was all confidence. “I think things are going really well,” he said, as he ate fried chicken, milked a cow and hung tobacco leaves for curing with fair-goers.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Four-way race between former Republican governor Mike Rounds. Democrat Rick Weiland, former Republican U.S. senator-turned independent Larry Pressler and the Tea Party’s Gordon Howie. Rounds is tainted by a scandal over how the state administered its visa program designed to attract foreign capital and which led to an aide’s suicide. The Keystone XL pipeline could also be a factor.

THEY SAID IT: Rounds has been hurt by Weiland’s hammering away at the visa scandal, to the extent coverage of all other issues has been nearly non-existent. “I’m running for the Senate but I ain’t a big wheel. I don’t have an RV just my automobile. Hey, hey, no one’s bought me,” sings Weiland in a folksy, cheeky video.

WEST VIRGINIA
Two women are facing off in West Virginia to fill the Senate seat of Democrat Jay Rockefeller, who is retiring: the Republican U.S. Representative Shelley Moore-Capito, and the Democratic party nominee, Natalie Tennant, the West Virginia secretary of state. Whoever wins, it will be historic — the state has never sent a woman senator to Washington.

THEY SAID IT: Barack Obama is so unpopular in the state because of his policies on coal, Tennant refused to mention him by name when asked who she voted for. At a candidates’ debate, she would only say she “voted for the Democratic party,” before citing her objections to the president and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy.

 

*****

Readers: Whew! Did you get through all that? My suggestion is that you focus on your state and then go out there and do it. Do whatever you can to get the Dems on board and voting.

Congratulations San Francisco Giants!

Blog me.

Peace out. 

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 :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

A few topics to sink your teeth into, that I am just noticing. 

When you can’t get the cops to help you, ladies, take matters into your own hands. Social media might be the avenue.

#1 from the Huff Po:

Woman Tweets Photo Of Alleged Groper

SEATTLE (AP) — Police say a convicted sex offender is a person of interest in a groping incident involving a Seattle woman who turned to social media when she decided a police officer didn’t seem to care enough.

Police said late Wednesday on their website that the man is currently in jail for a violation of his state Corrections Department supervision.

The Seattle Times reported that Julia Marquand photographed the alleged groper with her cellphone after the incident last Sunday and filed a police report.

She says a female officer took down details but had to be persuaded to look at the cell phone photo. So Marquand posted the man’s photo on her Twitter and Facebook accounts, saying, “This dude groped me in Seattle yesterday. Cops didn’t want the pic.”

Within a few hours, Seattle police contacted Marquand and said her case had been assigned to a detective.

Police spokesman Drew Fowler said earlier that it wasn’t the tweet itself that caused police to re-evaluate Marquand’s case, but it alerted the department to a “deficiency” in the way her case was handled.

*****

#2 Need protection? If you really feel the cops aren’t on your side but they are actually against you, like we have seen in so many instances lately, this one company has come up with an idea that could further help prevent police brutality. Will it work?

Also from the Huff Po:

Company Makes Gun Tech That Could Help Prevent Police Brutality

Police may soon start using electronic guns that can track how, when and where the weapons are used, which could lead to greater accountability in investigations of police shootings.

The firearms technology company Yardarm Technologies has developed a new product that can record crucial information about when, where and how police officers use their firearms. This technology could be a welcome tool amid growing criticism of heavy-handed police tactics in the U.S., which were exemplified by the controversy around the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August.

Yardarm’s new system can recognize and record things such as when the weapon is unholstered, when a magazine is inserted, when the first bullet enters the chamber and when and (roughly) where the weapon is fired, company spokesman Jim Schaff told The Huffington Post. Soon, Yardarm plans to give the gun the ability to know the direction and angle of each shot, Schaff said.

Why is it important to know this information? The system can provide an objective record of an incident in which a police officer used his weapon, Schaff said, which could be helpful in an investigation. He added that it “goes both ways” — the data could also be used to exonerate an officer accused of misconduct, or to prosecute a criminal in a court of law.

“We’re there to show what happened, to make an accurate reporting of the event, so that it can be used as necessary after the fact,” Schaff said.

Earlier this month, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department and the Carrollton, Texas, Police Department began equipping some of their officers’ Glocks with the new technology, Yardarm stated in a press release Friday.

“We’re looking forward to what we believe law enforcement is heading towards,” Carrollton Police Sgt. Wes Rutherford told HuffPost. “We thought we might be interested in purchasing this in the future.”

Schaff added that the technology can be also be used to keep police officers safer. When an officer draws his weapon, for example, the gun will send an alert to the police command center and to nearby officers, alerting them to a potentially dangerous situation.

Yardarm does not manufacture an actual gun, but a two-inch long device that fits into the grip of an existing gun. That device detects the gun’s every movement through high-powered motion sensors known as accelerometers.

“It’s the same kind of sensor your iPhone uses to change the screen from vertical to horizontal when you turn the phone to the side,” Schaff said. “But ours is way more powerful.”

Currently, for the sensor to work, an officer must be carrying a smartphone. That’s because the device sends a signal through the officer’s phone and then on to Yardarm’s data servers in Washington and Texas, where the information is stored for future use.

The SENSOR can also detect, to a limited extent, where each shot is fired in relation to the shots that were previously fired. “If you fire a shot and then moved laterally ten feet and fired another, we’d know that you moved,” Schaff said. “But three feet? Maybe not.”

Rutherford noted that the sensor could be helpful in an event where an officer uses his gun on a civilian. “Whenever we investigate an officer-involved shooting, we look for every particular avenue that we can, to obtain the objective information, in order to piece together the whole puzzle of what happened,” he said. “So it could absolutely help, yes.”

One of the most recent major development in police officer accountability is the use of body-worn cameras by officers in several states across the country, a practice that has received greater attention after Brown’s killing. Studies have shown that when officers wear video cameras on their uniforms, they’re significantly less likely to use force in their interactions with civilians. Civilian complaints against officers have also been shown to drop when officers wear the cameras, suggesting that this kind of technology could save cities money by reducing litigation fees.

Dashboard cameras, which became popular in the 1990s, have also proven useful for providing an objective record of problematic encounters between civilians and police: Camera footage often helps cut through the he-said-she-said chatter that inevitably accompanies allegations of police misconduct.

But there is a welter of issues with police recording themselves on the job, includingprivacy concerns and the nation’s complicated patchwork of consent laws. Another problem is that video footage isn’t always as reliable as we think. “Sometimes there can be multiple gunshots and it will sound like one, because they cover each other up,” said David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh and a police accountability expert.

And even though dashboard cameras have been around for years, they still aren’t used in some places in the United States. Body-worn cameras, a much newer concept, are hardly used at all, though more cities are starting to consider them.

For as long as police officers have carried guns, advocates have bemoaned the lack of data and accountability regarding police shootings. To date, there is still no official data on how many people are shot by cops in the United States every year.

Gun tracking technology like Yardarm’s would add to the amount of data available to law enforcement officers and courts about controversial officer-involved shootings. Knowing where and when each shot is fired could bring greater transparency to investigations of these episodes.

In Brown’s case, the version of events recounted by Darren Wilson, the officer who shot him, has at times been at odds with accounts from witnesses. But it’s not clear that the sequence of events would be any less hazy if Wilson had been using Yardarm’s technology.

“Cameras and sensors on weapons would represent a quantum leap forward in policing and accountability,” said Kirsten John Foy, a civil rights advocate who is also the Northeast Regional Director of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. “But technology has its limitations as well. You can’t understand a person’s intent, a person’s mindset, or the circumstances which that officer felt made it necessary to use deadly force. It won’t record those things.”

“So I think we have to be mindful that policing is not just a science, it’s also an art form,” he added. “And there are other factors that have to be taken into account.”

This isn’t the first time Yardarm Technologies has attempted to develop a firearm to help address public safety issues. After the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Yardarm set out to create a consumer “smart gun” that could be remotely disabled using an app. But the company abandoned that plan when it realized how politically controversial the idea was. Compared to the consumer market, Yardarm encountered much less resistance marketing its technologies to law enforcement, Schaff told HuffPost earlier this year.

CORRECTION: This article originally suggested that Yardarm manufactures its own firearm. Rather it makes a small sensor that fits into an existing gun.

*****

#3 This one is shocking and sickening, but no surprise considering what has been heavily in the news lately.

From Think Progress.

Report: Black Male Teens Are 21 Times More Likely To Be Killed By Cops Than White Ones

Lesley McSpadden, right, the mother of 18-year-old Michael Brown, watches as Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., holds up a family picture of himself, his son, top left in photo, and a young child during a news conference Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo. Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed in a confrontation with police in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo, on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014.

CREDIT: AP PHOTO / JEFF ROBERSON

There’s a lot we don’t know about how many people have actually been killed at police hands in the United States, thanks to woefully inadequate transparency and federal record-keeping. But there’s one thing we do now know: Among those we do know were shot by police, black teens were 21 times more likely to be shot deadthan their white counterparts.

“The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police,” a new ProPublica report explains, noting that if whites were killed at the same ratio there would have been another 185 white deaths, just during that three-year period, just of those in that narrow age range.

To arrive at this statistic, ProPublica analyzed the list of 12,000 police shooting deaths that were self-reported by agencies to the Federal Bureau of Investigation between 1980 and 2012. Because this data is self-reported and departments are not required to submit information, this data likely significantly undercounts the number of shootings. Florida departments, for example, haven’t submitted data since 1997 and New York City hasn’t submitted data since 2007. And the FBI asks only for “justifiable homicide”figures, meaning in those instances where the shootings are most overtly viewed as unjustified or the litigation is ongoing, departments are less likely to report.

Still, assessing available data may provide the best insight we have into how grave racial disparities in police violence are, particularly when it comes to young black men, who were stopped by NYPD officers in 2011 more times than the total number of young black men in New York City. Unsurprisingly, past analyses have also found disproportionate violence against blacks, including a 2007 investigation by Colorlines and the Chicago Reporter in 10 major cities. An NAACP report of Oakland, California, found that 37 of 45 police-involved shootings were of blacks, while zero were of whites. “Although weapons were not found in 40 percent of cases, the NAACP found, no officers were charged,” Mother Jones reported.

Studies of human and police behavior suggest that racial bias is baked into policing, particularly because individuals misperceive the threat posed by African Americans. Nonetheless, a 2012 poll after the George Zimmerman verdict found that that the gap between whites and blacks who think the justice system is biased was greater than ever.

*****

Readers: Notice a common thread here? Choose one to chat about or all three. Your call. Blog me.

Happy Sunday everyone! Go Giants!

Peace out. 

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 :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Cynthia: Great question. My thoughts exactly!

Readers: In case you don’t know what Cynthia and I are talking about, here’s the write from the Huff Po. It is Wednesday, hump day, and we all need a little break from the serious but important stuff. Although, this is still politics but the more humorous side of it.

♥♥♥

Readers: Oh, what I would’ve given to be voting alongside of our president. The kiss would’ve been sweet too.

Blog me. 

Now go vote. :) I just had to sneak that in.

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 :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"