last updated 23rd December 2011

Kazakhstani online petition

Kazakhstani online petition

By Radha Mohan Dasa

Please visit http://www.krishnatemple.com NOW and click the link to the new petition, or go straight to the petition webpage:

http://harekrishna.epetitions.net

Please sign it soon as you can, and please tell as many people as you can about it.

Background: Workers and police arrived on 15th June at the village near Almaty, Kazakhstan, where the embattled Hare Krishna commune is based to demolish twelve more Hare Krishna-owned homes. “The houses were literally crushed into dust. By ten o’clock it was all over,” said ISKCON spokesperson Maksim Varfolomeyev.

The temple, which the devotees have been ordered to destroy, has not been touched but the devotees fear it could be the next target. Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis is outraged at the continuing destruction. “The authorities are showing that they will do what they want, despite the international outrage at the earlier demolitions of Hare Krishna-owned homes.” He believes the local administration chief “doesn’t care about the political damage to Kazakhstan’s reputation – or to its desire to chair the OSCE.”

ys Radha Mohan das

Hare Krishna in Kazakstan:
http://servantoftheservant-ananda.blogspot.com/2008/11/hare-krishnas-in-kazakhstan.html
Kazak Edition of Bhagavad-gita presented to Srila Prabhupada.
This is now the 55th language in which Bhagavad-gita has been printed.

Read HERE how the original issue began in Kazakstan

Read HERE what the previous articles from November 2006 were

Iskcon Kazakstan
http://www.palaceofthesoul.com/news/index.php

PLEASE VISIT THIS PAGE
http://kazakhkrishna.com/en-main/

Kazakh
http://vedabase.net/kazakhstan/

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/08/143060219/besan-laddu-chickpea-sweet

USA, December 8, 2011 (NPR, Amelia Jyotsna Tummalapalli of Memphis, Tenn.): We are Hindus. Our family celebrates Pancha Ganapati from December 21-25. This is a special time when we ask our relatives, friends and business associates to forgive us for anything we may have done wrong. We make and share sweets with all of these people, and the children get gifts for five days. We decorate our homes with lights and colorful handmade decorations. We listen to music, attend dances and go to temple during this time to pray to Ganapati (also called Ganesha). We enjoy besan laddu during this time because Ganapati loves sweets!

For a delicious Besan Laddu (Chickpea Sweet) recipe, click http://www.npr.org/2011/12/08/143060219/besan-laddu-chickpea-sweet

Puri King Backs Temple Stand on Denying Non-Hindus Entry
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-28/bhubaneswar/29829823_1_jagannath-temple-lord-jagannath-pyari-mohapatra

BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, July 28, 2011 (India Times): Amid the raging controversy over permitting non-Hindus to enter the Jagannath temple in Puri, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb said people from other faiths were a "security threat" to the 12th century shrine.

The Puri king's apprehension stemmed from the brazen terror attacks in Mumbai and other places in the country in the recent past. "We should remain alert and adopt precautions to protect the temple, which was invaded by Afghan and Mughal rulers between 14th and 17th century," Dibyasingha Deb said. "Unlike those days, we do not find any threat to the temple as of now. Still we should be careful as the temple stands among the high risk category shrines in the country as declared by the Centre," he added.

He further said the age-old tradition should not be bent at any cost. "The rituals of the temple should not be changed by sidelining our tradition and custom," the Gajapati Maharaja said.

His reactions coincided with priests of Jagannath temple on Thursday taking out a huge rally in Puri to condemn the remark of BJD stalwart Pyarimohan Mohapatra, who recently kicked up a storm by advocating that non-Hindus should be allowed at Jagannath temple to boost tourism in the state.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA, INDIA, August 12, 2011 (Times of India): A group of priests who conducted an astrological examination or "devaprasnam" at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here has concluded that family members of those who open its yet untouched vault B would die, said an expert on Thursday.

They also warned against videography of the treasure discovered so far. Lead priest K. Padmanabha Sharma said that no videography of the temple's unearthed treasure trove should take place.

"Of the treasure troves that are in the temple, vault B should not be opened and of the remaining five vaults, there should be no valuation done, besides there should be no exhibition of the treasure that has been found," said Sharma.

The astrological examination that began at the temple on Monday involved discussions among the members of the team headed by Mathur Narayanan Renga Bhatt, an expert in conducting rituals. The discussions, held in the open, concluded that it would be best that vault B was left unopened because it was believed that it could only be opened by God. The experts concluded that if anyone opened the vault, one of his family members may die either due to a snake bite or consumption of poison. According to the records of the temple, on the main door of vault B a picture of a snake is etched and it signifies danger.

Stocktaking of the temple's treasure started after T.P. Sunderarajan, a former Indian Police Service officer, approached the apex court alleging mismanagement of temple affairs. Sunderarajan, 70, died on July 17, which raised fears about the welfare of those who go against divine will.

The erstwhile royal family of Travancore oversees the functioning of this prestigious temple, through an executive committee. Aditya Varma, scion of the erstwhile royal family, earlier said that the discussion and astrological examination related to vault B was done after receiving numerous letters from devotees and also from various Hindu organisations.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy also reached the temple premises and remarked that the wealth of the temple was not just an asset alone but also related to faith. "We all expect that the apex court, when it comes to deciding the opening of vault B, will take into consideration the feelings of the devotees," said Chandy.

By Kumari Kunti Sherreitt for ISKCON News on 12 Aug 2011

More than 300 religious practitioners and representatives of cultic study organizations, including academics and ex-members, took part in a three-day conference entitled the “2011 International Conference: Psychological Manipulation, Cultic Groups, Social Addictions and Harm” in Barcelona Spain, July 7-9. ISKCON communication representatives were amongst the participants including Anuttama Das ISKCON World Communications, Mahaprabhu Das ISKCON European Communications, and Yadunandana Swami Bhaktivedanta College Principal at Radhadesh.

“They were very open and respectful to us and starting to see us in a new light” said Mahaprabhu Das. This is the result he explained “after many years of participating fully and creating trust with these organizations.”

ISKCON is now being considered more than ever as a serious religious organization. Creating trust with such organizations is no piece of cake for ISKCON devotees in many countries, as it is not an easy battle to re-establish broken or misapprehended relationships with cultic organizations. But it is events such as these that are changing the tides in the academic world and trickling their way down to the common understanding.

Yadunandana Swami explained that in Spain there was a particular misunderstanding of ISKCON propagated specifically by the news media. However this conception has been relieved and this very journalist has become a friend of the movement.

“Prominent anti-cult leaders are looking up to ISKCON as an organization who has developed from a state of immature cultic attitude to a respectable organization,” said Yadunanda Swami adding that “I think Anuttama Prabhu deserves the credit for this achievement [as he has been] helping our worldwide community to reflect on our behavior and to take responsibility for our mistakes in a mature way,” he said.

Although a majority of the event was spoken in Spanish, there were other English-only speaking persons than just our Anuttama Das, including Eileen Barker; of the UK based non-profit group INFORM, who is a familiar face to many ISKCON devotees as she was part of this year’s ISKCON Communications Seminar in Radhadesh where she made a presentation about New Religious Movements from an academic perspective. Here at this conference she made a presentation entitled “Religious Movements and Aging,” while Aunttama Das’ presentation was part of a section called “Applying Conflict Resolution and Mediation to Cultic and Related Problems – II, Changing Groups Through Dialogue: A Macro Approach to Conflict Resolution – The Case of ISKCON,” a panel discussion that dove into the past and future of the ISKCON movement. Anuttama Das has participated in many panel discussions in the ICSA over the years including an intriguing one entitled: “Can Cultic Groups Change?”

For Anuttama Das and others involved in the process of developing relationships with such organizations as the ICSA it is crucial that ISKCON is not afraid to speak of its past and address its current issues, using resources such as the ICSA conferences to better understand our own organization.

“ISKCON has made important steps to strengthen our society by developing international ombuds and mediation programs, a Child Protection Office, and expanded leadership programs to help leaders, including gurus, understand the importance of transparency, accountability, peer association, etc.” said Anuttama Das. “These are all ways to ensure healthy leadership and devotee care and avoid what the ICSA calls ‘cultic’ behaviors,” he said.

The ICSA is a non-profit organization created in 1979. It has a worldwide network organized to give information to people about abuse in cultic groups, alternative movements, and other environments. It is not affiliated with any religious or commercial organization.

Next year’s international event will take place in Montreal Canada, and the following year in Trieste Italy.
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Read more:http://news.iskcon.com/node/3830/2011-08-12/cultic_organizations_see_iskcon_in_new_light_barcelona_spain_international_conf#ixzz1UukuXDHE

Hare Krishna! Dear Bhaktas,

As you all know, a  treasure was recently discovered in the coffers of Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple, Trivandrum .  This temple is managed by Travancore Royal family.

The principal Deity, Sree Padmanabhaswamy, is enshrined in the "Anantha-sayanam" posture (in the eternal sleep of Yoga-nidra on the serpent Ananta). Long back, the Travancore Kings had surrendered the kingdom to Sree Padmanabhaswamy and  they have been functioning as `Padmanabha-dasa' (Servant of Sree Padmanabhaswamy, the real King ).

It was a Supreme court intervention that led to the recent investigations . To clear confusion all around, as advised by the Vedic scholars, the Travancore Royal family arranged for an *Ashtamangala Devaprasnam* vedic ritual  , to find out *Devahitham* ( will of Bhagavan Sree Padmanabhaswamy) . An elite team of *Daivajnas* ( renowned Vedic-Jyothishis),  led by Brahmasree Madhur Narayana Ranga Bhat, Irinjalakkuda Padmanabha Sharma, Devidas Gurukkal, Pancha Bhaskara Bhat, Ganapathy Sharma, Jayaraj Panicker and Haridas Nampoothiri performed the Devaprasnam from August 8-10 . It's  findings were concluded and announced on August 11th .

The Vedic Ritual,  Ashtamangala Devaprasnam

This is a scientific process of invoking the Deity on the spot, preparing Tantric square for His seating. Using eight materials such as Gold, Bettel leaves, Arca nut,  lighted lamp, cloth, coin,  etc , as well as the consecrated Dices (kavadi)  of Jyothisha, and by Vedic-analysis of  the *Nimithams* ( divine symptoms)occurring in that place, the will of Deity can be determined .

Devaprasnam begins on August 8th

As requested by the Travancore king, the Temple's chief Tantri Brahmasree Tharananalloore Paremesvaran Nampoothiri conducted necessary Poojas to invoke Bhagavan Sree Padmanabhaswamy .  Later *Rasi-pooja*was done by the Tantri to invoke *Nava-grahas* in to the dices.

Negative  Omens,  revealed in the beginning itself

1.    While pouring oil to the lamp, oil spilled outside.

2.    Worm was found in the rice powder which was brought for preparing Rasi-square.

3.    Water unavailable in the *Kindi* ( snake-shaped Pooja utensil) .

4.    Rasi is *Vrichikam* ( Visha or Poisonous Rasi) .

The preliminary conclusion indicated that , Bhagavan Sree Padmanabhaswamy is furious.

Detailed findings of Devaprasnam.

During the *Devaprasnam* , several *Nimthams*( divine revelations)  occurred . The Chief *Daivajna* , Brahmasree Madhur Narayana Bhat even suffered an electric shock from the microphone.

The Findings :

1.    The temple was originally owned by a Brahmana-Sannyasi and His Sannyasi-successors .  This dynasty was eliminated  centuries back by a Travancore King, while seizing control of the temple .  As an atonement to this *Brahma-hatya*, several Vedic  rituals like , *Murajapam* ( 8-day long Chanting of full Vedas by vaidic-Brahmanas) , *Chakrabja-pooja*, *Deeparadhana* ( worshipping by lamps), *Samoohyaradhana* ( mass Nama-japam) , etc were used to be held . However, these rituals have been stopped in recent years.  As a result, the ill-effects of *Brahma-hatya* are affecting  the temple. Only  the good deeds of the past , have prevented a disaster till now.

2.    Sri Vilwamangalam Swamy was the Acharya who installed the initial Maha-Vishnu Deity in this temple. His invisible presence is still in the small Vishnu- temple in the temple premise. But, it  remains closed without any Pooja , in recent years.  The daily *Pushpanjali* for Vilwamangalam is not in place now.

3.    A Ganapathy moorthy that was found abandoned in a temple well , is now kept idle near the Kshetra-palak.This has angered Ganapathy-bhagavan.

4.    The sacred Ananthankadu nearby(The forest where Vilwamangalam Swamy had Bhagavan's darshan) is now in a polluted state. No pooja in the small temple there. Also, in the north western part's Sripadam palace, one pond and 2 wells are in abandoned condition.

5.    Tamilnadu  Tiruvattar temple's Deity , Aadi Kesava Perumal is Sree Padmanabha Swamy's elder brother. But, the related annual commemoration rituals have stopped since many years. Also, the temple' relation with , Kasargod's Anantha Padmanabha temple has been forgotten and related rituals were stopped . The Salagramas for this temple was brought from Nepal's Dandaki river, but the related annual rituals and this temple's connection with Nepal's Pasupathynath temple were later forgotten and discontinued .

6.    The *Nambis* ( Priests of the temple) are not maintaining celibacy now a days. They are not maintaining the purity or obeying mandatory customs like *Pula,* *Vaalaayma* etc . They are refusing to obtain the mandatory guidance from Tantri . All these,  have infuriated Bhagavan.

7.    There is smell of corpse and flesh inside the temple. This is because of Temple personnel engaging in temple's Pooja-rituals directly after attending post-death ceremonies.

8.    The temple staff including administrative personnel are misbehaving with the Bhaktas and continuously stealing temple's money . They are behaving like Rascals who are spreading gossips and are ready to fight with weapons. Even immoral activities have happened inside the temple . This has angered Bhagavan . The mistakes of ignorant Bhaktas will be forgiven .  But Bhagavan will not forgive the erring temple staff .

9.    There is deduction in the quantity of *Niveyam* ( food to Bhagavan) . Since the Deity is made of (12008) *Salagrams*,  768 kgs of rice ( one fistful for each Salagram)  is required according to the  tradition. But only 96 kg is offered now . Even, this is being offered without Bhakti .

10.  Mango is an important offering . But the mango offered now is insect-bitten .

11.  No videography of Photography is permitted inside the temple.

12.  Padmanabhaswamy is fond of *Nama-japam* . The noises arising from careless handling of utensils are disturbing Bhagavan .

13.  There were past attempts to steal the temple's assets. A *chaithanya-material* was stolen sometime back  from a coffer . The present *nimithams* ( symptoms) are to prevent such incidents in future.

14.  The *Siveli-Moorthy* had fallen down and damaged while taking it outside the temple. It should be rectified .Also, the defects on the Principal Moorthy , especially that of Ananta, must  be rectified .

15.  The temple's  treasures are kept beneath the Srikovil ( Sanctum Sanctorum) in (6) underground coffers . This is not mere materialistic-treasure, but they are sacred items for increasing the *Chaithanyam* ( Godly presence) on the Deity . A temple's capital assets include,  Offerings,chaithanya-materials, Gold etc. Any movement to it is harmful the temple's divinity . In major temples, it is mandatory to install such items beneath the Sreekovil to increase Deva-chaithanyam.  Only Bhagavan has  right to this treasure . It must not be shifted or exhibited outside . Sree Ugra-Narasimha-moorthy is the teasure-custodian. If needed to protect it , He will appear in person and destruct the violators . But, such a situation will be catastrophic  not only to the temple , but the whole India.

16.  The recent opening of temple coffers , have disturbed Bhagavan . Evaluation of temple treasures must not be done by anyone. They are Bhagavan's own property and they are for His personal use alone. They must not be used for any other purpose.

17.  The *B-coffer* ( the only unopened coffer till now) must not be opened. If anyone open it, his/her entire clan will be wiped out by Snake-bite or by consumption of poison. There are many Bhagavan related confidential  items in this *B-coffer* which has a tunnel connection to the Sree Kovil . *Sri-Chakra* , the initial Deity ( which is *Deva-Chaithanyam* itself) are inside this coffer . Also, many *Divya-atmas* are residing there .  Opening of this coffer will invoke Sri Ugra- Narasimha-Moorthy's anger and it will be disastrous to the whole country and it's Rulers.

18.  Because of their failures to follow  the  temple's tradition, the Travancore royal family's very existence  is in serious danger. Their failure to ritually atone for sins such as the recent opening of coffers have angeredBhagavan.  Even the delay in holding this *Devaprasnam*  is unacceptable to Bhagavan. Someone in the Royal family had committed  sin by saying , "The temple's treasure is my family's property". Serious problems like  death, accidents and similar untoward incidents would happen to the members of Royal family .

Recommended Remedial actions

1.    As an atonement for opening the temple coffers and handling the related items therein, 12 days of Thrikala-Pooja, Bhagavathy-seva, Ashtotharam kalkazhukichoottu to Maha-Vishnu, 24000 nos each Mahasudarshana-homam and Lakhusudarshana-homam, Mahamrithyunjaya-homam, Sukrutha-homam, and one lakh Thila-homam are to be conducted.

2.    Veda-parayanam to be peroforemd three times , every year.

3.    *Murajapam*  to be conducted at least once every year.

4.    Chakrabja-pooja to be restarted. Also, Pooja for Vilwamangalam installed temple to be re-commenced.

5.    The Ganapathy-moorthy to be installed in Kavadiar palace along with three other Ganapathy-moorthies there.A Pooja to be done by Thrissur Naduvil Matom Mooppilmar ( successors of Vilwamangalam Swamy) .

6.    Yearly rituals related with  Tiruvattar Aadi Kesava Perumal temple, Kasargod's Anantha Padmanabha temple and  Nepal's Pasupathynath temple to be re-commenced

7.    There are possibilities of major theft attempts including tunnel-digging in the future to loot the temple's treasure . To prevent it, adequate security to be provided . Bhaktas should perform Nama-japam and Veda-japam to invoke Bhagavan Sree Padmanabhaswamy's  's blessings for ensuring the temple's welfare.

Conclusion

On the final day , Bhagavan's opinion on the completed Devaprasnam was sought .The answer was *Karkkidakam* Rasi . This means , Padmanabhaswamy is happy with the *Devaparasnam*.

Om Namo Narayanaya!!!!

KATHMANDU, NEPAL, June 13, 2011: Of late, the holiest Hindu shrine in Nepal is facing an embarrassing problem--a sudden rise in the population of mice and cockroaches. The menace is so serious that it has affected daily prayers and scared the storekeepers (Bhandaris), who have lodged a formal complaint with the Shree Pashupati Adhyayan Byawasthapan Swatantra Adhikar Sampanna Samiti, a committee formed to look into problems in the temple.

This nuisance, however, is part of the larger and more serious problem the temple has long been facing. According to staffers, the centuries-old temple is on the verge of collapse and since it has not been renovated for years, it has become pestiferous, attracting insects and other creatures like rats.

The temple, which is listed in the Unesco World Heritage Sites, was built in 516 BS by Mandev and has been renovated only twice so far. The main temple was renovated once by Bhupatindra Malla (1696-1722), the Malla king of Bhaktapur and later by prime minister Chandra Shumsher Janga Bahadur Rana, according to the 20-point letter submitted by the Bhandaris.

The store-keepers and priests have also complained about cracked marbles and rusty courtyards. The Bhandaris said they were compelled to write to the Samiti after the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) "turned its blind eye" to the problems being faced by the priests. "We were compelled to write to the samiti as the PADT didn't respond to the several letters we wrote," the Bhandaris said in the letter.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

AFGHANISTAN, August 26, 2011 (by Riazat Butt): "This is the Goddess Durga," says Lance Corporal Prithvi, gesturing towards the shrine containing a statue of the Hindu deity. "She represents power. At this moment we pray to her because she gives us power to defeat evil forces." Above the shrine is a hanging featuring the God Hanuman, to its right a poster of the Lord Shiva, to the left another poster of the Goddess Durga and, next to her, a poster of Lakshmi.

The temple is in Lashkar Gah and has only been open a few months. "It was one of the first things we did when we got here in April, as soon as our freight arrived," says Prithvi, from 2nd Battallion the Royal Ghurka Rifles, who is originally from Nepal. Every morning the 20 Gurkhas say prayers, light candles and apply the tilaka to the statue.

It is Prithvi's second tour of Afghanistan. "In my first tour we were ground-holding, we were fighting and it was a different experience. We lost some our friends. Because of the situation, I'm glad there is somewhere to pray."

This is the only temple of its kind. When the Gurkhas leave Lashkar Gah, so will the temple.

View a gallery of the Gurkhas' Hindu temple at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gurkhas

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, August 5, 2011 (The New Indian Express): Mosquitoes are vicious in Kerala. The Kochi Corporation and Tripunithura municipality routinely fog for mosquitoes, and one must use a mosquito repellant in order to sleep. Neither measure provides control; and the toxicity of the fog and repellants is a constant worry. But a nontoxic, fully ayurvedic repellent has now been developed by the Asha Workers in Udayamperoor panchayat.

The herbal repellant is fumed in coconut shells or earthen pots. It kills mosquitoes instantly but is believed to be nontoxic to humans. "The fumes of this unique mix have no health hazards. It is safe for even those suffering from diseases like acute asthma," said M. K. Anilkumar, ward member of 19th ward Udayamperoor panchayat.The kits are being distributed free of cost in his ward.

"We are planning to distribute the mix to other parts of the panchayat also through Asha workers," he said.

Read More here http://ibnlive.in.com/news/fight-mosquitoes-the-ayurvedic-way/173235-60-123.html

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

By Gopijana Vallabha Das for ISKCON News on 30 Jun 2011

ISKCON Mayapur has launched the new Mayapur Tourism website http://www.VisitMayapur.com .

The new website is geared toward all people whether they are practicing devotees or not. The site will be able to provide general information regarding Mayapur's places to visit, festival information and calendar, tour packages, accommodations, and transportation options. There is online booking available for tour packages, cars, and accommodations. There are still more pages that will are being added to the site.

http://news.iskcon.com/node/3733/2011-06-30/new_website_to_help_visitors_of_mayapur#ixzz1QqBH77cp

Religion News Service

BEND, OR, USA, June, 2011 (Religion News Service): When congregants of West Side Church and the Christian Life Center awoke in June to news that their churches had been vandalized, their frustration quickly turned to confusion. In addition to the anti-Christian slogans scrawled on the walls of the two buildings, the words "Praise the FSM" were painted everywhere. Churchgoers were left scratching their heads.

But after a Google search, they learned "FSM" stood for "Flying Spaghetti Monster," the Deity of a spoof religion called "Pastafarianism" that's popular among some atheists and agnostics.

However, mere hours after news of the vandalism broke, Bobby Henderson, the head of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, publicly condemned the vandals; and Hemant Mehta, author of the Friendly Atheist blog, posted an online plea for donations to help fund repairs. In less than 24 hours, he raised more than $3,000.

Pastafarianism was founded in 2005 when Henderson, then a physics student, sent a letter to a Kansas school board satirically critiquing the theory of intelligent design by citing "evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe." For many atheists like Mehta, harmless religious satire is part of the atheist experience.

Atheists in Australia are divided over a parody religion called "Jediism," based on George Lucas' "Star Wars" film franchise. Jediism gained attention after some 500,000 people listed "Jedi Knight" as a tongue-in-cheek religious affiliation on 2001 census forms in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

As Australia readied for its 2011 census, however, the Atheist Foundation of Australia urged nonbelievers to mark "No Religion." Their reasoning, they said, was practical: "Jedi" gets counted as "not defined" instead of "no religion," and so the nonreligious population is undercounted.

"It was funny to write Jedi once; now it is a serious mistake to do so," the organization wrote on its website.

But not everyone agrees. "When (religious) people try to dominate the political landscape," one atheist said, "sometimes the humor you find in things like the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a very subtle and powerful way of pushing back."

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

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In George Orwell’s celebrated 1949 novel titled “1984”, the world comprises just one mega nation, a completely totalitarian state, run by a ruthless group called the “Party”. Its leader is a dictator called Big Brother. The Party is so powerful that it controls every bit of people’s lives – including their thoughts.

That imaginary nation in Orwell’s novel is called Oceania. Could the state of affairs encountered in the imaginary Oceania – especially the aspect where your every move, message and communication is potentially decipherable to the authorities – become reality in today’s countries? Even in the real Oceania we live in?

One of the concomitants of instant unwired technologies that have taken off so spectacularly in such a short span of time across the world is the ease with which the privacy of individuals can be compromised.

In traditional mass communication modes like print and broadcasting, the communication flow was one to many and the feedback loop had to be completed outside the mode of communication. For instance, one cannot respond to a radio programme through the radio – one needs to use the phone or write a letter. The same goes for publications and television.

It is only in network driven technologies like the internet that one to one, one to many and many to many communications are possible on the same platform. While this has provided a level playing field to media producers and consumers, putting the publisher or broadcaster on an equal technological footing with the receiver or consumer, this has made all parties in the communications chain fairly easily identifiable.

This is a major departure from traditional mass communication modes where the receivers of communication messages were one huge, largely amorphous mass, nearly impossible to be identified if the receiver did not wish to be.

With today’s networked media models, it is pretty much impossible not to be identified, much less cover ones tracks no matter where one may be on earth or even beyond.

This aspect of modern networked communications, whose very technological structure compromises privacy, has the potential to give governments the power to pry on people’s lives under pretexts ranging from perceived threats to sovereignty or national security to tracking transnational crime.

Instances of both were demonstrated in separate incidents across the globe last month. The hoax collar bomb case, which put the whole of Australia on the edge for more than a day was solved purely because of the digital trail that the perpetrator left, despite his careful and clever planning.

The masked perpetrator walked into a home in Australia, forced a tight collar around a young woman’s neck and warned her if she tried to prise it open it would explode. He asked her to await instructions via electronic communications. The perpetrator then fled the country to the United States. His email trail was easily traced and in no time was he arrested half way across the world from the scene of the crime as a result of cooperation between the police forces of the two countries.

Over in England, the foolhardy bravado of the young looters during the mayhem in London that led them to brag about their shameless deeds on their pages on social networking websites led to their arrest and conviction.

Digital tell tale trails and location services that many times unbeknown to users of mobile technologies transmit their whereabouts that can be picked up by anybody motivated enough to do so. This has led to many arrests not only in the aftermath of the London rioting but also in cases of civil unrest around the world.

The British government’s discovery that keeping tabs on social networking websites and mobile phone networks helped track down wrongdoers raised the shackles of libertarians. They expressed fears that the government could quite easily raise the bogey of the potential damage networked technologies could inflict on sovereignty and national security.

Governments around the world could quite easily exaggerate such fears with a view to bring pressure on lawmakers to consider passing laws in the interests of safeguarding sovereignty and national security, which could give easier access for a range of authorities to private communication records and the date stamped location of users. This would be a scenario not at all different from that imagined by George Orwell in his novel 1984. The spectre of Big Brother is surely upon us.

Following the British riots, there was widespread debate and discussion across the world on the British government toying with the idea of legislation that would give it powers to shut down social networking sites or parts of the mobile phone network or even mass eavesdrop on conversations, messages, emails and all other communications in times of trouble – some sort of super emergency power over communication networks.

This is quite like the scenario that exists in China where there is severely restricted access to internet search engines and global social networking sites as well as services like Twitter.
Nearer to home in Papua New Guinea, there have already been reports that networked communications had a role to play in the outcome of the election of the new Prime Minister following heated debates and exchanges on social networking sites.

Political leaders know there is no going back once such technologies are unleashed. The only way to prevent them from being used by people to challenge entrenched power structures is to try to find ways and means to regulate their use.

In coming months and years, networked technologies will play an increasingly pivotal role in holding people in powerful positions to account. But the very nature of these technologies leave common people potentially exposed, especially if governments succeed in enacting laws that make identifying users easier.

People therefore need to be watchful about governments needlessly raising the bogey of the potential dangers of networked technologies as posing threats to national security and sovereignty of countries.
People must be on their guard to call the bluff of Big Brother.

TNN Sep 9, 2011, 10.27pm IST

MYSORE: There is a new craze among women to learn Ramayana and Mahabharata and understand the relevance of the epics in today's materialistic life. Women professionals, who are taking up courses or examinations on the epics, feel that the contents will be a guiding spirit in their stressed lifestyle.

Last year, 365 women, most of them doctors and lawyers, took up the examination conducted by Samarpana, an organization run by Sudha Paneesh, a social activist. Tulsi Vijaykumar, the wife of a jeweller from city, stood first in Mysore and Bangalore centres.

Many may be skeptical about Samarpana's efforts because Ramayana is considered a part of Hindu mythology but women who have passed the examination refuse to look at it from a religious angle. "For us morals of the epic are important," claims Dr Rajani, a medical officer from the city who passed the examination last year, describing Ramayana as a way of life.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 18, 2011 (dna India): Hindu God Krishna's name is not the exclusive property of any company, the Delhi High Court has said, while rejecting a trademark-related plea of a milk food company which wanted a rival to be barred from using the Deity's name on its products.

A division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Sunil Gaur Monday heard an appeal filed by Delhi-based firm Bhole Baba against the court's earlier order declining its claim of exclusive right over the use of word 'Krishna' for dairy products.

Refusing the prayer of Bhole Baba Milk Food Industries to stop Parul Food Specialities from using the word "Krishna", the court said: "The distinctiveness to which the appellant can lay a claim is to what it has got registered as a whole and such registration cannot possibly give an exclusive statutory right to the appellant qua a particular word of common origin."

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Read more on Chanting Hare Krishna HERE:

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, October 25, 2011 (rediff.com): United States President Barack Obama celebrated Diwali at the White House by lighting the traditional diya and hosting a reception for eminent Indian Americans and officials in his administration. "Diwali is a special holiday for millions across the country", Obama said in his address to the gathering of Hindu Americans in Washington on Saturday night.
"Michelle and I greatly enjoy the occasion and the celebration in India last year," Obama said recollecting the dancing of the First Lady at the Diwali festival in Mumbai last year, which he too joined. "Diwali is the time to celebrate victory of light over darkness, hope over despair. Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists consider the day sacred. The message of this day is truly universal," Obama said at the event that was closed for the press.

Among those present on the occasion were the Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao [ Images ]; Neera Tandaon, the new president of the Center for American Progress, eminent Hindu American Anju Bhargava, USAID Administrator Raj Shah, the US Ambassador to Belize Vinai Thummalapally, Hindu chaplain Pratima Dhar and a Sikh delegation from the Golden Temple [ Images ].

In his remarks, Obama acknowledged the contributions of the Indian American community in every field of the country from New York Taxi drivers to the teenager, who won the Google science fair this year.

Two years ago, Obama became the first US president to celebrated Diwali at the White House. On that day, he established the President's Advisory Committee on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, which is headed by Kiran Ahuja, who according to the president is doing an outstanding work.

Speaking on the occasion, Anju Bhargava of Hindu American Seva Charities emphasized the need to light the lamp of service.

"Today we can proudly state that Diwali lights community building in our county and beyond," she said. In just two years Obama and his White House have been instrumental in helping Hindu Americans energize Dharmic Seva: Impacting Change in America and Abroad, New Jersey-based Bhargava said.

"In the first Hindu seva conference held at the White House this summer, they helped recognize us as Hindu-Americans, an identity created in the spirit of the American tradition. This historic event highlighted the needs of the community, and offered the potential for vast service opportunities for Hindus to engage in all across America," she said. "It also highlighted the importance of interfaith cooperation in today's America," she added.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

By Rishi Narada Das for ISKCON News on 8 Nov 2011

The two-day conference was hosted at the premises of the Sri Venkateswara College in South Campus of Delhi University on 5th and 6th of November, 2011. The initiative for the conference was taken by the Institute for Science and Spirituality (ISS), the scientific study wing of ISKCON Delhi, which got full organizational and intellectual support of the Sri Venkateswara College administration. This was the third conference in the series of ongoing dialogues between Science and Spirituality spearheaded by ISS.

The conference was inaugurated with the recital of auspicious prayers from Sri Brahma-Samhita by school children, accompanying lamp-lighting by the eminent guests, Prof. R.R. Gaur, NRCVEE, IIT Delhi; Prof. Hemalatha P. Reddy, Principal, SVC; Prof. LaxmidharBehera, EED, IIT Kanpur and Prof. Rajender Kumar, Vice Principal, SVC. The Chief Guest for the conference, Prof. R.R. Gaur, in his inaugural address stressed on the need for incorporating values and ethical education in the higher scientific and technological institutions. Later in the day, he went on to describe in detail the principle, procedures and methodology for implementing ethics and human values in professional science andtechnologyeducation, and also his vital experience in this regard at IIT Delhi, UPTU and Punjab Technical University.

The Guest of Honor, Prof. Behera, gave a highly appraised talk on “Cognitive AI – Naturalization of Intelligence”, wherein he very critically examined the role of human intelligence in designing “artificial” intelligence, and gave very wonderful insights on how thedrivingforce behind all AI, human intelligence, must also have an intelligent designer, by the extension of the principles of AI.Prof. Reddy, in her Welcome Address, shared her heart felt conviction regarding the imminent need for infusing spirituality in the youth of the country. Prof. Rajender Kumar gave a hearty vote of thanks, while simultaneously appealing the organizers to add “Commerce” to the title of the conference. He went on to very emphatically describe the vicious effects of “bad-commerce”.

In all there were two sessions on the first day and three sessions on the second day. The theme for each session was unique and there were a total of twelve invited lectures by reputed academicians on diverse topics. Apart from this, there were two very special workshops on “Understanding your Personality”, and “Art of Meditation” by Prof. Laxmidhar Behera from IIT Kanpur and Mr. Rishi Kumara Das from ISKCON Delhi, respectively. Rishi Kumara Das, who is an MBA in Marketing and has over 13 years’ Corporate experience in Media, Human Resources and Training, is currently the Director English Media and Corporate Training for ISKCON at Delhi. He conducts Training programs for corporate sector on Stress Management, Mind Control and Assertiveness. The workshops proved to be a much sought-after faucet for the budding stream of spiritual-seeking hidden latent in the dignified academicians and the neophyte students alike. The participants were not only acquainted with the efficacy of Mantra Meditation, but were also introduced to its practical application. Everyone keenly absorbed the lessons on personality and meditation, with aviewto imbibing and enriching their lives.

Dr. Puneeta Sharma from SVC gave a very eloquent and well charted speech in pristine Hindi on “Thinking” as the centre of the world as well as spirituality, on Day1 of the conference. Other major attractions of Day1 included a highly technical and impressive presentation from Dr. G.N. Jha from JNU on the latest developments in the field of reviving the Vedic S&T by researchers at JNU and their foreign collaborators.

The only presentation by a non-faculty on Day1 was by Mr. Rhythm Singh, a Doctoral fellow at IIT Delhi. Mr. Singh went on to describe in a very eloquent and statistically enriched presentation how Science and Spirituality need to imbibe each other’s best points and work in a cooperative way towards attaining world peace. He also suggested an Alternative Spiritual Worldview for filling-in the loopholes in the modern scientific paradigm, thus paving the way for a saner and more ethical approach to S&T.

Day2 began with a highly ambitious presentation from Prof. A.K. Mukhopadhyay from AIIMS, in which he very critically examined the possibilities for human future; and went on to conclude that the only viable future for Homo Sapiens, is to evolve into Homo Spiritualis.

There was a very conclusive, fact-enriched and critical study of Darwinism, presented by Mr. Parveen Kumar, an Assistant Manager at Honda Motors and the Overall Coordinator and one of the leading inspirations behind ISS. He very critically analyzed the shortcomings of Darwin’s Theory from the point of view of complex modern science and pure logic. Further he went on to very diligently show that how only by imbibing some essential truths from Vedic texts and by thoroughly understanding the concept of “Spiritual Evolution”, as given in the Vedas and the allied texts, can the loopholes of Darwinian model be plugged. Thus he presented a very vital Vedic Alternative to Darwinism.

Later in the day, Prof. PMV Subbaraofrom IIT Delhi gave a presentation, “Spiritual and Scientific Description of Holiness of Gomatha”, which was itself a masterpiece of the convergence of his spiritual and technical persona. Prof. Subbarao went on length to prove the point that actually the term “Convergence of Science and Spirituality” is a misnomer of the true fact; and that rather one should rightly say “Emergence of Science from Spirituality”. With inputs from his years of research in Energy Technologies and his spiritual background he proved the prime position of cow as the pivot of Vedic civilization – whose protection is the only viable way of human prosperity.

In the final session of the conference there were diverse inputs from Dr. C. UpenderRao from JNU, who very vividly described the intricate concept of mind, as given in the ancient Indian literature. Prof. Sunita Singh Sengupta from FMS, Delhi added yet another facet to this intellectually enriching meeting. From her years of experience and expertise in Management Studies, she described the “Neuropsychological Bases of Tri Gunas”. The last talk of the day was by Dr. Mukul Sharma from SVC, which was a heartfelt effusion on the essential and non-avoidable marriage of science and spirituality in order to have the progeny of lasting and durable peace for one and all. Finally the two day conference came to an end with a Vote of Thanks from Dr. Niyati Joshi, who is a Deputy Secretary in the Government of India and was invited as a Special Invitee for the conference.

The author is the spokesperson for the Institute for Science and Spirituality (ISS), the scientific preaching wing of ISKCON Delhi, and could be contacted at rnd.gkg@gmail.com

(From L to R:) Prof. Rajender Kumar, Prof. Hemlatha P. Reddy, Prof. R.R.Gaur, Prof. Laxmidhar Behera

Lighting of lamp by dignitaries

Read more:http://news.iskcon.com/node/4000/2011-11-08/convergence_of_science_and_spirituality_conference_in_delhi#ixzz1dFGgjsLM

More on Science HERE

Does genetics disprove reincarnation?

Posted by Chaitanya Charan das • November 16, 2011 •

Question: The reincarnation theory claims that we get our characteristics from our own past-lives karma, whereasgenetics asserts that we inherit our characteristics from our parents, which is what we actually observe in the many physical resemblances among parents and offspring. Don’t these observations disprove the reincarnation theory?

Answer: No, they don’t. The reincarnation theory doesn’t claim to contradict or substitute genetics; it supplements genetics and explains many observations that genetics leaves unanswered.

Genetics holds that we inherit our characteristics from our parents. While the observation of parent-offspring physical resemblances may confirm genetics, many other observations question the completeness of genetic explanations. Here are a few of them:
Why do children born in the same family have moral and mental characteristics that differ from each other and also from their parents and even grandparents? For example, why does a child turn out to be an introvert although all other family members are extroverts?

Why do twins who are born and bred in similar conditions often have significantly dissimilar behavioural and personality traits? Their genetic inheritance is near-identical, yet their natures are sometimes widely different. For example, one twin becomes a starry-eyed artist who doesn’t care much for money, whereas the other twin becomes a shrewd businessperson who doesn’t care much for art. Why the difference?
Why don’t the children of geniuses become geniuses themselves? Often musical maestros can’t make their children into outstanding musicians just by begetting them or even by extensively training them. Why?
How do children of mediocre parents become geniuses? Many genius artists were born in families that had no above-average artistic talent for several preceding generations, yet they had an inborn talent. Where did their talent come from?

What explanation can genetics provide for the above observations – except for pushing them under the carpet by calling them “anomalies”? But the genetic carpet has too many concealed lumps to be overlooked; these observations demand an additional explanation. That additional explanation is provided by reincarnation.

The Bhagavad-gita (15.8) explains that the souls who transmigrate from one body to the next carry with them their conceptions of life, which can be correlated with the mental and moral characteristics. When children are born from parents, their physical bodies come from their parents and so they resemble their parents’ physically, whereas their mental and moral characteristics come from their own past lives and so these characteristics differ from their parents’. Applying the Gita understanding to geniuses, those souls who have in earlier lives cultivated the self-conceptions of being artists carry to their next bodies that conception along with its associated talents – and so appear precociously talented.

Thus, the reincarnation theory doesn’t contradict genetics, but supplements it by explaining much that genetics can’t explain.

See more on Near Death Experiences here http://www.hknet.org.nz/NDE.htm

More HERE - Reincarnation pages

November 9, 2011

When I was about eight years old my parents were considering divorce. I remember my mother putting mascara on in front of a mirror and I was sitting on her bed watching her. I thought it was a very strange thing, women putting on mascara, so I was watching. And my mother said to me very seriously, “everyone likes your father and everyone likes me, but we no longer like each other, so we are going to separate”. I cried, it was very painful, just the thought of it. Some hours later my father came home from work and I knew my mother was going to discuss this with him. He went in the bedroom and they closed the door. I was so disturbed that I secretly put my ear against the door to hear what they were saying.

My mother told my father how much I had been crying, and I heard them both say that for the rest of their lives they would stay together because this is what was best for the children. They never separated. As the years passed, I can honestly say, I never saw any two people that loved each other so much. Their love was very deep. It wasn’t about romance, because romance, you know it comes and goes. It wasn’t just about personality, or having complimentary views on things. It was about heart to heart, sensible responsibility to each other for a higher principle. Because they chose to go through those difficulties together for the higher principle of their love for their children, I feel God awarded them with deep affection and love for each other.

Beside the higher principle of children is the principle of God, the principle of our vows before the Lord to help each other to become pure, to become enlightened within our lives. That higher principle is why traditionally, marriages of all different cultures involve taking vows in a spiritual place - so that the union is consecrated as a partnership in the service of the Divine. What is a diamond? A diamond is the queen of all jewels. But a diamond is nothing but a piece of coal that’s been under pressure for millions of years. Gold, the king of metals, is purified when it is put in fire. This is mother nature speaking to us. This is wisdom - that by faithfully passing through the good times and the bad times - the easy times and the hard with each other, and for each other, for this higher value - then marriage has the potential to make us spiritually perfect. It will do that if we just understand the yoga of marriage.

From a spiritual perspective one should feel that their partner is something more than just my husband or my wife. A husband should feel towards his wife that this is the daughter of God - this is God’s deeply beloved daughter that has been entrusted in my care. How you treat her is how God will receive you. How you speak to her, how you act toward her, how you protect her are all important. Protection is said to be on three levels - physical, emotional and spiritual. To give that protection, to be forgiving to each other and to honor your spouse as God's property, God's gift, is how you will make spiritual progress. And a wife should feel that her partner is not just her husband but he is God’s beloved child entrusted in her care to protect, to be faithful to, and to encourage. If you see each other in this light, marriage really is yoga. Your relationship will be yoga in essence and you will make great spiritual progress.

Feelings of affection may come and go but the foundation of a healthy relationship is respect. Respect for each other and care for each other. Through respect and care affection can grow into deep love on the level of the soul. Physically we care for each other by providing the basic necessities of life. Depending on the particular nature of your occupation and relationship one must provide housing, clothing, health care and other physical needs. But emotional care is very essential. Lack of emotional care can really send a marriage off track. Everyone needs appreciation and everyone needs encouragement. So many ladies come to me and say “my husband just doesn’t care about me - he doesn’t like anything I do”. When I go to the husband, I ask “do you care about her?”  And he will say “yes, of course”. I’ll ask, “do you like what she does”? “Yes I love what she does”. “Do ever tell her”? And he will say, “why should I tell her, she should know”. Communication is so important. Sometimes in a marriage we communicate with everybody except the person we are living with. Communication - honest communication where we really do express our appreciation for each other, express our affection for each other, and express it in such a way that we encourage each other is very critical for a healthy relationship.

Marriage shouldn’t be just something that we are tolerating somehow or other because we took vows. It should be something very dynamic, very flowing and very real. It should be and very connected to the Divine, so that the struggles are not just depressing -  the struggles are spiritual challenges that we have to meet together and every time we overcome those challenges we come to a higher spiritual platform. By following marriage in this way it becomes a path of perfection.

By Jonathan Benson for Natural News on 26 Oct 2011

A new study has found that teenagers who consume high amounts of sugary soda appear to be more prone towards violence than teenagers who consume less or no sugary soda. The more soda a teenager consumes, in other words, the more likely he or she is toshowviolent aggression towards classmates, a significant other, and even family members.

David Hemenway, a professor at Harvard University's School of Public, and his colleagues instructed a group of 1,878 public school students from inner-city Boston to fill out questionnaires about how much soda they had consumed in the previous seven days. The questionnaires also asked the students how often they carried weapons, consumed alcohol, smoked, and had a violent interaction with another person.

The students, who ranged in age between 14 and 18, also answered other background questions about how often they ate meals with their families, and their race. After compiling the data and accounting for other outside factors, theresearchteam discovered that soda intake was directly proportional to violence levels.

"What we found was that there was a strong relationship between how many soft drinks that these inner-city kids consumed and how violent they were, not only in violence against peers but also violence in dating relationships, against siblings," said Hemenway. "It was shocking to us when we saw how clear the relationship was."

The results showed that students who drank one or no cans of sugary soda a week were nearly half as likely as students who drank 14 cans a week to carry a gun or knife to school. The one or no soda group was also about half as likely to commit violence against a partner, or show violent aggression against peers, compared to the high-consumption group.

"We don't know why (there is a strong association)," added Hemenway. "There may be some causal effect but it's also certainly plausible that this is just a marker for other problems -- that kids who are violent for whatever reason, they tend to smoke more, they tend to drink more alcohol and they tend to maybe drink more soft drinks. We just don't know."

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/033983_soda_consumption_teen...

Read more:http://news.iskcon.com/node/3974#ixzz1dGC26eKl

USA, October 31, 2011 (NYT) Feeling claustrophobic? You're not alone. According to United Nations demographers, 6,999,999,999 other Earthlings potentially felt the same way on Monday when the world's population topped seven billion. But if you'd rather go by the United States Census Bureau's projections, you've got some breathing room. The bureau estimates that even with the world's population increasing by 215,120 a day, it won't reach seven billion for more than four months.

How do the dueling demographic experts reconcile a difference, as of Monday, of 28 million, which is more than all the people in Saudi Arabia?

They don't.

"No one can know the exact number of people on the globe," Gerhard Heilig, chief of the population estimates and projections section of the United Nations Population Division, acknowledges. Even the best individual government censuses have a margin of error of at least 1 percent, he said. Monday's seven billion estimate actually may be 56 million off.

The US Census Bureau's global population clock gives the pretense of greater precision. It projects that about 255 people are born every minute (about 367,000 a day) while about 106 die (roughly 153,000 a day). At that rate, the world's natural increase would be about 78.5 million a year, or well more than the entire population of France, Britain or Thailand.

"Realistically, the uncertainty is at least 2 percent and that's for the 75 percent of the world for which we have recent official counts or estimates," Joel E. Cohen, head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller University and Columbia University, said Monday.

Dr. Goodkind of the US Census Bureau said the bureau revises its projections on a continuing basis, while the United Nations makes revisions every two years. Even so, the Census Bureau projects that the world population will hit seven billion next March 12 -- well within the United Nations' six-month, 1 percent window of uncertainty. So who's right? "We're not exactly in synch, but we're pretty close," Dr. Goodkind said.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

USA, October 31, 2011 (CNN): The global population is expected to reach 7 billion today -- just 12 years after hitting 6 billion -- and the milestone has many pondering the complex challenges associated with billions more people on Earth in the coming years. Some are also pondering something else: Just how big is 7 billion really? It's a number that's easy to underestimate.

"The number is just outside of our usual everyday scale of thinking," said Klaus Volpert, an associate professor of mathematics at Villanova University. "Once you go past a million, it becomes a blur."

Here are some different ways that might help you envision the enormousness of 7 billion:

::: Seven billion seconds ago, the year was 1789. That was the year George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. president and Congress met for the very first time.

::: Seven billion ants, at an average of 3 milligrams each, would weigh at least 23 tons (46,297 pounds).

The world didn't reach 1 billion inhabitants until 1800, according to the Population Reference Bureau, and it reached 2 billion in 1930. But with advances in modern medicine, in 1960 it reached 3 billion; in 1974, 4 billion; in 1987, 5 billion; and in 1999, only 12 years ago, it reached 6 billion.

The U.N. has estimated a population of 9.3 billion by 2050, and there is expected to be more than 10 billion people on Earth by 2100.
"We're getting into more and more trouble the bigger the number gets," said John Bongaarts, vice president of the Population Council, an international nonprofit group. "Every billion people we add makes life more difficult for everybody that's already here."

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Religion News Service

USA, November 25, 2011: (RNS) The young man in a typical college dorm room looks into the camera. For Alex Fiorentini, it's a coming-out moment of sorts. "Is it acceptable to the majority of the population to be an atheist?" he asks the camera. "Nope. Are all of your friends going to accept you as an atheist? Probably not all of them. And yeah, those things are gonna suck. But the real question is, 'Is it OK to be me?' That is the real question if you are an atheist."

Fiorentini and scores of other atheists, young and old, have made similar videos for a new campaign designed to build community andsupport among nontheists around the world. Dubbed "We Are Atheism," the campaign was launched this fall by three students at the University of Kansas.

One of them was inspired to start the campaign with her husband and a friend when she attended a talk by Jessica Ahlquist, a teenage atheist who was taunted and bullied after she objected to a "school prayer" banner hung in her Rhode Island high school.

"If the polls are correct, there are literally millions of nonbelievers in America," said Richard Haynes, president of Atheist Nexus. "However, many atheists feel all alone. This is the primary reason we must come out of the closet. Coming out is the only way to change the public perception of nontheism."

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Studies have shown that you can be fat and fit. So why are we obsessing about what we eat rather than how much we move?

Sarah Warwick
guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 November 2011 17.00 GMT
Article history
 

Almost a quarter of British women are obese, and nearly as many men, according to the European health interview survey published by the EU's statistical office Eurostat. Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver continues his campaign to improve school food, asking the prime minister to ensure that academies don't undermine it, and again focusing on "rocketing obesity rates in the UK".

But we're getting the focus wrong. Obesity isn't what's robbing us of good health and life. Using data from the Cooper Centre Longitudinal Studyexercise scientist Steven Blair and his colleagues have established that you can be fat and fit. It is better to be overweight and active than normal weight and sedentary in terms of risk of mortality, the research has shown.

Blair calls physical inactivity the biggest public health problem of the 21st century. Yet instead of paying attention to our sedentary lifestyles, we keep on focusing on fatness. As individuals, we just can't resist stepping on the scales and it's a staple of weight-loss programmes. Physical activity is almost always a secondary consideration, and then only because of its power to help us lose weight. This narrow focus is repeated in campaigns and the media, but the obsession with how much people weigh and how much they need to lose just isn't helping us lead longer and healthier lives, or reducing the burden on the health service.

Campaigns such as the government's Change4Life initiative combine diet advice and alcohol tracking with activity suggestions, but the message needs to be far more straightforward. Forget berating young and old for their eating habits and what the scales are saying, and give them the much more appealing solution that physical activity is the way to a longer, healthier life.

If you offered people a drug that would confer these benefits with no side-effects, you would be trampled in the rush. A pill that promised the same effect as just 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity each day would make headlines around the world. Yet because it's not a new miracle cure on the market, and it's not a mythical superfood, it's not news at all. But the evidence is there. Physical activity can reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers and even delay cognitive decline. According to Karim Khan, editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, you probably need to be doing 60 minutes a day for optimum health (after which time there are diminishing returns health-wise). If we're going to pick a health issue to be fascinated by, isn't this the one?

It isn't about getting everyone running marathons, or setting aside the time and money they don't have to go to the gym every day. For many, these are the unattainable goals that lead to a sense of failure, and send us right back down the cul-de-sac of putting all the emphasis on losing a few pounds because a pleasing result on the scales gives us a moment's relief from our internal nagging, and that of society as a whole.

Instead, we need to put back the activity that modern life has removed into our daily routines. Making up our half an hour of not being sedentary does take an effort, but at least it can be achieved in manageable 10-minute blocks, can be made part of life without having to find fresh hours in the day – and above all has the merit of being in our control. A positive goal is always going to be far more attractive than nagging people about their eating habits, or pointing out the excess flesh.

The narrow focus on obesity for government, for campaigners and for individuals needs to change, and if we just can't quite get over our obsession, at least stepping on and off the scales still counts as activity if you do it enough.

DHAKA, BANGLADESH, December 16, 2011 (AFP): When Bangladesh became an independent nation after a bloody nine-month battle with Pakistan that ended 40 years ago Friday, Narayan Chandra Das, a Bengali Hindu fleeing from Pakistan, had high hopes for his new country.

Forty years after independence, creeping religious extremism, discriminatory policies and a series of violent attacks on Hindus, have, he says, made him wonder whether it was the right choice. "After all these years, I can say it's not the Bangladesh I dreamt of. In many ways, it's quite close to Pakistan," said Das, 55, who manages a pipe manufacturing company in Dhaka.

Bangladesh was founded as a secular republic under its 1972 constitution, proclaiming equal rights for all faiths. At the time, Muslims accounted for 80 per cent of the population, with Hindus making up most of the remainder. The country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly referred to as Sheikh Mujib, was an avowed secularist who sought to woo the country's large Hindu electorate. But after Sheikh Mujib was assassinated in a military coup in 1975, the new military rulers began amending the constitution - replacing secularism with "absolute faith in Allah", legalizing religious-based political parties, and making Islam the state religion. "It was the beginning," Subrata Chowdhury, a lawyer and prominent Hindu activist, told AFP.

Throughout the politically turbulent 1990s, the Hindu community came under attack when sectarian tensions flared, particularly during a bout of post-election violence in 2001.

Since the current secular Awami League government - led by Sheikh Mujib's daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina - came to power in 2009, it has rolled back some of the religious inroads made by previous military regimes. In a series of constitutional amendments it restored the principle of secularism but kept Islam as the state religion - a decision experts have slammed as contradictory and confusing. Enforcing the new laws that correct old wrongs against Hindus may prove unfeasible.

Hindus in Bangladesh are hopeful, but they know that, for now, such hope is more heart than reason.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Click here to read the full essay from Mark Bittman at the Sunday Review of the New York Times

WHAT will it take to get Americans to change our eating habits? The need is indisputable, since heart disease, diabetes and cancer are all in large part caused by the Standard American Diet. (Yes, it’s SAD.)

Though experts increasingly recommend a diet high in plants and low in animal products and processed foods, ours is quite the opposite, and there’s little disagreement that changing it could improve our health and save tens of millions of lives.

And — not inconsequuential during the current struggle over deficits and spending — a sane diet could save tens if not hundreeds of billions of dollars in health care costs.

Yet the food industry appears incapable of marketing healthier foods. And whether its leaders are confused or just stalling doesn’t matter, because the fixes are not really their problem. Their mission is not public health but profit, so they’ll continue to sell the health-damaging food that’s most profitable, until the market or another force skews things otherwise. That “other force� should be the federal government, fulfilling its role as an agent of the public good and establishing a bold national fix.

Rather than subsidizing the production of unhealthful foods, we should turn the tables and tax things like soda, French fries, doughnuts and hyperprocessed snacks. The resulting income should be earmarked for a program that encourages a sound diet for Americans by making healthy food more affordable and widely available.

The average American consumes 44.7 gallons of soft drinks annually. (Although that includes diet sodas, it does not include noncarbonated sweetened beverages, which add up to at least 17 gallons a person per year.) Sweetened drinks could be taxed at 2 cents per ounce, so a six-pack of Pepsi would cost $1.44 more than it does now. An equivalent tax on fries might be 50 cents per serving; a quarter extra for a doughnut. (We have experts who can figure out how “bad� a food should be to qualify, and what the rate should be; right now they’re busy calculating ethanol subsidies. Diet sodas would not be taxed.)

Simply put: taxes would reduce consumption of unhealthful foods and generate billions of dollars annually. That money could be used to subsidize the purchase of staple foods like seasonal greens, vegetables, whole grains, dried legumes and fruit.

We could sell those staples cheap — let’s say for 50 cents a pound — and almost et everywhere: drugstores, street corners, convenience stores, bodegas, supermarkets, liquor stores, even schools, libraries and other community centers.

This program would, of course, upset the processed food industry. Oh well. It would also bug those who might resent paying more for soda and chips and argue that their right to eat whatever they wanted was being breached. But public health is the role of the government, and our diet is right up there with any other public responsibility you can name, from water treatment to mass transit.

Some advocates for the poor say taxes like these are unfair because low-income people pay a higher percentage of their income for food and would find it more difficult to buy soda or junk. But since poor people suffer disproportionately from the cost of high-quality, fresh foods, subsidizing those foods would be particularly beneficial to them.

Right now it’s harder for many people to buy fruit than Froot Loops; chips and Coke are a common breakfast. And since the rate of diabetes continues to soar — one-third of all Americaans either have diabetes or are pre-diabetic, most with Type 2 diabetes, the kind associated with bad eating habits — and because our health care bills are on the verge of becoming truly insurmountable, this is urgent for economic sanity as well as national health.

INDIA, July 27, 2011 (by T.R. Ramesh): Tamil Nadu's government claims to be secular, but it treats Hindu temples and institutions differently from those of any other religion. The Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowment Department administers 36,425 temples, 56 mutts, 47 temples belonging to mutts, 1721 specific endowments and 189 trusts. It claims to be supervising the "secular aspects" of these institutions, but it applies this policy to no other religion--only to Hindu religious institutions.

Only the apathy and ignorance of Hindus have enabled Tamil Nadu's government--encouraged by Christian missionaries and agencies--to assume this control.

Around 1840, the then British Government started asking prominent mutts in Tamil Nadu to look after certain important temples and endowments. The heads of these mutts were careful to get written documents or "Muchalikas" from the British Government, which assured them that they would not take back the temples from the mutts.

The mutts ran these temples ably and efficiently. Funds meant for the upkeep of temples and conducting of rituals were properly utilized, thus supporting worship, the primary purpose. But thousands of other temples were handed over to the respective trustees, with the government providing little or no superivision.

In 1925, the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1923 (Act I of 1925) was passed by the local Legislature with the object of providing for better governance and administration of certain Hindu religious endowments. This Act was amended many times--systematically consolidating the government's power to take over and administer Hindu temples--even before Independence. After Independence, the Act was widely expanded.

Hindus should remember that it is not the duty of a secular government to manage the affairs of Hindu temples or institutions, particularly when the same government keeps away from mosques and churches. Hindus should join together and petition the government and the courts to bring back outside agencies to audit the HR & CE Dept. Hindus should take legal action against the government to restore the temples back to the trustees or to appropriate Hindu associations.

The article at source is much longer and more detailed; click for a full read. It includes an enlightening section on "What Hindus Should Do Now" to counter the encroachment of the government in religious affairs.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Vedic World Heritage links:

See our pages supporting these views HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/VWH.html (Vedik World Heritage)
Western Indologists been exposed page:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/WesternIndologists-page.htm
How British Misguided the World on Vedic History
http://www.hknet.org.nz/MotiveBritishRajMissionaries.html

Bill Clinton, Champion Of The Plant-Based Diet, Goes Vegan
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/bill-clinton-vegan_n_930816.html

UNITED STATES, August 18, 2011: Bill Clinton is a vegan -- or is, at least, very close to being one. The former U.S. president doesn't eat any dairy, eggs or meat, and consumes very little oil. Clinton has turned to eating solely plants in order to keep weight off and his heart healthy. Since his diet change, Clinton has lost more than 20 pounds.

Clinton -- who used to be a huge fan of hamburgers, steaks and other foods of the like -- underwent the diet overhaul to reverse the heart disease he's been plagued with in the past. He underwent a quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 because blood flow was blocked to his heart, and just last year he had to have two stents put into his heart to "open up veins from his bypass surgery," according to CNN.

There have been numerous studies linking a veggie-heavy diet with good heart health. For example, research shows that fewer vegetarians than meat-eaters have metabolic syndrome, a condition where you possess three of five heart-risk factors, Everyday Health reported. The factors include high blood pressure, triglycerides and blood sugar, low "good" cholesterol and a large waist size. In addition, research shows that a nutrient-dense, vegetarian-based diet can lower levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol.

Clinton joins the company of other vegan politicians and celebrities.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

By Duke Mansell for Natural News on 3 Nov 2011

What if you were eating right and following the advice of all your doctors to eat more "healthy grains" but continued to gain weight with worsening blood work? Millions of Americans continue to follow the diet backed by the ADA (American Diabetes Association), AHA (American Heart Association) and many other government agencies, which indicate a diet with 6-8 daily servings of whole grains is necessary for optimal health. Unfortunately, it appears this is not the case, and wheat products are a detriment to everyone's health.

Wheat is far removed from the wheat eaten by our ancestors. In the last 100 years it has been mutated into something monstrous. It is now a "Frankenwheat" and many people are unaware of its destructive capacity. Dr William Davis is a cardiologist who was having no success with his diabetic patients utilizing diets with whole grains. What he found in his research was shocking and has a far reaching effect on the health of everyone from meat eaters to vegetarians.

Wheat has a specific protein called gliadin. When this protein is digested in the intestines, it releases exorphin, an opioid peptide. This peptide crosses the brain/blood barrier. These peptides then bond with opiate receptors in the brain creating an addiction to wheat. It is an appetite stimulant and increases the amount of wheat you eat. This opioid peptide is so addictive that a pharmaceutical company is seeking FDA approval for a drug to block the receptor sites and to induce weight loss. With no other changes in diet or exercise the average test subject lost 22.4lbs over the course of 6 months. Instead of adding harmful pharmaceuticals removing wheat from the diet would provide greater health benefits.

Wheat also has a highly digestible carbohydrate unique to wheat in the form of amylopectin A. This carbohydrate increases the blood sugar higher than white bread, table sugar or a snickers bar! The glycemic index of wheat bread is an amazing 72! Compare that to table sugar at 59, and you see how wheat bread is working against health. The increase in blood sugar due to wheat causes the pancreas to release additional insulin; this insulin pushes the sugar into the cells, thus increasing abdominal fat dramatically. After 90 to 120 minutes, the glucose/insulin levels drop quickly and create immediate hunger.

This yo-yo effect on glucose/insulin levels also creates an issue with glycation. The simple explanation of glycation is the combining of a protein and a sugar molecule without an enzyme. These glycated proteins travel through muscle tissues and joints and lodge themselves in hard to reach places; they begin to wreak havoc on the body. They are the beginning of AGE or advanced glycation end products, which are implicated in agerelated chronic diseases.

Wheat also contains indigestible lectins; lectins are wheat proteins that have the canny ability to "unlock" normal intestinal barriers and allow foreign food particles to enter the body. Does this sound like "leaky-gut syndrome"? Even those that rectify leaky gut issues tend to have the same problems again; this is likely due to the lectins found in healthy wheat products that unlock intestinal barriers.

Check any food label and you will see that wheat is in almost everything. The only way to avoid wheat products is to utilize more almond flour, flax meal and coconut flour among others. The real take away is humans were not built to digest an endless supply of easily digestible carbohydrates. It is unfortunate wheat is no longer the "amber waves of grain" our forbearers remember because today's wheat is leading everyone down a path towards diabetes and degenerative diseases.

About the author: Duke Mansell is a personal trainer who maintains AlltheWayFitness.com, a website devoted to optimal health through functional physical training and organic living. Duke Mansell is a researcher of health and wellness. His client training emphasizes a whole foods approach to weight loss and fitness and utilizes functional training. Duke Mansell is a student of applied kinesiology, trained in muscle testing to address body issues from hormone disfunction to leaky gut. Duke Mansell is also completing a BA and Masters in acupuncture and medicinal herbs.

By Anthony Gucciardi for Natural News on 18 Aug 2011

When people begin to starve, instinctive primal triggers lead to a desire to do absolutely anything for food. Those with food, whether it is the government or a nearby family, will have complete power over others. Food could essentially be used as a weapon, thousands of times more powerful thanmoneyor most any other resource. But even in current times, food is used as a weapon by those in power through the use of government regulations and chemical additives that destroy both your health and your bank account. Artificial inflation and speculation, toxic substances hidden in the food, and government regulations are but a few examples. But where did the idea of using food as a supremely powerful weapon begin?

In 1974, the idea of using food as a weapon was introduced in a 200-page report (http://wlym.com/text/NSSM200.htm) by politician Henry Kissinger. The report, entitled National Security StudyMemorandum200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests, stated that food aid would be withheld from developing countries in need until they submitted to birth control policies that would effectively sterilize large numbers of the population to curb growth.

The document states:

"There is also some established precedent for taking account of family planning performance in appraisal of assistance requirements by AID [U.S. Agency for International Development] and consultative groups. Since population growth is a major determinant of increases in food demand, allocation of scarce PL 480 resources should take account of what steps a country is taking in population control as well as food production. In these sensitive relations, however, it is important in style as well as substance to avoid the appearance of coercion."

With little economic prowess and a nation in peril, developing countries would be forced to comply or face continued famine and death. Food was the weapon, and it was being held captive as a means of foreign policy and warfare. Holding onto valuable food aid and allowing innocent villagers to starve is not much different than waging open physical warfare upon them, which would be prohibited by international law and frowned upon by the majority of citizens worldwide. Henry Kissinger's report is but one incident of food weaponry, however. There are a number of other ways in which food is used as a daily weapon against the public.

Rapid food inflation

As the cost of living goes up, families worldwide begin to sink into the debt trap that is extremely challenging to escape from. For others, it is causing mass starvation. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO's) food price index experienced an increase of 3 points (up to 234 points) in June, a 39% increase of the year. Riots are breaking out across the globe as a result of the dramatic spike in basic food products, and citizens are demanding answers from their representatives -- or in some cases non-elected dictators.

The reason for the rapid food inflation can be traced back to a devalued commodity-dollar that has lost value due to excessive money printing and Wall Street speculation. Therefore one may label it as money manipulation, as opposed to speculation. Major players in the financial industry are determining the value of the dollar, which is no longer backed by real assets such as gold and silver. Due to the lack of valuable backing, speculation -- manipulative or not -- can alter the value of the BPA-laced dollar at any moment.

William Engdahl summarized the process: "The ability to manipulate the price of essential foods worldwide at will - almost irrespective of today's physical supply and demand for grains - is quite recent... Up until the grain crisis of the mid-1970s there was no single 'world price' for grain, the benchmark for the price of all foods and food products."

Toxic additives

Hazardous chemicals have gone incognito into the food supply, and the human population is going to be the lab rats when it comes to the long-term effects of these substances. Pesticides, preservatives, and ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are health destroyers like never before seen in human history. Created in laboratory settings, they are synthetic health killers. The explosion in obesity, cancer, diabetes, and thousands of other conditions have all been linked in some form to at least one food additive. HFCS, for example, has been confirmed to contain mercury, one of the most toxic heavy metals.

"Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply," the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Dr. David Wallinga said.

In addition to what is inside food products, there are even chemicals that leech into your skin before you even consume the toxin-laden food item.

Perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and bisphenol A (BPA) have been found in everything from food wrappers to currencies around the globe, and the amount of exposure to the average human being is astounding. In a study of Canadians ages 6 to 79, 90% of those tested had detectable levels of BPA in their urine and blood. Once contacted, BPA leeches directly into the bloodstream and cannot be washed off after a certain point. Around the time of this study, Canada banned BPA and labeled it as a toxic ingredient that endangers human health. Currently, the EPA is looking into launching an investigation over the health effects of BPA. Over 1 million pounds of BPA is released into the air each year, threatening the environmental integrity of the planet.

"A number of concerns have been raised about the potential human health and environmental effects of BPA," said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, according to UPI.

Government regulations

Through restricting food freedom -- the freedom of consumers to choose what they want to put into their bodies -- the government gains control over the food supply through forcing citizens to depend upon it. One such way of doing this is through draconian regulations that give organizations like the USDA power over basic food building blocks such as corn, wheat, soybeans and rice. Control over these in turn gives the organization control over livestock as well, as they need them for feed.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is another government agency that uses its powers to control the food and nutritional supplement industry like no other. Following legislation passed in the European Union that outlaws the use of a number of natural supplements, the FDA has introduced outlandish regulations that threaten virtually all dietary supplements in the USA that were formulated after 1994. The FDA has also suppressed the right of Americans to purchase and consume raw milk, despite known benefits to human health. The FDA and other government organizations oftentimes care more about grabbing and maintaining power over the food supply than human health, and it shows through their policies.

The Alliance for Natural Health warned against such legislation:

"We fear that they will use this power to ban any supplement innovation unless the supplement is turned into a drug and brought through the drug approval process. Since nobody can afford to pay for the new drug approval process if the substance is not patented, and supplements generally already exist in nature and cannot therefore be patented, to require full new drug approval is to ensure that there will be no new supplements. This should suit the drug industry very well and, based on past behavior, the FDA as well."

Weather

Weather hugely affects both food access and food costs. With the influx of natural disasters across not only the country but the world, an inevitable rise in food prices has been observed. Of course with such tragedies comes another possibility to exploit the issue by both speculators and government. As reported by The Sunday Times, Bill Gates has openly invested in weather modification technology to create "artificial clouds" all in the name of fighting off greenhouse gases. In fact, the creators are so eager to use the technology that they do not intend to wait for international rules allowing for it. The Sunday Times article reports:

"The British and American scientists involved do not intend to wait for international rules on technology that deliberately alters the climate."

In a 1996 document presented to the U.S. Air Force entitled Owning the Weather 2025, weather modification is a major topic of discussion. In fact, the heading on page 10 reads: "Applying Weather-modification to Military Operations." It is not outrageous to believe that since 1996 there has been at least a handful of manipulated weather occurrences that have affected crop production and transportation. With military tensions as high as they are, using weather to cripple the agricultural production of a nation may be one of the most potent weapons known to mankind. The Air Force report discusses military use of weather modification in detail:

"Offensive abilities could provide spoofing options to create virtual weather in the enemy's sensory and information systems, making it more likely for them to make decisions producing results of our choosing rather than theirs. It would also allow for the capability to mask or disguise our weather-modification activities.

[...]

"Also key to the feasibility of such a system is the ability to model the extremely complex nonlinear system of global weather in ways that can accurately predict the outcome of changes in the influencing variables.

[...]

"Conceivably, with enough lead time and the right conditions, you could get 'made-to-order' weather."

It is easy to see that weather would certainly be the weapon of choice when it comes to non-combat military weaponry that is effective yet does not require full-scale war.

Food as a weapon

Even now, before the collapse of the dollar and subsequently the world economy, food is used as a vital weapon against the individual and nation alike. When the dollar does eventually collapse, assuming nothing is done to stop its lethal trajectory beforehand, food will become the number one resource along with pure water. Gold and silver are precious assets in the accumulation of food, but you cannot eat gold and silver. As the government comes after home gardens, it is essential to secure a spot for your organic produce and to purchase high-quality additive-free storable food for you and your family.

"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made." - Franklin Roosevelt

Learn more:http://www.NaturalNews.com/033343_food_weapons.html#ixz...

About the author: Anthony Gucciardi is a health activist and wellness researcher, whose goal is centered around educating the general public as to how they may obtain optimum health. He has authored countless articles highlighting the benefits of natural health, as well as exposing the pharmaceutical industry. Anthony is the creator of Natural Society (http://www.NaturalSociety.com), a natural health website. Anthony has been accurately interpreting national and international events for years within his numerous political articles. Anthony's articles have been seen by millions around the world, and hosted on multiple top news websites.

Read more:http://news.iskcon.com/node/3838/2011-08-18/how_food_is_being_used_as_a_weapon#ixzz1VS6l1uvt

November 18, 2011 - 10:52AM

Walk into Manhattan's Pure Food and Wine on the city's chic Irving Place and back into its spacious, luxurious garden, and you might spot actress Katie Holmes. Or Alec Baldwin and his new girlfriend, whom he met at the restaurant.

Or Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea, who've made a number of visits together, enjoying the sweet corn and cashew tamales with portabella or a mint sundae for dessert. Or any number of Wall Street moguls.

It could be any trendy New York eatery, but Pure serves only vegan and raw food, with nary an egg nor an oven in sight. Its upscale clientele is a mix of vegans, vegetarians and just plain foodies, but clearly a sign of how the image of veganism has changed in recent years.
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Call them the big-time vegans: The celebrity standard-bearers for a vegan lifestyle aren't just wispy young actresses. They include talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, along with Australian wife Portia de Rossi. (Or Oprah Winfrey, who isn't vegan but led her staff on a public 21-day vegan cleanse.) Or men like Ozzy Osbourne and Russell Brand, who in recent weeks both declared themselves vegans. Athletes like Carl Lewis and Mike Tyson.

And then there are the moguls, like billionaire publisher, real estate developer and recent avowed vegan Mort Zuckerman, and Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino magnate, who's hired a vegan chef and put vegan options in all his resort restaurants. Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, has also spoken of his veganism.

Of all the high-profile vegans, though, Clinton is the biggest "catch". Advocates were thrilled and stunned when he talked about it on CNN last year, telling host Wolf Blitzer that his impressive, 11 kilogram weight loss was due to a largely plant-based diet - a regime he believes will prolong his life.

"I fell off my chair when I heard him talking about his almond milk smoothie," says prominent vegan chef and cookbook author Tal Ronnen, who has worked with celebrities like Winfrey and DeGeneres, and is a collaborating chef for Wynn's two Las Vegas resorts.

"Someone like Bill Clinton who grew up on southern comfort food talking about his vegan diet - it shows how things are changing."

The question is, of course, how much those changes have influenced ordinary people. "All the exposure is absolutely having an influence," says advocate Joseph Connelly, editor and publisher of VegNews.

"People can pronounce the word 'vegan' now! Five, 10 years ago they couldn't. It's nothing but positive."

But what about hard numbers? The Vegetarian Resource Group, a non-profit education and advocacy group, does polling on the issue that indicates veganism in America is either remaining steady or, more likely, slowly rising.

The group says its latest figures show that about five per cent of American adults are vegetarians - saying they never eat meat, fish, seafood or poultry - and that half of these vegetarians are also vegan, meaning they don't eat dairy or eggs, either. (Strict vegans also don't eat honey.) And these statistics are similar in Australia, with five per cent of Australians saying they are vegetarian and one per cent saying they are vegan, according to a Newspoll survey conducted in 2010.

In addition, the proportion of vegans to vegetarians seems to be going up, says Charles Stahler, co-director of the group.

"It seems to all add up," Stahler says. "It comes from different angles - the public campaigns of animal rights groups, the emergence of the health rationale, the environmental movement." There is also the issue of supply - more vegan options available in supermarkets all the time.

"There are a lot of ways that people come to it," says Ronnen, the vegan chef, who was caterer for DeGeneres and de Rossi's wedding and supervised Winfrey's cleanse. "But I've been doing this a long time and I have never seen such a shift.

"It's no longer seen as a diet of hummus and alfalfa sprouts on some really dry healthy bread," he says. "It's not hippies preaching peace and love. Now, you have a crossover of mainstream business people and good-looking celebrities."

De Rossi certainly falls into that latter category. The actress has written about her struggles with eating disorders. Now, she says, she wants people to know about the vegan lifestyle she's adopted with DeGeneres, her wife of three years, one they've chosen out of concern for animal welfare.

In an interview, De Rossi said she had been essentially vegan when she met DeGeneres, who was a fan of meat, especially burgers. De Rossi went back to meat, but later, together, they became vegans.

"It took a couple years, but we realised we didn't feel comfortable ethically eating meat," de Rossi says. "For animal lovers, something kind of clicks. But it doesn't really matter how you get to it, as long as you believe in why you chose a vegan diet."

De Rossi is encouraged that prominent figures like Wynn and Clinton are throwing their weight - even 11kg less of it, in Clinton's case - behind veganism.

"I think men in particular are taking note of Steve Wynn and Bill Clinton," she says. "They're really powerful men that people want to emulate." As for entertainment figures like herself, "we can do our part too", the actress says. "The more we can demystify the word 'vegan', the better." She notes that all cooking segments on Degeneres's show are vegan.

But what about the cost argument - that shifting to a vegan diet is expensive and time-consuming, and often simply untenable for average Americans who, unlike stars and billionaire moguls, don't have their own private chefs?

"I get some of that," acknowledges de Rossi. "But look at the diet. Foods like beans and rice are staple foods in so many cultures. And there's so much you can buy in supermarkets now. Being vegan is not an exclusive thing. I think for people to say, 'Well, it's fine for you' - that's kind of an excuse."

De Rossi and DeGeneres, in fact, are becoming restaurateurs: They've invested in a vegan chain, The Veggie Grill, and may be investing in a standalone vegan restaurant as well, according to a spokesman.

The role of a (mostly) vegan like Clinton is crucial, says the owner of a vegan restaurant, Pure, and online business, One Lucky Duck, Sarma Melngailis. "It legitimises it a lot. I like to point it out all the time when people are sceptical about veganism - Clinton's a smart man."

The former president pleased advocates for veganism once again when he was asked recently, rather too bluntly in their view, whether it simply "sucked" to be vegan.

No, Clinton told Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show: "I'd like to have as many good days as possible, and this seems to be the best way to get it," he said.

That's not why Daelyn Fortney is a vegan. The mum from Greenville, South Carolina - and editor of the vegan and vegetarian website ThisDishIsVeg - is focused on animal ethics. But she's delighted that people like the former president are giving veganism a fresh and powerful face.

"That's probably going to be the way it'll move to a lot more people," Fortney says. "It's always fantastic when a cause gets a name like that behind it."

But she adds a note of caution about the big-time vegans.

"I hope they stick with it!" Fortney says. "It could do damage on the other end if they don't."

AP and smh.com.au

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/the-rise-of-veganism-20111118-1nlwh.html#ixzz1e3eUWPpj

LOS ANGELES, USA, November 30, 2011 (LA Times): Mohandas Gandhi, Pythagoras and others are featured on 44-cent stamps made by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The limited-edition sheet of 20 44-cent stamps produced and sold by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, makes for an unusual assemblage -- linking Anderson, Barker, Woody Harrelson and Joan Jett to Pythagoras, Mohandas Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci and Leo Tolstoy.

Dan Mathews, PETA's senior vice president, had to shout to be heard as he introduced the stamps. "People think that eating vegan is a new trend, but it was actually 3,000 years ago that the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras wrote that carnivores are digging their graves with their teeth," he called out, his words punctuated by constant camera clicks and whirs.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-vegetarian-stamps-20111130,0,2588203.story

By Nita Lelyveld, Los Angeles Times

November 29, 2011, 10:58 p.m.
It isn't every day that Pamela Anderson shares billing with Pythagoras.

But that was just one of many oddities on display Tuesday outside the Hollywood Post Office, where the blond bombshell joined former game-show host Bob Barker to promote postage stamps featuring famous vegetarians.

The limited-edition sheet of 20 44-cent stamps produced and sold by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, makes for an unusual assemblage ­ linking Anderson, Barker,Woody Harrelson and Joan Jett to Pythagoras, Mohandas Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci and Leo Tolstoy.

Anderson unquestionably was the main draw for the crowd of photographers, who started shouting requests the moment she stepped out of an enormous black GMC Denali SUV.

"Over your right shoulder, Pam!" "Just here, on your left!" "Pam! Pam! Paaaam-ela, look over here!"

Smiling and turning obligingly this way and that, Anderson made her way up the steps to a waiting Barker and, holding his hand as they faced the cameras, told him: "My mom and dad are huge fans."

He wore a tweed blazer of gray, maroon and black, with matching maroon turtleneck and gray trousers. She wore a smoky blue-gray sleeveless dress that reached mid-thigh and revealed cleavage and lacy, peach bra ­ as well as the barbed-wire tattoo on her left arm.

Both held blown-up versions of the stamps bearing their images.

Barker, who will turn 88 next month, said he'd been avegetarian for about 35 years; before arriving for the afternoon's festivities, he said, he'd eaten potatoes with garlic, some fruit and cauliflower.

"Pam, give him a kiss!" a photographer shouted. "No, we got a kiss already. Do something else," another screamed out.

"Lick the stamp, Pamela! Lick the stamp!"

Dan Mathews, PETA's senior vice president, had to shout to be heard as he introduced the stamps.

"People think that eating vegan is a new trend, but it was actually 3,000 years ago that the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras wrote that carnivores are digging their graves with their teeth," he called out, his words punctuated by constant camera clicks and whirs.

"It's like `The Day of the Locust' out here. You've got to love Hollywood," said Steve Wiecking, 44, who came upon the scene when he stopped at the post office to pick up a package from Amazon.

Others wandered by too, including a musician named Charles Dudley, who arrived to get his mail in shiny gold cowboy boots, silver sunglasses and a spotlight-ready, many-colored, tinselly jacket.

One woman in a ragged black T-shirt and shorts wedged her way into the crowd of cameras, burning cigarette in hand, and asked Anderson if she "could possibly spare a dollar or any change."

"You look beautiful," she said, when Anderson apologized for not having anything on her.

nita.lelyveld@latimes.com

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

UNITED STATES, October 21, 2011 (CNN): Niki Gianni was 11 or 12 when she found a video on YouTube called "Meet Your Meat." Saddened and disgusted by the footage from a slaughterhouse, the Chicago girl announced she was no longer going to eat meat. Her parents were less than thrilled.

While many parents worry whether their vegetarian or vegan children will receive adequate nutrition for their growing bodies, the American Dietetic Association says such diets, as long as they are well-planned, are appropriate for all phases of life, including childhood and adolescence. "Appropriately planned" vegetarian or vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases, the dietetic association says.

"You can really feel the difference when you are eating something from the ground and something from a factory," said Niki Gianni, an animal activist who became a vegan shortly after embracing the vegetarian lifestyle.

Now an 18-year-old college freshman, Niki Gianni said her eating habits expanded her palate and turned her away from processed foods. Her food choices also influenced her family: Her mother is now a vegan and her father and sister are vegetarians.

The number of vegetarians in the United States is expected to increase over the next decade, according to the dietetic association. A vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease, and vegetarians also appear to have lower overall cancer rates, lower blood pressure and lower rates of hypertension than non-vegetarians.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

HYDERABAD, INDIA, August 27, 2011: Let your plate be colorful. Fill it with fruits and vegetables. This piece of advice comes from Dr. Kalpagam Polasa, head of the Food and Drug Toxicology Research Centre, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, who added that fruits and vegetables could be the protection needed against cardiovascular diseases and several types of cancers.

Dr. Polasa gave a talk on 'Nutrition - The Role of Vegetables and Fruits in Chronic Disorders' during the golden jubilee regional symposium-2011 of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (India) in Hyderabad on Friday.

While fruits and vegetables are a part of the weight loss diets, they are also rich source of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. "Five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables per day per person are highly desirable," said Dr. Polasa who has 85 papers published in national and international journals to his credit.

"People go to doctors for a find-and-fix cure. More importantly one should concentrate on sticking to healthy diet to prevent diseases," she said. A diet rich in vegetables and fruits not only may provide protection against cardiovascular diseases and several common cancers but also against Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, immunological disorders and obesity.

Be a vegetarian, keep cancer at bay

TNN Aug 27, 2011, 12.40am IST
Tags:
National Institute of Nutrition

HYDERABAD: Let your plate be colourful. Fill it with fruits and vegetables. This piece of advice comes from Dr Kalpagam Polasa, head of the Food and Drug Toxicology Research Centre, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, who added that fruits and vegetables could be the protection needed against cardiovascular diseases and several types of cancers.

Dr Polasa gave a talk on 'Nutrition - the role of vegetables and fruits in chronic disorders' during the golden jubilee regional symposium-2011 of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (India) in Hyderabad on Friday.

While fruits and vegetables are a part of the weight loss diets, they are also rich source of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. "Five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables per day per person are highly desirable," said Dr Polasa who has 85 papers published in national and international journals to his credit.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

By Mike Adams

Hot DogsThe World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has just completed a detailed review of more than 7,000 clinical studies covering links between diet and cancer. Its conclusion is rocking the health world with startling bluntness: Processed meats are too dangerous for human consumption. Consumers should stop buying and eating all processed meat products for the rest of their lives.

Processed meats include bacon, sausage, hot dogs, sandwich meat, packaged ham, pepperoni, salami and virtually all red meat used in frozen prepared meals. They are usually manufactured with a carcinogenic ingredient known as sodium nitrite. This is used as a color fixer by meat companies to turn packaged meats a bright red color so they look fresh. Unfortunately, sodium nitrite also results in the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines in the human body. And this leads to a sharp increase in cancer risk for those who eat them.

A 2005 University of Hawaii study found that processed meats increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by 67 percent. Another study revealed that every 50 grams of processed meat consumed daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 50 percent. These are alarming numbers. Note that these cancer risks do not come from eating fresh, non-processed meats. They only appear in people who regularly consume processed meat products containing sodium nitrite.

Sodium nitrite appears predominantly in red meat products (you won’t find it in chicken or fish products). Here’s a short list of food items to check carefully for sodium nitrite and monosodium glutamate (MSG), another dangerous additive:
Beef jerky
Bacon
Sausage
Hot dogs
Sandwich meat
Frozen pizza with meat
Canned soups with meat
Frozen meals with meat
Ravioli and meat pasta foods
Kid’s meals containing red meat
Sandwich meat used at popular restaurants
Nearly all red meats sold at public schools, restaurants, hospitals, hotels and theme parks

If sodium nitrite is so dangerous to humans, why do the FDA and USDA continue to allow this cancer-causing chemical to be used? The answer, of course, is that food industry interests now dominate the actions by U.S. government regulators. The USDA, for example, tried to ban sodium nitrite in the late 1970’s but was overridden by the meat industry. It insisted the chemical was safe and accused the USDA of trying to “ban bacon.” Today, the corporations that dominate American food and agricultural interests hold tremendous influence over the FDA and USDA. Consumers are offered no real protection from dangerous chemicals intentionally added to foods, medicines and personal care products.

You can protect yourself and your family from the dangers of processed meats by following a few simple rules:
Always read ingredient labels.
Don’t buy anything made with sodium nitrite or monosodium glutamate.
Don’t eat red meats served by restaurants, schools, hospitals, hotels or other institutions.

And finally, eat more fresh produce with every meal. There is evidence that natural vitamin C found in citrus fruits and exotic berries (like camu camu) helps prevent the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines, protecting you from the devastating health effects of sodium nitrite in processed meats. The best defense, of course, is to avoid eating processed meats altogether.

[Ed. Note: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger - a leading authority on healthy living -- is on a mission: to explore, uncover and share the truth about harmful foods and beverages, prescription drugs, medical practices and the dishonest marketing practices that drive these industries. For his latest findings, click here.] http://www.healthranger.org/

USA, August 25, 2011: Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, explains the benefits of eating a meat-free diet. His research focuses on Alzheimer's Disease. Watch the short video of this brilliant professor here and learn one more reason to go vegetarian.

Can avoiding meat prevent Alzheimer's?

Dr. Rudolph Tanzi explores some evidence from animals that vegetarian diets may cut Alzheimer's risk.

'Flexitarians' Driving Global Move Away From Meat Consumption: Study
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/flexitarians-driving-global-move-away-from-meat-consumption-study-2346860.html

UNITED KINGDOM, August 31, 2011: Sales of meat have slowed to a crawl around the world, thanks in part to the growing number of 'flexitarians' - that murkily-defined group of part-time vegetarians - and public health warnings outlining the perils of red meat consumption.

According to an August report from Euromonitor International, meat was one of the worst performers over the 2005 to 2010 period, with sales growing less than 14 percent over the six-year period. Only vegetables fared slightly worse, with a growth rate of 11 percent. The global trend is a reflection of the growing movement away from meat consumption, the report pointed out.

Red meat in particular has been getting a bad rap from scientists, public health authorities and governments around the world. Earlier this year, a groundbreaking study found a direct link between the consumption of red meats and processed meats and the increased risk of colorectal cancer. The findings prompted public health authorities in the UK to advise cutting meat consumption to 70g a day.

Celebrity-led crusades championing animal welfare and environmental advocates have also made an impact on the meat market, the report said, as a growing number of consumers have either adopted a vegetarian diet or significantly reduced their meat intake - a population of semi-vegetarians also known as 'flexitarians.'

The report also pointed out that while one percent of US citizens described themselves as vegetarians in 1971, that percentage grew to 3.4 percent in 2009. India has the largest non meat-eating population in the world with an estimated 31 percent of that country's largely Hindu population described as lacto-vegetarians: they consume milk and honey, but no other animal-derived products. Vegetarianism was also found to be fairly common in Taiwan, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Israel and the UK.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

By Dr. Mercola

According to the US government's own data, you are about 35,000 times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk.
Between 1999 and 2010, there were only an average of 42 cases of illness per year attributed to raw milk. Meanwhile, an estimated total of 48 million foodborne illnesses occur each year from all foods.
Pasteurization protects you from deadly pathogens contained in CAFO milk. However, milk from free-range grass-fed cows does not need to be pasteurized as it is inherently less prone to contamination to begin with.

As you're probably aware of by now, there's a war being waged against raw milk. It's nothing less than an unconstitutional assault on one of your most basic rights, i.e. your right to choose what you want to eat and drink, and one of the excuses used to defend the violent persecution of those who dare sell this healthful food is that unpasteurized (raw) milk endangers human health.

But is raw milk really a major source of foodborne illness?

NOT according to the US government's own data!

Food safety chief and former Monsanto lawyer Michael Taylor has defended the FDA's gun-toting tactics against raw milk producers, calling the campaign "a public health duty." Furthermore, the new Food Safety Modernization Act, which was enacted earlier this year, grants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extraordinary new powers to detain any food the agency suspects to be unsafe, whether there are good grounds for suspicion or not. Taylor himself has stated that the new agency focus will be on preventing food poisoning outbreaks rather than responding to them after the fact.

Government Data Proves Safety of Raw Milk

Research by Dr. Ted Beals, MD, featured in the summer 2011 issue of Wise Traditions, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, shows that you are about 35,000 times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk!  Statistically, you're also more likely to get injured drivingto the farm to pick up your raw milk than becoming ill from drinking it.
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Dr. Beals' research shows that between 1999 and 2010, there was an average of 42 cases of illness per yearattributed to raw milk, and that includes both "confirmed" and "presumed" cases.

The Weston A. Price Foundation writes:

"At last we have access to the numbers we need to determine the risk of consuming raw milk on a per-person basis"… The key figure that permits a calculation of raw milk illnesses on a per-person basis comes from a 2007 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) FoodNet survey, which found that 3.04 percent of the population consumes raw milk, or about 9.4 million people, based on the 2010 census. This number may in fact be larger in 2011 as raw milk is growing in popularity.  For example, sales of raw milk increased 25 percent in California in 2010, while sales of pasteurized milk declined 3 percent."

In his report, Dr. Beals writes:

"From the perspective of a national public health professional looking at an estimated total of 48 million foodborne illnesses each year [from all foods]… there is no rational justification to focus national attention on raw milk, which may be associated with an average of 42 illnesses maximum among the more than nine million people (about 0.0005 percent) who have chosen to drink milk in its fresh unprocessed form.

… Consumption of any food has some risk of illness or adverse reaction. And the consequence of basing public policy on horrific personal experiences is that all foods will ultimately be banned, and we will not be able to participate in any activity."

If this isn't food for thought, I don't know what is. These statistics are the smoking gun proving that the war on raw milk cannot be based on food safety or protecting your health from an even remotely real threat…

The Differences Between Raw Milk and Pasteurized Milk

The FDA would have you believe pasteurization of milk protects you from deadly pathogens contained in raw milk. The fact is however, that if cows are raised as nature intended (free-range and grass-fed), there is no need to process the milk these healthy animals produce.

However, cows raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are NOT raised in a manner that makes their milk suitable for drinking raw.

CAFO cows are typically raised on high-protein, soy-based feeds instead of fresh green grass, and instead of free range grazing, they stand in cramped, manure-covered feed lots all day. These conditions are perfect for the proliferation of disease, and yes, this milk MUST be pasteurized in order for it to be safe to drink. These cows also need antibiotics to keep them well, and some are also given genetically modified growth hormones (rBGH) to increase milk production. Needless to say, these hormones and antibiotics also wind up in the milk.

Aside from the manner in which the cows are raised, which significantly alters the milk they produce to begin with, pasteurization has its own problems as it:
Transforms the physical structure of the milk proteins and alters the shape of the amino acid configuration into a collection of proteins that is now non-functional and in a shape that can be highly allergenic.
Destroys the friendly bacteria found naturally in milk and drastically reduces the micronutrient and vitamin content.
Encourages the growth of harmful bacteria, and turns milk’s naturally occurring sugar (lactose) into beta-lactose. Beta-lactose is rapidly absorbed in the human body, with the result that hunger can return quickly after a glass of milk – especially in children.
Makes insoluble most of the calcium found in raw milk, which can lead to a host of health problems in children, among them rickets and bad teeth.
Destroys about 20 percent of the iodine available in raw milk, which can cause constipation.
When pasteurized milk is also homogenized, a substance known as xanthine oxidase is created. This compound can play a role in oxidative stress by acting as a free radical in your body.
Raw milk from clean, healthy, grass-fed cows bears NO comparison to pasteurized CAFO milk. It's full of nutrients that your body thrives on, including:

Healthy beneficial bacteriaValuable enzymes, such as phosphatase, which aids the absorption of calcium in your bones, and lipase enzyme, which helps to hydrolyze and absorb fatsNatural butterfat, without which your body cannot effectively utilize the vitamins and minerals in the milk. It's also your best source of preformed vitamin A, and contains re-arranged acids with strong anti-carcinogenic properties.
Cancer-fighting conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)Healthy unoxidized cholesterolHigh omega-3 and low omega-6 ratios, which is the beneficial ratio between these two essential fats

By Dr. Mercola for mercola.com on 2 Sep 2011

As you're probably aware of by now, there's a war being waged against raw milk. It's nothing less than an unconstitutional assault on one of your most basic rights, i.e. your right to choose what you want to eat and drink, and one of the excuses used to defend the violent persecution of those who dare sell this healthful food is that unpasteurized (raw) milk endangers human health.

But is raw milk really a major source of foodborne illness?

NOT according to the US government's own data!

Food safety chief and former Monsanto lawyer Michael Taylor has defended the FDA's gun-toting tactics against raw milk producers, calling the campaign "a public health duty." Furthermore, the new Food Safety Modernization Act, which was enacted earlier this year, grants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extraordinary new powers to detain any food the agency suspects to be unsafe, whether there are good grounds for suspicion or not. Taylor himself has stated that the new agency focus will be on preventing food poisoning outbreaks rather than responding to them after the fact.

Government Data Proves Safety of Raw Milk

Research by Dr. Ted Beals, MD, featured in the summer 2011 issue of Wise Traditions, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, shows that you are about 35,000 times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk! Statistically, you're also more likely to get injured driving to the farm to pick up your raw milk than becoming ill from drinking it.

The Weston A. Price Foundation writes:

"At last we have access to the numbers we need to determine the risk of consuming raw milk on a per-person basis"… The key figure that permits a calculation of raw milk illnesses on a per-person basis comes from a 2007 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) FoodNet survey, which found that 3.04 percent of the population consumes raw milk, or about 9.4 million people, based on the 2010 census. This number may in fact be larger in 2011 as raw milk is growing in popularity. For example, sales of raw milk increased 25 percent in California in 2010, while sales of pasteurized milk declined 3 percent."

In his report, Dr. Beals writes:

"From the perspective of a national public health professional looking at an estimated total of 48 million foodborne illnesses each year [from all foods]… there is no rational justification to focus national attention on raw milk, which may be associated with an average of 42 illnesses maximum among the more than nine million people (about 0.0005 percent) who have chosen to drink milk in its fresh unprocessed form.

… Consumption of any food has some risk of illness or adverse reaction. And the consequence of basing public policy on horrific personal experiences is that all foods will ultimately be banned, and we will not be able to participate in any activity."

If this isn't food for thought, I don't know what is. These statistics are the smoking gun proving that the war on raw milk cannot be based on food safety or protecting your health from an even remotely real threat…

Read more:http://news.iskcon.com/node/3866/2011-09-02/why_is_this_unsafe_food_banned_when_its_35000_times_safer_than_others#ixzz1WroOsmQe

Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011...

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/31/us-government-data-proves-that-raw-milk-is-safe.aspx?e_cid=20110831_DNL_art_1

UNITED STATES, November, 2010 : A growing number of America's most powerful bosses have become vegan. Steve Wynn, Mort Zuckerman, Russell Simmons, and Bill Clinton are now using tempeh to assert their superiority. As are Ford Executive Chairman of the Board Bill Ford, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, venture capitalist Joi Ito and Whole Foods Market Chief Executive Officer John Mackey.

It shouldn't be surprising that so many CEOs are shunning meat, dairy, and eggs: It's an exclusive club. Only 1 percent of the U.S. population is vegan.

"CEOs are smart. There just hadn't been enough exposure for people to glom onto this trend," says Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "The information is everywhere now. Instead of 'Better buy this blue chip,' it's 'Better eat vegan.' " When Newkirk learned Wynn had become a vegan, she didn't think the news was crazy. "Having dolphins in a small tank outside a casino is crazy," she says. "Ordering vegetables is not."

Wynn agrees. The self-described "animal nut," who included the Humane Society of the U.S. in his will, sold the Mirage Hotel--and its dolphin tank--in 2000, and gave up meat and dairy this June. Wynn was converted when his friend--telecom mogul and recent vegan Gulu Lalvani--made him watch Eating, a documentary in which director Mike Anderson explains his strict meat- and oil-free diet. "I watched it, and I changed the next morning," says Wynn. The transition was eased by the fact that Wynn happened to be on a yacht with a personal chef.

As soon as he got home, he began spreading the gospel by buying 10,000 copies of Eating, one for each of his employees. Says Wynn. "If I can keep them healthier, I'm acting like a smart businessman." Though he swears it's not a condition of employment, Wynn has persuaded most of his senior management to go vegan.

For the full interesting article, see source.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

See similar articles at Vegetarianism & Beyond:
http://turn.to/Vegetarianism

Narada Muni was once asked by a brahmana, "Oh, are you going to meet the Lord?  Will you please ask Him when I'm going to get my salvation?"  "All right," Narada agreed.  "I shall ask Him."  As Narada proceeded, he met a cobbler who was sitting under a tree mending shoes, and the cobbler similarly asked Narada, "Oh, are you going to see God?  Will you please inquire of Him when my salvation will come?"  When Narada went to the Vaikuntha planets, he fulfilled their request and asked Narayana about the salvation of the brahmana and the cobbler.  Narayana replied, "After leaving this body, the cobbler shall come here to Me."  "What about the brahmana?" Narada asked.  "He will have to remain there for a number of births.  I do not know when he is coming."  Narada Muni was astonished, and he finally said, "I cannot understand the mystery of this."  "That you will see," Narayana said. "When they ask you what I am doing in My abode, tell them that I am threading the eye of a needle with an elephant."  When Narada Muni returned to earth and approached the brahmana, the brahmana said, "Oh, you have seen the Lord?  What was he doing?"  "He was threading an elephant through the eye of a needle," Narada answered.  "I don't believe such nonsense," the brahmana replied.  Narada could immediately understand that the man had no faith and that he was simply a reader of books.  Narada then left and went on to the cobbler, who asked him, "Oh, you have seen the Lord?  Tell me, what was he doing?"  "He was threading an elephant through the eye of a needle," Narada replied.  The cobbler began to weep.  "Oh, my Lord is so wonderful, He con do anything."  "Do you really believe that the Lord can push an elephant through the eye of a needle?" Narada asked.  "Why not?" the cobbler said.  "Of course I believe it."  "How is that?" Narada asked.  "You can see that I am sitting under this banyan tree." the cobbler answered, "and you can see that so many fruits are falling daily, and in each seed there is a banyan tree like this one.  If within a small seed there can be a big tree like this, it is difficult to accept that the Lord is pushing an elephant through the eye of a needle?"

MORAL:  param gato 'pi vedanam sarva-sastrartha-vedy api \ yo na sarvesvare bhaktas tam vidyat purusadhamam.  "Even though one may have gone to the other side of all the Vedas, and even though one is well versed in all the revealed scriptures, if one is not a devotee of the Supreme Lord, he must be considered the lowest of mankind."  (Garuda Purana).

See similar inspirational snippets HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/parables.htm

The phaomnneil pweor of the hmuan mnid: Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig!
Mybae the I can sotp slpel ckchenig?

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