Fiannan

Absolutely correct! There are several things you can do to lose weight. 1) Exercise more -- considering that we were designed by our creator to work hard and perspire pints of water per day then our seditary lifestyle is just unnatural. Exercise can make our bodies work more like they should -- expanding the pumping in our blood vessels and using up excess calories. 2) Eat less -- again, we were designed to expect feast or famine so our subconscious still lives as if we were in a natural environment. Problem is, our inward desire to gorge is counterproductive to health when feast is always available. 3) Build muscle -- fat cells use very little energy to maintain homeostasis, while muscle cells use much more energy to maintain themselves. If you build a pound of muscle I believe you need to use about 30 or 40 calories per day for metabolism while a pound of fat uses essentially zero calories -- plus the fat cells cause higher levels of estrogen in the body which slows down metabolism overall.

Society has a right to discourage dangerous behavior -- like sexual promiscuity, smoking, shooting drugs and becoming obese -- it's not discrimination, just good common sense.

The vast majority of cases if obesity str not related to genetics -- or so say most medical experts.

Yes, being obese is worse for your health than smoking and it needs to be addressed in this country. So what measures should we, as a society, take? Should obese people have to pay more to fly on airlines (more weight, more gas consumption)? Should children identified as fat be required to sign up for additional PE classes with fitness trainers getting preference in job selection over coaches in PE positions? Should people who are certified to be at a certain level of fitness by their doctors be given tax breaks? Since companies can discriminate and not hire smokers, should companies have the right not to hire obese people? Well, have at it...this is a national epidemic and costs our society billions per year. Something has to be done.

Actually, Muslim radicals/jihadists hate China but don't cause too much trouble since the Chinese care nothing about human rights and are perfectly willing to crush the Muslim population (mostly an Asian/Turkish mixed minority in western China only numbering around 50 - 70 million) if things get out of hand. The Chinese are trying to eradicate this minority by ethnic cleansing policies including offering bonuses to Han Chinese men who take brides from this population so as to dilute the ethnic bonds of the local population. However, mainline Islam is not going to go after the Chinese since the Chinese are oil thirsty and are willing to use means such as their UN SEcurity Council veto power to make deals with countries like Chad, Sudan and Iran to get oil rights with the promise not to meddle in these countries politics. Also, China would not look kindly on an American attack on Iran and as their strength grows they are less and less likely to be as passive when Clinton destroyed their embassy in Serbia during Operation Stained Dress in the 1990s (yeah, it was officially an accident -- right, the Chinese were behind the scenes assisting the Serbian military against US agression). China needs oil and will do whatever it needs to in order to gain more oil from the Middle East. Traditionally China has not cared about Israel and its dealings with the Arabs but that may change in the near future. Ever wonder about that 250,000,000 man army described in Revelations???

How about political parodies? There are some hillarious parodies out there that I think people here would love.

Okay, the link here is to a new article from 2004. Yes, it deals with Huckabee and a very controversial aspect of his governorship (granting clememsy to murderers at a very high rate) but never mentions his presidential bid since this is an article several years old. Is this kosher? The Leader - Garrick Feldman

I also must admit confusion over the rules here -- can one discuss aspects of a politician's campaign or strategies or things relating to them? The irony is that several of the candidates are also US Senators so are their activities on or off limits? Would any of these topics not be allowed: 1) There was an interesting article by Democratic feminist Camille Paglia on Hillary and feminism in which Paglia does endorse Obama in the article but contends that Hillary is anti-male. 2) I found an article where Obama was working with the Kenyan opposition leader even though the opposition leader is a hard-core leftist and has made some really scary deals with Muslim leaders if he gets elected. 3) Articles on Huckabee and what his record was on illegal aliens when governor and what he claims today. Are any of these very interesting articles off limits? Are they on? Let us know please.

There is a debate going on in psychology circles currently in which some are proposing that Aspergers and BPD are the same problem. Many of the criteria for diagnosis seem to overlap and some feel that if a woman goes in with symptoms like extreme mood swings, temper cycles mixed with compassion, idealization mixed with the desire to tear down others, paranoia, self-destructive tendencies growing out of a sense of inferiority (mixed with superiority), extreme creativity and intellect in certain fields but not extending to comprehensive knowledge or skills in many other areas and frustration from feeling different and misunderstood (but none of these symptoms extending into psychosis) then a female will get a BPD diagnosis while a male will be more likely to be given an Asperger diagnosis. Any thoughts?

I remember a talk by GBH where they called an innactive man to be the bishop of a Mexican ward. When they drove up in his driveway he was smoking a cigar. When they informed him of the calling he said he had not been to church for a long time and smoked. The leaders then said that then he'd have to go to church and also stop smoking. I guess the man did and became a good bishop. My advice is to go to church even if you are still using marijuana. In time the importance of church will grow and the importance of the marijuana will shrink. PS -- I will note that marijuana is far, far safer than alcohol and does have some health benefits but one is better off without it than with.

Every member is strong in some areas and weak in others.

Anyone dare to ask the question why Christians are becomming an extinct species in the Middle East -- especially in the last two decades?

I don't know...aren't sperm and egg donors screened for genetic problems? Seems like one has a far greater chance of getting an inherited genetic disorder from reproducing the conventional way.

Thank you! Here's wishing you a merry Christmas (note, just for the copyright thing I am using a more public domain pic for a card instead):

Then under those criteria neither of the posts (one about an alleged Clinton affiar) and the other about an alleged Edward's baby would constitute being campaigning either since nowhere did I say "vote this way or that". One could construe that a negative story would damage the electability of a said candidate but under those criteria then attacking President Vladimir Putin during an election cycle where, if his party wins, he will become prime minister would definently be campaign related. But nevermind, since this is current events maybe this is more appropriate: http://blog.oregonlive.com/pets/2007/12/sp...es_to_pogo.html "Sprite Likes to Pogo"

Yes he is, in an indirect way, running for an election. Like I said, the Russian elections for president are in the spring. Putin has endorsed Medvedev and has been given the promise that if United Russia and Medvedev win then he will appoint Putin as prime minister. Russian constitutional law says a president can only serve two terms in a row but says nothing about serving after someone else has. Most Russian people will vote for Medvedev in hopes that Putin will stay in power and maybe even serve again as president. So yes, Putin is involved in an election.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...2-12377,00.html Muslims believe in the virgin birth -- I guess that makes them more Christian than what the Anglicans are evolving into.

My post has nothing to do with politics. It had to do Russian journalists and their oppression by the Russian government. It included quotes from Putin, but none of them were political. Additionally, the initial rule regarding blogging about politics refers to political campaigns only. Each of your posts that has been closed has referred to political candidates. However, I do believe Heather has decided to go beyond the scope of that and ban all political posts, and I support her in that. Your post here is a political post. Elphaba Because I doubt he actually read it. I know he rarely reads mine, although he respnds to them as if he has. I hereby announce that Prison Chaplain is LDS Talk's Man of the Year. After all, he is still ahead of Pushka in posts, a feat which took much effort and strategy. He is also both profound and insightful, and one of the most generous contributors to this site. So don't feel too bad about Time Magazine PC. LDS Talk is far more prestigious! Elphaba "Incidentally, Russia – we – are constantly being taught about democracy. But for some reason those who teach us do not want to learn themselves. " Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin Speech at the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy 02/10/2007 Elphaba, if my post defending Putin is political your's (quoting people implying the Russian government killed Politkovskaya) is most certainly political. And tell me, if Putin is as bright as everyone claims then he would know a thing or two about PR -- so why would he have this journalist assasinated on his birthday???? Also, I still contend that not allowing discussions about American political candidates is unfair since, after all, Putin has endorsed Medvedev for president and those elections will occur in Russia in March. Remember, a Russian has as much chance on stumbling onto this site as an American so this thread should also be closed -- as with ALL the threads on Mitt Romney!

Uh, okay...how can this thread be allowed but a thread on Hillary or Edwards gets pulled????Is this on the assumption that all viewers and participants in the forums are American -- so foreign political leaders are fair game to critisize? How would the typical Russian feel (let's say an LDS member or one investigating) coming here and seeing someone ripping on a leader who, according to all opinion surveys, enjoys more respect from his population than any leader in the western world? I'd be ticked off. plain and simple, especially when one cannot deal with politicians from the USA. I have been to Russia many times and I can assure you the people there support Putin as much as the people in Utah support the Republican party (probably more so). When I was there several weeks ago there were people handing out fliers on the streets for Putin's party United Russia, the communist party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky's nationalist party and even the tiny party that Kasparov is the leader for. On Russian TV there were tons of commercials for each of the parties and billboards dotted the landscape. This was not a rigged election and probably less improprieties existed than in some of the big city elections (where the Democratic Party is still in control in the USA) for the 2004 election.

Congradulations!

Really love KFC. The one over on the Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersberg is one of the first places I go whenever in Russia!

I wouldn't call it a myth... I have seen cancer spots etc due to too much sun. Yeah, you increase the chances of relatively non-life-threatening basel cell carcenomas with too much sun exposure but you decrease the chances of getting breast, prostate, colon and certain skin cancers. You see, people with diets high in calcium get way less cancers -- if they get enough sun to convert vitamine D from sunlight. Vitamine D is necessary for calcium use in the body. The lack of sunlight is one of the reasons Scandinavians have a high rate of these cancers.

Any medical studies that show that salt intake will actually affect your health badly -- unless you are hyper sensitive? Myth 3 -- you should try to avoid the sun in order to avoid cancer. Good article on salt: http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/feb15/salt/smith.html

Just curious as to what you'd put down as "old wives tales" that many if not most people actually believe in. I'd list these two for starters: 1) Kids playing out in the cold will come down with a cold unless they are bundled up. 2) Restricting your salt intake will make you healthier.