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June 9 2009

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Playboy Takes On the Ladies

 

After more than 50 years as a best-selling “men’s” magazine promoting “free love” –– a lifestyle of promiscuity and sexual exploitation of women –– Playboy has been displaced by the easy availability of pornography on the internet. At one time, supposedly over a quarter of college men were buying a monthly copy of Playboy with total sales of over seven million copies an issue in 1972. Now, sales have dwindled to barely three million copies per issue. The corporation is for sale for $300 million though experts claim that it is barely worth $100 million today. They’ve already lost around $13 million this year and shares have dropped to as low as $1.15. Clearly, the Playboy enterprise is crumbling even though the magazine is distributed by the giant Time Warner empire. Hugh Hefner, the 83-year-old founder of the Playboy, continues to be photographed in his silk pajamas and matching silk and satin robe surrounded by a bevy of young women in tiny bikinis, but it is obvious that his once-risque magazine is passé. After all, hooker attire is commonplace, “skin” is everywhere, and porn is easily accessible on the web. Read On

   
   
   

Stories of trauma and pain are part of my normal day as a therapist. I hear about hurt that starts in early childhood for some and continuing throughout life for others. Have you ever wondered how early childhood pain or trauma affect ones capacity to love? And to those who have been seriously hurt, is it possible to be so damaged emotionally that you actually can't love again?

Keys to Relationship Connection

At the very core of connection is ones ability to empathize. Good marriages and healthy families are all about connection. The inability to empathize with others also results in a lack of an integrated sense of self. If a person is missing a solid sense of who they are they tend not to develop a real sense of self-awareness and may feel they are either all bad or all good. Many things can disrupt this bonding process.. Read On

 
   
   
   

Don't Ask, Don't Tell A conservative military watchdog is very pleased the U.S. Supreme Court has turned down a challenge to a Pentagon policy forbidding homosexual men and women from serving in the military -- and a Christian attorney says President Obama should abandon his plan to end the policy.

The high court said Monday it will not hear an appeal from former Army Capt. James Pietrangelo II, who was dismissed under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. That policy, which was put in place by President Bill Clinton, has often been confused with the actual 1993 law passed by Congress which strictly forbids homosexuals from serving in the military.
 
The federal appeals court in Boston earlier threw out a lawsuit filed by Pietrangelo and 11 other veterans. He was the only member of that group who asked the high court to rule that "don't ask, don't tell" is an unconstitutional policy.
 
Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, shares that she is pleased the Justice Department opposed Pietrangelo's appeal. "The Department of Justice did do the right thing in opposing this appeal that the Supreme Court has rejected," she says. "The court case did indeed go against the person who was trying to bring down the law regarding gays in the military." Read On

   
   
   
   

Dr. Barry Sears The first published journal article on the benefits of high-dose fish oil as a treatment for arthritis appeared in 1775! The oil used in that study was a very crude form of cod liver oil. Patients who could stomach the horrific tasting oil enjoyed spectacular relief of pain. But the taste of the oil was so putrid that they soon abandoned the fish oil for other, more pleasant tasting elixirs, like alcohol.

Some two hundred years later, fish oil finally returned to the arthritis scene. In the 1980s, positive research findings ushered in claims that fish oil was a “new” miracle cure for arthritis. Since fish oil was now more refined and could be consumed in soft gelatin capsules, the taste was not so bad. Early studies used only about 3.6 grams of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, so although the results were positive, they were not spectacular. Also, this fish oil was health-food grade, so higher doses would not have been tolerable. Because such a low dose of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids was used, it is not surprising that the benefits were not too dramatic. Read On

 
 
 

77 Suspects Arrested TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —  State, local and federal authorities have arrested 77 suspects on child pornography charges and rescued five young victims. Gov. Charlie Crist announced the 10-week crackdown Tuesday at a news conference with "America's Most Wanted" TV host John Walsh and Attorney General Bill McCollum. The suspects range in age from 17 to 83 and include two registered sex offenders. The last person was arrested Tuesday in Tallahassee. Walsh called the crackdown "historic" and heaped praise on Crist and McCollum, saying he hoped both Republicans will win their next political races. Crist is running for U.S. senator and McCollum for governor. AP reporting.

 
 
 
 

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