In case you were wondering…

“Please don’t divorce…”

Infamous prosecutor Ken Starr has filed a legal brief – on behalf of the “Yes on 8″ campaign — to nullify the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in California between May and November of 2008.

Yes, they really did go there after promising repeatedly not to do this.

It’s time to put a face to Ken Starr’s shameful legal proceedings. To put a face to the 18,000 couples facing forcible divorce. To put a face to marriage equality. Because, gay or straight, YOU are the face of the Marriage Equality Movement.

The Courage Campaign just launched “Please Don’t Divorce” a community photo project. They will break your heart and have made me cry on more than one occasion.

Please click through the photos in the slideshow above and then submit your own photo, as an individual, a couple or in a group (perhaps with your family over the holidays). Take a picture holding a piece of paper that says “Please don’t divorce us,” “Please don’t divorce my moms,”"Please don’t divorce my friends, Dawn and Audrey,” “Please don’t divorce Californians” or whatever you want after “Please don’t divorce…” and send it to: pleasedontdivorce@couragecampaign.org.

(Crooks and Liars)

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Click the link to see the photos.

Isn’t this the season for love and understanding and not bigotry?

Treadmill Desks: A Healthy Alternative on the Heels of FDA Warnings of 25 Weight Loss Products

25 diet products have received stern consumer warnings from the FDA for potential dangers yet a simpler, safer, more effective solution exists.

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) December 24, 2008– Undeclared ingredients in weight loss products which could pose serious health risks motivated the FDA to warn American consumers to avoid more than two dozen weight loss products currently available in stores and online which did not need FDA approvals. Alarmingly, some of the undeclared ingredients included an anti-seizure medication and a potential carcinogen. There is a much safer alternative for weight loss which offers numerous health benefits as well: treadmill desks (http://www.trekdesk.com).

Potentially harmful ingredients contained in these products marketed as “herbal and/or natural” include phenytoin (which is an antiseizure drug), sibutramine (a controlled substance), rimonabant (not approved in the US), and phenolphthalein (suspected carcinogen).

America’s quest for effective weight loss products often leads to harmful long term effects and to date little long term success. “These tainted weight loss products pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed their maximum recommended dosages,” stated Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain powerful drugs that could cause serious health consequences. Therefore, FDA is taking this action to protect the health of the American public.”

Americans have heard all this before yet the diet pill industry in this country is more pervasive than ever before. “There has never been a healthy, long term, effective weight loss product that remotely compares to a balanced diet and the exercise benefits derived from walking,” states Steve Bordley, President of TrekDesk.com. “Study after study has shown that the weight problem in our country is correlated to significant levels of inactivity. Our bodies require much higher levels of physical activity than our busy schedules currently allow. Weight gain, ill health, depression and lost productivity are the end result and weight loss pills at best only delay and exacerbate the problem.”

Treadmill desks (http://www.trekdesk.com) offer a solution to the problem allowing employees the opportunity of completing their work and walking as much as 5-12 miles a day without sweating.

Sufficient amounts of daily walking have been shown to do much more than shed excess weight. TrekDesk offers a PDF catalog at http://www.trekdesk.com that details more than 52 important health benefits derived from daily walking.

ABOUT TrekDesk : manufacturer of the first affordable full sized, adjustable treadmill desk designed to fit an existing treadmill, allowing walking while working, weight loss without sweating and health enhancement.

CONTACT:

Steve Bordley

TrekDesk

Ph: 877-449-8588

FAX: 877-449-8588

info (at) trekdesk.com

http://www.trekdesk.com

###

Contact Information

Steve Bordley


TREKDESK.COM

http://www.trekdesk.com


877-449-8588

[Via http://www.prweb.com]

• Traumatic Brain Injury The Focus Of Special Issue Of Archives Of Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation

Boxer demands Mukasey force EPA to withdraw ‘blatantly illegal’ memo ignoring carbon emissions.

Last week, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson — citing “sound policy considerations — wrote a memo declaring “that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant to be regulated when approving power plants.” On Monday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote Johnson a letter to Attorney General Mike Mukasey demanding that he ensure that Johnson withdraw “his blatantly illegal memo“:

I am writing to request that as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, you intervene immediately with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson to ensure that he withdraws his blatantly illegal memo. […]

The Johnson document presents as arguments against including carbon dioxide emissions in a Clean Air Act permit the same kind of transparent excuses for inaction on global warming pollution that both the Supreme Court and the Environmental Appeals Board flatly rejected in their respective opinions.

Boxer points out that the memo “flies in the face” of the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision. As conservative legal scholar Jonathan Adler acknowledged, “Under that decision, the EPA is effectively obligated to begin the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.”

(Think Progress)

Persia was the biggest sensation on VH1’s 2006 reality series, “The White Rapper Show.” Her only task was battling for the winner’s spot. When she was eliminated leaving behind two contestants, her fan-base declared the reality show over. But in the real world, behind closed doors, the Far Rock, NY native was battling for her life. Entangled in an ongoing domestic dispute with her estranged ex-boyfriend who continuously threatened her life and the life of her family including her mother and six-month old daughter—without the help of law enforcement, Persia protected herself the best way she knew how.

Later that year, Persia (legal name Rachel Murcerino) was pulled over during a routine traffic stop, when officers searched her vehicle and a found a loaded weapon under her front seat. Now facing a three-and-half year prison sentence instead of the six-months promised by her lawyer if she pled guilty, she is asking for her fans’ support once again in an attempt to get her sentence reduced.

“I was involved in an abusive relationship which led to him trying to kill me. I felt I had no choice but to protect myself,” Persia said. Adding salt to an open wound, her assailant was also a police informant, leaving her feeling hopeless and even more vulnerable to his violent attacks.

According to the American Institute on Domestic Violence, “domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women.” Fearing for her safety, she left the abusive relationship only to be stalked by her assailant who continued to threaten her and her family’s lives. The torment went so far as to him boyfriend pouring gasoline besides her mother’s house as a warning if she did not return to him causing her mother to have a heart attack. He was also reported to have called the VH1 network and threatened to expose the winner of the “The White Rapper show” in order to receive money from them.

“I went into hiding but honestly, who can live like that? Someone I know bought me a gun so that I could get from my front door to my car with[out] being attacked or even killed,” Persia stated. According to the American Bar Association, nearly two-thirds of females in the United States were killed with a firearm by their domestic partner or husband in 2002.

Now, after almost two years since her legal encounter, instead of heading to the studio to work on her debut album after inking with a major record label, she is scheduled to appear at the Kingston Court House on December 12, 2008 for sentencing in Ulster County, NY for gun possession.

She is asking her fans and concerned citizens to fax letters or write to the District Attorney’s office requesting that her sentence be reduced taking into consideration she is a victim of domestic violence, a single mother of a six-month old daughter with no priors trying to protect herself and her family. The court case and District Attorney’s information is as follows:

Rachel Mucerino vs. Ulster County

D.Holley Carnright, District Attorney

Ulster County Courthouse

275 Wall Street

Kingston, NY 12401

Phone: 845-340-3280
Fax: 845-340-3185
www.myspace.com/persianyc

Hype Press Update

Bush signs law protecting retirement savings for gay couples.

Yesterday, Bush signed into law the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA), requiring employers to allow employees to roll their retirement plans over to nonspouse partners. The Human Rights Campaign hailed the bill for allowing gay couples to share benefits:

PPA [Pension Protection Act of 2006] made it possible for employers to allow any nonspouse beneficiary of an employee’s retirement plan—including an employee’s same-sex partner—to roll inherited retirement benefits directly to an individual retirement account (IRA) and avoid immediate taxation. WRERA requires that all employers provide this rollover opportunity to nonspouse beneficiaries.

(Think Progress)
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Amazing - he can act like an actual human being once in a while! Good for bush! (Never thought i would say that!)

Rove: Joe Biden Is Trying To Acquire More Power Than Dick Cheney
(Think Progress)

Rove Mocks Infrastructure Spending As ‘Goofy Pie-In-The-Sky Spending Ideas’
(Think Progress)
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And he’s still pushing for corporate tax breaks! Like that’s done so much good for our economy!