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Gov. Sarah Palin Accepts Republican Vice Presidential Nomination (AHN)

(AHN) - Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin took to the stage Wednesday evening in St. Paul, Minnesota to accept the Republican nomination for vice president of the United States, amid a standing ovation. "I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States," Palin said. "I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America." - Wed, 3 Sep 2008 23:13:54 GMT

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American Teenage Suicide Rate Remains High (AHN)

(AHN) - Teen suicides in the United States jumped sharply in 2004 and 2005, well above expected levels for a second straight year, according to the American Medical Association. - Tue, 2 Sep 2008 23:30:17 GMT

Harper's Weekly for September 2, 2008

Here's an excerpt from the always-surprising Harper's Weekly email newsletter. A United Nations investigation of last week's coalition airstrikes in Afghanistan found that the United States had killed 90 civilians, including 60 sleeping children, and Nigerian religious leader Mohammadu Bello Abubakar, who is 84, accepted an Islamic decree that would force him to divorce 82, or 95 percent, of his 86 wives. An Australian plastic surgeon who received oral sex from a patient before providing her with a nose job was fighting to keep his medical license. "Knowing her nose better than anyone else," said Dr. Martyn Mendelsohn, "I was in a unique position to take care of the problem." A man concerned that he had injected air into his veins while shooting cocaine tried to amputate his own arm with a butter knife, and then a butcher knife, at a Denny's Restaurant in California, and European officials warned that Botox injections could have dangerous side effects, including death. Nearly half a million people in developing nations were manufacturing virtual weapons and mounts to sell to players of online video games such as World of Warcraft, and the Pentagon launched a program that aims to create an artificial brain within the next decade. Harper's Weekly for September 2, 2008...

Stressed mothers may raise fat children: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Millions of poor children in the United States may be getting fat before age 10 because their mothers are stressed out and the youngsters seek escape in unhealthy comfort food, researchers said on Tuesday.

Thinking Critically About Statistics

(This is a guest post by Julie Lorenzen.)This past winter an idea I had fell short of being accepted during a meeting of my autism awareness committee on the campus of Central Michigan University. My idea was to create bulletin boards that veered away from statistics and focused on individuals instead because I think that advocates in the United States rely too much on numbers.I was visualizing outlines of hands or maybe stars that featured respective traits of a variety of local individuals (no names included) to emphasize that people on the spectrum do not fit into any particular mold. I like to think of people as snowflakes with no two individuals being exactly alike (this is not exclusive to just the folks on the spectrum).However, another person on the committee with a bit more clout than me had a different idea. This committee member wanted CMU students to create the boards using stats. I was disappointed, but the diplomat in me knows to choose battles wisely. So I backed down as I had plenty of other ideas for activities that could be put into action with little conflict.In the end the idea of creating the bulletin boards fell through for many different reasons, but we did end up with almost two dozen posters created by college students. Ninety percent or more featured the statistics related to autism. A few of them had this stat: Autism occurs in 1 in 150 births. I knew that statistic came from the Center of Disease Control, but always wondered how it came into being. Now I have better knowledge of the origin of that statistic thanks to the author of the blog, translating autism (http://www.translatingautism.com/2008/04/autism-rates-in-usa-where-did-1-in-150.html). The author recently wrote a great post that constructively criticizes the use of the 1 in 150 statistic.Here is a summation of the author?s thoughts:?Things to keep in mind:- This report was based ONLY on children born in 1994. Thus it is possible that the rates could not apply to other cohorts.- The differences in prevalence rates between States with and without access to educational records could suggest that 1) the overall rate is an underestimate because some sites only had access to health records, or 2) that the overall rate is an overestimate because some sites included cases ascertained from educational records which may be less reliable than health records.- This rate of 1 in 150 does not refer to new cases of autism, or total cases in the population. It only speaks to cases among 8 year old children in 2002.?My thoughts on the use of statistics: I don?t know if I?ll ever be able to convince fellow committee members to veer away from using statistics. The use of stats to back a cause (not just autism!) seems to be ingrained in the culture of advocacy. Additionally, the 1 in 150 statistic is the first one featured on the facts and statistics site for Autism Society of America (http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FactsStats), an organization with which my group is affiliated.The bottom line is that this statistic takes center stage in terms of autism awareness. It?s going to be difficult to get certain key people to admit that this stat may not actually reflect reality. Some people do not like to admit that they are incorrect. I?m not certain, but I?m suspecting it may be awhile before the use of critical thinking replaces the liberal use of statistics in regard to advocacy.

American Secession Project Status

It seems appropriate at some point in the course of a project like this to step back and evaluate the progress that has been achieved. This project began in earnest on May 27, 2004. The original charter of the project is exactly the same today as it was almost three and a half years ago, that is:...to place the concept of secession in the mainstream of political thought. Our intent is to proclaim that secession is a viable and legal right and a practical solution to contemporary problems. Secondly, we desire to build a coalition of groups seeking autonomy and independence within the current United States. Mutual support for the concept of self-determination and secession will eventually benefit all groups seeking freedom.How exactly has the project measured up in achieving this goal you might ask. Certainly much has been accomplished over all in terms of placing secession closer to mainstream thought and certainly coalitions have begun to form with the notion of mutual support. These are wonderful events, two national Secessionist Conventions have occurred since the formation of the ASP. It would be dishonest, and narcissistic, to believe that the ASP actually had much or anything to do with this progress. Our great allies in this struggle accomplished these feats, we owe much to The Middlebury Institute, The Vermont Commons, The League of The South and the Second Vermont Republic. One cannot mention the current secession movement in America without thinking of Kirkpatrick Sale, he has been the most vocal advocate for secession as a legitimate and legal resource of the people and states over the last three years. There are of course many others that have championed this cause and forced the issue into the national media. Cory Burnell was the driving force and face and voice of Christian Exodus - this forced the issue of secession into the news media. The League of The South published the Grey Book, a manifesto for Southern Independence, and groups in Hawaii and other states expanded their membership base.Still you ask, what exactly has the ASP done to further the cause and accomplish our charter? Our accomplishments have been small compared to our allies - this much is certain. We are not ashamed of this, in fact we rejoice that we are not a lone voice in the wilderness. We take great pride in being part of something that will ultimately, we believe, change the very nature of human liberty and government on the American continent.Our meager accomplishment:44, 315 unique visitors to our main site - this is of course a small number of hits considering the time frame but we do receive a lot of email, much from students doing research for school. A visit to our site is often the first honest treatment of secession these young minds have ever experienced.Published The Secessionist Papers, a collection of 20 essays dealing with numerous aspects of secession. The list of contributors that have agreed to participate includes notable authors such as Dr. Walter Brock, Dr, Thomas E. Woods, Kirkpatrick Sale and Thomas J. DiLorenzo.Created the States' Rights Bloggers' Alliance, a coalition of 30 blogs dealing with the issue of States' Rights specifically and secession occasionally.Published the Declaration of States' Rights, with 235 signatures collected thus far.Started an ASP Google Mail list Group with 31 members, small but growing.Operated four blogs with a total of 53,342 unique visitors during the period. (visit The League of The Scarlet Pimpernel for our 'freshest' content)Participated in two doctoral research projects concerning secession issues.What do we hope to accomplish over the next three years (and how you can help)Gather 10,000 signatures for the Declaration of States' Rights. How? See below.Get some governmental body - state legislature or even county council - to pass a resolution supporting the Declaration of States' Rights. Why? A resolution of support would of course not make this law but it certainly would make news and it would be a step in the right direction to have a local government stand up and say that enough is enough.Breath life into this particular blog with regular updates on secession issues in America and around the world.Expand the States' Rights Bloggers' Alliance by actively engaging like minded bloggers across the blogsphere and encouraging them to join with us in this important discussion.Create Volume II of the Secessionist Papers , written and published for the common man.How do you help?We need a blogger, someone familiar with the blogsphere that has the time, energy and commitment to dedicate to this blog and the States' Rights Bloggers' Alliance (or a team of bloggers). This person or people must be willing to update regularly to the blogs with fresh content and be willing and able to tactfully engage others on their blogs via comments and trackbacks. Interested? Please email.State organizations already exist in many states, The Declaration of States' Rights is an easy tool to build consensus in states where organizations do not already exist. We need people that love their states to stand up and engage their neighbors. Encourage them to sign the declaration, encourage your county council to pass a resolution supporting the Declaration. All politics are local, stand up and act locally, realizing that others will support you by acting locally in their homes and states. Real freedom in our time will not be achieve without such overt acts.Encourage like-minded writers, academics, and even lawyers to submit new essays for Volume II of the Secessionist Papers. Our message must cover the entire spectrum of the issue, current political troubles, historical precedence as well and legal and Constitutional interpretations. A movement like this cannot move forward without such a philosophical underpinning.Bottom line ---- Get Involved!

KTM's 240-Horsepower X-Bow Coming to America

KTM is best known here in the states for rip-snorting dirt bikes and the go-anywhere, do-anything Adventure motorcycle, but the Austrian firm also builds a 240-horsepower tarmac-terrorizing car that it now plans to bring to America -- and make street legal. It's an about-face for the company, which had long said it would offer the X-Bow only in Europe and Asia and only as a track day weapon that couldn't (legally) be driven on the street. "We will do whatever is possible to bring the car to the United States -- that I promise," says Hubert Trunkenpolz, managing director of U.S. sales and service, according to Dealer News. There's already a long line of people waiting to get one.Dealer News says 600 people have expressed interest in buying one of the cars, which feature the same 240-horsepower (Hell for Leather says it's 237, but what's a couple of horsepower here or there?) 2.0-liter turbocharged engine used in the Volkswagen GTi. "We need the support of the VW/Audi Group and we need  to overcome some legal hurdles regarding licensing, but at the end of the day we want to see this vehicle on the streets of America," Trunkenpolz says. So do we, because the X-Bow (Crossbow) is supposed to be a blast to drive. With a carbon-fiber monocoque and minimal accoutrements, the X-bow weighs 1,543 pounds -- about 500 pounds less than the Lotus Elise SC. The chassis was developed with help from Italian race-car builders Dallara and Loris Bicocchi, who had a hand in making the Bugatti Veyron and other superexotics handle so beautifully. The chassis produces enough downforce to achieve 1.5-g cornering loads, and the X-Bow accelerates from zero to 62 mph (100 kph) in 3.92 seconds. That's just a few ticks shy of the Ferrari Enzo. Evo magazine put an X-Bow through its paces and called it "terrific." KTM plans to build 1,000 X-Bows a year at a plant in Graz, Austria. No word on when it'll arrive in the states, but Hell for Leather predicts we'll see it in 2010. It remains to be seen what they'll cost, but they go for about $70,000 in Europe.