­by an unknown writer

An unidentified motorist fills his car up with gas.  (PHOTO BY WIRE SERVICES)

I don’t know what you guys are paying for gasoline… but here in California we are paying up to $3.75 to $4.10 per gallon. My line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money’s worth for every gallon:

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA, we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline… One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening… your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it  minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up; most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. To have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It’s really simple to do.

I’m sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)… and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) and so on, by the time the message ­reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!!! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it… T H R E E H U N D R E D MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would it take?

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published first by Soul Guidance

The foods that natural man ate contained only small amounts of sugar, and as these were absorbed from the stomach and intestines, his appetite disappeared when the sugar reached the bloodstream.

Some would be the sugars contained in the food, but most would come from the breakdown of starch. Starch is a complex chain made up of sugar units which are broken off one at a time by the digestive enzymes so that they reach the bloodstream over a period of time. As one digests the starch he also digests and absorbs the numerous other nutrients which he needs.

Later, when man discovered how to extract the sugar from plants, he could eat straight sugar. In this form sugar is immediately absorbed by the body, hunger disappears immediately and there is a quick rush of energy, but also a period of exhaustion and weakness afterwards. This weakness leads to a craving for another dose of sugar, and this is how sugar addiction starts.

What is commonly known as white sugar is also called sucrose, a highly refined product, and a pure chemical product. Brown sugar is sucrose with the addition of a small amount of molasses. Sucrose is present (that is, added to) a lot of foods. I knew that there is a lot of sugar in soft drinks and jam for example, but to my surprise I learned that sugar is also added to bread, meat products, processed vegetables and even some tooth paste!

It is widely known that white sugar is bad for teeth, but the consumption of white sugar has more, far reaching consequences. The metabolism of sugar requires accessory nutrients which are involved in its combustion, including vitamins, minerals and even some protein and fat molecules.

­These elements are depleted by the consumption of refined sugar. When eating sugar becomes a habit, the supply of vitamins and minerals is used up, and eventually such nutrients must be pulled from tissues in the body in order to continue support of the metabolic activities fueled by sugar.

Even though most people are aware only of the weight gained consumption of quantities of refined sugar, it can result in the body becoming increasingly deficient in important nutrients. In some cases only a limited amount of the sugar is burned since one feels too tired to be very active. Without the desire for exercise, much of the sugar is stored away as fat.

The result is an unnatural obesity that has come to characterize those who regularly consume soft drinks, candy and so on, incurring a nutrient debt which they never pay off. Hunger and craving for more food goes along with it as the body searches for what it really needs. With modern refined foods (which by themselves have a shortage of vitamins and minerals), especially those containing a large amount of sugar, obesity and malnutrition may occur together. Eating more this way will not improve one’s health, on the contrary.

I have also found that studies have shown that eating white sugar and other sweets can in effect “paralyze” the white blood cells for half an hour or more. Any interference with the white blood cells’ work can result in an infection or overgrowth of normal micro-organisms. The toxins produces by the infecting organism can further strain an already overloaded lymph system and make the immune system even weaker. I grew up with white sugar, present in all the foods and candy I was eating. That is why all my molars have dental fillings. I slowly changed over to a more healthy diet, and at present I rarely eat something that has white sugar in it. My tooth decay has drastically dropped. Last time I needed dental work was to replace an old filling. When you buy your food read the labels to see how much white sugar it contains. Try to limit it as much as possible!

A natural sweetener you could use is Stevia, a sweet product with a taste close to sugar, made from the Stevia plant. It also comes in liquid form and can be found in health food stores. Info about Stevia: http://www.stevia.net/

The material in this site is provided for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for consultation by a healthcare provider. Please consult your own physician or appropriate healthcare provider about the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your own symptoms or medical conditions.

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Daniel Ortega

The ruling Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) on Feb. 26 declared President Daniel Ortega its presidential candidate ahead of the 6 November 2011 elections. Ortega’s bid for the presidency is unconstitutional and the most glaring example to date of the lack of constitutional checks and balances in Nicaragua. The domestic and international response to his efforts to perpetuate himself in power could prove critical for democracy in the region.

Arab revolutions raise questions about democracy and autocracy

Seismic historical shifts in North Africa and the Middle East are being felt in Latin America.

The differing reactions to uprisings in Egypt and Libya, depending upon whether the despot in question has ‘imperialist’ links to the US, Hosni Mubarak, or dim and distant ‘revolutionary’ credentials, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, have exposed some rank hypocrisy in Cuba and Nicaragua. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, who has made a habit of courting unsavoury dictators, including Gaddafi, has astutely decided to keep his own  counsel on Libya. It is probably not coincidental, however, that hunger striking students should have chosen this moment to pressure the Venezuelan government to release ‘political prisoners’, or that both the US and the Organization of American  States (OAS) are now raising concerns about the shortcomings of Venezuelan democracy.

What the Arab revolutions mean for Latin America

Latin America, which has longstanding links to the Arab world, is likely to ­play a major political role in the international community’s reaction to the revolutions in the Arab world. Latin America is also likely to benefit, economically, from the unrest in the Arab world, as international oil companies, especially, switch from looking for oil in places like Libya, Algeria and Egypt which now seem deeply unstable. Politically the unrest in the Arab world gives Latin America a platform to demonstrate its democratic, environmental and human rights credentials.

Traditionally countries in Latin America have been reluctant to take principled positions on unrest in other countries, largely because they did not welcome other countries commenting on, or worse investigating, what was happening inside their own countries.

Military given indefinite role in combating organised crime

There is no end in sight to the use of the armed forces in combating organised crime in El Salvador. That uncompromising message might have been expected from the lips of any previous president in El Salvador’s history but instead it came from the mouth of President Mauricio Funes, the country’s first left-wing head of state. Speaking in late January during a military promotion ceremony, Funes said he would use the armed forces “indefinitely” with the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC). He said the battle against organised crime did not have “deadlines” but rather “objectives”.

His state security strategy is very similar to that being carried out by the centre-left President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, where the military had also retreated from public life after a long civil war but is now playing an increasingly active role.

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by Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars.com

The American Empire is failing. A number of its puppet rulers are being overthrown by popular protests, and the almighty dollar will not even buy one Swiss franc, one Canadian dollar, or one Australian dollar.

Despite the sovereign debt problem that threatens EU members Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, it requires $1.38 dollars to buy one euro, a new currency that was issued at parity with the U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar’s value is likely to fall further in terms of other currencies, because nothing is being done about the U.S. budget and trade deficits. Obama’s budget, if passed, doesn’t reduce the deficit over the next ten years by enough to cover the projected deficit in the FY 2012 budget. Indeed, the deficits are likely to be substantially larger than forecast. The military/security complex, about which President Eisenhower warned Americans a half century ago, is more powerful than ever and shows no inclination to halt the wars for U.S. hegemony.

The cost of these wars is enormous. The U.S. media, being good servants for the government, only reports the out-of-pocket or current cost of the wars, which is only about one-third of the real cost. The current cost leaves out the cost of lifelong care for the wounded and maimed, the cost of life-long military pensions of those who fought in the wars, the replacement costs of the destroyed equipment, the opportunity cost of the resources wasted in war, and other costs. The true cost of America’s illegal Iraq invasion, which was based entirely on lies, fabrications and deceptions, is at least $3,000 billion according to economist Joseph Stiglitz and budget expert Linda Bilmes.

The same for the Afghan war, which is ongoing. If the Afghan war lasts as long as the Pentagon says it needs to, the cost will be a multiple of the cost of the Iraq war.

There is not enough non-military discretionary spending in the budget to cover the cost of the wars even if every dollar is cut.

As long as the $1,200 billion ($1.2 trillion) annual budget for the military/securitycomplex http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175361/ is off limits, nothing can be done about the U.S. budget deficit except to renege on obligations to the elderly, confiscate private assets, or print enough money to inflate away all debts.

The other great contribution to the U.S. deficit is the offshoring of production for U.S. markets. This practice has enriched corporate management, large shareholders, and Wall Street, but it has eroded the tax base, and thereby tax collections, of local, state, and federal government, halted the growth of real income for everyone but the rich, and disrupted the lives of those Americans whose jobs were sent abroad.

-When short-term and long-term discouraged workers are imporadded to the U.3 measure of unemployment, the U.S. has an unemployment rate of 22 percent. A country with more than one-fourth of its work force unemployed has a shrunken tax base and feeble consumer purchasing power. To put it bluntly, the $3 trillion cost of the Iraq war, as computed by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, is 20 percent of the size of the U.S. economy in 2010.

In other words, the Iraq war alone cost Americans one-fifth of the year’s gross domestic product. Instead of investing the resources, which would have produced income and jobs growth and solvency for state and local governments, the U.S. government wasted the equivalent of 20 percent of the production of the economy in 2010 in blowing up infrastructure and people in foreign lands. The U.S. government spent a huge sum of money committing war crimes, while millions of Americans were thrown out of their jobs and foreclosed out of their homes.

The bought-and-paidfor Congress had no qualms about unlimited funding for war, but used the resulting “debt crisis” to refuse help to American citizens who were out of work and out of their homes.

The obvious conclusion is that “our” government does not represent us.

by Shona Botes

Natural News

Canola oil and canolabased products have been at the centre of controversy for quite a few years. While some say that it helps to lower cholesterol levels, it actually has a few nasty side-effects as well (note: Only animal studies have been done regarding the toxic effects that it has on living organisms). Despite no human studies being done, this product was placed on the GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) list. It is in fact a by-product of a highly toxic insecticide product. The real name for Canola oil is LEAR, or Low Erucic Acid Rape, as it has been extracted from Rapeseed oil.

This oil is in fact an industrial oil product which has no place whatsoever in our bodies. In light industry, it is also referred to as penetrating oil. Rapeseed oil is also the source for Mustard Gas, which was used as a chemical warfare agent, and was banned after Word War 1 for causing severe blistering of  the lungs and skin.

Canola is in fact a Genetically Modified food which has been classified as a bio pesticide by the EPA. Like mercury and fluoride, Canola is also not eliminated from the body.

It is found in almost all fast foods, convenience foods, chocolate, candies, bread, potato chips, baby foods and formulas, most peanut butters and cookies, frozen French fries, rye breads, chocolate syrups, mayonnaise, granola bars, some vegetarian convenience foods, lunch meats, margarines, movie house snacks, tortillas and most other bakery foods.

Studies done on rats and other lab animals showed that after consuming canola oil, there were fatty deposits that accumulated on their hearts, thyroids, adrenal glands and kidneys. When they stopped consuming this oil, the fatty deposits disappeared, but unfortunately scar tissue remained on the affected organs.

Because it is high in glycosides, canola oil has been shown to inhibit enzyme function. Its effects are known to be accumulative, resulting in side-effects taking years to show up. It is also able to inhibit the metabolism of foods. Being a trans-fatty acid, it is also possible that this man-made oil has a direct link to causing cancer (even from just breathing in the toxic fumes created when frying foods in it). Rapeseed oil is an ­acetyl cholinesterase inhibitor. This compound is crucial when it comes to transmitting signals from the nerves to the muscles. This is possibly why there has been a dramatic increase in cases of multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy over the past few years. Other sideeffects which have been reported include respiratory illnesses, loss of vision, constipation, anemia, heart disease, irritability and low birth weight in infants. It is known to severely deplete Vitamin E levels in the body, as well as cause severe clotting of red blood cells, which can pose a serious health risk. The best way to avoid consuming this toxic industrial by-product is to prepare meals yourself from scratch, and especially avoid fast foods at all costs.

[Editor`s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and wellbeing of all living creatures.]

by wires and El Reportero’s staff

Hotel workers gather at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara.: (PHOTO BY KATY ROSE/LOCAL2)

What seems to be an ongoing, never-ending battle, Hyatt Regency Hotel workers continue rallying to denounce unfair labor practices by their employer.

During a recent rally in front of the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, ­approximately 200 workers marched and announced the launching of a boycott against the hotel.

“Hyatt doesn’t respect our rights,” said Leoncia Rodríguez, a housekeeper who has worked at the Hyatt Regency for seven years, read a Local 2 written statement.

“They won’t commit to letting us organize freely, without intimidation. In the meantime, we are overworked and we get hurt. This is why we are calling a boycott and letting customers know: Don’t eat, meet, or sleep at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara!”

The Hyatt Regency workers have organized for over two years to secure a “fair process in their attempt to form a union,” said the statement.

Among the efforts carried out by the worker, they have called for customers to honor the boycott at the property by refusing to book rooms, hold events, or spend any money at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara until a fair process is secured. “Hyatt workers just want a fair and democratic process. Hyatt has had plenty of time to decide to be fair, but they haven’t budged.” said Enrique Fernández, business manager of Local 19, in the statement.

“This boycott turns up the heat on Hyatt. The company can end the boycott today just by agreeing to let their employees organize freely through a card-check neutrality agreement.”

According to the statement, Hyatt Regency Santa Clara workers began orgorganizing in 2008 because they face excessive workloads, low wages, lack of respect, and a lack of quality, affordable health care.

For example, housekeepers are expected to clean at least 16 rooms in a single 8-hour shift, making up to 32 beds with 96 pillows and 128 sheets.

­Many housekeepers surveyed at the Hyatt Santa Clara reported daily workplace pain or injury. Further, the average weekly wages of non-unionized hotel andmotel workers in Santa Clara County is a mere $538.00.

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