LEXINGTON, Ky. — President Bush’s nominee for surgeon general, Kentucky cardiologist Dr. James Holsinger, has come under fire from gay rights groups for voting to expel a lesbian pastor from the United Methodist Church and writing in 1991 that gay sex is unnatural and unhealthy. Also, Holsinger helped found a Methodist congregation that, according to gay rights activists, believes homosexuality is a matter of choice and can be ‘cured.’ ‘He has a pretty clear bias against gays and lesbians,’ said Christina Gilgor, director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, a gay rights group. ‘This ideology flies in the face of current scientific medical studies. That makes me uneasy that he rejects science and promotes ideology.’ Holsinger, 68, has declined all interview requests. Blair Jones, a White House spokesman, said in a telephone interview Wednesday night that Holsinger had spent his career in public service and taking care of others. ‘On numerous occasions, Dr. Holsinger has taken up the banner for underrepresented populations, and he will continue to be a strong advocate for these groups and all Americans,’ Jones said. Holsinger served as Kentucky’s health secretary and chancellor of the University of Kentucky’s medical center. […]
OTTAWA — The Green party wants Canadian drivers to pay an extra 12 cents a litre at the gas pumps as the price of averting environmental ‘catastrophe.’ Leader Elizabeth May is boasting that her party is the only one politically brave enough to call for carbon taxes that would discourage automobile use and finance other tax cuts that would allow consumers to make smarter environmental choices. ‘Right now, the Green Party of Canada is the only Canadian political party prepared to state this obvious reality,’ May said yesterday. ‘We will use those carbon taxes to reduce taxes elsewhere.’ May rolled out her party’s environmental plan yesterday in part to coincide with the G-8 meeting starting today in Germany, where Canada’s action on this issue – or lack of it – is a major story. The Green leader had harsh words for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his announced intentions to be a ‘bridge’ between countries that have signed on to the Kyoto air quality accord and the United States, which hasn’t. ‘If we stop being with the rest of the world and start siding with George Bush, we are global saboteurs and that’s what Mr. […]
Mohammed will likely become the most popular name for baby boys in Britain by the end of the year, The Times reported on Wednesday, citing government data. Though official records from the Office for National Statistics list the spelling Mohammed 23rd in its yearly analysis of the top 3,000 names given to children, when all the different spellings of the name are taken into account, it ranks second, only behind Jack, according to The Times. There are various different spellings of the name because when it is transliterated into English from Arabic, families spell it as closely to their own pronunciations as possible. In total, 5,991 baby boys were given some version of the name Mohammed, with 6,928 baby boys named Jack. Thomas was third with 5,921 names, with Joshua and Oliver rounding out the top five. According to The Times, if the growth of the name Mohammed continues — it rose by 12 percent last year — the name will take the top spot by the end of this year.
LONDON — British scientists plan to use stem cells to cure a common form of blindness, with the first patients receiving test treatment in five years. The pioneering project, launched on Tuesday, aims to repair damaged retinas with cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. Its backers say it involves simple surgery that could one day become as routine as cataract operations. They believe the technique is capable of restoring vision in the vast majority of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among the elderly that afflicts around 14 million people in Europe. Some drugs, like Genentech’s Lucentis, can help the one in 10 patients with so-called ‘wet’ AMD and U.S. biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology is looking at stem cells in other eye conditions. But there is no treatment for the 90 percent with ‘dry’ AMD. AMD is caused by faulty retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, which form a supporting carpet under the light-sensitive rods and cones in the retina. The new procedure will generate replacement RPE cells from stem cells in the lab, with surgeons then injecting a small patch of new cells, measuring 4 by 6 millimetres, […]
NEW YORK — More than 170 restaurants in New York City are giving up their cooking oil to a non-profit organization, which then sells the cooking grease to a bio-diesel manufacturer on Long Island. The Doe Fund designed the program to help restaurants get rid of their leftover cooking oil, promote recycling, and help the homeless. After restaurants collect barrels of vegetable oil, the oil is sucked up into a truck and brought to a plant in Long Island. From there, it is converted into bio-diesel fuel. Program officials say the fuel burns 78 percent cleaner than regular gas. And with money going to help the homeless, officials say it’s a win-win situation. The cooking grease can be useed in diesel engines and in home heating units that burn fuel oil.
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
