Study: Growing Up Without a Father Transforms Children’s Brains

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Photo Credit: LifeSiteNews

Photo Credit: LifeSiteNews

A new study shows that growing up without a father not only affects behavior – it transforms children’s brain structure.

That’s the verdict reached by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center and recently published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

Researchers studied the behavior and brains of Californian mice who, like humans, are monogamous and raise their children as a unit.

Mice separated from their fathers showed greater aggression, anti-social behavior, and “abnormal social interactions” than those raised with both parents.

“The behavioral deficits we observed are consistent with human studies of children raised without a father,” said Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, the report’s lead author.

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Army May Have Overpaid $3.3M for Communications Devices for Afghan Military, DOD IG Reports

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus

In a Dec. 5 audit report on the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC), the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General said it found that the ACC “potentially overpaid up to $3.3 million for communications equipment purchased for the Afghan National Security Forces.”

The object of the IG’s investigation “determined whether the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) obtained fair and reasonable prices for communications equipment procured from Datron World Communications, Inc. (Datron),” the audit report summary states. “Specifically, we reviewed 37 contract actions, valued at approximately $328 million for 127 items, on contract W15P7T-09-D-D212 and identified 75 items with associated commercial sales, valued at approximately $219 million.”

The audit report — which is not available unless a Freedom of Information Act request is successful — states that the IG found that “contracting officers did not obtain fair and reasonable prices for communications equipment procured from Datron to support the Afghan National Security Forces.

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Tea Party Favorite Taking on Cornyn in Texas-Sized Showdown

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SteveStockmanOne of Washington’s most reliably conservative lawmakers is breaking the news that he will challenge a mainstay of the Republican establishment – all because the incumbent GOP senator “undermined Sen. Ted Cruz’s fight to stop Obamacare.”

Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, told WND exclusively that he will run against against Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in the state’s primary race. Cornyn is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2014.

With his campaign little more than an hour old, Stockman had already picked up some major support.

Jenny Beth Martin, president and co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, told WND, “Congressman Stockman has proven himself to be a fighter for freedom who votes in the House of Representatives based on constitutional principles. We need more senators who will do the same.”

Martin added, “The campaign will be interesting to watch unfold over the next few months as Stockman campaigns on these values, reminding Texans why they value their freedom and independence and why they need to change Washington, D.C., where the government has grown too big and too powerful.”

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NBC, ABC News Press White House on Secret Sebelius Meetings (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

During Friday’s White House briefing, Jonathan Karl of ABC News and Peter Alexander of NBC News both pressed White House spokesman Jay Carney on a Government Accountability Institute (GAI) report that found President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had met only once during the three and half years after the passage of ObamaCare.

After Alexander asked about the GAI report, Carney bizarrely suggested that Alexander should have called him to ask the question. Apparently, Carney would have preferred not to have to answer the question on camera — and for good reason; his answer only opened the door to more questions.

Alexander got to the heart of the matter by pointing out that President Obama’s calendar lists all kinds of meetings with other cabinet secretaries, including 277 with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And yet, although she is in charge of Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment, this calendar shows no meetings with Sebelius.

“That draws some questions about the president’s leadership skills as the chief executive,” Alexander said. “And I’m curious–” A visibly agitated Carney interrupted. “Peter, I wish you had called me beforehand,” Carney scolded. “Because I am in a very terrible charitable mood today, I won’t go too strong on this.”

Carney went on to claim that Sebelius met “often” with the president, but that those meetings were not recorded on the visitors logs or any public calendars. Carney didn’t know how many times the two had met, and did not bother to explain why these calendars record numerous other cabinet officials meeting dozens, and in some cases, hundreds of times with the president.

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Leading Authors: State Surveillance of Personal Data is Theft

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Photo Credit: The Guardian

Photo Credit: The Guardian

More than 500 of the world’s leading authors, including five Nobel prize winners, have condemned the scale of state surveillance revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden and warned that spy agencies are undermining democracy and must be curbed by a new international charter.

The signatories, who come from 81 different countries and include Margaret Atwood, Don DeLillo, Orhan Pamuk, Günter Grass and Arundhati Roy, say the capacity of intelligence agencies to spy on millions of people’s digital communications is turning everyone into potential suspects, with worrying implications for the way societies work.

They have urged the United Nations to create an international bill of digital rights that would enshrine the protection of civil rights in the internet age.

Their call comes a day after the heads of the world’s leading technology companies demanded sweeping changes to surveillance laws to help preserve the public’s trust in the internet – reflecting the growing global momentum for a proper review of mass snooping capabilities in countries such as the US and UK, which have been the pioneers in the field.

The open letter to the US president, Barack Obama, from firms including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, will be followed by the petition, which has drawn together a remarkable list of the world’s most respected and widely-read authors, who have accused states of systematically abusing their powers by conducting intrusive mass surveillance.

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Levin: ‘If This Were 1776…Chris Matthews Would Be Siding With the Crown’ Like Arnold (+audio)

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Photo Credit: markn3tel/flickr

Photo Credit: markn3tel/flickr

On his program Friday, Mark Levin said that “if this were 1775-1776 the likes of Chris Matthews would be siding with the crown.”

“He’d ultimately be the Benedict Arnold. He and his ilk,” said Levin.

Levin was discussing an interview Matthews gave earlier in the day on MSNBC’s Now with Alex Wagner in which Matthews compared Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to the last South African Apartheid-era leader, F.W. de Klerk.

Matthews said: “To set it up that way, the juxtaposition, they were willing, the McConnell people on to the far right, were willing to destroy the country in order to destroy Obama, whereas to succeed in a country he loved, F.W. de Klerk was willing to see it transformed to black rule so that it could be done successfully so that he would have his country have a better future.

“Reverend [Al Sharpton], I just, I owe it to you. I think that is the key statement about what happened yesterday, the loss of Mandela, and what his history was about, and the key statement of why this has been so poisonous the last five years. We have real people in this country with real power and status who have used that status of power to hurt the country so they could hurt the president. That’s the most damning assessment I’ve heard and I think the truest.”

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The Priest Who Faced Down the Federal Government—and Won

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Photo Credit: Nancy Reynolds for The Star-Ledger

Photo Credit: Nancy Reynolds for The Star-Ledger

The Rev. Ray Leonard knew not to wear the clerical collar identifying him as a Roman Catholic priest. It almost certainly would have gotten him deported.

He knew not to celebrate Mass, hear confession or baptize a child. The acts might have resulted in harassment—or worse, arrest and imprisonment—for the families Leonard cared about.

During a decade spent teaching and helping the needy in some of China’s most impoverished and oppressed regions, the New Jersey priest learned what it was like to live in a land without religious freedom.

It kindled a greater appreciation for his liberties at home. Which is why Leonard, 51, bristled at the U.S. government when it told him he couldn’t hold services at a Georgia naval base during October’s government shutdown. Leonard, a civilian contractor on the base, wasn’t deemed an “essential” employee.

In a case that made headlines across the country, Leonard filed suit against the Department of Defense, contending the directive violated his freedom of speech and his right to religious expression.

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Antarctica Sets Record of -135.8

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Photo Credit: 23am.com

Photo Credit: 23am.com

Feeling chilly? Here’s cold comfort: You could be in East Antarctica which new data says set a record for “soul-crushing” cold.

Try 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero; that’s 93.2 degrees below zero Celsius, which sounds only slightly toastier. Better yet, don’t try it. That’s so cold scientists say it hurts to breathe.

A new look at NASA satellite data revealed that Earth set a new record for coldest temperature recorded. It happened in August 2010 when it hit -135.8 degrees. Then on July 31 of this year, it came close again: -135.3 degrees.

The old record had been -128.6 degrees, which is -89.2 degrees Celsius.

Ice scientist Ted Scambos at the National Snow and Ice Data Center said the new record is “50 degrees colder than anything that has ever been seen in Alaska or Siberia or certainly North Dakota.”

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Research: Exercise Most Effective Lifestyle Choice for Preventing Dementia

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Photo Credit: Vince Alongi/flickr

Photo Credit: Vince Alongi/flickr

Taking regular exercise is the most effective single lifestyle choice people can make to reduce their risk of dementia, according to one of the most extensive studies yet into people’s long-term health outcomes.

The 35-year investigation, carried out by researchers at Cardiff University, found that consistently following just four out of five key behaviours could reduce dementia risk by 60 per cent, while also cutting the chance of heart disease and stroke by 70 per cent.

Of the five behaviours – exercise, not smoking, having a low bodyweight, a healthy diet and low alcohol intake – exercise was found to be the most effective at improving long-term physical and mental health.

Although the five factors will be familiar to almost everyone, researchers said they were “really amazed” by quite how beneficial they had proved to be.

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Xbox Live Among Game Services Targeted by US and UK Spy Agencies

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Photo Credit: The Guardian

Photo Credit: The Guardian

To the National Security Agency analyst writing a briefing to his superiors, the situation was clear: their current surveillance efforts were lacking something. The agency’s impressive arsenal of cable taps and sophisticated hacking attacks was not enough. What it really needed was a horde of undercover Orcs.

That vision of spycraft sparked a concerted drive by the NSA and its UK sister agency GCHQ to infiltrate the massive communities playing online games, according to secret documents disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The files were obtained by the Guardian and are being published on Monday in partnership with the New York Times and ProPublica.

The agencies, the documents show, have built mass-collection capabilities against the Xbox Live console network, which has more than 48 million players. Real-life agents have been deployed into virtual realms, from those Orc hordes in World of Warcraft to the human avatars of Second Life. There were attempts, too, to recruit potential informants from the games’ tech-friendly users.

Online gaming is big business, attracting tens of millions of users worldwide who inhabit their digital worlds as make-believe characters, living and competing with the avatars of other players. What the intelligence agencies feared, however, was that among these clans of elves and goblins, terrorists were lurking.

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