Children Who Watch Too Much TV May Have ‘Damaged Brain Structures’

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: A. Chedorros Onoky/Corbis

Photo Credit: A. Chedorros Onoky/Corbis

Watching too much television can change the structure of a child’s brain in a damaging way, according to a new study.

Researchers found that the more time a child spent viewing TV, the more profound the brain alterations appeared to be.

The Japanese study looked at 276 children aged between five and 18, who watched between zero and four hours TV per day, with the average being about two hours.

MRI brain scans showed children who spent the most hours in front of the box had greater amounts of grey matter in regions around the frontopolar cortex – the area at the front of the frontal lobe.

But this increased volume was a negative thing as it was linked with lower verbal intelligence, said the authors, from Tohoku University in the city of Sendai.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: Postal Service Ordered to Reinstate Purple Heart Recipient Fired for ‘Excessive Military Leave’

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: LA Times

Photo Credit: LA Times

Sgt. Maj. Richard Erickson was serving overseas with U.S. special forces when he received a letter from his civilian employer, the U.S. Postal Service.

In the 2000 notice, the agency informed him that he was being fired from his job as a postal clerk in Florida for taking too much time off to serve with the National Guard.

“I thought it was a joke,” Erickson said this week from Ft. Bragg, N.C., where he serves with the Army’s Special Operations Command.

But when he called the Postal Service, he was told that he had been terminated for taking “excessive military leave.”

Last week, after a seven-year legal battle, Erickson was awarded reinstatement and back pay. A federal board denied a Postal Service appeal and ordered the agency to restore his job and give him 14 years of back pay and other benefits that could total about $2 million.

Read more from this story HERE.

DOJ Wants to Know ‘Race, Sex, Disability, Age and English-Learner Status’ of Misbehaving Students

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Obama administration, concerned that “zero tolerance” policies are sending too many students to court instead of the principal’s office, on Wednesday urged schools to back off — particularly in the case of minority students and other federally protected groups.

“Racial discrimination in school discipline is a real problem today,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who joined Attorney General Eric Holder in speaking about the new guidance. Holder said “students of color and those with disabilities” often receive “different and more severe punishment than their peers.”

While the nation’s schools are under local control, they must follow federal civil rights and disability laws. And the new guidance for the nation’s schools could subject more of those schools to federal discrimination lawsuits. In fact, the crackdown already is happening, as CNSNews.com previously reported.

While the guidance is “voluntary,” it encourages schools to set up a “recordkeeping system” that tracks demographic information on misbehaving students, including their “race, sex, disability, age and English-learner status” along with the infraction, the discipline imposed, who imposed it, etc.

“Schools should establish procedures for regular and frequent review and analysis of the data to detect patterns that bear further investigation,” the guidance says.

Read more from this story HERE.

Michelle Obama Reportedly Vacationing With Oprah Winfrey at Maui Estate (+video)

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Island horses, guava cocktails, magnificent sunsets – and Oprah Winfrey!

Michelle Obama is reportedly enjoying it all at the media mogul’s swanky estate in Hawaii where the first lady is squeezing out a few more days of vacation.

President Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia returned to the White House Sunday after a two-week vacation in Hawaii, but Michelle Obama stayed behind in the Aloha State as a bit of an early birthday gift from the president.

“This was her decision to remain at, actually, the president’s suggestion in Hawaii, to spend time with friends ahead of her upcoming very big birthday,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday. “If you have kids, you know that telling your spouse that they can go spend a week away from home is actually a big present.”

She’ll be 50 Jan. 17.

Read more from this story HERE.

63-Year-Old Great-Grandmother Shoots Attempted Robber Holding Her at Gunpoint

/10 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Shreveport Times

Photo Credit: Shreveport Times

Killing anyone — let alone a teenager — was the last thing Elzie Pipkins wanted to do when she bought a handgun at a local pawn shop days after a December burglary. But a few weeks later, on Sunday evening, Pipkins found herself using that weapon to defend herself and her family — ultimately taking the life of a 16-year-old holding her at gunpoint.

“I looked him dead in his eyes, like I’m looking at you, and I said, ‘Please, please, please don’t hurt us,”’ said a tearful Elzie Pipkins as she recounted shooting Devon Antonio Young as he attempted to rob Pipkins in her home.

“I was defending myself, my grandbaby and my great-grandson. We’re innocent people and he came up on us in the house with a loaded shotgun,” she said.

The 63-year-old great-grandmother lives alone, but serves as the matriarch of a large family and often cares for the youngest members.

“I did what any parent or loved one would do and that’s try to protect her own,” said Pipkins, surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren on Monday afternoon in the living room of her home in the 3000 block of Morningside Drive.

Read more from this story HERE.

CDC: U.S. Fertility Rate Hits Record Low for 2nd Straight Year; 40.7% of Babies Born to Unmarried Women

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The fertility rate of women in the United States fell to a record low for the second year in a row in 2012, according to data released last week by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also for the second year in a row, 40.7 percent of the babies born in the United States were born to unmarried mothers.

The fertility rate is the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. In 2012–according to the Dec. 30, 2013 CDC report “Births: Final Data for 2012″–the U.S. fertility rate was 63.0. That was down from 63.2 in 2011, the previous all-time low.

“The 2012 general fertility rate (GFR) for the U.S. was 63.0 births per 1,000 women aged 15–44, down slightly (less than 1%) from the record low rate reported for the nation in 2011 (63.2),” said the CDC report.

The U.S. fertility rate has dropped from year-to-year for each of the last five years. In 2007, it was 69.3. In 2008, it was 68.1. In 2009, it was 66.2. In 2010, it was 64.1. In 2011, it was 63.2. And, in 2012, it was 63.0.

Read more from this story HERE.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Escape Poverty: Graduate, Work, Get Married, Have Kids

Fifty years ago today, in his State of the Union Address, President Lyndon Johnson declared an “unconditional war on poverty in America.”

Over the next two years, he massively expanded the federal government, creating Medicaid, Medicare and the food stamp program, and increasing federal involvement in public education.

What impact did this have on poverty?

In the mid-1960s, as measured by the Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans living in poverty was on its way down, dropping from 22.4 percent in 1959 to 14.7 percent by 1966.

MARRIED WITH CHILDREN-CHART

Yet, since Johnson declared his war on poverty in 1964, the poverty rate has never dropped below 11.1 percent (the level it hit in 1973) and there has been only one three-year period when it persisted above 15 percent.

Read more from this story HERE.

Planned Parenthood Rep: Christianity ‘Going Down’

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

For those of us so very blessed to have raised our personal white flag in mankind’s inherently fruitless struggle against the Creator, there can be no joy in watching God-deniers continue to labor under the grandest of all deceptions. Regardless of how nasty they may be as individuals, there can be only sadness, genuine pity and prayer.

Still, it is instructive.

When the atheist gives voice to his or her God-denial, it provides those in Truth a small glimpse into the same dark spirit – old as Adam – that prompted the psalmist to observe: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Valerie Tarico is one such God-denier. She’s on a fool’s errand. A steadfast disciple to the unholy trinity of “LGBT,” atheist and pro-abortion activism, Ms. Tarico proudly sits on the Board of Advocates for Planned Parenthood – America’s premier one-stop-death-shop.

For “progressives” like Tarico, the term “religious fundamentalism” is a euphemism for orthodox Christianity. In a tedious, though unintentionally funny screed recently published at Salon.com under the headline: “10 signs that religious fundamentalism is going down,” Ms. Tarico gives empty hope to her fellow hopeless with a word salad steeped in anti-Christian bigotry and wishful thinking. I share excerpts only because they so clearly encapsulate the broader secular-”progressive” mindset. Ms. Tarico’s reflections are so hyperbolic – so far removed from reality – that they require little additional commentary.

Read more from this story HERE.

Disturbing Surveillance Video Shows Bystanders Walking Over Dead Body in Convenience Store Entrance (+video)

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Opposing Views

Photo Credit: Opposing Views

Disturbing surveillance video shows the body of 24-year-old Jheryl Wright lying in the doorway of a convenience store in Kalamazoo, Michigan while customers walked by unaffected.

Wright had been gunned down at the entrance of the convenience store just minutes before what’s shown in the video, and according to reports, the store clerks didn’t even check to see if he was alive or dead. People came in and out of the store, stepped over him, and acted as if there wasn’t a dead body in front of them.

“He was a father figure, provided for his family,” said Wright’s uncle Barry. “He wasn’t a troublemaker. He wasn’t some street-type thug. I can’t say a bad thing about him.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Pediatrician: Jahi McMath is Not “Brain Dead,” Can Recover With Proper Care

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

A leading pediatrician says that Jahi McMath, who is at the center of a national debate about whether she should remain on life support, is not “brain dead” and can recover with proper care and nutrition.

Late Monday afternoon, the judge in the case granted an extension for life support after a legal request from her family’s attorney.

Dr. Paul A. Byrne, a Neonatologist who is the Director of Neonatology and Director of Pediatrics at St. Charles Mercy Hospital in Oregon, Ohio, has given a new interview to a local NBC television station. Byrne is also a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics University of Toledo College of Medicine and the past president of the Catholic Medical Association.

Byrne told the station he does not believe that brain death is “true death” and said, with “proper nutrition and care,” McMath can have meaningful recovery to the degree that she would not meet the “brain death” criteria. He also said as much in court findings that Christopher Dolan, the attorney for McMath’s family.

Read more from this story HERE.

Moving Toward Victory: Record Numbers of Surgical Abortion Clinics Close in 2013

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue

Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue

A record 87 surgical abortion clinics closed in 2013, a new study finds.

The total number of surgical abortion clinics in U.S. fell 12% to 582 in 2013 – a 73% decline from a high of 2,176 in 1991.

Texas led all states with 11 closures in 2013, most of which shut down after Texas passed an abortion law earlier this year that required abortionists to maintain local hospital privileges. New clinic safety rules in Pennsylvania and Maryland also prompted closures in those states.

“The numbers don’t lie. A 73% drop in surgical abortion clinics is a significant loss. We are witnessing the death throes of the abortion cartel,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, which conducted the study.

Read more from this story HERE.