Here it is. Almost Christmas!
It's Christmas Eve in Australia.
And here is a message,
from my heart to yours:
Have a...

(Downunder perspective)
And remember...
the most important gift
you can give
is a smile
and the most important gift
you can receive
is a smile.
That may be all the Christmas
list you need.

I have to say
about your thoughtfulness~
so often your words and actions
have lifted me
without you even knowing
So I'm thanking you now.

I'm sending wishes for 
Love, Peace and Happiness
For you and yours,
in Blissfulness proportions!
Jenny

How would 'The Family' deal with the biggest climate change offenders? The following is taken from C2NN story submitted by Care2 member, Daphna
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We drive hybrids, we car pool, we opt for bicycles and/or public transportation. They(iii) burn 340,000 barrels of oil per day. We compost, recycle, and switch to CFL bulbs while they(vii) leak 27 friggin' tons of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate. How are the good guys supposed to win when faced with these kind of odds?
The late great Kurt Vonnegut once said: "There is no reason good can't triumph over evil, if only the angels will get organized along the lines of the mafia."
As they say in South Florida: Bingo.
Now, I'm not suggesting we sink toxic waste(i), indulge in wind power scams(xi), or get involved in the, uh...equine business(xiv). No, we can skip the gas guzzling cadillac but here's a offer we can't refuse: How about a protection racket for our entire eco-system?
Let's say you closely followed the recent COP15 United Nations Conference in Copenhagen and have decided to ratchet up your personal commitment to addressing the human contribution to climate change—or to put it in Vonnegut's terms, you've sided with the angels. What can you learn from the goodfellas(xii) to help the good guys (and gals, of course) win?
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5 Things the Green Movement Can Learn from The Godfather
1. It Takes a Family(xiii)
No mafia don acts alone. He gathers information, makes decisions, and delegates. All members of the family play a role in contributing towards a larger goal. In its own bizarre way, the mobster model offers a powerful lesson about collective efforts. As Michael Corleone told his brother Fredo: "Don't ever take sides with anyone against the family"(xiv)
Application: Recognize our connection to all living things and instill this ethic into the next generation.
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2. Know Who's to Blame(xv)
When a mob leader advises, "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer,"(xiv)  he might as well be pointing us in the direction of Corporate America. You see, personal choices are vital and can serve to bond the aforementioned "family" in a big way. But it's also important to stay close to those most responsible for climate change: the racketeers behind factory farming, the transport sector, etc.
Application: Don't mistake "greener" for "green"(xvi). Not buying a new pair of jeans may reduce our lifetime carbon footprint by about 900 pounds but meanwhile, Exxon-Mobil emits 138 million tons of CO2 every year. Keep making the personal changes but do so while organizing your "family" to take down the worst forms of organized global crime.
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3. Be Bigger Than the Competition
The infamous Meyer Lansky often bragged that organized crime was "bigger than U.S. Steel". Considering what we just learned about corporate culpability in the poisoning of our land, water, and air, we need to be bigger than the biggest industries. Perhaps not in a literal sense, but bigger in every other way. Al Capone called capitalism the "legitimate racket of the ruling class." If so, eco-activism is the legitimate mission of everyone else.
Application: Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers(vi) once showed that a small group of dedicated workers can defeat a large conglomerate. Don't settle for a switch to recycled toilet paper. Keep upping the ante until you're standing toe to toe with the folks described in #2 above.
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4. Don't Be Careless
As Don Vito Corleone confessed, "I spent my whole life trying not to be careless."(xiv) A good start because it's careless people who pollute, who don't recycle, who use their car for trips of 2 miles or less, who casually dismiss climate change as a hoax. A true greenie understands the consequences of her or his actions.
Application: As the New Year approaches, make time for a personal inventory to re-evaluate the green steps you are and aren't taking.

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5. Endure (iii)
We know reinventing our culture is a marathon and not a sprint.
Application: There's no time like now. What we do (or don't do) in the next few years could quite possibly tilt us all toward either the point of no return or a far more sane form of society. In other words, each and every one of us can take part in creating the most important social changes ever imagined.

Mistaking Greener for Green?(xvi) ...Recycling is okay, and you shouldn't stop doing it, but it's not the height of green life. True sustainability -- where our stuff never has to go "away" -- can only be achieved with an altered cycle that does not involve trash or recycling. Think about how much less work you'd personally have to do if you never had to take out the trash, or haul the recycling to the curb; everything would be designed for longevity, and you could either pass it on or turn it in to something more useful when you were done with it. Composting is a great example of this; nature recycles everything, and we should, too
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You want links? Fuggedaboutit, we got links:
(i) Watch video: American Gangster: The Silver Screen
(ii) Original article in PlanetGreen.Discovery by Mickey Z., NY
(iii) Deliver a Green Knockout Punch: How Rocky Balboa Inspires Us to Win
(iv) How Bruce Lee Can Help Unleash the Green Dragon Inside You
(v) Can you name the planet's biggest gas-guzzler?
(vi) Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers 
(vii) How to challenge corporate power...and fight the real source of pollution 
(viii)  multi-national corporations ravage the earth 
(ix) review of Derrick Jensen's book, As The World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial  
(x) Toxic Waste Ship Sunk by the Mafia Found in Italy - At Least 32 More Suspected 
(xi) Gangsters Go Green! Mafia Tied to Fraudulent Italian Wind Farms - Madagascar 'Timber Mafia' Thriving 
(xii) Mickey Z: My Dad and the Mob 
(xiii) Why Building Community is the Greenest Thing We Can Do
(xiv) Reference to or quote from The Godfather
(xv) Green glossary: Know Who's to Blame 
(xvi) Are You Confusing "Greener" with "Green"? 

Often very hot...it's not unusual for Christmas Day in Australia to be 40 degrees Celsius, or over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The traditional Christmas meal includes a turkey and ham dinner followed by plum pudding with brandy custard. Nowadays this heavy meal is left to "Christmas in July" celebrations, when a hot meal can be enjoyed properly. (I was going to describe it as a 'hot and heavy meal' but thought better of it)
Most Australians have their Christmas dinner at midday. Some like to be outdoors, e.g. beach, a bend in the river, or a park. Their Christmas meal might include a big feed of oysters and prawns, a turkey salad, prosciutto with rockmelon, black cherries, watermelon, and (too much) beer and wine. 
Due to fire hazard threats, open fires are often banned. This means the planned barbecue might be called off and Plan B goes into effect. The following video shows more about Christmas Aussie-Style
video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH0vMpp3ma4 
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Santa Claus has been know to arrive on a surfboard, in the back of a ute, by helicopter or in a surf lifesaving boat. Everyone's heard of the "Six White Boomers" hauling Santa's sleigh around Australia instead of the regular team of reindeer. If not, listen to the song in this video:
video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlSsffF2xhA 
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Christmas Tree
by Western Australian doctor Peter Terren, artist in electricity. See Tesla Down Under. Peter built a Tesla Christmas tree. This photo used a 91 second exposure to show it in action. He also details the project at the site.
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Carols by Candlelight
- a tradition which commenced in Melbourne in 1937 and is held every year. Thousands of people gather in the cities to sing Christmas carols and other inspiring songs. Australian celebrities get involved, e.g. Olivia Newton-John  hosted the carols in 2000.
Proceeds go to Vision Australia.
VIDEO: The Prayer- Anthony Callea, Carols By Candlelight 2004 Anthony Callea's debut single, The Prayer, created the record for the fastest-selling and highest-selling #1 single by an Australian artist
video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ap_KfD8PeI 
VIDEO: O Holy Night - Melbourne 2007, Carols by Candlelight - here are the lyrics so you can sing along...
  O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
  It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
  Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
  Till He appeared and the Soul felt its worth.
  A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
  For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
  Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angels' voices!
  O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
  O night divine!
  O night, O night divine!
video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2ZjMwxFiI 
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NSW Christmas Bush
-an Australian native plant, Ceratopetalum gummiferum Pictured is a NSW Christmas Bush in full flower. Actually in this image the flowers are all gone (they are small and cream) and the red bracts are what creates the stunning Christmas display. This stage lasts for a number of weeks on the bush and for 10 days or so once cut and put in a vase. BUT they drink copious amounts of water daily in a vase. The bush grows into a small tree.
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Perhaps Australia's worst Christmas was in 1974, when Cyclone Tracey devastated Darwin in the Northern Territory. More than 60 people were killed. Darwin Museum's exhibition: Cyclone Tracy
VIDEO: CycloneTracy 1974 (Santa Never Made It Into Darwin) Cyclone Tracy was a devastating event that affected Darwin intensely... This is a tribute to those that died in the incident, those that survived, those that helped and those that remember the power of nature.
 video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD0DRmWQ65Y  
VIDEO: Original newsreel of the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy which hit Darwin on Christmas 1974. 34 years later, these images are still as horrifying as ever.
 video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B89wBGydSvs  

 Spices halt growth of breast stem cells, study finds - Care2 News Network:

Science & Tech  (tags: science, Breast cancer, turmeric, pepper, Stem Cells )
 Jenny
-sciencedaily.com

A new study finds that compounds derived from the spices turmeric and pepper could help prevent breast cancer by limiting the growth of stem cells... they decreased the number of stem cells while having no effect on normal differentiated cells

PETITION: Pledge to Give Hope This Holiday Season

Health & Wellness
submitted by Jenny thepetitionsite.com
Last December, blood tests revealed that 7-year-old Braden (pictured) suffered from a "pre-leukemia" that unfortunately progressed to acute myeloid leukemia. A bone marrow transplant was required, but the family's insurance company refused to pay.

Check out http://www.care2.com/news/member/234119459/1330647
Please note the news so it reaches more people

Understanding Brain Fog
From About.com, written by By Adrienne Dellwo
LINK 
You can't find the right word. You can't remember how to get to the store. You forget having ever watched certain movies. Multi-tasking? Forget it! Brain fog is a tough thing to live with, but you may be able to fight it.
Brain fog (a.k.a. fibro fog, cognitive dysfunction) doesn't get enough respect and attention from the medical world, in my opinion. I know it's had a bigger impact on my ability to hold a traditional job and to write from home than any of my other symptoms have had. I can deal with pain -- heck, sometimes I write better when I'm really hurting because I have to focus more -- but I can't write through the fog!
This single symptom of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome can make people unable to keep a job, drive a car, cook for themselves, maintain relationships and more.
And yet our doctors don't know how to treat it, our researchers don't seem all that interested in it, and it's hard to find much information on how to live with and possibly improve it.
What Causes Brain Fog?
We don't yet know exactly what causes cognitive dysfunction but we have a lot of theories about possible contributing factors, including:
-- Lack of restorative sleep
-- Abnormal cranial blood flow or volume
-- Brain abnormalities
-- Premature brain aging
-- Mental distraction due to pain
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In FMS, brain fog generally is worse when pain is worse. In both FMS and ME/CFS, it can be exacerbated when you're anxious, rushed, or dealing with sensory overload. Depression, which is common in FMS and ME/CFS, also is associated with cognitive dysfunction. Some studies, however, show that the severity of brain fog is not correlated with depression symptoms.
A lot of common medications for FMS and ME/CFS can contribute to brain fog as well
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Common brain-fog supplements include:
N.B. Only use the following with your doctor's permission
•5-HTP •B vitamins •Carnitine •Choline •Omega-3 (Fish Oil) •Rhodiola •St. John's Wort •SAM-e •Theanine
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Brain friendly foods:
•Fish (Omega-3) •Canola or walnut oil (Omega-3) •Eggs (Choline) •Fruits & vegetables •Carbohydrates
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Brain Fog Symptoms 
•Word use & recall: Difficulty recalling known words, use of incorrect words, slow recall of names.
•Short-term memory problems: Forgetfulness, inability to remember what's read or heard.
•Directional disorientation: Not recognizing familiar surroundings, easily becoming lost, having trouble recalling where things are.
•Multitasking difficulties: Inability to pay attention to more than one thing, forgetfulness of original task when distracted.
•Confusion & trouble concentrating Trouble processing information, easily distracted.
•Math/number difficulties: Difficulty performing simple math, remembering sequences, transposing numbers, trouble remembering numbers.
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Some people may also have other types of cognitive dysfunction.
Brain Fog & Learning Disorders - problems are similar to those associated with disorders such as dyslexia (reading problems), dysphasia (speaking problems) and dyscalculia (math/time/spatial problems).
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If you believe you could have a recognized learning disorder, talk to your doctor. A diagnosis could help you get reasonable accommodation at work under or strengthen a disability benefits claim.

I do not condone bashing or bullying of anyone. It seems from [previous] comments that some people actually value these activities. I shake my head and wonder how much of this behaviour relates to harsh treatment in early years, i.e. "the abused become abusers".
That people think can excuse negative behaviour on religious grounds is ridiculous.
It is very disappointing that so many in America place a low value their fellow citizens. Could such people who treat others with disdain, with mental cruelty and physical harm ever be part of world peace? I doubt it. They'd always be undermining their community -  society - organization etc to feed their needs for drama.
Pvt Bethany Smith was only 19 when this happened! (see original article) I feel so bad for the poor girl, and hope she's among better people now. The US military should not discriminate against people on their sexual preferences. I'm sure in years to come this treatment of Smith and others like her will be seen as outrageous.
Anti-Gay Persecution in the U.S. Military Forces Lesbian Soldier to Seek Asylum in Canada
posted by: Steve Williams
...Smith was "outed" by a fellow soldier after being spotted holding hands with a woman in a shopping mall. Smith says that she was made to do exorbitant amounts of work by her superiors once they became aware of the incident, that the jibes from fellow soldiers increased, and that she received hundreds of threatening notes, and one anonymous letter that even threatened her life:

"It said that they were going to break into the supply room and get the keys to my room and beat me to death in my bed... It was at that point that I knew I was more afraid of the people who were supposed to be on my side than people we were supposed to be fighting overseas."
interview with Bethany Smith