inkbluesky

quartz dried berries 

 Berries beneficial for brains

The radiated rats given the regular food performed the worst on the maze test and had the lowest levels of the important brain chemical dopamine. Radiated rats fed berry extract food didn’t show any drop in dopamine and performed as well on the maze tests as rats that hadn’t been radiated.

So eat your strawberries and blueberries especially if you’ve been “radiated”. I realize rats can be nasty little critters, but with all the things that science uses them for they do seem to pay their way as a species.

About Face 

 Just a few weeks ago Dearden took the dramatic step of signing a petition to Congress–what’s being called by its organizers an Appeal for Redress–opposing the war in Iraq and calling for the withdrawal of US troops. When the Appeal is delivered to Capitol Hill in mid-January, all the names of its almost 1,000 uniformed endorsers will be seen by members of Congress, if they care to look. But with his Nation interview, Dearden is now going public. And while the military cannot take reprisals against those who have supported the Appeal, many of the signers agree that there are an infinite number of ways they can be punished, including internal evaluations, denial of promotions and harsh assignments or postings. “I’m expressing a right of people in the military to contact their elected representatives, and I have done nothing illegal or disrespectful,” says Dearden, now an anesthesiology resident at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. After two tours in Iraq attached to a Marine battalion, including participation in the initial 2003 invasion, Dearden says that signing the Appeal gave him “closure” on what he describes as very tough deployments. “It gave me peace,” he says.

Petitions like this are not common.  As the artcile points out there hasn’t been a formal protest like this by active duty personnel since Vietnam.  I have military in my family and the military does have lots of ways to make less then comfortable for people that make too many waves. One good thing is that Bush is a lame duck who doesn’t enjoy a lot of support from the Pentagon so repercussions will most likely come from the right-wing death threat crowd.

 As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.