In our daily lives, we are exposed to multiple sources of electronic magnetic fields through our televisions, radios, microwaves ovens, thunder & lightening storms, computers and yes, even our cell phones.  What kind of impact does the safety of the electronic influences in our lives have on our health?  Many people question the safety of cell phones and the alleged relationship between cell phones and cancer of the human brain.

          The question is…for those with brain tumors…how do we know for sure what is the direct source of contamination?  And really, for the patient who is diagnosed with a brain tumor…is that really their main concern?  Or do they just desire to be cured; allowing them to go on and have a productive, healthy life?  

        Scientists, who study such things as cause and effect, are very conflicted about the facts.   There are those who do the studies with a preposed starting position or belief.  A true scientist, will disregard a held belief and rely on the data as the only only truth, if the statistics are done correctly.  How does a regular person interpet these studies to make an informed decision about their own cell phone use?

           A person has to question the source of funding in many of these studies when the statistics are published proving or disproving the conclusion of the study when the final results appear to validate a self serving position.  Meaning…if a cell phone company funds the research; and it upholds their position that cell phones are safe and have absolutely no ill effects on humans, then the results have to be considered a bit one-sided. 

          On the other hand, if a company that holds a belief that cell phones are evil and that they pose the greatest risk to human health ever known to mankind, funding a research project; and, it “proves” their preposed belief…then, you have to question the results of that study as well.  Somewhere in the middle, probably lies the truth.  What is needed is a comprehensive study of research that is funded by an independent source; a research project who’s testing results will not have any bias; or, an independent source that will not benefit, in any way, from the ending results.

       If such a research project was done independently; and it said that cell phone use definately increased your risk for cancer; would you continue using it?  How many minutes or hours a day do you use a cell phone?  Or, do you avoid cell phone use?  Do you let your young children use a cell phone regularily?  Send a comment on what you think and believe about this issue?

         Many Americans have already started to alter aimless driving habits.  I see nothing wrong with that…we all could do better in planning where we go and what we do while we are out and about.  Some people are in denial about the severity of the situation regarding supply and demand as well as all of the damage to our planet that our carelessness has brought.  

         Would the general population get behind a national drive 55 speed limit?  I think it is going to take some convincing as it will be viewed by many as an inconvience after being legally allowed to drive up to 70 mph on some highways.  After all, it will take longer to get where they are going.  I think more people would be willing to do it if they felt that the automakers were doing more to ensure that we were getting more miles to the gallon by the way that they factory set the computers on our vehicles to use the gasoline we spend our hard earned dollars on.

        Back in the seventies, I remember the drive 55 campaign; it was something like, Stay Alive…Drive 55.  The focus was on safety.  There are studies that show that driving 55mph saves up to 4,000 lives a year from traffic deaths.  That is a serious number of lives that could be saved.  Is it worth the inconvience of driving a slower speed on the highway if it saves families from prematurely loosing loved ones?  I think so.  Do i WANT to be slowed down…not necessarily, however; if i stop and think that maybe one of those loved ones that could be saved could possibly be one of my own family or friends…definately, slowing down is worth the inconvience.

        Senator Warner refers to the previously mentioned studies that show that 167,000 barrels of oil a day could be saved by driving 55 mph.  With the cost over $141.00 a barrel; that could be a significant savings of both oil and money.   Is that reason enough to lower the national speed limit to 55mph?   Driving 55 instead of 70 or 75 ( we all know people drive at least 5 miles over the limit because they get away with it) can save up to 25% of the United States oil consumption.  So, maybe driving 55 will work because the oil supply is not going to last forever; it is already becoming harder to pump out of the ground because of the heavy demand.

        Looking at the impact on the Earth’s atmosphere is another area of concern regarding our usage of gas and oil without regard for long term reprecussions.  Greenhouse gasses have been poo poohed for quite while now; people are in denial about the damage our planet has sustained because of our daily choices in how we conduct our lifestyles.  That denial no longer works.  Scientists, doctors, inventors, engineers and world leaders are now getting on board with many in the general population trying to come up with ways to cut down on the damage; and, coming up with ways to heal the damage that has already been done, by making greener choices.  Coming up with alternative energy sources is a must; in the meantime, we must support ideas of utilizing the resources we have in better ways.

      Today, G-8 or Group of Eight world leaders have decided to set a goal to half the greenhouse gasses in the world by the year 2050.  This is admirable to have the wealthiest industrial countries to set the lead.  Those countries include the US, Italy, Great Britain, Japan, Russia, Germany, Canada, and France; I am happy that they are taking the bull by the horns.  However, of great concern is China which is having a surge in people who are buying and using automobiles rather than public transportation.  In China, the population is growing and the demand for gasoline is growing as well.  China is developing their roadways and highway systems and that is going to enable more people to buy vehicles; which is going to add to the demand for gasoline and oil consumption.  Awareness and cooperation, as well as, education is going to be the key to limiting the demand by consumers.   Is that reason enough for the United States to lower the speed limit to 55 mph; probably not, many will say, why limit ourselves if China won’t or some other country won’t.

        When you stop and start tallying up the reasons to lower the speed limit in the US…you start to see a pretty compelling argument for the call to slow down.  Saving lives, saving money, saving the Earth’s resources of gas and oil, limiting the damage to our environment by limiting the production of greenhouse gasses that can destroy our quality of life…together, those are all pretty darn good reasons to take life a little slower and realize that each person, each city, each state, each country or providence can combine their efforts to change the world for the better. 

         I am going to make a committment to slow down to 55.  I will rewrite my expectations of myself and plan ahead for the sacrifice of speed by leaving a bit earlier instead of driving faster.  I will encourage others to realize that they too can make changes that will benefit us all.  How about you…are you willing to endorse a drive 55 national speed limit?

       Lori Drew, and a 19 year old employee named Ashley Grills, were allegedly involved in creating a MySpace profile of a young man named “Josh Evans” who contacted Megan and initiated a online relationship.  MySpace is a social networking site.  As time went on, “Josh” became abusive online and even went so far as to say that the world would be a better place without her in it …and, that he no longer wanted to be friends with her.  Within an hour of that online conversation…Megan was dead. 

        Not long ago Ashley Grills, the 19 year old employee, did a television interview alledging that Lori Drew was involved in some of the postings.  Ms. Drew denies this…but, she has now been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization.   This whole case is tragic.

          Supposedly, according to Ms. Grills, the whole hoax was set up to find out if Megan was saying anything about Ms. Drew’s daughter.  This hoax has had horrible consequences.  Young Megan is dead, Ms. Grills is probably next in line for some kind of legal consequences unless she has procured immunity for her testimoney; Megan’s family is mourning the death of their child, Ms. Drew could end up in federal prison, and a neighborhood is torn apart as the Drew and the Meier families lived in the same neighborhood at the time of the tragedy. 

        The outcome of this case could have long lasting impact on how people conduct themselves online, in chat lines or in social networking sites.  It is imperative that people monitor their children when they are online for safety reasons.  Words have power to put down or lift up and people are going to be held accountable legally. 

       It might be a good time to remind people that we have impact on those around us…why not make it a positive IMPACT!  Check this out…  http://theimpactfactor.net?id=35.

        It seems like things are just moving so fast and there is so little time that it is a little bit creepy.  Things that are big news items one day, are not even remembered the next day because there are so many other items that are bigger, better, splashier and more exploitable each and every, new day.

         The other day i wrote here about the spy satellite with the poisionous gas that is about to enter the earth’s atmophere.  The US military plans to shoot it down this week.  They were waiting for the space shuttle to land before attempting to eliminate the threat that the satellite poses to the earth’s population. 

          The shuttle is scheduled to land tomorrow.  This is good, they will not be in firing range.  What i can’t believe is that no one is hyping the threats posed from the satellite.  No, no…the news is covered in things like Lindsey Lohan’s re-creation of a photo shoot that Marilyn Monroe shot way back in the 60′s.  Who could get through the day without having that little morsel pasted into their memory banks?

          Scandal is the name of the game.  Lord knows, if the people of earth could be in danger from the satellite….well…they must be up-to-date on the latest and greatest scandal in the news such as which particular baseball hero of the day used steriods or not, or whether Britney Spear’s dad is out on the partying circuit with Britney’s hangers on crowd, or perhaps, if a famous boxer really does dress up in fish net stockings in his private time!  These are important issues of today are they not?

          I mean who needs to know if there is some unknown government official who could be passing inspections of meat that goes into our school children’s school lunch programs, or the whole reason Fidel Castro is giving up his historical rein of power in Cuba, or how to put an end to all of these public, mass shootings, or why the economy in the US is on the verge of collapse between the mortgage nightmares…the high cost of gas and oil…the bondage of individuals and families who are ensared in a credit card debt web that they will never get out of without filing for bankruptsy…or, how to stop the exporting of jobs to other countries who can afford to pay their workers much less than US employees? 

           We each are “gifted” with such a short time here on earth that we really have to make the most of each and every day.  There is a constant demand for our attention with radio, television, newspapers and cell phones and computers…there isn’t a moment to just stop and realize how much time is wasted on things that really have no major importance.

           For each scandal that comes and goes…yes, the consequences are important.  To the people that it directly involves. 

          We have become a nation of observers of other people’s pain and misery.  When did it become a spectator sport?  If we invest time and energy to watch it…are we not morally challenged to do something about those very situations?  At the very least to pray or send good thoughts and wishes in those directions?

          Every moment of everyday…there are tragedies happening around us both in big and small ways.  There are wars, there are diseases, there are accidents, there are injustices, there are crimes of violence passed among our communities, deaths, and the list goes on.  Let us challenge ourselves not to get caught up in things that we can do nothing about. 

         If we were to focus our time and attention on reaching out to those around us and make a choice to improve our little corners of the world and make it a better place for those we meet everyday maybe “life wouldn’t fly by” so fast. 

          Helping those struggling around us often doesn’t take boat loads of money…sometimes it just takes a listening ear, or a sacrifice of a little of our time, or energy. 

           If we can wrap our minds around the concept of “spending time”/ in other words, using up what time we have alloted to us in our lives; maybe there would be a whole lot less people willing to “waste time” doing things that are un-important; or worse, damaging to ourselves and to the others around us. 

           We each have valuable talents and skills.  It is easy to get caught up in feeling depressed,sad, lost, lonely, or angry.  All of those emotions are negative and they snowball into negative actions.  Refocus and dig deep to find one positive thing to put your energy into. 

            Today it is easier than ever to get involved in positive things.  We can connect to others easily.  Find a group or organization to use what talents or skills you have.   Find a need and fill it, look for opportunities.   Be a role model to those around you.  Get involved in positive things and you will be amazed at how much happier you are.