White House Scraps Bush’s Approach to Missile Shield (President Obama scrapped his predecessor’s proposed antiballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe) By PETER BAKER

WASHINGTON — President Obama scrapped his predecessor's proposed antiballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe on Thursday and ordered instead the development of a reconfigured system designed to shoot down short- and medium-range Iranian missiles.

In one of the biggest national security reversals of his young presidency, Mr. Obama canceled former President George W. Bush's plans to station a radar facility in the Czech Republic and 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland. Instead, he plans to deploy smaller SM-3 interceptors by 2011, first aboard ships and later in Europe, possibly even in Poland or the Czech Republic.

President Barack Obama spoke about the missile shield at the White House on Thursday.
Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates with Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Mr. Obama said that the new system "will provide stronger, smarter and swifter defenses of American forces and America's allies" to meet a changing threat from Iran. Administration officials cited what they called accumulating evidence that Iran had made more progress than anticipated in building short- and medium-range missiles that could threaten Israel and Europe than it had in developing the intercontinental missiles that the Bush system was more suited to counter.

But the decision churned domestic and international politics as Republican critics at home accused Mr. Obama of betraying allies and caving in to Russian pressure, while officials in Eastern Europe expressed discomfort and confusion at the dramatic shift. President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, who is to meet with Mr. Obama in New York next week, reacted cautiously as Moscow tried to determine whether the new system was less threatening to its own security.

Mr. Obama's transformation of the missile defense program is one of his administration's sharpest revisions of the national security policy he inherited from Mr. Bush. At the same time, he resisted pressure from liberals in his party to eliminate the program altogether and he produced an alternative that effectively guaranteed that the United States would deploy some form of European antimissile shield in the near future.

"President Bush was right that Iran's ballistic missile program poses a significant threat," Mr. Obama said. But he said the new assessment of the Iranian threat required a different system using existing technology. "This new approach will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems and offer greater defenses against the threat of missile attack than the 2007 European missile defense program," he said.

The White House adamantly denied that its decision had anything to do with Russian objections to Mr. Bush's program and said that the United States would continue developing the larger interceptors in case it eventually needed to deploy them. The administration also scrambled to reassure Poland and the Czech Republic that it was not abandoning them.

Mr. Obama called the leaders of both nations to reaffirm what he called "our deep and close ties," and publicly reiterated America's commitment under Article 5 of the NATO treaty to come to their defense in the event of an attack. Aides said that Mr. Obama would keep Mr. Bush's promise to provide a Patriot antimissile battery to Poland.

Yet even as it sought to calm Warsaw and Prague, the administration hoped to use the policy change to mitigate Israel's desire to take military action against Iran's nuclear complexes as Iran comes closer to building a warhead and mounting it on a missile. "We hope that it will reassure them that perhaps there's a little more time here," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said of the Israelis.

The decision drew immediate Republican criticism. "Scrapping the U.S. missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic does little more than empower Russia and Iran at the expense of our allies in Europe," said Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader. "It shows a willful determination to continue ignoring the threat posed by some of the most dangerous regimes in the world."

Eric S. Edelman, the under secretary of defense under Mr. Bush, said in an interview that the decision had "good news and bad news."

"It's better, obviously, to have some missile defense capability there now," he said. But he said the move would "raise questions" about American commitments and make it harder for the United States to change course if Iran later developed longer-range missiles. "There are going to be enormous repercussions to this decision that will ripple out," he said.

Mr. Obama stressed that Mr. Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff supported the decision, and he sent Mr. Gates, a Republican first appointed by Mr. Bush, to discuss the decision with reporters. Mr. Gates said that the new system would put defenses in place seven years earlier than the Bush plan. While no longer deploying the original interceptors in Poland, the United States "would prefer to put the SM-3s in Poland," Mr. Gates said.

"Those who say we are scrapping missile defense in Europe are either misinformed or misrepresenting the reality of what we are doing," Mr. Gates said. He added that the new configuration "provides a better missile defense capability" for Europe and American forces "than the program I recommended almost three years ago."

Mr. Gates and other officials said Iran was moving quickly toward a workable arsenal of missiles that could strike Israel and Europe. In May, Iran launched the Sejil-2, a successful test of a two-stage solid-fuel missile with an estimated range of 1,200 miles. Unlike Iran's liquid-fuel missiles, a solid-fuel missile can be stored, moved and fired on shorter notice, and thus is considered a greater threat.

The administration's new four-phase plan would deploy existing SM-3 interceptors using the sea-based Aegis system in 2011, then deploy an improved version in 2015 both on ships and on land. Rather than the 10 bigger interceptors originally envisioned for Poland, there could be 40 to 50 of the smaller missiles on land by then and more on ships. A more advanced version would be deployed in 2018 and yet another generation in 2020, the latter with more capacity to counter intercontinental missiles.

The interceptors Mr. Bush wanted to put in Poland would not have been deployed until 2018, officials said. The SM-3 missiles have had eight successful tests so far, and were used to shoot down a satellite, although critics said the missiles have not had to cope with the sort of decoys enemies might use. Instead of the sophisticated radar proposed for the Czech Republic, officials said they would rely more on a limited version in Turkey or the Caucasus, as well as satellites and newly developed airborne sensors.

In Moscow, Mr. Medvedev offered a measured reaction. "We appreciate the responsible approach of the U.S. president toward implementing our agreements," he said on national television. "I am prepared to continue this dialogue."

Peter Baker reported from Washington and Nicholas Kulish from Berlin. Judy Dempsey contributed reporting from Berlin, and Clifford J. Levy from Moscow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/world/europe/18shield.html?bl=&pagewanted=print

MF/News: Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary Dies at 72, By WILLIAM GRIMES

Mary Travers, whose ringing, earnest vocals with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary made songs like "Blowin' in the Wind," "If I Had a Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" enduring anthems of the 1960s protest movement, died on Wednesday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut. She was 72 and lived in Redding, Conn.

The cause was complications from chemotherapy associated with a bone-marrow transplant she had several years ago after developing leukemia, said Heather Lylis, a spokeswoman.

Ms. Travers brought a powerful voice and an unfeigned urgency to music that resonated with mainstream listeners. With her straight blond hair and willowy figure and two bearded guitar players by her side, she looked exactly like what she was, a Greenwich Villager directly from the clubs and the coffeehouses that nourished the folk-music revival.

"She was obviously the sex appeal of that group, and that group was the sex appeal of the movement," said Elijah Wald, a folk-blues musician and a historian of popular music.

Ms. Travers's voice blended seamlessly with those of her colleagues, Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey, to create a rich three-part harmony that propelled the group to the top of the pop charts. Their first album, "Peter, Paul and Mary," which featured the hit singles "Lemon Tree" and "If I Had a Hammer," reached No. 1 shortly after its release in March 1962 and stayed there for seven weeks, eventually selling more than two million copies.

The group's interpretations of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" translated his raw vocal style into a smooth, more commercially acceptable sound. The singers also scored big hits with pleasing songs like the whimsical "Puff the Magic Dragon" and John Denver's plaintive "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

Their sound may have been commercial and safe, but early on their politics were somewhat risky for a group courting a mass audience. Like Mr. Yarrow and Mr. Stookey, Ms. Travers was outspoken in her support for the civil-rights and antiwar movements, in sharp contrast to clean-cut folk groups like the Kingston Trio, which avoided making political statements.

Peter, Paul and Mary went on to perform at the 1963 March on Washington and joined the voting-rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965.

Over the years they performed frequently at political rallies and demonstrations in the United States and abroad. After the group disbanded, in 1970, Ms. Travers continued to perform at political events around the world as she pursued a solo career.

"They made folk music not just palatable but accessible to a mass audience," David Hajdu, the author of "Positively Fourth Street," a book about Mr. Dylan, Joan Baez and their circle, said in an interview. Ms. Travers, he added, was crucial to the group's image, which had a lot to do with its appeal. "She had a kind of sexual confidence combined with intelligence, edginess and social consciousness — a potent combination," he said. "If you look at clips of their performances, the camera fixates on her. The act was all about Mary."

Mr. Yarrow, in a statement on Wednesday, described Ms. Travers's singing style as an expression of her character: "honest and completely authentic."

Mr. Stookey, in an accompanying statement, wrote that "her charisma was a barely contained nervous energy — occasionally (and then only privately) revealed as stage fright."

Mary Allin Travers was born on Nov. 9, 1936, in Louisville, Ky. When she was 2 her parents, both writers, moved to New York. Almost unique among the folk musicians who emerged from the Greenwich Village scene in the early 1960s, Ms. Travers actually came from the neighborhood. She attended progressive private schools there, studied singing with the music teacher Charity Bailey while still in kindergarten and became part of the folk-music revival as it took shape around her.

"I was raised on Josh White, the Weavers and Pete Seeger," Ms. Travers told The New York Times in 1994. "The music was everywhere. You'd go to a party at somebody's apartment and there would be 50 people there, singing well into the night."

While at Elisabeth Irwin High School, she joined the Song Swappers, which sang backup for Mr. Seeger when the Folkways label reissued a collection of union songs under the title "Talking Union" in 1955. The Song Swappers made three more albums for Folkways that year, all featuring Mr. Seeger to some degree.

Ms. Travers had no plans to sing professionally. Folk singing, she later said, had been a hobby. At New York clubs friends like Fred Hellerman of the Weavers and Theodore Bikel would coax her onstage to sing, but her extreme shyness made performing difficult. In 1958 she appeared in the chorus and sang one solo number in Mort Sahl's short-lived Broadway show "The Next President," but as the '60s dawned she found herself at loose ends.

By chance, Albert Grossman, who managed a struggling folk singer named Peter Yarrow and would later take on Mr. Dylan as a client, was intent on creating an updated version of the Weavers for the baby-boom generation. He envisioned two men and a woman with the crossover appeal of the Kingston Trio. Mr. Yarrow, talking to Grossman in the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village, noticed Ms. Travers's photograph on the wall and asked who she was. "That's Mary Travers," Grossman said. "She'd be good if you could get her to work."

Mr. Yarrow went to Ms. Travers's apartment on Macdougal Street, across from the Gaslight, one of the principal folk clubs. They harmonized on "Miner's Lifeguard," a union song, and decided that their voices blended. To fill out the trio, Ms. Travers suggested Noel Stookey, a friend doing folk music and stand-up comedy at the Gaslight.

After rehearsing for seven months, with the producer and arranger Milt Okun coaching them, Peter, Paul and Mary — Mr. Stookey adopted his middle name, Paul, because it sounded better — began performing in 1961 at Folk City and the Bitter End. The next year they released their first album.

Virtually overnight Peter, Paul and Mary became one of the most popular folk-music groups in the world. The albums "Moving" and "In the Wind," both released in 1963, rose to the top of the charts and stayed there for months. In concert the group's direct, emotional style of performance lifted audiences to their feet to deliver rapturous ovations.

Ms. Travers, onstage, drew all eyes as she shook her hair, bobbed her head in time to the music and clenched a fist when the lyrics took a dramatic turn. On instructions from Grossman, who wanted her to retain an air of mystery, she never spoke. The live double album "In Concert" (1964) captures the fervor of their performances.

On television the group's mildly bohemian look — Ms. Travers favored beatnik clothing and Mr. Yarrow and Mr. Stookey had mustaches and goatees — gave mainstream audiences their first glimpse of a subculture that had previously been ridiculed on shows like "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis."

"You cannot overemphasize those beards," Mr. Wald said. "They looked like Greenwich Village to the rest of America. They were the first to go mainstream with an artistic, intellectual, beat image."

Although the arrival of the Beatles and other British invasion bands spelled the end of the folk revival, Peter, Paul and Mary remained popular throughout the 1960s. The albums "A Song Will Rise" (1965), "See What Tomorrow Brings" (1965) and "Album 1700" (1967) sold well, as did the singles "For Lovin' Me" and "Early Morning Rain," both by Gordon Lightfoot, and Mr. Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In." The gently satirical single "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" (1967) reached the Top 10, and "Leaving on a Jet Plane" (1969), their last hit, reached No. 1 on the charts.

In 1970, after releasing the greatest-hits album "Ten Years Together," the group disbanded. Ms. Travers embarked on a solo career, with limited success, releasing five albums in the 1970s. The first, "Mary" (1971), was the most successful, followed by "Morning Glory" (1972), "All My Choices" (1973), "Circles" (1974) and "It's in Everyone of Us" (1978).

Ms. Travers's first three marriages ended in divorce. She is survived by her fourth husband, Ethan Robbins; two daughters, Erika Marshall of Naples, Fla., and Alicia Travers of Greenwich, Conn.; a sister, Ann Gordon of Oakland, Calif.; and two grandchildren.

Peter, Paul and Mary reunited to perform at a benefit to oppose nuclear power in 1978 and thereafter kept to a limited schedule of tours around the world. Many of their concerts benefited political causes. "I was raised to believe that everybody has a responsibility to their community and I use the word very loosely," Ms. Travers told The Times in 1999. "It's a big community. If I get recognized in the middle of the Sinai Desert I have a big community."

It was a faithful community. Musical fashions changed, but fans stayed loyal to the music and the political ideals of the group. Ms. Travers once told the music magazine Goldmine, "People say to us, 'Oh, I grew up with your music,' and we often say, sotto voce, 'So did we.' "

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/arts/music/17travers.html?em

Segredo da longa vida: Saiba as razões para dormir e despertar/acordar cedo (Proteger o cérebro, ajudar o fígado e as bilhas)

Caros amigos e amigas, acabei de receber esta mensagem de uma amiga e publico no blog considerando a importância. São dicas para viver bem e a lungo. Como viver melhor e feliz. Aqui vão algumas regras que tenho a certeza vão ajuda você e as pessoas mais próximas a viverem bem e muito mais.

Das 21 - 23:00: É o horário em que o corpo realiza actividades de eliminação, químicos desnecessários e tóxicos (desintoxicação) mediante o sistema linfático do nosso corpo. Neste horário do dia devemos estar num estado de relaxamento, escutando música, por exemplo.
Geralmente a esta hora as mãmãs realizam actividades tais como limpar a cozina, monitorar  que tudo esteja pronto para a actividade do dia seguinte, etc., actividades que geram um estado de falta de relaxamento o que  gera um efeito negativo para a saúde.

Das 23 - 01:00am: o corpo realiza o proceso de desintoxicação do fígado, e idealmente deve ser processado num estado de sono profundo. 

Durante as primeiras horas da manhã 01:00 - 03:00: processo de desintoxicação da v esícula biliar, idealmente deve suceder também num estado de sono profundo. 
De madrugada 03:00 - 05:00: desintoxicação dos pulmões. É por isso que por vezes neste horário se produzem fortes acessos de tosse. Quando o processo de desintoxicação atinge o tracto respiratório é melhor não tomar medicamentos para a tosse já que interferem no processo de eliminação de toxinas.   

Manhã 05:00 - 07:00: desintoxicação do colón. É o horário de ir à casa-de-banho para esvaziar o intestino.  

Durante a Manhã de 07:00 - 09:00: absorção de nutrientes no intestino delgado. É o horário perfeito para tomar o pequeno-almoço. Se estiver doente o pequeno-almoço deve ser tomado mais cedo: antes das 6:30 am. 
O pequeno-almoço antes das 7:30am é benéfico para aqueles que querem manter-se em forma. 
Os que não têm por hábito tomar o pequeno-almoço, devem tentar mudar o hábito, sendo menos prejudicial realizar-lo entre as 9:00 e as 10:00 am em de ficar a manhã completa sem comer.  

Dormir tarde e despertar tarde interrompirá o processo de desintoxicação de químicos desnecessários ao teu organismo. 
Além disso deves ter em conta que das 00:00 às 4:00 am é o horário em que a médula óssea dos teus ossos produz o sangue, então procura dormir bem e não te deites tarde.

               CUIDA DA TUA SAÚDE
Vive a vida com limites! 
  
  

COMPARTILHE ESTA INFORMAÇÃO COM AS PESSOAS QUE TE IMPORTAM
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Os alimentos "Top-five" causadores de cáncer:

1.     Hot dogs 
Porque têm alto teor em nitratos. A "Cancer Prevention Coalition" adverte que as crianças não devem comer mais de 12 salsichas por mês. Se não  podes viver sem as salsichas compra das que são feitas SEM nitrato de sódio.  


2. Carnes processadas e toucinho 
Também contêm altos nivéis de nitrato de sódio como as salsichas,assim como também no toucinho e outras carnes processadas aumentam o risco de doenças do coração. A gordura saturada do toucinho também é um grande colaborador na generação de cáncer.  
 

3.. Donutt
Os Donutts são duplamente causadores de cáncer . Primeiro porque são elaboradas con flúor, açúcar refinado e óleo hidrogenado, depois são FRITOS a altas temperaturas.  Os donutts são o primeiro "alimento"  de todos os que podes comer que elevarão altamente o teu risco de gerar cáncer. 


4. Batatas fritas 
Así como os donutts, as batatas fritas são elaboradas com óleos hidrogenados e cozinhadas depois a altas temperaturas. Também contêm acryl amidas que se geram durante o processo de cozedura a altas temperaturas. Deveriam chamar-se batatas cáncer em de batatas fritas.  

5. Biscoitos e bolachas 
São geralmente elaboradas com fluor e açúcar. Até as que em suas etiquetas são orgulhosamente apresentadas como livres de gorduras transgénicas geralmente contenhem sé que em quantidades menores.  

HÁBITOS QUE PREJUDICAM O CÉREBRO (matam neuronas) 


1. Não tomar o pequeno-almoço
A pessoa que não toma o pequeno-almoço tem baixo nível de açúcar no sangue. Isto gera uma quantidade insuficiente de nutrientes ao cérebro causando a sua degeneração paulatina. 

2.. Comer demais 
Isto causa o endurecimiento das artérias do cérebro, causando também baixa capacidade mental.

3. Fumar 
Causa a diminuição do tamanho cerebral e promove também a doença de Alzheimer. 

4. Consumir altas quantidades de açúcar 
O alto consume de açúcar interrompe a absorção de proteínas e nutrientes causando má nutrição e pode interferir no desenvolviemnto do cérebro.

5. Contaminação do ar 
O cérebro o maior consumidor de oxigênio do corpo. Inalar ar contaminado diminue a sua oxigenação provocando uma diminuição da eficiência cerebral.

6. Dormir pouco 
O dormir permite ao cérebro descansar. A falta de sono por periódos prolongados acelera a perda de células do cérebro.

7. Dormir com a cabeça coberta  
Dormir com a cabeça coberta aumenta a concentração de dióxido de carbono e diminuie o oxigênio causando efeitos adversos ao nosso cérebro.

8. Fazer o cérebro trabalhar quando estamos doentes 
Trabalhar e estudar quando estás doente, além da dificuldade do cérebro para responder nesse estado, prejudica-o.

9. Falta de estimulação  
Pensar é a melhor maneira de estimular o nosso cérebro e não fazê-o provoca que o cérebro diminua o seu tamanho e portanto a sua capacidade.

10. Pratica a conversação inteligente
Conversas profundas ou intelectuais promovem a eficiência cerebral 
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Causas principais que prejudicam o fígado

1. Dormir tarde e despertar tarde
2. Não urinar pela manhã
3. Comer demasiado
4. Saltar o pequeno-almoço
5. Consumir muitos medicamentos
6. Consumir conservantes, colorantes, adoçantes artificiais
7. Consumir óleos de cozinha não saudáveis. Reduz o mais posível o consumo de alimentos fritos mesmo quando utilizes azeites benéficos. Não consumas alimentos fritos quando estiveres cansado ou doente a menos que sejas muito magro, mas se puderes, evita-o.
8. Consumir alimentos crus ou demasiado cozidos sobrecarregam o fígado.
Os vegetais devem ser comidos crus ou pouco cozidos. Se consumes vegetais fritos deves fazê-lo de uma só vez, ou seja, não deves guardar-los para consumo posterior.

Devemos seguir estes conselhos sem que signifique maior gasto. Sé temos que adoptar um estilo de vida mais saudável e melhorar os nossos hábitos alimentares.. Manter bons hábitos de alimentação e exércicio é muito positivo  para que o nosso organismo absorva o que necessita e elimine os químicos no seu "horário".

LEVA À SÉRIO A TUA SAÚDE..................
E COMPARTE ESTA INFORMAÇÃO COM TODOS OS QUE AMAS .....

Autor desconhecedo.

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