All About: Green Conscience Home and Garden

If you?ve done a recent home renovation or have become a little more conscious of environmental toxins, you?re probably already familiar with Green Conscience Home and Garden in Saratoga. ?I chatted with owner Karen Totino recently, who is such a wonderful person to know!

Karen has a genuine way about her that is not at all preachy or over-the-top. ?Her solutions for non-toxic and sustainable living are extremely attainable. ?She is a wealth of knowledge and a great resource for this community.

?I opened Green Conscience in June 2009.? The store features non-toxic and sustainable interior finishes, lawn and garden products and lifestyle goods,? Karen said.

Karen?s vision for Green Conscience Home & Garden was to offer products that would create not only a non-toxic landscape and exterior of the house, but also a non-toxic interior.

She looks to educate and empower homeowners to make healthier choices for their families.

Now at Green Conscience: Green Nursery Registry!

Green Conscience is pleased to now offer healthy baby furniture, bedding, flooring, paints, wall coverings, diapers, and baby toiletries! ?All are invited to a kick-off event next week on December 5th 2012 called Creating a Green Baby Nursery.

Join them for lunch and a sneak preview of green baby products in the Green?Conscience Nursery Registry!

When: Wednesday, December 5th, 11:30 am ? 2 pm

Also presenting Dr. Jessica Davis, the ?new mom?s Family Doctor? to talk about creating a safe, nontoxic?home environment.

Where:?Green Conscience, 33 Church Street, Saratoga Springs NY

Luncheon:?Locally sourced, courtesy of Green Conscience & Tidy Tots Diapers

RSVP to?cmaxwell@tidytotsdiapers.com?? you?ll be entered in a drawing for a Tidy Tots Twin Set!

Healthy Home Improvement at Green Conscience

From flooring, to wall coverings and paint, nursery furniture to beds and bedding, Green Conscience has a wide variety of products to suit your needs and budget.

Floors

The floors in your home don?t need to be chemical laden.? Natural wool, for example, was one of the first carpet fibers. Durable, naturally fire resistant, and warm, it just makes more sense.? Wood floors can also come with low VOC finishes. Not only that, you can reuse flooring from a reclaimed lumber distributor and keep the whole process sustainable! From reclaimed wood to cork flooring to wool carpeting, there are plenty of non toxic and low VOC options.

Walls

Everyone?s heard about the horror of lead paints, but even traditional paints carry their own load of dangerous chemicals. There are paints out there that are high performance and don?t agitate asthma, allergies, or leave a smell.

Some people want a little more character, so go with expensive wall coverings or stylized faux finishes. These all come with their own toxic impact. Another option is to go with an all natural finish such as clay plaster for walls. Why apply the faux finish when you can just as easily (and less dangerously) use the real thing?

Beds

Most people spend around one third of their life in their bed yet never think about the quality of their bedding.? Mattresses, pillows, and sheets pack quite a chemical punch.? You get a chance to breathe in flame retardants until your blue in the face!? Fortunately, there are cotton, wool, and natural latex options for bedding that let you sleep easier and deeper.? Studies have shown that adults and babies alike keep a more consistent and slower heartbeat when sleeping on natural fibers!

You?ll notice that all of these ?new? healthy products are not new at all! They are not claiming to contain non-toxic chemicals; they are simply utilizing basic, old world, natural materials.

It?s time to make the choice to keep ourselves and families healthy!

Visit Green Conscience

For more info call?518-306-5196?or email:?Karen@green-conscience.com

?

Baby Blog Community Connection Featured Biz Home & Lifestyle baby, baby products, buy local, Green Conscience, home, lifestyle, Saratoga Springs, shopping

Source: http://www.saratogamama.com/all-about-green-conscience-home-and-garden/

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New Small Fission Reactor For Deep-space Missions Demonstrated

My father was is the first lot of troops into Nagasaki and he stayed there for as part of the Japanese Occupation Force. They were given no warnings about radiation, no protective equipment, and allowed to pick and pry wherever they wanted among the ruins. HIs photos were taken from pretty much every part of the city.

He had no health problems that could be attributed to radiation. Those of his friends and shipmates who were there also were the same. In every case when they suffered serious ill health it was due to smoking or drinking.

What I have noticed though is curious congenital conditions occasionally popping up in their children, about 1 child in 4 or 5, when there was no history of it previously. This may or may not be coincidence but while these conditions may be awkward for those that have them, no-one has died from one yet.

I myself have worked with radioactive materiels and while they creep the bejesus out of anyone who has anything to do with them the radiation is not overly dangerous at low levels except over long periods, say taking x-rays every day. Even spending six months in Nagasaki starting two weeks after they dropped a plutonium bomb on it didn't cause any problems among the people I know who did it.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/FmDcthzyYPk/story01.htm

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Council honors Junior Aid Society and Girl Scouts for community ...

Malden City Council poses with representatives from Junior Aid: Casey Leon, Paula Higgins, Debbie DeMaria, Kathy Finch, Maria Luise, and Mary Beth Leon. (Advocate photo by Juhi Varma)

By Juhi Varma

?

On November 20 the Malden City Council presented citations to nonprofit organizations the Malden Junior Aid Association and the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts in recognition of their efforts. Junior Aid is an organization which focuses on women and children.

?Be it hereby known to all that the Malden City Council hereby offers its sincerest congratulations and best wishes to the Junior Aid Association of Malden in recognition of your hundred years of dedicated service to the community and your commitment to improving the lives of others; we thank you for your effortless endeavors and are proud to have your organization vested in the city of Malden,? read? Ward 5 Councillor and Junior Aid Member Barbara Murphy, before presenting the citation to Malden Junior Aid President Mary Beth Leon.

The Malden Junior Aid Association recently donated grants to aid a number of charities, including Housing Families Inc., Bread of Life, and Mass Senior Action. ?Once a month, the members of Junior Aid cook for the homeless people at one of the hotels in Malden,? said Leon, about the organization. ?In April we joined the Malden Girl Scouts and made 36 blankets for children at the Cam Neely Facility who have cancer. In October we donated over 100 coats to the Bread of Life. Every Christmas we provide Christmas for children who are under the care of the Department of Social Services. ??Every two years we give out money to nonprofit organizations that serve the Malden area. Our focus is women, children and health and safety.?

Girl Scouts Amanda and Chelsea Sutherland and Girl Scouts? Service Unit Coordinator Heidi Sutherland receive a citation from the Malden City Council.

Council President Judi Bucci presented the second citation to Girl Scouts? Service Unit Coordinator Heidi Sutherland. The Girl Scouts and Junior Aid often work together on a number of issues.

?Be it hereby known to all that the city of Malden hereby offers its sincerest congratulations and best wishes to the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts in recognition of your hundred years of providing girls with opportunities to build courage, confidence, and character. We thank you for your community service projects and for being an exceptional resource for the young girls of Malden, given this twentieth day of November 2012. Thank you,? read Bucci.

Source: http://malden.advocatenews.net/council-honors-junior-aid-society-and-girl-scouts-for-community-service/

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What we know about Superstorm Sandy a month later

FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2012 file photo, a parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of Superstorm Sandy in Hoboken, N.J. Sandy damaged or destroyed several homes and businesses, more than 72,000 in New Jersey alone, according to Gov. Chris Christie. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2012 file photo, a parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of Superstorm Sandy in Hoboken, N.J. Sandy damaged or destroyed several homes and businesses, more than 72,000 in New Jersey alone, according to Gov. Chris Christie. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

FILE - This Oct. 31, 2012 file aerial photo shows the damage to an amusement park left in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, in Seaside Heights, N.J. The National Hurricane Center now says tropical force winds from Sandy extended 820 miles at its widest, down from an earlier estimate of 1,000 miles. Its pure kinetic energy for storm surge and wave ?destruction potential? reached a 5.8 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 0 to 6 scale, the highest measured. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)

FILE - This Oct. 30, 2012 file aerial photo shows burned-out homes in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough New York after a fire. The tiny beachfront neighborhood told to evacuate before Sandy hit New York burned down as it was inundated by floodwaters, transforming a quaint corner of the Rockaways into a smoke-filled debris field. Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on parts of the U.S. East Coast a month ago today after tearing through the Caribbean. In the weeks since, the storm's scope has come into sharper focus. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 31, 2012 file photo, Joseph Leader, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Vice President and Chief Maintenance Officer, shines a flashlight on standing water inside the South Ferry 1 train station in New York, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Governments are seeking money to help head off future disasters, as climate scientists continue to predict rising sea levels and the potential for more bad storms. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants electrical transformers in commercial buildings hauled to upper floors; the ability to shutter key tunnels, airports and subways; and to require hospitals to have backup power on high ground instead of on lower floors or in basements. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on parts of the U.S. East Coast a month ago Thursday after tearing through the Caribbean. In the weeks since, the storm's scope has come into sharper focus.

DEATHS

Sandy killed at least 125 people in the United States. That includes 60 in New York ? 43 of them in New York City ? 34 in New Jersey and 16 in Pennsylvania. At least seven people died in West Virginia, where the storm dropped heavy snow. Sandy killed 71 people in the Caribbean, including 54 in Haiti.

LOSSES

Sandy is being blamed for about $62 billion in damage and other losses in the U.S., the vast majority of it in New York and New Jersey, a number that could increase. It's the second-costliest storm in U.S. history after 2005's Hurricane Katrina, which caused $128 billion in damage in inflation-adjusted dollars. Sandy caused at least $315 million in damage in the Caribbean.

DAMAGE

Sandy damaged or destroyed homes and businesses, more than 72,000 in New Jersey alone. In New York, 305,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed and more than 265,000 businesses affected. In Cuba, the number of damaged homes has been estimated at 130,000 to 200,000.

DISASTER AID

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are mounting a united effort to get federal aid for the region. New York is seeking $42 billion, including about $9 billion for projects to head off damage in future storms; New Jersey wants $37 billion, including $7.4 billion for future projects; and Connecticut seeks $3.2 billion for the future.

MAGNITUDE

The National Hurricane Center now says tropical force winds extended 820 miles at their widest, down from an earlier estimate of 1,000 miles. Sandy's pure kinetic energy for storm surge and wave "destruction potential" reached a 5.8 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 0 to 6 scale, the highest measured.

DOWN THE ROAD

Governments are seeking money to help head off future disasters, as climate scientists continue to predict rising sea levels and the potential for more bad storms. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants electrical transformers in commercial buildings hauled to upper floors; the ability to shutter key tunnels, airports and subways; and to require hospitals to have backup power on high ground instead of on lower floors or in basements.

___

Sources: State and local governments, NOAA, AP reporting

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-29-Superstorm%20Sandy/id-06722091c11d4b80b0e2a443a37bd693

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Summer 2013 Legal Internship Opportunity | ACLUTx.org - The ...

Nov 29, 2012

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas is accepting applications for summer 2013 Legal Program internships.? The ACLU is one of the nation?s foremost defenders of civil liberties and civil rights.? We are a nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending the Bill of Rights through litigation, legislation, and public education.? The Texas affiliate of the ACLU, founded in 1938, is headquartered in Houston, and includes regional offices in Austin and Brownsville.

Description:
The ACLU Foundation of Texas? Legal Program seeks highly motivated law students, with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights and civil liberties, and the initiative and energy to see projects to completion.? Preference will be given to second-year law students.? First-year law applicants should have a demonstrated commitment to civil rights.? Spanish language ability is preferred.

Legal Program interns will be supervised by the ACLU Foundation of Texas? Legal Director and/or staff attorneys.? Assignments include:

• Assisting in litigation;
• Investigating complaints;
• Completing fact research and legal analysis; and
• Drafting memoranda in preparation for litigation of civil rights cases.

The ACLU of Texas works across the spectrum of the Bill of Rights.? Our campaign priorities for 2011-2013 are Immigrants Rights, Youth Rights, Religious Freedom, and Criminal Law Reform.? Each intern will be assigned primary responsibility for working on cases and investigations in one or more of the campaign areas below and efforts will be made to accommodate the particular interests of each intern.

• Immigrant Rights Campaign:? focus is on ending state and local law enforcement of federal immigration law; ensuring equal protection of the law to all non-citizens; stopping abuse of power by federal authorities along our border; and ending civil immigration detention and sub-standard living conditions for non-citizens in custody.
• ? Criminal Law Reform Campaign: focus is on ending over-incarceration in Texas with an emphasis on eliminating racial disproportionality; ending the privatization of prisons and jails in Texas; and ending the death penalty in Texas.??
• Religious Freedom Campaign: focus is on ensuring K-12 public school curriculum and textbooks are free from government-sponsored religion; promoting the separation of church and state on public school campuses; and ensuring Texans are able to practice their faiths, or no faith at all, without government interference.
• Youth Rights Campaign:? focus is on keeping students from entering the criminal justice system; ending the use of solitary confinement of children in prisons and jails; and ensuring all children are treated equally in Texas schools.

Legal Program interns have the opportunity to participate in ACLU Foundation of Texas summer internship events, such as workshops, meetings with civil rights and social justice lawyers from around Texas, social events, and summer outings.

Funding

Unfortunately, the ACLU Foundation of Texas is unable to fund summer internships; however, we will assist students to obtain their own funding in any way we can.? We have had significant success working with students to secure grants and fellowship funding.? We will also assist students who wish to obtain clinical or academic credit for their internship.

Application:
For students attending law school outside of Texas, positions will be filled on a rolling basis.? Second-year law students should apply as soon as possible; first-year law students as soon after December 1 as possible.

Students attending law school in Texas are required to apply through the University of Texas School of Law?s Public Interest Career Day process.? We will be conducting interviews at the 2013 Career Day (http://www.utexas.edu/law/career/employer/pscd.html).? For students unable to participate in the Career Day or second-year law students in Texas who would like to secure an internship prior to the Career Day, please follow the submission and timing guidelines established for non-Texas law students.

Please send a cover letter, specifying which issue area you are interested in; a resume; a brief (no more than 5 pages) writing sample; and a law school transcript, if available.? Applications will not be accepted after January 31, 2013.? If you have joined the University of Texas School of Law?s Public Interest Career Day Interview program, please post documents to the ACLU of Texas? Symplicity account by January 7, 2013.

Out of state applicants not applying through Symplicity should send documents electronically in PDF or Word format to btorres@aclutx.org ?with ?Summer 2013 Legal Internship Application? in the subject line.

Please, no phone calls.

Please visit www.aclutx.org for additional information about the ACLU Foundation of Texas.

Source: http://www.aclutx.org/2012/11/29/summer-2013-legal-internship-opportunity/

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President signs whistle-blower bill for US workers

Associated Press

Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:00 PM

Updated yesterday at 10:02 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama signed legislation Tuesday that affords greater protection to federal employees who expose fraud, waste and abuse in government operations.

Capping a 13-year effort by supporters of whistle-blower rights, the new law closes loopholes created by court rulings, which removed protections for federal whistle-blowers. One loophole specified that whistle-blowers were only protected when they were the first to report misconduct.

Obama also signed legislation that protects U.S. airlines from having to pay into a European Union program to cut down on pollutants. Earlier this month, the EU postponed its enforcement of the payment for non-EU airlines amid protests from numerous countries and threats of a possible trade war.

The whistle-blower law makes it easier to punish supervisors who try to retaliate against the government workers.

The federal official who investigates retaliation, Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner, said her office "stands ready to implement these important reforms, which will better ensure that no employee suffers retaliation for speaking out against government waste or misconduct."

The new legislation, however, would go beyond restoring protections, to expand whistle-blower rights and clarify certain protections. For example, whistle-blowers could challenge the consequences of government policy decisions.

Specific protections would be given to certain employees, including government scientists who challenge censorship. Workers at the Transportation Security Administration, who provide airport security, would be covered under the law for the first time.

The law also would clarify that whistleblowers have the right to communicate with Congress.

To stop illegal retaliation, the law would make it easier to discipline those responsible, by modifying the burden of proof required when taking action against those trying to punish whistle-blowers. Also, the Office of Special Counsel, which was established to protect federal employees, would no longer be liable for attorney fees of government managers if the office does not prevail in a disciplinary action.

The new law would suspend the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals' sole jurisdiction to review decisions in whistle-blower cases.

The law's supporters said the court consistently narrowed protections and ruled for whistle-blowers only three times in 229 cases between October 1994 and May 2012. A review by all federal circuit courts was added as a two-year experiment.

Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, said, "This reform took 13 years to pass because it can make so much difference against fraud, waste and abuse. Government managers at all levels made pleas and repeatedly blocked the bill through procedural sabotage."

Devine, whose organization represents whistle-blowers, said the bill sailed through Congress once some senators who previously worked in secret to block a vote dropped their opposition.

The new airlines law was a response to an EU program that places a cap on carbon dioxide emissions from industrial polluters. Early this year, the law was expanded to include all airlines flying into and out of Europe.

U.S. airlines complained that they would be charged even for the emissions discharged over the United States or the Atlantic on their way to European destinations. The U.S. industry says it would cost it some $3.1 billion between 2012 and 2020. Those payments were to start in April, but the EU postponed that earlier this month.

"Although European leaders have temporarily pulled back their tax proposal, the law signed by the president today will help ensure the EU scheme will not resurface next year like a phoenix rising from the ashes," said Rep. John Mica of Florida, the Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee,

The airlines emissions legislation requires the transportation secretary to prohibit U.S. airlines from paying into the EU emissions program if that prohibition is deemed in the public interest. It also urges the administration to engage in international talks to seek a global approach to aircraft emissions.

"The Obama administration should seek binding regulations and limits on such pollution when it meets with international partners to establish these rules at the International Civil Aviation Organization," said Sarah Saylor of the environmental group Earthjustice.

Obama also signed legislation that permits construction of a natural gas pipeline within certain areas of the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York City.

He also signed into law legislation that sets a cost-of-living adjustment for veterans who receive disability compensation. The increase is estimated to amount to about 1.9 percent.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.kgw.com/news/business/181032791.html

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'Killing Them Softly' Review: Brad Pitt Film Hammers Its Message Hard

-- Writer-director Andrew Dominik's "Killing Them Softly" is an incredibly stylish genre exercise set in the world of mobsters, junkies and lowlifes, but it's also trying incredibly hard to be About Something.

Not content merely to be profane, abrasive and occasionally, darkly amusing, it also wants to be relevant. And so Dominik has taken the 1974 crime novel "Cogan's Trade" by George V. Higgins and set it in the days before the 2008 presidential election, just as the U.S. economy is in the midst of catastrophic collapse. Every television and radio is tuned to then-candidate Barack Obama or President George W. Bush addressing the nation ? even in bars and thugs' cars ? with the volume cranked way up, commenting all-too obviously on the film's action.

As if we couldn't decipher for ourselves that organized crime functions as its own form of capitalism, "Killing Them Softly" turns on the mini-implosion that occurs when a couple of idiots rob a mob-protected card game. Scoot McNairy plays the jittery ex-con Frankie; his inept partner in crime is an Australian heroin addict played by Ben Mendelsohn. Both are aggressively grungy. As they get away with briefcases full of cash, we hear Bush in the background, asking rhetorically, "What does this mean for your financial future?" Could it really be that obvious?

The corporate types at the top of the syndicate, represented by an uptight, humorless (and nameless) Richard Jenkins, want to restore order, so they ask Jackie Cogan, an enforcer played by Brad Pitt (star of Dominik's haunting, poetic "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"), to investigate the heist and punish the perpetrators. This is one of those effortless Pitt performances that exemplify how beautifully he manages to be both a serious actor and a superstar; the slicked-back hair, aviator sunglasses and gold chains are a showy shorthand to signify he's a dangerous guy, but the consistently surprising choices he makes with the rat-a-tat dialogue reveal his character's intelligence.

Jackie brings in an old colleague, veteran hit man Mickey (James Gandolfini), to take out the robbers and send a message to the rest of the criminal world. The scenes these two actors share are by far the film's best, including one in which they sit at a bar and quietly catch up on everything from work to marriage to alcoholism; they're so different in tone from everything else, they feel like they're part of an entirely separate movie. Gandolfini's character is the only one who feels like a complete and complicated person: brazen and abusive but also sentimental and deeply insecure.

At the other end of the aesthetic spectrum is the artfully graphic pummeling some of these characters take, particularly Ray Liotta as the guy who runs the card game in question (and once got caught trying to rob it himself). The hard thwack of a fist against a jaw matches the pummel of rain and the splatter of blood. Bullets fire from a handgun in super-slow motion, piercing the raindrops, then a car window, then someone's skull. It's all very painstaking and cool-looking (the work of the gifted cinematographer Greig Fraser) but it also feels like part of a prevalent cynicism, given the film's heavy-handed message.

"America's not a country, it's just a business," Jackie declares in the film's final monologue, a message "Killing Them Softly" already had hammered pretty hard during the previous hour and a half.

"Killing Them Softly," a Weinstein Co. release, is rated R for violence, sexual references, pervasive language and some drug use. Running time: 97 minutes. Two stars out of four.

___

Motion Picture Association of America rating definition for R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/28/killing-them-softly-review_n_2205289.html

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