† Can The Nutrition Police Lay Off Coffee, Already?: According to the findings of an observational study involving 34,670 Swedish women aged 49 to 83 who were tracked for about 10 years, those who drink at least a cup of coffee every day had a 22 to 25 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those who drank less coffee or none at all. The Associated Press reports:

"Coffee drinkers should rejoice," said Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "Coffee is often made out to be potentially bad for your heart. There really hasn't been any study that convincingly said coffee is bad."

"If you are drinking coffee now, you may be doing some good and you are likely not doing harm," she added.

While another study found a link between coffee drinking in Finnish men who smoked and decreased stroke risk, epidemiologic (population-based) research on the relationship between stroke and coffee consumption has produced conflicting findings. Such studies suggest that coffee drinkers have a lower stroke risk but are not designed to prove that coffee is protective against stroke, say scientists.

Noted, thanks. But as a non-smoker who does not have high blood pressure, The Stiletto will continue to drink 2-4 cups of coffee a day in the hope that caffeine, antioxidants or other magic ingredient in her brew of choice will act synergistically with a (fairly) healthy lifestyle to shield her from stroke and a whole bunch of other ailments.  

† All The News That’s Fart To Print: Four Swedes came up with a seemingly foolproof plan to rob the contents of 140 safe deposit boxes in the basement vault of Copenhagen bank: Two of them snuck into the vault and laid low during the week-end while two others on the outside surveilled the movements of the bank’s guards and relayed them via cellphone, The Local (Stockholm, Sweden) reports:

The 27-year-old Swede and his accomplice survived a weekend on water and cornflakes …

During their extended stay in the bank's basement, the pair made use of plastic bags to heed nature's call.

When the Swede and his fellow thief attempted to leave the bank on Monday morning, they were discovered by a security guard, who gave chase.

In an attempt to distract the guard, the 27-year-old Swede threw the urine-filled bag at him. …

Investigators were eventually able to use DNA found in the discarded urine to identify him.

The thief, who was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison, was left holding the bag (um, not the one he threw at the guard), because his three accomplices were never caught and the loot has not been recovered.

The escapade seems to prove out the findings of a study that will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science that links bladder control to self-control when faced with the choice between instant gratification vs. long-term reward. “You seem to make better decisions when you have a full bladder,” says researcher Mirjam Tuk, of the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

[Hat Tip: OpinionJournal, March 11, 2011 and March 2, 2011]

† The Stiletto Scoops Rush Limbaugh (second item): Having previously referred to the FLOTUS as “Mooch-elle” Obama for her lavish lifestyle on the taxpayer dime, Rush has now taken to referring to her as “Moo-chelle” Obama for her love of ribs. Snap! 
 

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, Waterboarding: The Latest Fad To Sweep The U.S.): Last week’s episode of reality show “Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?” featured Joan Rivers’ grandson Cooper waterboarding the ageless comedienne for real laughs. The “torture” left her somewhat disoriented and confused. She remarked that “Cooper and his friends were the cutest little infidels I have ever seen.” Any right-thinking American (penultimate item) knows that "infidels" waterboard Islamofascist terrorists, not the other way around.

† Updates To Previous Posts (fifth item, Dispatch From Bizzaroland):  In the context of recent events throughout the Middle East, Nile Gardiner, foreign affairs analyst for The Telegraph (London)  recently revisited his earlier observation that President Barack Hussein Obama “seems embarrassed, even ashamed, by the power and greatness of his own country” and argues that “[a] leader who lacks pride in his own nation’s historic role as a great liberator simply cannot project strength abroad”:

Just a few years ago the United States was genuinely feared on the world stage, and dictatorial regimes, strategic adversaries and state sponsors of terror trod carefully in the face of the world’s most powerful nation. Now Washington appears weak, rudderless and frequently confused in its approach. From Tehran to Tripoli, the Obama administration has been pathetically slow to lead, and afraid to condemn acts of state-sponsored repression and violence. When protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against the Islamist dictatorship in Iran in 2009, the brutal repression that greeted them was hardly a blip on Barack Obama’s teleprompter screen, barely meriting a response from a largely silent presidency. …

It has also become abundantly clear that the Obama team attaches little importance to human rights issues, and in contrast to the previous administration has not pursued a freedom agenda in the Middle East and elsewhere. It places far greater value upon engagement with hostile regimes, even if they are carrying out gross human rights abuses, in the mistaken belief that appeasement enhances security. This has been the case with Iran, Russia and North Korea for example. This administration has also been all too willing to sacrifice US leadership in deference to supranational institutions such as the United Nations, whose track record in standing up to dictatorships has been virtually non-existent.

But Obama’s advisers insist that it’s not indecisiveness or cluelessness that prevents him from performing deeds of derring-do other nations expect from the leader of the free world during a time of crisis. It’s that he’s so gosh darn humble. The Washington Post reports:

President Obama is content to let other nations publicly lead the search for solutions to the Libyan conflict, his advisers say, a stance that reflects the more humble tone he has sought to bring to U.S. foreign policy but one that also opens him to criticism that he is a weak leader.

The tactic is anathema to many conservatives and worries some liberal interventionists, who believe that only overt American authority can assemble an effective opposition to brutal authoritarian governments such as that of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

Although Obama sees advantages in keeping Washington in the background, especially in a region where the United States is held in such low regard, he has exposed himself to Republican charges that he is absent at a time of crisis. Conservatives say his one-of-the-team approach could also signal a decline in American fortitude after nearly a decade of war. …

"This is the Obama conception of the U.S. role in the world - to work through multilateral organizations and bilateral relationships to make sure that the steps we are taking are amplified," said Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. "Maybe this is a different conception of U.S. leadership. But we believe leadership should galvanize an international response, not rely on a unilateral U.S. response."

The Wall Street Journal sneers, “Whatever else one might say about President Obama's Libya policy, it has succeeded brilliantly in achieving its oft-stated goal of not leading the world. No one can any longer doubt the U.S. determination not to act before the Italians do, or until the Saudis approve, or without a U.N. resolution. This White House is forthright for followership.” The WSJ goes on to note that, “[w]hen the U.S. fails to lead, the world reverts to its default mode as a diplomatic Tower of Babel. Everyone discusses "options" and "contingencies" but no one has the will to act, while the predators march. … Libya today is what a world without U.S. leadership looks like.”

For its part, The Associated Press has come up with two new euphemisms for Obama’s inability or unwillingness to lead: “an above-the-fray strategy” wherein he keeps “a low profile.” Yeah, well, Americans prefer men of action and the lower Obama’s profile, the lower his approval ratings.

† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, Jurist Gone Wild (Sex, Drugs & Stripper's Pole): Former Atlanta federal judge Jack Camp, who pleaded guilty to two drug-related charges after a stripper claimed he used cocaine with her, was sentenced to 30 days in prison and 10 weeks of community service. While Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan denied Camp’s request for probation on the grounds that Camp “denigrated the federal judiciary [and] encouraged disrespect for the law,” he reduced one of the felony charges to which Camp had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Camp was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and to reimburse the government for the cost of its prosecution.

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, 10 Reasons Michelle Obama Should Be Proud – Really Proud – Of America): This latest installment in The Stiletto Blog’s ongoing series meant to help instill the necessary pride of country in Michelle Obama’s consciousness to enable her to serve as an unofficial ambassador focuses on Don Birch, owner of biker bar Sawmill Tavern in the Little Italy of Schenectady, NY, who has served a free buffet meal to those who are down on their luck every Sunday afternoon since 1980 – that’s something like 1,500 Sundays. The Associated Press reports:

Anyone who needed a meal - the homeless, the unemployed, the elderly, whole families struggling to make ends meet - could show up at the Sawmill, no questions asked.

"There are so many people out of work. They really have a tough way to go," said Birch, 73, perched atop a bar stool during a recent weekday afternoon.

Birch says he can no longer afford to pay for the free meals out of his own pocket, even with food donations from local businesses and a farmer who provided potatoes. He lost his job as an assistant plant manager at a locomotive factory when it shuttered two years ago amid a cratering economy and rising unemployment. …