Yogurt and the human health: surprising benefits of yogurt that everyone should not overlook

Do you notice that the yogurt section in most grocery stores has taken over the dairy aisle? It is worth noting that yogurt has been prime real estate in the supermarket recent days. This kind of food is fermented milk that was originated in Eastern Europe, but is now being manufactured and consumed by most areas all over the world. So, why it is loved like that? Check out top benefits of yogurt here to find out the answer.

1.      Give People Flat Abs

It is said that if people consume 18 ounces of yogurt per day, they can reduce their jeans size. People who consume that much can cut down their total calories and decrease belly fat than those who skip this snack. Yogurt also retain one-third more calorie torching lean muscle mass that could help people maintain a healthy weight. Fat around the waist manufacture the hormone called cortisol, telling the body to store more belly flab. When eating yogurt, the calcium in yogurt will signal the fat cells to pump out less cortisol, resulting in fat loss, while the amino acids support fat burning process.

2.      It Is Easier To Digest Than Milk

The fact is that a lot of people could not tolerate milk, either due to their protein allergy or lactose intolerance. An alternative is yogurt. Thanks to the culturing process, yogurt is more digestible than milk. In yogurt, the live active cultures will create lactase, enzyme lactose-intolerant that the human body lacks, and other enzymes. Some bacterial enzymes made by the culturing process, partially digest milk protein casein, promoting the absorption as well as making it less allergenic. Therefore, those people who cannot consume milk can take advantage of yogurt without intestinal upset. Generally, yogurt does not contain as much lactose as milk while providing people with more lactase than milk.

3.      Contain A Lot Of Essential Nutrients

This is one of the most obvious benefits of yogurt. Yogurt provides people with many nutrients such as calcium, protein, riboflavin, B vitamins, and folic acid. Consuming yogurt can help you increase the calcium absorption thanks to active cultures present in this food. The calcium in 8 serves of yogurt is more than in the same amount of milk.

Moreover, yogurt is also a great source of protein compared to milk. Protein in yogurt is usually called “pre-digested” as during fermentation process, these proteins become easy to digest.

The lactic acid found in yogurt can assist the digestion, make it easier to absorb. And, because yogurt provides a variety of vitamins, the mineral absorption is also increased.

4.      Promote Immunity

Studies indicated that those people who eat two cups of yogurt each day might produce higher level of immunity boosting interferon. The bacterial cultures in live-culture yogurt are able to stimulate infection-fighting white cells in the blood stream.  The lacto bacillus found in yogurt can strengthen the intestine, and boost the absorption of essential nutrients in the body that might maintain the health of digestive system, which in turn will promote the immune system.

5.      Prevent High Blood Pressure

Those individuals who usually consume high amount of salt might suffer from hypertension, heart disease, and kidney. When consuming yogurt, the potassium can help stimulate the absorption and eliminate redundant amount of sodium in the body. If you consume at least a cup of yogurt every day, you will be less likely to suffer from high blood pressure than those who do not. Make yogurt a part of your diet to stay away from high blood pressure condition.

6.      Keep Colds Away

If you consume about four ounces of yogurt each day, you might find yourself sniffle-free in the next months. Those women who often consume this amount will have stronger and more active T cells, which can fight off sickness as well as infection than those who do not. Such healthy bacteria present in yogurt can help send signals to the immune-promoting cells in the body to power up and battle harmful bugs. Actually, allergy sufferers who have low levels of certain T cells might also see relief when adding yogurt to their daily diets. According to some studies, individuals who ate seven ounces of yogurt per day will have lower symptoms of allergy than those who do not.  

7.      Face Saver

Some people might know the effects of yogurts on complexion. Indeed, yogurt includes lactic acid that is a component in several in-office chemical peels. It can gently exfoliate top layers of the epidermis, which is able to clear up blemishes and discolorations, and even decrease fine wrinkles.

It is recommended that people should mix yogurt with 2 or 3 drops of olive or almond oil and a tablespoon of honey, then apply this mixture to your face, wait for 20 or 30 minutes before rinsing out and patting it dry.

8.      Lower Cholesterol

Many studies proved that just 2 cups of yogurt intake daily can reduce the cholesterol level thanks to the presence of live nutrients in yogurt that may assimilate the cholesterol formation and fight off infection in the human bloodstream. Those people who take yogurt pro-biotic have reduced cholesterol level by 6.3 percent when compared to those who take medications.

9.      Offer Curable Antibiotic

Antibiotics found in the yogurt can kill not only the negative harmful bacteria, but also the good heavy bacteria present in the intestines before reaching your kidneys and urogenital system. And, the live active bacterial nutrients in the yogurt can help you recover the intestine with useful bacteria before harmful ones build in it. Therefore, it is recommended that people should take at least 2 cups of yogurt in order to get effective antibiotic treatment.

10.      Reduce Yeast Infections

The majority of women may suffer from candida or yeast overgrowth in their vagina, especially women suffering from diabetes. Hence, it is important for women to follow a well-balanced, healthy diet which contains various foods including natural bacteria and yeasts. Yogurt is considered as the most beneficial form of yeast which is good for the vaginal and intestinal infections. A variety of studies as well as researches pointed out women consuming 6 ounces of yogurt every day can alleviate yeast infection symptoms. And women suffering from chronic vaginal infections after consuming yogurt each day see decreased symptoms in their problem naturally. Therefore, people should consume at least 8 ounces of yogurt packed with useful bacteria to reduce the formation of the yeast organisms in their vagina and lessen the incident of yeast vaginal infection safely. 

11.      Prevent Colon Cancer

Yogurt includes lacto bacteria, which are beneficial in fostering a healthy colon and preventing from colon cancer. In reality, lacto bacteria are a type of intestine friendly bacteria that enhances the development of healthy bacteria in the colon, resulting in decreased colon diseases risk. These bacteria damage the harmful microorganism in your colon before they turn carcinogenic. People who consume a large amount of calcium will have low rate of getting colorectal cancer. In other words, old people who have run out of lactase as well as have more sensitive colors can take advantage of yogurt because it can make it easier for them to digest.

12.      Keep A Healthy Weight

Yogurt can be a natural solution for weight loss because of its low calorie content plus with fat-burning capabilities. Obese people who add yogurt into their diet lose more excess body fat and retain more lean tissue than people who do not eat yogurt. As yogurt is contained in a decreased-calorie diet, people will get weight loss which might be due to the calcium that maintains a healthy weight.  

13.      Acne Fighter

When it comes to beauty benefits of yogurt, yogurt is rather high in zinc, which can help people reduce and prevent pimples and acne. Try applying a little bit of yogurt on the affected area once per day, then you can see the disappearance of acne in just one week. If you apply this method regularly, then your skin will be kept in healthy shape and prevented from breaking out. It also assists in subsiding any inflammation as well as redness. It plays a role as a natural astringent for the skin. 

14.      Abolish Tan, Dark Circles, And Alleviate Skin Discoloration

Because the high-content of zinc, yogurt can clear your blemishes, shrinks the pores naturally. Thanks to the mild skin bleaching properties, yogurt consumers will reduce skin discoloration overtime. Keep in mind that you need to remove your makeup before applying the yogurt on your skin.

Besides, in order to get rid of dark circles, apply just a thin yogurt layer under the eyes, leave it for about 15 minutes. Then, rinse it off before hitting the hay. It is good for you to apply this method for one week and you will see great improvement.

For the purpose of blotches or age spots, you can rub some tablespoon of yogurt mixed with the lemon juice onto your skin for about 30 minutes. Rinse off and dry your skin. Repeat it several times per week to get the best results.

Check out some natural tips for whitening beautiful skin and ways to prevent premature aging skin

This article covers some of the most typical health and beauty benefits of yogurt. Actually, yogurt is the best when taken it simply. So, go on and get some yogurt from the grocery store or prepare fresh yogurt right at your home. You will see how valuable it is.

Leave your comments at the end of this post of benefits of yogurt to let us know your thoughts. Thanks for your reading!

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Talk-radio host should fact check Stephens’ statement that GOP would rally around Stephens but not Buck

("Amycare" haters take note – promoted by Colorado Pols)

KNUS talk show host Dan Caplis sat silently behind his microphone last week while his guest, GOP Senate candidate Amy Stephens, said the Republican Party would not get behind her opponent, Ken Buck, if he wins the Republican nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Mark Udall. But Republicans would rally around her, she said.

Stephens: "I also believe nationally, and I have heard this in my travels, that there is not going to be — You know, when somebody wins a primary, people rally, come around. The party goes, whatever. I do not believe that’s going to happen should Ken be the nominee. I do believe this would happen should I become the nominee, because I think there will be a lot more interest in this race and a lot more support." [BigMedia emphasis]

You wish Caplis had asked for the names of the folks who've been telling Stephens, during her national "travels," that they won't back Buck, even if he were the one left standing. Presumably it wasn't anyone associated with the rainmakers at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and it's likely Stephens wouldn't have told Caplis about her sources, if he'd asked.

But, at least, Caplis could have fact-checked Stephens on her statement, delivered during a Jan. 15 interview, that "people would rally, come around" and support her if she gets the nomination.

So, to fill in the media gap left by Caplis, I decided to see if Stephens was correct. I didn't think so, because I thought I'd heard Ken Clark, co-host of KLZ 560-AM's flagship Tea-Party talk show, Grassroots Radio Colorado, say that he would not only never support Stephens but would never vote for her as well.

"I will never under any circumstances vote for Amy Stephens," Clark said via email when asked about Stephens. "She is the epitome of what the GrassRoots despises in some Republican Party candidates and elected officials. She is a big government, statist Republican and does not represent Conservative Values. Her arrogance is beyond measure, and I really don't see much difference between her and Udall. The Party had better come up with a candidate that is more palatable to the GrassRoots, or they will deliver yet another loss."

Before I had a chance to ask him about the veracity of Stephens' statement, Randy Corporon, who's hosting a new "Wake Up" show on KLZ (5-7 a.m.) announced Jan. 17 on air that he wouldn't vote for Stephens.

"Amy Stephens is running for Senate in Colorado on the Republican ticket, but she is the mother of Obamacare in Colorado," said Corporon. "I cannot support her. I have said publicly, and I will say again: If she is the Republican nominee, I will find a Libertarian. I won’t vote for the Democrat. But there are certain lesser-of-two-evils choices that I am no longer willing to make. Is the Republican Party paying attention to that?

Does the Republican Party understand that they cannot win without the Liberty Movement, without those of us who knock on doors and make phone calls, and write small checks regularly and consistently to try and support the candidates that we believe in? Do they understand that they can’t win without us? And if they promote—if they attack our people, the constitutionally principled conservatives that are running, if they promote the big government, establishment Republican-type candidates over our own, they’re not going to win, because they can’t win without us. Amy Stephens should just get out of the race." Listen to KLZ host Randy Corporon explain why he won't vote for Amy Stephens (1.17.14)

Certainly Stephens could be correct that Republicans will get behind her if she wins the nomination, while Buck would repel fellow Republicans away from him, if he's the nominee. But if you're tuned in to talk radio, and Caplis certainly is, you know there's two sides to that story that deserve to be aired.

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Yes, Democrats Should Want The RNC In Denver Too

As the Denver Post’s Allison Sherry reports:

In its attempt to woo Republican officials to Denver to host the Republican National Convention in 2016, Denver put a party in a Broncos-bedecked bag.

At the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting held here this week, a handful of cities were throwing schwag, amenities, appetizers and alcohol to party bigwigs in hopes of winning the ultimate prize: The chance to host 50,000 Republicans, VIPs and guests for five days ahead of the next presidential race.

The RNC expects to make its decision around the time of its summer meeting, in August.

The Post’s Lynn Bartels reports that Democrats in Colorado, as well as competitor host city Las Vegas, back their counterparts’ respective bids–with a fair share of smack talk, of course.

…Nevada Democrats back efforts by state Republicans to host the RNC in Las Vegas that year, according to a November memo to RNC chairman Reince Priebus.

“The reason is simple,” they said. “Putting the national spotlight on Nevada Republicans for a week-long national convention will do more to damage the Republican Party’s brand than anything Democrats could possibly do.” [Pols emphasis]

Here’s the full statement on Denver’s bid to host the 2016 Republican National Convention from Colorado Democratic Party chairman Rick Palacio:

“While we may disagree on matters of public policy and politics, I support Chairman Call, and his Party’s efforts, to bring the Republican National Convention to Denver,” Palacio said.

“As we learned from 2008, a political convention of this size can mean increased revenue to the small businesses of our state, as well as help to showcase our world-class city,”

“However, I would caution the GOP; as long as their party demonizes immigrants, ostracizes women, and pushes an outdated and extreme agenda, nothing, let alone a convention, will help them win over the independent minded voters of our great state.” [Pols emphasis]

Bottom line: there is absolutely no good reason for Democrats to oppose the Republican National Convention coming to Denver in 2016. Partisan leanings aside, the 2008 Democratic National Convention was a huge and sustained economic boon to the city of Denver and state of Colorado as a whole. It would be hugely counterproductive for Democrats to oppose an event that will result in millions of dollars in the pockets of every kind–and we mean every kind–of Colorado business. When such opportunities present themselves, smart leaders put aside partisanship and take the money.

But if that’s not enough to stay your partisan rectitude, consider this: Colorado is the home of the nationally-recognized (and feared) “Colorado Model” of well-organized and highly effective Democratic-aligned political groups (see: Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer’s Blueprint). Bringing the entire national Republican establishment to their proverbial parlor could be considered an epic opportunity. In fact, if we were the RNC, we might be a little worried about that.

But in terms of a downside for anyone in our state? No, we can’t really see one.

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Radio host should have questioned Buck when he compared his bout with cancer to pregnancy

(Open mouth, insert cowboy boot – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Apparently trying to connect to women voters, who arguably cost him a U.S. Senate seat in 2010, Ken Buck appeared on a Denver radio station Monday and discussed the differences and similarities between pregnancy and his recent bout with cancer.

Asked by 560-AM KLZ talk-show host Randy Corporon about his abortion position, Buck, who's running again for U.S. Senate this year, said:

Buck: "Yes, I am pro-life. While I understand a woman wants to be in control of her body.–it's certainly the feeling that I had when I was a cancer patient, I wanted to be in control of the decisions that were made concerning my body–there is another fundamental issue at stake. And that's the life of the unborn child. And I hold that life dear and precious and believe we have to do everything we can to protect the life of the unborn." 

So Buck is saying that his successful battle with cancer is like pregnancy insofar as they both require decisions affecting a human body. But for a cancer patient like Buck, they are personal medical decisions, and Buck was glad to be able to make them. But for a woman who is pregnant, difficult as it may be, she shouldn’t be afforded the same freedom to make decisions affecting her body.

In 2010, Buck made no secret about his strong anti-abortion position, enthusiastically repeating his opposition to all abortion, even for rape or incest. In one radio interview, he expressed his opposition to abortion, even for a girl raped by her teen brother.

Now Buck drives his anti-abortion point home in the starkest of language by saying how happy he is that the government didn’t dictate his health decisions when he had cancer. But pregnant women should have no choice.

I was waiting for Corporon to offer a peep of an opposing view, to bring up the complexities surrounding a decision to have an abortion, and to ask Buck about all the women who don't see this as a one-size-fits-all issue.

I'm still waiting.

On the political side, Corporon could have asked Buck if he's worried, by comparing his cancer to a woman's pregnancy, of looking like Todd Akin, whose thoughts about "legitimate rape" sunk his 2010 bid for a Senate seat in Missouri. But Corporon moved on, leaving listeners wanting more explanation from Buck.

follow Jason Salzman on twitter @bigmediablog

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Douglas County School Board Should Be Shown The Classroom Door

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Well the evidence is in and for all the upheaval over the past four years in the Douglas County schools because of the 2009 election of so called conservatives to the board of education and the subsequent implementation of their policies to terminate the ever evil teachers union and to send public money to private sectarian schools, they have nothing (repeat nothing) to show for it. The scores below represent the percentage of children in the Douglas County school district proficient in the three primary areas of learning:

                   2009        2013

Math            69%        70%

Reading        81%        82%

Writing         68%        69%

In words, after all the hoopla and gnashing of teeth over how bad those unionized teachers are and how all we have to do is stop bargaining with the union and set-up our own teacher evaluation system, establish charter schools, and launch a program to send public tax dollars to private sectarian schools nothing has changed. For all the nonsense expounded by the four so called conservative candidates who were elected in 2009, they haven't improved public education in Douglas County one bit. The nonprofit funding arm of the Douglas County schools paid Bill Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, to come out to Douglas County in September and deliver a speech praising the school board reforms. In other words, even though there hasn't been any appreciable improvement in student performance, they're going to pay nationally known figures to endorse their reforms because the board can then proclaim they have worked, even though the evidence shows they haven't improved academic performance. The present board is attempting to fool the public.

The test numbers above aren't the only statistics that support the futility and uselessness of the board's so called reforms. The Colorado Department of Education rates each school district by awarding a composite score for academic achievement. Since the present board was elected, Douglas County schools composite rating has dropped:

                  Annual Rating by CDOE

?2010                      78.2

2011                      72.7

2012                      73.7

What does all of this mean. The Republican Party, which intervened directly in 2009 and again this year in the Douglas County school board elections (and now in the Thompson School District elections in Loveland, Colorado), has wasted the last thirty or more years using the teachers union as its whipping boy and proclaiming that if it wasn't for the union we could educate our kids. Surprise, surprise, it turns out the union wasn't the culprit after all. What a waste of time at the expense of our children. Again, the Republican Party refuses to deal with the real reasons some kids have difficulty learning but of course to deal with those realities we all know costs money and that goes against one of the other sacred Republican principles – "There's a problem – cut taxes."

Apparently, the Douglas County school board members have and are resisting the request from some quarters that they establish performance standards for the board and their reforms. I wonder why? Could it be this has all been a waste of time and money, and in reality has been nothing more than the pursuit of hard line ideological myths that have no basis in reality?

Link

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Why Colorado Agriculture Should Care About Fuguitive Natural Gas Emissions

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Earlier this year the Climate Change Program Office – Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture released a report, "Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation" .  The report was the first, comprehensive report on the effects of a changing climate and the need to address adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to US agriculture.  In Colorado we've witnessed extreme droughts in the southeast over the past decade; our farmers in the northeast are challenged with diminishing water flows in the Republican River.  As a result, large tracts of irrigated land are being retired; Bonny State Reservoir has been drained.  On the west slope, predictable timing of runoff poses increasing challenges to agriculture – while they wrestle with many demands downstream for the water. The Ogallala Aquifer, once the worlds largest underground source of water trapped millions of years ago is now in what many describe as 'the fourth quarter'. 

While carbon dioxide emissions is the pollutant, as determined by the United States Supreme Court in 2007, that enjoys the bulk of media attention – there is another gas more potent, and increasingly playing a role in the Colorado air quality challenges:  methane.  In particular, fugitive methane emissions from Colorado's natural gas industry and coal mines.

A recent study completed by USDA-ARS, "The Effects of Ozone Air Pollution on Plants" determines that increased levels of ozone has a dramatic effect on crop production when the concentration increases beyond certain levels. For Colorado agricultural producers, the results of the study should elicit a policy response: winter wheat, the predominant crop in eastern Colorado, begins to see production degradation at 40 parts per billion [ppb] Ozone; corn production is negatively affected above 55 ppb.  Our entire state now experiences ozone levels above 55; the Front Range corridor is in a 'red zone', and according to the report is likely suppressing corn yields by 10%.

10% yield reduction on our Front Range corn production? That doesn't really sound like too big a deal, yet in Weld County alone a 10% reduction in yield in today's market is costing Weld County agriculture $12 million in lost production.  Colorado winter wheat production in 2013 was projected at only 49,500,000 bushels (based on the USDA’s estimate of yield on July 11, 2013, down 33 percent from 73,780,000 bushels produced last year, and down 31 percent from the 10-year average crop of 71,978,000 bushels.  A 10% degradation in state-wide wheat production attributed to increased ozone levels may have cost Colorado producers an estimated $24 million.

As we address the issue of fugitive methane emissions from Colorado's fossil fuel production, we must account for the cost of not capturing those emissions in their totality.  To date, our agriculture community has been nearly absent from this discussion. It's time to bring the two state agricultural organizations to the table; scientists from CSU and USDA-ARS should also contribute to the discussion.  Our complacency in the climate change discussion is affecting our bottom line; the support for a regulatory framework that eliminates these fugitive emissions is both in our best economic interest and economically and technologically feasible.

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Foods You Should Stop Eating

September 22, 2013 admin Nutrition

There are plenty of healthy food choices available today, and in some ways eating a healthy diet has never been easier. However, there are some foods that continue to be widely consumed yet offer very little in the way of nutritional value. For individuals who care about being healthy and fit, these foods cause nothing but trouble, and should be eliminated from the diet altogether, or at the very least only eaten on occasion.

You don’t have to eat sprouts all day to be fit and healthy, but you do have to make smart choices regarding the foods you eat on a regular basis. The following is a list of foods that offer almost no health benefits, and if eaten on a regular basis can lead to issues with not only weight gain but disease as well.

Processed Foods

Processed foods are those treated through any industrial process. They contain artificial ingredients, preservatives, and chemical additives that disrupt normal digestion and elimination, and have negative long term effects on your health. Frozen, canned and boxed foods, with some exceptions, are usually processed and should be avoided.

Fast Foods

Fast foods are among the worst offenders, as they tend to sound great when we’re hungry, but contain virtually no nutrients and are full of ingredients like trans-fatty acids that are terrible for your health. On top of that fast food meals contain way more calories than most people need to consume at a given meal, and are culpable in the obesity epidemic we are currently experiencing. The average fast food meal can be 1,000 or more calories, and often leaves you hungry in two hours or less.

Deep Fried Foods

French fries, fried chicken, potato chips, donuts, funnel cake, and onion rings are just a few of the fried foods we eat on a daily basis and none of them are good for us. They are loaded with calories and fat and raise insulin levels in the blood.

Unhealthy Fats

We need some fats in our diet, especially good ones like those found in avocados, fish and nuts, but too much of the wrong kind of fats can cause big problems. Do not eliminate fats from your diet; just eat the correct ones in the right amounts. Total fat intake should be around 50 grams per day, with only 5 grams of saturated fats.

White Flour

White flour is devoid of nutrients, and is essentially no better for you than white sugar. Choose whole grain flour as a healthier alternative. White flour causes problems in the digestive system, and should be avoided whenever possible. It is popular because it does not spoil, but as far as foods go it is one to remove from your cupboards.

White Sugar

Processed white sugar, like flour, is a pretty lousy food that is all too common, as it is put into so many other processed foods. There are plenty of natural sugars that can be consumed to satisfy those sweet cravings we all get from time to time, so ditch the sugar and eat some grapes or a peach.

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Rep. Polis: Attorney General Eric Holder Should Resign

Rep. Jared Polis.

As the Fort Collins Coloradoan's Patrick Malone reports:

Domestic spying practices top the list of reasons that Fort Collins’ representative in Congress says U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder should go.

“I would be very happy to see him leave,” U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., told the Fort Collins Coloradoan on Wednesday.

The federal government’s wiretapping of some members of the press and the National Security Agency’s surveillance of citizens’ phone and Internet records are foremost among the reasons Polis contends Holder should step down or be removed as the nation’s top law enforcer…

But Polis’ gripes with Holder don’t end with domestic spying.

“I’m no fan of Eric Holder for a number of reasons,” Polis said.

He contends that Holder has ignored abuse of prosecutorial discretion within the U.S. Department of Justice and has complicated Colorado’s course moving forward with voter-approved legalization of recreational marijuana by staying mum.

Rep. Jared Polis becomes the second Colorado Democrat in Congress after Sen. Mark Udall to break with the Obama administration on the matter of National Security Agency surveillance programs–which have been ramping up and operating at least since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but not curtailed by Obama as he promised when campaigning for President in 2008. Polis' call for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder goes a step further than Sen. Udall, who is only calling (publicly, anyway) for greater transparency.

Polis has been a longtime advocate for marijuana decriminalization at the federal level–or failing that, at least respect at the federal level for Colorado law, which legalized the drug for medical and more recently for general use. Marijuana proponents in Colorado generally look to Polis as a liason with the Obama administration on the issue, so it will be interesting to see what develops from his new harder line.

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