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My
sophomore year in college, I took an Introduction to
Humanities course (which I enjoyed very much), and was
pleased when I walked into class one day and found that my
physics professor was giving a guest lecture.
[1]The
American public is becoming fed up with “sneak” provisions
tacked onto largely unrelated bills that are likely to pass.
A glaring recent example was tacking onto the Healthcare
bill a complete change to student loans. Often the “sneak”
provision is so buried that hardly anyone is aware of it.
(April 21) -- An international breastfeeding
advocacy group is accusing ABC News of failing to
reveal that a pediatrician it quoted in a report
critical of a breastfeeding study is a formula
industry spokeswoman.
"In the future, please take into account physicians'
formula industry ties before reporting on
breastfeeding," the Academy of Breastfeeding
Medicine's president, Jerry Calnen, wrote in a
letter to ABC News President David Westin this week.
The ABC News report was on a study published in the
journal Pediatrics earlier this month, finding that
low breastfeeding success rates in the United States
cost the country about $13 billion and contribute to
more than 900 infant deaths each year.
In its report, ABC News quoted Dr. Lillian Beard as
saying that the $13 billion estimate is "a very
impressive number."
"But I want to know: Did the study take into account
the cost for breastfeeding mothers?" Beard added.
"I think this report puts an unfair slant on it,"
she told ABC News at the time. "It's not taking into
account that for almost two-thirds of U.S. families,
women are either the co-breadwinner or the
breadwinner. Returning to work is germane for the
survival of the family."
ABC News identified Beard as an associate clinical
professor of pediatrics at the George Washington
University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
and an assistant professor at the Howard University
College of Medicine. It did not note that Beard is a
paid speaker for the leading infant formula
manufacturer, Nestle, and sits on a Nestle advisory
board. She also is a consultant for the
International Formula Council.
"Dr. Beard's ties to the formula industry are a
clear conflict of interest," Calnen wrote in the
letter to ABC, released on the academy's website and
Facebook fan page. "Readers deserve to know when a
reporter is quoting an industry spokesperson."
Reached at her pediatric practice in Maryland today,
Beard told AOL News she is on Nestle's advisory
board but noted that she was contacted directly by
ABC News for comment on the study and was not
speaking on behalf of any formula company.
"I am a practicing pediatrician of 37 years, and I
am a strong advocate of breastfeeding," she said in
the telephone interview. "Breastfeeding is the gold
standard. Mother's milk is the gold standard.
"I was speaking specifically about the fact that
mothers have to return to work, and about the
obstacles they face," she continued. "... These are
the hidden -- the not-spoken-about -- costs that
mothers go through to provide their babies with
breast milk. At no time did I advocate stopping
breastfeeding. ... In no way did I discredit the
study -- what I said was that the study does not
take into account the costs for moms who do continue
breastfeeding."
ABC News did not respond to several e-mails sent by
AOL News to its media relations department for
comment. Beard said she was called by an ABC News
reporter for comment and was not asked about her
industry ties, which she noted are "open
information," or available online.
She said she does not believe her work for Nestle
"had any relevance to this comment" she made in the
ABC News report.
Beard's ties to the formula industry came to light
when several bloggers wrote about the issue after
the ABC News report, according to the Academy of
Breastfeeding Medicine, an international doctors'
organization founded in 1994 to advocate for
breastfeeding.
Kelly McBride, the ethics group leader for
journalism training and education center the Poynter
Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said reporters
are responsible for noting any industry ties when
quoting people as experts.
"A good journalist will not only reveal the
information, but also the actual source of the
information," she told AOL News. "Of course, this
includes industry ties. ... This allows viewers or
readers to decide for themselves about whether the
information is credible."
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According to biostatisticians, if 1000 women get yearly mammograms for 15 years beginning at age 50, just two lives will be saved. For more on the myths of mammography, click here: Mammography New data has been brought fourth on mammography since the use of "low impact" (smaller doses of x-ray) and we hope to publish it soon.
How much would you pay for
a cream that heals eczema, psoriasis, painful
hemorrhoids, arthritic pain, and tendonitis,
while at the same time moisturizing dry skin and
softens wrinkles? And what if it began to work
in just minutes.
It's called LAM (Like a Miracle)
Cream, and it's made by Master Herbalist Ron Salley.
Check out all his creams and ointments at
Simply the
Best.
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic, it is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness -- and if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now, as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself, a marvelous victory." Howard Zinn
Sedona Labs Probiotics
Editor's Note: the main ingredient in FucoTHIN, has been shown to both prevent and fight cancers in animal studies.
To read the article on all the Acai Berry Weight Loss rip-offs, click the title above; however, you should know this if you decide to order a free sample; when they send you your next bottle, you'll be paying around $6,000 per pound for that acai berry product.
How much would you pay for
a cream that heals eczema, psoriasis, painful
hemorrhoids, arthritic pain, and tendonitis,
while at the same time moisturizing dry skin and
softens wrinkles? And what if it began to work
in just minutes.
It's called LAM (Like a Miracle)
Cream, and it's made by Master Herbalist Ron Salley.
Check out all his creams and ointments at
Simply the
Best.
Advanced Colloidal Silver 8 oz. bottle
According to researchers at the University of Auckland, children who ate margarine every day had significantly lower IQ scores by the age of three-and-a-half than those who did not. The Framingham Study, which tracked people for 20 years proved that As margarine consumption increased, heart attacks went up. As butter consumption increased, heart attacks declined.
How much would you pay for
a cream that heals eczema, psoriasis, painful
hemorrhoids, arthritic pain, and tendonitis,
while at the same time moisturizing dry skin and
softens wrinkles? And what if it began to work
in just minutes.
It's called LAM (Like a Miracle)
Cream, and it's made by Master Herbalist Ron Salley.
Check out all his creams and ointments at
Simply the
Best.
How much would you pay for
a cream that heals eczema, psoriasis, painful
hemorrhoids, arthritic pain, and tendonitis,
while at the same time moisturizing dry skin and
softens wrinkles? And what if it began to work
in just minutes.
It's called LAM (Like a Miracle)
Cream, and it's made by Master Herbalist Ron Salley.
Check out all his creams and ointments at
Simply the
Best.
How much would you pay for
a cream that heals eczema, psoriasis, painful
hemorrhoids, arthritic pain, and tendonitis,
while at the same time moisturizing dry skin and
softens wrinkles? And what if it began to work
in just minutes.
It's called LAM (Like a Miracle)
Cream, and it's made by Master Herbalist Ron Salley.
Check out all his creams and ointments at
Simply the
Best.
|
In our last newsletter I said that I was hot on the trail of an exclusive story that was going to stir up the medical world. I’m still on it, and it’s now turned into a book. The people behind this “medical miracle” were so impressed with my persistence, for having been duped and defrauded by so many along the way and still hanging in there, that they’ve granted me full exclusive rights to their story. And what a story it is. The “product” I’m researching is going to turn medicine on its ear, and so will the story. What this means to you is that until the book is finished (including a book tour), future newsletters may be put on hold. I will try to produce a new Wellness Directory (or two) while writing this book, but I cannot guarantee anything. When I am able to release the information, I will post the articles on this site and notify you that they are available. Because of this book, the “product,” and the company marketing the “product,” this organization, Minnesota Wellness Publications, Inc. and the International Wellness Directory will never be the same. Stay tuned. Something New Instead of posting a printable form of the newsletter, we now create a PDF that you can print out and read anytime, or copy to your computer and read anytime. We hope this is helpful. New Articles On This Site We’ve been posting articles at our site and because this newsletter is so huge right now, we thought we’d just list them here and give you links. Hemp For Victory — it’s time to end the prohibition on hemp. Hemp is not marijuana. It’s an amazing plant but was outlawed along with its cousin marijuana. DMSO: Many Uses, Much Controversy and DMSO FAQ — it’s called Natures Chemo. Saturated Fat is Good for You — written by our good friend and advisor, Dr Uffe Ravnskov MD. What Is Medical Coding Anyway? — Written by Jenna Russell, is a writer for medicalbillingandcoding.org. THIS JUST IN! We’ve been sent this WONDERFUL article by TreeHuggers.com. Please read it: No, This Is Why You're Fat! AND Freedom of Science Bill Action AlertYou Have the Right to Know About the Science Behind Dietary Supplements!Finally! Legislation to Give You the Freedom to Know About the Science Behind Supplements Gains Momentum - Take Action Today! Help Us Gain Cosponsors for H.R. 4913, the Free Speech About Science Act; H.R. 3394, the Freedom of Health Speech Act; and H.R. 3395, the Health Freedom Act. Click here: http://www.citizens.org/?page_id=2095 AND
Recently the President signed into law the most sweeping legislation on health care since Medicare was signed into law under LBJ. This new Health Care Bill is at once monumental legislation and a flaming bag of dog crap. It goes further than any previous health care legislation, but for many of us Single Payer Supporters, it doesn’t go far enough. Sadly, this whole process has led to an overwhelming truth once uttered by Mark Twain: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” It was both sad and ironic to see small groups of people protesting things that weren’t even in the bill. They’d bought into the lies of a government takeover of health care, death panels, and higher taxes passed onto their great grandchildren. After a vote on the bill one woman called her representative saying she wished he was dead. Why? Because she liked her current insurance provider and now, she thought, the government was going to come between her and her doctor who she liked too. She bought into the lies. Nobody was going to come between her and her doctor; she gets to keep her insurance provider; but now, that provider can’t cut her off if she gets sick. Wouldn’t it be tragic if someone was killed because of the lies spread about this bill? There have been so many lies told, we thought it best to publish the bill so everyone can read it: Read the ACTUAL Bill. For those who don’t want to dig through the congressional jargon, I will sum up some of the highlights for you. Keep in mind that many of these will come with time (why not now? Well, that’s congress for you. We saw a lot of amendments and time schedules added by people who never planned to vote for the bill in the first place. So, they were sure to cripple the bill that would eventually pass because the majority wanted to play the bipartisan card). First off, the bill provides quality and affordable health care for 32 million Americans; additionally, the bill: · Bars insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions, health status, and gender. · As of Sep 23rd, no more rescissions; patients cannot get dropped because they are sick. At this same time, there will be no more life time limits and children will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance until they are 26 years old. · As of Jan 1, 2011, insurance companies will be required to spend 80 to 85% of what they charge you for insurance on actual medical care or they owe you a rebate. · Provides Americans with better coverage and the information they need to make informed decisions about their health insurance. · Creates state-based health insurance exchanges – competitive marketplaces where individuals and small businesses can buy affordable health care coverage in a manner similar to that of big businesses today. · Offers premium tax credits and cost-sharing assistance to low- and middle-income Americans, providing families and small businesses with the largest tax cut for health care in history. · Ensures access to immediate relief for uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions on the brink of medical bankruptcy. It makes key investments in Medicaid and children’s health. · Expands eligibility for Medicaid to include all non-elderly Americans with income below 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. · Maintains current funding levels for the Children’s Health Insurance Program for an additional two years, through fiscal year 2015. · Increases payments to primary care doctors in Medicaid. It improves Medicare. · Adds at least nine years to the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund. · Fills the Medicare prescription drug donut hole. In 2010, Medicare beneficiaries who go into the donut hole will receive a $250 rebate. Subsequently, they will receive a pharmaceutical manufacturers’ 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs, increasing to a 75 percent discount on brand-name and generic drugs to close the donut hole by 2020. · Provides new, free annual wellness visits, and eliminates out-of-pocket copayments for preventive benefits under Medicare, such as cancer and diabetes screenings. It enhances the health care workforce. · Makes key investments in training doctors and nurses and other health care providers. Currently, 65 million Americans live in communities where they cannot easily access a primary care provider. An additional 16,500 practitioners are required to meet these needs. The legislation addresses shortages in primary care and other areas of practice by making necessary investments in our nation’s health care workforce. Specifically, it will invest in scholarship and loan repayment programs through the National Health Service Corps to expand the health care workforce. The bill also includes incentives for primary care practitioners and providers to practice in underserved areas. One of the biggest myths (ok, it was an out and out lie) was that it would cost us more than we can afford right now (whatever that means). Well, the reality is this: The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new health insurance reform law will cut the deficit by $143 billion in the first ten years (2010-2019) and by $1.2 trillion in the second ten years, representing the largest deficit reduction measure in 17 years. It is fully paid for by cracking down on Medicare fraud, ending unfair giveaways to insurance companies, and responsible and balanced revenue provisions that do not raise taxes on middle income, working families. This reform will rein in costs for most Americans. This is the same office that predicted that Medicare Part D (it got the grade it deserved) would cost us over 300 billion dollars, and the republican ran congress (those fiscal conservatives) all voted for it. Why? So they could shore in their support by the health care industry. All of them got huge checks from the industry. Many have called this bill a give-away to the insurance companies, because people will be “mandated” to purchase insurance. Some say mandates are unconstitutional. Those who are pushing this seem to have forgotten back in 1994 when conservatives battled Hillary Care they (the conservatives) offered up a bill with “mandates” that would force people to buy insurance. Constitutional in 1994, but not today. Apparently. What many call myths surrounding the health care bill are actually lies. It drives me nuts the euphemisms our reps in Washington use on a daily basis. I’m particularly fond of Al Franken (from Minnesota) for calling people out when they do lie. It’s quite refreshing. As long as it’s legal for senators and representatives to lie, we need more like Franken to call them out on it. One lie is that this new bill slashes Medicare and harms seniors. Bulltwaddle. Nothing in health insurance reform reduces guaranteed Medicare benefits for seniors. The new law achieves savings by cracking down on inefficiency, fraud, and waste in Medicare and targets cuts at private insurance companies and providers, not Medicare beneficiaries. This law strengthens Medicare by reinvesting cost savings in Medicare. It will close the prescription drug donut hole, ensure free preventive care, and extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by nine years. Another great lie concerns the individual and employer mandates and the role of the Internal Revenue Service to enforce the new health care law. It’s been repeated over and over and always ends with people being hauled off to jail for non payment. Right. We’re opening new Debtor’s Prisons. For 96 percent of businesses (those with less than 50 full-time employees), there are no employer responsibility requirements. To reduce premiums by expanding the pool of insured Americans, there is a shared responsibility requirement for individuals to obtain health insurance, and this requirement can be met by using the new health tax credits for those who need assistance. There is also a hardship exemption for those who cannot afford health care even with tax credits, and the lowest-income Americans will be eligible for Medicaid. To help the American people understand and process the new health insurance tax credits, there will be a need for additional IRS support personnel, but the bill specifically prohibits the IRS from confiscating taxpayer assets, from using liens or levies, or imposing criminal penalties of any kind, including jail time, because of a lack of health care coverage. Finally, a related lie circulating is that the IRS will need to hire thousands of new employees to investigate and collect new taxes. The fact is that any new IRS employees will be responsible for ensuring that individuals and businesses are aware of the tax credits included in the new law and how to claim them. I’m really tired of partisan politics. I don’t like the bill. Yes, it’s a start, but we have so far to go. So…excuse the tone of my next article. Further Reading: Click here: Health bill protesters jeer at man with Parkinson’s disease | Raw Story
No, I’m not being gratuitous. I’m quite serious. The Health Care bill does not address REAL health care. During his run for the office, President Obama repeated our line: “We do not have health care, we have disease care.”
The health care bill is not about health at all. It’s about insurance reform. We are still one of the only industrialized countries in the world that has a for profit medical system. When the bottom line is the almighty dollar, health care takes a back seat. We still have disease care, Mr President. If you want to lower the costs of medicine, force it to compete. Conservatives praise the free market and competition, but not, apparently, when it comes to medicine. Medicine could never compete with naturopathy, herbalism, nutrition, or the like. The one truth that stands out head and shoulders above everything taught in medical school is this: No drug can reverse an illness that has been caused by nutritional deficiencies and poor lifestyle choices. Sure, we can always treat symptoms. But as the Chinese claim, “He who lives by medical prescriptions lives miserably.” It is time for each of us to take responsibility for our health. Screw reform. Screw Washington. Screw insurance companies. Each and everyone of us must take a stand against the high cost of disease care and walk the walk of health and wellness. It’s time for each one of us to sign a contract of wellness. In that contract will be statements like the following: · I will get up off my ass at least once a day and spend 30 minutes walking, running, playing, gardening, lifting weights, swimming; just some form of exercise. · I will take time out each week to sit silently, meditate, or commune with nature/God/the Universe. · I will create meals consisting of foods with ONE ingredient only. · I will choose to eat organic foods when I can. · I will eat healthy fats only. · If I eat cooked and barbecued foods I will take supplements like NAC, Chlorella, Chlorophyllin, etc. · I will care for my digestion and never use antacids. I will take probiotics and digestive enzymes when needed. · I will eat fresh fruits and vegetables, making sure that 50% of my diet is raw. · I will read and research and learn which supplements will keep me happy and healthy. · I will supplement with antioxidants according to my needs. · If I do get ill, I will use nutrition and non toxic therapies to heal. · I will take responsibility for my health, the health of my family, and never ever become a victim. When we all take charge, take responsibility, take care of ourselves, we will all be better off. Rational medicine is too far off for us to wait. The time is now. Stand up now and take charge of your health. Nobody will do it for you, but you’ll find a lot of people on your side. I know we are.
The problem with rhubarb recipes is that they all call for sugar. Cancer Loves Sugar! So, we have recreated some recipes using Organic Zero (below). Sure, it’s spendy, but chemotherapy costs a lot more. We have posted three cancer killing recipes just in time for summer. We will be posting more, but for now, send us your favorite rhubarb recipes, and we will make them healthier.
There is so much good behind good chocolate and yet so much bad behind bad chocolate, we just had to write an article on it, and then give you some healthy chocolate recipes:
For some of you, diabetics, sugar addicts, people with cancer, or with any disorders affected by sugar, your dreams have come true. We have discovered a REAL sugar, with REAL sugar taste, REAL sugar sweetness, but NO calories (virtually—less than one calorie per teaspoon), and a glycemic index of ZERO. It does NOT raise your blood sugar, is safe for vegans and vegetarians, and is easily digested. This dream comes with just one slight nightmare: the price. Yup, it’s spendy, but as I’ll always tell you: I’m worth it. Are you? The product is called Organic Zero. It is made from erythritol, a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that is found everywhere: in fruits, vegetables, and even in our bodies. It is made without using any chemicals. Organic cane sugar is liquefied and fermented. The liquid is filtered and what’s left, erythritol, is crystallized. It takes two pounds of sugar to produce one pound of Organic Zero. Organic zero is 70% as sweet as sugar, meaning you’ll have to use a teaspoon and a half to equal a teaspoon sugar’s sweetness. If your recipe calls for a cup of sugar, you'll have to use a cup and a half. You can keep it in a sugar bowl; it will last as long as regular sugar and doesn’t clump because it does not absorb moisture from the atmosphere. Baked goods made with Organic Zero have a longer shelf life. I just love the stuff. I’ve used it in recipes, tested it in everything, and you can bet this fall I’m going to use Organic ZERO in my jellies. Expensive? Yes, it’s over a dollar an ounce, but you can bet your bippy, I’m worth it. (And so are my guests.)
Zero (Organic) - 8/12Oz Organic Zero: GR Lemonade
¼ Cup Fresh
Squeezed Lemon Juice Mix well till the Organic Zero is melted. Slice up some fresh strawberries and add them too for the best lemonade you've ever had. Sure, one cup of Organic Zero costs $7.50, but a quart of Mocha Lattes from Starbucks costs more, and Organic Zero won’t hang on your butt till you decided to diet. And…it’s refreshing!
Which of the following were once considered to be "Medicine?" a. Ketchup Click on the left < and drag to the right > below for the answer. < e. All three were once considered medicine. > How many muscles are in the human ear? a. 1 Click on the left < and drag to the right > below for the answer. < c. There are 7 muscles in the human ear. > Name a muscle that is attached only at one end. < The tongue. > The first open heart surgery was performed in (the year) < 1893 >. The movie Food, Inc. points out that corn is the most widely used food source in America. It is subsidized and thus grown very cheaply. It is found in over 3000 grocery items at your supermarket. According to the Great Food Almanac, "The average American eats the equivalent of < three > pounds of corn each day in the form of meat, poultry, and dairy products." It was one of the first foods ever cultivated in Western Civilization. It was written about over 5,000 years ago in Sanskrit. Hippocrates prescribed it for tumors. What is it? < Garlic. > What do rabbits and horses have in common? < They can't vomit. > Quickies:
We Thank The
Wonderful People Who Create The Bathroom Readers Get one below.
They make great gifts.
“Doc,” as we called him, was a major science wonk. He held PhDs in physics and mathematics and taught courses in both disciplines, as well as freshman chemistry. No matter what the class, his lectures frequently took unexpected side trips into anthropology, biology, astronomy - well, heck, you name it, and he knew it. Probably the only other person I’ve met who reads as many books per year is Dr. Mike Eades. Doc’s guest lecture was about the need for general scientific literacy, and he told us at one point, “No matter what field you plan to go into, learn math. Math is how you know when you’re being lied to.” I agree wholeheartedly. Trouble is, math just plain scares a lot of people. Stick a couple of x’s and y’s into an equation, and they get a case of brain-freeze that can otherwise be produced only by gulping a Slurpee. After researching Fat Head, I’m convinced most reporters are prone to Slurpee Syndrome. When they report on this-or-that new study, they don’t want to strain their brains by poring over the actual data. So they just read the abstract and the author’s conclusion, then write the story. That’s how a lot of bad science becomes embedded in our consciousness. There are notable exceptions, of course. Gary Taubes thoroughly analyzes the hard data - but Gary has a degree in physics from Harvard. That’s why I found it laughable when some media-darling doctors claimed his hypotheses about adaptive thermogenesis and homeostasis would violate the laws of thermodynamics. Yeah, right … the guy with the degree in physics forgot all about the laws of thermodynamics. Luckily for us, there were actual doctors on hand to set the record straight. To restate Doc’s warning - with a little Mark Twain stirred in - if you can’t do the math, researchers with an agenda will use lies, damned lies and statistics to bamboozle you. Let’s look at how they do it. Just flat-out lie about the results. Thirty years after the start of the famous Framingham study, the authors of a new report stated that “The most important overall finding is the emergence of the total cholesterol concentration as a risk factor for coronary heart disease in the elderly.” In plain English: high cholesterol kills old people. Just one little problem: the hard data showed no correlation at all between heart disease and cholesterol in the elderly, as Dr. Uffe Ravnskov pointed out in his excellent book “The Cholesterol Myths.” If you look at the actual data points, they’re all over the place. Perhaps hoping to clarify the issue, the American Heart Association put actual numbers on the claim: “The results of the Framingham study indicate that a 1% reduction of cholesterol corresponds to a 2% reduction in CHD risk.” But when Dr. Ravnskov crunched the data, he found that the Framingham subjects whose cholesterol decreased over time actually had a higher rate of heart disease, not a lower one. With this apparent inability to recognize if numbers are going up or down, I respectfully suggest that the Framingham researchers resign their positions and go work for a congressional budget committee. (I also respectfully suggest that reporters who couldn’t be bothered with examining the data start covering school-board meetings.) Scare people with percentages. When you see a percentage, you’re looking at the results of multiplication or division. But when you see the word “difference,” you are - if the researcher is honest - looking at simple subtraction. If a value goes from 20 to 22, it’s an increase of 10%, but the difference is 2. (Still with me? Good; you have a functioning brain.) Multiplication and division can produce big, impressive-sounding percentages that are in fact nearly meaningless. Here’s an example that helped enshrine the “cholesterol kills” theory: After a major study with the acronym MRFIT was concluded, the researchers announced that people with high cholesterol were over 400% more likely to die of heart disease. Ohmigosh!! Get me into an Ornish program, now! I must reduce my cholesterol! That’s a big, scary number. Let’s see how they came up with it. Over the course of the study, 0.3% of the men whose cholesterol was below 170 died from heart disease. Meanwhile, 1.3% of the men whose cholesterol was over 265 died of heart disease. Over 265?! Dead man walking! Buy your casket now and save! And in fact, since 1.3/0.3 = 4.33, you could say that 1.3 is over 400% higher. Now flip the numbers and look at the actual difference. In the low cholesterol group, 99.7% did not die from a heart attack. Among the very high cholesterol group, 98.7% did not die from a heart attack. That’s a difference of 1.0%. In other words, if you go up the scale from low cholesterol to very high cholesterol (nearly 100 points higher), the real difference is that an extra 1 in 100 men died of heart disease. Not quite such a scary number, is it? Wow people with percentages. Percentages work in the other direction, too. You’ve probably seen the Lipitor ads where Pfizer announces that this wonder drug reduces heart attacks by 36%. That sure sounds impressive … until you look at the actual difference. In the study cited by Pfizer, men with known risk factors for heart disease took either Lipitor or a placebo. In the placebo group, barely more than 3% had a heart attack. In the Lipitor group, 2% had a heart attack. Use division, and you get that impressive 36% reduction. But the difference, once again, is 1 in 100, or 1%. Boy, that’s worth giving your liver a major smack-down. And by the way, the difference in the heart-attack rate for women who take statins and women who don’t is: zero. You can multiply that difference, divide it, square it, triangle it, stick it inside a trapezoid, whatever … you still can’t come up with a reason for women to take statins - ever. Count only the numbers you like. (Otherwise known as “cherry picking” your data.) In trials conducted on statins, researchers will happily announce that fewer people died of heart disease. (Not a whole lot fewer … see above.) But they’re curiously silent about how many people died overall. In fact, they refuse to release what’s called the “all-cause mortality” data. Gee, I wonder why? If I conduct a five-year study in which I give one group a daily glass of orange juice, and another group a daily glass of rat poison, I can guarantee you that far fewer people in the rat-poison group will die from heart disease. But I doubt the all-cause mortality numbers would help sell rat poison as a new wonder drug. (And in fact, studies of the first cholesterol-lowering drugs were stopped because too many subject were dying of cancer … but at least they didn’t get heart disease.) Here’s another example of cherry-picking data: Awhile back, newspaper headlines were practically screaming that smoking cigars is nearly as dangerous as smoking cigarettes - you know, high rates of cancer and all that. The American Cancer Society jumped all over the report. And since I enjoy two or three cigars per week while taking my five-mile walks, this one grabbed my interest. As it turns out, the researchers compiled their data from men who smoke five or more cigars per day. Now, a good cigar can easily take an hour to smoke. So unless these guys were standing outside half the day, they were lighting up indoors and inhaling a lot of smoke. And I’m pretty sure anyone who smokes five cigars a day isn’t exactly a health nut. Lord only knows what else these guys put into their bodies. Most cigars smokers don’t even average one per day. When other researchers compared men who smoke one cigar per day with nonsmokers, the difference in cancer rates was insignificant. (The cigar smokers were also more likely to have Austrian accents and be elected governor of California.) Confound it! In a real, true, worthwhile study, you compare large groups of people who are statistically identical except for one variable: one group is taking a drug, or adding fiber to their diets, or meditating while listening to Yanni music. Everything else should be the same. If everything else isn’t the same, you’ve got confounding variables, which means your study data is worthless. You can’t just compare x. You’ve got to compare x while making sure that a, b, c, y and z are virtually identical. Dean Ornish claims a lowfat diet prevents heart disease. Why? Because he put people on his diet, and by gosh, they had fewer heart attacks than the control group. But Ornish also had the study group stop smoking, start exercising, and take classes in stress management. That’s pretty convenient, considering that smoking and stress are two of the biggest causes of heart disease. Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure if I took a group of smoking, stressed-out couch potatoes and had them stop smoking, start exercising, meditate while listening to Yanni, and take up chewing tobacco, their rate of heart disease would plummet. Then I could claim that chewing tobacco prevents heart disease. Heck, I’d probably get a lifetime pass to NASCAR races. So the next time you see a newspaper headline announcing that some new study “proves” this or that will kill you - or save you - ask yourself a few questions: What exactly did they count? What didn’t they count? Are we looking at a percentage change, and if so, how did they calculate it? What’s the real difference? Did they control their variables? And - most importantly - do the raw numbers actually support the conclusion? And Doc, if you’re still alive, I want you to know you were one of the best teachers I ever had, at any level. You told me once I was good at math and should look into programming computers for a living, which I thought was a silly idea at the time. Now it’s how I pay the mortgage. It’s also how I paid for Fat Head. You were even more brilliant than I thought.
Killer drug may finally be taken off the market three
years - and 3000 deaths - late Swine flu pandemic scare 'one of greatest medical
scandals of century', says EU chief
There’s a hidden switch in every cell of your body. It controls how long you live... and when you die. It has the power to extend life – maybe indefinitely. Most doctors have never heard of it. A group of scientists stumbled upon it just 10 years ago. They watched in awe as generation after generation of cells multiplied… without aging. As one top researcher put it in a Harvard report, “With this switch turned on, these cells become ‘immortalized.’” 1Until very recently, we didn’t know how to activate it. Today we do. We’ve uncovered the very mechanism by which you age. And we’ve found a simple compound that flips that switch. For the first time ever, you can affect that process. You’ll be in the front row as my team of leading anti-aging experts and I walk you through the process in my brand-new DVD. It’s called TA-65. Simply put, it’s the greatest breakthrough in the history of anti-aging medicine. Recently, a select group flew in from across the country to hear about the new TA-65 science. At $500 a ticket, it was a pretty exclusive event. That’s why I hired a video production crew to film it. We wanted to make this something you could experience at home. When you play the DVD, you’ll have the secrets behind TA-65’s rejuvenating power. And I’ll show you 6 simple steps to activate your anti-aging gene – right away. You’ll also hear from people whose immortality gene is already “switched on.” In fact, my colleagues and I are personally undergoing this historic anti-aging treatment ourselves. We’ll share with you the changes they’ve seen in a matter of months, from sharper vision to enhanced mental powers. You’ll hear about people like Bob Hayes. At 82 he regularly runs 50-mile races – and bests competitors half his age. Or Helen Klein. She just broke the world record for marathoners aged 85-90 – by over an hour. TA-65’s power lies in a genetic structure called the telomere. It’s the mechanism that controls aging. It’s also the key to total health. What are your telomeres? They’re protective tips that cap the ends of your DNA. Each time your cells divide, your telomeres get shorter. When your telomeres run down, cell division stops and your life ends. For the first time in history, we can influence – and even slow – this process. The secret lies in an enzyme called telomerase. Telomerase makes your telomeres longer. That means your cells actually get younger as time goes by. Simply put, telomerase turns back the hands of time. It’s in every cell of your body, but it’s turned off. TA-65 switches it back on. It’s not just your lifespan we’re talking about here. Telomeres are dramatic indicators of your overall health. Here’s some of the evidence: · Aging/Los Angeles Times: 2Your risk of heart attack increases the faster your telomeres break down. Scientists looked at people in perfect health… who later died from heart disease. They found the death rate from heart attack was three times higher for men whose telomeres got short the fastest. The death rate for women was 2.3 times higher. (2009) · Journals of Gerontology: 3100-year-olds in good health had “significantly longer” telomeres than those with health problems. (2008) · American Heart Association: 4People with shorter telomeres in their immune cells had twice the risk of death from heart failure as patients with the longest telomeres. The study, published in one of its key journals, looked at over 750 people with heart disease. The highest-risk group had telomeres half the length of the lowest-risk group. (2008) · Psychosomatic Medicine: 5Women with shorter telomeres are more likely to be overweight and insulin-resistant. (2008) · American Association for Cancer Research: 6One of its flagship journals published a potential link between telomere length and colon cancer. (2006) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 7People with short telomeres are more likely to suffer from weaker immune systems and greater heart disease risk. (2004)
It came from a study led by Dr. Dean Ornish. He found that the same lifestyle changes you’ll find in my TA-65 DVD can boost your telomerase levels by 29 percent. You can see just how important your “immortality gene” is to your life and health. You really can “switch it on.” Find out what you can do to start “growing younger” right in your own home. I recommend you pick up your copy today: Switch on Your “Immortality” Gene. 1 Reekie,
Yvonna. “Telomeres Affected by Genetic and Nongenetic
Factors.” Research Brief. fr. Focus Online: News from
Harvard Medical, Dental, and Public Health Schools.” June
20, 2008. www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=5216&Section=AGING
Since starting my wellness quest, I’ve often heard about and wrote about physicians who tell their patients that taking vitamins is a waste of time. I’m beginning to feel that this era, in which physicians have totally ignored nutrition, is ending, but this feeling doesn’t bring me any warm & fuzzies; not at all. Take fish oil, for example. Fish oil contains “essential nutrients” known as “essential fatty acids.” By essential, we don’t mean optional. We can buy fish oils everywhere, from WalMart to Walgreens, and online at over a million websites. However, the pharmaceutical interests want a piece of this action, so instead of just making a fish oil, they made a “medicine.” They made a fish oil that can be purchased only with a prescription. They made an FDA approved fish oil, the only FDA approved fish oil. It’s called LOVAZA, and it can cost you two bucks a pill. There is no evidence that LOVAZA is any better than commercial fish oils, but you can guarantee they want you to believe it is. LOVAZA was created to help people with high triglyceride levels bring them down. Fish oil had been doing this for years, but according to FDA regulations (silly stuff at best) if you’re going to affect some kind of “cure” in the body, what you’re using must be labeled a “medicine.” So for those using fish oil to bring down their triglycerides, someday someone might come after you for self medicating. All this prescription/FDA approved nutrition doesn’t bode well with me. We’re just too close to outlawing nutritional therapies by renaming them medicines and giving pharmaceutical companies a monopoly on all dietary supplements. That warning out of the way, I’m free to tell you that fish oils are not just cardioprotective, but that they seem to boost longevity. And this was posted in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA. 2010;303(3):250-257. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/303/3/250]. Very simply, the study concluded that those with the lowest levels of omega-3s had the fastest rate of telomere shortening, while those with the highest levels had the slowest rate of telomere shortening. A year earlier, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, they discovered that multivitamins helped slow telomere shortening. In a study using 586 women, adjusting for age (35 – 74 years), they concluded that: This study provides the first epidemiologic evidence that multivitamin use is associated with longer telomere length among women, and that micronutrients affects telomere length by modulating oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. This would make sense since omega-3s from fish oils also mitigate chronic inflammation. We’ve been told for years that vitamins are a waste of money and that we get everything we need from our diets (even though no one ever asked us what we eat), but that’s a lie and we have the proof right here. Just this year the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine published a study called: Dietary amelioration of locomotor, neurotransmitter and mitochondrial aging. Like most studies, this one was written up in language the average schmoe can’t possibly understand, and so I will summarize their findings for you. As we age, our bodies slow down. Our brains slow down, our bodies slow down, and our libido slows down. On a microbiological level, synapses just don’t fire like they used to and even the powerhouse of every cell in our bodies burn a bit dimmer. Using mice, experimenters created two groups, as usual, an experimental group and a control group. The control group got regular feed and lived in their normal housing with the exercise wheel and all the comforts of home. The experimental group got the same thing, but they also got a multivitamin. The results were very significant. The mice getting the multivitamin not only outlived the control group, their aging processes slowed, and their motor activities and brain function remained quite youthful. Here are the vitamins and supplements the mice were given in a multi-vitamin, with a bit of extra supplementation (such as flax seed):
I do NOT understand the addition of aspirin (Acetylsalicylic acid) to the diet. There are already supplements in this mixture that work better than aspirin, but hey, I didn’t write the study. The one thing you can take away from all of this is: vitamins, supplements, minerals, and a healthy diet just make your life longer and better, leaving you useful and active lives even after you retire. And now, from recent telomere research I give you the following products (and links for you to purchase if you wish) that will switch on that longevity gene:
One Final IMPORTANT Note: Something else, something you cannot buy, also increases the amount of telomerase in your body. It is love. Love, friendship, generosity, laughter, peace of mind. These intangibles cannot be bought for any amount of money.
Posted By ANH-USA On April 27, 2010 @ 6:34 pm In Attacks on Integrative Medicine, Food Safety, The Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA)
The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173), recently passed in the House of Representatives, includes language going far beyond finance inserted by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA). This language could be used for an end run around the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), the legislation that governs dietary supplement regulation by the FDA. The Senate is expected to vote on its finance “reform” bill as early as this weekend. We need your help to ensure that it is not amended to include a similar provision going far beyond finance that could be used against supplements. Please take action now. TAKE ACTION [2] Congressman Waxman is well known as an opponent of the dietary supplement industry. This is somewhat ironic: his district includes Hollywood and presumably many of his closest supporters are health store shoppers and supplement users. Most of these people simply don’t know what Waxman is doing in this area. This powerful Congressman, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee (which includes health as a subcommittee), would appear to want supplements regulated like drugs, a step that would effectively eliminate them. He is determined and has stated: “One enduring truth about Washington is that no issue is ever settled for good.” ANH-USA has been on alert to see how Waxman would use his committee chairmanship to strike at DSHEA. He is very clever and we knew a covert attack was a possibility. A direct attack on supplements would take the form of an amendment to DSHEA, since that legislation governs FDA regulation of supplements. In this case, Waxman has left DSHEA alone, and has instead inserted language in the Wall St. “reform” bill that gives the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) important new powers that could be used to circumvent key supplement protections in DSHEA. TAKE ACTION [2] To see how this would work, let’s see how the FTC operates today. Its chief mission is to combat commercial fraud. It has full authority to pursue companies making fraudulent claims. But the FTC can’t go beyond that, can’t set other regulatory requirements, without advance approval of Congress. The FTC once had this regulatory “rule-making” authority. It lost it in the 1980’s because Congress thought the Agency was abusing it. At the present time, if the FTC moves against a dietary supplement company for false or misleading advertising, the FTC typically requires the company, as part of a consent decree agreed to by both parties, to back up its claims by undertaking at least two random controlled human trials. This is done on a case-by-case basis and is legal because the targeted company has agreed to it. If the FTC had general rulemaking authority, which Waxman’s language reinstates, the Agency would be expected to create a new legal requirement for all supplement companies. Such companies would have to perform at least two of these human studies before making any claims for their products. Why should we care whether supplement companies are required to perform two random controlled human trials for each product? Because such trials take a long time and would be beyond the financial means of most supplement companies. Even if the companies could find the money, the FTC could require more and more costly versions of these studies, or more of these studies. At each stage, fewer supplements would be available, and those available would cost more and more, until they became as costly as drugs.TAKE ACTION [2] Supplements are not drugs. In most cases, drugs are non-natural and therefore patentable substances. Why patentable? Because no company will spend a billion dollars on studies and FDA approval trials without the monopoly provided by the patent. To insist that supplements be treated like drugs is really to sound the death knell for the supplement industry, something that drug companies would be delighted to see, because they know that supplements are their chief potential competition, are often more effective than drugs, are often less toxic, and are always much less expensive. Supplements are already regulated by the FDA under DSHEA. If the Waxman provision is included in the final Wall St “reform” bill, the FTC will gain the power to override the limited protections for supplements that already exist under DSHEA. The FDA would still have to respect DSHEA, but the FTC would not be so constrained. Five unelected FTC commissioners would issue binding regulations in a wide range of areas, including the regulation of dietary supplements. And companies that did not comply with the new FTC rules could effectively be put out of business. According to renowned constitutional attorney Jonathan Emord, “The provision removing the ban on FTC rulemaking without Congressional preapproval contained in H.R. 4173 invites the very same irresponsible over-regulation of the commercial marketplace that led Congress to enact the ban in the 1980s. FTC has no shortage of power to regulate deceptive advertising; this bill gives it far more discretionary power than it needs, inviting greater abuse and mischief from an agency that suffers virtually no check on its discretion.” The bottom line is that FTC would be given power to regulate areas they don’t understand, and their first order of business would likely be to regulate supplements, an area far outside their area of expertise. The Senate Wall St “reform” bill, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (S. 3217), doesn’t contain the Waxman provision yet. But we know that Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) may offer an amendment including Waxman’s language. Please help us stop this. Please take action now to help us maintain access to low cost, high quality supplements. Tell your senators not to support any amendments that give FTC unchecked power to over-regulate areas they don’t understand, including dietary supplements. Article printed from Alliance for Natural Health – US: http://www.anh-usa.org URLs in this post: [1] Image: http://www.anh-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/FTC.jpg [2] TAKE ACTION: https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=543
Go to original: http://keys-soap.com/keysblog/?p=567 Keys Note: Although we are a natural skin remedy and health company, we have long said that many skin disorders are misdiagnosed and caused by chemicals in household products. Because this report is about schools, on the surface, do not dismiss this report when choosing your household cleaning products. Especially your laundry detergents that come in direct contact with your skin. At Keys, we believe that 95+% of all household cleaning products contain harmful chemicals to humans and pets and cause over 75% of diagnosed skin disorders. Our belief…What’s yours? Please read this summary and the linked report for your own well being! EWG, November 6, 2009: Cleaning supplies used in 13 large California school districts release an airborne brew of chemicals, including a number that have been linked to asthma or cancer by state and federal health authorities. Tests of 21 cleaners from these schools conducted for the Environmental Working Group found that when used as directed, the products released six chemicals known to cause asthma, 11 contaminants that are known, probable, or possible cancer-causing substances in humans, and hundreds of other compounds for which there is little or no hazard information. The school districts using these products are Bakersfield City and the unified districts of Fairfield-Suisun, Fresno, Jefferson (Daly City), Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento City, San Bernardino City, San Francisco, San Jose, Stockton, Visalia, and West Contra Costa County. Some of these districts have reduced their use of more toxic products by adopting or trying green cleaning supplies. In all, air testing revealed 457 chemicals emitted by these products. While some of these airborne compounds are known to be hazardous, nothing is known about the health risks of most of them. Manufacturers’ documents disclosed the presence of another 38 chemical ingredients that air testing could not pick up. Statewide, cleaning supplies release 32 tons of contaminants into the air each day. Some of the products tested are widely used in American households, including:
Please read the entire report. Click Here
I promised this review years ago. Ok…it took a while, but it’s worth it. There is no better slide show program anywhere. Click here to read the review: ProShow, or go here to read all the reviews we’ve compiled on programs for your photos and movies: Reviews.
This is an amazing story, very much akin to the story of cholesterol lowering drugs, in that there was no such disease as High Cholesterol until the drug was created to lower it. Or read it : MPR Health
Affiliate programs are designed to make money for websites. We are members of many affiliate programs. However, our goal is NOT to make money. This website was never started with the goal of making money. It was started with the goal of providing the most readable, most honest, and most up-to-date health and wellness information. To provide this information requires a web site. Web sites cost money. Last year we took in $12,000.00. We spent $17,000.00. How can we spend so much? Well, many of our readers know that we care. We get them supplements, and therapies at no cost to them. We give away more than we take in. We will continue to do this. When we introduce you to a new Affiliate, it is not to MAKE money. We simply want to provide you with healthy products. Funding is a needed side effect of that process; it pays the bills. As always, if you want to support us, then click the affiliate links. If you don’t, go find the products on your own. This choice is totally up to you. We have two new Affiliate Programs to show you. First we have US Wellness Meats. The web site has lots of grass fed beef, free range chickens, and many other products that are good for you and good for the planet.
Our second new Affiliate Program is a seafood site. Though we often point to supplements you need, we must stand by the original position of health and wellness: Let your food be your medicine. If you
want good fish oils, get them from fish. And the rawer the
better! The Japanese have the best longevity figures on the
planet and it’s not a coincidence that they eat raw fish. You can order Sushi overnight. Remember that wild fish will have more Omega-3s than farmed. Some worry about mercury levels in fish, but it’s been found that fish also contain selenium, which bonds with the mercury and passes through you. We plan to write something on this in the future, but if you are worried, just pick up some good selenium. The best (the one I use) is posted below. The following is an example of an advertised special sent to me by email.
 Go to original: http://pilladvised.com/2010/03/fda-warns-on-cholesterol-drug-zocor/ Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are among the most prescribed medications in the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been evaluating the statin drug Zocor (simvastatin) and has issued a warning that the drug could increase the risk of muscle injury. The most severe form of muscle injury could lead to kidney damage, kidney failure, and death, according to the FDA warning. Simvastatin is sold generically and also under it’s brand name Zocor, and is also used as an ingredient in the combination drugs Vytorin and Simcor. Read the full release, and see the links below for more information: FDA Warns about Increased Risk of Muscle Injury with Zocor Highest approved dose of cholesterol-lowering medication could cause harm to muscles The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned patients and healthcare providers about the potential for increased risk of muscle injury from the cholesterol-lowering medication Zocor (simvastatin) 80 mg. Although muscle injury (called myopathy) is a known side effect with all statins, today’s warning highlights the greater risk of developing muscle injury, including rhabdomyolysis, for patients when they are prescribed and use higher doses of this drug. Rhabdomyolysis is the most serious form of myopathy and can lead to severe kidney damage, kidney failure, and sometimes death. “Review of simvastatin is part of an ongoing FDA effort to evaluate the risk of statin-associated muscle injury and to provide that information to the public as it becomes available,” said Eric Colman, M.D., Deputy Director of FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products (DMEP). “It’s important for patients and healthcare professionals to consider all the potential risks and known benefits of any drug before deciding on any one therapy or dose of therapy.” Simvastatin is sold as a single-ingredient generic medication and as the brand-name Zocor. It also is sold in combination with ezetimibe as Vytorin, and in combination with niacin as Simcor. FDA’s review of new information on the risk of muscle injury is derived from clinical trials, observational studies, adverse event reports, and prescription use data. The agency also is reviewing data from the SEARCH (Study of the Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine) trial, which evaluated major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack, revascularization and cardiovascular death, in patients taking 80 mg compared to 20 mg of simvastatin. SEARCH also included data on muscle injury in patients taking simvastatin. FDA is committed to informing the public about its ongoing safety review of drugs and will update the public as soon as the review of simvastatin is complete. For further information on this safety issue: Ongoing Safety Review of High-dose Zocor (simvastatin) and Increased Risk of Muscle Injury
Scientists have proved for the first time that fructose, a cheap form of sugar used in thousands of food products and soft drinks, can damage human metabolism and is fueling the obesity crisis. Fructose, a sweetener usually derived from corn, can cause dangerous growths of fat cells around vital organs and is able to trigger the early stages of diabetes and heart disease. Over 10 weeks, 16 volunteers on a controlled diet including high levels of fructose produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar replacing fructose, did not have these problems. Sources: Grist December 15, 2009 This study takes its place in a growing lineup of scientific studies demonstrating that consuming high-fructose corn syrup is the fastest way to trash your health. It is now known without a doubt that sugar in your food, in all it’s myriad of forms, is taking a devastating toll. And fructose in any form -- including high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and crystalline fructose -- is the worst of the worst! Fructose is a major contributor to:
A Calorie is Not a Calorie Glucose is the form of energy you were designed to run on. Every cell in your body, every bacterium -- and in fact, every living thing on the Earth--uses glucose for energy. If you received your fructose only from vegetables and fruits (where it originates) as most people did a century ago, you’d consume about 15 grams per day -- a far cry from the 73 grams per day the typical adolescent gets from sweetened drinks. In vegetables and fruits, it’s mixed in with fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and beneficial phytonutrients, all which moderate any negative metabolic effects. It isn’t that fructose itself is bad -- it is the MASSIVE DOSES you’re exposed to that make it dangerous. There are two reasons fructose is so damaging: 1. Your body metabolizes fructose in a much different way than glucose. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver. 2. People are consuming fructose in enormous quantities, which has made the negative effects much more profound. Today, 55 percent of sweeteners used in food and beverage manufacturing are made from corn, and the number one source of calories in America is soda, in the form of HFCS. Food and beverage manufacturers began switching their sweeteners from sucrose (table sugar) to corn syrup in the 1970s when they discovered that HFCS was not only far cheaper to make, it’s about 20% sweeter than table sugar. HFCS is either 42% or 55% fructose, and sucrose is 50% fructose, so it's really a wash in terms of sweetness. Still, this switch drastically altered the average American diet. By USDA estimates, about one-quarter of the calories consumed by the average American is in the form of added sugars, and most of that is HFCS. The average Westerner consumes a staggering 142 pounds a year of sugar! And the very products most people rely on to lose weight -- the low-fat diet foods -- are often the ones highest in fructose. Making matters worse, all of the fiber has been removed from these processed foods, so there is essentially no nutritive value at all. Fructose Metabolism Basics Without getting into the very complex biochemistry of carbohydrate metabolism, it is important to understand some differences about how your body handles glucose versus fructose. I will be publishing a major article about this in the next couple of months, which will get much more into the details, but for our purpose here, I will just summarize the main points. Dr. Robert Lustig[i] Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, has been a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism. His work has highlighted some major differences in how different sugars are broken down and used:
If anyone tries to tell you “sugar is sugar,” they are way behind the times. As you can see, there are major differences in how your body processes each one. The bottom line is: fructose leads to increased belly fat, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome -- not to mention the long list of chronic diseases that directly result. Panic in the Corn Fields As the truth comes out about HFCS, the Corn Refiners Association is scrambling to convince you that their product is equal to table sugar, that it is “natural” and safe. Of course, many things are “natural” -- cocaine is natural, but you wouldn’t want to use 142 pounds of it each year. The food and beverage industry doesn’t want you to realize how truly pervasive HFCS is in your diet -- not just from soft drinks and juices, but also in salad dressings and condiments and virtually every processed food. The introduction of HFCS into the Western diet in 1975 has been a multi-billion dollar boon for the corn industry. The FDA classifies fructose as GRAS: Generally Regarded As Safe. Which pretty much means nothing and is based on nothing. There is plenty of data showing that fructose is not safe -- but the effects on the nation’s health have not been immediate. That is why we are just now realizing the effects of the last three decades of nutritional misinformation. As if the negative metabolic effects are not enough, there are other issues with fructose that disprove its safety:
The FDA isn’t going to touch sugar, so it’s up to you to be proactive about your own dietary choices. What’s a Sugarholic to Do? Ideally, I recommend that you avoid as much sugar as possible. This is especially important if you are overweight or have diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure. I also realize we don’t live in a perfect world, and following rigid dietary guidelines is not always practical or even possible. If you want to use a sweetener occasionally, this is what I recommend: 1. Use the herb stevia. 2. Use organic cane sugar in moderation. 3. Use organic raw honey in moderation. 4. Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners, which can damage your health even more quickly than fructose. 5. Avoid agave syrup since it is a highly processed sap that is almost all fructose. Your blood sugar will spike just as it would if you were consuming regular sugar or HFCS. Agave’s meteoric rise in popularity is due to a great marketing campaign, but any health benefits present in the original agave plant are processed out. 6. Avoid so-called energy drinks and sports drinks because they are loaded with sugar, sodium and chemical additives. Rehydrating with pure, fresh water is a better choice. If you or your child is involved in athletics, I recommend you read my article Energy Rules for some great tips on how to optimize your child’s energy levels and physical performance through good nutrition. References: [i] Robert H. Lustig, MD: UCSF Faculty Bio Page, and YouTube presentation “Sugar: The bitter truth” and “The fructose epidemic” The Bariatrician, 2009, Volume 24, No. 1, page 10) [ii] “Why is the FDA unwilling to study evidence of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup?” 20 Feb 2009, Grist
For all those who think tort reform is a good thing, I’d like you to read about the battle that’s been raging for ten years now. A good friend lost his son to leukemia; his son was in the cancer cluster described below. To All Interested Folks, Thanks to the single most powerful tool to do good in America, the Law of Torts, the mystery of the Fallon Leukemia Cluster has been solved. As did the legal discovery and expert witness work show that the TCE contaminated wells in Woburn caused their leukemia cluster, legal discovery has solved the leukemia cluster in Fallon. During the last 10 years we have been fighting these cases, discovery has yielded numerous valuable clues to the conundrum. Now, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners has provided us with the final clue that ties together the entire package. They have provided unequivocal proof that their pipeline leaked JP-8 into the EC Best school property and after approximately one year they replaced the leaking pipe. During this period the children who were otherwise healthy but lacked the genetic capability to detoxify the fuel developed cancers. The genetic susceptibility has been shown by Professor James from Arkansas and the Steinberg group at the CDC. The fact that these children couldn’t detoxify the contamination was shown by the CDC in 2003 where the estimated risk for leukemia associated with blood levels of PCBs was, in some cases 10 times higher than that for cigarettes and lung cancer. The proof that the JP-8 was the causal contamination source lies in the fact that the leukemia cluster went away after the leaking pipe was repaired. You recall that when the TCE contaminated wells in Woburn were closed, their leukemia cluster went away. This provides us with the impetus to genotype at risk children and increases our awareness of the dangers of toxic chemical exposure in children. Alan S.
Levin, M.D., J.D.
The Assault on Autistic Children and their Parents...
Feds found Pfizer too big to nail U.S. Panel Criticized as Overstating Cancer
Risks
Go to Original:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/research/07cancer.html#
Editor's Note: First the American Cancer Society fought against nutritional cancer therapies. Now they're on the side of the chemical industry. Just follow the money and you'll see why this organization is steeped in corruption and conflicts of interest. A dire government report on cancer risks from chemicals and other hazards in the environment has drawn criticism from the American Cancer Society, which says government experts are overstating their case. The government’s 240-page report, published online Thursday by the President’s Cancer Panel, says the proportion of cancer cases caused by environmental exposures has been “grossly underestimated.” It warns of “grievous harm” from chemicals and other hazards, and cites “a growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer.” Children are especially vulnerable, the panel says. It urges the government to strengthen research and regulation, and advises individuals on ways to limit exposure to potential threats like pesticides, industrial chemicals, medical X-rays, vehicle exhaust, plastic food containers and too much sun. A cover letter urges President Obama “most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nation’s productivity, and devastate American lives.” Nearly 80,000 chemicals are in use in the United States, and yet only a few hundred have been tested for safety, the report notes. It criticizes the nation’s regulatory approach, calling it reactionary rather than precautionary, which means that the government waits for proof of harm before taking action, instead of taking preventive steps when there is uncertainty about a chemical. Regulation is ineffective, the panel says, in part because of inadequate staffing and financing, overly complex rules, weak laws, uneven enforcement and undue industry influence. The report looks at contaminants from a variety of sources: industry, agriculture, air and water, medical imaging and contaminated military sites. It also considers natural hazards, like radon gas in homes and arsenic in drinking water. The report concludes, “At this time, we do not know how much environmental exposures influence cancer risk.” Dr. Michael Thun, an epidemiologist from the cancer society, said in an online statement that the report was “unbalanced by its implication that pollution is the major cause of cancer,” and had presented an unproven theory — that environmentally caused cases are grossly underestimated — as if it were a fact. The cancer society estimates that about 6 percent of all cancers in the United States — 34,000 cases a year — are related to environmental causes (4 percent from occupational exposures, 2 percent from the community or other settings). Suggesting that the risk is much higher, when there is no proof, may divert attention from things that are much bigger causes of cancer, like smoking, Dr. Thun said in an interview. “If we could get rid of tobacco, we could get rid of 30 percent of cancer deaths,” he said, adding that poor nutrition, obesity and lack of exercise are also greater contributors to cancer risk than pollution. But Dr. Thun said the cancer society shared the panel’s concerns about people’s exposure to so many chemicals, the lack of information about chemicals, the vulnerability of children and the radiation risks from medical imaging tests. The chairman of the president’s panel, Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall Jr. of Howard University, said the panel stood by the report. “This is an evenhanded approach, and an evenhanded report,” Dr. Leffall said. “We didn’t make statements that should not be made.” He acknowledged that it was impossible to specify just how many cancers were environmentally caused, because not enough research had been done, but he said he was confident that when the research was done, it would confirm the panel’s assertion that the problem had been grossly underestimated. Despite the uncertainties, the panel recommended more research and stronger regulation to protect public health. The report also mentions things that people can do themselves to lower their risks. The measures include these:
The panel normally has three members, appointed by the president. Currently there are only two: Dr. Leffall and Dr. Margaret L. Kripke, a professor emerita from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Both were originally appointed by President George W. Bush. Over two years, Dr. Leffall and Dr. Kripke held meetings and heard presentations from academic and government scientists, industry representatives and members of advocacy groups and the public. Appearing in an Inbox Near You Here is a piece circulating the web. Interestingly enough, the original story was in circulation long before Obama took office. The story got a quick re-write adding Obama’s name. Additionally, the original piece puts the professor at Texas Tech, which allowed too many people to debunk it, since Texas Tech could be contacted and the story verified. It, like most forwards, is crap. A Failed Socialism Experiment An illustrative story, worth passing on. An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Funny, but the terms Socialism and Communism (Marxism) are tossed around a lot when Democrats are in office. Roosevelt’s Social Security was called “the slippery slope that will lead to the complete communist takeover of the United States.” Few people tossing these terms about know what they mean. Those inciting them to use these labels do know what they mean, and they also know that these terms, though improperly deployed, are incendiary, volatile, and divisive. That’s why they encourage their use. A divided electorate gives these assholes more power, for they know that if the people ever came together, these people would be out on the street. The above story has nothing to do with socialism or communism. Both of these economic systems are based upon the government owning the means to production. There hardly exists any economic system that is pure. There is no “pure” capitalism, no “pure” socialism, for all of these “pure” systems eventually self destruct. We are told that we need Free Market Capitalism in this country where each person is allowed to succeed or fail depending on how good that person produces. However, production in this country is up and wages are down; people are failing while producing. This is the result of Free Market Capitalism, because Free Market anything is like Football without Referees and Rules. We’ve seen what a Free Market can lead to; a total collapse of our economic system and the destruction of the middle class; yet stories like the above try to convince us that we need more of what got us here to get us out. The first rule of holes is: Stop digging. Even in Europe where people call themselves Social Democrats, they do not have pure Socialism or pure Capitalism. They have borrowed from the best of each system. People can still get rich there, just not obscenely rich. People can fail there too, but they won’t fall through the safety net. People pay high taxes in Europe, but they reap the benefits of high taxation: · Inexpensive (and free) education · Thirty-five Hour work week · Health Care · Two and three months paid vacation · Strong, modernized infrastructure · Livable pensions. In fact, to compete, companies in Europe must offer paid vacations and livable pensions, or they’d never get the best people. In America, employers offer crap. They pay minimum wage, and if you don’t want it, someone else will. This is the result of Free Market Capitalism. We all know that slavery is immoral, but did you know that it is cheaper for corporations to pay minimum wage than it is for them to own slaves? If you own a slave, you’ve paid good money up front, and you must feed, clothe, house, and transport your slaves. Finally, because of your investment, you have to give your slave medical care. Paying minimum wage is cheaper than owning slaves, and if slavery is immoral, then paying minimum wage is immoral. In a moral society, minimum wage would be attached to the salaries of government leaders (representatives and senators); if they want to give themselves a raise, they have to raise the minimum wage commensurately. The purpose of this little piece is not to praise Europe. No system is perfect. We found this out during the Health Care debates. Every time someone brought up a health care system that was better than ours, the opposition found flaws in that system. No system is perfect, but this is America. We are supposed to lead the world. No matter what system there is out there, aren’t we the ones who can learn from them and create the best possible system? Didn’t Jesus of Nazareth tell his followers to heal the sick and feed the poor? Why can’t we create an economic system in which the rich get rich (but not obscenely rich), with a strong middle class, while the poor are protected from falling through the cracks? Why can’t we create a system in which everyone has food, shelter, clothing, health care, and piece of mind? Aren’t we Americans? Isn’t quality of life more important than quantity?
The photo has been Photoshopped.
The Right
Testicle of Hell:
Take a 3D trip to the ends of the universe. Take the pledge to stand against prejudice, intolerance, and hatred. Recently, in a large city in Australia, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, “This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?” A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym. To Whom it May Concern, Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.) They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world. Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them...where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store? The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale. P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.
So we aren't heavy, we are
enormously cultured, educated and happy. This video shows the winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch. The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about $130,000.00 She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated. It is replaced by a woman's face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman's face appears. She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier. This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house. In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye. The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million. YouTube - Kseniya Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawing
The moral compass of some public figures clearly went awry in 2009. Now new research better explains why some in the public eye don't think like the rest of us. Power increases "moral hypocrisy," says Adam Galinsky, a behavioral psychologist at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and co-author of a study published today in the journal Psychological Science. NARCISSISM: It can make politicians leaders ... and cheaters Power does indeed go to your head, making those in the limelight such as celebrities, politicians, CEOs and athletes more prone to a double standard: They're stricter in their moral judgment of others but are more lenient about their own behavior, the study suggests. "We gave people the opportunity to cheat, and those in a position of power were more likely to cheat," says Galinsky, who conducted the study with researchers from Tilburg University in the Netherlands. A rogues' gallery Among the once-powerful who fell from grace this year amid what Galinsky calls moral hypocrisy are former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and U.S. Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, with assorted violations of extramarital affairs or suspected misuse of public funds. Last year, those figures included the auto executives who flew in private jets while their companies cut employee benefits, and politicians, including John Edwards and Eliot Spitzer, who didn't follow the values they espoused. "It's interesting to think about people in power and why they end up in scandals," says Joe Magee of New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. "In their minds, they're not being brazen. They forget there are rules governing what they do. They're just pursuing their own desires." Feeling entitled Magee and Galinsky are among a group of researchers across the country who, in the past decade, have focused attention on moral behavior, power and status. "Power makes you kind of impulsive and self-serving and occasionally greedy," says psychologist Dacher Keltner of the University of California-Berkeley. "We hold up people in positions of power to exacting standards. They should be more moral agents, when in fact, they are the opposite." Jennifer Overbeck of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California-Los Angeles says her studies have found that ordinary people change when put in powerful position: "Just putting them in a position of power leads them to pursue their self-interest and things that they perceive are useful to them." In the new study, researchers conducted five experiments with about 350 subjects. They found that giving people power makes them feel entitled and causes a disconnect in their judgment. Those in high-power positions tend to judge morality of others while not practicing what they preach, Galinsky says. "If they want to impose strict standards on others while violating those standards themselves, that's when they become a hypocrite," he says. David DeSteno, a psychologist at Northeastern University in Boston, says his research has shown that "the potential for hypocrisy is in all of us." "What you see is the same action: 'It's OK if I do it. but not if you do it,' " he says.
Haley
Barbour Pardons Woman-Killers, Not
The Innocent
Why are frogs dying off?
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/frogs-the-thin-green-line/video-full-episode/4882/
How Conservatives Think This backs up other similar findings, such as those in this Psychology Today piece: In 1969, Berkeley professors Jack and Jeanne Block embarked on a study of childhood personality, asking nursery school teachers to rate children’s temperaments. They weren’t even thinking about political orientation.
Are Liberals Smarter Than Conservatives? Brains of Democrats and Republicans process information differently Study finds left-wing brain, right-wing brain Political affiliation could be all in the brain Apparently McCain forgot that he did the exact same thing 7 years ago- "On October 10, 2002 — just ahead of the looming mid-term elections — the Senate rushed a debate on a war authorization giving President Bush the power to use force against Iraq. The resolution ultimately passed the Senate after midnight on an early Friday morning by a vote of 77-23. During the course of the frenzied floor debate, then-Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) spoke in favor of an amendment offered by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) that would have restricted Bush’s constitutional powers to wage war against Iraq. After a minute and a half, Dayton ran out of time, prompting this exchange: The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator’s time has expired. Mr. DAYTON. I ask for unanimous consent that I have 30 seconds more to finish my remarks. Mr. McCAIN. I object. Byrd stepped in to grant Dayton time to finish his remarks. But just moments later, Byrd asked for more time to speak for himself. Again, McCain objected, prompting Byrd to chide him for doing so. “This shows the patience of a Senator,” Byrd said. “This clearly demonstrates that the train is coming down on us like a Mack truck, and we are not even going to consider a few extra minutes for this Senator.” After being publicly shamed, McCain acquiesced to Byrd’s request. But moments later, McCain added this disclaimer: “I wish to say very briefly that I understand people have a desire to speak. We have a number of Senators who have not spoken on this issue. It is already looking as if we may be here well into this evening. From now on, I will be adhering strictly to the rules.” In other words, he acted just like Franken did yesterday." Congressman Grayson and
Afghanistan Veterans Urge Congress Not to Fund Troop Surge:
Gallup Poll: 44 Percent Of Americans Want Bush Back
One creative way to discourage smoking.
Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.
A great TRUE story. The batter the story centers on, was not a good hitter and usually struck out.
"Four sorrows ... are certain
to be visited on the United States. Their cumulative effect
guarantees that the U.S. will cease to resemble the country
outlined in the Constitution of 1787. Democracy in America Is a Useful FictionGo to OriginalPosted on Jan 24, 2010By Chris Hedges
Corporate forces, long
before the Supreme Court’s decision in
Citizens The fiction of democracy remains useful, not only for corporations, but for our bankrupt liberal class. If the fiction is seriously challenged, liberals will be forced to consider actual resistance, which will be neither pleasant nor easy. As long as a democratic facade exists, liberals can engage in an empty moral posturing that requires little sacrifice or commitment. They can be the self-appointed scolds of the Democratic Party, acting as if they are part of the debate and feel vindicated by their cries of protest. Much of the outrage expressed about the court’s ruling is the outrage of those who prefer this choreographed charade. As long as the charade is played, they do not have to consider how to combat what the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin calls our system of “inverted totalitarianism.” Inverted totalitarianism represents “the political coming of age of corporate power and the political demobilization of the citizenry,” Wolin writes in “Democracy Incorporated.” Inverted totalitarianism differs from classical forms of totalitarianism, which revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader, and finds its expression in the anonymity of the corporate state. The corporate forces behind inverted totalitarianism do not, as classical totalitarian movements do, boast of replacing decaying structures with a new, revolutionary structure. They purport to honor electoral politics, freedom and the Constitution. But they so corrupt and manipulate the levers of power as to make democracy impossible. Inverted totalitarianism is not conceptualized as an ideology or objectified in public policy. It is furthered by “power-holders and citizens who often seem unaware of the deeper consequences of their actions or inactions,” Wolin writes. But it is as dangerous as classical forms of totalitarianism. In a system of inverted totalitarianism, as this court ruling illustrates, it is not necessary to rewrite the Constitution, as fascist and communist regimes do. It is enough to exploit legitimate power by means of judicial and legislative interpretation. This exploitation ensures that huge corporate campaign contributions are protected speech under the First Amendment. It ensures that heavily financed and organized lobbying by large corporations is interpreted as an application of the people’s right to petition the government. The court again ratified the concept that corporations are persons, except in those cases where the “persons” agree to a “settlement.” Those within corporations who commit crimes can avoid going to prison by paying large sums of money to the government while, according to this twisted judicial reasoning, not “admitting any wrongdoing.” There is a word for this. It is called corruption. Corporations have 35,000 lobbyists in Washington and thousands more in state capitals that dole out corporate money to shape and write legislation. They use their political action committees to solicit employees and shareholders for donations to fund pliable candidates. The financial sector, for example, spent more than $5 billion on political campaigns, influence peddling and lobbying during the past decade, which resulted in sweeping deregulation, the gouging of consumers, our global financial meltdown and the subsequent looting of the U.S. Treasury. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $26 million last year and drug companies such as Pfizer, Amgen and Eli Lilly kicked in tens of millions more to buy off the two parties. These corporations have made sure our so-called health reform bill will force us to buy their predatory and defective products. The oil and gas industry, the coal industry, defense contractors and telecommunications companies have thwarted the drive for sustainable energy and orchestrated the steady erosion of civil liberties. Politicians do corporate bidding and stage hollow acts of political theater to keep the fiction of the democratic state alive. There is no national institution left that can accurately be described as democratic. Citizens, rather than participate in power, are allowed to have virtual opinions to preordained questions, a kind of participatory fascism as meaningless as voting on “American Idol.” Mass emotions are directed toward the raging culture wars. This allows us to take emotional stands on issues that are inconsequential to the power elite. Our transformation into an empire, as happened in ancient Athens and Rome, has seen the tyranny we practice abroad become the tyranny we practice at home. We, like all empires, have been eviscerated by our own expansionism. We utilize weapons of horrific destructive power, subsidize their development with billions in taxpayer dollars, and are the world’s largest arms dealer. And the Constitution, as Wolin notes, is “conscripted to serve as power’s apprentice rather than its conscience.” “Inverted totalitarianism reverses things,” Wolin writes. “It is politics all of the time but a politics largely untempered by the political. Party squabbles are occasionally on public display, and there is a frantic and continuous politics among factions of the party, interest groups, competing corporate powers, and rival media concerns. And there is, of course, the culminating moment of national elections when the attention of the nation is required to make a choice of personalities rather than a choice between alternatives. What is absent is the political, the commitment to finding where the common good lies amidst the welter of well-financed, highly organized, single-minded interests rabidly seeking governmental favors and overwhelming the practices of representative government and public administration by a sea of cash.” Hollywood, the news industry and television, all corporate controlled, have become instruments of inverted totalitarianism. They censor or ridicule those who critique or challenge corporate structures and assumptions. They saturate the airwaves with manufactured controversy, whether it is Tiger Woods or the dispute between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. They manipulate images to make us confuse how we are made to feel with knowledge, which is how Barack Obama became president. And the draconian internal control employed by the Department of Homeland Security, the military and the police over any form of popular dissent, coupled with the corporate media’s censorship, does for inverted totalitarianism what thugs and bonfires of books do in classical totalitarian regimes. “It seems a replay of historical experience that the bias displayed by today’s media should be aimed consistently at the shredded remains of liberalism,” Wolin writes. “Recall that an element common to most 20th century totalitarianism, whether Fascist or Stalinist, was hostility towards the left. In the United States, the left is assumed to consist solely of liberals, occasionally of ‘the left wing of the Democratic Party,’ never of democrats.” Liberals, socialists, trade unionists, independent journalists and intellectuals, many of whom were once important voices in our society, have been silenced or targeted for elimination within corporate-controlled academia, the media and government. Wolin, who taught at Berkeley and later at Princeton, is arguably the country’s foremost political philosopher. And yet his book was virtually ignored. This is also why Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich and Cynthia McKinney, along with intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, are not given a part in our national discourse. The uniformity of opinion is reinforced by the skillfully orchestrated mass emotions of nationalism and patriotism, which paints all dissidents as “soft” or “unpatriotic.” The “patriotic” citizen, plagued by fear of job losses and possible terrorist attacks, unfailingly supports widespread surveillance and the militarized state. This means no questioning of the $1 trillion in defense-related spending. It means that the military and intelligence agencies are held above government, as if somehow they are not part of government. The most powerful instruments of state power and control are effectively removed from public discussion. We, as imperial citizens, are taught to be contemptuous of government bureaucracy, yet we stand like sheep before Homeland Security agents in airports and are mute when Congress permits our private correspondence and conversations to be monitored and archived. We endure more state control than at any time in American history. The civic, patriotic and political language we use to describe ourselves remains unchanged. We pay fealty to the same national symbols and iconography. We find our collective identity in the same national myths. We continue to deify the Founding Fathers. But the America we celebrate is an illusion. It does not exist. Our government and judiciary have no real sovereignty. Our press provides diversion, not information. Our organs of security and power keep us as domesticated and as fearful as most Iraqis. Capitalism, as Karl Marx understood, when it emasculates government, becomes a revolutionary force. And this revolutionary force, best described as inverted totalitarianism, is plunging us into a state of neo-feudalism, perpetual war and severe repression. The Supreme Court decision is part of our transformation by the corporate state from citizens to prisoners. Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent, writes a column published every Monday on Truthdig. His latest book is “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.” 
Sadly, the weak minded, under informed, and arrogant ignorant will always join forces with the class of people who've been beating them down since the first accumulation of wealth, simply because of this "perceived boogeyman" tossed in their faces by their oppressors. No wonder the Tea Baggers are so violently opposed to public health care when it is so painfully obvious that they've been failed by public education.
American Kleptocracy: How Fears of Socialism and Fascism Hide Naked TheftTuesday 20 April 2010 by: William J. Astore | TomDispatch.com Kleptocracy -- now, there's a word I was taught to associate with corrupt and exploitative governments that steal ruthlessly and relentlessly from the people. It's a word, in fact, that's usually applied to flawed or failed governments in Africa, Latin America, or the nether regions of Asia. Such governments are typically led by autocratic strong men who shower themselves and their cronies with all the fruits of extracted wealth, whether stolen from the people or squeezed from their country's natural resources. It's not a word you're likely to see associated with a mature republic like the United States led by disinterested public servants and regulated by more-or-less transparent principles and processes. In fact, when Americans today wish to critique or condemn their government, the typical epithets used are "socialism" or "fascism." When my conservative friends are upset, they send me emails with links to material about "ObamaCare" and the like. These generally warn of a future socialist takeover of the private realm by an intrusive, power-hungry government. When my progressive friends are upset, they send me emails with links pointing to an incipient fascist takeover of our public and private realms, led by that same intrusive, power-hungry government (and, I admit it, I'm hardly innocent when it comes to such "what if" scenarios). What if, however, instead of looking at where our government might be headed, we took a closer look at where we are -- at the power-brokers who run or influence our government, at those who are profiting and prospering from it? These are, after all, the "winners" in our American world in terms of the power they wield and the wealth they acquire. And shouldn't we be looking as well at those Americans who are losing -- their jobs, their money, their homes, their healthcare, their access to a better way of life -- and asking why? If we were to take an honest look at America's blasted landscape of "losers" and the far shinier, spiffier world of "winners," we'd have to admit that it wasn't signs of onrushing socialism or fascism that stood out, but of staggeringly self-aggrandizing greed and theft right in the here and now. We'd notice our public coffers being emptied to benefit major corporations and financial institutions working in close alliance with, and passing on remarkable sums of money to, the representatives of "the people." We'd see, in a word, kleptocracy on a scale to dazzle. We would suddenly see an almost magical disappearing act being performed, largely without comment, right before our eyes. Of Red Herrings and Missing Pallets of Money Think of socialism and fascism as the red herrings of this moment or, if you're an old time movie fan, as Hitchcockian MacGuffins -- in other words, riveting distractions. Conservatives and tea partiers fear invasive government regulation and excessive taxation, while railing against government takeovers -- even as corporate lobbyists write our public healthcare bills to favor private interests. Similarly, progressives rail against an emergent proto-fascist corps of private guns-for-hire, warrantless wiretapping, and the potential government-approved assassination of U.S. citizens, all sanctioned by a perpetual, and apparently open-ended, state of war. Yet, if this is socialism, why are private health insurers the government's go-to guys for healthcare coverage? If this is fascism, why haven't the secret police rounded up tea partiers and progressive critics as well and sent them to the lager or the gulag? Consider this: America is not now, nor has it often been, a hotbed of political radicalism. We have no substantial socialist or workers' party. (Unless you're deluded, please don't count the corporate-friendly "Democrat" party here.) We have no substantial fascist party. (Unless you're deluded, please don't count the cartoonish "tea partiers" here; these predominantly white, graying, and fairly affluent Americans seem most worried that the jackbooted thugs will be coming for them.) What drives America today is, in fact, business -- just as was true in the days of Calvin Coolidge. But it's not the fair-minded "free enterprise" system touted in those freshly revised Texas guidelines for American history textbooks; rather, it's a rigged system of crony capitalism that increasingly ends in what, if we were looking at some other country, we would recognize as an unabashed kleptocracy. Recall, if you care to, those pallets stacked with hundreds of millions of dollars that the Bush administration sent to Iraq and which, Houdini-like, simply disappeared. Think of the ever-rising cost of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, now in excess of a trillion dollars, and just whose pockets are full, thanks to them. If you want to know the true state of our government and where it's heading, follow the money (if you can) and remain vigilant: our kleptocratic Houdinis are hard at work, seeking to make yet more money vanish from your pockets -- and reappear in theirs. From Each According to His Gullibility -- To Each According to His Greed Never has the old adage my father used to repeat to me -- "the rich get richer and the poor poorer" -- seemed fresher or truer. If you want confirmation of just where we are today, for instance, consider this passage from a recent piece by Tony Judt:
Wealth concentration is only one aspect of our increasingly kleptocratic system. War profiteering by corporations (however well disguised as heartfelt support for our heroic warfighters) is another. Meanwhile, retired senior military officers typically line up to cash in on the kleptocratic equivalent of welfare, peddling their "expertise" in return for impressive corporate and Pentagon payouts that supplement their six-figure pensions. Even that putative champion of the Carhartt-wearing common folk, Sarah Palin, pocketed a cool $12 million last year without putting the slightest dent in her populist bona fides. Based on such stories, now legion, perhaps we should rewrite George Orwell's famous tagline from Animal Farm as: All animals are equal, but a few are so much more equal than others. And who are those "more equal" citizens? Certainly, major corporations, which now enjoy a kind of political citizenship and the largesse of a federal government eager to rescue them from their financial mistakes, especially when they're judged "too big to fail." In raiding the U.S. Treasury, big banks and investment firms, shamelessly ready to jack up executive pay and bonuses even after accepting billions in taxpayer-funded bailouts, arguably outgun militarized multinationals in the conquest of the public realm and the extraction of our wealth for their benefit. Such kleptocratic outfits are, of course, abetted by thousands of lobbyists and by politicians who thrive off corporate campaign contributions. Indeed, many of our more prominent public servants have proved expert at spinning through the revolving door into the private sector. Even ex-politicians who prefer to be seen as sympathetic to the little guy like former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt eagerly cash in. I'm Shocked, Shocked, to Find Profiteering Going on Here An old Roman maxim enjoins us to "let justice be done, though the heavens fall." Within our kleptocracy, the prevailing attitude is an insouciant "We'll get ours, though the heavens fall." This mindset marks the decline of our polity. A spirit of shared sacrifice, dismissed as hopelessly naïve, has been replaced by a form of tribalized privatization in which insiders find ways to profit no matter what. Is it any surprise then that, in seeking to export our form of government to Iraq and Afghanistan, we've produced not two model democracies, but two emerging kleptocracies, fueled respectively by oil and opium? When we confront corruption in Iraq or Afghanistan, are we not like the police chief in the classic movie Casablanca who is shocked, shocked to find gambling going on at Rick's Café, even as he accepts his winnings? Why then do we bother to feign shock when Iraqi and Afghan elites, a tiny minority, seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the majority? Shouldn't we be flattered? Imitation, after all, is the sincerest form of flattery. Isn't it? William J. Astore is a TomDispatch regular; he teaches History at the Pennsylvania College of Technology and served in the Air Force for 20 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He may be reached at wjastore@gmail.com. Copyright 2010 William J. Astore Republished by
permission. Time, Water Running Out for America's Biggest Aquifer
Dave Thier Contributor Go to Original: Time, Water Running Out for America's Biggest Aquifer (April 21) -- In 1823, a government surveyor named Stephen Long was working to map out the Great Plains, an expanse of land acquired along with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. He was unimpressed by what he saw. As his geographer wrote in the report that accompanied the expedition: I do not hesitate in giving the opinion that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course, uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence.
Long would have
been shocked to see what the region looks like today -- not
merely fit for cultivation, but in fact one of the most
fertile and productive areas of the world. Since World War
II, dramatic leaps in technology have allowed farmers to
pump groundwater for irrigation and extend America's
breadbasket through the entire Great Plains, transforming
what Long called "The Great American Desert" into an expanse
of green circles defined by the reach of central pivot
irrigation systems.
Charlie Riedel, AP A sprinkler sprays a field near Hoxie, Kan. Water for Great Plains irrigation comes from the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast underground lake that is being drained at an alarming rate.
People have been
warning about the aquifer's depletion for years, but
coordinating conservation programs among farmers has proved
difficult. Recently, Texas has imposed state controls on the
amount of groundwater that farmers can pump, requiring 16
groundwater districts to each provide a target for an
acceptable groundwater level in 50 years.
Vets Health Care Bill Passes SenateWeek of March 29, 2010 The U.S. Senate recently passed the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009. The legislation would strengthen support for caregivers and attendants of veterans and would help ensure veterans in need of institutional care have the choice of receiving care from a family member at home. This bill would provide caregivers of veterans with health care, counseling, support, and a stipend. It also expands services in rural areas and ensures that veterans who are catastrophically disabled or who need emergency care in the community are not inappropriately charged for those services. The bill moves on to the House of Representatives.
How to talk to complete idiots Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Nobel Prize-winning economist on lessons of the economic downturn
Owner
required: A blind border collie called Clyde who comes with
his own guide dog (called Bonnie) Bonnie and Clyde do everything together, from walking and wagging to bounding and burying. But Clyde is always just one faltering step behind. That's because he is blind - and his fellow border collie Bonnie acts as his guide dog. She leads him to food or water, and lets him rest his head on her haunches when he feels a bit lost. They are inseparable, and if Bonnie isn't nearby Clyde refuses to move a paw.
Partners in crime: Bonnie (left) and Clyde, who is blind, with Meadow Green Dog Rescue assistant Katie Duffy. They need a new home, but must stay together The pair were rescued as strays three weeks ago and are looking for a new home together. Cherie Cootes, 40, at the Meadow Green Dog Rescue Centre in Loddon, Norfolk, said: 'Clyde relies on Bonnie the whole time. When she walks she tends to stop and make sure he's there - she does look out for him. They really are the most lovely pair of dogs. 'There's absolutely no option of homing them separately, they have to go as a pair.' Bonnie, two, and Clyde, five, were rescued after being abandoned on a street in the middle of a storm three weeks ago. No one has claimed them. Miss Cootes said they would make ideal pets in a home with a large, secure garden away from busy roads. Waveney District Council placed the dogs, who have no identifying collars or chips, with the rescue centre but no owners have come forward to claim them. Ms Cootes described the dogs as 'typical high-spirited collies' and said they would make ideal pets in a home with a large, secure garden away from busy roads.
Bonnie, two, and Clyde, five, were rescued after being abandoned on a street in the middle of a storm three weeks ago Long-haired border collie Clyde has a friendly face while short-haired Bonnie is much smaller. 'They've got very nice manners and they walk well on the lead. They really are a very sweet pair of dogs,' Ms Cootes said. 'Clyde's going to have to have a more rural type of home purely because of traffic. It would be fantastic if someone had a large garden so he can have his exercise.' Sue Cootes, 59, who runs the rescue centre with her daughter Cherie, said it was incredible to see how Bonnie took care of Clyde. 'She's a little darling and he just follows her everywhere,' she said. 'It's just instinctive with them to help each other and it's marvelous to see animals doing this together. 'We get them outside and on walks as much as possible because Clyde may be blind but Bonnie certainly isn't. We have large paddocks and they potter around together out there.' The Cootes family took over the rescue centre five years ago and now look after 45 abandoned dogs. Vicky Bell, a spokeswoman for Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, said she had never heard of a dog voluntarily acting as a guide dog for another dog. 'This is a very unusual case - it's such a lovely story,' she said. 'Some dogs take to guiding better than others because they naturally have the right temperament. 'It very much depends on the individual dog.'
Dogs have souls, but you already knew that Animal behaviorists say dogs possess empathy and compassion, the emotions upon which moral sense is built By Electa Draper The Denver Post Go to Original: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...83_dogs16.html DENVER — For centuries, humans have imagined they are the only animals with morals. But humans are not alone in the moral arena, a new breed of behavior experts says. Natural historian Jake Page said some scientists are acknowledging what pet owners have told their canines all along: "Good dog." Dogs are full of natural goodness and have rich emotional lives, said animal behaviorist Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus at the University of Colorado, Boulder. A dog's code of ethics is on display daily in parks, backyards and family rooms. "We're not trying to elevate animals," Bekoff said. "We're not trying to reduce humans. We're not saying we're better or worse or the same. We're saying we're not alone in having a nuanced moral system." Page, author of "Do Dogs Smile?," said biology no longer dismisses dogs and other animals as "furry automatons" driven by instinct and food. "People like Bekoff have figured out how to measure these things," Page said. "It's a whole new ballgame for studying dog personalities and emotions." Bekoff, co-author of "Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals," spent thousands of hours observing coyotes, wolves and dogs. He analyzed videotapes frame by frame. The work convinced him these animals possess empathy and compassion, the emotions upon which moral sense is built. While much the same can be said of monkeys, wolves, elephants, dolphins, whales and other social animals, dogs are special cases; they share in human lives, he said. "Dogs know they are dependent. They learn to read us," Bekoff said. "Dogs develop this great sense of trust. We're tightly linked, and there is something spiritual about that unity." This intimacy and mutual influence prompted Harvard University to open a Canine Cognition Lab, where researchers attempt to gain insight into the psychology of humans and dogs. "I'm convinced many animals can distinguish right from wrong," Bekoff said. He said looking for the roots of morality in animals is a difficult scientific undertaking. It begins with looking for emotions central to morality, such as empathy: understanding of another's situation, feelings and motives. In humans, emotions are centered in specific brain structures and are affected by chemicals called neurotransmitters. Mammals possess the same brain structures, affected by the same chemicals as humans. "Dogs apparently laugh," Page said. The same brain structures show the same activity in laughing humans and in dogs that are enjoying themselves. A dog's laugh is a rhythmic pant. Play is necessary for healthy brain development in animals and is seen in many mammalian, and some avian, species, Bekoff said. Play hones cognitive skills and later helps in hunting and mating. And play would not be possible without cooperation and trust. "Virtue is its own reward," Bekoff said. "Fairer is fitter." To prevent any misunderstanding, a dog will signal to another dog that the imminent jostling, nipping and chasing are "just play" rather than aggression, he said. The game is initiated with the "play bow." A dog, wolf or coyote will crouch on its forelimbs while keeping its rear upright. Any hard-biting cheats find themselves excluded from games. "Dogs are thinking animals," Bekoff said. "They seek the outcomes they want. They avoid the ones they don't. They solve problems. They have expectations. They have hopes." Critics skeptical about some research trends in animal thinking, emotion and morality downplay the evidence as often anecdotal and anthropomorphic, that is attributing human motivation or characteristics to animals. Bekoff countered that thousands of anecdotes equal data. And anthropomorphism, he said, is a misleading label for what is a shared evolutionary history. Humans and dogs share most of their genes and a great deal of physiology and behavior. Bekoff sees that shared heritage extending into the spiritual realm. "If we have souls, our animals have souls. If we have free choice, they have it," Bekoff said. "If we can't know this for sure, let's give them the benefit of a doubt."
A woman went to the emergency room, where she was seen by a
young, new doctor. After about 3 minutes in the examination
room, the doctor told her she was pregnant. She burst out of
the room and ran down the corridor screaming. Watch out for this scam...! Police say that the gang is usually comprised of four members, one adult and three younger ones. While the three younger ones, all appearing sweet and innocent, divert their 'mark' (or intended target) with a show of friendliness, the fourth--and the eldest-- sneaks in from behind the person's back to expertly rife through his or her pocket or purse for any valuables. Be on the alert...!!!
The Top 17 Hidden Provisions
of the Health Care Bill 1. Limbaugh has to buy his own damn Oxycontin. Once it was known that Vancouver
would be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, people from all
over the world had questions. These are some of them that
were posted on an International Tourism Website.
|
1. Bless the President for having rescue teams in the air
almost immediately. That was President Olafur Grimsson of
Iceland. On Wednesday, the AP reported that the President of
the United States promised, "The initial contingent of 2,000
Marines could be deployed to the quake-ravaged country
within the next few days." "In a few days," Mr.
Obama? 
