FOOD Safety is #1

With the economy imploding, we were forced into the ‘bank bailout’ which didn’t fix anything;  the fat cats were still fat and taking trips and other perks.   This was all brought on by the newly invented loans so complicated that no one could understand or rate them, which quite naturally (they tell us), caused the banks to fail in the first place.  Meanwhile, jobs are drying up faster, business as we knew it has changed; states are struggling against almost insurmountable obstacles.  Bush has been  traveling abroad – anything to get out of Washington because he can’t think of anything else to do. Out greatest hope and future president can’t really  “do” anything more about all this, because it is not his to do before he takes office.  Still, somehow, the auto industry needed saving so a rope has been thrown to them and hopefully, it will keep them alive to preserve our last great bastion of industry until sense can be made of all this. . . come January.    2008 was some kind of year.  But you know what, we are at the nadir – anything, everything has to go up from here.  At present it feels like a really bad storm on the high seas in a hugely leaky boat.  I believe there will be a new dawn in 2009,  its got to get better.  I’m counting on it.  We all are.

All the above is major stuff of great import, but there is another issue which I hope our new president will put to the top of his list somehow to be dealt with right along side of all the other dominant demands he will be handling.  And that is F-O-O-D.   There has been a total breakdown in government controls and public protection for safety standards.  Health is such a major issue.  We need healthy citizens eating wholesome food. The way agribusiness is  run and the relaxation of the controls for public protection has deteriorated, we don’t have a fighting chance other than to grow our own food and lets face it, most of us can’t do that.  To drive a part of that point home loud and clear, take a look at what was in the business section of the Columbus Dispatch today:

Mexico curtails imports of U.S. Meat

By Eileen AJ Connelly
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Mexico has suspended meat imports from 30 processing plants in 14 states, according to a list posted   on the U.S. Agriculture Department Web site.
Among the plants listed on the site is the Smithfield Packing Inc. plant in Tar Heel, N.C., the world’s largest pork slaughterhouse.
Another Smithfield plant, in Plant City, Fla., which processes pork, beef and poultry, is on the list, as are three plants operated by subsidiary John Morrell & Co.: two in South Dakota and one in Iowa.
A Nebraska pork plant run by subsidiary Farmland Foods Inc. and a Pennsylvania beef plant run by its Moyer Packing Co. unit also are on the list.
Six operations run by Tyson Foods Inc. in Iowa, Texas and Nebraska are on the list as well.
Other affected plants are run by food giants Cargill Inc. and Swift Foods Inc., along with Seaboard Corp. and 11 small, private companies in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Utah.
USDA spokeswoman Amanda Eamich said in an e-mail that Mexico had had discussions in the past two weeks with the agency regarding concerns about the general condition of meat products, sanitation issues and “possible pathogen findings.”

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I would like to suggest that anyone interested in hearing more about the subject of food safety, agribusiness and the waste of tax dollars regarding all of this, drop by You Tube and  look for Bill Moyers interviewing Michael Pollan.  There seem to be 5 sequential  videos on that interview.  Dr. Mercola sent a riviting video via his newsletter, but I couldn’t manage to pirate it over here.  There is also the 9 page letter that Mr. Pollan  sent to Obama in the New York Times  on October 12,  2008, which is available for anyone to access and read,  which is very interesting and informative reading.  He is loaded  with information and ideas of the best kind.  It is clear that many changes need to be made, and Michael Pollan might just be the man who could do it best.

Belly-fat worries? Walk!

Like almost everyone else, I’ve gained a few pounds and then I’ve lost a few pounds.  Generally, I’m not too bad off for the shape I’m in (yuk, yuk),  but I must say the belly’s girth seems to have a life of it’s own. My doctor has checked me for diabetes (which saddened me) and apparently I’m not diabetic or pre-diabetic. But I can see what he was thinking. . . . .I’ve heard of the Syndrom-X thing. And frankly, it worried me.   Often low on energy, forgetting things here and there, you know, the usual  So here I am looking up Wikipedia for Syndrom -X.   Another interesting site was Wild Rose College and Wholistic Clinic where they are delineating the whole thing per Gerald Reaven, M.D. – the originator of the phrase.  Cool stuff, check it out.

Metabolic syndrome

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.^[1] It affects one in five people, and prevalence increases with age. Some studies estimate the prevalence in the USA to be up to 25% of the population.^[2

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Once again, my Columbus Dispatch has pleasured me with an enjoyable article I thought I would share with one and all.  It heartens me to believe I can really do something about this stubborn belly-fat.  I’m willing to give it a go even if Heidi suffers just a little.  Well, she IS pretty small,  maybe we should just go to the mall and walk around there.  I rather doubt we will be crushed by Christmas shopping mobs this year.   Enjoy.. . .

EXERCISE

Brisk walking keeps belly fat off

By Edward M. Eveld
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This is just what you need, in the aftermath of pumpkin pie and the advent of holiday parties: grossout science   about deep belly fat.
But first, some encouragement.
Cyd Nelson and Suzy Wiley, both of Kansas City, Mo., both trim and fit, were briskly hitting a park path on a recent sunny but chilly day. It was not a crowded place in December.
“The goal is to walk all winter long,” Wiley said.
“I think we’ll have to wear thermal socks,” Nelson said.
That’s the spirit.
In the annals of exercise research, increasingly the answer is “brisk walking.”
What’s the question?
Most people think it has to do with exercising the heart or getting rid of love handles and saddlebags.  But scientists are finding it’s about belly fat, also known as visceral fat, the  interior kind that’s snug up against your internal organs.
Yeah, yuck. Put a glob of abdominal fat and a glob of thigh fat in a petri dish, add a little stimulation, and the two behave quite differently, said Tim Church, director of preventive medicine research at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.
“The belly fat produces three times the bad chemicals,” Church said. “And it’s kicking the liver right in the teeth.”
That visceral fat is a bad operator, said David Robbins, endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center.  “We’re beginning to understand that this central fat may be the primary villain in the production of diabetes and heart disease in adults,” Robbins said. “Fat in the abdomen is metabolically very active. It secretes fatty acids and 55 different hormones.”
Maybe a recent mice study will help elucidate.
A University of Michigan research team transplanted visceral fat in one group of mice and subcutaneous fat, the kind just under the skin, in another. In terms of promoting dangerous inflammation and encouraging atherosclerosis, the belly fat was the big winner.
And this is where recent research about exercise and belly fat comes in.
A study reported this fall from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle followed about 100 men and 100 women for a year. They were encouraged to increase their physical activity six days a week. They weren’t given a diet plan.  Women who increased their activity by 3,500 steps a day lost 5 pounds; men, 8 1/2 pounds. Participants who exercised the most decreased their belly fat by 10 percent to 20 percent.
The study points up the good news, Robbins said. Some people aware of the dangers of belly fat think it’s highly resistant to exercise. But visceral fat is actually quite sensitive to exercise and calorie reduction.  “That’s where you’re most likely to lose the weight,” he said. “These fat cells shut off very quickly.”  People look at ideal weight charts, figure they’re never going to get there and give up, Robbins said.
But even a small weight loss shuts down some very dangerous signals from belly fat cells, the kind that put people at risk of disease, Robbins said.
“So even losing 5 to 10 pounds can have a disproportionate benefit to your health,” he said.  How do you know it’s in there, this visceral fat?  Basically, abdominal fat takes up space and pushes out, increasing your waist size.  “It’s not what you weigh; it’s where you weigh,” Church said.  Some people who aren’t particularly overweight might have a false sense of security, he added. If the stomach is growing, the danger is there.

JILL TOYOSHIBA KANSAS CITY STAR
Suzy Wiley, left, and Cyd Nelson keep their visceral fat in check by taking a walk in a Kansas City, Mo., park.

Is Columbus ready for “green”?

Sure, most of us are doing what we can to help our planet along,  we’ve changed over our light bulbs and many of us are even shutting the lights off when not needed.  We use sweaters and throws in order to  keep the energy requirements a bit lower.  We are driving less, moving our bodies more.  I guess we could grow a little more of our food at home. There are limits to what many of us can do these days with current economic, financial  and political change afoot.  I really wish that I could have solar panels on my roof  but I don’t think my landlord is up for that.  I bought that CA 40 I heard about on Air-America to extend the life of my car’s parts, increase mileage and lessen pollution (it seems to be doing as advertised).

At this point I would like to share with you two items from today’s Columus Dispatch, neither earth-shattering but each worth reading and encouraging.  I am left wishing for the presence of King Solomon to shed his wisdom and justice. The first is from  John Seryak of   ‘Go Sustainable Energy’- enlightening.   The second is an article by JOE BLUNDO  about a family and their experience with ’solar panels’:

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Ohio in good position for green economy

JOHN SERYAK
Columbus

The Dec. 1 Dispatch article “Study: Ohio mired in old economy” discussed the changing Ohio economy, and our low state rank for entrepreneurship.
While popular perception of Ohio is that of a beat-up, falling-behind economy, there is actually a promising increase of sustainable entrepreneurs in the state. And with good reason, for there is a triple threat of energy insecurity, climate change and supply constraints facing our country and economy. The common solution to this triple threat is an efficient renewable-energy infrastructure.
The major constraint to this solution is not a lack of sunlight, wind or efficiency. Instead, it is the lack of manufacturing capacity for solar panels and wind turbines, the lack of qualified engineering talent to upgrade the grid and energy-using equipment, and the lack of innovation for the products we will need.
For this reason, Ohio is poised to be a key player in the green economy, if not the leader. Our state has the manufacturing capacity and expertise that is needed and a plethora of excellent engineering schools to provide the talent. Already, several photovoltaic manufacturers have set up shop in Ohio, including First Solar, Xunlight and Greenfield Solar. Melink manufactures energy-efficient products, and Garland Co. manufactures green roofing materials.
There are countless other businesses in Ohio that provide green services or make green products, or have the potential to. The Entrepreneurs for Sustainability has created an incredible network of progressive businesses in northeast Ohio, and several universities in Dayton have just teamed up to provide the state’s first master’s degree program in renewable and clean energy.
My own Columbus-based company, Go Sustainable Energy, has seen growth in the past year from one to six employees. Our engineering, manufacturing and innovation infrastructure is well-suited to allow Ohio to become the leader in the coming green economy.

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SO TO SPEAK

Family might get burned by solar panels

Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.
jblundo@dispatch.com

Saving energy shouldn’t take this much energy.
Sean McGovern and his wife, Danielle Polemeni, have attracted lots of curiosity, a few complaints and a    code-violation notice for putting solar panels in their front yard.
“We didn’t want to pick a fight with anyone,” said Polemeni, an English teacher at St. Francis DeSales High School.
They got one anyway.  McGovern, who works for a sustainable-agriculture organization, has a longtime interest in alternative energy.  Two years ago, their son, then 6, heard about global warming and asked why adults weren’t doing something about it.  The boy’s question prompted the family to write down ways to solve the problem. The list still hangs on the refrigerator door.  Among the suggestions: “Use solar power.”
With the help of a federal tax credit and a state grant, the family put that plan into action during the summer with a $16,000 array of solar panels that generate electricity from the sun.
At times, the panels make enough power to spin their electric meter backward.  The best spot for the panels is a sunny area of the front yard on Norris Drive on the North Side.  Putting panels on the roof, McGovern said, would have meant cutting down trees that shade the house, which doesn’t have air conditioning.

Before the installation, McGovern and Polemeni asked the opinion of a city zoning official, who said the panels didn’t constitute a structure and therefore required no special permission.  Based on that advice, they went ahead. Within days, someone in the neighborhood had complained, and the homeowners had a violation notice from the city.
What happened? The city basically disagreed with itself.
The zoning official who told the homeowners they didn’t need a permit had one opinion.
The code-enforcement officer who investigated the complaint had another. He thought the panels, 22 feet long by 38 inches high, constituted a structure.
Members of the Board of Zoning Adjustment, which heard the homeowners’ appeal in November, agreed. They said this was the first time they had seen such a solar array. (Usually, panels are on a roof.)  “This is certainly not the typical 8-foot-fence case,” said Jim Maniace, board chairman.  No one disputed that the city sent contradictory messages. Nevertheless, the appeal was denied, albeit sensitively.

Board members said the homeowners would need a variance to keep their panels but held out hope that it would be granted. “I don’t have any problem voting for a variance for you, because of your unique circumstances,” board member Jim Bubutiev said.  A variance would be nice. If the homeowners are forced to remove the panels (an added cost), they will have to forfeit the grant and the tax credit.  “This leaves our family with the prospect of spending the next five years paying off a $17,000 debt for a hole in the ground,” McGovern said.  Worse yet, it provides the wrong answer to his son’s question: Why aren’t adults doing anything about global warming?
Because it causes too much trouble when they try.

JOE BLUNDO

Danielle Polemeni and husband Sean McGovern in front of their $16,000 solar array, for which they are seeking a zoning variance

Immunization Options

Anyone with two cells left in the cerebral sphere understands the seriousness of  “immunizations” and the vast dichotomy of beliefs relating to it.   On the one hand we have our “deciders” in our political system (medical and otherwise) inform us that in order to educate our precious children, they must be immunized in order to enter any school system.  On quite a separate level, we are seeing that autism and other immune assaults are destroying our babes almost as fast as we can birth them.   Parental responsibilities are huge enough without  also having to negotiate what is best for our children in this overwhelming but frightening reality.  We wonder  who is really being served in this particular area of medicine.

Admittedly, it is easier if one is born somewhat like me – -  a ‘rebel’ with a tiger inside, especially with regard to children.   It means one goes the extra mile, learns what is best and spends the time it takes to find out what works and what doesn’t.   If one has an open mind.  If one is willing to stand and be counted among the ‘thinkers’ rather than the sheep.  If one doesn’t just go along and accept ‘authority’ as the final answer, but instead uses that gray matter to figure things out for himself based on sound logic, evidence, science and common sense.

I know how hard it is to decide in a field in which we are not the experts, but have we all noticed the results those decisions have given us with regard to the status quo?  Well, contrary  to much of what is generally believed. . . . . .we do have choice!  There are laws and they can work to help in those decisions.  Please read the following article, courtesy of Dr. Mercola if you find this a tangled web,  need to protect children,  and are unsure  how to proceed:

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Why Vaccine-Injured Kids are Rarely Compensated by Barbara Loe Fisher On Nov. 14, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 into law, instituting first-time vaccine safety reforms in the U.S. vaccination system and creating the first no-fault federal vaccine injury compensation program alternative to a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers and pediatricians. Twenty-two years later, on Nov. 18, 2008, I made a statement to the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) and questioned whether the compensation program is fatally flawed and so broken that it should be repealed. Many parents are wondering whether it would be better to return to civil court without restrictions to sue vaccine manufacturers and doctors for injuries and deaths their children suffered after receiving federally recommended vaccines. During its two-decade history, two out of three individuals applying for federal vaccine injury compensation have been turned away empty-handed even though to date $1.8 billion has been awarded to more than 2,200 plaintiff’s out of some 12,000 who have applied. Today, nearly 5,000 vaccine injury claims are sitting in limbo because they represent children who suffered brain and immune system dysfunction after vaccination but have been diagnosed with regressive autism, which is not recognized by the program as a compensable event. There is $2.7 billion sitting in the Trust Fund, which could have been awarded to vaccine victims. Safety Provisions Not Being Enforced At the time of the law’s creation in 1986, Congress said they were committed to setting up a fair, expedited, non-adversarial, less traumatic, less expensive no-fault compensation mechanism alternative to civil litigation. But Congress also acknowledged that any legislation providing liability protection must also be equally committed to preventing vaccine harm. The Act contains strong safety provisions, including first-time mandates for doctors to record and report serious health problems, hospitalizations, injuries and deaths after vaccination and give parents written benefit and risk information before a child is vaccinated. But few of the safety provisions have been enforced and, as I testified in Congress in 1999 and again at the Nov. 18 ACCV meeting, there has been a betrayal of the promise that was made to parents about how the compensation program would be implemented. Obtaining compensation has become a highly adversarial, time-consuming, traumatic and expensive process for families of vaccine injured children, and far too many vaccine victims have been denied compensation. Meanwhile, vaccine makers and doctors have enjoyed liability protection and dozens of doses of nine new vaccines have been added to the childhood vaccine schedule. I pointed out that federal court judges are beginning to look back at the legislative history of the Act, which so clearly affirms the intent of Congress when creating it. In recent court decisions, judges have agreed with parents and their attorneys that the compensation program has become far too difficult for plaintiffs. A recent state Supreme Court ruling also reiterated that Congress never intended to shield vaccine manufacturers from ALL liability for vaccine injuries and deaths when it could be demonstrated that a safer product could have been marketed. In a Supreme Court of Georgia ruling on October 6, 2008 in American Home Products v. Ferrari, the justices unanimously held that the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act does not give a vaccine manufacturer blanket immunity from vaccine injury lawsuits if it can be proven that the company could have made a safer vaccine. Georgia Supreme Court Justice George Carley wrote that the 1986 law and “the congressional intent behind it shows that the Vaccine Act does not pre-empt all design defect claims.” He added that Congress did not “use language which indicates that use of the compensation system is mandatory” but only “an appealing alternative” to the courts. Justice Carley wrote that there is no evidence that “FDA approval alone renders a vaccine unavoidably safe” and said “We hesitate to hold that a manufacturer is excused from making changes it knows will improve its product merely because an older, more dangerous version received FDA approval,” adding that to do so would have “the perverse effect” of granting complete immunity from liability to an entire industry and he concluded that “in the absence of any clear and manifest congressional purpose to achieve that result, we must reject such a far-reaching interpretation.” More Vaccine-Injured Children Should be Compensated During the ACCV meeting, longtime plaintiff’s attorney Sherry Drew gave a moving description of the suffering that families with vaccine injured children endure and, during public comment at the end of the meeting, Jim Moody, of SafeMinds, and Vicky Debold, RN, PhD joined me in urging the Committee to recommend to the new Secretary of DHHS that more vaccine injured children be compensated. This was echoed by outgoing parent ACCV member Tawny Buck, of Alaska, who has a DPT vaccine injured daughter and new ACCV parent member Sarah Hoiberg, of Florida, who has a DTaP vaccine injured daughter. In the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act, the Institute of Medicine was directed to review the medical literature for scientific evidence that vaccines can cause injury and death, which resulted in landmark reports to Congress in 1991 and 1994 providing that evidence. IOM announced at the ACCV meeting that it has recently been contracted by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to assemble a Committee of scientific experts to review of the medical literature for evidence regarding the biological mechanisms for injury and death in association with varicella zoster (chicken pox), hepatitis B, meningococcal and HPV vaccine. There will be several public workshops during the Committee’s two-year study. NVIC has been calling for basic science research into the biological mechanisms of vaccine injury and death for more than two decades. Without understanding how and why vaccines can cause brain and immune system dysfunction, there will be no way to develop pathological profiles to help scientifically confirm whether or not an individual has been injured or died from vaccination. The Truth About Vaccine Risks The truth about vaccine risks lies in the science, properly designed and conducted. The upcoming IOM review may be hampered by a lack of biological mechanism studies published in the medical literature but the review is also an opportunity to point the way to fill in those gaps in knowledge and the need for additional research that could become part of a national vaccine safety research agenda. In the absence of scientific certainty, all children who regress into poor health after vaccination should be given a fair hearing in the federal vaccine injury compensation program and generously compensated when no other plausible cause can be found for what happened to them after vaccination. Congress intended the vaccine injury compensation program to be non-adversarial, fair, generous and humane. If it cannot function the way it was intended to function, then parents have every right to call for its repeal and a return to unrestricted lawsuits. Sources: National Vaccine Information Center Dr. Mercola’s Comments: The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was “established to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines, stabilize vaccine costs, and establish and maintain an accessible and efficient forum for individuals found to be injured by certain vaccines.” When you read between the lines, you discover that what this really means is that a program has been put into place to protect vaccine manufacturers (i.e. “ensure an adequate supply of vaccines”) and NOT to look out for those injured by vaccines. This is why Barbara Loe Fisher, one of the top vaccine experts in the world, and other vaccine-choice advocates are calling on Congress to revamp, and possibly even repeal, this fatally flawed program. Major Flaws of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Prior to October 1, 1988, an individual could pursue an unrestricted lawsuit against a vaccine manufacturer if they or their child was injured by a vaccine. After that date, including currently,, you are required to apply for federal compensation prior to pursuing a lawsuit. According to the program’s guidelines: • The system will offer to pay up to $250,000 for a vaccine-associated death. • The system will offer to pay for all past and future unreimbursed medical expenses, custodial and nursing home care; up to $250,000 pain and suffering; and loss of earned income. $250,000 for a child killed or severely injured by a vaccine? This amount falls far short of what is deserved and required. You simply cannot put a price on a lost life, and a study by Harvard professor Michael Ganz found that the lifetime cost of caring for a child with autism is more than $3 million. Yet, parents who believe that a vaccine caused autism in their children probably won’t even get $250,000 from the fund. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, not one case related to autism has been deemed “compensable.” And only last year did the government concede that vaccines “significantly aggravated” an underlying disorder and caused “autistic symptoms” in one 9-year-old girl named Hannah Poling. The courts ruled that her family is entitled to compensation from the fund, but there are still 4,900 autism cases pending. Meanwhile, as of October 2008, a total of 12,746 claims have been filed, and of them 2,266 have been compensated while 4,755 have been dismissed. And although the claims were supposed to be handled “quickly, easily and with certainty and generosity,” according to a House report accompanying the 1986 legislation, many claims have taken years — more than 10 years — to be settled. Even the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration states that, on average, it takes two to three years to adjudicate a claim after it is filed. But you haven’t heard the worst of it until you find out who is actually responsible for paying the meager compensations that do get paid. Is it the vaccine manufacturers, as one might suspect? Not a chance. The system is funded by a surcharge on each dose of vaccine sold. The doctors pay the tax initially when they purchase the vaccines, but this is passed right down to the parents of the child. So not only are the vaccine manufacturers shielded from potential lawsuits, they are not even responsible for paying one cent of the claims filed against them — you are! And the lawyers who fight against the families who have filed claims with the system? Well, they’re not related to the vaccine manufacturers either. In fact, they are full-time government attorneys, employed solely for the purpose of battling to defend the vaccine manufacturers. What Options do You Have? The government essentially forces children to get vaccines by threatening to not let them into the school system otherwise. Well, a growing network of parents have decided to homeschool their children, in part because of their belief that mandated vaccinations for public and private school children are a dangerous overreach by state governments. The trend toward not vaccinating has been growing for some time now. Close to 70 percent of physicians say that the number of concerns from parents have increased significantly in recent years. And rightfully so. Vaccines given to newborns contain an array of potentially toxic chemicals including: • Formaldehyde • Aluminum phosphate (toxic and carcinogenic) • Antibiotics • Phenols (corrosive to skin and toxic) • Live viruses and various other components The truth is that vaccinations are not the heavily promoted miracle cure-all that will keep your children from getting sick. And all vaccines carry the risk of serious side effects such as crippling neurological damage like autism and even death. If your child is vaccinated according to the CDC’s recommended schedule, by the time your child starts kindergarten he or she will have received 48 doses of 14 vaccines.  Of these, 36 doses will be given during the first 18 months of life. Public health officials have NEVER proven that it is indeed safe to inject this number and volume of vaccines into infants. What’s more, they cannot explain why, concurrent with an increasing number of vaccinations, there has been an explosion of neurological and immune system disorders in American children. As I’ve stated before, I’m not anti-vaccine, but rather pro-vaccine safety, and homeschooling your children is far from the only option out there. Dr. Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle and a member of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, has devised a more sensible vaccination schedule, which advises the following: 1. No vaccinations until your child is 2 years old. 2. No vaccines that contain thimerosal (mercury). 3. No live virus vaccines. 4. The following vaccines can be given one at a time (not as a combination vaccine), every six months, beginning at age 2: *  Pertussis (acellular, not whole cell) *  Diphtheria *  Tetanus *   Polio (the Salk vaccine, cultured in human cells) Your pediatrician will not like this schedule, but if you have reviewed the evidence and still feel your child should be inoculated to a certain degree, this is a far safer alternative to the standard vaccination schedule. If you decide you do not want to vaccinate, know that all 50 states have vaccination requirements but all states provide exemptions for medical reasons while 48 states allow exemptions for sincerely held religious beliefs. Another 18 states allow parents to opt out for personal, conscientious or philosophical beliefs as well. My previous article, How To Legally Avoid Unwanted Immunizations Of All Kinds, spells out how you go about practicing this right, as does an entire chapter in my book Take Control of Your Health. Are You Ready for Change in Vaccine Safety Reform? The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), which was co-founded by Barbara Loe Fisher, is the American vaccine safety watchdog. They are currently being flooded with vaccine reaction reports and parents reporting that their vaccine exemptions are being pulled or they can’t get one. I highly recommend you make a donation to the NVIC to help support them in their efforts to raise awareness about these vital issues and implement vaccine safety reform. Related Articles: Few Getting Help From Vaccine Fund The HPV Vaccine: Preventive Care or Human Sacrifice? How America Was Blinded by Merck’s Vaccine Lies Please   or   to  continue. Apprentice User I am no fan of lawsuits, especially frivolous lawsuits, but sometimes a lawsuit is the only way to be heard and to be compensated for damages.  It would appear that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is being run by the FDA, who has been bought out by Big Pharma.  Vaccine injured children and their families not only deserve to be compensated, but they need to be compensated fairly and timely in order to try and undo as much of the damage as possible.  When we lose the right to file lawsuits, we will truly have lost all of our rights guaranteed to us by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 2.7 billion dollars are sitting in a “trust fund” waiting to be given to vaccine injured children but the “experts” (Big Pharma scientists in disguise?) have decided that regressive autism after vaccinations is not a compensable event.  The list of mandatory vaccines continue to increase, as do the list of disabilities being suffered by children (and adults) after vaccinations. So the 2.7 billion dollars is just for looks and for the “feels good but does nothing” legislation.  What a waste. I will be contacting my district state legislator, once the recount is done, to request a bill that allows for a philosophical, conscientious or personal belief exemption to mandatory vaccination laws in the state of Nebraska. It is time to make informed consent and the right to refuse a “mandatory” law, along with the right to chose what type of health care I believe in, be it “conventional” or non-conventional, Big Pharma drugs or herbal/botanical supplements and foods. [ Reply ] TonkaTruck [ Joined on 09/08 ]  [ Posted on November 24, 2008] 4 Points View TonkaTruck’s Profile Receive updates from TonkaTruck by News Feed Novice User Also, this article does not mention that the max compensation for all this hassle is only $250,000. The possible death or damage of children is worth more than $250,000 IMO. All Under Heaven [ Joined on 02/08 ]  [ Posted on November 24, 2008] 5 Points View All Under Heaven’s Profile Receive updates from All Under Heaven by News Feed Apprentice User The VICP isn’t compensation. It’s just a shield for Pharma. It’s their insurance policy. Pharma doesn’t compensate a penny. And TonkaTruck’s right, money isn’t enough. No amount of money can replace a person, someone’s child. They know. The CDC, the FDA, the government, Pharma, everyone else out there knows vaccines harm and kill. If vaccines were absolutely safe and good as they claim, then why do they need the VICP? I’d like to see them give a straight answer on that. It’s to protect them because without it, they would be bankrupt from lawsuits. And indeed they should go bankrupt if they’re doing this. Not only to go bankrupt, but prosecuted, and sentenced to the extreme. The VICP really is just for looks. The VICP, the Homeland Security rider, they’re all the work of inside cronies. Pharma has and uses deniability. That’s why they’re untouchable and seems to be able to dismiss everything. curlilox [ Joined on 08/07 ] [ Posted on November 24, 2008 ] 4 Points View curlilox’s Profile Receive updates from curlilox by News Feed Savvy User So how do you prove to the authorities that it was vaccines that did the damage?  We found out just last year that all the problems my son has had was due to vaccines, but the medical drs would never tell us that!  We went through an ND who  did Bio Energetic testing and bio-meridian testing.  I don’t think the feds would ever accept that in court!  We can now see the bunny trail that has come down since he was overdosed, but I don’t see that they would ever admit it.  And talk about the thousands of dollars we have spent trying to reverse the damage! [ Reply ] Sheila C [ Joined on 12/06 ]  [ Posted on November 25, 2008] 6 Points View Sheila C’s Profile Receive updates from Sheila C by News Feed Apprentice User Hi Curlilox, go to a lab and get your son’s blood tested for heavy metals.  But you are right, it’s going to be hard to prove since there are so many other ways of getting mercury overload.  Batteries, amalgam fillings, light bulbs busting, computers, even in the food you eat. Isn’t bio meridian testing the greatest tool that has reached North America? Martienne [ Joined on 07/08 ]  [ Posted on December 13, 2008] View Martienne’s Profile Receive updates from Martienne by News Feed Novice User I have a daughter with Autism, and I checked into a lawyer who was handling a class-action suit for this.  They only required documentation of when the symptoms started (in detail) and then the shot records.  The pattern shows itself that way.  I guess there is no “proof” that it was the vaccines (other than the MMR situation where Dr. Wakefield actually found the virus attached to the intestinal lining). www.telegraph.co.uk/…/MMR-autism-link-doctor-Andrew-Wakefield-defends-conduct-at-GMC-hearing.html libertyvalance [ Joined on 11/07 ] [ Posted on December 13, 2008 ] View libertyvalance’s Profile Receive updates from libertyvalance by News Feed Novice User Listen to some free MP3 downloads of interviews from the Alex Jones radio show.  They are at http://drop.io/Summerbird Up near the top are Dr. Rima Laibow MD and Albert Stubblebine, two great personalities in the fight for our health freedom.  Also health ranger Mike Adams.  More to the middle or bottom of the page are interviews titled “vaccines” and “vaccine whistleblower.”  All are informative about how the pharmaceutical companies are not only trying to make money, they deliberately want to hurt us, keep us sick, and even kill us, all while claiming they are trying to help us. [ Reply ] Previous Article Current Newsletter Next Article

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Auto Bailout – is there an Option?

Our current circumstances in the country are mind-bending serious stuff.  Though many of us wish it would all just go away – it won’t!  We are in the middle of it;  everybody is feeling it, seeing it. . . . . it is everywhere and threatening to destroy what fabric is left of our reasoning power.   As is said by our president-elect, Barack Obama,  “We must confront the challenges we face.”

Everybody knows the very structure and basis of our economy is flawed and broken.  It needs “fixin.”  This is not local in size, but GLOBAL.   It is so hard to keep all of this in perspective and give it the attention it deserves when our country is bleeding and so many are suffering.  Statistical numbers are mounting daily increasing the burdens our anointed new leader will shoulder in January 2009.  We need to continue  to equip ourselves with as much valid information as is  ‘out there’,  so that we can do our part in effort to share this burden.  To that end, please give some attention to the words of Thomas L. Friedman as he outlines a potential new direction worth thinking about in the article following:

. . .

Automotive innovation just around the corner, and it’s not from Detroit

Thomas L. Friedman writes for The New York Times.

As I think about our bailing out Detroit, I can’t help but reflect on the most important rule of business in today’s integrated and digitized global market, where knowledge and innovation tools are so widely distributed: Whatever can be done, will be done.
I bring this up because someone in the mobility business is developing a real-world alternative to Detroit’s business model. I don’t know if this alternative to gasoline-powered cars will work, but I know that it can be done — and Detroit isn’t doing it. And therefore it will be done, and eventually, I bet, it will be done profitably.
And when it is, our bailout of Detroit will be remembered as the equivalent of pouring billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the mail-order-catalogue business on the eve of the birth of eBay. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into the CD music business on the eve of the birth of the iPod and iTunes. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into a book-store chain on the eve of the birth of Amazon.com and the Kindle. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into improving typewriters on the eve of the birth of the PC and the Internet.
The business model I am talking is Shai Agassi’s electric-car-network company, Better Place. Just last week, the company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., announced a partnership with Hawaii to road-test its business plan there, and already has similar deals with Israel, Australia, the San Francisco Bay area and Denmark.
The Better Place system involves generating electrons from as much renewable energy — such as wind and solar — as possible and then feeding those clean electrons into an electric-car-charging infrastructure of plug-in outlets and batteryexchange stations. The system is coordinated by a service control center that also does the billing.
Under the Better Place model, consumers can buy or lease an electric car from the French automaker Renault or Japanese companies such as Nissan (General Motors snubbed Agassi) and then buy miles on their cars’ batteries from Better Place the way you buy an Apple cell phone and the minutes from AT&T. That way Better Place, or any car company that partners with it, benefits from each mile you drive. GM sells cars. Better Place is selling mobility miles.
The first Renault and Nissan electric cars are scheduled to hit Denmark and Israel in 2011, when the system should be up and running. On Tuesday, Japan’s Ministry of Environment invited Better Place to join the first government-led electric-car project along with Honda, Mitsubishi and Subaru. Better Place was the only foreign company invited to participate, working with Japan’s leading auto companies, to build a battery-swap station for electric cars in Yokohama, the Detroit of Japan.
What I find exciting about Better Place is that it is building a car company off the new industrial platform of the 21st century, not the one from the 20th — the exact same way that Apple’s Steve Jobs overturned the music business. What did Apple understand first? One, that today’s technology platform would allow anyone with a computer to record music. Two, that the Internet and MP3 players would allow anyone to transfer music in digital form to anyone else. You wouldn’t need CDs or record companies anymore. Apple simply took all those innovations and integrated them into a single music-generating, purchasing and listening system that completely disrupted the music business.
Agassi is saying that there is a new way to generate mobility, not just music, using the same platform. It just takes the right kind of auto battery — the iPod in this allegory — and the right kind of national plug-in network — the iTunes store — to make the business model work for electric cars at six cents a mile. The average American is paying about 12 cents a mile for gasoline transportation, which also adds to global warming and strengthens petro-dictators.
Do not expect this innovation to come out of Detroit. If we miss the chance to win the race for Car 2.0 because we keep mindlessly bailing out Car 1.0, there will be no one to blame more than Detroit’s new shareholders: we, the taxpayers.

Sinusitus: What to do

(note: Please see 1-28-09 post on ‘Fermented Foods)

Sinusitis: What You Really Need to Know & Do to Prevent and Eliminate It

by BodyEcology.com

It is cold season, and that can mean sinus pain and pressure. Sinuses are four sets of hollow, moist air spaces in your cheekbones, your forehead, behind your nasal passages and deep in your brain. When the mucous membranes of our sinuses become infected or irritated the infection is called “sinusitis.”

Sinuses infections are common after a bout with a cold and when a person has allergies. It may not sound all that bad, but most people who’ve experienced sinusitis will tell you that a sinusitis infection is no fun!

A daytime cough that is “dry” and does not improve after 7 days, fever, dental and/or ear pain, tenderness in the face and even nausea, headaches and pain behind the eye can make you feel pretty miserable.

(NOTE: Sinus cavities do not develop in our forehead until we are about 6 or 7 years old. Therefore headaches in early childhood are not usually due to sinus infections.)

You might be taking antibiotics for your sinus infection, but did you know that nearly ALL cases of sinusitis are caused by fungal infection? Body Ecology works when your antibiotics won’t!

Common treatments for sinusitis include antibiotics to kill bacteria, decongestants that reduce the swelling of the inflamed mucus membrane, and pain relievers like aspirin and ibuprofen.

Unfortunately, many people experience sinusitis symptoms on a regular basis, even after taking antibiotics and over-the-counter medicines. In fact, 31 million adults have been diagnosed with chronic sinusitis¹ that doesn’t even respond to conventional treatment!

Chronic Sinusitis and Fungal Infection

Many doctors turn to antibiotics to heal chronic sinusitis, but new studies show that antibiotics are ineffective because a large number of chronic sinus infections are actually caused by fungal infections!²

This became evident as early as 1999 when the Mayo Clinic published a study suggesting that fungal sinusitis was more common than previously thought. In fact, in the nasal washings from the sinuses of patients with chronic sinusitis, 96% of those studied had a fungal overgrowth in their sinus cavities.

The disease is now known as EFRS (eosinophilic fungal rhinosinusitis) or EMRS (eosinophilic mucinous rhinosinusitis).

Interestingly, those control subjects who did not have sinusitis also had an overgrowth of fungus. However, the miserable patients suffering with sinusitis symptoms had a type of white blood cell called an “eosinophile” that was active. The eosinophiles released a product called MBP (Major Basic Protein) into the mucus lining which attacks and kills the fungus but is also extremely irritating to the lining of the sinuses. MBP injures the lining of the sinuses and allows bacteria to proliferate.

The injury to the lining of the sinuses by the fungus led to the now popular belief that treatment of chronic sinusitis should be directed at the fungus rather than the bacteria.

The misuse of antibiotics, a high sugar diet, stress, birth control pills, cortisol and other drugs (including recreational drugs and alcohol) all cause an overgrowth of fungi. Exposure to mold and fungi in the environment, both due to water leaks from roofs and plumbing as well as more efficient homes with less air exchange, are also culprits.

Fungal infections do not respond to antibiotics at all, and antibiotics can actually make fungal infections worse.

Since antibiotics do not work and common treatments only temporarily alleviate symptoms, you need to address the underlying cause of your sinusitis…the fungal infection with the active white blood cells that make the irritating MBP.

Preventing and Treating Fungal Sinusitis

Body Ecology is a system of health and healing that emphasizes the positive side of healing by introducing beneficial bacteria into your body versus killing bacteria with antibiotics.

While at times we know that antibiotics may be essential for conquering a virulent bacterial infection, we believe in focusing first and foremost on prevention and on building a strong, vital immune system. We do this by establishing a healthy inner ecosystem (made up of the friendly microflora) in your intestines. These help keep you healthy and strong so that you have a much better chance of resisting an infection of any kind.

Body Ecology uses fermented foods and beverages, food combining and other principles to establish and maintain a healthy environment inside your body that fights illness and disease.

Learn more about the 7 Key Principles of the Body Ecology program.

In Short: The Body Ecology program is effective for preventing bacterial, fungal and viral infections and can be your best defense against sinusitis. Diet is key when your sinus infection is fungal based. It must be an antifungal diet and Body Ecology is the most effective antifungal diet yet. If you haven’t already, be sure to read the bestselling book, “The Body Ecology Diet.”

To treat and prevent sinusitis, use Body Ecology as your foundation for wellness. Also consider these alternatives to conventional treatment:

• Antibiotics wipe out good AND bad bacteria so when you must use one also be sure you are on an antifungal diet. Also replenish the beneficial bacteria in your gut with fermented foods and beverages. Our new Coco-Biotic and our Dong Quai probiotic liquid are delicious and convenient ways to take this essential step every day!
• There are alternatives to antibiotics that are often useful especially if your immune system is alive and well from eating a probiotic diet. Colloidal silver, oil of oregano, and olive leaf extract are just three of many natural remedies that you might try first.
• Steam your face twice a day and put essential oils that are antifungal in the water. The moist heat relieves symptoms and provides needed moisture for your nasal passages. The oils are anti-fungal and antibacterial.

Replenish the beneficial bacteria in your gut the convenient, economical and DELICIOUS way with the new Dong Quai liquid. Read More about Dong Quai Now!

Whether or not you have sinusitis, the Body Ecology program is a way to build immunity, gain energy, lose weight and prevent illness and disease. You’ll have a much better chance of escaping the cold and flu season without the usual bouts of illness and establish a foundation for long term health.

Sources

¹Chronic Sinusitis, National Center For Health Statistics, 2004. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/sinuses.htm
²Tichenor, M.D., W.S., “Fungal Sinusitis.” http://www.sinuses.com/fungal.htm

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New DVD – Dr.McDougall

New DVD: Dr. McDougall tells lifesaving truths about protein, soy, and fish.

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New DVD: Dr. McDougall’s Money-Saving Medical Advice Maximum Weight Loss, Vitamins, Choosing a Doctor

Information contained in this DVD will save your life and thousands of dollars spent on diet gimmicks, supplements, and the wrong doctors. In this series of lectures Dr. McDougall explains why: Starches Are Essential. The current epidemic of obesity grew as starches became vilified. Historically, as well as worldwide today, people living on diets of potatoes, rice, corn, and sweet potatoes have always been trim, strong, active, youthful, and healthy.  For maximum weight loss a few more green and yellow vegetables are added. Be careful! Too little starch results in feelings of hunger, fatigue, and frustration. Vitamin Supplements, Save One, Can Be Deadly. Vitamins and minerals are essential for our health when delivered in their natural plant packages.  Once isolated and concentrated into pills they can cause nutritional imbalances, sickness, and death. Vitamin D is actually a hormone made in the body with sunlight.  Unnatural living can result in Vitamin B12 deficiency—this is the only supplement I recommend. Choosing the Right Doctor. Sick people see doctors; your goal is to stay out of the medical businesses by being healthy. The McDougall Diet and a healthy lifestyle will prevent and cure common diseases. Select a generalist as your doctor-advocate. Specialists should be hired to do special things, not general patient-care. A consumer must be well educated, prepared, and skeptical when dealing with doctors and hospitals. Chapter 1: Science Behind the Maximum Weight Loss Program Chapter 2: Save Money and Your Health – Don’t Buy Vitamins (Except for One) Chapter 3: How to Pick the Right Doctor Cost = $24.95 plus S&H DVDs will ship Monday, December 8, 2008 ©2008 John McDougall All Rights Reserved McDougall Wellness Center   P.O. Box 14039, Santa Rosa, CA 95402