H.I.P.P.I.E.

3 Unique Exercises to Shape Up for Spring

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:57:00 +0000

By Dr. Maoshing Ni
You have to move to lose weight
The number one cause of being overweight is inactivity. The human body is designed for physical activity. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers who spent most of their lives on the move; their metabolic functions matched their physical lifestyle. Nowadays, we live in opposition to our nature. The reason most diets fail is because our bodies are not designed to subsist on meager foods. We are designed to consume a good amount of energy -- and then to burn that energy. Physical activity is the key to a healthy metabolism.

Physical activity does not necessarily mean abrupt, fast-paced and forceful exercise. What if I told you that gentle, slower, and deliberate movements are just as beneficial for your health? Unique to China are the gentler kind of movement arts that promote energy, balance of function, and a calm mind. I call them mind-body exercises, and they include tai chi, qigong, and Dao In yoga. Many recent studies have confirmed that these mind-body exercises help balance blood pressure, sugar, cholesterol, equilibrium, and other organ functions. Mind-body exercise works through a system of energy communication within the body. By deliberately activating the flow of energy and removing blockages, communication is restored and organ functions return to their optimal level. You can learn these mind-body exercises with a teacher or from instructional DVDs.

Taken from a tradition that is thousands of years old, here are three qigong exercises that target your weight and get you in shape. The qigong exercises from this article are adapted from my book Secrets of Self-Healing, where you can find many more exercises to benefit a variety of health conditions.

Exercise 1: Swimming Dragon speeds up your metabolism
This simple qigong exercise can help speed up your metabolism and reduce your appetite. Not unlike a belly dance, Swimming Dragon is a wriggling rhythmic dance of the torso, which burns energy and promotes fat burning in the abdomen.

1. In a comfortable, quiet place stand with your feet together and ankles touching, or as close together as you can get them. Bring hands over your head, with palms together and fingers pointing up. Keep your palms together during this entire exercise.

2. Inhaling, push your waist out to the right side while keeping your head and upper torso straight. Simultaneously move your right elbow to the right, so that it rests at shoulder height.

3. Exhaling, push your waist out to the left side while keeping your head and upper torso straight. Simultaneously move your left elbow fully to the left at shoulder height.

4. Repeat this movement several times. Every time you move your waist to the right, bend your knees slightly more, lowering your entire body as you squat. Be sure to keep your upper torso and head straight.

5. With each right movement, move your hands lower, keeping your palms together and fingers pointing up. When your arms reach your chest, turn your fingers toward the ground and continue the movement.

6. When your arms reach your knees, you should be squatting.

7. Continue the movements, now rising with each right movement until you reach the standing position. When your arms reach your chest, switch the direction of your fingers so that they’re pointing up again.

Throughout this exercise, your hands should produce an S-shaped movement and your body should do a rhythmic belly dance. Remember to inhale on the rightward movement and exhale to the left. Only do this exercise on an empty stomach. Begin slowly and increase speed, warming up the whole body, but not to the point of perspiration.

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Exercise 2: Arm Swing
Energy exercises like tai chi and Eight Treasures Qigong have been found to improve cardiovascular health. Here is the Arm Swing, a warm-up movement to tai chi that will invigorate your daily workout.

1. Start with your feet should-width apart. Freely swing your arms from front to back until you reach a point of natural resistance. Now let your arms swing to the front again.

2. After a couple of minutes of arm swinging, increase the work out by bending your knees and lifting your heels as your arms swing back and forth.

3. Increase your work out further by jumping off the ground as your arms swing back as though the momentum of your arms carries your body upward. Jump progressively higher each time. Swing your arms for 15 minutes. Gradually slow down and stop. Perform this exercise twice each day.

Exercise 3: Merry-Go-Around
With a daily practice of Qi Gong exercises like the Eight Treasures you can strengthen your hormonal system, help balance your blood sugar levels, and maintain your proper weight. Below I describe a simple walking exercise called “Merry-Go-Around”.

1. In a quiet outdoor setting find a thick-trunked tree (10 - 12” diameter) with at least 5 feet of clear space around the trunk in all directions. Perform the following walking exercise for 15 minutes.

2. Walk with a relaxed but steady gait, with hands raised to your trunk. With each completed circle change the position of your arms by slightly raising or lowering your hands in front or on the sides of your trunk.

3. For the first half of the exercise walk clockwise around the tree. For the second half, walk counterclockwise.

Do the Merry-Go-Around twice each day.

How often should you exercise?
From my clinical experience and research, I am convinced that it is best for all-around health to exercise 4 or more times per week, for 30 minutes each time. Even a brisk walk around your neighborhood, or the merry-go-round circle walking described above can have a wonderful effect on your energy metabolism and help you get back into shape.

For a supplement that supports sustainable energy for an active lifestyle, I suggest High Performance, a combination of unique Chinese food herbs, exotic seeds and wholesome grains, providing a rich source of complex carbohydrates.

I hope this article helps you get active! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

—Dr. Mao

Heart group lists 7 essentials for heart health

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:10:00 +0000

Research shows that most 50-year-olds who do that can live another 40 years free of stroke and heart disease, two of the most common killers, says Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association. The heart association published the advice online Wednesday in the journal Circulation.

The group also is introducing an online quiz to help people gauge how close they are to the ideal. If you fall a bit short, it offers tips for improving.

"These seven factors — if you can keep them ideal or control them — end up being the fountain of youth for your heart," said Dr. Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist who was lead author of the statement. "You live longer, you live healthier longer, you have much better quality of life in older age, require less medication, less medical care."

Specifically, those with ideal cardiovascular health can answer yes to the following seven questions:

• Never smoked or quit more than one year ago.

• Body mass index less than 25.

• Get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week.

• Meet at least four of these dietary recommendations: 4 1/2 cups of fruit and vegetables a day; two or more 3.5-ounce servings a week of fish; drink no more than 36 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverages a week; three or more 1-ounce servings of fiber-rich whole grains a day; less than 1,500 milligrams a day of salt.

• Total cholesterol of less than 200.

• Blood pressure below 120/80.

• Fasting blood glucose less than 100.

The online quiz calculates a score based on the answers, 10 being the ideal.

Doctors say the quiz is a good way for people to get a handle on how they're doing, especially since people often think they're doing better than they actually are.

The heart association found just that in a recent survey that showed 39 percent of Americans thought they had ideal heart health, yet 54 percent of those had been told they had either a heart disease risk factor or needed to make a lifestyle change to improve heart health, or both.

With America's obesity epidemic, weight especially is a pitfall for patients trying to meet these seven health factors, doctors say.

"Many people are surprised to find out how overweight they may be," said Dr. Randal Thomas, director of the cardiovascular health clinic at the Mayo Clinic.

Lloyd-Jones, also chair of the preventive medicine department at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, said, "People I think are far too accepting of their waistlines."

Thomas praises the online tool for giving people a score so they'll have something to work toward. It offers advice for problem areas: for instance, advising someone who's over weight to set a goal of losing a pound a week by burning up to 3,500 more calories than are taken in.

Yancy, the heart association president and medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute in Dallas, said the organization has a goal for 2020 of improving cardiovascular health of Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent.

He said that in the last decade, there's already been a nearly 40 percent reduction in death from heart disease and a nearly 35 percent reduction in death from stroke. He said those goals were achieved with improvements in treatments and prevention.

Linda Alvarado, 54, of Houston, said she knows how hard — and important — the changes can be. After having a quadruple bypass at the age of 47, she improved her diet and exercise, losing 40 pounds. Recently though, with a new 40-minute commute, some of those diet and exercise commitments have been put aside. While she's kept the lost pounds off, she would like to lose five more pounds.

"It's really up to you," Alvarado said.

Heart group: Cut back — way back — on extra sugar

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:46:00 +0000

STUPID FAT GREEDY GRINGOS
LIKE THE ROMAN CIVILIZATION, ON THE WAY DOWN
Viva El Frente!

A spoonful of sugar? Americans are swallowing 22 teaspoons of sugar each day, and it's time to cut way back, the American Heart Association says.

Most of that added sugar comes from soft drinks and candy — a whopping 355 calories and the equivalent of guzzling two cans of soda and eating a chocolate bar.

By comparison, most women should be getting no more than 6 teaspoons a day, or 100 calories, of added sugar — the sweeteners and syrups that are added to foods during processing, preparation or at the table. For most men, the recommended limit is 9 teaspoons, or 150 calories, the heart group says.

The guidelines do not apply to naturally occurring sugars like those found in fruit, vegetables or dairy products.

Rachel K. Johnson, lead author of the statement published online Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, said it was time to give specific advice on how much added sugar Americans should be getting, not just advising moderation.

"Take a good hard look at your diet," said Johnson, professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington. "Figure out where the sources of added sugars are and think about how to cut back on that."

She said about 8 ounces of fruit-flavored yogurt has about 6 teaspoons of added sugar; 8 ounces of low-fat chocolate milk has about 4 teaspoons; a cup of frosted whole grain cereal has about 3 teaspoons.

The biggest culprits for the glut of sugar? Soft drinks by far, followed by candy, cakes, cookies and pies.

With about 8 teaspoons of added sugar, a regular 12-ounce soft drink will put most women over the recommended daily limit.

Cutting back on sugar likely won't be easy for many people, said Lona Sandon, a dietitian at Dallas' University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

"I think it's probably going to be a struggle for quite a few people," Sandon said.

Calculating one's sugar intake can be tricky as the government doesn't require labels to differentiate added sugars from naturally occurring sugars, said Johnson. But she points out that the biggest sources, like regular soft drinks and sweets, are pretty obvious. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a database for the added sugar in some foods.

To check for added sugar, look for a variety of ingredients including sugar, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, molasses or evaporated cane juice on the label.

The heart group didn't recommend general limits for added sugar for children; a national health survey has shown that boys ages 14 to 18 consume an eye-popping 34 teaspoons of added sugar a day.

Sandon said that parents can help lower that sugar intake by getting soda out of the house, looking at how much sugar is in their kids' cereal and substituting snacks like cookies with popcorn.

Johnson concedes that sugar does play an important role in enhancing the taste of food, adding: "If you feel like, 'I just can't live with this low amount of sugar in my diet,' then what you need to do is up your energy needs."

In other words, she said, get moving. A man in his early 20s who walks more than three miles a day could consume about 288 calories, or about 18 teaspoons, of added sugar.

The statement says data indicates added sugar is contributing to Americans consuming too many discretionary calories — the number of calories remaining after a person eats the foods needed to meet nutrient requirements.

"We know for sure that if you are consuming excessive amounts of added sugar, you will add calories, which leads to weight gain, or you will displace other essential nutrients," she said.

On average, most women need about 1,800 calories a day and most men need about 2,200, Johnson said.

If someone drinks their daily calorie needs in soft drinks, they will be maintaining their weight, but won't be getting any nutrients, she said.

Wahida Karmally, nutrition director at Columbia University's Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, said that with these guidelines, it's important to remember overall moderation. Some people, for instance, might be doing fine in their sugar consumption but are overdoing it on fat.

"I don't want people to go back thinking if I just cut back on teaspoons of sugar I'm going to be very healthy," she said.

___

On the Net:

American Heart Association, http://www.americanheart.org/nutrition/sugar

U.S. Department of Agriculture's database listing added sugars in certain foods, http://tinyurl.com/nacqhr

4 Healthy Habits That Cut Disease Risk

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:11:00 +0000

Don't smoke. Get off the sofa and take a walk. Stay away from the junk food. Watch your waistline.

You may have heard the advice before. But did you know that if you follow all four of these healthy habits together, you could decrease your chances of developing some of the most common and deadly chronic diseases by nearly 80%?

Researchers reporting in this month's Archives of Internal Medicine analyzed the health, lifestyles, and diet of 23,513 German adults 35 to 65 years old, starting in the mid-1990s. The study showed that those who had more healthy habits were much less likely to get diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

The analysis included a detailed look at each person's body weight and height, disease background, food frequency, and how well they followed these four healthy lifestyle habits over the eight-year study period:

Never smoked
Exercised at least 3.5 hours per week
Maintained a body mass index (BMI) under 30
Followed a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain breads, and limited in meats

Most of the people in the study had at least one healthy habit; only 9% said they followed all four.

After adjusting for risk factors that might influence the development of disease, the researchers learned that those who followed all four healthy habits had a 78% lower risk of developing a chronic condition such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer compared to those who reported none of the healthy habits.

Specifically, in the study, all four of the healthy habits combined were linked to a:

93% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
81% lower risk of heart attack
50% lower risk of stroke
36% lower risk of cancer

Researchers say it's important to adopt and teach healthy habits early in life. Their findings "reinforce current public health recommendations to avoid smoking, to maintain a healthy weight, to engage in physical activity appropriately and to eat adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables and foods containing whole grains and to partake of red meat prudently," study author Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH, of the CDC, and colleagues write.

The following habits may help you lower your risk of developing chronic diseases. They are listed in order of largest to smallest impact on disease risk, as determined by the recent study.

Maintain a healthy weight. Your body mass index should be lower than 30.
Never smoke. (But if you already do, you should quit.)
Get at least 3.5 hours of exercise every week.
Follow a healthy diet.

Watching TV: Even Worse for Kids Than You Think

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:22:00 +0000

MIND ROT, WORSE DOPE THERE IS
anyone watches TV are not educated
and brainwashed, propagandized, basically ignorant
another reason all kids under 39 in USA are not worth a f...
READ

I am not too much for right wing bought off with there advertisers TIME mag
but this is good

It's no secret that sedentary behavior contributes to obesity and chronically poor health. But not all sedentary behaviors are created equal, according to a new study that examines the link between blood pressure in children and their choice of inactive pastimes, including watching TV, using the computer and reading.

Researchers in the U.S. and Spain collaborated on the study of 111 children ages 3 to 8 and found that of all the forms of inactivity they examined, television-viewing was the worst. It was linked to significantly higher blood pressure in children - the more TV kids watched, the higher their blood pressure - and the effect held true regardless of whether a child was heavy or at a healthy weight. What's more, other sedentary behaviors, like using a computer, were not associated with similar blood-pressure hikes, according to the study, which was published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. (See the 100 best TV shows of all time.)

"These results show that sedentary behavior, and more specifically television-viewing, is related to blood pressure independent of body fat or obesity level," says Dr. Joey Eisenmann, a kinesiologist at Michigan State University and one of the study's co-authors.

To determine levels of inactivity over one week, the children in the study wore accelerometers, which resemble pedometers but instead of tracking distance, they record the body's acceleration in a vertical plane - sitting results in a score of zero, and walking and running produce progressively higher scores. The researchers considered anything under a score of 50 per day as sedentary. They coupled this data with reports from the children's parents about how much time the kids spent in inactive pursuits, including watching television, sitting at a computer, playing video games, reading or doing other projects that don't require much movement.

The children were sedentary for five hours each day, and 1.5 of those hours were spent in front of a TV, computer or video game, on average. When the researchers further broke down screen time by activity, TV-viewing had the strongest correlation with higher blood pressure. Kids watching from 90 to 330 minutes of television each day had systolic and diastolic blood-pressure readings (the two numbers that indicate pressure caused by blood pumping from the top and bottom chambers of the heart, respectively) that were five to seven points higher than those of children watching less than half an hour of television a day. (Read about how sex on TV increases the risk of teen pregnancy.)

"These results show that TV-viewing really is the worst of all possible sedentary activities," says Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children's Hospital Boston, who was not part of the study. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 2 should not watch any television and that older children limit their viewing to one to two hours per day.

So what is it about watching TV that's worse than playing video games or surfing the Internet? Certainly, playing games and using computers involve some movement, like fidgeting or changing body positions, but is that enough to explain the difference? The study's authors propose several other possible explanations. For instance, beyond the complete inactivity involved with TV-viewing - which alone raises the risk of high blood pressure - children may be compounding their sloth by eating junk food. "A full bag of chips or a plate of hot dogs can disappear a lot more quickly while watching TV than they might at any other occasion," says Ludwig. And the types of foods that children are likely to be eating in front of the tube, like salty snacks, can push up blood pressure readings.

In addition, say the authors, if kids watch TV too close to bedtime, their minds may remain stimulated just enough to keep them awake and miss out on precious hours of sleep. Cutting short a good night's slumber, past research suggests, can lead to weight gain and hypertension, since the body's metabolism doesn't have enough opportunity to recharge and renew itself overnight.

To those reasons, Ludwig adds a few others. Previous studies have found that watching television lulls people, especially young children, into a low-energy state that is akin to sleeping - that's about as sedentary as a person can get. "Some studies suggest that the metabolic rate can fall even below that of sleeping," he says. "They suggest that children are getting into some deep hypnotic state at times." (See the top 10 TV series of 2008.)

Worse yet is the content of television programming, which Ludwig suggests may have long-lasting repercussions. "There is the possibility that the greatest long-term impact of TV viewing is on children's eating habits through food commercials," he says. Some experts estimate that youngsters are bombarded with 10,000 food commercials each year during children's programming, and most of them aren't promoting salads or fruit. All this marketing, says Ludwig, changes children's taste preferences and causes them to crave - and beg for - unhealthy foods. "Children are seeing these commercials at an age when they are just establishing eating habits that can become ingrained and last a lifetime," he says.

Eisenmann stresses that while the new study found an association between TV-viewing and higher blood-pressure readings, it did not measure whether children developed hypertension. However, in previous studies involving the same group of children, whom he and the other scientists have been studying for four years, about 20% of the children had developed prehypertension or hypertension - often because of weight gain.

Although the study did not follow the children over time, the findings still suggest that TV-viewing has a strong influence on the health of young children. Environmental and lifestyle factors, like diet and inactivity, account for about 70% of a person's blood pressure (genes determine the rest), and high blood pressure at a young age may increase kids' risk of developing heart disease in adulthood. "There is no fundamental biological need for TV-viewing in childhood," says Ludwig. "So these findings certainly warrant follow-up."

Tax sodapop to fight fat, US health officials say

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:48:00 +0000

WHAT A GREAT IDEA,
FAT PEOPLE COSTS ALL USA CITIZENS, REAL SIMPLE.......
SCREW COCA-COLA. TOP 10 WORST USA CORPS, STOPKILLERCOKE.ORG
THIS GUY FRIEDEN IS A HERO

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US health sheriffs want to ride the sugary drinks that are helping to make Americans fat out of town, or at least off Americans' menu of choice, and one way they suggest going about it is by taxing sodapop.

"The average American consumes roughly 250 calories more today than they did two or three decades ago, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Thomas Frieden, said at the "Weight of the Nation" conference on obesity held in Washington this week.

"And of that, about 120 calories is in the form of sodas and other sugared food and beverages," he said.

The average daily recommended caloric intake for adults is about 2,000 calories per day, a number that varies depending on a person's sex, height, weight and rate of activity.

Two-thirds of American adults are obese or overweight -- or shaped more like the bulbous Orangina bottle than the hourglass classic Coca-Cola bottle -- and obesity-related illnesses cost the United States nearly 150 billion dollars a year, health officials at the conference were told.

A soda tax would not only help Americans to slim down but could raise revenues that would help to offset the rising sums spent to treat preventable health conditions caused by obesity.

"The estimates we've seen suggest that a one-penny-per-ounce tax nationally would raise something in the order of 100 to 200 billion dollars over a 10-year time frame, as well as significantly reducing caloric intake -- at least from soda and sugar-sweetened beverages," Frieden said.

According to Julie Greenstein of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), around 40 of the 50 US states already have soft drink or junk food taxes, but they are usually too low to have an effect on consumption.

The CSPI, which has advocated for health, nutrition and food safety in the United States since 1971, says a soft drink tax would "be a great way to pay for health reform and expansion" and wants to see such a tax imposed nationally.

A tax on soft drinks was included as a possible option in the health reform bill drafted by the Senate finance committee, said Greenstein, although she was unsure if the proposed levy would make it through to the final version of the proposed health care legislation.

"The soft drink industry has a very powerful lobby," she said.

Last week, the Coca Cola Corporation was quoted in the Financial Times as saying that "the consumer in this environment is not ready for a tax on a basic staple like non-alcoholic beverages."

Frieden has based his call for a soda tax on the campaign he instigated in New York City, where he was health commissioner for seven years, which practically ran the Marlboro man out of town.

A year after he became health commissioner of New York in 2002, Frieden started raising taxes on cigarettes to the point where if you buy a packet of 20 in the Big Apple today, you don't get much change from 10 dollars.

He reasoned that people would kick their cigarette habit if it cost too much. And he was right.

"We reduced adult smoking by 25 percent and teen smoking by 50 percent in six years. About half of that reduction was the result of taxation," Frieden said.

A similar tactic applied to sodas could help to cut consumption of the sugary drinks, he reasoned, but added that the decision to impose a national soda tax was one for the politicians, not health officials.

"Whether it gets done is a political question, but what we can say as the nation's prevention agency is that obesity is an enormous problem, and price interventions are likely to be effective," he said.

Anger can be a force for good, but chronic, intense anger is neither helpful nor healthy. Here's how to get a grip

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:44:00 +0000

Anger can be a force for good, but chronic, intense anger is neither helpful nor healthy. Here's how to get a grip

Most of the time you’ll answer “no” to at least one question; if so, this is not one of those times when your anger is a sign that you should take some action. Better to distract yourself from your angry feelings and get on with your day.

If you answer “yes” to each question, you have a legitimate beef and should take action (but spend some time brainstorming possible responses before doing anything). Often the best approach is to speak not aggressively but assertively -- not to swallow your ire but not to spit it out either. Explain your feelings as impassively as possible, and request a specific change in the other person’s behavior. For example, if you’re mad because someone called you “dumb” for a remark you made, don’t simply say “Stop putting me down!” Say, “You called me dumb. I feel hurt and angry. Please don’t use words like ‘dumb’ to describe me.”

This simple approach can go a long way toward restoring your tranquility. “When you answer the four questions and either distract yourself or take constructive action, you no longer feel quite as helpless about the situation,” Williams says. “As much as is possible, you’re taking control, whether it’s of your own thoughts and feelings or the other person’s behavior. This can be a very powerful way to reduce the anger you feel.”

Research confirms the value of Williams’ approach. In a recent study, heart patients were asked to describe a situation that had made them angry. Those who had received anger-management training experienced less anger and a lower surge in blood pressure than those who had not received the training.

Tips for Taming Your Anger

Here’s what else you can do to keep anger from turning toxic:

Take better care of yourself. Often it’s possible to curb anger simply by cutting back on stimulants like caffeine and nicotine, which can shorten your emotional fuse. Getting more sleep can also help. Ditto for exercise. “I’ve found that anger is less of a problem for people who work out regularly -- say running an hour a day,” says Karina Davidson, PhD, a clinical health psychologist at Columbia University in New York City and president of the American Psychological Association’s health psychology section.
Talk over your feelings. Having a heart-to-heart with a friend or family member can help you understand and overcome your anger. “Hearing honest feedback from others can be a great way to understand and change our emotional responses,” Davidson says. “Sometimes the people around us are better than we are at recognizing our characteristic emotional responses, if we’re willing to listen.”
Just don’t go overboard: Kupfer says that rehashing your anger with more than a couple of people can actually reinforce angry feelings, making them more intense rather than less intense.
Practice delay and distraction. Counting to 10 really works for some people, as does wearing a rubber band on your wrist and snapping it each time you feel angry. Mindfulness meditation can help, as can humming a favorite tune or saying a prayer, Williams says. He also advocates deep breathing -- silently intoning the word “calm” each time you breathe in and “down” each time you breathe out. “Listening to loud, aggressive music can be a great way to curb anger,” Davidson says. “Anything that takes your mind off angry feelings.”
Get help for depression. Psychologists used to believe that anger and depression were two sides of the same coin. But recent studies involving PET scans of the brain reveal the two conditions are distinct, Davidson says. Even so, experts say that depressed people often feel angry, and that getting help -- via psychotherapy and/or antidepressant medication -- is a good idea. The same SSRI medications prescribed for depression often prove helpful for chronic anger.
Stop believing that life must be fair. It’s a cliche to say so, but life isn’t fair. Feeling that it should be sets you up for resentment and rage, Kupfer says, “Most of the time, we get angry because we feel that someone has violated one of what has been called our ‘unenforceable rules,’” such as the “rule” that other motorists should be courteous or the “rule” that Bernie Madoff shouldn’t have stolen from his investors. Stop trying to enforce these rules, he says, and you may find it easier to keep on an even keel.

Vinegar Seen as a Tangy Fat Fighter

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:11:00 +0000

Are you fighting to keep unhealthful, unsightly fat off your belly? Join the crowd!

Vinegar enjoys an ancient reputation as a healthful food, and new research suggests that pickled foods and vinegary dressings may help fight abdominal bulge.

The secret to the fat-fighting potential of vinegar lies in its defining natural constituent ... a tart, tangy chemical called acetic acid.

(For some suggested ways to get vinegar into your diet, see “What can you do with this information?” below.)

The body stores excess dietary calories as body fat, and most of that fat ends up one of two places.

Fat can be stored either as subcutaneous fat, located just under the skin. Or it can be deposited as unhealthier, harder-to-lose abdominal (visceral) fat which, by definition, is fat found around the body’s central organs.

An excess of abdominal fat is known medically as central obesity, and is commonly called belly fat.

Aside from being socially and romantically undesirable ─ fairly or not ─ there’s a strong correlation between central obesity and an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and diabetes.

In fact, central obesity is one of the physiological factors that constitute metabolic syndrome, which often leads to diabetes.

The genetic connection between vinegar and body fat

It’s been known for some time that activation of genetic switches called PPARs induces the body to store excess calories as subcutaneous fat instead of depositing them as unhealthier abdominal fat.

The acronym PPARs stands for “peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors”, and these switches help regulate the expression of genes associated with metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.

Long-time readers of Vital Choices may recall past articles about the beneficial effects of omega-3s on PPARs with regard to development and progression of diabetes. (See “Fish Oil Trims Diabetics’ Belly and Blood Fat”.)

Three years ago, researchers at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, published a study in which they fed rodents carboxylic acid (COOH), which is the chemical “parent” of acetic acid (CH3-COOH).

As they reported, “In rats treated with the full PPAR-gamma agonist [activator] COOH for 3 weeks, subcutaneous fat mass was doubled and that of visceral fat was reduced by 30% relative to untreated rats.”

And the Laval team found that feeding rodents this close chemical cousin to acetic acid also stimulated fat burning (thermogenesis) in abdominal (visceral) fat:

“The agonist [acetic acid] increased … fatty acid oxidation and thermogenesis much more strongly in visceral fat than in subcutaneous fat ... These findings demonstrate that PPAR-gamma agonism [activation] redistributes fat … and energy expenditure is greatly increased in visceral fat, with consequent reduction in fat accumulation.” (Laplante M et al. 2006)

Their findings indicated that carboxylic acid ─ and perhaps related compounds like vinegar’s acetic acid ─ is an ally in the fight to shift body fat to a healthier location, and preferentially burn body fat sited in its least healthful location.

New findings support the fat-fighting value of vinegar

Last month, researchers at Japan’s Mizkan Group published findings that more directly support the promise of vinegar’s acetic acid as a potent ally in the fight to prevent central obesity (Kondo T et al 2009).

In short, they found that dietary acetic acid helps prevent obesity in mice fed a high-fat diet, both by the PPAR mechanism reported from Quebec in 2006, and via other means as well.

The Japanese team reports that acetic acid “up-regulates” the expression of genes that induce oxidation (burning) of fatty acid in the liver … an effect called thermogenesis that suppresses the accumulation of body fat.

As they said, “Significant increases were observed in the expressions of genes for PPAR-alpha and for fatty-acid-oxidation- and thermogenesis-related proteins … in the liver … In conclusion, AcOH [acetic acid] suppresses accumulation of body fat and liver lipids …” (Kondo T et al 2009)

Specifically, the new study showed that mice fed a high-fat diet with added acetic acid developed about 10 percent less body fat than mice fed a high-fat diet absent the characteristic vinegar compound.

Importantly, the new research provides the first hard evidence that, like carboxylic acid, acetic acid fights body fat build up by switching on genes that in turn activate fat-burning enzymes.

What can you do with this information?

For starters, you can munch on pickles (cucumbers marinated in vinegar) and add vinegar-pickled veggies like beets and cauliflower to salads and sandwiches.

Salad dressings made with vinegar are another avenue, although the amount of oil in most vinaigrettes would overcome any fat-fighting benefit.

Balsamic vinegar is a particularly healthful, delicious way to get more acetic acid into your diet, without added fat.

Use balsamic vinegar as a sauce ingredient when cooking, as in today's recipe for Grilled Halibut with Fresh Tomato-Basil Relish and our recipe for Balsamic-Blackberry Sauce Over Halibut or Salmon.

Or drizzle it sparingly over breads, salads, and cheeses … even sorbet! Our deep, dark, 100% organic balsamic vinegar is made in Spain from concentrated organic grapes and organic red wine.

Here are a few other suggestions:

Use cider vinegar as a substitute for fresh lemon juice in recipes.
Pour cider vinegar over roasting lamb. Adding honey and sliced onions to the roasting pan will produce a sweet, tangy sauce when the vinegar mixes with them.
Sushi rice: Japanese use rice vinegar as an essential ingredient for sushi rice.
Use cider or white wine vinegar to flavor collard greens, green beans, or cabbage.

Perhaps the healthiest, zestiest of all pickled foods is the addictively delicious Korean side dish called kimchi or kimchee.

Kimchi usually features crisp green vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, bell peppers, garlic, onions, chili peppers, radishes, and the like.

These foods have few calories but lots of fiber, vitamins (especially A and C), beneficial polyphenol antioxidants, and minerals such as calcium and iron.

The distinctive flavor of kimchi depends on the level of acetic acid (more is better), which will vary according to the ingredients used, the fermentation temperature (cooler is better) and period, and the level of salt (less is better).

Kimchi fermented with less salt at a low temperature has more acetic acid and a better flavor, according to connoisseurs. And, like yogurt, kimchi contains lactic acid generated by beneficial probiotic bacteria.

Sources

Kondo T, Kishi M, Fushimi T, Kaga T. Acetic Acid Upregulates the Expression of Genes for Fatty Acid Oxidation Enzymes in Liver To Suppress Body Fat Accumulation. J Agric Food Chem. 2009 May 26. [Epub ahead of print] DOI: 10.1021/jf900470c
Laplante M, Festuccia WT, Soucy G, Gélinas Y, Lalonde J, Berger JP, Deshaies Y. Mechanisms of the depot specificity of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma action on adipose tissue metabolism. Diabetes. 2006 Oct;55(10):2771-8.

How to Make Natural Outdoor Fly Repellent with Essential Oils

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Clean out a small tin with a lid.
Take a clean piece of cloth or a small piece of dish sponge able to fit into the container. Saturate it with one of the following oils (after it has been diluted appropriately, see Tips):
- Lavender oil - lavender is considered to be particularly effective against flies^[1]
- Citronella oil (dilute with water first)^[2]
- Eucalyptus oil (dilute with water first)^[3]
- Pennyroyal oil (dilute with water first)^[4]
- Peppermint oil (dilute with water first; likely more effective against mosquitoes but also considered to work against horse-flies^[5])
- Lemongrass oil (dilute with water first)^[6]
Place the cloth in the tin and shut the lid. Allow to sit for 24 hours.
Use. Whenever you need to use the tin, remove the lid and place on the entertaining table. Make as many as you wish to put around the entertaining area to deter flies.
Replenish the oil after each use; once open to the air, the strength weakens and needs to be topped up.

No smoking: Historic vote could bring new limits Senators who opposed tobacco bill received top dollar from industry

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:55:00 +0000

ABOUT TIME TO GET RID OF THIS HEINOUS POISON AND BURDEN TO THE PREVENTIVE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Senators who opposed tobacco bill received top dollar from industry

these are the ones need to be hung in public, arrogant corrupt pendejos
so call or email tell them to shoot themselves NOW!

The Senate struck a historic blow against smoking in America Thursday, voting overwhelmingly to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in the cigarettes that kill nearly a half-million people a year, to drastically curtail ads that glorify tobacco and to ban flavored products aimed at spreading the habit to young people.

President Barack Obama, who has spoken of his own struggle to quit smoking, said he was eager to sign the legislation, and the House planned a vote for Friday. Cigarette foes said the measure would not only cut deaths but reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco.

Fierce opposition by the industry and tobacco-state lawmakers had prevented passage for years, along with veto threats by the George W. Bush White House. In the end, the nation's biggest tobacco company supported the measure, though rivals suggested that was because it could lock in Philip Morris' share of the market.

Cigarette smoking kills about 400,000 people in the United States every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 45 million U.S. adults are smokers, though the prevalence has fallen since the U.S. surgeon general's warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer.

The legislation, one of the most dramatic anti-smoking initiatives since the surgeon general's report, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

"This legislation represents the strongest action Congress has ever taken to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States," declared Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids.

The 79-17 Senate vote sent the measure back to the House, which in April passed a similar but not identical version. House acceptance of the Senate bill would send it directly to Obama, who said Thursday that final passage "will make history by giving the scientists and medical experts at the FDA the power to take sensible steps."

"At any given moment, millions are struggling with their habit or worrying about loved ones who smoke," said Obama.

His signature would then add tobacco to other huge, nationally important areas that have come under greater government supervision since his presidency began. Those include banking, housing and autos. Still to come, if Congress can agree: health care.

Supporters of FDA regulation of tobacco have struggled for more than a decade to overcome powerful resistance — from the industry and elsewhere. In 2000 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the agency did not have the authority under current law to regulate tobacco products, and the Bush administration opposed several previous efforts by Congress to write a new law.

Thursday's legislation gives the FDA power to evaluate the contents of tobacco products and to order changes or bans on those that are a danger to public health. The agency could limit nicotine yields but not ban nicotine or cigarettes.

Regulators could prohibit tobacco companies from using candy or other flavors in cigarettes that tend to attract young smokers, and restrict advertising in publications often read by teenagers. Rules on sales to minors would be toughened, as would warning labels. Tobacco companies would have to get FDA approval for new products, and would be barred from using terms such as "light" or "mild" that imply a smaller health risk.

Costs of the new program would be paid for through a fee imposed on tobacco companies.

"This is a bill that will protect children and will protect America," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a leading supporter. "Every day that we don't act, 3,500 American kids — children — will light up for the first time. That is enough to fill 70 school buses."

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that FDA regulation could reduce underage smoking by 11 percent over the next decade.

The bill, said American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown, "provides a tremendous opportunity to finally hold tobacco companies accountable and restrict efforts to addict more children and adults."

The tobacco lobby, contended Durbin, has long been the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill, "and they managed to create an exemption in virtually every law so that no federal agency could take a look at them and regulate them."

But the industry has also taken hits in recent years as the dangers of smoking became more apparent and states moved to limit smoking in public places. In 1998 the industry agreed to pay the states $206 billion to help cover health care costs, and this year Congress raised the federal cigarette tax by 62 cents, to $1.01 a pack, to fund a health care program for children.

The nation's largest tobacco manufacturer, Philip Morris, USA, has come out in support of the legislation. Its parent company, Altria Group, said in a statement that on balance, "the legislation is an important step forward to achieve the goal we share with others to provide federal regulation of tobacco products."

Its main rivals, however, have voiced opposition, arguing in part that FDA restrictions on new products will lock in Philip Morris' share of the market.

Lawmakers portrayed the bill as a major first step in bringing down health care costs, an essential goal of the health care overhaul legislation that is the top priority of the Obama administration this year.

"This bill may do more in the area of prevention, if adopted, than anything else we may include in the health care bill in the short term," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who managed the legislation on the Senate floor in the absence of the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who has long promoted FDA regulation.

Opponents, led by Republican Sen. Richard Burr of the tobacco-growing state of North Carolina, argued that the FDA, which is in charge of ensuring the safety of food and drug products, was the wrong place to regulate an item that is injurious to health.

He also contended that the bill would restrict tobacco companies, including several based in his state, from developing new products that might be less harmful to users. He unsuccessfully proposed the creation of a new agency that would both regulate tobacco products and encourage efforts to make cigarettes less harmful.

___

The bill is H.R. 1256.

On the Net:

Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov

Among the 17 senators who voted against allowing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco are some of the top recipients of campaign contributions from the tobacco industry, which has donated millions of dollars to lawmakers in the past several campaign cycles.

Over the course of his nearly quarter-century Senate career, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , who hails from the tobacco-rich state of Kentucky , has received $419,025 from the tobacco industry, more than any other member of Congress , according to the Center for Responsive Politics , a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that analyzes the influence of money on politics and policy.

North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr , who led the opposition to the bill, is the second highest recipient and netted $359,100 from tobacco-related political action committees and individual contributions. His state is the nation's largest tobacco grower and is home to R.J. Reynolds , the nation's second largest tobacco manufacturing company, which contributed $196,850 to Burr's campaigns.

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss , the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee , is the third highest recipient with $228,700 . Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning , who's up for re-election next year and is considered the most vulnerable Senate Republican, ranks eighth with $194,166 .

All oppose giving additional tobacco regulatory powers to the FDA , an agency they argue doesn't have adequate resources for the task. They say cigarette companies' campaign contributions didn't color their positions on the legislation.

The measure passed the Senate Thursday on a vote of 79-17.

"I voted against the FDA tobacco bill because I'm opposed to the overregulation of an industry that's already highly regulated, from farmer to manufacturer," Chambliss said. "The bill saddles the already overburdened FDA with even more oversight duties, and does nothing to reduce the rate of smoking among Americans — cigarettes already on the shelves will remain on the market."

Burr, who's received nearly $196,850 from Reynolds , worked with Sen. Kay Hagan , D- N.C. , for a week to stymie the FDA regulation bill. Their amendment, which was defeated 60-36, would have created a new agency to regulate tobacco, with fewer restrictions than the underlying bill.

Virginia Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb supported the measure, as did Altria Group , the Richmond, Va. , company that owns Philip Morris . Altria contributed $78,418 to Warner.

"We think it's important to stay active in the political process," said William Phelps , an Altria spokesman. "We're proud of our commitment to the political process on behalf of our employees and shareholders."

Critics say the measure gives Altria a competitive advantage in using its deep coffers to meet FDA requirements.

McConnell staffers point out that though Altria contributed $79,650 to his campaigns, the senator's opposition to the measure differed from the company's stance.

"Mandating the FDA to regulate and approve the use of tobacco would be a distortion of the agency's mission and a tremendous misuse of its overstretched priorities," McConnell said. "We should focus FDA resources on protecting the public health, not burdening it with an impossible assignment."

Contributions to federal candidates, committees and parties from the industry have fallen dramatically since the late 1990s, when companies gave almost $10 million each year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics . In 2006, the tobacco industry donated $3.5 million , with Altria Group and Reynolds American contributing the most. Donations from the industry overwhelmingly favor Republicans, who lost control of Congress in 2006 after more than a decade of dominance.

ON THE WEB

OpenSecrets.org's tobacco contribution list

The revolution continues

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:28:00 +0000

War is a racket

Unlike many presidential candidates who fade away when they don't win (Kerry, McCain, Dole, Dukakis etc. etc), Ron Paul carries on.

Maybe that's because he actually has a message and a commitment.

You don't have to agree with everything he says to realize this is one of the rarest of people: a US politician who actually cares about the nation's future.

We can't afford the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama program of endless war - and it doesn't do anything to make the country safer. Quite the contrary.

Energy from pig slurry helps fight climate change

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:39:00 +0000

I have been touting this for years, India has had large scale Biogassers for over 30 years

STERKSEL, Netherlands – The 2,700 pigs on the farm that John Horrevorts manages yield more than ham and bacon. A biogas plant makes enough electricity from their waste to run the farm and feeds extra wattage into the Dutch national grid.

He even gets bonus payments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As the world struggles to reduce pollution causing climate change, attention has focused on the burning of fossil fuels in factories, power stations, and vehicles. But U.N. scientists says farming and forestry account for more than 30 percent of the greenhouse gases that are gradually heating the earth. Much of that pollution comes from cattle, sheep and pigs that belch or excrete methane, a heat-trapping gas more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide, the most common global warming gas.

Negotiators from 190 countries have been working to reach a new climate change agreement in December on ways to reduce emissions and help countries adapt to changes in climate. They will reconvene June 1 in Bonn, Germany, for another two-week session.

Yet it is uncertain whether cutting agricultural emissions will be part of the agreement expected to emerge at the final meetings in Copenhagen, Denmark. The subject is complex, emissions are difficult to measure, and the whole question is politically sensitive, touching on the distrust between the world's rich and poor countries.

Scientists say it is too important to be left out.

"It would be absolutely nuts to ignore agriculture and forestry in any future climate deal," said Pete Smith, professor of soils and global change at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

U.N. studies say agriculture is the main source of income for one of every three working people. It also is a growing source of pollution, as the global population increases and living standards rise in developing countries where more people are eating meat.

The latest research by the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization says animal husbandry accounts for 18 percent of all greenhouse gases, when taking into account the grassland and forests that are cleared for raising livestock.

When the FAO report came out in 2006, "people in the livestock sector were shocked because they thought they did a good job," says Akke van der Zijpp, a professor of animal husbandry at Wageningen University, a premier Dutch technical facility. Now they "are becoming slowly aware that this problem has to be solved."

One way to deal with it is to reduce the methane animals produce by changing their diet or through breeding.

Another is to make use of it and burn it.

Horrevorts says Wageningen University's Praktijkcentrum, or Sterksel Research Center, creates 5,000 megawatts a year, enough to power 1,500 homes. The farm uses the electricity it needs and feeds the rest into the national grid, for which the government pays up to euro177 ($238) per megawatt as a green energy subsidy.

Pigs can be remarkably house-broken animals. Here, they drop their waste through slats on the floor in the middle of the barn while spending most of their time in open stalls to the side. The slurry is channeled into three 4,000 cubic meter (141,250 cubic feet) tanks, then mixed into a thick goo with other organic waste like low-quality grain and carrot juice to increase the methane potential. Bacteria break down the material in a digester tank and the gas is siphoned off into a generator to produce electricity.

Horrevorts says a group including his operation and four other commercial farms avoids methane emissions equivalent to 40,000 tons of carbon a year. Dozens of private or nonprofit companies known as offset providers will "buy" those tons as a way of supporting renewable energy or other projects that reduce carbon emissions, then resell the credits to individuals or companies who want to shrink their carbon footprint.

Last year, Horrevorts said, a British offset provider paid euro5 ($6.70) per ton for people wanting to neutralize plane travel or rock concert tickets. This year, the farm was negotiating with a Dutch company seeking to become carbon neutral to promote a green image.

Though operating expenses for the biogas plant are considerable, the combination of electricity savings, power production and carbon credits makes it profitable, Horrevorts says.

Horrevorts, who is a biological researcher rather than a professional farmer, says that with financial incentives through electricity subsidies, it could become standard practice for ordinary farmers. About 50 commercial biogas plants operate on farms in the Netherlands, and the practice is spreading across industrial livestock farms around the world.

"I think in the future every pig farm will have a biogas plant," he says.

But at euro1 million ($1.3 million) for a big plant like Sterksel's, it's a rich man's answer to climate change.

About 70 percent of the world's agriculture is on small land holdings in the developing world, which complicates climate politics, says Antonio Hill of the nonprofit group Oxfam International.

"It sounds like a big pot," Hill said, but dealing with farming is tougher than with industries. "You're talking about tens of thousands of sources of industrial emissions in rich countries. That's a lot more manageable than hundreds of millions of agricultural operations."

Measuring and verifying carbon reductions from soil conservation, grassland management and livestock is complicated, and those reductions may not be permanent. Trees planted to soak up carbon from the air, for example, can always be cut down and burned.

In the past year, much effort has gone into quantifying emissions from deforestation in the tropics and ways to compensate countries like Brazil or Indonesia for protecting their rainforests. But no comparable effort has gone into accounting for the vast farming sector.

Another obstacle to an agreement in the U.N. talks is the suspicion that rich countries will meet a large part of their emissions reductions by buying credits on the international carbon market rather than constraining their own industries. In other words, they would buy credits from farmers to reduce their carbon footprint, in the same way the offset company bought credits from the Sterksel pig farm.

"If the idea is that rich countries will do most of their reductions through offsets, a lot of developing countries have a big problem with that," says Hill, speaking from his home base in Bolivia.

Hill says he expected nothing more in the Copenhagen agreement than "place holders," or general statements that can be filled in later with details. But Smith, the scientist from Aberdeen who co-wrote the agriculture section in the 2007 report by the U.N's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says including agriculture in the Copenhagen agreement would provide a source of capital from rich countries to poor ones.

"It would be a desperate shame if it were blocked for political reasons," he says.

Vast US illegal drug market fuels Mexican cartels

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:45:00 +0000

of course
duh?

Latest federal data, http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUHlatest.htm

The Mexican drug cartels battling viciously to expand and survive have a powerful financial incentive: Across the border to the north is a market for illegal drugs unsurpassed for its wealth, diversity and voraciousness.

Homeless heroin addicts in big cities, "meth heads' in Midwest trailer parks, pop culture and sports stars, teens smoking marijuana with their Baby Boomer parents in Vermont — in all, 46 percent of Americans 12 and older have indulged in the often destructive national pastime of illicit drug use.

This array of consumers is providing a vast, recession-proof, apparently unending market for the Mexican gangs locked in a drug war that has killed more than 10,780 people since December 2006. No matter how much law enforcement or financial help the U.S. government provides Mexico, the basics of supply and demand prevent it from doing much good.

"The damage done by our insatiable demand for drugs is truly astounding," said Lloyd Johnston, a University of Michigan researcher who oversees annual drug-use surveys.

The latest federal figures show that 114 million Americans have used illegal drugs at some point — and 20 million are current users.

Marijuana is by far the No. 1 drug, sampled by 100 million Americans, including nearly half of high school seniors. But more than 35 million Americans have used cocaine at some point and 34 million have taken LSD or other hallucinogens.

"It's a drug dealer's dream — sell it in a place where he can make the most money for the risk taken," said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

"There's a tremendous amount of denial until you're face to face with it," Clark added. "A substance abuser can be anybody. Everybody is at risk."

___

The Mexican cartels are eager to feed this ravenous appetite. Once used mostly to transship drugs from South America, Mexico is now a major producer and distributor; its gangs control cocaine networks in many U.S. cities and covertly grow marijuana on U.S. public lands.

For now, the Mexican government is fighting the cartels and working with U.S. authorities who have promised to stop the southbound flow of weapons and cash — but all parties are aware of the role played by the U.S. market.

"When the U.S. government turns up the pressure a lot, then is when you see a return to the old formula of saying (to Americans), 'You also have corruption, you consume the drugs, you're the biggest drug consumer in the world,'" said Jose Luis Pineyro, a sociologist at Mexico's Autonomous Metropolitan University.

Gil Kerlikowske, a former Seattle police chief recently appointed by President Barack Obama as the U.S. drug czar, said the Mexicans "make an excellent point."

"Our drug abuse causes problems elsewhere — our per capita consumption is very high," said Kerlikowske, who argues that reducing demand through education and treatment is as vital as border interdictions in quelling Mexico's drug violence.

___

Country of origin didn't matter much to David Hart.

Now 49, Hart said he started using drugs at 14 and didn't stop until he entered a one-year recovery program in January at the Springs Rescue Mission in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The son of an alcoholic father, Hart moved from Arizona to Colorado in 1993. A promised construction job didn't materialize, and since then he's mixed part-time work with stints of homelessness, panhandling to pay for hits of crack, marijuana and speed.

"When you're depressed about your lot in life, and angry about the way you've been treated, drugs are a perfect way out. You smoke that crack and your problems just go away. You know they're going to come back, but for that brief moment you don't have to deal with it."

He's grateful to his supporters at the recovery program, but unsure what lies ahead.

"It's been a part of my life for so long," he said. "It's going to be a challenge for the rest of my life to stay clean."

Yet Hart is, in some respects, lucky. Federal figures indicate that roughly 7.5 million Americans needed treatment for illegal drug abuse in 2007, and only about 1.3 million received it.

The Rescue Mission's CEO, the Rev. Joe Vazquez, said Hart is part of a wave of drug-abusing transients who've settled into the netherworld of an outwardly prosperous region.

"There's this whole segment of our community living well below what their creator created them for — these men coming with a toolbelt and backpack, living in little rundown motels, struggling with addiction," Vazquez said.

___

Federal surveys reveal cyclical trends in drug abuse — but the number of lifetime users keeps growing. Overall abuse rates were highest in the 1970s, declined through the early '90s, went back up and now seem to have stabilized over the past six years.

Studies of youth drug use in Western Europe show a few countries with serious problems, but overall a far lower portion of young people there are abusing drugs than in America. Elsewhere around the world, drug use also is widespread, though data is generally not as thorough as in the U.S.

"There's no escaping the fact that we have the highest drug rates in the world," said Craig Reinarman, a sociologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

U.S. authorities were encouraged that drug use among 12-to-17-year-olds declined by about 25 percent between 2002 and 2007. But Johnston, the University of Michigan researcher, says his latest student survey suggests the decline halted in 2008, and he is concerned by data showing that fewer students view smoking marijuana as a serious risk.

There was no similar recent drop-off of drug abuse among the biggest demographic category — young adults aged 18-25. Illicit drug use also has surged among those aged 55 to 59 — baby boomers whose young adulthood coincided with the drug culture's heyday. And there is deep concern about increasing abuse of prescription medicines among all age groups.

Survey after survey shows the vast scope of illegal drug use — deep-rooted in all regions, among all races and socio-economic groups. Big cities indeed have severe problems, but the states with the highest overall abuse rates include Rhode Island, Vermont, Montana and Alaska.

"There's this assumption that drug abuse is more common in racial minorities, especially blacks," said Dr. Wilson Compton, a division director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "It's not true. Either the rates are lower or at least no higher."

Reinarman reflected on the recent methamphetamine outbreak across the American heartland — Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and elsewhere.

"Here they live in crummy little houses, in towns that are dying ... and along comes a drug that provides a great rush," he said. "You can't separate drug problems from the broader matrix of social and personal problems. You can't have a drug policy that works unless it's part of a much broader social policy."

___

For those concerned about marijuana, Vermont is an active front line, with the nation's highest rates of pot usage. It's one of several regions where joints may now be more prevalent among teens than cigarettes.

"People say, 'It's easier for me to get pot than to buy a beer,'" said Barbara Cimaglio, deputy commissioner of the state Health Department's Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs.

Annie Ramniceanu, clinical director at Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington, Vt., says many of the 350 youths her agency counsels annually started smoking pot before their teens.

"They just get high all the time," she said. "They never learned how to have fun without smoking pot, never learned how to deal with conflict, how to focus on anything."

In both blue-collar and affluent families, she sees multigenerational problems.

"It's become the cultural norm for these families, where drug use is absolutely no big deal," she said. "The kids smoke with their parents, or know their parents use other drugs."

Another drug counselor, Yolanda Morales of New York City, is cautiously upbeat about the attitudes she observes among young people.

Now 55, Morales lapsed into a cocaine habit and a 15-year addiction while trying to juggle graduate school and a job. She spent five years in federal prison for trafficking, got out in 2003, and now works for the Fortune Society in New York, counseling other ex-offenders.

She has shared her story candidly with her college-bound daughter.

"When I was in school in New York, people stood on the corner selling drugs — no one gave a damn," Morales said. "The consequences of that era has the younger generation a little more scared. I don't see them doing the hard drugs like we were. They're more informed — there's more wariness about trying different stuff."

But other Fortune Society staff members see worrisome signs.

Damien Cabezas, vice president for clinical services, says New York teens are starting to use cheap heroin arriving from Afghanistan.

Kerlikowske, as he takes over the Office of National Drug Control Policy, would like to beef up treatment programs and divert more drug offenders to them instead of prison. It's an issue with personal overtones — the drug czar's own stepson has faced drug charges.

Eliminating drug abuse is not a realistic goal, Kerlikowske cautions. "But we can reduce the harm, the dangers, the drain on our economy."

___

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Latest federal data, http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUHlatest.htm

Navajos largely unscathed by recession

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Mon, 18 May 2009 03:01:00 +0000

By FELICIA FONSECA, Associated Press Writer Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press Writer – Sun May 17, 5:36 am ET

TONALEA, Ariz. – Talk at the community center in this small Navajo town isn't as focused on the economy as it is in many places off the reservation.

That's because the people living on the largest American Indian reservation have been largely unscathed by the recession.

Most Navajos own their own homes, tend not to invest in the stock market and have long had difficulties borrowing money, distinguishing them from millions of other Americans who've suffered from rising mortgage payments, sinking 401(k) retirement accounts and stricter terms from lenders.

And with half of the Navajo Nation's work force unemployed long before this latest recession hit, there's not much fear the job situation could get much worse on the reservation.

"They're freaking out out there, but to us, we've always had 50 percent unemployment," said John C. Whiterock, a Navajo youth pastor. "To us, that's just part of life."

That's not to say the 200,000 people who live on the largest American Indian reservation, which extends into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, have escaped untouched. Tribal officials are wrangling over how to address a $25 million budget shortfall and requests for social services have prompted newspaper ads for more employees to handle them.

The key has been the ability of Navajos who maintain traditional beliefs to cope, and the attitude that allows them to persevere. The culture teaches that wealth isn't measured by dollars and that the language, the land and kinship are the greatest survival tools.

For reservation resident Delores Claw, that means leaning on traditional practices such as keeping livestock and growing corn to offset the rising cost of food. Claw lost her job at a day school after enrollment dropped, and the construction work for her husband has slowed. As money got tight, Claw's family butchered 10 of their lambs.

"They always say if you have livestock, you're rich," she said.

Other Navajos still sell hand-woven rugs at trading posts or jewelry and food at roadside stands and at flea markets usually bustling with buyers. It's an industry that contributes about $6 million a year to a $1.3 billion economy, though the jobs aren't counted in the tribe's employment statistics.

"In many ways, we have the means to sustain ourselves," said Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr.

Among traditional Navajos, those who most closely cling to the beliefs and practices handed down through generations, there's a strong emphasis on self-sufficiency, and balance and harmony. The tradition is deep-rooted among elderly Navajos, though some argue it has tapered off with the younger generation.

Wilson Aronlith Jr., a 76-year-old instructor of Navajo culture, philosophy and history at Dine College, said his health, following his ancestors' teachings and passing along the language and stories of the Navajo people mean more to him than money ever could.

"If you have all the good capabilities, that's wealth," he said. "What else would you ask for?"

Ivan Gamble, a Navajo man from the community of LeChee, said tradition is not so much sticking strictly to the ways of his ancestors but blending the best of Navajo culture and Western society.

The 31-year-old Gamble lives in a home without water and electricity, and grows crops and raises animals by choice, but he still has a cell phone and Internet access and numerous jobs to earn money.

"That's what our ancestors taught us, to adapt, to survive," he said.

By most measurements, the Navajo Nation fits the definition of poor. But despite the 38.5 percent poverty rate among families, an unemployment rate that consistently hovers around 50 percent, a per capita income of about $7,500 and the lack of unemployment benefits, there's a sense of contentment with the simple life on the reservation characterized by its rugged landscape and remoteness.

Many Navajos still haul water from long distances to cook and for their livestock. Navajo children in the more remote areas must do their homework by the light of a kerosene lamp and daily chores include chopping wood or gathering coal to heat the home.

The cost of living on the reservation is low, and the income derived from arts and crafts along with public assistance is enough to sustain some people, said Trib Choudhary, an economic development specialist for the tribe. Aside from basic needs, he said, there's not much more that is desired.

"I usually say that you cannot dye a black rug into any other color. That's what the Navajo Nation is," he said. "If there is a downturn, it doesn't matter. If there is an upswing, it doesn't matter. We are happy."

What Navajos hope for, along with better roads, running water and electricity, is an improved economy, one that will allow their children to return to the reservation, help their people and maintain the language and culture.

The tribe has made small strides toward improving the economy, opening up the first of six planned casinos on the reservation last year. There's a push for green jobs that would reflect the traditional life, and a coal-fired power plant is in the works.

Still, many tribal members are forced off the reservation to look for jobs.

Economic development has long failed to keep up with population growth. To keep the unemployment rate stable, some 3,500 jobs must be created each year, but Choudhary said only about 200 are.

The situation on the Navajo Nation tends to reflect what is occurring on other American Indian reservations, where unemployment rates are twice that of the rest of the country and real per-capital income is less than half the national average, said Dante Desiderio, an economic development policy specialist for the National Congress of American Indians.

The group has called on the federal government to respond to what it says has essentially been a decades-old depression on tribal lands.

Desiderio notes that many tribes don't have the tax base that cities or states do and are looking to federal stimulus money to help build infrastructure and spur economic development. Of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, $2.5 million was set aside for tribal programs.

"If you read the papers and you see what the rest of America is struggling with, it matches what tribes have been struggling with," Desiderio said. "If we're going to fix it, this is the chance."

Rejuvenate Naturally: No Drugs, Hormones, or Surgery

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:05:00 +0000

Your body was designed to heal itself, and it can rejuvenate naturally—without drugs, hormone replacement, or invasive surgery. You can live a long, healthy life by using the natural secrets of the Chinese medical tradition, which can revitalize your body, slow the aging process, and activate your body's built-in regenerative powers. I have collected the very best of these secrets in my new book Second Spring. Here are 4 secrets that will start you on your Second Spring!
1. Green tea combats Alzheimer's
If you replace your morning cup of coffee with green tea, you'll get more than a fleeting pick-me-up. Studies suggest that green tea may actually protect against Alzheimer's disease and other forms of mental degeneration. Green tea is packed with polyphenols, antioxidants that have been found to increase cognitive acuity and learning ability.

One particular polyphenol is responsible for these beneficial brain effects: catechin. The concentration of catechins in green tea is four times that of black tea. Researchers aren't exactly sure why, but the minimal processing used for green tea may help to preserve a higher concentration of the antioxidants. Another bonus to green tea? Studies suggest that you can lose more belly fat when you add green tea on top of your weight-loss exercise regime. So drink up to reap long-term benefits for your brain.

2. Magnesium for more energy
Magnesium is an essential mineral that mitochrondria—the tiny power generators in your cells— require to help your body produce energy. Most of us don't get enough magnesium because two common dietary habits leach magnesium from our bodies: too much dairy and too much salt. And most of us just don't get enough magnesium to begin with due to the popularity of overprocessed foods. For example, rice bran contains an ample supply of the mineral, but bran is only found in brown rice. White rice has none. In the same way, wheat germ has plenty of magnesium, yet there's none in white bread and white pasta.

So keep eating whole grains for maximum magnesium intake. You can also get plenty of magnesium from nuts and seeds. Have a daily handful of pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, Brazil nuts, and cashews. Magnesium also helps your heart health, relieves muscle cramps, and protects your skin from UV damage. If you prefer capsule form, try taking 500 mg magnesium daily.

3. Try chai for revitalization
The herb that gives chai tea its main flavor is cardamom, a spice that has long been valued in Asia for its ability to increase circulation and improve energy. Cardamom is a stimulant that positively affects your overall well-being, as both a revitalizing tonic for the body and as an antidepressant for emotional disorders. Orchid bees are drawn to cardamom, and use it to synthesize pheromones.

Because of this combination of properties, cardamom is routinely prescribed by Chinese doctors—generally in doses up to 5 grams per day—to rekindle sexual desire. But that's not all! Cardamom also reduces fever, eases indigestion, and combats intolerance to grains. So add some to your cereal or bake it into breads and cakes for a tasty treat free from digestive issues. And of course you can always drink the tea for this myriad of benefits.

4. Ease nervous eating with magnolia
Millions of Americans experience the symptoms of chronic stress: nervous tension, restless sleep, irritability, difficulty focusing—and eating disorders in paricular. Who hasn't responded to stress by reaching for convenient comfort foods? Many people respond to situational stress by eating ice cream, cookies, and chocolates. When the stress becomes chronic, overeating becomes a habit—with predictable results.

To break the pattern, natural Chinese medicine uses magnolia, boasting a bounty of versatile benefits. Magnolia bark regulates appetite, improves digestion, and reduces swelling and bloating. The flower is a powerful remedy for allergies and sinus conditions. Studies have found that magnolia contains a phytochemical, honokiol, which is equipped with anti-stress properties that are helpful with appetite control and weight management. You can take a magnolia supplement by itself or in formulations with other herbs, in capsule form or as a tea, available in health food stores, online, and from acupuncturists and Chinese herbalists.

Bring these new rejuvenating secrets into your life on a regular basis, and you'll have amazing results. I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

-Dr. Mao

What Finland can teach America about true luxury

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:58:00 +0000

By Trevor Corson Trevor Corson – Fri May 1, 5:00 am ET

New York – What is true luxury? Just when I thought I'd settled on my answer – a flat-screen TV the size of Kansas and a leather-upholstered car that can travel at triple the speed limit – I made several visits to Finland. Shortly after my return the financial crisis hit. Finland has been on my mind ever since. In these hard times, we could learn a few things about luxury from the Finns.

Strolling the streets of Helsinki, the capital, I noticed a lack of grand architecture and opulent homes, and an abundance of modest cars. Helsinki was a nice enough city, and it had some gems of modern design, but part of me felt that Finland was a bit dull. And, strangely, some of the Finns I met seemed to take pride in this.

Finland seemed even duller on my next visit in July. The weather was glorious, but Helsinki felt like a ghost town. I learned that most Finns take a five-week summer vacation, and that many of them disappear for the entire time to tiny, bare-bones cottages in the woods. Curious, I wrangled an invitation to visit one of these secluded cabins. It was meticulously cared for, but lacked any creature comforts. I quickly realized that there was nothing to do and no one to see.

After a couple of days at the cabin I was a convert. It was marvelously relaxing, and I realized the Finns were on to something – a form of luxury that had little to do with high-end products, the quest to acquire them, or the need to show them off. While some Finns pursue the material trappings of success, most seem to feel that the pleasures of time and solitude are more precious.

During my visits, I met some North American expats, including a Canadian who'd lived in the US for years. "I talk to friends back in North America," he told me, "and they tell me about all the latest toys they've bought. Here I'm just puttering away on my little house like a Finn, and that's about it. The pace of life is slower. I like that."

Americans in Finland shared similar sentiments. But they weren't naive about the place, and there was a reason they weren't buying the latest toys. "I'll never become rich in Finland," one explained, "the taxes are just too high." But for him it was a trade-off worth making. "Great healthcare, basically free. My kids get one of the best educations in the world, free." By the way, that includes college, free. He had no plans to move back to the States.

As I spent more time in Helsinki, my own notion of the luxuries available in Finland expanded to include more than just the quiet pleasures of a cabin getaway. Finnish cities are filled with universally well-maintained and high-quality schools, hospitals, buses, trains, and parks. While most Finns might never be able to own a well-appointed SUV or a big house, they value the less-tangible assets they do have, which add up to quality of life and peace of mind.

Finland doesn't pay lip service to providing a level playing field for all its citizens. It really does give the vast majority of its citizens a fair and equal chance in life, in a way that the US just doesn't, no matter how much Americans like to think it does.

Finland has its downsides, of course. The Finns I met described high rates of depression and alcoholism among their countrymen, and admitted that many Finns seem to suffer from low self-esteem. When I returned to the dynamic bustle of New York, I was happy to be back, even with the financial crisis decimating the economy.

Compared with Finns, Americans have qualities I admire and treasure: optimism, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a willingness to be opinionated, for starters. These qualities will help us fight our way back to economic health.

But let's face it: The single-minded pursuit of outsized material consumption helped get us into this mess. As we struggle to get back on our feet, perhaps we should pause for our own "Finnish moment."

Trevor Corson is the author of "The Secret Life of Lobsters" and "The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice."

Indict Bush Now!

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:13:00 +0000

This is how they managed the Iraq War billions BUSH Family of Crooks

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:38:00 +0000

This is how they managed
the Iraq War billions

Can you imagine the scope and scale of the theft that will take place with the bank bailouts?

For four generations now, the Bush family has been involved in supporting the country's enemies (most notably the Nazi Party in Germany) and robbing the country blind.

The family was directly involved and profited from the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s and has participated in security fraud as well.

With this understanding as a background, the Iraq War can be viewed as their "masterpiece."

The Bush family and its associates have stolen countless billions of dollars in the course of the war. In fact, one of their motivations for pushing the war in the first place was the opportunity for theft.

Chances are the destruction of World Trade Tower Seven, the home of crucial and now lost forever SEC and other federal law enforcement evidence and case files was carried out to cover their tracks.

Why isn't the news media pointing out that the last time we had a banking system collapse that enriched a bunch of crooks, a Bush was in the White House running the show?

Support and promote Restore The Republic

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:27:00 +0000

The top seven detox agents

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:13:00 +0000

1) Fish oil: No surprise here! Fatty acids naturally get oxidized or chewed up in the normal living process so replacing them with fresh building blocks is essential.

The components of fish oil are part of every single cell membrane and protect your genetic material as well as acting like hormones in your body.

2) Green Tea: The catechins in green tea have shown over and over again to be beneficial for cholesterol and cancer and the extract itself has been used to cause weight loss effectively.

3) Resveratrol This red wind grape extract is one of the most promising antioxidants ever found. In addition to lengthening life, researchers recently used it to improve outcomes in pancreatic cancer.

4) Co Q10 Co Q10 has been used medicinally for heart failure and extensively in athletics for its antioxidant capacity. .

5) N Acetyl Cysteine: This is one of the few true liver detox agents It was first discovered in Tylenol overdoses and later in hangover cures! If you want your liver to work at its peak, this is the one!

6) Curcumin (turmeric) inhibits cancer-causing petroleum based chemicals (found in charcoal-broiled meat) and can neutralize toxic compounds from cigarette smoke. It makes carcinogens less active and speeds up their detoxification.

7) Selenium counteracts heavy metals and environmental pollutants like lead, mercury, aluminum and cadmium. Selenium is used by active sites of the liver enzyme glutathione peroxidase. This enzyme plays a critical role in protecting against free radical and oxidative damage.

How to Date an Entrepreneur

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:33:00 +0000

If you’ve ever dated, married or been interested in an entrepreneur, you know that they think, act and relate differently than the average person.^[1]Sometimes that can be a challenge for the non-entrepreneur — especially one who doesn’t realize that they aren’t crazy, they just need to think...sideways...to get through to their sweetie.

Given that, it might be useful to know how to spot the TRULY self-employed (not the one who just says they do xyz but have no numbers to back it up), how to figure out if you are suited to date one, how to communicate with one and how to survive the ups and downs that happen in EVERY entrepreneur’s life.

CONTINUE.........

How to Know if a Beer is American Made

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:34:00 +0000

Beer has been an important beverage in United States of America since the days of the Founding Fathers. Like any popular nationally-produced product with a rich history, beer can be a source of patriotism and national pride. However, the American brewing industry has changed drastically over time. Well over four thousand breweries existed in the US in 1873^[1]. Two years after Prohibition was repealed, only 750 breweries operated in the US. During the early 1980’s, there were only eighty breweries in the US, and the top six US “macro” breweries controlled over ninety percent of US beer production^[2]. All-American lagers, some made with rice and corn, were primarily produced during this time by the largest breweries. But the American craft brewing industry was beginning to produce flavorful and unique craft ales and lagers.

In 2007, there were 1,463 operating breweries, most of them small craft breweries^[3]. But while there is a great variety of beer available today, there is an increasing trend for breweries to be purchased by other breweries. Many of these breweries are not American, and beer that was once entirely American is now produced by foreign-owned companies. American breweries may also produce beer that appears to be foreign. There are different factors that may lead one to judge a beer as truly American, so follow the steps below to choose a real American beer.

http://www.wikihow.com/Know-if-a-Beer-is-American-Made

Post-Soviet Lessons for a Post-American Century

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:58:00 +0000

VERY WELL WRITTEN

Dmitry Orlov

Introduction

A decade and a half ago the world went from bipolar to unipolar, because one of the poles fell apart: The S.U. is no more. The other pole - symmetrically named the U.S. - has not fallen apart - yet, but there are ominous rumblings on the horizon. The collapse of the United States seems about as unlikely now as the collapse of the Soviet Union seemed in 1985. The experience of the first collapse may be instructive to those who wish to survive the second.

Reasonable people would never argue that that the two poles were exactly symmetrical; along with significant similarities, there were equally significant differences, both of which are valuable in predicting how the second half of the clay-footed superpower giant that once bestrode the planet will fare once it too falls apart.

I have wanted to write this article for almost a decade now. Until re cently, however, few people would have taken it seriously. After all, who could have doubted that the world economic powerhouse that is the United States, having recently won the Cold War and the Gulf War, would continue, triumphantly, into the bright future of superhighways, supersonic jets, and interplanetary colonies?

But more recently the number of doubters has started to climb steadily. The U.S. is desperately dependent on the availability of cheap, plentiful oil and natural gas, and addicted to economic growth. Once oil and gas become expensive (as they already have) and in ever-shorter supply (a matter of one or two years at most), economic growth will stop, and the U.S. economy will collapse.

Many may still scoff at this cheerless prognosis, but this article should find a few readers anyway. In October 2004, when I started working on it, an Internet search for “peak oil” and “economic collapse” yielded about 16,300 documents; by April of 2005 that number climbed to 4,220,000. This is a dramatic change in public opinion only, because what is known on the subject now is more or less what was known a decade or so ago, when there was exactly one Web site devoted to the subject: Jay Hanson’s Dieoff.org. This sea change in public opinion is not restricted to the Internet, but is visible in the mainstream and the specialist press as well. Thus, the lack of attention paid to the subject over the decades resulted not from ignorance, but from denial: although the basic theory that is used to model and predict resource depletion has been well understood since the 1960s, most people prefer to remain in denial.

Denial

Get fab abs (without crunches)

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:58:00 +0000

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid8803981001/bctid1845376307

The FDA's Walk of Shame

senorpescado@gmail.com (Senor Pescado) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:37:00 +0000

A test case for the new government will be how it deals with the pharmaceutical industry, which rivals the gun manufacturers and tobacco companies for the position of most amoral industry in America.

Democrats have long been promising to stand up to Big Pharma on issues like Medicare drug pricing and importing drugs from Canada, but they've accomplished little since they won Congressional majorities in 2006. If they truly want to reign in the drugmakers now that they have the clout, they'll need to not only move forward on these hot-button issues, but also completely overhaul the Food and Drug Administration, which stands as one of the most corrupt and compromised bodies in the federal government today.

Last week offered a glimmer of hope, with a bipartisan bill aimed at one of the many scurrilous practices employed by drug companies to win swift approval for their products and push them on the public. Called the Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009, the legislation was introduced last Thursday by Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI), Chair of the Senate Special Committee on the Aging, and Charles Grassley (R-IA), in the past a rare Republican voice opposing some of Big Pharma's outrages. They are calling for establishment of "a nationwide standard requiring drug, device and biologic makers to report payments to doctors to the Department of Health and Human Services and for those payments to be posted online in a user friendly way for public consumption."

Let's be clear: The proposed legislation doesn't say that doctors can't receive money (or expensive dinners, or luxury junkets) while they are testing or endorsing new drugs; it merely says the payments have to be made public. Even this, however, has apparently proven too much for the Food and Drug Administration: A report released earlier this month found that the FDA had been sorely lax in demanding full disclosure of these relationships. As reported by Bloomberg News:

Drug regulators haven't done enough to force disclosure of financial conflicts of interest among the researchers who conduct clinical trials of medications and medical devices, according to a U.S. government investigation. A total of 42 percent of marketing applications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were missing financial information that was supposed to be submitted by drug and device makers, according to a report today by the Health and Human Services Department's inspector general. The FDA didn't act against the companies, the report said.

Financial connections between companies that make drugs and devices and the doctors and other researchers who test them on humans may compromise the safety of patients in studies and the integrity of the results, according to the inspector general's report. Lawmakers, led by Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, have raised concern that financial conflicts of interest among doctors and manufacturers may influence prescribing decisions.

The FDA has fallen a long way since 1962, when legendary Senator Estes Kefauver championed its expansion, insisting that it was the federal government's responsibility to protect the public by ensuring that prescription drugs were both safe and efficacious. The FDA has for decades been playing footsy with the drug industry, and it reached new lows under George W. Bush, as fundamentalist Christianity became yet another force undermining the agency's work. Bush's appointments to the FDA leadership included a veterinarian who presided over the Vioxx scandal and stalled the Plan B pill, and a faith-based gynecologist who refused to prescribe contraceptives to married women and advised prayer as a treatment for many female ailments.

In a 2006 survey of FDA employees, more than 40 percent said they knew of cases in which political appointees had interfered with agency decisions. At that time, more than 100 whistleblower cases were also pending at the agency. Some things will now surely change at the FDA--but how much, and how soon?

Obama has yet to announce his nominee for FDA commissioner, but HHS Secretary Tom Daschle talked about the agency at confirmation hearings earlier this month, promising "to ensure that trust in FDA is restored as the leading science-based regulatory agency in the world. …I will send a clear message from the top that the President and I expect key decisions at the FDA to be made on the basis of science--period."

It's true that we're unlikely to see prayer meetings in Tom Daschle's HHS. But independence from Big Pharma is another story. Since leaving Congress, Daschle has been working as an "adviser" to health care industry clients, including at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. As the New York Times reported at the time his nomination:

Although not a registered lobbyist, Mr. Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat who was party leader in the Senate, provides strategic advice to the firm's clients about how to influence government policy or actions….As examples of the firm's achievements the Web site lists matters involving Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, approvals of federally regulated drugs and medical products, fraud investigations, medical waste disposal, privacy and other compliance issues.

On the day Tom Daschle was nominated, the Washington Post's "The Ticker" blog reported:

According to Wall Street, Tom Daschle is a good choice to be the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Shares of the big drugmakers--Pfizer, Eli LIlly, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca--are all trading up from their opening this morning.