Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

from BrainPhysics

The new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, now in its 5th edition (DSM-5), from the American Psychiatric Association has sparked controversy on many fronts and from many groups.

The book is often referred to as the “psychiatric bible” and is the guide by which most psychiatric professionals base their diagnosis and which many insurance companies use as their reference for coverage.

The new revisions of the manual, which released earlier this month, includes no less than 15 new diagnoses for mental illnesses and eliminates and combines many others from the previous, fourth edition.

15 New Mental Illnesses in the DSM-5

Binge Eating Disorder
One of the less controversial new entries, this disorder is similar to other eating disorders but is not the same as overeating or bulimia. The disorder is characterized by eating large amounts of food, usually when alone, very quickly, often to the point of creating physical pain.

Caffeine Withdrawal
Controversial, to say the least, critics often include those who have had serious addictions to illicit drugs, alcohol, or nicotine who scoff at the idea that caffeine can have much of a withdrawal effect. Nevertheless, this is one of the appendices to DSM-IV that is now official in DSM-5.

Cannabis Withdrawal
Similar to caffeine above, this one has generated much controversy. Some studies have shown that marijuana addiction, though not necessarily serious, does likely exist in some users. It can now be treated in a way similar to how withdrawal from other prescribed drugs are handled.

Central Sleep Apnea
One of the major revamps the DSM-5 makes is to separate and make more clear many sleep disorders. This new disorder is not actually new, just more precise, and is meant to match current medical knowledge of sleep disorders.

Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder
Often mistaken for ADHD, this is a disorder in children marked by impulsive, inattentive behavior. It has been removed from Reactive Attachment Disorder, as the American Psychiatry Association says it may not actually include a lack of attachments.

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder
Limited to children under 18, it is meant for kids with chronic temper tantrums defined as “extreme, explosive rages.”

Excoriation (Skin-picking) Disorder
Added to the list of obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCDs), this condition is characterized by the chronic picking or scratching of skin. Enough so that if it causes wounds (scabs), it is a disorder when not a symptom of another disorder.

Hoarding Disorder
The subject of much commentary and late night jokes, Hoarding Disorder is considered very real by many psychologists and is defined as “persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions due to a perceived need to save the items and distress associated with discarding them.”

Major Neucognitive Disorder with Lewy Body Disease and Mild Neurocognitive Disorder
This long-named disorder is an expansion of the dementia section of the DSM. This is actually more than one diagnosis, with Major being more severe than Mild, and matches the similar diagnoses given by neurologists.

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
Destined to provoke outrage from some groups and be the butt of jokes for others, this disorder has symptoms similar to but much more severe than Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS).

Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder
Often called REM Behavior Disorder, this is characterized by not just sleepwalking but also acting out dreams while doing so. It was brought to the fore by comedian Mike Birbiglia in his autobiographical film Sleepwalk with Me in 2012.

Restless Leg Syndrome
Long known and recognized unofficially by psychiatrists and medical professionals, Restless Leg Syndrome is only now getting official recognition in the DSM. Also called the Willis-Ekbom Disease, it affects up to 10 percent of people in the U.S.

Sleep-related Hypoventilation
Similar to Central Sleep Apnea, this is a new designation for specific symptoms that were formerly included as part of other, larger, less precise sleep disorders.

Social (Pragmatic) Communication Withdrawal
This is a speech or written language problem that is unrelated to autism or diminished cognitive ability, with symptoms including “inappropriate responses in conversation.”

from Consciousness TV

Suspicions have been confirmed for those wary of vaccinating their children. A recent large study corroborates other independent study surveys comparing unvaccinated children to vaccinated children.

They all show that vaccinated children have two to five times more childhood diseases, illnesses, and allergies than unvaccinated children.

Originally, the recent still ongoing study compared unvaccinated children against a German national health survey conducted by KiGGS involving over 17,000 children up to age 19. This currently ongoing survey study was initiated by classical homoeopathist Andreas Bachmair.

However, the American connection for Bachmair’s study can be found at VaccineInjury.info website that has added a link for parents of vaccinated children to participate in the study. So far this ongoing survey has well over 11,000 respondents, mostly from the U.S.A. Other studies have surveyed smaller groups of families.

Nevertheless, the results were similar. Of course, none of these studies were picked up by the MSM (mainstream media). None were funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the World Health Organization (WHO) or any national or international health agency or medical profession group (http://healthimpactnews.com).

They don’t dare compare the health of unvaccinated children to vaccinated children objectively and risk disrupting their vaxmania (vaccination mania). The focus for all the studies was mostly on childhood illnesses occurring as the children matured. 

Dramatic, debilitating, or lethal vaccine injuries were not the focus since so few, five percent or less, actually get reported to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Injury Reporting System) in the U.S.A. for various reasons including:

* It’s a complicated system that takes time from a doctor’s practice.
* Most parents don’t know about it.
* Only adverse reactions that occur immediately after vaccinations are considered.
* Since VAERS is voluntary, most doctors don’t want to incriminate themselves with vaccination injuries and maintain their denial of vaccine dangers.

Consequently, even the most terrible adverse reactions are minimally acknowledged, while long term negative health issues resulting from vaccines are not even considered relevant.

Read more at this link.

by Andi Cockroft, WattsUpWithThat

One cannot help but notice the events of the past few weeks (nay months if you include Climategate II), and the ad hominem attacks on both sides.

Fred Singer in his recent post here would have us place Climate Science advocates into three groups; deniers, sceptics and warmistas – but why the need for demarcation?

Way back in 1879, it may not have been evident to Pauline and Hermann that their new-born son would progress through his teenage years as a school drop-out – using a forged Doctor’s note to do so. Although later in life at the age of 16 he did enroll in a Polytechnic – but again failed in just about every subject.

At 17, he and his sweetheart enrolled again at the Polytechnic, stimulating the interest he held about electromagnetism

Married, divorced, married again, he couldn’t even get a job teaching, so ended up working as a clerk in the local Patent Office reviewing patent applications pertaining to electromagnetism. But boredom led to many thoughtful reflections on life, the universe and everything.

In 1905, by thesis, he obtained a Doctorate, and that same year published not one, but 4 ground-breaking papers.

 

His name of course is Albert Einstein – the amateur who proclaimed to the world the nature of matter, energy and relativity.

 

OK, so what has this little biography got to do with Climate Science – well I say it should teach us 2 things:

Firstly, an amateur working as a clerk is just as able to present the truth as the most gifted professional. The truth is the truth no matter who presents it. The unwillingness of many main-stream “Climate Scientists” to engage with alternate viewpoints sets them apart from “Science”. To many the science is not settled, and needs a full open and honest public debate.

Of course building on Einstein’s work, a humble Belgian priest Le Maitre (another gifted amateur) proposed a theory now well established regarding an expanding universe. I well remember a revered astronomer from my old school in Yorkshire, England – a certain Fred Hoyle who unwittingly creating a phrase bandied about to this day – in an attempt he states never meant to mock relativity and/or expansionism – he jokingly referred to a “big bang”. That particular phrase seems to have stuck with us somehow.

More recently, over on the Swiss border, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produced some unexpected results when Neutrinos were observed to be apparently travelling faster than light – something Special Relativity states is impossible.

Although I saw some rejection of this notion in various Fora, I saw no ad hominem attacks – simply a startled disbelief and a raging curiosity – could we be wrong after all these years? Do we have to rewrite the physics?

As we now know, a computer cabling glitch has been blamed for the neutrinos apparent haste – but hey – for a moment there it looked real cool – most physicists I know were both incredulous and incredibly excited at one and the same time.

So, my second point – true scientists – in this case physicists – are willing to be sceptical. They are willing – nay eager – to look at new possibilities and alternate explanations.

Compare that to the theatre that is “Climate Science”

Issued by the American Botanical Council:

To All ABC Members and Members of the Herb and Medicinal Plant Community: It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Professor Norman R. Farnsworth, on Saturday evening, September 10, per the tribute we have produced, below. Respectfully,Mark Blumenthal, Founder & Executive Director, American Botanical Council, Editor, HerbalGram & HerbClip.

Renowned pharmacognosist and internationally-respected medicinal plant research expert, Norman R. Farnsworth, Ph.D., died on September 10 at a Chicago hospital. He was 81 and had been in declining health for months, suffering from long-term congestive heart failure and type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Farnsworth was born on March 23, 1930 in Massachusetts. Norman Farnsworth was a veteran of the Korean War, drafted in the U.S. Army at age 18 in 1949. PFC Farnsworth served in the Third Infantry Division, Seventh Regimental Combat Team. Although he was seriously wounded in the winter of 1950, Farnsworth survived. Corporal Farnsworth was awarded the Korean Ribbon with Four Battle Stars, the Combat Medical Badge, and Bronze Star with a “V” device.

He received his degree in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1953 and his Ph.D. in pharmacognosy, the study of drugs from natural origins (including medicinal plants, microbes, marine organisms, and fungi), from the University of Pittsburgh in 1959. At Pitt, he helped to institute a pharmacognosy Ph.D. program at the university and was the first to chair it.

In 1970, Prof. Farnsworth left the University of Pittsburgh for a post in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where he served as Head of the Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology from 1970-1982. At UIC, he was also Research Professor of Pharmacognosy, the Director of the Pharmacognosy Graduate Program, and Director of the World Health Organization Program for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences – a multidisciplinary program which brought together, for the first time, scientists in numerous fields of medicinal plant research to collaborate on drug discovery from medicinal plants. In 1988, he was named Senior University Scholar at UIC. He held the title of Distinguished Professor of Pharmacognosy, which he received for his “scholarship, creativity and leadership” from 2001 until his death.

As head of the pharmacognosy graduate program at UIC, he had mentored more than 100 Ph.D. and 30 MS students. He said he had “personally” mentored about 30 Ph.D. and 5 MS graduate students as well as mentored or co-mentored 30 post-doctoral fellows.

Professor Farnsworth was an internationally-recognized scholar and initiator or co-initiator of many significant projects in the fields of pharmacognosy and medicinal plant research. Among other accomplishments, he was a founding member of the American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) in 1959 and a founding member of the Society for Economic Botany (1959).

In 1975, Prof. Farnsworth created the NAPralert (acronym for Natural Products Alert) Database at UIC, the world’s first computerized database of ethnobotany, chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and clinical trials on medicinal plants.

He also was the Principal Investigator and Director of the Botanical Dietary Supplements for Women’s Health Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.

The author or co-author of hundreds of research papers published in peer-reviewed journals, Prof. Farnsworth co-founded the peer-reviewed journal Phytomedicine, the International Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology, along with Professor Hildebert Wagner, Ph.D., at the University of Munich, who remains the journal’s editor-in-chief. This journal is now acknowledged as one of the leading scientific journals in this field.

Among many other organizations and publications with which he was involved, Prof. Farnsworth was also a co-founder of the American Botanical Council (ABC), an independent nonprofit research and education organization, and the longest-serving member of its Board of Trustees.

In 2005, the ASP renamed its annual Research Achievement Award in honor of Prof. Farnsworth in his name, given to outstanding members of the medicinal plant research community. And, in 2005, ABC established its Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award, given to medicinal plant researchers who have made significant contributions to the field of medicinal plants and herbal dietary supplements.

In 2010, UIC also established the Norman R. Farnsworth Professor in Pharmacognosy Endowed Professorship which is chaired by Prof. Chuan-Tao Che, Ph.D., one of Prof. Farnsworth’s former doctoral students.

Professor Farnsworth was the recipient of numerous awards from around the world, including the SEB’s Distinguished Economic Botanist Award in 1983, as well as numerous other awards and honorary degrees.

In the 1990s, Prof. Farnsworth was a member of the Commission on Dietary Supplement Labels, a commission established by President Bill Clinton as part of the provisions of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) to develop recommendations for the review of the quality, safety, benefits, and appropriate labeling of dietary supplements.

A larger-than-life figure, Norm Farnsworth was rarely seen without his trademark Marsh-Wheeling cigars in his mouth, even long after he was forced to give up smoking. As venues allowing smoking in public places diminished over the past two decades, Prof. Farnsworth would often be seen in a restaurant or public area with one of his cigars in his mouth, even after being admonished by waiters who told him that smoking was not permitted. Farnsworth would point out the obvious fact that he was not smoking, that the cigar was not lit, and would continue to keep the cigar in his mouth, seeming to relish the opportunity to keep walking up to the line, but not exceeding it.

He was highly-respected and admired in life and now remembered fondly by his former students, mentees, and friends. Often seen as brash and outspoken, frequently critical of other scientists and institutions which to him were guilty of producing less than acceptable work or policies, Norm Farnsworth pushed his students and all those around him to strive to the highest degree of academic and professional excellence. And underneath the brash veneer, was a man who was seen by his colleagues and students as extraordinarily generous with his time and his personal funds.

His long-time friend and colleague of 56 years, UIC Professor (ret.) Harry H.S. Fong, Ph.D., once said, “Everyone who has come into contact with Norman Farnsworth has a ‘Farnsworth story’ or two to tell.” Professor Fong recalled that Farnsworth, who was still working until shortly before his illness, recently noted that Fong, his former graduate student, had retired, as an example of how long Prof. Farnsworth had hoped to be able to continue his never-ending work in medicinal plant research.

Another phrase used to describe Dr. Farnsworth is the “quintessential renaissance man,” as he was so-called in an editorial in the ASP’s Journal of Natural Products by Farnsworth’s colleagues Prof. Fong, Geoffrey A. Cordell, Ph.D., and A. Douglas Kinghorn, Ph.D., JNP’s editor-in-chief: “To fully depict Farnsworth, one needs to write a book,” said Dr. Fong.

Dr. Fong shared several anecdotes about Dr. Farnsworth. One story involved Dr. Farnsworth’s propensity for cigars. “On every lab bench and in every office that Norm has spent any length of time at the University of Pittsburgh and at University of Illinois at Chicago, one will find a littering of chewed remains of Marsh Wheeling cigar butts,” said Dr. Fong. “In fact, such mementos can even be found in Munich, Germany. When he was a visiting professor in Prof. H. Wagner’s lab in 1966, I had the ‘pleasure’ of regularly mailing boxes of Marsh Wheeling cigars labeled as ‘Investigational Material: Of no commercial interest’ to the Institute in Munich.”

However, when it comes to picking out Dr. Farnsworth’s most important accomplishment, Dr. Fong could not choose: “It is not possible to pinpoint any one piece of Norm’s work as being most influential and important,” said Dr. Fong. “Rather, it is his body of work that will constitute his legacy.”

ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal first met Farnsworth in 1977 at the Herb Trade Association’s Herb Symposium in Santa Cruz, CA. After a decade of growing mentorship and friendship with Blumenthal, Farnsworth, along with economic botanist and ethnobotanist James A. Duke, Ph.D. were the first to agree to help found ABC and serve on its Board of Trustees.

“Norm was a force of nature – a man with incredible energy and profound and endless commitment to the world of medicinal plant research. There is no one like him in the profession of pharmacognosy and other fields of medicinal plant research,” said Blumenthal.

“He was like a father or uncle figure to many of his 130-plus Ph.D. students and post-docs, creating a ‘family’ of medicinal plant researchers who are now working in many institutions around. No matter how busy he was – and he carried an incredible workload not matched by many in any field of medicinal plant science – Norm would always take time to talk to students and fellow colleagues,” said Blumenthal.

“As he neared the last few years of his life and he began to disengage from many of his former associations and responsibilities, Norm still remained active on the Board of ABC, attending all on-site and teleconference meetings, asking questions about budget issues, organization, administration, policy decisions, etc. All of us on the ABC Board were – and still are – grateful for his continued association with ABC. We were amazed with his interest in and knowledge details of the organization, and his profound commitment to the success of ABC’s unique nonprofit educational mission to spread the scientific basis supporting the responsible use of herbs, medicinal plants, and phytomedicines,” said Blumenthal.

One of Farnsworth and Fong’s former students is Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., now Director of the Division of Dietary Supplement Programs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who said that he chose UIC because of Dr. Farnsworth and his legacy there. “He’s a straight shooter, he doesn’t put on airs, and he’s very disarming. He’s easy to gravitate to because of these unique qualities,” said Dr. Fabricant. “He’s been my mentor, a hero, and a friend.”

“He has launched a thousand careers, including my own,” said Gail Mahady, Ph.D., a clinical pharmacognosist who also met Dr. Farnsworth during graduate school, who headed the project at UIC to produce monographs on herbal medicines for the WHO. “For that I will be eternally grateful.”

Norman Farnsworth is survived by his devoted wife Priscilla Marston Farnsworth, his brother, Bruce, and sister-in-law, Donna, of Massachusetts, a niece and nephew, and hundreds of graduate students, Ph.D.s, post-doctoral fellows, and close colleagues who will always cherish his beloved memory.

A wake and viewing will be held at the Adams Winterfield & Sullivan Funeral Home, 4343 Main St., Downers Grove, IL on Tuesday, September 13 from 3-9 p.m. Memorial service for Professor Farnsworth will be held Wednesday, September 14 at 10 a.m. (9:30 a.m. viewing) at the North Shore Baptist Church, 5244 N. Lakewood Ave., Chicago, IL with funeral and burial in Lynn, Massachusetts on Friday, September 16 at 10 a.m., at Cuffe-McGinn Funeral Home, 157 Maple St.; interment will follow at Pine Grove Cemetery.

I was given a book to read titled Practical Lessons in Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda, founder of The Divine Life Society.  It’s a free distribution ebook that can be given away to anyone so long as there is no change to the book itself or price charged for the copy.

So I’m offering anyone who reads this the chance to download Practical Lessons in Yoga right here, free of charge.  It’s in PDF form and a total of 118 pages.  I’ve only just begun reading, but it’s beautiful stuff.

The book contains 12 lessons in enlightenment.  From the preface:

This book entitled “Practical Lessons in Yoga” consists of twelve easy and interesting Lessons. The First Lesson deals with Yoga and Its Objects. The Second Lesson treats of Yoga Sadhana or the practice of Yoga and contains a clear and lucid description of the four important paths viz., Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. One can easily choose for himself a path according to his particular taste, temperament and capacity by a close study of this Lesson. I firmly hold that no one wishing to become a perfect Yogi can realise his wish, if he does not begin his Yogic practices with Karma Yoga or doing actions for actions’ sake, without the idea of agency and without expectation of the fruits of his actions. I have also made passing references to the various other forms of Yoga such as Hatha Yoga, Mantra Yoga and Kundalini Yoga.

In the Third Lesson on Yogic Discipline I have clearly and expressly stated that the practice of Yoga is rooted in the cultivation of virtues and the eradication of negative qualities, and have also stated in detail what virtues should of necessity be cultivated and what vices are to be eradicated, and through what means.

Yogic Diet forms the subject-matter of the Fourth Lesson. It should be distinctly borne in mind that mind is made up of the fine particles of food that we take, and we are what we eat. If the student of Yoga who is a neophyte desires to lay a firm, sure and sound foundation in his practices, he should take care to eat only such foods that are conducive to his spiritual advancement and progress, and avoid all others. A list of the various articles of diet, prescribed and prohibited, is also given.

In the Fifth Lesson I have taken all care to collect the various stumbling blocks in the way of the aspirant and the various means of overcoming them. I strongly advise the student to read and re-read this Lesson a number of times in order that he may be cautious in moments of temptation.

Then in the Sixth Lesson I have dealt with Yogasanas or Yogic postures. It is very necessary for the would-be Yogi to maintain a sound and vigorous body and mind to achieve success in his undertaking, and in order that he might achieve this end, a number of simple and easy exercises, physical and consequently mental, have been prescribed. These exercises were practiced by Yogins and Rishis of yore and are still being practiced in India and other countries with astonishing results.

The Seventh Lesson treats of Pranayama or regulation of breath. Simple and practical exercises have been prescribed for the regulation and control of breath. which will ultimately result in the control of the mind. These exercises in breath-control are not merely for enhancing the soundness and control of the mind, but they also play a vital part in ensuring a sound body. The student of Pranayama who attains perfection in it will have various psychic powers.

Regulation of breath and control of mind lead to concentration. So concentration is the topic of the next lesson. I have dealt at length with the nature of the mind and the methods through which it can he controlled. Some practical exercises are given to attain success in concentration.

The Ninth Lesson deals with Meditation because the fruit of concentration is meditation. A number of easy and interesting exercises have been described. The fruit of meditation is Samadhi and this forms the subject-matter of the next lesson. Samadhi is superconscious state, wherein the Yogi gets superintuitional or supersensual knowledge and supersensual bliss. In Samadhi the Yogi communes with the Lord and enjoys Absolute Independence. He has reached the Goal now.

In the Eleventh Lesson I have dealt with the Serpentine Power or the mighty pristine Force underlying all organic and inorganic matter. This Force is in a dormant state and is sleeping a sleep-trance in almost all persons in the basal Muladhara Chakra. When this sleeping Force is roused to action, it pierces through the various centres of spiritual energy in the human body and reaches the crown of the head or the Sahasrara Chakra where She is united with Her Consort, Lord Siva. That Yogi who has taken the sleeping Kundalini to the Sahasrara Chakra and united Her with Lord Siva alone has attained the Goal, not others. The process by which this sleeping Power can be roused to action and taken to the top of the head has also been described with beautiful illustrations. The Yogi who has succeeded in achieving this union becomes the Lord of all powers and knowledge.

In the last Lesson on Spiritual Vibrations and Aura I have stated what vibration and aura mean and various means of producing vibrations of love, joy, peace, mercy sympathy and purity, and developing the spiritual aura. I have also stated in brief that the human aura has various colours according to the growth and development of a person physically, mentally, morally and spiritually, and that each colour has got its own significance and meaning. The would-be Yogi should dispel all other colours and develop the particular spiritual aura, the colour of which is yellow.

So click here to download your own copy.  If it opens in your browser, click the “save” button to save a copy on your own computer.

by Ken Cook, Environmental Working Group

When Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) spoke to the Organic Trade Association’sWashington Policy Conference the other day, her talk had two parts: the part where she left the distinct impression that she had no idea whom she was talking to, and the part where it seemed she didn’t care.

Schmidt chairs the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture, which has jurisdiction over organic agriculture programs. Early in her speech the congresswoman explained why “organic agriculture” had to be stripped from the subcommittee’s name: it made it too long. The result, consistent with the reigning fashion to shrink the federal government wherever possible, is that Schmidt now proudly chairs the agriculture subcommittee with the shortest title:

•    Nutrition and Horticulture

•    Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry

•    Conservation, Energy, and Forestry

•    Department Operations, Oversight, and Credit

•    General Farm Commodities and Risk Management

•    Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture

At another point, she borrowed a page from the playbook of Rep. Darryl Issa (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform, and invited the audience to let her know of any ways in which the government might be interfering with or harming their business. Bewildered organic farmers and food company executives turned to one another around the room, wondering if they’d heard right. Having pushed for decades for rigorous federal regulation in order to distinguish their explosively growing segment of the market, the organic industry does indeed have a high-profile complaint about the government these days: the headlong deregulation of genetically engineered crops that now dominate mainstream chemical agriculture. Organic farmers and food companies eschew them, and they’re worried that pollen drifting from genetically engineered crops will contaminate organic fields, threatening the most valuable – and most happily regulated – market in the food system.

Schmidt then gave an example of the kind government intrusion she wants to hear about: “those crazy spray rules” for pesticides coming out of the EPA. She was referring to a proposed rule that would require pesticide applicators to get simple, straightforward Clean Water Act permits in order to protect rivers and streams that are seriously polluted with agricultural weed and bug killers. The EPA proposal has inspired outrage and litigation from chemical farming interests, who caricature it as yet another government sledgehammer poised to crush jobs and drive farmers out of business. When that talking point fell flat on an audience that, by regulation, doesn’t use pesticides, Schmidt seemed not to notice.

“These things go right over [EPA Administrator] Lisa Jackson’s head,” she said, underscoring her disdain by throwing her hand over her own.  (Over her career, the League of Conservation Voters has scored Schmidt’s environmental voting record in the range of 0 percent to 13 percent.)

“A business idea,” she abruptly offered toward the end, noting that she was about to depart from her prepared remarks. “Organic cooking.”

Eyes widened yet again around a room that included executives from companies with annual organic sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars, as Schmidt described how the cakes her daughter bakes with organic sugar and flour don’t taste as good as regular cakes. Then, with some difficulty, she stumbled through a recipe from memory.

In thanking everyone at the end, she congratulated the organic industry on its impressive growth, “6 to 26. . .”

Some listeners thought they heard her say “million,” but after a brief pause she landed the point.

“Billion.”

Then Schmidt took questions. In response to the first, she was unable to say how much money currently is allocated for the federal organic agriculture programs her committee oversees.  It is a pitifully small amount, in fact – perennially far short of the support a highly popular $26 billion industry might claim.  Many in the room would be lobbying Capitol Hill to preserve or expand those organic programs over the next two days. What Schmidt was certain of, however, is that organic funding will be cut.

“Everything is on the table,” she concluded.

It’s what politicians are telling everyone who comes to Washington in this frenzied season of budget cutting. But when the politician doesn’t know or care about the people they’re saying it to, it’s more than a talking point. It’s an omen.

I apologize for the high volume of reprints lately.  I’ve been slammed for time thanks to our new daughter being born on Christmas Day.  Because of that, I haven’t been able to research and write a lot of new material, so have been reprinting articles of interest from other sources instead.

As things even out in our household, I’ll begin posting original content again.  I appreciate your patience and hope that the items that have been posting in the mean time are useful to you.

Thanks!
–Aaron

by Walter E. Williams

Do federal, state and local governments have a right to intervene in our lives when it comes to choices affecting our health? Recently, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to forbid restaurants from giving gifts with meals that contain too much fat and sugar, a measure aimed at McDonald’s Happy Meals. The reasoning of these tyrants is to prevent McDonald’s from using toys to lure children into liking foods the board deems non-nutritious. Fortunately, San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom, by no means a libertarian, has threatened to veto the measure saying, “Despite its good intentions, I cannot support this unwise and unprecedented governmental intrusion into parental responsibilities and private choices.”

If the board of supervisors gets away with this intrusion into parental responsibilities and choices, we can bet the rent money that they will not stop with McDonald’s Happy Meals. The reason is that Happy Meals are not the only contributors to child obesity.

What and how much they eat at home, what time they eat and how much they exercise play a role. When San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors see that their Happy Meal ban has not produced the desired results, they’ll seek to widen their reach. That might include laws that set purchase limits on non-nutritious items in the city’s grocery stores. Depending on family size, there would be a limit on the purchases of delights such as Twinkies, Pop Tarts, lard, salt and other threats to good health. Maybe the Board of Supervisors would issue ration stamps that a person would need in order to purchase foods that threaten obesity.

There will be other challenges for San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. Not every California city has banned Happy Meals. Happy Meals lovers can just go across the Bay Bridge into Oakland or the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito to dine on Happy Meals or smuggle them into San Francisco. Maybe a Happy Meal black market would emerge. That means the board of supervisors might make random stops of cars coming into the city and have its police make Happy Meal arrests.

You say, “Williams, you’re really stretching it; they’d never go to those extremes!” There’s no limit to what do-gooder zealots will do to accomplish their mission. Think back to the 1964, the time of the “First Surgeon General Report: Smoking and Health.” Back then, tobacco zealots called for “reasonable” measures such as warning labels on cigarettes and restrictions on advertising. Emboldened by their success in getting these relatively benign measures, tobacco zealots moved on to seeking bans on smoking on airplanes and airports; suits against tobacco manufacturers; confiscatory taxes on cigarettes; denying child adoption to smokers; bans on smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces; even bans on outdoor smoking such as in stadia, public beaches and city streets. Had the tobacco zealots called for all of these measures, as a total package back in 1964, they would not have even gotten warning labels on cigarettes. That’s the tyrant’s strategy: Attacking people’s rights to property and liberty on a piecemeal basis reduces resistance.

Read more at LewRockwell.com

by Mike Adams, NaturalNews

What’s ahead for 2011 – 2012? This time in human history promises to bring forth more changes than any other similar duration of time known to our civilization. I believe the changes that will occur in the next two years will rock the foundations of our economies, governments and belief systems. In the end, after considerable turmoil, I see a great expansion of human consciousness and a maturing of the human race. Here are the details…

More people growing their own food

Beginning in 2011 and continuing for many years beyond, we will see an explosion in the number of people growing their ownfood. People see the big trends in thefood supplyfast approaching:GMOcontamination of crops, the loss of localfood productiondue to FDA interference, the crackdown on smallfarmers, and even disruptions in the global food supply.

As people realize the importance of having their own home-grown source of food, we will see a surge in backyard gardens, food storage and in-home production methods such as sprouting and food dehydrating.

We will see a strong “back to basics” interest surge leading up to2012, with many people choosing to move out of high-density cities (or even high-density nations) and seek self-reliance in more rural areas.

This will also reveal renewed interest inhome-grownmeatproductionwith more people growing (and eating) their own chickens and cows rather than relying on processed, factory-farmed meats.

Increased awareness ofnatural remediesand health freedom

Thenatural healthcommunity will achieve significant victories over the next two years in awakening people to naturalremedies, medicinal herbs and the core ideas ofhealth freedom. The monopolistic pushers ofpharmaceuticalsare fighting a desperate, losing battle to try to keep people ignorant, but they will lose that fight andnaturalmedicine will ultimately emerge as the healing method of choice for an increasing number of people.

Natural childbirth will continue to gain recognition around the world, and more parents will begin to question the ADHD drugging of their children. Theindustryof psychiatry as we know it today will continue crumbling under the burden of fraud and criminal behavior, finally collapsing well before 2020 thanks to the efforts of a few groups, notably CCHR.

The global shift away from pharmaceuticals and toward disease prevention andnutritionwill accelerate in 2011 – 2012, with vitamin D leading the charge. An increasing number of people will learn about top nutrients such as resveratrol, astaxanthin and omega-3s. Nutrition education will become increasingly evident in public schools, and many school lunch programs will be reworked to remove more processed deadfoodsand increase real nutrition.

Significant victories will be achieved overwater fluoridation,mercury fillingsandGMOs(see below). Thevaccineissue, however, will remain highly contentious. Victory overseasonal fluvaccineswill take many more years…

More people waking up to reality

Today, most people are sleepwalking through their lives, functioning as cogs in a giant machine of which they have no knowledge and no control. Over the next two years, that will significantly change. More and more people will beawakened into a state ofawareness. They will realize that living out their lives working mundane jobs, watching television, eating junk food and taking pharmaceuticals is not fulfilling their true purpose in life, andmany will seek a higher purpose.

An increasing number of people will come to understand that their lives are mere illusion — that they’ve been following programming set out for them by others, and that if they wish to truly achievefreedom(of mind), they must break out of the patterns that have been constructed for them.

As a result, we’re going to see more people rebelling against the status quo while simultaneously expanding their own awareness of the bigger picture — how things work in our world and what their role might be in uplifting our shared reality.

In the short term, this might result in a tremendous amount of strife, but in the end, it will give rise to a true uplifting of consciousness among the people in our world.

Specific upcoming victories in the world of naturalhealth

• The People will achieve significant victories over GMOs. I believe that We the People will ultimately win this battle against GMOs inAmerica. As information about thedangersof GMOs continues to spread, people will increasingly demand that GMO foods be labeled. With enough support (perhaps in 2012, but probably later), a law will be passed requiring that GMO foods be labeled as such, and that will spell the beginning of the end of the GMO era in America.

• TheFDAwill, one way or another, be forced to admit thatmercury fillings(“silver fillings”) are dangerous for human health. At the very least, the agency will warn that children and expectant mothers should not be exposed tosilverfillings. If this does not happen, you can expect apopular revolt againstthe FDAand a loud cry for the dissolution of the entire agency.

• The next big public health battle will be overwaterfluoridation, and you can expectNaturalNews, the Fluoride Action Network and many other organizations to turn up the heat on the dangers ofwaterfluoridation. Expect to see thefluoridepushers eventually forced to back down and admit that the fluoride dripped into the municipal water supplies is actually collected as a toxic waste byproduct of the phosphate mining industry. (We are releasing a significant mini-documentary on this topic in the next 30 days.) The reputation of the ADA — which has backedmercuryfillings for decades — is headed into the dumpsters.

• On the issue of freedom and liberty, I predicta surge of interest in Libertarian political philosophyfrom both former Democrats and former Republicans who realize that the path to prosperity and freedom is found inindividual libertyandpersonal responsibility. I see the Tea Party suffering from disillusionment as its own elected members betray its supporters with more taxes andBig Governmentspending. Expect to see Ron Paul and Rand Paul do extraordinarily well in the coming years (as long as they stay on principle), and watch fora groundswell of popular supportfor the once-again-new idea of sensibly limitedgovernment.

• Watch for a rise in theTenth Amendmentmovementin America as an increasing number of Americans fight back against what they see as a dangerous expansion of the power of thefederal government. With the TSA in your pants and the FDA in your greenhouse, there’s no telling what part of your life Big Brother wants to control next. America was founded on the idea oflimited government, and I believe we’ll see a powerful, passionate movement that seeks to bring the federal government back down to its Constitutionally-mandated size (which is a fraction of its current size and scope). The Tenth Amendment, by the way, specifically reserves all rights not specifically granted to the federal government to be held by the States or the People. The Constitution, for the record, never granted the federal government the right to run a health care system, nor to give away the power to coin money to a private banking cartel, nor to inspect your backyard food production operation that you use to produce jams and jellies for the local farmers’ market.

Specific short-termpredictions

• Expect a new Big Government war oninternetfreedom. Mostly due to theWikileaksreleases, governments around the world are going to desperately attempt to policethe internetand clamp down on web-based free speech. This will likely result in an online war between the “empire” (the USA and the UN) and the “rebel alliance” (the internethackerssuch as ‘anonymous’).

• By the end of 2012, I predictsignificant food supply disruptionsin North America, brought about either by radicalweatheraffecting crop yields or perhaps the invasion ofdiseaseindirectly caused by the over-use of pesticides or GMOs. The number of people in America struggling to feed themselves and their families will rise along with foodprices(see next). This will inevitably result in a huge increase incrime(burglaries, thefts) at precisely the same time that cities are laying off local law enforcement officers due to budgetary restrictions.

• Expect to seefood pricesclimb with alarming speed over the next two years. Wheat is already on the rise, and even meat prices will surge up sharply before the end of 2012. While food won’t disappear, it will become significantly more expensive, causing more people to shift to subsidized foods (corn, sugar, etc.) which also happen to be some of the worst foods for your health. GMOs are cheap in the short run… until you get your hospital bill.

•Oil priceswill also trend sharply upwards over the next two years. We will almost certainly seeoilat $150 per barrel and possibly even at $200 for a brief time. This will of course impact food prices, the transportation industry and virtually the entire economy.

• By late 2012, the economic downfall of theUnited Stateswill have accelerated, and the inevitable collapse of the U.S. dollar will by that time have become apparent to virtually everyone. The ability of the U.S. Treasury to auction its debt will drop sharply as ratings institutions either downgrade U.S. debt or publicly threaten to.

Long-term predictions

• Over the next decade, I predict a disappearing “health middle class” and a great divide between thehealthyand the sick. The healthy, you see, are consuming superfoods, getting sunshine on their skin and taking nutritional supplements on a daily basis. The unhealthy are eatingprocessed foods, taking prescription medications and following the advice of their ignorantdoctorseven if it kills them.There will be fewer people of “average” health in Americain the coming years. The masses will gravitate toward disease and sickness while the informed few (such as NaturalNews readers, raw food vegans,superfoodfans and so on) will get healthier and more productive.

• By 2025, the FDA as we know it today will be ancienthistory, and a new era offood freedomandhealth freedomwill have swept across the former United States of America. Marijuana will become a key crop for raising revenue for the states (or the equivalent governing entity), the pharmaceutical industry will have severely downsized, and the scientific censorship of the FDA will have been abandoned to a chapter of the dark history of America. Millions of doctors, oncologists and useless government bureaucrats will find themselves out of work or, in the most extreme cases, subjected to court trials for their crimes against humanity.

• By 2030, it will become obvious that all those people treated with vaccines, chemotherapy, pharmaceuticals and conventional medical procedures are largely infertile and dying from degenerative disease. Also by this time, those individuals who ate diets largely made of GMOs, processed foods and artificial chemical additives will discover they, too, are infertile and diseased. The dying, diseased people of the western world will look back upon the “age of medical science” with hatred and disbelief, and the vaccines, chemotherapy, mercury fillings, water fluoridation and other poisons that are common in our world today will, by 2030, be written up in the history books as examples of humanity’s incredible capacity for self-deception and faulty thinking, even in the realm of so-called “science.”

Health Ranger predictions are already coming true

Many of the predictions I made a year ago have already come true, by the way. These include:

• China unleashes armies of corporate espionage hackers onto western nations (now verified as true through Wikileaks cables)

• A worldwide shortage of rare earth metals (already under way)

• Food supply disruptions (disruptions have been widely reported throughout 2010)

• Honeybee population collapse spreads to other species (bats are now threatened, too)

• Weather patterns become increasingly radicalized (also widely reported in 2010)

• Medical imaging scandal unfolds as older patients begin to show serious health damage from radiation via mammograms, CT scans and more (widely reported in medical journals in 2010)

• War on health freedom ramps up, targetingraw milk, homeopathy, herbs and supplements (major raids have been conducted this year on food co-ops and raw milk producers)

• New attempts are made to destroy internet freedom (the UN is now planning to roll out internet police, and the U.S. customs department has been seizing websites for the last several months)

These are just some of the many predictions I made one year ago. Many more will yet come true in the years ahead. Overall, by the way, I remainoptimisticabout our future, if only because it is evident that by living through suffering, oppression and slavery, enough members of the human race will finally see the importance of health freedom and take the necessary action to regain it and defend it for generations to come.

In the grand experiment of nations and civilizations now playing out across our tiny planet, those nations which forget the importance of health and freedom are doomed to eventually destroy themselves. Only those nations which recognize freedom and invest in the health of their citizens have any sustainable future. And one day, such a nation of truly free people will undoubtedly rise from the ashes of whatever is left after the current global miscalculations run their course.

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