Michael Moore's Election Analysis

Attention all depressed Democrats and progressives: When the mass media or a conservative relative tells you about a George W. Bush "mandate," you might want to counter that the second biggest vote-getter in any presidential election was... John Kerry! Michael Moore, attempting to rally his troops, offered this upbeat (offbeat?) post-election spin:

"Over 55 million Americans voted for the candidate dubbed 'The #1 Liberal in the Senate.' That's more than the total number of voters who voted for either Reagan, Bush I, Clinton or Gore. Again, more people voted for Kerry than Reagan. If the media are looking for a trend it should be this — that so many Americans were, for the first time since Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal. The country has always been filled with evangelicals — that is not news. What IS news is that so many people have shifted toward a Massachusetts liberal. In fact, that's BIG news. Which means, don't expect the mainstream media, the ones who brought you the Iraq War, to ever report the real truth about November 2, 2004. In fact, it's better that they don't. We'll need the element of surprise in 2008."

Visit www.michaelmoore.com for regular updates.

Peter Phillips' Election Analysis

"Democracy Fails: Corporations Win," according to Project Censored's Peter Phillips. "Democracy in the United States is only a shadow in a corporate media cave of deceit, lies and incomplete information. We stand ignorant of what the powerful are doing in our name and how the corporate media ignores key issues affecting us all.

"November 2 gave us a choice between war and more war, corporate globalization and more corporate globalization; the continuation of gifting billions of dollars to Israel, the Patriot Act and an expanded Patriot Act; a police state and a seriously growing police state, media monopoly and even bigger media monopolies; and wealth inequality or an even greater wealth divide. The issues where a choice was offered, abortion, Social Security, and medical care, were so under-covered by the corporate media that most voters still don't understand the differences.

"The real winners November 2 are the military industrial complex, who will continue to feed at the 500 billion-dollar military trough and the corporate media, whose coffers were filled with billions of dollars for campaign ads.

"And can we be sure we actually had a fair election among those who did vote? Seven counties in Ohio have electronic voting machines and none of them have paper trails. That alone raises issues of accuracy and integrity as to how we can verify the count.

"Our level of non-participation really means democracy has failed in the US. Without an electoral choice democracy is non-existent and freedom only means the right to choose your own brand of toothpaste. Without an active independent media informing on the powerful, we lack both freedom and democracy."

Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and Director of Project Censored. For a listing of current censored or underreported news stories visit www.projectcensored.org.

Voter Fraud Congressional Inquiry

Exit polls, reliable to within 1%, said that John Kerry had won Ohio (and thus the 2004 election), but Diebold voting machines, owned and operated by Republicans, said otherwise. If you're suspicious you're not alone. Michigan's Representative Conyers, who is handling the on-site inquiry, is requesting a flood of letters to the House Judiciary Committee, demanding a formal, bi-partisan and full-scale congressional investigation with subpoena powers. Add your voice:
www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/contact.html

Bill Moyers On Christian Prophecy & The Apocalypse

Are Christian fundamentalists actually looking forward to environmental collapse as a sign of the Christ's return? That's the considered opinion of no less a source than Bill Moyers, respected PBS journalist. From a recent speech he notes:

"Remember James Watt, President Reagan's first secretary of the interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."

Beltway elites snickered. But James Watt was serious. So were his compatriots out across the country. They are the people who believe the Bible is literally true, one-third of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup poll is accurate.

In this past election, several million good and decent citizens went to the polls believing in the Rapture Index. Google it and you will find that the best-selling books in America today are the 12 volumes of the Left Behind series written by the Christian fundamentalist and religious right warrior, Timothy LaHaye. These true believers subscribe to a fantastical theology, concocted in the 19th century by a couple of immigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wove them into a narrative that has captivated the imagination of millions of Americans.

Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre: Once Israel has occupied the rest of its 'biblical lands,' legions of the anti-Christ will attack it, triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah will return for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of their clothes and transported to heaven, where, seated next to the right hand of God, they will watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores, locusts, and frogs during the several years of tribulation that follow.

I'm not making this up.

They are sincere, serious, and polite as they tell you they feel called to help bring the rapture on as fulfillment of biblical prophecy. That's why they have declared solidarity with Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support with money and volunteers. It's why the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up act, predicted in the Book of Revelations where four angels 'which are bound in the great river Euphrates will be released to slay the third part of man.' A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed—an essential conflagration [where] the righteous will enter heaven, and sinners will be condemned to eternal hellfire.

Millions of Christian fundamentalists may believe that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but actually welcomed - even hastened - as a sign of the coming apocalypse. [And] we're not talking about a handful of fringe lawmakers: Nearly half the U.S. Congress before the recent election – 231 legislators in total, more since the election - are backed by the religious right. Why care about the earth when the droughts, floods, famine and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of the apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why care about global climate change when you and yours will be rescued in the rapture?"

That's the word from Mr. Moyers. To learn more about your role in the coming apocalypse, check out www.raptureready.com. There's even a comparison between biblical prophecy and the Union of Concerned Scientists' doomsday atomic clock. Will biblical prophecy become self-fulfilling, or will reason prevail?

As George W. Bush has said, "You're either with us or against us." God, help protect us from your militant followers!

Eat Carbs & Lose Weight!

A four-nation study of more than 4,000 men and women ages 40 to 59 has produced a stunning conclusion in our Atkins diet-fueled society: The thinnest people on Earth eat the most carbohydrates. Even more alarming, the people who eat the most protein are actually the heaviest.

"Without exception, a high-complex-carbohydrate, high-vegetable-protein diet is associated with low body mass," study leader Linda Van Horn of Northwestern University said in a news conference reported by Reuters. "High-protein diets were associated with higher body weight."

Skip the doughnuts, however. It's whole grains and vegies that produce the best results. "Without exception, a high complex-carbohydrate, high-fiber, high vegetable-protein diet was associated with low body mass index," Van Horn explained. A low body mass index or BMI is a standard measure of healthy weight.
Sources: Netscape.com 11/23/04.

Calories Still Count!
Eat Less To Lose Weight!

It took yet another study to confirm this: A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Restricting certain types of foods, such as fats or carbohydrates, won't take off extra weight unless you also cut calories and increase exercise, according to Tufts University researchers.

But a different study from the Harvard School of Public Health shows that adding whole grains, such as whole oats and whole wheat bread, to your diet may help you lose weight, reports Reuters.

In the Tufts study, 80 overweight or obese people with an average age of 54 were placed on carefully controlled diets for three months, which they then continued for an additional nine months on their own. One group followed an ultra low-fat diet with just 15 percent of their calories from fat, a second was closer to the U.S. average with 30 percent of calories from fat, and third group ate foods with a low glycemic index, reports Reuters. The dieters all cut their usual intake of food by about one-third.

The participants lost the same amount of weight—about 6 to 8 percent of their body weight—no matter which of the three diets they tried. The conclusion is that the best way to shed pounds is the same old boring approach: eat less, exercise more, and choose a diet of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and little fat or meat.

Eating whole grains may be a magic bullet to weight loss. A second study of 27,000 men ages 40 to 75 conducted by Pauline Koh-Banerjee of the Harvard School of Public Health showed that the more whole grains the men ate, the more weight they lost while dieting.

Why? Koh-Banerjee writes in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that fiber might fill people up faster than processed grains, while helping to regulate blood sugar levels. Previous research has shown that whole grains help protect against heart disease and diabetes, but this is the first study to show they also help us lose weight.

How much whole grains should you eat to lose weight? If you eat 40 grams of whole grains every day, you can slash middle-age weight gain by as much as 3.5 pounds. Forty grams is the equivalent of one cup of oatmeal, 3/4 cup of brown rice, or several slices of brown bread.
Source: Netscape.com, 12/03/04.

Pets & Secondhand Smoke

According to a report in the New York Times, dogs that live with smokers have a 60% greater lung cancer risk than those living with nonsmokers.

One Billion Children In Poverty

One billion children are at risk today from war, poverty and hunger, failed by the world's governments. They are a billion strong. Diseased, malnourished, uneducated, they are a people on the run from wars that take the lives of their brothers and sisters. And they are all children - half the children on earth today.

In Darfur in Sudan, wretched shivering souls wait for their parents in refugee camps. In Haiti, they huddle in shelters, having lost homes and parents to floods. In Iraq, they trample through the rubble of bombed-out homes. More than one in six children is severely hungry. One in seven has no access to health care.

Despite debt reduction schemes and the vast sums of cash donated by individuals around the world, one factor keeps more than a billion children in a state of poverty. And that factor is war - usually over natural resources such as diamonds, oil and coltan, a mineral used in mobile phones, which are exported to the West. Perhaps most chilling, since 1990, 3.6 million people have been killed on the front line in wars around the word - almost half of them were children.

What more will it take to awaken our collective conscience?
Source: Independent Digital (UK) Ltd. 12/10/2004

Anti-Aging Advice From Ronald Klatz, MD

Beyond diet, exercise, and common sense, can medicine extend life and reverse aging? Ronald Klatz, MD, thinks so! People age in part because their body's cells are attacked by free radicals, leading to a buildup of toxins that interfere with cell growth and repair. To slow aging, it is necessary to prevent or reverse this cell damage.

Dr. Ronald Klatz, president of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine in Chicago, recommends seven supplements that have been shown scientifically to help people live longer.

• Acetyl-L-Carnitine, protects brain cells and can help reduce body fat and boost energy levels.
  
  
• An antioxidant called Alpha Lipoic Acid reduces damage to brain cells and helps reduce inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.
  
  
• The nutrient beta-glucan activates the cells that fight off viruses and bacteria.
  
  
• 5-HTP helps fight cell-damaging toxins while improving sleep.
  
  
• Omega-3 fatty acids help lower heart disease and stroke risk as well as inflammation related to autoimmune diseases.
  
  
• Evening primrose oil fights Alzheimer's-related memory problems, diabetes, nerve damage and multiple sclerosis.
  
  
• Resveratrol reduces the risk of blood clots and slows cancer progression.

Before taking any of these supplements, get the approval of a qualified physician for proper dosages and to be sure you don't have health conditions that may react negatively with the supplements.

Source: Bottom Line Personal, Jan. 15, 2004.

Video Game Surgeons Excel

According to Beth Israel Medical Center, surgeons who regularly played video games made 37% fewer mistakes in simulated laparoscopic surgery than those who didn't play.

Secrets To A Long, Happy Life

The best way to live a long life and live it well is a combination of staying safe, staying healthy, and embracing your spirituality. Prevention is the key. Some things are obvious, like always wearing your seat belt and avoiding illegal drugs. Others take a bit of health education so you know which foods and vitamins are best for promoting longevity.

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says: None of us is born with an instruction manual on how to stay alive until 80 or beyond. It takes guesswork, good common sense, and a bit of luck. But there are things we can do to maximize our longevity odds. And some of these may surprise you.

Be Safe: Accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers and young adults. So drive safely, wear your seat belt, don't pick fights with family or strangers, and, of course, don't smoke.

Exercise: The No. 1 way to stay healthy—whether you're a little tyke or a grouchy geezer—is to exercise. Find something you enjoy and do it for 30 minutes a day most days of the week. It's best if you break a sweat, but even a regular neighborhood stroll is beneficial.

Eat Right: Load up on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and a quality source of protein. (Whether or not to go vegan is still a source of contention among experts.)

The secret to a long life may be maintaining a healthy weight in your young adult years and staying physically active in later years—and this holds true even if you suffer from diabetes, heart disease, or cancer as a senior citizen. Reuters reports that researchers from the University of California, Irvine have determined that elderly people who reported weighing the least at age 21 and who participated regularly in physical exercise as senior citizens were the most likely to eventually celebrate their 90th birthday.

Be Spiritual: None other than the venerable Mayo Clinic has advised, "Nurture your spirit, no matter what you call your source of inspiration." Research has shown that people who regularly attend worship services, live longer. It's not the act of going to the church, synagogue, or mosque that extends lives, but rather the involvement in the religious and spiritual activities. People who are involved in religious groups also benefit from the social networks they form. If they get sick, others look out for them. Religious beliefs may also lead to less risky behavior. As a friend of ours wryly notes, "Of course religious people live longer. They don't let you smoke in church."

Happiness Costs Less!

According to Money, October 2004, James Montier, stock strategist for the rich at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, is urging his well-heeled clients to make love, not money. Set aside thoughts of stocks for a moment and focus instead on the things that really make folks happy—namely love, sex, exercise, and sleep!

Yes, the rich do tend to be a bit happier than the poor. However, across-the-board increases in living standards don't seem to make people any happier. Disposable income for the average American has grown about 80% since 1972, but the percentage describing themselves as "very happy" (roughly a third) has barely budged over the years, according to the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research center. As living standards increase, most of us respond by raising our own standards. How to break this cycle? We at OPEN EXCHANGE suggest you meditate on it!

Animal Acupuncture

As reported in Newsweek, December 20, 2004, more and more vets are using acupuncture to help animals cope with pain. "It parallels the growing interest in acupuncture for people," says Dr. Bonnie Beaver, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Chris Cahill, an equine vet in Lexington, Ky., who used acupuncture on a recent Kentucky Derby winner, says, "I don't know any major trainer who doesn't use acupuncture." Traditionalists remain skeptical, but Dr. Narda Robinson, director of Colorado State University's acupuncture course, is spearheading a movement to create a national certification program.

Walk To Boost Your Memory

If you want to sharpen your memory, attention span, and learning ability, put on your walking shoes and get going.

A study of more than 18,000 women ages 70 to 81 from the Harvard School of Public Health concluded that the more active we are, the better our cognition, reports HealthDayNews.

The study: Led by Jennifer Weuve, the Harvard team tested the women, who were all part of the long-running Nurses' Health Study, for verbal memory, attention, and other gauges of cognitive functioning. In addition, they were asked about typical physical activities in which they participated, and the researchers converted that information into what it would be in terms of miles walked.

The results: Among the women who put in the highest of five levels of activity, which would be the equivalent of six or more hours of weekly walking at an easy pace, there was a 20 percent lower risk of cognitive impairment, compared with women in the lowest level of activity, which was the equivalent of walking less than two hours a week at an easy pace. An easy pace is walking one mile in 20 to 30 minutes. If you walk one mile in 16 to 20 minutes, then one and a half hours of weekly walking will give you the full cognitive benefits.

How does walking give your brain a workout? Weuve said there is evidence that better cardiovascular health is related to better cognitive function. Physical activity also appears to have a direct effect on the brain itself," she told HealthDayNews. "It appears to promote the production of chemicals in the brain, called nerve growth factors, that improve the brain cells' survival and growth."

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Positive Thinking Vs. Negative Thinking: Which Is Best For YOU?

While the experts argue over whether it is better for your mind, body, and soul to be a cockeyed optimist or a hardheaded realist, we invite OPEN EXCHANGE readers to find out for themselves. Here are two real, honest-to-goodness Bay Area seminars representing two apparently diametrically opposed philosophies. Please attend, and tell us what you think. We'll publish your comments, too:

Monday, January 17: FREE INTRO TO POSITIVE THINKING Turning challenges into opportunities, negative into positive habits. 7:30 PM. Vishnu-devananda Yoga Center, Berkeley. 510-273-2447.

Friday, January 28: USING YOUR NEGATIVE THINKING: Transforming Your Life: January 28 7-9PM and January 29 9AM-3PM. Call Jake Birnberg (510) 654-5833 or www.transformativethinking.com. (See listing in Personal Growth.)