Pushing Obama Toward Peace
President Obama's willingness to compromise with corporate Republicans seems to be leaving progressives out in the cold. Can Obama still offer "change you can believe in"? Truthdig's Chris Hedges expresses the frustration of peaceniks, greens, and civil libertarians—left and right—who believe they "are going nowhere" with Obama:
"The American empire has not altered under Barack Obama. It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush. It steals from the U.S. treasury to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It will not give us universal health care, abolish the Bush secrecy laws, end torture or 'extraordinary rendition', restore habeas corpus or halt the warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of citizens. It will not push through significant environmental reform, regulate Wall Street or end our relationship with private contractors that provide mercenary armies to fight our imperial wars and produce useless and costly weapons systems.
"The sad reality is that all the well-meaning groups and individuals who challenge our permanent war economy and the doctrine of preemptive war, who care about sustainable energy, fight for civil liberties and want corporate malfeasance to end, were once again suckered by the Democratic Party....
"Our last hope is to step outside of the two-party system and build movements that defy the Democrats and the Republicans.... We owe Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney and the Green Party an apology. They were right."
The Wall Street Journal reports that neoconservatives are gleeful over Obama's pro-war stance. Ralph Nader despairs that the public has been silenced and ignored:
"No one sees anything changing. There is no new political party to give people a choice. The progressive forces have no hammer.
"Obama is squandering his positive response around the world," Nader continues. "In terms of foreign and military policy, it is a distinct continuity with Bush. Iraq, Afghanistan, the militarization of foreign policy, the continued expansion of the Pentagon budget and pursuing more globalized trade agreements are the same."
"No one can predict the future," Nader adds hopefully. "I know only one thing for sure: The whole liberal-progressive constituency is going nowhere."
We don't necessarily agree with Nader's solution. Perhaps the answer isn't for progressives to leave the Democratic party but wrest control, once and for all, from the "moderates," "blue dogs," and corporate apologists.
Would Obama move left if progressives complained louder? Some still harbor the hope that Obama is playing chess where his political foes are playing checkers. How much longer should they wait for him to move?
Most Americans want an end to war. Maybe Democratic peaceniks should join forces with antiwar Republicans, some of whom are now calling for a troop pullout from Afghanistan. Imagine the headline grabbing possibilities of a Ron Paul/Dennis Kucinich/George Will peace coalition.
SOURCE:
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23234.htm
Driving On Solar Panels?
The notion is to replace paved surfaces with rugged, specially built solar panels. These Solar Road Panels would contain not just solar panels but LED lighting (to enable real-time communication with drivers), heating units (to prevent icing), high-voltage power transmission lines, and even electric-vehicle recharging stations. It's transportation, power, and grid infrastructure in the same place.
If all paved roads in the U.S. were replaced with 15% efficiency solar panels, the network could provide three times the electricity the nation presently consumes.
Crazy? Maybe not. The Department of Transportation has ordered a prototype. Imagine the new green jobs!
SOURCE: www.grist.org, August 28, 2009.
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Colored People For Green Jobs
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, with its illustrious 100-year civil rights record, is now advocating for environmental justice.
In July NAACP delegates voted to adopt a resolution supporting clean energy development, curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, and policies to foster "green collar jobs."
"African Americans have been disproportionately affected by pollution, from water, to toxic waste being dumped in our communities, to air quality," said Dale Charles, president of the NAACP's Arkansas chapter, whose Little Rock branch sponsored a climate change measure. "This resolution will help establish policies to eliminate [pollution] where our people have to live and our children have to breathe."
In September White House "green jobs advisor" Van Jones, Yale educated African American labor organizer, was forced to resign his post, having riled political opponents and becoming a "distraction." Calling this "sad and unfortunate," the NAACP pledged to continue green lobbying.
SOURCES: http://www.naacp.org/news/press/2009-09-04/index.htm
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-07-21-naacp-resolves-to-fight-climate-change
Save Your Money AND Your Life!
While healthcare reform works its way through Congress, let's review some big holes in the present system that need fixing. A new Harvard study published in the August 2009 issue of The American Journal of Medicine reveals that medical expenses are taking more and more Americans to the poor house. The results of the first-ever national random-sample survey of bankruptcy filers show that in 2007, 60% of all bankruptcies in the United States were driven by sickness and related medical bills.
Many middle-class Americans are being pushed into bankruptcy, even when they have health insurance. And countless families who have health insurance are underinsured, leaving them responsible for thousands of dollars in medical bills they can't pay. In fact, out-of-pocket medical charges average almost $18,000 for those who have private insurance, compared to $26,971 in out-of-pocket expenses for the uninsured. Moreover, since almost all insurance is linked to employment, a medical illness can trigger both loss of a job and loss of health insurance coverage. Nationally, about a fourth of all companies cancel insurance coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness, and another 25 percent cancel coverage within a year.
Yes, the healthcare insurance system is broken, but there are ways to reduce the odds that expensive medical intervention will ever be necessary. Adopting a healthier lifestyle can lead to less disease, fewer medical bills, and a longer life.
Unfortunately, not enough people are acting on this potentially lifesaving information. In a study published in the June edition of The American Journal of Medicine, investigators from the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, comparing two large studies, found that adults between the ages of 40 and 74 were eating fewer fruits and vegetables, drinking more alcohol, decreasing their physical activity, gaining weight—and getting sicker as a result. In recent years the number of people practicing healthy lifestyle habits had slipped from 15 percent to only eight percent. Even illness was not spurring most middle aged people to make healthy lifestyle choices. Says study author Dana E. King, MD, "In the U.S., [annual] medical costs due to physical inactivity and its consequences are estimated at $76 billion in 2000 dollars."
The Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Michael Roizen estimates, "80% of healthcare costs could be reduced with appropriate lifestyle changes." These include losing weight, quitting smoking, exercise, and stress reduction. This is reinforced by a previous Harvard study which found that following a healthy lifestyle lowers the risk of coronary heart disease by 80 percent, and the risk of diabetes by 90 percent.
Bottom line: Exercise, eat your veggies, and relax! You'll improve your health, live longer, and save money, too!
SOURCES: CNN, 8/12/2009.
http://www.NaturalNews.com/026681_health_medical_bills_disease.html
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Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future By Andrew Weil, MD A landmark book that illuminates how we have let healthcare in America become overpriced, ineffective and ultimately disastrous, and most importantly, what we can all do to fix it. Almost everyone who has been treated by—or works within—the American healthcare system at least suspects that it is deeply dysfunctional and on the verge of collapse. Although politicians have weighed in on all sides, in these pages bestselling author Andrew Weil, MD, identifies the root of the problem. He shows precisely how American medicine, manipulated by profiteering drug companies and abandoned by government overseers, has lost its way. He then presents a solution that will not only make healthcare affordable, but will also dramatically improve the rapidly deteriorating health of the nation's citizens. "We have a right to good healthcare," Dr. Weil states, "healthcare that is effective, accessible, and affordable." But our health is far from the best in the world, even though we spend more on it than the people of any other nation. The World Health Organization recently rated America 37th in health outcomes, on a par with Serbia. Meanwhile, our costs are more than twice as high per capita as those in other developed nations, leading medical care to become a leading cause of personal bankruptcy. And it only promises to get worse. As Dr. Weil writes, "If predictions hold, a family of four, in the next seven to nine years, will spend around $64,000 annually on health care." Our healthcare system is on the verge of collapse and it has the potential to take our whole economy down. Discover why:
The solution involves nothing less than the creation of a new culture of health and a complete transformation of medicine in this country, changes we can each start working on today. While it sounds daunting, the task is far from impossible. By embracing a commonsense medical philosophy known as integrative medicine, says Dr. Weil, "I am certain we will improve health outcomes and bring costs down.... I invite you to join me in making it happen." Hailed by the New York Times, noting that he "has arguably become America's best-known doctor," Andrew Weil, MD, is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona where he is a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health. He is the author of five consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers.
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Fit AND Fat? Fat Acceptance Controversy
After President Obama named Dr. Regina Benjamin to the post of Surgeon General this past July, "the anti-fat brigade" took to the blogosphere, arguing that a hefty surgeon general "sends the wrong message" to our overweight nation. This acclaimed family practitioner has devoted herself to serving a poor rural Alabama community, actually makes house calls, and works for free when her patients can't pay. In 1995 she became the first black woman and the youngest doctor elected to the board of the American Medical Association. Is all this negated because Dr. Benjamin happens to be noticeably overweight?
Dr. Benjamin has also drawn fire for her brief stint as a nutrition consultant to fast food giant Burger King, but let's put that aside for the moment. After all, a girl's got to eat!
Historically, fat obsession has been a feminist issue. Size discrimination is associated with—and similar to—racism, sexism, and ageism. According to Monica Persson, over 56 percent of obese or overweight women have answered that they have been treated disrespectfully by their physicians, and 46 percent view their physicians as uncomfortable with the women's weight. "Big" men have it easier, however. There isn't much public pressure on large framed men such as Andrew Weil, MD, or even Dr. Phil, to trim a few pounds.
Quit obsessing about size, says a loose alliance of therapists, scientists and others who are defying the $30 billion-a-year weight loss industry. Anyone—even fat people—can eat whatever they want and, in the process, improve their physical and mental health and stabilize their weight. The aim is to behave as if you have reached your "goal weight" and to act on ambitions postponed while trying to become thin, everything from buying new clothes to changing careers. Regular exercise should be for fun, not for slimming.
"Fat acceptance" ideas date back more than 30 years, but have lately edged into the mainstream, thanks in part to public hand-wringing by celebrities like Oprah, Kirstie Alley and the tennis player Monica Seles. Oprah now cites her goal as being not "thin," but "healthy and strong and fit."
Adding credence to the "fat acceptance" philosophy are recent medical studies that suggest a little extra fat may not be such a bad thing. Among the latest is a 12-year Canadian analysis in June's Obesity journal confirming earlier findings that overweight "appears to be protective against mortality," while being too thin, like extreme obesity, correlates with higher death risk. Other recent studies have linked "yo-yo dieting" to unhealthy weight gain and to medical conditions perhaps wrongly attributed to obesity itself.
Many appetite warriors have coalesced under the banner of "Health at Every Size" (or HAES), which is also the title of a book by Linda Bacon, a nutrition professor at City College of San Francisco. Bacon ran a federally financed, randomized trial to compare outcomes for 78 obese women who either dieted or were schooled in Every Size precepts. While neither group lost weight, the HAES participants became healthier and more physically active than the classic dieters.
These pro-fat results are only a trickle in a flood of contrary reports that condemn obesity as a health risk. "Virtually everyone who is overweight would be better off at a lower weight," said Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.
The problem is that most "diets" don't work. (Ask Oprah!) "If they really worked, we'd be running out of dieters," said Glenn Gaesser, author of Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health.
Everyone agrees that regular exercise, at any size, improves health. "If you want to know who's going to die, know their fitness level," said Steven Blair, a self-described "fat and fit" professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina. "Obese individuals who are fit have a death rate one half that of normal-weight people who are not fit."
So should political appointees be tested for fitness?
SOURCES: THE WEEK, July 31, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/health/nutrition/16skin.html?_r=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_feminism
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Tai Chi Improves Sense of Touch
Studies have long shown that the practice of Tai Chi, slow motion martial arts movements, improves physical balance. Now research demonstrates that it may also protect the area of the brain responsible for the sense of touch, which tends to fade rapidly after 40. In a recent Harvard study, 50 -to 60-year-olds who did Tai Chi had a more acute sense of feeling in their fingertips, equivalent to people of nearly half their age.
Improved sensation can help you thread a needle, savor a hug, or react more quickly to a hot stove. As you age, it also helps prevent falls. Tai Chi's controlled movements strengthen nerve pathways to the fingers and toes, which become less responsive without practice, says study author Catherine Kerr, PhD.
SOURCE: Prevention, September 2009.
Treating Menopausal Brain Fog With Fish Oil & Brain Games
Menopause temporarily impairs brain function, according to a UCLA study measuring the cognitive processing speed, verbal memory, and working memory of 2,362 women transitioning from premenopause to perimenopause to postmenopause.
Perimenopause was associated with decreased cognitive function and impaired learning ability, but most postmenopausal women returned to their premenopausal memory rating over time.
Dr. Andrew Weil comments, "We do not yet know all the ways that sex hormones may affect brain function and cognitive abilities. Taking 2 to 3 grams of fish oil daily may help, as the omega-3s DHA and EPA are essential to brain health. I would also advise keeping your mind active with crossword puzzles and other 'brain games.'"
SOURCE: "Dr. Andrew Weil's Self Healing," August 2009
Organic Food Fight:
What About Nitrates & Pesticides?
A widely publicized British report has stirred renewed controversy by claiming to prove that organic produce is no better than the commercially grown variety.
The report was written by the government's Food Standards Agency, which evaluated 55 scientific studies comparing organic and non-organic produce. Of course, the Soil Association (Britain's organic food organization) fought back, saying, "What about the pesticide residue?"
"We didn't look at that," replied the FSA. "We looked at nutritional elements only. Pesticides are fine, because they are monitored and we don't believe they are dangerous to food."
Not good enough, writes food expert Tom Philpott, pointing to a study released last year by the U.S.-based Organic Center, which comes to a conclusion quite different from the U.K. agency's findings. It's called "New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods." The Organic Center recently released a cogent rebuttal to the U.K. findings as well.
"The Organic Center claims that the FAS study neglected to consider total antioxidant content—which seems a pretty gaping oversight, giving that antioxidants are emerging as a key micronutrient for fighting cancer and other maladies. (The Center's own study found significantly more total antioxidants in organic food than conventional.) The Center also makes a convincing case that the FAS researchers botched the measurement of another key micronutrient, polyphenols.
"But what I find most immediately significant is this: Both studies found that conventionally grown produce has substantially higher levels of nitrates than organic—most likely from widespread use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer on conventional farms.
"This consensus around a nitrogen gap suggests a non-trivial advantage for organic food: A growing body of literature indicts heightened levels of nitrates in the U.S. diet as a significant health menace. For a while, we've known that nitrates are a powerful carcinogen."
Perhaps the most critical evidence comes from a report from the Journal of Alzheimer Disease linking nitrates in food to "increased deaths from diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes mellitus and Parkinson's." The report's lead author, Suzanne de la Monte of Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University, declares that we have become a "nitrosamine generation," exposed to increasing levels of nitrogen-derived compounds that pose a threat even at low doses. According to de la Monte, "We receive increased exposure through the abundant use of nitrate-containing fertilizers for agriculture," which are both taken up in food crops and also seep into drinking water."
SOURCES:
Grist, www.grist.org, 8/11/09.
http://actionspark.com/2009/08/09/organic-food-no-better/
Treating Alzheimer's Disease With High Doses Of Caffeine
The growing evidence that caffeine consumption may help treat or prevent Alzheimer's disease has received an extra boost. Florida researchers report that a daily dose of 500 milligrams of caffeine — the equivalent found in five 8-ounce cups of coffee — reversed memory issues in mice bred to develop Alzheimer-like symptoms. After two months on the stimulant, the mice rebounded to score just as well on memory tests as normal mice of the same age that had never exhibited signs of dementia.
"The new findings provide evidence that caffeine could be a viable 'treatment' for established Alzheimer's disease, and not simply a protective strategy," lead author Gary Arendash, a University of South Florida neuroscientist, said in a news release. "That's important because caffeine is a safe drug for most people, it easily enters the brain, and it appears to directly affect the disease process."
While the source of caffeine was not mentioned here, other studies recommend green tea for a host of additional antioxidant and anti-cancer properties.
SOURCE:
University of South Florida, from studies published in the July 5 online edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
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Neandertal SUVs vs. Hybrid Homo Sapiens
Why did our species, Homo Sapiens, thrive where Neandertals went extinct? Energy consumption may have played a major part. Several studies estimating Neandertal metabolic rates have concluded that these ancient hominids required significantly more calories to survive than did their rivals.
Hominid energetics expert Karen Steudel-Numbers estimates that Neandertals' burly build and stubby shin bones, which would have shortened their stride, required them to use between 100 and 350 more calories than Homo Sapiens living in the same climates. "Neandertals were the SUVs of the hominid world," concludes paleoanthropoligist Leslie Aiello.
Neandertals and moderns may have divvied up chores differently, too. The varied, "hybrid" diet of early modern Europeans would have favored a division of labor in which men hunted the larger game while women collected and prepared nuts, seeds, and berries. Neandertals probably hunted game as a tribe, taking men, women, and even young children along, which further reduced their efficiency.
Superior warfare skills would not necessarily insure the survival of the species. Climate change and food scarcity would ultimately favor more fuel efficient hominids.
SOURCE: Scientific American, August 2009.
Happiness Boosters
Gretchin Rubin, creator of the Happiness Project website and an upcoming book by the same name, spent a year testing "every principle, tip, and theory" she could find to help people cheer up, especially given these trying times.
Top advice: Try to think five years ahead when, chances are, you'll have regained your footing—and the economy will have recovered, too. Other top tips:
Sleep! Fatigue is one of the top two reasons people are in a bad mood at work! (The other is tight deadlines.)
Give something away! One principle of happiness is that you should always act the way you wish you felt. Act generous and you'll feel more secure.
Do something new! Try a new restaurant, visit a new museum exhibit, or look for a new adventure.
Join or start a group! Social bonds are the key to happiness. But it's hard to connect deeply with people at a party, so having a purpose and an agenda really helps. We at OPEN EXCHANGE call this "Creating Community," and as you probably guessed, this one's our very favorite tip!
SOURCE: Reader's Digest, August 2009.
Believe This & You'll Live Longer
Optimists are more likely to live longer than pessimists, according to a new study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh. Researcher Hilary Tindle surveyed nearly 100,000 healthy women, ages 59 to 79, about their outlook on life, then tracked their health over several years. After eight years, the most optimistic women were 9 percent less likely to have developed heart disease, 30 percent less likely to have died from heart disease, and 14 percent less likely to have died of any cause. Women who scored high in "cynical hostility" were at even greater risk of dying in general.
The question is, can we prolong our lifespans simply by training ourselves to think lovely thoughts?
The power of positive thinking also seems to have a dark side, says another study conducted by psychologist Joanne Wood. Subjects were asked to repeat the phrase, "I'm a lovable person" while performing a menial task. The mental affirmation did indeed improve the mood of people who started off with relatively high self-esteem. Subjects who did not think highly of themselves, on the other hand, felt much worse. Apparently you have to believe in yourself enough to embrace change. Positive affirmations, Wood concludes, "may backfire for the very people who need them the most."
SOURCES: THE WEEK, Aug. 28-Sept. 4, 2009.
THE WEEK, July 3-10, 2009.
Time Travel Health Plan
Worried your time will come too soon? Time travelers promise to return you to health for a very small initial investment!
Do you believe that a glorious, disease-free utopia is in our future? Would you like to live there now? If you believe in the inevitability of time travel, this could be the ticket to perfect health!
Perhaps the most "far out" approach to healthcare requires an initial investment of only $10 in the Time Travel fund. The idea is that if you make even a small contribution to the fund, that amount will grow quite large over time, owing to the arithmetic certainty of compound interest.
Once your account has grown sufficiently large and time travel technology becomes available, the money will be used to pluck you from the present time to a more benign, healthful future.
If this news item ends in mid-sentence it could be that Yours Truly has been wisked—
SOURCE: www.timetravelfund.com.