Month: January 2008

Categories
Featured Articles

Spousal Spats May Have Health Benefits

(WebMD) New research on marriage and health shows that married couples who express anger may outlive those who suppress anger.

The key is for both spouses to be comfortable expressing anger, rather than one or both suppressing anger, University of Michigan researchers report.

"The key matter is, when the conflict happens, how do you resolve it?" asks Ernest Harburg, PhD, professor emeritus with the University of Michigan's School of Public Health and psychology department. "If you bury your anger, and you brood on it … and you don't try to resolve the problem, then you're in trouble."

Harburg's team found a higher death rate among married couples in which both spouses suppress anger, compared with other married couples. Their findings appear in the Journal of Family Communication.

Expressing Anger

Harburg and colleagues studied 192 married couples in Michigan for 17 years, starting in 1971.

When the study started, the husbands and wives were 35-69 years old. They were asked to imagine being yelled at by their spouse or a policeman about something that wasn't their fault.

Each spouse answered questions about how he or she would handle that situation. They were considered to suppress their anger if they would do at least two of these things:
Not show their anger.

Not protest the verbal attack.

Feel guilty later on if they showed their anger.
In 14% of the couples, both spouses suppressed their anger. Their death rate was almost twice as high during the study, compared to other couples.

The findings held when age, smoking, weight, heart risks, and other factors were considered.

Still, the study has some limits. For instance, it's not clear if the findings would be similar in younger couples or in a more diverse study. And the researchers couldn't control for every possible influence; perhaps couples that express anger had other healthy traits.

Categories
Featured Articles

Pet Turtles Cause Major Salmonella Outbreak

Friday, January 25, 2008
CDC reports that more than 100, most of them kids, have been stricken in 33 states
Jia-Rui Chong, Los Angeles Times

A strain of salmonella carried by small pet turtles has sickened more than 100 people and hospitalized at least 24 nationwide in the largest recorded outbreak of its kind, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

Cases have been reported in 33 states, mostly in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Most of the patients have been children.

No one has died in the outbreak, which began in August. But some patients have suffered severe symptoms, including acute kidney failure. The most common symptoms reported to the CDC included bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever and vomiting.

The median age of patients was 7 1/2 years.

"With over 100 cases reported, that's fairly substantial," said Mark Sotir, a CDC epidemiologist in Atlanta. "For every case that's reported to the CDC, we estimate 30 or 40 sick people that haven't been reported."

Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County's public health director, said he has simple advice for parents thinking about buying a pet turtle: "Don't."

"If you have them, make sure you're washing your hands a lot after you're touching them," he said.

Salmonella bacteria are most often associated with food poisoning, but about 6 percent of infections come from contact with turtles. Turtles can carry a variety of salmonella without symptoms and shed them in their feces.

Small turtles have been particularly problematic because they are often bred in crowded conditions and are more likely to be given to children as pets. A 3-week-old baby girl in Florida died in 2007 from a different strain of salmonella carried by a mini turtle.

Since 1975, federal law has prohibited the sale of turtles with carapaces less than 4 inches as pets. But public health officials say enforcement is spotty.

The most recent outbreak was detected after two teenage girls were taken to different hospitals in North Carolina and South Carolina on the same day. The girls had been swimming together in an unchlorinated pool in which two pet turtles also were swimming.

A salmonella strain known as Paratyphi B variant Java was isolated from one of the girls and in the water of the turtles' habitat.

Of the 103 cases reported so far, nearly half of the patients remembered being exposed to a turtle, and many others were friends or relatives of turtle owners. Many of the patients reported feeding, kissing or playing with a turtle. In one case, a baby was bathed in a sink where turtle waste had been disposed of, the CDC said.

The turtles most often came from pet shops, but others were bought at flea markets or from street vendors. The CDC is investigating whether the outbreak can be traced to a common turtle distributor or farm.

Of the 12 cases reported by California, 11 came from Southern California.

This article appeared on page A – 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Categories
Health & Freedom

God’s Hand of Destiny

There are key events in our lives that temper the core of what makes up who we are in the great scheme of life. Many of us have a sense of our place in God's Creation and know that his hand plays a central role in that greater destiny. Those who have not yet come to this realization are truly missing a great sense of purpose and usefulness that we all “need” to some degree. None of us are simply random lives and random events, …unless in our own spiritual blindness we have chosen to embrace such an uninspired philosophy. Benjamin Franklin stated at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, “ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”.

I have a firm sense of divine destiny and of God’s Hand in my life and in the lives of people around me in general. Most people, regrettably, have lost any sense of such a thing; pushing it into the realm of myths and fairy tales. Although as a generally very private man, I'm going a little out of character in this article in that I will reveal some of my personal life and a few small events that have inspired me in order to emphasize why my views are such that they are. I grew up poor in material things, but rich in love from my migrant worker/tenant cotton farmer parents. My father, Benjamin Weatherby Taylor turned to migrant farm work in the cotton fields of Northeast Texas, as did many other farmers, after losing his family homestead and farm to the banks and the ravages of The Great Depression and after his return from the second "Great War to End All Wars".

Almost a movie script rather than a scenario from real-life and a series of events that some might call Fate, but what I call God’s divine hand of destiny, my father met and married my mom, Georgia Laura Lucille Smith, the daughter of another East Texas farmer hard-hit by the Depression. That in itself isn’t unusual, but here’s “the rest of the story”. In those days, the Blackland Prairie, extending from north of Dallas to Central Texas east of Austin, was some of the most productive cotton country in the world as the Nation was struggling out of economic depression and the aftermath of World War II. Riding railcars to cotton harvesting areas, which was done in those days by hand using long canvass sacks, my Dad started following the cotton harvesting and met my Mom through her cousins who were also working in the cotton fields around Dallas. In fact, the very first memory of my life was of sitting under a cotton wagon watching both my parents in the field picking cotton and dragging one of those long canvass sacks.

The proof of divine destiny for me in the story of my parents was the fact that my father was one of the last people to see my mom’s youngest brother alive, although he didn’t know either him or her. My father, at that time Master Sergeant Taylor, had met a young soldier, 18 years old, from a group of fresh replacement troops on a battlefield of northeastern France and was unusually drawn to him enough to engage the “boy” in conversation. During their talk, the young man told my father his name was Jessie Smith from McKinney, Texas and that his family was also farmers.  The young soldier seemed largely unfazed by the circumstance of a Texas farm boy working in the cotton and corn fields one day to within weeks being thrust into the role of a warrior on the bloody battlefields of Europe. My father could see a hint of concern about the death that surrounded them, so he assured the boy that he would be home soon.

Little did my father know the prophetic nature of the words he spoke to that young soldier. The next day, another soldier in my father’s platoon came over to him after a particularly heated engagement with a German Panzer division trying to pierce the American lines. He told him that the kid he was talking to yesterday had been killed in battle. Jessie Smith had gone home much sooner than Sergeant Taylor had expected, but not to the fertile farmlands of Northeast Texas.

Seven years later, after my father was introduced to my mom by her cousins, "my grandmother, Anna Mae Smith" told him about the death of her youngest son, Jesse, in France and showed him the telegram from the War Department and the American flag sent to her by the Army. My dad 90 years old on December 4, 2007, never talked about the war until well into his eighties and never told my grandmother or my mother, who died in 1982, the story of the sergeant and the young soldier standing behind a hedgerow in France talking about being back in Texas.

One day 8 or 10 years ago, he told my brother and I the story, saying it was one he didn’t want to carry to his grave and giving us insight into how the hand of God’s destiny plays an often unseen role in the lives of mankind. Upon asking my dad why he had kept such an interesting story to himself, he told me, “That was a terrible time of bloodshed and horror and I didn’t want your mom and grandmother to relive it and I didn’t want to relive it neither; …no one would have believed it anyway.” I could see the regret in his eyes at not having shared such a surreal story with my mom, as he changed the subject to telling me about watching General Patton ride his jeep on the frontlines inspiring his soldiers to victory firing his pearl-handled pistols in the direction of the Nazi lines. But such is the fabric of life we all live, filled with both inspiration and regret.

As most of our readers already know, for the past three years, I have personally been on the frontlines of the war against Codex Alimentarius, which is an attempt to control health supplement use around the world via International Treaty. As anyone with any study or research in the matter knows, it is simply an attempted power grab by multi-national pharmaceutical companies (The Pharma-Industrial Complex as I have named it; a take-off on “the Military-Industrial Complex” President Eisenhower warned us about as he was leaving office.) using the force of government to stop the use of health supplements as a personal healthcare choice. These peddlers of tyranny and influence have corrupted, not only mainstream medicine, but the very government agencies supposedly set up to protect the interests of "We The People".

My involvement started when I was unceremoniously joined to an existing lawsuit simply because I bought some of the assets of a friend’s company which had been under suit. I had been told by my friend that his lawyers said that this languishing civil suit simply had nowhere to go and was essentially over. They were wrong. I believe “this state” smelled fresh blood and hoped that I wouldn’t hire one of the top law firms in Texas to represent me, as my friend had done. I didn’t, but they have gotten more than they bargained for from a country boy with little more than a high school education. Instead, they found a “Man endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable Rights” who will stand and fight on principle alone with no fear and no concern for the consequences. I use no lawyers or attorneys; I simply go into the courtroom by special appearance “in propria persona” (in my own proper person) and stand on my God-given unalienable Rights as secured by Organic Law.  To do otherwise would be a lie and would essentially accept the jurisdiction of those corrupted agencies and would also relinquish my Rights by virtue of presumption and tacit assent.

I have fought these powerful and corrupted “government” agencies and their team of “doctors of jurisprudence” to a standstill for three years without hiring any representation in the courtroom. Be assured, it isn’t my own superior intellect; it is simply standing on the truth against an “untruthful system along with studying the government’s own “court procedures”, the statutes and so-called regulations they purport to be suing us under, and most of all, by understanding our Rights secured by the Constitutions of The State of Texas and The United States of America. They often don’t follow their own “rules and procedures” and only give lip service to those Constitutions, which IS “The Supreme Law of The Land”.

Just a note here for those who do not know this fact; these Constitutions/Organic Laws do not give our Rights to us; those Rights are given by God. To Wit: “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”- no equivocations, no ifs, ands or buts. These Constitutions are designed for the purpose of securing our Rights by placing shackles on “government” who would totally ignore the Rights of the People if left unfettered. Sadly, that is pretty much what they do, operating with impunity, deceit and trickery, using “terms of art” and procedures that the average man does not understand.

I am acutely aware that I’m there defending, not only myself and Utopia Silver, but the Rights of all Americans to choose our means of healthcare, our Right to take supplements without a doctor’s or the "government’s” consent, as well as our “Freedom of Speech Rights”. This case in a Texas State District civil court in Austin, Texas has been called “The Test Case” by Texas Attorney General prosecutors in one of our many judges chamber meetings, where the judge has attempted to broker an end to the lawsuit. In a nutshell, the issue is whether or not manufacturers and sellers of various supplements and/or their customers may exercise their "Right of Free Speech" in customer testimonials and comments, the citing of research, studies, and historical facts concerning the benefits of dietary supplements.

It is the “government” position that if you manufacture or sell a supplement or food and speak or write of any benefit, that supplement or food magically becomes a “new drug” and is subject to regulation as a drug. I was told face to face by the assistant Attorney General, in a meeting after things were moved from view of witnesses/court watchers in the courtroom that if I sold water and told of any benefits that they would consider it a drug! So in their minds and by “their rules”, nothing we consume has any mentionable benefit except “drugs”. This is truly the world of Oz and M.C. Escher. All I can say to that is, "That ain't my America my friend and it will be a cold day in the center of the Earth before I buy such a lie." As Winston Churchill once stated, "This is nonsense, up with which I shall not put."

I’m giving this synopsis of that civil court battle, because it has been overpowering evidence in my own life of God’s Divine Hand of Destiny. I and a few others have resolved to commit ourselves and our livelihoods to this all important battle to preserve some small piece of what is left of the “Land of the Brave and Home of the Free” that we inherited from our grandfathers and grandmothers. They may eventually win this one small skirmish simply by force and unlimited funds, but they will know they have been fighting with a worthy opponent …and guess what? They will ultimately loose this war, …of that I have no doubt.

I have because of these three years of tough (But exhilarating when you’re doing the Lord’s work and fighting for your country and winning.) legal battles, been required to be so objectively and coldly analytical of everything that happens around me, that it is difficult to know when to turn it on and when to turn it off. I even understand and have some empathy for anyone who spends their lives in a courtroom setting; you can easily end up losing your soul in this legal process that for many becomes little more than a “game to win" at all costs, even when one begins to have some sense of being “on the wrong side”. I see that in the eyes of my opponents every time I go to court. Some have obviously sold their soul, but others are good men who now understand the truth and can barely look me in the eyes. For one defending themselves against formidable adversaries, it becomes a survival instinct, much as an antelope might experience on the plains with an unseen lion constantly on the prowl in the tall grasses nearby. If that antelope for one second relaxes his guard, he could become the lion's next meal. After witnessing the extent that people in our own “government” will go to obtain a prosecution “win” through trickery, deceit and lying, one becomes instinctively wary of any situation and anyone they meet.

This system is one of intimidation and fear and I was actually told in one of our judges chamber meetings by a (probably honorable) man in the hierarchy of the “court system” that, “This system operates on fear, but you show no fear and that is a problem for us.” He was right, but it is nothing I can take credit for; that kind of fearlessness comes from knowing that the Lord is on our side in this battle of dealing with a system corrupted by the love of money/power. I have had to stand face to face against threats, intimidation, and deceit from prosecutors and judges, and by necessity having to analyze every word and “term of art”, every act, every expression, not to mention the cunning tricks used to presume and claim a jurisdiction that does not exist. The authority and jurisdiction they claim simply does not exist under “The Supreme Law of The Land”, except in some situations in which you may enter into an “agreement” knowingly, willingly, and voluntarily with full disclosure.

BUT, even that right kind of fearlessness in such a situation coupled with having to analyze everything happening around you can also translate into unintended callousness if allowed to carry over into other areas of life. If not controlled, it can cause us to walk “where angels fear to tread” and I know it is not the road I want to travel in my personal life. Sometimes, in becoming fearless in an arena of lions and warriors, one can become heartless in the arena of life where there still exists kind and gentle people who deserve no less that just that in return. There is a proper time and place to do battle, but there is also a time for the warrior to lay down that shield and to rest that spear in the corner. It brings to mind, verses in the Bible as stated, in part, in Ecclesiastes 3:

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to harvest;

A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;

A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;

A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;

A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

Even things that are necessary and appropriate in their proper time and place become unnecessary and inappropriate in an improper place at an improper time. Basic survival instincts can affect our interaction with others and it is simply folly to live our life in distrust of everyone and everything around us. In allowing such instincts to rule us, we can inadvertently hurt the innocent among us. It isn’t healthy, it isn’t spiritually uplifting, and it will simply cost us dearly in the loss of special people who should be destined to be a valued part of our lives.
 
This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes by John Hancock: “In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments, …at the same time all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but foolishness… Resolved; …Thursday the 11th of May…to humble themselves before God under the heavy judgments felt and feared, to confess the sins that have deserved them, to implore the Forgiveness of all our transgressions, and a spirit of repentance and reformation …and a Blessing on the … Union of the American Colonies in Defense of their Rights [for which hitherto we desire to thank Almighty God]…That the people of Great Britain and their rulers may have their eyes opened to discern the things that shall make for the peace of the nation…for the redress of America’s many grievances, the restoration of all her invaded liberties, and their security to the latest generations."
"A Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, with a total abstinence from labor and recreation. Proclamation on April 15, 1775"

I have great admiration for those who choose to live in the positive- not meaning that the harsh realities of life cannot be noted, understood, and planned for- but that there is a good and greater purpose to everything that happens in our life, even the bad, if we simply permit God’s Divine Hand of Destiny to have some small place in our lives.

Categories
Health & Freedom

To Everything There Is A Season

Categories
Ask Utopia Silver

Diabetes

Q:
Dear Utopia Silver,

Do you have any supplements that MAY help with diabetes and hypertension?
Thank You,
Nancy in Pennsylvania


A:
Hi Nancy,

Generally, the most important supplement anyone can take is Plant Derived Minerals. Minerals are the building blocks of all the enzymes that enable and control all other body functions. Nothing in the body will work properly, nor can the body properly absorb other nutrients or vitamins without the proper minerals, both major and trace. For more info, go to: http://www.utopiasilver.com/products/supplements/75_plant_derived_minerals.htm

For pancreas support, there are several other essential and helpful supplements, Chromium Picolinate, Calcium and Magnesium, Digestive Enzymes, Pancreatin, Vitamin B Complex, Inositol and Coenzyme Q10. We have most of these on our website, as well as an Insulin Support formula.  http://www.utopiasilver.com/products/supplements/diatrol_ii.htm

Some of these same minerals are also essential to healthy cardio-vascular function, such as minerals, calcium and magnesium and Coenzyme Q10.

For heart support, go to, http://utopiasilver.com/products/organ-health-and-support/heart.htm

For Pancreas support, go to, http://utopiasilver.com/products/organ-health-and-support/pancreas.htm .

For stress, go to, http://www.utopiasilver.com/products/supplements/stress_b.htm and http://www.utopiasilver.com/products/supplements/valerinroot.htm

For both these conditions, a lifestyle change is also essential. You should be eating a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables and low in junk food and processed sugars, as well as limiting your fat consumption. You can never forget about keeping your body physically fit by getting an adequate amount of exercise, especially a daily walk or two outside in the sunshine.
 

You are appreciated in Utopia.
Ben Taylor

Utopia Silver Supplements
830 966-2315
www.utopiasilver.com
 

Notice: We are not doctors and we suggest that you consult a healthcare professional, preferably a qualified naturopathic doctor or one who has been trained in integrative medicine if you have a life or health threatening illness.

Categories
Customer Testimonials

Kristyn

Dear Ben,

I just wanted to write to you to tell you how extremely impressed I was with what you had to say in [an earlier] newsletter preceeding [your] article regarding the FDA. I also would like to say that you are not alone in your observations of the state (or crisis, if you will) that this country is in with regard to our civil rights…, privacy, health choices, possessing firearms and as you said, our God-given and inalienable rights to be individuals whose choices are their own and not to be dictated to us by the tyranny of our government.  I just cannot say enough about how well you said all that you did. Kudos to you. Have a wonderful day.  And by the way we couldn't be more pleased with our silver generator. I use that water for everything; it is miraculous at what it can heal isn't it?

Kristyn

Categories
Living By Grace

2008: The Year of New Beginnings

My friend Ben Taylor, owner of Utopia Silver Supplements, recently invited me to begin writing for the Silver Bulletin E-Newsletter. I feel very honored and humbled to be able to do so. My goal is to inspire you, the readers Ben and his staff care so much about, to lift you up, and to possibly guide you in some small way to live life to the fullest. Sometimes I will write about health, sometimes about life, and hopefully a lot about love, joy, and peace.
.
I am a Christian, saved in 1977. I was a professional viola player and taught Suzuki for years. When I started having babies, I chose homebirths and became a midwife myself. There is nothing like bringing new people into the world. I was responsible for the prenatal care of many mothers. I studied health and nutrition, which drove me to study alternative and naturopathic healthcare. I became a health nut, which I still am to this day.  

I was also drawn to, and later convicted to, homeschool my children. God blessed me with seven children, and gave me a Biblical responsibility to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I live in Texas, and at the time I started homeschooling, the Texas Education Agency made a bureaucratic policy decision to make home education illegal. Homeschoolers didn't have a leg to stand on in court except for religious conviction. I made a conscious choice to disobey civil authority in order to obey my Supreme Authority. Many brave Texas mothers risked jail sentences for teaching their own children. By the grace of God, I have been homeschooling for 23 years.  

In 1993 I began to notice weakness in my upper arms. The weakness began to spread to other parts of my body. I finally saw a doctor about it in 1999. What followed was over a year of harrowing tests, nightmarish procedures, and flesh-scarring biopsies before a diagnosis was made in 2001. Imagine the poor doctor who had to inform a mother with seven young children- four of them under the age of seven- that she had muscular dystrophy, an incurable and progressive disease, and had a 30% chance of living her life in a wheelchair.  

I died that day- died and then rose again. I have learned to play the hand I was dealt. I had to make a choice. Do I spend the rest of my life living? Or do I spend it dying? Like Joshua in the Old Testament, I chose that day Whom I would serve, and I chose to live. I learned to find the joy in the midst of suffering. I learned to find the positive among the black clouds of negativity. I am learning, at present, how to love myself. Being dealt that card was one of the best things that ever happened to me.  

I became a student on a relentless search for a cure that, so far, hasn't been found. I came to a website called Curezone and found love, acceptance, and a lot of great health information. I met Tony Isaacs there, and later, Ben Taylor. Now I get to meet you.  

Spend your life living and not dying. Find the joy in life. Let go and have fun. Life is beautiful. Allow 2008 to be your year to begin life anew.

Categories
The Best Years In Life

A Plan for Living a Long and Healthy Life – Part 1

Turning the Odds for a Long, Healthy Life to Your Favor

Life is a gamble, and right now, chances are that the odds are very much stacked against you. The contamination in the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the highly processed and additive-filled foods you eat all combine to work against you.  Add to that the likelihood of years of lack of proper diet and exercise, lack of proper sleep, the side-effects from taking too many medications, the failure of modern medicine to properly treat and cure disease, and perhaps even your heredity, and the odds can appear to be very long indeed.  The good news is that you can turn those odds back in your favor no matter how old you are, no matter what your physical condition is, no matter what your heredity is and no matter how many years you have neglected to live a healthy life.

As anybody knows, nothing is 100%, and life is no exception.  However, it is pretty easy to see that the odds are pretty strong that you will ultimately face ill health and live a shorter life than otherwise might be the case if you continue to let an unhealthy lifestyle keep stacking the deck against you.  On the other hand, if you follow the advice in this simple series of articles, you can turn the odds very much in favor of living a much longer, healthier and happier life.

Before we look at how you can give yourself the best chances for good health and a long life, it would be a good idea to understand just what we have done, and what has been done to us, to cheat us out of the healthy and happy years we could have.  My own education was an eye-opener and hopefully will also be one for you.

In the beginning – an eye-opening journey

Somewhere around the time I reached my mid-forties I finally began to come face to face with the reality of my own mortality.  All of my friends were getting older, many of them were bothered by various health problems and several were beginning to carry around quite a little satchel filled with bottles of medications that they took daily.  As for myself, I know that I seemed to look the same every day in the mirror (except for certain Mondays after I had spent the weekend acting like I still was young and immortal), but when I looked at pictures taken a decade or so ago, the difference was pretty obvious.  And I knew that I wasn't quite as fast and lively as I was in my 20's and 30's.  So, I reluctantly had to admit that chances were pretty good that I wasn't going to stay young and live forever, and, when I thought about all the bad habits in such areas as lifestyle, diet, exercise and sleep, I really began to be concerned about what I might be able to do to live as long and as healthy of a life as I could.  I began to research health and aging, looking for ways to have more energy and vitality, live longer, and avoid or conquer the diseases and physical conditions that are common in our later years.
 
When I began my journey and started looking into subjects like anti-aging and disease prevention, I expected to find most of the answers I sought in modern science and medicine.  Although I had a certain amount of respect for folk medicine and the tradition of natural cures, I was pretty much one of those "real drugs for real cures" kind of people who thought that the answer to any health problem was best found in modern medical facilities and on the shelves of modern pharmacies.  I thought that for the most part, folk cures and natural remedies were pretty much superstition and unsupported myth.  If I became ill enough to seek help, my first and only thought was to go see a licensed modern medical doctor and get the latest wonder drug for my illness.  As for so-called alternative medicines, whether it was called naturopathic, homeopathic, folk or chinese medicine, well, I gave that about as much consideration as I would snake oil or the eye of a newt, or tongue of a toad – no witches brew or old wives tales medicine for me!  I found out that I was terribly mistaken!
 
First the bad news: our medicine has fooled us & our government has failed us
 
The more I checked into modern medicine, the world pharmaceutical giants and regulatory agencies like the FDA, the more worried and disillusioned I became.  I wondered why the death rate of cancer and heart disease was virtually unchanged for several decades, why so many drugs were being recalled because of serious, even fatal, side effects.  And I kept reading about natural remedies that seemed to be much more effective without serious side effects for many forms of cancers and other diseases when all modern medicine had to offer was long term treatments with little odds of success and horrible, debilitating side effects.  Then one day I came upon the following statement from former FDA Commissioner Dr Herbert Ley:
 
"The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn't. What the FDA is doing and what the public thinks it’s doing are as different as night and day."
 
As if that wasn’t disturbing enough, I then read the results from one of the FDA's own studies released in December 2004 (only after a freedom of information request resulted in the study finally being released two years after it was completed).  According to the study, fully two-thirds of the very scientists that the FDA used to determine if drugs were safe stated that they lacked faith in the FDA's ability to determine drug safety.  And one out of five of them admitted that they had been pressured to approve drugs that they felt were unsafe.  What was going on here?
 
The more I read and researched, the less willing I became with unquestionably trusting modern medicine and modern drugs.  At the same time, I became more and more impressed with what I discovered about natural healing, herbs and supplements.  In  hundreds of articles, testimonials, and medical studies, I found that there are thousands of people all over the world avoiding diseases, living longer and successfully beating diseases through natural healing and alternative medicines with far fewer side effects than conventional medicine.  Why, I wondered, had modern medicine not embraced this fact?  Why did more people not know about this?  It seemed like to me that someone should be shouting from the rooftops: “CANCER! AIDS! HEPATITIS-C! HEART DISEASE! HIGH CHOLESTEROL! STRESS! STROKE! PROSTRATE DISEASE! KIDNEY DISEASE!  YOU DON’T HAVE TO DIE! YOU DON’T HAVE TO SUFFER! AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO SPEND AN ARM AND A LEG!”
 
Soon, the answer became all too apparent:  The largest single source of funding for medical schools is the trillion dollar world pharmaceutical industry.  Does anyone think that it is a coincidence that since early in the twentieth century, modern medicine has taught our physicians to treat disease by prescribing synthetic drugs – drugs made by the same people who funded their medical schools?  For years modern medicine has been taught to ignore natural cures and treatments, or else taught that they such things don’t work.  The FDA has been co-opted into an agency that serves primarily to protect the marketplace of the pharmaceutical industry and suppress natural competition.  Diet and natural herbs and supplements were not only ignored, they were suppressed, for the very simple reason that THERE WAS NO PROFIT IN IT!
 
Perhaps the most striking proof is the fact that it has taken modern medicine and doctors fully 40 years to finally admit that vitamins are beneficial!  Yes, for four decades, they denied the obvious and dismissed the idea of adding vitamins to our diets as worthless!  Today, as nutrition and natural healing are finally gaining wider acceptance among the medical profession, the big international pharmaceutical companies are fighting back by resisting alternate cures on one hand while on the other hand spending hundreds of millions of dollars on efforts to limit public access to vitamins and supplements. Their tactics are obvious, limit the competition from natural medicine for as long as possible, and then co-opt natural alternative by restricting public access and bringing the herbs and vitamins under their control so that they can drive up the price and keep their profits growing!
 
As it is, no herb or natural treatment or remedy can be labeled or even advertised legally as a cure or treatment. Think in terms of cancer, for example.  If someone had a herbal supplement where 90% of the patients who took it became disease free, it still cannot be labeled or advertised as a cure or even as a treatment, while a synthetic lab-created chemical that kills more people than it cures can take out full page advertisements in national magazines.  And that is how the public interest is protected from all of those dangerous herbs, which result in maybe 50 deaths a year compared to 106,000 deaths per year for properly prescribed medications that can be advertised as cures and treatments.  Not to mention the 2,000,000 serious drug reactions from properly prescribed medications.

We would like to think otherwise, but the almighty dollar, pound, frank, deutschemark and ruble have dictated otherwise.  To the big drug companies and the doctors that prescribe their medicines, our body is their marketplace.  And the only way for an industry to grow is to increase the market.  That simply cannot happen if too many diseases are cured; in fact, it means just the opposite – diseases must increase!  And that is just what has happened: few cures and more side effects.  Cure rates for major diseases are virtually unchanged over the past 30 or more years.  Depending on the source, anywhere from 50-95% of modern drugs have not only side effects, but serious side-effects.

Death from prescription drug side effects is now the fourth leading cause of death in the United States according to the medical industry itself (the AMA Journal) – and that doesn’t include deaths that are reported to be caused by the original disease that really were the result of drug side-effects, or of miss-prescribed medications that are not reported by doctors leery of malpractice suits and malpractice insurance premium increases (one survey found that only 1 in 24 doctors would voluntarily report themselves in the event of a patient dying of miss-prescribed medications).  When all factors are taken into consideration, improper medical treatment and prescription drugs are considered by some authorities as actually being the second leading cause of death in our country!

Sadly, my friends, if the following applies to a treatment or medication,

1. It works.
2. It's inexpensive.
3. Few, if any, negative side effects.
4. It's not patentable

—odds are it will stay on the black list because no one is going to spend a dime to prove its effectiveness or to prescribe it. Medicine is a business. Cancer and other diseases are part of that business. The FDA serves and protects the drug companies and the AMA from anyone with an inexpensive and effective treatment for money making diseases.

At this point I should probably add that I am not one of the conspiracy nuts who believes that all of our doctors and our governments and big medicine have joined together in a grand scheme to keep us from being healthy.  In fact, I think that the big majority of doctors are dedicated, well meaning and hard working individuals.  The failure of modern medicine lies in the ways that modern medicine has been taught and practiced, the way that alternative treatments and supplements have been regulated, and the way that an unhealthy amount of greed on the part of the drug companies have combined to rob us of the good health that we might otherwise have.

Then there is the environment.  Ever since the industrial revolution began, we have been pouring an increasing number and amount of toxic chemicals and waste into our air, our water and our food.  In the beginning, much of the fault was due to lack of knowledge of the chemicals we used as solvents, pesticides, paints, fuels and any number of other products and industrial processes.  Today, that is no longer an excuse.

Despite the advances in modern science that have identified the damage that the toxic chemicals industry and fuel burning have wreaked on our environment, the process to clean up the environment is woefully slow and industry resists costly expenses to clean up at every step of the way, while the government is often all too willing to drag it’s feet and backtrack in enforcing or passing regulations to protect us.  The well-heeled propaganda machine that serves industry and the politicians their money contributes generously to may paint environmentalist as “tree huggers” and radicals, but the scientific evidence is indisputable:  the progress of industry has come at a huge cost to the public.

Today, the National Toxicology Program (NTP), part of the National Institutes of Health, lists 246 agents in our environment which are either known to cause cancer or reasonably expected to cause cancer, and many feel that the number is tremendously overstated.  For example, the Health Science Institute tells us that the average glass of water contains 2000 carcinogens.  And no matter which side of the environmental fence you may be on, no one who hasn’t lived with their head in the sand, is not aware of the lead, arsenic and mercury that that has been pouring into our environment for over a century now.

Next, we have to factor in the fact that over-farming and widespread use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers have made the food we eat today much less healthy than it was only a couple of generations ago.  The same is true for the foods we buy off the shelf in our local grocers.  Over-processing has removed much of the nutrients while harmful ingredients have been added to increase shelf life and enhance flavor and texture.  Combined with America’s love for fast food, our diet can no longer be counted on to come anywhere close to giving us all the vitamins and nutrients that we evolved to require, much less the ones needed to offset the damages caused by pollution, additives and the sheer stress of modern life.

With so much bad news, is there hope?  Fortunately, that answer is a resounding YES!
 
And then the good news – It’s never too late!
 
When you look at someone and say “Doesn’t he or she look young for their age”,  or you remark that someone “sure has a lot of energy for their age”, what you are really seeing is someone who looks, acts and feels a lot closer to what they should for their age than you do.  Whether they were blessed with good genetics, or more likely,  have taken better care of themselves, the real question is: how do you acquire the kind of health and vitality and become the kind of person that people say the same things about.  And, most importantly, is it too late?

The good news is that it is NOT too late – no matter what your age may be.  Recent studies have shown conclusively that people in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s can change their diet and lifestyle and undo most of the damage that a lifetime of neglect has caused.  That’s right, a person who is obese, sedentary, has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoker’s lungs, and other health problems can essentially reverse those problems if they take action NOW and virtually catch up to the same health and vitality of a person who has spent their entire life eating right, exercising and living a healthy lifestyle!  Even people in their 70’s, 80’s and beyond can add quality years to their lives by changing their diets and exercise.  The key is, no matter what your age, you should take action NOW, because a neglected body in poor shape is a ticking time bomb that you want to defuse before it really is too late.  So, with everything to gain and nothing to lose, let’s get started!

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Extend Your Life With Enzymes

As precious as powdered gold, enzymes are extremely valuable for anyone interested in health. Simply said, they prolong life! Although best known for their power as a digestive aid, their hidden potential far surpasses that function. Let me explain.There are two types of enzymes produced by and in our body:

(1) Digestive enzymes – to digest food

(2) Metabolic enzymes – which we depend on for life

Metabolism is the total of all chemical changes that take place in a cell or an organism to produce energy and basic materials needed for important life processes. Metabolic enzymes, perfectly named, are involved in every process of the human body. In fact, even digestive enzymes start as metabolic enzymes. Besides our day-to-day life processes of build up and breakdown, these little powerhouses are catalysts that take an active role in repairing any damage done to our body through injury, stress, poor eating or lifestyle habits, environmental contaminants, and the passage of time.

Unfortunately, we don't have an unlimited supply of metabolic enzymes. We are born with a certain reserve of these petite miracles, and when we run out, our life ends. Our body does, to some extent, replenish metabolic enzymes, but the numbers used versus the numbers added still makes them something to cherish.

When you take any type of enzyme, you are conserving your storehouse of metabolic enzymes. Enzymes taken with food, for example, save the metabolic enzymes that would have needed to convert into digestive enzymes. Although raw food retains its natural enzymes, it is good to remember that within an hour of picking, a great percentage of the enzymes are lost. It's a sad affair to know that when we buy produce from the health food store, it has voyaged by truck (god knows how many miles), and has likely been sitting on the shelf for days. Therefore, it is a life-prolonging practice to take digestive enzymes with meals.

Enzymes taken on an empty stomach serve an incredibly different function than digestion. These enzymes are immediately directed to the metabolic processes of our bodies. There are experiments that involve coupling radioactive particles with ingested enzymes, allowing scientists to track the path of enzymes. Results prove that enzymes taken on an empty stomach do indeed assist the metabolic functions of our body, including the miraculous repair of any damage sustained by the body. Translation: More life – we age slower and have more energy!

Our bodies are designed in such a way that we do not have to consciously play a part in the trillions of actions taking place in the body. However, oftentimes, we miss out on the effect our actions have, good or bad. If you take enzymes today, you may not notice any phenomenal immediate change. In the long run, you will appreciate your enzyme-rich prolonged life. You could live a long and healthy life without ever taking enzymes . Yet, what could your life be like with them? I feel it is foolish to not use this powdered gold every day for the rest of our lives.

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Constitutional Responses to Terrorism

It has been over 6 years since the atrocities of September 11 were committed and there are still some very basic measures that need to be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice and make America safer.  I have proposed legislation to help with these efforts and will continue to fight in Congress for the safety and security of the American people.
My legislation entitled The Marque and Reprisal Act of 2007 (HR 3216) makes the surgical strike option available to the President in our mission to capture Bin Laden.  Our military has been pursuing him without result for far too long now, and it is high time ALL constitutional tools were utilized in the hunt for this dangerous madman.  As an American it sickens me to know that Bin Laden and top leaders of al Qaeda remain at large and thumbing their noses at us, while we unravel the sacred fabric of our constitution out of fear.  It is Osama Bin Laden and the perpetrators of terrorist attacks that ought to be afraid of us, not the other way around.  The answers are found in the Constitution.  We should boldly root out the perpetrators and not let them get away with their crimes against us.  As the home of the brave we should use Letters of Marque and Reprisal to bring Bin Laden to justice.  

Also, we need to take serious steps to prevent terrorists from gaining easy access to targets on our soil.  Quite alarmingly, even with the knowledge that the 19 terrorist hijackers entered our country legally, and that 15 of them were from Saudi Arabia , student visas from terrorist sponsoring countries are still far too easily obtained.  In a baffling move President Bush struck a deal with Saudi King Abdullah in 2005 to allow 21,000 more Saudi young men into the US on student Visas.  Of course, not all students from terror sponsoring countries are terrorists, but I place a higher premium on the security of the American people than the convenience of citizens of hostile countries.  We should not be making the goals of would-be terrorists easier to accomplish, but rather should be vigilant about defending against enemies at every turn.  They should not be slipping through our doors so easily, using our immigration laws against us, and that is why I proposed the Terror Immigration Elimination Act (HR 3217) to toughen standards for VISAS from countries on the State Department's list of terrorist sponsoring countries in addition to Saudi Arabia .  Just as you decide who to invite to a dinner party in your home, we should be in charge of who we allow in this country, without apology.

A lot has been done to fight the War on Terror and much of it has been misdirected, but there are some tools still needed and more progress to be made.  My bills The Marque and Reprisal Act of 2007 and The Terror Immigration Elimination Act are logical steps in the right direction.