Minding Your Mitochondria: Dr. Terry Wahls Cured Her Worsening Multiple Sclerosis with Diet

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"This is one of the most astonishing videos that I have ever seen. Please consider sharing this through your networks.
"Dr. Terry Wahls learned how to properly fuel her body. Using the lessons she learned at the subcellular level, she used diet to cure her MS and get out of her wheelchair."

LINK

Big Boys Don't Cry

by: Lisa Ranger

I know four men who were sexually assaulted when they were young.

Four, and I do not that many people intimately. I am not a counselor, nor have I ever solicited such information; how could one? Yet it is true: four men have confided in me of their abuse at the hands of relatives, headmasters or other trusted adults. Their response varies from melancholy and confusion to fury. Some have married, some never will. For each, it is a heavy burden.

It is unforgivable to break the innocence and trust of a young person -- to my mind, it is one of the highest moral offenses (ignoring the criminal aspect.) We all get to feel the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune soon enough, but sexual exploitation corrodes straight through to the core of a young person's identity. It can never be set aright, though one can hope -- if the victim is fortunate enough and resilient enough -- that the accretion of a lifetime of compassion may help eventuate some measure of healing.

In my limited experience with these four, they are the more sensitive and thoughtful among us; probably, they were the more trusting. All the more pity their abuse.

Poseurs like "Bishop" Eddie Long, back in the news last week after taking a sabbatical from his post at the mega church Atlanta New Birth Missionary Baptist after his wife filed for divorce, cannot earn a seat hot enough in hell, IMHO. Long, married father of four, settled in a non-disclosure agreement in May with five young men who accused him of sexual coercion, and though "[d]etails of the settlement were to be kept secret, people with knowledge of the case have put it at several million dollars paid over a period of years".

Equally vile is the unfolding case of Ex-Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky and the now dozens of sexual abuse charges he faces. Many of the young men were predated upon via his Charity, the Second Mile. Complicit in the tragedy are police, university administration, probably Sandusky's wife, and many others.

How can this happen? Surely some of all of these people subscribe to a religion and presumably believe in the protection of the flock, no? Some say in the case Sandusky, it is a cabal of secrecy which surrounds profitable athletic programs. For those in the employ of the church, they have a ready-made cover.

But really, the issue is power. Children have no voice, and especially children of need. Layered upon that is guilt, and a sense of shame and culpability, and you have victims who nicely feed into the cabal. Shame may be one of bedrock human emotions, one not easily extinguished.

Oh that the perpetrators were able to access their own sense of shame, and minister to it accordingly, as only an adult is able to do. Until they do, the repercussions of violence and assault eddy outward. And we continue to feign naive shock when we hear of the latest shipwreck.

Unless one is dealing with a true psychopath, it is usually not hard to find the genesis of aberrant behavior. The Sandusky's and Long's of the world are probably not ex nihilo.

--More than five children die every day as a result of child abuse.2
--It is estimated that between 50-60% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates. 3
--More than 90% of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator in some way. 4
--Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.
--About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse. 5
--Almost 500,000 episodes of child sexual molestation are reported annually in the U.S.
--14% of all men in prison in the USA were abused as children. 7
--36% of all women in prison were abused as children. 7

(U.S. Statistics from ChildHelp.org)

[links @ RangerAgainstWar]

Mourning For America

by: Debra

Nobody knows when an accident is going to change their life and as more Americans continue the slide into poverty you would think there would be more compassion for their fellow man. Unfortunately, you would be wrong.



I love how baggers and dittoheads babble on about how government workers are lazy, overpaid, couldn't get a real job if they had to and every one of them that becomes unemployed is better for the taxpayers, yet complain about how long it takes when they have to do anything at a government office.  Or that people are abusing food stamps and don't really need them.  Then within the last few days reports of rural suicides increasing amid Medicaid cuts and a story like this comes along and they still can't make the f****ing connection between penalizing people (An 18 page application? One would think Texas purposely makes it difficult for anyone to collect aid.) by reducing or eliminating services for those who don't have the political clout to defend themselves and the despair that causes people to kill themselves and their families.  These are not isolated incidents and there will be more of them as more people feel they have no way out.



The powers behind the throne have successfully conned gullible Americans into demanding that the poor, the disabled and the elderly should pay the price so the rich won't have to contribute while they rob this country blind.  All the while never realizing that the problems didn't exist until the powers that be needed a distraction as they turn America into a third world country.



Like a majority of the world's population my financial situation deteriorates every day.  If you receive SSI (as I am stuck doing until my appeal goes through) you are not allowed to have more than $674 a month under any circumstances.  Otherwise two months after you made the extra few dollars they reduce your benefits until the overpayment is taken care of.  Funnily enough it does not work the other way around. If they underpay you they are not obligated to make up the difference.



After I was declared disabled I continued collecting unemployment while I looked for work that wouldn't aggravate my disability.  Unemployment was deducted from the $674 to make sure I didn't get ahead.  In August I started suffering from trigeminal neuralgia in addition to my disability and stopped collecting unemployment as I was no longer able to look for work while electrical shocks were stabbing me in the face every few minutes.  Since SSI runs two months behind I didn't start collecting the full $674 from them until November.  This means I was underpaid by $157 in August, $236 in September and $312 in October.



My rent is $475.  Other bills include utilities, car insurance and the student loan that was turned over to a debt recovery company.  Those nice people added $50k in fees and interest for a grand total of $148k and continually want to know when and how much I will pay them each month.  Anyone with basic math skills can tell that my income is less than my outgo.  Fortunately for me my landlady is of the saint variety and deferred October's rent until after the first of the year when hopefully I can start making payments to bring me current.  She isn't even charging interest.



This arrangement was based on the assumption that SSI would be making up the difference as the months passed and they could tell that I had been making less than $674.  Well, you know what they say about assuming. I went to the Social Security office to find out when they would credit me the underpayments since they were so good at penalizing me for overpayments that occurred when the calendar month and unemployment weeks didn't match.  After half an hour of trying to explain that I hadn't made $674 for the last few months I finally realized they weren't going to fix the underpayments.  Panic started to set in, my voice started to rise and polite behavior proceeded to go the way of the Dodo bird.   I barely made it to my car before saying things that would get me arrested.



Obviously I don't have enough money for food so Nevada graciously gives me $188 in food stamps and I can eat relatively healthily given the limited variety of fresh vegetables in Reno and an ability to cook from scratch.  To help make ends meet we found a third roommate and got rid of cable and the internet.  Tabletop antennas pick up local channels and I discovered that I don't watch enough television to justify paying for cable or satellite ever again.   I was without the internet for a few months and going a little stir crazy until E took pity on me and installed the cheapest DSL for internet access. 



With these changes I am almost able to meet my obligations and with "free play" from the casinos I occasionally have some money to put gas in the car and keep it just above the line that says E. I can walk to the store two miles away but I can't carry many groceries while using a cane and from bitter experience I know that the following two days I'm unable to do more than lurch around the house, oofing and woofing with every step.



If you've made it this far through my sad tale, there is a small spot of hope on the horizon.  I was talking to another vet at the VA and a social worker overheard my story.  It seems that since Social Security declared me disabled and I served more than 90 days during a time of war (government inefficiency at work, Congress was really slow to declare the end of the Vietnam debacle), I qualify for a non service connected disability pension.  $985 a month. I can't believe how excited I am about an extra $300 that still leaves me in the poverty zone.  The paperwork has been filed and the local AMVet office is trying to expedite it but it will probably take a year before that help arrives.  Meanwhile the social worker at the VA will get my doctor to sign the disability papers from the debt recovery company so they don't garnish my Social Security and I might be able to keep my head above water until the pension kicks in.  Yippee!



Not everyone is so lucky and it pains me to see that for a so called Christian nation people seem to have forgotten "there but for the grace of God go I".



Debsweb

From Labrys' Blog:

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"Weep, And Tear Your Hair"
Dec. 6th, 2011 03:59 pm

"When a mother shoots her children and herself because she is desperate over being denied food stamps?

"It is December. This woman had been trying to get food stamps since July. You would think SOME fucking BODY at that goddamned office could have tracked down the issue and corrected it. But nobody did, and a desperate woman lost all hope. I almost hope her two wounded children die, rather than wake to live with the knowledge that their own mother shot them before dying by her own hand in desperation and despair.

"You know that the long dark night of America has begun."

"You Cannot Build a Financial System on Rumors and Lies"

by: Peter of Lone Tree

Is this what the markets have devolved to? The equivalent of gossip that borders on “he said, she said” nonsense? Also, why is it no one even checks with the reporters who publish the initial rumor-based news? Can reporters simply publish total lies these days and no one cares (that’s a rhetorical question, we already know the answer).

The whole thing just reminds us of the core issue pertaining to this Crisis: values.

This is not a monetary Crisis; it is a Crisis of values and morals. It is a Crisis caused by the notion that you can lie about virtually everything pertaining to a business deal (the quality of the assets, who owns them, whether they’re even legitimate, etc) and get away with it.

To review how we go into this mess, Wall Street and other industries lobbied Congress to loosen regulations.

Check out the rest at ZERO HEDGE.

"Thrive: The Story is Wrong but the Spirit is Right"

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"What is keeping us from thriving?" asks the new movie, Thrive. The answer it gives is "the global elite," the people who control the financial system that in turn controls everything else. Operating through the power institutions of our society, this elite pursues a conscious agenda of total world dominance, purposely suppressing anything that would disrupt their power: from clean energy to alternative cancer cures.

This answer might serve to give expression to feelings of rage, hate, grief, and indignation that otherwise, in a world where the wrongness is so ubiquitous as to seem woven into the fabric of reality itself, would turn inward. Ultimately, though, this answer feeds the mentality of control that is a much deeper culprit in humanity's failure to thrive.
LINK to Reality Sandwich where there's lots of good stuff.

The Bells

by: Lisa Ranger

This a minor observation, but needing to return to a store twice today reminded me of how oblivious or robotic people can be.

The Salvation Army bell-ringers are out with their little red metal pots seeking change outside of grocers. It's not much to place your spare change in the pot, and it is for a good cause. But I witnessed at least 40 people walk past and give nothing. Some made eye contact with the bell-ringer, many had children with them, some were sure to look the other way.

On my second exit from the store almost everyone in my cohort smiled at her as they walked passed, but not one offered anything. As she forced a smile back, it seemed she was thinking the same thing as I. These were often well-dressed business people, so money cannot have been an issue.

When I was child, my mother made it clear what the money was going to and always gave me change for the bucket and taught me that it was bad form not to give something. She said it was a rather thankless job, so the least we could do was smile and give something. It was a lesson in inclusivity, no matter how small.

But nobody was taking this moment today to teach her kids. It reminded me of the many small humanities from my childhood which I do not see today, like little red poppies for the lapel on Memorial Day. It was just understood -- it seemed like everyone bought and wore one on that day, and it was another teaching point for me, the idea that some things were to be remembered and consecrated.

Unholy consumer pilgrimages like "Black Friday" were shunned. Like every kid, I was greedy for the latest greatest toy, but was taught that I'd become bored with it within an hour, and to stick with amusements that would go the distance like art and books. It really wasn't so bad, and I don't recall the profusion of gaudy and meaningless stuff that surrounds most kids today.

So back to the people blithely passing the bell-ringers: Do they think the people with the Santa caps are just part of the mise-en-scene, and their life is a big festivity devoted to their own distraction? Do they resent the intrusion into their lives? Do they think anything?

This is the Deep South, and southerners do tend to have a scarcity mentality. But some of the people exiting that store were surely parishioners of some church, and isn't charity part of the lesson?

I understand the new watered-down biblical versions which they probably follow in the Baptist church have replaced "charity" with "love", but surely they are not thinking solely of love incarnate, like Edward in Twilight . . . or, are they?

Quote of the Day:

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"For we are opposed, around the world, by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy…" -- John Kennedy

"Catherine (Austin Fitts) urged us to accept this fact:"

by: Peter of Lone Tree

There are worse things than being killed by the criminals who have stolen your government and your money.

"If Jesse Ventura has no right to a trial by jury, then neither do you."

by: Peter of Lone Tree

11-4-2011 Jesse Ventura: The Fascist States Of America

Starvation...

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"Soaring food costs are forcing some children to eat hay and leaves because their parents cannot afford to put food on the table, according to Save the Children.

"The aid agency said its research showed that recent price hikes had put 400,000 children at risk."

Malnutrition contributes to nearly a third of child deaths. One in three children in the developing world are stunted, leaving them weak and less likely to do well at school or find a job.

02 Nov '11 - 05:46 | Peter of Lone Tree | General | 1 comment | Permalink

"PARANOID SUPERPOWER SEEKS WAR PARTNER"

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"We're a large once-peaceful nation which has discovered that the only way to keep our economy intact and to prevent a much higher unemployment rate is to artificially create wars that justify massive spending domestically. We offer wars from 6-days to 10-years in length. Benefits include eventual corporate ownership, massive reconstruction funding, advanced weapons systems and financial haven status. Prefer partner with drug crops, petroleum, or large ag outputs. If interested, send photos, listing of assets, and number of Muslims in country."
Urban Survival

Maybe now some will see the light...too late!

by: Father Tyme

From Keith:

MOORE: Well, then, that’s very smart thinking on their part. I think, too — if I could broaden the Democratic Party problem here to a national scale.

OLBERMANN: Yes, please.

MOORE: You’ve got these nine Republicans running, all right? And, of course, we all laugh, and there’s the joke about — you can make about each one of them. And we know that our fellow Americans, at the end of the day — they’re not going to go in the voting booth and vote for crazy. Even though they might be upset at Obama, they’re not going to go crazy.

So, it begs the question then. If this is the party of the rich — the Republicans — if this is the party of wealth and Wall Street, the party that brought about the crash of ’08, why don’t the wealthy — why aren’t the wealthy — making sure they have a Republican that’s running that’s gonna win?

It doesn’t look like they’re concerned at all about making sure they’ve their man on the Republican ticket unless — unless they believe they’ve got their man on the Democratic Party ticket?

OLBERMANN: Yeah.

MOORE: And if that’s the case — okay, well — then we are in for a longer haul than just igloos in the winter here in Manhattan.

Countdown

Addendum:

Game, Set and Match!

What if…

Clinton signs Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act with no hesitation.

There’s election fixing in 2000.

The Supine Court installs Bush/Cheney and Gore abdicates.

New York City September 2001.

Patriot Act already drawn up.

America lied into war with the help of the Corporate media.

Bush re-elected thanks to “ballot manipulation” in Ohio.

The wealth grab is under way while attention is elsewhere.

The Constitution is shredded.

Obama is (s)elected and immediately reneges on nearly all campaign promises that involve the people over business.

Citizens United.

Presidential decree that he can order the assassination of any American he deems a terrorist.

Rule of Law non existent.

Need to bail out more banks.

Election of 2012 preordained.

End of a Democratic Republic.

Beginning of the "Kingdoms of America" run by the wealthy.

One world government.

...and what if the Stupid American Public still believes in Santa Claus!


Bravo! P.T. Barnum would be proud!

Treehuggers Beware!

by: Peter of Lone Tree

"Ye shall utterly destroy all the places where in the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree. And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their idols with fire; and ye shall hew down the carved images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place." - Deuteronomy 12: 2-3

Doesn't Mean That Much to Me

by: Lisa Ranger

Every time another story is spun on the Arab Spring, I am disgusted anew that the U.S. has wasted so much time and money for nothing to benefit ourselves. Ten years wasted, and much pain wrought upon our own heads, not to mention others.

The leveling of our society is almost complete. First, they did in our schools with mainstreaming. Next came the corruption and dumbing down of entertainment and media. Now, the U.S. sits in thrall to events worlds away in time and space, their energy which should be placed into local issues dissipated in a flurry of much too many helter-skelter streaming media feeds.

It saddens me knowing my country is a dupe and has paid dearly for one side of the nutters to kill the other, having their snapshots taken near the iced, bullet-riddled body like some cheery Japanese tourists:




Libya's leader Qaddafi was killed in a most brutal fashion by a power-hungry mob of dissidents, yet Secretary of State Clinton heralds the barbarity as "[bringing] to a close a very unfortunate chapter in Libya's history, but it also marks the start of a new era for the Libyan people ..." How does Clinton know that?

"For the millions of Arabs yearning for freedom, democracy and new leadership, the death of one of the region's most brutal dictators will likely inspire and invigorate the movement for change." They summarily executed their nation's leader and are pumping meat cleavers in the air -- that is unlike any democracy I know. But it's pretty to think so.

Instead of discussing the implications of his murder, we are treated to news that Qadhafi's executioners tore off his toupee, and told he often looked like a comical buffoon (Arab strongman: With Gadhafi death, an era passes.) DUH? The press offers entertainment as commentary, mentioning his vanity until the end -- but what leader does not want to look good, and we have had our own share of "comical buffoons", like Mr. Bush in his flight suit costume on the aircraft carrier.

If our infotainment sector can be said to be more directional than a paramecium, there was some pretty good pre-planning here, collusive with our government's intent. There were articles predating the "uprising" by months of Qadhafi's feebleness, and reliance upon his retinue of young female assistants. One coup interview was with one of his Ukranian nurses, spilling the goods on her erstwhile benefactor.

The press did not so much focus upon the relatively good state of women's right in Libya under Qaddhafi, something we like trumpet as a cause in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all of this time grooming Qadhafi as a world citizen, would it not have been less costly and destructive to have assisted on the negotiating side, rather than the inflammatory bombing side? It seems only when one becomes old and weak -- comical -- that we descend like vultures. Reverence for age (among other things) is something we lack.

Gadhafi's death proves one thing: The biggest brute wins, for the moment. Oh, and money is essential. Yet again, the U.S. forks it over, having spent several Billion dollars aiding this group of brigands to murder the last. Why the U.S. is in the business of facilitating the ouster of sitting rulers is an unanswered question.

Qaddafi was a brutal dictator, no doubt, typical of the stripe the Middle East is wont to create. But the U.S. or any nation cannot change the people in whom this spirit is indwelling. So Libya has gone from one monster, somewhat contained, to a metastacized new group of monsters -- why would that please anyone?

Libyans are wallowing in an orgy of blood. Meanwhile, where are my well-paved roads and all the other niceties and necessities fast-evaporating from my western nation.

--Links @ RangerAgainstWar, where we're competing in the Netroots awards: