While consumers shop, U.S. descends into planned financial implosion that favors corporate elite

(NaturalNews) We live in interesting times. Even as our own civilization hangs on the precipice of financial solvency, the priorities of the uninformed masses as so distorted that many will actually camp out in front of a Best Buy store in order to be the first in line to save $100 on a big-screen TV. In a time when the very problems of society are rooted in over-consumption and too much television , the everyday pleebs place such high importance on expanding the size of their mainstream media hypnosis devices that they will physically fight each other to get one of these TVs at a slightly lower price. Meanwhile, the federal debt has plunged past $15 trillion, the freedoms and liberties upon which America built its economic strength are fast eroding, and the U.S. has practically entered a fighting war with Pakistan (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/26/us-pakistan-nato-idUSTRE7AP03S20111126). Pay no mind to any of that, friends. Wal-Mart has teflon-coated waffle makers on sale for two bucks off! Sleight-of-mind distractions Meanwhile, the 2012 presidential election races are under way, and the mainstream media seems determined to catapult anyone into the White House as long as his name isn’t Ron Paul. The last thing the globalist controllers really want is someone who dares to tell the People the truth about topics that matter — the Federal Reserve, national debt, foreign wars, the Bill of Rights and more. Presidents are supposed to be entertainers and distracters , didn’t you know? When a nation’s collision with financial reality is all but inescapable, that nation inevitably turns to bread and circuses . And so sleight-of-mind distractions invite the masses to invest their attention in dancing with the stars, lusting after the latest electronics gadgets, and tuning in to staged news footage from the front lines of the fabricated “war on terror” where U.S. troops are now openly engaged in the planting, harvesting and protecting of the opium trade in Afghanistan. You can talk about anything you want in America, it seems, as long as it’s not the Bill of Rights, or buying something with cash, or exercising your Free Speech rights — because all of those things are now considered signs of being a suspected terrorist . Layers of deceit The most astonishing thing about it all is how many layers of wool have been pulled over the eyes of the American people, most of whom suffer under the illusion that they still live in a “free” country. Where to begin in educating people about this? First, there’s the engineered “war on terror” which was entirely invented, carried out and sold to the American people as a way to justify more war spending and the stripping away of fundamental human rights. Then there’s the economic quackery taking place right under our noses as the Federal Reserve — a private corporation that answers to no one — has been quietly and deliberately stealing America’s wealth for nearly a hundred years. Following the money is simply too difficult for mainstream Americans, who are unable to grasp how purchasing power is deliberately stolen from them through the dilution of the money supply. You’re never supposed to get ahead, don’t you know? A common wage earner can no more save money and make it into the ranks of the ultra wealthy than a frog can transform into a magical unicorn. That’s because a small percentage of your wealth — everything you’ve worked for — is stolen from you year after year, much like the way in which rain erodes a pile of sand that you might have stacked and shoveled into a mound. The economic deceit is designed to keep you enslaved; to keep you working for the globalist corporations that pocket the profits of your labors — and usually tax-free! Two examples: Bank of America pays NO taxes (http://www.thestreet.com/story/11059978/bank-of-america-pays-no-taxes-gets-1b-refund-report.html), and General Motors also runs a sweet offshore tax shelter structure that makes it virtually immune to paying taxes at all: http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/23/news/companies/gm_bailout/index.htm Meanwhile, YOU are taxed when you earn (payroll taxes, paid by your employer), taxed when you save (capital gains taxes) and taxed when you spend (sales taxes). You’re even taxed when you just sit on a pile of money and do nothing (monetary devaluation / price inflation). And remarkably, some of the more ignorant members of society have been out protesting, calling for more taxes on the People as a “solution” to all this! No, my friends. We do not need more taxes on the People. In fact, let me explain something to you that will absolutely astonish you once you grasp the simple truth of it: The U.S. government needs NO TAX MONEY whatsoever to operate! The myth of government needing tax money How’s that? You’ve all been told the government needs a few trillion dollars a year in tax revenues to build bombs, make roads, pay social security benefits and the like, right? It is the Great Lie of our time. Allow me to explain… The idea that the U.S. government needs us to send it our money is rooted in the false assumption that the government cannot simply create the money it wants to spend. And yet, we all now know that to be false. For example, in October 2008 during the first investment banker crisis, the U.S. government (via the Federal Reserve) simply created nearly $1 trillion and handed that money over to the richest, filthiest banksters on the planet. Here’s a partial list of who received the money (and this list isn’t even up to date) http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/list Where did this money come from? Think about it. Did you send in some cash to help with this bailout? Of course not. The money was created out of thin air by the U.S. Treasury working in conspiracy with the Federal Reserve. And that wasn’t even the end of it: Between 2008 and 2011, the U.S. government conspired with the Federal Reserve to create trillions more — in what can only be called “counterfeit” money — and then hand it over to the world’s wealthiest corporations, banks and institutions. According to the New York Times, the U.S. government has now committed $12.2 trillion to these institutions: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/04/business/20090205-bailout-totals-graphic.html Okay, so where is all this money coming from? Did the U.S. government ask every taxpayer to send in a check to cover this $12 trillion? Nope, because that would have required each American man, woman and child to pay $40,000 just to cover it. That obviously didn’t happen, so where did this money come from? The government just CREATED the money out of thin air. There is technically no need for federal income taxes Here’s the kicker in all this: The government could be creating money right now to end the entire federal tax system so that no American citizen would ever need to pay tax again. The tax code, after all, was originally created only to tax corporations , not the People. Yet today it’s the wealthiest corporations that are paying no tax while the People are being bankrupted by it. So the government, you see, could simply create the few trillion dollars it needs each year to pay for defense spending (bombs and bullets), interest on the debt, social security, Medicare, etc. And that means the government technically doesn’t need YOUR tax dollars at all! Now, of course, it would be financial suicide for the government to keep creating trillions of dollars each year, thereby eroding the purchasing power of the dollar and resulting in price inflation across the nation — but it’s doing that anyway! In other words, the government is already CREATING trillions of dollars in new money, year after year, solely for the benefit of the wealthy banksters and global corporate giants. So if the government is already headed into total financial insolvency (runaway debt increases combined with an upcoming currency collapse) — why not use this suicidal process to help the People for a while instead of just bailing out the wealthy corporations? Imagine this: The IRS announces a cancellation of the personal income tax. You no longer have to file on April 15th. You can keep all the money you’ve earned, other than state income taxes. Can you imagine the economic boom that would result? People who earn more will spend more, thereby unleashing a domino effect of new job creation across the economy. People would be happier, stress would be lowered, and we would probably see a reduction in heart attacks and suicides, too. The federal government, meanwhile, would simply create a couple of trillion dollars each year to fund its own budgetary needs, and we could all ride this insane financial monster into the ground together while at least avoiding the hassle of filling out a stack of income tax paperwork every April. There’s no question, you see, that the U.S. government is headed into total financial insolvency. I’m just saying that as long as we’re headed that way, we should be bailing out the People instead of bailing out the rich banksters and wealthy corporations. Why not cancel the income tax next April 15th and announce an income tax bailout for the working people? Don’t you see that the bankster bailouts are the most obscene example of crony capitalism? The money goes to the insider pals while the debt burden is heaped upon the working poor. That’s the real problem with America — not capitalism , but criminality! The real purpose of the income tax – it’s not what you think So if the tax code is not needed to generate money for the government, what is its purpose, you ask? The purpose of the federal tax code is to keep you down, to keep your face buried in the dirt so that you can never rise up and “get ahead.” The purpose is not to fund the federal government itself, as you’ve been told. The government has already proven it can create trillions of dollars when it really wants to . So remember that as you’re out spending your after-tax dollars this holiday season. Most of what you have been told by conventional, mainstream sources is pure fabrication: The War on Terror, the “danger” of marijuana, the “right” of the government to reach down your pants at the airport, and of course the “need” for you to “contribute” to the government to pay for roads and schools. It’s all so hilariously fictional that we should all be rolling on the floor laughing about it if we weren’t already writhing from the pain of writing all those checks to the government. Taxes, you see, are really just a financial shakedown . They are an exercise of thuggish government power over the common people for no purpose than to remind the People they are slaves to the state. And for that purpose, federal taxes are very, very effective. Much like the fictional War on Terror, the IRS reminds everybody to “be afraid” and comply. And it works. Even I comply with the federal tax code and dutifully pay what seems to be far too much to the federal government every single year. The difference is that I know it’s all a silly game and has nothing whatsoever to do with actually funding government operations. So I pay, and I chuckle, and I continue to work toward the day when we may see the rise of social justice in America where the money supply is honest, the corporations are stripped of their fictional “rights,” and everyone shares equally in the funding of running a smaller government whose main function is to protect and preserve the rights of the People… not to rule over them like tyrants. Happy Holidays from NaturalNews. Enjoy your Christmas season, but as you spend money this year, I encourage you to look at that money in an enlightened way and realize the deeper truth of where money comes from, how it is created, and how government use money confiscation (and devaluation) to weaken the economic power of the People while concentrating it in the hands of the few.

Young girl left unable to talk or walk, sleeps 23 hours a day after getting Cervarix vaccine for HPV

(NaturalNews) Much of the attention concerning the dangers of getting vaccinated for human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer has been focused on Merck and Co.’s Gardasil. But a recent report in the UK’s Daily Mail explains that GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Cervarix, a competing HPV vaccine, recently left an otherwise healthy girl in a “waking coma” where she is now unable to talk or walk, and sleeps 23 hours a day because of a complete lack of energy. Lucy Hinks’ parents, Steve and Pauline, say their 13-year-old daughter used to be a straight-A student with an excellent school attendance record, and a penchant and adeptness for math. Everything changed, however, after Lucy received her third installment of the HPV vaccine Cervarix back in May, which has left her in a near-vegetative state and in need of 24-hour care and monitoring. Beginning in September 2008, the UK Department of Health began a national vaccination program that included vaccinating young girls against HPV with Cervarix. All young girls in school are subjected to the shot unless their parents take the time to deliberately opt out of it — but just like in the US, most parents are pressured into accepting it for their daughters based on empty reassurances about its alleged safety. “I was concerned about the potential side effects because Lucy had a severe reaction from the MMR vaccine. But I was reassured by the school nurse that side effects were extremely unlikely,” said Lucy’s mother Pauline to the Daily Mail . “We feel betrayed because, like most parents, we trust the health authorities with our children’s lives.” Pauline and her husband Steve now have to provide continuous bedside care for their daughter, who can no longer take care of herself. Initially, Lucy was able to at least limp her way to the bathroom, but now her parents say that she can only lie in bed. The Hinks have even had to install a mechanical lift connecting the second story of their home with the first so that Lucy can at least come downstairs and spend some time with her family every once in a while. According to available data, nearly 4,500 of the four million HPV vaccinations that have been administered since the vaccination program began have caused known negative side effects — and these are just the reported cases. Among the more severe have been cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, as well as Lucy’s now confirmed diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) / chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Sources for this article include: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2061267/Schoolgirl-left-waking-coma-sleeps-23-hours-day-severe-reaction-cervical-cancer-jab.html

NaturalNews issues consumer alert about Adya Clarity, imported as battery acid and sold for internal consumption

(NaturalNews) A product called Adya Clarity has been sweeping across the natural health community in the last year or so. It has been sold with recommendations for internal use — taking “super shots” — and often accompanied by wide-ranging claims that it treats cancer, kidney stones, hormone regulation, arthritis, and that it removes radiation and heavy metals. Because so many readers have been asking me about Adya Clarity, I decided to look further into the issue. I was aided by some timely tips that came my way which I began to check out as an investigative journalist. What I found — much of which is detailed in this report — absolutely shocked me. But what do YOU think? Read my report and decide for yourself. Unsubstantiated health claims The claims that Adya Clarity is good for treating kidney stones, hair loss, arthritis and even cancer are, I discovered, entirely unsubstantiated for this product. There is simply no reliable clinical evidence supporting Adya Clarity to be safe or effective for any health condition whatsoever. Furthermore, there are many facets of this story that have raised red flags in my mind as the editor of NaturalNews. For starters, Adya Clarity is primarily composed of sulfuric acid, iron sulfate and aluminum sulfate. Before being diluted and bottled, Adya Clarity starts out as Themarox , a mineral deposit mined in Japan just a few dozen miles away from Fukushima . This Themarox has a very acid pH value, near 0.5. In this state, aluminum sulfate is present in a concentration of 10.9 grams per liter, according to our research. To make Adya Clarity, Themarox is diluted at roughly 10:1, raising the pH and diluting the sulfuric acid. Once bottled, Adya Clarity contains the following concentrations of metals and minerals, according to its label: Iron: 2,000 PPM Magnesium: 400 PPM Calcium: 250 PPM Potassium: 200 PPM Manganese: 20 PPM … and so on. Do you see what’s missing from this list? The aluminum sulfate . By my calculations, given that the aluminum sulfate starts out at 10.9 grams per liter, the diluted form of Themarox — Adya Clarity — contains roughly 1.2 grams per liter of aluminum sulfate. This is 1200 mg per liter, which is almost exactly 1200 PPM (parts per million). (Source: The MSDS provided to me by Adya, Inc. as a Word document, see below. This also corresponds to the PPM of aluminum claimed by the manufacturer, Shimanishi Kaken Co.,Ltd.) Curious as to why aluminum sulfate was not listed on the label in the appropriate order of concentrate (under Iron and above Magnesium), I contacted Matt Bakos, the owner and importer of Adya Clarity and asked him this question. The reason he didn’t list aluminum concentration on the label underneath iron, he told me, was because “I don’t want to.” He said it was listed as a “trace mineral” and that was sufficient. There was no need to list the 1200 PPM of aluminum in Adya because it “is not required,” he told me. I bet many of the people who paid $100+ per bottle for Adya Clarity would also be interested to learn there’s quite a significant concentration of aluminum in the product they may have already begun ingesting. So I pressed further. When challenged on this a second time, Bakos became angry and rather belligerent with me on the phone, and what began as a conversation quickly devolved into something of a screaming competition between he and I. When I suggested that the product name “Adya CLARITY” should achieve “clarity” on the label by offering full disclosure of its mineral and metal content, he became further outraged and ultimately accused me of not knowing what I was talking about and then threatened to involve his lawyers. To me, these are classic red flags of people about which I have serious reservations. When I ask honest questions and instead of getting answers I get angrily attacked, I know something’s up. This is doubly true given that I am well known as a friend of the nutritional products industry — someone who consistently shares good news about products that offer substantial benefits and safety to informed consumers. (I’ve been doing this for eight years. This isn’t new territory for me.) By the end of this conversation, it was clear to me that I was not dealing with a person who was willing to provide reasonable answers to legitimate safety questions. I have this entire conversation recorded and on the record, with Bakos’ permission no less, and I reserve the right to publicly release this recording if I think it serves the public interest. (I am not ashamed of my use of profanity in this context, which will become crystal clear to you if you hear this recording. It got quite heated.) Imported as “battery acid” One of the tips NaturalNews received on this story claims that Adya, Inc. was importing Adya Clarity under the description of “battery acid.” I could hardly believe this was true, so I checked it out myself. What I found was surprising but true: On the ImportGenius.com website, a query of “Adya Inc” from Coldwater, Michigan turns up numerous entries of imported materials from the SHIMANISHI KAKEN CO. in Japan to ADYA INC in Coldwater Michigan. The contents of these shipments? INORGANIC CHEMICALSHS CODE 3824 BATTERY FLUID ACID You can see this yourself at: http://www.importgenius.com/importers/adya-international-inc If you join this website to view more records, you will find other importation records with these descriptions and dates: SHIMANISHI KAKEN CO. LTD. ADYA INC. 9/21/2011 3,060 Tokyo Los Angeles California MOL LOIRE INORGANIC CHEMICALS BATTERY FLUID ACID HS CODE 3824.90 SHIMANISHI KAKEN CO. LTD. ADYA INC. 8/23/2011 1,920 Tokyo Los Angeles California VIRGINIA BRIDGE INORGANIC CHEMICALSHS CODE. 382490 SHIMANISHI KAKEN CO. LTD. ADYA INC. 5/31/2011 1,180 Tokyo Los Angeles California VICTORIA BRIDGE INORGANIC CHEMICALS THEMAROX HS CODE 3824.90 SHIMANISHI KAKEN CO. LTD. ADYA INC. 2/23/2011 1,420 Tokyo Long Beach California MOL LOIRE SULPHURIC ACID THEMAROX HS CODE 3824.90 SHIMANISHI KAKEN CO. LTD. ADYA INC. 12/22/2010 905 Tokyo Long Beach California VIRGINIA BRIDGE INORGANIC CHEMICALSHS CODE 3824.90 BATTERY FLUID ACID What these import records appear to indicate is that Adya, Inc. is importing materials which are described as battery acid . What’s wrong with that? Well, Adya Inc. is not in the battery business. They are in the business of selling an acidic liquid as a water additive labeled for human consumption. It is rather evident that the “battery acid” liquid claimed on the shipping manifests is, in fact, the raw material ingredient for Adya Clarity. “Super shots” for internal use The Adya Clarity product has also been widely promoted by Adya Inc distributors as something for internal use, via the taking of “super shots.” The Adya Clarity bottle label even directs customers to consume the product: “Add 1 teaspoon per 1 gallon of water, stir and enjoy the crisp, clean taste of Adya Clarity water,” it says. This clearly implies drinking the water containing the Adya Clarity (how else would you “taste” and “enjoy” it?) Thus, the product label itself is promoting the product for internal use . Much of the promotional material also recommends Adya Clarity for internal use. This is an oft-repeated message in the videos and webinars used to promote the product. Click this Bing search for more examples of Adya Clarity being promoted for internal use: http://www.bing.com/search?q=adya+clarity+super+shot Adya Clarity is a food? During my recorded conversation with Matt Bakos, he insisted that Adya Clarity was a “food” and compared it to eating bananas and other fruits. This, on its face, is absurd. Not by any stretch of reason is Adya Clarity a “food” anymore than, say, uranium is a food because it is also mined out of the ground. Adya Clarity is derived from a mineral deposit to which sulfuric acid is added. Adya Clarity does not grow on trees or bushes. In fact, it is derived from rocks mined near Fukushima and pulled right out of the ground, then combined with sulfuric acid as part of its manufacturing process. Adya Clarity might be described as a collection of industrial chemicals used for water purification, which is of course almost exactly what was described on the shipping documents with the phrase, “INORGANIC CHEMICALS.” Adya Clarity has been widely mislabeled In my interview with Bakos, he claimed that the current labeling of Adya Clarity is incorrect because “someone hacked into their computers” causing all their labels to carry incorrect information. (Really? Don’t you check your labels before printing them? Or before labeling the products? Or before shipping out the products? Is there really this much lack of quality control at Adya Inc? This is truly concerning…) I asked Bakos if he had issued a product recall as a result of the mislabeling. He explained no, there was no need because the product was not “contaminated” with anything. So I asked if there was an effort under way to email all the customers and inform them of the mislabeling. Again, he said no, giving an unsatisfactory explanation of why this was not necessary. So I asked if his new labels appropriately listed the amount of aluminum contained in Adya, in the appropriate order of concentration, underneath Iron and above Magnesium. He replied that no, aluminum was not listed there because he “didn’t want to” list it there. Instead, it was listed under “trace minerals” along with other trace minerals and elements. Now, to be fair, there is a trace amount of aluminum in lots of things, including Himalayan salt, bananas, and even some brands of baking powder (among other foods). A trace level of aluminum is not typically a concern, although cumulative levels of aluminum do begin to become a concern if consumed regularly. On that note, 1,200 PPM of aluminum sulfate — when people are drinking “super shots” of this liquid — is very concerning to me, just out of a sense of caution and basic knowledge of biochemistry. That Bakos admittedly made a conscious decision to avoid listing aluminum sulfate in its 1200 PPM concentration on the label, and instead put aluminum in the “trace minerals” section of his product’s label, smacks of deliberate deception. Why would Adya go out of its way to hide the aluminum concentration in Adya Clarity even though the other macro minerals and metals are clearly listed with their accompanying concentrations? It appears that there’s not as much “clarity” with Adya Clarity as we might have hoped. Where is the official MSDS? Everywhere I turned to ask more questions about Adya Clarity, I found unsatisfactory answers. When I inquired about the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), which is required for all hazardous materials being transported in large quantities, I was given a Word document which looks like somebody just typed it up on their own. That’s very different from an official MSDS, which should look more like this (from an unrelated website): http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927253 The MSDS I was given could have been easily modified in a text editor. Even then, it contains the following warnings: Handling and storage; Handle with acid-proof tools made of plastic or stainless steel. The workers should wear acid-proof clothes and gloves. The products should be stored in acid-proof containers such as plastics. These containers should be stored indoor location. Iron overload? Adya Clarity contains 2,000 PPM of iron , according to the label. Consuming it in “super shots” in the way Adya has been marketing could mean introducing high levels of iron into your diet, and many Americans are already in a state of toxic iron overload, says Dr. Richard Kunin, a highly celebrated biochemist and expert researcher who spoke with NaturalNews after reviewing the Adya Clarity label. “I’m concerned about the iron content. A lot of people are sensitive to an overdose of iron, and if they’re eating oatmeal in the morning, they’re getting 10mg of iron right there. It all adds up. I’m seeing people who have too much iron, This is a very big problem,” Kunin told NaturalNews. Even worse, there is a genetic iron overload condition called hereditary hemochromatosis which causes some people to experience acute iron toxicity even from relatively mundane levels of iron intake. Dr. Richard Kunin told NaturalNews that 18mg of iron intake each day is the upper safety limit on a day-to-day basis, but Adya Clarity “super shots” can add 10mg per day (depending on the size of the shots, of course) to the iron intake of a typical consumer who may have already consumed their iron limit for that day. This is especially prevalent among the vegetarians and vegans to which Adya Clarity has been widely marketed. According to the NIH, for example, just 3/4ths cup of oatmeal contains 18mg of iron all by itself! (http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron) If you start your morning with 3/4ths cup of oatmeal, then you add a “super shot” of Adya Clarity to your morning coffee, you could be consuming 23 mg of iron even before you finish breakfast. By the end of the day, you could easily exceed 40mg or 50mg of iron in just one day through the consumption of vegetarian foods and a couple of Adya Clarity “super shots.” That’s because many foods favored by vegetarians are also high in iron, including: Soybeans – 8.8mg of iron in one cup Lentils – 6.6mg of iron in one cup Kidney beans – 5.2mg of iron in one cup If you look at the typical diet of a vegetarian or vegan, it’s not difficult to imagine that many people could be consuming 30 – 40mg of iron in a day. If you add another 10mg of iron on top of that through Adya Clarity “super shots,” you could very easily put yourself in a state of acute iron toxicity , from which the best known remedy is blood letting to eliminate excess iron. “[Excess] iron is what kills babies,” Dr. Kunin told me. “They eat iron pills and die. Adults overload and end up with un-diagnosable illnesses. I’m seeing iron overload in twenty percent of my patients. We’re talking about a big problem here.” What really happens when you take too much iron? “In the body, the iron starts oxidizing everything; it will oxidize vitamin C, it will go to the liver where iron will be accumulated and over time make people more susceptible to hepatitis, either viral or chemical,” says Kunin. “The iron will then act as an amplifier, promoting an inflammatory response in the liver, and likewise in the kidneys,” Dr. Kunin continued. “If it accumulates in the brain, it makes any other chemical insult to that part of the brain even worse. It’s linked to arthritis, and in men it can go right to the gonad and cause you to lose your potency.” For the record, Dr. Kunin has not yet had time to study Adya Clarity’s effects in the human body (Adya is still a relatively new product). He is merely expressing his well-informed views about biochemistry and the impact of dietary iron on human health. Given that Adya Clarity contains a relatively high level of iron (it’s the most concentrated mineral in the product, with aluminum the second), it only makes sense to consider the health effects of increased dietary intake of iron, especially if consuming liquids with iron concentrations of 2,000 PPM. Is it detox? Or is it something else entirely? I was given a link to a testimonial about Adya Clarity that raises more questions about iron toxicity. One person on the Listen2YourGut.com website writes (http://www.listen2yourgut.com/blog/does-adya-clarity-black-mica-extract-work/): “So just watched [the] webinar as well and was interested in the supposed benefits. And before I decided to buy (and while the webinar was playing) I was doing research on the internet. Has anyone experienced any of the side effects detoxification mentioned in the videos? Such as the blackened finger tips and lead taste in the mouth or the kidney stones?” This raises red flags for me, as “blackened finger tips and lead taste in the mouth” are potential signs that could very well indicate metal toxicity . I find it further concerning that positive effects of Adya Clarity are often described as evidence that the product works, while negative effects that people experience are often explained away as “detoxification experiences.” Not everything is a detox, folks. Sometimes there is a far more worrisome explanation for such experiences. Adya marketed with recommendations for internal use Adya Clarity has been marketed with direct recommendations for consuming it every 12 hours, using text like this: “As far as super shots are concerned; taking a super shot is an off label use. Mix 1 teaspoon of ADYA in 1 oz. of water. If this is too strong to the taste, you can use more than 1 oz of water. Drink one Supershot immediately upon waking in the morning. Repeat every 12 hours.” See more examples of Adya Clarity promoted with “super shots” through this Bing search: http://www.bing.com/search?q=adya+clarity+super+shot To their credit, the marketers of Adya Clarity did at least recommend that customers “consult with a doctor or medical professional before someone decides to use super shots.” Also, for the record, I do not believe that the marketers of Adya Clarity would knowingly sell a product they thought was harmful. Much of the information in this article is likely to be a surprise to those who have been marketing Adya Clarity. More information will no doubt come to light after the publication of this article, and NaturalNews plans to continue to cover this story. Action items: What should you do if you bought Adya Clarity? If you purchased Adya Clarity, what should you do with this information now? First, I suggest you think twice before ingesting any inorganic material. Ask the commonsense questions you should ask about any non-food product that is being aggressively promoted: What’s in this? Is it safe to consume? How does anybody know it’s safe? Is there a track record of safe use? Is there an independent source that can corroborate the product’s safety without being financially involved in the product? If you can’t get green light answers on these questions, I would recommend avoiding consuming that product. Second, listen to your intuition: Is the marketing too good to be true? Is it being heralded as a “miracle” cure for whatever ails you? Certainly, there are supplements that are almost miraculous in nature, such as vitamin D, or astaxanthin, or even phytonutrients like resveratrol. But “miracle” nutrients are rare, and they usually come from living systems (plants, for the most part), not from rocks. While both trace minerals and macro minerals have a crucial role to play in human health — I’ve promoted many trace minerals myself — when they are mixed with relatively high concentrations of aluminum and iron, any biochemist or nutritionist would naturally begin to ask some commonsense questions about ingesting that product on a regular basis. Third, if you bought Adya Clarity merely to cleanse water due to its coagulation action, then it will obviously still function in that way, and there’s no need to return it or ask for a refund. It can conceivably function as an emergency water filtration technology. But as a side note, you can purchase aluminum sulfate from Amazon.com for just a few dollars a pound. Iron sulfate and magnesium sulfate are similarly inexpensive. If you’re only looking to treat dirty water with coagulation minerals, you can do it for a whole lot less money by simply purchasing bulk minerals on the internet. For example, here’s 4 pounds of aluminum sulfate for less than ten bucks: http://www.amazon.com/Bonide-Aluminum-Sulfate-4-Lb/dp/B003A56KWY I wouldn’t personally use this Bonide Aluminum Sulfate to filter water, however. It’s made as a plant fertilizer. I would prefer to use a ceramic water filter or a Big Berkey filter, or something with a carbon block in it, perhaps. There are lots of good water filters on the market today, and many of them produce clear, drinkable water at just a few cents per gallon. Aluminum sulfate’s use as a chemical flocculant Aluminum sulfate, of course, has long been used in municipal water treatment facilities as a “chemical flocculant” or “coagulant.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_sulfate) This is one of the observed properties of Adya Clarity — when you pour it into a glass of dirty water, many of the impurities in the water coagulate and then, over 24 hours or so, they settle to the bottom of the container, leaving the water above these coagulants less polluted. In municipal water treatment facilities, aluminum sulfate is often used for the same purpose in one stage of the water filtration process. But importantly, there is another stage after that which REMOVES the coagulated metals and minerals so that they don’t enter the water supply. No one in a water treatment facility would recommend you actually drink the coagulant! Yet Adya Clarity implies this behavior on its label, where it says you add Adya Clarity to water and then “enjoy the crisp, clean taste of Adya Clarity water,” without mentioning that you should never drink the coagulated gunk in the bottom of the glass. Deadly aluminum sulfate poisoning in the UK In 1988, a 20-ton load of aluminum sulfate was accidentally dumped into the municipal water supply in a town in the UK . What followed was a mass poisoning of the citizens in a 140-square-mile area. As reported in the Dailymail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-502442/A-lethal-cover-Britains-worst-water-poisoning-scandal.html) : “As she starts to walk, it is with a heavy limp and within 50 yards she is so exhausted that her entire body shakes uncontrollably. After Angela finally reaches the local coffee shop, the trembling of her swollen legs is so bad that the table rocks haphazardly, threatening to spill her mug and croissant onto the floor. No wonder, near to tears, she declares bravely: “When I am dead, I want an autopsy done on my body. It might help all the people who, like me and my two children, drank the water in Camelford all those years ago.” For she and her family were victims of one of Britain’s most high-profile public health scandals in which victims complained of brain damage, memory loss and joint problems.” Also from the story: …dead women had “high levels” of aluminium in their brains… …Hundreds began to suffer effects after drinking or bathing – including skin peeling, hands and lips sticking together, hair turning green and fingernails blue. …By nightfall that day, people were vomiting and had diarrhoea. Next morning, many had skin burns, aching joints and mouth ulcers that took weeks to heal. …A few months later Angela became ill. …She was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph glands of the leg. She had an operation to remove the resulting malignant growth on her left thigh. She has since undergone another operation to remove a new growth on the same leg.” Notably, the fingernails turning blue being reported in this story as a result of aluminum sulfate poisoning is strikingly similar to the “blackened finger tips” eluded to earlier in this story, which has been described as a “detoxification” effect. (http://www.listen2yourgut.com/blog/does-adya-clarity-black-mica-extract-work/) Of course, the level of toxic exposure to aluminum sulfate that occurred in the UK was at extremely high levels — far higher than what a person would likely experience from consuming “super shots” of Adya Clarity. Yet this historical event demonstrates what can happen when aluminum sulfate is consumed in toxic quantities. It’s not a pretty picture. Read that full story, if you wish, at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-502442/A-lethal-cover-Britains-worst-water-poisoning-scandal.html My 15 concerns about Adya Clarity In all, this investigation into Adya Clarity (also called “black mica extract” or Themarox) has left me with numerous concerns that I consider to be quite serious. Here are my top 15 concerns: #1) I am concerned that Adya Clarity is mined just a few dozen miles from the Fukushima nuclear power complex that recently suffered a meltdown and spewed radiation into the atmosphere. I would hope that the supplier of Adya would publicly post a verifiable radiation test report to dismiss any such concerns about possible radiation contamination. #2) I am concerned that the founder of Adya, Inc. describes Adya Clarity as a “food” when it is clearly not a food but rather derived from a collection of mined minerals combined with sulfuric acid. #3) I am concerned that the concentration of aluminum in Adya Clarity appears to have been hidden from customers on the label by listing it in “trace minerals” when in fact it is the second most common element in the product, just after iron. #4) I am concerned that the Adya Clarity manufacturer has such poor quality control measures in place that they admittedly shipped out a very large number of mislabeled Adya Clarity products — and then did not feel any obligation to alert customers to this mislabeling. #5) I am concerned that Adya Clarity is being marketed for internal consumption when there is no clinical evidence or even published scientific papers that have been made available to NaturalNews which supports the safety of the Adya Clarity product for internal consumption. #6) I am concerned that the high level of iron in Adya Clarity may result in acute iron toxicity in some individuals who take “super shots” of Adya, especially if they are genetically predisposed to iron toxicity. #7) I am concerned that Adya Clarity is imported as “battery acid” but sold as a health supplement for internal use. #8) I am concerned that the level of aluminum in Adya Clarity may present a health hazard when consumed on a regular basis, as aluminum is well known to potentially accumulate in the human body and contribute to a variety of neurological disorders. We do not yet conclusively know this to be a fact, but neither do we know it to be safe, and that’s the point. We should follow the “precautionary principle” when considering the internal consumption of non-food items containing concentrations of aluminum or other metals known to exhibit potentially harmful effects. #9) I am concerned that when asked why he did not list the concentration of aluminum on the Adya Clarity label, the founder of the company told me, essentially, “Because I didn’t want to.” To me, this indicates a callous disregard for full disclosure to customers and a reckless abandonment of fundamental ethical principles that should always be present when marketing nutritional supplements labeled for internal use. #10) I am concerned that the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) I received from Adya Clarity appears to be nothing more than a non-official Word document and does not resemble the traditional MSDS documents typically accompanying hazardous substances. as a Word document, it could have easily been modified or edited to eliminate information that the importer did not want other people to see, in much the same way that the label was designed to avoid listing the concentration of aluminum. #11) I am concerned that both children and expectant mothers may be especially at risk due to high consumption of both iron and aluminum, and yet there are no warnings or cautions that accompany the Adya Clarity product which would reasonably inform a pregnant women (or a mother of a child) to exercise caution in the use of this product. #12) I am concerned that the unsubstantiated health claims being used to market Adya Clarity cast a shadow of doubt over the entire natural products industry which, in most cases, sells very safe, effective and well-documented products for consumption. #13) I am concerned that in a time when most of us are trying to remove heavy metals, aluminum and other contaminants from our water (fluoride, BPA, etc.), Adya Clarity is being sold with the message that we need to add something to our water — something that contains aluminum. This is especially concerning given that aluminum is one of the adjuvants used in vaccines, which is one of the reasons informed consumers seek to avoid vaccine injections. #14) I am concerned that those who are marketing Adya Clarity did not exercise fundamental due diligence in determining the evidence-based safety of this product before marketing it for internal use. #15) I am concerned that the Adya Clarity label contains no warnings about iron consumption and no warnings for cumulative aluminum consumption. My principles and ethics As the editor of NaturalNews, I have an obligation to keep my ear to the ground and pay attention to what’s going on in the natural health industry. In the past, I have exposed the deceptive marketing practices of companies like General Mills, which sells “blueberry – pomegranate” cereal that contains no blueberries or pomegranates! (http://www.naturalnews.com/031053_General_Mills_Total_cereal.html) I have helped expose dangers of vaccines and the aluminum contaminants in those vaccines, which many people believe help explain why vaccines may cause autism and other neurological disorders. Day after day, we here at NaturalNews seek to share information about health-enhancing products that are safe and effective while exposing dangerous chemicals in foods, cosmetics, medicines and environmental products that threaten human health. In my years as NaturalNews editor, I have seen it all: The good guys who really offer remarkable health solutions, and the con artists who are selling quack products just to make a quick buck. I’ve seen products hyped way beyond their true merit and sold with outrageous claims that simply have no basis in fact, and at the same time I’ve seen humble nutrients like vitamin D — which are truly miraculous — never get the real publicity they deserve as truly amazing cures. When I talk to people and start getting evasive answers about their products, red flags start to pop up in my head. An honest company selling a mineral complex like Adya, I believe, would have been happy to provide me with an official MSDS and some documentation supporting the safety of their product when ingested. An honest company would have honestly labeled their product to achieve full disclosure and not resorted to hiding one element by burying it in the “trace minerals” section of their label. I personally did not find Adya, Inc. to be forthright in providing answers to my reasonable questions, nor in providing any reliable evidence whatsoever to support the idea that their product may be safely ingested on a regular basis. My conclusions Based on my research and considerable history in the natural products industry, it is my belief that the Adya Clarity product is mislabeled, and I have a question of whether Adya Clarity as it is sold today may stand in violation of California Proposition 65 due to its aluminum content. Based on the evidence I have gathered, I believe the product presents a potential risk of harm to some individuals if consumed in accordance with the way in which it has been labeled and marketed. Everything I have stated in this article is believed to be accurate and true. If any factual mistakes are brought to my attention, I will correct them in a timely manner and issue all appropriate corrections. For the record, I have no financial stake in Adya Clarity, neither its success nor failure. I do not sell or promote any competing product. I am willing to testify under oath in a court of law to the statements and findings I have made herein. I write this out of concern for the safety of NaturalNews readers who deserve to hear the full story on this increasingly popular dietary product. I am committed to taking whatever action is necessary to further investigate this story and help contribute to the safety of consumers who have put their trust in the natural products industry. Watch NaturalNews for more updates on this topic, and thank you for your interest in this subject.

Whole Foods Market supports ‘pink’ breast cancer awareness campaigns that fund drug industry

(NaturalNews) There is a small endorsement on the company’s main website, but it has come to our attention that at least some Whole Foods Market stores in California, Florida and certain other areas have been openly endorsing Breast Cancer Awareness month, as well as a specific group called Pink United that funds the same “breast cancer research” initiatives promoted by groups like Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Extensive research has shown that the massive Susan G. Komen for the Cure campaign is not actually focused on finding a real cure, but instead on generating as much awareness (revenue) as possible for the cancer industry, which thrives on a steady stream of patients getting chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries. And now it appears that since at least 2007, Whole Foods has been endorsing, albeit in a more subdued way, the very same cause. Robert Scott Bell reports that a portion of profits generated from the sale of Pink United products, which are available in many Whole Foods stores, is donated to various cancer charities. These include the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, and of course Susan G. Komen for the cure. All of these groups support conventional cancer treatments while ignoring nutrition and lifestyle based breast cancer prevention methods. Why would Whole Foods Market, whose stores are filled with anti-cancer foods and supplements, endorse groups that fund the drug industry and its conventional (phony) solutions for treating breast cancer? This is a question to which we, as well as thousands of Whole Foods customers, would like to know the answer. Whole Foods does not openly endorse Susan G. Komen for the Cure, but it has partnered with a group that does. And the products sold by this group in Whole Foods stores, which include many of those same tacky and crass “boob” items that other mainstream breast cancer groups often sell these days, are helping to fund the very same industries that scoff at breast cancer prevention and other alternative methods of approaching the breast cancer epidemic. The Old Town Whole Foods in Alexandria, Va., for instance, recently announced its partnership with Pink United on its blog: http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/alexandria/store-blog/ And last year, a Whole Foods in Plantation, Fla., held a “Giving Grill” to support “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer,” a program created by the American Cancer Society (ACS). ACS, of course, has very close ties with the chemical and drug industries that make huge profits off all the breast cancer hysteria: http://wholefoodsmarket.com/pressroom/florida/2010/09/27/october-halloween-2010-healthy-harvest-whole-foods-market-plantation-schedule-of-events/ Sources for this article include: http://www.robertscottbell.com/featured/whole-foods-is-whole-pharma-how-the-natural-grocer-prostitutes-your-dollars-to-the-drug-mafia/

Court documents reveal LA County prosecutor Kelly Sakir used infiltration agents, hidden cameras, extreme surveillance to target Rawesome Foods

(NaturalNews) Examples of government-sponsored terrorism against innocent Americans continue to pour in to NaturalNews, and no case better demonstrates it than the Rawesome Foods raid and the ongoing persecution of its organizers. In court proceedings last Thursday, LA County prosecutor Kelly Sakir turned over 1,097 pages of “discovery” documents to the defendants’ attorneys, revealing an utterly astonishing campaign of spying, surveillance, and entrapment that has targeted Rawesome Foods for at least the last two years. NaturalNews has learned that at least three undercover operatives were hired by the LA County prosecutor’s office to infiltrate Rawesome Foods and sign up as members while covertly filming their actions using hidden cameras in their purses. These cameras almost certainly captured video footage of other members at Rawesome Foods, meaning the government itself stands in violation of wiretapping laws that it often uses against innocent civilians who try to videotape traffic stops by local police. NaturalNews has also learned that there are 42 discs of additional evidence which has been gathered by the LA County prosecutor — including interviews with the operatives, covert camera footage, documents and even video footage from a surveillance pole camera that LA County set up across the street to spy on Rawesome Foods. Mass murderers? No, just people distributing unpasteurized milk The depth of this evidence reveals that LA County has spent millions of dollars conducting the most aggressive, vindictive and downright abusive surveillance campaign against a food distribution club that has ever been recorded in human history. The level of resources that has been directed against Rawesome vastly exceeds the resources typically used against murderers , rapists or organized crime mob bosses. Under the excuse of protecting the public from “fresh milk,” LA County has spent millions of dollars and countless thousands of hours conducting the kind of surveillance that would sensibly only be reserved for hard-core violent criminals such as serial killers. “You have to wonder how many people died from murders in LA County while these prosecutors were busy running surveillance on the distribution of fresh milk,” Robert Scott Bell said. He’s the host of the Robert Scott Bell Show and will be covering this issue on Monday’s broadcast (www.NaturalNewsRadio.com). “Couldn’t these law enforcement resources have been put to a better use protecting society from real criminals?” “It all harkens back to Thomas Payne, with Common Sense,” added attorney Ajna Sharma, who represents James Stewart. “We have lost our common sense; we’ve lost the true meaning of what it means to be an American and what freedom means.” Kelly Sakir and the new “green” government tyrants This government tyranny against Rawesome Foods has been spearheaded by LA County prosecutor Kelly Sakir, who NaturalNews can now reveal is a rabid environmentalist who gave donations to MoveOn.org and an environmental PAC (political action committee) in 2004. (http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?zip=90012&last=Sakir&first=Kelly) Sakir is part of a new breed of what some people are calling “government terrorists” who cannot discern right from wrong and merely use their positions of authority to carry out what are essentially terrorism campaigns against those they hate. In reality, the viciousness of this attempted prosecution of James Steward, Sharon Palmer and Victoria Bloch can only be rightly characterized as a “hate crime” being carried out by the government itself, all under a special “environmental crimes” unit that claims to be protecting the public. In reality, however, these so-called “crimes” are all utterly fabricated — just like the “war on terror” — and those targeted for persecution by the state or federal government are usually just innocent Americans who are trying to run an honest business, or distribute honest food, or contribute to society in a meaningful way. The government is literally trying to destroy America’s economy and freedoms Case in point: Gibson Guitars was raided by the federal government and accused of “environmental crimes” for importing wood from India to be used in its guitars. The federal government said that it is now illegal for U.S. workers to “work imported wood from India” and that if it wanted to avoid such raids in the future, Gibson should move its manufacturing jobs overseas! (http://www.naturalnews.com/033454_Gibson_Guitar_armed_raid.html) and (http://www.naturalnews.com/033506_Gibson_Guitar_American_workers.html) It’s true: Both state governments and federal agencies are now actively working to destroy America’s health and its economy by shutting down businesses and organizations that offer jobs or natural health solutions to the American people. The terror-style tactics being used against Rawesome Foods are indicative of the fact that this is not a customary criminal investigation but rather a government vendetta against health freedom . This is the government, in other words, actively seeking to destroy your right to access real food and thereby protect your health in the process. This is government waging war on the American people under the label of “environmentalism.” More charges may yet be leveled against James, and more defendants may be named NaturalNews has learned that Kelly Sakir intends to name more defendants in the case and even add more charges to the counts already faced by James Stewart. Throwing these people in jail for several days and dragging them into court isn’t enough, it seems; Kelly Sakir seems to want to destroy their lives and make sure they do hard time in prison. What’s clear from this is that Kelly Sakir is out for blood and is on some sort of bizarre punitive rampage against James Stewart in particular and health freedom in general. And she’s using taxpayer resources in LA County to bankroll her personal vendetta against fresh milk and anyone involved in distributing it. (Does she hate cows or something? Did she step in a pile of cow poo as a child and now she forever seeks revenge on cow milk?) If you live in LA County, keep in mind that your tax dollars are supporting all this tyranny! Take action: Here’s how to protest this madness I encourage you to join me in contacting the LA County District Attorney’s office today and letting them know what you think about this total waste of taxpayer money to conduct extreme surveillance over fresh milk. Their contact page is at: http://da.co.la.ca.us/feedback.htm There, you can call, email or post a form. The best option is to CALL them at (213) 974-3512 because phone calls mean much more than emails. You might consider calling their Hate Crime Unit at (213) 202-7799 and leaving a message complaining about Kelly Sakir and her hate crimes against raw milk. Or call the Consumer Protection Division at (213) 580-3273 and complain that consumer rights are under assault by prosecutor Kelly Sakir who has stripped away the consumer right to purchase fresh milk and cheese. Contact the Bureau of Community Relations at (213) 974-7401 and tell them how incensed you are that LA County tax dollars are being used to hire undercover agents to investigate raw milk instead of being used to track down and arrest violent criminals. Call their Major Crimes Division at (213) 974-3800 and explain that Kelly Sakir is running a major criminal operation against innocent LA County citizens who are merely distributing wholesome food to private members. Sakir sure looks a lot more like the criminal here than James Stewart! And email them, if you want, at webmail@da.lacounty.gov (although remember, emails will probably just be deleted). LA County District Attorneys = terrorists in training? What we are witnessing here, friends, is an out of control government terrorist organization known as the LA County District Attorney’s Office. Of course, most people in the LA County DA’s office are good people . Most of them are hard at work trying to protect society from REAL criminals — the murderers, rapists, con artists, fraudsters and so on. And yet within their midst, they have Kelly Sakir , an out-of-control, rampaging government tyrant who makes the whole department look like a bunch of low life government thugs (or criminal terrorists who actively plot against innocent people). It’s incredible that they keep this woman on the payroll and let her spend millions of dollars in taxpayer money going after RAW MILK! Hey, LA County DA people: Aren’t there REAL criminals that need to be surveilled? Aren’t there violent gang members who deserve your attention rather than a bunch of raw cheese eaters? What is wrong with you people? With each passing day that you allow Kelly Sakir and her rampage of hatred continue, you discredit your entire office and prove all the rest of us right when we say you are a bunch of government terrorists who care nothing for the people and only enjoy abusing your power to get off on some sort of insane ego trip. In my opinion, Kelly Sakir is the real criminal in all this , and if any money should be spent on surveillance at all, it should be spent keeping an eye on Sakir and her abuse of government power. This is a clear-cut case for a criminal investigation in Kelly Sakir’s abuse of power and violation of the civil rights of James Stewart and others. The LA County DA’s office should investigate Kelly Sakir , I say, and potentially bring charges for her outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars and for waging a completely unjustified personal war against Rawesome Foods which poses no threat whatsoever to the public at large. Her abuse of power is so clear-cut that if you open an encyclopedia and turn to the entry for “government abuse of power,” it should have Kelly Sakir’s mug shot there. This woman is an embarrassment to law enforcement, an embarrassment to the people of LA County, and an embarrassment to the very idea of justice in America. I think Sakir is a power-tripping paranoid sociopath who will apparently waste any amount of LA County taxpayer dollars in her quest to destroy her targeted enemies, even when they pose no threat to the public. Send us any tips you have about Kelly Sakir NaturalNews is now accepting reader tips through a more streamlined process. If you have any tips about Kelly Sakir that you think we need to know, submit them to us at: http://www.naturalnews.com/newstips/NewsTips.asp We will review all submitted tips in a timely manner. Thank you for helping us expose government corruption in LA County and help protect the lives of innocents.

Bromelain – Find health with the healing qualities of proteolytic enzymes

(NaturalNews) Pineapples have long had a tradition for their healing qualities among the natives of Central and South America. Bromelain is a powerful proteolytic enzyme from the juice and stems of pineapples. It is very helpful for aiding the digestive processes. It has also shown very powerful anti-inflammatory properties that have caught the attention of nutritional researchers. Bromelain can refer to either of 2 enzymes: Stem Bromelain and Fruit Bromelain. These are referred to as sulfhydryl proteases since a cysteine side-chain of free sulfhydryl group is present in the structure. The stem form is the most common commercial source due to the wide availability after the fruit is harvested. (1-2) Bromelain has been used as a therapeutic supplement since 1957. Research was first conducted in Hawaii but has now spread around the world. Germany is the most involved in research on this unique nutrient. Bromelain is currently the thirteenth most used herbal supplement in Germany. (1-2) Bromelain has shown through a number of research studies to be effective at modulating inflammation and lessening the severity of a number of inflammatory based diseases. These include multiple sclerosis, pleurisy, arteriosclerosis, osteoarthritis, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and allergic asthma. (3-16) Bromelain is also great at relieving sinus congestion. Bromelain has been shown to ease congestion, reduce nasal mucous and heal areas of swelling by mediating the inflammation caused by infection or hay fever. The German Commission E approved bromelain for the treatment of sinus and nasal swelling following ear, nose, and throat surgery or trauma. Bromelain has been shown to remove certain CD128 receptors for interleukin-8 (IL-8). IL-8 is an immune cell that stimulates neutrophil activation. Increased neutrophil activation is associated with increased inflammation. By modulating the receptors for IL-8, bromelain helps control this immune reaction. Other studies have shown bromelain to effectively reduce other known inflammatory prostaglandins, cytokines, and chemokines. (17, 18) Bromelain has shown itself to be comparable to strong anti-inflammatory drugs such as dexamethasone and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs). While these medications can be addictive and have very dangerous side effects, bromelain is non-addictive and side effects happen less often than what occurs with these medications. Most common side effects associated with bromelain include nausea, diarrhea and indigestion. Other side effects include tachycardia, fatigue and heavy menstruation. People with allergies to pineapple should avoid bromelain. Allergic reactions may also occur in people who are intolerant to celery, fennel, carrot, papain, and latex. People with peptic ulcers should not use bromelain either. Bromelain and supplements utilizing this enzyme are particularly useful for athletes and people involved in intense exercise. Although studies show mixed results, bromelain may reduce swelling, bruising, healing time, and pain following surgery and physical injuries. It is often used to reduce inflammation associated with tendinitis, sprains and strains, and with other minor muscle injuries such as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). (19,20) DOMS is the typical muscle soreness associated with an intense bout of exercise. Athletes and lay people frequently encounter DOMS as they alternate training frequency, intensity and time periods. A 2004 study showed that bromelain in combination with other proteolytic enzymes significantly reduced DOMS in downhill runners. (21) http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/herbsvitaminsa1/a/Bromelain.htm http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2516972/?tool=pubmed http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/bromelain-000289.htm [Editor`s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and wellbeing of all living creatures.] 1.Maurer HR. Bromelain: biochemistry, pharmacology and medical use. Cell and Molec Life Sci. 2001;58:1234-1245. [PubMed] 2.Taussig SJ, Batkin S. Bromelain, the enzyme complex of pineapple (Ananas comosus) and its clinical application. An update. J Ethnopharmacol. 1988;22:191-203. [PubMed] 3.Brien S, Lewith G, Walker A (2004). “Bromelain as a Treatment for Osteoarthritis: a Review of Clinical Studies”. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine: eCAM. 1 (3): 251-257. doi:10.1093/ecam/neh035. PMC 538506. PMID 15841258. 4.Hale LP, Chichlowski M, Trinh CT, Greer PK (2010). “Dietary supplementation with fresh pineapple juice decreases inflammation and colonic neoplasia in IL-10-deficient mice with colitis”. Inflamm Bowel Dis 16 (12): 2012-21. PMID 20848493. 5.Majima M, Kawashima N, Hiroshi I, Katori M. Effects of an orally active non-peptide bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist, FR173657, on plasma exudation in rat carrageenin-induced pleurisy. Brit J Pharmacol. 1997;121:723-730. [PMC free article] [PubMed] 6.Ogino M, Majima M, Kawamura M, Hatanaka K, Saito M, Harada Y, Katori M. Increased migration of neutrophils to granulocyte-colony stimulating factor in rat carrageenin-induced pleurisy: roles of complement, bradykinin, and inducible cyclooxygenase-2. Inflamm Res. 1996;45:335-346. [PubMed] 7.Gaciong Z, Paczek L, Bojakowski K, Socha K, Wisniewski M, Heidland A. Beneficial effect of proteases on allograft arteriosclerosis in a rat aortic model. Nephrol Dialysis, Transplant. 1996;11:987-989. 8.Wittenborg A, Bock PR, Hanisch J, Saller R, Schneider B. Comparative epidemiological study in patients with rheumatic diseases illustrated in a example of a treatment with non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs versus an oral enzyme combination preparation. Arzneimittel-Forschung. 2000;50:728-738. [PubMed] 9.Brown AC. Lupus erythematosus and nutrition: a review of the literature. J Renal Nutrit. 2000;10:170-183. 10. Akhtar NM, Naseer R, Farooqi AZ, Aziz W, Nazir M. Oral enzyme combination versus diclofenac in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee – a double-blind prospective randomized study. Clin Rheumatol. 2004;23:410-415. 11.Secor ER, Jr, Carson WF, IV, Cloutier MM, Guernsey LA, Schramm CM, Wu CA, Thrall RS. Bromelain exerts anti-inflammatory effects in an ovalbumin-induced murine model of allergic airway disease. Clin Immunol. 2005;237:68-75. 12.Rovenska E, Svik K, Stancikova M, Rovensky J. Enzyme and combination therapy with cyclosporin A in the rat developing adjuvant arthritis. Inter J Tiss React. 1999;21:105-111. 13.Thornhill SM, Kelly AM. Natural treatment of perennial allergic rhinitis. Alternative Med Rev. 2000;5:448-454. 14.Hale LP, Greer PK, Trinh CT, Gottfried MR. Treatment with oral bromelain decreases colonic inflammation in the IL-10-deficient murine model of inflammatory bowel disease. Clin Immunol. 2005;116:135-142. [PubMed] 15.Kane S, Goldberg MJ. Use of bromelain for mild ulcerative colitis. Ann Int Med. 2000;132:680. [PubMed] 16.Rovenska E, Svik K, Stancikova M, Rovensky J. Inhibitory effect of enzyme therapy and combination therapy with cyclosporin A on collagen-induced arthritis. Clin ExpRheumatol. 2001;19:303-309. 17.Onken JE, Greer PK, Calingaert B, Hale LP. Bromelain treatment decreases secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines by colon biopsies in vitro. Clin Immunol. 2008 Mar;126(3):345-52. Epub 2007 Dec 21. 18.Fitzhugh DJ, Shan S, Dewhirst MW et al. (2008). Bromelain treatment decreases neutrophil migration to sites of inflammation. Clin Immunol. 128:66-74. 19.Masson M. Bromelain in blunt injuries of the locomotor system. A study of observed applications in general practice. Fortschritte der Medizin. 1995;113:303-306. [PubMed] 20.Buford TW, Cooke MB, Redd LL, Hudson GM, Shelmadine BD, Willoughby DS. Protease supplementation improves muscle function after eccentric exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Oct;41(10):1908-14. 21.Miller PC, Bailey SP, Barnes ME, Derr SJ, Hall EE The effects of protease supplementation on skeletal muscle function and DOMS following downhill running. J Sports Sci. 2004 Apr;22(4):365-72. About the author Dr. David Jockers owns and operates Exodus Health Center in Kennesaw, Ga. He is a Maximized Living doctor. His expertise is in weight loss, customized nutrition and exercise, and structural corrective chiropractic care. For more information go to www.exodushc.com To find a Maximized Living doctor near you go to www.maximizedliving.com

Heartworm drugs for pets; Big Pharma’s cash cow

(NaturalNews) In a seemingly diabolical plot, veterinarians and pharmaceutical companies have teamed up in a marketing campaign to frighten pet guardians into giving year-round heartworm preventatives to their cats, as well as dogs. These so-called experts say they’re doing this to improve protection for individual pets, but the facts say their motives may be less pure. With few exceptions, heartworms (Dirofilaria immitis) are a completely seasonal problem, so there is no reason to give heartworm medicine to ANY pet year-round-except to make money for those who make and sell it! Those financially-motivated folks say the number of cases will rise unless everybody gives the medications. They rationalize this by citing statistics on how most people don’t use the products, and proclaiming that the number of unprotected dogs will surely cause even more disease. However, despite years of many animals being given unnecessary drugs and many more who aren’t, the prevalance of heartworm has not really changed. In fact, a recent headline in a veterinary publication trumpeted, “Heartworm now found in all 50 states”–as if it was a triumph! While that statement may be technically true, the survey did not differentiate between all dogs testing positive for heartworm, and dogs testing positive for heartworm that came from somewhere else! The increase in positive-testing dogs may be attributable to the widespread dispersion of heartworm-infected dogs after Hurricane Katrina, rather than a true increase in the level of disease. Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitoes. Heartworm larvae, called microfilaria, live in the blood and are sucked up by the bug. Once inside the mosquito, they must further develop before they can infect another dog. For that to occur, outside temperatures must remain above 57 degrees F, day and night, for a certain period of time (but at least 8 days). The warmer the temperature, the faster the larvae will mature. If the temperature drops below the critical level, larval development will stop, but the larvae don’t die, development will re-start at the same point when the weather warms back up. Larvae reach their infective stage in 8 to 30 days (the latter being the insect’s entire lifespan-if the larvae haven’t matured by then, they will die along with the mosquito). It should be obvious that during seasons and in areas where there are no mosquitoes, there is no risk of heartworm. Evidently that little fact escaped the attention of the veterinarian who prescribed heartworm protection — in December-for a puppy living high in the Colorado mountains. At that altitude, temperatures are never warm enough for heartworms! On this map, heartworm risk is shown by the month when the use of heartworm preventatives should begin. In most states, protection should be continued through November or December. In the Michigan UP, preventatives are suggested from August through October. Within 150 miles of the Gulf Coast and other areas in pink, prevention is recommended from April through January. In the red areas of southern Texas and Florida, year-round preventatives may be needed. Local conditions may vary from year to year. Global warming, hurricanes/flooding, and other factors may increase the mosquito population and thus influence heartworm risk. (This map is a very loose approximation only, and is not intended to be used exclusively to determine risk.) http://www.naturalnews.com/images/US-Heartworm-Map-1.jpg When an infected mosquito bites a dog or cat, the microfilaria are deposited on the skin, where they then crawl into the bite wound and enter the bloodstream. Inside the body, they grow and progress through other larval forms. In dogs, the heartworm’s natural host, larvae migrate to the heart and eventually develop into adult worms. In cats, full-grown worms can develop (but not reproduce). A cat cannot transmit the disease. Adult heartworms are over a foot long when grown (in 6-8 months), but it takes only 1 or 2 to fill up a cat’s tiny heart and cause serious problems. However, in 80% of infections, the cat’s own immune system kills the larvae at an earlier stage, and clears the infection. However, heartworms don’t have to be full-grown to cause problems. In cats, a respiratory condition can develop. Not-quite-full-grown microfilaria can get stuck small blood vessels in the lungs, where they can cause significant inflammation and damage. This uniquely feline condition is called Heartworm Associated Respiratory Disease, or HARD. Symptoms are similar to asthma; and it’s possible that some “asthmatic” cats are misdiagnosed with an immune-mediated disease instead of a parasite. Even so, about half of infected cats never develop any signs of heartworm disease at all. And while the disease causes serious damage to the lungs, much of the damage may be reversible by the body’s normal healing processes. Chronic and sequential infections have not been studied. Indoor cats are, of course, less likely to be bitten by a mosquito, but anyone who’s ever been around them knows that the little buggers can be quite persistent, so it isn’t impossible. In one study, 25% of heartworm-positive cats were reported to be indoors-only. Outdoor cats are at higher risk not only for heartworm but also for feline leukemia, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV or feline AIDS), and all the other parasites, injuries, and diseases common to outdoor cats. However, keeping all pets indoors during prime mosquito-feeding time (late afternoon an evening) will greatly reduce the risk of a bite. Heartworm preventative drugs do not kill adult heartworms, but they do kill microfilaria up to a certain stage of development. Currently it is believed that larvae under 6 weeks old are affected. This means that in order to prevent heartworms from reaching adulthood, the preventative can be given up to 6 weeks after the mosquito bite occurs, and still work. The recommendation is to give the drugs every 30 days, purportedly because once-a-month dosing is easier for most people to remember (and, coincidentally, it also sells more drugs!). The most common preventative drugs for heartworm are ivermectin (Heartgard) and selamectin (Revolution). While these drugs are generally considered “safe and effective” at the low doses used for heartworm prevention, there are always exceptions. Signs of toxicity associated with ivermectin include: depression, ataxia (balance problems or unsteady walk), and blindness. Selamectin is also used to treat ear mites and some intestinal worms; adverse reactions include hair loss at the site of application, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle tremors, anorexia, lethargy, salivation, rapid breathing, and contact allergy. Most veterinarians hand out heartworm preventatives like candy; but there is a serious and growing problem of resistance of heartworms to these drugs. This means that we are selecting for “superworms” that will be able to survive and grow even in animals on heartworm preventatives (despite Big Pet Pharma’s denials that this is happening). As with all cases of drug resistance, the correct response is to reduce use of the drug and reserve it only for when it is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, the veterinary profession and drug industries have decided to go for profits instead, and are continuing to call for all pets to be on medications all year round. This is bad science, and it is bad policy. The Big Pet Pharma folks are very protective of the income from heartworm drugs, and will apparently stop at nothing to increase profits. Merial, maker of the popular heartworm preventative Heartgard, was repeatedly warned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to stop exaggerating the effectiveness of the product (which has been declining for at least a decade). Moreover, a fired Merial executive filed suit against Merial, claiming that the company deliberately lied for years, not only about the product’s effectiveness, but also the true number and severity of adverse events. Pfizer’s Animal Health division alone, which makes the heartworm preventative Revolution as well as vaccines and other animal drugs, is valued at $10 billion to $16 billion (and may soon be sold to Merial or another competitor!). If you feel you must use heartworm prevention products, get them from your veterinarian. Surveys have found mislabeled, expired, imported, and counterfeit products being sold from other sources. Follow dosage instructions and do not over-treat. NEVER, EVER use a heartworm product made for dogs on a cat. The components are different between dog and cat products, and dog products can kill a cat in a matter of hours. Many cats have suffered and died this way.

The dangers of artificial food colors

(NaturalNews) “Should the FDA be so permissive with chemicals in food, suspect or not, that amount to little more than marketing?” asks The Daily Green (http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/artificial-food-colorings-health-effects). This question is particularly pertinent considering that colorings have not always proven to be harmless. Citrus Red 2, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3, –which include some of the most commonly used artificial food colorings–have all been identified as being, or being contaminated with, potential cancer-causing chemicals, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. And Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 are known to trigger reactions in those with allergies. History paints an ugly food color portrait Until the twentieth century, food coloring could only be obtained from what people found in nature. Ancient Romans used saffron and other spices to put a rich yellow color into various foods (http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/foodcolorhistry.htm). Other frequently used natural colors included paprika, turmeric, beet extract, and petals of various flowers. But many of the other frequently used natural colors were not only unappetizing, but downright dangerous (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2009.00089.x/pdf). Bakers added chalk to whiten bread, for example, and sweets manufacturers loaded candy with vermilion (which contains mercury), red lead, white lead, verdigris (which is a copper salt), blue vitriol (which contains copper) and Scheele’s green (which contains both copper and arsenic). The science of food coloring evolved from there and technology created a new kind of dye derived from coal tar, a waste product of coal gas and coke. The synthetic dyes came to be known at coal-tar colors and they are what we still use today. By the beginning of the 20th century, some 695 of these had been synthesized, and over 80 were on the market. While they were generally a safer alternative to metal salts and used in less quantity, they were still unregulated. In 1938, responsibility for regulating and enforcing color was granted to the newly instituted Food and Drug Administration. At that point, there were 15 synthetic colors approved for use in foods, 6 of which are still used today. Modern food colorings have their own problems While manufacturers were no longer adding mercury or arsenic to their products, food-coloring dangers took center stage, yet again, in the 1950s after many children became ill from eating Halloween candy containing the Orange 1 food coloring. The FDA banned the color after more rigorous testing suggested that it was toxic (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/health/policy/30fda.html). Red 32 and Orange 2 were also delisted due to the same Halloween incident, according to the Harvard Law School paper, The Palette of Our Palates: A brief history of food coloring and its regulation. The controversy continued when, in 1976, the agency banned Red 2 because it was suspected to be carcinogenic, according to The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/health/policy/30fda.html). Other colors have since been banned in the US including: Violet 1; Reds 2 and 4; Yellows 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Yellow 5 is undergoing testing, according to Encyclopedia Britannica (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/212658/food-colouring). The FDA decided to remove Red 2 from the provisional list in 1976, after Conflicting studies were published. Some studies showed the dye was safe and others showed that it was not safe and, in fact, caused breast and intestinal tumors in rats and was toxic to gonads and embryos. The FDA de-listed it stating that the color industry had not met its burden of proving the safety of Red 2. Yellow 5 was the successor to Red 2 in popularity. The color, sometimes called Tartrazine, also had its own problems. It was one of the dyes singled out in 1977 by Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen Health Research Group as unsafe. The group pointed to the de-listing of Red 2 and Red 4 a year earlier as evidence that dyes we consider “safe” are often later shown to be toxic. While the FDA said that Public Citizen was “overstating the issue and causing public alarm that is simply not warranted,” they simultaneously admitted that Yellow 5 caused severe allergic reactions in a small number of people. Is the FDA doing a better job today? The FDA suggested that problems associated with artificial coloring might be akin to a peanut allergy or intolerance to these substances and not to any inherent toxic properties of the colorings themselves, said the New York Times. This may not be accurate, according to a 2004 Southampton University study covered by the BBC. A team of researchers found that adding food colors to children’s diets increased hyperactivity rates in all young children, not just those who were allergic to food colorings or who had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3742423.stm). “I want this to address a fundamental issue which is ‘Why do we have to have colored food?’ said Professor John Warner, the study’s author. “It’s absolutely imperative to have follow up studies because we are not now just talking about a population of children with a particular problem we are saying there’s a potential for this to be an effect on all children,” he said. “And, if that really is the case, then food coloring should be removed.” Consumers can avoid synthetic food colorings by checking labels in grocery stores or by shopping at chains like Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, which refuse to sell foods with artificial coloring. Sources for this article include http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2009.00089.x/pdf http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/212658/food-colouring http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/artificial-food-colorings-health-effects http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/health/policy/30fda.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3742423.stm http://www.heartland.org/healthpolicy-news.org/article/29857/Group_Calls_for_Ban_on_Food_Coloring.html http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/foodcolorhistry.htm

The Xtremes: Subversive recipes for catastrophic times

(NaturalNews) In just a few short months, we’ve witnessed people power in action. From the Middle East to the Midwest, movements have risen up to overturn tired dogma and challenge entrenched power. Many of us were inspired by these events. And many of us were surprised. Perhaps we were growing skeptical that people power could still work. Maybe we had forgotten a vital fact about our world: that bold citizens, united around a common mission, can still come together to create major change against enormous odds. — 350.org Even when people are willing to take action in concert to redistribute the pie, whether by Gandhian mobilization or use of force, this may resonate falsely, for the pie is disintegrating. Its recipe and ingredients are obsolete. And freedom attained in harsh austerity, characterized by intense competition for food, will be doubtful or of little comfort. — Jan Lundberg, “Social Justice Activists Must Take Into Account Ecological, Cultural, and Economic Transformation” After seven generations of industrial Business as Usual — burning up fossil fuels, waging war on nature and public health, and discharging greenhouse gas pollution into the atmosphere like there’s no tomorrow — we’ve peaked. Distracted by know-nothing climate change deniers and betrayed by cowardly politicians, we’re suddenly face-to-face with the Xtremes: Peak Oil, relentless heat, cold, droughts, blizzards, floods, pestilence, crop failures, and evermore deadly “natural” catastrophes, including hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, typhoons, and earthquakes. Held hostage by out-of-control energy corporations, make-believe terrorist threats, and indentured politicians, we lurch from disaster to disaster. Last year the BP oil spill, this year the Fukushima meltdown. Checking our gauges for oil, food, water, topsoil, clean air, climate stability, ethical business practices, and democracy – we’re running on empty. Economic depression, nuclear meltdown, extreme weather, catastrophic oil spills, crop failures, contamination of aquifers through natural gas fracking and oil sands extraction, dirty coal and mountaintop removal, genetically engineered “Frankenfoods” and agrofuels, endless wars for oil and strategic resources, and deteriorating public health – welcome to the New World Order of 2011. Bend down for the New Global Lords, our planetary Board of Directors: 1200 billionaires, 10 million millionaires, and 1000 giant multinational corporations. Out-of-control corporate globalization and hyper-consumerism have pumped so much carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere (390 parts per million of CO 2; and 438 ppm of CO 2, CH 4, and N 20 combined) that we’re fast-tracked for disaster. Melting glaciers and polar ice caps; thawing out the 1,600-gigaton permafrost methane time bomb of the Far North; burning up the tropical forests of the Global South, we are hell-bent for catastrophe. Leading climatologists such as Dr. James Hansen and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have delivered the final warning: either turn away from unsustainable energy practices; drastically reduce fossil fuel use by 90% by 2050 (starting immediately); and restore the natural greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration capacities of our soils, forests, farmlands, and pasturelands through conversion to organic management practices — so as to safely bring CO 2 levels in the atmosphere back down to 350 ppm and all combined GHG back down to 393ppm — or else prepare to live in climate hell. In the planetary past, when volcanic eruptions, meteorites, changes in the Earth’s axis, or other mega-disasters oversaturated the atmosphere with greenhouse gases (GHG), the oceans, living soils, plants, and forests were able to sequester billions of tons of greenhouse gases and re-stabilize the climate. Unfortunately these climate stabilizing carbon sinks or sequestration centers are now being destroyed by the Business as Usual practices of the transnational corporations and a crazed narcissistic culture of hyper-consumerism. We are careening toward the final precipice. Either we join the global grassroots uprising to overthrow the Global Lords and their Military-Industrial Fossil Fuel Empire, either we downshift our energy-intensive culture and practices, and re-localize our economy, or else… Although billions are still asleep at the wheel or dozing in front of their TVs… Although the majority are still brainwashed or else mentally and physically broken down, a critical mass of enrages across the world are waking up and taking action. A new Green Internationale is spreading its roots in local communities and regions across the globe. A growing corps of global citizens and organizations in hundreds of thousands of communities are turning their attention and ire toward the real source of the Crisis, the Corporate Elite and the National Security State, and starting to work on building sustainable alternatives and resilient communities that can survive the coming economic and energy collapse. The outlines of this new decentralized Green Commonwealth are slowly but surely becoming visible: community supported organic food and farming; open source media and communications; holistic health care, alternative schools and education; renewable energy, housing and transportation; relocalized commerce, bartering, sustainable finance, and participatory decision-making. Damage to the Body Politic A suicidal Business as Usual still predominates in much of the developing world, and in the industrialized nations as well, because billions of us, the Underclass, are struggling with the nearly impossible task of trying to survive and support our families in a profoundly non-sustainable economy and society, often deeply in debt, living on minimum or starvation wages. Other would-be rebels, indeed a large percentage of the world population, are held in check by the understanding that, if they step too far out of line, they will be brutally repressed. Another huge segment of the body politic are physically ill, drug-addicted, malnourished, or psychologically incapacitated. In the workaholic, media-saturated culture of the industrialized nations, now spreading to the developing world, an army of lonely and alienated couch potatoes remain distracted, drugged, or hypnotized by rampant consumerism, political charlatans, and fake-Messiahs (such as Obama). Brainwashed and programmed to believe you can’t “Fight City Hall” or the big corporations, why not just jump in your car and go to the mall, or sit down and turn on the TV or the computer? Drink another beer, pop another prescription pill, stuff your face with junk food, kill the pain? Unfortunately as we move to confront the Xtremes, more often than not, we find civil society divided and disempowered by single-issue silos and tunnel-vision identity politics; or else mystified and mislead into believing that everything will turn out all right, if we just nudge the politicians and the corporations a little bit more. Although it’s obvious that we will never have a sustainable energy, housing, agriculture, health, or transportation system in the U.S. without transferring hundreds of billions of dollars a year from military spending into building a full employment green economy, the peace movement is over here, while the alternative energy, climate, organic, and green jobs movements are over there, each marginalized in their own respective corners or silos. Similarly we’ll never be able to fund a global green economy, or provide universal health care, or offer a living wage for workers, until we force the rich and the corporations to pay their fair share of taxes, democratize the media, take away the legal fiction, so-called “rights of corporate personhood,” and get special interest money out of politics. And yet we have a tax reform movement over here, a single-payer health care reform movement over there, a media reform movement in that corner, a union movement over there, and a vast array of isolated local and state movements (Wisconsin, Michigan, California and a dozen other states) trying to fight corporate-driven cutbacks and giveaways. And of course none of these life or death reforms will be possible until we get over our fear of confronting and taking down the 800 pound gorillas in the room: The Corporate Elite and the National Security State. It’s time to come together, unite our forces, and address the fundamental root causes of the Crisis. It’s time to get over our fears of being called radical or Utopian and offer real solutions. It’s time to broaden the discussion, link the issues, expand our coalitions, and fight the Xtremes. The Global Uprising: Is It Already Too Late? People in increasing numbers are connecting the dots, standing up and fighting for their rights and the rights of the future generations. Many of us now realize that it is extremely unlikely that things will ever return to “normal.” The energy, cultural, political, and socio-economic system that we’ve grown accustomed to — based upon cheap fossil fuel energy and a predictable stable climate, is headed for collapse. The urgent priority is to channel this coming collapse (think of it, hopefully, in terms of a descending stairway, rather than a plunge off a cliff) into a mass movement and a national community building process. Before collapse metastasizes into panic and martial law, we still have time to lay down the foundations for a new Commonwealth. But before we can rise up as a subversive and creative force, a critical mass needs to be prepared, both psychologically and politically. Only individuals with deep self-respect and communities with profound self-confidence will be able to move beyond halfway measures, so-called liberal, progressive, or libertarian solutions, and address the radical root causes and solutions to the Crisis. We must be strong enough and confident enough to face, with brutal honesty, the current situation, and have the courage and fortitude to “tell it like it is.” The irreplaceable prerequisite for a democratic revolution and a sustainable society are healthy, resilient individuals with a high-degree of consciousness and self-respect, and energized resilient communities with a high degree of self-confidence and solidarity. No Pasaran (They Shall Not Pass): Stand Up and Fight Through decades of activism, extending from the anti-war and counter-culture movement of the 1960s, to my current role as director of a nationwide activist network, the Organic Consumers Association, and a national campaign, called Millions Against Monsanto, I’ve been anxiously waiting for a critical mass of Americans to stand up and fight. From Johnson to Nixon, Ford and Carter, from Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. to Obama, along with so many others, I’ve fought the good fight, participated in all the front-line movements and protests, voted for the best candidates, greened up my lifestyle, and never lost hope–even as powerful forces of evil hijacked democracy, wrecked the environment, and destabilized the climate. But basta ya — enough is enough. We have reached the outer limits of democracy, climate stability, energy resources, and indeed human survival. It’s time to stand up, unite our forces, and fight for power — or else surrender. After decades of sucking up to liberal foundations and funders and lesser of two evils politicians who keep telling us to “tone it down,” and “stick to what’s practical,” we stand on the crowded deck of the USA Titanic. Amid the bedlam, and a growing sense of panic, our options are severely limited. We can keep arguing among ourselves about how to arrange the deckchairs – whose issue is more important, which magic bullet reform will save us, which candidate or corporation is slightly better, or who is the most oppressed. We can make a run for the lifeboats – even though most of us, especially our children and grandchildren, won’t make it. Or we can unite our forces, storm the captain’s quarters, and turn the ship away from the Xtremes. I’m sick and tired of a thousand different single-issue campaigns, identity politics, wimpy liberals, progressive infighting, armchair philanthropists, and limited-focus mobilizing. I’m terminally weary of just “fighting the good fight” against a corporate Goliath who always seems to win, or voting for alternative candidates who usually lose. I’m sick of lobbying hopelessly corrupt politicians to be a little more humane, and pressuring corporate criminals to be a little less greedy. And finally, I’m horrified to ponder the thought that my teenage son may have to struggle for sheer survival in a brutal, ecologically devastated, martial law state. Minor political reforms and corporate “greenwashing” at this stage of history are too little, too late. The lesser of indentured evils in the White House is not going to save us. Increased market share for organic, green, and Fair Trade products will amount to little or nothing in the closing era of the Xtremes. What we need is a bold determination to carry out regime change and build a new green and egalitarian society, inside the deteriorating infrastructure of the old. What we need are supercharged and inspired “networks of networks,” online and on the ground; mass-based multi-focus campaigns and electoral insurgencies, led by Live Wire organizers who bring together and frame the burning issues and popular passions of a critical mass of the majority Underclass. What we need is a massive new synergy between strategic sectors of the presently fragmented progressive/radical rainbow, supercharging a new wave of positive solutions, structural reforms, community building, survival planning, and electoral insurgency. On the personal level this means breaking with deeply ingrained habits and ways of thinking, and integrating our daily lives and practices into the building of a new transformative and revolutionary Movement. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the relative desperation of your situation, objective conditions for a grassroots global uprising are quickly ripening. The current ruling junta has overextended themselves, and a powerful conflagration of disasters is waking up a critical mass of the global grassroots. We now have a political opening in the United States that has not existed since the Watergate Era and the fall of Richard Nixon in 1974. But time is of the essence. At the risk of stating the obvious, let’s keep these basics in mind: * The Republican and Democratic parties are both totally controlled by all-powerful corporations at the national levels (if not yet always at the lower levels). * The mainstream media is controlled by corporations that suppress real information and cynically manipulate the public. * U.S. elections are controlled by corporations and rich donors (with the direct support and involvement of the major parties) who buy the candidates and restrict access to the press by new or upstart candidates. Electronic voting machines and optical scanners (as opposed to hand-counted paper ballots) enable elections to be stolen, on a regular basis, by hired hackers and Black Box computer technicians. * The root causes of the Great Recession are “free trade” globalization policies, tax evasion by corporations and the rich, a trillion-dollar war machine, and the looting of the nation by the big banks and Wall Street speculators. * Until we are willing to overthrow the corporate and military-industrial dictatorship, we will not be able to deal with the fundamental power imbalances, injustices, and crises of the nation. * Climate change is real and getting worse. We are literally standing on the eve of destruction. Radical energy conservation, reducing fossil fuel use by 90%, retrofitting the nation’s 50 million buildings; retooling our transportation system, rebuilding our electrical grid to run on solar and wind, and restoring the carbon sequestration capacity of our billion of acres of farmland, pasture, and forests through organic land management, are absolute priorities. * We need to create a framework for a massive local to national alliance for survival that addresses the life-or-death issues head-on and is open to all methods of action, from legislative insurgency, to direct action, to civil disobedience. * Walk your talk. Stop bowing down to Business as Usual and the dictates of the ruling class. Nurture your health and self-respect and, at the same time, nurture the collective self-confidence of all the rebels and visionaries in your circle of friends, family, and community. Align yourself with people and organizations you can trust and rely upon. * Stay informed. Open your eyes to what’s going on. Stay in touch with the daily evidence circulating on the Internet that a global grassroots revolution has begun. Pay attention to the housing, transportation, health, and food and farming alternatives that are already being built, even if many of our sustainable alternatives currently exist only in embryonic form. * Keep in mind that the Xtremes are likely to get worse, not better, and that most of our elected public officials, especially on the federal level, are bought and sold by the corporations, and therefore are hard-wired for destruction. Don’t hold your breath for Obama, or any other national politician to change things. Go local with an emphasis on community building and local public policy change. Focus on building crash-resistant institutions: organic food and farming systems, re-localized commerce, holistic and preventive health practices, and an urban and rural green jobs infrastructure with a low carbon footprint. * Stay inspired. Stay in touch with the fact that the technological, economic, political, and social alternatives we need to survive and prosper are already being put into practice. Find examples of these across the nation or the globe and in your local community and join up. Stay vigilant. Stay positive. Stay strong. Prepare for the worst, as well as the best. Those who hold the power are not going to give it up without a tremendous fight. The fossil fuel System is going to collapse. Revolutions bear little resemblance to polite disagreements at a dinner party. The mass media can and is being manipulated. People’s fears and prejudices are being engineered. Elections based upon “black box” computer-controlled electronic voting machines and optical scanners can and are being stolen. The only elections that cannot be stolen are those based upon hand-counted paper ballots, where the ballots are tallied at the precinct level in clear public view immediately after the polls close. http://www.votescam.org * Keep the faith. Revolutions never seem possible until objective conditions ripen, until serious splits develop among the ruling class, and until a critical mass of people decide they won’t take it any more. Look at Egypt. Look at Tunisia, look at Yemen. Look at Wisconsin. Look in the mirror. Ready to lead the Uprising in your local community? Send me an email at ronniecummins[a]gmail.com. All power to the people!

My interview with Patch Adams. What’s your gesundheit?

(NaturalNews) I wanted to talk to him about his approach to health, but the voicemail I received in response to my inquiry took things in a totally different direction. “If you want to talk about how the government has ruined our chances of survival as a species…if you’d like to use this topic as your approach to an article on health, then call me.” Patch Adam’s voice was intense and not at all what I expected from my experience of his character as played by Robin Williams in the movie Patch Adams . “I’m a nerd,” Patch told me when I called back. “I’m sitting here in my small apartment and all I see are books. All I do is read and study and I can tell you that we are heading toward extinction. In another 25 years the demise of the human race will be unstoppable – too late! But nobody cares.” Patch turned his attention to the newspaper I publish, Healthy Times . “I’m looking at your Healthy Times Newspaper here and I don’t see any advertisers that really offer health to your community. What I see are a bunch of businesses that want to make money and are using health and wellness as their angle. If you want to promote health, I have a plan for you,” the passion in his voice began to rise. “Require all of your advertisers to offer a free community health day at their practice or place of business. For just one day, they must offer their services for free to anyone who shows up. Advertise it in your newspapers and watch how the community responds. Then you will be promoting health!” Patch was on a roll, “Everyone is focused on money and power and it is killing us. The environment may not be recoverable. The economy is not sustainable and real health care should be free. This is what I have always strived to offer. When they made the movie about me, they promised that my free hospital would become a reality. It is the only reason I agreed to do it, but it never happened.” Was I beginning to detect tones of resentment in his voice? Is this comedian/doctor who travels the world dressed in a clown suit really a cynic? Patch’s dream of making the Gesundheit! Institute the world’s first free health care system with a hospital that offers 100 percent free service has been a work in progress for decades. Garnering support has been tough and progress, while ongoing, has been slow. During our conversation I silently wondered if the lack of support over time has worn on Patch or if the reverse were true. Does Patch’s natural contrarianism prevent him from forging the partnerships that could make his dream of a new health care society come to pass? Either way, the project continues to this day, with Patch’s free hospital as the flagship dream. This from his website, patchadams.org: The Gesundheit! Hospital Project The Gesundheit! Institute started in the 1970s with a pilot project that is described in Gesundheit! by Patch Adams, M.D., and was the basis for a motion picture. The Gesundheit Hospital is a proposal for a model health care system aimed at changing society: a forty-bed rural community hospital in West Virginia, where care is free and is based on compassion and friendship. What I took from my interview with Patch had little to do with health and a lot to do with what drives this man to change the world. It begins with an uncommon intelligence and perspective on where the problems lie and a clear vision of where things need to go. It is fueled by the deepest kind of dissatisfaction and anger with the status quo. What difference do you want to make in the world and what are you willing to sacrifice for it? Patch Adams holds onto his dream of free health care that begins with Gesundheit! (which means “good health”). Whether or not it comes to pass, Patch has given his life to the mission and has made an impression along the way. Given the popularity of the movie about his medical school days, it seems he could have capitalized on his fame and built a commercial empire. Instead, he used it to help his radical cause continue limping along. No selling out for Patch. What about you? Where is your passion for a better world and how are you making efforts toward realizing it? What’s your Gesundheit? It doesn’t matter (so much) what it is. I don’t believe in offering free health services to the masses, as Patch Adams does. However, Patch is an extraordinary example to anyone with a dream. He is one of those rare souls who simply won’t sell out. He refuses to trade his dream and his values for money, fame or the approval of the powers that be. This quality of person is extremely rare and a gift to the rest of us, regardless of our personal beliefs. If you don’t have a personal cause that you won’t sacrifice for any amount of money or fame, you are not alone. Most people are merely “working for the weekend” and don’t want to be bothered with radical ideas or risk sacrificing the luxuries of a steady paycheck and regular Sunday barbecues just to champion some personal cause that stands little to no chance of making a difference. Look at Patch. Millions around the world know his name and in 40 years he has still not broken ground on his free hospital. What’s the point? This line of thinking catastrophically misses the point! The difference you make in the world has less to do with what you accomplish on the outside and everything to do with what you stand for and who you become. Patch Adams’ failures make most people’s successes look bad.

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