Sugar-frosted stakes

Boy, I'll tell you what, you just can't pull one over on the medical mainstream.

It's like they've got some kind of sixth sense or something, I swear. They're like Woodward and Bernstein on the Watergate case, always a step ahead of the big health stories facing us. I mean, I just can't do it justice with my own words how incredibly prophetic establishment medicine is...

So I'll let the headline from a recent Associated Press story explain just how profound their powers of precognition are. Brace yourselves:

REPORT SAYS SUGARY DRINKS PILE ON POUNDS

Well, gol-durned and tarnation, it would never have occurred to a rube country doc like me that guzzling gallons of pure sugar-water like Coca-Cola, Kool-aid, Hawaiian Punch, and Sunny Delight every month might contribute to person's waistline. What would we do without the establishment and their wonderful studies to show us the harm in such innocuous substances?

But in typical mainstream fashion, they were doing the responsible thing and waiting for all the evidence to come in. I guess the 100 million fatties all trundling around with bottles of Coke in their hands wasn't enough of a clue...

According to the AP story, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have analyzed data from 40 years' worth of scientifically rigorous nutrition studies, publishing the results in a recent issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Among their conclusions:

• That just a single extra can of soda a day can add as much as 15 pounds a year to the average American's body weight
  
  
• Trends in soft-drink advertising and consumption have coincided precisely with the rise in American obesity
  
  
• The high fructose corn syrup (you've heard me talk about how awful this stuff is before) in just one 12-ounce serving of soda is equal to more than 10 teaspoons of table sugar
  

Of course, the American Beverage Association is claiming that the new analysis has overlooked some studies they're familiar with that would have called a link between sugary drinks and obesity into question.
Keep reading...

The Harvard affiliated research was funded largely by federal grants. In other words, your tax dollars at work. All I can say to that is "praise the powers that be!" If it weren't for the government doling out your money for research, we'd have never known of these dangers...

Heck, in about four more decades, maybe they'll have scraped together enough of our money to tell us that breads and pastas are bad for you, too. Maybe around 40 years after that, they'll be able to prove that meats and fats are really good for us after all (talk about a big surprise for some)...

But I wonder if they'll ever amass enough data or grant money to prove that prescription drugs are anything other than benevolent, lifesaving gifts from the crucibles and beakers of a selfless, not-for-profit pharmaceutical industry?

I'm digressing, though.

Even if the empirical evidence didn't point directly to soft drinks as a major cause of obesity, the fact that fully a third of the carbohydrate calories in the already carb-heavy American's diet now come from added sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup is reason enough to damn sodas, "energy" drinks, ersatz juices, and sugary kid's beverages...

And I've only been saying that for nigh on 40 years now.

Way ahead of the obesity "curve,"

William Campbell Douglass II, MD

 

Among the Syrians, Iranians, and their surrogates known as Hezbollah, this latest “cease fire” with the Israelis will only be a time of reorganization and rearming. To those in the West, it is a time of naive and baseless “hope” for a result that has never been and will never be. And this false hope is sure to be shattered whenever the Islamists choose once again to assert themselves.

Many Westerners consider President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to operate somewhere between fanaticism and insanity. And among Iran’s leaders he is certainly not the first to give such an impression. When American embassy workers were first taken hostage in Tehran, in November of 1979, this country’s government and its allies were quick to invoke such invective against the villainous Ayatollah Khomeni and his minions.

Threatening unspeakable brutality against the hostages throughout the remaining year of the Carter Presidency, the Iranians nonetheless became absolutely serious about negotiating a peaceable end to the crisis from the very moment Ronald Reagan was elected to succeed Jimmy Carter.

Hardly the “crazies” they had been portrayed to be, the Iranians suddenly became very rational and desirous of a settlement. Nor did they show any inclination to achieve the martyrdom so greatly esteemed in their religion. In the end, the hostages were released at the very moment Reagan was sworn in as President. No coincidence there.

Twenty-seven years later, the status quo still holds in every respect. Hamas and Hezbollah still wantonly murder Israelis, and they still revel in plans to destroy Western Infidels. And, in a pattern that has been unbroken since the modern resurgence of militant Islam, their successes and failures are determined solely by the willingness of Westerners to accommodate them.

Israel easily could have moved in an unrestrained manner and vanquished those Islamists of Hezbollah who provoked its wrath by terrorizing its cities and murdering its citizens. Among those who desire true peace in the region, it is understood that this is the exact course they should have taken.

Yet, fearing diplomatic repercussions, Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli Prime Minister, chose to pull his punches right from the beginning of this most recent conflict. In so doing he lost his strategic edge while ensuring that the protracted nature of the conflict would result in the very condemnation he had so inordinately feared. Now he seeks to cut his losses by engaging in yet another meaningless “cease fire.”

Israeli restraint and capitulation has never garnered anything but an increase in the confidence, and thus the aggressiveness of its mortal enemies. So to expect anything different this time around, as key leaders and diplomats in the West are currently promising, indicates a degree of “wishful thinking” that itself borders on the insane.

Abu Heija, a writer for the Hamas publication Al-Risala, expresses the popular sentiment among Israel’s foes very plainly, stating that Israel’s willingness to abide by the “cease fire,” constitutes a “victory” for Hezbollah, and thus signals a “go-ahead” for new attacks from Hamas.

Should any rational individual be surprised by such a response from Israel’s sworn enemies? Has that tiny nation ever reaped any other reaction from its continued efforts to mollify or “buy” the good will of its mortal enemies through such ludicrous efforts as the giveaway of strategically critical lands?

Despite the almost juvenile wishes of those appeasers in the West, the grim “blessing” of this latest agreement is only that Israel will soon have another chance to properly deal with its enemies. This “cease fire” is no more likely to hold than its innumerable predecessors.

Therefore, Israel had better use the finite, intervening time to prepare for its next engagement, in order to ensure that the outcome is resolute and decisive. It can be absolutely certain that its enemies are doing exactly that.

In the short term, if it intends to enter into such clashes to a limited degree, only to eventually back out from them, it would be far better to simply learn to live with the periodic incursions and random killings perpetrated by those who hope to annihilate it.

But even if such cowardly thinking prevails, the situation will never dissipate into eventual calm. Militant Islam, if left unchecked, will invariably continue to metastasize, just as it always has. Such a reality bodes especially ill, considering that Iran now verges on the threshold of nuclear capability.

This conflict will end only when the current multitude of Islamic terrorist organizations are reduced to the status and capabilities of localized crime rings, governments who support them are deposed, and any who remain sympathetic to them are made to realize that it is in their own best interests to guarantee that such evil entities never rise again.

The stage has been set. Ahmadinejad and the dark forces he represents will relentlessly advance on the rest of civilization if allowed any latitude to do so. Those who remain in denial do not understand what it is that motivates him and his kind.

Like Osama Bin Laden before him, Ahmadinejad does not believe that the West possesses sufficient resolve to stand him down. And in this most recent engagement, the West has given him little reason to contemplate otherwise.

Despite all of the myopic moralizing of Israel and America’s reliable critics, neither retreat, nor isolationism, nor the phony stability of a “stalemate” present viable solutions. The only options for those nations that comprise Western civilization are to confront and defeat this enemy, or to face their own eventual eradication.

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Note from Alain: If you enjoy my newsletter, please help my readership grow by passing it around. If some one sent this to you, and you would like your own subscription, you can sign up on my web page at http://www.alainsnewsletter.com

 

 

Now, once more, I offer you some things you can do to minimize your risks of infection with West Nile while everyone who listens to the mainstream media is in hysteria over H5N1. I'm telling you, this bird flu will never amount to anything - except perhaps as an isolated threat to certain unlucky folks whose job it is to work in close proximity to living and dead birds, like chicken-sexers (a real job, honest) and taxidermists...

But I digress. Back to the flying threat that can really hurt you.

Although it would also be advisable to avoid juggling dead crows you find lying around the neighborhood, controlling your risk of West Nile boils down to basically one thing: Limiting your likelihood of a mosquito bite. Here are some ways you can do that most effectively...

• APPLY REPELLANTS TO YOUR SKIN - I favor 100% DEET, but for those who can't for skin-sensitivity or other reasons, studies show that those with natural oil of eucalyptus or picaridin also work (Daily Dose, 6/14/2005).
• USE AREA REPELLANTS/POISONS - When sitting on your patio or deck, light a citronella candle to repel mosquitoes, or try this trick submitted by a Daily Dose reader: Squirt a few drops of "lemon fresh" Joy dish detergent in a saucer of water near where you're hanging out. Apparently, it draws the little buggers like dogs to antifreeze - with even deadlier results.
• CLEAR YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD OF STANDING WATER - Mosquitoes won't travel more than a few hundred yards for food. If you and your neighbors dump out your birdbaths, empty out rain-barrels, and discard old tires and other things that trap water they can breed in, you'll all be much more bite-free.

There's one more major thing you can do to help reduce your risk, but despite what the mainstream tells you, doing it might INCREASE your risk of other deadly aliments. I'll tell you what it is - and how you can have both optimum protection from West Nile and have the best chance of dodging these downsides in the next Daily Dose.

Dodging the bite, exposing the plight,

William Campbell Douglass II, MD

 

Updated: 6:18 a.m. MT June 9, 2006

House passes subscription-TV legislation

Bill seeks to open cable-TV markets to more competition

 

WASHINGTON - Legislation to open cable TV markets to more competition, possibly saving consumers hundreds of dollars a year, passed the House Thursday.

The biggest telecommunications legislation in a decade, approved 321-101, would make it easier for telephone companies to enter the subscription television market. A national franchise process would replace the current system where potential providers must negotiate contracts municipality by municipality, sometimes taking months and years.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., co-sponsored the bill.

The vote came shortly after the House rejected a Democratic-backed amendment aimed at better protecting Internet users from pricing or access discrimination that Internet providers might apply. The issue of "net neutrality" dominated debate on the bill.

"This legislation can increase competition not only for cable services, but also unleash a race for who can supply the fastest, most sophisticated broadband connections that will provide video, voice and data services," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas.

He noted that because of the impediments created by the local franchising system, the United States doesn't even rank in the top 10 worldwide in broadband deployment. "This bill should change that statistic."

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich, who heads the telecommunications subcommittee, estimated that people could save $30 to $40 each month if given a choice in video services.

But many Democrats said the measure did too little to ensure that broadband services would be extended to lower income and rural areas.

They also said the bill does not adequately address "net neutrality," preventing companies from discriminating against competitors or less affluent consumers by restricting access or charging higher fees.

The telephone and cable companies that provide the service say further regulation is unnecessary and would hamper efforts to expand high speed services.

Demanding assurances of net neutrality are content providers such as Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Yahoo! Inc., and Internet users ranging from the Christian Coalition to rock musicians.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., offered an amendment stating that broadband network providers must not discriminate against or interfere with users' ability to access or offer lawful content.

Without that amendment, said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, "telecommunications and cable companies will be able to create toll lanes on the information superhighway. This strikes at the heart of the free and equal nature of the Internet."

It was defeated 269-152. "You can call an amendment net neutrality," said Rep. Paul Gillmor, R-Ohio. "But it's still government regulation."

"Tilting the cost burden onto end users, which would be the inevitable result of neutrality regulations, will only delay much-needed broadband deployment," said Mike McCurry, co-chair of Hands off the Internet, a coalition of telephone, business and small government groups.

Barton's bill would give the Federal Communications Commission authority to enforce net neutrality principles and set fines of up to $500,000 for violations.

The White House said in a statement that it supported the bill and its language on video franchising. But on net neutrality, the administration said the FCC has the power to address potential abuses. "Creating a new legislative framework for regulation in this area is premature," the statement said.

Rush, a black lawmaker who represents the South Side of Chicago, said he was co-sponsoring the bill because it would make it easier for minority entrepreneurs to get access to the telecommunications industry.

Rush said his constituents want relief from the high cost of cable. "We pay more for video services, for high premium packages, than any other group in America. And why is that? Because only on cable do we see people who look like us, speak like us, and who understand us. That is why we pay more for cable."

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is to vote on its version of the bill later this month. The Senate debate also has focused on how best to ensure net neutrality.

 

Fire a Shot Heard ‘Round the World on the 4th of July!

By Jon Herring 

Eating a low-carb diet might do more than improve your health and help you shed a few pounds. Cutting carbs can also relieve headaches.

A study performed at Albert Einstein College of Medicine showed that a low-carbohydrate diet reduced the frequency and severity of headaches in regular sufferers. Half of those surveyed said they attained the same kind of relief from the diet as they did from migraine medication.

One explanation? Gluten - which is found in wheat and other cereal grains - has been linked to migraines. In fact, an Italian study found that migraine sufferers were 10 times more likely to have a gluten intolerance than the general population. 

If you have frequent headaches, you should be tested for gluten sensitivity (also known as celiac disease). Cutting out the carbs, especially those made from grains, could be the solution you are looking for.