Seeking Wholeness

My dear friend of Minnesota’s environment and public health,

Can you take just a couple minutes to help save Minnesota lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater from the first serious threat of pollution by toxic Acid Mine Drainage from copper-nickel mines?  Here’s a quick-and-easy webform provided by our friends at Organic Consumers Association:  http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1839

TWIN-CITIES COMMENT-WRITING WORKSHOP  this Sunday:

Also, you and anyone you  know who might be interested are invited to attend this special comment-writing workshop Sunday, January 17, 1-4 PM in St. Paul.  Please refer others, even if you’re not likely to attend.  It is a private meeting for contributors to substantive public comments on the draft environmental impact statement, hosted by WaterLegacy.org.

This is a limited opportunity, with comment period set to close *February 3*, 2010. Your comments are critical to the project receiving the scrutiny it deserves. It would create toxic acid mine drainage for hundreds or thousands of years.

Register NOW. Be sure to state your topic(s) or area(s) of interest in the DEIS.
http://www.mepartnership.org/mep_calendar.asp?cal_id=3510

All levels of citizen participation are welcome. Some would just like to sign a form letter and hand it in. Some would like to pick a narrow topic and write comments in one hour, or stay for the duration and write extensive comments. We held a similar workshop in Cloquet last weekend, which was very well-attended and productive.  Many completed and either emailed or mailed their comments that day.

You will benefit by learning from other citizens, background and technical documents, information about PolyMet and the environmental review process, and tips to make your comments most effective. We can provide talking points and drafts.  We will facilitate according to your needs.

Professional input will be available and more is welcome.

NOTE:  Even if you may not feel comfortable submitting written comments on the EIS directly, your expertise would be very beneficial.

Meanwhile, you can demand that DNR provide adequate public participation in the environmental review process. Specifically, ask for 1) extension of the comment period from only 90 to at least 180 days; 2) more convenient and interactive public hearings around the state. Email: Stuart Arkley MDNR stuart.arkley@dnr.state.mn.us <mailto:stuart.arkley@dnr.state.mn.us>

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A series of news stories were published based upon a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD), that showed that the United States spent the most on healthcare, yet was not doing well when compared to other wealthy nations in several key areas of health measurements.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a report on December 8, 2009 called the “OECD Health Data 2009: Statistics and Indicators for 30 Countries” which included a detailed study on the US healthcare system. The portion of the report specific to the US called, “OECD Health Data 2009, How Does the United States Compare”, has with it some telling statistics about the US healthcare system and the results we get for the money spent.

Some of the interesting facts uncovered by the report are the following:

The United States ranks far ahead of other OECD countries in terms of total health spending per capita, with spending of $7,290 . That represents almost two-and-a-half times greater than the other nations average of $2,964 in 2007. The next closest nation is Norway which follows, with spending of $4,763 per capita, followed by Switzerland with spending of $4,417 per capita.

The US spends 16% of its Gross Domestic Product on healthcare, compared with France, Switzerland and Germany, which allocated 11.0%, 10.8% and 10.4% of their GDP to health respectively.

The US pays a smaller portion of the health care bill from public funding than other nations. Only 45% of healthcare expenses are paid by public funds which is a much smaller amount compared to an average of 73% for other OECD nations.

Infant mortality in the US is at 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births which is well above the average of 3.9 per 1,000 live births.

Life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 78.1 years in 2007 which is a year less than the OECD average of 79.1, and puts the U.S. just ahead of the Czech Republic, Poland and Mexico. Norway and Switzerland have a 2 to 4 year longer life expectancy over the US.

The study also noted that drug spending has increased everywhere with the US leading the way. According to the report, per capita spending on pharmaceuticals rose by almost 50 percent over the last 10 years in OECD countries, reaching a total of $650 billion in 2007. The U.S. was the world’s biggest spender on pharmaceuticals, spending $878 per person, with Canada next at $691 per person and the OECD average at $461.

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Winona LaDuke, is an Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg and is the mother of three children. Winona is the Program Director of Honor the Earth and Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project.

Leading Honor the Earth she provides vision and leadership for the organization’s Regranting Program and its Strategic Initiatives.  In addition, she has worked for two decades on the land issues of the White Earth Reservation, including litigation, over land rights in the 1980’s.  In 1989, she received the Reebok Human Rights Award, with which in part she began the White Earth Land Recovery Project.

In 1994, Winona was nominated by Time Magazine as one of America’s fifty most promising leaders under forty years of age, and has also been awarded the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, the Ann Bancroft Award, Ms. Woman of the Year Award (with the Indigo Girls in 1997), the Global Green Award, and numerous other honors. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues.

Her books include: Last Standing Woman (fiction), All Our Relations (non-fiction), In the Sugarbush (Children’s), and The Winona LaDuke Reader.

To show respect to all of her work, I post this article about Winona LaDuke under the Best Of category.

For more information, visit: http://nativeharvest.com.

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mad as hell doctors.com - Where the rubber gloves meet the road

For those who have doubts about where doctors stand on the public option, this recent survey of doctors should help.

New England Journal of Medicine: 73% support a public option

New England Journal of Medicine article

NPR:
NPR article

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Since CNN is refusing to air this ad, I am posting it here.

Tell CNN to play this ad here

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An article title We Already Have Death Panels was posted on seeking wholeness .com on August 26, 2009. You can find it here.

A few days ago, on Wednesday September 02, 2009 the California Nurses Association released another sobering study that shows clearly the so called death panels are the norm. The claims denial rates by leading California insurers were just …  (I will leave this a blank for you to fill).

Here are the percentages of denied claims:

* PacifiCare — 39.6 percent
* Cigna — 32.7 percent
* HealthNet — 30 percent
* Kaiser Permanente — 28.3 percent
* Blue Cross — 27.9 percent
* Aetna — 6.4 percent

Find the CNA/NNOC research results below:

For Immediate Release
September 2, 2009

California’s Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 21% of Claims PacifiCare’s Denials 40%, Cigna’s 33% in First Half of 2009

More than one of every five requests for medical claims for insured patients, even when recommended by a patient’s physician, are rejected by California’s largest private insurers, amounting to very real death panels in practice daily in the nation’s biggest state, according to data released Wednesday by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

CNA/NNOC researchers analyzed data reported by the insurers to the California Department of Managed Care. From 2002 through June 30, 2009, six of the largest insurers operating in California rejected 47.7 million claims for care — 22 percent of all claims.

The data will be presented by Don DeMoro, director of CNA/NNOC’s research arm, the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, at CNA/NNOC’s biennial convention next Tuesday, Sept. 8 in San Francisco. The convention will also feature a panel presentation from nurse leaders in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia exploding the myths about their national healthcare systems.

“With all the dishonest claims made by some politicians about alleged ‘death panels’ in proposed national legislation, the reality for patients today is a daily, cold-hearted rejection of desperately needed medical care by the nation’s biggest and wealthiest insurance companies simply because they don’t want to pay for it,” said Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC co-president.

For the first half of 2009, as the national debate over healthcare reform was escalating, the rejection rates are even more striking.

Claims denial rates by leading California insurers, first six months of 2009:

• PacifiCare — 39.6 percent
• Cigna — 32.7 percent
• HealthNet — 30 percent
• Kaiser Permanente — 28.3 percent
• Blue Cross — 27.9 percent
• Aetna — 6.4 percent

“Every claim that is denied represents a real patient enduring pain and suffering. Every denial has real, sometimes fatal consequences,” said Burger.

PacifiCare, for example, denied a special procedure for treatment of bone cancer for Nick Colombo, a 17-year-old teen from Placentia, Calif. Again, after protests organized by Nick’s family and friends, CNA/NNOC, and netroots activists, PacifiCare reversed its decision. But like Nataline Sarkisyan, the delay resulted in critical time lost, and Nick ultimately died. “This was his last effort and the procedure had worked before with people in Nick’s situation,” said his older brother Ricky.

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Worth watching:

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This is a good cartoon video titled ‘Why We Need Government-Run Universal Socialized Health Insurance‘. It explains why we need a public health insurance option or some sort of a government-run health system in the US.

The video compares Health Insurance to the fire department in a very effective manner. I’d like to add that fire departments used to be private and for profit in Chicago, then came the Chicago fire. After the Chicago fire the fire department was socialized to distribute risk and lower cost.

It’s ironic that nowadays fire department remain socialized, and work very well. We all expect the fire fighters to show up at a phone’s call, yet when your own body, your own intestines, brains, or heart are on fire (i.e. sick/ill) you cannot get the attention needed, since the system is so very broken.

Enjoy the video:

Animated by Andy Lubershane. More comics at http://www.earthlycomics.blogspot.com

Text transcript of the video:

Why we need government-run universal, socialized, call it what you want, health insurance.

We all know from basic civil class, or just being alive, that a lot of essential services are already government-run, universal, socialized, whatever you wanna call it.

Think water treatment, police, fire, postal service, coast guard, all those things you know are gonna be there for you, every single day without even thinking about them. We all pay our taxes and the government uses the money to pay for the things everyone needs just to get by.

Now, health care is just as essential as any of these services. Sure, a few of us may be lucky enough to make it through our whole lives without any medical problem but the rest of us depend on health care at some point in our lives just to get by. Besides its essentialness, there’s another reason health insurance is just like those government run, universal, socialized, whatever you wanna call them services, that’s this: There are very very few people that can afford to pay on their own the cost of health care when disaster strikes and they or someone they love gets really really sick.

So, we all need insurance, which basically means when we pool our money together enough so what when anyone of us gets really really sick there’s enough money in the pool to pay for that person to get better, that’s insurance.

But, who should we choose to manage the pool of our money and give out our money to the people who need it? Well, private insurance companies are the ones that we are using right now, but there’s a problem. On average, these companies take 10 – 20 cents out of every dollar we put in the pool.

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Sarah Palin came out last week supposedly worried that people are going to die if health care reform occurs. She, in typical Republican fashion, dropped the term ‘death panels’.

I have news for you, death panels are already here and by doing nothing they will be here to stay. The reality now is that people are dying due to denied claims, pre-existing conditions and corporate bureaucracy that are all geared towards rationing care and maximizing profit.

When a CEO gets paid millions and gets a golden parachute on top of that, where do you think the money came from? Could it be ’sick people, in need of care, but denied it’?

The fact of the matter is that countless end up declaring bankruptcy as a result of medical debt, every minute. Over 60% of Americans declare bankruptcy due to medical bills, or die due to denied or delayed care and leave their spouses in bankruptcy. These things do not happen in other countries, maybe in third world countries, but not in industrialized countries, that is except for our country, here in the U.S.A.

We in the U.S. pay the most for medical services. We spend more money per capita on health care than any nation on Earth!  Yet we rank well below 36 other nations in timely and effective care, according to the World Health Organization. National health spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion in 2009, accounting for 17.6 percent of the gross domestic product.

In the U.S. you get health care if you can afford it, you get care (that can mean the difference between life or death) if you can pay for it. Since the cost is skyrocketing and many are loosing their jobs, less people can afford this so called health care. In other words, less people can afford their right to life.

Is it the American way of doing things? Is American to penalize people for getting sick at no fault of their own, for being unfortunate to be in an accident or for having a birth defect? This is what’s going on now, people that cannot pay for health simply do not get health and die, or suffer, or go bankrupt or loose their homes.

Yes, I have news for you, corporate death panels exist now and they exist because they want to make profit, not to save lives.

We need to take profit out of health care or at least give people an option. Right now health insurance companies have a monopoly on all of health care industry, from ambulances, to doctors, procedures and medicine. I want more choice, I want to try a public option and compare it with what’s available now.

Froma Harrop

Believe me, “death panels” already exist, and they have nothing to do with the government.

By Froma Harrop

Please don’t take my word for it, I formed my opinion after hearing and reading many wrenching real-life stories. I will share with you just a few of these here. Horror stories of real people (like you and me) and the suffering they endured as a result of corporate bureaucracy, denial or running the clock out, these stories are in all honestly countless.

Let’s start with this story, by Froma Harrop. She wrote an Op-Ed column titled ‘Free-Market Death Panels’. I quote from her article:

“Death panels”? I’ll tell you about death panels. My husband faced one some years ago, and it didn’t involve any government bureaucrat. It was run by our private insurer, the sort of corporate entity that foes of health care reform say will give you anything you want.

My husband was diagnosed with liver cancer. We were “insured” by United Healthcare. The deal was as follows: You had to use doctors on its list, but if you needed specialized care outside the network, United’s health-maintenance organization would pay for it. Fair enough.

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More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a “choice” between a government-run health care insurance option and private coverage, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday.

A new study by SurveyUSA puts support for a public option at a robust 77 percent, one percentage point higher than where it stood in June.

But the numbers tell another story, as well.

Earlier in the week, after pollsters for NBC dropped the word “choice” from their question on a public option, they found that only 43 percent of the public were in favor of “creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government that would compete directly with private health insurance companies.”

Rea more at Huffington Post

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My opinion on the health care debate is that a public option for health care is essential. We (Citizens) need an OPTION.

Patriot Majority is airing radio ads on progressive talk radio shows urging listeners to call their Senators and Members of Congress and tell them to support healthcare reform.  Patriot Majority’s radio ads are running on the radio shows of Bill Press, Thom Hartmann, Stephanie Miller, Mike Malloy, Ed Schultz, Alan Combs, and the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Patriot Majority was formed in 2005 and is one of the most successful issue-advocacy groups in the United States.  Patriot Majority believes it is our patriotic duty as Americans to pursue policies that strengthen our national security, boost the economy, achieve energy independence, make health care affordable, provide quality education & protect public safety.

Tell Congress to Support REAL Healthcare Reform

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2009 — Congress is listening.  Make your voice heard TODAY!  Email your Senators and Member of Congress immediately and tell them that you support real healthcare reform that includes a strong public option, an employer mandate and no tax on healthcare benefits.

•    Contact your Representative now.

•    Contact your Senator now.

Send at least ten of your friends, family members and co-workers, and tell them TODAY to email their Senators and Members of Congress and tell them that it’s their patriotic duty to support real healthcare reform that includes a strong public option.

If you have not yet called your Senators or Member of Congress, please phone them at 202-224-3121.

The opponents of healthcare reform are organized and spending millions of dollars to kill the public option and the employer mandate.  Republican Dick Armey has predicted that healthcare reform will “fail spectacularly” and has called pro-reform legislators the “bedwitters caucus.”

We cannot allow the opponents of healthcare to kill reform.  Act today and urge your representatives to pass a strong public option, an employer mandate and no taxes on healthcare benefits.

Sign the patriot petition now here

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If you have not read, and memorized, the Preamble to the United States Constitution you got to read it below. It’s just a short paragraph.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

from: wikipedia.org

Many seem to interpret this paragraph differently. I can’t help but wonder what “promote the general Welfare” means and if it include the health of citizens.

I found this interpretation on wikipedia:

In interpreting whether the proposed project constituted a “public use,” the court pointed to the Preamble’s reference to “promot[ing] the general Welfare” as evidence that “[t]he health of the people was in the minds of our forefathers.”^[19] “[T]he concerted effort for renewal and expansion of hospital and medical care centers as a part of our nation’s system of hospitals, is as a public service and use within the highest meaning of such terms. Surely this is in accord with an objective of the United States Constitution: ‘* * * promote the general Welfare.’“^[20]

18^ Ellis, 257 F. Supp. at 527.

19^ Id. at 574 (emphasis added).

20^ Kinnebrew Motor Co., 8 F. Supp. at 539 (”Reference has been made in the government’s brief to the ‘Welfare Clause‘ of the Constitution as if certain powers could be derived by Congress from said clause. It is not necessary to indulge in an extended argument on this question for the reason that there is no such thing as the ‘Welfare Clause‘ of the Constitution.”).

I have my own opinions, which you would know if you’ve been following my writings. I do agree with the interpretation posted above.

The constitution was written with the union in mind, with the ‘we the people’ in mind.  It did not say we the corporations, or we the banks, we the elite, we the white men, and certainly not we the king (president, vice president, or supreme leader).

I guess, corporations think of themselves as people nowadays. This was not what ‘we the people’ stood for however. Corporations are not people and the constitution was not written to protect their rights, rather it was written to protect people’s and the union’s rights.

“We the people”, can this phrase be stated any simpler? It is all about us, US citizens and living human beings, about our welfare, justice, domestic tranquility, general welfare, and liberty from forces (other than the WE) that want to control our lives (i.e. kings, church, corporations etc).

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Are corporations persons?  Are they normal persons, do they get sick, die, go to jail, have emotions and human rights? Let’s see.

I will not say much here, I am quoting a few sources below.

Read this and make up your own mind. Are corporations normal persons or super-powered immortal multi-locational persons?

In 1886 the Supreme Court, in the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, was interpreted to have ruled that corporations were “persons”—before women were considered persons under the 19th amendment to have the right to vote.

Ever since, corporations have enjoyed most of the same constitutional rights granted to real people.

But corporations are not humans. They don’t vote. They don’t have children. They don’t die in Iraq.

The people who work for the corporations are of course real people, but the corporate “entity” should never be given equal constitutional rights to real human beings.

Even Business Week magazine, in a 2000 editorial, declared that “corporations should get out of politics.”

We cannot have equal justice under law between real people and corporations like Exxon Mobil.

Multinational corporations can be in 1000 places around the world at the same time obstructing governments, states, buying and renting politicians, and going to Washington to get bailed out by taxpayers.

Congress did not legislate corporate personhood. The courts performed this jolting display of runaway activism all by themselves.

The courts destroyed the semblance of equal protection under law because there is no way even an individual billionaire can approximate the raw power of these large corporations with their privileged immunities, and their control over technology, capital and labor.

The sovereignty of the people is subordinated to the sovereignty of the giant multinational corporations.

But the constitution still reads, “we the people”, not we the corporations.

Corporations were chartered in the early nineteenth century by state governments to be our servants, not our masters.

They are now our masters.

Time to restore the supremacy of real people.

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This is an interesting article written by Teresa Silverthorn on an interesting phenomena, namely worshiping and studying the invisible God. I use the word invisible here, because as Teresa points out, when a person says they can see this God they are told ‘no you can’t see (him or her)’, in fact one is not supposed to see it.

In the framework of the article below, I see these scenarios:

• God actually doesn’t exist but you are asked to spend your life seeking it
• God does exist but it it is simply invisible to humans
• God is a figment of imagination
• God is not invisible but some want you to think it is

Re-printed below with permission from author:

The human race is psychotic. They were either born that way, taught to be such, or it was decided upon.

I have heard this before, and so have you. I am speaking of a current statistic that claims that a certain percentage of humanity has been defined as “psychotic,” which leaves the rest of us looking around our neighborhood analyzing our friends and co-workers.

In my opinion, it refers to the majority. Not the minority. And, I’m only speaking of a certain element of our existence, not an overall judgment call.

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A few days ago I wrote an article where I mentioned how I’ve been hearing more suicide news recently. Yesterday and today, it seems most the suicide news in the media is about Fort Campbell. Here you will see snippets from three recent news articles on this topic:

Fort Campbell holds ’suicide stand-down’
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., May 27 (UPI) — Fort Campbell, Ky., home to the U.S. 101st Airborne, began a three-day ’suicide stand-down’ Wednesday after 11 soldiers took their own lives this year.

The “training event” is the second one in 2009, CNN reported. It began with a speech from Brig. Gen. Stephen Townsend to all the enlisted men and officers in the division, Kelly Tyler, a spokeswoman said.

With 64 suicides so far in 2009, the U.S. Army appears likely to pass the record of 133 reported last year. There were 115 suicides in 2007, the highest number since the Defense Department began tracking military suicides in 1980

Source: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/27/Fort-Campbell-holds-suicide-stand-down/UPI-73121243453994/
Despite prevention efforts, soldier suicides at Fort Campbell continue to rise

By Associated Press

3:03 AM CDT, May 27, 2009
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Despite previous efforts to stop suicides, the number of Fort Campbell soldiers who have killed themselves has continued to increase.

Fort Campbell leaders have ordered the entire installation to stand down for three days starting Wednesday in response to the 14 suspected suicides since Jan. 1, including two this month.

The installation participated in an Army-wide suicide prevention campaign in March that included training soldiers and commanders to look for signs of stress and depression.

Source: http://www.whnt.com/news/sns-ap-tn–fortcampbellsuicides,0,6850567.story

Families Affected by Suicide Feel Sting on Memorial Day

Mary Clare Lindberg’s son, Army Sgt. Benjamin Jon Miller, was home in Minnesota on leave from Iraq in June when he shot and killed himself

In March, Lindberg made a pilgrimage to Fort Campbell, Ky., to visit the post where her son served with the 101st Airborne Division. While it was comforting to meet with the soldiers with whom her son had served, Lindberg was upset when she saw the unit memorial. The names of two soldiers from her son’s brigade who were killed in combat were on the memorial, but Ben Miller’s name was not.

“Because my son was a suicide home on leave, his name was not on the memorial wall at Fort Campbell, and that’s just not right,” said Lindberg, who said her son was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences in Iraq.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/24/AR2009052402142.html?hpid=topnews

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I’ve been hearing suicide mentioned often in the news recently so I thought I grab a few recent news articles and compile them here.

Suicide Headlines:

Missing soldier from Fairfield commits suicide in Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ — An AWOL soldier committed suicide in a car parked at an ocean overlook on Friday afternoon, three days after he was reported missing from Fort Carson in Colorado.

U.S. Army officials had issued alerts asking for the public’s help in finding Pfc. Roy Brooks Mason Jr., a decorated Iraq War veteran whose hometown is Fairfield, but had no luck finding the 28-year-old.

“We knew that he was missing and we were looking for him,” said Fort Carson spokeswoman Brandy Gill. “We were concerned for him.”

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/crime/ci_12432747
Post sees second suicide in 2 weeks
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Thursday that a Fort Campbell soldier committed suicide Monday night on Dean Road, the second suspected suicide this month by a soldier.

MCSO spokesman Ted Denny did not identify the soldier, saying MCSO policy prohibits release of details about suicides. Fort Campbell said the cause of the soldier’s death is under investigation.

According to 911 records, a call was made just before 8:40 p.m. Monday night to dispatchers indicating a suicide in the 600 block of Dean Road.

Source: http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20090522/NEWS01/905220344

Triple killing a double murder-suicide
Authorities: Man killed wife and son before turning gun on himself

Neighbors in The Cedars neighborhood describe Billy and Jolyne Hardy as the typical all-American family.

Billy worked two jobs to provide for his wife and 3-year-old son, and Jolyne, who also held a full-time job, often was seen outside playing with the child, Bryce, and working in the yard.

“Anyone who knows Billy can tell you he was a hard worker and he loved his family,” said Reginald Autrey, neighbor and close friend of the couple. “They were nice people and always have been.”

Source: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090506/NEWS03/905060325/1002/NEWS

Dad sent a suicide text before killing his family
Adrian Dunne sent a suicide note via text message before killing his wife, two young daughters and then himself.

The misspelled message told exactly what was going to happen. “Ciara and Aidran are so very sorry. We nott going to Livepol. Instad we pick heaven. Please forgive”. (sic)

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According to a new report released by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), happiness levels are highest in northern European countries.

Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands rated at the top of the list.

Outside of Europe, New Zealand and Canada also made the top 10. The U.S. did not.

The U.S. ranked the highest for child poverty and obesity among the western nations polled.

Other Very Interesting Findings include:

Adult height: Americans are not getting taller. The United States is the only country in the OECD where men and women aged 45-49 are no taller than those aged 20-24 years old, indicating no improvement in health and social conditions determining gains in height.

Health care: The United States spends the most per capita on health care, but despite their high levels of health spending the Unites States has relatively low life expectancy.

Net National Income: The United States is one of the richest countries in the OECD. In 2006, the United States had a per capita National Net Income in excess of USD 35 000. Only Luxembourg and Norway were higher.

Fertility: The United States has a much higher fertility rate than most other OECD countries of 2.1 children per mother, compared to an OECD average of 1.65.

Child poverty: Child poverty has fallen since the mid-1990s but one in five US children still live in poverty, a rate exceeded only in Poland, Mexico, and Turkey

Social protection: The United States is the fourth lowest in the OECD in terms of income shares of public social spending. However, when tax breaks for social purposes and private social spending are also considered, social spending in the United States rises above the OECD average of 28% to 31% of income.

Eating time: Americans spend around an hour and a quarter eating every day, slightly more than only Canadians and Mexicans but less than half the eating time spent by the French. Despite this limited time spent eating, their obesity rates are the highest in the OECD.

Leisure time of men and women: American men have nearly 40 minutes more leisure time than women per day.
Find the report here: http://www.oecd.org/document/24/0,3343,en_2649_34637_2671576_1_1_1_1,00.html

Let me ask you,

• Are we a nation of Me’s or a nation of We’s?
• How can one justify that it is more important to have a fetus develop into a baby and then be born than to give that new born baby and child health coverage or keep them from poverty?

We may make more money per capita in the US but we spend most of it on health insurance and other ‘fees’ – These are what I call hidden taxes.

These hidden taxes go to corporations not to benefit other citizens; they suck money up the ranks to make the rich richer, making huge profits and paying CEO’s millions of dollars that are basically denied health care reimbursements to you.. In other words, money from your pocket to theirs.

Taxes are used by governments (i.e. we the people) to benefit the population at large, these fees are simply how some corporations (after lobbying congress) dip their hands in your pockets and ’steal’ your money.

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How will our world change if women were to rule?

I read an article titled “Woman, Be Silent” by Teresa Silverthorn a few weeks ago. The article started by mentioning a legend about the first civilization of humanity, where women held the authoritative power over the male community, and were created solely for supervisory reasons. Then the men took over the power of the community using trickery.

The article continues on, here are some excerpts:

Today. Our daughters are dressed in push-up bras, slinky clothing, with low self-esteem. They are used by the media to sell. They are used by the media to provoke.

They are used, and remain silent. They are exploited, and remain silent, thinking this is their only way to survive. They were taught this by their mothers, who barely survived. But, did so, by remaining silent.

I have seen how women sometimes hurt themselves indirectly when they force their daughters to abide by cultural expectations and by how they raise their male children. They are not to blame though, women around the globe have power because they raise tomorrow’s generation, but they are restricted in their ability to change the generations; they are bound by pre-established systems that they live in and depend on.

The restrictions that women face stem from the way in which the current systems of life are set up, we can call these systems the systems of living; what I mean is that the current laws, cultures and expectations of women all depend on the systems of living.

People live up to what is asked of them, many personalities are shaped by the cultures they are exposed to, individuals rise or sink due to these systems of living. The way people see themselves depends to a large extent on the systems of living they find themselves in. The same is true with women. Even an essential question like ‘what it means to be a woman’ in its entirety is determined by that woman’s interactions with the systems of living.

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Are you under the impression that electric vehicles that you could purchase and use right now do not exist? Are you waiting for the major auto makers to produce electric vehicles or to see these electric cars on TV ads? Do you think the Chevy Volt is your only choice and are chocked by the price tag? Do you think that your only choice when it comes to driving an electric car is to make one yourself using a conversion kit?

If you are any of these, I have good news for you.

We live in a world where a few brave minds have took it upon themselves to do what the major auto makers couldn’t (ehm.. I meant, wouldn’t) do, namely to build 100% reliable electric vehicles.

I am not talking about converted vehicles; you know, these regular cars that people convert to electric vehicles, I am also not talking about the do-it-yourself conversion kits.. Noo, real, street worthy, 100% electric cars do exist today and are probably available for sale near you.

Whether you live in the US, in Europe or in Asia, electric car are being produced now and you could purchase one, without paying $40,000 or more.

In my opinion, the newer generations of electric cars is a good match for the current generation of fluid fuel (gas, diesel, ethanol, hybrid) powered cars. The development is fast and furious.

While the best battery technology remains patented and shelved rather than used in street cars, there exists sufficient enough batteries to enable workable EVs. You can read an article I wrote on a recent advancement in battery technology here . Lio-Ion batteries are common choices in today’s EVs; with a variety of powerful electric motors these electric cars have amazing acceleration and reliability. They also cost much less to maintain.

What is even more impressive is that these EVs are finally catching up to liquid fuel vehicles (hybrids, gas, ethanol etc vehicles) when it comes to range.

The reason I am writing this article is to share with you a collection of links to Electric Vechicle companies. The list below contains links to (American, European and Asian) car manufacturers that build neighborhood electric vehicles (NEV), electric highway cars, electric trucks, electric buses, electric 2 wheelers and 3 wheelers, and electric sports cars. These are not prototype cars but are actual usable ones.

If I missed any manufacturer (i.e. a car company) please leave a comment with a link.

• http://en.think.no/
• http://evolution.loremo.com/
• http://www.acpropulsion.com/ebox/
• http://www.aerorider.com/
• http://www.ariana-ev.com/
• http://www.attrd.com/rnd/parade_main.htm
• http://www.blueskydsn.com/
• http://www.byd.com/
• http://www.cityel.de/
• http://www.cleanova.com/
• http://www.commutercars.com/
• http://www.cree.ch/
• http://www.dilixi.com/
• http://www.e-ride.com/
• http://www.ececars.nl/
• http://www.elbilnorge.no/
• http://www.electrovaya.com/
• http://www.flybo.cn/
• http://www.flytheroad.com/
• http://www.futurevehicles.co.uk (Website no longer accessible)
• http://www.getkurrent.com/
• http://www.go-one.de/
• http://www.greenvehicles.com/
• http://www.hec.w4r.nl/
• http://www.hybridtechnologies.com/
• http://www.innovech.net/ Chinese car (Website no longer accessible)
• http://www.itiselectric.com/
• http://www.lightningcarcompany.co.uk/
• http://www.maranello4cycle.com/
• http://www.micro-vett.it/english/doblom1ing.html
• http://www.milesev.com/
• http://www.mindset.ch/
• http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/special/ev/ Mitsubishi i MiEV
• http://www.myersmotors.com/
• http://www.nicecarcompany.co.uk/
• http://www.obvio.ind.br/obviona/828.htm
• http://www.optimalenergy.co.za/
• http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/
• http://www.quicc.eu/index.php?pid=10
• http://www.revaindia.com/
• http://www.silenceinc.ca/accueilEN.htm
• http://www.smart.com/
• http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com/
• http://www.sonimileotor.com (Website no longer accessible)
• http://www.sunmotor.us/Company_Products.html
• http://www.teslamotors.com/
• http://www.theaircar.com/
• http://www.think.no/
• http://www.treffpunktzukunft.com/
• http://www.twike.com/
• http://www.universalelectricvehicle.com  the Spyder (Website no longer accessible)
• http://www.vantagevehicle.com/
• http://www.venturifetish.fr/
• http://www.wrightspeed.com/
• http://www.zapworld.com/
• http://www.zenncars.com/

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Here we go again with another food recall. On Tue Mar 31, 2009 a California pistachio processor issued a nationwide voluntary recall due to potential salmonella contamination.

Thus far, several illnesses have been reported by consumers that may be associated with the pistachios, the FDA said.

The pistachios are roasted and tested for quality, it is believed the cross-contamination occurred at the processing / packaging plan.

The FDA is advising consumers avoid all pistachio products

The last food recall due to salmonella contamination outbreak was with peanuts and peanut butter that has sickened more than 690 people in 46 states. The company in the news then was Peanut Corp. of America, the company behind the current outbreak is Setton.

Both Setton and Peanut Corp. of America are bulk provider of nuts to food manufacturers and wholesalers. That means that the contaminated pistachios could have ended up in a variety of processed foods, including ice cream, cookies, candies and trail mix.

I try to purchase and consume (i.e support) organic and small farm products when I can, I do not support large scale commercial factory farming and food processing.

When are we going to learn than small farms and smaller food manufacturers will provide better quality and be more socially and environmentally friendly?

News articles:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=103267

http://cancer.about.com/b/2009/04/01/fda-issues-pistachio-warning.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFoodDistribution%20&%20Convenience%20Stores/idUSN3139386420090331

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1238034318314750.xml&coll=7

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This is part 4 of the series of articles entitled “The People of the Seven Council Fires – Documentary Summary“. Find part one here, part two here, part three here.

This article is about Family and the new way of life the Oyate were forced into.

Relationships are very important to the Oyate. If you were an Oyate you can make new relatives, by adopting someone as a relative, as a mother, son, sister or brother.

Social structure

The social structure is one of an extended family.

The men assume the role of the protector, provider and leadership.

Women

Women maintain the household. Women are viewed as nurturers & educators.

Women educate the children until a certain age, when boys go with men mentors and women stay under the womens’ mentorship

Grandmothers are usually the educators of the young

Women owned the house and tipi

Ethnic Cleansing

The Lakota were men of peace, lived in balance with creation and addressed all creation as relatives, they were relatives with the white buffalo

The Lakota was the last of tribes to resit the US military, odds and numbers were against them and eventually they worse faced with a new way of life.

Treaties were made and broken. Land was taken. People were forced into farming, and into boarding schools that were basically functioning in a Catholic school system. Further, families broken apart and separated, men and women and children separated.

Their roles were taken away. The women could no longer teach and nurture their children who were taken away from them; the men had no buffalo to hunt and mentoring to give.

The rationale for the boarding schools was, as Carlisle founder Richard Henry Pratt often said, to “kill the Indian and save the man.” But the actual reason was economic: By taking away the children, the U.S. government was able to take away and maintain control of the Indian land base.

Alcohol & drugs came into their lives when reservations started; the buffalo was replaced by rations as part of a government ration system.

The Oral tradition ended; now Cathlic nuns taught children and provided the children protection, someone else was providing for the children.

It was against the law to be Lakota from 1880 to 1978 !!!

In the 1950’s 100% of the Lakota denied their indiannes and they did not speak in Lakota.

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