Friday, October 25, 2013

The Germ Theory

What is the Germ Theory besides being one of the most effective marketing tools ever devised?  It is a theory that 'you' can 'catch' a virus simply by being in close proximity to, shaking hands with or kissing someone with a virus aka a germ.  Ok, so viruses can be transmitted through the air or by kissing the person with the virus. If viruses can be transmitted so easily why aren't we all dead? 

 Based on the naked theory itself it would stand to reason that 'we' would catch the flu, cold or SARS, AVIAN or H1N1 each time we came into contact with someone carrying it.  Meaning that we would never be well, ever.  Our immune system would simply be overwhelmed by the constant barrage of new viruses we would be inhaling, each time we took a breath.  Heaven forbid you fall in love because the act of expressing it would, theoretically, be fatal.  In short if the 'Germ Theory' had teeth our species as well as many other species would have gone extinct long, long ago.

So why aren't we all dead?  Our immune system.  We must be able to adapt to whatever we are exposed to or die. When we go outside on a cold day or bodies get goose bumps and shiver as a means of creating energy to generate warmth.  Our bodies have adapted to the situation.  If we are exposed to a flu virus via natural means, i.e. breathing it in, our bodies immediately identify it as a foreign invader, mark it and immediately begin manufacturing anti-bodies to fight it off. 

You will become symptomatic as your body works to fight this new invader off.  When it is all over, you will have a permanent immunity against that specific virus for the rest of your life.  Whereas if you get the flu shot you are getting last years virus, doing nothing to fight off this years version.  So you will get the flu anyway and the immunity against 'last years' bug will wear off in ten years or less. 

 Historically the 'Germ Theory' is based on 'Demonology'. A medieval idea that sickness was caused by demon possession in punishment of your sins.  Yes the church was diagnosing sickness as punishment for sin.  So not only did some poor soul have to suffer from the symptoms of an illness they had to suffer the condemnation of their peers because it was 'their' fault for being sick.

Treatment for these maladies was blood letting which was performed by the local 'barber'. The years marched on and demon possession morphed into 'frogs in the liver' or a 'toad living in your spleen'.  The 'Germ' displaced all these with the invention of the very first microscope so the 'demon' now had a physical form that could be identified but the treatment didn't change...just the picture. 

Yet the concept of what a virus or germ was didn't translate into cleanliness which was actually scoffed at for decades as quaint and beneath the doctors concern; even as pelvic inflammatory disease ravaged the female population in the 19th century.  

The doctor who discovered the cause of this epidemic was summarily and systematically ruined by his peers for daring to challenge accepted wisdom which did not believe that washing hands between patients was necessary.  Even though he had proven his theory correct by reducing his cases to near zero by using warm soapy water between patients.   So again we see a noble and brilliant doctor ruined by lesser persons who refused to accept a new and beneficial idea because it made them look bad.  Heaven forbid they learn something new or advance their collective knowledge or be perceived as flawed and imperfect human beings.

Unchallenged and unchecked ignorance is more dangerous than any disease.   So it would seem the germ theory is weak and needs to be reconsidered from a new and less dogmatic viewpoint.   The problem lies however with the true disease facing society, unchallenged arrogance and prolific stupidity of those who believe themselves infallible and above being questioned and who destroy those persons who dare to challenge them and who are often more intelligent.

The true disease today is chronic stupidity of persons who believe they are all knowing and godlike.    Doctors must be humble before nature lest they become a disease themselves.



Tuesday, October 15, 2013

It is time the hatred stop.

Several years ago I was seeing a patient for an acute migraine headache.  The visit unfortunately was rather long, which can happen when a migraine patient is having an acute episode. An acquaintance of the patient had been waiting outside in the car.  She was a red headed woman in her mid to early twenties.  When she came in I noticed a paper towel wrapped around her right hand then I noticed a scowl and a clearly negative energy radiating from her.  Immediately I believed that she was injured and in pain.  When I offered to assist her with a band aide or something her scowl deepened and she let loose with a clearly negative barrage directed at me 'personally'.

 I didn't know this woman from Eve, yet she felt comfortable enough to be rude and insulting.  It was later made known to me that his woman was a physical therapist. Ironically in the past 118 years chiropractic has been the target of the medical community, first from the AMA itself, then there was the psychiatrists, I still don't get that really but for a period we were being bashed quite badly by them and now physical therapists have joined into the fray. Physical therapists have been the most violently hateful group of any we have encountered so far. 

As to why, the reasoning is the same as it has always been, to keep medical control of the health care market. Clearly the PTs being ancillary to medicine have been set on the anti-chiropractic war path by their masters as a means of containing chiropractic.  Basically it is the same battle chiropractic has been fighting for the past century.  It just happens to be a different set of adversaries representing the same old foe, political medicine. 

As PTs do not question their medical masters dependence on drugs it is their desire to use PTs as the means of displacing chiropractic.  As a result the PTs have been told all manner of fairy tales about chiropractic such as mangled spines, stroke and quadriplegia being caused by chiropractors;  The very same stuff my grandmother was told when she was in nursing school in 1928.  She later became a chiropractor after she realized she had been lied to by the people she trusted to tell her the truth.  When she asked them why they had to 'lie' about chiropractic none of them had an answer, none.  They just rebuked her for deciding to become a chiropractor. 

What gets me is these people are supposed to be smart, yet they can't even come up with new or even valid arguments against chiropractic, they have to recycle the old arguments and repeat them over and over and over and over...again to maintain the perception that 'they' are the gurus of health care. Ask yourself why anyone would have to lie to maintain an image of perceived wisdom and authority if what they had to offer was valid? 

So I am pointing this out to you. Making you aware of the fact that chiropractic once again is under fire by yet another stooge profession of the AMA who by the way have a permanent injunction against them for earlier, illegal and equally vile efforts to contain and eliminate chiropractic. Google Wilk Vs. AMA.

In this case the AMA was handed an injunction to cease their anti-competitive behavior against the chiropractic profession by a federal court.  As a result the AMA has had to use a proxy to pursue their intended goal of killing chiropractic, their proxy being the Physical Therapist. 

FYI if a PT attempts to adjust your spine for any reason, understand that he/she/they aren't nearly as qualified as they believe, and their adjusting/manipulating the spine is illegal. And what injuries that have been blamed on chiropractors are most often caused by a PT pretending to be a chiropractor.  They aren't licensed to do anything other than what is prescribed by a qualified physician, which they are not.  Which is likely why they are so violently aggressive and hateful to chiropractors who are licensed physicians with 8 years of college. 

I realize that this is an emotional segment, but as a chiropractor I am tired of the attacks by such hateful miscreant souls who believe they are justified to hate chiropractic because their masters said it was ok.  Their hate of my profession is based on a perception created by a century old war that their masters have been losing. The hatred of chiropractic is not justified and has to stop.  I could understand it better if we were truly dangerous and causing problems, but that is not and has not been the case EVER.  Only stories told to create fear by incompetent, miscreant and godless people. 

Chiropractic is still here with the lowest malpractice premiums in any health care system with a zero death rate.  Think on that.  Why would anyone 'hate' a chiropractor?"

Enough already.














Thursday, September 12, 2013

Passion is Truth driven by certainty.

 Passion is an emotional drive fueled by an innate knowledge that what you are doing, thinking and being is absolutely correct.    Rhetoric on the other hand is simply a redundant idea that is little more than a strong opinion with little or no factual basis and even less conviction, hence the need to repeat it over and over and over again to convince yourself and everyone else that what you are saying is true.  In other words 'rhetoric' is a form of brain washing or social programming. But it is only effective if you aren't in the habit of 'critical thinking', which requires a measure of functional intellect and the will to use it. 

 As it would happen the bulk of chiropractic patients are highly educated, self motivated and intellectually driven people. Very often they already understand the concept of chiropractic and understand the long term benefits of chiropractic care. Some of them are actually, get this, Medical doctors! OMG!!!

 On the other hand, some people who buy the rhetoric aren't necessarily intellectually deficient, they just aren't in the habit if exercising their intellect.  I call them intellectual goats.  These people accept anything that is fed to them without questioning it, like a goat might chew on an old shoe.  It might taste bad, chew hard not thinking a wit that maybe they shouldn't eat an old shoe.  However, these people eventually get intellectual indigestion from being fed garbage and are forced to consider better options.   

Then there are the sheep.  The people who don't want to know the truth and don't want to use their brain.  These people make up the bulk of pharmaceutical consumers and who actually buy into the pharmaceutical commercials claims of life changing weight loss or a more active sex life provided  their heart won't explode or the drug they're taking won't cause cancer and somehow kill them.

I became a chiropractor after watching an Navy Doctor nearly kill a 12 year old girl with a cold.  She came in with nothing more than a runny nose and a low grade fever.  She could have just stayed in bed for a few days, drank a few glasses of orange juice, ate some chicken soup and slept it off. Instead our 'medical officer' prescribed her antibiotics, to which she reacted, for which he gave her more, to which she reacted more severely, for which he prescribed more medications etc, etc.  In less than 3 days she was prescribed 4 antibiotics, one anticonvulsant, two antidepressants resulting in a stay in the local hospital, from the reactions to the medications she was given to treat a common cold...that she still had on top of everything else. 

Up to this point I was trying to avoid becoming a chiropractor.  I didn't want to face the hostility and bigotry my dad did.  Being a chiropractor in the 1970s in the United States was no picnic and certainly wasn't a profession for the faint of heart.  To be a chiropractor in the 70s you had to have balls of steel.  As I rode to the hospital with this 12 year old girl, unconscious on oxygen and breathing as if she may die at any moment, I finally grew a pair.  My lasting purpose came to me that day as I held her hand.  I knew chiropractic worked, how it worked and understood it intimately.  Yet I was afraid to say it out loud because of the hostility I knew it would bring.

 I am a chiropractor today because of that girl.  The system of care that nearly took her life out of sheer stupidity and thoughtlessness is the same system telling the world that the chiropractic profession is dangerous and unsafe.  However, chiropractic has no death rate to speak of and has one of the highest safety ratings of any health care system.  Medicine, specifically American medicine is currently '3rd' on the list of preventable deaths in the world following close behind heart disease and cancer. 

Chiropractic is not on the list of preventable death while the practice of pharmaceutical medicine is and they are telling 'you', that chiropractic is unsafe.  Curious don't you think? 

I now understand how it was my dad could face down the hostility, because he knew that what he was doing worked and why it worked with absolute certainty.  Passion is Truth driven by Certainty.  Chiropractors practice with passion which is fed by our dedication to our patients whose lives keep changing for the better the more they see us.  Strangely enough, the more often they see their chiropractor, the better they feel, the fewer medications they take, the fewer surgeries they require and tend to add life to their years and years to their life...without drooling over themselves in a lonely hospital bed with tubes and wires everywhere.  Chiropractic patients don't end up like that. 

Personally I plan to live a long life and expire while living life as a chiropractor.  In fact the Grim Reaper will be running away as I chase him down. 

Nuff Said

Dr. Bend




















Friday, August 30, 2013

To Give, To Love, To Serve...You.

To my readers, I realize that my 'wellness' blog has become something of an outlet for my personal diatribe.  For that I apologize.  On the other hand what I hope to impart is the raw, unadulterated struggle of the chiropractic profession as a whole, as well as an individual practitioner.

 The profession of chiropractic from the very outset has been set firmly 'against' pharmaceutical based care.  Being the last profession standing that is totally not in the pocket of Big Pharma, we as a profession have faced more than our share of political and legal struggles, each time coming out on top, in spite of public perception.

The long and short of it is when the facts are presented, particularly in a court room setting, chiropractic wins hands down, consistently.  However, in the court of public opinion we are mired in rumor, fear mongering and a plethora of unceasing innuendo.  Note that there are seldom if any 'facts' being used by mass media to describe chiropractic.  Normally you hear the opinion of a group who seek to keep chiropractic's influence on 'you', to an absolute minimum, usually by scaring you with stories of epic destruction, exaggeration and lying through their teeth in the form of a negative opinion. FYI 'Opinions' are protected by the First Amendment so they can share their opinion all day long.  But if they fabricate a lie and present it as 'fact' they are subject to libel and defamation law suits, hence chiropractics winning streak in court. 

 Ask yourself this.  If Chiropractic was truly as dangerous as we have been rumored to be, why are we still here? Think about that.  If any of the rumors about chiropractic were remotely true, even in one instance the profession would have self terminated decades ago.  After 118 years we are still here and the hammer keeps falling and we keep surviving. 

Osteopathy, the classic version, ceased to exist in 1957 when the AMA 'accepted' them as equal and absorbed them.  The Osteopath became a second class Md, nothing more than a common pill pusher.  In fact Osteopathy 'manipulation' became an elective and wasn't taught in schools until the early 1990s  when it was discovered that setting C1 cleared out ear infections in children. My grandfather knew that in 1925 but because he was a 'quack' it was dismissed as nonsense.  However, the very same finding 70 years later, was 'discovered' by an Osteopath?  Interesting. 

In the coming years, health care in this great nation will change. Either by necessity or by demand but will change to a patient centered care model and away from the pharmaceutical based model.  You the patient will be the primary catalyst for that change.  Your voice, the recipient of this nations upside down excuse for health care, is what is currently driving the changes in health care today.  People are generally tired of being medicated to death; sadly for many this is a literal truth. 

The pharmaceutical model is exactly what 'they' have attempted to portray the chiropractor as and that is 'dangerous'.  Though very powerful and flush with cash the very nature of their business model is what will bring them to a crashing halt.  It's and axiom of metaphysics and morality.  Absolute power is met with absolute resistance.  This holds true with dictatorships and corporate conglomerates, either the world brings them down or they do it themselves. Invariably 'they' the abusers of humanity self destruct. 

Chiropractic, by maintaining its autonomy and independence from 'Big Pharma', has withstood a decades long barrage of lies coming out bruised and bleeding but otherwise intact.  Dedication to you the patient is the chiropractors power.  Your well being is our strength.  The hug of a grateful child is our joy.  These are the reasons chiropractic has survived the onslaught of decades, our dedication to you our patients, the public we have yet to see and hope to see. 

It is my honor and duty as a Doctor of Chiropractic to Give, to Love and to Serve you.  It is my passion for this profession that drives me to say what must be said.  Who in history ever changed it by being silent?  At no time has social change of any sort come without upheaval, dissent and a monumental battle for the truth.  In all such struggles truth wins in the long run. How long change takes depends on how long you, the patient, are willing to wait.  What do you want out of your health care?  Are you willing to let someone else choose it for you?

To Give, To Love, To Serve...you.

Dr. Bend









Monday, August 26, 2013

PIA syndrome.

Not long ago a middle aged gentleman came into my office.  He was one of those well to do, clearly pleased with himself types.  An arrogant soul who thought he knew more than he truly did, particularly about chiropractic. 

Anyway, he presented to my office with a 'pain' in the upper right quadrant of his abdomen right at the junction where the ribs meet the abdomen.  Had it not been for the smirk that he just couldn't hide or the fact that the pain seemed to move from one side to the other whenever I'd begin examining him, I would have thought maybe, that he had gas, or a duodenal sphincter spasm or possibly even an irritated gall bladder. 

However, after the third shift in the pain location I began to realize he was suffering from PIA syndrome.  It is a condition in which arrogance overrides ignorance allowing the person to become a gigantic Pain In the Ass.  It is a condition I have diagnosed certain personalities with prior to my dismissing them from care. 

These people come into a chiropractors office with the intent of making things difficult for the doctor by not having anything wrong with them.  What seems to be the common mindset for these souls is that they each have a 'pain' somewhere they want the chiropractor to find the cause of.  It is usually as far away from the spine as they can manage and if the chiropractor falls into their trap they find themselves being embarrassed by these individuals who then make a public proclamation that the chiropractor couldn't fix their problem. 

Thankfully my father gave me a heads up to such personalities and was aware of the tactics used by those suffering from PIA syndrome.  When they presented to my office for 'care', or whatever it is they wanted, I was able to address the problem by showing them the door.  As a result I've had very few of these unfortunate souls present to my office.  I have yet to discover why such people do what they do.  Clearly ignorance feeds the syndrome, but what do such people hope to accomplish? 

It is clear that these individuals have a desire to prove chiropractic doesn't work, to their own satisfaction.  Trouble is they are often so far off the mark in terms of understanding the purpose of chiropractic that they come in complaining of a pain they've clearly had to invent in order to prove their point.  What point is their to making a false complaint other than to cause trouble?  Why would a person want to cause trouble for a licensed, practicing chiropractor?   Clearly ignorance is one reason but another would be a profound and enduring lack of respect. 

This is caused by their contemporaries who spread rumors and tell stories of how terrible the chiropractor is.  Then to prove they are right they come into the chiropractic office with a fake problem to justify their ignorance by feeding their arrogance. 

 Sadly their is no cure for this other than knowledge and understanding.  Something these souls are not interested in seeking because they believe they already know 'everything' there is to know.  The best method of addressing this syndrome is by removing these toxic minded people from your practice and from your personal life.  I noted that when I see these people on the street they are usually alone. Perhaps, they are seeking validation.  Sadly, validating someone with PIA syndrome is a self defeating proposition. 

Just smile and pray for them. 

Dr. Bend





Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Why is the safest health care in the world the most feared?

This morning while having my coffee, I began pondering the why and wherefores of 'life'.  What I locked onto this morning was chiropractic, go figure.  Of all the health care systems in place today, chiropractic his the safest and most cost effective health care system with the highest patient satisfaction rating in the world.  Yet people are terrified about the prospect of going to a chiropractor.  That is until they finally, out of desperation and resignation decide to go because everything else has failed.  Even then it takes them months and even years to come in to see the chiropractor because some fool has told them something awful about us. 

When they finally do come in they are usually shaking in fear expecting to be carted off in a body bag.  You think I'm joking?  These people are often surprised I'm not wearing a buffalo head dress, have a bone in  my nose with a leopard skin loin clothe and the 'magic' stick of 'God only knows'.  In truth my wife will not allow me out of the house wearing my loin cloth for some reason muttering things like 'fashionable' and 'oh dear God' shaking her head in despair.  

So what is it that these people are told and from whom and where do they hear it?  I was giving a lecture some years back and a 'person of ignorance' spewed forth this 'comment' "I heard a chiropractor caused quadriplegia in a guy back east".  He was sitting in the back of the room with a smug grin waiting for me to choke.  In all honesty it was difficult for me to not pick up a chair and smash it across his teeth.  However, I maintained and asked him to provide me with a name and location of this source.  He then choked and said he had only heard it from someone he knew back east.  So it is with all such stories, somebody heard something from someone who saw it happen on television...20 years ago. 

My grandmother, back in 1928, was told as a nursing student of the horrible injuries caused by chiropractors.  Such were the stories that she 'hated' and feared chiropractors so much that when her father told he had 30 days to live and decided to go see a chiropractor, was convinced he was suicidal.  My grandmother believed that her father would be killed by seeing the chiropractor.  What did they say to make her think that? 

She tried desperately to convince him not to see that 'heathen quack' because she believed he would certainly die if he did.  In spite of the drama and desperate pleas of my grandmother he went.  She went with him to defend him against the chiropractor.  When he didn't die from the 'adjustment', she was relieved.  However, she was horrified when he was told he'd have to come back.

In less that a month of regular chiropractic visits he was well enough to go back to work. In fact he canceled his own funeral and not only out lived his diagnosis by 30 years, and out lived the Md who'd given him 30 days to live by nearly 20. 

My grandmother eventually swallowed her pride and went to see this weirdo who had helped her father.  First she wanted to apologize for calling him a quack.  Then she wanted to see what it was he did to her father.  His explanation was difficult to accept because it was too simple and made too much sense.  What confused her was the professional demeanor of the 'evil, vile and despicable chiropractor.  It was while sitting in his office that she realized that the stories she had been told were lies meant to scare people away from something that clearly worked better than drugs and surgery. 

My grandmother became a chiropractor because a chiropractor saved her fathers life.  She turned away from medicine realizing that if they had to lie and spread ugly rumors to convince people to scare patients away from the competition, there was something very wrong with their model of care.  So it is today, still, after all these years.  Yet, the Chiropractor is still here black eye and all.  

After 118 years of existence in the health care market chiropractors are still here.  We have a 95% pt satisfaction rating world wide.  We have an accumulated death rate of less than 0.01% covering the entire 118 year span of our existence.  We have the lowest malpractice premiums of all health care systems.  In spite of these facts people keep hearing awful, nasty and scary stories about how terrible the chiropractor is and how they should stay away from that evil, vile and despicable voodoo artist. 

Such stories are meant to scare you away from seeking care that works better and is safer than anything offered in the medicine cabinet.  In short you have been lied to, repeatedly. Think about it. If what 'you' have heard about the chiropractor were true, why is chiropractic still here?  Why do chiropractors still get results 'others' can't explain? 

Are you angry yet?  You should be. 

Dr. Richard Bend.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Walmart and health care insurance

Everybody knows about Walmart.  I don't know anyone who hasn't gone there to get something they needed on the cheap.  Where else can you get shoes, beer and dog food in one store? Ok, maybe Walmart hasn't got the exclusive on one stop shopping, but it is the most well known brand so far. 

Then again Walmart provides us with 'made in china' cheap items that will eventually end up in a land fill somewhere. At least with Walmart you get something for the money spent.  Can anyone say that about their insurance carrier?  You pay them and they cover as little of your health care as they can manage, or they'll just drop you from coverage if you get too sick. 

Of course Obamacare is being called 'socialism' by the media and the talking heads on our television, because 'we' don't want socialism. Who is the 'we' in this equation?  Insurances happen to not want any change to our system of health care because 'they' are making so much money they see little need to change.  Having an abundance of cash tends to do that to some people. 

However, the world is tiring of the corporate mentality that is wrecking our national and world economy for the sake of the bottom line.  Our health are model is run strictly on this corporate model.  As long as a CEOs compensation package is healthy the manner in which it is funded is of little or no concern to those getting the funds. Which is why Obama care is being so heavily opposed.  It is meant to curb this corporate profit taking and abuse of your health care. 

It has been clear for a while now that our health care system has needed an overhaul. Our economy is a direct result of the extreme cost of health care today.  If something isn't done our economy will get even worse.  Honestly I'm not in the mood to see our economy tank just so that a corporate entity can make record profits while producing as little as possible. 

The definition of fraud is taking money without producing the product or service being paid for.  Ok, so that isn't the Webster version but that is the basic idea of fraud, getting paid for doing or producing nothing.  Which is what our health care insurances have been doing under the guise of managed care since the Nixon administration. Of course we know that Nixon was honest with a strong sense of morality. Pardon me while I vomit. 

With Nixons help via the creation of 'Managed Care' we now have institutionalized fraud in which corporations can legally extort funds from you the consumer and provide you with nothing or as little as they can manage.  In the end you end up paying for your health care out of pocket or at least the bulk of it because they decided your care wasn't medically necessary or that your doctor wasn't on their list or was kicked off because he wasn't following their rules or they lost his paper work, or he didn't bill them correctly or the moon was blue on the day your care took place so you weren't covered for the period of the blue moon and more recently your credit score was too low so you are no loner covered with our firm...sorry. 

 Sadly some of you reading this think I am joking.  At least with Walmart you get what you pay for cheap though it may be but with insurance you're lucky if they cover anything. 

I want you to read this and call your insurance company today and find out exactly what you are covered for.  Make them explain it to you.  If they tell you that you are covered for 'everything' press the issue and make them tell you what you will be expected to pay if and when you go see your doctor or your chiropractor, then have your doctor call them and compare notes.  Hopefully you won't be surprised, but it is likely you will be and not in the good way.

Dr. B






Friday, July 26, 2013

Why is changing our health care system so difficult?

Our health care system is run an operated by large very deep pocketed industries, namely the Pharmaceutical, Insurance and the federal regulatory agencies that regulate them.  I want you to think about that last sentence and realize what that means exactly.

It means that the Pharm and Insurance industries run the entire health care system of the United States and they have the Federal authorities to support them.  How?  60% of the funding of the FDA comes from private Pharmaceutical funding.  Not only does that create a conflict of interest the staff of the FDA are often employed by the very industry they are regulating.  Meaning that the federal employees who get government pay, also get a pay check from the private sector.  Also the CDC is staffed, funded and employed by the Pharmaceutical industry. 

 The FTC also appears to be totally in the pocked of private industry behaving like a MOB enforcer making it difficult for the competition to get a toe hold in the market place in any meaningful way. The entire system is completely in shambles and those who are making all the money are running the show from the federal regulatory agencies to the insurance lowly adjusters making decision on which 'sort' of care is covered and which is not.

If a doctor is very adept at writing prescriptions he is likely to get paid very well, but if you are a doctor actually doing what you are supposed to and looking after patients...you can bet you are not getting paid much if at all.

Obamacare is a massive step in the right direction, hence the extreme resistance that it  has encountered.  It's mass as a piece of legislation is one of the biggest arguments against it. Being that it is the only health care reform to occur in the united states in the better part of 90 years, it has to be in order to correct the grossly out of date methods of health care that were established in 1910 by the pharmaceutical industry as a means of making it more and more money.

 The time has come for change.  The entrenched and highly placed, morally reprehensible, heathen souls in our system are not prepared to lose the paychecks that go with holding a literal monopoly on the most expensive health care system in the world, ours.  

It would be nice if you the consumer woke up to that fact.

Wakey Wakey....

 


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The strength of a nation = Health of its population

I know I've taken this 'Wellness' blog and expanded the subject matter considerably.  Digressing rather impressively from the wellness focus I first intended, or did I? Wellness comes only to those who actively pursue it.  It will not come to you via lightening strike or alien visitation.  You are going to have to work at being well.  This being the case you will need to have resources to enlighten yourself so that you can make better decisions and know which actions to take.

That is where I come in and those like me who have chosen to share with you our personal experiences, acquired knowledge and understanding.  Not that I am the guru of all earthly things, but I do have knowledge that I believe is worth sharing, hence this blog.  Then again that is my opinion mixed with a smidge of ego. 

 As the title indicates the strength of a nation lies with the health of its people.  Can you think of any nation that has a sickly population that is economically viable, influential or pleasant to live in?  Sickly in this case includes not being able to make choices that are healthy vs being forced to eat whatever is available. i.e GMO foods vs natural foods.  At present we still have that choice, but it is fading quickly. 

 Nations like Somalia get international aid to feed their people who are unable to chose what they eat or how much.  They get whatever the world sends them and other nations US included send them the cheapest, least nutritious foods available.  This is because the foods that ship the easiest tend to be grains, rice and produce that will hold indefinitely in harsh, arid climates. 

Nations that can feed their populations tend to be leaders and have relatively strong, resilient economies with strong, resilient populations.  At present the USA is the strongest nation in the world, but we are no longer the healthiest.  We have a national crisis of obesity, heart disease, cancer and an industrial health care model that focuses on profit over results.  It is therefore not surprising that our economy is in shambles. 

 This is a wake up call for you.  Start by taking charge of your dinner table by ensuring that the foods on it, are GMO free.  This will take a little effort on your part, yes effort. Suck it up!  Luckily the internet will provide the information as to where to get GMO free food, an excellent chiropractor, a wellness focused MD etc.  The effort will come in the form of wading through the quagmire of deliberately misleading information that is meant to create confusion and lead you toward corporate health care and food products.  In short they will flood the internet with misinformation forcing you to figure out fact from fiction.

 Wake up America. Your country needs you.




Thursday, June 13, 2013

That phone in your hand will change the world.


Our world is connected like never before.  We get to hear of world events and catastrophes minutes after they happen if not the very moment they occur.  It is the rapidity with which we get news that creates the illusion that the world is going crazy and getting worse.   The world has always been crazy, we just didn't know how crazy.   

 20 years ago, news took hours to reach our color television, 40 years ago it took days to reach our Magnavox black and white television set and 70 years ago, we got our news from a radio as narrated by Edward R. Murrow, sometimes live, sometimes pre-recorded.  Fact is we got used to getting our news at a certain time of day in a certain order, news, sports and weather. Now we have phones that do as much as my first desk top computer did, more even and does it faster and they can take pictures and make movies.  WOW!!!

 Now 'we the people' are watching and reporting on our political leadership.  When we hear a politician say something dumb we record it on our phone and post it on You Tube...as it happens.  In a matter of minutes a careless comment by a clueless, baby kissing politician in Boston will be played on a cell phone in Tokyo, Moscow and Tierra Del Fuego letting everyone with a cell phone listen in on their ignorance.  It is technology that will advance the intellect of our species which will naturally lead to the next stage of our evolution. 

Technology is the fire of our time.  Fire was the tool we used to survive and advance our species once we learned to harness it.  At first I'm sure fire was confusing, painful and scary especially after it took out the tree outside the family cave, you know the one we all used to pee behind, yeah that one.  It was fire that helped our species survive the Ice Age. Had we abandoned fire after the first few mishaps that I'm sure did occur, we'd have ceased to exist as a species much less become the dominant species on the planet.  

The one thing we have yet to harness effectively is our collective knowledge.  It is the phone in your hand that will make that happen. It is the conversations we have everyday in which we exchange ideas person to person that will engage the collective consciousness that will one day change the world into a place we all can live together in peace.  But it will take a collective effort to erase ignorance, bigotry and hatred that feed the divisions and foment war.  Knowledge is the cure for ignorance which feeds hatred and bigotry.  That phone you use and take for granted every day is the very tool that will allow 'you' to become knowledgeable and enlightened to the greatness of our future. 

 Imagine when you had to be a certain place, at a certain time to get enlightened.  You have knowledge and the means to share it in your hand.  Think about that. 


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Unquestioned, Unchallenged Authority.

This concept is one of the most dangerous social constructs our species has come up with in our short and volatile existence on this ancient rock we live on.  History is replete with dictatorships, monarchies and military juntas, each with their own methods of quelling social unrest, usually bloody, usually brutal and effective if for only a short while.  One commonality these brutal types of governments have is that they are all, without fail, temporary.  None have survived the test of time or the tolerance of human nature.  As for the British Monarchy, they are no longer a ruling class but a figure head with limited power, hence their longevity as a monarchy.

In any case unchallenged authority, no matter how you package it, is dangerous.  Examples of unchallenged authority range from political rhetoric to health care paradigms, each with their own set of social consequences.  In the 1950s Senator McCarthy held up an empty file and declared that he had a 'list' of communists who had infiltrated congress and certain areas of government.   What followed was what we know today as the 'Red Scare', which dominated our nations focus for a few years until it was abruptly addressed and shut down as a gross violation of our civil rights. 

Another example of unchallenged authority is the AMA. From the early 20th Century the AMA was 'the authority' in all things 'health' related.  What drove their unchallenged status were the deep pockets of the pharmaceutical industry who had very, very, very deep pockets which they used to bolster the AMAs political strength and influence which lead to the AMA becoming the unchallenged authority they 'were'.  So long as they made the pharm money the pharm paved their political roadway ensuring that the AMA retained its perceived authority, which was being used to make the pharm more and more money.

Being unchallenged creates an ego trip and dumbs you down.  If you can say anything you want, no matter how ludicrous or profoundly stupid and not have it challenged it is easy to believe that what you say is worthy of biblical writ and spew forth inanity upon inanity until you are finally challenged.  It is usually at this point that the 'ego' kicks in and the formerly unchallenged god of all things health unleashes a verbal assault on the person or persons daring to question their god-like wisdom.  This usually comes in the form of a particularly vicious attack on the credibility of the questioner hopefully restoring the perception of genuine authority.  Basically its a bully tactic. 

Chiropractic has been subjected to this very sort of tactic for the past century.  The fact that we are still here and growing in our influence in spite of persistent attacks on our profession suggests that the 'wisdom' of the AMA may not be wisdom but rhetoric. With all unchallenged authority, challenge is inevitable.  If you are unable to address your challenger with an effective, logical argument supporting your position the only recourse is to attack your challengers credibility in order to sustain your position, which is rhetoric.  Eventually true wisdom wins out.  It may take years, decades and even centuries, but true wisdom will ALWAYS without fail surface.  Galeleo was proven right when he said that the sun was the center of the solar system and not the earth, for this truth he was threatened with death by the church who found his 'truth' threatening. Eventually he was proven correct but he did not live to see his truth accepted. 

Chiropractic and chiropractors have challenged the AMA for over a Century now and the AMA cannot and will not subdue those of us who question their motives, and perception of wisdom which has been proven deadly if profitable.  In that sense the AMA has proven itself fallible and driven by egotistic rhetoric rather than sound logic and  physiology.  Why do you think chiropractic is still here and challenging the status quo? Why would the AMA have to attack chiropractic if they, the AMA, had a functional leg to stand on?  Why do they have to buy politicians with their pimps money?

Challenge everything often. 







Monday, May 6, 2013

A pending divorce between Government and The Pharm.

It is said that familiarity breeds contempt.  If this is true, then the intimate 'marriage' between big pharma and our world governments should be entering into a bitter divorce and custody battle very soon.  Why? 

With the collapse of the world economy governments are scrambling for cash to maintain their economic viability.  Big Pharma is among the few industries who have not felt the crunch. On the other hand they are also being prosecuted more frequently for criminal activities the world governments are no longer willing to tolerate.  The resulting fines from these prosecutions have become a new source of revenue for governments, the USA has finally figured out that as cash rich as big pharma is and as morally loose as they have been, it is easy to fine them for bad behavior, without really hurting them. 

Recently the Justice Department fined three pharmaceutical companies 3 billion dollars for bribing public officials.  It seems rather massive as fines go, but it is a mere drop in the bucket for the pharmaceutical industry which measures its profit in the hundreds of billions.  So as massive as this recent fine was, it was nothing more than a show piece, for you, the consumer.  It is the US government saying 'Look at what we've done, we are looking out for you after all', when all they've done is slap the hand of a miscreant industry from where many of our politicians get funds for re-election. 

The United States congress is still relatively cozy with the Pharm industry, other nations however, are not so much.  You see, the United States is the largest market for the pharm because we consume between 50 and 60 percent of the worlds pharmaceutical production, and we are only 5% of the world population.  Eastern Europe is coming down hard on executives and their minions who recently attempted to create 'monopolies' in their emerging economies.  Many of these nations are former Soviet Block countries and are familiar with 'monopolies' at the government level. As a result they have ZERO tolerance for such nonsense.  Also, these countries tend to be more cerebral on the whole and less gullible to a slick sales pitch. 

So with the world governments waking up we may soon be seeing the Pharmaceutical industry seeking to separate itself from Governments they once controlled.  Being so intimately associated with these nations, the Pharm has let slip their secrets to those they once held as close and intimate partners.  Once this happens we will be seeing what amounts to a divorce and custody battle over the fruits of that mutual association that netted both parties so much cash.  Now that the world nations need money and the corporate structures they enabled are flush with cash, the cozy, intimate and even loving relationship they once enjoyed may soon turn bitter, ugly and even violent. 

 You see, we aren't talking mere billions stashed away,  we are talking trillions upon trillions of dollars that have been spirited away from our government coffers to pad the private 'retirement' accounts of politicians who looked the other way as our nations wealth was extracted.  Not only will there be a divorce and custody battle, but we may see once prominent figures, particularly politicians arrested, charged and sent to prison for their part in what can only be summed up as a betrayal of national trust.  Not that they will ever 'see' prison because these persons, will flip on their partners in crime so fast we won't even see it happen.

  So watch the news in the months to come and listen carefully to the subtle comments change their tone against the pharmaceutical industry.  It will be a squeak  here, and a squeak there, but eventually the divorce of government and big pharm will be dominating the news.  Should be neat to watch.



Tuesday, April 23, 2013

changes in health care

Several months ago I mentioned that Big Pharma was facing some legal challenges due to their moral lapses.  It would seem that those challenges have gotten a bit more severe. Given the toxic influence this industry has had on the world, it is about time.  As the Affordable Health Care Act is put into full swing we, are hearing more and more rhetoric in the media about how terrible this new law is going to be for the nation; that it is too much too soon and how it will destroy the economy...and the fear mongering goes on. 

So, why, if this law is so bad, was it passed?  One of the many arguments against the law is that it is so massive.  Considering that the last time any real health care legislation was passed was in 1913, I'd say we were over due, by about 90 years.  What you are not being told by the media, (who happen to receive the bulk of their advertising budget from Big Pharma) is that our economy would have been decimated in a matter of a few years if nothing was done.  The only people who think our health care system is 'just fine' are the people making money off of the system as it currently exists.  Considering that they are making hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars I with the status quo, there is zero incentive for them to change a thing. 

It would make sense, then, for them to spend as much as they could, buying up air time scaring you, the consumer into thinking that this new health care law was the next thing to Armageddon, because they really, really do like making all that money.   Frankly, I can understand that.  I mean who wouldn't want a two or three hundred million dollar bonus every Christmas? 

The problem is that along the way some grew to believe that they were entitled to all that wealth and it didn't matter how they obtained it, so long as they got theirs.  the more money that was made the easier it became to dictate which politician got elected, which news story got aired and which did not. Power became their drug and power is as addictive as any narcotic if not more so.  So over the years they spread their influence so that today there are six pharmaceutical lobbyists for every member of congress. Is it any wonder why our congress can't get anything done?  Could it be that they don't want to get anything done? 

 When the Affordable Health Care Act was passed in 2010 the power brokers in DC were shaken to the core, because they believed that it would never get passed.  Now, they are desperate to repeal it because their cash cow is about to dry up. Most specifically Big Pharm stands to lose a huge chunk when Medicare is no longer forced to buy their drugs at 'their' premium price. 

Consider this when you hear some news anchor trying to scare you into believing some story of Armageddon.