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.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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.
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.
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.
Monday, July 9, 2012
The Spanish Influenza of 1918..the start of a bitter, shameful legacy.
Dr. Eleanor McBean was an on-the-spot observer of the 1918 influenza epidemic and said, "As far as I could find out, the flu
hit only the vaccinated. Those who had refused the shots escaped the
flu. My family had refused all the vaccinations so we remained well all
the time."
Friday, July 6, 2012
The Stress of Self Worth
In 2008 a German businessman whose estimated personal wealth was in excess of 6 Billion dollars threw himself in front of a train after his business posted a loss of 500 million that year. He could have covered that loss with his own money and not feel any economic pain for six or seven life times. Sadly a week following his death Germany bailed out his firm...talk about bad timing.
The idea that a person worth over six billion dollars, cash in the bank, could have felt so destitute that he felt compelled to commit suicide boggles my mind. To put it into perspective a billion dollars is 1,000,000 (one million dollars) multiplied by 1,000 (one thousand). If anyone of us were blessed with a million dollar pay out our lives would be changed quite nicely. I could pay off my student loans, office loan, car loan put enough money away to pay for my kids college, all three of them..and still have enough left over to buy a really nice house in a nice neighborhood with a few hundred grand left over. Imagine what it would be like if we had a billion dollar pay out. I actually tried to spend a billion dollars in my head, but I only managed to spend a mere 50,000,000 before I ran out of 'stuff' to spend it on. Perhaps I am not thinking like a billionare...Oh well.
Being a dedicated chiropractor I would not retire even if I could afford to. I would remain in practice until the very end expanding my office to create a spa for my patients so that each and every one felt as though they'd been spoiled rotten. I think the difference is having a sense of purpose rather than a sense of worth. I would spend the money taking care of my family and my patients who are considered family. Sadly it would appear that this billionare had no personal self worth or life purpose. His purpose was to make money and when his firm lost so much he lost perspective on what was important.
Wellness includes a sense of well being and knowing what is truly important and what isn't. Remember that no matter how bad things get or seem to get, it could always be worse. Just remember that each day is a gift which is why the call it a present.
Live, breath and love thyself.
Dr. B
The idea that a person worth over six billion dollars, cash in the bank, could have felt so destitute that he felt compelled to commit suicide boggles my mind. To put it into perspective a billion dollars is 1,000,000 (one million dollars) multiplied by 1,000 (one thousand). If anyone of us were blessed with a million dollar pay out our lives would be changed quite nicely. I could pay off my student loans, office loan, car loan put enough money away to pay for my kids college, all three of them..and still have enough left over to buy a really nice house in a nice neighborhood with a few hundred grand left over. Imagine what it would be like if we had a billion dollar pay out. I actually tried to spend a billion dollars in my head, but I only managed to spend a mere 50,000,000 before I ran out of 'stuff' to spend it on. Perhaps I am not thinking like a billionare...Oh well.
Being a dedicated chiropractor I would not retire even if I could afford to. I would remain in practice until the very end expanding my office to create a spa for my patients so that each and every one felt as though they'd been spoiled rotten. I think the difference is having a sense of purpose rather than a sense of worth. I would spend the money taking care of my family and my patients who are considered family. Sadly it would appear that this billionare had no personal self worth or life purpose. His purpose was to make money and when his firm lost so much he lost perspective on what was important.
Wellness includes a sense of well being and knowing what is truly important and what isn't. Remember that no matter how bad things get or seem to get, it could always be worse. Just remember that each day is a gift which is why the call it a present.
Live, breath and love thyself.
Dr. B
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Polio an enduring question....
Recently I read a book titled 'Thugs, Drugs and the War on Bugs'. In this book I found some very interesting tidbits regarding the polio epidemic that plagued our nation during the first half of the 20th century. There seem to be many cases in which many people developed symptoms of polio but never contracted the virus itself. How can that happen? What other factors contributed to the Polio epidemic?
The answer lies possibly with an outbreak in the Phillipines in the late 1940s. The outbreak was contained on US military bases and did not affect the surrounding villages. So with Polio being so contagious, supposedly, why then were the locals not afflicted, especially since many locals were frequently on the base facilities as either employees or contractors for the military? Logic would dictate that if the Polio virus were on the bases as the epidemic would suggest it was, the villagers would also be afflicted. I'm not aware of any racist viruses but it would appear that if the polio virus were present in the PI in 1948 it is my contention that the locals would be equally afflicted if not more severely. What happened?
DDT was a chemical pesticide that was sprayed on the military bases exclusively as a means of controlling the mosquito population on the military bases in the PI. The locals, being used to the irritating little bugs had other more effective means of dealing with them so had no need to have their villages sprayed with pesticides. All military bases in the PI had this outbreak each of them isolated from the other bases by miles and miles with villages in between. If this outbreak were truly a virus, logic would suggest that the villages in and around the American bases would have suffered outbreaks of their own as well. OK, so if the locals were on the bases why didn't they also suffer from the 'exposure' the Americans did? Quite simply because the DDT was sprayed over the residential areas or base housing where the locals were not allowed and where the outbreaks were most prominent.
Meanwhile stateside, DDT was being used everywhere on everything from grass to crops. While the polio virus got blamed for this outbreak DDT slowly found itself banned and off the market and quietly disappeared from use. Coincidentally where DDT was banned polio miraculously ceased to exist. This correlation may also have been the reason that many if not all of the individuals afflicted with polio did not have the virus present in their system..while they suffered the disease supposedly caused by a virus.
This is a question that needs to be investigated more deeply. Why did polio disappear only after DDT was banned? Why did most of not all polio victims lack the presence of the actual virus in spite of suffering from Polio? Also, why is it that polio is on the rise in non developed countries? Is it possible that DDT has found its way back into the market place in unregulated markets?
It is a curious question that I'd like you to ponder.
Dr. B
The answer lies possibly with an outbreak in the Phillipines in the late 1940s. The outbreak was contained on US military bases and did not affect the surrounding villages. So with Polio being so contagious, supposedly, why then were the locals not afflicted, especially since many locals were frequently on the base facilities as either employees or contractors for the military? Logic would dictate that if the Polio virus were on the bases as the epidemic would suggest it was, the villagers would also be afflicted. I'm not aware of any racist viruses but it would appear that if the polio virus were present in the PI in 1948 it is my contention that the locals would be equally afflicted if not more severely. What happened?
DDT was a chemical pesticide that was sprayed on the military bases exclusively as a means of controlling the mosquito population on the military bases in the PI. The locals, being used to the irritating little bugs had other more effective means of dealing with them so had no need to have their villages sprayed with pesticides. All military bases in the PI had this outbreak each of them isolated from the other bases by miles and miles with villages in between. If this outbreak were truly a virus, logic would suggest that the villages in and around the American bases would have suffered outbreaks of their own as well. OK, so if the locals were on the bases why didn't they also suffer from the 'exposure' the Americans did? Quite simply because the DDT was sprayed over the residential areas or base housing where the locals were not allowed and where the outbreaks were most prominent.
Meanwhile stateside, DDT was being used everywhere on everything from grass to crops. While the polio virus got blamed for this outbreak DDT slowly found itself banned and off the market and quietly disappeared from use. Coincidentally where DDT was banned polio miraculously ceased to exist. This correlation may also have been the reason that many if not all of the individuals afflicted with polio did not have the virus present in their system..while they suffered the disease supposedly caused by a virus.
This is a question that needs to be investigated more deeply. Why did polio disappear only after DDT was banned? Why did most of not all polio victims lack the presence of the actual virus in spite of suffering from Polio? Also, why is it that polio is on the rise in non developed countries? Is it possible that DDT has found its way back into the market place in unregulated markets?
It is a curious question that I'd like you to ponder.
Dr. B
Friday, June 15, 2012
Food Allergies and GMO foods.
When I first heard of genetically modified foods I was in college and more concerned with keeping my GPA up than I was of watching the world political landscape change. I did of course hear about genetically modified foods and also some of the problems that eating these foods might create. Over time the GMO question ebbed and flowed as many of these topics do when displaced by world changing events like the wars we found ourselves engaged in.
Apparently while our collective attention was focused on issues abroad, GMO food items quietly gained prominence at the American dinner table. We of course did not notice this change because none of these foods are labeled as GMO..like they are in Europe. So while GMO products gained a foothold in the American market Europe began banning GMO items by creating GMO free zones. What do they know that we have yet to learn?
The United States are virtually devoid of these zones. They do exist but they are few and far between. One would think that here in California, the bread basket of the world, there would be vast expanses of land allocated for GMO free crops. The agriculture industry is the largest industry in California and the vast majority of farm land is corporate owned. It is the one major industry that cannot afford to leave California. The San Joaquin valley is the richest farm land in the western hemisphere in which everything you can imagine is grown. Most of it genetically modified to make it pest resistant, weed resistant, drought resistant and possibly nutrient resistant as well.
Ever notice how many people there are who simply cannot eat certain foods? Have you noticed how that number seems to have increased in recent years? I have noticed a huge spike in this number in the past decade alone. Our national obesity epidemic, how much of this health problem can be attributed to genetically altered foods? Is it possible that by altering the DNA of these seeds, that we have created a source of nutrition that the body finds toxic or simply can no longer digest and so converts it to fat because it has no place else to go?
It has been in the past ten years that these genetically modified foods have gained position in the market place and have begun to displace naturally occurring or conventionally bred crops. It has also been in the past decade that obesity and other health concerns have risen to prominence in America. Is there a correlation or is it just dumb luck that we have become the fattest and most lethargic population on the planet?
We are the only species on earth that has the intellectual capacity to understand DNA manipulation and yet we are too stupid to leave well enough alone. I is the same with nuclear weapons we know how to blow up our enemies...but we do not think about the consequences until we find ourselves on the brink of absolute destruction before we consider...hey maybe mutually assured destruction isn't such a good idea. Ya think?!!
What harm are these GMO products doing to us? How many diseases are we now suffering from as a result of poor nutrition because our bodies cannot digest these new bug, weed and drought resistant foods? We need to each take a stand and tell these well intended yet short sighted buffoons to leave our food alone.
Dr. B
Apparently while our collective attention was focused on issues abroad, GMO food items quietly gained prominence at the American dinner table. We of course did not notice this change because none of these foods are labeled as GMO..like they are in Europe. So while GMO products gained a foothold in the American market Europe began banning GMO items by creating GMO free zones. What do they know that we have yet to learn?
The United States are virtually devoid of these zones. They do exist but they are few and far between. One would think that here in California, the bread basket of the world, there would be vast expanses of land allocated for GMO free crops. The agriculture industry is the largest industry in California and the vast majority of farm land is corporate owned. It is the one major industry that cannot afford to leave California. The San Joaquin valley is the richest farm land in the western hemisphere in which everything you can imagine is grown. Most of it genetically modified to make it pest resistant, weed resistant, drought resistant and possibly nutrient resistant as well.
Ever notice how many people there are who simply cannot eat certain foods? Have you noticed how that number seems to have increased in recent years? I have noticed a huge spike in this number in the past decade alone. Our national obesity epidemic, how much of this health problem can be attributed to genetically altered foods? Is it possible that by altering the DNA of these seeds, that we have created a source of nutrition that the body finds toxic or simply can no longer digest and so converts it to fat because it has no place else to go?
It has been in the past ten years that these genetically modified foods have gained position in the market place and have begun to displace naturally occurring or conventionally bred crops. It has also been in the past decade that obesity and other health concerns have risen to prominence in America. Is there a correlation or is it just dumb luck that we have become the fattest and most lethargic population on the planet?
We are the only species on earth that has the intellectual capacity to understand DNA manipulation and yet we are too stupid to leave well enough alone. I is the same with nuclear weapons we know how to blow up our enemies...but we do not think about the consequences until we find ourselves on the brink of absolute destruction before we consider...hey maybe mutually assured destruction isn't such a good idea. Ya think?!!
What harm are these GMO products doing to us? How many diseases are we now suffering from as a result of poor nutrition because our bodies cannot digest these new bug, weed and drought resistant foods? We need to each take a stand and tell these well intended yet short sighted buffoons to leave our food alone.
Dr. B
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