President Obama at the Crossroads
As America seeks to heal herself after eight years of the previous administration's divisive domestic and foreign policies, I believe President Obama is the right man at the right time in our nation's history. His extensive grassroots community experience grounds him with the realization that he must take his vision for America to the streets. He knows before Lady Liberty can pull herself up by her bootstraps, each and every American citizen must envision a common goal. Although Democracy demands open debate and compromise to successfully attenuate our many differences into a focused effort, there is no time for extended partisan sparring.Across the media, the Republicans are already echoing the trite sound byte, "We cannot spend and borrow our way to prosperity" in opposition to President Obama's economic stimulus plan. They propose an across the board tax cut, instead. Regardless whether either plan is enacted, our government is forced to continue borrowing from the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank to make up the budget shortfall. The difference is merely semantics.
Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt successfully steered our nation through the Great Depression after four years of Republican President Herbert Hoover's failed economic fiscal policies. President Hoover's false sense of confidence gained by his previous experience as President Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of Commerce mirrored President Bush's steadfast clinging to the Republican's "Trickle Down" economic policy. However, thanks to President Roosevelt adeptly guiding massive government expenditure public works projects through Congress during his term's first year, our nation's unemployed and working poor were given hope and sustenance to provide for their families while creating the infrastructure responsible for bringing our nation to the modern world's leadership position.Our aging national highway and bridge system, inefficient federal, state, and city government buildings, outdated and overstressed electrical grid and utilities, overcrowded public schools, undermanned law enforcement agencies, the absence of meaningful drug and criminal rehabilitation programs, and a shameful lack of modernized public transportation systems, prove our nation's public services are in desperate need of new investment.
If the Republican "Trickle Down" theory worked, wouldn't it have at least, started showing some minimal signs of progress over the last eight years? Unfortunately, our public infrastructure has continued to decay. In fact, there has been scarce new investment in any public sectors except a few political pork barrel projects.As our newly-elected president begins to spend some of his political capital to lead our nation into a new era of prosperity, there is much to be done by her citizens. This sad current state of affairs was created by all of us over a lengthy period of time. It will require equally as long to correct it.
Future generations are reliant upon us to make the right decisions. Even more importantly, we must take action to bequeath a better world to our children and grandchildren. We were given more opportunity than our parents. Do we not share the same responsibility for our descendents?Local community efforts to clean up our towns, cities, and countryside are in dire need of volunteers. Before our current era of a throw-away society, folks could not afford to discard possessions alongside roadways and neighborhoods. This self-serving interest was motivation to adequately protect our environment from pollution. However, a throw-away modern lifestyle with a lack of respect for our ourselves, our neighborhoods, communities, and countrysides, combined with a bourgeoning population are burdening our life-sustaining natural world with increasingly more damage. In fact, our planet's ability to maintain a stable climate may have already passed the point of no return. Time is of the essence.
As our federal government diligently works to turn around its own wasteful, environmentally neglectful policies, every American across this great nation must take small steps in their personal lives to contribute towards this shared common vision. It does not require life-changing decisions to contribute. Simple changes in individual household shopping habits can make a large positive environmental impact. Choosing energy-efficient light bulbs, keeping our thermostats lower at night, combining trips in the car, increasing insulation in our homes, carpooling when practical, are all small steps each of us can take in the right direction. Be creative and find your own unique contributions.
There is no doubt, history will scrutinize President Obama's presidency under the magnifying glass to determine whether he invested or squandered the American citizens' mandate for change. Rest assured, no matter the most noblest of intentions, he cannot perfect the required change without our help. Will history judge you and I favorably? Or will we be the first generation in this great nation's history to leave our children with less opportunity for economic prosperity and personal happiness? For our children's sake, take action. Join grassroots organizations to BE the change. If none exist in your town, organize neighborhood efforts to clean up your community and instill a sense of pride in your children. Be a leader. Our children's future depends upon it.
There are many challenges ahead, but if each and everyone of us will become the change, the combined energy expended towards humanity's common good would be a brilliant star shining brightly around the world. America could once again garner the respect and admiration of our global neighbors. Instead of exporting bombs and missiles, we could export positive energy, green technologies, and goodwill. This is the silver lining left by years of greed, despair, and poverty clouding our nation's vision. I believe this is the vision that President Obama intuitively knows is within our grasp. Will you take the baby steps required to achieve this vision of a greater future and nation? History is rampant with failed civilizations. Are we going to cease existing as a beacon for the world to follow? We cannot sit back, do nothing and point fingers. It's up to each of us. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen, if we believe.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
MSG Food Additive - Slow Poison
I recently received this email and wanted to post it here. I'm sorry I do not know the original author, but known attributions and sources are listed in the article.
~Farah
----------------------------------------
Have you noticed over the past few years how fat our country is getting? I have. In fact, I noticed it with my own weight. Sure, I'm a middle aged guy and so it’s natural that I get a bit chunky, but it just seemed that it was happening a little too fast to be "normal."I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, and so did a friend of mine, John Erb.He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called The Slow Poisoning of America.In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create them. They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with MSG when they are first born.The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. They even have a name for the fat rodents they create: 'MSG-Treated Rats.'When I heard this, I was shocked. I went into my kitchen and checked the cupboards and the refrigerator. MSG was in everything – the Campbell 's soups, the Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low-fat' ones.The items that didn't have MSG marked on the product label had something called 'Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein,' which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.
It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. MSG is hidden under many different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list, so that they don't catch on. (Other names for MSG are 'Accent, 'Aginomoto,' 'Natural Meat Tenderizer,' etc.)But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items contained MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough, MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere. Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant – even the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili's, Applebee's, and Denny's -- use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin -- their secret spice was MSG!So why is MSG in so many of the foods we eat? Is it a preservative, or a vitamin?Not according to my friend John Erb. In his book The Slow Poisoning of America, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body.Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more.A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods that it is added to.
The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?'Betcha can't eat just one,' takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight!MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added.Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance. Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks, and fast foods we are tempted to eat every day.The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it's safe to eat in any amount. But how can they claim it's safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these: 'The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity.' Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol, 2002.So what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping this fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see? Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada while he was sitting in the government office, the official told him, 'Sure, I know how bad MSG is. I wouldn't touch the stuff.' But this top-level government official refuses to tell the public what he knows.The big media doesn't want to tell the public either, fearing issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on the fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive.But what can I do about it? I'm just one voice! What can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us?
Please forward this posting or a link to it, out to everyone you know in an attempt to tell them the truth that the corporate-owned politicians and media won't tell you.The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic is to forward this article to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the legislation protecting those who are poisoning us.The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on nicotine?If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself.Go to the National Library of Medicine at http://www.pubmed.com/
Please do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail, or by distribution of this printout to your friends all over the world and stop this 'Slow Poisoning of Mankind' by the packaged food industry.Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, so get the word out. 'Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats.' Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro. Brain Res Bull, 2002 Aug. 'Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: An animal model of multiple risk factors.' Iwase M,Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima. Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar. 'Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity.' Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K Kusunoki. Exp Neurol, 1978 Oct. No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in 1978.Both the 'medical research community' and 'food manufacturers' have known about the side effects of MSG for decades.Many more of the studies mentioned in John Erb's book link MSG to diabetes, migraines and headaches, autism, ADHD, and even Alzheimer's.
~Farah
----------------------------------------
Have you noticed over the past few years how fat our country is getting? I have. In fact, I noticed it with my own weight. Sure, I'm a middle aged guy and so it’s natural that I get a bit chunky, but it just seemed that it was happening a little too fast to be "normal."I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, and so did a friend of mine, John Erb.He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called The Slow Poisoning of America.In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create them. They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with MSG when they are first born.The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. They even have a name for the fat rodents they create: 'MSG-Treated Rats.'When I heard this, I was shocked. I went into my kitchen and checked the cupboards and the refrigerator. MSG was in everything – the Campbell 's soups, the Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low-fat' ones.The items that didn't have MSG marked on the product label had something called 'Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein,' which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.
It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. MSG is hidden under many different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list, so that they don't catch on. (Other names for MSG are 'Accent, 'Aginomoto,' 'Natural Meat Tenderizer,' etc.)But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items contained MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough, MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere. Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant – even the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili's, Applebee's, and Denny's -- use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin -- their secret spice was MSG!So why is MSG in so many of the foods we eat? Is it a preservative, or a vitamin?Not according to my friend John Erb. In his book The Slow Poisoning of America, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body.Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more.A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods that it is added to.
The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?'Betcha can't eat just one,' takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight!MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added.Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance. Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks, and fast foods we are tempted to eat every day.The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it's safe to eat in any amount. But how can they claim it's safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these: 'The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity.' Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol, 2002.So what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping this fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see? Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada while he was sitting in the government office, the official told him, 'Sure, I know how bad MSG is. I wouldn't touch the stuff.' But this top-level government official refuses to tell the public what he knows.The big media doesn't want to tell the public either, fearing issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on the fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive.But what can I do about it? I'm just one voice! What can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us?
Please forward this posting or a link to it, out to everyone you know in an attempt to tell them the truth that the corporate-owned politicians and media won't tell you.The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic is to forward this article to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the legislation protecting those who are poisoning us.The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on nicotine?If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself.Go to the National Library of Medicine at http://www.pubmed.com/
Please do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail, or by distribution of this printout to your friends all over the world and stop this 'Slow Poisoning of Mankind' by the packaged food industry.Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, so get the word out. 'Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats.' Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro. Brain Res Bull, 2002 Aug. 'Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: An animal model of multiple risk factors.' Iwase M,Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima. Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar. 'Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity.' Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K Kusunoki. Exp Neurol, 1978 Oct. No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in 1978.Both the 'medical research community' and 'food manufacturers' have known about the side effects of MSG for decades.Many more of the studies mentioned in John Erb's book link MSG to diabetes, migraines and headaches, autism, ADHD, and even Alzheimer's.
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