Today’s schools present political propaganda films like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, “skeptics” are described as evil beings out to destroy the earth, and students are routinely punished for questioning global warming orthodoxy – whichever version of it is currently in the hands of their teachers. Tens of billions of dollars have been spent on fake science, scientists and bureaucrats have been punished for questioning it, and media moguls have delighted in hyping it. It’s yet another in a continuously growing list of case studies in Big Lie politics.

The good news is that surveys have shown a strong trend toward public understanding that climate change is not controlled by human activity (two-thirds); although more rapidly among voters generally than in what Rasmussen describes as the Political Class. A majority believes that the media over-hypes problems related to climate change and even more are unwilling to support higher taxes and utility costs in response to fear tactics. About half the public attributes climate change to specific natural causes. (A higher number did not attribute global warming to human activity: Some respondents weren’t sure or believed the specific cause was not among those offered in the survey (7%).)

We cannot however, simply bask in the wisdom of the elders; awaiting the release of children from the indoctrination pits for deprogramming. Forty percent of U.S. voters still think that global warming is a very serious problem. Only 42% understand that the “historic” climate change bill that recently passed the House will hurt the U.S. economy. Moreover, Rasmussen’s surveys show alignment between views expressed by the Political Class and their supporters, Democratic Party voters (who still seem to think that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant along with dihydrogen monoxide). The strongest movement toward reality is among Republicans. One might argue cause and effect in this relationship either way, but I believe the evidence more likely indicates polarized following than an upswing in independent study and critical thinking.

As recently as a year ago, statistics on public beliefs about global warming were reversed. About half the public believed human activity had been the primary cause of global warming, while only a third believed that climate change is a natural phenomenon. Even the improved statistics are not a glowing demonstration of human intelligence, but back then half the public believed that nature is controlled by government policy. This is surely a gleaming demonstration of human stupidity. We must at once understand all of the evil political movements of history, the plague of human prejudice, long-standing geopolitical conflict, the effective demise of the American Bill of Rights, among other things. A population can be led, no matter how outrageous the claims being made to lead them. In the midst of the global warming hoax, we have seen incontrovertible evidence of the ease with which at least some followers are driven to fanaticism in support of a purely manipulative cause.

If I may hazard a small number of sweeping statements about the desires of the vast majority of humans throughout the world; we want to live in peace, support our basic needs, enjoy freedom, and avoid constant manipulation and theft by those seeking power. I must mourn the fact that on the whole, we humans do not appear smart enough to just do it.

Roger F. Gay developed an expert understanding of Big Lie politics while analyzing “deadbeat dad” propaganda in the 1990s, which was part of a political movement that ultimately brought the legal destruction of marriage and effectively ended individual rights in the United States.

Full disclosure: not a fan. A visually compelling artist perhaps, with his innovative dance moves, but the music does nothing for me, especially his mega-hit, “Beat It” with that obnoxious guitar riff.

First up, I am of the mind that Michael Jackson was not a pedophile. I believe he was sincere when he described his behavior with children as “innocent.” In our culture it is indeed unacceptable for an adult man to be in a bed with children that are not his; however, consider: in foreign countries, where a kiss is as customary a greeting between men as a handshake, less fortunate people may have to share beds and think little of it.

Michael Jackson was clearly a very disturbed individual. The Peter-Pan syndrome, the unhappy — perhaps abusive — childhood; the nutty attempts at “fixing” his Negroid-features. This is obvious to everyone. And robbing children of their innocence is a crime against nature. Hardly anyone denies this either (read on). The corruption of a child in such a way is truly an abominable act. And the blame doesn’t end at condemning pedophiles and NAMBLA. The popular culture in general: MTV, the fashion industry, the celebrity culture, Hollywood… all have a share in the blame for the sexualization of our children.

But loving children, enjoying their company, is not a perversion. It is an indictment of the screwed up times we live in that an adult man must be vigilant when in the company of children, and always avoid any suggestion of physical affection. How sad that one of the most natural things in the world, an adult offering a smile or a gentle pat on the head to a strange child is grounds for suspicion and worse.

I don’t discount the possibility that Jackson may indeed have acted on a sexual attraction to children. But it is not, to my mind at least, probable. A jury did acquit him of such charges, and just because two jurors later changed their minds does not make the case against him. It is entirely plausible that after the trial these two people came to be influenced by popular opinion, everyone from the man in the street to the blowhard on talk radio condemning “Wacko Jacko” as a pedophile. Remember, intelligent jurists are the exception to the rule. After dismissing people from the jury pool people who are potentially antagonistic to your client, attorneys next seek to strike jurors based on perceived intelligence. Attorneys want jurors they can manipulate, not intelligent, independent minded critical-thinkers.

But hiding in the shadows of those fans who wish to canonize him despite his personal failings, something sinister is lurking: a movement to normalize pedophilia.

Today, what is considered “normal” is no longer determined by religious strictures and community standards that have served us well for hundreds of years (not to mention common sense); it is now determined by the new brahmins of the post-modern age: psychologists and sociologists. There is a faction within these intellectual elites that believes pedophilia should no longer be considered a “disorder” in the clinical sense. They believe that children are sexual beings and that sexual relations with adults should not automatically be considered abnormal, abusive, and indeed criminal behavior. Rather, they believe it can in fact be beneficial. To the children.

In 1998, an article* was published in the Psychological Bulletin, the premier journal of the American Psychological Association (APA), on the results of a study of adult-child “consensual” sexual relationships. The Rind study, authored by psychologist Bruce Rind and two other academicians, drew conclusions as above: that pedophilia is not necessarily harmful, and can in fact be beneficial.

It’s true that publication of this article did not explicitly establish it as APA policy; however, the APA had recently updated the definition of pedophilia in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the Bible of shrinks). The new definition of pedophilia held that a child molester suffered from a psychiatric disorder only if his actions “caused clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.” Presumably, a child molester who held down a job, perhaps had a family, and was otherwise a functioning member of society, did not have a disorder.

The publication of the paper was a trial balloon to test the degree of opposition to the normalization of adult-child sexual relations.

The proponents of this radical paradigm shift got their answer soon enough. A firestorm of outrage broke out culminating in, believe it or not, a US Congressional Resolution in 1999 condemning the paper**. Clearly, the trial balloon was premature. The public was not ready… yet. Presumably, the pedophilia-friendly faction is hunkering down, waiting until antiquated, patriarchal morality deteriorates further before the next attempt. The APA issued a revision to DSM-IV that restored the previous definition of pedophilia: child molestation in and of itself was now once again sufficient for a diagnosis of a disorder.

This is the price we pay for bestowing scientific legitimacy on the so-called behavioral sciences, allowing shrinks as expert witnesses in court trials and otherwise giving sociological and psychological “studies” the status of scientific legitimacy. Try to imagine NASA engineers suddenly deciding that Newton’s laws of motion rather than Einstein’s relativistic modifications should be used in astronomical calculations because of some ideological revelation within the scientific community. Recall: these are the folks who brought us “recovered memory syndrome” and the child sexual abuse witch-hunts like Wenatchee and Fells Acres. Professionals and educated people who readily embraced the notion that satanic cults practicing ritual sacrifice and child molestation lurked within the local daycare center. The same people who have convinced gullible politicians struggling with universal health care that bi-polar disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, and the dreaded “general anxiety disorder” are as real as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Psychology, psychiatry and sociology are not science. They don’t produce theories which guarantee the same results for identical experiments performed regardless of time and place, and they cannot predict results from initial conditions. Yet these people are called upon in the crafting of legislation and public policy that affect the lives of all Americans. How many subcategories of “depression” are there in the latest DSM? I don’t want to know… And they also decide for us what is and what is not “normal” behavior.

Watch for it. The next trial balloon might be legislative initiatives to lower the age of consent. The full-court press to normalize pedophilia can’t be more than a few years away, and sooner rather later considering the probability of more liberal, fuzzy-minded, Sotomayor-like appointments coming down the road from the present administration. When it comes, will you be one of those traditionalist, elder-generational bigots clinging to outdated moral values, or will you join the next progressive civil rights movement?

# # #
*Rind, B., Tromovitch, P. & Bauserman, R. (1998). “A Meta-analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples”. Psychological Bulletin, 124(1), 22-53

**US Congress (1999). “Whereas no segment of our society is more critical to the future of human survival than our children” (PDF). 106th Congress, Resolution 107. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_bills&docid=f:hc107enr.txt.pdf

Borrowing from the 1776 document, the history of the present political administration is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute socialist tyranny over these states. When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce us under absolute despotism, it is our right, it is our duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for our future security.

Democrat/Socialists have made judges dependent upon their ideological will alone. They have erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out our substance. To support socialist labor unions they have threatened to cut off our trade with all parts of the world. They have altered fundamentally the forms of our government. They propose, for specious, scientistic purposes, to destroy major mining and manufacturing industries.

A political party of foreign ideology such as the Democrat/Socialists, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

The Democrat/Socialist welfare-nanny-state is imposing burdensome new taxes, strangling regulations governing our every-day lives, takeovers of private businesses, and the highest levels of deficit spending and public debt ever imagined in human history. From this will flow either, or both, ravaging inflation and economic stagnation.

If we do not revolt and stop this ideological madness, the United States will not survive. We shall become, like present-day California and New York City in 1975, the ward of outside creditors. China, Japan, and other creditor nations will not forever finance our heedless, self-indulgent profligacy. The wages of socialism is economic death.

Read Big Government and the 4th of July and A Declaration of Independence from Big Government.

The Declaration of Independence, signed by members of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, is the founding document of the American experiment in free government. What is too often forgotten is that what the Founding Fathers argued against in the Declaration was the heavy and intrusive hand of big government.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

Email comments to viewfrom1776@thomasbrewton.com

My thanks to Frank Madarasz, who alerted me to this article on the Investor’s Business Daily website.

A suppressed EPA study says old U.N. data ignore the decline in global temperatures and other inconvenient truths. Was the report kept under wraps to influence the vote on the cap-and-trade bill?

This was supposed to be the most transparent administration ever. Yet as the House of Representatives prepared to vote on the Waxman-Markey bill, the largest tax increase in U.S. history on 100% of Americans, an attempt was made to suppress a study shredding supporters’ arguments.

The sham of global warming plays no real part in Democrat/Socialists’ rational designs. We are confronting an example of destructive religious fundamentalism, a fundamentalism of the same materialistic type that permitted liberals in the 1920s and 1930s to applaud Lenin and Stalin when they liquidated tens of millions of Russians in the name of progress toward social justice.

As in the Soviet Union, Democrat/Socialists’ motivation is to restructure the economy of the United States in conformity with the social-justice designs of liberal-progressive-socialist planners and social engineers. Democrat/Socialists want to have the power to decide which industries survive and which will be driven into oblivion.

In the simplest terms, Democrat/Socialists wish to impose tyranny far more severe than that of Parliament and George III in 1776.

Their goal is the power to dictate to you the kind of automobile you must buy, the way your home must be built, how hot or cold you may be, and what kinds of jobs you will be permitted to hold….after, of course, much increased Federal taxes and rampant inflation will have taken away your retirement savings and any estate assets you may have intended to withhold from the political state for your heirs.

Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets.

His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/

Email comments to viewfrom1776@thomasbrewton.com

Unfortunately, this relative safety inherent in American life eventually led to ignorance and complacency, which made it inevitable that eventually a leader would emerge who held the nation’s founding principles, along with the entire concept of limited government, in total contempt. If one were to ignore the lies and fraud perpetrated by the Obama Administration over the past year, and only consider the evidence of this past week, it would still be impossible to escape the conclusion that Barack Obama hates everything good about America, its former standing in the world, and the ideals of morality and freedom for which it once stood.

His propaganda arm, known as the “mainstream media” can chant its platitudinous accolades with all the shrillness it can muster. Yet the reality remains. The policy decisions of Barack Obama are in complete harmony with the bile and venom of the anti-American left, and his sinister intentions for the country are increasingly being brought to bear, with no quarter given to his opposition.

Was this what the country rallied to last November? Did average Americans really want to see their great engines of freedom and capitalism swallowed up by a federal leviathan, or their daily excursions and exchanges brought under the dispassionate scrutiny of the state?

While many on the right and in the middle were understandably fed up with the lackluster campaign of Senator John McCain, and his willingness to accept far too much of the Democrat political philosophy, it is absurd to contend that the nation had intentionally lurched so far to the left that it knowingly embraced the radicalism of the Obama machine. Yet such is the liberal monster that has since been unleashed. Its actions are deliberate and malignant. And in every area that it intrudes, grave damage is done, not only to the national fabric, but also to the delicate structure of international politics.

Within only the last few days, a crushing tax bill offered under the discredited premise of “saving the environment,” has passed its initial vote in the House. If enacted, it would devastate manufacturing and business enterprises across America. It would ensure a mad dash of otherwise viable corporations to offshore locations. And it would drive the price of new homes off the charts, sending that market into an abyss.

Yet Obama, exuding all of the allure of a snake charmer, stands in front of the cameras and extols the House vote as a great boon to the people of the country. Meanwhile, global temperatures will take their cue not from the exorbitant levels of taxation intended to crush a once-great people, but from the activity of the sun, just as it has been throughout history. Meanwhile, a credible report from the Environmental Protection Agency, disputing the whole concept of man-made global warming, is suppressed. Hard evidence is systematically censored if it does not advance the interests of the liberal state.

Nevertheless, even an onerous tax, built on this obvious hoax, could be rescinded with relative ease, if the nation awakens from its stupor, recognizes the fraud that has been foisted on it, and cleans house inside the Beltway. But among other nations of the world, such mindless damage as is being projected from Washington may take decades to correct, if ever.

Iran is a striking, and increasingly tragic example of just this. It was through the inane and unfounded arrogance of Jimmy Carter, the interminably lame-duck president from 1977 to 1981, that Iran morphed into its current malignant condition. After thirty years of being a menace to every civilized nation, its downtrodden people have attempted to raise themselves against the flagrant tyranny under which they suffered for so long. In response, Obama’s America offered callous indifference, inarguably giving a green light to Iran’s murderous Ayatollahs who have since used brute force to crush the popular uprising.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the ruling madman, remains in power with Obama’s help. The despotism continues, and the entirety of western civilization, exhibits complete impotence in response. Clearly, Obama regards Ahmadinejad and his fellow Islamists as kindred. Yet the picture gets worse still.

In Honduras, the people rejected the obsessive ambitions of their president Manuel Zelaya, who had hoped to establish himself as an unaccountable monarch for life. So they ousted the wayward leader and installed a successor who promises to return the government to its constitutional operation. Joining such noted luminaries of liberty and justice as Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, and Hugo Chavez, Barack Obama has condemned this popular uprising of the people. Unlike his response to Iran, he has no problem interfering in this situation in an effort to restore the Marxist Zelaya as that nation’s uncontested ruler.

On the other hand, it is necessary to consider the magnitude of what is being accomplished in Honduras. A tinhorn Marxist dictator is being thrown out, and a nation is restoring the primacy of its constitution, thus reclaiming the right to determine its future. It is wholly understandable why Chavez, Castro, and even Obama would recoil at the ramifications of such a prospect.

Few could have conceived that an American “leader” might ever be found in such a mix., or that this nation could sink this far, and this fast. Communist banana-republic thugs and Islamist kooks are embraced and supported by this administration. Huddled masses yearning to breathe free on their own soil are ignored and oppressed. And increasingly, the laws and institutions of the United States are remolded to enforce “right thinking” according to those in power. This is not the America we knew.

Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer and staff writer for the New Media Alliance. He lives in southeastern Wyoming. He has been active in local and state politics for many years and is a managing partner in Best American Buy (www.bestamericanbuy.com), an e-commerce business that markets products exclusively made in America. His contact information and archives can be found at www.chrisadamo.com

Dear Mr. Obama

We are the heads of a few of your largest constituents, including Dow, GE and DuPont. This letter represents our sentiments in wishing to express our gratitude for your and Ms. Pelosi’s efforts on our behalf. We thank you, our shareholders thank you, and certainly all of us look forward to contributing to your Presidential Library, once you leave office, if we did not sufficiently contribute already prior to the election.

We can appreciate that neither yourself nor your dear friends in Congress have had time to read the new Bill that opens: “A BILL – To create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.” This Bill is very, very, very long and boring. It is also very complex. We conceived it and structured it in such way that the fewer the readers, the less editing would take place. We therefore anticipate that its passage will be swift. The sooner that train leaves the station, the more impossible its progress will be to reverse. It would also not be advantageous if the irrationality, and fear surrounding humanity’s hand in the process of global warming were to subside. Now, is an opportune time to strike.

Attaching the name “Cap and Trade” to this whole business has been a stroke of genius. No one really understands what it all means, and the media believes everything you tell them, so keep plugging it, and keep promoting the “reduction in CO2” stuff. That works really well in LA. Have you seen the air out there? Terrible. Terrible, or turbull as Charles Barkley would say. We are all thrilled that you have successfully reconstructed the original intent of CO2 reduction, into an energy consumption reduction program. We knew you could do it.

The impact on consumption reduction will, in our view, be minimal, and fortunately, that is not our objective. We wish you much luck in managing this monster, and in building an administration capable of verifying such things as the veracity of corporately claimed offsets. This Bill is so complex that it will provide endless possibilities for abuse and excesses, and we can smell the fraud stinking up the air already. As you know, a transparent system such as a simple graduated carbon tax, paralleled with targeted caps on emissions, would not have been as financially beneficial for us. Not even close.

We are well aware that most of our smaller brethren in the business will get put out to pasture as a result of their inability to move off-shore quickly enough, or by the fact that they will not be able to afford the carbon pollution permits. We, on the other hand, already have unregulated facilities around the world to which we can reallocate resources at a moment’s notice. Our competitors will also not have our advantage of receiving significant Cap and Trade credits based on our being able to provide all necessary products supporting this bill, from solar panels to wind mills in the sky. Our smaller competitors will also be unable to sustain the sheer costs of managing the government’s bureaucratic intrusion into their affairs, as it deploys armies of newly hired climate science experts to distribute and oversee capping and trading of carbon dioxide emissions.

We anticipate much higher costs in the manufacture of many alternate energy sources, such as solar energy absorption cells, and this will impact the expansion of solar cell farms, but well, we have no choice.

The Bill will be very effective in rendering the cost of any carbon-based energy unaffordable through overwhelming taxation. That should help you refill the government coffers somewhat, although the hole you are digging for American taxpayers is becoming rather considerable. Households across the country will bear the brunt of the costs, through higher product prices and a heavier tax burden, but most people seem very accepting of a “price” for reducing climate change. Even if most don’t believe that they impact climate, they still feel that the air needs cleaning. We are unsure, however, how taxpayers will feel about being mandated into financing the adoption of efficient technologies overseas. They will probably not be thrilled with paying to prevent the clear-cutting of the Amazon, for example, at a time when many households are barely paying their food bills. We, on the other hand, will not be affected, whatever reactions surface on that front, although a couple of us feel bad for our buddies running operations like aluminum, or steel mills. They are in for some tough times.

We note that some of our other friends on Wall Street are very preoccupied, as we write this letter, coming up with new and extremely creative financial tools which they expect to launch upon the Bill’s passing. Those boys have amazing ways of getting in on any game with the potential of throwing off billions in cash. They look forward to a whole new set of opportunities opening up for them, replacing the ones eclipsed by the recent devastating financial compression. Listening to some of them, one might conclude that they have been holding séances with Jeffrey Skilling of Enron fame.

We are anxious to be in receipt of our free Trade Allowances, but most of all, we are excited with the anticipation of enjoying astronomical growth for many years. In passing, we should thank you for having allowed, and fuelled with cash, firms like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley to become even bigger, and more powerful than they were before the financial down-turn. This action set a tremendous precedent we look forward to duplicating in our industries. If you thought “too big to fail” applied to these giants before the crash, wait until you see how big a few of us get in the next five years.

We have one last request if we can be so bold. Could you repeat as often as possible to the Nation that this Bill will not cost over $3,000 per household each year, and that much like the national objective of being carbon neutral, so too the cost will be, … “neutral.” Explain to America that it is just a methodology for keeping track of excessive energy consumers, and polluters. Perfect, don’t you think? They’ll all buy it. The media will promote that theme for you.

We will continue to postulate assertively on the need for battling global warming, and look forward to your persistent oratory on getting this momentous Bill passed into law.

Sincerely.

Your Friendly Benefactors

James Raider writes The Pacific Gate Post

Pop! A stream of yellow goop spurted out. I put astringent on a cotton ball and applied it to the area.

Then I thought no more of it, expecting it to heal.

But it did not heal.

A scab formed but seemed to grow instead of shrink. I rubbed on it with Vaseline. It would not rub off.

I made an appointment with a dermatologist who did a biopsy.

“There is a cancer,” I was informed.

I was stunned. And scared.

However, I was soon assured that the type of cancer was unlikely to be fatal. It was a skin cancer but not a melanoma. It was a skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. Approximately 2,500 people die from it every year in the United States but mine was caught early and in a place that is unlikely to lead to death.

It was removed in an outpatient surgery. The doctor told me I should consider myself cancer-free and that the chief concern at this point is to avoid disfigurement.

Any kind of severe stress can trigger an increase in the symptoms associated with my disability. The cancer diagnosis did. The expense associated with treatment also adversely affected my already precarious financial situation so I am even more deeply in debt than I was before it.

However, I have my life. Bar something unforeseen, I should make it to turn 52 on August 10.

I also have a renewed appreciation for life.

When Pizzey wrote a book revealing this sordid truth, she encountered a firestorm of protest. “Abusive telephone calls to my home, death threats, and bomb scares, became a way of living for me and for my family. Finally, the bomb squad asked me to have all my mail delivered to their head quarters,” she would later reveal.

According a recent report, the domestic violence industry continues to engage in information control tactics, spewing a dizzying series of half-truths, white lies, and outright prevarications. The report, “Fifty Domestic Violence Myths,” is published by RADAR, Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting: http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARreport-50-DV-Myths.pdf

How often have you heard the mantra-like claim, “domestic violence is all about power and control”? That’s code for the feminist dogma that domestic violence is rooted in men’s insatiable need to dominate and oppress the women in their lives.

And the obvious solution to partner abuse? Eliminate the patriarchy!

I know it all sounds far-fetched, but that’s what the gender ideologues who get their funding from the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) believe. And no surprise these programs have been an abject failure. As Dr. Angela Parmley of the Department of Justice once admitted, “We have no evidence to date that VAWA has led to a decrease in the overall levels of violence against women.”

Once you blame the whole problem of partner abuse on patriarchal dominance, the women who proudly call themselves the “VAWA Mafia” find themselves compelled to dress up the fable with a series of corollary myths.

Here are some examples: When a woman attacks her boyfriend, claim she was only acting in self-defense. Shrug off her assault with the “He had it coming” line. Aver her short stature prevents her from ever hurting her man. Or assert she grew up in an abusive household, as if that somehow lets her off the hook.

Above all, the ideologues will never admit that partner violence is more common among lesbians than heterosexual couples. Just consider the case of Jessica Kalish, the 56-year-old Florida woman who was stabbed 222 times last October with a Phillips screwdriver wielded by ex-girlfriend Carol Anne Burger. But no one dared call it “domestic violence.”

Once you begin to play tricks with the truth, you need to invent ever grander prevarications. So sit back and get ready for a good chuckle, because there’s not a shred of truth to any of these claims regularly put forth by the domestic abuse industry:

1. A marriage license is a hitting license. (Truth is, an intact marriage is the safest place for men and women alike.)

2. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women. (The leading causes of female injury are unintentional falls, motor vehicle accidents, and over-exertion. Domestic violence is not even on the list.)

3. The March of Dimes reports that battering is the leading cause of birth defects. (The March of Dimes has never done such a study.)

4. Women never make false allegations of domestic violence. (That’s the biggest whopper of all.)

5. Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day of the year for violence against women. (Will the abuse industry never tire of its demagoguery?)

These are just five of the 50 domestic violence myths documented in the RADAR report. As former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once deadpanned, “You’re entitled to your own opinions; you’re not entitled to your own facts.” Hopefully the $4 billion partner abuse industry will begin to pay attention.

In seeking the roots of fascism we once again find a high correlation between homosexuality and a mode of thinking which we identify with Nazism.

The chapter then traces the roots of German fascism from Plato, through Frederick the Great, and Friedrich Nietzsche – all gay by the author’s reckoning. At this point, I will not contest this, even though I could.  For instance, historians and philosophers are divided about Nietzsche’s sexuality, although only very few think he might have homosexual inclinations. Rather, my point here is to propose a problem for the thesis of The Pink Swastika that homosexuality and fascism have a necessary causal link of some kind.

In chapter three, Lively and Abrams guess at the sexuality of many Nazi and related people but with the following figure – Thomas Mann – they are probably accurate in their assessment. About Mann, they write:

Thomas Mann’s identification with Nietzsche may also have had some thing to do with the latter’s homosexuality. Among other works, Mann is famous for a 1912 novella called Der Tod in Venedig (”Death in Venice”), in which “an aging writer risks life and reputation in his attempts to gaze on the Apollonian beauty of the 14-year-old Tadzio” (Reiter in Grolier). Homosexualist historian A.L. Rowse called this novella “the most publicized homosexual story of the century” (Rowse:212). A recently published biography, Thomas Mann: A Life, by Donald Prater, establishes the novelist’s homosexuality. A review of this book in The San Francisco Examiner (December 23, 1995) states that the book is based in part on Mann’s private diaries, which reveal a “secret homoerotic life.”

Mann was married and had six children for whom he was “a remote and some times terrifying figure.” The article reveals that two of these children, Klaus and Michael, committed suicide. Two of his children became homosexuals (Rowse:212). Mann confesses in his diary that the character Tadzio, the 14-year-old boy in “A Death in Venice,” was actually modeled after a boy on whom Mann “developed a crush while holidaying in Venice.”

Now just as the uninformed reader might think that Lively and Abrams are about to suggest Mann’s positive influence on Hitler and fascism, the authors write:

We must be clear, however, that Mann’s contribution to Nazism, his role in popularizing Nietzsche, was unintended. Mann was personally anti-Nazi, and was persona non grata with Hitler’s government.

Lively and Abrams vastly understate the case. Mann was openly anti-fascist as was Nietzsche. A contemporary of Hitler, Mann actively opposed the Third Reich. He used his considerable popularity with the German people in a series of radio broadcasts designed to cause common Germans to question and oppose the regime. Here is an excerpt of one of Mann’s speeches to the German people, broadcast in July, 1942:

I know well that I don’t have to warn you against exuberance now that Hitler is once again winning and has conquered Rostov, the city on the Don, which he had conquered once before. It is well known that such things do not plunge you into exuberance, that the blare of radio trumpets which accompanies the announcement is odious to you, that you are by no means overjoyed. It is not necessary to dampen your enthusiasm; rather, you have to be consoled. Not we, out here, are in need of consolation when the war looks as it does at present. If you only knew how sure we are of our cause, which to begin with, and as premise for all that is to come, is the cause of destroying Hitler! His destruction is sealed, believe me and don’t be afraid! It is a world necessity, wholly inevitable, and will be accomplished one way or another; and because it is decided, the victories of that wretch are merely bloody nonsense. You are bewildered and depressed. You are thinking: “Will he triumph after all? And shall we never get rid of him? And will the world be German, in that desperate fashion in which we are now German?” Be of good cheer! Hitler’s victory is an empty word: there is no such thing – it is not within the realm of the acceptable, permissible, thinkable. It will be prevented; rather, he himself will always prevent it, the sorry scoundrel, because of himself, simply because of his nature, because of his impossible and hopelessly deranged disposition, which does not permit him to think, want, or do anything which is not false, mendacious, condemned beforehand. One speaks of the betrayed devil. But nobody betrays the devil; he is betrayed, because of himself and to begin with. Not with Faust’s soul, the soul of humanity, will this stupid Satan go down to hell, but alone.

–From Thomas Mann, Listen Germany! Twenty-five Radio Messages to the German People Over BBC by Thomas Mann. New York, 1943, pp. 102-07.

Please read the entire address on the German Documents website.

First, it is worth noting how Lively and Abrams’ devotion to their thesis leads them to treat Thomas Mann. Apparently the primary reason Mann is mentioned at all is to make a feeble attempt to pin Nietzsche with the label homosexual. Mann was a great writer, one of the best fiction writers in modern history. He was a resolute opponent of Hitler and the Nazis. He left his homeland in service of his convictions and used his fame and gifts to try to bring down Hitler. However, one would not get any sense of this perspective by reading Lively and Abrams. In The Pink Swastika, Mann’s personal life is disparaged, he is discounted as an apologist for Nietzsche and thus an unwitting contributor to Nazism.

Lively and Abrams thesis collapses into absurdity when one considers the vigor of Mann’s opposition to Hitler’s fascism. People of all orientations and worldviews supported and opposed Hitler. The Nazis used anyone, gay or straight, religious or not, to get to power. And once they attained power, they systematically crushed opposition both gay and straight, religious and not.

To close this article, read the closing argument offered by Mann to the German people in his July, 1942 broadcast. Note his utter contempt for the intellectual foundations of Nazism. And then recall that the speaker was attracted to the same sex.

The end is near, Germans, believe me, and be of good cheer! Just at this moment I tell it to you when once again it looks like success and victory and conquest for you. The end is near – not yours, not Germany’s. The so-called destruction of Germany is as empty a word, as non-existent a thing, as the victory of Hitler. But the end is approaching; in fact, it will come soon – the end of the repulsive system, the robber, murder, and liar state of National Socialism. An end will be put to its trashy and disgraceful philosophy and all the acts of trash and disgrace which have sprung from it. Accounts will be settled, disastrously settled, with its bigwigs, its leaders and helpers, servants and beneficiaries, its generals, diplomats, and Gestapo hyenas. Accounts will also be settled with its intellectual trail-blazers and shield-bearers, the journalists and pseudo-philosophers who licked its boots, the geopoliticians, war geographers, teachers of “Wehrwissenschaft” and race professors. Germany will be cleansed of all that ever had anything to do with the filth of Hitlerism and all that made it possible. And a freedom will be established in Germany and in the world which believes in itself, respects itself, knows how to defend itself, and which takes not only the deed but, before that, the thoughts into the control of those ideas which connect man with God.

Those inclined to accept the thesis in The Pink Swastika might complain that one bisexual opponent to Hitler is not disruptive to Lively’s proposed link between fascism and homosexuality. However, I submit that Mann’s experience is one relevant rebuttal to the notion that being same-sex attracted necessarily leads to fascist beliefs and tactics. Throughout The Pink Swastika, Lively and Abrams play fast and loose with the historical record in order to invent a causal link between homosexuality and fascism.

…………..
Warren Throckmorton, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Fellow for Public Policy at Grove City College (PA). He blogs at www.wthrockmorton.com.

The differences between the manager of a Ponzi scheme and a model citizen are almost imperceptible, which is not surprising. Those who would perpetrate a Ponzi scheme are usually not the demons everyone makes them out to be. And they are obsessed with appearing successful.

This fixation on appearances, however, is the red flag. If you are the millionaire next door, you know that frugality is one of the marks of an effective financial advisor.

But you may have to train your eye to recognize an immoderate lifestyle. If someone in business is worth $300 an hour, some apparent extravagances may in reality be productivity gains.

For example, if you hire a chauffeur to drive you to and from work each day so you can be productive, society gains. If you hire a gardener so you can continue contributing in your area of expertise, society gains. And if you hire a butler or a chef, so long as you employ someone else for less than $300 an hour, society gains.

Productivity gains are not synonymous with a lavish lifestyle, and with some careful observation you can learn to discern the difference. Productivity gains are all about function, and if you discover them you will find out accidentally. In contrast, the whole purpose of an extravagant lifestyle is to be noticed.

Consider Bernie Madoff. He and his wife lived in a $7M penthouse apartment in New York City and a house worth $3 million in the Hamptons. They also owned a $9.3 million Palm Beach mansion. Plus they maintained a $1M million chalet and two boats on the French Riviera.

They spent an average of $100,000 monthly on the corporate credit card on chartered jets, limousines, top hotels, fine wines, world travel and shopping. When they drove themselves, they rode in style in a BMW and or one of two Mercedes. Madoff bought a vintage Aston-Martin for his brother as a company car. The couple owned a Steinway concert grand piano worth $39,000. Madoff purchased tickets at the Mets Citi Field at $40,000 a season.

Madoff was also a prominent philanthropist, but his interests were anything but altruistic. He started the Madoff Family Foundation and gave to charities, which in turn invited him to serve on their boards. Madoff then invited them to invest their endowments.

He and his wife also gave more than $200,000 to the Democratic Party. He gained high-level connections to those in Congress who write the laws and are supposed to provide regulatory oversight. Madoff was one of the first to exploit kickbacks for brokerage order flows. He argued they should remain legal and not alter the price that customers received. His connections prevailed.

The Madoffs themselves owned $62 million in securities and $45 million in municipal bonds. They loaned their sons $22 million and $9 million, respectively. Oddly enough, having siphoned billions, the couple only has a net worth of about $823 million.

Wealth is what you save, not what you spend. That’s why an ostentatious and excessive lifestyle is a red flag for an investment advisor. The middle class buys liabilities like boats and cars. The rich buy investments. If Bernie Madoff had bought businesses and investments, he would be able to make restitution of those initial investments. He might even be able to pay a fraction of the gains he claimed to have.

We all wonder what happened to the $65 billion. Much of it was phantom gains, and a lot of it was simply spent a million here and a million there. Excessive spending is a warning sign that your advisor doesn’t understand wealth building personally.

In April this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Shawn Merriman of Aurora, Colorado, of collecting $20 million in a Ponzi scheme “to support his lavish lifestyle.” He lied to investors, reporting “impressive and consistent annual returns” as high as 20%.

Merriman was known for showcasing his high-end art collection. U.S. marshals seized hundreds of works of art including some by Rembrandt and Picasso from his sprawling three-story home. Also seized were a silver Aston Martin, 1932 and 1936 Auburns and a 1932 Ford Highboy.

This spring the SEC also filed charges against Pennsylvania advisor Tony Young for allegedly stealing $23 million from investors to “support a lavish lifestyle for his family, including payments for expenses related to horse ownership and racing, construction, boats, limousines, chartered aircraft and other luxuries.” That lifestyle included an opulent vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida, near the Madoffs’ vacation home. Young also lied to accountants who prepared statements and claimed his losses in 2008 were only 5.8%.

Ponzi schemes are often discovered after market downturns when investors make the mistake of fleeing to safety. They want to take their stellar returns and put the money someplace safe while the storm blows over, only to find that no money is really there.

Additionally, the news cycle runs in themes. After the Madoff scandal, every Ponzi scheme became national news. The theme, played over and over, is that all financial services, from Fannie Mae to AIG, are rife with corruption and mismanagement and need more government regulation.

But more control won’t protect you from dishonesty. More law can’t protect you from an unethical person. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had direct congressional oversight. Madoff was good friends with the regulators. Regulation is more likely to be used politically than responsibly.

Your best defense is to engage an advisor whose daily practices reflect ways to safeguard the money under his or her fiduciary care. As part of identifying such an advisor, make sure there is a mutual understanding that an ostentatious lifestyle is not a valid financial goal.

from http://www.emarotta.com/article.php?ID=343

It’s all quite a bit of fun, and neither commentators nor readers need any understanding of science and technology to participate. So what if the fictional robot Bender on the animated sci-fi comedy Futurama provides a more realistic presentation of issues in robotics than modern journalism and bloggistry? What possible motive could I have for interfering with a good time?

I’ve seen it all before. AI was a hot topic back in the 1980s. Speculation ran rampant. Commentators reached for more exciting things to say. The future would be fantastic. By the end of the decade, it was clear that no one was actually achieving the goals established by enthusiastic non-participants. Everyone was disappointed. Investment collapsed.

Machine-learning is an area particularly close to my heart. It has been the basis for a variety of new commercial technologies within the past decade; providing more powerful Internet search and analysis tools, Internet forms, adaptive games and financial analysis, speeding up robot development while increasing the scope of their effective use, and has become part of advanced video and image processing, among other things. As useful and interesting as these present day technologies are, one isn’t surprised when mention of machine-learning is met with a question about the potential for super-intelligent machines surpassing and perhaps subjugating humans. Should mankind be investing in these technologies at all?

“Kill all humans,” Bender repeats in his sleep. “Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?” is a pick-up line. Advances in military application of semi-autonomous systems are a far cry from what you’ll see in a Terminator film. How worried should we be that reality will one day collide with the tendency of movie robots to take over the world? It’s actually an interesting question, in my opinion. But as quickly as possible, I have to add that computer scientists and engineers are much better at thinking about these things than science fiction writers and futurists (I mean, as far as the real-world is concerned). Designing machines has a lot to do with designing the control of the machine. If you’re interested in creating an out-of-control killing machine, just roll a big rock down a hill. There’s no need for sophisticated engineering.

The future provides a great play-space for the imagination. Predictive capabilities are limited. Almost anything could happen. It’s fun. I love it. I personally enjoy sci-fi so much that I’d almost call it a hobby. Thank you, science fiction writers (except for those involved in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still and the science fiction film in documentary style, An Inconvenient Truth – more sinister than a killer robot). But as in any other area of serious discussion, what we really need are clear distinctions between fiction and reality. There is a lot going on in the real-world right now that is pretty darn exciting and worth thinking about.

The original 1951 version is regarded as one of the best sci-fi movies ever made – a classic. That explains why the remake did better at the box office in 2008 than Assignment and Kronos combined (besides the fact that neither of the other two movies played in theaters last year). In the original movie, an alien with advanced technology arrived in a flying saucer with an ultimate message of peace. Their interest did not lie in the internal affairs of earth. They were concerned that conflict and destructive technology would eventually spread to effect them, because earthlings had powerful weapons and were on the verge of mastering space flight. A demonstration of the alien’s power came in the form of stopping all electrical and mechanical power on earth for half an hour – without effecting critical operations such as hospital intensive care wards, airplanes in flight, etc.

Reviewers of the remake had a list of complaints. The one that calls for a sequel is the destruction of the story – and not in a good way. Unless you’re a brain-washed greenie, the story line in the remake makes little sense. But I will try to summarize, being as open-minded as possible in an effort to make sense of it. The alien claims his race has prior claim on the earth. It’s some kind of nature reserve – a large park. Things were fine until uppity humans started building things and making sophisticated use of energy. The things humans do for their own survival – like constructing homes and heating them – growing and cooking food and all that – have made the place less than pristine. So, I’m sure you’ll understand (apparently), he decided to kill all humans. In the end, he decided not to – because, we’re sort of an interesting biology experiment or something. Anyway, we apologize, claiming that survival of our species was just a big mistake, and promise not to do it again. So, he just turned off all the power on his way out – sending modern people back into a prehistoric existence. Anyone who can survive like rats and spiders – ok. That’s the deal.

If this isn’t a problem for SG-1, what is? Star Gate or not, humans need to find a way to battle this new foe. The comparison isn’t superficial either. The alien did present a rather god-like aire; easily inheriting the role of the Goa’uld. The first thing we need to do is get the power back on. Since the aliens are not all-seeing gods, it will take many years for them to realize it was done. Then we need technology to begin the fight. Perhaps discovery of some alien communication device, left by another race, will bring an ally into the battle. Such arrogant jerks must have other enemies in the universe.

For me, the need for this sequel has a lot to do with preserving the memory of the original film, stolen for this sham of a remake. Some good must ultimately come of it. And in my opinion, the timing for the type of sequel I’m suggesting couldn’t be better. It would be a reflection on the same battle presently taking place in the real world. Human survival verses a bunch of arrogant jerks who want to force the masses into a stone-age existence with the hope of expanding their options for pleasant vacation spots.

How ironic, then, that voices in Russia and China are mocking our current Big Government policies. Those whose countries took the tragic, impoverishing detour through Big Government hell now react with scorn and derision as we Americans charge headlong down that same path. What an amazing spectacle it must be for them to see the victor of the Cold War borrow many pages from the losers’ playbook.

To read a startling indictment of the American predicament, Google the words “American capitalism gone with a whimper,” the title of an article by Stanislav Mishin. The author writes, “the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath-taking speed.”

This decline has happened because, according to Mishin, “the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education” that produced millions of Americans who “know more about their favorite TV dramas than the drama in D.C. that directly affects their lives.” Mishin also faults the widespread abandonment of Christ’s religion in America, our loss of faith. This is the cultural backdrop for a political system that has culminated in Barack Obama’s unprecedented “spending and money printing.” Mishin believes that, under Obamanomics, “America at best will resemble the Weimar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.”

Earlier this year, reports Mishin, “Prime Minister Putin … warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster.” Mishin has concluded that we are ignoring Putin’s warning—based on 70 years of suffering during the nightmarish Soviet experiment in central planning—and he concludes, “The proud American will go down into his slavery without a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world how free he really is. The world will only snicker.”

When I first read this astounding diatribe, I thought perhaps it had been written as a satire, almost as a spoof of what some libertarian writers in the United States have written. After consulting with a Russian friend, I have concluded that Mishin wrote in complete earnestness. Either way—satire or grim analysis—what Mishin wrote is no laughing matter. Mishin’s is one of many voices, foreign and domestic, warning us of the dangers of faith that government can be omnicompetent and can meet all our economic needs.

Adding to the irony of a Russian warning the United States about the dangers of Marxism is the fact that this article appeared in the online publication Pravda.ru—the contemporary version of the Soviet-era newspaper Pravda that served as the official Communist Party channel for pro-communist, anti-American propaganda.

Another harsh indictment of our ill-advised embrace of Big Government occurred on June 1, during Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s official visit to China. Speaking at the University of Beijing, Geithner assured a large audience of students that China’s large holdings of U.S. Treasury securities were “very safe.” The students laughed out loud. This reaction might have been unusually rude, but it was brutally honest. They didn’t believe Geithner for one second.

When the ability of the United States government to repay its debts (or at least, without doing so in significantly depreciated dollars) is perceived as a joke, it is anything but a laughing matter for our country. The Chinese gave us a wakeup call, although we appear not to have heeded it.

The Chinese students see what is plain for anyone with eyes to see. For years, fiscal discipline has been eroding in Washington, but President Obama has increased government spending with reckless abandon as the leviathan government absorbs more and more of the private sector. As I wrote in “Into the Fiscal Abyss,” with Uncle Sam’s total financial obligations totaling approximately five times our GDP, there is no way those debts and promises can be honored. The most likely outcome will be Uncle Sam—the largest debtor in human history—paying off those debts in greatly depreciated dollars. Indeed, our one-trick Federal Reserve (Motto: When there’s a bump in the economic road, inflate) already has begun to create vast sums of new dollars through the mechanism of “quantitative easing”—the direct purchase of the bonds that the government issues to finance its massive spending agenda.

The Chinese students laughing at Geithner told us implicitly what Stanislav Mishin told us explicitly: It is runaway government spending, stemming from the socialistic error that the government can be all things to all people, which threatens us all with financial cataclysm, national bankruptcy, and the loss of our prosperity and our freedoms. From the perspective of the Russians and the Chinese, the joke is on us. But for all of us, America’s plunge into the Big Government trap is no laughing matter.

Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson is an adjunct faculty member, economist, and contributing scholar with The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College.

 

Last Updated: 06/28/2009

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The information in this column is intended for informational purposes only, and does not constitute medical advice or recommendations by the author. Please consult with your physician before making any lifestyle or medication changes, or if you have any other concerns regarding your health.

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AIR POLLUTION & THE RISK OF DEEP VENOUS THROMBOSIS (DVT)  

 

As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, venous thromboembolic (VTE) disorders are a major cause of disability and death throughout the world. Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) results when blood clots form within the deep veins of the body (most commonly within the large veins of the legs and pelvis).  A variety of conditions and circumstances can lead to DVT formation.  These include decreased blood flow, or “stasis,” involving the body’s deep veins, injury or inflammation of the internal surfaces (endothelium) of these veins, and any underlying health condition that increases the blood’s tendency to form blood clots (hypercoagulable state).  Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a potentially life-threatening condition, and most commonly arises in patients who have already developed DVT (PE occurs when chunks of DVT-associated clots break away and travel to the lungs).  When the lungs’ circulation becomes clogged-up with these itinerant clots (emboli), patients may experience shortness of breath, chest pain, or in severe cases of PE, complete cardiovascular collapse and death.  

 

 

VTE remains an underappreciated cause of serious illness, disability, and death.  Patients with severe or repeated cases of DVT often develop chronic swelling, pain, and skin damage of the affected extremities, due to the progressive destruction of the one-way valves in the large veins of the lower body that help to prevent pooling of blood in these dependent areas (post-thrombotic syndrome).  Patients who survive significant PEs may also go on to develop permanent damage to the venous circulation of the lungs, leaving them with decreased blood flow to the lungs (pulmonary hypertension) and, in severe cases, chronic shortness of breath, lung injury, and heart damage (PE also remains the most common cause of unexpected death in hospitalized patients).  An estimated 900,000 new cases of VTE occur in the United States each year, and as many as one-third of these cases of VTE are fatal, which makes VTE a more common cause of death than either heart attacks or strokes!  As these statistics suggest, VTE remains a very serious public health problem in the United States, and throughout much of the world, as well.

While exposure to particulate air pollution from diesel and gasoline engines has previously been linked to an increased risk of coronary artery disease, the effects of these environmental pollutants on the body’s venous system, if any, are less clear.   Now, an innovative new study from Italy suggests that chronic exposure to automobile and truck exhaust may actually increase the risk of VTE.  In this study, which has just been published in the journal Circulation, 663 patients who were diagnosed with DVT were compared with 859 age-matched “control” patients without any history of DVT.  All patients who were included in this study lived in cities with a population of more than 15,000 inhabitants in the Lombardia region of Italy.  In this study, the researchers calculated the distance that each study volunteer lived from major highways and high-traffic streets.  The researchers also factored other DVT risk factors, for each of the patient volunteers, into their analysis of the data collected in this study.  Among those patient volunteers who lived between 0 feet and 2,400 feet from major highways and high-traffic streets, the risk of developing DVT was more or less linearly proportional to the distance between these patients’ homes and the site of increased automobile and truck traffic.  When comparing the patients who lived approximately 10 feet from major streets and highways with patients who lived 800 feet away from major thoroughfares, and after adjusting for other risk factors for DVT among these 1,522 patient volunteers, the researchers noted a 47 percent greater risk of DVT among the patient volunteers who lived closer to high-traffic highways and streets.

 

 

Therefore, the findings of this study strongly suggest that chronic exposure to particulate air pollution from vehicle exhaust significantly increases the risk of developing DVT.  Other well established risk factors for DVT include prolonged immobility (e.g., sitting for long periods on a plane or in a car; or prolonged bed rest), cancer, recent major injury or surgery, pregnancy, birth control pills or other forms of hormonal therapy, heart failure, obesity, smoking, severe infections, older age, high blood pressure, chronic lung disease, inherited clotting abnormalities, and a family history of DVT or other forms of VTE.

 

 

As many of the known risk factors for DVT, and other forms of VTE, are preventable, it is possible to reduce the risk of developing potentially life-threatening blood clots by taking steps to avoid as many of these risks as possible.  For example, if you must take a long plane or automobile ride, you should take frequent walking breaks, and remember to also frequently exercise your legs while you are seated.  Drinking plenty of caffeine-free and alcohol-free drinks will also reduce the risk of DVT during long trips.  If you also have one or more non-modifiable risk factors for VTE and you must take a long trip, you might also want to talk with your doctor about taking aspirin or/and anticoagulant medications before and during your trip, as well as wearing compression stockings on your legs during your long trip.  As for the risk of DVT associated with increased exposure to gasoline and diesel engine exhaust (in addition to an increased risk of lung disease and heart disease), this new clinical research study suggests that it is best to avoid living close to busy highways and high-traffic streets, if at all possible.     

 

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Disclaimer: As always, my advice to readers is to seek the advice of your physician before making any significant changes in medications, diet, or level of physical activity

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Dr. Wascher is an oncologic surgeon, a professor of surgery, a widely published author, and the Physician-in-Chief for Surgical Oncology at the Kaiser Permanente healthcare system in Orange County, California  

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(Anticipated Publication Date: March 2010)

(Click above image for TV36 interview of Dr. Wascher)

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Copyright 2009.

Robert A. Wascher, MD, FACS.

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4-20-2008: BRCA Breast Cancer Mutations & MRI Scans; Bladder Cancer Prevention with Broccoli?; Diabetes: Risk of Death Due to Heart Attack & Stroke

4-13-2008: Breast Cancer Recurrence & Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT); Carotid Artery Disease: Surgery vs. Stents?; Statin Drugs & Cancer Prevention

4-6-2008: Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), Pap Smear Results & Cervical Cancer; Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Infection & Oral Cancer; Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) & the Risk of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD)

3-30-2008: Abdominal Obesity & the Risk of Death in Women; Folic Acid Pretreatment & Heart Attacks; Pancreatic Cancer Regression after Injections of Bacteria

3-23-2008: Age of Transfused Blood & Risk of Complications after Surgery; Obesity, Blood Pressure & Heart Size in Children

3-16-2008: Benefits of a Full Drug Coverage Plan for Medicare Patients?; Parent-Teen Conversations about Sex; Soy (Genistein) & Prostate Cancer

3-9-2008: Flat Colorectal Adenomas & Cancer; Health Risks after Stopping Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT); Television, Children & Obesity

3-2-2008: Medication & Risk of Death After Heart Attack; Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) & Mammogram Results; Selenium: Cancer, Heart Disease & Death

2-23-2008: Universal Healthcare Insurance Study; Glucosamine & Arthritis

2-17-2008: Exceptional Longevity in Men; Testosterone & Risk of Prostate Cancer; Smoking & Pre-malignant Colorectal Polyps

2-10-2008: Thrombus Aspiration from Coronary Arteries; Intensive Management of Diabetes & Death; Possible Cure for Down’s Syndrome?

2-3-2008: Vitamin D & Cardiovascular Health; Vitamin D & Breast Cancer; Green Tea & Colorectal Cancer

1-27-2008: Colorectal Cancer, Esophageal Cancer & Pancreatic Cancer: Update from the 2008 American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

1-20-2008: Testosterone Levels & Risk of Fractures in Elderly Men; Air Pollution & DNA Damage in Sperm; Statins & Trauma Survival in the Elderly

1-12-2008: Statins, Diabetes & Stroke and Obesity; GERD & Esophageal Cancer

1-7-2008: Testosterone Supplements in Elderly Men; Colorectal Cancer– Reasons for Poor Compliance with Screening Recommendations

12-31-2007: Minority Women, Hormone Replacement Therapy & Breast Cancer; Does Health Insurance Improve Health?

12-23-2007: Is Coffee Safe After a Heart Attack?; Impact of Divorce on the Environment; Hypertension & the Risk of Dementia; Emotional Vitality & the Risk of Heart Disease

12-16-2007: Honey vs. Dextromethorphan vs. No Treatment for Kids with Night-Time Cough, Acupuncture & Hot Flashes in Women with Breast Cancer, Physical Activity & the Risk of Death, Mediterranean Diet & Mortality

12-11-2007: Bias in Medical Research; Carbon Nanotubes & Radiofrequency: A New Weapon Against Cancer?; Childhood Obesity & Risk of Adult Heart Disease

12-2-2007: Obesity & Risk of Cancer; Testosterone Level & Risk of Death; Drug Company Funding of Research & Results; Smoking & the Risk of Colon & Rectal Cancer

http://doctorwascher.com

My freedom is yours.

You won’t be free unless you help me to get my freedom. Don’t remain silent while in the dark of night you hear screams of mothers for the lives of their kids. Don’t cover your ears when you hear the cries of the children for their mothers and fathers who have been shot by hooligans. They’re trying to silence them and me and take away the thirst for freedom when they are done with us they will look for you.

Yes, my friend, my freedom is your freedom. Therefore, I beg you, to please post on this site any media that can show injustices to freedom fighters. – Jabi, on Facebook

For the Iranian people everything begins on June 12, 2009, with their 10th presidential election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution: the challenge was between the outgoing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the opposition’s leader, Hossein Moussavi. Their decision today is largely whether to keep hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power for four more years, or to replace him with a reformist more open to loosening the country’s Islamic restrictions and improving ties with the United States. Another candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, is more closely associated with the core causes of the Iranian reformist movement, including the freeing of political prisoners and women’s rights, but, as a former prime minister in the 1980s, Mr. Moussavi is given great credit for having managed Iran’s economy effectively during the war with Iraq.

We are hearing reports from Iran that text-messaging has been blocked all over the country. Independent observers are not allowed to be present at the voting. Results are expected to come in early on Saturday in Tehran. Mr. Moussavi’s supporters say they remain concerned about the possibility of fraud, but a determined campaign, led by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a two-term former president and one of Iran’s richest and most powerful men, has kept that issue in the public eye. In an extraordinary public letter on Tuesday, Mr. Rafsanjani urged Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to prevent any fraud, and on Thursday he met with the ayatollah for three hours. “If the system cannot or does not want to confront such ugly and sin-infected phenomena as insults, lies, and false allegations made in that debate, how can we consider ourselves followers of the sacred Islamic system?” Mr. Rafsanjani wrote.

On June 13th, the Interior Ministry, controlled by Ahmadinejad, announces that he has been elected in the first round with 62.6 percent of the vote, compared with less than 34 percent for Moussavi. Turnout is an extraordinary record: 86 percent of the 46.2 million eligible voters. But the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that, according to the Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, officials from Iran’s Interior Ministry would have contacted Mr. Moussavi after the polls closed on Friday night, saying that he would have won the election, and asking him not to make any announcement.

As vote-rigging often leaves traces in the results, let have a look at some interesting items:

After a legal and controlled investigation, Iran’s senior panel of election monitors says that, in 50 cities, the number of votes cast exceeded the actual number of voters;
Even if candidates usually win in their home districts, especially where their ethnicity should help them, Moussavi, an Azeri, lost in Azerbaijan and Karrubi won only 5 percent into his native district, with a 10th part of his 2005 votes;
With paper ballots, a speed count is suspicious, but for this election the Interior Ministry declared victory for Ahmadinejad only two hours after polls have been closed and results were immediately authorized.

The disbelief on the part of the international community is shared by many Iranian citizens. And while the defeated candidate launches a legal appeal, what ensued on the streets of Tehran,is the largest public demonstrations in the Islamic republic’s 30-year history. There are now hundreds of thousands of people protesting in the centre of Tehran. Security forces — who vastly outnumbered the small group of demonstrators — beat the protesters gathered on Tehran’s Baharestan Square with batons and fired tear gas canisters and rounds of ammunition into the air.

All three Ahmadinejad’s challengers in the election have made public allegations of fraud after results showed the president winning by a 2-to-1 margin, so, on June 16th, the Guardian Council, made up of clerics and experts in Islamic law and closely allied to Mr. Khamenei, having the apparent authority to nullify an election, is called to certify the results. Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders, a media rights group, is urging nations not to recognize the results of Iran’s presidential election, citing censorship and a crackdown on journalists.

Some days later, the Guardian Council announces – in a rare acknowledgment – that there have been voting irregularities in 50 districts, including local vote counts that exceeded the number of eligible voters, but that, however, these discrepancies are not widespread enough to affect the result.

The Guardian Council warned that some material on the web is ”creating tension” and must be removed to avoid ”legal consequences.” After confining foreign journalists to their hotels, bloggers are the new target of the regime. The Guardians of the Revolution consider the web as a threat and to keep images and stories on events in the country from being published on the Internet, the regime has threatened those who use social networks to spread information. Blogs and social networks have been and are crucial for the Iranian opposition to let the world know what is happening. Facebook and YouTube have been playing an important role in this too, with the former hosting longer manifestos and idea exchanges, and the latter hosting grainy film of protests and police attacks captured on cell phone cameras. But for “front line” news bulletins, Twitter has emerged as the preferred mode of clandestine communication.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Ahmadinejad visits Russia – which has long-time political and economic ties with Iran, where it is building a nuclear power site at Bushehr. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow declares he respects the election result: disputes about the vote “should be settled in strict compliance with Iran’s Constitution and law” and are “exclusively an internal matter.”

In New York, UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon urges an “immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force.”

On June 19th, the U.S. House of Representatives passes 405 to 1 the following bipartisan resolution, introduced by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.6) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Cal.28), to support Iranian dissidents and

(1) expresses its support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law;
(2) condemns the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the Government of Iran and pro-government militias, as well as the ongoing government suppression of independent electronic communication through interference with the Internet and cell phones; and
(3) affirms the universality of individual rights and the importance of democratic and fair elections

Lastly and most importantly, the resolution expresses Americans’ unqualified support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law.

America is freedom and in this cause the American people will not be silent. There is no intention here to pick sides in the Iranian election, but to simply stand by those who stand up for freedom.

Monday June 22nd will go down on history for Neda Agha Soltan’s death, whose video circulated worldwide, with her proud wonderful eyes. What we have seen through her last glance is a powerful desire on the part of the Iranian people to be free.

Caspian Makan, her boyfriend, said the 26-year-old woman had not been deterred by the risk of joining protests. She was a philosophy student and loved poetry: Iran’s Rumi and America’s Robert Frost were her favorites.

He told an Associated Press reporter during a telephone call that “she only ever said to want one thing: democracy and freedom for the people of Iran.” Iran state radio blamed civilians’ murder like Soltan’s on “saboteurs” – not the pro-regime Basij militiamen who have been beating the protesters. To verify reports on demonstrations, clashes and casualties is quite impossible: Iran has ordered reporters to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets. Reporters Without Borders put at 34 the figure of reporters detained since the protests began. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 13 are still in custody. State radio reported today that Iranian authorities arrested at least 457 people after post-election clashes that left 10 people dead, as the nation’s clerical leaders battled to contain the worst crisis since the Islamic revolution.

Perhaps detaining journalists for reporting news and commentary indicates the government has something to hide?

Only on June 23rd, eventually, in response to critical comments from Sen. John McCain of Arizona and other Republicans, President Obama condemns the Iranian government for its crackdown against election protesters and accuses Iran’s leaders of fabricating charges against the United States. If only he would have read the new nationwide public opinion survey of Iran conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow – The Center for Public Opinion (“TFT”), the New America Foundation, and KA Europe SPRL (“KA”), he would know that Iran has been deprived of the benefits of globalization such as the import of new ideas, technologies and practices. Inside their houses, the lifestyle of Iranians suggests that they are following almost every contemporary trend, from fashion to the use of technology, above all in Teheran, but, as a student wrote on Facebook, Iranians don’t want to have to worry about too many rules: “We want the rest of the world to be open to us too. Ahmadinejad doesn’t think bigger than Iran, he thinks that Iranians will be happy if he gives us a bag of potatoes. But we want more.”

More than 70 percent of Iranians also favor Iran providing full inspections and a guarantee not to develop or possess nuclear weapons in return for outside aid and investment. In another consistent trend over the past two years, 77 percent of Iranians back normal relations and trade with the United States. Sixty-eight percent also favor Iran working with the United States to help resolve the Iraq war, while 60 percent back unconditional negotiations with the U.S. The Iranian people have proven that they desire a free, democratic society and due to social sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube the world can no longer ignore them.

Slater Bakhtavar is president and founder of Republican Youth of America, a frequent commentator and respected analyst on foreign policy issues, an attorney with a post-doctoral degree in International law, General Counsel of a national corporation and Attorney at Bakhtavar & Associates, PLLC.

 It is a world in the not so distant future where the forces of the Left have saddled professional sports with quadriplegic referees, transgendered concessionaires and stuttering sportscasters. Now the festering forces of radical feminism have decided to launch a direct assault upon the blatantly oppressive, misogynist and patriarchal world of “maleness” that is professional football.

 The 2020 Super Bowl is chosen as the stage to debut the first female professional football player and to announce a major revision in American politics. Both end in dramatic failure and set the stage for place-kicker Jayesh Blackstone, born in London of Indian heritage, to be involved in a high stakes game of intrigue as he discovers the courage to fight to be a free American. Blackstone is selected to be used and manipulated by the administration as a symbol to attack European imperialism and to establish a National Electoral Fairness Commission. Monitored by the United Nations Special Advisory Institute on National Expropriation, it is the final blow against “religious fanatics, stolen elections, the last vestiges of sexist domination, the exploiters of developing nations, and all those whose goal has been to exclude women, minorities, and newly-arrived Americans.” All steps are taken to ensure the most progressive norms of political conduct in the world today.

 In addition to the political conspiracy and intrigue, the character of Jayesh Blackstone is taken on an internal journey to discover the draw of his own heritage and native country. He also experiences the love of two women, the struggle to choose between them, and the sacrifices and dedication that embodies true friendship along the way.

 The Kicker of St. John’s Wood is definitely one of Gary Wolf’s best novels to date, and a frightening reminder of the fast track of idiocy this country has decided to follow that increasingly defines humanity exclusively in terms of race and gender. I found it to be a page- turner filled with twists, turns, and unexpected surprises throughout the story. It is also an eye -opening book that helps to remind that each and everyone of us will eventually have to decide if we have the personal fortitude, character and courage to choose to do the right thing and oppose the whirling forces of Progressivism, Multiculturalism, Diversity, Political Correctness and “Tolerance” that increasingly dominates every aspect of education, business and even your daily life. Will you be like Jayesh Blackstone and be willing to risk professional and personal attacks, slander, and even worse for what is right and true?

 This book is the story of one man’s struggle with that question and the series of choices he must face as he discovers the difference between being a serf to the system and a free citizen. Not all know the difference but the choice is one that all will soon have to face. The end result of the agenda and catalogue of “isms” of the modern-day Left is lunacy and few do as fine a job as Gary Wolf at pointing that out through the medium of speculative fiction.

 The Kicker of St. John’s Wood is available for sale at Amazon and all other major online publishers. You may also visit the author’s website at http://awolcivilization.com/ for direct links to the book’s page at the various online stores and the opportunity to read the first chapter online. Gary Wolf was formerly an analyst and commentator on international and strategic affairs. He was raised in New York and London, lived for six years in Paris, and currently resides in the state of New Mexico. Wolf is also the author of The Embracer, Shaya, Alternating Worlds and Workshop of the Second Self.

A few months ago a friend was approached by a vendor who had a large walnut -sized transparent stone. The vendor didn’t want to say where he’d got the stone from but claimed it was a diamond and he was trying to sell it. The stone had a sharp edge which made a deep scratch in a steel drill bit without damagaing the stone.Was it a diamond? Who knows but there are plenty of stories like this doing the rounds. People in Mutare tell of deals going down all the time, men in dark glasses, cars with tinted windows and little bundles changing hands. Some talk of clear stones, others are grey or cloudy but whatever the colour we are all wondering just who died while digging for these stones.

A chilling report has just been released by Human Rights Watch implicating Zimbabwe’s military in horrific abuses at the newly discovered diamond fields in Chiadzwa. Human Rights Watch collected evidence of violence, murder and forced child labour at the diamond deposits in Marange. The report talks of military helicopters gunning people down, of teargas being thrown into shafts and of people buried alive. It says that at least 214 people were killed during a three week military operation in October 2008 and of people buried in mass graves. Press reports quote Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch as saying: “The police and army have turned this peaceful area into a nightmare of lawlessness and horrific violence.”

Human Rights Watch says that: “Zimbabwe’s new government should get the army out of the fields, put a stop to the abuse, and prosecute those responsible.”

It is incomprehensible that this is going on even now as Prime Minister Tsvangirai tries to persuade the west that we have changed and are deserving of their money.

The Human Rights Watch report could not be more damning, or more to the point when it notes:

“The government could generate significant amounts of revenue from the diamonds, perhaps as much as $200million US dollars per month, if Marange and other mining centres were managed in a transparent and accountable manner. This revenue could fund a significant portion of the new government’s economic recovery programme.”

There remains little doubt in anyone’s mind just exactly why Zanu PF refused to concede defeat in the 2008 elections: from farms and wildlife to gold and diamonds.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 27th June 2009.

http://www.cathybuckle.com

This letter is published with kind permission of the author

Clearly, he is aware of the governmental power he has the potential to accrue with the passage of this single atrocious new entitlement. His lust for that power is evident in the ferocity with which he is striving to ramrod his plan through the congress and onto America. The stakes are far too great for him to do any less. Ultimately, the zeal with which he is pressing forward should be the greatest indication to Americans of the long-term perils that await them if he succeeds.

While it may seem odd to draw comparisons between the healthcare “debate” and the recent uprisings in Iran, certain disturbing parallels indeed exist. America and the world witness the tragedy of an oppressed people yearning to be free, and the manner in which the Iranian government is scrambling to regain its iron-fisted control of the situation. Central to this effort is their disinformation campaign. And while nobody in our country is being slaughtered over health care controversies, the situation is rife with ominous signs of a government/media propaganda blitz that rivals anything ever concocted by Tass or Pravda.

Furthermore, though the violence in Iran is not likely to be recounted in our communities, particularly with respect to medical care, ominous patterns of governmental coercion, and suppression of all opposition are already beginning to unfold here. And if the poisoned seeds of impending tyranny are any indication, it is chilling to ponder the bitter fruit that they may bear if not immediately checked.

It is not necessary to delve into ideological parallels between Obama and the ruthless Iranian leadership. Clearly, his Cairo speech revealed an appalling willingness to laud the Islamic world in a manner that he never proffers on behalf of America and the rest of Western Civilization. Anyone who doubts this need only to contrast that speech against the venom and anti-American hatred of the “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright, under whose spiritual leadership Obama willingly sat for more than two decades.

Still, with respect to healthcare, the underlying ideology is a secondary issue. It makes no difference why Obama and his kind are so intent on lowering the quality of American healthcare to levels reflective of nightmarish and dysfunctional Euro-socialist states. Their willingness to employ fraud and overreaches of power speaks volumes in itself. The results of this approach are entirely predictable. Any program that is implemented through such thuggish tactics cannot possibly redound to the benefit of America’s greatness or the former freedoms enjoyed by its people.

Pivotal to the onset of unrest among Iranian citizens was the obvious tampering of election results, ensuring the reelection of Islamist puppet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On the Iranian street, it was a given that Ahmadinejad’s rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was far more popular. Yet the “election” results painted a completely different picture, and predictably, one that the “religious” autocracy had intended from the beginning.

Of course nothing like that could happen here in America, or could it? On June 20, just in time for Obama’s big healthcare propaganda blitz, an “independent” CBS News/New York Times poll was released which claims that an amazing 72% of Americans are in support of putting their medical care under the complete control of the government. Apparently, the monstrosity of a socialist bureaucracy enjoys even more popularity on mainstreet than Ahmadinejad does in Tehran.

However, on closer examination, it turns out that, by a two to one margin, participants chosen for the poll were Obama supporters. By resorting to such absurdly skewed “sampling” pollsters can easily manufacture “overwhelming” public support or opposition on any topic they choose. Thus has CBS/New York Times revealed its willingness to sway public opinion by generating the illusion of political momentum.

Equally significant is that, in this role, CBS/New York Times is clearly disseminating misinformation in concert with the agenda of Obama and the Democrats. These formerly respectable establishments of the press have abdicated their time-honored role of protecting liberty and national integrity by keeping the public informed. Instead, they have assumed the dark mantle of demagogues and propagandists for the state. Joseph Goebbels would be proud.

Much worse is yet to come. At least CBS/New York Times still felt compelled to do their dirty deed under the guise of an objective poll. In comparison, the actions of ABC “News” vastly eclipse any previous sellout of the public trust by the press. Not content to merely parrot the Obama/Democrat party line, on Wednesday June 24, ABC News conducted a government “healthcare” infomercial from inside the White House. Comically denying any partiality, this broadcast was clearly crafted to advance Obama’s socialist cause, denying any opposing viewpoint from being presented, even during paid commercials.

In a sad post-mortem on the demise of the American Republic, CBS News/New York Times, along with ABC News, would not be memorialized as principled martyrs who lost a valiant fight to keep spreading truth among the people of the country. Rather, descending to the point of becoming ideological brothels from which any “informational” service can be purchased for the right price, these once great institutions willingly abandoned their rightful purpose, and now publicly strut their wares for the right bidder.

Despite all of this, the path to a takeover of the medical system is far from certain. Obama’s own desperation, revealed in such antics as the ABC News publicity stunt, stand as evidence that huge obstacles remain before Americans will consign their physical well being to the insipient madness of liberal bureaucracies. In response, Obama has been driven to mimic the tactics of those Iranian Ayatollahs who feel their grip on power slipping away. While insisting that the plan is a “done deal,” he demeans any who oppose it as “not logical.” In doing so, he demeans himself and the office he holds.

Next week, this country will be celebrating the two hundred and thirty third anniversary of its founding. Those courageous individuals who crafted and signed the Declaration of Independence birthed a nation on principles so wise and noble that it has since risen to the pinnacle of civilization. But if such ideals are abandoned, it cannot exist forever on the mere momentum of its glorious founding.

It seems wholly unlikely that Americans may ever face the prospect of blood running in the streets of their cities. But the specter of a government run healthcare system, and the sinister manner in which it is being advanced, represent a dangerous departure from the nation’s former greatness.

Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer and staff writer for the New Media Alliance. He lives in southeastern Wyoming. He has been active in local and state politics for many years and is a managing partner in Best American Buy (www.bestamericanbuy.com), an e-commerce business that markets products exclusively made in America. His contact information and archives can be found at www.chrisadamo.com

Ingvar Kamprad, Ikea’s founder, revealed that his company had been swindled of $190 million by Russian authorities. Many businesses have pulled out of Russia in the past couple of years, but to have one of the wealthiest individuals in the world make such an emphatic declaration against a country, is a powerful signal that warns others who might venture into the corrupted climate ruled by Putin.

Ikea is one of the largest privately held companies in the world with approximately 300 stores across 40 countries, and it employs over 127,000 people. It’s more than $31 billion annual sales give Ikea a broad reach and clout, yet, it could not find the ceiling of the graft that was required to be paid as it attempted for almost 2 years to open its most recent store in Samara, Russia. Now that 130,000 meter facility will never open. A pioneer in the Russian market has slammed on the parking brake.

Kamprad’s very sarcastic characterization of Russia’s business landscape, “the unpredictable character of administrative procedures,” while almost humorous, is very telling. Businesses and investors know that doing business in Russia means you will very likely deal with either remnants of the KGB, or the mob. Dealing with the KGB provides more powerful and far-reaching influence than buying support from the mob. With the former KGB, you get protection from the highest levels of government.

For giant corporations such as Ikea, size means that the price extracted for doing business becomes an impossible number to cap. The money extraction process is insidious, and because the corporate coffers are enormous, the blood money has no ceiling.  Kamprad has finally cried, “uncle.” More importantly, he has done so very publicly. Since 2009 he had made Ikea’s entry into Russia a very personal project. It is entirely possible that this declaration is a temporary stance by Ikea, intended to shake up Putin and his friends into putting a ceiling on the graft payments. Either way, there are no indications that the underlying corruption throughout the system has any hope of finding much-needed repair. Ikea found that, “blackmail, sabotage and pressure for bribes,” as well as disrespect for contracts, became too much.

These are economically difficult times for Russia, as with most other countries. Russia can ill afford declarations such as those made by Ikea and its boss. Such news, of course, means that for the foreseeable future, America will continue to be the safe haven for the world’s cash.

James Raider writes The Pacific Gate Post