EFTA01194634.pdf

From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bcc: [email protected] Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.. 09/06/2015 Date: Sun, 06 Sep 2015 10:38:10 +0000 Attachments: Mediterranean_Diet_101, A Meal Plan That Can Save Your Life Kris Gunnars AN.docx; Nick Cave bio.docx; docx; 26 ,_2015.docx Inline-Images: image.png; image(I).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; image(8).png; image(9).png; image(10).png; image(10.png; image(12).png; image(13).png; image(14).png; image(15).png; image(16).png; image(17).png; image(18).png; image(19).png; image(20).png; image(21).png; image(22).png; image(23).png; image(24).png; image(25).png; image(26).png; image(27).png; image(28).png DEAR FRIEND 25 Life Lessons from loo-Year-Old David Rockefeller, The World's Oldest Billionaire David Rockefeller Sr transformed Chase bank and Rockefeller Center, dined with presidents and has given away hundreds of millions of dollars. Wisdom accumulates with age. At too years old, David Rockefeller Sr., who reaches the centennial milestone today, has sagacity in spades. Some of it is shared below — insight culledfrom FORBES interviews and his autobiography, Memoirs. There is perhaps no better way to mark the birthday of the world's oldest billionaire, and patriarch of one of its leadingfamilies, than to let him speakfor himself. EFTA01194634 I. In business and in life. profit is important. "The lure of profits generates employment, creates wealth and empowers people in ways that no other social or economic system has been able to:" 2. Divorce and politics are expensive. "A family adviser once said the two most expensive things a Rockefeller can do are run for public office and get divorced." 3. At work, make money — and friends. "Grandfather formed intense friendships with his business partners. On the rare occasions when I heard him mention his business career, he spoke of the fun they had, despite the hard work and long hours." 4. One boss is always better than two. "Co-chief executive arrangements rarely work because they represent an uncomfortable compromise." 5. Get out of the office. "I called on bank customers in 42 of the 50 states...ate approximately ten thousand business meals (more if you count the ones that I consumed in New York), and participated in thousands of customer calls and client meetings." 6. ...get as far out of the office as you can. "I logged more than 5 million air miles (the equivalent of 200 round-the-world trips)... During my 35 years at Chase , I visited 103 countries; this included 41 trips to France, 37 to England and three extensive tours of sub-Saharan Africa." 7. Go ahead, do business with friends. "I firmly believe that the most successful business associations are based on trust, understanding and loyalty, the same qualities that are essential to a close personal friendship." 8. Champion capitalism. "No one should feel guilty shout making money." 9. Capitalism will require the government and the market working together. "Relying on either government or the market alone to solve all problems and cure all ills has always seemed to be more doctrinaire than realistic." 10. If you're upset about that, write your Congressman. "I feel someone in my position should be able to express his views to members of Congress and the administration. Certainly every other group in society feels free to express their concerns." EFTA01194635 11. The right last name opens doors. "Having the name Rockefeller can be an advantage.... more apt to get through on the telephone to somebody." 12. While closing others. "It also means people are somewhat more suspicious, somewhat more cynical. It means they assume anything you achieve is the result of the name rather than doing something yourself." 13. And, yes, haters will hate. "Having a thick skin is very important to anyone who sticks his head above the crowd even a few inches." 14. Becoming a father provides new perspective on your own. "Having become a father myself and learned of my own inadequacies in that role, I became more sympathetic to my father's idiosyncrasies and limitations. You do the best you can." 15. Standby your family. "Grandfather and his partners were tough competitors, but they were guilty of no more than the common business practices of their day?' 16. No, really: Standby your family. "It wasn't that common for me to become publicly involved in Nelson's campaigns, but when he came to my territory, I felt a brotherly obligation to appear with him." 17. Though, family can surprise the most. "When we first heard about Nelson's affair with Happy, we were shocked. It often happens that those who are closet are the last to find out." 18. Find a hobby. "When I was a young child, I took a course in nature study and fell in love with beetles. Whenever I go on a trip, I always carry a jar in my pocket. They're easy to collect because they have firm shells and can be kept easily." 19. In life, opposites do attract. "While my wife and I enjoyed being together, we also had different interests, which we pursued independently. This was the key to our long and very happy marriage?' 20. Live within your means. "Easy credit might well lead to heavy speculation and over•expansion." EFTA01194636 21. Live by embracing adventure. "When my brother, Laurance, was at Princeton and roomed with a rather fast crowd, he told me that he believed in trying anything once...Later on he became a highly successful venture capitalist. His interest in unconventional ideas never diminished." 22. Find a good teacher, too. "I attribute my lifelong interest in history to Elmina Lucke, my sixth grade teacher, who made the past come vividly alive." 23. Embrace it abroad. "Although my parents felt their children should first get to know their own country, they believed it was just as important for us to learn about European cultures and civilization." 24. Also, live free of any regrets. "Grandfather never breathed a sigh of remorse to my father, his grandchildren or anyone else. He believed Standard Oil benefited society." 25. Create something that lasts. "Part of the joy of business is...permanence and value beyond oneself." Abram 1F1rwan -- Farb., •• June 12. 2015 ****** China Bashing It may sound cool on a Republican podium but it is stupid policy. EFTA01194637 As Fareed Zakaria wrote/warned this week in an op-ed in The Washington Post - Republican candidates bash China at our ownperil. Because in this silly season of the jockeying between the 17 Republican candidates trying to get noticed, and 16 of them struggle to compete with The Donald, perhaps we should not be surprised to hear crazy rhetoric and outlandish ideas. In recent days, Chris Christie has proposed that all legal visitors to the United States be tracked every minute, like FedEx packages. Mike Huckabee has compared Planned Parenthood to the Islamic State because they both "take people's heads off." And as Zakaria points out we haven't even gotten to Donald Trump. The brunt of this extremism has been borne by immigrants, especially Mexicans. It's crude and obnoxious but ultimately inconsequential. The policies being proposed could never be enacted or implemented. And although Mexicans might be deeply offended — and rightly so — their country has to find a way to make peace with its gigantic neighbor to the north. None of this is true about China, the new target of irresponsible Republican rhetoric. China is the world's second-largest economy, almost 212/ times the size of the next largest, Japan. Even if growth slows substantially, China will continue to have seismic effects on the global system. Scott Walker has declared that the upcoming state visit of China's president, Xi Jinping, should be canceled. Marco Rubio would allow Xi to come but downgrade his trip and use it as an opportunity to "speak bluntly to this authoritarian ruler." In a speech billed as outlining his foreign policy, Rubio argued that China is "a rising threat to our economic interests" and "a growing danger to our national security." Christie explained that Washington needs a "military approach" to China. Trump goes further and is coarser. When Zakaria asked the senior-most foreign policy statesman in the Republican Party, Henry Kissinger, what he makes of this rhetoric. "It isfoolishness," he said, "but dangerousfoolishness.It could have extremely grave repercussions."I also asked Hank Paulson, the most recent Republican treasury secretary, who has visited China more than too times over the past 25 years and negotiated with the Chinese as a businessman, government official and conservationist. "This summit means a lot to both countries and provides an opportunity to get important things done," Paulson said. "But particularly, because China is experiencing some economic problems at home, if we slight them or overplay our hand, they may leave questioning their ability to work with us. That would be terrible for both nations." Part of the problem is that China's government remains a black box and few people understand what is happening there — which makes it easy to ascribe malign intentions to Beijing's every move. Take, for example, the Chinese central bank's recent decision to allow its currency to fall — instantly denounced by politicians in Washington as an effort to flood the U.S. market with cheap goods. Over the past few years, the renminbi had appreciated substantially against the dollar and the yen. The Chinese government appeared to be responding to Western pressure to allow market forces to reign, which in this case made the currency fall. That is why the International Monetary Fund praised Beijing's decision to devalue. And when the renminbi fell too far, Beijing spent an estimated $200 billion trying to prop it up — hardly the actions of a government trying to devalue. As with the stock market, Beijing's policies have been inconsistent and ineffective, but that does not mean that they are evil. "From the rhetoric I hear," Kissinger told Zakaria, "one would imagine that China has decided to embark on a series of policies, economic and military, that threaten the United States. What is really going on is that China is in the midst ofan enormous transformation, economic andpolitical.... The internal turmoil in the country today is comparable only to the CulturalRevolution." And, he noted, it would be far better for the United States if China makes this transition to a more stable economy successfully. The Republican rhetoric on China, Mexico and immigration reveals a breakdown of the party's ideological vision and internal discipline. For decades, Republicans have favored internationalism, engagement and free markets. In 2016, it is quite possible that the party's nominee will be populist, nativist and protectionist. The consequences of this new climate of China-bashing could be serious. "It might turn out that over time we determine that it is not possible to cooperate with China," Kissinger said. "But we should exhaust every effort to have a serious, constructive relationship. If not, the tensions will build, misunderstandings will grow, andI worry that we wouldfind ourselves in an atmosphere similar to that ofEurope before World War I — a war no one wanted but no one knew how to stop." Also, does anyone really believe that it is prudent for America to dins the leadership of a country holding $2 trillion of treasuries? But then this latest clown car often speak without thinking. EFTA01194638  Bonanza for the Super Rich: The Fund Managers' Tax Break As Dean Baker recently wrote in The Huffington Post — The reason most of us have seen little gain from economic growth over the last three decades is that the rich have rigged the rules to ensure that money flows upward. Through their control of trade policy, Federal Reserve Board policy, and other key levers of government, they have structured the market to weaken the bargaining power of ordinary workers and benefit the CEOs and Wall Street crew. As a result, the typical worker has seen almost none of the gains from economic growth over the last four decades. Most of this rigging comes in before-tax income. The big gains to the rich have not been primarily because they have become better at avoiding taxes than they were four decades ago, but there are some notable exceptions. At the top of this list is the fund managers' tax break (a.k.a. the carried interest tax deduction). As tens of millions of people prepare to file their tax returns this week, it is a good opportunity to celebrate this tax deduction which gives billions of dollars every year to some of the richest people in the country for no reason whatsoever. Many issues in tax law are complicated; the fund managers' tax break is not. And as Dean Baker says, "It's just a good old- fashioned rip-off of ordinary taxpayersfor the benefit of the wealthy." The basic point is very simple. The fund managers' tax break allows managers of hedge funds, private equity funds, and various other investment funds to have much of their pay taxed at the capital gains tax rate rather than the tax rate applied to wage income. At present, this will typically mean a savings of almost 20 percentage points since the capital gains tax rate for the rich is 20 percent, compared to a 39.6 percent tax rate on ordinary wage income. The people who benefit from this tax break include some of the richest people in the country. Typically these fund managers earn paychecks that run well into the millions. Earnings in the tens of millions annually, or even hundreds of millions are not uncommon. (Think of Mitt Romney. He was one of the beneficiaries of the fund managers' tax break.) The fund managers' tax break is real money for the people affected. In the case of a fund manager looking at $100 million in carried interest income, the tax break will mean an additional $20 million in their pockets. To put this in perspective, this is equal to k5o,000 months of food stamps for the typical beneficiary. The rationale for giving the super-rich a lower tax rate on this money is that they are paid based on what they earn for their clients. Typically, the "carried interest" is equal to 20 percent of the earnings of a fund over some threshold. In other words, the fund managers are paid partly on a commission. In this way fund managers don't differ from millions of other workers in the economy. Realtors, car salespeople, even clerks in clothing stores or shoe stores typically get much of their pay on commission. The difference between these workers and the super rich who run hedge funds and private equity funds is that ordinary workers have to pay the same tax rate on their earnings regardless of whether they are paid a straight salary or whether they earned it as a commission. It is only the fund managers who get to have their earnings taxed at a lower rate because they earned them on a commission. There has been considerable discussion in the last year over inequality. Some have argued that increase in inequality over the last three decades is an inevitable part of capitalism, or at least that this inequality has been necessary to sustain the growth that benefits everyone. It is difficult to see anything inevitable about the fund managers' tax break. Surely it is EFTA01194639 possible to envision a less corrupt Congress that doesn't make up tax rules exclusively to benefit the very rich. It is also difficult to see how the economy benefits from creating tax loopholes that cause people to spend their time gaming the tax code rather than doing productive work. If presidential candidates and other political figures are serious about addressing inequality, it would be difficult to envision a better place to start than eliminating the fund managers' tax break. There are serious policy questions around many other measures to reduce inequality. On the fund managers' tax break there are none. It's really pretty simple: handing taxpayers' money to some of the richest people in the country increases inequality. And this is from someone who believes in capitalism and has no problem with people making millions and billions of dollars. My only issue is that these types of carve-outs and this in particular is unfair to everyone else who is paid commissions. The Constitution the Republicans Can't Stand D Do 66' 4' 6'/" 624 5‘0" -60' Kt 68* 56" 2- a Lawbreaker Kim Davis and the lawless Ted Cruz As Dana Milbank wrote this week in an op-ed in The Washington Post under the title of Lawbreaker Kim Davis and the lawless Ted Cruz - What Kim Davis did was troubling. But what Ted Cruz did was downright alarming. Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, refused to issue marriage certificates to gay couples. She said she was operating "under God's authority," but she now sits in jail for ignoring federal authority. Davis, at least, is facing the consequences of her actions. Not so Cruz, senator from Texas and Republican presidential candidate. "Today, judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny," he said. "Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith.... I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally." As Milbank points out — Tyranny? Our system of government gives the Supreme Court final say over constitutional matters, and, though Cruz doesn't like it, the court ordered states to recognize same-sex marriages. In fact, the high court specifically declined to give relief to Davis, and the federal judge who ordered her jailed for contempt of court is a George W. Bush appointee and son of a former Republican senator. Now Cruz, who took an oath of office to "support and defend the Constitution," wants people to defy the Supreme Court's authority? Who is the lawless one? Cruz isn't the only Republican candidate seeking the nation's highest office while encouraging people to ignore its laws. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, declared: "I thank Godfor Kim Davis, andI hope more Americans will stand with her." Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, too, supported Davis, and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) called her jailing "absurd" and said stands such as Davis's are "an important part of the American way." Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said that "you have thefreedom to practice religious beliefs out there. It's afundamental right." True. And there's a proud American tradition of defying unjust laws with civil disobedience. But nobody is denying Davis freedom to believe what she wishes; she's merely being ordered to do what she swore to do: "faithfully execute the duties of my office withoutfavor." Refusing to do so doesn't make her Martin Luther King Jr. It makes her George Wallace. " When they put their personal beliefs above their responsibilities as public servants, that's not civil disobedience, its abuse of power," says Michael Keegan of the liberal group People for the American Way, which tracks such actions by public EFTA01194640 officials. "Elected officials whofeel like they can't in good consciencefulfill their duties have an honorable way to proceed: They can find another line of work." Defenders of Davis, a Democrat, cite President Obama's "lawlessness" — but even his expansive view of presidential power doesn't include ignoring court orders. They cite San Francisco's "lawless" sanctuary-city statute — but the ordinance has survived 26 years without being invalidated. Jeb Bush, to his credit, said Davis "is sworn to uphold the law." But a large number of Republican officeholders are encouraging people to ignore a variety of laws. When Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy last year undertook an armed standoff against the federal government, Paul, Ben Carson (also now a GOP presidential candidate), Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and others took Bundy's side. Huckabee and Rick Santorum, another GOP presidential candidate, signed a pledge not to "respect an unjust law that directly conflicts with higher law." Huckabee is on record saying that "the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and they cannot overturn the laws of nature or of nature's God." Huckabee floated the notion of using federal troops to block people from getting abortions. He also said: "I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch." Paul recently sounded a call to arms against the city of Houston over a rescinded attempt to subpoena local pastors. "That's at the point at which civil resistance is in order," he said. Former Texas governor Rick Perry, for his part, said last year that his state wouldn't comply with a federal prison-rape law. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), meanwhile, encouraged states not to comply with a proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule. Various judges and clerks across the country have taken stands like Davis's. Davis got support for her law-breaking from Matt Bevin, the Republican candidate for governor of Kentucky, and from her husband, Joe, one of three men to whom she has been married. Ominously, he said he's not afraid of harassment by gay-marriage supporters, and he invoked his gun-toting rights under the Second Amendment. '1. an old redneck hillbilly, that's all I've got to say," he said. "Don't come knocking on my door." It's fitting that, as Kim Davis undermines the rule of law, Joe Davis threatens violence. When you lose the former, all you are left with is the latter. If you are running for office as a Republican today, you have to mention your reverence for the Constitution at least as much as you mention your love for Ronald Reagan. The Second Amendment — every word should be taken literally because it was literally ordained by God! The First Amendment protects my right to discriminate against gay people! Neither the Constitution nor the Bible contains the word "Obamacare"! But Republican politicians have a few glaring blind spots when it comes to the Constitution. One of those is the 14th Amendment, a pillar of our inclusive democracy, a key component of which Republican presidential candidates are now asking us to ignore or change. The Republican presidential contenders' rush to badmouth a basic constitutional right — in an apparent attempt to appeal to their supposedly Constitution-loving far-right base -- speaks volumes about what they really mean when they talk about constitutionalism. They use their pocket Constitutions for the parts that come in handy. The rest of it? Not so much. We have to challenge our political leaders who on one hand bathe themselves in The Constitution except when it conflicts with the desires of their constituents, no matter how wrong or wacko they are. They shouldn't be allowed to cherry-pick provisions in The Constitution that support their personal beliefs, because your God and my God may not be the same and the neutrality of The Constitution and its premise that we are all equal under the law, is not only a right, it is the right that glues us together as a civilized moral country. Like Mrs. Davis, Senator Cruz and those like him should be made to pay a price.... Which should be disqualification from political office, because when you seek political office you are pledging to protect the rights for everyone, not just those who believe and support your secular beliefs. And for those of you who see Mrs. Davis as a modern day Rosa Parks, you truly don't understand what Rosa Parks really did or why she is celebrated for doing it. ****** THIS IS CRAZY EFTA01194641  We Are Averaging One Mass Shootings a Day As A Result of a Culture of Violence in America And America's Lack of Gun Regulation Is Shameful Political Cowardice Aug. 26 is the 238th day of the year. And with the fatal shooting in Virginia Wednesday — in which a gunman shot himself after killing two reporters and wounding one more person — plus the shooting of four during a Minneapolis home invasion, the number of mass shooting incidents has risen to 247 for the year. These numbers are compiled by the moderators of the GunsAreCool subreddit, a sarcastically named community that tracks gun violence in America. They define "mass shooting" as any single incident in which at least four people are shot, including the gunman. The tracker comes in for some criticism because its definition is broader than the FBI's definition, which requires three or more people to be killed by gunfire. But the broader definition is nonetheless a useful one, because it captures many high-profile instances of violence — like the recent Lafayette theater shootings — that don't meet the FBI's criteria. Some gun rights advocates — like John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center — object that the broader definition includes a lot of gang killings and domestic disputes that the average person wouldn't necessarily consider a "mass shooting." But there's an uncomfortable assumption here that some crime victims' lives should be valued differently — or are less worthy of attention — than others. A more expansive definition of "mass shooting" underscores the extent to which firearms make it relatively easy to hurt large numbers of people in a very short time. With a gun, you're able to inflict bodily harm on a person once they're in your line of sight. With something like a knife or your hands, you need to get right up close to a person. EFTA01194642  238 days, 247 mass shootings Numbers reefs encamp et • reams. gnawing shaoter) by day olyear. 2015 January February March 1 1 0 2 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 0 0' 0 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 / 1 0 1 1 • 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 3 1 ,4_, 2 O 1 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 1 1 1 0 1 0 .1 O 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 April June 0 1 1 0 0 0 17 '3 3' 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 2 2 1 11 0 0 0 0 2 0 5 3 0 2 1 0 0 3 2 1 1 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 1 2 1 2 1 1 S. 0 2 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 3 1 2 3 1 0 2 0 1 4 1 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 1 1 5 2 4 2 0 0 0 01 2 1 1 1 1 0 4 0 0 1 , • 2. 2 0 3. 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 wOn.0 LOG There's no easy fix to gun violence in this country. As gun rights proponents are quick to point out, municipalities with strict gun laws, like Chicago and M., see more than their fair share of gun crime. But it's nevertheless a fact that the level of gun violence we see in the U.S. is like nothing seen in other wealthy Western nations. More importantly as Shaw Van Diver recently wrote in the Huffington Post — America's lack of gun regulation is shameful political cowardice. Since December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children, six adults, and himself, there have been at least 887 mass shootings, with shooters killing at least 1,148 people and wounding 3,184 more. Thousands and thousands of people, including several prominent politicians have been trying to get this discussion going for years, yet even after Sandy Hook there have been more than 8o0 mass shootings since Sandy Hook there doesn't appear to be enough outrage to institute even the most elementary legislation that would make it harder for the mentally unstable to get arms to gun or band assault rifles which were designed for the military. Web Link: Our politicians were too chicken-shit to even extend the Brady Bill, named after James Brady, who served as press secretary for President Ronald Reagan, was shot in the head by John Hinckley, Jr., during an attempt on President Reagan's life outside a hotel in Washington, Reagan himself was shot and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 30, 1993 and the law went into effect on February 28, 1994. So under unremitting legal assaults the Supreme Court ruled that the provision of the Brady Act that compelled state and local law enforcement officials to perform the background checks was unconstitutional on loth amendment grounds. In light of the above statistics people in other industrialized countries wonder why this epidemic of gun violence persist in America without any meaningful reform on gun violence. It is unexplainable that U.S. politicians still don't care beyond the minimum expected lip service immediately following an incident. They don't even have the guts to pursue reforms to prevent weapons and ammunition from making their way into the hands of the mentally or create any national standards for background checks on gun buyers. Have we seen any efforts to restrict the most dangerous weapons, the highest capacity magazines, or the most damaging ammunition? Not a chance. EFTA01194643 The failure to implement even the most general or common sense reforms in the light of 800 mass shootings is an absolute refusal to lead on the part of Congress. It's a flat-out disregard for the safety of American citizens. It's shameful political cowardice. When Australia had a sickening mass shooting, they banded together as a nation and took action. When we have a mass shooting, the NRA pushes for more guns. What happened to America being an example for the world? The U.S. government regulates all kinds of industries and products to ensure the safety of the American public. Take cars, for instance: before you are allowed to drive one, you have to take and pass both a written and operational test to get a driver's license. Those licenses are regulated by a government agency. You need to have car insurance. If you're diagnosed with certain medical conditions, you may lose your right to get behind the wheel. All of these things are true, because while we as a nation see the value of cars, we also acknowledge that careless ownership and operation of motor vehicles can be dangerous to the public, and we believe that if we can prevent unnecessary harm to each other, we should. It's time we apply that same standard to gun ownership. Our leaders in Washington must recognize these basic truths and have the courage to stand up to the "all-powerful" gun lobby. Yes, the NRA is a powerful interest group. Yes, it's tough for an elected official to go against their campaign donors' wishes. But your responsibility lies with the American people—a people who face the horror of random violence in movie theatres, elementary schools, and now their morning newscasts. If just a few of you used your backbone, you could potentially save hundreds, or thousands, of Americans who will be future victims of gun violence. In light of the latest mass shooting that was captured on local morning news in Virginia that has outraged America that somehow the cacophony of voices begging for change is heard, because it's a sad day when the greatest nation in the world cannot take simple action to protect her citizens. One hopes that the public remembers this tragedy and everyone before and after it on Election Day. One should support regulation insuring that everyone who wants to own a gun has to go through training, background checks, and mental health screening — as this is the right thing to do. And for a country that makes everyone take off their shoes before getting on an commercial airplane because one person tried to unsuccessfully tried to ignite a bomb in their shoe, one would think that they would do everything possible to slowdown this epidemic of gun violence that is causing the death of more than ii,000 people a year.... And this is my rant of the week.... WEEK's READINGS 2O Foods Banned in the World (But Allowed in the U.S.) EFTA01194644 It's common knowledge nowadays that the United States is behind on the times in certain regards. With the trans-fat movement sweeping headlines lately, we've coming to discover that what we've been eating in our country, isn't always the healthiest. But what may shock you, is that there are a plethora of foods that are banned worldwide, yet the United States still allows for consumption. Ready for a very scary list, then read below because food coloring, synthetic chemicals that are flame retardant, chemicals that rob the body of micro-nutrients, arsenic that is actually considered poison, phosphates that are actually arterial toxins, synthetic hormones found in non-organic dairy products and something called pink slime which if people realized is in chicken nuggets no one would eat it See below Scary... Scary.... Scary 1. Farmed Salmon: In the U.S., we eat a lot of farmed or factory farmed meats and proteins. Because our country is consuming at such a high rate, production needs to be fast-forwarded tenfold. Farmed salmon, along with other factory farmed proteins have squalid living conditions and are pumped full of antibiotics and other chemicals that we end up ingesting. 2. Blue Dye #2: More often than we realize, companies add food coloring to their product in order to make it seem more appetizing. But what we aren't told, is that these artificial colors are predominantly made from coal tar. Back in the day, food coloring came from spices such as turmeric and saffron, but now, artificial dyes are chock full of chemical agents that we should not be ingesting so regularly. Stay away from the blueberry Nutrigrain bars! 3. Yellow #5: But it's worth mentioning one dye to stay away from in particular: Yellow *5. This dye is by far the worst to be consumed as it has been found to cause genotoxicity, a cell mutation that may lead to cancer. So steer clear of the boxed and Mountain Dew. 4. Red Dye #40: As one of the most widely used and consumed dyes, this one has been proven to accelerate tumors in mice and in children. Kraft Catalina dressing? Say goodbye. 5. Flame Retardant Drinks: Speaking of...it's time to ditch the Dew. Mountain Dew and other citrus-flavored sports drinks contain a synthetic chemical called brominated vegetable oil. Sounds delicious, right? This chemical was originally introduced to the public by chemical companies as a flame retardant. Yum. 7. Potassium Bromate: Now that we're talking about brominated vegetable oil, BVO, we also can find Potassium Bromate in certain dough that we eat. It's an agent used to strengthen the dough, but is dangerous enough to be a banned additive in Europe, China, and Canada. 7. Azodicarbonamide: On the topic of dough, there's an ingredient that actually bleaches flour, and it's called azodicarbonamide. It's found in a majority of breads and baked goods in the U.S., but is banned in Australia and the U.K., for being known as an asthma-causing allergen. 8. Olestra: We've all heard of the fat-free fad of the late gos, which fortunately didn't last long. Many of these fat-free products, such as potato chips, were filled with chemicals to rid the fats. Olestra was one of these chemicals, which actually EFTA01194645 robbed us of micro-nutrients that our body desperately needed for continuous, healthy functions. 9. Arsenic-based Drugs: Factory farms often need their animals to grow more quickly than nature allows, for a higher turnover rate. However, in order to do this, they add an arsenic-based drug to their feed. Scientific reports have shown that this organic arsenic could potentially transform into inorganic arsenic, which is extremely deadly. 10. Preservatives BHA & BHT: Preservatives are used in so many products nowadays, it's hard to keep track: chewing gum, beer, nut mixes, and so forth. So when you see ingredients such as BHA and BHT, steer clear. These chemicals are speculated to be a cancer-causing agent in humans, and also cause organ system toxicity. 11. Ractopamine-Tained Meat: Sounds like a mouthful, but not the good kind. Similar to arsenic-based drugs, Ractopamine is used to promote rapid growth in livestock animals. Yet, human consumption of this ingredient has direct links cardiovascular problems as well as hyperactivity. 12. rBGH and rBST: This hormone, as well as the synthetic version of the hormone, are found in non-organic dairy products in order to increase milk production. These hormones have been banned in many countries primarily for the concerns in regards to animal welfare. 13. DPA: Diphenylamine, (say that three limes fast) is used on apples to give that glossy sheen that shouts "buy me! I look delicious!". But this coat has been actually deemed as a poison by the EFSA, European Food Safety Authority. DPA is actually what allows us to buy apples any lime of the year, despite being harvested in the fall. 14. Genetically Modified Papaya: Genetically modified anything is pure garbage, but papaya has it worst. Skeptics worry about long term effects of the genetic modification, and in Europe Genetically modified papaya is strictly banned. 1$. Pink Slime: We've all seen that photo going around regarding what's really in McDonald's thicken nuggets. Pink slime is apparently what companies refer to as "meat". Yet, it's really used as an additive to bulk up cheap meat. And we all know how great additives are... 16. Carrageenan: What's used as an emulsifier and thickener in processed dairy goods, actually causes gastrointestinal issues. Even scarier, this ingredient is said to be found in baby formula... yikes. 17. Atrazine: One of the most widely used herbicide in the United States is atrazine. Yet, when sprayed on crops, atrazine has been known to leak into the ground and contaminate drinking water. So the poison used to keep bugs away, we're consuming without knowledge. 18. Chlorine Chicken: Sounds delicious, no? Factory farms host very sad and strenuous conditions for chicken, which ultimately lead to a lot of disease and harmful pathogens. An easy solution? Chlorine doused chicken to kill off any unnecessary germs. Replacing germs with poison, sound promising. 19. Phosphates: Phosphates are often added to meat in order to enhance certain things like color, flavor and moisture absorption. However, phosphate is an arterial toxin known to increase heart disease. 20. Irradiated Meat: In the U.S., foods are preserved through exposure to low levels of radiation. This also prevents food borne illnesses. However, the European Union does not allow this as a replacement for good hygiene, as it actually changes the chemical composition of the food. We should really question why the above foods which are banned in other industrialized countries are allowed and sold in the U.S. because the truth is that they are killing people. ***** The average American woman now weighs as much as the average 196os man EFTA01194646  Americans get heavier. Average r.verghl 01 American men and women. 1960-2010 200 lbs. 190 Men 180 170 160 Women 150 14 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 WAPO WONKOLOG Source CDC As Salynn Boyles wrote in WebTV in 2007 the obesity epidemic is actually a worldwide pandemic that has global implications for health and disease, new research shows. Citing one of the largest studies ever to examine obesity rates across the globe, researchers found that more than 60% of men and 50% of women were either overweight or obese. They concluded that obesity is a growing problem in all regions of the world, even among traditionally lean Asian populations. "The study shows that excess body weight is pandemic, with one-half to two-thirds of the overall study population being overweight or obese," researcher Beverley Balkau, PhD, of the French health service INSERM, says in a news release. The study involved 69,409 men and 98,750 women from 63 countries across five continents evaluated by their primary care doctors for body weight, height, cardiovascular disease (heart disease or stroke), diabetes, and waist circumference. The U.S. was not included in the study. Waist circumference is now considered an important marker of obesity-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. A waist circumference of more than 4o inches in men and 35 inches in women is considered a risk factor for these diseases. The people in the study had visited their doctor on one of two specially designated days in which detailed information on weight, height, waist circumference, and disease history were collected for the trial, providing a snapshot of the prevalence of obesity worldwide. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from the weight and height measurements. BMI looks at a person's weight in relation to height and is used to determine obesity and overweight. Forty percent of men and 30% of women met the criteria for being overweight, meaning they had a BMI of 25 to 29.9. Fully a quarter of men and women met the BMI definition of obese (BMI of 30 or greater), but obesity rates did differ by region, ranging from a low of 7% among men and women living in southern and eastern Asian countries to a high of 36% among men and women living in Canada. Just under one in three men and almost half of the women had waist circumferences of more than 4o and 35, respectively, putting them at higher risk for heart disease and diabetes. The rate of diagnosed heart disease among male and female study participants was 16% and 13%, respectively. A total of 13% of men and 11% of women had known diabetes. The men and women in the study with the largest waists were more than twice as likely as those with the smallest waists to have heart disease. Today the average American woman now weighs as much as the average 196os man. The average American woman weighs 166.2 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As Reddit recently pointed out, that's almost exactly as much as the average American man weighed in the early 196os. As for men over the same time period the average man has gained nearly 3o pounds, from 166.3 in the 6os to 195.5 today. Doing the same comparison as above, today's American man weighs almost as much as 1.5 American women from the 196os. At 195.5 pounds, put five American guys in a room and you've gathered roughly half a ton of manhood. Overall weight gain since 196o is slightly greater for women (18.5 percent) than for men (17.6 percent). And both sexes have gained roughly an inch in height over the same period, which accounts for some of that weight gain. But story is mostly one of growing girth, and it basically boils down to three factors: we're eating less healthy food, we're eating more of EFTA01194647 it, and we're not moving around as much. According to a study published in 2012 in the journal BMC Public Health, Americans are now the world's third-heaviest people, behind only the Pacific island nations of Tonga and Micronesia. The average American is 33 pounds heavier than the average Frenchman, 4o pounds heavier than the average Japanese citizen, and a whopping 70 pounds heavier than the average citizen of Bangladesh. To add up to one ton of total mass, it takes 20 Bangladeshis but only 12.2 Americans. Together, the world's adult human beings added up to 287 million tons of biomass in 2005, according to the BMC Public Health study. But if every country had the same weight distribution as the U.S., the world would be 58 million tons fatter, an increase of 20 percent. The study concludes that "tackling population fatness may be critical to worldfood security and ecological sustainability."And as with so many of the world's problems, the solutions start at home -- on the bathroom scale in this case. More Importantly - Some of the Health Risks of Overweight and Obesity are, High Blood Pressure, Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, Type 2 Diabetes, Abnormal Blood Fats, Metabolic Syndrome, Cancer, Osteoarthritis, Sleep Apnea, Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome, Reproductive Problems and Gallstones among other diseases. And just to give you an example, diabetes risk was three times higher for the quarter of men with the biggest waists and almost six times higher for women, compared with the quarter of the study population with the smallest waists. So the next time you reach for the second donut, soda or hand of potato chips know that getting fat is no joke unless you are willing to run five miles every day.... .... For more information attached please find the health related risks of overweight and obesity from the NIH. ****** Bishop Tutu's Dream