MARCO TORRES, - True Activist
Stephan: There is a real shift in in consciousness going on in terms of marijuana. This trend is moving towards the compassionate and life-affirming. Here is a very good compilation of the health benefits that are now recognized.
There is no plant on Earth more condemned than marijuana. We’re talking about a living organism which governments have taken upon themselves to designate as an illegal substance. Despite no existing evidence of anyone ever dying of a marijuana overdose, possession of this plant is still illegal in many parts.
Marijuana has been found to suppress cancer, reduce blood pressure, treat glaucoma, alleviate pain and even inhibit HIV. It is an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective. Can you understand more now why it’s illegal?
Cannabis is one of the most powerful healing plants on the planet. Dozens of studies have made pseudoscientific attempts to indicate that young people who use cannabis tend to experience psychological, social problems and mental decline. However, there is no evidence that marijuana use is directly linked with such problems, according to the results of a study published in The Lancet.
‘Currently, there is no strong evidence that use of cannabis of itself causes psychological or social problems,
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PAUL KRUGMAN, Nobel Laureate Economist - Op-Ed Columnist - The New York Times
Stephan: I find it fascinating that the Rightists are still pushing trickle down austerity even though it has been thoroughly discredited. Paul Krugman, puts the final nail in the coffin for me.
At this point the economic case for austerity - for slashing government spending even in the face of a weak economy - has collapsed. Claims that spending cuts would actually boost employment by promoting confidence have fallen apart. Claims that there is some kind of red line of debt that countries dare not cross have turned out to rest on fuzzy and to some extent just plain erroneous math. Predictions of fiscal crisis keep not coming true; predictions of disaster from harsh austerity policies have proved all too accurate.
Yet calls for a reversal of the destructive turn toward austerity are still having a hard time getting through. Partly that reflects vested interests, for austerity policies serve the interests of wealthy creditors; partly it reflects the unwillingness of influential people to admit being wrong. But there is, I believe, a further obstacle to change: widespread, deep-seated cynicism about the ability of democratic governments, once engaged in stimulus, to change course in the future.
So now seems like a good time to point out that this cynicism, which sounds realistic and worldly-wise, is actually sheer fantasy. Ending stimulus has never been a problem - in fact, the historical record shows that it almost […]
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MEGAN MCARDLE, - The Daily Beast
Stephan: This is the reality trickle down austerity economics, and Rightist social policies have bequeathed to the middle class. You may be part of this reality. This situation is going to get much worse.
We scrimp. We save. We plan. And we dream that when we retire-at 50 or 70 or 90-we’ll ride off into the sunset on a chariot made of our sequestered gold.
But you can stop the dream right there.
It turns out that for all our good intentions, American retirement is in free fall. The problem isn’t just the well-documented coming crisis in Social Security. Rather, by any measure, all the promises we made ourselves about the golden years of leisure are turning out to be empty.
By one broad measure of financial health, households in or near retirement appear to have a pretty comfortable nest egg: the present value of their Social Security benefits is about $160,000. There’s also an average $136,000 worth of defined pension benefits, $94,000 in retirement accounts, $104,000 in housing equity, and more than $300,000 in other assets. Unfortunately, those are just averages: if you put me and Warren Buffett in a room together, our average wealth is in the billions, but I still can’t buy a yacht.
When we look at the median numbers-the folks smack dab in the middle of the wealth distribution-the situation looks pretty grim. Social Security is still there. But 50 percent of Americans […]
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JEFFREY YOUNG and CHRIS KIRKHAM, - The Huffington Post
Stephan: Here is the evil truth of our illness profit system. I get so angry when I see these stories. The United States is supposed to be the most advanced country in the world. It is a lie we tell ourselves over and over. The truth is that in a number of ways, including our lack of a decent healthcare system, we are barely in the category of being an advanced nation. As you read this you will see that it makes it absolutely clear that the only thing our system is about is profit.
Click through to see a graphic that makes the points raised in the report very clear.
When a patient arrives at Bayonne Hospital Center in New Jersey requiring treatment for the respiratory ailment known as COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, she faces an official price tag of $99,690.
Less than 30 miles away in the Bronx, N.Y., the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center charges only $7,044 for the same treatment, according to a massive federal database of national health care costs made public on Wednesday.
Americans have long become accustomed to bewilderment and anxiety when confronting health care bills. The new database underscores why, revealing the perplexing assortment of prices for medical care, with the details of bills seemingly untethered to any graspable principle.
Even within the same metropolitan area, hospitals charge prices that differ by staggering degrees for the same procedures. People without health insurance pay vastly higher costs for care when less expensive options are often available nearby. Virtually everyone who seeks health care winds up paying inflated prices in one form or another as these stark disparities in price sow inefficiencies throughout the market.
While this basic picture has emerged as the consensus reality among health care experts, their evidence has been primarily anecdotal. Hospitals have protected their price lists — documents known as charge […]
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Stephan: Here is the latest on The Great GMO Experiment trend in which we are the lab rats in the study. The thing about this that is really alarming is that, like the asbestos crisis, the actual results of this study may not be known for decades, and it may take decades more to establish the link irrefutably. During that time the lives of millions of Americans may be damaged.
Increasingly, for this and other reasons, it becomes clear that if you eat food cooked by a corporation you are putting your health at risk.
A new review of hundreds of scientific studies surrounding glyphosate-the major component of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide-sheds light on its effects within the human body. The paper describes how all of these effects could work together, and with other variables, trigger health problems in humans, including debilitating diseases like gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
Glyphosate impairs the cytochrome P450 (CYP) gene pathway, which creates enzymes that help to form and also break down molecules in cells. There are myriad important CYP enzymes, including aromatase (the enzyme that converts androgen into estrogen) and 21-Hydroxylase, which creates cortisol (stress hormone) and aldosterone (regulates blood pressure). One function of these CYP enzymes is also to detoxify xenobiotics, which are foreign chemicals like drugs, carcinogens or pesticides. Glyphosate inhibits these CYP enzymes, which has rippling effects throughout our body.
Because the CYP pathway is essential for normal functioning of various systems in our bodies, any small change in its expression can lead to disruptions. For example, humans exposed to glyphosate have decreased levels of the amino acid tryptophan, which is necessary for active signaling of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Suppressed serotonin levels have been associated with weight gain, depression and Alzheimer’s disease.
This paper […]
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