“The U.S. government clearly sees the writing on the wall. What lays ahead for America is a day of unbearable reckoning. The financial collapse will wipe out savings accounts, pensions, investment funds and equities of the working class, all across the nation. Imagine bank accounts being reset to zero, “bank holidays” enforced at gunpoint. That will unleash a wave of violent protests, social chaos and even talk of revolution. The government will almost certainly respond with a declaration of Martial Law, the rolling out of highway checkpoints, and before long, the use of live ammo on unruly protesters.”
"Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values."
- Ayn Rand in "Atlas Shrugged"
“The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost thinking about it.”
- Blaise Pascal
“Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that, in our endeavour consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals, we should in fact unwittingly produce the very opposite of what we have been striving for?”
- Friedrich Hayek
“Gold was not selected arbitrarily by governments to be the monetary standard. Gold had developed for many centuries on the free market as the best money; as the commodity providing the most stable and desirable monetary medium.”
- Murray N. Rothbard
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system though which God speaks to us every hour; if we still only tune in.”
- George Washington Carver
The Crossroads of Humanity...
Secret history of the Freemasons...
World War III is coming...
MYTH: Gun control reduces crime...
Human dubstep beatbox...
Square foot garden tour...
Gravity... [NSFW]
Use your brain eat wisely...
Bill Cooper explains it all...
Living like a Hobbit...
Does death exist?
A friendly reminder...the Pope is probably the Anti-Christ...
Sandy Hook official story is full of question marks part III...
Dogs love baby bath time...
History of Nintendo...
I wanna be a billionaire so frickin' bad...
Why professional athletes go broke...
Things that you (and your doctors) should be asking...
Why are health care costs so absurdly high?
10 most awesome video game fan films...
The extraordinary science of junk food...
Healthy food is key...
How to fix Obamacare...
30 of history's greatest "conspiracy theories"...
Sandy Hook official story is full of question marks part IV...
Ommmmmmm...
Ergothioneine...a new vitamin?
Here comes the sun...doo doo doo doo...
Superfoods to have in your pantry...
Cat-friend vs. Dog-friend...
Willow glass...you are great!
Understanding pole shifts past and present...
Phi physics...
What gun control looks like...
8 animal misconceptions...
Police state...
Sandy Hook official story is full of question marks part V...
Why the DHS bought billions of ammo rounds...
Some cool birds you have ever seen...
Is the US becoming like Nazi Germany?
One of the greatest mysteries...the Ark of the Covenant...
Beware years ending in 13...
Thunder god vine wipes out cancer...
You say you want a revolution?
BP oil spill conspiracy...
Remove foods with additives to stave off disease...
Ancient Atlantic mariners?
What Big Pharma doesn't want you to know about natural healing...
10 online documentaries you can watch for FREE...
Ancient acoustic generator found in Peru...
It's beneficial when you have minimal dentistry involved...
Giant obelisk discovered in the Atlantic?
Combining your food for optimum health...
One World Government...
Sandy Hook official story is full of question marks part VI...
Going over The Deep End...
Physics interview that goes deep...
An ultra-light camper you can set up in an hour
A Spiritual Catch-22
Facing Reality
I’ve always known that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, yet I’ve never heard it described in such a thought provoking way.
Having a title like the one above opens the flood gates for a discussion of ‘What is Reality?’ There seems to be a consensus these days that reality is what you make of it. You, alone, determine how you are going to react to or view a situation. This is true, but there is a catch…a Catch-22 to be exact. If you have never read Heller’s book, Catch-22 was an air force rule that stated only insane pilots could not fly on bombing missions that not only put their lives in jeopardy but killed as many if not more civilians than strategic enemy targets and men. If a pilot refused to fly, which was proof the pilot was sane because he understood the situation and therefore could not be excused from the mission. If a pilot kept quiet and did not express his views about bombing missions, he was sent on them because he was not objecting to going. Either way the pilots were, to be polite, between a rock and a hard place.
Much the same can be said of life in the third dimension. We are souls having a human experience and to make this experience worthwhile we souls are given a human body and an ego in order to understand polarity and all things that we are not. How can we truly know what love is if we have never experienced hate? What light is without dark? Inside our 3-D selves is a blending of light and dark and we must to face that darkness within if we are to grow. Our souls have to sit back (no doubt often in horror) as they watch their human half struggle to overcome polarity in all forms without committing egregious acts.
One of the hardest things for a person to do once they have embarked on their spiritual path, is to admit they have a dark side. Their refusal amounts to hoping that, by ignoring their dark side, it will go away. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Our dark side is there to teach us who we are. This does not give us permission to go out and hurt others or commit horrendous acts. Rather it shows us the wide range of reactions we can have to different situations, reactions that run the gamut from breathtakingly beautiful to disgustingly bad. What must be remembered is that we should not be judged because we have such a wide range of reactions; they are part and parcel of life. These reactions occur inside us and are not made real until we act upon one of them. It is our choosing of how to act in relation to any given situation that determines our reality. If we choose to act from the heart and not from the darkness within then we will have much more enjoyable experience and, thereby, a much more enjoyable life, as will those with whom we interact.
I’ve always known that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, yet I’ve never heard it described in such a thought provoking way.
Having a title like the one above opens the flood gates for a discussion of ‘What is Reality?’ There seems to be a consensus these days that reality is what you make of it. You, alone, determine how you are going to react to or view a situation. This is true, but there is a catch…a Catch-22 to be exact. If you have never read Heller’s book, Catch-22 was an air force rule that stated only insane pilots could not fly on bombing missions that not only put their lives in jeopardy but killed as many if not more civilians than strategic enemy targets and men. If a pilot refused to fly, which was proof the pilot was sane because he understood the situation and therefore could not be excused from the mission. If a pilot kept quiet and did not express his views about bombing missions, he was sent on them because he was not objecting to going. Either way the pilots were, to be polite, between a rock and a hard place.
Much the same can be said of life in the third dimension. We are souls having a human experience and to make this experience worthwhile we souls are given a human body and an ego in order to understand polarity and all things that we are not. How can we truly know what love is if we have never experienced hate? What light is without dark? Inside our 3-D selves is a blending of light and dark and we must to face that darkness within if we are to grow. Our souls have to sit back (no doubt often in horror) as they watch their human half struggle to overcome polarity in all forms without committing egregious acts.
One of the hardest things for a person to do once they have embarked on their spiritual path, is to admit they have a dark side. Their refusal amounts to hoping that, by ignoring their dark side, it will go away. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Our dark side is there to teach us who we are. This does not give us permission to go out and hurt others or commit horrendous acts. Rather it shows us the wide range of reactions we can have to different situations, reactions that run the gamut from breathtakingly beautiful to disgustingly bad. What must be remembered is that we should not be judged because we have such a wide range of reactions; they are part and parcel of life. These reactions occur inside us and are not made real until we act upon one of them. It is our choosing of how to act in relation to any given situation that determines our reality. If we choose to act from the heart and not from the darkness within then we will have much more enjoyable experience and, thereby, a much more enjoyable life, as will those with whom we interact.
Let this robot fix you a drink
Wearable artificial lung being developed to be a ‘PAAL’
With the support of a $3.4 million National Institutes of Health
grant, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are developing an
artificial lung to serve as a bridge to transplant or recovery in
patients with acute and chronic lung failure. Each year, nearly 350,000 Americans die of some form of lung disease, with another 150,000 patients needing short- and long-term care. Unfortunately, current breathing-support technologies are cumbersome, often requiring patients to be bedridden and sedated.
Strange but True: Weird Home Remedies
That Really Work!
That Really Work!
Dear Reader,
Today's newsletter has two purposes. First, during my more than 20 years as a practicing physician, I've collected many wonderful suggestions for home remedies from patients, other doctors, and friends. Today, I'd like to share several of them with you. Some of these remedies are simple, inexpensive fixes for things like the common cold that conventional medicine often cannot solve. Others are alternatives to commonly recommended medical treatments — such as the potentially harmful medication for toenail fungus — that can have toxic side effects that just aren't worth the risk.
My second goal today is to introduce you to the redesigned Newport Natural Health website. Not only does the site feature an improved search function to help you find information from earlier newsletters, but it also includes an area for comments by readers. I do hope you'll take advantage of that. You might want to tell others about a home remedy of your own or discuss how a supplement or other treatment worked for you. I would love to see the website become a forum where readers can exchange information, ask questions, and connect with one another. If enough people participate, we can develop a community where ideas and encouragement are freely exchanged for everyone's benefit.
Now, without further ado, let's take a look at some unusual — but effective — ways to deal with everyday complaints.
Blisters
My patient Alicia shared this unusual blister treatment, which several other people have also mentioned. Pour a small amount of Listerine on a cotton ball, and apply it to the blister 3 or 4 times a day. Doing this will kill germs and dry out the blistered area, helping ease the pain.
Bug Bites and Stings
This category has several interesting solutions.
| • | Rub the inside of a banana peel on an itchy bug bite or painful sting to soothe itchiness and inflammation. |
| • | Treat
fire-ant bites and/or stings (fire ants do both!) by rubbing the area with any antiperspirant that leaves a white, chalk-like residue on the skin. It prevents the painful sensation of being on fire. |
| • | Use an aluminum-containing roll-on deodorant on mosquito bites to relieve itching and swelling. |
| • | For
a bee sting, remove the stinger quickly, either by pulling it out with a pair of tweezers or scraping it loose with a credit card or similar hard object. Then mix 1 teaspoon of meat tenderizer with just enough water to create a paste. Slather the paste on the sting, leave it there for 15 minutes, and rinse it off with plain water. If the sting is still red, place an ice pack on the skin for about 15 minutes. |
Burns
We all get minor burns from time to time. Here are a couple home remedies to try.
| • | Instead
of using a special burn cream, apply a thin layer of ordinary toothpaste to the burned area. Bandage as you normally would. Clean the skin daily when you bathe, reapply toothpaste if necessary, and keep the burn covered while the skin heals. |
| • | Apply
a thin layer of mustard to the burned skin. It may sting a bit at first, but the mustard eases pain and reduces the likelihood of blistering and scarring. |
Chapped Lips
Treat dry, cracked lips with a layer of raw organic honey. The antibacterial properties of the honey help with healing.
Common Cold
Here's a method to help reduce the likelihood of getting a cold, and another helpful remedy for those who already have one.
| • | To avoid getting a cold, simply gargle with plain water 3 times every day. This is one remedy that has science on its side. In 2005, researchers in Japan found that the 3 daily water gargles reduced colds by close to 40 percent! |
| • | If you have a cold, homemade chicken soup can boost your body's own immunity and combat inflammation. Adding a pinch of cayenne pepper can ease congestion. |
Constipation and/or Diarrhea
Whether you'd like your bowel movements to be more (or less) frequent, here's one simple solution: apples or applesauce. Apples contain pectin, which softens stools. But apples can also help counteract diarrhea. If raw apples are not your favorite fruit, applesauce is a good substitute.
Coughs
Coughs are always annoying, especially when they keep you awake all night. Here are two things that can help.
| • | Before
going to bed, spread a thin layer of Vicks VapoRub on the soles of your feet, and then put on a pair of socks. I know it sounds strange, but everyone to whom I've recommended this has reported sleeping cough-free through the night. |
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| • | For an effective homemade cough syrup, mix together the following ingredients: |
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| Adults can take 1 to 3 teaspoons, as needed, to control coughing. Keep leftover cough syrup in a closed container. |
Craving for Sweets
Stir 1 teaspoon of baking soda into 8 ounces of warm water. Rinse your mouth with the solution, but do not swallow. Your cravings will disappear for hours.
Excessive Perspiration
Here's an easy, nonchemical way to reduce heavy underarm sweating. Cut an ordinary potato (any type) in half and rub the cut side on your armpits. I'm not sure why this works, but many people report success with it.
Halitosis (Bad Breath)
Here are three easy ways to improve bad breath without using breath mints and sprays that often contain sugar, alcohol, or unhealthy sugar substitutes.
| • | Bad breath is often due to excessive dryness in your mouth. Makecertain you're drinking lots of water, not only to moisten the tissue inside your mouth but also to remove any small bits of food that may be lodged between your teeth. |
| • | One
of the easiest remedies for bad breath is eating a little plain yogurt, but be sure it does not contain sugar. The live bacteria in yogurt counteract the bacteria responsible for bad breath. |
| • | Keep
a bunch of ordinary or Italian parsley on hand. Chewing parsley after eating can naturally freshen your breath and serve as a mini-toothbrush. |
Headaches
I've received a lot of positive feedback on these three interesting ways to stop a garden-variety headache.
| • | Tension
headaches often occur from unconsciously clenching the jaw. Try holding a pencil gently between your teeth. This forces your jaw muscles to relax and eases the headache. |
| • | Another
way to relieve headache pain is by pinching the spot between your thumb and index finger for up to a minute. You may have to pinch fairly hard, according to people who tell me this works. |
| • | Similarly,
pinching the area between your upper lip and nose for 5 seconds can relieve a headache. It may take several pinches to get the full effect, but this method is reportedly very effective for stress or tension headaches. |
Indigestion
If you're troubled by indigestion, try one of these home remedies.
| • | Combine 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of ginger juice, and 2 teaspoons of raw organic honey. Mix well, and drink it after a meal. |
| • | Or you can add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of warm water, and drink it before a meal. |
| • | Combine
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 4 ounces of water for instant relief from heartburn, especially if it's due to eating a high-fat meal. |
Intestinal Gas
Get rid of gas with one of these simple tricks.
| • | Chew
chopped-up bits of ginger root. If that's too spicy, try drinking a cup of ginger tea or taking 500 mg of a ginger supplement. Ginger is an excellent anti-inflammatory that's loaded with healing properties, so you'll be doing your overall health a favor, too. |
| • | Another
solution is to take activated charcoal tablets, which absorb intestinal gas. You can find these supplements at most health-food stores. They can also help after you've eaten something iffy and aren't feeling well. Just follow the dosage instructions on the product you choose. |
Leg Cramps
If you've ever been awakened by leg cramps during the night, you know how painful these can be. My patient Carl shared a simple remedy with me. It's a bit odd, but he and several others say it works well.
| • | Place a bar of soap — wrapped or unwrapped — under the sheets near your legs, and say good-bye to leg cramps. |
| • | Another solution that some people find helpful is taking a potassium supplement (99 mg) before bed. |
Lower Back or Foot Pain
A tennis ball is all you need to relieve lower back or foot pain. Use the tennis ball to massage and relax muscles that are deep and hard to reach or require a lot of pressure to loosen up. Just sit in a comfortable chair, put the tennis ball on the floor, and roll your foot or lower back over it, using as much pressure as feels good. You can also lean up against a wall or lie on the bed, put the tennis ball between your lower back and the wall or mattress, and roll around on it to relax those muscles. It's like a getting a massage without leaving home.
Splinters
My patient Jenny shared this clever trick for getting splinters to come out when they're deeply embedded and difficult to latch onto. "When I was little, I would run around on the back porch without wearing shoes, and I would get a lot of splinters," she explained. "When they were too deep to get with tweezers, my mom would tease them out with hydrogen peroxide. Just pour peroxide on the area where the splinter is located, and let the bubbles lift it toward the surface so that it's easier to pull out."
Sties
Sties are common and painful eye problems that trouble some people regularly. If you're one of them, try this: Warm a slice of raw potato, and hold it against the affected eye for a few minutes. Like a warm compress, it will draw out infection and ease inflammation and pain.
Stuffy Nose
Sinus infections and seasonal allergies are common this time of year. If you are suffering from a stuffy nose due to either one, try one of these remedies.
| • | Irrigate your nasal passages with saltwater. You can buy premade saltwater nasal rinses at most pharmacies. |
| • | As
an alternative, make your own saline rinse, using 1 teaspoon of non-iodized salt and a pint of lukewarm distilled or filtered water. Mix well to dissolve the salt. For inserting the solution into your nose, you will need to purchase a bulb syringe, usually found in the baby-products section of the store. To apply, fill the bulb syringe with solution, lean forward over the sink while tilting your head slightly backward, and gently squeeze the bulb to release the solution into your nose. Some experts recommend tilting your head to the side, but I find it easiest to tilt it backward — the choice is up to you. It may come out the other nostril or your mouth, which is perfectly normal. You can repeat the process several times daily. Some patients report that adding a teaspoon of baking soda or a few drops of baby shampoo to the saltwater makes it more effective. If you choose one of these options, be sure to mix the solution thoroughly before use. |
Toenail Fungus
If you've ever had toenail fungus, you know how difficult it can be to treat. Many physicians prescribe oral medications, such as Lamisil or Sporanox, but those remedies can have very serious side effects, including liver damage and life-threatening allergic reactions. Here are two much safer ways to eliminate toenail fungus. Just remember that it can take months to heal infected toenails, so be consistent and persistent.
| • | Apply
a liberal layer of Vicks VapoRub to the infected toenails after bathing and before going to bed at night. You may want to wear a pair of thin socks to protect your sheets. |
| • | Alternatively,
use tea tree oil, a natural antiseptic, in the same way as Vicks VapoRub, by applying it directly to the infected toenails. Tea tree oil, which can be purchased at most health-food stores, is fairly strong smelling, but it is effective if used twice daily. |
Urinary Tract Infection
If you read my earlier newsletter on urinary tract infections, you know that I recommend treating them with a supplement called D-mannose rather than with overprescribed antibiotics. If you're uncomfortable while waiting for the D-mannose to provide relief, try drinking 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda mixed in 8 ounces of water. This will make your bladder less acidic, and it will also inhibit bacterial growth responsible for the infection.
Home remedies can be highly effective, but like most things, what works for another person may not help you. So I encourage you to try various approaches to find one that fits.
This is a topic we'll be revisiting in the months ahead. If there's a remedy you'd like to share, please join me on Facebook, where you can leave a comment or just say "Hello!" I would love to hear from all my readers, including you.
Thrive in Health & Wellness,
Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D.
| The Daily Reckoning Presents | ||
| Zombie Nation By Bill Bonner |
||
| Creating and sustaining a nation of zombies is expensive. Large sections of the US population have been turned into zombies. Retirees. Medicare dependents. Food stamp recipients. Disabled people. They are not necessarily bad people. They are not necessarily dishonest or lazy. But rather than add to wealth, they consume it. And when you have too many of them, your society consumes more wealth than it produces and you are on the road to The Downside. But the feds are not only creating individual zombies, they are also creating corporate zombies. An obvious example: “green” energy. Without subsidies, loan guarantees, tax benefits and direct giveaways, the industry as we know it would not exist. Nor would the ethanol industry in the Midwest. Nor the security industry in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. The financial industry too, as we know it, would not exist either. Much of it would have been swept away in the financial storm of 2008-09. That story is well-known, but not well understood. Most people believe the authorities acted heroically, saving the nation from a depression. But what the authorities really did was to take the public’s money and give it to cronies on Wall Street in order to prevent them from suffering the losses they deserved. The government transferred nearly $2 trillion in various forms from the public purse to the pockets of the financial industry. With that kind of backing, most of the old investment firms survived. The new ones that might have replaced them never saw the light of day. Industries need to be sustained by the government when they cannot sustain themselves. This is practically the definition of “malinvestment” — putting capital and energy into investments that don’t pay off. When an industry is only profitable with government backing it means that the industry uses resources — labor, energy, raw materials — and turns them into finished products that are worth less than the inputs required to make them. The more of these zombie industries the government supports, the poorer the society becomes. “Rentier” is a French word that has leaked into English. It doesn’t mean zombie literally, but it describes people who have found a way to exploit the system for their own benefit — people who have legal entitlements to income streams. In other words, “rentier” describes a class of folks who contribute absolutely nothing to national prosperity — zombies. Before the French Revolution, favored groups were able to secure special privileges and monopolies giving them the right to income. For example, the people from whom we bought our first house in France had a monopoly on the importation of tobacco from the New World. I don’t know who granted this monopoly, but typically it was the monarchy. And typically, such monopolies were given away either to appease a potential adversary or simply to raise cash for the crown by selling off a stream of future income. The French crown was always short of funds. It found it could raise substantial sums by selling the right to earn a “rent.” It might sell the right to collect tolls on a highway or a river, for example. Or it might sell the right to collect taxes (thereby getting its own tax revenue up-front and letting the rentier deal with the hazards of collection). Any official document needed an official stamp. Naturally, the crown sold off the right to stamp documents. If you wanted to make a business deal, buy or sell land, or get married, you had to pay the person with the stamp. Over time, the rentier class grew larger and harder to support. More and more of the kingdom’s energy went to support what was essentially a group of parasites who produced nothing. This is part of the explanation for the French Revolution. The system became so inefficient and was made so fragile by waste that a relatively minor setback — a couple years of bad harvests — caused widespread hunger and revolt. In modern, developed societies “rents” come in many forms. They are often granted to favored groups in exchange for political support. Old people vote, for example. Political parties seek their votes by promising ever-larger health and retirement benefits. Rich people make campaign contributions. Politicians typically grant them favors too. By the close of 2012, there were zombies everywhere. Throw a cream pie from almost any street-corner and you were almost certain to hit one in the face. If the street-corner were in Washington, DC, you’d probably hit two or three of them. A recent report in The Wall Street Journal confirmed that zombies don’t work very hard. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been compiling detailed data on how people use their time. Researchers tracked how many hours people slept, ate, watched TV and worked. And guess what? They found that federal government employees put in 3.8 fewer 40-hour weeks than employees in the private sector. Here, the cost of zombification is clear: if the zombies were forced to work the same hours as people in the private sector, the government would save $130 billion a year. Meanwhile, over in the pentagon, R. Jeffrey Smith had his eye on the zombies too:
The zombies corrupt the system. The march to Stalingrad continues. And the Downside takes over. |
Peace, love and happiness...until next time...
| "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." | |
| - George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright | |
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