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An Island Never Cries

Posted On 10/06/2014 08:20:33

Poetry is ingenious, preposterous, whimsical and profound. It doesn't even have to make sense to be good because somewhere, someone will comprehend it. Clearly, songwriters are the poets of our time.

* * *

A WHITER SHADE OF PALE by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid

"We skipped the light fandango and turned cartwheels across the floor.

I was feeling kind of seasick, the crowd called out for more.

The room was humming harder and the ceiling flew away.

When we called out for another drink, the waiter brought a tray.

And so it was that later, as the miller told his tale,

That her face at first so ghostly, turned a whiter shade of pale."

* * *

IF I WERE A CARPENTER by Tim Hardin

"If I were a carpenter and you were a lady,

Would you marry me anyway, would you have my baby.

If a tinker were my trade, would you still find me,

Carrying the pots I'd made, following behind me.

Save my love through loneliness, save my love for sorrow.

I've given you my only-ness, come give me your tomorrow."

* * *

EVERYBODY KNOWS by Leonard Cohen

"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded; everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.

Everybody knows that the war is over; everybody knows the good guys lost.

Everybody knows the fight was fixed, the poor stay poor, the rich get rich.

That's how it goes, everybody knows.

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking; everybody knows that the captain lied.

Everybody's got this broken feeling, like their father or their dog just died."

* * *

FOLSOM PRISON BLUES by Johnny Cash

"When I was just a baby, my mama told me, 'Son,

Always be a good boy; don't ever play with guns.'

But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry."

* * *

I AM A ROCK by Paul Simon

"I have my books and my poetry to protect me;

I am shielded in my armor, hiding in my room, safe within my womb.

I touch no one and no one touches me.

I am a rock;

I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain.

And an island never cries."

* * *

I AM THE WALRUS by John Lennon & Paul McCartney

"Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come;

Corporation tee-shirts, stupid bloody Tuesday,

Man, you've been a naughty boy; you let your face grow long.

I am the egg man.

They are the egg men.

I am the walrus.

Koo koo Kachoo."

* * *

Everyone is a poet; they just don't know it.

One man's senseless gibberish is another man's poetic genius.

As a carnal being, I am a container of protoplasm.

As a person of interest, I am beyond recognition.

As one among many, I am a means to an end.

As an immortal soul, I am one with the infinite.

I am a figment of imagination in a sea of circumstance.

I am a great mystery within a greater mystery.

I am the rock of ages.

I am an island unto myself.

I am eternity.

I am the walrus.

Koo koo kachoo.

Now, that's poetry.

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Quote for the Day -- â€œMusic is forever -- music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.â€ Paul Simon

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Bret Burquest is the author of 10 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a couple of dogs and an imaginary girlfriend named Tequila Mockingbird.

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3 comments

Our Mission in Life

Posted On 09/27/2014 04:33:51

Most modern religions are the result of claimed channeled material, which are thoughts believed to be outside a person's conscious mind, conveyed by a person who speaks for non-physical beings or spirits.

In the year 610 AD, the prophet Muhammad received a divine message from Allah to start a new religion. It would be called Islam.

A Muslim is an adherent to Islam. Sharia Law is the sacred law of Islam. Muslims believe Sharia is God's law. Sharia is derived from the divine revelations set forth in the Quran and by sayings of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad

Over the next 22 years, Muhammed spoke for the non-physical being called Allah and the Muslim empire overtook the Arabian Peninsula. After Muhammed's death, the Muslim empire continued to expand into Africa and Europe over the centuries.

The Taliban is an Islamic political movement in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere that believes in strict enforcement of Sharia Law. For example, women are forced to wear the burga in public, not allowed to be educated, not allowed to work and not allowed to be treated by male doctors, unless accompanied by a male chaperon. Women face public flogging or execution for violation of Taliban laws.

On April 13, 2009, two young lovers, ages 21 and 19, attempting to elope were shot to death by a firing squad during a public execution outside a mosque in southern Afghanistan. They had fled their village, planning to start a new life together. The Taliban put the young couple on trial for crimes against Islam and executed them shortly thereafter.

"It was a very bad thing for these people to escape from their homes without permission and it is right that they should be punished according to Sharia law," explained Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, spokesman for the Taliban.

On August 6, 2010, 10 members of a humanitarian medical team traveling in Badakhshan Province in northern Afghanistan were brutally murdered by the Taliban. The team included 6 Americans, 2 Afghans, a German and a Briton. Three of them were women.

Among the bullet-riddled bodies was team leader Tom Little, an optometrist from New York, who had been living in Afghanistan for 30 years, supervising a network of eye clinics around the country, funded by private donations, and providing humanitarian medical services to Afghans in remote villages.

They were killed because they "were spying for the Americans and preaching Christianity," according to Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban.

Welcome to Afghanistan -- a disorganized, corrupt country of scattered, self-righteous rednecks with AK-47s.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is another Mecca of self-righteous fanatics. The Supreme Leader of Iran is Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseyni Khamanenei. An Ayatollah is the same rank in the religion of Islam as a Bishop or Cardinal in Christianity. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, controls intelligence and security operations, and has the sole power to declare war or peace.

The President is the highest state authority. Presidential candidates must be approved by the Council of Guardians in order to ensure allegiance to the ideals of the Islam.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, a 43-year-old mother of two named Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is in jail, awaiting to be stoned to death for having an "illicit" relationship. She has already received 99 lashes for the crime of "adultery while being married." In addition, 12 other women await execution by stoning.

Of course, Islamic extremism isn't the only example of vile acts perpetrated upon humanity by a religion.

The Roman Catholic Church, another religious organization that was created primarily based upon claimed channeled material of a non-physical being, went through an extended period called The Inquisition. This heinous practice spanned many centuries, including the Medieval Inquisition (1184-1230), the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834), the Portuguese Inquisition (1536-1821) and the Roman Inquisition (1542-1860). Many thousands of those found guilty of disobeying church edicts, called heretics, were systematically imprisoned, tortured or burned at the stake.

In ancient Mesoamerican civilizations (Aztec, Toltec, Mayan, Inca, etc.), human sacrifice was part of their religious culture. By sacrificing the life of a human being to one of their non-physical spirit beings, it allowed life to continue. The more important the request of the non-physical spirit being, the more thorough or plentiful the human sacrifice.

It is astonishing how far some people will go to please or "obey" their non-physical spirit masters. I know a couple who believe that if you are not a member of their specific denomination of their specific religion, you will for certain spend the remainder of eternity in hell. But if you are one of their narrow flock, you will spend eternity in a heavenly place.

Unfortunately, too many people worship the messenger and disregard the message. Perhaps instead of swearing obedience to non-physical spirit beings, it would be wiser to simply treat others as you wish to be treated -- with respect, kindness, tolerance, forgiveness and love.

While burning heretics at the stake and sacrificing virgins has disappeared from the scene, certain Islamic extremists continue to retain the personal obligation to kill any human being who does not follow the commandments of their non-physical spirit being.

Over the years, many Muslims gradually adapted to the Western ways, but others yearned for the rigid laws of the Quran. Hassan Al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the 1920s, predecessor to modern day Hamas and Al Qaeda, which reverted back to the strict teachings of Muhammad. The radicals felt Allah was angry with Muslims for straying from their true religious path. They perceived the Western influence to be a prison of the true believers, a punishment by Allah for betraying their religion.

The Muslim Brotherhood soon formed armed cells that attacked the "secular" government and its supporters. Today, this organization has hundreds of branches in over 70 countries worldwide. In the 1950s and 1960s, Sayyid Qutb of the Muslim Brotherhood invoked Jihad, a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty. Their goal is to create a worldwide Islamic paradise, eliminating every "non-believer" as their means to an end.

"The very purpose of this movement is to set human beings free from the yoke of human enslavement and make them serve the One and Only God." Sayyid Quth (Muslim Brotherhood).

However, slaughtering people in order to create a paradise is sort of like humping for virginity.

Today, innocent people are in a war not of their choosing. Islamic extremists are attempting to exterminate anyone who does not adhere to their self-righteous interpretation of ancient channeled material, including beheading innocent news reporters and aid workers in 2014, and posting videos of the beheadings on social media to make their point.

Studies by Harvard psychologist Martha Stout, Ph.D., reveal that about four percent of the population has a sociopathic personality disorder.

In other words, one out of every 25 people is a potential psychopath â€“ a person with no sense of concern for the well-being of others and no feelings of remorse, regardless of what sort of harmful or immoral action they undertake. A psychopath is able to lie, steal, cheat and kill with no feelings of sorrow or regret. Sometimes their only motive is the thrill of inflicting pain.

The population of Planet Earth is approaching 7 billion. If 4 percent the earthly humans are psychopaths, then there are 280 million psychopaths walking among us. And some of them enjoy perpetrating their evil for all to see.

The slaughter of non-believers by Islamic extremists is an ugly reality. Perhaps they are simply psychopaths who have gathered with other psychopaths in a global Death Cult. Perhaps the religious affiliation is simply an excuse to inflict evil acts onto others to satisfy their psychopathic passion.

Life is never perfect and always perfect -- both at the same time.

Our mission in life is to discover the perfection of the imperfect world in which we find ourselves and to contribute to the goodness that struggles against evil.

It's an existence of joy and suffering meant to test individual righteousness and cleanse the soul.

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Quote for the Day â€“ â€œThere is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war.â€ Lao Tzu

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Bret Burquest is the author of 10 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a couple of dogs and endeavors to carry out his mission in life.

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Special Slice of Time

Posted On 09/15/2014 03:50:25

Robbnsdale, Minnesota, is a suburb of Minneapolis. Robbinsdale High School had students from various NW suburbs -- Brooklyn Center, Crystal, Golden Valley, Plymouth, New Hope and Robbinsdale.

It's where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average -- or maybe that was Lake Wobegon and we were just a slew of regular humanoids.

I graduated from Robbinsdale, Minnesota, High School in 1962.

Looking back on it, 1962 was a very special slice of time. It always seemed to me that those who graduated from high school prior to our class were from a completely different generation. They were the leftover innocence of the 1950s with an optimistic outlook on life, secure in the notion that their government would always properly nurture them and everything would be perfect as soon as all the communists who threatened our decent way of life had been expunged. The class of 1961 reminded me of a Norman Rockwell painting where life seemed wholesome, sweet and purposeful.

My brother was a freshman (Class of 1965) when I was a senior. By the time his class graduated they had long hair, smoked weed and were exceedingly rebellious. Vietnam was the news of the day. Sides were being drawn across the nation between those who wanted to blow the communists back to the Stone Age and those who wanted to get on with their lives without being required to kill residents of a foreign land.

Somewhere in between was the class of 1962. We were the early ones caught up in the Vietnam Conflict. They called it a conflict because they didnâ€™t want to give citizens the impression it was risky. President Kennedy sent the first large contingent of regular US troops to Vietnam in an attempt to stimulate the economy. Thereâ€™s nothing like a good war to get that military-industrial economic ball rolling.

U.S. Troop Levels in Vietnam

1961 -- 900

1962 -- 3,200

1962 -- 11,300

1963 -- 16,300

1964 -- 23,300

1965 -- 184.300

1966 -- 385,300

1967 -- 485,600

1968 -- 536,100

1969 -- 475,200

1970 -- 334,600

1971 -- 156,800

1972 -- 24,200

I was drafted in April of 1966.

Seven other Robbinsdale High School graduates were also in my basic training company at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, including Eric Fermstad and Dave Lamey from the class of 1962.

After basic training, I became a data processing analyst at Third Army Headquarters in Atlanta, Fermstad became an MP at Ft. Gordon, Georgia, where he only issued traffic violations to officers and Lamey was sent to Vietnam as a grunt where he helped bring the conflict to a draw.

Many of us who lived through the Vietnam years grew to distrust our government. Itâ€™s one of the great dividing lines between generations of Americans. It started with the class of 1962 and probably lasted about 10 years before the government found other ways to divide the population so they could have more excuses for their expansive existence and continual interference in our lives.

But the scars will always be with us. Vietnam was a turning point in our countryâ€™s history and the class of 1962 was at the head of the learning curve. We learned that war was extremely costly, probably unnecessary and downright stupid if it didnâ€™t involve a just cause. Older generations tended to consider us to be a bunch of draft-dodging losers and younger generations think of us as a group of murderous thugs.

On the other hand, the class of 1962 is the luckiest group of people alive.

We all became teen-agers at the exact same time rock-and-roll came into existence. You canâ€™t beat that for timing. We were the first generation to have television in our youth, and now have personal computers and I-Phones when we are at an age where we can make good use of them. And in all probability, we will be that last group of folks who will benefit from social security as a whole mob of baby boomers are coming up behind us to saturate the system.

All in all, life has been good to us.

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Quote for the Day -- â€œEven in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.â€ Garrison Keillor

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Bret Burquest is the author of 10 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a couple of dogs, and has fond memories of Minnesota and the Class of 1962, from a southerly distance.

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Less Work & More Freedom

Posted On 09/10/2014 06:31:15

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past are certain to prolong reaching the future.

I remember my fourth grade teacher giving us a glimpse of the future. We were told that things would be so modernized when we grew up that we would have much more free time on our hands than our parents.

My father, like almost everyone else in the 1950â€™s, was working 40 hours a week. My mother was being a 1950â€™s mother, staying at home to take care of the family. I was relieved to learn that I wouldnâ€™t have to put in that many hours when I was my parentâ€™s age.

But it never came true.

More than a half century later, Americans are still stuck in the rut of a 40-hour workweek. In fact, Americans now average more hours per week than they did fifty years ago and have less vacation time than any other industrial nation in the world. And in many cases, both parents are forced to work just to stay even.

The average American family pays more in taxes than food, clothing, shelter and transportation combined. Either we are incapable of being personally responsible for our own welfare or government has gotten vastly out of control.

Nearly 50 percent of our income goes to government. This includes federal & state income tax, social security tax, Medicare tax, real estate property tax, personal property tax, state & county & city sales tax, self-employment tax, gasoline tax, liquor tax, cigarette tax, federal excise tax, import tax, luxury tax, gift tax, inheritance tax, hotel tax, transportation tax, federal & state & county telephone tax, etc., etc.

Weâ€™re stuck at 40 hours per week of labor with nearly 20 of those hours going to government coffers.

This is insane.

Instead of finding a rational solution to this tedious work load, the federal government keeps churning away trying to find new ways to fit everyone into a 40-hour per week job to keep the giant economic engine going. They are stuck with a 1950s model of the way things ought to be, rather than figuring out ways to lesson the tax burden on the people and lower government spending.

The government assumes the solution to unemployment is to create more jobs into a full-time 40-hour week paradigm. Instead, it would make much more sense to be flexible with the 40-hour per week system. If the work week was shorter, more people would have jobs, creating the same amount of output.

For example, if you have 80 people working and 20 people on unemployment at a 40-hour week, you have an output of 3,200 man-hours of production. But if you reduced the work week to 32 hours, all 100 people would still create 3,200 man-hours of production per week. Flexibility of hours allows everyone to work and shortens the hours, without any loss of productivity.

An even more radical solution is a 3-day work week of 9-hour days. This would allow half of the work force to work 27 hours for 3 days and the other half to work 27 hours the next 3 days. This would increase overall output from a 40-hour week of productivity to a 54-hour per week productivity, whereby we would actually produce more while working less individual hours, plus there would be â€œjobsâ€ for twice as many people as before.

Nobody, with the possible exception of Hugh Hefner, goes to their grave wishing they had spent more time working at their job. Recent surveys show that most Americans donâ€™t really like their jobs. Theyâ€™re working jobs they hate in order to buy things they donâ€™t need, and half of what they earn is confiscated from them for various dubious government adventures that are overly costly and almost always include unintended adverse consequences.

A prime example of the wastefulness and sheer ignorance of consequences of the federal government was the Cash for Clunkers program in the early days of the Obama administration, which they naturally claim was a smashing success.

A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year. A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons a year. Thus, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. They claim 700,000 vehicles were involved so that's 224 million gallons saved per year, which equals about 5 million barrels of oil. And 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars. Therefore, the government used $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million, which amounts to costing $8.57 for every dollar saved.

This is the same government that creates a penny at a cost of 1.7 cents per penny.

And everyone keeps grinding away, 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year, pouring money down a rat hole, while their inefficient central government is having endless meetings trying to think of ways to create more 40-hour per week jobs.

If we reduce the workweek, more people will have jobs. Plus, everyone will have more free time, which in turn will create more job opportunities in various travel, recreational, vacation, entertainment, hobby, crafts, art, and environmental sectors.

Instead of trying to maintain a 1950s model of existence, we should endeavor to improve our quality of life. We need to work less and enjoy life more. As predicted, everything has been modernized. My fourth grade teacher would be amazed -- electronics, robotics, improved vehicles, computers, Internet, satellite communications, i-pods, e-mail, cell phones, laser technology, medical advances, etc.

A rigid 40-hour workweek contributes to the â€œunemploymentâ€ problem, not the lack of jobs. A shorter workweek is the solution, not creating more tasks for people to do. Flexibility and adaptability is the key, not trying to fit the modern world into the distant past.

The wasteful, ever-growing federal government intrusion in the economy is beyond the scope of their function and will only make matters worse. Their task is to ensure a level playing field, protect individual rights, maintain a common infrastructure and allow the freedom of the marketplace to flourish on its own. It is not within their purview to define or maintain or manipulate or manage the private jobs of private citizens.

An administration that attempts to solve the over-spending of the past by excessively over-spending even more in the present and the future is not to be trusted with the economy, or anything else.

Plunging the nation into unprecedented debt may be the governmental prescription for keeping its citizens enslaved into working full-time forever, but itâ€™s not much fun for the slaves.

The USA is based on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have a long history of sacrificing lives to maintain our individual freedom. Yet, we are being treated like cogs within a monolithic, socialistic central government machine.

Planet Earth is slowly becoming a prison planet. And if we stay the course, it will culminate in a monolithic, socialistic one-world government.

The struggle for freedom never ends.

Instead to rallying for more jobs, we should be rallying for less work and more freedom.

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Quote for the Day -- â€œThe tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.â€ Thomas Jefferson

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Bret Burquest is the author of 10 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a couple of dogs and where modernization includes such luxuries as electricity and indoor plumbing.

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Key to Happiness

Posted On 08/31/2014 04:32:28

Algeria is a country on the Mediterranean Sea in North Africa. Algiers is the capitol city.

In 1830, the local ruler in Algiers got into a heated argument with the French consul and struck him with his flywhisk. The king of France, Charles X, decided to do something rather un-French â€“ he decided to retaliate with a show of force.

The French soon defeated the Algerians, primarily Muslims, and colonized the region which included imposing the French language and culture on the inhabitants.

In due course, France would also conquer and colonize neighboring Morocco and Tunisia.

After World War II, France encouraged workers (laborers) in North Africa and Turkey to emigrate into France and help to rebuild the nation from the devastation of war. These immigrants were confined to isolated housing projects (soon-to-become ghettoes) and treated as second-class citizens.

In the 1960s, France's economy was stagnant and the government was running a deficit. They figured the solution was expansion -- more people in the economy would mean a larger tax base which would lead to more prosperity. So France once again recruited immigrants, primarily Arabs and black Africans, to stimulate growth.

Today, 3 million Muslims live in crowded ghettoes in France, the largest Muslim population in Europe.

On October 27, 2005, the conditions created by the greed and arrogance of the French finally exploded.

In a Paris suburb, police were checking identification papers of young Muslim men, a practice often used by the French police to discourage minorities from entering middle class areas, when two Muslim teens apparently ran from the police and hid in an electrical power station where they were electrocuted.

This sparked about two weeks of riots throughout 300 cities in France which included some 1,200 arrests and over 4,000 burnt vehicles.

Outrage had been building for some time. There had been an average of 80 cars torched per week in France leading up to the riots. Suddenly, the deaths of two Muslim teens triggered additional latent hostility.

Most of the rioters were young Muslim men and boys. The unemployment rate among this group exceeds 40%. Their parents or grandparents were emigrants to France but most of them were born locally. Their birthright is French but they're not considered to be French by the indigenous inhabitants. Thus, they're basically excluded from French society. While their elders accept this fate, the young ones don't like being treated like scum.

Contrary to the popular opinion of those who believe in a collectivist approach to social harmony, these young rioters do not want to be assimilated into French society. They want to be excluded from integration into a social fabric that shuns them and prefer to remain in their own private Muslim enclaves. Specifically, they want the French establishment (police) out of their territory and desire to rule their own neighborhoods.

The French are a snooty people. They feel and act superior to all other forms of humanity. Being a minority, surrounded by those who consider you to be inferior, is a hard way to go through life. Being a young man with no future is also a hard way to go through life. And being checked for identification papers every time you wander from your own neighborhood could cause a young man (with no future and being treated like dirt) to be volatile.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the hill. It all started with human greed. The French government was greedy by colonizing other countries. The people of France were greedy for bringing in cheap foreign workers to do the manual labor and add to the tax base. The immigrants were greedy by presuming life would be better elsewhere. Once thrown together, the indigenous French people and the immigrants developed a mutual dislike for one another, each desiring an existence that excluded the other (another form of greed).

Some people can find happiness in their present circumstances while others assume happiness is always just over the next hill. But sometimes when you venture over the next hill you wind up in a dump like France.

Happiness is not over the next hill -- it's an attitude.

The key to happiness is between your ears.

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Quote for the Day -- "Going to war without the French is like going deer hunting without an accordion." U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkopf

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Bret Burquest is the author of 10 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a couple of dogs and an imaginary girlfriend named Tequila Mockingbird.

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Cholesterol Considerations

Posted On 08/17/2014 08:51:36

Cholesterol is a waxy substance (a form of protein) found among the fats (lipids) in the bloodstream and in all of your body's cells. It's used to form and repair cell membranes, and needed for other important bodily functions.

High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) is called "good cholesterol" because it helps keep cholesterol from building up in arteries. The buildup of cholesterol impairs the flow of blood, possibly leading to a heart attack or stroke.

Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) is called "bad cholesterol" because some small/dense LDL particles can squeeze through the lining of the arteries and, if they oxidize (become rancid), can cause inflammation.

The amount of cholesterol one eats plays little role in determining cholesterol levels. The majority of cholesterol in the bloodstream is manufactured and distributed by the liver. It combines with other fats and proteins to be carried through the bloodstream. When inflammation occurs, extra cholesterol is created by the liver and introduced into the bloodstream.

It's a normal bodily function to fight inflammation.

According to the American Heart Association, a high level of LDL cholesterol is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, while a high HDL cholesterol level is associated with a lower risk of heart disease.

However, an association merely signifies a presence.

Dr. Ron Rosedale, MD, points out that gray hair is associated with aging but it's not the cause of aging. He contends the real cause of heart disease is damage inflicted on the lining of the arteries, thereby causing chronic inflammation resulting in accumulated plaque.

Dr. Rosedale cites many studies over the last 15 years that have strongly linked insulin resistance and leptin resistance to cardiovascular disease. This resistance appears to be the cause of the cholesterol abnormalities, making high cholesterol a symptom of the inflammation rather than the root cause of the cardiovascular disease.

Some doctors recommend cholesterol-lowering (statin) drugs, which have dangerous potential side effects, for patients with cholesterol imbalances, while other doctors disagree with this approach.

Consumer groups have found that 8 out of 9 "experts" that recommend these drugs were on the payroll of pharmaceutical companies.

In the Spring-2006 issue of ALTERNATIVES magazine, Dr. David Williams asserts, "People with heart disease all have one thing in common, and it isn't high cholesterol. It's inflammation in their arteries."

Dr. Williams believes the consumption of proteins produces an acid-like substance called "homocysteine" in the bloodstream, which is quickly broken down by certain B vitamins. But without enough vitamin B (possibly due to an underactive thyroid gland), the homocysteine builds to dangerous levels, damaging the tissue of the artery walls, thus causing chronic inflammation to the lining of the arteries. The body tries to heal the damage by producing more cholesterol, a necessary element in cellular repair.

Again, cholesterol is a symptom, not a cause.

A number of recent studies, including a 14-year study at Harvard, have concluded that high homocysteine levels play a major role in cardiovascular disease. High homocysteine levels have also been linked to Alzheimer's disease, chronic fatigue disease syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis.

Starting in 1999, the American Heart Association has been urging doctors to screen high-risk patients for elevated homocysteine levels.

I'm in the V.A. medical system, an archaic bureaucracy, and they don't check for homocysteine levels. It seems like their solution to everything is another prescription drug. It's like a trial-and-error guessing game. So I've been forced to do some medical research via the Internet (not necessarily reliable) in self-defense.

Doctors are a lot like regular people -- they don't always agree with one another. Medical technology is changing rapidly and not all doctors are on the same page. Plus, doctors are often constrained by their education. That's probably why they call it "practicing" medicine.

Of course, the best way to avoid dealing with the medical profession is with a proper diet, regular exercise, reduced stress and a positive attitude. And don't wait until you're past the point of no return to get started.

NOTE: I'm not qualified to give medical advice. Don't alter your medical regimen based on my experiences.

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Quote for the Day -- "Each patient carries his own doctor inside him." Norman Cousins

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Bret Burquest is the author of 10 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a couple of dogs and an imaginary girlfriend named Tequila Mockingbird.

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Super Moon -- August 10, 2014

Posted On 08/05/2014 08:44:58

On August 10, 2014, there will be a full moon. This full moon will be the closest moon encounter with Earth in 2014, thus it will appear to be the largest full moon of the year.

It's called a super moon, the closest moon of 2014. According to NASA, this full moon will be 14 percent closer and 30 percent brighter than other full moons in 2014.

Certain Native American tribes along the Great Lakes refer to this August moon as Sturgeon Moon, also called Full Green Corn Moon. The Ojibway call it Blueberry Moon and the Dakota Sioux call it Moon When All Things Ripen.

On August 10, 1944, 70 years earlier, a secret meeting took place at the Maison Rouge Hotel in Strasbourg in eastern France whereby three Nazi officials met with an elite group of German industrialists to plan for Germany's post-war recovery. They created a document called the Red House Report, detailing how they would rebuild the German economy by sending money through Switzerland.

As the Third Reich was crumbling around them, they were laying the foundation for the Fourth Reich. The plan was not to pursue the physical occupation of Europe (and the world) but rather to gain control by economic means. This would be accomplished by creating a centrally-controlled European community.

"In 50 years' time, nobody will think of nation states." Nazi propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels.

It took a bit longer, but 70 years later the European Union (EU) has become this centrally-controlled European community.

The EU is controlled by the European Commission, an unelected bureaucracy which proposes all the European community laws. These proposed laws are then discussed in secret meetings of the Committee of Permanent Representatives and rubber-stamped by the Council of Ministers. National parliaments of European countries have no say in the matter.

This is another step closer to a One-World government -- one-world unelected rulers, one-world police-force, one-world monetary system -- a global socialist-communist dictatorship.

Also, on August 10, 1944, I was born into this dimension on a U.S. Army Air Force in Blytheville, Arkansas.

My parents were from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and my father had been conscripted into the Armed Forces during World War II. He had become an officer and a pilot instructor. After the war, we moved back to Stevens Point and various locations thereafter.

Thus, I became 70 years-old on August 10, 2014, during a super moon event.

Obviously, it means greatness awaits me -- either that, or it means I'm really getting old.

"With mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come." William Shakespeare

There is no cure for the common birthday.

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Quote for the Day -- â€œIn 1492, the natives discovered they were indians, discovered they lived in America, discovered they were naked, discovered that the Sin existed, discovered they owed allegiance to a King and Kingdom from another world and a God from another sky, and that this God had invented the guilty and the dress, and had sent to be burnt alive who worships the Sun the Moon the Earth and the Rain that wets it.â€ Eduardo Galeano

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Bret Burquest is the author of 10 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where 70 is the new 44.

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Emerging Technologies

Posted On 07/27/2014 05:13:47

When I was in college in the 1960s, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life, I read an article about computers becoming one of the emerging new technologies and that there would soon be a big demand for programmers. It sounded exotic and potentially lucrative so I decided to become a computer programmer.

Getting in on the ground floor of an emerging technology wasn't a bad idea. I started writing programs in 1965, when IBM cards carried 80 characters of data and a 4k computer was the size of a Buick. By 1977, I had become an independent computer programming contractor and, in 2001, I began teaching college computer courses. It's been a good run.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) recently published a list of 10 emerging technologies. If you actually find this comprehensible and exciting, you may have what it takes to become a professional nerd.

1) Epigenetics â€“ At any given moment, a single human cell may have 20,000 active human genes. Chemical modifications can interfere with the process of the creating protein thereby shutting down the genes. Epigenetics is a branch of genetics examining such chemical variations and diagnosing cancers at the early stages.

2) Nuclear Reprogramming â€“ Biologists believe that stem cells will be beneficial in treating such diseases as Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis. They're attempting to produce the properties of embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos, thereby placating Christians who consider research using human embryos to be immoral.

3) Universal Authorization â€“ The development of an online identification system to protect the privacy of Internet users and online businesses. This involves an "interoperable authentication system" that would allow users to sign on just once then go from website to website, or access multiple sites, securely.

4) Cognitive Radio â€“ Wireless devices, such as laptops, cell phones and sensor networks, are becoming increasingly more common. However, the bandwidth range allotted by the FCC for such gadgets is limited, thus mathematical modeling based on game theory is required to allocate unused spectrum areas among devices.

5) Diffusion Tensor Imaging â€“ As a newly developed variation of MRI, this allows scientists to study the connections between different areas of the brain, and differentiate between normalcy and schizophrenia.

6) Nanobiomechanics â€“ The study of minute mechanical forces on a human cell allows medical researchers to view ways in which diseased cells differ from healthy cells. This is particularly helpful in detecting cancer cells.

7) Comparative Interactomics â€“ In molecular research, an array of interactions among genes, metabolites, RNA and proteins is known as the interactome. By comparing the pathways of the interactomes of different species, biotechnologists hope to discover new drugs without the need for experiments done on animals.

8) Nanomedicine â€“ Through the use of multipurpose nanoparticles, medical researchers hope to diagnose and treat cancer, as well as most other diseases. An injection of nanoparticles would make it possible to locate cancerous or inflammatory cells, latch onto them and change them (or destroy them) directly.

9) Pervasive Wireless â€“ Pagers, cell phones and other wireless gadgets employ a diverse array of protocols (distinct codes). In an attempt to tie collections of protocols together, these devices would be linked to a pervasive wireless network making them compatible (and linked) by utilizing a common protocol.

10) Stretchable Silicon â€“ First, electronic circuitry was embedded onto rigid silicon chips. Then it became flexible by stamping organic semiconductors onto plastic sheets, thus "smart" credit cards could carry bendable microchips. The next step is allowing complete electronic circuits to work properly when bent or stretched.

One of the problems with a technical profession is that it's always changing and you must continue to keep up or be left in the dust. After 40+ years of computer technology (programming, systems analysis, managing and teaching), I've had enough. I'm down to my last nine brain cells and am saving them for the next time I do taxes.

Technology doesn't always make life easier -- I'm still trying to figure out how to use my new can opener.

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Quote for the Day -- "The future is not a gift -- it is an achievement." Albert Einstein

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Bret Burquest is the author of 10 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and has given up writing computer programs for writing books, blogs and tweets.

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