Where's the health in health reform?
by the Health Ranger (Mike Adams)
Jul 1, 2005

http://www.newstarget.com/009127.html

On the heels of frightening statistics about how diseased the U.S.
population has become in the last three decades, there's a lot of
talk these days about health care reform. The uninsured need
coverage. Senior citizens on fixed incomes need to be able to afford
their medications. The mentally disturbed need to be treated.
Children need their medicine, we're told.
But whether the solutions come from the far left (socialized
medicine) or the far right (free drugs for seniors!), there's one
glaring problem in all the talk about health care reform: nobody is
talking about fixing the health problem.

The entire debate about health care has been framed in terms of a
financial crisis. The only thing wrong with peoples' health, we're
told, is that there's not enough money to treat everybody. If we only
had more money for drugs, more money for surgery, and more money to
find that elusive cure for cancer we've been promised since the
1970's, then all our health care concerns would be a thing of the
past.

All of this, of course, is a calculated distraction from the real
health problem in this country. And that problem, put bluntly, stems
from the fact that we have known toxins in the food supply, we have a
legalized prescription drug industry that kills 100,000 Americans
each year (even according to the defenders of organized medicine),
and our government regulators (the Food and Drug Administration and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture) appear to be so deeply dedicated
to promoting the very industries they're supposed to regulate that
public safety has been all but abandoned.

In other words, the health of our population is collapsing not
because we don't have enough drugs, but because we have allowed the
creation of unholy alliances between government and profit-hungry
private industry that result in the systemic poisoning of our people.
They are poisoned with hydrogenated oils, chemical sweeteners, and
artificial colors made from petroleum products. They're poisoned by
prescription drugs that cloud their minds, alter their brain
chemistry and kill them with strokes and heart attacks.

Just one class of prescription drugs, COX-2 inhibitors, has now
killed more Americans than died during the entire Vietnam War, and
that's according to the FDA's own whistleblower, Dr. David Graham (a
senior drug safety researcher). Two months ago, a rigged FDA panel --
made up largely of people with financial ties to drug companies --
decided that killing 60,000 Americans is not enough to actually ban a
drug, so they stamped it as "safe" and now these drugs are right back
on the market, being sold to millions.

= = = = = = = =

http://www.newstarget.com/009127-02.html

And yet the health care reform debate rages on, focusing on how we
can make these dangerous drugs more affordable to people. This is how
the federal government comes up with nonsensical ideas like the
Medicare "drug discount card." If senior citizens sign up, they can
buy drugs in the U.S. at monopoly prices that are only 500% more
expensive than the same drugs in Canada, Europe or Mexico. But this
is a huge savings (we're told) over the 700% markup people usually
pay in the United States, thanks to a policy of drug protectionism
fully enforced by the FDA. Our government claims to support free
trade, unless of course it harms the profits of politically-connected
corporations like those who characterize Big Pharma.
All of this, of course, is Big Government at its finest. And it's all
being done for your own protection, didn't you know? Drugs from
Canada are very, very dangerous, we've been told. (I have a question:
if drugs from Canada started killing Americans, how would we know? So
many Americans are falling over dead from prescription drugs right
now that it would be hard to sort them out.)

If that's not enough, Big Government USA has more solutions for you,
too. Don't worry about your food choice or diet, just be sure to
drink lots of milk, because the dairy industry is tight with the
feds. Don't worry about that mad cow disease from a Texas cow (that
reluctantly took the USDA seven months and three rounds of testing to
finally admit), because the beef industry has executives in key
positions at the USDA, and they're out to protect your health, too.

Don't worry about all the children being drugged up with
antidepressant drugs -- the very same drugs that have been banned
from use in children in the U.K. The kids need those drugs. Their
brain chemistry needs a fixin'.

Come to think of it, don't worry about anything. Just keep working at
that job, filing your annual taxes, and writing off 25% (or more) of
your discretionary income on drugs, surgical procedures and
chemotherapy. And when you die broke, you'll be in good company:
nearly one-third of personal bankruptcies in this country are now due
to medical bills.


Boy, do we have a solution for you!
Uncle Sam will soon try to sell you a new health care solution. It's
called socialized medicine, and what it means is that everybody is
still just as sick as they were before, but now the whole system is
streamlined, with astounding new efficiencies, because it will be
managed and coordinated by the most efficient, compassionate
administrative system in the world: the U.S. government.
I can't wait to start standing in line.

And nowhere will you hear anything about what should really be done
to prevent chronic disease and enhance health in this country. Things
like banning all hydrogenated oils, banning the advertising of junk
foods to children, banning direct-to-consumer advertising of
prescription drugs, and making some long-deserved criminal arrests of
key executives at drug companies for hiding what they've known for a
long, long time: that their products outright kill people.

= = = = = = = =

http://www.newstarget.com/009127-03.html

Health care reform is meaningless without health reform. You can't
alter the health of the population unless you address the underlying
causes of disease: junk foods, toxic food additives and ingredients,
overzealous drug promoters, lack of fresh air, sunlight and water,
and nutritionally ignorant doctors who still don't teach patients how
to be healthy.
If we limit our debate to who gets health benefits and who pays for
them, we will only find ourselves funding an increasingly disastrous
system of financial life support for chronic disease. Because, let's
face it, our modern health care system isn't health care at all: it's
a disease management system. It doesn't teach prevention (mammograms
aren't prevention, they're detection), it doesn't teach nutrition
(see related ebook on nutrition) (many doctors still don't believe
foods have anything to do with health), but it sure does teach
dependence on the system.

So prepare to cover your ears as this health care reform debate gets
underway, especially during the run-up to the 2008 election. Health
care reform will be the hot topic. Republicans will say they're going
to save the nation by drugging everybody. Democrats will say they're
going to save the nation by giving us all equally bad medical care.
But nobody will be talking about the issue that matters: actually
making people healthier.


Treating disease is big business in this country
You see, disease is big business, while health means a loss of
revenues. Disease keeps people dependent on the system, while health
sets people free. Disease turns individuals into victims, while
health turns them into capable human beings. Disease is about
centralized authority and control, while health is about individual
freedoms and free thinking.
That's why you'll never hear any politician, any government, or any
disease-care business teaching people how to be healthy. The ideas of
health, freedom and free will go against everything they stand for.
They need a crisis so that the people have to come to them for
answers. They need a crisis to justify profit-building programs
(mandatory mental health screening for everyone!) that keep them in
business. They need a crisis to get elected.

Once they get elected, they will consistently ally with the
health-harming corporations that keep people diseased. Consider
Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, who recently vetoed a hard-won bill
that would have banned junk food in public schools. With 10% of
Connecticut's high school students now overweight, Governor Jodi Rell
sided with the soda companies.

= = = = = = = =

http://www.newstarget.com/009127-04.html

And to Usual Suspects, hope you enjoy your usual insults.

Beach Runner wrote:
<...>
> On the heels of frightening statistics about how diseased the U.S.
> population has become in the last three decades,

Which coincides with the aging of the *Boomer* generation, of which
you're a member.

<...>
> And to Usual Suspects, hope you enjoy your usual insults.

Why are you baiting me after lying that you killfiled me?

usual suspect wrote:
> Beach Runner wrote:
> <...>
>
>> On the heels of frightening statistics about how diseased the U.S.
>> population has become in the last three decades,
>
>
> Which coincides with the aging of the *Boomer* generation, of which
> you're a member.
>
> <...>
>
>> And to Usual Suspects, hope you enjoy your usual insults.
>
>
> Why are you baiting me after lying that you killfiled me?
Good queston. I decided to wait a while.
In the meantime, I plan on posting much VEGAN information. It will be
open to honest discussion.

For example the number of cows a cow produces, it certainly was open to
question. I admitted that. The fact that male cales become veal is a
moral judgement and fact.

Bumbling Twit lied yet again:
>> <...>
>>
>>> On the heels of frightening statistics about how diseased the U.S.
>>> population has become in the last three decades,
>>
>> Which coincides with the aging of the *Boomer* generation, of which
>> you're a member.
>>
>> <...>
>>
>>> And to Usual Suspects, hope you enjoy your usual insults.
>>
>> Why are you baiting me after lying that you killfiled me?
>
> Good queston.

And it deserves a good answer, which rules you out from giving one.

<...>
> For example the number of cows a cow produces, it certainly was open to
> question.

No, it wasn't open. It's a settled issue.

> I admitted that. The fact that male cales become veal is a
> moral judgement and fact.

Your wild-eyed lunacy about veal is based solely on anti-meat hysteria,
not on facts. Veal calves are NOT kept in the dark, are NOT raised in
small cages, and DO receive proper care and treatment.

Is it true that veal calves are kept in the dark?
No. According to guidelines developed by the American Veterinary
Medical Association (AVMA), milk-fed veal calves should be and
are housed in a well-lit barn. Lighting, whether from natural or
artificial sources, allows family veal producers to easily
monitor calves for changes in behavior or eating patterns.

Are veal calves kept in crates?
Far from the four-sided "crate" portrayed by some activist
groups, modern veal stalls are designed to partition the animals
only up to the shoulder level, ensuring calves visual and
physical interaction with their neighbors. Individual housing
allows animals to receive their own feed, individual care and
attention. Most importantly, individual housing stalls have been
shown to help prevent the spread of disease by minimizing
calf-to-calf contact. Calves can comfortably lay in a natural
position, stand up and groom themselves.

What about the claim that veal calves are kept weak and anemic?
Veal producers carefully watch each calf to be sure it is not
suffering any clinical symptoms of anemia, such as weakness or
loss of appetite. Calves must receive diets with iron to meet
the animals' requirements for normal health and behavior. A calf
that does not eat will not grow.

Does keeping a calf in the dark produce light meat?
No. This is a complete myth. The presence or absence of light
has no effect on muscle color. The light meat results from the
age of the calf and the level of myoglobin in the muscle.
Myoglobin produces a red pigment that affects the color of the
meat.

Are veal calves routinely given massive amounts of drugs?
Absolutely not. The only time that veal calves receive
"therapeutic" doses of antibiotics (levels high enough to treat
illness) is when they are sick and then it is on the advice of a
veterinarian. As soon as the animal recovers, the use of
therapeutic medication is discontinued. In fact, milk-fed veal
calves have a stellar record of receiving one of the lowest
levels of antibiotics among all livestock.
http://www.vealusa.com/info/faq.html

Deal with these *facts*, dumb ass.

Beach Runner wrote:
> The fact that male cales become veal is a
> moral judgement

No, you clueless ass. We can discuss the morality of veal, but it's no
different than any other meat. You're only parroting vegan activists.
You've no firsthand knowledge about veal production, and you sure as
hell have never sought out knowledge about it except from biased
anti-meat sources of disinformation. Go to veal producers' websites and
look at the pictures they have. They're remarkably different from the
thirty year-old pictures used by anti-meat activists: they show clean
barns, large stalls, plenty of sunshine, and plenty of attention from
farmers.

Even where individual pens are still used, there are no differences in
calf behavior or well-being:

When housing designs (tethered in stalls vs. non-tethered in
individual pens) are compared critically, there is little or no
difference in calf well-being, performance, behavior, health
status, signs of distress, carcass desirability or other
factors. Calves tethered in open stalls did not exhibit any
increased stereotypes, distress, or other indicators of
abnormal behavior as compared to calves in individual pens.
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext...ALLSVPENS.HTML

You will lose this argument, dummy.