Rethinking Feminism

This is one of the better videos critiquing feminism.  Basically she says that feminism sold women a bill of goods, and women now are paying the price by living  stressful and unfulfilling lives.  There are many great points here and it is worth a listen.

Nice Hobbit House

This man was inspired by Lord of the Rings so he decided to build a house inspired by the series.  I think that he has done a really nice job, and it is a pleasure to see construction that has some real craft in it…instead of the usual cheap as it can be construction.

Virus Alert

Last nite I got a message in a Firefox window saying that I needed to upgrade to the new version of Adobe Flash.  I get these periodic alerts to update programs like this and said “OK” while thinking nothing of it.

I should have been more careful.  My antivirus caught it as a virus file but not before it infected my Firefox, and screwed with my computer to the point that it would hardly work or turn on.  In the end I had to uninstall and reinstall from scratch Firefox, scan with my antivirus several times and eliminate a bunch of other programs.  In sum while not a total disaster it took a couple of hours to fix it, and a fair amount of stress.

So, if you get a message to upgrade your Flash, think twice about it.  It was a reminder that it is a potential jungle out there and to never be too complacent like I was.

Peter Schiff on David Stockton

Peter Schiff has some insightful comments on David Stockton and the backlash that he is getting from the establishment for daring to criticize our economic/fiscal policies.  Enjoy.

What is really going on with Cholesterol

Cholesterol has been blamed as the culprit in heart disease and the traditional treatment has been to reduce dietary cholesterol and to take lots of statin drugs which reduce cholesterol.  However, in this video we see that cholesterol is more of a response or reaction to an imbalance or stress in the body rather than a cause of it.  This is the old causation/correlation confusion.  Researchers see a small correlation between heart disease and high cholesterol and assume that cholesterol is the culprit, when in fact there is evidence that cholesterol is actually there to heal the damage, and lower cholesterol levels hinder the healing process.  Abnormally high cholesterol may indicate a problem, but it is not the cause of the problem.  It also appears that dietary cholesterol is only a very small contributor to overall cholesterol levels.  Furthermore, healthy saturated fats are not only not bad but needed by the body.

In sum the consensus for the last 30 years appears to be almost entirely bunk.

Here is the video explaining it.

<p><a href=’http://www.ihealthtube.com’>iHealthTube.com</a&gt; – <a href=’http://www.ihealthtube.com/aspx/viewvideo.aspx?v=1c815e78ea557fd2′>Finally!  The Truth About Cholesterol</a></p>

The Powers that be unite to attack Stockman´s new book

 

David Stockman has just published a book lambasting our current economic and fiscal policies.  Not surprisingly those in power-on both the left AND the right-are attacking him.  The truth must remain hidden, and this is a bipartisan crusade.  This from the always interesting Peter Schiff.

http://www.europac.net/commentaries/stockman_backlash

The Stockman Backlash

By:

Peter Schiff

Thursday, April 4, 2013

This week, while economists should have been closely considering the implications of the actual bankruptcy of Stockton, California, they instead heaped scorn on the perceived ideological bankruptcy of David Stockman. In other words, Stockman trumped Stockton.Ronald Reagan’s former Budget Director contributed “Sundown in America” a multi-page opinion piece to the Sunday New York Times which loudly and eloquently described the illusions of our current economic system. While I don’t agree with everything Stockman believes, I think he is showing great wisdom and courage in making dire predictions and calling for extreme changes in our policy and politics.

What was perhaps more surprising than the Times’ uncharacteristic decision to run the piece in the first place was the vitriolic and largely ad hominem backlash against Stockman that quickly emerged from across the political spectrum. The attacks have focused primarily on his history and personality, and not on his arguments. One would be hard pressed to find any journalistic reaction that did not use the words “screed” “rant” or “unhinged.” I believe these responses reveal an acute sensitivity from mainstream economists that arises from defending contorted Keynesian logic.

It can’t be easy to take the position that debt doesn’t matter and that spending creates economic growth. To do so with any hope of success requires team unity, and Stockman has never really been a team player. His reputation as an apostate and a naysayer has made him an easy target.

Famously, Stockman left the Reagan White House in protest over the Gipper’s half-finished mandate. Yes, Reagan had cut taxes, but he never really cut spending. Stockman never bought into the easy idea, championed by Jack Kemp and Dick Cheney, that deficits don’t matter and that tax cuts pay for themselves. And although the Reagan revolution did clear the way for a return to better growth in the 80’s and 90’s, Stockman knew that the piper would call someday to collect the debt. Despite his foresight on that topic, his criticism of the Reagan legacy has earned him the derision of the Republican establishment for whom that particular hero worship is sacred.

This may have informed the attack issued by neo-conservative apologist and Iraq war cheerleader, David Frum, who offered a solely psychological assessment: “Stockman provides an insight into the gloomy mindset that overtakes us in older age, it’s a valuable warning to those of still middle-aged that once we lose our faith in the future, it’s time to stop talking about politics in public.” So much for respecting our elders.

Bloomberg’s Jeff Kearns, whose support of Fed policy has earned him regular taps at Ben Bernanke’s televised press conferences, provided the most common mainstream dismissal of Stockman: “His warning that the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing is steering the world’s largest economy toward a crash is at odds with nine quarters of job growth, record stock prices and unprecedented corporate earnings.” This “he must be wrong because things look good now” position supposes that economics can’t be understood or predicted, only observed.  I received very similar treatment back in 2006 and 2007 when I tried to tell the mainstream that the real estate market was a house of cards. How could it be bad, they said, if it goes up every year?

Despite his misalignment with the Republican hierarchy, the Left has an even greater revulsion for Stockman. Since the crisis, he has become perhaps the most respected figure (with the possible exception of Alan Meltzer) to take the position that a system based on fiat currency is doomed. Those who most visibly argue these points, like Ron and Rand Paul, and myself, come from the libertarian movement. As a result, we can be easily dismissed as cranks. However, Stockman was once a card-carrying member of the power elite. His embrace of these principles is taken more seriously and is thus ripe for instant attack from liberal economists.

While the usual suspects of Jared Bernstein and Joe Wiesenthal weighed in with heaps of invective, the loudest heckles have come from, whom else, Paul Krugman. He began his multi-post campaign by questioning the “mystery” of why the New York Times would sully Krugman’s own gravitas by forcing him to share column inches with someone as “non serious” as Stockman. He then offers the back of his hand:

“I thought Stockman would offer some kind of real argument, some presentation, however tendentious, of evidence. Instead it’s just a series of gee-whiz, context- and model-free numbers embedded in a rant — and not even an interesting rant. It’s cranky old man stuff.” For the record, Stockman is only 66.

In actuality, Stockman’s NYT piece offers a litany of objectively dismal facts and cogent explanations of how we got here. While most are celebrating the nominal high of U.S. stocks (see my recent analysis of the current rally), he points out that in the five and half years it has taken for the S&P 500 to set a new high, “Real median family income growth has dropped 8 percent, and the number of full-time middle class jobs, 6 percent. The real net worth of the ‘bottom’ 90 percent has dropped by one-fourth. The number of food stamp and disability aid recipients has more than doubled to 59 million, about one in five Americans.” But Krugman fails to find the currency of his stock and trade, the macro-economic statistical models that attempt to describe how an economy works. In truth, those academic ordeals only matter in getting tenure and impressing the global elite. The real economy is much easier to understand.

Case in point: Stockton, California, which on Monday became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy protection. Stockton, a city of 300,000 and two hours from San Francisco, is following the path blazed by many smaller California municipalities that have been unable to support lavish spending, salary and pension guarantees. And although Stockton has tightened its belt over the last few years (unlike similarly bankrupt San Bernadino, which is not even trying), it lacks the capacity to close the gap. Despite its enormous advantages in geography, infrastructure and location, the city is too bloated with government and clogged with taxes and regulation to allow for robust growth. As a result, Stockton is looking to pin the losses on its creditors.

As Stockman makes clear, the United States has been plagued by the same problems that doomed Stockton. His critics argue that the Federal Reserve’s printing press provides a foolproof immunity to such pedestrian problems. But in the end, these paper protections will only exist on paper. We’re all Stocktonians now.

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To order your copy of Peter Schiff’s latest book, The Real Crash: America’s Coming Bankruptcy – How to Save Yourself and Your Country, click here.

For in-depth analysis of this and other investment topics, subscribe to Peter Schiff’s Global Investor newsletter. CLICK HERE for your free subscription.

The Benefits of Coconut Oil

Interestingly enough there is evidence that coconut oil can be beneficial for people with Alzheimer´s and other mental problems.  This from NaturalNews.

http://www.naturalnews.com/z039811_coconut_Alzheimers_dementia.html

Just one dose of coconut oil can tremendously boost brain function and cognitive performance

by PF Louis

(NaturalNews) It’s amazing how coconut oil has recently been acknowledged for the healthy oil that it is after having been vilified for decades as a heart attack oil. Now it’s been discovered to boost even brain health.

Defaming coconut oil saturated fat was part of the 1950s creation of low and no fat foods, margarine, and hydrogenated trans-fatty cooking and salad oils, which have recently been proven as actually detrimental to overall health.

The different types of triglycerides in fats

High triglyceride blood readings are red flags for obesity, diabetes, and heart health issues. Most dietary fats contain long chain triglycerides (LCT), which are not easily metabolized and can be stored as fatty deposits in one’s body.

Long chain triglycerides contain chains with 14 to 18 carbon atoms. But coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides (MCT) with shorter chains of 5 to 12 carbon atoms, which are easily metabolized by the liver to produce ketone bodies that can replace glucose as metabolic fuel.

As we age, the brain’s ability to metabolize glucose for energy wanes, especially for those who have a metabolic disorder or insulin resistance. But MCT-created ketones can be used as cellular fuel in the brain when glucose is not available.

Study: Coconut oil improves cognitive ability

As far back as 2004, a study published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging determined that coconut oil MCTs improved cognitive function among older folks with memory problems and even Alzheimer’s disease.

They took 20 subjects and randomly fed them coconut oil or placebos on different days. Some of the Alzheimer’s group demonstrated improved scoring on a special Alzheimer’s cognitive rating scale, and all of them demonstrated better paragraph recall shortly after taking each dose of coconut oil.

This wasn’t a long term study. They got immediate positive cognitive and memory results from single doses of coconut oil compared to placebos.

So why wasn’t this publicized by the mainstream media (MSM) and reported to medical practitioners everywhere? Maybe because Big Pharma was trying to synthesize and patent a ketone body producing pharmaceutical for the increasing Alzheimer’s disease market.

A dramatic true story confirming coconut oil’s efficacy

Around 2009-10, MD Mary Newport’s husband had deteriorated from Alzheimer’s so badly he couldn’t draw a simple illustration of a clock or perform daily functions without being micromanaged.

Since the Alzheimer’s drug developed in 2004 was not effective, Dr. Newport tried to get him into a trial for a new Alzheimer’s drug. But he was so bad off he didn’t qualify.

After discovering that this new drug was a synthetic version of MCTs for creating ketone bodies and improving brain function, she researched and realized that palm and coconut oils also contained MCTs.

After feeding her husband coconut oil, he started making a remarkable comeback from almost total dementia to being able to start and finish tasks and remember people and events.

Dr. Newport observed that only two doses spaced eight hours apart were sufficient, while the pharmaceutical version required doses every three hours (http://www.naturalnews.com/030373_coconut_oil_Alzheimers_disease.html)

If Mary would have enrolled her husband into that 2009-10 Alzheimer’s drug trial, she could have lost him completely.

The drug trial at that time was halted early because of nine deaths among those taking higher doses(http://www.naturalnews.com/028753_Alzheimers_drug_trials.html).

Newport’s success without side effects places coconut oil as the dementia food medicine of choice over expensive and harmful pharmaceuticals. Because they went viral on the internet with their experience, several others experiencing Alzheimer’s or memory problems have benefited from coconut oil.

Here’s a video interview of Dr. Newport (http://tv.greenmedinfo.com).

Sources for this article include:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com

http://www.naturalnews.com/030373_coconut_oil_Alzheimers_disease.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/028753_Alzheimers_drug_trials.html