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Libraries and Laboratories

I am a fan boy of D.T. Sheffler.

I am a fan boy for three reasons . . .

First, because he is a fantastic writer.

Second, he is a superb philosopher in medieval, religious, ethical and political competencies.

And, third, he is a former Navy Seal.

The dude is smart, witty . . . and deadly.

I was reminded while reading one of his recent essays that society, to our detriment, has separated our libraries from our laboratories.

My education occurred in the modern STEM group of subjects.  STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  I appreciate my education, and I am very grateful for it.

However, in the process of homeschooling my children . . .

(The Beautiful One actually did all the schooling, I just watched, listened and cheered her on . . . )

I realized that I missed out greatly on a Classical education.

Classically educated students and educators (the Beautiful One is essential a Classical Educator) tend to be a bookish lot.

They love Cicero and Shakespeare and George MacDonald.

The get all giddy when they see a musty bookstore, gothic arches and castles . . .

And, they love imagining the Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland.

In fact, a few of them have saved it as their desktop background.

They speak in code to one another frequently using metaphors from The Lord of the Rings and Narnia, and they may even use Elven script when writing.

This is very different and antithetical to the creatures like me that emerge from the math and science schools of the modern era.

We love aviation, science museums and biology.

We wear Star Wars and NASA t-shirts, and many of us may be caught wearing white knee-high tube socks with Birkenstocks.

We loved marine biology in the eighth-grade, dissecting frogs in 10th grade and won science fairs and physics contests in high school. I actually built a bridge out of balsa wood that held 1300 lbs., winning a cash prize from a nearby college.

Many of us will have telescopic images of constellations on all four of our computers monitors and get all giddy hearing the sound of the clicking of our Model-M keyboards.

And, yes, my lot actually enjoyed doing their calculus homework.

This dramatic difference between the STEM educated and the Classical educated would look very strange to any pre-modern world scholar.

Before the hyper-specialization of today’s modern research universities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mathematics and poetry, physics and philosophy, were all required together to be an educated person. They came together as a unified package.

A scholarly gentleman often housed his laboratory equipment and his fencing gear in the same room as his library.

In fact, Sheffler states that “Plato inscribed above the entrance to his Academy the words: ‘Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here.’ More certainly, in Plato’s Republic, Socrates insists that an extensive education in geometrical reasoning is necessary before a student can embark on the study of philosophy.’”

Aristotle combined his extensive writing and philosophy with works on meteorology, rhetoric and physics. He actually made a number of discoveries in marine biology through dissection and he knew a great deal about astronomy from close observation of the sky.

Most people are aware that Leonardo da Vinci was profoundly competent in multiple fields.

Yet, few know that Isaac Newton, the man who formulated the laws of motion, the theory of universal gravity, and built the first reflecting telescope, spent the last years of his career obsessed with the textual analysis of scripture.

Most are aware that Benjamin Franklin was a very wise statesman and diplomat, but few know his involvement in the discovery of electricity.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is known as one of the most influential German writers of all time. Yet, he was also a polymath and had profoundly insightful scientific contributions in botany and color theory.

Education throughout your entire life should consist of the education of a single mind, yours, both knowledgeable and flexible, capable of handling deductive thinking and interpretation of nuance.

I have come to learn that scientific education stocks your mind with facts about the concrete world. It teaches you how to reason carefully about probabilistic causal inferences.

Poetic education teaches the mind to see the analogy between things and create metaphor.

Mathematical education trains the mind to carefully work through a difficult chain of deductive, quantitative reasoning.

Philosophical education incites the mind to ask fundamental questions and then, to reason toward sound answers to those questions.

Literary education civilizes your mind with a very cultivated imagination. It teaches you to make both judgement about and emotional response to what you have imagined.

Educating comprehensively in this way educates the single mind, yours, not a bunch of separate little independent minds.

Extensive scientific knowledge of the physical world with its very complex system of natural causes makes you a better novelist or writer.

The ability to see the analogy within the subtlety of a good joke makes a person a better scientist. (I know a bunch of really boring scientists who have no sense of humor and it affects their research).

A deficiency in one area will lead to incompetence in others, this includes physical exercise and athleticism.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve hear people say, “I’m no good at math.” You’ve likely heard people say, “I’m more of a creative, artsy type,” or they excuse their horrible spelling by saying, “I’m a math and science guy.”

People and students will have different interests that lead to different specializations.  That is understandable and expected.  However, I’ve seen it in my education and I’ve had multiple professors tell me that a student who is unable to discipline his or her mind to work carefully through a math problem is likely to have difficulty in carefully reading a story.

The student who interprets everything literally and cannot craft a metaphor is also likely to have difficulty with designing an experiment.

The student or professor that is an arm-chair rationalist failing to go out and apply his skill in the real concrete world will never fully comprehend natural phenomena.

Just because you specialized in one area of learning, do not let other areas drop.

This is why I took up sword fighting and fencing at the age of 50 years old.

I now comprehend what it means when one says that “you must be alive to philosophize.”

Without an educational balance in science and humanity, you will never truly understand the need for opposites in the world. You cannot understand life until you experience opposites in all things, happiness and sadness, joy and misery, pleasure and pain, life and death.

This requires strength, courage, mastery and honor as the true virtues of men and women all around the world.

Without a comprehensive education in all areas, the virtues that make civilization possible will disappear.

To Your Health & Longevity,

Adam Nally, DO

Gods of the Copybook Headings

by Rudyard Kipling

This poem was first published in the Sunday Pictorial of London on 26 October 1919; then later published in Harper’s Magazine January 1920.

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,

I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.

Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn

That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:

But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,

So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,

Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,

But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come

That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,

They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;

They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;

So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.

They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.

But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.” 

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life

(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)

Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.” 

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,

By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;

But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”  

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew

And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true

That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man

There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.

That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,

And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,

The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

————–

It was true in 1920 and it is true today.

Never Ever Forget About the Tuskegee Experiment

I bet you’ve never heart of the Tuskegee Experiment.

When you think that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Public Health Physicians have your best interest in mind, just remember the Tuskegee Experiment started in 1932 in Macon County, Alabama.

After being recruited by the promise of free medical care, 600 African American men in Macon County, Alabama were enrolled in a project which aimed to study the full progression of the sexually transmitted disease syphilis.

The participants were primarily sharecroppers, and many had never visited a doctor. Doctors from the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), which was running the study, informed the participants—399 men with latent syphilis and a control group of 201 others who were free of the disease—they were being treated for “bad blood,” a term commonly used in the area at the time to refer to a variety of ailments.

They were blatantly lied to by HHS and the CDC for over 40 years leading to 28 patients who died directly from syphilis, 100 died from complications related to syphilis, 40 of the patients’ wives were infected with syphilis, and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis.

In order to track the disease’s full progression, researchers provided no effective care as the men died, went blind or insane or experienced other severe health problems due to their untreated syphilis. Never EVER forget that multiple HHS supervisors and the CDC kept this secret for over 40 years.

How did they go about fixing this one? They created their own internal ethical policing board (OHRP) . . . still overseen by the slimy leadership of the HHS. Don’t you ever forget that the HHS, CDC and public health officials are some of the most unethical people on the planet.

Tuskegee wasn’t the first unethical syphilis study. In 2010, President Obama and other federal officials apologized for another U.S.-sponsored experiment, conducted decades earlier in Guatemala. In that study, from 1946 to 1948, nearly 700 men and women—prisoners, soldiers, mental patients—were intentionally infected with syphilis (hundreds more people were exposed to other sexually transmitted diseases as part of the study) without their knowledge or consent.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether penicillin could prevent, not just cure, syphilis infection. Some of those who became infected never received medical treatment. The results of the study, which took place with the cooperation of Guatemalan government officials, were never published. The American public health researcher in charge of the project, Dr. John Cutler, went on to become a lead researcher in the Tuskegee experiments.

Following Cutler’s death in 2003, historian Susan Reverby uncovered the records of the Guatemala experiments while doing research related to the Tuskegee study. She shared her findings with U.S. government officials in 2010. Soon afterward, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius issued an apology for the STD study and President Obama called the Guatemalan president to apologize for the experiments.

Nomination of Kathleen Sebelius by Barak Obama 2009

Kathleen Sebelius was the HHS director until 2014. She was well aware of these dirty little secrets and played a key role in keeping them out of the press. Today, she and her group of crony politicians are attempting to do the same with the population of our entire country.

Sebelius, also the former Governor of Kansas and a key official in implementation of the Affordable Care Act, made her thoughts known about the experimental COVID-19 Vaccine in a friendly interview on CNN, according to RealClearPolitics.

“If you don’t choose to get vaccinated, you may not come to work. You may not have access to a situation where you’re going to put my grandchildren in jeopardy where you might kill them or you might put them in a situation where they’re going to carry the virus to someone in a high-risk position.”

Sebelius went on to say, “So I think we’re reaching that point in the United States for those of us who are vaccinated. I want to take off my mask. I want to be able to live my life with vaccination. And I’m being impinged on by people who say, I don’t want to get vaccinated. It’s fine, but I want them to maybe have a limitation on where they can go and who they can possibly infect.”

Never forget that the current players in our government and Public Health Services won’t bat an eye at destroying your life or livelihood for their political gain.

That Pivotal Day 77 Years Ago

I was reminded this morning of today’s profound meaning.  Upon looking at the date, June 6, I remembered that 77 years ago tremendous sacrifice was made on our behalf.  The U.S., Canadian, and British allied forces, 160,000 of our bravest and strongest young men, invaded and captured the Nazi-held beaches in Normandy, France, in 1944. That is 77 years ago today.

Over last 21 years of my medical practice, I’ve had the tremendous privilege of caring for a few handfuls of these men that served on the beaches of Normandy or parachuted into France.  They rarely talked much about it, but there was something in their eyes.  Many of them have already passed on.  But, their nobility and honor brings me great joy when I see them or remember visiting with them.

Today, the day they called D-Day (the “D” simply stands for day and the term denotes the starting of a distinctive military field operation) marked the beginning of a 3-month strategy known as Operation Overlord.  Many historians believe this strategic action determined the course of World War II (1939-1945) by paving the way for allied expansion into France.

You really should take the next nine minutes and watch some recently colorized footage of our 18-26 year old grandfathers protecting our countries and pushing back German troops from France.  It is actual black and white footage that has been colorized.  You can watch that short nine minutes of footage here.  I am just amazed at the hundreds of thousands of young men that sacrificed to push back fascism and communism for our sacred freedoms today.

The totality of Operation Overlord was an elaborate orchestration of events aimed at opening a new western front on the Atlantic that could put pressure on Nazi Germany, along with the advancing allied forces from the south and the east. Here is another nine minute video that summarizes D-Day and Operation Overlord in a very understandable way.

To those men, their wives and families, I tip my hat, and I thank you.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service and willingness to sacrifice you all for our freedom and peace upon the earth.  Wherever you are, may God bless you and your families.

The Nation Has Changed – Overnight

The world we lived in last Tuesday, is not he same world we live in today.  Historic changes have occurred.  We live today in a United States in name only.   There are now two distinct countries inside one nation the Leftist Nation and the Conservative Nation.  One of those “country’s” economies is under attack. The Leftist Nation has declared economic warfare on the rest of us.
The capital riots have given the Leftist Nation the ability to declare war on 75 million Americans.  Every word that any of us speak is going to be monitored, scrutinized and twisted.  How will each of us maintain a voice that can be heard by those needing to hear it?  Conspiracy theories have flourished because we have no media actually doing their job.
Parlor was officially de-platformed by Amazon Web Services.  Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google did this in a coordinated effort.  The power structure of these companies has created a need of government and government needs hi-tech.  This is why they have aligned.
We have come to the point that Kathy Griffin, again, re-posted the gruesome bloody head of Trump in her hand on twitter last week – not a soul said a word. When Pornhub is purchased by Disney and Apple, Google and Amazon shut down conservative voices, ask yourself who the real enemy is?
Anything that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google and Amazon will attack anyone with an opposing voice. Rational Americans recognize very clearly the hypocrisy of these actions.
I will never stop standing for liberty, for freedom of speech, for freedom of expression, and the right to bear arms. I will never stop supporting the entire Bill of Rights.
This will more profoundly effect every aspect of our lives, including health care.
The Leftist Nation has dismissed on a daily basis the concerns of 75 million people for four years. Then this powerful group of elites removed the only person that was supportive to this group of 75 million by de-platforming President Trump’s voice.  We are the United States in name only today, we are a house divided.
What will you and I do about it?

Davy Crockett & Why Congress Has NO Right to Give Charitable Relief

A “sockdolager” is a knock-down blow. This is a newspaper reporter’s captivating story of his unforgettable encounter with the old “Bear Hunter” from Tennessee.
From “The Life of Colonel David Crockett”, by Edward S. Ellis
(Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

CROCKETT was then the lion of Washington. I was a great admirer of his character, and, having several friends who were intimate with him, I found no difficulty in making his acquaintance. I was fascinated with him, and he seemed to take a fancy to me.

I was one day in the lobby of the House of Representatives when a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support — rather, as I thought, because it afforded the speakers a fine opportunity for display than from the necessity of convincing anybody, for it seemed to me that everybody favored it. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose. Everybody expected, of course, that he was going to make one of his characteristic speeches in support of the bill. He commenced:

“Mr. Speaker — I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it.

We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. This government can owe no debts but for services rendered, and at a stipulated price. If it is a debt, how much is it? Has it been audited, and the amount due ascertained? If it is a debt, this is not the place to present it for payment, or to have its merits examined. If it is a debt, we owe more than we can ever hope to pay, for we owe the widow of every soldier who fought in the War of 1812 precisely the same amount.

There is a woman in my neighborhood, the widow of as gallant a man as ever shouldered a musket. He fell in battle. She is as good in every respect as this lady, and is as poor. She is earning her daily bread by her daily labor; but if I were to introduce a bill to appropriate five or ten thousand dollars for her benefit, I should be laughed at, and my bill would not get five votes in this House. There are thousands of widows in the country just such as the one I have spoken of, but we never hear of any of these large debts to them. Sir, this is no debt.

The government did not owe it to the deceased when he was alive; it could not contract it after he died. I do not wish to be rude, but I must be plain. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity.

Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much of our own money as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week’s pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.”

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.

Like many other young men, and old ones, too, for that matter, who had not thought upon the subject, I desired the passage of the bill, and felt outraged at its defeat. I determined that I would persuade my friend Crockett to move a reconsideration the next day.

Previous engagements preventing me from seeing Crockett that night, I went early to his room the next morning and found him engaged in addressing and franking letters, a large pile of which lay upon his table.

I broke in upon him rather abruptly, by asking him what devil had possessed him to make that speech and defeat that bill yesterday. Without turning his head or looking up from his work, he replied:

“You see that I am very busy now; take a seat and cool yourself. I will be through in a few minutes, and then I will tell you all about it.”

He continued his employment for about ten minutes, and when he had finished he turned to me and said:

“Now, sir, I will answer your question. But thereby hangs a tale, and one of considerable length, to which you will have to listen.”

I listened, and this is the tale which I heard:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

SEVERAL YEARS AGO I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. When we got there, I went to work, and I never worked as hard in my life as I did there for several hours. But, in spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made homeless, and, besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them, and everybody else seemed to feel the same way.

The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done. I said everybody felt as I did. That was not quite so; for, though they perhaps sympathized as deeply with the sufferers as I did, there were a few of the members who did not think we had the right to indulge our sympathy or excite our charity at the expense of anybody but ourselves. They opposed the bill, and upon its passage demanded the yeas and nays. There were not enough of them to sustain the call, but many of us wanted our names to appear in favor of what we considered a praiseworthy measure, and we voted with them to sustain it. So the yeas and nays were recorded, and my name appeared on the journals in favor of the bill.

The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up, and I thought it was best to let the boys know that I had not forgot them, and that going to Congress had not made me too proud to go to see them.

So I put a couple of shirts and a few twists of tobacco into my saddlebags, and put out. I had been out about a week and had found things going very smoothly, when, riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly, and was about turning his horse for another furrow when I said to him: “Don’t be in such a hurry, my friend; I want to have a little talk with you, and get better acquainted.”

He replied: “I am very busy, and have but little time to talk, but if it does not take too long, I will listen to what you have to say.”

I began: “Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and —”

“‘Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.’

This was a sockdolager… I begged him to tell me what was the matter.

“Well, Colonel, it is hardly worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the Constitution to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest. But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.”

“I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional question.”

“No, Colonel, there’s no mistake. Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that true?”

“Certainly it is, and I thought that was the last vote which anybody in the world would have found fault with.”

“Well, Colonel, where do you find in the Constitution any authority to give away the public money in charity?”

Here was another sockdolager; for, when I began to think about it, I could not remember a thing in the Constitution that authorized it. I found I must take another tack, so I said:

“Well, my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.”

“It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government.

So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other.

No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week’s pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life. The Congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give.

The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.”

I have given you an imperfect account of what he said. Long before he was through, I was convinced that I had done wrong. He wound up by saying:

“So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.”

I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go talking, he would set others to talking, and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:

“Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it full. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said there at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.”

He laughingly replied:

“Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and, perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.”

“If I don’t,” said I, “I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say, I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.”

“No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. This is Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday a week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.”

“Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know your name.”

“My name is Bunce.”

“Not Horatio Bunce?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me; but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend. You must let me shake your hand before I go.”

We shook hands and parted.

It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.

At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.

Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before.

I have told you Mr. Bunce converted me politically. He came nearer converting me religiously than I had ever been before. He did not make a very good Christian of me, as you know; but he has wrought upon my mind a conviction of the truth of Christianity, and upon my feelings a reverence for its purifying and elevating power such as I had never felt before.

I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him — no, that is not the word — I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if everyone who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted — at least, they all knew me.

In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

“Fellow citizens — I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only.”

I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation as I have told it to you, and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:

“And now, fellow citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.

“It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit of it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.”

He came upon the stand and said:

“Fellow citizens — It affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.”

He went down, and there went up from the crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.

I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress.

“NOW, SIR,” concluded Crockett, “you know why I made that speech yesterday. I have had several thousand copies of it printed and was directing them to my constituents when you came in.

“There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week’s pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men — men who think nothing of spending a week’s pay, or a dozen of them for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased — a debt which could not be paid by money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it.”

The Benevolent Tyranny of Social Distancing and Masks

“NowThis News” is a progressive website with cheery music, snackable videos and catchy BLM colors we’ve all subliminally come to recognize designed specifically to deliver leftist education to your newsfeed.  You’ve probably scrolled past their content a few times while doing your daily doom-scrolling: “Elizabeth Warren’s Greatest Moments” or “Drag Queen Kyne Uses Tik Tok to Teach Math.”

Last September, “NowThis News” released a particularly telling video article from a more than chipper young authoritarian millennial demanding that we all “Stop Saying ‘Hey Guys.’” because it excludes women.

Half way through her sinister monologue she mentions a few other goals that the modern feminists want to achieve: “reproductive rights . . . LGBTQ rights, and the general reprogramming of most people’s minds” (italics added).

Wait . . . What?!

This last phrase caught my attention.  “the general reprogramming of most people’s minds” sounds almost unreal.  That’s just too Orwellian, too spot-on-the-nose to really be serious, right?!  Yet, it was published in deadly earnest.  This is an example of progressive social engineering at its finest.  They attempt to nudge and drug each of us into a state of compliance with leftist ideals.   This is the explicit goal of the “woke” progressive leadership.

They aren’t hiding it. They don’t want to persuade you.  They openly want to brain wash you and your children.  And, it’s working.

Today, the first time in months for example, I was able to go back to church services with my family with “Arizona’s Phased attendance protocols” in place.  It was wonderful to meet with other members of my church and “fellowship with the saints.”

Yet, as I read through the attendance instructions required to be compliant in our state and as a “Global Citizen,” I was shocked at the verbiage I read.  A statement found in the opening pages of these instructions read: “. . . we should sustain and uphold the laws where we reside. . .  governments enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest. We acknowledge that in exceptional circumstances all individual rights may be restricted. . .“(Emphasis added).

When is it ever OK to restrict all individual God given rights to “secure the public interest?” Yet, many I spoke with feel that “it’s different today. This is just short term.” The explained that it is justified to give up liberty and rights for short term security.  In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  14 days of quarantine has now become 6-12 months of social distancing, lock-downs, school closures and $10-14 trillion lost in economic output this year alone as calculated by the congressional budget office. That is essentially the equivalent of wiping out the income of 30 million U.S. families this year and over the next five years.

Though it may seem humane to remove ones rights to protect the masses in crisis, it actually just strips the populace of their humanity.  It changes the person, from a subject with rights to a mere object to be controlled for the desired outcome deemed most important to the ruling leader.  This is the worse kind of tyranny because it is tyranny sincerely exercised for the “good of its victims.”  In the words of Lewis, “Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

C.S. Lewis predicted this development back in 1954 with crystalline precision in a remarkable essay, “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment.”  Back then, even as today in 2020, a growing number of Westerners became squeamish about the use of the death penalty.  They were then, and many are today, disgusted with the idea of punishing criminals because they simply deserve it; but rather they feel better using rehabilitation as a means to deter them and others from criminal behavior.

C.S. Lewis wrote that the very ideas of “deterrence” and “rehabilitation,” compassionate though they may seem, undermine the entire concept of justice.  This concept is the key to a functioning republic and to society as a whole.  It is the reason the American experiment has been successful for nearly 250 years.

Wait, are you saying that enacting a mandate of social distancing and mask wearing “for the good of the people” undermines justice?

YES.  That’s exactly what Lewis wrote about in the 1950’s and its even more applicable today.

Justice, as defined by Lewis, is nothing more than giving every person what he or she deserves.  The only way we evaluate the justice of a punishment at all is by asking whether the person punished actually deserves it.  The natural objection that “the death penalty is unjust” boils down to the argument that “no one deserves the death penalty,” argued Lewis.

Completely different from justice, deterrence and rehabilitation, much like mask wearing and social distancing, are forms of social engineering.  These forms of punishment are tools for making people do what the punisher’s want, not for providing a consequence of a person’s action that they deserve.  Lewis wrote, “when we cease to consider what the criminal deserves and consider only what will cure him or deter others, we have tacitly removed him from the sphere of justice altogether.” Instead of having a person with rights, we have reduced the person, instead, to a mere object, a patient or a case.  We have removed the justice that is due, instead, to objectify the being under the guise of a cure for the common good.

It’s like the patient shows up at the doctor’s office with a serious case of syphilis, the consequence of promiscuous sexual relationships. Instead of treating the disease and killing the bacteria that causes the rash and terribly painful urogenital discharge, the doctor says, “let me send you to counseling to talk about your rash.  Let’s just rehabilitate the bacteria.  You can describe the discharge and have a few group sessions so others can understand your pain, and the bacteria should be much nicer.”

These two different governing ideas of punishment proceed along entirely separate tracks and arrive at very different destinations.  Justice – though sometimes fearsome and always imperfect – treats the human being as a moral agent of choice whose actions have weight, and therefore whose actions also have consequences.  In contrast, the “moral busybodies” of the world today (we call them “Karens”) are interested not in justice, but in social engineering.  Social engineering is a very dangerous illusion which, in Lewis’ words, “disguises the possibility of cruelty and injustice without an end in sight.”

Exactly as C.S. Lewis predicted, the logic of this social engineering has now begun to careen toward its gruesomely logical conclusion.  Social engineering is based upon the idea that human beings are effectively bags of meat and chemicals, pure matter to be therapeutically manipulated by “compassionate” and “progressive” healers.

However good their intentions may be, those “progressive healers” are in fact proposing to set themselves up as gods over men. “The things done to the criminal, even if they are called cures, will be just as compulsory as they were in the old days when we called them punishments,” wrote Lewis. “If a tendency to steal can be cured by psychotherapy, the thief will no doubt be forced to undergo the treatment.”   If a positive COVID-19 test was seen, a person will no doubt be forced to get vaccinated for the “cure of the populace.”

You can see this everywhere in modern life.  You can see it in the endless classification of EVERYTHING as a mental illness, implying the best way to fix emotional problems is with the right cocktail of medications.

You can see it in the insistence that gender and sexuality are mere social constructs, whose injustices can be rectified with surgery and hormone injections.

You can see it as the Freudian idea that religion is just a holdover from primitive tribal fantasy and really isn’t “essential.”

All of these ideas take for granted that our enlightened leadership – many of whom were never elected, and especially those best versed in Critical Race Theory and inter-sectional politics – have the right to tinker with our brain chemistry until they reprogram our minds “just right.”

This doctrine, merciful though it may appear, really means that each one of us, from the moment he disagrees with leadership or breaks the law, is deprived of the rights of a human being.  And, it is being accepted without resistance in the schools, churches, shops and hospitals across the country.

This isn’t a bug, it isn’t a feature. It is pure leftist Marxism.  It is modern materialism philosophy with the potential to turn even well-intentioned people into coercive monsters.  We were warned.  It is happening.  Now it’s time to fight back.

(adapted from – Spencer Klavan’s “C.S. Lewis On The Leftist Effort to Reprogram People’s Minds”)

Tyranny

One more Star-Spangled day of hamburgers, brisket and hot-dogs has passed.  The fireworks have exploded and the dogs are not freaking out any more. 

The kids had fun. Smiles were had.  Bellies were filled.

So, let’s talk about what this holiday really means, today, for you and I, here in grownup land . . .

The Fourth of July is no longer for celebrating “independence.”

It’s to see its loss, and planning to re-take it once again.

Our “free” country has slowly been covered with a slow mold that has crept into every corner and under every wall and in every crack and crevice.

Under the pen of every lawmaker some of that “freedom” has been usurped.

With every government circumvention. . .

With every bail out. . .

With every re-distributive measure . . .

With every affirmative action . . .

With every mask over the face . . .

With every closed gathering place, church and gym . . .

The mold gets thicker, darker, and deeper . . . all the while bringing us one step closer to outright tyranny.

“Never let a good crisis go to waste” they said. . . and continue to say this morning.

COVID-19 has been a gift for tottering regimes around the world . . .

A chance to sweep decades of fiscal incompetence and unkeepable promises under the rug of the economic shutdown . . .

It’s provided the mother of all scapegoats to pin it upon.

“Your freedom will return when we have a vaccine,” they say.

“This is for the public good . . .” they say.

“This is too difficult for you to think for yourself . . .” they say.

We’ll give you back your liberty when we’re all “inoculated,” they promise.

Yet, the plan backfired.

Behind closed doors many have talked of forced quarantine as the “test run”

. . . as a means to measure your backbone and mine . . .

Even to condition a compliant populace.

However, from this side of the fence . . . it’s had the opposite effect.

You and I have tasted tyranny.

Have they really softened us up for another dose?

Or, have they hardened resolve

. . . Awakened the sleeping giant that is a still-free, still-sovereign people?

There is no “effective” vaccine for COVID-19 . . . There never will be.

There is no means of “inoculation.”

Yet through their overreach, they’ve unwittingly created a different immunity . . .

We’ve been inoculated against a disease fare worse: tyranny.

As long as we’ve not been emasculated . . .

As long as we remind our public servants that it is the will of WE THE PEOPLE, not themselves that they are bound to serve . . .

Then their plans have failed.

Where they see the “great unwashed” in need of a corral . . .

I see you, my compatriots.

I see my brothers and sisters, woken from a deep sleep . . .

Seeing perhaps for the first time how precious, how easily lost freedom can be.

So, on the week following the remembrance of Independence Day, let us resolve:

  • There shall be no slow frog boiling here
  • There shall be no toe-hold for tyranny, no matter how sweet the promise of familiarity or safety may be.
  • We cannot afford the “help” of an over-reaching government if the price is freedom and liberty.
  • No matter the cost, we must prevail as a free people . . . come what may.

To your freedom and a renewed and wonderful 2020!

Adam Nally, D.O.

Aka @DocMuscles.

(Adapted from Bryan Ward’s Third Way Man)

Is Your Celebration of Independence Day a Deception?

Our celebration of Independence Day is a deception.

Laying beneath the fireworks, barbecue and fun is the hard to swallow truth . . . It’s all a sham.

Are you and I really independent anymore?  No. Not anymore.

243 years ago, the British oppression was a threat. It was singular, visible and involuntary.

Now, the threat we face daily is an entirely new form of tyranny, infinitely more complex.

The scary thing is that oppression is now:

  1. Fractionated
  2. Invisible
  3. Voluntary

Fractionality of Our Millennial Tyranny

Slavery has changed.  The oppressor previously owned the slave individually. However, with time we learned that when there are multiple owners, the burden of ownership is lessened.  Joint ownership became the norm. Now we have joint ownership of our condos, boats, and jets.  The burden of slave ownership was the risk of revolt and revolution.

If ownership of debt can be spread among the masses, the individual risk is mitigated.

Our fractional oppression is spread throughout the legion, and the tyranny is masked as a principle of the great “free market.”

BIG FOOD sells cancer, diabetes, heart disease and fatigue through the FOMO of fake food.

BIG MEDIA sprinkles us with malaise, despair, anxiety and post-traumatic stress with lurid half-truths, click-bait shock value, and salty emotion all with the intent to sell us more advertisement.

BIG PHARMA peddles side-effects, addiction and false hope convincing the feeble mind, created by BIG FOOD, that a pill is necessary to prevent us from experiencing the pain, emotion and struggle of life – that same life that BIG MEDIA keeps ever present in the palms of our hands.  In bed with BIG GOVERNMENT, their evangelism recommends medicating instead the more difficult learning from struggle and failure.

BIG GOVERNMENT covers us with red tape to stop the financial bleeding and hemorrhaging of the tumor’s growth it stimulates, through greed and invasion of individual inalienable right.

BIG MONEY circles us on wings of dread and fear singing a song of doom, all the while sampling emotional cookies and Danishes of immediate gratification, while slipping the “plastic card with a security chip” shackles over the wrists of the enslaved.

BIG EDUCATION preys upon our children with glib platitudes, group-think, and participation trophies.  It teaches the weakened minds to prize test-taking, rote memorization, and fact regurgitation above problem-solving, creative thinking, and learning from failure.  They prepare our children to work as drones on the factory floor of cyberspace instead of art and enterprise.

And, that’s just the beginning.

Look no further than your bank statement to see how the oppression is itemized.  Each line item takes it’s pound of flesh round the clock each month.

Invisibility of Oppression

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe that they are free.” -Goethe-

200 years ago, the shackles were visible.

Today the shackles are disguised. Independence is a deception.

We are smarter than an outright shackle.  So, they were re-tooled, re-imagined, re-formed, and hidden like landmines in cyberspace:

  • 0% APR
  • Matching contributions
  • Free Miles
  • Free Samples
  • No Money Down
  • 84 Month Installments

These are just grease on the slaughterhouse chute.

It Can’t Be Oppression if You & I Now Volunteer?

Forced slavery is no longer acceptable in our “free society.”  The dark genius of modern oppression is the creation of cultural norms, rituals and addiction that invite us to PUT ON OUR OWN CHAINS.

Modern slavery is now VOLUNTARY.

“No one put a gun to your head or forced you to buy our product or service,” is the mantra of the oppressor while billions are spent on engineering conditions that make the shackles look like icing on your cyberspace cake.

But there is an escape . . .

Massive in scale, fractional, and nearly invisible, there is still a choice.

CHOICE IS THE ESCAPE

So, this evening, as the cardboard tubes of fireworks lay discarded in the park grass, and the toy flags lay rolled up on top of the fridge, awaiting their return to the attic for storage, let your Independence Day celebration be much deeper. Choose.

Let your Independence Day stir the same indignation for oppression that our fore-fathers felt.

Cultivate within yourself the desire to fight and win a second Independence Day.

You will need every ounce of resolve and strength you can muster.

Today, there are no chains, hangman’s noose or firing squads, there is but chemistry, habit, choice and instinct.   The Oppressor will attempt to use it against you. You can still see it if you look. You can still choose.

Have the courage to flip them the bird of indignation as they present you the “standard American prepackaged life.”

Reject What Isn’t Real

Reject the drama and depletion of paycheck-to-paycheck living . . . instead, create wealth. Save a few dollars each day.

Reject the cardboard food in the grocery store and eat real food: bloody, fresh and wild. It will re-energize you.

Reject the FOMO of the dutiful consumer and become a CREATOR. Create the world you dream of by small and simple daily choices.

Reject the fake new, fake government, fake food, fake medicine, fake success, fake friendships, and fake happiness that encircles us.  Create a life that is REAL.  You’ll know it’s real because you can feel it, beyond the pain of trial and error and failure, REAL encompasses heart, mind, body and soul at the same time.

Take off the blinders so that you may see the leeches and parasites sticking to you.  Rip them from your body and warm yourself as you burn them in the fire.

Only then will you escape the clutches of the modern tyrant.

Only then will you be free.

[Adapted from Bryan Ward and his “Third Way Man” series]

 

 

Adam S. Nally, D.O. (aka DocMuscles)

 

 

 

 

 

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Gun Violence & Physician Puppets

Today is gun violence awareness day.  Physicians around the country are hitting social media about terror of guns, of gun ownership, and how “guns are killing our children.”  In fact, there is a whole movement to “wear orange today.”  I truly appreciate the importance addressing violence in our homes, families and neighborhoods.  Violence in any form is terrible and tragic.  Yet, I am disturbed that very intelligent people are swayed into relinquishing rights of freedom and liberty based upon emotions and fear.  I’m sure my comments will strike up the ire of a number of my colleges and a few patients (Not that that is anything new – I’ve been beating the ketogenic drum for 15 years telling people to ignore the AHA and have some bacon).  Yet, I cannot, and I will not remain silent.

Evidence Doesn’t Support the Media’s Claims

In medicine, we are taught to practice and act based upon evidence.  Wearing orange to support removing my right to own a firearm fly’s in the face of evidences.  Over the 20 years of my medical practice, I have witnessed progressive socialists, liberal media and those that don’t know better, in an attempt to legislate greater control over the population, very successfully use our emotions to slowly remove our inalienable rights of freedom.  One of those is our second amendment right to own firearms.  The media, with many well meaning physicians and physician groups around the country, are using days like today to try to convince you that homes are more dangerous because there are more guns in homes, and more violence due to the presence of those guns.  But is that true?

According to recent research, gun homicide has actually decreased 49% since 1993.

And, according to a 2017 Journal of Pediatrics article, “Nearly 1300 children die and 5790 are treated for gunshot wounds each year. Boys, older children, and minorities are disproportionately affected.” Yet, this number is down from 1993.

And interestingly, “. . .unintentional firearm deaths among children declined from 2002 to 2014, firearm homicides declined from 2007 to 2014, and firearm suicides decreased between 2002 and 2007.”

The research does, however, show an upward trend in suicide from 2007 to 2014. But, according to the article, this appears to be “. . . precipitated by situational and relationship problems. The shooter playing with a gun was the most common circumstance surrounding unintentional firearm deaths of both younger and older children.”  However, overall the numbers are down by almost 50%.  Yet, that’s not the message being shared today.

Fewer People’s Homes Have Guns

Today, fewer homes have guns in them.  Fewer people hunt and use the firearms regularly.  And, because we live in bigger cities, opportunities to educate our youth about proper use and storage of firearms occurs less often.  Fewer families teach their children gun safety and unintentional injury and death can occur when our children are not correctly taught about the use and safety of firearms.

The progressive left and media will tout that according to the Congressional Research Service, as of 2015 there actually are almost twice as many guns per capita in the United States as there were in 1968: more than 300 million guns in all. And, gun sales actually have increased in recent years. You will hear that according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. gun-makers produced nearly 11 million guns in 2013, the year after the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre. That’s twice as many as they made in 2010.

You even hear the words of Dr. Deborah Azrael parroted that, “There’s a gun for every man, woman, and child, more or less.”

But does every man, woman and child in the U.S. have a gun?  The number of armed households has actually declined to about 1 in 3. So an ever larger number of guns is concentrated in a shrinking number of homes:

Listen for just a short time today and you’ll hear the media and the progressive left claim that we need to make it harder to obtain a gun.  Well, we’ve done that already!
According to FBI records, background checks have more than doubled, making it harder to obtain a firearm in the U.S.

Involve the Pillars of Safety to Move the Agenda Forward.

I will paraphrase the comments of Jonathon Schuldt, a professor of communications at Cornell University. He stated that  in a nation where freedom is among the deepest ideals, control is almost a dirty word, and it is much easier to justify why one is against [gun] control that it is to justify why one is against [gun] safety.
Making the case for safety is easy, just involve the doctors.  Use the emotions and fear of violent injury and the treatment of horrible gunshot wounds.  If the doctors, especially our beloved pediatricians, are for “Gun Safety” [implying gun control], then we must support it. Right?!
Progressives have subtly changed our minds by changing the words and adding emotion.  Change the word “control” to “safety” & sprinkle with some doctors in white coats while wearing orange. Then, change the headlines that show up in today’s Google search of the news (for example):
  • ABC News: Virginia Gov. Northam on gun safety: Summons lawmakers to special session.
  • MSNBC News: Virginia democrats pressure for gun safety
  • CBS News: Senator Cory Booker: Unveils new gun safety plan
Yet, in the news today people like Virginia’s Governor, Ralph Northam, are following the gun control playbook to the letter by exploiting a tragedy to push political agendas.  None of Governor Northam’s gun control proposals would have prevented the horrible tragedy at Virginia Beach.  If he is genuinely interested in pursuing policies that will save lives, he and states around this great nation should focus on the following:
  • Prosecuting violent criminals
  • Fixing our broken mental health system
  • Identifying the real cause of suicide in our school systems
Instead, Gov. Northam, and others like him, blame our country’s law-abiding gun owners for the acts of deranged murderers and people who are truly mentally ill.
Of note,dDepression and suicidal behavior increases 40-60% with vegetarian and vegan diets.  Maybe we should focus on the dangers of dementia, depression, schizophrenia and violence that arises while following a vegetarian or vegan diets.  Until, then keep your hands off my guns and pass the bacon!

Principles of Life for Consideration

automn image

Over the years, I have collected quotes, bits of wisdom, quips of life and principles of living.  I have taken them from a number of sources, friends, family and thoughts that have just come to me while reading, pondering or out riding my horse with my family.  I have made a point to try to write these down and I thought that I would share them with you today.  Some of them apply to health, obesity, weight and others just apply to being a gentleman. Some of these I struggle with and maybe you do too. Some of them I am good at, and some of them I need to work on.  Let me know what you think:

  • Ponder each night upon the events of the day, and make a goal for tomorrow.
  • Never cancel dinner plans by text message.
  • Every action in public should be done with some sign of respect to those present.
  • When entrusted with a secret, keep it.
  • When in the presence of others, do not sing to yourself, hum to yourself, or drum fingers or feet.
  • If you cough, sneeze, sigh or yawn, cover your mouth.
  • Being old is not dictated by your bedtime.
  • Strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite: its starting point.
  • Of all the things a leader should fear, complacency should head the list.
  • The great man is not only responsible for harvesting his own success, but for cultivating the success of the next generation.
  • Vitality is shown not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.
  • Smile when you pass a stranger.
  • Know the words to your national anthem.
  • Even if your dance moves aren’t the best, making a fool of yourself is much more fun than sitting on the bench.
  • A suntan is earned, not purchased.
  • Don’t sleep when others are talking, don’t sit when others stand, don’t talk when you should hold your peace, don’t walk when others stop.
  • Don’t remove your clothes in the presence of others or leave the privacy of your home half dressed.
  • Don’t bite your nails in the presence of others.
  • Avoid turning your back on someone who is speaking.
  • Don’t lean upon or kick the table upon which someone is reading or writing.
  • Always be the first to remove your hat, salute, or extend your hand to your equal or superior.
  • Let your speech with men of business be short and comprehensive.
  • Whenever writing or speaking, give to every person his due title according to his degree and the custom of the time.
  • Let your recreation be manful, not sinful.
  • Don’t talk with food in your mouth.
  • It is the duty of the senior ranking official within the group or company to unfold his napkin and begin eating first; however, that same official should begin with-in time and demonstrate enough dexterity that the slowest may have the necessary time allowed him to partake of the meal.
  • Avoid strife in disagreement with a superior, but always submit your judgement to others with modesty.
  • Associate yourself with men and women of good quality if you esteem your reputation, for it is better to be alone, then in bad company.
  • Don’t point.
  • Keep your promises.
  • The only things that evolve on their own in any organization are disorder, friction, and nonperformance.
  • Morale is really only faith in the man at the top.
  • No great invention was ever made without true exercise of imagination.
  • All bleeding stops . . . eventually.

Lesson in Irony

Irony

The Food Stamp program is administered by the UDSA (Department of Agriculture) and proudly displays that they distribute free meals and food stamps to over 46 million people annually.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, operated by the Department of the Interior states, in no uncertain terms, “Please DO NOT Feed the Animals . . .”  Their policy and reasoning for this statement is  . . .

“The animals will grow dependent upon the handouts, and they will never learn to take care for themselves.”

The Obesity Paradox: The Intersection Where Agricultural Policy Contradicts Health Policy

Intent

The intent of this brief is to analyze the burden of obesity in the United States and to recommend policy changes to reduce the medical costs of obesity imposed upon the individual and country as a whole.

Introduction

Conventional fat reduction/caloric restriction guidelines for the treatment of obesity and associated cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and hypertension have been recommended since the early 1970’s.  Because these guidelines are based on questionable evidence, the cost of obesity has dramatically risen to almost 21% of overall health care costs in the United States (1).  This brief will analyze the current medical cost of obesity and will explain why the current obesity reduction guidelines perpetuate the problem. In addition, the brief will examine the impact of government agricultural policy on dietary habits, and will recommend changes to farm subsidy legislation in order to reduce the incidence of obesity and decrease costs to the healthcare system.

History & Background

The Cost of Obesity on the Nation

Obesity CostsAs of 2012, obesity accounts for nearly 21% of overall health care costs in the United States.  An obese person incurs $2741 more in medical expenses per year than his or her non-obese counterpart (1).  Medicare spending has increased per person per year by $600 for each obese beneficiary (includes out-patient and prescription drugs) and Medicaid beneficiary prescription drug spending increased by $230 per year per obese person. Private insurance has increased by $248 for prescription drugs and $443 for in-patient services for each obese beneficiary per year (2). That adds up to $190.2 billion spent annually on obesity-related medical problems (3).  This is a drastic change. Health care costs related to obesity were $85.7 billion (9.1% of overall health care costs) in 2006 and $61.2 billion (6.5%  of overall health care costs) in 1998 (4).

Obesity Prevalance 2011The most recent Center for Disease Control statistics reveal that 35.7% of the U.S. adult population is currently obese and another 33% is overweight.  Over 78 million adults and 12.5 million children are obese (5). The addition of 30 million people to the health care roles (current estimation of the Affordable Care Act including Medicaid expansion) means that an estimated $27 billion (in 2012 dollars) more will be spent per year on obesity-related health care costs.

Impact of Government Policy on Consumption

The ‘Farm Bill’ was originally enacted as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which provided subsidies to American farmers in the midst of the Great Depression. Since that time the federal government has paid farmers not to grow seven specific crops – known as commodities – with the intent of decreasing the supply, increasing the demand, and thereby raising the price (7).  Dr. Susan Blumenthal, former Assistant Surgeon General and current SNAP to Health project director, writes, “The Farm Bill has since expanded to include many different categories or ‘titles.’ The last bill to be authorized, in 2008, had 15 titles, including nutrition (food stamps), crop subsidies, conservation, livestock, crop insurance and disaster assistance. The 2008 Farm Bill approved $300 billion in spending: 67% was spent on food stamps; 15% on agricultural subsidies; 9% on conservation; and 8% on crop insurance” (8).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Subsidy Programs tend to favor, either directly or indirectly, foods that increase obesity and other diseases. These subsidies support commodity crops, specialty crops, dairy products, livestock, and federal purchase programs.  Their justification is that they help to stabilize prices in agricultural commodity markets by balancing supply and demand (9).  Between 1995 and 2011, $277.3 billion were given in farm subsidies to almost 40% of U.S. farmers.  Arizona received $1.1 billion (mainly for cotton); however, only 7% of Arizona farms received subsides during this period (10).  These subsidies are incentives to grow and produce specific commodities that have a higher monetary return.  Subsidies also act as a disincentive for farmers to grow fruits and vegetables which fall under the “specialty crops” category.  This restricts both small and large farmers from diversifying their crops, and limits fruit and vegetable production (11).

Arizona farms received $25.3 million in dairy subsidies from 1995-2011 and $29.5 million in livestock subsidies during that same period (9).  Arizona ranks 2nd nationally in its production of cantaloupe & honeydew melons, head & leaf lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and lemons, all of which are “specialty crops” and do not receive subsidies (12).  The most recent statistics show that the top five states receiving subsidies are Iowa, Texas, Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota, with Kansas coming in at a close sixth.  The majority of these subsidies are for corn ($81.7 billion), soybeans ($26.4 billion), rice ($13.3 billion) and wheat ($34.4 billion) from 1995-2011 (10).  It is important to note that the Renewable Fuel Standard of 2012 (legislation protecting the corn-ethanol lobby) mandates that 37% of the corn harvest be used in ethanol production (13).

The food subsidies above have been in place since the Food, Conservation & Energy Act of 2002 and renewed in 2008.  They were only to be available for a period of five additional years and were set to expire September 30, 2012.  However, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (H.R. 8), enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama, included provisions that extended these subsidies until September 30, 2013 (20).

For many low-income Americans and especially children, federal programs have a direct and significant influence on food choices.  Subsidies where the money goesOver 30 million children receive government subsidized school lunch through National School Lunch Program (NSLP) administered by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (14).  USDA-purchased meats, dairy products, grains, fruits, and vegetables are supplied to schools for use in meal programs.  Current school lunch recommendations on calorie intake set by the USDA and The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010mandate school lunches provide 650-850 calories per meal to the 30 million children currently enrolled in this program (15).  Interestingly, that is the same caloric count of a Big Mac®, small fry and Diet Coke® from McDonalds® (16).  The rational for these purchase decisions are based upon agricultural support goals and adherence to national dietary guidelines (14).  A study published in the journal Economics and Human Biology reveals that a person’s body mass index (BMI) increased faster if that personwere on food stamps, and the BMI increased at a faster rate while on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  “We can’t prove that the Food Stamp Program causes weight gain, but this study suggests a strong linkage,” said Jay Zagorsky,  co-author of the study and a research scientist at Ohio State University’s Center for Human Resource Research (17).  However, much of the food available through the SNAP programs are refined, subsidized high-carbohydrate containing foods.

The price of food influences an individual’s consumption choices (6).  Foods that are refined contain increased amounts of sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. These foods contain more caloric density and are often cheaper and more easily accessible.  These are foods that are usually found in the center of the grocery store and frequently on sale at the end-caps of each isle.  Nutrient-dense, higher fiber foods are frequently associated with higher prices and are consumed less often.  These are the foods you usually find around the peripheral areas of the grocery store (fruits, vegetables, etc.)  Current food subsidy policy found in the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 extension mandated by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 drives up the price of fruits, vegetables, and meats. This policy also turns people toward lower cost foods that are higher in simple carbohydrates and caloric density.  Thus, current policy is actually making obesity worse and making America fatter.  Research completed at the University of Illinois at Chicago reveals that small taxes or price changes do not produce a change in a person’s BMI; however, more significant price change has a measurable and significant effect on weight in both adults and children.  Price increases of 100-150% have been shown to change purchasing behavior and thereby affect health (18).  An example of this is the tax levied on cigarette smoking.

The USDA disagrees with the amount of influence they have over the individual American’s food choices.  They state openly on their website that “Some public health advocates have argued that falling real, or inflation-adjusted, prices for many high-calorie foods encourage people to buy and consume more of these foods, leading to poor diet quality and rising rates of obesity. A closer look at how consumers respond to food price variation–over time, across geographic markets, in different types of stores, and in response to taxes and subsidies–reveals how food prices affect people’s food choices, and their waistlines. In short, price matters, but not very much, and it is not the only factor” (19).

Why Current Dietary Guidelines Have Not Been Effective

Why do we get fat?  Why have we not been successful in losing weight via diet and exercise? The obesity paradox was described by Jules Hirsch of Rockefeller University, who proposed two opposing hypotheses:

 

  1. “Obesity is the result of a willful descent into self-gratification” implying that we gain weight because we over-eat (caloric excess) leading to caloric imbalance.
  2. “Alternative hypothesis is that there is something ‘biologic’ about obesity, some alteration of hormones, enzymes or other biochemical control systems which leads to obesity” (22).

The 1977 Dietary Goals for the United States – the first comprehensive statement by any branch of the federal government about the American diet – supported the first theory. The Guidelines were heavily influenced by the American Heart Association’s position that fat intake alone would cause heart disease. The USDA 2011 Dietary Guidelines imply that the “people who are the most successful at achieving and maintaining a healthy weight do so through continued attention to consuming only enough calories from foods and beverages to meet their needs and by being physically active.” (15)

Current research contradicts the caloric restriction or “calorie in – calorie out” theory.  Scientific evidence clearly demonstrates the domino effect of carbohydrate or starch intake increasing insulin levels which thereby stimulates obesity by raising cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Time Magazine recently published evidence that the longstanding recommendations to “eat less high-fat red meat, eggs and dairy and replace them with more calories from fruits, vegetables and especially carbohydrates” is now seen as incorrect (45).  Even our medical textbooks from 1965, like the introductory chapter of the Handbook of Physiology, make it clear that carbohydrate intake cause weight gain and raise triglyceride and cholesterol levels (22), (23), (24).

Current Policy

The current version of the Farm Bill was set to expire September 30th, 2013.  If it had been allowed to expire, the results would have returned us to the 1949 Farm Bill legislation and theoretically double the price of milk. However, this would have had the effect of freeing up over $5 billion dollars of federal spending per year and would also lead to decreased consumption of a major source of carbohydrates in the standard American diet like wheat and corn.  Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, had repeatedly said she was opposed to an extension; however, she agreed to a compromise extending the bill for another year to help the farmers experiencing serious drought conditions in 2012 (7).  Two additional extensions were passed in the House and Senate, but because these differed so significantly, it was referred to a House-Senate Conference Committee to work out the compromise details.  With only $23 billion in spending reductions, The Agricultural Act of 2014 was passed on January 29, 2014 (46).   

Outcomes and Stakeholders

Obesity Trends 1960-2008If the United States continues its current course, up to 58% of the population will be obese by 2030 (26).  Many believe that the USDA Dietary Guidelines are to blame.  Richard David Feinman, President of the Nutrition and Metabolism Society and Professor of Cell Biology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center said, “The previous Guidelines have not worked well.  It is unreasonable to ask the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) to audit its own work.  An external panel of scientists with no direct ties to nutritional policy would be able to do a more impartial evaluation of the data.  This would be far better for everyone.” (27) A recent Gallup Poll reveals that 63% of Americans believe the USDA Guidelines that a low fat, calorie restricted diet will help in reduction of obesity, and the same study showed that 48% of Americans worry about their weight “all of the time or some of the time” (28).  Recent evidence from the Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial studying 49,000 women supports Dr. Feinman’s conclusion above. It did not show any statistically significant evidence that following a low-fat or caloric restricted diet had any effect upon obesity (29). Other nutritional experts from the Salt Institute and the National Health Coalition have expressed their support for significant changes to the USDA Dietary Guidelines (30).  The Weston A. Price Foundation, which according to its website is “dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism,” also supports the view that the current USDA Dietary Guidelines have been a significant cause of obesity and have been an active voice promoting legislative change (31).

On the other hand, the Sugar Association has issued statements that sugar is not the cause of obesity and “continually eating too much food and sedentary lifestyles are the major contributing factors to increasing rates of obesity – not sugar intake” (32).  In addition, the American Beverage Association has stated that sugars are not the problem with obesity, but instead, “overweight and obesity are a result of an imbalance between calories consumed and calories burned” (33).

Attempts at modifying the Farm Bill with legislation like the 2012 DeMint Amendment (SA 2276 ) were supported by both Arizona Senators McCain (R-AZ) and Kyl (R-AZ) with a “Yes” vote, as well as Senators Ayotte (R-NH), Brown (R-MA), Burr (R-NC), Coats (R-IN), Coburn (ROK), Cornyn (R-TX), DeMint (R-SC), Graham (R-SC), Hatch (R-UT), Heller (R-NV), Johnson (R-WI), Lee (R-UT), McConnell (R-KY), Murkowski (R-AK), Paul (R-KY), Rubio (R-FL), Sessions (R-AL), and Toomey (R-PA).  However, because of a large lobbying agricultural coalition, it was voted down (34).  Changing farm subsidies will be a great challenge as 40% of the farmers in the U.S. now have some degree of dependence upon these subsidies.  The following agricultural groups have historically had significant monetary interest in the farm subsidies that these amendments would affect:

  • American Beekeeping Federation
  • American Farm Bureau Federation American Mushroom Institute
  • American Sheep Industry Association American Soybean Association
  • National Cattlemen’s Beef Association National Corn Growers Association National Cotton Council
  • National Council of Farmer Cooperatives National Farmers Union
  • National Milk Producers Federation National Pork Producers Council
  • National Potato Council
  • National Sorghum Producers
  • National Watermelon Association
  • Produce Marketing Association
  • United Dairymen of Arizona
  • United Egg Producers
  • United Fresh Produce Association
  • Western Peanut Growers Association

The following groups have formed coalitions in support of the Farm Bill: Health/Food Justice/Farm Group partnerships, Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, Community Food Security Coalition, Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University, Collaboration for a Healthy Sustainable Food System, and the Healthy Farms, Healthy People: A Farm & Food Policy Summit for a Strong America.

The American Heart Association’s position is that the Farm Bill needs to be modified to include increased access to fruits and vegetables (35).  The American Medical Association’s position in 2008 and 2011 has been for cutting the size and budget of the current Farm Bill (36).  The American Osteopathic Association does not currently have a formal position on the Farm Bill.

If certain crops like corn or wheat were no longer subsidized,drastic changes will be likely in the food manufacturing industry, which would likely be the largest proponent against change.  Unintended consequences of modifying the Farm Bill and not extending its subsidies could have the short term effect of escalating the price of a number of commodities to two to three times their current price.  For example, the price of milk would increase to $6-$8 dollars a gallon without federal subsidies (37).  This would likely deter the use of carbohydrates containing dairy products, but may also increase the price of meats and cheeses as well.

The USDA’s Rural Development Progress Report claims that the subsidies it distributed “saved more than 75,000 jobs” in 2006 and over 400,000 jobs in 2011 (38), (39). They claim that without federal farm subsidiesthere would be significant loss of jobs; however, studies from the Cato Institute actually show the opposite.

“Job gains are weak and population growth is actually negative in most of the counties where farm payments are the biggest share of income. Job growth is decidedly weak in the counties most dependent on farm payments. The vast majority of such counties (483) had job gains below the 19 percent national average from 1992 to 2002. A considerable number (167) had outright job losses over the period. In short, farm payments are not yielding robust economic and population gains in the counties where they should have the greatest impact. If anything, the payments appear to be linked with sub-par economic and population growth. To be sure, this quick comparison cannot answer whether growth would have been even weaker in the absence of the payments.  Still, farm payments appear to create dependency on even more payments, not new engines of growth” (40).

As of 2010, obesity costs about $73.1 billion per year in lost productivity in the United States (43).  The worsening obesity epidemic poses further workforce productivity losses up to 20% more by 2030.  Even small improvements in obesity will improve workforce productivity and has substantial potential for savings.  Currently, the Affordable Care Act allows employers to charge obese employees 30-50% more for health insurance.  Without correcting this epidemic, it may be impossible for many to afford health care, opting out to pay the less expensive tax penalty. This would have the effect of increasing commercial premiums across the country, feasibly pushing private insurance companies out of business and forcing a single payer governmental system.

Recommendations

This brief points out that the overall U.S. healthcare costs associated with obesity have increased by 68% in the last fourteen years.  It provides evidence that using current dietary low-fat caloric restriction guidelines show poor statistically significant improvements in obesity.  And it provides evidence that obesity is not caused by excessive caloric intake and fat, but by insulin response to carbohydrate intake.  Lastly, this analysis provides evidence that the Farm Bill propagates continued worsening obesity rates in the US by providing access to cheap, fattening food.

The USDA 2011 Dietary Guidelines need to be revised to reflect current evidence-based obesity prevention and weight reduction research.  The guidelines should include information about limiting the intake of foods high in carbohydrates.

The food subsidy extension provided in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was extended five years by the Agricultural Act of 2014.  Had it been allowed to expire, it would have saved the country over $200 billion over the next ten years.  However, because of so many entitlements involved in this bill, the House and Senate convened in Conference that resulted in a compromise of only $23 billion dollars in spending reductions, the first SNAP reforms since 1996 reducing waste, but did nothing in eliminating subsidies that drive or influence eating behavior (46).

When significant price changes occur, eating behavior will change.  As the price of fattening carbohydrates increases, people will eat less of them, leading to a national decrease in obesity and overweight.  The current reforms did nothing that will change our dietary behavior.

References

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