The Week in Review - Politics, Pollution, Procrastination and Prayer - What a Future!

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On the political front there were primaries and two special elections. The anti-incumbents won in Kentucky and Pennsylvania sending a signal to both Democrat and Republican parties. Then in the special elections a far more conservative Democrat than the moderate Republican won in Pennsylvania and a far more conservative Republican than two Democrats won in Hawaii. For the week the real winners were the conservative public, especially united in their opposition to the Obama and Democrats madcap spending addiction and total disregard for the spiraling federal deficit.

Also in politics Rand Paul, Kentucky Tea Party winner, naively mistook victory for a honeymoon with the press and found out just how deep and devious the venom of left wing media can be when he made his first appearances on the radical left PBS and MSNBC bastions. By weeks end someone finally took Rand to the woodshed for a little education in surviving with the sharks of the elite media.



Our self-proclaimed transparent president Barack Obama knows all about media and how fast they can turn on you and has been doing a good job of manipulating them. You would never know it, but Obama has not had an open news conference, one in which the media can ask about anything, since last July. Even George Bush held open news conferences twice a month throughout his eight year term. Obama has gone 10 months with no open news conference.

On the pollution front the BP oil spill has been partly stopped, and an effort to seal it will be made in the next couple of days. No one knows how many thousands of barrels have already escaped or how far it will be spread. There are predictions for catastrophic damage and losses, much from the seemingly thousands of lawyers lined up to sue everyone for damages which will line the pockets of the lawyers but do little to help the local economy.



The Obama administration may wind up being one of the biggest losers in this disaster because they were too busy playing politics to make sure their own regulatory agencies did their regulating. Yes there were problems with the technology, with the equipment and with the procedures, but there were also problems with the Obama people who have had nearly a year and a half to investigate their regulatory agencies and make sure all safety and equipment inspections take place. If the regulators were too cozy with the oil industry it was Obama's fault, they reported to him.

On the financial front we teetered on the brink of disaster over the European crisis and are far from out of it yet. After the shocking stock collapse the week before we got a report from Obama's SEC and other agencies saying it will take several more weeks to repair the regulatory flaws before they are sure the crash of 1000 Dow points in minutes won't happen again. No that is not very reassuring. Why don't they just declare an emergency and fix the damn mess?

Also on the financial front the Senate approved a version of the financial reform act, now it goes to a conference with the House and final action is expected by July. That means it took Congress three years since the housing meltdown and two years since the banking meltdown to start to fix the problems. It also means it will have taken President Obama and his Calvary of change agents about 18 months to come up with a fix for the economy. If that is rapid response by the president and the Democrats controlling Congress we are in very serious trouble.

When the bill goes to conference with the House it still contains some derivative language the banks hate and still makes no mention of the housing crisis which triggered the collapse of the economy. Rumor has it that no Democrat in Congress has the guts to say the strict derivative language should be dropped to satisfy the big bankers who financed the campaigns of Obama and the Congress. So watch to see if Obama, who has tried to paint a picture of himself as champion of the bank bashers, is not the one to request the derivative language be modified in order to protect the Democrats up for re-election.



If you doubt his claim as the champion bank basher just look at this letter I got from him this week. It came from the barackobama.com committee:

Jim --

On Thursday, the Senate passed historic Wall Street reform. This movement proved again that the strongest special interests, who for so long have called the shots in Washington, can be beat.
When opponents in Congress tried to block the legislation altogether, you stood up -- and they backed down. When the lobbyists pushed for loopholes and exemptions just before a final vote, you did not relent -- and we fought them off.
Your support brought us to this day -- and, because of that, we're poised to implement sensible reforms that will provide a stronger foundation for economic growth.
Now, the House and Senate must iron out their differences before I can sign it into law. But the financial industry will not give up. They have already spent more than $1 million per member of Congress, lobbying on this issue. And in the coming days, they will go all in. This is their last shot to stall, weaken, or kill reform, and they are not accustomed to losing.
But this movement has you -- and together, we have beaten the special interests before.
Please donate $5 or more today to help Organizing for America continue to mobilize thousands -- to counter the special interests' attacks and get strong Wall Street reform to my desk.
Every American has a stake in this bill.
If you have ever been treated unfairly by a credit card company, this reform works for you -- never again will Americans be duped by fine print or hidden fees.
If you ever try to take out a home loan or student loan, this reform works for you -- putting an end to predatory and deceptive lending practices.
And, if you or your small business relies on credit from community banks that are being punished for playing by the rules while their competitors do not, this reform works for you -- reining in the big banks and making sure all our lenders are subject to tough oversight.
These reforms would put in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history. And, by helping safeguard our economy from recklessness on Wall Street, it would ensure that a crisis like the one that caused this recession never happens again.
This is not a zero-sum game where Wall Street loses and Main Street wins. As we have learned, in today's economy, we are all connected. When the economy prospers, we all win. Senators of both parties recognize that fact, and that is why lawmakers stood up to the lobbyists and worked across the aisle to ensure that Wall Street reform passed.
But this fight is not yet over. And it is up to us to overcome this final test and pass reform into law. When we do, the power of this movement to make change in Washington -- despite the best efforts of the special interests -- will no longer be up for debate.
Please donate $5 or more today:
https://donate.barackobama.com/WSRSenateVictory
Thank you,
President Barack Obama



If Obama makes any move to change the reform legislation and water down the derivatives section he is a total hypocrite. Besides, aren't all lobbyist committees required to be registered lobbyists? If Obama can have a committee directly lobbying for a bill and raising millions of dollars to do it aren't they a lobbyist and special interest too? Yes we are back into the silly season.

As for pollution, BP is still struggling to clean up the spill and seal off the leak. Congressional hearings have already pointed out flaws in the regulatory process by the Obama people for not doing safety inspections and in the oil industry for not solving all safety problems, testing new technology and not having a plan for such a disaster.

While the leak will get sealed at some point, the clean up of oil already leaked is the source of much wild speculation and certain to be the target of multi-billion dollar damage suits by every lawyer who is part of the number one contributor to the Obama campaign and the Democrats running Congress. At least the unemployment rate for lawyers is sure to go down.



As for speculation about how serious the spill will be, I have my on speculation to throw in the mixing pot. We all know that oil leaking into the ocean is a normal thing and there are microbes in the ocean that feed off the oil. Normally there is not this much oil for feeding the microbes. So I predict that with hurricane season a week away there will be tropical storms and hurricanes that hit the gulf.

All the surface oil will most likely reduce the destruction by the storms because they have to move across heavy water with all the oil in it. However, the churning seas will widely disperse and break up the concentrations of oil in the gulf. The natural process will enable the microbes to attack the oil residue much more aggressively. At the same time the turbulence of the gulf and the massive volume of water thrown onto the shores by the hurricanes will help clean up the shore and wetlands that have been contaminated with oil.

The liberal media have said it will take many billions of dollars and more than a decade to clean up the mess. I say with the help of Mother Nature and/or Divine Intervention because of all the prayers being offered for help, the damage and length of time to recover could be far less. Sometimes it takes supernatural action to clean up the mess of men.

On the immigration front the liberals continue to bellow like stuck pigs about the Arizona law that has been significantly modified since original passage. Neither Obama nor the Democratic leadership in Congress will admit that Arizona was forced to act because Congress and the president decided it was too risky to push immigration reform with the November elections. That sounds more like backroom politics than leadership.

Of course the California liberals have followed suit and are trying to adopt restrictions in travel to Arizona to penalize the Arizona people. That sounds more like an action you would find in Soviet Russia than America. How can a state adopt any action that grossly discriminates against another state and ignores the fact the Congress and president failed to do their job? Only the liberals can figure out such bizarre strategies. And yes, as I said in an earlier article, Arizona has now threatened to shut off the electricity to California if they discriminate as they threatened. More than 25% of Los Angeles electricity comes from across the border in Arizona.

Top of all this activity off with the fact that Obama, after running around the country holding a series of press opportunities to boast of how the economy has turned around thanks to his trillion dollar deficit spending, watched helplessly as the stock market lost more value than any week since the economic crash. Of course Obama was just staying away from Washington for the week because of the election losses and mismanagement of the oil spill but he still claimed credit for fixing things prematurely, a fitting exclamation point on how little he still understands his job.



Let's see, Europe is on the brink of economic disaster, the national debt exceeds $13trillion, North Korea is charged with sinking a South Korean ship, Iran cuts nuclear deals as Obama tries to shut them down in the UN, the death toll of American military in Afghanistan passes 1,000, the stock market falls the most since the crash, oil continues spilling in the Gulf, financial reform moves forward as immigration reform moves backward, and the only thing PBS, MSNBC, NBC and ABC can ask Rand Paul is about the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed by Lyndon Johnson. Now what is wrong with this picture?

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Obama's SEIU Union Violates Privacy Rights Again when Angry Mob Swarms Private Home

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President Obama was proud to talk of his relationship to the renegade SEIU union and it's leader Andy Stern during his campaign for president, with Stern claiming SEIU pumped over $60 million to ge him elected. Obama even named Stern to the National Debt Commission though he had no economic background or experience.

Once he was elected the SEIU had a free pass to the White House and Stern made more visits there the first year of Obama's presidency than anyone else in America. His union was hired by Obama, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and many other Democrats to provide security at the health care town halls, a move that got them accused of beating up a handicapped citizen attending a town hall in Ohio.



Perhaps in frustration with the president for the lack of progress on the SEIU radical leftist agenda, the union began picketing banks that benefitted from the bank bailout, and that is acceptable public protest. More recently they have begun picketing private homes of people associated with banks and this past week outside Washington 14 busloads of SEIU people descended upon the private property of a BOA executive, Gregory Baer in Maryland.

Baer just happens to live next door to Nina Easton, the Washington Bureau Chief of Fortune Magazine, who observed the mob scene from her front window across the street. This is what she reported.



“Last Sunday, on a peaceful, sun-crisp afternoon, our toddler finally napping upstairs, my front yard exploded with 500 screaming, placard-waving strangers on a mission to intimidate my neighbor, Greg Baer. Baer is deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), a senior executive based in Washington, D.C. And that — in the minds of the organizers at the politically influential Service Employees International Union and a Chicago outfit called National Political Action — makes his family fair game.”

"Waving signs denouncing bank ‘greed,' hordes of invaders poured out of 14 school buses, up Baer's steps, and onto his front porch. As bullhorns rattled with stories of debtor calls and foreclosed homes, Baer's teenage son Jack-- alone in the house--locked himself in the bathroom. ‘When are they going to leave?' Jack pleaded when I called to check on him."

"Baer, on his way home from a Little League game, parked his car around the corner, called the police, and made a quick calculation to leave his younger son behind while he tried to rescue his increasingly distressed teen. He made his way through a din of barked demands and insults from the activists who proudly ‘outed' him, and slipped through his front door."

" ‘Excuse me,' Baer told his accusers, ‘I need to get into the house. I have a child who is alone in there and frightened.' "

The journalist called the protest "a mob."



Is this the legacy and are these the tactics Obama expected from his primary union backer? Why has the president and all Democrats, who were quick to condemn the Tea party protestors even though they were never involved in illegal activity nor the violation of privacy like the SEIU, not condemned this renegade union for unlawful tactics?

Why did the liberal media, who reports the most trivial of liberal trash about Sarah Palin and others on their hit list, not report the news about their own people ignoring the rights to privacy granted to all Americans? Today in America we have dual standards when it comes to reporting and when it comes to lawful behavior. Apparently the waiver from criminal indictment for unlawful acts from the Obama Administration is a $60 million campaign contribution.



And by the way, even though the SEIU claims they gave Obama over $60 million, they only reported $32 million on federal campaign reports. Why has the Obama gang not investigated the public boasting by Stern and the SEIU about the $60 million which would amount to about $30 million in illegal spending according to the federal laws you and I are required to follow?

Welcome to the Big Leagues Rand Paul - Just ask Sarah Palin for Media Advice

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Newly nominated Senate candidate Rand Paul, a threat to everything the Administration and left liberals stand for if he gets elected this fall, had not basked in the glory of a stunning primary victory for 48 hours before the propaganda arm of the Obama left and Democrats, PBS and MSNBC, began the task of trapping and discrediting the political neophyte.



It was done with surgical precision in a one-two punch by PBS, followed by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC that left the rookie staggering. Much like his father Congressman Ron Paul, who has been a master of communications with our youth and general public but is denied access to much of the national media, Rand Paul takes a rather cerebral approach to news conferences. He actually tries to give an in depth insight into his views and philosophy on issues.



Well the left liberals educated him on why the national media has lost the confidence of the public as they took his words, reinterpreted what he said, and incited national media hysteria over whether he was for or was against the 1960's civil rights act. A little deft editing and the Democratic pit bulls were cut loose trying to force him out of the election before the final primary votes had been counted.



In less than 24 hours he was back trying to do damage control and again he demonstrated he is not quite ready for prime time by trying to explain his position in a reasoned way. Wake up Rand, today's media can only be controlled with sound bites and video clips. Give them 5-10 seconds of senseless patter that keeps you out of trouble and don't get seduced into thinking you can walk right into the liberal lion's nest and be treated with anything but the scorn and fear they have for you.



Now Paul is a fresh face and I have been involved in many political campaigns including running US Senate races and never have I seen such a stupid job by his communications advisors. He should fire his entire communications staff and bring in the pros who can prepare him for the massive scrutiny that he will face throughout the rest of the campaign.



To think that PBS and MSNBC, the national masters of media manipulation and the propaganda machine for the left guard, would give a conservative libertarian a fair interview is just plain stupid. Whoever let him schedule the interviews with the gotcha networks, yes they advertise that they will find a way to smear anyone who does not agree with them, should be replaced as well.

Rand should stay off the air until he gets the right advisors and schedulers and is properly prepped before facing the lions again. He may strike a nerve with the public, but the media is his enemy and he cannot forget it. They have the power to twist your words into anything they believe will hurt your chances to get elected.



Ask Obama who watched the media, who were in his back pocket when he was elected, turn on him. Better yet, ask the most prominent victim of media manipulation in America and one of your first major supporters Sarah Palin what kind of fair break you will receive from the silver screen mouthpieces. She was a trained journalist and proven communicator and look what happened.



Keep your campaign with the people, not the media. Get experienced and good communications and scheduling advisors. And keep your campaign focused on the people of Kentucky and today, not some 1960's law that has nothing to do with the problems America faces today. Lick your wounds and move on, don't keep trying to educate a media that has no interest in telling your story.



We need your independent voice in the Senate. Keep independent of the liberal media and you have a chance. The people of Kentucky deserve no less.

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Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America - Part 3.

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Attacked by Lyme disease - When you become the Victim!

Before I get into the moment I knew something was terribly wrong, let me give you a brief overview of my background. From the time I was a kid growing up in Iowa I loved the outdoors, farms, ranches, camping out, hiking and playing in the woods. Being outside was the highlight of the day.

Then came Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and even camping out on family vacations. I was at peace outdoors. In high school and college I was a jock and among my passions was golf, so much so that I even worked at golf courses when I wasn't playing, yet more exposure to the outdoors.

Once I made it through early childhood I was a healthy kid suffering only injuries related to sports and being a kid. Only once in my life since I was a kid was I hospitalized, back in 1964 when I had an emergency appendectomy at the University of Arizona.

Since then I was only at an emergency room twice, for observation for exhaustion in the 1970's, and for straining my lower lumbar in the early 1980's when I landscaped my yard with 36 tons of Belgian block. For most of my life I have owned dogs, a carrier of ticks.



I continued to play golf, softball and basketball well into the 1980's and golf forever until today. Living in Iowa, Nebraska, California, Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky and Maryland I always liked the outdoors, spent hours creating a natural landscape where ever I lived, and enjoying the sun. All of which exposed me to more and more ticks.

Medically, I started following the teaching of the traditional Hopi Indians in 1964 when I first visited their reservation in Arizona and spent much time ever since visiting and studying this unique nation of original Americans. By the 1980's I got to know an old Chinese herbalist in NYC's Chinatown and added this discipline to what I learned from the Hopi medicine people and elders.



I stopped taking vaccinations long ago, stopped taking antibiotics and pain killers, because of what I learned about how we are destroying our immune systems. Over the years my diet became rather good and my health was fine and I have not needed the service of a doctor in over 26 years. Fact is I never had a health insurance claim during that time though some jobs provided comprehensive health coverage.

I paid very close attention to my body and how it reacted to food, liquids, and life, meaning mastering stress in my life, and I had some very stressful jobs. To a nutritionist I had bad eating habits because I only ate once a day. To western medicine I had horrible sleeping habits as I never seemed to need more than about 3 hours sleep a night. Once I went to a sleep clinic but they could find no harmful effect from the lack of sleep.



This was how I functioned for 63 years until about four weeks ago.

The first signs of trouble. One morning in late April of this year I woke up and felt like I had twisted my hips during sleep and pinched a nerve. The pain was severe and I took it easy through the day. The next morning I woke up and felt the pinched nerve had caused a second pinched nerve at the base of my neck just between the shoulders. Within 48 hours I could barely move my arms, shoulders, lower back and legs from the severe pain.

In other words, there were none of the early detection signs of Lyme disease but several of the late stage or chronic stage signs of Lyme disease. This spring I had encountered ticks working on the yard and I had removed ticks from my dog almost every day. But there was no redness from any bites and they had never bothered me before.

My previous exposure to friends with Lyme disease and intense study I had made of it caused me to consider the possibility I might have it as I could barely walk within 48 hours. Then both hands went numb, as if frozen, and I lost all sense of touch from my wrists down. It felt like my hands were frozen, and I knew that feeling from winter blizzards on the Great Plains. No pain, just numbness.

By the third day I was still forcing myself, at great pain, to walk my dog for one mile early each morning but I noticed motor problems. When I first awoke I experienced extreme vertigo and when I tried to walk I felt my brain signals to my leg muscles were being interrupted and had a great deal of difficulty walking anything close to normal.



Fact was, probably because I have some background in theater and television production, I reminded myself at times of the Scarecrow character from the Wizard of Oz. My brain could not get my legs to do what I wanted. It was a disconnected feeling like when the Scarecrow tried to walk or dance. Once I started forcing myself to walk I became like the Tin Man and was very stiff and disjointed.

By the third day I felt little pain unless I moved but when I did move I became exhausted easily. The frozen feeling remained in my hands but my temperature remained normal and other people said my hands did not feel cold.

I began to think it might be Lyme disease except I had skipped all the early stage signs from the redness of a tick bite to fever, flu like symptoms, exhaustion, headaches, and other symptoms. If I had it I was exhibiting what I knew to be late stage symptoms which seemed quite strange to me.

Within a few days I was in for testing and though all my body measurements were normal, I had a serious problem because I could barely walk. Lab tests of blood and saliva indicated two markers for Lyme disease and from that moment on I focused on what to do next.



Because of the unexpected appearance of Lyme in my system I focused on the late stage symptoms and knew every thing I was experiencing fit the disease. Of course it also fit some of the many diseases I have discussed earlier as it mimics up to 300 infections. Caution about drawing a conclusion was eliminated when the testing showed the two Lyme markers.

As I said earlier, long ago I gave up antibiotics and pain killers because of the damage they do to our immune system. Other than providing short term relief from the bacteria, I had my doubts about the long term value of treatment with drugs anyway.



I was committed to finding the best treatment using natural products that built up the immune system rather than destroying it like antibodies can do. Because of the seemingly advanced stage of the disease, which I could not explain at the time, and the danger that a failure to address the problems quickly might leave me with permanent damage, I focused on two possible paths of treatment.

One was a new treatment I learned about in the past year that can be found at http://www.lymephotos.com based on the research by a Lyme disease victim who exhausted all conventional treatments over a 13 year period with no improvement in wiping out the disease. His research identified a heretofore unknown aspect to Lyme disease, that the bacteria seemed to work with a variety of parasites in your body. If both the bacteria and parasites were not treated together you might never fully recover from the disease.

After all his years of trial and error only one treatment seemed to attack both the bacteria and parasites and that was a combination of pure sea salt and Vitamin C taken in large quantities that attacked both bacteria and parasites by restoring your immune system. The instruction was to work up to 1 gram of salt and 1 gram of Vitamin C for every 10 pounds of body weight up to a maximum of 18 grams of each per day. Since I weighed slightly over 200 pounds I had to consume the 18 gram maximum at full strength.

I turned to my nutritionist and he said the best form of unprocessed salt, without any additives like aluminum, silica or iodine, was Celtic salt because it retained the most natural minerals. I was to take 18 grams per day, slightly more than three tablespoons per day.



For Vitamin C at the high levels required he recommended BIO-C which provides the Vitamin C through a proprietary blend of fruits, herbs, sprouts, and extracts whose diversity would be more amenable to the body at such high levels. I would need to take about 10 capsules a day.

However, because I was at the advanced stage I decided I also wanted to use another natural compound that also had recently achieved remarkable results in treating Lyme. Because the clinical work was done in Equator it was not recognized by the US which raises all sorts of questions about just how bad the CDC and FDA want to attack the problem.

Using Cat's Claw, a vine that grows in the Peru rainforest, there have been stunning results supplementing your damaged immune system. Cats Claw (Uncaria tomentosa) is a South American vine that works its way up the jungle canopy using sharp thorns on its stems. Many varieties of this plant are harvested by the Ashaninka people of central Peru, but there is one variety in particular called Samento that they value above all the rest.

This incredible plant, which has been used medicinally for more than 2,000 years by the indigenous people of the region, is now the subject of intensive investigation by scientists all around the world. Clinical evidence has shown that Samento is of great benefit for inflammatory and auto-immune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and asthma. The plant is also showing great promise as a breakthrough treatment for Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome and other degenerative illnesses. In addition, it is an ideal herb for strengthening the immune system.

I ordered Samento through the Internet and as soon as it arrives I will be using it along with the salt and Vitamin C treatment already underway. So there you have it, the two types of natural treatment I am using and intend to use to attack the advanced stage of the disease. The combination attacks all the flaws I found in current treatment of Lyme disease from the failure to recognize the parasites to the use of antibiotics which destroys the immune system, the very thing that could have protected us from the bacteria in the first place.

After my first week on the salt and Vitamin C the feeling has returned to two fingers on each hand though the freezing cold sensation still remains. I have noticed a slight improvement in the nerves in my lower back as walking has become somewhat easier but I expect the Samento to attack the inflamed nerves much more aggressively when I start it next week.

The nerves at the base of my neck have relaxed a bit as well and the shoulders have loosened up although it is expected there will be some problems when the parasites, which are being driven out of the body by the salt and Vitamin C, start counter-attacking before they will be forced to flee. Right now the muscles in my upper arms are sore for no reason other than a parasite attack.



Much of the feeling of vertigo has gone although when I walk the morning mile by the end my fatigue level is such that I can feel the vertigo start to return. Too much continuous walking or too much continuous sitting seems to have the same impact.

There is no problem with my diet and digestion though I am trying to eat fresh and balanced foods and to eat at least two meals a day. Sleep is normal without pain. Throughout the whole ordeal I have felt no headaches, had no problem keeping my mind functioning normally, and do not feel any fatigue as long as I do not engage in excessive physical activity.

The big problems are the pain in the arm muscles which is constant, difficulty standing initially, and the numb fingers. When I pick things up I cannot feel pressure so I drop them often. Don't use the good china. And when I type the lack of feeling results in hitting a lot of double letters which I try to catch in edits so I apologize for any mistakes in the text. Finally, the lack of feeling is so complete that you can touch hot things and not know it or have the shower way too hot for the rest of your body. You just have to be careful.

The salt saturation in my body has resulted in some interesting changes, almost as if you are spending a lot of time swimming in the salty ocean. Dead skin peels off faster, your complexion clears up, and you have the feeling of salt in your eyes as if swimming.

Copy and paste the other two parts of the series at:

Part 1. Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping.html

Part 2. Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping_19.html

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Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America - Part 2.

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My first article was an introduction to the Lyme disease, a review of some of the misunderstandings, and acknowledgement that I have had two Lyme markers detected indicating the disease is present. You can find it through the following link, http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping.html in my newspaper, the Coltons Point Times.

This article (Part 2.) will expand on the lack of reliable data on Lyme disease and the misconceptions regarding the bacteria. Part 3. will discuss the symptoms I exhibited to indicate the latent bacteria became activated and began attacking my body and Part 4. will discuss the treatment I am taking to attempt to fight off the Lyme Disease as well as the results of my treatment.

However, let me first explain my reason and approach to this series. By training and experience I am an investigative reporter and though my newspaper experience was limited I have spent my life in various positions and projects that enabled me to use this background.

While I have an interest in science and have been involved in some extraordinary scientific projects I am not a scientist but a reporter who attempts to interpret what the scientists are trying to tell us. My role is to translate science into understandable terms that people will know. On occasion I will make mistakes when attempting this so do not hold me to the highest scientific standards in reporting.



What I will do is cut through the technical and scientific language to tell you the truth. I will also tell you what makes no sense and where the real truth may lie. Unlike scientists, I begin with no preconceived notions nor required protocols but with an open mind to find the truth. Finally, I do not limit where the truth might lead me and try and stay open to information that is not relevant to existing medical reports but makes sense if we recognize that existing information may be wrong.

As for Lyme disease, my first conflict with published information was that I cannot accept that Lyme disease, or more specifically the bacteria associated with it, is something new since the 1970's nor that it could be caused solely by a deer tick bite. Also it made no sense that it was unique to Northern America and Europe.

The following information was extracted from a book, 2008 Lyme Disease Annual Report by Bryan Rosner and other contributing writers.

For some reason, Americans tend to assume that Lyme Disease is isolated to the United States. It is understood that other diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and hepatitis, are prevalent throughout the world—but Lyme Disease is perceived to be an exclusively American disease. The reality is that Lyme Disease is a major problem all around the globe.

Understanding the vast prevalence of this infection is necessary for a proper perspective of the disease. Only when we recognize its true reach, severity, and ability to spread, will we be equipped to properly face Lyme Disease. An accurate understanding of the enormity of Lyme Disease gives patients enough respect for the disease to take it seriously and fight to heal, and gives practitioners and researchers the perspective necessary to allocate much-needed funds and resources to its study. Recent research confirms the presence of Lyme Disease on all corners of the globe. Below is a brief summary of current findings.



In England, the British public has been warned by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to carefully protect themselves from tick bites due to a “sharp rise in the number of the blood-sucking parasites and increased cases of Lyme Disease in Hampshire, Dorset, and Berkshire.” The increase in tick population has been blamed on a “particularly wet and mild summer.” According to the HPA, “Lyme Disease is a highly infectious disease which is transmitted through tick bites and can lead to blindness, paralysis, and even death if left undiagnosed.” Britons are advised to protect themselves by “wearing trousers, using insect repellent and checking their skin for ticks” after visits to the countryside. The HPA also notes that “incidents of Lyme Disease have increased by 90% since 2006 across the UK, and New Forest, South Downs, Dorset, and Berkshire have now been named as tick hot-spots.”

The Department of Molecular Biology at Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, released a study in 2007 which stated that “The reported geographical distribution of Lyme Disease is constantly increasing in Sweden.” The report cites findings which show that birds play a key role in the spread of Lyme Disease due to their long distance dispersal and their role as reservoir hosts for Borrelia. In addition to Lyme Disease in Sweden, Swedish researchers also discovered that sea birds in the Arctic region of Norway carry Ixodes uria ticks infected with Lyme Disease, specifically the Borrelia garinii strain. It has long been known that Borrelia garinii is one of the more common forms of Lyme Disease on the European continent, and this information shows the spread of this strain to new geographical areas.

In collaboration with U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) researchers, Russian scientists set out to determine which types of bacterial agents are found in the North Western region of Russia. The type of tick examined was Ixodes persulcatus. Researchers discovered the following:

Altogether, 27.7% of ticks were infected with at least one organism, while the DNA of two or more bacteria was found in 11.8% of ticks tested. The highest average prevalence of Anaplasmataceae (20.8%) was detected in ticks from Arkhangel'sk province, while the prevalence in ticks from Novgorod province and St. Petersburg, respectively, was 7.3% and 12.2%. Only Ehrlichia muris DNA was identified by DNA sequencing. In comparison, the prevalence of B. burgdorferi DNA was 16.6%, 5.8%, and 24.5% in the respective locations.

The Russian researchers conclude with this statement: “Since I. persulcatus is so commonly infected with multiple agents that may cause human diseases, exposure to these ticks poses significant risk to human health in this region.”

Researchers in Germany studied the influence of preventative measures on the risk of being bitten by a tick and suffering from Lyme Disease in children attending kindergarten in forested regions of Germany. Fifty-three schools were studied, encompassing 1,707 children. Researchers conclude that "children in forest kindergartens are at a considerable risk of tick bites and Lyme Disease."

In Poland, the Department of Occupational Biohazards investigated the prevalence of Lyme Disease bacteria in ticks collected from wooded areas. 1,813 ticks from six districts were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Not only did researchers discover that a significant portion of the ticks were infected, they also were surprised to find that many ticks were infected with multiple strains of Lyme Disease bacteria, including Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia garinii, and a new yet-unnamed strain, “Borrelia b.s.1.”

A Portuguese University, in a study of climate change, discovered that warmer and increasingly variable weather may result in an increased incidence of vector- borne diseases, including malaria, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Lyme Disease, and Mediterranean spotted fever.

A fascinating new report from the microbiology department at Raigmore Hospital in Scotland states that at least nine different strains of Borrelia have been documented in Scotland, including Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia sensu stricto. Additionally, a report appeared on September 15, 2007, in the North Scotland Press and Journal, entitled "Bloodsucking Ticks Blamed as Lethal Lyme Disease Cases Soar." This newspaper article not only documents the dramatic increase of Lyme Disease cases in Scotland, it also provides evidence that Lyme Disease can be fatal if not treated adequately. The article uses the word "rocketed" to describe the dramatic increase in cases over the past decade. Dr. Ken Oates of Health Protection Scotland observes that "There has been a genuine rise. Nobody can really say why. I would guess a summer like this which is warm and wet provides favorable conditions. Up to one in five ticks can carry Lyme Disease in Scotland."

As far away as Croatia, researchers are finding Lyme Disease. Amazingly, 3,317 cases were reported from 1987 to 2003 in Croatia. Northwestern Croatia showed the highest incidence. According to a report published by the Department of Public Health, "the clinical picture of Lyme Borreliosis in Croatia is dominated by erythema migrans, followed by neurological manifestations."

In Switzerland, according to researchers, "the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis has been clearly increasing since 2004, and this is caused mostly by Lyme Disease."

In Italy, 24 cases of Lyme Disease were documented over the last year. Keep in mind, the actual number of cases is probably much higher due to inadequate testing and diagnosis.

And let us not forget Canada. The Canadian Center for Disease Control states that "the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, has a wide geographical distribution in Ontario, Canada, with a detected range extending at least as far north as the 50th parallel, and four out of five regions of Ontario affected."

Additionally, "The Lyme Disease spirochete was detected in 12.9% of I. scapularis adult ticks." Also according to Canadian authorities, "characterization of B. burgdorferi in Canada displays a connecting link to common strains of Lyme Disease found in the northeastern United States."

According to the Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory in British Columbia, "In 1994, British Columbia was declared an endemic region for Lyme Borreliosis."

In Alberta, Lyme Disease has been found to be common in rabbit ticks.

The Department of Medicine at McGill University, Montreal, notes in a recent report that "Lyme Disease is an expanding community health issue."



The poor recognition of Lyme Disease by the medical establishment is not a phenomena limited to the United States: On September 17, 2007, CBS News Canada reported the story of approximately 100 Lyme Disease sufferers who gathered on Parliament Hill in Canada to get the attention of Canadian physicians. The aim of the gathering was to get better testing for the disease and more federal money devoted to research—many in the group say they were misdiagnosed by their physicians.

Amazingly, according to the CBS report, "Lyme Disease is not a nationally reportable disease in Canada, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), meaning there are no statistics available on its prevalence." Yet, although not reportable, CBS goes on to state that "Borrelia burgdorferi is predominantly found in parts of British Columbia, southern and eastern Ontario, southeastern Manitoba, and parts of Nova Scotia."

Try to figure out that contradiction: not reportable yet found practically everywhere. The CBS article concludes with the story of a Canadian professor who, after suspecting Lyme Disease, was forced to travel to the United States and pay more than $15,000 out-of-pocket for treatment.

Now, with unrelenting persecution of Lyme doctors in the United States, appropriate Lyme Disease treatment may be harder and harder to find…anywhere in the world. The research identifying Lyme Disease in Canada goes on and on, with over 83 official, published studies on Lyme Disease in Canada. The Canadian Lyme Disease Association can be visited at www.canlyme.org.



In my first article I told of the ability of the Lyme bacteria to mimic many other diseases. Another very important fact to remember is that Lyme symptoms can also mimic many other diseases as well and that both the "early stage" symptoms and the later "chronic" stage symptoms are not consistent. In other words, your body can react in a variety of ways when the Lyme disease is activated in you.

This also means the bacteria can reside in you in a dormant and hidden stage for years before it may be activated. As we learn more and more about the disease it becomes more and more obvious that we know very little and most clinical research has been extremely limited to the early assumptions that only a tick transmitted disease that breaks out in a circular pattern from the bite is Lyme disease.



Hardly. Follow up studies have shown that as many as 85% of the cases do not show any signs of the inflammation from the tick bite and most detected bites are for new infection, not dormant infection already in your body.

There are studies that have shown the bacteria itself, Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), has been around for many centuries and a hypothesis was offered that Bbsl may be the protective agent of juvenile and adult arthritis in Louisiana Tchefuncte Indians between 500 BC and 300 AD. If so it will revolutionize how the disease it viewed and treated. Strains of the bacteria have been found in humans in 30 countries or more on six continents and additional islands.

As for the ticks, there is more than enough evidence that it can be spread by a variety of insects and animals and even between humans. There are no studies characterizing immune reactivity to the bacteria in untreated patients from non-endemic regions and where symptoms have been present for one year to decades. Consistently, most serious studies have examined and tested only patients from limited geographic areas where high tick infection rate and acute human disease coincide. The immune reaction of infected patients not meeting 'Lyme disease' criteria have fallen outside rigorous scrutiny. However, studies have shown conclusively that a group of Bbsl-infected humans was not inoculated transdermally but rather acquired their disease congenitally or gestationally

That means the human may well be the most likely 'vector' for Bbsl transfer to other humans. The label 'Lyme disease' has become, by convention, a semantic boundary that excludes consideration that an infectious agent responsible for a zoonosis may also exist independently as a non-zoonosis.

CDC-defining criteria do not address human congenital transfer and deny without proof that sexual transfer occurs. This mindset assures that Bbsl cases falling outside 'Lyme disease' criteria have not been considered in most research, nor reported to local health agencies. Thus the CDC position on intra-human Bbsl transmission is that 'Lyme disease bacteria are not transmitted from person-to-person', yet current human and veterinary data make this position indefensible.

Finally, a pregnant mother with a dormant and hidden Lyme bacteria could then transmit this to her infant passing on the bacteria to the next generation at birth. Thus a host of illnesses in infants may be a direct result of Lyme disease bacteria, undetected and untreated, mimicking other diseases. Many can be fatal.



In plain English, there are hundreds of identified strains of the Lyme bacteria so far and the method of transmission is far beyond what the establish criteria allow for Lyme disease. It is highly probable that the bacteria has existed for centuries if not more and that millions and millions of people throughout the world are infected. When the bacteria becomes active most are misdiagnosed but a far greater number are carriers of the dormant bacteria which could become active at any time.

That is far closer to the truth than anything the government can prove at this time and may help explain the previous unknown reasons for the explosion in certain diseases such as Autism, MS and other bacteria based infections as well as the explosion in a variety of mental diseases and problems like attention deficit disorder (ADD), antisocial personality, Anorexia Nervosa, Autism and Aspergers syndrome, depression and Fibromyalgia. It would also explain the failure to successfully treat Alzheimer's Disease.

The bacteria providing the foundation to Lyme's Disease can be detected in over 300 infections.

Copy and paste the other two parts of the series at:

Part 1 of this series can be found at the following link:

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping.html

Part 3 is at:

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping_20.html

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Congressional Investigations - When does Congress Investigate Itself?

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This has been the year of intense Congressional investigations as the bankers, auto people, housing and oil people have been paraded in before a packed and stacked House or Senate Committee and derided, ridiculed and disgraced in full view of the world.

Who are these holier than thou House and Senate members who preach to the bad guys about ethics, special interests, conflicts of interest, bribes and a host of other problems that helped bring down the economy, wipe out home values, and even help destroy the environment?



About the only positive result of the hearings is that we are discovering it was not the lack of rules and regulations that was behind most of these problems, it was the lack of enforcement of the laws, rules and regulations that were already on the books.

Now last time I read the Constitution it was Congress that passed the laws and approved the regulations, yes the same ones that got us in trouble. That must mean Congress might just be the primary party that did not do it's job to protect the people.



Of course Congress knows this, they just forget to mention it. They also know the reason Congress has allowed rules and regulations to be flawed or not enforced is that special interests control Washington. And yes, these are the same special interests that spend hundreds of millions of dollars filling the very campaign coffers of the people sitting at the hearings acting as if they are holier than thou.

The most important hearing Congress could hold to fix ALL the problems facing America is a hearing of itself, and the relationship between the hundreds of millions of campaign dollars they get from special interests and their performance in office.



The people are not stupid. They know Congress is the best money can buy. But when it is the best money can buy then it is also serving the wrong master. Congress is addicted to special interest money and that money has compromised the ability of our elected representatives to serve the people.

It is almost like a Saturday Night Live skit watching Congress lambast the witnesses in the hearings about the corruption, conflicts of interest, immorality and disregard for the public interest while they are filling their campaign accounts with money from these same special interests.



Campaign reform, especially finance reform, is the only solution for the malaise that has enveloped our nation's government. While all of our leaders are blaming special interests for our problems, not a single person in the White House, Congress, leaders of the house or senate, or even our president is talking about taking on the biggest special interest in Washington, the politicians addicted to the special interest money.

They could fix this problem overnight if they had guts and the interest of the people in mind but they are not about to shut down the money spigot that has enabled them to get and stay elected. They are nothing but hypocrites and have made a mockery of their oath of office to defend the Constitution and protect the Republic and the people of the Republic.



The Washington establishment serves no one but itself and has demonstrated over and over that it has no interest in changing. Only the people can force the change through the electoral process and if the early elections this year have demonstrated nothing else, they have shown the people are sick and tired of the status quo. "Throw them out, throw them all out" seems more and more the theme for this year's election and it cannot come a day too soon.

Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America - Part 1.

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May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. With the focus by the Obama Administration on health care in America and my many responses that propping up the current system makes little sense if we are just making the flaws a lot bigger, I thought my current predicament might give you some first hand insight into the problems we face in health care.

Recently I was diagnosed as having the symptoms of Lyme disease. It was not unexpected as I live in Southern Maryland along the Potomac River just above the Chesapeake Bay where it is hot, humid, and ideal conditions for the disease.

Adding to the problem is the fact we have had an extremely wet past year in an area that already gets more than enough rain per year. Compound that with a short winter with record snow and cold and a very warm spring and all the animal and plant life is totally out of sync with normal patterns.

By early April the first ticks appeared and by May the poison ivy and poison sumac had become far more virulent than any year since I moved here. However, ticks have always been a huge problem and if you have dogs you will have ticks. No flea or tick treatment I found kept them off the animals the past three years.



So it was just a matter of time that the right tick would be on me, especially the tiny deer tick known to transmit the disease. However, I was not unprepared as I first encountered the disease when I lived in New Jersey and worked in New York City of all places. Lyme disease was first discovered in Lyme, Connecticut 1975, suspected of being transmitted by ticks in 1978, but remained a mystery until confirmed in 1982.

In 1992 my boss, who had a house in rural Connecticut got the disease. He underwent massive treatment with antibiotics and it was not until almost a year later that he no longer showed signs of the disease. Yet another friend in New Jersey contracted the disease while jogging through the beautiful countryside about the same year and she was nearly bedridden for a year before recovering.



That got my attention. This disease had no limits, it could strike the rich or poor, the healthy and office bound, and in most cases you could not even see the tiny ticks infecting you. It is an infectious disease and in the years since has spread like wildfire through humans. However, the medical authorities have always been way behind the times in diagnosing and treating this disease.

In addition to ticks, it has been learned that Borrelia, the bacteria in Lyme disease, may be carried and transmitted by fleas, mosquitoes and mites. Also it is not exclusively vector-borne. Humans have been known to pass the disease through breast-feeding and blood transfusions. Also the possibility exists that Lyme disease can be food infection.

With the help of two informative web sites with much more current research on the Lyme disease, healthynewage.com and lymephotos.com, I have been able to provide you with a far more accurate picture of the disease and what it means to you.

Lyme disease, or lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most European cases.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. Borrelia is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks belonging to a few species of the genus Ixodes ("hard ticks"). Early symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, depression, and a characteristic circular skin rash called erythema. Left untreated, later symptoms may involve the joints, heart, and central nervous system. In most cases, it is thought the infection and its symptoms can be eliminated by antibiotics, especially if the illness is treated early.

There are over 100 strains of Borrelia burgdorferi in the United States, 300 strains worldwide and 5 subspecies of Borrelia burgdorferi. This diversity is thought to contribute to the antigenic variability of the spirochete and its ability to evade the immune system and antibiotic therapy, leading to chronic infection. Lyme disease bacteria has been reported for years in across Europe, Russia, Canada and throughout the world.



In the past late, delayed, or inadequate treatment was thought to lead to the more serious symptoms, which can be disabling and difficult to treat. Occasionally, symptoms such as arthritis persist after the infection has been eliminated by antibiotics, prompting suggestions that Borrelia causes autoimmunity.

Some groups have argued that "chronic" Lyme disease is responsible for a range of medically unexplained symptoms beyond the recognized symptoms of late Lyme disease, and that additional, long-term antibiotic treatments are needed. Other groups argue that antibiotics are the wrong form of treatment and can serve to mask the results temporarily but an even more dangerous parasite exists with the bacteria and the parasite can form a cocoon around the bacteria and preserve it through the antibiotic treatment.

As far as the antibiotic treatment, of four controlled trials of long-term ceftriaxone and doxycycline treatment in patients with ongoing symptoms, two found no benefit, and two found inconsistent benefits with significant side effects and risks from the antibiotic treatment.

Most expert groups, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Academy of Neurology, have found that existing scientific evidence does not support a role for Borrelia nor ongoing antibiotic treatment in such cases. However, the subject is controversial, with some doctors, patient advocacy groups, and politicians continuing to argue that long-term treatment is beneficial. This dispute has led to legal action over treatment guidelines, as well as harassment and death threats made against physicians who will not acknowledge "chronic" Lyme disease as a legitimate diagnosis.



Lyme Disease is far more complex than what the public has been told and the number of reported cases, though tripling every couple of years and spreading at a rate 7 times faster than that of AIDS, is officially estimated to reach 300,000 new cases this year alone. However, other evidence suggests this represents less than 10% of all cases.

What is clear is that Lyme disease is the fastest-growing epidemic in the world. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., USA, affirms that "there is considerable underreporting" of Lyme disease, maintaining that the actual infection rate may be 1.8 million, 10 times higher than the 180,000 cases currently reported. Nick Harris, Ph.D., director of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), states "Lyme is grossly under-reported. In the U.S., we probably have about 200,000 cases per year."

Considering vector, congenital and sexual transfer, it is estimated that 15.5% of the global population, nearly 1 billion people, could now be infected with Borrelia. The Sierra Integrative Medicine Clinic in Reno, Nev. states that "Authorities estimate that up to 90 percent of the population could be carrying the Lyme spirochete and that Lyme is a factor in over 50 percent of chronic illnesses."

Katrina Tang, MD, HMD, founder and director of research at the Sierra Integrative Medicine Clinic, states that Lyme disease eludes doctors because of its ability to mimic many other diseases. For example, according to an informal study conducted by the American Lyme Disease Alliance (ALDA), most patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are actually suffering from Lyme disease. In a study of 31 patients diagnosed with CFS, 28 patients, or 90.3%, were found to be ill as a result of Lyme.

Paul Fink, MD, MS, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, has acknowledged that Lyme disease can contribute to every psychiatric disorder in the Diagnostic Symptoms Manual IV (DSM-IV). This manual is used to diagnose psychiatric conditions such as attention deficit disorder (ADD), antisocial personality, Anorexia Nervosa, Autism and Aspergers syndrome (a form of autism), to name a few.



Lyme Borreliosis causes, mimics, is manifested as, is misdiagnosed as, or is a contributing factor to more than 300 conditions, such as:

Acute coronary syndrome
Acute Meningitis
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
Alzheimer's Disease
Bell's Palsy
Bipolar Disorder
Brain Tumor
Brown recluse spider bite
Cardiac Disease
Coronary aneurysm
Depression
Epilepsy
Fetal death
Fibromyalgia
Hepatitis
Infectious Mononucleosis
Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
Lymphoma
Multiple Sclerosis
Peripheral Facial Palsy
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sudden Infant Death (SIDS)
Tourette's Syndrome
Vertigo



As you can see, even within the western medical practice there is widely disputed and conflicting information regarding the cause, composition, status, extent and treatment for this disease. New information, especially from foreign countries where response to medical issues is often dealt with much faster than in America with our institutionalized medicine, challenges are more pronounced.

In subsequent articles I will detail the effect the symptoms of the disease have had on me, my approach to treatment, and the results of treatment as I try to overcome the various manifestations of the disease I have experienced. It is hoped this experience and reporting on the progress will give you a better idea of what your alternatives are should you share the same fate and experience the devastating impact of the disease if you get caught in the pandemic.

Copy and paste the other two parts of the series at:

Part 2 can be found at:

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping_19.html

Part 3 can be found at:

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping_20.html

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Supreme Court rules "Sexually Dangerous" Prisoners can be kept out of Society!

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In a landmark 7-2 decision, the justices declared that a federal law allowing federal prisoners deemed "sexually dangerous" to be held even after they have served out their original sentences is constitutional.

The Court said Congress does have the power to keep such dangerous offenders out of society indefinitely.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented arguing that Congress went too far, and nothing in the Constitution permits this kind of extended confinement.

Re•cid•i•vism is defined as a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior; especially : relapse into criminal behavior. Back in the 1970's I was involved in a study by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to review the behavior of federal criminals and the impact of rehabilitation on the recidivism rates of various types of crime.

At the time there was debate as to what types of crimes could be rehabilitated and whether certain types of criminal behavior like sexual predators, abusers and rapists who repeated crimes when released from prison could ever fit the mold of a criminal who paid their debt to society and could be rehabilitated.



I was among the advocates that certain criminals were possessed by evil, like a genetic coding, and no form of incarceration would result in reforming the warped mind of the abuser. They would be a threat to society every time they left jail and the only viable and safe solution for protecting Americans was to keep these demented criminals out of society permanently.

This could only be accomplished through life terms without parole or a special status that gave law enforcement the right to have them permanently imprisoned regardless of the sentence handed down by the courts. Over the years thousands of Americans, especially women and children, have been murdered and many thousands more permanently scarred psychologically by being victims to these heinous predators.



In areas where serial predators roamed fear was widespread and affected the quality of life of all people who lived by the law.

This ruling denies no one due process as those who will be designated as "sexually dangerous" have had numerous opportunities to avoid such a fate or have been so evil as to demonstrate they cannot exist in a society of laws. Too often judges have refused to impose maximum prison sentences or the states have not made the sentences long enough for repeat offenders of particularly vicious crimes.

It is a long overdue ruling to recognize that the argument "cruel and unusual punishment" does not apply to those who repeatedly deny other people the right to a life free from sexual predators. The fact both liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices agreed is a major victory for the people.

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Secretariat - The Greatest Champion of all Time

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Secretariat - The People's Champion

Since we have been denied a Triple Crown for the 31st straight year, the longest drought in history, I thought I would give you a chance to relive the greatest champion in our history, Secretariat.

I had occasion to see this magnificant horse in Kentucky and to watch the three races along with millions of Americans as Secretariat not only made history but shattered records every time he stepped on a the track at a Triple Crown race.

You should take a few minutes to watch the three videos showing the Triple Crown that year, 1973, when Secretariat became an American legend. Nothing has ever been achieved close to his performance before or since that spring.

Although Seattle Slew and Affirmed both won the Triple Crown the same decade of the 1970's the performance by Secretariat stands alone in the history books.

Enjoy a flashback to the most incredible six minutes in horse racing history.

The Kentucky Derby - 1973



The Preakness Stakes - 1973



The Belmont Stakes - 1973



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