As we sit back and tune in to another polarizing cable news show
about the presidential race, we prepare ourselves for a barrage of insults,
half-truths, rumors, innuendo, lies, distortions, agitations, and frustrations,
and that is just what is coming from the news reporters and commentators, not
the candidates.
They say deaths from opiate over-doses in America have
tripled in the past four years. One
wonders if the polarizing hatred seen on cable television 24/7 might be a
factor. What bigger source of pain can
there be than politicians, especially ones who will say anything to win and
make up all kinds of lies about the others.
Right next to the beer and remote control are the bottles.
In the bottles,
you will find the legal pain relief opioid drugs including:
Now you are ready to face the
pain of what you are about to hear.
I am pretty certain lying and
political campaigns are synonymous, inter-related, Ying
and Yang. Even fact checkers have to be
fact checked to see whose side they are protecting. Instead of saying "Veritas vos liberabit", "The truth is out there," perhaps one should say "Est
ex veritate non est,"
"No truth is out there."
With
that in mind we come to a poll that should be the most dreaded news ever
reported by the media. Of course they do
not report it. What they do report is
how Trump has the highest unfavorable rating in modern history.
It
is the truth they refuse to report that weighs down on them. Here is the headline they should be
reporting.
New Polls force Democrats to push Panic Button as Main Street Media
attack Trump
Since we know polls in America show journalists covering
the presidential campaign are liberal by a 12-1 margin, it should be no
surprise that the liberal media is taking up the attack to stop Trump in the
general election.
Trump still has not secured the Republican nomination and Clinton continues to battle Bernie Sanders for media
coverage, but the media is acting as if Trump is a real threat to beat the
media favorite Clinton.
Quite a contrast to earlier in the campaign when the media
dismissed Trump yet wanted him to win the GOP nomination since polls showed
Hillary winning by a landslide if Trump were the opponent.
A funny thing happened on the way to the conventions and polls
confirmed it after Trump's landslide wins in the Northeast and Indiana primaries blew his last two
opponents, Cruz and Kasich, out of it.
Trump and Clinton
are now in a near dead heat in nationwide polls and the general election has
not even begun. This week when Trump
suddenly started winning the support of major GOP party officials and it looks
like the Republicans are going to be united more tremors were felt in the
Clinton campaign.
The press says very little about the crosstabs in the polls, and
for good reason. You hear Trump has the
highest unfavorable score ever recorded at 65%, yet no one says Hillary has the
second highest unfavorable ever recorded at 57%.
So the media has mounted a massive campaign to discredit Trump
and drag out anything he ever did in his life, say 30 to 50 years ago, as if it
will have a direct effect on whether he pushes the nuclear button. That is about as yellow as journalism can be.
However, I am not defending Trump. I say, what he says and does today, is far
more relevant than what he did three or four decades ago. I mean people do change over the course of a
lifetime. Besides, every time he opens his mouth he is capable of stumbling
over his tongue.
To me fair reporting is an issue of credibility. Now to get to the most dreaded poll results not
reported.
The American Press Institute published a survey April 18,
2016, and the real headline was:
"Only 6% of Americans trust the media"
Just 6 percent of
people say they have a lot of confidence in the media, putting the news
industry about equal to Congress and
well below the public’s view of other institutions. In this presidential
campaign year, Democrats were more likely to trust the news media than Republicans
or independents.
The
bottom line is this. Why is the media
trashing Trump as a strategy to defeat him, pointing to his negative ratings in
public polls, when 94% of the same public does not trust the media?
To me the 35% of the public trusting Trump today is six
times better than the public trusts the media, 6%. That is truth in reporting.
For those of you who follow the Coltons Point Times you
noticed I spend a great deal of effort reviewing health care in America. Several series of articles are posted covering
issues like, The Broken American Health Care System, Lyme Disease - The Secret
Pandemic Sweeping America,
The GMO Debate, and many others.
As I report on developments in America, I am constantly in search
of those dedicated practioners in the field whose pioneering work today will
open the door to breakthroughs in the future. The list is woefully short for the massive
dimension of the problems we face.
There are a few criteria for people to make my exclusive
list of bridge builders.
First, and foremost, their underlying motivation must not be
financial gain but a commitment to serve people.
Second, they must recognize we have not found the keys to
proper health care for the future.
Third, they must recognize that health care must address all
the societal and cultural issues that affect the mental and physical health of
the individual.
Fourth, they must strive to communicate the work they
pioneer to others in order to multiply the impact on the people.
Fifth, they must be darn good at what they do.
I am pleased to introduce the newest member of this
exclusive club, Dr. Jonathan Robison, a teacher and many other things from the
State of Michigan.
You would do well to follow the good doctor as he pioneers his
new way of treating some of our most dangerous old health issues. Dr. Jon Robison is a charter member of those
building the bridge, to the future.
Here is a little about Dr. Jon.
Jonathan Robison holds a doctorate in health
education/exercise physiology and a master of science in human nutrition from MichiganStateUniversity
where he has been teaching for 20 years in the Nutrition and Physiology
Departments. Dr. Robison is also adjunct Associate Professor at WesternMichiganUniversity
where he teaches in the Holistic Health Care Program. He has authored numerous
articles and book chapters on a variety of health-related topics and is a
frequent presenter at conferences throughout North America.
Dr.
Robison specializes in health promotion and human behavior, with a particular
interest in why people do what they do and don’t do what they don’t do. His
presentations and workshops promote shifting health promotion away from its
traditional, biomedical, control-oriented focus. His first book:
The
Spirit and Science of Holistic Health More than
broccoli, jogging and bottled water …More
than yoga, herbs and meditation
presents
a radically new direction for health education and promotion. It is meant as a
textbook for students and a guidebook for practitioners who wish to incorporate
holistic principles and approaches into their work.
Dr.
Robison’s work served as the foundation for the award-winning KAILO - one of
the first truly holistic employee-wellness programs in North America
His new
book:
How To
Build a Thriving Culture at Work: Featuring The 7 Points of Transformation with
co-author Dr. Rosie Ward - delivers a blueprint for building thriving
organizational cultures that free, fuel and inspire people to bring their best
selves to work.
Dr.
Robison has served as co-editor of the journal Health At Every SizeTM - and has
been helping people with weight and eating-related concerns for more than 20
years. He is one of the featured health professionals in the powerful
Documentary - America
the Beautiful II - The Thin Commandments.
He is
also a Certified Intrinsic Coach.
The
following is one of the many articles he has published on the health issues of
today.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: The
Real Causes of Poor Health: Addendum
In a recent postI examined the difficulties we seem to
have focusing on and addressing the emotional, social and economic issues that
are the real underlying causes of poor health in this country. I was gratified
to see that the post seemed to strike a nerve with so many of the respondents.
As I was considering the next piece I might write, I came across some headlines
that grabbed my attention. Apparently, for the first time in decades,
American’s life expectancy is stagnating.
“The steady rise in life
expectancy during the past two centuries may soon come to an end…obesity may
shave up to 5 years off the average life spans in the coming years.”
Fortunately for all of us with children, this gloomy
forecast turned out to be inaccurate. In fact, when the authors were pressed to
provide research to support their claim in an expose inScientific Americanentitled “Obesity: An Overblown Epidemic?” they responded by
saying:
“These are just
back-of-the-envelope, plausible scenarios. We never meant for them to be
portrayed as precise.”
That was more than
15 years ago. But in spite of the admission from the authors that they had
basically fabricated this scary conclusion, the fear mongering around obesity
and life expectancy for our children has continued unabated – being brought up
ad nauseum at Conferences and in the media as if it were, or had ever been, an
actual fact.
The Reality
So, I was a bit
skeptical, but certainly curious when I saw the headlines in all the major news
outlets saying:
"Increase in US life
expectancy has stalled, CDC report confirms.”
Concerned that that
this might be another diatribe about the perils of obesity and the need for
people to join weight-loss programs, I perused the internet for related stories
and found many:
It turns out, rather frighteningly, that significant
decreases in life expectancy particularly for poor, white American women are
causing life expectancy for all Americans to remain flat. And what is
precipitating these excess premature deaths?According to the Wall Street Journal, the stagnation in
life expectancy is largely attributable to“increases in death rates from suicides, drug overdoses and
related causes.”In
fact, the author of the CDC report stated that, in 2014:
“Increases in the number of
deaths from suicide, alcohol or drug overdoses offset declines in deaths for
both white men and women from cancer, heart disease and other major chronic
killers.”
“While some researchers have
pointed to the sharp rise in obesity as a mortality factor, the CDC said there
was no data for now to support that view.”
Seems like we have
heard that one before!
You can peruse the finer details (particularly related
to ethnicity and gender) about exactly what is going on inthe CDC report. But the bottom line is that once again
we may need to acknowledge that our myopic focus on individual health behaviors
and the resultant coercive, bio-metric screenings and exercise and weight loss
programs that are so ubiquitous at the workplace are very likely missing the
mark, at best.
Inmy previous postI
used an iceberg graphic to depict the fact that dealing with what is primarily
above water in or out of the workplace is likely to produce minimal, sustained,
positive outcomes. I want to end this post with another version of the pyramid.
The Food for Thought Pyramid
My friend and colleague Laura McKibbin, LICSW, has
developed an amazingly creative graphic to display what a comprehensive and
holistic description of health might look like. TheFood For Thought Pyramidis structured like the now defunct
food pyramid used to be, with the most important foundations of health at the
base of the pyramid.
As you can see, the base of the pyramid has little to do
with personal strivings for bio-metric or behavioral perfection and everything
to do with the context of our existence and the circumstances we have been
dealt. Without the life-sustaining foundation represented by the base of the
pyramid, fruits and vegetables, exercise, and low cholesterol will likely have
minimal impact on personal health.
Genetics, luck and a range of social and
cultural factors provide the critical platform on which a healthful existence
is built and remind us about the complexities and importance of context to
understanding the true meaning of human health. And while there is certainly a
place for individual behaviors like nutrition and exercise (whether in the
workplace or in the culture at large) they are always considered and addressed
most effectively in the context of the social environment in which they exist,
as this most recent disturbing data from the CDC clearly demonstrates.
For people who are interested, Laura sells the pyramidon her site. Please note that although I helped Laura
finalize the pyramid and Dr.Rosie Ward and I used it in our book, we get no
reimbursement of any kind from its sale. And, true to Laura’s beliefs and work,
part of the proceeds of each pyramid go to charity either of her choosing or
the buyers. All in all, a great way to help move the understanding of the true
causes of poor health into the 21st century.
Speaker Profile:
Jon Robison
PhD, MS, MA
Dr. Jon Robison is an accomplished
speaker, teacher, writer
and consultant. He has spent his career
working to shift
health promotion away from its
traditional, biomedical,
control-oriented focus, with a particular
interest in why
people do what they do and don’t do what
they don’t do.
Jon has authored numerous articles and book
chapters on a
variety of health-related topics and is a
frequent presenter at
conferences throughout North
America. He is also co-author of
the book, “The Spirit and Science of
Holistic Health — More than
Broccoli, Jogging and Bottled Water, More
than Yoga, Herbs and
Meditation,” a college textbook and a
guidebook for practitioners
who wish to incorporate holistic principles
and practices into their
work.
This book provided the foundation for
Kailo, one of the first
truly holistic employee wellness programs
in the United States.
Kailo won prestigious awards in both Canada and The
United
States, and the creators lovingly claim Jon
as its father.
Jon has also been a national leader in the
Health At Every
Size Movement for almost two decades. He
has been responsible
for implementing Health for Every Body® — a
unique alternative
to weight loss programs at the worksite in
over 15 cities across
the United States in the past 2 years. He
is also one of the
featured health professionals in the
powerful documentary
America The Beautiful II: The Thin Commandments and has been
helping people struggling with weight- and
eating-related
concerns for 25 years.
Contact Jon for:
• Keynote Speaking • Onsite Workshops
• Pre-Conference Workshops
• Conference Breakout Sessions
• Workplace presentations
A few of Jon’s presentation topics:
• Re-Thinking Health: Getting Ourselves Unstuck
from an Outdated Paradigm
• Healthy Employees and Health Organizations:
Ushering Worksite Wellness into the 21st
Century
• Weight Loss at The Workplace: A Smart
Investment in Tough Economic Times...
or Money Down the Toilet?
• Punished By Rewards: Rethinking the Use of
Incentives at the Workplace
• Surviving “Risk Factor Frenzy”: The Research on
Health & Disease - What Does It Really
Mean?
• Health for Every Body: A Unique Worksite
Approach for Helping People Come To Peace
with
Their Bodies and Their Food
• Participation, Engagement and Behavior Change:
What Works and What’s Missing in Employee
and Organizational Health?
Is There No Chance for Hillary in 2016 - Meaning the Yale and Harvard Streak will End? Now average Americans are going to have a hard time accepting this because average Americans consider the Ivy League to be something found in the history books, or maybe in prose or fiction books.The Great Gatsby comes to mind.
When it comes to power, the Ivy League is IT but normally in terms of the dominant Ivy influence over Wall Street, the international banking community, and the engines of commerce.
Where did the following Latin phrases come from?
In Deo Speramus - (In God We Hope)
In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen - (In Thy light shall we see the light)
Quisquam qui ars- (Any person -Any study)
Vox clamantis in deserto - (The voice of one crying in the wilderness)
Veritas -(Truth)
Dei sub numine viget - (Under God's power she flourishes)
Leges sine moribus vanae - (Laws without morals are useless)
Lux et veritas - (Light and truth)
Those are the mottos of the eight venerated Ivy League schools.
Brown
Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Harvard Princeton Pennsylvania Yale
It seems we understand the power and influence of the Ivy League in terms of commerce but we really don't when it comes to national politics.In fact the attitude of the general public in terms of the Ivy League in politics is rather bleak.
According to recent Rasmussen polls only five percent (5%) of American Adults think it is better for America to have presidents only from Ivy League schools.A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 85% believe it’s better for the country to have presidents who come from a variety of schools.
Try this!
There have been 43 men who served as US President as of 2008. It is often said that President Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America. However, President Obama is only the 43rd different person to serve as President of the United States. This is due to the fact that President Grover Cleveland served non-consecutive terms and so is usually counted as both the 22nd and the 24th President.
Of our 43 presidents, 14 attended Ivy League schools.Forbes magazine identified these additional political facts about the Ivy League.
All considered, more than a third of all U.S. presidents, Supreme Court justices and currently serving U.S. senators have attended an Ivy League school for undergraduate or graduate study.
It gets better.When Obama completes his 2nd term this year we will have had 28 straight years of presidents from Yale and Harvard alone consisting of Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2 and Obama.In fact in the 227 years we have elected presidents, don't forget George Washington first took office in 1789, the Ivy League has held the presidency 85 of those years, or 37% of our history.
Hillary would be the 15th president from the Ivy League and that may be a bit too much for a nation in the which Ivy League represents just 8 out of 4,140 institutions of higher education.For those of you into decimals the Ivy League makes up under 2 tenths of one percent (.001932) of our institutions yet controlled the presidency 37% of the time.
Public 4-year institutions 629 Private 4-year institutions1,845 Total 4 year2,474
Public 2-year institutions 1,070 Private 2-year institutions 596 Total 2 year1,666
Total 4 and 2 year4,140
So money talks and legacy institutions prosper but you may be surprised when it comes to the costliest universities in America, long thought to be dominated by the Ivy League.
A recently compiled list of the 20 Most Expensive Colleges in the country shows prices, which include Tuition, Fees, Room and Board, range from $63,750 to just under $67,225 per year.
#1 HarveyMuddCollege $67,255 #2 Columbia University $66,383 #3 New YorkUniversity $65,860 #4 SarahLawrenceCollege $65,630 #5 University of Chicago $64,965 #6 BardCollege at Simon's Rock $64,519 #7 University of Southern California $64,482 #8 Claremont McKenna College $64,325 #9 OberlinCollege $64,266 #10 ScrippsCollege $64,260 #11 BardCollege $64,254 #12 HaverfordCollege $64,216 #13 Duke University $64,188 #14 Dartmouth College $64,134
#15 Northwestern University $63,983 #16 TrinityCollege $63,970 #17 PitzerCollege $63,880 #18 Southern Methodist University $63,840 #19 Amherst College $63,772 #20 JohnHopkinsUniversity $63,750
Source: Business Insider and U.S. Department of Education
To my amazement only two Ivy League schools, Columbia and Dartmouth, made the list. Now compare that to a list of the best colleges and universities in the world for 2016.
Source: The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-2016
Sorry rest of the world, but fourteen of the top twenty are from the United States, including six of the top ten. Harvard is the highest ranking Ivy League school but six of the eight Ivy League schools are in the top twenty in the world. What does this all mean? Here in the colonies it seems the more other schools catch up with the Ivy League in terms of the number of schools and the cost of education, the stronger those dastardly Ivy League schools get control of our presidency and political processes.
Harvard was the first university in America founded in 1636.By 1800 six of the first 16 universities in America were Ivy League, 37%.Now the Ivy League represents less than one percent of institutions of higher education.In spite of that we are completing 28 straight years of presidents from just two Ivy League schools, Harvard and Yale, and along comes Hillary seeking to extend that Ivy stranglehold on the presidency to 36 straight years.
Isn't it about time we give someone else a chance like The California Institute of Technology, Stanford, MIT, Slippery Rock, or even The Pennsylvania State University New Kensington Campus of the Commonwealth College, (the longest college name in the USA)?
I was going to attend Yale for undergraduate and Harvard Law for graduate school but fate had other plans for me and I wound up at the University of Arizona in Tucson, which I loved. But in spite of my Ivy loyalty even I think enough is enough, give someone else a chance to lead us.
Besides, with Hillary now making $225,000 per speech, more than her annual salary as Secretary of State, she really does not need the experience any more of the brutality of public service.
How is this for a dilemma?Do you become president at $400,000 a year and spend 24/7 365 days a year tearing out your rapidly thinning hair and getting fat at state dinners, or do you work about an hour a day for two days and make the same amount without all the BS.
Ivy League Fashions
Besides, Bill Clinton showed us the way with his $100 million in earningsthe few years after he was broke as president.Same with his VP Gore, also a Harvard grad, and a host of other politicians.Why would Hillary want any less?
The only glass ceiling she needs to shatter is the one holding the millions of dollars she will be making.
When Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's annual salary was $186,600 making her the fourth highest paid government official in the United States behind the President ($400,000), the Vice President ($225,551) and Secretary of Treasury ($191,300).
Now she makes more giving a one hour speech. Hillary, you and the Clinton family (Yale) have done enough for America, as have the Bush family (Yale and Harvard). Of course if she loses, in steps Donald Trump giving The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School their first president, yet another of those pesky Ivy League schools. .
