11 Food Ingredients Banned Outside the U.S. That Americans Eat

Do you like M&Ms and Nutrigrain Bars? They both contain ingredients banned in other countries.  From ABC NEWS:

A recently published list of foods banned in countries outside the U.S. has riled the plates of many in the food industry.

Last week, Buzzfeed published a list of 8 ingredients banned outside the U.S. that are found in foods in America. The list was derived from the book, Rich Food Poor Food: The Ultimate Grocery Purchasing System (GPS)/(Kindle), written by husband and wife team Jayson Calton, who has a Ph.D. in nutrition, and Mira Calton, a licensed certified nutritionist.

Said Mira Calton: "We call it our GPS of grocery purchasing system: how to identify dangerous ingredients -- so people can shop safe and smart in the grocery store."

The book includes a list of banned foods and dangerous foods, which they call "poor food..."

Calton said manufacturers are not putting these ingredients in their food to be "bad people."

"It might have been part of their original formula and sometimes they don't know," Calton said.

The Food and Drug Administration assures the public that despite the frenzy over the list of ingredients banned in some countries outside the U.S., it is doing its job of monitoring food safety.

"As part of FDA's overall commitment to ensure the safety of the food supply, the agency uses an extensive, science-based process to evaluate the safety of food additives," the agency said in a statement to ABC News. "The law requires that the FDA determine there is reasonable certainty that an additive does not cause harm when it is used as intended. The agency continues to monitor the science on food additives and is prepared to take appropriate action if there are safety concerns. When determining that a food or ingredient is 'generally recognized as safe' or GRAS for its intended use in food, the same quantity and quality of evidence is required as is needed to approve a food additive."

Derek Lowe, a chemist who has a Ph.D. from Duke University, said the list is an example of "chemophobia." He told ABC News his reaction to the viral online list was "incredulity and revulsion."

"The thing is, I'm not reflexively saying people should eat all the food additives they can find. I don't myself. But the amount of understanding in the article was so minimal, it really pushed my buttons as a scientist," Lowe said.

The Caltons said they are not calling on the FDA to ban these ingredients, but they said "all of the ingredients on the list pose a potential danger to consumers and we feel the consumer should be made aware so that they can make an informed decision as to whether or not they want to buy a product with these ingredients."

Julie Jones, a professor emeritus with St. Catherine University in Minnesota and author of the textbook, Food Safety, said what drives one country to ban a food and not another often has to do with as much politics as it does science.

If one believes Paracelsus's principle, "the dose makes the poison," Jones said she believes these products have gone through the correct due diligence in the U.S.

"We have science and politics and they are different in each country," Jones said.

Here are 11 ingredients noted as banned in other countries and what some experts have to say about them:

Amazon inage

Blue #1 food coloring

Banned in Norway, Finland and France, Blue #1 and Blue #2 can be found in candy, cereal, drinks and pet food in the U.S., the Caltons say.

Kellogg's did not reply to multiple requests for comment about its use of Blue #1 listed as an ingredient in some Nutrigrain bars.

Michael Pariza, professor emeritus of food science and past director of Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said most food dyes are not dangerous, with the exception of Yellow #5, but they can influence our perception of food -- for better or worse.

"Taste, appearance and smell all go together. You can have the most fantastic, nutritious thing in the world, but if it looks bad and smells bad, you're not going to eat it," he said.

Blue #1 was at one point banned in several other European countries, but the EU later certified it as safe, said Lowe. Norway banned almost all food dyes from 1978 until 2001, but since then, they have had virtually the same regulations as the EU, he added.

Lowe said synthesized compounds, when used in food, "are often things that are effective in small amounts, because they're so expensive," as is the case with artificial dyes.

"People see the bright colors in cake icing and sugary cereals and figure that the stuff must be glopped on like paint, but paint doesn't have very much dye or pigment in it, either," Lowe writes in his blog.

M&Ms

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Blue #2 food coloring

"Until the twentieth century, food coloring was obtained from natural sources," Jayson and Mira Calton write in "Rich Food, Poor Food." "People gathered spices, like saffron and turmeric, to add rich hues to their otherwise bland-colored foods. While this method may have been somewhat limiting in shades, at least it was safe. Today, most artificial colors are made from coal tar."

Blue #2 is listed as an ingredient in Mars' M&Ms. In a statement from Mars, the company said, "Around the globe there can be slightly different formulations and products available based on both local requirements and consumer preferences. All the colors we use in our products, no matter where they are sold, comply with our own strict internal quality and safety requirements as well as all applicable laws, regulations and safety assessments relating to colors added to food. All colors are declared on the label in accordance with applicable national laws and regulations and always meet the highest safety standards."

Lowe said the concern about blue food dye's connection to brain cancer is "unproven," referring to studies in the 1980s with Blue #2. Lowe said rats were fed the dye over a long period in much larger concentrations -- up to 2 percent of their total food intake -- than even the most dedicated junk-food eater could encounter.

"Gliomas were seen in the male rats, but with no dose-response, and at levels consistent with historical controls in the particular rat strain. No one has ever been able to find any real-world connection," Lowe wrote.

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

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Yellow #5 (Tartazine), Yellow #6 food coloring

Yellow #5 is banned in Norway and Austria due to compounds benzidine and 4-aminobiphenyl, the Caltons say.

"Six of the eleven studies on yellow #5 showed that it caused genotoxicity, a deterioration of the cell's genetic material with potential to mutate healthy DNA," the book, "Rich Foods, Poor Foods," states.

Companies in the U.S. are required to list Yellow #5 in their ingredients because some people have sensitivity to it.

"Companies are so sensitive about allergies, but peanut allergies would be far more common than Tartazine," Pariza said.

Yellow #6 is banned in Norway and Finland, the Caltons say, but Lowe said the dye is approved across the EU.

Lowe said benzidine and 4-minobiphenyl are two different names for the same compound, which is known as a human carcinogen.

"But it's not a component of any food dye, certainly not of yellow #5, and it's not even any part of its chemical structure," Lowe said.

A spokeswoman for Kraft provided a statement to ABC News, stating, "The safety and quality of our products is our highest priority. We carefully follow the laws and regulations in the countries where our products are sold. So in the U.S., we only use ingredients that are approved and deemed safe for food use by the Food and Drug Administration."

The International Food Information Council has said food ingredients are "carefully regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that foods containing them are safe to eat and are accurately labeled."

Kraft Catalina Dressing

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Red #40

"Red #40 may contain the carcinogenic contaminant p-Cresidine and is thought to cause tumors of the immune system," according to "Rich Food, Poor Food". "In the UK, it is not recommended for children," the Caltons write, but it is approved for use in the EU.

The ingredient can be found in fruit cocktail, maraschino cherries, grenadine, cherry pie mix, ice cream, candy and other products, the Caltons say.

Lowe said he can't find evidence for risk of tumors due to Red #40 and Cresidine "is certainly not a contaminant in the dyestuff" but is one pure compound.

"There is a possibility for cresidinesulfonic acid to be produced as a metabolite, but that's a very different substance than Cresidine itself," Lowe said.

Jones said high amounts of some ingredients could be damaging to some people, but that depends on the amount of consumption and the content of one's diet in general.

"Unless you are crazy and you do drink 8 liters of pop a day, your diet is so disordered already, no wonder what you eat is toxic-- eating things in a way that never intended to be eaten," she said.

Kraft said, "The safety and quality of our products is our highest priority" and the company "carefully follow the laws and regulations in the countries where our products are sold."

Mountain Dew

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Brominated vegetable oil

Brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, acts as an emulsifier in soda and sports drinks, preventing the flavoring from separating and floating to the surface. The ingredient is banned more than 100 countries because it contains bromine, a chemical whose vapors can be corrosive or toxic, the Caltons say.

Aurora Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for PepsiCo, which owns Mountain Dew, said, "We take consumer safety and product integrity seriously and we can assure you that Mountain Dew is safe. As standard practice, we constantly evaluate our formulas and ingredients to ensure they comply with all regulations and meet the high quality standards our consumers expect."

Lowe said the same chemical dangers of consuming a bromine directly can be said of chlorine.

Bromine-containing compounds can indeed cause bad reactions in people but not because bromine is a corrosive gas, he said.

"When a bromine atom is bonded to a carbon, as it is in BVO, it's no longer bromine-the-pure-element, any more than the chlorine in table salt is the World War I poison gas, or the phosphorus in your DNA is the burning white phosphorus found in military tracer shells," Lowe said.

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Azodicarbonamide

This ingredient, which can bleach flour, is banned in Australia, the U.K. and many European countries, said the Caltons, who call it an "asthma-causing" allergen. Up to 45 parts per million is considered safe in the U.S. and it's found in a wide range of breads and baked goods here.

While Lowe acknowledges the chemical can be used to "foam" foamed plastics, "the conditions inside hot plastic, you will be glad to hear, are quite different from those inside warm bread dough," he said. In that environment, azodicarbonamide doesn't react to make birurea - it turns into several gaseous products, which are what blow up the bubbles of the foam, which is not its purpose in bread dough.

While repeated or prolonged contact to the chemical may cause asthma and skin sensitization, Lowe said that refers to the pure chemical and not 45 parts per million in uncooked flour.

"If you're handling drums of the stuff at the plastics plant, you should be wearing protective gear. If you're eating a roll, no," Lowe writes.

flatbread and bagel chips

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Potassium Bromate (Bromated flour)

Potassium bromate, which strengthens dough, contains bromine, is also in brominated vegetable oil.

"The good news is that American bread manufacturers tell us that it disappears from the product during baking and deem that potassium bromate is safe as there is only negligible residue," the Caltons write in their book. "However, the pastry chefs in Paris disagree. In fact, government regulatory bodies in Europe, Canada, China, and many other regions have banned the use of this additive. In California, if potassium bromate has been added, a product must carry a warning label."

Lowe points out that bromate is different from bromide and bromine.

"Chloride is the anion in table salt, but it's also the anion in hydrochloric acid. Hypochlorite anion is laundry bleach," said Lowe. "Perchlorate anion is in solid rocket fuel. They're all different; that's the point of chemistry."

Olestra (Olean)

Olestra fat substitute is banned in the U.K. and Canada because it causes a depletion of fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoid, the Caltons say, "robbing us of vital micronutrients that our foods should be delivering."

It is found in Ruffles Light and Lay's WOW chips. Frito-Lay did not return a request for comment about its use of Olestra.

Lowe acknowledges that the non-caloric fat substitute interferes with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, "but potato chips are not a very good source of vitamins to start with," he writes.

He also points out that Olestra is found only in two brands of potato chips, "since it was a major failure in the market."

"And vitamin absorption can be messed with by all kinds of things, including other vitamins (folic acid supplements can interfere with B12 absorption, just to pick one). But I can agree with the plan of not eating the stuff: I think that if you're going to eat potato chips, eat a reasonable amount of the real ones," he writes in his blog.

Chex

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Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)

Banned in England, and other European countries, "these waxy solids act as preservatives to prevent food from becoming rancid and developing objectionable odors," the Caltons write.

The state of California lists this ingredient as a possible carcinogen.

General Mills did not respond to a request about its use of BHT in Chex cereals.

Lowe said that BHT is approved by the EU and, "Animal studies notwithstanding, attempts to correlate human exposure to these compounds with any types of cancer have always come up negative."

Some dairy

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rBGH and rBST

Recombinant bovine growth hormone and recombinant bovine somatotropin, a synthetic version of bovine growth hormone, can be found in nonorganic dairy products unless noted on the packaging.

"However, several regions, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, and the European Union, have banned rBGH and rBST because of their dangerous impacts on both human and bovine health," the Caltons say.

American dairy producer, Stonyfield, opposes the use of rBST because of economics and cow health.

"An increase in milk supply generally leads to a drop in the price paid to farmers," Stonyfield says on its website. "Price drops have put many farms out of business."

In 1993, the FDA approved the use of rBST in dairy cows based on a review of existing scientific studies.

Beth Meyer, a spokeswoman for the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council Inc (ADADC), a regional organization representing dairy farmers in New York, northern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania, said over the last 20 years rBST has been heavily researched and separate reviews by the National Institutes of Health, the joint World Health Organization/Food And Agriculture Organization Committee, the American Medical Association, as well as regulatory agencies in Canada and the European Union have corroborated the FDA's conclusion.

"RBST is one of many management tools used by U.S. dairy farmers to provide a safe, affordable food supply," she said.

Canada and several European countries have affirmed that milk produced from rBST cows is safe for human consumption. These countries don't allow the sale of rBST to local farmers for reasons including economics, social customs and general opposition to technological advances used to promote efficient food production, not human health concerns.

Bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is given to dairy cattle to increase milk production, Lowe said, and BGH levels in the milk of treated cows are not higher than in untreated ones.

"Secondly, BGH is not active as a growth hormone in humans - it's selective for the cow receptor, not the human one," he said.

Lowe points out BGH was banned in some countries due to animal welfare concerns. "As far as human health, there doesn't seem to be any evidence it's bad for humans," he said.

Chicken feed

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Arsenic

The Caltons warn about traces of arsenic, which has been banned in all foods in the EU, that can be found in some chicken feed.

Last month, Johns Hopkins University scientists said they found amounts of arsenic in chicken that exceeded naturally occurring levels.

But the National Chicken Council says chickens raised for meat or broilers (for meat production) are no longer given any feed additives containing arsenic.

"Broilers used to be given a product called Roxarsone which contained trace amounts of arsenic, but it was pulled from the market in 2011 and is no longer manufactured. No other products containing arsenic are currently fed to broilers in the U.S." said Tom Super, spokesman for the council.

Lowe points out that 100 parts per billion of inorganic arsenic have been found in white rice, though he said that doesn't pose a human health risk.

Arsenic can be found in groundwater supplies in a number of countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"It's very hard to have a diet anywhere in the world that doesn't have a trace amount of arsenic," Jones said.

h/t to Tim Conway Jr. and TLA

Related: 

Is This Why the Europeans Don't Get Sick Like Americans Do? 

How Cells from an Aborted Fetus are Used to Create Novel Flavor Enhancers 

Stop Junk Food Marketing to Kids 

Americans Eat the Cheapest Food in the World, But What is It Really Costing? 

Some Baby Foods are Worse Than Junk Food 

Mad moms to food police: We'll eat what we want 

OBESITY CONSPIRACY: The U.S. Government Scandal that's Really Making You Fat 

Japan Cancels GMO Wheat Order After Concerns Over U.S. Grain Developed By Monsanto

Also checkout:  Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health/(Kindle) 

Perils of Peanuts and Peanut Butter… Even Organic 

Margarine Verses Butter 

Splenda - safer than aspartame but is it really safe? 

You Are What You Eat: 7 Food Additives That Are Secretly Making Us FAT 

12 Food Additives to Remove From Your Diet 

Whole Foods Vows to Label GMO’s by 2018   

The Dangers of Genetically Modified Ingredients in Pet Food 

Dr Mercola: Bill Gates: One of the World’s Most Destructive ‘So-Called’ Do-Gooders? (Plus: Monsanto and GMO Foods) 

Monsanto Shill And USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack Says Government Will Change The Way Citizens Eat 

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Senate Bill S.510 Passed… Quickly Explained Here

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Fifty Eight Percent of Americans Now Want ObamaCare Repealed Completely

See Video: Dr. Ben Carson Talks Obamacare Future Disaster Waiting to Happen with Neil Cavuto

Fox releases another tranche of glum polling for the White House.  On repeal:

A record number of voters want the 2010 Affordable Care Act repealed entirely, while sizable majorities say they are worried about their health care under the new law and expect their medical costs will go up, according to a new Fox News poll.  The poll, released Wednesday, finds that 58 percent of voters favor repealing all (39 percent) or some (19 percent) of President Obama’s signature legislative achievement.  Another 19 percent would leave the law as is, while 17 percent would expand its coverage further…A 62-percent majority of independents favors repealing at least some of the law.

NewsMax: Most voters continue to favor repeal of the national healthcare bill, but nearly half see repeal as unlikely. A plurality believes repeal would be good for the economy.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 58 percent of voters favor repeal, including 48 percent who strongly favor it. Thirty-seven percent are opposed to repeal, with 28 percent who are strongly opposed.

Support for repeal is up two points from a week ago but is consistent with findings recorded over the past several months. Weekly tracking surveys have found support for repeal has ranged from 52 percent to 63 percent.

Forty-four percent believe repeal of the healthcare bill would be good for the economy. Twenty-eight percent say repeal would hurt the economy. These views have not changed since earlier this month.

But just 39 percent think it even somewhat likely that the new law will actually be repealed. Forty-eight percent of voters see repeal as unlikely. Those figures include nine percent who say repeal is very likely and 10 percent say it’s not at all likely.
Democrats continue to be much more supportive of the healthcare bill and much more confident of its benefits than are Republicans and voters not affiliated with either party…

Thirty-four percent of voters say the healthcare plan is good for the country, but most voters (53 percent) see its impact as bad. Fifty percent or more of voters have said the plan is bad for the country since late March.

While a solid plurality of voters believe repeal would be good for the economy, just 27 percent say repeal would create new jobs. Thirty-six percent disagree and say new jobs would not be created and a sizable 37 percent are not sure.

Earlier this month, 45 percent said repeal was unlikely, but in April 51 percent felt that way.

Forty-nine percent of mainstream voters think repeal is likely, but 72 percent of the  political class feel otherwise and believe repeal is unlikely to take place.

The political class also champions the healthcare bill much more strongly than mainstream voters. Fifty-four percent of mainstream voters, for example, think repeal of the bill would be good for the economy. However, 72 percent of the political class say repeal would have a bad impact on the economy.

But then 70 percent of mainstream voters favor repeal of the healthcare bill. Ninety-five percent of the political class are opposed.

Sixty-eight percent of all voters nationwide believe the nation’s political class doesn’t “care what most Americans think” anyway.
Voters strongly believe that more competition and less regulation would be better for the economy and job creation.

Looking back, voters remain unhappy with the government bailouts of the financial industry and troubled automakers General Motors and Chrysler.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on July 24-25, 2010, by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

© All Rights Reserved.

On health security and costs:

Nearly three times as many voters say the health care law makes them feel more worried (66 percent) rather than reassured (23 percent).  And the anxiety is rising — the number feeling worried is up 15 percentage points since July 2012, soon after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law constitutional last year.  Concern is widespread, as more than 60 percent in every age group feel worried about their health care in the future.  It peaks at 70 percent among those ages 65 and over.  Overall, 65 percent of voters think their health care costs will increase under the law.  Few — eight percent — say their costs will go down, while 24 percent thinks costs will stay about the same.

Flashback:

Video:  Obama Promises To Lower Health Insurance Premiums by $2,500 Per Year

Eight percent of Americans now believe the president’s central promise will come true.  That’s half the percentage of Americans who approve of Congress, which really puts that abysmal number in perspective.  Nearly three-fifths of the population wants Obamacare repealed, and almost two-thirds of Americans expect their costs to rise.  But keep on laughing at the GOP for trying to undo this monstrosity, media folks — especially now that the hyper-credible Internal Revenue Service is prominently tied to the law.

Comment:  “Liar liar pants on fire. Obamacare, in fact, will increase individual-market premiums in California by as much as 146 percent.” …EddieFry 

McCaughey: Obamacare is About Funding Democrats 

California Schools To Train Kids To Sell ObamaCare

Cross-posted at AskMarion

Technorati Tags: ObamaCare,repeal and replace ObamaCare,defund ObamaCare,Ben Carson,Obama Youth,indoctrination

McCaughey: Obamacare is About Funding Democrats

By Marion Algier - Ask Marion  -  h/t to MJ 

Betsy McCaughey – Author of Obama Health Law

McCaughey was a guest on the Mark Levin Show and talked about how O-care funds are being used – and that the illegal immigration bill also contains the same slush fund mechanisms in it.  Here’s a very brief write-up...

Betsy McCaughey, one of the few people on Earth who’s actually read the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (aka Obamacare), wrote this recent article which I believe is worth adding to the echo chamber.

If you have to keep it a secret, you probably shouldn't be doing it.

But the California legislature and the new Covered California health insurance exchange are conspiring to keep secret how they will dole out more than half a billion dollars in taxpayer dollars to contractors. The lion's share of the money is going for what the exchange budget terms "outreach."

In truth, the money is going to build Democratic Party enrollment.

The Obama administration granted a whopping $910 million to California to set up its insurance exchange. That money is not for bandages, surgery, nurses and doctors to care for the sick. Nor is it for insurance plans, though $910 million could buy generous coverage for at least 113,000 people!

Shockingly, the $910 million is slated for bureaucracy, including rich compensation packages for exchange employees ($360,000 a year for the executive director) and contracts for computer equipment, public relations and "outreach."

Outreach is the largest expenditure and where the real monkey business occurs.

Amazingly, California legislators passed a law that the exchange could keep secret for a year who received the contracts and indefinitely how much they were paid. California's open-records laws would otherwise prohibit such secrecy.

Last week, Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and four other Republican senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee called for an investigation of California's concealing information on contracts awarded using federal taxpayer money.

What is known so far suggests that California politicians are exploiting health reform to enroll millions of the uninsured in the Democratic Party and fill the coffers of left-wing interest groups with taxpayer money.

Here are the facts to back up that cynical picture:

California lawmakers passed a law (Senate Bill 35) requiring that voter registration be part of the health insurance exchange.

Last month, Covered California announced $37 million in grants to 48 organizations to build public awareness about the opening of the health exchange on Oct. 1.

Of the 48 organizations that got grants, only a handful are health-care related. The California NAACP received $600,000 to do door-to-door canvassing and presentations at community organizations.

Service Employees International Union, which says its mission is "economic justice," received two grants totaling $2 million to make phone calls, robo-calls and go door to door.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO got $1 million for door-to-door, one-on-one education and social networking. It describes its role as "engaging in both organizing and political campaigns, electing pro-union and pro-worker candidates."

Community Health Councils, a California organization with a long history of political activism against fracking, for-profit hospitals, state budget cuts and oil exploration, got $1 million to conduct presentations at community and neighborhood meetings and one-to-one sessions.

These organizations, closely allied with the Democratic Party, are being funded by your tax dollars to conduct "outreach," meaning the kind of phone banking and door-to-door canvassing that activists do to turn out the vote. They will turn out the uninsured to enroll on the exchanges and in the Democratic Party.

The $37 million awarded last month is only the first installment of California's $190.4 million to be spent on contracts for "outreach" through December 2014.

In addition to outreach, California's actual enrollment process is also outsourced to employees of community organizations, unions and health clinics. These enrollment "assisters" will be paid $58 for each enrollee they sign up. An additional $49 million is budgeted to pay them the first year, but in future years, assisters will be paid out of the premiums collected by the exchange.

The template is repeated in every state. The Obama health law creates a permanent stream of funding for unions and community activists by outsourcing insurance enrollment to them.

Assisters will also guide the uninsured to sign up for whatever non-health social services they may be eligible for, including welfare, food stamps and housing assistance, according to the manual prepared by the Community Health Councils for California's implementation.

Anyone who remembers the days of James Curley, Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall gets the picture. If you were poor or a newcomer to this country, you went to the local ward boss and got whatever you needed in exchange for your vote.

The difference is that back then, politics was local. Now the Obama health law is institutionalizing this corrupt style of politics across the country. Whether you live in California or New York, local community activists and unions will be recruiting people to enroll in ObamaCare and sign up to be part of the permanent, beholden Democratic voting majority.

And just ask anyone who comes from a country with a one-party system… they will tell you horror stories upon horror stories.

Her basic premise is that Obamacare is not about health care (even a synopsis of the bill tells you that), it’s about funding a permanent Democrat majority.

How? McCaughey believes that this is done through “awareness” programs using typical Democrat muscle (unions, community organizations, the usual suspects) to receive much of this government funding to help get the word out about Obamacare. It’s a money laundering scheme using taxpayer’s money to ultimately assist Democrat get-out-the-vote drives, very much like what the Stimulus was used for.

Audio: Mark Levin Discusses What's Really Going on with Obamacare with Betsy McCaughey Part I

Audio: Mark Levin Discusses What’s Really Going on with Obamacare with Betsy McCaughey Part 2

Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto, Governor Huckabee and Rush Limbaugh also featured similar discussions on their radio shows this past week:

Rush Limbaugh/EIB:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I hate to do this to you, but the Investor's Business Daily had an editorial yesterday, and they have discovered the purpose of Obamacare.  It has nothing to do with health care.  The purpose of Obamacare got nothing to do with your health, and nothing to do with your insurance. 

It's about building a permanent, undefeatable, always-funded Democrat majority.  One example: The exchanges.  We're being told that the government's running way behind on setting up the exchanges, and we're being told it's because the bill so complicated, big, unmanageable. Nobody could possibly get this done on time.  IBD has tracked how these exchanges are being set up, and basically the health care exchanges in these states are going to be Democrat political action committees, funded with your tax dollars. 

They're going to operate under the guise of selling you your health insurance when in fact what they're going to be doing is providing employment for Democrats and Democrat voters and Democrat operatives. They are going to use the exchanges to give out money to sympathetic Democrats and people who vote for other Democrats.  I'll give you the details.  It's on a par with how I've tried to explain that the stimulus was a money-laundering operation for Democrat campaign coffers. 

Because the vast majority of stimulus money went to keep government union employees working.  It went to make sure they weren't laid off in a really bad and down economy.  State and local union employees pay dues.  They're required to pay it.  The dues are collected by Democrat union leaders. They run all the union organizations, and the dues are what fund Democrat campaigns.  Well, you can't collect dues if the people aren't working. If you're the Democrats, you can't (not yet, anyway) just write a check for $900 billion to the US Treasury and then start giving it away.

But you can come up with a "stimulus" bill that you tell people it's all about creating jobs and roads and bridges and building up infrastructure. Then you get the check, and you are in charge of how the money is spent and where it goes, and you see to it that it ends up ultimately in the back pockets of union employees so that they continue to be employed and paying dues.  So it's a roundabout way of getting $900 billion, or a percentage of it, back to the Democrat Party in campaign contributions. 

That's what the stimulus bill was!

I'll take a break.  Take a couple phone calls, and then I will share with you the dirty details of the Investors Business Daily editorial on what is really happening with Obamacare and the exchanges.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, on to the Investor's Business Daily.  They have an editorial that explains in quite extensive detail how Obamacare is actually a funding operation for Democrat Party operatives and a technique for improving increasing Democrat Party voter registration. 

"The Obama administration granted a whopping $910 million to California to set up its insurance exchange. That money is not for bandages, surgery, nurses and doctors to care for the sick. ... Shockingly, the $910 million is slated for bureaucracy, including rich compensation packages for exchange employees."  In fact, the executive director of the exchange in California will make $360,000 a year.  The exchange money, this $910 million, is being used for computer equipment, public relations, and outreach. 

What is the exchange?  It's supposedly where you go, by mandate, to buy your health insurance.  The exchange is supposed to just be a catalog, basically.  And the only thing in the catalog are insurance policies, and you go there and you pick yours.  You go there, decide what you want.  That's what the exchange is.  Instead, the regime has decided to use these exchanges, probably part of the original plan, as Democrat get-out-the-vote efforts complete with walking-around money and employment for loyal Democrats. 

"California lawmakers passed a law (Senate Bill 35) requiring that voter registration be part of the health insurance exchange." California lawmakers, again, passed Senate Bill 35 that requires voter registration be part of the health insurance exchange.  Now, you think you're going to the exchange to pick your insurance policy.  Guess what?  You're gonna get pressured to register to vote, if you're not, and maybe even if you already are.  "Last month, Covered California announced $37 million in grants to 48 organizations to build public awareness about the opening of the health exchange on Oct. 1."

In other words, they're treating this as the grand opening of a great shopping center, a great mall.  They're doing this to attract all kinds of people. It's a government bureaucracy.  It would be no different than if the DMV started running ads to get you to show up. 

"Of the 48 organizations that got grants, only a handful are health-care related."  For example, Covered California announced $37 million in grants to 48 organizations to build public awareness about the opening of the health care exchange.  Now, why in the world would the California NAACP get $600,000?  But they did.  The California NAACP got $600,000 of Obamacare money, California exchange money, to go door-to-door canvassing and registering voters, and to create presentations at community organizations, presentations about the Democrat Party, presentations about registering and supporting the Democrat Party and its candidates. 

"Service Employees International Union, which says its mission is 'economic justice,' received two grants totaling $2 million to make phone calls, robo-calls and go door to door." Now, what in the world does a health exchange need a union going door-to-door for?  I'm talking about in the strict structure of these exchanges.  Remember, our low-information people have no clue what's gonna hit them here, folks. 

You think they know what a health care exchange is?  You and I know what it is.  It's a place where we're gonna have to go to get our insurance policy.  Little do we know that when we show up we're going to be hit with Democrat Party propaganda.  Little do we know that the insurance exchanges are gonna be giving money to the NAACP and the Service Employees International Union to go out and do "voter outreach," voter registration drives, show up at community organizing centers.

They're gonna be making robo-calls, phone calls all about getting out the vote.  "The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO got $1 million for door-to-door, one-on-one education and social networking." For what?  An insurance policy? "It describes its role as 'engaging in both organizing and political campaigns, electing pro-union and pro-worker candidates.'" That's the AFL-CIO.  That's how it describes itself. 

So we have the NAACP in California getting 600 grand to go door-to-door to register voters, to do this or that.  "Service Employees International Union, which says its mission is "economic justice," received two grants totaling $2 million to make phone calls, robo-calls and go door to door," to the outreach, open community centers, make phone calls, robo-calls, register voters, get them to the polls.  The AFL-CIO getting another million. So just in three groups, we're at $3,600,000 from a health exchange to basically gin up support for the Democrat Party.

"Community Health Councils, a California organization with a long history of political activism against fracking, for-profit hospitals, state budget cuts and oil exploration, got $1 million to conduct presentations at community and neighborhood meetings and one-to-one sessions." So health care exchange money for California has been given to a group that opposes fracking, for-profit hospitals, and opposes state budget cuts, opposes oil exploration.

They get a million bucks to "conduct presentations at community and neighborhood meetings" against all of these things.  In other words, Community Health Councils, California group, got a million dollars to promote the Democrat Party.  The AFL-CIO, $1 million to promote the Democrat Party.  The Service Employees International Union, $2 million to promote the Democrat Party.  The NAACP, $600,000 to promote the Democrat Party.

It's $910 million total of taxpayer money to the state of California -- and by the way, gonna happen in every state.  This is not just California.  But you might be asking, "Wait a minute, Rush! Wait a minute! What about getting people actually signed up for health care, insurance policies?"  Well, guess what?  That has also been assigned to constituencies in the Democrat Party.  Basically what's happening is Obamacare's exchanges are being funded, money is being given. 

The same people who got stimulus money, folks.  You didn't.  Your shovel-ready job didn't. Your school didn't. Your road, your bridge, none of those things got it. Your job didn't get it.  Democrat loyalists got the money. The same thing is happening with the Obamacare exchanges. Democrat supporting groups are being given millions of dollars to promote the Democrat Party, register Democrat voters, and get them to the polls on Election Day.  The purpose?  To set up a permanent one-party system in this country.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The Investor's Business Daily.  This story, it's actually an editorial, it's written by Betsy McCaughey.  And folks, what's happening with these health care exchanges, again, we're gonna link to this Investor's Business Daily editoral at RushLimbaugh.com and it's gonna be in our Rush in a Hurry.  You know what?  I don't pitch this enough, but I really should. 

We have an e-mail alert that we send out within a half hour of every program, and it's free.  All you have to do is go to our website and sign up for it.  And there are no strings attached to it.  Now, it does have banner advertising in it, but there are no strings.  You don't have to sign up for anything else.  It's called Rush in a Hurry, and it is a summary with some transcripts and some audio, and it has links to the full website, with full details on everything.  But it is a great, comprehensive summary of the highlights, which is everything that happened on this program every day.  Millions of people already get it, and you can get it, too.  So when I sit here and tell you, "Well, you don't want to miss this IBD editorial," if you're subscriber to Rush in a Hurry, it automatically comes to whatever e-mail address you submit, and the link to it will be right there about 30 minutes after the program. 

Now, we are able to update our website on the fly now because of advancements in website technology.  We used to have to wait 'til six o'clock Eastern time every day to have the whole site up.  You had to do it all at once and then go live with it.  But now we can supplement it as we go, update it as we go.  So the Rush in a Hurry is an absolutely great way -- if you haven't had a chance to listen to the program on a particular day, you get the Rush in a Hurry, two things are gonna happen.  You're gonna know what happened. You're gonna wish that you had been near a radio.  But it is really well done.  It is done with html graphics.  It's not just a straight, flat text e-mail.  It is a miniature website into itself in an e-mail. All you have to do to get it is go to RushLimbaugh.com and sign up for Rush in a Hurry.  That's what it's called. 

Now, the Investor's Business Daily editorial written by Betsy McCaughey details what the health care exchanges in Obamacare really are about.  And she focuses on California because they're getting $910 million to set up the exchanges in California.  Now, the exchanges, folks, are for one purpose and that's for you to go get your health care insurance. Every American, if you don't get your health care from your employer, you're gonna have to go to one of these exchanges to get it. It's a marketplace, it's a clearinghouse, theoretically.  It's a catalog.  You go pick the policy that you want based on what you want to pay -- they're all gonna be expensive.  But it turns out these exchanges are just being used for Democrat Party outreach.  I've detailed how. 

The NAACP is getting $600,000 from the California exchange.  The AFL-CIO is getting $1 million.  The Service Employees International Union is getting $2 million.  And for what?  To go door-to-door, to register voters, to show up at community centers and make presentations on the Democrat Party and sell the Democrat Party agenda.  A group called Community Health Councils, which is a California bunch that opposes fracking, for-profit hospitals, state budget cuts and oil exploration, got $1 million to conduct presentations at community and neighborhood meetings. "California's actual enrollment process is also outsourced to employees of community organizations, unions and health clinics."

So when you show up to get your insurance at a California exchange, you might be dealing to somebody from the AFL-CIO.  You might be dealing with somebody from the Service Employees International Union.  Planned Parenthood is trying to get in on some of this money.  Planned Parenthood wants some exchange money to promote their cause, which is abortion.  It's another slush fund, folks.  The health care exchanges are slush funds just like the stimulus bill was. 

California's Democrat controlled legislature does not want voters to know who exactly is getting close to $200 million in outreach funding, so they passed a law that creates an exception to the state's open records law.  A grand total of $200 million in Democrat Party outreach will be allocated from the $910 million to set up the exchanges.  That's the brunt of it, but I tell you, you need to see the whole thing.  And we'll link to it at RushLimbaugh.com.

Washington Examiner: "The popularity of Obamacare has crashed to its lowest level in nearly two years, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll."  Thirty-five percent support Obamacare.  "Kaiser's monthly tracking poll found that just 35 percent have a favorable view of the health reform being put into place Jan. 1 while 43 percent view it unfavorably. The favorability rating of Obamacare has been worse only once, in October 2011, when it fell to 34 percent."  So it's heading south.

Another story from Wall Street Journal: An ObamaCare Board Answerable to No One.

This is a story about the death panel.  "An Obamacare Board Answerable to No One." A story from the Wall Street Journal about death panels.  It's a disaster.  Immigration reform, it's a disaster.  This, Obamacare, is a disaster, folks.  No other way to describe it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  About these health care exchanges, let me present to you a picture.  Hypothetically, Obamacare is implemented, and along the way, guess what?  Amnesty happens, the Gang of Eight bill is passed, and all of a sudden we've got 11 million people now that we're gonna put on a pathway to citizenship.  Who's gonna be in charge of it?  Obama, the Democrat Party will be with pamphlets, ads on TV and in publications, about how to go to the pathway to citizenship. 

The pathway to citizenship's gonna take 'em right to a health care exchange.  They're gonna need health care.  They're gonna be sent right to an exchange where they're gonna be hit up by unions to become Democrats.  That's the first thing that's gonna happen to these illegals! Once we put 'em on the pathway, they're gonna be met on the path by the nearest union worker with a Democrat voter registration form.  That's exactly how this is gonna happen.  

END TRANSCRIPT

Video: Dr. Ben Carson Talks Obamacare Future Disaster Waiting to Happen with Neil Cavuto

After the IBD article, Limbaugh and Hannity also featured discussions of the above article on their radio shows and Dr. Ben Carson, who is working on an alternative solution to ObamaCare and our present healthcare system, was a guest on Cavuto.  Huckabee featured three doctors on his weekly Fox TV show over the weekend who have found their own solutions to circumvent ObamaCare and the ObamaCare exchanges.

Everything done by this administration is connected and part of a greater agenda… an agenda to control the US economy, create a one party system, and to control everything about our lives, a fundamental transformation of America.  Our job is to connect the dots… and then start disconnecting them.

Related:

Investor's Business Daily: Local Governments Reeling Under ObamaCare Costs

Washington Examiner: Kaiser: Most Say Nation Will be Worse Off Under Obamacare

Wall Street Journal: An ObamaCare Board Answerable to No One

Was Justice Roberts Intimidated Into Voting for ObamaCare?

Technorati Tags: ObamaCare,Affordable Care Act,smoke and mirrors,manipulation of the public,Betsy McCaughey,Ben Carson,one-party system,elites,Democrats,Democrat Party,McCaughey,power,control,indoctrination,death panels,Investor's Business Daily,IBD,Limbaugh,Mark Levin,Hannity,healthcare,ObamaCare surprises,wake-up,exchanges,ObamaCare exchanges,connect the dots,fundamental transformation of America,Huckabee,slush funds,Justice Roberts,insurance exchanges,California,immigration bill,Big Brother tactics

Sheep-eating plant to bloom for first time in 15 years

The national botanic garden in Wales has been cultivating a horrid, sheep-eating plant for 11 years, and now it's finally about to bloom.

Newsmax/Cross-Posted at Just One More Pet: It is not exactly Audrey II from the Broadway play "Little Shop of Horrors," but English horticulturalists say for the first time that a Chilean "sheep-eating" plant is ready to bloom in the Royal Horticultural Society garden greenhouse in Wisley, south of London.

The gardening charity told the BBC that very few specimens of the Puya chilensis were known to have flowered in the United Kingdom. Puya chilensis are known for using their sharp spines to snare and trap sheep and other small animals, which slowly starve to death.

The animals then decay at the base of the plant, acting as fertilizer. The horticultural society officials told the BBC it opted for liquid fertilizer to feed its Puy chilensis in the greenhouse.

The National Botanic Garden of Wales waited 11 years for its plant to bloom, though clumps bloom every April in the open on Tresco in the Isles of Scilly.

"I’m really pleased that we’ve finally coaxed our Puya chilensis into flower,"  horticulturalist Cara Smith told the UK's Metro.

"We keep it well fed with liquid fertilizer as feeding it on its natural diet might prove a bit problematic."

Smith told Metro just to make sure the plant behaved, horticulturalists are raising it in a remote portion of the greenhouse so it can remain out of reach of children. The plant has bright, greeny-yellow flowers on tall spikes above the razor-sharp spines.

"It’s well worth a visit but parents coming along with small children don’t need to worry about the plant devouring their little ones," Smith said in a news release by the horticultural society.

The society said the "blossoms are gigantic with each individual bloom measuring around five centimeters across and containing enough nectar for a person to drink. The plant’s taste for sheep has also proved its undoing in its native habitat where shepherds will go in search of the plants and set fire to them to protect their flocks."

Puy chiliensis can be commonly found in the arid coastal mountain region of central and north Chile, according to The Lost World Nursery. The plants are drought tolerant and can grow as tall as 10 feet, according the Lost World Nursery.

Technorati Tags: sheep,Chile,flesh-eating plants,Puy Chiliensis,JOMP,Just One More Pet,Scilily,National Botanic Garden of Wales,Royal Horticultural Society,sheep-eating plant,THITW

Was Justice Roberts Intimidated Into Voting for ‘ObamaCare’? Senator Mike Lee Presents the Evidence

TheBlaze/AP photo: After Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts voted to uphold the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as “ObamaCare,” many wondered if there could be a yet-unknown reason why the Republican-nominated justice made the unexpected decision.

On the Glenn Beck radio program Tuesday, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) explained why he believes Roberts was intimidated into changing his vote late in the process, as laid out in his new book: Why John Roberts Was Wrong About Healthcare: A Conservative Critique of The Supreme Court's Obamacare Ruling.

Lee’s argument is not based on the NSA or its monitoring of the nation’s communication.  Rather, Lee said, there are indications that Roberts originally intended to vote against the act, but that a public “campaign of intimidation” made him change his mind.

First, the senator claimed “the opinion was written in a way to suggest he switched his vote,” and that the dissenting opinion reads like it was originally written as the majority.  He added that several news outlets reported that Roberts did change his vote, based on insider information.

Not only that, he said, but the court performed an unusual feat of “legal gymnastics” in upholding the legislation, particularly with regard to whether the fines incurred are or are not taxes.  They had to re-write sections of the the bill not once, but twice.

Lee continued to say that he has “no evidence” that Roberts was being blackmailed, but said that doesn’t mean Roberts wasn’t under any kind of “direct pressure.”

But even if he wasn’t, Lee reminded the Obama administration and Democratic lawmakers were open in their warnings to the court, “denigrating the authority of the house,” and saying the Supreme Court would become irrelevant if it failed to uphold ObamaCare.

The argument that Roberts changed his vote has been made in the past, but is certainly lent additional credibility when a U.S. senator writes a book making the case.

Watch Lee’s complete interview, below:

Video: Sen. Mike Lee has a theory on why John Roberts decided to uphold Obamacare in the Supreme Court

Technorati Tags: SCOTUS,Mike Lee,ObamaCare,Obamaland,Justice Roberts,Chief Justice John Roberts,John Roberts,corruption. watch the other hand,manipulation of the public

Autism - Meme as Political Insult

One of the biggest issues facing punditry is how to get your point across elegantly while excoriating the “other” point of view. Sadly many in this so-called adult world of political discussion, argumentation and  debate, have taken to childhood name-calling, bullying and insult. It is not enough to simply prove your opponent incorrect you need to dispel any notion that their ideas have any merit or perspective of worth. Unfortunately in order to accomplish this goal, many otherwise highly intelligent people use insulting memes to accomplish what they think is an intelligent spin on the opposition. What occurs however is the denigration of those who through no fault of their own have been born with neurological, developmental or mental disabilities. It is highly unseemly that in the greater world these insults to people living with immense challenges goes unchallenged. 

Being the parent of two young men with asperger’'s I do not go quietly into that good night when I see that ignorance about whom aspergeans happen to be abounds. The ancienne mode of thinking and understanding disabilities, as well as mental illness, is being challenged and destroyed on a daily basis by science, advocates and civil rights laws. It is time that those in the world of intellectual debate caught up to the notion of respect, understanding and appreciation of those who live life with a different “operating system” and try as hard as they may to fit in and become productive, happy, and accepted members of society.

Shame on those that perpetuate ignorance and hate. No matter who they happen to be they should be called out for their pomposity in thinking they can denigrate other human beings and yet still consider themselves religiously observant, ethical, moral and descent.

Remember we do not fight the fights that are easy, we fight the fights that are worth fighting.

*********

Everyone who reads this blog knows that I am not afraid to show my political bent. Not a fan of Obama, democrats, political correctness and cultural relativism. I’m also not a conservative or libertarian either. I am a Constitutionalist. I believe in the US Constitution over and above all other forms of government, politics, religion and realities.

That being said I do not hesitate to point out, mention, discuss, or accuse when someone, no matter their political bent, insults those with disabilities to attempt to make any kind of point. I am an equal opportunity tuchas-kicker. I do not shrink away angry. I let them know that their maligning of my sons is not only disingenuous, its stereotyping/bullying at its worse and ignorant at its best.

Earlier today I happened upon one of the more interesting blogs that I read. I do not hesitate to comment when I think he has gone too far politically. As anyone will tell you I am not shy, at least not on-line.

His latest screed was about socialism and its failures, disasters and the incomprehensible blindness of its adherents. Not anything I haven’t read or said at times myself. Absolutes in politics don’t work, no matter which side of the aisle you sit on. It’s why even our most important laws have get-out-of-jail-reasons, even the admonition “Thou shalt not murder.”

Well as I was reading his latest diatribe I came across this paragraph:

The Asperger shortcuts to manipulating people that are such a big part of convincing you to try a new soft drink or selling voters on Obama 2012 worked, but getting people to buy your hairspray or vote for your candidate is fundamentally different than changing how they live. The nudges and the data streams may seem sophisticated, but they rely on a Pavlovian view of human beings reacting to impulses in predictable ways. It’s good enough for making a dog salivate when a bell is rung or a coed’s eyes fill with stars at a Hopey poster, but it doesn’t account for anything deeper than that.
Sultan Knish, The Crash of Socialism 2.0

I left a comment to say the least. I told him that his use of autism spectrum disorders is stereotyping an entire group of people who deal with prejudice on a daily basis. That his job is to teach not vilify. That he was promoting ignorance and bullying. That as a religious person he should be ashamed of himself. I told him to print my comment or don’t print the comment. Respond in condescending tones about political correctness and leftist politics all he wants. But what he should do is rewrite that paragraph and apologize.

Nope haven’t checked back to see what happened. Maybe I will and maybe I won’t. I don’t think I actually care. I have had many of my comments vilified by fools who think its smart to use the “R” word when I’ve pointed out how wrong it is. I have been ignored by authors who think its OK to use the autism-meme to show societal-ambiguousness-towards-humanity.

In all the time I spend on the internet there has only been one incidence where someone actually changed their article and apologized to me for what they had written. That was at Israellycool. I suppose one is still better than none. But it does make you think.

The ultimate  irony here is that the blogger in question continually points out the antisemitic nature of so many articles, persons, political philosophies and organizations around the globe. He rails against antisemitism and the stereotypes promoted by some of the world’s biggest (and smallest) Israel-and Jew-haters. (Yes I do that too.) But was unable to see how his stereotyping of those with aspergers spreads just as much hatred as racial or religious animus. It amazes me to no end, how people are so incapable of seeing what they dislike in others in themselves.

What I take away from this is simply how sad a place is the world at times and the challenges still out there for my sons and others with autism.  I shouldn’t be surprised. Really I shouldn’t. I just wonder where have all the intelligent people gone? I expect autism-stereotyping from the uneducated politically unaware, but not from those who pride themselves on their ability to think, discuss and reason. Did intellects, true intellects, ever exist and am I fooling myself into thinking that the boys may not actually have to fight hatred for the rest of their lives?

Whenever I am confronted by the ignorance of the intelligent I always come back to hubby’s admonishment about keeping the boys information private to the world. Hubby always warns about the nastiness of the working world. While I know that there are always ways to find out who someone truly happens to be, for the majority of people it’s not important to go that extra mile to delve into the bowels of the internet. So I do the best I can with keeping their identities secret. And yes, after today, I am glad I listened to hubby yet again.

Ultimately, bigotry is bigotry. There are no excuses for being uneducated in today’s day and age. Those who do not recognize their own intellectual shallowness while even trying to excuse their equally vicious perspectives only make this a harsher world for our children. Silence in the face of such ignorance is not an option.

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men…Abraham Lincoln.

Here is a video that can help people understand aspergers:

*****

Update:  No I never checked back to see what was the reaction at Sultan Knish. Quite frankly I do not care. I have gone up against bloggers and their acolytes before and have been sorely disappointed in everyone. No it does not stop me from pointing out the hurtfulness of their ways. If others wish to check back then so be it. But quite frankly if Daniel Greenfield wanted to contact me he had my email address attached to my comment, plus I tweeted him a copy of this post, and we could have discussed the issue of aspergers, what it is in reality, its characteristics,  the false methodology associated with autism, as well as, how it affects those who happen to be born with this developmental disability. But he did not. 

Liberty’s Spirit  -  Cross posted at Raising Asperger’s Kids

Technorati Tags: Asperger's,Autism,manipulation of the public,ignorance

World's oldest man and oldest person ever dies in Japan at age 116

Oct. 15, 2012: Jiroemon Kimura smiles after he was presented with the certificate of the world's oldest living man from Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday at his home in the city, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. (AP)

FoxNews/AP: TOKYO –  Japan's Jiroemon Kimura, who had been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living person and the oldest man ever, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 116.

Kimura, of Kyotango, Japan, was born April 19, 1897. Officials in Kyotango said he died in a local hospital, where he had been undergoing treatment for pneumonia.

According to Guinness, Kimura was the first man in history to have lived to 116 years old.

Kimura became the oldest man ever on Dec. 28, 2012, at the age of 115 years, 253 days, breaking the record set by Christian Mortensen, a Danish immigrant to the United States, whose life spanned from 1882-1998.

The title of oldest living person is now held by another Japanese, 115-year-old Misao Okawa, of Osaka. Okawa was born March 5, 1898.

"Jiroemon Kimura was an exceptional person," said Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records. "As the only man to have ever lived for 116 years — and the oldest man whose age has been fully authenticated — he has a truly special place in world history."

Kyotango officials said Kimura's funeral would be held Friday.

"Mr. Kimura was and will always be a treasure to our town, to our country and to our world," said Mayor Yasushi Nakayama.

The new oldest living man, according to the U.S.-based Gerontology Research Group, is James McCoubrey, an American who was born in Canada on Sept. 13, 1901. Now 111 years old, he is the 32nd oldest living person according to GRG's list, which shows all those older than him are women.

Related:

Japan man climbs Everest at 80 

Great Grandmother Mary Allen Hardison: 101-Year-Old Woman Breaks Guinness World Record... Oldest Female to Paraglide Tandem 

At 102 Years Old, Birthday Girl Finally Stops Smoking

Go Granny Go!!

Humana Given Gag Order Letter by Government for Telling Seniors the Truth About ObamaCare Cuts

ObamaCare for Seniors: Sorry, You're Just Not Worth It  

The 'kill granny' bill

Useless Eaters 

2050: 1.1 Million Over 100 Years Old; Their Aging Brains

“Death Panel” Three Years Later

Obama Embraces ‘Death Panel’ Concept in Medicare Rule

Meet Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel: Deny Coverage to Elderly an Disabled for the Greater Good – But don’t forget… Sarah Palin was crazy…

Complete Lives System by Ezekial Emanuel

Soylent Green Anyone???

Death Panels are HERE 

Remember 'The Girls' - Views by Ann Hood

Waltz Into Old Age

Checkout: ObamaCare Survival Guide and Ageless

Technorati Tags: Gerontology,aging,seniors,oldest person,pneumonia,Guinness,death panels,Ezekial Emanual,Complete Lives System,Centenarians,socialized medicine,rationed healthcare,rationing for seniors,Soylent Green,granny,Japan,elderly

NBC Al Roker Has Epiphany… His 14-Year Old Daughter Can Now Get Morning After Pill

Marion Algier – Ask Marion – Cross-posted at THITW – h/t to TLA

 "Al" Albert Lincoln Roker, Jr., television weatherman and co-host of NBC's Today Show had an epiphany on today’s show (06.11.13), about a week late… or is that perhaps years late?… realizing that his 14-year-old daughter can now go get the morning after pill without his permission or even notification.

America has become a country of low and mis-informed voters fed by a media comprised primarily of either the ‘ideologically motivated’ or equally low and mis-informed people… or both, that for many Americans are their only source of news and information.

I mean really, Al… Albeit ‘Obama Central’', you work in the talk show/news industry; have ‘with it’ first and second wives (Deborah Roberts) and you have young children, a daughter.  Hello??

So which is Al… ‘ideologically motivated’, low and mis-informed… or both?  You be the judge.

Video:  Remember:…Weatherman Al Roker 'Yells Down' VP Joe Biden in 2nd Inauguration Parade (He and media pals… like MSNBC ‘quiver down my leg’ Chris Mathews go nuts)

Court Rules: Girls of Any Age Can Buy Morning-After Pill… Without Parental Consent

The brief order issued by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitted two-pill versions of emergency contraception to immediately be sold without restrictions, but the court refused to allow unrestricted sales of Plan B One-Step until it decides the merits of the government's appeal. It did not specify why the two-pill versions were being allowed now, though it said the government failed to meet the requirements necessary to block the lower-court decision.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Allison Price said the government was reviewing the court's order.

Appeals on both sides are pending…

CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 05: This photo illustration shows a package of Plan B contraceptive on April 5, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Credit: Getty Images

This photo illustration shows a package of Plan B contraceptive generic version

TheBlaze: NEW YORK (AP) — Girls of any age can buy generic versions of emergency contraception without a prescription while the federal government appeals a judge’s ruling allowing the sales, according to a ruling Wednesday by a federal appeals court.

The brief order issued by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitted two-pill versions of emergency contraception to immediately be sold without restrictions, but the court refused to allow unrestricted sales of Plan B One-Step until it decides the merits of the government’s appeal. It did not specify why the two-pill versions were being allowed now, though it said the government failed to meet the requirements necessary to block the lower-court decision.

The order was welcomed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, where President Nancy Northup called it a “historic day for women’s health.”

“Finally, after more than a decade of politically motivated delays, women will no longer have to endure intrusive, onerous and medically unnecessary restrictions to get emergency contraception,” she said in a statement.

The center’s litigation director, Julie Rickelman, said the government has two weeks to decide whether to appeal the 2nd Circuit’s decision on the stay to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court. Even if there is no appeal of the stay ruling, it was unclear how soon drugstores would move the two-pill emergency contraception from behind the counter. She said she hoped the pills would be available without restriction within a month.

“What it does mean is that generic two-pill products are going to be readily available to women without age restrictions, on any drugstore shelf,” Rickelman said. “It’ll be like buying Tylenol. You’ll be able to go get it off the drugstore shelf, no ID, at the regular counter.”

Justice Department spokeswoman Allison Price said the government was reviewing the court’s order.

CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 05: This photo illustration shows a package of Plan B contraceptive on April 5, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois.

The government has appealed U.S. District Judge Edward Korman’s underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered levonorgestrel-based emergency contraceptives be made available without a prescription, over-the-counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.

The government asked Korman to suspend the effect of that ruling until the appeals court could decide the case, but the judge declined, saying the government’s decision to restrict sales was “politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent.” He also said there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.

The government had argued that “substantial market confusion” could result if Korman’s ruling was enforced while appeals were pending, only to be later overturned.

The Food and Drug Administration was preparing in 2011 to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill with no limits when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists in an unprecedented move.

The FDA announced in early May that Plan B One-Step could be sold without a prescription to those 15 and older. Its maker, Teva Women’s Health, plans to begin those sales soon. Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.

Korman later ridiculed the FDA changes, saying they established “nonsensical rules” that favored sales of the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill and were made “to sugarcoat” the government’s appeal.

He also said they place a disproportionate burden on blacks and the poor by requiring a prescription for less expensive generic versions of the drug bought by those under age 17 and by requiring those over age 17 to show proof-of-age identification at a pharmacy.

Plan B One-Step is the newer version of emergency contraception – the same drug, but combined into one pill instead of two.

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