Carpenter

Guess who is already to help build kitchen cabinets in Buddy's garage-with-a-loft?

All decked out with new tools, tool belt and matching boots. Too cool.

Remember, Buddy? Wants to build a Retreat to restore the health, Alternatively, of chronically ill people.

Step One: Build a garage-with-a-loft to be used as a base of operations.

Congrats Tim Hortons

Hey, congrats to Tim Hortons, that almost Canadian-owned company, for substituting saturated fats for its previously used poisonous trans fats.

Saturated real fats, good. Trans fats, very, very bad.

Burger King has seemingly done nothing. It is the worst of the worst.

The government says that saturated fat substitution for trans fats is better, but still bad. I disagree totally. Saturated fat substitution is excellent. It is real fat: lard, tallow, butter, olive oil, etc. The government would encourage industry to substitute other types of fake or processed oils for trans fats ... a serious mistake. Saturated fats are good, gov. Stop listening to industry and learn to love mother nature. When are you going to get healthful thinking into your head: real food, not fake food.

Driving across this great country just got a bit less dangerous.

A tie for X-Mas

Last year I got a tie for X-mas. Really. And it wasn't from one of the kids, either, but from my Mom. Darned if she isn't going to get a box of chocolates this year.

And while I am on the chocolate theme, I have noticed a long, triangular bar-shaped thing under the tree with my name on it. Gives me the idea to post on chocolate and the trans fats contained therein. That triangular bar may not be the best buy for the quality buck. But I tire of posting on trans fats.

And you will note I do not post on the environment (Kyoto) that often. It will be THE reason to vote Green next election, to force the issue upon all other parties. But after that I will probably move on to the Canadian-based issues of Social Justice or getting out of Afghanistan. They deserve to be put on the agenda more rigorously.

Christmas card

Hey, this is a nice X-mas card from the Green Party.



Gee, there are some creative people in the party. I am impressed.

Of course I wish that the party was actually as peace oriented as it purports.

Save me from yet another MILK posting

I know. I am a pain posting on milk yet again. Milk is kinda a boring subject and health is a boring topic and toxin avoidance is even more queer. Society and the ever trustful health monopoly know what is best for us, you say.

So just a bit of rambling on milk, today. Seeing as I have a new camera'n all so I can take closer-upper pictures than ever before. And I happened to have some milk cartons conveniently handy for this photo op.

Picture number one (of three). Whole milk, 3.25 percent fat 8 grams of fat including 0.2 grams transfats. The milk people and dietitians keep telling us that transfats are naturally occurring in the stomachs of cows. This ordinary, everyday, garden variety carton of milk contains 2.5 percent transfats. That is 2.5 percent pure poison in what is purported to be a healthy food.

Don't even get me started on the added synthetic steroidal hormone D3.




So what do we do? We buy 2 percent organic milk for our health. It contains 5 grams of fat including 0.2 grams of trans fatty acids. This supposedly certified organic product actually has a higher percentage of transfats than whole milk. This 2 percent milk has 4 percent of its fats rated as pure adulterated poison. Odd why it has so much trans fat in it, isn't it? Oh, look, they have added Vitamin A, a fat. Wonder where that came from and how it was produced. Who certified this milk?

Because we are astute label readers, always trying to buy a better food at a comparable price, we continue to search for non-poisonous milk. And it can be found. This milk, also a 2 percenter has 5 grams of total fat within each 250 ml serving. AND ZERO TRANS FATS. Whatz up with that? How is that possible?

Homogenization. The third example is NOT homogenized. So all that trans fat in milk that so-called experts keeps telling us is naturally occurring in the stomach of cows is not actually finding its way into the milk. News flash city folk ... milk is not obtained by regurgitating and puking cows.

So, all these many decades of homogenizing milk has actually adulterated the product, needlessly, into a toxic poison. Guaranteed heart disease and cardio-vascular illness. All for the sake, says the medico monopoly, for our health.

Funny the things we learn when we adulterate our food. Every wonder about the iodine in salt? or the fluoride in the water? or the BHT in cereal? or any of those oodles of other unpronouncable substances detailed in the ingredient lists? Or unlisted stuff such as irradiation? heat treatments? cleaning residues? pesticides?

A medico monopoly is a dangerous thing.

Now, what else can I take a picture of?

G gif

Well, I went to the Canadian Blog Awards website. To see if I was nominated for anything. Apparently not. As nominees are not listed. But I did come away with a positive impression: this guy –

G.gif

So I guess the awards are good for something.

Now, if there was a Best Intellectual Blog, I'd clean up. Do not have a chance on Best Militaristic Blog ... is that like a slap in the face?

Just wondering.

Alberta Election Coming

Late winter or early spring will see elections galore in Canada. Not the least of which will be an Alberta election. I wonder what will be the pivotal issue in Alberta’s upcoming election: royalties, health care, or perhaps education.

Royalties: The Conservatives are so in bed with big business that it is impossible for them to be representative of Albertans; at least for a generation. The obvious method of setting royalties is independent third party review. Say a committee composed of members from Norway, Alaska, and Saudi Arabia. Of course such logic wouldn’t do the Cons any good as they cannot even follow the advice of a home-grown committee. And a water royalty would be an excellent idea especially as the two biggest and already obsolete tar sands plants consume ungodly amounts of water. What idiot government approved the environmental assessments for these projects?

Health Care: The crisis in health care is allocation of resources. Allocation is dictated by a single self-interest group, the suppliers of health care. It is the consumers of health care who are best able to prioritize their needs. I would empower people to choice in health care outside of the monopoly system now in place. There is no real shortage of practitioners save that deliberately and needlessly created by the monopoly system, itself.

Education: I can see that the ground for vote whoring over education has already been turned when I read that Taft (for the Liberals) says, “Private education emphasizes differences. Public education brings people together. This is a dangerous trend that should be stopped in its tracks. If we begin to see a serious fragmenting of public education, then we will see a serious fragmenting of Alberta society.” Sound like Ontario and its catering to white bigots?

Life-long choice in education, choice in health care, and a fair royalty regimen relative to the real world. Too much to ask, you think? People empowerment is what would happen if the government worked for the people of Alberta instead of the corporations. Could happen.

Retreat Update

Well, Buddy has not sent me the alleged blueprints to his Retreat. Probably a bit more expensive and costly to generate than he expected. But, for those who have been idly following Buddy's adventure over the last year, I do have a clue or two as to his new intention.




Based on these curious pics he occasionally sends to me Buddy seems, from the shown pic, to have stuck three of his proposed four small structures together to form one big (rather unimaginative) structure. A big improvement over ten little units, if you ask me.

Buddy warns that as he still hopes to be entirely off-grid (what with global warming consequences'n all). So rooms are set up to be small and tight. Says hay bale construction is out ... as is fancy inner courtyard layouts. Lack of experience and cost cutting, I would assume.

The bigger structure now has two floors (perhaps even a teeny-tiny third). Seems sensible to me but doesn't that put higher capital costs up front? Wonder what Buddy's Ponzi Scheme is going to look like when he finally gets around to pricing this baby.

Health Queue Jumping

Well, I have waited a bit on this because I wanted to see the Canadian Medical Association’s reaction to deliberate, overt queue jumping by a person in a position of power and authority. Specifically, Brian Day, CMA President and his queue jumping for himself and his family. And the reaction is nothing at all.

Federally, the CMA should be disbanded. Queue jumping is akin to the police being above the law, or politicians not requiring to be elected. If the CMA has no desire to set a good, moral example then it has out-lived its mandate.

I think a new, national health organization should be established only this time it should represent the consumers of health care. Perhaps it could be called the Canadian Health Association. The role of this association would be to divert virtually all federal and provincial funding of health to individuals, potential consumers of health care, and away from the providers of health care. Health care providers have proven themselves to be morally bankrupt and can no longer be trusted with funds to properly provide health care services. Make the providers compete for the public dollars now held by the consumers of health care.

The logic is simple. Health dollar expenditure will be prioritized by vote of the consumer dollar, as it should be; rather than by dubiously motivated suppliers of health care.

Medical ethics, paah!

Climate Change Rally

Climate Change Rally. About forty of us, yesterday, in Calgary.

The first bunch to show up. Does it look cold?




Here a picture of Santa and the copper. Santa: we will try to keep the sidewalks open. Copper: we will try not to throw the rocks in our left pocket.



And, Grant Neufeld, always there for us.

Alive is Dead

Alive is dead. Alive magazine is an embarrassment. Alive is the free magazine given out in health food stores all across Canada. Alive magazine promotes natural-health products which are sold in health food stores. It also has a history of promoting nature-cure health solutions, printing testimonials, educating people in the basics of various disease treatment approaches and in health promotion.

Yes, the magazine is a platform for people shamelessly to shlock their wares. That is marketing, I suppose. The Standard-health paradigm drug companies certainly set a low standard to which marketers in Alive adhere. But the magazine itself, the people behind the magazine, have, in my opinion, dismally failed the Canadian people as we in the holistic realm expect better. The editors, the publisher, the so-called advisory committees, … all have failed the Canadian people, in my opinion.

Here is an example:

Salba seed. Touted as nature’s most powerful whole food. What a load of marketing crap. It is a seed, for God’s sake. Just a seed like lots of others. In fact, it is just a chia seed cultivar which is mostly white-coated instead of black coated so they can slap a Salba registered trademark on it. Still chia seed, nevertheless. And it is sold for $30ish a pound instead of $6ish a pound as it should be. And it is deceptively marketed as more nutritious and more healthful. Crap. But that is just the shameless marketing which I suppose we have to put up with in Canada.

Worse is that Alive Magazine awards this product as one of the best new products sold in health food stores for the year 2007. Crap! It is chia seed! Salba is not even certified organic so it is likely sprayed with all manner of chemicals. No way should it receive any award of excellence from a purportedly nature-oriented magazine.

I have people bringing in packages of this Salba here to the clinic and asking my opinion. I tell them they were dupped, over-charged, and sold an inferior product to cheaper, certified organic seed. They all feel silly, and betrayed by a magazine masquerading as an enterprise serving their better interest. Who really goes to a health food store wanting to be ripped off, and having the magazine representing health food stores encourage them in this effort?

Alive is dead. It is a disservice to Canadians looking to get well through healthful means. Alive magazine gets my Holistic Award of Shame for the year 2007.

My advice: never buy a food with an ingredient that has a registered trademark. You are paying extra and are being had.

Calgary 3D

Pretty impressive this maps3d stuff.