Electronic Pen

Mustard greens are a nutrient-dense source of vitamins and minerals, but their bitter flavor makes them unpalatable to many. To remedy the problem, Tom Adams, cofounder and CEO of Pairwise, told Wired, "We basically created a new category of salad."1

The agricultural biotechnology company, founded in 2017, had raised $90 million by 2021, and $115 million total,2 "to bring new varieties of fruits and vegetables to market."3 Its first product, Conscious Greens Purple Power Baby Greens Blend, is also the first CRISPR-edited food available to U.S. consumers.4

Gene-Edited Mustard Greens Coming to US Stores

Pairwise scientists used the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, or Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat, to edit mustard greens’ DNA, removing a gene that gives them their pungent flavor.

The greens are first being rolled out in restaurants and other locations in St. Louis, Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, before heading to U.S. grocery stores — beginning in the Pacific Northwest.5

Pairwise is careful to describe itself as a "pioneering food startup,"6 trying to distance itself from its true biotechnology roots. It describes the gene-edited greens as:

"... [A] mix of colorful Superfood leafy greens with a unique, fresh flavor and up to double the nutrition of romaine. Using CRISPR technologies to improve taste and nutrition in produce, Conscious Greens are field-grown Superfood greens that eat like lettuce, offering a versatile new option for chefs and salad lovers alike."

The company has also built a glossy PR campaign to make their motives seem altruistic and necessary to improve Americans’ diets. In a news release, Haven Baker, Pairwise co-founder and chief business officer, stated:7

"We’re proud to be bringing the first CRISPR food product to the U.S. We set out to solve an important problem — that most lettuce isn’t very nutritious, and other types of greens are too bitter or too hard to eat.

Using CRISPR, we’ve been able to improve new types of nutritious greens to make them more desirable for consumers, and we did it in a quarter of the time of traditional breeding methods. Launching Conscious Greens through this exciting partnership with PFG [Performance Food Group], is a major milestone in achieving our mission to build a healthier world through better fruits and vegetables."

But are CRISPR foods really better — or do they pose unknown, and potentially serious, risks to the environment and the people who eat them? Further, it’s not going to stop here. Pairwise is already working on using CRISPR to create blackberries with no seeds and cherries without pits.8

The idea that genetic modification is going to compel people to eat mustard greens when they otherwise wouldn’t is also highly questionable. So the company’s claims that its gene-edited products will boost American’s nutritional intake are likely to fall flat.

Is CRISPR Really an Exact Science?

CRISPR is being increasingly used to tinker with natural foods. In addition to altering taste, CRISPR is being used to extend shelf life and create foods that resist certain bacteria and viruses.9

Whereas genetic engineering involves the introduction of foreign genes, CRISPR involves manipulating or editing existing DNA. It’s said to be "exceptionally precise." In an interview with Yale Insights, Dr. Gregory Licholai, a biotech entrepreneur, explained CRISPR this way:10

"So as you probably know, our book of life is made of DNA. DNA itself is many millions of base-pairs, which is like a language. And within that language, there are certain regions which code for genes, and those genes are incredibly important because those genes go on to make up everything about us.

There’s 40,000 proteins that become outputs of those genes and they are involved in our health, our wellbeing, and any defect in those genes becomes problematic and causes disease.

What was previously attempted with gene editing was to manipulate genetic information in blocks, basically in big pieces. It’s kind of like trying to edit a book by only being able to rip out a page at a time and transfer a page at a time, without really being able to control the actual words. The power of this technology: it literally comes down to the individual letters.

So the precision is far better than anything that has happened before. The excitement in the scientific community is being able to go in and very precisely make changes in DNA of actual genes that you can actually turn off bad genes or you can potentially repair genes that have got mutations in them where the code is written incorrectly."

But CRISPR isn’t always an exact science. As is often the case when it comes to tinkering with genetics, gene editing has led to unexpected side effects, including enlarged tongues and extra vertebrae in animals.11,12

Further, when researchers at the U.K.’s Wellcome Sanger Institute systematically studied mutations from CRISPR-Cas9 in mouse and human cells, large genetic rearrangements were observed, including DNA deletions and insertions, near the target site. The DNA deletions could end up activating genes that should stay "off," such as cancer-causing genes, as well as silencing those that should be "on."13

Risks of Humans Manipulating the Genetic Code

In 2022, researchers with Boston Children’s Hospital revealed that using CRISPR in human cell lines increased the risk of large rearrangements of DNA, which could increase cancer risk. Such rearrangements occurred up to 6% of the time.14,15 In a news release Boston Children’s Hospital explained:16

"CRISPR seems to exacerbate a natural process known as retrotransposition, in which DNA sequences known as "mobile elements" or "jumping genes" replicate themselves and move from one location in the genome to another. Similar to CRISPR, these mobile elements use enzymes to create a double-stranded break in DNA where they insert themselves.

Retrotransposition is often harmless — in fact, over the course of evolution, mobile elements have come to make up approximately a third of our genome. (Some scientists believe they are actually ancient viruses.) But mobile elements have also been linked to disease, including cancer. When the breaks they create in DNA aren’t repaired, mismatched ends of DNA can join, leading to rearrangements."

In another warning, researchers attempted to use CRISPR-Cas9 to repair a mutation linked to hereditary blindness in human embryos.17 But when they did, it led to "genetic havoc" in about half of the cells, triggering them to lose entire chromosomes.18

"We’re often used to hearing about papers where CRISPR is very successful," Nicole Kaplan, a geneticist at New York University, told The New York Times. "But with the amount of power we hold ... [it is crucial] ... to understand consequences we didn’t intend."19 What’s more, Licholai said, is that genes edited with CRISPR may be transferred to other organisms and become part of the environment:

"One of the biggest risks of CRISPR is what’s called gene drive, or genetic drive. What that means is that because you’re actually manipulating genes and those genes get incorporated into the genome, into the encyclopedia, basically, that sits within cells, potentially those genes can then be transferred on to other organisms.

And once they’re transferred on to other organisms, once they become part of the cycle, then those genes are in the environment.

That’s probably the biggest fear of CRISPR. Humans manipulating the genetic code, and those manipulations get passed on generation to generation to generation. We think we know what we’re doing, we think we’re measuring exactly what changes we’re doing to the genes, but there’s always the possibility that either we miss something or our technology can’t pick up on other changes that have been made that haven’t been directed by us.

And the fear then is that those changes lead to antibiotic resistance or other mutations that go out into the population and would be very difficult to control. Basically creating incurable diseases or other potential mutations that we wouldn’t really have control over."

USDA Is Testing Gene-Edited Insects

Even though the unintended consequences of gene editing are unknown and potentially devastating, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is working with a U.S. company to test gene-edited insects in greenhouses. The insects, spotted wing drosophila, cause damage to many fruit crops. The project uses CRISPR to add genes to kill female drosophila while sterilizing males.20

Glassy winged sharpshooters, which spread bacteria that devastates vineyards, are also being targeted with CRISPR.21 A carbohydrate in the insects’ mouth allows the targeted bacteria to stick. Researchers intend to insert genes into sharpshooters’ mouths to make them a nonstick surface, causing bacteria to slide off.22

"Chemicals can only travel so far before they degrade in the environment," Jason Delborne, North Carolina State University professor of science, policy and society, told MIT Technology Review. "If you introduce a gene-edited organism that can move through the environment, you have the potential to change or transform environments across a huge spatial and temporal scale."23

And therein lies the problem. Once released into the environment, there’s no turning back — and no way of knowing what other changes could occur from this genetic manipulation, at a worldwide scale.

FDA Says Gene-Edited Beef Is ‘Low Risk’

The FDA announced in March 2022 that Recombinetics’ gene-edited cattle received a low-risk determination for marketing products, including food, made from their meat. "This is the FDA’s first low-risk determination for enforcement discretion for an IGA [intentional genomic alteration] in an animal for food use," the FDA reported.24

The animals’ genes were modified to make their coats shorter and slicker. The genetic modification to their coats is intended to help them better withstand heat stress, allowing them to gain more weight and increase the efficiency of meat production25 — but at what cost? While a lengthy approval process is typically necessary for gene-edited animals to enter the food market, the FDA streamlined the process for gene-edited cattle, allowing them to skirt the regular approval process.

The agency stated the gene-edited beef cattle do not raise any safety concerns because the gene modifications result in the same genetic makeup seen in so-called "slick coat" cattle, which are conventionally bred.26

But in 2019, Brazil stopped its plans to allow a herd of Recombinetics’ gene-edited cattle after unexpected DNA changes were uncovered. As with the FDA, Brazilian regulators had determined that Recombinetics could proceed without any special oversight, since their gene-editing involved modifying cattle with a naturally occurring trait.

In this case, instead of altering the cattle’s coats, Recombinetics was editing the cattle to be hornless — until something went wrong. A piece of bacterial DNA used to deliver the desired gene had become pasted into a cow’s genome, essentially rendering it "part bacteria."27

Regardless, in 2022, Recombinetics stated its gene-edited meat products would be available to "select customers in the global market soon" while general consumers would be able to purchase gene-edited meat in as few as two years.28

Gene-Edited Foods Aren’t Labeled

Because regulators don’t consider gene-edited foods to be genetically modified organisms (GMOs), they don’t have to be labeled. However, 75% of Americans want gene-edited foods to carry a label.29 As gene-edited foods become more common in the marketplace, if you’d like to avoid them, choose organic foods, which cannot be gene edited at this time.

You can also get to know a local farmer who has no intention of using this technology, and grow as much of your own food as possible. This way, you’ll have full control over what is, and isn’t, in your food supply.

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Within weeks of the pandemic outbreak, it had become apparent that the standard practice of putting COVID-19 patients on mechanical ventilation was a death sentence.1

By early April 2020, many doctors were already questioning their use, as data2 showed 76.4% of COVID-19 patients (aged 18 to 65) in New York City who were placed on ventilators died. Among patients over age 65 who were vented, the mortality rate was a whopping 97.2%.

If you were older than 65, you were 26 times more likely to survive if you were NOT placed on a vent.3 A small study from Wuhan, China, put the ratio of deaths at 86%,4 and in Texas, 84.9% of patients died after more than 96 hours on a ventilator.5

In a widely-shared YouTube video6 (above) posted March 31, 2020, Dr. Cameron Kyle-Sidell, a critical care specialist at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, warned that “we must change what we are doing if we want to save as many lives as possible.” Sidell was adamant that doctors were “treating the wrong disease” and that putting COVID patients on mechanical ventilation was all wrong.

“We are operating under a medical paradigm that is untrue,” Sidell said. “I fear that this misguided treatment will lead to a tremendous amount of harm to a great number of people in a very short time … This method being widely adopted at this very moment at every hospital in the country … is actually doing more harm than good.”

Why Were COVID Patients Put on Vents?

The recommendation to place COVID patients on mechanical ventilation as a first-line response came from the World Health Organization,7 which in early March 2020 published a COVID-19 provider guidance8 document to health care workers, based on experiences and recommendations from doctors in China.

According to the WHO, treatment needed to be rapidly escalated to mechanical ventilation. Ideally, patients should be placed on it immediately.9 What escaped the public was the primary reason why. Venting COVID patients wasn’t recommended because it increased survival; rather, it was to protect health care workers by isolating the virus inside the mechanical vent machine.

Using less invasive positive air pressure machines could result in the spread of infectious aerosols, the WHO warned. In other words, they put patients to death to “save” staff and other, presumably non-COVID, patients. That ventilation and sedation were used to protect hospital staff was highlighted by The Wall Street Journal in a December 20, 2020, article,10 which noted:

“Last spring, doctors put patients on ventilators partly to limit contagion at a time when it was less clear how the virus spread, when protective masks and gowns were in short supply.

Doctors could have employed other kinds of breathing support devices that don’t require risky sedation, but early reports suggested patients using them could spray dangerous amounts of virus into the air, said Theodore Iwashyna, a critical-care physician at University of Michigan and Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in Ann Arbor, Mich.

At the time, he said, doctors and nurses feared the virus would spread through hospitals. ‘We were intubating sick patients very early. Not for the patients’ benefit, but in order to control the epidemic and to save other patients,’ Dr. Iwashyna said. ‘That felt awful.’”

As dryly noted by James Lyons-Weiler in a January 23, 2023, Substack article,11 “euthanizing humans is illegal. Especially for the benefit of other patients. It should feel awful.”

Fauci Knew Vents Did More Harm Than Good

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a mid-June 2022 lecture (above), admitted that placing patients on mechanical ventilation did more harm than good.

“We very, very readily would put people on mechanical ventilation, when we found out, through clinical experience, it might have been better just to make sure we positioned them properly in the prone or supine position, and not necessarily to intubate someone so readily, which might have actually caused more harm than good. We learned that as we got more experience.”

Yet government treatment guidelines, to this day, include invasive mechanical ventilation.12 If the White House Coronavirus Task Force knew in the summer of 2022 that venting patients caused more harm than good, why didn’t they instruct hospitals to stop using it? Or at bare minimum, strongly advise against it?

And why did the government continue to financially incentivize the use of mechanical ventilation after they’d realized how bad it was? While many hospitals did cut down on their use of mechanical ventilation toward the end of 2020 and beyond, it still hasn’t been entirely replaced with noninvasive strategies shown to be far more effective.13

Many ‘COVID Patients’ Didn’t Have COVID

The matter becomes even more perverse when you consider that many “COVID cases” were patients who merely tested positive using faulty PCR testing. They didn’t have COVID but were vented anyway, thanks to the baseless theory that you could have COVID-19 and be infectious without symptoms.

Hospitals also received massive financial incentives to diagnose patients with COVID — whether they had it or not — and to put them on a vent. They also received bonuses for using toxic remdesivir, and they were paid for each COVID death as well. The entire system was set up to reward hospitals for misdiagnosing, mistreating and ultimately killing patients.

China also benefited from the WHO’s misguided advice. While the U.S. clamored for more ventilators, Chinese hospitals started relying on them less and instead they were being exported in huge quantities.14

How Many COVID Patients Were Killed by WHO’s Bad Advice?

Just how many COVID-19 patients were killed by being placed on mechanical ventilation in the spring of 2020? That’s a question attorney and author Michael P. Senger tries to answer in his May 25, 2023, article “The Great COVID Ventilator Death Coverup.”15 He writes, in part:

“... the establishment is trying to argue that while ventilators were overused in spring 2020, doing more harm than good ... the ventilators themselves did not kill anyone.16 An astonishing argument, even by the abysmal standards of the COVID era.

But, since everyone supporting this narrative is arguing that there were no ventilator deaths in spring 2020, all we have to do is prove there were a significant number of ventilator deaths and what’s left of the establishment’s credibility on the initial months of COVID falls apart.

In addition to the anecdotal evidence ... several unsettling data points have long strongly suggested that there weren’t just some ventilator deaths in spring 2020, but rather a pretty frightening number of them ...

The CDC reports17 that 18,679 patients died with COVID in New York City hospitals throughout spring 2020. And, according to the sample in JAMA,18 just over half of those who died with COVID in NYC hospitals were put on ventilators. Accordingly, around 10,000 patients died with COVID in NYC hospitals after being put on ventilators in spring 2020 ...

Additionally, as Jessica Hockett has documented19 in meticulous detail through multiple methods, New York City experienced a sharp, breathtaking mortality event just after its lockdown and response to COVID began, which was unlike that experienced anywhere else or at any other time.

Given its singularity, this horrifying mortality event, quite simply, cannot be attributed to natural causes. Jumping off Hockett’s work, below is a chart of weekly all-cause hospital inpatient mortality from January 2018 through April 2023, split between patients ages 65+ (blue line) and patients under 65 (red line).

This spike in inpatient hospital mortality in New York City in spring 2020, especially among young people, is unparalleled in any other time period, even as COVID deaths supposedly began to climb again in 2021.”

>>>>> Click Here <<<<<

Inpatient Mortality Around the US, 2020 Through Present

Senger goes on to show the same all-cause mortality graphs for hospital inpatients for each of the largest cities in the U.S.: Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. All show massive spikes in hospital deaths, especially among the elderly (65 and older), around the same time periods as NYC. He also produced charts for deaths on the state level, as follow:20

>>>>> Click Here <<<<<

>>>>> Click Here <<<<<

>>>>> Click Here <<<<<

>>>>> Click Here <<<<<

A Strawman Argument

Senger continues:21

“A couple of points on these charts. First, while the spike in mortality in the NYC area in spring 2020, especially among young people, is without parallel, it’s not the only one we see.

These spikes in mortality among young people are conspicuous because it’s long been known that COVID’s infection fatality rate (IFR) is extremely skewed toward the elderly. This, for example, is the most widely-cited data on COVID’s IFR by age:22

Thus, these spikes in mortality among young people cannot be attributed to COVID. Most notably, a significant spike in mortality appears among all age groups in California at the end of 2020 ...

One possibility is that, while the use of ventilators was generally scaled back, hospitals in California may have still been engaging in broad intubation or other iatrogenic practices by the end of 2020 ...

Even more strangely, Texas experienced a surge in deaths among young people in summer 2021 that was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in mortality among the elderly; this, frankly, may have had nothing to do with COVID.

That said, the fact remains that the New York area experienced a uniquely sharp, awful mortality event in spring 2020 which is not adequately explained by any of these other factors.

And doctors were under significant pressure to put patients on ventilators in spring 2020, even if it was merely unconscious; politicians had purchased tens of thousands of ventilators at exorbitant prices, and hospitals did receive more funding if patients were placed on ventilators.

Coupled with the above anecdotes about patients being placed on ventilators for extended periods to protect staff — and the fact that over 10,000 patients in New York City died after being intubated — it’s clear that a horrifying number of patients were likely killed by mechanical ventilators.

Yet astonishingly, despite all these facts, the establishment is arguing that no patients were killed by ventilators in spring 2020. This, to me, is the kind of implausible, overly-defensive argument one makes when they’re panicked.

Across America, tens of thousands of patients were placed on ventilators in spring 2020; given the vast majority of those patients died, it simply begs credulity that none of them were killed by ventilators.

When a deadly procedure is applied to tens of thousands of patients, even a baseline level of human error would imply that the procedure was applied to at least some fraction of those patients by mistake.

The establishment has responded with subsequent studies23 claiming to show that ‘early intubation’ actually reduced the time patients spent on ventilators, and thus didn’t kill any of them. But this is a straw-man argument ...

[T]he issue isn’t whether patients were intubated ‘early’ or ‘late’ relative to any symptoms they might have shown — the issue is whether patients were placed on ventilators who should have never been on them to begin with, or otherwise kept on them too long.”

A Morally Indefensible Coverup

Senger points out that, in speaking with other attorneys, most agree that hospitals face virtually no risk of litigation over ventilator deaths, for the simple reason that everyone perceived COVID to be a global emergency, and during emergencies, you just do the best you can with what you have and what you know.

“Regardless of how much harm was done, it’s simply too difficult to prove that the procedure violated the emergency standard of care given the information coming from China at the time,” he writes.

Even so, “the situation is morally inexcusable,” Senger says, adding that we do need to get to the bottom of how and why these patients died. I agree. While Senger wants the truth to understand what happened and to honor the diseased, I would add that we need the truth in order to avoid making the same mistake again, because there will be a next time.

The WHO Must Be Held to Account

The WHO must be held accountable for its unethical recommendation to sacrifice suspected COVID patients by using ventilation as an infection mitigation strategy — especially considering they’re now trying to get unilateral power and authority to make pandemic decisions without local input.

Showing how the WHO’s recommendation to put patients on mechanical ventilation resulted in needless death among people who weren’t at great risk of dying from COVID is perhaps one of the most powerful talking points a country can use to argue for independence and rejection of the WHO’s pandemic treaty.

They simply cannot be trusted to make sound medical decisions for the whole world. No one is. We need to allow local medical experts to make the calls in situations like this, and to collaborate and share information between themselves. The top-down one-size-fits-all medical paradigm that the WHO wants to implement is nothing short of disastrous, and the COVID pandemic response proves it.

Also, let’s not forget that the misuse of mechanical ventilation created the appearance that COVID was exceptionally deadly, regardless of your age, which in turn helped promote acceptance of the experimental COVID shots that are now a leading cause of frequent sickness, chronic disability and excess deaths. Of course, that’s also being covered up.

In the final analysis, the WHO’s handling of the COVID pandemic will undoubtedly go down as the worst in medical history. Can we really trust them to make better decisions in the future?

I think not, which is why we must do everything in our power to prevent the U.S. from signing the pandemic treaty. Better yet, we need to exit the WHO entirely. To that end, I urge you to contact your local House representatives and Senators and urge them to:

1. Support the No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act24,25,26,27,28
2. Withhold funding for the WHO
3. Support U.S. withdrawal from the WHO

 Comments (131)

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published December 31, 2018.

Many modern drugs are derived from purified and concentrated plant compounds (although compared to 20 years ago, few drug companies expend time and money looking at medicinal plant chemistry these days). Rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), for example, a perennial plant native to Madagascar, is the basis for a number of commonly used cancer drugs that have been in use since the 1960s.1

Of the 70 different alkaloids found in periwinkle, the two primary compounds used in anticancer drugs are the powerful vinca alkaloids2 vinblastine and vincristine.3 Alkaloids are nitrogen-containing compounds shown to be very important for human health. Within the family of alkaloids, there are those with antiparasitic, antidiabetic, anticancer, antihypertensive and/or antiasthma properties, just to name a few. Others benefit your mood.

Even the humble daffodil contains a valuable alkaloid with anticancer properties called haemanthamine. This alkaloid inhibits the protein production cancer cells depend on to grow and flourish. Berberine is yet another powerful alkaloid found in plants such as goldenseal, goldthread, Oregon grape root and barberry. These plants have traditionally been used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, gastrointestinal infections, liver problems and a number of other health conditions.

Berberine is particularly beneficial for mitochondrial function and is a powerful activator of AMPK, a metabolic master switch. Interestingly, glyphosate — the most widely used herbicide in the world — robs the plant of the ability to make these important medicinal compounds.

Vinca Alkaloids Are Powerful Cancer Fighters

Aside from vinblastine and vincristine, two others known for their cancer-fighting powers are vinorelbine and vindesine.4 All but vindesine have been approved for use in the U.S., and vincristine and vinblastine are included in the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines.5

A synthetic vinca alkaloid called vinflunine, developed in 2008, has since been approved in Europe for the treatment of certain types of bladder cancer. It's also being investigated for the use against other malignancies. Other medicinal applications include the treatment of diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure). Their cytotoxic effects have gained the greatest attention, however. As explained in a 2013 paper in the International Journal of Preventive Medicine:6

"The main mechanisms of vinca alkaloid cytotoxicity is due to their interactions with tubulin and disruption of microtubule function … directly causing metaphase arrest … [T]he vinca alkaloids and other antimicrotubule agents also have an effect on both nonmalignant and malignant cells in the non-mitotic cell cycle, because microtubules are involved in many non-mitotic functions …

The vinca alkaloids and other microtubule disrupting agents have power to inhibit malignant angiogenesis in vitro. For example, [vinblastine] with concentrations range from 0.1 to 1.0 pmol/L blocked endothelial proliferation, chemotaxis and spreading on fibronectin, all essential steps in angiogenesis, but other normal fibroblasts and lymphoid tumors were unaffected at these minute concentrations.

In combination with antibodies against vascular endothelial growth factor, low doses of [vinblastine] increased antitumor response considerably, even in tumors resistant to direct cytotoxic effects of the drug. Vinca alkaloids inhibit cell proliferation by binding to microtubules, which can cause a mitotic block and apoptosis …

Side effects of [vinblastine] consist of toxicity to white blood cells, nausea, vomiting, constipation, dyspnea, chest or tumor pain, wheezing and fever. It is also rarely associated with antidiuretic hormone secretion."

Historical Overview

Vinca alkaloids are the second most-used class of cancer drugs today. They've also been used the longest. Vinca alkaloids were originally discovered by two Canadian scientists, Robert Noble and Charles Beer, in the 1950s.7

During that time, Gordon Svoboda, a medical researcher at Eli Lilly, also added periwinkle to his list of research subjects, having heard reports of its use for diabetes during World War II. In 1958, Gordon discovered extract from the plant also performed remarkably well in anticancer tests.

That same year, Noble and Beer presented their own anticancer findings at a research symposium at the New York Academy of Sciences. Notably, the two teams (Eli Lilly and Noble/Beer) concluded that since periwinkle extract lowered white blood cell counts, it might be useful against leukemia — a disease characterized by white blood cell proliferation.

Beer was responsible for isolating vinblastine, which he named. Eventually, Eli Lilly and Noble/Beer established a joint research collaboration, which led to the development of two chemotherapy drugs. Vincristine gained approval as a chemotherapeutic agent by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1961. Vinblastine gained FDA approval in 1963. Many other countries around the world approved the two drugs shortly thereafter.

Vinca Alkaloids in Conventional Cancer Treatment

Vinblastine is an integral part of anticancer regimens against testicular cancer, Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin lymphomas, breast cancer and germ cell tumors. Vinorelbine has been shown to have "significant antitumor activity" in those with breast cancer, and is also used in bone cancer treatments, and is approved for the initial treatment of advanced lung cancer in the U.S.

Vincristine, meanwhile, is approved for the treatment of acute leukemia, rhabdomyosarcoma, neuroblastoma, Wilm's tumor, Hodgkin's disease and other lymphomas, as well as several nonmalignant blood disorders, including refractory autoimmune thrombocytopenia, hemolytic uremic syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura.

Common side effects for vincristine include peripheral neuropathy, suppressed activity of bone marrow, constipation, nervous system toxicity, nausea and vomiting.

As you can see, toxicity is an issue. While the toxicological profile of each alkaloid is different, all vinca alkaloids have peripheral neurotoxicity — vincristine being the most potent. As noted in the featured paper on vinca alkaloids, this neurotoxicity is "related to axonal degeneration and decreasing of axonal transport, most likely caused by a drug-induced perturbation of microtubule function."

The only ways to counteract these toxic effects are to either lower the dose, decrease the frequency of drug administration, or to discontinue use altogether. "Although a number of antidotes, including thiamine, vitamin B12, folinic acid, pyridoxine and neuroactive agents, have been applied, these treatments have not been obviously shown to be effective," the authors note.

All vinca alkaloids, but vincristine8 and vinblastine in particular, also have notable toxicity on the gastrointestinal tract, as noted in a recent study.9 All of them can also cause severe tissue damage, and are associated with acute heart problems, as well as lung and blood toxicity. The featured paper also specifies that vaccinations should not be administered while on a vinca alkaloid drug, as they weaken your immune system.

Your Lifestyle Choices Can Offer Potent Cancer Prevention

While anticancer drugs have their place, it's important to remember that the lifestyle choices you make on a daily basis will influence your overall cancer risk in the first place. The good news is there's a lot you can do to lower your risk. In fact, I believe you can virtually eliminate your risk of cancer and chronic disease, and radically improve your chances of recovering from cancer if you currently have it, by addressing foundational lifestyle factors.

The following — starting with diet-related pointers, followed by other lifestyle recommendations — is by no means an exhaustive list.

There are many other strategies that can be useful as well, and several really great books have been written just on the topic of natural cancer prevention, including "Waking the Warrior Goddess: Dr. Christine Horner's Program to Protect Against and Fight Breast Cancer" by Dr. Christine Horner, "The Cancer Revolution: A Groundbreaking Program to Reverse and Prevent Cancer" by Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy and "The Healing Platform: Build Your Own Cure!" by Annie Brandt.

Another excellent book for those who want to understand more about the role of diet and the metabolic underpinnings of cancer is "Tripping Over the Truth: The Return of the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Illuminates a New and Hopeful Path to a Cure" by Travis Christofferson.

Eat real food, ideally organic or biodynamic; avoid processed foods and sugars, especially processed fructose — All forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote cancer. Processed fructose, however, is one of the most harmful and should be avoided as much as possible.

Reduce nonfiber carbs but have large volumes of fresh organic veggies along with high amounts of healthy fats from avocados, raw butter, seeds, nuts and raw cacao nibs. Consider adding cancer-fighting whole foods such as broccoli and fermented foods, and drinking a pint to a quart of organic green vegetable juice daily.

Eating certified organic or biodynamic foods will help you avoid genetically engineered foods and ingredients, which are typically loaded with glyphosate, a suspected carcinogen that also has antibiotic activity and has been shown to harm health in a number of different ways.

Implement a cyclical ketogenic diet — In my book, "Fat for Fuel," I describe a metabolic mitochondrial therapy program that I believe is a core foundation for a healthy life. Most people simply eat far too many processed foods, net carbs and too few healthy fats, and too many unhealthy fats, which results in gaining and retaining extra body fat and becoming increasingly insulin resistant.

Most also eat too much protein for optimal health and, while exercise cannot compensate for the damage done by a high-carb, low-fat diet, most do not get enough physical movement either. These factors set in motion metabolic and biological cascades that deteriorate your health and "predispose" you to cancer and other chronic diseases.

Oncologists in Turkey are also using a stacked ketogenic treatment protocol that has been proven effective even in many stage 4 cancer patients.

By using metabolic support strategies such as ketogenic diet and fasting, a minimal dose of chemotherapy can be used, thereby eliminating many side effects and risks of treatment, while actually improving outcomes.

Limit protein — Newer research has emphasized the importance of the mTOR pathway. When activated, cancer growth is accelerated. To quiet this pathway, I believe it may be wise to limit your protein to 1 gram of protein per kilogram of lean body mass, or roughly one-half gram of protein per pound of lean body weight. Replace excess protein with high quality fats such as eggs from organic free-range hens, high quality meats, avocados and coconut oil.

Avoid unfermented soy products — Unfermented soy is high in plant estrogens, or phytoestrogens, also known as isoflavones. In some studies, soy appears to work in concert with human estrogen to increase breast cell proliferation, which increases the chances for mutations and cancerous cells.

Optimize your omega-3 level — Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer,10 so make sure you get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats. I recommend getting an omega-3 index test done annually. For optimal health and disease prevention, your index should be above 8%.

Use curcumin — This is the active ingredient in turmeric and in high concentrations can be very useful adjunct in the treatment of cancer. For example, it has demonstrated major therapeutic potential in preventing breast cancer metastasis.11

Avoid drinking alcohol — At minimum, limit your alcoholic drinks to one per day.

Avoid charring your meats and steer clear of all processed meats — Charcoal or flame broiled meat is linked with increased breast cancer risk. Acrylamide — a carcinogen created when starchy foods are baked, roasted or fried — has been found to increase cancer risk as well. I recommend eating at least one-third of your food raw. Avoid frying or charbroiling; boil, poach or steam your foods instead.

Processed meats of all kinds also contain acrylamide, along with nitrites that may form harmful N-nitroso compounds in your body. The evidence against processed meat is so strong, it was, as a group, classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015.

Stop eating at least three hours before bedtime — Compelling evidence suggests that fueling the mitochondria in your cells at a time when they don't need it leads to the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) that damage mitochondrial and eventually nuclear DNA. There is also evidence to indicate that cancer cells uniformly have damaged mitochondria, so the last thing you want to do is eat before you go to bed.

Water fasting — Multiday water fasting, even when you do not have a weight or insulin problem, provides powerful metabolic benefits that help lower your disease risk. Importantly, fasting radically improves your body's ability to digest damaged cells (autophagy) and increases stem cells.

Optimize your gut microbiome — Optimizing your gut flora will reduce inflammation and strengthen your immune response, both of which are important for cancer prevention. Researchers have found a microbe-dependent mechanism through which some cancers mount an inflammatory response that fuels their development and growth.

So, inhibiting inflammatory cytokines may also slow cancer progression and improve the response to chemotherapy. Adding naturally fermented food to your daily diet is an easy way to prevent cancer or speed recovery. You can always add a high quality probiotic supplement as well, but naturally fermented foods are best.

Make sure you're not iodine deficient — There's compelling evidence linking iodine deficiency with certain forms of cancer. Dr. David Brownstein,12 author of "Iodine: Why You Need it, Why You Can't Live Without it," is a proponent of iodine for breast cancer. It actually has potent anticancer properties and has been shown to cause cell death in breast and thyroid cancer cells.

For more information, I recommend reading his book. One caveat: While I believe the bulk of what he states is spot on, I'm not convinced his dosage recommendations are ideal. I believe they may in fact be five or six times higher than optimal. So, do your homework before starting iodine loading.

Improve your insulin and leptin receptor sensitivity — The best way to do this is by avoiding sugar and grains and restricting carbs primarily to fiber-rich vegetables. Exercise will also help normalize your insulin and leptin sensitivity.

Maintain a healthy body weight — This will come naturally when you begin eating right for your nutritional type and exercising. It's important to lose excess body fat because fat produces estrogen.

Optimize your vitamin D level — Vitamin D influences virtually every cell in your body and is one of nature's most potent cancer fighters. Vitamin D is actually able to enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis (cell death). For general health and disease prevention, you should ideally maintain a vitamin D level of 60 to 80 ng/ml year-round. Vitamin D also works synergistically with every cancer treatment I'm aware of, with no adverse effects.

Get plenty of restorative sleep — Make sure you are getting enough restorative sleep. Poor sleep can interfere with your melatonin production, which is associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance and weight gain, both of which contribute to cancer's virility.

The link between lack of sleep and cancer is so strong that the World Health Organization, since 2007, has tagged shift work as a "probable human carcinogen" because it causes circadian disruption.13 As a general rule, adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each night.

Exercise regularly — Researchers and cancer organizations increasingly recommend making regular exercise a priority in order to reduce your risk of cancer, and help improve cancer outcomes. One of the primary reasons exercise works to lower your cancer risk is because it drives your insulin levels down, and controlling your insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.

Research has also found evidence suggesting exercise can help trigger apoptosis (programmed cell death) in cancer cells. Studies have also found that the number of tumors decrease along with body fat, which may be an additional factor.

This is because exercise helps lower your estrogen levels, which explains why exercise appears to be particularly potent against breast cancer.

Finally, exercise increases mitochondrial biogenesis, which is essential to fight cancer. Ideally, your exercise program should include balance, strength, flexibility, high intensity interval training (HIIT).

Limit electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure — In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified cellphones as a Group 2B "possible carcinogen,"14 and the evidence supporting the theory that EMF radiation from wireless technologies can trigger abnormal cell growth and cancer15 just keeps growing and getting stronger.

Among the latest evidence are two government-funded animal studies16 that linked cellphone radiation to brain and heart tumors, as well as DNA and cellular damage. These findings are further supported by a lifetime exposure study17 by the highly respected Ramazzini Institute in Italy, which also found a clear link between cellphone radiation and these types of tumors.18,19,20

A core problem is the fact that EMF triggers potent oxidant stress, which is at the heart of not only cancer but most chronic diseases. To learn more, including how to lower your EMF exposure, not only from cellphones and wireless technologies but also from standard household wiring, see "Cellphones Strongly Linked to Cancer — New Study Reproduces Government Findings."

Avoid BPA, phthalates and other xenoestrogens — These are estrogen-like compounds that have been linked to increased breast cancer risk.

Avoid synthetic hormone replacement therapy, especially if you have risk factors for breast cancer — Breast cancer is an estrogen-related cancer, and according to a study21 published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates for women dropped in tandem with decreased use of hormone replacement therapy.

Similar risks also exist for younger women who use oral contraceptives. Birth control pills, which also comprise synthetic hormones, have been linked to cervical and breast cancers.

If you are experiencing excessive menopausal symptoms, consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy instead, which uses hormones that are molecularly identical to the ones your body produces and do not wreak havoc on your system. This is a much safer alternative.

Implement stress-reduction strategies — Stress from all causes is a major contributor to disease. Even the CDC states that 85% of disease is driven by emotional factors. It is likely that stress and unresolved emotional issues may be more important than the physical ones, so make sure this is addressed.

My favorite tool for resolving emotional challenges is Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). Other helpful strategies include meditation, mindfulness practice, prayer and yoga, just to name a few.

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N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a precursor for glutathione biosynthesis, is a common dietary supplement that could hold a secret to treating tumors resistant to conventional cancer drugs. Researchers with the Department of Biomedicine of the University of Basel in Switzerland, found NAC restores the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to treatment.1

NAC is already valued in the medical field for helping increase glutathione in the body, which prevents liver damage in cases of acetaminophen (Tylenol) overdose. It also reduces acetaldehyde toxicity,2 which causes many hangover symptoms. But, it seems, NAC is living up to its reputation as an “old drug with new tricks,” as the featured study suggests it may significantly improve treatment of advanced breast cancer.

NAC May Help Fight Resistant Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with more than 2.2 million cases developing annually.3 Among women with recurring disease, survival rates have barely improved in the last two decades. “Most recurring metastatic cancers are either drug resistant or will become resistant to therapy,” researchers wrote in Cell Reports Medicine. “Thus, drug resistance is a substantial hurdle in the long-lasting cure of patients.”4

About 70% of breast cancers have mutations in genes that affect the PI3K signaling pathway.5 The overactivation of PI3K promotes tumor development, which is why the drug alpelisib (brand name Piqray) — a PI3Kα-selective inhibitor — is often used to treat it. Resistance to the drug, however, is a serious problem.

“Unfortunately, it turned out that the success of the medication is severely limited by resistance,” researcher Mohamed Bentires-Alj said in a University of Basel news release. “Hence, we urgently need to find out more about how resistance arises.”6

The team found mutations that turn off production of a protein called NF1, which suppresses tumor growth, were involved in cancers resistant to alpelisib. “The absence of NF1 is the elephant in the room; it throws everything into disarray within the cell and hinders successful treatment,” Bentires-Alj said.7

With NF1 lost, the team found cells produce less energy via their mitochondria and rely more on other energy production pathways. NAC, an antioxidant, affects energy metabolism similarly, so the researchers expected it would have similar effects in cancer cells as NF1 loss. Instead, the opposite happened.

NAC unexpectedly restored — and increased — alpelisib’s effectiveness in previously resistant cancer cells. NF1 loss is also often involved in other cases of drug resistance, including in skin, ovarian, endometrial, lung and bladder cancers, so it’s possible NAC could be useful for treatment of multiple drug-resistant cancers.8

“As N-acetylcysteine is a safe and widespread additive, this result is highly relevant for clinical research,” says Bentires-Alj. The team plans to conduct further trials in breast cancer patients to see if NAC improves treatment of resistant cases.9 The study concluded:10

“NF1 loss is a resistance-enhancing event in PI3Kα inhibition. This suggests that patients with tumors lacking NF1 are likely to develop resistance to PI3Kα inhibition. Furthermore, we discovered that NAC treatment circumvents resistance to PI3Kα inhibition, likely by dampening glycolytic activity and mTOR signaling, and may be an attractive strategy to be tested in patients with NF1 loss-evoked resistance.”

NAC’s Anticancer Effects

NAC, a form of the amino acid cysteine, has long been regarded as a preventive and therapeutic tool in conditions that involve glutathione depletion. It’s been found to be safe “even at very high doses and for long-term treatments,” according to University of Genoa researchers in a Carcinogenesis review.11

The study pointed out that NAC has the potential to prevent DNA damage, cancer and other mutation-related diseases, noting its “impressive array of mechanisms and protective effects towards DNA damage and carcinogenesis.” This includes:12

Nucleophilicity

Antioxidant activity

Modulation of metabolism

Effects in mitochondria

Decrease of the biologically effective dose of carcinogens

Modulation of DNA repair

Inhibition of genotoxicity and cell transformation

Modulation of gene expression and signal transduction pathways

Regulation of cell survival and apoptosis

Anti-inflammatory activity

Anti-angiogenetic activity

Immunological effects

Inhibition of progression to malignancy

Influence on cell cycle progression

Inhibition of preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions

Inhibition of invasion and metastasis

Protection toward adverse effects of other chemopreventive agents or chemotherapeutical agents

A number of studies support NAC’s anticancer potential. In a study on mice, the combination of a ketogenic with NAC significantly reduced tumor growth in anaplastic thyroid cancer, an aggressive and often deadly form of the disease.13 Another study found NAC inhibits the growth, adhesion, migration and invasion of human bladder cancer cells.14

Similar effects have been observed in breast cancer cells, with NAC reducing proliferation and increasing apoptosis, or cell death.15 When combined with bromelain, NAC also significantly inhibited proliferation and survival of gastrointestinal cancer cells.16

Is NAC a Fountain of Youth?

Beyond its role as a cancer fighter, NAC may help ward off premature aging with its longevity-enhancing effects. Specifically, a combination of NAC and glycine, known as GlyNAC, improved “deficits associated with premature aging” in people with HIV.17 This included improvements to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance, genotoxicity, strength and cognition.18

A subsequent pilot trial in older humans found similar results, with GlyNAC supplementation for 24 weeks correcting glutathione deficiency and improving multiple measures of health, including:19

Mitochondrial dysfunction

Oxidative stress

Inflammation

Endothelial dysfunction

Insulin resistance

Genomic damage

Cognition

Strength

Gait speed

Exercise capacity

Body fat levels

Waist circumference

The researchers concluded, “Supplementing GlyNAC in aging humans could be a simple and viable method to promote health and warrants additional investigation.”20 GlyNAC supplementation also improved four of nine hallmarks of aging known to contribute to age-related disorders. This includes:21

1. Mitochondrial dysfunction
2. Inflammation
3. Insulin resistance
4. Genomic damage

NAC’s Neuroprotective Effects and Stroke Benefits

People with hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy (HCCAA), a rare genetic disorder,22 have an average life expectancy of just 30 years, and most die within five years of their first stroke,23 so reducing their incidence could prove to be essential to increasing survival.

NAC may help prevent strokes in the population by preventing the formation of amyloid-producing proteins, which promote amyloid deposits linked to strokes.24

Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) conducted the study, noting NAC could also have potential for Alzheimer’s disease because the process of protein deposition that occurs in HCCAA is similar to what occurs in Alzheimer’s, although at an accelerated pace in HCCAA.

NAC Shows Promise for Psychiatric and Neurological Disorders

NAC also shows particular promise in the treatment of mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder,25 depression26 and substance use disorders.27

It’s known to modulate pathophysiological processes — such as oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and dysregulation of glutamate and dopamine neurotransmitter systems — that contribute to psychiatric and neurological disorders.28 According to a systematic review published in Neuroscience & Behavioral Reviews:29

“In this systematic review we find favorable evidence for the use of NAC in several psychiatric and neurological disorders, particularly autism, Alzheimer's disease, cocaine and cannabis addiction, bipolar disorder, depression, trichotillomania, nail biting, skin picking, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, drug-induced neuropathy and progressive myoclonic epilepsy.

Disorders such as anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and mild traumatic brain injury have preliminary evidence and require larger confirmatory studies … Overall, NAC treatment appears to be safe and tolerable.”

Was NAC Targeted Because It Fights COVID-19?

Among NAC’s many benefits is the ability to reduce viral replication of certain viruses, including the influenza virus.30 During the pandemic, NAC emerged as a tool for preventing and treating COVID-19, including the hypercoagulation that can result in stroke and/or blood clots31 that impair the ability to exchange oxygen in the lungs. As noted in the FASEB Journal in 2020:32

“Based on a broad range of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms … the oral administration of NAC is likely to attenuate the risk of developing COVID-19, as it was previously demonstrated for influenza and influenza-like illnesses.

Moreover, high-dose intravenous NAC may be expected to play an adjuvant role in the treatment of severe COVID-19 cases and in the control of its lethal complications … including pulmonary and cardiovascular adverse events."

Another literature analysis33 concluded glutathione deficiency may be associated with COVID-19 severity, leading the author to conclude that NAC may be useful both for its prevention and treatment.

Not long after several scientists had called attention to NAC’s benefits against COVID, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suddenly cracked down on the supplement, claiming it was excluded from the definition of a dietary supplement because it was approved as a new drug in 196334 — before it was marketed as a dietary supplement or as a food.

Retailers, including Amazon, pulled supplements containing NAC from their shelves in response, as the FDA’s move meant NAC could no longer legally be marketed as a supplement, even though there were no fewer than 1,170 NAC-containing products in the National Institutes of Health's Dietary Supplement Label Database at the time.35

Draft guidance released by the FDA in April 2022,36 however, included verbiage suggesting the FDA would not be enforcing their policy that NAC cannot be marketed as a dietary supplement, even though it was technically still illegal to do so. In August 2022, following the FDA’s release of its final guidance, Amazon “quietly notified” supplement makers that it was resuming the sale of NAC dietary supplements.37

Fortunately, research into NAC’s potential anticancer and other disease-reducing effects is ongoing. And if you’re intrigued by NAC’s health-boosting potential and are interested in supplementing with NAC, it’s inexpensive and, for now, widely available.

 Comments (41)

WILL DURST FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

And now, another installment in the continuing saga that is The Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Soap Opera. When last we left him, the candidate was praising his main backers: "The Koch Brothers are my brothers from another mother."  Guess we should be grateful he hasn't dismissed his accusers with an offhand: "Bros before hoes."

You could say the situation is fluid, or more precisely glutinous. It's hard to tell who or what to believe. Conservative talk shows pound home the theory this is all a put- up job while the liberal media remains incredulous the Cain Train hasn't derailed into a fiery pileup. Right now it all boils down to a classic case of He Said. She Said. She Said. She Said. She Said. She Said. She Said.

The good news for the first- ever, serious black Republican Presidential candidate is a new CBS poll reveals 61% of potential GOP primary participants don't consider the charges serious. Apparently there's a large contingent of voters who either believe girls lie or boys will be boys. In three short years this country has gone from Hope and Change to Grope and Change. Ain't life odd?

In his defense, Cain maintains he's never engaged in any inappropriate behavior. Ever. Really? Ever? Hell, if this Presidency thing doesn't work out, the guy should run for Pope. Or maybe he's better equipped to replace Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Of course, the term "inappropriate" is objective. Fashionistas might call his cowboy hat highly inappropriate.

Cain's staff went so far as to say the sexual harassment allegations have actually helped the campaign. Helped! Wow. All he needs is a false imprisonment charge, he could sew this thing right up.

Cain has changed his story almost as often as Mitt Romney changes positions. And his memory problems draw right up to Rick Perry's Energy Department. Again, almost. First he couldn't remember anything, then admitted a charge may have been investigated, but there was no settlement, then maybe there was An Agreement, but now he refuses to comment on any of the cases, relentlessly retreating to his stuttering German "nein, nein, nein."

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JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Climate change produced Japan's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.  Although the corporate media and the U.S. government have swept the Fukushima nuclear disaster under the proverbial censorship rug, it's important to remember that an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and the ensuing 50-foot high tsunami wave led to a meltdown of three of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors. Japan's nuclear regulatory agency reported that 31 radioactive isotopes were released. In contrast, 16 radioactive isotopes were released from the A-bomb that hit Hiroshima Aug. 6, 1945. The agency also reported that radioactive cesium released was almost 170 times the amount of the A-bomb, and that the release of radioactive Iodine-131 and Strontium-90 was about two to three times the level of the A-bomb.  And that information doesn't include the unknown deadly amount of radioactive water from the Fukushima plants that are being perpetually dumped into the Pacific Ocean since the meltdowns occurred last March 2011.

Terming Fukushima Japan's "second massive nuclear disaster," novelist Haruki Murakami said "this time no one dropped a bomb on us" but instead "we set the stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own lands, and we are destroying our own lives. While we are the victims, we are also the perpetrators. We must fix our eyes on this fact," he continued. "If we fail to do so, we will inevitably repeat the same mistake again, somewhere else."   Indeed, a recent report revealed that radiation is being detected across Europe. "Anywhere spent nuclear fuel is handled, there is a chance that... iodine-131 will escape into the environment," the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says on its website.

Speaking as a part-time resident of Kauai, we've been immensely concerned about radiation plumes blowing over from Japan.  If the government has been monitoring radiation levels, then that critical information has been concealed from the public.

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On the morning of November 14th, the Oakland police again dismantled the Occupy camp in Oscar Grant Plaza. This action was allegedly taken because a man was killed in an altercation near Occupy Oakland last week, and because the Occupy camp has become a place where homeless people can be fed and sheltered.

It was the 101st murder this year in Oakland, and its use as a reason to squash Occupy Oakland is tragically absurd:

A man was shot and killed Thursday just outside the Oakland encampment that anti-Wall Street protesters have occupied for the last month, causing a scream-filled commotion in the City Hall plaza where the camp stands and turning a planned anniversary celebration into a somber, candlelit memorial.

With opinions about Occupy Oakland and its effect on the city having become more divided in recent days, supporters and opponents immediately reacted to the homicide - the city's 101st this year.

Camp organizers said the attack was unrelated to their activities, while city and business leaders, cited the death as proof that the camp itself either bred crime or drained law enforcement resources from other parts of the Oakland.

Mayor Jean Quan, who has been criticized by residents on both sides for issuing mixed signals about the local government's willingness to tolerate the camp, issued a statement Thursday providing a clear eviction notice.

"Tonight's incident underscores the reason why the encampment must end. The risks are too great," Quan said. "We need to return (police) resources to addressing violence throughout the city. It's time for the encampment to end. Camping is a tactic, not a solution."

Ironically, as BuzzFlash at Truthout noted awhile back, the Oakland Police Department (OPD) is under the watch of a federal judge who has said the department is so egregiously in noncompliance with reasonable police standards that it may be put into federal receivership. It seems that the OPD has a history of planting evidence, framing arrested individuals and being trigger happy, among other "irregularities."

But the most profound injustice is the notion that in a city where 100 people have been killed this year - and even with the heavy police presence around the Occupy Oakland site, this one particular murder wasn't prevented - somehow the Occupy movement was the cause of the shooting.

To blame the Occupy movement for a shooting located in a society that does little to prevent approximately 10,000 firearm homicides a year in the United States, with a large chunk of them in neglected African-American and Latino communities, is beyond nonsensical; it's admitting the failure of the status quo to address violence in a large economically deprived underclass that is generally ignored.

As to feeding and housing the homeless and hungry, isn't that something cities across the nation should be doing? Isn't that what Christ implored of his followers?

What the Occupy movement is doing is not causing an increase in violence and homelessness; it is inadvertently exposing the epidemic of violence, particularly shootings, and poor people without means in need of services.

That is the biggest threat to the status quo of the Oakland municipal government, and to cities across the nation that are unleashing militarized police forces on generally harmless protesters advocating for a just society. The institutionalized powers of government and the 1 percent would prefer that the squalid, deadly underside of our society remain swept under the rug, all covered up.

The truth is too inconvenient and disruptive.

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The One Percent Solution is the name of a novel by

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TONY PEYSER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

The verbal gaffe that's basically ended

The Texas Governor’s political life

Reminded me of this famous incident in

The long career of Barney Phife

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBuPQgV8yBM

BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Some in the pro-choice community are certainly breathing a deep sigh of relief as Mississippi's Personhood Amendment, which would have defined life as beginning at conception, was soundly defeated on Tuesday, November 8. With nearly 60 percent of the state's voters rejecting Initiative 26, there is no doubt that a celebration is in order.

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Body

 

Someone recently coined the phrase the "elevation of stupidity" to describe the gyrations of current political campaigners. Indeed there is a depressing array of candidates who lack original ideas and the ability to articulate agendas worthy of serious discussion.

Yet day after day, debate after debate media lightweights and heavyweights alike spend hours of what passes for informed discourse boring the daylights out of most reasonable Americans. The only audience that enjoys the hyperbolic nonsense is one waiting to hear what they already believe - - ready to applaud the most absurd observations ever to be afforded a public forum. It is important, though to realize that members of the human caucus are comfortable celebrating the death penalty meted out in large numbers in Texas or finding it appropriate that others must die because they lack health insurance. It is a state of mind we would not otherwise know were it not for media coverage and so it is best that we are so informed.

But that we are forced to listen to the rants of mindless pontificators holding forth on everything from abortion to the tax code or opt out of news cycles is an unhealthy sign of our times. Where did the Santorums, the Bachmanns and their fanatical colleagues ever get the idea that their opinions were sound enough to guide the rest of us along the paths of righteousness? And what gives them the right to insult a president who is light years ahead of them intellectually or to constantly criticize programs they are incapable of either understanding or revising to accommodate today's economic intricacies?

A cheer goes up from supporters when Governor Perry suggests eliminating the Commerce Department without understanding that Commerce conducts the census among other functions. To be sure certain efficiencies could no doubt be realized at Commerce, but it seems obvious that cheering audiences, caught up in a frenzy of cost cutting, have no idea what they are so excited about and only a vague notion of what tasks various government agencies are charged to undertake. Health care? Why not just accept the Bush assertion that no-one in this country goes without medical attention because they can always go to the local emergency room, even if that care is limited and extremely expensive?

And we are expected to believe that criticism of Herman Cain is the result of the left being unwilling to see a "businessman" in the White House. Perhaps there's an inchoate fear among voters who actually think about stuff that Cain, the businessman could be counting pizza profits when that three-o'clock call reached the White House. Cain, like so many in the general population and among Tea Partiers in particular is incapable of gaining ground in the complex international milieu into which he would be thrust should he somehow reach the pinnacle of power as president. But even in the sorry state of our political condition and an electorate too often willing to mistake the most absurd rhetoric for legitimacy it is hard to imagine Herman Cain rising above his current state of controlled ineptitude.

On the debate stage Mitt Romney does indeed look the most presidential, but the truth is that just looking presidential isn't what the country needs right now. The debates are showing us not who the best candidate is, but rather who is the least foolish among a cast of small-minded hucksters.

 

MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

You might not think that Missoula, Montana, (population around 65,000) would be the place that a revolt against corporate personhood might start, but you'd be wrong.

In fact, this past Tuesday, 75 percent of the voters in Missoula supported a referendum declaring that "corporations are not human beings." It's part of a national movement to encourage states to support a constitutional amendment to deny to corporations the rights given to individual Americans. The campaign was launched after the 2010 US Supreme Court decision granting corporations the rights of free speech guaranteed to individuals, including campaign spending.

According to the Missoulian, Cynthia Wolken - the councilwoman who initiated the referendum - was hopeful that other cities would follow suit:

"Basically, it affirmed what we were all seeing on the streets, which is the average Missoulian wanted to have their voice heard ... and they want their elected officials to fix the problem of corporate personhood," Wolken said. "So I hope this message is heard and we get started on fixing the problem."

As she sees it, corporations have been given too much power, and as stated in the Missoula resolution, their "profits and survival are often in direct conflict with the essential needs and rights of human beings."

Every week, over the past few months, Truthout has been excerpting Thom Hartmann's prescient book, "Unequal Protection," on how corporate personhood mistakenly became embedded in court rulings. In the book - available in a revised and expanded edition from Truthout - Hartmann writes:

For humans to take back control of our governments by undoing corporate personhood, we'll have to begin with the governments that are the closest and most accessible to us. It's almost impossible for you or me to go to Washington, D.C., and have a meeting with our senator or representative - most of us usually can't even get them on the phone unless we're a big contributor. But most of us can meet with our city council members or show up at their meetings. Lobbying within the local community is both easy and effective. Local politicians are the closest to - and generally the most responsive - to the people they represent.

When enough local communities have passed ordinances that directly challenge corporate personhood, state legislatures will begin to notice. As with the issues of slavery, women's suffrage, and Prohibition (among others), when local communities take actions that are followed by states, eventually the federal government will get on board.

Missoula, the home of the University of Montana, is showing the way.

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ROBERT C. KOEHLER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

"Play faster!" he cried, wildly, over and over. "Play faster!"

The dame who was tickling the ivories complied, out of control herself. The music revved to a dangerous velocity - oh, too fast for decent, sober, well-behaved Americans to bear - and . . . well, you just knew, violence, madness, laughter were just around the corner. The year was 1936 and, oh my God, they were high on marijuana, public enemy number one.

The scene is from Reefer Madness, arguably the dumbest movie ever made - but smugly at the emotional and ideological core of American drug policy for the last three-quarters of a century. The policy, which morphed in 1970 into an all-out "war" on drugs, has filled our prisons to bursting, created powerful criminal enterprises, launched a real war in Mexico and presided over the skyrocketing of recreational drug use in the United States. The war on drugs just may be a bigger disaster than the war on terror.

"The war on drugs, as it has been waged, has not only failed to curtail drug use; it has become a major public health liability in its own right," writes Christopher Glenn Fichtner in his comprehensive new book on our disastrous war on a plant, Cannabanomics: The Marijuana Policy Tipping Point (Well Mind Books).

Fichtner, a psychiatrist - he served as Illinois Director of Mental Health for several years - takes a long, hard look at the politics of irrationality and lays out a compelling diagnosis: "essentially, social or mass psychosis." You can also throw in racism. The war on drugs is simply a race war by another name, fueled by fear of Mexican and African American culture, with the weight of law brought down on African Americans with wildly disproportionate severity:

". . . during a period when the number of prison sentences for drug-related convictions increased dramatically for all drug offenders," Fichtner writes, citing Illinois statistics between 1983 and 2002, "it increased for African Americans at roughly eight times the rate of increase seen for Caucasians."

But reading Cannabanomics kept leaving me with the sense that there was a deeper irrationality to our anti-marijuana crusade than even the racism. For instance, "Examples abound," he writes, "in which the application of mandatory minimum sentences has led to harsher penalties for marijuana offenses than for violent crimes ranging from battery through sexual assault and even to murder."

And the violent enforcement of zero tolerance hasn't been limited to the pursuit of recreational potheads. Those using cannabis medicinally have also been harassed, arrested and sometimes treated with such shocking violence you have to wonder whether the official paranoia about marijuana use - that it leads to mental derangement and violent behavior - is sheer projection.

For instance, early in the book Fichtner relates the story of Garry, a California man who used marijuana to relieve arthritic pain. Despite the fact that this was legal under state law, his house was raided by federal agents: "As he opened his front door, he was greeted by a battering ram and a physical takedown maneuver that left him with a dislocated left shoulder, right hand fractures, blunt head trauma, and a back injury that aggravated the arthritis for which he grew cannabis in his garage in the first place."

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MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

You can say this for the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State: it gave the Vatican a break.

Indeed, just the other day, the government of Ireland pulled its ambassador from the Vatican amid the aftermath of a large-scale sex abuse scandal in the Catholic country - one that the Vatican covered up for years.

Just as the child sex abuse incidents in Ireland, America and around the world tested the faith of Catholics in the Pope vs. the horrifying immoral acts of some priests who were sexual predators of children, the legendary football powerhouse of Penn State - and its all-time, game-winning, record-holder coach, Joe Paterno - were tested against the cover-up of a former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, who is alleged to have sexually abused at least eight boys.

Paterno was fired by the Penn State board for ignoring at least one child abuse charge against Sandusky. According to The New York Times:

Upon learning about a suspected 2002 assault by Mr. Sandusky on a young boy in the football building's showers, Mr. Paterno redirected the graduate assistant who witnessed the incident to the athletic director, rather than notifying the police. Mr. Paterno said the graduate assistant who reported the assault, Mike McQueary, said only that something disturbing had happened that was perhaps sexual in nature. Mr. McQueary testified that he saw Mr. Sandusky having anal sex with the boy.

Just this month, Sandusky was finally charged with 40 counts relating to sexual child abuse by the Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelley, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Twenty of the 40 crimes with which Sandusky is charged allegedly took place during the time he worked for Paterno, including three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a first-degree felony.

One accuser, now 27, testified that Sandusky initiated contact with a "soap battle" in the shower that led to multiple instances of involuntary sexual intercourse and indecent assault at Sandusky's hands, a grand jury report said.

Indulging criminal and deviant behavior among football players and coaches is no new phenomenon in college sports, considering how football and basketball have become big-time fundraising machines for winning college programs. So it was with Paterno.

Thousands of students (estimates vary) rioted at Penn State in protest of the firing of Paterno. It was a small segment of the nearly 45,000 undergraduate and graduate students at what is considered one of the top public universities in the United States.

But it is still a bit disturbing to know that there is a significant segment of students who value a legendary football coach over the violation of young boys who were anally raped in the Penn State football shower.

No, Paterno is not charged with any deviant behavior, just with turning a blind eye to it.

The Los Angeles Times quotes a protesting Penn State student who sympathizes with Paterno:

James Choi, 18, a freshman from Baltimore, also thought the way Paterno was fired was unjust.

"He shouldn't have to go out this way," Choi said. "They should let him leave with his dignity."

Unfortunately for Paterno, he gave up his dignity and his moral authority when he chose not to tarnish the Penn State football brand over reporting the horror that happened in his team's shower room. As a result, Sandusky continued to violate young boys for years.

Football is a game that's over in three hours or so. The boys who he sexually abused will live with the scars for the rest of their lives.

Paterno is getting off easy. He just has to live with his conscience.

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BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Jackson is dead; Dr. Conrad Murray has been convicted of manslaughter; Philip Anschutz has walked away with millions

In case you've been on another planet, holed up in an Occupy tent somewhere, or just plain too stubborn to care, Dr. Conrad Murray has been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.

And one of the more interesting pieces of information that surfaced during the trial was the role played by Philip Anschutz, the head of the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the company that was chiefly responsible for setting up Jackson's comeback tour.

In less than two days, the 12-person jury reached its verdict. Murray was found guilty and carted off to the Los Angeles County jail where he was placed on suicide watch.

Later this month Murray, who could receive probation or as much as four years in prison, will be sentenced.

Jackson's death came while the mega-pop star was preparing for "This Is It," the comeback of all comeback tours; a series of concerts at London's O2 arena. Millions and millions of dollars were at stake. Postponement or cancellation of the tour wasn't an option.

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TONY PEYSER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

 

The people's verdict in Ohio? SB 5 is dead.

(That pretty much sums up what they said.)

 

An anti-immigrant in Arizona wound up lacking

Necessary votes & he was then sent off packing.

 

Gov. Kasich & State Senator Pearce are already bringing

News to the Right that an unfriendly pendulum is swinging.

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PAUL ROGAT LOEB FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

The Occupy movement has done something amazing, getting Americans to start questioning our economic divides. It's created spaces for people to come together, voice their discontents and dreams, creatively challenge destructive greed. It's created powerful political theater, engaged community, an alternative to silence and powerlessness.

But it also faces major challenges. I'm fine that this new public commons isn't offering detailed platforms for change. We can find plenty in almost any Paul Krugman or Robert Kuttner column. Instead the movement has highlighted the destructive polarization of wealth while voicing what one young woman called "a cry for something better." And that's a major contribution. The movement and its allies now need to keep spreading this message to that majority of Americans who are sympathetic but have given up on the possibility of change. To reach those more resistant, who might respond if seriously engaged. To make the physical occupations not just ends in themselves, but bases where more and more people can participate, and find ways to publicly act. To keep momentum building even in the winter cold, and when media coverage fades. To find continuing ways for people to act without dissipating their energy in an array of fragmented efforts. And, although some participants would disagree, to become part of a broader movement that without muting its voice help bring about a better electoral outcome in 2012 than the disaster of 2010, when corporate interests prevailed again and again because those who would have rejected their lies stayed home.

One solution, which is beginning to happen, is for the movement to move to the neighborhoods, building on its existing efforts in hundreds of cities and towns. This doesn't mean abandoning the current encampments. At their best they've created powerful new centers for conversation, reflection, and creative action. People talk, brainstorm ideas, make posters and banners, draw in the curious, including those just passing by. In Seattle, even tourists riding the amphibious tour buses broke into cheers as they drove past. Participants tell stories of lost jobs, medical bills, and student debt, putting a human face on how they and so many others have been made expendable by a country that seems to care only for the wealthiest. Self-organized committees plan creative tactics, handle donations of food, address medical needs, reach out to the media, create innovative art projects, clean the occupation grounds, and ensure physical security. Common meals become a form of communion. The gatherings also convey a sense of festival, inviting in those not yet involved with puppets colorful banners, drum circles radical marching bands, signs saying "I'll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one," and people dressed up as predatory billionaires, Lady Liberty and dollar spewing zombies who chant "I smell money, I smell money." The spirit of play echoes the defiant folk and hip hop music of Tahir Square and the Gandhi meets Monty Python approaches of the Serbian youth movement Otpur, who helped train the initial Tahir Square occupiers.

But for all the value of creating visible protest communities in the centers of our cities, for all the powerful stories and Dadaist humor, most Americans are still watching from a distance, at most passive spectators. So maybe the rest of us. who are about these issues but aren't ready to sleep on the hard cold ground, need to build on the opening that this movement has created to consciously reach out to the rest of America. To the degree that the occupations have led the media to even briefly question America's fundamental divides is a victory. But it's not one that we can count on indefinitely. So we need to find creative ways to take the key issues that the movement's placed on the public agenda to every neighborhood, community, workplace and campus, even those that don't seem natural hotbeds of change.

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PAUL BUCHHEIT FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Redistribution of income has been taking place since 1980, when the top 1% already had a large piece of the pie (7%).

Then they took a second piece (7% more).

Then they took a third piece (7% more).

That's over a trillion dollars a year of AFTER-TAX income that would be going to the other 99% if it weren't for 30 years of tax cuts and deregulation.

If the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000.

How do wealthy Americans respond to this? They argue that the top earners pay most of the income tax. But federal income tax is only a small part of the burden on the middle class. Based on data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the total of all state and local taxes, social security taxes, and excise taxes (gasoline, alcohol, tobacco) consumes 21% of the annual incomes of the poorest half of America. For the richest 1% of Americans, the same taxes consume 7% of their incomes. Furthermore, the richest people pay most of the federal income taxes because they've made ALMOST ALL the new income over the past 30 years. As productivity has risen 80%, average overall wages have remained flat.

Wealthy people also claim that opportunity exists for everyone, if only they work hard. But an American born in 1970 in the bottom economic quintile had only a 17% chance of making it into the top two quintiles. Data shows that much of Europe has more economic mobility than the United States.

Wealthy people also claim that they've earned whatever they have. But they've made their fortunes with considerable help from society. Government-funded research, infrastructure growth, national security, and property laws have largely benefited rich individuals and corporations. DARPA (the Internet), NIH (medicine), and NSF and NASA (science) have laid a half-century foundation for profit-seeking corporations.

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MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

On Tuesday, America was occupied by sanity.

In a major pushback to the assault on collective bargaining and unions, a unified coalition of organized labor and progressives beat back Ohio Senate Bill 5. This legislation that would have severely restricted union rights - already signed into law by Tea Party Gov. John Kasich - was nullified by a landslide margin of almost two to one. The reverberations will be felt far and wide, including in the upcoming effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

And although even Keith Olbermann was predicting its passage on "Countdown," even the reddest of regressive states, Mississippi, defeated Initiative 26 that would have legally endowed a fertilized human egg with the attributes of a person. This would have had widespread horrendous impact, such as making any woman taking a morning-after pill a murderer.

There were other less touted victories for democracy and progress. In Maine, voters resoundingly defeated - again through a citizen initiative - a GOP Tea Party effort in that state to eliminate same-day voter registration. This GOP law was part of the broader nationwide GOP effort to reinstall Jim Crow laws and variations thereof to limit non-Republican voters.

In Arizona, there was a huge political upset. GOP State Senate President and Republican power house Russell Pearce - the prime political strategist behind the state's draconian anti-Mexican immigration law - was defeated in a recall election.

There were less noted victories for social progress, but still significant. In Iowa, Democrats held onto their two-vote majority in the state Senate. This ensures that there will be no legislation in the state, for the near future, to ban gay marriages.

If you are looking at party politics, the Republicans certainly won some elections and initiatives. But taking a broader perspective, one can argue that the Occupy movement cleared the air of the GOP dominance of the national media debate for several weeks.

Perhaps that - and this is just conjecture - allowed voters some breathing room to look at issues without the emotional pummeling and distortion that comes with Republican control of the media "frame."

Perhaps, the refusal of the Occupy movement to get tied down in electoral details is, ironically, having an electoral impact. It could be providing a buffer zone for sanity to once again creep into debates over public policy, which then has an impact at the polls.

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MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

According to Forbes online, the financial firm MF Global, which just declared bankruptcy, paid out bonuses to its UK staff just before legally going under.

MF Global was headed by Jon Corzine - former governor of New Jersey, a former US senator and yet another past CEO of Goldman Sachs - until Corzine jumped ship and hired himself a defense lawyer as regulators closed in on the imploding Wall Street brokerage house.

Corzine is a Democrat, but as the Wall Street bailout and DC policies that allow thinly regulated financial risk taking reveal, both parties generally bow to the financial "Masters of the Universe." Remember, for example, that it was Bill Clinton who signed the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, after bipartisan passage in the House and Senate. In fact, the Senate voted 90-8 for the repeal; the House, 362-57.

The repeal of Glass-Steagall is widely credited with being a major factor that led to the near implosion of the American economy.

Therefore, it is of little surprise that The New York Times recently ran an article headlined, "As Regulators Pressed Changes, Corzine Pushed Back, and Won":

Months before MF Global teetered on the brink, federal regulators were seeking to rein in the types of risky trades that contributed to the firm's collapse. But they faced opposition from an influential opponent: Jon S. Corzine, the head of the then little-known brokerage firm.

As a former United States senator and a former governor of New Jersey, as well as the leader of Goldman Sachs in the 1990s, Mr. Corzine carried significant weight in the worlds of Washington and Wall Street. While other financial firms employed teams of lobbyists to fight the new regulation, MF Global's chief executive in meetings over the last year personally pressed regulators to halt their plans.

The agency proposing the rule, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, relented. Wall Street, which has been working to curb many financial regulations, won another battle.

Now Corzine has a criminal defense lawyer - as well as a bankruptcy attorney - although the Department of Justice hasn't shown itself too keen on prosecuting Republicans or Democrats who gamble with America's economy.

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Body

When truth takes a walk, nothing of value remains. In our current poisonous political environment it sometimes seems as if anything goes because after all it's campaign season and candidates are positioning themselves to take on President Obama in the general election.

The trouble is that instead of actually framing alternative policies the Republican field is in attack mode all the time whether their positions make sense or have anything to do with how to right the course of the country. Some commentators point out that a man like Herman Cain is the real deal and voters identify with him because he's a plain talker. Never mind that he is an empty vessel who knows very little about world events, the economy or how to run a campaign, even if his poll numbers are up and he has raised significant amounts of cash.

Factor in his defenders on the right who have some of the goofiest reasons at the ready for continuing to support Cain. Ann Coulter, for example, states that Liberals just can't stand a conservative man of color and besides, as she puts it "our blacks are better than theirs" of all the absurd and insulting positions to take. Apparently it doesn't alarm her and some of her colleagues that right-wing blacks constantly play the race card and are into the bargain remarkably under-informed about basic historical fact.

Cain is embarrassingly unable to make sense of the world in all its complexity. His comical take on "Uz Beki Beki Stan" may amuse listeners who are as untutored in the way of the world as he is, but one would hope a serious candidate would refrain from poking fun at countries about which he has no knowledge but which may, in fact, impact our country in significant ways. Never mind about that and never mind about his problems of possible sexual harassment. He may have bigger problems in terms of campaign finance that seem to be emerging. However, Bill Maher says, he doesn't have as big a problem with Cain's apparent misdeeds as he has with the fact that he's just "dumb." That is after all the defining problem with this man and the people who find excuses for supporting him.

We have come a long way from the days of Jim Crow and suppression of the minority vote. And yet maybe we haven't progressed as far as we might have thought. Richard Nixon had his "southern strategy" which continues to be a part of the right-wing approach to elections. Some of the efforts in several states to 'modify' voting laws will if carried out keep minorities, young people and others from exercising their rights at the polls. Widespread, non-existent voter fraud has been used as an excuse to limit access to those voters conservatives want to restrain. Unfortunately, a candidate like Herman Cain represents a step backward by people who are willing to accept an inferior candidate and claim anyone who opposes him is playing the race card. The real voter fraud is that incredibly stupid, uninformed people still vote.

How much are the American people willing to put up with when it comes to believing the nonsensical premises of candidates who bask in the spotlight of their ignorance as if it were a badge of courage and enlightenment. How many of his supporters, one wonders, believe Cain's claim that his security clearance is at a higher level than the president's - - probably far too many. There are always dozens of reasons right-wing politicians have for their opinions. It doesn't matter that logic is rarely a component of their position; they'll continue to 'wing it' forever. Daryl Issue defends the second amendment because he says it was part of the Constitution to protect citizens from a tyrannical government. But if anyone thinks about this for even a second it will be clear that even a hundred A-K 47s would be no match for tanks, air power and nuclear weapons.

When Republicans hold up those glossy folders they say lay out a jobs plan it becomes apparent that they are all about rolling back regulatory mechanisms that are agenda items not job inducers. And when they insist they have bi-partisan support for their plans it should be noted that the entire Republican field and two or three Democrats don't represent bi-partisanship. Maybe truth and logic will come to play a part once again in our world. If not we are doomed to make fools of ourselves on the world stage.