I am not a huge fan of expensive supplements when herbs and other helpful natural things are available, and this is probably all a big economic war between Big Pharma and the High-Cost Supplements Industries again, so I am not advising you to sign, unless you read it and really agree. I got ripped off joining EQUINOX in the late 90’s so I know about expensive supplements and there should be a way to avoid people selling total bulls–t, but if restrictions get placed on our ability to freely use herbs as a result of their battle (see my article on Codex Alimentarius) I will really not be impressed!

In any case it is just good to be aware of what is going on. Let me know what you think. I generally try not to get involved too much in all of the legal smoke and mirrors that goes on. The legal jargon in such things seems to mainly be used for covering up stuff and wasting time. But in the hopes that I am wrong, I have signed this letter!

The following is from the Citizens For Health website:

Introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) on February 4th as the “Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010,” S. 3002 is designed, according to the bill preamble, to “more effectively regulate dietary supplements that may pose safety risks unknown to consumers.”

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There was so much going on for Valentines Day this year that I didn’t have time to think about chocolates and roses. Instead, I was thinking about joining in the celebrations to welcome in the Year of the Tiger and eager to get to Chinatown before the whole show was over since rumors said the festivities would be closed down early due to the Olympics. In fact, our bus couldn’t get through downtown, as soon as we realised this we headed for the nearest skytrain station and squeezed ourselves in among the throngs of people and headed for the Chinatown/Stadium stop.

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As some of you may know from my snail mail New Years letter in December, I had a scheme to work for the winter Olympics and make a ton of money in a short time period. I used to work large sporting events (catered for the APGA golf tournament in 2000 and the NZ V-8 car races in 2004) and had found that huge sports events usually pay the best money. So I was pretty shocked to discover that to work for the Molson Canadian Hockey House, and provide the food for Concord Place during the 2010 Winter Olympics would only be an hourly rate of $15.

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This post, from my series of posts on the history of Haiti, taken from Dr. Paul Farmer’s book Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor gives excerpts of the history of Haiti, especially surrounding the massacre that took place in Raboteau. An interesting side-note here is that the city of Philadelphia dumped a barge of toxic waste on Haiti, which ended up sitting at the port not far from the slum of Raboteau.

The following are taken from Chapter 2 Pestilance and Restraint: Guantanamo, AIDS and the Logic of Quarantine:

“Landmark human rights trials have taken place recently in Haiti, a first. The most important of these occurred in Gonaïves, once famous as the place where Haiti’s declaration of independence was signed, after the slaves’ decisive 1803 victory over Napoleon’s forces.”

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These excerpts are from Dr. Paul Farmer’s book Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor , written in 2004. I am putting up a series of posts from this book, because Dr. Paul Farmer is well respected in the mainstream as well as in the Christian community. He has worked in rural Haiti for more than 20 years. This post shares Yolande’s story, she fled Haiti after being beaten for promoting adult literacy and ended up in Guantanamo where she was treated even worse.

Currently Guantanamo is prepared to receive thousands of Haitian refugees, let’s do everything we can to make sure they will not be treated the same way they were the last time they visited this US base.

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These excerpts are from Dr. Paul Farmer’s book Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor, written in 2004. I am putting up a series of posts from this book, because Dr. Paul Farmer is well respected in the mainstream as well as in the Christian community. He has worked in rural Haiti for more than 20 years. Being a doctor, he is also closely involved with various aid agencies and speaks of the structural violence within our culture that Haitians have been the brunt of since they kicked Napoleon’s ass in 1803 and became the first nation of free slaves that was, unfortunately for them, a little too close to the shores of our ‘great’ nation (USA).

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Most of my life I have been excessively healthy. No cavities, never sick, and with rapid healing powers so that I have no scars despite the multitude of oven burns, chopped fingertips and other disasters that being a chef generally involve (I have chopped off the tip of my left pointer finger several times but you wouldn’t know by looking at it!). I took that amazing health for granted, assumed that it was just who I was and didn’t stop to think for a second that it might not last. Working in the fast-paced and highly demanding culinary industry stresses your body physically, the long hours and high pressure alone are quite enough to wear you down over time, but along with that for years I maintained a diet of coffee and cigarettes, and generally didn’t really put anything else into my body. After a couple years of this I discovered that I was highly neurotic, with blood sugar swings that left me an emotional basket case.

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A couple years ago I read a book about how women used to be given electro-shock treatment for their ‘hysteria’ and assumed that those terrible days were over decades ago so I was very interested in this article about how electroshock treatment has had a revival and is now being used with even higher voltage than in the ‘good ole days’.

Excerpts taken from:

Think Again–Even toddlers and pregnant women are being shocked

By Dr. John Breeding, author of The Wildest Colts Make the Best Horses

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In December I had a hair analysis test done which showed high levels of pesticides in my body that are helping to overload my detox systems. I did the test because I thought I would find high levels of flouride or pharmaceutical drugs from drinking tap water, but instead found high levels of Advent and Tordon 50 among other things (like Cyanazine and Eraicaine). As a result I have gotten interested in the issue of pesticide use in British Columbia. It seems that most other provinces have some sort of guidelines and restrictions but BC doesn’t. At the moment the Integrated Pest Management group is asking for discussion, comments and suggestions, please get involved in the discussion here.

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I discovered this really well written letter by Corky Evans on the site EdibleLandscapes.ca. I will repost some of it here, to read the whole letter please go to www.ediblelandscapes.ca and click on the button that says “Be Subversive”. What Corky Evans speaks of as happening in Canada has and is happening all over the world. As we all know, governments are selling off earth and nature as plunder, corporations have the control, in this letter he makes very good points as to how we all need to come together to get rid of these greedy systems. The left and right are on the same side in this one….

The Campbell Government has taken away the right! Subject: Letter from Corky Evans

The following letter was written by Corky on November 4, 2007.

Dear Friends: Back a few years, before the election of 2005, I was working in the town of Nakusp. Walking down the street one day, I ran into a guy I used to know who has served many years as a Social Credit Cabinet Minister.

It was winter and, in winter in Nakusp, pretty much everyone you meet on the street is someone who lives there. The unlikely meeting of two historical political combatants on the streets of a little town on the Arrow Lakes made for a sense that we were on neutral turf. We struck up a conversation more personal than public. He asked me if I would run for office again and then, surprisingly, he almost begged me to re-enter politics. I knew this fellow by virtue of our mutual years as enemies, so I asked him why he cared.

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