Restoration Health Blog

Vit.D - what do we do?

2010-12-10T17:56:00.001-06:00

If you haven't seen it yet, the NIH (National Institute of Health) has just come out with some research questioning whether or not it truly is good or needed to take higher doses of Vit.D. The gov't current recommendations are around 400 IU (international units) per day. It is currently being considered to be increased from 400 to 600. (i think it's funny, cause they still can't agree on what a good amount is to recommend, but they question/criticize others for trying more...)

Basically, the current thought is that if we are only getting 400-600 IU of Vit-D per day, whether through food or sun, then we are already in the category of Vit-D deficient (we are not getting enough). They site studies that show populations of people who have high & low levels of Vit-D, and those with lower levels have a significantly higher risk of heart disease, cancer, flu infections, and a host of other diseases. Obviously, this doesn't prove correlation, since there are many other variables, including the activities of these same people (exercise, diet, etc...)

VIT-D PREVENTS CANCER & HEART DISEASE?

The newer articles and discussions on the web that just came out, have questioned the claims that high doses of Vit-D will PREVENT said diseases. I would agree that it would be difficult to make that claim and have good evidence from dbl-blinded, clinical-controlled trials (since there's not much done yet, but they are working on some now...), however I feel that it is a very important correlation that needs to be looked at closely. I've read quite a few peer-reviewed research articles on the correlation between Cancer rates & Vit-D deficiency. Basically, we don't have a population of Americans who have cancer, but we have a population of Americans who are Vit-D deficient who have cancer. Just google "Cancer & Vit D" and see for yourself.

SO, HOW MUCH DO WE NEED?

They also question the total amount of Vit-D we should be getting. I feel strongly that the gov't recommendations of only 400-600 IU is not enough, but I also recognize that there is a toxic level of Vit-D that we need to be aware of. When someone refers to taking 'Large' doses or 'high' levels of Vit-D, they can be taking up to 50,000 IU/week, for long period of times. This still isn't near the level of toxicity.

OKAY, SO WHAT DO I DO?

Well, this is just a quick glance down some of the articles I've seen on NPR, Mercola, specifically this new article/video, and other mainstream media sites. I am still currently taking 5,000 IU almost daily (i'm human, and I forget some days!), especially during the winter months, when I hardly get any direct sunlight on my skin for more than a minute or two. Please take some time to read some of those articles yourself, and research, research, research. If there are any special circumstances or health concerns, you can easily get tested for Vit-D levels by a simple blood test. If there is any concern for extreme deficiency or toxicity levels, it's always a good idea to know for sure by getting tested. Besides that, know your body, and pay attention to how you feel, eat really well, get enough sleep, and have fun. Here's to your health.

Dr. Nick

Repost: This is why I do what I do

2010-10-13T19:09:00.001-05:00

Whether you are a parent or not, this type of thing should open your eyes a little to the choices we make, and the choices that are often 'forced' upon us. We need to think critically and challenge those who don't. Even if they are doctors. They are humans too.

Also, please click on the video and go to YouTube to read the comments to this video. Max isn't the only kid this has happened to.

Few Medical Studies Actually Compare One Treatment to Another

2010-04-06T22:50:00.002-05:00

A study released in the March 10, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) noted that most other studies in medical journals do not compare one type of treatment to another. According to the study, and several news articles written about this study, most medical studies are testing a new drug and not looking to see how it compares to drugs already on the market, or to non-drug care.
It is the lack of "comparative effectiveness" studies that makes it hard for patients and doctors to evaluate which course of treatment or care is best for a patient. A March 10, 2010, article on this study in the Los Angeles Times noted that this is the reason that there is such a large discrepancy between the way medical doctors care for patients with the same ailments.
Coauthors of the study and the LA Times article, Drs. Danny McCormick and Michael Hochman, explained how they conducted their study in the Times article by saying, "In the study, we analyzed 328 medication studies recently published in six top medical journals and found that just 32% were aimed at determining which available treatment is best. The rest were either aimed at bringing a new therapy to market or simply compared a medication with a placebo. Whether the therapy was better or worse than other treatments was simply not addressed."
In an attempt to explain why very few studies are done to check existing treatments against new drugs, the authors explained, "So why, then, did only a third of medication studies focus on helping doctors use existing therapies more effectively? The answer lies in the fact that pharmaceutical companies fund nearly half of all medication research, including the lion's share of large clinical trials. For obvious reasons, commercially funded research is primarily geared toward the development of new and marketable medications and technologies. Once these products have won approval for clinical use, companies no longer have incentives to study exactly how and when they should be used."
Not surprisingly, the research showed that most of the studies done are funded by drug companies trying to get approval for their new drugs. The study also showed that the few studies that actually do "comparative effectiveness" and look at one type of care as compared to another, were mostly funded by the government or received other non-drug company related funding.

:: nW
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Do Your Best to Stay Out of Hospitals...

2010-04-06T22:44:00.004-05:00

The above is a headline from the February 23rd, 2010 issue of the New York Daily News. The article reports on a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on February 22, 2010. The study and resultant articles point out that approximately 48,000 patients die each year from pneumonia or blood poisoning picked up in hospitals.
In this study, hospital discharge records were looked at on 69 million patients who were in hospitals in 40 US states between 1998 and 2006. The records were examined to look for blood infections or pneumonia. Problems of these types that were acquired from outside the hospital were excluded, so that the data only showed problems resulting from a stay at the hospital.
The results of this large study brought forth some alarming data. The study revealed that hospital-acquired illnesses were responsible for 2.3 million extra patient days in hospitals. These extra days in a hospital resulted in a cost of $8.1 billion in the year 2006 alone. Overall, 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections are diagnosed every year.
Ramanan Laxminarayan, spokesperson for Resources for the Future, the group that sponsored the study, reacted to the high rates of infection by saying, "In many cases, these conditions could have been avoided with better infection control in hospitals."
One of the researchers on the study, Anup Malani, from the University of Chicago, added, "That's the tragedy of such cases. In some cases, relatively healthy people check into the hospital for routine surgery. They develop sepsis because of a lapse in infection control and they can die."

:: nW
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Low Back Pain Surgeries, Though More Dangerous & Expensive, Are Increasing

2010-04-06T22:31:00.004-05:00

We have a problem in America when surgeries for uncomplicated low back pain are rising in frequency, when conservative treatments, such as Chiropractic, have been proven to be more cost-effective and safer.

CHICAGO – A study of Medicare patients shows that costlier, more complex spinal fusion surgeries are on the rise — and sometimes done unnecessarily — for a common lower back condition caused by aging and arthritis.
What's more alarming is that the findings suggest these more challenging operations are riskier, leading to more complications and even deaths. Read More...

:: nW

Study: Breast-feeding would save lives, money

2010-04-06T22:24:00.004-05:00

Brief, but short and good article about the benefits of Breast-feeding.

The lives of nearly 900 babies would be saved each year, along with billions of dollars, if 90 percent of U.S. women fed their babies breast milk only for the first six months of life, a cost analysis says.
Those startling results, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, are only an estimate. But several experts who reviewed the analysis said the methods and conclusions seem sound.

:: nW

Movie Reviews: Shrink

2010-03-23T15:35:00.003-05:00

I'll start by saying that I'm no movie critic. However, this movie was very good. It stars Kevin Spacey, Keke Palmer, and Robin Williams. It's a sad, kinda melancholy film about grief, specifically regarding Spacey, and his inability to deal with a personal tragedy while turning to smoking pot to cope with the pain and despair. The story travels between 4 or 5 characters, all of whom are intertwined in some way (sometimes that 'web' is cheesy and predictable in some movies, but it was used well here). The soundtrack was very good, a lot of instrumental music - created a very good tone for the movie. I'd caution you to watch this if you are experiencing any level of despair yourself, due to the obvious story, but the movie line allows the watcher to accept grief, and the realities of pain and loss, while making just enough room for the real possibility of hope and well... not the absence of grief, but the moving forward with grief. Two thumbs up.

:: nW

Longrunning Controversy on Autism and Vaccines - by Dr. Redwood

2010-03-17T14:06:00.002-05:00

From his blog, the www.dailyhitblog.com,

"I do not hold a firm opinion on this topic. This controversy has swirled for an extended time and allegations of falsifying data by both sides have muddied the waters to the point where uncertainty seems a reasonable response.

If one is to believe the preponderance of evidence in the peer-reviewed literature, a causal link is hard to find.

But in this article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, a man whose intelligence and integrity I trust, a series of very serious questions are raised about the quality of that evidence and the honesty of the central figure behind the research used to attack claims of a vaccine-autism link.

A central figure behind the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) claims disputing the link between vaccines and autism and other neurological disorders has disappeared after officials discovered massive fraud involving the theft of millions in taxpayer dollars. Danish police are investigating Dr. Poul Thorsen, who has vanished along with almost $2 million that he had supposedly spent on research.Thorsen was a leading member of a Danish research group that wrote several key studies supporting CDC’s claims that the MMR vaccine and mercury-laden vaccines were safe for children. Thorsen’s 2003 Danish study reported a 20-fold increase in autism in Denmark after that country banned mercury based preservatives in its vaccines. His study concluded that mercury could therefore not be the culprit behind the autism epidemic.

His study has long been criticized as fraudulent since it failed to disclose that the increase was an artifact of new mandates requiring, for the first time, that autism cases be reported on the national registry. This new law and the opening of a clinic dedicated to autism treatment in Copenhagen accounted for the sudden rise in reported cases rather than, as Thorsen seemed to suggest, the removal of mercury from vaccines. Despite this obvious chicanery, CDC has long touted the study as the principal proof that mercury-laced vaccines are safe for infants and young children. Mainstream media, particularly the New York Times, has relied on this study as the basis for its public assurances that it is safe to inject young children with mercury — a potent neurotoxin — at concentrations hundreds of times over the U.S. safety limits.

I encourage you to read the whole article. I hope it is not true that researchers (and possibly the CDC itself) have engaged in fraudulent activity. This article leads me to keep an open mind on the topic and await further developments."

Scoliosis Correction Video Story - - Kaylee

2010-02-09T14:01:00.002-06:00

1 Soda/day, 10+ pounds/year... Gotta Give It Up!

2010-01-02T14:05:00.004-06:00

Scientists have proved for the first time that fructose, a cheap form of sugar used in thousands of food products and soft drinks, can damage human metabolism and is fueling the obesity crisis.

Fructose, a sweetener usually derived from corn, can cause dangerous growths of fat cells around vital organs and is able to trigger the early stages of diabetes and heart disease.

Over 10 weeks, 16 volunteers on a controlled diet including high levels of fructose produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar replacing fructose, did not have these problems.

Mom has to fight to avoid C-section

2009-12-17T11:51:00.006-06:00

Even when it is not in a mother's best interests, C-sections are often the method of choice by hospitals for births. Despite a much increased risk of morbidity and mortality for mother and baby, C-sections simply give the doctors complete control of the delivery, allowing most aspects of the birth to be managed. Many hospitals require women to have a C-section for subsequent births after she's already had one, preventing her from attempting a vaginal birth. This is called VBAC = vaginal birth after cesarian. They site that there is an increased risk for the mother as the reason for this mandate, but reality often shows quite the opposite. Here is a story of how one mother choice to fight for her right to have the birth she desired.

(CNN) -- Seven months into her pregnancy with her fourth child, Joy Szabo's obstetrician gave her some news she didn't want to hear: Because she'd had a previous Caesarean section, the hospital where she planned to deliver was insisting she have another one.
Szabo wanted a vaginal delivery, and argued with hospital executives, but they stood firm: They refused to do vaginal births after Caesareans (VBACs) because they have a slightly higher risk for complications.
After they lost that fight, Szabo and her husband, Jeff, made an unusual decision. About three weeks before her due date, Szabo moved nearly six hours away from their home in Page, Arizona, to Phoenix to give birth at a hospital that does permit women to have VBACs.
In the end, the Szabos got the birth they wanted. On December 5, their son Marcus Anthony was born in Phoenix via an uncomplicated vaginal delivery, weighing seven pounds and 13 ounces.
"It was such an easy birth," Szabo says. "I was in the pains of labor for about four or five hours, then I pushed once, and he popped out."

For more info about VBACs, Birth, or just info on Natural childbirth, CLICK HERE.

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Pregnancy and Vaccines? Leading to miscarriages?

2009-11-28T14:01:00.004-06:00

Pregnant women are considered among the high risk market for vaccines, including all the new H1N1 vaccines. However, there is absolutely NO SAFETY RESEARCH DONE on pregnant women and these vaccines. It says it directly in the package insert. It might seem self evident, but we must remember that whatever the mom takes in (food, drug, beverage) the baby gets as well. Also, we must understand that the vaccine given to an adult is much more than a vaccine given to a child. Henceforth, an unborn baby is experiencing the dosage from mom's shot that's intended for an adult (let's say 150 lbs, not 6 lbs.). Not all, but about half of the new H1N1 vaccines contain some level of mercury (you can see specifically which ones here... and amazingly several will give you a dose of mercury or aluminum that is several times the safety limit set forth by the EPA for human ingestion). That's a problem, not only for the person getting that vaccine, but also for a fetus that weighs anywhere between 1-7 lbs. More and more reports of miscarriages are coming out after getting an H1N1 vaccine. Read articles here and here.

Women: What about Mammograms?

2009-11-24T12:04:00.005-06:00

If you didn't hear it, you missed a great discussion about the new guidelines regarding routine mammograms on "Up To Date" with Steve Kraske of the KC Star, on NPR. Click Here for link and podcast but you'll now need to go to the ARCHIVES to find it...

Did you know, that the overall use of mammography has only decreased deaths from breast cancer 2% ( this number had believed to be as high 30%). Even so, 2% is still many mom's and grandma's and aunt's. However, there is concern for safety of repeated mammograms -- "According to the Dept of Energy, a typical mammogram applies 25 times the radiation of a standard chest x-ray." I would wonder how long it would take a 40 year-old women w/out breast cancer getting annual mammograms to develop breast cancer as a result? 10 years, 20 years, even 30? And according to Dr. David Bouda, of Menora Medical Center (one of the guests on the show), many of the types of cancers that could be detected by mammography, are not life threatening, and by diagnosing and undergoing a biopsy, etc... can just cause more problems than needed.

New guidelines for breast cancer screening are causing quite the commotion since the announcement last week that women should hold off getting annual mammograms by a decade. The new guidelines also recommend against teaching women to do self breast exams.

Today Steve Kraske talks with Dr. David Bouda, Medical Director, Midwest Cancer Care at Menorah Medical Center and Dr. Elizabeth Campbell, an Obstetrician/Gynecologist with the Avera Women's Clinic in Mitchell, SD. We'll discuss the debate for and against the new guidelines, how the guidelines might affect insurance, and why public opinion is largely against the change.

CBS Reporter Blows the Lid Off the Swine Flu Media Hype and Hysteria

2009-11-24T09:16:00.001-06:00

Sharyl Attkisson is a CBS News correspondent and investigative reporter. She’s covered Capitol Hill since February 2006 and has been a Washington-based correspondent there since January 1995. She was also part of the CBS news team that received the Edward Murrow Award in 2005 for overall excellence. Additionally, she received an Outstanding Investigative Journalism Emmy in 2002 for a series on the Red Cross.

In case you didn't realize it, Sharyl Attkisson is the investigative reporter behind the groundbreaking CBS News study that found H1N1 flu cases are NOT as prevalent as feared.

In fact, they’re barely on the radar screen.

How did this startling information come about, and why is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) painting a different picture entirely? I spoke directly with Sharyl Attkisson to find out.

Jim Carrey,Jenny McCarthy Larry King Live Vaccine/Autism Discussion

2009-11-03T23:00:00.000-06:00

Good Interview w/ Banksy [graffiti artist]

2009-10-18T16:40:00.002-05:00

Here's a good interview * out of some magazine w/ graffiti artist, Banksy, from England. I've seen some of his work on the internet, and also in a coffee-table book. He's political, satirical, and very, very creative. Check his work out - just google Banksy.

*some relatively moderate usage of 4-letter dirty words (whatever that means)

Music Commentary + Comedian = Funny

2009-10-01T13:54:00.002-05:00

glumbert - Pachelbel's canon rant

*Just a caution for young ears --> a few minor verbal potty words

Music & Your Brain Video - w/ Bobby McFerrin

2009-09-10T12:51:00.002-05:00

Bob McFerrin Hacks Your Brain -

See the entire video-lecture here at World Science Festival

Peace

nW

United HealthCare Fined Half a Million Dollars for Illegally Denying Chiropractic Claims

2009-09-06T21:38:00.003-05:00

Copied from www.dailyhitblog.com

This is the reason that private health insurance companies must be regulated. Efforts to exempt them from state laws (which UHC violated in this case) without substituting federal regulations that are as strong or stronger, constitute a recipe for continued injustice.

A pair of St. Louis, Mo-based subsidiaries of UnitedHealthcare will pay $536,000 in fines and review 50,000 chiropractic claims it denied in 2004 in an agreement with Missouri regulators.

Through a settlement between the insurer and the Missouri Department of Insurance, UnitedHealthcare will reexamine the claims filed by chiropractors who treated the company’s policyholders after regulators determined the company violated state law by limiting coverage to 26 visits per year.

In other cases, the insurance department says UnitedHealthcare failed to evaluate the medical necessity of treatment before denying claims. For any chiropractic claims it finds were improperly denied, UnitedHealthcare must reimburse the specialists for those claims, plus interest and in some cases, consumers may have paid the bills, rather than their specialists.

Private sector insurers, if beholden to no one but their shareholders and bottom line, will continue to behave in this manner unless forced by law to do otherwise.

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Jonas Brothers Make Sure to Get Spines Adjusted Regularly

2009-07-20T10:23:00.003-05:00

The above headline comes from the June 30, 2009 edition of MyCentralJersey.com. The article, written by staff writer Jeff Webber, reports that the pop stars are regular chiropractic patients. The author writes, "One of the most popular music groups right now, at least among the younger generation, is the Jonas Brothers. Since forming in 2005, the three brothers from Wyckoff have become a pop-music phenomenon, releasing four albums, touring all over the world and taking over The Disney Channel."

The article notes that their success is attributed to natural talent as well as good health practices. Part of the good health practices has meant regularly obtaining the services of their hometown chiropractor. Dr. Albert Wolyniec of New Jersey has been the family chiropractor for some time.

Dr. Wolyniec wrote in the Spring 2009 edition of The New Jersey Chiropractor, "They make sure they get their spines adjusted regularly, even if they have to fly me somewhere in the country just for the day. I have even done a coast-to-coast house call solely to maintain their spines free of nerve interference." The article notes that when playing at a local event in New Jersey, the Jonas Brothers and as many as 20 of their traveling party will receive chiropractic adjustments.

Dr. Wolyniec added, "They use chiropractic care not for pain, but to stay healthy. By keeping the nerve pathways open between the brain and the body, it keeps the pressure off the big heavy spinal nerves. When the vertebrae are kept in alignment, it translates into better health and better performance. They recognize this."

Don't Give In To The Swine Flu Vaccine!

2009-07-18T10:55:00.003-05:00

It might surprise some of you to know, at least the younger among you, but the Swine Flu Pandemic scare isn't a new thing. This very thing happened in 1976 and the gov't used the same scare tactics to protect everyone by using vaccination. However, the same adverse effects, including death, that occur on a daily basis now, occurred then as well.

In this 1979 episode of 60 Minutes, Mike Wallace talks to President Ford and others about the Swine Flu vaccine of 1976. Note the admitted lack of safety and informed consent, even as TV ads frightened American citizens into getting a shot. Do you think anything has changed today?The doctor states that they knew quite well that the vaccine caused neurological damage (and still does today). However, the spokesman did not find that necessary to tell the American public. Not much has changed in 30 years.

However the above video isn't available anymore, another regarding the Swine Flue Vaccine is below...

Gotta love Proprioception!

2009-07-09T11:40:00.000-05:00

Weird Lesson in Chicken Biology - Watch more Funny Videos

'Church' Costumes Make me laugh...Father?

2009-07-04T22:06:00.001-05:00

How Our Medical System is the 3rd Leading Cause of Death in America

2009-06-25T22:51:00.004-05:00

Cancer and heart disease are the top 2 killers in the US. Is it surprising that the 3rd is not a disease? According to research in the Journal of the American Medical Assoc (JAMA) and from the Institute of Medicine, our own medical system kills upward of 225,000 people every year.

The author is Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and she desribes how the US health care system may contribute to poor health.

ALL THESE ARE DEATHS PER YEAR:
* 12,000 -- due to unnecessary surgery
* 7,000 -- due to medication errors in hospitals
* 20,000 -- due to other errors in hospitals
* 80,000 -- due to infections in hospitals
* 106,000 -- due to non-error, negative effects of drugs

These total to 225,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic causes!! (Iatrogenic is defined as induced in a patient by a physician's activity, manner, or therapy. Used especially of a complication of treatment).

<> Click below for links to this article and others:

Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US, Killing 225,000 People Every Year

Medical Mistakes Kill 100,000 Americans A Year

The incidence and severity of adverse events affecting patients after discharge from the hospital

US Health System Most Expensive in World

Swine Flu Vaccine: Will We Have A Choice?

2009-06-23T23:14:00.001-05:00

An Update on the current status of our government and public policy with regard to the Swine Flu Vaccine. It will likely be added to the already long list of mandatory vaccines for children to attend public school, daycares, etc.. As with all vaccines, parents need to become very well versed in the dangers that come with injecting these chemicals into the human body, especially that of a child. Please take the time to become informed.

nW

Vaccines Being Experimented on US Soldiers

2009-06-17T16:03:00.001-05:00

A Short video. Please check it out. Kids in public schools aren't the only one's being forced to take vaccines.

-nW

The FDA Protects Animals from Mercury but Not Humans

2009-06-17T14:27:00.003-05:00

A good way for Dr. Hamburg (FDA’s new Commissioner) to begin would be to reverse years of FDA inaction on mercury amalgam – a step she assured Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) she would take in response to his question during the confirmation process. Inexplicably, the FDA zealously protects animals from mercury exposure, while taking almost a laissez-faire approach to human exposure to mercury.

In 2002, the agency pulled from the market a mercury-containing ointment for horses, and proclaimed zero tolerance for mercury in any product used to treat an animal. The FDA ruled that mercury is so toxic to mammals, it had no duty to prove its presence actually harms horses.

When it comes to mercury-containing products marketed to the humans however the FDA’s zeal evaporates. The FDA requires mercury critics to prove actual and widespread harm -- the shocking opposite of its position on protecting animals. Interestingly, the FDA policies ignore warnings from the Environmental Protection Agency that one in seven American women of childbearing age has so much mercury she is at risk of having a brain-damaged child.

Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have 3X Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu

2009-06-14T16:51:00.002-05:00

The above headline comes from Science Daily on May 20, 2009. The ensuing article reports on research presented at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society that stated that children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than those children who do not.

In this study researchers followed 263 children ages 6 months to 18 years, who were evaluated at the Mayo Clinic and had laboratory-confirmed influenza between 1996 to 2006. The researchers determined who received the flu vaccine and who did not. They then looked at their asthma status and who did and did not require hospitalization. The records were reviewed for each child with influenza-related illness to see if they had the flu vaccination preceding the illness and if they required hospitalization during that illness.

The researchers found that children who had received the flu vaccine had three times the risk of hospitalization, as compared to children who had not received the vaccine.

Avni Joshi, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, responded in the Science Daily article by noting, "The concerns that vaccination may be associated with asthma exacerbations have been disproved with multiple studies in the past, but the vaccine's effectiveness has not been well-established." Dr. Joshi, continued, "This study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the TIV (vaccine) in children overall, as well as the children with asthma, to prevent influenza-related hospitalization." He continued by explaining that this study does not mean that the cause of the hospitalizations was the vaccine, "While these findings do raise questions about the efficacy of the vaccine, they do not in fact implicate it as a cause of hospitalizations."

I couldn't resist...

2009-05-19T12:23:00.001-05:00

Dueling Banjos Played With Hands Only - Watch more Funny Videos

Harvard Medical Students Rebel Against Pharma-Ties

2009-04-19T14:40:00.003-05:00

Two hundred Harvard Medical School students are confronting the school’s administration, demanding an end to pharmaceutical industry influence in the classroom.

The students worry that pharmaceutical industry scandals in recent years, including criminal convictions, billions of dollars in fines, proof of bias in research and publishing and false marketing claims, have cast a bad light on the medical profession. The students have criticized Harvard as being less vigilant than other leading medical schools in monitoring potential financial conflicts by faculty members.

Harvard received the lowest possible grade, an “F,” from the American Medical Student Association, a national group that rates how well medical schools monitor and control drug industry money.
The students were joined by Dr. Marcia Angell, a faculty member and former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, who has vigorously advocated for an end to liaisons between academia and Big Pharma. [Read more]

And from The New York Times, an article, "Harvard Medical School in Ethics Quandary" --

BOSTON — In a first-year pharmacology class at Harvard Medical School, Matt Zerden grew wary as the professor promoted the benefits of cholesterol drugs and seemed to belittle a student who asked about side effects.

Mr. Zerden later discovered something by searching online that he began sharing with his classmates. The professor was not only a full-time member of the Harvard Medical faculty, but a paid consultant to 10 drug companies, including five makers of cholesterol treatments.

“I felt really violated,” Mr. Zerden, now a fourth-year student, recently recalled. “Here we have 160 open minds trying to learn the basics in a protected space, and the information he was giving wasn’t as pure as I think it should be.”

Mr. Zerden’s minor stir four years ago has lately grown into a full-blown movement by more than 200 Harvard Medical School students and sympathetic faculty, intent on exposing and curtailing the industry influence in their classrooms and laboratories, as well as in Harvard’s 17 affiliated teaching hospitals and institutes. [Read More]

Research Article from the journal, ALLERGY, 2009

2009-04-18T18:51:00.004-05:00

Topic: Prebiotics May Reduce Risk of Allergies in Infants
Keywords:
ALLERGIES, ALLERGY, ATOPY, ATOPIC DERMATITIS, IMMUNITY - Prebiotics, Short-chain Galacto-Oligosaccharides, Long-chain Fructo-Oligosaccharides, Breast Milk

Reference: "A specific mixture of short-chain galacto-oligosaccharides and long-chain fructo-oligosaccharides induces a beneficial immunoglobulin profile in infants at high risk for allergy," van Hoffen E, Ruiter B, et al, Allergy, 2009; 64(3): 484-7. (Address: Dr J. Garssen, Numico Research, Bosrandweg 20, 6704 PH Wageningen, the Netherlands).

Summary:
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving infants at high risk for allergy, supplementation with a hypoallergenic whey formula containing 8 g/l GOS/FOS in a 9:1 ratio for a period of 6 months was found to significantly reduce plasma levels of total IgE, IgG1, IgG2, and IgG3, suggesting a beneficial effect on the antibody profile and the immune response. Moreover, supplementation with GOS/FOS did not interfere with the response to vaccination (infants were vaccinated with Hexavac against a.o. diphtheria, tetanus, and polio at 3 months of age). The authors conclude supplementation with GOS/FOS is "a safe method to restrain the atopic march."

NICK's Comments-- This is a great example of the benefit of probiotics. The introduction of 'good' bacteria to the gastro-intestinal tract helps to establish a healthy balance of gut flora. This is important because upward of 60% of immune system function is affected here. This is also why for a baby under 1 year old, they have a 3-times greater chance of getting ASTHMA/ALLERGIES after only ONE DOSE OF ANTIBIOTICS. Also, as the article mentioned at the header about Atopic Dermatitis, most people don't realize that ECXEMA is not a skin problem. The symptom presents itself on the skin, but the problem is, for the lack of better words, on the inside. Nutrition should be the first area to be considered. Putting topical creams and such on the skin may help deal with the itch, etc., but it's not addressing the actual problem.

Waterbirth Lecture Tonight

2009-04-14T23:25:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to jot down a few notes from tonights lecture with Barbara Harper, RN,CD,CCE and founder of Waterbirth International. She is in town leading a workshop/certification on waterbirth, and led a free public lecture tonight at the Mercy and Truth Medical Center in KCK. Her talk was entitled, "Do Our Birth Choices Matter?" Here are some random points that I wanted to remember...

- Article from ACOG (American College of Obstetrics/Gynecology) with regard to 'Evidence-Based practice' guidelines - - stated from an OBGYN that much of what is done in obstetrics and childbirth is not 'Evidenced-Based medicine,' meaning that there is no evidence in research that the methods being employed are helpful or even safe. (As I've noted numerous times, much of the protocol in our hospital obstetrics has nothing to do with what's best for mother or baby, but what is best for the doctor/hospital, i.e. eating/drinking while in labor, mother position, repeated vaginal exams during labor, induction, immediate umbilical cord cutting, just to name a few...) and I would add, it seriously questions the overall safety of a hospital birth due to that fact.

- With regard to mother positioning, a Mother delivering in the upright position, such as squatting, is better at opening the pelvis than on her back, as is customary in the hospital setting... (it opens the pelvis 28% more when standing than lying supine)

- The importance of a vaginal delivery due to the introduction of bacteria, etc. to the baby while on his/her way out! It's an important part of the development and foundation of the child's immune system.

- The need to get that baby immediately to the mom's chest, or 'Habitat,' as Barbara called it :-) Regardless of the outcome of the delivery, the next step (immediate breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact with mom) can significantly affect the baby's new arrival to the outside world. She told us about how her 2nd child didn't leave her 'habitat' for about 2 days (he pooped, pee'd, and it didn't matter!)... that's the importance of skin-to-skin contact.

That's all for now, it's late. For more info, see Barbara's book "Gentle Birth Choices."

Interesting Quotes...

2009-03-13T12:41:00.004-05:00

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) finds that adverse drug reactions are a major cause of deaths among hospital patients. The study estimates that somewhere between 76,000 and 137,000 hospital patients die each year from an adverse drug reaction. That would make it one of the leading causes of death in this country.

And these are just from drugs that are correctly given. Wow! (and this study is from 10 years ago...)

Don Miller

2009-03-13T12:35:00.002-05:00

check out the video for the future movie about the book, Blue Like Jazz. Don is a great writer and thinker, and one who addresses some great issues in the evangelical church. Also, here are a few short clips from Don talking about the Democratic party, and also the prayer he led at the Democratic National Convention

Happy watching.

Nick

The Real Truth Behind Flu Shots -- And Why So Few People Get the Flu During The Summer

2009-02-28T15:04:00.003-06:00

*Click Here To Watch This Video and to know how to prevent yourself from getting the flu naturally!

Close to 150 million doses of flu vaccine have been produced this year, which is the highest number ever available. Yet, the chances of a flu shot being effective in any given year are about as high as your chances of pulling a needle from a haystack. This is because flu shots only protect against certain strains of the flu virus. These strains mutate rapidly, and scientists can only make educated guesses about which strains will be most prevalent this year.

As you might suspect, often they are way off base. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states:

“In some years when vaccine and circulating strains were not well-matched, no vaccine effectiveness can be demonstrated in some studies, even in healthy adults. It is not possible in advance of the influenza season to predict how well the vaccine and circulating strains will be matched, and how that match may affect the degree of vaccine effectiveness.”

This does not bode well for the millions of Americans who are being lulled into a false sense of security that getting a flu shot is all they need to do to prevent the flu.

Flu Shots’ Poor Rates of Effectiveness:

It really amazes me how effective the drug companies have been at manipulating the culture to actually let them sell these toxic, ineffective and expensive options in pharmacies, airports, college campuses, grocery stores and countless other outlets.

The truth is that:

• Giving young children flu shots appeared to have no impact on flu-related doctor visits or hospitalizations during two recent flu seasons, according to a study published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

• The flu vaccine is no more effective for children than a placebo, according to a large-scale, systematic review of 51 studies, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

• No studies have conclusively proven that flu shots prevent flu-related deaths among the elderly.

• A study published in the Lancet just found that influenza vaccination was NOT associated with a reduced risk of pneumonia in older people. Why is this important? Because 35,000 of the 36,000 “flu” deaths the government claims happen each year are actually caused by diseases like pneumonia, and NOT the flu.

• Research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine also confirms that there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza and pneumonia, despite the fact that vaccination coverage among the elderly has increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now.

I can’t imagine anyone signing up to receive this vaccine even if they were paid to do it, yet tens of millions are conned into thinking money spent on this shot is worthwhile! If people only understood the facts, I doubt many would rationally decide to receive this shot.

Sadly, throwing away the money spent on the flu vaccine is the least of your worries, should you decide to get a flu shot.

What Exactly is in a Flu Shot?

Before you decide to get vaccinated, it would serve you well to find out.

According to Dr. Donald Miller, MD, two-thirds of this year’s flu vaccines contain 25 micrograms of thimerosal. Thimerosal is 49 percent mercury by weight.

Each dose of these flu vaccines contains more than 250 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety limit for mercury.

By now, most people are well aware that children and fetuses are most at risk of damage from this neurotoxin, as their brains are still developing. Yet the CDC still recommends that children over 6 months, and pregnant women, receive the flu vaccine each year. This is just inexcusable.

In addition to mercury, flu vaccines also contain other hazardous ingredients like:

• Formaldehyde -- a known cancer-causing agent
• Aluminum -- a neurotoxin that has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease
• Triton X-100 -- a detergent
• Phenol (carbolic acid)
• Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)
• Various antibiotics: neomycin, streptomycin, gentamicin -- which can cause allergic reactions in some people

How many people do you think would knowingly sit down and allow themselves, or their children, to be injected with:

• Formaldehyde?

• Aluminum?

• Mercury?

• Antifreeze?

It’s time word got out that if you got a flu shot, you did exactly that. And for what? Even if you get a flu shot, you can still get the flu, or flu-like symptoms, because it’s anyone’s guess which flu viruses will be in your area.

The powers that be have done an excellent job of instilling fear into the population so they believe that they must get a shot to stay healthy, but the simple reality is it’s doing you and your family more harm than good.

Exercise only takes 3 minutes!

2009-02-10T10:26:00.003-06:00

Surge Training, or Burst Training, as we refer to and teach in Maximized Living, has finally made the medical research. It's about time.

This article, "Brief but Intense Exercise May Thwart Diabetes," describes a study that showed doing brief 3 minute high-intense exercises significantly improves measures dealing w/ Diabetes.

Over the course of 2 weeks, the participants completed 6 sessions of supervised high-intensity interval training. Each session consisted of four-to-six 30-second sprints on a stationary bicycle.

Type-2 Diabetes is completely reversible! Sadly, the medical profession doesn't typically 'advertise' it this way. The RX drug ads on TV aim more to help you 'live' with diabetes well. That is ethically wrong and pretty much a big middle finger to everybody purchasing their drugs. So, what does this exercise look like...

Monday, Wednesday, Friday --
20 seconds sprints on stat. bike/ or running in place

20 sec. rest

20 seconds sprints on stat. bike/ or running in place

20 sec. rest

20 seconds sprints on stat. bike/ or running in place

--> and repeat 1 time. That's it. You can also replace any exercise you want to, as long as you are doing it INTENSELY! Squat thrusts, push ups, crunches, whatever!

'Rock The Casaba' meets Chiropractic!

2009-01-13T09:12:00.003-06:00

Punk Rocker Moves from Successful Musician to Chiropractic Career

Terry Chimes was a founding member of the 70's hit punk rock group, The Clash. This band was famous for hit songs such as "Rock the Casaba". Years later Chimes now rocks spines as a Doctor of Chiropractic in London. An article on his journey to a career in chiropractic appeared in the December 27, 2008 issue of the United Kingdom publication The Times Online. (Image right of Chimes from Fiona McWilliams in Times article)

The Times Online article noted that Chimes background was that he came from a family of musicians. However, even at an early age he had different ideas. "As a child I was obsessed with nature and it was expected that I'd become a doctor or a vet,” says Chimes, “and then at 16, I discovered girls and realized that to attract them I needed to be a footballer or a musician.”

Chimes joined the band the Clash at 19 years of age. After leaving the Clash he would later play with Hanoi Rocks, Billy Idol and Black Sabbath, before training to be a chiropractor and acupuncturist in the mid-1980s. During his years of performing, he began to realize that there was a better way to health. He commented in the Times article, "the natural way of healing was far better than pumping people full of medicines.” He continued, "Most people go one way or the other - healthy or berserk,” Chimes maintains. “There's no middle line; I knew lots of people who died, including Sid Vicious, but was never really into the self-destruction thing myself.”

Many of the people Dr. Chimes now sees in his clinic are musicians themselves. He feels that he may understand their situation better. "Perhaps there's a feeling that I understand something of their condition. Most people involved in healing have experienced damage in some way, as have many musicians."

You Gotta Love Babies

2008-12-23T16:21:00.000-06:00

Very good piece of inspiration...

2008-12-20T22:41:00.003-06:00

glumbert - Inspirational No-Limbed Man

I want to be this man's Chiropractor! Very cool.

A Unique Advent Calendar

2008-12-19T12:57:00.002-06:00

This is the same NASA technology utilized by Louie Giglio for the Indescribable Tour (if you haven't seen it, click here).

Merry Christmas. Click Here For Calendar.

Peace.

"Baby, You're Home!"

2008-12-17T21:31:00.004-06:00

A well presented article in the New York Times newspaper, on the rise of home-births, especially in New York City, due in part to Ricki Lake's documentary, The Business of Being Born (available on Netflix), which highlights very well both the realities of being born at home and the hospital. It's a must see, even for all you guys out there, you gotta see this stuff, you owe it to your woman, and yourself.

Also, along similar lines, research out of Sydney, Australia, from the Mother & Child Health Research (MCHR) of La Trobe University, states that inducing labor (or labour, if you're an Aussie) in uncomplicated pregnancies can be risky for both mom and baby. Having labor induced (artificially speeding up uterine contractions w/ the use of drugs) leads to the following risks...

The risk of haemorrhage following induced labour was increased by 17 percent, of an instrumental delivery by 20-70 percent, of nursery care for the infant by 24 percent and active resuscitation by 15-100 percent, depending on the method of induction, said a La Trobe release.

The risk of a caesarean was between two and four times more likely after induction.

...and the researcher "believes that many of the labours were induced for reasons of convenience rather than for any medical indications..."

Our mothers and babies are worth more than what is typically offered to them in the current medicalized system of childbirth. We need to learn, to study, and to demand and choose something better for them.

Peace. -nW

Brett Dennen - Ain't No Reason (Official Single Video)

2008-12-15T22:57:00.001-06:00

One of my new favorites, and this song gets me thinking about this Advent season, w/ our thoughts on the 'other' and what it means to me, to you and to us. Great song. He's coming to Lawrence, KS, in March, who wants to go w/ me? It's already on my calendar.

-nW

5 Dangerous Things to Let Your Kids Do

2008-12-11T19:11:00.001-06:00

Enjoy!

Prominent Physician Advises Against Flu Shots

2008-12-10T08:26:00.004-06:00

Dr. Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington, recommends avoiding the flu shot and taking vitamin D instead. According to Dr. Miller, “Seventy percent of doctors do not get a flu shot.”

Health officials say that every winter 36,000 people will die from it. But the National Vital Statistics Reports compiled by the CDC show that only 1,138 deaths a year occur due to influenza alone -- more than 34,000 of the “36,000″ flu deaths are actually pneumonic and cardiovascular deaths.

There is also a lack of evidence that young children benefit from flu shots. In fact, a systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo. But there is also a risk of harm from the flu vaccine itself, particularly from the mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde it contains.

Dr. Miller also has opinions about the vaccine schedule for kids... see it here

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"The Seriousness of Highschool..."

2008-12-07T17:40:00.001-06:00

one tree hill (family guy) @ Yahoo! Video

This is a good example of what makes Family Guy a very good show.

Max's Story

2008-11-28T20:56:00.001-06:00

Please check out this video about Max's recovery... and it has good music too...

Church Marketing... and Starbucks?

2008-11-28T15:07:00.003-06:00

Check out this video - - "What If Starbucks Marketed Like a Church" --

What a good representation of the stupid things that Christians (...can I say American Evangelicals!) have done for so long that make people feel isolated, different and not really welcome... When did these things seem like a good idea?

Gulf War Syndrome Finally Tied to Toxic Chemicals!

2008-11-18T11:57:00.004-06:00

Key statements from an article in the Washington Post,

"It is very clear that Gulf War illness is a real condition that was not caused by combat stress or other psychological factors," said Lea Steele, scientific director of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses

"Speculation about the causes of Gulf War illness has included exposure to depleted uranium munitions, vaccines, nerve agents and oil well fires."

"When you put all the evidence together there are two chemicals that jump out as the main causes," she said. One is a drug called pyridostigmine bromide, which is a cholinesterase inhibitor that was given to the troops to protect them against nerve gas.

"It turns out that people who took those pills have a higher rate of Gulf War illness," Steele said. "And people who took more pills have even higher rates of Gulf War illness."

In addition, soldiers were exposed to pesticides that were also cholinesterase inhibitors, Steele said. "The strongest evidence points to pyridostigmine bromide and pesticides as causal factors," she said. "This type of illness has not been seen after other wars."

::::: Thoughts From Nick ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It's relieving to see that they have finally addressed this problem that has done so much damage to the lives of over 175,000 soldiers and their families. The article also briefly mentions the anthrax vaccine which they say wasn't a likely causal agent, however, the vaccine issue is a very serious one, due to the # of vaccines they administer to the soldiers, who have no ability to opt out, regardless of their concern - - basically there's a 100% vaccine rate. I don't have any experience in military stuff, but i am looking forward to offering chiropractic care to those men and women who are serving, and providing them w/ much needed care that is still very scarce in the VA healthcare programs.

RX Drugs 4th Leading Cause of Death in US

2008-11-12T08:36:00.003-06:00

It's no joke. Properly administered and properly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs are the 4th leading cause of death in the US, according to the FDA -- click Here for the article...

Here's a breakdown...

-- that's 106,000 deaths per year. When illegal drugs kill only about 10,000 people each year, you know this is a problem.

-- from January-to-March this year, there were almost 21,000 reports of serious drug reactions to the FDA, and 4,800 deaths - - 4,800 People died in 3 months due to correctly prescribed drugs!

We are in the middle of a huge paradigm change in the US. People are realizing the deadly affect of our medically-minded 'health'-care system (or sick-care system, if you prefer). Our current system is based on the premise of irradicating and treating disease. So, if you do not have a disease, or yet to have one, then the system can do nothing for you. It cannot by principle help you to be 'healthier,' cause all they do is treat disease. The American Cancer Society and others use the words "prevention" and "cure" in much of their literature, when what they are talking about is 'screening' for cancer (mammography, etc...). Is that insane? How is screening preventative or curing? For you to detect cancer in your body, it's already been there growing for years! Well, this makes perfect since if the system is based solely on treating disease, and not about BEING HEALTHY. Perhaps there should be significant emphasis on eating a healthy diet, avoiding unnatural foods, chemicals, etc... but I guess there really isn't any money in that industry, at least not if you're a doctor or drug company! May we be apart of the solution to this system! Health to you!

Advertising Drugs - Illegal Everywhere but US & New Zealand

2008-11-07T12:23:00.003-06:00

This is an interesting word on Pharm companies and advertising - and even their influence into the presidential elections... Good short video...
......Click Here

What's really causing the problems?

2008-11-05T11:53:00.003-06:00

Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy have been in the spotlight lately for the "Green Our Vaccines" campaign, highlighting the problems w/ the toxic ingredients in vaccines. Many people I've spoken with don't realize that the danger of vaccines is mostly related to the chemical ingredients added to the actual dead virus or whatever (even despite the direct injection into the blood stream instead of through a natural entrance into the body).

Here is an article from the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons regarding the known toxin, mercury.

Thimerosal, which is approximately 50% mercury, was widely used in childhood vaccines. A 2-phase study evaluated levels of mercury to which children were exposed through thimerosal-containing vaccines, such as the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular-pertussis and the diphtheria-tetanus-whole-cell-pertussis vaccines, compared with those who received thimerosal-free diphtheria-tetanus-acellular-pertussis vaccines. The data showed that the children vaccinated with the thimerosal-containing vaccines had higher rates of speech disorders, autism and heart arrest overall, and "the relative risk of each of these disorders correlated with increasing doses of mercury contained in the childhood vaccines." The researchers have said that their data are consistent with the U.S. Department of Education's recent report on the prevalence of childhood diseases among school-aged children. The researchers stated that this report showed that rates of autism and speech disorders in children rose as the levels of mercury in vaccines increased, while showing no correlation between mercury exposure and other disorders such as deafness, blindness, or orthopedic impairment. These researchers reviewing the CDC's Phase 1 thimerosal Vaccine Safety Datalink study found a correlation between increasing mercury levels in vaccines and neurologic disorders, autism, speech disorders and attention deficit disorders. The researchers stated, "A causal relationship between thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and neurodevelopment disorders and heart disease appears to be confirmed." The researchers further stated, "It is to be hoped that complete removal of thimerosal from all childhood vaccines will help to stem the tragic, apparently iatrogenic epidemic of autism and speech disorders that the United States is now facing." ---- "Study: Thimerosal/Autism Link 'Seems to be Confirmed,'" Autism Res Rev Int, 2003;17(1);1-2 / J Am Physicians Surgeons, Spring 2003;8(1):6-11.

Also, mercury is not the only toxic chemical still found in vaccines (Yes, although they say it's no longer included, there still are 'trace' amounts that they consider negligible, Click here for article). Formaldehyde, Aluminum, Antifreeze, and sulfate and phosphate compounds, just to name a few from a long list, are all KNOWN TOXINS TO OUR BODY. These must be considered when our infants are scheduled to have at least a dozen vaccines before the age of TWO.

-nW

Does School Kill Creativity?

2008-11-05T11:46:00.004-06:00

Check out this short video from TED.com about Education and Creativity by Sir Ken Robinson. It is both humorous and enlightening. Click Here!

"...there is not a Sin I won't commit this day..."

2008-11-05T11:42:00.002-06:00

A good prayer from www.sacredspace.ie yesterday...

"Lord, I want to be serious in following you, but I do not trust myself. I pray with Philip Neri, 'Lord, beware of this _________ (insert your name here) or he will betray you. Lay your Hand upon my head, for without you there is not a sin I may not commit this day.'"

Exercise Makes Your Brain Grow!

2008-10-21T22:07:00.002-05:00

Please take a look at this video-lecture from "Authors@Google" out in California. Dr. John Ratey, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, presents very compelling and solid research regarding what exercise does to the brain...even describes it as 'fertilizer for the brain!' Check it out...

Why Mandating the Flu Vaccine is a Bad Idea - THERE'S NO GOOD RESEARCH!

2008-10-18T10:07:00.004-05:00

Here is an article from the British Medical Journal discussing the influenza vaccine. How can a state like New Jersey make the Flu vaccine mandatory w/ medical research and information this blatantly clear? Evidence VS. Policy... hmmm?

::::::

I was thinking about how the CDC says that "the best way to prevent the flu is by getting vaccinated." All I can think about is the absurdity of a statement like that. So, if that is true, then it seems like the following are true as well...

...the best way to keep our lawns 'looking healthy' is to just paint them green;

...the best way to keep germs away from us is to live in a bubble;

...the best way to prevent our kids from acting badly is to follow them around all the time;

...the best way to prevent forest fires is to cover all the trees in a flame-retardant chemical;

...the best way to prevent men from wanting to have sexual relations w/ young girls is to iron (flatten out) her breasts, so men will be less interested... [this is currently happening in parts of the world, Africa, etc.]

For a more complete look at the ridiculous-ness of these types of statements, please watch a short video about the town of "Allopath" - a farce on the allopathic model of health care.

"I'm no doctor (yet), BUT IT SEEMS that..." by being healthy, our bodies can do a better job of preventing a multi-day experience w/ the flu virus. I've not had it in nearly a decade, and working at QT, and exchanging dirty bills and contacting hundreds of peoples dirty hands, I'm sure to have come across it many a times. How is that possible, cause I've never had a Flu Vaccine? Yet, it still SEEMS to be the best way. I guess for me, I'll avoid the mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde, and chicken embryo being injected into my body... at least while I have the right to decide.
- -

More Current Vaccine News

2008-10-13T12:00:00.006-05:00

Yesterday morning, New Jersey Moms Louise Kuo Habakus and Claudine Liss of the New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice appeared on Fox News (Fox & Friends) Click Here for Video 1 to talk about the vaccine freedom rally next Thursday (October 16) in Trenton in support of conscientious belief exemption legislation giving New Jersey parents the legal right to follow their conscience when making vaccine choices for their children. After the show, Louise and Claudine were invited back for an informal, spirited discussion Click Here for Video 2 about the epidemic of chronic disease and disability and the recent flu vaccine mandate instituted in New Jersey for all children.

(check out the videos, only a few minutes, and really good!)

Smart, sincere, passionate, and articulate, these two Moms are what the vaccine safety and informed consent movement is about and their call for freedom of choice echoes the one that has been made by parents of vaccine injured children for nearly three decades. For more information about how to stand with Louise, Claudine, Larry Palevsky, M.D., me and more than 500 parents registered to rally in Trenton next Thursday and make your voice heard for vaccine freedom, contact the NJ Coalition for Vaccination Choice at www.njvaccinationchoice.org

On Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a unanimous appeals court ruling that opened the door for families of vaccine injured children to sue vaccine manufacturers for vaccine design defects that lead to injury and death. The next day a Missouri Appeals Court upheld an $8.5 million judgment against American Cyanamid for injuries suffered by a man who contracted vaccine strain polio from a live oral polio vaccination as a child. Both civil court decisions rightly hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for failing to appropriately test and improve vaccines they sell to the public so that health risks from using the product can be eliminated or at least significantly reduced.

When Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which was historic societal acknowledgment that vaccines can injure and kill and that the vaccine injured should be compensated even as vaccine availability should be protected, it was clear in both the legislative history and clarifying language accompanying the Act's passage that Congress never intended to give blanket, exclusive immunity to drug companies marketing vaccines for public use. Until this week, too many federal judges have misinterpreted the spirit and intent of the 1986 law. Hopefully, the Georgia decision will ultimately give parents of vaccine injured children the legal ability to hold drug companies accountable in a civil court of law for failing to reduce the reactivity of their products.

Whether holding the pharmaceutical industry accountable in the judicial system or petitioning legislators to allow Americans to follow their conscience and exercise informed consent to medical risk taking, vaccine educated citizens in America are standing up for their civil rights in larger numbers. It is a good sign, a beacon of hope that the business of saving our children from a lifetime of chronic illness and disability has become a priority for more than a small minority of citizens. Saving our children is everyone's business and standing up for freedom of speech and conscience is the first order of business in a democratic society.

'Experts Conclude Pfizer Manipulated Studies'

2008-10-11T12:07:00.002-05:00

From an article in the NY Times, Oct. 8, '08 - - "The drug maker Pfizer earlier this decade manipulated the publication of scientific studies to bolster the use of its epilepsy drug Neurontin for other disorders, while suppressing research that did not support those uses, according to experts who reviewed thousands of company documents for plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the company. Click Here for entire NY Times article - - -

This is such an important issue for all of us to consider. The very companies making these drugs, from epilepsy drugs to childrens vaccines, are the ones doing most of the 'research' to get these drugs approved and into the bodies of millions of people. In this case, there wasn't enough people w/ epilepsy to turn a profit off of their drug, Neurontin, so they made up data to suggest it would be good for other conditions.
::
I would like to suggest that the biggest issue here for us to consider, is the influence these companies are having on the policies regarding vaccine scheduling and administration. In the past decade alone, the # of required vaccines for kids has skyrocketed, and w/ increasing marketing efforts by vaccine makers... see the Gardasil post for an example. We need to question the practices that are currently being pushed on our doctors and pediatricians. We need to question the drugs that are being forced into our children every day. Is it unreasonable to ask why our newborns are being vaccinated for Hep.B, which is a sexually transmitted disease? Is it unreasonable to think that a newborn's body is going to be affected somehow by that drug, which contains formaldehyde, aluminum sulfate, soy protein, etc...?
::
There are many medical doctors that disagree w/ the current practices regarding vaccinations. They suggest that if you are going to vaccinate, then choose a schedule that is less invasive to your child. One article I posted recently stated that you shouldn't start vaccines until the child is 2 years old, to give his/her body time to develop naturally, w/out all the chemicals (and yes, they can do that safely...). Please take the time to read, to ask, and to discuss. These issues are serious and timely. I believe that health doesn't come from drugs, or from some outside source. Health comes from within each of us, as the expression of a body that is in balance, in homeostasis.

Yes. High Fructose Corn Syrup is bad for you...But, the TV commercial said it was good?!

2008-09-24T10:09:00.004-05:00

Have you all noticed the new commercials for High Fructose Corn Syrup on tv? They are part of a new PR campaign by the Corn Refiners Association combating the public's understanding of the truth about HFCS. Yes, it is true, it is not good for us. There is a plethora of good research linking it to the epidemics of obesity, Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, etc... Please see the following link for more info...

Health Insights Today Newsletter

2008-09-10T11:50:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to a website/newsletter that I just discovered our college is producing. In the latest newsletter, there are several interviews with leading MD/psychologists about depression, and a natural approach to understanding it. There is also an extensive section on current health news ['Health News'] with an impressive amount of information. It is similar to Mercola.com, but I think even easier to navigate. Hope you find something interesting...

ADHD...and your Neck?

2008-07-04T13:36:00.003-05:00

While doing research on ADHD (attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder) I came upon this study of a 5-yr.old boy who was diagnosed w/ ADHD and was treated w/ CBP chiropractic adjustments. The boy had a cervical kyphosis (loss of normal neck curve, or a 'straight neck'), and had a history of neck trauma at birth. He had been treated unsuccessfully by a pediatrician with methylphenidate (Ritalin), Adderall, and Haldol for 3 years. After 8 weeks of chiropractic care, the boy's cervical curve had returned to normal, and there was such a reduction in ADHD symptoms, that he was taken off the medication, and no longer diagnosed w/ ADHD.

See the entire article here

Although this is only a single case, it is so important to make this connection between function and structure. Due to the location of the brainstem in connection w/ the upper cervical spine, it is clear that if you have impaired structure (in this case the loss of normal curvature -- changing the anatomy of the structures around the spinal cord), then an altered function will be expected. No, chiropractic care won't cure ADHD, but it treats the body, which in turn regulates itself, through the various systems (nervous, endocrine, immune, gastro-intestinal, etc...) and creates homeostasis, or balance. This is the true expression of health...not just covering up symptoms w/ a drug. ** and another thing, how do you diagnose a 2-yr old with ADHD? Are you serious?

Got Neck Pain, then put down the drugs!

2008-07-04T12:25:00.002-05:00

Not that it's any new great discovery, it's just nice to see the research finally supporting it...

In a study conducted by the International Neck Pain Task Force of the Bone and Joint Decade (BJD) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and reported in the journal SPINE (1/18/08)... "This study validates that interventions such as spinal manipulation or spinal adjusting that promote regaining function and a return-to-work are more beneficial than usual care, sham or alternative interventions..."

Click here to read more...

Gardasil Controversy

2008-05-09T08:43:00.004-05:00

Here are 2 CBS news report videos regarding important safety and efficacy issues regarding the vaccine that is supposed to help prevent HPV/Cervical cancer.

Interview w/ Dr. Diane Harper, one of worlds top experts on HPV, at Dartmouth

Interview w/ Bell Family - daughter has a paralyzed leg after receiving Gardasil and Tetanis shots, yet doctors refuse to acknowledge possible adverse reaction from vaccines

::

These are but a few of the many 'red flags' that are emerging w/ regard to the HPV vaccine, which had the fastest attempt in history to push for a new vaccine to become mandatory. We need to think, and be patient, and to think even more about the realities behind these current issues.

Ben Stein interview this morning...

2008-04-07T10:41:00.003-05:00

If you have another few minutes, listen to this interview from Focus on the Family w/ Ben Stein. Despite being a very well known political and tv personality, he is also a passionate proponent of pro-life and pro-intelligence. Overall, a very good interview... Click Here...

Can your kids be harmed by too many vaccines?

2008-04-03T11:04:00.005-05:00

Check out the article entitled "The Danger of Excessive Vaccines during Brain Development," by Russell Blaylock, MD.

Also, here are some comments from Dr. Joseph Mercola, DO., on this article.

"First, I’d like to thank Dr. Russell Blaylock for sharing his excellent writings on this vital issue. If you missed his last article How Vaccines Can Damage Your Brain, where he explains how vaccines exacerbate depression and more serious neurodegenerative diseases in people over 50, I highly recommend reading it now as well.

The issue of vaccination has been a controversial topic for many years. It remains one of the bedrocks of "prevention" in conventional medicine, despite the overwhelming evidence showing that vaccinations at best do not work, and at worst can cause serious health problems.

And yet, anyone who opposes them is viewed as a dangerous quack and a threat to public health. I understand this because that was precisely the view I had when I graduated medical school. However, after more than two decades of practice where I encountered hundreds of vaccine casualties -- which spurred me to review the evidence through a more critical lens -- I changed my mind-set entirely.

There may be a slight glimmer of hope that this dangerous tide will eventually change, however. The U.S. government recently came to the unprecedented conclusion that childhood vaccines did contribute to the onset of autism in 9-year-old Hannah Poling. According to U.S. Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation, the shots "significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder" and resulted in a brain disorder "with features of autism spectrum disorder."

Poling was one of three test cases alleging the vaccine preservative thimerosal caused autism. So even though federal officials keep insisting there is no link between autism and vaccines, this concession says otherwise, and may influence the outcome of the remaining 4,900 cases pending review by the “Vaccine Court.”

The fact that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out more than $1.5 billion to families and children who have been injured or killed by vaccines also speaks volumes about the supposed “safety” record of vaccines…

The Insanity of the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule

I published Dr. Donald Miller's excellent article, A User-Friendly Vaccination Schedule in 2004. At that time, 12 different vaccines were given to children before they reached the age of two.

As of 2008, the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that number has risen to 14 in the first 24 months, plus the meningococcal vaccine, which is to be administered between the age of two and six.

Infants and toddlers aged 0 to 6 years of age are now inoculated against the following:

Hepatitis B, Rotavirus, Hepatitis A, Measles,
Diphtheria, Mumps, Tetanus (lockjaw),
Rubella (German measles), Pertussis (whooping cough),
Varicella (chickenpox), Polio, Meningococcal,
Pneumococcal infections, Influenza (yearly flu shots),
Hemophilus influenzae type b infections

By the time your child starts school he or she will have received more than 36 injections, including four doses each of vaccines for Hemophilus influenzae type b infections, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis -- all of them given during the first 12 months of life.

And now consider this: one vaccine injected into a 13-pound, two-month old infant is equivalent to 10 doses of the same in a 130-pound adult. Where is the common sense in these guidelines?

Would any adult concede to being injected with 360 doses of vaccines within a couple of years’ span; equal to one injection every other day for two years?

Public health officials have NEVER proven that it is indeed safe to inject this number and volume of vaccines into infants. What's more, they cannot explain why, concurrent with an increasing number of vaccinations, there has been an explosion of neurological and immune system disorders in American children.

Is There a More Sensible Vaccination Schedule?
Dr. Donald Miller is a cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle and a member of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. His more sensible vaccination schedule, which I published back in 2004, is worthy of being revisited at this time.

Many are both scared and confused as they try to make healthier choices for their children, and his guidelines may help you devise a more appropriate vaccination plan for your child – a schedule that takes the best interests of your child into consideration rather than what biased government planners cite as being best for society. His is a far better approach than the "one-size-fits-all" dogma foisted on Americans by the CDC panel.

And, as Dr. Blaylock describes so vividly in this article, there’s plenty of information and knowledge in neuroimmunology (the study of how the brain’s immune system works) that raises serious questions about the wisdom of injecting vaccines in children less than 2 years of age.

A Child’s Best Time Table
Your brain has its own specialized immune system, separate from that of the rest of your body. When you are vaccinated, specialized immune cells in your brain, the microglia, become activated. Multiple vaccinations spaced close together over-stimulate the microglia, causing them to release a variety of toxic elements -- cytokines, chemokines, excitotoxins, proteases, complement, free radicals -- that damage brain cells and their synaptic connections.

The damage caused by these toxic substances is what both Dr. Miller and Dr. Blaylock refer to as "bystander injury."

In humans, the most rapid period of brain development begins in the third trimester and continues over the first two years. (By then, brain development is 80 percent complete.)

From a risk-benefit perspective, there is little doubt that the risk of neurological and autoimmune diseases from vaccinations at this stage far outweigh the benefits of avoiding the childhood infections that they (supposedly) prevent. (One exception is the hepatitis B vaccine, IF the mother tests positive for hepatitis B.)

As a more sensible, “user-friendly” vaccination schedule, Dr. Miller advises the following:

No vaccinations until your child is two years old.
No vaccines that contain thimerosal (mercury).
No live virus vaccines.
The following vaccines should be given one at a time (not as a combination vaccine), every six months, beginning at age 2:
Pertussis (acellular, not whole cell)
Diphtheria
Tetanus
Polio (the Salk vaccine, cultured in human cells)
And that would be pretty much it as far as vaccinations. Your pediatrician will not like this schedule, but if you have reviewed the evidence and still feel your child should be inoculated to a certain degree, this is a far safer alternative to the standard vaccination schedule.

But please, please do review the research and don’t just vaccinate your child simply because your doctor says you “have to.”

Don’t Forget About VAERS
Another thing most people are unaware of is that YOU can report vaccine side effects to VAERS.

VAERS is a post-marketing safety surveillance program that collects information about adverse events that occur after the administration of vaccines. They accept reports from both concerned individuals and organizations.

Unfortunately, the system is completely voluntary, and most doctors will never report side effects, even if you point them out. A good case in point is the large discrepancy between American reports of side effects of Tamiflu, compared to Japan’s more stringent reporting rules.

Black Liberation Theology

2008-03-31T18:59:00.002-05:00

Since it's been in the news due to the fighting between the democratic candidates, there was an interview today on NPR w/ the man who actually started BLT. Up until today, I had my reservations about 'what I thought' BLT probably meant, and was pleasantly surprised by what I heard by Rev. James Cone. Terry Gross interviewed another man immediately after Cone, and I appreciated some of his education about the different realities of the black church. He even named 5 popular black preachers who preach a success driven gospel, and are often mis-representing the black church as a whole (that is how I understood what he said). If you have about 13 minutes, give a listen.

"Pregnant in America" Video Trailer

2008-03-18T12:51:00.001-05:00

Another great resource for looking into the issues regarding childbirth in the US hospital system. I'm hoping to get this full video and have a showing here in KC. I'm very much looking forward to it's release.

Enjoy.

a little boycotting, anyone?

2008-03-18T12:27:00.004-05:00

I think that I'm going to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Not that it's any new news for me [regarding China's complete disregard for human rights], but I just read some more news out of the March 24 Time Magazine.
Here's a link to a google search for Boycotting the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Happy Protesting!

-nW

Vaccines and Immune Suppression

2008-02-15T10:35:00.002-06:00

A very good article on vaccines and the reality behind how they affect our bodies, and how our bodies respond to them. Click below.

"Vaccines and Immune Suppression"

Books on Childbirth :: Series on all things Birth

2008-01-15T12:21:00.000-06:00

The following is a list of books - - a must read - - for those entering into childbirth.

"The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" by Henci Goer.
This book is a little more elite as far as content & comprehension. Not many moms find this one, but it is a gem. "...Her book helps the reader contrast various birth options available today and shows how we can avoid unnecessary interventions in birth. Supported by current evidence-based research and complete with literature summaries, this book is an invaluable tool for expectant parents who are in the process of making birth choices and plans..." (I found this one on www.birthworks.com/store for only $14.95)

"Gentle Birth Choices" by Barbara Harper.
Nice introduction to thinking about the baby's journey & very mainstream. I've met Barbara - she's a nurse practitioner out on the West Coast & has done some amazing things.

"The Complete Book of Pregnancy & Childbirth" by Sheila Kitzinger.
Every thing this woman pens is great. Most of her titles can be found in the library system.

"Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" by Susan McCutcheon.
You know how fond I am of the Bradley Method of childbirth as I believe it is
the only approach to prepared childbirth that really gives families tools to get through labor graciously & without medicating their baby unnecessarily. So, if a family cannot attend REAL Bradley classes, then this book embodies all of the concepts. And it touches on Dr. Brewer's approach to nutrition for pregnancy. His website is www.blueribbonbaby.org & there is a list of the books that he & his wife authored as well as basic info about his work. The work he did in his own OB practice changed (& continues to change) the outcomes of so many pregnancies.

"The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" by the La Leche League.
This is the definitive book on breast feeding basics. New families always think, "Breastfeeding is natural, no big deal." Well, while the process is natural, it's a very big deal & we live in a culture where mostly the ART of breastfeeding has been lost due to a couple of generations of not doing it.

"The Amazing Newborn" by Marshall & Phyllis Klaus.
This book is great to read that last month of your pregnancy. And it has the sweetest pictures.

These books represent different categories of pregnancy reading. Some are available at Birthworks.com/store, but check the library system first. It's great to save money!

What's In A Flu Shot

2007-12-15T21:12:00.001-06:00

Great video... and so true!

Antoine Dufour - Trilogie Acoustic Guitar - www.candyrat.com

2007-12-15T21:09:00.001-06:00

Another sweet tune...

"AirTap" by Eric Mongrain

2007-12-06T22:15:00.001-06:00

If Jesus played guitar, i'm sure he'd play like this! Ha!

Series Post: My interest in all things Birth

2007-12-06T16:49:00.000-06:00

I found this on the FDA's website (US Food & Drug Administration):

FDA Cautions Against Ultrasound 'Keepsake' Images

By Carol Rados

It's risky business taking pictures of unborn babies when there's no medical need to do so. That's the word from the Food and Drug Administration, which is concerned about companies trying to turn an important medical procedure into a prenatal portrait tool.

Facilities with captivating names such as Fetal Fotos, Peek-a-Boo, Womb with a View, and Baby Insight are popping up in strip malls and shopping centers all over the country. And they're promoting "keepsake videos" that use the latest ultrasound technology to produce high-resolution three-dimensional and four-dimensional (moving) images showing the surface anatomy of babies developing in the womb. The lure of this burgeoning industry is that parents-to-be get to see characteristics like facial features, hair, and even the baby's sex, and often they can count fingers and toes before their baby is born. Some women even have videos made at various stages of their baby's growth. And the videos are often being marketed as a prized addition to collections of childhood memorabilia.

As compelling as these sneak previews may be, the FDA is warning women about the potential hazards of getting keepsake videos. The agency also is warning companies against creating them for entertainment purposes. While ultrasound has been around for many years, expectant women and their families need to know that the long-term effects of repeated ultrasound exposures on the fetus are not fully known. In light of all that remains unknown, having a prenatal ultrasound for non-medical reasons is not a good idea. Read the rest of the article...

And this from the FDA, who say just about everything controversial is safe!

-nW

From one to another...

2007-08-02T22:17:00.000-05:00

I finished reading the last Harry Potter book the other day, and man did it make me feel like a little kid. It was great. The last hundred pages keep me so engaged, I could hardly stay in the same place for more than a few minutes... Weeeeee!

Anywho, now that I've finished my magical adventure, I started another book tonight, The Intimate Merton, by Thomas Merton. It's a collection of writings from his journals. I've yet to get through the intro but I wanted to copy down something that the editors just quoted...

"In his desire to master everything by writing about it, Merton learned that God was mastering him. With his sins always before him, he still hoped in the promise of God's mercy. Even on the bleakest nights, when his mouth turned mute and his heart turned to stone, his ears were always awake in the dark to Love's voice, which bid him welcome."

<><> <><> <><> <><><>

That quote strikes something deep down w/in me. Even in my failings, in my sin, my ignoring of God, there's always a part of me secretly longing for Him, longing for his rescue of my soul. And as he says of Love's voice, it is always sweet and welcoming. Why did I ever leave?

Blessings,

nick

sharing a friend's post...

2007-05-27T00:15:00.000-05:00

Forced to Drink the Kool-Aid

"...I feel compelled to write this week because I am troubled by a story unfolding in Virginia. A sixteen-year-old with Hodgkins Lymphoma made a decision with his family that he didn’t want anymore chemotherapy for his condition. He made his decision after undergoing the recommended treatment. He found chemotherapy to be an assault on his body — an assault he didn’t want to experience again. He also wanted to avoid radiation as it has significant side effects. Having tried the conventional medical approach for his condition, when he turned up with active cancer again, he wanted to try something else. His parents agreed that if that’s what he wanted, that’s what they’d do.

Unfortunately, the state doesn’t believe that this young man, whose name is Abraham Cherrix, and his family have the right to make such a decision. Someone turned the family in for neglect, citing the parents’ willingness to allow Abraham to choose an alternative form of care (diet and herbal supplements) for his cancer. The judge has now agreed and Abraham is to report to the hospital with his parents who are to sign their legal consent for him to undergo the treatment recommended by the doctors. The parents are obviously appealing to a higher court...but this is frightening nonetheless.

Why? Because anyone who knows about health care, and especially cancer care, knows that the treatments are often terrible — they produce both short and long-term side effects that impact quality of life. Additionally, there is no guarantee that even if the patient does every single thing that the doctor recommends s/he won’t turn up with cancer again. I’m not suggesting that there is more scientific support for the approach Abraham and his parents have chosen than for conventional medical approaches. I’m suggesting that when the options for treatment are so terrible, so invasive, and the outcome is uncertain, it seems wildly inappropriate for the government to tell a family what it must do...These parents are neglectful for listening to their son’s pain and honoring his own wishes? These parents are neglectful for choosing something other than the treatment that didn’t work the first time? How many times will the state require this young man to be poisoned? (Make no mistake, chemotherapy kills everything — no distinguishing between the good and the bad.)

What is the state’s interest and why does it override that of the young man and his family? I am reminded of Stanley Hauerwas’ presentation at a conference I attended a few years ago. It was called “Why We Are Afraid to Die in America.” Hauerwas argued that our approach to health care in the United States demonstrates a belief that we can live forever, and a demand that everyone want to do so. He also argued that a christian recognizes the reality that we don’t live forever and that our hope is elsewhere than in heroic measures. A fine line to walk, I think, but an important distinction...This young man and his family gave conventional medicine a try. It was unsuccessful and produced side effects they were unwilling to tolerate. Together, they came to a decision about how to proceed, and now they are being told they don’t have the right to do so...They want to put their hope in something other than the conventional medical approach — the court has said they cannot.

I wonder where the line will ultimately be drawn on issues such as these. How effective does the treatment have to be in order for the courts to mandate it? At what age do a person’s wishes for his/her body become meaningful in our court system? What if the court-ordered treatment produces terrible effects (quite likely) that result in some level of disability? Shouldn’t the court, the state, have responsibility then for damages? What if Abraham Cherrix continues to refuse? Will they put him in restraints before they stick the needle in him? Who will comfort him when he is sick from the drugs? The state?" - - Ashley Cleveland

Desert Pete

2007-03-31T20:12:00.000-05:00

I was travellin' West a buckskin on my way to a cattle run
Cross a little cactus desert under a hot blisterin' sun
I was thirsty down to my toenails, stopped to rest me on a stump
But I tell ya I just couldn't believe it when I saw that water pump
I took it to be a mirage at first, it'll fool a thirsty man
Then I saw a note stuck in a bakin' powder can
“This pump is old”, the note began, “but she works so give'r a try”
“I put a new sucker washer in ‘er, you may find the leather dry”

“You've got to prime the pump, you must have faith and believe”
“You've got to give of yourself ‘fore you're worthy to receive”
“Drink all the water you can hold, wash your face, cool your feet”
“Leave the bottle full for others, Thank You kindly, Desert Pete”

“Yeah, you'll have to prime the pump, work that handle like there's a fire”
“Under that rock you'll find some water I left in a bitters jar”
“Now there's just enough to prime it with so dontcha go drinkin' first”
“You just pour it in and pump like mad, buddy, you'll quench your thirst”

“You've got to prime the pump, you must have faith and believe”
“You've got to give of yourself ‘fore you're worthy to receive”
“Drink all the water you can hold, wash your face, cool your feet”
“Leave the bottle full for others, Thank You kindly, Desert Pete”

Well I found that jar and I tell ya nothin' was ever prettier to my eye
And I was tempted strong to drink it, cuz that pump looked mighty dry
But the note went on “have faith my friend, there's water down below”
“You got to give until you get—I'm the one who ought to know”
So I poured in the jar and I started pumpin' and I heard a beautiful sound
Of water bubblin' and splashin' up outta that hole in the ground
I took off my shoes and I drunk my fill of that cool refreshing treat
I thank the Lord and thank the pump and I thank old Desert Pete

“You've got to prime the pump, you must have faith and believe”
“You've got to give of yourself ‘fore you're worthy to receive”
“Drink all the water you can hold, wash your face, cool your feet”
“Leave the bottle full for others, Thank You kindly, Desert Pete”

“Drink all the water you can hold, wash your face, cool your feet”
“Leave the bottle full for others, Thank You kindly, Desert Pete”

:::::::

I heard a guy make a reference to this song in light of how we live our lives. Just as there was temptation from the thirsty man to drink the bottle of water he found burried by the pump instead of using it to prime the pump and gain vast quantities of water (and also the temptation to take the priming water bottle and screw everyone else), there is the temptation in each person's life to spend our lives for our own desires, pleasure, amusements, etc... On the contrary, Jesus says that if we want a truly satisfied life, then we should empty ourselves to Him (which would be to serve and love others as we love ourselves).

As Jim Elliot said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose." (meaning his life)

Blessings,

nick

you need a laugh

2007-03-22T18:57:00.000-05:00

if you need a break from work, or studying, or whatever, check out this video of the best laugh ever! Click here!

subject to frustration

2007-03-17T12:20:00.000-05:00

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by it's own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."

- - Romans 8: 20-21

I wrote this verse down the other day. It really caught me, and got me thinking. It made me think a lot about King Solomon, in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. He held back nothing in the pursuit of pleasure, in the pursuit of knowledge & wisdom, and the pursuit of stuff/projects. And to each he found that it was just a 'chasing after the wind.'

"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind: nothing was gained under the sun." (Ecc. 1:10-11)

And so with the Romans verse, it seems that with creation, it was made 'frustrated'... that by itself, that this world, this reality we see day to day, if left to itself, cannot bring about any meaningful purpose...any meaningful answer as to "Why." And being frustrated - - not as some cruel joke, but ultimately to be as a guide for those on quest for the purpose, for the "why." It's almost cliche a reference, but the anecdote about the wealthy person, guy or girl, who's got everything they need, and yet they don't feel satisfied-- it's that great after school special! But however many times it's been on when we got home from school, the world's system is still fully engaged in this pursuit. And maybe that's what it means by 'bondage to decay.' This system ultimately will lead to nothing, to our possessions/success/pride being rotted away, since we have no way of taking them w/ us when we die (a truth too many of us ignore until it's too late...).

And yet for those searching, and asking, and thinking, there's a freedom from this system, a welcoming into a new reality, that's not based upon power, or influence, or status. But rather, a system that's based upon Love, Redemption, and real satisfaction. It says that the creation wasn't frustrated by itself, rather by the one who made it. Could it be that God set all this up, giving us the choice, giving us the freedom to love him in return, to step out of this system, out of the death, and into something...well, that's life giving?

It makes me think.

long time gone

2007-03-17T12:13:00.000-05:00

Coming up on almost a year since my last post. Lots has happened since then. I started married life. A whole new season in my life. New friends. Babies being born (not ours, though!). Babies growing into toddlers. New classes at school. New sod in my yard. I've been noticing sunsets a whole lot more lately. They're just beautiful. Even last night as I was at work, power washing the concrete near a gas pump, I stopped and enjoyed it for just a moment, a pretty sweet view of creation overlooking 58 highway. I guess it's the small things.

Babies & Midwives!

2006-05-31T19:53:00.000-05:00

Check out this article I found on CNN.com today about Midwifery (babies being born naturally, often at home...)
All I can say is that at least it wasn't bad publicity like normal!

CLICK HERE for the link.

Enjoy!

nW

Mayan ruins in Mexico

2006-05-16T15:45:00.000-05:00

in the heat
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

click on this pix to see the rest of our honeymoon pictures from Playa del Carmen.
...then click on "Honeymoon set" to see 'em all.

Nick & Keri

Re[posts]

2006-05-16T15:38:00.000-05:00

Here are some reposts from my old blog a few years ago. I liked these, and wanted to save 'em.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::

Was moved by the words of My Utmost in yesterdays devotion.

“Arise and Eat”
1 Kings 19:5

The angel did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable; he told Elijah to do the most ordinary thing, viz., to get up and eat. If we were never depressed we should not be alive; it is the nature of a crystal never to be depressed. A human being is capable of depression, otherwise there would be no capacity for exaltation. There are things that are calculated to depress, things that are of the nature of death; and in taking an estimate of yourself, always take into account the capacity for depression.

When the Spirit of God comes He does not give us visions, He tells us to do the most ordinary things conceivable. Depression is apt to turn us away from the ordinary commonplace things of God’s creation, but whenever God comes, the inspiration is to do the most natural simple things—the things we would never have imagined God was in, and as we do them we find He is there. The inspiration which comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression; we have to do the next thing and do it in the inspiration of God. If we do a thing in order to overcome depression, we deepen the depression; but if the Spirit of God makes us feel intuitively that we must do the thing, and we do it, the depression is gone. Immediately we arise and obey, we enter on a higher plane of life. - -

"This hits me at such a perfect place. As I thought earlier this week, still in Armenia, as I wrote in my journal, that coming home I really felt like I needed to get some control back, some increase in self-will. ‘Arise and eat.’ It really makes me put into perspective how to do that. God will give me the power, the mindset as I obey Him, as I take the initiative. As I reach out my hand to be healed, it will be healed, but I have to take the initiative to hold it out. This is a big question for my own life now. What am I holding out? What initiative am I taking to reclaim my life/time/focus/body? It makes me think about sitting in the kitchen here in the morning, drinking tea or water, eating something, and looking out the window into the sun and the sky, perhaps listening to the Lori Chaffer song, as it goes, “morning can be a time or mourning, or potential hope as the sunlight, warms my window where I lay...” And that is the ultimate question, is the new day a burden or is it a gift from God? Is it to be treated with anticipation and excitement or fear and trembling? Either it is life-giving or it is life-taking. I really want it to be life-giving!"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Some words from the book, Dangerous Wonder, by Mike Yaconelli ...about having childlike faith, and the abandon of following your heart fully, and not just following the rules that have been so nicely made for us...

Last year, my young son played T-ball...Needless to say, I was delighted when Dylan wanted to play...Now on the other team there was a girl I will call Tracy. Tracy came each week. I know, since my son’s team always played her team. She was not very good. She had coke-bottle glasses and hearing aids on each ear. She ran in a loping, carefree way, with one leg pulling after the other, one arm wind-milling wildly in the air.
Everyone in the bleachers cheered for her, regardless of what team their progeny played for. In all the games I saw, she never hit the ball, not even close. It sat there on the tee waiting to be hit and it never was. Sometimes, after ten of eleven swings, Tracy hit the tee (in T-Ball, the ball sits on a plastic tee, waiting for the batter to hit the ball, which happens once every three batters). The ball would fall off the tee and sit on the ground six inches in front of home plate. “Run! Run!” yelled Tracy’s coach, and Tracy would lope off to first, clutching the bat in both arms, smiling. Someone usually woke up and ran her down with the ball before she reached first.
Everyone applauded.
The last game of the season, Tracy came up, and through some fluke, or simply in a nod towards the law of averages, she creamed the ball. She smoked it right up the middle, through the legs of 17 players. Kids dodged as it went by or looked absentmindedly at it as it rolled unstopped, seemingly gaining speed, hopping over second base, heading into center field. And once it reached there, there was no one to stop it. Have I told you that there are no outfielders in T-ball? There are for three minutes in the beginning of every inning, but then they move into the infield to be closer to the action, or, at least their friends.
Tracy hit the ball and stood at home, delighted. “Run!” yelled her coach. “Run!” All the parents, all of us, we stood and screamed, “Run, Tracy, run, run!” Tracy turned and smiled at us, and then, happy to please, galumphed off to first. The first base coach waved his arms ‘round and ‘round when Tracy stopped at first. “Keep going, Tracy, keep going! Go!” Happy to please, she headed to second. By the time she was halfway to second, seven members of the opposition had reached the ball and were passing it among themselves. It’s a rule in T-ball – everyone on the defending team has to touch every ball.
The ball began to make its long and circuitous route toward home plate, passing from one side of the field to the other. Tracy headed to third. Adults fell out of the bleachers. “Go, Tracy, go!” Tracy reached third and stopped, but the parents were very close to her now and she got the message. Her coach stood at home plate calling her as the ball passed over the first baseman’s head and landed in the fielding team’s empty dugout. “Come on, Tracy! Come on, baby! Get a home run!”
Tracy started for home, and then it happened. During a pandemonium, no one had noticed the twelve-year-old geriatric mutt that had lazily settled itself down in front of the bleachers five feet from the third-base line. As Tracy rounded third, the dog, awakened by the screaming, sat up and wagged its tail at Tracy as she headed down the line. The tongue hung out, mouth pulled back in an unmistakable canine smile, and Tracy stopped, right there. Halfway home, thirty feet from a legitimate home run.
She looked at the dog. Her coach called, “Come on, Tracy! Come on home!” He went to his knees behind the plate, pleading. The crowd cheered, “Go, Tracy, go! Go, Tracy, go!” She looked at all the adults, at her own parents shrieking and catching it all on video. She looked at the dog. The dog wagged its tail. She looked at her coach. She looked at home. She looked at the dog. Everything went to slow motion. She went for the dog! It was a moment of complete, stunned silence. And then, perhaps, not as loud, but deeper, longer, more heartfelt, we all applauded as Tracy fell to her knees to hug the dog.

Two roads diverged on a third-base line. Tracy went for the dog.

over the cliff

2006-05-16T15:22:00.000-05:00

over the cliff
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

Check out our pix from our honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Just click on this picture, and then find "Honeymoon set." It was perfect!!!!!! I love being married! We can't wait to go back... it was so hard coming home!

Enjoy!

Nick & Keri Weddle

the good 'ole days!

2006-01-25T21:17:00.000-06:00

the good 'ole days!
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

just found this among some old fotos. It... makes me...a little... sad... I miss all those locks of golden beauty!

Ever been to a Brothel?

2005-12-15T15:12:00.000-06:00

Born Into Brothels
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

a woman, a street, a people, a camera, and an opportunity. Oh yeah, and some kids. Born Into Brothels is an incredible movie/documentary about a woman who went into the red light district in Calcutta, India, to photograph the lives of women, but instead found a group of kids.

Best thing I've seen in a long time! A must see. (yeah, they have it at Blockbuster)

hope found

2005-12-07T15:15:00.000-06:00

Read

thoughts on Thanksgiving

2005-11-27T21:06:00.000-06:00

thoughts on Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

"Our Way of Giving" by Chief Maquinna

"Once when I was in Victoria, I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank, and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back, with interest. We are Indians, and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank."

...to read more click here

( I really suggest that you do... it's really good! )

nW

a life of Hide & Seek

2005-11-02T22:31:00.000-06:00

a life of Hide & Seek
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

As I sat in my car today, waiting for my friend, I watched as two young boys played in the fall leaves of orange and yellow, the game of Hide & Seek. I felt sorry for the younger brother, who was only about 4 yrs.old, as he croutched down behind a large rock, bearing most of back to the view of his searching older brother. He didn't have a chance. I remembered back to playing it when I was young(er) and how we played different variations of the game: Poison Ivy (where the 'tagger' recruits more taggers each time he/she gets someone), Sardines (where one person hides and everyone else searches until they find him, but then attempt to hide with that person, until all are hiding, minus the last, and unfortunate losing player), et. al.... It also seems that this game is almost a human staple, in almost every culture and people group around the world. Why is that? Why does it feel like 'Hiding' and 'Seeking' is almost formed into our very being, regardless of language or ethnicity? I believe that this somehow ties into the very fabric of our lives given by God. This theme of Seeking and Finding is woven throughout the Bible, and the story of God and his people. And heck, even with older, non-youth-type-people, the games often involved with dating seem to be almost 'hide-n-seek' ish. Verses in the Bible like "Come near to God, and He will come near to You..." and "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled," seem to float around in this language. And also the verse "But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." It seems as if the game we play as kids and even as adults, stems from an even deeper aspect of who we are. Seeking to find questions to deep longings within us... Why was I not important enough for my parents to love me? or Why did I receive such abuse growing up? or still, Do I have what it takes to be someone/to be successful? or Why would God love me when there seems to be such ugly things about me/my life? I remember how I dreaded being the 'seeker' or 'tager' when we played. I guess it was the fear of not finding what (or who) I was looking for. And conversely, how good it felt to be the hider, knowing, in an almost anxious way, that someone could pop out any moment and scare you and get you. Exciting, and yet scary at the same time. I think that God works the same way in our lives too. Just like Adam in the garden as he hid, God sought after him, to speak to him, to have fellowship with him. How often do we hide from God now in our lives, either from guilt or just plain 'ole shame. I find it interesting how both of these realities play out in my life, regardless of who I am, in whatever moments.

Selah. (...take time to think on these things...)

nW

Blue Like Jazz

2005-09-15T12:14:00.000-05:00

Blue Like Jazz
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

I wanted to tell everyone how much I have been enjoying this book. He tells stories of his life and his observations about it. It's very honest, and so revealing to my own experiences. I totally recommend it.

Pyramid Team

2005-07-06T10:47:00.000-05:00

Pyramid Team
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

I worked a church camp down at Camp Galilee a fortnight ago, and this was my team. We were the Cheesy Orange Cheetahs, and won the whole week for points. We also won the much sought after Spirit Bell, although it was stolen shortly after ceremonies. Thanks Randolph the Red.

generosity

2005-07-04T02:07:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about what it means to be generous. This is partly because my pastor Tim has been speaking about generosity and because I honestly love to give. there's something about it that makes you feel free and almost overflowing with joy. Anyway, it reminded me of a Sarah McLachlan video, World on Fire, they showed a while back. click here to see it and choose the 'watch video" link.

be blessed.
nick

"inner" Cleavage ?

2005-05-20T10:10:00.000-05:00

As I was skimming through one of the many Newsweek mags at my parents house, I came across this article, "Showing Off a Little (Inner) Cleavage," and thought it was pretty good.

Here's to finding where real beauty and worth comes from.

nW

buffalo, NY, the Peace bridge over Niagara River

2005-05-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

buffalo
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

Greetings from Buffalo.
I was up in New York with my family for a few days celebrating my stepdad's-grandmother's-90th birthday. Granny Tessie, who's real polish name is too long for me to remember, and definately too difficult to pronounce, loves to gamble, slots or poker (she counts cards still), and loves to travel and visit with family. She currently is living in Omaha with other family, and is still so full of energy and joy for each day. Here's to you Tess, Happy 90-th!

Buffalo is on the far western side of the state, as opposed to the east side, where the city is located. But they still talk funny. That's the best part.

*note - - Niagara Falls are just a short drive from this picture

light at jw

2005-03-21T14:27:00.000-06:00

light at jw
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

I was struck with the profoundness of the daylight yesterday, especially at church. As a devoted evening-service goer at JW, I'm not really used to seeing the color shining in the stained-glass windows. I've been working nights for 3 weeks now, and so staying awake all day on my weekend is amazing to experience the light. I just felt alive. I guess it's one of those things that until you've been without it, you don't realize how important it is. Thank God for it.

my mom

2005-03-21T13:53:00.000-06:00

I had a great day with my mother yesterday. We went out and had lunch and just sat and talked for about 2 hours. I can't remember the last time (if really ever) we had a time like that. As I'm getting older, I really appreciate the time that I can have with her. For instance, last week her and I went to see Don Chaffer play a little show at Mt. Music Shoppe in Kansas. Yeah, we had to leave a little early cause she had to go deliver a baby, but that's pretty normal stuff for us. If me getting older equal us being able to talk more as equals and even as friends, then bring on the b-days! It makes me remember how Don spoke about his mother after she had passed on and how certain things, even the things that were slightly irritating, were some of the things that he missed most about her. (not that my mom does anything irritating...really)

Well, thanks for a great time yesterday, Mom. I love you.

Worship is...

2005-03-18T09:21:00.000-06:00

There are seasons of life in which we wake up each morning with the fulfilled dreams of victory, love, satisfaction, and resolution ringing in our ears. The morning air rushes in with the promise that anything can happen, God is nearby, and we are really loved. Worship is, at these times, a gift - a way of saying thank you. Thank you, God because whether I was aware of it or not, whether I sought You through this experience or not, I see you in it now, and I am so grateful for Your kindness toward me.

There are other seasons of life, however, whether we're comfortable with admitting it or not, in which it feels like we're at the bottom of a well - deep, dark, and muddy. In our worst moments, we can no longer see the mouth of the well, and we sometimes wonder if there even is one. Worship, at these moments in particular, becomes a rope. Even if we have no strength to climb it, our cold and lonely fingers wrapped around its braid become a symbol that we are still connected to something, someone, in the world above - the world with skies, trees, rivers, and kind people whom we miss terribly.

And then there are seasons in which we feel that perhaps nothing is terribly wrong, and nothing is terribly right. We are somewhere on the plains, in the middle of the country, looking for miles with no trees to break our view, no valleys, no mountains. We are well air-conditioned, well fed, well attended by people who neither agree with us too passionately, nor disagree with us too strongly. We are happy, we guess, but we don't think we remember how happiness feels, or whether it is what we thought is was. Worship is, at these times, a bell. It rings to remind us that life, while it may seem vapid and featurelsss, is truly a tremendous affair. It is birth and death, suffering and resurrection. The clear sound of that bell on the wind tells us that the lull of comfort does not mean that God is far off or irrelevant. He is always near and always in love, always holy, and always coming... He is coming. He will finish things here, and begin a new kind of kingdom - a world without end. He will reign over his subjects who have been changed to be like Him, full of love, peace, and joy forever and ever. May this King be praised. Amen.

Don Chaffer / 08.16.00 / Wichita, KS

2005-03-15T19:34:00.000-06:00

me.

[ Copied from my journal from last night ]

2005-03-15T13:40:00.000-06:00

Sitting here at IHOP (international house of prayer) and thinking about the issues of healing (as a focus/ministry) and what was Jesus' reason for doing it in the first place. They're praying for Terri Schiavo... for her to be healed and awaken when they take out the feeding tube.

makes me think.

The guy leading said something about Jesus being "the God of Life." But what about the 'God of death.' I know, there are so many directions to go from here, and so many principals, but just bear with my wandering thoughts... It makes me think about Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes... about it being appointed that all men will die once... Is God scared of death? Is it beyond Him?

I reflect on what I've sensed from Mark 5 from the sermons as of late at Jacob's Well. Why did Jesus heal certain folk? What was his purpose ultimately? Some he healed and instructed to go and tell what happened, while others he instructed to go and tell no one. It seems that 'healing' and 'raising the dead' wasn't an end in itself, but just a part of what it was in him bringing the Kingdom of God. He said in Matt 9:6, "so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..."
"He came to seek and to save those who were lost." That we may know salvation --- that we may be freed --- It seems that Jesus used healing as an attention getter and a qualifier (that he was qualified to do bring the kingdom)...

Often, healing came to those (as Jairus and the bleeding woman) that were completely desperate...

[ insert some working definitions:
--> Faith : an absolute recognition of reality, and a byproduct of a right orientation to Jesus ]

...that they had been brought to/forced into by suffering, the correct understanding/recognition of reality [faith].

How does this play out when I'm not dying or bleeding persistantly?
Was the healing used to prove/convince those who yet had believed in Him? And yet didn't Jesus refuse to give some people signs/miracles because of their unbelief?

What does it look like practically to have that 'correct orientation' to Jesus when we're not dying?
(from here it led me to think about many people who have had this right recognition...
--> the apostle paul: had correct understanding of reality w/ regards to marriage (1 cor. 7) to ourselves (1 cor. 9) ...heck, all of 1 & 2 Corinthians!
--> and others...

bring on the powder!

2005-03-15T12:53:00.000-06:00

bring on the powder!
Originally uploaded by weddlen.

I went skiing with some friends a couple of weeks ago. We did the 'drive all night' thing and were pretty wasted from that, but with some sweet skiing, it made it all worthwhile. Josh, Dan, Matt, here's to ya!

2005-03-15T12:03:00.000-06:00

my turn.