The Same Same Ruthless Republicans
Posted by Michelle Moquin on October 10th, 2013
Good morning!
Some things never change. We can always count on the republicans to be the same same. This article shows that like in the beginning of Obama’s first term when the republicans plotted to vote “no” on anything Obama wanted, regardless if it would benefit the country or its citizens, the republicans plotted on the eve of Obama’s reelection to do the exact same same thing, and to prevent the ACA from taking effect.
A write from the NY Times:
A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning
“You are here because now is the single best time we have to defund Obamacare. This is a fight we can win.”SENATOR TED CRUZ, speaking in August to a Heritage Action gathering in Dallas
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MIKE McINTIRE
WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy. Their push to repeal Mr. Obama’shealth care law was going nowhere, and they desperately needed a new plan.
Out of that session, held one morning in a location the members insist on keeping secret, came a little-noticed “blueprint to defunding Obamacare,” signed by Mr. Meese and leaders of more than three dozen conservative groups.
It articulated a take-no-prisoners legislative strategy that had long percolated in conservative circles: that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow Republicans — including their cautious leaders — into cutting off financing for the entire federal government.
“We felt very strongly at the start of this year that the House needed to use the power of the purse,” said one coalition member, Michael A. Needham, who runs Heritage Action for America, the political arm of the Heritage Foundation. “At least at Heritage Action, we felt very strongly from the start that this was a fight that we were going to pick.”
Last week the country witnessed the fallout from that strategy: a standoff that has shuttered much of the federal bureaucracy and unsettled the nation.
To many Americans, the shutdown came out of nowhere. But interviews with a wide array of conservatives show that the confrontation that precipitated the crisis was the outgrowth of a long-running effort to undo the law, the Affordable Care Act, since its passage in 2010 — waged by a galaxy of conservative groups with more money, organized tactics and interconnections than is commonly known.
With polls showing Americans deeply divided over the law, conservatives believe that the public is behind them. Although the law’s opponents say that shutting down the government was not their objective, the activists anticipated that a shutdown could occur — and worked with members of the Tea Party caucus in Congress who were excited about drawing a red line against a law they despise.
A defunding “tool kit” created in early September included talking points for the question, “What happens when you shut down the government and you are blamed for it?” The suggested answer was the one House Republicans give today: “We are simply calling to fund the entire government except for the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare.”
The current budget brinkmanship is just the latest development in a well-financed, broad-based assault on the health law, Mr. Obama’s signature legislative initiative. Groups like Tea Party Patriots, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks are all immersed in the fight, as is Club for Growth, a business-backed nonprofit organization. Some, like Generation Opportunity and Young Americans for Liberty, both aimed at young adults, are upstarts. Heritage Action is new, too, founded in 2010 to advance the policy prescriptions of its sister group, the Heritage Foundation.
The billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David, have been deeply involved with financing the overall effort. A group linked to the Kochs, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, disbursed more than $200 million last year to nonprofit organizations involved in the fight. Included was $5 million to Generation Opportunity, which created a buzz last month with an Internet advertisement showing a menacing Uncle Sam figure popping up between a woman’s legs during a gynecological exam.
The groups have also sought to pressure vulnerable Republican members of Congress with scorecards keeping track of their health care votes; have burned faux “Obamacare cards” on college campuses; and have distributed scripts for phone calls to Congressional offices, sample letters to editors and Twitter and Facebook offerings for followers to present as their own.
One sample Twitter offering — “Obamacare is a train wreck” — is a common refrain for Speaker John A. Boehner.
As the defunding movement picked up steam among outside advocates, Republicans who sounded tepid became targets. The Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee dedicated to “electing true conservatives,” ran radio advertisements against three Republican incumbents.
Heritage Action ran critical Internet advertisements in the districts of 100 Republican lawmakers who had failed to sign a letter by a North Carolina freshman, Representative Mark Meadows, urging Mr. Boehner to take up the defunding cause.
“They’ve been hugely influential,” said David Wasserman, who tracks House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. “When else in our history has a freshman member of Congress from North Carolina been able to round up a gang of 80 that’s essentially ground the government to a halt?”
On Capitol Hill, the advocates found willing partners in Tea Party conservatives, who have repeatedly threatened to shut down the government if they do not get their way on spending issues. This time they said they were so alarmed by the health law that they were willing to risk a shutdown over it. (“This is exactly what the public wants,” Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, said on the eve of the shutdown.)
Despite Mrs. Bachmann’s comments, not all of the groups have been on board with the defunding campaign. Some, like the Koch-financed Americans for Prosperity, which spent $5.5 million on health care television advertisementsover the past three months, are more focused on sowing public doubts about the law. But all have a common goal, which is to cripple a measure that Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and leader of the defunding effort, has likened to a horror movie.
“We view this as a long-term effort,” said Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity. He said his group expected to spend “tens of millions” of dollars on a “multifront effort” that includes working to prevent states from expanding Medicaid under the law. The group’s goal is not to defund the law.
“We want to see this law repealed,” Mr. Phillips said.
A Familiar Tactic
The crowd was raucous at the Hilton Anatole, just north of downtown Dallas, when Mr. Needham’s group, Heritage Action, arrived on a Tuesday in August for the second stop on a nine-city “Defund Obamacare Town Hall Tour.” Nearly 1,000 people turned out to hear two stars of the Tea Party movement: Mr. Cruz, and Jim DeMint, a former South Carolina senator who runs the Heritage Foundation.
“You’re here because now is the single best time we have to defund Obamacare,” declared Mr. Cruz, who would go on to rail against the law on the Senate floor in September with a monologue that ran for 21 hours. “This is a fight we can win.”
Although Mr. Cruz is new to the Senate, the tactic of defunding in Washington is not. For years, Congress has banned the use of certain federal money to pay for abortions, except in the case of incest and rape, by attaching the so-called Hyde Amendment to spending bills.
After the health law passed in 2010, Todd Tiahrt, then a Republican congressman from Kansas, proposed defunding bits and pieces of it. He said he spoke to Mr. Boehner’s staff about the idea while the Supreme Court, which upheld the central provision, was weighing the law’s constitutionality.
“There just wasn’t the appetite for it at the time,” Mr. Tiahrt said in an interview. “They thought, we don’t need to worry about it because the Supreme Court will strike it down.”
But the idea of using the appropriations process to defund an entire federal program, particularly one as far-reaching as the health care overhaul, raised the stakes considerably. In an interview, Mr. DeMint, who left the Senate to join the Heritage Foundation in January, said he had been thinking about it since the law’s passage, in part because Republican leaders were not more aggressive.
“They’ve been through a series of C.R.s and debt limits,” Mr. DeMint said, referring to continuing resolutions on spending, “and all the time there was discussion of ‘O.K., we’re not going to fight the Obamacare fight, we’ll do it next time.’ The conservatives who ran in 2010 promising to repeal it kept hearing, ‘This is not the right time to fight this battle.’ ”
Mr. DeMint is hardly alone in his distaste for the health law, or his willingness to do something about it. In the three years since Mr. Obama signed the health measure, Tea Party-inspired groups have mobilized, aided by a financing network that continues to grow, both in its complexity and the sheer amount of money that flows through it.
A review of tax records, campaign finance reports and corporate filings shows that hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised and spent since 2012 by organizations, many of them loosely connected, leading opposition to the measure.
One of the biggest sources of conservative money is Freedom Partners, a tax-exempt “business league” that claims more than 200 members, each of whom pays at least $100,000 in dues. The group’s board is headed by a longtime executive of Koch Industries, the conglomerate run by the Koch brothers, who were among the original financiers of the Tea Party movement. The Kochs declined to comment.
While Freedom Partners has financed organizations that are pushing to defund the law, like Heritage Action and Tea Party Patriots, Freedom Partners has not advocated that. A spokesman for the group, James Davis, said it was more focused on “educating Americans around the country on the negative impacts of Obamacare.”
The largest recipient of Freedom Partners cash — about $115 million — was the Center to Protect Patient Rights, according to the groups’ latest tax filings. Run by a political consultant with ties to the Kochs and listing an Arizona post office box for its address, the center appears to be little more than a clearinghouse for donations to still more groups, including American Commitment and the 60 Plus Association, both ardent foes of the health care law.
American Commitment and 60 Plus were among a handful of groups calling themselves the “Repeal Coalition” that sent a letter in August urging Republican leaders in the House and the Senate to insist “at a minimum” in a one-year delay of carrying out the health care law as part of any budget deal. Another group, the Conservative 50 Plus Alliance, delivered a defunding petition with 68,700 signatures to the Senate.
In the fight to shape public opinion, conservatives face well-organized liberal foes. Enroll America, a nonprofit group allied with the Obama White House, is waging a campaign to persuade millions of the uninsured to buy coverage. The law’s supporters are also getting huge assistance from the insurance industry, which is expected to spend $1 billion on advertising to help sell its plans on the exchanges.
“It is David versus Goliath,” said Mr. Phillips of Americans for Prosperity.
But conservatives are finding that with relatively small advertising buys, they can make a splash. Generation Opportunity, the youth-oriented outfit behind the “Creepy Uncle Sam” ads, is spending $750,000 on that effort, aimed at dissuading young people — a cohort critical to the success of the health care overhaul — from signing up for insurance under the new law.
The group receives substantial backing from Freedom Partners and appears ready to expand. Recently, Generation Opportunity moved into spacious new offices in Arlington, Va., where exposed ductwork, Ikea chairs and a Ping-Pong table give off the feel of a Silicon Valley start-up.
Its executive director, Evan Feinberg, a 29-year-old former Capitol Hill aide and onetime instructor for a leadership institute founded by Charles Koch, said there would be more Uncle Sam ads, coupled with college campus visits, this fall. Two other groups, FreedomWorks, with its “Burn Your Obamacare Card” protests, and Young Americans for Liberty, are also running campus events.
“A lot of folks have asked us, ‘Are we trying to sabotage the law?’ ” Mr. Feinberg said in an interview last week. His answer echoes the Freedom Partners philosophy: “Our goal is to educate and empower young people.”
Critical Timing
But many on the Republican right wanted to do more.
Mr. Meese’s low-profile coalition, the Conservative Action Project, which seeks to find common ground among leaders of an array of fiscally and socially conservative groups, was looking ahead to last Tuesday, when the new online health insurance marketplaces, called exchanges, were set to open. If the law took full effect as planned, many conservatives feared, it would be nearly impossible to repeal — even if a Republican president were elected in 2016.
“I think people realized that with the imminent beginning of Obamacare, that this was a critical time to make every effort to stop something,” Mr. Meese said in an interview. (He has since stepped down as the coalition’s chairman and has been succeeded by David McIntosh, a former congressman from Indiana.)
The defunding idea, Mr. Meese said, was “a logical strategy.” The idea drew broad support. Fiscal conservatives like Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth, signed on to the blueprint. So did social and religious conservatives, like the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition.
The document set a target date: March 27, when a continuing resolutionallowing the government to function was to expire. Its message was direct: “Conservatives should not approve a C.R. unless it defunds Obamacare.”
But the March date came and went without a defunding struggle. In the Senate, Mr. Cruz and Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, talked up the defunding idea, but it went nowhere in the Democratic-controlled chamber. In the House, Mr. Boehner wanted to concentrate instead on locking in the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration, and Tea Party lawmakers followed his lead. Outside advocates were unhappy but held their fire.
“We didn’t cause any trouble,” Mr. Chocola said.
Yet by summer, with an August recess looming and another temporary spending bill expiring at the end of September, the groups were done waiting.
“I remember talking to reporters at the end of July, and they said, ‘This didn’t go anywhere,’ ” Mr. Needham recalled. “What all of us felt at the time was, this was never going to be a strategy that was going to win inside the Beltway. It was going to be a strategy where, during August, people would go home and hear from their constituents, saying: ‘You pledged to do everything you could to stop Obamacare. Will you defund it?’ ”
Heritage Action, which has trained 6,000 people it calls sentinels around the country, sent them to open meetings and other events to confront their elected representatives. Its “Defund Obamacare Town Hall Tour,” which began in Fayetteville, Ark., on Aug. 19 and ended 10 days later in Wilmington, Del., drew hundreds at every stop.
The Senate Conservatives Fund, led by Mr. DeMint when he was in the Senate, put up a Web site in July called dontfundobamacare.com and ran television ads featuring Mr. Cruz and Mr. Lee urging people to tell their representatives not to fund the law.
When Senator Richard M. Burr, a North Carolina Republican, told a reporterthat defunding the law was “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,” the fund bought a radio ad to attack him. Two other Republican senators up for re-election in 2014, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, were also targeted. Both face Tea Party challengers.
In Washington, Tea Party Patriots, which created the defunding tool kit, set up a Web site, exemptamerica.com, to promote a rally last month showcasing many of the Republicans in Congress whom Democrats — and a number of fellow Republicans — say are most responsible for the shutdown.
While conservatives believe that the public will back them on defunding, a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that a majority — 57 percent — disapproves of cutting off funding as a way to stop the law.
Last week, with the health care exchanges open for business and a number of prominent Republicans complaining that the “Defund Obamacare” strategy was politically damaging and pointless, Mr. Needham of Heritage Action said he felt good about what the groups had accomplished.
“It really was a groundswell,” he said, “that changed Washington from the outside in.”
******
Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
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October 10th, 2013 at 9:54 am
Tell the political A-Holes what you think of them, in slurry language. Someone came up with a website to help you “drunk dial” Congress and rant at a random congressperson, complete with list of talking points and cocktail recipes. :-)
http://drunkdialcongress.org/
/SB
October 10th, 2013 at 11:40 am
Doing it and loving it Social Butterfly
October 10th, 2013 at 11:43 am
Mystery Ailment or Drug Side Effect?
Newport Natural Health Reader,
Many of the patients who come to my clinic are there because other doctors have given up on them. If you’ve ever had a physician tell you, “There’s nothing wrong with you,” – even though you know there is – then you know how these patients feel: lost, alone, and frustrated.
This is exactly what happened to a patient I’ll call Terry, who began experiencing serious stomach problems a few years ago.
“Whatever is making me sick causes such pain, it feels like the worst sort of flu. I’m feverish and sometimes chilly, and my stomach is tied in a knot like someone is twisting it. Sometimes, I’m sick to my stomach, too,” she told me. “It happens about once a week, so it can’t be the flu. And all I can do is lie flat in bed and moan every once in a while.”
Various doctors had suggested Terry try prescription antacids, tranquilizers, antidepressants, and antibiotics. But she was leery of taking those medications and really wanted to determine the root cause of what was making her sick.
“I think it must be something I’m eating,” she said, “but I can’t tell what. I’ve even kept track of everything I eat with a food diary, but there’s no pattern there that I can see.”
I looked over Terry’s food diary and could not find any connections there, either. We talked about other possibilities, but Terry did not drink alcohol, energy beverages, or soft drinks, nor did she take any medication. She had not moved to a new home or office, had not traveled abroad, was not particularly stressed out, exercised every day, and – aside from the illness that brought her to my office – rarely got sick. After thoroughly discussing her situation and finding so little to go on, I was intrigued. Something was causing Terry’s illness, but what could it be?
Drugs and Delayed Reactions
“What about aspirin?” I asked.
“I never take them,” she replied. “As soon as I do, my stomach feels like something is trying to chew its way out. Once in a while, I take an ibuprofen, and I seem to be okay with those.”
As soon as Terry said “ibuprofen” I had a strong hunch about what was going on. Ibuprofen and other non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) pain relievers – like aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), and naproxen (Aleve) – are widely considered safe.
But the truth is, side effects from these drugs send more than 100,000 people to the hospital each year, and thousands die from the complications, which include kidney failure, stomach or intestinal bleeding, liver problems, and high blood pressure.
For some patients, like Terry, those side effects don’t appear until well after the drug is in their system, so the connection is not obvious. I suggested we try an experiment in which Terry would take an ibuprofen in the afternoon, and we would see how she felt the next day.
Sure enough, late the next morning, her husband, James, called to say she was in bed with the same stomachache and flu-like symptoms that had been troubling her.
“She’s so sick, she can barely even sit up,” James told me. “And she took the pill in the early afternoon yesterday, so we never even connected the two things. Shouldn’t the drug companies tell people this could happen?”
Actually, the drug companies do list the possible side effects in the inserts that come with both over-the-counter medications and prescriptions. Here, for example, are a few of the side effects caused by ibuprofen:
• Chest pain, weakness, shortness of breath, slurred speech, problems with vision or balance
• Black, bloody, or tarry stools, coughing up blood or vomit that looks like coffee grounds
• Swelling or rapid weight gain
• Urinating less than usual or not at all
• Nausea, upper stomach pain, itching, loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes)
• Fever, sore throat, and headache with a severe blistering, peeling, and red skin rash
• Bruising, severe tingling, numbness, pain, muscle weakness
• Severe headache, neck stiffness, chills, increased sensitivity to light, and/or seizure (convulsions)
Unfortunately, in my 20-plus years as a practicing doctor, only a handful of patients have told me that they’ve read the drug inserts. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not blaming the victims. Taking medication is based on trust. You trust your doctor and the drug companies to provide you with safe medication.
Like Terry, most of us would never imagine that a single dose of a hugely popular, widely available drug could have such harsh consequences for an otherwise healthy person. And when the side effects appear well after the drug was taken, it’s even more difficult to figure out what’s gone wrong. Yet I’ve seen patients appear to do well with a drug, such as a statin, only to develop side effects after taking it for months.
Here again, most people don’t connect the complications they’re experiencing with the drug they’ve been consuming. Often, physicians fail to recognize the cause, too, so the patient ends up getting a new prescription to solve the problems caused by the first one. And so it goes, with millions of Americans now taking multiple prescription drugs and mixing those with over-the-counter medications. In my opinion, this is a recipe for disaster.
Five Ways To Minimize Drug Interactions
As the number of chronic health problems grows, more people are mixing prescription medications with over-the-counter drugs in combinations that have never been tested for safety. In addition, drug interactions with food, beverages, and nutritional supplements could create additional complications. And nutrient depletions caused by drugs – such as the way statins deplete the body of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) – are a whole other concern.
What can you do to protect yourself from a health issues like these? Be aware that every time you take a drug – whether it’s over-the-counter or prescribed – there is some risk involved. You can reduce that risk with these five suggestions.
1. Talk about it. Get in the habit of discussing prescription medications with your pharmacist. These highly trained professionals are usually happy to answer questions, talk about side effects, and provide you with detailed instructions about how drugs should be taken. In addition, arrange to have all your prescriptions filled at the same pharmacy. Then your pharmacist will have all your information available and be better able to help you avoid dangerous drug interactions
2. Take notes. Keeping track of multiple drug instructions can get confusing. That’s why I suggest writing down details from your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist. If you are on several medications, please keep a notebook or slip of paper with you just for this purpose.
The notebook is also a good place to list everything you are currently taking, including nutritional supplements. If you have a health emergency, that notebook or list could save your life. One of the biggest frustrations in emergency medicine is trying to figure out what drugs an individual is taking when that person is not able to answer questions.
3. Hold the alcohol. Many people are aware that mixing alcohol with sedatives is a recipe for disaster. But did you know that combining alcohol with acetaminophen (Tylenol) could be lethal? Recent statistics show that more than 50,000 people land in the emergency room each year due to acetaminophen-related liver problems, and nearly 500 of them die as a result. While the liver can recover from some types of damage, it cannot heal after acetaminophen poisoning, leaving a liver transplant as the only option.
Please don’t be lulled into a false sense of security about the safety of these over-the-counter medications. For example, liver damage usually only occurs with a fairly high dosage. But it’s easy to lose track of just how much acetaminophen you’re taking, since the drug is an ingredient in more than 300 products, including everything from pain remedies to cough suppressants to sleep medications, and it is often combined with pain-easing opioids in prescription medicines.
Furthermore, you should know that drinking alcohol while taking certain antibiotics could make you very sick. Bactrim, for example, is a popular antibiotic for treating ear infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and similar problems.
Drinking alcohol while taking Bactrim can cause vomiting, headache, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, fatigue, serious bone pain, and skin rashes. Even a cough remedy or mouthwash containing a bit of alcohol can cause this type of reaction.
So if you like to enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine at the end of the day, and if you have been prescribed an antibiotic or other medication, be sure to ask your physician about the possibility of an alcohol-drug interaction.
Alcohol interacts with many drugs, as you can see from the partial list below, and sometimes the consequences can be quite serious, especially for anyone with kidney or liver complications.
Some drugs that may interact with alcohol include:
• Certain antibiotics, including Flagyl (metronidazole) and Furoxone (furazolidone)
• Anticoagulants, such as Coumadin (warfarin)
• Antidepressants, especially tricyclic antidepressants like Elavil (amitriptyline)
• Antihistamines, such as Benadryl (diphenhydramine)
• Heart and high blood pressure medications, including nitroglycerin and Inderal (propranolol)
• Pain relievers, both prescription and nonprescription, including aspirin
• Sleep aids and tranquilizers, such as Ativan (lorazepam) and Dalmane (flurazepam)
This is only part of a much longer list of drugs that interact with alcohol. That’s why it’s so important to talk to your physician or pharmacist about potential alcohol-medication interactions before combining the two.
4. Skip the citrus. Several types of citrus fruits, especially grapefruit and its juice, along with a grapefruit relative known as pomelo and Seville oranges, contain compounds that affect the way the body processes certain drugs, including some immunosuppressants that are often given to transplant patients.
Combining medications with these citrus fruits could cause the drug to remain in the body. As you continue taking your regular dose, the amount of the drug accumulates. Eventually, drug levels could reach the point of causing an inadvertent overdose.
If you are taking medication that interacts with grapefruit or other citrus fruit, stop eating or drinking the citrus completely. Taking the drug at a different time than the food or drink is not enough to prevent this potentially serious side effect.
Here is a partial list of drugs that can interact with grapefruit:
• Zoloft (an antidepressant also sold as sertraline)
• Allegra (an antihistamine also known as fexofenadine)
• Procardia, Nimotop, Sular (calcium channel blockers also sold as nifedipine, nimodipine, and nisoldipine)
• Lipitor, Zocor, Mevacor (also known as atorvastatin, simvastatin, and lovastatin, respectively)
5. Avoid Foods That Are Not Drug-Friendly. There are a number of other drug-food combinations you should know about. Be aware that this is only a partial list, since it’s just not possible to name all of the potentially harmful drug-food combinations. But those below are fairly common and may help you avoid complications later on.
• Warfarin (Coumadin) and foods high in vitamin K
Foods high in vitamin K (spinach, broccoli, kale, and other leafy greens) may interfere with the effectiveness of the blood thinner warfarin (also known as Coumadin). If you’re a regular salad eater, it’s fine to continue. But a sudden increase in leafy greens could cancel out the drug’s benefits.
• Antibiotics and dairy products or calcium supplements
Dairy products or calcium supplements may inhibit the absorption of antibiotics, particularly those in the group known as quinolones (sold as Cipro, Avelox, Factive, Tequin, Floxin, and Levaquin). To maximize antibiotic effectiveness, take them at least two hours prior to taking dairy or calcium supplements or four to six hours afterward.
• Blood pressure medications and potassium supplements
Taking potassium supplements with any of several different blood pressure medications (including ACE inhibitors, diuretics, or beta-blockers) could lead to dangerously high potassium levels, a condition known as hyperkalemia. Symptoms include nausea, weakness, heart arrhythmia, and fatigue. If you’re taking blood pressure medications, talk with your health-care provider before adding potassium supplements.
• Blood thinners and garlic, ginger, curcumin, or ginkgo biloba
Combining these supplements with blood thinners such as Plavix or warfarin (brand name Coumadin) may cause blood to become too thin.
• The diabetes medication chlorpropamide and garlic supplements
Mixing garlic supplements with chlorpropamide could cause blood sugar levels to drop.
• Corticosteroids and licorice supplements
Taking licorice supplements, a natural cough or cold remedy, with corticosteroids may increase blood pressure and can also amplify the effects of the corticosteroids. Licorice raises blood pressure, so I warn anyone with high BP to avoid it.
Since research is ongoing, be sure to check with your pharmacist about new warnings and/or interactions every time you fill a prescription. For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a new warning that Tylenol (acetaminophen) can cause rare but serious skin reactions, such as a rash and blisters.
Monitoring your medication is an excellent place to start taking charge of your own health and playing an active role in your wellness. Start by taking a few minutes to look over the drug insert next time you get a prescription refilled or purchase an over-the-counter medication, especially the sections on dosage and possible side effects.
As I mentioned earlier, side effects sometimes do not appear for months after starting a drug. So, if you do experience a new symptom, ask your physician or pharmacist if it could be a side effect of a drug you’re already taking, or check the website drugs.com where side effects and other cautions are listed.
Remember, too, that there are alternative substances available to treat many conditions without the punishing side effects of synthetic drugs. Terry, for example, found that curcumin supplements relieved his occasional joint ache without the awful side effects of ibuprofen.
In fact, clinical trials have repeatedly found that curcumin effectively controls pain from such serious conditions as burns, wounds, inflammation, and even nerve damage, such as that experienced by diabetics – without harmful side effects.
As I’ve said before, drugs are lifesavers in certain situations, such as treating an infection. But many people are convinced they need medications day in and day out for the rest of their lives, even though the medicine does nothing but mask symptoms.
If you’re among them, please be aware that there are effective natural alternatives to many drugs that are easier on the body, get the same results, and could eliminate concerns about drug interactions and complications.
Thrive in Health & Wellness,
Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D.
Carrot, Raisin, and Pineapple Salad
Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
This light, summery salad is filled with anti-inflammatory nutrients from the pineapple, as well as vitamins A and C in the carrots. But it tastes so good, even people who aren’t veggie lovers can’t get enough. Best of all, it’s so easy to make, you can whip it up in no time.
It’s great as a side dish or a simple light meal, with a small piece of chicken or fish. Whenever possible, use organic veggies to reduce the amount of toxins you’re consuming.
Ingredients
¾ cup craisins (dried cranberries) or regular raisins
2 cups coarsely grated carrots
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/3 cup olive oil mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of sea or lite salt
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix craisins or raisins, carrots, and pineapple well.
2. In a small bowl, combine olive oil mayonnaise, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt, and mix thoroughly.
3. Stir mayonnaise mixture into the carrot/raisin/pineapple and mix well.
4. Refrigerate until it’s time to serve.
October 10th, 2013 at 11:45 am
These guys should be tried as traitors. They don’t care what happens to the nation. They are only interested in the power and money their offices can generate for them.
October 10th, 2013 at 11:46 am
We have to be determined to go to the polls and defeat these bastards.
October 10th, 2013 at 11:48 am
Below please find a special message from one of our advertisers, Paid for by Ken Cuccinelli for Governor and American Target Advertising, Inc. Authorized by Ken Cuccinelli for Governor. From time to time, we receive opportunities we believe you as a valued customer may want to know about. Please note that the following message reflects the opinions and representations of our advertiser alone, and not necessarily the opinion or editorial positions of Human Events or Eagle Publishing.
Dear American Patriot,
My name is Ken Cuccinelli.
I am a constitutional conservative.
I am also running for Governor of Virginia.
This is the most-watched political race of 2013 because it’s considered an indicator of what is likely to happen in the 2014 mid-term elections.
I urgently need help right now from nearly every conservative, every small-government Constitutionalist who reads this email to win this race.
My opponent is Terry McAuliffe — the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
He and I could not be more different.
As the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe is a liberal Washington insider.
He has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with President Obama on ObamaCare – the nightmarish 2,700-page law, which already has 15,000 pages of regulations attached to it, with new regulations being added every day.
Terry McAuliffe helped pass ObamaCare into law. Now he wants to do for Virginia what he’s helped Barack Obama do to America.
If I am elected Governor, I will work to make sure that Virginia does not spend one penny of Virginia taxpayer money on ObamaCare — not one cent.
So far, 20 states have indicated they will not pay one penny for the implementation of ObamaCare — while only four states so far say they are definitely going along with the ObamaCare program.
I explain all this to the voters of Virginia in my 30-minute speech.
We just started airing this ad last week, and it’s getting great reviews from Virginians who have seen it.
To purchase the next 30-minute block of air time, I must raise $70,000 in the next 48 hours.
Please donate by going here.
Most polls show me still running a few points behind our opponent. But momentum is on our side and we are quickly closing the gap.
Here’s what’s happening now — and why I urgently need help from you and every conservative patriot who reads this letter.
In the next 48 hours, I must raise $70,000 to buy the next round of air time to broadcast a 30-minute TV ad across the state of Virginia.
This ad explains to Virginians, in no uncertain terms, what this race is really all about.
The only way we can pay for this 30-minute ad is with donations from wonderful American patriots, like you.
I know it’s very unusual to run a 30-minute ad on TV. But we chose to do it so I could communicate who I am, what I believe, and what I would like to do for Virginia as Governor.
What I’m doing here is borrowing a page from the Ronald Reagan playbook.
In 1964, Ronald Reagan delivered a 30-minute speech that became an ad on behalf of Barry Goldwater for President. The title of the speech was “A Time For Choosing.”
This speech captured the hearts and minds of tens of millions of Americans and launched Ronald Reagan’s political career. He went on to become Governor of California and then, of course, President of the United States.
So this 30-minute speech I’m looking to broadcast across the state of Virginia is in the tradition of the great Ronald Reagan.
Terry McAuliffe is raising millions of dollars from the big labor unions, and from Bill and Hillary Clinton and all their liberal friends. That’s how he’s financing his campaign.
I am proud that my campaign relies on the support of middle class American Patriots who mostly send donations in the $25 to $100 range — Americans who are alarmed at how quickly President Obama, with help from Terry McAuliffe, is destroying the America that was once the envy of the world.
Please contribute here (if you possibly can) to help me buy
the next round of air time for our 30-minute ad
This ad is an important part of our plan for bypassing the liberal media to tell Virginians what this election is really about — and why it’s so important.
One more thing . . .
I would very much like to know your views on our strategy — specifically on this decision to broadcast this unusual 30-minute ad.
What do you think?
Please let me know by completing the Media Strategy Survey here.
If you complete this survey, I will immediately send you a link so you can watch my hard-hitting 30-minute ad.
I also very much hope you will send your very best donation right now . . . because the only way I can continue to broadcast this ad statewide across Virginia is with donations from well-informed conservatives, like you, who understand why it’s so important to win this governors race — the most important election of 2013 . . .
. . . because this election will be seen as a REFERENDUM on ObamaCare and as an early indicator of what is likely to happen in the all-important 2014 mid-term Congressional Elections.
If you are able to send in your most generous donation, it will help me get back up on the air again with this 30-minute ad. We are in the final weeks of the election, and time really is of the essence right now.
Thank you so much for reading this email. I will anxiously look for your survey answers and your best gift of support to arrive in my email inbox in the next few minutes.
Sincerely,
Ken Cuccinelli
Republican Candidate for Governor of Virginia
P.S. Please be sure to complete the Media Strategy Survey here to let me know what you think of this 30-minute ad strategy.
Please also keep in mind that I just need a little help from every American Patriot I am writing to raise the $70,000 required in the next 48 hours to stay on track with our plans to air this 30-minute ad across the state of Virginia.
Remember, this election is very important for every American who wants to restore limited constitutional government to this great nation because this election on November 5th will be seen as a REFERENDUM on ObamaCare and as an early indicator of what is likely to happen in the all-important 2014 mid-term Congressional Elections.
So please send the best gift of support you can right now before you go onto something else and forget.
You can send your donation by going here.
Thank you for attending right now to this matter of urgent importance because we are in the final home-stretch run of this campaign right now.
Paid for by Ken Cuccinelli for Governor and American Target Advertising, Inc. Authorized by Ken Cuccinelli for Governor.
October 10th, 2013 at 11:48 am
Howie, how is Al? I haven’t heard from him in a long time?
October 10th, 2013 at 11:51 am
In the spirit of Social Butterfly, I would like to enter this. “…when you turn off the highway and pull into the parking lot of an Indian casino, you have left the state of California — and even the United States — and you have entered the land of a sovereign nation. Yep, that’s right, even though you are eating the same food, drinking the same booze, listening to the same music, using the same currency, working the same hours (if you are an employee), you are no longer protected by the laws of California or the United States.”
http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/indian-casinos-have-different-set-of-laws/Content?oid=2596379&mode=print
October 10th, 2013 at 11:54 am
Al are you still around? Give us a buzz. We could use the wit with the shutdown and all.
October 10th, 2013 at 11:57 am
Social Butterfly, I got one.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/06/snl-miley-cyrus-michele-bachmann-we-cant-stop_n_4051760.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
And don’t miss out on checking the 13 Women’s Costumes That Really Don’t Need To Exist – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/womens-halloween-costumes-based-on-male-characters_n_4072164.html?ref=topbar
October 10th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Thanks for the giggles Brenda.
/SB
October 10th, 2013 at 4:45 pm
How about signing a petition to out the Koch Brothers and their bankrolling that’s causing the demise of political fairness?
—-
“Groups connected to the Koch brothers have spent hundreds of millions smearing Democratic candidates, all while using disclosure laws to conceal their backers.
The Kochs’ number one goal is destroying Obamacare and trampling President Obama’s legacy. We can’t afford to let that happen.
Join Senate Democrats and stand against the flood of unregulated outside Republican money. We need to work together if we’re going to cut through Republican lies and attacks to defend progressive policies and values.
Send a message, and demand that the Koch linked groups reveal their donors.
http://leftaction.com/action/demand-koch-reveal-donors
—
I signed. I hope you’ll take two minutes to sign too. They are the cancer on Washington.
/SB
October 10th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Hafa adai:
Guam -Governor Eddie Calvo Thursday signed a proclamation with Yona Mayor Ken Joe Ada declaring the month of October Yona month.
READ the release from the Governor’s Office below:
Celebrate Yona Month
October is Yona Month
It’s Yona Month! Thursday Governor Calvo signed a proclamation with Yona Mayor Ken Joe Ada witnessing the ceremony at the Yona Mayor’s Office declaring October in honor of Yona and her people. The Governor is encouraging the people of and from Yona to come together and “celebrate the greatness of this village with pride that is centered on your culture, faith, and family.”
Yona Launches Governor’s My Village Project
The proclamation of Yona Month launched the Governor’s My Village Project (information contained in previous news release). He thanked Mayor Ada for agreeing and inviting the administration to bring services to the doorsteps of the people of his village.
Activities to Celebrate Yona Month
The Governor and Mayor Ada have coordinated the following activities with a number of government and private partners:
- Government door-to-door outreach of education, welfare, and safety services
- Literacy outreach at MU Lujan Elementary
- Trick-or-treat tips to students at St. Francis Catholic School
- Launch of the Governor’s anti-drug campaign in these schools (more information to be provided soon)
- GPD outreach to neighborhoods to set up watch programs
- Cleanup of the baseball field
- Cleanup of an illegal dumpsite
Take Pride in Yona
Yona holds distinct historical value to the people of Guam. In the last few weeks of the Japanese Occupation, Japanese soldiers forced residents out of their homes and into campsites. Every day, men and women were ordered to march the long distance to the largest campsite in Manenggon, Yona. Manenggon valley became home to 13,500 occupied Chamorros—many died from substandard living conditions, starvation, and disease. Every year, we remember the memory of those who lost their lives and the strength and resilient spirit of the Chamorro people who lived to tell their story. With the guidance of the Chamorros who survived, our island has grown into the thriving paradise that it is today.
Yona is an educational and spiritual hub. It is home to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, the St. Francis Catholic School, M.U. Lujan Elementary and Guam Adventist Academy. The St. Francis Catholic Church is the center of faith and is located at the center of Yona—surrounded by schools, stores, recreational areas and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. The scenery should not be forgotten. Residents from Yona and throughout the island are familiar with weekend activities at Yona’s Tagachang Beach and Turtle Cove. Most visitors will travel down to take advantage of the Leo Palace Resort, the Windward Hills Country Club, and Hamamoto Fruit World for their scenic accommodations, golfing opportunities, and locally grown produce.
Yona, derives its name from the Chamorro word “iyo-ña.” This roughly translates ‘to collectively possess something material, personal or spiritual.’ “Iyo-ña” illustrates the shared pride the residents of Yona have for their community from the residents of Central Yona to the residents of Windward Hills, they all call this village home.
October 10th, 2013 at 8:17 pm
On November 3rd, 2012, my friend Nikki Dudley was days away from returning from her Air Force deployment when she found out her 21-month-old son Evan was in critical care. Nikki rushed home to find that Evan was in a coma and was not expected to live. The doctors told her Evan’s condition was so severe that he would have had to fall from an 8-story building, straight down to sustain such injuries. Evan died in Nikki’s arms two days later.
Evan died 10 months ago and Nikki still doesn’t know what happened the day her son was taken to the hospital. I started a petition asking Attorney General Beau Biden’s office to complete their investigation to bring justice to my friend.
Nikki left Evan with two military families she trusted while on deployment. She received regular updates from his daycare saying Evan was doing well and she spoke to him every day on Skype. Evan was in the care of one of the families when he sustained his injuries that ultimately killed him.
The person who was looking after Evan told 911 that the boy fell down eight carpeted stairs, but his death certificate indicates that the immediate cause of death was “blunt force injury to the head” and that Evan “was assaulted to death.”
An investigation into Evan’s death has been ongoing for nearly a year, and Nikki still doesn’t know how her son died.
She’s even called the attorney general’s office but is brushed off when she asks for more information in Evan’s case. Nikki’s been patient, but it’s been 10 months since Evan died and no one has been held accountable. Join me in asking Attorney General Biden’s office to complete their investigation and bring justice to my friend and her son.
Sign Keri’s Petition
October 10th, 2013 at 8:19 pm
I just love the women on your blog Michelle. I know they are not all gay or none. But I am and I just love them all.