Bottled Water: Bad For The Environment, Bad For Your Bod
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 2nd, 2009
I don’t know about you but I drink a lot of water. And I used to be a big bottled water drinker until I found out how much plastic is on this planet and just what it is doing to our environment. (more on that at a later date) I have been filtering water for years and if I need to take some with me where ever I am going, I put it in a stainless steel thermos.
If you’re still drinking out of little plastic water bottles, first of all bad, bad, bad! Get over that nasty habit. It is doing the environment no good. Not to mention your one and only temple of a bod. It has been reported that bottled water in your car is very dangerous. Check this out from John Hopkins. My little two are inserted in (parenthesis).
Bottled water in your car is very dangerous!
On the Ellen show, Sheryl Crow said this is what caused her breast cancer. It has been identified as the most common cause of the high levels of dioxin in breast cancer tissue.
Sheryl Crow ‘s oncologist told her:
Women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a car. The heat reacts with the chemicals in the plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin into the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer tissue. So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has been left in a car.
Pass this on to all the women in your life. (And men too – they are not immune to breast cancer.)
This information is the kind we need to know that just might save us! Use a stainless steel canteen or a glass bottle instead of plastic!
This information is also being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center:
- No plastic containers in microwave.
- No water bottles in freezer
- No plastic wrap in microwave.
A dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. (Oops I learned something here. I used to freeze our water bottles before we went to Burning Man so that we always had cold water available. A big no-no) Recently, Edward Fujimoto , Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard.
He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.
He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers…
This especially applies to foods that contain fat.
He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastic releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body…
Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. (I love my Pyrex and I use it for everything – and some even come with lids. Although the lids are still plastic, and they say they are microwaveable, I don’t use them in the microwave – why risk it? On a side note: There is a reason that chemists use and have been using Pyrex for years). You get the same results, only without the dioxin. Such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. (C’mon peeps, you shouldn’t be putting these types of foods into your beautiful bod anyways.)
Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. ( So true.)
It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons…
Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran wrap, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. (This is scary. I never use saran wrap in the microwave. In fact I rarely use the stuff. I don’t like it. To cover food, I actually really like those elasticized plastic covers – you know the ones that look like cheap shower caps? Yep those are the ones – I use them over and over again. And, of course NOT in the microwave) Cover food with a paper towel instead. (But again, you don’t know what is in the paper)
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Lastly, like many of you I always ‘snope it’, just to see if it truly is an urban legend or something I need to be aware of. I bet many of you are snoping this as you read. You will, as I did, be told that what I just wrote is a mixture of truth and false information. But I will tell you what a friend of mine told me and I think he has a good point:
“It really depends on which scientist you believe. Google dangerous plastic containers and you will get a list of numbers that show some plastic containers that do leak dioxin. Remember when you were assured that cigarettes didn’t cause cancer? And Scambusters pooh-poohed the suggestion that it was better to gas up at night that during the heat of the day. Now scientists have backed up the fact with data that fueling up in the heat of the day gives you less gas.”
“If I am to error, I would do it in my favor. Have you noticed that the plastic bottles are not as substantial as they used to be?”
He’s got a good point, yes? I only have one bod and as much as I like to have a little fun and indulge in foods and drink that aren’t necessarily great for me – it is all in the balance of life…those risks are worth taking – there is a reward: Pleasure and enjoyment. But putting unnecessary dioxins in my body when there are easy ways to avoid it, is not. There is no fun factor attached. Don’t be lazy. Treat your body as if it were the only temple to house you – Actually it really is, unless you’ve got an extra ‘suit’ hanging around like our alien friends or earthling girlz :)
Hi Carol, Sandy, Viola: I’m delighted that my write yesterday was helpful to you and your families. My parents are not in their 80′s and are both good drivers but you can be sure that I will keep all of this in mind when it does come to that point where I might have to have a little chat.
Hi AL: I know public transportation can be a bitch. I can not imagine not being with car. Although I love my bike; Only in the summertime and in good weather.
See ya on the flip…
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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June 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 am
Yep…bad bad bad, I’m becoming a bit of a purist myself. Water in a glass bottle (oh how inconvenient, what if it breaks?!) – nuking only when necessary, less convenient but this body is my temple.
Al, I caught that video late yesterday aft and could not stop laughing : )
Caio, Zen Lill
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:13 am
Al
I have been appreciating your commentary for almost a year. I introduced you to my mother she is 48, good looking(not just a daughter’s opinion) and very articulate like you.
I think you two would get along swell. She is not very good meeting people in person. She is very shy. But on the net here real self comes out. She loves being the anonymous devil’s advocate on the chat lines she visits often.
We are moving to Miami in October. She drives. I would like to introduce you to my mother. What do you think?
Oh, her name is Alice.
Choe
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:15 am
KNOW YOUR RISK FOR HIP FRACTURE
Post-menopausal women can now plug a few key pieces of information into an online tool to calculate their risk for suffering a hip fracture within the next five years. This is important because, directly and indirectly, hip fracture can lead to serious illness and death — in fact, 23% of hip fracture patients die within a year.
DANGERS NOT ALWAYS APPARENT TO DOCTORS
Researchers at the University of California at Davis have developed a computer model that can help predict, and may even help prevent, hip fractures in women. The algorithm may help women and their doctors make informed decisions about preventive measures such as lifestyle changes, screening tests, medications and other medical interventions. This is a huge improvement, since previously doctors screened only women perceived as being at obvious high risk, leaving out many who would benefit, says lead researcher John Robbins, MD, professor of general medicine at University of California at Davis.
To date, the best available screening tool has been the dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan, an imaging technique that measures bone mineral density (BMD). However, says Dr. Robbins, BMD is only one of many predictors of hip fracture risk, and most hip fractures occur in women who are not osteoporotic by that standard.
WHO’S AT RISK?
To create the computer model, Dr. Robbins and his team analyzed data from 93,676 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), an ongoing national health study that focuses on strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer and osteoporosis in post-menopausal women (ages 50 to 79). The team identified 11 factors that were predictive of hip fracture — age, general health, weight, height, race/ethnicity, physical activity, history of fracture after age 54, parental hip fracture, current smoking, current corticosteroid use and treated diabetes. The factors were validated in a clinical trial among 68,132 women. The model was also tested in a subset of 10,750 women who had undergone DXA scans to measure BMD. The study appeared in the November 28, 2007, issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Here’s information on hip fracture risk that became apparent:
• Age ranks first. “Age is the most predictive factor for hip fracture risk,” said Dr. Robbins.
• Ethnicity plays a complex role. Dr. Robbins found several associations between ethnicity and risk. He noted that while Asian women had been considered at high risk, by doctors based on incidence, this is actually because so many are small and thin. All other things being equal, data revealed that Asian women and African American women are, in fact, at lower risk than white women.
• Height and weight are relevant. For instance, algorithm results indicate that tall, thin post-menopausal women of African ancestry may be at equal risk for hip fracture as short, overweight white women.
• Chronic health problems add to risk. The model also allows physicians to isolate various factors that are often linked, such as diabetes and obesity. “The risk of hip fracture goes down with increasing weight — but up with diabetes,” said Dr. Robbins. “Diabetes is usually associated with increased weight, so this model lets one look at both at the same time and balance them.”
TO FIGURE OUT IF YOU ARE AT RISK…
The greatest benefit of this model is that it is for women whose risk would not be recognized by their physicians. “Thin, post-menopausal white women with prior fractures and a family history of hip fracture don’t need a calculator to tell them they are at risk. They should already be talking about this with their physicians,” said Dr. Robbins. “It is the women whose physicians do not recognize their risk — for instance, tall, thin African American women, who will now be aware of their risk when they talk with their doctors.”
Post-menopausal women can calculate their five-year risk of hip fracture using the “Hip Fracture Risk Calculator” tool available online at http://hipcalculator.fhcrc.org/. What should you do if you take the test and learn that you are at risk? Dr. Robbins advises asking your primary care physician for a bone density test. “If the DXA shows a low bone mineral density, discuss options for building up your bones with your physician,” he says.
Dr. Robbins plans to test the computer model among other groups of women — and men, too — for further refinement. “We need to see if it holds for other populations,” he said. “It should not yet be used as ‘the answer,’ but just as a tool to further knowledge. The more a physician and patient know, the better they are prepared to make reasonable judgments.”
However, prevention is even better than prediction — with age comes thinning of the bones, for everyone. The right diet and regular weight bearing exercise keep bones stronger than they’d be otherwise, regardless of your risk.
Source(s): ??John Robbins, MD, is professor, department of internal medicine at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento, California. Dr. Robbins is board certified in internal medicine and geriatrics.?
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:23 am
Okay Chamorros cool it with the demands. I do this out of love. It is not my job. Your emails claiming that I have forced you to go elsewhere for your Guam news is just inconsiderate.
Mya you said that I could give you your answer in the blog. Okay. I checked the ballet season for Guam. It is no solid. There will be a season that starts in middle June.
Now for the news. Guam may soon be getting its electricity from its own oceans. That would make us the greenest US community energy wise.
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Electricity From the Sea
U.S. Navy Plans Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plants
By WILLIAM MATTHEWS
Published: 1 June 2009
Heat from the tropical sun warms the ocean surface off Guam to an inviting 80 degrees Fahrenheit. But 3,000 feet below, the ocean remains a bone-chilling 40 degrees.
That temperature difference promises to provide the U.S. Navy with a limitless supply of electricity.
Good thing, too – the U.S. military plans to move 8,000 Marines and 17,000 family members to Guam from Okinawa, Japan, by 2014. But these new residents and the expanded military installations are likely to overwhelm Guam’s power grid, which today generates all of its electricity from imported oil.
The Navy thinks “ocean thermal energy conversion” may be the answer to Guam’s future electricity needs – and Diego Garcia’s, Kwajalein’s and Hawaii’s, too.
Turning the ocean’s temperature differentials into electricity is not a new idea. The concept was developed in 1881, and the first functioning ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power plant was built in Cuba in 1930.
But the economics and politics of oil and OTEC have never aligned quite right for the thermal technology to take off – until, possibly, now. With oil prices uncertain, supplies limited and demand growing, a power plant that runs on warm and cold water has fresh appeal.
The concept sounds relatively simple. Surface water warmed by the sun is pumped through a heat exchanger, where it heats a fluid with a very low boiling point. Ammonia works, as do fluorinated carbons and some hydrocarbons. The fluid expands rapidly as it vaporizes, and pressure from the expanding vapor turns a turbine that turns a generator that produces electricity.
Once it passes through the turbine, the vapor is piped into a condenser, where cold water from deep in the ocean chills it, returning it to its liquid state. The liquid is then pumped back to the warm water heat exchanger to repeat the cycle.
That’s it. There’s no fuel other than temperature differentials. There’s no pollution. And OTEC offers an alternative to dependence on foreign oil.
Interest in OTEC was high in the early 1970s, when an Arab oil embargo against the United States drove oil prices up and made supplies scarce. But when the embargo ended in 1974, interest in OTEC and other alternative energy sources waned.
STARTUP COSTS
Interest is reviving today, but ocean thermal energy conversion still faces some big hurdles. One is initial cost.
An OTEC plant that generates 100 to 200 megawatts of electricity could produce power at a cost that’s competitive with imported oil, said Robert Varley, who manages OTEC business ventures for Lockheed Martin. That’s enough electricity for 25,000 to 50,000 homes. Such a plant would cost $1.5 billion – a lot more than anyone so far has been willing to invest, Varley said.
And before building a 100-megawatt plant, it would be smart to build a smaller plant – say, 10 megawatts – to prove the concept and answer engineering questions, he said. That, too, has been prohibitively expensive.
“You can’t recoup the cost” of a 10-megawatt plant because it produces too little power to be profitable, Varley said. So for decades, ocean thermal energy conversion has remained an intriguing on-again, off-again science experiment.
But that, too, may be changing. In April, the U.S. Navy announced plans to award a contract late this year for OTEC plant designs to be used at its base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and at other Navy locations.
And in February, the Navy began feasibility studies for an OTEC plant to meet “a significant amount of the current and future electrical power needs” for Guam. The Navy wants plants that can also produce fresh drinking water.
That’s a slightly different design from the OTEC plant described above. That first plan is a “closed-cycle” generator, so-called because the fluid that is converted into vapor and back into liquid is used over and over again and never leaves the system.
The Navy favors an “open-cycle” system in which warm seawater is injected into a low-pressure chamber. There, because of the low pressure, a portion of the water flashes into steam, which drives a turbine to generate electricity.
When it turns into steam, the seawater leaves its salt behind, and when it leaves the turbine, it can be condensed into fresh water for drinking, irrigation and other uses.
In 1993, an experimental land-based open-cycle OTEC plant in Hawaii was able to produce 50 kilowatts of “net power,” according to the U.S. Energy Department. Net power is the total power produced minus the electricity that’s needed to keep the power plant running.
The pumps that OTEC plants use to draw cold water up from the deep require a lot of electricity. In 1979, for instance, a 50-kilowatt OTEC plant mounted on a Navy barge moored off Hawaii produced 52 kilowatts of electricity, but consumed all but 15 kilowatts.
TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
Although the science is sound, there remain some technical challenges to building a large OTEC power plant. One is building a 3,000-foot-long, large-diameter, cold-water pipe that can withstand the ocean environment.
Lockheed is working under a $1.2 million contract with the Energy Department to build prototype pipes out of fiberglass and composite materials. “From an engineering standpoint, it’s doable,” Varley said. “The actual metric is how cheap can we build it.”
Passing electrical current through water breaks the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, which are then captured. Hydrogen can be used as a fuel or it can be combined with nitrogen from the air to make ammonia. Ammonia is also a fuel – it has been used to power buses and rocket planes – and has a plethora of industrial purposes.
“If we got significant funding soon, we could have a pilot OTEC plant in the water in 2013,” said Dennis Cooper, Lockheed’s OTEC program manager.
That wouldn’t be soon enough to meet the electricity needs of the Marines arriving on Guam. But it could start a process that within a generation could have ocean thermal energy conversion providing all the electricity Guam – or Hawaii or Diego Garcia – needs, Lockheed officials say.
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Hafa adai
Anna
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:46 am
Hi Cloe,
Of course I would like to meet you and your mother Alice. I am nothing special, and I would hope that she is not dissapointed.
But, sure, why not. I always have room for a few new friends (lots of room).
So I think that if Alice and yourself would like to meet me, that I am here now and expect to be here still come October.
So, OK, let’s see what happens then.
Flattered,
Al
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Michelle, All that you have said about plastics and dioxin I have heard as well. And since plastic is not biodegradable, I am appalled that it is used so extensively by our food and medical industries.
If I bring home 50lbs. of groceries, there must be at least 10lbs.,probably more like 15lbs. of plastic waste.
BTW, have you heard of the mess of plastic in the Pacific Ocean (between Cal.& Japan) it is supposed to be larger than the state of Texas.
This coagulation of plastic is killing off a lot of the plant & animal life that resides in this aquatic habitat. I saw this on Oprah (which I hardly ever watch). Mankind and his/her reckless endangerment of life on this planet, has become like a virus or parasite to good o’le Mother Earth. And I don’t think she is very happy about it.
Al
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Choe, please excuse me for mispelling your name.
Al
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Okay I’m doing a second not because of the emails but because this is important.
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Protect your skin from Guam’s scorching summer heat
With the summer months upon us, more and more people are likely to participate in outdoor activities. You should keep in mind that there are ways you could protect your skin from harmful ultraviolet rays.
As the saying goes – “Guam is good, Guam is hot”, it’s most definitely hotter during the summer months. With the sun out in full force this time around, it’s important to know how to protect yourself from getting skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays seems to be the most important factor with developing skin cancer.
Here are some ways you can keep yourself safe.
Seek shade especially between 10am through 4pm.
Cover up with clothing—it’s true, it’s too hot to wear long sleeves and pants, but it’s the best way to avoid the sun exposure.
Wear a hat that covers your face, head, ears and neck.
Wear shades to protect your eyes from UVA and UVB rays.
Put on sunscreen – remember that a Sun Protective Factor 15 or higher is good.
For a more effective way, apply sunscreen 30 minutes before going outdoors. Don’t just apply it on your arms and body, but include your ears, nose, lips and tops of the feet.
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Hafa adai
Anna
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Being in fear of those being held in GITMO is nothing more than a scare tactic. The prisons in the country hold truly nasty and evil people, who were formally charged and convicted.
Once again the wacko’s are less concerned with the reality of matters just the politics of looking good.
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Michelle
Do you think the aliens took the Brazil plane and dropped some debris to fool everyone.
CM
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:10 pm
The detainess at GITMO are detainees and they do not have access to the outside world. Most of us do not know if these are terrorists or not and if released would they become terrorists. But if they are brought into the US I am sure they will be amused. Every criminal lawyer in the US will do anything to get their name on the front page of the newpaper as well as being the stars of the internet.
We will see everything from the attempt to give them american rights, deportation and just let them go because they were not informed of their rights.
Makes no difference what prison they are put in. The show will be in the courts. No one will try to break them out of prison or on their way into the court room. Leaders of nations that have no love for America will laugh privately and go on the news and be interviewed in order to show their outrage against America.
UN will probably have more speakers than ever from the President of Iran to Hugo Chavez.
What will they laugh privately about. The US paying top dollar to thousands of lawyers that are repensenting these enemy combatants or legal detainees.
The only questions are who will be the next Johnny Cochran and who will be the next dancing Itos
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Anon11
From your comment I can tell you are another white boy still trying to insist that OJ was guilty. I also see that you sick pups still hate Johnny Cochran. I wonder if you are so vehement about all those white lawyers that got off the Klan members who went about methodically murdering and torturing civil rights advocates during the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s.
I don’t hear you denigrating those lawyers that exonerate thugs with badges who use their legal authority to abuse OTWs and generally practice their racism with impunity.
Saul
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Most Healthful Store-Bought Salad Dressings
Lisa R. Young, PhD, RD
New York University
That nutritious salad you carefully create with dark-colored lettuce and brightly colored vegetables can easily turn into a high-fat nutritional disaster if you choose the wrong salad dressing.
Here are three nutritious options…
ANNIE’S NATURALS?TUSCANY ITALIAN
Nutritional breakdown per serving (2 tablespoons):
80 calories… 7 g fat… 0.5 g saturated fat… 0 g trans fat… 240 mg sodium.
KEN’S ?LITE COUNTRY FRENCH WITH HONEY
Nutritional breakdown per serving (2 tablespoons):
100 calories… 6 g fat… 1 g saturated fat… 0 g trans fat… 230 mg sodium.
WISH-BONE SALAD SPRITZER ?ASIAN SILK SESAME GINGER VINAIGRETTE
Nutritional breakdown per serving (10 sprays, equal to about one tablespoon):
10 calories… 0.5 g fat… 0 g saturated fat… 0 g trans fat… 100 mg sodium.
/Health interviewed Lisa R. Young, PhD, RD, an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University and a nutritionist in private practice, both in New York City. She is the author of The Portion Teller Plan: The No-Diet Reality Guide to Eating, Cheating and Losing Weight (Morgan Road).
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
It is a tragic irony that we are calling on Cuba to release Political Prisoners before we move US/Cuba Relations forward, when we are now in fact creating a class of Political Prisoner of our own. By definition a Political Prisoner is someone who is held with or without trial because the State believes that this person is somehow a threat to State Security. I applaud our Presidents attempts to clean up the Bush-Cheney mess that is Gitmo. But I have to agree with John Turley on Countdown last night, that we cannot just hold people indefinitly just in case they will be found not guilty at trial and released. This article clearly points out that in our “normal” justice system, prisoners are released after serving their time who will reoffend. Well done on such a clear article.
Ian
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:16 pm
CNN just said that the republican party is 89% white and 11% OTWs. 49% of the whites say they are highly religious. ( If they are the highly religious type my family claimed to be then the fathers are probably molesting his daughters. Mine did)
Mary
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I don’t know about you but I am so tired of the news media fixating on the white firefighters who may have been discriminated against. OHHHHH woe is me. The world is coming to an end. We are discriminating against white men. God will surely return to rectify this horrendous injustice immediately.
Of course, the god will be the one the Mormons invented. You know the god that started out a jew but somewhere along his journey to Utah he became white. I think that was about the time that god decided that only whites could worship him. It was only recently that the Mormon church allowed blacks and other races to become members.
No hypocrisy there, just a bit of a correction so their members could run for elective office in a time where the vote of OTWs will be counted. No, no hypocrisy, since their presence is just a sham.
After all why respect the house niggers, wets, slopes and mud people who venture where they are not wanted. Wannbe whites all.
Howell
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Q: I’ve owned a house as an investment property for several years. It has declined in value and I wonder if I can do better by donating it to a charity instead of selling it.
A: If you want to make a charitable donation, sell the house first and donate the sale proceeds. If you donate it to charity, you’ll receive a charity deduction only for its market value, which has a cash value equal to the amount of the deduction times your marginal tax rate, and no loss deduction.
Example: If the house that cost $150,000 is worth $100,000, and you are in the top 35% tax bracket, a sale nets $100,000 cash plus a $50,000 capital loss deduction (deductible either in the current year or in subsequent years, depending on other capital gains transactions). But a donation obtains just a $100,000 charity deduction, worth only $35,000 cash (subject to adjusted gross income limitations).
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Michelle:
I would like to inform your fans that George Washington never considered himself as the first President of the country. He was preceded by 14 other men who held that title.
The Colonies became sovereign states in July of 1774. We formed a government called the Continental Congress in September of 1774. Peyton Randolph of Virginia was chosen as our first President. He was followed by others who served as President until March of 1781.
We adopted the Articles of Confederation in March of 1781. We changed the name of our new Nation to the “United States in Congress Assembled.” John Hanson of Maryland was unanimously elected as our first President.
Although he was the head of the government and presided over the Congress, he did not have executive powers. As much as I fought it at the time, I could not get enough States to give up their sovereignty for the sake of a strong Nation. So the executive branch’s power as you know it was exercised by the Congress as a whole.
Seven other Presidents followed, including John Hancock, he was a very funny man because he took himself too seriously. He was well liked though. He had also served a term as President of the Continental Congress. In all, seven other Presidents served after John Hansen. Each served an average of one year.
After I returned from abroad, I insisted that even with the finances that I had brought back to enable our new country to have a line of credit so that we could bargain as Nation with the european powers occupying territories in the New World, we needed a central government that was empowered to act as one authority for all of us.
I gave a speech that convinced the States representatives that our present government under the Articles of Confederation was too weak to defend itself from the encroaching european powers. My argument was that the States had to give up some of their power to enable the Nation to form its own army to protect the whole. I argued that we needed a central currency to go with the banking system I had set up.
My banking system lasted and protected this Nation until you silly people elected an actor who promptly dismantled it. Now you have a banking system that serves not the people but a select few who know how to exploit it for their own personal gain. Mr. Anonz being one of the most skilled I have discovered. I digress.
George helped me put together a coalition that the majority of the States would listen to. As a result, the Constitutional Convention met in 1787 and we drafted the document you know as the Constitution of the United States.
Sometime I will tell you how we went about it. You can not imagine the arguments that ensued during the drafting.The arguments, and resulting compromises were more that just exhausting for me and a few others. They were the selling of our souls for the sake of a Nation. We believed we could make our new Nation work for all despite our reluctance to deprive some of our Nation’s citizens their due rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I digress, again.
The point I wanted to make was it was at that convention that George Washington was named as President. Even he would be amused that he was considered the First President of our Nation. After all he was preceded by 14 other men for that title.
as Your servant
Alexander Hamilton