Archive for January 2009
Slavery and Abortion.
Lincoln’s Logic on Slavery Applied to Abortion:
On January 12, 2009 Samantha Heiges, age 23, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for drowning her newborn in Burnsville, Minnesota. If she had arranged for a doctor to kill the child a few weeks earlier she would be a free woman.
What are the differences between this child before and after birth that would justify its protection just after birth but not just before? There are none. This is why Abraham Lincoln’s reasoning about slavery is relevant in ways he could not foresee. He wrote:
You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.
You do not mean color exactly? You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own.
But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest; you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you. (“Fragments: On Slavery“)
There are no morally relevant differences between white and black or between child-in-the-womb and child-outside-the-womb that would give a right to either to enslave or kill the other.
Understanding and Influence.
The hunger to be understood. Few needs of the human heart are greater than the need to be understood-to have a voice that is heard, respected, and valued-to have influence. Most believe that the key to influence is communication-getting your point across clearly and speaking persuasively. In fact, if you think about it, don’t you find that, while others are speaking to you, instead of really listening to understand, you are often busy preparing your response? The real beginningof influence comes as others sense you are being influenced by them-when they feel understood by you-that you have listened deeply and sincerely, and that you are open. But most people are too vulnerable emotionally to listen deeply-to suspend their agenda long enough to focus on understanding before they communicate their own ideas. Our culture cries out for, even demands, understanding and influence. However, the principle of influence is governed by mutual understanding born of the commitment of at least one person to deep listening first.
- “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Foreward, Stephen R. Covey
People Centered vs. God Centered
“I suddenly saw that someone could use all the language of evangelical Christianity, and yet the center was fundamentally the self, my need of salvation. And God is auxiliary to that…I also saw that quite a lot of evangelical Christianity can easily slip, can become centered in me and my need of salvation, and not in the glory of God.”
- Tim Stafford, “God’s Missionary to Us,” Christianity Today, December 9, 1996
Become a Vitamin D Research Subject.
A Consortium of Scientists, Institutions and Individuals Committed to Solving the Worldwide Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic
Scientists are calling for a standard vitamin D intake of 2000 IU/day and the achievement of a serum level of 40-60 ng/ml. Scientists’ Call to Action.
GrassrootsHealth has launched a worldwide public health campaign to solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic in a year through a focus on testing and education with all individuals spreading the word.
Everyone is invited to join in this campaign! Join Daction and test two times per year during a 5 year program to demonstrate the public health impact of this nutrient.
$30 and a quick health survey allows everyone to
- get a vitamin D blood spot test kit to be used at home (except in the state of New York)
- have the results sent directly to them
- take action to adjust their own levels to get to the desired ranges with whatever help is needed from their healthcare practitioners.
With only 100 people joining up today, and getting 2 friends to join in 2 weeks (and those 2 friends getting 2 more), by week 42, there could be 400,000,000 people who are vitamin D ‘replete’! (more than the United States population)
Join D*action now. Find out what your vitamin D level is and take corrective action if necessary for your health.
Click here for more information on D*action
Vitamin D.
Conventional Doctors are Catching Vitamin D Craze
Heart Helper Inspired by Studies, Doctors Prescribing Higher Doses of Vitamin D:
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
01-05-09
This month, doctors at Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee began giving a mega-dose of 100,000 international units of vitamin D to all patients with chest pains. After that, they are advised to take 2,000 IU a day, said John Whitcomb, an emergency room physician with the hospital.
Other Aurora hospitals are considering doing the same thing, he said.
Given that the current recommendation for adults is 600 IU a day, that’s a considerable departure from the norm, although 2,000 IU a day is considered to be safe for adults.
More and more studies are linking vitamin D deficiency, which is common in large segments of the U.S. population, especially in the winter, to increased risk of heart disease and other ailments.
This month, a review article in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology came to a similar conclusion.
It said heart patients who have insufficient vitamin D levels should be treated with one dose of 50,000 IU a week for eight weeks. Pills of 50,000 IU generally are available only as a prescription. After eight weeks, patients can take 50,000 IU every two weeks, or 1,000 to 2,000 IU a day.
The authors recommended vitamin D3, which can be found over the counter at drugstores.
“Vitamin D supplementation is simple, safe and inexpensive,” the authors wrote.
Outdated guidelines?
James O’Keefe, co-author of the study and a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo., said the recommended amounts of vitamin D were established decades ago, when people spent more time outdoors.
Vitamin D is made in the skin when it is exposed to ultraviolet light. It is difficult to get adequate levels from food sources.
“There is a growing chorus from around the world that the (recommended daily allowance) is way too low,” said O’Keefe, who also is a professor of medicine at the University of Missouri- Kansas City.
An inexpensive blood test measures vitamin D levels. Many experts say levels between 21 and 29 nanograms per deciliter are insufficient, and levels less than 21 are deficient.
In Wisconsin, wintertime vitamin D levels appear to be low, according to a research article this year.
The study involved a sample of 71 women ages 70 and older whose vitamin D levels were measured between the winter of 2005 and the spring of 2006 in Madison.
The study found that 59% of the women had vitamin D levels of less than 30 ng/dl.
Several observational studies this year have focused on low levels of the vitamin and increased risk of heart disease:
- In a study involving 3,258 German heart patients, those in the lowest quarter for vitamin D blood levels had twice the risk of dying, especially from cardiovascular disease, compared with those in the top quarter.
- Harvard researchers studying 18,225 men found that those with vitamin D levels below 15 ng/dl were 2.4 times more likely to have a heart attack than those with levels above 30 ng/dl.
- Researchers followed 1,739 members of the Framingham Offspring Study for more than five years and found the rate of cardiovascular disease “events” such as heart attacks, strokes and heart failure was 53% to 80% higher in people with low levels of vitamin D in their blood.
All those studies were observational. What’s needed, experts say, are clinical trials.
‘Cheapest medicine’
In the meantime, Whitcomb, of Aurora Sinai, said many doctors in the Aurora health care system will be recommending vitamin D.
He noted that vitamin D is made in the cells of most living organisms. The vitamin is a hormone that can act on as many as 200 genes.
“This is life’s most fundamental hormone,” Whitcomb said. “It’s the cheapest medicine on the planet.”
Indeed, more cardiologists say they are becoming aware of the growing amount of vitamin D research.
One problem, though, is that, while studies consistently link low vitamin D levels to heart disease, there is no consensus on the best way to restore a person’s vitamin D levels, said Richard Staudacher, a cardiologist with ProHealth Care Medical Associates Cardiology in Waukesha.
However, because there is little danger from taking vitamin D, Staudacher said he will be testing his patients, and those with low levels probably will be offered doses similar to those recommended in the cardiology journal article.
That would include an initial prescription dose of 50,000 IU and a maintenance dose of about 2,000 IU a day, he said.
A person’s vitamin D level “is something all cardiologists should be aware of,” Staudacher said.
Copyright 2008, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)
2009.
2009 in preview?
This year I plan on employing the 80/20 rule and the KISS principle. The 80/20 rule states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the work. The KISS principle is Keep It Simple Stupid.
I am a perfectionist, and I try to be a jack-of-all-trades. I want to know everything about or be good at everything I’m interested in: martial arts, political theory, fitness, gymnastics, weightlifting, nutrition, health and wellness, Christianity, military warfare, etc. I have a ton of tabs open in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome; and, I have my desktop filled with saved webpage links and documents. I also have many, many blogs and websites favorited.
In 2008, my interests swayed over to the fitness and nutrition & health side. I struggled to live a balanced life. This year, I plan on balancing all my interests in a healthy manner. In order to be able to do this, I will employ the 80/20 rule. I have to learn how to use my time efficiently.
Chrisitianity & Spiritual Growth:
Bible
Desiring God Blog
A Man from Issachar Blog
Between Two Worlds Blog
Challies Dot Com Blog
Fitness:
Crossfit Forum & Journal
Performance Menu Forum & Journal
GymnasticBodies Forum
Body Recomposition Blog
The Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban
Nutrition and Health & Wellness:
Dr. Mercola’s Newsletters
Dr. Michael Eades Blog
News/Current Events:
Politico
Washington Post
Yahoo! News
Economics:
Greg Mankiw’s Blog
Military & Counterinsurgency:
Small Wars Journal
Other:
Tim Ferriss’s Blog
2008.
2008 in review
- growing pains (spiritual ups and downs)
- injuries (shin splints / lower back injury)
- fitness & health and nutrition obsession
- actually started reading books
