Open Letter to Congressman Griffith (D-AL) Regarding HR 875

Congressman Griffith,

I am writing to voice my opposition for HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.

This bill unnecessarily encumbers small to medium sized farms with excessive regulatory demands, which may even put many community farms out of business.

The Federal Government is already too involved in agriculture.  We need to allow the free market to work, in order to serve us best.

Putting smaller community farms out of business with unnecessary legislation will not make our food supply any safer.  In fact it will make it more dangerous, because consumers will be even further separated from the source of their food.

If a farm is producing unsafe food, then let the legal system take care of them.  The farmers can be liable for the penalties that are already in place under existing laws; no new bureaucracy is necessary.

I hope you will consider this when voting on this bill.

Regards,
Chris Case

Why You Should Filter Your Own Water

Many are concerned about the quality of their drinking water, so they buy bottled water. Many will even pay $1-3 dollars a gallon for drinking water; even going so far as buying water which was shipped from overseas.

I once had a roommate who frequently drank the imported “gourmet” San Pellegrino mineral water. Every day he would drink two or three bottles of the stuff. Funny thing is, when the guy finally left, I cleaned up his huge mess and filled two large green city trash cans (the kinds that the garbage trucks pick up like small dumpsters). There must have been a few hundred of them, which probably cost around a thousand dollars.

Just crunching a few numbers reveals that, even spending a dollar or two a day, is enough to justify purchasing a filter. If that isn’t enough, much of the bottled water is comparable if not worse than the water coming out of the tap.

Now the kind of filter I’m talking about isn’t a “Britta” or “Pur” filter, I’m talking about a filter that gets out the junk that those filters can’t. The filter you need to get, if you really want to clean your water, is a “reverse osmosis” water filter. These reverse osmosis filters remove Fluoride, Chlorine, Lead, Sediment; it removes 99% of the contaminants from the water.

If you get a decently priced, high quality system, such as the 5-stage filters at freedrinkingwater.com, you can filter your water for about 2 cents a gallon. So if you were to use 3 gallons of bottled water a day @ $0.79/gal versus reverse-osmosis water at $0.02/gal, you essentially save $0.77/gal which amounts to an $843 per year savings.

Once you buy the filter, the only other purchases are the replacement filters; which need replacing about once annually, and cost about $40. Its not much of a cost for having all of the clean water you can use for a year; and it encourages you to drink water, since it is readily available.

Bottled Water Found Contaminated with Medications, Fertilizer, Disinfection Chemicals

Natural News

(NaturalNews) Bottled water across the country contains a wide variety of toxic substances, according to laboratory tests conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

“Our tests strongly indicate that the purity of bottled water cannot be trusted,” the study authors write. “Given the industry’s refusal to make available data to support their claims of superiority, consumer confidence in the purity of bottled water is simply not justified.”

Researchers conducted comprehensive tests at the renowned University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory on 10 leading bottled water brands, purchased from retailers in nine states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). A total of 38 toxic pollutants were detected altogether, with each brand containing an average of eight. Chemicals detected included fluoride, byproducts of chlorine-based disinfection, caffeine, pharmaceutical drugs, fertilizer residue, plasticizers, solvents, fuel propellants, arsenic, other minerals and heavy metals, and radioactive isotopes. Four brands also contained bacteria.

More than a third of the chemicals detected are not regulated by the bottled water industry. Voluntary industry standards regulate the following two-thirds, but water purchased in five states and in D.C. contained levels of some carcinogens in excess of even the industry’s standards.

“In other words, this bottled water was chemically indistinguishable from tap water,” the authors write. “But with promotional campaigns saturated with images of mountain springs, and prices 1,900 times the price of tap water, consumers are clearly led to believe that they are buying a product that has been purified to a level beyond the water that comes out of the garden hose.”

Further analysis at the University of Missouri found that when applied to breast cancer cells, one brand of water led to a 78 percent increase in proliferation rate compared with untreated cells. The addition of estrogen-blocking chemicals noticeably reduced this effect.

“Though this result is considered a modest effect relative to the potency of some other industrial chemicals … the sheer volume of bottled water people consume elevates the health significance of the finding,” the researchers write.

The researchers were unable to determine if estrogen-mimics in the water came from the water itself or had leached out of the plastic bottle.

In accordance with standard scientific practice, the report does not name the brands tested. Exceptions were made for the brands Sam’s Choice (Wal-Mart) and Acadia (Giant), however, which contained toxin levels high enough to violate California law.

Samples of both brands tested positive for trihalomethanes, which have been linked to reproductive disorders and cancer. The chemicals form when water disinfectants react with pollution. The water also contained bromodichloromethane, a carcinogen regulated under California law. In response, EWG is preparing a lawsuit against Wal-Mart to require that Sam’s Choice water contain the legally required notice: “WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer.”

Acadia-brand water is not sold in California.

Bottled water purchased from these brands also exceeded the bottled water industry’s voluntary standards.

“The bottled water industry boasts that its internal regulations are stricter than the FDA bottled water regulations,” the researchers write, “but voluntary standards that companies are failing to meet are of little use.”

New Method of Life Extension Discovered

There are a number of relatively simple methods to lengthen life. Calorie restrictions via methods such as fasting and dietary restriction are highly accessible techniques, which can easily be done by anyone. Another method is to use anti-oxidant rich foods and supplements in your diet, such as fresh raw vegetables.

Now a new method has been discovered, which extends the anti-oxidant technique already in use. This method utilizes heavy water, which has anti-oxidant properties. According to the research already done on fruit flies, it doesn’t take much to have a major life-extending effect.

Could Drinking Heavy Atoms Lengthen Your Life?

source: mercola.com

In a back room of New Scientist’s offices in London, I sit down at a table with the Russian biochemist Mikhail Shchepinov. In front of us are two teaspoons and a brown glass bottle. Shchepinov opens the bottle, pours out a teaspoon of clear liquid and drinks it down. He smiles. It’s my turn.

I put a spoonful of the liquid in my mouth and swallow. It tastes slightly sweet, which is a surprise. I was expecting it to be exactly like water since that, in fact, is what it is – heavy water to be precise, chemical formula D2O. The D stands for deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen with an atomic mass of 2 instead of 1. Deuterium is what puts the heavy in heavy water. An ice cube made out of it would sink in normal water.

My sip of heavy water is the culmination of a long journey trying to get to the bottom of a remarkable claim that Shchepinov first made around 18 months ago. He believes he has discovered an elixir of youth, a way to drink (or more likely eat) your way to a longer life.

Many anti-aging medications are based on supplementing your body’s own defenses with antioxidant compounds such as vitamin C and beta-carotene, though there is scant evidence that this does any good.

Shchepinov realized there was another way to defeat free radicals. While he was familiarizing himself with research on aging, his day job involved a well-established – if slightly obscure – bit of chemistry called the isotope effect. On Christmas day 2006, it dawned on him that putting the two together could lead to a new way of postponing the ravages of time. Read the rest of this entry »

Vegan Lentil Pancakes Recipe

Lentil pancakes are far more healthy than the pancake mixes that are often used in food preparation. The food undergoes very little processing, aside from blending the ingredients, and it is quite economical to acquire the necessary organic ingredients. Read the rest of this entry »

Children of the Corn

Back in June of 2005, Credo Mutawa and David Icke had a fascinating discussion on the history of Africa; a subject which is rarely understood by many in the non-African world. If you look into this history, and past the dis-info peddled by academia and the globalist press, you may find that many great things have happened in Africa over the past few millenniums.

Listen: David Icke and Credo Mutawa: News for the Soul (June 25, 2005)

According to Credo Mutawa, many of the so-called “inventions” of the modern age such as vaccinations, processed food, and a corn-based diet, are actually spiritually blinding our people.

When you sit back and think about it, it really boggles the mind. Why did the members of our society decide, in such a minuscule interval of time, to begin obtaining our dietary calories from white bread and corn?

If anything, this shows just how susceptible we are to mass marketing. The mass consumption of corn, in all its many forms, by our people, only benefits the medical industry and big agribusiness, is quite harmful to the environment, it contributes to the ever-growing obesity epidemic, and it is chiefly responsible for the increase in type II diabetes.

If you look back in the history books, a few millenia from now, I think you hear of a society which ate too much corn and slaughtered too many animals. This way of life was able to expand to great heights, but lacking substance and sustainability, it quickly degenerated.

The people were constantly plagued with disease, so they utilized vaccines laced with mercury, formaldehyde, and aluminum, which themselves caused serious diseases. They sought the advice of “doctors” who further injured them with chemicals. They became fat, so they began eating chemical substitutes for the sweet tastes they were so addicted to.

They did everything… but solve the underlying problems. That is, perhaps, how we will be remembered.

Vegan Veggie Stir-Fry Recipe

Last night I made some veggie stir-fry that turned out pretty well. I shared it with a group of friends who seemed to enjoy it, so I am posting the recipe here for you.

In this recipe we are going to use a liberal amount of coconut oil (about 1/3 of a cup), and the base of this recipe consists of the following vegetables: broccoli, squash, onion, cabbage and tomato. The seasonings will consist, in order of strength, of: fresh ginger root, tumeric powder, curry powder and cayenne pepper. Read the rest of this entry »

The Untold Truth About Omega-3

Omega-3 fats, an essential fat for human health and well being, are often mis-represented in the health community. Many foods are labeled as if they will fulfill your Omega-3 needs, when, in fact, they have the wrong kind for your body’s needs.

Indeed most of us do not realize that all Omega-3’s are not created equal; the fats derived from animals are far more assimilable than those derived from plants, so it is important to, at the very least, eat some fish or supplement our diets with fish oils, if we choose to abstain from eating meat. The following article illustrates this beautifully.

Beware of Misleading Omega-3 Claims

Dr. Joseph Mercola | Mercola.com

If you’ve been following the positive research on omega-3 fats and have decided to add more of them to your diet, congratulations! You’ve just made an excellent decision for your health, as omega-3 fats are pivotal in preventing heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases.

However, not all omega-3 fats are the same, and the type and source of your omega-3 will make a big difference in the health benefits it provides.

There are three types of omega-3 fats:

• DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid)
• EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid)
• ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid)

Read the rest of this entry »

Locating the Darkness Within

For those of you who are curious, I ended up doing the last juice fast for 7 1/2 days, starting on the evening of October 4th and ending on the afternoon of the 12th. My friend Alex, who was also fasting, went about 5 days on this fast; pretty good for her first major fast

The experience was a powerful one, as you might imagine, I feel much more connected to everything now. These sorts of experiences have the potential to alter the very core of your being and call into a critical light the habits that we rarely expend any effort to contemplate during the normal course of our day.
Read the rest of this entry »

Herbs For Liver Detox

Source: WorldVillage

Our liver is the one of the most vital organs in our body. Our liver cleanses everything that is consumed or eaten by us. The liver along with our kidney helps excrete toxins and waste products from our body. Our liver also controls our blood sugar, cholesterol, and heart problems. Thus it is very important for us to take care of our liver and detox it regularly. Herbs for liver detox have proved to be the most beneficial treatment to cleanse our liver.

The liver performs many important tasks; however the most imperative task is to regulate the metabolism of fat in our body. It helps throw away the extra fat from our internal system in the bile. The fat in our body is caused due to various reasons such as, alcohol, fatty food, unhealthy diet, chemicals, drugs and so on, thus damaging the liver. All the extra fat that is accumulated in our liver prevents the organ from functioning in the appropriate way. There are many ways to detox our body, such as correct diet, healthy food and medication. However, herbs for liver detox have confirmed to be the best solution for liver damage.
Read the rest of this entry »

Juice Fasting!!

Went out to the store and bought enough Celery, Bok Choy and Carrots to last about a week. A friend and I started this fast on Friday we plan on doing this for as long as each of us feels we are capable. I think it would be great if I can keep the juice fast going for at least 10 days, which would put the ending at about October 15. If I’m still able to function reasonably well by then, there’s no reason to limit the experience, but 10 days seems like a reasonable goal to start with.

While most people that I’ve talked to seem to think that Juice fasts are very difficult, I firmly believe the difficulty lies in the mental aspects of such an endeavor. This kind of fasting still allows your body to have calories, depending on the juices selected, as well as many of the essential nutrients and vitamins.

My research indicates that juice fasts have the potential to get our bodies more nutrients than eating “normally.” The reason being, when we eat whole foods that are in liquid form, they are very easily assimilated into the body with very little strain on digestive system. Read the rest of this entry »