The Great Adderall Shortage of 2011, and the Natural Alternative
December 27, 2011
Good Lifestyle
By Amanda Hess
“The natural cure for ADHD is a gluten free diet. If only it was easier to convince people to just give it a shot. I guess taking Adderall is easier.” –KTRN
News of the Great Adderall Shortage of 2011 scared up trend pieces in Salt Lake City and Grand Rapids before spreading to the stimulant capitals of America—New York, Miami, Los Angeles—where shit got real. One user of the ADHD-prescribed drug described the lack of pills as “a horror.” Some people cried.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, Adderall and its generic imitators experienced “supply issues,” “increased demand,” “inadequate finished product,” and “uneven product distribution patterns” this year. The FDA maintains that “availability for all dosage strengths is adequate,” but the freakout over the reduced supply of one of the most over-prescribed drugs in the country showcased Americans’ need for alternative ways to stay focused. Hippie types have long championed a natural remedy for attention deficit disorder: just don’t eat wheat. No, medicine has not established the wheat-free diet as an real remedy for ADHD. But the trends say otherwise. After all, many people who consume Adderall don’t really have ADHD anyway. Some of us have work to do!
Click here for the full report.
New Powerful Painkiller Has Drug Abuse Experts Worried
December 27, 2011
Fox News
By Associated Press
“Whoo Hoo! Drug companies are hoping to invent new (even stronger) painkillers we can all become addicted to. Time to party!” –KTRN
Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of a highly abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse.
The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin. Four companies have begun patient testing, and one of them — Zogenix of San Diego — plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.
If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone. Existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen.
Critics say they are especially worried about Zohydro, a timed-release drug meant for managing moderate to severe pain, because abusers could crush it to release an intense, immediate high.
“I have a big concern that this could be the next OxyContin,” said April Rovero, president of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse. “We just don’t need this on the market.”
OxyContin, introduced in 1995 by Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Connecticut, was designed to manage pain with a formula that dribbled one dose of oxycodone over many hours.
Abusers quickly discovered they could defeat the timed-release feature by crushing the pills. Purdue Pharma changed the formula to make OxyContin more tamper-resistant, but addicts have moved onto generic oxycodone and other drugs that do not have a timed-release feature.
Click here for the full report.
Are You Ready For Ubiquitous Surveillance By Big Brother?
December 27, 2011
Kurzweilai
For the first time ever, it will become technologically and financially feasible for authoritarian governments to record nearly everything that is said or done within their borders — every phone conversation, electronic message, social media interaction, the movements of nearly every person and vehicle, and video from every street corner. Governments with a history of using all of the tools at their disposal to track and monitor their citizens will undoubtedly make full use of this capability once it becomes available.
So says Recording Everything: Digital Storage as an Enabler of Authoritarian Governments, a Brookings report.
“Plummeting digital storage costs will soon make it possible for authoritarian regimes to not only monitor known dissidents, but to also store the complete set of digital data associated with everyone within their borders,” the report says. “These enormous databases of captured information will create what amounts to a surveillance time machine, enabling state security services to retroactively eavesdrop on people in the months and years before they were designated as surveillance targets. This will fundamentally change the dynamics of dissent, insurgency and revolution.”
Case in point: When Moammar Gadhafi’s forces lost control of Tripoli, it was found that equipment enabled Libya’s state security apparatus to capture and archive “30 to 40 million minutes” of telephone conversations every month and to regularly read e-mails exchanged among activists.
Click here for the full report.
Why Neo-Cons Hate Ron Paul’s Honest Foreign Policy
December 27, 2011 by William
Filed under Government
December 27, 2011
Alt Market
“Ron Paul’s foreign policy is right on the money.” –KTRN
By Jeremy R. Hammond
Ron Paul is “the best-known American propagandist for our enemies”, writes Dorothy Rabinowitz in a recent Wall Street Journal hit piece. To support the charge, she writes that Dr. Paul “assures audiences” that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 “took place only because of U.S. aggression and military actions”. It’s “True,” she writes, that “we’ve heard the assertions before”, but only “rarely have we heard in any American political figure such exclusive concern for, and appreciation of, the motives of those who attacked us”—and, she adds, he doesn’t care about the victims of the attacks.
The vindictive rhetoric aside, what is it, exactly, that Ron Paul is guilty of here? It is completely uncontroversial that the 9/11 attacks were a consequence of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. The 9/11 Commission Report, for instance, points out that Osama bin Laden “stresses grievances against the United States widely shared in the Muslim world. He inveighed against the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam’s holiest sites. He spoke of the suffering of the Iraqi people as a result of sanctions imposed after the Gulf War, and he protested U.S. support of Israel.”
Notice that Rabinowitz doesn’t actually deny that the 9/11 attacks were motivated by such U.S. policies as these. Rather, Ron Paul’s sin is that he actually acknowledges this truth. The fact that other political figures choose to ignore or deny this fact hardly reflects poorly on Dr. Paul. Refusing to bury one’s head deeply up one’s arse, as Rabinowitz is so obviously willing to do, is hardly a character trait to be faulted.
From this position of willful ignorance, Rabinowitz then implores her readers that “a President Paul” would “be making decisions about the nation’s defense, national security, domestic policy and much else.” The conclusion one is supposed to draw is that anyone who could actually acknowledge the ugly truth that 9/11 was a consequence of U.S. foreign policy isn’t fit for office; only someone who is willing to delude him or herself that the U.S. was attacked because “they hate our freedoms” is worthy of the presidency. Anyone who wishes to change U.S. foreign policy is unfit; only a person who is willing to continue the status quo should be allowed a seat in the Oval Office.
Rabinowitz warns that “The world may not be ready for another American president traversing half the globe to apologize for the misdeeds of the nation he had just been elected to lead.” It’s not clear who she has in mind with the “another”, but it’s by now a familiar refrain. “I’ll never apologize for the United States of America. Ever. I don’t care what the facts are,” President George H. W. Bush declared to the world after a U.S. warship had shot down an Iranian civilian airliner in Iranian airspace, killing all 290 passengers aboard, including 65 children. Surely, any president willing to apologize for the murder of innocent children must not lead the nation. The horror of the thought!
Click here for the full report.
Squatters Say Foreclosed Homes Beat Homeless Shelters
December 27, 2011
Los Angeles Times
By Tina Susman
Reporting from New York — Slips of paper are pasted to the broken door of the corner row house, violations for the garbage piled near the front steps. The stench of trash wafts up the dark interior stairway, where an ashtray filled with cigarette butts sits like an abandoned potted plant on the second-floor landing.
Nobody lives here, at least not officially.
But as you climb the narrow stairs to the top floor, a door opens into an airy apartment that is home to Tasha Glasgow, who is part of a largely invisible population of squatters occupying vacant homes across America. Given their clandestine lives, it’s impossible to say how many people are squatting in this country, but with more than 1.3 million homes in foreclosure and hundreds of thousands of people homeless, advocates say it’s safe to assume the number is growing.
“You have these abandoned dwellings that are sitting there vacant, sometimes for many months,” said Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless in New York, where shelters are reporting record numbers of residents. “It’s not an issue of whether squatting is right or wrong. The fact is that people are desperate for places to live, and they’re going to do what they need to do.”
New York would seem to offer an ideal setting for squatters, with its ubiquitous apartment blocs providing safe hiding for people who can’t afford the sky-high rents or stomach life in the shelters. The cutoff of funding this year for a program called Advantage, which helped needy renters pay for housing, has deepened the dilemma for people like Glasgow, 30, who has two children, one of them autistic.
Her 9-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy have been taught to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of life in a squat, which is a bit like life during wartime.
There is no heat. Empty jugs sit on the kitchen counter, waiting to be filled when the water comes on. Toilet-flushing and bathing are timed according to the faucets’ erratic flow. Bare bulbs jut from ceiling fixtures, the wood floors are bare of carpeting, and tattered drapes cover the windows. There are none of the signs of regular family life: no dishes in the sink from the last meal, no dining table, no mail to be opened.
Still, it’s better than a shelter. “I didn’t want to be in a shelter. It was depressing. I wasn’t getting support trying to find a place to live,” said Glasgow, who has occupied this apartment near the ocean, on the foggy tip of Queens, on and off since 2007.
Click here for the full report.
THE ASSAULT ON AMERICAN FINANCIAL PRIVACY GOES ON
December 27, 2011
Mountain Vision
By Bernarda Pesantez
We have just recently been made aware of new reporting guidelines. Clearly, at this point, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and possibly the Treasury Department too, want to know about EVERYTHING you have…EVERYWHERE. The time of keeping assets out of government´s sight in compliance with the rules of that government appear to be over.
We have periodically alerted our Moutaineers to increasingly strict and intrusive international tax regulations. In particular, we discussed American regulations, since many of our readers are Americans and because, unfortunately, other OECD countries tend to follow the Americans´ lead in this context, as in the context of other matters…
Reporting Instructions for Form 8938
In spring, we updated you on the final rules regarding the US FBAR reporting requirements. Furthermore, in May, we gave you some guidelines and instructions on how to complete the FBAR for your international insurance policies, since a number of questions came up in that regard.
Finally, a few months ago, we alerted you to a new IRS / Treasury form in its draft state: the IRS / TDF form 8938. This form, contrary to the FBAR (TDF 90-22.1), is not a Treasury Department form. It is a joint form of the IRS and the Treasury Department and the form requests information on all of your foreign assets, not just ‘foreign bank accounts´.
In November, the IRS has issued “Instructions for Form 8938″. After quietly releasing a draft version of the new form titled ‘Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets´, they have provided instructions that now leave little doubt: US persons will be required to report all worldwide assets subject to exceptions and applicable threshold amounts.
I recommend you take a close look at the actual form and instructions linked here. Also, be sure to read the following article, The Assault on Financial Privacy Goes On, contributed by our friend Kevin Brekke, an editor at Casey Research and a contributing editor to International Man.
Click here for the full report.
20 Pain Cures You Can Find in Your Kitchen
December 27, 2011
I Village
By Brenda Kearns
“No need to reach for aspirin or Tylenol anymore. Try ginger instead.” –KTRN
Make muscle pain a memory with ginger
When Danish researchers asked achy people to jazz up their diets with ginger, it eased muscle and joint pain, swelling and stiffness for up to 63 percent of them within two months. Experts credit ginger’s potent compounds called gingerols, which prevent the production of pain-triggering hormones. The study-recommended dose: Add at least 1 teaspoon of dried ginger or 2 teaspoons of chopped ginger to meals daily.
Heal sinus problems with horseradish
Latest studies show sinusitis is the nation’s number one chronic health problem. And this condition doesn’t just spur congestion and facial pain, it also makes sufferers six times more likely to feel achy all-over. Horseradish to the rescue! According to German researchers, this eye-watering condiment naturally revs up blood flow to the sinus cavities, helping to open and drain clogged sinuses and heal sinus infections more quickly than decongestant sprays do. The study-recommended dose: One teaspoon twice daily (either on its own, or used as a sandwich or meat topping) until symptoms clear.
Click here for the full report.
New Bill Could Strip TSA Agents Of Power
December 27, 2011
Aol News
By Claire Gordon
“Finally some good news regarding the TSA.” –KTRN
Balancing security and freedom has been a defining debate of the last 10 years. And no one has been more in the crosshairs than the Transportation Security Administration agent. He’s finally gone too far, according to a new bill that was introduced on Thursday, called: “Stop TSA’s Reach in Policy Act,” or “STRIP Act.”
If passed, the legislation would “strip” agents of their police-like uniforms, badges and the title of “officer,” to cut them down to size, and empower travelers to resist potential abuses of power.
“Congress has sat idly by as the TSA strip-searches 85-year-old grandmothers in New York, pats down 3-year-olds in Chattanooga and checks colostomy bags for explosives in Orlando. Enough is enough!” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in a statement. “The least we can do is end this impersonation, which is an insult to real cops.”
The Transportation Security Administration is one invention of the post-9/11 era, along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to which the agency belongs. Before then, passengers and their baggage were screened by private employees who were contracted by airlines.
In 2003, TSA’s army of 43,000 “screeners” were renamed “Transportation Security Officers.” According to the careers and jobs community Glassdoor, the agents make an average of $35,000 a year.
In 2008, their uniform was redesigned to project a more professional image. The white shirts were shed for the kind of blue shirts associated with police and were adorned with a shiny badge. Other requirements: “Trousers will have a front crease that meets the top of the shoe with a slight break and the back crease stops 1 inch above the heel.”
Click here for the full report.
Scientists Discover The Oldest, Largest Body Of Water In Existence–In Space
December 27, 2011 by William
Filed under Unexplained
December 27, 2011
Fast Company
By Charles Fishman
“This is way cool. Imagine what weird life forms are floating around in this lake in the middle of space.” –KTRN
Scientists have found the biggest and oldest reservoir of water ever–so large and so old, it’s almost impossible to describe.
The water is out in space, a place we used to think of as desolate and desert dry, but it’s turning out to be pretty lush.
Researchers found a lake of water so large that it could provide each person on Earth an entire planet’s worth of water–20,000 times over. Yes, so much water out there in space that it could supply each one of us all the water on Earth–Niagara Falls, the Pacific Ocean, the polar ice caps, the puddle in the bottom of the canoe you forgot to flip over–20,000 times over.
The water is in a cloud around a huge black hole that is in the process of sucking in matter and spraying out energy (such an active black hole is called a quasar), and the waves of energy the black hole releases make water by literally knocking hydrogen and oxygen atoms together.
The official NASA news release describes the amount of water as “140 trillion times all the water in the world’s oceans,” which isn’t particularly helpful, except if you think about it like this.
That one cloud of newly discovered space water vapor could supply 140 trillion planets that are just as wet as Earth is.
Click here for the full report.
The Way The World And Free-Market Economics Works
December 26, 2011
Forbes
By Peter Ferrara
In President Obama’s now notorious December 6 Hugo Chavez speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, he characterized the alternative to his redistributionist Obamanomics as, “The market will take care of everything. If only we cut more regulations and cut more taxes – especially for the wealthy – our economy will grow stronger. Sure, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everyone else. And even if prosperity doesn’t trickle down, they argue, that’s the price of liberty.”
But this is just shadow boxing with strawmen. Free market economics is not about a few winners doing really well and then prosperity trickling down to everyone else. President Kennedy understood what the miseducated Obama doesn’t. As Kennedy explained the American experience since the early 1700s, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” The booming economic growth of the free market is the only means of benefitting working people and the poor, far more effective than counterproductive redistribution, which only retards the prosperity of working people, and consigns the poor to a lifetime of dependency.
But Obama says of the free market, “It doesn’t work. It’s never worked. It didn’t work when it was tried in the decade before the Great Depression. It’s not what led to the incredible post-war boom of the 50s and 60s. And it didn’t work when we tried it during the last decade.”
Click here for the full report.
