The View From the Outback© 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
A great deal of what we read in newspapers, magazines, and books, and what we see in the movies and on TV is written and produced in New York City or Los Angeles. Much of the "political wisdom" comes from the PR machines of the White House, the Congress, and from the Washington media corps. In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood. I am now a senior citizen. My experience was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries. That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 13 years. Every couple of weeks I will attempt to post a new set of musings from the Outback. Click on a Topic to go directly to that topic. Those who continue to say that the Bush administration lied to us about WMD in Iraq, or that the CIA is completely inept, should find a copy of the speech given by CIA chief, George Tenet, at Georgetown University, on February 5th, 2004. A copy of the speech is on the CIA.gov Web site. And read the article on "Opinion Journal" (WSJ) www.opinionjournal.com on February 7, 2004 by R. James Woolsey, a former director of CIA. Mr. Tenet gave an honest appraisal of the CIA's track record in several areas of terrorism, including the WMD dilemma in Iraq. In 50 years, I cannot recall a more open, honest (as far as I am concerned), and revealing look at the work of the CIA. The U.S. was not alone in saying that Iraq has WMD just prior to our invasion. Mr. Tenet spoke of some of the successes, such as how we and British intelligence knew nearly exactly what Libya had in the way of WMD. And how the CIA was the negotiator with Libya to forsake its WMD programs, including nuclear. Part of the negotiation hinged on CIA and the Brits laying their cards on the table and saying, "this is what we know you have." Mr. Tenet said: "Intelligence also knew that Libya was working with North Korea to get longer-range ballistic missiles. And we learned all of this through the powerful combination of technical intelligence, careful and painstaking analytic work, operational daring and, yes, the kind of human intelligence that people have led the American people to believe we no longer have." In his article Mr. Woolsey speaks at length about the difficulty of deciphering the intelligence on WMD in Iraq, where even generals were under the impression that even though his unit had no chemical weapons, units on his left and right flank had them. The internal deception within Iraq about WMD was so great that not even those high up in command fully understood the situation. How, then, could outside intelligence agencies, in the U.S. and abroad, make any sense out of this? If you read nothing else about the WMD situation, read Tenet's speech on the CIA Web Site. It was a masterful and revealing speech. Fidel Castro has accused President Bush of attempting to kill him. Referring to a possible U.S. invasion of Cuba, Castro said: "But rest assured, if they invade us, I'll die in combat." Fidel, baby, such words of bravado from cruel dictators have lost their impact since Saddam Hussein's long verbal tirades about how he and every Iraqi would fight the Americans to the death in the streets of Baghdad. One would hope that Castro has a more nicely-appointed hideout from the Americans than the spider hole of Saddam. At least Fidel ought to have TV, some rum, some black beans and rice, a gun he won't use, and an exploding cigar - compliments of the CIA. Maria Shriver, whose husband Arnold is governor of Kalifornya, did the right thing to resign her job at NBC. I hate to rain on her magnanimous gesture, but I can't remember her doing anything on the TV that most of us would miss. My memory of her is reading from a teleprompter introducing segements done by other people. I must have missed all those hard-hitting in-depth journalism pieces that she is renowned (?) for. She was a magnificent campaigner and stump speaker. So, we know who is really the governor of Kalifornya. She makes Hillary look like a kid on a high-school debate team by comparison. The MyDoom/Novarg worm visited my e-mail Inbox, but I did not get infected. First, each day, I have begun checking www.news.com (CNet) - or other up-to-date computer sites - before I even think of downloading e-mail. Perhaps one of the best sites has just come online at www.us-cert.gov, where you can read about the latest cyber threats and subscribe to an e-mail list that will alert you to new threats. If there is a hint that a new virus is loose, I update my anti-virus definitions, even though I have Norton set to automatically alert me for updates. Next, if I receive a suspicious e-mail, I run Quick View Plus and look at the e-mail in a viewer (which will not allow it to "fire"). When I saw that I obviously had been graced with a MyDoom message, with attachment, I deleted it. And I went to where I store my e-mail attachments and deleted the MyDoom attachment, which contained the worm's payload. Next, I emptied the Recycle Bin. Outlook users should deleted the "Deleted Items" folder. Then, I went to my ISP mail server via WebMail and deleted the original e-mail from the server. Now that I know that I am actually susceptible to MyDoom, after I check for anti-virus updates, I go immediately to WebMail to see if I have another gift, and if so delete it right on the ISP's server. You can also delete mail at your Yahoo or Hotmail account before reading it. It's a lot of work, but so is trying to undo the mess created by some of the sophisticated viruses and worms. A new variation of MyDoom, MyDoom.B, attempts to block access to some anti-virus update sites. It is also said that some variants of it are able to infect a computer by the simple act of reading the e-mail and not even opening an attachment. All the more reason to take a look at the mail waiting on the ISP server, via use of WebMail, and delete suspicious messages before you ever think of pressing the "get mail" button on your e-mail software. And once again, buy a cheap used computer and devote it solely to e-mail. Back your e-mail to a floppy, Zip disk, or external hard drive (and then turn the HD off, or pull the USB cable). If "they" get your computer, they get garbage. I keep e-mails in a backup folder as far back as 1998, but have now encrypted those files and may start encrypting my current e-mail directories and address book. Then, if an e-mail mining worm or virus does get into my computer, it won't be able to send e-mail in my name to everybody with whom I have ever exchanged an e-mail. Howard Dean almost had me convinced that he was the savior of the World, with insights into economic issues, foreign policy, and so on. Then, I noted an article that pointed out that Vermont, where Gov. Dean enjoyed a good reputation for getting things done, has a population of 600,000. They are 49th in population, beating out only Wyoming. Both are lovely states and are inhabited by solid citizens with good sets of values. But, the Mayor of Dallas has more responsibility than the Gov. of Vermont, including working in a city that is at least half minorities. Her budget is probably bigger than that of Vermont. On second thought, Howard Dean appears more like a kid who was high-school class president who says that qualifies him to be governor. Don't be surprised when the voters figure out that Howard Dean is all hat with no cattle, as they say in the Lone Star state. Gen. Wesley Clark's only previous political experience was running for Student Council Home Room Representative in the 12th grade. He lost by one vote because he voted for his opponent and his opponent voted for himself. Gen. Clark made up for that by becoming the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, among other things. After coming in a distant fourth in the Iowa Caucuses, Cong. Dick Gephardt has dropped out of the presidential race. Among my many comments in 2002 and earlier about Gephardt's lack of chance of becoming the Democratic candidate, I quote from the Outback for Nov. 7, 2002: Congressman Ralph Hall (D. Texas) is switching to the Republican side. I guess it took Ralphie a long time to digest my remarks of Nov. 24, 2002. Of course, he never read the Outback - as far as I know. In the Outback for that date, I said: Years ago, I exchanged some correspondence with Cong. Hall on a few articles I had written about gun control in the Dallas papers (I was against any more gun laws than the 20,000 we had.) Ralph Hall agreed with me. He came to be the speaker for our Chamber of Commerce dinner in Honey Grove (pop. about 1800). At the conclusion of his speech, which sounded more Conservative than Liberal, I got to him first and mentioned that we had exchanged letters on gun control, etc. We stood for quite a while, in deep conversation, talking on a wide variety of subjects, with a lot of affirmative nodding. No doubt he was just happy that there was somebody who did not want to ask him about farm subsidies. The local news photographer took a picture of Cong. Hall and I together. I lived outside of town and kept a pretty low profile, but happened to be sitting at dinner next to a dear lady friend who was a school principal. The photographer sidled up to my friend and said, "Beverly, I should know who that is. What is his name?" Beverly spelled my name for her and the photo appeared in the local paper. To this day, that lady who took the picture has no idea of who I am or my background. It tickles my funny bone, since I have done some newspaper writing and a lot of photography. She missed about 211 great stories for the paper, if she had taken the time to find out some of the experiences I had in my working life - in my five careers. I gave my only speech in recent years in a town about 100 miles from here - to maintain my low profile around here. For decades, my favorite steak and burger sauce was Heinz 57. Somehow I got off on a barbecue sauce kick. The other day I reached for a bottle of Heinz 57 on the grocery-store shelf. Yikes! The price was astronomical. What magic ingredient have they added to jack the price up so high? Then, a second thought struck me. Sen. John Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz, heir to the Heinz fortune. Buying a bottle of Heinz 57 is tantamount to making a contribution to Sen. John Kerry's campaign. Hand me another bottle of Bullseye BBQ sauce partner. Above, I mentioned the high price of Heinz 57 steak sauce. I compared the labels and the price on the 10-ounce Heinz 57 with Wal-Mart's house brand, Great Value Thick & Zesty Steak sauce. The ingredients are essentially the same, with some in different order (ingredients usally are listed in the order of their percentage of the formula). The Heinz 57 was $2.98 and the Wal-Mart Thick & Zesty was $1.47. At half the price, the Thick & Zesty tastes good to me. Adding to an impressive list of failures for Norm McDonald, FOX has cancelled his show "A Minute with Stan Hooper." I have said it for years, this man has not one scintilla of talent, comedic or otherwise. When is somebody going to face facts and tell Norm to go back to his job as a waiter or busboy, or whatever it was he did before he was mistakenly given his first TV job? A 17-year-old Canadian youth, named Mike Rowe, registered domain name of www.MikeRoweSoft.com and Microsoft is bringing its full legal power to bear on the kid. They say his site infringes on their name and is in violation of copyright law. Horsecrap. Microsoft, you petty-ass bullies, go away and leave the kid alone. First they offered him $10 to give up the name! His intelligence insulted, he countered with $10,000. He should have asked for $10 million. I don't think there is any real legal argument here in favor of Microsoft, but they will try to sue the kid and force him to give up the domain name. Tell 'em where they can stick it Mike. We are on your side. You ought to get a prize for creative thinking. And hold out for $10 million. Is there a Microwsoft.com? I typed that in and got no Web page, just a search page. A WHOIS indicates that it is registered so an entity in NY state. I'll take a wild guess that that entity is used by Microsoft to register or buy previous registrations that could in the most remote sense be confused with Microsoft. Maybe if their software were more reasonably priced, they were not so predatory, and they made some attempt at good customer relations, not quite so many virus writers would target Microsoft software. Recently, I met a 90-year-old woman. When introduced, I asked her to repeat her last name, as I did not remember it when she said it. She said, "Ford, like the Model-T." Ok. I won't ever forget that. The Model-T was built from 1908 to about 1927, so it is possible that Ms. Ford's father owned one, and she may have driven one. I'll have to ask her. I was so taken aback by what she considered to be a "timely reference" to the Model-T, that I did not pursue the subject further. Like VCRs and CDs of today, the Model-T prices dropped sharply over the years, from about $1000 to $300. I had a buddy in high school who had a Model-A Roadster, with a rumble seat in the rear, but I never rode in a Model-T. A "rumble seat" was a folding seat at the outside rear of early cars, in the position now occupied by the trunk. Keiko the whale, who was 27, died after the sudden onset of pneumonia. He was old for an Orca in captivity. Wild Ocra live an average of 35 years. Here is an excerpt from the Outback for Sept. 30, 2002 (www.home.earthlink.net/~rickhgtx/outbac67.html): Prof. Brian Wansink, Univ. of Illinois, has done some ground-breaking research. After considerable research, he has concluded that if people are presented large portions of food - more than they need - they will eat it all. Then, they get fat. Gracious! What a novel concept. If I were the entity that funded this stupid research, I would never give this guy another penny. Professor, get a real job and do something significant with your life. For years I had heard the admonition about not putting magnetic binder clips on the side of your computer to hold notes and so on. I ignored this and had about five magnets on the side of my tower. For several months, I had trouble booting. Only part of my startup programs would load. Then, I moved the computer to another location and in the process took all the magnets off for the trip. When I booted the computer, all was well. The magnets are now on the filing cabinet. A man was found dead inside the wheel well of an airliner that landed in New York. Note to all who might consider this means of "economy-class" transportation. You cannot survive at 30,000 feet unless you are inside the pressurized and heated portion of the aircraft. The wheel well is where the wheels are stored during flight. The tires don't have to breath Oxygen to survive and they can survive -20 degress. You do and you can't. The TV show JEOPARDY! has been dumbed down so much in the recent years that on an average night I know about 4-5 answers that the contestants do not. I am no student of history, have never been interested in movie trivia, know little about classic literature, practically nothing from Greek mythology, and so on. But, I have lived for more than 7 decades, have lived, worked, or traveled in about 30 countries - and had about six occupations. The questions that I get right - that the contestants do not - have to do with just living life, being observant of your surroundings, thinking logically, and so on. One example: "To make amends. It sounds like what you hear when you pick up a phone." Blank, really blank, stares from the panel. "What is Atone?" (a tone) Most contestants can spit out facts that are found in encyclopedias, historical works, various types of novels, and books of facts. The ones they most often miss are not in a book! My point is; there is more to getting an education than memorizing a huge mass of facts. Our law librarian once said, "There are hundreds of thousands of law books in here. You cannot possibly memorize them all. Your job is to learn the principles of the law, so that you can conduct an intelligent search for the answers to your queries." And so in life. It is not how many facts you have memorized, but it is how logically you think that makes the difference between success or failure. Can you solve a new problem by connecting together bits of information from several similar problems to arrive at a new conclusion? They call them detectives on TV. And that is what we all are - just detectives trying to make sense out of seemingly unconnected facts. While visiting with my son and family, I was again struck by the obsession that young children have with video games. They even played them after breakfast on the DishNetwork TV screen. I have Dish and did not know there were games on there. When I commented on this non-stop video games, my daughter-in-law, who has a degree in Special Ed said, "What were you doing when you were twelve years old?" Hmmmm. Playing every sport there was, listening to the radio, going to the symphony for 25 cents on kids day, playing the drums, doing a lot of school homework, and probably reading some comic books. But, I surely wasn't playing video games hours a day. I mentioned something to the boys about a show I saw on TV about the Berlin Wall. They had never heard of it! So now, I am going to send them a list of topics to research - on their CD encyclopedias and on the Internet. Such as: How did the US get into World War II and did we do well? What was the Enola Gay and what was its significance? Who were we fighting in the Korean War and how did that come out? Who were we fighting in Vietnam? Did we win? What was the "Secret War in Laos" all about (where grandpa served with the CIA and your father was there at about your age)? What is the main job of the FBI, the Secret Service, the BATF (now changed names again, I guess), the CIA, and the State Department? Was are some of the functions of the FCC, the EPA, the FTC, the FDA, and the SEC? What is the "Endangered Species Act" and what are some problem areas with the law? Read the U.S. Constitution about a dozen times, and ask me questions if any come to mind. How are mutual funds, stocks and bonds different from each other? By the time I am through, the kids will dread to see me coming or they will so damn excited about actually learning things that affect - or will affect - their lives, that they may end up e-mailing me their reports. Video games are a nice diversion now and then. But just think about how much more prepared for life our kids (and young adults) would be if they tried to spend some time learning new things and learning how to solve problems logically - rather than spend several hours a day trying to blow things up or shoot someone on a monitor screen. Hall-of-Fame catcher Carlton Fisk was one of four guests on with Tim Russert. Carlton despised "Neon" Deion Sanders (as do I) when Deion played baseball. He said Deion used to come to the plate and draw a dollar sign in the dirt with his bat, among other things that rankled Fisk, who played until he was 45 years old. At one point from his catching position, with Deion at the plate, he challenged Deion to act like a major league player instead of showboating and thinking only of himself. Fisk said Deion would hit a popup and just stand there. Fisk would yell at him, "Run it out!" During one at bat, some words were exchanged and Fisk said that if Deion did not straighten up, he, Fisk, would kick Deion's ass right there. Oh, what a wonderful story that was. I rewound that portion and played it twice. It was even better the second time. Deion Sanders epitomizes what is wrong with pro sports today. Too bad that Fisk did not knock him on his ass in front of 50,000 people or so. Tim asked Yogi when he knew it was time to hang it up. Yogi said that it was when a pitcher whom he never had trouble hitting struck him out three times. If you see a rerun of this program and care at all about baseball, watch it. California and Texas, along with several other states, have passed Identity Theft laws to protect the confidentiality of Social Security numbers for state residents. The laws restrict the use of Social Security numbers (SSN) as customer identifiers by non-governmental entities and individuals. Other states are expected to follow. Recently, I got a private medical insurance card which had substituted a unique ID number in place of my Social Security number. There is a bill in Congress that would require the Social Security Administration to issue NEW SS numbers to everyone. I, and untold numbers of others, have been pleading for that for years. By the way, on one of the privacy sites, there are rules cited about private firms asking you for your SS number, other than to make out a tax-withholding form, etc. It ain't quite Kosher. Always refuse and see how you do. The water department lady asked me for my SS #, and she already had my DL number. There were others in a nearby line. I hesitated and asked for a scrap of paper, upon which I was going to write my SS# - rather than say it out loud. When the lady saw my discomfort, she said, "It is optional." Now, you tell me. I put the pen down. I have never been asked to exhibit my SS card, so I keep it in a safe and the number in my head. Experts say never to carry you Social Security card with you, in case you lose your wallet or purse. Do you carry your Medicare card with you? Those geniuses use your SS# for your claim number! On the back of the card it says "Carry your card with you when you are away from home." They must presume that you will not need your Medicare card around the house. I just now took my Medicare card out of my wallet. I am a slow learner. I scanned my Medicare card and my supplemental policy card and printed a color sheet with all the info, plus my contact information. I present that COLOR sheet to doctors and others who require medical insurance info. I even increased the size of the cards on the printed sheet for easier reading. Never has anyone asked me for my original cards. Everyone says, "Oh, I've never seen anything like this before. Let me make a copy." ---- "No, that is your copy." With the low-carb diets so popular and the Mad Cow case, what does that leave you to eat? Eggs! Fish, especially those rich in Omega 3 fats, such as Salmon, Sardines, Albacore Tuna, etc. And the ever-popular Soy protein powder to make delicious fruit shakes. Then there are fruits and veggies. You remember them, the green, yellow and red things you pass by on the way to the donut counter. Given that mad cow disease has about a three-year or more incubation period, the Holstein was probably infected around 1999 or 2000. How many other cows have been infected during that approximately 3-year incubation period? Is it time for Oprah to stand up and say, "I am not ever going to eat another steak or hamburger." She beat the case once. She can do it again. Rib-eye anyone? That's what I am having for dinner, cooked on my new HSN.net Wolfgang Puck grill. The WTC Replacement - The Freedom Tower - Make Up Your Minds!I'm like a dog with a bone, when I am on some subject and think I am right. I have written several times about the idiocy of the final design for the new World Trade Center and the New York obsession with having the tallest buildings. I was not alone. The building, dubbed the "Freedom Tower," will be the world's tallest at 1,776 (remember that year?) feet when completed by the end of 2008. But, offices will only be up to the "about" the 70 floor, with the rest of the structure being cable suspension and froo-frah to "make a statement" and some wind turbines to provide about 20% of the electrical needs for the complex. There will be an observatory at "about" the 70th floor. With broadcast antennas, the structure will top out at over 2,000 feet. Apparently, the "rules of the game" for "tallest building" say that an antenna can't count as part of the height. There are rules, yet? I wonder how much they will charge for second-floor office space versus space on the 70th floor? If I worked in New York, I would refuse to work on any floor that was higher than the surrounding buildings. None of the media reports, from big-name sources, agreed on how many floors of office space there would be. My conclusion: It will "about 70 floors of office space." One report said: The tower would include 70 stories of office space and a 276-foot spire and would be topped by broadcast antennas. The 71st and 72nd levels would contain restaurants and the 73rd level would be a viewing floor. You guys work in New York. Can't any of you get a peek at the drawings? If they start the leasing process now, we may find that the building ends up with about 60 floors of office space. Who knows? One report stated: "Only the first 70 floors would actually be occupied, a tacit admission that people might not want to work in a building so much higher than those around it .... Overall, the building would not look much like Libeskind's original design, chosen in February after a long public contest." Thank God for the last sentence. The original design was an abomination. Millions of design bucks down the drain. They should have asked a few of us here in the Outback - with no New York bias about monstrous and garish buildings. We could have told them and saved a lot of money. Now, after more money was spent on a variety of designs for the WTC Memorial, a plan has been chosen. Immediately, there were critics. Those in charge say that even this "final plan" may evolve (read that as change in design due to pressures) before it is finally constructed. As the heading here says, "Make Up Your Minds!" The Food PyramidOver the years, I have written about the Cholesterol myths, about how the cholesterol in egg yolks does not increase your serum cholesterol, and so on. That there is too much heart surgery, that fasting is good for you, and so forth. My conclusion from more than 30 years of research and practical experience - is: the medical community, the government, agricultural interests, food producers, and soft-drink producers - and all their flacks and PR machines have been feeding us a load of crap for years. What follows is well-documented, and I will give you the sources, with solid reference material for you to continue your quest to avoid some of the biggest deceptions - which we have been taught to take as gospel. There will also be personal observations based on about 30 years of studying nutrition and diet, (some in a formal setting), tracking my blood chemistry, a lot by research, and information gleaned by subsisting on every type of diet known to man, from vegetarian to Atkins to fasting. No purging or laxatives, etc. I never sunk that low in my quest for the perfect diet and ideal weight. The Food Pyramid Here is a little history on the Food Pyramid, with material drawn in large part from Marion Nestle's book, "Food Politics." Ms. Nestle (Ph.D, M.P.H.) is Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and served on the 1995 Advisory Committee charged with updating the Food Pyramid (by law, if must be reviewed every five years). And contributions from "The Modern Nutritional Diseases," by Alice Ottoboni, Ph.D, and husband Fred Ottoboni, M.P.H, Ph.D., whose expertise is in biology, health sciences, public health, and the prevention of disease.
In April of 1991, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was ready to publish "The Eating Right Pyramid." The recently appointed Secretary of USDA, Edward R. Madigan, blocked the publication of the guide. While in Congress, he had served on the Agriculture Committee! I leave to you the reading of "Food Politics" to fully understand the incredible pressures brought to bear by various food producers and others to change parts of the Pyramid. Suffice it to say that grain growers, cattle and other meat producers, and the dairy interests were all involved. To begin with, there were questions about why an agency (USDA) whose primary job was to promote the growth and sale of agricultural products should be in charge of giving "health advice." Even then, as today, there were many who thought the responsibility for the Pyramid should be with a health agency arm of the government, not the USDA, who clearly had a conflict of interest. Secretary Madigan spent $855,000 for various studies to determine the final outcome and look of the Pyramid. Finally, one year after is delayed announcement, the Food Pyramid was published in April of 1992. It has evolved some, due to the 5-year-review mandate. But, we can still see the heavy hand of agriculture and the obvious bias that has to exist when the publisher is the USDA.I watched a very long Congressional hearing about the regular update to be made to the Food Pyramid. To review: the current Pyramid suggests that we should eat 6-11 servings from the Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta group. Do you see a common thread? The effect of pressure from agricultural interests. Some of the panel and some of the Congressmen were nearly apoplectic about this part of the Pyramid. First, it is most likely that one, if not the most important contributor to the dramatic gain in weight and the spiraling increase in Diabetes is eating too many servings of that grain-oriented group. Second, there is no distinction between processed grains and natural grains. White bread, which ought to be outlawed in the view of many, is not distinguished from 100% whole-wheat bread. The term "Wonder Bread" even blurted out in a pejorative sentence. Similarly, brown rice is preferable to white rice, and whole-wheat pasta, which is really hard to find in the average supermarket - but is the only pasta I eat, preferred over the plain pastas. This all has to do in part with the different rates with which processed and unprocessed grains turn themselves into glucose, and the production of insulin, and other matters best left to the books I will suggest. Someone asked, if there is nearly universal agreement that the Pyramid is weighted too heavily in favor of grain products, how did this happen in a government sponsored "health information aid"? It was pointed out that the primary source for compiling the Pyramid is the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But, what is their main job? Promoting the growing and marketing of grain products in America. Even though the FDA will have some input into the formulation of the new guidelines, there was strong sentiment toward taking it completely out of USDA and FDA. By the time the hearing was over, I was won over to that view. The top of the Pyramid is the "Fats, Oils, and Sweets" group. (Fats, Oils, and sweets should not be lumped into the same group.) It says "Use Sparingly." No distinction is made between the different kinds of oils. A strong case is made (see Ottoboni and others) that we were sold a bill of goods about "vegetable oils" being good for our health, along with margarine. The cold research indicates otherwise. For example, there is little debate that Olive Oil is superior in health benefits to Corn Oil. Butter, like eggs, became a forbidden food that was going to clog our arteries and kill us. So, various margarines, mostly made from Corn Oil took center stage as being "more healthful" (or as the ignorant PR flacks say "More Healthy.") An inanimate thing cannot be Healthy. Worse, in order to keep the vegetable oils in a semi-solid state, the margarines were "partially hydrogenated." In simplest terms that means they contain Trans Fatty Acids, which nearly every medical expert agrees is bad for the cardiovascular system. There is now a movement, and pending legislation, to require food producers to list any "Trans Fatty Acids" on the label. In the meantime, just look for "partially hydrogenated oil(s)" and run like hell down the grocery aisle. Also, go back to eating butter in moderation (calories do count) because it has stuff in it you need and no "partially hydrogenated oils" in it. Eat butter and Eggs? How many decades have we been told that these two things would give us heart disease? What they touted instead is what gave us various diseases. Fats? That saturated fats and cholesterol cause heart disease has been the medical mantra for decades. Now, we find Dr. Ravnskov's book, "The Cholesterol Myths," the Ottoboni book, and many distinguished scientists saying, "not so fast." For one, the decades long complaint against the Atkins diet was that because of the large intake of saturated fat you would get high-cholesterol and thus heart disease. Two problems: The Atkins diet has been shown to lower the bad LDL cholesterol and raise the good HDL cholesterol in some controlled tests. And then the good doctor, Uffe Ravnskov, says that Cholesterol is not a cause of heart disease at all. He is joined in his research and beliefs by some distinguished international medical practitioners and scholars. My cardiologist is among them. Ravnskov's book and web site are so well researched and documented that they nearly defy refutation. That is one reason you seldom hear his name in the United States. If what he says is true, all this low-fat craze is baloney - and the multi-billion-dollar statin (cholesterol lowering drug) industry would wither away. He is like the guy who claimed he had a 60-mile-per-gallon carburetor for cars in the 1950's. The oil industry could not tolerate even the remote possibility that he really did have the thing. Shhh. Go away. Play in the traffic.
The biggest travesty in the existing pyramid - relating to fats - is that it does not differentiate between the Omega 3 oils and the Omega 6 oils. The Omega 3 oils are contained in Fish, Flaxseed, walnuts, canola oil, for example. The Omega 6 oils are in Corn, Soybean, and sunflower oils. Ottoboni suggests that the optimum ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 is 4/1, but the average American diet contains a radically different ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 of about 20 to 1. This is largely due to the ingestion of so many vegetable oils, that we have been told are "good for us." They are good for the people who grow corn, safflower, and the other oils that are primarily composed of Omega 6 oils, but not good for us. In the current pyramid, there is no distinction made between saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat. There is a big difference, but the food pyramid is no help. The Ottoboni book minces no words on the subject of government guidelines on cholesterol, saturated fat, and the types of oils we should ingest. After saying that in about 1977, when the public was convinced to change its diet, by limiting cholesterol, saturated fat, and using vegetable oil, they note that "the true cause of these diseases (cardiovascular) were still obscure." Here are some selected parts from p. 15 of their book:
Despite this confusing situation, it is apparent that somewhere before 1970, those responsible for food policy in the United States had decided that dietary fat, particularly saturated fat and cholesterol, was the cause of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease.... Americans were told to increase their use of polyunsaturated fats and margarine and reduce their dietary intakes of saturated fat, cholesterol, red meat, butter, eggs, and whole milk. In brief, during the 1950's, the oil seed industry recognized that the only way to increase sales of its products was to convince the public to replace traditional dietary fats and oils, such as coconut oil, butter and lard with the new fats and oils manufactured from vegetable sources. As a result, the industry embarked on a long-term public education program that demonized saturated fats, butter, beef, eggs, and cholesterol-containing foods. .... the apparent justification for this public education program was based on 1954 reports that feeding of saturated fat and cholesterol to rabbits caused the formation of fatty deposits in their arteries.... Rabbits are vegetarians .... Rabbits show increases in serum cholesterol up to 3,000 percent, monkeys 20 percent, and humans essentially no increase at all when cholesterol is added to the diet.(The Ottoboni book is replete with references. Caveat! Reader beware! The Ottoboni book at times is extremely detailed about the microbiology of nutrition and about six feet over the head of most lay people, including me. But, their general narrative and their bibliography is worth the price of the book.) We need Cholesterol in our system to survive, and eating the yokes of eggs, which are high in Cholesterol, does not significantly increase human serum Cholesterol levels. My cardiologist insists that I eat eggs, "a nearly perfect food." And I have had heart bypass surgery! The part of the Pyramid that says to use Sweets "sparingly" is one of the few things they got right. Back to the Congressional hearing. One witness, who was trying to show how the food industry lobbies the USDA and others with any input, said that the draft said to use Sweets in "moderation." The industry complained that it was too strong a term - and use "sparingly" was substituted. Wait until you read "Food Politics," by Marion Nestle. You will not believe the pressures put on by the food industry to "get their way" and sell us all kind of junk that makes us fat and hastens our death. Seriously. And how they get junk food and soda machines into our schools to hasten the obesity and death of our children. Read this book. So, the Food Pyramid is up for its 5-year review. A lot of money will be spent and a lot of free fishing trips to Colorado and skiing at Vail will be offered before the new one is sent to the printer. But, given the overwhelming evidence that the current Pyramid is a disaster, even from such luminaries as a respected professor of nutrition at Harvard, I am hopeful that the new one will be more in touch with reality. Because --- a lot of things are based on the Pyramid. School lunch programs, government health information programs, doctor's nutritional advise to their patients, food advertising - and on and on. The clowns, and I don't think that is an unfair characterization, who are putting the new Food Pyramid together, could save themselves a lot of trouble and simply adopt pretty much the food pyramid suggested by Dr. Howard Shaprio. His pyramid starts at the bottom with Fruits and Veggies. Next is Protein: consisting primarily of fish, Soy products, beans and legumes. Next are Whole Grains, such as 100% whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, and so on. Next, Fats and Oils, mainly Olive Oil, Olives, Canola oil, nuts (Walnuts, Pecans, Cashews), etc. in moderation, and seeds. The top of Dr. Shapiro's pyramid is Sweets (not SUGAR as the USDA Pyramid shows), consisting primarily of sorbets, popsicles, hard candies, and lolipops. I'm sucking on a Jolly Rancher as I write this. And I had my share of Olive Oil, Olives, nuts, beans, whole grains, fish, yogurt, and so on, this week - a couple of steaks and some beef sausage (from a sane cow, I hope, not a Mad one).
All of the levels of the Shapiro pyramid can be fleshed out a little, such as eating some red meat and eggs for protein, and eating some dairy, including butter, yogurt, and cheese (especially if you believe Dr. Ravnskov well-researched book "The Cholesterol Myths," the Ottoboni book, "The Modern Nutritional Diseases." and those who post their research and thoughts at www.thincs.org). Dr. Shapiro is, after all, one of our 320 "diet doctors" who has written a book and gives lectures - on PBS for one. Thus, he is promoting his theory of how to lose weight and maintain the loss. But for starters, Dr. Shapiro's pyramid is far superior to the current one promulgated by the USDA. My reference above to "clowns" revising the food pyramid comes partly from my reaction to the long Congressional hearing and to Marion Nestle's experience with the panels that do the review. She points out that most either are connected to the food industry or are academics whose research has been subsidized by the food industry. The current government-sponsored Food Pyramid makes no sense in light of the current research on nutrition, and it is obvious that agricultural interests played a much too integral role in the development of the pyramid. Until the main responsibility for promulgating the updates to the Pyramid is taken out of USDA - and panel members who work on the revisions are mostly health professionals - with no ties to food and agriculture interests - the Food Pyramid will remain a monument to a good idea that can mostly be taken with a grain of salt. Oh, forget that salt comment, as you probably need to cut back on your intake of salt. After I wrote this segment, I finally got around to reading The "Harvard Heart Letter" for January 2004. It has some interesting observations in an article entitled "The New Shape of Healthy Eating." Here are a few excerpts: The UDSA Food Guide Pyramid isn't much help. This icon .... desperately needs an overhaul because it was built on a shaky scientific foundation and hasn't been renovated to reflect major advances in our understanding of the connection between diet and health. Don't Fear Good Fats. Eating unsaturated fats, such as those in olive oil, canola oil, many nuts , and fatty fish, can improve cholesterol levels, prevent abnormal heart rhythms, and protect the heart in other ways. Check Your Carbohydrates. You can cut your chances of developing heart disease and diabetes by eating less white bread, white rice, and other highly processed carbohydrates and more whole-wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, and other whole grains. So the Harvard Medical School basically agrees with the premise that I laid out above. Now, if they would just stop telling us that saturated fat and cholesterol are the major causes of heart disease, we will be getting somewhere. I am not holding my breath for that transformation - and probably won't live long enough to see that day. It would be interesting, for example, to see how much research money Harvard and other universities and institutions receive from the folks who manufacture the statin drugs for lowering cholesterol. (www.health.harvard.edu) You can find information about - and downloadable graphics of - the Food Pyramid at the www.usda.gov web site. The food Pyramid hearings in Congress. www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pyramid.htmlWhatever Happened to the BATF?You remember the BATF. They entrapped Randy Weaver into sawing off shotguns barrels to an illegal length, then when he did not show up for a court date, they, the U.S. Marshals, and the FBI laid siege to his mountain cabin. Eventually the combined federal army dispatched to capture one man they screwed in the first place, killed one son and his wife. This is the same group that raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, which ended in the compound going up in flames and was it 80 dead - or more? A reminder. That was the first job I had when I graduated from college (then called A&TTD). In those days, we ran around with old surplus .38 revolvers and WWII walkie-talkies. We had no automatic weapons, no tanks at our disposal. It was a simpler time. Doing some research, I stumbled across the new iteration for the unit. In my misspent youth, I worked for that outfit, which was then known and the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Division, U.S. Treasury Department. Later they became the BATF. Now, after the shakeup created by the homeland security mess, I think I have this thing pieced together. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is now known as the ATF and is under the Justice Department, not the Treasury. Although they call themselves the ATF and their web page is www.atf.gov, they list their name as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives. Thus it appears that the criminal law investigative functions of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives now resides in the ATF at the Justice Department. Ah, ha! There is yet another Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Bureau. It is actually called Alcohol & Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB, www.ttb.gov). It is under the U.S. Treasury, where it should be. It appears that their function is the collection of taxes and levying civil fines relating to Alcohol and Tobacco - more or less. I lost interest after a couple of pages. So, who cares? Actually, I do. And you might, also, if you knew the mess that went on for years, especially with gun-crime investigations. Many years ago, I had a letter published in the Wall Street Journal in opposition to the proposal to disband the ATF and possibly give its functions and jurisdiction to the FBI. I suggested that what was needed was new leadership and a different mindset. But, it never did make sense to have the criminal and the civil side of alcohol and firearms under one command. You got such silly results as my boss in Philadelphia not having ever been a criminal investigator. He had come from the side of A&TTD that sat around distilleries in the old days and made sure the tax stamps were affixed over the caps of the bottles of booze. When questioned about his lack of investigative experience, he would say, "You don't have to be a whore to run a whore house." Really cool, Frank. I never forgot it. If you haven't noticed, the strip stamps are no longer used. Honestly, I don't know how they keep track of what is "real" booze in the bottle and some counterfeit made in a garage. And I no longer care. I am sure we can trust our government to protect us from rotgut booze in a Jack Daniels bottle - he said, biting his tongue. I like the new ATF Web site. They have press releases about actually arresting gun violators and stuff that really matters in the fight against crime. I suppose the ATF is still in charge of making stupid federal cases against legitimate gun dealers who make paperwork errors. But, maybe the new bosses at Justice realized that you could not fight crime harassing legitimate gun dealers who put an X in the wrong box. Gun crime is committed by criminals. There appears to be some hope that the new regime has taken that to heart. If you believe the nifty press releases. And I do. By the way, this transformation of the A&TTD, BATF - to ATF under Justice, and TTB under Treasury, took over 40 years! Terrorists striking massive blows on our soil finally go the federal glacier to move to a more logical deployment of authority in the alcohol, firearms and explosives field. All of this was buried in the publicity about the Homeland Security reorganization. Apex TVs - Who the Heck is APEX?Recently, I was shopping for a 27-inch TV, since my 32-inch set is temporarily at a secondary location. I started price shopping. I want my next big TV purchase to be an HDTV model. Buy this one cheap and hope it lasts 18 months. I wandered into the Wal-Mart electronics section and saw my first APEX TV, with a price for a 27-inch of only $177 and change. I moved along to more familiar brands, willing to pay a little more for a name I knew and respected. Wal-Mart has a nice set of flip cards that shows you all the features and the various inputs and outputs available. Much to my surprise the low-priced APEX has three sets of video inputs, one set with the usual three-wire inputs and an S-Video input, and audio output jacks to hook into a home theater amplifier, or whatever. The "name" brands, with slightly higher prices could not come close in matching the variety of inputs and the audio output jacks. But, buy an APEX? Not before I did some digging. People at online sites seemed generally well pleased with their APEX TVs, with a couple mentioning that the crawl at the bottom was at least partially cut off. This is a bad feature? One fellow pointed to a Better Business Bureau report from Colton, California which said, among other things: "We rate this company as having an unsatisfactory business performance record based on a pattern of unanswered complaints." APEX Digital, of Ontario, CA, had sold a ton of low-priced DVDs and had only more recently gotten into the TV distribution business. Their Web site seems pretty impressive, and they announced the opening of a new repair center. (www.apexdigitalinc.com) They claim that 15,000 retail outlets are handling their product lines, including Wal-Mart, SEARS, and Circuit City. So where were these low-priced TVs, loaded with features, and that seemed to work fine, manufactured? I should have guessed. APEX TVs are made by ChangHong in mainland China. ChangHong is part of a much larger enterprise and is the largest seller of TV sets in China. Can nearly a billion Chinese be wrong? It was back to Wal-Mart, which appeared to have the set I wanted at the best price. I would light a candle to the god of electronic longevity and hope the thing did not crap out anytime soon. Now, my 27-inch APEX AT2708S (S for Stereo) sits in my current domicile. The internal stereo audio system is not bad, but I have the TV's audio-output jacks piped into a Yamaha 5.1 channel amplifier and some Klipsch speakers. This lashup provides superb sound. The picture quality is excellent, with several choices for "picture warmth." I have an off-air antenna hooked to the coax input, a satellite TV DVR tied into the one video input that has the usual RED, WHITE, and YELLOW cables - plus the S-Video input. The DVD player is tied into another one of the sets of video input jacks - and I still have one set of video inputs free.The remote is full-featured, but they apparently don't have a set of IR codes so that you can program a "universal remote" with the APEX codes. They suggest using a universal remote that has a "learning" function (I have at least two). And they say they are coming out with codes in early 2004, but how that helps present set owners, I am not sure. One bit of bad luck. My APEX TV does not appear to cut off part of the picture, so on the one channel I tested with a "screen crawl," the whole crawl was visible. But only for the five seconds I watched that channel (CNBC) to test for picture cropping. If this rice-box keeps working, it will be about the best $177 I ever spent on electronics. Now, watch Sharp, Sanyo and others, start to add more video inputs and an S-Video input to their low-end TVs. Otherwise, APEX TVs will continue to sell like freshly-baked apple fritters. One disclaimer. I did not go to the big stores in Dallas to comparison shop, but on the Web I could not find a 27-inch TV with the same features for anywhere near the low cost of the APEX. Apex Digital recently announced 37 new models, including HDTV, LCD panels, analog and digital, and some more CRT types (old fashioned picture-tube types like my AT2708S.) Our government must continue to play nicely with the Chinese government. Our home-electronics future depends upon a smooth working relationship. If supplies from China and South Korea would dry up, we would all be back to the stone age with our home electronics - and we would have to dig out those heavy 19-inch CRT computer monitors when our LCD panels failed. Remember, even Japan is "outsourcing" its electronics production. And APEX is so much easier to pronounce than Mitsubishi. COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes You are welcome to quote sections from this page - or the whole page, as long as the source URL is included. Of course, I would be flattered if anyone linked to this page. It is very hard to be the writer, editor, fact checker, copy editor, and publisher of anything. So, I beg your forgiveness for the many mistakes that creep in. Suggested Reading From Past Columns Click Here for Suggested Reading List Archive of Back Issues Media List of Addresses and e-mails Postal Service State Abbreviations, etc. Richard C. Rhodes End |