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This is how it was supposed to be in the first place, the Ducks said after posting the third consecutive "road" victory in the first freeway series of hockey.
Corey Perry gave the Ducks an early lead, Teemu Selanne scored the goal that put the Ducks ahead for good and the defense didn't allow the Kings a late dramatic rally.
Anaheim's mission now after defeating the Kings, 3-2, and narrowing the Kings' lead in the series to two games to one Thursday at Staples Center, is to ensure their winning formula has staying power.
"Biggest game of our season, and we did the right things," Perry said after breaking through for his first goal of the series on an early first-period power play. "It's huge if we can get back to even here [Saturday] and go back home, best of three.
"If we continue to do this, we're going to be successful."
Selanne and defenseman Ben Lovejoy also scored for the Ducks, who watched surprise starting goaltender Frederik Andersen suffer a lower-body injury midway through the third period.
Relief goalie Jonas Hiller gave up a goal with 31 seconds remaining in the third period, but gained the win with seven other saves in the final 9:58 as the Ducks ran out the final ticks uneventfully this time. Hiller lost Game 1 by giving up a goal with seven seconds remaining, and again in overtime.
Andersen's status is day to day, Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau said afterward.
The night started with Boudreau engaging in some gamesmanship after he had Games 1 and 2 starter Hiller leave the ice first during the morning skate at Staples — usually an indication of which goalie is starting. Members of the Kings' coaching staff were watching.
Instead of using Hiller, who's 0-5-2 at Staples, Boudreau inserted the rookie Andersen, who battled a fever and cold after getting pulled in favor of Hiller in the Ducks' series-clinching Game 6 win in Dallas on April 27 but was 2-0 at Staples.
Andersen stopped 22 of 23 shots — the exception being Jeff Carter's second-period power-play goal — before sprawling on the ice after a stick save on Kings defenseman Slava Voynov hit off the post.
That preserved a lead given by the retiring Selanne, who scored his second goal of the series late in a power play with 4:50 remaining in the second period. It was the first time in the playoffs the Kings have surrendered two power-play goals in a game.
After a hooking call on Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, Voynov and Anze Kopitar collided amid a neutral-zone scramble.
"I lifted Voynov's stick, got a two-on-one, and I've been on enough of those with Teemu in practice that I knew he was going to be back door, I just had to put it there and he'll knock it out of the air," Ducks center Nick Bonino said.
"This series could be 3-0 or 2-1 either way. We do what we did tonight, get to Quick even more, and we should win."
Lovejoy, burned on a game-opening goal in Game 2, extended the lead by stealing the puck from Doughty, re-collecting the puck off a pass and blasting a shot past Quick high to the glove side.
"We made some turnovers that cost us," Carter said. "So we have to clean that up."
Desperate to score the game's first goal, the Ducks got it 4:06 into the game after an interference penalty on Trevor Lewis.
Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf moved the puck to forward Patrick Maroon. Standing to the side of Quick, Maroon shifted a pass to Perry, Anaheim's regular-season goals leader, and he whipped the shot to Quick's left.
"To get that first goal … that's what we needed, that momentum, and to carry it forward," Perry said. "We knew what we had to do."
Twitter: @latimespugmire


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Kim Kardashian is messing with the media the same way it messes with her.
That is, if the media were in the second grade, or a nearly 2-month-old child.
The "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star, who has shielded herself from public view since the June 15 birth of her daughter with rapper Kanye West, popped out of her quarantine Tuesday in full makeup to tease her fans, followers and the press.
PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
With a video. A three-second Keek video. A video in which she does nothing else but stick out her tongue.
And neener, neener, neener!
Just show us you're skinny already, OK?!
The new mom, 32, also attempted to bamboozle fans last week with a "faux" appearance on her mom Kris Jenner's daytime talk show. She and Jenner led fans to believe that she would be a guest on the show and show off her post-baby slimdown, yet only her upper half appeared, and that via video message.
"I just wanted to say congratulations on your new show," Kardashian said. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person but I'm just loving life a little too much at home right now."
The fashionista has been holed up at her mother's sprawling Hidden Hills mansion while her home with West is being renovated. Kardashian reportedly wants to lose most of her baby weight before making her official post-baby debut -- you know, a full-body, flesh-and-blood debut.
Seriously, is she afraid if she's gone for too long she'll become irrelevant? Doubtful.
Still, it may justify all these incidents of a "peek-a-boo." Apparently there's no such thing as wasted ink in the digital age.
Aug 6, 2013 | ¿¿¿¿ by KimKardashian on Keek.com
Oprah: Lindsay Lohan is 'in the best place I've ever seen her'
Chris Brown goes to jail early, out in 45 minutes, quits music
Sarah Jessica Parker covers Harper's Bazaar, talks style, family
Follow Ministry of Gossip @LATcelebs.
PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times
PHOTOS: Royal visit to New Zealand and Australia
PHOTOS: 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

subset: commoncrawl


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Contact: Allison Fore
(Indianapolis) -- Reservations are currently being accepted for Secretary of State Todd Rokita's "Protect Your Pockets" workshop set for Saturday, October 20 at the University of Indianapolis, Schwitzer Student Center, 1400 East Hanna Ave., Indianapolis. The workshop is co-sponsored by the University of Indianapolis School of Business and will run from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Speakers will will focus on avoiding investment and mortgage fraud, investor basics, retirement planning, family budgeting and investor education for teachers.
The "Protect Your Pockets" workshops are an important component of the Indiana Investment Watch program developed by the Secretary of State's office. The Secretary of State regulates securities in Indiana and can inform investors whether or not an investment is legitimate. Funding for workshops come from the state's securities enforcement fund, which contains money collected from court settlements in securities fraud cases.
"Nearly two-thirds of Indiana adults have little or no knowledge about investing and fraudulent schemes," Rokita said. "The first step in protecting yourself is to be an educated investor. If we achieve that, we can prevent con artists from stealing Hoosiers' hard-earned money."
Rokita and other financial experts will speak at the workshop and teach community members practical, common sense ways to avoid scams and choose products and services that meet their financial goals.
To register or to find out more information about the "Protect Your Pockets" workshop, visit www.IndianaInvestmentWatch.com or call toll-free 1-800-223-8791.
The Indianapolis Protect Your Pockets Workshop is a partner in Indiana's 2nd Annual Money Smart Week
sm. Money Smart Week is an unregistered service mark of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.


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SOURCE: MarketResearch.com
January 03, 2013 03:08 ET
ROCKVILLE, MD--(Marketwire - Jan 3, 2013) - MarketResearch.com has announced the addition of the market research report "Tanker Truck/Body and Tanker Trailer Manufacturing in North America: Analysis & evaluation of the size, segmentation, channels, and competitive structure underlying the fabrication and manufacture of tanker trucks and tanker trailers in North America" to their product offering.
Tanker trucks and trailers are containers designed for transport of dry bulk cargo, liquids, semi-liquids and gases. Tanker bodies scoped in this report also include vacuum tank bodies designed to transport hazardous and non-hazardous industrial and municipal waste. Tanker trailers are large over-the-road trailer bodies that are designed to be pulled by a tractor. Tanker truck bodies are mounted on truck chassis and are smaller in size and capacity than tanker trailers.
STN has identified 118 manufacturers of tanker truck bodies and trailers. The value of tanker fabrication in North America is estimated at $1.57 billion for 2011. Tanker manufacturing facilities are typically located in regions producing the material transported. This industry -- for both trucks and trailers -- is fragmented, with a large number of small, regionally focused manufacturers. Most manufacturers focus on just one product segment, and manufacturers present in a particular segment usually do not manufacture all product categories within that segment.
Market dynamics driving demand in each buyer segment are different, which in turn impact demand for tanker bodies in that product category. The energy and construction sectors are the primary determinants of demand for tanker bodies. The primary customer segment for both tanker trucks and trailers is the oil and gas industry. Other important customer segments include the chemical, construction and agricultural industries, municipal agencies, and contractors who service the septic waste industry.
The tanker truck and trailer manufacturing industry across all categories suffered a severe shrinkage in demand over the period 2008-2009. However the boom in the energy sector since 2010 has led to an unprecedented increase in demand for tankers that cater to the oil and gas industry. Production grew tremendously in 2011, with production up 31% over 2010. Despite the strong recovery since 2010, the market size of most categories in 2011, with the exception of crude oil tankers, continued to be below the peaks achieved in 2006-2007.
The outlook for 2012 in this segment remained positive, mainly because of an above-average increase in production of liquid and dry bulk trailers catering to the upstream and midstream segments of the oil and gas industry. Production of truck bodies and trailers in most other segments, however, was expected to remain flat in 2012. In addition to historical production numbers from 2006 - 2011, forecasts for the years 2012 - 2016 are included in this report.
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About SpecialtyVehicles.net
SpecialtyVehicles.net (SVN) provides proprietary business analysis and databases on vehicular and related market sectors, focusing on information specific to the needs of the commercial vehicle industry. With over 25 years of dedicated truck/vehicular industry experience in corporate development, management consulting and business research, SVN's principals develop reports on subjects ranging from buses, truck bodies, and specialized vehicles to trailers, engines, components and accessories. Key decision-makers use these reports to assist in planning, sales, marketing, financial opinions, acquisitions/mergers and strategic analysis. Established in 1984, SVN operates globally, with offices and associates in the US, UK, India, Brazil and East Africa.
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MarketResearch.com is the leading provider of global market intelligence products and services. With research reports from more than 720 top consulting and advisory firms, MarketResearch.com offers instant online access to the world's most extensive database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends. Moreover, MarketResearch.com's Research Specialists have in-depth knowledge of the publishers and the various types of reports in their respective industries and are ready to provide research assistance. For more information, call Cindy Frei at 240.747.3014 or visit http://www.marketresearch.com.
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Fed: "Underlying Inflation" Climbs to 13-Year High
Fed: "Underlying Inflation" Climbs to 13-Year High
According to the Federal Reserve's Underlying Inflation Gauge, the 12-month inflation growth in June (the most recent month reported) was at 3.33 percent. That's the highest rate recorded in 158 months, or more than 13 years. The last time the UIG measure was as high was in April 2005, when it was at 3.36 percent.
The Fed began publicly reporting on new measure in December of last year, and takes into account a broader measure of inflation than the more-often used CPI measure.
Not shockingly, the UIG has shown a higher rate of inflation than the CPI, most of the time in recent years, although this gap has narrowed in recent months.
For both CPI and UIG, the general trend has been upward since 2014. The UIG, however, stands out because it shows a sizable amount of price inflation compared to the recent past. the CPI growth rate, for example, remains below where it was in 2011, while we must go all the way back to 2004 to find a UIG growth rate comparable to what we're seeing now.
Moreover, the UIG holds promise as a better indicator of an approaching recession. For example, we know that the economy was already softening in 2006 and into 2007 before the last financial crisis. And yet the CPI shows continued and sizable growth right up until late 2008 even though the Great Recession had started in late 2007 — at least according to the NBER. The UIG, however, shows weakening prices before both of the two most recent recessions.
The most recent UIG data, however, is fairly old — being June data — so it remains to be seen if there is any sign, by this measure, of a weakening economy in late 2018.
The Saudis Keep Changing Their Story on the Murder of Khashoggi. What Should We Do?
The Saudi version of the disappearance and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi seems to change every day or so. The latest is the Saudi government claim that the opposition journalist was killed in a "botched interrogation" at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Or was it a fist-fight? What is laughable is that the Saudi king has placed Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, a prime suspect, in charge of the investigation of Khashoggi's murder!
Though the official story keeps changing, what is unlikely to change is Washington's continued relationship with Saudi Arabia. It is a partnership that is in no way beneficial to Americans or the US national interest.
President Trump has promised "severe punishment" if the Saudi government is found to have been involved in Khashoggi's murder, but he also took off the table any reduction in arms sales to prop up the murderous Saudi war on Yemen. It's all about jobs, said President Trump. So the Saudi killing of thousands in Yemen can go on. Some murders are more important than others, obviously.
The killing of Khashoggi puts the Trump Administration is in a difficult situation. President Trump views Iran as designated enemy number one. Next month the US Administration intends to impose a new round of sanctions designed to make it impossible for Iran to sell its oil on the international market. To keep US fuel prices from spiking over this move Trump is relying on other countries, especially Saudi Arabia, to pump more and make up the difference. But the Saudis have threatened $400 a barrel oil if President Trump follows through with his promise of "severe punishment" over the killing of Khashoggi.
The Saudis have also threatened to look for friendship in Moscow or even Tehran if Washington insists on "punishing" the regime in Riyadh. For a super-power, the US doesn't seem to have many options.
What whole mess reveals is just how wise our Founding Fathers were to warn us against entangling alliances. For too many decades the US has been in an unhealthy relationship with the Saudi kingdom, providing the Saudis with a US security guarantee in exchange for "cheap" oil and the laundering of oil profits through the US military-industrial complex by the purchase of billions of dollars in weapons.
This entangling relationship with Saudi Arabia should end. It is unfortunate that the tens of thousands of civilians dead from Yemen to Syria due to Saudi aggression don't matter as much as the murder of one establishment journalist like Khashoggi, but as one Clinton flack once said, we should not let this current crisis go to waste.
This is not about demanding that the Saudis change their ways, reform their society on the lines of a liberal democracy, or allow more women to drive. The problem with our relationship with Saudi Arabia is not about Saudi Arabia. It is about us. The United States should not be in the business of selling security guarantees overseas to the highest bidder. We are constantly told that the US military guarantees our own safety and so it should be.
No, this is about returning to a foreign policy that seeks friendship and trade with all nations who seek the same, but that heeds the warning of George Washington in his Farewell Address that "a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils." If we care about the United States we must heed this warning. No more passionate attachments overseas. Friendship and trade over all.
3 Reasons Why the Federal Government Should Handle Only Foreign Affairs
In an 1800 letter to Gideon Granger, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "The true theory of our constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the states are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign nations. Let the general government be reduced to foreign concerns only..."
In other words, the only job of the federal government ought to be foreign affairs.
In expressing these sentiments, however, Jefferson was summing up a line of argument based on practical observations about the easy corruptibility of government power, the need for decentralization, and the benefits of government at the most local level.
One still hears calls for reducing the federal government to a foreign-affairs agency — more or less — but these calls are usually based on little more than a rank appeal to authority in the form of the "Founding Fathers" and their alleged original intent.
Appeals to the Founding Fathers, however, are usually unconvincing and unsatisfying. After all, not all the Founding Father even agreed as to the full extent of federal powers. Moreover, the constitution itself grants powers to the federal government beyond matters of foreign affairs, including, but not limited to, authorization for monstrous laws such as the fugitive slave acts.
And, the ink was barely dry on the constitution before George Washington decided he was perfectly fine with instituting a central bank, and with the use of federal troops to put down tax resisters. John Adams later signed off on the Alien and Sedition acts a gross abuse of the natural rights of peaceful Americans.
Needless to say, there were a great many early American founders and politicians who were quite at peace with expanding the domestic role of the federal government significantly.
Jefferson's position on the federal government as an external-relations agency only, however, is interesting today for reasons that have nothing to do with what is considered constitutional. Without resorting to any debates over what James Madison said about something 230 years ago, we can identify at least three good reasons why the US government — indeed any national government — ought to be reduced to an organization with authority only in matters of foreign affairs.
One: Foreign Relations Are the Only Area of Government in Which Physical Size Matters
When it comes to geopolitics, it's hard to deny that the ability of a nation-state to defend itself is often enhanced by physical size, and by the size of frontiers between itself and other competing nation-states. This does not trump everything else, of course. Wealthy nation-states have an advantage over poor states, even in cases where the poor nation-states are larger. Moreover, the advent of nuclear weapons has further diminished the importance of size in military defense, since a small nuclear-armed nation-state can wield truly threatening defensive power against even much physically larger nation-states.
Economic ties are also an important factor, as nearly every laissez-faire liberal in the past two centuries has understood. From Jefferson to Ludwig von Mises, liberals have noted that peaceful bonds between nation-states can be facilitated through free trade and exchange. Not only does this lead to greater peace among the nation-states involved, but a policy of free and open trade ensures a larger number of allies in case an outside aggressor state begins to make threats. The nation-states with strong trading ties will tend to stick together, thus further providing each other with greater access to resources for defense.
Size isn't as important as it used to be, but it continues to be a factor. Thus it is easy to see why even Jefferson and other anti-Federalists recognized the advantages of forming the US into a confederation for purposes of military defense.
Two: Non-Military Function Are Best Kept Local
Other functions of government, however, have nothing to do with bigness, and are best limited to the most local level possible.
The welfare state — which is by far the largest single federal spending category outside military spending — is one such example. As I note in my article "Decentralize the Welfare State," every American state already enjoys a per capita GDP that's more than large enough to support its own European-style welfare state.
Some people may argue that welfare states are a bad thing, but the fact remains that the existence of well-heeled and functional welfare state hardly requires the presence of an federal government like that of the United States. After all, if Belgium, with a population of a mere 11.3 million people, can have a vast welfare state, it hardly stands to reason that the United States, with a population of 320 million requires one enormous national state to pull off the same thing. Moreover, the issue of whether or not a welfare state is a good thing is a separate question from whether or not it requires a vast national government to execute it.
And while Jefferson likely never envisioned anything approaching the size and scope of a modern welfare state, the basics of the idea were not unknown in his own time, when liberals like himself were known to support a variety of different domestic welfare-type programs from public schooling to poor laws. Jefferson, after all, had supported poverty relief programs at the county level.
As noted in his comments to Granger, however, handing over poverty relief functions to a far-off federal agency of distant bureaucrats would have seemed to him a ludicrous and thoroughly dangerous proposal.
Domestic law enforcement is another function of government that has never been shown to require a unified national government. After all, as I show in my articles on the need to abolish the FBI (see here and here), the states of Europe have been able to address law enforcement needs without any Europe-wide police force, and the American states could just as easily adopt an INTERPOL-type model without submitting to any national police force.
And then there is the issue of banking which has been continually federalized, centralized, and insulated from local and market control. Supporters of a huge federal financial and banking apparatus would have us believe that such centralization is necessary for economic prosperity. This, however, has never been demonstrated by the historical record. Some of the greatest strides in the American standard of living have taken place during periods of extreme decentralization in the American financial system — as during the nineteenth century's periods of huge gains in real income. And, of course, the experience of small wealthy European states such as Switzerland demonstrates that small states perform at least as well as large states when it comes to economic performance.
Three: Federal Domestic and Foreign Programs Work Together to Increase Federal Spending Overall
And finally, the mixing of domestic and foreign-policy duties at the federal level allows federal lawmakers to continually hoodwink the taxpayers into tolerating higher and higher levels of federal revenue and spending.
We see how this occurs every budget cycle: one political coalition (the right wing) favors growth in military spending, while another coalition (the left wing) favors growth in social spending. Neither, of course, strongly opposes the other. But in each case, both sides can count on increased federal spending overall so long as some of that spending goes to their pet projects. The end result is a relentlessly increasing federal budget, year after year. Sure, in some years, there is more growth in military spending. And in some other years, there is more growth in social spending. But there is always growth.
Meanwhile, if Americans ever get it into their minds that federal spending ought to be reigned in, federal policymakers trot out the same scare tactics. To the right ting they say "give us more money, or the US will be defenseless from the Chinese/Russians/Iraqis/Syrians, etc. To the left wing they say "give us more money, or people will starve in the streets!" Having convinced two major ideological groups that they must give more to the federal government to get what they want, a majority of voters thus caves and hands over the money. Once the federal government has the money, then it's a simple matter of having lobbyists and legislators divide it up in a way that benefits them politically. Without the inconvenience of any voter involvement.
By limiting federal prerogatives to foreign affairs only, any referendum on increased federal spending would necessarily be a referendum on military spending only. And this would be clear to everybody. This would then have the added benefit of depriving the federal government of one of its most reliable constituencies: leftists who want more social spending.
In practice, when it comes to increased spending, the federal government's only natural constituency should be those in favor of greater military spending — and it would then become more difficult to convince the majority to tolerate more federal spending.
The drive for more social spending would then be shifted to the state level. This by itself would not guarantee a lower tax burden for taxpayers overall. It's entirely possible that state governments would indulge in massive bloated welfare programs. On the other hand, experience suggests that only some states would do this while others would not. In other words, there would be variety among the states, and residents could vote with their feet as to where they would live and pay taxes. The realities of tax competition — as we can witness in small states of Europe — would act to restrain the local governments in their tax-and-spending practices.
In any case, it would be preferable to be able to choose among states at various levels of profligacy than be stuck with one huge federal state indulging in ever higher levels of out-of-control spending.
A Few Caveats
None of what I've said here should be construed as an argument that the federal government, even if reduced to a foreign-affairs agency, would necessarily be justified in whatever it does. Even in such a reduced form, a government of that type would still be prone to abuse, bloat, and incompetence. But if we're going to be stuck with a US government, it's best to reduce it to a single function so as to politically isolate and restrain groups that favor increases in federal spending.
Nor do I wish to imply that the federal government ought to have a monopoly on military power within the United States itself. As both the legislative and social history of the US has shown, both an organized and unorganized militia — at both the state and local levels — have long been important in acting as a counterweight to federal military power.
But, at the core of all of this is my long-standing assertion that the United States ought never have been anything more than a military-defense confederation and a customs union, and member states of the confederation should always have been free to leave. Jefferson, for one, would have agreed.
Audio: Capitalism Makes Us More Humane
Human Action Now in Romanian
A New Book on Mises for the Layman — In German
Thosten Polleit, a frequent author at mises.org, and an active part of Ludwig von Mises Institut Deutschland, has completed a new introductory text on Mises and his work: Ludwig von Mises für jedermann: Der kompromisslose Liberale (Ökonomen für Jedermann). It is available both at Amazon.de and Amazon.com. And best of all, it's priced at an affordable price, and is not one of those 90-dollar books that academic publishers often turn out.
Elizabeth Warren's Other Cherokee Scandal: Her Fight Against Tribal Sovereignty
Elizabeth Warren's 2020 presidential aspirations may have ended before they began this week thanks to her team's bizarre decision to proudly broadcast the results of a DNA test that shows she may have had a relative 10 generations removed that was of indigenous American heritage. As Senator Warren was once promoted as "Harvard Law School's...first woman of color," the results seem to only confirm that she misrepresented her ancestry in her past career as a law professor.
Not only has the decision been met with a blistering condemnation from the Cherokee Nation, but it has once again made her the butt of President Trump's jokes.
Lost in the laughing at Warren's expense however, is a larger issue exists over how American politicians continue to treat tribal sovereignty.
After all, if Warren had used her position as senator to serve as an advocate for the Cherokee Nation's right to self-determination, her history of misrepresenting her genetic connection to the tribe would perhaps be more excusable. Say what you will about Rachel Dolezal, she at least cared enough to be an advocate for the African American community. Instead, Warren's political record is one that has regularly promoted the continued imperial rule of Washington on land that is tribal in name only.
Though never officially serving as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Warren has been widely credited as being the guiding force behind the creation of the agency. The CFPB was created as part of the Obama Administration's response to the financial crisis, a powerful financial regulator that lacks the traditional checks of other executive agencies. Under the lead of former director Richard Cordray, the CFPB went to work becoming a heavy handed regulator in its fight against "unfair, deceptive and abusive" practices.
Soon, various tribal financial services businesses found themselves in the cross hairs of the enthusiastic CFPB. The result is that the agency has been described by Dr. Gavin Clarkson, a tribal finance expert, as "the most hostile federal agency towards Indian tribes since Indian Affairs was in the War Department."
One example is a variety of short-term lending operations that various tribes started up to try to capitalize on the growth of e-commerce. In theory, tribal sovereignty should have given these ventures a competitive advantage over other US lenders who had to deal with the Washington red tape. Unfortunately Obama's Justice Department decided these operations represented a "national security risk" and worked with the CFPB to shut them down as part of Operation Choke Point – in spite of pleas from tribal advocates that doing so would be economically devastating.
While it would be unfair to blame Elizabeth Warren for any and all actions taken by the CFPB and DOJ, she served as a primary defender of Operation Choke Point when legislative pressure mounted to end it.
Similarly, she has been the chief voice in the Senate attacking the pay day lending industry, which became a point of particular emphasis under the Cordray CFPB. This has put the Warren-Cordray camp into ongoing legal conflict with various tribes over whether federal financial regulation should apply to tribal land, leading the CFPB to sue various tribal lenders.
While the Supreme Court refused to take up the case, which could have provided a legal precedent in favor of tribal sovereignty, the suit was eventually dropped earlier this year after Mick Mulvaney took over as the CFPB's acting head. Warren wrote a letter to Mulvaney criticizing the decision.
Warren's indifference to the cause of tribal sovereignty appeared again this year with a vote on the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act.
The issue here was whether tribal-owned businesses should be forced to follow federal labor laws on collective bargaining. The issue has been a major one for a number of American tribes, upset that tribal governments are subjected to labor laws that state and federal governments are exempt from.
As Jefferson Keel, the President of the National Congress of American Indians, wrote in The Hill:
Sovereignty means tribes should be allowed to make their own decisions about their own workforce policies. The truth is that many tribal nations openly welcome labor unions into the businesses that they own; others choose not to. And a growing number have designed and enforce their own labor regulations. But the NLRB ignores all of this and, instead, forces tribal governments to adhere to the NLRA. Just us. No one else. This is a plain violation of our inherent rights as sovereign nations and governments.
Unfortunately Senator Warren's loyalty lay with labor unions over tribal sovereignty, and she joined with 41 other Senators to successfully kill a vote on the bill.
While Warren has made it easy to laugh at about "fauxocahontas" and 1/1024th memes, her political contempt for tribal self-sovereignty is what should make her false claims to Cherokee heritage truly insulting.
Elizabeth Warren and her fellow progressives believe Native Americans are better off following her rules, rather than granting tribes the political self-determination to make such decisions for themselves. It's a form of ideological imperialism, driven by their own belief in their moral superiority and the belief on "the right side of history." The progressive person's burden is to use to the power of the state to impose social justice, regulate "fairness" in the market, and impose egalitarian social norms.
This is precisely why it's important for those who recognize the dangers of federal overreach and political centralization should take the issue of tribal sovereignty so seriously. The goal for a more civil and free society should not be the aim of some grand universal political order, but a respect for political self-determination. To that end, a respect for tribal rights is just as important as any other fight in favor of political decentralization.
In the Aftermath of Hurricane Michael, Civil Society and Voluntary Action Saved Lives
US Taxpayers Are Paying to Train Mercenaries Who Then Work for Mideast Dictators
Aram Roston reports on how Mideast dictatorships now hire former US military personnel to form what are essentially death squads designed to eliminate the regimes' enemies:
The revelations that a Middle East monarchy [UAE] hired Americans to carry out assassinations comes at a moment when the world is focused on the alleged murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia, an autocratic regime that has close ties to both the US and the UAE. (The Saudi Embassy in the US did not respond to a request for comment. Riyadh has denied it killed Khashoggi, though news reports suggest it is considering blaming his death on a botched interrogation.)
Golan said that during his company's months-long engagement in Yemen, his team was responsible for a number of the war's high-profile assassinations, though he declined to specify which ones.
Where do these kill teams come from and where do they get their training and experience? They get it from the US military and the US taxpayer.
Last month, I wrote on how the US military is becoming increasingly reliant on mercenaries to staff military operations. This makes it easier for the Pentagon to ratchet up military conflicts while still claiming that it is reducing boots on the ground. It can do this because the Pentagon doesn't report details on how many mercenaries it's using or where they are. Essentially, mercenary forces are a sort of human slush fund which allows the Defense Department more leeway in doing whatever it wants, while sharing precious little information about it with Congress or the taxpayers.
Thus, the US treasury subsidizes the creation of these mercenary forces that then become adjuncts of foreign governments. Roston concludes:
The long US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have relied heavily on elite special forces, producing tens of thousands of highly trained American commandos who can demand high private-sector salaries for defense contracting or outright mercenary work.
He's right about that, but then makes a rookie mistake: he refers to the movement toward mercenaries as a "privatization" of war, saying, "War has become increasingly privatized, with many nations outsourcing most military support services to private contractors, leaving frontline combat as virtually the only function that the US and many other militaries have not contracted out to for-profit ventures."
I see this mistake made over and over, and everyone needs to stop calling this sort of thing "privatization." When the government hires a construction firm to build a government highway, is that "privatization" of the highway system? No one thinks that, and for good reason. Similarly, it is not privatization when a state — whether its the US government or the UAE — hires a private firm to execute some aspects of the government's wars. These wars are state-on-state wars. There may be some truly private organization at play, but they're on the receiving end of the mercenaries' violence.
Historically, we call private military forces "irregulars" or "guerrilla" forces. There's gray area there, but, broadly speaking, truly private military forces don't have a legally enforceable contract with an officially-recognized regime. They're often not loyal to any extant state, and they often don't even get paid by any organization recognized as a state. Clearly, this doesn't describe these American mercenaries who likely have a signed contract with the UAE dictators, and money is paid in return for certain killings.
This is government money, spend on a private firm to carry out a government agenda. This is not privatization.
As the number of experienced American mercenaries continues to grow — thanks to 18 years of non-stop American wars, it will be interesting to see how many Americans military contractors have their hands in various assassinations, bombings, and other killings carried out on enemies of far off regimes.
The Great Social Media Purge of 2018
Back in the ancient news cycle of August 6, 2018, Alex Jones, host of The Alex Jones Show and curator of Infowars.com, was deplatformed in a coordinated effort by multiple social media and content streaming services. The list of companies, whose simultaneity was surely a coincidence, is quite impressive: Facebook, Apple, YouTube, Spotify, Vimeo, Pinterest, MailChimp, and LinkedIn. The debate on free speech versus hate speech raged on for the customary week or two as the news cycle dictated, with many libertarians and conservatives willing to leave Jones to the proverbial wolves. Perhaps Alex Jones wasn't an attractive enough martyr for the cause. But to those who stood on principle against these social media giants, this was a sign of things to come. Editors for the Free Thought Project spoke out against such censorship on the grounds that it may only be Alex Jones today, but FTP would be next.
How right they were.
At thefreethoughtproject.com, Matt Agorist wrote, "What makes this recent purge from Facebook and Twitter so egregious is that the pages like the Free Thought Project, the Anti-Media, Press for Truth, and dozens of others, did not fit the hate speech narrative these same companies used to wipe out Alex Jones. Instead, these pages were dedicated to spreading peace, bridging the divide, bringing humanity together and holding government accountable."
It's true that Jones has made more than his share of controversial statements, including claiming that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 was a hoax, but this kind of controversy does not follow sites such as the Free Thought Project; Facebook even admitted they were not targeted for promoting violence or spreading "fake news."
So what were the determining factors that led to this round of deplatformings? According to a statement co-authored by Facebook's Head of Cybersecurity Nathaniel Gleicher, the 559 pages and 251 accounts purged had, "consistently broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior." The statement continues, "This inauthentic behavior consists of sensational political content, regardless of its political slant, to build an audience and drive traffic to their websites…posting in dozens of Facebook Groups, often hundreds of times in a short period, to drum up traffic for their websites."
As Caitlin Johnstone wrote at Medium.com, Nathaniel Gleicher is also the former White House National Security Council Director of Cybersecurity Policy.
What a small world!
Is there any truth to Facebook's claims about "inauthentic activity"? It's easy to become instantly enraged by the censorship, considering that it appears to be punishing alternative media groups for "driving traffic to their websites."
This hardly seems like an egregious sin. And if consistently applied, would this standard not also include major news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News?
Additionally, the deplatformings seem conspicuously coordinated, as a number of affected organizations found their accounts suspended all at once, one the same day, on multiple social media sites.
There is some logic to Gleicher's explanation, but Facebook's application of its rules has been wildly inconsistent. People rushed to share tales of the purge, showing account holder screenshots with multiple banned pages and profiles. Unfortunately, it's the operation of so many pages and accounts by the same individuals that possibly got them caught in this little sting operation. When users were identified as sharing their clickbait in "dozens of groups, hundreds of times over a short period," they were attempting to game the system by boosting likes and shares in an attempt to drive themselves higher in news feeds. An issue with consistency notwithstanding, this sort of activity is considered spam and inauthentic behavior by Facebook. They are hardly the first to adhere to such a policy. Reddit.com bans users who are found to operate multiple accounts in order to up-vote the submissions by their primary account.
To be clear, I am not criticizing indie media for doing everything they can to spread their message. Those of us in the liberty community will remember Congressman Ron Paul and his foreign policy warnings against "blowback," — the CIA-coined term for the unintended retaliation for U.S. foreign interventions. But blowback is not limited to the world of foreign policy; it's also a social phenomenon. When Facebook made drastic changes to its algorithm crippling the reach of alternative media and independent content creators, it prompted these same creators to find ways to circumvent the algorithms. This kind of "throttling" is nothing new. The Gold Standard with Alan Mosley once enjoyed a reach of over 70,000 for its updates and episodes, even without any budget for Facebook Ads. These numbers were common as recently as May, but even with the purchase of Facebook Ads, results have been catastrophically lower since June. Now The Gold Standard is fortunate to receive a quarter of the reach, even though it sports all-time highs in likes and follows.
So what will the community-at-large do in response to this latest social media purge?
Sure, there were some that rushed to defend Alex Jones, but many more decided to put their momentary e-safety far above the principle of defending free speech. But those of us who believe in the free market should put our money where our mouths are. There is more than just circumstantial evidence to suggest that many of the major media outlets are coordinated, both with each other and Big Brother, to silence dissenting voices. When you read an article, listen to a podcast, or watch a video, make sure to like/share/subscribe to the original feed in order to keep them in the public view despite the reproach of the elite. Better yet, follow these content creators to their new destinations, and prepare to unplug from outlets that don't respect your freedom to choose what information to consume.
Ten Years After the Last Meltdown: Is Another One Around the Corner?
September marked a decade since the bursting of the housing bubble, which was followed by the stock market meltdown and the government bailout of the big banks and Wall Street. Last week's frantic stock market sell-off indicates the failure to learn the lesson of 2008 makes another meltdown inevitable.
In 2001-2002 the Federal Reserve responded to the economic downturn caused by the bursting of the technology bubble by pumping money into the economy. This new money ended up in the housing market. This was because the so-called conservative Bush administration, like the "liberal" Clinton administration before it, was using the Community Reinvestment Act and government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make mortgages available to anyone who wanted one — regardless of income or credit history.
Banks and other lenders eagerly embraced this "ownership society"' agenda with a "lend first, ask questions when foreclosing" policy. The result was the growth of subprime mortgages, the rush to invest in housing, and millions of Americans finding themselves in homes they could not afford.
When the housing bubble burst, the government should have let the downturn run its course in order to correct the malinvestments made during the phony, Fed-created boom. This may have caused some short-term pain, but it would have ensured the recovery would be based on a solid foundation rather than a bubble of fiat currency.
Of course Congress did exactly the opposite, bailing out Wall Street and the big banks. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates to historic lows and embarked on a desperate attempt to inflate the economy via QE 1, 2, and 3.
Low interest rates and quantitative easing have left the Fed with a dilemma. In order to avoid a return to 1970s-era inflation — or worse, it must raise interest rates and draw down its balance sheet. However, raising rates too much risks popping what financial writer Graham Summers calls the "everything bubble."
Today credit card debt is over a trillion dollars, student loan debt is at 1.5 trillion dollars, there is a bubble in auto loans, and there is even a new housing bubble. But the biggest part of the everything bubble is the government bubble. Federal debt is over 21 trillion dollars and expanding by tens of thousands of dollars per second.
The Fed is unlikely to significantly raise interest rates because doing so would cause large increases in federal government debt interest payments. Instead, the Fed will continue making small Increases while moving slowly to unwind its balance sheet, hoping to gradually return to a "normal" monetary policy without bursting the "everything bubble."
The Fed will be unsuccessful in keeping the everything bubble from exploding. When the bubble bursts, America will experience an economic crisis much greater than the 2008 meltdown or the Great Depression.
This crisis is rooted in the failure to learn the lessons of 2008 and of every other recession since the Fed's creation: A secretive central bank should not be allowed to manipulate interest rates and distort economic signals regarding market conditions. Such action leads to malinvestment and an explosion of individual, business, and government debt. This may cause a temporary boom, but the boom soon will be followed by a bust. The only way this cycle can be broken without a major crisis is for Congress both to restore people's right to use the currency of their choice and to audit and then end the Fed.


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Heather Locklear hits the red carpet with daughter Ava Sambora
UsWeeklyThe apple definitely doesn't fall far from Heather Locklear's tree. On Thursday, the "Melrose Place" actress hit the red carpet for the premiere of her new flick, "Scary Movie 5," at Hollywood's Arclight Cinerama Dome, where she proudly showed off 15-year-old daughter Ava Sambora -- who just happens to be the spitting image of her famous mom.PHOTOS: Famous moms and daughters(Ava is the star's only daughter with Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, her second ex-husband. Prior to their relationship, she was married for seven years to Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee.)With their wavy blonde hair, glowing skin, and matching smiles, the affectionate duo looked more like sisters than mother and daughter. Locklear, 51, wowed in a nude-and-white flared frock, while her mini-me rocked a flirty printed minidress and strappy heels.PHOTOS: Famous rock star romancesThe "Hot in Cleveland" actress also posed on the red carpet with her "Scary Movie 5" costar Charlie Sheen. Locklear and Sheen have an interesting history: the "Anger Management" actor was previously married to Denise Richards, Locklear's former best friend. The two women had a falling out years ago, made worse when Richards, 42, started up a relationship with Richie Sambora, 53, shortly after Locklear filed for divorce from the rocker. (Richards was also newly single, having ended her marriage to Sheen around the same time.)"I was no longer friends with Heather months before Richie and I got together," Richards told Redbook in 2008. "I don't want to say what caused the split, but she and I weren't even speaking then. It wasn't ever like we'd be shopping and go back to her house and I'd flirt with her husband.""Yes, I got together with Heather's soon-to-be ex-husband, but no, I didn't have an affair with him," she continued. "If Heather and I had been friends at that time, I would never have crossed that line. But we weren't. The friendship was not salvageable."Keep clicking for more adorable pics of Heather and Ava through the years...© FS2/Wonderwall


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PolicyMic.com has listed the ten most expensive cities in America to be a renter and also the least expensive city. There is an astounding $2,773 per month difference between the highest rentals and the city with the lowest rent.
The site reports on the methodology used in creating the lists.
Newly released data compiled by ApartmentList.com, an apartment search service, shows exactly which cities are demanding the most for apartment rentals, and which offer the best deals. By taking the median of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom listing prices, Apartmentlist.com came up with a clean, succinct list of the most expensive and least expensive American cities to rent an apartment.
The most expensive American cities to rent an apartment:
10. San Diego ($1,670)
9. Seattle ($1,718)
8. Miami ($1,742)
7. Oakland, Calif. ($1,812)
6. San Jose, Calif. ($2,165)
5. Los Angeles ($2,177)
4. Washington, D.C. ($2,699)
3. Boston ($3,190)
2. New York ($3,344)
1. San Francisco ($3,396)
The least expensive American cities to rent an apartment:
10. Kansas City, Mo. ($730)
9. Louisville, Ky. ($727)
8. Columbus, Ohio ($722)
7. Arlington, Texas ($713)
T-5. Memphis, Tenn. ($692)
T-5. Indianapolis ($692)
4. Detroit ($678)
3. Tulsa, Okla. ($672)
2. Tuscon, Ariz. ($628)
1. Wichita, Kan. ($623)


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text:
How Virginia Tech and Texas Met in the 1995 Sugar Bowl
Joel Ron McKelvey was one of the three biggest stories leading up to the 62nd Sugar Bowl.
If you can't place him, don't worry. Nobody else could either.
But first, there was another interesting change in the leadership of the Sugar Bowl. Dr. Leonard Burns became the first African-American to serve as the Sugar Bowl's president, putting persons of color in both the executive directorship with Troy Mathieu and the presidency. Coincidently, this landmark moment came the same year women were also brought into the organization.
There was a change in Sugar Bowl sponsorship, too. The game was now affiliated with Nokia Communications.
There was a change in the configurations for the postseason, as well, as the second step in the formula to pair the best two teams was implemented. The Bowl Alliance went into effect, encompassing the SEC, Big 12, ACC and Big East along with provisions for Notre Dame. For the first time the "host" teams in the Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange bowls would leave their traditional homes to play in a No. 1 game.
That's what happened to the Sugar as SEC champion Florida, ranked No. 2, went to the Fiesta to meet No. 1 Nebraska.
The system still wasn't perfect because the Big Ten and Pac 10 still weren't part of it, making a true title somewhat iffy. Things worked out this particular season, however, with Nebraska blitzing the Gators, 62-24.
Meanwhile, back in New Orleans, chuckles were produced as Texas and Virginia Tech were pitted in the first Sugar Bowl without an SEC presence in 24 years.
It was a worthwhile pairing of conference champions, and Texas was ranked ninth and Virginia Tech 11th.
But it was also a match in which no one could tell the players even with a roster. Really. Leading up to the Sugar Bowl, McKelvey was listed as a Texas defensive back. Two days before the game, a California newspaper identified McKelvey as Ron Weaver, a 30-year-old man who assumed the name of a person seven years younger to play football for the Longhorns. He had already played six year of college football, ending in 1989. McKelvey/Weaver was a reserve cornerback who played in all 11 Texas games in '95 but was a real factor in none.
An investigation ensued when Texas officials learned of a story in The Californian, a newspaper in Salinas, Calif., which McKelvey listed as his hometown. The paper had been doing stories on local athletes playing in college bowl games when it was discovered no one knew of an athlete named Ron McKelvey from Salinas.
According to the paper's account, several people in Salinas identified a photograph of McKelvey as Weaver, including his mother, Sung Weaver.
The Californian reported Weaver played for two seasons at Monterrey Peninsula and two years at Sacramento State. In 1992 Weaver told his parents he was enrolling in graduate school.
Instead, he assumed an alias and went to L.A. Pierce Junior College. After two standout seasons, Weaver was signed by Texas.
Upon learning of McKelvey's ruse, the Longhorns were left to explain how they had been fooled. Coach John Mackovic said the school doesn't normally check players' birth certificates for identification, but rather relies on the transcripts from the high schools or junior colleges.
The Salinas newspaper reported Weaver had revealed in an interview that he took on the identity of Joel Ron McKelvey so he could sell his story. "I'm here for no other purpose than what you think," McKelvey was quoted as saying in the paper. "I'm working on a book. In L.A., I have a publisher. It's on the scandals of college football."
But he never explained himself to his Texas teammates, coaches or administration. When they went looking for him, Weaver had already skipped town.
Recap excerpted from the book "Sugar Bowl Classic: A History" by Marty Mulé, who covered the game and the organization for decades for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.


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Controlling Your Robots: Using the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header with Googlebot
We have discussed before how to control Googlebot via robots.txt and meta robot tags. Both methods have limitations. With robots.txt you can block the crawling of any page or directory, but you cannot control the indexing, caching or snippets. With the robots meta tag you can control crawling, caching and snippets but you can only do that for HTML files, as the tag is embedded in the files themselves. You have no granular control for binary and non-HTML files.
Until now. Google recently introduced another clever solution to this problem. You can now specify robot meta tags via an HTTP header. The new header is the X-Robots-Tag, and it behaves and supports the same directives as the regular robots meta tag: index/noindex, archive/noarchive, snippet/nosnippet and the new unavailable_after directive. This new technique makes it possible to have granular control over crawling, caching, and other functions for any page on your website, no matter the type of content it has—PDF, Word doc, Excel file, zip files, etc. Read more


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I definitely would like to know who leaked the memo that has an abbreviated version of the Obama administration's legal justification for the drone strike program, a memo so badly written and reasoned that you can see now why the DOJ has refused to make it public. Jack Shafer has some ideas:
Who would have surrendered such a sensitive document about the president's "kill list" to NBC News?
It's a valid question, and a little bit silly at the same time. Not to diminish the intrepid reporting of Isikoff — who should be made the grand marshal of the next Tournament of Roses Parade for his scoop — but Washington often leaks in directions to further stoke policy fires that are already burning. (See this taxonomy of leaks compiled by Stephen Hess.) Such a Washington fire has been burning for many months, with Congress demanding that the Obama administration explain its targeted killings of U.S. citizens. Yesterday, before the Isikoff story broke, 11 senators sent the president a formal request that any and all legal opinions devised by the White House about the targeting of citizens be forwarded to the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.This request makes the senators, or members of their staffs, prime suspects of the leak. Isikoff's story does not discourage that interpretation. He reports that the leaked white paper was given to "members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees in June by administration officials" and that a "source with access to the white paper, which is not classified, provided a copy to NBC News." Like any good journalist, Isikoff squirts ink in the water to help camouflage a possible source by quoting the boilerplate outrage of the deputy legal director of the ACLU about the white paper. The ACLU has sued the administration for the memos, Isikoff reports, leaving the careful reader to speculate that perhaps the ACLU obtained the white paper and gave it to him.
The timing of the leak inspires further speculation. President Obama's nominee for CIA director, John Brennan, goes to Capitol Hill on Thursday for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Depending on how you torque it, the leaked white paper arguably gives drone-architect Brennan a little breathing room by blunting the demands for the classified documents. That's the sentiment behind a statement issued by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today, in which she says the white paper (and other documents and briefings) have allowed the Intelligence Committee, which she chairs, "to conduct appropriate and probing oversight into the use of lethal force." Or, the leak could enrage other senators who feel that the administration hasn't been sufficiently candid with them, and prompt them to draw Brennan and the administration into a memo showdown. As Josh Gerstein reported yesterday in Politico, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, had previously promised to press Brennan on the targeted killing policy.
I find it difficult to believe that the administration leaked it to provide cover to Brennan; if they did, it's a very bad miscalculation. All it does is draw more attention to the fact that Brennan was the one who oversaw the drone strike program and, more importantly, that the legal rationale for it is rather ridiculous. A source in the Senate is much more likely, I think. And I'm sure that if the Obama administration can figure out who it was, that person will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as they've done with every other whistleblower.


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Tomb Raider campaign 12-15 hours long, sequel planned if successful
Tomb Raider's campaign appears to be a lengthy one, according to Crystal Dynamics' global brand director Karl Stewart. The studio member has also stated that a sequel is a possibility should the team's reboot prove successful.
Over on the official Tomb Raider Twitter, Stewart answered questions about the game, revealing that Lara will have regenerative health and won't be able to swim – an odd choice given the character's previous ability to swim and the fact she's on an island surrounded by water.
Stewart also confirmed the average campaign running time:
He also confirmed that should the reboot prove successful, then a sequel will follow:
Tomb Raider will launch across Europe on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 from March 5th 2013.
Thanks CVG.


text:
The 10 Secrets of 100% Healthy People
- Narrated by: Patrick Holford
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Abridged Audiobook
- Release date: 12-24-09
- Language: English
- Publisher: Hachette Audio UK
Regular price: $13.08
Publisher's Summary
Some people never get sick and are always full of energy - find out how!
Some people have enviable energy and enthusiasm, never gain weight or get sick. What is their secret? The answers can be found in this groundbreaking audiobook by one of the UK's leading nutrition experts.
Do you know the ten habits that could help you thrive - not just survive - in the 21st century? In order to discover what those secrets are, Patrick Holford and his team have carried out Britain's biggest-ever health and diet survey, the 100% health survey, which has now been completed by over 60,000 people. This book is a distillation of the fascinating insights provided by the survey's top scorers and the author's 30 years of experience studying good health and how to achieve it.
It tells listeners how to discover where they are on the scale of 100% health and provides a new system of good health that is easy to follow and easily measurable - one that will enable people to transform their health and wellbeing, whether they are relatively fit and healthy or struggling with various health issues.
This highly informative and practical audiobook covers 10 areas crucial to a healthy - and happy - life, including the key to gaining energy and losing weight, how to slow down the ageing process, keeping your body and mind well oiled, sharpening your mind and improving your mood, keeping fit and supple, and finding your purpose in life.
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- BargainHunter
- 07-09-12
Well worth it!!!!
This book has rekindled my interest in Patrick Holford and taking an active interest in my health. This audio book is fascinating. I had never heard of homocysteine before this book. This book has inspired me to take a number of actions about my health. If you take Holford's advice piece by piece, the time and money involved to get one's health on track does not have to be onerous.
Well worth your time and money!!!!
- Pamela
- 03-22-10
Patrick Holford
I have all of Patrick's books both on paper and on audio where available and I really love this one as it's a brilliant summary of all of his advice. If we all followed these 10 secrets we would all be happier and healthier. I would definitely recommend this book.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
- Kathryn Forte
- 06-23-15
Absolutely loved this book, informative, thought provoking and explained excellently! Definitely recommended to anyone who wants to improve their health (and friends/family) both physically and emotionally!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- Lucy
- 04-04-10
I have come across the Optimum Food Bible before but have been put off by its 1000's of pages. This book is succinct and has so much information to improve your health that I'm sure even if you followed half of the advice - you'd be a lot better off. Its all well explained and makes sense. I've made some dietry changes so far but there's a lot of advice on supplements and I am pretty restricted due to being heavily pregnant. This title is definitely worth the money.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- Rita
- 07-25-12
This Literally is a Review
While Patrick may have a good writing style and report on valuable information, and I literally do mean that, he literally doesn't know how to stop saying the word literally after literally virtually every sentence, and I do mean literally every sentence at times. Arrrgggh!!!
To write normally: So if you struggle with excessive 'literally's then you will struggle with sections of this book.
He also is rather uncritical in his belief in his own statistics - he seems surprised how few people reported near-perfect health after filling in his on-line questionnaire. Could it be that people bursting with energy and health do not feel motivated to waste that energy filling in a questionnaire?
He also states the gut has the surface area of a small football pitch - this kind of vagueness in his thinking is not helpful: how small is small?
So overall, some good ideas but his stats need to be taken with a pinch of salt - although following his advice this pinch would not actually be ingested.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful


text:
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Rev. Alban Butler
Lives of the Saints
> Preface
Rev. Alban Butler
Volume I: January.
The Lives of the Saints.
in corporal distempers a total loss of appetite, which no medicines can restore, forbodes certain decay and death; so in the spiritual life of the soul, a neglect or disrelish of pious reading and instruction is a most fatal symptom. What hopes can we entertain of a person to whom the science of virtue and of eternal salvation doth not seem interesting, or worth his application? It is impossible, says St. Chrysostom,
that a man should be saved, who neglects assiduous pious reading or consideration. Handicraftsmen will rather suffer hunger and all other hardships than lose the instruments of their trade, knowing them to be the means of their subsistence. No less criminal and dangerous is the disposition of those who mispend their precious moments in reading romances and playbooks, which fill the mind with a worldly spirit, with a love of vanity, pleasure, idleness, and trifling; which destroy and lay waste all the generous sentiments of virtue in the heart, and sow there the seeds of every vice, which extend their baneful roots over the whole soil. Who seeks nourishment from poisons? What food is to the body, our thoughts and reflections are to the mind: by them the affections of the soul are nourished. The chameleon changes its colour as it is affected by sadness, anger, or joy; or by the colour upon which it sits: and we see an insect borrow its lustre and hue from the plant or leaf upon which it feeds. In like manner, what our meditations and affections are, such will our souls become, either holy and spiritual or earthly and carnal. By pious reading the mind is instructed and enlightened, and the affections of the heart are purified and inflamed. It is recommended by St. Paul as the summary of spiritual advice.
Devout persons never want a spur to assiduous reading or meditation. They are insatiable in this exercise, and, according to the golden motto of Thomas à Kempis, they find their chief delight
in a closet, with a good book.
Worldly and tepid Christians stand certainly in the utmost need of this help to virtue. The world is a whirlpool of business, pleasure and sin. Its torrent is always beating upon their hearts, ready to break in and bury them under its flood, unless frequent pious reading and consideration oppose a strong fence to its waves. The more deeply a person is immersed in its tumultuous cares, so much the greater ought to be his solicitude to find leisure to breathe, after the fatigues and dissipation of business and company; to plunge his heart, by secret prayer, in the ocean of the divine immensity, and, by pious reading, to afford his soul some spiritual refection; as the wearied husbandman, returning from his labour, recruits his spent vigour and exhausted strength, by allowing his body necessary refreshment and repose.
The lives of the saints furnish the Christian with a daily spiritual entertainment, which is not less agreeable than affecting and instructive. For in sacred biography the advantages of devotion and piety are joined with the most attractive charms of history. The method of forming men to virtue by example, is, of all others, the shortest, the most easy, and the best adapted to all circumstances and dispositions. Pride recoils at precepts, but example instructs without usurping the authoritative air of a master; for, by example, a man seems to advise and teach himself. It does its work unperceived, and therefore with less opposition from the passions, which take not the alarm. Its influence is communicated with pleasure. Nor does virtue here appear barren and dry as in discourses; but animated and living, arrayed with all her charms, exerting all her powers, and secretly obviating the pretences, and removing the difficulties which self-love never fails to raise. In the lives of the saints we see the most perfect maxims of the gospel reduced to practice, and the most heroic virtue made the object of our senses, clothed as it were with a body, and exhibited to view in its most attractive dress. Here, moreover, we are taught the means by which virtue is obtained, and learn the precipices and snares which we are to shun, and the blinds and by-ways in which many are bewildered and misled in its pursuit. The example of the servants of God points out to us the true path, and leads us as it were by the hand into it, sweetly inviting and encouraging us to walk cheerfully in the steps of those who are gone before us.
Neither is it a small advantage that, by reading the history of the saints, we are introduced into the acquaintance of the greatest personages who have ever adorned the world, the brightest ornaments of the church militant, and the shining stars and suns of the church triumphant, our future companions in eternal glory. Whilst we admire the wonders of grace and mercy, which God hath displayed in their favour, we are strongly moved to praise his adorable goodness. And, in their penitential lives and holy maxims, we learn the sublime lessons of practical virtue, which their assiduous meditation on the divine word, the most consummate experience in their deserts, watchings, and commerce with heaven, and the lights of the Holy Ghost, their interior Master, discovered to them. But it is superfluous to show from reason the eminent usefulness of the example, and the history of the saints, which the most sacred authority recommends to us as one of the most powerful helps to virtue. It is the admonition of St. Paul, that we remember our holy teachers, and that, having the end of their conversation before our eyes, we imitate their faith.
For our instruction the Holy Ghost himself inspired the prophets to record the lives and actions of many illustrious saints in the holy scriptures. The church could not, in a more solemn manner, recommend to us to have these great models often before our eyes, than by inserting in her daily office an abstract of the lives of the martyrs and other saints; which constant sacred custom is derived from the primitive ages, in which the histories of the martyrs were publicly read at the divine office, in the assemblies of the faithful, on their annual festivals. This is testified of the acts of St. Polycarp in the life of St. Pionius, and, by St. Austin,
of those of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, &c. The council of Africa, under Aurelius, archbishop of Carthage, in 397, mentions the acts of the martyrs being allowed to be read in the church on their anniversary days.
St. Cæsarius permitted persons that were sick and weak, to hear the histories of the martyrs sitting, when they were of an uncommon length; but complained that some who were healthful unreasonably took the same liberty.
All great masters of a spiritual life exceedingly extol the advantages which accrue to souls from the devout reading of the lives of eminent saints; witness St. Nilus,
St. Chrysostom, and others. Many fathers have employed their pens in transmitting down to posterity the actions of holy men. And the histories of saints were the frequent entertainment and delight of all pious persons, who ever found in them a most powerful means of their encouragement and advancement in virtue, as St. Bonaventure writes of St. Francis of Assisium. By the remembrance of the saints, as by the touch of glowing stones of fire, he was himself enkindled, and converted into a divine flame. St. Stephen of Grandmont read their lives every day, and often on his knees. The abbot St. Junian, St. Antoninus, St. Thomas, and other holy men are recorded to have read assiduously the lives of the saints, and by their example to have daily enflamed themselves with fervour in all virtues. St. Boniface of Mentz sent over to England for books of the lives of the saints,
and, by reading the acts of the martyrs, animated himself with the spirit of martyrdom. This great apostle of Germany, St. Sigiran and others, always carried with them in their journeys the acts of the martyrs, that they might read them wherever they travelled. It is related of St. Anastasius the martyr, that whilst he read the conflicts and victories of the martyrs, he watered the book with his tears, and prayed that he might suffer the like for Christ. And so much was he delighted with this exercise that he employed in it all his leisure hours. St. Teresa declares how much the love of virtue was kindled in her breast by this reading, even when she was a child. Joseph Scaliger, a rigid Calvinist critic, writes as follows on the acts of certain primitive martyrs.
The souls of pious persons are so strongly affected in reading them, that they always lay down the book with regret. This every one may experience in himself. I with truth aver, that there is nothing in the whole history of the church with which I am so much moved: when I read them I seem no longer to possess myself.
It would be very easy to compile a volume of the remarkable testimonies of eminent and holy men concerning this most powerful help to virtue, and to produce many examples of sinners, who have been converted by it to an heroic practice of piety. St. Austin mentions two courtiers who were moved on the spot to forsake the world, and became fervent monks by accidently reading the life of St. Antony.
St. John Columbin, from a rich, covetous, and passionate nobleman, was changed into a saint, by casually reading the life of St. Mary of Egypt.
The duke of Joyeuse, marshal of France, owed his perfect conversion to the reading of the life of St. Francis Borgia, which his servant had one evening laid on the table. To these, the example of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and innumerable others might be added. Dr. Palafox, the pious bishop of Osma, in his preface to the fourth tome of the letters of St. Teresa, relates, that an eminent Lutheran minister at Bremen, famous for several works which he had printed against the Catholic church, purchased the life of St. Teresa, written by herself, with a view of attempting to confute it; but, by attentively reading it over, was converted to the Catholic faith, and from that time led a most edifying life. The example of Mr. Abraham Woodhead and others were not less illustrious.
But to appeal to our own experiencewho is not awakened from his spiritual lethargy, and confounded at his own cowardice, when he considers the fervour and courage of the saints? All our pretences and foolish objections are silenced, when we see the most perfect maxims of the gospel demonstrated to be easy by example. When we read how many young noblemen and tender virgins have despised the world, and joyfully embraced the cross and the labours of penance, we feel a glowing flame kindled in our own breasts, and are encouraged to suffer afflictions with patience, and cheerfully to undertake suitable practices of penance. Whilst we see many sanctifying themselves in all states, and making the very circumstances of their condition, whether on the throne, in the army, in the state of marriage, or in the deserts, the means of their virtue and penance, we are persuaded that the practice of perfection is possible also to us, in every lawful profession, and that we need only sanctify our employments by a perfect spirit, and the fervent exercises of religion, to become saints ourselves, without quitting our state in the world. When we behold others, framed of the same frail mould with ourselves, many in age or other circumstances weaker than ourselves, and struggling with greater difficulties, yet courageously surmounting, and trampling upon all obstacles by which the world endeavoured to obstruct their virtuous choice, we are secretly stung within our breasts, feel the reproaches of our sloth, are roused from our state of insensibility, and are forced to cry out, Cannot you do what such and such have done? But to wind up this discourse, and draw to a conclusion; whether we consult reason, authority, or experience, we may boldly affirm, that except the sacred writings, no book has reclaimed so many sinners, or formed so many holy men to perfect virtue, as that of
The Lives of Saints.
If we would read to the spiritual profit of our souls, our motive must be a sincere desire of improving ourselves in divine love, in humility, meekness, and other virtues. Curiosity or vanity, shut the door of the heart to the Holy Ghost, and stifle in it all affections of piety. A short and humble petition of the divine light ought to be our preparation; for which we may say with the prophet, Open thou mine eyes, and I will consider the wonderful things of thy law.
We must make the application of what we read to ourselves, entertaining pious affections, and forming particular resolutions for the practice of virtue. It is the admonition of a great servant of God,
Whatever good instructions you read, unless you resolve and effectually endeavour to practice them with your whole heart, you have not read to the benefit of your soul. For knowledge without works only accuseth and condemneth. Though we cannot imitate all the actions of the saints, we can learn from them to practise humility, patience, and other virtues in a manner suiting our circumstances and state of life; and can pray that we may receive a share in the benedictions and glory of the saints. As they who have seen a beautiful flower-garden, gather a nosegay to smell at the whole day; so ought we, in reading, cull out some flowers, by selecting certain pious reflections and sentiments with which we are most affected; and these we should often renew during the day; lest we resemble a man who, having looked at himself in the glass, goeth away, and forgetteth what he had seen of himself.
Note 1.
St. Chrys. Conc. 3. de Lazaro, T. 1. p. 738. ed. Montfauc. [
Note 2.
1 Tim.
iv. 13
. [
Note 3.
In angelo cum libello. [
Note 4.
xiii. 7
. [
Note 5.
St. Aug. Serm. 280, T. 5, p. 1134. [
Note 6.
Can. 47, Conc. T. 2. p. 1072. [
Note 7.
St. Cæsar. Serm. 95, vel apud St. Aug. T. 5. Append. Serm. 300. [
Note 8.
St. Nilus, 1. 4. ep. 1. Discipulo suo, p. 458. Item, Tr. de Monasticâ Exercitatione, c. 34. et c. 43. p. 49. et Peristeria, sect. 4. p. 99. [
Note 9.
St. Bonif. ep. 35. Bibl. Patr. [
Note 10.
Animadv. in Chronic. Eus. ad. ann. 2187. [
Note 11.
Conf. l. 8. c. 6. [
Note 12.
Fleury, l. 97. n. 2. T. 20. [
Note 13.
cix. 18
. [
Note 14.
Lansperg. Enchir. c. 11. [
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World Lit


text:
What a cutie!
For this week's throwback Thursday post, CaCee Cobb Tweeted an August photo of herself and newborn son Rocco with the caption, "#tbt The happiest day of my life."
Cobb's husband, actor Donald Faison, can be seen in the background looking exhausted in an outfit we're accustomed to seeing him wear — green scrubs.
Jessica Simpson's best friend, 35, and Faison, 39, welcomed their first child together on Aug. 15.
Courtesy CaCee Cobb
The pair were married in December of last year in a Southern-themed Los Angeles wedding featured in the summer issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.
Faison, who currently stars on The Exes, announced Rocco's birth on Twitter, saying "Yesterday @Caceecobb and I welcomed the most amazing little boy into our lives! Oh Happy Day!!"
— Sheila Cosgrove Baylis


text:
It looks like California's Democrats have finally gotten their wish: they've effectively terminated California's Republican Party.
It looks like California's Democrats have finally gotten their wish: they've effectively terminated California's Republican Party.
For more than 100 years, our state was a beacon to the world, a land of opportunity and unlimited potential. It has taken less than half a century of liberal governance to bring the state to its knees.
Our state government is broke and our productive citizens are fleeing the state in ever increasing numbers, but we can still take pride in the fact that we are No. 1 in debt, No. 1 in welfare and No. 1 in taxing the wealthy.
Nearly 33 percent of all America's welfare recipients live in California, despite the fact that we have a little over 12 percent of the nation's population. We have four times as many welfare recipients as the runner-up state, New York.
And those who think we can look to future generations to help extricate us from this calamity should also note that in 2011, California's 8th-graders finished ahead of only Mississippi and District of Columbia students on math and reading test scores.
And now the Democrats can virtually do what they please.
Brad Fry
A funny thing happened on the way to dinner on a recent weekend. We were celebrating my niece's 21st birthday and as fate would have it the north Stockton restaurant where we had intended to go had neglected to write down our reservation, and our party of 21 people had to scramble to find a location.
I suggested Nena's Mexican Restaurant on the waterfront in Downtown Stockton. The usual concerns about safety ensued, but we all decided to give it a try. We called and asked if they could accommodate a party of 21 people in 15 minutes, and to our astonishment, they happily agreed.
From the moment we pulled into the parking lot on the river, everyone was astounded with the shimmering waterfront and the starlit night, the grace of the historic building, and the festive holiday decorations.
Herding this group into the restaurant was no small feat, as they wanted to stop everywhere and take photos.
When we entered the restaurant we were greeted by the cordial staff, 21 place settings, tables filled with chips and salsa, and three waiters standing by to take our orders.
The food was delicious, the margaritas were gigantic, and overall it was a magical night.
I believe my family members are now downtown converts.
Ruby Dhillon
The dogging of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice is entirely appropriate. She is not immune from having to tell the truth.
She was singled out to pass a message for the administration to protect themselves from telling the truth to the American people.
She has no line of authority as U.N. ambassador to comment on such matters as her position is inferior to the full diplomatic ambassadors on foreign soils.
As a government appointee and a Rhodes scholar she knows very well when things are covered up and for what purposes.
Rather than take the high road, if she in fact suspected of a cover-up. She willingly opted to be a player in the issue to further her career. She would have made herself a much better public servant by admitting what she was told was not factual.
The Benghazi tragedy cemented her in history as a liar. Just like Bill Clinton is known to have lied (proven in court.)
She should be denied any further service to this nation.
Steve Spatola


text:
Big Business Sent Senators $150 Million to Lobby Against Consumer Protection Nominee
The 43 Republican senators said they would vote against any candidate named.
The 43 senators who signed a letter in which they pledged to vote against any nominee that would head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and John McCain, received nearly $150 million in campaign contributions from business interests, Public Campaign Action Fund data shows. President Barack Obama recently re-nominated Richard Cordray (pictured) to serve as its director. Obama used a recess appointment to install Cordray a year ago, but that appointment only continues to the end of 2013.
John McCain has by far received the most money, $76 million, from the financial sector, with McConnell in second place, collecting $7.4 million in campaign funds. McConnell received large chunks of that money from Capital One (NYSE:COF) and American Express (NYSE:AXP), which donated $121,500 and $69,950 respectively. Ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Mike Crapo, received $2.4 million.
Senators Bob Corker and Rob Portman did not sign the pledge. Corker, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has recently spent time talking to freshman lawmaker, and rejected CFPB nominee Elizabeth Warren, reported Politico.
The senators will not vote for any nominee of either party until the agency's structure is changed to make it more accountable, McConnell said.
"The CFPB as created by the deeply flawed Dodd-Frank Act is one of the least accountable in Washington," said McConnell. "Today's letter reaffirms a commitment by 43 senators to fix the poorly thought structure of this agency that has unprecedented reach and control over individual consumer decisions - but an unprecedented lack of oversight and accountability."
The Republican senators would prefer that the CFPB be funded through Congressional appropriations instead of through the Federal Reserve and that federal regulators verify that CFRB rules would adequately protect banks financial soundness, Reuters reported.
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