AYN RAND A DISAGREEABLE PERSON

REF:" MRS. LOGIC" by Sam Anderson, LewRockwell.com 10/29/09

She would habitually confront her guest with "what is your premise?" After stumbling around for a time the guest would blurt out some axiom that would be their intellectual burial plot. Mrs. Rand would begin her logical point by point destruction of her 'opponents' position until they were hopelessly out- manned, and her logical premise was the only possible conclusion to the thought grapple.

Why was she this way? According to the referenced article, she was. . "proud, grouchy, vindictive, insulting, dismissive, and rash.. . but she was also idealistic, yearning, candid, worshipful, precise, and improbably charming. . She funneled all of these contradictory elements into Objectivism, the home-brewed philosophy that won her thousands of Cold War–era followers" and cold logic repudiation of current bail-out, stimulus pablum economists (excepting Austrian thinkers) and philosophers.

. . "but in person – her big black eyes flashing deep into the night, fueled by nicotine, caffeine, and amphetamines – she was apparently an irresistible force, a machine of pure reason, a free-market Spock who converted doubters left, right, and center. Eyewitnesses say that she never lost an argument."

She had a tragic childhood,

"Rand insisted, over and over, that the details of her life had nothing to do with the tenets of her philosophy. She would cite, on this subject, the fictional architect Howard Roark, hero of her novel The Fountainhead: 'Don’t ask me about my family, my childhood, my friends or my feelings. Ask me about the things I think.'”

"Ayn Rand was born Alissa Rosenbaum, in St. Petersburg in 1905. Her father, a pharmacist, was successful enough to buy both the pharmacy he worked in and the building that housed it. Her mother, foreshadowing her daughter’s future, named the family cats after American place-names. The family employed a cook, a nurse, a maid, and a governess. It was a bad time, of course, to be Russian Jews, and also a bad time to be a prosperous business owner—to be both basically guaranteed disaster. The Rosenbaums were subject to strict anti-Semitic laws, the constant threat of pogroms, and—just as Alissa was hitting adolescence—the Russian Revolution. At 12, Rand watched Bolshevik soldiers march in and take her father’s pharmacy. He would never really work again, and she would spend her adulthood railing, from across the world, against anyone who used force to “loot and mooch” from productive businessmen. As violence escalated and the Russian economy imploded, the Rosenbaums were forced to leave St. Petersburg and move into a small unheated house in a resort town on the Black Sea."

A feminist before her time who believed in the free individual unhampered by the state, tradition, or so called morality.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS NONSENSE

Apparently DST began in World War I because it was thought to save fuel by

reducing artificial lighting. WWI and WWII are behind us now, so let's stop the foolishness. Somehow once a dumb idea gets started, there is no way to get free of it, particularly if politicians are responsible for the dumb idea.

Think about it: the hour saved in the morning is refunded in the evening, or vice versa.

More unintended consequences from world improvers, it screws up everything from

kids waiting for the school bus in the dark to pets and farm animals feeding times being disrupted.

The grief just begins with resetting the clocks. With DST we are out of sync with other continents and our business days are less productive. Small differences in the amount of sleep we get have large effects on our health, temperament and mental acuity,

Not all states go along with the insanity, Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands,

Guam and American Samoa do not change their clocks and it works very well for them, thank you very much. Indiana has 14 counties who reset clocks and 77 that do not. Some say don't go along to get along.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

THE TEMPLE OF BABEL

RE:http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23231Volume 56, Number 17 November 5, 2009 Who's in Big Brother's Database?

By James Bradford

The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency

by Matthew M. Aid

Bloomsbury, 423 pp., $30.00

In the high desert of Utah the United States government 's agency NSA is building an enormous facility, costing and estimated $1.8 billion ( yes, that's billion) to record and store information gleaned from the electronic media, commonly called electronic eavesdropping. They have outgrown the existing facility at Ft. Mede, Maryland, particularly in terms of power usage .

The new home for secrets will double the physical space (over l million square feet) and use enough electric power as used by all of Salt Lake City. The site was chosen for it's remoteness and cheap and abundant electric power.

The NSA (National Security Agency) is charged with spying on foreign sources of

intelligence information--sounds like the CIA--, but has grown to 3 times the size of that famous intelligence agency. and since the Patriot Act has been granted the legal

right to spy on Americans to an unprecedented degree. The facility archives trillions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and data trails, web searches, parking receipts, bookstore visits, and other digital stuff. "The data are then analyzed by powerful infoweapons, supercomputers running complex algorithmic programs, to determine who among us may be—or may one day become—a terrorist. " or at least that is what they claim.

It is in fact an edifice, attesting to a government that is afraid of it's people. A government who has become increasingly paranoid about 'internal threats', and has taken to spying on it's people.

"One clue to the possible purpose of the highly secret megacenters comes from the agency's British partner, Government Communications Headquarters. Last year, the British government proposed the creation of an enormous government-run central database to store details on every phone call, e-mail, and Internet search made in the United Kingdom. Click a "send" key or push an "answer" button and the details of the communication end up, perhaps forever, in the government's data warehouse to be scrutinized and analyzed.

But when the plans were released by the UK government, there was an immediate outcry from both the press and the public, leading to the scrapping of the "big brother database," as it was called. In its place, however, the government came up with a new plan. Instead of one vast, centralized database, the telecom companies and Internet service providers would be required to maintain records of all details about people's phone, e-mail, and Web-browsing habits for a year and to permit the government access to them when asked. That has led again to public anger and to a protest by the London Internet Exchange, which represents more than 330 telecommunications firms. "We view...the volume of data the government now proposes [we] should collect and retain will be unprecedented, as is the overall level of intrusion into the privacy of citizenry," the group said in August

Unlike the British government, which, to its great credit, allowed public debate on the idea of a central data bank, the NSA obtained the full cooperation of much of the American telecom industry in utmost secrecy after September 11. For example, the agency built secret rooms in AT&T's major switching facilities where duplicate copies of all data are diverted, screened for key names and words by computers, and then transmitted on to the agency for analysis. Thus, these new centers in Utah, Texas (San Antonio), and possibly elsewhere will likely become the centralized repositories for the data intercepted by the NSA in America's version of the "big brother database" rejected by the British."

As with most government programs, the NSA has flubbed their tasks of uncovering external threats.

They were unaware of the Russian build-up in Cuba in the 1960s.

They were unaware of India's nuclear test in 1998.

They were unaware of the 1963 attack on the World Trade Center.

They missed the attack on the USS Cole in 2000.

They were unaware of the bombing of the U.S. East African Embassies.

Sadly they also missed the 911 attack.

Nevertheless, as with most government programs their budget continues to increase as does the accumulation a of private information about us.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

RUSSIAN ROULETTE?

From:WC Douglass realhealth@healthiernews.com

"Daily Dose-Is Your doctor killing you?

"The American healthcare system is starting to resemble a game of Russian roulette, right down to the stakes: your life.

The National Academies' Institute of Medicine estimates that there are 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries every year. Another study found a 1-in-30 chance that your prescription will be filled out wrong.

And those aren't even the most appalling numbers.

I nearly fell out of my chair when I read "Dead by Mistake," an investigation by Hearst newspaper and TV reporters that found some 200,000 preventable deaths caused by medical injuries and accidents each year.

It's nearly 10 percent of our deaths overall. That's more people than are killed by diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, influenza and pneumonia combined.

In one tragic and inexcusable case, two pregnant women in a Florida hospital were accidentally given drugs designed to force dead fetuses out of the body. One of the women was pregnant with twins, and lost both babies. The other gave premature birth to a girl who suffered severe brain damage.

The hospital blamed poor handwriting on the doctor's prescription, which led to a mix-up in the drugs.

Enough's enough. I'm tired of all the stupid jokes about doctors and their terrible handwriting. Until doctors learn to write legibly, they have no business prescribing drugs.

Computerized systems, where doctors can order meds by typing rather than scribbling, can help prevent these mistakes, but most hospitals are still in the digital Stone Age. A paltry 10 percent of them have these systems in place.

That's outrageous and unacceptable. Fast-food restaurants are more technologically advanced than our hospitals.

This is just one more reason you should hammer your doctors and nurses with questions, especially when they give you meds -- and don't swallow anything until you're satisfied with the answers.

Ask what you're being given, what it does and if there are any side effects (you can bet your bottom that there will be). Then ask to see the label. It's your right, and if they can't or won't show it to you, refuse to take it.

And if you're not in any condition to check up on these things yourself, have someone with you who can.

It's inexcusable that it has to be that way. But the alternative is that deadly game you can't afford to play."

Best advice: Stay healthy and stay away from the medicos and their nostrums whenever possible.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

ANDY WILLIAMS IS NOT DEAD

". . . people think I'm dead since I don't appear on national TV or Las Vegas clubs anymore. ." reported by the Telegraph co..UK Photo: Getty Images

Andy Williams, 81, is alive and performing at his own club in Branson, MO. Having quit the fast lane of TV and Las Vegas he retired, then built his own club, and will keep performing until he drops, he claims.

Andy Williams had/has a brilliant career, beginning with his appearing with the quartet The Williams Brothers with his three brothers from Des Moines, IA in two-bit night clubs. After starving out in 1952, he switched to pop as a solo artist and was picked up by The Tonight Show to began regular appearances, plus a record contract.

In 1957 he recorded Butterfly followed by a string of hits, and in 1962,

his signature song, Moon River.

Here are his top 10:

[ Do you remember?]

Moon River

Days of Wine and Roses

Call Me Irresponsible

Can't Get Use to Losin' You

Oh Danny Boy

We Need a Little Christmas

Dear Heart

Warm and Willing

Hawaiian Wedding Song

Emily

Andy was a pal the Sinatra "rat pack" and spent 20 years as a Las Vegas performer.

. . . .""Vegas was run by the Mob, it was wall-to-wall gangsters," Williams recalls. "All of the people that worked there were paid a lot of money – Mafia money, but everyone was taking it. So you'd tell yourself they're not bad people, they're just rogues who dress nicely and speak nicely, and are polite as long as you don't cross them."

By the time Caesar's Palace, where Williams headlined for two decades, opened in 1966, most of the hoodlums had gone. "It was a lot of fun," he remembers. "Sammy and Dean and Frank all hung out together and often I'd go and see them after the show. You'd drink two bottles of champagne in a night, head for the sauna in the morning and sweat it out, play golf, come back and take a quick nap and go off and do shows. If you're young you can do it."

He says in the Telegraph Co. article that . . "That's the trouble with showbusiness. One minute you're the most popular singer in America with your own TV variety show, a 20-year stint in Las Vegas. . . The next thing you know, you're performing along a nondescript highway in the foothills of Missouri's Ozark mountains, competing for audiences with a Beatles tribute band, an Elvis impersonator and three of the lesser-known Osmonds".

Andy Williams has written his autobiography: "Moon River and Me". He details his life's humble beginnings, frustrations with the quartet, his life as a TV and

recording star, Caesar's Palace headliner and his new life as a Branson entertainer.

Bravo Andy Williams for contributing your unique piece of almost forgotten Americana.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

PHONY WAR

Two untold reasons for the endless conflict in Afghanistan: According to F. William Engdahl,"The geopolitics behind the phoney US war in Afghanistan,www.Financial Sense.com 10/12/09

1.To control restore and control the world's largest supply of opium for the heroin

market, which in turn produces income for the bankrupt Wall Street banksters.

[see: www.Solari.com]

2. To complete the encirclement of Iran and achieve a dominance in

Asian theater by establishing bases to contain the emerging strength of

Russia and China.

According to a U.N. report, opium production has risen dramatically since the invasion. According to Engdahl, 93% of the world opiates originates in Afghanistan

and ". . it has been documented that Washington hand-picked the controversial Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun warlord from the Popalzai tribe, long in the CIA’s service, brought him back from exile in the USA, created a Hollywood mythology around his “courageous leadership of his people.” According to Afghan sources, Karzai is the Opium “Godfather” of Afghanistan today. There is apparently no accident that he was and is today still Washington’s preferred man in Kabul. Yet even with massive vote buying and fraud and intimidation, Karzai’s days could be ending as President.

The second reason the US military remains in Afghanistan long after the world has forgotten even who the mysterious Osama bin Laden and his alleged Al Qaeda terrorist organization is or even if they exist, is as a pretext to build a permanent US military strike force with a series of permanent US airbases across Afghanistan. The aim of those bases is not to eradicate any Al Qaeda cells that may have survived in the caves of Tora Bora, or to eradicate a mythical “Taliban” which at this point according to eyewitness reports is made up overwhelmingly of local ordinary Afghanis fighting to rid their land once more of occupier armies as they did in the 11980’s against the Russians.

Financially and politically weakened, the U.S. uses terrorism and military aggression to accomplish its' goals. Unfortunately this just enriches special interests and wastes enormous resources, while weakening our alliances and persecutes the world's innocents.

War is expensive-at least the way we go about it-for example, gasoline supplied to our troops costs $400 per gallon, and they use 800,000 gallons per day. It costs $750,000 per man per year to keep each soldier in Afghanistan.

Surely it is worth it to "fight over there and not here " Nonsense.

It is time for the Administration to come clean on the real reasons for the increasingly unpopular war and clean our foreign policy house by repudiating endless no-win engagements. Lets bring the facts out into the open where we can determine our course without Madison Avenue spins and misrepresentations.

Many are calling the U.S. a failed state. Perhaps that is so and we are a dead man walking. If it is not so and the U.S. is still a viable world power that is temporarily over extended, then let's clean up our act and get real and truthful about our money and our goals.

President Obama, you talk good, now let's see some forthright actions.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

HISTORY DISTORTED

In ways we don't clearly understand, history becomes distorted so that the 'record' of what happened really didn't happen that way at all. There are those "revisionists'[

who deliberately re-write history to reinforce their beliefs, hoping to persuade others to their point of view. And there are others who were just mistaken on their facts or conclusions. Unfortunately , these false facts and conclusions get repeated and amplified over and over until history is written in stone.

History, that is, the accurate reporting of events past and present is extremely important to man if he is to learn and profit from past successes and failures. There has probably never been a time in the past where we were subjected to so much propaganda, misrepresentation and spin as the present. How difficult the job of today's historians to separate the truth from the fiction.

How many times have we read that President Nixon defaulted on the Gold Standard

having removed the gold backing from the dollar? Perhaps it is OK to blame him for this dishonorable action, he is dead and gone and already disgraced by the Watergate Scandal which forced his resignation. But what is the truth of the matter? Did he arbitrarily do this? Let's help to set the matter straight and clarify this turning point in America's monetary downfall.

In 1945, the time of the Bretton Woods agreement, America had emerged from the destruction and disarray from WWII, possessing what is believed to be 75% of the world's gold; thus a dollar backed by gold at the fixed redeeming price of $35/oz was plausible and proved a "reserve" status to the dollar. Gold is considered to be money and a store of value, therefore it is used to settle bills and debts in world trade. With the dollar's reserve status, it provided a more convenient means for trade settlements and could be substituted for gold.

Like a drunken sailor or a lottery winner in 1945 and beyond, we began spending our largesse: The Marshall plan, IMF,World Bank and many other domestic and international aid

programs plus the expansion of overseas branches of our corporations our wealth in dollars and thus gold promises began to leave this country. Enter Lyndon Johnson (November 1963-1969) and his "GREAT SOCIETY" programs of welfare and social change, being a great spender (of other people's money), he escalated the Vietnam War and we began the 'guns and butter' era of economic destruction. National deficits and trade deficits became the norm.

We had arrived a point in 1971, with our national profligate ways that we had spent an estimated twice our gold reserves, and no way to honor our commitment to redeem dollars for gold. French President deGaulle demanded redemption of dollars for gold that we didn't have. There was no longer a choice , President Nixon had to renounce the Bretton Woods Agreement, and allow the dollar-no longer redeemable in gold- to float on the exchange markets.

So, let history reflect that prior economic foolishness caused the default of the gold backed dollar, not the economic postulate of President Nixon.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

HOT N' READY

Best deal in town.

The local Little Caesar's Pizza features a "Customer appreciation Day" on selected Tuesdays of the month. Patrons can purchase up to 5 large pepperoni pizzas for $3.99 each.

These delicious freshly made pizzas are easily stored in the freezer until they or pieces thereof are ready to be re-heated and gobbled down.

For added yum yum, add diced green pepper, red onion and ham or bacon; liberally douse with olive oil. Served with grated parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes, they are scrumptious culinary delights.

For variety choose to add, green onions, sausage, black and/or green olives, garlic, shrimp, Jalapeno peppers, variety cheeses , barbequed chicken or tomatoes.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

OATH KEEPERS

RE: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2365515/posts

Who are the "Oath Keepers" that are wearing that shoulder patch on their uniforms, what do they stand for and what do they want?

According to the linked article, Oath Keepers are a non-partisan group of current and

retired law enforcement and military personnel who vow to fulfill their oaths to obey the Constitution.

Launched in March of this year by Stewart Rhodes of Las Vegas, NV, they repledge themselves to defend the Constitution, even if it means disobeying orders. If the U.S. government ordered law enforcement agencies to violate Second Amendment rights by disarming the people, Oath Keepers will not obey.". . .

"The whole point of Oath Keepers is to stop a dictatorship from ever happening here, Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper and Yale-trained lawyer, said in an interview with the Review-Journal. "My focus is on the guys with the guns, because they can't do it without them."

Patrick Buchannan in his October 21st article on www.LewRockwell.com noted that". . if the Pelosi-Reid progressives went postal over town-hall protesters, calling them "un-American," "Nazis" and "evil-mongers," one can imagine what they will do with the Oath Keepers. . .

As with Jimmy Carter's long-range psychoanalysis of Joe Wilson, the reflexive reaction of the mainstream media will likely be that these are militia types, driven to irrationality because America has a black president.. . the establishment's reaction seems more problematic for the republic than anything the Oath Keepers are up to. For our political and media elite seem to have lost touch with the nation and to be wedded to a vision of America divorced from reality."

The "establishment" is automatically opposed to anything that might limit or threaten their power or vision of what is best for America including Czars, rules, regulation and submission by the masses, therefore expect a gradually increasing outcry from the media and special interests who will try to color the Oath Keepers with the para-military dissident group's radicalism.

Buchannan reports that [these far-leftists]". . cannot comprehend what would motivate Middle America to distrust its government, for it surely does, as Ron Brownstein reports in the National Journal:

"Whites are not only more anxious, but also more alienated. Big majorities of whites[and many blacks] say the past year's turmoil has diminished their confidence in government, corporations and the financial industry ... Asked which institution they trust most to make economic decisions in their interest, a plurality of whites older than 30 pick 'none' – a grim statement.

. . .we had seen these folks before. They were Perotistas in 1992, opposed NAFTA in 1993, and blocked the Bush-Kennedy McCain amnesty in 2007.

In their lifetimes, they have seen their Christian faith purged from schools their taxes paid for, and mocked in movies and on TV. They have seen their factories shuttered in the thousands and their jobs outsourced in the millions to Mexico and China. They have seen trillions of tax dollars go for Great Society programs, but have seen no Great Society, only rising crime, illegitimacy, drug use and dropout rates.

They watch on cable TV as illegal aliens walk into their country, are rewarded with free educations and health care, and take jobs at lower pay than American families can live on – then carry Mexican flags in American cities and demand U.S. citizenship.

They see Wall Street banks bailed out as they sweat their next paycheck, then read that bank profits are soaring, and the big bonuses for the brilliant bankers are back. Neither they nor their kids ever benefited from affirmative action, unlike Barack and Michelle Obama.

They see a government in Washington that cannot balance its books, win our wars or protect our borders. The government shovels out trillions to Fortune 500 corporations and banks to rescue the country from a crisis created by the government and Fortune 500 corporations and banks.

America was once their country. They sense they are losing it. . ."

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

Addendum

After the article on the Oath Keepers was written, but not published ,the propaganda establishment's shill, Chris Matthews appeared http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Li_CoNazI on so called 'hardball" with the creator of the Oath keepers, wherein he used his abusive,

interrupting style to beat up his guest and shamefully imply that the guest was forming a vigilante group to try to overthrow the government by force, when in fact they are only going to honor their oaths, by not participating in unconstitutional acts.

The predicted tirade has begun!

According to Thomas Frank, writing in the WSJ, October 20, 2009 if your opinion differs from the view presented by the establishment and national television and print media, you are paranoid and a conspiracy theory nut. If you are concerned about the U.S. drifting toward fascism and communism or if you question the veracity of the Federal Reserve, Swine flu hysteria etc,etc, etc. you are a fanatic. As per usual, their defense is to show that anyone differing from their distorted positions must be a crazy.

ALL THAT GLITTERS

A funny thing happened recently the last day of trade for the September gold futures, when a substantial amount of gold was bought on the London Bullion Market and the buyer(s) wanted to take immediate delivery of the bullion.

Reportedly, J.P. Morgan and Deutsche bank did not have the gold to honor the trade because they had sold short --a naked short. These banks reportedly tried to settle in cash, offering as much as spot + 25%, but the offers were not accepted; thus promulgated a mad scramble for bullion. The Bank of England offered to close the deals with 22 carat gold.

In 1933, President Roosevelt confiscated the gold of the citizens--heretofore gold and dollars were freely transferable at a fixed rate. This confiscated gold was melted down into gold bars and stored at the federal depositories such as Ft. Knox . This gold, however had been alloyed to make gold coins durable, hence 22 carat gold; but buried in the vaults, who would know?

The gold offered by the Bank of England may not have come from the U.S. vaults, but then again who would know? There has been no physical audit of our gold reserves, since 1954, and no audit of the Federal Reserve ever. Rumors suggest that gold bars of 22 carat gold are starting to appear. 99.9% gold is 24 carat. but 90% (91.6%) gold mixed with alloy is 22 carat .

It gets curiouser and curiouser. The GLD (a London ETF) registry on:

9/25/09 was 1,381pages;

10/2/09: 208 pages;

10/9/09:195 pages;

10/14 after questions were raised: 855 pages.

According to Antol E. Fekete: RE: "The Gold Basis is Dead-Long Live the Gold Basis"w.w.w FinancialSense.com 10/19/09

. . "Reports are circulating that similar audits of certain Asian depositories have already produced “good” delivery bars (400 oz or 12.5 kg gold bricks) that have been gutted and stuffed with tungsten — a metal whose specific weight approximates that of gold, so that the famous test of Archimedes (fl. 287-212 B.C.) based on the Law of Buoyancy, designed to expose fraudulent goldsmiths, would be inapplicable. Isn’t it strange that criminal law punishes the fraudulent stuffing of gold bars, but allows the stuffing of gold assets in the balance sheet with paper gold? After all, the specific value of tungsten is much higher than that of paper!. . "

There is a lot of real (not paper) gold in the world, most of it is in vaults and crafted into jewelry. Actually it is believed very little of the gold ever mined has been lost or destroyed--not the case of silver which has excellent industrial uses other than coinage.

The hanky panky is at the commodity exchanges where paper gold (supposedly warehouse receipts for metal stored) and government and central bank inventory numbers are questionable. Physical inventory somehow is rarely accomplished. As gold becomes more in demand, counterfeiting becomes more common.

Trust no one, particularly those who say " Trust me".

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

SLEEPY TIME JOE

It seems that we are not getting enough sleep.

According to Dr. Douglass RE: Daily Dose-Get your sleep-or else! realhealth@healthiernews.com, poor rest is linked to dimentia.

". . If it's true, it doesn't surprise me in the least. All those late nights aren't just making people tired and crabby -- they're killing us, plain and simple.

But first, they destroy our brains.

Researchers at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis studied mice that had been engineered to have an Alzheimer's-like condition. They found that when these mice were awake, levels of amyloid-beta -- a protein linked to the condition -- rose. When the mice slept, those levels fell.

But when the mice were forced to stay awake -- like many of us force ourselves to, nearly every night -- those levels really shot up. And the researchers believe this happens in our brains, too, sleepless night after sleepless night.

And believe me, if that's causing dementia, we're going to see an explosion of Alzheimer's in a few years.

Today's kids are raised on mega-doses of caffeine, sugar-filled energy drinks, and violent videogames. They're killing brain cells every night as they play these games and send text messages until dawn, and then fade in and out of consciousness all day long at school.

But that's perfect training for life as a 21st-century adult. Too many grown men and women suffer from sleep disorders, many of their own making. Plenty of us even willingly sacrifice that crucial sleep in a pointless attempt to keep up with the rat pack at work.

Bad move, pal -- that big promotion today isn't going to mean squat if it costs you your mind tomorrow.

Don't look to sleeping pills with their bizarre and even deadly side effects for answers. If you can't cure your insomnia with lifestyle changes such as earlier bedtimes, then you probably need an HGH boost. Skip the kind that comes in a bottle and head straight to your doctor for some prescription-strength injections, four times a week until you're straightened out. [ Easy there doctor, growth hormones are a drastic step for just a little shut eye]

Add a nightly dose of melatonin to the mix, and you'll be sleeping like a baby in no time.. . "

RE:

http://www.melatonin.com/melatonin-faq-general.php

Melatonin is a hormone produced naturally in the pineal gland at the base of the brain.

It is important in regulating sleep, and may play a role in maintaining circadian rhythm, the body's natural time clock.

Natural melatonin production decreases with age, and the decrease is associated with some sleep disorders, particularly in the elderly.

The use of melatonin supplements became popular in the mid-1990s as a way of treating insomnia.

Studies suggest that supplements can hasten sleep and ease jet lag, without the hazards or side effects of prescription sleeping pills.

Melatonin may have many other uses and has been reported to make people feel better, strengthen the immune system, and reduce free radicals in the body.

Current research is exploring melatonin's effect as an anti-oxidant, immno-modulator in cancer, delayed sleep-phase disorders, and more. For example: "... Consuming melatonin neutralizes oxidative damage and delays the neurodegenerative process of aging [in mice]." (Science Daily)

Tests are still underway, so there is much to still be learned about melatonin and its effects on the human body.

"Based on available studies and clinical use, melatonin is generally regarded as safe in recommended doses for short-term use.

"Available trials report that overall adverse effects are not significantly more common with melatonin than placebo." (U.S. National Institutes of Health)

"In the most extensive clinical trial to date a high dose of 75 milligrams of melatonin per day was given to 1400 women in the Netherlands for up to four years with no ill effects." (Newsweek, 6 Nov. 1995, 60-63.)

Melatonin reportedly doesn't have that morning-after effect of sleeping pills. You should Normally wake up well refreshed and full of energy.

Dosages should begin small, .5 mg or less, then increased to get the desired effect

DISCLAIMER

This blog article is not written by a health professional, nor is the information contained within to be considered prescribed procedure or to have any claimed medical or scientific authenticity. It is merely information gleaned from the referenced sources, and should not be considered medical advice.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

"WHO ARE THOSE GUYS?"

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid couldn't figure out who their pursuers were when escaping from a train holdup gone bad. A group of detectives, with an uncanny Indian scout hired by E. H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad to stop the robbing of his trains, relentlessly pursued the outlaws and were not fooled by their tricks.

With 80,000 troops on the ground and more requested, we are dedicated to defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan, knowing that they are the 'militants', 'insurgents', 'terrorists', 'abusers of women's rights' and overall bad guys that we 'the righteous and good guys' need to attack and conquer.

But "who are those guys?" To answer we need to look back at the Cold War times and the invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S.S.R. The U.S. met this aggression by enlisting the help of Afghans, Pakistanis and Saudis, notable among them was Osama Bin Ladin. The U. S. supplied cash and modern weapons. What evolved was an alliance that drove the Russans out and empowered the native Afghans --the so called Taliban.

Quoting from our Secretary of State in testimony to the House Appropriations Committee: [ from "Fighting the Taliban" by Reza Pirbhai ,www.Counterpunch.com]

“Let’s remember here… the people we are fighting today we funded them twenty years ago… and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union. They invaded Afghanistan… and we did not want to see them control Central Asia and we went to work… and it was President Reagan in partnership with Congress led by Democrats who said you know what it sounds like a pretty good idea… let’s deal with the ISI and the Pakistan military and let’s go recruit these mujahideen. And great, let them come from Saudi Arabia and other countries, importing their Wahhabi brand of Islam so that we can go beat the Soviet Union. And guess what … they (Soviets) retreated … they lost billions of dollars and it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. So there is a very strong argument which is… it wasn’t a bad investment in terms of Soviet Union but let’s be careful with what we sow… because we will harvest.”

After Russia's exit, the Russian installed communist Najibullah regime remained and the U.S. continued to support the Taliban force in opposition, using Pakistan and Saudi Arabian channels. In 1992 the Soviet Union collapsed as did the Najibullah regime, yet our influence remained.

The inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1992, signalled an emphasis on ties with the ‘Northern Alliance’ – itself a band of Taliban-style groups, sprinkled with regional ‘warlords,’ known for their drug running and human rights abuses. This relationship was actually initiated by Clinton’s predecessor, George Bush (Sr.), in 1989, with the appointment of a US charge d’affair for the Northern Alliance, at the very moment that the charge d’affair for Afghanistan as a whole was withdrawn and the US embassy in Kabul closed.

In other words, the US now joined Russia, Pakistan, India, Iran and Saudi Arabia in backing one of the other of the Taliban-style militants and warlords vying for control of Afghanistan, the result of which was the destruction of major cities like Kabul and most of the country’s infrastructure, as well as the continued killing, rape and torture of thousands more civilians.

This is not the first time the U.S. has found it expedient to turn against it's former allies in pursuit of contemporary goals. It turns out; however that the Taliban (Official definition: Religious students) are really very tough and vicious customers, skilled in guerilla warfare as well as terror and abuse of non-combatants and are winning the 'war'. A monster we have fed and nurtured can no longer be contained. Can anyone say Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Panama and Cuba?

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

WHIPSAWED

//www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/laird101509.html [CHRISTOPHER LAIRD]

". . .I thought I would post an email from one of our subscribers who states that her dilemma in trying to keep track of all the financial information coming at us in the Internet - about why she subscribes to PrudentSquirrel:

'I am not expecting a reply....it just exemplifies my difficulty in holding a consistent view.

The internet is a wonderful tool....but I am constantly being whipsawed by all the sources of information!

Guess I have to stick with the analysts who have worked for me - like you for instance - and then get out more.

Your work is excellent, though terrifying to read from time to time.

Many thanks for bothering with this subscribers occasional enquiries. It is much appreciated. Jennifer'. ."

Well, there you have it. Utter frustration at the stupid inane articles and comments on the internet--it's worse than a radio talk show where any retard can call in and enlighten the world with his thoughts and opinions .

Mr Laird of the linked article is no longer our favorite article writer, since after several brilliant pieces last spring he totally lost his focus and has resorted to bragging about a couple of correct predictions made several years ago.

Enough personality criticisms. We're too cheap to buy his newsletter, which claims many fold more information and financial help. God Bless.

We have chosen several web sights to glean because there have been a number of good articles in the past and the writers featured have had worthwhile things to say.

But today, there is a preponderance of nothingness or a constant drone of what caused the financial crises; big banks are steeling from us; the police are Nazi- like; buy a gun; congress ,big Pharma and Obama are destroying our country; and the asinine debate as to whether we are having inflation or deflation. Gimmie a break!

Yes, the internet is wonderful, a vast supply of facts, information, advise and knowledge. And yes, sometimes it is difficult to find a subject that you can expound on that others have not worn out. But pleeese authors, find something new and fresh to write about and pleeese stop telling us how smart you are; if it's true we will figure it out on our own.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE FLU

RE: The Douglass Report 10.14.09 [Dr. William C. Douglass]

Dr. Douglass already a doubter about the 'pandemic' flu threat says: "Forget rolling up

your sleeves for a questionable and costly H1N1 vaccine. Protecting against the swine flu or any flu for that matter can be as simple as washing your hands.

Big Pharma might tell you differently, but plain old good hygiene and a dose of common sense are the best ways to keep yourself healthy -- and a recent review of 59 studies on strategies to reduce viral germs proves just that.

The study, published online in BMJ, finds that simple things like washing your hands throughout the day and keeping your distance from sick people can lower your risk of getting or spreading viruses

The same study finds that you can also lower your risk of getting the flu or any other viral infection by wearing a mask and gloves.

The researchers even found that the simplest of masks -- the kind you can buy by the dozen for just a couple of bucks -- are nearly as good as the more expensive (and far less comfortable) "N95" masks that are being marketed for the swine flu.

It should come as no surprise to you that the most effective strategies are also the simplest and cheapest. I've always carried my own mask with me, especially when I fly or take a train, and you should do the same any time you head into the herd. "

Hatman recommends several common sense strategies:

Stay away from crowds as much as you can.

Avoid closed rooms filled with others.

Postpone commercial airline flights.

Take at least 35 Units of Vitamin D or D3 per pound of your body weight daily.

Take at least 500 mg of Vitamin C daily.

Keep some echinacea capsules handy at the first suspected symptom.

H1N1 is spread in the air from coughs and sneezes so be alert.

Keep hands away from nose and mouth.

Virus loses its ability to infect after 4 hours.

What is a virus?

Actually it is nothing. It is not living matter, but just information with a coating of protein. It is 100 times smaller than a bacteria and can be seen only with an

electron microscope. Virus infections are usually diagnosed by noting the antibodies produced by the infection. The virus must find a host to survive and does not cause infectious disease until it finds a cell of real matter with which to invade or glop onto.

Definition of virus from Answers.com:Any of various simple submicroscopic parasites of plants, animals, and bacteria that often cause disease and that consist essentially of a core of RNA or DNA surrounded by a protein coat. Unable to replicate without a host cell, viruses are typically not considered living organisms.

Only recently scientists' re-examination of the 1918 flu pandemic virus note that the virus was not directly responsible for the deaths of so many. In truth, many died of pneumonia and hemorrhaging in lungs largely brought on by huge doses of aspirin then prescribed. The epidemic probably started in Ft. Riley, Kansas, a staging post for soldiers to be sent to the trenches of WWI, and then spread globally.

This seems likely as does the lack of overall health and life style of homosexuals with drugs,alcohol, promiscuity and dirty needles being more responsible for their illness than is the so-called AIDS virus.

The flu virus is nothing to scoff at, as it can bring illness or even death to some; but common sense precautions will go a long way in keeping us healthy.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

VITAMIN D

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vdds.shtml

Does Vitamin D prevent osteoporosis,heart disease, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, certain cancers,depression chronic fatigue, or chronic pain? Possibly because certain studies have shown that Vitamin D deficiencies were found in patients with two or more of these conditions.

This 'sunshine' vitamin is being trumpeted as a remedy for many of the ailments of modern man, who because of his lifestyle, medical misinformation or climate, is not exposed to enough sunlight to provide this Vitamin, for it is manufactured by the body being exposed to sunshine.

The relationship between flu season (winter) and lack of sun exposure seems to be a correct correlation.

There are two forms of Vitamin D, the synthetic appearing in milk, juices and other processed foods, and Vitamin D3 the natural form available by sun exposure and D3 supplements.

Will Vitamin D3 prevent infection by the Swine Flu, H5N1 Avian flu or H1N1? Truly unknown, though believed to be so, because of previous studies indicated subjects with 'sufficient' blood serum levels of Vitamin D tended to be immune or have only light cases of influenza.

Only recently scientists' in re-examination of the 1918 flu pandemic, the virus was not directly responsible for the deaths of so many. In truth, many died of pneumonia and hemorrhaging in lungs largely brought on by huge doses of aspirin which were prescribed at that time. The epidemic probably started in Ft. Riley, Kansas, a staging post for soldiers to be sent to the trenches of WWI, and then spread by the soldiers to Europe.

This seems likely as does the overall health or lack thereof of homosexuals is probably directly more responsible for their mortality than the so called AIDS virus

How much vitamin D or D3 is needed to provide protection from these diseases and conditions (syndromes)? The recommended (RDA) is 400 International units; yet this is held by Joseph Mercola M.D.[ http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/mercola7.1.1.html ] and others to be grossly inadequate. Dr. Mercola says that the most recent research recommends 35 International Units per pound of body weight. For adults probably a minimum of 5,000 Units.

Can you get too much Vitamin D? Possibly not, yet an over-kill dosage is probably not a good idea, since the 'normal production of the Vitamin by ultraviolet light is an ongoing process.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

OBAMA'S OPPORTUNITY

Obama, Now’s Your Chance

Posted LRC Blog on October 4, 2009 07:08 PM

Fire the insubordinate Gen. McKristol and pull the troops out of Afghanistan. You can stop murdering men, women, and children in that poor country, or you can go the LBJ route to Hell.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis165.html

"President Barack Obama and Congress are wrestling with widening the war in Afghanistan. After eight years of military operations costing US $236 billion, the US commander in Afghanistan just warned of the threat of "failure," aka defeat.

Truth is war’s first casualty. The Afghan War’s biggest untruth is, "we’ve got to fight terrorists over there so we don’t have to fight them at home." Politicians and generals keep using this canard to justify a war they can’t otherwise explain or justify.

Many North Americans still buy this lie because they believe the 9/11 attacks came directly from the Afghanistan-based al-Qaida and Taliban movements.

. . . Taliban, a militant religious, anti-Communist movement of Pashtun tribesmen, was totally surprised by 9/11. Osama bin Laden, on whom 9/11 is blamed, was in Afghanistan as a guest because he was a national hero for fighting the Soviets in the 1980’s and was aiding Taliban’s struggle against the Afghan Communist-dominated Northern Alliance afterwards.

Taliban received US aid until May, 2001. The CIA was planning to use Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida to stir up Muslim Uighurs against Chinese rule, and to employ Taliban against Russia’s Central Asian allies. Most of the so-called "terrorist training camps" in Afghanistan were being run by Pakistani intelligence to prepare mujahidin fighters for combat in Indian-held Kashmir.

In 2001, Al-Qaida only numbered 300 members. Most have since been killed. A handful escaped to Pakistan. Only a few remain in Afghanistan. Yet President Obama insists 68,000 or more US troops must stay in Afghanistan to fight al-Qaida and prevent extremists from reacquiring "terrorist training camps."

This conflict is now spreading into Pashtun regions of Pakistan. Last week, the US Ambassador in Islamabad actually called for US air and missile attacks on the Pakistan’s city of Quetta, where some senior Taliban figures are said to be located.

The US is sinking ever deeper into the South Asian morass. Washington is trying to arm-twist Pakistan into being more obedient and widening the war against its own independent-minded Pashtun tribes – wrongly called "Taliban."

Washington’s incredibly ham-handed efforts to use US $7.5 billion to bribe Pakistan’s feeble, corrupt government and army, take control of military promotions, and get some sort of control over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, sparked a firestorm of anger. Pakistan’s soldiers are on the verge of revolt.

So, too, Washington’s plans to build a 1,000-person fortress embassy in Islamabad, a consulate in Peshawar that will clearly serve as an intelligence base, and the deployment of growing numbers of US mercenaries in Pakistan.

. . . President Obama has been under intense pressure to expand the war from flag-waving Republicans, much of the media, and the hawkish national security establishment. Israel’s supporters, including many Congressional Democrats, want to see the US seize Pakistan’s nuclear arms and expand the Afghan war into Iran. Israel’s hawkish foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, recently identified Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq as the main threats to Israel."

One more time: Mr. President, Stop the Wars!

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN