Are we organisms or living ecosystems?

Did you know that there is more bacteria in your body than there is, well, anything else? Well it’s true: they’re in our digestive tract, all over our skin, in our teeth, on our tongue, and have even fathered 40 of our own human genes.

Leading scientists are already on the case to learn more about the interdependencies between our body’s inhabitants, and our bodies. In 2008, several countries launched the International Human Microbiome Consortium (IHMC), “an effort that will enable researchers to characterize the relationship of the human microbiome in the maintenance of health and in disease.

VIDEO | Lecture: Outwitting Bacteria’s Wily Ways – Dr. Brett Finlay illustrates the clever tactics bacteria use to infect our bodies and survive in hostile places.

READ | SEED Magazine: The Body Politic

READ | Scientific American: Humans Carry More Bacteria Cells Than Human Ones

The food industry is in on this too with a new buzz word: probiotics.

The World Health Organization and the United Nations say in a 2002 report:

Probiotics are living microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host

According to Danone’s dedicated site to this movement (leading maker of probiotic yoghurts):

Probiotics are living microorganisms, usually lactic acid bacteria, that when consumed in sufficient numbers can provide health benefits that go beyond basic nutrition. The benefits are due, in large part, to the effects of these so-called “friendly” bacteria on different intestinal functions. But benefits may also include removing harmful substances from the body or countering some of their effects.

Reviewing Our Relationship With Bacteria & Planet Earth

Emerging evidence has suggested that human beings and these organisms have evolved together; in fact, a modern human being could not survive without the essential contribution that many of these cultures make to the benefit of the host.

A big part of living healthily seems to involve helping oneself manage the ecosystem of bacteriological cultures in one’s body, in line with the functional requirements of the host. But what of the relationship between more ‘advanced’ cultures, such as humans, and their host planet? It seems that, in recent years, the Earth has found it difficult to regulate its own ecosystem. Perhaps humans could collectively apply a similar model in assessing their contribution to this planet.

Related Articles

• Is yogourt really a digestive cure-all? (nationalpost.com)
• Bacteria Offers Insight Into Health (findmeacure.com)
• Gut Bacteria Affect Almost Everything You Do (wired.com)
• Darwin still making waves 200 years later (cnn.com)
• Biodiversity Is Always a Goal, Right? (freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Basics: Bone, a Masterpiece of Elastic Strength (nytimes.com)
• Breakthrough in the treatment of bacterial meningitis (scienceblog.com)

The Final Frontier: Will the search for alien life be over by 2025?

For years, Star Trek and other sci-fi gadgets have lept out of the screen and into our lives. But while mobile phones, video-conferencing, real-time systems monitoring and online collaboration are now staples of modern life,  alien life has remained a fixture in the sci-fi closet.

A growing community of scientists and explorers with ever more sophisticated technology are looking to change that in our lifetime. Since the 1990′s, they have already identified over 300 extrasolar planets -- planets revolving around stars other than our own -- and some of them are said to contain water. Even Jupiter is said to have contained water at some point in its existence.

Read these great articles on the search for alien life:

Discover Magazine: A Scientists Guide to Alien Life: Where, When, and in What Universe?

National Geographic: Alien Life? Astronomers Predict contact by 2025

BBC | Horizon Documentary: Are We Alone in the Universe?

More Video:

NOVA | PBS: The Search for ET (Documentary)

Do We Already Have Evidence of Intelligent Alien Life?

At a recent conference in Washington, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell called on the US government to release what it knows about extra-terrestrial life:

“We are being visited….It is now time to put away this embargo of truth about the alien presence. I call upon our government to open up … and become a part of this planetary community that is now trying to take our proper role as a spacefaring civilisation.”

A 2008 interview with Edgar Mitchell:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhNdxdveK7c

Government secrecy has always been a problem for conspiracy theorists, so why not release all the documentation surrounding contentious incidents such as Roswell and Rendelsham Forest? Perhaps our populace is not ready for such a paradigm shift; then again, perhaps we’ve just making a mountain out of a molehill.

Related Articles

• Aliens exist and UFOs are coveredup by US government says exastronaut (telegraph.co.uk)
• Life on other planets? You bet, says SETI pioneer (seattlepi.com)
• Nasa launches Kepler rocket into space ‘to search for world’s like ours’ (telegraph.co.uk)
• Planet-hunting spacecraft launches (msnbc.msn.com)

Single Payer supporters & doctors excluded from a Senate finance committee 'roundtable' on healthcare reform.

The healthcare industries -- insurance and pharmaceutical companies -- have enjoyed similar successes to the auto, food, oil and financial industries in lobbying publically elected representatives to remove legislation that provides value and protection to consumers.

But once again, the US government turned to the corporations and their lobbies in an effort to find answers to the healthcare crisis that they all helped create. No supporters of single payer healthcare systems were involved in the discussions, nor were any patient representatives invited to the discussion.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwrudYlwxqE

Twisted Facts By Elected Representatives

Senator Jim Bunning (2008 campaign contributions):

When I look at Sweden, look at Canada and look at the United Kingdom, where we have government single payer we have a tax rate of 60% or higher in those countries.

What was the value to insured and uninsured US patients of unchecked assertions such as these?

Taxes paid by a single average worker compared with the implied total labour cost for the employer. This "tax wedge" measure is said to represent the extent to which the tax system discourages employment.

Corporate Lobbyists Dominate Public Policy

Watch this video by ANP on corporate lobbyists at government scientific discussions for school food programs.

Congress and the Department of Agriculture approve what foods can (and can’t) be served to over 30 million American school children who get daily meals from the National School Lunch Program.

Despite the enormous nutritional and financial stakes at play, ANP was the only media to cover a recent panel set up to discuss the school menu. While nutritionists outnumbered the press, corporate lobbyists outnumbered everyone.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVfAWbitBTs

Related articles

• Protesters Disrupt Health Care Hearing (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Order in the Senate! Single-Payer Advocates Disrupt Hearing (blogs.wsj.com)
• New Report Examines Public Plan Option (medicalnewstoday.com)

The NFL shares revenues and allows weaker teams pick new young players first.

Upon taking over in 1960, Pete Rozelle persuaded NFL team owners — most notably Carroll Rosenbloom of the Colts, and George Preston Marshall of the Redskins — to agree to share revenues between teams. His business model was essentially a system that benefited all teams equally, from revenue sharing to the player draft.

Whenever you buy an NFL licensed product, say a San Francisco 49ers jersey, the revenue is distributed evenly between all members teams. The worst performing teams of the previous season get to pick first when the wealth of college talent becomes available for the new season. There are revenues that teams get to keep for themselves, particular stadium revenue.

Few sports fans are likely to argue for a change of such policies. This system, along with the salary cap have contributed to competitive balance. By contrast, European soccer is now facing facing a growing imbalance between high-revenue and low-revenue teams, to the extent that, but for a few exceptions, the same top teams are qualifying for the Champions League cash cow (Europe’s top club football prize) every year.

Short Definitions of Socialism

Socialism – The set of beliefs which states that all people are equal and should share equally in the wealth of the country, or the political systems based on these beliefs  (Cambridge Dictionary)

Socialism – a political theory advocating state ownership of industry. (Princeton Dictionary)

The US Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

The preamble to the Constitution states:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Questions

• Is any government, especially one that lauds it’s pioneering founding documents -  and since it represents the interests of all its citizens – by definition, a socialist entity?
• Is the choice between socialism and capitalism a false dichotomy?

Unfortunately for 1 billion humans, regulation has failed. But is this just down to individual choices, or is the food industry in need of better regulation?

The WHO suggests that creating supportive population-based environments through public policies that promote the availability and accessibility of a variety of low-fat, high-fibre foods, and that provide opportunities for physical activity.

David A. Kessler, MD, former FDA commissioner, suggests that food consumers and food producers share the responsibility:

Back 50 years ago, the tabacco industry in face of evidence that tabacco caused cancer, denied it, deceived the American public. Leave aside what the food industry has known.. there’s a responsibility on the part of the food industry, on the part of government, but just because you’re being stimulated constantly doesn’t mean you don’t have a responsibility to deal with that yourself.

The obesity epidemic of the last 30 years illustrates the difficulty that humans have had in coming to terms with the changes involved in the socio-economic revolution of the 20th century. Self-regulation may be the first step, but if humans are interested in sticking around, the subsequent steps of upgrading our institutions (education, food standards, advertising standards & healthcare systems) will surely be just as critical.

Obesity Facts

World Health Organization (WHO):

• Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them obese.
• Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer.
• The key causes are increased consumption of energy-dense foods high in saturated fats and sugars, and reduced physical activity.

Centers for Disease Control (US Government):

35.3% of adults & 15% of children (5-19 years old) are overweight.

Centers for Disease Control: Obesity Trends 1985-2007

Lifestyle & Obesity

A new study of what it means to be a “healthy weight” (scienceblogs.com)

Stanford School of Medicine:

Related articles

• People of higher socioeconomic status choose better diets — but pay more per calorie (scienceblog.com)
• Teen Girls Catching Up To Boys In Prevalence Of Metabolic Syndrome (medicalnewstoday.com)
• One third of Americans have high triglycerides (cnn.com)
• 10 nutrition myths: balanced eating tips (cbc.ca)
• Fast Food Restaurants and Obesity (wine-econ.org)
• Obesity Epidemic “Astronomical” (WebMD)

During World War II, the Japanese tortured US soldiers in the fear that America was going to drop the Atomic bomb on their cities. After this war, Japanese soldiers were prosecuted for the same acts that the Bush administration endorsed.

Do you think it would save people from being raped, from being murdered, from being hurt by torturing everyone that is in a prison in the United States? And every person that we suspect might have an idea to commit a crime? – Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart went on to suggest that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were criminal acts, though he later retracted his assertions.

But Jon Stewart raises an interesting point:

Should our governments be permitted to commit acts of aggression that their own citizens would be prosecuted for?

Related Video

The World Trade Center Towers, New York

In an interview with the Real News Network, Howard Zinn, a noted historian and professor at Boston University, said that a thorough investigation of what happened on September 11th, 2001 would be a ‘diversion’.

Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, argues that Americans should concentrate efforts on investigating how Western foreign policies of the latter part of the 20th century are responsible for ‘breeding terrorists’ around the world, instead of investigating who was behind the 9/11 massacre and how it was orchestrated.

I grant that we don’t know all the facts about 9/11. We could probably learn alot more, and maybe there was a conspiracy. Who knows? But I believe it’s one of those issues that can never be fully answered, like the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

ZINN COMPARES 9/11 TO KENNEDY ASSASSINATION

Interestingly, Zinn mentioned the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, and 9/11, in the same breath.

The investigation into Kennedy’s assassination – conducted by what became known as the Warren Commission – was broadly criticized for ignoring evidence – eyewitness, audio & video – that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. Four of the seven members of the commission later publicly expressed concern that their report was inaccurate. Over 80% of Americans polled believe that there was a conspiracy.

The 9/11 commission has also faced heavy criticism for its investigation of the events in September 2001. In violation of a court order, at least 92 recordings of CIA interrogations were destroyed. Senator Max Cleland resigned from the commission after it allegedly  cut a deal to accept highly limited access to CIA reports to the White House that may indicate advance knowledge of the attacks on the part of the Bush administration. Leading military experts, scientists and engineers have also complained that evidence – particularly involving the presence thermic explosives at the World Trade Center site and the absence of plane wreckage on the Pentagon site – was discarded or ignored.

Moving Forward – The Truth Dilemma

Few may argue that we would be best served to focus our attention on addressing the significant challenges that face humanity in the 21st century.  The dilemma seems to lie on whether to delegate the dissemination of the information surrounding events such as 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination – and any conclusions – to future generations.

What are the consequences either way? Suppose that the Warren and 9/11 commissions were flawed. Can the US populace, or the rest of humanity, trust a government that – willingly or unwillingly – deceives on a platform of transparency? And if our governments deceive us – willingly or unwillingly – on matters such as these, are not the tangents that our civilizations take on the back of these events, taken on illusory premises?

Zinn suggests that we focus our attention on investigating how US foreign policy over the last century may have fostered violent hatred toward the West.

However it started, whoever was behind it, the important thing about 9/11, is that 9/11 was used by the Bush administration to go to war. And that furthermore they have not investigated why 9/11 took place.

Surely, US foreign policy was influenced by the assassination of John and Robert Kennedy as well as that of Martin Luther King, and over 3,000 people on whose name NATO and the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq respectively?

Some Questions

In a ‘democratic’ society, the common expectation is that the following questions about events of such significance as 9/11 are answered truthfully and transparently:

• Who orchestrated the event? Who conspired and what did they stand to gain?
• Whose strategic interests were served by the way investigations were conducted? How can conflicts of interest be avoided in the future?
• How has any government policy been influenced by the conclusions of such investigations?

Related articles

• Senate Panel to Investigate CIA (crooksandliars.com)