The Validity of Charles Darwin

This being the 150th anniversity of the birth of two great contributors to the good of mankind namely Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, I am sure the latter would approve of some observations of the former. Darwin's theory was in direct opposition to the universal God theory of his day. Darwin knew his ideas would bring the wrath of the God theory adherents down on he and his family in unmerciful ways and so published his opinions perhaps 50 years after his world shaking evolution thinking. The curious Monk, Gregor Mandel added validity by experiences in his pea garden. Today we look around and try to decipher the past by clues of the present and that is what this blog is all about.
As an old man in horrible condition I decided to try to, "get in shape." I thought I had reached the end of my life because, with a little effort I nearly collapsed. I decided on running as my preferred method over calisthenics and weight exercises. A strange metamorphosis was the result with my not only getting in shape but excelling so that in 5 years I was selected as "Outstanding Athlete" in my age group, 85-89 in the U S for 2004 by the USATF(track and field). To which my wife jokingly said, "but that's only in the U S." It was that designation that raised many questions. How could that be? I was dieing 5 years ago. So began an unplanned for study about running. I did not recognize that I was investigating an important subject until recently when so many varied facts practically slapped me in the face. In the past I would take an idea to Dorothy, my wife. She had the wisdom to explain her pro or con reception and steer me in a productive direction. The facts concerning the health of runners was one such. It seemed incomprehensible to me that I could feel so young and vibrant and so interested in life than 5 years previously that I kept asking, why? Why do runners live an average of two to two and a half years longer than the non-runners? Why don't runners have more fractures from falling down than the average non-runners? A study from the Salk Institute in California suggested older running people actually create new neurons in their brains. Wow. Then it was reported that older runners virtually never developed the problem my mother died with, Alzheimer's disease. Then a study of hundreds of older humans showed less than half the number of deaths in a 20 year period among runners than in non-runners. Asking about ALS and was told no studies had been done but the Dr. questioned did not recall of a runner having had that problem. The same for Parkinson's. It suddenly hit me, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? and right under our noses. Why on earth should running make such a difference? Then I checked about other exercises and found none seemed to have the effect that running did. That included cycling, walking, golf etc. As late in life as I am in, I began to read Darwin's "Origin of Species" for the first time and I wondered how Mr. Darwin would explain the connection with inherited running ability and less disease in runners. For the inherited trait of running to be so well provided to all normal humans required thousands of years of genetic change. What environmental factors over an extended time necessary for the survival of the fittest to result in present day humans? Could it be that human bodily functions require running to function properly? If the flow of blood through our internal organs required those organs to function properly by increase blood flow from time to time and that flow did not happen, could wastes build up that could do harm? Does that mean that most medications humans take are to replace the lack of the exercise necessary for normalcy? Could it be that it took 100 years for that observation to be accepted? My book waiting for a publisher, "Come Run with Me" could be a landmark book. Again, what do you think? ahmen.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

From experience we have learned that the Peace Corps works. On the other hand do we know the Armed Forces solve many problems? Grenada was a joke. Vietnam was a study in miscalculation. How does Iraq stack up? Well, by giving our wrong conception of our problem to the Armed Forces we were not trying to prevail by peacful means. Or were we? Can you visualize a group of top military officers sitting around a table and hearing, "We will give 'em a little taste of their not taking our advice by blasting their electrical systems, water supplies and bridges and they will be happy to take our advice from then on." And then the bombing started and before it was over in 43 days we had delivered about 90 thousand TONS of bombs on Iraq. Can you imagine what one ton of bombs in your back yard would do? Would it make a lot of friends? Bombs don't recognize mothers trying to protect their children and I stopped reading long enough to recall our four little ones being protected by their mother from a cool spring breeze. Bill Moyers, at the end of a TV show mentioned that he thought the most important book he had read in some time is, "Nemesis," by Chalmers Johnson. I agree and even though we may prefer "out of sight, out of mind,"
as a comforting philosophy, perhaps you are one who seeks the truth and,"Nemesis is for you. I wonder if any one of my friends sitting around the table with the military men mentioned above would agree on the indiscriminate bombing our tax money provided. Even a small part of the 90 thousand tons. What a way to win friends! Immagine the hatred not only in survivors in Iraq but others who might fear our force applied to them. I know there are times we must fight but first, try the Peace Corps.
I signed holiday cards this year with, Pax et Luv.

Formula for Dissster or How to Get Rich Quick

The word was out. Don't let cash lie around in a bank. Get it out where it can do some good. Bank Loan Officer, get loans out to be successful in your job. Don't pay any attention to servicing loans. Get the money out and we will buy the loan on the same day you make it and we will service the loan. Don't be left holding the bag while other lenders are making hay while the sun shines. PLEASE NOTE: The managers of a group or groups who gave that information out should be in jail right now. What are we waiting for? You don't have to see the dead rat in the wall to know it's there. And your local bank loan officer who made the bad loans should be in the next cell to the perpetrator. Are we to believe there are no honest bankers who will come forward and admit the details of that scheme? It's so obvious, like they say, "If it had been a snake it would have bitten you". Of course, to play that harmless little game out there were others who sold thousands of loans in a package with the claim that package paid 14% interest so other bankers should buy that deal. Who can refuse 14% ? After paying the 14% for a year or two the package(s) fell under their own weight and those who had sold them ran off with the cash. Nice judao/Christian honesty? Let's face it, the human animal can be dishonest if the reason is great enough unless there are others looking over their shoulders. One problem is that the on lookers have to be honest. I wrote a blog about publishing the names and addresses of foul acting individuals for all to see and the book would be up dated yearly. Shame is a powerful deterrent. Who wants to be exposed as a crock for friends and neighbors to see? If your friendly local banker thought he or she would be exposed in print, would the crime have been committed in the first place? I doubt it. What do you think? What to do about it?

Peaceful Penetration

Do you recall, while in history class in high school or perhaps in grammar school the term, "Peaceful penetration?" I recall the expression used in the history of warfare when one power had concurred another and the looser, with normal human reproduction of the time and place would prevail eventually as a majority party and so have won the war. All religions excepting one have mellowed over the short span of recorded human history.Almost all of us can live with the thought that everyone should be able to live with religions other than their own. Everyone embracing a religion knows theirs is "the true" one and live up to a point by its teachings. Those teachings are called allegorical by most true believers. For example where a holy writing calls for parents to stone their children to death for some mentioned reason, most would interpret that to mean severe punishment and not death. That's an example from the Christian Bible.
How can non believers cope with a religion that has all the answers including principals of governing and permits no competition? Eventually, by "peacful penetration," it should prevail shouldn't it? What are the ways such a movement can be minimized? So this blog asks the question, what peaceful solutions are possible? That is a question that must be a major challenge of the future. I can propose one solution that is unacceptable, namely, join it.

More about running

I mentioned previously that according to the USATF(track and field) last year there were 30 million runners in our country. Compared to all other sports added together that trivializes the other sports or actions that may be called exercise sports. I wonder if all other fun activities of we humans were added to exercise sports such as cross word puzzles, card playing, chess and all others other than reading, that running would still come out first.
Now consider this. As a species we have adopted the attitude that work or exercise should be avoided. The great criminal lawyer, Clarance Darrow once said he would defend a working man to the death but would never be one himself. For more periods of history than I like to imagine, humans have had slave societies for the haves and the have-nots were often the slaves. It is only more recently that males treated their mates as other than slaves and the women accepted it. Even today that reasoning seems to be evident with abusive males. On a shelf I have a line of running trophies. Each is someones idea of the perfect human male physic although once I was given a female trophy. Looking at the trophies I marvel at the fantastic anatomical structures each demonstrates. Visiting "rest" homes I see countless older humans dressed to cover those remarkable attributes. Why the inactivity? Many ethnic groups came to our land after having worked endless hours to provide the opportunity for their children to have opportunities the parents did not have. Four such groups come to mind. Italians, Irish, Chinese and Africans. Think of the scholars who are now Americans who are extractions of the four. Perhaps most of the offspring have had the attitude of working that they will not have to work their butts off like their parents did.
So, my thesis is that the above are a significant part of our population who profess to dislike it and therefore avoid exercise. If I am correct please tell me why the 30 million of us are runners. Once the attitude of avoiding exercise is accepted at a young age then that attitude seems to be reinforced all a persons life. I believe if once the average non-runner realizes he or she has the ability and the equipment to run, running may be tried. Once tried it will become so worthwhile in physical and mental health that the idea will sweep our country. Thinking ahead, with little or no Alzheimer's or strokes or much arthritis and with half the breast cancer in women and fewer heart attacks in all, the reduction in health costs will drop markedly. Consider this; if a small group of enterprising people were to get together and publish my book, "Come Run With Me," they would not only do a tremendous amount of good for our senior citizens but could benefit financially themselves. Please remember this, I started when completely out of shape when 80 years of age and now run regularly for the fun of it at over 90..

A Running Theory of Good Health

Evolutionists tell us our ancestors were tree dwellers until some found a better life on the ground. Then there was an advantage in being able to rise up on his legs to look for danger or food over the vegetation of the African Savannah. With the hardware each human possesses he must have had a good reason for it whatever the reason. The bones, muscles, tendons, arteries, veins and also upstairs, the inclination to run.
Think about it. After childhood most of us try to discourage exercise. Think of those of us who invent stuff to minimize exercise and to avoid using our fantastic hardware. Having been equipped for running and so well equipped what else of our anatomy may we fail to use? Suppose we have organs that are dependent on exercise to function properly and do not exercise? Suppose we have organs equipped for the food we ingested in the millions of years we have taken to be here and now. And suppose those organs are exposed to stuff they are not equipped to handle, what then?
Of course the answer is obvious, we could be poisoned. Suppose we know our livers are important in trapping unwelcome stuff and removes the stuff from our systems with the flow of blood through that organ. Once again suppose the exercise which our anatomy is equipped for is not utilized to it's fullest extent. Unless the exercise is present that organ fails to do its job?
Could that be the reason that running women have half as much breast cancer as non-running women? Is that why runners have fewer strokes, stronger bones, almost no Alzheimer's as well as fewer trips to physicians? Another wonder is, if the above reasoning is valid, can we say those problems not found in runners may be caused by environmental reasons? Environmental reasons that, if eliminated would solve many human mysteries? Autism comes to mind as well as atherosclerosis and heart attacks and even the likes of ALS and Parkinson's?
To take that thinking step farther, we know if a woman takes the likes of thalidomide, her child may be born a cripple. The same result is found in a cow eating the vegetation we call lupine while pregnant. We have to factor in the susceptibility of the mother in all the strange unaccountable problems of humans.
So that's my thinking for today. Other thoughts should be factored in the equation but the basis is that by the excess circulation of blood through the liver provides a flushing of that organ that rids the system of more stuff than almost any other exercise and results in better health for runners than for non-runners. Ahmen. End of serman. You can take it from there but, you older couch potatoes, get off your butts and relearn to run for two to two and a half more years of healthier life. I did it starting at 80 years of age and so can you even starting at 90.

The Reason for Runners' Good Health

It came to me suddenly on lane 7 of 12 I ran a few minutes ago on the Brattleboro High School track. I think I can identify the reason for runners living longer with much lower incidence of most reasons for most deaths among humans. I had been thinking of ideas of others such as that the liver is responsible for over 200 functions we learned in veterinary school. Also one person refuses to eat liver because it filters out so much waste from our bodies. He does not want that waste in his system. It is correct that the liver is a great cleansing organ of the body among other things. Now suppose when runners exercise much more blood is circulated all through the body including the liver where waste materials are not eliminated by typical slow circulation of blood.
It seems reasonable to me that some toxic substances may build up in the liver in those who lead a sedentary life as compared to the runner who regularly flushes a huge volume of blood through that organ while running. If my thinking is correct there is another possibility and that is that for every problem that is prevented by running, then each may be due to some toxic waste from the environment and not from some strange infective agent not identified. Examples are half as much breast cancer in women runners, many fewer strokes, much less heart disease and longer life all due to toxic stuff in the environment and not due to some unknown infection. It offers researchers a direction to study to be more successful in solving many problems. How's that for another sermon?

To Level Teachers' Fields in Educaton

It has been said in many ways that the finished product often depends on the raw material put in initially. So it is with education. A bright child well on it's way to learning before entering our public education system will be a superior finished product.(some exceptions) With the children in inner cities of most school systems the dropout rate by high school is astounding but understandable. To judge the performance of teachers by class progress as been done with the No Child Left Behind program is unfair to teachers in the inner cities. I have a suggestion to make to put the spotlight on the problem that many educators recognize but little has been done to rectify. Develop a test to be given to the class of students entering the system and to decide on a numerical rating for each class. Say a rating of from 1 to 10. In a suburban area near a school of higher learning as with a university, the children of parents of the area might be expected to be better prepared than those in a depressed inner city population. And a school might register an 8 out of a possible 10 where as the inner city children might be only a 2. Each teacher would spend the first week or so giving tests on vocabulary, reading and writing and arithmetic. At the conclusion it would be expected that the students would climb a given number of rungs of the ladder of learning based on past experience each of marking periods. Parents as well as the students should be told of the importance of learning as it will influence the kind of life the student will be qualified for when older. For a class of 8th graders leaped ahead from a scholarship grade of say 5 to an 8 that teacher might be declared Teacher of the Year or some other honorarium. The classes entering with a 1 or 2 would be shown in need of special education just as other handicapped children are. Many teachers are altruistic in teaching to help children, even disadvantaged children,that they should be recognized for progress in teaching these handicapped children and rewarded for that special contribution. Moreover, recognizing the intellectually disadvantaged should attract interest in improving the lot of the early education that is recognized by most as inadequate for groups of students in cities all over our land. So, coincidentally are gangs of marauding school dropouts in many cities over our land.

What You Don't know Wont Hurt You?

If you were my vintage you know what the Regular Army used to be. What do you know about it today and why don't you know much?. For example when was the last time you heard the expression, "KP" mentioned? How about,"MP?" I read that there are over 250,000 civilians connected with the troops as support,"Over There." In my day they wore uniforms and were paid soldier's wages, not twice as much. There were "Service Commands" to supply the needs of the troops. I wonder if the waiters who serve the catered food prepared by hirelings get to keep their tips?
Does everybody know that all an enemy has to do to beat our military is to pay off the caterers to stop feeding our troupes and it's all over. Are you so naive that you think people cannot be paid off to get away with anything? All it takes is big bucks. No doubt to get all the back-up military work privatized cost a lot to pay off those who approved the legality of it. We have to assume that over 50% of our legislators have been bought and paid for or the majority would not permit the wealthy minority to get away with it.
Here is a history quiz. Did you learn it in High School or before? Do you agree with it? I do.Who wrote it?
"Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong it's reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated in few hands and the Republic is destroyed." Abraham Lincoln
It's happening before our open eyes. It's time for action.

The Short Life of a Diagnosis

The title concerns an issue reported in the N Y Times this morning. It raises some interesting ideas that I would like to mention and perhaps see some comments on. So come along to a conclusion I have reached and play detective with me. Where the issue raised In the Times concerns humans, as a veterinarian I shall add a bit about lower animals to help reach my final thoughts. First there are clues that we must accept. The first one being that pregnant mammals can, by what is ingested, affect developing embryos. The history of pregnant women injuring their developing embryos by what they eat must be agreed upon. An example is the resulting babies born defective from the mothers having ingested the drug, Thalidomide. the second clue, in lower animals an example is a cow ingesting a plant that must be called poisonous when deformed calves are produced after a mothers eating it.
The subject in the Times report was autism and the Asperger Syndrome which together are considered one by many experts.
The next clue concerns the observation of autism. It appeared in a significant number of cases about 1940 and Aspergers was first reported in German in 1944. Prior to those dates if the problem existed, it had not been recognized worthy enough to be named. I believe a case can be made that the problem did not exist prior to about those dates. That statement may be suspect and should be investigated.
Let's go on. If autism is a new disease, science has focused on symptoms and not cause. With such a newborn problem, what are the possible causes? Science must place it in the group with problems such as ALS, cancer and the likes. With autism, could it be in the catagory with such as gastric ulcers?
Between the cause and treatment of gastric ulcers in humans was a 20 or so year period during which time the veterinary profession had identified the cause and treatment for hogs as a bacteria and the treatment. For the higher mammal during the years to find the answer it was speculated that it had a psychological answer and patients were cataloged as certain types of personalities that were involved. scientific papers were published until someone made the discovery that the vet profession had solved that cause and cure 20 years before. The human solution was the same one that cured the pigs without addressing their personalities. My point here is that perhaps the vet profession could help solve the autism problem not even recognized in lower animals. So we are nearing some possible answers. The first question may be, "What could have happened in the environment at around 1940 that could have caused such a problem as autism?" Now let's leave that question to ask again shortly. In about 1940 a new problem appeared in the vet world. It was called hip dysplasia in dogs. It was reported in the literature as a genetic problem but and that but is important because the problem was soon identified in all breeds and genetic traits don't spread from one breed to all breeds in dogdome. Now we can ask the identical question asked above,namely,what could have happened in the environment at around 1940 that could have caused such a problem?" That presents another question, "Could there be something new in the environment that could have affected both humans and canines simultaneously?" Another question comes to mind, "But the problems are so different." an answer could be, "So are the species."
I have tried to answer that question and find that a substance classed as "grass" became popular at about that time and should be suspect until proven otherwise. The word grass stands for, "generally regarded safe." With such a classification and I don't know how that was arrived at, is it possible a toxic substance has flooded our food without having been thoroughly investigated? Of course with new preservatives and combination's of additives, could our testing of combinations of additives fallen through cracks?
We all know that preservatives starting with heating have saved countless human lives but if it is a preservative that depends for effectiveness on the rolling of the dice with some helped and others helped into the grave, a pause is suggested for investigating a possible injurious one.

Mystery Black Book

I hold in my hand a small genuine leather note book. Flipping to some of the notes I believe it must belong to a banker. It has loose leaf pages with notes from others. After returning from a mornings shopping and then a Rotary luncheon, on getting out of my car there was the book on the passenger seat. I gathered it up with my mail and other stuff and carried it into my pad with a curiosity as to who might have left it by mistake. I finally got around to looking in the book for a name and address which was not on the first few pages but the names of some large banks were the headings of pages. Having learned about the dishonesty in so many banks' management I sat down to study this strange document. After an interruption and watching the news I reconsidered the strange book. The more I flipped through the pages the more I wondered about the source of the thing. Who do I know who would be involved with so many well known Banks and so many. There were headings such as "So&so is on board." On the page headed with the name of a big bank was written, "So & so is still holding out." Those words were crossed out with a date under the words and the word "until," added to several. Page after page of banks with notes that suggested to me that this was some dreamer or perhaps some executive's notes about deals. If so where a note referred to 100 I wondered if it referred to thousand or could it be million? It was getting late and I decided to sack out and study the book in the morning. I tossed and turned and checked the clock which indicated morning had arrived so finally I turned on the light and sitting up in bed decided that that book in my hands may be dynamite. It looked to me like lists of loans made by banks all over the country. Mortgages with values or estimates so that the figures must have been bundles of loans on each page and by totals an X with double the first figure following rows of entries. My conclusion at this point is that a bunch of mortgages of a given value were listed as worth twice as much as the banks had claimed. In one place the words, "all eight of us." was written.I think the author had had some engineering education by the symmetrical shapes that were drawn here and there as with doodling. I became so engrossed that dawn was breaking before I had scrutinized the last page of that book. Who put this thing in my car? Why my car? I wonder if it is some F.B.I.agent's misplaced book? There were some dates here and there that ranged from 2003 to several months ago. What should I do with it and about it? I asked a lawyer friend if he had any suggestions. He said, First don't mention that you have such a book. Second if you do mention it don't mention any of the banks by name or you might be sued. Third put the thing in a safe deposit box or bury it somewhere. Then he made a good suggestion, "Don't do a thing. Just wait until someone contacts you." So I have been waiting for a full month suspecting everybody and wondering if someone will get in touch with me. So I decided to make a blog out of it and look for comments after which I will write a followup blog. What do you think I should do? FBI? One of my Senators? Once it's known I have that book am I in any danger? Incidentally, I have had five copies made that all are in safe places.

Raw Eggs and Whisky?

A beloved relative of mine has generalized malignant melanoma. The skin lesion removed I believe 14 years ago has spread throughout her body. Conventional medical knowledge has no suggestions or hope for her. As a veterinarian with 50 years of veterinary experience I have urged a treatment for her and here is the reasoning for my suggestion. I shall put parts of seemingly unrelated thoughts together together and the resulting scientific reasons for embracing the treatment. I have told my relative I will write this to support the theory,
My first memory was a human situation. I had grade one infectious hepatitis, turned bright yellow, lost 25 pounds in 14 days and looking in a mirror decided I was dying.My father, with contacts at the Yale Medical School brought one of the world's experts in liver disease out to see me and advise. Incidentally that doctor was Dr. John Paul who at that time was the Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Jaundice. After a discussion Dr. Paul said, "There is no treatment for you and I will give you just two bits of advice. First, don't take vitamins and second , don't let them git you into a hospital." He wished me well and left. On the way back to the Hospital Dr. Paul told my father that those taking vitamins or had then given by injection had a significantly higher death rate than those who do not take vitamins. Also the death rate in hospital treated cases is much higher than those treated at home. That information is the first piece of the puzzle leading to my advice to my relative. The second was also a human observation. In my younger days I was a raccoon hunter but long since graduated to be against killing anything for the fun of it. A Yale animal psychologist enjoyed going on coon hunts with me and I noticed he brought out a pill bottle and ate some regularly. I asked why? He said frankly I enjoy alcohol and it robs the system of vitamin B complex. That was another piece of the puzzle. Next came a veterinary part. In the early days of my practice we had a highly fatal disease of dogs called Canine Distemper for which there was no treatment and virtually a 100% mortality. In our experimental kennels I recall 75 bodies lying like a pile of cord wood waiting for spring thaws to dig the mass grave for them. In our Clinic clients would bring in litter after litter of sick puppies and all would die. Not infrequently on owner would say one of the puppies had been given away and it was still living. I did not believe it but finally the statement was so frequent I asked for the name and address of those with such a puppy. Three times in a row came the same treatment, almost apologetically, "We gave the puppy raw eggs and whiskey." I didn't go to veterinary school for four years to learn of raw eggs and whiskey as a treatment. Perhaps two weeks later a new client presented a beautiful Old English Sheepdog that was having, "Chewing gum spasms". His veterinarian advised the 10 week old puppy be euthanized and as a second opinion I agreed. Then I thought of the phone calls and although I feared being called a quack I told him about the dark age treatment and he decided to try it even if it was a waste of time. The puppy recovered with no side affects as a normal puppy. There was some thought of coincidence although I had never seen a puppy with those spasms recover. The same results with a neighbor's dog and my daughter and her husband in New York State had the same results. At that time we had a very effective inoculation with which the disease was eliminated from dog dome. After I retired I began to consider the above situations and came to the following conclusions. 1. Raw egg white is indigestible in humans and dogs.
2. Raw egg white has been shown to deplete the system of at least part of the vitamin B complex. 3. Whiskey depletes the system of vitamin B1, thiamine chloride. 4.It es recognized that viruses require certain nutritious environments to survive. 5. we know that the cause of most cancer is unknown but we have to assume it is caused by something for which in most cases no therapeutic treatment has been effective. 6. From my experience with Dr. Paul's suggestion, giving vitamins with some infective diseases fertilizes the causative agent. 7. I t is known that if a patient lives for a given time he or she will have reached the climax and will recover. In such cases it is possible that with no vitamin intake the stored vitamin may have been exhausted weakening the cause perhaps enough for the immune system to take charge. In conclusion the causative agent if known or not should not be fertilized and the host may be able to out live the agent.In a case like my relative,in which the cause is a mystery since in my opinion my suggestion could be the medication to be effective. It is an approach I would embrace. One fresh raw egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of whiskey twice a day and reevaluate the schedule in a week.The chance of salmonilla infection is remote in uncrcked eggs.

The Black Book

Much has been said about transparency and herein is a suggestion. When the latest drug law was enacted that placed the AARP as a group favoring it's passage in spite of legislating making it illegal for AARP members and others to purchase identical medications from Canada at often half the price of those in our country,I was upset. As the President of the Orange, CT chapter I wrote a letter asking who were the AARP leaders who put the weight of the organization to favor the legislation? I wanted names and addresses. Furthermore I stated that if notice of that information and the firing of those responsible did not occur promptly I would recommend the dissolution of our chapter. Of course nothing happened so I resigned and the chapter members all resigned in both disappointment and disgust. Such information should be readily available to the interested public. This government under the cloak of secrecy amounts to rotten government and must come to a screeching halt. Here is one way to head in the right direction. Create a "Black Book" with not only the names but addresses be published for the offense for all to see and to evaluate. For example those who agreed to support the legislation on the board of directors of the AARP should have been published so that we the members when voting could vote them off the Board and also they would be disgraced as the members evaluated the action. I have asked the Conn. legislators to give me the name of the person who proposed that part of the bill. The silence is still deafening. Again in that legislation who suggested the subsidies of tax payers money to be paid to the drug companies? Of the many forms of punishment ridicule and exposure are powerful tools. Think about it, if you knew your name would become known for some dishonesty wouldn't you be hesitant about having your name known? Some would do it for the cash in it if the cash were more important than reputation. If with every bill to be voted on in the House and Senate had the author of every amendment on the bill then you and I could zero in on the author. As it is all kinds of pork get attached and no one knows who is the culprit. If a, "Black Book" exists at present we all should read it and help the authors are so we the voters could cry, "foul" as well as advertise it. Who would be against such a book? How can we influence the present administration to embrace the idea? It's time for a change. What do you think of that idea?

More on Health Care

As the discussion on health care endlessly continues some, "this you must believe" appearing points are more than troubling to me. All politicians in both parties admit and constantly state that the health care situation is, "broken". The strange dichotomy that has resulted has developed between lobbyists and Democrats other than Senator Snow of Maine. Do some Republicans believe the American public is so stupid they can't see through stupid arguments? Don't the Republicans realize they will have to stand for election in 2010 or 2012? Also isn't there a regulation that those who lobby must wear an identifying badge? I guess we have to call them legal lobbyists. I hear that many Republican legislators have announced that they will not run after finishing their present terms. The hue and cry of so many opponents of any and all proposed plans is against their employers and that is you and me.The word socialism I hear regularly should put to rest like so many others. Someone said recently, if we were talking socialism, the doctors and the hospitals would be owned by the government like the highways, fire and police stations and putting scientists on the moon. With that argument I am reminded somehow that the sewers are owned by the government. Does the socialist argument mean that if you use a toilet you are automatically a socialist?. The legislation should have choices like each legislator has for health plans. I suggest that if legislation for all of us does not pass that the plans the Senators and Representatives now have for themselves be canceled immediately. What do you think?

Food For Thought and Humans

The Blog about the birth of the animal food industry having been mentioned, where does the super animal food come in? One company has advertised that they have a food for every animal on earth. That sounds to me to be an ad before Darwin since we know we, too are animals. When it comes to human nutrition we have learned a great deal about it from studies and observations of lower animals over the years. On trying to appreciate why a single commercial food complete in nutrition has not been provided for humans it may be that no one believes the human animal is as worthy as our pets and domesticated animals for whom we have wonderful single item diets. There are dozens of brands of dog and cat foods that can be fed to those animals with nothing else for long and healthy lives. Why not humans?
Think of the advantage of having such a food for starving children. One human biscuit a day with water could be eaten by anyone with all the necessary ingredients for healthy lives. We don't even do it for our astronauts. Even they are given a variety of nutritious food.
Don't overlook parts of our own population who know and care less about the proper diets for good health. If our poor people who cannot know about nutrition had a box of human biscuits on hand their nutrition would be assured. But the starving children we constantly hear about and see via TV could at least be fed properly rather than our donating one item such as corn, rice or wheat none of which come close to being a complete food.
Could this be a question of those who would not benefit by a human biscuit would scream against such a diet such as vitamin manufacturers? There is such an obvious need as well as solution with our knowledge about human nutrition that it is almost criminal not to have such an item on earth.

The Dawn of Comercial Animal Food

One reason for our family moving from the city of New Haven to The Town of Orange in 1930 was to provide my father, Leon F. Whitney with the space he needed to keep large numbers of dogs to study the inheritance of characteristics. As an example breeds of dogs that were born to hunt for birds run with their heads held high where as a bloodhound runs with his nose to the ground. If crossed would the puppies grow up to run like a setter or a bloodhound? The answer is that all the puppies run with their heads held high. To breed and raise large numbers of dogs takes a lot of food and in those days there was no balanced ration for any animals other than for rats and mice. With 18 or 20 bloodhounds and many coon hounds and various collies, cocker spaniels and beagles and other breeds there was a need for a good balanced food. So what to do? The answer was simple, compound one ourselves. Dad had anticipated an attempt to solving that problem and when our garage was planned an extra closed in bay of the garage was planned. It would be a "rat" laboratory heated with an oil stove. Dad constructed shelves from floor to ceiling. He made rat cages out of hardware cloth which is the name of quarter inch wire mesh with elevated bottoms and no tops. The shelves above would be the tops of the cages.
I don't recall where he got a few pairs of rats but in a year the shelves were full of occupied rat cages. That was the time when the members of the veterinary profession declared that dogs were carnivores and had to have fresh meat to flourish.
It was my paid job to care for the 200 or so rats. Food and water daily and clean the cages weekly. The salary was $1 a week. Each cage of the two top shelves had 4 adult females and one male. It was my job to separate the pregnant females before they gave birth. The weened youngsters would be divided half as controls and half on a different diet and each young rat was weighed weekly to compare weight gains of the two groups. Soon we had a rat food that would grow rats twice as fast and healthier than the commercial rat food. Food for our White Isle Kennel required purchasing all the ingredients necessary and mixing and storing it. My father studied nutrition and found we required 24 different ingredients. The two car garage was sanitized and the bases of the diet, bread meal was piled on one side of the garage with ingredient such as alfalfa leaf meal, bone, fish, beef and on and on with each carefully weighed down to small quantities. Then began a slow process of shoveling the pile to the other side of the garage to mix it. At first we mixed several hundred pounds and eventually a thousand pounds at a time. To be sure some of the trace elements were well mixed required hours of shoveling back and forth.
In studying the per cent protien and trace elements in each component of the food and minerals as well as the same values in each ingreedient resulted in necessary nutritionsl knowledge. It amounted to a self learned home earned degree in canine nutritian.
At this time, questioning the knowledge of that time that dogs could not tolerate much fat in their diets, dad wondered about that idea when he knew dogs often killed animals such as woodchucks and ate the whole animal including the fat. Inquiring about beef fat he was told he could have all he wanted for the taking as the butcher had to pay to dispose of it. Soon dad found his dogs could tolerate up to 20 per cent of their diets as fat and flourished. The new food with fat added resulted in the healthiest looking and active hunting dogs imaginable.
For a short time we donated food to a few kennel owners and the results were so outstanding a company put the formula on the market and that was really the start of the commercial pet food industry in our country. It started as Baloration in Brooklyn, NY, was purchased by Tioga Mills in Waverly, NY and renamed Tioga Dog food. During WWII the formula became too expensive and rather than cheapening the formula my father insisted on stopping the production.
It was royalties from the sales of that dog food that later paid for a veterinary degree for both my father and for me.

All Work and No Play? No Way

Being enthusiastic about my new book, "Come Run With Me," creating a fad for seniors running this is a chapter in that book. You may reach a point, perhaps when you are able to jog for an hour after about 6 months of effort that you will say to yourself,"Imagine, I have always been against work and here I am working at jogging and it's fun." Believe me it will happen and that may be the time for a celebration. If there are others or not plan a special excursion that could even be a regular event. In anticipation of your celebration join the Sierra Club and they will give you a back pack just for joining. For just yourself or more assign one to be the "Pack Rat" for that day and perhaps have a back-up pack-rat. You provide a very light lunch for you and your group and the Back-up will carry the blanket and water or orange juice for a jaunt to an out of door location for the victory picnic. As the designated Pack Rat you can decide how far you and your group will travel as well as the location and all have a celebration while communing with nature. At that gathering you may find all the new joggers mentioning how good they feel for the modest effort in adopting my program and having reached the point of being able to, "Come Run With Me. Be it known, I am delighted, too.

Marijuana, grass,drugs

Recently I read of confiscation of four tons of marijuana by our ever vigilant government agents. I don't know how many cigarettes a ton of the weed can make but it has to be way in excess of a million. That drug "bust" was not even enough news to receive a mention in any of the regular press I read. I would think that volume of grass would make the cost of that product soar in price on the street wouldn't you? I am told such a paltry amount would not effect the price because only about ten percent of the hemp smuggled into our country is confiscated. I wonder how much we tax payers pay to keep the ten percent out? Isn't it a farce that we spend anything if our citizens have so much of the drug where they can get it when they want it? It has to be criminals who do the smuggling but it has to be more than the criminals who use it.
For me at 90 plus years of age its the old story of a repeat of history. The rape of us all by the financial geniuses in 1929 has recently been repeated and the prohibition of a much worse drug than marijuana was drinking alcohol. Isn't time we repeal that law and spend the loose change we now pay to stop it to control its use and educate our users why it's not good for you?
Apparently this drug is so commonly used that if a secret vote were taken it seems to me it would be legalized. I don't imbibe in much alcohol and none of the other but on the spot tests could be developed and the guilty should have their cars taken and auctioned off for driving under the influence of any drug.I would think the MADD folks would agree.

Running Observations

The Autumn on the Sound 5k race this year was won by an M40 year old runner and I had a talk with him. He was aware that I had started running late in life and he had wanted me to know that he had been an average runner in his younger days but had given it up until recently when he restarted our sport. Since restarting he has become faster and faster as he trained in spite of his aging. There is an old rule of thumb that after starting runners reach their prime in ten years. For me starting at eighty years it was five years when I was awarded the distinction of being, "outstanding athlete" for the year 2004 in my 80-89 year old class. Dorothy, my late wife commented, "Yes but that's only in the United States." The award was from the USATF, the largest group representing Track and Field in our land. I wonder if some of the runners of old who have given up the sport restarted, would they excel in their new age groups? I believe they would be surprised in their latent ability. How can they be encouraged?
At that race I made a discovery about which I have hesitated to mention without more data. I have asked dozens of runners if they had headaches. It was a first when a young runner said he had occasional headaches. That brings forth another question, do people with migraine headaches ever run for any reason? It would be interesting if those with that debilitating problem were never runners. You and I could something about that. Get them running,

A Tragedy of Best Intentions

It had to be 20 or so years ago that a speaker came to our Rotary Club in Orange, Connecticut with a plea for funds for a program of Rotary International to stamp out poliomyelitis from the Philippines. It seems polio was the number one killer of children with an obscene percent of the children dying from the malady. Having been interested in population explosion over the years I was aware that the Philippines was listed as one of the poor nations with more population than food with a high death rate of starving children. After his talk the speaker asked for questions and I raised my hand to ask about the fate of more children surviving as the result of Rotary inoculations. I recall the answer as if it were today. He said,"That's a philosophical problem. Next question?"
The sad story of children starving all over the world will some day become a dark side of our history. Next to war it should be considered the darkest side. Polio was completely stamped out in the Philippines due in part to my club's contributions. Today there are children migrating to cities all over the world where they beg for food or money to buy it. I am still a Rotarian and at this point our National effort is to stamp out polio from the earth. A laudable activity? Even more laudable would be a world-wide effort to stop over population. The most humanitarian effort mankind should put forth is population control. Birth control in all forms should be our most important effort since we have discovered that there is a limit as to how much food our planet can produce. I often receive 4 and more requests for funds to save starving children the world over in each day's mail and the riots in our great cities from over population should not be necessary to fire up our population to declare it high on the list of subjects of importance to address. What a sad situation. Save the children from polio and watch them die of starvation on the streets a few years later.

Jobs Jobs Jobs

President Obama has hit the economic downturn running with ideas he has said will take time and what does not work will be discarded and others tried. Here is an idea that could provide jobs and help peoples lives worldwide including those who choose to accept a job in our new Army. We can form an army armed with knowledge as its armaments. We know the Peace Corps was and is an impressive success so our new army will be designed in part as was the Peace Corps. The plan is to develop perhaps millions of members trained in all forms of needs of people over the earth. People who would go forth and fill a need. How about an example or two. There is a desire of better education in Otherland but that country does not have the resources to provide more than the most basic education for its people. Our new army has representatives over the world looking for positions to identify as needy and put in an order of those trained to help. School houses will have to be built and there is no wood so people trained in making bricks will be part of a team to go on the spot and show the locals how to make bricks with masons to teach how to lay up bricks and there will have to be teachers to teach the natives the best in teaching. If health has needs in Otherland we will have our trained personell join the platoon involved with the education to train natives to be useful teaching including health for that particular group. At this end we will have our colleges geared to train our privates or officers in teaching all the possible subjects required for helping the people in Otherland.
Think of it, an army composed of privates, noncoms and officers versed in any and all specialties that any people in other lands could benefit from and at no cost to them. Even have countries might request a teacher in zoo husbandry. If our army did not have such a discipline in ranks some could be identified to take a course of study to equip one or more individuals to fill that need. Our Army would soon be known for its widespread cooperation with others. Those working in the field would personally benefit in learning about another culture with its problems as well as the recipients who would demand that no terrorist injure the goose that lays the golden eggs. One need might lead to others. Could the new US Army supply help in agriculture? Each of our State universities have agriculture courses and could create special courses for helping the likes of the needs of Otherland.
Do you suppose such an Army could become so successful that it might eventually replace the need of the U S Army as we know it today?

Carolyn Whitney Sabol

When memory keeps me company I think of our first born, Carolyn. the first baby and a delight. As with all first born she was special. Although it was written that fear of falling is an inherited trait to be avoided I did toss her up and caught her falling a few inches to see the reaction. each time she would hold her breath and giggle with laughter. As she grew I would toss her higher and higher and she was always delighted and asked for more until she was heavy enough that I could no longer toss her any higher. As with all the little ones I would beg a ride to a road several miles from home where I would place her in a pack basket on my back and head through the woods for home. Those trips were so interesting because even when going through the jabbering period none of the children ever spoke more than a word and if not questioned would not be heard from during the hours of hiking. When brush would switch Carolyn in the face she would say a quick "ouch!" and that was all. When questioned if she were alright she would then say, "yes." and that was all. Carolyn was affectionate, full of fun and beautiful and a well organized young lady and apple of my eye. Visiting her college in Ohio for Dad's weekends were quite some adventures.It was a time when no band of musicians could play loud enough to please the students. At one dance the 6 foot high boom boxes one on top of another and all around the auditorium were so loud there must have been complaints from a mile away.
I had to get out or become deaf long before I actually did years later. Wile walking with Carolyn's boy friend, John Sabol, he asked me, "Doctor Whitney, how would you feel about your daughter and I shaking up together?" Well now, what to say. My little girl shaking up with this unknown quantity. Perhaps I should have said, "Give me a week to think about it" but I said, "You are two adults and should know what's best for you both." And then wondered about the future. They shacked up and were married a year or so later. I am reminded of our family physician, Dr. Robert Gordon who ' after exrays of my back were examined said, "I hsve advice for you, do whatever you want to do because that's what you will do anyway." They are a good team working together. After several moves they have settled down where Carolyn has a business of bookkeeping mostly for non profit groups and a special non profit, her father here in Brattleboro. Once a month we have some togetherness that is special while she tidies up my bookkeeping, balances the books and jokes along with me. She could have been an executive by her abilities. She was given the highest honor of her area for her work and a huge dinner with notables and awards. Work well done rewarded. Ah me she is well into middle age and still affectionate and smarter than ever. They have embraced a new venture by creating a liquor store and have become experts in wine tasting and dispensing. In my quest for a wine I like Carolyn's suggestion taking any wine and slowly adding sugar until it's just the way I like it. So far so good but If I offer you a glass of wine be sure to ask how much sugar is in the glass. Always an investigator she recently passed her driving test to drive her new motorcycle and she goes through city traffic as will as country.So now a new motto is be kind to motorcyclists.

The Baloney of Changing the Health Csre System

I have a bunch of uncivilized cuss words I would like to use about changing the health care system but use your own for me to be most effective. It is utterly outrageous to talk about anyone other than the doctors themselves changing that system. The argument should be defined as changing the access to the health care system that has evolved by virtue of trial and error by leaders of our human medical profession. Again, it is the access to that profession and nothing more we are being bombarded by so many dummies who apparently know nothing about the nature of the system.
Why not call a spade a spade and get the issues out in the open. Our legislators have had the opportunity for 50 years or more to do something like all other countries have long ago done but have done nothing. Do you want the corporations that have had the chance and flubbed it to continue to have control of the access or the government? It is those who are paid by and are supposed to represent our government by way of the ballot box who are blubbering about not letting the very organization they are supposed to represent take the reins to correct such an injustice.
OK, From now on is the time for candidates who want the government to do something the corporations failed to do, to stand before we the people and show the bums up as to what they have descended to. That is lobbyists bought and paid for in the interest of other than we the voters. If I were a candidate I would list why you should throw out or not elect candidates for the following reasons.
1.S/he Knows the corporations have failed the people in access to health care.
2.Everyone knows and admits that access to health care is, "broken".
3.Other than the Government who is around to fix what some call the broken system?
4.Vote for me and I will work for access to the excellent health care we all should be entitled to.
5.All working for the corporations against the solution of this problem must wear a big emblum, "Lobbyist, bought and paid for."

Os Penis bones

While being interviewed by an author, let's call her Laura, about my early life the subject of raccoons came up and Laura, being professional,asked many questions about that misnamed mammal. Missed named because the Latin for Procyon lotor means washer of food. The raccoon is really a feeler of anything interesting including fecal matter. When the interview was concluded I decided to present a raccoon os penis bone to Laura. I have saved a collection from days of yore. She was amazed and interested. I explained that raccoons and their relatives, bears had bones as part of that organ. Elaborating, I mentioned that dogs and all canines and many other such have bones as part of that organ. Apparently, on arriving home the os penis bone became the object of conversation over the dinner table. Their teen aged son was impressed enough to bring that new knowledge to school with him and shortly afterword my author friend appeared at the school and was asked into an office by teachers and confronted with questions about such calcium deposits as the young student had shared with his classmates. My friend Laura, just happened to have the actual penis bone in her purse. I'm sure I don't know why she carried it in her purse, and produced it for the teachers to wonder over. Somehow my description had been changed to cause Laura to think I had said that on death the bone I had given her had materialized. The obvious question was, "Does that happen to all animals? Mankind, too?' Apparently there were no male teachers involved and if so that question would have been be a delicate one for a female teacher to ask. Hmmm. Daughter, Lee was involved as she was the one who introduced Laura to me and was given a rundown of the mystique of the world of os penis bone in the schoolhouse by Laura. Lee said she had never heard her father mention the creation of such after death. At last I, the "authority" on os penis bones, was informed of the situation. Somehow I refuse to be so misquoted and so this blog is to help clear the air.
To further clear the air be it noted that I was raised as a coon hunter by a coon hunter and it took some introspection before I concluded that to kill living things for the fun of it is wrong and will one day be so thought by the majority of our people. Perhaps at this point in the evolution of civilization we are slowly and actually becoming civilized creatures. One day we may even stop killing other humans.

Lee, My Daughter

This is a most difficult blog as I so not think I have the ability to give the subject the credit she deserves. It concerns a personal decision as where to migrate to after my wife of 45 years had died. It's a decision that is more common to women than to we men. I had three opportunities from three of my four children. My first requirement was to be no burden to anyone with whom i might become associated. Daughter, Lee had always been the most sensitive of the four children and came after her mother, Nancy and I had decided that spanking was not a choice of discipline as it had rarely been for the other three. When Lee's Mother died of pancreatic cancer it was Lee who seemed to be the most devastated of the three. Lee had come to live with us until she flew the nest and married an attractive Vietnamese, Anh Ha. They had two boys who have grown to be exceptional young men both graduated from college Leon and Chuck (sometimes called by his middle name, Dana). Lee and Anh are divorced and i now reside in a renovated barn behind their house in Brattleboro, Vermont. I shall attempt to describe why this is the ultimate solution for the ending of my life that so far has been a vacation. A new beginning at 90 years of age. This pad is only part of the satisfaction and pleasure I have. The village and people, and climate and the striking beauty of the countryside are also major reasons for my joy. That leaves Lee as the most important part. She does not act the part of a parent but she is in reality just that. Not a dictatorial parent and never over asserting herself but always trying to anticipate my needs and even my desires. She encouraged me to bring masses of correspondence along with me. My collection of records including bauddy ones and the equipment to play them on. She has conducted me around not only the town but the byways, too. She seems to know half the people in town and wants me to know them, too. She takes pleasure of doing all sorts of carpentry work and nasonery and gardening as well as the landscaping with beauty in flowers a constant joy for all to behold. She is deeply concerned with political situatuons as am I.Lee checks up on her old man regularly and invariably in a few minutes of her entering we both are laughing. She radiates good will and happiness and it seems to be contagious. She has the figure of a 31 year old beauty in spite of her 51 years and still beautiful. Lee Whitney is one remarkable human being and a tribute to her ancestry. One of the most important objects in my life is to live a little longer to enjoy my life with such an exceptional daughter.

I

Economic solution via corporations

Erika, I have the answer to our economic problems so adopt it and let's get on with the good that come from the government as it was before corporations screwed it up. The answer is simple and one adopted by many non profit corporations. If you can't beat them, JOIN THEM. Let it furthermore be known as THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, INCORPORATED. under that heading make all other corporations subsidiaries with only honest legislators on the Boards of Directors. So where does the income come from to run such a massive Corporation? From the profits of each Corp.,stupid. Of course there would be no taxes with that income. When this plan is put before the public imagine the rush to enact the necessary legislation. When the public hears that from this time on there will never be any TAXES the votes will be there unless the corporations pay off enough more legislators to defeat the plan. We may have to hire armed mercenaries to be sure the legislators vote right. The N.R.A. can supply the mercenaries. That plan is so obvious in changing the effort for a reasonable health care plan because there will never more be a problem controlling health care expenses with the incomes from the thousands of corporations.Of course if a corporation goes belly up the board of directors will all go immediately to jail.
With the profits each citizen becomes a stock holder of all corporations and with that income each can have a new American built car every year. The work week can be reduced to three half days a week with two months vacation every year. LET'S GO. SEND THIS TO ALL ON YOUR MAILING LIST FROM VILLAGE TO FARM AND WE SHALL RIDE AND SPREAD THE ALARM. This s story will show that corporations did not destroy the Republic as Abraham Lincoln predicted but made the Republic an example for the end of time.
Who can build on this idea? Let me know. GDW

The United States of America, Inc.

We voted President Obama to be our leader with one plank of his platform, "change." We all know our legislators, at least the majority have bought and paid for. It isn't necessary to purchase all of them. a majority of one is enough. So here is a suggestion for President Obama to adopt to fulfill hes promise of, "change." This suggestion is right in line with the desires of so many who insist they are against our government. Create a huge corporation, The United states of America, Incorporated. From the minute the corporation comes into being every smaller corporation will suddenly become a public entity. Think of it. So many corporations owned by the public with all the dividends from stocks going directly into our treasury. Think of it! No more taxes. They would be unnecessary with the profits. We could retire our countries debt in a few years. There would be plenty of cash for all the things we are presently taxed for. Sidewalks, transportation, new shoes and food all government issue. The present corporations would elect their Boards of Directors and the boards would hire the best Company President they could and pay what they could for the services. The huge pay offs these company Presidents would be paid would be in in stock and cash which would be paid directly into the treasury of the Mother Corporation. Records of income into the Treasury would be published and lists of workers would be listed in categories so those in the upper income group would be the real heroes of our country. Special credit would be given in donations to the treasury from special inventions such as the electric toothbrush and the robot foster mother. Think of it , without money there would be no purpose for crime. After all who would hold up a bank to get stock destined for the treasury and not edible. The big city crime like Enron would be of no bragging rites. To be most successful would be to rise up levels of income listings for the recognition the publicity would result in. Every year there could be a day long party of recognition of the big investors and ribbons given to each of a color indicating the level of contribution for the year. Hurry and tell President Obama there is a way out of the corporate mess we are in.

Us at a Crosdsroads

Right, it should be, "We" excepting the, "Us" is the United States to me in this situation. This concerns the contest between those who want real change in the health care situation and those who do not like the proposals presented. On another more basic level it is a contest between those of us who like our government's way of doing business versus the corporation's way. That being the reasons for the positions taken we know the reasons differ. The corporations work first and foremost to make money for a few and the government works for what those in power think the people want.The Contest thus is narrowed to votes to keep the legislator in office and the power of money to pay for the legislator to run a campaign to convince his constituents of the corporation's best interests. Of the legislators who have benefited more than others from the corporations power and that means money, they will be most vocal in favor of the corporations. If the issue is powerful enough the voters will win for if the vote is contrary to the desires of the people they will vote him or her out of office and the issue will prevail eventually. Granted there are legislators who are independent and therefore may be called Statesmen in the best sense of the word and excepting my Vermont three who qualify, Franks and Waxman come to mind. In the spirit of fairness there are issues that coincide with the best wishes of both parties. In the present case it seems to me that those who are most anti outspoken will be voted out of office if they are up for election in 2010. If you and I can show our legislators that if they let the public down we will vote for legislators who will win by taking the position of the people. This contest places our government at a crossroads because if the insurance interests overcome the wishes of the public this time it indicates our congress is irreparably bought and paid for, forever and that Abraham Lincoln's prediction, "With the advent of the corporation will be the demise of the republic."
What do you think?

The Plight of the Conservtives

In my 90 years of political observations I have never observed such a downfall of a political movement as with the current view of voters all over our country. As I see it here are some facts:
1. It appears that conservatives got us into the mess our economy is in.
2. They have only one present position of advice to offer and that is only against the efforts to extricate ourselves.
3. After denouncing virtually every effort by those who are offering possible corrections they find it fruitless to argue constantly in the negative with no ideas of their own.
4. All other thoughts being fruitless they have orchestrated disruptive efforts at Democratic Town Meetings. There are no disruptions at Republican Town Meetings.
5. At Republican Town Meetings the speakers, one after another speak in the negative about issues Republicans may have suggested in committees considering possible bill wordings. Never do they produce a stack of paper to show their contributions as Democrats do.
6. Knowing that some of the Conservatives will have to defend their positions to the voters next year many have preferred not to run for their office again. The Governor of Vermont is an example.
7. The constant bitter flavor of an unnecessary and even evil war has been brought to a tragic level by the Conservatives that has caused more animosity world wide than by any other conceivable efforts on our part that we could be guilty of. The Conservatives have thus dug a hole from which there is no, even faint hope of extricating themselves, on the Republican horizon for future success other than working for the failure of the liberal efforts. That, too is a dead end effort.
8. Furthermore the conservatives do not have even a slightly charismatic, intelligent member to attempt a rebuttal of the present situation.
9. Finally, the vast majority of conservatives are not inclined to stand up and be counted any more than a leper of the past. Could this be labled, "Death by design?"

Improving School Performance

This is about low performing schools and is a good example of things mentioned and things unmentioned that outrage me and I hope you, too. C-Span covered a conference sponsored by "Aspin Institute" entitled, "Improving School Performance." There were class educators on all levels including political and those in every level of eduction. The best of those speaking barely touched on the real problem and didn't define it. It seems to me that the problem must be defined to be able to solve it. Don't you agree that that is a reasonable approach? It is a scientific approach.
Here is the problem: In low performing schools the product presented to kindergarten is, for the age for kindergarten, intellectually deficient. When such a student is presented the teacher, Principal, the Superintendent of Schools should all shout, "How dare you present an ill prepared student to our school? For shame!" It is not the Teacher's or the Principal's or the Superintendent of School's problem. It is societies problem. In another sense it is a problem with opportunity. If accepted, the ill prepared child may well eventually be athletically superior. Statistically that is probably accurate. How can a teacher discover the intellectual deficiencies in a kindergarten age student? A simple vocabulary, reading and writing test designed for the average of well educated kids of kindergarten age would be easy enough to prepare. To flunk it may be something like Autism or the usual poor exposure to the early education compared to most of the kids in the high performance schools. That poor little kid who seems so bright is bright and if it had been given the opportunity would have adsorbed the information needed for kindergarten that might lead to the student's being a world class scientist. So if that is the problem what is the answer? The answer is for mother and child to start school together at shortly after day one of life. Another attempt might be to establish "Cottages" for which locals are trained by local trained residents to add to the love and affection that is present for most babies, training including vocabulary, music, poetry, letters and words leading to reading and writing at that young age. Imagine all children starting on an equal playing field and perhaps an improved field than many affluent youngsters are brought up in. With such a plan adopted imagine the 45% male high school dropouts would vanish and those who would have been dropouts would have the advantage of an opportunity to reach personal heights. To coin a phrase, I am pissed that we all don't do something about that obvious and correctable situation. Science tells that with birth intellectualism continues and that the early days are of great importance. It all adds up to a question defined and a solution. QED as they used to say in geometry.

Veterinary Anecdotes-Dog 1

During close to 50 years of veterinary practice I saw only one case that I will describe now. It was a young adult hound cross presented because it (I don't recall the sex) bit it's own back legs and nothing could be done to stop it. The dog was pleasant enough and seemed to enjoy attention but when it lay down on either side it's top rear leg would start to move toward the dog's face. It would get about a foot from it's face and the dog would snap suddenly and bite itself with a cry of pain and a sudden rising to it's feet. After a few minutes it would calm down and lie again with that top leg slowly advancing toward the dog's face and the bite would be repeated. Both back legs were infected and scarred from that self injurious biting and nothing seemed to stop it. We had no solution with bandages and chemical deterrents. Eventually the owner requested euthanasia.
Another case the likes of which I saw only once in my lengthy practice was in a champion English setter. She was valuable as a breeding animal but failed to come in heat for two years in spite of hormone medications. I suggested exploratory surgery. There was the problem, An infected uterus called pyometra was found. However only one horn of the uterus was involved. In the bitch the uterus is bifurcated with a horn going to two separted ovaries. I removed the infected horn with the ovary on that side and sent the dog (bitch) home. By phone the breeder informed me she came in heat in two weeks after the surgery. I though it prudent to wait until her next heat but she was bred, incidentally, to a champion and when presented 18 days later I could palpate pregnancy. The breeder then told me that they had a prospective purchaser for the bitch and what did I think of the dog's chances of having a normal litter? I discouraged it but a large sum of money was involved and the prospective purchaser was informed of the half uterus situation. In England at that time an imported dog had to stay in quarantine for 6 months. The breeder kept me posted on that situation. That bitch had 12 puppies in quarantine and raised them all. The question of how many puppies she might have had with a full uterus rather than half is interesting. I had never heard of an English setter with 24 puppies in a litter.
Thinking of female canines reminds me of a visitor who came to see me one Sunday morning and daughter Kate who was 6 years old answered the door. The visitor knew our children and asked if I were around. She answered, "Yes, he's out in the garage breeding a bitch."
My Father had discovered a reflex in dogs that had never been reported. A friend, Frank Beach, an animal psychologist at Yale brought the famous Kinsey to our house to observe a demonstration. I f the thumb and forefinger were compressed in an area above a dog's penis the dog would thrust forward. This was helpful in encouraging a reluctant dog to breed. Dr. Beach thought it important to report it in the scientific literature. He did just that and now the discovery of the Whitney Reflex is in the literature.
A young couple presented their house dog to me with a problem. The dog had pubic lice. I asked how they came to that conclusion as I knew pubic lice do not affect canines. The answer was that they both had them and they could only have contracted them from the dog. I told them what I would do with that problem if I were so infested and that dogs do not have that species of body lice. I would get two bricks and put a louse on one and strike it with the other brick.
I asked a client if her young female dog had been in heat and she answered, "Yes,doctor, she sleeps behind the stove."
The owners let their beagle out for a few minutes before they retired and the dog did not return. Assuming the dog would return they left a shed door open for it but during the night a blizzard snow storm raged all night and still no dog. Two days later a neighbors boy heard a strange noise in the woods behind his house and using his skis to ski over the deep snow there was the beagle with its foot caught in a steel leg hold trap. The dog's toes finally dropped off and most of his pads but eventually he developed new pads and, although he always had a limp he could walk on it. Healing took over 6 months. Children should be taught how cruel those devices are and they should have been outlawed years ago.

Veterinary annecdotes,cats

Any companion animal veterinarian has a collection of strange or at least unusual happenings with cats since felines consist of about half of most such practices. An example of one such is not unusual as a problem but in this case was memorable. At a busy time of a day a friend and client rushed in our exit out of turn with a box. "Doc, I gotta get rid of these kittens in a hurry, you should be able to find homes with no trouble." He set the box down and left. I hurriedly looked and saw three of the most beautiful long haired kittens I had ever seen. A white one and a
yelow one and a black. An attendant put them in a cage to be examined later. The later exam indicated three 8 week old, probably registered pure bred kittens. I nearly took one home to Dot but thought better of it with the grooming and possible hairball problems of such and I knew a poor elderly client who had lost his old cat recently and had one of my help phone him. Later the same day he arrived via the local bus service and chose the red kitten. He had always wanted a red cat. A visitor from the past, an Army Sargent stopped by with three children just to say, hello and I asked if the children would like a beautiful kitten. They choose the white one. A local banker and his wife had had their old cat euthanized a week or so before and they were delighted to have that lovable black kitten. The fun started about a week later when the banker's kitten was brought in for an inoculation. I noticed a tiny spot of hair loss near one eye and was curious. I asked if anyone in their family had a rash. The woman immediately pulled up her blouse to expose her middle with spots all over. She was going to a dermatologist when she could get an appointment in a month. I told her to treat her condition as an emergency. She commented that her husband had a lesion on the end of his nose and as a banker had to meet the public and was embarrassed. That tiny spot on the kitten was ringworm, in humans sometimes called impetigo. I dispensed some medication that in a week had corrected the kitten's problem. In a few days a call from my Sargent friend informed me that his three children had developed rashes and spread them to three grades of school in Scarsdale, New York, closing down the grades until further notice. I phoned the poor client and he said he did indeed have a rash on his, "private" and he couldn't afford a doctor. I arranged for an appointment with a specialist in fungal disease at Yale where later I heard he was ready for the exam but when a woman doctor appeared to examine him he grabbed his clothes and ran out of the place. At the time that problem seemed serious and perhaps was but later it seemed to me to have a humorous side. Now in retrospect I know the problem is so prevalent that most kids have it as part of growing up. So perhaps the immunity that develops is a healthy stimulus of the immune system to prevent other more serious fungal problems.Much later I learned the three gift kittens came from a farm with an outbreak of ringworm in their horses and cattle and dogs. Another veterinarian had suggested the kittens might have responsible and should be illiminated. I was selected to be the illuminator but unfortunately not informed of the problem on that farm. One of the really remarkable cases concerned an old cat belonging to the then police chief of a neighboring town. Chief Fowler convinced me to do something against my "better" judgment. His problem was a huge growth on the shoulder of his cherished cat. He was against euthanasia and asked me to operate on it. For even in a young cat I thought surgery would be dangerous to life but his cat was 23 years old and looked every day of it. It was able to rise on it's feet to use its litter box and to eat very little. I said I was reluctant to do it as the cat would die if only from the anesthetic. He said he wanted me to try and if the cat died he would understand. I decided to attempt it in spite of my assuming it would be impossible. The cat took the injectable anesthetic as any adult cat would. The animal was shaved and prepped as with any surgical case while I listened to it's heart expecting to hear it stop beating. Then I decided on how I would accomplish it and began the hour surgery watching for death to interrupt my work. The cat reacted like any middle aged cat. She came out of the anesthesia normally and I phoned Chief Fowler. The cat went home, still an ancient looking animal without the huge pendulous tumor from its shoulder. A week later the Chief told me the old cat was doing things it hadn't done in years . It acted rejuvenated and was rejuvenated. With stitches removed the cat made a spectacular recovery. Chief Fowler moved from our area shortly afterword and I have often wondered how long that remarkable cat lived. That was early on in my practice and led me to perform surgery on any age cat usually with satisfactory results. Never say die? I had dispensed an antibiotic solution with a dropper bottle for an old difficult cat to give a dropperful three times a day. We had given the cat an enema as part of a treatment. The owner phoned and said he was having a problem administering the medication. I told him to smear it on the cats fore legs and it would be licked off. He appreciated the suggestion because every time he tried to insert it rectally the cat resisted. Someone failed to put "orally" on the bottle. A beautiful 18 story apartment building had been erected in the City of New Haven and my client and her husband had leased an apartment on the top floor. She entered their bedroom and their cat was parched on the open windowsill. As she sweet talked to the cat and advanced to rescue it, the cat leaped into the great out of doors and down. The woman hurried down and found the cat walking around limping on a rear leg. It was a minor fracture that healed uneventfully. 8 lives left? It was an emergency at 6 AM for a poor injured cat. I met the owner with his cat and wondered how a cat could get so much dirt mixed with blood over so much of its body. The situation was explained. The previous night the cat had been hit by a car and came dragging itself into their house. It was obviously a serious condition so the owner decided on euthanasia. He dug a grave in their back yard, took the cat out and shot it in the head with his 22 caliber rifle, buried it and stamped on the soft ground. Amen? Not quite. His wife opened the door to get the milk delivered that morning and there was the cat with blood, mud and dirt. My client had decided if a cat could go through that series of events it deserved to live. I set the broken leg and treated the gunshot wound that entered by an ear and exited toward the neck.
As was usual the cat was presented weekly and the splint was removed with good bone healing I thought. The day after the splint removal a phone call from the same client announced the cat had tried to cross the road again and was hit and had another broken leg. Not the one we had set but the other back leg. They decided they would let me put the cat to sleep. As indestructible as they seem they, like all mammals can be afflicted by disease that can kill in a few days.

Veterinary Annecdotes 1

You might imagine that a life spent being involved with animals would result in situations worth mentioning. So many are in the corridors of my brain that it is only when listening to incidents mentioned by others that many come to mind but here are a few concerning birds. A handsome mallard drake was presented with an arrow that passed through the back of its neck with half protruding from each side. It was a blunt target arrow that prevented the bird's ability to fly. From the attitude of the father and son while talking about the tragedy I wondered if this boy had been the bow hunter. I gently drew the arrow back and out of the bird and stepped outside with the father and son and watched the bird wing it's way with no obvious difficulty off into freedom. I doubt that the archer has forgotten that experience. Another wild bird was presented after having flown into and through two panes of glass of a sun-room extension of a house where four children were playing on a bitter cold day. The man of the house had picked up the unconscious bird, placed it in a corrugated box and rushed to our establishment for perhaps an evaluation. Of course it was assumed that crashing through not one but two layers of glass should be a fatal experience. I opened the lid slightly to peek in and there was the eye of the partridge a few inches from mine. I suggested we step outside to open the box fully. I recall that bird winging its wan down the road leading to our clinic as any healthy normal bird would. Speaking of ducks I am reminded of an incident worth mentioning. I had cleared a mosquito swamp and had bull dossers dig out a third of an acre 12 foot deep pond. The mallard ducks enjoyed it and raised broods of young for several years. One year I watched the mallards build a nest and start laying eggs. There were 6 the last time I checked before finding an empty nest. Something had removed the eggs. I knew a skunk and raccoon as well as a fox could be responsible but with no shells around those species could be discounted as a cause. I asked my friend Dave Parsons, a taxidermist at Yale's Peabody Museum and he laughed and said he would think I might have guessed. Crows were no doubt the thiefs. I did not know that possibility and frankly questioned it- to myself. To convince me I brought 4 hens eggs from our frig. and placed them in the empty nest, walked back to our house where we had picture windows through which we could watch goings-ons around the pond and sat down to watch any crow thief. The time could not have been 5 minutes when I looked across the pond to see a crow with one of the eggs in its mouth fly away with it. I called my wife to tell her and she came promptly but turning back to watch before Dot arrived another crow, I presume, had landed and Dot was able to witness that second thievery. Incidentally I had not seen or heard a crow around when I placed those hens eggs in the nest. One of the most distressing events of my vet career concerned an old parrot. The Smith sisters had a pet dog and their mother had a parrot. both animals were clients I enjoyed the sisters because they were such nice people and were highly respected in the neighboring community where they lived and were retired grade school teachers. Their mother had died and over many years I had the job of trimming the bird's beak and nails. I had suggested fixing a rat tailed file in the cage for the beak and it worked but still about every 6 months they would bring the bird in for the trimming. One day I had a new assistant and so I explained that I would take the bird out of the cage and wrap a towel around it so it could not bite the assistant but I explained that he must not squeeze the bird as that could be fatal. My assistant was a middle aged kindly man but I could see by his trembling hands that he was concerned of being bitten by the bird so again I mentioned not to squeeze the old creature. I brought the bird out, draped a turkish towel around it and handed it to the assistant, turned to get an instrument for the clipping of the beak and turning back the bird was dead. My problem was exaggerated by the fact that the bird had been entrusted by their long dead mother but also the affection I had developed over the years for the two sisters. I asked them to come into my private office and explained what had happened expecting the worse. "Dr. Whitney, thank you, thank you." They were both on their feet thanking me. It seems their mother had made them promise on her death bead never to leave the bird alone and they had honored her wish for years. Now they could travel as they had longed to do. Would I dispose of the remains and, "keep the cage." No charge!