Category: health & fitness

WIN the War On Drugs – legalize marijuana

On By Rick McIn anti-smoking, economics, government, health & fitness2 Comments

In the 40 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs,” the supply and use of drugs has not changed in any fundamental way. The only difference: a taxpayer bill of more than $1 trillion.

A senior Mexican official who has spent more than two decades helping fight the government’s war on drugs summed up recently what he’s learned from his long career: “This war is not winnable.” …

… Growing numbers of Mexican and U.S. officials say—at least privately—that the biggest step in hurting the business operations of Mexican cartels would be simply to legalize their main product: marijuana. Long the world’s most popular illegal drug, marijuana accounts for more than half the revenues of Mexican cartels.

“Economically, there is no argument or solution other than legalization, at least of marijuana,” said the top Mexican official matter-of-factly. The official said such a move would likely shift marijuana production entirely to places like California, where the drug can be grown more efficiently and closer to consumers. …

Wall Street Journal – Saving Mexico

California is one of 14 states that have legalized medical marijuana, anyway. It’s easy to be prescribed legal dope there.

Assembly Bill 390: The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act … is the first bill ever introduced to regulate the sale and use of marijuana in the U.S. state of California. If passed and signed into law, marijuana would be sold and taxed openly to adults age 21 and older in California. …

Proponents are trying to take that to a statewide vote sometime in 2010.

I’m sure Arnold is thinking about it. An estimated $1.3 billion in revenue to the empty California tax coffers.

But the U.S.A. is one of the most conservative (backward) nations in the world. The romantic comedy “It’s Complicated” got an R rating, … “which experts say could limit the box-office potential of the Universal Pictures film — … largely from a sequence in which Steve Martin and Meryl Streep smoke marijuana.”

Producers have appealed.

This is a polarizing issue in a nation already split between Democrats and Republicans. It would be a gutsy move for Arnold to allow legislation to go ahead … if Californians vote to legalize. I think he should.

what makes you fat?

On By Rick McIn health & fitness3 Comments

A telling graphic from the U.S.A.

obesity-usa

Click through to see some of the factors – Gymnastics Coaching – what makes you fat?

Does poverty make people obese, or is it the other way around? …

… sickness, poverty, and obesity are spun together in a dense web of reciprocal causality. Anyone who’s fat is more likely to be poor and sick. Anyone who’s poor is more likely to be fat and sick. And anyone who’s sick is more likely to be poor and fat. …

Slate – Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Big Fat Asses …

… Did Bill Gates make us fat?

The facts suggest otherwise: Obesity tends to be highest in states where computer ownership is lowest, and that’s true even after you control for income. …

Neubecker_everyday_econ

Slate – Why Are We Getting So Fat?

global warming to end by Christmas 2009

On By Rick McIn good news, health & fitness7 Comments

So says Brian.

He’s a Global Warming skeptic. Like these guys:

… Some global warming skeptics in the science or political community dispute all or some of the global warming scientific consensus objecting to whether global warming is actually occurring, if human activity is truly to blame, and if the threat is as great a threat as has been alleged. Prominent global warming skeptics include Richard Lindzen, Fred Singer, Patrick Michaels, John Christy, and Robert Balling. …

Wikipedia

Of course there are pro-industry, right wing idiots that deny global warming as a knee jerk reaction.

But there are also serious scientists that feel there is not enough evidence. That the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has jumped the gun. Especially the “hockey stick” graph.

Read about critics here.

Or read a mainstream media article – BBC – What happened to global warming? That’s written by the Climate correspondent, BBC News.

You’ve heard skeptics before.

… But Brian now declares that global skepticism will be WIDELY covered by the mainstream media by Christmas.

global-warming-santa

Let’s see if he’s right.

We could go back to worrying about the next ice age.

Me, I’ve done no research at all. There are many bigger problems in the world occupying my attention.

$50-billion lawsuit against Big Tobacco

On By Rick McIn anti-smoking, good news, government, health & fitness2 Comments

Love it.

In launching a $50-billion lawsuit against tobacco companies, Ontario is joining what many expect will eventually become a national battle to recover health costs linked to smoking.

The governments of British Columbia and New Brunswick have already filed claims against cigarette manufacturers and most of the other provinces have passed legislation enabling them to make similar cases.

“Let’s be clear: This is important for the people of Ontario who have paid a lot of money for health-care costs directly related to tobacco use over the decades,” Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley told reporters yesterday. “We believe the taxpayers should be compensated for the costs that they have paid. That’s what this lawsuit is all about.”

After years of legal wrangling in the United States, tobacco manufacturers agreed in 1998 to pay state governments $246-billion (U.S.) over 25 years to help pay for the costs of treating people with smoking-related illnesses. …

Globe and Mail

That $246-billion settlement is not correct. It turned out to be well over $300 billion.

antismoking08

17 Creative Anti-Smoking Ads

… And why is it that smokers do not consider this littering? Most don’t toss anything else on the ground.

cigarettes-butts

have you seen Sicko?

On By Rick McIn books, economics, government, health & fitness, movies1 Comment

I first posted about this movie May 22, 2007.

How could I have missed seeing it until now?

It’s a very important film. Especially with the Health Care debate happening in the USA.

… Sicko is a 2007 documentary … by American film maker Michael Moore. The film investigates the American health care system, focusing on its health insurance and pharmaceutical industry. The film compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. …

Wikipedia

You can watch it free and legal on Google Video.

It’s not a documentary. It’s Michael Moore’s one sided diatribe against the American Medical system.

But he got the bottom line right. The USA has a crappy medical system, overall. Sure if you have good coverage in the States (working for Cirque du Soleil, for example) … you are better off personally than someone working for, say, Cirque in Canada.

But something like 50 million Americans have no insurance. That is really sick!

sicko_facts_up_front

People are healthier and live longer in pretty much every other developed country, too.

The case studies in Sicko are selective, but still well worth watching. (I want to move to France from Canada after seeing those interviews!)

Under the Obama presidency, something is going to happen in the USA. But what?

It’s complicated.

The best vision I’ve heard is that of George C. Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed care organization in the United States. A non-profit.

… KP places a strong emphasis on preventative care, reducing costs later on. Second, its doctors are salaried rather than paid per service, which removes any incentive for doctors to perform unnecessary procedures. Thirdly, KP attempts to minimize the time patients spend in high-cost hospitals by carefully planning their stay and by providing cares in clinics. …

His most recent book: Health Care Will Not Reform Itself: A User’s Guide to Refocusing and Reforming American Health Care

Halvorson-book

Halvorson is a realist. Not a utopian like Michael Moore.

Listen to an interview with Halvorson on NPR.

In his movie Michael Moore neglected to mention that current systems in countries like Canada will soon collapse. They are not sustainable financially.

In 10 or 20 years how will the U.S. ranking compare?

That’s being decided right now.

Obama-Health_care

Leave a comment if you have an opinion.

why I can’t live in the Maritimes … or Italy

On By Rick McIn anti-smoking, health & fitness, hiking, travel1 Comment

Much as I like Halifax, living in the Maritimes is a non-starter for me. (Sorry Anne.)

smoker-and-childWhy?

Too many smokers.

It’s disgusting.

As I toured Nova Scotia, one Tim Hortons to the next, I had to push my way through nicotine addicts lurking at each entrance. Yeesh.

Why can’t those Maritimers go work their short-term Summer jobs as mandated by pogie?

I fled the second hand smoke for Italy.

Doh!

Italy is even WORSE. (Remind me not to travel to Cuba.)

And why am I even in Italy? I’m one of the few people you know who doesn’t want to travel in Italy. It’s the last place I wanted to go … last except for the land of the cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

My Mom reminded me of my only other trip to Italy, over 30yrs ago. I wrote her this on a postcard:

… “Italy is Great…too bad it is run by Italians” …

Italian men back in 1976 were totally irritating.

Happily I can report they’ve improved over the past few decades.

In fact, it seems the young Italian men have collectively opted into a 1980s George Michael look-alike contest. Pretty funny. I don’t speak Italian, but I’d estimate at least 6 million young men, so far, have voluntarily joined into this amusing competition.

george-michael

It’s great to see that those (formerly) arrogant pricks are now able to laugh at themselves.

The detested Italian machismo seems to be fading.

Of course I’m in Italy for hiking. It was a complete surprise to me. One minute I was searching the internet for cheap flights to Iceland. The next I’d bought a $100 ticket Gatwick to Venice.

Here I am in Bolzano, no guidebook. It’s like the blind leading … myself.

Fortunately 6 of my 10 words of Italian from the distant past have returned to me.

Oh, … I should add that there are only 2 good smokers in the World. And one of them is trying to quit.

first Adventure Race Week photos

On By Rick McIn cycling, health & fitness, kayaking, photos1 Comment

Just started to upload my best photos of our big Adventure Race Week event in Idaho.

ARW-shirt

see more on flickr

Good FUN so far. Not much sleep.

I was a “leader” for a kid’s Adventure Race, Saturday. My team was the youngest. We finished LAST after 4.5hrs.

Though my little guys made it around the very difficult course safely, they both fell off their bikes on the last couple of hundred metres to the finish line.

Oops.

coming down to Idaho with me?

On By Rick McIn cycling, health & fitness, kayaking, sport - amateurLeave a comment

My big AR event is right around the corner – Adventure Sports Week . Contact me if you can come down with me.

May 24, 2009

For Immediate Release…

Danelle Ballangee is scheduled to compete in the “Crux and the Crucible” at Adventure Sports Week 2009!

Adventure Sports Week is a 10 day long festival of 24 outdoor races, contests, clinics and social events taking place at Farragut State Park, 30 miles north of Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, June 5—14, 2009.

One of the racing world’s greatest stars and most inspirational stories is coming to compete at Adventure Sports Week in Coeur d’ Alene, June 12—14.

Danelle Ballangee is perhaps the World’s most decorated female Adventure Racer, having won Primal Quest, the Raid, the Adventure Racing World Championships, as well as dozens of other equally impressive competitions. She has also been named “US Athlete of the Year” an unprecedented six times in four different sports.

Despite her impressive resume, it was an unlikely slip that has Danelle—Nellie—to national prominence.

In December of 2006, while on a routine training run with her dog Taz, she slipped on some black ice and fell nearly 60 feet down the cliffs at Hurrah Pass, Utah, near Moab, breaking her pelvis completely in half, and leaving her bleeding internally and unable to walk. She managed to crawl over a quarter of a mile to a puddle where she could drink, and she spent over 50 hours in sub- freezing temperatures as her dog tried to keep her warm. On the third day, Taz left her, eventually making his way to the trailhead, where he was seen by the search and rescue team, who followed him back to Danelle.

After major surgery, where she received a titanium plate to hold her pelvis together, she was in a wheelchair for several months, and doctors speculated she would be unable to walk for as long as a year.

As a tribute to her strength and tenacity, Danelle competed in a solo 12 hour adven- ture race less than 6 months after her fall, finishing as top female.

Danelle will be competing at ASW representing Project Athena— http://www.projectathena.org – whose mission is to help women with breast cancer and other medical traumatic setbacks live their athletic and adventurous dreams by providing coaching, equipment, travel, entry fees and encouragement.

She will also be teaching part of the Adventure Racing Clinic, along with other super- stars such as Mike Kloser, captain of Team Nike, and AR World Champion.

danelle

source – Mind Over Mountain