Category Archives: Opinion

NFL Mock Draft #1 for 2007

Even though my father-in-law thinks that watching the NFL draft is akin to spending an afternoon watching tar cool or paint dry, it is one of my favorite events of the year. Some people look forward to the Oscars, I look forward to the NFL draft which this year is on ESPN on April 28th and 29th.

One of the best parts of the draft is the days leading up to it and all of the speculation of which team will pick which player. Mel Kiper Jr. is considered the top guru on the subject and even he is rarely right on more that 60-70 percent of his picks in his mock draft. This year seems more unsettled than in years past so whatever I pick here is sheer guesswork especially if any draft day trades are made. I will post another couple of mock drafts in the coming week.

So here is my NFL 2007 mock draft selections:

Pick #

Team

Selection

Position

College

1

Oakland Raiders

Calvin Johnson

WR

Georgia Tech

2

Detroit Lions

JaMarcus Russell

QB

LSU

3

Cleveland Browns

Joe Thomas

OT

Wisconsin

4

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Gaines Adams

DE

Clemson

5

Arizona Cardinals

LaRon Landry

S

LSU

6

Washington Redskins

Amobi Okoye

DT

Louisville

7

Minnesota Vikings

Leon Hall

CB

Michigan

8

Atlanta Falcons

Levi Brown

OT

Penn State

9

Miami Dolphins

Brady Quinn

QB

Notre Dame

10

Houston Texans

Adrian Peterson

RB

Oklahoma

11

San Francisco 49ers

Patrick Willis

ILB

Mississippi

12

Buffalo Bills

Marshawn Lynch

RB

Cal

13

St. Louis Rams

Jamaal Anderson

DE

Arkansas

14

Carolina Panthers

Greg Olsen

TE

Miami

15

Pittsburgh Steelers

Lawrence Timmons

OLB

Florida State

16

Green Bay Packers

Ted Ginn Jr.

WR

Ohio State

17

Jacksonville Jaguars

Adam Carriker

DE

Nebraska

18

Cincinnati Bengals

Darrell Revis

CB

Pittsburgh

19

Tennessee Titans

Dwayne Bowe

WR

LSU

20

New York Giants

Paul Posluszny

LB

Penn State

21

Denver Broncos

Alan Branch

DT

Michigan

22

Dallas Cowboys

Aaron Ross

CB

Texas

23

Kansas City Chiefs

Robert Meachem

WR

Tennessee

24

New England Patriots

Chris Houston

CB

Arkansas

25

New York Jets

Michael Griffin

S

Texas

26

Philadelphia Eagles

Jarvis Moss

DE/OLB

Florida

27

New Orleans Saints

Justin Harrell

DT

Tennessee

28

New England Patriots

Reggie Nelson

S

Florida

29

Baltimore Ravens

Joe Staley

OT

Central Michigan

30

San Diego Chargers

Dwayne Jarrett

WR

USC

31

Chicago Bears

Trent Edwards

QB

Stanford

32

Indianapolis Colts

Jon Beason

OLB

Miami

Hey Supplement Industry – Get Your Act Together!!!

With all of the cry wolf alternative health fear mongers falsely claiming that CODEX is coming to America, they won’t discuss the supplement industries ugly secret which is how poorly we self-regulate our industry. In a report garnering headlines at MSNBC.com, a number of supplements which claim to contain chondroitin, either didn’t or had much less than the labels claimed. This is intolerable in our industry and almost beckons government intervention.

Instead of whining about a false impending doom called CODEX (which by the way cannot come to fruition in the US because of the DSHEA bill), start getting going after the lousy manufacturers and distributors who sell crap to consumers. If this trend of bad publicity continues, then the FDA has no choice but to step in and increase surveillance. In my opinion the biggest screamers against FDA interference are those who produce lousy products or people who use questionable practices in their clinics. There is one women, who claims to be a doctor (and is a total fraud), charges $14K to come to a clinic she works at to inject people with a protocol so lacking in science, but high in hype, that people line up to have the work done on them. Unfortunately for many, the results are disastrous. I have worked with a number of them, some physicians, who have had horrible side-effects, some lasting for years.

Maybe the time has come for intelligent regulation of this industry. Sadly, as with most regulation, it will come at a terrible price.

In Passing – Dr. Bjorn Nordenstrom

A giant in the field of medicine, Dr. Bjorn Nordenstrom, passed away this past December 31st. Few of you probably know of him but anyone who has had a conversation with me about the field of electrolytes has heard me talk of this genius. His book, Biologically Closed Electric Circuits: Clinical, Experimental and Theoretical Evidence for an Additional Circulatory System is a monumental piece of work. His work on treating cancer through the use of electrochemical treatment protocols is now the standard in many parts of the world especially China and parts of Europe.

Dr. Nordenstrom was a member of the Nobel Prize committee in Medicine and Physics and was awarded the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award by the People’s Republic of China because of his work on tumor regression. Although in poor health these past few years, his legacy will most certainly live on. My condolences to his family.

Economics Over Your Child’s Life – The Conservative View of the World

In a book I reviewed earlier this week, How Everyday Products Make People Sick, by Dr. Paul D. Blanc, there is one part that both angered and sickened me. It had to do with a review of the effects of lead by the conservative think tank – the American Enterprise Institute – Brookings Joint Center AEI/BJC on Regulatory Studies. The comment shows the kind of denial and obfuscation that the conservative right uses to protect industry’s ability to dump toxins on us despite overwhelming research.

Lead is a well known neurotoxin that was used in both gasoline and paint prior to the 1970s. According to numerous studies, lead causes IQ levels to drop, especially in children. What amazed me is that the AEI/BJC did not dispute the fact that lead was neurotoxic but that economically parents gain only $1,100 per IQ point while their children gain $1,900 through lead abatement. Are they kidding me??? Do we measure life benefits in terms of parents versus children? What kind of moral system do these people hold dear? One of their comments was “This analysis suggests lead standards will redistribute resources from parents to their children, because the benefits to parents are less than the costs of the standards. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development should reconsider their lead standards.”

Appalling?  You bet. Morally corrupt?  Closer to the truth. My parents came to this country back in 1953 to make their kids lives better, not at our expense but at theirs. The AEI/BJC is one of the many groups that our present administration looks to for advice. What does that say for us when the argument used to reconsider reintroducing lead into our environment is that parents should make more money at the expense of their children?

But lest this be a Bush-Bashing party, let me make it clear that this kind of disgusting government behavior has been going on for centuries and by just about every government in this world. In 1868, the British Fisheries Preservation Authority wrote a pamphlet entitled On Pollution of the Rivers of the Kingdom. they saw the problems back than.

Dr. Blanc even points out that in 1549 writers talk about things like sick building syndrome (not that term exactly) in a paper called Aerarium Sanitatis. We know that pollution and the dumping of toxins are killing us and causing incalcuable damage to our children and generations to come. As long as it is business as usual, we will continue to be dumped on and lied to about the dangers that surround us.

Please get this book. I don’t care if you get it through clicking on the link below or through any portal you chose, get it. It is one of the finest books on the effects of environmental toxins on human health I have ever read and believe me, I have read a lot of them.

 

How Everyday Products Make People Sick: Toxins at Home and in the Workplace

Adult versus Embryonic Stem Cells – Is there a difference?

I know this is a volatile issue but I think we need to at least clarify why there is a need for embryonic stem cells (ESC) versus adult stem cells (ASC). Whether you feel that it is a moral issue or not, the bottom line is that ESC is superior because you can generate vastly more cells with them as opposed to ASC.

Human embryonic stem cells are known as pluripotent, which means they can become any type of cell in the body. The same cannot be said for adult stem cells. You may object to using ESC due to religious or personal beliefs but it is wrong to delude the public, which the present administration has done, that ASC is just as good. It isn’t.

My concern is that other nations, more scientifically enlightened than the U.S. will further the research, come up with the technology to make ESC work, and we will be left behind. The present administration has continually thwarted real science advancement because of religion. I am not in any way, shape, or form an atheist but I do believe in a separation of church and state. If our country is to continue to be the leader of the free-world, we need to change the way we approach science.

If you believe that we should not use ESC, then I respect your opinion. If the majority of people in this country believe that we should not use ESC, then we should not use them. That is simply not the case though as the majority of Americans are for the use of embryonic stem cells. What we should not do is lie to the American people and tell them ASCs are as good. It isn’t true, and it isn’t science.

Intolerance and Hatred – There is no place for it in a enlightened world.

Earlier today news that former NBA player Tim Hardaway made the following statement about John Ameche another former player who admitted being gay, “Well, you know, I hate gay people. I let it be known I don’t like gay people. I don’t like to be around gay people. I’m homophobic.” — Tim Hardaway, on Dan Le Batard’s radio show made all the sports and news talk shows. What strikes me is not the idea that someone is opposed to the gay lifestyle but the use of the word hate. I am not one to judge people like John Ameche for his lifestyle or Tim Hardaway for his comments, that is for a greater being than I am, what I do have a problem with is the lack of respect for a fellow human being and the hypocracy that is Tim Hardaway, his comments and others who have the same deep seated anger.

While listening to the Colin Cowherd talk show on ESPN radio this morning, I was astonished at the number of angry callers who agreed in principle with Mr. Hardaway. One caller claimed that since he was molested as a child he had a good reason for hating gays. Thankfully, Mr. Cowherd admonished him and reminded him that fully 80% of child molesters are heterosexual not homosexual. It is through ignorance that we generate hate, not intelligence. Hate is a base emotion that is borne of frustration and lack of knowledge for the most part.

Gene Wojciechowski wrote what I think is a brilliant response to this situation where his major astonishment is how a man like Hardaway can show such bigotry since he “…played at the same university and for the same coach who, years earlier, helped destroy racial stereotypes by starting five African-American players against all-white Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA Final Four championship game.” So I guess Mr. Hardaway feels it is all right to be a bigot against gays but not blacks.

What I hope for is that news of another gay person coming out of the closet is relegated to the back page of the newspaper, buried with other unimportant issues. The same for the announcement that this Super Bowl is the first with two black head coaches or other news like that. My ideal world would be one where people who are unique don’t have to hide from the spotlight but also that they don’t need to have a spotlight shown on them because they are different.

There are far more pressing issues in this world than the fact that an athlete is gay or that an ignorant ex-player hates him. Let’s move on to more important things like saving our environment or making the world a better place for our children to live in. Oh, and if you have some hate mail for me because of my point of view, just leave it in the draft box because I won’t pay any attention to it.

Want to Make an Ecological Difference? Stop Buying Bottled Water

When I came upon this bit of information I was astonished and dismayed. Bottled water is not only environmentally bad, it is harmful to third world countries and its people as well.

This coming Monday, February 12th I will be doing a presentation entitled “10 Things You Can Do To Save The Environment And Protect Your Health” at the Rotary Club of Incline Village. My tenth item was about not buying bottled water anymore. Here are the major points. After reading it I bet you will never look at bottled water the same ever again.

  • Let’s take the example of Fiji Water.
  • It is transported 8,700 killometers from Fiji to San Francisco. Imagine the fuel used to transport the water and the bottles (it is bottled in Fiji).
  • The bottles themselves use petrochemicals to manufacture and the plastic for the bottle is transported from China about 7,000 kilometers away requiring more fuel to transport.
  • A bottle that holds 1 liter requires 25 liters of water in its manufacturing process (this includes power plant cooling water).
  • Every bottle takes 1,000 years to biodegrade. More than 50% of the bottled water brands out there simply purchase U.S. municipal reserve water (your tap water) and filter it before bottling it. Then they resell it to you for an average of $5/gallon.
  • Buy a water filter. You’ll save lots of money.
  • One thing that should outrage every Rotarian especially.
    Companies like Coke (Dasani), and Pepsi (Aquafina) have discovered that buying up the drinkable water from some third-world country, bottling their water source and shipping it to you to sell to the U.S., is less expensive than paying for water from the municipal reserve. And they’re buying up the ONLY drinkable water sources in some countries.
  • So every bottle you drink is not just at the expense of the environment, but also at the expense of another somewhere else, who doesn’t have any other water. And you do.
  • Do you wonder why third world countries don’t like us?

Buying bottled water, unless you really need it should embarass you. It is unnecessary and bad for the environment and does nothing to make you any healthier than if you bought a water filter for your kitchen tap and filled a reusable bottle everyday. Come on America, stop being lazy and uncaring and change your habits. You will save money and make the world a better place.

Statins and Telomere’s – A Study Worth Listening To

As many of my readers may know by now, I am not the biggest fan of statin drugs, especially in light of the excellent book by Dr. John Abramson, Overdo$ed America . But I must admit there is some data showing benefits of taking this drug in some cases. Now, researchers may have found a key indicator which can target the drug use to the right people and not just trying it on everyone.

Published in the January 13, 2007 issue of the British medical journal The Lancet , authors Brouilette, Moore, and McMahon, et al, report that middle aged men with shorter telomere lengths benefit the most from statin treatment. Telomeres are the ends of chromosomal DNA. While not fully understood, these strands seemingly are involved in the maintenance of cellular stability. As they get shorter, your cellular biologic clock winds down and your cells begin to die.

Basically the authors propose that testing for leukocyte telomere length is advisable given the data they uncovered. I would not oppose such an idea but I’m sure the harmaceutical (spelling is intentional) industry would object because it might lower the number of users and cut back on their ridiculous profit margins.

One side note; wouldn’t it be smarter and more logical to lead a healthier life in the first place, taking adequate supplements, especially omega-3 fatty acids, b-complex nutrients and other life enriching compounds that to wait until you need artificial drugs to prop up an unhealthy body?

Fight on the Hill – Will Big Pharma Get the Tide Turned on Them

Ever since the Republican’s have had control over the House and Senate, as well as the White House, Big Pharma has received a lot of benefits, which in my opinion have been undeserved and unwarranted. The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 was a gift to the industry to the tune of more than $8 billion dollars of additional profit according to the January 13, 2007 issue of The Lancet . Since the top ten harmaceutical companies half-year profits in 2006 were a staggering $38 billion, this seems utterly ridiculous.

This opinion piece is not meant to bash a political party. Lord knows they both deserve bashing. What I do have a gripe with is how the Republicans have unabashedly pandered themselves to Big Pharma’s deep pockets. That party received more than 2/3rd’s of the industry’s campaign contributions annually. They spent more than $800 million lobbying Congress and the rest of the Federal government agencies since 1998.

Well, you might ask, they have been creating a bunch of life saving drugs with all the research they’ve been doing, right? Poppycock I say. According to the General Accounting Office, their R & D spending went up by 147% from 1993 to 2004 but new-drug applications only went up 38% in that time frame. Not only that, but the number has been dropping since 1996. If you call Viagra, Cialis and Levitra life saving drugs, well maybe I’m wrong.

In reality, in 2007, there are relatively few new drugs in the pipeline. the industry is in legal battles because of their patent dishonesty when it came to potential side-effects of their drugs (Vioxx, Zypreza to name a few).

The Democrats have already begun the introduction of bills requiring Medicare drug price negotiation, something the Republican backed bill of 2003 forbade. Other bills such as increasing the availability of generics, importation of cheaper drugs from Canada and improved after approval monitoring of existing drugs seem to be on their way. While my faith in politicians is similar to my faith in dinosaurs suddenly appearing at my two young daughter’s elementary school, I do hope a change of climate in Washington D.C. will begin to pull back bad policy decisions made over the past 13 years.