I remember when I graduated from medical school, the dean told our class, “What we have just taught you was the most up-to-date information about medicine. Unfortunately, 50% of what we taught you was wrong. Your job is to figure out which 50% was wrong.” I remember feeling stunned  at the Dean’s admission. Now, 26 years later, I think the dean was too conservative. Now I feel that approximately 75% of what I was taught was wrong. In my training, I was taught that high cholesterol was a risk factor for heart disease. Furthermore, I was taught that a high triglyceride … Continue reading →

Killing children is federal policy. Killing Planned Parenthood is therefore a threat to the Feds. We read: The U.S. government has warned states moving to defund women’s health group Planned Parenthood that they may be in conflict with federal law, officials said on Wednesday. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a federal agency, was in contact with officials in Louisiana and Alabama this month, said a spokesperson for the agency’s parent, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency warned those two states that their plans to terminate Medicaid provider agreements with Planned Parenthood may illegally restrict … Continue reading →

Many people think the Internal Revenue Service was violating civil liberties when it harassed tea party groups. After all, the groups were targeted because they wanted to exercise their civil liberty to challenge government policies. However, the specific issue in the IRS case was the groups’ application for tax-exempt status, which seems to be an aspect of economic liberty. In fact, the IRS case demonstrates that there is no meaningful distinction between civil and economic liberties. A true friend of the free society defends both civil and economic liberties. Many “civil libertarians” who oppose government laws interfering in the personal … Continue reading →

In the nearby column Jim Quinn debunks Wall Street’s latest claim that the American consumer is bounding back. He points out that on an inflation-adjusted basis retail sales are barely higher than they were a year ago, and, for that matter, are still only 4% greater in real terms than they were way back in November 2007. That’s right. Nearly eight years and $3.5 trillion of Fed money printing later, yet the vaunted American consumer is struggling to stay above the flat line, not shopping up a storm. And there is no mystery as to why. After a 40-year borrowing spree culminating in the final mortgage credit blow-off on the eve of the great financial … Continue reading →

The island of Sardinia may be Plato’s island of Atlantis, an expert claims. Writer and Atlantis expert Sergio Frau says the southern end of the Mediterranean isle resembles an underwater Pompeii, which may have been the inspiration for Plato’s fictional Island of Atlantis. He and another expert believe a tidal wave that was  caused by a comet washed the ancient civilisation away in the second millennium BC, taking the island back to a dark age. Mr Frau, who is one of the founders of Italian newspaper La Repubblica, was joined by a dozen Italian scientists when visiting the island in … Continue reading →

When the banking crisis crippled global markets seven years ago, central bankers stepped in as lenders of last resort. Profligate private-sector loans were moved on to the public-sector balance sheet and vast money-printing gave the global economy room to heal. Time is now rapidly running out. From China to Brazil, the central banks have lost control and at the same time the global economy is grinding to a halt. It is only a matter of time before stock markets collapse under the weight of their lofty expectations and record valuations. The FTSE 100 has now erased its gains for the … Continue reading →

Last week’s column highlighted college campus absurdities and the ongoing attack on free speech and plain common sense. As parents gear up to fork over $20,000 to $60,000 for college tuition, they might benefit from knowing what greets their youngsters. Deceitful college officials, who visit high schools to recruit students and talk to parents, conceal the worst of their campus practices. Let’s expose some of it. Christina Hoff Sommers is an avowed feminist and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. She’s spent a lifetime visiting college campuses. Recently, upon her arrival at Oberlin College, Georgetown University and other campuses, … Continue reading →

A bit of history and background information first (it may help–if you are in a rush, then scroll down for the suggestions): The M-16 (and its military variants) use a light-weight mid-sized cartridge that falls into the definition area between a U.S. Military main battle rifle (.308– 7.62mm x 51mm NATO  or 30-06) and sub machine gun (9mm and .45ACP) rounds and because the military version is select fire it is classed correctly as an assault rifle. The same for other rifles such as the as is the 7.62 x 39mm (AK-47 and smaller AK-74) firearms which also fire mid-sized … Continue reading →

The wind is maddening and constant, and gets stronger as the sun falls under the horizon. The streets are lined with plastic and rubbish, the beaches covered with greasy bodies and sun beds, and ghastly music blasts away all day and night. Motor scooters without mufflers and cars choke the tiny roads leading to the center of town, where literally thousands of sunburned young people wearing expensive rags down tequilas with a thousand-mile look on their unshaven faces. Welcome to Mykonos, once a brothel of an island, now reverting to type after a 30-year period of being a gay paradise. … Continue reading →

This talk was given on August 8 at the Christians for Liberty conference in Austin, Texas. Although I have been writing from the perspective of a conservative Christian libertarian for the past twenty years, it was not until 2009 that I first wrote something about the Drug War. This is because I knew the negative reaction I would receive from conservatives—and especially Christian conservatives. But after writing that initial article, there has been no turning back. I now write about the Drug War, not as much as I write about Christianity and war, but quite often. Do you want to … Continue reading →

Can a good man spend his days doing bad things and remain a good man? What if he chooses to spend his days doing bad things and could at any time elect not to do the bad things? Could decide – I am not comfortable with this; this isn’t for me – and quit, without risking anything (other than the need to find honest work)? The German SA man of the 1930s was a very bad man – but he did, at least, have the defense of being under duress. In 1930s Germany, it was socially (if not legally) difficult for any … Continue reading →

By Dr. Mercola Scents can have a powerful influence on your well-being. Aromatherapy, which uses concentrated essences of various botanicals, allows you to harness the olfactory power of plants for healing on many levels. Essential oils carry biologically active volatile compounds in a highly concentrated form that can provide therapeutic benefits in very small amounts. Quality is of the essence here. First of all, what we’re talking about here is pure, therapeutic grade essential oils from plants, NOT synthetic fragrance oils or perfumes, which can be toxic and typically contain allergenic compounds. But even among essential oils, the quality can … Continue reading →