FDA-Approved Toxic Aspartame Sweetener In Your Dairy?

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Aspartame, Aspartame milk, Dairy, Deadly, diseases, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, FDA, FDA-approved, Food and Drug Administration, Milk, milk supply, Monsanto, National Milk Producers Federation, Sweetener, Toxic, United States

The Deadly Deal: EPA’s Toxic Aspartame To Gain FDA Approval In YOUR Milk, Other Dairy?

https://johnniesblog.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/the-deadly-deal-epas-toxic-aspartame-to-gain-fda-approval-in-your-milk-other-dairy/

The FDA is requesting comments on this petition. You have until May 21st, 2013 to submit your comments. Click here for instructions.

U.S. dairy industry petitions FDA to approve aspartame as hidden, unlabeled additive in milk, yogurt, eggnog and cream

Monday, February 25, 2013
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) You probably already know that the FDA has declared war on raw milk and even helped fund and coordinate armed government raids against raw milk farmers and distributors. Yes, it’s insane. This brand of tyranny is unique to the USA and isn’t even conducted in China, North Kora or Cuba. Only in the USA are raw milk farmers treated like terrorists.

But now the situation is getting even more insane than you could have imagined: the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition with the FDA asking the FDA to alter the definition of “milk” to secretly include chemical sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose.

Importantly, none of these additives need to be listed on the label. They will simply be swept under the definition of “milk,” so that when a company lists “milk” on the label, it automatically includes aspartame or sucralose. And if you’re trying to avoid aspartame, you’ll have no way of doing so because it won’t be listed on the label.

This isn’t only for milk, either: It’s also for yogurt, cream, sour cream, eggnog, whipping cream and a total of 17 products, all of which are listed in the petition at FDA.gov.

As the petition states:

IDFA and NMPF request their proposed amendments to the milk standard of identity to allow optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk (e.g., chocolate flavoring added to milk) to be sweetened with any safe and suitable sweetener — including non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame.

This is all being done to “save the children,” we’re told, because the use of aspartame in milk products would reduce calories.

Milk industry specifically asks to HIDE aspartame from consumers

Astonishingly, the dairy industry is engaged in extreme doublespeak logic and actually arguing that aspartame should be hidden from consumers by not listing it on the label. Here’s what the petition says:

IDFA and NMPF argue that nutrient content claims such as “reduced calorie” are not attractive to children, and maintain that consumers can more easily identify the overall nutritional value of milk products that are flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners if the labels do not include such claims. Further, the petitioners assert that consumers do not recognize milk — including flavored milk — as necessarily containing sugar. Accordingly, the petitioners state that milk flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners should be labeled as milk without further claims so that consumers can “more easily identify its overall nutritional value.”

In other words, hiding aspartame from consumers by not including it on the label actually helps consumers, according to the IDFA and NMPF!

Yep, consumers are best served by keeping them ignorant. If this logic smacks of the same kind of twisted deception practiced by Monsanto, that’s because it’s identical: the less consumers know, the more they are helped, according to industry. And it’s for the children, too, because children are also best served by keeping them poisoned with aspartame.

Consumers have always been kept in the dark about pink slime, meat glue, rBGH and GMOs in their food. And now, if the IDFA gets its way, you’ll be able to drink hormone-contaminated milk from an antibiotics-inundated cow fed genetically modified crops and producing milk containing hidden aspartame. And you won’t have the right to know about any of this!

The FDA confirms this “secret” status of aspartame, stating, “If the standard of identity for milk is amended as requested by petitioners, milk manufacturers could use non-nutritive sweeteners in flavored milk without a nutrient content claim in its labeling.”

FDA requests comments

The FDA is requesting comments on this petition. You have until May 21st, 2013 to submit your comments. Click here for instructions.

This is a clue to stop drinking processed milk and milk products altogether

There’s a bigger story here than just the industry hoping to get FDA approval to secretly put aspartame in milk products while not listing aspartame on the label.

The bigger question is this: If an industry is pushing to hide aspartame in its products, what else is it already hiding?

How about the pus content of its dairy products? How about its inhumane treatment of animals who are subjected to torture conditions and pumped full of genetically engineered hormones? How about the fact that homogenization and pasteurization turn a whole food into a dietary nightmare that promotes obesity, autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular disease?

There are lots of dirty little secrets in the dairy industry of course, and that doesn’t even get into the secret closed-door conversations to encourage the FDA to destroy the competition of raw milk.

The only rational answer to all this is to stop buying and consuming processed dairy products, period!

I gave up ALL milk products many years ago and have never looked back. I drink almond milk, not pus-filled pasteurized cow’s milk. (Click here for a recipe to make your own almond milk at home.) I don’t eat yogurt. If I want probiotics, I get them from tasty chewable probiotics supplements such as Sunbiotics. I parted ways with processed dairy products many years ago, and as a result, my cardiovascular health, skin health, digestive health and stamina have all remained in outstanding shape.

There’s also a philosophical issue here: Don’t buy products from an industry that habitually LIES about everything. The dairy industry is like a mafia. They actively seek to destroy the competition, keep consumers ignorant and monopolize the market. They run highly deceptive ads with ridiculous claims like, “drinking milk helps you lose weight” and other nonsense.

The U.S. dairy industry is steeped in deception at every level, and now they want you and your children to unknowingly drink aspartame that’s secretly blended into the product.

The dairy industry is to food as Lance Armstrong is to sports. It’s all a big lie, laced with secret chemicals and false claims.

Stop drinking milk. Stop financially supporting the food mafia.

Recommended videos:
Raw Milk Rover (hilarious animation)
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=273C2497DFDE9F61CB9E8867113CA5CA

Got a PUStache? (satire)
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=C463AA940B9AEBA5D294F87FF0716579

Jonathan Emord raw milk freedom speech:
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=F8DF9A42CC5479D8829A2445C56AFEF3

Farmageddon interview with Kristin Canty
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=3340FCCC93B2C17EEFA43C7E6296728D

Sources for this article:
This petition was originally brought to our attention by a reader who says it was covered on Activist Post. I haven’t yet read that article but may update this article with a link to that article once I identify the URL.

FDA petition page:
http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/02/20/2013-03835/flavore…

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/039244_milk_aspartame_FDA_petition.html#ixzz2M1kHM9ul

Proven Unsafe But FDA-Approved: Are YOU Still Consuming This Man-Made Poison

Americans drink more soda than anyone else on the planet — well over 700 eight-ounce servings each year, on average, and an increasing amount of it is diet soda.

They might be more reluctant to do so if they knew about the safety questions still surrounding aspartame. A number of scientists responding expressed major concerns about aspartame’s safety at the time of its approval, and even more indicated areas where they believed more research is needed on aspartame to resolve their concerns — research on areas such as neurological functions, brain tumors, seizures, headaches, and adverse effects on children and pregnant women.

Grist reports:

“In a 1996 survey, Ralph G. Walton … looked at 166 peer-reviewed studies on aspartame undertaken between 1980 and 1985. He found that all 74 of the studies funded by the industry found no adverse effects from aspartame, while 84 of the 92 independently funded articles did find bad effects.”

Aspartame is the ingredient found in NutraSweet, It is also found in Equal, Spoonful, Equal Measure, AminoSweet, Benevia, NutraTaste, Canderel, and many popular “diet” sodas. This chemical is currently on the ingredient list of nearly 6,000 products worldwide. But since it was approved for use as a food additive in 1981, it has been dogged by complaints about its safety.

Was aspartame ever proven safe for human consumption before it gained FDA approval as a food additive?

Not according to Dr. John Olney, a researcher at Washington University in Saint Louis who first began studying aspartame in 1970. Dr. Olhney believes aspartame should not be on the market today “because it hasn’t been demonstrated to be safe.” Also in agreement with Dr. Olney are the FDA’s own investigations into the chemical from 1975 to 1980.

When the FDA was presented with Dr. Olney’s research, they assigned an outside public board of inquiry the task of deciding if aspartame should be allowed for human consumption. In 1980, the doctors on that board unanimously ruled that aspartame should not go on the market. An internal FDA panel concluded the same thing in 1980.

According to the FDA Chairman at that time, Dr. Gere Goyan, his next recommendation was to set up another FDA committee to study aspartame, composed people who played no previous part in the former studies of aspartame. Dr. Gere Goyan never saw the results of that 1980 FDA internal study, because he was forced to step down as FDA Chairman the day Ronald Reagan took office on January 21, 1981.

His replacement? Dr. Arthur Hill Hayes.

Dr. Hayes is notable for two reasons. First, he had no previous history of dealing with the science of food additives. Second, he was apparently hand picked to head the FDA by a prominent member of Ronald Reagan’s political transition team, Donald Rumsfeld. Yes, the same Donald Rumsfeld who led the United States into the multi trillion dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as Secretary of Defense during the Bush presidency. But in 1981, Rumsfeld had a different title: CEO of the G.D Searle company, the company that owned the patent on aspartame.

One of Dr. Arthur Hill Hayes first acts as FDA Chairman was granting aspartame approval for use in dry goods. Incidentally, one of Hayes’ last acts in office as FDA Chairman was to approve aspartame for use in beverages.

So was aspartame approved because studies ever showed it was safe for human consumption? Or was it approved thanks to the political influence of Donald Rumsfeld?

According to former Sentator Howard Metzenbaum, who reviewed the FDA’s approval process of aspartame in the Senate in 1987, “I think there were a lot of politics involved in its being approved.” Research scientist Dr. Olney is even more blunt, “the issue (aspartame) is really not an issue of science, it’s an issue of politics.”

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

So much has been written and said about the FDA approval process in the case of aspartame, as well as subsequent widespread reports of adverse reactions, related degenerative diseases and neurological afflictions associated with aspartame, it’s a wonder anyone still uses ANY product containing this potent neurological poison.

But guess what?

Aspartame is the most utilized artificial sweetener in the United States, with aspartame controlling over 50 percent of the market and sales of alternative sweeteners at $1.1 billion in 2010, according to a May report from market research firm Freedonia Group. And, shockingly, demand for artificial sweeteners is projected to grow 3.4 percent annually through 2013, according to the report.

Americans consume close to 50 billion liters of soda per year, which equates to roughly 216 liters, or about 57 gallons per person, much of this in the form of diet soda loaded with aspartame. People are no doubt still opting for this toxic synthetic chemical because of the mistaken belief that drinking diet soda will help fight weight gain.

The truth is that it doesn’t.

It never has and never will, despite the billions of dollars spent annually by the soda industry on public relations and advertising.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why Coca-Cola has to spend $3 billion a year on marketing? Could it be because they want you “feel good” about their products and not think about the actual ingredients?

I’ve gone on record saying that aspartame is a bigger public health threat than high fructose corn syrup and can lead to birth defects, cancer and weight gain.

Now let’s take a closer look at the politics behind the FDA’s approval of aspartame, and the reason the FDA and politicians have a very real financial incentive to keep aspartame available for human consumption. Along with what the scientific studies not funded by the aspartame or the diet soda industry actually reveal about this toxic neurological poison.

Since its Discovery, Aspartame has Been Linked to Brain Tumors

Dr. Adrian Gross, the FDA’s toxicologist who examined the aspartame research initially presented to the FDA by G.D. Searle, was “absolutely shocked” at the evidence according to Dr. Russell Blaylock, a retired neurosurgeon, showing “an enormous increase in tumors, particularly brain tumors.”

“And of course that’s exactly what we’re seeing now is this tremendous increase in brain tumors in this country. Which is completely unexplained by the neurological profession,” continues Dr. Blaylock.

Dr. Blaylock has written three books about the health dangers of excitotoxins (aspartame and MSG are excitotoxins), but has never been sued by the artificial sweetener industry over the facts he’s brought to light about the dangers of using these synthetic man-made toxic chemical sweeteners. Why hasn’t the aspartame industry gone after him legally? Or after me for that matter, for my expose on artificial sweeteners called “Sweet Deception”?

According to Dr. Blaylock:

“They all realized that they couldn’t answer my arguments. So they left me alone. They’re afraid that if it comes to a big standoff between me and them, they’re going to lose. What they’re doing is the old ploy of just ignoring and hoping it will go away. Of course, they put pressure on magazines, journals and newspapers not to interview me. They are trying to keep me in the shadows where they hope most people don’t hear anything I have to say. It only works for so long.”

If the FDA Approved Aspartame, it Must be Safe, Right?

The truth of the matter is the FDA rejected aspartame not once but multiple times. The scientific data just did not support it as a safe product. But the FDA is a federal agency subject to the political winds, and the people in charge of the agency have repeatedly and notoriously been accused of many conflicts of interest, both economically and ethically.

In 1975 the FDA came to the conclusion that aspartame should not be allowed on the market. They requested that further studies be conducted. The FDA’s next move was to set up a public board of inquiry composed of outside experts to investigate the safety of aspartame, and in 1980 that board unanimously rejected aspartame’s request for approval. According to a 60-Minutes story on aspartame, another internal FDA panel convened in 1980 also rejected aspartame for approval.

The Dangers of Aspartame

So it was three strikes against aspartame at this point, four strikes if you count the Bressler Report. This report was compiled in 1977 after FDA scientists looked into the field studies conducted on aspartame. The Bressler Report uncovered fraud and manipulation of data so serious that the FDA forwarded their files to the Chicago US Attorney’s office for prosecution.

How bad were the alleged crimes committed by G. D. Searle in an attempt to manipulate the safety studies on aspartame? Here is just one example contained in the Bressler Report:

“6) Observation records indicated that animal A23LM was alive at week 88, dead from week 92 through week 104, alive at week 108, and dead at week 112.”

In the 1996 60-Minutes story on aspartame, former Senator Howard Metzenbaum states:

“According to the FDA themselves, Searle, when making their presentation to the FDA, had willfully misrepresented the facts, and withheld some of the facts that they knew would possibly jeopardize the approval.”

Metzenbaum’s staff investigated the aspartame approval process in 1987. He goes on to explain that:

“FDA officials were so upset they sent the file to the US Attorney’s office in Chicago for the purposes of presenting it to the grand jury as to whether or not there should be indictments. But it wasn’t presented. It was delayed.”

Samuel Skinner, the U.S. attorney who led the grand jury probe ended up withdrawing from the case when he entered into job discussions with Searle’s Chicago law firm, Sidley & Austin – a job he later accepted. Subsequently, the investigation stalled until the statute of limitation ran out, at which point the investigation against Searle was dropped.

For more details on the story of how aspartame made it through the FDA approval process despite warning signs of potential health hazards and alleged scientific fraud, please watch the 60-Minutes report, as Wallace does a nice job of summarizing an otherwise long story.

So the results of the scientific data were fairly clear up until 1980: Aspartame was a dangerous, brain tumor causing man-made poison and the company trying to get it into the food supply was recommended for prosecution by the FDA. You would think that would be the end of aspartame, right?

Not by a long shot.

Aspartame Finally Receives FDA Approval

So it was four strikes against aspartame, but Searle had a blockbuster product on its hands that was sure to lead to millions of dollars in profits. So what did the CEO of the company do?

Perhaps he called in some political favors.

It is no coincidence that the FDA Chairman who stood in the way of aspartame’s approval was removed from office the day Ronald Reagan took office. His replacement was in part orchestrated by Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of G.D. Searle, in order to allegedly get a friendly rubber stamp on the approval of what some doctors have called “an addictive excitoneurotoxic carcinogenic drug that interacts with drugs and vaccines.”

But even with a friendly new FDA Chairman in place, the agency still rejected aspartame for approval by a 3-2 margin.  What reprehensible, bordering on criminal action did Chairman Hayes do next?  He added a sixth member to the approval board, who voted in favor of aspartame. Then, with a 3-3 tie on the issue, Chairman Hayes himself broke the deadlock with his own vote of approval for aspartame.

So he packed the board and then used his own vote as a tie-breaker. All apparently perfectly legal… And one of Hayes’ last acts in office before he left the FDA in1983 amid accusations that he was accepting corporate gifts for political favors, was to approve aspartame for use in beverages. Does this sound to you like a man-made synthetic chemical that should have ever been allowed into the world’s food supply?

If the FDA Keeps Aspartame on the Market, it Must be Safe, Right?

Once allowed on the market, the aspartame industry quickly became very profitable, creating a new multi-million dollar source of funds to influence the politicians in charge of overseeing and regulating food safety.

According to the video above, Searle and later Monsanto (who purchased the rights to aspartame), have spent thousands of dollars influencing the politicians who have been influential to keeping aspartame on the market, despite this toxic chemical being the number one source of side-effect complaints to the FDA, with over 10,000 complaints filed and over 91 symptoms documented that are related to its consumption.

This video will familiarize you with some of the terrifying side-effects and health problems you could encounter if you consume products containing this chemical. Unfortunately, aspartame toxicity is not well-known by doctors, despite its frequency. Diagnosis is also hampered by the fact that it mimics several other common health conditions, such as:

Multiple sclerosis	Parkinson’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease	Fibromyalgia
Arthritis	Multiple chemical sensitivity
Chronic fatigue syndrome	Attention deficit disorder
Panic disorder	Depression and other psychological disorders
Lupus	Diabetes and diabetic complications
Birth defects	Lymphoma
Lyme disease	Hypothyroidism

So why is aspartame still on the market? In all likelihood, it was allowed on the market and remains on the market for political and economic reasons. According to Former Senator Metzembaum,

“I think the Chairman of the FDA (Hayes) wound up having some sort of economic relationship, beneficial to himself, with Searle Manufacturing, who at that time owned the rights to aspartame.”

And what about Donald Rumsfeld? Did he benefit financially from the approval of aspartame? He reportedly received a $12 million bonus when he left G.D. Searle, no doubt related to his ability to gain regulatory approval for what until 1981 had been a toxic poison that caused brain tumors in laboratory rats.

Are You Now the Lab Rat?

The answer unfortunately is yes, if you consume any of the more than 6,000 products that contain aspartame. And aspartame is not just in the food supply, it’s also added to pharmaceutical drugs to sweeten them. We are now beginning to see an explosion of unexplained brain tumors worldwide. Is it related to aspartame? This is certainly a possibility, as according to Dr. John Olney, “aspartame hasn’t been demonstrated to be safe.”

The “Real-World” Case of Edith Johnson

This issue isn’t a merely a theoretical debate about food safety versus politics, or about an industry poisoning the world for the sake of profits. This issue is about real people in the real world ingesting a potent neurotoxin on a daily basis, and the damage aspartame is causing to real people.

“I was horrified, I was panic stricken, I was scared to death,” says Edith Johnson in the video above. “Within a matter of moments I went completely blind.”

Edith is talking about the experience she had while drinking a cup of low-calorie hot chocolate. “All of a sudden I couldn’t see. My eyes went out of focus. I think it’s very deliberately because of aspartame.” Continues Edith, “they had no right to market it (aspartame). My message to people is to drink water. You don’t need aspartame in your life.”

The “Real-World” Case of Kate Randall

Kate Randall, also featured in the video above, drank nine Diet Cokes a day for five years and developed a twitch in her eye that several doctors could not explain, although the doctors did apparently rule aspartame out as a cause of the afflictions.

“I started popping in my hands and twitching in my feet. My legs, my knees, my upper legs and shoulders and arms and everywhere. My chin, neck and temples started to twitch.”

All of the tests the doctors ran came back negative, so she decided to do her own research into her strange symptoms.Continues Kate, “I absolutely believe that it (aspartame) was (responsible for) the breakdown of my health for two years.”

What would Kate like to tell people about aspartame?

“Avoid it.”

The Trouble with the Phenylalanine and Aspartic Acid in Aspartame

Aspartame is a synthetic chemical composed of three ingredients – two amino acids and a methyl ester bond. The amino acids are phenylalanine and aspartic acid, two common components of many foods that are usually completely safe for consumption. But not in the case of aspartame.

Why?

Forgetting for a moment that aspartame is metabolized inside your body into both wood alcohol (a poison) and formaldehyde (which embalms tissue and is not eliminated from your body through the normal waste filtering done by your liver and kidneys), the trouble with the component parts of aspartame is one of volume.

In a normal protein like meat, fish or eggs, phenylalanine and aspartic acid comprise 4-5 percent each of the total amino acid profile. This is how nature intends the human body to encounter these two amino acids and there is nothing wrong with these substances if they occur naturally in a proper balance with other amino acids.

But in aspartame the ratio of these two amino acids is 50 percent phenylalanine and 40 percent aspartic acid (with 10 percent methyl ester bond, aka wood alcohol, a known poison). In other words, on a percentage basis this is a massive quantity of two unnaturally isolated amino acids that are simply not found in this ratio in nature, bonded together by a known poison.

The result of this chemical cocktail is a sweet tasting neurotoxin. As a result of its unnatural structure, your body processes the amino acids found in aspartame very differently from a steak or a piece of fish. The amino acids in aspartame literally attack your cells, even crossing the blood-brain barrier to attack your brain cells, creating a toxic cellular overstimulation, called excitotoxicity. MSG is also an excitotoxin, and works synergistically with aspartame to create even more damage to your brain cells.

This is how aspartame causes brain tumors. Adding to the problem, according to Dr. Blaylock:

“Excitotoxins have been found to dramatically promote cancer growth and metastasis. In fact, one aspartame researcher noticed that, when cancer cells were exposed to aspartame, they became more mobile, and you see the same effect withMSG. It also causes a cancer cell to become more mobile, and that enhances metastasis, or spread. These MSG-exposed cancer cells developed all of these pseudopodians and started moving through tissues.“

Aspartame Included on the EPA’s Potentially Dangerous Chemicals List!

As rates of learning disabilities, autism and related neurological disorders like lupus and MS skyrocket in the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to release a roster of the pollutants likely to contribute to these or other neurological disorders. Aspartame has been included on this list.

In an ongoing, three-year effort, an EPA team has determined which developmental neurotoxicants — chemicals that damage a fetal and infant brain — may pose the biggest risk to the American public.

A partial listing of chemicals that will be included on the EPA’s dangerous chemicals list:

• Aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in sodas, and in other foods and drinks;
• Bisphenol A, a chemical widely used in consumer goods, including the resin lining of most food and beverage cans; products made from polycarbonate plastics, which include water bottles and baby bottles, and some dental sealants;
• Cadmium, a heavy metal that is used in batteries, coatings and pigments, and is plentiful in tobacco smoke.
• PBDEs a class of chemical flame retardants.
• Pesticides and insect repellents, including aldicarb, DEET, lindane, (used for lice and scabies), maneb, and paraquat.
• Trichloroethylene, formerly used in dry cleaning but still available as a cleaning and degreasing agent and a contaminant in drinking water.

Are You Ready to Ditch Artificial Sweeteners?

You may think you’re making a healthy choice by swapping out sugar for artificial sweeteners but the truth is that you’re not

Your body, when given artificial sweeteners, begins craving sweets because you are not giving it the proper fuel it needs. Finding out your nutritional type will tell you exactly which foods you need to eat to feel full and satisfied. It may sound hard to believe right now, but once you start eating right for your nutritional type, your sweet cravings will significantly lessen and may even disappear.

Meanwhile, be sure you address the emotional component to your food cravings using a tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). More than any traditional or alternative method I have used or researched, EFT works to overcome food cravings and helps you reach dietary success. And, if diet soda is the culprit for you, be sure to check out Turbo Tapping, which is an extremely effective and simple tool to get rid of your soda addiction in a short amount of time.

Healthier Alternatives

For those times when you just want a taste of something sweet, there is a healthier alternative called Stevia that you can use in moderation. Stevia is a natural plant and, unlike aspartame and other artificial sweeteners that have been cited for dangerous toxicities, it is a safe, natural alternative that’s has been around for over 1500 years and is ideal if you’re watching your weight, or if you’re maintaining your health by avoiding sugar.It is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar and truly has virtually no calories.

Stevia is my sweetener of choice. However, like most choices, especially sweeteners, I recommend using it in moderation, just like sugar. I prefer to use it in its liquid flavored form and my favorite flavors are English Toffee and French Vanilla. I want to emphasize, however, that if you have insulin issues, I suggest that you avoid sweeteners altogether, including Stevia, as they all can decrease your sensitivity to insulin.

So if you struggle with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or extra weight, then you have insulin sensitivity issues and would benefit from avoiding ALL sweeteners.

But for everyone else, if you are going to sweeten your foods and beverages anyway, I strongly encourage you to consider using regular Stevia, and toss out all artificial sweeteners and any products that contain them immediately.

Report Adverse Reactions!

For more information on the dangers of aspartame, visit http://aspartame.mercola.com.

By all means, also please forward this article to your friends and loved ones who are still drinking diet sodas and poisoning themselves. You can make a difference on this issue by helping to spread the word. You may help save the life of someone you love, if you can get them off this toxic neurological poison before they too experience strange symptoms that their doctor or doctors simply cannot explain or mistake for something else.

And if you experience an adverse reaction to any aspartame product, I urge you to call the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator in your area.

Sources:  http://www.naturalnews.com/039244_milk_aspartame_FDA_petition.html

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/03/just-how-bad-is-aspartame.aspx

Bowman v. Monsanto (and Obama): An American Betrayal

Update 02-25-2013  Why is Obama working so closely with Monsanto?  Bill Gates owns 500,000 shares of Monsanto!  Bill Gates & Melinda Gates believe and have stated so numerous times that our world is over-populated and needs a “cleansing!”  Monsanto is a rogue GMO monopoly hell bent on making money at the expense of human health, species loss & extinction including human beings, environmental ruin to kill off the remaining poor folks left.  They are fat cats with fat, phat wallets intent on making humanity a prized possession for those who can afford it the most!   What happened to your promise Obama???

Obama‘s 2007 Promise to Label GMOs:  http://youtu.be/zqaaB6NE1TI

The Supreme Court granted Obama’s Solicitor General to argue in support of Monsanto‘s patents for 10 minutes!  Obama opposed GMOs in 2007, and he even stated that Americans had the right to know what is in their food and if it had been genetically modified!  He supported GMO labeling of consumers food products of which at least 80% contained GMOs!  President Obama has broken his promise to us, and now he appears to be backing Monsanto and their deadly, genetically engineered food crops such as corn and soybeans like Bill Gates has!  By the way, supposed humanitarian Bill Gates owns 500,000 shares of Monsanto!

The Court Case & Source:  http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/bowman-v-monsanto-co/

Dark History of DuPont, Monsanto’s ‘Other’ Competition!

Tags

Bayer, chemicals, corporations, Dow Chemical, Dupont, evil, GMOs, Monopolies, Monsanto, poisonous, seeds, Syngenta

Dark History of Dupont

Have you heard the difference between rain forest and a jungle? Well rain forest has a PR while a jungle is just a jungle. That’s the difference between Monsanto and DuPont where DuPont is the rain forest. DuPont is an American chemical company and the world’s third largest producer of chemicals, agrochemicals, polymers, safety materials, electronics and genetically modified seeds. DuPont has its facilities in 70 different counties. After ExxonMobil and Dow, DuPont is the third largest producer of chemicals in the United States.

 

DuPont was established in 1802 by Eleuthere Irenee Du Pont. Eleuthere Irenee Du Pont ran away from the French revolution and few years after founded DuPont in US by the money he brought from gunpowder machinery from France. By 1811 DuPont was the largest supplier of gunpowder for US military and positioned itself as being the largest supplier of gunpowder during the U.S. Civil War. From 1902 to 1912 DuPont expanded quickly into production of smokeless powder and dynamite. During WW1 40% of explosive used by world powers was supplied by DuPont. Along the way DuPont purchased smaller chemical companies but in 1902 the government took DuPont to court and declared that it was a monopoly that DuPont was dominating the explosive business. Based on the court ruling DuPont had to create both Atlas Powder Company and Hercules Powder Company. DuPont also founded the first two industrial laboratories and improved its military Rifle. In 1914 DuPont invested and got largely involved in automobile industry. From 1920 to 1935 DuPont discovered the first synthetic rubber, nylon, Teflon and polyester.

During WW2 from 1941 to 1945 DuPont was the largest producer of war supplies. DuPont also played an important role in Manhattan Project and production of the first atomic bomb during WW2 that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During the same war DuPont produced 4.5 billion pounds of explosive for military. However the horrors of war made DuPont huge profit. From 1950s to 1970s DuPont came up with developing new raw materials like Dacron, Mylar, Lycra, Corfarm and Corian. In 1981 DuPont got into a bidding war with Seagram Company who owned some shares in Conoco to purchase Conoco Inc. Conoco was a major American oil & gas producer and acquisition of Conoco made DuPont one of the top ten US producers of oil and gas. In 1999 DuPont sold its shares to Philips Petroleum Company.

In 1999 DuPont became the largest seed company and producer of hybrid seeds that is used for production ofgenetically modified corn and soy. DuPont is among the four top biotech companies that produce 100% of genetically modified seeds and 60% of world pesticides. The other three biotech companies are Monsanto, Syngenta and Bayer. These top biotech companies are also the largest producers of pesticides in the world. The farmers get subsidy to produce soybeans and corn from the government. Most of these genetically modified cornand soy is used to feed the livestock to fatten them up. 60% of genetically modified corn and 47% of genetically modified soybeans produced in US are fed to livestock.

DuPont pays millions of dollars to food lobbyist to defend its policies; last year DuPont spent $4.8 million for lobbying. However most of these food lobbyists who aggressively peruse the policies of DuPont & Monsanto have worked or are working for the government. In 2007 presidential campaign Obama mentioned that the department of agriculture wasn’t department of agribusiness and promised to put people’s need ahead of financial interests. However some officials in charge of USDA or FDA have been defending, lobbying or working for biotech companies like Monsanto and DuPont:

– Michael Taylor: Former VP in Monsanto who is now the FDA deputy food commissioner

– Tom Vilsack: Former pro-biotechnology governor of Iowa that was assigned as USDA secretary.

– Roger Beachy: Former director of Monsanto who is now director of USDA

– Elena Kagan: Took Monsanto’s side against organic farmers in Roundup Ready Alfalfa case and is now nominated to Supreme Court

– Rajiv Shah: Former director of pro-biotech Gates Foundation who served as USDA secretary

– Linda Strachan: Monsanto’s and DuPont’s representative who is assistant secretary for Department of Agriculture and EPA

– Islam Siddiqui: Former DuPont and Monsanto VP who is now the representative of agriculture negotiator for US trade

– Ramona Romero: Corporate console to DuPont that now is nominated as General Counsel for USDA In 2002 based on the Institute of Political Economy Research DuPont was marked the number one among 100 of contributors to air pollution in the US.

Over the last decade DuPont has been involved in polluting the environment, air and water. In 2002 the residents of Wood County in West Virginia were informed by the spokesman of West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection that their air was contaminated by DuPont’s plant producing toxic chemical called C8 (PFOA). In 2011 researchers found out that there is a correlation betweenhigh blood pressure in pregnant women and C8. This high blood pressure epidemic is usually combined with protein leakage into urine that can cause pre-eclampsia that can threaten the health and life of both mother and baby.

Mid-Ohio valley residents’ water was also contaminated with C8 as a result of nearby DuPont’s plant. Medical studies show that three out of four residents’ of Mid-Ohio Valley have signs of pregnancy induced hypertension and pre-eclampsia due to high exposure to C8. Teflon cookware and other nonstick products are made from PFOA or C8. Although DuPont insist that exposures to C8 chemical known as PFOA doesn’t cause any health issues, studies show that exposure to C8 by consuming food in Teflon cookware that contain C8 over a period of time can cause immune system disorder, thyroid, liver problems and higher cholesterol rate in children.

In 2005 Glenn Evers, the former top DuPont scientist revealed that at least by 1981 DuPont was aware of the health side effects of using paper chemical coating used for food packaging. This dangerous chemical is like C8 that accumulates in people over time and has adverse side effects. In 2006 officials of the United Steelworkers revealed a report that showed DuPont’s safety program called STOP is based on the idea that all injuries are caused by workers. However Mike Wright head of Health Safety and Environmental Department reveals that the last 20 year of investigation shows the root of many catastrophic incidents in DuPont has been related to unsafe hazards, conditions, workplace and failure to file industrial accidents report to OSHA. Based on Ken Test head of USW DuPont Council many of DuPont workers and retirees suffer from being exposed to dangerous toxic substances and chemicals. DuPont and Monsanto are both doing a very good job deceiving the public opinion and covering up their lies, crimes and misdeeds and so far they have been contaminating our environment, air and water with their dangerous chemicals and substances.

Although DuPont and Monsanto agreed to work with each other on sharing their biotechnology on production of genetically modified seeds and crops, Monsanto is now suing DuPont for violation of license agreement between the two companies in 2002. At the same time DuPont is suing Monsanto for its monopoly and restricted agriculture policies that engage no competitors and illegally holding to the details of federal patent about Roundup Ready. DuPont created its own genetically modified soy bean product called Optimum GAT that was meant to compete with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready GM soy product. However the Optimum GAT failed to perform and DuPont added Monsanto’s Roundup into its own existing Optimum GAT. So Monsanto is taking DuPont to court for failing to establish license agreement between the two. However if Monsanto’s patent is enforceable and deemed void anyone could start using Roundup Ready which would be a huge victory for food freedom.

Jeffrey M. Smith:  The GMO Threat (One hour long – HD video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oPvkZv5MfRw

Source:  http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-foods/dupont-history/#Teflon

*Editing Note:  Dow Chemical is another biotech company not listed in this article!

 

Obama: Fire Taylor & Fulfill Your Promise to Label GMOs!

Updated:  02-25-2013

“ACTION ALERT!  OBAMA:  Your FDA CZAR MICHAEL ‘MONSANTO’ TAYLOR Must Go!

First:  You need to follow through on your 2007 campaign promise!

PLEASE TAKE ACTION HERE:  

http://org.credoaction.com/petitions/president-obama-follow-through-with-your-2007-campaign-promise-to-label-gmos?source=twitter-share-button

Obama: Fire Your Appointed FDA Czar, Michael ‘Monsanto‘ Taylor!

• Target: President Barack Obama
• Sponsored by: Johnnie Schmeckpeper a.k.a. John Loeffler

Michael “Monsanto” Taylor is the epitome of the toxic revolving door between industry and government! From representing Monsanto at the law firm King & Spalding, to overseeing Monsanto at theFDA, to working for the USDA & approving unlabeled GMOs, to working for King & Spalding again, to working for Monsanto as their chief lobbyist, to returning to the FDA as Obama’s “Food Czar!” For nearly two decades Michael Taylor has been called out for his close ties to Monsanto.  Now, we, the people of the United States of America, are calling him out again, but this time it must be “Out The Door!”

Michael Taylor, former Vice President of Monsanto before being appointed to head the FDA by President Obama, is not working in America’s best interests to protect our food supply from toxic and lethal GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)!  Since 2010 Michael “Monsanto” Taylor has overseen “Food Safety” at the FDA, and since that time millions of U.S. citizens have demanded, petitioned and tried to pass legislation that the FDA require simple and very cheap labeling of genetically engineered foods.  Think CA’s Proposition 37 (Monsanto alone spent $45 million to defeat) and WA’s I-522 bill, The People’s Right To Know Genetically Engineered Food Act:  http://www.labelitwa.org/read_i_522

Instead of listening to the wishes of the American people, Michael Taylor has done nothing but help Monsanto make more money at the expense of American food safety.  Genetically engineered foods, better known as GMOs, are toxic to the environment and deadly to humans and animals that consume them!  A few examples of GMO’s ‘side effects’ are severe allergies, digestive problems including damage to the stomach’s lining, unintentionally aborted pregnancies, sterilization, kidney and liver problems, and numerous forms of cancer like malignant tumors: http://www.responsibletechnology.org/gmo-dangers/health-risks/articles-about-risks-by-jeffrey-smith/Doctors-Warn-Avoid-Genetically-Modified-Food-May-2009

Americans are also paying the price with declining health, and skyrocketing food costs!  Our own farmers are being sued by Monsanto as well!  Monsanto Assault on U.S. Farmers Detailed in New Center for Food Safety Report:  http://www.nwrage.org/content/monsanto-assault-us-farmers-detailed-new-center-food-safety-report (Lawsuits have increased to at least 144 since this report to include over 700 U.S. farmers!)

Moreoever, 49 countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Russia, the European Union member states, and other key United States trading partners, have laws mandating disclosure of genetically engineered foods on food labels. Many countries have restrictions or bans against foods produced with genetic engineering:  http://www.labelitwa.org/read_i_522  That should be a huge warning sign to all Americans that GMOs are unsafe, corporate-regulated, FDA-ignored disasters!

Therefore, our FDA’s “Food Czar,” Michael Taylor, must be immediately terminated by Obama due to dereliction of duty (the shameful failure to fulfill one’s obligations) and total disregard for human safety, for starters!  Our government has been overrun by former Monsanto employees, and our president is responsible for correcting this epic mess that he created, starting at the top!  It is at least the morally right move for our president to make!  The same president who back in 2007 stated before his presidential victory that “Americans have the right to know if their food has been genetically modified!”

OBAMA’S YEAR 2007 PROMISE TO LABEL GMOs!!  See one minute long video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqaaB6NE1TI

Obama must live up to his promise, and he has to right his wrong when he hired Michael Taylor, a major conflict of interest for all Americans who eat food, regardless of party affiliation, who deserve to know what is in what they are consuming and feeding to their children and grandchildren every day!
Give Michael “Monsanto” Taylor his well-earned ‘Pink Slip’ NOW before we suffer even more than what we already have!  “What a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive!” – Walter Scott

Calling Out The Lies of a Politician!

Tags

lies, Ron Johnson

Here is a follow-up to a article I wrote titled “GMO Lies from a U.S. Senator!”  I just wrote Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) regarding his letter to me stating that GMOs are safe to eat, properly regulated by the FDA, which happens to be headed by Obama-appointed Czar Michael “Monsanto” Taylor, and “Anything that substantially changes the nutritional properties of the food must be listed on the label.”  That quote is just part of what Ron wrote to me!  Here is my reply sent directly to him:

I recently sent you a letter regarding the safety of GMOs. You sent me a letter back stating that GMOs are safe, our government tests them, so I should not worry about them.

You are WRONG, WRONG & WRONG!! GMOs are toxic and deadly, they have been banned in many countries due to their carcinogenic (cancer-causing) effects along with a plethora of other major health problems, our government does NO oversight of GMOs but instead relies on Monsanto to police itself and test its own GMOs, so I am VERY worried about the deadly side effects of non-regulated GMOs! Also, you stated in your letter that the FDA regulates our food products through biotechnology. You don’t seem to know the difference between genetic engineering and biotechnology which is VERY frightening coming from a senator that claims to know so much about how GMOs are so safe for U.S. citizens to eat! Genetic engineering is a subset of biotechnology, and the MAJOR difference between the two is that biotechnology has been going on since about the beginning of humankind whereas genetic engineering is the direct intervention on the genetic makeup of organisms by introducing foreign DNA into it’s gene pool by means that would NOT occur naturally! This very specific subset of biotechnology enables humans, in only less than three decades of humankind, to create artificial organisms, which are no longer the result of the natural means of evolutionary development. In essence, Monsanto, Bayer, Dupont, Dow Chemical, Syngenta & other companies are playing “God” with our food supply which scares the hell out of me, and it should do the same to you IF you really cared about the betterment of humans & society!

You also wrote that “The FDA already has existing standards when it comes to labeling foods that contain genetically modified organisms. Anything that substantially changes the nutritional properties of the food must be listed on the label.” GMOs completely change the nutritional properties of food by removing the “nutrition” and replacing it with poisonous insecticides and herbicides that are built right into the seeds planted to grow our food. Furthermore, because of the failures of these genetically inserted insecticides and herbicides, Monsanto & others have had to at least double the spraying of crops to get rid of pests and weeds that have become “Roundup-resistant” to their use. Widespread crop failure has already occurred due to this mass-spraying of crops on top of their genetic modification, i.e. India where an estimated 250,000 farmers went bankrupt after being forced to use Monsanto’s lethal seeds and Roundup, and their crops died off. Even worse, those one quarter of a million farmers committed suicide mainly through ingesting Monsanto’s own “safe” products!

You voted against Senator Sanders’ Amendment to the 2012 Farm Bill, because you said that states already have the ability to propose more limiting laws regarding the use of GMOs. If GMOs are supposed to be so safe as you directly stated in your letter to me then why are states like CA, WA & others trying to get all food and beverages that have been genetically modified labeled and even outright banned? Maybe because Americans are waking up to the realities of what GMOs really do which is the systemic and systematic poisoning of humans, animals and the environment causing mutations and health problems never seen before the introduction and mass use of GMOs?!

Your deception, ignorance and arrogance is appalling, degrading and deadly not only to your constituents but the entire planet! You should be banned from holding any public office for your lack of education and awareness, your inability to properly protect U.S. citizens which is a breach of your senatorial position, dereliction of duty, deception, and flat-out lies that show beyond any reasonable doubt that you are NOT working for Americans but corporate America instead! You should be ashamed of yourself!

GMO Lies from a U.S. Senator!

Tags

cancer-causing, Carcinogenic, Deadly, Digestion Problems, Gland killer, GMOs, Lethal, poisonous, sterilization, Toxic, Tumors

The FDA does NOT test GMOs!  Monsanto is left to police their own work!  In independent, scientific studies, GMOs have been proven beyond all reasonable doubt to be not only toxic, but carcinogenic (and a host of other health problems) and deadly!  Michael Taylor, former V.P. of Monsanto is the FDA’s czar appointed by Obama!  The web of deceit is mind-numbing!  My Republican senator, like the rest of our politicians in corporate-run government, and government agencies like the FDA, USDA, EPA & DNR, is full of shit!!  Please read:

Dear Johnnie,

Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns about the use of genetically engineered food for consumption in America.

For nearly two decades the FDA has been studying genetic modification techniques for drug-biologic development, as well as the development of new foods.  The extensive research from these studies show that these new products meet and sometimes exceed the same safety standards as traditional foods.

Many of the foods that are already in our diet are obtained from plant varieties that were developed using standard genetic practices of breeding and selection. For example, Hybrid corn, nectarines (which are genetically altered peaches), and tangelos (which are a genetic hybrid of a tangerine and grapefruit) are all examples of such breeding and selection.

In conducting its safety evaluations of genetically engineered foods, FDA considers not only the final product but also the techniques used to create it. Although study of the final product ultimately holds the answer to whether or not a product is safe to eat, knowing the techniques used to create the product helps in understanding what questions to ask in reviewing the product’s safety. That is the way FDA regulates both traditional food products and products derived through biotechnology.  I support these efforts and controls.

The FDA already has existing standards when it comes to labeling foods that contain genetically modified organisms. Anything that substantially changes the nutritional properties of the food must be listed on the label. States also already have the ability to propose their own more limiting laws for the labeling of genetically modified foods, which is why I voted against Senator Sanders’ Amendment to the 2012 Farm Bill.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts.  It is important for me to hear the views and concerns of the people I serve.  Please feel free to contact me in the future if I can further assist you or your family.  It is an honor representing you and the good people of Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate.

Sincerely,
Ron Johnson
United States Senator

Read: http://www.naturalnews.com/037249_GMO_study_cancer_tumors_organ_damage.html

Read: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11361.cfm

Read: http://www.saynotogmos.org/10reasons_need.pdf

Read: http://current.com/groups/news-blog/93975745_peru-bans-genetically-modified-foods-as-us-lags.htm

How The Middle and Lower Classes Will Get Screwed in 2013, Or

16 Things About 2013 That Are Really Going To Stink

 By Michael, on December 27th, 2012

Source:  http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/16-things-about-2013-that-are-really-going-to-stink

The beginning of the year has traditionally been a time of optimism when we all look forward to the exciting things that are going to happen over the next 12 months.  Unfortunately, there are a whole bunch of things about 2013 that we already know are going to stink.  Taxes are going to go up, good paying jobs will continue to leave the country, small businesses will continue to be destroyed, the number of Americans living in poverty will continue to soar, our infrastructure will continue to decay, global food supplies will likely continue to dwindle and the U.S.national debt will continue to explode.  Our politicians continue to pursue the same policies that got us into this mess, and yet they continue to expect things to magically turn around.  But that is not the way that things work in the real world.  Bad decisions lead to bad outcomes.  Instead of realizing that what we are doing is not working, our “leaders” continue to give us more of the same.  As a result, there are going to be a lot of things about 2013 that will not be great.  Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that everything will be “okay” somehow is not going to help anyone.  We’ve got to make people understand exactly what is happening and why it is happening if we ever hope to see real changes.

The following are 16 things about 2013 that are really going to stink…

#1 Taxes Are Going To Go Up

Even if a fiscal cliff deal is reached, some taxes will still go up next year.  And if no deal is reached, there will be a whole bunch of different tax increases in 2013.

According to CBS News, these tax increases would be very painful for the middle class…

If lawmakers fail to work out any sort of deal, there will be severe long-term consequences for the economy: According to the Tax Policy Center, going off the “cliff” would affect 88 percent of U.S. taxpayers, with their taxes rising by an average of $3,500 a year; taxes would jump $2,400 on average for families with incomes of $50,000 to $75,000. Because consumers would get less of their paychecks to spend, businesses and jobs would suffer.

#2 The Middle Class Is About To Be Scorched By The Alternative Minimum Tax

Of more immediate concern for the middle class is the Alternative Minimum Tax.  Many Americans have never heard of the AMT, but it is truly one of the worst things about our tax code.

If Congress does not act, and right now it does not look promising, millions of middle class households will see a massive increase in their tax bills for 2012.

According to one analysis, households that are forced to pay the AMT will end up paying an extra $3,700 in taxes…

Unless Congress acts by the end of the year, more than 26 million households will for the first time face the AMT, which threatens to tack $3,700, on average, onto taxpayers’ bills for the current tax year. Because those people have never paid the AMT, they have no idea they are in its crosshairs — put there by a broader stalemate over tax policy that has kept Congress from limiting the AMT’s reach.

Do you have an extra $3,700 sitting around to send to Uncle Sam?

If not, you had better contact your representatives in Congress and scream like crazy about passing a fix for the AMT.  They have always gotten it done before, but this year there is so much animosity between the Republicans and the Democrats that nothing may end up getting done.

#3 The Economy Will Continue To Get Worse

Despite all of the talk in the mainstream media and from our politicians that our economy is getting better, the truth is that the U.S. economy continued to decline in 2012.  If you doubt this, just read the 75 statisticsin this article.

And there are a whole host of signs that the economy is starting to slow down even more as we enter 2013.  For example, consumer confidence in the United States has experienced its largest two-month drop in over a year, and retail sales during the holiday season turned out to bequite disappointing.

#4 Good Paying Jobs Will Continue To Be Shipped Out Of The United States

Thanks to decades of “free trade agreements”, workers in the United States must directly compete for jobs with hundreds of millions of workers on the other side of the globe that live in countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.

We continue to see millions of jobs being shipped out of the country and our politicians stand by and do nothing.

Most Americans have no idea how this emerging one world economic system works.  The beautiful product that you buy at the big retail store may have been made by someone working in some of the most horrific conditions imaginable.

A 42-year-old woman named Julie Keith recently found this letterinside a box of Halloween decorations that had been made in China…

“If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.

People who work here have to work 15 hours a day without Saturday, Sunday break and any holidays. Otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark. Nearly no payment (10 yuan/1 month).

People who work here, suffer punishment 1-3 years averagely, but without Court Sentence (unlaw punishment). Many of them are Falun Gong practitioners, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe to CCPG. They often suffer more punishment than others.”

But both political parties continue to tell us how wonderful it is that we are trading with communist China.  They see no problem with the fact that good paying jobs that used to be performed in America are now being performed by slave laborers on the other side of the planet.  And most Americans continue to support this system by filling their shopping carts with lots of stuff that has “made in China” stamped on it.

#5 Small Businesses Will Continue To Be Destroyed

At the same time, small businesses all over America are being strangled to death by taxes and regulations.  Just consider the following numbers from a previous article…

We are told that the economy is supposed to be “recovering”, but the number of “startup jobs” at new businesses has fallen for five years in a row.  According to an analysis of U.S. Department of Labor data performed by economist Tim Kane, there were almost 12 startup jobs per 1000 Americans back in the year 2006.  By 2011, that figure had fallen to less than 8 startup jobs per 1000 Americans.

How is our economy ever going to thrive if we keep killing off our small businesses?

#6 Hunger And Poverty Will Continue To Explode To Unprecedented Levels

As the U.S. economy bleeds jobs and loses small businesses, the number of Americans living in poverty continues to explode.

Here are some numbers to show to people who still don’t understand how desperate the situation is…

-Families that have a head of household under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

-According to U.S. Census data, 57 percent of all American children live in a home that is either considered to be “poor” or “low income”.

-For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless.  That number has risen by 57 percentsince the 2006-2007 school year.

#7 The Number Of Americans On Food Stamps Will Continue To Increase

If the economy is recovering, then why does the number of Americans on food stamps continue to soar?

As I wrote about yesterday, about 17 million Americans were on food stamps back in the year 2000.

Today, more than 47 million Americans are on food stamps.

Does anyone want to explain to me how that is a sign that things are getting better?

Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps.  Today, about one out of every 6.5 Americans is on food stamps.

How much worse do things have to get before people realize that what we are doing is not working?

#8 Millions Of Americans Are About To Lose Their Unemployment Benefits

During this economic crisis, an unprecedented number of American families have been relying on unemployment benefits in order to stay afloat.

Well, if no agreement is reached in Washington D.C., millions of Americans will shortly lose those benefits…

Three million Americans may become unwitting casualties of the political war in Washington over the fiscal cliff.

Since 2008, the federal government has funded extensions of the unemployment insurance offered by states, more than tripling the amount of aid available to the unemployed in some areas. But the program is expensive, with the Congressional Budget Office estimating it would cost $30 billion to extend it through 2013. President Barack Obama wants to extend the benefits for another year, but Congress has already pared back the program, and Republicans insist it represents the kind of largesse Washington can no longer afford.

#9 Our Infrastructure Will Continue To Rot And Decay

The United States once had the most beautiful infrastructure in the entire world.  Our highways, bridges, airports, railroads, sewer systems and electrical grids were the envy of the entire planet.

Well, now we don’t even have enough money to repair what we already have, so our infrastructure will continue to rot and decay in 2013…

Highways and bridges will need $2.5 trillion in upgrades if they are to survive for another 50 years — a must-do to keep commerce thriving. And that figure doesn’t even take into account the airports, railroads, subways, sewage-treatment plants, waterworks, levees, electric grids, pipelines, and all of those other expensive systems that people ignore until they break down.

#10 Many Of Our Major Cities Will Continue To Be Transformed Into Festering Hellholes

A lot of our major cities are also rapidly degenerating.  Detroit is one of my favorite examples, but the same kinds of things could be said about dozens of other major cities all over the country.  The following is a brief excerpt from one of my recent articles…

If you can believe it, more than 50 percent of all children in Detroit are living in poverty, and close to 50 percent of all adults living in the city are functionally illiterate.  The high school graduation rate in Detroit is down to about 25 percent, and the city has become a breeding ground for gangs and violence.  The number of murders in Detroit is already higher than last year, and recently groups of young men toting AK-47s have been running around robbing gas stations.  How much worse can things possibly get for Detroit?

#11 State And Local Governments Will Find Ways To Squeeze Even More Money Out Of Us

In case you haven’t noticed, state and local governments all over the country are bleeding cash and are desperate for money.  In 2013 you can expect them to continue to find more ways to squeeze even more money out of all of us.  Here is one example…

Over the course of 2013, the District government will add 134 traffic cameras to its network, more than doubling the size of a system that generated $85 million in revenues for the city in its last fiscal year.

Police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump told The Washington Examiner that the city will intensify its camera-based efforts to cite motorists for speeding and stoplight violations while also adding cameras to detect other moving violations.

#12 Drug Cartels Will Continue To Easily Cross Our Borders And Terrorize Our Citizens

The federal government continues to refuse to protect our borders, and that means that drug runners and gang members will continue to pour into the United States.

Down in the Southwest, many ranchers are being absolutely terrorized by these criminals.  The following is from a recent NBC News article…

Just before nightfall, 73-year-old rancher Jim Chilton hikes quickly up and down the hills on his rugged cattle-grazing land south of Tucson, escorting two U.S. Border Patrol agents.

He wants to show them the disturbing discovery he made earlier in the day: a drug-smugglers’ camp on his private property.  Stacked together under a stand of trees are blankets, jackets, food, water, binoculars and bales of marijuana from Mexico wrapped in burlap. The smugglers, themselves, are nowhere in sight and are believed to have fled the area, which is about 10 miles north of the Mexican border.

Chilton has had his house burglarized a couple of times and his family regularly encounters groups of armed drug smugglers coming across from Mexico…

Their cattle fences are frequently cut and paths heading north from Mexico cross their property.  Beckham says a smuggler even fired shots at him while he walked his land with a U.S. Border Patrol agent.  Several illegal border crossers have also approached his house at night–one even reaching his hand into their bathroom window.

“Several years ago, one of my children was taking a shower and had a gentleman reach into the shower while he was in there, and he came out screaming, absolutely refusing to take a shower for the next couple months.”

But even if you don’t live along the border, all of this still affects you.  According to government figures, Mexican drug cartels are actively operating in more than 1,200 U.S. cities right now.  They are probably hard at work in the community where you live.

So what is the Obama administration doing to fix the problem?

Not much.

In fact, the Obama administration is actually encouraging people to come to the U.S. and become dependent on the system.  If you can believe it, there is actually a website run by the Department of Homeland Security that teaches immigrants how to apply for welfare benefits once they get into the United States.

#13 Social Decay Will Continue To Accelerate

All over America we are seeing signs of social breakdown.  Here is yetanother example…

A woman sleeping on a street bench outside a drug store was doused with an accelerant and set on fire early Thursday morning in Van Nuys.

Witnesses told police that a man poured liquid — possibly a beverage containing alcohol — on the sleeping woman at about 1 a.m. outside a Walgreens store near Van Nuys Boulevard and Sherman Way. He lit a match and ran from the location, witnesses told police.

Who would just run up and set a woman on fire?

Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.  For many more examples like this, please see this article: “20 Shocking Examples Of How Sadistic And Cruel People Have Become“.

We need to admit that we have a major problem on our hands.  Violent crime in the United States increased by 18 percent in 2011, and another huge increase is expected when the numbers for 2012 come out.

America is changing, and not for the better.

#14 Global Food Supplies Will Continue To Dwindle

Did you know that for six of the last eleven years the world has consumed more food than it has produced?

As a result, global food reserves have reached their lowest level in almost 40 years.

So what is going to happen if the world continues to eat more food than it makes?

Let us hope that there is not another major drought in 2013.  If there is, we could be looking at a very serious food crunch.

#15 Wall Street Will Continue To Resemble A Giant Casino

Our financial system seems to have not learned any lessons from the financial crash of 2008.

Instead of admitting their mistakes, they just continue to engage in even more reckless behavior.

Today, there are four major U.S. banks that each have more than 40 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives.

At some point that house of cards is going to collapse and we will be facing a derivatives crisis of unprecedented magnitude.

Will it be in 2013?

#16 The U.S. National Debt Will Cross The 17 Trillion Dollar Mark

In 2013, our national debt will blow past the 17 trillion dollar mark and start heading toward 18 trillion dollars.

How stupid can we possibly be?

During the first four years of the Obama administration, the U.S. national debt has grown by about as much as it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that George W. Bush took office.

It really takes something to match more than 200 years of debt accumulation in less than four years.

But our politicians don’t seem to care about all of this debt.  They will continue to steal more than 100 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every single hour of every single day.  That is beyond criminal, and yet the American people don’t seem to care.

What in the world has happened to this country?

Of course not everything about 2013 will be bad.  Personally, I am looking forward to an exciting year.  I have a new book that will be coming out, and my family is blessed and healthy.  I would like to wish all of you a very blessed 2013.  Things may be falling apart all around us, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a great year even in the midst of all the chaos.

The Crumbling of America!

34 Signs That America Is In Decline

 By Michael, on November 29th, 2012

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/34-signs-that-america-is-in-decline

The United States is clearly in an advanced state of decline.  Many people around the world (and even inside America) rejoice at this, but not me.  I mourn for the country that I was born in and that I still love.  Yes, the United States has never been perfect, but the Republic that our Founding Fathers started truly has been a light to the rest of the world in a lot of ways over the centuries.  Unfortunately, our foundations are badly rotting and our nation is collapsing all around us.  Many Americans like to think that the United States is greater today than it has ever been before, but the truth is that America is like a patient that has stage 4 cancer that has spread to almost every area of the body.  Our nation is being destroyed in thousands of different ways, and more distressing news emerges with each passing day.  This article will mainly focus on the economic decline of America, but much could also be said about our social, political, moral and spiritual decline as well.  We are simply not the same country that we used to be.  Americans are proud, selfish, greedy, arrogant, ungrateful, treacherous and completely addicted to entertainment and pleasure.  Our country is literally falling apart all around us, but most Americans are so plugged into entertainment that they can’t even be bothered to notice what is happening.  Most Americans seem to assume that we will always have endless prosperity just because of who we are, but unfortunately that simply is not true.  We inherited the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen and we have wrecked it, and now a very painful day of reckoning is approaching.  But most people will not understand until it is too late.

The following are 34 signs that America is in decline…

#1 According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001.  That number dropped to 21.6 percent in 2011.  That is not just a decline – that is a freefall.  Just check out the chart in this article.

#2 According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born into back in 1988.  Today, the United States is only tied for 16th place.

#3 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.

#4 According to the Wall Street Journal, of the 40 biggest publicly traded corporate spenders, half of them plan to reduce capital expenditures in coming months.

#5 More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States in 2005 as will be sold in 2012.

#6 America once had the greatest manufacturing cities on the face of the earth.  Now many of our formerly great manufacturing cities have degenerated into festering hellholes.  For example, the city of Detroit is on the verge of financial collapse, and one state lawmaker is now saying that “dissolving Detroit” should be looked at as an option.

#7 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 age bracket was about 6.5 percent.  Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.

#8 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs.  Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

#9 If you can believe it, approximately one out of every four American workers makes 10 dollars an hour or less.

#10 Sadly, 60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.

#11 Median household income in America has fallen for four consecutive years.  Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.

#12 The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was 28 times larger than it was back in 1990.

#13 Incredibly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been shut down since 2001.  During 2010, manufacturing facilities were shutting down at the rate of23 per day.  How can anyone say that “things are getting better” when our economic infrastructure is being absolutely gutted?

#14 Back in early 2005, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was less than 2 dollars a gallon.  During 2012, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has been $3.63.

#15 In 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance.  Today, only 55.1 percent are covered by employment-based health insurance.

#16 As I have written about previously, 61 percent of all Americans were “middle income” back in 1971 according to the Pew Research Center.  Today, only 51 percent of all Americans are “middle income”.

#17 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing.  That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.

#18 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children living in the United States is about 22 percent.

#19 Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned.  By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.

#20 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.

#21 Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.

#22 The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by more than 96 percent since the Federal Reserve was first created.

#23 According to one survey, 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.

#24 Back in 1950, 78 percent of all households in the United States contained a married couple.  Today, that number has declined to 48 percent.

#25 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government.  Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.

#26 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income.  Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.

#27 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps.  Today, 47.1 million Americans are on food stamps.

#28 Right now, one out of every four American children is on food stamps.

#29 As I wrote about the other day, according to one calculation the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”

#30 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid.  Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse.  It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

#31 In 2001, the U.S. national debt was less than 6 trillion dollars.  Today, it is over 16 trillion dollars and it is increasing by more than 100 million dollars every single hour.

#32 The U.S. national debt is now more than 23 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.

#33 According to a PBS report from earlier this year, U.S. households that make $13,000 or less per year spend 9 percent of their incomes on lottery tickets.  Could that possibly be accurate?  Are people really that foolish?

#34 As the U.S. economy has declined, the American people have been downing more antidepressants and other prescription drugs than ever before.  In fact, the American people spent60 billion dollars more on prescription drugs in 2010 than they did in 2005.

So what are our “leaders” doing about all of this?

Not much.

They just continue to insist that everything is “just fine”.

Sadly, the truth is that they live in a world that is very different from most of the rest of us.

Barack Obama is getting ready to take a 20 day vacation to Hawaii.

When was the last time you got to take a 20 day vacation?

And most of our “leaders” have no idea what it is like to struggle from month to month on a paycheck.

Overall, more than half of the members of Congress are millionaires.  We are led by wealthy men who are serving the interests of other wealthy men.

But the problem with our system is not limited to the president and the members of Congress.  The truth is that the political system in America has become a colossal beast that just continues to grow no matter who is in power.  The political establishment of both parties is totally dependent on this beast, and they will continue to feed it and serve it because it has been very good to them.  The following is from an outstanding article by Steve McCann…

The Republican and Democratic political establishments are made up of the following: 

1) many current and nearly all retired national office holders whose livelihood and narcissistic demands depends upon fealty to Party and access to government largesse;

2) the majority of the media elite, including pundits, editors, writers and television news personalities based in Washington and New York whose proximity to power and access is vital to their continued standard of living;  

3) academia, numerous think-tanks, so-called non-government organizations, and lobbyists who fasten onto those in the administration and Congress for employment, grants, favorable legislation and ego-gratification;  

4) the reliable deep pocket political contributors and political consultants whose future is irrevocably tied to the political machinery of the Party; and

5) the crony capitalists, i.e. leaders of the corporate and financial community as well as unions whose entities are dependent on or subject to government oversight and/or benevolence .

Do you think that there is any chance that this insidious system will be uprooted any time soon?

Of course not.

We will continue on the same path that we are on right now and America will continue to decline.

Many will rejoice as America falls, but I will not.

I will mourn for a mighty Republic that has fallen and for a dream that has been lost.

Cause and Effect (Why Our Society Is Falling Apart)

by John Loeffler

The title says it all for the 99.999% of us who are not wealthy and run the world like the Bilderberg group does, major CEOs of major corporations like Monsanto, Bayer, BP, Shell, Wall St., Halliburton, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, GM, Ford, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Verizon, and the never-ending list of thieves goes on!  The cause and effect scenario I am laying out is simple and clearly stated.  The Bilderberg group, the elite of the elite of this world, are responsible for what’s going on in every country, especially the downfall of the United States of America.  They want to bring about a one-world government where the richest of the rich control everything you say, do, and buy.  They have their minions in some of the biggest, greediest, most corruptly run companies the history of our world has ever witnessed (see tiny list above)!  From dirty and increasingly expensive forms of fossil fuels to GMO-produced poisonous food and beverages to mortgage companies and Wall St., they are all making a figurative and literal killing off of us to further their objective of becoming so wealthy and worldly dominant that the average Joe or Jane has no say in what goes on any longer.  Free speech is quickly becoming a thing of the past due to Obama’s secretly passed Executive Orders, increased use of drone strikes, spying on our own citizens, spraying us with toxic Chemtrails to slow global warming AND use those same Chemtrails to control global weather to use against us to “control” us and also our enemies, forcing us to eat genetically modified food (GMOs restricted or outright banned in 50 countries to date) that is made with built-in insecticides, having to spray those GMO crops with twice as much herbicide to kill off herbicide-resistant strains of weeds from overuse of weed killers, and letting us mortgage our homes in a over-priced market causing a massive housing bubble burst that sent millions of U.S. citizens into bankruptcy with no home left!  And the list goes on!  My point is that our society has become so complacent, naive, ignorant, and down-right gullible that we will believe anything the government-controlled mass media feeds us causing a whole host of problems from all forms of toxic and carcinogenic Fracking or Fracturing like Hydraulic Fracturing or Sand Fracking to corruption on a massive scale that has leaked its way into the very foundation of our government that is supposed to protect and serve us!  Citizens United’s 2010 Constitutional Amendment gave corporations the right to individualism and unlimited campaign contributions which gave us the most expensive political election year (2012) ever!  CEOs and their corporations are using a massive funnel of billions of dollars to lobby our elected officials from the very top down to your most local representatives in every federal, state and local government office in the U.S.!  We allow this to happen (cause), and then we wonder why things are so bad (effect)?!!  To make matters worse, our politicians and these major corporations, in compliance with what the Bilderberg group wants to have done, have deeply divided the United States in such a partisan fashion that it will take a miracle in order to bring us all together to fight the massive fraud and corruption that has consumed our nation and most other nations in the world.  All in the name of the almighty dollar and need for power!  As long as we allow greed and power to dominate us we will be helpless and hopeless to take back anything resembling a normal society based on easily obtainable, finite sources of energy with good paying jobs, and the need to direct our own fate instead of letting the most elite do it for us.  You can see where it’s led us so far!  Don’t like the direction we are heading?  Quit complaining, rise up and create positive change by getting rid of the negative “Cause and Effect” that has stricken almost all of us like a resurgent case of Polio!

Don’t Let Prop. 37’s Vote Get You Down! CA’s Truth in Labeling!

WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT GMOs!

Our food supply is poisoned by Monsanto & other companies!

I never give up!  Don’t be discourage, depressed, disappointed, etc. that Prop. 37 failed to get a majority of votes in California.  This is a grass-roots effort that has been mobilized using the least amount of money as compared to the dirty, crooked, fraudulent, corrupted souls at Monsanto & other companies!  They outspent us, and Americans have been and are dumbed down and naive enough to believe that shit that comes out of Monsanto’s dirty, pathetic, criminal mouth!  We will win in the end!  We have momentum on our side now, and we must continue to push state by state to ban GMOs outright starting with the April 2013 elections and progressing from there.  Don’t give up!  That’s what this evil, rotten monopoly of a corporation called Monsanto wants!  We will be better human beings, save millions if not billions of lives, protect our animals and the environment even if we have to win one chunk at a time!  We will dismantle the complex puzzle of money trails, lies and deception that Monsanto and others have purposely confused voters with, and we will educate our citizens on what is good and righteously just for them!

 In solidarity,

John Loeffler

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