Shaw's Eco-Logic

The Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde is Bishop of Arlington and spiritual leader of Northern Virginia’s nearly half million Catholics.  He recently commented on the decision by the Obama Administration to mandate sterilization and contraceptive coverage, including abortifacients, in health insurance plans offered by religious institutions, such as colleges and hospitals.

If you're Catholic—and maybe even if you're not—you might be interested in my reaction to his statement.  Among other things, it was a near-perfect example of "preaching to the converted," but do read the entire critique.

In this HND piece, we skewer some of the conventional wisdom, and come out very much on the side of supplementation.

You're bound to like this little pull quote...

One wonders, as well, what constitutes a "reliable source." A substantial number of articles in so-called scientific journals represent little more than data dredging, and attempts to create correlations that are usually more sensationalistic than significant. A recent example is a study published on January 9th in Archives of Internal Medicine, entitled "Statin Use and Risk of Diabetes Mellitus in Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative."

We also spotlight an up-and-coming supplement company called InvigorateNOW™.

Read the complete article.

Today's saint was an educator, who never forgot the practical side, and encouraged vocational training along with the religion and academic subjects.  Like St. Philip Neri before him, he would take to the streets, and reach out to unfortunate youth. 

Indeed, he built up a following before formal schools were constructed.  He achieved extraordinary success...

At the time of Don Bosco's death there were 250 houses of his Salesian Society in all parts of the world, containing 130,000 children, and from which there annually went out 18,000 finished apprentices.  (New Advent)

He was also the first saint who submitted to a press interview.  Canonized in 1934, Bosco remains a model of the ideal teacher.

This is not exactly a new finding, but several studies keep confirming it.  I take a look at this phenomenon in a recent HND piece.

Here's a pull quote from a  September, 2009 study:

People with more education are likely to live longer, to experience better health outcomes, and to practice health-promoting behaviors such as exercising regularly, refraining from smoking, and obtaining timely health care check-ups and screenings.

We also put the spotlight on the notion of private supplemental academies, and talk to Shakir McDonald, Founder/Director of the B.E.E. Academy, based in Landover, MD.  These academies, patterned after the Japanese Juku, do a great job fostering learning skills, thus keeping their students in school—with higher grades.

Read the complete article.

This HND piece examines the not surprisingly poorly covered matter of medical-related bankruptcies.  Health insurance makes sure that the doctors and hospitals get paid, but many other expenses are still there, of course, and if you're sick long enough to lose your job, the fun is just beginning.

The statistics on this are likely worse than you might think, and you'll see how they have been attacked—since after all, having great health insurance is the answer, right?

Read the complete article.

It's amazing what a couple of unscheduled trips, migrating to a new web server, and updating all of our sites will do with one's time.

I hope to get out from under this within a couple of days. The next few posts will include links to some of my recent HND articles.

Lots of things happening...

Football is fun again, and Tim Tebow is the real deal.  Read my thoughts on this, the fastest overtime victory in the history of the NFL.

No, I'm not talking about the Motown act. I'm talking about our supercilious and vastly overrated Supreme Court. Klayman nails it in this recent piece.

I would argue, however, that the Founders did not really intend for this body to have so much power. Here is the real history of Marbury v. Madison. By the way, even though that decision went in President Jefferson's favor, he was later to remark "The constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please."

As to the so-called "Landmark cases," check this out.

My latest HND piece reminds readers that we are one year closer to the 2014 deadline for "meaningful use" of electronic health records. The Feds have been hyping this for years, and companies such as Lexmark have come up with some excellent products.

The problem is that the billions in incentives put forth to achieve this deadline represents a skewing of priorities that should evoke outrage, but—strangely—does not. After all, there are serious issues with medical outcomes, reimbursements to providers, and the simple fact that the system is rapidly going broke.

But then, what more can you expect when health care is run by legions of feckless bureaucrats, rather than medical professionals? Sadly, the die was cast in 1965 with Medicare, and we have been paying the price ever since. Even now, few people appreciate that Medicare—since its inception—has influenced how all health care is practiced in this country, whether actually reimbursed by that program or not.

Read the complete article.