Tuesday, December 29, 2015

How the Left Deceives About Climate Change (Part I)

A few weeks back there was a climate change show on in Colorado. Here are some of deceptions used by the show: The show claims that if your weather is not within the norm for the day, season, or year, it is due to climate change. Here is what we know: Climate change is constantly occurring on Earth. There have been 5 Ice ages and subsequent warmings over the past nearly 1 million years. Each Ice Age and subsequent warming trend lasts tens of thousands of years. Prior to the first ice age, the earth had no glaciers, even at the poles, in its history. My point is that the Earth has gone through cycles of cold followed by a warm up long before there was an industrial revolution and man. To suggest the current warming is due to manmade carbons is just wrong. And to suggest that a season of cold, hot, windy, drought, or snowy weather is due to climate change is also wrong. We cannot see climate change, it happens slowly over thousands of years. And to suggest global warming also explains cold and snowy weather just makes little sense.

Viewing the cores of glacier ice in the Antarctica (800,000 years of data) you can find that temperature and CO2 are “relatively” related or partially correlated (but the correlation is weak at best). For instance, temperatures do not rise or lower proportionally to CO2. But let’s be clear about one point: it is CO2 that “relatively” tracks temperature by 200 to 1400 years and not vice versa. In other words CO2 lags temperature changes! Hence, to assume that temperature is tracking CO2 is grossly wrong. Currently, atmospheric CO2 is about 100 PPM higher than the highest level found in Artic ice and increasing about 2 PPM per year. Yet, temperatures were much warmer during many periods over those 800,000 years of data. The swing in temperature over an ice age is about 5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit. The Left talks about swings in temperature of several degrees over a few decades in parts of the world. This is wrong.

One scientist on the show explained that CO2 molecules can remain in the atmosphere for up to 100 years. He also explained from 2014 to 2015, it is the first time in a healthy economy that CO2 in the atmosphere did not go up. And he said the obvious reason is due to renewable energy sources. So let’s put together an example with approximate numbers. Let’s say in 1915 (before the industrial revolution) that the amount of CO2 emitted in the atmosphere increased by 1 PPM (Part per million). In 2014 that number increased to 10 PPM (per the Al Gore charts showing CO2 going up about 100 PPM over 10 years). About 13% of the energy used for electricity came from renewables in 2014, but 70% of new energy sources in 2015 came from renewables. So let’s assume for 2015, the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere accounts for only 8 PPM (down 20% - a very rosy prediction considering Asia is far behind in renewable use). So the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere is not flat but 8 PPM minus 1 PPM (1915) is 7 PPM. So there is something these scientist are not explaining to us (they have contradicting stories).

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Do Peripheral Nerve Disorders have any Benefits?

Do peripheral nerve disorders have any benefits? Maybe but probably not, and if yes, the negatives surely outweigh the positives. But a person actually asked me this question, a question I never thought about in the past, and it got me thinking. For most people I think the answer to this question unequivocally no. For me, I do think there are some benefits.

Paresthesia, muscle stiffness, muscle cramps, and muscle fatigue and pain are all bad. These symptoms hamper everything I do in life. However, I started to wonder if fasciculations are all bad. It is true, my symptoms bother me too much to jog and do many sports. But for some reason I can cycle and I can do this at a fairly high level. So why is it I can do this (which is probably temporary as my symptoms progress)? Why is the symptom of exercise intolerance avoided for this activity? When I was competing at the Master Nationals time trial championships I met a fellow rider who had the same experience I had with BFS / CFS. He could no longer run, but he could compete at cycling at a high level (much higher than myself I might add). How is this possible?

First, I believe fasciculations are constantly exercising the leg muscles and making them somewhat stronger. 24/7/365 fasciculations can wreak havoc our lives and led to many detrimental symptoms, but they can also keep legs strong and lean.

Second, all this activity helps maintain my weight and keep me light (I am by no means a small cyclist, but I am not large either). Small is good in cycling – you need to produce less power to maintain higher speeds. I suspect we may lose a couple hundred calories per day because of this constant muscle activity.

Third, the pain from BFS/CFS seems to mask a lot of the pain I would feel from cycling workouts. In order to be good at any athletic sport (especially individual ones that are races against time), you need to tolerate huge amounts of pain. In fact, I broke my leg in a fall (a chipped bone in my shin) and sure it hurt, but not enough to stop cycling or competing. The doctor said the pain and or discomfort from such an injury would have forced many to stop most activities and it would certainly affect performance – Not me. Granted, it was not a bad break, but it was a break nonetheless.

To conclude, and this may sound weird, but if people with peripheral nerve disorders are able to overcome their symptoms and force themselves to become active and exercise, they may be able to benefit from their symptoms. Well, at least to a very small degree. So much of what gets printed about peripheral nerve disorders is negative, I am merely trying to find some positives that some people may be able to build upon.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

The Mysteries of Cramping

Today, people still do not understand the true reason behind why cramping happens – unless you have some sort of neuromuscular disorder or disease where cramping is a symptom. The misconception is that cramping occurs because muscles are depleted of water, minerals and electrolytes through sweating. This is false, in fact, cramping has nothing do with the muscles and everything to do with the nerves. This was theorized back in the 1990s by Martin Schwellnus. Schwellnus hypothesized that neural signals between the muscle and spine are distorted do to muscle fatigue. A distorted signal could cause the muscle contraction signal to keep firing, hence causing a cramp. Schwellnus came up with this hypothesis after it had been proven (2 decades ago) that there is no correlation between electrolyte levels and cramps. So why do we still think electrolytes are the answer to prevent cramping?

I believe the answer is simple – the 10 billion dollar sport drink industry. Gatorade, founded in the 1960s, still to this day has commercials about how their product stops cramps. Others are doing the same thing and this is false advertising. I would say hydrated muscles complete with electrolytes would perform better than the converse, but it does not stop the process of muscle fatigue.

Scientists are finally starting to catch on to Schwellnus’s theory. Two neuro scientists – Bean and MacKinnon, have created a supplement that has ion-channel activators that controls the nerves within the digestive track which simultaneously calms nerves throughout the body making it much harder for fatigued muscles to disrupt the nervous activity between muscles and the spine. This supplement should be available on the market soon.

Of course, I have been preaching something similar for years. I have Cramp Fasiculation Syndrome (CFS). I am an avid fitness enthusiast, but with CFS exercise is increasingly more difficult due to muscle pain and cramps. People would tell me to hydrate more and drink Gatorade, but I would explain that I am fully hydrated. They would argue and say “you can’t be hydrated if you are cramping”. I would say “Oh, yes, you can!”. I am living proof of this.

With CFS, my muscles are constantly in pain and are fatigued. Why? That is the 6 million dollar question, but I contribute this to two factors. First, people with CFS have a tough time resting and sleeping properly due to all the fasciculations occurring in their bodies. It feel like bugs are crawling under my skin. Secondly, I have constant small muscle fiber fasiculations (twitching), 24/7/365. Hence, my muscles never rest and this is a good reason why they are fatigued, even before I start to exercise. And this explains why they are more apt to cramp than a person without this type of peripheral nerve disorder.

Bean and MacKinnon are working on a drug that would help people with MS and ALS who have cramping symptoms. CFS has some of the same onset symptoms of MS and ALS, but with one major difference. CFS symptoms are due to an imbalance at the nerve endings, MS and ALS symptoms are triggered from the brain. MS and ALS causes muscle atrophy in most patients. Smaller and weaker muscles fatigue much easier than normal ones. Hence, it is easy for someone to conclude muscles for MS and ALS patients can cramp easy.

People with restless leg syndrome get cramps because their leg muscles are fatigued, not because they need Gatorade. This is so intuitive to people with muscular disorders that cause cramping. Obviously, the first thing I did was drink all the time to eliminate cramping and it did not work. It did absolutely nothing to help me. I even experimented further: I found that I could ride 30-40 hard miles on my bike and the chances of my cramping was about the same whether I started on an empty stomach and 16 ounces of water, or if I ate a full meal and had 32 ounces of Gatorade. I ate and drank nothing during the ride to control the experiment. In fact, my performance was not much different in either case. With my legs, cramping is likely to kick in after 3 hours of constant exercise and that threshold could go down depending on the intensity of the workout. It could happen within 30 minutes if I am really pushing myself to the limit in say a time trial activity.

Bean and MacKinnon’s company is Flex-Pharma: http://www.flex-pharma.com/. I have written them and will see what they say about their supplements and drugs for treating CFS.

Friday, December 18, 2015

ISIS Recruiting Falacies

The Left claims that Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslim immigration into the United States has and will be a great recruiting tool for ISIS and other Islamic extremist terrorist groups. I find this very hard to believe that this “one action” will radicalize Muslims to fight Americans more so than any other actions taken by Americans or our government. Besides, if Muslims are radicalized by Trumps proposed plan it means they were on the fence. If this is the tipping point, then it is good they expose now because it is just a matter of time before it happens. Keep in mind, Trump’s plan is merely a proposal and it would be temporary.

How are Trump’s words going to radicalize Muslims more so then American bombs? How are Trumps words going to radicalize Muslims more so then online recruitment propaganda? This is fearmongering at its best. Remember, radical Muslims do not need much to be radicalized - such as a cartoon depicting Allah in a bad light. If that is all it takes, then I highly doubt Trump’s words will have much of an impact. It will not take much to radicalize these folks, they are overly sensitive and it would be just a matter of time before they are radicalized anyway.

Caving to political correctness is not the solution. Terrorists are offensive people and catering to them through political correctness will cost lives. For instance, the Obama administration’s unwillingness to allow immigration officials search social media sites of Muslim immigrants is a good example. Why is Obama willing to search the social media sites of Americans for election purposes, but not profile Muslim immigrants? He does not want to be politically incorrect. The results – San Bernardino! In fact, Obama does not want to profile Muslims at all when it comes to anti-terrorism policy. Why is the Left so afraid to say “Islamic Extremists”? They are afraid to be politically incorrect. What message does this send to terrorists? It tells them that what they are doing is working. It has Americans afraid to the point they are respecting terrorists.

Trump’s proposal is targeted at fixing a glaring problem in the immigration system. If someone finds it offensive so be it. American lives matter more than those of terrorists. It is a privilege to be an American and if someone is offended by the process then they can go to some other country.

The liberal media and their coverage of Trump is generating these talking points. After all, it is better to talk about Trump and his plan then to talk about Obama and his failures – that is the bottom line. They are fearmongering Americans just as they did to Barry Goldwater in 1960. This is what they do, this is their mission, they are not concerned about the truth and doing what is right. It is obvious, they are concerned about ensuring that Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Trump and Korematsu

I am no fan of Trump and would accept any candidate to win the GOP nomination over him. He is not a political outsider as many claim – he is just on the other side of the bargaining table with politicians winning them over by greasing their pockets with lobbying money. This vicious cycle of money has led to quid pro quo politics which is exactly what is destroying the fabric of this country. Trump is just as divisive as Obama and our country needs a leader who can do a better job uniting instead of insulting everyone in his path. What also makes Trump exceedingly dangerous is his massive ego – which may be worse than Obama’s. Sure, all politicians are full of themselves, but Trump is on another level with his narcissism. Trump’s arrogance is also a huge problem and will get in the way of him being an effective and competent leader. And let’s be clear, Trump is not even close to being a conservative. He is a moderate with many left leaning tendencies.

All week we heard about Trump’s proposal to place a temporary ban on Muslim immigration into the United States. The media, Democrats, and Republicans have all come down hard on him mostly calling him a racist and bigot for wanting to profile based on religious beliefs. Despite all the heat one would have to respect Trump’s willingness to hold his ground. Trump at least has the fortitude to say what others are thinking. Although his ban is a minority point of view, nearly 30% of Americans do agree with him. But when you really get down to it, his proposal is not over the top by any stretch of the imagination.

First, Trump’s proposal is not permanent, it is temporary until the process can be revamped to prevent more terrorists gaining access to the United States through our immigration process. It is obvious that the immigration system failed drastically and led to the San Bernardino massacre. Trump may have been able to avoid the bigotry and racists comments if he suggested to shut down immigration to the United States for everyone until the broke system is fixed.

Second, Trump is certainly right in pointing out that political correctness is a huge problem, especially when it comes to fighting terror. Once again, you got to give him credit for saying what others are thinking. His Muslim immigration ban proposal is certainly not politically correct and that is why the backlash is a bit overrated.

Third, Trump was not completely wrong in citing the FDR internment camps back in WWII to defend his idea. FDR ordered the imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese (over 70,000 were US Citizens). Every Japanese prisoner had all of their personal belongings and wealth confiscated and never returned. In Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the process of arresting and imprisoning people based on race was acceptable during wartime. Most people do not know this, but the Korematsu ruling is still on the books and has never been overturned. And today, we are at war with radical Islam so precedent is on the side of Trump. And history has been very favorable to FDR, he is rated as one of the top Presidents of all time by most liberal historians (most of which are liberal). It is weird how liberals hail FDR but call Trump a racist or bigot. And what Trump is suggesting is much more moderate than the stunt pulled by King FDR.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

The Obama Legacy: Global Lawlessness

If there is one word to sum up the Obama legacy, it would be lawlessness. At home and abroad there is nothing but chaos and no respect for the law. Obama had a chance to change many of the chaotic outcomes, but he failed on every front.

At home, violent crime is up in most major cities including homicides of police officers. There is no question that Obama’s rhetoric has not helped matters especially when he increasingly blames the police on very public cases. The first amendment is all but gone on our university campuses. There is no tolerance for any speech that opines an opposing view. This behavior has been building up for years, but it does not help when you have a president who tries to silence the media, implement the fairness doctrine, place a “snitching” policy on neighbors, and publically chastises Fox News every opportunity that arises. It also does not help when the DOJ looks the other way when the Black Panther Party tries to intimidate people at election polling places. Obama and his justice department do not lead by example. Obama is the first president since FDR to have a losing record at the Supreme Court. This proves that Obama is trying to garner more executive power by breaking the law.

It certainly sets a bad precedent when the president and his administration have no respect for the law, it should come as no surprise the result is lawlessness. Obama has not been able to transcend race, in fact, he and his proponents use the race card more often. When discussing crime, Obama only talks about white on black crime and fails to see the significant rise in black on black crime or black on white crime. This type of prejudice fosters lawlessness and pits ethnicities against each other.

Abroad, things are much worse. Obama made many blunders. First, in the Arab Spring, Obama supported opposition forces, but refused to put troops on the ground to influence the outcome for new governments. The result, Libya and Somalia are now terrorist safe havens, and Egypt is controlled by the terrorist group the Muslim Brotherhood. Remember, Obama went to war unilaterally in Libya and the fact the US no longer can keep an embassy there following the Benghazi attack illustrates the colossal failure.

In Iran, Obama failed to support the Green Revolution uprising to overthrow the current government. Instead, Obama has made a treaty with Iran that will eventually lead to a nuclear bomb and worse yet, it provides Iran billions of dollars that will ultimately go to sponsor more terrorism around the globe.

In Syria, Obama did nothing to remove Assad from power even when he crossed his redline and used chemical weapons. Now the situation in Syria has deteriorated to the point that it is impossible to move forward with a plan since there are multiple factions fighting against each other including ISIS.

Obama retreated from Iraq and Afghanistan too fast and now ISIS and the Taliban are stronger than ever. Obama misjudged the strength of ISIS and now they are killing thousands of people around the globe in terror attacks. Still, Obama fails to use ground troops to fight ISIS. The Obama air war against ISIS is ineffective without any ground support to identify targets.

The overall result from all the civil wars, chaos, terror, and lawlessness is over a million refugees fleeing Africa and the Middle East trying to get to Europe. What’s worse is that ISIS is smuggling terrorists into Europe by posing as refugees.

Obama did nothing to stop Russia aggression in Crimea, Ukraine, and Syria. If anything this showed the rest of the world that America was no longer a leader and would do nothing to stop foreign and terrorist aggression.

What if Obama talked about the police with respect? What if Obama was not so prejudice? What if Obama was not so paranoid? What if Obama was not in such a hurry to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan? What if Obama had taken the ISIS threat seriously from the beginning? What if Obama used ground troops to fight ISIS? What if Obama used ground troops to influence the government outcomes in Libya, Egypt and Somalia? What if Obama did not go to war unilaterally against Libya? What if Obama supported the Green Revolution? What if Obama acted sooner in Syria? What if Obama stood up to Russia? If Obama did not make so many blunders, there would be much less global chaos, death, and destruction. The world would undoubtedly be a better without Obama as the leader of United States, but we still have another year of this callous leadership.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Similarities and Differences

Democrats alike want us to “Celebrate our differences”. However, to Democrats, the only differences they want us to celebrate are those differences you can visually see. I, on the other hand, would like to celebrate those similarities you can see. What the so called Party of Science fails to understand is that the genetic makeup of all humans is 99.9% the same. We all have same number of bones, muscles, organs, etc. (unless there is a rare genetic mutation). We have a lot more in common than not. So, when a liberal sees a person they like to point out our differences. On the other hand, when I see a person that is what I see a person – not a size, height, skin color, eye color, or hair color. By celebrating our differences, liberals are saying we are different and not necessarily equal. And that can be proved or confirmed through liberal policies on welfare, diversity, and affirmative action. Differences or uniqueness in appearance is so important in our country, we strive to make statements by getting tattoos, piercings, and wearing wild clothing. This is what Democrats and liberals think is important to individuality and to define one’s persona.

The biggest difference between human beings is not how look, but how we think. That is why we people strive to look different – because we are so similar in appearance. But when liberals talk about “celebrating our differences” they are not talking about the difference in how we think. In fact, there is only one way to think in a liberals’ viewpoint, and that is their way, no exceptions. Liberals feel they are 100% right and conservatives are 100% wrong, period! Unfortunately, what liberals do not realize is that they are being indoctrinated. Their thought process is being hijacked and replaced with the thoughts of just a handful of people. It has gotten so bad, the government is trying to take over our thought process in many instances by taking over health care, loans, and even what can eat or drink. This process is not much different in the corporate world where leaders want “yes men”. They do not want to hear different opinions or have people ask questions, they just want people who conform.

The true value of diversity or multiculturalism is not how we look, but how we think. And liberals, the government, and corporations could care less about your opinions unless they agree with theirs. This is what is killing America. This is the dumbing down process of America and downward spiral to mediocrity. It is not racism (although it does exist at some small level), it is war on debate, opinion, and opposing viewpoints. How do you kill opinion and the thought process of others, you find everything you do not agree with offensive, annoying, or politically incorrect to silence the opposition.

To make matters worse, technology is also working in a negative way to restrict our thought process. First of all, it places the opinions of a few at our fingertips. Secondly, it replaces our thinking process for things like spelling, math, and a unique perspective. How many times has someone posted a unique quote on FB? Most of them are just passed along. Original thought is being replaced by the thought of few found on technology. And for those of us who believe in evolution would understand that this is not a good thing.

Do not take my word for it, just look at the facts. We can see it in our dwindling intellect at schools. We can see it in our lack of innovation. We can see it in a flailing economy. We can see it with our lack of problem solving skills. We can see it with the growing use of the words politically incorrect, annoying, blame, any excuse, and offensive.

Globally, extreme thought has offered some people hope that they can be unique, different, and part of a cause. Unfortunately, that cause is terrorism. Liberalism is also a view of extreme thought that is used to divide groups of people based on gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. Liberalism is barbaric in it can convince people that abortion is a good thing. Liberalism blames every problem in society on something that has nothing to do with the root cause – Whites, the wealthy, corporations, guns, and religion are a few examples of what they classify as evil. Liberalism lives in the past and refuses to perform any form of strategic thinking. For instance, slavery is continually brought up as a present day issue that is proof of racism. Liberalism thinks money (other peoples’ money) is the only variable for solutions to problems and it can be used solve every problem such as poverty and climate change.

I wonder if the last American will remember to turn off the lights if they are not reminded to do so.