Vast Write Wing - March 2010

[lwoolley]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bl ... kins1.html

the death certificate states blunt force trauma not a heart attack

Dr. Atkins had cardiomyopathy due to a vial infection of the heart--not due to heart disease

[lwoolley]

I'm not clear on what the caller (a lady) was trying to say but I would pursue the issue along this line of LOGIC:

The caller may be technically right about the connection between fat/cholesterol and heart disease in that science may not yet be able to verify or explain the CAUSAL relationship, however the idea that science may discover that their is NO causal relationship based on what we know about the data CORRELATING the two is a real stretch as well.

All the best,

Mike

[lwoolley]

Hi Lynn,
I read your column in today’s DMN. Do you really expect politicians to keep their word? You need to have your urine tested.

Cynically yours,
James Lee

[lwoolley]

Create a website just for the Honor Pledge.
Have a "People Who Demand This" so I and most Americans can go on record. Just don't ask for contact info which would be turned into a marketing or campaign list. First Name, Last Initial, City and State would be enough.
Have a "I Promise" List so elected officials can go on record with their pledge. Show by state and office.
Have an "Honor Roll", "Shame List", and "Rehab" list so we can all see who's doing what.
You have an excellent idea, keep it simple, don't let it descend into an organization which will be exposed to being lobbied.

Once this is set up, spread the word in every form. Write a book. Go on Oprah!!! Get other commentators to mention the website.

Thanks Lynn.
--
Clint Alderman
Midland, TX

[lwoolley]

Lynn:

Here are just a few of the studies I mentioned in the call today. This issue (fat/cholesterol causes heart disease) is immense in the lessons it holds for how our government develops public policy based on what we think we know is "scientifically proven." I believe humility and "do no harm" principles should prevail in public health policy because we seldom know everything we need to know and many times what we think we know as unassailable fact turns out to be untrue or incomplete.

My point is simply that public policy designed to punish or encourage certain human health behaviors holds tremendous risk of doing harm -- perhaps more harm than good -- and we are better off making all the relevant information available and letting individuals make up their own minds about what interventions to make in their lives.

By the way, while my father and his brother may have been protected against Parkinson's from lifelong smoking my Mother's two brothers died young of lung cancer (age 42) and emphysema (age 63). Individual risk profiles seem to make the difference but I have never smoked and even though I see my aunt dying a horrible, prolonged death from Parkinson's, I am not inclined to smoke. I might consider, however, a less dangerous intervention that also modifies MAO enzymes in the brain (such as green tea) that at this point in time is thought to be possibly one of the important factors in the protective effect. One day we may be able to identify individual risk profiles for Parkinson's like we can already do for certain breast cancers and take protective actions on an individual basis. I hope you find this information interesting and perhaps it will challenge your assumptions.

Ginger Deegear
Austin


Links on Diet/Health/Saturated Fat

First I'll give you a link on Gary Taubes since his work is the most comprehensive and compelling on the entire diet/health hypothesis.
Since you indicated an understandable unwillingness to wade through the 700 page Gary Taubes "Good Calories, Bad Calories" book which outlines how the conventional wisdom is wrong about diet, you may be interested in a video (45 min) of a talk he did to the Dartmouth Medical school titled "Adiposity 101" which is a shortened version of his argument. It is very interesting and even entertaining and includes very good slides. The link is http://dhslides.org/mgr/mgr060509f/f.htm



The recent article (March 2010) that concludes that there is no evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease:

Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease1,2,3,4,5 http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/3/535

Patty W Siri-Tarino, Qi Sun, Frank B Hu and Ronald M Krauss Am J Clin Nutr 91: 535-546, 2010. First published January 13, 2010; doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.27725
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.27725
Vol. 91, No. 3, 535-546, March 2010



The Cholesterol Myth -- By T. J. Moore http://www.chelationtherapyonline.com/technical/p35.htm

(This is the 1989 Atlantic Monthly article that first challenged the interpretation of all the studies you mentioned that "prove" saturated fat causes heart disease. It goes through the major studies that were used to establish this hypothesis and shows how the studies do not support the connection that was made by the medical and public health establishment. This is the only free website I could find where it is provided online. It is also online at the Atlantic website (archives) but you must be a subscriber to access it online.




Links on Low-Carb diets and Parkinson's/Smoking:


The Atkins Diet revamped?
By JENNIFER LARUE HUGET The Washington Post March 3, 2010, 3:42PM http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/lif ... 95250.html



Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN Diets for Change in Weight and Related Risk Factors Among Overweight Premenopausal Women The A TO Z Weight Loss Study: A Randomized Trial
JAMA. 2007;297:969-977. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/297/9/969




Smoking Associated With Lower Parkinson's Disease Risk

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 171619.htm

[lwoolley]

Sen. Kay B. Hutchison will probably not resign as, and I say this based on her record, she is a liar. Harsh to be sure, but a liar never-the-less. She'll rationalize, come up with excuses, have a change of heart, whatever, to hold on to her very powerful and lucrative position.

Here's another issue of logic to deal with, Gov. Rick Perry attacked Sen. Hutchison for being a D.C. insider, voting for federal waste, being a part of the problem. Now, he is reported to have said that he backs Hutchison and hopes that, "the senator stays and continues to fight the good fight" against the Obama administration. I know that Gov. Perry lives politically by telling half-truths. This statement supports, or so it seems, what he claims to be against. ---It is ludicrous, even for Perry, to say such. ("Dallas Morning News", March 5, 2010, pg. 3A, by C. Hoppe)

Bob Kirby
Plano, TX

[lwoolley]

Lynn, I apologize for sending another message but caught the tail end of the show and heard you mention a "congressional pledge" - GREAT idea. Not that it matters much but I would change it to the "politician's pledge." Not only does the politician's pledge sound better but it would be applicable to state and local races, including state board of education candidates and judges (they are in fact political in Texas since they are elected).


Ben, talking about newspapers... I think you will like this video spoof called "How will the end of print journalism affect old loons who hoard newspapers?" hahaha "The onion" usually has funny stuff. The video on "Obama Caught Lip-sync'ing Speech" was pretty funny too. LOL

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/h ... d_of_print


Bob
Killeen/Ft Hood

[lwoolley]

With all the pathological lying Republicans do virtually daily, Kay Bailey Hutchison changing her mind and not resigning from the Senate would rank as a low echelon fib. In fact, most Republicans would prefer that she lie to avoid the risk of a Democrat taking her seat. There appears to be no such thing as a solemn promise anymore in politics.

Jim Basham
Plano Independent
jbasham@verizon.net

[lwoolley]

Lynn, a quick note to say MOST EXCELLENT article in the Dallas Morning Snews yesterday about KBH and a couple of interesting comments posted:

Posted by Zentrist: Texans, and all decent human beings, keep their promises. I suspect Mrs. Hutchison will in fact keep that promise. One of the reasons she ran for governor in the first place may have been that she was itching for something new and more promising. Indeed, the most "promising" thing one can attain--is to keep one's sacred promises.

Posted by Conflict_Of_Interest_KBH: (This is not just a political comment, this is also a criminal comment)

Kay Bailey Hutchison may want to be concerned about extending the “Statute of Limitations” if she stays in the US Senate.

How is what Don Hill (former Mayor Pro Tem Dallas) has done different then what Kay Bailey and Ray Hutchison have done and Don Hill was very, very guilty.

It has been said better by another:
"Kay Bailey's ethics leave much to be desired. As KBH [screen name] points out, there are serious unanswered questions about her advocacy on behalf of the DFW Airport Board while her husband simultaneously served as the Board's legal advisor. The Wright Amendment (of which she became the primary defendant) effectively rammed the only legally protected airport monopoly down the throats of North Texans against our will-- American Airlines made out like a bandit as a result. Hutchison lacks a moral compass-- she will do anything and everything to maximize her political power and her husband Ray's earnings potential (the perception is that when you hire Ray, you effectively purchase access to Kay)."

It could also be said- Don Hill is to Kay Bailey Hutchison as Don Hill's wife Sheila is to Ray Hutchison.

Don Hill and his wife Shelia were sentenced in Federal Court 2/26/2010 on Felony charges where they were given 18 years and 9 years in Federal Prison.

I believe it to be against the law for sure to be sleeping with the one you are using your public office to afford personal benefits for, your sleeping partner, that you will enjoy as well. This could also be called graft.

And everyone remains quiet…


On a different topic: IRT your question in the first hour about what did COL Travis say while sabers were piercing his body? I see him reaching in the air with his sword screaming FREEDOM!! Ok… that was from Braveheart BUT if we’re going to hypothesize then I like this visual and message.

Keep up the good work
BoB
Killeen/Ft Hood

[lwoolley]

Lynn:
It appears that voter "irregularities" persist in the
electronic voting process. Thought you might be
interested in this story.

Thanks!
Alton White
Crane, TX
http://cbs7.com/news/details.asp?ID=18288

[lwoolley]

Sir,

Your column reminds me of the late Gov. Earl Long of Louisiana.

When campaigning for re-election in a rural parish, he was asked

by a woman "Governor, when you ran for election, you promised

us a bridge over that creek if you got elected. We ain't got no

bridge. What do you say about that?"

Long quickly responded: "Simple. I lied."

james clark
Ardmore

[lwoolley]

Lynn,

I agree with you an Kay and her leaving. Recently, I was helping my daughter with a report she did on John Adams. He like others had a family business, after his service to the country as an elected official he returned to the family business. The problem with today’s career politicians is that many of them have never worked an honest job in their lives. Far to many of them are lawyers. I do not think our founding fathers wanted there to be an elite ruling class that is why they created the Constitution to limit the power of government.

Enjoy the show.

Troy Cunningham
Midland, Texas

[lwoolley]

Lynn, You are way off base with your argument about KBH and how she should resign. It is completely driven by your rabid hatred on her stand on a "womans right to choose" what happens to her body. We need her and her experience in Washington. If you want to go after politicians who LIE, why not start at the top with O-Bambi and all the lies he has perpetrated in just one year??

Jim - Killeen

[lwoolley]

Lynn. Great start to your show. Unfortunately I have to work and will miss the rest. So I will leave you with this. At the end of the day your still the best source for news on the radio you know what I'm saying. You know .... At the end of the day your the greatest. You know !
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

[lwoolley]

I was today shocked and disappointed in your comments about the movie, "The Hurt Locker." You referred to it as being a nothing movie, created by the artsy-fartsy crowd, that was not seen by anyone, but admitted that you had NOT even seen it. How logical is that??

It just so happened that my wife and I saw it this weekend on DVD at home. We were impressed that it was so apolitical, and that it pointed out in graphic ways the dangers our troops faced in Iraq, and now face in Afghanistan, and their concern for collateral damage to the civilian populace.

For you to make such an unwarranted criticism of a film that you have not seen is damn sure not logical. You have some soul searching to do, my man!

Generally we support your views, but in this instance you're way off base.

Barry


Excuse me. I went by some articles on the internet from military people that did not like it. But that was not my point. The point that the Academy always goes against the blockbusters. If this is all your disagree with me on, we're in pretty good shape.
Lynn