Saturday, September 5, 2009

Y! Alert: The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Natalie Holder-Winfield: Today's Lesson: Undermining A Black Man's Authority in 2009 Top
After President Obama's historic election win, the premature declaration of the day was that America was a post racial society. Both, the well meaning and impatient, were eager to put America's shameful history of discrimination and harassment against racial groups--particularly Blacks--behind them. How could America still see racial differences if it elected a Black President? How could Corporate America still engage in and suffer from racial inequalities? After nine months of having a Black President, we can see the head of a new movement crowning. For the last 24 hours, the brouhaha over President Obama's back-to-school speech to schoolchildren has grown from silly to serious. At last check, school districts in Texas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Virginia, Illinois (President Obama's home state), and Minnesota will not air his speech to the schoolchildren. Unlike the Reagan speech I heard as a child, where he spoke of cutting taxes--the same taxes that supported valued programs in my community--President Obama's speech has been sanitized for any trace of politics. Stay in school. Study hard. Why is this speech all of a sudden a problem? The Birthers, the Deathers, and now the Schoolers all have one thing in common. They have found ways to undermine the President, creating an alternate universe where Obama is not the Commander in Chief. These anti-Obama groups know that they will not be taken seriously if they discredit President Obama merely because of his race. Instead, they mask their antagonism toward America's first Black President as partisan differences. They have not accepted that President Obama is our President. Some have argued that President Obama's speech is propaganda and they don't want their children to be exposed to his socialist agenda. Originally, his speech was going to be followed by an assignment to have the school students write an essay about how they could help President Obama. (I completely disagree with the White House backing down and changing the assignment.) Yet, we have always disagreed with Presidents and their politics without completely discrediting their presidency. When have we ever questioned the citizenship of a President? When have we ever carried guns to town hall meetings--especially meetings where the President would be in attendance? When have we ever preferred that our children opt for truancy than to hear a speech from the President? Not even Bill Clinton, who also pushed for overhauling the healthcare system and was impeached by the House, was delegitimized as our President. The one thing that makes Barak Obama different from every other U.S. President is that he is Black. Refusing to air the President's speech and pulling a child from school are brazen acts that, in essence, put the President Obama in his place. (Can you imagine how these people would respond to having a black manager?) These parents are teaching their children a powerfully dangerous lesson. A Black man may have won the election, but they don't have to listen to him or respect him.
 
Frank Schaeffer: Military Contractors and Our Buck-Stops-Nowhere "Wars" Top
The truth is that if (post-9/11) America wanted to fight two wars simultaneously -- and apparently endlessly -- protect our shores and project power into other parts of the globe simultaneously we needed draft. But we are a culture that refuses to make hard choices and likes happy endings, in other words we're experts at lying to ourselves. Instead of facing the fact that if you're going to fight wars you need to raise taxes and mobilize the whole country and draft citizens, we pretended we had a military adequate to the task. Besides, anyone who questioned the civilian wartime leadership would be accused of "disrespect to our wonderful men and women in uniform." What is disrespectful to people who serve is to do what we're doing now. We keep lying to ourselves by hiring contractor personnel to do the job the military could be doing -- if it was big enough and if we stopped lying to ourselves. More "contractor" (read mercenary) abhorrent behavior is surfacing. This time it's not civilian murder in Iraq, or child prostitution from XE (formerly Backwater). It comes from a US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Some contractor guards have come forward with sworn testimony and visual evidence of sexual deviancy and drunken hazing. In my capacity as the proud father of the United States Marine I wrote a series of opinion pieces for the Washington Post and several books on what it's like to be in military parent in the all volunteer military era while my son was a war in Afghanistan and Iraq. One of those books Keeping Faith -- A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps became a New York Times bestseller (once Oprah invited me on her show.) I also co-authored AWOL--The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country . After that was published I established close contact with hundreds of military families and many military leaders. What I say here comes from the perspective of someone connected to the military as a civilian author and also as the proud father of a son who fought in our ongoing wars. I have a deep personal love for the military family. That said, I have less and less respect for the way our civilian leaders lack the courage to tell the truth about our wars. Lies From the Right and Left Which brings up a point: both the right and the left, the military and civilian leadership, Democrats and Republicans have a stake in either lying about or ignoring a very inconvenient fact: given the scope of American foreign entanglements our "all volunteer" military is a sham. It is the same sort of sham that fighting wars without paying for them is idiocy. We are so over-extended that we hire professional contractors to bulk up what in fact is a military far too small for the onerous rotations that military people are now being deployed on again and again and again. High divorce rates, custody battles where military people, including women and mothers who come back from war are denied access to their children, and suicides are just the tip of the dysfunctional iceberg. The real problem is that the right and the left the Democrats and Republicans and our top military establishment and the government all have a percentage in keeping quiet about the truth. The Pentagon's civilian contractor work force in Afghanistan outnumbers the deployment of uniformed U.S. soldiers, with contractors accounting for 57 percent of Defense Department personnel there, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service-- "the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by DOD in any conflict in the history of the United States," concludes the report. Overall, as of March 31, 2009, the Defense Department employed more than 240,000 contractors in the two war zones, compared with approximately 282,000 uniformed soldiers. How Have the Contractors Worked Out? The founder of Blackwater USA allegedly deliberately caused the deaths of innocent civilians in a series of shootings in Iraq , attorneys for Iraqis suing the security contractor told a federal judge. The attorneys singled out Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL who is the company's owner, for blame in the deaths of more than 20 Iraqis between 2005 and 2007. Amid allegations that the contracted security force guarding the Kabul embassy have run riot the State Department a team to investigate. Alcohol has been banned at Camp Sullivan -- the compound where the guards live -- and diplomatic security officers have been assigned to keep an eye on the guards. Now some parts of Blackwater's clandestine work for the CIA have begun to leak out. The company's role in the secret assassination program and its continued involvement in the CIA drone attacks that occur regularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan have become front-page material in the Washington Post and New York Times . Now we learn that Blackwater offered "foreign" operatives to work on the CIA assassination program. The Real Problem The fact is our all volunteer military has long since departed from the citizen soldier military our founders had in mind and is now professional force that is close to becoming a permanent class of mercenaries set apart in virtually gated communities rather than citizens soldiers. And with today's contractors we've taken the fateful next step: America now fields a truly imperial mercenary force. To appease the left who will not countenance a draft, we pretend we have a military global force that doesn't need public support. And to allow the right wing Republican fat cats to send other people's children to war without asking them to commit their own children, we say the all volunteer force "works just fine." Fighting wars without national mobilization is a sign of decadence. It means that sacrifice is denied and ignored by most while a few pay the price for a system that depends on an out-of-sight-and-out-of-mind military. This is also part of a crazy anti-government right wing nuttiness, wherein "privatizing" everything, now even our military, is seen as "good." Everything must turn a profit, right? Everything is about choice. right? Wrong! The Truth The United States needs to face the truth: If we don't have the stomach to reintroduce the draft and have a military large enough to do the military's job we should stop fighting wars around the globe . We should also stop lying to ourselves. If the American public doesn't support our wars to the extent that they will tolerate a draft and much higher taxes then our wars are bogus. The military needs to stop selling itself to the American public as the greatest American military ever while it lacks the numbers to do the military's basic job. The generals should be screaming bloody murder about the fact that traditional military roles -- such as Marines guarding our embassies -- are now being farmed out to private (and grossly incompetent, largely unsupervised) companies who answer to no one. Talk about dishonoring our men and women! It's time for the military leadership to tell the President and Congress that the need for the hundreds of thousands of civilian workers bolstering the military proves the military can no longer do the job the President is asking it to do. Here Are the Honest Choices: 1) Get out of our wars now or raise taxes, and raise a force commensurate with our global obligations by the draft. or... 2) Trim our military to a true defense force and stop thinking that we can fix the world. or... 3) If we are attacked, hit our enemies with everything we've got, then go home. Let them fear us or pay the price, no more dreams of Marshall Plans applied to completely different situations, like Iraq and Afghanistan. To believe our own BS: that we can fight wars without costs, is leading to a bad end. Nation-building is after-the-fact nonsense. War is hell, not nation building. We aren't the good guys. We are just one more country protecting its interests. Deal with it! Blame the Right and the Left The left is culpable because it so denigrated and politicized military service coming out of the Vietnam era that the military brass ran for cover and are still hiding behind the all volunteer concept to protect the military from political scrutiny. The right is culpable because it keeps launching wars without asking for moral or financial accountability from the whole American people, including higher taxes and a draft of our sons and daughters. This is lazy man's war: no need to sell it to the American people, because they aren't involved. "Other people" fight and our grandchildren will pay the bill. Let's call decadence by its name. Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and the forthcoming Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism)
 
Robert Reich: The Real News About Jobs and Wages -- An Ode to Labor Day Top
Why aren't we hearing more about the worst job and wage situation since the Great Depression? The latest employment figures (released Friday) show job losses continuing to grow. According to the payroll survey, job losses are increasing more slowly than in previous months. According to the household survey, they're accelerating -- from 9.4 percent of the workforce in July to 9.7 percent in August. Bottom line: almost one out of six Americans who need a full-time job either can't find one or is working part-time. Meanwhile, wage growth among people who have jobs has just about stopped. The Economic Policy Institute reports that between 2006 and 2008, wages grew at an annualized rate of 4.0%; by contrast, over the past three months annual wage growth has plummeted to just 0.7%. At the same time, furloughs -- requiring workers to take unpaid vacations -- are on the rise: recent surveys show 17% of companies imposing them. More than 20% of companies have suspended their contributions to 401(k)s and similar pension plans. So why isn't the media screaming? Partly because these job and wage losses are not, for the most part, falling on the segment of our population most visible to the media. They're falling overwhelmingly on the middle class and the poor. Unemployment among those who have been in the top 10 percent of earnings is closer to 5 percent, and their earnings continue to climb -- although, to be sure, much more slowly than before the meltdown. It's much the same with health-care and pension benefits. Among people under 65 who are in the bottom 20% of incomes, only 21.9% have employer-sponsored health insurance -- if they have a job at all. Half of all people nearing retirement age have a 401(k) balance of less than $40,000. I keep hearing that the economic meltdown has taken a huge toll on the stock portfolios of the rich. That's true. But the rich haven't lost nearly as much of their assets, proportionately, as everyone else. According to a report from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch ("The Myth of the Overleveraged Consumer"), analyzing data from the Federal Reserve, the bottom 90 percent of Americans hold 50 percent of more of their assets in residential real estate, which has taken a far bigger beating than stocks and bonds. The top 10 percent of Americans have only a quarter of their assets in housing; most of their assets are in stocks and bonds. And although the stock market is still a bit tipsy, it has rallied considerably since it hit bottom earlier this year. Home values, on the other hand, are down by an average of a third across the country, and are still falling. What does all this mean for the economy as a whole? It raises the fundamental question of where demand will come from to get us out of this hole. If so many Americans are losing their jobs and wages, you have to wonder who will be returning to the malls. That same Bank of America Merrill Lynch report notes cheerfully that 42 percent of consumer spending before the meltdown came from the top-earning 10 percent of Americans (not too surprising given that the top 10 percent was raking in half of total earnings) and the top 10 percent continues to do relatively well. So, says Bank of America Merrill, we can rely on the spending of the top 10 percent to get the economy moving again. Indeed, they conclude, Congress and the White House should be careful not to raise taxes on the top 10 percent, lest the consuming ardor of these most privileged members of our society be dampened. This logic is morally and economically indefensible. If we've learned anything from the Great Recession-Mini Depression of the last 18 months, it's that the skewing of income and wealth to the top has made our economy far less stable. When the majority of middle-class and poor Americans are either losing their jobs or feel threatened by job loss, and when those who still have jobs are experiencing flat or declining wages, there's simply no way to get the economy back on track. The track we were on -- featuring stagnant median wages, widening inequality, and job insecurity -- got us into this mess in the first place. Cross-posted from Robert Reich's Blog
 
Tara Stiles: Is There A Formula for Happiness? Top
I was talking with a friend about what we were going to have for dinner, and out of nowhere a "deep" conversation about happiness showed up at the table. Someone brought up pizza, which of course led straight to the subject of happiness. More philosophical hunger-induced contemplations piled on from there. Does pizza always equal happiness? Is too much pizza the cause for unhappiness? Do our choices involving whether we abstain or indulge affect our happiness, and if so to what degree? I present for you a few areas of borrowed pre-dinner conversation for your contemplation and continued discussion. Bon appetite! Consciousness Most of us acknowledge that there is consciousness. It is what is and always will be, forever, until the end of time, and then into infinity after that too. There is no time frame with consciousness. There are no limitations or boundaries. The energy that resides in us is also in the air, the trees, the worms, and everything else. So if we understand the presence of consciousness in and all around us, what else is there? What about feeling and experiencing consciousness? Maybe there is some action we can take here. Awareness That brought us to awareness. Consciousness exists whether or not we are aware of it. If we become aware does anything change? When we find our way to awareness we start to gather a set of tools to do something with consciousness. "The first step of awareness is to be watchful of your body. And as you become aware, a miracle starts happening: many things that you used to do before simply disappear. Your body becomes more relaxed, your body becomes more attuned, a deep peace starts prevailing even in your body, a subtle music pulsates in your body." OSHO Purpose Many of us have goals. There are things we want to do, experience, or achieve in our lifetime. My friend suggested that happiness exists when you align your purpose with consciousness. This kind of alignment feels like walking through open doorways. Acting out of alignment is more like banging your head against the wall. The trap is when our happiness is dependant on things. We get tricked into adopting a purpose directed at how much stuff we have. What's the purpose behind heading off for the moon, when we can already hold awareness of everything right where we are, just looking up at the stars? It seem like cultivating awareness while reflecting and checking the intensions behind our purpose may lead us down the happiness path. "First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do." - Epictetus Practice So what is there to do? Practice. Krishna Das tells us to practice. Sing, do some yoga, garden, find your own meditative practice. Practice uncovers and clarifies our purpose. It helps us simply know what we should be doing, and can keep us confident in where we are and our direction. There will always be things that pull us out of awareness, and there is always practice to help us back. Sharpening awareness lets us function more in the flow of consciousness, and live our lives vibrantly. "It's very hard to grow, because it's difficult to let go of the models of ourselves in which we've invested so heavily." - Ram Dass I'm not sure if we solved the formula for happiness in our conversation. I did have some fantastic pizza that night though! As a start, here are a few simple tips for first time meditation enthusiasts. It's a great practice that you can do anytime, anywhere. More on Happiness
 
Canada To Stage Mock Afghan Attack In Washington Top
The Taliban will attack an Afghan village set up in the heart of Washington courtesy of the Canadian Forces, who will send in a medic in a dramatic effort to save a civilian crippled by the explosion. More on Afghanistan
 
John Rother: Health Reform and a Strong Medicare Program Top
The time to strengthen Medicare is now -- the question is, will Congress have the courage to do it right? AARP is fighting for a health care reform plan that will protect the Medicare benefits seniors have earned, eliminate waste and put Medicare on more stable financial ground so current and future generations will have the health coverage they need. After months of being bombarded by myths about death panels, socialized medicine and rationed care, AARP members are asking legitimate questions about how they would be affected by health reform. While we can't predict what Congress will ultimately do, we can tell our members how we're fighting for their health care. First, we would fight any proposals to cut Medicare benefits or hike out-of-pocket fees or take away their choice of doctor. We would vigorously oppose provisions that would deny care or interfere with the right of patients and doctors to make medical decisions. Fortunately, no such proposals are under consideration. We have not yet endorsed any specific health reform legislation. But in our judgment, a number of proposals on the table could improve Medicare in important ways. Let's start with the drug benefit. Current proposals would reduce costs and significantly narrow Medicare's doughnut hole -- the fast-growing gap in coverage that can cost individuals thousands of dollars a year. Filling in the gap, even gradually, would help millions of seniors afford their prescriptions. Seniors also would win with better benefits for prevention. Reform legislation would make such services as screenings for diabetes, osteoporosis and prostate cancer free to beneficiaries. Co-pays currently discourage many from getting these screenings, which can prolong their lives. Also overlooked in the debate is the proposed reinvestment of Medicare savings to improve doctors' payments in Medicare. These changes would help ensure Medicare patients a choice of doctor, provide bonuses to increase the number of primary care providers, and improve care for people with chronic conditions. Such payment reforms hold real promise of improving access to health care for Medicare patients and making a fragmented medical system work better for them. Older Americans would benefit further from new efforts to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare. One current fraud case involves an alleged $100 million phony-billing scam in five states. Improved efforts to stop this sort of crime and other abuse can save billions of dollars in Medicare and in out of pocket costs each year. Medical errors, such as life-threatening infections due to poor care, needless use of costly technologies, and excess industry profits all push up costs and undermine Medicare's financial health. Let's face it: We need to make sure we save Medicare money, as every member of Congress well knows. But we need to protect benefits while at the same time we target waste - and we now have an opportunity to make smart savings that actually strengthen the program. Take the problem of unplanned readmissions to the hospital. Follow-up care and guidance to help patients after discharge could lower costs as much as $17 billion a year. Reducing readmissions not only would save money, it would spare elderly patients the anguish of returning to the hospital due to poor follow-up care. Another hunk of savings could come from gradually reducing the billions of dollars of subsidies the government pays to private insurance companies, known as Medicare Advantage. These subsidies cost the government 14% more per patient than traditional Medicare. Those tax dollars should go to helping seniors, not boosting insurance company profits. AARP believes private Medicare plans should compete by providing better customer service and better quality care, not relying on subsidies from taxpayers. Whether private insurers would modify their benefit packages if they lose the subsidy is a business decision. Nothing in the legislation would require them to do so. And we will encourage lawmakers to include incentives for plans that deliver the highest quality care. Holding down the growth in future payment increases to health care providers is another way to save money without reducing benefits. About half of the proposed $500 billion in Medicare savings would come from limiting the growth of reimbursements to providers, such as hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies. Providers that improve their quality and productivity should be able to offset these curbs. Much of that $500 billion savings, by the way, would be reinvested in Medicare, and the remainder would help make Medicare more financially stable. The net reduction is 3% in projected Medicare spending over the 10-year period. Done right, it is possible to shave 3% and still have a stronger, more effective, and more health-conscious Medicare program. Some may expect AARP to reflexively protest any changes to Medicare - a program that provides health security for 45 million Americans. But unless we wring out waste and stop insurance companies from profiting on the backs of seniors, Medicare will be under growing financial pressure to provide older Americans with the health coverage they need. We believe eliminating waste and excess insurance company profits is critical to protecting benefits, preserving doctor choice, holding down premiums, and to preserving a strong Medicare for the long term that ensures both current and future generations will have good health care coverage when they are older. This message is not easy to convey to the public, especially in the current environment. Civil and thoughtful discussion is needed more than ever, and AARP will do what we can to provide accurate information and encourage informed debate. We seek a common-sense approach to solving the problems of our health care system, problems that we hear about from members every day. Done right, smart health reforms are surely in the best interest of Medicare and America's seniors who rely on it. John Rother is AARP's Executive Vice President for Policy and Strategy. More on Health Care
 
Cash-Strapped States Revise Laws To Set Inmates Free Top
After decades of pursuing lock-'em-up policies, states are scrambling to reduce their prison populations in the face of tight budgets, making fundamental changes to their criminal justice systems as they try to save money.
 
Mark Hyman, MD: Why Current Thinking About Autism Is Completely Wrong Top
" Autism is caused by poor mothering." That was the belief of the medical community until the late 1960s. "Autism is a genetic brain disorder." That is what most people -- and most of the medical community -- believe today. I'm here to tell you that neither one of these statements is true. Think about it. Rates of autism have skyrocketed over the years, from an estimated 1 child in 3,000 to just 1 in 150 kids today. Sure, wider criteria for diagnosis and better detection might explain some of it -- but not an increase of this magnitude. The real reason we are seeing increasing rates of autism is simply this: Autism is a systemic body disorder that affects the brain. A toxic environment triggers certain genes in people susceptible to this condition. And research supports this position. Today I will review some of this research and explain how imbalances in the 7 keys systems of the body may be the real cause--and thus the real cure--of autism. A New Understanding of Autism Dramatic scientific discoveries have taken place during the last 10 to 20 years that reveal the true causes of autism -- and turn conventional thinking on its head. For example, Martha Herbert, MD, a pediatric neurologist from Harvard Medical School has painted a picture of autism that shows how core abnormalities in body systems like immunity , gut function , and detoxification play a central role in causing the behavioral and mood symptoms of autism. She's also given us a new way of looking at mental disease (and disease in general) that is based on systems biology. Coming from the halls of the most conservative medical institution in the world, this is a call so loud and clear that it shatters our normal way of looking at things. Everything is connected, Dr. Herbert says. The fact that these kids have smelly bowel movements, bloated bellies, frequent colds and ear infections, and dry skin is not just a coincidence that has nothing to do with their brain function. It is central to why they are sick in the first place! Yet conventional medicine often ignores this. My friend and mentor, Sidney Baker, MD -- a pioneer in the treatment of autism as a body disorder that affects the brain -- often says, "Do you see what you believe or do you believe what you see?" The problem in medicine is we are so stuck in seeing what we believe that we often ignore what is right in front of us because it doesn't fit our belief system. Nowhere is this true more than in the treatment of autism. This is in the front of my mind, because I see so many behavioral symptoms in kids from learning disabilities to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and even autism. And I see the rates of medication use skyrocketing for these kids -- from stimulants to anti-psychotics (one of the fastest growing drug categories) to anti-seizure medicine, and more. There is another way ... Let me tell you a story about a little boy I saw recently. Sam's Case: Autism as a Systemic Disorder Recently, a mother came to see me, desperate because her 2 1/2 year old son had just been diagnosed with autism. Her son, Sam, was born bright and happy, was breast-fed, and received the best medical care available (including all the vaccinations he could possibly have). He talked, walked, loved, and played normally -- that is, until after his measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination at 22 months. He received diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, mumps and rubella, chicken pox, hepatitis A and B, influenza, pneumonia, hemophilous, and meningitis vaccines -- all before he was 2 years old. Then something changed. He lost his language abilities and became detached. He was unable to relate in normal ways with his parents and other children. And he became withdrawn, and less interactive. These are all signs of autism. Sam was taken to the best doctors in New York and "pronounced" as having autism, as if it were a thing you catch like a bug. His parents were told that nothing could be done except arduously painful and barely effective behavioral and occupational therapy techniques. The progress would be slow, and his parents should keep their expectations low, the doctor said. Devastated, the mother began to seek other options and found her way to me. While we have just started working together, the results in only a few weeks have been remarkable. There is much to undo and peel away, like the layers of an onion. But treating autism as a body disorder that affects the brain gives us SO many other treatment choices. Children treated in this way can often have dramatic and remarkable -- if not miraculous -- recoveries. Before I explain how I found the clues that gave me a means to treat Sam, let me remind you that the whole basis of functional and systems medicine is the concept of biochemical individuality. That means that if you take 100 kids with autism, each one may have unique genetics, and unique causes or triggers for their autism and need very different treatments to get better. Autism is just a label. Like every condition or illness, the key is to dig into the layers and peel the onion to discover what is really happening. We have to pay close attention to what we see, and be ready to work with the unexpected according to the basic principles of biology -- what I have framed as the 7 keys to UltraWellness . That is what I did for Sam ... When I first saw him, this little boy was deep in the inner wordless world of autism. Watching him was like watching someone on a psychedelic drug trip. So we dug into his biochemistry and genetics and found many things to account for the problems he was having. He had very high level of antibodies to gluten . He was allergic not only to wheat, but to dairy , eggs, yeast , and soy -- about 28 foods in total. He also had a leaky guts , and his gut was very inflamed. The immune system in his gut showed a high level of inflammation by a marker called eosinophil protein X. He had 3 species of yeast growing in his gut and no growth of healthy bacteria. Urine tests showed very high levels of D-lactate, an indicator of overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. Sam was also deficient in zinc, magnesium , and manganese, vitamins A, B12 , and D , and omega-3 fats . Like many children with autism, he had trouble making energy in his cells, or mitochondria. His amino acids -- necessary for normal brain function and detoxification -- were depleted. And his blood showed high levels of aluminum and lead , while his hair showed very high levels of antimony and arsenic -- signs of a very toxic little boy. His levels of sulfur and glutathione were low, indicating that he just couldn't muster the power to detox all these metals. In fact, his genes showed a major weak spot in glutathione metabolism, which is the body's main antioxidant and major detoxification highway for getting rid of metals and pesticides. Sam also had trouble with a key biochemical function called methylation that is required to make normal neurotransmitters and brain chemicals and is critical for helping the body get rid of toxins. This showed up as low levels of homocysteine (signs of problems with folate metabolism) and high methylmalonic acid (signs of problems with B12 metabolism). He also had two genes that set him up for more problems with this system. Finally, he also had very high levels of oxidative stress or free radical activity, including markers that told me that his brain was inflamed and under free-radical fire. This may all seem complicated, but it really isn't. When I see any patient, I simply work through the 7 keys to UltraWellness to see how everything is connected, create a plan to get to the causes of the problems, and then help each patient deal with all the biochemical and physiological rubble that those causes have left along the road. Having a roadmap, a new GPS system based on functional medicine and UltraWellness, makes this straightforward. You just take away what's bothering the patient. Give his body what it is missing and needs to thrive (based on the individual's biochemical uniqueness). Then the body does the rest. Here is the roadmap I used to help Sam recover. Sam's Roadmap to Recovery: A Model for Treating Autism Step 1: Fix His Gut and Cool the Inflammation There This step included a number of different tactics including: • Taking away gluten and other food allergens • Getting rid of his yeast with anti-fungals • Killing off the toxic bacteria in his small intestine with special antibiotics • Replenishing healthy bacteria with probiotics • Helping him digest his food with enzymes Step 2: Replace the Missing Nutrients to Help His Genes Work Better In Sam's case we: • Added back zinc, magnesium , folate , and vitamins A, B6, B12 , and D • Supported his brain with omega-3 fats Step 3: Detoxify and Reduce Oxidative Stress • Once his biochemistry and nutrition was tuned up, we helped him detoxify and reduce oxidative stress. Improve nutrition , reduce inflammation , heal the gut , detoxify -- this should sound familiar. As I said before, the keys of UltraWellness can help, no matter what the disease or condition. You see, biology has basic laws, which we have to follow and understand. All the details of Sam's story fit into these laws. We just have to dig deep, peel back the layers, and understand what is going on. When we do this the results are nothing short of miraculous ... After following a gluten-free diet and treating his gut for 3 weeks, Sam showed dramatic and remarkable improvement. He's getting back much of his language skills and showing much more connection and relatedness in his interactions. After 4 months, he was more focused, unstuck and verbal. After 10 months, his bowels were back to normal, he was verbally fluent, mainstreamed in school and he "lost" his diagnosis of autism. After 2 years all his abnormal tests were normal including the high metals, gut inflammation and damage to his mitochondria and free radicals. And more importantly, the child was totally normal. Not every child has such a dramatic recovery but many improve, and some improve dramatically using the approach of functional or systems medicine. Every child with behavior problems , ADHD , or autism is unique -- and each has to find his or her own path with a trained doctor. But the gates are open and the wide road of healing is in front of you . You simply have to take the first step. Please visit the Defeat Autism Now website for more information on this subject, including resources and conferences for doctors and parents. Now I'd like to hear from you... Are you raising a child with autism? How is he or she being treated? Have you tried any of the approaches here? How have they helped? Please share your thoughts by adding a comment below. To your good health, Mark Hyman, M.D. Mark Hyman, M.D. practicing physician and founder of The UltraWellness Center is a pioneer in functional medicine. Dr. Hyman is now sharing the 7 ways to tap into your body's natural ability to heal itself . You can follow him on Twitter , connect with him on LinkedIn , watch his videos on Youtube and become a fan on Facebook . More on Autism
 
Chad Ochocinco: I'm Quitting Twitter Because Of NFL Rules Top
Is this the end of Chad Ochocinco's foray into Twitter? Or just a publicity stunt by a man who knows how to draw attention? The Bengals receiver said today that he intends to close his Twitter account. More on Sports
 
New York Times, Wall Street Journal Both Planning San Francisco Regional Editions Top
Both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are planning to introduce San Francisco Bay Area editions, hoping to win new readers and advertisers there by offering more local news, in what could be the first glimpse at a new strategy by national newspapers to capitalize on the contraction of regional papers. More on Newspapers
 
Annie Leibovitz Sued: Italian Photographer Claims She Stole His Photos Top
Annie Leibovitz isn't just a deadbeat -- she's a thief, an Italian photographer says. In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, Paolo Pizzetti says the embattled shutterbug to the stars passed two of his pictures off as her own in a calendar.
 
John Heilpern, Departing New York Observer Theatre Critic, Slams "12-Year-Old Owner, Jared Kushner" Top
"I wish the paper all the best," Heilpern told the Post. "I don't want to be too negative about the 12-year-old owner, Jared Kushner, but as my ma and pa from Manchester, England, used to say, 'That boy couldn't run a chip shop.'"
 
Fall 2009 Book Preview: Publishers Bring Out The Big Guns Top
This season, many publishers are counting on star-studded fall catalogues to turn around a dismal year. Battered by the drop in consumer spending, most major publishing houses have cut staff and trimmed costs in recent months. Publishers often save their splashiest works for the autumn months, but this year's crop of fall books is unusually heavy with big names More on Books
 
David Adkins: Shaping the Legacy of the Recovery Act: A View from the States Top
If the 2009 sessions of most state legislatures are any indication, the Recovery Act played a pivotal role in helping states weather the economic storm. Although some states are still floundering in red ink, most have found a way to creatively combine new spending strategies, limited budget cuts, some tax hikes and stimulus dollars to craft balanced budgets. Moreover, states have emerged as the tip of the spear in our nation's response to the continued economic crisis. Across the country state leaders are putting Recovery Act dollars to work in new and creative ways. In Indiana, for example, Governor Mitch Daniels has used $24 million in stimulus funding to employ 2,000 young Hoosiers to break trails and improve public parks. And in Georgia, $187 million in federal stimulus dollars will be used for 51 road, sidewalk and other transportation projects. While the New Deal was about federal agencies, the Recovery Act is about federal partnership, with states leading the charge in providing essential services to the vulnerable while jump-starting economic growth. This means by necessity that much of the political risk for achieving results falls on the states, specifically governors. With the passage of the Recovery Act, the job of governor quickly became the second hardest job in America. Within days of enactment, Vice President Biden read the riot act to state and local governments that "business as usual" would not be tolerated. Governors knew they would be held to unprecedented levels of scrutiny. They also knew that they would need to act quickly to ensure they maximized their state's share of the funds available. These pressures often left little or no time to accommodate appropriate legislative oversight or solicit broader public input into spending priorities. This left many state officials "flying naked" as they sought to embrace the opportunity represented by Recovery Act funds. Despite these risks, states rose to the challenge, saving or creating thousands of jobs and rolling out infrastructure projects and other programs at unprecedented speed. If the figures quoted recently by the vice president are true that the Recovery Act added over 2 percent to U.S. economic growth in the second quarter, this result will be due in large measure to the leadership and vision of state leaders from both parties and in all corners of the country who have worked diligently to implement the Recovery Act even if they do not universally agree on the merits of all its component parts. While the White House has worked closely with state leaders to navigate the challenges of the Recovery Act, the next phase of implementation will require a new tone from Washington. If the stimulus investment is to achieve more than just plugging budget gaps, states will need to channel multiple streams of Recovery Act funding, such as work force training funds and competitive grants for research and development or green energy, to focus on achieving a transformational change in key sectors of state economies. In noting that critics fault the Recovery Act for containing too many small investments in scattered programs rather than large strategic interventions, the vice president said that the Recovery Act was not a "silver bullet," but rather "silver buckshot." If this is the case, there is a role for the states and the federal government to work together to ensure that enough individual pellets of funding are concentrated on a single target - such as fostering a new energy economy -- to deliver an economic punch. Although the Recovery Act will not leave behind the infrastructure legacy of the New Deal, with such transformational public assets as the San Antonio River Walk, that doesn't mean it can't have a transformational impact. Just as an unexpected windfall of federal research funding for the space race provided the seed capital to transform a rural patch of North Carolina into the Research Triangle Park -- the Silicon Valley of the Southeast -- Recovery Act funding opportunities in green energy, biomedical research and other fields could propel new communities into an economic future radically different from the one they face today. The public is entitled to accountability and the federal government is right to emphasize it. But when the main message to the states is a wag of the finger, the tendency is to play it safe rather than pursue creative strategies. If the feds wish to maximize the legacy of the stimulus investment and empower state policymakers to take the risks necessary to achieve transformational change, as North Carolina Gov. Luther Hodges did in the 1950s, they will need to convene and inspire state leaders to explore the possibilities that exist for spending stimulus dollars not just emphasize the consequences of failure. Let's hope the administration and Americans are willing to look beyond the short-term and begin instead to look to the horizon. The hard work of addressing today's needs will continue in every state capitol, but the more imaginative, transformative opportunities made possible by this unprecedented federal investment must also be pursued if the full promise of the Recovery Act is to be achieved. That will require a new partnership between levels and branches of government. Thankfully, for both the states and the federal government, the risk of pursuing the possibilities is far less than the risk of failing to act. More on Economy
 
Number Of Working Americans On Food Stamps Surges Top
The number of working Americans turning to free government food stamps has surged as their hours and wages erode, in a stark sign that the recession is inflicting pain on the employed as well as the newly jobless.
 
Obama Announces Initiatives To Increase Savings Top
WASHINGTON — The government is trying to make it easier for Americans to save for retirement, President Barack Obama said Saturday, as he noted the toll the recession has taken on extra income and savings accounts. One initiative will allow people to have their federal tax refunds sent as savings bonds. Others are meant to require workers to take action to stay out of an employer-run savings program rather than having to take action to join it. "We know that automatic enrollment has made a big difference in participation rates by making it simpler for workers to save," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "That's why we're going to expand it to more people." The new federal steps, which do not require congressional action, include: _ Making it easier for small companies to set up 401(k) retirement savings plans in which all workers are automatically enrolled unless they ask to be omitted. Employers can set default amounts of each worker's pay – perhaps 3 percent – to automatically be deposited into the accounts without being taxed. Workers can raise or lower the contribution levels, and they choose how to invest the money. They will pay taxes on the money only when they withdraw it as retirees, when their tax rates are likely to be lower than when they are working full-time. A similar process would apply to savings plans called SIMPLE-IRAs. _ Allowing such plans to automatically increase the amount that workers save over time unless the workers object. _ Allowing people to check a box on their federal tax returns asking that any refund be sent as a savings bond. More than 100 million U.S. households receive refund checks each year, and many are promptly cashed and spent. _ Allowing workers, when leaving a job, to direct unused vacation pay to a retirement savings account rather than taking it in cash. The administration earlier asked Congress to make it easier to set up retirement accounts for people whose workplaces do not offer them. No legislation has moved thus far. "Tens of millions of families have been, for a variety of reasons, unable to put away enough money for a secure retirement," Obama said. "Half of America's work force doesn't have access to a retirement plan at work. And fewer than 10 percent of those without workplace retirement plans have one of their own." Nearly half of the U.S. work force has little or nothing beyond Social Security benefits to get by on in old age, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said. "Just as the administration is dedicated to reviving the economy and getting people back to work, so too it is dedicated to helping put retirement security within the reach of all Americans," Geithner said in a statement. While saving for retirement is universally seen as a good idea, any increase in savings rates could somewhat slow the nation's rebound from the economic recession. ___ On the Net: Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov Treasury and IRS information on retirement savings: . http://www.irs.gov/retirement More on Barack Obama
 
Dr. Tian Dayton: Tough Guy Soprano Joey Pantoliano Goes to Iraq Top
Many of you know Joey Pantoliano (AKA Joey Pants) as the tough guy Ralph from The Sopranos or the sharp and capable Cosmo, assistant to Tommy Lee Jones, from the popular movies The Fugitive and US Marshalls. But today at noon Joey will be broadcasting from Iraq on nkm2.org, where he is playing the role of one trying to make a difference in the ever climbing suicide rates among soldiers. "Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves," reports CNN. "Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day. ....Suicide attempts are rising and have risen over the last five years," says Army psychiatrist, Col. Elspeth Cameron-Ritchie. Soldiers in Iraq face deployment after deployment without rest or time for recovery. They suffer from PTSD and depression but they are hesitant to open up and share the pain they are in because it makes them feel weak in a culture where being tough and strong are powerfully held values. But sometimes feeling momentarily vulnerable and letting the pain out, is what heals it before it eats you up inside. Joey Pantialiano has first hand experience with this kind of pain and is hoping along with the military to make it safe for tough guys like himself to open up and share honestly and openly before pain, anger and despair morph into something unmanageable or even unbearable. "..... Post-traumatic stress disorder... may be a factor in suicide attempts, according to Cameron-Ritchie, because it can result in broken relationships and often leads to drug and alcohol abuse..... "The real central issue," says U.S. Army Chaplain Lt. Col. Ran Dolinger , "is relationships. relationships, relationships, relationships. When people look at PTSD, they look at length of deployments ... but it's that broken relationship that really makes the difference." Broken hearts lead to isolation and desolation and the symptoms that are a part of post traumatic stress disorder can put relationships under the kinds of pressures that can make loved ones want to run the other direction. Depression, feelings of despair, a desire to isolate, bouts of anger and rage, anxiety and hyper vigilance (read: extreme jumpiness, waiting for the other shoe to drop) are all part of PTSD and are very hard to live with. Without help those suffering from PTSD all too often reach for quick ways of calming their inner storm (self medicating) with, for example, drugs, alcohol, fighting or hi risk sex. All of these can result in broken relationships, to say nothing of a broken relationship with the self. People with PTSD need to find safe places to share the pain, fear and terror that is driving their extreme inner stress and to understand that feeling traumatized by being put in situations that are, in fact traumatic, is a natural part of being a person. Whether a soldier in Iraq or a child facing a drunk and raging parent, feeling terror when unpredictable events turn your safe and orderly world inside out and upside down is a natural human reaction. I recently sat down with Joey and listened to him talk about his own experience growing up with a mother addicted to pills, who routinely threw his safe and orderly world into spasms of anxiety, numbness, hope and disillusionment through her erratic behavior. The result for Joey were his own struggles with PTSD and addiction. Joey Pantoliano is as long on charm and humor as he is on terse one liners. He is sincere and open and has a deep intuitive understanding of the subtle ins and outs that the diseases of depression and addiction take. He understands because he's "been there" and is mission driven when it comes to hoping that his personal experiences might help others. And most importantly he knows what it takes to find resilience and recovery. If you want to find out how his tour is progressing, log onto nkm2.org at noon today (or any time, it stays up) to view video of his visit.
 
Mike Lux: The Simplest Thing Top
I really do admire President Obama for having the courage to make health care reform his top priority when he knew in advance how difficult it would be to pass. That took a lot of guts, and he should be congratulated for it. And I really do have genuine sympathy for White House staffers and Congressional leaders trying to work their way through the incredible complications on this issue to find the sweet spot for passing a bill. This is a massively complicated issue, with a new minefield around every bend. The fight over the public option has obscured all the rest of it, but health care reform is a monster of an issue: how do you make the subsidies for lower and middle class folks affordable without breaking the bank? How do you adjust Medicare rates and Medicaid formulas and provider reimbursements in a fair way? How do you re-structure financial incentives to encourage more primary care physicians without penalizing the specialists too much? How do you find a path through all the special interest roadblocks thrown in your way? Questions like these, and a few hundred more, make the passage of any major health care bill as difficult as anything a President could ever take on- it is just landmine after landmine. From what I can tell, the Obama team hasn't done a bad job of navigating their way through to a solution on many of those quiet but really important issues. Again, my congratulations. In the end, though, health care reform will live or die on whether the White House, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid can figure out a way around the massive barrier in the middle of the road, the public option. Progressives are demanding it, conservative Democrats don't want to do it, Senate procedural rules make it complicated, so its difficult to figure out what to do. And I fully understand the political imperative to get something passed. Here's where I get confused, though. We have always known that passing any health care bill would be tough, but it has become increasingly clear as we get closer and closer to an end game that the easiest, simplest, least painful path is to actually go ahead and do what the President has proposed, which is to pass a bill with the public option. Look at the facts that we are dealing with: There is a very big and very solid core group of members in the House (way more than enough to block a bill from passing) who have pledged multiple times in writing to only vote for a bill with a public option. That group in the House is backed up by an extremely determined activist core from the netroots, and increasingly intense organizations like the AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org, and Democracy for America. A majority of House members are on the record in favor of the public option. While there are procedural issues to be resolved in the Senate, many of the top experts on Senate rules are saying that the public option can be included in a reconciliation bill which only needs 51 votes. Such a bill could be combined with a second bill to deal with the less controversial issues that can't be included in reconciliation. While some of the most conservative Senate Democrats want there to be a bipartisan bill, which would require no public option, there are not enough of them to stop a bill being passed on reconciliation. In fact, there are now 51 Senators on the record in favor of the public option. Okay, stay with me now: ditching the public option would mean a massive, ugly civil war with House progressives, most of whom will be feeling very gun-shy about abandoning their written pledges to oppose any bill without the public option. Keeping the public option would require dealing with some unhappiness from some conservative Senators, and might require a procedural move or two that would be complicated. Which approach sounds easier to get done? But conventional wisdom insiders have been telling each other for a long time that there is no way to pass a public option, and that has made White House staffers and legislative leaders have a hard time seeing what is becoming the honest truth: passing a bill with the public option is not only possible, but the easiest way to a victory. Maybe there is something I don't understand here- it wouldn't be the first time. But as someone who passionately wants to help the White House pass a health reform bill, it seems pretty clear which way to go. I will admit it would not be simple or smooth, but that civil war scenario of dropping the public option would be a lot worse. Let's get this train moving down the most direct path to victory.
 
Jack Tweed, Widower Of Reality Star Jade Goody, Charged With Rape Top
LONDON — The widower of British reality TV star Jade Goody has appeared in court on a rape charge. Police in London say they charged 22-year-old Jack Tweed after receiving a complaint from a woman. At a court hearing Saturday he was ordered detained until a further appearance Sept. 21. Tweed and Goody married in February, a month before her death at 27 from cervical cancer. Weeks later Tweed was jailed for 12 weeks for attacking a cab driver. He has said he has struggled to cope with Goody's death. Goody was a brash former dental nurse who became famous in 2002 when she appeared on reality TV show "Big Brother." Her public life and death became a national soap opera, and the cause of soul-searching about the nature of celebrity.
 
Strange Celebrity Kid Names: Which Is The Wackiest? (PHOTOS, POLL) Top
How do you garner even more attention when you're a celebrity having a kid? Name the child something outrageous, or at least outside the norm. Just this week "Bones" actor David Boreanaz named his daughter Bardot Vita. Scroll through the slideshow of Hollywood's most notorious celebrity baby names and vote. What do YOU think is the wackiest? Get HuffPost Entertainment On Facebook and Twitter! More on Celebrity Kids
 
Josh Nelson: I Stand with Van Jones Top
Join us at StandWithVan.com to show your unwavering support for White House green jobs advisor Van Jones. Like sharks in the water, a right-wing lynch mob led by notorious race-baiter Glenn Beck is now circling around White House green jobs advisor Van Jones. On the surface, their complaint centers around Jones' background and statements he previously made as an activist. Specifically, conservative blogs and media outlets have seized on a harshly-worded petition Jones signed in 2004 demanding further investigations into the 9/11 attacks. Jones has clarified since then , saying of the petition that "it certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever." But this is little more than the right-wing manufactured faux-outrage du jour. Beck began aggressively going after Jones in the wake of a campaign targeting Beck's advertisers -- organized by Color of Change -- an advocacy organization Jones founded prior to taking a position in the administration. Sadly, the Obama administration appears to be wavering in its support of Jones. This is not acceptable. A decision to throw one of their most charismatic communicators under the bus in a vein attempt to placate a racist witch-hunt would be both foolish and ineffective. Van Jones is exactly the type of principled and effective leader we need more of in government -- not less. President Obama should make a strong public statement as soon as possible, reiterating his full support for green jobs advisor Van Jones. Fight Back 1. Show your support for Van Jones by using the #supportvan hashtag on Twitter. Your tweet will be displayed in the grid on StandWithVan.com . Here is a sample Tweet you can cut and paste: "I stand with Van Jones: http://standwithvan.com #supportvan #vanjones" 2. Sign the Color of Change petition asking Glenn Beck's advertisers to stop supporting Beck's hateful agenda. You can also donate to Color of Change here . 3. Become a Fan of Van Jones on Facebook. Statements of Support Brad Johnson at The Wonk Room writes: White House green jobs advisor Van Jones is under attack from Fox News as an "avowed radical revolutionary communist" and from ABC News as a "truther" with a "history of incendiary and provocative remarks." In an attempt to assassinate the character of Van Jones, the right-wing media are distorting his past political activism and cherry-picking Jones's critiques of the pollution and injustice that still haunt this nation. However, Jones's true record is one of turning away from anger and finding hope, abandoning division and seeking consensus. David Roberts at Grist writes: This is all about bitch-slap politics . If Jones drops out, think Beck or the right-wing slime industry will stop? Think they won't keep going after Carol Browner, John Holdren, and the rest--twisting and attacking every word and gesture from the Obama administration? "Uncovering" people as wildly caricatured leftists? Faux-populist fear merchants are like sharks; they have to keep moving, keep eating. There's no sating them. Letting Beck bag Jones would be like chum in the water. Adam Siegel at Get Energy Smart Now writes: Fox's Beck has turned his attention from President Barack Obama to increasingly vitriolic and deceptive attacks on a White House staff member, Van Jones, who has responsibilities related to Green Jobs. Beck's attacks are deceptive and despicable, on multiple levels, and demean not just Jones, but American democracy and the very concept of moving forward toward a more prosperous America, for both the nation and its citizens. Martin Bosworth tweets : read #VanJones' "The Green Collar Economy" last year & was mesmerized. It's a brilliant plan of action & I #supportVan fully. #green #p2 #fb San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom : "Van Jones and Mayor Newsom are good friends and the mayor stands by him," Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said Friday Sarah Robinson at Blog For Our Future writes: But we know this for sure: If Beck succeeds in damaging Jones and Color of Change -- a decision that's largely in the hands President Obama -- you can count on this being the start of a fast and furious conservative witch hunt aimed at picking off every other progressive leader. What they'll learn is that this kind of minor smear is all it takes to turn liberals against each other -- and we'll effectively be in the position of letting the craziest people on the right wing decide for us who our leaders will be. Joseph Romm of Climate Progress writes: I am a big fan of green jobs czar clean energy jobs handyman Van Jones (see " Van Jones argues we can -- and must -- fight poverty and pollution at the same time " and " Must Read: Van Jones and the English Language "). The right wing hates the clean energy jobs message (see " Department of Energy eviscerates right-wing Spanish 'green jobs' study ") so it's not surprising they are going after Van Jones. The Real Van Jones More on Glenn Beck
 
Designer Moving Into Michael Jackson's Mansion In December Top
LOS ANGELES — Christian Audigier will not transform Michael Jackson's former home into a public space. Michele Elyzabeth, a spokeswoman for the Ed Hardy clothing founder, said Audigier would move into the sprawling Holmby Hills mansion at the end of Jackson's lease on Dec. 15. He also said that Audigier had no plans to turn the rental property where the King of Pop collapsed and later died into a public space. The estate is owned by Ed Hardy CEO Hubert Guez. Jackson was entombed Thursday night at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif. More on Michael Jackson
 

CREATE MORE ALERTS:

Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted

Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope

Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more

News - Only the news you want, delivered!

Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more

Weather - Get today's weather conditions




You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)