Who's Winning and Who's Losing?????

Ex-Contractor: Foreign Workers Abused at US Embassy

More allegations have emerged of physical abuse and poor conditions of workers building the massive U.S. embassy in Baghdad. On Thursday, two American civilian contractors told the House Oversight committee foreign workers were tricked into coming to Iraq and then barred from leaving after contractors took their passports. The Kuwaiti firm First Kuwaiti is overseeing the six-hundred million dollar project. It’s slated to the be the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in the world. American contractor John Owens said he found the working and living conditions for the workers “deplorable.” Owens says the workers lived in tightly-packed trailers and were denied basics including shoes and gloves. They worked twelve-hour days, seven days a week, for as little as two-hundred forty dollars a month. Owens says workers were verbally and physically abused and docked pay for minor infractions.


Parents of Dead Soldier Sue U.S. for Negligence

The parents of a U.S. soldier who killed himself after returning home from military duty in Iraq have sued the U.S. government for negligence. Joyce and Kevin Lucey say their son Jeffrey hanged himself after the U.S. military ignored his depression. In late May 2004, Jeffrey was involuntarily committed to a military veteran’s hospital after he ignored his family’s pleas to seek help. The hospital discharged him after a few days. He killed himself three weeks later. His father came home to find his son had hung himself with a hose in the cellar of their house. The dog tags of two Iraqi prisoners he said he was forced to shoot unarmed, lay on his bed. The Lucey suit follows another case in which two veterans’ rights groups say the Department of Veterans Affairs delayed and denied veterans help for disabilities such as post-traumatic stress disorder.


Report: U.S. Backs Off Saudi Bank Linked to Militant Funding

The Wall Street Journal is reporting the U.S. has opted to take a hands-off approach to a Saudi bank U.S. intelligence has linked to the financing of militant Islamic extremists. The Al Rajhi bank is among vast holdings belonging to the Saudi billionaire Sulaiman Al Rajhi. The banks activities’ reportedly set off an intense debate within the Bush administration on how to take action. But confidential reports show the administration has ultimately chosen to quietly lobby Saudi monarchs rather than take punitive steps. U.S. intelligence says Al Rahji Bank has held accounts and accepted donations for charities formally designated as fronts for al Qaeda or other militant groups. The CIA concluded the Al Rahji family was knowingly involved. Al Rajhi Bank and the Al Rajhi family have denied any link to financing militants.


Terror Trial Begins for Largest Muslim-U.S. Charity

The disclosure comes as the Bush administration is facing criticism for prosecuting the largest Islamic charity in the U.S. In a trial that began this week, prosecutors accuse the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development of providing millions of dollars in funding to militant activities by Hamas. The charity says the money has gone to Palestinian victims of Israeli attacks and closures in the Occupied Territories. The case is the largest of its kind in U.S. history. Prosecutors have faced scrutiny for heavily relying on secret evidence supplied by the Israeli government. Khalil Meek of the Muslim Legal Fund of America said: “The Bush administration is arguing that providing medical and nutritional assistance to sick and starving Palestinian children amounts to supporting terrorism.”


Halliburton profits up 19%

International markets, better-than-expected revenue pushes profit of No. 2 oil services maker to 63 cents a share from 47 cents a year ago, trouncing estimates.

July 23 2007: 7:38 AM EDT


HOUSTON (Reuters) -- Halliburton, the world's second-largest oil services company, said Monday that second-quarter profit from continuing operations rose 19 percent, topping Wall Street views, helped by new international contracts.

Earnings from continuing operations climbed to $595 million, or 63 cents a diluted share, up from $498 million, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier.

Also included in second-quarter 2007 operating income was an after-tax gain of 3 cents a diluted share from the sale of an investment, Halliburton said.

Excluding one-time items, analysts on average had expected the company, which was once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, to report a profit of 56 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Halliburton Chief Executive Dave Lesar also offered investors reassuring words about North America, the company's largest market, where there has been worry about over capacity in the well stimulation and fracturing business. Energy companies use those services to increase production of natural gas from hard-to-reach pockets in substances like shale.

Lesar noted in a news release: "We have seen a strong recovery in the United States well stimulation market from the slowdown we experienced last winter."

However, he said that the company's Canadian operations, like those of other service companies, suffered from a significant decline in drilling activity.

The increase in 2007 second-quarter operating income was primarily generated by increased customer activity and new international contracts, the company said.

Net income for the second quarter was $1.5 billion, or $1.62 per diluted share, including a gain of $933 million from the separation of engineering and construction firm KBR Inc. This compares with $591 million, or 55 cents per diluted share, a year earlier.

KBR which is the U.S. Army's largest private contractor in Iraq and has drawn scrutiny by the government for billing claims, was split off from Halliburton earlier this year.

Revenue for the company which has headquarters in Houston and Dubai, rose 20 percent to $3.7 billion. Analysts had expected about $3.5 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Halliburton competes with Schlumberger.

Manufacturing Mental Illness By The Pill.......

The following is from a very valuable, leading grass-roots newsletter on alternative mental health. I have been reading this for several years and you can access it at http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/

Editor's note

In this month's issue we find two articles that exemplify the "schizophrenic" condition of modern society. We see the Wall Street Journal covering the fact that, from a strictly financial standpoint, alternative mental health treatment has become big business. On the flip side, we find that antidepressants are now the most prescribed drug in America. How can both of these be true?

It's simple if you understand the Western world.

On the one hand we have the alternative mental health movement, a purely grassroots effort popping up all over the world, growing by consumer demand. There is no big corporate budget pushing this market growth—it's strictly based on public need. The public is becoming aware that drugs are not only not the ultimate answer, but can even add to the mental or emotional ailment you already have.

Oddly enough, the alternative mental health market has also been driven by pharmaceutical marketing. Drug company advertising has lowered the bar on "mental illness." They have given us to believe that no one should ever be depressed, anxious, or hyperactive, and, if we are, there is a pill for that. In their wake they have left a massive number of people who, sold on the idea of a feel-good pill, tried their drugs, didn't like them, and are now seeking alternative ways to well-being.

What has driven the antidepressant drug boom is simple: massive marketing fueled by obscene sums of money. The actual scientific studies have shown that antidepressants work about the same as a placebo. The drug companies, of course, know this but they still sell their wares.

The sages of centuries past tell us that, eventually, truth wins out. One can expect that, eventually, the public and even the medical field will take the path that leads to actual results and not hype.


SSRIs Reduce Bone Density in Elderly

Antidepressant medications known as "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" (SSRIs) may be associated with an increased rate of bone loss in older men and women, according to two articles in the June 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

SSRIs are commonly prescribed for the elderly and account for 62% of the antidepressant prescriptions in the United States. One of the effects of SSRIs is the inhibition of the protein that transports the neurotransmitter serotonin, which affects mood, sleep, and other functions. This protein has recently been discovered in bone as well, raising the possibility that SSRIs may affect bone density and the risk of fracture.

Researchers, led by Susan J. Diem, M.D., M.P.H. of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, looked at 2,722 older women (average age 78.5 years) over a two-year period. Some were on antidepressants but most were not. At that time and again an average of nearly five years later, the study measured the total bone density of the women's hip region and two subregions.

A total of 198 (7.3%) of the women used SSRIs; another 118 (4.3%) took tricyclic antidepressants; while 2,406 (88.4%) took neither. Those who took both were not included in the analysis. After the researchers adjusted for other factors affecting bone density and antidepressant use, including depression severity and calcium supplement use, bone mineral density at the hip decreased 0.82 percent in SSRI users. This compared with a decrease of 0.47 percent among those who used tricyclic antidepressants and also in those who did not take any antidepressants.

Higher rates of bone loss were also observed at the two hip subregions among SSRI users. "One potential explanation for our findings is that SSRI use may have a direct deleterious effect on bone," the authors write. "This theory is supported by findings of in vitro and in vivo laboratory investigations."

"Our findings suggest that, in this cohort, use of SSRIs is associated with increased rates of hip bone loss," the authors conclude.

In another article in the same journal, Elizabeth M. Haney, M.D., of Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, and colleagues conducted a similar study with 5,995 men age 65 and older (average age 73.7). Bone density at the hip, including subregions, and at the base of the spine were measured over a two-year period.

A total of 160 men (2.7%) reported using SSRIs, 99 (1.7%) reported using tricyclic antidepressants and 52 (0.9 percent) reported using trazodone, a third type of antidepressant. Total hip bone mineral density was 3.9 percent lower among SSRI users than among men who didn't use any antidepressants. Similarly, spine bone mineral density was 5.9 percent lower among SSRI users than among non-users. There was no significant difference in either hip or spine density between men who took tricyclic antidepressants or trazodone and those who did not take antidepressants.

"These associations are biologically plausible and clinically important," the authors conclude. "Because SSRI use is prevalent in the general population, our findings have a potentially important public health impact. If confirmed, people using SSRIs might be targeted for osteoporosis screening and preventive intervention."


Wall Street Journal Looks at Alternative Mental Health

On July 13, the Wall Street Journal ran a lengthy (2,000-word) article entitled "The Unmedicated Mind--Backlash Against Antidepressants is Fueling New Interest in Alternative Treatments." Writer Nancy Keates, who interviewed Safe Harbor's Dan Stradford in June for the article, did an excellent job of showing why the public is reaching more for non-drug solutions in mental health these days.

"Now, spurred by the growing disenchantment with antidepressants," she wrote, "an increasing number of people are seeking treatment for depression, anxiety and eating disorders from naturopaths, acupuncturists and even chiropractors. At the same time, more traditional psychiatrists are incorporating massage and meditation in their practices."

Covering a wide variety of alternative practices and citing many stories of people who have recovered without drugs, Keates gave a balanced look at the pros and cons of the issues.

One paragraph captures the subject in a nutshell: "To address the growing interest from professionals, Harvard Medical School's Department of Continuing Education will have three classes on complementary and alternative medicine in psychiatry over the next year, up from one a year since the class was introduced in 2003. David Mischoulon, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard, says doctors who have attended the class report that more patients are asking for alternative treatments—due to the side effects of antidepressants, as well as a lack of response to the medication. Only about half of patients who take antidepressants respond, he says. 'It is time to broaden the horizons,' he says."


Antidepressants Become the Most Highly-Prescribed Drug in America

In the book Beyond Valium, written in 1981 by Seymor Rosenblatt, M.D., we are told the tale of the drug's rise to power, and how Valium, driven by marketing and widespread prescribing practices by psychiatrists and family doctors alike, became the number one drug prescribed in the nation. Of course, what eventually followed was the public release of information showing Valium's dangerous addictive nature, followed by its fall from grace as a common prescription.

It is a story one would not expect to see repeated. Prior to the 1960s psychotropic medication was rarely used by the general population, being reserved for those with serious mental disorders. Then, with the rise of illegal drug use in the '60s came the concept of "the happy pill," a drug for the "worried well" that would chase the blues away.

Fast-forward to 1987 when SSRIs arrive on the market in the form of Prozac. Again, the pill is marketed not only for the severely disturbed but for those seeking "mood brighteners." The book Listening to Prozac by Peter Kraemer, MD, becomes a best-seller. Even today, barnesandnoble.com refers to it as "The landmark book about antidepressants and the remaking of the self."

We should not be surprised, then, by a report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that, as of 2005, antidepressants are the most highly prescribed drug in the United States. Of the 2.4 billion drug prescriptions written in 2005, 118 million were for antidepressants. Coming in second were 113 million prescriptions for high blood pressure pills.

This increase took place throughout the 1990s and continues to grow. The numbers of adult antidepressant prescriptions tripled between 1988 to 1994 and 1999 to 2000.

In an interview with www.allheadlinenews.com, Dr. Dworkin, a Maryland anesthesiologist and senior fellow at Washington's Hudson Institute, said doctors are essentially prescribing pills to "cure" unhappiness. "Doctors are now medicating unhappiness. Too many people take drugs when they really need to be making changes in their lives."

All You Need is Love.......

Photographic art by Li Wei http://www.liweiart.com/


Tricycle's Daily Dharma: July 28, 2007

Love, but only if...

The near-enemy of love is attachment. Attachment masquerades as love. It says, "I will love you if you will love me back." It is a kind of "businessman's" love. So we think, "I will love this person as long as he doesn't change. I will love that thing if it will be the way I want it." But this isn't love at all--it is attachment. There is a big difference between love, which allows and honors and appreciates, and attachment, which grasps and demands and aims to possess. When attachment becomes confused with love, it actually separates us from another person. We feel we need this other person in order to be happy. This quality of attachment also leads us to offer love only toward certain people, excluding others.

--Joseph Goldstein

Eleven Laws of Spiritual Freedom

Collage by Alicia Pellon



Published in The Global Intelligencer (http://www.theglobalintelligencer.com/)

by Guy Finley

The only thing that holds us down is what we don't yet know about ourselves. This insight explains why our ability to learn the truth about ourselves, to increase our level of self-understanding, is the same as being empowered to raise our own life level. If we want to grow inwardly, we must find new ways to learn the truth about ourselves. These higher discoveries call for higher learning. If it helps, look upon this important part of your inner education as a way to better understand what's been keeping you from learning.

Think of each of the following eleven laws of spiritual prosperity as individual magic strands of a flying carpet. Make it your aim to weave them together in your mind. Then watch how these lessons combine to effortlessly lift you to the next higher and happier life level.

The First Law

Nothing can stop you from starting over.

The greatest power you possess for succeeding in life is your understanding that life gives you a fresh start any moment you choose to start fresh. Nothing that stood in your way even a heartbeat before stands there now in the same way. It's all new, even if you can't as yet see it that way. You've only to test the truth of this fact about the newness of life to discover the incredible freedom that waits for you just behind it. And then nothing can stop you. You'll know the real secret and the perfect power of starting over.

The Second Law

Don't be afraid to see when something doesn't work.

Learn to be sensitive and to listen to the inner signals that try and tell you when something isn't working. You know what they are. Frustration and resentment to name just a few. The presence of these emotional troubles aren't trying to tell you that you can't succeed, only that the road you've insisted upon taking so far doesn't lead where you want. Learning to admit when something isn't working is the same as teaching yourself what will.

The Third Law

If it doesn't flow, there's more to know.

Learn to recognize all forms of strain -- whether at work, in your creative efforts, or in your relationships -- as being unnecessary. The friction you feel mounting when busy at some labor is never caused by the task at hand, but by what you don't yet know about it. This means the only real reason for your strain is that you've got hold of a wrong idea you don't yet see as wrong. This new insight allows you to release yourself by showing you what you need to know. Flowing follows your new knowing.

The Fourth Law

Don't take the easy way.

There's no getting away from what you don't know, which is why any time you feel compelled to go around a problem by taking the easy way, that problem always comes round again. And isn't that what makes life seem so hard? Learn to see the "easy way" as a lying thought that keeps you tied up and doing hard time. Getting something over with is not the same as having it completed. And as this insight grows, so will your understanding that the whole idea of the "hard way" has always been just a lying thought as well. Now you know: the complete way is the easy way. So volunteer to make the "hard way" your way and learn the real easy way.

The Fifth Law

On the other side of the resistance is the flow.

There are often times when it feels as though you can't go any farther in your work or studies. But you can learn to go beyond any blockage. Make the following clear to yourself. Those moments -- when it feels as though you're least able to get beyond yourself -- are not telling you that you've gone as far as you can go, but only reveal that you've reached as far as you know -- for now. This higher self-knowledge about your true inner position allows you to see the resistance you're feeling for what it really is: a threshold, and not a closed door. Walk through it. Nothing can stop you. On the other side of the resistance is the flow. Learning to go beyond you is the same as entering into the new.

The Sixth Law

Watch for the opportunity to learn something new.

Everything is changing all the time. That means life is an endless occasion for learning something new. But this means more than meets the eye. Just as you're a part of everything, everything is a part of you. The whole of life is connected. And your ability to learn is part of the wonder of this complete, but ever-changing, whole. Learning serves as a window, not only into the complex world you see around you, but through it you may also look into the you that's busy looking into the world. And when you've learned there's no end to what you can see about the amazing worlds spinning both around and within you, you'll also know there's no end to you. So stay awake. Learn something new every day. You'll love how that makes you feel about yourself.

The Seventh Law

Learn to see conclusions as limitations.

If you approach the possibilities of learning about your life as being limitless, which they are, then it follows that any conclusion you reach about yourself has to be an unseen limitation. Why? Because there's always more to see. For instance, let yourself see that all conclusions are illusions when it comes to the security they promise. There may be security in a prison, but there are also no choices behind its confining walls. Learn to see all conclusions about yourself as invisible jail cells. For that's what they are. The seeming security these conclusions offer are a poor substitute for the real security of knowing that who you really are is always free to be something higher.

The Eighth Law

Have no fear of being afraid.

Fear can't learn, which is why you must learn about fear if you ever wish to be a fearless learner. So, the first thing you must learn is how to get past your fear of being afraid. Here's how. The next time a fear of some kind tries to fill one of your moments, try to see the difference between the fact of your situation and your feelings about it. This is the right use of your mind. For instance, it's a fact that interest rates change. It's not a fact you have to get scared when they do. That fear is not a fact of life, but only becomes one for you as long as you insist that life perform according to what you think are your best interests. As you learn to see that these fearful feelings don't belong to you, but only to your wrong thinking, you cease to be afraid, even of your own fears.

The Ninth Law

Never accept defeat.

As long as it's possible to learn, you need never feel tied down by any past defeat in your life. Here's the real fact: nothing can prevent the inwardly self-educating man or woman from succeeding in life. And here's why: wisdom always triumphs over adversity. But to win real wisdom calls you to join in a special kind of struggle. And if this battle had a banner under which to rally, here's what would be written upon that higher call to arms: "But I can find out!" Yes, you can learn the facts. You may not know the real reasons why you feel so lonely or worried at times, but you can find out. And you may not understand how you could have been so blind to that evil person's real intentions, but you can find out. Take these four words that are freedom's battle cry. Use them to defeat what's defeating you.

The Tenth Law

Learn to let go of painful pretense.

Most people approach their troubles with one of these two non-solutions: they either pretend their problem isn't a problem, or they pretend they've solved their troubles with temporary cover-ups. But their pain remains. It doesn't have to be this way for you. You can learn to let go of painful pretense. Here's how. When facing an old problem, what you don't want is another "new way" to deal with it. What you really want is to learn something new about the true nature of what has a hold on you. To go far, start near. When faced with any pain, let go of what you think you know. Act towards your trouble as if you don't know anything about it. This new solution is the only true one because the truth is you don't know what the real problem is. Otherwise you wouldn't still have it. Letting go of what you think you know puts you in the right place for learning what you need to know.

The Eleventh Law

Persistence always prevails.

If you'll persist with your sincere wish for higher learning, you can't help but succeed. Persistence always prevails because part of its power is to hold you in place until either the world lines up with your wish or you see that your wish is out of line. But, for whichever way it turns in that moment, you've won something that only persistence can pay. See the following: if you get what you think you have to have to be happy and you're still not satisfied, then you've learned what you don't want. Now you can go on to higher things. And should you learn you've been wearing yourself out with useless wishes, then this discovery allows you to turn your energies in a new direction: self-liberation.


Guy Finley is the author of more than 30 books and audio programs on the subject of self-realization, including several international best sellers. Among many others, his popular titles include: Secret Of Letting Go [1], Design Your Destiny [2], The lost secrets of prayer [3], Apprentice of the Heart [4], and Let Go and Live in the Now [5].

To learn more about Guy Finley and his non-profit Life of Learning Foundation, visit http://www.guyfinley.org/


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Source URL:
http://www.theglobalintelligencer.com/jul2007/soc-health/eleven-laws
Links:
[1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0875422233?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwtheglobali-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0875422233
[2] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1567182828?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwtheglobali-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1567182828
[3] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006RZ0QG?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwtheglobali-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0006RZ0QG
[4] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1883991587?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwtheglobali-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1883991587
[5] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590030702?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwtheglobali-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1590030702

Consider Yourself warned.......