Holding Scientists Accountable
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today's featured scientist:

Jill M. Tall, PhD
Youngstown State University
Biological Sciences
One University Plaza
Youngstown, OH 44555 USA
ph: (330) 941-1387, fax: (330) 941-1483
jmtall@ ysu.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On this first Saturday of September, 2007, Youngstown
State's college football team will open their season
against highly favored (31 points) Ohio State University.

Frenzied students will yell, cheerleaders cheer, the
band will play on, mascots will act silly, beer will be
consumed in pre-game tailgating parties, athletes will
run and pass and kick and score. All the while, few
members of Youngstown's academic community will be aware
of the dirty hush-hush secret horror being conducted
within the university's guarded animal research
laboratory. There is no reason to stand up and cheer for
Youngstown U. today.

More than five years ago, I came across a horribly
torturous rat study which added nothing to human
advancement other than advancing the career of one
zealous graduate student. I discussed that flawed
study with the scientist in question, hoping that
my effort would result in something good. I related
that conversation in a Notmilk column (April 18, 2002).

This week, I came across a similarly ridiculous study
published in the August 9, 2007 issue of the Journal
of Pain. One of the authors was the same young woman
with whom I had spoken to five years earlier.

In this 2007 study, rats were surgically invaded and nerves
in their spinal column were cut so that signals to various
limbs and internal organs were eliminated. This procedure
is called a sympathectomy. Rats were then pricked in the
paws and pain thresholds were determined for each laboratory
subject.
________________________________________________________
The April 18, 2002 column, revisited
________________________________________________________

TORTURING ANIMALS FOR SCIENCE

The headline read:

"A Diet Rich in Soy Products May Help Soothe Pain From
Inflammation"

As I eagerly read the good-news article, my anticipated joy
turned to extreme sadness and frustration:

http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/content/article/2946.1009

Scientists took male Sprague-Dawley rats and hurt them by
injecting them with a chemical substance called Freund's
Adjuvant.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) calls the
use of Freund's Complete Adjuvant (FCA) a "painful
procedure."

USDA defines "painful procedure" as:

"...any procedure that would reasonably be expected to cause
more than slight or momentary pain and/or distress in a
human being to which the procedure is being applied."

USDA allows the use of FCA to:

"To insure the most humane treatment of the lab animals
while obtaining necessary scientific data."

Jill Tall, the senior author, and colleagues induced pain in
laboratory rats, and then (incorrectly) concluded that soy
helped to reduce pain. How sad.

What is even sadder is that I called Jill Tall and had a
lovely talk with her. Jill is a post-doctoral graduate, and
she has enormous passion for her work.

I find her study to be extremely flawed, and told her why.

I cannot help but like her. I just hate the pain that she
causes animals while performing futile research in the name
of science.

Early on in our conversation, I asked Jill how she could
perform a digestive study on rats, and apply her data to
humans, when rats have completely different enzymes, and do
not even have gall bladders. When I told her that rats lack
this hepatic organ, her response was:

"I did not know that."

Jill compared rats eating soy protein to rats eating milk
protein (casein), and concluded that soy helped to reduce
pain. What she did not consider was that milk protein helps
to induce pain. I explained to her that casein is extremely
allergenic, and that after humans eat casein they produce
histamines, then mucous. Swelling and pain results. Her
response:

"I did not know that."

Jill will one day have her paper published in the
prestigious Journal of Pain. I kid you not. There is such a
journal. (Tel: 319-335-7941).

Had the Marquis de Sade been a scientist, his publication of
choice would have been the Journal of Pain. Dr. Mengele (of
Nazi fame) and Jeffrey Hahmer most certainly would have been
subscribers.

Jill and I discussed animal rights issues. She told me that
she does not enjoy giving animals pain, and does so in the
name of science. I understand her. I once said the same
thing when I held innocent lives in my hand and causes
similar pain and death. Jill said:

"I am quite the animal advocate myself. I am convinced that
researchers make the best pet owners."

She may be right. Nietzche once said:

"You can never understand life until you hold death in your
hands."

Jill understands that life is precious. She just does not
understand the futility of animal research.

We had a friendly conversation, and Jill brought up the
issue of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA). She surprised me by saying:

"I have to draw my line in the sand. If I had those PETA
people in front of me, I would ask them to justify what they
do in light of the millions of people saved by the polio
vaccine, which was developed by using animal research."

I told Jill that the polio vaccine would have been approved
20 years earlier had it not been for the chimpanzees. I
explained that chimpanzees died horrible deaths when
injected with the polio vaccine. Rely upon animal studies
and one betrays humans. Her response:

"I did not know that."

Fact is, the polio vaccine was not approved for human use
until the completion of human trials. Like all new
pharmaceuticals, one never learns anything by animal
experimentation. Rat studies are just crap shoots. Sometimes
they work and sometimes they do not. It is not until human
studies are performed that mankind learns the true effects
of a new pharmaceutical.

Jill wants to do amazing things. She wants to cure cancers.
She wants to help people. She does not want to give pain to
animals, yet that is the system that exists, and therein is
both the problem and solution.

To Jill: We betray both the animals and the humans by
producing pain.

A rat cannot say:

"I have a headache. My stomach aches. I feel dizzy.
Something is wrong."

A human can do all of the above, and human tissue samples
now exist representing every form of disease known to
science.

Do rats do better by drinking soymilk? Who gives a damn?
Does soymilk help soothe pain in rats? This is something
that I do not want to know.

Youngstown State University's website:

http://www.ysu.edu

There are thousands of email addresses to be found at
their website. Click on one of more of those email
addresses and plant a seed so that this column educates
Youngstown's community about a horror story that needs
to immediately end.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com
i4crob@ earthlink.net

Vegetarian Dining

I've often used the following website to help search
for a vegetarian restaurant when I travel.

http://www.vegdining.com

Three very popular New York city restaurants (my neck of
the concrete jungle) are Candle Cafe, Zen Palate and
Hagawi. Join Vegetarian Dining and you'll receive a ten
percent discount card to these restaurants as well as
100 others throughout the United States and the rest of
the world.

Visit vegdining.com or contact Dennis Bayomi for more info:

info@...

Today, I am writing this from an Internet-friendly Hotel-6 in
Bangor, Maine at 5:00 AM. In a few hours I'll be dropping
off my youngest daughter (Lizzy) at her dormitory room where
she begins her new four year adventure. Sadly, even vegdining
cannot squeeze carrot juice out of the coarse-grained orange
hornblende granite which makes up some of the most picturesque
rocky landscapes of Maine's Acadia national park. Lobster,
lobster everywhere, with not a bit of tofu in sight.

Should you visit this same area of Maine, unless you are a
big fan of french-fried potatoes, do as I did and pre-pack
quart containers with pineapple, cantaloupe, and grapes.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Unhappy Cows

When I see a commercial or hear the phrase "Happy Cows"
applied to California dairy farms, I get a little sad
and a lotta angry.

On Friday (August 24, 2007) USDA's livestock-slaughter report
revealed that 180,000 dairy cows were slaughtered during July
of 2007 to become millions and millions of fast food burgers.
That number represents an increase of 5,000 cows over July, 2006
reports. From January 1 until July 31, the number of cows
gone to slaughter represents an eleven percent increase over
2006 numbers.

July has 31 days. 180,000 cows divided by 31 days is equal to
one slaughtered cow every fifteen seconds, twenty-four hours
per day. Imagine a never-ending line...four animals killed
each minute. Four deaths while you read this email.

Each cow is first stunned. Each cow then has her carotid artery
sliced open with a knife. Each cow is hoisted upside down by a
chain attached to her rear leg so that her blood sprays into a
55-gallon drum. The blood is then dried and fed back to cows
as a protein supplement.

Some of these cows are awake and aware of the process, and some
choke to death on their own blood. The cows are then gutted,
skinned, quartered, and processed by butchers.

If you eat the cow, you may have skipped one or more of the
slaughterhouse steps, but be aware of your own true identity.
You are the butcher.

Robert Cohen
http://www.slaughterhousecam.com

Thorn in PETA's Side

The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) took out a full-page
advertisement in the New York Times this week:

http://www.petakillsanimals.com

It is my wish that PETA stop killing animals in the name
of compassion. It is time for PETA to use a fraction of
their tens of millons of dollars of resources to set up
a sanctuary for abused, abandoned, and injured dogs from
Vick-fighting-style incidents.

I first reported this PETA deception in June of 2005:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2059

As a result of that column, I made many animal rights enemies:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2061

Michael Vick is accused of killing eight animals. PETA is
accused of killing 14,000. My heart goes out to all animals
whose lives end at the hands of humans.

Animal rights activist Gary Yourofsky's slant on the Michael
Vick circus:

http://www.adaptt.org/vick.php

Robert Cohen
http://www.slaughterhousecam.com
i4crob@...

***Emergency Cheese Recall***

Is Listeria growing in your refrigerator?
Will you be serving your family a diseased dinner?

In 1985 (vol. 312) the New England Journal of Medicine
reported:

"Listeria organisms excreted in cow's milk escaped
pasteurization, grew well at refrigerator temperatures,
and were ingested by consumers."

You might wonder, "Isn't Listeria killed by pasteurization?"

In July of 1987, the Journal of Environmental Microbiology
reported:

"Milk from cows inoculated with listeria was pooled for 2
to 4 days and then heated at 162 degrees Fahrenheit for
16 seconds in a high-temperature, short-time pasteurization
unit. Live listeria bacteria was then successfully isolated
from the milk after heat treatment in 11 of 12
pasteurization trials."

**********************************************************

Ricotta Salata cheese recalled because of listeria

By JAMES SALZER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/28/07

State Department of Agriculture scientists have found
dangerous Listeria monocytogenes bacteria in a Georgia
sample of Italian-made Ricotta Salata cheese, officials
said this morning.

The agriculture department said the contamination was
found in a package imported under the brand name of
Locatelli and marked to sell by Jan. 21. The cheese was
imported by The Ambriola Company, Inc. of Jersey City,
New Jersey.

"We have notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of
today's lab findings, and we are warning the public about
the contamination," Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said.

Consumption of food contaminated with the bacteria can cause
listeriosis, which can manifest as meningitis. Symptoms of
meningitis include high fever, severe headaches, back stiffness
and nausea. Listeriosis can also cause miscarriage and
stillbirth as well as dangerous infections for infants, the
elderly and those with weakened immune systems.
**********************************************************

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Healthiest Oil Controversy

Which Oil is Healthiest, Olive, Soy, or Canola?

Before answering that question, stop everything you're
doing and get yourself a copy of Doug Graham's brilliant
book, the 80-10-10 diet.

http://tinyurl.com/35uxsk

I am a great believer that diet doctors who talk the
talk should also walk the walk. Dr. Doug Graham wins any
nuitritional debate just by showing up. Atkin was a model
of illness. Sears is a model of obesity. I could go on and on.

Which oil is healthiest, olive, soy, or canola?
Which oil is healthiest, safflower, sunflower, or corn?
Which oil is healthiest, peanut, walnut, or grape?
Which oil is healthiest, flaxseed, hemp, or coconut?

The answer is...(drum roll)...

No oil is best.

OK? Given the choice, which form of execution is preferred?

Hanging? A bullet to the heart? The electric chair?
Lethal injection? Death by oil? Death by pit bull (justice
for Vick, et. al.)

In that case, I'll take the oil, please. It's slow, and
it's absolute. Too much oil of any kind is an artery clogger.

The timing could not have been better for today's subject.
Each month, I get the McDougall Newsletter by email.
Early this morning, I received the August issue, and the
subject is dietary fat. See:

<http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/aug/070800.htm>

Dr. McDougall writes:

"When Friends Ask: Why Do You Avoid Adding Vegetable Oils?

Begin by telling them, 'The fat you eat is the fat you
wear,' and remind them that there is nothing attractive
about wearing olive, flaxseed, or corn fat."

Do we need fat in our diets? Of course we do.

The United States Department of Agriculture extracted oil
from human cadavers and determined that 50% of our calories
should come from carbohydrates, 20% from protein, and 30%
from fat. Actually, I have no idea how they determined their
seemingly arbitrary numbers, but the cadaver method makes
about as much sense as the factors they use to support their
various philosophies.

One gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories.
One gram of protein contains 4 calories.
One gram of fat contains 9 calories.

Using USDA's numbers, in order to maintain his or her weight
(multiply by 1.4), an average 150 pound man or woman needs
2,100 calories per day (1050 calories of carbs, 420 calories
of protein, and 630 calories of fat). That translates to:
263 grams of carbs, 105 grams of protein, and 70 fat grams.

CONTROVERSY: The World Health Organization recommends that
that same average individual requires between 28-35 grams
per day of protein, so you see how controversial this issue
can be. Everybody seems to have a different opinion. One of
my favorite nutritionists is Dr. Douglas Graham. Dr. Graham
recommends an 80-10-10 diet. That means the 150 pound person
would eat 52 grams of protein, 420 grams of carbs, and 23
grams of fat. That is more in line with my thinking and my
current diet. I believe that the greatest healers such as
Neal Barnard, T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn, Joel
Fuhrman, Michael Greger, John McDougall, and Dean Ornish,
would also be more in agreement with the 80-10-10 diet than
USDA's 50-20-30. USDA's primary mission is to promote the
consumption of dead cows and milk and dairy products. That
explains the rationale for their unhealthy numbers.

So...how does one obtain 23 grams of fat or oil each day?

Apples or other fruit? Sorry.
That proverbial apple each day is 86 percent water.
Add up the protein, fat, and carbs in one small apple
(100 grams) and you're eating less than one gram of all
of the above combined.

One notoriously fat-filled (200-gram) Haas avocado (I've
known vegans who consume 5-10 avocados each day in the
belief that avocados are healthy) contains 30 grams of fat.

So...how does one obtain the necessary 23 grams of fat?

Consider: One tablespoon of any of the above oils, be it
olive, corn, or canola, contains approximately 14 grams of
fat.

I've seen dieters go heavy on the green salads from salad bars,
selecting dozens of the most delicious veggies and then they
negate all of the good by pouring 5-10 tablespoons of salad
dressing. Salad dressing becomes their downfall.

Here's where lemon juice can be your savior, or oil-free hummus,
or fresh herbs. Just go easy on the oil. Two teaspoons of oil
satisfy one's daily oil requirement. One-half avocado and one
teaspoon of oil will supply all of your daily fat needs.

So...which oil do I recommend, the soy or olive or canola
or safflower? My suggestion is to buy a bottle of the least
processed super-duper extra virgin (sounds like my high
school years) olive oil in a bottle that will cost between
$10 and $20. These oils are so magnificent, that even their
bouquets will add fat to your thighs. They are available in
fine gourmet shops or online. Then, each time you consider
using oil as your food, each teaspoon will be an extravagance.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com
i4crob@...

When I Win the Lottery

Dear Friends,

Tuesday night's Mega multi-state lottery (August 28, 2007)
drawing is now up to $250 million dollars.

One dollar spent provides an infinite number of fantasies.
What an investment!

I've purchased my one ticket. The odds of winning are 177
million to one, but if such things are pre-determined, as
many believe, then I have no need of buying 5 or 10 or
hundreds of tickets as many people do. One ticket provides
the same dream.

Some of the money has already been promised. Should I win,
Tina Volpe (in Arizona) will be given $13 million so that
she can set up a sanctuary for pit bulls and other unwanted,
abused, and abandoned dogs. Thirteen million represents the
amount of money Michael Vick would have earned this year
playing football. The numbers add up. See:

<http://www.globaltalkradio.com/shows/wakeupamerica>

I will also invest $2 million dollars for a cruise. On that
cruise, I will invite and pay all expenses for 1,000
animal rights activists. Each will be given three minutes
to speak. Each talk will be recorded by court reporters
and a document will result which will contain a Declaration
of Animal Rights and an Animal Rights Constitution.

Gary Yourofsky, animal rights activist who has gone to bat
and gone to jail for the animals will be given one-million
dollars to spend any way he wishes. See:

<http://www.adaptt.org>

Howard Lyman will be given one-million dollars to replace
the many millions of potential dollars lost by Howard for
giving the most productive years of his life to the
vegetarian and animal rights movements. See:

<http://www.madcowboy.com>

Alex Hershaft will also be given one-million dollars to
continue his important work. See:

<http://www.farmusa.org>

Danny Viera will be given a million dollars so that he
can sponsor additional modern manna conferences. See:

<http://www.modernmanna.org>

Bruce Friedrich of PETA will be given $10 million dollars
so that he can set up his own animal rights organization
and do things entirely his way. Hopefully, Bruce will
invest a few of those dollars for a crown to wear as the
titular leader of the animal rights movement. See:

<http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2001/000140.html>

Ten million dollars will be invested to purchase or
construct a slaughterhouse which will contain
state-of-the-art video and sound equipment. People
must see what it is like for animals to die. I want
America's youth to see the ugliness of arterial spray.
I want to create 100-million new vegetarians. See:

<http://www.slaughterhousecam.com>

Finally, Kimber Gorall will be given one million dollars.
Kimber taught me to become and remain a vegan. She is one
of the most skilled writers in the animal rights movement.
She writes professionally in a corporate setting. My
dream is to see her write entirely for the animals. See:

<http://tinyurl.com/392adh>

I believe that I've just spent $40 million of the $250
million dollar prize. I guesstimate that another
$100 million will buy enough media time to get me
elected President of the United States in 2012. I
remember Ross Perot's mission. He spent $60 million
dollars in defining America's problems. However, he
could not offer solutions. I believe that I can do
both, and I would begin with Congress. I have a unique
plan to give Congress back its integrity. I have a unique
plan to end homelessness. I can also end disease and
the horrible hatred in the Middle East. I have plans
to provide opportunities for the jobless, and peace
for all living creatures.

So...if you are a believe in positive energy, send
all of your love and spirit to those magical balls
which will determine the winner of Tuesday night's
lottery drawing.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Mars Attacks

Last night I watched Mars Attacks, the hysterical 1996
sci-fi satire with a cast that includes Jack Nicholson,
Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito,
Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger,
and too many other name-stars to mention. Tim Burton directed
the film.

There is a scene in the movie when humans first greet Martians.
All is well. They come in peace. The crowd cheers. Suddenly,
a male hippy-type opens his hands and releases a white dove,
our universal symbol of peace. As the dove approaches the
Martians, we see the look of phobos and demos, fear and
terror on alien faces. This act of aggression and their
retaliation becomes theme and plot to the movie.

The dove reminded me of one of the most incredible persons I
have ever met, Julie Baker of Michigan. Julie began a one-woman
campaign to end dove hunting in the state of Michigan.

Can you imagine anything more absurdly ironic than humans
with guns hunting doves, the sign of peace? I can. Imagine
politicians supporting hunter's rights to shoot, maim, and kill
doves. Even the governor of Michigan supported the slaughter,
despite her initial promise to stop the hunt.

The day after writing this column...

http://www.notmilk.com/feather.html

...I sent an angel's feather from heaven to Julie in the mail.
Julie Baker remains one of the most spiritually and physically
beautiful people on this planet. Her website:

http://www.SaveTheDoves.org

On November 8, 2006, Julie was successful in ending dove
hunting in the state of Michigan. In the largest referendum
vote in state history, every single one of Michigan's 83
counties voted "no" on the issue of shooting doves. Her
ten year battle became one of the most successful animal
rghts campaigns in history.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

This story appeared in the Los Angeles Times
on August 23, 2007:

Livestock rarely protected by cruelty laws

By JOHN M. GLIONNA

PETALUMA, CALIF. — The buzzards led Nick Bursio to his prized
calf. He found the body with a bullet hole in its left shoulder,
near the heart.

Bursio had heard of animals killed by rustlers for their
meat. But not until that May morning had he imagined
anything so senseless as shooting cattle just to watch
them die.

"I had a hollow feeling in my gut, to see that dead calf
laying there, with the mother cow bellowing nearby," said
the Sonoma County rancher. "I thought, what the hell's
going on in this place?"

Authorities are hunting a drive-by shooter who guns down
cows as they calmly munch grass in the rolling pastureland
50 miles north of San Francisco. Since February, five cows
have been found dead in two counties, shot with small-caliber
bullets designed to inflict prolonged pain and suffering.

Nationwide, an increasing number of animal-cruelty cases
are being reported outside city limits: Horses, cows, goats
and other farm animals are being killed, authorities say,
often by angry, reckless young people, perhaps acting on
dares.

While there are no statistics on such crimes, newspapers
detail scores of cases.

Two Texas college students were indicted in 2006 for slashing
a horse's neck before stabbing it in the heart with a broken
golf club handle.

In Pennsylvania in 2005, three joy-riding men killed a pony
named "Ted E. Bear" that belonged to a 4-year-old boy.

In 2006, two Tennessee teenagers shot and killed 24 cows,
many of them pregnant.

"They just wanted to see what shooting cattle was like,"
Hickman County Sheriff Randal Ward said.

California also has seen its share of the rural violence.
In addition to the Northern California cattle shootings,
Oakland police are investigating the May murder of 15 goats,
shot in the face as they huddled in a portable pen. Officers
said residents had called in to report the sound of "babies
crying."

Fresno County detectives arrested two groups of teens in 2005
in the shooting of two dozen cows and horses.

In 2003, two Sonoma County men used their cars to ram to
death a horse named Gentle Song.

Still, the murder of large farm animals garners little a
ttention in America, where the loudest outcry is reserved
for the killing of suburban pets. While 43 states have
passed felony animal-cruelty laws, they rarely are applied
to livestock as long as ranchers follow "accepted husbandry
practices," thanks in part to a strong cattleman's lobby.

"Animals raised commercially for food have little legal
protection against cruelty," said Gene Baur, president
of Farm Sanctuary, a group that campaigns against cruelty
to farm animals. "It speaks to a prejudice against certain
animals, not based on a rational assessment of their ability
to feel pain but on our intended use for them."

Studies suggest that youths who engage in animal cruelty
often commit violent criminal behavior as adults. Among
those who preyed on animals before people were mass killers
Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston
Strangler."

The random killing of large animals suggests a troubling
psychology experts are only beginning to understand. Even
when caught, many youths refuse to talk about their crimes.

"When you do get to talk to kids and ask why they did it,
the most common response is that they were bored," said
Randall Lockwood, vice president for Anti-Cruelty Initiatives
at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. "They're obviously troubled. Most bored teens shoot
hoops or go see movies; they don't go out shooting horses
and cows."

Still, researchers are developing a personality profile of
large-animal killers. Abusers who target livestock act out
a different motivation than those who pick on smaller
creatures, said Mary Lou Randour, national director of
human-animal relations for the Humane Society of the
United States.

"Driving around in search of animals to kill is very
planned and methodical, which could make it more
pathological and dangerous. These animals could be
standbys for the real thing: a human being," she said.

In January, a 16-year-old Humboldt County teenager was
sentenced to 15 years in prison for the killing of a
homeless man. Earlier, that same night, the teen fired
a dozen shots into a cow, hitting it in the face and
eye and cutting off an ear, authorities said.

Such violence preoccupies Cindy Machado, a Marin County
Humane Society detective. Combing country roads in her
animal-control truck, she pursues rancher Bursio's cattle
killer.

In May, after Bursio found his dead 600-pound Charolais
heifer, Machado got on the phone to Fresno County, where
detectives solved a series of farm animal killings in
2005. She says the cases are similar: "They combine guns
and kids and back roads. It's a disaster waiting to happen."

In another case, as manager Craig Allen recalls, a yearling
colt wasn't acting right: it refused to go near the roadside
fence at Old English Rancho, a thoroughbred horse farm in
Fresno County.

Workers found the colt bleeding from a bullet hole in its
buttock. Allen, responsible for 600 horses, rushed to
check on other yearlings.

He found another panicked horse shot in the neck, a
stream of blood trickling down its chest, and helped lead
the wild-eyed animal to the stables. There, several men
held the horse as a veterinarian tried to pass a tracheal
tube down its throat. Within moments, the horse was dead.

"He drowned in his own blood," Allen said.

That year, 2005, seven horses were killed in Fresno County,
including two fillies motorists liked to stop and pet.
Several months before the Old English Rancho attack, a
rancher found one of his cows lying on its side, blood
pouring out of a wound in its neck. Another cow was
paralyzed. Both had been shot in the back of the head.

In all, 16 cows belonging to several ranchers had been
killed within four months. Authorities arrested two
teens in the cow shootings. One came from a home with
25 guns.

Pat Sample lost eight cattle to the snipers. In court,
a judge ordered that the boys apologize, but the
rancher refused to hear them.

"I told the judge there's something really wrong in our
society for kids to act this way," he said. "Why do
they do it?"

Not long after making arrests in the cow case, authorities
convicted two teenagers in the horse shootings -- a gunman
and possible accomplice. The 17-year-old shooter refused
to talk with a court psychologist. A lawyer for one of the
  boys says he still doesn't understand their motivation.

"Rural kids grow up with guns. They shoot squirrels and
coyotes as predator control so the idea of shooting a
rifle from a vehicle is not abnormal," attorney Mark
Coleman said. "Still, I just cannot fathom the transition
it takes to start shooting livestock."

George Kayian, a former Fresno County Assistant District
Attorney who prosecuted the Central Valley teenagers, said
they had too little adult supervision and too much access
to guns.

"You see something, you shoot it -- and then you drive down
the road for a few more laughs," Kayian said. "It's someone
else's problem."

Investigators say society is beginning to take a tough
stance on such cruelty.

After two college students stabbed a 14-month-old quarter
horse named Cowgirl Chic last fall, Texas improved protection
for farm animals, creating a legal definition of what
constitutes torture that includes inflicting "unjustifiable
pain or suffering."

"Most places, you've got to go a long way to be considered
cruel to livestock," said Robert Trimble, an attorney for
the Texas Humane Legislation Network, a nonprofit that
promotes animal-protection laws. "The industry is paranoid
that somehow what they do in their routine animal husbandry
could be called cruelty. We're working to give these animals
some protection."

At Old English Rancho, the same day the yearling died,
Allen put down the horse shot in the buttocks because the
bullet had entered the animal's abdomen.

A third horse hit in the shoulder survived.

Said Allen: "We named him 'I'm Bulletproof.' "

One morning in June, detective Machado examined a yellow
cattle-crossing sign along a back road: The steer's image
had been shot through the heart.

In the miles of Marin County that are now her crime scene,
she looks for traces a cow killer might have left behind: A
swastika etched into the middle of a road, bashed-in mailboxes,
mangled empty beer cans, the shot-up road sign.

She also tries to soothe the nerves of angry local ranchers,
one of whom suffered a heart attack after a cow was gunned
down in his field.

"Hey, we all lose animals; they die. But these killings are
off the charts," said Mike Gale, president of Marin County
Farm Bureau. "They've gotten under the skin of the ranching
community here. If they catch these kids, I'm afraid they're
going to do something terrible to them."
____________________________________________________________
Posted by Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

One Reason For My Continuing Insanity

I have not previously written about this factor...
it is giving me nightmares.

In 1990, I helped a 60 Minutes producer (Isadore Roesemarin) do
a segment on aspartame/NutraSweet, the artificial sweetener.
When Searle Pharmaceuticals got NutraPoison approved, their
president was a man by the name of Donald Rumsfeld. They then
sold the company to Monsanto. A 30-year-old named Clarence
Thomas was then Monsanto's lawyer. A congressman by the name
of John Ashcroft had received the greatest number of political
donations from Monsanto. That's just a bit of trivia and
not the primary point to be made here...

At that time I carefully went through Searle's research. They
had submitted 112 studies to the FDA for approval. The FDA
designated 17 of those studies to be "pivotal." By naming
a study "pivital" it had to be available to the public in its
entirety. So...I filed a Freedom of Information Act request for
the 17 studies. One of them was performed at the University
of Wisconsin on Rhesus Monkeys. After day 300 of that one-year
study every single one of the monkeys (low dose, medium dose,
and high dose groups) developed grand mal epileptic seizures.

Although I totally reject animal research, I recognize
that the performance and review of such research is THEIR
game. THEY set the criteria. When lab animals suffer
adverse affects, THEY are responsible for telling the truth.
In this case, THEY ignored the truth. I discovered the truth.

One month before the report aired, I met with a man by the
name of Michael Friedman, a high level FDA bureaucrat. I shared
the results of the study with him. FDA had approved aspartame
by concluding that there were no adverse affects on laboratory
animals. I found that FDA had erred. Friedman had my information.

I also found an ex-FDA employee willing to testify regarding
internal FDA pressures to ignore the facts and approve NutraSweet.
There was fraud and deceit at FDA. The public was about to be
intentionally poisoned.

When the actual 60 Minutes piece aired, they left the testimony
of the FDA employee on the cutting room floor. Furthermore,
Friedman, armed with my information, was interviewed and said,
"There were no adverse affects on lab animals." He lied and
I was angry and disappointed. The man represented pure evil
to me.

Three months later he was named FDA Commissioner.
Six months after that he left FDA to become the new
president of the NutraSweet company.

Now, I get to the real point of my story.

While I was addicted to Oxycontin, the FDA fined
the manufacturer, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, $634 million
for deceptive practices...for not revealing that
Oxycontin was more addictive than heroin. This week
after weaning myself from this powerful drug, I learned
that the acting president of that company is the very
same Michael Friedman.

I live in a world of conspiracy theories, and I do
too much research for my own good. The paper trails
seem impossible for investigative reporters to
follow, while they are marked with day-glo paint
for me. Call it my curse. I do what I do for the
public, I guess. I keep no secrets. I immediately
write about them. Perhaps, in a conspiracy theory
world, that is what keeps me alive. I do not really
give a damn any more about my safety. Their crimes
against mankind are so serious that I must do what
I do.

My Woodstock generation...we were going to change the
world, remember? Remember our phony ideals and how
everybody we know sold out and became our own parents?

Am I just wasting my time?

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Hitler Posthumously Awarded Humane Status

Before you read today's column, I am offering a
$10,000 prize to any one of my readers who is able
to convince me that "death-dealing" can be
performed "humanely" or with "compassion" as
the enclosed article suggests. The author of
that article claims that the cows on the
referenced farm live "long and blissful lives."
A second prize of $5,000 will be awarded to any
reader who can convince me that this is true.

During the second world war, the Treblinka concentration
camp employed the use of a string quartet which played
Mozart as long lines of condemned Jews walked single
file to the showers where they were gassed to death.
Was this really a humane act by the Nazi Third Reich?
Fans of der Fuhrer would argue that Hitler practiced
compassion in his mass exterminations. His slaughterhouses
were based upon Henry-Ford-style assembly-line operations.
Hitler's version of compassion was simply efficient killing.
Concentration camp employees were ex-slaughterhouse workers.
How different philosophically are America's slaughterhouses?

The American Humane Association has awarded a "Humane
award" to a 900-cow factory farm because they slaughter
cows with compassion.

Despite the fact that each birthed calf is separated from
her mother, they rationalize by calling themselves humane.

Despite the fact that each and every one of their cows
ends up hanging upside down with her throat cut in a
slaughterhouse, they now call themselves humane. Some
people might argue that there is such a thing as
humane slaughter. Those same people might offer you
shares of stock in the newly syndicated "Minnesota
Interstate 35W Mississippi River Bridge Corp." In
either event, don't buy it.

Upon hearing of this award, the first thing which came
to mind was a delightfully goofy 1980 movie called
"The Gods Must Be Crazy." Here is the article:
_________________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
_________________________________________________________
August 20, 2007

The American Humane Association on Monday announced that
it has granted Northern California's Loleta Cheese Company
the American Humane Certified Free Farmed designation in
recognition of Loleta's organic as well as traditional
dairies. The American Humane Certified Free Farmed program
exists to provide independent verification that livestock
and poultry are raised humanely and accordance with animal
welfare standards set forth by the Association, which was
founded in 1877 to protect the rights of children as well
as animals. It is the only national organization of its
kind in the United States.

Bob and Carol Laffranchi established the Loleta Cheese
Factory in Loleta, California, on the edge of the Eel
River Valley, 12 miles south of Eureka, in 1982. In 1998,
the Laffranchis added a dairy farm to their operation and
began producing milk. Since then, Loleta's herd has grown
to number over 900 cows. In 2006, the Laffranchis
transformed their dairy into an organic operation to
support their growing line of organic cheeses.

Agricultural businesses that are in line with the
American Humane Certified Free Farmed program must ensure
that their animals can readily access fresh, clean water,
are fed a nutritious diet, and receive medical care. In
addition, they also have to provide their animals with a
comfortable environment that limits stress while allowing
them to freely engage in their normal behaviors.

Animal rights activists point out that traditionally, on
American family farms cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens, despite
the fact that often times their destiny is to be slaughtered,
are considered part of the family.

Often, individual animals have personal names; when an
animal's time comes to be slaughtered, farm families do their
best to ensure that the death-dealing is done humanely, causing
the animals as little stress and suffering as possible. In
addition, the chickens that are kept for laying eggs and the
cows that are kept to produce milk, cream, butter, and cheese
live long and by and large blissful lives.

Farm animals are free to roam in green pastures, and have
access to shelter during inclement weather, with the humane
treatment of animals founded in an understanding of their
natural behaviors. The principal is that if farm animals
are treated with respect, then nature itself is respected.
Farmers term this "good husbandry".

Activists additionally point out that there is a direct
connection between respect for natural animal behavior and
protection of the environment. Animal husbandry practices
accommodating the natural behaviors of animals are in harmony
with sustainable and non-polluting farm practices which are
receiving more and more attention.
_________________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
_________________________________________________________

How did today's story make the news, you might wonder?
The American Humane Association invested $1,000+ donated
dollars to purchase the space as a paid press release on
PR Newswire. This year, a benefactor bequeathed $34
million to this organization. Expect more of the same.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Got Raw Milk?

It's all the rage. Many un-health advocates place
families in jeopardy by advocating the consumption
of raw milk from diseased animals.

Internet Doctor Mer(jerk)cola swears by it.

Last week (Wednesday, August 15) the New York Times
reported a story of an Easthampton, New York couple
who go out of their way to buy raw milk for their
9-month-old child. I was tempted to look them up and
forward a hypodermic syringe with a vial of insulin.
USDA's official policy is that no child under the age
of one should ever drink whole milk, because milk
protein is a trigger for insulin-dependent diabetes.
See:

http://www.notmilk.com/d.html

The August 20, 2007 issue of Science magazine reports
the results of a study of raw milk from 901 Wisconsin
herds. Scientists found:

"...a significant presence of Coxiella burnetii and
Listeria monocytogenes."

Is this bad news for raw milk consumers and society?
Not if you believe in zero population growth.
Not if you want to cull the young and sick and infirm
from our own human herd.

One additional warning from USDA:

"Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal
infections in young children, frail or elderly people, pregnant
women, and individuals with weakened immune systems. Listeria
infections can also cause miscarriages."

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Dear Friends,

Whether it's torturing a dog or shooting a deer with
a high powered rifle, it's all the same to me. One man
will be going to jail, to be sentenced on Monday after
just announcing a plea deal. Another animal killer is
America's hero. A third killed a woman and served 90
days, and continues to play pro football. Today's
enclosed sports column contains interesting perspectives:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morning Rush

By Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports

The franchise quarterback just had suffered the most crushing
defeat of his career, and he needed to get away from it all.
So the peeved passer headed to the backwoods of Mississippi,
where he cleared his head by killing a defenseless animal.

Sorry, PETA, but the gun-toting quarterback in question was not
Michael Vick. In fact, it was Peyton Manning, whose aim with a
hunting rifle apparently is as true as it is with the ol' pigskin.

In January 2003, a couple of days after the Indianapolis Colts'
41-0 playoff annihilation by the New York Jets, Manning went to
a 12,000-acre spread in central Mississippi owned by a family
friend and got his mind right. As he told me later that year,

"You're out there hunting for deer and ducks, just you and your
gun. It's peaceful and totally quiet, no cell phones or anything
like that. It's a good detox, the type of thing that gets your
batteries recharged."

In other words: Bad news, Bambi.

This is not meant to be a shot at Manning, one of the sports
world's good guys and, in fairness, one of the many NFL players
who enjoys such recreational pursuits. There are plenty of reasons
his behavior should not be compared to the alleged doings of the
Train Wreck That Is Michael Vick, beginning with the fact that
it was legal.

Some also would argue that it is more humane to put a bullet
through an unsuspecting deer than to end the life of a canine
in any of the hideous ways that the exiled Atlanta Falcons
quarterback and his co-defendants are accused – though I'm not
necessarily sure the eight-point buck with the 18-inch spread
that Manning had mounted on the wall of his Indy home would see
it that way.

The larger point is that, as much as we're tempted to react to
the federal indictment of Vick as though it contained the most
heinous accusations against a football player since O.J. Simpson's,
there's a whole lot of hypocrisy here.

For one thing, animals are put to death on a continuous basis, as
I was just telling one of my fellow pet-lovers at a neighborhood
barbecue while wiping away the hamburger grease that had dripped
onto my suede Pumas.

It also must be noted – and I am not defending the sick behavior
of anyone whom a jury decides has committed an offense such as
electrocuting a pit bull – that there are NFL players who've been
charged with having committed deplorable crimes against actual
human beings. Some of them even have been convicted, yet most of
us manage to let it go when they do good things for the home team
or emerge as value picks in the fantasy draft.

During my recent training camp travels, I stood in the St. Louis
Rams' practice bubble watching 10th-year defensive end Leonard
Little hone his impressive pass-rushing skills. The workout, which
had been moved inside because of concerns about the hellacious heat,
was closed to the public, but I didn't see any picketers outside.

To jog your memory, Little was the player who in 1998 drove home
after celebrating his birthday, ran a red light in downtown St.
Louis and caused a collision that killed another motorist,
47-year-old Susan Gutweiler. A breath test measured his blood-alcohol
level at 0.19 percent, nearly twice the legal limit, and he
eventually
pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and spent 90 days in jail.
When he returned to the Rams after an eight-game NFL suspension,
Mothers Against Drunk Driving protested outside a Rams game, but
few people outside St. Louis seemed to notice, and Little went on
to become one of the league's premier pass rushers.

It's a horrible story, but it might have contained at least a
slightly redemptive touch had Little assuaged his guilt by urging
others never to make the same mistake. He could have become a vocal
and visible spokesman for consuming alcohol responsibly. He could
have used his platform as a star athlete to try to save the lives
of future drunk-driving victims.

Instead, Little drank and drove again. In 2004, Little was arrested
for driving while intoxicated after being pulled over in Ladue, Mo.,
for speeding at 3:44 a.m. The arresting officer's affidavit stated
that Little had "bloodshot, watery eyes and emitted an odor of
alcohol;" that he had "attempted and failed three sobriety tests;"
and that the player had "admitted to drinking alcoholic beverages."

Little, charged with a felony for driving while intoxicated as a
persistent offender, later was acquitted after his lawyer convinced
a jury that the arresting officer hadn't followed proper procedures
in conducting the field-sobriety tests. Though another officer
testified that he had administered a breath-alcohol test at the
scene which showed that Little's blood-alcohol content was nearly
double the legal limit of .08 percent, the test was inadmissible
under Missouri law because of the unreliability of portable
equipment. (After arriving at the police station, Little had
refused to take a second breath-alcohol test.)

In other words, Little triumphed in court thanks to the legal
equivalent of the Tuck Rule – only with a far more subdued
reaction by the offended party (in this case, anyone with a
brain and/or a conscience) than that displayed by Raider Nation.

I always thought that MADD, which tried to draw attention to
the case, was a robust, publicity-savvy advocacy group. But,
apparently, PETA is the big leagues, and MADD is rookie ball.
Then again, everyone, from the anti-war movement to the salty
pseudoscientists trying to convince us that global warming is
a hoax, is a lightweight compared to PETA.

I'm not mad at MADD; I'm simply pointing out that Little – and,
for that matter, plenty of other NFL players whose behavior has
been unconscionable – is allowed to ply his trade without getting
shouted down by the masses.

Meanwhile, Vick, a man with no prior criminal record who has not
yet been tried or convicted, is the NFL's version of TB on a plane.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank was ready to suspend his franchise
quarterback before commissioner Roger Goodell intervened and
banished Vick from training camp, with no resistance from the NFL
Players Association, which is supposed to represent Vick's
interests. Now Goodell is preparing to shelve Vick for the entire
2007 season. The fallen star may never play another NFL down.

The biggest reason this is happening so quickly, prematurely and
intensely is because of us. We're the angry mob shouting for
justice, albeit via Internet chat rooms and sports-talk radio;
ultimately, we're the ones empowering Goodell to act, with PETA
doing the bulk of the legwork.

The allegations against Vick and the resulting outcry are
tarnishing the brand, and Goodell, the owners who employ him and
the companies which supply the league's ad revenues are highly
aware of the stakes. Meanwhile, in terms of public reproach, other
players are getting away with … well, crimes like involuntary
manslaughter.

This is not meant to be flippant or to suggest a value judgment
in any way, but it could be argued that right now, an NFL player
would be less stressed about going on trial for domestic abuse
than he would for dogfighting.

I can't predict whether another NFL player will follow Vick into
court, but I can tell you that he's not the only one caught up in
the animal-fighting culture. One of the league's best role models,
New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister, concedes that
the problem is more widespread than some outsiders may believe.

"If you look at the big picture, cockfighting just got banned
in Louisiana," he said last Thursday. "That helps put all of
this in perspective."

When I asked McAllister, a native of tiny Lena, Miss., if he
ever had been invited to a dogfight, he laughed and said,
"Come on, I'm from the country."

Now think about this: There is a player on an NFL roster with
an image of two dogs fighting tattooed on his lower back. If
PETA figures out who he is, this could add new meaning to the
term "bad ink."

For what it's worth, the player in question is from the South,
but his name is not Michael Vick.

If that disappoints you, take heart: It's not Peyton Manning,
either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above column was written by Michael Silver, Yahoo Sports

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Good Versus Evil

In her Ministry of Healing, one of history's
most compassionate women wrote:

"Great efforts are put forth, time and money and labor almost
without limit are expended, in enterprises and institutions
for reforming the victims of evil habits. And even these
efforts are inadequate to meet the great necessity. Yet how
small is the result! How few are permanently reclaimed!"
{Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing, page 351}

By attempting to convert one of history's worst animal
abusers into an animal advocate, We have before us a
solution that can result in a sanctuary for abused,
abandoned, rescued, and forgotten fighting dogs. Such
a shelter can only provide good things, and the penalty
for Mr. Vick's abuse will be for him to finance the
construction of, and continuing operation of that sanctuary.
His $13 million salary will be dedicated to that end. Should
he not play football this year, there will be no sanctuary.
There will be no healing.

Be inspired by Ellen White's words and those of Blaise Pascal,
seventeenth century philosopher, mathematician, and physicist,
who wrote:

"We sometimes learn more from the sight of evil than from
an example of good; and it is well to accustom ourselves
to profit by the evil which is so common, while that which
is good is so rare."

The prosecutor in the Micheal Vick case is Mike Gill.
Mr. Gill's telephone and FAX:

TEL: 1-804-819-5443
FAX: 1-804-771-2316

Together, we can make this sanctuary happen. From evil,
we can create good. Please let this be worth your while
to make your statement.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Good Versus Evil

In her Ministry of Healing, one of history's
most compassionate women wrote:

"Great efforts are put forth, time and money and labor almost
without limit are expended, in enterprises and institutions
for reforming the victims of evil habits. And even these
efforts are inadequate to meet the great necessity. Yet how
small is the result! How few are permanently reclaimed!"
{Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing, page 351}

By attempting to convert one of history's worst animal
abusers into an animal advocate, We have before us a
solution that can result in a sanctuary for abused,
abandoned, rescued, and forgotten fighting dogs. Such
a shelter can only provide good things, and the penalty
for Mr. Vick's abuse will be for him to finance the
construction of, and continuing operation of that sanctuary.
His $13 million salary will be dedicated to that end. Should
he not play football this year, there will be no sanctuary.
There will be no healing.

Be inspired by Ellen White's words and those of Blaise Pascal,
seventeenth century philosopher, mathematician, and physicist,
who wrote:

"We sometimes learn more from the sight of evil than from
an example of good; and it is well to accustom ourselves
to profit by the evil which is so common, while that which
is good is so rare."

The prosecutor in the Micheal Vick case is Mike Gill.
Mr. Gill's telephone and FAX:

TEL: 1-804-819-5443
FAX: 1-804-771-2316

Together, we can make this sanctuary happen. From evil,
we can create good. Please let this be worth your while
to make your statement.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Good Versus Evil

In her Ministry of Healing, one of history's
most compassionate women wrote:

"Great efforts are put forth, time and money and labor almost
without limit are expended, in enterprises and institutions
for reforming the victims of evil habits. And even these
efforts are inadequate to meet the great necessity. Yet how
small is the result! How few are permanently reclaimed!"
{Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing, page 351}

By attempting to convert one of history's worst animal
abusers into an animal advocate, We have before us a
solution that can result in a sanctuary for abused,
abandoned, rescued, and forgotten fighting dogs. Such
a shelter can only provide good things, and the penalty
for Mr. Vick's abuse will be for him to finance the
construction of, and continuing operation of that sanctuary.
His $13 million salary will be dedicated to that end. Should
he not play football this year, there will be no sanctuary.
There will be no healing.

Be inspired by Ellen White's words and those of Blaise Pascal,
seventeenth century philosopher, mathematician, and physicist,
who wrote:

"We sometimes learn more from the sight of evil than from
an example of good; and it is well to accustom ourselves
to profit by the evil which is so common, while that which
is good is so rare."

The prosecutor in the Micheal Vick case is Mike Gill.
Mr. Gill's telephone and FAX:

TEL: 1-804-819-5443
FAX: 1-804-771-2316

Together, we can make this sanctuary happen. From evil,
we can create good. Please let this be worth your while
to make your statement.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Notmilkman's Exorcism

This is a restless time for me. I do not remember
sleeping, but I must getting some sleep, because I
can vividly recall the nightmares

Every night, a clammy wetness materializes on my skin.
It feels more like a cold, dewy mucus than a dripping
warm sweat. I wake up with this discomforting feeling at
1:30 and again at 3:00 and then at 4:30 and once more
with the first light of dawn. With each awakening I smell
a metallic odor on my body and breath and wonder how tiny
white pills could create such systemic mischief.

Multiply this horror by every single night, 60 days in a
row. This represents partial payment one must pay for the
pleasure of eighteen months of drug-induced brain numbness.

In November of 2005 I suffered a serious injury to my
back. Things got progressively worse, and I had to seek
medical attention. I first consulted with Dr. Menachim
Epstein, a well-respected back surgeon and medical school
professor in his late seventies who wrote a well regarded
book on back injuries similar to my own. Dr. Epstein warned:

"After you start taking painkilling drugs, your body will
continue to crave more and more, sending out additional
false pain signals so that you feed the addiction."

I did not take this bit of advice seriously, but long after
his prediction, I now know how right he was. He issued a
prescription for Percocet as I requested, and sent me to a
Korean acupuncturist and a series of chiropractors, none of
whom provided any pain relief.

It got to the point at which things got so bad, I could not
walk five steps without having to sit down. As a result of
crushed lower lumbar vertebrae, the pain in my back, buttocks,
left leg, and left foot kept me from driving, traveling,
walking, sitting, playing racquetball, bike riding, and
generally living a normal life. Even sitting on the toilet
became a mini-traumatic episode. My medication increased.

I then met Dr. Mark Drzala, a brilliant surgeon in Montclair,
NJ. CAT scans and x-rays revealed the extent of the damage. The
doctor first did an epidural surgery in which a corticosteroid
was injected into my spine. That provided no real relief. I
had a second epidural one month later and there was an enormous
improvement. However, something terribly wrong occurred
during that procedure. I have no memory of the first epidural.
I woke up in the recovery room. The anesthesiologist assured
me that I would have no memory of the second one either.

I woke up during the middle of the procedure and felt the
needle go into my spine. I remember hearing the one word a
patient never wants to hear his surgeon say. "Oops." I also
remember struggling to rise up from the operating table,
feeling the needle and reacting to an intense burst of
pain as the doctor and nurses struggled to keep me still.

I was held down by many hands and I was immediately administered
additional anesthesia and again woke up in the recovery room,
retaining memories of this horrible surgical experience. I
was previously assured by the anesthesiologist that I would
remember nothing. After the surgery, I lost my sense of smell
and taste for nearly two months. Before that surgery, my blood
pressure had traditionally been in the 120 over 80 range.

One month later, my blood pressure registered 200 over 110
during a routine physical. I was rushed to a hospital emergency
room and administered intravenously a drug called Labetalol.
There were times when I felt as if my head was bursting
from the pressure. Did I suffer a stroke? I had double
vision in my left eye which lasted for about two weeks.

After this episode, I did a bit of research and found that
cranial nerve damage can occur during epidurals if the spinal
column is nicked. I believe this happened. Speak to 999 out of
1,000 doctors and they will insist that this is impossible.

I found references (Robert Henken, et. al.) in which such
damage can occur. My olfactory and trigeminal nerves were
negatively affected. My tenth cranial nerve, the vagus
nerve, was also affected. The smell and taste have come back.
The blood pressure continues to be controlled by Labetalol
and Lisinopril. When I stop taking these drugs, I hear my
blood. I feel my heart pounding in my ears. I can identify
the P-Q-R-S-T spikes in my heart beat. I cannot sleep.

Drugs stabilized my blood pressure so that I could endure
a third epidural. Unfortunately, that did not help to relieve
the pain. My surgeon determined that surgery was indicated.

Together, we spent many hours reviewing new CAT scans and x-rays.
I saw the damage from his perspective and agreed that I really had
no choice. On June 26, 2006, I had a spinal fusion operation (which
cost over $200,000) and had four titanium screws implanted into
my back. I was told that the healing process could take six months
or longer.

Instead of healing, the pain progressed. For whatever reason, the
screws began to rotate and the fusion did not take. During this time,
my surgeon prescribed pain medication. I was taking the equivalent
of about 20 milligrams of Oxycontin and/or Oxycodone each day. My
doctor also prescribed Fentanyl patches. Fentanyl is 40 times more
powerful than heroin. The patches sat untouched for a year in my
medicine cabinet. This morning, I threw them into the garbage. I
was never tempted to use them, despite the substantial pain.

After the surgery, I stayed overnight in the hospital and went home
the very next day. I was told that I would spend 3-5 nights in the
hospital. I have an enormous need to achieve, and told the doctor
before the operation that I would not stay for more than one night.
He doubted me, but agreed that I could go home after doing three
things. First, I had to be able to walk. Second, I had to demonstrate
that I could climb stairs. Finally, I had to fill a large beaker
with urine. Without getting too gory, let me tell you that I awoke
with a catheter inserted deep into my genital organ. Ouch! Removal
of same was one of the most uncomfortably painful events of my life.
Yet, I walked, climbed stairs, filled the damn bottle, and became
the only patient in my doctor's experience to spend just one night
in a hospital bed after a similar five hour surgery. I really
wanted to heal so badly and get on with my life.

During the next few months, the pain continued to grow. I
visited my surgeon once every two weeks and at each visit he
took a series of x-rays. At the three month mark, he ordered
a new CAT scan. The x-rays can only reveal so much. The CAT
scan confirmed that the surgery did not work. He immediately
recommended another surgery. The first surgery was performed
directly on my back as I lay on my stomach. The yet-to-be-performed
second surgery will be performed through my belly as I lay on my
back. There's quite a bit of intestinal material and body organs
to get through before accessing my spine. The thought terrifies
me. I am to have a piece of cadaver bone implanted this time.
Just what I need...nightmares of contracting a prion disease.

As time went on, the pain increased again. As the pain increased,
the medication increased. A few times during this process, I
went cold turkey and quit the medication, just to see if I
could. Withdrawal from a 20-milligram day Oxycontin addiction
is a challenge, but I succeeded each time (for a few days)
before beginning anew.

Sensing that I could do better, I consulted with a pain specialist,
Dr. Valenza of the Kessler institute in Saddle Brook, NJ. He upped
the medication even more. With each additional visit the dosages
were increased. I adored this man. He gave me everything I
asked for and then some. On a zero to ten scale, with ten being
the worst pain, I was at a constant 8-9 before seeing this new
physician. He helped bring the pain down to the 4-5 range.

By April of 2007, I was up to 110 milligrams per day. I lived
in a fog. I could not think. I could not finish the daily
New York Times crossword puzzle (which I previously did with
a pen and usually completed in under 20 minutes).

In July, 2007, the manufacturer of Oxycontin and Oxycodone
was fined $634.5 million for misleading the public about the
addiction risk of these drugs. By then, I was addicted. I
had subsequently learned that from 1996 to 2001, the number
of Oxycontin/Oxycodone-related deaths nationwide increased
by a factor of five hundred percent. I was using and abusing
drugs and could no longer quit.

The pain level was now a ten. I faced two choices. I could
increase the pain medication and begin taking two or more
80 milligram tablets each day. Or, I could immediately have
surgery and hope for the best. I decided to do something
unconventional. I decided to quit the medication and see how
bad the real undrugged pain was. Working with Dr. Valenza, I
followed his guidelines to slowly withdraw from the medication.
I considered checking into a clinic. I then decided that I
had to do this myself. I never imagined what hellish discomfort
I was about to experience.

Every night I went through three-four t-shirts and soaked through
my sweat pants and bed sheets. I would shake and suffer headaches
and stomach aches and all of the typical withdrawal symptoms
of a traditional heroin addict. It was hell. The drugs are an
unforgiving monster.

I vowed to beat this evil by September 1. On yesterday's date,
August 18th, I took my last 5 milligram pain killer. Today will
be my first drug-free day in nearly two years. As a final protest
my body is teaching me tortures which are exquisite in their
creativity. It will not let me sleep, and my entire system has
had an unprecedented semi-electrical shutdown. The last two
nights are nights to remember as a drug-denied system tries
every withdrawal trick in its repertoire to induce me to take
a pill. Each time I look this true evil in the face, I laugh.
I know that I will win the battle.

I still need a second and third surgery. I obtained another
opinion from an Emerson, NJ surgeon, Ari-Ben-Yoshei. No doubt
about it. One surgery will remove a partial source of my pain,
four rotating titanium screws from the failed first surgery.
The second operation will reconstruct my lower spinal column.
I've scheduled the first surgery for the first Monday in the
new year. Two daughters will then be home from college to
do chores around the house, to cook, clean, and help out
a dad recovering from his wounds. I will need the next few
months to prepare for all possibilities.

I've been told that the chances of improvement are 75 percent
percent. That puts the failure rate at 25 percent. Things
could get much worse. Things should get much better. I
approach this surgery with serious fear, yet, I recognize
that it is well worth the risk. Having lived through two
years of extreme unpleasantry, it is my decision to damn
the torpedoes and move full speed ahead.

When I met with my pain management team last week for what I
believe to be the final time, Dr. Valenza had two third-year
medical students under his tutelage. As I explained why
I no longer need medication and thanked him for his
brilliant guidance, he turned to the female student and
asked, "Do I really care about relieving this man's pain?"
His addition of the word "really" caused her to pause, but
while I lived through the experience and understood where
he was coming from, she was not able to answer correctly.

She thought for a moment and then responded "Yes, I
would imagine so." He smiled and said, "No, I really
do not care about that. What I care about his ability to
function." I smiled. He was so correct in his approach.
I felt that I was functioning well while being drugged
out of my mind. In fact, I was not. I had to teach myself
that the brain fog was a lesser alternative to living with
some pain and in doing so, recaptured my mind and soul.

I function. Therefore, I am.

I am now drug free and intend to remain that way. The
withdrawal symptoms should continue for another week. I
have been swimming and working out and expect to be in
fantastic physical shape before the new year begins.
I hope very much to see you in 2008. I expect to travel
the country to do a series of lectures and book signings.
There is much work to do, and my Notmilk past represents a
solid foundation. A first step.

I recall the title of an Ian Fleming book which I read in
my youth, "You Only Live Twice." The (poorly-structured)
Japanese haiku which inspired the title has always remained
with me:

"You only live twice, once when you are born, once when you
look death in the face."

Two nights ago, I suffered the worst night of sleep though
this entire episode, soaking five t-shirts. It was my body's
last scream for painkillers. Last night, I woke up only once
and this morning wore the same t-shirt I put on when first
coming to bed. I am now free.

This devil within me has been a bitch, and she has been banished
forever. I will return from this experience much stronger than
before and expect my mission to be proportionately more powerful.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Michael Vick's Dog Days

Dear Friends,

Wouldn't it be wonderful to see Michael Vick play football
again? That remains an enormous wish/fantasy on my part.

If you've been living alone in the wilderness in a Montana
cabin without electricity, then you might not have heard
that the Atlanta Falcon quarterback has led a secret life.

Vick is accused of breeding pit bulls to fight. He is also
accused of wagering on vicious bouts of pit bulls fighting
to their deaths. Finally, Vick is accused of drowning,
shooting, and electrocuting those dogs who survived those
bouts as losers. In that regard, Vick is at the bottom of
the animal rights scale, and has become a pariah to his
friends, teammates, and most of the human race.

I come to seek his redemption.

This past week, I've spoken with concerned parties
regarding a solution to the Michael Vick horror story.

I have communicated with the National Football League
Commissioner's office. I have spoken with representatives
of Mr. Vick's football team. I have also discussed a
solution to this story with Vick's attorney's office,
agent, members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, and the Humane Society. Finally, I have discussed
a solution with the federal prosecutor in this case and
have faxed a written proposal/solution to his attention.

Here is what I propose.

Sending Vick to jail will not help pit bulls. Sending
Vick to prison in a plea bargain for one year benefits
nobody. My suggestion is to allow Vick to play football
this year.

In exchange for his freedom, Mr. Vick must dedicate his
entire $13 million salary for 2007 to setting up a
sanctuary for abused, rescued, and abandoned dogs. The
director of that shelter would be a heroic animal rights
champion, Tina Volpe. I have already discussed this
subject with Tina, and she is agreeable. Tina already
runs a small shelter for animals and is a well-respected
champion of animal rights. See:

http://www.globaltalkradio.com/shows/wakeupamerica

Tina would simultaneously build and run a shelter for hundreds
of animals, and establish an educational program which
promotes spay and neutering of companion animals. These
saved animals will become ambassadors for the millions of
animals that cannot be saved.

Mr. Vick would do a 180 degree turn and help to promote
animal welfare. His mea culpa would result in an unprecedented
world of good for the animals.

Do you like this idea?
Do you hate this idea?

Please share your opinions with the prosecutor, a very moral man
by the name of Mike Gill. Let Mr. Gill know that such a decision
would be more than a Solomon-like decision. It would be a
most Noble act.

Mike Gill's fax:

804-771-2316

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Penn State Victory: Tomorrow's Memorandum

The only people capable of changing the past are
historians and Hollywood script writers who often
warp our visions of history. We are all capable of
controlling some degree of our present. As for the
future, it takes activists and visionaries to
occasionally modify the course of events.

We cannot turn back the clock on episodes of animal
abuse, but we can voice our outrage after learning of
such horrorible circumstances, and in doing so,
prevent future additional torture.

In that regard, my thanks are extended to the many
letters of outrage expressed by Notmilk readers this
week to appropriate scientists at Penn State University.
We have collectively taken a very bad situation of
animal abuse, and made things a little bit better
for the animals.

Based upon correspondence with Dr. Pell, she has
assured me that after a discussion with cognizant
University Administrators, Penn State University will
be undertaking administrative steps to inform its
research faculty of their obligations and responsibilities
in connection with the use of analgesics and anesthetics
for animal surgeries as part of University research practices.

A perfect solution would result in no animal research
at all, but that is just a dream, not a reality at this
time. Small steps will one day lead to major changes.
In the meantime, if you were in any way part of the
solution, give yourself a hearty pat on the back.
Welcome to the world of animal rights activism.

Thanks to all of my readers for the passions you extended by
writing your letters. Together, we have made a difference.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Pretend Vegans Often Do Fishy Things

I have met many people who call themselves vegan while
continuing to eat fish, chicken, and/or dairy. This list even
includes well-known personalities who wax poetically about
our evolving food revolution and then consume animal
products in the privacy of their homes or in restaurants.
I was a lunch guest in the home of one very famous vegan
author when his wife let it slip that he occasionally
ordered chicken at fancy restaurants outside of his home
state. Aside to friend and author: Your secret will
forever remain safe with me. Another speaks and writes
about the dangers of eating fish. A recent bout of sickness
and depression in which he "droped out" turned him and his
not-as-famous son into fish eaters.

We are all human and we all make errors in judgment. I
am not a food-Nazi who really gives a damn if you eat milk
chocolate or a slice of pizza. It is your body, and your
mission is to take responsibility for yourself. One vegan
meal times 300 million Americans saves he lives of 50
million chickens and tens of thousands of cattle.

One vegan day is better than zero vegan days. However, I do
hold authors of vegan books and vegan lecturers to a higher
standard than those people who simply call themselves vegetarian
or vegan. Eat what you wish, but be warned. This issue is much
more than simply extending spiritual compassion to animals. It
is also about physical compassion to your own body.

Forget for a moment the lack of spirituality in contaminating
one's body with the flesh of tortured creatures. Consider
only for a lifetime the harm being done to your body by eating
fish from the ocean.

If you watch TV, you've seen the Geico commercial with the
caveman who instructs the waiter: "I'll have the Chilean sea
bass." The fish caught in Chile swim in the same ocean as
the fish caught in Long Island, New York waters. Fresh fish
caught in Chile are jetted to the Fulton Fish Market in New York
City and fish markets in Baltimore and Boston.

Here is an interesting study to be published next month:

**********^^^^^^^^^^**********

Mercury in Chilean fish and Estimated Intake Levels

Authors: Sandra Cortes, Antonia Fortt
Affiliation: Universidad de Chile, Santiago 838-0453, Chile

Published in: Food Additives & Contaminants, Volume 24, Issue 9,
September 2007 , pages 955 - 959

Abstract

The intake of fish products is a major public health concern
due to possible methyl mercury exposure, which is especially
toxic to the human nervous system. This pilot study (n = 46)
was designed to determine mercury concentrations in fish
products for national consumption (Chilean jack mackerel, hake,
Chilean mussel, tuna) and for export (salmon, Patagonian
toothfish, swordfish, southern hake), and to estimate the
exposure of the general population.

Samples were analyzed at the National Environmental Center by
cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Mercury levels in
swordfish and one canned tuna sample exceeded levels prescribed
by national and international standards. The remaining two export
products (Patagonian toothfish, also known as Chilean sea bass,
and salmon) complied with international limits, which are more
demanding than Chilean regulations. Theoretical estimates of
mercury intake varied from 0.08 to 3.8 µg kg-1 bw day-1 for high
fish consumers, exceeding the provisional tolerable intake for
tuna, Chilean seabass, Chilean jack mackerel and swordfish. This
group appears to be at the greatest risk from mercury contamination
among the Chilean population.

**********^^^^^^^^^^**********

Fishy? I think so. When meeting meat eaters, I always
recommend that they give up milk and dairy first. Most
vegetarians on the way to becoming vegan become so by first
giving up red meat, then poultry, then seafood, and finally
dairy products. The proper order, so far as I am concerned,
is dairy, then poultry, third seafood, and save the red meat
group for last. My list is based upon the actual harm done
to the human body.

To the pretend-vegans, some quite famous:

Be strong to your own self. Be true for the others who
may become inspired by your example.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Third Reich Dairy Scientists at Penn State

When speaking of the horrors which took place
in World War II concentration camps, Jewish
people have a universal voice, "Never Again."

During World War II, an enormous amount of surgical
research was performed in the name of science on
non-volunteer humans by monsters in white lab coats.
In many cases, the laboratory subjects were children.
In some cases, the children were sets of young identical
twins.

In some studies, human limbs were cut off. One twin was
given anesthesia, while the other was not. Scientists
performed this gruesome horror just to observe what would
happen.

Some might logically argue that such human research is
more reliable than animal research, and should be
universally accepted. Others might ethically argue that
such research is to be shredded, burned, and then
dissolved in acid, as it is morally reprehensible.

Identical research has been performed at Penn State
University on immature dairy calves. Imagine the
horror suffered by those gentle creatures who had
to suffer the painful indignity of having their
highly innervated horns cut off without the benefit
of anesthesia. One half of the study group did
receive anesthesia. Who thinks up Nazi research of
this sort? What's worse than such a study? The
passionate defense of such abuse, as many white lab
coated scientists are now doing at Penn State.

I have written two columns regarding the calf tortures
at Penn State University.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2724
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2725

Today, Penn State's award winning daily newspaper
printed their first article regarding this growing
controversy. See:

http://tinyurl.com/38qktx

I have had email discussions with two members of the
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
I hope and trust that PETA will use their enormous
resources to take this example of animal abuse and
teach the Penn State community to say, "Never Again."

You might want to share that sentiment with the editor of
Penn State's newspaper:

Devon Lash
Editor In Chief
The Daily Collegian
123 S. Burrowes St.
814/865-1828
dlash@...

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Calf Torture at Penn State

To those of you who wrote to Penn State regarding
the dairy department's abuse and torture of dairy
calves, I thank you. If those gentle calves with no
voice could speak, they would thank you too. I
have no doubt. In George Orwell's "Animal Farm" the
farm animals revolt and take over the farm. I often
wonder how animals would judge humans for their
actions if they were so empowered.

Penn State has responded to my accusation. On one hand,
they claim that all of their research is performed
with compassion to animals. On the other hand, half of
the calves were given anesthesia and half were not as
their nerve-sensitive horns were painfully cut from their
heads. The parallels to Nazi research in which young
sets of twins suffered similar research abuses is deeply
disturbing.

The good news is that Penn State's award-winning daily
newspaper is investigating the story. Please share your
comments with:

Devon Lash
Editor In Chief
The Daily Collegian
123 S. Burrowes St.
814/865-1828
dlash@...

There can be justice here. This can be a learning process.
Please take this opportunity to help teach unfeeling
scientists to recapture their souls.

Thanks,

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Unhappy Valley

If a researcher proposes a project in which he attempts
to study whether anesthesia or non-anesthesia plays a
role in growth after one's big toe is intentionally
amputated, would you respect his scientific approach
and methodology?

I pose the above question to offer an example of human
absurdity. In fact, this question is rhetorical in nature.
Chopping off a toe or finger or ear will produce
considerable pain for a few weeks and might even send
false pain signals to the brain for many years, but that
should not affect the growth rate of the entire body.
Instinctively, you've just got to suspect this to be true.

The August 10, 2007 issue of Hoard's Dairyman reports the
results of a torturous study performed at Penn State
University. Penn State? I love Penn State. Each weekend
during the fall semester I tune into Penn State football
games on my radio from my New Jersey home and listen to
Jo Pa's waning days of glory. These past two years have
been a fan's dream, with victories in two post-season bowl
games. Penn State. That wonderful and well respected
institution of higher learning which seems to have produced
20-million or so graduates. Ok, I exaggerate, but perception
merges into reality.

Page 520 of the August 20, 2007 issue of Hoards reports:

**********^^^^^^^^^^**********

"Calves given anesthesia before dehorning did not outperform
other calves in a study presented by researchers at Penn
State. A group of 90 Holstein calves between 6 and 8 weeks of
age were split into two groups. The first received 0.2 mg/kg
of xylazine intramuscular and a nerve block with 3 milliliters
of 2 percent lidocaine near each horn bud. The other group
did not receive any treatment. Dehorning was done with a hot
iron, about 35 seconds per horn bud.

Calf health was good throughout the study, and the mortality
rate was 0 percent. Average daily gain was about 2.2 pounds a
day. The study found no different in growth rates, calf health,
or inflammation between calves that received the sedative
and anesthesia and those that did not."

**********^^^^^^^^^^**********

The conclusion one reaches from this uncompassionate study
is that anesthesia is just a waste of money for dairyman.

For goodness sakes, farmers. These are baby cows with
feelings. The horns are richly innervated and you know
and I know that the calves cry out in pain for many
weeks after the fact. Many mother cows have reacted in
anger and killed farmers after such torture. This is well
documented. These are feeling and sentient beings, and
if you are going to cut off their horns, the very least
you can do in the name of compassion is offer all of these
gentle creatures some pain relief. One does not need a
scientific study to reveal their ability to suffer.

Shame on Penn State for allowing such torture to take
place. This is not science. This is a dairy program
run amok. This is a case of a dairy professor allowing a
graduate student to abuse animals. There should be
responsibility.

Hopefully, Penn State will see to it that no additional
unethical research of this sort ever occurs again. The
director of research at Penn State is Eva Pell, a plant
physiologist. Dr. Pell is also the Dean of Penn State's
graduate school. I have written a letter to her and have
sent a copy of that letter to the college newspaper.

Dr. Pell's contact information:

Eva J. Pell
Senior Vice President for Research, Dean of the Graduate School
304 Old Main
University Park, PA 16802-1504
phone 814-863-9580
fax 814-863-9659
ejp@...

Please be respectful and trust that Professor Pell has
the wisdom to see that such research shines a very powerful,
but ugly light upon Penn State's entire community which
calls itself "happy valley." For calves, it has been a
very painful and unhappy valley.

You might also consider sending an email to Penn State
University's award-winning daily newspaper. They enjoy
controversies, and just might publish your letter:

collegianletters@...

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com
i4crob@...

Magnificent Cage-Free Chicken Eggs

I once read that sardine manufacturers pay more for
the olive oil used to marinate fish than for the
tightly packed bodies filling those cans. Therefore,
the more fish they squeeze into a can, the greater
is their profit. Packed like sardines, goes the saying.

Many years ago, I attended the opening night performance
of a Bette Midler appearance at the Copacabana in New
York City. Lisa and I were packed in like sardines when
we were seated at a table for eight which held 12 people.
The only thing making that experience worthwhile was that
the sardine sitting to my left was Diana Ross. To Lisa's
left was Diana's date and future husband. Nearby sat Mayor
Ed Koch and his date, Bess Myerson.

Each year, I watch the New Year's Eve Times Square
celebration on television. So many people. A million,
perhaps? To be in that elbow-to-elbow mass of humanity
would represent hell on earth for me.

This morning, I opened the New York Times and saw the
page-1 story:

Suddenly, The Hunt Is On for Cage-Free Eggs
by Kim Severson

Ben and Jerry's uses them. So does Wolfgang Puck. Wholesalers
seem willing to pay an extra 60 cents per dozen to purchase
eggs from compassionately raised chickens. The cost to build
a cage-free facility is $30 per bird, compared to $8 per
bird in the case of traditional facilities.

I read the article with interest, then turned back to page
one to view the accompanying photograph.

There seems to be more room for a sardine filet resting
in a can with her brothers and sisters than there is in a
cage-free barn. The mass of fowlinity (chicken version
of humanity) was so thickly packed, that I could not make
out even one wing.

Could it be that cage-free barns are less compassionate to
these gentle and intelligent birds than the cages they
replaced?

Consider the horror of the life chickens live. That front
page photograph was worth more than all of the words in the
accompanying story.

For more information of a chicken's life on the farm:

http://www.upc-online.org

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

My Challenge to Seventh-day Adventists (SDA)

On this Sabbath day Saturday enjoyed by Seventh-day
Adventists and Jews of all denominations, I offer
today's column as food for thought.

Using sports colloquialisms to state my position,
I am using the Notmilk forum to urge members of the
SDA faith to STEP UP TO THE PLATE, because many of
you have FUMBLED THE BALL.

There was a time that Loma Linda University published
a large number of peer-reviewed scientific papers
indicating that Seventh-day Adventists lived longer
and healthier than most non-SDA Americans as a result
of the "clean" foods they ate. Sadly, many members of
that SDA faith have stumbled.

The spiritual founder of the SDA church, Ellen G. White,
wrote the following:

"Cheese should never be introduced into the stomach."
Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 68

"Cheese is still more objectionable; it is wholly
unfit for food."
Ministry of Healing, p. 302

When lecturing at SDA churches and meetings and witnessing
the vast amounts of cheese being consumed, I never forget
to ask:

"What part of the word 'never' do you have trouble understanding?"

In her "Ministry of Healing," Ellen G. White wrote
(page 271):

"In order to have good health, we must have good blood;
for the blood is the current of life. It repairs waste
and nourishes the body. When supplied with the proper
food elements and when cleansed and vitalized by contact
with pure air, it carries life and vigor to every part
of the system."

In 1893, a caramel candy maker visited the Chicago World's
Fair and was much impressed upon seeing German-built chocolate
making machinery. He purchased that equipment, and his
investment became our loss. America's health would never be
the same. The man's name was Milton Hershey. In that same
year, Aunt Jemima's powdered-milk pancake mix was also brought
to market. In 1893, an American physician, John Kellogg,
identified the allergic cause and effect reactions which
resulted from cheese consumption. Ellen G. White related a
fascinating anecdote of this vegetarian doctor who invented
Kellogg's Corn Flakes in her 1893 letter to a friend:

"It was decided that at a certain camp meeting, cheese
should not be sold to those on the ground; but on coming
to the ground, Doctor Kellogg found to his surprise that
a large quantity of cheese had been purchased for sale
at the grocery. He and some others objected to this, but
those in charge of the grocery said that they could not
afford to lose the money invested in it. Upon this,
Doctor Kellogg asked the price of the cheese, and bought
the whole of it from them. He had traced the matter from
cause to effect, and knew that some foods generally thought
to be wholesome, were very injurious."

"God's Nutritionist", Quote #386, page 129

Seventh-day Adventists are ready to scale a mountain, so far as
I am concerned. They are a potential army of vegetarians who are
ready to teach the world the healthiest way to live one's life.
If only they were as inspired by Ellen White's sage advice as I.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

If You Knew Sushi, Like I Know Sushi

Dear Friends,

I am a vegan, and proud of it!
Last night, I made my own sushi. I have learned the
arts of cooking perfect vinegared Japanese rice, and
expertly rolling sheets of dried green nori around
various picked vegetables, thin rice noodles,
marinated shitake mushrooms, gently steamed
carrots and asparagus spears, and picked ginger.
all are eaten with a dab of green wasabi paste and
a dash of fine naturally fermented tamari.

Today's news came a complete surprise to me and
I'll have to adjust future sushi dishes as a result.
I'll immediately omit the outer wrapping of nori or
find an acceptable substitute...perhaps thin tofu
curd sheets. Here's why. I found this new study:

Allergenicity and Allergens of Amphipods Found in Nori

Authors: Kanna Motoyama. et. al.
Affiliations:  Department of Food Science and Technology,
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo 108-8477,
Japan, Faculty of Fisheries, Laboratory of Fishery Nutritional
Science, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan
Published in:  Food Additives & Contaminants,
Volume 24, Issue 9 September 2007, pages 917 - 922

Abstract

Gammaridean and caprellid amphipods, crustaceans of the order
Amphipoda, inhabit laver culture platforms and, hence, are
occasionally found in nori (dried laver) sheets.

Amphipods mixed in nori may cause allergic reactions in sensitized
patients, as is the case with other crustaceans, such as shrimp and
crab, members of the order Decapoda. In this study, dried samples
of amphipods (unidentified) found in nori and fresh samples of
gammaridean amphipod and caprellid amphipod were examined for
allergenicity and allergens using two species of decapods (black
tiger prawn and spiny lobster) as references.

If you knew Sushi like I know Suzy
Oh, oh what a disappointment.

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

A few years ago, I visited England on a book and lecture
tour. At that time, hundreds of thousands of cows were
being slaughtered after a foot-and-mouth disease (hoof-
and mouth disease) outbreak.

I witnessed first-hand mass conversions to vegetarianism.
I am proud to have been at the right place at the right
time in motivating hundreds or thousands of people with
my lectures and media coverage.

Few people have the desire to eat diseased flesh and
drink body fluids from sickened animals. If only people
were informed about the true scope of things. In
America, most people eat or drink bacteria-laden foods
or overdose on antibiotic residues. It bocomes a true
crap shoot.

History has repeated itself, as it always does. Today's
article was posted a few hours ago on Reuters News:

_______________________________________________________________

EU bans British meat and milk exports

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Exports of fresh meat, live animals and milk
products will be banned from all of mainland Britain following its
recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the European Commission
said on Monday.

A spokesman said the Commission, the executive arm of the European
Union, would formalise the decision -- which was agreed with Britain -
- later on Monday. EU veterinary experts may review the measure when
they meet on Wednesday, he said.

"The main element will be the establishment of a high-risk area from
which cattle, sheep and goats cannot be exported," spokesman Philip
Tod told a daily news briefing. "Nor can fresh meat and milk be
exported."

He said the Commission had agreed with British authorities to define
the territory of Great Britain as that high-risk area, meaning "live
animals and milk products will not be able to be despatched from
Great Britain".

"The British authorities have ... requested that we treat the whole
of Great Britain as a high-risk area," Tod said, rather than limiting
the ban to a limited geographical area around the outbreak as the
Commission had originally planned.

"We are very happy to take that up in the Community (EU) decision,"
Tod said. "The Commission understands that this has been taken as a
precautionary measure ... and it can be reviewed as early as
Wednesday if the situation on the ground allows."

Several countries have already blocked imports of meat or animals
coming from Britain, or have said they will do so.

Japan and South Korea have temporarily halted pork imports from
Britain, while the United States -- which already restricts UK
imports of cattle and sheep due to other health scares -- has said it
will ban imports of pork and pork products.

Ireland has banned imports of meat and non-pasteurised milk as well
as livestock from Britain, a step it is allowed to take under EU
rules but only as a temporary short-term measure.
____________________________________________________

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Friday Before 9:00 AM

Three newspapers are thrown onto my driveway long
before the sun comes up. I can appreciate what
the newspaper delivery people go through, having
done the same job myself about twenty years ago
when times were a bit hard. I kept at it until
analyzing that the nickels and dimes that I pocketed
for each customer hardly paid for my gas and car
maintenance. In any event...

To me, the New York Times, Daily News, and North
Jersey Record newspapers represent a barometer of
my brain functioning. Each morning, I do the
crossword puzzles in each paper. When I was healthy
and un-drugged, I would zip through all of the croosswords
in about 45 minutes. At the height of my Oxycontin/Oxycodone
addiction, it took me all day, and on Fridays, rarely
finished the puzzles.

I am not entirely 100 percent, but as I give up the drugs,
my neural functioning improves. The fog lifts. The mind
works. I would much rather live with pain than tolerate
again that horrible curse brought on by opiates.

After finishing today's puzzles in just under two hours,
everybody still slept, so feeling energetic, I decided to
play in my kitchen. I cut up ripe cantaloupe, honeydew,
pineapple, and watermelon and put the pieces into the
fridge for the other occupants of my house to enjoy.
Even my Boston Terrier (Tyke) loves honeydew, but
cantaloupe is her favorite. Perhaps she has the internal
wisdom to know that cantaloupe not only tastes good,
but has more Vitamin C than oranges and more Vitamin A
than carrots.

I also chopped, sliced, and diced vegetables for dinner.
I am making Indian Food tonight. When I attended the
CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in 1976, I learned
a very important cooking concept: "Mis en Place" or,
"everything in it's place." Cooking dinner will take less
than ten minutes. I have green and yellow zucchini, carrots,
parsley, celery, red onions, garlic, shallots, cauliflower,
broccoli, red pepper, pablano and jalapeno peppers, broccoli,
potatoes, eggplant, and chick peas, ready to go.

I'll make three different dishes, combining ingredients
as I cook. To flavor, I'll be adding a wonderful vegan
powder consisting of pomegranate, mango, ginger, coriander,
cumin, and chili. That will probably result in an Aloe
Chole, cooked with potatoes and chick peas. The second dish
will contain a pistachio, saffron, cashew nut, coconut milk,
turmeric, and cardamom. Finally, I'll cook some tiny orange
lentils (takes about five minutes) flavored with a curry
sauce.

I have a half dozen different varieties of rice in my
grain cabinet, and nothing beats Basmati rice with
Indian food.

Note: Here is where I purchase my Indian flavorings:

http://tinyurl.com/2r7jk5

Enjoy your weekend!

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Anti-Soy-Bashing

Dear Friends,

Ignorant soy-bashers are everywhere. They lurk in every
corner of the internet, health food stores, and even
doctor's offices. Soy bashers are evidence that even
the most educated person can be fooled after reading
one well-written set of lies in a biased magazine article.

Here are nine articles which I've written to counter every
one of those deceitful bits of poor nutritional advice.

Unlike today's soy-bashers (real-milk advocates with a
pro-dairy agenda, financially supported by dairy farmers)
I offer dozens of statements supported by REAL science
and REAL logic.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1555
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1567
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1644
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2245
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2325
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2561
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2576
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2594
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2602

Robert Cohen
i4crob@...

Lindsay, Britney, & Robert

Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears both posed for milk
mustache ads. There were each paid a $25,000 fee to help
milk producers sell dairy products. There is not enough
money on this planet for me to pose for a milk mustache
ad, for to do so would be an enormous betrayal to any young
person influenced by such an ad.

Yet, I have something very much in common with Lindsay and
Britney. At this moment in time, the summer of 2007, each
one of the three of us is quite pathetic in his or her
dependence upon mood-altering substances.

After Lindsay's recent driving arrest with cocaine in her pants
pocket, she should be sentenced to become a poster child for
the Mothers Against Drugged Drivers (MADD). Some 45,000 people
will die in car accidents this year. When I was a volunteer
firefighter I responded to the scene of an accident in which
a young high school student had his body separated from his
skull and brain matter by a telephone pole. That is an image
I will hold onto forever. Does Lindsay not have anone to pull
her out of this spiraling self destructive lifestyle?

Britney's recent photo session displays a young woman who
is also completely out of control.

These are the heroes who the dairy industry calls "cool"
and successfully uses to peddle their drugs.

In a sense, I am Lindsay. I am Britney. I have become pathetic
in my use of drugs. I had a back surgery during June of 2006,
after an accident and unfortunately, the surgery has not been
successful. CAT scans and x-rays show that the spine has not
fused and the four titanium screws are rotating and as a result,
inflicting enormous pain. I am currently seeking second and
third opinions, but the doctors are advising me what I already
know in my heart. A second surgery will be performed. I recall
the words of one of the members of Crosby Stills and Nash at
Woodstock after performing Suite Judy Blue Eyes at Woodstock
in 1969, "This is our first gig and we're scared shitless!"

Well, I am scared too. Meanwhile, my use of percocet-like
drugs has exceeded what I once would have called drug abuse.
I recall a time just after my father fell and broke his
shoulder. After that painful injury he would take one 5mg pill
of oxycodone each day to relieve the pain. One pill. 5 mg.

Every single day, I take twenty-one times that amount.

Each day, I take three 15 mg. oxycodone pills and three
20 milligram oxycontin pills. Google either one. They are
highly addictive, and the more I take, the more my body
craves. My soul screams at me each night at three AM and
again two hours later. I usually go through three t-shirts
during each sleep cycle, waking up soaked in sweat.

Now, things will get worse. This drug addiction is a monster
and I have decided to end it. Not all at once, of course. I
am advised that might end my life, and I've got too much to
accomplish. But, I am making a promise to myself and to you.
During the next three months I will slowly wean myself off
these drugs. I can no longer live with this fog in thoughts,
and much prefer the pain to the dullness of my brain.

I would hope that Lindsay and Britney are able to make
similar commitments.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com