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https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-most-influential-man-in-america

The Most Influential Man in America

Should more money = more speech?

If you agree that more money shouldn't equal more speech and that a small number of wealthy interests shouldn't control the fate of our country, then please join us and support The Most Influential Man in America campaign. With your donation, we'll use the funds to:

• produce and release additional, upgraded videos and additional content for the campaign,
• more widely share and promote these videos,
  
• further develop our web presence and our outreach to give people more tools and ability to take action on this issue,
• as well as support the work of our partner organization Money Out Voters In with their efforts to overturn Citizens United and bring about meaningful reforms to our campaign finance system.

The first-in funds will be used to produce the next videos in the series - roughly $6-7000.  But we have a stretch goal - and ambitions for the campaign's scope - that are much larger.  We're actually aiming to raise over $25,000.  Much of what we want to achieve with this larger financial target involves making the Most Influential Man website and social media presence more functional, informative and interactive to provide greater opportunities for people new to this issue to take action, plus creating a lot of additional content to keep the campaign going.

So if you're frustrated with the status quo and think that more money shouldn't equal more speech, please make a donation and help us get the big money influence out of politics.

As a thank you for your donation, we have some great perks, including bumper stickers and t-shirts to show your support for the campaign, an excellent documentary about money in politics - you can even come to the set of the next shoot or get a role in an upcoming spot!

Contributions to this campaign go to a 501c3 educational fund and are tax deductible to the full extent provided by law.

PLUS: if you support the goals of this campaign please help us get the word out - share this Indiegogo campaign and the original video below via your social media channels: http://youtu.be/9Xyu_gzgrOs



What is it? It is a series of political satire spots made to use humor and the reach of viral video to highlight the issue of unrestricted, undisclosed money in political campaigns and corporate influence over American politics - especially the unlimited campaign contributions made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010. 

Regardless of what issues you care about: whether it's the environment and climate change, the economy and rising inequality, even the recent budget standoffs or reforms to the tax code – the root cause of our inability to solve many of these problems is that our politicians listen primarily to the very small number of wealthy interests and individuals who largely finance their campaigns.

Until we change the system that gives large donors more voice than regular people, this dysfunction will continue. So rather than addressing any of these issues in particular, we're going after the root cause: big money in politics.

How big of a deal is this anyway?

(This next bit involves numbers and may make you angry. Proceed at your own risk).  Let's look at a pie chart (source: opensecrets.org):

This was in 2010 - the election year that the Citizens United decision was handed down by the Supreme Court.  Here we can see that already over 80% of election financing is coming from large donors, corporations and interest groups (I'm including candidate self-funding in that as clearly only wealthy candidates are able to self-fund to the tune of 11% of election spending).  Large donors giving over $2500 represent about 0.1% of the adult US population.

"Ok, so what?  What does that have to do with governance?"

Quite a bit actually.  A study conducted by Princeton and Northwestern Universities, looking at 20 years of policy and public opinion data, concluded this:

The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.

Perhaps this quote from the same study puts a finer point on it:

When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.

And here's the bottom line:

We believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America's claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.

So it seems who writes the checks really does matter when it comes to the decisions that actually get made.  The word that started getting used was Oligarchy.  And this was all before the Citizens United decision.
Here is a chart of Outside Spending (spending not by candidates or political parties)

(source: opensecrets.org)

Can you spot the elections that occurred after Citizens United?
Go back and look at the PAC slice of the pie from the 2010 chart above.  Then look again at this chart.  Now digest this: the Koch brothers have just announced that their political network plans to spend roughly $900 million on the 2016 election.  That is a number almost equal to the entire outside spending in the 2012 election cycle - even more, this is equal to the entire spending of each of the political parties in 2016 - and representing the viewpoint of a single economic interest.  To be clear: this point isn't about liberal vs conservative or to say "the Koch brothers are bad" - its about the concentration of political influence that our current system has made possible.  And we know that concentrating influence in this way has negative impacts on democratic outcomes.

Our system of election finance has become extremely broken.

Ok but, can anything really be done about it?

YES!  Right now there is an active groundswell of support to pass a 28th Amendment to the Constitution overruling the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, overturning the notions that money is speech and that corporations have the same electoral rights as people. This would restore our ability to set reasonable limits on election spending to ensure everyone's equal representation that is the foundation and the promise of democracy.

There are also plenty of other bills and ballot measures both at the state and federal level that would seek to undo or limit some of the worst excesses of our current campaign finance system: from requiring disclosure of the source of Super PAC funds (so we know who's behind the political ads we see) to giving shareholders greater say over how corporations are using their political donations.

Are you aware of the call for a 28th Amendment?  Do you know about all the states and municipalities that are taking action?

Plenty of people are frustrated about the status quo.  But not enough are yet aware that real solutions to stem the flood of campaign money are on the table.  And if they're not aware, they can't demand change.

So where exactly do we fit into this?

Let's be real: is this series of satirical videos going to single-handedly change our campaign finance system or solve this problem?  Of course not.  But we can play an important role.

As John Nichols says in the excellent campaign finance documentary Pay2Play: "If you're going to challenge the money power, you better build people power."  This series was created specifically to be fun and sharable, to use satire and the reach of viral video to find and connect with an audience much broader than those who are already active or involved with this issue.  We will need to communicate beyond the choir if we are to build the people power necessary to challenge the money power of the established economic elites and business interests who currently dominate election finance, and thereby our political debate.  We hope you will help us to play our role with as loud a voice and as far of a reach as we can.

Please donate, share this campaign and

Stay active my friends.

~A.

3 Sources of Antibiotics That Threaten Human Health

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/02/04/3-sources-antibiotics.aspx?e_cid=20150204Z1_DNL_C_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20150204Z1_DNL_C&et_cid=DM68587&et_rid=830293595

Three Sources of Antibiotics That Threaten Human Health

By Dr. Mercola

Antibiotic resistance is a serious threat facing all of us today, and there's plenty of blame to go around. Overall, modern science, especially veterinary medicine, has done a miserable job when it comes to predicting the outcome of its actions.

According to Dr. Cyril Gay, the senior national program leader at the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service:

"The loss of antibiotics due to antimicrobial resistance is potentially one of the most important challenges the medical and animal-health communities will face in the 21st century."

Antibiotic resistance has also been declared "an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society" by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Antibiotic overuse is rampant. Inappropriate use and negligent disposal of antibiotics is also a major part of the problem. Three of the primary sources of antibiotics entering the environment, the human food chain, and the human body are:

• Medicine
• Agriculture (both livestock and produce)
• Pharmaceutical processing plants dumping drugs into wastewater

Antibiotics are a foundational component of modern medicine, without which many of our current treatment modalities and medical procedures become exceedingly dangerous.

Due to overuse, bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to these drugs, and even "simple" infections like urinary tract infections can become lethal. It's also exceedingly costly.

What farmers are saving on the front end by using antibiotics instead of costlier alternatives, Americans pay for on the back end, via exorbitant health care costs. As noted by Scientific American:

"[R]esearchers estimate that antibiotic resistance causes Americans upwards of $20 billion in additional healthcare costs every year stemming from the treatment of otherwise preventable infections."

Antibiotics in Agriculture

In the US, animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are routinely fed low doses of antibiotics to make them grow fatter, faster, and to prevent disease associated with crowded and unsanitary living conditions.

This appears to be one of the primary driving factors when it comes to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. According to CDC statistics, two million Americans are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and at least 23,000 of them die as a result of those infections.

A recent report, commissioned by the British government, estimates that by the year 2050, drug-resistant disease cause more than 10 million deaths and cost the global economy $100 trillion!

Even the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledges that antibiotic-resistant disease can be spread via ingestion or contact with contaminated foods. Despite this knowledge, the FDA has opted not to ban the use of antibiotics in agriculture.

Last year, the agency issued updated guidance on agricultural antibiotics, recommending that pharmaceutical companies voluntarily relabel certain antibiotics,^6, reserving them for use in sick animals only, with a prescription from a licensed veterinarian.

Aside from the fact that they're leaving it up to pharmaceutical companies to be the heralds of change—a change that will reduce the drug companies' income, there are other glaring loopholes. As noted by Scientific American:

"[S]ome worry that the FDA's action doesn't go far enough, given that farmers will still be able to administer antibiotics to their livestock for disease prevention.

The fact that more and more livestock operations are switching over to Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) whereby animals are confined in crowded enclosures (instead of allowed to graze at pasture) means that antibiotics will play an increasingly important role in disease prevention."

US Meat Production Uses More Antibiotics Than Ever

The US uses nearly 30 million pounds of antibiotics each year to raise food animals.^9,10 This accounts for about 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the US.

Moreover, according to the most recent FDA report, antibiotic usage INCREASED by 16 percent between 2009 and 2012, and nearly 70 percent of the antibiotics used are considered "medically important" for humans.

A 2013 paper by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) titled "Antibiotic Resistance in Foodborne Pathogens," report that between 1973 and 2011, there were 55 antibiotic-resistant foodborne outbreaks in the US. More than half of these outbreaks involved pathogens resistant to five or more antibiotics!

In my view, these are highly compelling reason to switch to organic, grass-fed (pastured) varieties, as growth promoting drugs such as antibiotics are not permitted in organic farming.

Antibiotic Resistance Promoted via Drug Manufacturing Process

Forbes Magazine recently featured an article on the topic of antibiotic resistance, noting that the drug manufacturing process itself may also be a major contributor to drug resistant bacteria in the environment.

During the drug manufacturing process, significant quantities of antibiotics are flushed out into wastewater, which then find its way into rivers, drinking water, and agricultural crop lands. Many drug companies have located their manufacturing facilities in countries where production costs are low, such as China and India.

According to Forbes:

"Patancheru, near Hyderabad, India, has a treatment plant that receives wastewater from 90 pharmaceutical companies which discharge 400,000 gallons daily. This effluent from manufacturing is combined with domestic wastewater. In India, only 24 percent of domestic waste undergoes treatment.

Researchers from Sweden have studied the area around Hyderabad for a number of years, publishing a series of reports since 2007. They found a number of drugs contaminating the water, some in concentrations higher in the water than in patients' blood.

The worst was pollutant was ciprofloxacin, with concentrations up to 31 mg/L and in only one day totaling "44 kg, which is equivalent to Sweden's entire consumption over 5 days, or, expressed in another manner, sufficient to treat everyone in a city with 44,000 inhabitants."

These researchers also found that the effluent was toxic to many organisms, and that it promoted resistance genes. Almost two percent of DNA samples from downstream sites sampled had resistance genes" [Emphasis mine]

Aside from direct ingestion, contaminated wastewater also finds its way onto crop fields via irrigation and sludge (biosolids) used as fertilizer. In this way, drug resistant genes are spread throughout the environment. The spread is by no means contained in any way. According to a 2008 CDC report, E.coli bacteria resistant to multiple drugs have even been found in the Arctic; brought there by migrating birds... How can we even begin to address these issues?

As noted by Forbes:

"Clearly, this will require a multi-pronged approach. Besides the need to control agricultural misuse, a major area that requires urgent attention is the need for improved sanitation globally...

We also need better regulation of industrial waste and strengthening and enforcement of whatever environmental protections are available. Amy Pruden, Joikim Larsson, et. al. have an excellent overview of management options, ranging from wastewater and biosolid treatment, to limiting agricultural and aquacultural use, and the use of alternatives to antibiotics. One thing individuals can do is to educate about safe drug disposal..."

Researchers to Determine Role of Farm Practices in Rise of Superbugs

The farm industry has long denied or downplayed its role in drug-resistant disease, but scientists are now inching closer to determining exactly how the livestock industry's misuse of antibiotics contributes to human disease. As reported by Reuters:

"Researchers at Colorado State University are rolling out a series of projects to track antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the livestock industry, in an attempt to determine whether farm practices are fueling the rise of "superbugs." Using a $2.25 million grant from the US Department of Agriculture, the scientists will focus on the DNA of these bacteria to help identify and trace back where such organisms become drug-resistant. 'We're trying to answer the question, 'Are agricultural production systems truly affecting human health by increasing antimicrobial resistance?' said veterinarian Paul Morley, a professor of epidemiology and infection control at Colorado State University, Fort Collins."

A recent Frontline News documentary also investigated the role of large scale meat production as a primary breeding ground of drug-resistant bacteria. According to their investigation, meat may be a source of potentially lethal infections—not simply because you're eating antibiotics and therefore building resistance, but also because the meat may be tainted with drug-resistant bacteria that can cause acute disease if the meat is improperly handled or undercooked. Previous research has suggested you have a 50/50 chance of buying meat tainted with drug-resistant bacteria when shopping at your local grocery store.

One example given is drug-resistant urinary infections, which are on the rise. If the antibiotics fail to wipe out the bacteria, the infection can progress to your kidneys, which allows the bacteria access to your blood. The result is sepsis, which kills 40,000 Americans each year. Using state of the art genome sequencing, researchers have compared E.coli samples found on supermarket meat with E.coli samples collected from patients with drug-resistant urinary tract infections, genetically linking more than 100 urinary tract infections to tainted supermarket meat products.

Why Were Warnings Not Heeded Decades Ago?

As reported by The Atlantic, we had foreknowledge that using antibiotics for growth promotion in animals was a bad idea, but industry interests won over concern for human and environmental welfare:

"Dr. Stuart B. Levy... author of the book The Antibiotic Paradox: How the Misuse of Antibiotics Destroys Their Curative Powers... has been warning about this impending disaster for nearly 40 years, a couple of decades after farmers discovered that putting small amounts of antibiotics in the animals' feed resulted in increased growth. Even back then, a study led by Levy found that chickens developed resistance to the antibiotic tetracycline at a rapid pace–within a week, the animals had resistant bacteria in their gut.

Months later, the stubborn bugs had spread to untreated chickens and even the farmers. And it didn't stop there: Those resistant bacteria also became resistant to other antibiotics that the chickens hadn't even consumed. 'Antibiotics used anywhere creates antibiotic resistance, and that resistance doesn't stay in that environment,' Levy says. And resistance is transferrable among bacteria of different types."

Antibiotics Also Contribute to Obesity

While antibiotic-resistant disease is perhaps the most acute danger of antibiotic overuse, it also has more insidious and hard to prove consequences on human health. We now know that antibiotics alter the microbiome—the microbial composition in your gut—which can result in obesity and any number of other health problems. It's also worth recalling that antibiotics are used in livestock to promote weight gain.

As previously stated by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food:

"Continuous, low-dose administration of an antibiotic can increase the rate and efficiency of weight gain in healthy livestock. The presence of antibiotics likely changes the composition of the gut flora to favor growth. Debate is ongoing as to how gut flora are changed; change may simply be a reduction in numbers, a change in species composition or a combination of the two… Some antibiotics may also enhance feed consumption and growth by stimulating metabolic processes within the animal."

If low dose antibiotics make animals fatter, why would we assume the effect on humans would be any different? A recent paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, authored by Dr. Tine Jess, MD discusses the scientific evidence linking antibiotics and obesity. For example, mice exposed to subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics early in life suffered "lasting effects on body composition owing to alteration of the intestinal microbiota." Studies suggest there may be a critical window of time, right before and after birth, when exposure to antibiotics can cause long-term alterations in body composition.

According to Dr. Jess:

"Male mice whose mothers were treated with penicillin before the birth of the pups and throughout the weaning process had a markedly altered body composition in adulthood, with increased total mass and fat mass, increased ectopic fat deposition, increased hepatic expression of genes involved in adipogenesis, decreased bone mineral content, and increased bone area.  

By contrast, the body composition of adult male mice who had received penicillin after weaning and of female mice who had received penicillin at either phase of development (just before birth or after weaning) was more similar to that of controls. The results suggest that even transient changes to the microbiota caused by limited exposure to low-dose penicillin during a specific time window during development may have a sex-specific long-term effect on body composition."

Your Gut Bacteria and Your Waistline Go Hand-in-Hand

One 2011 study shed light on the mechanisms by which antibiotics can promote obesity. It found that 18 months after antibiotics are used to eradicate H. pylori bacteria, there is a:

• Six-fold increase in the release of ghrelin (the "hunger hormone") after a meal
• 20 percent increase in leptin levels (leptin is a hormone produced by fat tissue)
• 5 percent increase in body mass index (BMI)

Levels of ghrelin should ordinarily fall after a meal to signal your brain that you're full and ready to stop eating; an increase would therefore essentially tell your brain to continue eating, leading to weight gain. Further, the increase in leptin levels is concerning because overexposure to high levels of the hormone can lead to leptin resistance, which means your body is unable to properly hear leptin's signals. The way your body stores fat is a highly regulated process that is controlled, primarily, by leptin. If you gain excess weight, the additional fat produces extra leptin that should alert your brain that your body is storing too much fat and needs to burn off the excess.

To do this, signals are sent to your brain to stop being hungry and to stop eating. When you become leptin-resistant, your body can no longer hear these messages -- so it remains hungry and stores more fat. You can also easily become leptin resistant by eating the typical American diet full of refined sugar (particularly processed fructose), refined grains, and processed foods—which, like antibiotics, will upset the balance of bacteria in your gut. Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and that altering the microbial balance in your gut can influence your weight. Such research includes but is not limited to the following:

Research by Dr. Martin Blaser found that mice fed antibiotics (in dosages similar to those given to children for throat or ear infections) had significant increases in body fat despite their diets remaining unchanged.28

One  2011 study29 showed that rats given lactic acid bacteria while in utero through adulthood put on significantly less weight than other rats eating the same high-calorie diet. They also had lower levels of minor inflammation, which has been associated with obesity.

Babies with high numbers of Bifidobacteria and low numbers of Staphylococcus aureus – which may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, contributing to obesity – appeared to be protected from excess weight gain in a 2008 study.30 This may be one reason why breast-fed babies have a lower risk of obesity, as Bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies.

Two studies found that obese individuals had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as Firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a bacteria called Bacteroidetes than lean people. Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat. When these microbes were transplanted into normal-weight mice, those mice started to gain twice as much fat.

In 2010, researchers found31 that obese people were able to reduce their abdominal fat by nearly five percent, and their subcutaneous fat by over three percent, just be drinking a probiotic-rich fermented milk beverage for 12 weeks.

Probiotics (good bacteria) have been found to benefit metabolic syndrome, which often goes hand-in-hand with obesity.

Probiotics may also be beneficial in helping women lose weight after childbirth when taken from the first trimester through breastfeeding.

Essential Oils Might Be the New Antibiotics

Fortunately, some farmers and scientists have started investigating various plant extracts, hoping to find alternatives to antibiotic drugs. Essential oils have antimicrobial, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, rendering them useful in various areas of food production. A recent article in The Atlantic discusses the experimental use of essential oils to combat disease and pests. Mounting research also suggests they may be potent enough to address diseases like cancer.

According to The Atlantic:

"Numerous recent studies—including several done by the USDA—have shown great promise in using essential oils as an alternative to antibiotics in livestock. One of their studies, published in October 2014 in the journal Poultry Science, found that chickens who consumed feed with added oregano oil had a 59 percent lower mortality rate due to ascites, a common infection in poultry, than untreated chickens.

Other research, from a 2011 issue of BMC Proceedings, showed that adding a combination of plant extracts—from oregano, cinnamon, and chili peppers—actually changed the gene expression of treated chickens, resulting in weight gain as well as protection against an injected intestinal infection. A 2010 study from Poultry Science produced similar findings with the use of extracts from turmeric, chili pepper, and shiitake mushrooms."

Scientists have also compared the effectiveness of antibiotics versus various essential oils. Rosemary and oregano oil, for example, resulted in the same growth rate in chickens as the antibiotic avilamycin. The oils were effective against pathogenic bacteria as well. Essential oil blends have also been found effective against salmonella in chickens. According to Dr. Charles Hofacre, a professor at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine, "There is some strong evidence that [essential oils] are functioning by both an antibacterial action in the intestine and also some have an effect to stimulate the intestinal cells ability to recover from disease more quickly–either by local immunity or helping keep the intestinal cells themselves healthier."

In humans, a combination of thyme and clove essentials oils was found to be as effective against bacterial vaginosis as standard antibiotic treatments. Researchers have also successfully treated staph infection with tea tree oil vapors. An added boon: Essential oils appear to be less likely to cause resistance, for the fact that they contain hundreds of different chemical compounds, which makes bacterial adaptation more difficult.

Healthy Gut Bacteria Cannot Coexist with Antibiotics

Antibiotics can save your life if you develop a serious bacterial infection, but it's important that you resist the urge to ask your physician for a prescription for every infection you come down with, especially viral infections such as the common cold and influenza. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections. Remember that whenever you use an antibiotic, or if you're frequently eating treated animal foods, you're:

1. Decimating your microbiome, which will need time and proper diet and/or a probiotic supplement to restore rebalance. An unbalanced microbiome can contribute to both obesity and disease
2. Increasing your susceptibility to developing infections with resistance to that antibiotic -- and you can become the carrier of this resistant bug and even spread it to others

It's quite clear that the foods you eat are a major source of chronic low-dose exposure to antibiotics, so to protect your gut bacteria you need to buy antibiotic-free, organically raised meat and, yes, even produce. Conventionally farmed vegetables are often grown in fertilizer derived from factory-farmed animal waste and sewage sludge, which is yet another source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

My bottom-line recommendation is to take decisive action for yourself and your own family, and seek out trusted sources of food that do not use antibiotic pesticides and/or antibiotic growth promoters. Your best bet for finding healthy food is to connect with a local farmer that raises animals according to organic standards, allowing them to roam freely on pasture. Some grocery chains also offer 100% grass-fed meats these days. In the US, the following organizations can help you locate farm-fresh foods:

Weston Price Foundation40 has local chapters in most states, and many of them are connected with buying clubs in which you can easily purchase organic foods, including grass-fed raw dairy products like milk and butter.

Local Harvest -- This Web site will help you find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.

Farmers' Markets -- A national listing of farmers' markets.

Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals -- The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, and hotels, and online outlets in the United States and Canada.

Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) -- CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms.

FoodRoutes -- The FoodRoutes "Find Good Food" map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers, CSAs, and markets near you.

~A.

Fwd: A View From The Mezzanine

A View From The Mezzanine an eclectic look at what's happening inside The Providence Athenaeum
	February 4, 2015
UPCOMING PROGRAM AND SALON   Let the Salon season commence! And let the mountain goat be your muse, what care you for an Alp-like range of snowy peaks? All the better for clambering and capering! We hope to see you this week - and stay on the alert for next week's enews, when our signature listings of cultural happenings of interest throughout the region will return.  On Thursday, 2/5 at 7pm, join us for the launch of Allen Kurzweil's new book, Whipping Boy, the Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully. Equal parts childhood memoir and literary thriller, Whipping Boy takes Kurzweil from a Swiss boarding school (where he endures horrifying cruelty) to the slums of Manila, from the Park Avenue boardroom of the world's largest law firm to a federal prison camp in Southern California, and features an international cast of unforgettable eccentrics. A scrupulously researched work of nonfiction that renders a childhood menace into an unlikely muse, Whipping Boy is a surreal odyssey born out of suffering, nourished by rancor, tempered by wit, and resolved, unexpectedly, in a breathtaking act of personal courage. Books for sale and signing are made available by our generous friends at the Brown Bookstore. Our first Salon is Friday, 2/6 from 5-7pm. Athenaeum Director of Programs and Public Engagement Christina Bevilacqua, along with her research assistant Jane'a Johnson, bring us "The Athenaeum Salon: Past, Present, and Future," part 6 of "The Cosmology of Conversation," a series on the history of the salon. Bevilacqua is a 2014-15 as a Community Fellow at Brown's John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, where she is working with Johnson, a PhD student in Brown's Department of Modern Culture and Media, on a variety of projects focused the history and future of the Athenaeum Salon. Join them for a discussion of their fellowship work, the role of the Salon within the Athenaeum and the larger community, and the ideals and ideas for spring and beyond. READER SERVICES If you're looking for a book, or in this case books, to get you through the long winter nights, our Publications Coordinator Tina Egnoski suggests the Neapolitan novels, a series—three are currently in translation, a fourth is to be released in September—by Italian writer Elena Ferrante. The story follows the lives of narrator Elena Greco and her friend Lila Cerrullo, young women born into a working-class neighborhood in Naples in the mid-20th century. From childhood to adulthood, their friendship is tested and survives the trials of adolescence, marriage and motherhood. The novels tackle large themes, such as class, feminism, violence and fascism, but the power lies in the personal struggles of these two intriguing and multi-faceted characters. It's a series worth binge-reading!   The titles, in order, are: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name and Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. AND SPEAKING OF READING Here's another book for your to-read list. Our friend and member Robert Koppel just published a new novel, Why Love? It's the the story of Ira Fleckenstein and his crazy family. Inspired by Greek mythology, Yiddish theater, the God particle, and the songs of Burt Bacharach, the hero embarks on a punch-drunk Proustian odyssey. The novel is a love story and the writing of a love story, all rolled into one; full of false starts, dashed plans, deep feeling, raw humor, and triumph. It's the debut book of the newly formed Vitruvian Book Publishing, LLC., a Providence imprint dedicated to the publication of outstanding new works that draw from authors living and writing in Rhode Island. Koppel is the critically acclaimed author of more than a dozen books. His previous novel, The Next Step, tells the story of a Wall Street titan who, losing everything, reinvents himself as a FedEx shipping clerk. In the process, he saves the world and achieves redemption.	THE ATHENAEUM, SOCIALLY updates, ephemera   conversation    young readers, YA lovers the Contemporaries library blog THE ATHENAEUM, AT A GLANCE Children's Library Membership Donations ABOUT THE ATHENAEUM The Providence Athenaeum is an independent membership library that opened on Benefit Street in 1838; its antecedent was an earlier library, The Providence Library Company, founded in 1753. We provide books and other materials to all, of any age, who love reading, appreciate literature, and enjoy cultural discovery. Our collections and historic building are maintained in the spirit of its founders in order to enrich the lives of all who enter its granite walls. We're committed to cultural programming and events for adults and children that accentuate the strengths of the collections and mission of the institution. Exhibits are open to the public. Visit our website at here. ATHENAEUM HOURS Mon-Thu 9:00am-7:00pm Fri 9:00am-5:00pm Sat 9:00am-5:00pm Sun 1:00pm-5:00pm UPCOMING HOLIDAY CLOSINGS Mon 2/16: Presidents' Day
The Providence Athenaeum, 251 Benefit Street, Providence, RI  02903

The Providence Athenaeum 251 Benefit Street Providence, Rhode Island

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6559204?ir=GPS%20for%20the%20Soul&utm_campaign=020415&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-gps-for-the-soul&utm_content=Title&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

27 Common Things That Prevent Our Happiness

The poet Rumi once said, "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it".

The same thing could be said of happiness. Instead of looking outwards for happiness, simply look within at all the ways you are preventing yourself from being happy in this very moment -- and work on letting them go.

To get you started, here are 27 common things that prevent our happiness.

1. Forgetting our inherent worth.

Your worth is not contingent on external factors like your titles, relationship status, financial situation or career. These are just roles you play in life. As a human being, you are inherently worthwhile and whole.

2. Worrying about the future.

When you worry about what might go wrong in your life, you're creating your own personal hell in an otherwise peaceful and beautiful present moment.

3. Comparison.

Mark Twain once said, "Comparison is the death of joy". Instead of comparing yourself to other people, or comparing every restaurant and romantic partner and coffee and holiday you've ever experienced, accept that things are different and remember diversity and contrast make life interesting.

4. A lack of gratitude.

We can become so focused on what we don't have, that we forget to notice what we do have. Pause and appreciate all of the love, beauty, abundance and blessings already in your life, and you may be surprised to realize you are rich beyond measure.

5. Ignoring our heart and intuition.

Most people life a life others expect of them, not a life that is true to themselves -- it's the top regret of the dying. Have the courage to follow your heart's song and trust your intuition. It is your most dependable guide.

6. Being ruled by our ego. Your ego is your social mask and the image you have of yourself -- it's insecure and easily bruised by life's events and other people's opinions. Learn to tap into your soul -- your eternal essence, who you really are underneath all the labels. Unlike your ego, your soul is unconditionally loving, strong, wise and enduring.

7. Comfort zones.

We hold ourselves back from taking risks and going after our dreams because we feel secure, albeit unhappy, in the certainty of our current life. We forget that even our secure circumstances could change at any moment, so in many ways we are no more secure in the 'known' than in the 'unknown'.

8. Living in our heads.

We spend so much time living in our heads instead of being present in the moment. If you catch your mind drifting into problem-solving or worrying mode, trying bringing it back to the present moment by taking a few deep breaths and feeling the sensations throughout your body.

9. Holding onto resentment and anger.

When you refuse to let go of past grievances and practice forgiveness, you are only holding yourself hostage. As Buddha said, "Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."

10. Prioritizing things that don't matter.

We spend so much time on things that don't advance our dreams or make us feel fulfilled -- like constantly checking our email or scrolling through social media. Save more of your time and energy for things that progress your life or really light you up.

11. Negativity.

The world is a reflection of your dominant thoughts and feelings. If you constantly focus on your problems, struggles and worries, you will perpetuate the same circumstances again and again. If you start to think in positive terms, you will experience more positive results.

12. Resisting the present moment.

If you are not yet living your ideal life, make peace with this fact while working towards your goals. If you struggle against each day, resenting each task you need to complete, it will drain all your energy leaving nothing left in the tank for you to work towards your dreams.

13. Our interpretations and stories.

We are meaning making machines, and often we read meaning into situations that isn't really there. We assume people are unhappy with us when they're just tired. We assume we're being judged, criticized or excluded when it really isn't the case.

14. Living in the past.

If you cling too tightly to the past and relive the best moments over and over, you may not be making enough room for new beautiful moments and joyful experience to enter your life. Have faith that your life will continually unfold in new wonderful ways.

15. Having no patience.

To everything there is a season. Learn to trust in divine timing more -- believe that you are in the right place doing the right things at the right time.

16. Guilt and shame.

We all make mistakes and act in ways that don't reflect our highest self at times. But that doesn't make us bad people. Forgive yourself, accept yourself, and remember that your actions are not who you are.

17. Waiting for the perfect moment.

We put off our dreams until we feel ready and all of the stars have aligned -- and so we are left waiting year after year. Sometimes you have to jump and build your parachute on the way down. As the Zen proverb goes, "Leap and the net will appear."

18. Limiting beliefs.

We've collected a range of limiting beliefs from our childhood, the media and the status quo. Beliefs like there is a single definition of success, there is such a thing as normal, and we are a certain kind of person. These unhelpful beliefs keep us trapped. Spend some time releasing and replacing them.

19. Putting our happiness on hold.

We put our happiness on hold until a day in the future when we're thinner, wealthier, more successful or have ticked off a suitable number of goals in life. We're forgetting that the journey is all there ever is, and if we can't learn to be happy today, it is unlikely that anything in the future will fill the void in our soul.

20. Fear.

We are terrified of experiencing the feeling of fear and will often do anything to avoid it. While fear can make us uncomfortable, it cannot stop us from moving forward -- unless we let it. Learn to live with the feeling of fear and move ahead anyway.

21. Caring what others think.

We give away so much of our energy, power and inner peace by worrying about what others think about us and our choices. The truth is we can't ever know for certain what other people are thinking -- and they can never experience life from our point of view, so we are the more appropriate expert on ourselves and our decisions.

22. Constant busyness.

Don't mistake making a living with making a life. When life get busy, slow down and reassess. Take a deep breath. Spend one minute doing nothing. Meditate. Make time for things which replenish your well and brighten your soul.

23. Repeating the same mistakes.

As the saying goes, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results". When something is not working in your life, don't continue to bury your head in the sand -- learn the lesson and make some changes.

24. Letting our emotions consume us.

When a strong negative emotion arises, we often let it take us over completely, losing ourselves in the feeling of anger, pain or jealousy. Learn to observe your hot emotions when they occur, and remember you are separate from and above them; they are not who you are. You can continue to watch them until they fade away.

25. Expectations.

We expect the bus to be on time, the queue to be short, the café to have our favorite salad, and our partner and friends to act in accordance with our every wishes. Try approaching life with more curiosity, acceptance and an open mind.

26. Forgetting your higher purpose.

David Campbell once said, "Discipline is remembering what you want.". Spend time determining your values, your dream life vision and your purpose -- and then use these to guide you each year. Otherwise you will get swept away by the pull of the world and other people's wishes and views.

27. All talk and no action.

You can read all the self-help and success books in the world, attend seminars, go to classes and read articles like this one, but nothing will change in your life until you start putting that knowledge into practice. Stop reading, start doing.

Elyse is a writer and coach at NotesOnBliss.com and the creater of the Beautiful Life Bootcamp eCourse, a 6-week guide to connecting with your soul, creating your desires and daily happiness. For updates and inspiration, sign up now.

~A.

http://m.naturalnews.com/news/048482_household_items_cancer_carcinogenic_chemicals.html

Beware! of these 6 common household items that cause cancer :-/

By Ethan A. Huff

(NaturalNews) Most people probably live under the assumption that their place of dwelling is a safe haven from all the dangers that lurk "out there." But little do they know that many common household products contain deadly chemicals that are known to cause cancer, reproductive harm, birth defects and other health damage. Here's six of the most popular categories to avoid for the safety of you and your family:

1) Air fresheners. They're a staple in many American households, but conventional air fresheners are a hotbed of poisonous substances that could leave you and your loved ones infertile, brain-damaged or chronically ill. Tests conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that most air fresheners contain phthalates, which among other things interfere with male hormone production.

Most air fresheners are also loaded with other cancer-causing volatile organic compounds as well, which interfere with reproduction, respiration and cellular regeneration. A 2008 study conducted by Anne Steinemann at the University of Washington found that all air fresheners tested emitted chemicals known to be carcinogenic, meaning they cause cancer.

Instead of toxic commercial air fresheners, stick with all-natural essential oils, which can be applied to the skin or released into the air from a diffuser.

2) Candles. Similar to commercial air fresheners, many scented candles are also toxic. A study pioneered by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) found that nearly half of all scented candles on the market contain lead wiring in their wicks, which is released into the air upon burning. This lead might make the wicks more stable, but it also leads to hormone disruption, behavioral disorders and various other health problems.

Many candles are also made of paraffin wax which, when burned, generates two highly toxic compounds, benzene and toluene, both of which are carcinogenic. Artificial fragrances and dyes are also present in many scented candles, which when burned end up in your lungs.

3) Art supplies. Cultural enrichment and creativity are both positive aspirations in life, but not when they involve many conventional art supplies. Many of the epoxy materials, glues, acrylic paints and solvents, drawing utensils and other supplies used to create art contain chemicals linked to allergies, organ damage and cancer.

The federal Labeling Hazardous Art Materials Act (LHAMA) requires that all art supplies sold in the U.S. bear warnings if they cause any acute hazards. But manufacturers are not required to provide an ingredients list, which is why it is recommended that users of such supplies purchase only products that are certified by the Art and Creative Materials Institute (ACMI).

ACMI-certified products undergo rigorous evaluations by independent toxicologists to make sure that they are safe for everyone, including small children.

4) Shampoos and conditioners. Toxins in cosmetics is a huge issue today, with many conventional consumer products -- including some labeled as "natural" or "organic" -- containing ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate that generate cancer-causing byproducts when used. Other carcinogenic additives commonly used in hair care products include polyethylene glycol (PEG) and cocamide DEA.

Safe Cosmetics has put together a list of the safest and most eco-friendly shampoos on the market, which are free of most or all of the chemicals listed in its "Skin Deep" database, which you can access here:
SafeCosmetics.org.

5) Antiperspirant deodorants. Millions of people use them daily to cover up foul body odor and reduce armpit perspiration. But antiperspirant deodorants are a no-go if you want to avoid chemicals like aluminum chlorohydrate, which can absorb directly into the skin and promote the formation of breast cancer. Aluminum from antiperspirants is also believed to contribute to brain diseases like Alzheimer's.

Other toxic additives in antiperspirant deodorants include parabens, a class of artificial preservatives that mimics estrogen in the body and promotes the growth of cancer cells. Parabens are also linked to gastrointestinal damage, nausea and central nervous system depression.

6) Shower curtains. They might help prevent water from spraying all over the floor, but your average plastic shower curtain acts something like a radiator for toxic chemical release. Many shower curtains, it turns out, off-gas harmful chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, that are known to damage the respiratory tract, central nervous system, liver and kidneys.

If your shower curtain has that unique "new shower curtain smell," it is likely releasing deadly chemicals -- potentially upwards of 108 different VOCs, in fact -- that are harming you and your children. For this reason, it is important to stick with only non-toxic, PVC-free shower curtains made without these harmful chemicals.

Some of the best options include shower curtains made from hemp, linen, birch, organic cotton or PEVA, which you can learn more about here:
RonAndLisa.com.

Sources:

http://eatlocalgrown.com

http://www.nrdc.org^[PDF]

http://www.theprairiehomestead.com

http://wellnessmama.com

http://www.greenamerica.org

http://www.takepart.com

http://ecowatch.com

http://safecosmetics.org

http://www.watoxics.org

http://ronandlisa.com

~A.