Disney – DNC-Consulting

Water Has Memory

Leonardo Da Vinci said: “Water is the driving force of nature.”

In Disney’s movie Frozen II, Olaf posits that “Water has memory.” Since I saw the movie for the first time, the concept of water having memory has been churning in my brain. This got me thinking about water as a medium for recording. Take some white blood cells and water mix, well, and you have plasma, essentially. White and red blood cells, add water and keep it pumping, and you have blood. Add suitable impurities to water, let it age, and we have all types of alcoholic beverages. The tissues of the brain, to the best of scientific knowledge, are analogous to a computer’s motherboard. Signals come in, get deciphered, and signals go out, electrical energy, but where are memories stored? Is it possible that water is the medium for holding human memories?

Extend this thought; a computer is not much use without a hard drive and RAM, two different types of memory. What is the body’s equivalent for a computer’s memory, water? Possibly, how can we test this hypothesis? Let’s consider logically how we can observe the role of memory and the power of water.

Consider a dehydrated person; they will experience higher-level thinking problems until rehydrated. Drinking alcohol displaces water in the body, and dehydration occurs, which also includes memory loss. Hangovers after alcohol consumption are alleviated by drinking copious amounts of water. However, some will only drink coffee, tea, or soda, and the effects of alcohol consumption are doubled and tripled, not alleviated after alcohol consumption.

We are surrounded by water in various colors, additives, flavors, and more. Water has an influence beyond merely drinking it regularly. How water influences and why water influences remain a mystery. Gaze upon a sun setting over the water, and romance is born. Gaze upon a stormy sea, and fear builds uncontrollably. Smell the water changing from the deep ocean to salt marshlands, and you will never forget the smell of water. Another visceral memory is the smell of stagnant water, not swamp water, stagnant water, which has pollutants and is not flowing; the water can influence strong physical reactions.

I’ve met lots of people who are trapped in their memories of a traumatic water experience, e.g., almost drowned, at risk of drowning, water was used as a punishment, etc., and the fear inherent in this experience with water, makes the person powerfully emotionally tied to water avoidance. British soldiers fighting in the deserts reported the heat made them thirsty, and this thirst never left them. Thus, we can see that water, like smell, forms powerful, life-changing memories in humans.

Water is the only chemical compound that can exist as a liquid, a solid, and a gas and be useful in each physical form. But Olaf’s theory is that water has memory, not just that water is tied to memories. Can water hold a shape and remember that shape? Astoundingly, scientists in 1993 duplicated an experiment from 1988¹, where water behaved in a way that amazed scientists, and the results cannot be explained. The experiments reflected that water records and saves information and remembers everything that met it. How was this information met in the scientific community; derision. Why am I not surprised? Never forget, the same scientific community includes those who refused hand washing as critical to patient health. Supporting the claim that science is learning how to learn, how to think, and methodologically examine why things happen.

Interestingly, research reflects that water doesn’t just have memory but can affect and be influenced by people’s emotions². Music influences people’s emotions; we all know this, and the research is clear on the connection between emotion and music. Emoto expanded this connection on the crystalline structures of water and found that words, music, and human emotions affect water. Again, the scientific community is torn on this research and heavily debates the findings, methodologies, and results.

However, this doesn’t change the possibility of human knowledge having a current technical limitation, and as technology grows, we can improve our understanding of water and memory. Full disclosure, I am not a chemist or scientist in the traditional understanding. I am a lifelong learner who faces the world with skepticism and wonder. I remain fascinated with chaos theory to understand randomness, order, and irregularities in systems.

Mental health and water; leaving the semi-firm realm of scientific inquiry, we step into the unknown and the hypothetical. I am not claiming I am right in my thinking; merely recording the thoughts in my mind about the role of water, the supposition that water has memory, and discussing the potential implications.

One of the interesting corollaries I have discovered includes mental health and a person’s willingness to drink water. Those who drink water as a desirable drink tend to have greater mental health. Whereas those who despise drinking water, preferring any beverage to drinking water, and the mental health of these individuals was generally poor. More interestingly, people with poor mental health have been known to improve their mental health through a more focused stance and favorable perception of water. Leading me to ask about the possible connection between water and mental health.

Another intriguing link I have seen, in real-life experience and research, is the connection between physical health and drinking water willingly. Consider a person I worked closely with on a project. My colleague preferred whiskey and Mountain Dew to any other fluids. My colleague complained of headaches, fatigue, and abdominal problems, but diet and fluid intake would not change. An extreme example, but the question continues to ricochet in my mind, does potable water connect to physical health.

One of the articles reflecting the correlation between water and physical health discusses water found in recreational activities³ (lakes, streams, rivers, etc.). Since the body is 90%+ water, and if water has memory, does this mean that water wastes carry off bad memories from the body? Standard human biology has kidneys acting as a filtration system where fluid is filtered, and the product output is considered waste. Did that water, ejected as waste, also carry away bad memories or memories that no longer help the body?

Does anything excite you to learn about, explore, study, and become more knowledgeable? Water having memory does this for me. How many emotional states include water? Crying, water through tears. Anger, water through sweating. Laughter, water through tears if you laugh long and hard enough. Does any of the water shed contain memories?

Recorded in scripture is a discussion about the Earth weeping. Would this imply that the Earth is also sentient and the water covering her face is recording all the actions of the species who live here on? Earth’s water is now the same volume of water that existed on Earth during Noah’s flood. Where did Noah’s floods go, possibly into steam, clouds, ice, plants, animals, humans, etc.? All are part of the answer, of this I am sure.

The need for water, including the makeup of physical bodies, and the use of water in a body, is shared by every organism on Earth. Water ties us all together. The need for potable water is universally equalizing across all species. What if water has memory, recording the memories of all those species and providing the Earth a living memory like our brains record?

Science declares water cannot be destroyed. Being elemental, water can be separated into hydrogen and oxygen molecules, but this did not destroy the water, merely changing its form. Impurities can be added and subtracted to make many products, but water still is and can be filtered into potability and purity. If water has memory and, as a medium recording, stores memories, wouldn’t it be awesome science to access these memories?

What are the implications that water records and holds memory? Olaf posited an interesting theory, one which I am intrigued to explore. Join me? Let’s learn!

References

Hirst, S. J., Hayes, N. A., Burridge, J., Pearce, F. L., & Foreman, J. C. (1993). Human basophil degranulation is not triggered by very dilute antiserum against human IgE. Nature, 366(6455), 525–527. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1038/366525a0
Pitkänen, M. (2018). The experiments of Masaru Emoto with emotional imprinting of water.
Annette Prüss, Review of epidemiological studies on health effects from exposure to recreational water, International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 27, Issue 1, February 1998, Pages 1–9, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/27.1.1

© Copyright 2023 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Employers and Employees – The Battle is Waged: The Fight is Important

Employers throughout the world, including Disney, American Express, Wells Fargo, and thousands more, have begun to battle their employees. Unionized shops, the battle has been waged for 50 years and shows no sign of relenting. Only recently have other employers joined the fray, not to help employees but to rid themselves of employees. These businesses are fighting employees against their employees for the company’s culture and soul. Couched in many a buzzword, political stance, and archaic practices, the employers want to rid their workforces of those they despise, and the battle is legal!

Make no mistake, what the employers are doing is immoral, unethical, and disastrous to those employees unfavored, but the actions remain perfectly legal, and this is the point we must understand. Laws have been changed against the majority for the selectivization and advancement of the minority. The fight is important because you might be next and never know your termination has been affected, but not enforced until it is too late. This article intends to raise awareness, not cover every particle in the fight or catalog every avenue an employer might take to attack an employee. Imperative to know and remember, as long as the actions are against individuals, no laws are being broken, and the employer wins when they can make the situation untenable, and the employee on the out quits or is forced out under a miasma of quasi-legal terms, so it appears that employee was treated fairly.

Never forget, a lawyer’s job is to make the illegal appear legal, and the legal appear illegal, so a judge must decide. Add in judicial activism and legislation from the judicial bench, and the trouble becomes apparent quickly. Unfortunately, the lawyers’ training has shifted, and the legal mind’s quality has slipped under the weight of many of the topics discussed herein. The vicious cycle can only be broken when the collective beliefs of the majority are re-established, not to the demise of the minority but the growth of the entire society.

Culture and Politics

As long as people have banded together into organizations, societies, governments, etc., there has been the push and pull of politics. All of recorded history bears truth to this fact. People have beliefs. They express these beliefs through representatives who rise and fall in different leadership positions, and societies change according to the expressed beliefs through which a society is governed (law). Pick a governing style (Communism, Socialism, Representative, Direct or Indirect Representation, Monarchy, Theocracy, etc.), and you will find the collective beliefs of the people expressed in how long a leader remains in power or the stability of the society so governed. Politics happens and is best described as the push/pull of collective beliefs expressed by populations. Economies rise and fall based upon the collective beliefs, expressed in the stability of the society and the government leader’s length of time as leader.

History has shown when a governing leader is short-lived, it is generally because they refused to follow the collective beliefs of the population, giving rise to the credit ratings of stable governments and societies being higher than for those who are changing leadership every couple of weeks or months. Those leaders who can tread the waters of public opinion maintain their jobs and, many times in history, their heads by following the collective beliefs in the morals of the people. The US Dollar’s stability is one of the strongest reasons this currency is one of the world’s benchmark currencies. Politics did that, and politics are the push/pull collective beliefs expressed by the citizens to their government leaders. The process is messy and needs to be messy for a reason; only in the expression of two divergent points can a healthy middle ground be established, and society can grow.

Culture is not politics, but politics and politically minded people can influence it. If politics is a society’s expressed beliefs, then culture is the expressed moral convictions as lived by a community. For example, many institutions have been built on the law that coveting (envy) is wrong, but the practices of the people living build a culture that accepts graft, bribes, and other incentives that, while violating the law, are accepted. Make sense? The closer the culture is to following both the letter of the law and the living of the law provides for a stable and influential culture to invest resources into.

How does one change the collective beliefs of a society and the living practices of that society; first, you capture the children. Bad ideas do not go away, they are either replaced with good ideas, or the bad ideas go into hiding, awaiting the time they can make a new appearance. Everything modern society is facing has been faced previously, and the difference is that the seeds for the current dilemmas were planted more than 100-years ago, but the bad ideas first captured the children. Why have these bad ideas advanced so rapidly? The education of children in social customs, collectively shared beliefs, and individual duty, has been eroded and attacked mercilessly since “progressive education” (the refusal to teach children to read, write, and perform math) began in the late 1800s with Dewey, who called functional illiteracy “Progress!”

One of the first words plasticized, twisted, ripped apart, and then put together to fuel tyranny through modular language was the term progress. Unfortunately, language has continued to suffer relentless attacks since the late 1800s, and more words have suffered the same fate in the modularization of language. Consider with me the history of Tea. Tea plantations in India were ruled by the iron fist of laws drafted in America and marketed with women in distress to the consuming nations geographically distant to where the crops were grown. The tyranny of slavery is the same tyranny we face with modular language. Nobody realizes this because to mention this connection is frowned upon by those making money off the tyranny of language. The tyranny of modular language fueled the oppression of entire populations to fuel an empire. The language led to actions (afternoon tea) and a host of other practices, words, and social customs to fuel the demand for Tea. Unfortunately, the tyranny of modular language also fueled hot wars in China, more geographically distant suffering from the population consuming Tea.

Language – Plastic Terms

Diversity, what is it; what does it mean in practice versus meaning from a dictionary; what value does it have for a business? Equity, same problem, fewer answers, more confusion. Inclusion, same problem, confusion, chaos, and eventual destruction. These are, but a small sample of current buzzwords strung together and causing problems in businesses. There are entire word classes set apart for plasticization, which sound good to the ear, and that people love to rally behind, but these terms cover a hidden agenda. They have been weaponized to destroy, not lift and build—tyranny through modular language, plastic words.

American Express is a perfect example of how DE&I efforts (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) have been weaponized to pick away, through politics, the non-politically affiliated, those who show up to their employment and merely want to work their job. The University of Phoenix is another company long captured by, and suffering from, DE&I tyrants. Both American Express and the University of Phoenix began their DE&I journeys with the best of intentions. Still, the result remains the same, the minority classes bring politics anathema to good order and discipline into the company, initiating change cloaked in DE&I. The result has been the discouragement and disenfranchisement of employees. The DE&I champions crow and cheer for these people leaving as it injects more DE&I hiring, and the new employees realize that unless they are politically affiliated, read that as aligned to a militant tyrant in DE&I, they too will be out of work very shortly.

Language matters, and when terms are plasticized, the only result is destruction and tyranny. Consider the teachers in the Albuquerque Public Schools System or the employees of the State of New Mexico; both populations stress DE&I initiatives under various names but with the same purpose. Who are the enemies of DE&I; those who do not wear their politics on their sleeves, acting as emotionally charged smart bombs of the media. Even if a person holds some of the DE&I beliefs, if they are not militant in their beliefs, they are ostracized by their language, judged, and removed from employment.

When the patients rule the asylum, the problems for all patients in the asylum double and triple, not improve. The same result occurs when the vocal minorities of a population gain power that is not theirs, and they make no concerted efforts to rule fairly and justly. One of the truths about any revolution is that those who initiated the revolution rarely (if ever) get to enjoy the fruits of their rebellion as they are so focused on fixing what they perceive as injustices, they miss that they have become worse in action than those they deposed.

80-20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule is known by many monikers, but always it is the same rule, in different wrapping – 80% of a population will be controlled by 20%. In standard terms, the minority is setting the culture for the 80% to follow, and they hope you will never realize you are stronger without the vocal minority than with them. Take the recent changes at Disney. There is a vocal minority demanding change, couching the changes in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the Disney business model is about to self-destruct. The same is true of American Express, where if you are male and white, you are not welcome. But, if you are one of the members of any number of protected classes, you are welcome. When politics interferes in professional pursuits, 80% will always suffer under the tyranny of the 20%. What happens when the vocal minority becomes the majority, they fang themselves to death, and nobody is left to care because that 80% majority has left them to their own devices.

It should go without saying, but I will make plain, I am not against diversity. I do believe that diversity for diversity’s sake is wrong, immoral, unethical, and anathema to good order in a society. Diversity of thought should be preeminent as the diversity of thought transcends skin color and lifestyle choices. Diversity of thinking includes the desire to see all succeed on merit, character, and individual action. I abhor in the strongest terms picking a person solely based on their gender, skin color, religious preferences, disability status, culture, or any variable that supersedes accomplishment, education, and learned skill set. The same is valid for inclusion and equity; when people cannot compete solely upon achievement, education, and intellectual skill sets, this creates an imbalance in the population.

Hence roadblocks to education must be removed, character-defining and building experiences should be shared and taught, and achievement recognized. What is missing from schools from K-12 and up; is accomplishment, education, and learned skill sets. What has replaced these; is DE&I, where the vocal minority is destroying with no thought for what replaces the institutions, societies, corporations, and more. Iconoclasm in its most destructive form has taken over employers, and these companies are committing suicide to pacify, tranquilize, and placate a small population at the expense of all.

Inherently, change is not bad but growing, productive, and useful change requires inputs from a diverse population. Inclusion is not inherently a bad thing, but the current demands for inclusion, only for the sake of inclusion, make the activities of the vocal minority lethal to the entire social body. Equity is a prerequisite for society to grow, develop, and be stable long-term. This is why societies built on slavery, or those muzzling 50% of the population, are inherently ripe for hostile takeovers.

The actions of the vocal minority in employment right now are precarious at best, suicidal at worst, and permanently immoral and unethical. The models they promote have no substance and enable unfair, unjust, and unequal systems. Worse, companies that flout their customer base, which is the largest stakeholder in any business, will find smaller profit margins and higher expenses as employee churn increases.

One truth that should give hope to the employees affected is that when the minority becomes the majority in a body and does not have any substance, they destroy themselves. C-Leaders, are you sure you want to take the company you have been placed in control over down this dangerous path? On my first day at American Express, new hires were introduced to the rich, proud, and stable company history and core values. How sad it is to witness how fast this company has fallen! Who will replace these companies? Will their replacements learn from the failures of the past?

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Woman!

The majority of this article was drafted before the controversy with the SCOTUS nominee. The intent is to honor the role of women and woman. Affirming again that how you choose to live is your business and is between you and whatever god, God, or gods you worship. Provided you allow others the same rights to life, liberty, and pursue happiness, I do not care how you choose to live.

How you choose to live should not denigrate anyone, let alone biologically living males and females, men and women. Leading this discussion to answer the simple question posed by US Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn) to SCOTUS nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, “What is a woman?” Again, affirming the role and embodiment of a woman is more than the sum of her sexual parts; the question does have merit and deserves answered. What is a woman?

The Bible relates that all creation occurred in six days; on the sixth day, the woman was created as the supreme creation of God, and then God rested on the seventh day. Not here to argue religion, but to herald that final glorious act of creation, the woman. How grateful I am for the women in my life. Various scriptures relate that woman was created so man would not be alone, so a helpmeet was found for Adam, and the woman would be equal to the man in all things. An interesting dichotomy was found in creating the woman: Adam was created of the dust, but the woman was created from Adam’s side. According to biblical accounts, no other female in the species created replicated this pattern. Clearly, there is a lesson for us to understand, acknowledge, and support socially through laws and societal norms.

What a unique creation the woman is. Paradoxical in all things, a woman is soft and strong, inflexible and flexile, independent, and a great team member. What family is complete without a woman and a man? One of the great truths in life is that man and woman were created separate and dependent, and gender is an eternal construct. Each person is born male and female, with their creator’s traits, personalities, and intelligence. Yet what do we see in all modern societies; the continued blurring of lines, roles, and dehumanization of the grandeur of man and woman, but of the two woman, has been taking the worst hits.

Consider fashion; since the feminist movement began, fashion for women has warped and destroyed the modesty, chastity, and glory of a woman. Fashionistas are trying to make the woman into a young boy at best. Always to be “fashionable,” the woman is made to squeeze, pinch, and be uncomfortable. Women’s shoes are a contortion and torture exercise, a balancing act sacrificing function and comfort for some twisted idea of style. Long have I looked upon the inequality in fashion between men and women and been abhorred, disgusted, and discomfited by the base and profane ideas accepted as “stylish” and “fashionable.” Women, why do you allow yourself and your high and holy station to be demeaned in the name of “fashion?”

Consider make-up and all the chemicals a woman is “supposed” to use to “improve” her beauty. The emoluments alone are sufficient to baffle and bewilder, then add the smells and paints, and the woman is taught from day one that being natural is insufficient to being attractive or whole. Yet, I know differently, for I have seen strong and powerful women who never touch these things and remain effective, regnant, and influential. Tell me honestly, what you put on your face, to make up, what value is there in this process? Who told you you needed these chemicals to be a woman?

Human biology, and I would presume all biological sciences, defines a female as having two X chromosomes, whereas males have an X and a Y chromosome. I passed biology with high marks but failed zoology as I did not attend enough to be scored. If there is a biologist who would like to weigh in, please feel free to correct me. The developing fetus develops as either a male or female as growth occurs in the germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages of life. The physical characteristics separating males and females are coded into a person’s DNA, and fourth-grade science was apparent on these topics.

Psychology in recent years has declared that a person’s choices can change the gender of a person, but the sex of a person remains coded genetically. Thus, woman, as a biologically separate class of animals, have different bone structures, hair, glands, skin, hormones, etc., coded from birth, regardless of how that person chooses how to live. Please allow me to make a strong point, a woman, and for that matter, a man, are more than the sum of their sexual parts. If this were not true, then those men having sexual reassignment surgery to obtain female genitalia would automatically adopt all the characteristics of a woman upon the conclusion of surgery. Estrogen and testosterone, hormones, and chemicals would not need to be supplemented, and the mental processes separating a man and a woman would not need to be fought so assiduously by those having their sex surgically or chemically altered. Again, supporting the fact that it is psychology and not biology, establishing the difference between biological men and women, and the sum of their sexual parts is a non-issue.

On the topic of psychology, look to the results of choosing to live in a manner opposite of birth sex. We discover suicides, depression, anxiety, and a host of other mental diseases prevalent in this population, not witnessed to the same degree in different populations. Why the LGBTQ+ populations have such prevalent and significant occurrences of these mental diseases is a question modern society refuses to research as this has been termed out of bounds as potentially anti-LGBTQ+. Thus, research supports that the populations of those choosing to live life in this manner have these mental problems but refuses to ask why; do you see a problematic situation? All this while attacking the role, lifestyles, and position of woman.

Under the role of woman, there is a title worthy of acknowledgment, and the title is lady. Like gender, being a lady is a choice, a lifestyle, and contains social obligations, societal expectations, and requires significant effort on the part of the woman to obtain the title lady. For example, Nancy Reagan was a lady, Hilary Clinton is merely a woman. What separates these two women is class, respect, dignity, and more, not politics, not personality, and definitely not lifestyles and social circles. Being a lady requires sacrifice, making choices over long periods of time, and it demands total commitment to achieve. Females become women through growth, females become ladies by choice and sacrifice, and are granted this title by others.

In attempting to make this distinction clearer, allow me to draw a more specific example between women and ladies. Gretchen Wilson sings a song, “Redneck Woman.” The song lists qualities of a woman, specifically a class of woman “Redneck women.” No aspersions cast, no denigration, and no offense offered. Frankly, I have deep respect for several redneck women. I am also proud to know and respect a lot of women who ride horses as cowgirls and rodeo stars, some really kick butt women from the US Military, and more. But, a lady is phenomenally different by choice, and this is the point.

Great ladies of history include amongst their ranks Katherine Hepburn, Doris Day, Nancy Reagan, Barbara “The Silver Fox” Bush, Abagail Adams, Mary Todd Lincoln, Mother Theresa, Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher, Sarah and Esther of Old Testament fame, Mary of New Testament fame, these and more are ladies. First and foremost, these females are women, strong and independent, then they choose to become ladies and are honored more than mere women or as the sum of their sexual parts. Women honored, revered, and respected for their contributions to womanhood, society, and sacrifices, women who practiced gentleness, compassion, respect, and kindness as quintessential aspects of their core identity, not for worldly fame or personal gain. Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16^th President, honored two women as mothers and called both ladies of influence. Yet, Disney would have us believe that all stepmothers are horrible creatures. A vast chasm exists between women and ladies, and this is but one of the separations or classifications between women; by the choices the woman makes, a lady is created.

In trying to make a point about not hitting women, President Biden accidentally created a problem. President Biden remarked that nobody should punch a woman in the face. Distinguishing multiple times in the same speech that hitting a woman in the face, specifically, is not allowed. As a kid, I learned not to hit women at all; even if being attacked by a woman, a man merely defends themselves restraining a woman if necessary, not to cause additional injury to herself or someone else. But, Biden implied that only hitting a woman in the face is problematic; what a detestable creature is the man who would hit a woman! I am not condoning violence in any shape or against any person. For thousands of years and across hundreds of societies, those who would enact violence, society, rightly, has dolled out steeper punishments to those committing violence against women.

Social laws throughout recorded history have always treated women differently. Sometimes in history, this has been to the detriment and unequal treatment of women, and recently in history, treating women as equals to men is a fact that should be cheered and heralded. Yet, along comes transgenderism demanding equal treatment under the law, not as a separate but equal category, but supplanting women, representing more attacks on women and womanhood by conspiring men for personal gain. Don’t believe me; look at the story of the NCAA and the recent swimmer making news and winning championships, and tell me that conspiring men are not attacking the equality of women. A charade of disrespect is cast before us, slandering women and womanhood for some amorphous and ambiguous term for lifestyle choices and not sound science, or respectful dialogue about laws.

I conclude where I began, respecting women, honoring ladies, and decrying the attack on women and womanhood as the demented and twisted attack of conspiring men and women who would see women destroyed upon the altar of political correctness. Ladies, you have my respect, admiration, and sword, for you are deserving. Women, you have my respect for the roles you fill as opposites of men and your work as mothers, teachers, and the co-equal helpmeet of men. May those conspiring to destroy you be found buried in the hole they have dug for your destruction.

“That’s Crazy!!!” – More Chronicles From the VA Chapter 3

Bobblehead Doll It is no secret I am on several prescription medications. I take these under strict medical advice, and three of these prescriptions regard mental health improvements. However, my prescription reasons were subtly shifted because Phoenix’s last two primary care providers did not listen to the patient. Since the El Paso primary care physicians appear to be utterly incapable of even attempting to listen, I have now been without a mental health prescription for an entire week. This is called bureaucratic cold-turkey prescription stoppage!

Not the first time this has happened, especially for this particular medication, a serotonin blocker. Here’s the rub, the physical and mental withdrawal symptoms of cold turkeying the drug; includes, but is not limited to, the following symptoms, of which I have ALL of the problems!

- - Nightmares
  - Suicidal Ideation/Thoughts/Visions
  - Headaches
  - Heart Palpitations, radiating chest pain
  - Anxiety
  - Depressions
  - Mood Swings
  - Irritability
  - Tinglings and Prickling sensations of the skin
  - “Brain Saps”/”Brain Shivers”/Spaced-Out Zombie Spells
  - Fatigue
  - Dry Mouth
  - Insomnia and Sleepiness – Which is a major whiplash feeling!
  - Pain and neurological events in every part of my body!
  - … and more… Much… Much… More!

I have been without this medication due to bureaucratic stupidity for several days in the past due to pharmacy issues. But, this is now the longest I have been without this medication since getting prescribed this medication. I wish, like anything, I had known some of these withdrawal symptoms before I went to the ER earlier this week for pain and neurological problems; I would have raised the refill issues as part of the ER visit. I went online looking for other people’s experiences; I want some medical advice before continuing this medication!!!

PACT_model I am a root cause kind of person; why do I bring this up? I have had three primary care providers since arriving in the El Paso VAHCS in May 2021. None of them have gotten any of the medications correct due to a blatant refusal to LISTEN to the patient with the INTENT to understand! Nurses with VA-provided primary care providers are expected to communicate with patients between 24 and 72 hours post any ER visit. Since moving to Las Cruces, I have visited the ER twice and have not spoken to the nurse yet!

I have initiated the conversation with the nurse through phone and secure messaging, and the nurse has refused to engage. Through secure messaging, I am advised, “Secure messaging is not the place to triage a patient, and no question can be answered as this requires triage of a patient.” No direct phone contact is possible with the clinic. One must call, get routed to a call center, leave a message, and then hope the clinic calls you back sometime before you die! Don’t forget; I am the same patient told, “The clinic will not see you in person because you “WILL NOT” wear a mask.” Completely refusing to understand, accept, and believe that I cannot wear a mask due to medically documented (by the VA medical providers, which medical records they possess) reasons. Best of all, the veteran is then sent letters and marketing materials urging the veteran to use secure messaging through “MyHealtheVet as a safe and secure way to access your medical team and get your questions and concerns addressed by your PACT team!” If the VA were a mental health patient, they would have schizophrenia and at least a dual-personality.

PACT 1 Snide, rude, and disrespectful staff, all made possible by, supported through, and legally accepted under federal government fiat. Do you realize that the nurse not doing their job will have any number of valid and acceptable excuses, and these excuses are accepted because of designed intentional incompetence allowed under federal employment laws, regulations, and directives, established by and supported through Congressional oversight? In Disney’s “Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement,” Viscount Mayberry has a line,

“Your staff is incompetent and unreliable!”

The VA is incompetent and unreliable, and the victims are the veterans and their families. We are talking about dangerous drugs, forced addictions, and then the ineptitude of incompetent and irresponsible bureaucrats who refuse to do their jobs in a timely and responsible manner. But do not take my word for it. Let’s review what a watchdog organization, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG), has to say on this matter.

VA 3

Tracy McNeil, of Raeford, North Carolina, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and ordered to pay $90,003 in restitution for committing wire fraud involving an elderly veteran in her care. From February 2015 to February 2017, McNeil fraudulently obtained benefits from the VA and the Office of Personnel Management by executing a power of attorney over a disabled veteran who served in the Army and worked for the US Postal Service. The investigation revealed that McNeill arranged for the victim, who had dementia, to move into her home in February 2015 and then directed the VA and OPM to deposit the veteran’s benefits into her bank account. Between April 2015 and December 2016, the VA deposited $11,151, and OPM deposited $61,318 into McNeil’s account. Further, OPM disbursed the veteran’s life insurance for $17,533 to McNeil. Financial analysis showed that most of the funds were spent on McNeill’s expenses, including rent, utilities, credit card payments, and personal purchases.

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Strock Contracting, Inc., of Cheektowaga, New York, has agreed to enter into a consent judgment with the United States for $4.7 million to resolve claims that Strock violated the False Claims Act. The United States filed an action in federal court alleging that Strock Contracting profited financially after fraudulently obtaining federal contracts intended to benefit service-disabled veterans. The United States alleged the company, which was not owned or controlled by a veteran, recruited a service-disabled veteran to create a pass-through company, known as Veterans Enterprises Company, Inc. (VECO), which the Strock Contracting its owner, Lee Strock, controlled. The company allegedly directed VECO to submit false eligibility certifications to the government, obtaining substantial profits on numerous federal contracts.
- - - Where are the VA Employees who should know what “fake eligibility certificates” look like?
    - Where are the supervisors who should have been providing training?
    - Where are the Congressional oversight teams in holding the VA accountable?

VA 3

- William Rich, of Windsor Mill, Maryland, was arrested for allegedly obtaining more than $1 million in veterans and Social Security Administration disability benefits by falsely claiming that he had paraplegia. Allegedly, Rich misrepresented his physical condition in VA disability compensation claims, in communications with the VA, and during medical examinations in pursuit of VA disability benefits. While serving in Iraq in 2005, Rich sustained injuries that resulted in the loss of use of both lower extremities. However, approximately six weeks after his injuries, he made substantial progress toward recovery and was no longer paralyzed. Later records show the VA rated him one hundred percent disabled following an examination in 2007. The examining physician noted that he did not have access to Rich’s complete claims file, so he did not review Rich’s medical history or observe the earlier report. In 2018, the VA OIG conducted an audit of specific claims and learned of conduct by Rich inconsistent with his purported condition. Over the next two years, VA OIG special agents conducted surveillance. They observed Rich walking, going up and downstairs, entering and exiting vehicles, lifting, bending, and carrying items—all without visible limitation or assistance of a medical device, including a wheelchair [emphasis mine].
  - - OK, let me be clear, I am glad this veteran got better; I do not in any way condone theft. But, where is the VA in being culpable for FAILURE to do their job correctly?
    - Will the doctor who failed to do their job be held liable for the malpractice performed?

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- William H. Precht, of Kent, Ohio, was sentenced to 37 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $1.25 million in restitution after pleading guilty to theft of government property and participating in a bribery and kickback scheme. In October 2010, Precht registered a purported vendor, a company he controlled, as a small disadvantaged business and veteran-owned small business in the VA vendor system. He then used his VA purchase card and other employee cards to purchase over $1 million in alleged medical supplies from the vendor. In addition, from May 2015 through January 2019, he conspired with Robert A. Vitale, a medical sales representative for multiple companies that conducted business with the medical center, to devise a scheme in which Precht would receive kickbacks and other items of value in exchange for steering VA business and other monetary awards to Vitale.

Speaking of staff being “incompetent and unreliable,” did you know that the VBA is using “COVID-19” as an excuse for being backlogged in cases, AGAIN? Did you know that COVID-19 was so powerful that it caused the VA to fall 200,000+ cases behind, in an inventory of 600,000+ cases requiring decisioning, with 70,000+ needing additional review for entitlement, and needs to hire 2,000+ new employees to help correct the problem? Since the VBA continues to fail in staff training, exactly how will hiring new employees help? Honest question! With the current staff rated as incompetent and unreliable, not by me only, but by the VA-OIG who has regularly taken these issues and more to Congress asking for additional scrutiny and assistance in improving the VBA, VHA, and National Cemetery specifically and the VA collectively; what exactly can new employees do? VA 3

The VHA cannot plan construction projects and put planned maintenance into proper categories to execute maintenance tasks correctly. Congress refuses to scrutinize budgets and fiscal compliance for just maintenance of facilities. How in the world can anyone expect more when the VA cannot even hit the basics of planned maintenance tasks? I can; I do!

I-Care When the VA publishes marketing materials claiming they set standards for excellence and lead the industry, I want them to prove their competence and abilities! Right now, their failures scream louder than the voices in their own ears, and they refuse to listen to anyone, and I am not happy! You, the taxpayer, should not accept the performance of ANY government agency, including the entire legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government at the local, county, state, and federal levels, until they correct their behaviors! It is time to end the charade and put paid to this contemptible behavior and abuse!

NO MORE BS: Perspective – Another Powerful Tool

Garfield - Good Explanation Needed I am a foodie! I love talking about food, creating recipes for food, eating food, redesigning recipes to make food better, and have spent a lot of time enjoying gustatory experimentation! I can discuss the finer points of chocolate and carob, ginger, spices (including the history of spices) until people are drooling and begging me to stop. I have no mouth-brain filter where food is concerned. I like it hot or cold, and lots of it! Thus it is no wonder I am a fan of Anton Ego from Disney/Pixar “Ratatouille.” Anton Ego and I are slightly different; if he does not love food, he doesn’t swallow. Me, I will try anything and eat to know more as a learning experience; perspective.

Anton Ego has a fabulous line:

“… Do you know what I’m craving? A little perspective. That’s it. I’d like some perspective.”

One of the most pleasurable experiences I have is shopping at Trader Joe’s. This is especially true when I get a fellow customer who wants to discuss food, recipes and is looking for a gustatory experience. There have been times I have been led to a product by a fellow customer exclaiming how wonderful that is in this recipe, that recipe, or straight out of the package. Trader Joe’s used to carry these pretzel rolls that went so good with BBQ pulled pork, pulled chicken, or brats. You would have thought you had died and gone to food heaven!

Trader Joe's Trader Joe’s has previously had some great frozen desserts. For example, ginger and lemon ice cream from Italy, a salted caramel gelato that was to die for, and several other unique concoctions that went so well with other products you would have thought they would still be carried today; except they are not sold anymore. Perspective in food makes being a foodie my hobby of interest.

Anton Ego Perspective is also a key element in political choices, book selections, car buying, and a host of other human endeavors. Perspective is not simply an opinion, it is a way of seeing the world, and perspective is a choice that comes with natural consequences. Over time, the perspective choice decision cycle determines a person’s destiny, friends, desires, foods, clothing, companions, and so much more. How do we know this is true; look to the food choices and consequences involved in the perspective choice decision-making cycle.

Consider the following example. As a kid, my mother was a deal hunter, and one day in March, she came home from shopping with a screaming good deal on fish. Tuna fish, to be precise, in #10 sized cans, designed for restaurants, and she had purchased multiple cases of Tuna Fish. From March through the end of July, we kids ate tuna fish in every possible recipe as dinner. At this time, My father returned from a National Guard 2-week event that took his unit to Puerto Rico, where some R&R saw them deep-sea fishing. Knowing that many of the other wives would kill their husbands for bringing back a HUGE sports fish, tuna, my dad was offered the “extra” fish caught. Two days before Thanksgiving, we finally finished all the fish! The dog and cats would not touch fish, raccoons in our neighborhood would not touch the fish. As a point of fact, scavengers of all types and sizes refused our yard and garbage due to the fish. Thus, I do NOT eat anything with fish, even to this day, almost 40-years after this incident. Anton Ego 3

Perspective and choices, with natural consequences, leaves me in a NO Fish Zone! I will eat protein from every other source, but if it’s fish, it doesn’t matter how it was cooked; you can keep it! US Navy, Surf n’ Turf dinner night, I would turf, and the surf could go down the drain without any problem, except the smell of the surf prepared was enough to make me gag and refuse most food that night! Boy, was this a funny joke in the US Navy, a sailor who would not eat fish. Made only funnier when I refused to swim in the ocean. On land, I am the top of the food chain; in the ocean, I AM the food chain! Guess who doesn’t swim in the ocean!

Perspective and choices with natural consequences. It has been pointed out that regardless of the candidate offered, 40% of the population on both sides of the aisle will continue to vote for the ticket; this is true for democrats and republicans. Leaving a 20% middle ground where the elections are won and lost, provided you have honest people counting the ballots, and skullduggery have not biased the counting machines. I am proud to be part of the 20%; I have been an independent voter since I lost a sixth-grade debate over Mike Dukakis.

Anton Ego 4 A lesson I learned from that debate was the value of perception and choices, but I didn’t fully appreciate that lesson until I was much older. Those natural consequences of perception and choice in decision-making remain a powerful tool, only if we choose to allow that perspective to change. Religion and politics are two topics we did not discuss as children; yet, those two topics are the topics my brothers and sister struggle with the most. Worse, the topics continue to remain a taboo subject even though religion hopping and political leanings are issues that are infecting the entire world right now.

A person’s perception and choices over religion and politics are the two topics that we all need more openness in discussing; however, emotions, lawyers, and snowflakes make an honest discussion all but impossible to have. I have been on social media when atheists post something; if a non-atheists submits information, the tone automatically changes, accusations and aspersions are cast, and all hope of an open discussion is ruined. I have seen the same with abortion, economics, and so many other topics. The politics and the religion of those participating, both of which are a choice in the perceptive/choice decision-making cycle, end the honest discussion, and the tone and environment turn off people looking to discuss, worse too often, those attacking become trolls and attack outside the discussion

Anton Ego 2 Part of living in a Republic is the need to form opinions based upon our individual knowledge, experience, and perspective choice decisions. Living in a Republic is messy; this is a good thing! The more chaotic, the better because it means freedom is alive and kicking. When a Republic becomes less messy, people lose their rights to speech, privacy, liberty, and freedom. Do you understand this connection and relationship? Your perspective builds your opinions and biases. Your opinions and biases make a Republic messy, and this is a good thing. Please, engage and form perspectives, originate an opinion, and make yourself heard!

NO MORE BS: The Pandemic Hysteria

I want to believe that the BBC is running the series “The Next Pandemic” as a public service in an effort to spread honest, thought-provoking information and analysis. Unfortunately, experience has taught that the BBC is more slanted and biased in spreading fear, confusion, and angst than many of their corporate media competitors. Some of the bias is due to the differences between America and the United Kingdom, some of this is due to the intended audience, and some of this is the difference in language used. Yet always the truth will shine forth, that BBC is a news organization that survives on selling advertising, and like the adage claims, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Or more plainly stated, the more lurid and emotionally charged, the more advertisements get sold. A sad commentary indeed!

Home - BBC News The BBC is reporting that one of the possibilities for the next pandemic will arrive through mosquitoes. Now, mosquitoes have been causing disease in man for all of recorded history. Anyone who has traveled to Maine, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Michigan, Alaska knows all about mosquitoes, knows how to prevent mosquito bites, and has probably suffered at least one instance of becoming sick from a mosquito bite. Traveling through Central America and even more mosquito-borne illnesses are included in the potential for infection. Common knowledge! Heck, Washington DC was historically known as a malarial killer due to mosquitoes.

How does a society prevent mosquito colonies from becoming a health danger? The same way we have been treating mosquitoes for all recorded history. Citronella oil, mop up standing water, drain old tires of stagnant water, wear bug repellent, all common sense, easily managed actions that work. Heck, Disney World in Florida is known for keeping guests safe from mosquito-borne infections and other bugs while enjoying the park/resort. Hence, the alarmism in the BBC Reporting, claiming new mosquito varieties are arriving in North America, really is a nothing burger, unless you are a bug scientist who finds this fascinating.

Election Yet, if 2020 is any example, the government, fed by the hysterical media, including the BBC, will impose new rules, new restrictions, new problems, new actions, wasting more money and other precious resources, and will remain 100% ineffective. Consider what the citizenry was promised January and February 2020, a “two-week shutdown to flatten the curve.” The curve was never flattened. The government has botched everything. Common sense effective drugs and treatments were replaced for experimental options that cost exorbitant amounts of money, and the media has fueled fear in populations worldwide. Can anyone indeed defend the actions of the majority of governments where COVID-19 is concerned?

Speaking of mosquitos, it took a private company (Disney) to prove that mosquito populations could be controlled, and the government continues to ruin that simple program to the Nth Degree! Why did Disney need to control bugs, especially mosquitos, to make money. Why has the government failed to control bugs carrying diseases; because all a government can ever do is injure!

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” – President Thomas Jefferson

The truth is straightforward; the government cannot be the solution to any problem. Still, the media calls upon the government to act, knowing that the government’s legitimate action will injure the same people calling for government action. Why did the government build the military-industrial complex; governments cannot invent weapons, cannot invent better tactics, and cannot create a single productive item or service. So, the government began choosing winners and losers through the bureaucratic minds of those administering government largess. In so doing, more are injured, more taxes are consumed, more spending occurs, more debt that future generations are saddled with, and more injuries are passed around while claiming the injuries are really grants, benefits, and gains.

Scared Eyes! While I am grateful to the BBC for alerting me that new mosquito variants are being found in North America, and these new mosquitoes can carry more dangerous diseases, the emotional hyperbole passed along with the BBC reporting is beneath contempt! The world has been fighting viral diseases, bacterial diseases, and so much more for all recorded history. We have learned what works and what does not work, we have science trying to create new methods of fighting diseases, and we have individuals acting to protect themselves and their neighbors. Ancient Egypt is famous for the bug problems they experienced. Many movies have been made about the bugs Ancient Egypt endured. Sadly, the same problem from Ancient Egypt survives today: government!

We do not need, want, or desire more government injuries to fight bugs. We do need a smaller and more flexible government. We do need governments that live on a budget! We do need governments that provide for the common defense! We do need governments that allow the maximum amount of freedom while doing the least amount of harm! Hence, a call to the corporate media is in order; “Cease the fear-mongering forthwith!” “Cease calling upon more government!” “Cease being the incestuous partner in the government bedroom!”

As for the government, please heed the citizenry. “Cease the COVID silliness!” Viruses undergo evolution and natural selection, just like all cell-based life, and most viruses evolve rapidly; this is a common known truth. We do not need more COVID mandates restricting life and injuring citizens! What about COVID is new? The common cold, which has been around and used to kill people, occurs due to rhinovirus, coronavirus, and adenovirus. Why the lockdowns, why the hysteria, why the political gamesmanship?

As an interesting fact, here are some of the most common viral infections, which even though these viral infections are more contagious and more deadly than SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19), have never caused worldwide hysteria, mass lockdowns, ridiculous freedom stealing mandates, and 24/7 media frenzies.

- - Chickenpox
  - Flu (influenza)
  - Herpes
  - Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV/AIDS)
  - Human papillomavirus (HPV)
  - Infectious mononucleosis
  - Mumps, measles, and rubella
  - Shingles

Hence, I ask again, what is so novel about a mutated coronavirus? Even if it did escape from a Chinese laboratory, even if COVID-19 viral variant was strengthened through the use of man-made means and scientific methods and was allowed to spread through the government’s intentional actions. Why the media emotional hyperbole? Why the year-long government injuries?

Look The CDC continues to affirm, “Antibiotics do not work on viruses, such as those that cause colds, flu, bronchitis, or runny noses, even if the mucus is thick, yellow, or green. Antibiotics are only needed for treating certain infections caused by bacteria, but even some bacterial infections get better without antibiotics.” Will the corporate media please learn these facts, ask better questions, and demand better answers on behalf of the citizens affected? Essentially, will the media, do your bloody job!

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