Like other media companies, The Post hosts conferences and live events that bring together journalists, government officials and other leaders for discussions of important topics. These events make news and inform their audiences. We had planned to extend this business to include smaller gatherings, a practice that has become common at other media companies.

From the outset, we laid down firm parameters to ensure that these events would be consistent with The Post's values. If the events were to be sponsored by other companies, everything would be at arm's length -- sponsors would have no control over the content of the discussions, and no special access to our journalists.

If our reporters were to participate, there would be no limits on what they could ask. They would have full access to participants and be able to use any information or ideas to further their knowledge and understanding of any issues under discussion. They would not be asked to invite other participants and would serve only as moderators.

When the flier promoting our first planned event to potential sponsors was released, it overstepped all these lines. Neither I nor anyone in our news department would have approved any event such as the flier described.

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Originally published in The Berkshire Eagle
Headlines in the Berkshire Eagle recently proclaimed that Berkshire Health Systems (BHS) is cutting the equivalent of 65 full-time jobs, and will lose $3 million this year. This is neither good for employment nor for the health of our population in the Berkshires. The culprits are the cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, the programs that cover 70 percent of the BHS population.
BHS president David Phelps reports that financial problems at Berkshire Medical Center have been aggravated by Massachusetts health care reform. While more patients have enrolled in insurance plans, the reimbursements for these plans are similar to Medicaid rates, which dont actually cover the cost of care.
As the major non-profit provider of health care for the Berkshire community suffers financially, the for-profit insurance industry, (which only administers the funds, and provides no actual health care services), is raking in the money. In the current economic and health care crisis, United Health Group, Americas largest health insurance company, enjoyed an increase of 8 percent in revenues for the first quarter of 2009, with a net profit of $984 million. There is something wrong when the administrators of the health care funds are making exorbitant profits, while the providers of the health care services are struggling to remain solvent.
The private for-profit insurance industry diverts roughly $400 billion/year from medical services. In addition, the Senate Commerce Committee recently released a staff report about how health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers should have paid themselves.
Will the current health care reform being formulated in Washington address these issues? Not a chance, even if President Obama gets a public plan option into the reform legislation. Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a founder of the 16,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program, stated in her testimony to Congress: Insurers compete by not paying for care: by denying payment and shifting costs onto patients or other payers. These bad behaviors confer a decisive competitive advantage. A public plan option would either emulate them becoming a clone of private insurance or go under. A kinder, gentler public plan option would quickly fail in the marketplace, saddled with the sickest, most expensive patients, whose high costs would drive premiums to uncompetitive levels.
In addition, the overhead for a public plan option would be higher than for Medicare, which automatically enrolls seniors at 65, deducts premiums from Social Security checks, and does no marketing. The administrative costs for the whole health care system would remain astronomical, as health care providers would continue to struggle with mountains of paperwork and denials of payment from multiple insurance companies. A public plan option would not curb the escalating costs of new technology, and would not address variability in the quality of care.
The only way to attain universal health care coverage, while containing escalating health care costs and standardizing quality of care, is to eliminate the insurance companies, and establish a single-payer Improved Medicare for All program. Hospitals, doctors and other providers must be adequately reimbursed for their medical services. This would be possible if the profiteering and waste of the health insurance industry were eliminated, and those health care dollars went to the actual provision of medical care. And hospitals could be paid like fire departments, with a single monthly check and little billing. There is federal legislation for a national health program in both houses of Congress, John Conyers bill, HR 676, and Bernie Sanders bill in the Senate, S.703.
Last year a survey of doctors showed that 59 percent support a national health plan, up from 49 percent in 2002. (Only one in five doctors are in the American Medical Association, which opposes a national health plan). So why is single-payer health care reform off the table as Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee, said, before he threw eight single-payer advocates, including several doctors, out of a public roundtable discussion and had them arrested. Could it be related to the more than $1 million in donations Baucus received from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries in the 2008 election year cycle?
Wendell Potter, a former health insurance industry insider has this to say, . . . big for-profit insurers have high-jacked our health care system and turned it into a giant ATM for Wall Street investors, and . . . the industry is using its massive wealth and influence to determine what is (and is not) included in the health reform legislation members of Congress are now writing.
What is going on in Washington right now is not in the best interests of patients, or the doctors and hospitals that serve them. Patients have no lobbyists speaking for their interests in Congress. Most doctors do not want the AMA to speak for them. Contact your congressmen and ask them to sponsor HR 676 and Bernie Sanders bill. (On his Web site, Sanders also has an online petition you can sign and pass along to your friends).

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The Science of Raw Food
Raw food is returning back to Gods basic food in forms of fruits, grains nuts but of course now we have vege in the list too !!
Science proves that cooking not only destroy nutrition enzymes but chemically changes food from substances required for health into free radicals poisons that harms your health.
Enzymes are responsible for every chemical reaction in every single cell of your body. All the minerals, herbs, vitamins and hormones need enzymes to do their work. What work is that ?? Well, imagine not lifting your arm or sing or think of one thought without the help of enzymes. You can really say that biologically, it is the source of life. A diet without a source of live enzymes is like being removed from life. Things removed from their source of life slowly dies. For humans like us, that will mean disease, excessive weight gain, depression, stress, the list goes on.
The magic word to a good quality of life?
Trigger the enzymes to work for our body!! Lipase is a fat splitting enzyme that aids in digestion, fat distribution and fat burning for energy. Without lipase, fat stagnates and accumulates watch for tell tale signs on your hips, thighs, buttocks the stomach !!
Another great working enzyme is Protease which breaks down proteins eliminates toxins. Eliminating toxins is essential when youre burning excess body fat. As your body begins to burn this fat, toxins are released into the your system. Visible effects are water retention bloating. Since Protease attacks eliminates toxins, it is crucial to have plenty of protease during fat loss.
Therefore, if you eat close to 100% fresh, raw, whole foods, your enzymes will work beautifully for you. Cooked food is food with NO live enzymes. Live food enzymes will over time restore energy, stamina and rebuild your healthy metabolism of all nutrients, including fats.
Other related topics :-

1) Save Mother Earth GO GREEN !.

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5, Depression, 13 (1.93%). 6, Headache, 13 (1.93%). 7, Prescribed overdose, 12 (1.78%). 8, Aggression, 11 (1.63%). 9, Heart rate increased, 11 (1.63%). 10, Overdose, 11 (1.63%) Provigil (Cephalon) - 200MG, Adderall 30, Ambien Cr (Sanofi Aventis Us) - 12.5MG, Marplan (Validus Pharms Inc) - 10MG, Bystolic, Nexium, Abilify, Mirapex, Neurontin drug interactions · Lexapro, Adderall 30 (Duramed Res) - 7.5MG;7.5MG;7.5MG;7.

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Menopause vitamins and menopause herbs do exist. When considering menopause vitamins, understand that if your primary hormones are out of balance, experiencing menopause symptoms can be the result.
For women, estimates are as high as 90% of women will suffer the aches, pains and emotional stresses of PMS. Other symptoms affect nearly half of women who report irritability, mood swings, cramps, hot flashes, breast tenderness, migraines or headaches, lack of energy, bloating and bad skin.
For men, there is a 50% chance of developing an enlarged prostate before the 60th birthday. And the loss of libido and sexual desire that is experienced by many men in their forties and beyond can have a serious effect on personal relationships.
There are menopause vitamins and herbal supplements that help support the body and its production of important and needed hormones. What are the hormones?
Estrogen and progesterone are two primary hormones for women while testosterone and progesterone are two important hormones for men. There are herbal supplements and menopause vitamins that can provide support for the production of estrogen and testosterone in women and testosterone in men.
Certain nutrients act as hormone precursors. In the human body, hormone precursors are needed for the body to produce hormones. Examples of nutrients that are hormone precursors include:
Black Cohosh - this herb is used for the treatment of hot flashes, heart palpitations, nervousness, irritability, sleep disturbances, tinnitus, vertigo, perspiration and depression, painful menstruation and premenstrual syndrome.
Dong Quai - is used for premenstrual syndrome, menstrual cramps, irregularity and weakness during the menstrual period. It is also used to manage hypertension, rheumatism, ulcers, anemia and constipation, psoriasis and treatment of allergic attacks.
Isoflavones - soy isoflavones are found in soy-based food products and are thought to protect against hormone-dependent cancers such as breast and prostate cancer. They can support the lowering of cholesterol and also suppress the production of stress proteins in cells, proteins that will help cancer cells survive destruction by the immune system. They are of help in autoimmune conditions, osteoporosis, vaginitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia in men.
Red Clover - red clover is used for menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, cyclic breast pain or tenderness as well as indigestion, cough, asthma and bronchitis.
There are also other menopause vitamins and herbs that are used to support the health of both adult women and men:
Damiana - this plant is thought to have aphrodisiac properties. In addition, it can be helpful for headaches, depression and supporting and maintaining mental and physical capacity. The parts of damiana that are used are the leaf and stem.
Epimedium - this plant is also called horny goat weed. Epimedium is used for impotence, involuntary ejaculation in men, mental and physical fatigue, hypertension and as a general tonic and aphrodisiac. There are studies that suggest epimedium promotes the secretion of semen and stimulates the growth of prostate, testes and anus rector muscles. Some researchers believe epimedium may increase the secretion of testosterone.
Tribulus Terrestris - tribulus terrestris is believed to function as an aphrodisiac. There are studies that suggest that tribulus terrestris is beneficial in increasing testosterone levels, luteinizing hormone levels (LH) and levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).
Besides the herbs named above, high-quality menopause vitamins should include other beneficial nutrients such as antioxidants, amino acids, neuronutrients, bioflavonoids, carotonoids, herbal extracts and enzymes. And yes, there are menopause vitamins available online that do include the above herbs and nutrients in a high-quality formulation. Learn as much as you can about the herbs, menopause vitamins, menopause symptoms and natural approaches for supporting your health.
Copyright 2007 InfoSearch Publishing
David Lee Buster
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/menopause-vitamins-are-there-really-vitamins-for-menopause-114713.

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The thyroid gland is located on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck. It can be felt just below the thyroid cartilage, or s apple. It is a butterfly shaped organ that stretches across the midline of the neck just below the Adams apple, with its spreading superiorly (towards the head) on either side of the Adams apple. These are called the lobes of the thyroid, with the portion extending across midline called the isthmus. As an endocrine gland, the thyroid gland produces and secretes thyroid hormones into the bloodstream.

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Xenical blocks some of the fat that you eat, keeping it from being absorbed by your body. Xenical is used together with a reduced-calorie diet and weight maintenance to treat obesity in people with certain risk factors (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol or triglycerides).

How to Take Xenical Weight Loss Pills?
Take Xenical during or within 1 hour after a meal that contains some fat (no more than 30% of the calories for that meal). Xenical is usually taken 3 times daily. If you skip a meal or you eat a meal that does not contain any fat, skip your Xenical dose for that meal. The fat content of your daily diet should not be greater than 30% of your total daily caloric intake. Avoid a diet that is high in fat. High-fat meals taken in combination with Xenical can increase your risk of unpleasant side effects on your stomach or intestines.
Read the label of all food items you consume, paying special attention to the number of servings per container. Your doctor, nutrition counselor, or dietitian can help you develop a healthy eating plan.
Your doctor may recommend you take vitamin and mineral supplements while you are taking Xenical. This medication can make it harder for your body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamins A, D, E, and K. Follow your doctors instructions about the type of multi-vitamin or mineral supplement to use. Take the supplement at least 2 hours before or after you take Xenical.

Special Warning On Using Xenical:
Do not take Xenical if you are allergic to orlistat, or if you have gallbladder problems, or chronic malabsorption syndrome (an inability to absorb food and nutrients properly).
Before taking Xenical, tell your doctor if you have an underactive thyroid, a history of kidney stones or pancreatitis, type 1 or type 2 diabetes, an eating disorder, or if you take other weight-loss medications (prescription or over-the-counter).
Do not give over-the-counter orlistat (Alli) to a child younger than 18 years old. Prescription orlistat (Xenical) should not be used by anyone age 12 to 18 without the advice of a doctor. Xenical should be used only by the person it was prescribed or recommended for and should never be shared with another person, especially someone who has a history of eating disorder. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it.
Xenical is only part of a complete program of treatment that also includes diet, exercise, and weight control. Your daily intake of fat, protein, and carbohydrates should be evenly divided over all of your daily meals. Follow your diet, medication, and exercise routines very closely.

Buy xenical weight loss pills at DiscountPharmacy.Bz; trusted discount pharmacy on the web.

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It's killing them. It is absolutely KILLING them!!! The DUmmies just can't handle the enormous success of Fox News. What has sent them into a frenzy is a STORY in the Hollywood Reporter about the incredible success this year of Fox News, "Fox News set for best year yet." It is just driving the DUmmies NUts and FUnniest of all are their lame excuses as to why Fox News is doing so well while the other cable news networks have their ratings in the toilet as you can see in this THREAD, "Fox News Set for Best Year Yet (CNN, MSNBC dip in ratings)." So let us now watch the DUmmies make hilarious excuses as to why Fox News is doing so well in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent, noting that FNC unfortunately joined in on the wall-to-wall Michael Jackson death coverage, is in the [brackets]:
Fox News Set for Best Year Yet (CNN, MSNBC dip in ratings)
[Sniff! The two Obama-worshipping channels are sinking with their idol.]
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Fox News set for best year yet
Viewership solid as rivals take post-election hits
[But, hey, Mark Sanford got caught having an affair. Feel better now?]
By James Hibberd
Fox News is on track to have its most-watched year ever, showing significant ratings growth despite having just come off a highflying election year.
[Black mourning bands on sale here!]
With the second quarter coming to a close, Fox News averaged about the same number of viewers as the top three other cable news networks combined. And while rivals including CNN (-22%) and MSNBC (-18%) took hits following last quarter's inauguration-fueled boost, Fox News (-3%) remained nearly steady.
Compared with last year, the Fox News (averaging 2.1 million viewers, 509,000 adults 25-54 quarter-to-date) is up 35% over last year in primetime viewers and 48% in the demo. CNN (805,000 viewers, 210,000 in demo) fell 16% in viewers and 29% in the demo. MSNBC (787,000 viewers, 259,000 in demo) climbed 15% in viewers and about on par, -3%, in the demo. And CNN Headline News (553,000, 201,000) showed very strong growth, up 39% and 37%, respectively, and is on track for its best second quarter.
The new standings are strong enough to rank Fox News third behind USA and TNT among all ad-supported cable networks for the quarter among primetime total viewers. In its core demo, Fox News had eight of the top 10 cable news shows. It had similarly sunny increases for total day, while CNN and MSNBC were roughly on par with last year.

Earning double-digit growth after an election year is quite a feat for a news network. With Fox News best known for such right-leaning personalities as Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, one might assume having a Democrat in the White House somehow helps boost viewership.
[It helps not to be blindly worshiping The One like the other networks which only echo each other in their praise of the Mighty Ozbama.]
A dominant political party indeed can fuel the popularity of opposing voices -- Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" and liberal online news hubs Huffington Post and Daily Kos came to prominence during George W. Bush's tenure, just as talk radio conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and news sites like Drudge Report rose during the Clinton years.
But it's important to note that when Fox News took the ratings lead during the Bush era, some pundits declared that the network was winning only because a Republican was in charge. Those at the network get weary of outsiders assuming their success must be due to some fortunate external factor rather than their own day-to-day work.
[Heads, we WIN. Tails, we still WIN. And now on to the DUmmie excuses for Fox News success...]
the viewers of fox news have their exact parallel in the supporters of the ahmadenijad regime.
[This from the same DUmmies who were defending this moron's right to have nuclear weapons.]
Fox is bundled into cable packages. You can't not get it. That is why they appear to have more viewership. they are in more places. However, in the important advertising demographics, they are failing.
[And you can't not get your own stupidity.]
CNN is on as many or more cable systems as Fox News. Also, in the 25-54 demographic, which is most important for advertisers, Fox is the number one cable news network by a mile. What you are saying is inaccurate.
[LOUSY FREEPER TROLL!!!]
My theory is that the right wingers who give Fox those big numbers watch a lot of TV. On the other hand, progressives don't watch as much TV and spend more time on the Internet instead.
[Sorry for calling you a LOUSY FREEPER TROLL! It turns out you are really a DUMB DUMMIE MORON!!!]
Go to core Republican groups like small business owners and homeschoolers and you'll hear talk radio on all day. Go to core Democratic voting blocks like inner cities and you'll hear music on all day.

[Go to places where people WORK and you hear talk radio on all day.]
WTF? I understand CNN taking a hit, but MSNBC? Something's very wrong here...
[Because MSNBC is just as devout in their Obama worship as MSNBC.]
F*ck Comcast! F*ck Faux Snooze, Rupert Murdock (isn't he dead yet?) MSNBC should get a clue that people are sick of their private prison shit, while we're at it.
[Stand by! Your padded cell is almost ready for you.]
It means the Fox viewers are too dumb to change the channel.
[Yes, they just haven't learned that incredible technological feat of hitting hitting the remote button.]
The corporate establishment creates a manufactured youth culture in order to prevent dissent of the youth. The youth are obessed with sextexting, trying to get laid, playing video games, and other tasks instead of taking the time and really knowing the truth. It is our job to use Facebook and other social networking tools to provide the youth with the resources that they need to create dissent.

[DUAC! DUAC!]
You know, most of us actually READ our news....... The no-neck droolers glued to Fox News.....well, not so much
[Chris Matthews is a thrill-leg drooler.]
All of the fundies huddle close to their TeeVees trying in vain to get out of the real world.
[Posted the DUmmie from inside the pile of empty pizza cartons within the dark recesses of mommie's basement.]
I believe that the Dem takeover has been a bonanza for Fox. A lot of anti-dem and anti-liberal people who never bothered to watch tv with Bush are now watching Fox so they can monitor the country falling apart.
[So how do you explain Fox News leading even when Bush was president? Or will answering that hurt your widdle head?]
I suspect that RWers, having no lives, watch TV in greater numbers than the rest of us, in terms of both time spent watching TV, and in percentage of individuals/households that actually watch TV. I mean, what would RWers do if they were not watching some inane TV show? Maybe go bowling? Go to an Aryan Nations meeting? Shoot up the local Post Office?
[Read the DUmmie FUnnies?]
Fox News Gets Higher Ratings Because They Deliver A Consevative Fantasy World Version of the News. Liberals don't live in a bubble fantasy world, and as such, they don't need Glen Beck or Sean or Billo to give them this conservo-facist-sexist-racist view of the world. This is also why AM radio does not work well for progressives.
[Posted the DUmmie from the bubble fantasy world of DUmmieland.]
They edit and twist everything to fit their WASPY agendas. Murdoch and the backers of FAKE NEWS could care less about the state of the country or the lives of its citizens. They just want control again, so they can keep fattening their pockets at the expense of real America. Unfortunately, they have "some" fooled into thinking they give a crap. My remote skips right over all of their bs shows. I want the facts. Real news. Which is why I check out a few online sites each day, and why I watch anything but the FAKE NEWS touted by their total hypocrites. Maybe one day soon their poor viewers will see the light and start realizing these "Christian", "patriotic", "family first", "homophobic" phonies aren't abstaining from anything but the truth. If you have the guts...do some research.
[Start the research at the Happy Farms asylum library.]
And I don't need to watch them in order to know what they're saying. I only need to log on to DU. Same with Free Republic. I've never once been over to their site, yet I know all about them. Half their watchers are rooting against them and aren't fans. Without the opposition tuning in for their laugh of the day FOX would sink like rock.
[I bet you say that about the DUmmie FUnnies but read it all the time. Hee! Hee!]
They need to turn them off at Hotels. I travel a lot and about every hotel has fox news on in the lobby and in the breakfast area. For some reason there is a policy at hotels that make them all tune to Fox. You can ask for the station to be changes and I have, but it feels like a loosing battle sometimes.
[The is a vast rightwing circuit in all those TVs that turn them automatically to Fox News.]
I am not a big Fan of Fox news, but... the people who run those hotels are not stupid. If they have Fox News on it's probably because it's the most popular news channel with their customers. Since the hotels are running a business, of course they will put on the channel that more of their customers want. And since Fox News is the highest rated cable news channel, it seems reasonable to assume that the channel would also be popular among hotel guests.
[HERETIC!!!]
Fox news is left playing in hotels, hospital waiting rooms and other public areas because Fox solicited them to do it. Fox news was losing big amounts of money and viewership when they were 1st spawned. Their sales department went out and solicited those places to turn on Fake News.
[Or else they get a brick tossed through the window?]
Those f*cking hotels keep this shit on their tv screens because liberals and Dems are too busy or too scared to tell them it's shit, it's lies and if they want US to come stay in their f*cking hotels they'd turn that crap off!
[We win through intimidation. Turn off Fox News and you get a brick through your window.]
The last time I checked the ratings, Faux Noise was number 3.
[Did you also notice that Up was Down in your dimension.

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