John Stewart Skewers Glenn Beck for Health Care Flip-Flop

Is it "a nightmare"? Or "The best health care system in the world?"
We report, you decide....

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Good point - health insurance is different

Great analysis of the fundamental problem with our current health insurance system:

Insurance only works at all because of pooled risk - you pay into a general pool and insurance companies are able to calculate the statistical likelihood that they'll have to pay out in case of accident. "Accident" is the key word - it's an event that has some probability of occurring given someone's history and lifestyle. But it's a finite, time-limited occurrence that incurs a certain amount of cost. Car insurance, therefore, works. Yes, you pay more if you're a poor driver or a 16 year-old, but there's still some statistical probability that these people won't get into accidents. Health care isn't like that. If health care insurance companies were only hedging against the likelihood that someone will slip and fall and break an arm, or fall off the ski lift, then the private solution would work fine. Now imagine the following case. To continue with the car insurance analogy, pretend that everyone has one car that cannot be sold. Some people have lemon cars whose brakes fail every week, or have continuous oil leaks, etc. In other words, the insurance company knows that it will have to pay out on the people with lemon cars, not just occasionally, but continuously. There's absolutely no incentive to insure these people at all. We could, as a society, say well, that's tough. Only, eventually, we all end up with lemon cars - we're all going to die one day, and the large majority of us will be sick for some time before that. The only way to insure people with lemon cars is stick them in a large group of average people and calculate the risk for that pool as a whole.

Think Green This Thanksgiving

All we have to do this year is look toward Washington, DC, and we've got tons of stuff to be thankful for...

But as we officially enter the season of holiday cheer, holiday shopping and holiday excess, can we all think about the planet, too?

They say that green is the new black, but that doesn't mean you have to get all emo about it. It's possible to be joyful and celebratory - and smart.

10 Great Ways to Green your Thanksgiving

Getting There - Thanksgiving is one of the heaviest travel weekends of the year, and how you choose to get there can make a big difference in your annual carbon footprint. If you’re driving long distances, avoid SUVs and big gas-guzzlers – remember, you can always rent something smaller. Carpooling is also good, although not always an option. And if you’re flying, keep in mind that air miles are about the most damaging mode of travel for the environment. Avoid flying if possible; if you can’t, consider purchasingcarbon offsets from a reliable source.

Set the Scene - Candles are great for creating a warm, homey environment. But paraffin candles are awful for the home environment. They’re made from petrochemicals, they put vaporized parrafin into the air, and they often contain artificial oils and scents that you don’t want your loved ones to be breathing, either. Today, we have better options, made with beeswax and soy wax. Likewise, as you’re buying decorations, think of what’s going to happen to them when the holiday has passed. Try to avoid buying a bunch of paper goods that will go straight into the landfill.

Moderate the Meat - Industrial agricultural poultry farms generate a huge amount of waste; too much to compost (which is how small farms deal with natural by-products in a natural way, returning them to the soil as fertilizer). Instead, all that manure degrades into methane – a greenhouse gas that’s 20 times more potent than CO2. Plus, these birds are pumped full of antibiotics and nasty chemicals to try to keep them healthy in that cramped, hellish environment. This does awful things for the meat – both in terms of nutrients, and in flavor. Go for a free-range organic bird – your taste buds will thank you, as will your arteries. (Or you could try going Vegan…)

Go Local - Transportation is a big part of the CO2 impact of our food. Shipping by water has a modest impact, trucking is pretty bad, and air freight is terrible. Which means that, surprisingly, (ocean-shipped) Peruvian mangoes may have a lower impact than (trucked) Idaho potatoes. Your best bet – buy local. Go down to the farmers market for the most planet-friendly potatoes and yams.

Go Seasonal - Hothouse-grown peppers, tomatoes and lettuce are also not great for the environment – because of the hefty energy used in growing them in cold climates. Think like the Pilgrims, and try to focus on things that grow naturally in your neighborhood this time of year. In the north, that might mean substituting cold-loving crops like spinach, kale and chard instead of a salad.

Go Organic - Industrial agriculature depletes the soil, then uses petrochemical-derived fertilizers to attempt to replenish it. It’s a crazy system that’s accelerating climate change. Organic agriculture, in contrast, actually returns large amounts of carbon to the soil. If all the farms in the US switched to organics, it would be the equivalent of taking millions of cars off the road! Plus, organics are healthier. And your health is always something to be thankful for.

Avoid Packaged Foods - Often, producing and disposing of food packaging takes more energy than it took to grow and process the food in the first place. What can you do about that? Cut back on pre-packaged stuff. Go with fresh local spinach instead of frozen; bake your own pumpkin pie instead of buying one in a plastic clamshell from the market.

Recycle - And of course, make sure the cans, bottles, and packaging you use gets recycled.

Compost - Don’t send your scraps off to a landfill! In that nasty environment, food waste breaks down into methane, which as we’ve noted is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2. Set up a home composting system; if you can’t, check locally – many cities now have composting programs.

Don’t Say “Yes” to Excess - Don’t go whole hog – or whole turkey. Buy a smaller bird, only make three side dishes instead of six, go for two pies instead of four. You can still eat plenty of food, there will be less waste overall, and when you step on the scale Monday morning, you’ll be able to look at that dial without fear and loathing.

Image credits:

1. Flickr Creative Commons photo by Groovnick
2. Flickr Creative Commons photo by Eschipul
3. Flickr Creative Commons photo by Cyanocorax
4. Flickr Creative Commons photo by NatalieMaynor
5. Flickr Creative Commons photo by KingDesmond1337
6. Flickr Creative Commons photo by Normanack
7. Flickr Creative Commons photo by Darkroom Demons

Cupcakes Can Be Healthy, Too

More gluten-free goodness from Lyra.

Not only did she make these chocolate chip cupcakes gluten-free, but she used coconut milk instead of butter or oil. My god, they are rich and tasty....

Why it's important to be an organ donor

(Originally published in the Powell River Peak)

Joey Whitford has a new pair of lungs and a new lease on life.

The Powell River native, whose lungs were scarred by cystic fibrosis (CF), is in his sixth month of post-operative rehabilitation in Toronto after a cutting-edge operation.

With his lungs damaged by the disease, most physical activities were an impossible strain, said Joey's mother, Renee Whitford. "Now he's been skating for the first time in 10 years, he's shooting hoops and soon he'll be resuming golf, which is one of his passions," she said.

(There's more...)

Joey said he is looking forward to returning to Powell River next month. He would have preferred to have his surgery in Vancouver, but he had a complication that could only be handled in Toronto.

"There is a shortage of donor organs in BC," he said. "Toronto has the donor base to allow Toronto General Hospital to become one of the top transplant hospitals in the world. The doctors in Vancouver had done five transplants; my doctors in Toronto had done more than 100. I'd like to see that change in BC, but we need more organ donors."

Renee said that when Joey was diagnosed, double lung transplants weren't an option. "There was nothing," she said. "Nothing but slowly fade and die. The doctors said he only had a 50 per cent chance of living until he was five. There weren't adults with CF in those days - kids got it, and kids died."

Renee added, "I think if people could understand the fear a parent goes through, wondering if there will be a donor in time to save my child, I think more people would donate."

Joey left for Toronto on December 18, 2006, and finally went in for surgery on August 19, 2007. Recovery was complicated by bowel obstruction, kidney shutdown and dialysis.

Most people don't realize that the law pertaining to donations has changed, Joey said. "People think that if they signed up to be organ donors with their driver's licence, they're still donors," he said. "But that's no longer valid. You have to start over and fill out a form, which you can get at doctors' offices and clinics, or sign up online at Transplant BC's website, or at my own website, CFsucks." On the website, he added, that's short for "CF sucks the breath out of you."

Once a person becomes an organ donor, said Joey, they can save many lives and have a positive impact on even more. "Between heart, lungs, liver, valves, corneas and so many other things, each donor can affect 36 lives. If you have an untimely death, it's a way that good can come out of tragedy."

One of the things that kept him going through the hard times was his love of golf. He has started the process to become a golf pro, but he didn't have the stamina for the physical side of the test. Soon, he said, that will be possible.

Disease strikes early
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common fatal genetic disease affecting young Canadians. A person afflicted with CF produces excess mucus that affects mainly the lungs and the digestive system.

In the digestive tract, CF makes it difficult to digest and absorb nutrients from food. In the lungs, CF causes severe breathing problems.

A build-up of thick mucus makes it difficult to clear bacteria and leads to infection and damage to lung tissues. People with CF must follow a daily routine of physical therapy to keep the lungs free of congestion, and routine intravenous antibiotics to fight infection. Most persons with CF eventually die of lung disease.

For more information, readers can visit the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's website.

The Challenge of Wellness

(Originally published in the Powell River Peak)

One of the challenges of the human condition is that we all seek our personal paradise - a good job, a good relationship and a good home in a good community. And then we want to stay there.

But time has its way, and we don't get to stop when we get where we want to be. Like Alice's Red Queen, we have to run as fast as we can just to stay in one place.

(There's more...)

How do we stay well? As presented at last weekend's Live Well: A Night Celebrating Wellness event at Brooks Secondary School, wellness is a lot more than not being sick. Author Brian Luke Seaward spoke about being a whole person - whole in mind, whole in body and whole in spirit.

That takes good food. Folks who would never think of pumping trash gas into the tank of their vehicle often forget that their body needs prime fuel as well.

Malaspina University-College professor Les Malbon talked about the 50-mile diet, and how much better it is to eat whole foods that are fresh and local. It's not good when food is trucked in from a factory farm 1,000 kilometres away, or from Chile or China. It may be cheaper, but the food is less nutritious, less flavourful, and may be tainted with toxins. And it devalues local farms.

Malbon pointed out that since 2001, more than 30 per cent of the agricultural land around Nanaimo has been lost to development. As Powell River looks to sustainably manage growth at the Saturday, January 19 community sustainability charter meeting, it's worth considering that the original meaning of the word paradise was orchard. Do we want more orchards, or more parking lots?

When wellness program organizer Jim Palm called Dr. Jeanne Paul to invite her to speak at Brooks, she told him she had been to Brooks before--for one day. It was 1951, when there was a deep well of prejudice against first nations peoples, and Paul was taken from Tla'Amin (Sliammon) First Nation and sent to boarding school.

Now, half a century later, Paul was a featured speaker, and other first nations participants were integral to the program. It was a testament to the way the non-aboriginal communities and first nations communities are building together to achieve a true regional wellness.

For the community, wellness is about integrating all the individuals into a coherent whole. That doesn't mean groupthink or hive mind, but healthy interactions, free of prejudice, coercion and fear.

Seaward emphasized how humour and humility are central to that, and author-educator Chris Bratseth put the spotlight on kindness. Small acts of daily kindness are the food that grows healthy communities.

Eagle Walz, who was also honoured on the weekend, has done an immeasurable amount of work on the Sunshine Coast Trail. He didn't do it for money, or even for the thanks of strangers who hike those trails, never knowing the man who helped make the trails possible. He did it because he lives here. He gets to enjoy them and so does everyone else.

Wellness multiplies wellness.

Fighting a Cold? Take D!

(Originally published in the Powell River Peak)

How do you get your vitamins?

Vitamin C comes from oranges, vitamin A from carrots, but the main source of vitamin D is the sun. Vitamin D is the only major nutrient humans can produce themselves.

The good news most people make all they need in 15 to 20 minutes of overhead summer sunlight (longer for those with dark skin).

But that's in summer. According to Dania Matiation, the community nutritionist at Vancouver Community Health, "the bad news is that this far north, in winter, you're probably not getting enough sunlight even if you spend an hour or more outdoors. Which means you need to be looking at your diet, or at supplements."

In northern latitudes, the low level of the sun in the sky means that the ultraviolet B rays that form vitamin D are blocked by the thickness of the atmosphere, even at midday. That's why Scandinavians have used cod liver oil for years, and why the Inuit eat a diet heavy with D-rich animal fats. It's also why Health Canada estimates that the majority of Canadians have a vitamin D deficiency.

It's been known since the 1930s that lack of vitamin D caused a condition called rickets, but it's only in the past few years that a raft of new research has built a strong case that vitamin D, which is technically a steroid hormone precursor, rather than a true vitamin, is critical to everything from immune system function, including fighting cancer, to nervous system development in infants. One study even showed that people with higher levels of the vitamin lived two to three years longer than those with low levels.

Studies are also improving knowledge of how much is needed. The current Health Canada standard of 400 IU (international units) was based on the amount needed to prevent rickets. The new studies indicate that much more may be needed for optimum health, as much as 1,000 to 2,000 IU.

"I think there will be new recommendations from Health Canada in the next few months," said Matiation.

Getting that much isn't practical through diet. Milk is fortified, but only 100 IU per cup. That leaves two options--supplements and tanning booths.

"The booths provide both kinds of ultraviolet, A and B," said Rhonda Boyles, owner of Pacific Breeze Tanning Studios. "It's possible to have a sensible regime of tanning that meets your vitamin needs and doesn't damage your skin." Boyles also works as a receptionist at the Powell River Recreation Complex, another location for tanning. "When you start acquiring the tan," she added, "that's the signal that you're getting enough vitamin D."

One contributing factor to the deficiency problem is that dermatologists, justifiably worried about increasing skin cancer rates, have been discouraging any sun exposure at all, and encouraging use of sunscreen when people do go out. But sunscreen blocks ultraviolet B.

Dr. James Spencer, clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City, says people can get enough vitamin D from diet and supplements. He recommends fortified milk or orange juice, and eating salmon and other fatty fish, plus taking a 600 IU supplement. "It's so easy," he said. "And it's a lot safer than lying in the sun or climbing undressed into a tanning booth and frying your whole body."

Heather Chappell, senior manager of cancer control policy at the Canadian Cancer Society, agreed that the most reliable source is probably supplements. "The Society recommends that adults start talking 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily in winter, and people with dark skin should take them year round."

Matiation added that, while it's important to consume D, it should be done sensibly. "Don't panic and overdo it," she said, "because too much vitamin D also has toxicity problems." This is especially true for pregnant women, who should consult a physician before adding supplements of any kind.

"A reasonable balance of sun, diet and supplements should work for most people," she said.

Vitamin D Effects
* Promotes immune system function. Why do people get colds and influenza in winter? New studies show it may be low levels of vitamin D.
* Promotes immune system cancer fighting, particularly against colon, breast and prostate cancers.
* Regulates bone density and calcium absorption.
* Low levels may be linked to diseases ranging from high blood pressure to periodontal disease, multiple sclerosis and depression.
* Low levels are strongly linked to muscle aches and bone pain.
* Taking supplements may add as many as one to two years to the average lifespan

Vitamin D Sources
* Fish liver oils, such as cod liver oil, 15 millilitres provides 1,360 IU.
* Catfish, 85 milligrams provides 425 IU.
* Salmon, wild-caught, cooked, 100 milligrams provides 360 IU.
* Mackerel, cooked, 100 milligrams provides 345 IU.
* Sardines, canned in oil, drained, 50 milligrams provides 250 IU.
* Tuna, canned in oil, 85 milligrams provides 200 IU.
* Sun-dried shiitake mushrooms, 13 caps provide 400 IU.
* Fortified cow's milk, 250 millilitres provides 100 IU.

Medical Tourism

(Originally published in the Powell River Peak)

Once upon a time, rock stars and celebrities went to India seeking enlightenment. It was the hip thing to do.

Jacquie Brock went for a different kind of hip.

The Cranberry Lake resident is a poster child for what it means to be active and healthy in one's senior years. Except for her hip. She started having mobility problems several years ago. The situation wasn't life-threatening, but the pain of even simple movement and walking was making life miserable for her.

Unfortunately, getting medical procedures that don't involve life and death, like hip replacement, can be a painfully slow process.

(There's more...)

"It was going downhill fast," said Brock. "In July I was in the doctor's office and he phoned a clinic on Vancouver Island. They said, 'she's on the list to get on the list to see a specialist, and we'll phone her in September or October.' Not for an appointment, just for an update on the list."

This is how she found herself in Chanai, India. Medical travel has become big business--a multi-billion dollar business by some estimates, with patients from the United States (US), Canada and Europe taking advantage of lower costs in India, Singapore and Thailand to get cut-rate dental care and surgery.

Healthbase, a US company, arranged all the details of Brock's procedure, from anaesthetic to X-rays. The company even arranged all necessary visas.

Brock left Powell River on November 10 and was back on the 29th. This was a very quick turnaround. The trip to India left Brock with expenses of about $8,000 in medical fees, and substantially more in travel costs, in addition to the 32 hours of flying each way.

It's the cost side of the equation that makes medical travel prohibitive for the average person. To date, only a handful of Canadians have taken advantage of this opportunity. The BC ministry of health doesn't track statistics, but Healthbase said they have dozens of Canadian clients, not thousands.

Rather than research a specific country or company, Brock started out researching a technique. Sitting lakeside in the Cranberry home she shares with husband Bob, Brock described the procedure, known as Birmingham resurfacing.

"Instead of cutting the top off your femur and driving a titanium ball down the center of the leg bone," she said, "they resurface the socket with titanium and then top the ball at the top of your femur with titanium. It's much less traumatic, you can imagine."

"Look," she said, standing up and then raising her leg, first out to the left, then straight forward in front of her. "It's so smooth. I haven't been able to do that in years and it doesn't hurt. It's amazing."

Brock said physiotherapy should allow her to stop using canes by the end of the year. Her mobility has improved immeasurably and so has her mood.

Of course, there are caveats.

BC Health Minister George Abbott advised caution before procuring out-of-country services. "It is very much buyer beware," he said. "Patients who do receive surgery or medical treatment in another country must accept they do so at their own risk, and realize that complications may arise, for which the provider of the service will not accept responsibility."

But working with an international company like Healthbase is hardly the same as getting a back-alley facelift, said Brock. The doctor in the Indian hospital (part of the international Apollo Group), Vijay Bose, had trained with the Birmingham team that developed the technique, and has performed more than 1,000 surgeries.

Brock's physician, Dr. Nicholas White, said there's no real reason to oppose the move if the surgical team is good. "This isn't really a totally new phenomenon," he said. "We've had people going to Mexico for decades to get dental work or cosmetic surgery."

The ministry also noted improvements over the past five years: wait time for knee replacements is down from 25 weeks to 19.9 weeks, hip replacement, down from 18.7 weeks to 13.3 weeks, and cardiac surgery, down from 15.1 to 11.3 weeks.

"That's great," said Brock. "But I couldn't even get in to see the specialist to get evaluated to go on the wait list."

Sometimes the overseas trips are called medical tourism, because people combine their medical experience with travel. But with Brock's limited mobility, that wasn't an option. She did enjoy what she saw of India, however.

"The hospital was a bit dated, like a 1940s hotel," she said. "The doctors and the nurses and staff were just marvelous, caring and loving."

Brock found the experience humbling.

"I've been taking care of myself for years," she said. "But when I was in high school, I abused my body with student sports, and then there were all the years I was helping my husband deliver deep freezes and hide-a-beds that were beyond my strength. But I said I could do it.

"My generation, that was the thinking. You were independent and you never asked for help, you just bloody well did it."

Some of that streak comes out when she talks about her trip to India. She saw what she had to do and she did it. BC is not one of the provinces, such as Ontario, that are looking at plans to help pay for out-of-province surgeries that can't be done locally. Not only did Brock pay for it all, but now she has to pay for her physiotherapy out-of-pocket as well.

"Fortunately my pocket can do it," she said. "I know not everybody's can."

Supporting the Troops

Via Brandon Freedman and the Huffington Post, CBS News reports on a "Hidden Epidemic" of military suicides.

Tonight CBS will air the first of a two-part series on the "hidden epidemic" of military suicides, revealing numbers that CBS calls "stunning." The report examines data on the suicide rate amongst veterans once they return home, which indicates a serious mental health issue — and a hidden mortality rate.

Keteyian previewed the segment on the "CBS Early Show" today, saying that the CBS five-month study found that vets were "more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 as non-vets." Chillingly, though the Veterans Affairs Department estimates that "some 5,000 ex-servicemen and women will commit suicide this year,' that's a lowball estimate. Said Keteyian: "Our numbers are much higher than that, overall."

There's been an big increase in post-Iraq soldiers being drummed out for "discipline problems" - the kind of thing that is often a sign of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Wounded Times reports 10 soldiers a day are discharged with "personality disorders". And when they're cashiered, of course, they lose their VA health care, too.

I'd love to know what kind of correlation, if any, there is between soldiers being denied PTSD treatment and that incredible suicide rate...
(There's more...)

More, from NPR, and the Nation:

Jon Town has spent the last few years fighting two battles, one against his body, the other against the US Army. Both began in October 2004 in Ramadi, Iraq. He was standing in the doorway of his battalion's headquarters when a 107-millimeter rocket struck two feet above his head. The impact punched a piano-sized hole in the concrete facade, sparked a huge fireball and tossed the 25-year-old Army specialist to the floor, where he lay blacked out among the rubble.

~~~ snip ~~~

Eventually the rocket shrapnel was removed from Town's neck and his ears stopped leaking blood. But his hearing never really recovered, and in many ways, neither has his life. A soldier honored twelve times during his seven years in uniform, Town has spent the last three struggling with deafness, memory failure and depression. By September 2006 he and the Army agreed he was no longer combat-ready.

But instead of sending Town to a medical board and discharging him because of his injuries, doctors at Fort Carson, Colorado, did something strange: They claimed Town's wounds were actually caused by a "personality disorder." Town was then booted from the Army and told that under a personality disorder discharge, he would never receive disability or medical benefits.
Town is not alone. A six-month investigation has uncovered multiple cases in which soldiers wounded in Iraq are suspiciously diagnosed as having a personality disorder, then prevented from collecting benefits.

All About Calcium

(cross-posted at BeOnLiving)
by Jeremy Bloom

Strong Teeth? Healthy Blood and Nerves Too!

Calcium is important for bones - everyone knows that. It’s the main structural building block of our bones. But did you know that it’s also needed for cell function, muscle tone, nerve function and blood clotting?

So it’s very important to keep the right balance in your body. Not enough calcium can lead to loss of density in bones and teeth, especially in the elderly. But too much calcium can cause blood troubles, impaired kidney functions, and trouble absorbing other nutrients.

It’s rare to see the classic calcium-deficiency disease, rickets, in the industrialized world. But in people who have a long-term lack of calcium in their diet, the body pulls calcium from the bones to maintain basic cell and nerve functioning, which over years can lead to the brittle bones of osteoporosis.

Supplements
Calcium absorption is tricky, so if you take supplements, it’s recommended that you spread them out over the day. With single heavy doses, most will be wasted. Also, Vitamin D is necessary for Calcium absorption, so proper levels of D must be maintained.

Chemically, calcium comes bound in several forms. Calcium carbonate – chalk – is the cheapest, but is hard to absorb and can cause gas, constipation and kidney stones. Calcium citrate is recommended instead. Chelated calcium is recognized by the body and is the best form of all… though getting your calcium via a healthy, balanced diet is best of all.

Notes:
- Chemically speaking, calcium is the most common metal in your body.
- If you’re on corticosteroids, you have to watch your calcium intake. Corticosteroids block activation of Vitamin D; without it, your body can’t absorb calcium.
- Many other medications interfere with Calcium – consult with your doctor.

Benefits
- Strong, healthy bones and teeth
- Proper blood clotting, blood pressure
- Proper nervous system function
- Maintaining proper calcium levels may prevent kidney stones and cataracts
- May benefit Colon Cancer, IBD
- May benefit PMS

Sources
- Dark green leafy vegetables such as chard, kale, spinach, turnip greens, parsley
- Sea Vegetables and Kelp, wakame and hijiki
- Olives and Olive Oil
- Nuts and seeds, including sesame seeds, almonds, brazil nuts, pecans
- Oranges, Gojis, Mango, Pineapple, Camu Camu
- Amaranth, Maca
- Blackstrap mollases, Agave, Yacon
- Dairy products, yogurt (although we don't recommend them)

(Flickr image from williumbillium, used under a Creative Commons license)

Suburban Distopia

There's a big ideas-fest going on over in Aspen (probably without Scooter Libby and Judy Miller), and Ross Douthat blogs on the Atlantic website about Joel Kotkin's discussion of renewed urbanism.

The notion that Americans are moving back to downtowns in large numbers is a myth, Kotkin announced; instead, they're moving ever outward, into new exurbs and rural areas. The traditional unipolar urban downtown isn't going to make a comeback: Young couples with families can't afford to live there, and aging Baby Boomers don't want to.

I think a lot of this falls under the category of "Where I sit everything is fine, or at least I've convinced myself it is."
I'm sure his sweeping generalizations are true for some folks - probably all the people he knows - but are significantly less true for millions of others.
More...

Telecommuting, not mass transit, is the wave of the future... The suburbs are a triumph, not a torture chamber... Suburbanites are happier and enjoy a more vibrant civic life than other Americans, and it's not just bigoted whites hiding out in gated communities... Post-industrial society will look more like pre-industrial society than anyone ever expected.

Well... my writerly two cents...
Telecommuting is fine if you're a writer or a pundit.

It's not so easy if you are, for instance, a chef. Or a barrista. Or a teacher, or a police officer, or a doctor, or just about any other job that involves something more than sitting in front of a computer all day.

I've done telecommuting from the suburbs.

It sucks.

If you want ANYTHING, you have to get in the car and drive. And that especially goes for human contact - you can make your own coffee, read the newspaper online, but that's just not the same as walking to the corner cafe and reading the paper over a cup of fresh-brewed and chatting with the neighbors and meeting new people (some of whom may end up being useful business contacts, hey!).

I now live in Santa Monica, where I walk to the coffee shop, the bank, the movie theater, restaurants, bookstores...

I have a cheap semi-reliable vehicle for running around town (and there are also buses), and for longer road trips where I'm more concerned about breakdowns (and gas mileage) I have five car-rental locations within a few blocks of home!

The one thing we miss here is land for a nice herb & vegetable garden... but I can tell you first hand that most suburbanites don't actually indulge in getting their hands dirty in that way.

Even my brother and sister, who have very similar sensibilities to mine, tell me they simply don't have the time for a garden, not with families and three kids each. They spend too much time in the car - driving to and from work, taking the kids to soccer games, gymnastics, music lessons...

Sure, there's more space in the suburbs, but you pay for the space with TIME - hours and hours of your life that you never get back. It's a truism of real estate that "Land is the one thing they're not making any more of", but that's just not true; time is at least as precious a commodity, but most people, thinking they have a lifetime's worth of spare moments, end up bleading them away minute by minute waiting at red lights, or tied up in traffic...

Imagine if someone told you, "You live in the suburbs, but in exchange you'll die 10 years earlier, lose ten full years of life."

Would you do it? Millions of people do every day, unthinking.

More commentary from Iglesias and Atrios

Also... a good piece about Seattle, Portland and Vancouver

Got yer peanuts....

The ultimate American snack food has gotten a bad rap. From tasteless bags at ballparks to being banned at pre-schools nationwide, beloved peanuts have become the black sheep of the nut family.

But remember how much you loved that roasted aroma at one time? David Wolfe of Sunfood has taken that atavistic experience to a whole new level. He has recently started bringing in the most amazing Amazonian Wild Jungle Peanuts - quite likely the original ancestors to all the commercial nuts grown today - cultivated by the Shuar tribe of the Ecuadorian rainforest.

These little guys are beautiful to look at; long and lean, with deep chocolate-colored stripes! And the flavor? Subtle yet rich, aromatic and earthy - intense. If you've ever compared the complexity of a wild strawberry to the blandness of big, styrofoamy commercial strawberries you'll have an inkling of the difference.

Not only are they prettier and tastier, but they're a nutritional revelation - containing 26 percent protein (more than hemp or flax seeds!), including all 8 essential aminos plus methionine, plus a whopping helping of the beautifying oleic acid. And best of all - unlike nearly all commercial peanuts, there's absolutely no aflatoxin, so you can pack a sack for the kiddies without the worry.

Additionally, you can soak these nuts to encourage them to quicken (germinating nuts have more nutrients, and less enzyme inhibitors); toss them in the blender with coconut milk, lime juice and Thai basil to make a peanut sauce that is simply divine! Oh, and the added environmental/social benefit I relish - the Shuar people are fighting off oil development, meaning that every bag purchased helps them protect the land, too.

(Note: You can now get them directly from Wolf's source, ELFWholesale.)