"We are best at hiding those things which are in plain sight."
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
There, now that the riff raff has been banished, let's get down to talking seriously. If you're reading this, you're likely a comrade, a cadre, an amigo of mine. You and I might disagree on a few details, but all in all, in one way or another, we've both found and exposed most of the elephants in Empire's Drawing Room. We're batting for the same team. We're fighting for truth, justice, and freedom. We hate Empire's wars for profit. We despise the free-market/neoliberal agenda, which commodifies all of earth's human and non-human resources. We understand the moneymaking synergy which links corporate-legislative-executive-judicial-military-intelligence communities in an unbreakable bond of mutual admiration, love, and unity. We recognize that the lives of those of us who'll never make the Forbes 400 List are cheap, meaningless, and expendable. We grok. We get it. We know that this so-called republic and the two party political system are farcical. We've figured out that we live in a police state. We don't salute the flag, pledge allegiance, nor thank paid U.S. Military assassins for their "service". We are dedicated, heart and soul, to bringing down Empire, and ushering in a new age of hope. We are the Revolution. It is our duty as revolutionists to be strong of mind and body. We owe it to the future of mankind. We owe it to ourselves.
Which brings me to the subject du jour. In plain sight, Empire has been hiding yet another elephant from nearly all of us. He accompanies us wherever we go, joins us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, keeps vigil at our sickbeds, and attends our untimely funerals. He is a grossly obese, diseased, and voracious pachyderm. His leathery hide and internal organs are riddled with cancer. He's going blind and his limbs are gangrenous from advanced diabetes. He shakes uncontrollably from Parkinson's Disease, and due to late-stage Alzheimer's, cannot remember what day it is. His arteries are hopelessly clogged and his heart is failing. One of Empire's ugliest creations, yet few of us are lucky enough to recognize and understand what he does, and why. I would have gone to my early grave, unaware of his ghastly presence, if not for a close friend who was diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. Together we've banned and shunned this blighted ungulate and sent him on his way, yet he still roams the countryside, stalking and preying on the unaware. He will continue to do so until we collectively slay the beast.
The ugly truth as I see it: All too many of Empire's physicians have eschewed the Hippocratic Oath in favor of the Hypocritical Oath. They work in pernicious perfection and harmony with the pharmaceutical industry, private hospitals, agrochemical/biotechnology corporations, the meat/dairy/egg conglomerates, fast-food behemoths, the legislative/executive/judicial triad, the F.D.A., U.S.D.A., and last but not least the private funeral/ undertaking/cemetery/cremation dead body disposal racket. All of the above pushing a perfectly synchronized agenda of population control by way of junk nutritional science-induced early death. If you didn't already know this, don't be too shocked. It's business. Nothing personal. To Empire's healthcare industry "CURE" is a four-letter word, and doctors routinely lose their patients to McDonalds Disease. In fairness, I don't believe that any of this was part of a grand plan. Like most capitalist enterprises, the profit motive and momentum have driven the system to a point of no return. Like slavery, genocide, and war...healthcare has become just another cruel joke, with the lesser people bearing the brunt.
Although The Fountain of Youth was just Ponce de Leon's pipe dream, The Wellspring of Good Health has been discovered, and its benefits are easily and readily available to us all. Independent, comprehensive, in depth scientific studies by T. Colin Campbell PhD., Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Dean Ornish, and others strongly corroborate the fact that we are indeed what we eat. Their ironclad, irrefutable findings indicate that the top four causes of death in Empire are almost entirely the product of our high-protein, animal-intensive eating habits. Cardiovascular Disease (#1), Cancer (#2), and Stroke (#4) can be avoided almost entirely by eliminating all meat, dairy, eggs, and oils from our diets. And the #3 killer, Medical Care, is not much more than the product of the other three.
Yes comrade, I speak of the profound health advantages of a plant-based diet. That dreaded five-letter word which most of us find impossible to fully comprehend, is the very word that can save us from unnecessary suffering and early death. If you are to prevail against the evil forces of Empire, you must maintain your health and be in top physical condition. You must not be among the ranks of morbidly obese Citizens of Empire. You must not succumb to cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, or any one of a slew of autoimmune diseases. Make no mistake. I'm not suggesting merely a vegetarian diet. The only way to tilt the odds in your favor for a long, healthy life is to quit eating meat of any kind; no fish, no poultry, no pork, no beef...nothing with eyes or a mother. And while you're at it...no oils, no dairy, and no eggs. Si, mi amigo, you must recognize the last elephant in the room, and become a die-hard, dedicated, label-reading VEGAN. The very likely alternative being denial, pain, suffering, and early death.
The good news is that the answer to kicking obesity and disease has been hiding right in front of us for all our lives. The great news is that a vegan diet will change the way you think about food, and if done thoughtfully, TASTES FANTASTIC. I guarantee that within two months of eating only plants, you'll cringe when you walk by Safeway's meat case. You'll be grossed out by rivers of cheese oozing from a slice of pepperoni pizza. The acrid scent of bacon and eggs will bring on a surge of reverse peristalsis. And you might eventually become embarrassingly aroused while strolling the aisles of the organic section of your local produce department.
I have no medical tests to back up my friend's progress in kicking the ass of cardiovascular disease by way of a strict vegan diet. She fired her cardiologist after he prescribed statins, which are at least 98% useless, have major dangerous side effects, and don't reverse arteriole plaque buildup in any way. He then discussed future radical surgery, double checked on her insurance coverage, and more or less told her to prepare to meet her maker. She won't be going back for further testing. Five months ago, she and I became vegans. We both went from a B.M.I. (body mass index) of 24 (threshold of mildly overweight) to a B.M.I. of 21 (lower end of normal). She has had no further health episodes, and does not expect any. Dr. Esselstyn's research would indicate that further plaque growth, heart attack, stroke, angioplasty, bypass surgery, or untimely death are not in her future. She is betting her life on it, and so far it appears to be working.
Che Guevara, Fidel & Raul Castro, and their men trained for the Cuban Revolution by repeatedly climbing Mexico's second highest volcano, Popocatepetl. A few years back I too climbed several of Mexico's lofty summits, and would highly recommend it, but you can do you body an even bigger favor by never again feeding it the poisonous, decaying flesh of dead animals, their embryonic progeny, nor the mammary secretions meant for their offspring.
I share this information with you out of love and solidarity. We are few, and if we are to defeat Empire, we must be healthy and strong. In the first paragraph, I sent the agents of the enemy packing, because they deserve the fate that awaits them. You do not. Even if the billions of animals imprisoned, abused, raped, and murdered actually enjoyed the torturous process of being consumed, they would still be nails in your coffin. Empire's Matrix hides many elephants in plain sight. There may yet be many more, and we need to have the courage to recognize them for what they are. Now I'm off to my cutting board to fine chop some kale, romaine, tomatoes, carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, and daikon...then add chia/flax/pumpkin seeds, and blueberries. Sprinkle with raspberry vinegar, and serve with a Black Bean Chipotle Gardenburger. By far the best news I have to share is that red wine is totally VEGAN. Care to join me?
Forks Over Knives
http://www.forksoverknives.com/ | For showtimes, updates, newsletter sign up and more information.
The feature film Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.
Making Heart Attacks History: Caldwell Esselstyn at TEDxCambridge 2011
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn argues that heart attacks, the leading cause of death for men and women worldwide, are a "food borne illness" and explains why diet is the most powerful medicine. Be sure to check out 11:39. Veggie freestyle!
T. Colin Campbell Interview "The China Study" at Hippocrates Health Institute
Interview wirth T Colin Campbell at Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida. T. Colin Campbell is an American biochemist who specializes in the effect of nutrition on long-term health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University.
JOHN R. HALL, Senior Contributing Editor John R. Hall is a street-trained agnotologist with an advanced degree in American Ignorance. Other hats include: photojournalist, novelist, restaurateur, mountaineer, grocer, nurseryman, and janitor. He’s written three novels which have been read by almost nobody: ‘Embracing Darwin’, ‘Last Dance in Lubberland’, and ‘Atlas fumbled’. An untrained writer and college drop-out, he began his short career in journalism writing the ‘Excursion’ column for The Jackson Hole News & Guide. More recently he penned the ‘Left Column’ for The Molokai Island Times; appropriately on the island once known as a leper colony. John currently resides, writes, and protests injustice in the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and walks among the spirits of those who once occupied the 79 Disappeared Pueblos. Read more John Halls’s articles. 
The good news is that the answer to kicking obesity and disease has been hiding right in front of us for all our lives. The great news is that a vegan diet will change the way you think about food, and if done thoughtfully, TASTES FANTASTIC. I guarantee that within two months of eating only plants, you’ll cringe when you walk by Safeway’s meat case. You’ll be grossed out by rivers of cheese oozing from a slice of pepperoni pizza. The acrid scent of bacon and eggs will bring on a surge of reverse peristalsis. And you might eventually become embarrassingly aroused while strolling the aisles of the organic section of your local produce department.
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I have heard that eating watermelon with mustard is a sure way to fend off all diseases. My guru Ommanipadmehum recommend three knee inclinations towards the East to calm one’s restless capitalist mind !
As fugged up as the Zionists, neoCONs and Israel has gotten the world, with endless wars, threats of WW III and the murder of women and children the order of the day; with those TBTF Wall Street Casinos looting trillions, back-stopped by the criminal FED and with all the chemtrails n the sky, who in the Hell wants to live to a ripe old age, just so Obamacare can clean out your savings?
Thank you for this POWERFUL, honest piece about how what we eat matters! I’ve been vegan for 28 plus years and it is AMAZINGLY easy and delicious and inexpensive and mostly I do NOT pay someone to brutalize animals, destroy our air, land and water! Watch WHAT THE HEATLH now free on Netflix. Change CAN be FUN and DELICIOUS and EASIER than you think. Your food choices impact the planet!
Research has shown that 2 out of 3 people would rather be super-sized under The Golden Arches than live a long, healthy life. Thank you Veda. Wish I’d had your foresight 28 years ago.