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A group of US lawmakers has proposed the Parental Rights Amendment to the US Constitution to guarantee that parents will not lose their rights of being involved in their children’s lives and being able to make choices regarding their education, healthcare, and other decisions traditionally made by parents. They and the supporters of this amendment believe that it is necessary as the US Supreme Court has recently been rejecting enforcement of traditional parent rights interpretations, citing that there is no language in the Constitution that specifies parents have any rights.

Furthermore, the United Nations is increasingly involved in treaties and agencies that define the rights of children and parents. Some in the US government, including President Obama, appear to intend to discard US sovereignty for matters involving parents and children by ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that is controlled by a group of unelected and unaccountable United Nations experts. This treaty essentially would give the United Nations and thereby the US government the right to do whatever it wants “in the best interests of the children” even if the parents are opposed.
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Curcumin is part of the widely used Indian spice tumeric. We’ve discussed many of its health benefits in a previous article. In short, they include anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, antioxidant, and other actions. Some newly discovered benefits of curcumin supplementation with regard to weight control have been brought to our attention and we’d like to share them with you.

Curcumin apparently inhibits angiogenesis (the growing of new blood vessels) that is necessary both for the growth of cancerous tumors and fatty (adipose) tissues. It also inhibits the maturation of fat cells (adipocytes) and lowers blood serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, and free fatty acids. Finally, it reduces weight gain from a fatty diet.
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(Please see the comments to this article that indicate the California state legislative website contains misleading information that may have resulted in my wrongly concluding the Judiciary Committee voted on the pro-child-abuse version of this bill on April 28 rather than the significantly cleaned up version that is being listed with a revision date of May 5, 2009.)

This is an update to our previous article California Democrat Jim Beall Supports Child Abuse. When we started writing that article, AB 612 pro-child-abuse legislation. Despite minor changes, it was still pro-child-abuse when the Judiciary Committee voted to approve it on April 28. However, somebody in the California Assembly significantly watered it down on May 5 to a version that is no longer pro-child-abuse. These changes weren’t made until after the Judiciary Committee vote approving the bill.

You can find the the revision history of AB 612 complete with text and changes and votes at AB 612 Revision and Voting History.
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(Click here for an update to this post.)

A California representative, Democrat Jim Beall, has reintroduced legislation as Assembly Bill 612 (AB 612) to ban the discussion of parental alienation in child custody evaluations. California judges, psychologists, and family law attorneys all oppose this legislation because they know that parental alienation is a real problem that is harming children in many families, especially in high-conflict divorces. So do the many California parents who have been alienated from their children. And so do the grown children who are victims of parental alienation and recognize it for the damage their alienating parent caused in their own lives.

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If you’re about to embark in a child custody battle or in the middle of one, here is an overview of what’s involved and issues that you need to be aware of. These topics are addressed by Steve Carlson, The Custody Coach, in an e-book, How to Win Child Custody.

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(Updated August 3, 2009, with additional information on the use of vitamin D3 to boost immune system response to prevent or reduce influenza infection and symptoms.)

With growing worldwide concern over a possible pandemic of swine flu (also known as H1N1 flu), you might be wondering what you can do to keep your family and you healthy. Obvious measures already mentioned in much news coverage include washing hands frequently, avoiding contact with people with flu and cold like symptoms, and staying home when you are sick. Although there is no vaccine for this new swine flu strain, there are immune system boosting measures that you can take at low cost which are likely to help you avoid getting flu and to speed recovery if you do get it. We’ll discuss several options you have to help stay healthy despite a flu outbreak. By the way, these suggested measures all apply to other types of flu, too.
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Mathematical biologist Mark Tanaka of the University of New South Wales (Australia) wanted to know why ineffective health therapies, often called “quack therapies”, spread and develop reputations for working. He and other researchers interested in that paradox worked on creating a model of why people often try therapies and medicines which have no evidence of working and how they become more popular despite their ineffectiveness.
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Harmony DBT in St. Louis, Missouri, offers nine free audio tracks for people to learn about Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). DBT is a mainstay in psychotherapy treatment for people with certain personality and mood disorders. It was developed by Marsha M. Linehan for use in treating Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) patients.
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What is Autism?

Autism is a set of child developmental delays and disabilities. It includes impaired social interaction and communications, delayed and impaired verbal and language skills, and focus on repetitive activities. Autism is just one of several related disorders in the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) classification. Asperger’s Syndrome is the second most common ASD illness after autism and generally differs from autism because language development is not affected as severely.

Early Detection of Autism Provides More Time for Intervention

Early detection of autism can provide parents, doctors, and therapists the time to intervene early in a child’s development, before autism becomes more severe. Although doctors recommend screening for autism starting at age 18 months, it is difficult to screen kids under the age of 2 (sometimes even older) because of typical developmental variations between children that are apparent in the verbal, language, emotional, and motor skills tests used to identify autism.
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Statins are a now famous (or infamous, depending upon your viewpoint) class of medicine used widely in American medicine. While studies do show they help reduce total and LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol and triglyceride levels, there are serious side effects to these medicines. They can lead to lethargy, headaches, muscle weakness, confusion, memory loss, and other side effects. More ominously, a recent study of Crestor (a statin drug) showed an increase in type 2 diabetes rates for those using the drug versus the control group using a placebo.

High Cholesterol Just Small Part of Cardiovascular Health Risks

Many people have the mistaken impression that high cholesterol is the biggest risk to your cardiovascular health. This isn’t likely true. There are a large variety of risks that are likely to be even more significant than high cholesterol levels. Many of them are not commonly tested for by doctors. Too many in the medical establishment have bought into “big pharma” pushing of statin drugs as the ultimate solution as they inaccurately believe high total and LDL cholesterol are the exclusive risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. As cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Michael Ozner points out in his book The Great American Heart Hoax: Lifesaving Advice Your Doctor Should Tell You About Heart Disease Prevention (But Probably Never Will), many of the therapies and surgeries for cardiovascular disease that are common in the United States are probably unnecessary, raise health care expenses, and don’t really improve overall outcomes. Much better than surgeries would be to prevent cardiovascular disease in the first place. But there are many risks that must be managed.
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