The View From the Outback

• Thoughts While Staring at the Ceiling Fan
• May God Watch Over the Crew of Columbia
• Secretary Powell at the U.N. - Put Up or Shut Up!
• Unarmed Helicopters "Protect" Washington, D.C.
• More Tiny Chinks in the Cholesterol-Saturated-Fat Argument
• Prejudice Has Many Faces
• Suggested Reading From Past Columns

Doctors reported that 20 of 379 people in a study, who had nut and seed allergies, said that they had an allergic reaction after kissing someone who had recently eaten peanuts, walnuts, or related foods. Now, do we have to say, "I just ate a Snickers. It is okay if I kiss you?"

Aaron Buerge and Helen Eksterowicz, who got engaged to be married on the ABC "Bachelor" TV program have announced their breakup. Damn! The incurable romantic in me caused me to wax eloquent in an earlier Outback about their chances for lasting love. I have deleted those paragraphs in disgust and the lovely photo of the pair that I had posted. That's it! I had already vowed not to watch "Joe Millionaire," the "Bachelorette," or any show where two people are supposed to end up together. I won't even watch a promo for another of these dumb-ass shows. These shows have a dismal record of anything good happening. Unless you count Darva Conger posing nude in Playboy.

Dell has announced that it will stop providing floppy-disk drives on their high-end computers. One more reason that I will continue to build my own computers. Yes, I have CD burners, an external USB hard drive, a USB Zip drive, and a USB Drive memory-stick device. But, there are still millions of computers out there without even a USB port. Even in my own house, with three computers with USB ports, I still transfer most files of less than 1 megabyte by floppy disk. Many recovery systems require a "boot floppy." My BIOS update program requires a "boot floppy." Norton Rescue requires about 10 floppies, unless you have a Zip drive. A monitor came not too long ago with the drivers on a floppy. And what do we do with the 572 data backup floppies in the closet? Start copying them to a CD-RW, I guess.

For years, the argument raged about providing bilingual education for Hispanics in the United States. The practice seems to be falling into disfavor, as not worth the effort. Stand by for a new wave; Spanish as a second language. Hispanics now outnumber blacks in the United States (and I am sure that statistic counts only the ones here legally). Over half (50%+) of the births in California are now Hispanic. My instinct from being around a lot of Hispanics is that they tend to have more children than Caucasian families. The owner of the donut shop in town is from Cambodia. He speaks pretty good accented English, but his wife speaks very little English. I find myself communicating with these two Cambodians in Spanish! "Uno Apple Fritter. No mas." Commenting on the weather, the husband said to me: "Muy frio." "Huh? Oh, yeah, very cold. Hasta luego, Amigo."

In the change in the majority in the Senate, Sen. Byrd, (Democrat and the world pork King of W. Va.) lost his spacious office in the shuffle. So, at considerable expense to the taxpayer, they walled off an alcove in the building and are making it into a big office for Senator Byrd. How nice. Newly-elected Sen. Coleman, (R. Minn.) was photographed in his new office, which looked like a broom closet with a new coat of paint. Welcome to the Senate, Mr. Mayor.

In the Outback for Nov. 24, 2002, I commented on how inured our society has become to violence, no doubt in large part to violent movies, TV, and video games. I noted a comment on a chat room on a Dallas newspaper website where some idiot had said that when the "Sopranos" on HBO showed Ralphie's severed head, it did not look like it had been beaten. Some called this a "great episode." In California, two young men killed their mother and chopped off her head and hands the way they had seen it done on the "Sopranos." Up until about 500 AD, gladiators fought to the death in places like the Colosseum in Rome. We made great progress from those days, but in recent years we have been regressing. If only we could "time warp" those who love beheadings on the "Sopranos" back to around 400 AD - and leave them there.

Kelloggs has announced a price increase for cereals of two and one-half percent. They cite the increased cost of Cocoa and Wheat. I am unable to find a Kellogg cereal that contains Cocoa. Maybe Nutrigrain. In a December 2002 report, wheat prices had fallen about 76 cents-per-bushel since mid-October. That was after a rise in price of about $1.50 a bushel earlier in 2002 - to about $4.30 a bushel. Oklahoma-Texas wheat is expected to be about $3.20 a bushel in June of 2003. Lower volumes of wheat being exported and the good condition of the winter 2003 wheat crop are cited for the price decline. Which increase in wheat prices is Kellogg talking about? This also begs the question of how many boxes of cereal can be made from a bushel of wheat? You tell me why a bushel of wheat costs around $3.80 and a box of cereal over $3.00 a box! By the way, with all these so-called "increased costs" to make their products, Kellogg reported increased profits of 53.3 % in the fourth quarter of 2002! Do the words "corporate greed" or "gouging the public" have any meaning for you?

Steve Case has resigned as the Chairman of AOL Time Warner. It is not nice to gloat, to be vindictive, or seek revenge. But Steve Case's troubles brought a smile to my face. I wondered how he ever got as far as he did. For years, we here in the Outback were inundated with AOL "free" floppy disks, and later with AOL CD-ROMs. There was one problem. AOL did not have a telephone number that we could dial into from the Outback without paying a long-distance charge. We had several competent Internet providers that were local phone calls. I wrote Mr. Case years ago and said that if Honey Grove, TX was typical of his small-town mailings, he was wasting a huge amount of money in disks and postage. I suggested that a big outfit like AOL should be able to program its database so that they would not send "free disks" to areas where it would mean making a long-distance call to log on to AOL. The floppy disks kept coming. We erased them and used them for backup disks. The CD-ROMS we used for target practice.

In the Outback for Jan. 7, 2003, I spoke about the anti-Americanism in South Korea. Subsequently, I learned that about 60 percent of the people in South Korea were born after the Korean War. There's a clue. Obviously, parents and grandparents have not passed on the history of that war and of the sacrifices the U.S. made to defend the freedom of South Korea. One can also imagine that the history books give little emphasis to the American contribution, and its continuing role in keeping South Korea free and able to produce its "economic miracle." CBS did a report on South Korea on "60 Minutes" on Feb. 9, 2003. Bob Simon added very little to our understanding of why there is so much anti-American sentiment in South Korea. He asked four South Koreans whom they feared more, Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator, or President Bush. They all said they feared President Bush. Mr. Simon failed to elicit the reasoning behind those comments. Bob Simon did manage to make an American Army General cry, by asking him how he felt about seeing the American flag burned. CBS, or somebody, needs to go back to South Korea and dig into the real roots of the anti-Americanism, instead of conducting superficial interviews and presenting sound bites about a subject that has taken 50 years to develop.

One of the mysteries of life: Why do women quickly cover their mouths and noses with their hands when they are frightened, surprised, or emotionally moved in many different ways?

Why can't celebrities keep their mouths shout about politics and international diplomacy? Only in this country do we have so many air-headed celebrity experts who get so much ink and air time. "Mr. Sterling" was scheduled to debut on NBC. It was to be about a Senator and sounded interesting. Josh Brolin, who has the lead part, was interviewed on TV. Chris Matthews asked him if George Bush was a good president. Mr. Brolin answered "No." That got my hackles up and got me wondering about his background (I don't read "People" magazine or "TV Guide"). He is the son of James Brolin who is married to Barbra Streisand. Well, that was an easy decision. No "Mr. Sterling" for me. Two of the greatest advances in modern technology are the Channel Change and Mute buttons on the TV remote.

May God Watch Over the Crew of Columbia

Over the years, I talked via ham radio with several space-shuttle missions and to astronauts on the MIR space station. When NASA solicited applications for citizen astronauts for the Challenger mission, I applied. Ironically, it blew up on my birthday, January 28. I was, and am, profoundly distraught at the fate of the shuttle Columbia and its crew. The brave people who undertake those missions are real and close-up to me and not just waving and smiling figures on the evening news.

Once again, our media made complete asses of themselves. In NASA briefings, they asked the same question 25 times. There was no radio traffic to indicate that the crew had any real clue about the problems ahead. The debris is scattered over two or more states. And the idiots in the media want someone to speculate, for the 25th time, if the foam coming off the booster tank caused the problem. I no longer listen to any NASA briefings. If the cause of the disaster is ever determined, it will be in all the papers.

Convene all the independent panels you want. NASA wants to find the answer as badly as anyone. They are not going to be content until they have done everything they can to identify the problem and prevent further deaths of astronauts. In the meantime, those senior people at NASA have better things to do than sit and listen to some news twit's theory on what caused the accident. And to answer the same question for the 25th time.

We get this kind of nonsense from NBC evening news on Saturday, February 8, 2003:

John Seigenthaler: "A week after the space-shuttle disaster and no clear answer to what went wrong."

Robert Hager: "Seven days after those frightening streaks over Texas that shocked us all, there's still no clear explanation for what went so terribly wrong." (emphasis mine) Robert Hager has reported on dozens of airline crashes. He knows better than to even hint that we could hope for an "answer" in a week. Robert, I am embarrassed for you. You have sunken to Tabloid journalism. Later, he tells us that there are 1300 videos and stills to analyze. "A week's gone by," he said. "It could take many more to get answers." Robert, that is the understatement of the year.

It sometimes takes the NTSB a year or two to determine the cause of an airplane accident. Sometimes, the cause is never clearly identified. And the wreckage is usually in a rather confined area, there are often voice and data boxes recovered, and there are often radio exchanges between the pilots and air-traffic-control operators. Solving the cause of the space-shuttle accident is surely many orders of magnitude harder than determining the cause of an airplane crash. A week has gone by and still no answers as to what caused it? And this from a major network news operation.

For Ron Dittemore of NASA, and others, to go on TV hours after their close friends and co-workers perished in space and answer the moronic questions from the media was in itself an act of heroism.

Secretary Powell at the U.N. - Put Up or Shut Up!

The presentation at the U.N. by Secretary of State, Colin Powell, was persuasive. To me, the questions are not does "Saddam have weapons of mass destruction and is he working on a nuclear program?" The answer to that was, and still is - mostly likely Yes.

I am still troubled by President Bush's bellicose rhetoric about how we will go it alone (with our coalition partners - a group not yet clearly defined) - if the U.N. does not act to forcibly disarm Iraq. Thirteen of the 15 members of the Security Council want to give the inspectors more time. If Saddam continues to stonewall the inspectors, then the U.N. must pass a new resolution authorizing military force to disarm Iraq - or the U.N. will become irrelevant (which they have largely been over many decades).

We often hear that the inspectors are "inspectors not detectives." I am not sure what that means. If Iraq were to lay out a map of all its weapons of mass destruction and nuclear labs with grid coordinates, the U.N. could go to those places and destroy them. There would be no need for "inspectors," just some guys with blowtorches and tons of C-4 explosives.

That map is not going to be presented. So, the inspectors are forced to be detectives, going back to places they knew once housed WMD production, relying on intelligence tips, aerial views, interviews of defectors, and so on. It is interesting that the team looking for nuclear activity has sophisticated detectors and measuring equipment and yet have not come up with a single significant "hit." They need more time, for sure. Of all potential threats, radioactive materials are probably among the easiest to detect. We had sophisticated radiation detectors the size of a suitcase as far back as the Cuban missile crisis.

If the inspectors get the runaround, and the U.N. passes a resolution to use military force to disarm Iraq, why is it that the United States has to be the primary military force employed? If the "United" in the United Nations means anything, it is time that military actions on behalf of the U.N. get significant contributions from member states.

France makes the highly-sophisticated Mirage jet, which it sells to many nations. If there is a U.N.-sanctioned attack on Iraq, the French Air Force (they do have one don't they?) needs to be rocking and rolling over Iraq. How about China contributing 100,000 soldiers (they have millions) and some missiles? Germany has had pretty much a free ride in international armed strife in recent decades. Let the Germans chip in with a significant number of troops. If that is too much of a strain on them, how about a contribution of a few million Marks to the effort? Spain could come up with some troops and armaments. And Mexico? What have they done lately to keep the world safe?

Why must it be the United States and England going it mostly alone? Calling somebody a "coalition partner" because they let us base some troops or airplanes on their soil or are gracious enough to let us fly a fighter-jet over their country en route to targets is baloney. "Partners" get into the fray and share the burden of living or dying - and the financial burden.

Here are the members of the Security Council: United Kingdom, United States, France, China, Russian Federation, Germany, Guinea, Mexico, Pakistan, Spain, Syrian Arab Republic, Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, and Chile. (The permanent members are in boldface type.)

From the Web site of the Security Council:

"The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security.... The Council may decide on enforcement measures, economic sanctions (such as trade embargoes) or collective military action."

"Under the Charter, all Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council."

(See: www.un.org/Docs/scinfo.htm)

So, the path is clear to this observer. Increase the number of inspectors and insist on U2 overflights. Let the U.N. inspectors do their jobs - until they report back to the U.N. that they are being frustrated by the regime in Iraq from conducting complete inspections, including interviews with appropriate scientists (without a local government monitor present). If the inspectors report that further attempts to inspect are futile, due to deception, movement of suspect materials, et al., then the U.N. must pass a resolution to use military force to disarm Iraq.

Once again, a U.N. resolution to use force obligates ALL Members of the United Nations to carry out the decisions of the Security Council. Recall the phrase above; "collective military action."This time, dear U.N., put up or shut up - or close the doors of U.N. headquarters. We could use the office space.

If you think we are tired of being given the runaround by Saddam, we are more weary of the lack of resolve by the U.N. over many decades.

Suppose that in six months or so, with every ounce of cooperation they asked for, and with all the tools at their disposal, including the U2 and hundreds more inspectors, the U.N. inspectors say they have not found evidence of WMD stockpiles or an ongoing nuclear-weapons program. Where does that leave us? Let's cross that bridge when we come to it. But, let's not blow up the bridge in advance.

There are many calling for a second U.N. resolution against Iraq, possibly as soon as the U.N. Chief Inspector Hans Blix and the chief atomic inspector come back from Iraq. It seems pretty obvious to me that Blix will come back with more assurances of cooperation from Saddam. By now, Saddam must think that President Bush is as crazy as he is and will continue to make concessions to the U.N. inspectors.

What we do not need, before the inspectors have had many more months to do their work, is another U.N. resolution that finds Iraq in "material breach" of Resolution 1441 and more talk of "serious consequences." The next time the U.N. Security Council should pass a resolution is if inspections are hopelessly futile and there is evidence that Saddam is hiding WMD, but is simply too clever and cunning for the inspectors to put their hands on them. That resolution should speak only of a U.N. "collective military action to disarm Iraq of all offensive weapons." Note the use of the words "all offensive weapons."

Suppose that in six months or so, the inspectors can show that the Iraq regime is continuing to move weapons and labs about the country but the inspectors are unable to find them. And that the U.N. refuses to pass a resolution to use military force to force Saddam to disarm. At this point, there is a high probability that the U.S. would invade Iraq - with whatever "coalition members" it might cobble together.

Praise Allah, the people of Iraq might rush to us as liberators, and we could go about helping to build a more progressive and prosperous Iraq. (Check on our progress on this front in Afghanistan.) Or, we might have to kill untold numbers of civilians, and risk bringing down the wrath of the entire Muslim world on us, both overseas and in the United States. Whichever way it goes, it will be a watershed event in world history.

But, after reading the world press online, listening to TV debates from every political angle, watching hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and considering the monumental task of "nation building" in a post-war Iraq, I still lean, as I have in previous columns, to letting the inspectors continue until their work is hopelessly futile. Or, wait until Saddam actually uses a WMD against a neighbor, sells one or more to a terrorist group, or can be positively tied to a terrorist attack of some magnitude anywhere in the world.

President Bush does not want to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people from some act of Saddam or an associated terrorist group. But, I have come to the conclusion that he probably will do mankind a bigger service if he lets the U.N. and world opinion take on Saddam in the short term, rather than conducting a nearly-unilateral preemptive war. He has made his points. Secretary Powell has made his at the U.N. Not a lot of people around the world seem to be buying their arguments - not to the point of initiating an immediate war with Iraq.

Maybe I would feel differently if I lived in New York City. Of course, it's easy for me sitting here in the Outback, in a house without even a Route number assigned to it, to say that we ought to give the inspectors a chance to exhaust every reasonable effort at uncovering WMD in Iraq. And wait to see if Saddam actually causes us any physical harm. There is little chance that a terrorist will strike out here.

But, this whole idea of a preemptive war against a nation because one nut-case is in charge, is against everything I was ever taught as a child, a Marine, or a CIA agent. There are a lot of nut-cases in charge around the world. Perhaps reason dictates that we wait until the nut-cases of the world cause some demonstrable harm to those outside their country before we go to war.

It is not easy to stand your ground when the threat is a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon. But, put yourself in the mind of Saddam or the guy with goofy hair in N. Korea. If you let loose just one weapon of mass destruction on another country, your country will possibly be wiped from the face of the earth. In the Cold War, MAD, mutually-assured-destruction, kept nut-cases from pressing the nuclear button. Is it really that much different now with Iraq or North Korea? Israel has nukes. Iraq is painfully aware of that. We have nukes, probably positioned in South Korea. North Korea is painfully aware of that.

Our real concern is people who are willing to die, singly, or in groups. There is no way to deter them with threats of reprisal. You either kill them or detect them and put them in a cage. Killing the terrorists, or putting them in cages, ought to still be our number-one priority.

If I had beaten up every kid in school whom I thought might pose a threat to me, I would have never have gotten much else done. And I doubt if I would have had many friends. Then, when bullets came through the bedroom window one night, and a fire started in the garage, I might have wondered if I should have chosen a different strategy. Now, if those kids had told me that I was their mortal enemy and they were determined to kill me, even if it meant sacrificing their own life, I would have had no problem with putting them out of commission.

Unarmed Helicopters "Protect" Washington, D.C.

In the Outback for Sept. 20, 2001, I wrote the following:

I bet you will see attack helicopters stationed at the Pentagon, CIA HQ, and other places before long. It takes too long to scramble an interceptor jet when a hostile aircraft or vehicle is only a mile or two away. They might be housed in shelters that look like something innocuous.

There ought to be an attack helicopter stationed at the White House. Oh, put a carnival tent over it and say that the area is for garden teas, if that makes you feel less "like a police state." And what is it with the U.S. Marine who greets the president when he alights from the helicopter at the White House? He doesn't appear to be carrying any weapon. Maybe he has a pistol in his pocket. Is the idea that a gun might sag his white belt and make him look untidy? We will see more ground-to-ground and surface-to-air missiles deployed around the country, again perhaps hidden in a "normal" structure." (end of Sept. 20, 2001 excerpt)

A recent TV report showed Black Hawk helicopters patrolling the skies over Washington, D.C., and I thought that finally they had done what I insisted need be done as far back as the Outback for Sept. 20, 2001. But no, the unarmed choppers belong to the U.S. Customs Service. Excuse me! Customs? The spokesman said they pull alongside an aircraft straying into restricted airspace (like near the Capitol or White House) and try to get them on the radio and turn them away. If not, they can call on fighter jets from Andrews Air Force Base.

It takes about eight (8) minutes from the time of an alert to launch one of the unarmed Black Hawks. It takes about 15 minutes to launch a jet from Andrews. If a terrorist is flying a jet (commercial or private) at about 500 m.p.h. and penetrates the 30-mile "no-fly-zone," it seems to me that there is not enough time to intercept, identify, and attempt to establish radio contact - and if the aircraft continues on course - to scramble jets from Andrews Air Force Base. You do the math.

It has been written that the unarmed Black Hawks from Customs can be just as intimidating as fighters. To some poor off-course soul with 50-hours flying time in a Cessna 152, maybe. But "intimidating" to a terrorist flying a suicide mission? Give me a break. Is anybody with any sense in charge up there?

The only good news is that a spokesman said that "ground-to-air" weapons have been deployed around Washington. It is about time.

In an 8-month period, 164 aircraft violated restricted airspace around Washington. At times, like during the State of the Union address, the zone is extended from 15 to 30 miles. It is the responsibility of those who own or rent aircraft to be up-to-speed on all NOTAMS (Notices to Airmen) which describe such things as "restricted airspace" (no-fly zones) and so on. Flying any aircraft around the D.C. area today is a touchy situation.

Many, many, years ago, I flew a small plane over the CIA HQ at Langley, Virginia. Because the government pretended that the complex belonged to the "Bureau of Public Roads," it was not shown as restricted airspace. Don't try that today, or you may see a wiggly-smoking thing coming up at you from the ground. At least I would hope so.

Update: Feb. 09, 2003. Beginning on Monday, Feb. 11, 2003, the "restricted airspace" around the District of Columbia will increase from a 15-mile circle to a 30-mile circle - extending up to 18,000 feet in altitude. General Aviation (private aircraft) must maintain two-way radio contact, us a transponder with a unique code that can be identified by FAA radar, and file IFR/VFR (instrument/visual) flight plans with the FAA, and follow standard flight procedures before entering the restricted zone.

More Tiny Chinks in the Cholesterol-Saturated- Fat Argument

Like a Hawk sitting in a tree watching for field mice, I keep a sharp eye open for hints that the medical establishment is vacillating in the slightest on "cholesterol and saturated fat cause heart disease." In the "Harvard Health Letter" for February, 2003, I combed several sentences very carefully. In an article entitled "Why do we need another test?" they were discussing the test for C-reactive protein (CRP) as a possible clue to potential cardiovascular disease.

Here are some nuggets:"But for all its virtues, cholesterol testing is seriously flawed." "... only about 50% of the people who have heart attacks have high LDL (cholesterol)." "... suggests that cholesterol doesn't adequately explain heart disease." "Inflammation seems to be that explanation, and C-reactive protein (CRP) a by-product of inflammation, may provide the test." (In the last sentence, please note the use of the words "seems" and "may.")

The blood test for CRP can be done along with other blood tests, or by itself for about $12 to $16. So. You get the test and your CRP level is high (the value of "low," "medium" and "high" CRP levels will no doubt slide up and down a scale as more is known). What can you do about it?

It has been suggested that statin drugs, such as Zocor, Lipitor, and others, not only lower cholesterol levels but lower CRP levels. I "warned" you in an earlier Outback that there seemed to be a move on by the companies that make statins to "prove" that they would help with a number of problems. Now, add "reduce CRP levels" to the claims. Statins often have serious side effects. A friend nearly died from taking one of the well-known statins. The term "Silver Bullet" has more than one meaning. See the later discussion on the futility of lowering CRP.*

One study found that there was a higher cardiovascular risk for those with high CRP/low LDL than for those with low CRP/high LDL! Now that you have worked for years to eat a low-fat diet to get your LDL cholesterol low, somebody comes along and says that if your CRP is high, you are still in deep cardio doo-doo. But they don't tell you what you ate or what you did to cause the high CRP reading. Does that give you a lot of confidence in the last 20 or more years of the "cholesterol and saturated fat causes heart disease" argument? Not me.

You can apparently lower CRP by exercising and losing weight.* Maybe a glass of wine a day helps. Maybe Vitamin E helps. Anybody's guess is about as good as anyone else's. We continue to be jacked around by the "mainstream medical community" about what causes heart disease, blood clots, and strokes - and how to prevent these problems.

* Just after digesting the information from the "Harvard Health Letter," I got an e-mail from a medical site to which I am registered as a medical journalist. One article was an interview with the co-chair of the panel who investigated the role of CRP in relation to cardiovascular management. After discussing how the CRP test was a good tool (of many) for assessing cardiovascular risk, Thomas A. Pearson, M.D., Ph.D., was quoted as saying, among other things:

"There is no evidence to suggest that lowering hs-CRP levels leads to any decrease in cardiovascular events, so there is no rationale to administer anti-inflammatory drugs to patients with high hs-CRP levels."

That's comforting. High CRP levels are an indicator of cardiovascular disease. But lowering CRP does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. So, this test is just another way of saying, "You've got a high risk of a cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke, etc.) but we are not sure how to reduce your risk. We're workin' on it."

Doctors generally tell you that lowering your cholesterol reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease. (But see: www.thinic.org) Doctors will tell you that taking statins will reduce not only your cholesterol but your risk of cardiac events - but the second hypothesis is far from proven, regardless of the claims of the drug companies and their "studies."

Since cholesterol and saturated fat are being brought into increasing question as "causes" of cardiovascular disease, researchers continue to search for new "explanations." One of my favorites is that it is caused by a virus, but they are not sure which virus, or how you get it, or how you cure it.

A huge number of cardiologists and other doctors say that an excessive amount of Homocysteine (an amino acid ) in your blood can be a precursor to heart disease. The treatment? Simple. Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, and Folic Acid. When I started taking substantial amounts of these three inexpensive supplements, my Homocysteine level dropped into the "low" (safe) range. (There is a blood test for Homocysteine levels.) Since B6, B12, and Folic acid tend to help many other problems, this "cocktail" is like chicken soup. It couldn't hurt.

A couple of themes show up repeatedly in discussing cardiovascular disease. High blood pressure is bad, bad for you arteries, your heart, and other organs. Reducing BP by diet and exercise works for some. Some high BP responds favorably to a low-salt diet and some does not. Reducing BP by medications works for most who will stick with taking their medications. Inexpensive diuretics are sometimes enough to bring BP down. Many patients require two, or even three, meds to control their BP. Too many patients simply quit taking their medications. That is a form of delayed suicide. "Hmmm. I never thought about it that way," he said, rummaging in the cupboard for his diuretic and ACE inhibitor.

But, one theme is shouted from the roof tops: "Maintain a normal weight - and exercise regularly." Intuitively, being fat is bound to be burden on your heart and other organs. It is proven to be a high risk factor for the onset of adult diabetes. But, if you maintain proper weight and exercise regularly, your BP will go down, your risk of diabetes will be reduced, your heart will not have to work as hard, you sleep better, sex is more robust, your brain functions better - the positive benefits go on and on.

It is so much easier to take a bunch of pills than it is to get off your ass and walk or lift some small weights. It is so much easier to take a bunch of pills than it is to lose weight. The "much easier way out" loses most of its appeal when your fat body succumbs to diabetes and you have to administer shots of insulin - and you look forward to possibly horrendous complications from the diabetes. I'm right in there with half or more of the population. I am fighting like hell to lose some weight. I made some small progress last month. I just hope I am not too late in my resolve. But, I never, ever, miss a day of my BP meds. Can you say that? Do you even know your blood-pressure reading?

If you have not been there yet, go to: www.thincs.org

This is the Cholesterol Skeptics Web page.

Prejudice Has Many Faces

In my misspent youth, I was for a while a U.S. Treasury agent chasing bootleggers in North Carolina. The two other members of the squad were from Alabama and Georgia. I had attended the University of Minnesota and constantly was on the defensive about being a Yankee. One day, the boys were talking about black law violators and black people in general. I told them that one of my legal-research partners in law school had been a black female. One of my enlightened brethren said to me: "Oh, you mean like 'Help integration. Bring a Nigger home for lunch.' "

Because I had a legal education, I did much of the writing of preparing cases for Federal court. And as crazy as it sounds, the local bootleggers in N. Carolina could understand me better than my associates from Alabama and Georgia. A bootlegger would be listening to one of my associates, sidle up to me and whisper, "What'd he say, Dick?"

The newspaper often sought me out for quotes about cases and raids we had made - and I was the junior agent in the group. There was a picture of me in the paper sitting next to a huge pile of dynamite to which I was attaching fuse caps and fuse cord - a job with considerable danger if you crimped too high on a fuse cap. I think the word "fearless" was in the caption or the article. I joked with my friends that they gave me the job of preparing hundreds of sticks of dynamite with the hope I might blow myself up. Or at least blow off a hand. Maybe it was closer to the truth than one would care to think about.

Just one story to give you an idea of the white prejudice against black law violators. There was a huge still in a state park near Raleigh, N.C., and we raided it. One of the pickup trucks had cases of moonshine stacked so high that the truck tipped over as it turned a corner while trying to flee. A huge black man crawled out of the window on the driver's side. I had been schooled enough to know that in our area "all blacks carry knives." So, I said to the big black guy (named "Tiny" as you might imagine), "Which pocket you got your knife in?" He didn't answer. A fist flew past my ear and smashed Tiny in the face. "Nigger, where is your knife?" Tiny was much relieved that it was I who later took his statement and fingerprinted him.

And a quick story for the "grandkids file." We used small aircraft and helicopters to look for stills in the deep woods. They would then direct us to the sites, where we would promptly blow everything to hell with massive charges of dynamite. One of our favorite pastimes was to see who could send a propane tank into the highest orbit. One night in a local store, I was behind a big magazine rack. Two bootleggers were talking a few feet away and out of sight. Putting the overflights and the explosions together, one said; "Them liquor dicks is bombing our stills from them damn airplanes. I think I'll shoot one down." The other responded, "Naw, don't do that. You'll git the whole U.S. government after us, the FBI, the Marines, everybody." No surveillance aircraft were ever shot down in my area of N. Carolina. And of course, we were not bombing the stills from the air.

Now back to the main story:

The publicity and my growing prominence in our little town did not sit well with my agent "friends." Finally, they conceived a plan to "get rid of Dusty." They would build a case to our supervisor in Charlotte that I was not cut out for working in the woods, that I got lost, and so on. Of course, I was an ex-Marine and had spent a lot of time in the Minnesota woods as a youth. In northern Minnesota as a teenager, I would portage my canoe from lake to lake by myself, for example.

The real joke was that I had earned a nickname of "Bear." We never pulled guns on bootleggers during a raid, unless they did first. They usually ran and we would have to catch them. I was very fast for a big person and had a good record of catching the violators - and putting them in a "bear hug" until somebody got the cuffs on them. Thus, "Bear." So, this whole "get Dusty" campaign was built on some shaky ground.

But, it worked. I was called to Charlotte and read the bill of particulars against me. The supervisor, whom I think knew it was a railroad job, asked if I wanted to talk with the local chief of the Secret Service about a lateral transfer. Both ATF and Secret Service were then under the Treasury Department. I declined and asked if I could make a phone call to a man who was very high up in ATF (then called A&TTD). He was an old family friend from Minnesota and my sponsor, or "rabbi." A "rabbi" in our parlance was a mentor.

I wish you could have seen the look on the supervisor's face when I spoke the name of my "rabbi" and asked to make the call. You could hear him saying under his breath, "Oh, shit. What have I done now?" The supervisor started to dial the number and I asked for the phone.

When I explained the problem, my friend chuckled. "It was only a matter of time. I just wanted you to get a lot of experience as fast as you could." He offered me a transfer to New York City, but suggested that I could not afford to live there on my salary. So, that is how I transferred to Philadelphia. Where I did quite well, thank you. Until I quit to join the CIA.

That was about 40 years ago. We have come a long way since then, but I will never forget those days of being a white Yankee outcast in the South. And how black law violators were treated by my white associates. Bill and M.L., are you still around? Do you still hate Niggers? Are you still fighting the Civil War? Don't crimp any dynamite caps too high up. You would be missed. But not by me.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes

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