The Free Speech About Science Act (HR 1364)

I am not usually one to make pure political comments on my spiritually-based blog, but this lines up with my core beliefs and values to strongly (to help truth prevail) I cannot let the topic pass without bringing it to light. You see, I have just learned there is new legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives which would finally allow natural food and supplement manufacturers to make health claims about their products based on scientifically proven studies! Known as the Free Speech About Science Act, or HR 1364, this bill would allow freer access to information linking natural products to the potential health benefits they can provide.

In this "free" country known as America, our flow of information has been limited by those who have the money and influence to control it. Under current American law, the FDA can shut down any food producer or supplement manufacturer who tries to claim that their product can aid or cure a disease or condition. How did this happen, you ask? The very rich and powerful pharmaceutical industry has lobbied hard to pass laws which keep this information from getting out to the public. Why? Because if people knew about natural products that could potentially cure what ails them, they would not buy Big Pharma's expensive (and vastly profitable) medicines. Big Pharma's goal is not to save us. Big Pharma is just interested in the almighty dollar! We are only free to know the information they choose to tell us! How can we possible make intelligent and informed decisions when we only have bits and pieces of the information?

Big Pharma is not the only industry in America which would limit your access to the truth by limiting your information! News organizations are notorious for covering only the stories they wish for you to hear so you will side with them. The government also pares down the information it provides so you have to make your decisions based on such one-sided information.

The truth is out there, but we have to diligently seek it out! One thing we can all do is to stand together and let those in power know we will no longer accept anything but the truth! We need to hold them accountable for the lies, inaccuracies and disinformation they provide. Only the truth can set us free!

Hold those in power accountable today by sending letters to your U.S. Representatives and Senators supporting The Free Speech About Science Act by clicking on the Alliance For Natural Health's link: Protect Your Right To Know About the Science Behind the Supplements! Then, forward this blog or the link to all your friends so their voices may also be heard! Together, we can have a profound impact on our own ability to hear the whole truth!

Home of the Free?

One of the first things I read this morning was a posting from one of my favorite medical gurus, Dr. Joseph Mercola, a D.O. who specializes in natural approaches to health. The article discusses how Big Pharma (largely through the American Academy of Pediatrics) is organizing a campaign to stop the informed vaccine choice message being displayed on the Times Square Jumbotron in NYC. The article points out that the AAP gets large sums of money from Big Pharma, and how the AAP has been trying to strongarm CBS, owner of the Jumbotron billboard, to take the ads down. (You can read the article for yourself here: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/06/doctors-denying-vaccine-risks-an-american-tragedy.aspx.)

The whole topic made me take a hard look at the United States, the home of the "free". Many Americans hold up the Constitution and the freedoms it protects as one of the things that makes the United States one of the best countries in the world. We have the right to worship as we want, speak out as we want, write and publish as we want. However, if you look at the reality of life in the United States, you will see this is not the case.

Look at the idea of free speech. The nonprofit National Vaccine Information Center is behind the informed vaccine choice being posted on the Jumbotron. While the government itself is not responsible for attempting to take the message off, other powers that be have done their best to restrict the message using some very underhanded tactics. Big Pharma makes billions of dollars every year distributing their patented vaccines. Of course they don't want people to think about the risks! If people knew more of the statistics on the problems with vaccines, many would keep their children from getting vaccines! There are those in this country with money and power who would keep the "little guy" from knowing the truth, all because of greed. If we are not allowed to hear the truth because it is kept from us, are we free to make our own informed choices?

Now look at the idea of freedom of religion. While I do not appreciate religious fanatics who would try to force others into worshipping their way, I also do not appreciate those who would try to limit how we worship in public. What is wrong with saying the Pledge of Allegience at a high school ball game? Just because two people in the crowd don't want to say the words "under God" means the rest of us can't say it? If you don't like it, you are still free to sit down, walk out or not show up! What gives a vocal minority the right to legislate what the rest of us can do?

The heart of the matter is, America has become a place where truth and freedom are bought and paid for by those who have the money and influence to control what we are exposed to! It isn't about truth. It isn't about freedom. It is about control, and control is not the natural order of things. We were given the gift of free will so that we can choose for ourselves what we learn about and experience. True freedom can only come when we have access to all the availabe information and are allowed to choose those things which serve us.