Report: Black Friday store spending edges up

This news is a relief to some, but it dismays others. The great American economic engine, fueled by the almighty consumer, seems to be awakening from its long slumber. One can almost hear the ships from China unloading, the box manufacturers gearing up and the trucks starting to roll. Therein lies the dilemma: why must economic success equate with the making and consumption of things? If most of us look around our homes, we have everything we need. Our cellars and attics are crammed with things we just had to have in days past. Pots, pans, small appliances, clothes, electronics. How much of this stuff do we really need? Can we learn to give one another gifts that aren't things? How about a nice jar of homemade jelly? How about a gift certificate to a local restaurant? How about a piece of local artwork? How about an article of gently used clothing from a local consignment shop? If you're detecting a theme of "Buy Local" here, you're absolutely onto something. We have many, many local producers and merchants who don't buy in to the whole import, ship and throw-away culture that characterizes our economy. They make things at home or in small shops, ship them locally and make treasures that last. Sure, a locally-made piece of art or a serving dish made locally may cost more, but it will come with a huge amount of character and a story of its own. In other words, it will last, and the consumer will not have the impulse to replace it with another next year. That pretty much sums up a sustainable holiday season. Buy things that last, or buy consumables like local foods and restaurant gift certificates. These things don't pollute the planet to get to your front door, and they will be remembered long after the holiday season ends. If you decorate your house, use items that can be reused, and use natural items that can be recycled or composted. Enjoy the holidays, and Buy Local! Keep Plattsburgh green!

I kept the faith and I kept voting
Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand
For theirs is a land with a wall around it
And mine is a faith in my fellow man
Theirs is a land of hope and glory
Mine is the green field and the factory floor
Theirs are the skies dark with bombers
And mine is the peace we knew between the wars.

You can read all the lyrics here.

You can watch Billy sing this song at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjUA3RU4B8E&feature=related 

I love the Internet. Which side are you on, boys, which side are you on?

Councilor Tim Carpenter has stated that in his heart he knows that fluoride should be removed from the water. However, he says that he will defer to the Clinton County Board of Health. Maybe the Clinton County Board of Health can be swayed, but it will be hard for them. Many of its members have not read a research article on fluoride for decades - a fact they freely admitted in a public session. Sad really, when you think that these people are supposed to represent the health of all citizens. Too bad they're not a little more open to public comment. A Board of Health meeting is a highly controlled affair.

Many, many thanks go to Councilor Amy Valentine for introducing the resolution. Click here to view the original resolution. It was thoughtful and complete.

A great ally in this fight has been the Plattsburgh Press Republican. I would like to thank Joe LoTemplio for his excellent coverage throughout the months and months of debate. Read Joe's latest article here. Also, Pat Bradley at WAMC did a great radio piece on the debate in Plattsburgh.

• the elderly (17% of population or about 3400 Plattsburgh citizens)
• people with cardiovascular disease (7% of population or 1400 Plattsburgh citizens)
• people with kidney disease (0.6% of population or 120 Plattsburgh citizens)
• people with Vitamin C deficiency (27% of population or 5400 Plattsburgh citizens)
• people with magnesium deficiency (37% of population or 7400 Plattsburgh citizens)

• people with calcium deficiency (44% of population or 8800 Plattsburgh citizens)

If you would like to read more about this, please click here.

It would be erroneous to add the numbers above and conclude that 26,520 citizens shouldn't have fluoride. That's more people than there are in the City of Plattsburgh! There is a great deal of overlap between these groups. For example, many cardiovascular patients are elderly people. Let's assume for the sake of argument that 80% of the people in the above groups overlap in more than one category. That still leaves over 5000 people in our city who should not drink fluoridated water! Here's another interesting fact: about 19% of Americans are of the age when teeth are forming. In terms of Plattsburgh, that's about 3800 citizens - lower than the number of citizens who shouldn't drink fluoridated water! This strengthens the argument that we should not be mass-medicating everyone by fluoridating drinking water. If you want fluoride, it's easy and cheap to get it. If you don't want fluoride in your drinking water, it's really hard and expensive to get it out. It's time to stop this outdated and unsafe practice.

Ditto for fluoride. The American Dental Association issued this directive in 2006:

"Essentially, the ADA supports the pediatricians’ recommendations on the benefits of breast feeding and notes that using ready-to-feed formula for bottle-fed babies will keep their fluoride intake under IOM limits. If using a product that needs to be reconstituted, parents and caregivers should consider using water that has no or low levels of fluoride."

You can read their entire directive here.

What this is saying is that if you feed your infant powdered formula, don't use fluoridated tap water for mixing it. In another official publication from 2005 called Fluoridation Facts (p. 18), the ADA again recommends that infants have NO fluoride supplements, even if the amount of fluoride in public water supplies is 0 parts per million. You can read the entire publication here  - this publication has a ton of information, but some of it is questionable in light of recent research on fluoride. It seems the ADA is grasping at straws in this publication. It's fun to read it and see if you can find the faulty logic yourself.

The question I have is this: if the ADA, a huge supporter of fluoridation, recommends that infants shouldn't have fluoridated water, why are we giving it to them in our public water supply? There are many other people that should not have fluoride, yet we medicate EVERYONE. Why?

Someday, and it won't be too long, I predict, fluoride in drinking water will go the way of lead in paint and gasoline. What seemed like a good idea at the time will prove to be a mistake.

There was a local grocer named Cas Walker who somehow got it in his head that fluoride was bad. He railed against the evils of fluoridation in a weekly television program that he sponsored. He even went so far as to denounce fluoridation as a Communist plot. Everyone wrote 'ol Cas off as just another redneck lunatic.

Forty-five years later, after I became a City Councilor in Plattsburgh, NY, I received an email from a Ms. Carol S. Kopf, denouncing fluoridation, just like Cas Walker had so many years before. Ms. Kopf didn't say anything about Communist plots, however. She pointed out some recent scientific evidence that brings into question the sense of putting fluoride into public water supplies. She was articulate and clearly not a redneck lunatic. I emailed her and advised her that I was looking at fluoride with increased interest as a result of her email. She advised me that a local gentleman, Dr. Paul Connett, might be willing to come speak to the Plattsburgh City Council about the issue. I asked my fellow councilors and the mayor about it, and they graciously agreed to entertain Dr. Connett. Little did I know I had opened up a huge hornet's nest. When Dr. Connett came to speak to the Council in March of 2009, all kinds of fluoride folks came out of the woodwork, both pro and con. A fistfight nearly broke out in the City Hall lobby between the pros and the cons. It was an emotionally charged Council meeting, to say the least.

After nearly ten months of debate, countless emails and reams of research,  I've made up my mind about fluoride. I agree with Cas Walker and Carol Kopf: fluoride is bad. It's one of those things, like lead in paint or DDT to kill mosquitoes, that seemed like a good idea at the time but which turned out to be not such a good idea. As a postscript, it turns out that ol' Cas wasn't as loony as I thought on the whole Communist plot thing. In my research, I found out the Soviets used fluoride on prisoners to make them docile.

I will post a few more blogs devoted to fluoride to help you understand how I'm now in league with the fluoridation opposition. In the meantime, if you want to read what others are saying about fluoride check this link:

http://www.nofluoride.com/quotes.cfm