"A nation that produces nothing but advice and advisors will ultimately find itself without clients or an economy." - Douglas Castle

"A nation that produces nothing but advice and advisors will ultimately find itself without clients or an economy."- Douglas Castle

Twitter Destination Tags: #GICBC   #TNNW_BUZZWORKS   #IEP_VOICE            #BRAINTENANCE   #GETGLOBALEDGE   #douglascastle


Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile
Follow Castle on Twitter 



[Subscribe to The NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter and the BLUE TUESDAY REPORT free.]

DrugWatch.com - An Important New Resource for Links 4 Life

DrugWatch.com - An Important New Resource for LINKS 4 LIFE

Dear Friends:

A growing percentage of the U.S. population, including and increasing number of young children and teens, is taking prescription medications. Many of these individuals are taking several different prescription drugs simultaneously, for treatment of conditions ranging from ADHD to osteoporosis. More and more of us are taking antidepressents and antianxiety medications - sometimes, in a potentially dangerous scenario, we are taking several different drugs for several different purposes prescribed by several different healthcare practitioners.

Without passing judgment on the large pharmaceutical companies, the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) and the healthcare community, the sobering reality is that many of these drugs have dangerous side effects, dangerous (and potentially lethal) contraindications when combined with other medications (both prescription and over-the-counter nutrients). Due to a healthcare sytem in need of some logistical and ethical realignment, each of us, as a patient, or as a friend or family member who cares for someone who takes prescription medications, must be his or her own researcher and advocate.

While there are many sources of information about the side effects, contraindications and interactions associated with medications, most of the information available is provided by the large pharmaceutical companies -- the same companies which sponsor most drug research and testing -- the same companies which stand to profit by maximizing drug sales through expanding the prescription drug culture through lobbying in Washington and at the "grassroots level" -- hospitals, physicians and other healthcare practitioners are inundated with marketing materials and attention from representatives of drug companies eager to increase marketshare by increasing awareness on the part of practitioners of the availability of new drugs, each packed with a very substantial margin of profit while under patent.

There is a potentially dangerous conflict of interest when drug companies yield such sway over the Legislature and over the healthcare practitioners and virtually all of their professional organizations. Go into any practitioner's office and you will see an array of sticky notes, scribble pads, paperweights, pamphlets, pens and advertising specialties bearing the names of various new drugs or drug manufacturers.

Your doctor might have free "starter samples" of various drugs given to him to encourage him to give them out to his or her patients as if they were treats, or Halloween candy. Doctors' offices and healthcare institutions are beseiged by representatives from these companies every single day, and they are courted for their "business" non-stop. 

Before you fill a prescription for yourself, or for someone in your family, you must get unbiased, uncompromised information from some reliable sources about what the potential is for negative effects from those drugs, either when taken alone, or when taken in conjuction with other substances. If you have certain health problems, some of these drugs have the potential to make them worse. Certain people can have allergic reactions or suffer terrible, irreversible side effects when given either the wrong medications, or doses which are simply too high for safety's sake. Be your own advocate, and an advocate for those whom you love.

Before you take any medication, even if your doctor strongly advised you to take it, get information about the medication. Firstly, ask your doctor -- he or she has an obligation to advise you, to the best of his or her knowledge and ability, as to how important it is that you take the medication, the appropriate range of dosages, possible side effects and potentially harmful drug interactions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. and after you have gotten some information from the prescriber, do your own research.

An excellent new resource for information of about drug dangers, interactions, side effects can be found at http://www.DrugWatch.com. They are a self-funded organization without affiliations with any medical associations or pharmaceutical companies, and they have a constantly updated data base of information about all of the most commonly prescribed medications. I have found their information to be well-detailed, well-researched (well-supported by evidence) and organized in a very user-friendly and accessible fashion..

As of today, LINKS 4 LIFE is adding DrugWatch.com to its resource list. We'll be placing a direct link to their website on this site and on other sites and media with which we have an affiliation. Please note that neither LINKS 4 LIFE nor any of its sponsors has any financial or other business interest in DrugWatch.com.

I would also suggest that you make a list of the prescription medications which you are taking (as well as the prescribed dosages), and look them up on DrugWatch.com's site. It pays to educate yourself, and when it comes to matters of your health, sooner is always better than later.

Their information follows below:

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

LINKS 4 LIFE is sponsored by The National Networker Companies, The Castle Consultancy and Global Edge Technologies Group LLC.

--------------------------------------------------------

Drug Information – DrugWatch.com provides up-to-date information on the side effects of common prescription and over-the-counter medications.

--------------------------------------------------------

 

About Douglas Castle 

Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile

The National Networker Companies

Braintenance - Stay razor sharp.

The Internationalist Page - A world without barriers.

The Global Futurist - Revealing trends.

Taking Command! - Mastering your fate.

Follow Castle on Twitter 

Follow TNNW on Twitter

------
Labels, Terms and Tags: drug contraindications, drug dosages, drug interactions, drug precaustions, drug side-effects, DrugWatch.com, Links 4 Life, medications, The National Networker Companies

Receive your free Membership and Subscription to The National Networker Newsletter and The BLUE TUESDAY REPORT. Click on this thing: [[*][^][*]]

Reaching Out

It takes a great deal of strength to be who I pretend to be, but to have to be who I really am.

- Douglas Castle


Labels, Tags and Terms: dichotomy, fear of success, speaking for many, the fatigue behind the facade, Articles by Douglas Castle, The TNNW Companies, GICBC, masks, visions, philosophy, the Man Behind the Curtain.

Comment: The most difficult part of my mission in life is to have to say the things that others are thinking, but which they are too frightened or ashamed to acknowledge. Maybe the purpose served by this is that in my giving these silent thoughts a voice, someone, somewhere, will know that he or she is not really alone.


Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile
Follow Castle on Twitter 


[Subscribe to The NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter and the BLUE TUESDAY REPORT free.]

"When the unconscionable becomes the norm, we stand at precipice of socio-economic extinction." - Douglas Castle

"When the unconscionable becomes the norm, we stand at the precipice of socio-economic extinction." - Douglas Castle

The article which follows was written by Douglas Castle, author and advocate of the Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community (GICBC), a new form of entity based upon a collaborative paradigm of shared contribution and shared rewards which may provide a vehicle to save the fast-fading notions of democracy, government by the consent of the governed, government by and for the People, advancement based upon merit, and a form of industrious capitalism where currency is a means of exchange and store of value, but not a mountain of scrip standing between the entrenched and protected "ruling class," (a small minority of persons controlling in large part the fate of everyone) and the dispossessed, disillusioned and desperate masses who no longer experience a quality of life that gives them cause to live. Please do consider becoming a member of The National Networker Companies, an organization which is Humankind's first GICBC in the making. Become a member for free by clicking on http://twitlik.com/IN . I am honored to be the Vice-Chairman and Director of Strategic Planning for this instrument of change.

Dear Readers:

Two articles are re-printed for your information below. The first is labelled People's Exhibit A, and the second, People's Exhibit B.

The first article is the now-commonplace whining (with no actual question, answer, or opinion provided, at all -- very dry stuff, like cayenne pepper) about AIG awarding giant bonuses to a horde of unscrupulous, compunction-free gamblers who have all but stolen money from the ever-thinning wallets of the American People, and will, with great encouragement, continue to do so. The article is really just there to rile you up a bit. You'll be more receptive to Exhibit B when you are infuriated to the point of screaming until your vocal cords are bloody.

Exhibit A should get you you there. If it does not bother you, or if it makes you shrug your shoulders like Oscar Madison and say something along the lines of "So what else is new? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I'm going to get a coffee. Want some?" then don't read Exhibit B.

If what you might instead be looking at is. "How has it come to this? That here, in what used to be called 'The Land of Opportunity,' the poor, or even the middle class are no longer permitted a chance at becoming rich? That's not opportunity -- that some kind of trap. We need to pull this poisoned tree up by its roots, and plant something fresh and new in its place. The existing system is so convoluted and conflicted that trying to "fix it" is as futile as raising the dead by singing a song to a worm-riddled corpse. This has to be scrapped and replaced. This is like a 20-year old car that needs so much work every month that it would be cheaper to junk it and buy a new one...in fact, I could have bought three news ones by now with all the money I've thrown into that depreciating hunk of crap! Let's dump this vehicle and shop for something that works!"

If this reaction comes out in you, I heartily encourage you to read Exhibit B.

Message:

Author and Commentator Robert Reich is looking in the right place. Instead of complaining about "Big Government" he is concerned, and rightly so, about our shrinking Democracy. This is truly the core issue. I will be adding the Huffington Post to my Twitter resource and news update list, and I feel a blog post coming on...Google the term "GICBC."

Please stick around for the read...er....the ride.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

People's Exhibit A
Reports: AIG to pay out $100 million in bonuses

Wed Feb 3, 7:05 am ET

NEW YORK – American International Group Inc. is set to pay out about $100 million in a fresh round of bonuses to employees of its financial products division, the unit whose risky bets helped sink the company leading to a $180 billion government bailout, according to reports published Tuesday.
AIG agreed to cut the retention bonuses by $20 million but will still hand out $100 million Wednesday, The New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the negotiations.
The Washington Post, also citing people familiar with the situation, said the retention payments are for employees at the division who agreed to accept 10 to 20 percent less than AIG had initially promised them two years ago. In return, they are getting their money more than a month ahead of schedule.
AIG is still due to pay out tens of millions of dollars more in March, mostly to former employees who did not agree to the concessions, the Post reported.
A message was left with an AIG spokesman seeking comment.
New York-based AIG faced intense public and Congressional criticism last March when it paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in retention bonuses to employees months after receiving the government bailout.
When the credit crisis hit in the fall of 2008, the U.S. government rescued AIG from the brink of collapse in exchange for an 80 percent stake in the insurer. AIG's near collapse was not due to its traditional insurance operations, but instead risky derivatives contracts written by the financial products division. ####

People's Exhibit B

The item which follows was written by Robert Reich, and I happened to stumble upon it while glancing over the Huffington Post.

Robert Reich

Former Secretary of Labor, Professor at Berkeley. Posted: February 2, 2010 06:24 PM

Our Incredible Shrinking Democracy

A version of this column appears in the current issue of The American Prospect.

I wish conservatives would stop complaining about big government and start worrying about the real problem -- small democracy. I wish we'd all worry more about our incredible shrinking democracy.
It seems as if more and more decisions that should be made democratically are being shunted off somewhere to a few people who make them in back rooms. Which programs should be cut, which entitlements pared back, and what taxes raised in order to reduce the long-term budget deficit? Hmmm. Let's convene a commission and have them decide.
Commissions are a default mechanism when politicians want to hand off difficult issues to "experts." But reducing the long-term budget deficit has almost nothing to do with expertise. It's about our nations' values and priorities. Nothing could be more central to the democratic process.
Democracy requires at least three things: (1) Important decisions are made in the open. (2) The public and its representatives have an opportunity to debate them, so the decisions can be revised in light of what the public discovers and wants. And (3) those who make the big decisions are accountable to voters.
But these principles are in retreat, and I say this not just because of the proposed deficit commission.
The notorious Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) began with a virtual blank check from Congress. Treasury officials then secretly decided which companies were to receive hundreds of billions of dollars. Why these particular entities were chosen and not others remains a mystery. For months, the Treasury didn't even disclose the identities of the major banks that giant insurer AIG repaid with its bailout money -- 100 cents on each dollar AIG owed them.
The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, has gone far beyond its traditional role of setting short-term interest rates. It has bought up massive amounts of debt -- mortgage debt, Treasury bills, and debt instruments emanating several public agencies, many of them supporting a wide range of private entities. No one outside the Fed knows the ultimate beneficiaries of all this government backing, the criteria used by the Fed for making these commitments, or even how much debt the Fed is buying.
Even if the economic emergency justified such secrecy -- and it's hard to see exactly why it would -- the emergency is over, and yet closed-door decision making continues. Will Treasury use what's left of TARP to help stimulate more jobs and, if so, how? Will the Fed stop buying mortgage-backed securities? No one knows.
The same pattern is evident on other issues. Congress can't decide whether or how to limit the pay of financial executives. So where does the issue end up? The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Fed both say they're going to look at whether pay levels are appropriate. The House and Senate can't agree on what to do about climate change. Who decides? The Environmental Protection Agency concludes it has authority to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.
The debate over health-care reform looked like democratic deliberation until you realize the key negotiations that framed the deal occurred behind closed doors, between the White House and Big Pharma and Big Insurance. The Administration promised these industries some thirty million new paying customers. In return, they agreed not to oppose the plan. Big Pharma even placed a firm limit on how much it would cut its costs over the next ten years -- $80 billion, and not a penny more. How do I know this? Not because this crucial deal was made in public, but because it was leaked to the press.
Personally, I want the government to limit the pay of financial executives, regulate greenhouse gases, and reform health care. And no one wanted a financial meltdown. But I'm appalled by the process that's been used to reach these objectives.
A big piece of the problem is this: Washington is now so overrun by lobbyists representing moneyed interests that it's become almost impossible to make policy in the open. If the Treasury and Fed tried to decide publicly which industries and firms should get hundreds of billions, they'd be inundated. Wall Street lobbyists are blocking real financial reform. The energy industry has filled the House's cap-and-trade bill with special subsidies and exemptions. Big Pharma and Big Insurance would have killed off the health-care reform if they hadn't been bought off. When it comes to the long-term deficit, Congress is incapable of acting because so many special interests have their hands out.
But the answer isn't to give up on democracy. Back-room policy making can succumb to private interests just as easily as lobby-infested legislatures (much of the public suspects the Treasury of being too cozy with Wall Street as it is).
The real answer is to recommit ourselves to cleaning up democracy. Yes, I know: The Supreme Court's recent grotesque Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which decided corporations are people entitled to First Amendment protection, complicates this. But the goal is still possible to achieve with more public money for congressional and presidential candidates who refuse private funding, more constraints on lobbyists, tighter rules for who must register as a lobbyist, fuller disclosure, and tougher rules on the revolving door between public service and private gain. Yale's Bruce Ackerman recently came up with another good idea: A $50 tax credit per person, which they can send to the candidate of their choosing.
Yet nobody seems to be talking about these sorts of reforms. They don't appear on Obama's agenda. True, they don't generate lots of public excitement or appreciation, and they're murderously difficult to enact. But without them our democracy doesn't stand a chance.####

Please stay with me. Follow me on Twitter, The National Networker, Linked In, the blog reviewers. Don't be afraid to get in touch with me directly.  If you are as ambitious as you are angry, then we are not merely destined, but obligated, to meet. I can be emailed at DouglasCastle1@live.com.  Thanks.

About Douglas Castle 

Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile

The National Networker Companies

Braintenance - Stay razor sharp.

The Internationalist Page - A world without barriers.

The Global Futurist - Revealing trends.

Taking Command! - Mastering your fate.

Follow Castle on Twitter 

Follow TNNW on Twitter

Subscribe Free to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter and the BLUE TUESDAY REPORT.

Silver Linings!

Silver Linings !

Dear Friends:

Some of life's irritants, like the grain of sand that motivates the oyster to form a beautiful pearl, can turn into self-growth opportunities. Great big monopolies? Indifferent or inadequate customer service? No problem - the trick of it is to be industrious! 

Long hours of waiting on the telephone after navigating through a labyrinthine system of punching in numbers for various "choices" and "service options" (i.e. ways in which the company that you are furiously calling up can charge you additional fees without providing you with any actual real benefit at all ["Never pay another late fee! Get late fee protection for only $15.00 per month, and preserve your valuable credit rating!"] ) will occasionally be rewarded by establishing contact with another Human Being on the other end of the line.

When this happens, I feel like the lucky boy who found the golden ticket in his Wonka Bar, or like the happy hog having found a truffle in a blizzard.

I like to post brief status reports on http://ping.fm when I am struck with inspiration that I feel obligated to share with others. In 140 characters or less (and spaces do count), I can broadcast words of encouragement to those who are feeling defeated by the difficulty of life's experiences. 

As soon as I had hung up the telephone with Comcast Cable Technical Services (by the way, I'd like to compliment them on their fine high-speed internet package -- but I can't, because they truly stink), I got back onto my computer and shot off the following little glimpses of a silver lining through an oftimes cloud-enshrouded world:

Thought: The deterioration of customer service in the US has actually helped us sharpen our multi-tasking skills. - DC #douglascastle #TNNW

Posted:

Just moments ago from Dashboard

Method:

Status update

Tags:

douglascastle,TNNW

Services:

     

...........and how about this one? ...

Monopolies are swell. While you wait on the phone line for service, you can read, meditate, do pushups...Thanks, Comcast! #douglascastle

Posted:

Just moments ago from Dashboard

Method:

Status update

Tags:

douglascastle

Services:

     

Hey there. Whatever doesn't kill us only serves to make us stronger. And... whatever does kill us, allows us to leave all of our financial obligations behind. Life (and death) are actually "can't lose" propositions if you can learn to see them in this way. So simple.

Let me know if you can do it. Even as I preach this brilliant coping strategy, I must admit that I still tend to resort to fear and anger when dealing with many of life's challenges. I am a big fan of ranting, too.

But the important thing is that I continue to try to improve. You should too.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle


Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile
Follow Castle on Twitter 



*Follow DOUGLAS CASTLE on TWITTER - http://twitter.com/douglascastle
*Follow DOUGLAS CASTLE on THE NATIONAL NETWORKER - http://twitter.com/TNNW_BUZZWORKS

[Subscribe to The NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter and the BLUE TUESDAY REPORT free.]

We Consistently Reward Incompetence and Misconduct - Reaping What We've Sown.

We Consistently Reward Incompetence and Misconduct - Reaping What We've Sown.

Note: This article was written by author Douglas Castle for simultaneous publication in his personal blog (Douglas Castle), as well as TAKING COMMAND!, HUMANITAS MAXIMUS, Douglas Castle's INTERNAL ENERGY PLUS and in THE NATIONAL NETWORKER RSS Feed and Daily Email Supplement. You can (and should) get the Supplement for free at http://twitlik.com/Daily, and you can join The National Networker GICBC (also, at no cost) by clicking on http://twitlik.com/IN.

Dear Friends:

I chanced upon this unsurprising but nonetheless saddening piece of news in an excerpt from the venerable New York Times today:

Breaking News Alert

The New York Times
Thu, January 28, 2010 -- 4:13 PM ET
-----
U.S. Senate Confirms Ben Bernanke for a 2nd Term as Fed Governor


The Senate confirmed Ben S. Bernanke to a second term at the
helm of the Federal Reserve. The confirmation was a victory
for President Obama, who had called Mr. Bernanke a critical
leader in the nation's recovery from recession, but the
rancor surrounding the vote also signaled the extent to which
the Fed, once little known to the public, has become the
object of populist anger over high unemployment and bank
bailouts.


Read More:


http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na
####


Let me warm to the topic by saying that I'm not interested in making a political statement here. I am interested in posing a brief commentary on behavioral psychology and sociological evolution.

Some of you may recall that it was during Mr. Bernanke's "watch" that the United States Federal Reserve, with either the consent, an incredible lack of vision, or a hideous dereliction of duty on the part of a huge number of other governmental agencies (including, but not limited to the Treasury, The Controller of the Currency, FINRA, The SEC, The Commissioners of Insurance, The Legislature, The Executive Office and a host of other regulatory and enforcement bodies charged with the responsibility of protecting the citizenry and its hard-earned assets from pilferage and fraud by dirty, rotten scoundrels, con-artists, and other classes of persons whose debits never quite equal their credits) allowed an uncontrolled economic avalanche to destroy the United States economy, the lives of countless individuals, and the credibility (or the already-decaying nostalgic memories of credibility) of the  notion of an "honest" government to serve and protect the interests of the citizens whose contributions (through taxes and other tribute) actually finance the government...that is, of course, when the government isn't simply printing out bargeloads of paper currency and issuing debt instruments which it has no genuine plans or means of paying.

Mr. Bernanke just got himself confirmed for a second term at the helm of the U.S. of A. The thinking (using this latter term loosely) is that although he made a few "small mistakes" that "might have" helped to precipitate a "major recession," he kept things from getting as bad as he could have let them become. He bailed out the largest, greediest and most irresponsible financial institutions and other corporate interests because "they were too big to fail," [I'm inventing here] "too large to fit in jail," or "too fat to impale." 

He now gets rewarded for, in effect, driving drunk, hitting an elderly woman (who was walking her poodle) and managing to put her in his car and leave her on the steps of a hospital. This chap is the same symbol of shoulder-shrugging status quo who rewarded the unconscionable wrongdoing of an elite few at an incalculably devastating cost to this generation and to numerous generations to follow.

Why does this type of seemingly irrational system of "inverted incentives" continue to proliferate? Here are my guesses:

1. We have lowered our standards and our expectations;
2. Our perception is that any known quantity is better than a walk into the unknown;
3. We believe that our thoughts and feelings no longer make a difference;
4. We have lost our faith in our own fundamental values, because we live in a society where evil all too frequently triumphs;
5. We have lost our will to be free, and have resigned ourselves to being institutionalized;
6. We have lost the stamina to be activists, advocates and fighters;
7. We are living in fear of the government that is supposed to serve us.

An old colleague had two funny posters in his office at Hofstra University. One said "NO GOOD DEED SHALL GO UNPUNISHED." The other stated "UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES, THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE."

Facing facts, if we continue to stand idly by while incompetence and misconduct are permitted free reign, we don't deserve anything better. If you weren't insulted by that last sentence, then you probably will also fail to see that this is not a blog posting. It is a call to action.

You can get in touch with me by pressing the blue button below.

It's time for this GICBC notion to become a movement. Cooperate. Collaborate. Synergize.

We cannot build a peaceful prosperous future upon a cracked and decaying foundation, just as we cannot expect to find gold nuggets while panning in a tar pit, or expecting to grow fruit trees when we are planting sawgrass.

Trying to work within the constructs and constraints of the current paradigm is very much like trying to polish a turd. Stop for a moment and visualize it. Hmmm...

I enjoy ranting. How about you?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile
Follow Castle on Twitter 








Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free, and get your BLUE TUESDAY REPORT, too. - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies

Away Message From Douglas Castle

Away Message From Douglas Castle

Dear Friends:

I will be out of town from 18th January, and returning on 26th January. During this interval, I will not be accessing or responding to any emails, telephone messages or posting any material to blogs or social media. I look forward to being in touch with you soon after my return.

All the best, Respectfully,

Douglas Castle

Primary e-mail address:douglas.castle@yahoo.com,

douglascastle@gmail.com,

douglascastle.cybersphere@gmx.com  

About Douglas Castle 

Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile

The National Networker Companies

Braintenance - Stay razor sharp.

The Internationalist Page - A world without barriers.

The Global Futurist - Revealing trends.

Taking Command! - Mastering your fate.

Follow Castle on Twitter 

Follow TNNW on Twitter