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- Written by: Steven West, N.D.
Acupuncture is one example of this. Acupuncture was developed after the Chinese discovered Ayurvedics using gold and silver needles on patients over 4,000 years ago. This practice is called “marma.”
But enough of Ayurveda for now. Let’s talk about some general principles of wellness.
When the very young child walks into the kitchen and mommy is sweeping the floor s/he may ask: “Mommy, why are you creating all this dust in the air?” Obviously mommy knows something the child does not. And that is this: One must get rid of the old and dirty in order for the new and clean to emerge. And then some general maintenance should take place before the next cleansing.
These three principles of creation hold true for the kitchen, home, yard, town, city, country and, indeed, the entire universe. In Ayurveda we call this universal process sattva, rajas and tamas: creation, maintenance and destruction. In sociological terms its called thesis, synthesis and antithesis (create, maintain and destroy).
So you ask, “What does this have to do with health?” Everything.
Would you wax a dirty floor? Would you clean an already clean floor? There is an order to creation that makes things work best.
I’ll wax politically for a moment. We get rid of one president and at least some of his policies in order to replace those policies with new and (hopefully) more workable and beneficial ones. We maintain the new policies until they prove unworkable or unsuitable and then the process starts all over again.
Now here’s my point. Job No. 1 for greater experience and realization of health and vitality is to clean out the “pipes” of the system. Clean out the toxic waste sites before we rejuvenate the system.
And what are the main toxic waste sites of the body? The liver, colon and kidneys. Can toxins, parasites heavy metals, bacteria and fungus be elsewhere in the body? Absolutely. But cleaning these main transformers and processors of nutrients is vital. They can easily become clogged and be overwhelmed by the above invaders and eventually cause disease and even life threatening situations. Taking even the finest herbal rejuvenate without first cleansing will often only push toxins deeper into the tissues.
So first consult with an experienced natural health professional and s/he will then give you an herbal/nutritional protocol that will 1) detox and cleanse. Then 2) rejuvenate and, finally, 3) maintain with healthy eating instructions as well as lifestyle practices such as meditation, yoga, breath work and appropriate exercise.
And remember, health is a lifestyle.
To your health!
Steven West, ND is a Kelseyville- based naturopath and nutritionist. He graduated form the Institute for Natural Health Studies and has been in practice in California for 18 years.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – Lake County's congressman said Friday that the economic stimulus bill will benefit not just the nation by the North Coast in the effort to get the sluggish economy revitalized. {sidebar id=122}
Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) spoke with a group of North Coast journalists Friday, shortly before the House of Representatives voted 246 to 183 to pass the updated version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1), which will spend $787 billion on the nation's recovery.
But the bill didn't meet the approval of Republicans and wasn't unanimously accepted among all Democrats in Congress.
In the House, no Republicans voted for the bill, and seven Democrats crossed the aisle to vote against it, with one Democrat not voting at all.
The bill had passed through a conference committee to work out the differences between previously approved versions of the bill that had passed through the House and Senate.
On Friday evening, the Senate also approved the updated version of the bill on a vote of 60 to 38. There were three Republicans who voted for it, with unanimous support from Senate Democrats.
Thompson, who would cast his aye vote a short time after the teleconference, said the bill is designed to jump-start the economy through a variety of measures – tax benefits for families and small businesses, substantial investment in infrastructure and innovation, and job creation.
It's important to move quickly, he said. “We've got a situation where the economy is hemorrhaging jobs – thousands of jobs – as we speak.”
The stimulus bill is supposed to create three to four million jobs, give $116 billion in tax cuts to 95 percent of working families and shift the economy to a basis of renewable energy through $50 billion in new funding and tax incentives, according to Thompson. Another $110 billion would repair and modernize roads, bridges, transit and waterways.
“It helps California a lot,” he said.
The state stands to receive $26 billion from the recovery package, to be used for everything from roads and bridges to upgrading schools, Thompson explained.
A bill analysis found it will create 400,000 jobs in California and 8,000 just in his district alone.
Thompson's district includes Lake, Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Napa counties, and portions of Sonoma and Yolo counties. Of those, the most recent unemployment report, which covers December 2008, has Lake with the highest unemployment, 13.1 percent, an 11-year high, as Lake County News has reported.
“We need to do this and we need to do it quick,” he said.
Thompson helped draft key energy tax provisions, including a new investment tax credit for facilities to manufacture green technologies in America rather than shipping those manufacturing jobs overseas. The provisions also will provide grants to incentivize businesses to invest in renewable technology today, rather than waiting until the economy improves.
He also was able to secure several key provisions in the final stimulus bill that will make crucial investments in green energy technology and led efforts to provide $4.6 billion in critical funding for the Army Corps of Engineers, which he said was left out of the original bill, prompting him to write to President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
The provisions he authored would make it easier for state and local governments to finance the purchase of solar systems and will have access to $2.4 billion in new energy conservation bonds to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The bill includes $287 billion in tax cuts for individuals and businesses, which Thompson said accounted for 38-percent of the bill.
Projects Thompson listed that would be important for his North Coast district include work on the Sacramento Delta levee system and the silted-in Crescent City Harbor in Del Norte, as well as the Napa River, which flooded in late December 2005 and early January 2006 and caused more than $115 million in damage to Napa and the surrounding communities.
Thompson, who said he went to each of the counties in his district to ask them for a list of “shovel-ready” projects, didn't have a current list of projects that would take place in Lake County, but he'll work with the county on such a list.
County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said Friday that local officials don't yet know how the county may benefit from the package.
For the folks on Main Street, there will be a reduction in capital gains tax on the sale of small businesses, businesses would be eligible for new vehicle sales tax deductions, and individuals also will be assisted in purchasing solar energy equipment.
Individual taxpayers could see up to $400 in tax cuts on their tax bill, or $800 for couples, said Thompson. Anyone subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is set to expire – about 28 million people nationwide, or 50,000 people in the First Congressional District – would see tax relief.
The bill also includes $7.2 billion to expand broadband Internet access in rural and underserved areas.
“It's real short in regard to what we need,” Thompson said.
That money will be spent in a few ways, he explained. For one, it will be used to expand broadband in rural areas where it's already used. It also will be installed in areas where it isn't already present.
“It's certainly good for rural America, that's where the holes are,” said Thompson. “It will help our district a lot.”
He and Rep. Anna Eschoo, a Bay Area colleague in California's Congressional Delegation, both wanted to see more done on behalf of broadband expansion in the bill, but there wasn't enough room to add the money needed.
Thompson said he and Eschoo plan to soon introduce legislation that would use bond funding to continue the broadband expansion effort.
Republicans maintain skepticism on stimulus package
Speaking on the floor of the House Friday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) spoke against the stimulus bill, saying that the GOP's economic recovery plan would create twice as many jobs at half the cost as the Democrats' plan.
“When you look at some of the spending in this bill, it will do nothing about creating jobs in America,” Boehner said. “Tell me spending $50 million for some salt marsh mouse in San Francisco is going to help a struggling auto worker in Ohio? Tell me how spending $8 billion in this bill to have a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is going to help the construction worker in my district.”
He also criticized passage of the bill when he said that not one member of the House had time to read all 1,100 pages before the vote.
Boehner said Republicans have been excluded from the process altogether, and their ideas about how to solve the crisis were ignored.
US Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) spoke against the bill on the Senate floor Friday.
“This isn’t Monopoly money. It’s real. It adds up – and it has to be paid back, by our children and by their children. And the American people still don’t have the facts about the total cost,” he said.
McConnell said it isn't timely, targeted or temporary, three critical points that he said the president's own top economist outlined for the stimulus.
The bill contains an extraordinary sum of money that deserves an extraordinary level of scrutiny, McConnell said, adding that it's laden with pork, including $300 million for new government cars, $50 million for out-of-work artist and $165 million to maintain and build fish hatcheries.
Thompson dismissed such criticisms. “The Republicans have had every opportunity to participate in this,” he said. “I don't think there's been any shortage of effort in trying to work with Republicans.”
The American people want members of Congress to work together, said Thompson.
He contrasted the president's bipartisan efforts with those employed by the previous administration, recalling a meeting between the Blue Dog Coalition – a group of moderate and conservative Democrats, of which Thompson is a member – and former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Thompson said Cheney told the group, “You all seem like nice guys, but we don't need you.”
Arguments over waste
Thompson also challenged the assertions that the bill is filled with pork and earmarks.
“There aren't any earmarks that jump out at me,” said Thompson. “The president has said that he didn't want any earmarks in the bill.”
An analysis of the House version of the bill by FactCheck.org found it essentially earmark-free, although the Senate version contained several items that could be considered pork – such as $198 million in benefits for Filipino veterans and $500 million for National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Md. (For the full analysis, see FactCheck.org: A look at claims about the stimulus bill.)
Still, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste issued a statement Thursday urging Congress to vote against the stimulus bill.
“The compromise bill yielded little improvement for taxpayers,” said council President Tom Schatz. “In exchange for a paltry extra $13 a week in tax relief, Congress is saddling American families with thousands of dollars a month in new spending obligations and huge interest payments on the national debt going forward indefinitely.”
Schatz said there were no efforts to address the mismanaged and unnecessary programs that waste billions of dollars every year.
Not everyone in Congress is perfectly happy with the bill, Thompson said. “You can put me on that list.”
He wasn't, for example, happy to see a $15,000 first-time homebuyer credit in the House's original version of the bill reduced to $8,000 in the final version. The first bill also included stronger language on school construction, which he said was a deal breaker for some in the Senate who didn't think anything should be done in the way of building new school facilities.
However, Thompson said, “There's enough in this bill to like.”
On Saturday, President Obama said he plans to sign the bill shortly.
Obama said the money must be spent “unprecedented accountability, responsibility and transparency.” he said he's asked his cabinet and staff “to set up the kind of management, oversight, and disclosure that will help ensure that, and I will challenge state and local governments to do the same.”
Soon to be launched is a new Web site, www.recovery.gov, which will allow Americans to see where the money is going and to offer comments and ask questions, said the president.
“Ultimately, this is your money, and you deserve to know where it’s going and how it’s spent,” he said.
Obama said he plans to introduce a proposal that involves restoring discipline to the federal budgeting process.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The tax and accounting arm of Thomson Reuters, the New York-based news organization, analyzed the various versions of the bill and arrived at the following list of tax breaks which survived the negotiations process to make it into the final version.
Jim Seidel, chief tax analyst from the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters, said were some significant changes in the House and Senate bills.
What follows are some highlights of what survived, which is expected to be signed soon by President Barack Obama.
– AMT patch. Only the Senate bill included the one-year AMT “patch,” without which millions more people would have been hit with the dreaded alternative minimum tax for 2009. This version survived; the patch will be in place for 2009.
– Homebuyer credit. The House provision basically won out over the Senate's; it removes the repayment requirement and bumped up the refundable first-time homebuyer credit to $8,000, unless the home is resold within 36 months of purchase. This would apply for homes bought after 2008 and before Dec. 1, 2009.
– Breaks for new car buyers. For tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2008, the Recovery Act adds an increased standard deduction for state or local sales or excise taxes imposed on the purchase of a new motor vehicle. Only taxes on up to $49,500 ($24,750 for a married person filing separately) of the purchase price may be deducted. The deduction phases out between modified AGI between $125,000 and $135,000 ($250,000 and $260,000 on a joint return). The deduction is available for the purchase of a new passenger automobile or light truck with a gross vehicle rating of not more than 8,500 pounds, or a motorcycle or motor home.
– New credit for workers. Both bills contained a new refundable tax credit, which in the final version has been reduced to 6.2 percent of earned income up to a maximum credit of $400 for individuals and $800 for working families. The credit starts to phase out at income levels (AGI) above $75,000 ($150,000 for joint filers). (In the earlier versions, the maximum credit was $500 for singles or $1,000 for couples.) The credit, which will apply for 2009 and 2010 only, can be claimed as a reduced amount of income tax wage withholding, or through a credit on a tax return.
Said Seidel, “It is anticipated that taxpayers' reduced tax liability under the provision will be quickly implemented through revised income tax withholding tables produced by IRS.”
– Economic recovery payments. While not technically a tax provision, only the Senate bill had a one-time payment of $300 for retirees, disabled individuals, Social Security beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and veterans receiving veterans' disability compensation and pension benefits. Now, it's $250 instead of $300, with an analogous provision to give the same amount to certain government retirees who are not eligible for Social Security benefits. Any amount received under this provision reduces the amount available under the above workers' credit.
– Expanded earned income tax credit (EITC). Both the Senate and House agreed to expand EITC, and the end result is a temporary increase to the EITC to 45 percent of the family's first $12,570 of earned income for families with three or more children for 2009 and 2010. For example, in 2009, taxpayers with three or more qualifying children may claim a credit of 45 percent of earnings up to $12,570, resulting in a maximum credit of $5,656.50. The Recovery Act also increases the beginning point of the phase-out range for all married couples filing a joint return (regardless of the number of children) by $1,880.
– New education tax credit. Both the Senate and House bills expanded the HOPE education tax credit for 2009 and 2010, making it available for four years of post-secondary education instead of only two at a rate of up to $2,500 of the cost of tuition and related expenses per year (100 percent of the first $2,000 of expenses and 25 percent of the next $2,000). The final version also makes 40 percent of the credit (i.e., a maximum of $1000) refundable. The credit phase-out threshold also has increased to over $80,000 ($160,000 for joint filers), making it more available than before to higher income taxpayers.
– Computers as an education expense. The Senate bill, but not the House bill, allowed computer technology and equipment to qualify as an education expense that can be paid from a Code Sec. 529 plan for 2009 and 2010. This provision survives in the final version.
– Unemployment compensation exclusion. Only the Senate bill provides a temporary suspension of federal income tax on the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits received in 2009. This provision also survived.
– Transportation fringe benefits. Only the Senate bill increased the maximum monthly exclusion for employer-provided transit and vanpool benefits (currently $120) to the same level as the exclusion for employer-provided parking (currently $230). That provision remains in the final version.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
THIS STORY HAS BEEN CORRECTED REGARDING THE NUMBER OF TICKETS SOLD; IT ALSO HAS BEEN CLARIFIED AS TO THE PROVIDERS OF THE CHOCOLATE.
LAKEPORT – A benefit for the Lake Family Resource Center, the third annual Wine & Chocolate fundraising event, held on the second Saturday of February each year, was a roaring success this year.
With between 400 and 500 tickets sold before the event, many more braved the inclement weather and snow-capped mountaintops to pay at the door and enjoy the fruit of Lake County vines masterfully paired with chocolate by sommeiler Stephanie Cruz-Green, owner of Focused on Wine in Kelseyville.
Specialty workshops on food and wine pairing, wine sensory and olive oil tasting also were held.
Mt. Konocti Growers was the venue once again for the event, which supports the programs of the Lake Family Resource Center. This year, however, the event was expanded into two of their buildings instead of just one.
The largest fundraiser for the center, Wine & Chocolate attracts visitors from around California to indulge in delicious wines and decadent chocolates.
Hooper’s Chocolates, a division of Windsor Confections – whose motto is “Gourmet Chocolate with a Mission” – along with Bruno's Shop Smart and other sources provided tasty chocolate treats that were paired with many Cabernets, Zinfandels, Syrahs and other red varietals.
This year, the event also featured a Wine Store, where event-goers could purchase the wines they favored most.
Twenty-eight wineries with grapes grown in Lake County, most with local wineries, poured their varietals for the benefit of “strengthening families.”
The Lake Family Resource Center, founded in 1995, serves more than 4,500 individuals each year in Lake County through violence prevention, intervention and treatment, child and youth development, parenting education and personal development, and health and wellness.
The center also is working to build a new domestic violence shelter in Kelseyville.
E-mail Terre Logsdon at
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