In a telling passage, Times reporter Robert D. McFadden
explains, "As is the case with many people, even
those who have access to excellent health care (three
cardiologists were present for Clinton's exam), the
heart trouble appeared to come out of the blue"
(despite the fact that medical tests done in January
2001 showed signs that Clinton was at risk of heart
disease, with a raised cholesterol level).
By the end of the Times article, we've also learned
that 516,000 heart bypass surgeries were performed
in 2001, the latest year for which data are available...and
we are reminded that Vice President Dick Cheney has
suffered heart attacks in 1978, 1984, 1988, and 2000,
and underwent quadruple bypass surgery in August 1988.
Welcome to McBypass Nation:
* Bill Clinton lives on McDonald's, rarely exercises,
and was warned about heart disease more than three
years ago...but it was genetics that got him "out
of the blue." (Maybe Bubba was following the
guidance of another proud-but hardly svelte-Democrat,
Michael McMoore, who says: "Vegetarianism is
unhealthy...(so) put down those sprouts and pick
up a T-bone!")
* Lucky for Clinton (and Cheney and McMoore, for
that matter), he had a battery of doctors to step
in...because the rest of us nobodies don't have
"access to excellent health care."
* With or without "excellent health care,"
those at the mercy of Western medicine will likely
learn nothing about prevention and nutrition...and
end up as one of the half-million facing the knife
each year. After all, more Americans die from heart
disease each year than all the Americans killed
in all the American wars combined. Seems like the
most dangerous weapon in the human arsenal just
might be the fork.
Howard Lyman, the former-cattleman-turned-vegan who
was sued-along with Oprah for having the nerve to
mention Mad Cow Disease on national TV says: "To
make our choices informed ones, we have to start with
the facts." Facts helped Lyman and Oprah win
the lawsuit; the only problem now is picking which
facts to squeeze into this article.
Should I tell you that amid the election-year rhetoric
about violence, 9 billion animals will be murdered
this year for food? Do I explain how at 98.7°
(body temperature), animal fat is solid (think: pork
chop) while plant fat (olive oil) is liquid? Not surprisingly,
the risk of death from heart attack for the average
American is 50 percent; for a vegan, 4 percent.
Here's one I couldn't resist: Since our digestive
tract is too long to efficiently digest meat, that
pork chop can sit there putrefying for weeks. Accordingly,
Americans consume more laxatives than anyone else.
Think about it, almost all our legislative, judicial,
health-related, and military decisions are made by
constipated old white guys.
Is it helpful to articulate that roughly 14 times
as many people could be fed by using the same land
currently reserved for grazing and a main reason global
rain forests are disappearing is to make way to raise
doomed cattle? I'll bet you haven't seen anything
on MTV lately about how the water needed to maintain
this bloody enterprise is drained from rivers, depleting
hydroelectric plants, and inspiring Westinghouse to
build more nuclear power plants to eventually leak
and anoint us with a plutonium aromatherapy.
Got milk? Before showing off your mustache, consider
that cow's milk has 3 times more protein and 7 times
more mineral content than human milk-which contains
10 times the essential fatty acids, 3 times the selenium,
and half the calcium. In other words, cow's milk is
perfect...for calves (which grow a lot faster for
people).
Want more? Try the Mickey Z. test: Each day, 27 American
children die from poverty and starvation while 15
million animals are slaughtered for food. Worldwide,
60 million people starve to death each year. Every
55 seconds, an American dies of cancer. Every 45 seconds,
an American suffers a fatal heart attack. Every two
seconds, on planet earth, a child starves to death.
Go ahead, do the math. How many have we lost while
you read this article? How many did we lose while
Bill Clinton is on the operating table surrounded
by a team of overpriced doctors?
Leave Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, and Michael McMoore
to their burgers, their clogged arteries, and their
focus on which Yale-educated, warmongering millionaire
takes control of the imperialist agenda in November.
It would be far more revolutionary if Americans tuned
out the propaganda and took full responsibility for
their health, their lives, and their planet...before
it's too late.
Mickey Z. is the author of two brand new books: "The
Seven Deadly Spins:
Exposing the Lies Behind War Propaganda" (Common
Courage Press) and "A
Gigantic Mistake: Articles and Essays for Your Intellectual
Self-Defense"
(Library Empyreal/Wildside Press). For more information,
please visit:
http://www.mickeyz.net.
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