How Sugar Harms Your Brain Health and Drives Alzheimer’s Epidemic

English: PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer's disease (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

Alzheimer's disease, a severe form of dementia, affects an estimated 5.2 million Americans, according to 2013 statistics.1

One in nine seniors over the age of 65 has Alzheimer's, and the disease is now thought to be the third leading cause of death in the US, right behind heart disease and cancer.

A growing body of research suggests there's a powerful connection between your diet and your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, via similar pathways that cause type 2 diabetes.

Contrary to popular belief, your brain does not require glucose, and actually functions better burning alternative fuels, especially ketones, which your body makes in response to digesting healthy fats.

According to some experts, such as Dr. Ron Rosedale, Alzheimer's and other brain disorders may in large part be caused by the constant burning of glucose for fuel by your brain.

Alzheimer's disease was tentatively dubbed "type 3 diabetes" in early 2005 when researchers discovered that in addition to your pancreas, your brain alsoproduces insulin, and this brain insulin is necessary for the survival of brain cells.

Sugar Damages Brain Structure and Function

In your brain, insulin helps with neuron glucose-uptake and the regulation of neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine, which are crucial for memory and learning. This is why reducing the level of insulin in your brain impairs your cognition.

Research2 has also shown that type 2 diabetics lose more brain volume with age than expected—particularly gray matter. This kind of brain atrophy is yet another contributing factor for dementia.

Studies have found that people with lower levels of insulin and insulin receptors in their brain often have Alzheimer's disease. But according to recent research published in the journal Neurology,3 sugar and other carbohydrates can disrupt your brain function even if you're not diabetic or have any signs of dementia.

To test their theory, they evaluated short- and long-term glucose markers in 141 healthy, non-diabetic, non-demented seniors. Memory tests and brain imaging were administered to assess their brain function and the actual structure of their hippocampus. As reported by Scientific American:4

"Higher levels on both glucose measures were associated with worse memory, as well as a smaller hippocampus and compromised hippocampal structure.

The researchers also found that the structural changes partially accounted for the statistical link between glucose and memory. According to study co-author Agnes Flöel, a neurologist at Charité, the results 'provide further evidence that glucose might directly contribute to hippocampal atrophy.'"

The findings suggest that even if you're not diabetic or insulin resistant (and about 80 percent of Americans fall into the latter category), sugar consumption can still disrupt your memory.

Long-term, it can contribute to the shrinking of your hippocampus, which is a hallmark symptom of Alzheimer's disease. (Your hippocampus is involved with the formation, organization, and storage of memories.)

The authors of the study suggest that "strategies aimed at lowering glucose levels even in the normal range may beneficially influence cognition in the older population."

'Normal' Blood Sugar Levels May Still Be High Enough to Cause Problems

Normally, a fasting blood sugar level between 100-125 mg/dl is diagnosed as a pre-diabetic state. A fasting blood sugar level of 90-100 is considered "normal." But in addition to the featured research, other studies have also found that brain atrophy occurs even in this "normal" blood sugar range.

Neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, MD insists that being very strict in limiting your consumption of sugar and non-vegetable carbs is one of THE most important steps you can take to prevent Alzheimer's disease for this very reason.

He cites research from the Mayo Clinic, which found that diets rich in carbohydrates are associated with an 89 percent increased risk for dementia. Meanwhile, high-fat diets are associated with a 44 percent reduced risk.

Download Interview Transcript

Sugar Lobby Threatens Organizations and Buries Science on Health Effects

Compelling research shows that your brain has great plasticity, which you controlthrough your diet and lifestyle choices. Unfortunately, the American public has been grossly brainwashed by the sugar and processed food industries into believing that sugar is a perfectly reasonable "nutrient" that belongs in a healthy diet.  

Without accurate information, it's certainly more difficult to make health-affirming choices. Newsweek5 recently ran an article revealing just how far the sugar industry will go to defend its market share:

"According to a new report6 from the Center for Science and Democracy... industry groups representing companies that sell sweeteners, like the Sugar Association and the Corn Refiners Association... have poured millions of dollars into countering science that indicates negative health consequences of eating their products.

For example, when a University of Southern California study from 2013 found that the actual high fructose corn syrup content in sodas 'varied significantly' from the sugar content disclosed on soda labels, the Corn Refiners Association considered paying for its own counter research.

A consultant suggested that the counter research should only be published if the results aligned with their goal of disputing the USC study: 'If for any reason the results confirm [the University of Southern California study], we can just bury the data,' the consultant wrote, according to the report."

According to the Center for Science report, the Sugar Association even threatened the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO had published a paper on sugar, recommending a 10 percent limit on added sugars, stating that added sugars "threaten the nutritional quality of diets."

The Sugar Association shot off a letter to the director general, warning him that, unless WHO withdrew the study, the Sugar Association would persuade the US Congress to withdraw the WHO's federal funding. The following year, when WHO published its global health strategy on diet and health, there was no mention of the offending sugar study.

The Sugar Lobby Deserves Blame for Fueling Chronic Disease Epidemics

Indeed, despite overwhelming evidence showing that sugar, and processed fructose in particular, is at the heart of our burgeoning obesity and chronic disease epidemics, the sugar lobby has been so successful in its efforts to thwart the impact of such evidence that there's still no consensus among our regulatory agencies as to the "factual" dangers of sugar...

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data,7 13 percent of the average American's diet is sugar. In the UK, a recently published report8 by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommends limiting your added sugar intake to five percent, in order to avoid obesity and type 2 diabetes. They calculate this to be the equivalent of 25 grams of sugar (5-6 teaspoons) per day for women, and 35 grams (7-8 teaspoons) for men.

This matches my own recommendations for healthy, non-insulin resistant individuals—with one key difference. I recommend restricting sugar/fructose consumption to 25 grams from ALL sources, not just added sugar. This includes limiting your non-vegetable carbohydrates as well. Crazy enough, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition still recommends you get 50 percent of your daily energy intake in the form of starchy carbohydrates, which will undoubtedly and significantly raise your risk of insulin resistance. If you're insulin/leptin resistant, diabetic, overweight, or have high blood pressure, heart disease, or cancer, I recommend restricting your sugar/fructose consumption to a maximum of 15 grams per day from all sources, until your insulin/leptin resistance has been resolved.

Dietary Guidelines for Maintaining Healthy Brain Function and Avoiding Alzheimer's Disease

It's becoming increasingly clear that the same pathological process that leads to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes may also hold true for your brain. As you over-indulge on sugar and grains, your brain becomes overwhelmed by the consistently high levels of glucose and insulin that blunts its insulin signaling, leading to impairments in your thinking and memory abilities, eventually causing permanent brain damage.

Additionally, when your liver is busy processing fructose (which your liver turns into fat), it severely hampers its ability to makecholesterol, an essential building block of your brain that is crucial for optimal brain function. Indeed, mounting evidence supports the notion that significantly reducing fructose consumption is a very important step for preventing Alzheimer's disease. 

Because of the very limited treatments, and no available cure as of yet, you're really left with just one solid solution, and that is to prevent Alzheimer's from happening to you in the first place. As explained by neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, Alzheimer's is a disease predicated primarily on lifestyle choices; the two main culprits being excessive sugar and gluten consumption.

Another major factor is the development and increased consumption of genetically engineered (GE) grains, which are now pervasive in most processed foods sold in the US. The beauty of following my optimized nutrition plan is that it helps prevent and treat virtually ALL chronic degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's. Dr. Perlmutter's book, Grain Brain, also provides powerful arguments for eliminating grains from your diet, particularly if you want to protect the health of your brain. In terms of your diet, the following suggestions may be among the most important for Alzheimer's prevention:

• Avoid sugar and refined fructose. Ideally, you'll want to keep your total sugar and fructose below 25 grams per day, or as low as 15 grams per day if you have insulin resistance or any related disorders. In one recent animal study, a junk food diet high in sugar resulted in impaired memory after just one week!9 Place recognition, specifically, was adversely affected.
As a general rule, you'll want to keep your fasting insulin levels below 3, and this is indirectly related to fructose, as it will clearly lead to insulin resistance. However, other sugars (sucrose is 50 percent fructose by weight), grains, and lack of exercise are also important factors. Lowering insulin will also help lower leptin levels which is another factor for Alzheimer's.
• Avoid gluten and casein (primarily wheat and pasteurized dairy, but not dairy fat, such as butter). Research shows that your blood-brain barrier, the barrier that keeps things out of your brain where they don't belong, is negatively affected by gluten. Gluten also makes your gut more permeable, which allows proteins to get into your bloodstream, where they don't belong. That then sensitizes your immune system and promotes inflammation and autoimmunity, both of which play a role in the development of Alzheimer's.
• Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate, such as the one described in my nutrition plan. Vegetables, without question, are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh raw veggies every day. Avoid supplements like folic acid, which is the inferior synthetic version of folate.
• Increase consumption of all healthful fats, including animal-based omega-3. Beneficial health-promoting fats that your brain needs for optimal function include organic butter from raw milk, clarified butter called ghee, organic grass fed raw butter, olives, organic virgin olive oil and coconut oil, nuts like pecans and macadamia, free-range eggs, wild Alaskan salmon, and avocado.
Contrary to popular belief, the ideal fuel for your brain is not glucose but ketones. Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy. The medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) found in coconut oil are a great source of ketone bodies, because coconut oil is about 66 percent MCTs. In 2010, I published Dr. Mary Newport's theory that coconut oil might offer profound benefits in the fight against Alzheimer's disease. She has since launched one of the first clinical trials of its kind to test this theory.
Also make sure you're getting enough animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. (I recommend avoiding most fish because, although fish is naturally high in omega-3, most fish are now severely contaminated with mercury.) High intake of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA help by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer's disease, thereby slowing down its progression, and lowering your risk of developing the disorder.
• Optimize your gut flora by regularly eating fermented foods or taking a high-potency and high-quality probiotic supplement
• Eat blueberries. Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases. 

Other Helpful Dietary Tips and Valuable Supplements

Another helpful tip is to reduce your overall calorie consumption, and/or intermittently fast. As mentioned above, ketones are mobilized when you replace carbs with coconut oil and other sources of healthy fats. A one-day fast can help your body to "reset" itself, and start to burn fat instead of sugar. As part of a healthy lifestyle, I prefer an intermittent fasting schedule that simply calls for limiting your eating to a narrower window of time each day. By restricting your eating to a 6-8 hour window, you effectively fast 16-18 hours each day. To learn more about intermittent fasting, please see this previous article.

Also be aware that when it comes to cholesterol levels and Alzheimer's, lower is NOT better. Quite the contrary. According to Dr. Perlmutter, research shows that elderly individuals with the lowest cholesterol levels have the highest risk for Alzheimer's. They also have the highest risk for dying. As he says, the war on cholesterol is fundamentally inappropriate and harmful.

Finally, there's a short list of supplement recommendations worth noting for their specific benefits in preventing and treating dementia. So, although your fundamental strategy for preventing dementia should involve a comprehensive lifestyle approach, you may want to take special note of the following natural dietary agents. These four natural foods/supplements have good science behind them, in terms of preventing age-related cognitive changes:

1. Gingko biloba: Many scientific studies have found that Ginkgo biloba has positive effects for dementia. A 1997 study fromJAMA showed clear evidence that Ginkgo improves cognitive performance and social functioning for those suffering from dementia. Another 2006 study found Ginkgo as effective as the dementia drug Aricept (donepezil) for treating mild to moderate Alzheimer's type dementia. A 2010 meta-analysis also found Ginkgo biloba to be effective for a variety of types of dementia.
2. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA): ALA has been shown to help stabilize cognitive functions among Alzheimer's patients and may slow the progression of the disease.
3. Vitamin B12: A small Finnish study published in the journal Neurology10 found thatpeople who consume foods rich in B12 may reduce their risk of Alzheimer's in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 the risk of developing Alzheimer's was reduced by two percent. Remember sublingual methylcobalamin may be your best bet here.

Lifestyle Strategies That Can Help Ward off Alzheimer's Disease

Lifestyle choices such as getting regular sun exposure and exercise, along with avoiding toxins, are also important factors when it comes to maintaining optimal brain health. Here are several of my lifestyle suggestions:

• Optimize your vitamin D levels with safe sun exposure. Strong links between low levels of vitamin D in Alzheimer's patients and poor outcomes on cognitive tests have been revealed. Researchers believe that optimal vitamin D levels may enhance the amount of important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of the glial cells in nursing damaged neurons back to health.
Vitamin D may also exert some of its beneficial effects on Alzheimer's through its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. Sufficient vitamin D is imperative for proper functioning of your immune system to combat inflammation that is also associated with Alzheimer's.
• Exercise regularly. It's been suggested that exercise can trigger a change in the way the amyloid precursor protein is metabolized,11 thus, slowing down the onset and progression of Alzheimer's. Exercise also increases levels of the protein PGC-1alpha. Research has also shown that people with Alzheimer's have less PGC-1alpha in their brains12 and cells that contain more of the protein produce less of the toxic amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer's. I would strongly recommend reviewing the Peak Fitness Technique for my specific recommendations.
• Avoid and eliminate mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings, which are 50 percent mercury by weight, are one of the major sources of heavy metal toxicity. However, you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to following the diet described in my optimized nutrition plan, you can follow the mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.
• Avoid aluminum, such as antiperspirants, non-stick cookware, vaccine adjuvants, etc.
• Avoid flu vaccinations as most contain both mercury and aluminum, well-known neurotoxic and immunotoxic agents.
• Avoid anticholinergics and statin drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain nighttime pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.
Statin drugs are particularly problematic because they suppress the synthesis of cholesterol, deplete your brain of coenzyme Q10 and neurotransmitter precursors, and prevent adequate delivery of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble antioxidants to your brain by inhibiting the production of the indispensable carrier biomolecule known as low-density lipoprotein.
• Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, especially learning something new, such as learning to play an instrument or a new language, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.

 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/07/24/sugar-brain-function.aspx

Gloucester, VA Woodville Park, What You Don't Know

We are once again bringing up the Board of Supervisors meeting to point out that the majority of the first hour was an amazing puppet show of people trying every way they could to convince the Board of Supervisors that the new Wooodville park needs sewer run down to the park in order for the community to have some place to go and play or something to that effect.  These people want the taxpayers to fork over money for a park that was accepted by a past Board of Supervisors under the condition that the park would NOT cost the taxpayers any money.

  Well when you have a few select individuals that may just benefit from sewer going to the park at taxpayer expense, it might be worth putting up the fight to argue the park needs taxpayer money so that the few do not have to pay the expense of getting sewer which would raise the  value of property in the area that is up for sale.

Woodville Park Area, Gloucester, VA, Overlay Map from Chuck Thompson

The map above shows property around the Woodville park that would benefit from sewer being run to the park.  They would then be able to hook up to the sewer line for much less than having to pay to run the line down themselves.  A question comes up and has been asked if the park may have been donated in order to get taxpayers to pay for county services instead of paying to run lines themselves.  It would possibly be a much cheaper option to pull off if it would have worked.

  The local paper seems to support the idea that the Board of Supervisors did not act in the best interest of the people because they did not fund the sewer line.  The arguments at the meeting were that this park is exactly what the children of this county need.  Claims that Gloucester County lacks proper parks was stated over and over.  Never mind that Abingdon Community park is capable of fulfilling the needs of a sports complex park.  But we are told that the community park at Abingdon is owned by the school board.  Never mind that it already has water, sewer and or septic and electricity.  It also has lighting too.

  But let's buy the argument that the Abingdon park is owned by the school board, thus not available as a sports complex park for county residents and others outside of Gloucester County.  What everyone failed to look at is Ark Park.  A full sports complex with soccer fields galore, basketball court, baseball diamond, bathrooms, water, sewer or septic and electricity as well.  It has 3 dedicated soccer fields, two make shift fields and room for two more fields or a football field, baseball diamond, amphitheater or camping area.

But wait!  How many soccer fields does the county need?  We found yet another area with multiple soccer fields and it's right in the courthouse area.

This is right across the street from McDonald's which is located on route 17.  This soccer field is on the small dirt road that goes to the Gloucester County Golf Course.  Now these fields do not have lights, bathrooms, running water or other desired amenities but it offers yet more fields that were being complained that the children of this county must simply have in order to enjoy a decent quality of life here in Gloucester.  Is anyone's BS meter going into overdrive yet?

How many parks does Gloucester County need?  The moment you get into the county, you already have 2 parks.  Gloucester Point Beach and Tyndall's Point Park.  Then we have Abingdon Community park.  Now Woodville Park,  Beaver Dam's 2 parks, a proposed state park up by the Rosewell Ruins, Ark Park, and still another park in Ark in commemoration of Powhatan and Pocahontas.  That is a total of 8 parks for a county with less than 40 thousand people.  Most of the parks are not even used in the county most of the time.  Yeah, we need more parks and should spend every penny we can and a lot more to support everything that everyone wants so that maybe one day, someone will actually use something.

Don't get us wrong.  We appreciate Woodville park and all the work that the community has put into it.  We just do not buy the arguments to spend a bunch of taxpayer money, especially in this economy, on parks or other areas that look like the money spent would only benefit the few instead of the majority.

What The Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal Didn't Tell You, July 10th, 2014

New Superintendent Lays Out "Plan of Entry" is the title of the one article in the paper pictured above.  We are not going to reprint the article by any means.  If you have already read the article, then there is no sense is rehashing it.  If you have not read the article, then you can always go to the newspaper's website.

  What we have a problem with here and everywhere else we have looked including the Gloucester School Board website is who the stakeholders are claimed to be and mainly, who is left out.  And what is the most disturbing is exactly who has been left out.  No reason to delay who has been left out, it's the taxpayers.  The taxpayers, those of us who pay for the entire system are not even considered stakeholders in education.  But don't take our word for it, look at the plan for yourself.  Exactly how do the folks at the local newspaper manage to miss the obvious right in front of them and not ask the questions as to why the taxpayers are not considered stakeholders?

Gloucester, VA School Board Sup Plan of Entry July 2014 from Chuck Thompson

Now one has to ask, does the local school board think that little of the taxpayers?  It would appear to be since they are wasting your tax dollars as fast as they possibly can.  We continue to see the waste each week.

 Vehicle number 273, Driver, D Miller, School Board, Department, Facilities Services, Reports to Dave Miller, July 21st, 2014 time, 7:21 AM.  Location spotted, Hardees Restaurant.  This is a very clear pattern of behavior for this driver.

The above vehicle we still can not get the number on but again, the vehicle belongs to the Public School system.  July 21st, at 8:33AM.

Vehicle number 284, Public Schools, July 21st, 2014.  Time, 9:17 AM.  Went inside McDonald's to have breakfast.  This was not even a drive through quick order.  This is Dave Miller the person in charge of Facilities Services.  No wonder his employees are all over the place.  They are only doing what their boss is doing but not as bad as he does.

  Maybe the Board of Supervisors should take away one hundred thousand dollars of funding per school board vehicle seen in local stores, restaurants and banks where the employees are using government vehicles for personal use, per incident.  We highly recommend the county seriously consider installing GPS tracking in all county vehicles.  This way, if a county employee is seen being someplace they do not belong, the county can actually shut down the vehicle on the employee.  This way the county also always knows where all the employees are and what they should be doing.

Now another area where this gets even worse in our view is with the new contract between the superintendent and the school board.  If you have not read that contract, maybe you should.  See section V on page 3.  The school board is allowing the new superintendent to use a government vehicle for personal use.  Never mind that this appears to be prohibited at the local level, state level and federal level as well.

Walter R. Clemons 3 Year Contract (7-1-2014-6-30-2017) Gloucester, VA from Chuck Thompson

We have filed a complaint with the IRS over the above contract as it appears to be very much in violation with IRS codes as well as Federal, State and local laws, codes and or ordinances.  Maybe we can stop this madness and send a message to the school board that we will not tolerate their complete disregard for the taxpayers and their continuous waste of our money.  We have also included the personal use of government vehicles in the complaint as this needs to end.

The New Atlantis or The Founding of Early America, Sir Francis Bacon

The New Atlantis, Sir Francis Bacon, Free eBook from Chuck Thompson

To understand the history of this nation and the history of the Constitution, one must look back in history to see what the real influences were.  Having read a number of history books, it has been stated in numerous books that the ideas, ideals and concepts for the Constitution were created in early America.  Well, this is only partially true.  One has to go back even further to see where the roots for the Constitution really came from.  Thomas Jefferson, one of the most influential founding fathers of this nation was highly influenced by the works of Sir Francis Bacon.

  A study of Sir Francis Bacon shows that the concepts for the governance of the new world were in fact formulated in the late 16th to early 17th century.  The above eBook will show how these concepts took shape in the development of the Constitution of the United States.  Even still, the ideas, ideals and concepts were not unique to Sir Francis Bacon as even he was taught many of the ideas he later wrote about and published.

  The above eBook can be downloaded for free from our Slideshare site.  You may have to become a member to access the free download, but signing up is free and the site is free to use.  We have well over 600 selections on offer and that number keeps growing, so you might find it worth your while.  Otherwise you can always read it right here on this site.  You can expand the eBook to full screen for better viewing.  What you may learn is that history is truly fascinating and not the least bit dull.  School was dull, history is fun.

Is a Constitutional Convention a Good Idea? By; Sue M Long

By:  Sue M Long

Federal overreach is of great concern—rightly so. What to do about it is of equal concern.

With the best of intentions, some citizens are calling for a constitutional convention to pass amendments to our U.S. Constitution for the purpose of reigning in federal power. The premise is that the states would control the convention—who the delegates would be, how they are chosen and how many per state; what amendments would be proposed and voted on, what the processes would be and any other matters the convention would take up.

But Article V of our Constitution states clearly the two ways to amend the Constitution:

1. Congress proposes amendments and presents them to the States for ratification; or

2. When 2/3 of the States apply for it, Congress calls a convention to propose amendments.

Our Constitution is clear: States are authorized to apply to Congress to call a convention. Beyond that they have no say.   

This is confirmed by an April, 2014 report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the authoritative source Congress uses for accurate information. CRS states without exception that only Congress makes all the rules. It points to the ’70s and ’80s when there was considerable interest in an amendment convention. (And states then began rescinding applications.) Congress introduced 41 bills that included specific conditions as to the procedures for a convention including selection of delegates which would be, as opposed to “one state, one vote”, instead, a formula based on the Electoral  College, whereby Virginia would have 13 votes to California’s 55, etc. The report shows not only what Congress could do; it verifies what it has already done in preparation for a convention. Mark Meckler of Convent ion of States project (COS) has said that their “rules were not meant to bind the future convention. Rather, they provide starting points to facilitate”, admitting that they cannot control the process.

Control is in the hands of the Congress guilty of overreach in the first place!

• Who is financing what?  George Soros is pouring millions into organizations promoting a convention. The seed money to start the Convention of States in 2012 was $1,207,183 collected in donations, though COS had no paid solicitors. Most opposing a convention are paying out of pocket with their own non-tax deductible dollars.

• Promoters claim there is no concern about a runaway convention. History tells us otherwise. The 1787 convention was called for the purpose of adding amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Yet, it was scrapped altogether and a whole new constitution was produced. There is no ruling authority to prevent that from happening again. Present at the 1787 convention were statesmen like George Washington and James Madison. How many such do we have today?

• There is also a claim that 3/4 of the states would have to ratify any proposed amendment.  Once again, the 1787 convention set a precedent by changing the rules. They changed who ratifies from legislators to conventions and the required number for ratification from all the states to 3/4. What could happen today? Ratification by a simple majority of the states?  Or by Congress?  Or by no one?

• The claim that “The states would never ratify a bad amendment.” does nothing to quell concerns. The 16th and 17th amendments come to mind. 

Why take the risks? If convention supporters somehow accomplished state selection of delegates, who would they be?

Speaker William Howell appointed Virginia’s representatives to the “Assembly of State Legislatures” (Dec 7, 2013 and June 12, 2014):

Sen. Frank Ruff, who voted for the tax increase/ transportation bill (HB 2313) in 2013 and fought against the Boneta Farm bill; He did not show Dec. 7 nor June 12

Del. Scott Lingamfelter, who voted in the 2004 Virginia Assembly to rescind any application for a convention (that had been passed when Democrats controlled the Assembly) on this basis:“WHEREAS, the operations of a convention are unknown and the apportionment and selection of delegates, method of voting in convention, and other essential procedural details are not specified in Article V…the prudent course requires the General Assembly to rescind and withdraw all past applications for a convention to amend the Constitution of the United States …”

Then, Lingamfelter prefiled a motion to call FOR a constitutional convention in 2014.

Del. Jim LeMunyon, who voted for the tax increase/transportation bill (HB 2313) in 2013 and sponsored Homeowners’ Association bills opposed by Association dwellers

Del. David Albo, who voted for HB 2313 in the 2013 Assembly and voted against a convention in 2004, but for it in 2013.

Do these sound like people we trust to vote on making good changes to our Constitution?

• Changing the name to “Convention of States” or “Balanced Budget Amendment” (BBA) does not change what it is. It is still an Article V convention called by Congress for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution. States may convene all they wish; states meeting together is traditional. But for the states to make the call for a convention and/or decide its conditions would be completely unconstitutional.

• Are the amendments being proposed advisable? For example, a BBA would result in raising taxes to balance the budget if there was no agreement on cutting the spending. Also, the BBA would increase the power of the federal government. As it is, the government can only spend money on the enumerated powers listed in the body of the Constitution. The BBA would result in no constraints on spending other than the cost, bypassing the limitations of the enumerated powers.  

• Who besides well-meaning patriots support a convention? Globalist George Soros, liberal California Governor Jerry Brown, Richard Parker, a former member of the ’60s radicals known as Students for a Democratic Society and Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig, a current Obama supporter and guest of the 2013 Bilderberger meeting who said, “Perhaps it is time to rewrite our Constitution.”

• Could we depend on the states to reign in federal overreach when it is the states that take federal grants, making them an accomplice to the overreach? 

• Since Congress disobeys the Constitution, is the solution to change it? If people don’t obey the 10 Commandments, should they be rewritten? When government officials don’t abide by the Constitution now, why trust they would obey an amended one?

   The solution? Obey the Constitution, not change it. For more information, contact the address below.

Groups/Individuals on record opposing a call for an Article V convention

Sheriff Richard Mack, Phyllis Schlafly, Larry Pratt, Devvy Kidd,

 Tom DeWeese, Martha Boneta, American Policy Center, Del. Bob Marshall, Sen. Dick Black, Larry Nordvig,

Chris Stearns, Shaun Kenney, Patriot Coalition, Kelleigh Nelson, Publius Huldah, Gun Owners of America,

Mid-Peninsula Tea Party (Gloucester/Mathews /Middlesex), Mathews County GOP Committee, VirginiaRight.com,

American Policy Center, Concerned Citizens of the Middle Peninsula, Virginia GOP Third Congressional District,

Danville Tea Party, Newport News GOP City Committee, Eagle Forum,  Daughters of the American Revolution,

Sons of the American Revolution, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AFL-CIO, 

National Rifle Association, United Republicans of California, California Democratic Party, The American Independent Party,

National Association to Keep and Bear Arms, The Constitution Party, American Pistol and Rifle Association, Pro-America,

John Birch Society, The Second Amendment Committee of Hanford, CA, Constitutionalists United Against a Constitutional Convention,

United Organizations of Taxpayers, Voters Against Conspiracy and Treason, and the Conservative Caucus...to name a few.

The Committee for Constitutional Government

PO Box 972  •  Gloucester VA  23061  • 

Undermining The Constitution A HISTORY OF LAWLESS GOVERNMENT (Part 10)

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Thomas James Norton

FIVE MONTHS AFTER THE INCORPORATION OF TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY, IN 1933, TWO MEMBERS OF THE CABINET OF THE PRESIDENT, AND THE HEAD OF THE FEDERAL RELIEF ADMINISTRATION PROCURED A CHARTER IN DELAWARE FOR THE FEDERAL SURPLUS COMMODITIES CORPORATION, CAPITALIZED BY THE MONEY OF THE TAXPAYERS

The next excursion of government beyond its constitutional domain was in October, 1933, after the Tennessee Valley Authority had been incorporated, and its aims were as general as human affairs.

Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, and Harry Hopkins, Head of the Federal Relief Administration, took out a charter under the ultraliberal law of Delaware for the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation. The corporation, the charter recited, would have "perpetual existence."

Up to that time the "undesirable citizens," the persons of "predatory wealth," the "economic royalists," and others who became incorporators never thought of asking for their creatures more than half a century of life or, at most, 99 years. And if they organized under the laws of Dela-

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ware, they were, in the eyes of many, immediately suspect. But here the anointed in Government went to Delaware and took out a charter to last forever, until "the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds."
The tip-top corporation of Fascism
In part, the purposes of the charter were as follows (italics added):
1. "To relieve the existing economic emergency by the expansion of markets."
2. To "purchase, store, handle and process surplus agricultural and other commodities."
3. To perform "all functions" that may be "delegated to it under acts of Congress."
(By not authorizing Congress to delegate any functions to any person or group, the Constitution thereby forbids delegation. Yet delegation was done.)
4. "To accept grants ... of monies, commodities, lands or other property of any class, nature or description."
5. To "carry on any or all of its operations and business without restriction or limit."
6. To "hold, own, mortgage, sell, convey" property of "every class."
7. To borrow money on the commodities in its possession.
8. "To encourage the farmers to co-operate in any plan which calls for the reduction of acreage."
9. To engage in warehousing and exporting.
To incur debt in every conceivable way
10. "To borrow money," issue bonds and "all other kinds of obligations . . . without limit."

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11. "To loan money, to buy, discount, sell or rediscount or otherwise deal in notes" and every sort of paper.
12. "To take and hold ... by bequest, devise, gift, purchase, lease or otherwise" anything.
13. "To guarantee" or otherwise deal in shares of "any other corporation."
And so on for six more paragraphs of specifications and powers.
No engineers of high finance ever piled a pyramid of corporations with powers to match those in scope or absoluteness.
And, of course, none of those activities is any constitutional business of the United States.^[1]
Some of the Fascist activities exhibited
Yet the corporation has been acting with devilish diligence. It has had a part of several grain crops deteriorating in storage, and it has released wheat -- the prime food of man -- to feed the pigs.
In July, 1944, the Associated Press reported the War Food Administration as saying that it had purchased
1. In October, 1949, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner published the secret draft of a charter for a Fascist company to be named The Alaska Development Corporation, which was in the main a copy of the Delaware charter of The Federal Commodities Surplus Corporation. The copy was taken to Alaska by an assistant secretary of the Interior and shown confidentially to a few persons, probably for consultative purposes.
The document went "all out" for everything -- construction of electric power systems; loans of money of the taxpayers for any purpose; construction of railroads; operation of ships, docks, and all the equipment of the sea; aid to agriculture and to culture -- nothing in the way of uplift is to be without provision. And, of course, the capital of the corporation (like that of the Commodities Corporation) will be taken by the United States out of the pockets of its taxpayers.
The plan for "the electrification of America" and the superseding of the Constitution by the Fascist corporations of Socialism is being driven with a vigor which the believers in the Republic lack.

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10,500 carloads of eggs "for price support between January 1 and July 15."
No clause of the Constitution authorizes the support of prices by the Government of the United States for the benefit of farmers at the expense of the taxpayers. That point was passed upon by the Supreme Court when it held violative of constitutional limitations the original Agricultural Adjustment Act as an attempt to gather money for one class by taxing another.
In August, 1944, the dispatches told of the purchase in the Northwest by the War Food Administration of eggs at $9 a case of 30 dozen each, which it was obliged to sell at 20¢ to 50¢ a case. It dumped 14 railroad carloads of spoiled eggs. It was offering 14 more carloads to the trade. It had sold 26 carloads, about 16,000 cases, for hog feed at 5¢ a case. As stated above, the Government had paid $9 a case for them.
A consignment of 6 carloads was held in Chicago for orders from Washington to destroy them, until freight charges had accumulated to $4,200. But it was the money of the taxpayers!
The egg in its relation to great Government
The Associated Press reported in 1944 that a deputy director of War Food Administration testified before a committee of Congress that he "wished he knew" what could be done "with between $100,000,000 and $150,000,000 worth of eggs bought this year."
"Do you mean to say that the American taxpayers have invested between 100 and 150 million dollars in eggs we have no use for?" demanded the Chairman of the Committee.

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"That's right," answered the witness.
Losses of taxpayers' money on ventures of the kind described were reported as to nearly every agricultural commodity. The Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation and its subsidiaries became possessed, by using the money of the taxpayers, of many surpluses of enormous -- almost fabulous -- cost, which they had to dump. The "ever-normal granary" of Henry A. Wallace, one of the incorporators of the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation, turned out upon trial to be an instrumentality for feeding wheat to pigs. And Harry L. Hopkins, another of the incorporators, never made any apologies, probably because of the belief which he once expressed that "the people are too damned dumb to understand."
A potato famine resulting from abundance
On December 31, 1946, the Associated Press reported from Washington that "millions of bushels of frozen and rotten potatoes will be dumped under Government instructions." The Department of Agriculture had underwritten the 1946 crop up to 90 per cent of parity. The crop turned out to be 100,000,000 bushels larger than the "planners" had expected. Then prices tumbled. The Department loaned money to the growers at the guaranteed price and asked them to store the potatoes until the price should rise. It did not rise. The great loss came from those loan-stored potatoes. The dispatch carefully did not tell what price the Government guaranteed. Here is an illustration of the worst feature of centralized authority -- its deceit, its adroit concealment of facts, its purposeful misleading of the public.

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The loss from damp, vermin, and deterioration of wheat and other grains which the Corporation ordered held in storage for better rates, the while paying out of the pocket of the taxpayers unjustifiable prices to the farmer, was enormous, and the true extent of it will probably never be known.
One of the great "plungers" in debt
The Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation had a capitalization of $100,000,000, and all the stock was owned by the United States -- which has no authority from the Constitution to own stock in any corporation. By the acts of 1938 and 1945 it was empowered to borrow up to $4,750,000,000 on obligations guaranteed by the United States, which has no authority from the Constitution to guarantee the borrowings of any corporation.
The Associated Press reported from Washington on May 23, 1949, that the total of subsidies provided for favored classes by the taxpayers without their permission for 17 years amounted to $15,571,060,000, of which $10,300,000,000 went to farmers. No clause in the Constitution authorizes Congress to appropriate money for such purposes.
Unquestionably the farmer has been put in a very serious predicament by the high costs of help on the land, and the high costs of labor going into farm implements, machinery, fertilizer, and all the other things that he has to buy. Those costs were increased out of all reason by the aid of the administration at Washington to the monopoly of organized labor, now so powerful at the polls that it holds the President captive.

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Rejection of external government needed
But the cure for the grievances of the farmer, and of every other citizen weighted down by the operation of indefensibly high wages, is not the bestowal of subsidies from the taxpayers of the country, but the removal of the cause -- the rejection for the future of the external government of the United States, and the exclusion of the President from the field of low politics.
And the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation is only one of a number, the magnitude of the spending of which nobody certainly knows. At least, that is what is gathered from the reports of Senator Byrd on his efforts to find out what is doing by the spenders and wasters.
Congress, by setting up such activities in competition with man, assailed his liberty to live, unhampered and unannoyed, which it was its duty to safeguard.
No such corporation in Jackson's administration
On the proper and only place of Government in the affairs of men, President Andrew Jackson said more than a century and a decade ago:
"The duty of Government is to leave Commerce to its own capital and credit, as well as other branches of business, protecting all in their legal rights, giving exclusive privilege to none."
That cogent statement contains the American philosophy laid down in the Declaration of Independence, that Government is limited strictly to giving protection to men from men and to men from Government, and it is entirely without grant from the Constitution of any paternal authority.

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The idea of President Jackson and other right-thinking Americans, that Government has no place in business, is sustained by the report of the Commodity Credit Corporation for the last fiscal year. A dispatch from Washington dated September 26, 1949, and sent by the United Press, said that the fund for the support of prices of farm commodities for the year had been set at $500,000,000. That was altogether wiped out, and an additional "red" expenditure was made of $170,000,000.
The "planner" and the bagatelle
The loss of cash in price support was $254,000,000
Inventory losses were $416,000,000
Losses on potatoes were $203,886,000
Losses on peanuts were $23,000,000
Losses on corn were $99,000,000
Losses on cotton were $36,000,000
On wheat there was written off as lost $56,000,000, of $529,000,000 invested.
Of $81,000,000 in eggs, $38,000,000 was written off.
Of $191,000,000 in linseed and other oils, $73,000,000 was written off.
The dispatch stated, without figures, that the report showed inventory losses on wool, peas, beans, barley, resin, turpentine, prunes, raisins, grains, sorghums, and tobacco.
Wires of the bureaus crossed
Under a multilateral agreement at Geneva in 1947, large imports of potatoes at half tariff rates came to the United States in 1949. That action of the Department of State was negatived by the Department of

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Agriculture in buying 90 million bushels of domestic potatoes in 1948 to make prices higher -- keeping them out of consumption.
In like manner, 60 million pounds of butter imported from Denmark in 1949 was checkmated through the purchase by the Department of Agriculture, for price support, of 93 million, 305 pounds of domestic butter!
A recent dispatch from Washington quoted a member of the Government as saying that its business has become so large that it is next to impossible to handle it. But if the Government would abandon nongovernmental activities and consider the Constitution before taking up something new, its work would be cut by three fourths or more.
Former Secretary Morgenthau considers the situation
Contemplating the enormous volume of foodstuffs kept back from consumers in the United States by the "planning" of the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation and other bureaus, Henry Morgenthau Jr., former Secretary of the Treasury, wrote an article in October, 1949, advocating the outright gift of the great quantities in storage to the needy in the Far East and the Near East. He gave a "partial listing" of the stocks of goods in possession of the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation, which, after taking over all the available storage room in the country, must now "finance the building of much new storage capacity." He wrote that "the quantities of farm products which have been bought and paid for with the taxpayers' money, and which continue to be stored in warehouses at the taxpayers' expense, are so tremendous as to be almost beyond belief."

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"It costs the United States Government," he added, "$237,000 a day just for storage and carrying charges on these commodities." Those charges now aggregate, he said, $76,281,725.
A table showing unconstitutional prodigality
The following are "partial listings" by Mr. Morgenthau of commodities in storage, which will be increased, he thinks, from the harvests of 1949 and 1950:

Commodity	Quantity		Value (Cost)
Wheat	190,600,000	bu.	$451,722,000.00
Corn	75,000,000	bu.	132,000,000.00
Linseed Oil	212,889	tons	119,218,153.32
Eggs, Dried	65,558,257	lbs.	84,786,714.83
Butter	87,378,000	lbs.	55,048,140.00
Beans	4,950,000	cwt.	40,639,500.00
Barley	27,700,000	bu.	39,334,000.00
Milk, Dried	204,167,000	lbs.	26,541,710.00
Oats	13,250,000	bu.	10,997,500.00
Mexican Meat	34,691,585	lbs.	9,832,679.39
Dried Prunes and Raisins	36,036,330	lbs.	3,646,226.68
Cheese	16,250,000	lbs.	5,525,000.00
Rice	431,000	cwt.	2,439,460.00
Soybeans	580,000	bu.	1,450,000.00
Rye	850,000	bu.	1,351,500.00

The Vice President summarizes those figures
Speaking at Chicago on August 18,1949, Vice President Barkley said that "the Democrats have done more in 17 years for the farmers than ever was done before by any party."
In his campaign speeches in 1948 President Truman

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appealed directly to agriculturists to remember what had been done for them by his administration. They did.

Government of that sort must be put at end through a return by the States to the exercise of their police power and to the constitutional appointment of presidential electors.

Thanks to the fine folks over at Barefoot's world.  

http://www.barefootsworld.net/

Anti Federalist Papers No. 46 – "WHERE THEN IS THE RESTRAINT?"

Let us look to the first article of the proposed new constitution, which treats of the legislative powers of Congress; and to the eighth section, which pretends to define those powers. We find here that the Congress in its legislative capacity, shall have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, and excises; to borrow money; to regulate commerce; to fix the rule for naturalization and the laws of bankruptcy; to coin money; to punish counterfeiters; to establish post offices and post roads; to secure copy rights to authors; to constitute tribunals; to define and punish piracies; to declare war; to raise and support armies; to provide and support a navy; to call forth the militia; to organize, arm and discipline the militia; to exercise absolute power over a district ten miles square, independent of all the State legislatures, and to be alike absolute over all forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings thereunto belonging.

 This is a short abstract of the powers given to Congress. These powers are very extensive, but I shall not stay at present to inquire whether these express powers were necessary to be given to Congress? Whether they are too great or too small?

My object is to consider that undefined, unbounded and immense power which is comprised in the following clause - "And to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States; or in any department or offices thereof. " Under such a clause as this, can anything be said to be reserved and kept back from Congress? Can it be said that the Congress have no power but what is expressed? "To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper" - or, in other words, to make all such laws which the Congress shall think necessary and proper - for who shalt judge for the legislature what is necessary and proper? Who shall set themselves above the sovereign? What inferior legislature shall set itself above the supreme legislature?

 To me it appears that no other power on earth can dictate to them, or control them, unless by force; and force, either internal or external, is one of those calamities which every good man would wish his country at all times to be delivered from. This generation in America have seen enough of war, and its usual concomitants, to prevent all of us from wishing to see any more of it - all except those who make a trade of war. But to the question - without force what can restrain the Congress from making such laws as they please? What limits are there to their authority? I fear none at all. For surely it cannot be justly said that they have no power but what is expressly given to them, when by the very terms of their creation they are vested with the powers of making laws in all cases - necessary and proper; when from the nature of their power, they must necessarily be the judges what laws are necessary and proper.

The British act of Parliament, declaring the power of Parliament to make laws to bind America in all cases whatsoever, was not more extensive. For it is as true as a maxim, that even the British Parliament neither could nor would pass any law in any case in which they did not either deem it necessary and proper to make such a law, or pretend to deem it so. And in such cases it is not of a farthing consequence whether they really are of opinion that the law is necessary and proper, or only pretend to think so, for who can overrule their pretensions? No one; unless we had a Bill of Rights, to which we might appeal and under which we might contend against any assumption of undue power, and appeal to the judicial branch of the government to protect us by their judgments. This reasoning, I fear, is but too just. And yet, if any man should doubt the truth of it, let me ask him one other question: What is the meaning of the latter part of the clause which vests the Congress with the authority of making all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution all other powers (besides the foregoing powers vested, etc. , etc. )? Was it thought that the foregoing powers might perhaps admit of some restraint, in their construction as to what was necessary and proper to carry them into execution? Or was it deemed right to add still further that they should not be restrained to the powers already named? Besides the powers already mentioned, other powers may be assumed hereafter as contained by implication in this constitution. The Congress shall judge of what is necessary and proper in all these cases, and in all other cases - in short, in all cases whatsoever.

Where then is the restraint? How are Congress bound down to the powers expressly given? What is reserved, or can be reserved? Yet even this is not all. As if it were determined that no doubt should remain, by the sixth article of the Constitution it is declared that "this Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shalt be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitutions or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. " The Congress are therefore vested with the supreme legislative power, without control. In giving such immense, such unlimited powers, was there no necessity of a Bill of Rights, to secure to the people their liberties?

Is it not evident that we are left wholly dependent on the wisdom and virtue of the men who shall from time to time be the members of Congress? And who shall be able to say seven years hence, the members of Congress will be wise and good men, or of the contrary character?

AN OLD WHIG

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