The Healing Power Of The Outdoors?

Can something as simple as spending time outdoors promote your dog's health and healing?

(Of course by outdoors I don't mean a little cramped yard at your city dwelling. Neither I mean tossing your dog out in the yard, regardless of the location, and leaving them out there.)

If your dog is healthy and doing well, the difference will be likely subtle enough that you might not even notice it. When your dog is ill, however, the change can be quite dramatic.

Every time we come up to Jasmine's ranch, I can't help thinking about this.

After Jasmine's horrible hyperthermia event, followed by the discovery of an abdominal abscess and surgery to remove it, she was in quite a bad shape. Her blood and muscles were fried, her liver was hurting and overall she was in the worst shape ever.

When we got her back from the hospital, she was doing so poorely that we started to wonder whether we were just torturing her and that we perhaps should let her go.

We had a trip to Jasmine's ranch planned for about a week after she was released. Should we go?

She was fresh after a major trauma and surgery, her episodes were back-to-back, her temperature fluctuating toward high, she wouldn't eat and had to be force-fed ...

... going away didn't seem like a good idea at all.

We felt that the best idea might be to remain at home, close to her vet and emergency care. We discussed it with him but he said that there wasn't much more veterinary medicine could do for her and that we should go on the trip.

That morning she had an appointment to have her stitches removed.

We packed everything and got ready to either continue the journey or return home, pending the vet's assessment.

It was five in the morning of that day and Jasmine was still running a fever, panting and pacing, not well at all. My hesitation about taking the trip was extreme.

However, we decided to load up and off to the vet we went. He removed the stitches, examined Jasmine and said that we should proceed with the trip.

I must have looked quite down from all the worrying and sleepless night also, because he put his hand on my shoulder, "try to take it easy," he said. Just the kind of advice which, if you could follow, you wouldn't need in the first place...

We did make our way to Jasmine's ranch.

What happened then was like a miracle.

As she got out of the truck, you could see her feeling better already! (Or happier, anyway.) After all the suffering it was as if she had a reason to live again. Still weak, but with a happy look on her face, we could watch the transformation unfold in front of our eyes.

The episodes stopped. She regained interest in life. Quickly she started eating on her own as well.Everything only got better from there.

Taking that trip was the best thing we could have done for her!

How did coming to her ranch have such a profound effect on her?

Every time I'm pondering this issue, it brings out memories from my childhood.

My parents lived in a city but our granny lived in the country. We spent school days with our parents, but all the weekends and holidays at granny's place. There I noticed an interesting phenomena.

While the city kids were sick all the time, the kids at granny's place usually got sick only when they fell off something and broke a bone. They didn't get allergies, they didn't get colds, they didn't get the flu.

The difference was as clear as day. But what was causing it?

My home city had a lot of industry and pollution. Granny's place was in the woods, as far from industry and civilization as it gets in a country that is so small it could barely make a tiny island in one of the Great Lakes.

Could it be that all there was to that?

Most of the kids at granny's place spent their days outside playing and getting into mischief. There was one family living there, which moved in from a city and remained living by city rules. You could hardly see their son outside at all. And guess what? He was also frequently sick.

However clean the air outside your home may be, it might make a little difference if your dog doesn't get out to breath it! 

There are enough papers and articles out there now showing that indoor pollution will beat whatever nasty air you might have outside any day.

While it partly might be just directed to get us buying air purifiers, there is something to those claims.

I also came to believe that physical pollution is only part of the big picture. 

Not that there isn't enough of that one. Smog, indoor and outdoor chemicals, noise, radiation from all our electric and electronic devices ...

I also believe that there is such a thing as spiritual/psychological pollution. Cities are saturated with stress, anger and even hatred. While there doesn't seem to be a way of measuring those (yet), I believe they are just as real as any chemicals or poisonous gasses.

When we come up to Jasmine's ranch, we can actually feel the difference.

Such a completely pollution-free environment seems to have a profound cleansing effect on your dog and yourself.

That by itself would have been plenty. But I believe there is still more to it than that.

I think the benefit is a combination of things that aren't here (such as the pollution), as well as the things that are.

What are those?

Well, fresh air for one thing. Direct daylight might be. This could have to do with melatonin, among other things. While melatonin is a darkness hormone, paradoxically, sufficient exposure to daylight is needed for its production to work properly. Conversely, the outdoors do offer better darkness also. No street lights, no LED lights from your TV, computer and other devices.

Not only that melatonin affects the circadian rhythms of several biological functions, it is also a powerful antioxidant.

In humans, melatonin has been studied for the treatment of cancer, immune disorders, cardiovascular diseases, depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), circadian rhythm sleep disorders and other disorders.

In dogs, melatonin has been found to be a helpful treatment for seasonal alopecia, as a natural sedative and pain reliever. It helps to prevent brain deterioration in dogs suffering from Canine Cognitive Dysfunction and it seems to boost immune system also.

An even less obvious healthy ingredient of the outdoors might be—wait for it—dirt. 

Huh, dirt? Well, this is my  personal observation and finding. But I can tell you this much: good clean dirt never made anybody sick, and perhaps on the contrary.

Some time back, Jasmine developed a hot spot just before we were supposed to go camping. I was quite worried about that, because the camp sites were all sand and I knew she was going to dig a hole in it and get sand all over herself, including her cheek with the hotspot. There was no reasonable way of preventing that from happening. What might the sand cover do to the wound?

Not surprisingly, Jasmine got her hotspot covered with sand within 5 minutes of getting out of the truck. 

All we could do was sit back and watch what happens.

The sand created a hard crust over the wound. That remained on there for couple days, then it fell off and revealed clean skin underneath. Now, I'm not saying that you should use sand as a remedy for hot spots, but it certainly didn't cause any damage whatsoever.

Moreover, Jasmine's skin has been prone to infections. When at home, she needs to get bathed at least once a weak, otherwise I can smell the infection brewing. Happens even faster when she gets wet.

Naturally, I was concerned with being out in the wild for two weeks with no good way of giving Jasmine her medicated bath. Well, it's been two weeks and she doesn't need one! She did get wet a couple times in the rain and in the lake, she also got herself covered with dirt and dust (both accidentally and on purpose). When you pat either of our guys there are clouds of dust coming off of them.

And yet, they both look and smell clean! 

There is nothing brewing on Jasmine's skin. Wrap your brain around that!

Dirt is just as good for the stomach as it is for the skin. Who is argue? Bentonite clay, for example, is used as a remedy for digestive upset (it seems to absorb toxins that irritate the gut) and other ailments.

What else is out there? Germs. 

There are experts who believe that germs and parasites in moderation promote (and occupy) the immune system, promoting better health. Ever heard of the hygiene hypothesis? Dog sure don't seem to be concerned about everything being sterile, the kids at granny's place weren't either. Eating luch with filthy hands and even after it was dropped on the ground, eating whatever out there look etible, was a common practice. Was that part of the secret to health equation? Perhaps. Either way it didn't seem to have caused any harm.

Perhaps even the color of the outdoors, mostly green, might play its role in the healing power of nature.

Green color is regarded as a color of harmony. It is a mild sedative. It is useful in the treatment of nervous conditions, hay fever, ulcers, influenza, malaria, colds, sexual disorders and cancer. It preserves and strengthens eyesight. Being highly medicinal and depressive, it is of great help in the treatment of inflammatory conditions.
Source: Natural Pet Healthcare

Spending time outdoors also means plenty of activity, exercise and mental stimulation. 

We all know the benefit of that, even though it may not be enough to get us off of the couch.

Unlike sitting in an apartment, there are plenty of mental stimuli outside. Be it the smells—on the ground or carried by the air—be it the sounds and other signs of other critters. Plenty of things to pay attention to and analyze. Plenty of things to protect your present teritorry from (such as chasing off the intruding wolf our guys had to do the other evening).

Frankly, I don't really know.

It could be any of these things, all of them in combination or something else all together.

All I know is that it works.

Perhaps we should just acknowledge it instead of analyzing it. Or else somebody is gonna get the bright idea to extract whatever they might believe the active ingredients is and put it in a pill form.

I don't think it would work but even if it did, what would be the fun in that?

Take your dog outside. Let them get dirty. Let them be dogs. Have fun.

Note: Just like in the city (toxins, fast moving vehicles), there are things in nature that are harmful or dangerous (bugs, snakes, extreme temperatures) ... Keep them in mind and keep your dog safe.

The Liar's Tax

By Alan Caruba

The most singular aspect of Obamacare is the way Democrats, from the President on down, consistently lied about the fact that it was a tax. Interviewed by George Stephanopolos on ABC News, September 2009, Obama was asked if he rejected the criticism that it was a tax increase. “I absolutely reject that notion,” was his reply.

No need to quote the others. They all lied. It took the Supreme Court and, in particular, Chief Justice Roberts, to call Obamacare a tax in the process of eliminating the Commerce Clause of the Constitution as a justification for imposing this burden on Americans.

As CNBC’s Larry Kudlow was quick to note, “Twenty new or higher taxes across the board are bad for economic growth, bad for job hiring, bad for investors, and bad for families,” adding that when “you tax something more, you get less of it.”

Most Americans have been repeatedly told that Obamacare would ensure more care for more people, but the fact is, with or without health insurance, Americans receive health care, even if the hospital emergency room is their last resort, even if they are homeless, and even if they have no way to pay for it.

The multi-millionaire former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who told Americans that we would have to wait to know what was in Obamacare until after it was passed, reacted to the Supreme Court decision saying, “Call it what you will.” That is the equivalent of “Let them eat cake”, Marie Antoinette’s famed statement before the enraged citizens of France separated her head from her body.

Obamacare just became the single most important element of the November 6th national elections, followed by the economy. Both stink! Both are the direct result of Obama’s declared intention to “fundamentally transform America.” If he had even a schoolchild’s grasp of American history, he would know that Americans hate taxes. They declared their independence from England over the issue of taxation without representation.

What will emerge in the months between now and the elections is the fact that the Congressional Budget Office has projected that the implementation of Obamacare will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, an increase of $820 billion over the initial estimate when it was first signed into law. A nation already $17 trillion in debt can hardly welcome such news, nor absorb such costs.

For most Americans, though, the realization that Obamacare contains twenty-one new taxes will likely tip the scales in November to the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, who has promised to begin the repeal of the law the first day he takes office. Yes, it is an irony that he introduced Romneycare in Massachusetts when he was Governor there, but that is not going to affect the outcome of the election.

Among the many new taxes buried in the 2000-plus pages of Obamacare, there’s a 2.3% excise tax on U.S. sales of medical devices that observers believe would prove to be a $20 billion blow to an industry that employs an estimated 400,000.

There’s a 3.6% surtax on investment income from capital gains and dividends on those earning more than $250,000.

Obamacare imposes a $50,000 excise tax on charitable hospitals that fail to meet new “community health assessment needs”, whatever they are.

There’s a $2.6 billion-a-year tax on drug companies. A 10% excise tax on indoor tanning salons. An $87 billion hike in Medicare payroll taxes for employees, as well as the self-employed.

Between now and November voters are going to be reminded that Obama promised to fix the economy and then spent the first two years getting Obamacare through Congress. No Republican voted for it and, in 2010, voters replaced some sixty representatives and senators with Republicans.

Obama promised to create jobs. Instead he gave us a multi-billion “stimulus” that utterly failed. He promised to cut the deficit in half. And he promised that Americans could keep their current health insurance plans. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that as many as twenty million will lose theirs.

Lies! Lies! Lies!

In a thoughtful analysis of Obamacare, two senior fellows at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution were joined by the dean of the Columbia Business School who concluded that “In upholding the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court has allowed the President and Congress to put the country’s health policy on a path that will restrict individual choices, stifle innovation and sharply increase health-care costs.”

As that sinks in, the November elections will end the tyranny of Barack Obama and his minions in Congress. If you wonder what will replace it, just ask Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WIS) who has a plan in place to reform Medicare and Medicaid. If you haven’t heard much about it, you can thank the mainstream media and its slavish adoration of the President.

It is a liar’s tax. It is a liar’s penalty. It is a liar’s plan to further bankrupt the nation.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

What Caused Murphy's And Ruska'sPneumothorax?

by Nancy Kay, DVM   

I refer to that week as the “Murphy and Ruska Show” in honor of two delightful patients who arrived at my doorstep one day apart, each with a life-threatening disorder called pneumothorax. “Pneumo” means air and “thorax” refers to the chest cavity, so “pneumothorax” is air within the chest cavity.

If you’re scratching your head wondering, “Isn’t there supposed to be air in the chest cavity?” here’s what you need to know. 

While the lungs are air-filled, the space surrounding the lungs, known as the pleural space, is normally devoid of air.

Pneumothorax refers to the accumulation of air with the pleural space. 

In order to understand how a pneumothorax causes difficulty breathing, it helps to think of the chest cavity as an empty barrel into which the lung lobes expand as they inflate (like balloons filling with air). The lungs readily inflate with minimal effort because negative pressure (a vacuum effect) normally exists within the pleural space.

Fill the pleural space with air and the negative pressure is disrupted resulting in more effort required for lung expansion. 

Make sense? Murphy and Ruska were both observed by their families to experience an abrupt onset of labored breathing. Murphy also became subdued, a marked deviation from his normal wiggly-waggly Labrador self and he was unwilling to lie down. Clever Murphy figured out that lying down makes labored breathing even more of a struggle.

In addition to working extra hard to breathe the normally ravenous Ruska refused her breakfast, a sure sign that this sweet Shepherd was off her game.

The two most common causes of pneumothorax are penetrating chest cavity wounds that allow external air to enter the pleural space and leakage of air from the surface of a diseased or injured lung lobe. 

Normal chest

Pneumothorax is readily diagnosed with a chest x-ray. Have a look at the accompanying normal and abnormal x-ray images. In both views, the dogs are lying on their sides with their head end to the left and their tail end to the right. You can see the spines at the top of the images.

Pneumothorax

Note the heart, the whitish round structure in the middle of the chest cavity. Air shows up black on an x-ray. Now notice how much more black (air) there is surrounding the heart in the pneumothorax image compared to the normal chest. Makes you want to become a radiologist, eh!

Pneumothorax Murphy and Ruska were referred to me to figure out why they had leaky lung lobes. 

The most common cause of pneumothorax is a blunt blow to the chest cavity (hit-by-car trauma is classic) forceful enough to tear a lung lobe and allow leakage of air into the pleural space. Ruska and Murphy were both closely supervised with no known trauma history.

Computed tomography (CT scanning) is my test of choice for solving the mystery of the leaky lung lobe. 

Murphy’s scan revealed multiple small blisters (aka, blebs or bullae) on his lung lobe surfaces. Just as in people with this abnormality, the blisters are thin-walled and capable of spontaneous rupture allowing air to leak into the pleural space. Fortunately, as was the case with Murphy, most lung blisters are self-sealing within a few days. Worse case scenario, a stubborn leaker can be surgically sealed. Murphy’s family has been forewarned that his multiple blebs will likely mean multiple penumothorax episodes. They know what to be watching for and will return with Murphy any time, day or night, should his labored breathing recur. Murphy is now home, happy as can be with instructions to be a couch potato for the next two weeks with hopes of avoiding disruption of the body’s “bandaid” on his leaky lung blister.

Ruska’s CT scan documented a small walled off abscess on the surface of one lung lobe. 

Given the time of year and where Ruska lives and plays, I’d be willing to bet my first born child that a foxtail plant awn is living within that abscess. Fortunately, Ruska’s lung lobe leak resolved itself, and the pros and cons of surgically exploring the site versus long-term antibiotic therapy (foxtails shuttle bacteria wherever they migrate) were discussed and are still being considered. I should be hearing back from Ruska’s mom sometime this week. For now, this big girl is back home and, like her friend Murphy, she is doing her best to be a cooperative couch potato (easier for a Shepherd than a Lab!).

Our emergency room vets are used to seeing pneumothorax patients because hit-by-car trauma is so prevalent. As a small animal internist I rarely see them, yet here were two within one week! (I suspect the third is on its way.)

Have you or a loved one (human or canine) experienced a pneumothorax? Please do tell.

***

Nancy Kay, DVM

Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine
Author of Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life
Author of Your Dog’s Best Health: A Dozen Reasonable Things to Expect From Your Vet
Recipient, Leo K. Bustad Companion Animal Veterinarian of the Year Award
Recipient, American Animal Hospital Association Animal Welfare and Humane Ethics Award
Recipient, Dog Writers Association of America Award for Best Blog
Recipient, Eukanuba Canine Health Award
Recipient, AKC Club Publication Excellence Award
Become a Fan of Speaking for Spot on Facebook

Please visit http://www.speakingforspot.com to read excerpts from Speaking for Spot. There you will also find “Advocacy Aids”- helpful health forms you can download and use for your own dog, and a collection of published articles on advocating for your pet’s health. Speaking for Spot is available at Amazon.com, local bookstores, and your favorite online book seller.

Articles by Dr. Kay:
Reasonable Expectations: The Ability to Discuss Your Internet Research With Your Vet
Finding Dr. Wonderful And Your Mutt's Mayo Clinic: Getting Started
Even The Best Veterinarian Can Make A Mistake
A Different Way to Spay
Making Tough Medical Decisions For Your Dog: Lily's Story
If You Don't Know What A Lick Granuloma Is, Count Your Blessings!
Anesthesia-Free Dental Cleaning 
Talking Teeth 
Urinary Accidents
I Can't Believe He Ate That! Foreign Body Ingestion

Cartoon Round Up

Likeonomics by Rohit Bhargava - Book review

Likeonomics

The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action

By: Rohit Bhargava

Published: May 22, 2012
Format: Hardcover: 184 pages
ISBN-10: 1118137531
ISBN-13: 978-1118137536
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.









"The biggest crisis in our world today is one of believability. It makes it tougher to build a successful business, find and keep a job, or convince anyone to do or believe in anything", writes Marketing Professor at Georgetown University, Rohit Bhargava, in his refreshing and engaging book Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action. The author describes the paramount importance of likability and trust in today's marketplace, employment environment, and in society in general.

Rohit Bhargava understands the timeless wisdom that people do business with those who they know, like, and trust. The author points out that somehow this critical knowledge of human nature was left neglected by too many business people. In a world where marketing messages, wall to wall advertising, and fast talking sales representatives have stretched believability beyond the breaking point, that vital trust was lost. As a result, trust and believability are at all time lows in modern society, despite the evidence that likeability has more value than logic or price to the customer. Rohit Bhargava presents important ideas for restoring trust, rebuilding that likeability factor, and returning basic human values of honesty and trust to organizations.



Rohit Bhargava (photo left) recognizes that likeability is the real currency of the modern global economy. With likeability as the currency, and honesty as the unexpected force, trust can be built to develop long term relationships. The author offers evidence that the current economic instability is really a crisis of believability and a loss of trust. Through honesty and believability, customers will prefer the companies and people who they know, like, and trust. For the author, this simple truth creates an unbeatable competitive advantage, as well as developing more engaged employees, and enthusiastic customers.

To build this new likeability culture that resonates with customers and employees, Rohit Bhargava provides his five principles of likeability, that he calls TRUST. The five TRUST values are as follows:

* Truth
* Relevance
* Unselfishness
* Simplicity
* Timing

For me, the power of the book is how Rohit Bhargava combines timeless wisdom, with modern behavioral economics and psychology, to present a series of transformational business principles. The author provides solid evidence that traditional values of honesty, truth, and being liked by others are the foundation blocks of a successful organization. With the current crisis in the economy demonstrating how a lack of trust completely destroyed some companies, this book is an important wake up call for business leaders everywhere.

To support his concepts, Rohit Bhargava shares real life case studies of the TRUST principles creating some hugely successful companies. Likeonomics is destined to replace the greed principle as the underlying focus for business in the next decade. In many ways, this book represents a return to the path that worked for businesses for generations. The return of this age old wisdom is due, and this book encapsulates that renewed approach, to the benefit of firms, employees, customers, society, and the overall economy.

I highly recommend the destined to become classic book Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action by Rohit Bhargava, to any business leaders, entrepreneurs, organizational executives, and customers of any company who are seeking a clear and concise description of why being liked and trusted forms the basis of any lasting relationship. This book will change your thinking of how a business should be operated, and you will rethink the failed ethos of dishonesty that has penetrated the culture of so many companies.

Tags: Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action, Rohit Bhargava, organizational culture change, business book reviews

Veterinary Highlights: AHVMA Independent Research Foundation

"There isn't any money in the cure, the money is in the medicine"
—Chris Rock

The AHVMA (American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association) Foundation has been around for quite some time, but it is now steering in a new direction. The foundation will now support independent research into alternative veterinary medicine.

Image Acupuncture for All

The main criticism of alternative veterinary treatments is the lack of scientific evidence. “Show me a study,” is a common response.

Lack of research means lack of conventional veterinarians willing to explore alternative therapies

Does the lack of scientific evidence mean that alternative medicine doesn't work? Or does it just prove that nobody's put the money in the research?

There can be no study where there is no money.

That is what the AHVMA Research Foundation wants to change.

Most of the research done in veterinary medicine is funded by government agencies, large corporations and pharmaceutical companies that have a stake in the results.

Who is really going to fund a research into benefits of something that nobody can patent and package?

I am very excited to see what this research brings.

To support their independent research, visit  AHVMA Foundation website. 

Source article:
Is Conventional Veterinary Care Making Your Pet Sick?

What Just Happened to the Rule of Law?

By Alan Caruba

Following the Obamacare decision, The Heartland Institute’s Maureen Martin, a Senior Fellow for Legal Affairs, said, “Today’s decision will go down in infamy. It marks the moment when we all lost our freedom because the Supreme Court drew a road map to guide those dedicated to imposing a totalitarian, statist government on the American people.”

A Heartland colleague, Peter Ferrara, a member of the bar of the Supreme Court and a Senior Fellow for Entitlement and Budget Policy, said “The Supreme Court of the United States just endorsed the most fundamental dishonesty of our politics today. The President intimidated Chief Justice John Roberts like Hugo Chavez intimidates the Venezuelan Supreme Court. The rule of law is now dead. The American people have only one more chance now to save their country.” Heartland is a non-profit, free market think tank.

A lot of Americans may begin to feel like the Jews who lived in Nazi Germany. On September 15, 1935, the Nazi government passed the Nuremberg laws. They were intended to make life in Germany so unpleasant that it would force them to emigrate. Those who could escaped what would later materialize as the Holocaust, the deliberate extermination of all the Jews of Europe. One of them was Albert Einstein who found sanctuary in the United States.

To give you a taste of what it was like, the Reichstag’s Nuremburg laws prohibited marriage between Jews and Aryan Germans. Intercourse between Jews and “subjects of German or kindred blood” was forbidden. Jews were forbidden to fly the Reich and national flag. It did not take long for Jewish teachers, lawyers, and physicians to be stripped of their right to work.

What does that have to do with Obamacare? Americans who could rely on the political system to moderate and even reduce taxation now know that the December 28, 2012 Supreme Court has ruled that Congress may tax anything, including behavior. Americans no longer are free to determine what they wish to purchase or not. Either they follow the dictate of the federal government or they will be fined.

Obamacare has now transformed the United States into a police state.

Twenty-seven U.S. States joined together to oppose Obamacare and they and the other twenty-three now know that they are no longer separate and sovereign republics, but must yield to the federal government’s demand that they create “exchanges” where health insurance must be purchased.

Arizona has already discovered that the federal government will not permit its law enforcement authorities to participate in protecting its border with Mexico despite the havoc illegal immigration has wreaked on that State. Other States have encountered the same response.

America’s older generation, covered by Medicare, will discover that panels of bureaucrats will determine the extent of the health care they can receive. They will discover as those in England’s health system that the wait to be admitted to a hospital can result in death.

The younger generation will suffer as well. As Paul T. Conway, the president of Generation Opportunity, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to mobilize young adults who are dissatisfied with the status quo to create a better future for themselves, has said:

“President Obama’s health care law stands as one of the largest tax increases in American history. It will be paid by young Americans whose dreams and plans for the future have already been derailed by failed policies that have denied their access to full-time, meaningful jobs in their chosen career paths.”

“Young Americans,” said Conway, “know they will pay the true costs of President Obama’s legislation—over a trillion dollars more in federal spending, more waste and fraud, increased American debt, and the inability to keep or choose healthcare plans that best suit their needs as individuals.”

Young, old, and all other Americans will wake now to an America that they have not known, nor ever conceived could exist; a nation in which the rule of law no longer is a guarantee of the Constitution’s limits and separation of powers.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

Mobilizing The Green Imagination by Anthony Weston - Book review

Mobilizing the Green Imagination

An Exuberant Manifesto

By: Anthony Weston

Published: May 1, 2012
Format: Paperback: 192 pages
ISBN-10: 0865717095
ISBN-13: 978-0865717091
Publisher: New Society Publishers











"Imagine a world so thoroughly and appealingly re-localized that it has no need for cleaner cars or mass transit, or indeed any large-scale transportation infrastructure at all", rites Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at Elon University, North Carolina, Anthony Weston, in his visionary and inspirational book Mobilizing the Green Imagination: An Exuberant Manifesto. The author describes a completely revolutionary approach to environmental thinking that dispenses with the doom and gloom, and offers a future that is not only liveable but enjoyable as well.

Anthony Weston understands that current environmentalist thought has reached some dead ends, and is searching for fresh ideas and reinvention. The author recognizes that the environment faces some very daunting challenges, both now and in the immediate future. This fear and disaster based environmentalism is not only limiting, but also creates a sense of hopelessness. Anthony Weston proposes a complete rethinking of the entire concept of green and the environment.

Instead of roadblocks, the author suggests that people awaken themselves to possibilities rather than barriers. The author rejects the uninspiring premise of mitigation, and simple reduction of human impact on the ecosystem. In its place, Anthony Weston considers a more positive and appealing idea, in the form of the purpose driven Green Imagination.



Anthony Weston (photo left) takes the more inspiring and creative position of not aiming for making less of a difference; but instead to make a different form of difference on the world. Instead of mobilizing the technocrats, as advocated by the usual environmental concept, the author proposes that people mobilize their imaginations. In place of the limited and often counter-productive approaches of mainstream environmentalists, Anthony Weston places more confidence in human creativity and imagination.

The author suggests some profound concepts that push the very boundaries of conventional thought, and offer a true visionary approach. Some of the revolutionary concepts include:

* Welcoming rising sea levels to cities
* Creating a fresh vision of life after conventional transportation
* Moving beyond exploiting the natural world
* Creating a green space program that considers the ecology of the cosmos

For me, the power of the book is how Anthony Weston shares bold and enthusiastic vision of an entirely alternative yet hope filled future. The author dispenses with the usual doom and gloom that surrounds the environmental movement, revealing it as a very limited worldview. Anthony Weston takes a giant step forward, in both his thinking about the environment as a whole, but also of the role of humans within that refreshing vision.

The author takes a holistic, and all encompassing approach that embraces the challenges, transforming them into wonderful possibilities. Instead of simply a technocratic methodology, the author calls for using our imagination. That concept may be the single most radical vision, that of using the imagination, to its fullest extent to create a wonderful future for all living things.

I highly recommend the purposeful and thought provoking book Mobilizing the Green Imagination: An Exuberant Manifesto by Anthony Weston, to anyone seeking a unique and inspirational vision for rebuilding environmentalism into an entirely new future. This book will change forever the way you think about the usual approaches to environmentalism, and ignite your imagination to create a completely new world that works for everyone and everything on the planet.

Tags: Mobilizing the Green Imagination: An Exuberant Manifestos, Anthony Weston, visionary environmentalism, science book reviews

The Liars Have Triumphed

By Alan Caruba

The Supreme Court decision on Obamacare confirmed that lies have triumphed over the Constitution.

It also is a reminder that the Supreme Court is a political entity and a human one. Only the Justices who dissented from the majority decision on Obamacare were willing to take the heat. The majority ruled that the individual mandate under the commerce clause was unconstitutional, but gave Obamacare life as a tax.

It was always a tax, but President Obama repeatedly told Americans that it was not until his administration’s lawyers went before the Supreme Court and admitted and argued that it was a tax. The lawyers on the Court agreed, the majority in effect saying that there is no limit to the ability of Congress to tax Americans.

As Politico.com reported: On the losing end of a 5-4 decision, Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said that the entire health care reform law should have been struck down.

They wrote: "The Act before us here exceeds federal power both in mandating the purchase of health insurance and in denying non-consenting states all Medicaid funding. These parts of the Act are central to its design and operation, and all the Act's other provisions would not have been enacted without them. In our view it must follow that the entire statute is inoperative."

Obamacare is a blow to state's rights as sovereign republics.

A fellow blogger, writing under the pseudonym of J.D. Longstreet, warned that “The lesson here is -- don't play around with socialism. You cannot win. It kills its host country every time.”

Not since the Civil War and the more recent 9/11 has America faced a darker day. That day killed nearly three thousand Americans. Today, the fate of more than three hundred million Americans has been sealed. This is particular true of older Americans who, if the law is not repealed, will learn to their dismay that they cannot have essential medical care if bureaucrats conclude it is too costly. Others will die waiting to be admitted to hospitals to mitigate cancers and other life threatening diseases.

It is a death sentence for them. It is a death sentence for America.

There is the prospect that Mitt Romney may secure election to office and that the Republican Party may secure control of the Senate as well as the House. Without question Obamacare along with the economy becomes the central issue of the months leading up to Election Day.

Not a single Republican voted for Obamacare 820 days ago.

The House will vote on a full repeal of Barack Obama's health care law during the week of July 9, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Thursday morning. The scheduling of another repeal vote came less than an hour after the Supreme Court upheld the health care mandate.

This is, however, purely symbolic. The bill will not be taken up in the Democrat-controlled Senate. It would be vetoed if sent to Obama.

Too many with whom I have talked believe that the same Americans who elected Obama in 2008 will reelect him in 2012. He lied his way into office then and it is entirely plausible he will do so again.

America will not survive him if he is reelected. He is truly the Manchurian candidate sent to destroy America.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

This Is What Jasmine's Episode Looks Like

This is what Jasmine's episodes generally look like. It is not easy to watch, much less in real life.

One of the most important things that is not seen in this video is her desire to be outside. 

It seems that's where she wants to be. When outside, she wants to dig a hole to lay in, except she hardly ever actually lays in it (not during these episodes, otherwise she loves to use the holes she digs)

Being outside either makes her feel better or offers enough distractions to make it appear that way. Though if I just sit with her on the lawn she will actually lay down. Otherwise, getting her to lay down is difficult and if she does she won't stay for very long.

She will jump up like a spring and get back to the pacing.

She does want attention and physical contact during these episodes, in fact, massage can calm her right down when the episode is mild enough. With marked episodes she will still like the massage but it doesn't seem to help much otherwise.

She can be distracted during these, she will accept food, play, respond to stimuli in the environment. However, distractions do not end the episodes.

I specifically tested what happens if I offer play.

She did play with me, as she normally would, but it didn't solve the problem.

When I do succeed in getting her to lay down and she falls asleep, rapid breathing remains and sooner or later she will jump up and everything starts all over again.

Sooner or later the episodes resolve on their own and everything is back to normal.

Except the massage, which helps sometimes, nothing we tried made any difference. There were many theories on and off the table  but, frankly, the cause of this remains a mystery.

She comes to me and wants me to do something, but what?

We tried therapeutic trials with pain meds, anti-inflammatories, benadryl, antacid ... nothing seems to make a difference.

The onset is typically with a weather changes, usually before. 

It can start about half a day before a storm and typically she calms down by the time the storm actually get here. Though last time it lasted through the entire nasty heatwave we had. The weather change doesn't need to include an actual storm.

So far the cause of these remains a mystery.

What are you seeing? Has your dog ever gone through something like this? What was the cause behind it?

Related articles:
Jasmine's Acute Lameness
Jasmine Doesn't Like "Doing Time"
Our Of Jail Free Pass
When It's Looks Too Good To Be True … The Lameness Returns
The Day Of The Treatment
First Time For Everything: A Healing Crisis(?)  
From Zero To Sixty In Four Days: Stem Cells At Work
The Calm After The Storm 
If It Was Easy, It Wouldn't Be Jasmine 

***

Meet Jasmine
I'm Still Standing! (Happy Birthday, Jasmine)
How Dogs Think (Well, Jasmine Anyway)
How The Oddysey Started: Jasmine's ACL Injury
Jasmine is Vet-Stem's poster child!
Rant About Quality Of Life Versus Quantity, And Differential Diagnoses
Jasmine Is Headed For Her Next Stem Cell Treatment
Jasmine's Stem Cells Are In
Arthritis? What Arthritis? 
Guess Who Is An Ever-Ready Bunny And Really Liking The Bit Of Snow We Got? 
Don't Knock It Until You Tried It: Animal Chiropractic 
Jasmine's Fur Analysis
Back At Chiropractic Care

Further reading:
Jasmine’s Story: Can Chronic Diarrhea and Soft Tissue Injuries be Normal?
Jasmine’s Story: An ACL Injury and a Cancer Scare
Jasmine’s Condition Deteriorates: Another ACL Injury and an Abdominal Abscess
Jasmine Recovers from Surgery and Jana Discovers TCVM
Who’s Minding Your Pet’s Health?
Pet Owner Perspective On Stem Cell Therapy
Difficult to Manage Lameness Treated with Physical Therapy
Our Journey to Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine

The Other Judicial Decision

By Alan Caruba

As this is being written, it is the Wednesday prior to the announcement of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the fate of Obamacare. If SCOTUS upholds it, it will condemn Americans to having bureaucrats deny medical care to some because of their age and others to die while waiting for it.

By any standard it is a horrendously bad law and one that initiated a huge political movement, the Tea Party, to oppose it. Mitt Romney is campaigning on the promise to repeal it. It was a law passed in the dark of night and it embodies all the worst aspects of Socialism.

There has been another judicial opinion, however, that promises to destroy many aspects of the nation’s economy, from the coal industry to the coal-fired plants that provide about 42% of the nation’s electrical power. It used to be 50%. An successful economy requires and thrives on energy. We are decreasing ours. China is building a new coal-fired plant every month.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia threw out a pro-industry petition that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s assertion that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a “pollutant” that endangers public health and is a factor in global warming.

It was an 81-page decision, based in part on a 2007 SCOTUS decision that ruled 5-4 that the 1970 Clean Air Act empowered the EPA to regulate C02, even though that was never the original intent of the Act.

It is a ruling that will permit the EPA to continue to wreak havoc on business and industry, large and small, based entirely on the greatest science hoax in history.

As one observer said, “with a sweep of the pen the elite of the American legal system affirms that the Earth’s atmosphere simulates the glass barrier of a greenhouse.” Only the Earth’s atmosphere is composed entirely of gases.

CO2 represents an infinitesimal 0.038% of the atmosphere.

The other atmospheric gases are nitrogen at 78.084%, oxygen at 20.94%, argon at 0.934%, carbon dioxide, and trace elements at 0.002%.

To suggest, as the EPA does, that CO2 poses a public health hazard is to ignore the fact that humans exhale about six pounds of it every day and that it is vital to all vegetation on Earth in the same fashion as oxygen is to all animal life. Does this sound like a hazard to you? Are humans dying because of 0.038% of CO2?

The decision opens the floodgates of EPA regulation to require all manner of technology to abate emissions from thousands of sources of CO2 whether they are a huge factory or a local bakery. Unless Congress asserts its right to properly interpret the Clean Air Act, the decision will further undermine job growth and economy recovery.

The decision is likely to become part of the political campaign leading to the elections. Mitt Romney has declared his opposition to it.

It is worth considering that, among the members of the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia just turned 78, Justice Kennedy will turn 76 later this year, Justice Breyer will be 76 in August, and Justice Ginsburg just turned 81. The next President is likely to choose at least one and possibly more justices to the court.

Suffice to say that the Court of Appeals arrived at their decision by relying on all the lies that buttressed the global warming hoax and made no effort to consider the vast body of scientific literature that demonstrates that CO2 plays no role in climate change and is, as noted, vital to all life on Earth. It was a very stupid decision as was the 2007 SCOTUS decision.

It was, however, a decision that will cause an untold amount of harm to the nation’s economy. Congress, already having failed to act in the years since 2007 to assert its role with regard to the Clean Air Act, must do so soon or the further destruction of the nation will follow as night the day.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

1.6 Million "Warning Signs" Page Views!

Okay, I'm bragging, but this blog just passed 1.6 million page views and the pace is picking up as word of Warning Signs spreads from its members and those who follow it on a daily basis. It took just one month to add a hundred thousand more page views!

A lot of work goes into it, but it truly is a labor of love. There are so many issues to discuss and so many threats to our nation, to our Constitution, and to the individual freedoms we must protect. So Warning Signs will stand sentry and remain on watch to alert our readers.

Dog Cartoon Of The Week:Started Out In Obedience School

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Dog Cartoon of the Week is brought to you by Andertoons. Check out the website for more great cartoons.


Cartoonist Mark Anderson lives in the Chicago area with his wife, their children, two cats, a dog and several dust bunnies. You might have seen his cartoons in a number of publications including Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping, Forbes, Barrons, Woman's World, Harvard Business Review, Saturday Evening Post, American Legion Magazine, Funny Times.

Mike Richardson: Wheel$spin - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Keynote speaker, engineer, former CEO, and author of the insightful and comprehensive book Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition, Mike Richardson, describes why it is easy for a company to lose traction, spin its wheels, and often face the challenge of its very survival. Mike Richardson provides an alternative to what he calls Wheel$pin, in the form of organizational agility. Mike offers ideas for executives, leaders, teams, and organizations on how to become agile, and able to meet any challenge. For Mike Richardson, agility is the real deciding factor in a company's ability to overcome obstacles, utilize opportunities, and move ahead of their competitors. Mike shares case studies of seemingly very different companies, and how a lack of agility caused real harm to their organization. Learn how to become and remain an agile organization, an agile team, and an agile executive, Discover how to diagnose and recognize wheel$pin, and how to overcome its damaging forces.

Mike Richardson is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, June 28, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Keynote speaker, engineer, former CEO, and author of the insightful and comprehensive book Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition, Mike Richardson, describes why it is easy for a company to lose traction, spin its wheels, and often face the challenge of its very survival. You will learn:

* What wheel$spin is for a company

* How to spot and diagnose wheel$spin in a company

* What is means to be an agile organization

* How to become an agile organization



Mike Richardson (photo left) used to be part of the corporate management team of a British public corporation (Spirent PLC) which made it into the top 100 list of public companies, with Mike running the Aerospace Division. He is an experienced CEO of businesses ranging from electronics to enterprise-software, involving turnarounds, acquisitions and disposals. Mike is British, turned American with diverse international, now residing in San Diego, California.

Mike’s leadership learning journey started on oil and gas drilling rigs with Shell International as a Petroleum Engineer. Working in a high pressure environment, with individuals of diverse nationalities and types, this is where Mike says he got his “apprenticeship in people”. From there, via an MBA at London Business School, Mike moved into the Aerospace Industry and rapidly gained experience in multiple line-management and executive roles. He quickly progressed to Profit & Loss responsibility at a business unit level and then at a Divisional level.

Mike is now the President of Sherpa Alliance Incorporated, a firm devoted to changing the world of support for managers, executives and CEOs of small-to-medium sized and fast-moving businesses, business units and corporations. Sherpa’s do heavy lifting, providing load-carrying support for mountainous journeys – BREAKTHROUGH! journeys.

Mike now devotes his time to working with members, clients and Boards from a wide diversity of industries and businesses, from start-ups to public companies, young and old, large and small, for-profits and not-for-profits, of all types, shapes and sizes (see Testimonials). Mike is an award winning Chair with Vistage International, chairing 4 groups and more than 60 members (CEOs, Executives and Professional Service Providers) and is also a Vistage Resource Speaker to other Vistage groups, nationally and internationally.

My book review of Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition by Mike Richardson.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with keynote speaker, engineer, former CEO, and author of the insightful and comprehensive book Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition, Mike Richardson, as he describes why it is easy for a company to lose traction, spin its wheels, and often face the challenge of its very survival. Mike Richardson provides an alternative to what he calls Wheel$pin, in the form of organizational agility. Mike offers ideas for executives, leaders, teams, and organizations on how to become agile, and able to meet any challenge. For Mike Richardson, agility is the real deciding factor in a company's ability to overcome obstacles, utilize opportunities, and move ahead of their competitors. Mike shares case studies of seemingly very different companies, and how a lack of agility caused real harm to their organization. Learn how to become and remain an agile organization, an agile team, and an agile executive, Discover how to diagnose and recognize wheel$pin, and how to overcome its damaging forces on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition, Mike Richardson, advanced strategic thinking, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Living With A Cushing's Dog: Viva's Story

Viva's story is shared with us by my good friend @Kenzo_HW. Check out his blog, it's got awesome information on Hovawarts, tracking, nose work and lot's of other great stuff.

It's just over a year ago when Viva was diagnosed with Cushing's disease. 

And all that time she thrived on the prescribed daily medication - 120mg of Vetoryl, or Trilostane. Every quarter Viva was tested and the results were excellent. Such a test consist of an ACTH stimulation test and full blood-work. Viva's liver, battered by her Cushing's disease before we started treatment, was recovering slowly but surely.

For a dog like Viva with several chronic diseases every vet visit can be turned into a puzzle. 

Has any of her known conditions worsened, like spondylosis, allergies or Cushing's? Or are we looking for something else this time? To be prepared we keep a diary of Viva's general state of health to note the changes as they come slow and only when compared over time you can really notice a difference. We write down things like:

    Meals: how fast did she eat her meal?
    Walks: after how long did she tire?
    Play: did she play with Kenzo? And who initiated?
    Cuddle: did she exchanged her infamous ear-nibbles with Kenzo?
    Greets: did she wagged her tail so her back moved?
    And so on

The list is specific to Viva. 

For example, when she wags her tail a little less and the walks get shorter, we know we are up for an acupuncture session for the spondylosis in her back.

So when the diary started to show a little less play and cuddles, we advanced her quarterly Cushing's test. 

And although Viva's cortisol levels related to her Cushing's were still perfect, the rest of her body and organs clearly were feeling unhappy as the blood work showed.

This meant we were either looking at something new, or the Cushing's medicine - which is very aggressive and can be compared to chemotherapy - was producing side-effects. 

Based on what we knew from the diary, and the lack of other symptoms, together with her vet, we decided to lower the doses of Viva's Cushing's medication. The most reasonable assumption was the dose was affecting her health adversely, despite keeping her cortisol levels under control.

It took only a week for the diary to show us the first positive changes.

When we re-ran the Cushing's test at the end of that month, her cortisol levels were still within the limits, while her blood-work showed a lot of improvement on all area's. Would the diary not have shown any improvement, we of course would have been right back at the vet's again, discussing other options.

Having a dog with chronic diseases requires a chronic attitude. 

At first, having to watch everything she does through symptom-glasses, was stressing me out. But now, that I accepted what a chronic disease requires, I can see the benefit of doing that. I became more connected with Viva than ever, and know she is living her life to the fullest despite the odds. That's just a terrific bonus, being able to give that to Viva.

***

Kenzo is the founding father of Kenzo the Hovawart blog. We got him as a puppy from a responsible breeder. Kenzo is an active dude and has participated in a lot of different dog training activities like obedience, "schutzhund", tracking and nosework. He even attended dog shows - alright, one - with good results.

Hovawart males tend to rival a lot with other male dogs, but Kenzo is one of the exceptions. He is just friendly by nature. A dog with a heart of gold.

Viva was adopted from the shelter when she was 5 years old, and we don't know a lot of her history. Viva came with a lot of health issues and fear of most other dogs, but is doing a lot better today. She is very persistent and has an iron will. When Viva wants something, she doesn't give up easily.

She loves to go for walks in large open spaces, where she can be sure there are no other dogs and she can investigate her surroundings undisturbed.

We are all living together in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Related articles:
Viva Has Cushing's
The Many Faces Of Arthritis: Viva Has Spondylosis
Alternative Treatment Of Arthritis: Viva's Update

Hypo- versus Hyperadrenocorticism
Useful Tips: Visual Chart 

Neil Smith: How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio



Consultant, CEO of Promontory Growth and Innovation (PGI), and author of the insightful and transformational book How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses, Neil Smith, describes how organizations must avoid doing the really dumb things that mystify their employees and customers. Neil Smith offers the advice that every firm has two things in the form of great employees with innovative ideas; and hidden barriers that prevent those changes from taking place. Neil Smith provides insights into those eight hidden barriers and shares proven techniques for overcoming them successfully. Neil shows leaders how to improve performance, while simplifying operations to transform a company culture into one that welcomes new ideas, and avoids doing dumb things. Neil Smith offers his fast, proven, and internally driven process to crash through those barriers, and unleash the multitude of great ideas waiting to be put into action in every company.

Neil Smith is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, June 26, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Consultant, CEO of Promontory Growth and Innovation (PGI), and author of the insightful and transformational book How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses, Neil Smith, describes how organizations must avoid doing the really dumb things that mystify their employees and customers. You will learn:

* Why otherwise astute companies make really head scratching mistakes

* How every organization has great people with tremendous new ideas

* Why eight hidden barriers within organizations prevent that change

* How to create a company culture that overcomes those eight unseen barriers



Neil Smith (photo left) has more than 15 years experience leading large-scale performance improvements and, before that, spent 6 years serving as the CEO of a manufacturing company.

His manufacturing experience helped Neil to develop the PGI approach to dramatic profit improvement for Fortune 750 companies. The PGI Promise process had its origins in the financial services industry in the early 1990’s. Neil was able to demonstrate that techniques learned in banking could be applied even more effectively to other industries, when he led a ground-breaking project in the transportation industry in 1998. Other successes followed.

In 2000, Neil first showed that the techniques could be applied to large companies when he led a hugely successful project at a 23,000 person company. In 2001, the same techniques were used for the first time with a company which was not only large and global, but could be considered a true industry leader. Working with the CEO and his team, and his Promontory colleague Gene Ludwig, Neil demonstrated that there are huge opportunities in even the best of companies.

Over the last few years, a number of the companies Neil has worked with are rated among the best in their industries including healthcare, banking, food manufacturing, distribution and insurance. He has a flair for making the best companies even better.

Before buying the food manufacturing company in a leveraged buyout, Neil spent five years with McKinsey & Company, working in New York and London, and helped to build McKinsey's early work in Brazil and Indonesia. As a senior member of the change practice, he pioneered client growth initiatives and led innovative restructurings. His clients include television, healthcare, hotels, steel manufacturing, banking and insurance companies.

Before business school Neil was a journalist in London, working with the BBC and the London Sunday Times.

Neil has an M.B.A. with honors from the Harvard Business School, where he was a Knox Fellow. He also has a B.A. with honors in Physics and Economics from the University of Keele in England.

Neil enjoys rugby, soccer, cricket, and baseball, and collects ancient British coins.

Neil is British and serves on the International Advisory Board of British American Business, Inc. (the British American Chamber of Commerce). He is a member of a Harvard Business School alumni committee and is Chairman of the U.S. Alumni of the University of Keele.

My book review of How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses by Neil Smith.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.



To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with consultant, CEO of Promontory Growth and Innovation (PGI), and author of the insightful and transformational book How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses, Neil Smith, as he describes how organizations must avoid doing the really dumb things that mystify their employees and customers. Neil Smith offers the advice that every firm has two things in the form of great employees with innovative ideas; and hidden barriers that prevent those changes from taking place. Neil Smith provides insights into those eight hidden barriers and shares proven techniques for overcoming them successfully. Neil shows leaders how to improve performance, while simplifying operations to transform a company culture into one that welcomes new ideas, and avoids doing dumb things. Neil Smith offers his fast, proven, and internally driven process to crash through those barriers, and unleash the multitude of great ideas waiting to be put into action in every company on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: How Excellent Companies Avoid Dumb Things: Breaking the 8 Hidden Barriers that Plague Even the Best Businesses, Neil Smith, organizational change management, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.