National Institute of Health

A knee injury can make you feel a hundred years old, even if you’re only twenty-five. Grounded. Stopped in your tracks. It takes an emotional toll.

You watch your days of carefree jogging flash by in the review mirror. Skiing is a distant memory. Tennis looks iffy. You shelve your stilettos in favor of flats. Struggle to wrap your entrepreneurial sights around the concept of the cane as a fashion accessory.

In the middle of a business presentation, a five-foot long Ace bandage unfurls itself beneath your pants leg and falls onto the floor.

You’re not alone. You’ve entered the world of knee pain, ubiquitous side affect of an active lifestyle. Weekend warriors often strain muscles and self-medicate with OTC pain relievers, patches, and packages of frozen peas. The classic recipe for a minor sprain is RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

Knees are not like knuckles. If you hear a pop, get yourself to a doctor. That popping sound is a sign of serious injury. It won’t get better on its own.

No-brainer: If you suspect your knee is broken, or it’s swollen so badly you can’t stand or walk without limping, go to the ER.

Which doctor do you call? Searching for the right doctor can be the worst pain of all, since you don’t know where to start—orthopedist, sports doctor, neurologist, chiropractor – too many choices can make your head spin, and your knee still hurts.

For serious knee injuries, you need an orthopedist. Yes, that’s an orthopedic surgeon, but they won’t wheel you into the operating room the minute you walk in the door. If you hurt your knee during sports, or a bout of clumsiness (been there!), and you can barely stand—you may have torn a tendon or ligament.

Your chiropractor can treat less serious knee wounds, like strains or sprains, and ameliorate the persistent pain of arthritis. Chiropractors can apply what they call “conservative” treatments to alleviate pain after surgery—diminishing the need for medication. A chiropractor that specializes in Sports Medicine is a great option.

In the words of Dr. Nick Campos, a sports chiropractor in California: “Chiropractic sports rehabilitation is phenomenal for treating certain injuries and chronic pain; however, some injuries fall outside the scope of chiropractic. Those that do, usually require the help of an orthopedic surgeon.”

One of the injuries that can heal with chiropractic is a torn meniscus. And if it doesn’t, you’ve only postponed the inevitable surgery. It’s worth a try!

A Sports Medicine Doctor, a.k.a. Orthopedic Surgeon who specializes in athletic and exercise related injury treats conditions of the bones, muscles, joints, nerves, tendons and ligaments. The Sports Medicine category also comprises Trainers, Chiropractors, and Physical Therapists. Wonderful when you need them. Most knee injuries require a trip to the Orthopedic Surgeon.

You’ve watched football games where a star athlete limps off the field with a hurt knee. He goes straight to the (Sports) Orthopedic Surgeon, gets that wound fixed, does physical therapy, and six weeks later he’s back in the game. Surgery is not for everyone, but it’s the fastest way to get back into athletic activities. That’s not to say you won’t still have pain.

A neurologist? While your family practice or general physician can rule out systemic conditions like infection, gout, or arthritis through blood tests, X-rays, or a visual exam, some patients suffer from chronic pain—even after successful surgery and physical therapy. That’s when a neurologist might prescribe meds for conditions like neuropathy. A sharp, electric shock in the knee may be due to damaged cartilage rather than nerves. Call an orthopedist first.

Rehabilitation: After knee surgery, or in lieu of it, the first steps toward healing will be treatment with prescription anti-inflammatory medications and Physical Therapy—not the type of exercise that gets you a better swimsuit body— but specific moves essential to alleviate pain. Your Physical Therapist will guide you through a program to strengthen the muscles that support your knees, especially the quads and hamstrings. Health plan coverage varies, but PT is an investment in your quality of life.

Here’s where Chiropractic comes in, too. Goodbye Lotus, Hello, Pilates! With a hurt knee, you can’t always do what you did – like your favorite sports. Even yoga can be tough on knees. Don’t try to “breathe through” the pain. When it comes to your joints, the “no pain, no gain” mantra is bad advice. Some physical therapists have adopted the system Joe Pilates developed in the early 20th century to treat injured dancers. The Pilates workout elongates and strengthens muscles, corrects imbalances caused by injury – especially those of the knee, ankle, and back.

A Few Common Knee Conditions—take these to a doctor:

Tendonitis – inflammation of the tendons around the knee. Extremely painful due to excess accumulation of fluid that leads to swelling and stiffness. Treat with PT and meds: Othopedic, Chiropractic.

Osteoarthritis: Degeneration of joints from overuse, obesity, and inflammatory conditions. Often leads to knee replacement surgery.

Meniscus Tear: cartilage tears when the knee is bent and twisted. Sometimes requires surgery. May heal with meds, Chiropractic, and PT.

Unhappy Triad: Damaged Meniscus, ACL, and MCL: Football players get this when hit from the side. You need an Orthopedic Surgeon.

Knee Sprain, Muscle Strain: minor but painful. PT helps. Use protective measures like wrapping the knees with Ace Bandages prior to sports activity. Use “RICE” afterwards, Chiropractic.

Water on the Knee: Accumulation of fluid, often caused by injury or Arthritis. Can get so painful you can’t bend or stand on it. Orthopedist.

Runner’s knee:  Irritation of the cartilage under the kneecap. Chiropractic, Orthopedist. Untreated infections can destroy your joints. The aftermath of a tick bite can mimic symptoms of Arthritis. Untreated, the pain can last for years. See your family physician.

Will you ever run again? Maybe. Athletes play sports in spite of pain. With advances in surgery and physical therapy, many recover to an optimum level. Take smart precautions, like wearing braces during sports activities. Use RICE afterward. It lessens swelling, bruising, and pain.

Supplements and Natural Remedies? Check with your doctor first. DO NOT use any supplements prior to surgery. They may increase bleeding. There are conflicting studies, so the verdict is still out on the following supplements: Glucosamine Sulfate, Condroitin, and MSM to support cartilage repair. Fish Oil and Flax Seed Oil for inflammation; Turmeric and Bromelain for arthritis.

Is there any “cure” for knee pain? Yes and no. Physical Therapy may prevent or delay knee replacement surgery. It’s a lifetime commitment, so you won’t have a stopping point, much like brushing your teeth. The benefits far outweigh any inconvenience.

Prognosis:  Chances are, those stilettos in your closet will still be in style when you’ve recovered, but even so, lookout for grates in the road. You may ski again, but skip the moguls. Now and then, you’ll step off a curb, land too hard, and your knee will complain, but remember: pain management is hard work. A sense of humor never hurt. Nothing lasts forever, not even pain… And certainly not knees!

RESOURCES: (Besides personal experience!):

Great article by Dr. Nicolas Campos: Most knee injuries require a trip to the Orthopedic Surgeon. http://www.drnickcampos.com/health-newsletter/Meniscus.htm

Torn Meniscus: http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/meniscusinjuries1/a/meniscus.htm

Yoga Postures That Are Bad For Your Knees: http://www.livestrong.com/article/387607-yoga-postures-that-are-bad-for-knees/

Bromelain for arthritis: http://www.livestrong.com/article/394864-bromelain-dosage-for-arthritis/

Health Benefits of Turmeric and Bromelain: http://www.livestrong.com/article/369227-the-health-benefits-of-turmeric-and-bromelain/

What is Water on the Knee? http://orthopedics.about.com/od/kneesymptoms/f/waterontheknee.htm

Condroitin studies, University of Maryland: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/chondroitin-000293.htm

Angie Picardo is a staff writer for NerdWallet. Her mission is to help consumers stay financially savvy, and save some money with a free online checking account. Angie is not a physician and does not provide medical advice. Rights Radio does not provide medical advice. However, we extend appreciation to Angie Picardo for her excellent research and comprehensive article. This post is copyrighted by Angie Picardo and Rights Radio, 2013, All Rights Reserved.

Wounded Knee: Which Doctor Do You Call When Your Knee Hurts? originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on May 20, 2013.

Guest post by John Gower, NerdWallet.com

From the piggy bank to federal student loans, banks touch the lives of almost every American. Yet, nearly 60 million Americans lack access to secure banking services and/or do not have a bank account. Minorities and immigrants, in particular, often rely on predatory operations to borrow money, cash checks and make other small financial transactions.

The staggering number of unbanked and underbanked indicates a serious shortcoming in our our financial system.

Characteristics of the Unbanked and Underbanked

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) defines the underbanked as individuals or businesses lacking access to secure financial services offered by federally insured banks and credit unions. The underbanked represent nearly 20.1 percent of US households – one in five households or roughly fifty-one million adults. The numbers are increasing. The FDIC reported the percentage of unbanked as 18 percent in 2009.

The unbanked, by contrast, do not have bank accounts. Roughly seventeen million American adults – 8.2 percent – are classified as unbanked!

The majority of unbanked and underbanked are non-Asian minorities, lower income households and unemployed households. A high proportion of unbanked individuals surveyed by the FDIC state that they do not have sufficient funds to open an account. Many feel they no longer need an account. Others want to use banking services, but lack geographic access. Unfortunately, there are fewer traditional banking options in low income areas.

Predatory Alternative Banking Services

Rather than use a federally guaranteed bank, nearly 70 percent of the unbanked and underbanked rely on alternative options, such as payday loan operations or funds provided through extended family networks. Alternative services are inherently predatory. They often charge exceptionally high interest rates and/or result in extortion by loan sharks.

The FDIC recommends that banks and financial service providers use mobile applications and software to bridge the physical gap. Furthermore, banks should provide “second chance” checking accounts for customers who encountered trouble with a bank in the past and face difficulty in opening a new account. A few banks offer this service,  but not enough.

The unbanked and underbanked represent an increasingly vulnerable population. Reliance on alternative services signals a serious weakness in our financial infrastructure. Yet, it also provides an opportunity for banking institutions to tap into under-served markets.

John Gower is an analyst for NerdWallet, a personal finance website dedicated to helping consumers find safe financial products such as savings accounts, CD rates, free checking accounts and more.

“Unbanked” and “Underbanked” – How US Banks Fail to Serve Nearly 60 million Americans originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on March 27, 2013.

World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

A supremely powerful institution, the World Bank is also frequently criticized for its policies, initiatives and operations. Framed with successes and shadowed by missteps, the Bank has generated significant fiscal and social change for countries around the world. But is its power doing more harm than good?

Founded in 1944, the World Bank was created to promote post-war reconstruction and development in Europe. (France received the very first loan of $250 million U.S. dollars.) Founded by 28 nations, the Bank’s membership today includes 187 countries.

Following its reconstruction efforts, the World Bank began a mission shift, ultimately redefining its goals to concentrate on the “world’s poorest.”

In the late 1940s, for example, India was given loans to build sanitation systems and to generate power. By 1960, the International Development Association was founded, providing grants and loans to the most impoverished countries around the world. In the 1970s, the Bank established research centers to boost agriculture and farming technologies to combat world hunger in areas with growing populations. Throughout the 1980s and up until today, the World Bank has helped stem health and environmental crises in hundreds of countries around the globe.

Those are the positives. The Japanese Bullet Train, numerous green technologies, the reduction of ozone-depleting chemicals - all can be attributed to the financial support of the World Bank. But actions taken by the organization have occasionally hindered progress in national and global initiatives.

Bank loan requirements for impoverished nations often put a country in severe debt. This debt worsens over years of inability to pay back  loans, along with accrued interest, and subsequently results in a state of perpetual debt. This shifts a country’s top priority from providing social services and necessary infrastructure to solely paying back the loan, which in turn results in a downward spiral for the poor. While money is  provided to strengthen a nation's economy, management of the debt accelerates poverty.

World Bank loans protocols and oversight dictate how money is to be spent. This raises several issues. First, an external entity is often not  the best judge for how fiscal aid should be distributed within a nation; the government and citizens of that nation are more likely to understand the intricacies of their economy.

Compare this to how the United States partitions State and Federal governments. State governments are more capable of dealing with their smaller communities than the federal government; a panel of D.C. lawmakers is not properly suited to make decisions for a school board in Kansas City. A loan regulation might dictate that an African nation must spend its finances in a heavily-populated impoverished area, while greater long-term benefit would derive from helping poor citizens in the rural countryside.

Furthermore, such regulations remove control from countries that are in desperate need of gaining control. By restricting a nation’s decision-making powers over its economy, the Bank makes it harder for a country to stand on its own two feet. Independence and liberty are lost in the attempt to attain independence and liberty.

This is where "power" comes into play. Nations that fund the World Bank also leverage where  and how the money is spent. France, for example, in receiving the very first loan from the World Bank in 1944, complied with the organization’s requirement: to eliminate all involvement with the communist factions within their government. Since the World Bank is primarily under American and European influence, economic aid swings largely in their favor (and in the direction of their demands).

Some critics believe that global lending contributes to a “global inflation”  that damages economies worldwide, especially when money is poured into a country or region too quickly. Further, in order to sustain debt management, impoverished countries must increase their exports. Yet, fierce competition with other debt-riddled nations results in lower prices, decreasing salaries and steadily-increasing poverty.

The Bank's loan-centered system digs these countries into deeper economic holes (and then buries them in the consequences). In many instances, citizens incur additional hardships because of the country’s debt.

The World Bank has also fallen short in establishing a clear mandate for universal economical concerns. Global warming, drug trafficking and access to natural resources are just three issues that cannot be contained and solved within the borders of one nation. Pouring money into one country to tackle such issues, while ignoring a global approach, is a major weak spot.

President Obama nominated Dr. Jim Yong Kim to be President of the World Bank in 2012. In recent months, Dr. Kim voiced support for a global approach to funding priorities. He also stated his intention to focus on initiatives that benefit areas of the world that need it the most. Let’s hope he will succeed.

Angie Picardo is a staff writer for NerdWallet, a website dedicated to helping consumers alleviate debt with the best balance transfer cards.

The World Bank: The Bank’s Role in the Global Economy and Why it Matters originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on February 7, 2013.

RFID Wallet – Protect Your Cards

According to a credit card executive I spoke with, the latest ploy is that credit card thieves run a series of numbers – something like a lottery.

Master Card, Visa and American Express each start with identifiable numbers.

Credit card thieves then append random numbers and keep running them through a program.

Eventually, they hit the lottery – your card. You can’t understand how it happened – or why there were 10 charges to your card in a matter of minutes for high end purchases in another state.

The card was never out of your site, and you haven’t even used it in the past few weeks.

Credit card theft is now truly virtual. If credit card companies know this is happening, what are they doing to stop it? Not much it turns out. RFID protection won’t stop those lottery programs, but it can provided an added layer of protection.

Protect your cards with an RFID wallet, RFID shoulder bag or RFID purse.

Important Update

Angie Picardo at NerdWallet alerted Rights Radio to a timely article on this issue.

Using a Credit Card at the Gas Pump? Thieves Could Have the Key to Your ID by ANNADEGUZMAN on November 12, 2012.

If you use your credit or debit card to pay for gas, be warned: You might be at risk for identity theft. NBC Bay Area’s investigative unit found nine credit card data-skimming devices in the past two months, and puts the number of identity theft victims at more than 300. How can your data be so easily stolen, and what can you do about it?

Universal key aiding identity theft

There is reportedly a single, universal key providing access to the majority of gas station pumps nationwide, enabling thieves to install skimmers, high-tech devices that store swipe information, and resulting in hundreds of cases of credit card fraud in the South Bay. The universal key was created, again, for convenience purposes, to simplify gas pump inspections and maintenance.  Read More…

Identity Thieves Don’t Need Your Credit Card or Even the Number to Steal It. originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on January 8, 2013.

The words come spilling forth. Here’s what we have learned in a few short days following the Sandy Hook slaughter of innocents.

1) There will soon be more firearms in America than citizens – 300 million weapons at last count.

2) The United States has the worst record in the industrialized world in protecting adults and children from firearm violence and semi-automatic rampages.

3) The US Supreme Court has the worst “court” record in the industrialized world in protecting citizens from gun proliferation – striking down a ban on handguns by the District of Columbia in 2008, “ruling that there is a constitutional right to keep a loaded handgun at home for self-defense.” (New York Times, December 18, 2012) – while the Seventh Circuit appellate court recently struck down an Illinois law that prohibited most people from carrying a loaded weapon in public. Supreme Court and appellate court justices involved in such opinions should be personally required to attend the funeral of every child killed by gun violence through 2020. Let’s see if they can live with that sentence.

4) Congress has failed all of the nation’s children and approximately half of all adults on firearm safety. Instead of greedily accepting campaign funds and hidden retirement benefits from the NRA, Congress should direct the NRA to provide life annuities to gun-violence survivors and to the families of gun victims killed during the act of living normal lives. It seems a fair enough trade.

5) Senator Diane Feinstein – who pushed through the 1996 assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 – is again one of the few Members of Congress to demonstrate guts on this issue. Feinstein will introduce new gun-control legislation at the beginning of 2013 banning the sale, transfer, transportation and possession of assault weapons, as well as big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets. Feinstein intends to get the “weapons of war off the streets of our cities.”

How does the United States rank on gun safety?

There’s another important difference between this country and the rest of the world. Other nations have suffered similar rampages, but they have reacted quickly to impose new and stricter gun laws.

Australia is an excellent example. In 1996, a “pathetic social misfit,” as a judge described the lone gunman, killed 35 people with a spray of bullets from semiautomatic weapons. Within weeks, the Australian government was working on gun reform laws that banned assault weapons and shotguns, tightened licensing and financed gun amnesty and buyback programs.

At the time, the prime minister, John Howard, said, “We do not want the American disease imported into Australia.” The laws have worked. The American Journal of Law and Economics reported in 2010 that firearm homicides in Australia dropped 59 percent between 1995 and 2006. In the 18 years before the 1996 laws, there were 13 gun massacres resulting in 102 deaths, according to Harvard researchers, with none in that category since.

Similarly, after 16 children and their teacher were killed by a gunman in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996, the British government banned all private ownership of automatic weapons and virtually all handguns. Those changes gave Britain some of the toughest gun control laws in the developed world on top of already strict rules. Hours of exhaustive paperwork are required if anyone wants to own even a shotgun or rifle for hunting. The result has been a decline in murders involving firearms.

In Japan, which has very strict laws, only 11 people killed with guns in 2008, compared with 12,000 deaths by firearms that year in the United States — a huge disparity even accounting for the difference in population. As Mayor Michael Bloomberg stressed on Monday while ratcheting up his national anti-gun campaign, “We are the only industrialized country that has this problem. In the whole world, the only one.” – New York Times Editorial, December 18, 2012

What is there left to say? It’s time to act.

Gun Safety: Second Amendment Wrongs, Children’s Rights vs Weapons of War originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on December 18, 2012.

… it is worth recalling that America, alone among nations, is an idea; and that idea dies when hope and possibility disappear. – Roger Cohen

No Heat Till Christmas? Fema says, “Call 911.” http://nyti.ms/Z1g583

We are all one storm away from Rockaway, Staten Island and the devastated shores of New Jersey.  “My body has shut down,” declared one distraught homeowner, fending off despair in his freezing, water ridden home. He has no place to go and no money to get there.

The abject failure by the city/state governments of New York and New Jersey, the Red Cross and FEMA to provide ANY support whatsoever to hundreds of thousands of utterly desperate citizens for over a week – moving into two weeks as I update this post – is beyond words. Indeed, words fail. Pictures fail.

But the worst loss of all – the American belief that somehow, some way, local/city/state governments and the Red Cross will be there. Now we know the truth. This is hope we can no longer count on.

Obama sent in troops and fuel. But the National Guard, alone, could not provide the scope of assistance needed. And they weren’t even sent to the hardest-hit areas of bottomless suffering. (Free fuel depots manned by the National Guard were so overwhelmed that they closed them!)

We, the United States of America, failed.  Pundits insist that the response to Sandy is much better than it was for Katrina.

BETTER FOR WHOM? Definitely not for those without shelter, electricity, heat, water, food and clothing. Not for those who have lost everything, including loved ones, but no agency (let alone the Red Cross) has yet appeared to offer help. Incompetence doesn’t explain it.

James O’Connell, the logistics coordinator for a 40-person search-and-rescue nonprofit group that was volunteering in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, called the Red Cross response to the storm “a figment of everyone’s imagination.” “I’ve come across one Red Cross canteen truck on Staten Island last night,” Mr. O’Connell said. “Two people inside. They said, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ And then they asked us for drinking water.” - Anger Grows at the Red Cross

Tell it to the elderly stuck on higher floors in housing projects without heat, food or water, because there is no one to carry them down. Tell it to the mothers who have neither shoes nor food for their children. Tell it to the parents who no longer have homes or jobs and can’t even get to an ATM. Or the homeowners dealing with four feet of mud, but there is no agency in sight to remove it.  (“Take photos,” said one insurance company, “but don’t remove the mud and mold until we get there.”)

The only possible explanation:  Middle income and lower income homes and families are not worth saving. The “powerful” will get around to it if/when they have the time and inclination. Until then, good folks, depend on yourselves or on the kindness of your neighbors. Don’t wait up.

The “good guys” must be snug in their homes or busy buying stuff for Christmas. Perhaps a Christmas iPad. (Or planning how to invest in pricey construction projects and condos that will move the middle class and poor out of these beach regions once and for all.)

Surely “they” could have provided quicker disaster relief assistance to the citizens of Rockaway, Staten Island and the New Jersey Shores…if they really wanted to.

To Your Security ~ Dr. Joyce Starr

Further Update – “The Next Storm Away from Rockaway.”

One Storm Away From Rockaway – When Disaster Help Doesn’t Arrive originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on November 6, 2012.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors in New York took aim at Bank of America. They accused it of carrying out a scheme, started by its Countrywide Financial unit, that defrauded government-backed mortgage agencies by churning out loans at a rapid pace without proper controls. In a civil suit, prosecutors seek to collect at least $1 billion in penalties from the bank as compensation for the behavior that they say forced taxpayers to guarantee billions in bad loans….

In the lawsuit on Wednesday, the Justice Department attacked a home loan program known as the “hustle,” which the bank inherited from Countrywide in 2008 and kept alive through 2009.

Prosecutors say the venture was a symbol of Wall Street’s slipshod standards during the mortgage bubble. According to the lawsuit, Countrywide rubber-stamped mortgage loans to risky borrowers and passed them on to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-controlled mortgage financial giants that guaranteed the loans. The two entities were ultimately stuck with heavy losses and a glut of foreclosed properties.

“The fraudulent conduct alleged in today’s complaint was spectacularly brazen in scope,” Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement. “This lawsuit should send another clear message that reckless lending practices will not be tolerated.”

Read more….

Mortgage Refinancing Nightmares: Bank of America. Villa Appalling.

Mortgage refinancing and mortgage financing nightmares courtesy of Bank of America. Does it get more appalling?  I live in San Diego, but do not own a home here. I wanted to purchase a home in Tennessee. I …

Bank of America Sued…Again – It’s only the fifth inning according to the New York Times originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on October 29, 2012.

On October 18, 2012, we learned that US troops arrived in Israel for the largest joint missile defense exercise ever undertaken.

Graham T. Allison Jr, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Shai Feldman, director of Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies, wrote in the NY Times on October 13, 2012:

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Obama administration was conducting a quiet campaign that would strengthen the view, already circulating among Israeli security professionals, that prematurely attacking Iran would not advance Israel’s interests and would damage Israel’s relationship with America. Instead of holding Israel at bay or threatening punitive action, the administration was upgrading American security assistance to Israel — so much so that earlier this year Mr. Barak described the level of support as greater than ever in Israel’s history.

This increase was manifest at every level: intelligence sharing that resulted in a convergence of assessments about Iran’s nuclear efforts; joint cyberoperations to slow Iran’s nuclear program; support of Israel’s development of antimissile defenses; and reaching a common declared strategic approach to Iran’s nuclear program. That approach now focuses the two countries’ efforts on preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, while also ruling out the option of a retreat to containing and deterring a nuclear-armed Iran.

Equally important, increased American assistance has been accompanied by closer institutional links between the two countries’ defense and intelligence communities, as well as more intimate personal ties between both communities’ top echelons. Through numerous meetings in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Washington, the Obama administration has used these connections to convey an unambiguous message: Do not attack before all nonmilitary efforts to roll back Iran’s nuclear program have been exhausted.

Ever deeper American-Israeli defense ties have created what might be labeled a “United States lobby” among Israeli security professionals, who now have a strong interest in continuing the close partnership. It is no accident that the security institutions have become among the most vocal opponents of attacking Iran. No one knows better than they what is at stake if they ignore Washington’s concerns.

The following was reportedly first posted by Florida Jewish Journal on January 11, 2012 – unfortunately, we cannot find the link – and later as a comment by Melvin Kahn on the JewishReporter.com on August 15, 2012. It has since been repeated on numerous sites.  Our appreciation to Isaac Barr for contacting Rights Radio to provide the original source.

Relations between Israel and the United States are warmer under President Obama than under previous administrations, yet we hear that the President has a “Jewish problem.” The problem is not Obama, but us: In only three years, we’ve lost historic perspective. We’re criticizing Obama for what would have gone unnoticed in other administrations.

Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger threatened to “reassess” America ‘s relationship with Israel . Obama has declared that America ‘s bond with Israel is “unbreakable,” and Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak credited Obama for the strongest relationship between the two countries ever.

Ronald Reagan suspended arms shipments to Israel and supported a UN resolution criticizing Israel for bombing Iraq ‘s nuclear reactor. Obama secretly sold Israel the bunker busting bombs it requested during the Bush administration and cast the only UN veto of his administration against the one-sided anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution on settlements.

George W. Bush pressured Israel to allow Hamas to participate in Gaza elections and made little progress in stopping Iran ‘s march toward nuclear weapons. Obama has not negotiated with Hamas. He has mobilized the international community to impose the toughest sanctions ever against Iran and flat-out declared that that he will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, saying no options are off the table. Obama’s pro-Israel accomplishments compare favorably with any Republican president. Yet we keep complaining.

We say he hasn’t visited Israel as president, forgetting that Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are the only two presidents who visited Israel during their first terms in office. George W. Bush did not visit Israel until his seventh year as president. Ronald Reagan never visited in his entire life. Obama went to Israel as recently as 2006 and 2008.

We complain that the Obama administration criticizes Israel ‘s settlement policy, forgetting that every administration since 1967 has criticized Israel ‘s settlement policy. But unlike George H.W. Bush, Obama never threatened to withhold U.S. aid to Israel because of settlement activity; instead, Obama has taken U.S. financial assistance to Israel to record levels.

We complain about imagined slights to Prime Minister Netanyahu, forgetting that when the chips were down, Obama came through for Israel and Netanyahu. When Israel asked for help fighting the Carmel forest fires, President Obama’s response was “get Israel whatever it needs. Now.”  (Remember the ‘slight’ was media misreporting what was business as usual when there is a last minute, not planned in advance, visit!)

In September 2011, when the late-night call came from Israel to Obama asking for help in rescuing the Israelis trapped in the Egyptian embassy, Netanyahu himself called it a “decisive and fateful moment,” recalling that Obama “said ‘I will do everything I can.’ And he did.”

The list goes on and on. Obama opposed the Goldstone Report, stood with Israel against the Gaza flotilla, boycotted Durban II and Durban III, and successfully derailed Palestinian attempts to unilaterally declare statehood at the UN. He’s done more than any president to thwart Iran ‘s nuclear ambitions.

Yet despite the facts, despite the historic perspective, it’s almost as if some of us want Obama to be anti-Israel because that would validate our worst fears. Attacking Obama on Israel is like attacking John Kerry on his personal military record. The Swift Boat campaign worked because Kerry and his supporters were too slow to take it seriously and fight fiction with facts. The result was four more years of George W. Bush.

Maybe it’s our nature to complain. But President Obama’s words and deeds prove that he is not only a strong friend of Israel, but that he is willing to stand up for Israel publicly and behind the scenes. That’s what matters, and that’s why most Jews will again vote for Obama in 2012.

Note: I want to thank Robert Robert Goldschmidt in his comment below for sharing an important video link. I’m embedding it here as well.

Obama’s Positive Support for Israel Speaks Volumes: Substance Behind the Scenes originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on October 18, 2012.

Fraudulent charges. Immediate credits might be issued in some cases. However, cardholders are more often informed that it takes about eight weeks before a final decision is made, and they will not receive a credit during this process. Don’t expect to speak with an American representative when you phone. Call centers for the prepaid card are based overseas. The operators who answer, including “supervisors,” have little or no authority in these matters.

Card number vulnerability. According to the credit manager of a company that suffered high losses from “credit card fraud gangs,” the magnetic strip on the back of the American Express prepaid card seems to be less secure than the strip on the back of MasterCard and Visa cards (prepaid and paid).  “The prepaid card never left my possession,” insisted an American Express prepaid cardholder. “Yet, it was used to purchase gas in another state. An American Express prepaid operator insisted that I was present when the charge was made – in a location I’ve never visited in my life. I called the gas station where the fraudulent charge was made, and they have cameras operating 24/7.  I’m still waiting for my credit after several months.”

Linked to your bank account. Once you link the card to your bank account, there is no way to remove that information, except to replace the entry with another bank account number (real or not) and/or cancel the card. There is no option for “remove  bank account number.”  Prepaid cards can be refilled by other means. Therefore, the option to remove the number should be made available.

Since the American Express prepaid card is relatively new, the company is likely to address such issues in the near future.  Let’s hope!

American Express Prepaid Card – What You Should Know About Prepaid Cards originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on October 16, 2012.

Don’t you find it odd that the police were able to report, in only a few hours, exactly how much ammunition the Colorado killer purchased over the Internet and through other sources?  They have him down to the last bullet.

Declared the New York Times,

With his academic career in tatters, law enforcement officials say, [the accused] began to assemble another plan. Over the last two months, he bought two handguns, a shotgun and an assault rifle from local gun dealers. He bought and stockpiled 6,000 rounds of ammunition online. The police said he began to receive large deliveries to his home and work. He outfitted himself with black body armor and a gas mask.

Why didn’t red flags go off when the man who shall not be named purchased 6000 rounds of ammunition for his “legally purchased” assault rifle? If law enforcement knew about the sales immediately after the nightmare played out, why couldn’t they flag it in advance?

Why can’t the FBI, state governments and law enforcement do more both to control and flag ammunition sales  – at the very least to warn local authorities about massive ammo purchases over the Internet, not to mention through legal gun dealers and through local expos.

With a few keystrokes, the suspect ordered 3,000 rounds of handgun ammunition, 3,000 rounds for an assault rifle and 350 shells for a 12-gauge shotgun — an amount of firepower that costs roughly $3,000 at the online sites — in the four months before the shooting, according to the police. It was pretty much as easy as ordering a book from Amazon.

He also bought…a high-capacity “drum magazine” large enough to hold 100 rounds and capable of firing 50 or 60 rounds per minute — a purchase that would have been restricted under proposed legislation that has been stalled in Washington for more than a year.

…sellers are not required in most cases to report sales to law enforcement officials, even unusually large purchases. And neither Colorado nor federal law required him to submit to a background check or register his growing purchases, gun policy experts said.

A few states like Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and cities like Los Angeles and Sacramento, have passed restrictions on ammunition sales, requiring permits for buyers or licenses for sellers, or insisting that dealers track their ammunition sales for law enforcement.  But in Colorado, and across much of the United States, the markets for ammunition — online and in storefronts — are largely unregulated, gun-control advocates say. – NYT

Are we really unable or unwilling to send out an Ammo Alert in this day and age?

Notice how correspondents and commentators from CNN (Anderson Cooper is the lone courageous voice), Fox, CBS, ABC and nearly all print/online media declare “There is no hope for gun reform.” What gives the media the right to consign us to death by assault rifles?  Bill O’Reilly says he “can live without the assault rifle ban, so long as there is better reporting.”  How generous.  Never forget the political cowardice of both Obama and Romney – who don’t have a thumbnail of courage, as compared to the 13 year-old girl who risked her own life to save the life of a six year-old. She failed – because a woman’s cold body was draped across the child – but they have failed us.  Shame on them both for their silence. We deserve better.

To your security rights!  -  Dr. Joyce Starr

Here’s a July 24, 2012 update – in the form of an editorial by author Craig R. Whitney, specifically his point: “The N.R.A. has frightened lawmakers into giving it credibility it does not deserve.”

Gun owners and their advocates must, in turn, stop insisting that gun ownership is an absolute right. The Second Amendment is not a law unto itself. Before and after 1791, the right to keep and bear arms has been inseparable from civic responsibility: originally, the duty to answer a call to carry arms in defense of community or country, as part of militia service. Today — with 30,000 firearms deaths a year (half of them suicides) — the civic duty is to find ways for gun ownership and public safety to better coexist. Yet the N.R.A. continues to act as if gun owners have no responsibility to anyone but themselves and their families.

So far, liberals and centrists have done more to adopt a reasonable position. The president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has lately begun to emphasize that it accepts the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Second Amendment (which also upheld “longstanding prohibitions” on gun ownership by felons and the mentally ill, and gun bans in schools and government buildings).

New York City’s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, co-chairman of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has put forward a raft of proposals to tighten background checks, better regulate gun shows, trace and share information about guns used in crimes, and crack down on the importation of machine guns, military-style rifles and other especially dangerous weapons. But the mayor has no credibility with the N.R.A. and its supporters.

The N.R.A. has frightened lawmakers into giving it credibility it does not deserve. Even after President Obama tried to start a dialogue on gun violence last year, stating, “I believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms,” the N.R.A. flatly rebuked his overture and urged its members to vote against Mr. Obama so that he couldn’t try to deprive them of gun rights through Supreme Court appointments in a second term.

Colorado Massacre: Red Flag Internet Sales of Massive Ammo – Warn local police! originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on July 22, 2012.