Archive for May, 2008
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Thursday, May 22nd, 2008By Michael Dorausch, DC
In 1997 I had the good fortune to be the student president for the International Chiropractors Association representing the chiropractic campus at CCCLA in Los Angeles, California. One of the highlights of my involvement in student politics was the times I enjoyed talking with legendary chiropractors like Sid Williams, Bobby Braile, Fred Barge, and James Sigafoose. Philosophical chiropractic was red-hot in the Southern California area in 1997 and 1998 (and it is again today thanks to DCS), with events drawing large crowds of chiropractors focused on a mission of serving the planet. Dr. Ian Grassam was a key speaker at these SoCal events, and his words of inspiration left lasting impressions on a large number of those attending the events. While he passed away in November of 1999, the influential chiropractic words from Ian Grassam continue to live on. Even though legendary talks from him and others have been available on Planet Chiropractic for nearly 10 years, we just recently had all of the audio transcribed from a 1997 talk he gave during an ICA conference in Orange County, California.
(photo: Chiropractor Ian Grassam speaking during a student luncheon at CCCLA in 1997)
Dr. Grassam’s presentation was more than an hourlong which transcribed into over 8000 words. Due to the large amount of content, it is being presented in a multi-part post, which will include some photographs and other related information. It took great effort to transcribe the audio into text format, and my intention was to preserve the historic nature of events such as this one. Without further ado, this is Dr. Ian Grassam…
His name was Wallace. He was a Scotsman. And I have walked the fields upon which he fought, because I was born in Scotland. And came here as a small boy, with a purpose in my life. And that purpose was to be here with you. And to share with you the message of freedom. And be willing to let you know that you will pay a price for that freedom. The price of that freedom, is you must give up all that holds you back from being who you are, for you were born free.
That?s the story of William Wallace, and the battles that he fought, and the death that he experienced, and the price that he paid.
We went to L.A., it?s a joy. That?s all those lunatics in the middle section over there. And then from there we went to LACC, and found those people just as crazy as as the people at Cleveland. Palmer West was our next invitation, I?d be glad to speak, spoke at Life West the last time we were here. And, somethings happening on the West Coast. There?s a revolution in education on the west coast. To even have me invited to LACC is a revolution. [Applause]
However, as we shared with the students at LACC and at Cleveland, that you serve the administration, you serve the community, you serve your fellow students, you serve the patients in your clinic, you continue to serve, and serve, and serve, and serve, and serve. And pretty soon you are the master of your universe. Because if you ever chose to be master, you must be servant to all ? that is the price.
The price is to give up yourself, and realize what it is you are here for and what it is you are trying to accomplish, and change the world accordingly. The students at the west coast schools are making a major, major difference in their institutions. And it?s a love for this principle of chiropractic that has motivated them in that direction. They will benefit beyond all belief. Those students who at this time are serving those institutions, and their fellow students, will be the leaders that will take these meetings in the next 20 years and turn them into ten and fifteen thousand people.
That?s the leadership that is here today from the schools. You don?t realize this. You say, “Ian, how do you know that?” I know that because when I was in my student years, so many years ago at Logan College, it?s what I did. I was the head of this organization and the head of that organization and we coordinated that movement, we brought these speakers on ? we were the radicals on campus. I went back my first year after graduation and was thrown off campus. I was thrown off campus when I was a student, I was thrown off campus after I was a student. I was thrown off campus! There was a price!
They said, “Ian Grassam, get off our campus where not going to listen to that trash.” And that trash was about subluxation, and the correction of the subluxation, and the fact that it was the answer to the health care needs of a nation. And uniquely enough that was 30 years ago, and I went out over those years, and went and spoke to the various groups around this country.
And you know, I really, really enjoyed the fact that David Kennedy, dentist, was on your platform this weekend. Because there are more David Kennedys out there than you know, that exist than other professionals. Who at the heart of their life and their professional service know what we know, but imagine?I mean here we are very comfortable in this room, putting forth the principles that we believe in. Discussing the foundation of our science. Can you imagine what the dental world thinks of David Kennedy? His fellow dentists? Can you imagine the names that that man is called, and his wife is called, and his family puts up with?
He is standing up in a profession, that if given half a chance, could push a button, and have David Kennedy disappear. Do you understand that? That?s the price he?s paying. He?s standing up here and he feels wonderful and warm, and probably brief moments of his life he wishes he was a chiropractor just to have this kind of support. But the reality is that when David goes home, on Monday morning he?ll be a dentist. He?ll be part of a profession, nationwide, that doesn?t really appreciate what he stands for. We in Chiropractic have an opportunity to lead the David Kennedys of this world.
You know and I know that throughout this country, there are literally tens of thousands of people, professional, laymen, what have you ? that are into wellness. Am I right? I mean from every nutritionist, every massage therapist, every acupuncturist, every person that deals in clinical psychology and wellness care, the understanding of the total being ? those people are out there. They are fractionated. They?re like David, god bless him, he?s off on a movement and running things for a program he believes in. You?ve got them out there doing this all over the country ? what is it they need?
Leadership. They need leadership. They need focus. They need something that helps put it all together. What happens when chiropractic establishes nationwide? And I?m trying to talk with the ICA, and the ICA is talking about this, and that is about having a health freedom day, where all people who practice a natural healing science will march on Washington DC and tell those people they cannot pass laws that hold back freedom of health care for the people of this nation.
How many tens of thousands of followers of this wellness movement, who understand that this has to come to be? Gerry talked about being in a post-critical mass mental plane. And this is where we are today. I spent the last 25, 30 years of my life going around this country and going throughout the world telling the chiropractic story, telling the story, telling the subluxation based story, relating the science of chiropractic ? that the body is a self healing, self regulating organism. And I have watched medicine go through many phases in a short period of time.
It?s sometimes hard to realize the suffering that is going on within the basic medical paradigms within this nation. From Australia to the United States to Canada and I?ve been in Europe, been in Russia, we were in Russia before the Iron Curtain came down, and we watched the medical paradigm fail after failure after failure after failure. To the extent, that the people are beginning to challenge that now.
That?s what Gerry was talking about earlier this morning. The medical paradigm is collapsing on itself. It is collapsing under the pressure of its own failure. It does not supply people what they need. Especially an enlightened society.
[To Be Continued]
Small Business and Politics Don?t Always Mix
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008By Michael Dorausch, DC
I had a good reminder today as to why it’s not typically a smart idea to discuss politics in a small business setting. I’ve been a practicing chiropractor in Los Angeles for several years, providing care in a community that represents all sorts of different views and opinions when it comes topics [...]
Take charge of your information with Google Health
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008By Michael Dorausch, DC
After more than two years in development, Google finally announced their health information service yesterday, dubbed Google Health. The service is intended to put consumers in charge of their health information, by offering a safe, secure, and free place to store and organize health-related data. The service is currently in beta status, but it’s now available for public use. I signed on for a personal account so I can learn more about the service and share what I’ve learned with you.
(photo: screenshot of information seen on Google Health page after logging in)
Looking at the screenshot above, there are four calls to action on the main screen. You can add information to your health profile, you can import medical records, you can explore online health services (and locate tools online for managing your health), and you can find a doctor (by name, location, and specialty.
When I first began reading the news regarding this new service, it sounded like it was primarily a way to store drug related information and various types of medical records. It wasn’t until after I signed in that I noticed there were features for nearly every specialty of health care one could think of. My initial reaction is of great delight, I’m impressed.
The first thing I jumped to was Find a doctor to see what specialties were available. Yes, Chiropractors are on the list, along with acupuncturists, cardiologists, anesthesiologists, dentists, gastroenterologists, ophthalmologists, oncologists, vascular surgeons, and nearly every other specialty of health care.
So Google Health is intended to allow one to take charge of their health information. The service is free, and Google assures that it’s safe and secure to use. If you have a Google gmail account, a Google reader account, or subscribe to any number of other Google services, the Google Health interface should appear familiar to you.
Some key advantages to using this new service is 1) the ability to organize all your health information in one location. 2) Interface to gather all your medical records from doctors, hospitals, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and pharmacies. 3) Have a way to share that information with your new and existing health-care providers. 4) Keep up-to-date on important health issues.
Google says that all health information is stored securely and privately, and they will never sell your data. You, the user, gets to choose what information you want to share with others, and what information you want to keep private. Be sure to read the site’s privacy policies for more information.
Ready to check it out? You can sign on here… http://google.com/health
Your Wii Fit order has shipped
Monday, May 19th, 2008by Michael Dorausch, DC
Woo Hoo! Received an e-mail earlier today from Amazon.com saying that my pre-ordered Wii Fit had been shipped via FedEx. It’s expected to arrive on May 20 (that’s tomorrow) in my LA chiropractic office. I first wrote about the Wii Fit for chiropractors last summer.
I don’t quite recall when I first ordered [...]
Firefox V3 in Use at Planet Chiropractic
Monday, May 19th, 2008by Michael Dorausch, DC
Over the weekend I downloaded the latest release candidate available for the Firefox browser by Mozilla. According to reports, this release candidate (RC1 of version 3) features some improvements in security and performance. Even though the browser is available for public use, the RC one release candidate is intended for those wishing to test the browser, and not general users.
I typically run at least 3 open Firefox windows, with 30 plus open tabs, on a three monitor setup (system running Windows XP). I’ve been using a previous beta version of the newer browser for a few weeks now so I thought I’d share my findings as to date.
Will pretty much anyone can download this latest version, it’s not intended for regular use, and in my case it has crashed a few times so consider that before performing an install. While there is lots of new features in this release of Firefox, Mozilla reminds us that we shouldn’t expect all of our add-ons to work properly with this release.
When firing up the installed browser for the first time I discovered I couldn’t run the Google toolbar and a few other plug-ins I normally use in Firefox. While different people have various reasons for upgrading, mine was improved performance. Having 30, 40 or even 50 open tabs can become a real memory hog. So far Firefox 3 RC1 has far outperformed my install of Firefox 2 so I’m okay with a crash every once in a while.
If you’re testing out this most recent version of the Firefox browser and you’re concerned about tabs shutting down and forgetting which sites you were on, I recommend a few simple steps. In your Firefox browser select Tools > Options and look for where it says Startup (in the main section). Check the drop down box that reads When Firefox starts: Show my windows and tabs from last time.
Something I noticed regarding increased security was when I attempted to login to one of my domains that doesn’t have a certificate for SSL encryption. Even though it’s my domain and I trusted, Firefox reminded me that a Secure Connection Failed and let me know my particular domain uses an invalid security certificate. It’s easy to add an exception and I like that the browser passes along this sort of information.
I haven’t yet installed this beta software release of Firefox on my Ubuntu machine, but I plan to do that next. Release candidate 1 is available in more than 45 languages and you can find Windows, Mac Os X, and Linux versions here… www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-rc.html
I can haz ur money?
Sunday, May 18th, 2008By Michael Dorausch, DC
3 different sellers of items posted to the classified ads e-mailed me all within a few hours of each other with an e-mail from a suspected scammer. I appreciate them all forwarding the e-mail and I found it to be a perfect example of something that should be obvious, but sometimes isn’t [...]
Popular Keywords in Alternative Medicine Category
Sunday, May 18th, 2008By Michael Dorausch, DC
I was investigating some popular search keywords yesterday which led me to do a search for the term medicine. Scanning through the results, I found it interesting that six out of the top 21 searched keyword phrases, were related to alternative methods of healing. Even more so, I found it really interesting [...]
Chiropractors Long-Term Contribution Trends
Saturday, May 17th, 2008By Michael Dorausch, DC
As of today, wanna-be president Hillary Clinton is pressing forward with her campaign, while her Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, campaigns in Oregon and Kentucky in preparation for this Tuesday’s upcoming primaries. When it comes to this years influence and lobbying, the Democratic candidates have received the lion’s share of chiropractic contributions, according to election cycle data. 2008 will mark the first time since 1994 that chiropractors gave significantly more contributions to Democratic candidates than they did Republicans.
(photo: election cycle data for 1990 - 2008)
This screenshot shows election cycle data for the years 1990 - 2008 (what’s currently available for this year). The chart shows total contributions, contributions from individuals, and contributions from PACs. The graphic does not show soft-money contributions, or percentages to Democrats or Republicans, a full-sized graph with that information can be viewed here.
Current data for the 2008 election cycle shows 58% of chiropractic contributions going to Democrats. It is the first time in 14 years that chiropractors have reportedly given more to the Democratic Party than they did the Republican Party. In 1990, 1992, and 1994, chiropractors made the majority of their contributions to the Democratic Party. From 1996 through 2006, chiropractors reportedly donated more to Republicans than Democrats, except for the year 2000, which saw near equal contributions among the two parties.
Last week, I wrote about the chiropractic vote and provided some resources on previous money in politics articles. In January 2008 I took a look at data that was currently available related to chiropractic money in politics and elections. New information has come online since that time, and the numbers will continue to be updated throughout the year.
Data for the current election cycle were released by the Federal Election Commission on Monday, April 28, 2008.
The graph on the left shown above demonstrates total contributions in millions given by individuals, PACs, and soft money contributions. The graph to the right displays total in millions given to both Democrats and Republicans. Looking at the graph, it’s easy to see the difference in monies given for the 1992 and 1994 election cycles versus the 2004 and 2006 election cycles.
The numbers shown are based on contributions of $200 or more from PACs and individuals to federal candidates and from PAC, soft money and individual donors to political parties, as reported to the Federal Election Commission. While election cycles are shown in charts as 1996, 1998, 2000 etc. they actually represent two-year periods. For example, the 2002 election cycle runs from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2002.
Note: Soft money contributions to the national parties were not publicly disclosed until the 1991-92 election cycle, and were banned by the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act following the 2002 elections.
*These figures do not include donations of “Levin” funds to state and local party committees. Levin funds were created by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
This information was made available thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics. Visit the politics category in the chiropractic blog pages to read more about politics and the chiropractic profession. There are also dozens of related archived news posts to be found when your Planet Chiropractic search=politics.
On Schools and Chiropractic Education
Friday, May 16th, 2008By Michael Dorausch, DC
I had several e-mail questions this week regarding topics related to chiropractic schools, chiropractor salaries, and education required before entering a chiropractic program. They ranged from university students asking about continuing their education to become a chiropractor, an attorney asking about average incomes for sole practitioner doctors of chiropractic, and another college [...]
9 Random Chiropractic News Articles Found in Archives
Friday, May 16th, 2008By Michael Dorausch, DC
No rhyme or reason here, other than its Friday and I didn’t think I’d get a chance to make a blog post before mid-Saturday afternoon. I was performing some searches for phone related articles and I came across a number of different posts, written by different chiropractic authors, that I hadn’t seen [...]