I was wondering today whether Donald Trump not smoking, and not drinking alcohol or coffee (or even tea), was the result of a strict Presbyterian upbringing, rather than trendy PC capnophobia.
His mother was Scottish, from the Isle of Lewis. I couldn’t find much about her, but I discovered that Lewis was predominantly Presbyterian, and seems even to have had alcohol prohibition, and illegal drinking dens called ‘bothans“. So most likely she was a Presbyterian, and is why he’s a Presbyterian too.
And I turned up this fragment on religious attitudes to smoking:
I suspect that Trump’s mother belonged to the 52% of Presbyterians who think it’s wrong to smoke cigarettes, and the 32% who think it’s wrong to get drunk, and that’s how young Donald was raised, and how he’s remained ever since. But it’s just a guess.
I also came across this fragment about someone who had fled from Presbyterianism to Catholicism:
After a particularly interesting “Bible Study” on Sunday evening, I told Jewels, “I guess we should visit the Catholic Church. Maybe there we will be free from the ‘demon of alcohol’ syndrome.” Many folks at churches we visited here hold the opinion that someone who drinks alcohol, even in moderation, is on the fast track to hell. Well, I enjoy beer. I like to make beer. It tastes good with Bar-B-Q and Mexican food. I do not abuse alcohol and I can go for months without a beer, but I do not like others determining my eternal fate based on whether or not alcohol passes my lips.
And finally I ended up watching the BBC documentary below about the English Civil War between the royalist cavaliers and the parliamentary roundheads (so called because they were the skinheads of their day, while the cavaliers had long hair) had resulted in a social division that persisted to the present day, and people were either roundheads or cavaliers, and that fox-hunting, smoking, alcohol bans and restrictions were the product of a roundhead mentality which had reigned through the Blair and Brown Labour years. I suppose that with Jeremy Corbyn, Labour has now become even more roundhead than ever, and he may even be a Leveller.
After the puritanical parliamentarians (some of whom were Scottish Presbyterians) had won the war, they (or rather Oliver Cromwell) banned all sorts of things, including Christmas (something that’s happening again), theatres, and doing more or less anything on Sunday apart from going to church. They also emptied the churches of paintings and statues, and smashed stained glass windows, and painted the walls white.
After Cromwell died, England turned its back on the puritans, and invited Charles II to return, and the Restoration era that followed seems to have been one in which everything that had been banned by the puritans was enjoyed anew with gusto.
So when are we going to get our restoration, eh?
Frank Davis 
Except that I heard somewhere (can’t remember where now), that Cromwell, despite despising alcohol, parties, entertainment, music, singing and dancing – or in fact any kind of fun whatsoever – he did enjoy a pipe of tobacco from time to time. Despite searching, I’ve never been able to find this confirmed (or refuted) anywhere. It certainly doesn’t sound likely, given his generally killjoy reputation. Anybody on here know for certain one way or the other?
I saw a TV documentary (BBC?) a few years ago that noted with surprise that Cromwell had no concerns about smoking and (probably) enjoyed it himself.
considering it brought in cash revenues for the government for Cromwell Im sure he didn’t have any qualms about that part. Funny as it seems no matter how puritanical or tyrannical they still love the revenues from tobacco because damn its 100s of billions a year………… No other commodity brings forth such regular tax revenues.
Strongest Market Sectors Since 1933: Smoking Wins, Steel Rusts Away
Oct. 19, 2015 6:30 AM ET
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3580506-strongest-market-sectors-since-1933-smoking-wins-steel-rusts-away
According to a profile on Cromwell at the Open University, “Cromwell’s popular image is that of a dour Puritan but in his private life, he was fond of sherry and beer, smoked tobacco and appreciated music. His political legacy and achievements are mixed.”
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/world-history/oliver-cromwell-1599-1658
So he was a ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ type of person, then? That’s even worse. If you’re going to impose a puritan lifestyle on your subjects, at least lead from the front.
My mother was a great fan of the Cavaliers, and used to collect all sorts of stuff Cavalier related. We had decorative plates with Cavalier heads on them, Cavalier tankards, Cavalier place mats, Cavalier ashtrays, King Charles busts, all sorts of paraphernalia! She even named the house they bought ‘Cavaliers’!
Perhaps that explains my somewhat hedonistic approach to life… :)
She may have been one of the “Wee Free’s”. They’re very influential in our outer islands – and (as an aside) may have had a part to play in Gordon Brown’s religious life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Church_of_Scotland_(since_1900)
They kind of like the concept that you spend a goodly part of every Sunday in Church, with two services and time off for lunch.
That most certainly was the case whilst the Mommy Trump was a youngster herself.
My own experience of real islanders and those from the true highland areas of Scotland is they’re fine people who by and large are very trustworthy and tolerant. And law abiding.
Given the ferocity of the winters and the fact many of those places were cut off for days, even weeks in the winter – and still are even now – it’s real important to get along with each other. This link – from 11.20 – gives an idea of what it’s like on the Scottish mainland in 2013.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/9952072/Snow-and-freezing-weather-continue-live.html
The advantage of building up a first class network of people is something she may well have passed on to him.
Trump got a good early upbringing.
Study reveals “killer germs” obliterated by Medicinal smoke
Sayer Ji
Green Med Info
Sun, 31 May 2015 07:45 UTC
The ritualistic use of plant smoke stretches back to the prehistorical era and is still used, the world over, as a way of ‘cleansing’ the spirit. Now modern scientific research reveals that the practice may actually have life-saving implications by purifying the air of harmful bacteria.
The burning of herbs and plant resins for medicinal and spiritual purposes – so-called ‘smudging’ – is an ancient practice among indigenous people around the world; one increasingly adopted by Westerners. Smudging is a technology believed to unlock the ‘spirits’ of various plant allies to restore balance and ease to the individual or group. Some liken it to taking a ‘spiritual shower,’ enabling you to wash away emotional and spiritual negativity that accumulates in your body and the spaces you live.
That said, skeptics believe attributing health benefits to the burning of sage and incense reflects ‘magical thinking.’ The practice has even been accused of being a New Age form of cultural imperialism where ‘plastic’ or ‘white’ shamans mimic and co-opt the traditions of indigenous people their predecessors essentially conquered.
Given the polarized view on this increasingly common practice, as well as the well known role that the burning of incense plays in even Western religious traditions, such as Catholicism, we decided to explore the published literature on the topic of smudging’s scientifically validated medical benefits, to see what we could find.
First, we uncovered a 2006 review published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology titled “Medicinal smokes,” that looked at single and multi-ingredient herbal and non-herbal remedies administered as smoke from 50 countries across 5 continents. The researchers found, with surprising overlap worldwide, medicinal smoke is mostly used to address the following specific organ systems: “pulmonary (23.5%), neurological (21.8%) and dermatological (8.1%).” They also found that “ambient smoke,” which is the type of passively inhaled smoke generated by smudging/incense, is traditionally believed to be an effective “air purifier.” The review argued that modern medicine should investigate medicinal smoke as a drug delivery system, owing to the following advantages: “The advantages of smoke-based remedies are rapid delivery to the brain, more efficient absorption by the body and lower costs of production.”
Medicinal smokes
Abstract:
All through time, humans have used smoke of medicinal plants to cure illness. To the best of our knowledge, the ethnopharmacological aspects of natural products’ smoke for therapy and health care have not been studied. Mono- and multi-ingredient herbal and non-herbal remedies administered as smoke from 50 countries across the 5 continents are reviewed. Most of the 265 plant species of mono-ingredient remedies studied belong to Asteraceae (10.6%), followed by Solanaceae (10.2%), Fabaceae (9.8%) and Apiaceae (5.3%). The most frequent medical indications for medicinal smoke are pulmonary (23.5%), neurological (21.8%) and dermatological (8.1%). Other uses of smoke are not exactly medical but beneficial to health, and include smoke as a preservative or a repellent and the social use of smoke. The three main methods for administering smoke are inhalation, which accounts for 71.5% of the indications; smoke directed at a specific organ or body part, which accounts for 24.5%; ambient smoke (passive smoking), which makes up the remaining 4.0%. Whereas inhalation is typically used in the treatment of pulmonary and neurological disorders and directed smoke in localized situations, such as dermatological and genito-urinary disorders, ambient smoke is not directed at the body at all but used as an air purifier. The advantages of smoke-based remedies are rapid delivery to the brain, more efficient absorption by the body and lower costs of production. This review highlights the fact that not enough is known about medicinal smoke and that a lot of natural products have potential for use as medicine in the smoke form. Furthermore, this review argues in favor of medicinal smoke extended use in modern medicine as a form of drug delivery and as a promising source of new active natural ingredients.
Medicinal smoke reduces airborne bacteria.
Abstract:
This study represents a comprehensive analysis and scientific validation of our ancient knowledge about the effect of ethnopharmacological aspects of natural products’ smoke for therapy and health care on airborne bacterial composition and dynamics, using the Biolog microplate panels and Microlog database. We have observed that 1h treatment of medicinal smoke emanated by burning wood and a mixture of odoriferous and medicinal herbs (havan sámagri=material used in oblation to fire all over India), on aerial bacterial population caused over 94% reduction of bacterial counts by 60 min and the ability of the smoke to purify or disinfect the air and to make the environment cleaner was maintained up to 24h in the closed room. Absence of pathogenic bacteria Corynebacterium urealyticum, Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes (Klebsiella mobilis), Kocuria rosea, Pseudomonas syringae pv. persicae, Staphylococcus lentus, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. tardicrescens in the open room even after 30 days is indicative of the bactericidal potential of the medicinal smoke treatment. We have demonstrated that using medicinal smoke it is possible to completely eliminate diverse plant and human pathogenic bacteria of the air within confined space.
The researchers reported their amazing findings:
We have observed that 1 hour treatment of medicinal smoke emanated by burning wood and a mixture of odoriferous and medicinal herbs (havan sámagri=material used in oblation to fire all over India), on aerial bacterial population caused over 94% reduction of bacterial counts by 60 min and the ability of the smoke to purify or disinfect the air and to make the environment cleaner was maintained up to 24 hour in the closed room. Absence of pathogenic bacteria Corynebacterium urealyticum, Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes (Klebsiella mobilis), Kocuria rosea, Pseudomonas syringae pv. persicae, Staphylococcus lentus, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. tardicrescens in the open room even after 30 days is indicative of the bactericidal potential of the medicinal smoke treatment. We have demonstrated that using medicinal smoke it is possible to completely eliminate diverse plant and human pathogenic bacteria of the air
within confined space.”
Did you catch that?
Not only did the burning of medicinal herbs clear aerial bacterial populations by 94% within one hour, but a full day later, the closed room was still effectively decontaminated. Even more amazing, a full month later, seven other pathogenic bacteria in the open room were still non-detectable.
When one considers that modern urban air has been found to contain at least 1800 diverse bacterial types[1] – including families with pathogenic members – this finding could have profound implications for combating a increasingly deadly array of antibiotic-resistant bacteriaagainst which even the CDC itself has acknowledged its impotence. Consider also that a recent microbiome of NYC’s subway system found close to 1700 different microbes, including those responsible for Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) and Bubonic Plague (yersinia pestis).[2]
Also, considering that conventional methods of air and surface sterilization and odor neutralization use chemical cocktails (e.g. Lysol) that are much less effective than advertised (one study found them up to 10 times less effective than believed), smudging or the use of natural incense products might constitute a far safer and more effective approach.
Given this discovery of medicinal smoke’s potent cleansing properties on aerosol microbes, we might look at Smudging’s traditional use as a cleanser of ‘evil spirits’ or ‘negative energy’ as less like a primitive projection and more like a metaphor for its very real antiseptic properties. This does not, of course, take away from its ‘cleansing’ effects upon the body’s subtler energy systems; nor does it take away from the the effects the medicinal smokes and its various small-molecule aromatic compounds have upon the olfactory system, which are largely responsible for the clinically proven health benefits of aromatherapy-based interventions.
http://www.sott.net/article/304147-Study-reveals-killer-germs-obliterated-by-Medicinal-smoke
no wonder everyone gets sicker as the smokers were kicked to the streets all those microbes were left to multiply everywhere indoors by the disease ridden non smokers……..
Significantly more disease in Denmark after smoking legislation and health patronage
http://translate.google.com/tr…
Published 13 hours 55 minutes ago in Politics
Added 23/03 2:07 to New teams of Klaus K
Disease Factory: – Five years of health campaigns, smoking bans, health charges and political patronage lifestyle has not led to more health in Denmark. On the contrary, the Danes have become much more ill.
State many paternalistic approach to change in the Danish “unhealthy lifestyle” is scheduled to have reduced disease and curbed the unbridled hospital expenses. The result is preliminarily said to be a genuine failure. A failure that should give all Danish health politicians red ears:
Solid multiple illnesses and hospitalizations. Preliminary premium for health care since the start of lifestyle paternalism: Average 8 billion extra per year.
* Read the article and see the numbers and graphs here: Make health patronage Danes sick?
Since politicians with smoking law in 2007 began to stick his nose in the Danish lifestyle, the number of hospital admissions exploded. It shows the raw figures from Statistics Denmark:
In 2012 reached up to a staggering 1.33 million annual hospital admissions – it was 150,000 more compared to 2006, or 13% more. This is double the rate of increase compared to the corresponding period before the smoking law.
Paradox: non-smoking room led to more smoking-related diseases
Ironically, the number of hospitalizations due to so-called “smoking-related” diseases increased much more than the average of disease hospitalizations. Prior to the smoking law claimed all health experts otherwise, to the smoke-free spaces would reduce these diseases. It was an “evidence-based” truth, it was said.
Today, it is recognized that the opposite has happened, “smoking-related” disease hospitalization rose 20% in the period after smoking law, while the average of diseases “only” grew 13%.
There have also been large increases in the number of hospitalizations due to joint and bone fractures, especially in women – this is because according to many practitioners overloads by excessive exercise cultivation, incited by various motion campaigns and the media council from health experts like. Bente Klarlund.
Furthermore, the number of cardiovascular diseases has been declining for many years, returned to an increase in the period 2006-2012.
Cardiovascular diseases were otherwise mainly the type of disease to be reduced as the Liberal-led coalition in January 2008 reduced the so-called Prevention Commission – to these words from former health minister Jakob Axel Nielsen (K):
– Most of us are aware that prevention among other concerns better diet, less smoking and alcohol and then more exercise.
– Prevention should be a top priority in the years ahead. We have just heard that the number of diabetes patients has doubled in just 10 years and that more than 300,000 people suffering from a cardiovascular disease. If the trend continues, they’re going lifestyle-related diseases to eat more and more of the health service.
– The development should we have simply done away with. Therefore, I am delighted that we can now provide impetus for prevention commission.
The Minister of Health, Jan. 2008: The government sets up prevention commission
Five years later – after many prohibitions, admonitions, health taxes, avoidance actions, admonishments, and scaremongering – it can be observed that the plan to reduce medical expenses by means of patronage has not worked as intended. The “healthy” Denmark is on the contrary been a regular disease factory.
The figures are a total failure of the idea that the state should interfere in people’s lifestyle to prevent disease.
Preventive make healthy people sick – and pharmaceutical companies happy
It goes without saying that “prevention is better than cure”, but obviously not when it comes to other people’s lifestyles, and certainly not when it is done by government intervention in people’s lives.
Many disease prevention projects also has the negative effect that they make healthy people sick . The reason is that health campaigns and disease prevention imbues many citizens fear of getting sick, which in itself leads to disease – through the so-called nocebo effect .
Prevention industry used 22 million to increase absenteeism
Actually, the result is not surprising: The theory that people’s lifestyle should be responsible for as many as 40% of hospital admissions, as alleged, is patently false. Therefore, the theory that the state can reduce costs by using health patronage, of course, false.
That these false theories accepted in health care because they are devised and spread the “science” of pharmaceutical lobbyists. They have done so with good reason – the pharmaceutical industry livelihood disease.
By accepting the lifestyle theory ignores the politicians, however, the root causes of many of the diseases that are claimed to be “lifestyle-related” Air pollution and industrial pollution in the workplace, and environmental toxins . It also ignores the large number of diseases that the pharmaceutical sector itself causes with its own products and treatments .
The result is, in other words predictable: When the government blindly rely on “evidence-based science”, financed and organized by global pharmaceutical companies suffering from the great interest that they earn more when there is more disease – the result is probably not minor illness, but more disease.
The big elephant in the living room: Smoking Law
It is possible that a part of the high admission increase since 2007 can also have other causes than health patronage – eg. of diagnosis, changing age structure and relocations from abroad. In addition, the increase in unemployment from 2009. But apart from high unemployment, so there were other factors also before the period of health patronage – they can not explain the explosion in the rate of increase has happened.
However, it is known that unemployment can make people sick. So maybe the politicians should remove some of the many crazy laws and regulations that keep unemployment up if they want to reduce disease – instead of poking your nose in the Danish lifestyle? It would suit them.
One could for example. start by looking at the big elephant in the living room: smoking law. This strange law, which is now in its seventh year prohibits an entrepreneur to open a restaurant where smoking is permitted. Smoking law destroys proven many emerging initiative, increased consumption and economic growth.
It also does not lead to less disease, as shown. It would also be strange – the smoking law are also pharmaceutical giants work
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.180grader.dk%2FPolitik%2Fmarkant-mere-sygdom-i-danmark-efter-rygelov-og-sundhedsformynderi-1&sandbox=0&usg=ALkJrhh_nP9lbiKbu33z77nIS-ggp2IwkQ
One Of The Most Important Scientists In The World: “Most Cancer Research Is Largely A Fraud”
“Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organisations are derelict in their duties to the people who…
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/05/11/one-of-the-most-important-scientists-in-the-world-most-cancer-research-is-largely-a-fraud/
Here is another great example of a hard hitting quote when it comes to scientific fraud and manipulation. It comes from Dr. Marcia Angell, a physician and long time Editor in Chief of the New England Medical Journal (NEMJ), which is considered to be one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals in the world. I apologize if you have seen it before in my articles, but it is quite the statement.
“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine”
Only found last week:
A newly found asteroid of notable size will safely pass by Earth on October 31, 2015 and should be visible moving in front of the stars, with the help of a telescope, the night before. According to NASA, asteroid 2015 TB145 will be the biggest asteroid to come near Earth until 2027. It was discovered just over a week ago, on October 10, from the Pan-STARRS I telescope in Hawaii. The Halloween asteroid’s closest approach will occur on 11:14 a.m. ET (15:14 UTC) on October 31, 2015…
Preliminary estimates indicate asteroid 2015 TB145 is about 1,542 feet (470 meters) in diameter (estimates range between 689 to 2,133 feet, or 210 to 650 meters). Because of its size, advanced amateur astronomers may be able to see the moving asteroid in telescopes of 8″ in diameter or larger.
If the size is correct, the new found asteroid is 28 times bigger than the Chelyabinsk meteor that penetrated the atmosphere over Russia in February, 2013.
We are fortunate that asteroid 2015 TB145 is passing at a safe distance, because it was discovered so recently, only three weeks before its closest encounter with Earth. It’s a reminder of a comment made by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in March, 2013, while addressing the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee at a meeting to discuss the threat of incoming asteroids like the Chelyabinsk meteor, which had happened just a month earlier. Bolden was trying to emphasize the need for adequate funding for detecting and characterizing near-Earth objects, and diverting them if necessary, when he told the committee:
From the information we have, we don’t know of an asteroid that will threaten the population of the United States. But if it’s coming in three weeks…pray..
Frank I find it amazing that with all the radar sets they have around the world and astronomy telescopes they find one near us after its travelled within 3 weeks of us…….sound slike scare tactics to me or they don’t have a clue what they are doing at NASA.
Seeing as how they travel at an average speed of 45,000 mph and 3 weeks out is about 22.7 million miles, seeing something a thousand feet in diameter is pretty damn good.
Just for laughs, at that distance it would take light about 1.5 minutes to reach the Earth.
If there’s a rock train behind it, we’ll be nearest it at about 19:30 UT on 31 Oct 2015.
And if any rocks (exiting top right) hit the Earth, they’ll be centred on the Indian ocean, and radiating from there.
Blue lines are ground tracks, red lines are air paths.
Uh oh…. those rock trains look skeery! I’m gonna haveta add another layer of aluminum foil to my ceilings!
:>
MJM
P.S. Re the survey…. Don’t those religions say anything about GAMBLING?
Yes, I’ve already made a triple thickness aluminium foil hat with a pointy bit on top, so I reckon I should be ok if a rock train comes through town.
OOooooo YES! That pointy part is VERY important! You need to have a directional escape for your protective brain rays to help deflect the asteroids onto the Antismokers!
Im getting out my old rabbit ears for the tv………………they look good at Halloween on me
Bring back Charles II.
And Henry Purcell while you’re at it.