B.C. might suspend the seasonal flu shots as early as today, in the wake of a Canadian study that suggests people who get the flu vaccine are twice as likely to contract the H1N1 virus. Several news outlets reported the preliminary findings of the study, which is still under peer review. Researchers found that those who received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were more likely to catch H1N1. While the research was initially met with much skepticism from health officials, several provinces, including Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia, have suspended seasonal flu shots for anyone younger than 65, the Globe and Mail newspaper is reporting in its Monday editions.
“‘The new biologist’ is not a scientist who knows a little bit about all disciplines, but a scientist with deep knowledge in one discipline and a ‘working fluency’ in several.”
A report released today by the National Research Council “calls on the United States to launch a new multiagency, multiyear, and multidisciplinary initiative to capitalize on the extraordinary advances recently made in biology and to accelerate new breakthroughs that could solve some of society’s most pressing problems — particularly in the areas of food, environment, energy, and health.”
The release noted that recent advances in technology call for an approach that brings together physicists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and other scientists to create a “new biology” research community that can tackle society’s big problems, such as:
Food security: develop capacity to quickly adapt plants to new growing initiatives.
Environmental: monitor ecosystems; repair damage
Energy: speed development of alternatives to fossil fuels.
Medicine: personalize treatments with a goal of providing “individually predictive surveillance and care.”
The authors note that “new biology” holds great potential to attract new talent to the field: people who want to use their talents to solve real problems, not just live in the lab. They also make explicit an underlying challenge: quantitative skills will be more important than ever.
The report was requested by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and U.S. Department of Energy. Read the release here.
Here are a few questions that have been asked of me in response to my first H1N1 post, or at work in the process dealing with other healthcare providers who are concerned about their well-being during the flu this season. I’m not an expert in H1N1, and below are simply my opinions on the issues raised. I think discussion is important and you can take what you will from it.
1. Is Vitamin D deficiency linked with H1N1?
According to the website of naturopath Dr. Mercola, being deficient in Vitamin D makes one susceptible to H1N1. He argues this by employing CDC data about recent deaths in chronically ill children. [ JI: I hope you will bear with me as I think this is an important idea, and it's worth re-hashing our discourse in this public forum]
The argument is as follows:
1. kids who are sick are more susceptible to getting sick! (i.e. kids with cerebral palsy are more likely to get very sick with H1N1)
2. kids who are chronically sick are vitamin D deficient
3. those who get H1N1 must be vitamin D deficient
Yes, the correlation may be there, but premise 3 does not follow from the axioms 1 &2.
As the article says, lots and lots and lots of children are Vitamin D deficient, and they don’t all have H1N1. Also, of those who have H1N1, not all are Vitamin D deficient [ok, this article does not demonstrate that ANY of the children who died were in fact Vitamin D deficient, it just says it is likely]. In addition, no mechanism for Vitamin D and susceptibility for flu is proposed.
Compound this with the fact that the website sells Vitamin D (hello, conflict of interest!) and I just don’t buy it. This is where I feel the Internet can be a dangerous place. I am lucky enough to have been through the rigours of undergrad science and medical school, having had critical thinking beaten into me. I think lots of non-allopathic practitioners and health reporters (including those with the CBC) are lacking in this area. Education in language and logic, as well as scientific reasoning, should be necessary for anyone trying to draw scientific conclusions or to interpret technical literature.
That said, in my part of the world, people don’t get enough Vitamin D from the sun between October and April. Talk to your doctor and see if you need Vitamin D for bone health.
2. Are older people already exposed to H1N1, and thus resistant?
Yes and no. People born before 1950 may have encountered, carried, or been actively infected with a similar strain of the flu, according to a CDC report in May 2009 (MD Consult news). Past exposure means a potential for current resistance. But not everyone over a certain age will have been exposed, and even if they were, it is not certain that they will have maintained any degree of resistance. On an individual level, this fact should not affect whether a person get a flu vaccine. I think it’s best to consider this piece of news as an interesting explanation for the lower-than-expected rate of H1N1 in the senior population.
3. Does the seasonal flu vaccine interfere with the H1N1 vaccine’s efficacy?
Maybe? So far, there isn’t a lot of data on this. Preliminary testing reveals there may be some interaction. Quebec has taken a hardline stance on this, intending to offer only the H1N1 shot, but I think the safest thing is to wait for more information. Lots of medications are known to interact, and in many cases, staggering the dosing (i.e. leaving enough time between each medication) can be helpful for avoiding/reducing the degree of interaction. Seasonal flu shots are due in October, and H1N1 vaccines won’t be available until November. Seasonal flu is not a nice beast either. Just because then H1N1 strain is getting all the media attention, it doesn’t mean the seasonal flu is going to forget to infect us.
4. Are vaccines safe? Aren’t they full of Mercury and other toxins? Don’t they cause autism?
I hear these questions a lot. I’m going to address it more thoroughly in a separate post, because I think it deserves a lengthy discussion. Stay tuned!
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People are looking for cancer therapy herbs in places we never knew they were places. Wish they would save them the trouble and just go to the site mentioned below.
Summithealthproducts.com is a site where you can get all your cancer therapy herbs under one roof. So look no further.
As bedroom furniture goes for the most part I am very lame. My bed is just a box spring and a mattress on a metal frame, my chest of drawers is a hideous old hand-me-down I can’t bring myself to get rid of, and my bookcases are Ikea standard issue. Until a few years ago my nightstand was – I am not making this up – an old Tandy XT monitor jammed into the top of a white milk crate. For the longest time I figured “oh, well, this monitor-stuck-in-a-milk-crate keeps my glasses and whatnot off the ground just as well as a fancy-schmancy ‘night table,’ so why shouldn’t I have this next to my bed? Oh, how droll and utilitarian and twentysomething I am!”
Of course, at some point when I was 28 or so I realized, as all intelligent folk do, that utilitarianism is a joke and John Stuart Mill is a fucking dickhead. I threw out the monitor-stroke-milk crate and resolved to keep my essentials on the corner of my desk. People like me who are largely blind without their glasses will recognize the need to place them, Leonard Shelby-like, in the same place every night. So now I keep my glasses and wallet and phone and whatnot on this one corner of my desk.
And this isn’t just any desk, mind you.
From the time I was approximately seven years old until about two years ago my desk was this ancient, mirror-topped mahogany behemoth I assume was scavenged from one of my mother’s dead relatives. This was how we obtained just about all of our furniture back then. Now bear in mind two important things at that time: 1) My parents were literally the age I am now, but with two kids and a mortgage living on the salary of a schoolteacher and a part-time optometrist. 2) In the entirety of my mother’s comically-abundant extended Irish family, by some cosmic demographic hiccup we were the ONLY new family with young kids. So every time someone died – which was quite often given the sheer quantity of family members – my parents would end up with their furniture because, “oh, John and Teresa need it.” This is why my father didn’t have a reliable car until he was 40 but we have three complete dining room sets, and why as a third-grader I was given a gigantic antique for a desk.
Over the next twenty years or so I would proceed to beat the living shit out of this desk, and when I started going back to school a couple years ago I realized I needed a place to both put my computer and do homework and that my desktop wasn’t big enough for that. (The lack of such realization perhaps explaining some of my poor academic performance beforehand.) I also realized that the mirror that was the top of my desk was sufficiently cracked and broken such that if I slipped while typing my hands would be sliced off at the wrists.
So with much sadness I disposed of my old desk. My sadness ended when I proceeded to replace it with something that looked like it came from the bridge of the JJ Abrams Enterprise. This desk DOES NOT FUCK AROUND. It is acres of polished glass held up by gleaming black metal in a way that at first glance seems to defy the laws of physics. It is awesomely L-shaped so that I have, essentially, an entire desk for my computer and another entire desk for homework and reading and whatnot, with a third smaller desk in between usually reserved for laptops of dubious purpose. It has got LEVELS: on side of it has an entire second story. My desk is what you would get if you force-fed mescaline to Frank Lloyd Wright and then chained him to a drafting table and held a gun to his head while shouting: “a desk, Frank, MAKE US A FUCKING DESK!”
At the moment a significant portion of it is covered with half-painted Space Marines and a forest of medicine bottles.
For the longest time I tried to keep some order to the medicine bottles, to maintain a sort of straight line that I could go down as I needed to, but as I grew more and more resentful of the fact that I take so many goddamn pills every semblance of order faded and now there are just bottles all over the place. For the back: Neurontin, Vicodin. For the liver: Vitamin E, Milkthistle, Ursodiol. For emergencies/special occasions: Dilaudid. Now that one, that’s special. Dilaudid is what your body turns morphine into. It is wicked bad juju. When I first got the prescription my pharmacist told me, “okay, basically, never take this stuff. It will erase the world.” Since then I’ve taken it three times when the pain in my back flared to a point where I was unable to successfully prosecute my day to day life. My pharmacist’s warnings were not inaccurate. I’m going to hold on to the rest of it and give the pills out as Christmas presents; the nicer you are to me between now and then the more you’ll get.
This weekend I was down with a cold and added some NyQuil to the menagerie. My love of NyQuil borders on abuse, and not even for its alcohol content: taken at half-dosage it is the only medicine I have ever found that actually relieves my symptoms when I have a cold, and as a sufferer of chronic anxious insomnia a full dose is one of the few things guaranteed to put me to sleep. At one point this Saturday I was sitting at my awesome desk, taking my NyQuil, and as I put the bottle down it landed next to the Dilaudid. I thought, “I wonder what would happen if I mixed them,” and then realized that thoughts like that bring me dangerously closer to being a character in a James Ellroy novel. The fact that I am currently reading a James Ellroy novel probably contributed to that realization, but I stuck with that line of thought for a little. Well, let’s think, what would that be like?
I mentally composed a list of pros and cons.
Pros: an authority figure of some sort (police, FBI, etc). Get to hobnob with interesting underworld types and make lots of money. Get to experiment with heretofore unknown combinations of drugs and alcohol. Get to have sex with (inexplicably lots of) interesting women. Free to regularly indulge darkest, basest, vilest desires. Witty yet realistic dialogue.
Cons: complicity in most heinous acts of the 20th century. Tendency for every associate to be evil scumbag. Utter moral bankruptcy.
As I sat there at my awesome desk, I felt the delicious warmth of red NyQuil seeping into my tissues and I thought, “tough call, tough call…”
One thing is sure .US Government is subtle in promoting Big business. In India, it is done quite openly and brazenly.In Tamil Nadu,A state in India,the State Government arbitrarily deducted premium for personal health care from govt.employees for a multinational insurance company.Federal Govt. openly sold Spectrum band licences for about Rs 2000 crores which could have fetched Rs.60,000 crores, other wise.(Rs 50=1$).This is just a tip.Be happy in America, for there seems to be atleast some subtlety.None can save us from the politicians or from big businesses.
Insya Allah this can help you Healing puffed-up stomach
Bake 2 seeds of “Kedawung” (Parkia biglobosa Benth). After getting ripe, pulverize it with a thumb of red onion and fennel sufficiently. Then stick it on your stomach, especially around its center, buttock, and sole of foot. ———————————————————————————————————————–
Insya Allah ini bisa membantu Anda Mengobati perut kembung
Bakar 2 biji kedawung. Setelah matang dilumatkan bersama bawang merah sebesar ibu jari dan adas secukupnya. Kemudian tempelkanlah pada perut, terutama di sekitar pusar, pantat, dan telapak kaki.
A lady doctor named Dr Suzanne Gudakunst has just release what many are calling the end of the need for potentially harmful weight-loss drugs and designer foods made to help you lose weight.
Dr Suzanne’s discovery allows anyone regardless of their particular diet to do “just one simple thing” and instantly start shedding anywhere from 15 lbs to as much as 200 lbs of unwanted and dangerous fat!
Typical results average 45 lbs in just the first 30 days alone for most people just starting out using her new secret.
The reason this is so is because her secret (aptly titled: “Top Secret Fat Loss Secret”) operates on an entirely different approach in the battle against the ever-increasing “bulge.”
Dr Suzanne discovered that harmful crusty “plaque” builds up over the years in all of us – and which is the direct result of harmful chemicals, preservatives, pesticides, etc. deliberately placed in perhaps every food on the market (much of which is now suspected as being carefully and intentionally done so that people will continue to get fatter and thus sicker, and in order to make the food & drug companies richer!)
The result: This harmful plaque is responsible for your weight gain because is BLOCKS your body’s natural ability to absorb proper nutrition – and which causes two (2) chief things to occur:
>> Your body starves no matter how much you eat – so by not
feeling satisfied you continue to stuff your face and get very
very fat (and eventually at the permanent cost of your
health!)
>> Your body thinks it’s starving so your ‘hypothalamus’
adjusts your metabolism to burn food much, much slower in
an effort to store food – thus making you even more and
more fatter than even before!
So it makes sense that if and when you REMOVE this unwanted “garbage” from lacing your ‘insides,’ you will naturally start dissolving the fat and “stored chunks of lard” that disfigure an otherwise more attractive and healthier frame and sexier body.
As if this ‘plaque’ goop weren’t enough, Dr Suzanne identified multitudes of specific species of “parasites” (i.e., little worm-like “critters” – some which have ‘fangs’ but no eyes) living inside nearly 99.964% of all people’s small and large intestines in the United States alone, and about 92.36% of people on average worldwide.
These parasites excrete (meaning they take a CRAP inside YOU!) a jelly-like “SLUDGE” they coats your insides and which is very, very harmful and extremely TOXIC!
Additionally, much like the plaque, they often steal your nutrition which in turn again causes your body to believe it’s starving, and as a defense you continue even more just to get FATTER and FATTER!
These parasites usually end up dying (but not before laying millions of eggs!) — and once they die they fossilize forming a coral-like barrier preventing your even further from absorbing the correct amounts of proper nutrition.
When these parasites are FLUSHED from your guts, you end up magically losing tons of fat and extra weight – and even WITHOUT making one slight change to your diet or how much you eat!
SHOCKINGLY, these same “little critters (as Dr Suzanne calls them) actually release chemical “messengers” that make you crave foods that you are not even supposed to eat at all!
People who get rid of the parasites, therefore, suddenly find that they no longer even desire the Cheetos, pork rinds, jelly-filled treats, and 10,000’s of other equally deadly so-called “foods.”
In the past 6 years alone Dr Suzanne has tested her amazing new discovery and “TOP SECRET Fat Loss Secret” privately with a select group of volunteers, and seen results that fall nothing short of the truly FANTASTIC!
For instance, a Chicago woman who weighed until recently a whopping 587 lbs and who had even been visited by a living-legendary diet and fitness guru (name withheld by request), but who after much direct assistance from him (the guru) was not able to shed even 1 lb, suddenly dropped 449 lbs from her body weight in under 5 months using Dr Suzanne’s SECRET! — and she didn’t change or reduce one thing she regularly ate in her diet!
Now the woman weighs just 138 lbs, looks like a completely different woman altogether — and as if that weren’t enough, she became a swimsuit model for a well-known company! (But most importantly, this woman added who knows how many years to her life as a direct result of using Dr Suzanne’s “Top Secret Fat Loss Secret!”)
Another equally tearfully-joyous account was of a woman named Lisa Stephens from Ohio who was told her diabetes could “never” be cured or reversed — and this by countless doctors.
After shedding over 156 lbs in just 91 days of having used this same amazing revolutionary breakthrough secret discovered by Dr Suzanne, her diabetes is gone completely and she no longer depends on insulin just to be able to survive!
These kinds of results are flooding Dr Suzanne’s email each and everyday from all over the world (not just from North America — which has by far the fattest population as a group).
And even though you like me recognize these results as both newsworthy and for the common good of humanity as a whole, there are some who are literally out to get the good lady doctor.
Recently investigators began carefully keeping an extra protective eye on Dr Suzanne after she received death threats from “individuals” purportedly connected to the vast drug empires and weight-loss food manufacturing companies.
It would appear on the face of it that Dr Suzanne’s “Top Secret Fat Loss Secret” must really work, because if it didn’t no one would care to bring her harm.
This would be akin to an inventor discovering how to make a car that runs on water instead of gas assassinated by the major auto manufacturers!
Investigators insist that the reason she received threats is largely because what she is doing may actually make people healthier, leaner, sexier and trimmer, as well as make them live longer fuller lives — and as a result they stand to lose lots of money (possibly BILLIONS of dollars!!)
The BEST part of her secret is that it’s nothing difficult to do, and it doesn’t require a major change in either your lifestyle or diet.
In fact, “Nature’s actually on our side” according to Dr Suzanne, as her solution to the arduous ills of fat and obesity is simply the ingestion of Nature’s own ‘protections’ against both the harmful death-causing/obesity-causing plaque as well as the nasty little critters living in your bowels!
Anyone with anywhere from just a few extra pounds to those 100 lbs or more overweight must as a rule now secure for themselves Dr Suzanne’s “TOP SECRET Fat Loss Secret” (and before someone tries to lobby against you ever discovering what’s truly in it!)
I recognize a great thing when I see one — and THIS SECRET is definitely the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.
We all know that people are just getting fatter and fatter, and more and more UNHEALTHY – so this is a secret whose time is long overdue.
While many people may tell you to just stick to your diet, exercise to the point of exhaustion, etc, the naysayers will definitely be disappointed when they find out that Dr Suzanne’s cure to obesity is completely NATURAL!
If you want the good doctor’s secret for yourself and so that no one can ever take it away from you or steal out of your hands, then all you need to do is grab your own PDF copy here:
=> http://AFF_ID.fatsecret.hop.clickbank.net
But I have to warn you of two (2) things:
1. Pay processors are already struggling to keep up with orders as this SECRET is now one of the most sought after things anywhere online! (So if you put off, don’t be surprised to find you can’t even place your order, and may not receive notice as to when order-taking may resume.)
2. Dr Suzanne in an effort to get people to get off their butts and to take action for their own good, is making it available at nearly HALF OFF just for people getting over there TODAY through the next 48 hours only — after that, the low price now nearly DOUBLES! (So you’d best beat the crowds over there NOW!)
So if you’re wise, and want to grab her secret before something unforeseen forever prevents you from doing so, then you’d best do what I did and go secure it now at:
=> http://samgrg.fatsecret.hop.clickbank.net
How many times have you seen sudden “breakthroughs” of such great controversy potentially come along and cause a woman doctor to actually get death threats for her secret ‘know-how?’ — You’re right … very, very few.
So don’t overlook this email as it may very well prove to be one of the most influential and important ones you’ve ever received…
Norman Carr Safaris consists of Kapani Lodge, an eight-room luxury lodge adjacent to the South Luangwa National Park, and four seasonal luxurious bush camps, dotted in isolated areas of the park, each with its own personality (some tented, some built with reeds). Even though they are called bush camps, they are completely rebuilt every season, all en-suite with
Elephant Walk
open-air showers and no attention to detail spared. Unlike many camps in the area, which have to be temporary structures because of heavy rain November through May, Kapani Lodge is open year-round. Game drives and boat activities are the norm at Kapani, walks (from camp to camp) or drives are offered at the bush camps.
Mchenja Bush Camp
What They Are Doing
Education
Norman Carr started the Kapani School Project in 1986 to assist a “casual” school already there. Guests are invited to visit the school (if they express a desire), and thereby encouraging them to make donations. The meet the teachers and the children and invariably leave donations. The company provides all administration and support, and employ 1.5 people to run the administration sideof the project. The primary aim is to provide education (including books and clothing) to local children who would otherwise have none.
Yosefe School
NCS also provides the infrastructure for Yosefe School, between Mfuwe and the park, and over the years has built three classroom blocks, six houses for teacher accommodation, fully stocked library, ablution blocks, a laboratory and a borehole that provides drinking water for the whole community
In addition, Yosefe also has a tree-planting project that is managed by NCS at the school although maintained by the children. There are a couple of “plantations” at Yosefe School, and in the past NCS has given trees to the children to plant in their villages, although this has been dormant for a couple of years.
Medicine
NCS supports (along with about ten other safari operators in the Mfuwe area) the Kakumbi Clinic Project, which brings out a doctor from overseas for up to six months and provides healthcare to the entire community. The project also maintains the local clinic and provides medicines.
Wildlife
NCS is a corporate sponsor and member of the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS), which works in conjunction with the Zambian Parks Authorities to protect and conserve the natural resources. The society funds an anti-poaching team to patrol the Park, and who are trained, fitted with uniforms and anti-poaching necessities, housed and fed, and are called on whenever there are snared animals that need assistance, when they dart them, remove snares and doctor the animals.
Other
The society also manages a community school in the Mfuwe area. In order to help locals protect their crops from elephants, the society grows chillies that they then teach farmers how to use as a deterrent.
In Their Own Words
Norman Carr
“Ever since Norman Carr first started operating safaris in the Luangwa valley back in 1950, the concept of managing the wildlife and the ecosystem in conjunction with, and for the benefit of, its traditional owners — the local communities — is something that has been very important to our company. He was a pioneer in this approach to conservation and wildlife tourism, and the company is proud to uphold his legacy.“
Norman Carr Safaris consists of Kapani Lodge, an eight-room luxury lodge adjacent to the South Luangwa National Park, and four seasonal luxurious bush camps, dotted in isolated areas of the park, each with its own personality (some tented, some built with reeds). Even though they are called bush camps, they are completely rebuilt every season, all en-suite with open-air showers and no attention to detail spared. Unlike many camps in the area, which have to be temporary structures because of heavy rain November through May, Kapani Lodge is open year-round. Game drives and boat activities are the norm at Kapani, walks (from camp to camp) or drives are offered at the bush camps.
Mind reading: The system above was used to predict whether patients should be kept on one antidepressant or switched to another. The strap around the subject’s head contains electrodes that pick up brain waves. The strap hooks up to a hockey-puck-size device that digitizes and filters the EEG signal before sending it on to a laptop for processing. Credit: Aspect Medical Systems
Brain waves measured using a simple device just one week into treatment can indicate whether a depressed patient should continue taking a medication or be switched to another. The study, which was conducted at nine sites across the U.S., could significantly reduce the time it takes to effectively treat major depression.
“Selecting the right antidepressant medication is a bit of a shot in the dark,” says Andrew Leuchter, professor of psychiatry at UCLA and lead author of the study. “The first medicine we choose only gets the patient well about a third of the time.”
Antidepressants must be taken for approximately eight weeks before it’s clear whether or not the medicine will have an effect. Patients frequently have to try two to three medications before finding an effective one, meaning the search for the right medication can take many months. “This leads to prolonged disability, prolonged suffering, and the chance that the patient may never get well,” says Leuchter. “Some patients say, ‘I don’t need this,’ and drop out of treatment.” The testing process studied by Leuchter and his colleagues, which takes only 15 minutes, could help those suffering from depression find relief faster.
For the study, the researchers used a customized version of a quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) system to study the brainwave patterns of 375 people suffering from major depression. The device, developed by Aspect Medical Systems of Norwood, MA, consists of a few electrodes mounted on a strap that is worn across the patient’s head. (Aspect Medical provided funding for the study and employs Leuchter as a consultant. Leuchter is also a minor shareholder in the firm.) The strap hooks up to a hockey-puck-size device that digitizes and filters the EEG signal, as well as performing some basic processing. That device plugs into a laptop computer, which does the bulk of the signal analysis.
The CDC website lists the side effects of a flu shot as:
Soreness, redness, or swelling where the shot was given
Fever (low grade)
Aches
I was given a flu shot last Friday at my doctor’s office (having never received one before.) About fifteen minutes after the injection I became nauseated. Every day since then, including today, I have had nausea that persists, almost to the point of being never-ending. I am not certain that the flu shot caused this, as I am on other medication. However, none of my medication is new, and I have not had uncomfortable side effects like this before with them. I am also experiencing soreness at the injection site (feels like I’ve been punched there). I’m not sure how common this is with people who receive flu shots, or if it is a side effect of it, but it is keeping me from being able to do my normal, everyday activities. I have been laying down a lot, and small tasks have become very stressful. I will talk with my doctor if this persists, but hopefully it will be a passing problem.
note: There is a prayer at the end of this entry. I invite you to invoke it along with me.
Today’s a watery day.
Blue, blue, blue. Wearing the new necklace I designed: blue ribbon, lapis, deep turquoise, crashing wave clasp. Blue shirt, blue hair, blue suede shoes, blue jeans.
Walking across the sound, wind wiping through, choppy tides, seal bobbing; I feel watery. A need for water. Sleep hazy, middle of the night, grateful for cool air and the sound of rain. I need water inside and out. Drinking water, drawing in water, water into my soul.
Walking around Capitol Lake, enjoying the feel of the choppy water, enjoying the sound of water, the tree branches tossing in the water, beating against the cement walls of this manmade lake. Wondering about the legislator who wanted to look down into a lake, tame. Was the Sound too wild? Feeling drawn in, I must look closer, it’s me. Beating against the walls I’ve constructed in my self. Familiar imagery. Reminiscent of high school and a me I hated. Feeling walled in, beating my head against a wall, didn’t know I could go around it, didn’t know I created it, didn’t know how it protected me. I’ve been tearing down walls inside me and yet more remain.
Step up on the ledge, watching the waves crashing against the edge. Look down. A statue. A goddess. In the water, shimmering gold. It’s Ganesha. Destroyer of Obstacles. A moment of peace, a respite in this mad transition. You are not alone, you are not alone. Ganesh in his watery domain. A watery grave. Gravestones all around. Cardboard tombstones, rows and rows of names.
A seagull cries. A feather in my hand, as I’m walking. Drawn to the grocery store, because I need to eat, eat more than the vegan fare I’ve given myself. I’m thirsty. Thirsting for moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee than this, craving water, water. Staring at the salmon behind the glass window, wishing I didn’t want it. Wishing my soul and body didn’t crave this animal’s flesh. But it does and I can’t deny myself any longer. I can’t pretend I don’t want it any longer. Two inches, please. I eat it cold. And my Vegan heart is crying, but I’m so grateful. Thank you, thank you, I think over and over. Gratitude pours out of me. I can’t eat it fast enough, my hands are shaking. Still I wish I didn’t need it. Gratitude isn’t enough to alleviate the guilt I feel.
As I watch the tides and wind move the Sound over the stones below me, it occurs to me eating this salmon is yet another way to consume water. I love the sun and the blue skies, the quickly moving fluffy white clouds. But I yearn for rain. Water me. Water my dry parched soul.
Salmon in my dreams. Salmon, my birth totem. Salmon, the magic of this place. Why am I so thirsty?
What am I craving? Why do I need so much water?
Water to sooth. Water: the depths of emotion and subconscious, the well from which inspiration comes.
Water to sooth my burning heart. Too much fire. Too much fire this year, unfinished fire. I can’t finish projects. I realize that I blame myself for leaving Portland, for leaving my temple. I’ve failed. I let my fire burn too hot, too bright, and I’ve burnt myself. Cool, cool water, aloe, sooth my hurts. My fire self ripped open the wounds, too many wounds to deal with. Heal! Now! My fire self wants it all now. Accomplish! Now! My fire self wants it all now. My sun self misses the light. My moon self has gotten all the love this past year and a half. My feminine, my moon. The masculine doesn’t know what to do with itself when not in control. The masculine doesn’t know how to be when not in control. The masculine doesn’t know how to be second– the moon reflects the sun, patriarchy says. But my moon is the sun. My sun is my moon, we’re all the same.
Balance. Sun becoming moon. Moon becoming male. Fire into water, water into air, air into earth. Move beyond duality, beyond paradox, into something more. It hurts. Transformation. Release the need for hurt and transform with ease and grace. Slip through change like gently flowing waters. Dance through change like a flitting flame. Butterfly. Lovely. Release yourself from bondage. Chains of thought patterns and old ways of being. Live a new life. Allow in adventure.
Ganesh says, let me help. In the waters of your soul and body I am. Goddess, The Dark Moon, Dark Lady: let me change you! Let me transform you. Let me tear you apart, to let your light out. I am Destruction. I am the Breath of Creation. Fire and Water destroy with tenacity. I am all you need. Let me build a new you. From the souls of each molecule, a new you. Accept it. It will happen whether you will or no.
Goddess, Dark Creatrix, Ganesh, I open to accepting the gifts and support you offer. Into the core of my being, into each cell of this body, I accept the change you offer. I recognize my existence as change embodied. I am the dance of fire, flitting through time and experience. I am smooth running water, gracefully slipping across life’s experiences. I am your child. I AM that I AM. I see each experience as Divine expressions of my soul. I am forever grateful to participate in this Great Mystery.
Medical tourism is where people travel abroad to receive medical treatments like cosmetic surgery, which they could not afford in their own country.
Those travelling abroad for such treatments usually come from developed countries, where treatments are very expensive. The UK and the US are two of the biggest markets. That said: wealthy people in countries with poor health sectors often travel to countries that offer better healthcare for major treatments.
When people travel abroad for medical treatments they have two main criteria: cost and quality of healthcare.
They are looking for a place that they can both get to and be treated in cheaply, but which has a top-class health sector so that they know they will be safe. Below are three destinations which meet the criteria for perfect medical tourism destinations, and as such are some of the most popular destinations with medical tourists.
Malaysia:
Malaysia was recently found to be the most popular medical tourism destination with the growing numbers of Asia’s wealthiest. They travel to Malaysia for major treatments because it has one of the best health services in, not only Asia, but the world.
Malaysia is also one of the most popular destinations with those travelling from English speaking destinations (US and UK). This is because, as an ex-British colony there is a high prevalence of English speakers in the health sector. Tourism from the two combines to make Malaysia one of the fastest growing medical tourism destinations, and well worth a property investment tailored to that market.
Costa Rica:
Costa Rica is massively popular with American medical tourists. Costa Rica disbanded the military in 1980 because of the safety and stability of the country. This makes people feel safe about visiting the country, but it also freed up billions of dollars to spend on education on healthcare.
For that reason Costa Rica now has one of the best, and most efficient health sectors in the world. Of the top destinations Costa Rica is also among the cheapest for procedures, which makes it very popular with medical tourists from around the world including the UK.
India:
India also benefits from cost effectiveness when it comes to medical tourism. People from around the world can afford surgeries and procedures in India that they would never be able to afford in the UK or even America. India is also an ex-British colony, and for that reason it has a developed, very efficient and safe health service, which again is a draw for medical tourists from abroad and within the region.
Brazil:
Brazil is fast growing into an economic giant, on the back of its massive production and agricultural sectors, and massive growth in the services sector fuelled in part by tourism growth. Though Brazil has been affected by the international downturn, it is a testament to its economic potential that its recession only lasted 2 quarters with growth resuming at 1.9% in Q2.
Over the years of economic growth, developing the infrastructure, including the health services has been a major priority of the government(s). The fact that it has been a success is testified to by FIFA choosing Brazil as host for the 2014 World Cup.
America:
Yes, that’s right. America is a medical tourism destination. In fact it is one of the longest-standing medical tourism destinations in the world. That’s right: Brits have been taking advantage of the dollar exchange rate and travelling to America to get their bits tucked in or pushed out since the 80s.
America’s health service is first-rate. Brits trust it because it is on a par with the UK (please don’t start a politics debate), and procedures are just over half the price they would be in the UK — used to be half the price before the Pound plummeted.
Extras:
Panama is also a popular destination with American medical tourists. Its economy grew by an average 10% every year for the last few years, and a lot of this increased revenue was invested in improving the infrastructure, including the health service. Now Panama has an excellent health service and — despite the dollarized economy — surgery is still cheaper than America.
Many Americans are also travelling to Mexico for cosmetic surgery on the cheap. While Mexico’s health service isn’t known for being world class, there are some decent surgeons and people are finding them through word of mouth. Of course there are some horror stories as well from Mexico, so don’t go unless you know.
If you are looking to make a statement with your medical accessories, you may want to look into this line of “Help Remedies” by Adam Winski and Richard Fine. The three varieties available contain acetaminophen tablets for headaches, dramamine for sleep, and bandages for cuts, all of which are packaged in these stylish recyclable materials.
I caught these on display at Moss in the Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. You could go there for the superb tapas and liquid nitrogen caipirinhas or just some headache medicine.
I have a serious PopTart problem! I am on some medicine that makes your appetite messed up. For some reason – I can’t seem to stomach any food without wanting to throw up… except poptarts! This is so weird! I had EIGHT poptarts today.. and a yogurt – but that’s it! I know I need to eat healthy but I just can’t today. It’s terrible I know. I wish I could eat the salad and soup I made but looking at it makes me want to throw up. Hopefully I can eat healthier food soon! That is all. Good night. -Kary
The Patriot Post - Wed Chronicle – Wed 16 September 2009
THE FOUNDATION
“[T]here is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust.” –James Madison
EDITORIAL EXEGESIS
Undercover conservatives catch ACORN in a tight spot
“After Acorn workers were caught on tape in three cities allegedly abetting what they believed was a fraudulent-mortgage and sex-trafficking scheme, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to strip the group of funding in the Transportation/Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. The amendment, offered by Nebraska Republican Sen. Mike Johanns, passed by an 83-to-7 margin and marked the third time this year that Republicans have tried to block the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now from feeding at the federal trough. Seven Democrats refused to do the right thing. The magnificent seven are Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Bob Casey, D-Pa.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; both Vermont Democrats, Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy, as well as both Illinois Democrats, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Roland Burris. This vote comes after the release of three hidden-camera videos showing Acorn housing staff in its Baltimore, Washington and New York offices apparently helping a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute evade the IRS and apply for an illegal housing loan to set up a brothel. (Insert stimulus joke here.) The Census Bureau immediately severed ties with Acorn, unconcerned that prostitutes and tax evaders might be undercounted in the 2010 census.” –Investor’s Business Daily
DEZINFORMATSIA
When the anchor misses the news: “I don’t even know about it. So you’ve got me at a loss, I don’t know. … I know we’ve done some stories about ACORN before, but this one I don’t know about. … [M]aybe this is just one you leave to the cables.” –ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson
You call that outreach?: “He [Obama] made outreach to his conservative opponents, while also refuting many of their ideas. At times, it was almost like the President were a principal and Congress a bunch of unruly school kids.” –ABC’s Jake Tapper on BO’s speech last Wednesday
Speaking “truth” to those out of power: “The fallout continues from that extraordinary moment in the United States Congress. Presidents appearing there as respected guests have been interrupted before by boos and hisses, but this was different. A Congressman last [Wednesday] night calling a president an outright liar to his face. Just the latest indication of how ugly the debate over reforming health care has gotten.” –CBS’s Katie Couric (Meanwhile, Obama has yet to apologize for calling his opponents liars in the same speech.)
“The insult heard ’round the world. … Leading off tonight, the gift. When Congressman Joe Wilson shouted, ‘You lie!’ at President Obama last [Wednesday] night he gave the Democrats a gift they hope just keeps on giving. Wilson was forced — and that does seem to be the word, forced — to apologize today. And his Washington office has been mobbed mostly by right-wing supporters. Democrats hope to turn Wilson into the Cindy Sheehan of the anti-health care reform movement. A clownish figure of ridicule who hurts his own side, more than he helps.” –MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle
“It’s all about race”: “I was at some town meetings this summer, most recently in Arkansas. And this is an awful lot about race. You just can’t avoid it.” –Time magazine’s Joe Klein
“You look at the image of the Republican Party, all white males with short haircuts. They look sort of angry. No women, no minorities, and it looks like they’ve sort of become unhinged.” –MSNBC’s David Shuster on the party that is run by Michael Steele, who is black, and featured a female vice presidential candidate in Sarah Palin
“Now he’s at the center of a period of racial turbulence sparked by his ascension. Even if he and the coterie of white male advisers around him don’t choose to openly acknowledge it, this president is the ultimate civil rights figure — a black man whose legitimacy is constantly challenged by a loco fringe.” –New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, one of many locos at the Times
Newspulper Headlines:
So He Is an Alien!: “President Obama Brought to Earth” –Daily Telegraph (London)
The 9/10 Mentality Personified: “Kerry Marks Eve of 9/11 Anniversary With Push for Climate Legislation” –Washington Independent
This Project Is Dead in the Water: “Kennedy Memoir E-Book Release Delayed ‘Indefinitely’” –USA Today
Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: “Weather Creates Problems” –Tampa Tribune
News You Can Use: “‘Contraception Cheapest Way to Combat Climate Change’” –Daily Telegraph (London)
Bottom Stories of the Day: “Obama Steps Up Call for Health Care Reform” –CNN.com
(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)
INSIGHT
“Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of honour, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by the goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by good means.” –English novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” –Greek philosopher Plato (c. 428-348 B.C.)
“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.” — English writer G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
UPRIGHT
“Taxpayers deserve to know how ACORN and its vast web of nonprofit, tax-exempt affiliates are using their money (40 percent of the group’s revenue comes from the government). The flagship group trains publicly funded ACORN tax advisers and mortgage counselors across the country.” –columnist Michelle Malkin
“Maybe August was simply a long dream (or nightmare, for some politicians). Our leaders spent the month in town hall meetings, hearing from citizens who want nothing to do with government-controlled health care. But with August over, President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress to say, basically, never mind what happened last month. ‘Now is the season for action,’ Obama declared, in the course of a speech that advanced few new ideas and could pretty much have been written in July, or even January.” –columnist Rich Tucker
“One of the secrets of being a glib talker is not getting hung up over whether what you are saying is true, and instead giving your full attention to what is required by the audience and the circumstances of the moment, without letting facts get in your way and cramp your style. Obama has mastered that art. Con men understand that their job is not to use facts to convince skeptics but to use words to help the gullible to believe what they want to believe. No message has been more welcomed by the gullible, in countries around the world, than the promise of something for nothing. That is the core of Barack Obama’s medical care plan.” –economist Thomas Sowell
“Can someone explain to me how President Barack Obama’s grandiose scheme destined to reduce the quality of the best health care system in the history of the world, force millions of people who choose not to purchase health insurance to purchase it, greatly increase medical costs, our deficits and national debt, ultimately reduce patient choice, and place health care decisions in the hands of heartless bureaucrats is somehow a demonstration of compassion?” –columnist David Limbaugh
“The president claims he has ‘no interest in putting insurance companies out of business,’ but that is exactly what will happen if the government forces them to expand the services they cover while simultaneously preventing them from charging higher fees, especially if the expanded pool of beneficiaries includes many of the least healthy individuals. … The president is beginning to sound like one of those late-night TV ad pitchmen. But no matter how many times he tries to repackage his product or promises the whole thing comes free, Americans aren’t buying what he has to sell.” –columnist Linda Chavez
THE DEMO-GOGUES
Nothing says “liberty” like a harness: “We must do more to harness the power of American ingenuity and productivity so that we can put people back to work and unleash our full economic potential.” –Barack Obama (“Rather than unleash it, wouldn’t it be simpler not to harness it in the first place?” –Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto)
Blame Bush: “Part of the reason I faced a trillion dollar deficit when I walked in the door of the White House is because too many initiatives over the last decade were not paid for — from the Iraq War to tax breaks for the wealthy. I will not make that same mistake with health care.” –Barack Obama, who walked in the door to a $450 billion deficit
Putting on the squeeze: “Half the bill will be paid for by squeezing excesses out of the [Medicare and Medicaid] system, and there is $500 billion dollars to do that and we’re looking for more. That can be achieved — waste, fraud, abuse, redundancy, obsolescence, whatever it is. Squeeze it out of the system; and that means out of the providers and the rest as well.” –House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (This is otherwise known as taking water from the deep end of the pool and pouring it into the shallow end.)
The BIG Lie: “What this [health care takeover] plan will do is make the insurance you have work better for you.” –Barack Obama
The BIG Lie 2: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits.” –Barack Obama
“You lie”: “Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk-show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.” –Barack Obama, calling his opponents liars
Yeah, right: “I’m open to new ideas. We’re not being rigid and ideological about this thing.” –Barack Obama
VILLAGE IDIOTS
Racism is everywhere: “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African-American. … That racism inclination still exists, and I think it’s bubbled up to the surface because of belief among many white people — not just in the South but around the country — that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It’s an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply.” –Jimmy Carter, who wasn’t qualified to lead this country, either
“No one who is sane would think the president was going to make a partisan speech to school children. And yet, there’s something about that, I’m sorry — I know it drives conservatives nuts when you accuse them of racism — but when you don’t want the president just talking to your kids? I grew up in an all-white town in northern New Jersey, yeah New Jersey. That’s what bedroom communities were after World War II. And I remember hearing parents talk when I was a kid, you know, they didn’t want black people just talking to their kids. That’s what this reminded me of.” –HBO’s Bill Maher
Downplaying the protests: “I don’t think [the 9/12 DC rally is] indicative of the nation’s mood. … One of the great things about our country is people can express themselves, even if they’re not representative of the majority. [A CBS] poll, which was taken after the president’s speech, suggests that they don’t represent a mainstream view of this health care plan, and so, uh, you know, I — I don’t think we ought to be, uh, distracted, uh, by that. My message to [the protesters] is, they’re wrong.” –Obama adviser David Axelrod
SHORT CUTS
“The little that was new [last] Wednesday night seemed taken from the scheme proposed earlier in the week by Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of one of the committees writing reform legislation. Mr. Baucus proposes penalties ranging to $3,800 on families without mandatory health care insurance. If the Baucus scheme works, it could be applied to other public policy dilemmas. We could cure homelessness, for example, by imposing stiff fines on the homeless who refuse to buy houses. (That would spur the housing market, too.)” –Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden
“President Obama warned Congress Wednesday that people will die if we do nothing about health care. Of course, people will also die if we do something. If history proves anything it is that nothing is more recession-proof than the funeral business.” –comedian Argus Hamilton
“The Obama team is saddled with a foundering health-care strategy. But it has a fallback plan — relying on the sheer dimwitted gullibility of the American public. How stupid do they think we are? … Stupid enough not to be offended at how contemptibly stupid they think we are.” –National Review editor Rich Lowry
“It appears as if ACORN is not just into soup kitchens, daycare, voter fraud and town hall intimidation; they will also help a young wannabe Madame jumpstart a whorehouse. ShamWow, folks! Community organizing, indeed! I mean … what community is complete and feels truly organized without some hookers in the hood? God bless ‘em. It brings a tear to your eye, now doesn’t it? Hope and change, folks. Hope and change.” –radio talk-show host and columnist Doug Giles
Yesterday, I received a patient transfer from ICU after a carotid endarterectomy. She was stable, elderly, though was best described as “needy” at times. Some folks are just that way. I think it’s a type of abuse.
Anyway, the Nurse whom had cared for her gave me report on the patient’s condition (in person), and when she got to the bowel/GI part, she mentioned that the patient had been given several doses of metoclopramide (Reglan®) to stimulate the bowel. Then, she yammered on and on and on and on in a seemingly endless twittering blather about the color, consistency, smell, volume and texture of the patient’s stool.
She did that not just once, but at least three times!
A reinsurance plan that Democrats and Republicans should embrace.
After defeating President Clinton’s health reform effort in 1993, Republicans achieved a stunning victory that ended 40 years of Democratic control of Congress. And so it’s easy to see why most congressional Republicans are convinced that there is no advantage in working constructively with President Obama now.
This letter was sent to my Congressman Alan B Mollohan today via email
Dear Congressman Mollohan,
I figure you will not vote for the health care behometh, I also figure you have not read this health care bill, since it is over 1100 pages. I have actually read a lot of it, and it is laughable to think that all this bureaucracy could possibly improve efficiency or decrease cost of health care. I say if the government cannot run the country any better than you have done recently, stay the hell out of health care. This summary below you can check on the link at the bottom. This bill is unconstitutional on its face – and the page 59 summary statement alone is enough to let me know I want no part of this. I continue to be disgusted with this administration and the blatant efforts to destroy the country.
Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self- Insure!
Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
Page 42: The “Health Choices Commissioner” will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Health card.
Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (read: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No “judicial review” is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
Page 203: “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.” Yes, it really says that.
Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected.”
Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you’ll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
Page 253: Government sets value of doctors’ time, their professional judgment, etc.
Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on “community” input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient’s health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.
Just in case I have not been strong enough, health care and health insurance is not a Constitutional function of federal government. You in Congress all took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Please observe that oath and vote no on any health care bill.
William Hobbs
Resident and Property Owner in West Virginia’s District 1
it’s been a pretty sparse week for updates. First, I just grew overly tired and frustratedwith Carlos Fuentes’ Terra Nostra. It’s over 800 pages long, starts slow and keeps going slow. While reading it (I got a little over 200 pages in) I knew there were things that could have been researched to provide more richness to the story, and it would have probably helped to have known a bit of Latin, but engaging in a novel as research project was simply something I didn’t have in me. If given a different temperment, I might have kept going. But, right now, I just don’t have it in me.
And this week I haven’t felt capable of much of anything. After “camping” with my g/f’s family for all of one night, I got sick. A drainage/sinus/throat thing that has made me feel like crap all week. It’s drained me of energy, it’s made me feel miserable, I’ve been running a fever, etc. And because I may or may not be overmedicating myself at night with night time cold medicine, I have had an increasingly difficult time getting out of bed in the morning. I don’t tend to read directions but to just fill to the top line whatever little plastic shotglass is next to the medicine bottle. I should check to see if the top line on the glass corresponds to the correct dosage listed on the bottle.
Oh, and I screwed up my back over the weekend and it’s still not feeling right, either. As you can see, it’s been a lovely week.
“Young voters helped put Barack Obama in the White House, but they’re not proving to be much help when it comes to the biggest push of his presidency,” Politico reports. Voters aged 18 to 29 say “they’re likely to support health care reform by wider margins than those in any other age range,” but polling numbers and other evidence indicate “health care reform just isn’t a particularly high priority for the younger crowd.”
“[I]n a new Gallup Poll out this week, only 34 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 said they want their member of Congress to vote for health care reform. Another 34 percent want their representative to oppose health care reform, and a whopping 31 percent say they aren’t sure — roughly 10 percentage points higher than other age groups. Obama’s plan could have immediate appeal for young adults, if its proponents could get them to pay attention. Among other things, the plan would create special young-adult private and public insurance plans and would allow them to remain on their parents’ policies until they’re 26″ (Lovely, 9/10).
Yesterday was my birthday and Lacey gave me a lot of “love” with lots of kisses.Later in the night she became “jumpy” because 1)she’s still taking her medicine which she really does not like even to put the syringe in her mouth is something else altogether.2)she was given a bath right after her medicine 3)she had to be brushed 4)she had to get her ears cleaned.I think it got to be too much for her so it scared her to even come near us for a while.Instead she was hiding from us probably afraid….Think next time we need to space things out a little more so she does not get scared.Having a scared puppy is not good at all.
The name was so awesome it had to be in all caps. The idea is pretty sweet too, scientists are using single-celled organisms to build nano-tech. There is a line in there about “building liquid logic gates for a synthetic brain,” that worries me a little (see my post “I’m pretty sure I know where this is going”), but other than that I see mainly positive applications for this kind of thing. Especially if they can be reprogrammed to build an immune system. Suddenly we’d have a cure for all disease because of its flexibility. I think it’d be a little like the bacta tanks from Star Wars. Might just be an injection if the technology advances far enough.
To think I’m going to miss all of this. The Future can’t get here quickly enough.
Modern paranoia, and the resulting conspiracy theories, regarding the capacity of a government’s willingness and capacity to use its citizens for political and experimental fodder are not without basis. They spring from a slow trickle of stories that have been revealed by the mainstream press over the last 50 years.
Some of these stories gained a lot of attention in the mass media. Some did not.
These pages cover well-documented, verifiable, non-consensual experiments carried out on US citizens by parties which include the United States Government.
Atomic Testing on this page you will find:
DOE Resources on Human Radiation Experiments
Government Documents
Searchable Databases
Specific Experiments
Other Sources
Altered States on this page you will find:
Books and Excerpts on LSD, the CIA and Psychosocial Manipulations
Web Sites and Links
Experiments on Pregnant Women, Infants and Children on this page you will find:
A number of experiments carried out under the Atomic Energy Commission on Pregnant Women and on children. Other experiments are included on this page.
This information is not presented in order to suggest that every conspiracy theory has verifiable merit. It is meant to suggest, instead, that the concerns finding expression in modern paranoia have some basis in historical fact.
A Rasmussen Reports poll of September 3 indicates that 56% of voters nationwide want Congressmen at Health Care Town Hall meetings to be seen and not heard.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters nationwide say that it’s more important for Congressmen to hear the view of their constituents rather than explain the proposed health care legislation. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% hold the opposite view while 7% are not sure.
The desire for Congress to listen may stem from the fact that voters believe they understand the legislation better than Congress.
This is a post about my flexible, but current theory of tolerance or acceptance. Each independent of the other. I think in work, and everyday life, there are moments when you need to have tolerance, and there are moments when you need to be accepting, but never both together. It is an all-or-nothing deal.
For example, when you are listening to a boring story being told by a friend, acquaintance, or family member etc., and you don’t want to listen to it, but they need you, you must have tolerance to stay in the moment for your friend, acquaintance or family member etc., because they need you to just be there.
Acceptance and tolerance both establish themselves positively and negatively in varying situations, based on if the situation is negative or positive. It’s kind of like in math, when you are measuring integers: the same signs cancel themselves out to be a positive, and opposing signs result in a negative equation or a positive equation, depending on the situation. I think it is integers, but you know what I mean. If the situation is positive, but the path leads to a negative that you have to either tolerate, or accept, then it is a negative tolerance, or negative acceptance. If the path is congruent, or matches the situation positively, then the result will be positive acceptance, or positive tolerance. Tolerance seems to be the more- negative state, compared to acceptance, but it can be true for either. You may think that if the path is congruent to the situation, then there is still a risk for a negative outcome, but it only depends on the situation being negative, not the decision of the path… hmmm.. this is getting complex. Here are three examples (there are an infinite number):
Scenario 1:
Situation: Negative (example: irritable co-worker at your job)
Path: Tolerance or acceptance?
Decision: Tolerance= negative tolerance
Outcome: Your day is shifted by the negative mood of your coworker, but you tolerate this mood and don’t “react,” to the coworker.
Tolerance, by Christophe Vorlet
Scenario 2:
Situation: Positive (example: Feeling excited to return to school)
Path: Tolerance or acceptance?
Decision: Acceptance= positive acceptance
Outcome: Positive mood and emotions due to feeling excited to return to school.
Outcome: You buy another icecream, and hope that you will not drop it. Feeling a bit disappointed about the lost money from dropping it, but accept the situation.
Acceptance, by Elizabeth Silk
It is important to be aware of your choices and options for being tolerant, or accepting of situations. We are faced with having to make decisions about how we feel in situations everyday, at every moment, but if you are able to discern between a positive situation or negative situation, you can learn how to cope with the effects by either tolerating the outcome, or accepting the outcome, regardless of the positive or negative aspects of the situation. Living this way helps you be more conscious of how negative or, how overly positive you may be (if overly positive is possible), and you can learn how to begin to change from feeling negative to more positive, almost overnight. If you find that you are “tolerating” most negative situations, it is not that “negative” to begin with, because you are able to identify the possibility to stick in the situation and tolerate it, to find hope in a negative situation. It is not either, or, because tolerance and acceptance are different things, and hopefully my arguments have made sense, and are understandable, logical.
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I am writing about this, because as a Physician, I think it will be so important for me to understand tolerance, and understand acceptance when working with patients, their families/ caregivers and colleagues. Not everyone thinks the same, so it is important to be flexible and accept, or tolerate moods and actions in every situation. Medicine requires an incredible amount of patience, problem solving and preparation (3 P’s), so being alert to the details of each situation will allow me to stay grounded, and focused on the task at-hand. I am excited for this challenge!
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