Workers wear masks to prevent spreading disease to pigs at a farm in Iowa. The industry is being studied for clues on H1N1 flu. (David Brown/ Washington Post).
President Obama walked off Marine One. “I have great health insurance and so does every member of Congress,’’ he said. (Kristoffer Tripplaar/Getty Images/Pool)
How about our vets, 'bamer? They getting all they need when the get home?
How about a more appropriate type of salute from the new American war criminal?
President Obama spoke about the Post-9/11 GI Bill in Fairfax, Va., with (from left) Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, Marine Corps Staff Sergeant James Miller, John Warner, former senator, US Senator Jim Webb, and Vice President Biden. (Jason Reed/ Reuters)
Sig Heil, 'bamer!
Emergency responders practiced for disaster in protective suits at the DelValle Institute in Mattapan. (Joanne Rathe/ Globe Staff)
Pigman!
Also see: Armageddon Is Now
Reminder: TRILLIONS went for WARS and to BANKS!
While these beautiful gifts of God are denied health care:
"
ASHLAND, Ohio — As jobless numbers reach levels not seen in 25 years, another crisis is unfolding for millions of people who lost their health insurance along with their jobs, joining the ranks of the uninsured.
The crisis is on display here. Starla D. Darling, 27, was pregnant when she learned that her insurance coverage was about to end. She rushed to the hospital, took a medication to induce labor and then had an emergency Caesarean section, in the hope that her Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan would pay for the delivery.
Wendy R. Carter, 41, who recently lost her job and her health benefits, is struggling to pay $12,942 in bills for a partial hysterectomy at a local hospital. Her daughter, Betsy A. Carter, 19, has pain in her lower right jaw, where a wisdom tooth is growing in. But she has not seen a dentist because she has no health insurance.
Oh, that poor kid!!! I guess that is wisdom, even if not well-received.
It is a stain on AmeriKa's soul that it does not provide universal health care.
Ms. Darling and Wendy Carter are among 275 people who worked at an Archway cookie factory here in north central Ohio. The company provided excellent health benefits. But the plant shut down abruptly this fall, leaving workers without coverage, like millions of people battered by the worst economic crisis since the Depression....
Most people are covered through the workplace, so when they lose their jobs, they lose their health benefits. On average, for each jobless worker who has lost insurance, at least one child or spouse covered under the same policy has also lost protection, public health experts said....
*********
At this time of year, the Archway plant would usually be bustling as employees worked overtime to make Christmas cookies. This year the plant is silent. The aromas of cinnamon and licorice are missing. More than 40 trailers sit in the parking lot with nothing to haul....
Richard D. Jackson, 53, was an oven operator at the bakery for 30 years. Mr. Jackson and his two daughters often used the Archway health plan to pay for doctor’s visits, imaging, surgery and medicines. Now that he has no insurance, he takes his Effexor antidepressant pills every other day, rather than daily, as prescribed.
Another former Archway employee, Jeffrey D. Austen, 50, said he had canceled shoulder surgery scheduled for Oct. 13 at the Cleveland Clinic because he had no way to pay for it. “I had already lined up an orthopedic surgeon and an anesthesiologist,” Mr. Austen said.
In mid-October, Janet M. Esbenshade, 37, who had been a packer at the Archway plant, began to notice that her vision was blurred. “My eyes were burning, itching and watery,” Ms. Esbenshade said. “Pus was oozing out. If I had had insurance, I would have gone to an eye doctor right away.”
She waited two weeks. The infection became worse. She went to the hospital on Oct. 26. Doctors found that she had keratitis, a painful condition that she may have picked up from an old pair of contact lenses. They prescribed antibiotic, which have cleared up the infection.
Ms. Esbenshade has two daughters, ages 6 and 10, with asthma. She has explained to them why “we are not Christmas shopping this year — unless, by some miracle, Mommy goes back to work and gets a paycheck.” She said she had told the girls, “I would rather you stay out of the hospital and take your medication than buy you a little toy right now because I think your health is more important.”
.... Ms. Darling, who was pregnant when her insurance ran out, worked at Archway for eight years, and her father, Franklin J. Phillips, worked there for 24 years. “When I heard that I was losing my insurance,” she said, “I was scared. I remember that the bill for my son’s delivery in 2005 was about $9,000, and I knew I would never be able to pay that by myself.”
So Ms. Darling asked her midwife to induce labor two days before her health insurance expired. “I was determined that we were getting this baby out, and it was going to be paid for,” said Ms. Darling, who was interviewed at her home here as she cradled the infant in her arms.
As it turned out, the insurance company denied her claim, leaving Ms. Darling with more than $17,000 in medical bills....
Then let's ELIMINATE all the INSURANCE COMPANIES!! What frikkin' good are they if they WON'T EVEN PAY for a BIRTH?!! Those are LIFE SCIENCES, are they?!!!!
Yeah, I AM TICKED OFF, readers!!! That's what happens to me when CHILDREN and THEIR NEEDS are NEGLECTED.
And then consider this:
"One of the center's "essential features" is its ability to conduct research that "will move forward the commercial goals of J&J""
POISONING YOUR KIDS for PROFIT, AmeriKa!!!
"Papers reveal push on drug firm funds; Prominent doctor tied to efforts" by Carey Goldberg, Globe Staff | November 25, 2008
Newly disclosed court documents portray Dr. Joseph Biederman, a leading Harvard child psychiatrist, as courting drug company money by promising that his work at Massachusetts General Hospital would help promote the use of antipsychotic drugs for youngsters diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Related: Corporate Health Care Pays Bribes to Drug Your Children
Biederman is one of the central figures in the growing legal and political backlash against potential conflicts of interest in medicine, particularly in psychiatry. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.... The psychiatrist is the country's most prominent advocate of diagnosing bipolar disorder in children, even those under age 6, and using antipsychotic drugs to treat many of them, even when federal regulators have not approved the drugs for that use....
Don't you CARE ABOUT YOUR KIDS at all, AmeriKa? If so, then why do you put SUCH FAITH in the "DOCTOR?" I NEVER SEE THEM unless it is EMERGENCY -- and even then, I DON'T LIKE IT!!!
**************
Biederman.... is now also emerging as a key witness in a huge, multistate lawsuit brought on behalf of more than 2,000 patients, including children, who claim to have been injured by psychiatric drugs known as atypical antipsychotics, including the
Biederman is not a defendant in the case, but the plaintiffs' lawyers submitted more than two dozen documents aiming to present him as an exam ple of how drug companies and researchers conspired to boost "off-label" prescriptions that go beyond federally approved uses of a drug....
It is legal for doctors to prescribe drugs for off-label purposes, but not for drug companies to actively market such uses. To get around that restriction, drug marketers recruit and pay respected "opinion leaders" like Biederman to discuss their off-label prescribing experiences with colleagues at company-sponsored "educational" talks or meetings.
In one internal 2002 e-mail that the plaintiffs' lawyers submitted, executives of Janssen Pharmaceuticals - the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that markets Risperdal - discuss Biederman's repeated proposals for the company to help fund a center on pediatric bipolar disorder at Massachusetts General. "The rationale of this center is to generate and disseminate data supporting the use of risperidone in this patient population," it says.
It wasn't until five years later, in 2007, that the Food and Drug Administration approved Risperdal for children with bipolar disorder. Another document, the 2002 annual report of the center that was ultimately created and directed by Biederman, states that one of the center's "essential features" is its ability to conduct research that "will move forward the commercial goals of J&J" - Johnson & Johnson. An e-mail from November of that year mentions at least $700,000 in Johnson & Johnson payments to the center.
--more--"And WHO BENEFITS from things like cancer, etc?
"Genzyme seeks clearance to give adults cancer drug
Biotechnology company Genzyme Corp. said it asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve its leukemia drug Clolar for adults. The drug is already approved for a form of the disease called acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients 1 to 21 years old who have had at least two prior treatments. Genzyme asked the FDA to give priority review to the drug as an initial treatment for adults with acute myeloid leukemia. If granted, the FDA would review the drug application within six months, meaning it could have a decision in the first half of 2009 (AP)."
I sure wish America would wake up to what its "medical" system is really about: pumping up Big Pharma's profits while poisoning the patients!!!!
"Government pays millions for drugs FDA never cleared; Medicaid rules don't bar claims" by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press | November 24, 2008
WASHINGTON - Taxpayers have paid at least $200 million since 2004 for medications that have never been reviewed by the government for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data.
Millions of private patients are taking such drugs, as well. Allowing unapproved prescription drugs to be sold to the public may create a dangerous false sense of security. Dozens of deaths have been linked to such drugs....
Sometimes, the medications do not help patients. In other cases, the FDA says, they have made people sicker, maybe even killed them.... At a time when families, businesses, and the government are struggling with healthcare costs and 46 million people are uninsured, payments for questionable medications amount to an unplugged leak in the system.... --more--"
Thanks, ethanol, thanks a lot. Meanwhile, as Haiti is starving the only stories in my racist, Zionist War Daily have been school collapses!!!
Related: Haitians trick empty bellies with dirt cookies
Haiti is a Hell Hole
Haitian Horror Show
Fighting For Food
Do I even need type it?
And just posting this article (reading it for a second time) is drawing water from these old and tired eyes.
"Deadly food crisis grips Haiti; Children suffer after storms devastate crops" by Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press | November 23, 2008
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The 5-year-old teetered on broomstick legs - he weighed less than 20 pounds, even after days of drinking enriched milk. Nearby, a 4-year-old girl hung from a strap attached to a scale, her wide eyes lifeless, her emaciated arms dangling weakly.
In pockets of Haiti accessible only by donkey or foot, children are dying of malnutrition, their already meager food supply cut by a series of devastating storms that destroyed crops, wiped out livestock, and sent food prices spiraling.
Yup, ETHANOL and the GLOBALIST PLANS that called for STARVING POOR PEOPLE is NOT CULPABLE, according to the MSM!!!
You see why I am so sick of them and what they represent?!!
And, oh, yeah, TRILLIONS for WARS, BANKS, etc, etc.
At least 26 severely malnourished children have died in the past four weeks in the remote region of Baie d'Orange, in southeast Haiti, aid workers said last week, and there are fears the toll will rise much higher if help does not come quickly to the impoverished Caribbean nation. Another 65 severely malnourished children are being treated in makeshift tent clinics in the mountainous area, or at hospitals they were brought to in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, said Max Cosci, who heads the Belgian contingent of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.
Think about those kids while you are reading about the people who are charged with alleviating that problem.
Globalist Gluttons Gorge Themselves
Quite a spread at the U.N. huh?
One evacuee, a 7-year-old girl, died while being treated. At a makeshift malnutrition ward at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the capital, 10 emaciated children were under emergency care Thursday, their stomachs swollen and their hair faded by pigmentation loss. Several had the puffy faces typical of kwashiorkor, a protein-deficiency disorder.
I'm at the point now where I can hardly stand it. They are CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!
Five-year-old Mackenson Duclair, his ribs protruding and his legs little more than skin stretched over bones, weighed in at 19.8 pounds, even after days of drinking enriched milk Doctors said he needed to gain another 5 pounds before he could go home. Mackenson's grandmother, who has raised him since his mother died, said she barely has a can of corn grits to feed herself, the boy, and her 8-year-old granddaughter each day. "These things did not happen when I was growing up," Ticouloute Fortune said.
That means the MISERY that is Haiti is nearly UNIMAGINABLE!! (Blog author is having a hard time typing because he can't see through the water coming from his eyes) How can the world allow this to happen to CHILDREN!!!?? Beautiful, innocent, lovely CHILDREN!!!!!!
Rural families already struggling with soaring food prices in Haiti lost their safety nets when fields were destroyed and livestock wiped out by the storms, which killed nearly 800 people and caused $1 billion of damage in August and September.
Yeah, those storms blow through and they leave or memories just as quick; U.S. still hasn't rebuilt from Katrina and Ike.
UN World Food Program country director Myrta Kaulard said she fears more deaths from malnutrition in other isolated parts of Haiti, and search teams were fanning out in the northwest and along the southwestern peninsula to check. The World Food Program has sent more than 30 tons of food aid - enough to feed 5,800 people for two weeks - into the remote southeastern region since September, and other groups funded by the US Agency for International Development have sent food as well, Kaulard said.
Yeah, well, maybe the U.N. could get them all a table at the diner:
"Every table was set with a single fresh rose (from the rose gardens outside, I was told) and a full complement of three forks, two knives, and two spoons in silver plate..... The buffet tables could have graced a high-end ocean liner. I watched a gentleman in colorful African garb pile his plate with slices of roast sirloin and potatoes mashed with feta cheese. A post-retirement-age couple from the East Side scarfed up most of the egg rolls, though more came out quickly....
I made for the roast leg of lamb with rosemary sauce after I filled my salad plate with chilled asparagus and slices of a duck and pork terrine.... fresh tomato soup and bowls of pasta primavera.... The dessert buffet table practically groaned under a spread of apple and pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, tarts, half a dozen cheeses, sliced fruits, bowls of berries, and, off to one side, three urns of ice cream"
Bet the Haitains wouldn't be hungry then!! How can you believe in the U.N. ever again, America?
The GLOBALIST U.N. should be DISBANDED!!!! They do good? WHAT GOOD? WHERE?
But the steep, narrow paths and poor visibility make it difficult to deliver the food to the mountain communities, where hunger is worsening. In one case, a truck struggling up a hill flipped over and slid into a ravine, killing an aid worker.
Then USE A HELICOPTER!!!!
Frankly, I am SICK of the GLOBALISTS and their DAMN EXCUSES as to why they CAN'T GET THINGS DONE!!!
FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
The mountain villages have long suffered from hunger, growing only enough staples to feed themselves less than seven months out of the year, she said. But families normally have enough to last through December. This year, Haiti's agriculture ministry says 60 percent of the harvest was lost in the storms. --more--"
Maybe we could give them a glass of ethanol to drink, huh?
"An autopsy concluded Biggs died from a combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, which his family said was prescribed for his bipolar disorder"
They are POISONING YOU and YOUR CHILDREN to make a BUCK!!! That's why health care is so expensive, isn't it?
"Florida teen commits suicide by drug overdose in front of live webcam" by Rasha Madkour, Associated Press | November 22, 2008
MIAMI - .... Abraham Biggs's.... a 19-year-old Broward College student who suffered from what his family said was bipolar disorder, or manic depression, lay dead on his bed in his father's Pembroke Pines house Wednesday afternoon, the camera still running 12 hours after Biggs announced his intentions online around 3 a.m....
An autopsy concluded Biggs died from a combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, which his family said was prescribed for his bipolar disorder. Biggs announced his plans to kill himself over a website for bodybuilders, authorities said. But some users told investigators they did not take him seriously because he had threatened suicide on the site before....
As police entered the room, the audience's reaction was filled with Internet shorthand: "OMFG," one wrote, meaning "Oh, my [expletive] God." Others, either not knowing what they were seeing, or not caring, wrote "lol," which means "laughing out loud," and "hahaha." --more--"
Why is the MSM BLAMING the WEB for this? WHERE were the PARENTS?
"Boston launches flu shot tracking; City to pinpoint areas of low rates of vaccination" by Stephen Smith, Globe Staff | November 21, 2008
Using technology originally developed for mass disasters, Boston disease trackers are embarking on a novel experiment - one of the first in the country - aimed at eventually creating a citywide registry of everyone who has had a flu vaccination.
The resulting vaccination map would allow swift intervention in neighborhoods left vulnerable to the fast-moving respiratory illness. The trial starts this afternoon, when several hundred people are expected to queue up for immunizations at the headquarters of the Boston Public Health Commission.
Ever see the movie " V ," readers? Why am I thinking that right now?
Each of them will get a bracelet printed with a unique identifier code. Information about the vaccine's recipients, and the shot, will be entered into handheld devices similar to those used by delivery truck drivers.
Infectious disease specialists in Boston and elsewhere predicted that the registry approach could prove even more useful if something more sinister strikes: a bioterrorism attack or the long-feared arrival of a global flu epidemic. In such crises, the registry could be used to track who received a special vaccine or antidote to a deadly germ....
Yeah, ABOUT THAT: The TYRANNY is to PROTECT YOU!!!
"The Bush administration decided after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that the nation needed to develop cures, drug treatments, vaccines, and diagnostic tests to combat germs that could be used, either in an attack or accidentally.... their proliferation has only exacerbated the potential risk of a terrorist incident or accidental release"
"Accidental release?"
Sounds like the EndGame to me!!!!
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy at the University of Minnesota. "I wish more cities were doing this kind of thing."
Boston is believed to be the first city to embrace this particular approach to tracking vaccinations.... When Boston bought the monitoring system from a Milwaukee company in 2006, emergency authorities had a far different use in mind: tracking people injured in big fires, plane crashes, or other disasters....
That's ALWAYS the way they INTRODUCE TYRANNY!!
Say it is for SOMETHING ELSE, then PIVOT the FOCUS!!
Will you NEVER LEARN, America?
***************
When people arrive for their shots, they will get an ID bracelet with a barcode. Next, basic information - name, age, gender, address - will be entered into the patient tracking database. There will be electronic records, too, of who gave the vaccine and whether it was injected into the right arm or the left, and time-stamped for that day. The resulting trove of data could be used to figure out why some patients had to wait longer than others to be vaccinated.Or used for ANYTHING!!!
Ultimately, city health authorities said, they envision creating a network across the city that would allow public and private providers of flu shots to add data to a registry. But acknowledging patients' privacy concerns, officials promised that if a citywide system were implemented, only a limited amount of information would be gathered - all sitting behind an encrypted firewall.
Promises, promises!! I'm sick of LIARS and their PROMISES!!!!
"I have had people say, 'Oh, that's so big brother,' " said Laura Williams, EMS deputy chief of staff. "But in truth, the unique identifier is unique to the incident. It's not like you will go to the hospital, and they'll say, 'You're the one who got the flu vaccine at 10 o'clock yesterday at the Boston Public Health Commission.' " --more--"
But before you take a table at Micky D's, take a look at these feasts:
"Every table was set with a single fresh rose (from the rose gardens outside, I was told) and a full complement of three forks, two knives, and two spoons in silver plate..... The buffet tables could have graced a high-end ocean liner. I watched a gentleman in colorful African garb pile his plate with slices of roast sirloin and potatoes mashed with feta cheese. A post-retirement-age couple from the East Side scarfed up most of the egg rolls, though more came out quickly....
I made for the roast leg of lamb with rosemary sauce after I filled my salad plate with chilled asparagus and slices of a duck and pork terrine.... fresh tomato soup and bowls of pasta primavera.... The dessert buffet table practically groaned under a spread of apple and pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, tarts, half a dozen cheeses, sliced fruits, bowls of berries, and, off to one side, three urns of ice cream."
Also see: The MSM and the Meal
Globalist Gluttons Gorge Themselves
O.K., you can now DIG IN to your HAPPY MEAL!!!
"Moms for McDonald's; Fast-food giant recruits support from parents" by Washington Post | November 21, 2008
WASHINGTON - What is the only obstacle between kids and their french fries? Mom.
So here is Debra DeMuth, McDonald's global nutrition director, mounting a spirited defense of fries to five mothers of young children at a McDonald's in Baltimore.
"They are probably one of the most victimized foods," DeMuth says.
Plausible reason: A medium order at McDonald's, besides the delectable taste, includes 380 calories, 270 milligrams of sodium, and a color preservative called sodium acid pyrophosphate. But DeMuth presses her case, pointing out fries are rich in potassium, adding, "They are also a really good source of fiber."
One mom replies, "Once you throw them in grease, you kind of ruin it."
Another says, "Potassium is good in bananas."
This is the tricky dialogue that results when the world's largest fast-food chain extols the quality of its food to a group of people - busy moms - who often need food fast but don't necessarily trust fast food, especially with worries over obesity sweeping the nation. But McDonald's thinks it has a positive case to make and has recruited mothers to go behind the scenes of the company's operations, meet senior executives, and then communicate what they see via the Web, along with appearing in video of their travels.
The idea behind the company's Quality Correspondents program: If McDonald's can win over moms by showcasing food quality (the eggs in Egg McMuffins are real) and highlighting healthy options, the company can brighten its image at a crucial time in the arc of the fast-food industry. Customers, bombarded with news about food recalls, are paying more attention to safety, quality, and ingredients - despite still not wanting to wait very long for their lunch. The message takes on heightened importance now, as cash-strapped parents bargain in their heads over whether a McDonald's meal can take the place of higher-priced options....
We have trillions for wars and banks, etc, etc, and.... I get sick of it all, folks.
**************
McDonald's executives are betting that if they can shatter myths about the company's food - a chicken slaughterhouse visit shows the animals being handled humanely but also proves the Chicken McNuggets are real - and display an obsessiveness with food safety and quality to a select group of moms, the message will trickle through society. --more--"I think I'm gonna be sick -- and I didn't even eat a McDonald's meal.
You understand where all this is leading, right, America? You are going to have to (literally) EAT (McDonald's) S*** while the WEALTHY ELITES GORGE THEMSELVES in SPLENDOR!!!!
How's that Big Mac going down, 'murkn scitte-eater?
Related: What You Will (and Will Not) Find on the Thanksgiving Day Table
"Hidden video alleges turkey abuse
LEWISBURG, W.Va. - Global poultry grower Aviagen Inc. said yesterday it has suspended a supervisor and will investigate a video an animal rights group released that appears to show horrific abuse of turkeys at the company's West Virginia farms.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the video, which includes workers stomping on turkeys' heads and twisting their necks to kill them, was shot by an undercover investigator who worked on the farms for more than two months.
The undercover worker, who was not identified, described stifling, dusty barns where the animals were kept and caught video of several workers killing turkeys, slamming them into metal cages and bragging about previous abuse of the animals.... --more--"
The cruelty and sadism is beyond me, readers.
Bad enough to kill them, but the DISRESPECT and ABUSE shown to a SENTIENT LIFE FORM is APPALLING and HEARTBREAKING!!!!!
I thought this guy was going to reach out to people? Why no inclusion of the antiwar people in your cabinet, Obama? Why not outstretched hand to Ron Paul?
"Clinton considering secretary of state post, associates say; Friends say she is torn about leaving Senate" by Associated Press | November 20, 2008
.... After losing reelection to the Senate in 2004, former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle became a public policy adviser and member of the legislative and public policy group at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. Daschle isn't registered as a lobbyist. He advises clients on issues including healthcare, financial services, and taxes and trade, according to the firm's website. Healthcare interests - including
Organizations seeking to expand health coverage were quick to praise the selection. Daschle "has a deep commitment to securing high-quality, affordable healthcare for everyone in our nation," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "His new leadership position confirms that the incoming Obama administration has made healthcare reform a top and early priority for action in 2009."
That's not good news: Socialized Medicine Coming Soon
But the Republican National Committee quickly panned the pick as more of the same instead of the change that Obama promised. "Barack Obama is filling his administration with longtime Washington insiders," Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant said. "For voters hoping to see new faces and fewer lobbyist connections in government, Daschle's nomination will be another disappointment."
Yup.
The budget director job is among the toughest in Washington, but Democratic aides say Congressional Budget Office chief Peter Orszag seems likely to accept if it is offered. Orszag served as an economist in the Clinton White House and made a small fortune after establishing an economic consulting firm.
Sigh. Need I even type it?
Within the Clinton administration and as director of the Congressional Budget Office, he has preached the need to address the budget deficit.... --more--"
I know that SOUNDS GOOD; however, what it means are NO HEALTH CARE, NO EDUCATION MONEY, NO INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS, etc.
NOTHING for YOU, Americans.
TRENTON, N.J. - The dismal economy has US hospitals ailing. New data show declines in admissions and elective procedures, plus a significant jump in the number of patients who can't pay, the American Hospital Association said yesterday. Hospitals also have been hurt by investment losses, and many are finding it more expensive to borrow money - if they can at all, according to the association, which represents about 5,000 hospitals....
I thought all that bank loot was going to ease the credit crunch! You have been HAD again, America!!!!
The interest hospitals paid on borrowed funds jumped by 15 percent in the third quarter, compared with 2007's third quarter - another difficult squeeze because hospitals generally borrow money for expansions and upgrades, multimillion-dollar technology, and even sometimes to cover payroll and pay regular vendors.... --more--"
Related: Why the Nation Doesn't Need Massachusetts Health Care
Here is a primer on what to look for when this thing goes nationwide:
"State urged to review fees to elite hospitals" by Jeffrey Krasner, Globe Staff | November 20, 2008
.... Hospital executives and state officials say the practice of insurers paying substantially higher fees to a handful of powerful Boston medical centers is imperiling some rival hospitals and distorting the greater Boston healthcare market....
The Globe, citing private insurance data, reported that the favored institutions get payments from 15 percent to 60 percent higher than their competitors. The higher payments have, in turn, contributed to the rapid rise in insurance rates paid by many of the state's residents.... --more--"
And they want this to go national, huh?
WASHINGTON - The health insurance industry has proposed guaranteeing coverage for every American, regardless of medical condition, in return for an enforceable requirement that everyone have a policy. The proposal also calls for the government to subsidize premiums for moderate-income people, according to the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans. AHIP speaks for 1,300 companies that provide public or privately funded benefits....
"No one should fall through the cracks of our healthcare system," said Karen Ignagni, the industry group's chief executive. "Universal coverage is within reach and can be achieved by building on the current system."
*************The Finance Committee, headed by Senator Max Baucus, and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, have begun working on separate legislative proposals to overhaul the health system. Democrats Baucus of Montana and Kennedy of Massachusetts yesterday held a closed-door meeting to discuss strategy for healthcare legislation. Among Republican senators participating were Grassley and Orrin Hatch of Utah.
Great. More SECRET MEETINGS!
The AHIP plan would promise insurance for all as long as a government-enforced enrollment process ensures everyone has a policy. The group didn't say what penalty should be imposed for those who fail to get coverage.
I just don't like the fascism. They say it's all for the good; however, I just don't like it.
The trade group proposed refundable tax credits for working families and said families buying coverage on their own should get the same tax break as those who obtain insurance through their employers. The value of employer-provided benefits isn't taxed.... The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, representing 39 companies, issued a similar call for mandatory coverage. --more--"
"US revises rules on cow grazing for organic dairies; Loophole aided huge feedlots" by Steve Karnowski, Associated Press | November 19, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS - .... The issue started to boil over a few years ago when it emerged that a handful of large dairy farms with thousands of cows, mostly in arid Western states, were feeding their cows organic grain but keeping them largely confined to feedlots while selling the milk as organic.
What, a CORPORATION LIED? You're kidding?
The Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute helped lead the charge, mainly against two companies: Aurora Organic Dairy, which produces private-label organic milk for national and local retailers including
"To tame the belly, manage the brain" by Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff | November 19, 2008
.... Consider, for example, a study published this summer that found that ghrelin, a hormone released when your stomach is empty and growling, may help stave off depression. Researchers found that underfed mice with higher levels of the hormone showed fewer signs of depression and anxiety than well-fed counterparts, swimming longer when plunged into water and seeming more adventurous in a maze....
Yeah, because they are LOOKING FOR FOOD!!!!
Yup, you are ONLY HUNGRY if you THINK YOU ARE, America!! And UP COMES MY BREAKFAST!
I guess that doesn't apply to the U.N, huh?
"Every table was set with a single fresh rose (from the rose gardens outside, I was told) and a full complement of three forks, two knives, and two spoons in silver plate..... The buffet tables could have graced a high-end ocean liner. I watched a gentleman in colorful African garb pile his plate with slices of roast sirloin and potatoes mashed with feta cheese. A post-retirement-age couple from the East Side scarfed up most of the egg rolls, though more came out quickly....
I made for the roast leg of lamb with rosemary sauce after I filled my salad plate with chilled asparagus and slices of a duck and pork terrine.... fresh tomato soup and bowls of pasta primavera.... The dessert buffet table practically groaned under a spread of apple and pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, tarts, half a dozen cheeses, sliced fruits, bowls of berries, and, off to one side, three urns of ice cream."
Or the globalists: The MSM and the Meal
Globalist Gluttons Gorge Themselves
Gee, those richers must be the saddest crew in the world, huh?
Covidien Ltd., a medical device maker and diversified healthcare company with its US headquarters in Mansfield, said quarterly profit surged on higher sales, a weaker US dollar, and new products. But the company provided a weak outlook for the next year. While the weaker US dollar helped boost international sales for several quarters, the currency has regained some strength, cutting into the benefit for Covidien and its peers with a sizable overseas market. --more--"
"It's time to take your medicine; Cambridge start-up says its high-tech gadget can help save lives, cut healthcare costs, boost pharmacies' business" by Dave Copeland, Globe Correspondent | November 17, 2008
Pfizer Inc. collects about $10 billion a year from its cholesterol-lowering Lipitor, making the treatment one of the best-selling drugs ever. But if every patient took every Lipitor pill prescribed, that number would leap to $17 billion.
This is about DRUG SALES, not YOUR HEALTH, Americans!
WTF is it doing in the HEALTH section?
It would also reduce the cost of healthcare - insurers pay about twice as much to treat patients who forget to take drugs to fight high cholesterol and other chronic conditions - and boost business for pharmacies. And then there is the most important reason for patients to faithfully take the pills they are prescribed: It may save their lives.
Is that why the stuff will poison and kill you (before the recall)?
Many people don't skip prescribed doses on purpose - they simply forget. But Vitality Inc., a Cambridge start-up, says it has a way to help them remember. Today, it is expected to unveil GlowCap, a device that fits standard-size pill containers. It's embedded with a small light that begins flashing at a preset time when the patient is supposed to take a medication. If the cap isn't removed within an hour - signaling that the patient has failed to take a dose - an alarm sounds....
WTF is this? First they are going to "bar-code every single pill" - and now THIS?
************
Next year, Vitality plans to release an updated GlowCap that can also send a wireless signal to alert a caregiver when a patient forgets to take medication, or send an order to a pharmacy when it's time for a refill.
As the DRUG COMPANY says CHA-CHING!!!
By one estimate, the US economy loses $100 billion annually because of patients who don't take prescribed drugs.
More like the DRUG COMANIES are LOSING MONEY!!!!
That includes everything from higher insurance costs to lost productivity, said Dr. Karen Smith, vice president of medical relations for AstraZeneca, a British drug giant that has a research facility in Waltham. --more--"
Now How TF would they KNOW THAT? Productivity would be HIGHER if the masses were ALL DRUGGED UP? That's what the DRUG COMPANIES SAY?"Troubling data on infant deaths" by Eugene Declercq and Judy Norsigian | November 17, 2008
Eugene Declercq is professor of maternal and child health at Boston University School of Public Health. Judy Norsigian is executive director of Our Bodies Ourselves.
.... A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documents a slight decline in the national infant mortality rate (the number of deaths to babies under 1 year of age) in 2006, but the rate has essentially remained flat since 2000, leaving the United States 29th among industrialized countries. --more--"
First see and read: An Alternative View of Hunting
"Nation's turkey producers fear a dry spell this year" by Associated Press | November 16, 2008
MILWAUKEE - Thanksgiving is bringing turkey producers little to celebrate this year, while diners anticipating the most poultry-centric of holidays may be grateful that they won't see much difference in the cost of their bird. Meat producers have been struggling this year with higher costs for key ingredients such as corn, soybeans, and oil, part of why the cost of beef and chicken has risen so much....
The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates a Thanksgiving meal for the average gathering of 10 will cost $44.61 this year, up 5.5 percent from last year. That includes a 9-cent a pound increase for turkey, the group said this week, noting that the cost of the meal was still less than the same meal 20 years ago, when stripping out inflation....
Nothing like eating MSM shit for Thanksgiving, huh?
But even the seasonal sales boost won't ease the industry's sagging profit margins. Too much meat on the market, high prices for commodities and fuel, and weaker demand from restaurants have sliced into profits. Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the nation's largest chicken producer, is sagged by debt and using temporary credit lines to stay afloat. Some observers worry Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, may also have too much debt. Turkeys are likewise in trouble, but on a smaller scale since people eat more beef, chicken, and pork overall....
Yeah, HUNGER is not a problem, only the PROFIT from such!!!!
"In 2008, it was kind of the perfect storm. Corn prices were high, there was oversupply, and speculation helped to drive it more," Keith Shoemaker, chief executive of Butterball said. "Ethanol helped to drive it more, and the value of US currency made it cheaper for other people to import grain, and also import turkey." --more--"
Huh. What a COINCIDENCE.
"In tough times, Spam is suddenly appealing" by Andrew Martin, New York Times News Service | November 16, 2008
Oh, I think I'm going to be sick!!
AUSTIN, Minn. - The economy is in tatters and, for millions of people, the future is uncertain. But for some employees at the Hormel Foods plant here, times have never been better. They are working at a furious pace and piling up on overtime.
The workers make Spam, perhaps the iconic hard-times food in the American pantry. Through war and recession, Americans have turned to the glistening canned product from Hormel as a way to save money while still putting something that resembles meat on the table. Now, in a sign of the times, it is happening again. In a factory that abuts Interstate 90, two shifts of workers have been making Spam seven days a week since July, and they have been told that the relentless work schedule will continue indefinitely.
So as YOU EAT S***, Amurkn, the Globalist Gluttons Gorge Themselves!
Spam, a gelatinous 12-ounce rectangle of spiced ham and pork, may be among the world's most maligned foods, dismissed as inedible by food elites and skewered by comedians who have offered smart-alecky theories on its name (one G-rated example: Something Posing As Meat). But these days, consumers are rediscovering relatively cheap foods, Spam among them....
Even as consumers are cutting back on all sorts of goods, Spam is among a select group of economical grocery items that are selling steadily. Pancake mixes and instant potatoes are booming. So are vitamins, fruit and vegetable preservatives, and beer, according to Information Resources, a market research firm. "We've seen a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans," said Teena Massingill, spokeswoman for the Safeway grocery chain. "They're real belly fillers."
Aren't you glad you are suffering while the elite party?
Kraft Foods said recently that some of its value-oriented products like macaroni and cheese, Jell-O, and Kool-Aid were experiencing robust growth. And sales are still growing, for Velveeta, a Kraft product that bears the same passing resemblance to cheese as Spam bears to ham.
Translation: Americans truly are eating shit -- literally!!!!
Invented during the Great Depression by Jay Hormel, the son of the company's founder, Spam is a combination of ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, potato starch, and a "hint" of sodium nitrate "to help Spam keep its gorgeous pink color," according to Hormel. Because it does not require refrigeration, Spam can last for years. Hormel says "it's like meat with a pause button." During World War II, Spam became a staple for Allied troops overseas. They introduced it to local residents, and it remains popular in many parts of the world where the troops were stationed....
Hormel executives appear to be banking on the theory that Spam fits nicely into recession budgets....
Aren't you glad this was all done on purpose for you, Amurkns?
Darwin Sellers, 56, who adds salt, sugar, and nitrates to batches of Spam, said he had not seen much of his family in recent months, but the grueling schedule had been good for his checkbook. He bought a new television and planned to replace a 20-year-old refrigerator. Unlike his colleagues though, he has no plans to stock up on Spam. "It's not something I've ever developed a taste for," he said.
No, because HE KNOWS WHAT IS IN IT!!!! But eat up, 'murka!!!
A rising segment of the public, it seems, does have a taste for Spam, which nowadays is available in several varieties, including Spam Low Sodium, Spam with Cheese, and Spam Hot & Spicy.
Yeah, because of ECONOMIC NECESSITY!! It is definitely NOT a TASTE FOR!!!!!
James Bate, a 48-year-old sausage maker, was buying it at Wal-Mart in Cleveland recently. Not only was it cheap, but he said it brought back fond memories of his grandfather making him Spam sandwiches. "You can mix it with tomatoes and onions and make a good meal out of it," he said. "A little bit of this stuff goes a long way."
Especially when it comes right back up!!!
--more--"
Where to find it:
"BJ's thrives in tough times; While other retailers struggle, consumers hit the wholesale club to stock up on necessities" by Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | November 16, 2008
NATICK - .... It's customers like Naumes that have helped BJ's Wholesale Club emerge as one of the rare bright spots in this abysmal retail environment. While many merchants are biting their nails, closing shops, and shedding jobs in the midst of one of the worst retail seasons in decades, BJ's Wholesale Club, with its discounted goods, is pretty giddy....
I'm glad OUR MISERY is making SOMEONE HAPPY!!!! So sick of this s*** journalism!!!
BJ's, which has no debt, is capitalizing on the woes of other chains and planning to accelerate its store openings, including taking over a shop near Scarsdale, N.Y., that was supposed to be occupied by struggling Home Depot. "It's uncanny how much wholesale clubs have benefited," said Laura Sen, BJ's chief operating officer.
Yup, YOUR PLANNED SUFFERING is THEIR BENEFIT is UNCANNY, Amurka!!!! And say good-bye to Main Street!!!
**************
During these difficult economic times, consumers looking for bargains - but who don't have families of five or six to feed - are increasingly pooling their resources with friends or family to shop together at warehouse clubs, according to Wendy Liebmann of WSL Strategic Retail in New York. These are not only middle-income shoppers, but higher-income shoppers as well, Liebmann said....
BJ's knows the good times may not last forever. The company is preparing for a weak holiday season, with less inventory and tepid expectations. Sales for general merchandise, like televisions and jewelry, have declined in recent months. But company officials are hoping the expanded holiday food selection of tiramisu, imported cheeses, and high-end appetizers such as chicken satay will drive business and that other irresistible deals will force BJ's customers like Greg Sanborn to open his wallet a little more.
That's why mine stays shut! F*** 'em!!!!
"A healthcare system badly out of balance; Call it the 'Partners Effect:' Elite hospitals are paid much more for care that is often no better than average. It is the best kept secret in Massachusetts medicine
This story was reported by Globe Spotlight Team members Scott Allen, Marcella Bombardieri, Michael Rezendes, and editor Thomas Farragher, as well as Liz Kowalczyk and Jeffrey Krasner of the Globe staff. It was written by Allen and Bombardieri.
.... Call it the best-kept secret in Massachusetts medicine: Health insurance companies pay a handful of hospitals far more for the same work even when there is no evidence that the higher-priced care produces healthier patients....
They are the SPECIAL INTERESTS Dr,. Paul talks about!!!
***************
This payment pattern has become a driving force in the state's galloping healthcare costs, and it raises hard questions about why certain hospitals and physicians receive premium pay for care that is no better than that of their competitors. Until now, the growing pay gap has not been subject to public scrutiny because contracts between insurers and hospitals typically include confidentiality agreements. But an ongoing Spotlight Team investigation of healthcare in this state found scores of payment disparities for routine procedures in which there is no obvious difference in quality....
************
The dramatic payment gaps have emerged over the last decade as hospitals pushed, with varying levels of success, to offset federal budget cuts by boosting their income from insurance companies, health executives say. The resulting wide range of payments for the same services reflects a healthcare system in which deregulation and lax government oversight have allowed the hospitals with the most clout to extract big increases from insurers while everyone else falls behind....
Maybe it is time to DUMP the DAMN PROFIT MOTIVE in MEDICINE, huh?
Health insurance premiums paid by the average Massachusetts family have jumped 78 percent since 2000, and Charles Baker, president of the state's second-largest health insurer, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, believes that a significant portion of the rise has been driven by hefty insurance payment increases to dominant providers, who use the extra income to install the latest technology and expand, often on rivals' turf.
At the same time, the pay gap undermines less powerful hospitals, whose officials say that they steadily lose doctors to those that can pay more, and that they constantly struggle to keep pace with advances in costly medical technology. For instance, while Mass. General is spending $686 million on the single most expensive hospital expansion in state history, the state's second-largest hospital chain, Caritas Christi, had to borrow money this year to pay for basics, like oxygen tanks....
*****************
A powerful hand
Most patients don't think about the payments their insurance company makes to hospitals and doctors, but they should: Inflation of those payments is the main reason insurance premiums increased by an average of $1,800 per family during this decade. More than 85 cents of every dollar in insurance premiums goes to pay the bills in hospitals, doctors' offices, and other medical facilities.
Which means 15% goes for administration, etc? That's WAY TOO MUCH!!!!
Five years ago, those bills were rising mainly because of growing patient demand for care, Blue Cross data shows, but now the escalating prices that hospitals and doctors charge is far more important. A recent Massachusetts study concludes that the price of inpatient care at hospitals is rising by 10 percent a year, while overall use of hospital beds is declining. The hospitals that are paid at the highest rates all share one trait: They have the bargaining clout to demand higher insurance payments. Often, that clout is based on a powerful brand name and elite reputation....
The other source of bargaining power is geographical isolation. Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, for example, commands high insurance payments for outpatient procedures because local residents have no convenient alternative, insurance executives say.
But no company has thrived more in this sharply competitive world - or has had more impact on the cost of medicine here - than Partners HealthCare, a company formed in 1994 to fight back against what its founders saw as the stinginess and lopsided power of insurance companies, which had brought many hospitals to their knees. By bringing together two of the most prestigious hospitals in Boston - the Brigham and Mass. General - Partners became what some called the "800-pound gorilla" of Massachusetts healthcare, able to bend insurers to its will.
Almost from the start, Partners played its powerful hand with conspicuous - rivals would say relentless - aggression and skill. No other city can boast two of the top 10 hospitals on US News and World Report's honor roll, and every insurance company is vividly aware that its members want access to their famed halls.
Partners' dominance became clear in 2000, when executives of Tufts Health Plan had the temerity to refuse Partners' demand for a substantial rate increase. Partners countered by declaring it would no longer accept Tufts insurance at its hospitals. Within days, as thousands of Tufts customers threatened to change insurance rather than lose the right to treatment at the two famous hospitals, Tufts gave in to Partners' demands. Since then, Partners has negotiated one big pay increase after another from insurance companies fearful of a similar humiliation....
************
That willingness to get tough turned Partners' main insurance contracts from money losers a decade ago to the company's largest source of profit, Partners officials say. Extrapolating from Partners' internal tally of its insurance revenues, the Brigham and Mass. General receive at least $500 million a year more from the three biggest insurers than if they were paid at the lower rates typical of their rivals.... Altogether, those higher rates add up to at least $800 million more for Partners hospitals and doctors than if they were paid at rates similar to competitors, based on Partners' insurance income....
Take the damn profit out! They don't care about the patients; they care about how much loot they can EXTORT!
Partners officials reject the idea that their insurance payments have driven up healthcare costs significantly, arguing that costs in Massachusetts are part of a national problem and not caused by any one company. They note that insurance premiums here are rising at about the same rate as the national average. "Boston is experiencing the same premium increases as the rest of the country," Partners said in a prepared statement to the Globe....
Yeah, everyone else is a thief, so you might as well be, too, huh?
Partners' favorable insurance contracts have helped the company to reap $1.7 billion in profits since 2004, reflecting a profit rate that is average compared with the nationally known hospitals the company considers its peers. But it's high by Massachusetts standards: Partners collected 35 percent of statewide hospital profits last year, even though it owns only 16 percent of the beds.
Those earnings have allowed Partners to launch a five-year $4 billion construction program that includes the addition at least 180 new hospital beds and several outpatient facilities. Though the current recession is expected to slow expansion considerably, Partners officials say it won't affect projects already underway.
Yup, no credit crisis for them.
While Partners prospers, 24 Massachusetts hospitals are losing money. Many of them would be profitable if they had even a fraction of Partners' contract clout. Caritas Norwood Hospital, for instance, could erase the $242,347 deficit it reported through the third quarter of this fiscal year if the hospital were paid Partners rates for the babies it delivers. Instead, the hospital is losing money and bracing to lose more next year, when Partners opens a new outpatient center at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
"Some are able to spend more than others," said Jack Connors, Partners' longtime chairman of the board. "It's our fortune that we're probably in the lead on those investments. And several hospitals aren't able to keep that pace. And that's what I, as a businessman, call market forces, if you will."
Well, let's TAKE the MARKET OUT then!!!!!!
************
One reason patients don't shop for care is that, as a practical matter, they can't.... Partners officials say that they don't know exactly how their pay compares to others, though they know they are paid more. That added revenue is going for good purposes, they say, such as research and doctor training. Insurance profits also subsidize unprofitable lines of business, such as psychiatric care and the burn units at the Brigham and Mass. General. In addition, Partners employs 50,000 people, more than any other private company in Massachusetts.
Excuse me, readers. I have to go to the hospital; someone has been blowing smoke up my ass.
Partners officials also say they are building a massive integrated system that could become a model for how to reduce errors and waste. The company's computer networks, for example, will eventually be used to bar-code every single pill, so that each can be double-checked at bedside....
Holy shit!! BAR-CODE the PILLS? Hello, George Orwell!!!!
State health officials have tried to encourage women like Karen Dahl, 31, who lives less than 2 miles from Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, to reconsider their flight to Boston, pointing out in a 2003 study that community hospitals are generally just as reliable as teaching hospitals for normal births. In fact, they had a slightly lower complication rate - and they're a lot cheaper. Dahl's care cost $8,282.14 at the Brigham, while the cost at Mount Auburn would have been about $5,700, according to state insurance data....
But we got money for tv ads and Hollywood and corporations, etc, etc.
Massachusetts patients love brand name medicine, going to teaching hospitals 2.5 times more often than patients across the country, according to a 2005 report for the Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals. It is a habit that carries a heavy cost: We spend about $1.7 billion more per year than we would using community hospitals at the national rate. Partners' Lee, a cardiologist who still sees patients in addition to his management job, argues that patients are voting with their feet.
"There's a very fair question of can we afford that as a society, but there's no question in our market that people want this," Lee said. "I have people come and see me from New Hampshire and Rhode Island for their blood pressure, and I tell them, 'You don't need to come here,' and they say, 'But I want to,' and I think they're sometimes offended because I'm trying to chase them away."
The growing dominance of Partners - and Children's Hospital for pediatrics - is a microcosm of the national trend in the last 15 years, as government has increasingly allowed the market to decide what healthcare will be available and at what price. Hundreds of unprofitable hospitals closed, while many others merged to gain more negotiating power with insurance companies, which, by the mid-1990s, were aggressively denying claims and shortening hospital stays to hold down costs.
Take a look at what National Helath Care will do for you, America!
The balance of power between insurers and providers did need to shift. But the realignment has had costly side effects: After a decade of stable insurance rates in the 1990s, medical inflation began to soar across the country, something economists attributed partly to the increased clout of merged healthcare systems like Partners. And healthcare specialists agree that the price run-up did not lead to a similar improvement in quality....
Paying MORE for LESS!!!!
****************
At Caritas Norwood Hospital, where he scrubbed floors as a teenager, Dr. Adam Glasgow said it's unfair that the Brigham and Mass. General make so much more for some procedures, even factoring in the expense of teaching and research. "We're doing the same work," said Glasgow, a surgeon. "It doesn't make any sense for that institution and that physician to be paid more for doing the same work. It just drives up the cost of healthcare. It's unfair, and it's unnecessary." --more--"
But CUI BONO?
Of course, look at how the pro-pharmaceutical treats people who take their care into their own hands:
"Through website, patients creating own drug studies" by Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff | November 16, 2008
Online social networks, blogs, and homemade videos have, for better or worse, created user-generated upheavals in a variety of industries, propelling information forward ever faster....
What's with the insult, MS? Oh, yeah, the web is kicking your ass!
There are downsides to trying unproven treatments and looking to individual experiences for medical advice. The course of a disease can vary widely between individuals, making it difficult to disentangle the many factors - including a new drug - that might influence its progression. There are also risks to taking drugs when they have not been fully vetted by clinical studies.
You mean like the POISON the FDA APPROVES? Pffft!
Karen Felzer, a seismologist who jointly initiated the online lithium study because her father suffers from the disease, also known as ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, for example, said her father stopped taking lithium this summer because it didn't seem to help and had side effects.
Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, ALS clinical director at Massachusetts General Hospital, cites the example of minocycline, an acne drug that some preliminary data had suggested might benefit ALS patients. Later, she said, a study showed that the drug accelerated the disease. "The bottom line is we have to do these studies that have a comparison group - and they do take a long time to start up," Cudkowicz said. "I can see [the frustration], as someone who cares for patients with ALS."
Yeah, but listen to those drug authorities as they try to shovel the shit down your throat!!!!!!
Even so, she said, there are no short cuts. To develop more treatments will require studies in which patients are randomly and blindly assigned to a group taking either treatment or placebo. Cudkowicz and others will soon begin recruiting patients for such a trial of lithium in ALS patients.
But for now, the biggest set of data available on lithium use by ALS patients comes from the reports on PatientsLikeMe.com. So far, the data - which are still being gathered - indicate that the drug is considerably less effective than indicated by the Italian study, published in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While that discovery has been disappointing, the online reporting is still useful, say its backers.
Yeah, but SOMEBODY made BUKU $$$$ off it!!!!
A drug such as minocycline was taken for years while patients waited for the clinical trial that eventually showed it could actually harm them, said James Heywood, cofounder of PatientsLikeMe. But less than a year after the Italian lithium study was published, "we now have data in our system on over 100 patients who have been on a drug long enough to demonstrate the hope of that drug was not what was originally assumed - and that means thousands of patients won't take it."
You know what? KEEP YOUR FRIKKIN POISONS and POTIONS, 'kay?!!!
"Birth center's possible demise ignites protest" by Kay Lazar and Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff | November 14, 2008
A proposal to cease all deliveries at the North Shore Birth Center in Beverly - one of only two hospital-affiliated centers statewide that offer natural birth options - has ignited a passionate protest from women across the region.
**************
The center's nurse-midwives, operating out of a cozy, homelike bungalow on the grounds of Beverly Hospital, have helped deliver more than 6,000 babies since the facility opened in 1980. Unlike a hospital setting offering drugs to induce labor and control pain and machines to monitor the process, the center features a Jacuzzi or tub for labor and delivery, holistic approaches to pain management, and a kitchen, living room, garden, and deck encouraging family and friends to gather and participate in the birth.
--MORE--"
Yeah, one wonders how the human race has survived this long with out "modern medicine."
And how come we have TRILLIONS for WARS of DESTRUCTION and DEATH but nothing for the babies?
"Vaccine makes gains against an STD
ATLANTA - For the first time, an expensive vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer in women has proven successful at preventing a disease in men, according to a study released yesterday by the vaccine's maker.
I'm TIRED of their INVENTED DISEASES and "cures."
The disease is genital warts - sexually transmitted, embarrassing, and uncomfortable - but not life-threatening.
Not life-threatening? Then I'll keep my $$$, thank you.
Still, the results could bolster an expected bid by the vaccine's manufacturer,
Yeah, and MAKE $$$!!!
The focus was Merck's vaccine, Gardasil, which is given in three doses over six months and is priced at about $375. The vaccine targets the two types of HPV, or human papillomavirus, believed to be responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, and two other types that cause most genital warts. HPV is spread through sex. In 2006, the US government licensed the vaccine for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26. Males can spread the virus, but the vaccine was not licensed for them because there was no evidence it prevented disease in men. --more--"
What (blog author types in anger at beeing lied to yet again)?
Here is why they are pushing this garbage on our children: Economy to reduce drug companies' sales $10b
Yup, gotta find a way for the American people to KEEP TAKING SHOTS and POPPING PILLS so the DRUG COMPANIES can PROFIT!!!
"Regional biotech group convenes its first meeting
Biotechnology companies have another trade group to represent them. The New England Biotech Association, which will represent biotechs in the six New England states, officially got off the ground with its first board meeting, in Cambridge. The organization's members include the Biotech Association of Maine, Connecticut United for Research Excellence, New Hampshire Bio/Medical Council, Rhode Island BioGroup, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Massachusetts High Technology Council, and the Biotech Association of Vermont, which is still being formed. --source--"
Yeah, they rarely make money (because of their dangerous poisons), but look at 'em line up to shake down the statehouses for more taxpayer loot. What, a billion wasn't enough for ya?
"Democrats focus on healthcare reform; Plan would require all to buy insurance" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | November 13, 2008
WASHINGTON - A leading Senate Democrat rolled out a sweeping healthcare plan yesterday, signaling that Democratic leaders in Congress intend to aggressively pursue significant - and probably expensive - healthcare legislation despite an expanding federal deficit and President-elect Barack Obama's intense focus on the ailing economy.
Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the head of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, unveiled an 89-page policy proposal that in many ways resembled the one Obama put forward during the campaign, with an important difference - it requires everyone to buy health insurance. In that respect, it is even more like the plan Massachusetts enacted in 2006 than Obama's, which did not include an individual mandate.
Uh-oh!
"Architects of the state's campaign to extend health insurance to virtually all residents are increasingly concerned about the price of that endeavor and seeking ways to reduce the unchecked growth in medical costs more broadly"
You've been warned, America.
************
Despite the country's enormous economic problems, the political climate will be somewhat better for reform than it was 16 years ago. With health costs spiraling, businesses of all sizes have joined the call for comprehensive health reform. Both the Business Roundtable, which represents the country's largest businesses, and the National Federation of Independent Business joined with the AARP and the Service Employees International Union during the campaign season and launched a massive campaign to call for health reform.
Now I am VERY SUSPICIOUS of the "reform." These are the same groups who BLOCKED IT for so long!!!! So if they are FOR NATIONAL HEALTH CARE NOW what are they GETTING OUT of IT!? Shifting the BURDEN to TAXPAYERS?
Both Baucus and Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, have been working for months to lay the groundwork for major healthcare legislation, holding hearings and informal talks with business groups, providers, and consumer advocates.... Democrats believe they must move quickly to capitalize on Obama's honeymoon period.
The Baucus plan, in addition to requiring individuals to buy health insurance, would also require large employers to provide it and would bar insurers from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions.
That is NOT GOVERNMENT'S JOB!!!!
The plan would set up a mechanism to help connect those lacking affordable employer-based health insurance with coverage, either through a new Medicare-style federal program or through a private plan. Subsidies would be available for those who could not afford to pay full freight. The plan would also expand the Medicaid program for the poor, and allow people ages 55 through 64 to buy in to Medicare. The Baucus plan also contains a number of provisions to help lower healthcare costs, including improvements in information technology, a stronger emphasis on primary and preventive care, and reforming the hugely expensive Medicare program, which he said "now rewards more care, not better care."
Yesterday, Amanda Austin, a senior manager of legislative affairs for the NFIB, which represents small businesses, said her organization was encouraged by the Baucus plan's "holistic approach" to addressing not only healthcare access but costs. She said she was optimistic about health reform happening early in the Obama administration because of the strong desire on the part of the public for health reform, the new administration's interest in the issue and the work of Kennedy and Baucus.
"It's the perfect storm, and I'm hopeful that President-elect Obama can . . . find time in the first year while there is that momentum to look at it," she said. The need for a plan is also greater: There are nearly 47 million Americans without health insurance and another 25 million who are underinsured. One huge unknown is cost. Baucus did not say how much he thought his plan would cost, but he suggested that Congress may have to suspend its own rule requiring legislation to be paid for without increasing the deficit.
How much debt are they going to toss onto the backs of the American people anyway?
A report issued yesterday by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that Obama's plan would cost $75 million in the first year - about one-third could be paid for by redirecting money now spent on treating the uninsured - and a total of more than $1 trillion over 10 years.
Wait a minute. One TRILLION is needed over TEN YEARS? GIVE THAT BANK BAILOUT MONEY BACK RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!
But Baucus said waiting until the economy improved was not an option. The country cannot move forward economically, he said, without doing something about the skyrocketing health costs that are hurting the ability of American businesses to compete and crowding out other public sector priorities like education. It is an argument his party will doubtless use in the coming months.
"If we're going to have a 21st century economy, and a 21st century playing field for American innovators . . . and workers, then we'd better get a 21st century healthcare system, and we'd better get it now," he said. --more--"
Then here is something for you to watch, Max: Sicko
"European Union reshapes fruit, vegetable rules; Regulations tossed as food prices rise" by Stephen Castle, International Herald Tribune | November 13, 2008
BRUSSELS - .... With the cost of the weekly supermarket visit on the rise, it has become increasingly hard to defend the act of throwing away food just because it looks strange....
Oh, you can't be serious! With ALL the STARVATION on this planet?!! Oh, I think my heart just exploded!!!!!!
Mariann Fischer Boel, European commissioner for agriculture who argued that regulations were better left to market operators: "It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the 'wrong' shape."
That sentiment was not shared by 16 of the EU's 27 nations.... the curvature of cucumbers has been a preoccupation of European officials. --more--"
I'll tell you where I'd like to shove one right now!!!
Of course, maybe it is not just them: Rachael Ray Sex Videos Stun Food Network
WTF? And then they turned around and said they had 45-year-old arteries?
This is about BOOSTING BIG PHARMA'S SALES and NOTHING ELSE!!!
"Obese children showing arteries of 45-year-olds" by Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press | November 12, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - .... It is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended cholesterol-lowering drugs for some children.
I don't think our children should be on ANY DRUGS!! Who knows what effects these poisons will have on their growth and maturity!
Dr. Geetha Raghuveer of Children's Hospital in Kansas City, who led one of the studies. wanted to see if early signs of damage could be documented. She and colleagues used painless ultrasound tests to measure the thickness of the wall of a major neck artery in 70 children, ages 10 to 16. Almost all had abnormal cholesterol and many were obese.
No one knows how thick a 10-year-old's artery should be, so researchers used tables for 45-year-olds, who often do get such exams. The children's "vascular age" was about 30 years older than their actual age, she found. --more--"
Can you say BULLSH*T STUDY?
"Mass. banks healthy, see less loan demand" by Ross Kerber, Globe Staff | November 11, 2008
Massachusetts banks are in good financial shape and continue to offer home and business loans, said state legislative leaders who hosted an economic summit on Beacon Hill yesterday. However, though they have money to lend, some banks are beginning to report falling loan demand because of the slowing economy....
Maybe no one wants to borrow money anymore.
:-)
********
With more than 140 independent banks here, Massachusetts has a higher proportion of deposits held in local institutions compared with other states. Regulators hope Massachusetts escapes the worst of the credit crisis since few of these institutions made the riskier types of mortgage loans that have led to problems elsewhere.I love it when newspapers lie:
"Assuming the Sovereign deal is completed, 28 percent of deposits in Massachusetts would be held by foreign institutions, far above the US average of 6 percent. Only four other states ranked higher, including two that are Citizens Bank strongholds: Rhode Island, where 55 percent of deposits were held by foreign-owned institutions, and New Hampshire, with 47 percent --source--"
Seriously, readers, what is the newspaper reader to think? The lies are enormous, and they are constant!
DiMasi also cited the state's wide mix of industries, including new but small fields like biotechnology and clean energy. --more--"
Yup, cite the biotechs!
"Though it has yet to turn a profit, Vertex has been expanding rapidly ahead of the launch of Telaprevir, its widely anticipated pill to treat hepatitis C, which analysts believe could potentially generate billions of dollars in annual sales. The company is also developing a drug to treat cystic fibrosis, called VX-770. Based on the hope of those drugs, Vertex has a stock market value of more than $4 billion, making it one of the region's biggest life sciences companies.
But the biotech sector is notoriously difficult; many experimental drugs don't ever make it to market, because they turn out to be unsafe or ineffective. --source--"
Yeah, it's "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech --source--"But that's the WAVE of the FUTURE -- tossing money away at failed companies!!
The FUTURE is NOW!
"Space station going green; Astronauts happy about makeover" by Marcia Dunn, Associated Press | November 10, 2008
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - .... Most significant is the water recovery system - it will turn urine and condensation into fresh drinking water.
Endeavour's commander, Christopher Ferguson: "I would challenge you to find any other system on the Earth that recycles urine into drinkable water. It's such a repulsive concept that nobody would even broach it. But that day will come on this planet, too, where we're going to need to have these technologies in place, and this is just a great way to get started."
.... NASA does not expect to get the water generation system up and running before spring. That's how long it will take to check everything and make sure the recycled water is safe to drink.
--more--"
Would you like something to drink, readers? Excuse me a moment.
"But the Legislature could amend or repeal the new law, as they have done with prior initiatives passed by the voters"
Oh, maybe not. Not that I'm in a rush to go buy any of the stuff(?). Why is it that authorities always act like we are all a bunch of drug fiends out here? Hey, we aren't politicians addicted to corporate and taxpayer loot.
"Hawaii County latest to make pot low priority
HILO, Hawaii (AP) — Hawaii County police and federal authorities say they will continue enforcing marijuana laws on the Big Island despite the passage of a ballot initiative making it the lowest priority for law enforcement."
That the kind of 'democracy" we are bringing to the world? Why even bother having elections then? Nothing but sham formalities; we just got through one. Of course, anything that might actual help you stay alive, this government opposes.
"Study: Smoking Pot Doesn't Cause Cancer--It May Prevent It! Smoking Cannabis Does Not Cause Cancer Of Lung or Upper Airways, Tashkin Finds; Data Suggest Possible Protective Effect"
Excuse me, what was I talking about?
:-)
Here's an answer to your drug war: The Ron Paul Platform: Personal Freedom
For more on the food issues and the genetic modifications of such, please see these websites:
Wake the Flock Up
Kenny's Sideshow
Natural News
"Comparing apples to organic apples; We'd like to think pesticide-free food is better for us, but scientific proof remains elusive" by Judy Foreman | November 10, 2008
There really is no proof that organic food, which costs about a third more, is better for us than the conventionally grown stuff. Yes, it makes sense, intuitively, that crops grown without pesticides should be better for us. It's appealing, politically, to think that food grown the old-fashioned way, by rotating crops and nurturing the soil naturally, would be superior to food that is mass-produced and chemically-saturated.... But the unfortunate truth is that, from a hard-nosed science point of view, it's still unclear how much better, if at all, organic food is for human health.
Remember, readers, the PRO-CORPORATE PAPER is IN FAVOR of PESTICIDE COMPANIES!!!
*******
A study by Emory University researchers and others published in 2006 in "Environmental Health Perspectives," a peer-reviewed journal published by the National Institutes of Health, showed that when children are fed a conventional diet, their urine shows metabolic evidence of pesticide exposure, but that when they are switched to an organic diet, those signs of exposure disappear.
All of which raises the question: How much harm do the pesticides cause?
How about SHOULD the KID -- or ANY OF US, for that matter -- HAVE TO INGEST PESTICIDES to begin with?
A number of studies suggest that, at high doses, organophosphate chemicals used in pesticides can cause acute poisoning, and even at somewhat lower doses may impair nervous system development in children and animals. But at the amounts allowed by the government in the American food supply? That's where nutritionists and environmental scientists seem to part company.
Yeah, but EAT UP!!! Those won't cause you any problem!
"We don't have any good proof that there is any harm from fruits and vegetables grown with the pesticides currently used," said Dr. George Blackburn, a nutritionist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and associate director of the Division of Nutrition at Harvard Medical School. The real issue is to get people to eat more fruits and vegetables, whether they're grown conventionally or organically, he added.
Are you even looking?
Yup, and we got no proof tainted vaccines caused autism, and no proof GMO plants reduce yields, no proof ethanol is hurting the food supply and costs more energy than is worth to produce -- and I get tired of listening to agenda-pushing scientists that are full of sh**, too!!!
"Keeping herbicide and pesticide levels as low as possible does make sense, although there is no clear evidence that these increase health risks at the levels consumed currently in the US, " said Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. What is of growing concern, he said, is the meat industry's increasing use of growth hormones in animals.
I'll deal with that in a moment.
Those hormones may be linked to breast cancer in women, he said. (The "organic" label on beef means, among other things, that it was raised without antibiotics and hormones. Some nonorganic beef is also raised without hormones or antibiotics, as noted on its label.)
What do they mean "nonorganic beef?" (keep reading)
Even if we don't yet have all the evidence that organic veggies and fruit might be desirable, Benbrook of the Organic Center said it's time to change the old notion that "there's nothing wrong with a little pesticide for breakfast." Over the last two years, he said, "nearly every issue of Environmental Health Perspectives has had at least one new research report" on how pesticides can harm a child's neurological growth, particularly on "brain architecture, learning ability and markers for ADHD, [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]." While this falls short of incontrovertible "proof" that properly washed conventional produce can harm us, it does raise red flags, environmentalists say.
But CHOW DOWN on those fruits and veggies, kiddo!! How much of this s*** is in the baby food?
Weighing the value of organic foods also means looking at nutrition, not just the danger of pesticides - and there is also disagreement over whether organic food supplies more nutrients. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, did a 10-year study in which a particular strain of tomatoes was grown with pesticides on conventional soil right next to the same strain grown on soil that was certified organic. All plants were subject to the same weather, irrigation, and harvesting conditions.
Grew 'em right next to each other? What about CROSS-CONTAMINATION?
The conclusion? Organic tomatoes had more vitamin C and health-promoting antioxidants, specifically flavonoids called quercitin and kaemperfol - although researchers noted that year-to-year nutrient content can vary in both conventional and organic plants.....
Yeah, but there is no difference -- or so says the agenda-pushing War Daily. I'm sorry, readers, but this really upsets me. The fact that newspapers would LIE about HEALTH ISSUES!!!! Please, please, wake up to the fact that NEWSPAPERS DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!! They PROMOTE a CORPORATE AGENDA that doesn't give a DAMN ABOUT US!!!
So, what to eat? I side with the nutritionists who urge us to eat more fruits and veggies, regardless of how they're grown. If you can afford it, common sense, though not necessarily science, would seem to favor the organics. But if you want, split the difference - buy organic for fruits and veggies that are thin-skinned or hard to wash or peel, and go conventional for those, like bananas, that you can peel easily.
Are you as insulted as I am, America! Just think: You can eat poison and wash it down with a glass of MSM diarrhea.
And it is not just fruits and vegetables, folks.
I said I would get to the MEAT, and here we are....
"Gene-altered animals and food safety" by Rick Weiss | November 10, 2008
PERHAPS you're still getting used to the idea that some of the meat, milk, and cheese you are eating may come from cloned cows or their offspring, a controversial culinary advance that the Food and Drug Administration green-lighted in January after deeming food from clones to be safe. Well, hurry up and swallow, because the next course is on its way.
I just upchucked my lunch.
Largely unnoticed due to the mayhem of the markets and the presidential race, the FDA recently proposed rules that would allow, for the first time, the marketing of foods from genetically engineered farm animals as well. Unlike clones - which are weirdly procreated from a single parent but are otherwise conventional creatures - engineered animals have had their DNA codes rewritten to endow them with traits never before seen in those species.
Oh my God! These mad scientists are going to DESTROY the FOOD SUPPLY with their INSANE TINKERING!!!
This is the SAME THING they did to the plants, and you see how that is working out. What NEW ILLNESSES are they going to create now? And remember that guy above saying the hormones, etc, are bad?
Among the gene-altered animals angling to appear on our dinner tables are farmed salmon with novel DNA that makes them grow faster; pigs with bacterial genes that make their manure less environmentally damaging; and perhaps even cattle bearing fish genes for omega-3 fatty acids. Imagine filet mignon as healthful as fillet of sole.
The bloggers are correct: best to become a vegitarian.
The good news is....
Good news?
*********
The United States needs a system for approving some gene-altered animals, in part because this is about more than just food. Scientists are also engineering animals to make human medicines in their blood and milk. Others are striving to craft animals bearing life-saving organs suitable for human transplantation. Still others simply want to give animals new genes to help them resist debilitating diseases.
Yeah, the eugenicists ALWAYS WORK for the GOOD!!!
The proposed FDA rules, open for public comment through Nov. 18, could speed the advancement of these and other innovative endeavors. But they will do more harm than good if they don't also promise transparency and accountability. As demonstrated by this year's Korean riots over US beef imports and by the repeated domestic incidents of tainted food, trust is the American food supply's most precious ingredient.
Rick Weiss is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank.--more--"
And look at that: how sad that this item was written by a LIBERAL (and a Jewish one at that)!!!
It surely looks as if you are on your own, America.
Well, I have had enough, readers. Believe it or not, I need to go eat something.
"AIDS funding cuts expected
Leaders of Massachusetts AIDS service organizations were warned last week to steel themselves for further cuts in spending on HIV treatment, prevention, and education amid deteriorating financial conditions.
Jarrett T. Barrios (left), a former state senator who is now president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts, predicted that "there will be more cuts in December." "It is not because this governor wants to make cuts," Barrios told several dozen people gathered Thursday for the annual meeting of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts., the largest private provider of HIV services in New England. "It is because tax revenues are down."
-- more--"
Of course, "flushing . . . millions of dollars away supporting a highly profitable industry" when it comes to $300 million in taxpayer dollars for Hollywood is o.k., even as the price of a school lunch rises; paying $13 million for a computer software system that could have cost less than $3 million is all right because the winner was a close friend of the House speaker, even as my poorer-than-dirt district "has been struggling to close a $2 million budget gap."; the lottery shelling out "millions of dollars" for sports tickets for "lottery officials, their family members, and friends" is fine, even as schools are closing; making interest payments to banks to the tune of "a staggering $22 billion" for the Big Pit, as we call it around here, is required, even as bridges are neglected across the state; and again, paying off banks like UBS, who can "demand repayment of an additional $2 million a month beginning in January" while also receiving a "$179 million payment," while the state pension fund loses $1 billion dollars -- which still didn't stop the executive director from carving himself a nice "$64,000 bonus on top of his $322,000 annual salary."
Oh, and did I not mention the $1 BILLION dollar giveaway to the pharmaceutical corporations, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?" Flush that money away, too, taxpayer. Of course, the war looters were next in line for a handout. And should the state be appropriating money for a "multimillion-dollar reconstruction" of golf courses?
Nor is it RECKLESS to BORROW the STATE INTO OBLIVION so they can PAY INTEREST to BANKS while SITTING ON $2 BILLION DOLLARS!
Need one final insult, Mass. taxpayers?
"Town officials... are trying to decide how much of a property tax break to offer and how they can secure state funding for infrastructure improvements.... although it could take several years for the studio to realize its potential"
Also see: Hollywood, Massachusetts
Hollywood (East) Disses Veterans
More Mass. $$$ to Movie Makers
Sorry, that wasn't it:
"$5m in tax breaks going to IBM for Littleton project
The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved $5 million in state and local tax breaks for IBM Corp., which recently began a $63 million expansion in Littleton. IBM vice president Bob McDonald said the company plans to create 42 jobs at the site over the next decade. McDonald said the computer giant, based in Armonk, N.Y., has already begun renovating a building and hopes to move into it next month. McDonald said the tax incentives were important, but the company would have gone forward with the expansion without them. IBM has 4,000 employees in Massachusetts, including about 2,000 in Littleton (Boston Globe October 30 2008)."
Yup, but NO MONEY for AIDS PATIENTS!!!!!
Not that they really want to cure them: Was AIDS Man-Made?
I saw "Sicko," and the American who fell down in France got treatment, no problem.
But then, maybe that is the point of all this, huh? Keep us all divided and at each others throats.
"Hurt, uninsured immigrant workers face repatriation" by Deborah Sontag, New York Times News Service | November 9, 2008
GILA BEND, Ariz. - .... Antonio Torres's experience illustrates the haphazard way in which the American healthcare system handles cases involving uninsured immigrants who are gravely injured or seriously ill. Whether these patients receive sustained care in this country or are privately deported by a hospital depends on what emergency room they initially visit.
Deporting sick people? This is almost as bad as Israel denying Palestinians care!!
There is only limited federal financing for these fragile patients, and no governmental oversight of what happens to them. Instead, it is left to individual hospitals, many of whom see themselves as stranded at the crossroads of a failed immigration policy and a failed healthcare system, to cut through a thicket of financial, legal and ethical concerns....
--more--"
Look, I have no love for illegal immigrants putting a strain on the health system (yes, I understand this guy was a legal one); however, EVEN I would not TURN THEM AWAY!!! And if we had TRUE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE, we WOULD NOT HAVE TO!!!!
Of course, the U.S. has TRILLIONS for WARS and CORPORATIONS, and BILLIONS for ISRAEL....
Oh, I get tired of typing it.
"Chronic food shortage shows despite efforts by N. Korea to hide it" by Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times | November 9, 2008
NAMPO, North Korea - Along the sides of the road, people comb through the grass looking for edible weeds. In the center of town, a boy about 9 years old wears a tattered army jacket hanging below his knees. He has no shoes. Sprawled on the lawn outside a bath house, poorly dressed people lie on the grass, either with no place better to go or no energy to do so at 10 a.m. on a weekday.
Same scene in some U.S. cities, but we are talking Kore right now.
Despite efforts to keep North Korea's extreme poverty out of view, a glance around the countryside shows a population in distress. At the heart of the problem is a chronic food shortage, the result of inflation, strained relations with neighboring countries, and years of flooding.
Aid agencies say the level of hunger is not at the point it was in the 1990s when it was defined as a famine, although they have found a few cases of children suffering from "kwashiorkor" - the swollen belly syndrome associated with starvation. Mostly what they are seeing is a kind of collective apathy - the kind of listlessness shown by the people on the streets of Nampo....
You know, like you see in Africa.
Most adults had started skipping lunch, reducing their diet to two meals a day to cope with the food shortage.
I'm down to one meal a day myself. A cup of coffee for breakfast, work on the blog all day, then eat an unbalanced dinner.
These are some of the same signs that augured the mid-1990s famine that killed as many as 2 million people....
And yet we hardly heard a word (as most of the planet is suffering hunger. Go ahead, name a country).
Much of the population has been enlisted in producing food. On a Friday morning at rush hour, the sides of the road out of Pyongyang were lined with office workers marching out to the countryside to help with the harvest. Many were middle-age women with pocketbooks and clothing that made them look like they were off to a business meeting, except for the fact that some carried shovels.
Maybe Obama's service will have the kids farm, huh?
The food shortage is not from a lack of effort so much as a dearth of proper equipment and fertilizer, combined with the naturally harsh climate and terrain of the countryside. Much of the rice crop is lost because the collective farms are using threshing machines dating to the 1960s and 1970s. North Korea's souring relationship with South Korea is a major problem. The conservative new government in Seoul, the southern capital, this year withheld a planned shipment of 300,000 tons of fertilizer. Moreover, prices for fertilizer on the private market have skyrocketed. --more--"
Or at least reserve them a table for lunch:
"Every table was set with a single fresh rose (from the rose gardens outside, I was told) and a full complement of three forks, two knives, and two spoons in silver plate..... The buffet tables could have graced a high-end ocean liner. I watched a gentleman in colorful African garb pile his plate with slices of roast sirloin and potatoes mashed with feta cheese. A post-retirement-age couple from the East Side scarfed up most of the egg rolls, though more came out quickly....
I made for the roast leg of lamb with rosemary sauce after I filled my salad plate with chilled asparagus and slices of a duck and pork terrine.... fresh tomato soup and bowls of pasta primavera.... The dessert buffet table practically groaned under a spread of apple and pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, tarts, half a dozen cheeses, sliced fruits, bowls of berries, and, off to one side, three urns of ice cream
"Yeah, but the U.N. is out to alleviate the hunger problem!
"Their healthcare? Courtesy of the state" by Michael Levenson and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff | November 7, 2008
He has been a property owner, with three signature buildings in Downtown Crossing, a three-decker in Brookline, a commercial building in Sharon, and his stately $900,000 home in Chestnut Hill.
He has been a restaurateur, opening with his wife a Middle Eastern café in Brookline that drew a positive review. He has been a franchisee, with three Honey Dew Donut shops, and he has owned a convenience store and a fruit stand.
According to authorities, Joseph Youshaei's seemingly nonstop entrepreneurship made him a wealthy man, worth between $2.4 and $2.6 million. He drove a Mercedes and his three children attended the private Maimonides School, at a cost of $39,820 a year.
"Joseph Youshaei, owner of Jerusalem Cafe, is from Iran, and his wife, Gila, is Israeli."
Need I say more?
But between 1999 and 2005, when authorities say Youshaei, 46, was involved in 19 separate businesses, he and his wife, Jila, were also falsely telling the state that they were poor, prosecutors say. In Suffolk Superior Court yesterday, prosecutors alleged that the couple claimed they earned just $475 a week in order to obtain free, taxpayer-funded healthcare for themselves and their children - $53,000 worth of care over six years.
Well, Jews are real good at extorting $$$$ from people.
I must admit, this lie was one of the most crushing and difficult to absorb. Having been raised in a Zionist-controlled society, the thought was nearly impossible: the Jews lied? The first thing that raised alarm bells was the discrepancy in the numbers. Then there was the replacing of the plaque and so much more. The lack of mass graves at Treblinka (watch: video); the removal of the photographs; the lie of the First World War; the exhaustive documentation of the holohoax; the extortion racket arising from such; the outright lies; the Red Cross totals; the sloppy record keeping and limited access; and ON and ON.
And CHECK THIS OUT!!
In June 2003, Youshaei was arrested in Cleveland Circle. Police say they spotted him in his Mercedes snorting a brown powder through a straw, according to Suffolk court records. He was arrested with two bags of heroin and $2,213 in cash. He pleaded guilty to drug possession and prosecutors later gave back $1,735 of his cash, the court records show. It was not clear what sentence he received.
Yup, and a HEROIN ADDICT to boot!!!!
How come JEWS always GET AWAY with CRIMES?
It was also unclear why, according to prosecutors, Jila and Joseph Youshaei had obtained benefits under MassHealth, the state Medicaid program. --more--"
I'll give you one (joo) clue.
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