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Campaign Update 10/07/08
Michigan's getting testy, Elizabeth Dole is getting challenged, and John McCain and Barack Obama are getting ready to rumble.
CAMPAIGN UPDATE knows that election news and weird jokes go together like a popped-collar meathead and a vacant-eyed blonde. Created by Mark Ganek and Brett Erlich, Campaign Update strives to be the dumbest smart show on television.
Bookmark us and check us out every weekday at current.com/campaignupdate. Michigan's getting testy, Elizabeth Dole is getting challenged, and John McCain and Barack Obama are getting ready to rumble. ... more -
Asthma Prevention by Athma-Pure (APAP - Ramen)
The human nose and breathing system are not adapted to the present and quickly evolving environment. To breathe clean air in the polluted environment, wear athma-pure nosefilters. If you have dust allergy or pollen allergy, wear athma-pure nosefilters to feel better. You stop sneezing after wearing this. Experience it for yourself and feel better. The human nose and breathing system are not adapted to the present and quickly evolving environment. To breathe clean air in the pollu... more
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Victim of the US health system responds to bailout
Four years ago, my husband Larry and I declared bankruptcy because even with health and disability insurance and a health care savings account, we went belly up when our bills and expenses surged well past our ability to cover them. Larry has chronic health issues; I had cancer. There was no way for us to hang on despite our efforts to borrow and plead to stay afloat. We lost our house and most of our furniture and most everything we worked to achieve.
As punishment for going bankrupt in America, we will never again--never again--own a home or have a credit card that isn't savings-backed or have any of the nods of acceptance the "good" credit bearers have in this nation. People will look at that bankruptcy and judge us unfit--look down their noses at us and decide we are losers from now until forever. We got sick, and we went broke, and we are no longer among the valued folks in this nation.
But today, my U.S. senator's office argued with me about how Wall Street needs this bailout to protect me. Bullshit. There is nothing in this for me. I have lost everything. I will never have it back, no matter if I work 100 hours a week, or try 1,000 times harder than I did before. Nothing I can do will erase my failure in getting sick.
Next week, though, armed with my money from the bailout, the Wall Street leaders and the government leaders who now judge me unfit will sit fat and happy, sipping fine wine and eating paté and giggling about the next trip to Europe or an evening at the club. Their lives will remain soft and pure and without the nasty judgments I have to endure every day. My bailout will have funded their greed and smug disdain for people like me.
It stinks to high heaven in America today. I understand damn well that they've mismanaged this into a point of collapse, and that without a fix from somewhere, there are dire things waiting to unfold worldwide.
But by God, no one was there to lift me up or put me back on my feet. And I will die without a home. I will die without ever regaining what I lost. And I will die with the bastards who I am bailing out today looking down their noses at me like I am a piece of garbage because I cannot shop at Neiman Marcus for my clothes or carry a Fendi bag.
I am sick to my stomach after talking with Durbin's office. I can only hope that the polite and respectful response from Obama's staff will reflect how I will be treated under a President Obama. Else, I am not sure staying alive under this sort of domestic and economic terrorist assault on my humble position in life is worth enduring.
This bailout reflects a much deeper and more difficult problem--a very fundamental disdain for democracy. You see, anyone in government who believes this is the way to treat the vast majority of your citizens certainly does not believe in the common good or the value of individuals within a democratic system.
We are just depositors in their bank accounts--they need us to foot the bill for their party. And we're not invited to any table at all. We can pick up the trash. Four years ago, my husband Larry and I declared bankruptcy because even with health and disability insurance and a health care savings... more -
Edwards: Passion for health reform keeps me going
NEW YORK (AP) -- Elizabeth Edwards said Saturday that her passion for reforming the nation's health care system has been "a great refuge" for her during the recent turmoil over her husband's extramarital affair.
Edwards, who has incurable breast cancer, also said medical tests this week showed that her condition hadn't worsened since March of 2007, when she and her husband, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, announced her cancer had returned and spread to her bones.
Edwards was interviewed at the New Yorker Festival by medical writer and surgeon Atul Gawande, who asked how she was managing to continue speaking out publicly on health care, given the turmoil in her personal life.
"Partly by plowing through, like I intend to do with your question, as well," she said, to laughter and applause from the audience.
"The ability to speak out doesn't require a particular skill. It requires one thing - passion about what you believe in. And that passion has been a really great refuge for me," she said.
On her medical condition, Edwards said doctors don't believe the cancer has spread to her lungs or her liver.
"It hasn't really changed since March 2007," she said of her condition. "Then they gave me five years, so if I had five years then, I have five years now, and if I can just keep that up ..." The crowd interrupted her with laughter.
Edwards ruefully described a day recently when was having unrelated stomach troubles, and said that when she checked a Google alert she has set up for her name, she read that she had been sick. NEW YORK (AP) -- Elizabeth Edwards said Saturday that her passion for reforming the nation's health care system has been "a ... more -
Senator Domenici's Legacy: Mental Healthcare Parity
Mr. Domenici's memory sometimes fails him now. But he recalls a speech from 1996, when he sought to attach the measure to a health-insurance bill. "You could feel the Senate just throbbing when I was down there giving a speech, about a great country being so far off on mental illness that it's pathetic...like we had no brains," Mr. Domenici said. Mr. Domenici's memory sometimes fails him now. But he recalls a speech from 1996, when he sought to attach the measure to a healt... more
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Burger King Finally Drops Trans Fat
Burger King Corp. said Thursday it is now cooking with trans fat free cooking oils at all of its restaurants nationwide.
The No. 2 hamburger chain also said all of its menu ingredients, including its baked goods, will contain zero grams of trans fat by Nov. 1.
Trans fats are partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. They can raise bad cholesterol and lower healthy cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease, according to doctors. Trans fats are used to increase the shelf life of foods and preserve flavor.
Many of Burger King's restaurants have already been using trans fat free oil for months. Burger King first announced in July 2007 that it would switch to trans fat free oil in all of its U.S. restaurants by the end of 2008.
"Our suppliers were able to manufacture enough quantity to get us there sooner than our committed deadline," said Chief Executive and Chairman John Chidsey.
Chidsey did not offer any details about the new oils being used at Burger King restaurants, saying the information is "proprietary."
He said customers who have tried the trans fat free foods either do not notice any difference in taste or told the company they tasted better. Eliminating trans fat can change the flavor of foods — a side effect that has made extensive testing of new oils a necessity.
Burger King has been criticized for not switching all of its U.S. restaurants to trans-fat free oil as fast as its competitors.
[Credit: Lauren Shepherd, AP]
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But still, knowing what we know about fast food and its effect on healthy lifestyles, our children, and society as a whole, you still shouldn't eat there. Burger King Corp. said Thursday it is now cooking with trans fat free cooking oils at all of its restaurants nationwide. ... more -
Schwarzenegger signs bills creating hospital privacy oversight office
The move comes months after his wife, Maria Shriver, and other celebrities had their medical records peeked at by UCLA Medical Center employees.
SACRAMENTO -- Hospitals and other health facilities will face harsh new penalties if their employees snoop in the medical records of patients, under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after privacy was breached on celebrities' files -- including his wife's -- at UCLA Medical Center. The move comes months after his wife, Maria Shriver, and other celebrities had their medical records peeked at by UCLA Medical Center ... more -
Pitfalls and Benefits of Drug Advertising and Promotion
What are the benefits and risks of direct to consumer drug advertising.
Join R. William Soller of UCSF's School of Pharmacy to learn about the legal and regulatory basis for drug advertising and p...
documentary on this by Osher Institute
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-91236977899162... What are the benefits and risks of direct to consumer drug advertising. ... more -
Bill Moyers Journal: Is an imperial presidency destroying what America stands for?
Bill Moyers sits down with history and international relations expert and former US Army Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich who identifies three major problems facing our democracy: the crises of economy, government and militarism, and calls for a redefinition of the American way of life
September 26, 2008
As campaign ads urge voters to consider who will be a better "Commander in Chief," Andrew J. Bacevich — Professor of International Relations at Boston University, retired Army colonel, and West Point graduate — joins Bill Moyers on the JOURNAL to encourage viewers to take a step back and connect the dots between U.S. foreign policy, consumerism, politics, and militarism.
Bacevich begins his new book, THE LIMITS OF POWER: THE END OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, with an epigraph taken from the Bible: "Put thine house in order." Bacevich explained his choice to Bill Moyers: Bill Moyers sits down with history and international relations expert and former US Army Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich who identifies thr... more -
Airbags lessen impact of human falls
Nasty falls, however, may be things of the past — thanks to the invention of the human airbag.
Simply strap the 2½lb (1.1kg) pouch around the waist and the wearer is armed with the cutting edge of protection. Sensors detect movement and have been programmed to know when things have gone wrong — a slip on something wet, a stumble on an uneven paving stone or a fall down stairs.
Within a tenth of a second, the airbags inflate to the size of three footballs as they are blasted into action with 15 litres of compressed gas, offering a soft slab of padding on the most vulnerable parts of the body in a fall: the back of the head and the bottom.
Other gadgets for the elderly:
Liquid level indicator Device fitted to cups or jugs that beeps when liquid is an inch from the top of the container
Bed occupancy sensor sends a warning to a monitoring centre if a bed is left unoccupied for a certain period, indicating a possible fall
Dolls that weigh as much as a baby and tell owners they love them, and welcome them back to the house — very popular with elderly women
Brain training game Nintendo gadget successful with elderly Japanese who use the mathematical and spelling puzzles to keep them mentally agile
Light-up slippers Footwear with miniature pressure-activated torches designed to prevent night-time falls Nasty falls, however, may be things of the past — thanks to the invention of the human airbag. ... more -
Nasal Filters/Refills for Airborne Allergies/Asthma
The human nose and breathing system are not adapted to the present and quickly evolving environment. The harmful attacks on our breathing by all kinds of substances in our direct environment create a totally new and typically modern syndrome.
Without clean air the human engine does not function optimally resulting in:
Unhealthy blood levels - feelings of unease - raised stress sensitivity - continual feeling of tiredness - trouble with extremely dry or running noses - heightened allergic sensitivity - sneezing - concentration difficulties and in the long run all sorts of ailments. Clean air is a necessity for all.
Particles found in the air we breathe vary greatly in size. The greatest health hazard from particles comes from the smallest ones, less than 10 microns across, because we easily inhale these small particles into our lungs.
When we breathe in, the hairs in our nose and air passages remove particles larger than 10 microns in size. For people with existing respiratory conditions, such as asthma or bronchitis, breathing in particles can make the conditions worse.
The average person breathes in about 16,000 quarts of air per day. Each quart contains some 70,000 visible and invisible particles. That's over a billion particles per day that our lungs have to filter out! Keeping all this in view, breathing good air in this polluted world, we can use Athma-Pure Nosefilters for the betterment of our health, especially when we travel and during respiratory illness.
Air is for all and is for free but... Athma-Pure Nosefilters say a definite NO to the elements that attack the quality of it!
We are convinced that the current environment in many cases creates a need for an external aid to help our health to overcome the unwanted side effects of the air we breathe.
Our knowledge of particulate pollution, prompted our development of a handy new product. It is Athma-Pure Nosefilters, a means of breathing clean air. Our Athma-Pure filters are charcoal activated and MERV rated to filter and adsorb particulates from 2 to 500 microns. You can easily dispose of the device with the filters or reuse the device by cleaning it with regular liquid soap and replacing our refill filters. Use it and feel better.
I deliver 3 nose filter devices plus one month supply of refill nosefilters for $22.00.
Please visit my website to order:
http://athma-pure.com
Visit my newsletter:
http://athma.pnn.com/4825-the-front-page The human nose and breathing system are not adapted to the present and quickly evolving environment. The harmful attacks on our breath... more -
Elderly with Dementia have a "Duty to Die"?
By Hilary White
LONDON, September 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview, Baroness Mary Helen Warnock has said that people suffering dementia have a duty to commit suicide.
Baroness Warnock, called the "philosopher queen", is regarded as Britain's leading moral philosopher. She said that she hopes people will soon be "licensed to put others down" who have become a burden on the health care system.
(More at link) By Hilary White ... more -
Message from Al Gore
Perhaps the single greatest gift that our democracy affords us is the opportunity to change course when things have gotten off-track.
Eight years ago, many were saying that elections didn't matter and that there was very little difference between our major political parties. However, after eight years of failed policies from George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, showing contempt for our Constitution, and most disturbingly of all, denying the climate crisis that now threatens the very future of human civilization, I think almost everyone agrees that elections matter a great deal.
With the election less than 42 days away and all eyes watching Democrats to see if we will unite and act together to create that change, each of us has a personal responsibility to help advance Democratic campaigns that do justice to the unbelievably high stakes in this election. To encourage you to act immediately, House Democrats are matching your gifts 2-to-1 before the September 30th FEC reporting deadline – the last date to effectively purchase ads.
Contribute $20.08, $35, or more today and your gift will be matched TRIPLING your impact before the last chance to buy ads on September 30th.
On so many critical issues that will define the century, from solving the climate crisis, and defending our nation, to safeguarding our constitutional liberties, and building a modern, strong economy, over the next 42 days, you and I must seize the chance to boldly move America in a New Direction.
Contribute $20.08, $35, or more today and your gift will be matched by House Democrats 2-to-1 TRIPLING your impact before the last chance to buy ads on September 30th.
The choice in front of us is truly profound. John McCain, Sarah Palin, and their would-be Republican allies in Congress are openly endorsing the very same policies followed for eight years by the Bush-Cheney White House – and actually promising more of the same. On the other hand, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and more Democrats in Congress offer a much different choice.
As clear as the choice is to us, the hard truth is that neither electing Obama-Biden nor expanding our Democratic Majority in Congress is a foregone conclusion. With perhaps the most consequential election in all of our lifetimes now just 42 days away, please stand with the DCCC to give America the kind of White House and the kind of Congress that reflects the values, priorities, and the most American of ideas that our best days are still in front of us.
Contribute $20.08, $35, or more today and your gift will be matched by House Democrats 2-to-1 TRIPLING your impact before the last chance to buy ads on September 30th.
All the Best,
Al Gore Perhaps the single greatest gift that our democracy affords us is the opportunity to change course when things have gotten off-track. ... more -
Sign the Petition Political Action: Main Street before Wall Street
"This is outrageous. Bush wants taxpayers to give his administration a $700 billion check with no strings attached, which they'll hand over to the Wall Street firms that got us into this financial mess.
Would it help families struggling to keep their homes? NO. Do taxpayers get any share of the firms we're bailing out, so we can benefit from any eventual profit? NO. Would the firms we're bailing out be required to stop paying their executives multimillion-dollar salaries? NO. This is a pure giveaway.
I signed a petition urging Congress to put Main Street before Wall Street, and to not give Bush a blank check. Can you join me at the link below?
http://pol.moveon.org/wallstreet/?r_by=13979-8062122-_y...
Thanks! "
I just signed it. cg "This is outrageous. Bush wants taxpayers to give his administration a $700 billion check with no strings attached, which they�... more -
100 Essential Resources to Achieve Personal Well-Being
From eating right to building strong relationships and securing personal finances, the following resources will give you the tools to help you find your way to a happier existence. From eating right to building strong relationships and securing personal finances, the following resources will give you the tools to ... more
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Ditch Your Diet: 100 Tips and Tools to Lose Weight Without Trying Hard
There are plenty of diets out there offering hope to those who want to lose weight. The following tips and tools will help you lose the weight you want without stressing. There are plenty of diets out there offering hope to those who want to lose weight. The following tips and tools will help you lose th... more
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Top 50 Health 2.0 Blogs
From corporate blogs to blogs that are a part of social networks to individual blogs touching on technology or health care policy, these blogs will help bring you into the community, and provide information and resources. From corporate blogs to blogs that are a part of social networks to individual blogs touching on technology or health care policy, the... more
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Why Obama's Health Plan Is Better
The big threat to growth in the next decade is not oil or food prices, but the rising cost of health care. The doubling of health insurance premiums since 2000 makes employers choose between cutting benefits and hiring fewer workers
Sen. Obama's proposal will modernize our current system of employer- and government-provided health care, keeping what works well, and making the investments now that will lead to a more efficient medical system. He does this in five ways:
- Learning. One-third of medical costs go for services at best ineffective and at worst harmful. Fifty billion dollars will jump-start the long-overdue information revolution in health care to identify the best providers, treatments and patient management strategies.
- Rewarding. Doctors and hospitals today are paid for performing procedures, not for helping patients. Insurers make money by dumping sick patients, not by keeping people healthy. Mr. Obama proposes to base Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and doctors on patient outcomes (lower cholesterol readings, made and kept follow-up appointments) in a coordinated effort to focus the entire payment system around better health, not just more care.
- Pooling. The Obama plan would give individuals and small firms the option of joining large insurance pools. With large patient pools, a few people incurring high medical costs will not topple the entire system, so insurers would no longer need to waste time, money and resources weeding out the healthy from the sick, and businesses and individuals would no longer have to subject themselves to that costly and stressful process.
- Preventing. In today's health-care market, less than one dollar in 25 goes for prevention, even though preventive services -- regular screenings and healthy lifestyle information -- are among the most cost-effective medical services around. Guaranteeing access to preventive services will improve health and in many cases save money.
- Covering. Controlling long-run health-care costs requires removing the hidden expenses of the uninsured. The reforms described above will lower premiums by $2,500 for the typical family, allowing millions previously priced out of the market to afford insurance.
In addition, tax credits for those still unable to afford private coverage, and the option to buy in to the federal government's benefits system, will ensure that all individuals have access to an affordable, portable alternative at a price they can afford. The big threat to growth in the next decade is not oil or food prices, but the rising cost of health care. The doubling of health insu... more -
Patients abandoned by the NHS.
If you just cant wait for the day that the lady at the DMV gets to tell you what your medical benefits are, you might want to read this or any of the thousands of stories just like it before you jump behind giving either party in your government control of your healthcare choices.
"...Despite having to fly patients to Hungary for treatment, the company boasts it can still beat the price of dental work in the UK by up to 80 per cent." If you just cant wait for the day that the lady at the DMV gets to tell you what your medical benefits are, you might want to read thi... more -
Take what we give you or die!
NHS in England, you know, the "single payer" in GB tells cancer patients that if they use services or buy drugs that may extend their life, from providers outside of the system they will lose their benefits.
"...Currently, patients who pay for medication or care not approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence risk forfeiting their right to NHS treatment." NHS in England, you know, the "single payer" in GB tells cancer patients that if they use services or buy drugs that may ext... more
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