Bits and pieces 3-14-11

If it bleeds it leads. So we will be contiually harranged about what may happen at the nuclear power plants.

In the meantime our media will ignore the real interesting story of how well the Japanese people are dealing with this, and why they are doing so.

But then that would require real knowledge, introspection and study.

Something the press has never done well, if at all.

I worked for two very large Japanese corporations in the twilight of my career and what I discovered was that almost everything I had been told about the Japanese was not true. While they were polite, almost to a fault in some cases, they didn't suffer fools very well. And while they respected age, age was supposed to be able to demonstrate it deserved that respect. And while they were patient, they expected results based on what you you were willing to committ to.

Three very good "traits" if you ask me.

Over the 11 years since I left I have lost track of all of them. Several I know remained in the US. Others returned home. I pray they are all well.

In the meantime back in the Land of the Big Gedunk. (That's CONUS in Navy speak.)

The prols are becoming even more restless.

Source: TalkingPointsMemo.com

New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley on Friday tried to calm people's nerves about rising food prices by reminding them that other products -- like iPads -- are getting cheaper.

"Today you can buy an iPad 2 that costs the same as an iPad 1 that is twice as powerful," Dudley said in Queens, Reuters reports. "You have to look at the price of all things."

But better iPads don't put food on the table, audience members reminded him. "When was the last time, sir, that you went grocery shopping?" one person asked. And, perhaps most succinctly, another told him, "I can't eat an iPad."

Link

The article goes on to air the Fed's claim that we can expect a 4% food price hike this year.

Somebody is lying, or else they can't factor in a 75% run up in energy costs to the price of food. Somehow I think the former is the correct answer.

Returning to things more personal, as if the cost of eating could be less personal........

I have seen two old friends leave us behind in the past 6 weeks.

The herd thins.

And I listen more intently to any rustle in the weeds that surround the old body. "Here there be Tygers" is what they use to write at the edge of maps showing unknown lands. And we all have an unknown land in our future.

Where did the time go?

With all the wars and devastion going on I find it difficult to find a sci fi story that out does reality. Maybe one that has a story about how mankind will always forge ahead.

Planet Stories

September 1953

And that would be "The Ark of Mars," by Leigh Brackett. I have no memory of the story, but the theme was that mankind would overcome all problems. I think that is why I liked scifi. I was as poor as a church mouse and had to work to just have spending money.

But I knew I was going on to better things.

BTW - Brackett was also a screen writer. Next time AMC shows "Rio Bravo" look for her name in the credits at the end of the film.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

Lest we forget

Four murdered in Israel.
OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

Your tax dollars at work

Link

You gotta hand it to Big Business. They sure know how to work Big Government.

ATLANTA — The price of preventing preterm labor is about to go through the roof.

A drug for high-risk pregnant women has cost about $10 to $20 per injection. Next week, the price shoots up to $1,500 a dose, meaning the total cost during a pregnancy could be as much as $30,000.

That's because the drug, a form of progesterone given as a weekly shot, has been made cheaply for years, mixed in special pharmacies that custom-compound treatments that are not federally approved.

But recently, KV Pharmaceutical of suburban St.Louis won government approval to exclusively sell the drug, known as Makena (Mah-KEE'-Nah). The March of Dimes and many obstetricians supported that because it means quality will be more consistent and it will be easier to get.

None of them anticipated the dramatic price hike, though — especially since most of the cost for development and research was shouldered by others in the past.

snip

But Snow and others said someone is going to have to pay the higher price. Some of the burden will fall on health insurance companies, which will have to raise premiums or other costs to their other customers. And some will fall on cash-strapped state Medicaid programs, which may be forced to stop paying for the drug or enroll fewer people.

"There's no question they can't afford this," said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.

Salo and Snow said they do not know how many state Medicaid programs currently pay for Makena, which as a generic was recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Aetna will continue to pay for the drug, Armstrong said, but it will be an expensive pill to swallow. Aetna currently covers it for about 1,000 women a year, so the new federal endorsement is likely to cost an estimated $30 million more each year.

snip

Ther-Rx and its parent company became involved about three years ago and acquired rights to the drug from a Massachusetts company named Hologic Inc., said Divis, who is also Ther-Rx's president.

To get FDA approval, the company is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in additional research, including an international study involving 1,700 women, Divis said. The FDA last month signed off and gave Makena orphan drug status. That designation ensures Ther-Rx will be the sole source of the drug for seven years.

The March of Dimes, which gets hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from Ther-Rx, celebrated the approval in a press release, saying if all women eligible for the shots receive them, nearly 10,000 spontaneous premature births could be prevented each year.

"For the first time, we have an FDA-approved treatment to offer women who have delivered a baby too soon, giving them hope that their next child will have a better chance at a healthy start in life," said Dr. Alan Fleischman, the organization's medical director.

As for the cost, he said the drug maker's financial assistance program will ensure no eligible woman is denied the drug due to inability to pay.

Some doctors said they were happy getting the cheaper version from compounding pharmacies, and Aetna's Armstrong said she was unaware of any quality concerns.

Still, doctors will use the Ther-Rx brand, in part because of legal worries.

Not that they have a choice: Last month, KV sent cease-and-desist letters to compounding pharmacies, telling them they could face FDA enforcement actions if they kept making the drug.

So let me see. We had a generic that worked so the FDA created a non-generic by fiat and the price went out of sight.

And politicians actually wonder why we have no faith in the government.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

School on how to talk Italian

Hat tip to whoever sent me this.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

 "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

Back pain and cures

On Monday, March 6 approximately 11:30AM:

So there I was, minding my own business, when I went over to my desk drawer for some printer paper. Bent over same, opened drawer…. Almost couldn’t stand back up.

Intense pain in the lower back. Hobbled to the medicine cabinet, swallowed a muscle relaxer and two Advils, came back by the freezer got a cold pack, sat down, applied the pack and called the chiropractor.

Two hours later he pronounced a pinched nerve, “adjusted” the spine and relief was immediate if not complete. Two treatments later I am much better. In fact I plan on some light yard work tomorrow pending some warmer weather and dryer soil.

I bring this up because some people call chiropractors “quacks.”

And some are. And some doctors are.

It was in a John W. Campbell editorial in Astounding that I first read this concept.

If a person goes to a doctor and if the doctor, after due and necessary tests and examinations, announces that the person has an incurable disease, why would any reasonable person deny the supposed doomed person the right to try any cure available on the market?

I mean, what’s the down side? The person will die sooner? Waste their money?

Huh? It’s like if I fell off a 100 foot tower I shouldn’t flap my arms. It’s like the old joke.

An actor clutches his chest and collapses on the stage. A fellow actor looks at him, turns to the audience and says, “Is there a doctor in house?”

No one answers.

The actor again asks, “Is there a doctor in the house?”

From the back of the auditorium a little old Jewish lady calls out, “Give him an enema!

Stunned, the actor cries, “But Madam! This man has had a heart attack. What possible good will an enema do?”

“It won’t hurt,” came the calm reply.

You have to remember the same profession that says don’t try treatment X for the fatal disease because it hasn’t been approved is the same profession that once bled patients for pneumonia and fought against doctors washing their hands after handling corpses.

And to make things worse, modern day doctors have the government at their sides and looking over their shoulders.

Now remember, my point has to do with the patient FIRST being properly examined, tested and diagnosed with an incurable fatal disease. Why shouldn’t, as Campbell suggests in his editorial, “Louis Pasteur, Medical Quack,” Astounding Science Fiction, June 1964, the person then be permitted to find himself a Licensed Quack and try whatever he feels like trying?

Could it be that the doctors are concerned over loss of income?

What you ask, “Don’t you know that doctors sit on the right hand side of God?”

“Yes,” I answer. “And right next to them is Airplane Pilots and the latest created sports deity.”

And I don’t want anyone to think that I do not respect Doctors. I do. They have all spent years learning and as a group are the most ethical around.

But they aren’t divine. And certainly the FDA is not.

How would you like to find out that in that double blind study that approved the cure that will save millions…. You have been the one taking the sugar pills.

And if you really want to get angry, think about that $90 million we are pissing away on those shits at NPR while the cancer research on DCA doesn’t happen.

Analog Science Fact Science Fiction

June 1964

Campbell was never thrilled with the magazine's name, "Astounding Science Fiction." He often used cover art to demphasize the "Astounding." During 1960 the name was gradually changed to "Analog Science Fact Science Fiction."

In March of 1963 he changed the format from pocket book size to the 8"x10.5" bedsheet size in an attempt to garner even more respectability and newsstand space. It didn't succeed and the cost made him revert back to the pocket book size in July '65.

As you can tell, this copy was stored flat for a considerable period without a protective cover. The resulting rubbing has created flaws in the cover and considerably reduced the value of an otherwise very nice copy.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

Obama to Oil Speculators

Don't worry. I won't bother you.

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson

The ten states with the most and least vice

The List

Where was this list when I was young enough to care?

OnTwitter I am Lesabre1

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt

"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson