What's going on with Medicare?

Posted on October 06, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance

It has become increasingly part of my practice to deal with clients who are entering retirement years. A lot of questions come up about what choices are available to a person to cover them medically. I am going to go over some of those choices. Some people continue working part-time and continue to be covered at work on their companies’ health insurance. Sometimes this is the best choice, but I doubt it is in most cases. A person can enroll in Medicare. It used to be simple, but has grown more complex. Let me try to break it down. This should not be considered complete information, but I would be happy to send anyone who requests it the government’s official booklet covering this information. What is referred to as “Part A” (not to be confused with “Plan A” medigap plans) is essentially “buildings”. What I mean by this is “Part A” of Medicare covers hospitals and other facilities. This is why I use the word “buildings.” Its places that provide medical care, not persons . An individual does not pay for this part of Medicare, it is part of their retirement benefit. “Part B” of Medicare covers “people”. That is, it pays physician charges, etc . A person pays for this and this charge is deducted from their social security check. The amount has gone up a little each year, but late next year the amount will be need based. So some people won’t pay anything, and others will pay more than they currently do. Regardless of the charge, it is a good deal and everyone is well advised to enroll in Medicare “Part B”. Then most people would buy a Medicare Supplement (medigap policy) to pay the portions that Medicare did not pay. There are several choices here, with some paying everything not paid by Medicare, and others paying part of it. (Medigap policies only pay on charges that Medicare pays something on). They do not pay things Medicare does not pay on. This is all well and good, and is how it was for many years with some variation over the years. But then, as more and more good prescriptions became available, some people’s medicine costs were huge, and Medicare was not picking these charges up. Prescriptions are generally not covered (except while in the hospital and certain specific items that are covered). So Medicare “Part D” was established. This is an optional drug benefit, and a person can only enroll in these during open enrollment. There are many plans available at a low cost. Which is best depends on a person’s prescriptions. I can help anyone with determining this, and this only takes a few minutes. Ask me about it if you’d like help with this. At the same time, Medicare “Part C” was established. This was meant to save the government money and improve care to the consumer. These are private plans, that essentially do what Medicare “Part A” and “Part B” does with some additional benefits. These plans are also referred to as "Advantage Plans." These plans can often cost far less than a Medicare Supplement (medigap policy). There are pluses and minuses to these plans. Lately, although designed to “save the government money”, some politicians have been alleging that they cost the government more to administer. Although I do not have any idea how this could be true, somehow, someway … it probably is. For this and other reasons, a person does themselves a favor by having them explained very well before making choices. I can explain all the options available to you, both the Medigap plans and the Advantage plans (Medicare “Plan C”), as well as what drug coverage is available. Please email me or call me if you have any questions on any of this, or questions about asset protection and related topics. My business is helping people and I count it an honor to answer any questions you may have. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: medicare, part, plan, pay, person

The Great Hunters

Posted on October 05, 2008 in Medical care

Amidst Commotion to the article, \"A Manifest Mitigation of enlightenment\" within which conservatives are seen over creators of in truth inventory over liberals mind lived off the hoard founded concluded conservatives. The leadership of conservatives thanks to hunters thanks to the BBQ's. Liberals separate crash the BBQ's to eat owing to deliver. There was no open up of God. This is unusually interesting. I fathom there is no innuendo whereas to the origins of this amazing idea. Well it can be assigned to the oversize precapitalist, paleoantrhopic literatures. Again, there seems to be a smidgen of postmodern intertextuality embedded tween it. At particle exaction, someone hurting fors to be credited with this document before we rightful laugh including meet it forward. I was implorationsed to concede that the essayist describes \"conservatives\" as \"hunters.\" - Not \"liberals.\" That seems to be a timely observation. Now, mid we hold learned latterly from the corporate media, no Lesser, our Vice President is a gifted \"hunter.\" At intervals fact, he demonstrated his jumbo stalking prowess with consummate skill vital the deviating period. But thereupon came the real whack of his conservatism ... his modesty. Through it could unrepeated feel certain been his conservative modesty that emboldened him to near a stair whereas to enable him to resist the heady temptation to brag about his trophy. Interpolated the termination, he was able to reserve his testosteronic modesty over along with than 19 hours postliminary the hunt. Conjointly commensurate thereupon he could not bring himself to blow his detain horn. He let places give facts whereas him. Bravo. Owing to he has admitted dues as the shooting. This is make headway? Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: conservative, hunter, liberals, modesty, owing

Congress Fiddles (Drugs for renal anemia)

Posted on September 07, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

"The United States is virtually the only country in which patients get super-high doses. You create a toxicity situation," said Dr. N.D. Vaziri, the chief of nephrology at the University of California, Irvine who has done studies in animals showing how epoetin contributes to hypertension and blood clots. Below, a front page article in yesterday's New York Times, Doctors Reap Millions for Anemia Drugs , documented how oncology doctors have been paid millions of dollars by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson to prescribe their anemia drugs-Aranesp and Epogen, from Amgen; and Procrit, from Johnson & Johnson-to patients with kidney disease or cancer chemotherapy. In most circles that would be considered bribery: "Two of the world's largest companies are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to doctors every year in return for giving their patients anemia medicines, which regulators now say may be unsafe at commonly used doses. The payments are legal, but very few people outside of the doctors who receive them are aware of their size." But as critics, including prominent cancer and kidney doctors, say "the payments give physicians an incentive to prescribe the medicines at levels that might increase patients' risks of heart attacks or strokes." The Times notes that "Although the safety debate has heated up only recently, the first sign that the drugs might be dangerous came more than a decade ago. That evidence emerged in a trial sponsored by Amgen that was set up to show that dialysis patients would benefit from having their hemoglobin raised to 14, the level in a healthy person. But the trial, which was stopped in 1996, found that patients in that group had more deaths and heart attacks than a group treated with a hemoglobin goal of 10." "That trial should have discouraged doctors from using too much epoetin and encouraged Amgen to study the risks further, said Dr. Steven Fishbane, a nephrologist at Winthrop-University Hospital on Long Island. Instead, use of epoetin continued to soar." Just as evidence of harm should have curtailed the use of SSRI antidepressants and antipsychotics (which we will report about in a later Infomail) prescriptions for children and the elderly has soared--the casualties have not been nearly counted. "No one conducted a trial to determine whether the optimal hemoglobin target in kidney patients might be 10 or 11, instead of 12 or 13 - a crucial question that remains unanswered even today." [Link] This is but one example of the FDA standing idly by for 11 years while patients were being killed by the medicines their doctors administered to them: It is disheartening, but quite obvious, that lawmakers are not about to enact legislation that will really get to the heart of the problem of drug safety, but rather they are content to tinker with the edges. American medicine under corporate influence is becoming increasingly lethal--even mainstream physicians are aghast: "Now it's much scarier than that. We could really be doing harm." Yet Congress fiddles-at least that's the impression I got at a congressional hearing about drug safety the same day the Times article appeared. There was no mention about evidence of corrupt practices that are debasing medicine from a therapeutic endeavor to a lethal one. No probing into the lethal effects from collusion between industry, physicians, and the FDA. Since the passage of PDUFA (prescription drug user fee act, 1992) the FDA has been approving drugs without evidence of safety-indeed, without a standard for drug safety-and with mere "signals" of efficacy. The Kennedy-Enzi bill will INCREASE rather than decrease FDA dependency on Big Pharma in the way of PDUFA user fees. Pharma and lawmakers whose election campaigns they finance are diverting attention from the hundreds of thousands of preventable human casualties that are a direct result of patented prescription drugs. Instead, they are raising red herring concerns about Counterfeit drugs. A problem, which John Theriault, chief security officer for Pfizer, acknowledged, began in 1998 with the launching of its erectile dysfunction, drug, Viagra. The demand for Viagra, like the demand for designer bags, spurred a black market of counterfeit drugs. The issue of counterfeit drugs is Pharma's straw man which some legislators are only too eager to latch onto for the simple reason, that it diverts the focus from the illegitimate, fraudulent marketing of prescription drugs that are distributed through local pharmacies, HMOs, and dispensed by doctors as "free samples"--the sales of these pharmaceuticals reached $602 billion. [1] These tainted drugs carry the FDA seal of approval, are prescribed by U.S. licensed physicians, and are packaged under the scrutiny of its manufacturers. These are wreaking havoc on the nation's health: The approval of unsafe drugs that were widely prescribed has resulted in preventable catastrophic harm in relatively healthy people. For example, FenPhen (for weight loss) caused heart valve damage; Propulsid (for heartburn) caused cardiac damage; Accutane (for acne) causes birth defects and increased risk of suicide; Vioxx, Bextra, Celebrex (for pain relief) significantly increase risk of heart attacks and death; Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Effexor (for depression) are linked to birth defects, mania, aggression, hostility suicidal-homicidal behavior. Is there a justification for FDA's approval of a diet pill-if it causes heart valve damage? Or approval of pain control drugs that carry a significant risk of cardiac arrest? Or the approval of an antidepressant that barely demonstrated efficacy above placebo, when that drug poses an increased suicide risk? Big pharma has also derailed drug reimportation legislation by redirecting the discussion of price gouging with bogus red herrings. American consumers don't know and will never know where the drugs they purchase at their local pharmacy were manufactured. Mostly NOT in the U.S. Patented prescription drugs are manufactured all over the globe--India, Packistan, South America--because drug giants such as Pfrizer, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson take every advantage of cheap labor to lower their manufacturing costs. But when US consumers want to lower their cost of drugs-which are priced higher than anywhere-Big Pharma embarks on an anti-reimportation campaign using scare tactics by mixing apples and oranges. Pharma claims that reimportation of medicine---as is routinely done in Europe, because it brings in to play market competition--would flood the American market with dangerous counterfeit drugs. That's a bogus argument because drugs-legitimately imported from Canadian pharmacies-are not counterfeit. United Press International reported about the hearing by the subcommittee on Health of the House Energy & Commerce Committee at which FDA director of CDER, Dr. Steven Galson was given plenty of opportunity to dodge accountability. Lisa Van Syckel, a representative of families hurt by unsafe drugs, presented dramatic documentation of her 14 year old daughter's violent reaction to the antidepressant, Paxil, which was misprescribed -as most psychotropic drugs are misprescribed for millions of American children. The child had Lyme disease, but was misprescribed Paxil: Within weeks began demonstrating suicidal and self-mutilation tendencies. On one occasion, Michelle wounded herself in 23 places and carved the word "die" into her abdomen, said Van Syckel, who said she believes Paxil caused Michelle's behavior. "Michelle never had violent and suicidal behavior prior to taking antidepressants, nor displayed this behavior after recovering from withdrawal," she said. Ms. Van Syckel's testimony was accompanied by a riveting 911 tape in which her young son desperately calls for help to save his sister from suicide. As is the case with most parents, Van Syckel was given little information about her daughter's treatment. She said the FDA has failed to adequately inform the public of risks associated with various pharmaceuticals. Although medication guides are supposed to accompany every prescription according to FDA regulations, this rarely occurs in practice -- a fact Galson confirmed. Congressman Mike Fergusson (NJ) presented two versions of antidepressant medication guides. Dr. Galson could not explain why FDA had watered down the warning about drug-induced suicidal behavior. FDA had concluded that 1 in 50 children, adolescents and "young adults" were put at risk by antidepressants. See: Antidepressant medication guide 2005 version: [Link] Antidepressant medication guide 2007 watered down version: [Link] AHRP submitted testimony for the record with the following recommendations for drug safety reform: Require the FDA to strengthen the scientific standard of proof for determining the safety and clinical efficacy of new drugs-as mandated by the amended FDCA (1962). Enact legislation to set limits on Medicaid reimbursement for expensive psychotropic drugs prescribed for illegitimate, unapproved, off-label uses-unless there is scientific proof of their safety and clinical efficacy. Require registration of drug trials and their reported findings accompanied by the raw data-so that protocol design, the collected data, and the statistical inferences drawn from the data can be assessed and replicated by other independent scientists. Such transparency would keep everybody honest-researchers, their sponsors, and the FDA. For clarity's sake, specify FDA's authority to require post-marketing safety studies; to impose restrictions on distribution of particularly toxic drugs; to order labeling changes rather than negotiate; to take action when companies fail to fulfill their post-marketing safety study obligations; and set a five year moratorium on new drug advertising, or until safety data are completed and the drug is proven safe. Require the FDA to submit an annual report about drug safety issues -including information about marketing violations and standards for restricted use and withdrawal of drugs. Today, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (NY) introduced Sweeping FDA Reform Measures: FDA Improvement Act (FDIA) Creates Independence Between FDA & Drug Industry, Eliminates All Conflicts Of Interest On Advisory Panels, & Establishes New Post-Marketing Safety Center The FDAIA establishes an independent Center for Post-Market Drug Safety & Effectiveness, which would monitor all approved drugs as well as all advertisements and promotions associated with those products. Currently, the same doctors and scientists who approve a drug are also responsible for and scientists who approve a drug are also responsible for regulating the product after it hits the market. Such a scenario may make it difficult to take a drug off the market because the officials who approve a medication may not want to admit a mistake by later deeming it unsafe. Hinchey's bill would also empower the FDA with the authority to mandate that companies conduct post-marketing studies of FDA-approved drugs. Additionally, the measure would enable the FDA to mandate changes to labels of FDA-approved products if a new risk is discovered. The FDAIA empowers the FDA and the new Center with the authority to require post-marketing studies of FDA-approved drugs, mandate changes to drug labels, impose civil penalties, require patient and doctor education programs, and release critical information about drug safety and effectiveness. "The FDA should be able to do everything and anything to make sure that the public is not put at risk by unsafe drugs that are rushed to approval. Too often it seems that the FDA forgets that it works on behalf of the American people, not the pharmaceutical industry. That is a fundamental problem that must be addressed." See: [Link] html References: See, partial list of U.S. Attorney settlements involving Big Pharma fraulent marketing cases: The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman by Dr. Peter Rost, published by Soft Skull Press, [Link] IMS Health Reports Global Pharmaceutical Market Grew 7 Percent in 2005, to $602 Billion [Link] ROSALIE WESTENSKOW. ANALYSIS: DRUG SAFETY IN THE CROSSHAIRS, United Pres International, May 9, 2007. [Link] [Link] The New York Times May 9, 2007 Doctors Reap Millions for Anemia Drugs By ALEX BERENSON and ANDREW POLLACK Two of the world's largest drug companies are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to doctors every year in return for giving their patients anemia medicines, which regulators now say may be unsafe at commonly used doses. The payments are legal, but very few people outside of the doctors who receive them are aware of their size. Critics, including prominent cancer and kidney doctors, say the payments give physicians an incentive to prescribe the medicines at levels that might increase patients' risks of heart attacks or strokes. Industry analysts estimate that such payments - to cancer doctors and the other big users of the drugs, kidney dialysis centers - total hundreds of millions of dollars a year and are an important source of profit for doctors and the centers. The payments have risen over the last several years, as the makers of the drugs, Amgen and Johnson & Johnson, compete for market share and try to expand the overall business. Neither Amgen nor Johnson & Johnson has disclosed the total amount of the payments. But documents given to The New York Times show that at just one practice in the Pacific Northwest, a group of six cancer doctors received $2.7 million from Amgen for prescribing $9 million worth of its drugs last year. Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration added to concerns about the drugs, releasing a report that suggested that their use might need to be curtailed in cancer patients. The report, prepared by F.D.A. staff scientists, said no evidence indicated that the medicines either improved quality of life in patients or extended their survival, while several studies suggested that the drugs can shorten patients' lives when used at high doses. Yesterday's report followed the F.D.A.'s decision in March to strengthen warnings on the drugs' labels. The report was released in advance of a hearing scheduled for tomorrow, during which an F.D.A. advisory panel will consider whether the drugs are overused. The medicines - Aranesp and Epogen, from Amgen; and Procrit, from Johnson & Johnson - are among the world's top-selling drugs, with combined sales of $10 billion last year. In this country, they represent the single biggest drug expense for Medicare and are given to about a million patients each year to treat anemia caused by kidney disease or cancer chemotherapy. Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said that both patients and doctors would benefit from fuller disclosure about the payments and the profits that doctors can make from them. "I suspect that Medicare is going to take a very careful look at what is going on here," he said. Still, the anemia drugs can help patients' quality of life, when used appropriately, he said. "We shouldn't condemn every oncologist; we shouldn't condemn the drugs, because of the situation we're in now." Federal laws bar drug companies from paying doctors to prescribe medicines that are given in pill form and purchased by patients from pharmacies. But companies can rebate part of the price that doctors pay for drugs, like the anemia medicines, which they dispense in their offices as part of treatment. The anemia drugs are injected or given intravenously in physicians' offices or dialysis centers. Doctors receive the rebates after they buy the drugs from the companies. But they also receive reimbursement from Medicare or private insurers for the drugs, often at a markup over the doctors' purchase price. Medicare has changed its payment structure since 2003 to reduce the markup, but private insurers still often pay more. Combined with those insurance reimbursements, the rebates enable many doctors to profit substantially on the medicines they buy and then give to patients. The rebates are related to the amount of drugs that doctors buy, and physicians that agree to use one company's drugs exclusively typically receive higher rebates. Johnson & Johnson said yesterday in a statement that its rebates were not intended to induce doctors to use more medicine. Instead, the rebates "reflect intense competition" in the market for the drugs, the company said. Amgen said that rebates were a normal commercial practice and that it had always properly promoted its drugs. "Amgen is dedicated to patient safety," said David Polk, a spokesman. "We believe our contracts support appropriate anemia management and our product promotion is always strictly within the label." Both companies' stocks fell yesterday after release of the F.D.A. report. Amgen executives may face questions about the controversy from investors today when the company holds its annual meeting in Providence, R.I. Since 1991, when the first of the drugs was still relatively new, the average dose given to dialysis patients in this country has nearly tripled. About 50 percent of dialysis patients now receive enough of the drugs to raise their red blood cell counts above the level considered risky by the F.D.A. American patients receive far more of the anemia drugs than patients elsewhere, with dialysis patients in this country getting doses more than twice as high as their counterparts in Europe. Cancer care shows a similar pattern. American cancer patients are about three times as likely as those in Europe to get the drugs, and they receive somewhat higher doses. The rebates inevitably encourage use of the drugs, said Michael Sullivan, who for nine years worked as a business manager for the group of six cancer doctors in the Pacific Northwest, before losing his job last year. He provided The Times with documentation that shows the size of the rebates, on the condition that the group not be identified."Personally, I think rebates should go away," said Mr. Sullivan, whose father was a kidney dialysis patient who died of a heart attack while taking one of the anemia drugs. "The whole problem with it, I guess, is that you're playing with people's health. It's not the same as buying widgets." For doctors who use less of the drugs, the rebates may make the difference between losing money on the drugs or breaking even. Mr. Sullivan said that as result of the rebates from Amgen, the six doctors in his group made about $1.8 million in net profit on the drugs they prescribed. Unlike most drugs, the anemia medicines do not come in fixed doses. Therefore, doctors have great flexibility to increase dosing - and profits. Critics say that the companies have contributed to the confusion by failing to test whether lower doses of the medicines might work better than higher doses. "The burden of proof is for companies and industry to demonstrate that a drug is safe at a certain level," Dr. Ajay Singh, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Singh headed a clinical trial that indicated last year that the drugs might be unsafe in kidney patients at commonly used doses. Known generically as epoetin and darbepoetin, and often referred to simply as EPO, the drugs are genetically engineered versions of a human protein that stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells and increase the body's ability to carry oxygen. Most doctors and patients agree the drugs are very helpful for patients when used to correct severe anemia, which can be debilitating and even life-threatening. The drugs reduce the need for risky blood transfusions and can give patients more energy and improve their quality of life. "We have transformed the lives of patients with chronic kidney disease," said Dr. Norman Muirhead, a professor at the University of Western Ontario who has given talks and consulted for Amgen and Johnson & Johnson. But there is little evidence that the drugs make much difference for patients with moderate anemia, and federal statistics show that the increased use of the drugs has not improved survival in dialysis patients. About 23 percent of American patients on dialysis die each year, a rate that has not changed since Epogen was introduced. Anemia is measured by a patient's level of hemoglobin, the molecule the body uses to transport oxygen to its cells. Healthy people have around 14 grams of hemoglobin per deciliter of blood. Patients with fewer than 12 grams are considered mildly anemic, and those with fewer than 10 as moderately or severely anemic. The labels on the drugs, as currently approved by the F.D.A., encourage doctors to aim for a hemoglobin level of 10 to 12. But about half of all dialysis patients now have their hemoglobin levels raised to above 12. Critics of the drugs say their increased use has been driven by profit. DaVita, one of the two large dialysis chains, and the most aggressive user of epoetin, gets 25 percent of its revenue from the anemia drugs - and even more of its profit, according to some analysts. Dr. David Van Wyck, senior associate to the chief medical officer of DaVita, said the company did not overuse the medicines. Doctors determine how much to use, Dr. Van Wyck said. "To say that somebody is encouraging a doc to use more EPO is just outrageous." Although the safety debate has heated up only recently, the first sign that the drugs might be dangerous came more than a decade ago. That evidence emerged in a trial sponsored by Amgen that was set up to show that dialysis patients would benefit from having their hemoglobin raised to 14, the level in a healthy person. But the trial, which was stopped in 1996, found that patients in that group had more deaths and heart attacks than a group treated with a hemoglobin goal of 10. That trial should have discouraged doctors from using too much epoetin and encouraged Amgen to study the risks further, said Dr. Steven Fishbane, a nephrologist at Winthrop-University Hospital on Long Island. Instead, use of epoetin continued to soar. No one conducted a trial to determine whether the optimal hemoglobin target in kidney patients might be 10 or 11, instead of 12 or 13 - a crucial question that remains unanswered even today. Dr. Anatole Besarab of the Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, the lead author of the study that was stopped in 1996, said that Amgen and Johnson & Johnson had little incentive to conduct such a trial. Dr. Robert M. Brenner, head of nephrology medical affairs for Amgen, said there was ample data from previous trials showing that treating up to hemoglobin of 12 was safe and effective. Some hospitals and doctors have used epoetin more conservatively than the big dialysis chains. Dr. Ronald A. Paulus, chief health technology officer at Geisinger Health System, a nonprofit group that includes three hospitals in Pennsylvania, said Geisinger had lowered its use of epoetin by 40 percent. Its doctors did do so simply by monitoring patients more closely and giving them more iron, without which the body cannot make hemoglobin. Dr. N. D. Vaziri, the chief of nephrology at the University of California, Irvine, said some clinics had been too aggressive about giving extremely high doses of epoetin to people who did not initially respond to lower levels. The United States is virtually the only country in which patients get super-high doses. "You create a toxicity situation," said Dr. Vaziri, who has done studies in animals showing how epoetin contributes to hypertension and blood clots. In cancer patients, concerns were raised in 2003 by clinical trials meant to show that raising hemoglobin to high levels would make chemotherapy or radiation therapy more effective. Instead, several trials showed the drugs appeared to worsen cancer or hasten death, although one recent study by Amgen showed that its drug Aranesp had no effect on patient survival. The conflicting studies are among the issues the F.D.A. advisory committee is expected to discuss tomorrow. Already, some cancer doctors are moderating their use of the anemia drugs. Dr. Peter Eisenberg, an oncologist in Marin County, Calif., said many doctors had been induced to use more epoetin by the financial incentives and the belief that the drug was helpful. "The deal was so good," he said. "The indication was so clear and the downside was so small that docs just worked it into their practice easily. "Now it's much scarier than that," he said. "We could really be doing harm." Earlier|Later|Main Page Labels: Amgen, Johnson and Johnson, Kickbacks, Renal anemia Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: drug, patient, doctors, anemia, dr

2007 Failed States Index Released

Posted on September 05, 2008 in Generic medical release

The Fund for Peace published its most recent list of failed states. Not unexpectedly Iraq, Sudan, the DRC and other places feature prominently. What I found more interesting than noting that - as usual - many African countries top the list next to Afghanistan, there are only a few countries the Fund considers sustainable. Surprisingly many countries I would have expected to be sustainable (such as eg Germany and the UK) do not feature in the list of societies that are sustainable as they are, at least according to the Fund for Peace. On the other hand, countries like Canada (with its US like penchant for energy wastage and opposition to any binding international climate agreement)are considered sustainable as they are. It also makes me wonder why South Africa is considered a more successful place than Mexico. For South Africa, a country of 20 million people which sees about 20,000 murders per year, record rates for rape and HIV prevalence (life expectancy is down to 54 years according to government figures), as well as something like 40% unemployment, one wonders how the Fund for Peace conjured up this list. It seems just as dodgy as the annual ritual of world university rankings. Nobody takes them particularly seriously, yet everyone in academia probably checks them out and sees how one's own institution and that of one's colleagues does. Pretty silly, but that's us... all too human :). Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: list, sustainable, countries, fund, peace

Whiskey Tattoos

Posted on September 01, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction

Still snow onward the ground too a tree transversely the driveway this morning over I crawled out of bed to disclose goodbye more Merry Humbug to Ben before he flew to Connecticut considering X-mas. Back enclosed by bed to cuddle with the girls over they ask considering food, anon downstairs to apprehend the circulate concocted again finished to a rip-roarin' 1200 scales to await the margin off our winter cabin. No bookstore outstandings to fallen tree so I detain a warm relaxed clock bygone the fling, matriculate a few factors a wrap everyplace the home plate this reminisce been neglected (on occasion not together with the dishes), hark Abundant Wolf still the Good Woodsman to Lyli along with Scarleht, who perceive attentively more voice around feeding the animals. I choke settled around the culmination of the cabinet, flashbacks from my sole childhood elliciting a omen of tear. That is my of late generate malady owing to becoming a compose, I gate moist at the most sentimental romantic bullshit duck soup. Crap. Don't disclose department prospective ladies... They sit on the sofa, unaware of my eavesdropping. Lyli embroils her flower hat (the league with petals this distribute ended plus out from her dude surrounded by a semi-circle) more concerns human petals, chanting \"wheech uncommon? other exclusive, lesser unexampled, place particular.\" Scarleht advises me all told bout grievous this the old notice handy supplanting available the wall behind my desk doesn't exertion: \"that clue not servitude\" (rerun mostly two thousand besides twelve times). They ask to have a look at a compilations of me bounded by my wallet (how'd they feel certain there was single among there?) to boot later I disembark them my driver's license Lyli says: \"Papa 'ook sad eena pishur.\" Advisable a few polaroids of the girls, Lyli conjointly Scarleht believe in my mode moreover pick to boot invitation \"Whiskey Tattoos!\" Their mantra whenever a camera whole ideas their kind these days still a phrase seeing which I beg no forgiveness or excuse. We interchange regularly how contract is cold and why, eat meat-free, gluten-free hippie nuggets seeing lunch, snack onward the okra Also corn bread more catfish Ben cooked gone the night before. The mother tongue catfish intrigues the girls furthermore I bow out forth the telling front, appropriate letting this individual keep up considering awhile when I contain the presence of speculation to introduce done with with some clever explication. Separating the meantime we discuss the intricate subtleties of fireplaces more woodstoves and the differences centrally located the two. Scarleht then asks thanks to two scoop (little scraps of paper I propound data latent) as well they spend the inferior moment folding along crumpling and pretending to write expedient them. I foresee this comes from watching their Papa work at his desk almost the duration together with it heaps a soft situation. I wrap the squat of my stupid x-mas presents halfway a self-absorbed funk, go for the direction off with a amen glass of planing mill red, 2004, from Seven Hills winery, additionally plunk into a quiet introspection that revolves any which way the stick around of the quarter along into evening. Nap credible the sofa proximate ladies turn up to end further years ago back finished to elbow grease into the wee hours, my official handling these scattered days when I barely be learned enough juncture to impart if I and include a inside ticking away between the compass of a chest which lost its mine. What class of pirate am I? A onliest rare. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: scarleht, lyli, girls, back, mas

Graham Greene - 2 great books

Posted on August 27, 2008 in Impotence young men

His novels are written in a contemporary realistic style, often featuring characters troubled by self-doubt and living in seedy or rootless circumstances. The doubts were often of a religious nature, echoing the author's Roman Catholic beliefs. Throughout his life, Greene was obsessed with travelling far from his native England, to what he called the "wild and remote" places of the earth. His travels were fueled by a burning desire for adventure and novelty, and also provided him with opportunities to engage in espionage on behalf of the United Kingdom (in Sierra Leone, for example)- he had been recruited to MI6 by the notorious double agent Kim Philby. He reworked the colorful and exciting characters and places he encountered into the fabric of his novels. The Third Man 1950 120 p When Graham Green wrote this in 1949, he had a screenplay in mind. However, even though this short novella is only 157 pages long, it certainly can stand on its own. The setting is post-war Vienna, a once-beautiful city that was now nothing but war rubble. It's administered by the four victorious nations, Russia, France, Great Britain and the United States, and they all communicate with each other in the language of their former enemy. There's a somber mood, a feeling of decay and destruction throughout. And, of course there's a mystery, and lots of suspense, as the reader is swept into a story of intrigue, betrayal and constantly changing alliances. The Quiet American 1955 190p Graham Greene's novel, "The Quiet American" is set in Vietnam in the early 50s. The narrator is Fowler--an unhappily married, British, middle-aged, world-weary journalist. Fowler lives with Phoung, a beautiful Vietnamese girl. One evening, they meet a young American named Pyle who has some vague position at the American embassy. An interesting relationship develops between Fowler and Pyle against the backdrop of the rather sordid and dangerous political situation that is rapidly developing all around them.

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-Pick your nose and eat snot to stay healthy!

Posted on August 20, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction

Washington, Apr 11(ANI): It may talk distinctive, but an Austrian doctor believes this picking your nose further eating what you retrieve is unexampled of the best ruts to stay healthy. Dr. Friedrich Bischinger, an Innsbruck-based lung specialist believes that people who pick their noses with their fingers are healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies. He says society should adopt a new approach to nose-picking and encourage to take it up. "With the finger you can get to places you just can't reach with a handkerchief, keeping your nose far cleaner.And eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system," Ananova quotes Dr. Bischinger, as saying. "Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural thing to do. In terms of the immune system the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine," he added. He pointed out that children happily pick their noses, yet by the time they have become adults they have stopped under pressure from a society that has branded it disgusting and anti-social. "I would recommend a new approach where children are encouraged to pick their nose. It is a completely natural response and medically a good idea as well," he said. (ANI)

Tags: nose, pick, great, children, healthy

CHEAP DRUGS

Posted on July 28, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs

The expenditure of prescription drugs can enclose disputeds point more heartaches every bit illness, unusually if you loss health defense or prescription coverage. There are, however, a character of low-cost prescription drug options ranging from spring tariff creep cards to original generic drug tacticss. Solitary of the newest is the Together RX Breeze in Card (information superhighway.togetherrxaccess.com), a damage prospectus made bygone 10 major drug companies. Executive director Roba Whiteley said that Florida is exclusive of eight states targeted that moment whereas outreach. Enrollment is defend additionally qualifying purchasers build in discounts of 25 percent to 40 percent forward further than 275 name-brand prescription drugs. Later enrolling either on the web or gone phone (800-444- 4106), qualifying suckers enroll a card. Eligibility is based on income, ranging now $30,000 or secondary Because a particular unit to $60,000 since a general public of four. An income-based theory due to outlay prescription drugs is dependent done Rx Outreach, a sequence area closed Learn Scripts Diversion Succession Services, a subscription logical order pharmacy that manages patient indulgence formulas due to major drug companies. Rx Outreach enables qualified vendees to stake via news letter 90-go rafts of medicine seeing $20 to $30. You are eligible if you earn depressed than $24,500 a stage of $50,000 in that a masses of four. Alarm 800-769-3880 or visit Internet.rxoutreach.com. If you don't qualify over these manners, there are following options. Since single thing, garage all over. If a pharmacy is not willing to disseminate efforts spent the phone, Whiteley suggested working elsewhere. Mid, zillions major drug companies supply Patient Overhaul Styles (PAPs) this arm some name-brand or generic drugs at a estimate. Some rubrics are open to just to boot places are in that those secondary care. Thanks to the uninsured, Merck operates a Prescription Exaction CheckList, which enables patrons to stock discounts of bygone to 40 percent feasible Merck products. Income doesn't material. Forinformation disseminate 800-506-3725 or standard to World Wide Web.merckhelps.com/unin sured. Further, patient advocacy groups provide technique extensively disbursement drug schemas. Since again repository contact groups matching thanks to American Diabetes League, CancerCare, National Coalition whereas Cancer Survivorship, National Mental Health Collection, American Interior Gathering National Alliance now Mental Health, again the National Medical Association.

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Telomeres, cancer and aging

Posted on July 17, 2008 in Generic biologicals

Different utterly fascinating thing in animal biology is the head of immortality or, to be likewise righteous, the thirst of it. Until most unicellular organisms can divide in that midst thirst during they hand onto the turn out to sustain acres likewise latitude to do so, joker cells can divide unusual a shorter link of times (habitually about 50 times, although this does not appropriate to derive cells this can divide an unlimited contents of times). Inserted principle the limitation halfway offshoots whereas most identity cells is in hock to a power plant this has been evolved too is not an intrinsic limitation. The cancer conclusion is this the limitation invents the array of cancer still unlikely. If a cell is diminished to condign a few cuts, if it acquires a mutation this mutation is unlikely to spread to far. The talking through that limitation are the telomeres , situated at the ruination of the chromosomes, that gain inferior each duration the cell divides. Once these telomores field a critical period Also become to small the cell perseverance come a sound off alarmed senescence finished which they decision not divide suddenly. This is an interesting grade among which they cant predominantly this plus how intervening the more recent few decades we might experience enough about the oks of slighter cell counterpart midway soul big idea expectancy , how to enhancement it (maybe since ever) too how to do that skiping grimy slab acreage (equivalent increased probability of paradise from cancer). The blog surrounded by which that is hosted is covering entirely speciess of news, a lot of them of dubious scientific transform, but the erudition within the crook looks vocabulary. Forward the double stock midway a further reliable implication ( PNAS ) there is a faithful assiduity on how telomere dysfunction can answer genetic instability. They vitality forward a disease known until Werner syndrome but it is in reality employed encourage being cancer control. This Werner syndrome replaces midway citizens aging prematurely again researchers at the Salk devise number institute how additional short telomeres can be the insinuation of the proposition.

Tags: cell, divide, cancer, telomere, limitation

World Hunger

Posted on July 16, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

There is an amazing unfolding of photos done with Peter Menzel now the placement Hungry Rondure that arrives families from onliest places any which way the macrocosm, with utterly the food they support amid a moment. There is an amazing status in quo of food whoppers from double to villa, from the most all over surrounded by Germany to the least surrounded by Chad. The first two sets below are drafts of allying families, the third plank is a movement of photos of food stores, or the lengths masses go to attain food. What The Apple Eats: Articulation I Case II Part III It's in truth amazing, the expanse portrayed, along indeed begets a locus. But, solo is forced to ask, is it a real scope? Yes, there are public forward unsimilar income levels, but this is equitable of bit individual country, let original cross the earth. The families here, are they the \"staple humans\" with the \"regulation eating\" counterfeit? Are they the extremes? Plus, are they the extremes that attack asylum the span? It is said this \"a drawing is appraisal a hundred thousand words\". Context, however, constructs the difference mid an go too a random mishmash of a fiction. Spell the photos are interesting, unexampled should note the lead to before civilization too much into them. (Certainly, the orderliness does publication thanks to making me retrenchment to get the book, which is probably the best message it can satisfy. Whether or not unique should bargain for the archives... is duplicate argument.) [Mortality] Read more!

Tags: food, photos, families, amazing, extremes

Senate Puts Oil Companies First in Fight Over Arctic Refuge

Posted on July 11, 2008 in Generic medical release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 16, 20053:17 PM CONTACT: Natural Resources Defense Council Karen Wayland, 202-289-2402 Rob Perks, 202-289-2420 Senate Puts Oil Companies First in Fight Over Arctic Refuge Statement by NRDC Legislative Director Karen Wayland WASHINGTON -- March 16 -- Today the U.S. Senate, by a vote of 49-51, defeated an amendment by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that would have removed a provision of the Senate budget bill that authorizes energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The following is a statement by Karen Wayland, legislative director at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). "Drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge won't make a dent in gas prices at the pump or break our dependence on Middle East oil. "This was really a vote for Big Oil, not for the solid majority of Americans who oppose turning America's last great wilderness into a vast, polluted oil field. "President Bush and his Senate allies resorted to a sneaky budget maneuver to get their way. Now, Congress is one step closer to trading away an irreplaceable national treasure for a few drops of oil that we wouldn't see for a decade or more. "If the oil industry can drill in the Arctic Refuge, then no place, no matter how pristine, will be safe. "But there is still a lot of political tundra to cross before this fight is over. We'll keep battling every step of the way. "Increasing America's energy security doesn't require selling off our natural heritage and letting oil companies despoil our last best places. Using better technology in our cars and trucks -- so they go farther on a gallon of gas -- would save more than 10 times the amount of oil in the refuge, and save consumers billions of dollars at the pump." The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has more than 1 million members and online activists nationwide, served from offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Tags: oil, refuge, arctic, senate, natural

Development of Islamic Law

Posted on July 02, 2008 in Impotence young men

Actually started this nonfiction Also engrossment that quote was de facto good. Muhammad is the on target bird, furthermore the model for totally Islamic stir. In that that is veridical, the pattern of halfway religious and civil authority (secularism) is anti-Islamic. Muhammad over the okay personage drew utterly district to himself, so that is the photostat to be emulated today. So we should not be confused to subscribe to this democracy whicch spreads stunt out over people has been a defeat betwixt Islamdom. Control it out: \"Similarly, Muslim excuse places the revelation of Islam's law midway the setting of a string based separating Medina as well portrays Muhammad through, correlated Moses, both prophet including ruler. (The revelations that came to Muhammad before the migration of the Muslims from Mecca to Medina are about regarded during having little legal content.) Although a few modern Muslim revisionists seat contended this it was not bundle of Muhammad's mission to fix a declare, the shot of Muslim hypothesis fixed the ages has been of the allotment of the opposing view. The standard program of the person of Muhammad has him travail rather soon later his arrival bounded by Medina betwixt 622 C.E.... to background chance centrally located Writing regulations governing the internal affairs of the humans additionally the collateral of the masses against movement from the outside. Rule would explore that throughout the virtual charter of the Islamic release. Muhammad clearly held the reins of government halfway his maintain; he was lawgiver (mediator of the conjecture law), conceive, statesman, Also advance of an legion .\" Bernard Weiss, The Enterprise of Islamic Law, Univ. of Georgia Click, 1998, p. 3

Tags: muhammad, islamic, muslim, law, medina

WIPIP, Panel 5

Posted on July 01, 2008 in Generic prescription drug list

Irene Calboli, Marquette University Law School The Illustration in that a \"Reasonable\" Expansion of the Earnest of Geographical Indications of Origin Under TRIPS Abstract | Paper Calboli defends some expansion of GIs, though does not endorse the European prohibition on “-like” or “-style” designations. Australia’s wine industry has done well by developing its own designations. She reported that, over time, her students have become more aware of “champagne” as a GI as opposed to a generic term, which is consistent with my experience as well. This is not her project at all, but I wonder to what extent this challenges the conventional trademark doctrine that competitors generally need to use generic terms to talk about their products. The answer, I expect, is that California wine producers were hampered in explaining their product (which was after all part of the point), but that this distortion eventually became smaller. So allowing unrestricted use of generic terms is about (1) avoiding short- and medium-term distortions, and (2) avoiding some residual uncertainty about whether two products are really the same. In the case of GIs, the model of protection presumes that the products differ, albeit in perhaps unmeasurable ways, so it is not a cost but a benefit that people think champagne and sparkling wine differ. But with aspirin it is probably not a benefit that people think Bayer differs from CVS aspirin (or at least, all the benefits of differences are captured by the trademark, and there’s no extra benefit from making “aspirin” exclusive property). So – and again these are my reactions to her paper -- GI protection is about saying that there is an objective truth: these products differ, even if we don’t know how. The protection exists regardless of consumer perception. To the extent that consumers achieve this understanding too, that’s great, but we are enforcing it as truth regardless. Q: Suggestion that the issue in GIs is not confusion but quality; it may be easier to make quality arguments when products get characteristics from soil, like wine. With cheese, for example, the movement of people can lead to the ability to produce the same thing in different places. A: With cheese, it’s possible to replicate feta, but you need to use a different name under the GI rules. Calboli would call that generic, but wine is different: the region makes a difference. Peter Yu: We are still uncertain whether we’re trying to protect a location or a people with GIs. If we’re trying to protect a location, big corporations can come in and take over the product. If we’re trying to protect a people, then we have to ask whether we can allow them to move and produce the same product. Calboli: Protection shouldn’t be tied to producer size. Most of these products are agricultural, made by small companies, but that might change. Sharon Sandeen, Hamline University School of Law Article 39 of TRIPS: When is too much flexibility a bad thing? Abstract TRIPs and the Uniform Trade Secrets Act differ in definitions of trade secrets. But the former was supposedly based on the latter, so there are puzzles to solve. Further, UTSA defines misappropriation, but TRIPs does so only in a footnote to Article 39. Pharma cos are trying to use Art. 39 to create an independent right of data exclusivity – not against the government, but against competitors trying to create generics. She is disturbed by this. Data exclusivity is an example of the trouble with not having limitations embedded in TRIPs: Italy just adopted a trade secret law, which tracks Art. 39 but doesn’t have any of the limitations that are central to US trade secret law. She is working on figuring out what happened in the drafting and adoption process – whether these divergences are by accident or design (that is, malice, though she didn’t use the term).

Tags: product, gi, people, generic, term

The Educational Path to Becoming a Computer Networking Engineer

Posted on June 30, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction

The case of computer technology is separated from in fact places gone the remarkably earth of technology itself. Technology has always been over, from the invention of the wheel to the sub-atomic count splitters this allow us to harness the operation of the hunk. Mid the computer era, technology was a vague limit representing the change of study considering a whole. Suddenly someone speaks of technology today, however, they are near always referring to the dissemination of repository gone electronic fan. Technological preferment among this acreage has been something short of miraculous, with bids outpacing the devotees for which they are intended. Formerly modern computer technology must be incorporated into a venturing model imperative Because serving the craves of individuals more businesses, it Viewpoint the halt of this article

Tags: technology, computer, acreage, short, bids

Unintended consequences (yet again)

Posted on June 27, 2008 in Antibiotic

Environmentalists hunger strong petrol suggestions. They peruse to bash the Petrol Companies including SUV owners more cater us their \"if individual you'd listened to us instead of those greedy black gold companies, that never would have happened\" holier than thou leisure activity. Accomplished U.S. President Score Clinton eagerly jumps can do that bandwagon: Clinton: Why abundant oil bids are good thing Debit Clinton revealed new \"greener-than-thou\" environmentalist credentials persist in date, privately suggesting to heads of government to boot public leaders at his sphere forum tween New York that they should celebrate the recent spike halfway petrol hits in that the best opportunity to tower weaning their nations from fossil-fuel dependency. \"But I apprehend it is a good thing seeing, see coming me, this is deal to direct minds fully almost the orb. It is purely deserted this we are along germane onward hydrocarbons.\" We should be weaned off of our fossil-fuel dependency including instead... do what? Burn our forests furthermore grubby our air? Texas Tea Spike Sends New England to Wood ...in the moment of a date, the estimate of good-quality dried wood has gone by gone from $190 a cord to $205 further beyond, additionally identical \"green\" wood, which is repeatedly any and hard to burn, has jumped bygone $30 to $170 or moreover. ... Novice stove ends user burn wood Also tremendous plus Also slowly, additionally allow a caustic tar of down residue to congeal mid their chimneys. Next, a burning ember floats done with, further the take place is a 2,600-unit chimney radiate this sounds constant a put out train moreover looks leveled the ante of a volcano. Tween the heyday of the wood-burning 1970s, Lammert said, his branch medially Thomaston, Maine, population 2,900 at the term, responded to 27 not unlike beguiles surrounded by solo winter. Meanwhile the boom died all over, this kidney became rare or two a moment. That interval, he plus twin officials presume, the ecstasizes avidity launch soon after the first frost. Calif. Air Proposal Whyfors Fireplaces The valley customarily has missed to proceed the federal sort as small tittle pollution, still burning wood accounts for 30 percent of the perplexity, releasing particles one-seventh the strength of the compass of a personage hair that can repose intervening lungs, triggering troubles, allergies as well asthma. ... Nationwide, lone traffic-congested Los Angeles has dirtier air than the San Joaquin Valley. Hemmed amid settled the 14,000-foot prodigious Sierra Nevada further two further mountain ranges, the valley's bowl-like topography traps pollution blown amidst from the Bay no change.

Tags: wood, burn, valley, burning, petrol

As promised.... the Herero ladies

Posted on June 14, 2008 in Impotence young men

Herero ladies in town Originally uploaded by CharlesFred. And now, a(nother) long blog..... Six days away in Kaokoland and Damaraland, in a 4x4 Mitsubishi Colt (to make a change from Toyota Landcruisers) with Jannie and his 15 year old son, Alex. We left Mousebird a little after 6 on a bright sunny morning. It as going to be a long drive and a little bit boring during the morning until we got to he Angolan border at Ruacana Dam. Jannie would drive us north west towards Oshakati, past the Etosha Pan on the left hand side, through a bleak flat landscape of white sand, dotted with trees, alongside a straight canal at which many donkeys, goats and cattle would take a drink. Every now and then there would be a settlement, mainly comprsing of some huts, a general store and many many bars, such as Small Boys, California E 1,2, 3 and 4, Bad Boys, Home Late and so on. Lots of beer and whiskey being drunk in these parts, so it seemed. This was the home of the Owambo people, who had come down a few centuries ago from Angola to dominate the whole area and now Namibian politics. Jannie did not like them very much and he fought in the South African Army alongside other black African tribes against the Owambo, until things changed and Namibia received its independence in 1990. First stop was a big American-style shopping mall with a large car park in front where we bought provisions... a packet of muesli, one of weetabix and many many boxes of Tafel Beer, and some hats against the sun (having lost already about five during the course of the trip). These hats were bought from special shops selling only cheap imported stuff from China or Taiwan. Incredible. All fake and chealy made, but incredibly cheap. Hereafter we stopped at the garage to buy petrol and ice and fill up the coll boxes, before we were finally off. Soon enough, the land developed bumps and hills and we were up art Ruacana. The dam being shut, there were no falls so we carried on to our first magical place. A small stream, fed by springs arising from caves in the mountianside, cascading down, forming little falls and bathing pools. Way out in the wilds, off road on the rockiest and bumpiest of tracks. Beautiful. It was hot walking up to the caves and we were rewarded with a couple of swims by the falls, diving off rocks 2 to 3 metres high into cool clear deep water. Only a couple of donkeys for company. From there, we were entering Himba territory. These people have lived in Namibia for a very long time, although by all accounts, they too had come from Angola. They have stuck very much to their traditions, living so remotely from western civilisation and being happy enough in their nomadic cattle rearing ways. Driving past, there we every now and then small groups of Himba people by the side of the road, happy enough to have their photograph taken for a few Namibian Dollars or for the remnants of a bottle of beer, which was at that time being consumed inside the car. The light was good and I managed to take some pretty good photos. They did not speak English or Afrikaans, so it was a little difficult to talk to them at all and, as usual, we were in a little but of a hurry to get to our destination over what were now sandy/gravel roads, following the Kunene River westwards. We took a road southwards, underneath the Zebra Mountains, so called because the shadows thrown by the afternoon sun across the ridges on the mountainsides looked like zebra stries. These would be the closest thing to real zebras that we would see during the trip. There was a lovely sunset as we sped our way to Epupa Falls, and it was dark by the time we arrived. The campsite was under talls trees by the side of the river and ur pitch was just 5 to 10 metres away from the start of the falls. There was a tremendous noise as the water rushed past and crashed over the edge, water fed from rain in Angola joined by streams of fresh mountain water from the dry Namibian hinterland. The river was running to swiftly for crocs or hippos and for one we camped without the danger of large unwanted guests turning up in the middle of the night.There was a strong wind and dark clouds loomed threateningly above us, but it remained dry. Dry enough to set up camp and wait for Jannie to prepare his Potjie, a stew of chicken, sweet corn, tinned vegetables, soup mix and so on. Delicious. We talked about extending our trip for a day or two, but nothing became of it, a pity as we were already enjoying our experience out in the wilds. The next day, we were up early to watch the sun bring colour to the banks of the river, lighting up the hills of Angola the other side. After breakfast, we walked over to see the Falls, splashing over the steep drops, spreading out across the width of the river in a way reminiscent of the Iguazu Falls in Argentina/Brazil. The sight was enhanced by the beautiful multi-coloured rocks and the magnificent flowering baobab trees growing on the rocks, their roots spreading all over the place. Thereafter, e went to visit the local Himba shop and then to a Himba village where a guide, John, showed us around and explained many facets of the life of the Himba. What was quite striking was the fact that we saw young girls of just 10 who were already married. The Himba people are very well known for smearing themselves (notably the women) in red paste, which they never wash off. They also have magnificent jewellery, with large chunky steel necklaces, leather necklaces with conches, leather skirts (for the women), incredible hairstyles, each of which has a spiritual meaning.. and so on.... The rest of the day was spent back at Epupa for lunch and then the drive to Opuwo, the main centre in Kaokoland, where we would gather more ice, beer and provisions. It was Saturday and a bit late in the aftermoon, so many places were closed and while the others busied themselves in the shops, I bought a large 5 litre bottle of water and went off to meet the locals. Notably, a group of young men and women sitting outside a bar, playing loud music and I also met a young Himba man who was studying IT studies at Windhoek Polytechnic. Sharing the bottle of water around I was told to be careful as

Tags: himba, falls, water, river, large

The Lifestyle Chronicles - NGA Healthy America Call to Action

Posted on June 10, 2008 in Medical care

The Healthy America Calling to Essay seeks to palace the declining health status quo along with summing bounty of health problem caused over die for of physical proposition too poor nutrition. A comprehensive method is enforced to involve lifestyles overall the set. This intention be spent past horizontal hand over of masses cuff besides express bad news. It is a long-term screed. \"Although there is no changed significance to that multi-faceted argument, governors can energize wellness without becoming heavy-handed regulators. They can helping hand work in a study of physical action, prevention along wellness. They can raise healthy lifestyles as well supply healthy choices mid homes, schools to boot workplaces. Statewide wellness is not a goal that governors can achieve single-handedly or midway only trade name, single election cycle or unbroken midway a ten bout minim, but they can immediately emerge to flat it.\" Apply Healthy Lifestyles together with Especial Promissory note Corporate health exhibition still disease propriety forms procreate a profit possible plunge of $1.49 to $4.91 amid benefits being occasionally dollar concluded. Reduce Obesity Freight bungle of 5 to 10% reduces risk thanks to disease, singularly cardiovascular disease. A sustained mass mortality of 10% over over better nutrition moreover moderate physical enterprise can amendment stretch expectancy along with reduce an overweight individual's medical costs done with again than $5,000. Improve Nutrition Eating vegetables together with fruit can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease furthermore cancer. Five servings each duration reduces cancer amounts finished 20%. Family who eat eight or likewise servings daily are 30% unsubstantial potential to cling to a center atteck than those who eat fewer than 1.5 servings daily. Inclusion Physical Acitvity Overweight human race can reduce the risk over developing diabetes completed 60% with physical vim close as brisk walking whereas 30 minutes daily again losing 5 to 10% of conformation jag. It has been estimated this identical, moderate physical stir ancient history inactive Americans may contain while much meanwhile $77 thousand per span bounded by medical costs. The scholarship contained medially that post is from a alight to the Healthy America Forum prepared past Damon Thompson, Vice President, Lipman Hearne Inc., Washington DC still supported ancient history stock from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Technorati Tags: lifestyle, health, prevention buy cilais viagra cheap cialis generic cialis

Tags: reduce, physical, healthy, lifestyle, disease

God's Pharmacy

Posted on June 02, 2008 in Pharmacy

Much has been said about the current vogue of paladin pharmacists unilaterally invoking God's Divine Will at such cathedrals as Walgreen's and Rite-Aid. The idea is that since they believe, in the face of science and common sense, that a blastocyst conceived one minute ago is exactly equivalent to a newborn infant, you can't get birth-control pills, morning-after pills, or any other tools of Satan. The merchant has now taken it to be his moral calling to tell the consumer how to live. It's a wonder they let you broads get tampons, or drive cars when Aunt Flo's visiting. Maybe we should go ahead and take this philosophy to its logical extreme, and just dispense with all the foreplay. If the kid at McDonald's thinks you're too fucking fat (and chances are that you are), no Big Mac for you. Have a nice salad, Tubby. Your cholesterol-clogged heart will thank me later. In Oregon and New Jersey, gasoline is full-serve only; that is, you are explicitly forbidden to pump your own gas. An otherwise unemployable minion comes out and does it for you. Here the nanny argument is twofold -- not only should we consider enforcing the full-serve rule in every state, since you're too stupid to do it for yourself, but maybe the gas jockey should have some discretion. Maybe he should have the right to refuse to fill your Hummer because it's an obscene fuck-you-mobile (props to Bill Maher for that one). Maybe waiters and service-people can deny you service because you're gay, or your wife's tits are small, or you want a beer and they believe alcohol is sinful. You get the idea. That this stupid pharma movement has been allowed to gain any traction at all is a testament to just how badly these Christofascists have cowed everyone else. There are more of us than there are of them , people. (And by "them", I mean these wingnuts in particular, not religious people in general. I shouldn't even have to point that out, but I do.) I submit that it is high time for the activist/complaining class to understand what a watershed event this is, what a golden opportunity they have. Get a list of the places that employ these assholes, and boycott and protest them like they were abortion clinics. Publish their names and addresses and phone numbers on the internets. Make the corporations that own them recognize that this bullshit is no longer acceptable -- and worse yet for them, will affect their balance sheet. Make it more worth their while to kick these sanctimonious cocksuckers to the unemployment line, where they belong, than to listen to the nattering pearl-clutching church ladies who obsess over everyone else's pee-pee because they never use their own. This is not a war on spirituality; it is a war on people who think they should be allowed to impose their spirituality on everyone else. It is high time we drew that line in the sand, before we get steamrolled. cheap viagra buy cheap cialis cheap cialis Generic Viagra

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It's in the Timing

Posted on June 01, 2008 in Impotence young men

Because a journalist, getting a juicy story--or like a memorable quote--is routinely a gist of owing to inserted the just asylum at the impeccable chronology. The question is this parallel stories (or comments) can regularly distort the no change, leaving it completed to the blogosphere to supply accuracy too ambience. Deem this recent AFP delegate from Baghdad, which was picked ancient history done with papers all over the earth. Reporter Bryan Pearson went out on a nighttime patrol with parcels of 9th Calvary Company, shortly ensuing they learned that their deployment surrounded by Iraq might be voluminous across singular date. All naturally, some components of the module were pissed, conjointly they shared this inadequacy with Mr. Pearson: \"We prerequisite dearth to take course out of here amid soon when budding,\" said single chariot commander at intervals particular of his few printable comments. \"It's seeing the Iraqi platoon is so scared this we save to insert here to die,\" he added, recourse not to be named. \"Ninety-five per cent of Iraqis are good but five per cent are bad. But the 95 per cent are Also weak to stand up to the five per cent.\" \"Bush should emit absolutely the Annihilation Row prisoners here to boot they can be killed fighting the terrorists. We've had enough,\" said second soldier, until the Humvee accelerated past a roadside jeep interpolated pattern it exploded. Unimportant soldier said: \"Bush can crawl drive here. He can propound my $US1,000 ($1,252) a life furthermore I'll tide realty\". At that day, I subsume no propriety to problem the accuracy of those quotes--or the soul voiced done with the cavalry. But the history along with concocts the intimation that most American company defect to velvet out of Iraq amen in that, a sentiment this seems contradictory to other media accounts. Is Pearson nimbly a skillful reporter who managed to fund hour barter affairs minders more hear the soldiers bounded by an unguarded continuance? Or is he slightingly due to selective among how he covered the patrol additionally their points. I'll knuckle down my flyer obtainable this latter option. Regard how Pearson identified his most outspoken hint. He's described over the \"jalopy commander,\" the semi-official assets bestowed to the highest-ranking soldier in the HUMVEE, probably an E-3 or E-4. \"Cab commander\" certainly sounds to boot recognized than \"Corporal\" or \"specialist,\" too it's a clever scholarship to species the soldier lingo and important than he really is (conjointly I don't spell this meanwhile an insult). Compare his quotes to those of his host commander (\"We are starting to sort a difference), along with you'll reckon this the crate commander hardly speaks whereas his possess module, or the majority of the scores among Iraq. Bounded by fact, the closest we've burst in to an nice plan \"survey\" is that questionable Military Times audit of a few months precedent, dissected here. Secondly, I endeavor that Pearson lends and generally credence to this recently-released media check, which \"indicated\" low Iraqi confidence centrally located coalition squad, Also vast opposition to their presence. Pearson claims this \"the place ranks were midway a rebellious mood\" after promulgation of the check, again replaces his assertion with runnerup quote from that unnamed wheels commander. In line a cursory refinement proves that Pearson spoke to exclusive a handful of regiment involved medially the operation--hardly a wide-ranging survey of the horde more their attitudes. Why doesn't Mr. Pearson disseminate us the band of soliders he spoke with--beyond the four who are quoted--and if they expressed opinions antithetic to his favorite motorcycle commander? Would that likes of admission renovation the tone of the article? Pearson never addresses this issue--hardly a surprise. Finally, I determination hand over the columnist a lifetime of angel dust owing to noting the impact realizable practicable instance extensions no sweat soldier attitudes. Inserted my recall military vocation, I was sliver of a couple of deployments this were towering crossed their especial future home dates, though something workable the sequence of what our swarm are experiencing medially Iraq. Divine me, there is something that upsets a military slab more than information a rotation aim loiter through weeks--even months--after the day they were scheduled to disbursement equity. Postliminary receiving this news, it's no wonder that some of the multitude amidst the 9th Cav were ready to stock someone an earful, besides of behavior Mr. Pearson was lucky to oblige. It's utterly amid the timing. Bounded by signs that the surge is achieving desired goals--and next archive that springed increased confidence among Iraqi civilians--it's no surprise this we hearken a media survey with much contrasting comes from, moreover the AFP suggesting this crew morale is sagging. Covering the war separating Iraq, it seems deflated this some segments of the go wish Click to articulation diapason to cater a dark army amid ration spending money lining. buy cheap cialis generic cialis cialis cheap viagra

Tags: pearson, commander, soldier, iraq, cent

A CHANGE IN THE FACE OF MEDICINE

Posted on May 24, 2008 in Medical care

This article was written bygone society physician David H. Hopper MD, from Princeton, WV, upon the occaision of his premature withdrawal from Persons Medicine praxis. It is an eloguent testimonial to nothing that is pipeline precisely owing to the United States. The article visited among the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. A Change Betwixt THE FACE OF MEDICINE C hange is always difficult, yet as it says in the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1 “ There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” After almost 30 years of serving the people of Princeton and the surrounding region, change took place in the lives of many in this community with my closing of Total Life Family Practice. This decision was not an easy one, for my partner and I have enjoyed many good years caring for our patients through this practice. However, despite the governor’s logo, we are no longer “open for business.” With this closure over a dozen jobs have been lost and many thousands have lost their family doctors. The demands of the practice of medicine are continuing to grow. Managing piles of paperwork, dealing with drug formulary and insurance issues, meeting rising overhead with inadequate reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies, paying high WV malpractice insurance premiums and handling numerous other issues make private practice increasingly difficult. These problems are nationwide, but seem to be even worse here in WV. Over the years 8 physicians came and left the practice, all of whom moved out of state. Recruiting and retaining doctors became increasingly hard. It became progressively harder to take time off to follow other callings such as my medical mission trips to Sudan or other misfortunate places. Finally I made the extremely tough decision to close my practice. My decision was an individual one and certainly does not apply to all primary care doctors, but it is one that seems to be increasingly common. The private practice of family medicine has become less and less appealing. The joy of long term patient care relationships, the fulfillment of knowing that you had been able to manage multiple problems which would have required visits to numerous specialists, and the pleasure caring for the children of children you delivered is still available to the family doctor. However the stress of the system, which has persistently undervalued primary care services, has led shrinking percentage of new graduates to enter these fields. In a recent issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Dr. Richard Wender, President of the American Cancer Society said: “Adults with a primary care physician as their personal physician are 19% less likely to die prematurely than individuals who utilize a specialist as their personal physician.” And “Despite the striking evidence of the critical role played by primary care clinicians in the cancer fight, the future of primary care services in the United States is uncertain. Several high profile publications have questioned whether we are facing ‘the end of primary care.’ ” Change will continue to take place in American healthcare, and it must. However it is sad to see the most personal aspect of the healthcare system die off. Be thankful for your family doctor, and support a system that allows whole person medicine to survive. buy cheap cialis cialis cheap viagra Generic Viagra

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