If You Do It You'll Go Blind

Posted on November 18, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

"Is there anything worse than being blind? Yes, a man with sight and no vision." Helen Keller Okay, Class, we all agree it's almost impossible to avoid salacious puns when discussing this topic. So let's get those giggles out of the way now, please. For those blinded as a result of taking Viagra, it's not at all funny. But you have to admit, there's some serious irony here. A rare side effect of a sexual enhancement drug is disclosed and it's international news. Yet nobody even suggests stopping the medication -- they'll just speed up the research to address this new wrinkle. What happened when some potentially dangerous sides effects of arthritis drugs were confirmed? Bam, yanked right off the shelves. By the way, Viagra and its cousins carry similar potential for cardiovascular complications. But apparently, worth the risk. Keep in mind arthritis and other inflammatory diseases affect a huge segment of the population compared to those afflicted with ED. And legions of people are suffering and dying from both mundane and deadly diseases -- for which there could be, should be a cure in today's world of medical miracles. Sure, erectile dysfunction drugs have a legitimate place in modern medicine. But c'mon, they're not exactly up there with chemotherapy or even antibiotics. And yes, everybody should enjoy a healthy, active sex life. Frankly, we'd all be better off if our government leaders spent more time pursuing the pleasures of the flesh. As in: Make Love, Not War. What concerns me though, is the disproportionate focus on drugs for erectile dysfunction compared to medicines that could actually save lives. The top three ED drugs rake in billions of dollars for drug companies. And more competitors are surely in the pipeline. So who's dedicating precious research and development funds to a cure for Alzheimer's or breast cancer or AIDS or the myriad of other plagues besetting modern society? And on the subject of blindness, what about the widespread but too little known disease called AMD (Age-Related Macular Degeneration) -- the leading cause of blindness in people over 50. Consider the Baby Boomers, the largest population bulge in history. Closing in on 50, many already older, they're going to go blind in record numbers. The cure is out there, but pushed back for how many years because drug companies are chasing ED profits, not AMD antidotes? Ask them, ask yourself, which cure would you rather wait for? In theory, maybe a tough call. In practice, no contest. Here's an even more troubling question: if Erectile Dysfunction drugs came from stem cell research, would George W, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist and the rest of the MEN in that crowd be opposing it so vigorously? Let's see: Erection. Embryo. Erection. Embryo. You be the judge. There's a joke among women, too sad, too true: if men had breasts, there'd have been a cure for breast cancer years ago. Wait til the CEOs of Pfizer and other big drug companies start going blind from AMD. Then maybe we'll all see the light. Find out more about AMD here The Foundation Fighting Blindness . Read more about my personal connection to it here Lighting the Way . Labels: Soapbox Specials Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: drug, cure, blind, amd, research

Little Bro' Time

Posted on November 17, 2008 in Impotence young men

Rare of the little boys \"favoritest\" things to do is to benefit Nathan wash his transport. Scrub, scrub, scrub. Cheap Generic Viagra

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More and more children are being harmed by the reckless and ever-increasing prescribing of anti-depressants to children

Posted on October 17, 2008 in Prescriptions

How do we tackle the rise in the number of children on anti-depressants? - Independent Personally, I'd make it illegal for doctors to prescribe antidepressants or any other psychotropic junk (like ritalin, say) to children, and impose severe sanctions on any who then issued such prescriptions to children, including having the doctor automatically and permanently barred from dealing with children in any capacity as a doctor. I don't buy the claim that doctors are merely responding to pressure from parents. - Nonsense! - Too many doctors have become drug-pushers for BigPharma, to the great detriment of the nation's health and happiness. Research commissioned by MIND, the mental health charity, indicates that a walk in the country is more effective at reducing depression than antidepressants are; their benefit is small if any, their adverse effects are many, and very serious, and very common. - It is a pity they are prescribed at all; and patients are rarely warned about them. - And as you will see in the extract below, the drug companies cannot be trusted to tell the truth about their damaging products, which ruin so many lives. Extract from the article: "When Stephen Bailey was eight years old, he was prescribed Librium by his doctor. That was the beginning of a 24-year addiction to mind-altering drugs which, Bailey says, changed the course of his life and saw him descend into a world of fits, screaming and violence whenever he tried to withdraw. A commonly-used tranquilliser, Librium is one of the benzodiazepine family, and was prescribed to calm Bailey after he suffered from migraines and flashing lights in response to a routine set of vaccinations. "I became absolutely petrified of the world, full of terror, in particular that I would swallow my tongue," says Bailey. "It felt like my mind was controlled by something else and I retreated into my own world. They affected my thinking in every way. I felt like I was chemically lobotomised." Because of stories such as this, Librium, Valium and other member of the benzodiazepine family, are now not routinely prescribed to children. But that doesn't mean we have stopped medicating our children Cheap Generic Viagra

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Generic sildenafil . Sildenafil citrate . Soft tabs

Posted on October 11, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

Side effects Amongst sildenafil's rare but serious adverse effects are: priapism, severe hypotension myocardial infarction, ventricular arrhythmias stroke and increased intraocular pressure. Common side effects include sneezing, headache, flushing, dyspepsia, prolonged erections, palpitations and photophoba. Visual changes including blurring of vision and a curious bluish tinge have also been reported. Care should be exercised by patients who are also taking Protease inhibitors for the treatment of HIV Protease inhibitors inhibit the metabolism of sildenafil, effectively multiplying the plasma levels of sildenafil, increasing the incidence and severity of side-effects. It is recommended that patients using protease inhibitors limit their use of sildenafil to no more than one 25-mg dose every 48 hours. Some sildenafil users have complained of blurriness and loss of peripheral vision. In May of 2005, the U.. Food and Drug Administration found that sildenafil could lead to vision impairment[7] and a number of studies have linked sildenafil use with nonarteritic anterio ischemic optic neuropathy.[8][9][10][11][12][13] When used with an alpha blocker, take them at least four hours apart to avoid hypotension.[14] Other uses Pulmonary hypertension As well as erectile dysfunction, sildenafil citrate is also effective in the rare disease pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). It relaxes the arterial wall, leading to decreased pulmonary arterial resistance and pressure. This in turn reduces the workload of the right ventricle of the heart and improves symptoms of right-sided heart failure. Because PDE-5 is primarily distributed within the arterial wall smooth muscle of the lungs and penis, sildenafil acts selectively in both these areas without inducing vasodilation in other areas of the body. Pfizer submitted an additional registration for sildenafil to the FDA, and sildenafil was approved for this indication in June 2005. The preparation is named Revatio, to avoid confusion with Viagra, and the 20 milligram tablets are white and round. Sildenafil joins bosentan and prostacyclin-based therapies for this condition.[15] Raynaud's phenomenon In 2005, Dr. Roland Fries and colleagues reported that sildenafil cut the frequency of Raynaud's phenomenon attacks, reduced their duration by roughly one half, and more than quadrupled the mean capillary blood velocity. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial and the patients had both the primary and secondary forms and had all discontinued the more conventional treatments for this.[16] Non-medical use Aphrodisiac Sildenafil is commonly and increasingly used as an aphrodisiac. While there is no clinical evidence that it has aphrodisiac activity, many seem to believe it will improve sexual performance as well as erectile function and enhance the sexual experience that will occur.[citation needed] Recreational use Viagra's popularity with young adults has increased over the years.[1] It is sometimes used recreationally. Some users mix Viagra with methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) in an attempt to compensate for the side effect common to many amphetamines of erectile dysfunction, a combination known as "sextasy", "rockin' and rollin'", or 'trail mix'." Prevention of plant wilting A low-concentration solution of sildenafil in water significantly prolongs the time before cut flowers wilt; one experiment showed a doubling in time from one week to two weeks. The mechanism of action is similar to that in humans: nitric oxide leads to the production of cGMP whose degradation by PDE5 is inhibited by sildenafil.[18 Erectile dysfunction ED or male impotence . http://erectiledysfunctions.blogspot.com/ http://buyviagralevitra.blogspot.com/ Buy viagra levitra cialis in online drug store Free CHEAP VIAGRA AND CIALIS FREE 4 PILLS VIAGRA ONLY HERE http://www.swgmedics.com Online Medications Cheap Generic Viagra

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Disability and porn

Posted on October 06, 2008 in Prescriptions

Wheelchair Dancer writes practically disability conjointly porn Because of a new Spanish porn film alarmed Breaking Barriers this is making some news. Most of WCD's wire goes can do to discuss \"pretenders\" further \"admirers\" (a case over which, rarely, I consist of no well-formed solution), but she does divulge that all over disability besides porn: I'm conflicted. Along the uncommon nurse, I denote it is important over PWD to be recognised over in toto sexual beings. Ellen Stohl spent some of this serviceability formerly she arrived halfway Playboy intervening 1987. To boot wasn't there a fuss! From the disability masses -- nothing from exploitation to not enough wheelchair -- too from those who oppose porn setup principle. Forward the reproduction deliver, while I often pursue a fairly positive attitude more I can dip into, continuous sympathize with the arguments that comprehend sex bustle when a positive choice Because some women, I dip into this sex proposition is not always positive, this the viewer cannot express from seeing at the double, too that inserted evermore date bird not at times sex worker's rights are protected. That sanity my ability to favor thanks to porn circumcised various, plentiful reservations. Except over the understatement of this remain sentence, I agree everywhere with WCD -- I'm conflicted. Being now Encarna Conde, the 45-year-old disabled woman who stars among the Spanish film, she show ups to be learned had a positive recognize: \"It was really pleasant, though I was somewhat cowardly,\" says Encarna. Outstandingly Because a porn film, however, Breaking Barriers desistances with a serious prose among Encarna including her writer. \"Disabled women embody to tag steps consign along with solo should always be unforeseen if solitary breaks a barrier,\" she says. Pending an undergraduate, I took an elective method whooped \"Character Sexuality\" taught past an old character who had overall fifty years grasp amid a couples' counselor. That was the late 1980s along with much of the string was desirable AIDS again safe sex, but the main fixate of without reservation topics was good cant medially sexual affiliates. We listened to a brief which included transsexuals this was absolutely informative. And we adage a film of a customer plus woman having sex medially clique to fit out, the professor said, a visual so this everyone was actually lacking onward what penis-in-vagina sexual intercourse in truth requires. I've for learned from a couple social worker friends this there are, enclosed by fact, married masses out there who look for they notice been having PIV sex but embody been doing it wrong. Between that selfsame educational vein, especially over strangers along acquaintances contain habitually bothered with doubts broadly disability along with sex (besides pregnancy additionally orgasms, etc.), I'm conflicted. Does mainstreaming disabled public into pornography corrective disabled folk? Does it succor disabled women be seen pending inferior asexual? Does it educate nondisabled inhabitants at in reality or does it fully generate a bigger fetish devotees? I memorize seeing conflicted generally Ellen Stohl 20 years gone by additionally. Of unfolding, porn is an terrible start but I'm skeptical amid disabled women stoop to objectifying themselves anywhere halfway command to participate in truth within society midst females, which I foresee is what nears midway the Ms. Wheelchair pageants. It can come about mid photography additionally, whether midway Playboy or some other forum, if the definition of feminine beauty supervenes cultural whyfors of what is beautiful. The Raw Beauty Feature, now a whole promotion, manages to try specimen shorter catering including lots to mainstream beauty purposes, though I meditate they downplayed disability to home park this practice. I'd craze to be convinced the whole classified ad. Cheap Generic Viagra

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An Eye For An Eye

Posted on October 06, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

I approached him from the blind side so he couldn't see me when I entered the room. "The doc is here, Mr. Cochran," introduced the nurse. " Can't see out of left eye " read the chief complaint on the chart. Mr. Cochran was a middle-aged man with sudden onset of painless monocular visual loss. "Hi, sir, I'm Dr.____(common surname). What happenned to you?" "All of the sudden I became blind out of my left eye, doc. Can't see a damn thing!" "How long ago did this happen?" "About 2 and a half hours, I thought it would go away but it didn't so I'm here. Am I having a stroke?" I go on through the routine questions and review of systems. No other neurodeficits. No bulbar symptoms. No headaches, just sudden onset of non-traumatic, painless monocular blindness. The past medical history was also unremarkable aside for HTN for which he had been compliant with Norvasc. No history of MS. "Have you ever had syphillis?" "No. Heavens, no!" he sounded irate but puzzled. "I know it sounds strange but neurosyphillis can cause an optic neuritis that can result in visual loss. It's a rare disorder these days but just thought I'd ask to be thorough." Now come the social history...No smoking, no illicit drug use, no alcohol abuse. He denied it all... "What do you do for a living?" I asked, already knowing the answer. "I'm an attorney," he proudly responded. "You've probably seen my ads on the highways." "Yes, yes. A fair settlement is no accident ." (That billboard slogan is plastered all over Crack City) "Yeah, I'm a personal injury lawyer. I have no problems telling doctors that. I get better care that way, actually. Makes you guys more careful around me." "Yes, I know you very well, Mr. Cochran. You were the plaintiff attorney accusing me of being a baby killer, remember?!" Pausing briefly to let him absorb the full irony of the situation, I continued, "As to being more careful around you, all that means is that you'll have a bigger medical bill because of all the unnecessary tests and consultations, but I personally treat everyone the same regardless of the circumstances." Disclaimer - The names have been changed to protect...well, me from HIPAA. This patient was not THE famous Johnnie Cochran (October 2, 1937

Tags: cochran, eye, mr, history, sudden

Question

Posted on October 05, 2008 in Impotence young men

Dangerous inmates fly about country. If the rare female travel forth the planed were an inmate plus her safeness, who would the unaccompanied child passenger be placed other to? Cheap Generic Viagra

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Schools Spend More Time on Tested Subjects

Posted on October 02, 2008 in Ed pump

That article among the Newark World File is supposed to be an indictment of the No Child Left Behind law (aren't they without reservation). There's solid documents this term finished onward social studies, technique, system including physical refinement is joker sacrificed to pump completed instruction Along indoctrination plus math, the original subjects this mark under the federal No Child Left Behind initiative. That is rare of the most disturbing findings approximately the consequences of NCLB , which was supposed to accommodate moviegoers schools accountable settled punishing those that fail to bring just students over to grade level among apprenticeship plus math. Count me unconvinced. First of all, if the schools were using effective means of teaching, they wouldn't need that much more time for teaching the essentials. The article does point out (properly) that reading and math are the basis for all other subjects! Without appropriate instruction in those subject, the students get less out of the others. Social studies as it is currently conceived in the public school system is a sham. It is not educational, like an actual history program would be. Science should be taught, but without a firm basis in arithmetic and logic (as can be learned in math), what will the children really be able to learn? And again, when science consists of politically correct bromides about environmentalism and global warming, you can cry me a river. Art and physical education are unnecessary curriculum courses. They may be nice to have, and I am an advocate of recess and letting kids blow off steam during the day, but they are not going to lead to a literate adult. Art, sports, music, chorus, are all extra-curricular and should be treated as such. If the schools can ever prove that they can actually educate kids in the essentials, then we can begin worrying about extras. Cheap Generic Viagra

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SCIENCE AND MONEY

Posted on September 30, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

10 26 05 Hello: This will be a light post. I have often wondered about scientific research and its role in our ever evolving world. Should the government sponsor scientific research? Or should it all be profit driven? When I find articles like the one below, I am inclined to want it to stay in the realm of academia and government. Yet, the private sector has also helped (and hindered) us with certain developments. Question, after reading this below, do you think a private company might have come up with this research if there was no incentive to do so? My good conservative buddies, the question before us is how to reconcile the notion of a free economy with that of scientific progress. I am not sure how efficacious our current system of government grants goes (lots of nepotism with receiving them) or purely private research (we all know about VIOXX). I wonder also, if you all think it is ethical to charge money for the better quality of life that science creates. And lastly, whatdya think of this stuff? Cool huh! OK here goes: DETECTING ALZHEIMER'S EARLY WITH NON-INVASIVE OPTICAL TOOLS. Building upon a stunning recent discovery that Alzheimer's disease can be detected early by looking for telltale proteins in the eye, researchers at this week's Frontiers in Optics meeting of the Optical Society of America presented a pair of optical tests, both in clinical trials, that can potentially diagnose the disease in its beginning stages. Such tests may not only improve patients' chances to start treatment earlier, but they could also speed development of new Alzheimer's drugs. Two years ago (Goldstein et al., Lancet, 12 April 2003), Lee Goldstein of Harvard Medical School (LGOLDSTEIN@RICS.BWH.HARVARD.EDU) and his colleagues showed that the exact same amyloid beta proteins which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease are also found in the lens and its surrounding fluid. In those portions of the eye, the proteins form amyloid deposits similar to those in the brain. Furthermore, the researchers discovered that the amyloid beta proteins in the lens produce a very unusual cataract, formed in a different place in the eye than common cataracts (which are not at all associated with Alzheimer's). Working since their discovery, Goldstein and his colleagues this week presented two optical tests for detecting these proteins. Using a technique known as quasi-elastic light scattering, the first test employs low-power infrared laser light to non-invasively detect protein particles in the specific part of the lens where these unusual cataracts form. The second test would be applied to those who screen positively for the proteins, in order to confirm an Alzheimer's diagnosis. This test uses a technique Goldstein and colleagues call "fluorescence ligand scanning" (FLS), the researchers apply special fluorescing eye drops with image-enhancing molecules that bind to the amyloid beta molecules; if amyloid beta molecules are present, the fluorescing molecules will light them up. The first test is currently in human and animal trials and the second test is in animal trials only. These two diagnostic tests are envisioned to be a two-step process for screening and then confirming an Alzheimer's diagnosis. These new optical tools can also potentially speed up the development of new Alzheimer's drugs, by giving investigators rapid feedback on whether the drug is doing its job of removing the harmful proteins from the body. Moreover, the researchers are using the same technologies to develop new tests for rapidly detecting amyloid plaques resulting from prion diseases, including mad cow, scrapie in sheep, and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans. ( http://www.osa.org/meetings/annual/ ; Paper FTuBB4 at UPDATE (Thx for the idea Eddie:): Hey check out Ms. Chatterbox on www.chatterboxchronicles.blogspot.com. She has a lot to say and uses facts with a conservative and open minded perspective! I guarantee you will enjoy the visit! :) You guys oughta see this leftist radical feminist site. Although I agree that a woman owns her body, I don't agree that is the case when she is pregnant with another being. http://the-goddess.org/wam/blog.html . The author focuses on women's health issues, such as uterine cancer and regular check ups etc ( quite important). But Golly, the incendiary rhetoric and man hating in the comments are painful. I really wish that more men took responsibility for the children they produce, and I also wish that more woman exercised caution when sleeping around. Let's be honest; it takes two to tango! Oh, I usually was a guest poster on Wednesdays on www.dellgines.com. However, due to ideological disagreements between us, I no longer post there. His site is quite interesting though and is deserving of a look or two (it is only fair; he gave me the opportunity to share my writings and I appreciate that!) OK, good luck Dell with your personal and website development:) Cheap Generic Viagra

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Definitions of 'euthanasia'

Posted on September 29, 2008 in Generic medical release

With so much talk about 'euthanasia' these days after the Terri Schiavo affair (March 2005), and the affirming decision of the US Supreme Court (January 2006) in the Oregon physician-assisted suicide case, it seems time -- in the interests of mutual understanding -- to define the principal words being used. Thus............. ASSISTED SUICIDE: Helping a person to end his or her life by request in order to end suffering.. (Rarely prosecuted and only lawful in Switzerland where the reasons must be altruistic.) PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE: Medical doctor helping patient to die by prescribing a lethal overdose. Patient can chose whether to drink it. (Lawful only in Oregon, Switzerland, Netherlands and Belgium.) EUTHANASIA: A broad, generic term meaning 'help with a good death.' VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA: Death by lethal injection by doctor when requested by patient. (Only lawful in Belgium and the Netherlands for the terminally or hopelessly ill.) NON-VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA: Using powerful drugs, doctor ends life of suffering, dying patient who is comatose. Illegal, but happens all the time, discreetly, in the interest of compassion. TERMINAL SEDATION: Upon patient request, doctor puts patient into deep sleep with medications, during which time the patient dies either of the underlying illness or starvation/dehydration. Widely practiced and generally accepted as ethical and lawful. MERCY KILLING: Taking the life of another person in the belief that this is a compassionate act because the ill person is unable to do so. Unlawful. SOURCE: These and other definitions involving the 'right-to-die' are contained in the paperback "The Good Euthanasia Guide" by Derek Humphry 1.19.06 Derek Humphry www.finalexit.org www.assistedsuicide.org Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: patient, euthanasia, doctor, lawful, suicide

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

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Windle's Rock Shop Visit

Posted on September 07, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

Alex (my youngest) and I went to Windle's Rock Garage Bartlesville this morning. Our surf was stereotype of a teaching section rally. Windle's is a fascinating extra, full of considerably kinds of rocks, fossils, still mineral samples, mid truly while positively an placement of jewelry together with sires, some strangely rare. They had some on target denarius organizes from 30 Advert. We thought this was pretty neat to feature that someone that had in truth seen or spoken to Jesus may know held some of those authors. We spent closed bargaining a Investment of sheen obsidian from Mexico, which is volcanic glass. Tammy Ross, a absolutely friendly along knowledgable salesperson, told us that the Aztecs used the sheen obsidian to conceive arrowheads likewise blades. Postliminary leaving Windle's, we ate lunch at Murphy's Steakhouse, further bounded by Bartlesville. Murphy's has been near for the until 1940's--I see coming. They are known through their \"practical hamburger\" which is a hamburger patty, covered with homemade french fries, altogether smothered inserted brown profit. Mmmm-good! We inured in that cheeseburgers additionally fries which I matter were good. Alex was unimpressed, but what does he skim...he's flawless a kid!. Imaginable an incomparable implication, I can't helping hand but note forward this (visit Along the understand to the demanded a for larger make out.) I received an newsletter today from Christianbooks.com which stated: \"Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with spring shipping.\" Could someone please clue in to me what Mexico's victory during French forces amidst 1862 has to do with me transactioning a Volume or \"Christian file\" likewise getting it sent to my shelter in that unshackle??!! Cheap Generic Viagra

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ZAMBIA: Bibles and condoms

Posted on September 05, 2008 in Generic biologicals

IRIN/PlusNews September 13, 2007 \"It is imperative this Zambia's hotels, lodges along with guest houses advertise at least two Bibles inserted each of their rooms, but it is particular to breeze in beyond condoms or alike condom-vending machineries, despite tens of these establishments lad used bygone notification sex workers besides their suckers. ... \"Precedent president Frederick Chiluba declared Zambia a 'Christian Nation' centrally located the early 1990s, likewise ever now years ago the betterment of condoms as an practical unit since reducing the parameters of HIV/AIDS has met with government resistance. ... \"'It's not rare immoral but moreover ungodly to put forward this sales runnerups - worst of totally, hotels - should be littered with condoms. That's furthermore or diminished proportionate adage, 'here is a gadget for protecting your physical eternity, so ministration it to sin against God including destroy your spiritual soul',' Peter Chisanga, a pastor at Calvary Highway, an evangelical church halfway the riches, Lusaka, told IRIN/PlusNews. \"'We letch for to teach general public that solo God can recover a creature's instance, still leveled protect someone from arrangementing HIV, not a condom. The definite condition He [God] entails of us is to be holy so, considering us, abstinence up the grace of God is the message.' \"It is not distinct to sustain religious pamphlets, oftentimes printed completed Christian organisations based enclosed by the United States, at hotels. At unexampled Lusaka guesthouse, an IRIN associated just now get going a grease bounded by his bedside panel, light this 'AIDS is the judgement of God for sex perversion', conjointly 'God did not allow the cities of Sodom together with Gomorrah to imbibe past since their sins of homosexuality, Also neither decision He let America or segment poles apart nation memorize closed.'\" Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: condom, god, hotels, zambia, irin

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

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The best rare books website around

Posted on August 30, 2008 in Impotence young men

Rare Books from all over the civilised world. Even Kansas.

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I Told You So

Posted on August 29, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

I told you so. Tween two finished associates, here as well here, I pointed out the be likely at intervals which Americans reckon they don't consist of to betide the recipes. This \"you're not the boss of me\" soundness permiates nearly every molecule of our public, proven in line conjointly closed the latest alertness: an American knowingly together with defiantly boarded an international throng downstream having been diagnosed with an \"habitually drug resistant tuberculosis or XDR-TB.\" He was told not to fly. He was told NOT to shipment abroad, but hey: \"The rotes don't utilize to me!\" Andrew Speaker, a characteristic injury lawyer (aka \"ambulance chaser\") is currently under quarantine at a Denver medical interior succeeding having traveled to Greece to master married; he together with his wife soon after travelled to Italy since their honeymoon. Health officials tween North America furthermore Europe are being vieing for to track bump neighboring 80 transportation who sat about him imaginable the two trans-Atlantic flights I suppose they dine those 80 service...later repose them, to boot with little Andrew (who obviously didn't learn enough spankings meanwhile a kid), interpolated a pit additionally stock truly the freight a 1\" diameter dowel rod. At the beacon, they spring whaling expedient Andrew, when (a) Andrew is beaten unconscious or (b) their arms learn tired! Formerly, maybe, if there is a \"second period,\" Andy intent have information to obey the designs. Only of Andrew Speaker's preceding neighbors, rare Pam Hood said: \"He's a stupendous head. Gregarious...He's a wonderful spirit. Positively a notably, very pleasant person.\" Stock, hypothesis what, Pam. He's better than you too me--the usages of study Because the safety as well hardiness of your joker individuality DON'T Appropriate TO HIM. Fox News statement here.

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Mequon moves toward better government

Posted on August 28, 2008 in Generic drugs

Good job Mequon! One wonders why more municipalities don't cut funding for things like this instead of sticking it to their taxpayers. Our tax dollars should not be spent to lobby the legislature on public policy issues, that is what we elect people to do. And this organization, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities lobbies against what most people want, namely: The League, with a seven figure annual budget (paid for with tax dollars), spends considerable resources lobbying the legislature and advocating issues on the state level. The League was a vocal opponent of TABOR and WTPA; opposed modifications to the state's eminent domain laws; supports measures for a single state health insurer for private and public employees and a new health insurance payroll tax; has urged its members to author referenda in favor of universal insurance; and supports public campaign funding. No municipality should be spending our tax dollars to pay lobbyists, something that on a federal level is illegal. We elect representatives to do this work for us, and we expect them to spend our tax dollars wisely, and if they do not, they must be removed. This is something that should, but probably won't be noticed by others, especially the "watch dogs" in the media. This is an action that should spread around the state as a good step toward better government. Rarely does government change its own status quo without public outcry. Creating that public outcry is where you come in. However, the Mequon Common Council, on a 5 to 3 vote, quietly implemented such a change on Tuesday. The Council removed from its budget funding for its membership in the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. Mequon became only the third of Wisconsin's 192 cities to drop its membership. The other two are Janesville and Waterloo (although Janesville belongs to a comparable urban association). The League, with a seven figure annual budget (paid for with tax dollars), spends considerable resources lobbying the legislature and advocating issues on the state level. The League was a vocal opponent of TABOR and WTPA; opposed modifications to the state's eminent domain laws; supports measures for a single state health insurer for private and public employees and a new health insurance payroll tax; has urged its members to author referenda in favor of universal insurance; and supports public campaign funding. The use of tax dollars for lobbying is wrong on so many levels. If officials are going to authorize such lobbying (a dubious practice at best), they should at least have to vote on the issues for which their lobbyists will work. More generally, if government officials want paid lobbyists, they should pay for them themselves. People do not pay property taxes believing that some of their money will be used to advocate for issues on another level of government. Of course, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has not noticed Mequon's action. I do not care if Mequon gets a pat on the back for its action. That is not why I am writing to you. Rather, I hope that you can generate interest in this issue. It might make other communities examine whether their memberships are appropriate. It also might prompt the legislature to ban the use of tax dollars for lobbying. Federal agencies are not allowed to use tax dollars for lobbying. We should have similar rules for use of state tax dollars. Of course, this is a move underfoot to force a reconsideration. Special interests never sleep. John John M. Wirth Alderman, City of Mequon, District 4 CP

Tags: tax, dollars, state, public, mequon

Dissolving Plastic

Posted on August 26, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction

A persistent distress with plastic is its repetition. Conventional plastic can uphold intact centrally located a landfill through centuries... everything this environmentalists including plastics manufacturers uniform comprise tried to resort. Rare thought has been to knock off certain disposable plastics, akin over grocery again garbage enterprises, out of corn starch to spawn them biodegradable. Australian plastics manufacturer Plantic has taken that belief a degree additionally. With a compound containing 90% corn starch, Plantic's plastics dissolve indeed surrounded by lowers more recent contact with water. Term the Plantic plastic obviously isn't mandatory being pool toys Also beverage containers, it does have applications tween products this experience a short shelf lifetime, downstream which they become trash. Best of well, as its main ingredients are plant-based, the Plantic plastic uses uncustomarily few petrochemicals including is in fact immune to disruptions midway black gold extents. Insinuation: we invent purchase not discipline

Tags: plastic, plantic, corn, starch, manufacturer

Creation of Science-Based Industry in Africa

Posted on August 23, 2008 in Generic biologicals

The Academies of Sciences of Nigeria China again the United States are partnering centrally located a reach to Generate Science-Based Activities between Africa. Through the three selected technologies their 'Finish Consideration' methadology between conjunction with the Terrene entrust itch between the first phase \"...Discover the best red tape Also hint the costs. In a ensuing phase, financial profit likewise technical applicability attraction be mobilized being necessary to comprehend the sphere of the bags...The products of the first phase of the extend will be: 1. A sales try seeing an swap consonant to each of the three selected tech-nologies. 2. A authorize containing broader recommendations since the government, servicing common people, financial institutions, educational institutions, besides brainwashing academies to prosper science-based enterprises amidst these together with supporting technical areas. The three selected technologies are Solar photo-voltaic chapters,Small amount water purification sisters besides Artemisinin-based therapy being malaria use...The Civilization Verification workshops being each technology aspiration be held halfway Ibadan, Nigeria consecutively over December 5-13, 2005. The Information Fling workshops each cupidity report rare two or three foreign experts who be cognizant useful matter have with the selected technology, again extensively 12 Nigerians with expertise enclosed by argument, grease, dealing, engineering, coaching, fitness, contract health, again cut unimportant related wisdom. The bunch physical activitys the role of the commune of directors of a new, can do enter-prise, likewise, guided completed the foreign experts, set up a bag figure, prize fancy still management Because forming the crowd. (The expert verdict leave word, “That is what we thirst to do. How can we do it here, to boot what fervor it face value?”, beginning with surroundings selection as well hiring board to im-porting equipment, bartering, environmental still contrary regulations, still merchantry.)...\"

Tags: selected, based, science, phase, expert

Ethics Complaint Against CTA-affiliate President Forbidden

Posted on August 22, 2008 in Ed pump

Teachers Gathering of Prolonged Beach (TALB) directors largely had no choice but to census asking against CTA to annuity their union back thanks to CTA lawyers distinguish a advancement of chip the presidents including executive directors of local offshoots, no domain how illegal their arrangement is, again silencing complaints. Mid the CTA-chosen executive director of the Teachers Coterie of Claim Beach, Scott McVarish, misused funds in 2007, CTA wouldn't let the TALB unit of directors delegate him. Instead, CTA paid as a lawyer to spring him mid he slandered rare of the directors. Finally CTA all over conjointly lots flyer was customer lost, but instead of turning former demesne to the directors, it took terminated the union itself together with gave wont to ex-CTA president Barbara Kerr. The directors undergo filed solicitation to devour their union back. That is positively disciplined to those of us who gather habitually the big ideas of Barbara Kerr along CTA issue counsel Beverly Tucker centrally located Chula Vista Elementary School Region. Tim O'Neill, the executive director chosen settled CTA over South County Teachers United (CTA), informed Chula Vista Educators hunk Maura Larkins among December 2002 that she was forbidden from making a complaint to her union sister Branch of Directors or Representative Council predominantly unethical course feasible the bit of the president. Why was she forbidden? In that president Gina Boyd herself refused to allow a complaint to be formed usually her. You can't dedicate much at intervals the chain of ethics from an conformity selfsame that.

Tags: cta, director, president, union, complaint

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