Schakowsky: Want to cut the deficit? Get with our new public option:

The Raw Story, July 25, 2010, by Sahil Kapur:

LAS VEGAS – Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said Saturday that serious deficit hawks ought to get behind a new “robust” public option bill that she and more than a hundred other members introduced days ago.

In an interview with Raw Story at the Netroots Nation conference, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) predicted that a new “focus on deficit reduction” and rising public distrust of the insurance industry would generate stronger support for it among members of Congress.

“We’ve seen the cost [savings], and we’ve seen the behavior of the insurance companies,” she said. “I think that really puts a new atmosphere on the prospects for a new public option.”

Unveiled last Thursday by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Schakowsky, and more than 120 co-sponsors, the measure would give consumers a choice between private and public health insurance plans in the new law’s exchanges. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that it would cut the deficit by $68 billion between 2014 an 2020.

See Grijalva: Deficit hawks against public option are ‘hypocrites,’ ‘phonies’, The Raw Story, July 25, 2010, by Sahil Kapur, excerpt quoted verbatim:

LAS VEGAS – Progressive caucus co-chair Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) on Saturday issued an ultimatum to opponents of a public option who invoke deficit concerns: get behind this program, or you’re hypocrites.

In an exclusive interview with Raw Story at Netroots Nation, a large conference for progressive activists and media, Grijalva lamented how “one of the most important mechanisms [to cut the deficit] was left out of the [health reform] bill.”

Fear of Freedom, N.Y. Times Editorial, July 25, 2010, by N.Y. Times:

The Obama administration should not deliver Guantánamo prisoners to governments that have a record of torture and lawlessness, like Algeria.

“Rubicon”: Eerie portrait of “Top Secret America”, Salon, July 24, 2010, by Heather Havrilesky: AMC’s stylish drama about a powerful intelligence contractor isn’t pure fantasy, according to the Washington Post.

Please Give: Help Charities Working in the Gulf, American Express and Takepart.

How Charlie Rangel Can Survive, Salon, July 23, 2010, by Steve Kornacki.

We’re Not Winning. It’s Not Worth It, Newsweek, July 18, 2010, by Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, excerpt quoted verbatim:

GOP chairman Michael Steele was blasted by fellow Republicans recently for describing Afghanistan as “a war of Obama’s choosing,” and suggesting that the United States would fail there as had many other outside powers. Some critics berated Steele for his pessimism, others for getting his facts wrong, given that President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan soon after 9/11. But Steele’s critics are the ones who are wrong: the RNC chair was more correct than not on the substance of his statement, if not the politics.

The war being waged by the United States in Afghanistan today is fundamentally different and more ambitious than anything carried out by the Bush administration. Afghanistan is very much Barack Obama’s war of choice, a point that the president underscored recently by picking Gen. David Petraeus to lead an intensified counterinsurgency effort there. After nearly nine years of war, however, continued or increased U.S. involvement in Afghanistan isn’t likely to yield lasting improvements that would be commensurate in any way with the investment of American blood and treasure. It is time to scale down our ambitions there and both reduce and redirect what we do.

Thrown to the Wolves, The New York Times, Editorial, July 23, 2010, by Bob Herbert, excerpt quoted verbatim:

The Shirley Sherrod story tells us so much about ourselves, and none of it is pretty. The most obvious and shameful fact is that the Obama administration, which runs from race issues the way thoroughbreds bolt from the starting gate, did not offer this woman anything resembling fair or respectful treatment before firing and publicly humiliating her.

Moving with the swiftness of fanatics on a hanging jury, big shots in the administration and Bill O’Reilly of Fox News came to exactly the same conclusion: Shirley Sherrod had to go — immediately! No time for facts. No time for justice.

Comment: I have see other editorials to the effect that, given that Ms. Sherrod ultimately got some kind of justice in the affair and was reinstated to a position in the Agriculture Dept., that overall the whole drama represents a victory in the battle for fair race relation. Admittedly the initial response was, as Herbert suggests, all wrong. ~ Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans.

Watch CNN Anchors Call For Crackdown on Bloggers, CNN YouTube video — 5:51 All about anonymous bloggers and the case of Shirley Sherrod’s smear.

Addicted to Bush, The New York Times, Editorial, July 22, 2010, by Paul Krugman, excerpt quoted verbatim:

For a couple of years, it was the love that dared not speak his name. In 2008, Republican candidates hardly ever mentioned the president still sitting in the White House. After the election, the G.O.P. did its best to shout down all talk about how we got into the mess we’re in, insisting that we needed to look forward, not back. And many in the news media played along, acting as if it was somehow uncouth for Democrats even to mention the Bush era and its legacy.

The truth, however, is that the only problem Republicans ever had with George W. Bush was his low approval rating. They always loved his policies and his governing style — and they want them back. In recent weeks, G.O.P. leaders have come out for a complete return to the Bush agenda, including tax breaks for the rich and financial deregulation. They’ve even resurrected the plan to cut future Social Security benefits.

Also see the latest Krugman column: Chocolate and Copper, The New York Times, July 25, 2010, by Paul Krugman.

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Shameful: Pentagon workers tied to child porn, Boston.com, July 23, 2010, by Brian Bender, with video, excerpt quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have identified several dozen Pentagon officials and contractors with high-level security clearances who allegedly purchased and downloaded child pornography, including an undisclosed number who used their government computers to obtain the illegal material, according to investigative reports.

The investigations have included employees of the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — which deal with some of the most sensitive work in intelligence and defense — among other organizations within the Defense Department.

Also see First year stands out for Sotomayor on Supreme Court, Boston.com, July 25, 2010, by Robert Barnes, excerpt quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON — Several partygoers were on their way into the Supreme Court one Saturday evening in May to toast retiring Justice John Paul Stevens when they ran into Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She was not heading to the festivities, but coming from her chambers, where she had put in a weekend shift.

She looked neither tired nor overwhelmed by her new responsibilities, one of the partygoers noticed. “She was beaming.’’

In some ways, Sotomayor’s just-finished first term on the court was like those of many who have come before her: She worked constantly, turned down interview requests and most speaking engagements, wrote unglamorous and largely noncontroversial opinions, and was ideologically true to the president who appointed her. She voted with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg more than any other colleague on the court.

In the news: Three Spaniards file charges over Israel flotilla raid, BBC News, July 23, 2010, by BBC, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Two Spanish activists and a journalist arrested in a raid by Israel on a Gaza-bound flotilla are filing charges against Israel’s prime minister.

The three accuse Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, six cabinet ministers and the navy commander of illegal detention, torture and deportation.

The UN has meanwhile named a team of experts to investigate the raid.

Listen to the Latest: World News Update from AlJazeera English. All the latest news from around the world.

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Woolsey to introduce ‘robust public option’ bill, The Raw Story, July 23, 2010, by Sahil Kapur, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON – What, did you think the fight for health care reform was over?

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), co-chair of the progressive caucus, is making good on her promise to continue pushing for a public health insurance option after the enactment of sweeping reform legislation.

On Thursday afternoon, the Northern California congresswoman will announce the introduction of a bill offering consumers a choice between private plans and a “robust” public plan in the health insurance exchanges set up by the law.

“The robust public option offers lower-cost competition to private insurance companies,” Woolsey told Raw Story. “This will make insurance more affordable for those who do not have it and keep insurance affordable for those who do. We are introducing the public option now so is will be available as a ready-made off set or deficit reducer in this or the next Congress.”

In an email, she promised it would “rein in the spiraling costs of premiums” and “save billions of dollars and improve health care while doing it.”

The bill currently has 121 co-sponsors in the House, Woolsey said, and has won strong praise from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

“I am very pleased that Congresswoman Woolsey and 120 of her colleagues in the House are introducing a bill to create a strong public option operating in every state exchange,” Sanders told Raw Story. “I have long been in favor of a Medicare-for-all, single-payer health care system, but in the post-Affordable Care Act world I think the very least we can do is to offer every person the option of choosing a government-run health insurance plan over a private one.”

While the insurance industry fears competition from the government, polls have suggested that a large majority of Americans support a public option, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that such a provision would help reduce the deficit.

“It comes as no surprise to me that the CBO continues to recognize that such a public option will save significant amounts of money for the federal taxpayer,” Sanders said.

Progressives are enthusiastic about the provision, for which there is strong support in the House. But it could be a nonstarter in the Senate this year, due to the busy calendar and fast approaching November midterm elections.

Woolsey was a vocal supporter of a public plan during the grueling yearlong debate. Though she voted for the bill even after it was removed, she told Raw Story in February she wouldn’t stop fighting for the provision.

In an op-ed for The Hill last week, Woolsey called the Affordable Care Act a “historic first step,” but argued that the law enacted in March must be followed by “an even longer stride into history by establishing a robust public option.”

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As economy takes toll, mental health budgets shrink, Stateline.org, July 19, 2010, by Christine Vestal, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

Mental health policies in America have changed radically over the past 60 years. A one-time emphasis on caring for patients in large institutions has shifted to treating them in outpatient settings in the community. The ways mental disorders are diagnosed and categorized have changed. And the use of psychotropic medications is more prevalent than it used to be.

But throughout the decades, one thing has remained the same. States have taken the lead role in publicly funded care for the mentally ill, and paid the majority of the expenses. Even through recessions, the states have steadily increased their mental health budgets every year to meet increasing demand.

Now, as states face their biggest fiscal challenge in modern history, the trend has reversed. For the first time in more than three decades, mental health funding is declining. The drop-off is translating into a reduction in the number of psychiatric hospital beds, as well as fewer services for mental health emergencies and longer waiting lists for housing for the chronically mentally ill. The cuts are coming just as some experts say economic pressures are creating an increase in mental illness.

Although no national numbers are available, hospital emergency rooms, juvenile courts, child welfare agencies, local jails and homeless shelters are reporting bulges in the number of mentally ill people who end up on their doorsteps after failing to get help elsewhere.

In addition, a recent national survey showed that the weak economy is taking a toll on the mental health of Americans, with unemployed people four times as likely as those with jobs to report symptoms of severe mental illness.

“States are chipping away at their already very fragile mental health system,” says Michael Fitzpatrick, executive director of National Alliance on Mental Illness, (NAMI) which advocates for improved mental health care. “More people will be unable to find even basic services that allow them to stay out of the hospital or involvement with police. It’s a dire situation that we’ve never seen before.”

Funding fluctuations

Since the 1950s, when states cared for more than 500,000 people in psychiatric hospitals, state mental health programs have included more and more community-based services. Those include a wide array of services, such as suicide prevention and 24-hour crisis centers, treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, housing and work supports, counseling and violence-prevention programs. Although advocates maintain that only half of those in need are receiving public mental health services, states have made progress by serving more people in the community at about half the price of committing them to institutions — and with better outcomes. Today, only 50,000 people reside in state mental hospitals while millions are served on an outpatient basis.

Still, states have had to increase their budgets to keep pace with demand. Despite fluctuations in funding for nearly every other social service, state mental health budgets have increased nationally by about 6 percent per year for the past 30 years.

Now, for the first time, states are pulling back mental health spending. These unprecedented cuts — nearly 4 percent as a national average between 2008 and 2009 — come at a time when other public agencies such as child welfare, law enforcement and housing also are experiencing budget cuts and can ill afford to handle the overflow.

According to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, 2010 spending appears to have fallen nearly 5 percent compared to 2009. Early indications are that 2011 mental health budgets may sink by 8 percent or more.

Exacerbating the mental health budget crisis is uncertainty over whether Congress will decide to extend an increase in the federal match for Medicaid services under the stimulus program, which a majority of states have counted on to stretch their overall health care budgets.

In 2008, states spent $36 billion on mental health services to care for 6.4 million people, about half the number of people advocates say are in need of care. Of the total, about $17 billion came from Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor, $500 million came from federal grants and the balance was funded through state general revenues. Not counted in the total is funding from county and local budgets, much of which also sits on the chopping block.

Where the cuts are

Although a few states have minimized mental health cuts and targeted less essential services, many states are closing psychiatric hospitals, eliminating 24-hour crisis centers and tightening eligibility for subsidized medications and services that affect thousands of adults and children with severe mental illness.

Here are some examples of states that have made big cuts:

To fill a $1 billion hole in its 2011 budget, Arizona slashed this year’s budget for mental health services by $36 million — a 37 percent cut. As a result, advocates say 3,800 people who do not qualify for Medicaid are at risk of losing services such as counseling and employment preparation. In addition, more than 12,000 adults and 2,000 children will no longer receive the name-brand medications they take to keep their illnesses in check. Other services such as supportive housing and transportation to doctor’s appointments also will be eliminated.

Arizona has been considered a progressive state because it provides the vast majority of mental health services through cost-effective outpatient community programs. By slashing these programs, experts say the state will force more people to use emergency rooms or end up in the criminal justice system, which will cost the state more.

In Illinois, where Democratic Governor Pat Quinn is trying to bridge a $13 billion budget gap, a proposed mental-health budget cut of $91 million was reduced to $35 million after patients and practitioners protested at the governor’s mansion earlier this month. Even so, advocates say more than 70,000 people, including 4,200 children, are in danger of losing basic community services, which may result in more instances of hospitalization. The cuts come on the heels of a court settlement requiring the state to transfer 4,500 severely mentally disabled patients out of nursing homes and into community residential facilities following a string of rapes and assaults on elderly residents.

Mississippi has cut its mental health budget by about 8 percent for three consecutive years, resulting in the closure of a residential mental health facility for adolescents, elimination of 184 beds in one of the state’s biggest psychiatric hospitals and consolidation of six crisis centers with existing community mental health centers. In the fiscal year that started July 1, the state plans to further cut funding to localities for mental health services. Prior to the recession, Mississippi lagged far behind most states in funding community services and housed the highest percentage of people with mental illness in state institutions.

—Contact Christine Vestal at cvestal@stateline.org

See related stories:

With Medicaid, states face painful cuts and few choices (5/26/2010)

States make deep cuts to health (8/5/2009)

Watch NAMI Connection: All About The Program, YouTube video – 9:25.

Advice from someone who has been there:

Visit NAMI, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. This is the premier connection on the web to get help and access resources. As someone who suffered from mental illness all my adult life, getting better only in recent years, I wish so much that I had accessed NAMI and the support it can provide, when I was much younger. If you think you might be suffering from a mental condition, or if you are the parent of a child who may be mentally ill, PLEASE visit this website. One sixth of Americans at some time during their lifetimes are clinically depressed so that they need medication to overcome it. There is no shame in mental illness any more than there is shame in breast cancer. These are organic and generally genetic conditions. NO, you are in NO WAY inferior if you suspect you are mentally ill. Don’t let anyone tell you that, and don’t you dare think it.

Seek help with NAMI! You’ll be so glad you did. You know and I know that there is a lot of craziness out there on the street. Only about one half of mentally ill people in the United States are getting any real help. Help yourself. Visit NAMI. What can it hurt to explore? Isn’t it better than suffering alone? If you need someone to talk to, email me or call me at 330-202-7661. At the least you will get a friendly voice and the knowledge of someone who has been there and mostly overcome his illness…. I would be glad to talk with you. And I will try to direct you to professional resources in your area. Sometimes it just takes a little caring, and a gentle little push to begin treatment that may save your life. What are you waiting for?

We have attempted to make a separate and more comprehensive page for you about Mental Illness Resources and advice that we hope might be helpful. ~ Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans

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Taking Your Message to the World

Evans Liberal Politics, June 28, 2010, by “A Rather Vocal Critic”, quoted verbatim: Note by Paul Evans: This writer has been a friend of mine for many years. Although initially a supporter of Obama, he has felt obligated to be somewhat against the President in recent months. These opinions are his and not necessarily the opinion of Evans Liberal Politics. We felt he should have a voice.

Obama’s Health Care Reform
CNN reported today, starting July 1st, there can be no denial of health insurance based upon pre-existing conditions. Sounds good huh?  Well, again according to CNN, a person can now purchase insurance based on the “street price” from insurance companies. (These are non negotiated rates “lower rates” that you would not be able to get unless, for example, you worked for a company). Last time I checked, for myself, a “street” policy through Blue Cross was $500, with a $1000 deductible. Now, comes the zinger. The insurance can base the insurance policies price on your age.

Insurance companies can now use “age” now to raise their rates with no limits set. Hmmmmm. Where was AARP on this one?

Anyway, imagine if you are unemployed and receiving unemployment.  What is it? $300/week. Suppose you have a family? Do really think you could afford to purchase a ”street” priced insurance policy if you are 40 55, 60 and up? I dont’ give a darn whether you have pre-existing or not, most will never be able to afford health insurance. This is not universal health care. Not even close.

Let me amend. There were how many cut off by Congress last week that won’t get any unemployment insurance now? I think it is close to a million. So you really think these people are going to purchase health insurance when they can’t put food on the table for their families?

G-20 Summit

Did you get to watch the Obama news conference afterwards? He sees “no end in sight” for our “occupation” in Afghanistan. He says, “We will review our policy to see what is and is not working, but, according to Obama, “This is the country where the 9/11 terrorists came from.” Many of the Taliban are hiding in Pakistan because we uprooted them in Afghanistan. Yet, he says “Americans should plan for the long haul for our military forces to be in Afghanistan. This will be one of America’s longest wars (10 years and probably much longer)”  Hmmmmmm. I think those who voted for Obama were thinking we were going to get OUT of being the world military occupiers like Bush was. Guess again.

Also, Obama says “we are now going to reduce the deficit by 2013. Gates is cutting military programs.” Yet, Gates testified that there will not be a budget as promised by June as it has been delayed when last week when he testified in front of Congress.  I know they are giving rather large bonuses based on reviews, rather than the normal merit increases for the civilian military personnel. Hmmmmmmm.  The GAO has come out and said the military is still overspending in some recent reports on items they shouldn’t be.

Obama said, “For those pundits who don’t think I mean business the American people are going to hear some very tough choices from me after the first of the year to reduce the deficit.”  I think he means to pay for his Wall Street and bank bailouts. I feel the words may be, “tax increases“. He stressed, “Even if we didn’t have the major recession our baby boomers costs are skyrocketing (Social Security, Medicare etc) would have put us in a deficit anyway just not as big.” By the way, is your credit or borrowing power any better since the bailouts? I heard from my bank and credit card companies, “we are not loaning out any money in the foreseeable future to anyone with less than a crystal clear, perfect credit score.”

North Korea
I must have slept through high school history classes. I did find them quite boring. There was a PBS special on the Korean War I watched last week.  What a major screw-up that we are still paying for today. The Korean war lost more US soldiers than the Vietnam war. (Didn’t know that).  Russia and China supplied military needs for the North during this war.  The US soldiers were not armed properly and definitely not clothed properly to meet the challenges of the severe weather in Korea. The so called “truce” was because “our government knew” we could not win the war. When the Armistice was signed many US troops were still fighting. After they found out about the “truce” they thought, “What?” What was all this for? All these lives for a truce? It showed many Korean vets coming home. There was no ticker parades, in fact, like Vietnam many came home to “shame”. The Korean US vets that spoke of the war on this PBS special, I felt sorry for. Their families said, “Rarely do they ever mention the war. They feel shamed and betrayed.”

Obama said at the G-20, “I can understand China’s reluctance to take action against the North as those two countries are connected on the same continent.”  There is much more history than just being on the same continent. Watch the PBS special on the Korean war.
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I try not to watch CSPAN any more as the largest “amount” of complainers are those who voted for Obama and are still waiting for their handouts from him. Many at the far left are extremely impatient when it comes to their stimulus payment and disillusioned with his presidency.

What the majority of callers from any party on CSPAN agree on is they all despise Congress 100%.
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I don’t agree that having a back story into Rolling Stone magazine was a good idea. Although if you want out of a bad situation, a war that is being lost, the former general did the right thing. I might have chosen People, a little more classy.  I think the general and his aides spoke the truth. To summarize, I think “they” much would have rather had Hillary answering the phone at 3 am (if you remember her commercial).
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The so-called liberal media is now turning against the person they once so adamantly supported. Some news organizations, like CNN and the New York Times, much quicker than I ever imagined.

See World Leaders Agree on Timetable for Cutting Deficits, The New York Times, June 27, 2010, by Sewell Chan and Jackie Calmes.

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Sex Pill for Women: Big Pharma Trying to Profit from Low Sex Drive?, AlterNet, June 4, 2010, by Martha Rosenberg, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Drugs to boost women’s libido are not recent. They date all the way back to Roman times when the wife of Augustus Caesar dosed her guests to liven a party. Marquis de Sade did the same, seventeen hundred years later.

Now a new female libido drug, dubbed the Pink Viagra, has husbands, boyfriends and Wall Street cheering, if not its intended patients.

On June 18 an FDA advisory committee will consider approval of flibanserin, manufactured by Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, for “treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in premenopausal women.”

Flibanserin was rolled out at the European Society for Sexual Medicine’s annual meeting in Lyon, France last November as an exciting new treatment for libido impaired women. Volunteers reported the number of “satisfying sexual encounters” they had on the drug increased from 2.7 to 4.5 times a month in pooled data from placebo-controlled Phase III studies in the U.S. and Europe. Placebo worked too, with women reporting satisfying sexual experiences increased to 3.7 a month. (Evidently just thinking about sex, rather than “England,” stokes desire.)

To participate in trials, women had to be “in a stable, monogamous, heterosexual relationship” for a year, free from depression and parenting, eldercare and income stress — but who does that leave? — and “willing to try to have sexual activity” at least once a month.

Like Pfizer’s 12-year-old Viagra, which was meant as an angina drug until its erectile effects appeared, flibanserin was groomed to be an antidepressant until its effect on female sexual desire surfaced during the study and trial participants didn’t want to return their unused pills, according to Medpage. It wasn’t effective as an antidepressant despite 15 years of forced swim, “learned helplessness” and stereotactic experiments in animals.

Chemically, flibanserin modulates dopamine and serotonin like other psychoactive drugs but is less like current SSRI antidepressants than older drugs like Buspar and Serzone says an article on Neuroskeptic.com. (The antidepressant, Serzone, barely used today because of liver toxicity, was linked to male and female priapism, an abnormal and painful erectile state.) Flibanserin may even share antipsychotic effects with Haldol and Zyprexa speculates a 2002 article in CNS Drug Reviews.

Despite its rep as a female Viagra, flibanserin really isn’t. Viagra exerts mechanical actions, increasing blood flow to the genitalia without increasing desire while flibanserin does the opposite — increasing desire, not blood flow.

But the bigger difference is dosage: while Viagra is taken as needed and even impulsively, flibanserin is taken all the time for the 4.5 or 3.7 times a month sexual activity occurs.

While the push to take daily drugs for occasional occurrences, like antidepressants for anxiety and “prevention” drugs for disease “risks” certainly turbo charges pharma sales, some wonder if women will want to alter their chemistry for a few enchanted nights. Sure, women take birth control pills all month long but when women were offered the chance to treat painful periods by taking a repurposed Prozac called Sarafem every day, there were few takers.

Of course, to be covered by insurance, women who take flibanserin need to suffer from hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD, which is where the controversy about the Pink Viagra starts.

Read the rest of the article, here.

Read about Filbanserin on Wikipedia.

"HSDD is the most commonly reported female sexual complaint and characterized by a decrease in sexual desire that causes marked personal distress and/or personal difficulties." — Wikipedia

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: You have got to hand it to Big Pharma. It is well known that female birth control drugs like “the pill” have been linked to a decrease in a woman’s sex drive. Watch Women’s Sexual Health: Sex Drive & The Birth Control Pill, Does The Pill Ruin Sex for Girls?, video on Evans Liberal Politics, May 13, 2010 — 7:00. Now, having wrecked women’s sex drives, Big Pharma has come up with yet another drug, which has certain antipsychotic features, that promises some relief from this women’s malady. That’s nice, ruin women’s sex drive and then fix it. Fine. Just as long as Big Pharma can make money with both medicines, right?

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Tea Party groups fail to get health reform repeal measure on Ohio ballot, MedCity News, June 23, 2010, by Brandon Glenn, excerpt quoted verbatim:

An Ohio group affiliated with the Tea Party movement acknowledged that it has failed to get a measure that would reform the federal healthcare overhaul onto the state ballot in November.

A member of the Ohio Liberty Council told the Columbus Dispatch that his group didn’t have enough time to collect the 402,275 signatures needed to get the proposed constitutional amendment in front of voters. The deadline to turn in the signatures is next week.

Specifically, the proposed amendment would’ve prohibited the government from compelling Americans to buy health insurance, the so-called “individual mandate” that many opponents of the overhaul have sought to cast as unconstitutional. The amendment also would’ve prohibited the federal government from imposing fines on those who choose not to buy health insurance.

But just because the groups failed this year, doesn’t mean they’re giving up. Supporters said they hope to get the ballot on the measure next year.

The extra year will give health reform opponents more time to collect money, but time may not be on their side. Recent polls have showed the law gaining popularity, including a Gallup poll out yesterday in which 49 percent of respondents called the reform law “a good thing,” while 46 percent said it was bad. That’s a reversal from April, when 45 percent said the law was good, while 49 percent said it was bad. While the changes are slight, the numbers suggest the tide may be turning against reform opponents – particularly if the trend continues.

Read the full article, here.

See Health-care repeal won’t be on Ohio ballot, but farm-animal amendment remains on track, Columbus Dispatch, June 23, 2010, by Mark Niquette and Alan Johnson.

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Read about this and sign the petition at Reject S. 3002 – The Nutritional Supplement Prohibition Act, Health Freedom Alliance, signature page.

If Arizona Senator John McCain has his way, many of the supplements you rely on for good health will disappear. And the cost of the few you can still get will explode in price.

Earlier this month, Sen. McCain introduced a bill falsely labeled the “Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010” (S. 3002). Sounds good, right? Nothing to worry about. McCain says: “Legitimate dietary supplement companies should have nothing to fear from this legislation. The purpose of the bill is not to create a sweeping regulatory structure, but instead a targeted structure that provides for openness, transparency and safety.”

This bill would require every person involved with supplements – all the way down to mom-and-pop health food stores and multi-level-marketing distributors — to register with the FDA. Next, every “dietary supplement facility” must turn over a complete list of the products and ingredients they sell or handle.
It gets worse. Should this bill become law, the state will determine if an ingredient can be sold. You see, under DSHEA passed in 1994, any ingredient sold before the bill passed could be sold legally forever. Well, no more.

Under this bill, the FDA will assume any ingredient “adulterated” unless “there is a history of use or other evidence of safety.” Manufacturers and distributors must provide the FDA “with information, including any citation to published articles, which is the basis on which the manufacturer or distributor has concluded that a dietary supplement containing such dietary ingredient will reasonably be expected to be safe.”
And guess who is the ultimate judge and jury? The FDA!

A recent study shows there were ZERO deaths from supplement use in 2008. Zero. Nada. Ziltch. Big Pharma racked up about 150,000. Hospital infections another 48,000. Read the full report here: http://healthfreedoms.org/no-deaths-from-vitamins-minerals-amino-acids-o….

Please help us fight for your health freedom and forward this to your friends and loved ones.

Join the Health Freedom Alliance here: http://healthfreedoms.org/subscribe/.

Contact your Senator.

Male menopause is ‘rare’ but it is not a myth, BBC News, June 17, 2010, by BBC, quoted verbatim in the public interest:

The male menopause does exist – but it is rare, researchers have concluded.

Just days after it was dismissed as a myth, the European team said the male menopause did exist – but that it affects only 2% of middle-aged men.

Over 3,300 men from across Europe were assessed for the New England of Journal study.

A men’s health expert said testosterone therapy could be beneficial, but doctors had to be cautious about its use.

Scientists led by a team from the University of Manchester looked at the testosterone levels of 3,369 men aged 40 to 79 from eight European centres.

The men were also asked about their sexual, physical and mental health.

Three sexual symptoms – poor morning erection, low levels of sexual desire and erectile dysfunction were linked to low testosterone levels.

Depression, fatigue and an inability to perform sexual activity were also linked.

But some symptoms commonly cited as being indications men are going through a “menopause” including changes in sleeping patterns, poor concentration, feeling worthless, and anxiety were found to have no link to low testosterone levels.

The condition, also called late-onset hypogonadism, was also found to be linked to poor health and obesity.

Hypogonadism is a condition where the testes fail to work properly, affecting hormone levels.

‘Excessive diagnosis’ warning

Professor Fred Wu, from the University of Manchester’s school of biomedicine, who led the study, said unlike classical hypogonadism where similar symptoms were accompanied by an diagnosable condition, that was not the case for late-onset hypogonadism.

“This well-practised diagnostic approach is frequently found wanting when dealing with the age-related decline of testosterone in elderly men who are prone to have a significant background of non-hormone-related complaints.”

He added: “Our findings have for the first time identified the key symptoms of late-onset hypogonadism and suggest that testosterone treatment may only be useful in a relatively small number of cases.”

Professor Wu said sexual symptoms were relatively common even in men with normal testosterone levels.

“It is therefore important to specify the presence of all three sexual symptoms of the nine testosterone-related symptoms we identified, together with low testosterone, in order to increase the probability of correctly diagnosing late-onset hypogonadism.

“The application of these new criteria should guard against the excessive diagnosis of hypogonadism and curb the unwise use of testosterone therapy in older men.”

Earlier this month, an editorial in Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin said many men who report symptoms have normal hormone levels and warned giving synthetic testosterone as it could increase the risk of prostate cancer.

Dr Ian Banks, president of the Men’s Health Forum, said: “We need to be very cautious about the prescribing of testosterone therapy, and doctors need to balance the benefits against the risks.

“This research acknowledges it’s a complex issue, and that caution is needed.”

See What I did today, ARTICLESILOVE, June 16, 2010, by qewhaesol: an excellent article regarding the disappearance of the “Today Sponge” contraceptive.

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: As per the picture above, I need to take a little time off from blogging the news and rest some today…. more posts, but only later in the day…. Even webmasters have to rest!