Cancer survivors skipping medical care – Paging Dr. Gupta - CNN.com Blogs

Cancer survivors skipping medical care – Paging Dr. Gupta - CNN.com Blogs
Imagine one of your parents coming down with a cancer that can be treated and perhaps put into remission. Now imagine that your mother, father or your husband decides to skip those vital treatments because they are too expensive. That is what approximately 2 million Americans decide to do every year according to the this study published in the medical journal Cancer. Here is an excerpt:


Even though it puts their long-term health and well-being at risk, "two million U.S. cancer survivors did not get one or more medical services because of financial concerns," says study author Dr. Kathryn Weaver of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. In general, she says, cancer survivors under the age of 65 were almost twice as likely to delay or forgo all types of care, compared with adults with no cancer history in the same age group.


Hispanic cancer survivors were most likely to skip treatment according to the study. Hispanic and African American cancer survivors were more likely than whites to leave prescriptions unfilled or to forgo needed dental care.


"It reflects differences in insurance coverage in our country," Weaver says. "The people over 65 are often covered by Medicare and have more consistent insurance coverage." But she says even people under 65 who had insurance coverage, would sometimes fail to seek treatment when they needed it.

Thurgood Marshall Jr. - Putting my father, Thurgood Marshall, on trial

Thurgood Marshall Jr. - Putting my father, Thurgood Marshall, on trial
That Thurgood Marshall's son has to defend his father against the likes of Senators Kyl, Sessions, Cornyn and Coburn shows just how low the GOBP has fallen. Thurgood Marshall will go down in history as one of the finest jurists of the twentieth century. In their combined attacks and insinuations Cornyn, Kyl, Sessions and Coburn only demonstrated their bigotry, their profound lack of ethics and their obsequiousness to the rabid right. It was basically hate speech, plain and simple.

Lara Logan, You Suck -- RollingStone.com

Lara Logan, You Suck -- RollingStone.com
Just like everything else in our society, the people who reveal the truth about what is actually happening in Afghanistan, in this case, what General McCrystal was saying about the President and his minions, are vilified and subject to retaliation. Lara Logan is cute and I think she has done some good reporting on the great job our troops are doing, but on this she is absolutely wrong. We need to know what is really happening over there and you damn sure can't count on the major network reporters. It was NOT the reporter's job to protect the General from his own words. With her vapid comments about Michael Hastings, the reporter from Rolling Stone, she revealed herself to be more of a marketing expert than a true journalist.
Some choice quotes from the article:

"True, the Pentagon does have perhaps the single largest public relations apparatus on earth – spending $4.7 billion on P.R. in 2009 alone and employing 27,000 people, a staff nearly as large as the 30,000-person State Department – but is that really enough to ensure positive coverage in a society armed with a constitutionally-guaranteed free press?

And true, most of the major TV outlets are completely in the bag for the Pentagon, with two of them (NBC/GE and Logan's own CBS, until recently owned by Westinghouse, one of the world's largest nuclear weapons manufacturers) having operated for years as leaders in both the broadcast media and weapons-making businesses.

But is that enough to guarantee a level playing field? Can a general really feel safe that Americans will get the right message when the only tools he has at his disposal are a $5 billion P.R. budget and the near-total acquiescence of all the major media companies, some of whom happen to be the Pentagon's biggest contractors?

Does the fact that the country is basically barred from seeing dead bodies on TV, or the fact that an embedded reporter in a war zone literally cannot take a shit without a military attaché at his side (I'm not joking: while embedded at Camp Liberty in Iraq, I had to be escorted from my bunk to the latrine) really provide the working general with the security and peace of mind he needs to do his job effectively?"

Christopher Hitchens' Cancer: Author Undergoing Chemotherapy For Esophageal cancer

At various times I have agreed with Christopher's views and at other times I have disagreed intensely, but I have always admired his obvious genius. His talents and fund of knowledge are almost unparalleled. In a society which is driven by disinformation he has always seemed to strive for a logical truth. I am deeply saddened by the news of him suffering from this devastating illness.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

A Bank Fee Is Cut From Financial Overhaul Bill - NYTimes.com

A Bank Fee Is Cut From Financial Overhaul Bill - NYTimes.com
Gee, which political party would you guess just gutted the new financial reform law? Right, the R's. The famous first term Senator Scott Brown, who won Ted Kennedy's old seat carried the water for the R's on this issue. Because the Democrats needed at least a few R votes to pass the legislation they had to cater to Scott Brown's demands. Brown had originally voted for the increased fees on the giant banks and hedge funds but changed his mind and demanded that the new taxes on the criminals who put us in this near-depression be lifted from the bills. How, any person in this country, no matter their political affiliation, can shill for those greedy blood suckers is beyond belief. But then again the R's have no shame when it comes to whoring for their rich buddies. Look at our local hero to the money changer's, Representative Pete Sessions of Dallas, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. When his buddy Allen Stanford was charged with a Maddoff-like ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions of dollars, his buddy Pete sent him a little love note that said ``I love you and believe in you,'' said the e-mail sent on Feb. 17. ``If you want my ear/voice -- e-mail,'' it said, signed ``Pete.''

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/12/27/v-fullstory/1399470/feds-probe-banker-allen-stanfords.html#ixzz0sJU0QJy4

Sanford you see spent millions lobbying and befriending legislators to fight off any legislation that would get in the way of his fraud. You have to read the Miami Herald article to understand just how embedded this creep was in the republican party. There were a group of republican legislators called the "Caribbean Caucus" which included Petey boy who took 12 trips to the Caribbean at Stanford's expense for luxurious trips that gobbled up $311,307 from his non-profit the Inter-American Economic Council. He liked Sessions so much he rallied his brokers to give generously to support his campaign against Martin Frost, raising $38,875 in the final weeks of the campaign.

Not that Stanford didn't contribute to the democrats, but it wasn't anywhere near the amount lavished upon his republican lapdogs.

So when you Tea Baggers say you have had enough of the government, I hope you mean to start by getting rid of these sleazy bought and paid for republicans because they are a rancid bunch. Though somehow, since your "grassroots group" was funded by former republican Congressman Dick Armey, I doubt it.

Rand Paul has long history of controversial views | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

Rand Paul has long history of controversial views | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

I guess this is what Republicanism is coming down to, advocating social anarchy and survival of the fittest. What would you expect from someone named after Ayn Rand, the author who basically advocated complete selfishness in an amoral world, the hell with the "weak". Kind of like the VP of BP saying last week "People say big oil companies don't care about the small people. But we care. we care about the small people".

Rand Paul has some even stranger and less moral views about society like the following:
He advocates abolishing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security
Sees no reason that businesses should be required to accommodate the disabled
Thinks seat belt and anti-smoking laws should be abolished
Doesn't think businesses should have to serve people of any race
Advocates drastic reduction of military spending (one I agree with)
At a tea bag party meeting last March he defended the Big Banks, Investment Houses and Hedge Funds.
A strong supporter of capitalism, Paul complained at a Boston tea party rally on March 2, 2009, that capitalism was unfairly being blamed for the recession.

"We have very little vestige left of laissez-faire capitalism," he said. "We have a largely regulated economy, and we cannot let capitalism take the blame for this, or we will have less capitalism."

Paul also told the protesters that "the other thing just infuriates me is that they blame greed. Not that greed is a good thing to have. ... But it is an indirect way of blaming capitalism. What is greed? Greed is an excess of self-interest, but what drives capitalism? Self-interest and profit. They are good things."

And he has criticized the Obama administration for treating BP unfairly over the Gulf Oil spill, including in a May interview with Good Morning America.

We are headed somewhere even more ugly in society and it is not because of the President being Barack Obama it's because the Republican party is siding with these wing nuts who want to destroy the social support systems in our society, eliminate regulation of giant financial corporations, and take us back to the frontier days where the person with the most guns took what they wanted.

Politics -- The People Versus The Powerful

Politics -- The People Versus The Powerful

Bill White an honest responsible Governor for Texas

A cartoon by Pulitzer Prize winning Mark Fiore