You either pay attention or pay through the nose. I would rather pay attention.
I had just assumed the summer slowdown in politics was the reason Mike Duffy’s Countdown had not been on the air the past month or so.
But tonight on local Ottawa News Gallery Talk, Norm Fetterley mentioned that Mike had open heart surgery today and that he made it through the surgery with flying colours.
I won’t pry for details but I did want to wish Mike all the best and hope he has a speedy recovery and is back in his old seat grilling politicians again soon.
The difference in price between generic medications and brand name can be profound. Quite often, people who would never be able to afford brand name drugs end up buying the, equally as effective, generics which can prolong and even save lives.
I have always been a proponent of brand name medications because the price increase goes into research for newer, more effective medications. But when a patent ends and the generics come out, a whole new class of people can benefit from the generics. This is typically those on lower or fixed incomes.
Bloomberg is reporting about Briston-Myers Squibb Co. being investigated for a deal they struck with Apotex.
July 27 (Bloomberg) — Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said the U.S. Justice Department is conducting a criminal probe of an accord that would delay generic competition to its biggest- selling drug, the Plavix blood thinner.
The company learned yesterday of an investigation by the Justice Department’s antitrust division, according to a statement today by the New York-based drugmaker. Bristol-Myers and partner Sanofi-Aventis SA had agreed to pay generic-drug maker Apotex Inc. an unspecified amount to stay off the market with a generic copy of Plavix until 2011.
So Apotex signed a deal to take money from BMS in exchange for screwing lower income Canadians. Hmmm. What do YOU call someone who takes money to screw people?
I would imagine with their biggest selling drug possibly going generic, the bottom line at BMS would be affected significantly.
For those who don’t recall, Apotex is the company who had executives and their teenage children donating the maximum political contribution to Liberal Leadership candidate Joe Volpe.
H/T to Small Dead Animals
In light of President George Bush’s virginal veto last week, I thought Lucy might need some ‘splainin’.
I hope Ann Coulter doesn’t sue me for quoting from her new book but here is a major difference.
A short list of successful treatments achieved by adult stem cells are these:
- Rebuilding livers wracked by otherwise irreversible cirrhosis
- Repairing spinal cord injuries by using stem cells from nasal and sinus regions
- Completely reversing Type I diabetes in mice using adult spleen cells
- Putting Crohn’s disease into remission with the patient’s own blood stem cells
- Putting lupus into remission using stem cells from the patient’s bloodstream
- Treating sickle-cell anemia using stem cells from Umbilical Cord blood
- Repairing the heart muscles in patients with congestive heart failure using adult stem cells from bone marrow
- Repairing heart attack damage with the patient’s own blood stem cells
- Restoring bone marrow in cancer patients using stem cells from umbilical cord blood
- Restoring weak heart muscles using immature skeletal muscle cells
- Putting leukemia into remission using umbilical cord blood
- healing bone fractures with bone marrow cells
- Restoring sight in blind people using ocular surface stem cell transplant and a cornea transplant
- Treating urinary incontinence using stem cells from underarm muscle
- Reversing severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) with genetically modified adult stem cells
- Restoring blood circulation in legs with bone marrow stem cells
Meanwhile, embryonic stem cells have never cured anything in any living creature.
(bolded emphasis above is mine)
It is obvious that embryonic stem cells have done Bo Diddley (not to mention Christopher Reeves) squat.
I have a special vested interest in this news. My dad was one of those who received tainted blood that gave him hepatitis C. With this being such a personal issue, I have never spoken about it on my blog because of a deep seated resentment. You see, the Hep C flareups my dad had during his battle with a beatable cancer made his condition very hard to handle for the oncologists.
He was in his late 50’s. He had several years of work left in a good paying job that would have made life in their retirement much easier than it has been for my mom. The proposed payment should make life a bit easier for her in the coming years. Knowing my mom, she will probably outlive me so this is in no way tied to any greed on my part. I just don’t want her worrying about the monthly bills in her gardening years.
My dad taught me so many things that I can only mention a few. He taught me to play backgammon on an old board he had. I have been teaching Cookie on the same board and everytime I roll the dice I think of him. He taught me how to kick soccer balls and every one of T-Bone’s soccer games, I think of him. He taught me my love for hockey, which for a Greek immigrant was a major feat and every game I think of those Wednesday and Saturday nights watching Borje Salming and Darryl Sittler. He taught me to respect my elders which I still do to this day although more and more I notice that the number of people older than me is dwindling. He taught me how to work hard for what I earn and he taught me how to care for my possessions, which I think about everytime I spend a dollar or get something fixed on my truck. He taught me to tease, something Cookie reminds me of everytime she says “daaaad, quit being so sarcastic” which she has been saying since she was 6.
But most of all he taught me to joke and laugh as much as possible. I am reminded of this every bad joke my wife rolls her eyes at. (but I see the sides of her lips curling up a bit in a smile everytime.)
I miss you Pops. You can stop worrying about mom now. Stephen Harper is making things right.
Yellow Bellied McShifty is getting his wish. Autistic children will not get IBI treatment beyond the age of 6, which will save the province quite a wad of cash.
In my fourth blog post ever (back in the early days), I posted how Ontario was “robbing autistic Paul to pay for Mary’s Peter”.
The gender reassignment surgery issue was closed last November with the tribunal stating that three of the four who were fighting to have their surgery paid for by tax payers got their wish, but the fourth (a CUPE employee) did not as he was not enrolled in the program before October 1, 1998. It also closed the door to any others entering the clinic after the 1998 date when the Harris government shut the door on paying for a pump-a-penus.
But the autistic cut being upheld will stand. Now many of the parents are either moving to Alberta and/or petitioning for a national level autism plan. I wish them, and their children well.
I don’t normally talk about my physical ailments on this blog, but this one is aimed at the Yellow Bellied McShifty who cut chiropractic subsidies when he took over as our premier. It also may help some of you who notice symptoms that may pertain to a pinched nerve.
About three weeks ago, I started having problems with both of my hands tingling depending on how I positioned them. Whether it was my left hand resting easily on my car door with the window rolled down or my right arm folded with my hand resting under my pillow at night. It happened to both hands while sitting at my desk sometimes and other countless ways.
I discounted the idea that my hands were falling asleep because as soon as I moved them and gave them a shake the tingling went away without the usual pins and needles that someone gets when an appendage falls asleep.
On Wednesday night I woke up with REALLY bad tingling in both hands and a feeling of pressure that made my hands feel like they were going to explode.
So Thursday afternoon I was off to my chiropractor. I described my symptoms to him and he held my neck at a specific angle while he twisted my arm inward with my hand held backwards like I was taking money from behind me. (Being a Conservative, he joked “like you’re a Liberal taking a payoff” which had me in stitches). Lo and behold the numbness was there right away.
He had me assume the “Liberal position” with my other hand and the tingling was the same.
He performed a quick adjustment on my neck and I have slept peacefully for the past two nights. I have also noticed that the tingling is pretty much gone. I think one or two more trips to my chiropractor over the next two weeks and I should be good as new.
The only problem is that the hit to my wallet is more than it used to be thanks to yellow-belly. But a small price considering the dramatic effects chiropractic has given me.
Thanks Dr. Jeff!!
P.S. A few years ago I dislocated a rib golfing over the weekend. A problem which would have taken a month or more on muscle relaxants and bedrest to correct. This same chiropractor adjusted my back on the following Monday and Thursday and I was golfing the next weekend. Being a golfer himself, he knew what caused my dislocation, told me to keep my forward arm straight in the backswing to prevent it happening again. Not only did he fix my back but he fixed my golf game. I shot several strokes better that following weekend with the tip.
Please tell us about your chiropractic story in the comments below!!