Simple Basic Needs…We All Deserve Them
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 19th, 2009
I was beat last night when I got home from work @ 7. I had such little energy to make myself some dinner and then I barely ate it, as all I wanted to do was shower and go to bed. Too tired to shower, I checked in here, and then went straight to bed.
This morning I woke up, took a hot shower, and perused the web. I came across an article: 12 Of The Most Iconic Photographs Ever Taken. The one that I posted of the lynching a few days ago was one of them. Many I had seen before, and a few I never had. The one I posted below is in the latter category.
This example of emotive imagery is of child in Uganda holding hands with a missionary. The stark contrast between the two people serves as a reminder of the gulf in wealth between developed and developing countries. Mike Wells, the photographer, took this picture to show the extent of starvation in Africa. He took it for a magazine, and when they went 5 months without printing it, he decided to enter it into a competition. However, Wells has stated that he is against winning a compeition with a picture of a starving boy.
I am not naive about the impoverishment in Third World countries; I have traveled to quite a few. But no matter how many times I see people living under such conditions, I feel as if it is my first. My heart feels heavy and I am reminded just how blessed I am. And then my mind shifts and I start to think of how I can’t believe that I am living in such a modern world, that can’t seem to take care of all of its people. (I won’t even go there today in regards to some people who could care less about taking care of some of the people we share this planet with.)
I almost posted the Pulitzer Prize photo of the small child from Uganda who is alone and starving, barely moving, while a vulture patiently stocks him. But I just didn’t want to go there. it makes me feel hopeless and I don’t want to feel that way. This photo above shows care and hope, and these days, for me, that is what it is all about.
So, yeah, I went to bed slightly hungry last night, but nothing I couldn’t live with, or I would’ve simply ate more. But too tired to eat, I undressed and crawled into a warm and comfy bed. There was no doubt in my mind that when I woke up in the morning, I would always have food in my plate. The thought never even enters my mind that I wouldn’t.
And, then I find this photo and it touches me….it evokes thoughts of….”We are such a rich society with so many resources. Why is it that every child, every person in this world can not feel the same way as I do? Why can they not know that when they wake up, there will be food for them to eat? Why do they find that they can not rely on the simple, basic needs in life such as food, water, shelter, and clothing?” Simple, basic needs…we all deserve them.
Readers: What does this photo bring up for you?
~~~~~~~~~
Zen Lill: You shocked me about what you said about your mother. Mothers can say shocking things. I know; my mother has let a few slip but I love her anyway.
Anna: You sent me some quarters? When did you send them? How sweet of you! I am so delighted. I have not been to my PO Box in weeks but I will look out for them. I am excited – thank you! Oh and about that Interesting write. I have to admit, I write like that all of the time and I don’t consider myself uneducated or mixed up and unpredictable. Although I don’t see much wrong with a little unpredictability every once in a while – surprise is good. I actually think the technique of my script is creative and whimsical….a bit messy I’ll admit. I never was one to have beautiful handwriting. Hi Peter! Got to run..
Yeah, it’s Friday and it’s a beautiful day. Go out and enjoy it!
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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June 19th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Generic Drug Dangers
Joe Graedon
Teresa Graedon, PhD
Generic drugs cost 30% to 80% less than their brand-name counterparts and most people feel safe taking them because the FDA requires that both types of medications provide the same active ingredients and level of effectiveness.
Recent development: A 2006 survey found that about 25% of 300 doctors throughout the US don’t believe that generics are chemically identical to brand-name drugs… nearly one in five believe that generics are less safe… and more than one in four believe that generics cause more side effects.
So what’s the truth about generic drugs?
WHAT PATIENTS SAY
Since 1976, when our book The People’s Pharmacy was originally published as a consumer guide to drug and health information, thousands of patients have contacted us about their experiences with medications.
In the last few years, we’ve received hundreds of letters and E-mails — most of them complaints — about generic drugs, including pain relievers, antidepressants and blood pressure medicines. The number of such complaints has increased dramatically in that time.
What we’ve learned: Some patients who switch from a brand-name to a generic drug report a decline in effectiveness — for example, blood pressure that isn’t controlled as well or a worsening of depression. Others report having a rash or other types of allergic reactions, probably due to one of the inactive “filler” ingredients in generic drugs. There also seem to be problems with the timed-release mechanism of some generics.
Example: We’ve heard more than 100 complaints about a generic version of the long-acting anti-depressant Wellbutrin XL. At least one manufacturer’s timed-release generic formulation appears to be different from the brand name — and may be releasing too much of the drug too quickly (known as “dose dumping”). This would explain many of the side effects, such as headaches and anxiety, that some people tell us they experience when they take the generic drug, but not the brand-name version.
We’ve contacted the FDA about the complaints regarding this generic drug, and we’re also working with an independent laboratory to analyze this formulation.
IS THE FDA DOING ENOUGH?
Drug companies must apply to the FDA to sell generic versions of drugs. To gain FDA approval, a generic drug must contain the same active ingredients as brand-name medications and meet the same criteria for such factors as quality, strength and purity. Possible problems with generic drugs…
Periodic checks for impurities. The FDA monitors generic drugs, testing for such things as proper dosing and active ingredients. But the agency only checks about 300 “dosage forms,” such as tablets and capsules, among brand-name and generic products a year — out of a total of more than three billion prescriptions.
Infrequent inspections. The FDA is supposed to inspect each US drug manufacturing plant every two years — but lacks the resources to meet that requirement.
Overseas manufacturing. An enormous percentage of drug ingredients and raw materials for drugs (primarily generic and over-the-counter) come from India, China and other countries where quality assurance is not as rigorous as in the US — and where drug counterfeiting has been a problem.
Trap: Overseas plants are inspected much less frequently than those in the US. Without testing, there’s no way to tell whether drugs and drug ingredients derived from these plants have impurities — or come in “subtherapeutic” doses (for example, a drug labeled as 10 mg may be only 6 mg).
STAYING SAFE
Most of the evidence for problems with generic drugs is based on anecdotal reports. However, research published in Neurology in 2004 reported that people with epilepsy who switched from the brand-name form of the antiseizure drug phenytoin (Dilantin) to the generic form of the drug began to have higher-than-expected rates of seizures. Investigators found that in many patients, blood levels of the active ingredient had dropped by 30%. Even so, patients should not give up on generic drugs. The cost savings can be considerable… and there’s no evidence so far that the majority of generic drugs will cause problems for most patients. Patients using generic drugs should simply take extra precautions…
Stick with one manufacturer. This is particularly important if you’re taking a drug with a narrow therapeutic index (NTI), such as the anticoagulant warfarin, the antipsychotic lithium or the anticonvulsant carbamazepine. NTI drugs, which typically require periodic blood tests to measure blood levels of the medications, have a very thin margin between an effective dose and a toxic dose. If you’re taking a generic form, ask your pharmacist for the name of the manufacturer — and request that the pharmacy stick with that company, if possible, to avoid variations between products.
Track your numbers. Many conditions, such as hypertension or high cholesterol, don’t cause obvious symptoms. The best way to tell whether a drug is working is to monitor your numbers — by taking daily blood pressure readings, tracking blood-sugar levels and keeping track of cholesterol levels with frequent blood tests at your doctor’s office.
Important: Ask your doctor to give you copies of your test results. Check them periodically to make sure that you’re maintaining adequate control — particularly if you’ve recently switched from a brand name to a generic, or the reverse.
Trust your instincts. Some medications affect the body in subtle ways. A patient taking a thyroid drug, for example, might feel slightly run-down if it isn’t working exactly the way it should, even if test results appear to be normal. Pay attention. If you’ve switched to a generic and notice a difference — either in effectiveness or side effects — tell your doctor.
Do a “challenge, rechallenge” test. If you suspect that a generic drug isn’t working the way it should, write down changes in how long the drug works and side effects. Then, ask your doctor to switch you to the brand-name equivalent, and see if there’s improvement — in most cases, it will be apparent in about two weeks. Under the close supervision of your doctor, repeat the test, going back and forth until you have a clear idea which drug is more effective for you.
Report problems to the FDA.* The FDA can analyze generic drugs to determine if they contain the stated amount of active ingredient. When reporting a drug to the FDA, ask your pharmacist to provide the name of the manufacturer, the lot number and exactly when the drug was dispensed to you.
If you’d also like to report problems with generic drugs to us, go to The People’s Pharmacy Web site, http://www.peoplespharmacy.org.
*Go to the FDA Web site, http://www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 888-463-6332.
Bottom Line/Health interviewed Joe Graedon, a pharmacologist, and Teresa Graedon, PhD, consumer advocates who specialize in health issues related to drugs, herbs and vitamins. Their syndicated newspaper column “The People’s Pharmacy” is widely distributed in the US and abroad, and they cohost an award-winning radio talk show. They are coauthors of 12 books, including the recently published Best Choices from The People’s Pharmacy (Rodale).
June 19th, 2009 at 8:49 am
“By voting at rates that would put any U.S. election to shame, the Iranian people, reformists and conservatives alike, gave legitimacy to a system that was otherwise seen as corrupt and undemocratic, since real power always rested with the supreme leader and his close associates.”
Here we have yet more chauvinism from a Western secular person. First of all, what the hell else were they supposed to do? Would simply not voting have solved anything? At least now, the world knows that the current regime are corrupt liars.
Second, the allegation that “real power always rested with the supreme leader…” is an instance of the pot calling the kettle black, since we know that in the U.S., real power rests more and more with the Supreme Court, whose members are unelected and nearly impossible to impeach. Aside from them, real power in America is mainly held by big business and other wealthy campaign donors. So, please hold off on the chauvinism a bit.
Abd-ul-Laif
June 19th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Perhaps if the U.S. voters (particularly in Fla.) had done in 2000 what the Iranian are doing today, the United States and the world would have been spared the economic disaster of the past 8 years under Cheney and Bush. No to mention the countless lives that were lost and the, perhaps irrepairable, damage to the standing of this country.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Those who are advocating that our President should get involved in the situation in Iran are the same idiots who sided with Bush and Cheney when they started congratulating the perpetrators of the coup against Chavez in Venezuela back in 2001, even before the outcome of the coup was known.
The coup failed, and the U.S. have had to contend with angry Chavez ever since.
The principal reasons why we are so “popular” all over the world, is our long history of meddling and supporting tyrants, as long as these tyrants served or pretended to serve our short-term interests.
Viz. Saddam Hussein in Iraq, shah Reza Pahlevi in Iran, Marcos in the Philipines, etc., and in our own backyard Batista (Cuba), Trujillo (Dom. Rep.) Papa Doc Duvalier (Haiiti) Somoza (C. Am.), to name just a few.
It is about time that these hysterical war-profiteers start realizing that there is a new President in the White House; an educated man, who invites and listens to counsel and who respects the souvereignty of other countries.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I don’t understand how a people can get all angry about a fixed vote for a President who is no more than a mouthpiece or a puppet, when they have someone called a “Supreme Leader” running the country. Here is a hint, get rid of that guy first!
June 19th, 2009 at 8:54 am
As soon as we get rid of our Supreme Court, or at least start electing them and giving them term limits. They’re our Supreme Leaders. They’ve already proven that they can re-interpret the Constitution to mean anything they want it to mean.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I guess you didn’t notice the 2000 election when our Supremes took away our vote and gave it to someone they were more politically in tune with — obviously our vote didn’t matter. Or the voter fraud that took away our votes in 2004. But it seems our Supreme Leader is really called Big Bank, Big Business and the highest of high priests — Wall Street. And, it seems, until the “little people” can have as much influence in what laws get passed — as big campaign contributors, we will continue to live in a country that lets people freeze to death in the winter because they can’t afford oil, become ill because can’t afford to pay for the most expensive prescriptions in the world, or can’t afford health insurance. Wall street got a bailout for doing stupid and illegal stuff, CEOs got millions of dollars for failure — and other Americans lost their jobs, homes, and businesses because of their failures. And yet no one went to jail because they all contribute to both political parties. So before we start criticizing we should clean up our own house.
The US health care system ranks last among other major rich countries for quality, access and efficiency, according to two studies by the Commonwealth Fund which found that the United States, which has the most expensive health system in the world, underperforms consistently relative to other countries.
We get angry when we are promised reform by our president but have big
June 19th, 2009 at 8:55 am
How does one insane freak have power over hundreds of thousands of people?
June 19th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I don’t know; why don’t you ask an Obama supporter?
June 19th, 2009 at 8:57 am
they rig an election like 2000
June 19th, 2009 at 8:58 am
epublicans are such sore losers. It’s really pathetic.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:59 am
You left out the US CIA part of it,
Operation Ajax, to overthrow Mossadeq. Kermit Roosevelt of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) traveled secretly to Iran to coordinate plans with the shah and the Iranian military, which was led by General Fazlollah Zahedi.
In accord with the plan, on August 13 the shah appointed Zahedi prime minister to replace Mossadeq. Mossadeq refused to step down and arrested the shah’s emissary. This triggered the second stage of Operation Ajax, which called for a military coup. The plan initially seemed to have failed, the shah fled the country, and Zahedi went into hiding. After four days of rioting, however, the tide turned.
The problem again is that the West, and in particular the US have not stopped getting their greedy hands on Irans oil, moves put in motion during Bush’s era was to soften the people for support to attack Iran, and with great distaste because of Iraq and Afganistan and the lies that led to war, this did not happen.
BUT it did not stop the PROPOGANDA war the CIA even admitted on CBS themselves as a “more peacefull yet essential” way of again overthrowing Irans regime. Bush had signed Black Ops on Iran with full funding.
We are amonst that propaganda campaign. This will not stop until Irans oil dollars are back into US dollars and profitting the US oil giants.
The gullible public are fooled yet again by a campaign funded by there own taxpaying dollars.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:26 am
This attempted revolution is over. I had a talk with Madaline. She said that we will be crushed unless we are willing to take up arms against the Supreme Leader.
She said that if she is authorized to she will provide the arms. But that we must be willing to fight. I’m a girl and I am scared. Madaline says the Supreme Leader has sent his private volunteer army out to crush any resistance with deadly force.
I have not seen it yet. But I believe her she says that by the end of the day I will be a believer. I don’t know why she chose our group of college girls to appear to.
Some of us are scared, some want to fight, and some want her to talk with some of our mentors. She showed us how easily it is for her to move among us without being seen. And how powerful she is.
We watched as she accosted 4 motorcycle cops with the back riders wielding batons at us. She literally smacked the first two so hard that their motorcycles were still going while they landed about 15 meters away. The trailing two fired their automatic weapons at her, she turned to us to show where she was hit, sat down as bloody as anything I have ever seen. When the one of the motorcycles stopped to check out her body. She stood up smashed their heads together so hard that the spray from their explosion splashed on me and my friend. Then she picked up the motorcycle and hurled it at the motorcycle that was speeding away. The explosion scared me so bad I had an accident on myself.
Madaline just smiled and said, woman up. Then she took my friend aside and the other girls aside and told them to tell the others she would provide arms if they were willing to get their hands bloody. When they told me what she said it made me shutter.
Gosh Michelle why can’t you order Madaline to protect us? She can whip the entire Iranian army by herself.
Alyah
June 19th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Help, Michelle.
Madaline is too scary. She likes killing.
Shir Khan
June 19th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Michelle that entry by Alyah is a joke. I refuse to believe in that crap. If you continue along that line count me out as a fan of this blog.
Mike
June 19th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Michelle
I want to join Madaline. My brother doesn’t believe what I told him, but he says if he and his friends can get weapons he would not ask where they came from.
Can you tell Madaline to give us some?
Jeyretan
June 19th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Michelle
I just picked up a US government communication that spotted a UFO above a N. Korean ship they plan to stop and board. Are the Girlz monitoring the appending confrontation between the US Navy and the N. Koreans?
Robert
June 19th, 2009 at 9:48 am
This is one loony tune blog. You people have to be psycho to be buying this. If it were even a little true, the government would shut you down.
I got in so that answers that.
I’m with you Mike, what a joke. I thought this was a serious site for honest political opinions. It appears that Michelle and her alien freaks are bent on turing it into a freak show.
Brandon
June 19th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Where were all these people who are so concerned about the national debt when the republicans were running it up?
June 19th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I too saw Madaline.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Man o man, This woman, this Madeline, she can fight like army. This I can be witness to, I see myself. She can help us find freedom? Who is she, from where are there women like this?
Man o man. I do not believe these eyes. As from the Gods. She is Godess Michelle?
Nabil
June 20th, 2009 at 1:42 am
Just so you know Nabil. I occasionally check Michelle’s blog for interesting tidbits. I know who you are. I will not expose you, because Michelle forbids us. Have your fun. Say hello to ______.
It is nice to have doctors who will write whatever you want.
Now, that you know. Don’t reveal who you are. Let the fun begin.
bicatf
June 20th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Q: Is there an easy way to determine if I am eating right?
A: Free or low-cost on-line tools can evaluate your diet. Resources…
NIBBLE (umass.edu/nibble/ratings/queslist.htm), sponsored by University of Massachusetts, Amherst, offers free quizzes to evaluate sugar, sodium and fat intakes.
NutritionQuest offers a free fat screener and fruit and vegetable screener (nutritionquest.com/fretools/index.htm) and has questionnaires to assess saturated fat, fiber, fruit and vegetable intake. Also available: A written quiz for $15. You send in your answers and get a diet-assessment analysis.
If you eat out often, rate your restaurant diet with a five-minute quiz from the Center for Science in the Public Interest at cspinet.org’na/quiz/index.huml.
June 20th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Q: If I use a home-equity loan to pay business expenses, can I deduct the interest on it as business interest instead of mortgage interest?
A: Yes, provided that you can trace the loan proceeds directly to a business use. Doing so can have several advantages…
Business interest is deductible on an unlimited amount of home-equity borrowing. In addition, you can deduct mortgage interest on up to $100,000 of home-equity borrowing.
The business interest deduction is allowed under the alternative minimum tax (AMT), but the home-equity mortgage interest deduction isn’t, to the extent that it is not used to buy, build, or substantially improve your home.
Business interest expense reduces income from a proprietorship and thus self-employment taxes — and also reduces adjusted gross income (AGI), increasing other deductions with AGI-related limits. Mortgage interest doesn’t.
Our inside source: Peter Weitsen, CPA/PFS, shareholder in the CPA firm WithumSmith+Brown, 120 Albany St., New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901.