Tuesday Talk
Posted by michellemoquin on September 24th, 2008
We’ve been talking politico a lot on this blog, giving it more time than I thought I ever would. Most of it has been in regards to the candidates, and of course we’ve been enlightened in many ways to say the least , but there are other things keeping my mind occupied these days too.
I’ve talked about my passion for the animals many times. The livelihood of animals is always on the forefront of my mind and although I haven’t been so verbal here lately, I have been busy. Last weekend I worked the farmers market informing people about Prop 2. And last night, I donated a couple of hours, ( and volunteered Doug too: ) making phone calls at the Democratic office downtown confirming voters support of Obama and the democratic party, and informing them on Prop 2. And lastly, ending the call with the voters confirming that they will vote Yes on Prop 2. It’s a California thing, but an important one.
So what is Prop 2? Prop 2 is simply a very modest measure to ensure that farm animals are treated humanly by giving them more room to stretch their legs, turn around, lie down, or spread their wings. Simple, and really not much to ask for. Thankfully everyone I spoke to thought the same. It felt good to give my time to something that is important to me.
I don’t have much time this morning to elaborate but I promise it won’t be the last time that I bring this up.
I just have to add before I sign off, that waking up this morning and reading the comments between anonz and Tom…well I am not sure what to say. Doug and I talked briefly this morning. I don’t know what is worse…getting fucked, not knowing what and how it is happening or how to prevent it….or getting fucked and having a play by play account of it all and still not know how to prevent it. Ignorance is bliss but I think I’ll choose the latter.
The image of a game board comes to my mind. This world is really just a big game board and the name of the game is ‘life’. The prize, the motivating factor, is money and the overwhelming desire to attain as much of it as one can. There are a few major players, (the bills) and the rest, well the rest, are just insignificant in the big picture of it all. Sure, they players need to get as many insigs as they can on their team but really they are just pawns to play with and use as they see fit. The one with the most money wins. The funny thing is, is that the game never ends because no amount of money is ever enough. And the game continues…
Readers: As always, feel free to comment. I’m outta here…
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle ?
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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September 24th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Thomas Friedman and Anonz are not far off from each other in delivering their truths, as I have discussed on today’s topic on my blog at http://bdgroupllc.blogspot.com
I’m not sure which is worse, Bush thinking he is getting one over on us and ripping us off without our seeming to “get it”, or Anonz for telling us all exactly what is going on as we watch it all happen and ripping us all of as well. (Anonz, I do hope that with all of the work you seem to have accomplished in enlightening the public to the ways of the world here in this blog, and your take in all of this that you will be receiving from our hard earned taxpayer dollars, that you find some means of fixing this corrupt system that you claim to be distancing yourself from. Or perhaps this is your game and we pawns simply get to watch and learn as we all get fucked.)
I am grateful for the enlightenment, but time will tell us as to your intentions that you have touted herein and to where your altruism may lie.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Michelle, I wanted to say thanks for having me go with you to make the calls for the animals for Prop 2. You know you always have my full support in what you do, but by my spending some time with you in the trench I can appreciate your quest that much more. You are my muse!!
September 24th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Doug
Au Contraire, I never said that I was altruistic. I firmly believe if I don’t fleece these sheep someone else will. We are talking about people who want to force the rest of America and the world to religiously believe as they do.
In the attempt to get this to happen they will put their support behind any fool, murderer, war monger, liar, thief; you name it, they will follow it. How can you feel sorry for such self absorbed shit, I don’t.
So we feed them the cross, flag, and a happy song or two, then we take them to the bank. What’s to fix?
Obama comes along and offers them an honest shot at stopping us crooks. They won’t accept his help because they are christian bigots(people permitted by their god or concept of god to be racists). These are people who will always crucify any true honest person because Honesty is not what they are looking for.
What they want is for their race to be held higher than others and for their concept of god and opinions to be the law of the planet earth.
They are easily scammed because they are always looking for the easy way to get rich. The Dollar is their real god. They fact that they pray to god because they want some powerful being to provide those easy riches for them enables us to prey on that greed for our easy riches. They are suckers from heaven sent to us by a higher authority to be kept in line with a constant stream of bullshit which they love to hear and a subsequent financial fleecing.
As for this debacle for them, sometimes the price of ego is steep
Anonz
September 24th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
hahaha…
Oh, I just love the word altruistic : )
I believe, sweet pea, and correct me if I’m wrong, that you do have some concern for the welfare of others – but – that selflessness part, well…I can’t relate entirely either. what can I say, shoot me.
We are all pawns of the universe to certain degree, even you. I think you know that cash, in and of itself, even lots of it, does not make a man a man. But why would or should you not play a game you apparently play well?
Personally, that whole high falutin’ scene, the country club action and the social climbing that goes with it is way over-rated. I can only do that scene on ocassion now due to the lack of real fun in ‘seeing and being seen’ – oh please. There’s always just a handful of people I’m genuinely happy to see, and they are the least pretentious (and usually the biggest dollars) of the men/women working the room. But, now – if somebody would invite me to golf at the LA Country Club, I’d consider it…even though they’d witness my crappy drives : )
You did say you were a chauvinist fool – hmmm, and now you’re over it? I do hope you are bc not only must you check that attitude at the door but you must also willingly choose to enroll in lady Lilly ‘worship the Goddess’ class, hahaha, you must trust that you will enjoy all aspects of this learning ; ) I am very much the mind/body/spirit woman, and I know how your man mind works, uh-hmmm (yes, but can we start with the body class first? hahaha and no, it all works together for best results) we can discuss this at a later date, just keep yourself safe for now please.
I do have a q for you, what’s Warren Buffett up to with that $5 bil rescue to Goldman Sachs? Not baffled, but just curious, why?
Ciao for now, Lady Lilly
September 24th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
DANGERS OF OVERSEAS SURGERY
You may have heard about medical tourism, as it is a concept that has recently taken flight in the media. Hundreds of thousands of Americans now travel overseas for medical procedures each year, which sounds exotic — but may not provide such a great outcome. Health experts urge extreme caution to those considering medical travel.
For insight into the medical tourism trend, I contacted Ann Marie Kimball, MD, a professor of epidemiology and health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle and author(Ashgate). She told me there are several reasons behind the growth of medical tourism, including the fact that surgery often costs far less overseas. Other factors may include privacy (for elective cosmetic surgeries, for example) and accessibility to operations, such as transplants, that are harder to get or not available at all in the US.
TRIP OF A LIFETIME?
Patients fly to exotic destinations such as India for coronary bypass surgery, heart valve replacement and cancer therapy… Thailand for knee and hip replacement surgery and eye surgery… and Costa Rica, South Africa or Malaysia for plastic surgery, usually because it is far less expensive. Procedures people can have overseas but that are not available in the United States include stem-cell-infusion therapy for myocardial ischemia (end-stage heart disease) in Thailand and, believe it or not, pancreatic transplants from pigs in India.
Specialized medical tourism companies help travelers find the overseas doctors and facilities for the procedures they are seeking, and often assign “case managers” to serve as patient liaisons. These tourism companies advertise directly to consumers over the Internet and through promotional campaigns that tout state-of-the-art medical care at bargain prices. Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, warns that the reason alternative treatments may not be offered in the US is because of our more stringent safety or efficacy standards.
So just how much money are medical tourists saving? It’s hard to know for sure, as most information on cost savings is supplied by organizations with a vested interest. However, according to some reports, costs can be as little as one-tenth or less of what such procedures cost in the United States. For instance, heart-valve replacement surgery that may cost $160,000 or more here could be as little as $10,000 in India. A knee replacement in Thailand costs about 75% of the price here. A facelift that would cost $20,000 can be had for $1,250 in South Africa. Some packages may also include travel and vacation expenses.
YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE
Cheap, yes, but many health experts in our country call medical tourism a risky venture. The United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that the quality of health care in overseas facilities may not be on par with what is available in the United States, and that foreign facilities are not always subject to the same health standards and regulations. Few overseas health facilities are accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI), an organization that accredits overseas hospitals according to quality and safety standards similar to those in the United States. Additionally, surgery abroad can put patients at risk of infection or other complications when they return home. In fact, the CDC has received several reports of nontuberculous mycobacterial infections after people received elective cosmetic surgery abroad. There are also concerns about the quality of post-operative care and, of course, medical errors. Such problems can happen in the US too, of course — but the fact that your local physician may be unfamiliar with your case may pose additional challenges.
Dr. Kimball concurs. “My priority is from the point of view of infectious disease and infection control,” she said. “People are the best vectors for disease. When you go to a hospital overseas, you run the risk of bringing new microbial agents into the United States. The problem is that your own health care provider may not be aware of them or how to treat them.”
Dr. Kimball voiced special concerns about organ transplant surgery and most specifically from animal sources, such as those pancreatic transplants from pigs mentioned above. There’s a frightening risk with xenotransplant (the transfer of organs or tissue from animals to humans), she told me. “We fear that transmission of infectious agents or a retrovirus could emerge. It’s a theoretical but scientific possibility.”
IF YOU ARE STILL INTERESTED…
Unfortunately, there is little reliable data regarding the efficacy, safety and outcomes of overseas health care. This is because most information about the safety of medical tourism has been generated by the medical tourism industry. “Medical tourism businesses are much more similar to travel businesses than to medical businesses,” said Dr. Kimball. “It’s not in their interest to do surveillance or track outcomes.”
If you are considering having a procedure done overseas, keep the following in mind:
Involve your US doctor with all medical travel decisions. Don’t view this as a travel decision, warns Dr. Kimball: “It’s an important medical decision to be made only with professional advice.” Your doctor at home should be in communication with your foreign doctor and should also be aware of any potential complications that may arise, and how to deal with them.
Get a second opinion at home before you travel. “Be really sure of the procedure that you need, because once you get to a far-away destination, it’s hard to get a second opinion,” said Dr. Kimball. “For instance, if your own doctor or cardiologist says you need a stent placed in your coronary artery, and you decide to go overseas for this, the doctors there may look at your films and suggest that you need bypass surgery instead. At that point you won’t have the chance to go back and say, ‘wait a minute’ because you’ve just spent thousands of dollars traveling, and you can’t get a second opinion. This is why communication with your own doctor about what you need is very, very key.”
Find the best surgeon and hospital for your procedure. Research the surgeon’s education, training, credentials and experience with your particular procedure. Learn as much as you can about where the surgery will be performed, and whether or not the facility is JCI-accredited, which means it meets quality and safety standards.
Determine whether or not your health insurance will cover the procedure and any complications. “Most insurance companies have non-portability, meaning medical insurance doesn’t work outside of the country,” said Dr. Kimball. “If you are considering medical travel, you may want to check whether or not your insurance company is not only covering the service, but would cover complications that arise.”
Understand everything about your procedure, and what may happen after it — before you leave home. Remember, there may be a language barrier between you and those who know the answers to questions that arise, so be sure to know everything about your procedure before you leave home. Learn about the benefits and the risks involved, whether or not travel is compatible with your procedure, what to expect during recovery time, what kind of follow-up care you may need during your recovery, and what would happen if there were any complications.
It is understandable that at times, desperate situations call for desperate measures — and so there are terminally ill individuals who will try anything in their effort to regain health. Be careful and do your homework. As for those procedures of convenience or bargain hunting, let the buyer beware.
Source(s): ??Ann Marie Kimball, MD, a professor of epidemiology and health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Seattle and author