Tom Faranda's Folly

If you are new to this weblog and looking for information on my lymphoma...

Scroll down, and a bit below my picture you'll see "Categories". The only category is "My lymphoma and related medical stuff". If you click on that, only the lymphoma-related and a few other health-related postings will appear! My other ramblings, family stories, and mediocre jokes will be gone.

Then go to this January 8th posting, Tom Faranda's Folly: Four months of journaling  that gives links to 13 earlier posts. These posts will give you a good picture of my chemo treatment prior to the Sloan Kettering admission with the stem cell transplant. The 13 posts take a total of about 20 minutes to read. Of course, feel free to read the many other posts in the first four months, if you are so inclined.

Then start working chronologically forward from January 8th.

Robert Mondavi, California wine maven

Has died at age 94.

Vintner Robert Mondavi Dies at 94 - AOL News

He was 52 and a winemaking veteran in 1966 when he opened the winery that would help turn the Napa Valley into a world center of the industry. Clashes with a brother that included a fistfight led him to break from the family business to carry out his ambitious plans with borrowed money.

At the time, California was still primarily known for cheap jug wines. But he set out to change that, championing use of cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels, all commonplace in the industry today. He introduced blind tastings in Napa Valley, putting his wines up against French vintages, a bold move.

Always convinced that California wines could compete with the European greats, Mondavi engaged in the first French-American wine venture when he formed a limited partnership with the legendary French vintner Baron Philippe de Rothschild to grow and make the ultra-premium Opus One at Oakville. The venture's first vintage was in 1979.

The success of the Mondavi winery allowed him to donate tens of millions of dollars to charity, but a wine glut and intense competition gradually cost his family control of the business. In 2004, the company accepted a buyout worth $1.3 billion from Fairport, N.Y.-based Constellation Brands.

Mondavi was an enthusiastic ambassador for wine -- especially California wine -- and traveled the world into his 90s promoting the health, cultural and social benefits of its moderate consumption.

Rich Fuerst. How DOES he do it?

Brigid suggested two other titles for this picture:

"Guinness is Good for You"

and

"It's All in the Guinness"

Great story about a little girl and a brain tumor - hypothalamic hamartoma

Fascinating and amazing. Print and read the whole thing- it's only a little bit more then three pages.

A Child, a Bizarre Tumor and a Perilous Operation - New York Times

PHOENIX — Three-year-old Grace Webster perches on the operating table, tiny and cold, covered only by a diaper and her sandy-blond Raggedy Ann hair. Her blue eyes gaze warily at the monster-size machines sprouting tube tentacles that encircle her — machines that will guide surgeons four inches into her brain.

Grace had her first menstrual period at 14 months old. Her body is racked more than 10 times a day with seizures, some of them bizarrely mimicking laughter or rage.

The source of her suffering is a hypothalamic hamartoma, or H.H., a tumor on the hypothalamus that strikes only a few thousand people in the world. And while the tumor is not malignant, until five years ago it was considered incurable, even when baffled doctors could diagnose it. Surgery was risky and largely ineffective. Medication seldom helped. Many children were institutionalized.

Now, thanks to an innovative surgical procedure, scores of these children have been cured at two centers that specialize in the disease. One is in Melbourne, Australia; the other is the Barrow Neurological Institute here in Phoenix.

The Farm Bill, the poor, and subsidizing the wealthy

On Wednesday the Congress passed their five year Farm and Agriculture Appropriations Bill. The President had threatened to veto it, but alas, the vote is veto-proof. The Bill combines food relief for the poor with massive government subsidies for rich farmers (agribusiness) who don't need them (and which we, the taxpayers, provide).

The Wall Street Journal had previously editorialized against the bill, and I was glad to see that both the Washington Post and NY Times had editorials this morning attacking it.

Here's the Post editorial, with excerpts below Farm Bill Chestnuts - washingtonpost.com

... about two-thirds of the $289 billion bill will go to nutrition programs for low-income Americans, including about $10 billion in necessary increases. Corporate welfare for agribusiness accounts for less than half the price tag. But where does the Constitution say that Congress has to put aid to the poor in the same bill with tens of billions in aid to the middle class and rich? Congress does it that way so that rural members can get urban and suburban members to sign off on lavish farm subsidies they would otherwise reject.

The farm bill is the epitome of old-style Washington politics. A small number of farm-state senators from both parties demanded its most wasteful provisions, such as guaranteed payments to big cotton and rice growers and "disaster relief" for farmers in arid areas. ... The bill includes only the most tepid reforms, which, though trumpeted by the bill's advocates, deny benefits to only a tiny handful of farms.

While none of the presidential candidates left the campaign trail to vote on the bill, one -- Republican Sen. John McCain -- unequivocally opposed it. It may not be terribly surprising that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) hailed the bill's passage during a campaign swing through South Dakota. It's a bit more disappointing to hear Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), running on a promise to oppose politics as usual, say he applauded the bill. In Iowa last August, Mr. Obama said, "When the farm bill comes up in the Senate, I will be fighting to tell all those agribusiness lobbyists that they won't be able to count on the multimillion-dollar subsidies they always get because we're going to put family farmers first." Yesterday, he said, "With so much at stake, we cannot make the perfect the enemy of the good." On this issue, Mr. McCain, not his likely Democratic opponent, was the apostle of change.

Here's the NYT editorial A Disgraceful Farm Bill - New York Times

Congress has approved a $307 billion farm bill that rewards rich farmers who do not need the help while doing virtually nothing to help the world’s hungry, who need all the help they can get.

>>>>>>

The bill is an inglorious piece of work tailored to the needs of big agriculture and championed by not only the usual bipartisan farm state legislators but also the Democratic leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. ...

The bill includes the usual favors like the tax break for racehorse breeders pushed by Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader. But the greater and more embarrassing defect is that the bill perpetuates the old subsidies for agriculture at a time when the prices that farmers are getting for big row crops like corn, soybeans and wheat have never been better. Net farm income is up 50 percent.

>>>>>>

Indeed, even the increases in conservation spending are not nearly as generous as advertised. President Bush asked for $4 billion more than Congress provided. He also complained, rightly, that House and Senate conferees had killed a program to conserve rare prairie grasslands while narrowing two programs that paid farmers to protect wetlands and wildlife habitat.

With few Republicans rushing to the President’s side, the House and Senate both produced what amounted to veto-proof majorities, assuming they hold up. Mr. Bush should veto the bill anyway. Bad legislation is bad legislation.

Congressional business as usual. Too bad. But glad to see McCain opposed it (but unfrotuantely not enough to stop campaigning and get to Washington to vote against it!).

Darfur Update

Another op ed by Mia Farrow

The Way Forward on Darfur - WSJ.com

Next month the United States will assume the presidency of the U.N. Security Council, and not a moment too soon. The Bush administration will have perhaps its final opportunity to address the Darfur genocide, preserving its legacy as an architect of the imperiled U.N. peace agreement for Sudan.

In the past few weeks, the carnage in Darfur has escalated. Government bombing campaigns continue apace, with tens of thousands of terrified survivors joining the more than 2.5 million people already displaced.

Aid workers are being targeted – the director of Save the Children in Chad was shot and killed at the Chad-Darfur border. A primary school in north Darfur was bombed, killing and wounding many children. Countless people in the camps are slowly dying of hunger and disease, yet the World Food Program has been forced to halve food rations due to insecurity. Just this week, the violence spread beyond Darfur to the outskirts of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan itself.

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All 15 member states of the Security Council will visit Khartoum in early June. This is an auspicious opportunity for the U.N. to unify in its commitment to the deployment of the protection force.

China has a significant role to play here. Given its vast oil investments and brisk arms trade, Beijing has unparalleled influence with Sudan. The entry of a full protection force into Darfur would likely give China the international ovation it craves in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.

My friend Maria has a birthday today

My friend and hiking buddy Maria Abonnel has a birthday today.

Here are some shots of Maria on a walk we did up to Anthony's Nose last a few months ago. Anthony's Nose overlooks the Bear Mountain Bridge, on the east side of the Hudson.

Hereeee's Maria -

Maria and Tom

And here's Maria with --- Mother Nature!

The Nintendo Wii fitness program

This morning the NY Times had a feature on the game-based Nintendo Wii home-fitness game machine program. It's actually a pretty comprehensive article and I found it quite interesting.

I don't think this is particularly useful for people interested in working out hard, but on the other hand it may benefit many others.   

O.K., Avatar, Work With Me - New York Times

Now Nintendo’s latest brainchild, Wii Fit, could send similar ripples through the home-fitness market. Scheduled to be released in North America next week, Wii Fit is not meant to replace a gym. But in a world of $3,000 elliptical machines and $150-an-hour personal trainers, it has at least a chance of becoming a global, affordable, mass-market interactive home-fitness system. (On its overseas debut last month, it became one of the fastest-selling games ever in Britain.)

Exercising with Wii Fit is like having a Bob Harper or a Denise Austin who talks back — gently cajoling you through exercises, praising, nudging, even reminding you to eat a banana once in a while. It also lets you see how you stack up against friends or family members; each user creates a cartoony avatar called a “Mii.”

The system costs $90, plus $250 for the basic Wii console. It uses a television and a sensitive “balance board” placed on the floor to present a few dozen activities, from push-ups to yoga, to more entertaining challenges like balance games and aerobic contests. Nintendo is not aiming Wii Fit at people with a serious exercise regimen. Rather, it is meant to appeal to the person busy with work and family who just wants to have fun getting a little toned at home.

From the "change is part of life" files - GE to sell off it's appliance unit

Hard to imagine General Electric without thinking "refrigerator" or "clothes washer." It's hard (if you're my age, anyway) to think of them as a media company (NBC) or a financial conglomerate (GE finance) but that's what they are.

In fact the third largest company in the world, with a tax return that runs 24,000 pages (nice if you're their CPA, yuk, yuk, yuk).

Arguably, you could say (I have said it) that buying GE stock is buying a play on the U.S. economy -or in fact the world economy.

GE - "We bring good things to life..."

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

GE, the biggest maker of appliances for new U.S. homes, hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore options that include a spinoff or auction, according to one of the people, who declined to be identified by name. A sale may bring as much as $8 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt, who took over from Jack Welch in 2001 and surprised investors with a decline in profit last quarter, has been paring consumer businesses to cope with a slower U.S. economy. The units he's selling don't expand fast enough to help GE reach its goal of 10 percent annual profit growth. Appliances, which like light bulbs are the GE products most familiar to consumers, were just 4.1 percent of 2007 sales.

``We would positively perceive a more aggressive approach to selling off slow-growth businesses,'' Robert Schenosky, a New York-based analyst with Jefferies & Co. who rates the shares ``hold'' and doesn't own any, said in an interview.

Prices for some appliances haven't increased in more than half a century. In 1953, an 11-cubic-foot refrigerator was advertised for more than $500. Today, an 18.2-cubic-foot GE model lists for as little as $519 on the NexTag.com shopping site.

A short medley of more newsperson blow-ups (In honor of Sue Simmons)

Quick and amusing.  The pomposity and blowhardness of many on-air TV personalities makes politicians look good.

Obama-mania XX - Here's the winner of the moveon.org 30 second obamacam video

Moveon.org of course the big leftist lobbying group. Says he's a veteran and lifelong Republican ...

Einstein - religion is "childish superstition"

I guess this trumps Einstein's famous quote: "Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind."

Belief in God 'childish,' Jews not chosen people: Einstein letter

The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.

As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people".

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

"No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, ...

>>>>>>

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said.

"And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people."

And he added: "As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

Vatican: It's OK to believe in life on other planets

Actually, this is not new, but it got some headlines today because of an interview given by the head of the Vatican Observatory.

There IS an interesting theological question: did Jesus die to redeem mankind humankind only, or did he die for all sentient life (assuming there is sentient life out there) throughout the universe? The answer seems to be - for humankind.

Vatican Says It's OK to Believe in Aliens - AOL News

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.

The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

WNBC news anchor Sue Simmons with a little locker room talk

YIKES!

Whew! An unassisted triple play

And he made it look sooo easy!

Breitbart.tv » Indians Second Baseman Makes History-Making Unassisted Triple Play

A study on immigration and assimilation

People are assimilating into American culture as fast or faster then ever. The article contains an interesting graph.

Study Says Foreigners In U.S. Adapt Quickly - washingtonpost.com

In general, the longer an immigrant lives in the United States, the more characteristics of native citizens he or she tends to take on, said Jacob L. Vigdor, a professor at Duke University and author of the study. During periods of intense immigration, such as from 1870 to 1920, or during the immigration wave that began in the 1970s, new arrivals tend to drag down the average assimilation index of the foreign-born population as a whole.

The report found, however, that the speed with which new arrivals take on native-born traits has increased since the 1990s. As a result, even though the foreign population doubled during that period, the newcomers did not drive down the overall assimilation index of the foreign-born population. Instead, it held relatively steady from 1990 to 2006.

"This is something unprecedented in U.S. history," Vigdor said. "It shows that the nation's capacity to assimilate new immigrants is strong."

Newly designed flag lapel pin for Senator Obama

Go here for Obama's statement (on video) that he's been in 57 states. Tom Faranda's Folly: Obama - "I've been to fifty-seven states"

So the flag lapel pin -- has 57 states!

Protecting teenage athletes - especially girls - from knee injury

Torn ACL's are the bane of teenage sportswomen.

Yestereday's NY Times had a short entry with some interesting links on this problem -

Protecting Knees of Young Athletes - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog

This weekend, The Times Magazine article “Hurt Girls” focused on why girls, in particular, seem prone to the injury. The article noted that as boys move through adolescence, higher levels of testosterone allow boys to add muscle and get stronger. Girls, as their estrogen levels increase, tend to add fat rather than muscle and, as a result, must train more rigorously to get significantly stronger. Although the influence of estrogen makes girls’ ligaments lax and their bodies more flexible, this also poses an injury risk when not accompanied by sufficient muscle to keep joints in stable, safe positions. Girls’ different running styles and wider hips also put them at higher risk for A.C.L. injuries.

Researchers from Santa Monica, Calif., have developed a new conditioning program that appears to help girls better withstand the physical rigors of sports. An entire team can complete its 19 exercises — including side-to-side shuttle runs, backward runs and walking lunges — in 20 minutes. A study of the program, called PEP, was published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine in 2005. The results: a 74 percent reduction in A.C.L. tears among teen girl soccer players doing the PEP exercises compared to a control group of players who didn’t take part in the program.

Outsourcing to India - this time it's legal work

You would think this might lower the cost of retaining leagl counsel in the U.S.. But I doubt it.

Lawyer jokes anyone?

U.S. Legal Work Booms in India

... Sharma, 25, now sits all day in front of a computer in a plush, air-conditioned suburban office doing litigation research and drafting legal contracts for U.S. companies and law firms. He is part of a booming new outsourcing industry in India that employs thousands of English-speaking lawyers such as him to do legal work at a small fraction of the cost of hiring American lawyers.

>>>>>>

"Ninety percent of a lawyer's work is legal research and drafting, and all this can now be offshored to India," said Russell Smith, who worked in a Manhattan law firm called SmithDehn before moving to India to set up an outsourcing company in 2006. "A large portion of our fees in the U.S. is because of office rent. It is often a big decision to hire one attorney in the U.S. In India, we can hire 10 at a time and train them all at once."

Washington Post on Republican party trying to stem their losses

This is a pretty good article.

As Losses Mount, GOP Begins Looking in the Mirror - washingtonpost.com

Tom Davis, who chaired the NRCC for four years, said he doubts the effectiveness of the anti-Obama strategy because of the contrast between the consistently unpopular Bush and the likely Democratic nominee.

"When Bush tries to articulate a vision," Davis said, pausing to choose his words carefully, "he will butcher the Gettysburg Address. Obama, he will make an A&P grocery list sing."

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), in a private meeting with Republicans on Tuesday, admitted the limitations of the anti-Obama strategy and tried to sell his troops on an Obama-like message of "change" as their only hope for success.

"We can't win SOLELY by tying our opponents to Barack Obama and his liberal views. We also have to prove Republicans are agents of change," Boehner told his colleagues, according to talking points prepared by his staff and provided to The Post.

Boehner expects to unveil portions of a new policy agenda this week, part of a year-long effort to "rebrand" his party's image.

Here's a sad commentary on things...

The winner of the top "Hedge Fund Launch of the Year" is a fund that specializes in the pornography industry.

reportonbusiness.com: globeinvestor.com - AdultVest, Inc. Nominated for 'Hedge Fund Launch of the Year' by Alternative Invest...

Nice Mother's Day report: Radio personality and political pundit Laura Ingraham adopts a child from Guatemala

Ingraham (who was treated for breast cancer about two years ago) talks about it here. Hit the link and the podcast will come on in a few seconds.

Laura Ingraham: Free Stuff

A Mother's Day report on a father by a mother

This is an email letter from Mary Jo Lalor, who's husband Kieran is looking to run on the Republican line against my congressman, John Hall.

Hall is in his first term and was one of the original members of the 1970's song group, Orleans. I disagree with Hall on just about everything, and he is in what's usually a Republican district. However Hall's got big bucks backing from his hollywood and entertainment industry (evidently $1.3 million in his campaign coffers) contacts, and will be very tough to beat.

I've met Mary Jo and Kieran at a couple of events - see the picture below her letter -

My dedicated husband

Dear Friend,

I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for supporting my husband's candidacy for Congress. Our family has been overwhelmed by your enthusiasm and dedication to the campaign.

I met Kieran in law school, just days after he returned from Iraq. I had never met a more determined and focused individual. Despite putting his legal education on hold for two years after 9/11 for military service, Kieran was committed to earning his law degree. Together we both managed to work, go to school, start a family and purchase a home. We finally graduated from law school last spring.

Kieran has the ultimate "can-do" attitude. When we were trying to buy our first home we were in law school at night and Kieran was working full-time as a paralegal for a law firm. To afford the house, Kieran talked the partners of the firm into hiring him to clean the office after-hours. Kieran would work all day at the firm, go to law school in the evening and then go back to the office after school and clean the offices top to bottom.

When our first child, Katherine, was born with serious health problems, Kieran took a union job working the night shift so he would be more available to help with our daughter during the day.

Kieran continues to work nights, help care for our daughters and still manages to find more than 60 hours a week to campaign. Frequently I ask Kieran, "When are your going to sleep?" He cheerfully responds, "I'll sleep when John Hall is singing songs not making laws!"

Thanks for allowing me to tell you a little more about Kieran and the kind of man he is.

Again thanks for your support.

And Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.

All the best,
Mary Jo Lalor

John McCain's Mom's Mother's Day message

Of course this is a political ad. But still cute. His mother is doing pretty well for 96 years old.

And you don't have to make a campaign contribution.

John McCain 2008

Information on National Geographic special about "Battle at Kruger" video

The special is tomorrow - Mother's Day - at 9 PM.

Here's the link I put up yesterday Tom Faranda's Folly: "Battle at Kruger" - youtube video seen over 30,000,000 times since it's debut in May, '07., and here's the NY Times article from this morning.

You’ve Seen the YouTube Video; Now Try the Documentary - New York Times

Sensing they had just witnessed something special, Jason Schlosberg, another member of the safari group, asked Mr. Budzinski for a copy of the video. Mr. Budzinski tried unsuccessfully to sell it to television networks. “They all told us the same thing — they don’t accept any footage from amateurs,” he said.

For almost three years the film essentially sat on the shelf. But a year ago, when Mr. Schlosberg used YouTube to share the video with a friend — it was easier than making a DVD copy and mailing it, he said — “Battle at Kruger” started spreading virally on the Internet. Before long, National Geographic contacted Mr. Schlosberg, who in turn called Mr. Budzinski. That tourist turned online star had never heard of YouTube.

"Battle at Kruger" - youtube video seen over 30,000,000 times since it's debut in May, '07.

In a national park in South Africa. Buffalo, Lions, Crocs, and it's life or death. Quite astounding - National Geographic is doing a special on this, on Mother's Day.

And there's this -  The Battle at Kruger | Always Believe! 

Op ed columnist Peggy Noonan on Senator Clinton playing the race card

Noonan thinks Clinton is doing tremendous damage to her party.

Damsel of Distress Declarations - WSJ.com

... Mrs. Clinton spent this week making it clear. In a jaw-dropping interview in USA Today on Thursday, she said, "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on." As evidence she cited an Associated Press report that, she said, "found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

White Americans? Hard-working white Americans? "Even Richard Nixon didn't say white," an Obama supporter said, "even with the Southern strategy."

If John McCain said, "I got the white vote, baby!" his candidacy would be over. And rising in highest indignation against him would be the old Democratic Party.

To play the race card as Mrs. Clinton has, to highlight and encourage a sense that we are crudely divided as a nation, to make your argument a brute and cynical "the black guy can't win but the white girl can" is -- well, so vulgar, so cynical, so cold, that once again a Clinton is making us turn off the television in case the children walk by.

"She has unleashed the gates of hell," a longtime party leader told me. "She's saying, 'He's not one of us.'"

Obama - "I've been to fifty-seven states"

Notice how he thinks about it. If McCain did this, they'd claim he was losing it, right?

Some selections from the ol' email bag

Wow! Did this posting yesterday drive a few people nuts! Tom Faranda's Folly: Did Rush Limbaugh save Clinton in the Indiana primary?

And it was a pretty mild post (I thought) as the Washington Post discussed Limbaugh's tongue-in-cheek efforts to get out the vote for Hillary in Indiana.

I said at the top of the post, "This is almost funny."

But obviously not, NOT if you are a supporter of the Obama/Messiah! Here are quotes from three people who didn't post a comment, but instead emailed me:

Rush is so full of himself it is nauseating.  Operation chaos would have taken credit no matter how the election turned out.  Don't forget he is an addict, and his behavior, although he would have you believe that he is "on assignment from God", is that of an addict -- manipulative, deceitfull, self-serving and totally Godless.  There is only Rush.  Hooray for free speech.

Here is #2, slightly excerpted (It seems the writer thinks that Rush works for FOX news):

Fox News is as responsible for the Iraq debacle as is Bush.  We knew
nearly as much in November, 2004 as we know now about the deceptive and
false pretense run-up that duped many into supporting the pre-emptive
bombing, invasion and occupation of that country.  Fox "News" commentators
basically said either support the President (and by false extension, the
troops) on this, or get out of the way because you're not a patriot (and by
implication, a traitor).  Enough OH voters got juiced up by the likes of
Hannity and O'Reilly on this, as well as by the Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts's decision on gay marriage, to come out on election day in
November, 2004 with an agenda.  The result was four more years of Shrub and
his backward-looking, myopic madness.

And here's note #3, presented in full:

Rush Limbaugh is one sick dude.

Now, all three of these people are normally charming and intelligent types; but when it comes to anyone crossing the Obama/Messiah, the wheels start comin' off.

Good feature on healthcare for the elderly

"Slow medicine". I agree with this approach.

For the Elderly, Being Heard About Life’s End - New York Times

Grounded in research at the Dartmouth Medical School, slow medicine encourages physicians to put on the brakes when considering care that may have high risks and limited rewards for the elderly, and it educates patients and families how to push back against emergency room trips and hospitalizations designed for those with treatable illnesses, not the inevitable erosion of advanced age.

Slow medicine, which shares with hospice care the goal of comfort rather than cure, is increasingly available in nursing homes, but for those living at home or in assisted living, a medical scare usually prompts a call to 911, with little opportunity to choose otherwise.

And here's an interesting statistic from the article -

... A 2002 study, published in the journal Heart, found that fewer than 2 percent of people in their 80s and 90s who had been resuscitated for cardiac arrest at home lived for one month. “They about fall out of their chairs when they find out the extent to which we’ll go to let people choose,” Ms. Jordan said.

Did Rush Limbaugh save Clinton in the Indiana primary?

From the Washington Post. This is almost funny.

In NY State, you have to belong to a party to vote in their primary, but that is not the case in many states (since I don't belong to a party, I don't vote in NY primaries). I think states should only allow party members to vote in primaries, but if they don't you can get this kind of "tactical" voting.

Did Rush Limbaugh Tilt Result In Indiana? - washingtonpost.com

The impact of Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" emerged as an intriguing point of debate, particularly in Indiana, where registered voters could participate in either party's primary, and where Clinton won by a mere 14,000 votes. As he had before several recent primaries, Limbaugh encouraged listeners to vote for Clinton to "bloody up Obama politically" and prolong the Democratic fight.

Limbaugh crowed about the success of his ploy all day Tuesday, featuring on-air testimonials from voters in Indiana and North Carolina who recounted their illicit pleasure in casting a vote for Clinton. "Some of the people show up and they ask for a Democrat ballot, and the poll worker says, 'Why, what are you going to do?' He says, 'Operation Chaos,' and they just laugh," Limbaugh said Tuesday.

But Limbaugh called off the operation yesterday, saying he wants Obama to be the party's pick, because "I now believe he would be the weakest of the Democrat nominees."

He added: "He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that."

The Obama campaign and many of its supporters condemned Limbaugh's intervention tactic yesterday, calling it a major factor in Clinton's narrow Hoosier State win.

And then there's this -

The Corner on National Review Online

Obama Campaign: The Limbaugh Effect Is Real   [Byron York]

As I write up the Obama victory event here in Raleigh tonight, I notice there's a new proponent of "the Limbaugh effect."  It's not coming from Operation Chaos headquarters but from the Obama campaign.  Tonight I've gotten two emails from the campaign suggesting that the Limbaugh effect was in play in Indiana.  The most recent email, a few minutes ago, was headlined "The Limbaugh Effect in Indiana = 7%" noting:

According to the latest exit polling data, 17% of voters in the Indiana primary today said they would vote for John McCain in a Clinton/McCain matchup.

41% of that number is constituted by people who voted Clinton in the primary but also indicated they will vote for McCain in the general election.

That comes out to just under 7% of the primary electorate the number that may be attributed to a “Limbaugh Effect.”

Online article published by a friend of mine: "The Evolution of the Soul: A Thought Experiment

Paul Dinter has a doctorate in theology - scripture.  Here's something he recently posted in an online journal:

The Evolution of the Soul: A Thought Experiment :: Paul E. Dinter :: Global Spiral

... it is not the task of religious faith to produce the kind of clarity for which scientists strive. Faith, as “confidence in things hoped for and conviction about things not seen” (Heb 11:1), anticipates future knowing; faith does not claim present certitude because it bases itself on different evidentiary grounds than scientific knowledge. Even more, since believers wager on their ability to encounter Ultimate Reality in time and beyond time, their faith concepts and language will change over time in order to remain life-giving; they must remain open-ended, reformable, and provisional in nature. Because faith encompasses the Biggest of Big Pictures, it is necessarily diverse and multiform even as believers seek the deep unity of all things.

Clericalism and the Catholic Church

Here is an interesting essay by Catholic writer and columnist Russell Shaw. The essay is a relatively quick six page read, and then there are a number of comments posted, including a couple by moi. If you print it out, it's close to 20 pages (but BIG type!).

InsideCatholic.com - On Clericalism

Imagine a man who wakes up in the morning with a headache, fever, and chills. The symptoms persist and are there when he goes to bed that night. Next day, it's the same thing again -- headache, fever, chills. This continues day after day, week after week, over and over. Finally the poor man starts to think: "I guess this is how people always feel. I just have to live with it."

The Catholic Church is something like that man. In the Church, the illness is called clericalism. We Catholics have suffered from it so long that most of us take it for granted. In fact, we're clericalists ourselves. "That's how it is," we say. And our symptoms persist.

They look like this:

• A pastor lords it over his people, consulting no one and habitually making unilateral decisions. His people are a passive, dispirited lot, quick to complain and slow to cooperate.
• A bishop routinely goes far beyond fundamental moral principles in talking about political issues. He advocates highly specific solutions to problems that admit of more than one legitimate view and makes no secret of his political partisanship.
• A carefully planned, highly touted diocesan vocations recruitment program aimed at attracting men to the priesthood turns out a flop. Its planners scratch their heads and wonder what went wrong.

Clericalism is operative in all these cases and many others. After all this time, you'd think people would have caught on and taken remedial steps. But even now, many haven't. "That's how it is," they say. And the symptoms persist.

But a cautionary note is in order upfront: There are real risks involved in criticizing clericalism.

One is the danger of giving aid and comfort to dissenters who want a revolution in the Church that will allow them to choose their own bishops and pastors and make other important decisions, up to and including decisions about doctrine. (If a teaching isn't "received," it's said -- that is, if people reject the teaching because it hampers their lifestyle or requires some sacrifice on their part -- then the teaching must be wrong.)

The American theologian Paul Lakeland contends that the "existential predicament" of the laity in today's Church is that "they are in chains." Lakeland writes in the framework of liberation theology, and what he says about the laity is an exercise in appallingly bad taste inasmuch as it likens the irritation of middle-class American Catholics to the plight of some of the poorest and most oppressed people on earth.

There's also a danger of devaluing priesthood and priests just when a clergy shortage leads some to look to supposed alternatives. A few months ago, the tiny Dutch province of the Dominicans issued a paper suggesting that in cases of need, a congregation could designate one of its lay members, man or woman as the case might be, to preside at the Eucharist.

The Dominican leadership in Rome moved to reprimand the Dutch. But this neo-congregationalism, which goes back to Rev. Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., and before him to the Protestant Reformation, could attract followers. Not only does it supply an answer, albeit an illusory one, to the priest shortage, it also opens the door to women priests -- or, more accurately, to women who want to act as if they were priests.

Against this background, those of us who speak of the evils of clericalism need to be careful not to undermine the dignity and sanctity of the ordained priesthood and obscure its radical, ontological difference from the baptismal priesthood of the faithful.

Clericalism, however, is not an affirmation of these sacred realities but a caricature. It fosters an ecclesiastical caste system in which clerics comprise the dominant elite, with lay people serving as a passive, inert mass of spear-carriers tasked with receiving clerical tutelage and doing what they're told. This upstairs-downstairs way of understanding relationships and roles in the Church extends even to the spiritual life: priests are called to be saints, lay people are called to satisfy the legalistic minimum of Christian life and scrape by into purgatory.

Even while absorbing these clericalist views, of course, the laity traditionally have entertained certain contrary perspectives. Think of the robust anticlericalism of Chaucer. Or consider a line in Edwin O'Connor's splendid pre-Vatican II novel The Edge of Sadness. "Probably in no other walk of life [besides the priesthood]," the priest-narrator remarks, "is a young man so often and so humbly approached by his elders and asked for his advice. Which, by the way, is almost always received gratefully and forgotten promptly."

Joe's outdoor track season

Having run cross country in the fall, Tom Faranda's Folly: The sports seasons have begun at Chez Faranda and not run in the indoor track season, Joe is now on the freshman Fordham Prep track team, and the season is in full swing.

This past Sunday was the Jesuit Championships and Joe ran in the junior varsity 400 and 200 meter races. The way it works, there are heats, with seedings based on past personal bests. You may have, for example, three or four heats of the fastest runners and then one race with everyone else. joe was in the "everyone else' group for the 400 m., and one of the down-the-list heats for the 200.

There were about six school competing, and probably over 150 boys, but surprisingly few parents. I suppose this is because these meets last a long time - three hours or more - and your own boy may only be running in one or two events. it's not like watching a team sport, where there's lots of action.

Here he is with about 80 yards to go in the 400, with his friend Tom Silva a yard ahead of him. There are also three boys out of the picture ahead of this group. joe finished fifth out of ten.

Here Joe is in the 200, with his friend Eduardo just behind him. joe finished fourth out of six.

Lots of socializing between races  -

Fordham prep has an excellent track program. A friend of mine, Harley Griffiths (rugby - i actually played against Harley in the mid 70's, and then when I returned from the Caribbean our clubs had merged, and I played with him)  has a son (Harley Jr.) who is a junior at the Prep, and who is really quick. He and three other juniors ran in the 4x800 in the Penn Relays (this is big-time) and came seventh out of 80 competing relay teams. Harley ran a 2:00 800 in the opening leg, and one of his teammates ran a 1:55. Very fast.

Harley Jr. is up on the Fordham Prep track website - here's the picture - pretty cool

Harley and his wife Tia have three daughters in addition to Harley Jr., who is their youngest. For some odd reason, they've just gotten a bunch of dogs - raising four children wasn't enough. Here are the two of them plus dogs, at Sundya's meet. Note they adoring look on Tia's face ...

Joe has another four meets to go, before the freshamn and junior varsity season finishes at the end of this month.

The Hillary Clinton photo collection

How convenient to have all of this in one place.

The Really Truly Hillary Gallery

Here are some samples:

And a mosaic, "for easy download":

Colonoscopy as comedy

Note: My next colonoscopy is not due for a couple of years

This from our friend Kevin, transplanted Englishmen-living-in-Australia-who-we-met-when-we-lived-in-Jamaica. I especially liked #9. Uhhh, some editing to conform to American taste and a PG rating ...

Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous..... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:

1. "Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!

2. "Find Amelia Earhart yet?"

3. "Can you hear me NOW?"

4. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

5. "You know, in Arkansas, we're now legally married."

6. "Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?"

7."Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!"

8. "Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity."

9. "You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?"

And the best one of all.... 

10. "Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?"

Evangelical minister Tony Campolo on Democratic Party Platform Committee

This will be interesting.

Pro-Life Democrat Tony Campolo Joins Pro-Abortion Party's Platform Cmte

Campolo says he believes in pro-life issues so strongly that he pledged a vigorous defense at the national convention in Denver this summer.

He says he has received assurances from Democratic officials that the platform committee will hear his pro-life views and that the platform will contain language that addresses the pro-life community's concerns.

He hopes to tone down the language calling abortion a woman's right and he hopes to get members of the party to view abortion as a human rights issue that abrogates the rights of the powerless, namely unborn children.

Kristen Day, the director of Democrats for Life of America, made the announcement in an email to LifeNews.com and she said her group is proud to have Campolo representing pro-life people on the panel.

"Democrats For Life of America is so excited that such a powerful, persuasive and passionate pro-life advocate is now on the platform committee," she said. "We appreciate Reverend Campolo's longstanding commitment to life and we are proud that he will represent pro-life Democrats on a national level as our party writes the 2008 Democratic Platform."

Ian McKellen returning as Gandalf in upcoming "The Hobbit" movie

Cool! He was a great Gandalf in the Lord ofthe Rings movie trilogy.

Besides The Hobbit, there will be a prequel movie, bridging the gap between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Go here:

News: Reel News | Christianity Today Movies

And here:

Guillermo Del Toro Looks Ahead To 'Hobbit' - Movie News Story | MTV Movie News

Surgery as a cure for diabetes

From this morning's Washington Post. My brother Paul had juvenile diabetes. And of course diabetes is a common disease. This is the most emailed article right now from the Washington Post website.

Surgery Shows Promise For Treatment of Diabetes - washingtonpost.com

In dozens of studies involving thousands of patients, standard gastric bypass surgery cleared up diabetes in more than 80 percent of obese patients who had the disease, raising the possibility that surgery would help those who weigh less. Currently, the procedures are recommended only for those who are severely or moderately obese and have diabetes or other serious complications. But surgeons have started testing the operations on patients who are less obese, just overweight or even at normal weight.

"By operating on patients with lower body mass, the focus dramatically shifts from being a weight-loss procedure to being a diabetes-specific procedure," said Philip R. Schauer, a bariatric surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic who is comparing a standard procedure with drug treatment for diabetes in patients whose weight puts them below the current criteria for the surgery. "This treatment can essentially put a high percentage of patients into remission. It also improves their cholesterol and blood pressure. Those three things are key for diabetics to avoid complications."

How the operations alleviate diabetes remains mysterious. But researchers suspect that they alter the elixir of hormones secreted by the digestive system to regulate hunger, store energy and influence other physiological functions, helping restore the body's system for controlling blood sugar with insulin. One possibility is that they increase production of an insulin-boosting hormone known as GLP-1.

A key clue came from Francesco Rubino, an Italian surgeon who conducted a series of experiments in diabetic rats. When he bypassed parts of their upper intestines, leaving their stomachs intact, the animals' diabetes disappeared. When he reversed the operation, the disease returned.

>>>>>>

While acknowledging that the procedures show promise, several diabetes experts agreed that much more research is needed to validate the operations. Diabetes can, for example, go into temporary remission when patients sharply reduce their food intake, which frequently occurs after surgery on the digestive system, they noted.

"Clearly, more work needs to be done before everyone rushes to bariatric surgery to get their diabetes fixed," said Myrlene Staten of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which is soliciting proposals to study how the operations affect diabetes.

Karl Rove really MUST be Darth Vader!

Even though he's no longer working for the administration, he must have been behind the launching of this Imperial Star Cruiser!

Here's the story, which I found on Michelle Malkin's blog.

instapinch.com » Blog Archive » PCU “USS Independence”, LCS 2

Dressing for success as an NYC detective

From Sunday's NY Times - "the dapper detective"

Dressed for a Meeting, Ready for Mayhem - New York Times

From his precinct on the fringes of Hell’s Kitchen, Detective Kevin P. Schroeder has cracked the case of a corpse in a Dumpster, wrestled a man into handcuffs on the sidewalk, and chased suspects across rooftops and down fire escapes.

When he prepares for a day at work, he puts his handgun in a holster, clips his cellphone and radio on his belt, and tucks handcuffs into his waistband, letting one of the cuffs dangle outside where he can easily grab it.

And then, in a well-worn tradition that has endured for more than a century, Detective Schroeder adds one more crucial piece of gear. He puts on a tailored suit jacket that has been cut with extra material around the waist.

That way, there are no unsightly bulges from gun and gear.

“I like room in it because of my pistol, my handcuffs, my radio,” Detective Schroeder said. “You want it a little bigger than you normally would get.”

“I try to wear my less expensive suits if I am going out to track a bad guy,” he added.

From streets to stairwells, garbage bins to muddy riverbanks, the tradition of the dapper detective runs through years of law enforcement, surviving the rough-and-tumble of gritty streets and a trend in recent years toward dress-down Fridays and casual attire.

Never mind that it can seem incongruous to wear business attire to make arrests, scrutinize the blood and debris of a murder scene, and confront killers and thieves.

“A suit and tie is our uniform,” said Joel E. Potter, 64, a veteran homicide detective who retired in 2000. “A lot of times you’re set up in a car at 3 in the morning, or there are two dead bodies on the sidewalk. And when you step out of the car, you look like a professional. They know the man is there. They know the suits mean business.”

>>>>>>

When Detective Mooney packs his gear — his weapon, handcuffs, cellphone, business cards, notepad and ammunition — he also tucks a stain remover stick into a suit pocket.

“You don’t want to look sloppy,” he said.

Obama-mania XIX: his Catholic advisors

I suppose it should come as no surprise that every one of the members of his advisory board (all 26) dissent from crucial Catholic teachings. How could it be otherwise, since on the issues mentioned below, Obama takes the absolute opposite position?

So why have a "Catholic National Advisory Council"? I guess that's marketing ...

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

... there is not one who agrees with the Catholic Church on all three major public policy issues: abortion, embryonic stem cell research and school vouchers.

“Indeed, on the issue of abortion, their record is disgraceful. Consider the scorecard as issued by the most radical pro-abortion organization in the nation—NARAL. Of the two National Co-Chairs who have a NARAL tally, one agrees with the extremist group 65 percent of the time and the other agrees 100 percent of the time. Of the 20 National Leadership Committee members with a NARAL score, 17 have earned a 100 percent rating. Of those who have less than a perfect score, not one is in favor of school vouchers. [Click here for the evidence.]

“Practicing Catholics have every right to be insulted by Obama’s advisory group. What is the purpose of having an advisory group about matters Catholic when most of its members reject the Catholic position? If Obama wanted input from gay leaders, would he choose those who don’t reflect the sentiments of the gay community? ...

“If these are the best ‘committed Catholic leaders, scholars and advocates’ Obama can find, then it is evident that he has a ‘Wright’ problem when it comes to picking Catholic advisors.”

New technique to motivate your salesmen - waterboard them

A little bit over the top -

Team-Building or Torture? Court Will Decide. - washingtonpost.com

There is also general agreement that Hudgens volunteered for the "team-building exercise," that he lay on his back with his head downhill, and that co-workers knelt on either side of him, pinning the young sales rep down while their supervisor poured water from a gallon jug over his nose and mouth.

And it's widely acknowledged that the supervisor, Joshua Christopherson, then told the assembled sales team, whose numbers had been lagging: "You saw how hard Chad fought for air right there. I want you to go back inside and fight that hard to make sales."

What's at issue in the lawsuit Hudgens filed against his former employers -- just as in the ongoing global debate over the