Nom de plume: Rivrdog

That H1N1 vaccine thing

While the MSM focuses on the timing of the delivery of the vaccine supplies, they have largely overlooked the safety issue.

Here's a video which addresses that. View it and we'll talk more about it.

OK, here are my concerns:

It's hard to know what to make of this video on the H1N1 vaccine. There are some serious science people in it, some known history is quoted (the squaline thing with Gulf War vets), but two claims are made, that the vaccine contains the preservative Timisoral (sp?) and the adjuvant Squaline (Squalene?). The dot.gov has denied both, but then, they have denied that the anthrax vaccine given to all the troops in the Gulf War contained squaline, and it has been conclusively proven that it did.

 

The Doctor-daughter sent me a CDC blurb that denied the squaline claim, but it was snipped and unsigned, and I never saw the whole article or message it came in. There is a boilerplate denial of the use of Timisoral that all vaccine makers put in their PR these days. I don't know whether to believe that, either.

 

That's an interesting thing about the mist vaccine containing live viruses, and that auto-transmissibility occurs for THREE WEEKS afterward.

 

That could explain the huge rise in the number of H1N1 cases, since the mist vaccine was the first one out there, and it was given mostly to kids, who are notorious disease spreading agents. If this mist-vaccine thing is true, where were the warnings that it would happen? With that incubation/transmissibility window open for that long, it seems that quarantine should have been strongly suggested to go along with the vaccine.

 

This whole vaccine thing has just been botched from start to the present, and it doesn't take an epidemiologist or microbiologist to figure THAT out.

I am going to err on the side of caution and refuse the vaccine when my doc suggests it.

Let's get right down to the real nitty-gritty

...the details of the major health care bill in Congress.

The Domestic Divapalooza has it all here, apparently in a letter written by an Indiana physician to Senator Evan Bayh.

I'm not going to pick on any one of the listed provisions of the HC bill, I'm just going to let you digest them. Every listed point in the bill shouts out a clear warning: this government intends to rule not with the consent of the governed, but by fiat of the government.

What you do after you digest them is up to you, but my thoughts turn to throwing this government out of power as soon as it can be done. If that means starting over from scratch with a Second Republic, that's what will have to be done.

You'd best be ready for that little dust-up when it gets here, and it could be just around the corner.

Non-Starter

Any health insurance plan that doesn't get the lawyers out of the equation is a non-starter here at the Rivrdog household.

Mind you, the Rivrdog household is a fairly large tent. It includes a pragmatic conservative of no affiliation (your blogger), two Huckabee conservatives of the GOP (wife & son), four liberals of varying strengths (DauX2, son-in-law, Sis, and six cats (which could all vote if this was Chicago, heheh).

As far as I know, NONE of us are in favor of letting the lawyers continue to prey on the medical community and the insurance companies to the extent that they do now, especially in Multnomah County, OR where I live (it's one of the county court systems with the highest malpractice awards in the entire Nation).

This means that the Senate "plan" which is being slowly pushed out of the political hangar onto the political tarmac is a non-starter and will never fly. Maybe I missed it, but I scanned this article once and read it in depth once twice, and no reading showed me any hint of tort reform.

The article itself is somewhat tentative, however. It scarcely mentions Medicare:  "Baucus has proposed cuts in a lucrative arrangement insurers have under Medicare." What does THAT mean? I can't imagine a plan being brought forward by ANY political side that doesn't deal with the Medicare mess, and this one sliver of a suggestion that something will be done about cost control in Medicare seems to beg the entire question.

Senator Baucus seems to have his heart in the right place. At least he made room at the table for most everyone to discuss what they wanted out of health care reform.

That said, Senator Baucus has erred seriously by leaving the predatory ambulance-chasers out of the equation, though. Those million or two million people who assembled to protest in DeeCee two days ago weren't there to slap the (D)emocrats on the back and tell them what a good job they were doing. They were there to tell the (D)emocrats generally, the GOP in particular, and Senator Max Baucus specifically that the heavy hand of government doesn't belong in the relationship between citizens and their medical providers. On the other hand, it DOES belong in that relationship to protect those same citizens from the legal sharks who get rich on the greenbacks of our health-care budgets.

So, Senator Baucus, don't go away mad thinking I'm just here to criticize your plan and offer no alternative. I now present the Rivrdog Plan to Kick the Lawyers Out:

1. Cap Pain & Suffering awards, Federally. No plaintiff gets damages for FUTURE pain they MIGHT suffer, only for PAST AND PRESENT pain they have suffered/are suffering as a result of medical mistakes. Extend that cap to the States by the usual fiat: if they take Medicaid bux, they have to cap like the Feds do.
2. Cap attorney fees. Attorneys can and should work on billable hours for this sort of legal work, like they do for almost any other work they do. Most attorneys get 25-40% of those giant awards my County Courthouse passes out. That has to stop. Cap the fees in Federal and State courts by the same method as in #1.
3. Restrict class actions. Just because your late father smoked, and eventually died of lung cancer, is no reason for YOU to get a dime. Just because he may have worked in the Steam Age when ALL live steam pipes were insulated with asbestos is no reason for YOU to get a dime. Class actions, the lawsuits of another in which plaintiff status is extended to YOU by court fiat, must stop.Again, use the force of the Federal Gov't to make this stick in the States as well.
4. Punitive damages must go. Aside from quacks marketing bogus remedies for Erectile Dysfunction, weight loss and a few other issues, let's assume that most drug and medical equipment manufacturers are in business to HELP you recover, or live a better life with the disabilities you were handed by your Maker. That means that the current policy of awarding huge punitive damages against the "deep pockets" must be axed. Get it right out of there by instituting a new standard: unless a manufacturer or medical provider acted with CRIMINAL INTENT, no punitive damages could be awarded by the same case that wants compensation for ACTUAL loss. Federal and State ban.
5. Image: Does the government want to REALLY help us? Stop taking bribes (yes, they are BRIBES to facilitate their piracy, not "campaign contributions") from personal injury lawyers and begin to DEMONIZE THEM! They ARE the enemy of health reform efforts. Whatever good the Government does with reform legislation WILL be undone by these predators in short order. Just as one doesn't have to dig very hard to make the case that Medicare has a lot of fraud, waste and abuse, one also doesn't have to dig very hard to find evidence of ALL of the "reform" plans being written with the guidance of personal injury lawyers, just so they can continue to prey on us.

Presently, tort reform is not even on the table in ANY (D)emocrat plan, either Pelosi's basic takeover plan OR Sen. Baucus' offering discussed above.

Tort reform has to be put on the table NOW, or ALL plans are dead on arrival.

End of discussion.

The Feds CAN improve health care

The Government CAN improve the delivery of health care services.

The first thing they can do is enact meaningful tort reform. It is estimated that 30% (at least) of the cost increases in the past two decades are DIRECTLY due to the expense of insuring against rapacious litigators, to whom every single bad medical outcome is reason to extract money from the health care system (with a large part of it for themselves, of course).

The second thing that the Government can do is get the illegal aliens out of the system. Very simply, we should require proof of nationality before rendering health care services. When I'm in Mexico, I can't use health care services for free, it's cash on the barrel head for me or I don't get treated. There is no reason we should have to bear the cost of Mexico's health care. Not coincidentally, if we WERE to limit the use of US health care services to US citizens, or require cash at the time of treatment, it might discourage some of the illegals from crashing our borders in the first place. When the Mexicans in our country find out what health care REALLY costs here, they might be more willing to stay in their own country, take the lesser wages, and be content with their OWN health care system.

My guess is that if the government enacted meaningful tort reform and booted the illegals out of the system, an immediate cost savings of at least 50% could be realized. That money could then be used to buy the un-insured some health care insurance on the private market, and the cost reduction for the entire industry and their clients (all of us) would spark an economic revival all on it's own, without government "stimulus".

It's amazing how this free market thing works, isn't it? When the free market is protected, good things follow.

Dummy of Forever

...OK, taking a risk here. Risk that a greater dummy could arise and I wouldn't have a top category to put him/her in.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained....

Fanfare, Maestro!

The Dummy of Forever is the Oregon Legislature! They all get to share the award, which would normally be given to a single individual.

They share it for this whacko idea, now translated into legislation:

That it is right to add costs to Joe and Jane Average who HAVE health care, paid by whoever (probably mostly themselves), to pay for healthcare for indigents (a HUGE proportion of whom are illegal aliens). The same bill taxes hospitals up to 5.5% of their operating income for the same purpose.

Wait! The bill doesn't directly tax Joe Average's healthcare premiums. You're right, it doesn't, it taxes those premiums when they get to the insurers! However, if you believe that that the hospitals and doctors (docs who have their own clinics will be taxed along with hospitals) who ARE assessed in this taxing scheme won't pass it through, I have 11 Portland river bridges on sale, and I can make you a special Recession deal of all eleven for the price of 8!

But, it's for the Chilllllllllldren, Rivrdog. Surely you don't begrudge the Chilllllllllllllldren some of the healthcare dollars?

Well, yes I do, as a matter of fact.

I begrudge the Chillllllllllllllldren (and anyone else) tax dollars if they aren't actually citizens of this nation, since the rest of the world doesn't have to pay these new taxes, only Oregon corporations.

But Rivrdog, aren't YOU on government-sponsored health insurance?

Why yes, I am. I am on Medicare Part A and B, for which I have been charged many, many dollars in premiums over the past decades BEFORE I was eligible to actually USE the insurance. That's a paid-up policy (of VERY mediocre health insurance). I am also insured by the Government as a Veteran's benefit given to me in (partial) return for for my services of laying my life on the line for my country for 22 years. Between the two policies, which I EARNED, my healthcare is probably taken care of for life (well, the life of the Treasury, anyway, and it could be fairly short).

I don't give a rip who manages healthcare in this country, as long as it is managed well. The healthcare industry stumbles along at present, and is doing a so-so job of managing it privately. The government is going to grab management from them, and stands to do a WORSE job (history, people, the Government can't even run a bordello, remember?). Cost control seems out of the reach of either flavor of management, private or public. I won't see well-run healthcare in MY lifetime.

I DO give a rip about what schemes are used to pay for healthcare, and I DO give a rip that it is given away to people who have no legal right to receive it for free.

People die. If they haven't provided, somehow, as I have done, for their health care coverage, and they get sick or badly injured, they die. That is not un-constitutional, that's the natural order of things. If I travel to Mexico, I buy a health-care policy before I go. Private insurance to pay for a private Mexican doctor if I need one. Aero-medical evacuation included. When the Mexicans come up here, we should charge them for their health care. Since we're about to make all those illegals into legal immigrants, they can now be sold health care insurance, so get ready to do it, Government.

That includes you, Dummy of Forever, the Oregon Legislature.

Truthers abusing their kids

Yep, it's all right here in the local fishwrap.

Let's define terms: a "Truther" (aka, "troofer") is a person who fails to test hypothetical propositions, then blindly accepts them, and touts them as being the truth, despite their untested and unproven status. These folk used to be called "true believers".

The best extant example of Truthers are those who believe that 9-11 was a government conspiracy, and the CIA blew up the Twin Towers, not Al-Q.

This particular group thinks that immunizations against common childhood disease can lead to autism because of a preservative in the compounded injections.

That's a double-whammy of "Troof". First, that ANY exhibited abnormal behavior in a child is now labeled "autism" by these folks (aided and abetted by the "autism industry" about which I've written before), and second, that none of the exhaustive, scientific-method testing that proved the immunizations safe means doodly-squat to them.

If I was Superintendent of Schools down there, and a kid turned up in school with a communicable, preventable disease for which there are immunizations required, I would refer those parents to the Department of Human Resources with a recommendation that said parents be prosecuted for recklessly endangering the life of their child.

For those readers who dislike my way of dealing with this (involving the Gummint), allow me to point out that protecting the general health of the citizenry from epidemics IS a legitimate role of government, unless your idea of "government" more or less resembles Anarchy. I also don't think that giving a "religious exemption" for immunizations is a good idea, as the practice of religion GENERALLY may not contravene common law (there are specific exemptions, however).

BTW, if you wonder about MY creds to even expound on this subject, my father held a physician's Certificate of Public Health from Harvard Medical School, and over my life from birth to 50, I listened carefully to his expertise and soaked up quite a bit of it.

New diagnosis

It appears that the initial diagnosis of kidney stone was not quite right. It's gall stones. Dono how many of them, so an ultrasound is in order to find out.

Then the 'ol Rivrdog has a decision to make: do I try to find a surgeon who I've never used but is reputed to be a whiz with the laparascope to take out the gall bladder by remote control, or do I go back to my tried-and-true general surgeon, whose ancient technique will most likely have me laid open like a tuna, AGAIN, but who  is really the best cutter in three states?

This'll take some pondering. Good thing I have a full cabinet of pondering-aids like Clan McCallan 17.

BTW,  Dr. RivrDau says gall bladder stones are somewhat unusual in men, occur much more often in wimmen. That's just my luck: I get told EVERYWHERE to get in touch with my feminine side, and when I do, do ya 'spose I can grow a decent set of hooters or a nice ass, or even a decent head of hair? Hell no, I grow GALLSTONES.

Ya just can't win.

CAT scan

Well, the CAT scanner hummed (the new ones don't clank and scream like they used to), I never had to hold my breath for more than 6 seconds, and now I wait to see where the kidney stones are and what invasion of my body will have to be used to get them out.

There are three invasions: Endoscopic Arthroscopic surgery, with four little 1/2" holes cut into my side, or, blasting sound waves into the offending area to de-materialize the stone (so I can pee it out later, oh, Joy!), or, snaking a tool up my urinary tract, grabbing the stone and pulling tool and stone out. All of them are done under general anesthetic.

Lovely way to spend the middle of June.

I won't be of any use for stud service for at least ten minutes after that drill (and don't ask what my stud fee is).

/cue: "Beautiful Dreamer"

First the carrot, then the stick

That's how it always goes as a government becomes less free. This Massachusetts example is the quintessential demonstration of freedom going down.

Read it and worry.

Then go to the range. I will be at the range today, teaching a new shooter the basics.

You need a fat ass

No, you REALLY do need a fat ass if this study is correct.

Imagine that.

This might just be the end of the "Twiggy" phenomenon in modeling.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get an ice cream sundae to the range for my HR 218 quals, still fitting into my 36 jeans from 20 years ago.