Health Care

I have taken the 100/6 push up vow which you can also participate in. This strength training program takes you from 0 push ups to 100 consecutive push ups in 6 weeks. The program requires individual to commit three days out of a week for 30 minutes. This interval focused program is setup for individuals that have never done push ups and for those that have. After an initial test, individuals follow their personal program in order to achieve their goal. I have just completed week 1 and I am excited about finishing it but better yet . . . promoting it as well (in case you  have not heard of it) to friends. What are you waiting for? Start now and boast about doing 100 push ups 6 weeks later.

With the economy in the dumps and everything in sight seeming to be overpriced or at least that is what it seems like, gas hits the $4 dollar mark officially today. This comes the day after Associated Press reports that unemployment rate has reached 1986 levels. There are more people with no jobs and many more with underpaid positions who can not afford the $4 per gallon gas to get them to their low paying jobs.

Of course we can thank Republicans for raising the minimum wage since 1997 to $6.50, since they were so eager to it. I wonder how big this mess would be had they fought Democrats on this measure. Another field that Republicans have been wrong about is Health Care.

Interesting enough the relationship between Quality of Health care and Quantity of Money Spent on that Health care does not have a logical correlation. One would thing the more money you throw into the system the better results it should have. Doctors in the U.S. make money from prescribing treatments ergo they prescribe people with pharmaceutical drugs at higher rates. The end result does not prove any more satisfactory- just more money in the bank for the prescription drug companies. This simple minded strategy and Republican thinking has proven to be flawed. It seems MORE is not always better.

Tell that to the Bush Administration who are hell-bent to privatize our Education system. They have done everything in their power to sabotage the American Public School System. Beginining with the "No Child Left Behind Act" they standardized public schools across the board. They teach to the test per se. Their end goal is to make the public education system horrible so they can push privatization of the system. It seems that private is not necessarily better. A study found last month that public schools are just as good as private schools. I do not expect this to hold up if Republicans have their way.

So, if you happen to find yourself a bit depressed about not finding a job because of the economy, don't worry. Your student loans were not that bad of an investment if you went to a public institution of higher education. Hop into your car and spend the $4 to drive yourself to the local drug store so that you can continue to pop those pills that help "treat" your depression. At least be happy . . . the cure may be just around the corner, this November.

The National Priorities Project has released this years breakdown of how American tax payer money is allocated. Not surprising, the Military took the biggest chunk out of the fund. What is more surprising though is just how much more the U.S. has spent on the Military compared to, I don't know let's say Health Care or Education. I am an advocate for graphs and visual presentations because they deliver the message quickly and more effectively then words. Check out the break down. I have provided both a U.S. and a Texas graph. Feel free to share this information with friends and family because for some reason, and I will go out on a limb on this, I surmise the media may not really mention this type of exciting news tonight.

Lawsuit Challenges Immigration Raids in New Jersey - Immigration agents systematically entered homes and made arrests without proper warrants during raids to round up immigration fugitives in New Jersey, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. The lawsuit, brought by lawyers at the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, will provide a constitutional test of law enforcement methods often used by immigration agents since May 2006 when they began operations across the country to track down and deport immigrants who had been ordered to leave by the courts.

Olympics 'worsening China rights' - China's human rights record is getting worse, not better, because of the Beijing Olympics, a rights group says. According to Amnesty International, China is clamping down on dissent in a bid to portray a stable and harmonious image ahead of the Games in August.

80,000 Jobs Cut in March; Unemployment Rate Rises - The economy shed 80,000 jobs in March, the third consecutive month of rising unemployment, presenting a stark sign that the country may already be in a recession. Sharp downturns in the manufacturing and construction sectors led the decline, the biggest in five years. The Labor Department also said employers cut far more jobs in January and February than originally estimated.

Back to pencil and paper for 2010 census - Technology problems will force the government to count all of the nation's 300 million residents the old-fashioned way in the 2010 census -- with paper and pencil.

Gene links smokers and lung cancer - Three new studies analyzing the genetics of lung cancer have identified two inherited gene variations that raise white smokers' chances of getting the disease by as much as 80 percent compared to tobacco users without the genes. All smokers have a tenfold greater risk for lung cancer than nonsmokers, but less than 20 percent of smokers eventually develop the disease. Scientists believe heredity is why some smokers are more likely to develop lung cancer.

I briefly saw this following report on CNN while I was at the bank earlier today and thought it was intresting enough to share. How the researchers tricked the entity into funding this research is beyond my comprehension but the hypothesis that was tested was "Does the endurance of sexual intercourse impact the pleasure?" Researchers concluded not at all. Pleasurable sexual intercourse among both parties regardless of sex or sexual orientation can be achieved between 3-13 minutes. This does not include sexual foreplay which would add more time of course.

This sort of debunks the myth that longer is better right? No, not really. You still have to fulfill your partner. Researchers only concluded that most couples are able to achieve that end goal within that given time range. This counters the long standing notion that the longer you go the better. On the contrary just like you could be terrible in 1 minute you can be horrible for 60 minutes.

There was an intresting comment that I had to share. Marianne Brandon, a clinical psychologist and director of Wellminds Wellbodies in Annapolis, Md states, "There are so many myths in our culture of what other people are doing sexually. Most people's sex lives are not as exciting as other people think they are." I never thought of other people's sexual lives or compared them. I guess I enjoy mine so much that I do not care what other people are up to . . . or not.

[Note: I think it is funny that a Viagra Advert is juxtaposed next to this article at USA Today] 

The Health Care system in the United States needs reform and that is no secret. I always like finding new articles pointing out something that I did not entertain on the debate of our health care system. Jacob Hacker of the Washington Post defends the idea of socialized medicine.

Hacker claims, "[Socialized medicine] is the bogeyman that just won't die. The epithet has been hurled at every national health plan since the New Deal -- even Medicare, which critics warned would strip Americans of their freedom." This is one of the strongest arguments against socialized medicine although it is not a legitimate claim but its influential to those that do not know any better.

The second argument although flawed is that we will all have to pay up the wazoo in taxes. Hacker adds, "How is it possible to cover everyone without driving up costs? The one-word answer is "government" -- specifically, government's ability to lower service prices, streamline administration and get a better deal on drugs, thus reducing medical inflation over time." Intresting enough . . . McCain who touts that any type of health care system run by the government is not acceptable reeks in the benefits of a government run health insurance plan offered to those political officials that serve our country. If he really did not like his coverage would he not opt for a private plan instead of using the one run by our government. What is it McCain? Government can not run an efficient health care system or you just do not want to share the wealth like Obama or Clinton?

On another note, if we did not have anything else to brag about . . . Ezra Klein briefly notes how we are 1 in 4 countries in the world that "doesn't require employers to provide paid maternity leave." Klein adds that, "We're also the only developed nation entitled to zero days of paid vacation and zero days of paid sick leave."

CNN denied permission to cover elections in Zimbabwe - CNN has been denied permission to cover this week's parliamentary and presidential elections in Zimbabwe, an official at the Zimbabwean Ministry of Information and Publicity said Tuesday. The official, who did not want to be named, gave no reason for the government's decision to bar CNN from the crucial vote.

Rethinking Is Urged on a Vaccine for AIDS - Researchers must go back to the drawing board before they can develop an effective vaccine against H.I.V., AIDS experts said at a scientific meeting on Tuesday. The reassessment comes after last September’s widely publicized failure of what had been the most promising candidate for an H.I.V. vaccine. Many health officials believe that an effective vaccine would be the most crucial weapon in stopping the H.I.V. pandemic.
Tata buys Jaguar in £1.15bn deal - Car giant Ford has sold its luxury UK-based car brands Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian company Tata. Tata, India's biggest vehicle maker, is paying $2.3bn (£1.15bn) for the British brands after months of negotiations over price and supply relationships. The negotiations started last June when Ford announced its intention to sell the companies as a package.

Holdout Citigroup settles Enron case for $1.66 billion - Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, will pay $1.66 billion and give up an estimated $4.25 billion in claims to settle a lawsuit by Enron creditors over the former energy trader's bankruptcy case.

Maliki Gives Shiite Militias 72 Hours to Halt Fighting - A day after launching a huge operation that ignited heavy fighting in two of Iraq’s largest cities, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki gave the Shiite militias controlling the southern oil city of Basra an ultimatum on Wednesday: lay down their weapons within 72 hours or face more severe consequences. 

According to a BBC investigation it has concluded that British folowed closley by Americans eat the most fast food than any other country. It observed a trend of obesity throughout the world except Asia. It claimed that, "45% in the UK" would not give up fast food due to the taste. Obesity related illness pose a great threat to healthcare systems worldwide.

This article was an intresting read as it shed light unto health practices around the world. Although I am not suprised by the finding, since it was the U.S. that practically coined the world and concept, it makes sense why we love our fast food. The fact that many countries outside of the U.S. and U.K. have the same relationship to fast food speaks of the globalization and commercilization of western ideals throughout the world. I would be a hypocrite if I were to claim that I do not eat fast food but as with anything one must consume it with moderation. Our ancestors in the past were much active than we are nowadays. You can attribute that to technology but that does not excuse the fact that we should assume a lifestyle with excercise. Its a new year . . . do something about it!

A new study revealed that Emergency Room doctors are prescribing stronger pain-relivers to white patients who complain about pain than minority patients. Linda Simoni-Wastilla of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Pharmacy speculates that, "doctors' suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics." She then claims that blacks are least likely to abuse prescription drugs than whites according to research that she has conducted. The way a patient reacts to pain plays a role. Dr. Mark Pletcher, co-author of the Univeristy of Califronia, San Francisco study claims that, "Minority patients may be less likely to keep complaining about their pain." The study was conducted over 13 years and will be published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.