.
While Bloomie and Christie were whining from their elitist perches during the blizzard, Cory Booker was getting it done for his constituents in Newark.
I'm saving this commentary on Hypocrisy he's written for HuffPost, because—given the speed with which the bullpucky spin's already rising in DeeCee—I've a hunch I'm going to need to go back to it for clear-eyed vision from time to time this year.
Booker's writing about health and hypocrisy, but his message transcends carbs of sugar. Take heed.
.
Showing posts with label health and wellness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health and wellness. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Prairie's Reading: The life you save....
.
Darksyde over at DailyKos has a post this morning well worth setting aside your morning blogreading or cereal-box reading for.
Regenerative medicine is a subject that's caught the attention of the Sunshine family because we know the challenges of living with a removed limb. And the prospect that some day that could be restored is one that we hope for, for others down the road. Because like most science, cures and treatments take years to develop.
So when roadblocks are put in the way of that development, it behooves us all to take a look at why.
The Bush Administration's War on Science and Medicine has examples that are legion. Changing scientific documents prepared by their own departments. Muzzling scientists from speaking out. Cutting funding.
And ultimately that's a war on each of us...because, as DarkSyde notes, the diseases and events which make regenerative medicine a necessary science are waiting for us all.
.
Darksyde over at DailyKos has a post this morning well worth setting aside your morning blogreading or cereal-box reading for.
Regenerative medicine is a subject that's caught the attention of the Sunshine family because we know the challenges of living with a removed limb. And the prospect that some day that could be restored is one that we hope for, for others down the road. Because like most science, cures and treatments take years to develop.
So when roadblocks are put in the way of that development, it behooves us all to take a look at why.
The Bush Administration's War on Science and Medicine has examples that are legion. Changing scientific documents prepared by their own departments. Muzzling scientists from speaking out. Cutting funding.
And ultimately that's a war on each of us...because, as DarkSyde notes, the diseases and events which make regenerative medicine a necessary science are waiting for us all.
.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Health Matters...and so does Science
.
This morning, I came across one of those beautiful reasons why the blogosphere matters...about far more than politics, or sports, or whatever special interest may usually send you its cyber-siren song.
This morning at DailyKos, the rescue rangers had highlighted a posting by JohnnyRook, a tribute to his wife and caregiver on the occasion of their anniversary. The posting is a poignant one, worth reading all for itself.
But in the reading, I was stopped in my scrolling tracks by one commenter's mention about the possible impact of treating leukemia with methadone. Being part of a leukemia survivor/endurer family, this kind of thing perks up my antennae.
And since google alerts hadn't yet sent this info direct to my inbox, I did a fast shuffle into google to learn more.
Would that all the health-related news from the blogosphere were so uplifting. However, a recent link from reader Melody reminded me that there are sharks in the healthcare industry and its environs as well. Not that that should come as any surprise, since there seem to be so many sharks on the loose in every section and corner of our country these days. And no I don't mean the finny ones swimmin' in the waters of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.
I put a mental curse on those folks each time I read in our tall timber weekly newspapers the small ads promoting a benefit dinner for an area resident going thru treatment...and it's usually for some form or other of cancer.
And then there's the word today that Bob Novak got dire news about his brain tumor. As did Senator Ted Kennedy in recent weeks. As a blog commenter I read earlier on another site observed, we wish Novak better than those on the right wished Senator Ted. For each we hope for healing, and courage, and serenity to face the days ahead.
Living with a cancer endurer, I know this is one curse you wish on nobody.
Special props to Joanie McCall of the Park Rapids MN community, who's outlasted her doctor's dire diagnosis for her brain cancer [unfortunately the PR MN paper doesn't seem to keep their stories accessible long enough to link this one].
Back full circle, my wish for you, visitor, is a healthy life, the sustained resource of the Internet to educate and inform you when you need it [as we did and do about the ongoing challenge of living with chronic lymphocytic leukemia], and the hope that the good guys will live long and prosper, and the scoundrels be hoist on their own petard...and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
.
This morning, I came across one of those beautiful reasons why the blogosphere matters...about far more than politics, or sports, or whatever special interest may usually send you its cyber-siren song.
This morning at DailyKos, the rescue rangers had highlighted a posting by JohnnyRook, a tribute to his wife and caregiver on the occasion of their anniversary. The posting is a poignant one, worth reading all for itself.
But in the reading, I was stopped in my scrolling tracks by one commenter's mention about the possible impact of treating leukemia with methadone. Being part of a leukemia survivor/endurer family, this kind of thing perks up my antennae.
And since google alerts hadn't yet sent this info direct to my inbox, I did a fast shuffle into google to learn more.
Would that all the health-related news from the blogosphere were so uplifting. However, a recent link from reader Melody reminded me that there are sharks in the healthcare industry and its environs as well. Not that that should come as any surprise, since there seem to be so many sharks on the loose in every section and corner of our country these days. And no I don't mean the finny ones swimmin' in the waters of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.
I put a mental curse on those folks each time I read in our tall timber weekly newspapers the small ads promoting a benefit dinner for an area resident going thru treatment...and it's usually for some form or other of cancer.
And then there's the word today that Bob Novak got dire news about his brain tumor. As did Senator Ted Kennedy in recent weeks. As a blog commenter I read earlier on another site observed, we wish Novak better than those on the right wished Senator Ted. For each we hope for healing, and courage, and serenity to face the days ahead.
Living with a cancer endurer, I know this is one curse you wish on nobody.
Special props to Joanie McCall of the Park Rapids MN community, who's outlasted her doctor's dire diagnosis for her brain cancer [unfortunately the PR MN paper doesn't seem to keep their stories accessible long enough to link this one].
Back full circle, my wish for you, visitor, is a healthy life, the sustained resource of the Internet to educate and inform you when you need it [as we did and do about the ongoing challenge of living with chronic lymphocytic leukemia], and the hope that the good guys will live long and prosper, and the scoundrels be hoist on their own petard...and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Don't Worry, Stay Healthy
.
Well, John McCain brought forth his healthcare plan today. And if you are...well, that is...hey, no problem. A tax credit. An open market. [Would that be like the unregulated airline industry?...that's workin' well these days. Not.]
People choose, says McCain, instead of employers or...booga, boogah...the gummint. We, the people are the government, though, if we can just wrench it back from the neocon Republican extremists.
But if you're not well, hey, have they got a deal for you.
Oh, wait, what's that you say? There is no deal for the chronically ill, those with pre-existing medical conditions?
Shhhh, wait, have you heard the latest about Obama's pastor?
McCain offers the usual Republican panacea...the unseen hand of the marketplace. Hyperbole about state-philosophized GAP programs that may or may not emerge. Oh, and go walking 30 minutes a day so ya don't get sick.
That's our Johnny. Always a quick fix that ends up not passing the smell test. Kinda like that campaign finance reform bill--unKeating-Feingold, remember?--he's end-running these days. Or is it end-flying, thanks to his wife's corporate jet.
Well, John McCain brought forth his healthcare plan today. And if you are...well, that is...hey, no problem. A tax credit. An open market. [Would that be like the unregulated airline industry?...that's workin' well these days. Not.]
People choose, says McCain, instead of employers or...booga, boogah...the gummint. We, the people are the government, though, if we can just wrench it back from the neocon Republican extremists.
But if you're not well, hey, have they got a deal for you.
Oh, wait, what's that you say? There is no deal for the chronically ill, those with pre-existing medical conditions?
Shhhh, wait, have you heard the latest about Obama's pastor?
McCain offers the usual Republican panacea...the unseen hand of the marketplace. Hyperbole about state-philosophized GAP programs that may or may not emerge. Oh, and go walking 30 minutes a day so ya don't get sick.
That's our Johnny. Always a quick fix that ends up not passing the smell test. Kinda like that campaign finance reform bill--unKeating-Feingold, remember?--he's end-running these days. Or is it end-flying, thanks to his wife's corporate jet.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Be Your Own Advocate
.
We've all heard the urging over and over to be your own advocate when it comes to health care. To read the fine print, to ask questions, to take notes in the doctor's office, to look things up.
Well, yesterday's 60 Minutes caught our ear because one man, who also travels the leukemia road as our Sunshine family does, decided to go a step further. He's invented a radiowave machine that kills cancer cells.
John Kanzius may not live long enough to see his machine routinely used for cancer treatments, but it's already caught the attention of cancer doctors who are carrying forward his research.
With all the fluff and flat-out crapola that passes for news and information these days, we want to take a moment out of "bitterness" and orange juice and elitism and salute a man who shows what really matters.
Like the farmer who plants walnut trees that will be harvested long after his own passing, John Kanzius is planting a seed of progress. His selfless gift gives hope and inspiration. He lives the example of the best of using one's intellect and imagination. And we wish him long years of good health.
In times when science is kicked around like a football, subject to scorn and derision from the Luddites who want to take progress back to—well, I would say the Stone Age, but we're learning more and more that centuries ago men were performing scientific tasks that became lost in antiquity and had to be totally reinvented. [Check out the History Channel for excellent examples.]
Imagine how far we could have come if so-called civilization had focused on bettering the whole rather than dividing and conquering and mocking and warmongering the planet. Could be, that's the real Revelation.
Salute and thank you to CBS... at least you're gettin' one thing right.
We've all heard the urging over and over to be your own advocate when it comes to health care. To read the fine print, to ask questions, to take notes in the doctor's office, to look things up.
Well, yesterday's 60 Minutes caught our ear because one man, who also travels the leukemia road as our Sunshine family does, decided to go a step further. He's invented a radiowave machine that kills cancer cells.
John Kanzius may not live long enough to see his machine routinely used for cancer treatments, but it's already caught the attention of cancer doctors who are carrying forward his research.
With all the fluff and flat-out crapola that passes for news and information these days, we want to take a moment out of "bitterness" and orange juice and elitism and salute a man who shows what really matters.
Like the farmer who plants walnut trees that will be harvested long after his own passing, John Kanzius is planting a seed of progress. His selfless gift gives hope and inspiration. He lives the example of the best of using one's intellect and imagination. And we wish him long years of good health.
In times when science is kicked around like a football, subject to scorn and derision from the Luddites who want to take progress back to—well, I would say the Stone Age, but we're learning more and more that centuries ago men were performing scientific tasks that became lost in antiquity and had to be totally reinvented. [Check out the History Channel for excellent examples.]
Imagine how far we could have come if so-called civilization had focused on bettering the whole rather than dividing and conquering and mocking and warmongering the planet. Could be, that's the real Revelation.
Salute and thank you to CBS... at least you're gettin' one thing right.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Hungry...for Food, for Truth, for Life
.
Google "Haiti hunger riots" as I did this morning and you'll get 165,000 links and counting... we touched on this issue back in January in Let Them Eat Mud Cookies... and then we got distracted again by "larger" world issues...
We can look right in our own hemispheric back yard. Where Haitian immigrants fleeing their desperate straits across dangerous waters get turned back while Cubanos are welcomed to South Florida with open arms. Where rightwing ranters fly over on the way to Dominica and its sex tourism trade and juicy cigars.
And the rest of us "fly over" too, turning a deaf ear to the cries for food, for help; a blind eye to the gaunt desperation that drives people to riot, to burn buildings, to attack their neighbors. To foment the seeds of revolution.
We have a Current Occupant who doesn't have a problem with dictators, as long as they're "our" dictators; we have leadership on both sides of the aisle who go along, we have media who hide the truth or slant it for their cronies' convenience and their profit margins.
We are urged to SHOP--Self-absorbed hypnosis on parade.....
Where is our Golden Rule? Our Christian compassion? Our "whatsoever ye do unto the least of my brethren...."? An overarching government policy based on humanitarianism instead of warmongering, unity instead of divisiveness, diplomacy instead of saber-rattling and bombs is good business in the long run.
Starving people without decent jobs do not good consumers make.
This transcends a single program or policy. No matter how much I may care about a single issue, like healthcare, or restoring scientific research, or bringing our troops home, or..... I truly believe we must embrace the "and." Because this year, single issues are more of the same ol' destructive road we've been travelling far too long.
Hunger intersects with economics, and environment, and immigration, and global climate change, and revolutions, and we must look at the big picture we've ignored far too long, no thanks to the slice-n-dice political posturants and the media.
Google "Haiti hunger riots" as I did this morning and you'll get 165,000 links and counting... we touched on this issue back in January in Let Them Eat Mud Cookies... and then we got distracted again by "larger" world issues...
- the Iraq occupation/fiasco
- the assault on the Constitution, Yoo-hoo, anybody seen my civil liberties lately?
- the political campaign season and the media's best efforts to trivialize it to horserace and gotcha status...which spouse has the corniest jokes, or the most troweled-on cosmetics, or the most money-grubbing ties to Colombia....
We can look right in our own hemispheric back yard. Where Haitian immigrants fleeing their desperate straits across dangerous waters get turned back while Cubanos are welcomed to South Florida with open arms. Where rightwing ranters fly over on the way to Dominica and its sex tourism trade and juicy cigars.
And the rest of us "fly over" too, turning a deaf ear to the cries for food, for help; a blind eye to the gaunt desperation that drives people to riot, to burn buildings, to attack their neighbors. To foment the seeds of revolution.
We have a Current Occupant who doesn't have a problem with dictators, as long as they're "our" dictators; we have leadership on both sides of the aisle who go along, we have media who hide the truth or slant it for their cronies' convenience and their profit margins.
We are urged to SHOP--Self-absorbed hypnosis on parade.....
Where is our Golden Rule? Our Christian compassion? Our "whatsoever ye do unto the least of my brethren...."? An overarching government policy based on humanitarianism instead of warmongering, unity instead of divisiveness, diplomacy instead of saber-rattling and bombs is good business in the long run.
Starving people without decent jobs do not good consumers make.
This transcends a single program or policy. No matter how much I may care about a single issue, like healthcare, or restoring scientific research, or bringing our troops home, or..... I truly believe we must embrace the "and." Because this year, single issues are more of the same ol' destructive road we've been travelling far too long.
Hunger intersects with economics, and environment, and immigration, and global climate change, and revolutions, and we must look at the big picture we've ignored far too long, no thanks to the slice-n-dice political posturants and the media.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Health. Care.
.
The passion Elizabeth Edwards brings to the subject of health care is undeniable. Many of us share that passion because, like her, our family travels the cancer road. And in so doing, we experience, either directly or through our loved ones, the exquisite toll that road extracts.
We know what it means to deal with health care providers, even at their best, and with the frustrations of insurance coverages, or lack of coverages. And even the Rube Goldbergian state of the business side of the health care industry these days. Makes those Hillary Care mocking diagrams the Republicans pushed back then look like a straight-line walk in the park compared to the cumbersome and convoluted and maze-like contraptions the Republican-controlled Congress provided over the years since 1994.
So I follow with interest Elizabeth's take on the candidates and their health care programs.
Without getting into the fine points of those programs, however, because me weary head spins in the doing, I'm of a mind that style matters as much as substance in this argument. Here's why.
No health care program at all will be effective if it can't get through the Congress. Carl Bernstein addressed this issue on the Imus Show this morning [no link avail yet] in making the point that the health care plan—and the way Hillary shepherded it—not only did not pass muster with the Congress, it was also, in Bernstein's opinion, a significant if not the major, cause of the Democrats' loss of the Congress to Newtster and the Republicans.
I think we're seeing deja voodoo all over again in this campaign. All the detailed nuanced planning in the world won't make a hill of beans of difference if it can't be passed. And that's where I may be diverging from Elizabeth Edwards' take. Because I'm seein' same ol', same ol' from 2/3 of the remaining candidates.
My personal candidate support is not based on a single issue, important as it is, but the overarching arc of what each of the three remaining candidates offer in terms of style as well as substance. Because it's going to take style—a cool kind of style, methinks—to lead the people in getting this car that is America back out of the muck in the ditch, cleaned up, tuned up, and back on the road.
And there's only one place I'm seeing that right now, with a candidate who coolly tells his audience that he has expectations of them, as well as himself. A candidate who refuses to let his opponents or the media frame him as a single issue candidate. And the audience responds to that, because they—we—are ready for expectations. Young and old, we're not cowering under our school desks anymore, and we're ready to do better.
The passion Elizabeth Edwards brings to the subject of health care is undeniable. Many of us share that passion because, like her, our family travels the cancer road. And in so doing, we experience, either directly or through our loved ones, the exquisite toll that road extracts.
We know what it means to deal with health care providers, even at their best, and with the frustrations of insurance coverages, or lack of coverages. And even the Rube Goldbergian state of the business side of the health care industry these days. Makes those Hillary Care mocking diagrams the Republicans pushed back then look like a straight-line walk in the park compared to the cumbersome and convoluted and maze-like contraptions the Republican-controlled Congress provided over the years since 1994.
So I follow with interest Elizabeth's take on the candidates and their health care programs.
Without getting into the fine points of those programs, however, because me weary head spins in the doing, I'm of a mind that style matters as much as substance in this argument. Here's why.
No health care program at all will be effective if it can't get through the Congress. Carl Bernstein addressed this issue on the Imus Show this morning [no link avail yet] in making the point that the health care plan—and the way Hillary shepherded it—not only did not pass muster with the Congress, it was also, in Bernstein's opinion, a significant if not the major, cause of the Democrats' loss of the Congress to Newtster and the Republicans.
I think we're seeing deja voodoo all over again in this campaign. All the detailed nuanced planning in the world won't make a hill of beans of difference if it can't be passed. And that's where I may be diverging from Elizabeth Edwards' take. Because I'm seein' same ol', same ol' from 2/3 of the remaining candidates.
My personal candidate support is not based on a single issue, important as it is, but the overarching arc of what each of the three remaining candidates offer in terms of style as well as substance. Because it's going to take style—a cool kind of style, methinks—to lead the people in getting this car that is America back out of the muck in the ditch, cleaned up, tuned up, and back on the road.
And there's only one place I'm seeing that right now, with a candidate who coolly tells his audience that he has expectations of them, as well as himself. A candidate who refuses to let his opponents or the media frame him as a single issue candidate. And the audience responds to that, because they—we—are ready for expectations. Young and old, we're not cowering under our school desks anymore, and we're ready to do better.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy V Day
Yep, it's Valentine's Day. We won't tell you to take your sweetheart to dinner or buy a batch o'flowers or candy today or even that heart-shaped pizza from Green Mill. Nope.
Take your sweetheart by the hand and take a walk. February is National Heart Health Month. Wear red if you want to, but keep your heart pumpin' healthy and get a move on. And bring the couch potato kids along with you.
More food for thought in the works today.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Prairie Postcard: To Your Health
Something important happened Sunday night on 60 Minutes. We saw the two Democratic Senators contending for President offer more substance on the nation's health care than the President and Congress seem to have done for the past seven years.
Obama: get your daily exercise (he does basketball).
Clinton: quit the sodas and drink lots of water. Wash your hands...or use sanitizers like Purell. Eat hot peppers.
Thanks, Senators. Lesson taken: your good health starts with you.
Remember the blueberries and cinnamon on your oatmeal this morning, folks...and have a good health day.
UPDATE: As the folks over at Crooks & Liars remind us, today is Chee-knee shot a guy in the face and got away with it day—the second anniversary of the day Vice President Dick [his first name is "Dick"—that figures...my daughter's best line ever, long before BushCo] Cheney shot 78-year-old Harry Whittington in the face while "hunting" on a "hunting" ranch in Texas with no women named Lynn. Protect your health...never "hunt" with Dick.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Don't Blink....
Mirror therapy for phantom pain has caught our attention lately. The media reports of Dr. Jack Tsao's groundbreaking study hold promise for relieving or mitigating phantom pain in a way that centuries of research and medicine have failed to do. All with a simple mirror. Anything that offers a fresh approach is worth looking into.
Mirrors are a fascinating thing. We see the entire path of our life in mirrors if we take the time to look. Not just that view of the last bit of roadway we’ve traveled, but the whole course of years and miles.
A snippet of a country-western song on the radio still ear-worms an undernote today: Don’t blink….a hundred years goes faster than you think….
We live in such a fast-paced world…not just the highways, the faster and faster airplanes…the faster world on these magical little computer screens we totally take for granted.
Where would we be if abruptly all the computer screens faded to black, shut down, stopped doing their little magic and all we had left were…mirrors?
Would we give ourselves time to like what we see?
Here’s a little life-practice…no excuses, it’s the weekend, you have time.
Look into your mirror for 15 minutes. Set a timer if you need to, time has a way of expanding and compressing totally at odds with how fast we think it’s moving.
What do you see? Scars? Pimples? Sags and wrinkles? Too many frosted cinnamon rolls? Or plastic, botox fillin’ in the living places, stretching taut and pulling away who you used to be? We do tend to zero in on what we think are the flaws, don’t we?
Take 15 minutes. What dreams are still bottled up inside behind those eyes? Have you taken time to see them lately? Or have you been putting yourself on display to yourself so long you’ve forgotten what those dreams are?
Have you been so busy getting through the days you’ve forgotten to take time to reflect on how you’re getting thru?
You may think of a few people who need this a lot more than you do…world leaders, your boss, the guy in the next lane, teevee people…oh, you’re right. I can think of a ton of them, too.
But for these 15 minutes, let’s just take a look at ourselves. Remember when you fell off the playground equipment and got that little nick right above your eye? It’s still there, if you look carefully enough. That’s part of what made you.
Look carefully. Take 15 minutes. Take stock. Be honest. Be nurturing. Because that’s a pretty incredible thing, that face looking back at you from the mirror.
Just don’t blink….
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Defragging your Life
I’m defragging this weekend. Out here in the tall timber, where the internet hookup is dinosaur dial-up, so slow that I’m not even sure these words much less a picture will upload unless I drive 20 miles into town in search of wifi.
And there you have it—the excuse looming—even in defragging the sneaky weasel of “I’m so busy….”
The little bits and bytes and documents and corrupted files and glitches and everything else that goes into making each day every once in a while need to be dragged back into order and clarity and function.
Doing that takes an effort. It takes shutting down all the programs and plans and schedules and saying, wait. Time-out. With a purpose.
Defragging can be as easy and uncomplicated sometimes as simply closing your eyes, tuning out the background noise and just breathing deep. Or it can be as complicated as packing up and heading out to the Amazon for a few weeks. Or climbing
Saluting Sir Edmund Hillary this snowy tall timber morning. May his heavens be filled with mountains and the vigor to climb them.
The architect author Sarah Susanka in her Not So Big House books gives voice to defragging as a model for architecture and home concepting. Reading her, I learned of making an “away place” within your home.
Whether you call it defragging or going to your away place or journaling or climbing
Go ahead, start your defragging now…first, close your eyes….
Monday, January 7, 2008
Strong at the Broken Places
Because we live with disability in the Sunshine household, Richard M. Cohen's appearance this morning on the Imus show caught our attention. He's touting his new book, Strong at the Broken Places, which recounts the life experiences of five people who live with chronic illnesses.
Cohen himself [Mr. Meredith Vieira of Today Show fame--and The View infamy?] lives with multiple sclerosis and now blindness.
He hit some hot buttons we understand...the disabled are not looking for a hand...or a handout. We, disabled and caregiver alike, just want to be treated like everybody else. With this book, Cohen offers, in fact, a hand out to the "normal" community but more importantly, a reaching-out to others who daily endure the challenges of life lived as fully as possible despite the crap that is disability and chronic illness.
In their conversation, Imus and Cohen amplify a telling point: these are the stories the general public--and doctors!--don't hear enough.
Don't know about you guys, but I'm planning to get this book as soon as the local bookstore opens this morning--and if they don't have it yet, I'll be ordering it online. One for us, one for the local library, one for Mr. Sunshine's doctors, one for.... well, you get the idea. This is a long overdue subject for discussion.
Kind of like the whole business of turning the page on the status quo in politics. Enough of healthcare--and living--being dictated from the top down. Patients and caregivers' voices must be heard, and Cohen offers a much needed catapult to the conversation.
And yes, there's a website. I've already stopped by, and I hope you will, too. Tell 'em Prairie sent you... Strong at the Broken Places
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)