Free Republic

The real liberal objection to the war on terror is that it takes away from domestic spending priorities like ObamaCare. The White House says domestic politics is irrelevant to its pending Afghanistan decision, but domestic politicians beg to differ. "There ain't going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan," the liberal warhorse David Obey told ABC's Jonathan Karl, before threatening a "war surtax" if President Obama does end up granting General Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops. "That's what happened with the Vietnam War, which wiped out the Great Society," the House Appropriations...

The flap over breast cancer screening has provided a fascinating insight into the political future of ObamaCare. Specifically, the political left supports such medical rationing even as it disavows that any such thing is happening. No sooner had the Health and Human Services Department's U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended against mammography for women under 50 than Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rushed to say don't worry. The decision had "caused a great deal of confusion and worry among women," she said, promising that no policies would change. New Jersey's Frank Pallone vowed to hold hearings, and Senator Dick Durbin leveled the...

The health-care bill in its current form would create a regulatory mess estimated by one Senator to add100,000 new administrators in over 100 new bureaucracies. Many of these bureaucracies will get between doctors and patients. Others are simply a waste of money.... To pay for all this new bureaucracy there will be dozens of new taxes totaling nearly $800 billion and extending to items such as wheelchairs and hospital gowns. Almost every major recent public opinion poll has shown more Americans oppose Obama/Pelosi/Reid Care than support it. Just this week, in The Wall Street Journal, the Dean of the Harvard...

In light of yesterday’s display of political prostitution by U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Storyville), which is being dubbed The Louisiana Purchase by some in the media, one wonders whether this isn’t the perfect time to launch a recall effort... ----------- Clip ----------- Is a recall difficult? No doubt. Louisiana law requires signatures of a third of the voters in last year’s election within 180 days of the petition’s filing, which means 632,192 signatures would be needed in six months. Over 908,000 people voted against Landrieu last year, so there is a market out there which can be tapped to achieve...

Women who store fat on their waist in middle age are more than twice as likely to develop dementia when they get older, reveals a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy. The study has just been published in the scientific journal Neurology. "Anyone carrying a lot of fat around the middle is at greater risk of dying prematurely due to a heart attack or stroke," says Deborah Gustafson, senior lecturer at the Sahlgrenska Academy. "If they nevertheless manage to live beyond 70, they run a greater risk of dementia." The research is based on the Prospective Population Study of Women...

He promised to end the old Washington games yet plays along with health care gimmicks and lies!It's little more than a year now since Obama was elected. Plenty of time for the not so well informed public to forget the principles Obama campaigned on and the promises he made. Even as he repeated his "eight principles" in his budget message in February, he is set on a course that will violate nearly every one of them. By now it should be painfully clear to all but the most diehard Obamaton that the current "reforms" violate every principle and promise Obama...

A new pill that could cure one of the most lethal forms of cancer is being developed by scientists. British researchers have found that a drug destroys tumours in a form of inoperable lung cancer that kills more than nine out of 10 sufferers. The treatment works by blocking the growth of the cancer cells and eventually causing them to self destruct. In more than 50 per cent of the trials, the treatment, which appears to have no side affects, killed all traces of the disease. "We are very excited about it," said Professor Michael Seckl, the molecular oncologist who...

Enlarge ImageBusybody. A new study suggests HSV-2, seen here as orange particles, is constantly active even when patients don't have symptoms. Credit: Dennis Kunkel Microscopy Inc./Visuals Unlimited, Inc. Genital herpes comes and goes--at least that's what it looks like to patients. But a mathematical model published in the 18 November issue of Science Translational Medicine suggests that herpes never slumbers. Instead, nerve cells continuously pump out the virus in minuscule quantities over a sufferer's lifetime. If the findings hold, it may be much harder to stop patients from passing on the infection than researchers thought. As many as one...

Elena Ravalli was a seemingly healthy 37-year-old when she began to experience strange attacks of vertigo, numbness, temporary vision loss and crushing fatigue. They were classic signs of multiple sclerosis, a potentially debilitating neurological disease. It was 1995 and her husband, Paolo Zamboni, a professor of medicine at the University of Ferrara in Italy, set out to help. He was determined to solve the mystery of MS – an illness that strikes people in the prime of their lives but whose causes are unknown and whose effective treatments are few. What he learned in his medical detective work, scouring dusty...

A group of doctors in Italy is investigating a fascinating new treatment for multiple sclerosis, based on a theory that, if proven true, could radically alter the lives of patients.... Patients seen in the documentary relate how, after the simple procedure, their MS symptoms suddenly stopped and, in some cases, they were able to resume normal lives....

Boosting the level of a brain chemical reverses learning impairments in a mouse model of Down syndrome, researchers report. The work adds to emerging evidence that cognition-enhancing drugs may one day help humans with Down syndrome lead more independent lives. Down syndrome is the most common cause of mental retardation, affecting approximately one in 800 babies at birth. People with the disorder have an extra copy of chromosome 21, giving them additional copies of hundreds of genes. This somehow alters brain development and causes mild to severe learning disabilities. To investigate what goes wrong in the brain of someone who...

Obama provides his people a link to contact media to support healthcare bill! We can take advantage of it! We can use this same link to OPPOSE it. Dick Morris says we have to get 8% points in disapproval ratings to defeat it! Please follow this link, send your letter of opposition. (and continue to fax): Barack Obamas " Organizing for America " has put the call out for people to Email their local papers and write a letter to the editor. They have created a VERY easy and fast way to write all your local papers with just a...

Massachusetts voters will have to wait until Jan. 19 to elect a successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy, but Gov. Deval Patrick is pushing to name an interim appointee in the meantime.... Right now, Massachusetts law does not allow the governor to appoint a temporary Senate replacement. But Patrick said he supported plans for a hearing Sept. 9 on a bill that would give him the power to do just that.

If I was a Senator allowed to debate the health care bill, this is what I would say. Distinguished colleagues and my fellow Americans: Are we here to promote the general welfare, or are we here to promote it's general destruction? If you believe the government has the power to compel it citizens to buy a product, then you believe in it's destruction, If you believe the government has the power to redistribute health services so every American is covered, then you believe in it's destruction. If you believe the government has the power to tax the wealthy every time...

It is up to you Arkansas. You make your voices heard now! Blanch Lincoln has got to go in the next election! Ni nice anymore. Same goes for you in Louisianna!

The CDC now reports that nearly 4,000 Americans have been killed by H1N1 swine flu. This number is supposed to sound big and scary, motivating millions of people to go out and pay good money to be injected with untested, unproven H1N1 vaccines. "Conservative calculations estimate that approximately 107,000 patients are hospitalized annually for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-related gastrointestinal (GI) complications and at least 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur each year among arthritis patients alone." (Singh Gurkirpal, MD, “Recent Considerations in Nonsteroidal

Ok Hoosiers...it is time to call Bayh and tell him that he will not be getting our vote next year after tonight's vote...lets see if we can swing this "moderate"..call the Democrat cloak room (the dems are laughing it up in the background there) (202) 224-4691 or his office (202) 224-5623 He also has a FB to leave comments on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evan-Bayh/7166803506?v=wall

The obesity bubble is in no danger of bursting. While lawmakers like to vilify insurance and pharmaceutical companies for driving up health-care costs to make fat profits, obesity is actually a far bigger reason for ballooning costs. Call it the obesity bubble, and a study out this week shows that it's in no danger of bursting. Obesity is defined as having a body-mass-index (BMI) of 30 or greater. For example, a person who is 5'8 and weighs 200 pounds has a BMI of 30 and would be considered obese. According to the study's author and the executive director of the...

NOVEMBER 21, 2009 The Henry Ford of Heart Surgery In India, a Factory Model for Hospitals Is Cutting Costs and Yielding GEETA ANAND. BANGALORE -- Hair tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an 11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta onto his stopped heart. As Dr. Shetty pulls the thread tight with scissors, an assistant reads aloud a proposed agreement for him to build a new hospital in the Cayman Islands that would primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care....

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight undergraduates take a fitness course to receive their degrees has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts. Officials at historically black Lincoln University said Friday that the school is simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community. "We know we're in the midst of an obesity epidemic," said James L. DeBoy, chairman of Lincoln's department of health, physical education and recreation. "We have an obligation to address this head on, knowing full well there's going to be some fallout."...

If it's the right thing to do why do you need a $100 million payoff?The $100 Million Health Care Vote? By Jonathon Karl ABC News November 19, 2009 3:03 PM What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform? Here’s a case study. On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.” The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been...

Group suggests new guidelines for cervical cancer screenings. Alisyn is cute!

Ninety-two percent of the almost 2,000 physicians who responded to a Jackson Healthcare survey of physicians agree with Dr. Chad Hewitt. The number one way to reduce health care costs may be tort reform.

(CBS) A man weighing around 900 pounds died after he had to be cut out his chair in home, reports CBS affiliate WSPA-TV from Greenwood, S.C. Authorities say he was stuck to a chair for nine months. Daniel Webb, 33, died after being taken from his home on County Farm Road Wednesday. Webb had been in a medical chair for nine months, covered in sores and human waste. Authorities say Webb died from cardiac arrest. Webb hadn’t left his house, or even walked for almost nine months. His wife Ada Webb says he hurt his knee and could no longer...

What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform? Here’s a case study. On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.” The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.” I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get...

As the dean of Harvard Medical School I am frequently asked to comment on the health-reform debate. I'd give it a failing grade. Instead of forthrightly dealing with the fundamental problems, discussion is dominated by rival factions struggling to enact or defeat President Barack Obama's agenda. The rhetoric on both sides is exaggerated and often deceptive. Those of us for whom the central issue is health—not politics—have been left in the lurch. And as controversy heads toward a conclusion in Washington, it appears that the people who favor the legislation are engaged in collective denial... Speeches and news reports can...

Joubert/Photo Researchers, Inc A neuron in the brain. Researchers at Princeton University recently made a remarkable discovery about the brains of rats that exercise. Some of their neurons respond differently to stress than the neurons of slothful rats. Scientists have known for some time that exercise stimulates the creation of new brain cells (neurons) but not how, precisely, these neurons might be functionally different from other brain cells.In the experiment, preliminary results of which were presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, scientists allowed one group of rats to run. Another set of...

Fat Studies On Display Bethany Stotts, November 19, 2009 Political correctness has run amok in the ivory tower. If some academics have their way, college students soon will be forced to vet themselves for not only subconscious racist, sexist and classist thoughts, but fatist ones as well. “In the tradition of critical race studies, queer studies, and women’s studies, fat studies is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship marked by an aggressive, consistent, rigorous critique of the negative assumptions, stereotypes, and stigmas placed on fat and the fat body,” write Sondra Solovay and Esther Rothblum in their most recent Chronicle Review...

The 2,074-page Senate health care bill would take 34 hours to read cover to cover -- and that's just what Sen. Tom Coburn wants done on the Senate floor. The Oklahoma Republican has threatened to invoke parliamentary rules to force the Senate clerk (or more likely, a team of clerks) to read the massive bill before the full Senate begins formal debate on the legislation. The move is strictly according to Senate rules, which say any senator can demand a bill be read in its entirety before debate begins. While Democrats could, if they wish, repeatedly make motions to end...

OTTAWA — Despite the recent surge in H1N1 deaths, the nation's chief public health officer says the pandemic virus appears no deadlier than regular seasonal influenza and that there could actually be substantially fewer flu deaths than normal this season. Although H1N1 is disproportionately infecting more children and otherwise healthy young adults, "the mortality rate from this (H1N1) is no worse than seasonal flu," Dr. David Butler-Jones said. "The individual risk of severe disease or dying if you happen to get the flu is very similar today as it was back in June. It's just that we're starting to see...

H1N1 vaccine distribution is a farce By Other Voices November 18, 2009, 3:58AM After being denied H1N1 vaccines for my asthmatic children in Cuyahoga County a short time ago, I took them to Summit County. This was an investment of time as we waited in line like cattle. We were herded throughout the building and given misinformation at almost every turn. The worst was about the type of shot my son could receive. I was informed on the phone and at two points in the line that he could get a thimerosal-free shot. Not so when he sat down for...

In two days, the CEO of Mayo Clinic will step down. Wednesday morning, Dr. Denis Cortese gave his thoughts on the future of Mayo, health care reform, and his largest accomplishments. "It feels good. It feels good to retire and move on to some bigger issues that I've developed a major interest in over the last 15 to 20 years. And it will give me a chance to concentrate on those." After 40 years with Mayo Clinic, though, health care will always be a big issue for Dr. Denis Cortese. He started at Mayo as a medical student and ended...

Tufts University researchers have identified a gene-diet interaction that appears to influence body weight and have replicated their findings in three independent studies. Men and women carrying the CC genotype demonstrated higher body mass index (BMI) scores and a higher incidence of obesity, but only if they consumed a diet high in saturated fat. These associations were seen in the apolipoprotein A-II gene (APOA2) promoter. "We believe this is the first time a gene-diet interaction influencing BMI and obesity has been replicated in as many as three independent study populations," says corresponding and senior author Jose Ordovas, PhD, director of...

The battle against global warming could be helped if the world slowed population growth by making free condoms and family planning advice more widely available, the U.N. Population Fund said Wednesday. The agency did not recommend countries set limits on how many children people should have, but said: "Women with access to reproductive health services ... have lower fertility rates that contribute to slower growth in greenhouse gas emissions." "As the growth of population, economies and consumption outpaces the Earth's capacity to adjust, climate change could become much more extreme and conceivably catastrophic," the report said...

A study by researchers at the University of Bergen, Norway, and the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King's College London has found that depression is as much of a risk factor for mortality as smoking. Utilising a unique link between a survey of over 60,000 people and a comprehensive mortality database, the researchers found that over the four years following the survey, the mortality risk was increased to a similar extent in people who were depressed as in people who were smokers...

States in New England top a new set of rankings, while the South still lags. If you want to be healthy, live in Vermont--or at least act like you do. It is the healthiest state in the country, according to a new report from the nonprofit United Health Foundation.

Washington, D.C., had the dubious distinction of beating all 50 states to post the highest rates in the nation for the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. The District of Columbia had a Chlamydia rate of 1,177 cases per 100,000 people--almost three times the rate of its neighbors, Virginia (405) and Maryland (439). Mississippi was a distant second, at 728 cases per 100,000 people. By comparison, California’s rate was 407 cases per 100,000; New York came in at 458; New Mexico...

For many women, getting a mammogram is already one of life's more stressful experiences. Now, women in their 40s have the added anxiety of trying to figure out if they should even be getting one at all. A government task force said Monday that most women don't need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50 — a stunning reversal and a break with the American Cancer Society's long-standing position. What's more, the panel said breast self-exams do no good, and women shouldn't be taught to do them.

More than a decade after Congress directed the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to carry out assessments of endocrine disrupting chemicals, the agency has announced the first set of compounds to be screened under its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can affect hormones produced by the endocrine system, which regulate growth, metabolism and reproduction.The EPA has requested that manufacturers screen seven compounds under this  first round, including atrazine - a widely used herbicide that may be associated with birth defects, low birth weight and menstrual problems. Although banned in Europe, atrazine remains prevalent in the US, with...

(NaturalNews) Here's what we know with some degree of certainty about the H1N1 virus in Ukraine right now: nearly 300 people have died from the viral strain, and over 65,000 people have been hospitalized (the actual numbers are increasing by the hour). The virus appears to be either a highly aggressive mutation of the globally-circulating H1N1 strain, or a combination of three different influenza strains now circulating in Ukraine. Some observers suspect this new "super flu" might be labeled viral hemorrhagic pneumonia (meaning it destroys lung tissue until your lungs bleed so much that you drown in your own fluid),...

www. resistnwo.com FLASHBACK Obama Stating Hes Against Forced Insurance

CDC: STDs On The Rise; Blacks Most Afflicted MetroSource News 11/16/2009 00:15:27 (Washington, DC) -- Sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in America. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control found that in 2008 cases of chlamydia rose by 100-thousand from 2007, while gonorrhea grew to 337-thousand cases and syphilis rose 18-percent in the same time period. Teen girls from 15 to 19 years old had the most cases of both STDs. Nearly 71-percent of reported gonorrhea cases and almost half of all syphilis and chlamydia cases last year afflicted blacks, who make up 12-percent of the population. Black...

Effects of vitamin D deficiency amplified by shortage of estrogenResearchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the first conclusive evidence in men that the long-term ill effects of vitamin D deficiency are amplified by lower levels of the key sex hormone estrogen, but not testosterone. In a national study in 1010 men, to be presented Nov. 15 at the American Heart Association's (AHA) annual Scientific Sessions in Orlando, researchers say the new findings build on previous studies showing that deficiencies in vitamin D and low levels of estrogen, found naturally in differing amounts in men and...

Thought experiment: Ten years from now, the United States has fully embraced universal healthcare and the government is responsible for administering every aspect of medicine. Two patients' files fall on the desk of a governemnt employee: Both have brain tumours in exactly the same places, and only with heroic attempts will either survive. One is a 25 year old man. One is an 91 year old woman. With heroic methods each have about a 20% chance of survival. Since the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution does not discriminate based on age, can the 91 year old woman expect the...

Will the man who questioned Sen. Arlen Specter and Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius...run for Congress? Rob Mitchell, seen in this video posed this question...Rob, a grass-roots, concerned citizen, Air Force ROTC, served in the Air Force, small-business owner and former military medical law attorney wants to run for Congress to unseat Patrick Murphy, a self-proclaimed, Blue Dog Democrat who takes marching orders from Nancy Pelosi. http://www.rob4congress.com/

Move over, red wine. Make room for chocolate milk. A new study suggests that regular consumption of skim milk with flavonoid-rich cocoa may reduce inflammation, potentially slowing or preventing development of atherosclerosis. Researchers noted, however, that the effect was not as pronounced as that seen with red wine. Scientists in Barcelona, Spain, recruited 47 volunteers ages 55 and older who were at risk for heart disease. Half were given 20-gram sachets of soluble cocoa powder to drink with skim milk twice a day, while the rest drank plain skim milk. After one month, the groups were switched. Blood tests found...

Many strokes cannot be explained by known risk factors like high blood pressure and smoking, and scientists have speculated that infection could play a role. A new study is linking cumulative exposure to five common pathogens with an increased risk for stroke. The infections in order of significance are Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, according to the study, published online on Nov. 9 in The Archives of Neurology. “Each of these common pathogens may persist after an acute infection and contribute to perpetuating a state of chronic low-level infection,” said the paper’s lead...

> Magnesium is a must. The diets of all Americans are likely to be deficient. Even a mild deficiency causes sensitiveness to noise, nervousness, irritability, mental depression, confusion, twitching, trembling, apprehension, insomnia, muscle weakness and cramps in the toes, feet, legs, or fingers. Folic acid deficiency can lead to neural tube closure defects (NTDs) and anemia. Zinc deficiency affects immune function, contributing to as many as 800,000 child deaths per year. Iodine deficiency is the leading preventable cause of brain damage and it can significantly lower the IQ of whole populations. >

Leading physician, Dr. Larry Palevsky, offers compelling, scientific justification to challenge the status quo on childhood vaccinations.

It's emblazoned across the front page of USA Today, just underneath a subhead declaring Michael Jackson was, indeed, killed by a drug overdose: "Flu could infect half of USA." The article goes on to describe the predicted number of deaths expected in the U.S. (30,000 - 90,000 Americans) as well as the actions being taken by the government to protect Americans from the coming swine flu pandemic. That advice reads sort of like a comic book of health care advice for kindergarteners: Wash your hands, cover your mouth if you cough and let "the grownups" take care of the rest...