Quote for the Day

Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone.

In the News: World Thinner Deaths

FDA Links More Deaths to Blood Thinner
FDA Triples Count of Death Reports Linked to Tainted Blood Thinner Heparin
WASHINGTON Apr 8, 2008 (AP)

The Food and Drug Administration has tripled the number of deaths it attributes to side effects of the blood thinner heparin, which triggered a massive recall earlier this year.

Hospitals explore other options for blood-thinning drugs after recall.The agency has been investigating contamination of heparin made by the manufacturer Baxter International Inc., which it linked to 19 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions.

After reviewing adverse events back to January 2007, FDA said Tuesday it uncovered 103 reports of patients who died while taking heparin.

Of those deaths, 62 involved allergic reactions or hypotension, a type of dangerously low blood pressure. Those are the same side effects that caused Baxter's to pull all U.S. heparin injections from the market by February.

The agency's month-by-month figures include deaths of patients taking heparin made by various manufacturers, not just Baxter's.

FDA received 55 reports of death with the blood thinner in 2006, but only three were due to allergic reactions.

Quote for the Day

In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy... Lee Iacocca

Quote for the Day

Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body. - Cicero

So do you think we are on the right track?

The results of this poll does not surprise me when I heard about it on the news and read it online at CNN and other sites. Maybe, just maybe we should stop hiding in conversations on Britney's weave and if Brad & Angelina are married and start facing and addressing problems instead of ignoring them - A Thinker

Most Americans say U.S. on wrong track, poll says

NEW YORK (AP) -- More than 80 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, the highest such number since the early 1990s, according to a new survey.

The CBS News-New York Times poll released Thursday showed 81 percent of respondents said they believed "things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track." That was up from 69 percent a year ago, and 35 percent in early 2002.

The survey comes as housing turmoil has rocked Wall Street amid an economic downturn. The economy has surpassed the war in Iraq as the dominating issue of the U.S. presidential race, and there is now nearly a national consensus that the United States faces significant problems, the poll found.

A majority of Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school say the United States is headed in the wrong direction, according to the survey, which was published on The New York Times' Web site.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was doing better.

The newspaper said Americans are more dissatisfied with the country's direction than at any time since the poll's inception in the early 1990s. Only 21 percent of respondents said the overall economy was in good condition, the lowest such number since late 1992. Two in three people said they believed the economy was already in recession.

I love this song...

R.I.P - Martin Luther King, JR.
R.I.P - Sam Cooke

Think of the people in the families and how they are affected daily

80,000 jobs lost in March, just think of those who remain unemployed from previous months. - AThinker




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.

There were fewer jobs in March than there had been five months earlier. In the last 50 years, whenever there has been an employment downturn like the one of the last few months, a recession has followed.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent, its highest level since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. More Americans looked for work than in February, when many simply took themselves out of the job market. But employment opportunities remained sparse.

“Three months in a row of payroll job losses and a sizable negative revision: these are clear signs that the job market is in recession,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economics Policy Institute. “I’m hard-pressed to imagine anyone who would raise doubt to that at this point.”

Definition of the day

from: dictionary.com -

Politician:

1. One who is actively involved in politics, especially party politics. One who holds or seeks a political office.

2. One who seeks personal or partisan gain, often by scheming and maneuvering: "Mothers may still want their favorite sons to grow up to be President, but . . . they do not want them to become politicians in the process" (John F. Kennedy).

3. One who is skilled or experienced in the science or administration of government.

The Clintons definitely enjoy playing the politics game

I must say that nothing they say or do shock me anymore. I do believe they have done some great things in their career but with their sense of entitlement they really are more and more of a turnoff. I wasn't surprised to read this online today - AThinker

Clinton: Senator Obama 'cannot win' Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:35:25

Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is resorting to campaign tactics, portraying Senator Barack Obama as a candidate who 'cannot win'. Senator Clinton had reportedly told New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson that Obama stands no chance in winning the White House race against presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. Barack Obama cannot win, Bill. Barack Obama cannot win," the former first lady had told Richardson before he made his final decision to endorse Obama last month. Richardson's endorsement of the Illinois senator infuriated Clinton campaign officials to such an extent that former campaign manager James Carville dubbed the governor 'Judas'. "Five times to my face [Richardson] said that he would never do that," said former president Bill Clinton, explaining that Richardson had promised to endorse Senator Clinton instead. Source: Press TV

Quote for the Day

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Quote for the day

Peace begins when the hungry are fed

I'm just wondering

what DOESN'T have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it? It seems that the food industry is going crazy with the amount of additives and "preservatives" they are putting in food that people are consuming.

No Patience for Deadbeats - Mothers or Fathers

If you have any information on any of the people shown at the attached link - turn there butts in. I know they can't pay while in jail, but it isn't like they are making an effort now. I think today I just don't have much room for patience or empathy for people who could and should do better:

http://childsupport.co.la.ca.us/dlparents.htm

-AThinker

In the News: Medicine just gets more confusing

I can guess that some patients who paid (many times neglecting other needs) for these medicines are feeling a bit depression or despair. I often wonder what type of research and followup is done with many medicines. Hopefully not many patients suffered the side affects without the benefits - AThinker

On CNN today:

Trial: Popular cholesterol drug fails to improve heart disease

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Leading doctors urged a return to older, tried-and-true treatments for high cholesterol after hearing full results Sunday of a failed trial of Vytorin.

Millions of Americans already take the drug or one of its components, Zetia. But doctors were stunned to learn that Vytorin failed to improve heart disease even though it worked as intended to reduce three key risk factors.

"People need to turn back to statins," said Yale University cardiologist Dr. Harlan Krumholz, referring to Lipitor, Crestor and other widely used brands. "We know that statins are good drugs. We know that they reduce risks."

The study was closely watched because Zetia and Vytorin have racked up $5 billion in sales despite limited proof of benefit. Two Congressional panels launched probes into why it took drugmakers nearly two years after the study's completion to release results.

Results were presented at an American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago Sunday and published on the Internet by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Doctors have long focused on lowering LDL or bad cholesterol as a way to prevent heart disease. Statins like Merck & Co.'s Zocor, which recently came out in generic form, do this, as do niacin, fibrates and other medicines.

Quote of the Day

Bullets cannot be recalled. They cannot be uninvented. But they can be taken out of the gun. - Martin Amis