Newsweek Article on Hydroxychloroquine

The Newsweek article on hydroxychloroquine:

This, plus I've seen too many write-ups by local physicians who say uneguivocally that hydroxychloroquine, with the zinc adjunct works. Just about 100% overall.

This Will Not End Well

It's the last paragraph in the clip that I find  disturbing.  The "...we can target our interventions..." part.  Will O care remove antibiotics from its formulary?

Here's the deal. Yes, they are over-prescribed.  I understand that doctors like to prescribe them even though the illness is viral - "just in case".  The biggest problem, as I understand it, is patients not completing the full course of medication.  This can leave some bacteria alive, which are more immune to the med. This is natural selection at work, selecting for the dreaded "super bugs".

We really don't need these government geniuses messing around any more with health care, do we??

Full article here: apnews.myway.com

Found at Drudge.

Obamacare Endgame...

Wait for it...

(Via Gerard)

What is best...

</Anhuld>

I have nothing else to add.

From The H2

Obamacare In Five Pictures

I was reading an article on Tech Crunch about the tech debacle that is Obamacare, lamenting how start-ups were ready to have a go at it.  It mentioned, in particular, eHealth, one of the few companies certified as a "web based entity" authorized to act as a alternative to government web sites.  I got curious, and here's what I discovered.

My options for this year:

They say starting at $52/month, but...

...79 plans, starting at $209.75/month.

My options for next year:

eHealth estimates that I would get a subsidy of $451.00/month.  (They caveat the hell out of their numbers, solet's take this figure as a SWAG* for now.)

Now, my premiums start (supposedly) at $192/month.

 

And I find a whopping thirteen plans, starting at $593.11/month, pre-subsidy.  Post-subsidy, $142.11/month

I have no idea where they got the $52 and $192 numbers.  After poking about a bit by changing ZIP codes, I found that they changed, but stayed the same when I changed birthdays.  In any case, what's important is the final cost to me.  And I didn't even try to figure out overall cost based on deductables, co-pays and such.

It's a bloody mess...

Not About The Nail

Story over at The Coalition about an Afghani man who had a pencil lodged "...from his sinus to his pharynx..."

Which, of course, immediately brought this to mind:

Paranoid, yet??

To paraphrase Yoda, "You should be!"

Via DougM at Sondrakistan

Gerard...

...is back:

The Hits...

...Just Keep On Comin'

Sometime in early January, I took a fall off the bottom of the steps between my parking space and the yard.  It was dark, I was tired and grumpy, fussing with my backpack and a package all at the same time I was descending said stairs.  Scuffed up my left knee pretty well, and twised my right ankle enough so that I had to hobble a bit into the house.  All in all, not a major deal.  So I thought.

That night, the whole right foot, from the ankle to the sole was a throbbing, painful ache.  I had visions of a visit to a podiatrist the next day, or at least setting up an appointment with one.  Didn't get to sleep until after 4 am.  And yet, then next morning, the foot was just fine.  No indication that it had ever been so insomnia producingly painful.

And then I started to notice a bit of a 'blinch' when I moved in just the right way.  (Blinch, n., a sudden jolt of electric-like pain down a nerve path, coupled with a desire to unload the blinched appendage as quickly as possible.  See also, "Doctor, it hurts when I do that... .")  I figured I'd go see Dr. Fritz when I was a bit more solvent that I was at the time.  He is a chiropractor I met in one of my classes at the library.  As big a bear, if not bigger, than I am.

And so it went, until Saturday before last, when the lower back took an express hand basket to hell, taking my ability to stand upright and walk normally with it.  Fortunately, I was able to get in to see Dr. Fritz last Monday.  The plan was 3 visits per week for two weeks, the re-evaluate.  Which was going along fine until I mentioned that I noticed my left foot "dropping".  He asked me to stand on tip-toes, then on my heels.  I went 1 and 0.  I don't remember the medical terms, but I have no roll or yaw control, and only downward pitch control in my left foot.  No heel-walking.

Dr. Fritz' take is that I have a disk impinging on my spinal cord, causing the weakness in my left leg and foot.  Based on where I told him the ice pick was being stuck in my left shin, he said the impingement was at the L-5 vertebra.  And that I needed to get my M.D. to evaluate it, pronto.  (My word, not Dr. Fritz'.)   The "pronto" part is to get it treated before the damage becomes permanent.  Which could involve diapers.  The evaluation probably means another MRI.  Which I can't afford.

Meanwhile, entropy is slowly taking over the house, as I have little energy for hauling stuff up and down stairs.  I haven't walked the dogs since a week ago Thursday.  I did make use of Sam's "click and pull", so my groceries were waiting for my at the customer service counter.  And I used a cart as a walker when I went through Wal-Mart.

So, prayer in any denomination is welcome and solicited.  I don't know what I'll do if I'm unable to navigate this three story house and, more importantly, walk the dogs.

Interesting.

(Posted over at the Red Lion blog, too.)

It's OK to Use Drones...

...to Kill Americans:

EXCLUSIVE: Justice Department memo reveals legal case for drone strikes on Americans

By Michael Isikoff

National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.

Which leads me to this:

More info here

Dots.  Connect.

NBC - reporting real news.  Who knew??

Via Drudge

Crashing OabamaCare

John Nolte over at Breitbart has this bit of underhanded sneakyness.  We, the people, can crash ObamaCare.  And, it's legal!!  The money quote:

Here's the two plus two: Starting next year, you can wait until you’re sick to purchase health insurance. And if you do so, you cannot be denied or even charged a higher premium price. Here's the four: Because the ObamaCare penalty to be uninsured is much cheaper than purchasing insurance, why not do exactly that?

Go read the whole thing.

And thanks to the ever suave Mr. Green.

Laura Logan

I guess it's Video Week here at the place.  This time, Laura Logan:




Via Pundette

Important Safety Tip

Via Public Secrets, who also has this:

Churchill on Islam
September 15, 2012
One of my favorite books is Winston Churchill’s “The River War,” about the Anglo-Egyptian campaign in Sudan in the 1890s. Among its many memorable passages is Churchill’s meditation the nature of Islam. Recent events make me think it’s worth dusting off:

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!  Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.  The effects are apparent in many countries.  Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.  A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.  The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property—either as a child, a wife, or a concubine—must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.  Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities.  Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die.  But the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.  No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.  Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proseltyzing faith.  It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science—the science against which it had vainly struggled—the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.

Some on reading that will scream “racism” (1) and “Islamophobia.” Whatever. Looking over the events of not just the past few days, but the last 20 years, I can’t help but wonder if instead the future prime minister wasn’t sharp-eyed and wise.
Thanks to Steven Hayward for the reminder.

Footnote:
(1) Even though Islam isn’t a race, but a religion. But it’s a bit much to expect intellectual clarity from the Left; the facts are against them, so all they have left is invective.
(Crossposted

Four More Years... (Updated - now with captions!)

...it'll get even better.

I swear!!

Via the ever lovely Pundette!

Then, there's this:



via PJ Media

Braaaaiiinnnzz

I like that the CDC has an actual, verifiable sense of humor:

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

Categories: Zombies

May 16th, 2011 11:48 am ET  -  Ali S. Khan

If you're ready for zombies, you're ready for just about anything else!!  Click on over and find out what you need to know!

Isaac and Katrina

Forbes (at Drudge) reports that Isaac could rival Katrina.

Here's the track cone as of about 40 minutes ago:

I wonder if:

  ...people will actually evacuate this time?
  ...if the school buses will be used this time?
  ...the levees will hold this time.
  ...the Governor will ask the President to activate the National Guard?
  ...the FEMA response time will be any better?
  ...if the idiots who weren't prepared last time are any better prepared his time?

My bets:
  Doubt it.
  Maybe
  Dunno
  Jindal?  Yea, most likely he will understand that he has to do it in order to get
  the National Guard rolling.
  Doubt it (they were within normal operating parameters the last time - about a
  week to get boots on the ground.)
  Doubt it.

Stay safe and dry, everyone!

Anchoress...

Ballpark.   Out of.

I wrote the following to a poster over at Anchoress' who said:

“ 'It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.'
But maybe it *is* their job to protect me from other people’s political choices. I didn’t vote for Obama."

Did you actually READ Anchoress' post.  I didn't vote for him, either, and yet, I now realize that its NOT up to SCOTUS to make it better for me.  Nor should they!  Our government is ",,,of the people, by the people, and for the people...".  In tech terms means that its a bottom-up structure, NOT a top-down one.

So stop whinging, get off you ass and vote this time, too.  And get everyone out there whom you know to go vote with you.  Drive them to the polls! And they should probably vote for Romney while there at it.  And for ever Republican congresscritter on the ballot.

It's the only way to nuke 'em from orbit.  Which as I'm sure you know, is the only way to be sure!

(Oh, and I cleaned up my typos when I posted it here.  Double duh.)

Speaking of Mitt:

I-5 Road kill...

...I don't know about other states' road signs near the border w/ Mexico, but the sign on the left is an actual, honest-to-God CalTrans sign, near both the INS checkpoint at San Onofre, and just before the border crossing at San Ysidro.  STG.

I believe Mr. Freeberg has it about right.

Pundit & Pundette: Malkin: Who will protect the freedom to blog?

Go.  Read.

Pundit & Pundette: Malkin: Who will protect the freedom to blog?

Party like...

...its 1939.

Nazi Renaissance in Iran.

I ran the site through a couple of web page translators to get a quick and dirty approximation of what it was about.  Based on two quick scans, it looked pretty laudatory about the Hitler and whole Nazi movement.

And yes, they were on the side of the Axis during WW II.