Collective Sigh

Teens who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are more likely to take chances with other kinds of sex that increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, a study of 12,000 adolescents suggests.

The report by Yale and Columbia University researchers could help explain their earlier findings that teens who pledged abstinence are just as likely to have STDs as their peers.

(Thanks to Steve for the tip & link)

Research from the heavily studied Rakai district in southern Uganda suggests that increased condom use, coupled with premature death among those infected more than a decade ago with the AIDS virus, are primarily responsible for the steady decline in HIV infections in that area.

(snip)

The U.S. researchers found that the single greatest factor lowering the percentage of Rakai people infected by HIV was the premature deaths of those who were infected earlier with HIV and subsequently died of AIDS. As the number of AIDS patients decreased, the percentage of those who remained infected or became newly infected decreased in the late 1990s.

I was telling Mother in the limousine, I don't remember talking to her about 401(k)s when I was a little guy. I don't remember IRAs, defined contribution plans. This world has changed since -- since I was raised.

Now, ownership is powerful. Ownership was -- you know, it means you can -- somebody can inherit something from a mom or dad. And that shouldn't be the privilege of just the wealthy. That should be the opportunity of everybody who lives in America.

|

George W. Bush has nominated Paul Wolfowitz as the next president of the World Bank. Is the Pentagon's deputy secretary of the past four years, and the Bush administration's most dogged advocate of using US power to transform the Muslim world, really the right man for the job?

|

Bush said today that he would bring down gasoline prices by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude. “I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply. Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot.”

After years of their lobbyists calling for caps on plaintiff's damage awards, squeezing lawyers' contingency fees and trying to throw litigation roadblocks in the way of injured patients and their families, the state's doctors may have found a legitimate way to cut medical malpractice premiums: Get their malpractice insurance company to quit gouging them.

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler announced Wednesday that he had ordered the state's largest medical malpractice insurer, Physicians Insurance and its affiliate, Western Professional Insurance Company, to refund more than $1.3 million plus interest in excess premiums charged in 2003.

Nearly 2,400 doctors are in line for premium refunds as high as $4,681. The average refund is expected to be $534.

One insurance company spokesman called it a "paperwork error," and, sure, even a $4,600 refund check won't make much of a dent in an obstetrician's $80,000 annual med-mal insurance premium. But these are the folks who've been trying to literally blame the victims for the high cost of medical malpractice premiums.

The $1.3 million refund order came just one day after Kreidler's office released a report analyzing a decade's worth of medical malpractice claims. The report appears to give lie to allegations of a "crisis" in medical malpractice.

The insurance commissioner's office asked the top five medical malpractice insurers to supply information on claims that were closed between July 1, 1994 and June 30, 2004. These five insurers account for more than 90 percent of the regulated malpractice market for the state's physicians and surgeons, according to Kreidler.

The 10-year period produced just over 10,000 closed claims. That number is probably a good place to start. Ten years, 10,000 claims. That's 1,000 a year.

Of those 10,000 cases, juries decided in favor of plaintiffs in just 50 cases. Not 50 percent of cases, but 50 cases total. Runaway juries? Lottery justice? Based on normal win-loss ratios in cases that go to trial, the final jury score was apparently patients: 50 and docs: 307.

In all, 3,248 of the 10,000 cases were closed without plaintiffs getting a dime and without defendants having to spend a dime to defend themselves. In about 6,100 of the cases, defendants incurred costs for attorneys and expert witnesses. But it was money well spent. Defendants prevailed in 61 percent of those cases.

Only about 2,700 claims -- 27 percent -- resulted in any payment to the injured party.

And what about those blockbuster, multibillion-dollar jury awards? Over the 10 years, 200 claims resulted in compensation payments of more than $1 million. And that's apparently for all compensation, including economic damages and the non-economic or "pain and suffering" awards that lobbyists have been pressuring lawmakers to cap at $250,000 and that the current Initiative 300 to the Legislature would cap at $350,000.

Lobbyists and initiative backers have lamented the "explosion" in medical malpractice claims.

The survey shows that the number of medical malpractice claims increased by 4.9 percent a year. Population growth alone would account for nearly 40 percent of that increase. The average amount of the compensation per claim increased by 4.1 percent a year, well below the rate of inflation in health care costs.

The "explosion" appears to be more of a poof than a boom.

(link)

The biggest problem with Medicaid is that it has been deputized to do a lot of jobs it wasn't originally created for. Intended as a health insurance program for families on welfare and people with disabilities, Medicaid has gradually been stretched to cover for Congress's failure to deal with the millions of low-income American workers without health insurance, and the refusal of Medicare to pay for long-term nursing home care for the elderly.

Medicaid is performing a critical service that the public supports - making sure that poor children get proper medical care, that working families have health coverage and that old people get quality care. The driving force behind the recent upsurge in costs, according to an analysis by researchers at the Urban Institute, was a big increase in the number of people enrolled. The wobbly economy left more workers with incomes low enough to qualify for Medicaid and fewer employers offering affordable health coverage. That is hardly an indictment of Medicaid. The program was doing what it was meant to do, filling a gap for people in real need.

"(it) would promote greater self-reliance and individual responsibility as Americans meet their own care needs as opposed to relying exclusively upon government funding."

A Canadian member of Parliament charged with improving ties with the United States apologized on Thursday for saying "let's embarrass the hell out of the Americans in front of other countries."

The gaffe by Marlene Jennings came exactly two weeks after Canada's Liberal government irritated Washington by refusing to join the U.S. missile defense system.

Jennings -- the parliamentary secretary for Canada-U.S. relations -- reports directly to Prime Minister Paul Martin, who came to power in December 2003 saying he wanted better relations with Washington.

"I would apologize to the members in this House that my comments were a little bit exaggerated. I apologize," she told the House of Commons elected chamber of Parliament.

The sponsors of the legislation say that it will have the effect of lowering the costs of goods and services for all consumers by making it easier for companies and issuers of credit to collect unpaid debts rather than passing those costs on to everyone else.

The U.S. military decided Tuesday to conduct an accelerated inquiry to learn why American troops opened fire, killing an Italian intelligence agent and wounding an Italian journalist he helped rescue from insurgents in Iraq - an attack that has strained relations with a key American ally.

Victims' families and many Italians were outraged when the US marine court dropped involuntary manslaughter charges against Capt Ashby in March 1999.

In May 1999 he was jailed for six months and sacked for helping hide a video shot during the flight.

It was a striking -- some said chilling -- moment in the battle for Iraq, captured on videotape: a wounded, un-armed Iraqi, shot to death by a U.S. Marine.

CBS News has learned that military investigators conclude there is not enough evidence to formally charge that Marine.

Columnist Kathleen Parker lets her fears of the blogosphere overpower her sound judgment when she holds a "funeral" for freedom of speech in America ("Speak now -- and forever wish that you hadn't," Feb. 16). In reality, the Internet helps to foster a meaningful exchange of ideas worthy of the nation's debate-rich, rationalist founding.

(snip)

The sheer variety of this rapid-fire debate also is at odds with Parker's portrayal of bloggers marching in lock-step, chasing after CNN's Jordan or CBS's Dan Rather. Just one compendium of North Carolina blogs, the Old North State blogroll, spans the ideological spectrum. From Brian's Political Donnybrook and Collective Sigh on the left to the Charlotte Capitalist and the Locke Foundation's own Locker Room on the right, if you can't a find blog to suit your own outlook then, well, you should start your own blog! Yes, there's plenty of room in the cyber-mob for new recruits.

That does not sound like the death of free speech, more like a glorious re-birth.

(Emphasis mine, of course!)

"Having lived in Ethiopia, I've known a lot of women who have died giving childbirth," Kebede said. "It's almost even normal to hear that women are going to die giving birth."

"(But) there are actually solutions, it's not like a cancer we can't cure -- we actually have treatments," the 27-year-old model said.

If you were sitting in the Oval Office and George W. Bush asked, "Hey, tell me, who could we appoint to the UN ambassador job that would most piss off the UN and the rest of the world," your job would be quite easy. You would simply say, "That's a no-brainer, Mr. President, John Bolton." And on Monday Bush took this no-brain advice and nominated Bolton to the post, which requires Senate confirmation.

The US military is developing a weapon that delivers a bout of excruciating pain from afar to use against protesters and rioters.

Documents released under the US Freedom of Information Act show that scientists have received funding to investigate how much pain can be induced in individuals hit by electromagnetic pulses created by lasers without killing them.

Due to be ready for use in 2007, the Pulsed Energy Projectile weapon is designed to trigger extreme pain from a distance of one-and-a-quarter miles.

Social Security jumped to the No. 2 concern affecting affluent American investors' economic outlook in February, according to a survey.

Among millionaire investors, Social Security was the third most important issue affecting their investment outlook, according to Chicago-based consulting firm Spectrem's monthly affluent investor polls.

As the discussion about overhauling Medicaid becomes more urgent, there is a grave danger that it will be narrowly focused on money, trapping lawmakers in an unproductive power struggle between federal and state governments. In truth, America's Medicaid challenges reach well beyond finances and budgets. The system is fundamentally broken, ensnaring the most vulnerable in our society in a cycle of dependence and poverty while failing to realize the benefits of emerging technologies and new capabilities in health and long-term care. Medicaid is beyond reform and cannot be fixed with small cuts and waivers from the bureaucracy. It must be transformed with legislation to bring it into the 21st century.

Poor individuals should be offered vouchers for health savings accounts that sensitize them to the benefits of prevention, wellness and early detection.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!

Mary Frye (1932)

-- 47 percent believe that Saddam Hussein helped plan and support the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001 (up six percentage points from November).

-- 44 percent actually believe that several of the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11 were Iraqis (up significantly from 37% in November).

-- 36 percent believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded (down slightly from 38% in November).

A Republican lawmaker in Maine has introduced a bill to prohibit abortions based on the sexual orientation of the unborn baby.

State Rep. Brian Duprey wants the Legislature to forbid a woman from ending a pregnancy because the fetus is homosexual.

He said the bill looks into the future in case scientists find what he described as a "homosexual gene."

"I have heard from women who told me that if they found out that they were carrying a child with the gay gene, then they would abort. I think this is wrong," said Duprey, who got the idea while listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show.

|

My sister-in-law lost her battle with cancer early this morning.

She beat that sucker a little over a year ago - pounded an inoperable tumor with chemo and radiation until it gave up and went away.

But the Big C snuck back; she got the news just a week ago.

The doctor gave her 2 months to a year, and told her if there was anything she wanted to do, she'd better do it now.

She said she'd always wanted to go to Disney World, and we were in the midst of making arrangements for a trip.

She was sweet and gullible and naive and trusting - and we loved her dearly.

Give Walt a hug for me, darlin'.

|

The ruling by Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer will allow the husband, Michael Schiavo, to order the tube removed at 1 p.m. on March 18. In the meantime, the woman's parents, who want her kept alive, are expected to ask another court to block the order from taking effect.

The judge wrote that he was no longer comfortable granting delays in the long-running family feud, which has been going on for nearly seven years and has been waged in every level of Florida's court system. He said the case must end.

(snip)

The judge made his decision after pleadings from the parents that they need more time to pursue additional medical tests which might prove their daughter has more mental capabilities than previously thought.

A leading Vatican cardinal also has weighed in on behalf of keeping Terri Schiavo alive.

"If Mr. Schiavo legally succeeded in provoking the death of his wife, this would not only be tragic in itself, but it would be a serious step toward legally approving euthanasia in the United States," Cardinal Renato Martino, the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told Vatican Radio on Thursday.

Dell has had a tough time of late. Its consistent, double-digit revenue gains put it only billions ahead of hardware rivals that have barely managed to break even.

It took more than old-fashioned southern hospitality to convince Dell to build a new computer manufacturing plant in North Carolina. In fact, it took about $240m in tax incentives and loads of wrangling to put Dell in the Tar Heel State.

Dell, an obvious candidate for copious amounts of government aid, will put up its third US plant in the Triad area of North Carolina. The plant, set to open in the fall of 2005, will employ close to 700 workers in its first year and then make room for up to 1,500 employees within five years. The main role of the new facility will be to supply East Coast businesses and consumers with Dell desktops.

(snip)

Last week, the North Carolina General Assembly cleared the way for a $242m incentive package for Dell. The deal gives Dell a tax credit for each computer or consumer device produced in the state. Dell will receive a $15 per unit credit in 2006 and just a $6.25 credit from 2007 to 2019.

Dell, however, is making serious sacrifices to earn this package. It must, for example, pay 50 per cent of the health care costs for its employees. Ouch! In addition, Dell can only lay off 40 per cent of the employees to still qualify for the tax incentives.

The average salary for a Dell worker at the new plant is expected to be about $28,000. That's about what Michael Dell makes while going to the bathroom in the morning.

It's awesome to see states bend over backwards to make sure they have low-paying jobs for years to come. Lord knows, a patriotic company like Dell needs the help. The North Carolina plant may leave Dell with more US workers than foreign staffers for the first time in a long while.

Any reporter who has covered Dell for a couple of years has heard the stories about the company's iron-fisted negotiating tactics. Dell's size lets it put enormous pressure on partners, suppliers and rivals. Now it seems Dell has extended these Wal-Mart like ways to hammering entire states.

Documents unsealed by the North Carolina Department of Commerce show that Dell beat on the state during negotiations around the construction of a new plant in the Triad region, according to a report from the News and Observer. Dell boldly asked government officials to absolve it of paying any taxes at all and demanded that it be considered for government computer purchases. Dell also tried to put patriotic pressure on North Carolina to do anything to keep jobs in the US - an almost comical ploy given that Dell isn't terribly patriotic itself. It employs more foreign workers than it does here in the US.

US conducts successful missile defense flight

The US military conducted a missile defense flight on Thursday, with an interceptor missile successfully intercepting and destroying a short-range target missile, the Pentagon announced.

The target missile was launched from US Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai, and the interceptor missile, a Standard Missile 3, was launched one minute later from the USS Lake Erie at its patrol area located more than 160 km from Kauai.

Two minutes after the interceptor was launched, it hit the target, Henry "Trey" Obering, director of the Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency, said in a statement.

"BACK OFF"

 

Name: Randy
Age: Five years
Weight: Approximately twenty pounds
Sex: No. He's neutered. Explains the expression.
Likes: Food, sleeping
Dislikes: Cameras
Favorite Game: The Four Yard Litter Toss
Favorite Website: My Cat Hates You

|

|

Yep, there it is - right on the White House "Kid's Page".

Barney ogling Miss Beazley's tempting little Scottish Terrier butt.

Have they no shame?

|

During his trip to Germany on Wednesday, the main highlight of George W. Bush's trip was meant to be a "town hall"-style meeting with average Germans. But with the German government unwilling to permit a scripted event with questions approved in advance, the White House has quietly put the event on ice. Was Bush afraid the event might focus on prickly questions about Iraq and Iran rather than the rosy future he's been touting in Europe this week?

To avoid that messy scenario, the White House requested that rules similar to those applied during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit two weeks ago also be used in Mainz. Before meeting with students at Paris's Institute of Political Sciences, which preens the country's elite youth for future roles in government, Rice's staff insisted on screening and approving any questions to be asked by students. One question rejected was that of Benjamin Barnier, the 24-year-old son of France's foreign minister, who wanted to ask: "George Bush is not particularly well perceived in the world, particularly in the Middle East. Can you do something to change that?" Instead, the only question of Barnier's that got approval was the question of whether Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority might create a theocratic government based on the Iranian model?

The Germans, though, insisted that a free forum should be exactly that. Wolfgang Ischinger, Germany's Ambassador to the United States, explained to the New York Times last week: "We told them, don't get upset with us if they ask angry questions."

As an ersatz for the town hall meeting on Wednesday, Bush will now meet with a well-heeled group of so-called "young leaders." Close to 20 participants will participate in the exclusive round to be held in the opulent Mozart Hall of a former royal palace in Mainz, giving them the opportunity for a close encounter with the president. The chat is being held under the slogan: "A new chapter for trans-Atlantic relations." The aim of the meeting is to give these "young leaders" a totally different impression of George W. Bush. In order to guarantee an open exchange, the round has been closed to journalists -- ensuring that any embarrassments will be confined to a small group.

Bush says he "wouldn't answer the marijuana question ... 'cause I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."

"But you gotta understand, I want to be president, I want to lead. I want to set -- Do you want your little kid to say, 'Hey daddy, President Bush tried marijuana, I think I will?' " he said.

Internist Peter Basch said he was in Costa Rica recently when he checked his e-mail -- yes, while on vacation -- and learned that one of his patients was seeking more blood pressure pills. In less than a minute, Basch said, he sent a refill order to a pharmacy on Capitol Hill.

"For things that people actually leave their home or leave their office to come and see me for . . . many of these could be managed with a type of e-mail interaction," Basch said.

In fact, he said, "perhaps as many as 50 percent of the people I see each day could be dealt with appropriately using virtual techniques," including at-home devices to track blood pressure, weight and blood glucose.

So why don't more doctors use this approach, and why does Basch swap e-mails with only about 5 percent of his patients while charging nothing for the service? Money is part of the answer.

"If I used virtual communication techniques as often as I felt was appropriate, my practice would close its doors because it would go broke within a week," Basch said. That's because he participates in managed care networks, and the insurers who run them pay doctors only for face-to-face contacts with patients. (more)

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield issued a similarly cautious statement: "We are aware of a number of pilot programs around the country that involve e-mail consultations between physicians and patients. . . . We have discussed the concept, and expect to explore opportunities to become involved in the future."

AARP urges you to judge critically the motivations behind statements made against AARP. For example, whenever you see attempts to discredit AARP presented on Fox News Channel or other media outlets like talk radio shows that regularly carry the neoconservative lobbying group messages, AARP urges you to consider these important background facts:

• USA Next is a lobbying group that "has poured poured millions of dollars into Republican policy battles" as reported in the New York Times.

• As reported by UPI, USA Next has hired a public relations firm with "plans to spend as much as $10 million to counterattack Democrats opposed to changing Social Security, has hired Chris LaCivita, a former Marine who advised Swift Vets on its media campaign and helped write its potent commercials attacking Bush's opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass."

• Creative Response Concepts of Alexandria, Virginia is the public relations firm hired by USA Next. As reported by PR Watch, in 2004 "this firm used right-wing blogs and news sites to turn a CBS report casting doubt about President George W. Bush's National Guard services into a potential black eye for both the network and the Democrats."

GEORGE Bush has banned Camilla Parker Bowles from the White House - because she is a divorcee.

The unprecedented snub has effectively sabotaged Charles's plan to take his bride on a Royal tour of America later this year.

The trip would have been the pair's first official tour as a married couple.

But the US President - a notoriously right-wing Christian and reformed alcoholic - told aides it was "inappropriate" for him to be playing host to the newly-weds, who are both divorcees.

The decision was made even though the late President Ronald Reagan was divorced.

A Government insider said: "It was relayed to us from Washington that Mrs Parker Bowles would not be welcome at the White House.

"The Americans are aware that the visit will be subject to a lot of media attention and did not want the President drawn into what they view to be a public relations exercise.

As George W. Bush was first moving onto the national political stage, he often turned for advice to an old friend who secretly taped some of their private conversations, creating a rare record of the future president as a politician and a personality.

In the last several weeks, that friend, Doug Wead, an author and former aide to Mr. Bush's father, disclosed the tapes' existence to a reporter and played about a dozen of them.

Mr. Wead said he recorded his conversations with the president in part because he thought he might be asked to write a book for the campaign. He also wanted a clear account of any requests Mr. Bush made of him. But he said his main motivation in making the tapes, which he originally intended to be released only after his own death, was to leave the nation a unique record of Mr. Bush.

|