Source: xplosive world Commentators are expressing surprise at the resurrection of a public option as part the health care reform package. The main reasons cited for its resurgence are the insurance industry’s recent attack on health care legislation, claiming premiums would rise, and polls indicating that a clear majority of the public supports the public… Read more
Author Archives: Jan
Music: Rosen Movement Playlist October 27
Source: AppuVista Warm Up o Iz – Somewhere over the rainbow – What a wonderful world o Neville Brothers – Little piece of heaven Stretch o Ella Fitzgerald – I cried for you o Ella Fitzgerald – I hadn’t anyone til you o Ella Fitzgerald – I’m getting sentimental over you o Ella Fitzgerald –… Read more
Music: Rosen Movement Playlist October 20
Source: AppuVista Warm Up o Rod Stewart – Smile o Pink Martini – Hang on little tomato o Carly Simon – You belong to me Stretch (Partners) o Hot Club of San Francisco – Till we meet o Linda Ronstadt – Blue Train o Norah Jones – Lonestar o Tracy Chapman – Less than strangers… Read more
Were "death panels" a teachable moment for palliative care?
Source: Palliative Care Foundation This past summer, thanks in large part to Sarah Palin, we were inundated with sound bites about death panels, pulling the plug on grandma, and saving the government money by dying a little sooner. Palin’s emotionally manipulative Facebook post appeared on August 7. “The America I know and love is not… Read more
Dementia, denial, and high school football
Source: NFL Football 360 The National Football League (NFL) commissioned a survey on the incidence of dementia and other memory-related diseases among its retired players. The results that came back showed early-onset dementia occurring “vastly more often” compared to the national population. The NLF dismissed the study as unreliable. The data comes from the 88… Read more
Is football the moral equivalent of dogfighting?
Source: Collegiate Sports Medicine Malcom Gladwell (of Outliers, Blink, and The Tipping Point fame) has an article in the New Yorker called “Offensive Play.” The subtitle is “How different are dogfighting and football?” In dogfighting, the dogs are injured and suffer permanent damage. It’s becoming clear that the same is true for professional football players.… Read more
Are women doctors safer?
Nearly half of students in US medical schools are female. Studies show that, compared to their male counterparts, women doctors are friendlier, spend more time with their patients, and are less likely to be sued. According to Jorge Girotti of the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical School, women doctors are more empathetic, compassionate, and… Read more
Music: Rosen Movement Playlist October 13
Source: New7ob Warm Up – Hot club of San Francisco – Lullaby of the leaves – Sandrine Kiberlain – M’envoyer des fleurs – Brett Dennen – The one who loves you the most Stretch – Eva Cassidy – Over the Rainbow – Kitka – Tikho Nad Richkoyu Circle – Bing Crosby – Blue Skies –… Read more
Music: Rosen Movement Playlist October 6
Source: AppuVista Warm Up – Elton John – Blessed – Jack Johnson – Symbol in my driveway – Bonnie Raitt – I will not be broken Stretch – Cecilia – Prayer – Massenet (Yo Yo Ma) – Meditation from Thais Circle – Jamie Cullum – Singin in the rain – Bob Dylan – Things have… Read more
Are convertibles hazardous to your hearing?
Source: Los Angeles Times A decibel (abbreviated dB) measures the intensity of a sound. The zero point of the decibel scale is called “near total silence.” As long as we’re living and breathing on the earth, we’re never going to experience absolute, total silence. If you scan the increasing decibel levels of familiar sounds, the… Read more
Money-Driven Medicine, the documentary, available on the web
Source: Bill Moyers Journal Maggie Mahar announced today (on her Health Beat blog) that the documentary of her book, Money-Driven Medicine , will be available for free on the web for two weeks. As Mahar says in her post today, the director and field producer “did a brilliant job of finding doctors and patients who… Read more
Swine flu prevention: It’s OK to wash in cold water
Source: NAPS Company Most people would prefer to wash their hands in comfortably warm water. And it’s usually available. The scientific question remains, however: Is warm or hot water more effective than cold if we want to prevent spreading the flu? The FDA’s position has been that water hot enough to kill bacteria would be… Read more
The clothesline debate: Drying for Freedom
Source: Treehugger In the “old days,” there were no electric clothes dryers. Laundry was hung outside to dry, weather permitting. Today almost everyone has access to an electric dryer. They’re said to consume at least 6 percent of household electricity, at a cost of $5 billion a year in the US. As we become more… Read more
Have fun. Help the environment. Sell cars.
Source: Virgin Media The Volkswagen E-UP! model is not only electric. It has over 10 square feet of solar panels. And it comes with an electric scooter that folds up and fits in the back. That way you can park at a recharging station, as long as it’s not too far from your destination. Clearly… Read more
Universal health care: What would Socrates do?
Raphael, The School of Athens Source: Paula Muhlestein I loved this post from the Widener Law Health Law Institute blog. It’s both wise and entertaining. Here are a few excerpts, but I recommend reading the whole post. Read more
Music: Rosen Movement Playlist September 29
Source: Junjaowka Click photo for larger view. Warm up Neil Young – Harvest Moon Queen Latifah – Hard Times Stretch Linda Ronstadt – Cry me a river Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Summertime Willie Nelson – Stardust Circle Franco De vita – Tu de que vas Eva Cassidy – Wade in the water The… Read more
Keith Olbermann & the Fight against Death
The Nose on Your Face The thing about Keith Olbermann is, I tend to agree with his positions far more than I care for his over-the-top, full-of-himself histrionic shtick. So I approached his “Special Commentary” on health care — one hour of nothing but the largest talking head on TV — with both interest and… Read more
Why is it so hard to reform health care? Rugged individualism
Source: Banning and Low Excellent op-ed piece on health care reform in the Sunday Times. It’s by Roger Cohen, who recently returned from a trip to Germany. Europeans readily acknowledge universal health coverage as a basic right in a civilized society. Americans have great difficulty with this concept. The current health care debate in the… Read more
Doctors and the health crisis of global warming
Let’s look at the facts. Global warming inevitably leads to a global health crisis. Health and disease are the province of the medical profession. Shouldn’t doctors be speaking out on the health crisis of global warming? Last month the two leading British medical journals – The Lancet and the British Medical Journal — published an… Read more
Music: Rosen Movement Playlist September 22
Source: God Hear Me I suppose I always love all the music I use in class, but this playlist has some of my most favorite favorites – Hot Club of San Francisco, Roy Orbison, Linda Ronstadt. Enanitos Verdes is one of my favorite groups. I use several of their songs in classes. For the Linda… Read more
Climate crisis. Health crisis. Same difference.
Climate change is a more serious problem than we thought it was just a few years ago. A big rise in global temperature may not happen for another 40 years, but other changes are “imminent,” according to Science magazine. A permanent drought, with Dust Bowl-like conditions, could become the “new climatology” of the American Southwest… Read more
A reason for health care reform
Image: Jordan Maxwell We all know why Liberals want to make health care available for all Americans. Liberals have bleeding hearts and a proclivity for redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor. They would agree with Peter Montague that “the growing gap between rich and poor has not been ordained by extraterrestrial beings. It… Read more
Will Ferrell, MoveOn.Org use humor to support health care reform
Can sarcastic humor make a convincing case for health care reform? Will Ferrell, the comedian, and MoveOn.org, the liberal political advocacy organization, are giving it a try. They’ve created a video that defends beleaguered insurance company executives. The video is available on YouTube and features well known celebrities. The cast, the humor, and Internet-only availability… Read more
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: The health care shell game
Source: Tax Tea Party When it comes to health care reform, there are moral issues and financial issues. If there are indeed 46.3 million Americans without health insurance; if 45,000 people die every year from preventable causes because they have no health insurance; if the US ranks 21st out of the 21 wealthiest nations on… Read more
Acne, allergy, and toe nail fungus make you uninsurable
Source: The Long-Term Care Company One reason we need health care reform is the insurance industry practice of canceling or refusing insurance coverage. Since insurance companies are profit-making endeavors, it’s understandable that they don’t want to insure someone with a history of cancer, diabetes, or even arthritis. What about those people who truly believe they’ve… Read more
Music: Rosen Movement Playlist September 15
Source: TruthSeeker The Rod Stewart Great American Songbook albums have many songs that are perfect for Warm Up, Circle, or Across the Floor. There are four of them: It Had to Be You, As Time Goes By, Stardust, and Thanks For The Memory . The Voice of the Violin album has many songs that work… Read more
How Australia does preventive health care
Source: textually.org The Australian government is about to introduce a number of public health measures dealing with smoking, alcohol, and obesity. The measures are designed to reduce chronic diseases and make Australia the world’s healthiest nation by 2020. Australia’s National Preventative Health Taskforce has published a report that includes 174 recommendations for preventing disease. Among… Read more
Why is it so hard to reform health care? Political structure
Source: Amazon A country’s health care system reflects its character, ethics, and cultural values. Politics, medicine, and economics may shape the particular design of a system, but when it comes to deciding who will be included, that’s a moral question. The United States is the only industrialized democracy that does not guarantee health care to… Read more
Carl Jung's Red Book, an illustrated chronicle of horror and madness
Source: Amazon Anyone who has an interest in Carl Jung will want to read this New York Times article on the upcoming publication of Jung’s The Red Book. For most of the last century, the very existence of this work has been only a rumor. Jung wrote this illustrated journal between the ages of 39… Read more
Global warming makes me sick
There’s an unfortunate parallel between the politics of climate change and the politics of US health care reform. They differ in scale — global vs. domestic. But consider this: Who suffers the most from the lack of universal health care in the US? The poor and unemployed. Who will suffer the most from climate change?… Read more