Growing America’s Middle Class and Increasing Profitability

Some time ago, a friend shared an unsolicited comment about “ObamaCare” before all the ruckus over it had reached the SCOTUS. He had observed about a fellow he knew and described as “a snaggle-toothed Tennessee hillbilly,” whom had joined the United States Army. He observed that the fellow had some health needs, among them poor dentition and the need for corrective lenses. Upon his enlistment, he noted that the fellow was given proper healthcare, and all of his needs – food, clothing, housing, and healthcare – was provided by the United States government.

“Now, why did they do that?,” he asked rhetorically.

Answering his own question, he said quite simply, “because they know

DoD says Climate Change is National Security Risk

Here’s an item from our “Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Climate Change“ file.

While there continues to be much frothing about the mouth from conservative and libertarian types about climate change, there remains no doubt of its existence.

Some – mostly Republican & Libertarians – continue to assert that climate change is as much a hoax as the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny or Great Pumpkin. However, to be certain, there is no doubt that change has occurred, and continues to occur. The reason(s) why, and causes of the same are subjects of valid scientific debate and research. But there is no disagreement that change has, and is occurring.

The United States Department of Defense,

Blood thinners Pradaxa & Xarelto exceedingly more dangerous & costly than Coumadin/Warfarin

If you’re presently taking the “blood thinner” medications in this news item, it may be in the best interest of your health, and life, to reconsider and stay with warfarin/coumadin.

At least with warfarin/coumadin, we have an antidote, and it has far fewer risks associated with it.

In short, it has evidence for greater safety.

Here’s the long & short of it:
Deaths associated with Warfarin/Coumadin in 2011 = 72
Deaths associated with Praxaxa in 2011 = 542

There was NO OTHER MEDICINE with such a high rate of death associated with death.

Annual Cost of Medicine: Pradaxa & Xarelto = $3,000
Annual Cost of Medicine: Coumadin/Warfarin = $200

You do the math.

Wanna’ be a statistic?

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Insight: Top heart doctors fret over new blood thinners

By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK | Thu Jun 14, 2012 1:37pm EDT

(Reuters) – For millions of heart patients, a pair of new blood thinners have been heralded as the first replacements in 60 years for warfarin, a pill whose hardships and risks have deterred many from using the stroke-prevention medicine.

A sign is seen at the entrance of an anti-coagulation clinic at the Staten Island University Hospital in Staten Island, New York May 7, 2012. For millions of heart patients, a pair of new blood thinners have been heralded as the first replacements in 60 years for warfarin, a pill whose hardships and risks have deterred many from using the stroke-prevention medicine. Picture taken May 7, 2012. REUTERS/Allison Joyce

But growing complaints of risks and deaths tied to the new crop of drugs have made some top U.S. cardiologists hesitant to prescribe them. Some are proposing a more rigorous monitoring regimen for when they are used.

Most concerns revolve around Pradaxa, a twice daily pill from Boehringer Ingelheim that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2010 to prevent strokes in patients with an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation. It was the first new oral treatment for that use since warfarin was introduced in the 1950s.

“The good news is you now have an alternative to warfarin,” said Dr. Alan Jacobson, director of anti-coagulation services at the Veterans Administration (VA) healthcare system in Loma Linda, California. “The bad news is you can kill a patient as easily with the new drug as you could with the old drug” if it is not handled properly.

“The average patient doesn’t understand anything

Something Stinks in Denmark: “TOO BIG TO FAIL,” Bank Corruption, LIBOR, and the Federal Reserve

No… no… no…

Banks don’t need to be regulated.

They’re doing quite fine with all the money they’ve stolen from you already.

No, they don’t need regulation.

And no, we don’t need to re-enact the Glass-Steagall Act – the federal law that kept Wall Street Brokerage Houses, Insurance Companies, and Banks separate and out of each other’s business. Right now, as things stand with them, they’re enjoying an incestuous fiscal orgy. And that’s good. We need more incest. We need more orgies. They’re all good. In fact, the more mammon… er, money you have, the more holy you are, the more the Almighty has blessed you – and not someone else (those lazy slobs who don’t deserve anything). {/sarcasm}

But there’s really no reason to worry… the banks will get what’s comin’ to ’em – and the ‘what’ is NOT your money. They have that already.

Come a-courtin’ time (that’d be in the court room), the Banksters be ruled against in a BIG way.

Just wait.

It’s coming.

Next thing you’ll hear in the news are the BIG BANKSTERS wanting legal protection from Congress for the wrongdoing they’ve done.

Just wait.

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Losing With LIBOR: One Trader’s Story

by David Kestenbaum

Listen to the Story All Things Considered [3 min 18 sec] Download

We’ve been talking a lot lately about what’s been dubbed the “LIBOR rate fixing scandal,” where some of the biggest banks in the world have been accused of manipulating a key global interest rate.

London-based Barclays Bank agreed to pay a $453 million fine over charges it manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate — LIBOR — a key global interest rate. Oli Scarff/Getty Images

If those words — “manipulation of a key interest rate” — leave you wondering what the big deal is, and who would be harmed, meet Dan Sullivan. He says the manipulation of LIBOR cost him a million dollars, in just 24 hours.

Dan Sullivan used to work

Huntsville’s I-565 Chapman Mountain Deathtrap

The Interstate 565 crossing over Chapman Mountain in Huntsville, AL is rapidly becoming a deathtrap.

Yesterday (Sunday, 28 March 2010), 55 year-old Madison county resident Joseph E. Hargrave, driver of an 18-wheeler/BIG TRUCK, lost control of his EAST-BOUND truck, crossed the median and flipped, blocking traffic from 12:40PM until after sundown Sunday.

He was taken to Huntsville Hospital with minor injuries.

That was the blocked lane about which I’d earlier written.

Mr. Hargrave’s unfortunate wreck wasn’t