Breast Intentions

So, I try to tread carefully these days on healthcare topics, given that I write on medical and healthcare topics. But as my work in this area is currently limited to pharmaceutical research and pharma business dealings, I think that saying a bit about the recent changes in recommendations to breast cancer screening are pretty safe. Because, I’m not writing about insurance payers and health coverage.

In short, I think the recommendations are questionable at best. In case you’ve missed the news, here’s a rundown:

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) made recommendations on Nov. 16, 2009 that routine screening mammograms start at age 50 (rather than age 40, which had been the standard) and be done less frequently (every 2 years, not annually as before). Also, the task force advised that physicians no longer teach women how to do breast self-examinations.

I realize that these recommendations are, in large part, based on scientific research. For example, it seems that later mammograms may not really increase rates of mortality or morbidity, and there is concern that when women have suspicious (but ultimately benign) findings, they undergo undue stress as a result.

None of this changes my opinion that the recommendations are totally wrongheaded.

The fact is that even with the chance of finding suspicious things that turn out to be harmless, we should aggressively go for prevention and early detection, particularly with diseases that are high on the list of killers. Breast cancer is a major killer of women. And even though breast self-exams may not be the most reliable thing in the world, it boggles my mind that someone would advise against teaching women to be more aware of their body and to check it.

Furthermore, the recommendations don’t really take into account things like higher rates of breast cancer in certain groups (like black women) and earlier onset of the disease in those same groups.

But, you may say, these are simply guidelines.

I would say, don’t be naive.

You see, guidelines have a nasty habit of becoming policy with regard to insurance companies. And if insurance companies use these guidelines to change their policies and save money (and they likely will…or most of them, anyway), that means physicians will not be doing the exams for many women, unless those women can pay out of their own pocket. They couldn’t afford to absorb the cost to their offices.

And let’s face it. If you support these guidelines as a way to reduce waste and spending, without considering the lives saved in the process, I would ask you: How would you feel if your wife, or sister, or mother, were to die of breast cancer because it wasn’t caught early.

Because some guidelines said it wasn’t worth it.

Deacon’s DVDs: Spoiling It For You

If you haven’t seen the 2008 remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and for some reason you still want to, leave now. I’m going to ruin this sonofabitch for you if you continue.

Of course, it deserves to be ruined. Spoiling the ending is all too necessary for the good of movie-renting humankind, because this movie had no ending.

OK, technically, it has an ending. But it’s such a jaw-droppingly stupid one. Such a “what the hell just happened?” one. A complete, “That’s it?” kind of experience.

We spend a couple hours seeing special effects that are, to be honest, pretty damn good.

We see Keanu Reeves in his usual, expressionless mode, but it works perfect here, because he’s an alien in a body constructed to be human…so he is not used to being a human or feeling like a human. So, Keanu’s typical acting weakness, his lack of ability to emote, is actually a strength here.

Jennifer Connelly does a fantastic job of emoting just perfectly and being expressive in all the right ways.

John Cleese is fantastic in his cameo.

Kathy Bates isn’t given nearly enough to do with her role, but she does it well.

But what we end up with is a movie about a collection of alien races who send Klaatu (played by Reeves) to Earth to make the final decision about us. And that decision is…

…remember, I’m going to spoil this for you…

…last chance…

…I mean it…

OK, you’re still here. He is here to push the button on the human race. To save Earth, the aliens figure humans have to go, so that the planet can heal and other life can go on. The notion is that only a tiny fraction of planets in the universe can support complex life, and so they are not willing to spare one species…that is, us…and lose the planet. Essentially, we are seen as a cancer that needs to be removed so that the patient, the Earth, can live.

Actually, as far as concepts go, that ain’t bad. It’s a decent update for our time, since the original version of the film dealt with aliens being mad that we were pursuing nuclear science, and were too immature for it. That’s probably true, but it would be  a little late for them to complain about that now, so the environmental theme works better now.

Predictably, after making it clear that he thinks we’re unredeemable as a species, and must be wiped out, he decides after starting a nanotech “plague of high tech locusts” end of the world that hey, because one little kid cries and his stepmom hugs him, we must be OK. So then the rush to reverse Armageddon so that we won’t be wiped out, with some queer comment about, “It will come at a cost. You will have to change” or something like that.

And what changes?

Klaatu turns off our power.

Yeah. That’s the end of the movie. Klaatu returns to his vessel, turns of the nanotech bug swarm, and shuts off every powered device in the world, including wristwatches.

And leaves without a single word.

That’s right. Everything’s shut off (including, presumably, life support machines for patients, heat in places where people will die of hypothermia without it, and so on).

Nobody tells the world why. Nobody says, “OK, this is your last chance. Start from scratch.” Nobody tells the people of the world one damn word about why the power was shut off and what step we need to take…or goals we need to meet…to prevent a return to destroy us.

All that work with the special effects, some pretty good acting overall, an interesting take on the robot Gort this time around, a story that had promise for maybe most of the first 2/3 or 3/4 of the affair…all to get a contrived “I understand you humans now” change of personality from Klaatu, and a head-scratching ending that just left me pissed off more than any other crappy movie ending I’ve ever seen.

I mean, I said to my computer screen: “What kind of useless shitting ending is that?”

I never talk to the screen when I watch a movie.

The 1951 movie shouldn’t have been remade to begin with. But if you’re going to remake it, can’t you at least give us an ending that makes at least some small fraction of sense?

(If there are typos galore in this, I’m not surprised. It’s almost 2 a.m. and I’m headed to bed, and I have no plans to go back and edit this.)

(Snack) Chip On My Shoulder

So, I’m in kind of an uninspired period right now. No spiritual topics are really eating at me right now. My novel will continue again soon but I need another day or two on that to sort out what needs to happen next. I haven’t been able to coax the Hummus Idol out of the transdimensional chasm he’s hidden himself in to keep from posting. Miz Pink is off trying to have Jon Stewart’s baby (while still nursing one).

So, I’ve kind of decided that I’m in an “anything goes” mode right now. Just whatever the hell comes to mind, and however long or short it needs to be, even if it’s just a Twitter-sized kind of post.

And right now, I’m just feeling irritated about Cheetos.

Yeah, the orange cheesy snack food.

Today, I noticed in the store bags of BBQ Cheddar Cheetos.

Look, I’m a snack food fan. I love new flavors of chips and such. Exotic ones, even. But certain things do not seem, to me, to go together.

BBQ flavor in a Cheetos bag is one of them. Also, pizza or buffalo wing flavors in Doritos. And I remember some test mystery flavor Doritos had recently that clearly was intended to be a Big Mac flavor or something like it. For pity’s sake, they’re tortilla chips. At least pretend to be following some kind of latino food theme when you pick the flavors.

While I love creativity, there is limited room on the shelves. If you want to clog them up, at least bring back the damn Cajun Spice Ruffles that I’ve been missing for 15 years or more since they were discontinued.

(And no, I don’t have the slightest idea who the woman in the photo is, nor where the photo came from originally. But it does make the mind reel, doesn’t it?)

The Idiocy of Hannity by Miz Pink

I sooooo want to have Jon Stewart’s baby, and this video is just one more reason why:

Click here

A Blow for Marriage Equality

I had been watching for the outcome of the referendum to repeal the Maine state legislature’s enactment of a law which would allow gays and lesbians to marry, with all the rights that go along with heterosexual marriage (aside from federal tax breaks), and with a provision that made it clear that no clergyperson could be compelled to perform a same-sex marriage.

I was pleased when the legislature made that law, because it ensured equal rights for consenting adults on the marriage field, but also protected the religion beliefs of churches, most of which, I am guessing, would not want to perform such ceremonies. Not that they need to, of course. There’s always the Unitarian-Universalist church, a justice of the peace, or a priest or reverend who’s probably in line with your beliefs who doesn’t mind going to a different beat than the other folks in his or her denomination.

I was not pleased when voters overturned that law.

But what really got me was the comment from someone my wife is acquainted with, who tried to make like she didn’t really feel one way or the other about it (though she’s a pretty fundamental Christian, and she’s pretty clearly against it), but voted against it because the legislature acted against the will of the people.

This floors me on two levels.

First, legislatures often make laws without much consulting the people. This is nothing new, and does make for laws people hate sometimes. But it would be rather inefficient to consult the masses on everything beforehand. Besides, the legislature snuck in some nasty snack and beverage taxes recently too, and no one got up on their high horses with religious diatribes and “slippery slope” theories to get that overturned.

Second, how could this woman have voted for the will of the people, when the will of the people cannot be known until after the vote? She claims she was upholding the will of her fellow Mainers, but when she went into the voting booth, she had no clue which way the tide was running. She is simply too cowardly to admit that she voted for her will, which was to marginalize a sizable group of productive, consenting adults.

I call total bullshit on this. Have some cajones and just admit that you can’t stand the idea, and be done with it. Don’t make up stupid lies.

Media Whores by Miz Pink

So um…what’s up with the whole media hoax to boost your rep with everyone and make yourself some super hot property huh?

I speak of course of H1N1, who also goes by that cute nickname of Swinie thanks to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Virus, giving him the messed up name of Swine Flu.

I mean, he’s got everyone so worried about who he’s gonna kill next that the president has declared a national emergency. I don’t want to be disrespectful or nothing since people have died, a lot of them younger folks who don’t usually fall to the flu but really, has it even made as much a dent nationwide as Katrina did in New Orleans alone? Nope. Swinie has 1,000 so far, give or take. Something like 1,800 direct death from Katrina and an estimated 4,000 total if you include indirect deaths.

And you know what the kicker is? Annually in the 1990’s 36,000 people died each year from the flu according to the CDC. 36 times more than what we’re seeing now. I know flu is serious people and getting vaccinated against swinie is probably a great idea, but we’re only caring now because it isn’t just old folks dying this time. Well maybe they deserve a break this year.

Okay I got off on a rant there b/c what I was really going to do was callously use the swine flu as a joke to lead into our other most popular media whore lately, the whole balloon boy family. Geez what a mess. Get everyone worked up that the kid might be floating away in a balloon and waste tax dollars and cable TV news air time with folks trying to get the kid back then claim he was hiding in the attic just so that you can improve your chances of getting on reality TV shows again.

Not like this is the first time folks have pulled BS to get media attention but it’s just sickens me that folks will use their families and kids especially as tools for this. And I ’spose I’ll get on Deke’s bandwagon here and include that family with the 18 or 19 or however many kids they have now…the Duggers. And lawd don’t John and Kate roll out their family for the millions (of viewers AND dollars) with ease.

You want to broadcast your whole life in all its messy and perverse idiocy for the masses…fine. But do it while you’re single.

And swinie, you stop using kids to boost your stature too. Maybe you will become a real national emergency but unless I have my head up my rectal orifice and am missing something you ain’t nowhere near there yet.

A Thousands Words Indeed by Miz Pink

I know Deke is trying not to comment much on healthcare issues since he outed himself and he does healthcare and pharma writing and I’m a-gonna try to refrain as well ‘cuz of that, but the poster below certainly should engender some thought regardless of which side of the issue you sit on:

I mean it can be argued convincingly that other nations have had problems with socialized medicine and we ain’t the only first world nation that goes on unnecessary warpaths but doesn’t it say something about us for being the lone holdout? I mean what’s up with that…and with us still rejecting the metric system too. Didn’t America learn how to play well with others in school?

Big, floppy pink hat tip to Kelly Belle at Ephatha blog (it’s in Deke’s sidebar over there on the right) for using the image so that I could go and spread it around here. Guess the original image came from a site called www.oldamericancentury.org which looks interesting.

Apropos of Nothing

You know, considering all the crappy video game-to-movie adaptations (there have been a couple worth watching, but not many) that have come along in the past decade or more, and the upcoming movies based on boardgames (Monopoly and Battleship among them), this little parody tickled me right up and down my funny bone. And normally, only Mrs. Blue is allowed to do that.

Getting His Peace of the Pie

There are two things I want to say right off the bat about President Barack Obama’s receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Congratulations.

And: Why?

I’m confused.

It’s not that I don’t think Obama deserves scads of recognition for his intelligence, his Zen-like calm in the face of the madness around him, his lovely family, breaking the color barrier in the presidency, coming up from humble roots to achieve great success, and so much more.

The man’s done a lot in a relatively short time, and I have great respect for him and I want him to succeed.

But a Nobel Peace Prize?

I think the Nobel folks stretched it a bit to say that he has ushered in a new atmosphere conducive to peace. I mean, he’s less than a year into his term, we’re about to up the number of troops in Afghanistan, and there are people right here in the United States who aren’t afraid to make it known in public demonstrations that they want him dead.

Peace?

Of all the things with which to honor our president, to give him the Nobel Peace Prize right now seems ludicrous.

For one thing, it feels like the time that Al Pacino got the Oscar for “Scent of  Woman,” in which he chewed up scenery like a puppy with a new slipper. It was some of his weakest work, and yet he got one of those nice Academy Award statuettes because had always lost out on his many great roles in past Oscar ceremonies. Except with the Nobel Peace Prize, I feel like it’s the world giving the United States an award for finally electing a black man. Almost like they said to themselves, “Gee, we’ve been awfully hard on the United States for a long time, but they have done some good things…very good things…among the bad, and they did an outstanding job in World War II, so let’s give them some recognition by giving their besieged president the peace prize.”

For another thing, did the Nobel Prize people even think about what this means for Obama? Sure, they’ve ensured that he’ll make even more money now on his post-presidential lecture circuit. But now, with a Nobel Peace Prize, he has to deliver some peace, damn it…serious peace…or he will be dragged over the coals by people in this country. Now he has to live up the award he’s been given. The man has enough on his plate trying to right our economy and get something resembling healthcare reform without having a peace prize standard of achievement hanging over his head as well.

I like Obama a lot. I want him to succeed.

I don’t like that he got a Nobel Peace Prize.

I’m still scratching my head.

And groaning.

Worldwide Pants by Miz Pink

Or maybe Dave Letterman should change the name of his production company to Worldwide Dropped Pants? So, David had him some workplace nookie and there are some folks out there calling for CBS to fire him. Calling him a creep. Talking him to task for being unfaithful.

Now, I don’t know how seriously he and the (now) missus were dating at the time but he didn’t have a ring on his finger so I’m not sure how much that counts as “cheating” especially by hollywood/TV standards.

I kinda think we have enough going on in the world that we could see less Dave in the news and on talk shows rants and more Afghanistan and U.S. economy and such. I mean really if we’re gonna spend time lambasting or leering at a TV guy’s life isn’t Glenn Beck a lot more in need of some peeping?

It’s not like Dave called a mostly black women’s basketball team a bunch of nappy headed ‘ho’s or something. He hasn’t been intimately involved in tanking our economy…or inciting the masses to violence against the current adminstration…or drugging and raping underaged girls.

No Dave got some sex and some stupid producer was idiot enough to try to blackmail him over it. And we get another pumped up ceeleb story to distract us from looming 10% unemployment rates, skyrocketing deficits, declining value of the dollar, more of a military mess in the Middle East…

The only pants I care about with David Letterman are his production company Worldwide Pants, and wondering when it will put out another show I enjoyed as much as Everybody Loves Raymond. I’d rather have something like that to distract me from the end of the world as we know it (when I WANT to be distracted) rather than the news folks taking away from what little time they bother anymore telling me stuff I really need to know.