Loaf of Texas Toast bread – $1.50.

One Dozen Eggs – $1.19

NetFlix subscription – $14.99

Watching the Muppet Show and eating french toast with your toddler – priceless

The year is 2030.  While doing a regular breast or testicular exam (I’m covering both sexes here, not those with both.  Get your mind out of the gutter), you find a lump.  You immediately go to your doctor for testing, and after multiple blood, tissue, and imaging tests, it’s confirmed as cancer.

20 years ago, in 2010, that would have meant surgery to remove the affected area, chemotherapy to kill any cancerous tissue that was left behind, and possibly radiation therapy.  All of these give you a really good chance of survival, but you are sick and recovering for years, and will always live in fear that the cancer will return and you’ll have to go through all of that again.

However, now you are sent to a nano-oncologist.  After a few tests to make sure they match your treatment with your specific malady and tissue type, they give you several infusions of “medicine”.  You don’t lose your hair or your lunch, you don’t walk around nauseous and weak for months on end, and after a few months you are confirmed cancer free.

This is all because of research that was published in 2010 by the California Institute of Technology.  Microscopic particles that are designed to latch onto cancer cells release RNA into the cancer to cause it to starve itself to death by not producing protein.  After delivering their payload, the particles break down and are passed out of the body with the other waste.

No nasty side effects.  Only cancerous tissue is effected, and it’s thoughout the body, so there could be less chance that cancer will lurk somewhere waiting for a chance to return.

I’m really excited about this.  My grandmother died of cancer.  She went through a lot trying to fight it.  Treatments like this will provide an easier treatment for me and my children in the event that it runs in the family.

Also, this method could be used to treat other medical problems.  I have arthritis.  The best medicines for my condition are called TNF Alpha blockers, for Tumor Necrosis Factor – Alpha.  Basically, my body creates inflamation by producing a substance normally used to fight off cancers and other diseases.  The medicines inhibit the action of this substance, thereby cutting down on the inflammation.  But the medicines have side effects, and eventually stop working as my body builds up a resistance to them.  It would be great if I gave myself a shot every so often to stop my body from over-producing TNF Alpha, with no side effects.  I might even be able to wear a patch like the ones used to help people stop smoking that slowly fed my body a stream of these particles.

Or if a diabetic, another condition that runs in my family, could be given particles that target the panceras, and induce it to create insulin at normal levels.

The use of this kind of technology would be revolutionary.  Research like this could lead to cures and treatments for diseases that people either die from or just have to live with.  Research like this is either done by companies that specialize in medical treatments, or is sponsored by them at universities.  But if the money won’t be there to sell the resulting drugs, devices, or technologies, these companies won’t pay for the research in the first place.  This is one more reason I don’t like the government control of health care.  And I have skin in the game on this one.  Anything that improves my or my children’s chances of having treatments for conditions that run in my family is good for us, and anything that threatens these treatments is bad for us.  So I’m not entirely idealistic or altruistic in my opposition to Obamacare.

H/T to Slashdot for the link.

Watched the health care bill signing/victory lap/pep rally this afternoon during lunch.  It was bad enough to make me leave my dessert behind.  Even if it’s crap, it’s still history if for no other reason that it’s the moment when the country started accelerating it’s trip down the septic tube.

First, Joe “Foot-in-Mouth Disease” Biden got up and publicly fellated the president for all of the “hard work” that he had put in ramming through an unpopular, unworkable piece of legislation.  He then hugged the President and dropped the F-bomb before fading back into the furniture like the good little comedy relief he is.

Then the President got up and thanked all of the members of the Eleventy-First Congress who signed their political death warrants by voting for this piece of dreck.  He singled out “Dingy” Harry Reid and Nancy “The Joker” Pelosi as the best congressional leadership the universe has ever seen. It’s good to see that medical marijuana use isn’t restricted to just the terminally ill, but also the terminally narcissistic.  He then talked about how hard it had been to buck the will of the people who elected him in order to fulfill all of the freshman political science wet dreams he’d had while snorting coke at college.

There were multiple interruptions of his ex-cathedra pronouncements on how this was going to fix all of the problems in the world by the assembled masses clapping and calling for his immediate crowning and canonization.  It reminded me of the old films of the Soviet Congresses during the Stalin era, where those who didn’t clap long or hard enough were escorted out of the Kremlin and taken to the Lubyanka. 

After signing the miscarriage of the public good, he glad handed all of the assembled drones and I tuned out.

It was about the weakest example of statesmanship I’ve ever seen.  So much for reaching across the aisle and trying to mend fences with the opposition.  So much for the dignity of the law making process.  And so much for my hope that any meaningful work will get done by this government until after the November elections.

Heaven knows I’ve fallen victim to mammary related hypnotic possession in my life.  I’ve seen them used as weapons on multiple occasions, as well as an attractant that can cause the male of the species lose his judgement in a matter of seconds.

But I never thought I’d see them actually weaponized.

Guess next we’ll have to have roving guards giving breast exams to likely suspects.  That “Booby Inspector” badge I used to own might have come in handy.

Yes, I’m childish.  What’s your point?

Well, they went and rammed through their health care bill. I haven’t commented because I try to not get angry about things like this and then come here and rant and rave.  I know that may come as a shock to some of you, but I do.

The few pro-life Democrats who seemed willing to stand up for their principles sold their souls to the Obama administration for 30 pieces of silver in the form of a promise to not use federal tax money to pay for abortions.

Cue Neville Chamberlain voice:  I hold here in my hand, a promise from Mr. Obama to not use your tax dollars to bring about the wholesale slaughter of unborn children.  We have health care reform in our day.

Everyone should be aware by now of my opposition to this bill.  I’ve sent letters to my senators and representative.  I’ve blogged about it here, and commented on other blogs.  Where I can, I’ve lent moral support to those who have the ability to go directly to Washington to protest.

But it didn’t work.  Even though a large majority of American citizens are against this effort, it got rammed down our throats last night in the most partisan manner I’ve ever seen. 

Several of the various states have broadcast their intentions to sue the federal government to stop at least some parts of this new law.  Republican partisans are salivating at the chance to use it as a wedge issue in the upcoming elections.  I expect promises to repeal this law will be quick to come once the political ads start coming hard and fast.

I have a few predictions:

1. There will be fewer doctors to take care of patients, especially in specialties that due to the high cost of mal-practice insurance already run with a low profit margin.  Why keep seeing patients when there’s no way to make a decent living doing it.
2. Within a year of this law coming into effect, if it’s not overturned in court or repealed, my employer will stop offering me health insurance.  It’ll be cheaper for them to either give me a little more money to buy my own or more likely just stop with no extra compensation.  Why pay for my insurance when they can just tell me to use what is available at government subsidized rates?  They’ll save even more money because they won’t have to hire people to administer insurance coverage anymore.
3. The over-use of emergency departments will continue to rise, and most people will either forgo maintenance care or will have to resort to going to McClinics at their local pharmacies or grocery stores.  Nothing like the bedside manner of an over-worked PA at Kroger’s.
4. Even if the Republicans take back the House and Senate, they either won’t repeal this law, or will only repeal those parts they find objectionable, and will keep the new taxes to pay for their own pet projects.

And that’s just what I can think of off the top of my head.  As someone who’s worked hard to have a job that provides “cadillac” health coverage, it’s an insult to be told that now I’m expected to provide for all of those people in my life who blew off school, didn’t apply themselves to get ahead in their jobs, and can now look forward to getting free health care paid for by all of us who work for a living.

I’m all about charity, and give regularly to causes that include providing medical care to the indigent, but I hate being forced.  So now that I’m being forced, I’m looking forward to watching the show as things go downhill. 

Well, hell must be freezing over.

Girlie Bear’s mom called me a few minutes ago, and she’s agreeing to try to teach the dog not to nip or bite.  She talked to Girlie Bear earlier this afternoon, and listened to her cry over her pet.

The woman may actually have a heart.  Hopefully she means it.

Got a call this afternoon from Girlie Bear.  She was spending the weekend with her mom.  Seems that she and Little Bear were wrestling, and their dog Buddy decided to get into the act.  Unfortunately, Buddy is a nipper, and decided to nip Girlie Bear in the arm.  The bite broke the skin, and when she or the dog tried to pull away, the wound tore.  Buddy’s caught up on his shots, and he’s not vicious.  He’s just poorly trained and got carried away.

I ran over there to check it out, and took Girlie Bear for 3 stitches.  She was a trooper and didn’t cry until her mom told her that she was taking the dog to the pound.

I asked Girlie Bear’s mom to take Buddy to a no-kill shelter so that he could be better trained and adopted out, but I’m not hopeful.  She called the Shamrock Foundation, which is the agency we adopted Timmy from, but they won’t take a dog who bites.  There are others, but since it’s easier for her to just call the pound and have him carted off, I’m pretty sure that’s what she’ll do.  One of her neighbors does animal rescue work, and she says she’ll also talk with her, but my gut tells she’ll just send him off to the pound.  Hopefully he’ll be adopted out from there, but they’ll only keep him for a few days before euthanizing him.

I’d take the dog myself, but we’re full up.  All of our family and friends are too.

Like the title says, this is just a damn shame.  Buddy is a good pet to Girlie Bear and Little Bear, but he hasn’t been trained properly not to nip.  Now, because his owner didn’t take the time to train him, he’s losing a good home with two kids that he loves and that love him and will end up in a shelter.  The best thing that could happen for him is to get adopted and trained.  I’m going to hope that that will happen, because it upsets me to think of his end if he’s not lucky.  People who don’t treat their animals right and discard them when they become inconvenient just get under my skin.  People should treat the things in their life as if they mattered, not as if they’re disposable.  A person who gets rid of a pet when they become difficult will get rid of a spouse or child when they become inconvenient.

I was listening to Vicious Circle this afternoon, and Christina mentioned that she went to DLI for Korean in ’89 and ’90.   I was at DLI during that time for Russian.  Small world.

The military community is small, and military linguists are even smaller.  We all tend to be stationed in the same places, get the same assignments, do the same tasks, and meet over and over again.

I run into someone I knew in the military every so often.  We spend a few minutes catching up and refreshing our knowledge of how mutual friendships are doing.  There are promises to keep in touch, and sometimes they are even kept.

I suppose any group of people is like that.  If you went to a university, you have a group of people that you knew through school that you run into and remember.  But the relationships I made in the military are the closest I’ve ever met.  I have a group of friends that I haven’t seen since I left Arizona a decade ago, and I still remember that it’s my turn to buy a round next time we get together.

So, here’s to old friends and comrades, wherever they may be.  And here’s to the small world of friends that we all have.

Bad Ass of the Week has profiled a little cutie called the “Honey Badger” this week.  Basically, if you gave a rabid Rottweiler PCP and then electro-shocked him into a frenzy, it’d be this little puffball.

Favorite Quote:

He’s a brutal, vicious killer who kicks asses, never backs down, never registers fear, destroys everything in its path and then adorably trots off into the sunset with his prey in his teeth and the severed nutsacks of his enemies still gripped between his dagger-like claws.

 Several  of my favorite sports teams, including the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux are being pressured to change their names because they might be deemed as offensive.  I say that if the NCAA wants to force a school to change the name of their team after decades of use, then I say using an animal that uses its teeth to de-nut his opponents would be a good choice for a new mascot.

Learned this morning that Fess Parker has died.  When I was growing up, I watched “Davy Crockett” on TV every chance I had, and we played Davy Crockett more than we did Cowboys and Indians.  My mother freaked out when I told her I wanted a flint lock rifle for my birthday when I was 7.  I was probably the last kid in America to get a ‘coon skin cap for Christmas.  Still looking for that flint lock rifle.

I wasn’t aware that after he left acting, he became an entrepreneur and produced some high quality wine.  I’m going to have to look some of that up and see how it goes.  From what I can gather, it’s quite good.

So, Mr. Parker, thanks for representing a great symbol for a young boy who needed it.  I hope you’re in Heaven telling stories with that wonderful drawl and voice.