One of the things I love about my little town is the sidewalk diners. Well, diners that take the cooking outside…this was my lunch. Totally unhealthy..totally bad food…but totally so damn good. Had a Bud with it…great meal for such a hot and humid day.

Headline:

Gardasil certainly made headlines in 2006 when the Food and Drug Administration approved it as a vaccine against four strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer.

HPV can be transmitted sexually, so many parents decided to give the vaccination to their teenaged daughters.

Now, Gardasil is making headlines again. This time, the drug’s manufacturer is under scrutiny as the vaccine’s recipients are complaining of ill side effects.

There have been more than 78,000 complaints about Gardasil, New England Cable News reported Tuesday.

Complaints have included nausea, blood clots, genital warts, paralysis and even death.

The Centers for Disease Control said the deaths are not linked to Gardasil.

Merck is standing by its product, insisting it is safe.

“I think of all the vaccines out there, this has been thoroughly tested prior to release,” said Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FOXNews.com. “This is a vaccine that helps protect women from a very deadly disease. Therefore the benefits fully outweigh any side effect that has been found so far.

Now, let’s read between the lines.

HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. It is a virus, which lives on and in the skin of infected persons. There are over 100 different forms of HPV- only 30 or 40 of these are passed around sexually. People who are infected often don’t know it because this is often a asymptomatic disease. Some people will get genital warts. The infection usually clears up within months with no side effects. Sometimes it comes back time after time though. Warts on hands and feet and around mouths are caused by HPV as well.

What about the risks for cervical cancer, the connection with HPV and other factors?

For cervical cancer, the most important risk factor is infection with HPV (human papilloma virus). HPVs are a group of more than 100 types of viruses that cause warts. Some types of HPV cause genital warts. Other types cause cancer of the cervix. These are called “high-risk” HPVs. HPV is passed from one person to another during sex. Having unprotected sex, especially at a young age, makes HPV infection more likely. Also, women who have many sexual partners (or who have sex with men who have had many partners) have a greater chance of getting HPV.

Reading further:

Even though HPV is an important risk factor for cervical cancer, most women with this infection do not get cervical cancer. Doctors believe other factors must come into play for this cancer to develop. Some of these factors are listed below.

Smoking: Women who smoke are about twice as likely as those who don’t to get cervical cancer. Tobacco smoke can produce chemicals that may damage the DNA in cells of the cervix and make cancer more likely to occur.

HIV infection (human immunodeficiency virus): HIV is the virus that causes AIDS (it is not the same as HPV). It can also be a risk factor for cancer of the cervix. Being HIV positive makes a woman’s immune system less able to fight both HPV and early cancers.

Chlamydia (cluh-mid-ee-uh) infection: This is a rather common kind of bacteria that can infect women’s sex organs. It is spread during sex. Many women do not know they have it unless samples taken at the time of their Pap test are looked at for the bacteria. Some studies suggest that women who have this infection (or have had it in the past) are at greater risk for cancer of the cervix. While further studies are needed to find out if this is true, there are good reasons to avoid this infection or to have it treated. Long-term infection can cause other serious problems.

Diet can play a part as well. Diets low in fruits and vegetables are linked to an increased risk of cervical and other cancers. Also, women who are overweight are at a higher risk.

Birth control pills: Long-term use of birth control pills increases the risk of this cancer. Some studies show a higher risk after 5 or more years of use. You should talk to your doctor about the pros and cons of birth control in your own case.

Having many pregnancies: Woman who have had many full-term pregnancies have an increased risk of this cancer. No one really knows why this is, but it has been proven beyond doubt by large studies.

Low income: Poor women are at greater risk for cancer of the cervix. This may be because they cannot afford good health care, including Pap tests.

DES (diethylstilbestrol): This drug is a hormone that was used between 1940 and 1971 for some women who were in danger of miscarriages. The daughters of women who took this drug have a slightly higher risk of cancer of the vagina and cervix.

Family history: Recent studies suggest that women whose mother or sister has had cervical cancer are more likely to get the disease themselves. This could be because they are less able to fight off HPV than other women, or other factors could be involved.

So we know there are MANY risk factors associated with cervical cancer. HPV infection is one of them.
Only one- and a small risk at that.

The bottom line here is simple:

Roughly 15,000 women a year are DX with cervical cancer.
Many will catch it in it’s early stages where it can be successfully treated. Life expectancy is high for those who take care of themselves. Remember not all these cancers are caused by HPV…and the women who are DX with this have other risk factors present.

Of the 15,000 women, 3700 will die.
The profile of these women is pretty much the same: She is in her 50’s, smokes, hasn’t had a pap smear in many years; and perhaps her Mother or a sister also has this form of cancer. Maybe she was sexually active in her youth with many different partners.
Gardisal is NOT going to save millions of lives.

78,000 complaints? THIS ISN’T NORMAL. Or expected. Or worth it.
It is totally unethical and disingenuous of Dr Manny of FOX news to pronounce this vaccine as safe AND, to say that the benefits outweigh the risks. Numbers tell a lot. 78,000 side effects, and that is what these complaints ARE, vs. 3700 lives a yr??? Lives caught up in a form of cancer that cannot be absolutely linked (hell, cannot even be closely linked!) to the viruses this vaccine claims to protect against? These side effects are not normal either: Passing out, blindness, seizures??? No. Sore arms, fever, rashes? Yes.

No. Be smart. Listen to your doctor but ask the questions. Print up the linked info and ask for a justification of this.

McCain is walking a tightrope? I’d say so.

PHOENIX (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain acknowledged the steep drop in U.S. jobs and said he would help the economy by cutting taxes, encouraging free trade, building nuclear power plants and launching other initiatives.
[...]
More than 400,000 jobs have been lost since December, he said, adding, “Americans are worried about the security of their current job, and they’re worried that they, their kids and their neighbors may not find good jobs and new opportunities in the future.”

Yeah? McCain wants to talk about jobs? How about booting the illegal immigrants out? How about encouraging Americans to take BACK all those jobs they once held? How about prison sentences for the owners and managers of the businesses who hire them (knowingly or not)???

THOSE EXACT WORDS HE SPOKE ABOVE have been said to Hispanic audiences too.

John McCain is a fucking hypocrite of the highest order.

On Tuesday, Sen. McCain will speak to the League of United Latin American Citizens, his second such address to Hispanic voters in as many weeks. He is expected to repeat his political sentiments about the need for comprehensive immigration reform — a view that appeals to Hispanics.

He panders to the very people who are using up our tax dollars via welfare benefits for illegals; his answer is to somehow “legalize” the criminal activity at the expense of Americans…can we afford to pay for this when our jobs are being offered to illegals?

Sen. McCain and his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, share more similar views on immigration than perhaps on any other policy issue. Both propose securing the borders, introducing temporary worker programs and opening a path to citizenship that includes learning English and paying fines.

Uugh. They’re one in the same on this issue and THIS should concern people. American people that is.

In the general election, Sen. McCain appears to be trying to have it both ways. He emphasizes a need to secure the borders and to show compassion to illegal immigrants already here.

McCain can try to have it both ways. But he’s not fooling me. Or millions of others who happen to hold those jobs McCain has decided Americans shouldn’t want.

Again I know I have to vote for this asshole. And again, I will forever be in conflict with my conscience on that vote; and will never sleep soundly because of this vote.

More evidence that our health care system isn’t working:

PLAINFIELD, N.J. – If the country is facing a nationwide health-care crisis, then the condition in New Jersey can be described as gravely critical.

The state has an estimated 1.3 million people without health insurance who cannot pay a doctor or a hospital bill. New Jersey law requires that hospitals treat anyone who walks through their doors, and then get reimbursed later by the state. But the state’s looming budget shortfall has forced it to cut back on the reimbursements, leaving hospitals to pick up the tab. And hospitals, in turn, are going broke: Six have closed in the past 18 months, and half of those remaining are operating in the red.

As the economy falters, the number of uninsured is likely to grow, and so will the burden on hospitals. And with more hospitals expected to shut their doors, New Jersey faces a nasty culmination of health-care crises.

This isn’t good folks. It’s been happening more and more. The bottom line is hospitals need to take in money in order to operate. Those on the left will use stories like this to promote their demand for single payer universal type coverage. Like they have over in Britain.

Speaking of the Brits, who are struggling to pay for their national health care, here’s how they keep costs down:

A woman has claimed an NHS hospital “starved” her elderly mother rather than continue her care.

Ellen Westwood, 88, was in Birmingham’s Selly Oak Hospital for two months being treated for dementia and C.difficile, which she had previously contracted.

Her daughter Kathleen Westwood said the hospital decided in February it was in her “best interests” to halt fluids and nutrition - a move the family opposed.

The trust said it followed national guidelines on elderly care.

An investigation is under way.

National guidelines? Oh really we might ask? Well, yes, the hospital DID follow the government rules. That do include allowing elderly and disabled people to be starved to death when doctors decide their lives aren’t worth saving; that the costs to maintain a life outweigh the costs to end the life. See, if we eliminate those pesky people from the health care chain, there would be plenty to go around for those left- those who some believe deserve life over others. This is what happens in a national system. Care rationing is becoming the norm in Europe. Now they’re not even bothering to care- they’re outright denying it in favor of death.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Sorry for the invasion of Leftards yesterday. I spent all night cleaning their messes and piles of shit….

Did you hear this??

The end of the Internet is near — and in less than three years, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The reason? More than 85% of the available addresses have already been allocated and the OECD predicts we will have run out completely by early 2011.

Oh my. Let’s call his Royal Highness (Albore) himself, he who invented the Internet, to stop the end of the Internets. Maybe he can hijack this “issue” and turn it into some mass money making, politically correct. scientifically unproven “cause” (Global Warming anyone?)…that so many will embrace blindly.

S.S. Leviathan
Built in 1913 as VATERLAND
Built Blohm & Voss Hamburg
54,282 GRT
948 x 100 feet
Quadruple screw, 24 knots, turbines
752 first class, 535 second class, 850 third class, 1,772 passengers; 1,243 crew

The S.S. Vaterland, was built in Hamburg, Germany, as the second of three very large ships for the Hamburg-America Line’s trans-Atlantic route. Completed in the spring of 1914 she surpassed her slightly older near-sister, S.S. Imperator, as the World’s largest ship. Vaterland held this honor until 1922, when the last of the three big German liners, the 56,551 gross ton Bismarck, was delivered after a long delay and almost immediately became the British liner Majestic.

The three ships’ design emphasized luxury and comfort over speed, though their 23-knot service speed was fast enough for the North Atlantic trade. Vaterland had made only a few trips when, in late July 1914, she arrived at New York just as World War I broke out. With a safe return to Germany rendered virtually impossible by British dominance of the seas, she was laid up at her Hoboken, New Jersey, terminal, and remained immobile for nearly three years.

In April 1917, when the United States entered the war, Vaterland was seized and turned over to the U.S. Navy, which placed her in service later in the year under the name USS Leviathan. In October 1919, she was transferred to the U.S. Shipping Board and again laid up at Hoboken until plans for her future employment could be determined. These finally materialized and, in April 1922 the ship steamed to Newport News, Virginia, where she was completely refitted to suit American tastes and post-World War I standards.

As S.S. Leviathan, she was the “queen” of the United States’ merchant fleet, and operated in the trans-Atlantic trade into the early 1930s. She was not profitable, however, and, with the exception of several months of additional service in 1934, Leviathan was inactive until early 1938, when she made a final Atlantic crossing to Scotland, where she was broken up. No U.S. flag commercial ship approached her size until 1952, until the the S.S. United States was completed.

Come to Maine. Where the scenes are beautiful and the scents even better. Gone sailing further up the coast…

Penobscot Bay, this morning:

I’m really starting to like having weekends off!

Teenage sexiness, redefined for modern culture.

Sweet little thing ain’t she?

And dressed to charm even the most discriminating tastes.

Read the rest of this entry »

I had to work last night..so I missed the local fireworks and other celebrations. Working the holidays can be a PITA, but I’ve always managed to make up for it. We’re spending the weekend in Rye NH, at a friends’ house….which is right on the beach.

Early this morning- it’s a cloudy overcast day (so far) and the prediction doesn’t call for sun. Our friends’ house sits right up on a small cliff overlooking the ocean, on one side of his yard…

And on the other side he has a garden (a work in progress) that leads right onto a private section of beach.

Beach roses. THOUSANDS of them. The scent is overwhelming at times, yet I love it. And I don’t LIKE flowers….but these are wild and natural. Not fake and out of place.

We’re cooking a HUGE corned beef roast on a grille and later I’ll grille up potatoes and carrots too. Ever had barbecued saurekraut? I have and it’s YUMMY when done right. We call this our Irish Beach meal. We have beer and Jack, Vitamin Water and…coffee. Gonna be a great weekend!

Ooy. Ain’t this the cold painful damn truth?

The company hyped its sofa-stuffed lounges as a new, American “third place,” an alternative to work and home. I’m always amazed at the high-class hobos who clutter up Starbucks, the MacBook “novelists,” and the Bluetooth-enabled “consultants,” nursing their lattes and milking the Internet. The Dunkin’ Donuts outlets in my neighborhood offer a glaring contrast. I hit Dunkin’ a few mornings each week after exercising. It’s the only time of day when I interact with men and women who actually work for a living.

Starbucks. The coffee sucks. It’s as simple as that…yes, yes- I know many people who believe the coffee is excellent and worth it’s over inflated price. I say BS..coffee was never meant to be a rich man’s drink. Like beer, coffee is everyman’s drink- and Starbucks tried to create a “classy” brand. It’s pretty obvious the business model here isn’t working out quite the way Starbucks intended. Dunkies doesn’t cater to a higher (lazier) class of peasant. It simply serves up coffee- fast and cheap, without all the drama. That model works. Every time.

All’s not well in Google Land.

Two months ago, Google held a series of secret focus groups with employees who have children in Google’s day care facilities. The purpose was to gauge their reaction to the company’s plan to raise the amount it charged for in-house day care by 75 percent.
[...]
As word leaked out about the company’s plan, the Google parents began to fight back. They came up with ideas to save money, used the company’s T.G.I.F. sessions — a weekly meeting for anyone who wanted to ask questions of Google’s top executives — to plead their case, and conducted surveys showing that most parents with children in Google day care would have to leave Google’s facilities and find less expensive child care.
[...]
Do you think you know how this story ends? You’re probably guessing that because it involves “do no evil” Google, Fortune magazine’s “Best Company to Work For” the past two years, this is a heart-warming tale of a good company reversing a dumb decision.

If only.

So Google is finally growing up perhaps? And realizing how the real world works, and how in order to stay competitive it must cut back on some of it’s benefits. This is an interesting article and I have to wonder if soon, Google as an employer might rank down there with, say, Wal Mart?

And those who love them (or if you’re like me, get horny just hearing the word Ooh Rah!)….it’s July 4th weekend. Most of us will be out celebrating our Nation’s independence with cookouts and beer and time with family, friends. We’re taking a well deserved break from work to do this.

Check THIS BLOG out.

Since we’re all in the celebrating mood, let’s not forget those who gave so much so that others can be free. Wounded Marines need our help. It’s time to stand up, tall, and HELP. What better time of year to do this?

Inspired by the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund four motivated Marines have dedicated a run in honor of our Wounded Warriors who’ve faithfully served overseas. From 22-26 October 2008 we will embark on a 177.5 mile run to raise funds, awareness and support to these Warriors through the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. Our run will begin on 22 October 08 at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA and end at the Marine Corps Marathon finish line in Washington, DC on 26 October.

Remember what Semper Fi means.

XPosted@ Michael’s– where I learned about this.

As you read this and the article it’s linked from, don’t ask where society is headed. You don’t want to know.

“Five years? Ten years? That’s ridiculous,” said LaToya Bell, 22, sitting on a porch with four others who nodded in agreement. “They (are) getting time for nothing. That girl, she knew what she was doing.”

I am speechless.

Ouch.

The Obamas have themselves raised legitimate questions about their love of country. Unfortunately, those legitimate questions have been drowned out at times by illegitimate ones spread by mass e-mails. Those have rightly been called “smears” by the Obama campaign.

But still, in his Monday speech Obama again gave cause to question not his patriotism, but his belief that America is a great nation. He said, “what makes America great has never been its perfection but the belief that it can be made better.”

Really? America isn’t great because of what it is now, but because of what it might become?

They do cause us to ask the questions they claim we have no right to ask. I do question whether he even likes this country. I don’t think he or his Mrs. Messiah are proud of America; in fact I believe they are ashamed. Therefore, in my opinion he has no business in being our President.