Cancer Patients Facing Death Thanks to the Republican Sequester

Cancer Patients Facing Death Thanks to the Republican Sequester

By: Adalia WoodburyApr. 6th, 2013more from Adalia Woodbury

While conservatives whine about White House tours and look for praise over the great sacrifice of ending their tax payer subsidized haircuts, Americans are feeling the pinch of sequester in their ability to survive.

For some people the sequester means making ends meet harder and yes they are suffering in ways that doesn?t matter to the corporatists in the Republican Party. As noted by our guest contributor, Republicans in Tennessee call their version of a starve the poor policy an incentive to improve school performance.

Even before the Sequester, people on Medicaid were more likely to have chronic illnesses simply because there is a long established nexus between poverty and chronic health problems. ?Policies like the one in Tennessee will only increase illness and do nothing to improve school performance.

As Gallup?s data shows, the poorest among us continue to be prone to chronic health problems.

It isn?t surprising that as poverty goes up illness trickles down much faster than prosperity.

According to a study ?in Kentucky released in February:

?While changes in our healthcare delivery system may provide more healthcare opportunities for low income Kentuckians, these results show how vital a strong economy, and jobs that pay well, are to our population?s health.?

Before the Republican Party?s policies gave us the great recesson, Steven Wolf conducted a similar study in Virginia. ?In 2006, he warned:

?More than half remained uninsured specifically because they simply couldn?t afford it, the CDC said. Research consistently highlights the negative link between reduced income and worsening health ? as salaries drop, individuals tend to be more stressed, and generally lead less-healthy lifestyles.

These people are going to develop diseases at a higher rate and the health care system is going to feel the brunt of it,?

Simply put, ?there is a nexus between poverty and chronic health issues. There is also a nexus between jobs that provide a living wage and having a healthy way of living.? I refuse to call it a healthy lifestyle, because that infers that people in poverty actually have the luxury of choosing expensive nutritious foods over affordable less nutritious ones.? It suggests that there is enough flexibility in the resources of someone who lives in poverty to not only get nutritious foods but enough of them. ?People who are starving are less likely to exercise. Contrary to the GOP?s rhetoric, living in poverty means constant stress be it worrying about feeding the kids or if you?ll have a roof over your head next week.

Cuts to Medicaid mean that someone who is most in need of medical care will fall through the holes in the safety net that only got larger with the sequester. It?s bad enough that people who suffer from chronic ailments directly related to poverty will fall through these holes.? However, the suffering that comes with Sequester doesn?t end there.

The Washington Post?reports that cancer clinics are turning away thousands of cancer patients because of the Sequester.? This isn?t limited to one or a few states.? It?s happening across the country.

Oncologists say that because of the Sequester cuts to Medicaid they can?t administer expensive and lifesaving chemotherapy and stay afloat at the same time. They have to choose between providing patients with life-saving chemotherapy and staying in business to at least save someone?s life.

For patients, this means trying to get the treatment they need to survive at a hospital.? Granted it?s more expensive, which is ironic since the alleged objective of cutting spending is to reduce costs.

One study?from actuarial firm Milliman found that ?chemotherapy delivered in a hospital setting costs the federal government an average of $6,500 more annually than care delivered in a community clinic.?

Even if the twisted logic of making things more expensive actually cuts spending, there is the added problem that since most Medicare patients receive their treatments at oncology clinics instead of hospitals, it?s doubtful that hospitals will have the ability to take these patients on.

There is no way around it.? This means there are cancer patients who simply won?t get treatment. ?I lost both of my parents to cancer, but I remain forever thankful that they had access to treatment for cancer along with the depression and cluster of other things that are part of the package. They didn?t have to hunt for a hospital to treat them because some lawmakers were too cheap and greedy to give a damn about the people they were hired to represent. There is no diplomatic way to express the contempt I have for politicians who place a higher priority on handouts to corporations and people who not only have more than they will ever need, but more than their children and grandchildren will ever need than on the lives of parents, grandparents or children who don?t have enough to provide the bare necessities of life. To my way of thinking, this isn?t merely bad policy. It?s criminal.? It amounts exterminating people simply because they are poor, or at least not rich enough to buy a corrupt politician.

There is no way around it.? While Republicans whine about cuts to small portions of the handouts they and their friends get it isn?t as if their lives depend on travelling by private jet or getting a subsidized haircut. It isn?t as if paying some taxes will mean a difference between survival and a shorter life expectancy for the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson and others who think the world revolves around them.

The same cannot be said about cuts that literally take the food out of children?s mouths.That only perpetuate the social, economic and health consequences of increased poverty or the inevitable death of a cancer patient because chemotherapy wasn?t accessible.

There is nothing moral about it and there?s nothing about it that resembles the Christianity that conservatives claim to believe in.

Image from conversationalreading

Source: http://www.politicususa.com/cancer-patients-feel-costs-sequester.html

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British woman, 24, ?stabbed to death? on houseboat in Kashmir, India

Indian police move the body of a British woman murdered on Dal Lake in Kashmir (Picture: AFP / Getty)

A British woman has been found murdered on a houseboat in India, the British High Commission in Delhi has said.

The 24-year-old is believed to have been stabbed to death and was discovered lying in a pool of blood inside her accomodation on the Dal Lake early this morning, according to reports.

Dal Lake is a popular tourist destination (Picture: Google Maps)

A Dutch national who had been staying in a neighbouring boat has been held on suspicion of her murder.

Abdul Ghani Mir, the Inspector General of Kashmir, told NDTV in India he was arrested attempting to flee the area with only his passport.

A Dutch nation was arrested attempting to flee the Valley (Picture: Alamy / File)

?The Dutch national had fled from the houseboat in the night, leaving behind his belongings,? he said.

?He was trying to flee from the Valley, carrying only his passport. We flashed an alert for his arrest.?

A Kashmiri fisherman throws a net on Dal Lake (Picture: AFP / Getty)

The owner of the houseboat?said the woman had been staying their for the past two months and was like a ?daughter? to him.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it is looking into the reports.

A spokesman said: ?We are aware of reports of an incident involving a British national in Srinagar, Kashmir.?

William Hague: The Foreign Office is looking into the reports (Picture: Reuters)

The Dal Lake is an integral part of tourism in Kashmir and is home to a large collection of houseboat.

?While preliminary investigation has confirmed that the 24-year-old woman was murdered, we are investigating other angles,? a police source told ITV News.

?Forensic evidence is being collected.?

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/06/british-woman-24-found-murdered-dal-lake-boathouse-in-kashmir-3585427/

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Roger Ebert dies, leaves legacy as groundbreaking movie critic

Roger Ebert dies: He started as the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967. Roger Ebert won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism, the first movie reviewer to do so.

By Caryn Rousseau,?Associated Press / April 4, 2013

Movie critic Roger Ebert gives the thumbs-up after receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood in 2005. Ebert passed away Thursday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/Files

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Roger?Ebert, the most famous and most popular film reviewer of his time who became the first journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for movie criticism and, on his long-running TV program, wielded the nation's most influential thumb, died Thursday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He was 70.

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Ebert had been a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967.

He had no grand theories or special agendas, but millions recognized the chatty, heavy-set man with wavy hair and horn-rimmed glasses. Above all, they followed the thumb ? pointing up or down. It was the main logo of the televised shows Ebert co-hosted, first with the late Gene Siskel of the rival Chicago Tribune and ? after Siskel's death in 1999 ? with his Sun-Times colleague Richard Roeper. Although criticized as gimmicky and simplistic, a "two thumbs up" accolade was sure to find its way into the advertising for the movie in question.

Despite his power with the movie-going public, Ebert wrote in his 2011 autobiography "Life Itself," that he considered himself "beneath everything else a fan."

"I have seen untold numbers of movies and forgotten most of them, I hope, but I remember those worth remembering, and they are all on the same shelf in my mind," Ebert wrote in his 2011 memoir, "Life Itself."

He was teased for years about his weight, but the jokes stopped abruptly when Ebert lost portions of his jaw and the ability to speak, eat and drink after cancer surgeries in 2006. But he overcame his health problems to resume writing full-time and eventually even returned to television. In addition to his work for the Sun-Times, Ebert became a prolific user of social media, connecting with fans on Facebook and Twitter.

The thumb logo remained the property of Ebert and Siskel's widow, and in early 2011, Ebert launched his new show, "Ebert Presents At the Movies." The show had new hosts, but featured Ebert in his own segment, "Roger's Office." He used a chin prosthesis and enlisted voice-over guests to read his reviews.

While some called Ebert a brave inspiration, he told The Associated Press in an email in January 2011 that bravery and courage "have little to do with it."

"You play the cards you're dealt," Ebert wrote. "What's your choice? I have no pain, I enjoy life, and why should I complain?"

Ebert joined the Sun-Times part time in 1966 while pursuing graduate study at the University of Chicago, and got the reviewing job the following year. His reviews were eventually syndicated to several hundred other newspapers, collected in books and repeated on innumerable websites, which would have made him one of the most influential film critics in the nation even without his television fame.

His 1975 Pulitzer for distinguished criticism was the first, and one of only three, given to a film reviewer since the category was created in 1970. In 2005, he received another honor when he became the first critic to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Ebert's breezy and quotable style, as well as his knowledge of film technique and the business side of the industry, made him an almost instant success.

He soon began doing interviews and profiles of notable actors and directors in addition to his film reviews ? celebrating such legends as Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum and offering words of encouragement for then-newcomer Martin Scorsese.

In 1969, he took a leave of absence from the Sun-Times to write the screenplay for "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls." The movie got an "X'' rating and became somewhat of a cult film.

Ebert's television career began the year he won the Pulitzer, first on WTTW-TV, the Chicago PBS station, then nationwide on PBS and later on several commercial syndication services. Ebert and Siskel even trademarked the "two thumbs up" phrase.

And while the pair may have sparred on air, they were close off camera. Siskel's daughters were flower girls when Ebert married his wife, Chaz, in 1992.

"He's in my mind almost every day," Ebert wrote in his autobiography. "He became less like a friend than like a brother."

Ebert was also an author, writing more than 20 books that included two volumes of essays on classic movies and the popular "I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie," a collection of some of his most scathing reviews.

The son of a union electrician who worked at the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus, Roger Joseph Ebert was born in Urbana on June 18, 1942. The love of journalism, as well as of movies, came early. Ebert covered high school sports for a local paper at age 15 while also writing and editing his own science fiction fan magazine.

He attended the university and was editor of the student newspaper. After his graduation in 1964, he spent a year on scholarship at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and then began work toward a doctorate in English at the University of Chicago.

Ebert's hometown embraced the film critic, hosting the annual Ebertfest film festival and placing a plaque at his childhood home.

Ebert also was embraced online in the years after he lost his physical voice. He kept up a Facebook page, a Twitter account with nearly 600,000 followers and a blog, Roger?Ebert's Journal.

The Internet was where he forged relationships with his readers, posting links to stories he found interesting and writing long pieces on varied topics, not just film criticism. He interacted with readers in the comments sections and liked to post old black-and-white photos of Hollywood stars and ask readers to guess who they were.

"My blog became my voice, my outlet, my 'social media' in a way I couldn't have dreamed of," Ebert wrote in his memoir. "Most people choose to write a blog. I needed to."

Ebert wrote in 2010 that he did not fear death because he didn't believe there was anything "on the other side of death to fear."

"I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state," he wrote. "I am grateful for the gifts of intelligence, love, wonder and laughter. You can't say it wasn't interesting."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/W5eK4UcI9YQ/Roger-Ebert-dies-leaves-legacy-as-groundbreaking-movie-critic

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NKorea aggression could strengthen US-China bond

WASHINGTON (AP) ? North Korea?s latest outburst of nuclear and military threats has given the U.S. a rare opportunity to build bridges with China ? a potential silver lining to the simmering crisis that could revitalize the Obama administration?s flagging policy pivot to Asia.

The architect of the administration?s Asia policy described a subtle change in Chinese thinking as a result of Pyongyang?s recent nuclear tests, rocket launches and abandonment of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 war with South Korea.

Pyongyang has taken similar actions in the past, prompting Washington to step up military readiness in the region to soothe allies South Korea and Japan. But in an unusual rebuke this week, Beijing called North Korea?s moves ??regrettable?? ? amounting to a slap from Pyongyang?s strongest economic and diplomatic supporter.

??They, I think, recognize that the actions that North Korea has taken in recent months and years are in fact antithetical to their own national security interests,?? former Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told a panel Thursday at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

??There is a subtle shift in Chinese foreign policy?? toward North Korea, said Campbell, who retired in February as the administration?s top diplomat in East Asia and the Pacific region. ??I don?t think that provocative path can be lost on Pyongyang. ... I think that they have succeeded in undermining trust and confidence in Beijing.??

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described ??good unity?? between the U.S. and China in responding to North Korea.

??The issue here is to continue to recognize that the threats we share are common, and the approaches are more likely to be more effective if we can work well together,?? she told reporters Thursday.

For now, the crisis has given new rise to the White House?s decision to bolster U.S. economic and security in the region that for years was sidelined as a priority by war and terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa.

Much of the policy has centered on China ? both in strengthening diplomatic ties and economic trade. But China is an unreliable American ally and has been suspicious about the U.S. entreaty, which it sees as economic competition on its own turf.

Now, North Korea?s threats have focused China and the U.S. on a regional security threat instead of an economic rivalry.

??Part of the pivot is to also take a more active interest in the security issues in Asia,?? Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., who chairs a committee overseeing East Asia, said in an interview this week. ??And clearly, North Korea is the most difficult country and one that represents security issues for the countries in Asia, as well as indirectly affects U.S. interests.??

??With North Korea making these noises, it will require the U.S. to deal with security issues in Asia,?? Cardin said.

North Korea has ratcheted up an almost daily string of threats toward the U.S., South Korea and Japan and moved a missile with ??considerable range?? to its east coast, South Korea?s defense minister said Thursday. But he emphasized that the missile was not capable of reaching the United States, and officials in Seoul and Washington agree there are no signs that Pyongyang is preparing for a full-scale conflict.

Last year, North Korea launched two long-range rockets ? it claims they were satellites but were widely believed to be missiles ? and in February announced it conducted an underground nuclear test. A month later, the country declared its 1953 armistice with South Korea void. And this week, Pyongyang said it would restart a shuttered nuclear reactor and ramp up production of atomic weapons material, and began turning away South Korean workers from jointly run factories in the North.

Much of the bellicosity is seen as an effort to shore up loyalty among citizens and the military for North Korea?s young leader, Kim Jong Un. But U.S. and U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang after the February nuclear test fueled tensions and began the unusually high level of threats.

It?s also a response to annual U.S.-South Korean military drills that ? intentional or not ? antagonize the North. The ongoing drills have shown a conspicuous display of firepower, including flying American bombers and fighter jets in recent weeks over South Korea and off the Korean peninsula?s coast, where a U.S. missile-defense ship also has been deployed.

North Korea?s military issued a statement saying its troops have been authorized to counter U.S. ??aggression?? with ??powerful practical military counteractions,?? including nuclear weapons. Experts doubt Pyongyang is able to launch nuclear-tipped missiles, although the extent of its nuclear arsenal is unclear.Continued...

Source: http://feeds.boston.com/c/35022/f/646898/s/2a5c8fbe/l/0L0Sboston0N0Cbusiness0Cnews0C20A130C0A40C0A50Cnkorea0Eaggression0Ecould0Estrengthen0Echina0Ebond0CORXwfT99bgUNJU0AuuqFahI0Cstory0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Taken under the 'wing' of the small magellanic cloud: First detection of X-ray emission from young stars with masses similar to our Sun outside our Milky Way galaxy

Apr. 3, 2013 ? The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors. Even though it is a small, or so-called dwarf galaxy, the SMC is so bright that it is visible to the unaided eye from the Southern Hemisphere and near the equator. Many navigators, including Ferdinand Magellan who lends his name to the SMC, used it to help find their way across the oceans.

Modern astronomers are also interested in studying the SMC (and its cousin, the Large Magellanic Cloud), but for very different reasons. Because the SMC is so close and bright, it offers an opportunity to study phenomena that are difficult to examine in more distant galaxies.

New Chandra data of the SMC have provided one such discovery: the first detection of X-ray emission from young stars with masses similar to our Sun outside our Milky Way galaxy. The new Chandra observations of these low-mass stars were made of the region known as the "Wing" of the SMC. In this composite image of the Wing the Chandra data is shown in purple, optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope is shown in red, green and blue and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope is shown in red.

Astronomers call all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium -- that is, with more than two protons in the atom's nucleus -- "metals." The Wing is a region known to have fewer metals compared to most areas within the Milky Way. There are also relatively lower amounts of gas, dust, and stars in the Wing compared to the Milky Way.

Taken together, these properties make the Wing an excellent location to study the life cycle of stars and the gas lying in between them. Not only are these conditions typical for dwarf irregular galaxies like the SMC, they also mimic ones that would have existed in the early Universe.

Most star formation near the tip of the Wing is occurring in a small region known as NGC 602, which contains a collection of at least three star clusters. One of them, NGC 602a, is similar in age, mass, and size to the famous Orion Nebula Cluster. Researchers have studied NGC 602a to see if young stars -- that is, those only a few million years old -- have different properties when they have low levels of metals, like the ones found in NGC 602a.

Using Chandra, astronomers discovered extended X-ray emission, from the two most densely populated regions in NGC 602a. The extended X-ray cloud likely comes from the population of young, low-mass stars in the cluster, which have previously been picked out by infrared and optical surveys, using Spitzer and Hubble respectively. This emission is not likely to be hot gas blown away by massive stars, because the low metal content of stars in NGC 602a implies that these stars should have weak winds. The failure to detect X-ray emission from the most massive star in NGC 602a supports this conclusion, because X-ray emission is an indicator of the strength of winds from massive stars. No individual low-mass stars are detected, but the overlapping emission from several thousand stars is bright enough to be observed.

The Chandra results imply that the young, metal-poor stars in NGC 602a produce X-rays in a manner similar to stars with much higher metal content found in the Orion cluster in our galaxy. The authors speculate that if the X-ray properties of young stars are similar in different environments, then other related properties -- including the formation and evolution of disks where planets form -- are also likely to be similar.

X-ray emission traces the magnetic activity of young stars and is related to how efficiently their magnetic dynamo operates. Magnetic dynamos generate magnetic fields in stars through a process involving the star's speed of rotation, and convection, the rising and falling of hot gas in the star's interior.

The combined X-ray, optical and infrared data also revealed, for the first time outside our Galaxy, objects representative of an even younger stage of evolution of a star. These so-called ???young stellar objects??? have ages of a few thousand years and are still embedded in the pillar of dust and gas from which stars form, as in the famous "Pillars of Creation" of the Eagle Nebula.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Chandra X-ray Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. L. M. Oskinova, W. Sun, C. J. Evans, V. H?nault-Brunet, Y.-H. Chu, J. S. Gallagher III, M. A. Guerrero, R. A. Gruendl, M. G?del, S. Silich, Y. Chen, Y. Naz?, R. Hainich, J. Reyes-Iturbide. Discovery of X-ray emission from young suns in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013 [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/kwRgKeQbMRI/130403104250.htm

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Anonymous threatens cyberwar on North Korea, steals 15,000 passwords

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? An 18-year-old driver who plowed into a Las Vegas restaurant during lunchtime in a crash that seriously injured 10 people appeared disoriented afterward, didn't know what day it was, and later admitted to using drugs without a prescription, police said in a report released Tuesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/anonymous-threatens-cyberwar-north-korea-steals-15-000-035903339.html

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