Free Antibiotics - A Stupid Decision

According to the New York Times, several smaller retail pharmacies around the country such as Wegman's Food Market, Publix, and ShopRite are offering free antibiotics this winter to compete with larger chains such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and CVS Pharmacy. This tactic has lured more patients to the smaller pharmacies, but the long term consequences of offering free antibiotics could harm the public much more than it helps.

Because of this, many patients have demanded that doctors give them a prescription for an antibiotic when it is not necessary. Antibiotics only work against bacterial infections, and patients that have a virus, such as influenza, might actually be hurting themselves by using them when it is not needed. Overusage of antibiotics increases drug resistance in humans. This decreases the effectiveness of the antibiotic in the future, when it may actually be needed.

Another major problem with increasing antibiotic resistance is the fact that most drug companies do not spend very much research and development in antibiotics. Being in a capitalist society, drug companies try to make as much money as possible. Why would a company create a new antibiotic that is used for 10 days when they could be developing a cholesterol lowering drug that patients would buy 30 days a month, 12 months a year?

Either doctors need to be much more strict in prescribing medications, or drug companies should focus more on the development of antibiotics. The only problem is that doctors want to keep patients happy so they will return, and drug companies want to choose the more lucrative option. This problem will probably not be solved soon, but doctor's must take responsibility and not hand out antibiotics like Jehovah's Witnesses leaflets.

Same Old

Stocks are down. Detroit wants a bailout. Banks are going under. The housing market is a mess. Some old guy ripped off the country for a billion dollars. Obama wants universal health care. Bernanke blames someone else. Japan’s stock market is falling. The dollar is weak. Clinton is making deals overseas. China is doing well. Wal-Mart is doing well. The Euro weakens.

Have you noticed that the news has not changed in a month? Every day, the same exact stories, written by someone else, with a different title. I understand that these are very important topics, but it seems to me that America is in limbo right now. We cannot seem to get out of this rut. We seem to be sitting right on the edge of total economic collapse, and possibly starting to recover.

Answers are out there, there are people smart enough to solve these problems. Politicians are not the answers to these problems. Bernanke, a man who I once believed in, has turned out to be another politician. People smart enough to solve these problems, are smart enough to stay out of politics. Politicians will push us into total economic collapse; the American people will be the recovery.

McDonalds Has a New Dollar Menu!

Review: StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a browser add-on that allows members to visit user-submitted sites. A user can click "Stumble" in their browser, and they are sent to a site that another user has recommended. It is a great way to find new sites and a fun tool to use when you are bored.

In addition to visiting a submitted page, StumbleUpon allows the user to give the page a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." This tells StumbleUpon whether the user liked the site or not, and giving a site a thumbs down eliminates the user from ever finding that site again through "Stumbling." A thumbs up increases the chance that the user will Stumble on similar sites in the future.

StumbleUpon also offers users the ability to Stumble favorite sites of friends, images, videos, and news items. This specificity of Stumbing options is also a great feature included in the StumbleUpon browswer add-on.

StumbleUpon is not the most productive internet tool out there, but when boredom knocks on the door, it is a great way to find new sites for entertainment and hobbies. I would definitely recommend using StumbleUpon.

Newspeak

For anyone that has read the book 1984, they know the definition of newspeak. For those of you that don’t know, newspeak is the transformation of a language into the governments molding and complete control. The idea is that if the government can control/manipulate how much a person can communicate with his fellow comrades, there would be no uprising or free thinking.

I understand that languages are constantly changing. Just by reading a verse from a King James Bible, I can see that we speak much differently today. I may just be “old school”, but it seems as if we are adopting some newspeak. Did you know that the word “capitalist” did not always mean “greedy, heartless, selfish pig?” Definitions of once, well defined words, now have a completely different meanings.

When some people think “capitalist”, their minds automatically think of the crooks on Wall Street. Let me tell you now, because I have not heard it anywhere else: “THE THIEVES OF WALL STREET ARE NOT CAPITALISTS!” Bernie Madoff is NOT a capitalist. Ken Lay is NOT a capitalist. Bernard Ebbers is NOT a capitalist. Capitalism respects the private property of others. Stealing from people, even if it is through corporate fraud, is not capitalism. It is easy for people to relate capitalism to large corporations, since, in a way, that is the American Dream.

Capitalism stands on three pillars: individualism, free markets and private property. No, thievery is not one of the pillars. This corporate power over the government is a step back from capitalism, back to the mercantilist days of a half century ago.

There is no “perfect” economic system. There will never be a perfect economic system but we cannot fix these present problems by taking steps backwards. Every day, Americans are being spoon fed the idea that “socialism is the key”. “No one deserves to be sick, let’s universalize health care!” In philosophy it is called: ‘an appeal to pity’. We are being told that by not wanting universal health care, we are greedy, we are selfish, we are capitalists.

Newspeak? Don’t let it fool you. Do not be ashamed of the beliefs America was built on. If only there was one moral person in the government that was not in it for power, one person that could lead our country back to sanity. But to expect that person to exist in the American government is a bit too much to ask.

Harvard Medical School Fails to Control Drug Industry Money

Arguably the top medical school in the country, Harvard Medical School received an "F" by the American Medical Student Association in monitoring drug industry money contributed to the university. This is a major problem because drug companies could be slipping money under the table to professors who promote their medication. This unethical behavior should not be tolerated by a prestigious school like Harvard.

The New York Times reported that earlier today Senator Grassley wrote a letter to Harvard asking for details about payments made to over 100 faculty members at Harvard Medical School. In the article, Grassley talks about how three Harvard psychiatrists failed to report at least $4.2 million in payments between 2000-2007.

It is a scary situation to think that professors are getting incentives by drug companies to promote their product, especially with an industry leader like Harvard at fault. This further proves the large extent of control that major pharmaceutical manufacturers have in the health care field. Hopefully Harvard will be able to get all of this straightened out within the next couple years, or its status as a prestigious medical institution could go down the drain.

Book Review: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand

The objectivist philosopher/writer Ayn Rand seems very relevant today. As we go through this recession, it seems as if socialism is the only alternative, and nationalization is the only cure. In the book “Atlas Shrugged” Rand shows what a society would look like if the government took control over private property and corporate leaders went on strike.

Do not let the book intimidate you. It is rather large novel with about 1200-1300 pages depending on what edition you get. Each page brings a new surprise, and you will find yourself not wanting to put the book down. I would recommend this book to any mature readers especially if you are interested in philosophy.

Rand has a different take on life, she was born in Russia and migrated to the United states as a teen. She spent much time writing about the cons of a totalitarian dictatorship. If you are looking for a an oldie, but a goodie, Atlas Shrugged is Awesome.

LG Recalls Spyder Cell Phone Because of Poor 911 Connections

Engadget has reported that 30,000 LG Spyder cell phones are being recalled for having poor quality when dialing 911. Bad connection and unsatisfactory voice quality during 911 calls prompted the cell phone giant to recall 30,000 phones. This is actually pretty scary because this was the main reason people started buying cell phones in the 90's, even though today I'm guessing most people would rather have access to texting than 911, which is sad...

This isn't the first problem for LG, who pleaded guily for price fixing LCD screens between 2001 and 2006. The price fixing cost them a $400 million fine. This was extremely unethical, and I am personally glad I have never owned an LG phone.

Back to the 911 problem... Engadget reported that LG was very active with the recall and that they only had a single report of poor 911 connection and no deaths. This is a step in the right direction, but LG still has a record of being very unethical and I would not recommend purchasing an LG product.