August 02, 2007 Dear Ms Jones * (*not my real name) Thank you for selecting ________ Health Insurance. We appreciate the confidence you have expressed in our organization and consider every interaction an opportunity to exceed expectations and invite your ongoing critique of that objective.
Your new cards will be arriving shortly, and if you have any questions concerning your coverage, call our Customer Service Department at our toll free number ###-###-####. You may also visit us at ____________.com where you will find a variety of helpful information under the Member section.
Again, thanks for choosing __________ where Innovative Health Care is Designed Around You.
Sincerely, Paula Dixon Individual Membership Administrator
************
From: Chris Cook To: Velveeta Jones Subject: Re: Why is my rate so damn high 08/26/07 Hey girl! I have spoken with Phil, my rep at ___________ to inquire about the rate. There may be some red flag from the medical survey, that's all I can figure out right now. Phil says he will be contacting you (or someone will be) to speak with you about the issue.
Well, if it's before 7am on a Saturday, that can only mean one thing. Your Loyal TriSec is off to donate platelets.
The separation of individual blood components is done with a specialized centrifuge (see apheresis). The earliest manual forms of plateletpheresis are done by the separation of platelets from multiple bags of whole blood collected from donors or blood sellers. Since each blood bag (usually 250 ml or 500 ml) contains a relatively small number of platelets, it can take as many as a dozen blood bags (usually from 5 to 10 bags, depending on the size of the blood bags and each donor's platelet count) to accumulate a single unit of platelets (enough for one patient). This greatly increases the risks of the transfusion. Each unit of platelets separated from donated whole blood is called a "platelet concentrate".
Modern automatic plateletpheresis allows the blood donor to give a portion of his platelets, while keeping his or her red blood cells and at least a portion of blood plasma. Therefore, no more than three units of platelets are generally harvested in any one sitting from a donor. Most donors will donate a "single" or "double" unit, however the occurence of "triples" has been increasing as more suitable donors are recruited.
Because platelets have a life-span of just 5 days, more platelet donors are always needed. Some centers are experimenting with 7 day platelets, but this requires additional testing and the lack of any preservative solutions means that the product is far more effective when fresh.
Even though red blood cells can also be collected in the process, most blood donation organizations do not do so because it takes much longer for the human body to replenish their loss. If the donor donates both red blood cells and platelets, it takes months, rather than days or weeks, before they are allowed to donate again (the guidelines regarding blood donation intervals are country-specific).
In most cases, blood plasma is returned to the donor as well. However, in locations that have plasma processing facilities, a part of the donor's plasma can also be collected in a separate blood bag (see plasmapheresis).
I've been a longtime blood donor, and was just starting on my fifth gallon when I switched over to platelets...if you're already donating, why not give it a try?
When I was young, we always believed that America had a sterling reputation. We were the shiny example of what a great country should be, with opportunity and freedom for everyone. We were the country that rode to the rescue of other countries, that supported the good guys and took on the bad guys. We were the silver in a world full of pewter.
My how times have changed. In the last 7 years we've gone from being the best friend to the bully. We've gone from being the possibility of hope to the prodigal son. We've gone from being the challenger of nations to the child in the corner.
By now, most of you have already heard that Canada - Canada - has put us in the same catagory as Syria and Iran (two countries that Bush refers to as evil) as "torturing" countries.
OTTAWA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - An official Canadian government document has put both the United States and Israel on a watch list of countries where prisoners run the risk of being tortured, CTV television reported on Thursday.
The revelation is likely to embarrass the minority Conservative government, which is a staunch U.S. ally.
The document mentions the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where a Canadian man is being held. CTV said the document was part of a course on torture awareness given to Canadian diplomats to help them determine whether prisoners they visited abroad had been mistreated. It said the document mentioned U.S. interrogation techniques such as "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation."
Other countries on the watch list include Syria, China, Iran and Afghanistan, CTV said.
The next wave of problems will come from prime borrowers who bought too much house or borrowed too much against it," said Michael van Zalingen, director of home ownership services at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago. A "prime" borrower is one with good credit.
Real estate agents warn that some high-income borrowers have already been forced to sell or leave their homes and more will follow. Especially those who used their homes as ATMs, withdrawing cash via home equity loans.
"For those who utilized home equity loans for five to ten years to finance their lifestyle, the chickens are coming home to roost," said Chicago-based real estate agent Marki Lemons.
I beg to differ. These are not wealthy people as the title of this article states. These are upper middle class people, at best. Actually they really are middle class, living larger than they can.
When the Sub prime market bottomed out a few months ago, newspapers across the country, including our very own local paper, the AJC, were filled with reader comments saying that people who fall victim to these loans and lose their houses deserve what they get, many reasons were written but the basic idea was that they should not have spent money they didn't have or they didn't deserve a home if they had bad credit. The comments went even further with many people saying that the government should not do anything because so many people felt, as they sat back in their nice upper middle class swivel throne and wrote to the editors "I pay my bills on time, I have good credit, why should I bail them out?" "If you can't afford to pay, why buy a house?" or the best... "They should have known better." Typical republican thinking I thought, but I tried to see their POV. I tried. I couldn't.
Well now the market of those very people who sat in judgement of the Subprime loan victims are at the precipice. The middle class. No, these people are not wealthy. (Thom Hartmann has wonderful riffs on this issue a lot) They have extended credit lines that they now must repay... and they can't. Continue reading...
100 comments(Latest Comment: 01/18/2008 03:10:43 by Mondobubba)
And then she told me "Just shut up And keep your eyes on the road" "And just drive," she said - Stan Ridgway
As we continue to push mass transit as a big factor in our greenhouse gas equation, we fail to take into account our country's love of the automobile. It's not just that it's an expression of who we are - it's an expression of independence. It's the love of liberty (or the idea of liberty) that drives (sorry for the pun) our love for our cars. Since we will never be able to get rid of cars, we need to make them run as cleanly as possible. How do we make a perfect car?
First - let's start out with the current state of affairs. The most promising future seems to be the hybrid. It gets great gas mileage, and runs on gasoline - for which there is already an entrenched infrastructure for fuel distribution. What improvements can be made to this design?
One being considered by Toyota already is to use only the electric motor for the first 40 miles. This way no gasoline is used at all until the battery is discharged a certain amount. If this is combined with the ability to plug it in to recharge, it's possible the car would never burn gasoline at all for owners that have a shorter commute.
What other changes could be made to the hybrid? Two immediate changes come to mind: Continue reading...
203 comments(Latest Comment: 01/17/2008 04:07:37 by livingonli)
I yield the floor today to the Honorable Dr. Martin Luther King. Although he gave the following speech almost 41 years ago, he could just as easily give it today. Only the locations have changed.
Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence
...The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.
And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.
Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: "Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King?" "Why are you joining the voices of dissent?" "Peace and civil rights don't mix," they say. "Aren't you hurting the cause of your people," they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live....
We have been told that we must fight them there so we won't have to fight them here. We have been told that Al Quaeda must be prevented from entering America. We have been told to fear the enemy. Support the Troops™, love America(LLC).
Remember that kid in High School who had to be the best at everything? The biggest, the loudest, the best at sports, the best hair, the hottest girlfriend. That annoying big shot that everyone hated, but all the other guys wanted to hang around with, and all the girls wanted to date. Well, most of the girls. Maybe you were that guy. I was NOT that girl.
These guys always had some little peon that would hang around them, continuing to boost their reputation, doing the big shots homework and taking the fall when he messed up. All the while hoping and praying that the big shot would throw something, anything, their way.
The peons were like the little dog in those Warner Bros cartoons, Chester, an enthusiastic little terrier that would follow the big bulldog, Spike, around - bouncing at his feet and stroking his ego: “That’s my pal, Spike, and he’s big and brave”.
Well, those little Chester’s have grown up and are now running for President of the United States as a Republican.
Continue reading...
59 comments(Latest Comment: 01/14/2008 04:21:24 by livingonli)
I had a brief conversation with an old friend yesterday, and she presented today's moment...
Ron Paul, who most agree is Republican in Name Only, was once a standard-bearer for the Libertarian party. Who's to say that he is running as a "republican" in the early going for the media coverage, name recognition, and fundraising opportunities? Supposing his campaign goes nowhere, and he finishes a distant 6th overall.
Well, he's still got all that money and all the publicity....and could very easily mount a third-party campaign after the convention for the general election. Add a possible run by Mayor Bloomberg (Independent, but formerly republican) and what sort of effect would that have on splitting the vote? It may not make the democrats a shoo-in, but it's certainly food for thought...
I know it's Friday, and I know we all want happy fun time, and for a lot of people it's payday, but for a lot of people... it's not anymore. Most of you have already heard that the jobless rate rose to the 5% mark last month. According to Merrill-Lynch (not exactly a bastion of liberal thought), that was the final straw. They have finally declared that Yes, we are in a recession:
The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch. It said that Friday's employment report, which sent shares tumbling worldwide, confirmed that the US is in the first month of a recession. .... Merrill Lynch said that the figures showing the jobless rate hitting 5% in December were the final piece in that puzzle.
"According to our analysis, this isn't even a forecast any more but is a present day reality," the report said.
moment...