Things in the News that just PISS YOU OFF...

This will continue to be interesting...

Wichita doctor's plan for abortion clinic continues amid hostility


Dr. Mila Means was raised in a family that considered abortion an accepted, reasonable idea. Her schoolteacher parents, social activists in the 1960s, instilled that attitude early in her life.

"I was in the ninth grade when my father told me if I were pregnant before I was 18, I would have an abortion," Means said.

That upbringing, and what she calls a non-mainstream approach to her medical practice and her personal life, guided the decision she made about a year ago to try to perform abortions in a city that hasn't had an abortion clinic since physician George Tiller was murdered by Scott Roeder in May 2009.

Means plans to form a nonprofit. She hopes to raise $800,000 to $1 million to buy and equip a clinic where she can provide early-term abortions. She would like to open it in 12 to 18 months.

Her desire to open a clinic comes as the climate for abortion clinics in Kansas grows increasingly prohibitive. Republican lawmakers, encouraged by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, passed several laws this year further restricting abortion, including one with new licensing requirements for clinics.

Means has been the subject of a lawsuit; has received mail that was investigated by the U.S. Justice Department; and has had anti-abortion protesters show up at her office in southeast Wichita, at her farm in northern Sedgwick County and at office buildings she has looked at as potential abortion clinics.

Wichita-based anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue says it will do everything it can to prevent the opening of an abortion clinic.

Means, 54, a longtime Wichita family physician, had publicly been quiet about her plans until recently, when she decided to step into the spotlight by granting interviews to media outlets, including the New York Times.

She wants to draw attention to an event Friday night at the church where funeral services for Tiller were held. She will appear as part of a panel to discuss what organizers call "the intersection of religion, politics, abortion and terrorism."

State's new laws

One of the state's new laws restricting abortion requires abortion clinics to be licensed and comply with a long list of medical standards and practices. Supporters of the new rules say they will protect patients. But abortion advocates have voiced concern that the law will force the closure of the state's three existing abortion clinics, all in the Kansas City area.

The requirements are not discouraging, Means said.

"There are so many redundancies that are not important for the woman's safety that are built into this bill specifically to deny access, and that really makes me angry," she said. "That probably reinforced my decision to keep working in this direction."

Seated in her office in a chair she said was once owned by Tiller's father — she bought it from Tiller's clinic last year along with some of his abortion equipment — Means tries to draw a distinction between performing early- term abortions and Tiller's work performing late-term abortions. Means said she is not comfortable doing those risky procedures.

"I don't know if it will help or not in terms of security," Means said, "but I'd like to just differentiate myself that way."

It's a differentiation that abortion foes are unlikely to acknowledge.

"We find every abortion equally reprehensible, as do a majority of Americans, and more particularly over 70 percent of Wichitans," said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue.

Newman cited polling data gathered by his organization. A recent national survey reflected feelings that were more mixed. It found that 56 percent of Americans support abortion rights and 52 percent think abortion is morally wrong.

"We're going to do everything legally and morally within our power to keep her from opening an abortion clinic in this city," Newman said. "And she cannot underestimate our resolve."

Determined to proceed

Means said she is determined to proceed with her plans in spite of protests and security concerns.

"I have always kind of not been in the mainstream. I've always had a different idea of what health care should be and how we should be advocates for people's wellness. And I think abortion is part of the holistic approach to health care, having the ability for people to make that decision when they need to," Means said.

"And, frankly, unfortunately, women don't always decide when and where they have sex. And that's a huge part of the reason why we need abortion," she said.

Means said she has a supportive network, including a companion who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, with whom she travels pretty much all the time.

Abortion opponent Angel Dillard of Valley Center sent her a letter in January saying thousands of people from across the United States were looking into Means' background. The letter talked about checking for explosives under Means' car.

"We'd gotten letters, but we hadn't gotten anything like the one she put together," Means said. "Definitely I took more precautions with my vehicle and things like that after I got that letter."

The U.S. Justice Department considered the letter a threat and filed a lawsuit against Dillard under a federal law aimed at protecting access to abortion services.

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten decided that although Dillard's letter was meant to intimidate Means, it did not constitute a true threat. He denied the government's request for a preliminary injunction to keep Dillard at least 250 feet away from the doctor, citing the First Amendment. He is weighing whether to throw out the lawsuit.

Means has been training to perform abortions at a Kansas City, Kan., clinic, Aid for Women, which faces closure if it cannot meet the state's new clinic licensing regulations.

She said she may have to get licensed in another state to complete her training. Some of Tiller's former associates also may come to Wichita to help her train, she said.

Means said she knew Tiller during her early medical training, but as he moved into his abortion practice, she preferred to practice family medicine.

Family doctor since '85

Means has practiced family medicine since 1985. She graduated from Wichita State University in 1978 and from KU Medical School in 1982.

She was born in New Mexico, but her parents, who were from Hutchinson, moved back to the area to care for their aging parents when she was young.

She was 3 when she decided to become a doctor, even though there were no doctors in the family, she said.

Means attended high school in Valley Center through her junior year and finished at South High, where her mother taught, to take more advanced biology and physics classes.

She practiced with groups of physicians at the Wichita Clinic and Wesley Medical Center.

Means said she refused to meet patient quotas at some medical groups, which required her to limit her time with patients.

"I like to be in more in control of my own schedule and not have to follow cookie- cutter protocol," she said.

When her last group, Family Care Associates, broke up, she went out on her own.

The breakup was costly. In a 2009 arbitration, Means was ordered to pay $1,500 a month for the next 10 years in exit penalties to the only physician remaining in the practice. Two other physicians had to pay exit penalties as well, she said.

The decision to leave was purely financial, Means said. "It was going into bankruptcy, and nobody was willing to prevent that from happening," she said.

Means also pays alimony to her first husband, who is a bar bouncer and the brother of her best friend's husband. She had known him briefly in college.

She said she was left with more than $100,000 in debts after they divorced in 2001.

The marriage "pretty much just put me into financial ruin that I probably won't get out of," she said.

Means calls herself one of the least financially secure family physicians around.

"I'm not good at making business decisions for financial reasons," she said.

But money isn't a motive for her to do abortion procedures, she said.

"It certainly is costing me much more than if I'd gone on my merry way," she said.

Against the grain

Her private life is unconventional.

Means, who has no children, is married to a gay man, but doesn't live with him. She lives with a boyfriend, and her husband lives with another gay man.

Means said her husband's parents and hers were close friends. Her husband had quit a job to take care of Means' mother when she developed dementia. When he needed health insurance, Means married him in 2003, she said. The marriage is largely for financial reasons, she added.

"He's a godbrother, basically," she said.

The marriage led to trouble with the Kansas Board of Healing Arts in 2007. Means had been treating the man for bipolar depression since 2001. She also provided medical treatment for his mother and grandmother.

When she married him and moved in with his family, the physician-patient relationship continued. Her husband's mother reported the situation to the board as part of the fallout from a family feud, Means said.

The board ordered Means to end the physician-patient relationship with her husband and to complete education courses on professional boundaries and avoiding the pitfalls of diagnosing and managing major depression.

"I didn't even think about the fact we were married," Means said. "We went to a judge and did this thing for legal reasons, and it didn't occur to me to change that relationship. Plus, the truth is, all physicians write prescriptions and take care of people in their family."

Means said she won't divorce her husband.

"He's still my best friend and he still requires health care and other support. He's like my brother. We're in America, and gay partners can't provide health care for each other. I will not leave him without health care."

Means said her boyfriend, an aviation worker she declined to name, supports her efforts to begin giving abortions in spite of the personal risks.

Letters of support

Means also has received letters of encouragement from around the country, she said.

Still, much of her mail is filtered by her staff.

"I don't want to read in detail everything, because I just don't want to be that overwhelmed with what possibilities are out there," she said.

Means said she is reading a book about fear to help her become more aware of intuitive signs of danger.

Meanwhile, she is patient about finding a new building to perform abortions.

She won't perform them in her current office near Harry and Webb Road. The owner filed suit to prevent that, citing disruptions to other tenants in the office complex caused by anti-abortion demonstrations.

When word leaked that she was looking at offices on East Central and East Douglas, abortion foes appeared at those locations.

Newman claimed credit for Operation Rescue shutting down all three of her efforts to find a clinic so far.

He guesses Means has less than a 30 percent chance of ever opening a clinic. The odds are stacked against her, he said, thanks to the legislation that requires an extensive medical clinic, inspected by the state.

If she does open a clinic, he said, "We will have 100 people sitting on her doorstep on a daily basis."

Means said she may have to use a third party to buy a building, but she is certain she can find a location.

"The truth is, there is a lot of commercial real estate in Wichita that's unoccupied," she said. "At some point, somebody is going to want to do it just for the business aspect of it."

(from the Wichita Eagle)



She lives not far from me. I think I am going to contact her and offer her some private security when she needs it. In exchange for some occasional doctoring.

She's gonna need it...

Tis why I hate religion.

Kansas is one of five states — along with Indiana, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin — where lawmakers have passed measures to pull Federal money from Planned Parenthood this year.


http://www.kansas.com/2011/06/28/1911604/nthood-sues-state-over-funds.html



there is so much wrong with these wack jobs that have taken over our government, I don't know where to begin...

I do: they have a religion or are listening to religious people =)

Poorest poor in US hits new record: 1 in 15 people

http://news.yahoo.com/poorest-poor-us-hits-record-1-15-people-040233161.html

It used to be lonesome down here.

Bank of "A" is at it again...
http://news.yahoo.com/judge-oks-410m-settlement-bank-america-214423478.html

Judge OKs $410M settlement for Bank of America

"Barry Himmelstein, an attorney for customers who objected to the deal, said he calculated that the bank actually raked in $4.5 billion through the overdraft fees and was repaying less than 10 percent. "

Heard it just a little bit ago - the classic though is that the "little guy" aka customers doesn't win (as per usual) as I hear the lawyers are pretty much getting it all in "legal fees".

people responding to an employment offer on craigs list are robbed and killed.

http://news.yahoo.com/fla-craigslist-jobseeker-found-dead-ohio-grave-230030628.html

"Five days after the South Carolina man was shot, authorities received a call from the Florida man's twin sister, concerned that her brother had not been heard from since Oct. 22 in Parkersburg, W.Va., the sheriff said. The twin, in Boston, said her brother had responded to what she believed was the same Craigslist ad, which sought a caretaker for cattle on a 688-acre farm.

Investigators then found the Florida man's body."

Some of the victims are otherwise pretty intelligent. Hard to say why they don't be more careful.

This kind of shows that there really isn't any limit to how far people will go to take advantage of the situations of others. Usually, it's just a financial scam.

NYC judge rejects $285M SEC-Citigroup agreement

http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-judge-rejects-285m-sec-citigroup-agreement-170611160.html

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday struck down a $285 million settlement that Citigroup reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying he couldn't tell whether the deal was fair and criticizing regulators for shielding the public from the details of what the firm did wrong.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the public has a right to know what happens in cases that touch on "the transparency of financial markets whose gyrations have so depressed our economy and debilitated our lives." In such cases, the SEC has a responsibility to ensure that the truth emerges, he wrote...

Pfizer maneuvers to protect Lipitor from generics

"TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Lipitor is so valuable that its maker, Pfizer Inc., is practically paying people to keep taking the blockbuster cholesterol medicine after generic competition hits the U.S. market this week.

Pfizer has devised discounts and incentives for patients, insurers and companies that process prescriptions that will, at least for the next six months, make the brand name drug about as cheap as or cheaper than the generics. Pfizer also has spent tens of millions of dollars this year on marketing to keep patients on Lipitor, which loses patent protection Wednesday.

Normally when a drug's patent ends, generic rivals grab nearly all its market share in a year or less, and the original maker quietly shifts focus to its newer products.

Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, is not giving up that easy on the best-selling drug in history. Lipitor had peak sales of about $13 billion and still brings in nearly $11 billion a year, about a sixth of Pfizer's revenue. With no new blockbusters to fill that hole, the company is making an unprecedented push to hang onto Lipitor revenue as long as possible.

Patients seem to buy into the logic.

"If I can get the name brand at the same price or for pennies more than the generic, I have no motivation to switch," said Richard Shiekman, 59, who has been taking Lipitor for six years and credits the drug with sharply cutting his bad cholesterol. Shiekman, a wine and spirits importer from Redding, Conn., got a $4 copay card two weeks ago after his pharmacy sent an offer guaranteeing that price through December 2012.

Pfizer's strategy is cunning and could become the new norm, as most other drugmakers also face generic competition to top-selling medicines and haven't been coming up with replacements.

"People getting a month of lifesaving medicine for the price of a cup of Starbucks is ... pretty impressive," said Michael Kleinrock, a research director at data firm IMS Health.

Pfizer's effort includes:

—Offering insured patients a discount card to get Lipitor for $4 a month, far below the $25 average copayment for a preferred brand-name drug and below the $10 average copay for a generic drug. Pfizer is promoting this heavily through ads, information distributed at doctors' offices and its www.LipitorForYou.com site. Pfizer, based in New York, said Tuesday that sign-ups have exceeded its goals.

—Paying pharmacies to mail Lipitor patients offers for the $4 copay card and to counsel patients that Lipitor lowers bad cholesterol more than rival drugs and helps prevent heart attacks and strokes.

—Keeping U.S. marketing spending nearly level until the last minute, versus the typical two-thirds drop in a drug's final year under patent. From July through September, Pfizer spent almost $90 million on doctor sales calls and free samples, about the same as a year earlier, according to Cegedim Strategic Data. Ads targeting patients fell about 60 percent to $19 million. All that will soon taper off.

— Negotiating unusual deals with some insurance plans and prescription benefit managers, the companies that process prescription claims for insurers or employers, to block pharmacists from dispensing generic Lipitor. Pfizer is giving them rebates that bring their cost for Lipitor down to the price of a generic or slightly less — if they agree to dispense only Lipitor for the six months before additional generic competition slashes prices. The move has generated some controversy and means many of the 3 million Americans taking Lipitor won't be able switch to the generic.

Under those contracts, patients will pay either their plan's standard generic copayment or just $4 — the lowest copayment pharmacies at supermarkets and discounters such as Wal-Mart offer for the most widely used generic drugs.

While generic medicines work the same as brand drugs for nearly everyone, some patients prefer the brand.

"We want to make sure that patients who are currently taking Lipitor and want to continue ... have the opportunity to do so," said David Simmons, who heads Pfizer's Established Products business. He said research shows more than a third of patients want to stay on Lipitor.

Pfizer also is continuing assistance programs that subsidize uninsured patients wanting Lipitor, which costs about $115 to $160 a month, depending on dosage. Generic Lipitor, called atorvastatin, should cost 30 percent to 50 percent less.

People without insurance also can order the generic, with a prescription, through websites such as HealthWarehouse.com.

Patients could save even more by taking other generic drugs in the same class that have been on sale for several years: pravastatin (Pravachol) and simvastatin (Zocor). But they're not as potent as Lipitor, the key reason its sales have held up.

Typically, brand-name drugs get one or two generic competitors initially, priced about 25 percent lower. Six months later, other generic companies are allowed to jump in and the price drops up to 80 percent.

About 90 percent of the branded drug's sales ultimately vanish, as insured patients seeking a lower copayment switch over and most pharmacies automatically substitute a generic for a brand name.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Dr. Tim Anderson estimates that for a 90-day supply of Lipitor, even after paying rebates to insurers and patients, Pfizer can make a profit of roughly $100, compared with about $225 before generic competition. That's partly because administrative and advertising costs will decline, and it barely costs a dime to make a pill.

Anderson expects Pfizer's strategy to boost its earnings per share about 2 percent next year.

Meanwhile, Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. looks to be the biggest loser in this. It has a deal to distribute an "authorized generic" version manufactured by Pfizer but sold under Watson's brand, with Pfizer keeping an estimated 70 percent of the price.

Watson CEO Paul Bisaro said he had thought Pfizer would retain about 25 percent of Lipitor users for the next six months, but now "it looks like it will be 40 to 45 percent."

Bisaro said that could reduce his company's anticipated profit next year.

"This is sort of the new generation of brand protection," he added.

India's Ranbaxy Laboratories is the only company besides Watson with the right to sell generic Lipitor in the U.S. for the next six months. But Ranbaxy has had repeated manufacturing quality problems, and it's unclear whether it will have the Food and Drug Administration's approval to ship its version come Nov. 30.

Ranbaxy said it would not reveal what will happen until then. The FDA, as is its custom, declined to comment. But Pfizer executives say they expect Ranbaxy to have a generic on the market.

An independent pharmacists group called Pharmacists United for Truth and Transparency has raised alarms that the rebate deals will stick plan sponsors — employers, unions and taxpayers — with higher costs than for generics.

But spokespeople for a few prescription benefit managers that have received Pfizer's offer say it would cost insurance plans and patients the same as, or slightly less than, for generic Lipitor.

"Next year we're going to save clients and members over $1 billion just on this drug," said Tim Wentworth, head of employer and key client accounts for Medco Health Solutions Inc., one of the biggest pharmacy benefits managers.

http://news.yahoo.com/pfizer-maneuvers-protect-lipitor-generics-203210665.html

Your Smartphone Is Spying on You

"An Android developer recently discovered a clandestine application called Carrier IQ built into most smartphones that doesn't just track your location; it secretly records your keystrokes, and there's nothing you can do about it. Is it time to put on a tinfoil hat? That depends on how you feel about privacy..."

http://news.yahoo.com/smartphone-spying-204933867.html

N.C. to Compensate Victims of Sterilization in 20th Century Eugenics Program

Pregnant by rape, young Riddick went into a North Carolina hospital in 1968 to give birth to her son. Years later, she learned she was sterilized.

The decision was made by the North Carolina Eugenics Board, a five-person state committee responsible for ordering the sterilization of thousands of individuals in the name of social welfare.

Deemed "promiscuous" and "feebleminded" by a social worker at the hospital, Riddick, who came from a black family on welfare, was recommended to the state for sterilization shortly after arriving...

http://news.yahoo.com/n-c-compensate-victims-sterilization-20th-century-eugenics-141035445--abc-news.html

WTF? healthcare is against some people's religion?

"COMMENTARY | Once again the Obama administration is proving it really doesn't care about the United States Constitution in general and the First Amendment in particular. The latest example is the decision to force religiously affiliated health institutions to provide health care coverage even if this coverage is against the employer's religious beliefs.

According New York Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, as quoted in Yahoo News, this is forcing "individuals and organizations to… buy a product that violates their conscience." But then this is also one of the biggest complaints about the whole Obama health care law: It forces everyone to purchase health care or risk being fined or even jailed.

The First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Forcing someone to buy a product which is conceivably against their religious beliefs, while not establishing a religion, is certainly prohibiting the free exercise of one's religion. One particular service, Roman Catholics, are against providing are morning-after pills, which they consider to be an abortion drug. Catholics are against any and all abortion, believing in the "right to life" and that life begins at conception.

Shouldn't the law be changed to make this coverage an elected one instead of forced? If this were the case, an employee could choose it if they wanted it. But again, this is another criticism of the Obama plan; you cannot pick and choose the coverage you would like. Everyone needs to get the same coverage, no matter what their particular needs are.

What is of particular interest to those on the right, however, is the left's silence on the matter. After all they are the first to cry foul anytime there is a breach of the phantom "separation of church and state" clause in the First Amendment. If this in fact existed, would this not be the perfect example of the state getting involved in a religious organization and mandating they do something? It would be pretty hard to argue this doesn't cross the line. "

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-health-care-plan-denies-first-amendment-religious-013100834.html


lunacy...

I think he got his constitutional advice from, ... ... ... jaysus, who was that friend of Okie who argued all the time that Obama had/was doing all manner of things unconstitutional.

Welcome to Kansas, please pee in this cup

In a legislative session already flush with complex and divisive issues, Kansas lawmakers now want to take on their version of welfare reform: drug testing.

A group of lawmakers are proposing to require a third of all Kansas welfare recipients to undergo random drug screens.

The program would require welfare recipients to pay for the drug screen up front. If their test turns up negative, the state would refund the expense in a "timely manner."


http://www.kansas.com/2012/02/13/2214839/drug-testing-for-welfare-recipients.html

Bizarre.
Are these people laboratory investors?

Plus, the whole pay up front thing, I doubt would be legal, but hey, stuff happens.

I think similar efforts have been quelched, no link.

Secret Cold War tests in St. Louis raise concerns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7LvjhASLIg&feature=related

concerns, my ass.

WTF...???