Bozvotros
Bozvotros's JournalThe FDA planning to take control over e cigarettes
The WHO and FDA have come down against e-cigarettes despite the lack of evidence they cause any harm. Every study that purported to show harm has turned out to be either poorly designed or that at the very least ecigarettes are no more harmful than traditional nicotine replacement products. And more studies are demonstrating that e cigs are much more effective at getting people to stop smoking without medications, without expensive OTC nicotine replacements or counseling. In short, they are almost a "cure" for tobacco dependency.
So why is the FDA and WHO so down on them? You tell me. How many billions in taxes are at stake and billions more in medication costs taken from the coffers of the FDA's sponsors? Who fines Big Pharma a fraction of the frauds they perpetrate defiantly and often openly? Who never prosecutes anyone in Big Pharma for bogus studies by big name doctors who haven't even looked at the study they supposedly participated in? Who allows Big Pharma to push poisonous drugs with side effects that include fatalities, psychosis, seizures, stroke etc right on the market even when they barely put a dent in the symptoms they are alleged to treat.
We need to face the fact that the FDA is owned by Big Pharma and possibly WHO too. The fact that they want to control and limit e-cigarettes whose side effect profile is almost non existent is proof of e-cigarette's threat to Big Pharma and the gravy train of taxes the government extorts from smokers who die faster and earlier and save the government money over the long haul. Nicotine lozenges and gum cost only a few pennies more than the same non nicotine products and cost 30 times as much. But that is OK.
Fuck the fucking FDA and WHO, unless you happen to be on medications that make that impossible or have access to the medications that can make it possible again.
I posted my review...
Not sure how long it will last.
"Once again, the delightful Ms. Palin takes dead aim at the lie-beral straw men she places just inches away from her laser sighted wolf rifle and empties clip after clip into them. In this timely tome she skewers godless heathen liberals who have no use for the true meaning of Christmas or even Santa. She identifies the socialist hoodlums who attempted to unionize the elves and mocked Santa when he was forced to relocate due to flooding from the global warming hoax. Ms. Palin clearly enjoys hunting these progressive punks and the reader feels her white hot snark on nearly every page. And you can tell she is an astute student of history when she compares the secret War on Christmas to the persecution of Joe McCarthy, the demonization of the Abu Ghraib hazings, the Nazi Blitzkrieg, the Holocaust and the Stalinist purges. Its not all anti commie rants either. She makes us burst with pride as she nearly bursts the buttons of her snug fitting bodice vigorously waving Old Glory and kneeling at the Manger with the 3 wise men, Reagan, Rush and Rushdoony. If you can't go out and kill a commie for Christ you can do the next best thing and read this book and watch this tough old broad do it for you."
Why is this type of thing the only thing that politicians can do?
Every time I go into a store to buy a six pack of beer or some smokes for my wife, I get carded. At age 61. Because its the law. Because it is a meaningless way to remind people that their politicians are on the job keeping us all safe. Meanwhile heavy toxins, pesticides and herbicides are polluting whole watersheds, half the country is obese, our kids are getting heart disease and diabetes at age 8, our infrastructure is crumbling, there are all these shitty jobs with no benefits,schools are crowded and dangerous, lunatics gun down people with impunity and their response is....... "I know, lets make it harder to get cigarettes".... and "What the hell, lets tax it another buck a pack." The powers that be are also at work trying to stop e-cigarettes because.... well just because. It might be dangerous. There is no proof at all that they are, quite the contrary but by God, we have got to stop this before someone gets hurt. Fuck these assholes. Every goddam one of them.
I am less interested in the out of pocket max than I am about first dollar coverage.
I had an employer drop a very good local HMO plan which had a 10,000 deductible with first dollar coverage for another one which had a 10K deductible before the insurance kicked in. I think this was called a fee for service plan. For every year but one, I paid through the ass and never got a red cent in insurance coverage. This was about 10 years ago. I remember that once I hit that magic number it went from no coverage to full coverage. Whoppee.
My insurance cost was around 280 a month for my wife and I. Our medical bills ran us around 700-800 a month which meant the insurance never had to kick in for us. This was in Indiana when I made about 50K. The new plan was like taking a 15-20% cut in my salary. It was breaking me and I ended up quitting that job and taking one with first dollar coverage. I have also worked as case manager in a hospital and negotiated admissions and rates with insurance companies. There I learned that there were all kinds of crooked, deceptive insurance plans out there which cap or just didn't cover lots of health care needs.
Now I am hearing about this same kind of bullshit with the ACA. I am hoping that when I hear about 12000 out of pocket that it doesn't mean that there is no coverage until you hit your out of pocket.
Big Pharma owns the FDA
They don't want anything OTC stepping on their toes. DMAA is too much like methylphenidate and mixed amphetamine salts which are the lifeblood of the ADD drug industry. Here are all the Ritalin and Adderall drugs the FDA have allowed on the market, Ritalin, Ritalin XR, Metadate, Focalin, Focalin XR, Daytrana, Concerta, Benzedrine, Dexedrine, Dextroamphetamine, the mixed amphetamine salts (Adderall, Adderall XR), the time released amphetamines, Vyvanse, Didrex, Dextrostat. I think I am forgetting some. Then there are the amphetamine like medications like phentermine, Tenuate Dospan, Meredia, Xenical and I am sure lots more. And then there is ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in meth which is really just a way of inhaling the same meds millions of people take. Do you really think the FDA is trying to protect consumers from DMAA when they allow this cornucopia of speed on the market? Fuck them.
I hate to admit it but I think you're right.
Living in America under Obama is a little like being an abused spouse who sheds her psychopathic mate and marries someone who no longer punches her in the face and molests her children. At first you're happy things aren't so brutal. You don't even care that he told you a lot of lies and hangs out with some of your ex's old friends. And, OK, sure, he fenced some of your jewelry for meth and booze and new clothes but he talks so sweet to you.
Believe me, I am not someone who thinks it would have made no difference if we would have elected McRomney or any other stooge the Repugs would have run. With the Pugs in the White House and the House and kind old Harry Reid standing between us and full fascism, I am giving the nod to fascism 10 to 1. But Obama has continued to disappoint and finally really irritate me. I am sick of having to compromise and capitulate to these sick fucks running the con game that is American politics. I am tired of being told to wait for things that should have come long ago or that this screwing is less harsh than the one we could have got or that something is better than nothing.
We are at war all right but it isn't with Al Qaida and the Muslims. (Good band name... I doubt it is taken.)
Two things have the pharmaceutical companies shaking in their boots
Legal marijuana which could replace 100 billion in prescription medications for antispasmodics, anti-psychotics, antidepressants, appetite stimulants, bipolar medications, glaucoma medications, pain medications and specialized medications to ease alcohol and opiate withdrawal, tranquilizers, sleep medications, AIDS and Cancer Drugs and many more we don't know yet. Once good old American know how starts discovering ways to control and standardize levels of THC and cannabinoids and which levels are most effective for which conditions, the big orgy of pharmaceutical profits will grind to a halt. We can't have that.
It would also lead to legal hemp which would crush cotton and polyester producers as well as paper mills. They simply will not allow it to happen and can and will spend billions to stop it.
The other thing is the electronic cigarette. 6 billion in high profit, low effectiveness nicotine replacement products would just dry up, along with two billion for Chantix, Zyban and other worthless and dangerous pharmacueticals. Not to mention the hundreds of billions in state and federal taxes they are soaking smokers out of.
Lying in America's is the only thing we continue to manufacture in mass quantities.
We are very good at it and our people have a tremendous appetite for it. Advertising is just one lie after another. Politicians and their endless campaigns live or die with strategic applications of the lie. Conservative radio is awash in it with virtually no opposition views permitted in most markets. The pulpits pour lies down on us. Schools shovel it into our children. Pharmaceutical and chemical companies constantly serve up bogus research that gets immediate air time and acceptance. When bankers and mortgage brokers lied their asses off what happened? Bushco?
What consequence is there for all the fucking lies that dominate our culture? This story will disappear. Their will be a cover story to explain why it doesn't matter and then we'll resume the lying chatter about how doomed we are unless we cut down some more safety net.
Secret Fox News Recipe Leaked: "No soup for YOU!"
Today the internet was ablaze with the discovery that some wag had posted a stolen copy of the secret recipe for Fox News. Many networks had tried without success to imitate or copy the success of this wholly owned media subsidiary of rich corporate interests. Many fear that the publishing of the recipe will lead to a glut of this type of programming while others feel that the appetite for Fox News is in decline and that the recipe has no value and point to the total lack of cognitively nutritious ingredients.
SECRET RECIPE FOR FOX NEWS STEW
Preheat audience with racial, sexual, Muslim and minority fearmongering.
INGREDIENTS:
blowhards
leggy blondes (preferred but may substitute leggy brunettes and redheads)
clusters of ignoramuses
corporate shills (may substitute stooges)
tea party jihaists
lobbyists
slander
innuendo
distortion
lies
hypocrisy
trickle down tax cuts
dog whistles
catch phrases
banalities
irrelevancies
select liberal sellouts (may substitute) liberal punching bag
SAUCE: prolife, progun, homophobic bombast, racial animus, trickle down tax cuts, patriotic fervor.
DIRECTIONS:
Steep blowhards in distortions, slander and innuendo. Set aside.
SAUCE: Combine prolife, homophobic and pro-gun bombast with trickle down tax cuts, racial animus and patriotic fervor. Bring to a boil and then simmer.
Combine leggy blondes with clusters of ignoramuses. Gradually blend in tea party jihadists, corporate shills and lobbyists. Sift out fact, reason and counter argument. Add steeped blowhards. Cut in lies, dog whistles, catch phrases, banalities and irrelevancy. Mix well. Pour congealed mixture into Reagan profile pans. Inject loaf with hypocrisy and pour sauce over all of it. Sprinkle with liberal sellouts or punching bags if desired. Half bake at low temperature until smugly satisfied. Serves 25 million.
Profile Information
Name: James Crackcorn (I don't care)Gender: Male
Hometown: Anytown
Home country: Just browsing
Current location: On the Ramparts
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 785
