Am I dreaming? No. Nobel Peace Prize Winner Barack Hussain Obama? Yes!

I really thought I was sleepwalking and had stumbled onto the Morning Joe set. The Loki mewed and I realized I was in my living room (whew!). Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize and Loki was not pleased that I had sat down on top of him.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Wait a minute! OUR PRESIDENT WON THE NOBEL F#@KIN' PEACE PRIZE!!!!!!!

To all of you naysayers, look - he was nominated by complete strangers just weeks after his inauguration, but the committee had nine months to evaluate, investigate, prognosticate and deliberate. If they think he should get the Peace Prize, then by-golly, he's gonna get the Peace Prize. He knows he's got a lot to live up to, and he deserves our support because in the duly-elected President of the U.S. of A., and whether you like him or not, as an American, you should support the Office of the President; obviously the rest of the civilized world does.

Later on in the Day Rachel Maddow had a really good taped bit, so I posted hers rather than Morning Joe's.

CRWL 's Center for Reducing Health Disparities

Case Western's Center for Reducing Health Disparities is a site that is worth looking into.

Hear are just of few issues that they cover, which includes links to their source material.

• Breast Reconstruction Varies By Race
  Receipt of breast reconstruction varied significantly by patient race/ethnicity (40.9% of whites, 33.5% of African Americans, 41.2% of highly acculturated Latinas, and only 13.5% of less acculturated Latinas; P < .0001). Nearly 14% of less acculturated Latinas said they did not know how to get breast reconstruction, compared with less than 2% for all other groups (P<.001). The differences in survival by race actually appeared to have more to do with the hospitals than the patients themselves. Potential racial differences in access to care or preferences have been used to explain disparities in treatments and patient outcomes. But these are not likely to influence treatment in cardiac arrests since patients were already in the hospital and care of these patients is pretty clear" states Chan.
• Black Patients Experience Worse In-hospital Cardiac Care, Lower Chances Of Survival Medical News Today highlights a new study published in the September 16th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. This study points to significant disparities in the rates of successful resuscitation for black patients, making them less likely to survive an in-hospital cardiac arrest compared to white patients.
• Race is a factor in the severity of lupus
  Recognizing the early symptoms of lupus and referring to specialists can reduce setbacks in adequate treatment options. Graciela Alarcón, M.D., a professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham explains. Rheumatologists are aware of the differences in severity and outcome of lupus among patients of different racial groups," said Graciela Alarcón, M.D., a professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. However, she said that these differences are not common knowledge among "general practitioners who are the ones more likely to encounter patients at disease onset when disease manifestations may not be so obvious.

I want to see how Health Care reform will affect these disparities. Whether we are rich or poor, black or white, we should all have the same high level of health care.

More Republican dog and pony show.

Right now (as in live), there is a resolution being introduced to remove Charlie Rangel (D-NY) from his chair of the Ways and Means committee. Lots of allegations, lots of media references (now the Republicans like the New York Times and the Washington Post), no actual charges, no actual trial. I'm not a fan of Charlie Rangel, but this is ridiculous. Did he do bad things? So why not investigate and try him?

There is a double standard in Washington. It seems to be OK to buy off a mistress's family and arrange for her husband and son to get cushy jobs. Also it seems to be OK to visit prostitutes if you are a Louisiana Republican, but not if you are a New York Democrat.

Whereas, let those without sin, cast the first stone.

It's a rainy, rainy day!

Step 1: find comfortable position setting for the chair: done
Step 2: find computer desk that is right height: seeking, seeking, seeking...

In the meantime,

Still sending those cards and letters to congresscritters in favor of a strong public option, with no triggers.

What have you been doing?

Sorry I've been rarely posting

Cervical radiculopathy is a real bummer, but is an opportunity to redecorate. I hope the cats like the new computer table.

Wage Theft in America

Every once in a while, things conspire to toss something into my life from several directions at once. This time it's a book, Wage Theft in America by Kim Bobo. Within the past twenty-four hours I've had two emails from two different people (who don't know each other) and come across a diary on Daily Kos about this book.

Kim Bobo is the the founder and executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, an organization founded in 1996 to protect worker rights and encourage faith organizations to become involved in worker rights issues.

I haven't read this book yet, but it is definitely going on my "must read" list.

Crossposted at Bovina Sancta.

"Specter for the Cure" website changed

Apparently there have been complaints about the way the site played down Specter's plea for fundraising and up the "Cure Awareness Network" aspect of "Specter for the Cure". Some complaints are being directed at the FCC, so my gut feeling is the site could be a goner and might be taken down within the week.


The text on the first page has changed since yesterday afternoon. It now begins with


"In 2010, Arlen Specter will seek re-election to the United States Senate. With his unsurpassed record of support for medical research, helping to return Senator Specter to the Senate is a powerful statement on behalf of those suffering with disease. The purpose of this web site is to encourage support for Senator Specter's mission to improve America's health by helping assure Senator Specter's re-election."


(snip)


On Specter for the Cure, you, and every American who cares about someone who is ill, can take the giant leap for progress...Without Arlen Specter back in the Senate to see it through, Specter for the Cure could be lost to the ordinary politics of Washington that kills real change.


OK, that's still a FAIL because it comes across as "re-elect Specter or people will die".


Google Specter for the Cure and you won't find much support for site, but a lot of "hey, this thing is fraud" type entries. Which is a shame because CAN, the Cures Acceleration Network is a bill Specter intends to introduce, one that could do a great deal of good in promoting research to treat and hopefully cure many diseases.


Maybe it's just me, but I think he takes his reelection more serious than curing my lupus.