Thoughts of an Average Woman

Kiss and Tell Tenet?

I haven't talked about Tenet's book yet, but I'm going to pick up a copy and read it (as slow as my reading has been) for myself.

I find myself in a position to believe that Tenet was nothing more than a scape-goat for the Bush dictatorship, after reading the Ron Suskind book, One Percent Doctrine, last year, but I'm not sure. I want to read what he (Tenet) has to say, with my own eyes, instead of listening to all the rhetoric.

I'll let you know what I find out.

Before I let this go: Note to Condi...pick up your dictionary and, you know, actually use it. Better yet, here 'ya go.

im·mi·nence (ĭm'ə-nəns)
n.
The quality or condition of being about to occur.
Something about to occur.

Why Doesn't Bush Support the Troops?

Bush says he'll work with dems on an Iraq bill, but only if dems acquiesce to his demands.

President Bush said Monday he wants to work with Democrats on compromise legislation to pay for the Iraq war even though he'll carry through on his threat to veto a spending bill that also sets a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.

"I'm optimistic we can get something done in a positive way," Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference with leaders of the European Union.

[...]Bush said that once he vetoes the bill, he's ready to work with Democrats on a new version that provides funds without strings attached.

"There are a lot of Democrats who understand we need to get the money to the troops," he said.

He'll veto the bill that provides funding for the troops. That's the main story. The democratic controlled congress IS providing the funding, but they also want to stop the slaughter of our loved ones and bring them home safely. Thus, it is Bush that does not want our loved ones to be safe.

We know that Bush has no desire to bring our troops home.

In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year.

Kevin Drum translates:

Maliki has no authority whatsoever; the Iraqi troops we've been training for the past three years are still useless; there's no political progress in sight; and in the meantime we're stalling for dear life, hoping against hope that something good magically happens. In Republican leadership circles, this is called a "foreign policy." The rest of us have a different name for it.

Bush continues to slap every one of us in the face, he continues to deny the public outcry to bring our loved ones home. Instead, Bush and his administration is looking for a good-looking salesman with star power to get you back into the swing of supporting the debacle known as the War in Iraq.

Even so, the idea that the national security adviser is subcontracting responsibility for the nation’s most pressing foreign policy crisis — and must recruit someone of stature to get the attention of the cabinet — is provoking criticism of Mr. Hadley himself, and how he has navigated the delicate internal politics of a White House famous for its feuding.

Can someone please remind me why Hadley was confirmed in the first place?

Chemo Brain and the Politics of Breast Cancer Treatment

There is a great article in today's NYTimes on Chemo Brain.

Once, women complaining of a constellation of symptoms after undergoing chemotherapy — including short-term memory loss, an inability to concentrate, difficulty retrieving words, trouble with multitasking and an overarching sense that they had lost their mental edge — were often sent home with a patronizing “There, there.”

But attitudes are changing as a result of a flurry of research and new attention to the after-effects of life-saving treatment. There is now widespread acknowledgment that patients with cognitive symptoms are not imagining things, and a growing number of oncologists are rushing to offer remedies, including stimulants commonly used for attention-deficit disorder and acupuncture.

I spoke about chemo brain a few months ago, and, in a way, have been lucky that my oncologist had also suffered from chemo brain, and was thus a little more understanding towards my own frustrations. In fact it was because of my chemo brain that this blog was born. But, it appears I'm even luckier as this was the one time my onc has not steered me towards another drug. (as regular readers know, I have a hard time relying on taking a pill to live) Nope, his suggestions was to work harder at the areas I felt had declined. Can't remember words, play word games (boggle, scrabble, crossword puzzels, etc.). Can't put together phrases, write more. Can't grasp an idea, read more and write short synopsis.

Virtually all cancer survivors who have had toxic treatments like chemotherapy experience short-term memory loss and difficulty concentrating during and shortly afterward, experts say. But a vast majority improve. About 15 percent, or roughly 360,000 of the nation’s 2.4 million female breast cancer survivors, the group that has dominated research on cognitive side effects, remain distracted years later, according to some experts. And nobody knows what distinguishes this 15 percent.

Most oncologists agree that the culprits include very high doses of chemotherapy, like those in anticipation of a bone marrow transplant; the combination of chemotherapy and supplementary hormonal treatments, like tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors that lower the amount of estrogen in women who have cancers fueled by female hormones; and early-onset cancer that catapults women in their 30s and 40s into menopause.

Well, this is indeed interesting. Based on this, my personal fight with chemo brain will continue for a long time to come as I am part of the last two "culprits."

But, this article brings up something else. The economic factor.

Dr. Fleishman and others were pressed as to why a poor woman, working several jobs to feed her children, navigating the health care system and battling insurance companies, would not also need mental dexterity. “Maybe we’re just not asking them,” Dr. Fleishman said.

Overall, middle-class cancer patients tend to get more aggressive treatment, participate in support groups, enroll in studies and use the Internet for research and community more than poor and minority patients, experts say.

“The disparity plays out in all kinds of ways,” said Ellen Coleman, the associate executive director of CancerCare, which provides free support services. “They don’t approach their health care person because they don’t expect help.”

Well, I'm wondering why no one is saying that there are poor women that are not getting treatment at all. A few days ago, Komen released a report on Breast Cancer Mortality Rate. (thanks to Spiidey who sent me this link.) Now, before I go further, I have a love-hate relationship with Komen. I view them much like I view the American Cancer Society. Organizations that are well meaning in raising awareness and helping get out information, but have been coopted by corporate interests.

But, Komen did fight to reauthorize the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Act last year, that Bush tried to gut. It as another one of Bush's let women die attempts. And, thankfully it failed, like the massive failure he (and his administration) has been. It is also this program, and it's sister program, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act, that I will fight tooth and nail to make sure they survive. I have a personal interest that these programs don't fail, because it is this program that has offered me treatment.

But, these programs aren't saving many lives, at least not according to the Komen report. In fact, we find that the NBCCPT Act is being used to deny women treatment.

The report reveals shocking racial disparities in breast cancer mortality rates, tremendous barriers that prevent low-income women from receiving care, and disturbing gaps in the implementation of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act that enable states to refuse treatment for women based on where they are screened.

This is absolutely unacceptable!

These disparities are not limited to the eight communities this report focused on. These disparities are nationwide. In fact, when I had my first appointment with DHS, my caseworker was the only person of all the other caseworkers in that office that had previously filled out the BCCT paperwork in this area. She told me, at that time, that DHS, here in Knoxville, got very few women applying for the program, much less eligible women. At the time it didn't surprise me, as the CDC information I had found after my diagnosis (but before treatment) stated the program reached only 12-15% of eligible women nationally. That was almost 4 years ago.

But, let's take note of Tennessee's own Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program. (this is the screening program as opposed to the treatment program).

These guidelines change each year. For more information, call the Tennessee Breast and Cervical Screening Program at 1-877-96-WOMEN (1-877-969-6636) or the National Cancer Institute at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

"These guidelines change each year." I am assuming this statement is for the income levels (which I must note went from 150% of the federal poverty level 4 years ago to 250%). I will give TN the kudos they deserve for upping the income levels to cover more women. Also, TN deserves kudos when state implemented their BCCP programs, they opted to choose all three options that would cover women's preventative screenings.

However, when I took a look at TN annual report on cancer (1997-2003) (pdf), the mortality rate has skyrocketed from 2002 to 2003. (figure 24, page 54). If we look at race, black women in TN have a higher mortality rate than white women (figure 27, page 56). But, there is nothing on income and insurance disparities in that report.

As it is becoming more and more obvious that income also has an impact on how a woman with breast cancer is medically treated, states must take the initiative to make sure these women are not turned aside, because, we are increasingly finding that insurance companies are no longer covering the cost of preventative screening. We must look at how many of these women that are dying of breast cancer are dying needlessly. Are they being covered, either by insurance, medicaid, medicare, or the extended medicaid through the NBCCPTA?

As I am fond of saying, the bottom line is, there is no acceptable reason a woman should not be able to get preventative screening for breast cancer, and there is no acceptable reason a woman with breast cancer should not be able to get treatment, and not just haphazard treatment, but quality treatment.

When is a Success Not a Success?

There are folks in this country that still believe Bush's spoken reasons for the War in Iraq, and maintain that it is a success because we are financing the rebuilding of the country. What happens now, that we find those projects are not the success we were told they were?

In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle.

The United States has previously admitted, sometimes under pressure from federal inspectors, that some of its reconstruction projects have been abandoned, delayed or poorly constructed. But this is the first time inspectors have found that projects officially declared a success — in some cases, as little as six months before the latest inspections — were no longer working properly.

Before Bush apologists start claiming sabatoge, take a look at this:

The dates when the projects were completed and deemed successful ranged from six months to almost a year and a half before the latest inspections. But those inspections found numerous instances of power generators that no longer operated; sewage systems that had clogged and overflowed, damaging sections of buildings; electrical systems that had been jury-rigged or stripped of components; floors that had buckled; concrete that had crumbled; and expensive equipment that was simply not in use.

Curiously, most of the problems seemed unrelated to sabotage stemming from Iraq’s parlous security situation, but instead were the product of poor initial construction, petty looting, a lack of any maintenance and simple neglect.

Now, the question becomes why would these projects be neglected. There is a plausible reason given to us.

“What ultimately makes any project sustainable is local ownership from the beginning in designing the project, establishing the priorities,” Mr. Barton said. “If you don’t have those elements it’s an extension of colonialism and generally it’s resented.”

Mr. Barton, who has closely monitored reconstruction efforts in Iraq and other countries, said the American rebuilding program had too often created that resentment by imposing projects on Iraqis or relying solely on the advice of a local tribal chief or some “self-appointed representative” of local Iraqis.

this makes some sense to me. Basically, Iraq reconstruction is not the success our government has been telling us it is, because we occupied the country rather than just help the country and it's people by involving them in the process.

Enough of Wasting Our Money

The NY Times editorial board tells Congress, in plain simple terms, not to continue to fund Abstinence-Only education in our schools.

Reliance on abstinence-only sex education as the primary tool to reduce teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases — as favored by the Bush administration and conservatives in Congress — looks increasingly foolish and indefensible.

The abstinence-only campaign has always been driven more by ideology than by sound public health policy. The program’s tight rules, governing states that accept federal matching funds and community organizations that accept federal grants, forbid the promotion of contraceptive use and require teaching that sex outside marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.


It doesn't work, it's harmful to our children (as in less knowledge), I haven't even hit on the lies (otherwise termed misinformation) perpetuated by these programs. And it is a huge waste of taxpayer money. On top of that, states are looking at the restrictions that come with those monies to promote a program that doesn't work. In other words, the program isn't worth it, from a practicability point of view. From every direction abstinence only fails -- it fails our society, it fails our children, and it fails monetarily.

Perhaps the CongressCritters will listen this year, and start dismantling this program, or better yet, disrobe it completely.

More Bush Administration Resignations

I don't remember a presidency where there have been so many resignations and convictions since the Nixon administration. Two more resignations took place yesterday.

The first is a Justice Department official, who has ties to Jack Abramoff. Man does that dude have some long twisty tentacles. His hands are on just about everyone.

A senior Justice Department official has resigned after coming under scrutiny in the Department’s expanding investigation of convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to a Justice Department official with knowledge of the case.

Making the situation more awkward for the embattled Department, the official, Robert E. Coughlin II, was deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, which is overseeing the Department’s probe of Abramoff.

He stepped down effective April 6 as investigators in Coughlin’s own division ratcheted up their investigation of lobbyist Kevin Ring, Coughlin’s long-time friend and a key associate of Abramoff.

While the Abramoff investigation and resulting convictions show a seriously corrupt administration and political party, we also have those GOP'ers that just like to have fun. When Randall Tobias resigned yesterday, he cited "personal reasons."

Yeah, okay. Today we find out that those personal reasons are related to an escort service investigation.

In court papers filed on April 11 in Federal District Court here, she identified an adviser to the Pentagon as “one of the regular customers” of her service. She posted the man’s photo from his own Web site and tax records on a house he owns in Washington.

On her Web site, Ms. Palfrey asserted that her service, doing business as Pamela Martin and Associates, “functioned as a high-end adult fantasy firm which offered legal sexual and erotic services across the spectrum of adult sexual behavior.”

Mr. Tobias told ABC that he used the service for massages, not sex, according to the network’s Web site.

You know, this is a pretty flimsy excuse. I'm sure there are tons of message therapists, that would have been willing to take on Tobias as a client. So, if you really believe Tobias' excuse, I have a bridge to sell you.

The War Against the People

The past few days have been rough. As I mentioned last week, my schedule has changed, and on top of that my fingers are in such pain (aromasin) that I can barely grasp things, much less type. Instead of letting this blog go by the wayside, I've decided to start looking for someone that would like to contribute. More to come later.

By last night, I was so beat, that I couldn't even bring myself to watch the debate. I'm not sure that I missed much. Funny how the newest flip-flopper is still on the other side.

But, there are many other things going on, that are newsworthy. Like the state of investigative reporting in this country, or the lack thereof.

The whole FDA-melamine debacle has gotten worse. Last week I mentioned that tainted feed was fed to hogs here in the good ole, Corporation of America. DBK has an update, noting that this contaminated feed was purchased by 8 states. While I'm on a roll about the stupidity of the FDA, and how they have changed their mission to protecting corporations and big pharma over the people. To wit, Docket No. 2006D-0480, "Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration." This regulatory change would cause vegetable juice to be classified as a drug. Jill has the low-down. I had signed the petition to stop this travesty, earlier this week, and received an email update from Natural Solutions Foundation this morning, that the comments period is going to be extended until May 29, 2007. Make sure you send in your comments to the FDA, and include the Docket No . 2006D-0480.

And there is yet another FDA regulatory attempt against the people. This vicious change will allow corporations to substitute vegetable fats and oils for cocoa butter. The petition is here, and you can send the FDA comments on "2007P-0085: Adopt Regulations of General Applicability to All Food Standards that Would Permit, Within Stated Boundaries, Deviations from the Requirements of the Individual Food Standards of Identity."

Brittney has this interesting map of obesity, and how it has grown nationwide. Check it out.

If you haven't heard, home-grown terrorists are alive and well in the US. The war on terrah doesn't mean a damn thing when bombs are planted at a women's health center. I suppose I shouldn't be outraged, particularly when a domestic violence laden music video, is nominated for Best Music Video for the CMT Awards. Note to Toby Keith, domestic violence isn't funny, motherfucker. Meanwhile, we find that Native American are more than twice as likely to be raped. And it's just a-okay to stalk and then "out" a woman that writes about racism and hatred. Completely outrageous! If that isn't enough, China is going to coopt a village where men must obey women. Seriously, I have a problem with using this as a tourist attraction.

Bill Frist received the silver lining in the US attorney purging. One US Attorney that escaped purging, let Fristy off for his part of insider trading.

The other day, the Pentagon let us know that they are putting an end to the massive data-gathering program, otherwise known as TALON.

But, the war against people aren't waged in just this nation by those that reside in the WH and their puppet masters. Iraq is a debacle, and so too, is Afghanistan. And, we'll have to wait for it, but the sneak preview is that terrorism attacks have risen almost 30%, while the Iraqi people are fleeing, including one of the anchors in the blogsphere, Riverbend.

NY Continues to be the Vanguard in Protecting Women's Rights

I know there are folks that are not fans of Eliot Spitzer, but he's done several things that have made me sit up and take notice. For instance as AG, he went after the pharmaceuticals, including getting tough on medicaid fraud. After reading this morning's NY Times, I sure wish he'd come down here to TN and give TN's Gov. Bredesen a good talking to.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday that he planned to introduce legislation to overhaul the state’s pioneering but antiquated abortion law, shoring up abortion rights in New York.

The proposal follows the United States Supreme Court’s decision last week to uphold the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, at a time when several other states are moving to tighten restrictions on abortion.

New York took an early role in legalizing abortion, and the governor’s plan could take on much broader significance if the Supreme Court ever returns abortion law to the discretion of the states. Still, it is far from certain that the legislation will pass the Republican-led State Senate.

Mr. Spitzer’s bill, the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act, would update current law, which, for example, does not include a provision allowing for abortions late in pregnancies to protect a woman’s health. New York state laws on the books also treat abortion as a homicide, but with broad exceptions that allow the procedure in many cases.

Mr. Spitzer’s proposal would remove abortion from criminal statutes and make it a matter of professional and medical discretion. It would also repeal an old statute “that criminalizes, among other things, providing nonprescription contraception to minors,” according to the governor’s office.

“Even if the Supreme Court does not understand the law, we do,” Mr. Spitzer said, appearing briefly at a Manhattan luncheon held by Naral Pro-Choice New York. “New York State will continue to be a beacon of civil rights and protection of women’s rights.”


Now, for those of you not in the know, Phil Bredesen is an anti-abortion democrat, and for the past few years, every year, SJR127 meanders it's way through Tennessee's state legislature. Last year, it failed in the House, after passing the Senate. This is an amendment to the state constitution that discriminates against 51% of the population of the state.

Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding
of an abortion.

This amendment, is in response to a 2000 state Supreme Court decision, stating women in TN have the right to an abortion. (shortest version)

I really wish Spitzer would have a long talk with Bredesen, and a bunch of the rabid-righties in our legislature, on why it is so important for a state to safeguard it's residents health, as well as to ensure that it's doctors don't feel as if they may be criminals for performing a medical procedure. They don't seem to listen to any of us residents, perhaps they might listen to their peers. In the course of this discussion, Spitizer might want to remind Bredesen about the rising infant mortality rate, and he can also throw in the maternal mortality rate for women.

Meanwhile, if you are outraged by SCOTUS's decision last week, hop on over to the Wall of Protest and add your name.