March 3, 2008
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As an online publisher, I regularly contact authors I feel the public may want to hear from. Recently, my office emailed individual invitations to Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, and Senator John McCain, inviting each Presidential candidate to blog about how he or she will change healthcare in the United States after he or she becomes President.
Though not enough time has elapsed to allow for a personal response from each Senator, my office has received a thank you email from the offices of both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. The Obama reply was personalized using my first name, whereas Clinton's said, "Dear Friend." Senator McCain's office has sent nothing.
This is the last we've heard from Clinton as well, but Obama's office has continued to generate email messages about the purpose of his campaign: the two-front challenge the Senator is facing, the big endorsement he's received from Governor Bill Richardson, and even a video message about voter registration in Pennsylvania. Most emails are signed by Senator Obama's Campaign Manager, David Plouffe, but all include viable links to the campaign's website.
Each email invites me to assist in the Obama for America campaign by pledging further donations for even as little as $25, encouraging others to register to vote, or by watching videos about what's happening in the race. The purpose is to keep potential voters aware of the surging campaign.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that "62% of all Americans are part of a wireless, mobile population that participates in digital activities away from home or work." This means that these people are receiving news via their cell phones, blackberrys, or laptops even while they are away from their desktop computers and television sets. Interestingly, the majority of wireless users are young adult Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans.
Approximately 80% of U.S. adults go online, and the number is growing, reaching more and more Americans. An example of how political marketing online is used can be seen at The Huffington Post, where Barack Obama recently blogged about his faith and his church. The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management released a study this month--Best Practices for Political Advertising Online. To reach voters online, they've found that online readers are seeking authenticity, spam is not acceptable, and word-of-mouth continues online with the ability to share the news. The Web is also to be considered a routine media channel for most demographic groups and its users are active and passionate about their political interests.
Senators Clinton and McCain, where are you in this online, internet, WiFi connected world? Why are you not bothering to reach out to Americans online as Obama has? Is it no wonder that Senator Obama has become a video rockstar? Dare I say, this one difference may make all the difference.
Just in today--an invitation to dinner with the Senator--for a donation of course.
Kelly Jad'on
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February 2, 2008
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This month’s print edition of Fast Company (3/08) highlights the popular male history of Viagra (sildenafil). Patented in 1996 and FDA approved in 1998, this Pfizer developed drug began as a potential treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension, but was found to be better suited for penile erections. During the first month available, pharmacists filled 367,857 prescriptions. Annual sales for the years 1999-2001 were more than $1 million. Prescribed in 120 countries with more than 150 million filled prescriptions for 40 million plus men, the erectile dysfunction (ED) market is worth an estimated $3 million dollars. 60% of this is the property of Viagra, and their US patent is set to expire in 2011. Other ED meds include Viagra’s competitors—Cyalis (tadalafil) and Levitra (vardenafil).
Erectile dysfunction is estimated to affect 18 million American men, ages 40 to 70, or two of every 100 men. The condition is commonly associated with stress, performance anxiety, relationship problems, depression or other mental illness, hormonal imbalance, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, prostate disease, stroke, and prescribed medications. Most recently, studies have shown that smoking causes ED. The habit sends nicotine and other vasoconstrictors into the body which shut down blood vessels, including those within the penis. A quiet personal dilemma, depression often accompanies erectile dysfunction. Medline Plus states that it is not a result of the natural aging process.
Viagra is meant to prolong and harden an erection by relaxing the blood vessels in the penis, allowing more blood to flow to the area. For men with heart problems this medication will carry the risk of cardiac arrest. Vision difficulties , stomach upset, possible priapism, and hearing loss are further potential side effects. Those who take nitrate medications must strictly avoid Viagra. Speak with a doctor about other drugs and supplements you use which could cause possible adverse interactions with Viagra:
1. Blood pressure medications
2. Pain relievers
3. Antipsychotic medications
4. Acid blockers
5. Seizure medications
6. St. John’s wort
7. Grapefruit/grapefruit juice
Dr. Suzy Cohen, R. PH. , author of The 24-Hour Pharmacist, has devoted an entire chapter on this subject, “When He Wants Viagra And You Want A Valium.” She writes, “As far as I’m concerned, a person’s low sex drive might just be a preference. Or maybe it’s a natural part of aging. It’s certainly not a disease as the drug makers imply.” Instead Suzy Cohen advocates hormone testing for those who believe their sex drive is too low. Using a lab, one can produce a sample of urine or saliva at home and send it out for testing. Another option is asking an endocrinologist to test for hormone deficiencies. Once the problem is known, the doctor can prescribe medication or over-the-counter supplements.
Advertised prominently online and in print are herbal substitutes for Viagra. Buyer beware. These products have not yet been proven safe.
Prevent the risks of erectile dysfunction by not smoking or using illegal drugs, exercising daily, eating nutritiously, and getting adequate sleep. Furthermore, reduce stress, limit alcohol intake, receive regular doctor checkups, and get necessary help for depression and anxiety.
UPDATE: A recent study by Dr. David Glenn, a consultant gynecologist at Queen's University Belfast has linked Viagra use to damaged male fertility. Researchers have suggested that the drug harms sperm. Men are warned not to use the drug recreationally. Preliminary results were released in 4/'04, when Glenn found that sperm treated with Viagra seemed to speed up and release an enzyme necessary for fertility to early, nullifying the sperm.
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Our omniscient government has a list of the most popular New Year's resolutions. Ironically, each one inidividually leads to a healthier happier life. A wish list? Perhaps, but if we the people fulfilled these important proposals, the government would have less to be responsible for, and therefore less money spent. Health care costs equally have become a burden outside government plans, in the corporate world. For those with coverage, it is an expensive but necessary employee perk; for those without insurance--a greater mortal risk.
It's true that healthcare spending in the corporate world is beginning to outpace inflation, and health care costs for employees is outpacing net income. Devon Herrick of the National Center for Policy Analysis notes this ominous growing trend. He writes that General Motors spends more on employee health care than on steel (1.1 million workers=$5.6 billion). That's $1,525 per car produced. Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz too, has said that his company's spending on employee health insurance (80,000 USA employees=$200 million) exceeds that of coffee bean purchases.
Mike Huckabee, candidate for President, writes, "Health care spending is now about $2 trillion a year, which is close to $7,000 for each one of us. It consumes about 17% of our gross domestic product, easily surpassing the few European nations where spending is close to 10% and far higher than any other country in the world. If we reduced our out-of-control health care costs from 17% to 11%, we'd save $700 billion a year, which is about twice our annual national deficit."
Hillary Clinton, candidate for President, gave a speech not long ago regarding the health care crisis. "We are the richest country in the world and we spend right now, more on health care than anyone else in the world. Two trillion dollars a year. But we're ranked 31st in life expectancy and 40th in child mortality. Each year, 18,000 people die in America because they don't have health care. Let me repeat that. Here in America, people are dying because they couldn't get the care they needed when they were sick. "
Mark W. Stanton, at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services writes that "National health expenditures are expected to reach $2.8 trillion in 2011, with an average annual growth rate of 7.3% from 2001 to 2011. By growing faster than the Gross Domestic Product, expenditures will consume approximately 17% of the GDP in 2011."
What's driving up the costs?
General Price Inflation
Inflation in the prices of medical services beyond general price inflation
Aging of the population
Increased use of health care, especially expensive new medical technologies, by all age groups
What will bring health care spending down?
We will. Each one of us must choose to follow a program which will get us into shape. Doctor Dean Ornish, author of the newly published The Spectrum, founder and President of The Preventive Medicine Research Institute, consults with major corporations, helping them cut their health care costs by developing incentive programs for the employees. A key example is Safeway. With their health care costs exceeding profit margins in 2005, they've seen this trend from the beginning. After instituting Ornish's program, their costs declined by 11% in 2006, and remained flat in 2007.
Dr. Ornish's self-empowering program asks followers to change what they eat and how they live to remain healthier longer. It has even been recognized by Medicare because it's been proven to reverse heart disease. Dr. Ornish believes his program will positively affect many because it reverses diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, chronic conditions, and will even stop or reverse prostate cancer.
In 2006, 1 million plus coronary angioplasties and 400,000 coronary bypass operations were performed, at a whopping total of $100 billion. Between 1984 and 1996, among Medicare beneficiaries, the number of operations increased 543%. Dr. Ornish says that this challenges the sustainability of Medicare.
Each one of us can make a difference in our bodies, our communities, and our government by altering our lifestyle, implementing better food choices, and just perhaps, thinking about our children's future. What we do today individually and as a nation will determine our future.
How To Make a New Year's Resolution.
Keep New Year's Resolutions Going Strong.
Related Article: Who Will Be The Biggest Loser This New Year?
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Oprah's Book Club has catapulted A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle into the one of the top slots of Best Sellers at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the USA Today Best Seller List. Advocating her audience read the new non-fiction book, Oprah and the author will together teach an online class about how to awaken yourself. You won't be setting the alarm clock a little earlier, but will need to be available on Monday evenings for the event.
Eckhart Tolle writes that the purpose of A New Earth is to "bring about a shift of consciousness." It is a book "about you." He believes that the history of humanity is a history of madness, ie. wars, slavery, conquest, destruction of the natural world, etc.. He has a point here. We must, he says "evolve or die." In doing so, we will take on a new religion, spirituality, ideology, mythology, or belief system. If the human mind remains structured as it is, unchanged, we will persist in reinventing the wheel, or repeating our human history, depleting ourselves one generation at a time.
A New Earth asks the reader to transform himself by becoming aware. Eckhart Tolle writes, "Thinking without awareness is the main dilemma of human existence." Not long ago, I was speaking with a good friend about conscious choices we make as individuals, set apart from our families or origins. If we choose to deliberately alter our lives and therefore our thoughts, we become something different. We actually choose who we want to be. Think of Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle: A Memoir, who decided not to be the free soul her mother had been.
Our minds are conditioned by our pasts--our environment, our upbringing, and our surrounding culture. Tolle's correct on this point too. He also believes that we identify ourselves with our stuff. Do you own a Rolex? Would you feel better if you did? Will you never feel good about yourself because you don't own one?
"The people in the advertising industry know very well that in order to sell things that people don't really need, they must convince them that those things will add something to how they see themselves or are seen by others; in other words, add something to their sense of self.....You are not buying a product but an identity enhancer." Your ego says, "Hey, you need this to feel better." Honor your things, Tolle writes, but don't use them for self-enhancement.
Identification with things begins an attachment to stuff, which creates an obsession for stuff. Think about Peter Walsh's mantra, "It's All Too Much." Society has become consumed with consumerism or growth. It is the hallmark of progress, and if left unchecked, Tolle says, is "a dysfunction and a disease."
How do others see you? Do you feel that you need to live up to their expectations of what they expect? Is this who you are? You are who you believe yourself to be. Be aware of your attachment to things. Be aware of your background, what you say, and what you think.
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Many people carry around loads of baggage from their pasts, full of anger, resentment, and frustration, never affecting the person(s) who are the receivers of this indignation. The victim is the individual who cannot get beyond his hatred, and instead internalizes it, causing harm to himself both emotionally, and sometimes physically. Psychological stress from high levels of anger has been found to be an underlying factor in coronary heart disease and hypertension.
The answer is forgiveness. Forgiveness is the mental process of ridding yourself of the feelings of resentment, indignation, or anger against another person for a perceived offense, difference, or mistake. It may also mean the stopping of the demand of punishment or restitution. In plain English it may mean pushing that chip off your shoulder.
12 years ago my father was sitting on his motorcycle on the side of Interstate 95, under an overpass, avoiding the rain. He had his helmet on and his back to traffic. A voice in his head told him he'd better move closer to the guardrail. Too late to do so, a woman driving a car swerved to the right, removing both the left side of the bike and my father's left leg. Scared, Esther--the driver, took off and then returned before my dad asked her to call 911. The reason for the accident--Esther had dropped her cell phone, and while bending to retrieve it, turned the steering wheel slightly to the right.
My father carried extreme resentment toward Esther for the last 12 years, until he died. I've repeated Dad's story several times, and most listeners, especially the men, understand how my father felt. If we however, learn to forgive, we may be able to improve how we feel physically. My dad did indeed have hypertension, diabetes, and terminal cancer. Did the unrelenting anger play a role? Some think so.
Jeffrey Brantley, MD. and Wendy Millstine, NC. have written Five Good Minutes With The One You Love. They cite the following methods as ways to heal the animosity in relationships:
First, walk off the grudge. Work out the potential anger and let loose some bitterness. Guys, get to the gym!
Second, visualize a good image. For example, a litter of puppies, a plate of warm cookies, or a long hug.
Third, focus where these feelings reside in your body. Do you find yourself smiling? Does your heart feel a little warmer?
Fourth, say, "I am walking to forgive, to have mercy, and to let go of my hostility. When I have forgiveness in my heart, I can move freely without negative feelings and ill will." Here you are making a conscious decision to let go of the resentment--both physically and mentally.
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