Can We Help Bill Maher Increase His COVID IQ?

Have  the last remaining sane and rational neurons ensconced in Bill Maher's 3 pounds of gray matter finally been eviscerated?  This is the question one must ask after watching yet another round of his lockdown criticism and deliberate diminution of Covid 19 on his last Real Time episode,  June 5th).   In the latest iteration questioning the severity by comparing the coronavirus to yearly deaths from medical errors (100,000) and the Hong Kong flu of 1968 (100,000) he faced only mild pushback from guest Michael Steele - former RNC chair - and now MSNBC commentator.

I had the Hong Kong flu - desperately ill for a good 3 weeks in December of '68- but I would argue it's nothing like the worst cases of Covid, where intubation is often the key to survival for the very ill. Also, it leaves those intubated patients with major cognitive and other deficiencies (see WaPo link at bottom of this post).  In other words, the respiratory difficulties I faced with the Hong Kong flu were nothing compared to what moderate and severe Covid patients experience.  But Maher in his several episodes denying or diminishing the impact of Covid 19 has yet to process any of this. Invariably choosing to diminish its effects by invoking sketchy relative to 'x' "arguments".

Though Hong Kong flu had a comparable  R0  (est. 1.o6- 2.06 for first wave)  the data remain  elusive and most of the transmissibility aspects have been derived from the 2nd wave.   All I can say here is that as I recall, ICUs were not flooded by patients as they have been with Covid. Even now as I write this warnings from state medical authorities have gone out in Arizona, as well as Mississippi and 19 other states,  that  ICUs are close to being overrun and patients may have to be redirected to other facilities.

Regarding medical errors being compared to Covid 19, that's a gross false analogy.  The reason is that as deadly as medical errors are they are distributed over lengthy time and don't occur in massive waves which demand extraordinary medical resources - like N95 masks, ventilators, face shields, protective gowns and other ppe.

On the blurring of lockdown vs. non-lockdown stats (i.e. infection rates, fatalities) Maher succumbs to a favorite trope of contrarians, i.e. that the data indicates none of the lockdowns have worked. However, this is a misguided statistical comparison, often like literally comparing apples to oranges. Take the matter of timing. We have the data - incontrovertible - showing that those that acted earlier (like South Korea) were more successful in containing the epidemic. In S. Korea's case a draconian lockdown wasn't needed because it had developed a suitable infrastructure for testing, contact tracing in combination with suitable quarantine. Meanwhile, the U.S. with Trump loafed for two weeks, messed up on the use of tests and tracing - so was more or less forced into the "bludgeon" response of total lockdown.

The case of Sweden is also invoked  - usually by the Rightists to push for premature U.S.  reopening - but we now know Sweden has the highest fatality rate of the Nordic nations as well as northern  European nations. Besides,  the experiment is still not over. What will a 2nd wave do? What manner of havoc will it wreak?  Will deaths double, triple?   We don't know but may find out in 2-3 months, and by then the praise of Sweden by the 'Murican Right may not be so loud and goofy.

Sadly, given all the above - using the fallacy of composition, multiple false analogies, non sequiturs galore,  Maher seems to be going along the same backward IQ arc as the FOXites and WSJ anti-lockdown toads  like Holman Jenkins Jr.  Like Jenkins Jr. Maher, to support his specious contentions, has either cited or actually had quacks on his show to prop him up.  (It's a wonder, given his aversion to vaccines, he hasn't had a prominent anti-vaxxer on yet).

Maher's  main quack of choice thus far has been David Katz, featured on Real Time about 6 weeks ago. .  Katz bloviated for 10-15 minutes along similar lines to Dr. John  Ioannidis of Stanford, and mostly just reinforcing Maher's  Covid  "meh" confirmation bias. That is,  that this virus isn't much worse than flu and certainly that a lockdown  is an overreaction.   Oh yeah, and if people just stopped eating so many cheese burgers all would be okay, their immune systems would kick in. 

All Maher succeeded in doing is reveal "even more dangerous quackery" -  his own - in hyping Katz. This from a guy (supposedly high IQ) but still leery of vaccines, e.g.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bill-maher-believes-people-should-want-to-get-coronavirus

As noted from the above link:

On Friday night, instead of opting for a despicably racist rant against China over the novel coronavirus or blaming the media, Bill Maher welcomed Dr. David Katz, a doctor and ex-instructor at the Yale School of Medicine, onto his show Real Time.

Dr. Katz, who consistently flaunts his Yale ties despite the fact that they were severed in 2016, has become something of a right-wing darling after penning a controversial New York Times op-ed on March 20 titled “Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease?” In it, Katz argues against the self-isolation policies put in place by most of the U.S., instead saying the country should isolate the elderly and infirm, which would thus “allow most of society to return to life as usual and perhaps prevent vast segments of the economy from collapsing. Healthy children could return to school and healthy adults go back to their jobs. Theaters and restaurants could reopen, though we might be wise to avoid very large social gatherings like stadium sporting events and concerts.”

Following his op-ed, Katz has made appearances on Fox News touting his hole-filled theory, thereby co-signing a network that’s called the pandemic a “hoax”; repeatedly downplayed it; and spent hours and hours pushing hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure, even though it’s been determined by most of the medical community to do way more harm than good following a series of poisonings and deaths. On top of that, a convincing refutation of Katz’s ill-advised piece was published in The New York Times from those currently at the Yale School of Public Health that read, in part: 'it is not yet known who all of the most vulnerable people are. We believe that  it is easier, quicker and more efficient to reduce transmission over all than to permit high levels of transmission in the community but somehow keep it from afflicting susceptible people in our highly networked world.'

Despite all this, there was Katz on Maher’s HBO show regurgitating the arguments he made in his ridiculed Times piece—which he wrote when we were at 200 deaths nationwide; we’re now at 52,400 deaths and climbing with strict shutdowns and social distancing in place. "

To Katz’s argument that everyone should want to get infected with COVID-19, Maher actually  replied, “Yeah, I think you make a lot of sense there. And I think it’s a shame—you talk about politicization, that people like you who sound reasonable, maybe it’s not the exact one true opinion you hear somewhere else, has to go on Fox News.”     Seriously, Bill?  Hey, he had to go on FOX News because that is the domain for pushing hoaxes, hoax "cures" (like hydroxychloroquine), oh and quacks like David Katz.

 Another aspect of Katz and why he bears distrust and scrutiny: He was rightly pilloried by skeptics back in 2008 for propounding the concept of  "fluidity of evidence".  In fact there is no such thing. Evidence either exists in an objective form or it does not, there is no 'fluidity' about it.   As noted from Science Blogs (June 18, 2008)

"No, he is not happy at all. Specifically, he is not happy with the skeptical blogosphere. He apparently feels that we nasty, close-minded skeptics have been so very unfair in our discussions of him. Specifically, he is not happy how several of us have called him to task for his remarks at the 1st Annual Integrative Medicine Scientific Symposium held in April at Yale University. In particular, what stood out (and provoked the sarcasm and contempt of several bloggers devoted to discussing scientific medicine and going after quackery) was Dr. Katz's fanatastically Orwellian advocating for a more "fluid concept of evidence" in evaluating so-called "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) or "integrative" medicine. His remarks were lambasted in particular by Professor David Colquhoun (who characterized his remarks as "not science" and "not even common sense"), 



Incredibly,  Katz also claimed  on that Real Time segment that it’s “the liberal ideology that seems to be so resistant to talking about unemployment and the economy,” when amid the COVID-19 crisis, the progressive left wing of the Democratic Party—Bernie Sanders, AOC and the like—have been fighting hard for workers and arguing for rent cancellation as well as giving $2,000 a month to each household during the shutdown.  Maher's response? A bot -like nod of the head, no challenge, no criticism - despite having interviewed Sen. Sanders only a few weeks earlier (April 3rd Real Time) and being told first hand the mission. 

All of which explains why Janice is no longer able to watch Maher, as he  has allowed an original welcome independence of thought to descend into a form of stupidity in the name of misplaced political incorrectness. 

No doubt there still might be some small probability of getting Bill Maher to rise from the "moron" level of Covid -19 intelligence levels. (Janice suggests "imbecile" level.)  but I would not hold my breath waiting for him to demonstrate it anytime soon. 

 In the meantime, I suggest Bill read the WaPo piece showing that shutdown orders prevented about 60 million novel coronavirus infections in the United States and 285 million in China.  This according to a research study published Monday that examined how stay-at-home orders and other restrictions limited the spread of the contagion.

See Also:

Hugo Sosa survived the ICU. But for many like him, that’s just the start of recovery

The H3 N2 Flu - Are We Ready For The Onslaught? What About An Avian (H5 N1) Pandemic?

Electron micrograph of the H3 N2  influenza virus.


My first introduction to the H3 N2 flu virus arrived in December, 1968, after I'd just flown home to Miami from New Orleans for the Christmas holidays.   Within 2 days of my arrival I was hit by one of the nastiest flu viruses,  called "the Hong Kong flu".   A micrograph of the virus is shown below:


I was basically laid up in bed with body aches, chills, severe nausea and fever for 8 days, and could not partake of any Christmas dinner. Since I was unable to do so, my parents decided to visit my younger brother, John, at his Naval Air base in northern Florida.  They asked if I'd be ok alone, and I assured them I could tough it out. There were plenty of cans of chicken noodle soup, as well as bread (for toast) and other assorted stuff - even some slices of spiral ham -  if I was able to consume such later.

Most of my time was spent just watching the tube, and reading - when I could. I was perhaps 90 percent better by the time I returned to New Orleans but within two days had to take extra time off from the oil company I worked at - after a relapse. (At that time, most proper companies gave employees 2 weeks sick leave, unlike the penny pinching, greedy rats today.)

We now know the arrival of the Hong Kong flu in 1968, started with a half million cases in Hong Kong. This was also the first (then known) arrival of the H3 N2 flu virus.   From Wikipedia we learn:

"The Hong Kong Flu was a category 2 flu pandemic caused by a strain of H3N2 descended from H2N2 by antigenic shift, in which genes from multiple subtypes reassorted to form a new virus. This pandemic of 1968 and 1969 killed an estimated one million people worldwide"

We also learn:

"Both the H2N2 and H3N2 pandemic flu strains contained genes from avian influenza viruses. The new subtypes arose in pigs coinfected with avian and human viruses and were soon transferred to humans. Swine were considered the original "intermediate host" for influenza, because they supported reassortment of divergent subtypes."

And:

The Hong Kong flu strain shared internal genes and the neuraminidase with the 1957 Asian flu (H2N2). Accumulated antibodies to the neuraminidase or internal proteins may have resulted in much fewer casualties than most pandemics.The Hong Kong flu was the first known outbreak of the H3N2 strain, though there is serologic evidence of H3N? infections in the late 19th century. "

This is useful to know now as the medical gurus are warning of a new onslaught and incarnation of this flu - after it literally tore through Australia during the Aussie winter. Even two months ago, because of our ages - we were warned by our PCP to not miss the flu shots this year. Not long after we each got the  quadrivalent recombinant flu vaccine, as well as the special   PCV13   pneumonia vaccine. Given severe flu can easily lead to pneumonia (and my dad died from pneumonia in 2009) this was a no brainer.

What we know already is that the the flu vaccine is only about 10 percent effective, and the quadrivalent vaccine may be slightly better. Each year matching the vaccine to the projected influenze virus to emerge is a literal crap shot, because the virus mutates so easily.. So what might have worked 8 or 9 months ago now no longer does.  Like other life forms, viruses adapt as well to external conditions and even to other flu viruses.  As noted earlier, one can have an antigenic shift, in which genes from multiple influenza subtypes reassort to form a new virus.

Professor Robert Dingwall, a public health expert at Nottingham Trent University, told the UK Daily Express it is expected to be the oncoming H3 N2 season is expected to be the most serious flu outbreak since the 1968 pandemic that started in Hong Kong and killed more than a million people world wide.

From 2003 to 2013, the three flu seasons that were dominated by H3N2 strains of the flu had the highest mortality rates - causing more deaths on average than other years (excluding the 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu).  All this is happening - with the new H3 N2 outbreak almost upon us - as we near the 100th anniversary of the Spanish Flu pandemic. This was estimated to have wiped out nearly ten percent of the global population at the time - or up to 50 million.

Coincidentally, the World Health Organization is closely monitoring a new strain of H7 N9 in China, also known as Avian flu. To be sure this is a cross species form or Avian flu and not anywhere as deadly as the H5 N1 which is keeping researchers like Pardis Sabeti of Harvard up at night.  Why? Because it holds the greatest potential for human annihilation.

In 2003, world-renowned virologist Robert G. Webster published an article titled:  "The world is teetering on the edge of a pandemic that could kill a large fraction of the human population" in American Scientist. He called for adequate resources to fight what he sees as a major world threat to possibly billions of lives. 

On September 29, 2005, David Nabarro, the newly appointed Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, warned the world that an outbreak of avian influenza could kill anywhere between 5 million and 150 million people. The reported mortality rate of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in a human is high; WHO data indicate 60% of cases classified as H5N1 resulted in death. My take, given the H5N1 would incept a "cytokine storm"  similar to what the H1N1 Spanish Flu did, is that at least 500 million would perish, and possibly as many as 1 billion

Electron micrograph of H5N1 influenza virus particles. 

Research on genetically restored Spanish flu discloses that death likely arrived via a cytokine storm, i.e. the victim basically "drowns" in their own lung fluids. the current Avian flu cases.  In a number of  documented Asian cases, victims with H5N1 experienced diarrhea followed rapidly by a coma without developing respiratory or flu-like symptom. This shows that one can perish that suddenly, and with no evident breathing problem.  The inflammatory cascade triggered by H5N1 has been called a 'cytokine storm' by some, because of what seems to be a positive feedback process of damage to the body resulting from immune system stimulation. H5N1 induces higher levels of cytokines than the more common flu virus types.

There have been studies of the levels of cytokines in humans infected by the H5N1 flu virus. Of particular concern is elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, a protein associated with tissue destruction at sites of infection and increased production of other cytokines. Flu virus-induced increases in the level of cytokines is also associated with flu symptoms, including fever, chills, vomiting and headache.

Genetic sequencing of avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses from human cases in Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia shows resistance to the antiviral medications amantadine and rimantadine, two of the medications commonly used for treatment of influenza. This leaves only two remaining antiviral medications (oseltamivir and zanamivir) that should still be effective against currently circulating strains of H5N1 viruses.

Highly pathogenic H5N1 symptoms in people can include:


• Fever and cough

• Acute respiratory distress

• Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing

• Abdominal pain

• Diarrhea

Complications:

• Pneumonia

• Respiratory failure

• Shock

Will next year, the 100th since the Spanish Flu pandemic,  usher in a killer flu pandemic of its own? We don't know, but as Prof. Pardis Sabeti pointed out on a recent CBS Early Show health segment, the virus does keep changing, mutating - adapting. This is why she's "kept up at night"  pondering the consequences if it seized on the right confluence of factors to trigger another deadly pandemic. And the next one - possibly of H5 N1 - may also eliminate 10 percent of humans...or more.  There is little pre-existing natural immunity to H5N1 virus infection in the human population. If H5N1 viruses gain the ability for efficient and sustained transmission among humans, an influenza pandemic could result, with potentially high rates of illness and death worldwide.  Let us hope we dodge that infernal
"bullet" with Avian flu on it.

Could the Shutdown Make This The Worst Flu Season Ever?

Let's understand that the flu is no joke, and no sport. Getting it can means weeks of suffering  and often wishing you were dead. That's about how I felt after getting the Hong Kong Flu in December, 1968 with the effects lasting for months. It's also close to how my wife felt after getting the H3N2 variety of flu last December. Nonetheless, we reason that it still makes sense to get flu shots - if only because they can at least lessen the effects, symptoms. So this year we got ours at our primary doc's office a week ago. It was the new '4 in 1' vaccine that is supposed to protect against 4 varieties.

We also make sure to get flu shots because the evidence now shows that getting the full bore flu can produce an inflammatory response that weakens already damaged blood vessels making the person more susceptible to a heart attack.  So why take the chance?

It appears that we may have well acted wisely - especially this year- as government and CDC (Center for Disease Control) resources are hobbled and subverted by the Tea Party instigated government attempted hostage -taking and shutdown.  How so? According to former CDC Director David Satcher, for any flu outbreak to occur while two-thirds of the staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on furlough could be disastrous.

In an editorial for Bloomberg News, Satcher wrote, "there is a very real potential for unnecessary pain, suffering and death when the work of public-health officials is curtailed.”

This is serious, but we already know that given the priorities of effect arising from the ongoing shutdown, the welfare of  ordinary Americans lies at the bottom of the list. Trumping it are ongoing development of military weapons systems (e.g. the F-35 bomber), which private defense contractors are not about to let go of come hell or high water. Thus, it's no surprise to see how Satcher has laid out just how the diminished capacity of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor disease directly translates into reduced protection for the American people. These include:

- Weakened surveillance for detecting and responding to infectious diseases: Nine of the 10 Global Disease Detection Centers have significantly reduced monitoring for diseases such as Ebola and new pathogens such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (Corona virus) and H7N9, which could threaten the U.S.

- CDC doesn’t have the personnel to monitor, track and provide guidance about seasonal flu activity, even as the season is beginning. Tens of thousands die in the worst flu seasons, what will the death toll be like when little or no monitoring is available? What if the Corona virus strikes at the same time and inadequate personnel are available to make a differential diagnosis from serious influenza? What if the Bird flu strikes?

- Although state public-health investigators can detect disease outbreaks, the CDC’s ability to conduct cross-state collaboration and lab work for linking these outbreaks is critical (see e.g. the film 'Contagion) and hence capacity for state assistance is severely diminished.

- The CDC isn’t able to conduct routine inspections of high-security labs to ensure that they are taking appropriate precautions when handling deadly agents such as anthrax, smallpox, monkeypox and Ebola.  Several incidents concerning lax security have already been reported. What if lack of adequate oversight permits one of the harbored 'beasties' to escape confinement?

- Staffing at the Emergency Operation Center is minimal. In the event of a natural or man-made disaster, the CDC will have difficulty in responding quickly and efficiently to any public-health challenge.  Think of something like an F5 tornado striking Oklahoma or Missouri, or massive flooding in New Jersey from another super storm. Do we really want this?

True, the shutdown may not generate any massive additional illness or compounded catastrophe from lack of resources. But such an outcome may be based  on pure dumb luck, not on rationally appropriated resources, personnel.  As Dr. Satcher puts it:

"Surely we can agree that it is irresponsible to base our disease detection and response strategy on luck.”

Well, rational people may well agree, but this, alas, doesn't include the pro-Dixie Tea Bagger contingent - who have no use for a federal government, and would have their states secede if they could.

Mail Call Brane: Readers Seeking Answers

Just curious as to the latest on Colorado’s MJ laws, and Implementing them.- Allan, Montreal, Quebec

A. The latest news is that on Wednesday the Colorado legislature made history, becoming the first in the nation to pass laws regulating recreational marijuana use. This now makes 4 major bills passed this year on marijuana legalization, and now the legislature awaits Gov. Hickenlooper to sign them. If he does sign them, and as a Dem Governor presiding over a D-legislature he ought to, then we will see the following (Denver Post, Thurs. May 9, p. 1A):


1-Marijuana will be sold in specially licensed stores that can also sell pot-related items such as pipes. However, only Colorado residents can own and invest in the stores, and only current medical marijuana dispensary owners can apply to open recreational pot shops for the first nine months. The first stores will open on Jan, 1, 2014.

2- Colorado residents will be able to buy up to an ounce of marijuana, the maximum legal amount for non-medical needs. Out of staters will be able to purchase only a quarter ounce at a time. The pot must also be sold in child-resistant packages, with labels that specify potency.

3- Voters will have the option of imposing heavy taxes on pot sales. A ballot measure set for November will ask voters to approve a 15 % excise tax and an additional 10 percent sales tax on marijuana. The excise tax will fund school construction while the sales tax will fund MJ regulation. Hickenlooper has already advised voters to pass the bills, and one wonders given his past MJ opposition, whether he will postpone signing the passed bills until November. And also, if the tax ballots don’t pass, then vetoing the four already passed MJ bills. I wouldn’t put this past a guy that once drank fracked water and claimed it was fine.

4- Incorporated marijuana collectives will be banned, so will MJ coffee shops, MJ-smoking in bars and gov’t run MJ stores. Though Colo. will have the most liberal MJ laws in the country – it will have the most restrictive laws in the country for MJ-themed magazines. These, like pornography, will have to be kept under the counter. (Publications such as 'High Times' have vowed to sue.)


5-Colorado drivers for the first time will be subject to a “stoned driving limit” (which is still being worked out). Juries will be allowed to presume that anyone testing above the limit was too high to drive.


Q. Were you aware that Sally Jewel, President Barack Obama's newest appointed Secretary of the Interior, is a pro-fracking hireling? Having read your blogs on fracking I wonder what you make of this appointment?
- Cheryl T., Wauwatosa, Wisc.


A. Okay, what Jewell actually said is: “ We must develop our domestic energy resources armed with the best available science, and this unbiased, objective information will help private, nonprofit and government decision makers at all levels make informed decisions about the responsible development of these resources. “ And yes, a number of right wing papers (i.e. The Washington Examiner) have taken this to be a strong endorsement of fracking. But as the Examiner puts it:


"Jewell was referring to hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking, ' the process by which a pressurized mixture of (mostly) water and chemicals is injected into shale rock formations deep underground. The process provides access to natural gas deposits that would otherwise be impossible to reach. The technology has been in use for 60 years in Texas and Oklahoma, but its phenomenally successful use more recently in Pennsylvania to develop the Marcellus Shale and in North Dakota to develop the Bakken formation has sparked an energy revolution in this country.  Environmentalists oppose fracking, claiming it threatens groundwater even though the evidence for this claim is all but nonexistent.”


Of course, assuming this is so, then it would be an unmitigated disaster. Anyone who has read my prior blogs on fracking would see why, e.g. http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2013/02/that-disgusting-oil-reeking-fluid.html
and  http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2013/03/doctors-muzzled-to-prevent-warning.html


The facts are substantial so that appeal to scientific basis must mean not going forward with fracking and applying the precautionary principle: the frackers must prove their methods aren’t harmful to ground water supplies, not the converse- that potential victims must prove the harm. Already there have been more than 1,000 documented cases of water contamination while methane leaks associated with hydraulic fracturing have caused houses and wells to explode.  Moreover, fracking doesn’t just contaminate water but air as well. Residents in Dish, TX have repeatedly complained of illness since frackers arrived. Air quality tests have revealed high levels of benzene in the air.


The notion of natural gas as “clean energy” is also a myth. While it emits half as much carbon as coal and 70% as much as oil, it still imposes a carbon burden. In addition, it emits large quantities of methane gas which is 30 times more potent than CO2.  These figures, though smaller than the coal and oil carbon burdens ought not be ignored given that we have now hit 400 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere, a threshold not reached for nearly 3 million years (Denver Post, today, p. 1B). What the new threshold means is that we have far less margin for error. Do we really want to conduct an aberrant experiment to turn our planet into another Venus, with a runaway Greenhouse effect - making it uninhabitable for future generations?

The production of this fuel also isn’t “clean” as it damages water, air and infrastructure. It is, in reality, no different from fouling our own nest to get a temporary solution to an energy problem –which is really spawned by too high a global population and too concentrated energy use.


Here are 5 other facts on fracking that ought to cause alarm and get the attention of our politicos who are too often hostage to special (read 'monied') interests:

1- Fracking a single well requires more than a million gallons of water. Here in COS, a number of wells have consumed over 3 million gallons, and many have come up empty. This insanity is occurring in an arid region in which we’ve had severe drought the past three years. The wastewater produced by fracking also contains high levels of radioactivity that wastewater treatment plants aren’t equipped to deal with.


2- Dangerous fracking chemicals are kept secret. In many states, the drilling companies won’t disclose the chemicals used in the fracking fluid, claiming the mixture is a “trade secret”. But independent analysts have identified 41 known chemicals most highly toxic carcinogens.


3- There exists a “Halliburton Loophole” with respect to most laws and oversight applied to fracking. This means the effluent generate by the frackers as well as their shale driller cohorts is exempt the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act So, E coli, is controlled in your water but it’s A-ok if carcinogenic benzene piles up.  Pardon me, but this selective regulation shows the paws of big, I mean BIG, lobby money!


4- The number of fracking wells is now growing at an exponential rate, in 28 states.

5- Turning on your tap (see image in previous links) liberates water accompanied by methane which can catch fire.

Fracking is unacceptable as an energy extraction process, since it imposes severe long term health costs to extract a temporary energy fix.


Q. In your April 13 blog on Bird Flu you mentioned the reported mortality rate of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza and that “studies of the levels of cytokines in humans infected by the H5N1 flu virus show elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha a protein associated with tissue destruction at sites of infection and increased production of other cytokines” What does this mean for getting sick? How sick can you get? - Delores, Bellingham, WA


A. Pretty damned sick! So sick in fact, that even if you don't die you will likely want to. The tumor necrosis factor-alpha a protein is implicated in severe inflammation and also potential degeneration of organs affected, including kidneys and lungs. Similar effects were reported during the Spanish Flu pandemic but of course the micro-biological, genetic marker tie- ins weren’t then available. However, doctors who performed the autopsies of some patients reported lungs turned to jelly as well as other organs. Basically, with the cytokine storm and tumor necrosis factor-alpha a protein, your whole body is sent into a death spiral of organ shutdown, shock,coma from immune system over-stimulation.

The closest I came to this was in December, 1968 when I got the Hong Kong Flu. I vomited for days, could barely breathe as I coughed up bloody mucus with each spasm, and felt like I had burst at least one lung. It was a god-awful experience I never want to repeat, and that flu barely killed 1 m around the world. The H5N1 will likely be 100 to 500 times more lethal and brutal.  I took more than 2 months to recuperate.


Q. I got a kick out of your brother Mike’s comments in your April 21 blog on the biblical exegesis test. He claimed that “the Jesuits themselves are the “storm troopers” of the RCC, and their purpose is propagation of the RC faith by any means possible? (i.e., SATAN!)”

What is he some kind of a crackpot? I couldn’t believe this guy couldn’t take the bible test or even answer one little question. And he claims to read the good book! It seems to me he’s got a lot of talk but little to show for it. I notice that since April 30 you have totally ignored him. Is this intentional? Alice K, Joliet, IL


It is. I think I mentioned in my blog on Colorado MJ issues and Mike's onerous errors (‘Reefer Madness Redux’, April 30) that since it's useless to try to argue or debate him (since he’s totally ignorant of the basic parameters that apply to the content of any worthwhile argument) . there'd be no further exchanges. At least not until he could pass a basic test in logic, for which I provided a link at the end of the blog.


Up to now, he’s not taken the test - which indicates to me he has no logic to demonstrate, nor is he the least interested in using logic in his arguments. This being the case, he's all about making noise and nothing more.

Therefore,  it’s a waste of time to engage him on any issue. He can believe whatever he wants to believe, but I don't have to give any heed to what I regard as noise.  If then he chooses to come to this blog (which he probably does to dredge for new material since he can’t think of any on his own) that’s his choice. As far as I am concerned his blog exists only as background noise in the blogosphere. It merits no more attention than noise, and certainly not being considered as any signal.  And if it is noise, then none of his harangues or "issues"  merit being dignified by any response.

Q. My husband of 44 just had his lab test come back and his PSA has tripled in 2 yrs. from 1.8 to 5.5.  I have pleaded with him to get a biopsy but he's terrified of sepsis as he read that this occurs in any cases with these biopsies. He also fears, after reading your own blog of July 19 last year (Notes on a prostate biopsy) having a young female physician assistant doing the procedure and not the actual urologist. He also fears the type of pain you described. Is there any way to get him to change? I fear he might have an aggressive cancer that might kill him!- Genevieve R.,  Los Angeles, CA

A. Your husband is actually quite right to be concerned, as the incidence of deaths, infections (including from sepsis, or massive blood poisoning via infection) have risen sharply, see e.g. http://www.naturalnews.com/033660_prostate_biopsy.html

As the article notes:

"....the research team found that having a prostate biopsy resulted in men being more than twice as likely to need hospitalization in the immediate post-procedure period. And once hospitalized, the men were at an increased risk of serious complications including bleeding and infection, flare-ups of underlying medical conditions (such as heart failure or breathing disorders) and death.


The researchers emphasized in their paper that their new data should remind doctors to carefully consider the risks and benefits of biopsy for individual patients before performing biopsies to look for cancer in the prostate"

See also: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/23/136501992/doctors-fret-over-rise-in-prostate-biopsy-infections


So what to do?  The best advice is to discuss the problem with one's personal physician, and this includes a cost -benefits assessment. In my case, the biopsy was done after PSA doubling, and then after the free PSA test, which also yielded a high probability of cancer. (The free PSA may actually be the most sensible next step. It measures the concentration of free prostate specific antigen, i.e. in the blood, relative to the bound form. The result comes back as a percentage. If it is 25% or higher then the chances are more than 90% the problem is enlargement of the prostate, not cancer. If the result is 5% or less, then the odds switch in the other direction: 77% that it's cancer and not benign hypertrophy.)


My biopsy, done after the free PSA,  then found an aggressive adenocarcinoma in two cores (Gleason socre 4+3) , and cancer present in five (lowest score Gleason 3+3). I was told by the urologist that watchful waiting could not be an option, so elected to have high dose radiotherapy. 

The infection risk from prostate biopsies can be contained with scrupulous cleanliness, and that means a thorough enema before hand. Also, the biopsy patient  takes a ciproflaxin  pill just before. Another alternative is to have the biopsy performed via the trans-perineal route (through the perineum) which carries vastly less risk of infection because the rectum wall isn't being penetrated by the tissue extracting needles. The problem is that this trans-perineal procedure is usually more costly, since in general the patient has to be put under (general anesthesia) and more staff are needed to be present.

Re: the physician assistant, I don't think the sex ought to matter - but whether the person is competent. A good way to find out is to become a temporary member of 'Angie's List' and then look up urologists and see what the reviews say.  The fact is that more and more physician assistants are now doing these procedures, and if they have the proper training - which most do - then the expertise should not be an issue.