Patriots' Pleas on the Fourth of July (Réclamations des patriotes sur le quart de juillet)

This patriot's plea: "Impeach Bush and Cheney now, and there will be peace in all lands!" (These flags have flown in my front yard for at least 9 months now.) Patriot Keith Olbermann's plea: "For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task. You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed. Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974. Resign."


(Traduction pour mon ami Hervé ... et parce que je puisse pratiquer mon français:

La réclamation de ce patriote: «Chargez Bush et Cheney avec un crime maintenant, et il y aura de paix dans toutes les terres!» (Ces drapeaux ont volé en ma cour pendant au moins 9 mois maintenant.) La réclamation de Keith Olbermann, patriote: «Pour vous, M. Bush, et pour M. Cheney, il y a des moins chargent. Vous devez simplement réaliser un seuil très bas en effet. Montrez juste cet iota de patriotisme que Richard Nixon a montré, le 9 août, 1974. Démissionnez.»)



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Why I Celebrate July 3

Fourteen years ago today, I married my sweetheart and best friend of one year, Ed. Two children and one grandchild later, he's still my sweetheart and best friend, even though I know all of his stories and even though he telegraphs his bad puns before he makes them.

His heart is always open, he'll talk with me for hours, he plays games with our sons, and he was the world's proudest stepfather when my daughter got married almost a year ago. He makes friends wherever he goes, tries to learn at least a little of the language of everyone he meets, cooks tasty dinners and Saturday-morning pancakes and waffles from scratch, keeps our home in good repair, makes me laugh, and keeps me honest. He's a fount of knowledge about all things biological, he makes wood furniture so beautiful that it sings, and he knows exactly when to turn his puppy-dog eyes on me full force. He smiles so big that you'd think his face would split, he talks throughout the few TV shows I enjoy watching, and he snuggles our sons to sleep.

He tells all of his friends about my professional triumphs and calls me "Xena, Warrior Princess." He always means well and never does anything half-heartedly. He works very hard and then finds the energy to work even more. He loves cats and dogs, and he stops for turtles crossing the road. He knows almost nothing about computers but offers advice about them anyway, and he plays tolerant neatnik to my slob. He's very tenderhearted, but the rocks and arrows thrown by the world never make him close down.

Ed, I love you, honey. Happy anniversary.



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C'est un petit monde

I was just cheered up tremendously by an e-mail that I got out of the blue from a Frenchman I've never met. He and his wife have friends on Long Island, and he was doing an Internet search for another Long Island city when he found my blog. He wrote to me at my blogging e-mail address:

I don't understand all your sentences but I see that you are "against the war" in Irak. Your "position" is very "courageous" in your country. (In France, we believe that all the American are for the War). I congratulate you for this. I am also a grandfather and I understand your feeling about this great thing to be a grandfather or a grandmother.

Excuse my "english" if words aren't correct.

Sincerelly H.C. from France

If my expressing my opinions on my blog helps just one person somewhere else in the world see Americans as individuals rather than as drones who all think alike about political issues, that's terrific! And hey—I got to brush up on my French in replying to H.C.



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Bragging on My Daughter

I'm very pleased to say that my daughter, Becky, has just found out that the research paper she missed for one class because she was busy giving birth to my first grandchild in mid-May, has been accepted and graded. She now officially has her MSW (master of social work) degree.

Her short maternity leave from the chain of drugstores where she worked her way through college ends in just about 3 weeks. She'll go back to work there, missing her daughter all the while, take the exam so that she can be a LMSW (licensed master social worker), and look for her first professional job as a social worker.

She says she's now done two things I never have: given birth naturally (all three of mine were C-sections) and earned an advanced degree (I have a mere bachelor's degree in journalism). She's right. And I'm quite impressed at the MSW. She's very much more laid back than I am, and my husband and I sometimes feared that she didn't have the drive to get that degree. (In the U.S., you can't get much of a job in her profession with just a bachelor's degree.) I now say publicly that I was wrong, and I'm happy about it. :-)



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Intergenerational Living

In our house: Left to right, in back, our son Neil, 12; D., Ed's mother, 72; A., Ed's father, 71; Ed, 45; me, 47. In front, Jared, 5. Not shown, our daughter, Becky (who took this shot today), 24; our son-in-law, Li, 27; our granddaughter, Anna, 6 weeks (who lives with her mommy and daddy in an apartment in another town); our oldest cat, Snuggles, 15; our younger cat, Emily, 7; A and D's dog, Sandy, 4. (In the enlargement, note Ed's "Impeach Bush and Cheney Now!" T-shirt. I was being politically neutral and wore my Copyediting-L T-shirt.)



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Tell Me Again: Why Did I Have Children?

This has been only the first full week of summer vacation for my sons, and it's been a long one. They've been wild monkeys all day, every day.

Next year, I don't know how we'll do it, but we'll find the money to send both of them off to separate summer day camps. Otherwise, I'll be completely bald because I'll have pulled all of my hair out.



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Latest Granddaughter Photo

My granddaughter, Ana, age 6 weeks: beautiful, soft, ultrasnuggly. Happiness is touching baby skin.



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Cheney, the Puppeteer

I can't understand why anybody is surprised to find out that Dick Cheney is the puppeteer of the Bush administration.

I saw early on what he was doing. The first sign was the closed-door meetings with representatives of Big Oil, not long after the first Bushco inauguration in 2001. I was driving around town, running errands, on the morning that I heard a radio news report about the meetings. I felt a deep, painful sense of impending doom.

If I could see this, why couldn't the rest of the country? I'm no political science expert, though I am a news junkie. I'd always liked to think of Americans as being relatively intelligent. I guess I was wrong. And that's sad.



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Bright White Publishing

U.S. book publishing professionals were pretty much all white and mostly female when I joined the industry in the mid-1980s.

Almost 25 years later, that hasn't changed much. I know only one black woman in publishing; she's in middle management. And I know only two Latinas; both are production editors.

Oh, it's great that there are so many women in power in publishing. But the overall homogeneity of the industry doesn't provide much variety of professional backgrounds, life experiences, or points of view. Publishing is already a small, incestuously interconnected industry; it needs all the variety it can get.

Freelancer writer and book promoter Bella Stander noticed, at Book Expo America earlier this month, that the ranks of authors are pretty pale too. But Bella's not the only one who's noticed: see this, this, and this.

How skewed are the worldviews presented in American books if most of the authors who get published and most of the publishing professionals who work on those books are white and if authors of color who do get published see their books placed in ethnic sections in bookstores? And how do we make it possible for more writers of color to be published by the big publishers? How do we make mainstream book publishing more accessible and desirable as a career to people of color?



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My Preteen Son Notices Girls

Oh my! I wasn't ready for this, I suppose because Neil, now 12½, has never had any clue what to make of girls, other than playmates.

Since kindergarten, Neil's played at M's house and she's played here. Now, M., though very sweet, is not a girly girl. But within the last year, she's been showing up here freshly showered and smelling faintly of floral cologne—and sometimes even wearing barely colored lip gloss. I commented on her nice scent to Neil, after she'd left one day, and he said that he hadn't even noticed it.

Neil and his little brother are now out of school for the summer, so about an hour ago he decided to call M., who, like him, just finished seventh grade, and invite her over. He got off the phone quickly and told me, his face wearing his it's-no-big-deal look that barely hid his smile, "M's coming over in a few minutes." She lives a couple of blocks away.

Next thing I know, I smell my husband's musky cologne. Neil had gone into the bathroom to spiff up. He didn't think of combing his hair—I had to mention that to him, because it was sticking out in all directions, and that wasn't on purpose either. But then he reached up into the medicine cabinet, found one of his dad's favorite colognes, and spritzed himself with it. Manly-smelling preteen.

I didn't have long to think about the fact that Neil is growing up.

In his rush to be ready by the time M. was at our front door, Neil left his father's cologne bottle out on the bathroom counter, uncapped. A few minutes later, he and M. went into the backyard to hang out. Suddenly, I started coughing uncontrollably. Apparently, 5-year-old Jared had decided he wanted to imitate his brother and wear cologne ... but sprayed all over his body instead of one gentle spritz.

Then I tried to convince Jared that he should play in the front yard or indoors while M. was over, to give her and Neil some space, rather than running out into the backyard to play around them. After all of that, Neil looks in through the back-door window, sees Jared helping me out with something but watching him and M., and invites Jared to come out and play.

I guess Neil hasn't grown up that much yet.



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Michael Moore's Sicko: U.S. Versus Other Health Care Systems

I have a heavy workload and am approaching a deadline right now, so I haven't had time to delve into most of the commentary on Michael Moore's new film, Sicko, about the broken U.S. health care system. It was pirated and posted on You Tube for a short while before behing pulled. It's scheduled to officially open on June 29.

But one blogger whose opinions and writing I respect got to see it before it was removed from You Tube. I think she's done a great analysis of it and the U.S. system, and she did some digging on her own to be able to compare the U.S. health care system to other major systems around the world. Go read her post—it's long. And come back here and tell me what you think.



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Headline News Chez EditorMom

Breaking news today at EditorMom's:

Doc Says Triglycerides Too High, Take More Meds, Get Off Butt and Move

Husband Calls at Lunch, Says, "I Told You So"

Wife Tries to Reach Through Phone and Clock Husband on Balding Head

Middle Son Whines, "There's Nothing Fun to Do-o-o-o-o!"

Youngest Son Arriving Home on School Bus Shortly; Experts Predict He'll Pick Fight with Big Brother

Experts Proven Right

EditorMom Heroically Transmutes Manuscript's Medical Korean English to Medical English

Husband Waltzes in Front Door with Restaurant Lasagna

EditorMom Vows to Change Family's Eating Habits

Family Chows Down While Relaxing with Stupid TV

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8 Random Facts

I've been tagged for memes before but have ducked participating. This time, Songbird tagged me. I don't dare duck; she's a minister, and You Know Who is on her side!

Here are 8 random facts about me:

1. I had straight, thin hair most of my life. When it had gone mostly gray, though, it changed texture and became wavy! (You can't really be sure by looking at my photo in the sidebar at the right, but I used to have brown hair.)



2. As a child, I could never get enough of The Secret Garden. I started reading it in elementary school. By the time I left junior high school (what's now called middle school), I must have checked out the school library's copy hundreds of times. I wanted Mary Lennox's life.



3. I have telephonophobia. This means I hate talking on the telephone. If you want to gab with me, e-mail me.



4. That's due to my being an introvert. Oh yeah, I'll yak forever by e-mail or on this blog, but going to parties and hanging out with friends, though enjoyable in small doses, wear me out mentally and emotionally. I need plenty of quiet time to be centered.



5. I am an alto. I have a good voice, but I'd need voice lessons to loosen up enough to do folk music well, which is one of my fantasies. I do best with liturgical pieces. Of course, now that I'm in this period of not attending church, I'm not getting much singing practice in.



6. I took piano lessons for years, from about third grade through my senior year in high school. I loved it, playing classical music, contemporary soft rock, and church hymns. I occasionally filled in for the church pianist, who was my piano teacher. While I was in college, I'd go to a local nursing home and play a few hymns on the ancient piano for residents who gathered there. I'll always remember the delight on their faces every time I walked into the room. It was like having lots of grandparents.



7. I am a secret fan of trashy bodice-rippers. I haven't had time to read any in a few years, so I'm overdue for a binge.



8. I've taken quite a trip through the various flavors of Christianity, becoming more liberal with each change: I grew up a Southern Baptist in Texas, which took me years and lots of therapy to recover from. (My childhood itself took years and lots of therapy to recover from.) I did a brief stint as a Roman Catholic during my first marriage, which neither First Husband nor I sought to have annulled by the Catholic church, so technically, we're living in sin because we've long since been married to new partners. I've been part of the Presbyterian Church USA since 1995; I'm an ordained church elder. I stopped attending church about 18 months ago, after the very liberal pastor (who got me all excited about actively living my faith) left my church for another church. Her absence revealed to me just how liberal that particular church was not, and I realized I could not be who I am supposed to be in that place. I tell myself I'm probably a good candidate for membership in the United Church of Christ, which is pretty much the most liberal Christian denomination around, but I'm rather leery of diving into another church wholeheartedly again.

And now, I tag the Peaceable Imperatrix, Karoli, Katie Allison Granju, Erin, and Redneck Mother. If I haven't named you and you'd like to play along, please provide your 8 facts as a comment on this post.



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My Son, the Pacifist

This week my seventh-grader had me write this letter to his homeroom teacher:

Dear Ms. D,

Neil tells me that one of the assignments coming up in class involves writing a letter to a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq. Neil is a pacifist and strongly believes that writing letters to soldiers would imply that he supports the war in Iraq, which he does not. I am writing you to say that I support Neil’s beliefs and that I respectfully request that he be allowed to complete a different assignment in lieu of this one.

I'm so proud of him.



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Bush Drinking Again?

I've seen the tabloids' headlines that alcoholic George Bush, long supposedly sober, is drinking again and that Laura is furious at him because of it. Who believes the tabloids, though?

But it's in the news today that Bush missed some meetings at the G8 summit because of a stomach ailment of some kind. And AMERICAblog reports (and the Daily Mail has photos showing) that Bush was drinking near beer at a dinner the previous night with summit attendees. Hmmm. Could that have upset the poor schlub's tummy? Near beer isn't completely alcohol-free, you know. It just has a lot less alcohol than the regular stuff. The Times of London wryly mentions his beverage choice (see page 2 of the article):

Yesterday afternoon Mr Bush was photographed sipping something that resembled beer, while sitting around a picnic table in a small group with Ms Merkel, but as the President has not drunk alcohol for more than 20 years it is unlikely that it was anything stronger than a fizzy drink.

If Bush, already the worst U.S. president in history, has fallen off the wagon or is heading that way, we citizens need to know about it—fast. It's long seemed as if we've had an alcoholic at the wheel of our nation. If we really do have one, the world is in serious danger and has the right to know it.



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So Much Reading, So Little Time

I'd occasionally wondered why, in the last few years, I've come to hardly ever read a novel or book just for fun.

Maybe it had something to do with my being paid to read, as a self-employed copyeditor, I thought. You know—after reading all day long at work, who feels like spare-time reading? Or maybe it had something to do with my having school-age children at home. They take up a lot of my time.

But then today, on one of the editorial e-mail lists that I subscribe to, we began discussing what materials we pay subscriptions for and what materials we read for free, and why. Here's my list.

Paid subscriptions:

• ADDitude—magazine about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); print subscription; because I live in the House of ADHD

• Attitude!—magazine about ADHD, produced by CHADD; print subscription; because I live in the House of ADHD

• Copy Editor—newsletter; print subscription; because I'm an editor

• Lancet—medical journal; online subscription only; because I'm a medical editor

• Mothering—magazine; print subscription; because I'm a parent; dropped this only within last year or so

• New York Times—newspaper; online subscription only; for the news and features

• Newsweek—weekly news magazine; print subscription since I was in college in the late '70s; for news analysis

• Science Editor—professional journal, produced by the Council of Science Editors; print subscription; because I'm a medical editor and a member of the CSE

Free subscriptions/reading addictions:

• 69 blogs—I'm a fast skimmer; because they're funny, personal, newsy, political, or focus on issues I'm interested in

• MSNBC—news organization; online only; for the news

• PublishersLunch—daily e-mail newsletter; because I'm an editor

• PW Daily (Publishers Weekly's daily e-mail newsletter; because I'm an editor

No wonder I never read novels anymore! I don't have time to because I read too much!

What do you read?



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Victory! Scientific Community Protests End Sponsorship of Weapons Fairs!

I'd been fervently hoping for this, but I'd been afraid I'd never see it. Reed Exhibitions, sister company to mega medical publisher Elsevier, announced today that it will stop hosting international weapons fairs:

Reed Elsevier to exit the defence exhibitions sector
01 June 2007

Reed Elsevier announced today that it is to exit the defence exhibitions sector. This portfolio of five shows is part of Reed Elsevier's global Business division and represents around 0.5% of group annual turnover.

Sir Crispin Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Reed Elsevier, said:

"Our defence shows are quality businesses which have performed well in recent years. Nonetheless, it has become increasingly clear that growing numbers of important customers and authors have very real concerns about our involvement in the defence exhibitions business.

"We have listened closely to these concerns and this has led us to conclude that the defence shows are no longer compatible with Reed Elsevier's position as a leading publisher of scientific, medical, legal and business content."

Reed Elsevier intends to complete its withdrawal during the second half of 2007, subject to honouring its obligations to partners, customers and other key stakeholders.

As a freelance medical copyeditor and a pacifist, I am thrilled to be able to end my boycott of all Elsevier journals. I am sure that other publishing professionals and scientists will happily end their boycott too.

We spoke out, and the giant listened.


Updated 9:05 a.m.: Here is some background, provided by Reed Elsevier, on Reed Elsevier and the weapons fairs that its Reed Exhibitions division has hosted:

Reed Elsevier is a world leading publisher and information provider. It is owned equally by its two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The parent companies are listed on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges, under the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL. In 2006, Reed Elsevier made adjusted profit before taxation of £1,052 million on turnover of £5,398 million. The group employs 37,000 people, including approximately 20,000 in North America. Operating in the scientific, legal, educational and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high value and flexible information solutions to professional end users, with increasing emphasis on internet delivery.

Reed Exhibitions is the world's leading events organiser. In 2006, Reed brought together over six million industry professionals from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today, Reed events are held in 34 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and organised by 37 fully staffed offices. As part of Reed Elsevier's Business division, Reed Exhibitions organises a wide range of events, including exhibitions, conferences, congresses and meetings. Its portfolio of over 460 events serves 52 industry sectors.

Within the aerospace and defence portfolio of its Reed Exhibitions division this announcement will affect the following shows: DSEi, IDEX, ITEC, LAAD and TADTE.

DSEi (Defence Systems and Equipment International) is held every two years in London and is the world's fastest growing defence exhibition

IDEX is held every two years in Abu Dhabi and is the Middle East's premier defence exhibition and conference

ITEC is a training and simulation exhibition held every year in different European cities

LAAD (Latin American Aero and Defence) is held every two years in Rio de Janeiro

TADTE (Taipei Aerospace & Defence Technology Exhibition) is held every two years in Taiwan

Updated 9:19 a.m.: The Lancet, an Elsevier journal that has been in the forefront of the uproar over Reed Exhibitions' involvement in weapons fairs, has written an editorial about Reed Exhibitions' change of heart.



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Shameless Grandmotherly Photo-Mongering

If you just can't get enough of looking at photos of my adorable new granddaughter, Ana, go here for more.








Becky daughter Li Ana birth grandmother EditorMom

My Cutie

My granddaughter, Ana, two weeks old yesterday, did me the honor of chewing my index finger. That tiny little mouth has major suction power! The best part was that after her mother breastfed her, she slept on Grandma's chest, upright like a little kangaroo baby, for about an hour. She was so warm and snuggly that I almost fell asleep too. Those huge eyes! That full head of hair! Must ... hold ... baby ... indefinitely!



Ana granddaughter grandmother EditorMom

Honoring the Fallen

It is Memorial Day, when we honor the fallen. These are some of the fallen 70,000 or so whom I honor, Iraqi civilians wounded and shot and killed by soldiers in the illegal Iraq war, leaving behind widows and widowers and orphans and childless parents. (Photos courtesy of Gorilla's Guides.)



Iraqi woman mourning her killed son



Two Iraqi children killed when an American soldier opened fire on the car they were in



Iraqi boy at a morgue, holding the feet of his dead father



Wounded Iraqi child



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Kate, I've Lit a Candle for You

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My Mother Has Died

I was having trouble sleeping, so I got out of bed and turned on the computer to read news and e-mails. Just now, a little before 1 a.m., I got an e-mail from my youngest ex-brother-in-law, addressed to a slew of family and ex-family members. Kate, my first husband's mother and the woman who felt much more like a real mother to me than my biological mother ever did, died last night. He wrote:

I'm writing to let you know that my mom passed away tonight at 8:20 p.m. surrounded by family. While we were all saddened by our personal loss, we also share a profound sense of joy for the life she lived and draw comfort from knowing she can finally rest. As I contemplate the last month I spent by her side, I am moved to share two things with you about my mom.

Going through her meticulous records, I found that every detail of the end of her life was accounted for. She communicated both in person and in writing her living will, settlement of her belongings, and funeral arrangements and even included a poem tucked in an envelope with her records that was intended to bring us comfort as we faced the reality of life without her. At the time she was preparing us practically and emotionally for her death, it might have felt morbid, but now I can see it for the incredibly loving act that it was. A mother to the end—she never stopped taking care of us.

I was also struck by the conversations I had with people who called to express their concern and relay their love for my mom. I won’t presume to say the experience gave me insight into the grand meaning of life, but I feel I developed a keen insight into the meaning of my mom’s life. She had a tremendous capacity to love and be loved. When she loved you, she always loved you, and apparently once you loved Kate, you never stopped loving her. Even as she challenged people and held them to task for their actions, she gave her heart unconditionally. Friends from everywhere she lived called and wrote. Her friends from first grade are still her friends, her gang of girlfriends from grade school are still her gang, people she considered family were always family to my mom, and 59 years later, the boy she fell in love with when she was 14 was still holding her hand after 55 years of marriage and the greatest love story I have ever known.

Kate, I know you're happy wherever you are now. You didn't know how to be unhappy. I'm sure you know that all of us here will miss you terribly, but I can't help picturing you laughing. And I can feel your soft hug and your kiss on my cheek. I love you so much. Thank you for being the mother of my heart.


Kate mother-in-law mother polycystic kidney disease death love EditorMom

Traitorous Democrats

Damn spineless Dems aren't doing what we voters told them to—end the war in Iraq. I can at least take comfort that my representative, Tim Bishop (D–NY), and one of my senators, Hilary Clinton (D–NY), voted against the supplemental bill that gives Bush $95 billion more for the war and cravenly sets no timetable for getting the troops out of Iraq. Senate records note Sen. Chuck Schumer (D–NY) as "not voting." I don't know if that means he abstained or wasn't there to vote. I'd faxed all three about voting no yesterday. How did your representative—or nonrepresentative, as the case may be—vote? How did your senators—or obscenators—vote?

Updated at 10:18 p.m.




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Hey, Cheney Family: Parenting Is Always Political

Poor little Samuel David Cheney. His famous grandfather doesn't really love him. And even his own mother won't fight for his best interests.

Samuel was born to Dick and Lynne Cheney's lesbian daughter Mary Cheney and her partner Heather Poe yesterday. The senior Cheneys happily posed with Samuel, but Grandpa, who's in a great position to champion gay rights, won't do it.

That will leave Samuel with only one legal parent. Virginia, where Mary and Heather live, doesn't allow the same-sex partner of a parent to adopt that parent's child. It also doesn't allow same-sex marriages or even civil unions.

Will Samuel's grandfather at least say publicly how unfair this is? I doubt it.

Will Mary speak up? Last winter, she said, "This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child." Okay, Mary, I understand not wanting to use your baby as a prop. But don't your instincts as a mother urge you to do everything possible to protect your child, such as ensuring that he has two parents? What if something happens to you? Would you want Samuel to be taken away from his other mother? Wouldn't you want Heather to have the legal right to raise him?

C'mon, Dick and Mary. Parenting is always political, whether you like it or not. Do the right thing. Advocate for same-sex marriage.



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Dick Cheney EditorMom

Help Iraqi Children, Victims of a Senseless War

UNICEF is calling for emergency financial aid for Iraqi children. Just thinking of all of the orphaned, displaced, hungry, lonely, wounded, and ill children there makes me sad.

UNICEF's report on the issue says, in part:

Since 2003, nearly 15 per cent of Iraq's total population have fled their homes—50 per cent of them children. Out of an estimated 4 million displaced Iraqis, approximately 1.9 million have sought refuge inside Iraq (around 700,000 in 2006 alone) and 2.2 million have crossed the border into neighbouring countries according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Amongst those fleeing are doctors, nurses and teachers—a devastating brain-drain leaving many Iraqi schoolchildren without access to quality education and basic health care. More than 750,000 Iraqis have sought safety in Jordan and over 1.25 million in Syria where, despite support from government and local communities, they now face an uncertain future. Iraq's children, already casualties of a quarter of a century of conflict and deprivation, are being caught up in a rapidly worsening humanitarian tragedy.

Despite a strong response from the international community, the needs of Iraq's vulnerable young citizens are quickly outstripping available help. Regional resources to cope with the influx are being stretched to the limit. Inside Iraq and abroad, families are spending the last of their life savings to rent homes and to purchase basic supplies for survival. Many people are now reaching the very limit of their coping strategies. The need to act is urgent.

UNICEF is therefore requesting US$ 41,750,000 to step up its humanitarian relief effort for vulnerable Iraqi children and women in Iraq, Jordan and Syria over the next six months. ...

To make a donation specifically to help Iraqi children, go here.



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Educating Dr. Joyce Brothers

Most mental-health professionals know better than to shoot off their mouth on disabilities with which they're unfamiliar without doing a little research first. But psychologist and syndicated columnist Dr. Joyce Brothers apparently doesn't. This unprofessional material appeared in the April 17 edition of her syndicated advice column, run by such newspapers as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Dear Dr. Brothers: I heard an author talking on the radio about so-called adult ADD [actually called AD/HD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder]. He gave a list of symptoms that includes such stuff as being unable to concentrate, forgetting things, having moments of clarity mixed with fogginess, etc. I listened to all the symptoms, but they confused me more than ever. It could describe me—but on the other hand, I think it could describe just about anyone who has a busy life, not enough time and a fair amount of stress. Are we making everything into a disorder or condition, or should I go for testing and see if I have a problem? —D.D.

Dear D.D.: Adult attention-deficit disorder is one of those phenomena that are made for people who consider themselves to be a bit of a hypochondriac. It's not going to kill you, but the symptoms are so vague and widespread that just about anyone could decide that he or she is suffering from its effects. And since there is no real definitive test to tell you whether you have it or not, it can provide hours of speculation and worry.

When we were young, this was a condition that hadn't been defined. Instead, kids like this were called derogatory names in school—lazy, unfocused, distractible, hyper, forgetful, immature and so forth. But a parent with the same faults? Usually the parents "grew up," and whether they were problem kids in school or not, most everyone managed to further their education and get some kind of a job and settle down. They were functioning OK until today, when the medical profession told them otherwise and gave them a label. What if you do have adult ADD? Will you take medication? Or will you just decide to muddle through? You can consult your doctor, or just say the heck with it and keep muddling through. It's your choice.

I don't think that the good doctor has yet joined the twenty-first century; she is apparently still in the age when trepanation was done to release the evil spirits that mental disorders were thought to be. My husband and I have just fired off a letter to her expressing our dismay and disbelief at her mischaracterization of AD/HD and the harm that she may have done:

As members of a family with three generations with diagnosed AD/HD treated with medication and therapy, we are appalled at the unprofessional advice about adult AD/HD in your column of April 17, 2007, which we found online. (We are members of CHADD, Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. We were alerted only recently to that particular column by E. Clarke Ross, CHADD’s CEO.)

We expected much better from you, a long-respected psychologist. You wrote that adult AD/HD is "one of those phenomena that are made for people who consider themselves to be a bit of a hypochondriac" and that adults should just "muddle through."

Hypochondriac? We wish that you could have spent a week with our family and observed our 12-year-old son’s struggles in school and socially; 45-year-old Edward’s struggles on the job, in our marriage, and as a parent; and the interpersonal struggles experienced in many life arenas by Edward’s father A.K., 71, all caused by their AD/HD before they began treatment for it. We ask that you read our story, written by Katharine and posted on her blog here. Then tell us, face-to-face, that we are all hypochondriacs. Tell us that we imagined the chaos, the hurt feelings and misunderstandings, the communication difficulties that we experienced daily before the guys began treatment. Even with treatment, there are still difficulties in these areas. Tell us that Edward and A.K. should just have “grown up” and “settled down,” that AD/HD is not a lifelong disability. Not that there haven’t been good days in our home over the years, but we didn’t imagine the bad ones. Therapy and medications have made huge changes for the better in all three guys’ lives, and thus in our family life.

Please, before you do more damage to the psyches of countless people with AD/HD, learn the facts. Read the latest research; CHADD can help you get started with that. Even Katharine, not a physician or mental health professional but a medical copyeditor, can provide you with plenty of online reading material on the subject. Out of self-defense from living in the "House of AD/HD," she’s amassed a great many links.

Want to help educate Dr. Brothers? Please write her:

MMMMMDr. Jocelyn Brothers
MMMMMKing Features Syndicate
MMMMM888 Seventh Ave.
MMMMMNew York, NY 10019


Read this related post.



ADHD ADD Dr. Joyce Brothers EditorMom

Your Health: For Sale to Big Pharma by the AMA

The American Medical Association (AMA) is selling you out by manipulating your physicians—with the docs' permission.

Yeah, yeah, the AMA has the high-and-mighty mission of promoting the "art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health," which it strives to accomplish through one of its core values of "integrity and ethical behavior." But it's still selling you out.

According to a story in today's Washington Post, the AMA makes "millions of dollars each year by helping data-mining companies link prescribing data to individual physicians. It does so by licensing access to the AMA Physician Masterfile, a database containing names, birth dates, educational background, specialties and addresses for more than 800,000 doctors."

The AMA says that info is entered into the masterfile when a doc enters any medical school accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education: the doc's name, name of medical school attended, year of graduation, sex, birthplace, and birthdate, and details on residency training, state licensure, board certification(s), geographic location and address, type of practice, present employment, and practice specialty. "Physician records are never removed from the AMA Physician Masterfile, even in the case of a physician's death. The AMA maintains information on more than 130,000 deceased physicians. These data are shared with other organizations and agencies who credential physicians and are used to identify individuals who attempt to fraudulently assume the credentials of deceased physicians."

Sounds fine and dandy; the AMA is protecting us consumers against fake physicians. But the AMA turns around and does this: After any giant pharmaceutical pays enough bucks to the AMA, it can search the masterfile to find which docs it wants to target.

Some AMA members complained about this practice, says the Post story, so last year the AMA began allowing physicians to opt out and "shield their individual prescribing information from salespeople, although drug companies can still get it. So far, 7,476 doctors have opted out, AMA officials said.

" 'That gives the physician the choice,' said Jeremy A. Lazarus, a Denver psychiatrist and high-ranking AMA official.

"Some critics, however, contend that the AMA's opt-out is not well publicized or tough enough, noting that doctors must renew it every three years."

Want to hear something ridiculous? The Post story says:

Data-mining companies and the pharmaceutical industry argue that the practice has value far beyond the corporate bottom line. The information helps companies, federal health agencies and others educate physicians about drugs, track whether prescribing habits change in response to continuing medical education programs, and promote higher-quality care, they say. They stress that patient names are encrypted early in the process and cannot be accessed, even by the data-mining companies.

Do you believe that part about the inaccessibility of patients' names? I sure don't, knowing, as I do, about the federal database that monitors who gets what prescription drugs that are considered controlled substances (such as meds for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [AD/HD]).

Not all physicians like this sort of spying:

"We don't like the practice, and we want it to stop," said Jean Silver-Isenstadt, executive director of the National Physicians Alliance, a two-year-old group with 10,000 members, most of them young doctors in training. ... "We think it's a contaminant to the doctor–patient relationship, and it's driving up costs."

According to the NPA's web site, the organization is supporting anti–data-mining bills in various state legislatures. That's great, but this fight needs to get nationwide recognition. You need to get involved by writing your senators and representatives, at both the state level and the national level. Need more proof that this is a huge underground problem that leaves you with drugs you might not need, at a higher cost than they otherwise would be?

An editorial* in the May 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine reports that Big Pharma spends more than $23 billion each year marketing to physicians and that the industry now has 1 sales rep for every 5 physicians working in offices. Think these docs are all pure and uninfluenced by all those sales reps with all that money? Bwahahaha! They're wined and dined and given gifts and drug samples.

So, once the pharmaceuticals have a batch of docs to look at more closely, where do they get info on what drugs the docs provide? Says the editorial:

Currently, retail pharmacies sell de-identified patient prescription records with limited physician identifiers to data intermediaries known as health information organizations (HIOs). [Using the AMA's masterfile], HIOs can link individual physicians to prescription records by using identifiers common to the pharmacy databases and the AMA database, such as a physician's U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and medical license numbers. They also can track a physician's demographic and practice characteristics. The HIOs build prescribing profiles on the basis of these linked databases and sell them to pharmaceutical companies, which use the profiles to identify sales targets and plan detailing visits.

All during the courting of physicians, pharmaceutical sales reps tell the docs that their patients really need the giant's meds instead of the meds they've been prescribing. They help change the docs' prescribing habits in the particular pharmaceutical's favor (favor here = $$$$), which may not necessarily be in your favor (favor here = health).

Madder than hell yet? Then start writing letters to your legislators and governor right now!


Updated at 1:10 p.m.: Think that your docs know when to listen to pharma sales reps and when to blow them off? Most don't, according to this Associated Press story:

Four out of five doctors surveyed said they let drug and device makers buy them food and drinks despite recent efforts to tighten ethics rules and avoid conflicts of interest.

The national survey also found that family doctors were more likely to meet with industry sales representatives, and that cardiologists were more likely to pocket fees than other specialists. ...

The survey, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, was done by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Yale University and the University of Melbourne in Australia. ...

_________________________
*Grande D: Prescriber profiling: time to call it quits. Annals of Internal Medicine 2007;146(10):751–752.



AMA selling out physicians health care prescription drugs Big Pharma federal government database ADHD controlled substances patient rights EditorMom

Courage to Tell the Truth

Bravo, Jimmy Carter! You were exactly right, sir, in saying that "as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, [the] administration [of George W. Bush] has been the worst in history." You said that under Bush, there has been an "overt reversal of America’s basic values" as expressed by previous administrations, including that of his own father, former President George H.W. Bush.

You were courageous in speaking the truth, something many Americans have become afraid to do under this administration. Why, then, once you had spoken it, did you back off? You agreed with NBC's Meredith Vieira that your statements were careless or reckless. And now the White House says you are "increasingly irrelevant."

Don't do this, Mr. Carter. I admire you for many reasons, not the least of which are your honesty, courage, and moral fiber. Please stand up for the truth, stand up for what you said about Bush. If you do not, not many others will.

The United States needs truth like a bitter medicine that will stop the cancer of lies. Please continue to speak it ... and to own it.



Bush worst president lies Jimmy Carter truth EditorMom