Health and Sanity category archive
The Privatization Scam 0
In a letter to the editor of the Newark Star-Ledger, a doctor explains how “Medicare Acvantage” plans work to the advantage of insurance companies, but not to that of anyone else.
Aside:
Being of a certain age, we have been tormented by a torrent of spam phone calls during this “Medicare Open Enrollment” period. And all the callers seem to read from the same script.
I blush to say that I an no longer able to respond to them with courtesy.
Vaccine Nation 0
There’s a little less disinformation crowding the Disinformation Superhighway today.
“But It’s the Only Possible Explanation” 0
At the Seattle Times, Nancy Chappelle tells of the toll that conspiracy theories about COVID-19 have taken on her friendships.
It is a compelling and distressing read.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
David and a caller discuss whether Monkey Pox will follow the same arc as AIDS, which, as you may recall if you are old like me, was originally referred to as “gay-related immune deficiency” and was therefore considered by some not to be an illness, but to be “just deserts.” (Warning: Short promo at the end.)
Vaccine Nation 0
Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as poetic justice.
“Facts Are What People Think” 0
Hal MacDonald, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, explores why persons refuse to accept proven facts. He opens his article with a conversation he overheard at the barbershop:
When the man to whom he was speaking politely but skeptically asked where he had stumbled upon that particular explanation, the proponent of the venom theory of COVID was completely unfazed. “It’s a scientific fact,” he said. “A well-known chiropractor has done a ton of research on the subject.”
Follow the link for his thoughts about why some persons are susceptible to such claptrap and what can be done about it.
Vaccine Nation 0
At the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Drake Bentley runs the numbers.
Vaccine Nation 0
Former Disney employees are suing Disney over its mask mandates.
Here’s what one of them is reported to have said in applying for an exemption (emphasis added) from the mask requirement:
Aside:
Obviously, this person lives in a cave and walks everywhere and doesn’t use air conditioning or a cell phone or go to a doctor when sick. All those involve that thing that has never gotten him anywhere.
Follow the link for more stupid.
The Medicine Show 0
At The American Scholar, Colin Dickey reports on the fantastically lucrative patent medicine industry. It is a fascinating read. Here’s bit:
The dietary supplement industry, of which Moon Juice is just one small portion, sells (according to one estimate) some $35 billion in products per year to consumers in the United States alone. Brands with names like Nature’s Bounty and Purity Products advertise everything from squid oil to chromium to the monkey head mushroom, and all of it is made possible by those two sentences—repeated over and over again, printed on millions of labels in tiny fonts, ritually intoned until their meaning has been obliterated.
Barnum was wrong.
There’s more than one born every minute.
(Spellink erorrs correxted.)
A Tune for the Times 0
Mangy comments at the Youtube page:
America leads the world in one category in which no one else would desire that leadership, mass shootings. By making weapons of war available to damn near everyone, we provide significant numbers of unstable folks with the ability to kill large numbers of people with stunning efficiency, all to prop up gun manufacturers’ profits, which is shared through lobbyists with politicians for their complicity in the sales scheme.
Elsewhere, Michael in Norfolk observes that we are becoming a nation of hostages.
Courting Disaster 0
Dr. Kenneth Krell is concerned that the current Supreme Court, packed with Trumpettes by Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell, poses a clear and present danger to physical health of the populace.
Vaccine Nation 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Dr. Dustin Ballard tells the story of a friend of his, whom he calls “Alice,” who got sucked into the cultish anti-vaxx world. In the process, he explores what attracts persons to and keeps them loyal to cults that feed on and ratify misinformation. Here’s a bit:
I think his article casts some light on those among us who would deny the evidence of things seen.