Various Thoughts and Comments

While it has been some time since I have written anything in the “Patch”, I had not suddenly moved to Mars or even California! Simply had some computer issues and moved within Farmington Hills. Completed the move successfully and bought a new computer so am back to normal – whatever that is.

During that time, the world has moved ahead with little change I fear, certainly if you listen to the local news broadcasts you would believe that. An article in Forbes Magazine several years ago recommended that people not listen to the local news because it is almost all bad news! Times changed very little. Watching the 10:00 or 11:00 news one can not but get the impression the entire world is going to hell in a hand basket. It hopefully is not, but the old axiom “dog bites man” is not news “man bites dog” is still holds true, and in today's world of instant and 24 hour news, it is true in the extreme.

The horrendous bombing in Boston this week certainly brings the reality that, try as we may, not every threat can be stopped. Would that they could, but assuming a single perpetrator or even two, the difficulty of “seeing” the threat in advance is almost impossible. The best, aside from a bit of luck, would be the preparedness of our first responders and emergency care facilities. Virtually every major metropolitan area has extensive response plans and Boston can certainly be proud of how they handled the emergency – as they can be of the heroic acts of so many people in helping others. So even as we grieve for the killed and injured, we can find something to applaud in the way people – professional responders and simply good people – did the right thing. Certainly the situation that is occurring as I write this gives even more reason to applaud the quick reaction and ability of the various police and federal agencies and National Guard that have been brought to bear in finding the two suspects (as I write one suspect was killed and the other is still being pursued by over 9,000 officers - by the time you read this, one can expect the second suspect to be captured.)

This week we saw the US Senate take up some semblance of a gun control bill. Was it perfect? From my point of view “no” - it didn't go far enough and while it would have handled some issues of background checks it left many still open. Other areas, like a ban on assault weapons or limitation on the number of rounds in a magazine were totally absent. Was it a good bill? It matters not since the NRA with its hands around the throat of Congress once more forced the will of the arms and munitions manufacturers on the country even as 90% of the people wanted the bill passed. The sad part is that most supporters of the NRA positions really do believe the organization represents them. Sadly it is the country that is the loser on this on this one.

Speaking of contentious issues, there is talk of beginning to consider a comprehensive immigration bill based on a bi-partisan committee's recommendation. There seems no debate on the need for a bill, but getting from point a to point b could make gun control seem like a prelim bout on the old Friday Night Fights (if you remember them you are as old as me! Trivia question, who was the sponsor of the TV bouts?). It will be interesting to watch the special interests flex their muscles to protect their fiefdoms regardless of what is best for the country. We have already seen Facebook, of all organizations, flexing some political muscle to get an exemption from the limitations on bringing in foreign personnel under special visas.

Still talking about Congressional events, Rep. Gary Peters has become a co-sponsor of the Cancer Drug Parity Act that had been introduced by Rep. Higgins. The issue is the way oral and hospital administered or IV administered chemotherapy is handled by insurance companies. Currently oral chemo is often less favorably treated. Orally administered treatments are unquestionably easier on the patient and less costly to administer since it is taken directly by the patient. Rep. Higgins has also introduced a Palliative Care Act which would require that, in the cases of major illness such as cancer, a combined and coordinated plan of action (direct medical and quality of life care) be utilized. Finally, at the Federal level – we all recognize the need for proper budget and deb reduction but being penny-wise and pound-foolish is not the way. Cutting funding for on-going NIH research for example makes absolutely no sense. The time that it takes for a cancer treatment to go from initial so-called pure research to a viable approved treatment can be extremely lengthy and cutting funding across the board can mean that research well down the road could lose funding, not only meaning a loss of a potential treatment but meaning the effective waste of millions of dollars of prior expenditures because once the research is terminated restarting may be impossible. The second area of major concern is loss of Center for Disease Control diagnostic and preventive care. The money spent for mammograms and colo-rectal testing (as matching grants to states) can discover potential issues when easily treatable rather than waiting till major expenses are required for treatment.