Drospirenone is just one of the causes ascribed to the outpouring of Yaz side effects reported regularly in America. Drospirenone is an ingredient allegedly unlike other progestins in the United States and was not employed in America before showed up in Yasmin, Yaz and Ocella. Add in the fact that the FDA issued advisory to the makers of Ocella, Yasmin and Yaz for using low-quality batches of drospirenone from Germany and you have the makings of a cautionary tale involving Big Pharma and its neglect for the wellbeing of the people using its products.
Among the previous contestations surrounding Yasmin, Yaz and Ocella birth control, the contraceptives also include drospirenone, an element not in other oral contraceptives. The British Medical Journal released studies in August 2009 exhibiting an increased risk of venous blood clots in young women taking drospirenone as opposed to those who took other oral contraceptives. In the same month, the Food & Drug Administration issued an non-related advisory to Bayer Pharmaceuticals, makers of Yaz, for using low-quality batches of drospirenone from a plant in Germany. For the benefit of public interest and wellbeing, these research studies have been made available free on the internet.
Lesser know birth control side effects such as Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis and even death have also been reported as a result of using Ocella, Yasmin and Yaz. With the information available on online, it is more essential than ever to arm yourself with knowledge before deciding if a pharaceutical is right for you. Something as ever-present as ‘the pill’ can cause serious damage or even kill you if you are not mindful.
Hurricane Katrina has, for all intents and purposes, destroyed one of the most wonderful of all our American cities, New Orleans. It has been five days since Katrina hit and the Federal Government has no idea what to do about it. Our wonderfully absent President George Bush said yesterday “we had no idea this would happen” (or some such rubbish). Yet there have been published studies and news reports over the years that predicted exactly this kind of a catastrophic disaster.
One of the most ridiculous recent reports from the news media came on Monday as the storm barreled across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama: “New Orleans dodged a bullet,” the reports said, basing their stories on nothing more than wishful thinking and the fact that the storm moved slightly east just before it hit the Gulf Coast.
To add insult to injury, we now know that the levees that broke on Tuesday turned out to be the newest ones. We also know that the Army Corps of Engineers were removed from the loop by the Bush Administration and the money needed to rebuild and protect New Orleans’ infrastructure was consistently cut from Federal budgets as “just too much pork.” Could it be because Louisiana is a Democratic state with a Democratic Governor? When the crisis reached the Federal Government, Alabama and Mississippi, Republican strongholds, were helped first.
It’s truly an outrage that this country cares nothing for its poorer citizens. And that is our Dirty Little Secret. What do you think keeps companies like Wal-Mart and the fast-food chains in business? The poor.
Believe me, if Martha Stewart or a bunch of Bush family cronies were trapped on the roof of one of their New Orleans mansions they would have been rescued immediately. The fact that New Orleans is 70% African-American and votes Democratic ought to tell you something about how this abhorrent Republican Administration cares about all its citizens. But last Friday when this storm began to pick up strength and head for New Orleans everyone in the government knew what would happen. The news media spent a lot of time telling the country what could happen if a Category 5 hurricane hit. They did this last year during the hurricane season and FEMA has known about it for a long time. So the powers that be have had lots of time to plan for the big one but no one did anything. They are already making excuses and patting themselves on the back for a job well done. They didn’t do anything for four damn days! And where are the Democrats? As usual they are AWOL, as they have been ever since Bush took over five years ago.
And where are the Democrats when Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has the nerve to say “Maybe New Orleans shouldn’t be rebuilt.” AWOL, as usual.
The Pentagon is upset because reporters who are on the scene have more sympathy for the victims than they do for the government. It’s not surprising … they are actually there, unlike the politicians and the rest of this pathetic excuse for a representative government. I heard Bush had Air Force One buzz the scene yesterday so he could get a look at the devastation. A real President would find a way to shoulder some of the burden the people he represents are experiencing by landing the fucking plane somewhere and helping with the relief effort.
This terrible tragedy has the chance of becoming a watershed moment in our country’s political history. The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer and this disaster shows the true extent of the gulf between the two. Finally we are able to see how the government reacts when there is no enemy to fight but nature itself and a bunch of poor black people who couldn’t afford to put gas in their cars so they could leave (if they had cars), are the victims. It’s hard to make political points or spin the story in a situation as horrifying as this, but the Government hacks are already trying.
Maybe if we had not sent all the Louisiana National Guard troops to fight in Iraq, things would be different. Maybe if the state and Federal Government had listened to the predictions of what would happen when a Category 5 hurricane hit New Orleans, things would be different. Maybe if the smug, self-satisfied, Administration toadies who rant and rave about the “sanctity of life” actually believed it, things would be different.
Maybes don’t mean much now but it’s pretty obvious a change has got to come in how this country treats its poorest citizens.
Finally our Dirty Little Secret has been revealed in front of the whole nation and it’s now become the big, fat, elephant in the room.
Too bad it’s too little, too late, for thousands of people caught in this horrendous, but very possibly preventable, disaster.
================================
You have permission to publish this article electronically
or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be
appreciated - send to info@virtualwordone.com
TERMS OF REPRINT - Publication Rules
This is a Free-Reprint article. The only requirements for
publishing this article are:
* You must leave the article and resource box unedited. You are
not allowed to change the context of the article.
* You may not use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email).
Email distribution of this article MUST be opt-in email only.
* We ask that you forward a copy of the ezine or newsletter
that contains the article inside to the author at:
www.info@virtualwordone.com
* If you post this article on a website, you MUST set any URL’s
or Mailto addresses in the body of the article and most
especially in the Author’s Resource Box as hyperlinks. We
request that you also send us a copy of the URL where you
have posted this article.
If you find any of the rules to be unsavory or unacceptable, please
do not publish this article. While we are happy to make the content
available to you for your own use, we must insist on having our rules
and *Terms of Reprint* honored in full.
About the Author
As an award-winning writer/reporter for the Taconic Press, Robert Lachman helped elect the first new mayor in Millbrook NY in 15 years, exposed illegal town judges in Dutchess County NY who had not filed their oaths of office with the County Clerk’s office and, as the Millbrook reporter, was instrumental in helping the citizens of Millbrook get a new high school. He has written theater, film and DVD reviews for the Taconic Press’ Weekend Magazine
In lockstep with the times, a congregation in North Carolina thought of playing the Good Samaritan to those ostracized by the economic crisis. The New Horizon Church only needed an angel to spread the grace.
In time, they found Feed The Children, a reputed relief agency from Oklahoma. Led by pastor Leah Rade, the New Horizon Church started raising funds in a bid to sponsor a project with the agency.
The Church raised $10,000 and acquired a Feed The Children truck laden with 14,000 pounds of food. The food was enough to sate families all week not only in Durham, but also around Orange County.
Each family received a boxful of groceries, which contained both food and personal care products. In addition, children got stuffed toys and books.
This food drop is unique, in that people do not have to stand in line to get free fare. Rather, Feed The Children created a “drive-thru” relief effort, not unlike those in fast-food restaurants.
Pastor Rade had conceived the project as early as 2008 when local employers began laying off people.
Outside the US, Feed The Children has helped famished individuals in nearly 118 countries, from Africa to Asia. In 2008, the charity distributed more than 130 million pounds worldwide.
Mesothelioma is a rare cancer of the tissue that lines people’s inner organs. About 2,000 brand new cases are diagnosed every year in the whole US. Out of these, aboutthree out of four of cases concern the sac around the lungs, called the pleura. Also known as pleural mesothelioma. In around 10 to twenty percent of cases, mesothelioma could involve the tissue that envelopes abdominal organs, named the peritoneal membrane, generating what is then referred to as peritoneal mesothelioma.
Being introduced to asbestos is positively the main risk factor for this uncommon sickness. After asbestos exposure, the delay to development of the mesothelioma disease could be two to four decades. Because of work related introduction, malignant mesothelioma is around 3 times more regular in men, than in females. Due to the number of cases moves upward with age, there are almost ten times more occurrences in the males over age 64 than in the males in their 30s.
Developing Cancer of the mesothelium is a severe disease, that, at the current moment, has a incredibly bad percentage of lasting survival. Nonetheless, if it is diagnosed early, care are then in existence that might considerably prolong the patient’s life. New therapies continue to be and are being promoted through the use of clinical trials.
Philanthropic Efforts of SchoolsWhile the spotlight has more often than not falls on philanthropic contributions made by affluent individuals and megacorporations, educational institutions have, over the decades, been making significant humanitarian efforts in their own relatively minor ways. Schools raise funds through various ways. One of these is through newspaper drives where students bring in loads of newspapers that the school would then sell. The income generated is used to funding to whatever social improvement program they happen to be conducting. Certainly, efforts made by the educational institutions are nothing to be scoffed at. Funds generated by them can grow to hundreds of thousands, as evidenced by one charity drive made by the University of Virginia some years back: In January 2000, the fund that it generated amounted to more than $430,800, exceeding their planned target by at least $30,000. So, the fund was pooled into the annual Combined Virginia Campaign, which generates funds for local and state non-profit entities.Institutions also encourage their students to engage themselves in philanthropic, fundraising efforts for a variety of reasons, the most prominent of which is to imbue their students with fundraising and social skills that will prove to be valuable to their careers.
Carlos Abadi is a philanthropist and prominent investment consultant.
Learn more about active philanthropist Carlos Abadi on Faces of Philanthropy.
Carlos Abadi is part of the RGE Monitor Team.