Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

What are we going to do now? Your choice.

This article found on comcast.net from AP describes a growing problem. For as long as the United States has sent its young men – and later its young women – off to war, it has watched as a segment of them come home and lose the battle with their own memories, their own scars, and […]

PTSD meta-analysis

Treatment of PTSD 2008 is a comprehensive meta-analysis of studies done for the government on treatments for PTSD. I will have some follow through later this week. The 212 page document is one of the more throrough I have seen, so I mention this for any readers who have time and are curious. No surprises […]

a little history from a couple months ago

The NYT has an article that offers some insight in Whitehouse thinking and wishes. On one side, according to people familiar with the deliberations, is a powerful group of pragmatists, including Henry M. Paulson Jr., the treasury secretary; Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff; and Ed Gillespie, counselor to Mr. Bush. They […]

Consumer credit default and spending change

The NYT reports that there is: Strong evidence is emerging that consumer spending, a bulwark against recession over the last year even as energy prices surged and the housing market sputtered, has begun to slow sharply at every level of the American economy, from the working class to the wealthy. The abrupt pullback raises the […]

Andrew Leonard at Salon takes the savvy and well educated, knowledgeable movers and shakers to task for their whining about free markets and oversight. It reminds me of: 1. Too big to fail, which may be true, but stay with the same management? 2. DolB can sell discounted flowers to all the readership using their […]

Best evidence pitfalls

The New England Journal of Medicine reports this abstract about unreported clinical trials of pharmaceutical companies. Background Evidence-based medicine is valuable to the extent that the evidence base is complete and unbiased. Selective publication of clinical trials — and the outcomes within those trials — can lead to unrealistic estimates of drug effectiveness and alter […]

Post flambe

OMB Watch has an article on talk of a stimulus package and what it should not do. Actually, it does propose an idea, but I left that out. To quote: “During his speech at the Union League Club of Chicago on Jan. 7, Bush reiterated the importance of continuing his current policies to address what […]

Psycological Kevlar

Psychological Kevlar Act of 2007 introduced by Patrick Kennedy was to help PTSD and brain trauma research expand. It has come to my attention that the DoD is thinking about using propranolol as a prophylactic to help reduce ptsd symptoms during conflict and after. I had found this articlefrom a wife of a soldier who […]

Democracy through smart bombs

The Asian Times carries an article and opinion about democratizing the ME. This week, coinciding with President George W Bush’s two-day trip to Saudi Arabia, the Bush administration is expected to notify Congress about an arms package for Saudi Arabia. The sale is part of an overall package that was announced at the end of […]

Flamer

This blog seemed to provide a comprehensive list of technique. The following caught my eye of a couple hundred tacks. Live and learn. I am following CoRev’s lead that flamers are not trolls. Short Term Versus Long Term:this is a particular case of the Excluded Middle. For example, “We must deal with crime on the […]