In what must be the biggest surprise since we discovered that the current Administration was behind the Valerie Plame leak, Chevron posted a 49% increase in profits for the first quarter of this year, joining Exxon Mobil who also posted record profits.
When the public outcry over the price of gas started becoming more audible, Bush, in his insufferably smarmy smirky way vowed that if price gouging was happening, he was going to "take care of it." And I suppose that after he "took care of it," he would probably pose for a photo-op pumping gas in a greasy coverall with big banner hanging behind him saying "Job done."
In the past day or two since we've heard about oil companies' record profits, he's been quieter about going after the price gaugers. Instead he was vowing to explore alternative fuels, increase the mpg requirements for cars (currently they need to average 27 mpg, ridiculously low), which are both great and noble efforts that I support completely. His party members in the Senate are proposing a $100 gas rebate, which is a beyond stupid token bullshit gesture, and of course, drilling for oil in the Arctic, but what about going after those price gougers?
Adamant resolve, dissolved. Hmmm. Where have we seen this happen before? Oh, yes. When Bush cock-a-doodle-dooed that he would fire any person in his administration involved in the Plame CIA leak. Except that darn it, it turned out to be Bush himself that authorized the leak. Poof! Resolve out the window, backpedal backpedal backpedal. Right about now, we're at, "I strongly frown upon revealing the identity of CIA operatives, but hey, let he who is without sin cast the first stone, heh heh." Smirk.
What could have happened to crumble Bush's resolve to go after price gauging at the pump? Because surely if high pump prices were reflective of reduced supply of oil at an increased price, there wouldn't be record profits, right? Right? I mean, it's not like the oil lobby has Bush in their pocket because he has never had any ties to oil. Right?
Stay tuned. I have a feeling we'll see a whole lotta nothing accompanied by a whole lotta crowing that the problem has been solved. Then maybe in a few years someone will produce a documentary a la Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and we'll all scratch our heads and wonder how it could have happened.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
We'll Never Forget Either, Mr. Burton
Yesterday's article in the NY Times concerns a new push for an over the counter version of the diet drug Xenical. Glaxo, who purchased the commercial rights from Roche, plans to call the OTC version Alli, pronounced like ally. However, they face a bit of a marketing uphill battle, due to the icky side effects of the drug. In what's referred to charmingly as "the oops factor," Xenical can cause flatulence, diarrhea and incontinence, especially after consumption of high fat foods.
Glaxo executive Steve Burton, a Xenical user, recalls, "I'll never forget having a fish sandwich and loading it up with tartar sauce and having French fries." Lucky for all of us, we are spared further details of his "oops" episode, save for the fact that it was a weekend, allowing him to go home and change.
Mr. Burton, who lost and kept off 60 pounds states that his results are better than the drug's typical user will achieve because he has been particularly faithful to his regimen of exercise and diet. In fact, the Xenical website very reasonably reminds hopefuls that Xenical is not a magic pill and must be used in conjunction with a reduced calorie diet of no more than 30% of calories from fat and increased regular physical exercise.
This does beg the question though: if Xenical forces you to avoid foods high in fat, else run the risk of soiling your drawers, perhaps it indicates that one can successfully avoid foods higher in fat when the consequence is more immediate and unpleasant. In the short term, behind-the-scenes killers like heart disease, cholesterol and blood pressure are just not that compelling when weighed (sorry) against a tempting hot fudge sundae, whereas poopy pants on a date really is. And that may be just what Xenical is good for--making the consequences of crappy eating (can't seem to stop myself) immediate and highly unpleasant.
I tried to search for any studies that compared Xenical users with those that had a placebo, but so many online journals are for subscribers only. Elitist bastards. I did find this article that found Xenical more effective than just lifestyle changes for overweight teens but it wasn't clear whether the control group had a Xenical placebo or not. For sure, if someone told me that I might be taking a medicine that would make me poo myself with high fat foods, I would probably avoid these foods.
Remember when Frito-Lay came out with their fat free chips with the fat substitute Olestra, called Wow? That name quickly became a joke as the side effects became more well-known, as in wow! I have no bowel control! They've since been renamed as Frito Lay Light. Anyway, check out The Center for Science in the Public Interest about Olestra, or Olean. According to this website, Olestra is the most complained about food additive in the history of the FDA. I have no idea if this is really true, but if you have an "oops" episode of your own, send your complaint to them and they will forward it to the FDA.
Sadly, things that are delicious because of fat that have the fat taken out of them cease to taste good. Case in point: low-fat or even worse--fat-free cheese. You're never sure if you've removed the plastic wrapping because fat free cheese is such a close cousin of plastic. Due to the lack of fat, it doesn't really melt but rather lays limply over your food, sweating unpleasantly, sadly aware that its efforts to mimic high fat cheese deliciousness fall far short of the mark. I can ditch the half and half and even the whole milk. But anything less than 2% milk in coffee isn't good. I would just as soon add dishwater to my coffee because that is what is tastes like. Fat free half and half? Read the ingredients list. Recognize those things? Me either. I'll take the artery clogging evil I know, thanks and since I don't relish the the idea of donning a Depends undergarment at 34, I'll skip the Olestra, too.
Glaxo executive Steve Burton, a Xenical user, recalls, "I'll never forget having a fish sandwich and loading it up with tartar sauce and having French fries." Lucky for all of us, we are spared further details of his "oops" episode, save for the fact that it was a weekend, allowing him to go home and change.
Mr. Burton, who lost and kept off 60 pounds states that his results are better than the drug's typical user will achieve because he has been particularly faithful to his regimen of exercise and diet. In fact, the Xenical website very reasonably reminds hopefuls that Xenical is not a magic pill and must be used in conjunction with a reduced calorie diet of no more than 30% of calories from fat and increased regular physical exercise.
This does beg the question though: if Xenical forces you to avoid foods high in fat, else run the risk of soiling your drawers, perhaps it indicates that one can successfully avoid foods higher in fat when the consequence is more immediate and unpleasant. In the short term, behind-the-scenes killers like heart disease, cholesterol and blood pressure are just not that compelling when weighed (sorry) against a tempting hot fudge sundae, whereas poopy pants on a date really is. And that may be just what Xenical is good for--making the consequences of crappy eating (can't seem to stop myself) immediate and highly unpleasant.
I tried to search for any studies that compared Xenical users with those that had a placebo, but so many online journals are for subscribers only. Elitist bastards. I did find this article that found Xenical more effective than just lifestyle changes for overweight teens but it wasn't clear whether the control group had a Xenical placebo or not. For sure, if someone told me that I might be taking a medicine that would make me poo myself with high fat foods, I would probably avoid these foods.
Remember when Frito-Lay came out with their fat free chips with the fat substitute Olestra, called Wow? That name quickly became a joke as the side effects became more well-known, as in wow! I have no bowel control! They've since been renamed as Frito Lay Light. Anyway, check out The Center for Science in the Public Interest about Olestra, or Olean. According to this website, Olestra is the most complained about food additive in the history of the FDA. I have no idea if this is really true, but if you have an "oops" episode of your own, send your complaint to them and they will forward it to the FDA.
Sadly, things that are delicious because of fat that have the fat taken out of them cease to taste good. Case in point: low-fat or even worse--fat-free cheese. You're never sure if you've removed the plastic wrapping because fat free cheese is such a close cousin of plastic. Due to the lack of fat, it doesn't really melt but rather lays limply over your food, sweating unpleasantly, sadly aware that its efforts to mimic high fat cheese deliciousness fall far short of the mark. I can ditch the half and half and even the whole milk. But anything less than 2% milk in coffee isn't good. I would just as soon add dishwater to my coffee because that is what is tastes like. Fat free half and half? Read the ingredients list. Recognize those things? Me either. I'll take the artery clogging evil I know, thanks and since I don't relish the the idea of donning a Depends undergarment at 34, I'll skip the Olestra, too.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Superficial 'n Trashy
Is it so wrong that I am just fascinated by the Denise Richards/Charlie Sheen melodrama? Every week there is more sordid news from those quarters. First they separate, then they reconcile. Then they split, and it gets ugly. Denise accuses Charlie of carousing with hookers and downloading kiddie porn. Charlie denies and accuses Denise of launching a smear campaign. Then in the strangest twist, Denise is caught on camera smooching Richie Sambora, the ex of Denise's friend, Heather Locklear. Or former friend, I guess. This is better than Survivor. Since gas is like, $37 a gallon here, I may as well stay home and watch Access Hollywood for the latest.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Give Me That Old-Time Religion
Perhaps it is because I was raised in a mishmosh of secularism that I find religion so fascinating. In our household we incorporated both Christian and Jewish traditions: decorating the tree and ham at Easter; kvetching and pastrami sandwiches. That was about the extent of religion in our house.
I guess there aren't many Mormons where I'm from, as I don't know a thing about Mormonism. But I've just returned from Utah, where there are quite a lot of Mormons. I thought I might share a bit of my new-found knowledge, as Mormons are in the news right now, what with this article about a band of polygamists and their tax troubles and the new HBO series, Big Love.
To start with, Utah is a very strange place geologically. It is situated on part of the Colorado Plateau, which spans Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. The orientation films we saw in both Bryce and Zion referred to "unseen forces" as creating the Plateau, so if the National Park Service is satisfied with this non-explanation, I certainly don't feel any pressure to provide you with a real geological explanation. Perhaps the Mama, who majored in rocks and things as an undergrad would care to chime in about these unseen forces. Anyway, the Forces, along with wind and water, created some awesome looking rock formations called hoodoos, and very tall mountains and huge rocks that very sporty people not like myself climb and mountain bike etc, but we just hiked and paid horses to shlep us through picturesque canyons.
I was remarking to my travel companion, Teacher, that perhaps we would catch a glimpse of someone's Mormon underwear. Teacher totally did not believe me that such a thing existed, but it's true. In some sort of traumatized former Mormon chat site, these are referred to as "garmies," and when donned properly, are worn under the bra and underwear. Comfy. Anyway, the undies are supposed to protect the wearer from evil. And they are sacred, which I guess rules out leaving them in a pile on the bathroom floor to be covered with cat hair until laundry day. We caught nary a glimpse of Mormon panties, to our disappointment.
But we did do a little reading about the history of the Mormons. The founder of the Mormons, Joseph Smith, was living in New York when he says the angel Moroni appeared and led him to some golden tablets buried in the woods near his house. Moroni then gave him "stone spectacles" which allowed Smith to decipher the tablet writings, which became the Book of Mormon. See, it's not just the Scientologists that have the corner on hallucinogens.
Speaking of, congrats to TomKat (is there is a more annoying nickname? Oh yeah--Brangelina) on the birth of Suri--on the same day and the same hospital that Brooke Shields had her second. Hopefully Katie won't suffer from post partum depression. If she does, Tom will probably lock her in the house, stuffing her with vitamins and strapping her to the elliptical machine. I guess he could eat a healthy serving of crow instead, but something tells me that's just not his style.
I guess there aren't many Mormons where I'm from, as I don't know a thing about Mormonism. But I've just returned from Utah, where there are quite a lot of Mormons. I thought I might share a bit of my new-found knowledge, as Mormons are in the news right now, what with this article about a band of polygamists and their tax troubles and the new HBO series, Big Love.
To start with, Utah is a very strange place geologically. It is situated on part of the Colorado Plateau, which spans Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. The orientation films we saw in both Bryce and Zion referred to "unseen forces" as creating the Plateau, so if the National Park Service is satisfied with this non-explanation, I certainly don't feel any pressure to provide you with a real geological explanation. Perhaps the Mama, who majored in rocks and things as an undergrad would care to chime in about these unseen forces. Anyway, the Forces, along with wind and water, created some awesome looking rock formations called hoodoos, and very tall mountains and huge rocks that very sporty people not like myself climb and mountain bike etc, but we just hiked and paid horses to shlep us through picturesque canyons.
I was remarking to my travel companion, Teacher, that perhaps we would catch a glimpse of someone's Mormon underwear. Teacher totally did not believe me that such a thing existed, but it's true. In some sort of traumatized former Mormon chat site, these are referred to as "garmies," and when donned properly, are worn under the bra and underwear. Comfy. Anyway, the undies are supposed to protect the wearer from evil. And they are sacred, which I guess rules out leaving them in a pile on the bathroom floor to be covered with cat hair until laundry day. We caught nary a glimpse of Mormon panties, to our disappointment.
But we did do a little reading about the history of the Mormons. The founder of the Mormons, Joseph Smith, was living in New York when he says the angel Moroni appeared and led him to some golden tablets buried in the woods near his house. Moroni then gave him "stone spectacles" which allowed Smith to decipher the tablet writings, which became the Book of Mormon. See, it's not just the Scientologists that have the corner on hallucinogens.
Speaking of, congrats to TomKat (is there is a more annoying nickname? Oh yeah--Brangelina) on the birth of Suri--on the same day and the same hospital that Brooke Shields had her second. Hopefully Katie won't suffer from post partum depression. If she does, Tom will probably lock her in the house, stuffing her with vitamins and strapping her to the elliptical machine. I guess he could eat a healthy serving of crow instead, but something tells me that's just not his style.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Plumbing the Mysteries of Bushland
There has been a significant drop in new HIV infections in Southern India among young men following a period of intensive public education and condom distribution, particularly among prostitutes and their male customers, which in turn reduced transmission to female spouses. This is amazing news as India has the world's second highest number of HIV infections, only behind South Africa.
I applaud these efforts while sadly acknowledging that my own more advanced nation would never approve such an intervention because Prostitution is Wrong and Breaking the Holy Bonds of Matrimony is Wrong. More likely we would see a crackdown on prostitution and some Just Say No program urging men to please keep it in their pants. But they don't call it the oldest profession for nothing.
Again, a battle between How People Ought to Behave versus How People Really Behave, a battle we revisit often. Though data have never supported abstinence-only programs, nevermind the serious concerns over separation of church and state issues it raises, or that the availability of needle exchange programs causes anyone who was otherwise not planning to do so to start mainlining drugs, we hang on tenaciously to the Shoulds.
Generally public health folks recognize some behaviors will be practiced regardless of whether they are legal or not, personally repellant to you, against God's Law, etc. and advocate for a reality based approach to improving the health of a nation's citizens. Nuts, I know.
Try to think of something not so charged. Perfect example: seat belts. Ideally, we would never change lanes without signaling, never speed, never operate motor vehicles under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or while asleep. Because all these things are Wrong and Against the Law. And yet, we do all of these things ... all the time. So rather than investing in more mops with which to swab the brains off the highway, we have seat belts which we are required to wear by law. If we think of this as a public health intervention why then public health seems so ... obvious. A no-brainer, really.
When it comes to more charged issues like drug use or certain sexual practices we think are deviant (except for the time we paid a prostitute for it and have been trying to get partner to do the same but s/he always refuses), we balk. Common sense flies through the windshield like an untethered passenger and we're Should-ing all over the place once again.
I know better than to appeal to a moral imperative to protect people from preventable illness no matter how they might have contracted it. Instead I appeal to the cold bottom line: really sick people make health insurance more expensive and tend not to shop for new houses, cars or plasma televisions--which as we know means the terrorists have won.
There. I said it, and I feel gross but I would think this argument would fly in Bushland--I think. So far I can make no claims to understand Bushland. If I have been paying attention, the moral imperative is for war, people can sicken and die of preventable illnesses because we don't agree with their behavior, but shooting elderly friends in the face is perfectly acceptable. Someday I'll understand. I'm sure of it.
I applaud these efforts while sadly acknowledging that my own more advanced nation would never approve such an intervention because Prostitution is Wrong and Breaking the Holy Bonds of Matrimony is Wrong. More likely we would see a crackdown on prostitution and some Just Say No program urging men to please keep it in their pants. But they don't call it the oldest profession for nothing.
Again, a battle between How People Ought to Behave versus How People Really Behave, a battle we revisit often. Though data have never supported abstinence-only programs, nevermind the serious concerns over separation of church and state issues it raises, or that the availability of needle exchange programs causes anyone who was otherwise not planning to do so to start mainlining drugs, we hang on tenaciously to the Shoulds.
Generally public health folks recognize some behaviors will be practiced regardless of whether they are legal or not, personally repellant to you, against God's Law, etc. and advocate for a reality based approach to improving the health of a nation's citizens. Nuts, I know.
Try to think of something not so charged. Perfect example: seat belts. Ideally, we would never change lanes without signaling, never speed, never operate motor vehicles under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or while asleep. Because all these things are Wrong and Against the Law. And yet, we do all of these things ... all the time. So rather than investing in more mops with which to swab the brains off the highway, we have seat belts which we are required to wear by law. If we think of this as a public health intervention why then public health seems so ... obvious. A no-brainer, really.
When it comes to more charged issues like drug use or certain sexual practices we think are deviant (except for the time we paid a prostitute for it and have been trying to get partner to do the same but s/he always refuses), we balk. Common sense flies through the windshield like an untethered passenger and we're Should-ing all over the place once again.
I know better than to appeal to a moral imperative to protect people from preventable illness no matter how they might have contracted it. Instead I appeal to the cold bottom line: really sick people make health insurance more expensive and tend not to shop for new houses, cars or plasma televisions--which as we know means the terrorists have won.
There. I said it, and I feel gross but I would think this argument would fly in Bushland--I think. So far I can make no claims to understand Bushland. If I have been paying attention, the moral imperative is for war, people can sicken and die of preventable illnesses because we don't agree with their behavior, but shooting elderly friends in the face is perfectly acceptable. Someday I'll understand. I'm sure of it.
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