Band of Brothers 2

I have been looking for a particular editorial in FLYING magazine for years.  I read it back in 1999, since I subscribed to the magazine, but then I couldn't locate it again when I wanted it - until now, thanks to Google books.

I have blogged about the deficiencies of the entire prostate screening regime and here is another voice confirming the same, from a doctor who treats prostate cancer.

(I snipped the editorial with two pics that were split across 2 pages.)

The last sentence sums up Dr. Garner's position, "I would not submit to a PSA test; if elevated, I would not get a biopsy; if positive, I would not seek treatment".

Notice that he had plans to buy a new Beechcraft, I am assuming a Bonanza, that costs at least half a million dollars new.

Brothers, you have been warned.

Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers

We men need to stick together. We need to watch out for each other. This is the second time that I have addressed the topic of prostate cancer screening. Just say NO!

Let me set the stage by enumerating some fundamental truths:

1. You are mortal. That means that you will die one day

2. Make peace with your Maker now so you are ready when that day comes.

3. “Nearly every man will have carcinoma in situ by age eighty, and probably most in midlife” Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., Worried Sick, pg. 102

4. Very few men will die of prostate cancer

5. The prostate specific antigen (PSA) test is a poor test (many false positives and false negatives). So also, is the digital rectal exam.

6. A high PSA test will lead to a biopsy of the prostate. (Read here for a description of the process – not pleasant!)

7. If the biopsy comes back positive, the doctor will recommend prostate surgery.

8. “no one should think that (prostate) surgery will increase his time on this earth; it will only change the likelihood of the mode of demise” Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., Worried Sick, pg. 99

9. There is a good chance (15%) that you will be incontinent and impotent after the surgery.

10. Your life will suck

11. You will thank me later for telling you to avoid the entire screening modality

It is well worth your time to read the entire nine pages (on Amazon) of the “Beleaguered Prostate” chapter in Nortin Hadler’s book, Worried Sick.

Then, you will be armed with the facts regarding how much the medical industry has been marketing to you and not to your benefit.

You're welcome.

The Bureau of Large Mistakes

The Bureau of Large Mistakes (BLM)

I grew up in the Western United States, where the feddle gummint owns most of the land. For example in Nevada, the Feds own 76% of the state, while in Utah the number is 70%. Not all of that is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (or as I remember hearing in my youth, the Bureau of Large Mistakes), but 29.9 million acres in Utah and 48.0 million acres in Nevada are “administered” by them.

Is the BLM a good steward of the land?  I don’t think so.  It seems like it mostly preserves the land from year to year for annual wildfires.

Also, do I need to mention the farce that is statehood for these Western States when the Feds have never relinquished control of so much land within their boundaries?  Can you imagine New York if the Feds owned 70% of it?  Or any other Eastern state for that matter?  We are not on equal footing as states under such conditions.

Before I propose my idea, I want to remind myself that you can’t fight something with nothing. So, I am not fighting something (the BLM) with nothing. I am fighting something (the BLM) with a better idea. 

Here is my controversial proposal and idea, a two sentence law that Congress (or Barry) could actually read and understand in just a few seconds:

It is hereby enacted into law that all BLM lands within the boundaries of the US revert to the counties in which they are located as of January 1^st, 2015 at 12:01 AM. The BLM is hereby abolished.

This idea would decentralize the control over a substantial portion of the continent.  Can you imagine the human flourishing that would accompany such a simple law?  County government would decide what to do with the land and I am sure that voters would have a great interest in helping commissioners make those decisions.  The voters would have to give up their morbid fascination with Washington politics and get involved locally, like I believe the Founders intended.

Ideas are dangerous, especially to those inside the 10 square miles on the Potomac.

A Short Economics Lesson

I came across this a few days ago and when I find something that is well written and makes a light go on, I like to share:

When good decisions are no longer possible, bad decisions are inevitable.

The real cost of credit and capital is discovered by open, transparent markets. When a central bank sets the price of credit, it destroys the market's price-discovery process. When the government subsidizes certain types of credit, for example, home mortgages and "cash for clunkers" auto loans, it destroys the market's price-discovery process.

This distorts not just the price of credit, but the price of everything purchased with credit. This is the origin of bubbles, and of the resulting busts.

(Read  the whole article here.)

There, if you read and understood this, you now know more than Bernanke, Yellen, Greenspan, Krugman, etc.

The  Federal Reserve manipulates credit markets and interferes with the price-discovery process.  This eventually leads to financial disasters and bailouts by the FED to save its buddies, who are too big to fail.

Kitfox Completion

Congratulations to my friend, Dave N. for completing this beautiful Kitfox, powered by a Rotax 912.

Poorer

Much has been said about the increasing inequality between rich and poor in the United States. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Such news is usually reported with the implicit or explicit call for more government intervention to even the odds. 

You see, if Uncle Barry and Sweet Auntie Nancy just got their heads together and wrote some legislation, the world would suddenly become fair.

Well, I'm not buying that. Government interventions always makes things worse and then there are calls for even more interventions.

I would like to point out in this post at least one of the reasons that the poor keep getting poorer, while the rich keep getting richer. It is the tale of two nuclear power plants.

Yes, Virginia, I know that I am a broken record when it comes to all things nuclear. I am a bit obsessive when it comes to nuclear power, but for good reason. Do you think the poor would be less poor if we could all tap into that $50 quadrillion discovery that Glen Seaborg talked about?

I certainly believe we would all be richer if we could harness the most energy dense substance in the universe, thorium.  All of us would be richer, except for the producers, distributors and refiners and marketers of fossil fuels. Also, the anti-nuclear professional fear mongers would not be richer. They have a lot to lose, just like these coal miners from Australia. (BTW, this is an actual advertisement.)



This is the struggle we are in. A struggle over whether or not an energy source a million times more dense than gasoline will be allowed to flourish or whether the current coal, oil, and gas powers will be able to continue to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) about all things nuclear.

Back to the stories:

The first story you may have heard of; Shoreham Nuclear power plant on Long Island. The plant took nearly 20 years to license and build at a cost of $6 billion. Powerful forces, including fossil fuel distributors on Long Island conspired to have the plant closed before it ever delivered a single kilowatt of power to a customer.

Eventually, the state bought the plant for a $1, Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) declared bankruptcy, and the plant never operated to produce or sell electricity.

The electrical customers on Long Island continue to pay the loans on $6 billion. Doesn't that make everyone on Long Island a lot poorer? That is everyone except the distributors of oil and gas on Long Island, who paid for the above ad

(Paid for by the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island, 132 West Cherry St. Hicksville, N. Y. 11501)

The other power plant in the story is San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), just few miles north of San Diego, California. The story reads like a Greek tragedy. The plant was recently shut down for some nuanced technical reasons, though it could have run safely producing electricity for another 20 or 30 years; billions of kilowatt hours, clean, safe, and emission free!

Now, I'm sure the beach house owners/millionaires in La Jolla, San Diego, Carlsbad, Encinitas, etc., don’t care in the least that electricity will be more expensive now. They might care about brownouts and blackouts, but their housekeepers, gardeners, mechanics, and other help care a great deal more that electricity is going to be more expensive.

SONGS was a capital investment of billions of dollars, very similar to Shoreham. Scarce resources really are scarce. We just can't waste our capital (money) and not expect to be a lot poorer. But remember, cui bono, who benefits? The coal, oil, and gas industries and antinuclear forces gain power and money at the expense of everyone else. An investigative reporter estimated that the cost of early retirement of SONGS to be $13.6 billion!!!!!  Now, we're talking about real money!

These kinds of shenanigans can't go on for very long without making the majority of us markedly poorer. And isn't that what is happening?

Irony

I have thought for some time that God has a well developed sense of human irony. 

How else can you explain a bunch of Australian scientists going to the Antarctic to document supposed reductions in the ice pack and instead get caught in the ice because of a blizzard?

And they had to be rescued by a Chinese helicopter, which transported them to an Australian ship, which then also got stuck in the ice.

And for those readers who might not realize that it is not winter down under right now, even though we are freezing in North America, it is actually summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

"I'm a bit sad it's ended this way, but we got lots and lots of great science done,"  said expedition leader Chris Turney.

Yeah, I bet you did!