A major study on African Americans and cancer; even with equal care they are more likely to die of some cancers than whites

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Blacks Getting Equal Health Care Are Still More Likely to Die From Some Cancers – washingtonpost.com In the new study, Albain and her colleagues used data collected from about 19,457 patients between 1974 and 2001 by the Southwest Oncology Group, a National Cancer Institute-funded national cooperative of clinical trials. Because all patients in the studies … Read more

The “Jane Roe” of Roe vs. Wade arrested at Supreme Court hearing on Monday

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Norma McCorvey, who is now anti-abortion. Brigid and I have met her, and she was out at Notre Dame when Brigid was arrested. 'Jane Roe' Arrested at Supreme Court Hearing – washingtonpost.com Norma McCorvey, 61, of Texas, better known as "Jane Roe" in the famous Roe v. Wade case from January 1973, was arrested after she … Read more

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg comments on eliminating “populations that we don’t want”

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Here is the full NY Times article, so there is no question of the context of her comments. And the interviewer didn't ask a follow-up question! One of the precursor to today's Planned Parenthood was a group called The American Eugenics Society. Of course Adolf Hitler gave the term  Eugenics a bad name … you don't hear the term … Read more

Tim and Teatown

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Last Friday Tim finished the first of his two two week stints at Teatown Reservation. It’s a nature center and Tim loves summer camp there. Brigid took the first two pictures on Friday and Tim had taken the turtle shots on Thursday.     This is one big turtle – about the size of a medium … Read more

Another weapons system we don’t need, can’t afford, and that should have been cancelled years ago

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The F-22. An "uncancellable" program. Too many contractors in 40 states. I believe in national defense, not stupidity and waste. High-Priced F-22 Fighter Has Major Shortcomings – washingtonpost.com The United States' top fighter jet, the Lockheed Martin F-22, has recently required more than 30 hours of maintenance for every hour in the skies, pushing its … Read more

An inadvertently amusing feature on how a restricted calorie diet may extend life expectancy

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Here's an interesting and speculative feature in the science section of this morning's NY Times, about a long term study of rhesus monkeys. Dieting Monkeys Offer Hope for Living Longer – NYTimes.com It's filled with amusing lines like "Although people are similar to mice in many ways, they differ in other ways…" There's an insight.