Alzheimer's Hope

This year may be significant for Alzheimer's disease sufferers all over the world.

February 9, 2012, marked the announcement of an unusual weapon in our arsenal to treat one of our species most heartbreaking ailments. Mice with brain plaques were dosed by researchers with a drug already on the market. Doctors found spectacular results with a skin cancer drug previously used specifically to treat the sarcomas of AIDs patients.

Plaques and tangles in mouse brains began to clear from the tiny mouse patients within hours of starting the doses. Within three days, over half their Alzhimer type plaques had vanished and the critters recovered memory and some of their lost cognition.

This is so amazing that it might even be considered a cure.

But the drug has not been tested on humans for dementia. Approval for this purpose will be sought after, to be sure, and it is an approved human drug at present, so the likelihood of approval is not as tough as if it were the "new kid on the block".

Think of it. The nursing homes and continuing care facilities could scale back.

Home care could be so much more fun when your parent or spouse shares experiences or even the cooking.

Think of it. The future might be just one shot at your local pharmacy and then you could have Grammy back.

I just get goose bumps.

Seniors Rock.

Alzheimers Updates

We all have absentminded moments. Someone told me that if you forget your keys, that is probably absent-mindedness, but it is something else if you forget the car.

As the numbers of seniors grows, and the baby-boomers swell our ranks, the cases of impaired cognition are going to rise. In January, President signed the National Alzheimer's Project Act with the intent of coordinating research and funding for our national efforts to control and treat this modern day scourge.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services A(www.hhs.gov)announced an additional $50 million dollars would be available for "cutting-edge" research this year. The President's action also includes an additional $26 million for "caregiver support, provider education,public awareness and improvements in data infrastructure.

There will be an advisory council to help define goals to treat and cure Alzheimers by 2025.

More than 5 million persons currently are being treated for Alzheimers. By 2050, the number is likely to be twice that, with accompanied demands on caregivers. Most patients stay with family caregivers as alternate facilities are too expensive for many Americans.

Over 2012 and 2013 funding will total $130 million for research, up 25% from previous appropriation.

Some current research is truly exciting, like the 72 hour injection that sloughed off plaque from lab mice, leaving them dramatically rejuvenated. Other medications are also promising...and some current standards are coming up blanks.

We are wondering what the impact of "baby boomers" and their numbers will have on various infrastructure and services and this is one area that the current Administration seems to be paying attention to.

One last note: There is also a sizeable amount to be dedicated to provider training. This field of education is growning because it is certain that the need will be there. This is a very promising direction for students to consider when choosing a career.

Just maybe someone in Washington "gets it."

People rock.

Equal Rights

Artfull is very sad today.

I remember what it was like in the 60's as we fought for something called "Womens' Rights".

The past decade has seen so many gains taken away or pulled back as the conservatives hammered away at our culture... Is there anyone out there who remembers what it was like to walk into an employer's office for an interview and be told that women were not dependable because they "might get pregnant"? Does anyone remember that if you were good at math, but female, you must have been cheating? Girls took typing while boys played sports. Heck, girls competitive sports were not funded...school board money went to the male programs.

How about a society where getting "in the family way" meant a shotgun wedding, women who were maimed or even died because abortion procedures were "back alley", being sent off to live with a far away friend or relative or nuns till the baby was adopted? Does anyone remember that? Does anyone remember Murphy Brown and Dan Quayle's absurd declaration that Brown's TV persona, having a baby without marriage, was detrimental to the country's morals?

How about an oil company executive so full of himself for picking winners among his male staff that he describes a home interview this way: "When I go to the house, I always go to the kitchen for a glass of water. If there are dishes in the sink (!) he is out of the running. If he can't keep his wife under control, he can't handle the job."

The right to choice, which was passed by Congress and is the law, is targeted by the ultra conservative right segment of our political life. Since the Bush years,which were spent paying back those religious segments of our society that helped get him elected, we are mired in a culture which erodes the rights we worked so hard to establish.

Right to choice. Breakdown of color barriers. Gay and Lesbian rights. Equal pay for equal work. Discrimination in hiring and for access of all kinds is illegal. We need to be reminded that prejudice in our nation, which has always been part of our history, should not be permitted or encouraged. Women today are entitled to opportunity and privacy.

And finally...do we seniors want to be told that we cannot drive, live, work or survive because we are not the current economic producers in the nation?

Social security is our lifeline. As extremists knock down our hard fought gains because they cannot see beyond their Camry cars or Gucci totebags, we have to stand our ground. The Social Security program is one of the most efficient business models in our nation's history with an total overhead percentage rate that is equal to some retailers loss percent.

Finally: AARP magazine has the largest circulation in the nation. That should tell someone something.

Seniors rock.

Interviewing for the Job of President

Happy New Year!

It's the start of 2012. This is an election year and most media coverage is overshadowed by the competition for the Republican nomination for President. So far, we have had titilating and naughty tidbits of indiscrete behaviors, ho-hum charges of "flip-flopping", and even Donald Trump declaring his candidacy at one point.

Have we lost our collective minds? What does this circus prove? The rest of the world must think we are nuts.

When ordinary people go on a job interview, there is a long list of items that employers are not supposed to ask. Lately the question of age has been added to this rundown. However it is not appropriate for your interviewer to ask where you stand on abortion, whether you believe in birth control, how much money you have in your bank account, how much money you spent on your spouse's birthday present, if you prefer men or women as sexual partners, if you would eat meat if you had to kill it yourself, if you know how to use a gun, if you hate guns, if you pray to one god or several,etc.,etc.,etc.

Why do we think our political candidates have to answer these infernally intrusive questions?

Oh, I know, that is how we determine if they are Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative, Red or Blue, Narrow or Wide...Come on now folks, this is freaking ridiculous.

We should be asking ourselves if the person has enough business expertise to know how to balance a set of books and present a rudimentary financial statement. Hopefully Business 101 would translate into knowing how to "follow the money."

If your bank account is running on empty, it makes sense to let your friendly neighborhood banker have first cracks at your needs (and then shop for a better interest rate). Whoops. That is what everyone does now anyhow...and they do it online. Tough to follow the money trail...but think of it as experience for more complicated situations...like looking down the tank at the "empty" Social Security Trust Fund.

Now let's look at it another way. Stem cell research? Other countries are charging ahead on stem cell research and technology while we cut off funding for domestic lab projects since we have a squeamishness about stem cell harvesting which frequently results in a non-viable embryo. Discouraging this form of research means that we have to pay "retail" for the results, instead of coming up with the product at home.

Republicans are still battling over a candidate's position on the question of "Choice" for the "Conservative" designation. Whenever debate gets bogged down in subjects like jobs and the economy, religious conservatives can be counted on to suck the life out of intellectual discussion by drawing the issues back to volatile abortion arguments.

Would it not be more relevant to find out if the candidate has a short fuse and hair trigger temper which would impact his response when provoked?

If a candidate is stubborn and uncompromising in his personal life, what chance would we have if he ran the country? What would happen when he or she butted heads with countries where loud noises and posturing are part of diplomatic foreplay? We must have a cool and level personality who would not overreact. The tearful display of candidates in recent weeks is troubling. Our President must deal in arenas where he is regarded as serenely powerful.

Our successful candidate should be bright, educated, and cognizant of our country's place in the engine of world commerce and culture, because there is no room for narcissistic overconfidence.

The successful job candidate should not be one who has a pocketful of cronies and fellow businessmen eager to swoop in for government contracts. He should know of such things but not be of them. You just can't expect a President to ride herd on unethical interests if he is closeted with them at regular intervals.

What qualities do you think a successful President should have to have? Looking back we got lucky a time or two, but the office has had its share of drunks, scamps and tricky business. Can't we do better?

Have the guy write an essay....like for the SAT or participate in a National Geographic type geography bee to indicate depth and/or lack of knowlege of the real world. Sometimes it seems that candidates are behaving like the world is flat. There must be more to the Presidential job description than the most recent caucuses and town hall meetings imply.

Seniors vote.

Award for Mercer County Office On Aging

We have a lot to be thankful for this time of year and I am reminded of how much the Mercer County Office on Aging contributes to senior issues.

Eileen Doremus, Executive Director of Mercer County Office on Aging, was recognized by the city of Trenton Monday evening, December 19 at the Marriott.

In an email to Staff and Advisory Council Members, Ms. Doremus noted, " This is a team award." and proceeded to include each member's contributions in her thank you.

I can affirm that her leadership and teamwork is what makes this group so effective.

The City of Trenton's Annual Senior Gala is an opportunity to network and to acknowledge the concerns of senior citizens and ways to meet their needs. The presentation of the highly coveted "Community Award" noted how Director Doremus succeeded in helping older Americans "connnect" with the community. Doremus expressed her thanks again to Diane McKnight, Director of the Jennye Stubblefield Senior Center, and Katherine Woods, Nutrition Site Manager, for the certificate recognizing Mercer efforts in this area.

This community "connection", highly debated and funding compromised, is always vulnerable to funding cuts on a regular basis. The Office On Aging gives seniors opportunities to give back to their friends and families while they enjoy nutrition programs and social interaction. Hopefully, dedicated professionals like Executive Director Doremus can ensure that this positive direction will continue.

I read once that a hive of wasps, for example, sends its oldest members to the front of the hive to defend it if threatened. The theory seems to be that the younger wasps are the most valuable to the hive and have a preferred status for survival.

Thank goodness we are not shoving senior citizens to our front lines because they are considered expendable. I like to think we are more advanced on the evolutionary scale and, as such, value seniors and the elderly for the enrichment of our entire society. This is something that sets us above lower forms of life...or does it?

Congress is jammed up again on budget issues. Everytime this happens, there is a hue and cry about Social Security entitlements and the barrel of that cannon swivels around again...kapow!

When a community like the City of Trenton reaches out and acknowleges the Mercer efforts and teamwork for seniors, we all cheer. It recognizes senior issues as a productive direction for the future. The Office on Aging here in Mercer keeps chugging along, hoping for more funding, working on schedules that would knock Rocky to his knees, but always with determination and the gift of foresight that has been finally honored.

Let us keep this in mind in our next election and hold candidates accountable to our needs and issues.

Seniors rock!

Social Security "Entitlements"

I am so steamed up about this debt load from the War in Iraq that words fail me.

Back in July I wrote about this use/misuse of our Social Security Trust Fund monies.

The blog date is July 27, 2011, and the article said it pretty well. Instead of sputtering in frustration today, I invite you to read it again.

This week Congress is again waffling on budget concerns and passed a "two month extension" of approval for budget appropriations. Are they kidding?

Imagine that you are an accountant trying to keep your client organized and projections relevant. Imagine that you are a SSI or Social Security recipient and need monthly income to survive. What are they thinking?

It is time to send a bulldozer down to Washington and flatten some offices. Maybe if they have to stand in the street, like the protesters in New York and Los Angeles, Congress might get down to business faster and have much more focus.

No, I do not consider myself a tea party fancier. I am a frustrated liberal who is appalled by the lack of common sense in our capitol.

Let's cut our military budget back to Eisenhower (pre-Regan days) and let states and private enterprise do their own thing. Ethics and regulation, oversight and supervision is just so much crap. I would dearly love to hear a professorial discussion between Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama. They are both teachers and of high intellect. (Really) I would like to see just what is going on. Then we can turn our sights to Congress and the apparent dim-wits who are really running our country.

To Congress: Get a life. Get some smarts. For crying out loud, get over project and pork barrel swaps and pay attention to what the country really needs.

Get rid of lobbyists because the types of industry and business they foster are not good for the long run. An example: Buffets and catered cocktail parties to sway legislation to build a "bridge to nowhere", or "let elephants perform in the circus", or "count the number of times a shrimp jerks its legs when exposed to nasty stuff".

I am not exaggerating too much; these examples are just a bit altered from the real McCoy.

The kind of changes in our economy that we need are down at the grass roots level. Forget the 50 thousand dollar loans. Do you have any idea how many really small incubator loans can be made for that sum?

There is a church project to buy a $100 heifer for a needy woman in a poverty stricken country. The opportunity the heifer represents is hope. The heifer grows and is bred. It has a calf and gives milk. The heifer is potentially a calf producer, the milk is nutritious and can also be sold. After a couple of years, the calf/cow represents independence.

For our circumstances, micro loans can do the same thing.

Large loans incur a lot of interest and this cost is out of proportion to fledgling business ideas. Micro loans are better able to let a good idea take root and grow.

Lets think about that kind of helping hand at this holiday season.

Seniors rock.

Holiday Thanks for End of Iraq War

Today, December 18, will go down in history as the end of our involvement in Iraq. Well, hopefully that is the case.

From the first step on Iraq soil to our last nighttime trek into Kuwait, this has been a sad sojourn for America and its allies. Gas price per gallon today is $3.05 per gallon at the pump. That has nothing to do with winning or losing the war but it did have a lot to do with why we went into Iraq.

At the time President Bush was trying to convince the world that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, we were one of the countries that had had trouble negotiating for oil with Saddam. The French were successful but Britain and the US were not getting anywhere. I was not paying attention to oil at the time but did try to affirm those reports of the infamous "weapons of mass destruction". All the quotes and sources that both the Brits and Bush were using seemed to be repeating the same origins. Now wouldn't you think that Hillary Clinton and others who opposed going in would have been smart enough to figure that out?

If everyone else is on the bandwagon, you are labeled as unpatriotic by your peers. It gets harder and harder to stay the course. I applaud those who did have the common sense to vote against our involvement. Locally, Congressman Rush Holt voted against going in. He is and was a very smart man.

What did this war really mean for our country? Now we add up the cost.

Brown University has carried out research and one study is "Cost of Wars Project".
It estimates that it cost the US between 3.2 to 4 trillion dollars to look for the phantom weapons of mass destruction. The Department of Defense cedes 357.8 billion but that was borrowed monies so there is interest due. Expect another trillion or so in the future to care for the maimed veterans who have survived to come home.

Ahem. Borrowed monies. Borrowed from where? Try our Social Security Trust Fund on for size. I am not going to say more but if a Republican Congressman stands in front of me to insist that he "must" cut my social security benefit which I am living on, because it is a superfluous "entitlement"....well, sir, follow the bear over the mountain.

Before I finish today, I suggest clicking on to the following link for a first hand reply to Newt Gingrich's blithe consideration of poverty.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/13/opinion/granderson-poor-families/index.html This is a link to a thoughtful article prompted by recent Newt Gingrich's comments.

The Social Security Trust Fund is this government's largest creditor. Don't tell me you're going to take away my Social Security just so you won't have to pay the interest on the Bush Iraq War Debt!

Seniors rock.