Middle aged increases in binge drinking in U.S.

"The total annual number of binge drinks consumed per U.S. adult who reported binge drinking increased significantly by 12% from 2011 to 2017, including among non-Hispanic white adults and those aged ≥35 years." https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/pdfs/mm6902a2-H.pdf

One is tempted to ask who was in the White House and Congress during the years of study?  I'm not making light of binge drinking, but it was during the Obama years that the hate and division really escalated--but then, so did the nastiness on social media. That said, when we see this, the federal government is quick to see $$$ in grant money for more study of socioeconomic causes, when maybe it needs to look in the mirror.

This was reported in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC and you should read carefully rather than accepting the headline version you'll see on internet news (like my source did using Yahoo instead of CDC). Just saying though, Ohio was one of the 9 states reporting a significant increase. And Wyoming? What's going on? The CDC backed up its claims with data on increase in alcohol sales.

I mention my source because it is a pet peeve that I receive “Healthbeat” in my e-mail from Ohio State University Medical Center Communications Center, and it is citing Yahoo!  Do they have no experts of their own who can read a CDC MMWR report?

How a Sustainalist Think Tank rates Obama

Call them leftists, socialists, environmentalists, greengoes or sustainalists, makes no difference. Here's how the World Resources Institute rates Obama in 2011 for Climate Policy.

1. Congress Didn’t Act (makes little difference--Obama has said he will veto anything that is anti-regulatory or good for business).
2. National Vehicle Rules Established (EPA and DOT busy nailing down the coffin lid for Michigan).
3. California Moves Ahead (going international for its regulations to further create a budget crisis).
4. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Economic benefits (a greenhouse gas cap–and-trade program for the electricity sector in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic U.S.)
5. EPA Makes Slow Progress on GHG Rules (moving forward with more regulations, just not as fast as WRI would want). The EPA is a regulatory train wreck.
6. Emissions Continue to Climb (hard to imagine since taking clunkers off the road so low income people can't afford a car to drive should have fixed that).

This isn't being done or not done by legislation--our elected representatives who are supposed to be our voice in Washington. It's all regulatory. We the people have no say in any of this. Only lobbyists, unions, and politicians.

The federal government is the biggest user and abuser of fossil fuels.

Aunt Muriel, 1917-2011

My mother's sister, Muriel, died last night. In 2009 my grandmother's youngest sister, Ada, died. Now they are all gone, but safe in the arms of Jesus.

Muriel, a teen-ager, at my parents wedding, 1934, far left front.

Two years ago at her birthday party.

Blogging break for Christmas

I'm never busy (by other people's standards) but I do get distracted by the computer's presence, so I'm taking a break. In addition, I'm gob-smacked by what's going on in Washington right now. I'm not a birther, but I'm beginning to believe our President is an alien, not from Africa but from outer space. A being no one, not the left and certainly not the right, knows how to deal with. This tax bill is by far the worst piece of legislation since Obamacare, and Republicans even with the help of the Tea Party, just can't stop this steamroller of debt and deception. And either his critics on the left are too dumb to catch on, or they are in on it for the media's benefit and are laughing at the Tea Party which has been defeated before the battle even started in Congress. In either case, I just don't even want to blog about it, so better I just enjoy the time of real peace, which is Jesus, not party, not politics, and not nation.

How are your kidneys?

"House and Senate Democrat leaders, and President Obama, argue that they can "pay for" health insurance "reform" by cutting $500 billion from Medicare spending over the next decade—largely through arbitrary reimbursement cuts,— without reducing the quality of care delivered to beneficiaries.

Yet, in January, 2011, Medicare will implement a new payment system for patients receiving dialysis for end stage kidney disease that will severely ration care to this vulnerable (and largely minority) population based on equally arbitrary payment reductions. These patients will be the unfortunate canary in the Medicare coal mine: "reform" legislation will expose millions of Medicare patients to rationing and reduced quality of care." Read the whole story at Medical Progress Today.

But bring out the violins for illegal aliens who need dialysis back in Mexico! NYT story. If you read far enough, you'll see Mexico's present (lower costs, but private pay) is our future.