Pelosi wins battle...looses war!

Democrat from California and House Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi may have won a small and insignificant battle in the House of Representatives but I believe that the war for the health care reform bill (Obama Care?) will probably be either lost or significantly altered in the Senate so the Obama part of the bill will be at best only minimally present if at all. If the bill was so great why did 39 democratic representatives cross over and vote with the GOP? What did the President promise those democrats he lobbied to stay and vote for the bill as presented by the democrates...some nice "pork" for their districts? How much did it cost the American tax payers for those few votes needed. The bill only won by less than a handful of votes. This entire fiasco was for the benefit of Pres. Obama to show that he was not politically impotent; I wonder if it accomplished what it was supposed to do or just the opposite.

According to Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the bill is DOA (dead on arrival) in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has not yet scheduled floor debate on the bill. This bill may not even get settled one way or the other until next year. I am sure there will be a lot of spinning by all the talking heads on TV and the radio over the next several weeks but one thing that is certain is that the passing of this bill was NO mandate from the people.

Obama Bank Failure List

The number of U.S. bank failures in 2009 climbed to 106 after regulators shut down seven banks in the South and the Midwest. The failed banks were identified by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as: Partners Bank, Naples, Fla.; Hillcrest Bank Florida, also in Naples; Flagship National Bank, Bradenton, Fla.; American United Bank, Lawrenceville, Ga.; Riverview Community Bank, Otsego, Minn.; Bank of Elmwood, Racine, Wis.; First DuPage Bank, Westmont, Ill.

Failed Bank List

Bank Name City State CERT # Closing Date
United Commercial Bank San Francisco CA 32469 November 6, 2009
Gateway Bank of St. Louis St. Louis MO 19450 November 6, 2009
Prosperan Bank Oakdale MN 35074 November 6, 2009
Home Federal Savings Bank Detroit MI 30329 November 6, 2009
United Security Bank Sparta GA 22286 November 6, 2009
North Houston Bank Houston TX 18776 October 30, 2009
Madisonville State Bank Madisonville TX 33782 October 30, 2009
Citizens National Bank Teague TX 25222 October 30, 2009
Park National Bank Chicago IL 11677 October 30, 2009
Pacific National Bank San Francisco CA 30006 October 30, 2009
California National Bank Los Angeles CA 34659 October 30, 2009
San Diego National Bank San Diego CA 23594 October 30, 2009
Community Bank of Lemont Lemont IL 35291 October 30, 2009
Bank USA, N.A. Phoenix AZ 32218 October 30, 2009
First DuPage Bank Westmont IL 35038 October 23, 2009
Riverview Community Bank Otsego MN 57525 October 23, 2009
Bank of Elmwood Racine WI 18321 October 23, 2009
Flagship National Bank Bradenton FL 35044 October 23, 2009
Hillcrest Bank Florida Naples FL 58336 October 23, 2009
American United Bank Lawrenceville GA 57794 October 23, 2009
Partners Bank Naples FL 57959 October 23, 2009
San Joaquin Bank Bakersfield CA 23266 October 16, 2009
Southern Colorado National Bank Pueblo CO 57263 October 2, 2009
Jennings State Bank Spring Grove MN 11416 October 2, 2009
Warren Bank Warren MI 34824 October 2, 2009
Georgian Bank Atlanta GA 57151 September 25, 2009
Irwin Union Bank, F.S.B. Louisville KY 57068 September 18, 2009
Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company Columbus IN 10100 September 18, 2009
Venture Bank Lacey WA 22868 September 11, 2009
Brickwell Community Bank Woodbury MN 57736 September 11, 2009
Corus Bank, N.A. Chicago IL 13693 September 11, 2009
First State Bank Flagstaff AZ 34875 September 4, 2009
Platinum Community Bank Rolling Meadows IL 35030 September 4, 2009
Vantus Bank Sioux City IA 27732 September 4, 2009
InBank Oak Forest IL 20203 September 4, 2009
First Bank of Kansas City Kansas City MO 25231 September 4, 2009
Affinity Bank Ventura CA 27197 August 28, 2009
Mainstreet Bank Forest Lake MN 1909 August 28, 2009
Bradford Bank Baltimore MD 28312 August 28, 2009
Guaranty Bank Austin TX 32618 August 21, 2009
CapitalSouth Bank Birmingham AL 22130 August 21, 2009
First Coweta Bank Newnan GA 57702 August 21, 2009
ebank Atlanta GA 34682 August 21, 2009
Community Bank of Nevada Las Vegas NV 34043 August 14, 2009
Community Bank of Arizona Phoenix AZ 57645 August 14, 2009
Union Bank, National Association Gilbert AZ 34485 August 14, 2009
Colonial Bank Montgomery AL 9609 August 14, 2009
Dwelling House Savings and Loan Association Pittsburgh PA 31559 August 14, 2009
Community First Bank Prineville OR 23268 August 7, 2009
Community National Bank of Sarasota County Venice FL 27183 August 7, 2009
First State Bank Sarasota FL 27364 August 7, 2009
Mutual Bank Harvey IL 18659 July 31, 2009
First BankAmericano Elizabeth NJ 34270 July 31, 2009
Peoples Community Bank West Chester OH 32288 July 31, 2009
Integrity Bank Jupiter FL 57604 July 31, 2009
First State Bank of Altus Altus OK 9873 July 31, 2009
Security Bank of Jones County Gray GA 8486 July 24, 2009
Security Bank of Houston County Perry GA 27048 July 24, 2009
Security Bank of Bibb County Macon GA 27367 July 24, 2009
Security Bank of North Metro Woodstock GA 57105 July 24, 2009
Security Bank of North Fulton Alpharetta GA 57430 July 24, 2009
Security Bank of Gwinnett County Suwanee GA 57346 July 24, 2009
Waterford Village Bank Williamsville NY 58065 July 24, 2009
Temecula Valley Bank Temecula CA 34341 July 17, 2009
Vineyard Bank Rancho Cucamonga CA 23556 July 17, 2009
BankFirst Sioux Falls SD 34103 July 17, 2009
First Piedmont Bank Winder GA 34594 July 17, 2009
Bank of Wyoming Thermopolis WY 22754 July 10, 2009
Founders Bank Worth IL 18390 July 2, 2009
Millennium State Bank of Texas Dallas TX 57667 July 2, 2009
First National Bank of Danville Danville IL 3644 July 2, 2009
Elizabeth State Bank Elizabeth IL 9262 July 2, 2009
Rock River Bank Oregon IL 15302 July 2, 2009
First State Bank of Winchester Winchester IL 11710 July 2, 2009
John Warner Bank Clinton IL 12093 July 2, 2009
Mirae Bank Los Angeles CA 57332 June 26, 2009
MetroPacific Bank Irvine CA 57893 June 26, 2009
Horizon Bank Pine City MN 9744 June 26, 2009
Neighborhood Community Bank Newnan GA 35285 June 26, 2009
Community Bank of West Georgia Villa Rica GA 57436 June 26, 2009
First National Bank of Anthony Anthony KS 4614 June 19, 2009
Cooperative Bank Wilmington NC 27837 June 19, 2009
Southern Community Bank Fayetteville GA 35251 June 19, 2009
Bank of Lincolnwood Lincolnwood IL 17309 June 5, 2009
Citizens National Bank Macomb IL 5757 May 22, 2009
Strategic Capital Bank Champaign IL 35175 May 22, 2009
BankUnited, FSB Coral Gables FL 32247 May 21, 2009
Westsound Bank Bremerton WA 34843 May 8, 2009
America West Bank Layton UT 35461 May 1, 2009
Citizens Community Bank Ridgewood NJ 57563 May 1, 2009
Silverton Bank, NA Atlanta GA 26535 May 1, 2009
First Bank of Idaho Ketchum ID 34396 April 24, 2009
First Bank of Beverly Hills Calabasas CA 32069 April 24, 2009
Michigan Heritage Bank Farmington Hills MI 34369 April 24, 2009
American Southern Bank Kennesaw GA 57943 April 24, 2009
Great Basin Bank of Nevada Elko NV 33824 April 17, 2009
American Sterling Bank Sugar Creek MO 8266 April 17, 2009
New Frontier Bank Greeley CO 34881 April 10, 2009
Cape Fear Bank Wilmington NC 34639 April 10, 2009
Omni National Bank Atlanta GA 22238 March 27, 2009
TeamBank, NA Paola KS 4754 March 20, 2009
Colorado National Bank Colorado Springs CO 18896 March 20, 2009
FirstCity Bank Stockbridge GA 18243 March 20, 2009
Freedom Bank of Georgia Commerce GA 57558 March 6, 2009
Security Savings Bank Henderson NV 34820 February 27, 2009
Heritage Community Bank Glenwood IL 20078 February 27, 2009
Silver Falls Bank Silverton OR 35399 February 20, 2009
Pinnacle Bank of Oregon Beaverton OR 57342 February 13, 2009
Corn Belt Bank & Trust Co. Pittsfield IL 16500 February 13, 2009
Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast Cape Coral FL 34563 February 13, 2009
Sherman County Bank Loup City NE 5431 February 13, 2009
County Bank Merced CA 22574 February 6, 2009
Alliance Bank Culver City CA 23124 February 6, 2009
FirstBank Financial Services McDonough GA 57017 February 6, 2009
Ocala National Bank Ocala FL 26538 January 30, 2009
Suburban FSB Crofton MD 30763 January 30, 2009
MagnetBank Salt Lake City UT 58001 January 30, 2009
1st Centennial Bank Redlands CA 33025 January 23, 2009

Click On Links:
Barack Obama First Year Presidential Actions
Obama’s Approval Rating
Obama’s Give Jobs To Top Fundraisers
H.R. 3962 Tax Hikes
Obama Promises One Year Later
Dollar Losing Value Under Obama
Obama Bank Overhaul
Impeach Obama
Obama $3.6 Trillion Budget Proposal
Black People Don’t Like Black Conservatives
Voters Trust Republicans More Than Democrats

Distribution of H1N1 Vaccine

H1N1 allocation based on flu severity, other factors

By Robert McCoppin | Daily Herald Staff

Published: 11/8/2009 12:02 AM

The allocation of vaccines for the H1N1 flu virus in recent weeks may have seemed haphazard.

In suburban Cook County, many children with serious medical conditions couldn't get a shot.

Initially, DuPage and McHenry counties had only nasal sprays, which pregnant women and people with conditions like asthma can't take.

In Kane County, mass vaccination clinics were canceled after demand overwhelmed the supply.

And in Lake County, some people seeking vaccinations gave up when they saw jammed parking lots and hours-long lines. And parents who didn't qualify for the shots were given vaccines they didn't even ask for.

Yet in Chicago, officials have received nearly 330,000 doses, more than double suburban Cook, and started getting the vaccine nearly a month before the collar counties.

The allocation of vaccine created such anomalies as Kane County at one point getting more doses than DuPage County, though it has almost half the population.

Story continues below







Maureen McHugh, executive director of the DuPage County Health Department, said there have been some discrepancies, but state workers are trying their best with a limited supply.

"It's been an awkward couple of weeks," she said, "but it will even out."

Despite the inconsistencies, public health officials say they are trying to dole out the doses as fairly as possible.

Distribution is based not strictly on population, but on a number of factors, Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said.

H1N1-related hospitalizations and deaths, along with population, are the primary considerations. The state no longer tracks overall cases by county because the illness is widespread.

State officials also try to keep distribution spread evenly across the state, and consider logistics such as the refrigeration storage capacity of each county.

"We're ordering as much as we can as soon as we can," Arnold said. "Right now, supply is so limited, we're all clamoring to get it. We hear some concerns, 'I live in this county but it's coming to this (other) county.' It's not a perfect system. Our objective is to get as much vaccine as we can into people."

Further complicating distribution is that federal authorities treat Chicago, New York and Los Angeles the same way they do states, sending the cities their own allotments of vaccine separate from their states, because of their large populations. Illinois, then, doled out its allotment to the rest of the state.

As the supply evens out, county health departments now are taking steps to serve a previously underserved group, those with underlying medical conditions who are at greatest risk of dying from the flu.

On Friday, DuPage County began holding the first of two immunization clinics for schoolchildren with medical conditions that endanger them, such as heart, lung, neurological, and immune-suppressing conditions.

DuPage officials sent letters to the children as identified by nurses at schools throughout the county. All 3,000 appointments were very quickly filled.

Cook County started allocating some of its supply to obstetricians and pediatricians Thursday, spokeswoman Amy Poore said, in an effort to get vaccines to some of the most at-risk patients: pregnant women and children with underlying medical conditions.

But some pediatric specialists have said they are unequipped to provide the shots because they don't normally provide vaccines, so officials are trying to find the right providers.

And Will County will hold clinics this week specifically for people with severely compromised immune systems, such as transplants recipients, chemotherapy patients, and those getting oxygen for acute lung disease.

Statewide, all 95 county health departments should have received vaccines by now, and most have held or scheduled vaccinations. Much of the initial shipments were in the form of a live virus in a nasal spray, which pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions cannot take.

Story continues below







There are also signs the scarcity of vaccine may be starting to loosen up, as Chicago, suburban Cook, and all the collar counties got additional doses this past week.

After initially getting the smallest allotment per person, with a paltry 20,000 doses for 2.5 million people, suburban Cook suddenly has by far the biggest supply outside Chicago, with almost 150,000 doses. Officials hope to start supply day care centers and walk-in clinics soon.

Vaccine remained scarcest in McHenry County, with just one dose for every 100 residents - all nasal spray.

Plagued by delivery delays, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shipped 327,000 doses to Chicago and more than 1 million doses to the rest of the state, with ultimate allocations based strictly on population. But the CDC leaves the method of allocation up to each state.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Thursday it has started receiving 3.7 million doses for its personnel - though many are not necessarily in the highest-risk groups for serious complications from the flu. The states also reserve additional vaccines for members of military families.



County
Population
Doses ratio
Distribution

Cook suburbs
2.5 million
36:1
Schools, appointments

DuPage
930,000
58:1
Appointments

Kane
500,000
29:1
Line-up clinics

Lake
700,000
55:1
Line-up clinics

McHenry
300,000
91:1
Appointments




Source: U.S. Census, county health departments






Debra Quackenbush MPH CHES

Community Information Coordinator

McHenry County Department of Health

2200 N. Seminary Avenue

Woodstock IL 60098

815-334-4456 815-334-4456 office

815-236-3238 815-236-3238 cell

815-334-4635 fax

daquackenbush@co.mchenry.il.us



Visit our new webpage www.mcdh.info

Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/mchenrycohealth

Key Flu Indicators

Key Flu Indicators

Each week CDC analyzes information about influenza disease activity in the United States and publishes findings of key flu indicators in a report called FluView.* During the week of October 25-31, 2009, a review of the key indicators found that influenza activity remained high in the United States. Below is a summary of the most recent key indicators:

Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) nationally decreased very slightly this week over last week after four consecutive weeks of sharp increases. While ILI declined slightly, visits to doctors for influenza-like illness remain at much higher levels than what is expected for this time of the year and parts of the country continue to see sharp increases in activity. It’s possible that nationwide ILI could rise again. ILI continues to be higher than what is seen during the peak of most regular flu seasons.
Total influenza hospitalization rates for laboratory-confirmed flu are climbing and are higher than expected for this time of year. Hospitalization rates continue to be highest is younger populations with the highest hospitalization rate reported in children 0-4 years old.
The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report continues to increase and has been higher for five week now than what is expected at this time of year. In addition, 18 flu-related pediatric deaths were reported this week; 15 of these deaths were confirmed 2009 H1N1, and three were influenza A viruses, but were not subtyped. Since April 2009, CDC has received reports of 129 laboratory-confirmed pediatric 2009 H1N1 deaths and another 15 pediatric deaths that were laboratory confirmed as influenza, but where the flu virus subtype was not determined.
Forty-eight states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time; a decline of one state over last week. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This many reports of widespread activity at this time of year are unprecedented during seasonal flu.
Almost all of the influenza viruses identified so far continue to be 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses. These viruses remain similar to the virus chosen for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine, and remain susceptible to the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir with rare exception

Taken from CDC Newsletter.

House passes Healthcare Reform Bill

In the face of near-unanimous Republican opposition and a last-ditch effort to change the bill, the US House of Representatives late Saturday night voted 220 to 215 in favor of legislation to overhaul the nation's healthcare system. Thirty-nine of the body's 258 Democratic members — many from conservative districts in the South — joined their GOP House colleagues in opposing the measure, a $1.1 trillion compromise bill that has aroused deep passions on both sides of the aisle, as well as beyond the halls of Congress.

In a statement issued from Camp David shortly after the vote, President Barack Obama, who had visited House Democrats earlier in the day, said, "Tonight, in an historic vote, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would finally make real the promise of quality, affordable health care for the American people."

For her part, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she was "proud" of House members who stood steadfast against overwhelming GOP opposition. "When we can't find common ground, we have to stand our ground," she said at a news briefing following passage of the legislation, which garnered just one Republican vote, that of Anh "Joseph" Cao (R-LA).

But House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-OH), whose GOP substitute plan went down to defeat shortly before the historic vote, vowed to continue the fight. "I came here to renew the American Dream, so my kids and their kids have the same opportunities I had. I came here to fight big-government monstrosities like this bill that dim the light of freedom and diminish opportunity for future generations. Our plan will lower premiums by up to 10%, making health care more affordable for families and small businesses. That's what the American people want, and that's what Republicans will continue to fight for."

Action now turns to the Senate, where leaders are working to merge bills from that body's Health Committee and Finance Committee. Like the House-passed bill, the Senate Health Committee's proposal includes a public-plan option, a new government insurance plan that would compete with private plans in the marketplace and be authorized to negotiate rates with physicians and hospitals. The Finance Committee proposal, in contrast, would create state-level private, nonprofit, consumer-run insurance cooperatives, which liberals in the Senate, including West Virginia Democrat Jay Rockefeller, say are fatally flawed.

But to overcome a 60-vote hurdle — the number of votes Democrats would need to cut off a GOP filibuster that some conservative Democrats have threatened to join — Senate Democrats who favor the public-plan option may have no choice but to compromise to get any sort of reform legislation through their chamber.

If that happens, and it's still a big if, the next battleground would be the conference committee, where negotiators of both chambers must forge a single piece of legislation acceptable to both sides — and, of course, to the President.

[CLOSE WINDOW]
Authors and Disclosures
Journalist
Wayne Guglielmo
Wayne Guglielmo is a freelance writer for Medscape.

Don't loose your government and Constitution...Treaty of Copenhagen

Read and Sign Instrument of Repudiation

Important Notice for America's Future

The Treaty of Copenhagen, is being prepared for signing in mid-December 2009. It would create an unelected world government with direct power over all financial and trading markets, and direct power to intervene over the heads of elected governments in the economic and environmental affairs of all nations signing the Treaty. The new, supranational bureaucratic entity will have the power to redistribute up to 2% of wealthy nations annual gross domestic product to third-world countries in reparation for imaginary "climate debt" - just as undeniable scientific proof becomes available that CO2 has only a tiny and harmless warming effect! Please support the Instrument of Repudiation, and urge at least five of your friends to support it too. Please sign up to oppose the Treaty and preserve America's freedom, democracy, and prosperity.

Go to www.webcommentary.com to find the details on how you the average citizen can repudiate this Agreement.

$250,000 fine & Five Years in prison

What possible and terrible crime could you possibly commit to incur such a punishment as up to $250,000 (a quarter of a million dollars) in fines and up to 5 years in prison? ...rape...manslaughter...assault...what? Well if you are a census taker that could be the cost you pay in dollars or in time served or both if you reveal any of the data (for the rest of your life) you have gotten while taking the census for the Census Bureau in about 5 months from now. Supposedly the information obtained by the Census Bureau cannot be shared with anyone, and that includes other federal agencies...wonder if that includes the Department of Home Land Security?HMMM? This data will supposedly include law abiding, tax paying citizens, non-tax payers, felons, illegal immigrants from all countries, undocumented immigrants from all countries and anyone and everyone else they can find and get to cooperate in this census.

The purpose of the census is get the number of all the people living in the US regardless of their status so that the Census Bureau and the federal government can figure out how your taxes will be distributed in an equitable? and "fair" manner...Hmmmm again. According to the Brookings Institution each person in the US uses about $1400 in annual program expenditures. So in fact, we already have a program that in a sense redistributes some of the money (wealth) to theoretically everyone...the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the fat, the skinny, the legal, the illegal, the documented, the undocumented, the tax payer, the non-taxpayer....that sounds a lot like like what President Obama said in his campaign for President...to redistribute the wealth.

Just thought you folks out there would like to know this.

Rhetoric & charisma..no substitute for substance

Finally the "independent silent majority" that put Barack Obama in office last year has learned the error of its ways; rhetoric and charisma is not a substitute for substance. This was dramatically reflected in the GOP wins in Virginia and New Jersey in spite of the personal campaigning of the President for the defeated Democrat, Jon Corzine in New Jersey and Democrat, R. Creigh Deeds in Virginia. They have learned that words and promises and smiles and kissing babies are no substitute for action and listening to the wishes of their constituents. Finally the silent majority will not be silent anymore and will hold those elected to their campaign promises. Let the word go forth from this day forward, if you are campaigning for political office "say what you mean and do what you say"; the people of this great land will hold you to it and will not forget at the next election cycle...they have become much more street smart and will not fall for anymore empty political promises.

I believe the winds of change are starting to blow ever so gently but will erupt into a tornado if the people are feed the same old empty promises they have been getting for generations.

Democrat candidates for office cannot any longer hope to slip into office on the shirt tails of President Obama; in fact President Obama cannot hope to stay in office on the basis of his rhetoric and charm and flashing smile...it will not work again. He has to really accomplish things of substance that the American people expect of their President. As the President now realizes, words and promises will NOT BE ENOUGH.

Let the "Rich" pay for it!

If you believe the democratic politicians in control of the Congress of the United States the overhaul health care bill being proposed will be funded primarily by the "rich"; a 5.4% increase in the tax on individuals making more than $500,000 / year and couples making more that $1 million per year commencing in 2011. According to the Democrats this would only affect 0.3% of tax filers. So,playing the devil's advocate that would mean that they would not loose that many votes from the middle class. A smart strategy if you believe the numbers; I don't. Most of the entitlement programs that have been created have started out with low ball estimates and when all is said and done have reached costs 10 to 20 times or higher than the initial low ball figures thrown at the American people...that is a fact of life and history. How can you trust the Congress when they can't even run the government well; something they are paid very well for and with a myriad of benefits witch we the average citizens don't have and if politics continue "as usual" will never have.

Now, I believe in the theory of "Trickle Down Taxation"; a theory proposed by myself. The basic core of my theory is that when they milk all they can from the so-called "rich" they will then redefine "rich" to include the upper 1/3 of the middle class and when that has been mined for all the extra taxes needed then the middle 1/3 and so forth and so on....where does it end...bankruptcy of the country and financial collapse. We all know, deep within our inner being, there are NO FREE LUNCHES...someone somewhere always pays the bill. What happens however when you run out of the someones and somewheres?

Think about it...someday you may be defined as being super-rich for the sake of being in a tax bracket so that your finances can be mined by the IRS... only in America. God bless us and save us...He may be the only one Who can!

Truth...a rare commodity out of Washington D.C.

The first sentence in Cal Thomas's Views column really was an epiphany for me this morning as I read the Northwest Herald. The rest of the article was interesting but the first sentence contained the message; if we can't trust the veracity of of our elected representatives on both sides of the aisle; if all that matters is PARTY and PARTY AGENDA and getting RE-ELECTED then we the constituents of both parties are truly not being represented. What we have in Washington, in Congress, is an oligarchy (the rule of an elite few to control the many). What I see developing is a true insurgency of the ruled to consider options offered by developing third and fourth parties. I believe that the evils of a two party system that our Founding Fathers warned us about over 230 years ago are truly becoming, if not already existing, in our government today. Only time and the American Peoples' vote will tell the future of the party system. These may be revolutionary times in the way the American Voter thinks and votes. God bless the United States of America.

The truth...we may never find it

David Hume (1739) summed it up very well I believe:

"Thus not only our reason fails us in the discovery of the ultimate connexion of causes and effects, but even after experience has inform'd us of their constant conjunction, 'tis impossible for us to satisfy ourselves by our reason, why we shou'd extend that experience beyond those particular instances, which have fallen under our observation. We suppose, but are never able to prove, that there must be a resemblance betwixt those objects, of which we have had experience, and those which lie beyond the reach of our discovery."

We live in a time and culture in which the people involved in the brain tumor cluster in McCullum Lake may never know the absolute truth regarding this issue. I say this because the techniques and purposes of law and science differ dramatically. Both seek to find the truth, but each applies a different meaning of "truth".

According to L.O. Gostin, Public Health Law...Power..Duty..Restraint, "While law seeks finality and closure, scientific inquiry is continuous; while law in civil litigation makes decisions by the preponderance of evidence (greater than 50 percent), science uses statistical significance (greater than 95 percent, with a confidence limit that does not include 1.0); while law follows an adversarial method, science embraces the experimental design (the "scientific" method); while legal evidence is testimonial, scientific evidence is empirical. These different understandings do not mean that one field discovers truth and the other less than truth. Rather, the two fields have different missions and each operates, at least partly, in the other's environment. Science and law, therefore, must seek to understand the other, and each must accommodate the methods and cognitive processes of the other."

Conflicts and differences of opinion can occur between law and science in several areas; one area is that of the issue of causality - did an event or exposure to a substance produce or cause a certain harm to an individual or group of individuals. The plaintiff attorney tries to assign responsibility for the alleged harm to the defendant; that is his/her mission. The attorney for the plaintiff claim that a certain substance or substances caused a detrimental health condition to the plaintiffs. Sometimes this allegation takes place years or even decades after the alleged exposure to the alleged agent.

Problems arise in trying to prove scientifically that the alleged exposure to the alleged agent was directly and causally related to the detrimental health condition. Why? ...because of the number of individuals involved, the time span between the alleged event and the detrimental health condition and the many variables that might have or could have affected each of the plaintiffs over the many years since the alleged event and the detrimental health condition.

According to L. O. Gostin, Public Health Law...Power.Duty.Restraint, the "plaintiffs in exposure litigation must establish two types of causation: general and specific. General causation assesses whether the substance is capable of causing the harm found in increased levels in the population. Specific causation assesses whether exposure to the substance in fact caused caused the plaintiffs' harm." It can rarely be proven that the harm in the population or individual was directly caused by a specific event or substance which that population may or may not have been exposed to many years ago.

The epigraph by David Hume states that positive correlations never establish causation; however epidemiologists use statistical significance to establish positive correlations between two events, the exposure and the harm done, to support causality. But to do this by using the scientific method the causality is assumed only if there exists more than a 95 percent chance that the exposure results in harm.

This is the conundrum that exists in proving causation by using the law and using the scientific method.

Today, October 29, 1940

On Oct. 29, 1940, the Secretary of War reached into a container containing capsules with the names of 8000 individuals in each capsule who would be drafted into military service to defend this country. It was a solemn moment. The capsule Serial # was 158. The President of the United States, FDR, gave a short statement and ended it with these words which I hope the current President of the United States understands: "only the strong may continue to live in peace." Words we should never forget.

Civilian Police Investigative Agency

With all the recent controversy surrounding the McHenry County Sheriff's Police Department it might be prudent for the McHenry County Board to consider establishing a Civilian Police Investigative Agency. In order to be successful the Civilian Investigative Agency would have to possess the following elements:

1. Independence - The civilian review body must be independent of the Sheriff's Police Department.


2. Investigative Power - The civilian review body must have the authority and resources to independently investigate complaints.


3. Mandatory Police Participation (aka Subpoena Power) - The civilian review body must be able to compel the participation of officers in their investigations and hearings.


4. Role in the Discipline System - A civilian review body must have a role in the discipline of officers where complaints are upheld. That role may be advisory to the Police Department, or civilian review may have a disciplinary role in certain defined cases.


5. Statistical Analysis and Reporting - The civilian review body should issue a report at least annually on statistics involving police complaints and other aspects of policing, and analyze the data to identify trends and to identify practices or even individual officers that may require remedial action to improve policing and prevent future incidents.


6. Policy Recommendations - The civilian review body should be both retrospective, investigating individual complaints, but also prospective, proactively looking at ways to improve policing. Policy recommendations in civilian review bodies are often the result of investigating individual complaints, which may identify a need for new or better police practices, policies, or training.
7. Hearing Component (Formal or Informal) - The civilian review body must have the ability to conduct hearings on individual complaints and on matters of policy.
8. Adequate Funding - Funding must be adequate to effectively support the investigative, analysis and reporting, and policy roles of civilian review.
9. Reflects Community Diversity - Both the staff and the civilian review body should reflect community diversity.
10. Accessibility - The public must be able to easily and directly access the civilian review body, whether physically, by phone, e-mail or fax. The physical location of the civilian review body office is an important consideration, and should reflect both the public accessibility of the body, and its independence from the police department.
11. Qualifications and Training - The civilian review staff must be appropriately qualified and trained, and time and funding dedicated to continuing education and peer-to-peer learning. The members of the civilian review body will probably need to meet certain qualifications, and should be given initial orientation and training, with opportunities for ongoing education and peer-to-peer learning.

The above was taken from a discussion by Director Tom Radulovich,BART Police Department Review Committee Meeting of April 29, 2009.

HEALTH COSTS & HISTORY

The current administration and congress has just run a $1.4 trillion budget deficit for fiscal 2009. We are being feed the line that this new health care plan (entitlement or in other words give away or here is a reason to vote for the democrats in congress and for Pres. Obama again next election cycle) will reduce the deficit by $81 billion over 10 years. To believe this you have to be blissfully ignorant about everything you know about Washington and government involvement in health care programs.

The democrats in congress and the President believe that a federal role in health care will make health care more affordable. The opposite has occurred. Here are a few facts:

• Prior to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, health care inflation ran slightly faster than overall inflation.
• In the years since, medical inflation has climbed 2.3 times faster than cost increases elsewhere in the economy.
• Much of this reflects advances in technology and expensive treatments, but the contrast does contradict the claim of government as a benign cost saver.

Let's now examine the record of Congressional forecasters in predicting costs. We will start with Medicaid, the joint federal-state program for the poor:

• The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that its first year costs would be $238 million. It hit more than $1 billion and costs have kept climbing since then.
• Thanks in part to expansions promoted by California's Henry Waxman, a principal author of the current House bill, Medicaid now costs 37 times more than when it was launched -- after adjusting for inflation.
• Currently the cost is $251 billion, up 24.7 percent or $50 billion in fiscal 2009 alone, and that's before the health care bill covers millions of new beneficiaries.

Medicare has a similar record:

• In 1965, Congressional budgeters said it would cost $12 billion in 1990.
• Its actual cost that year was $90 billion.
• The hospitalization program alone was supposed to cost $9 billion but wound up costing $67 billion. These aren't small forecasting errors--the rate of increase in Medicare spending has outpaced overall inflation in nearly every year (up 9.8 percent in 2009), so a program that began at $4 billion now costs $428 billion.

The lesson to be learned is that nearly all federal benefit programs grow relentlessly once they are started. This history won't stop Democrats bent on ramming their entitlement into law. But every Member who votes for it is guaranteeing larger deficits and higher taxes far into the future.

Source: Editorial, "Health Costs and History;Government programs always exceed their spending estimates," Wall Street Journal, October 20, 2009.

Thanks! James C Zoes

Thanks for your Letter To the Editor dated Monday, October 12, 2009. It is entitled "Defense decision". I think you were much too kind in using this title; I would have used the title "Defense sellout". On Sept. 17 President Obama sent the wrong message to Russia; that we perhaps were not really that concerned about Eastern Europe. When the President cancelled the ABM missile defense of Eastern Europe it sent the message to Eastern Europe that they could not really count on this administration to fulfill it's promises but that the President was more concerned with satisfying the Bear, Russia on the date of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. As you said in your letter, this did not go unnoticed in Europe but the media in the US treated it as a very minor event. In reality it reminded me of the heady days of FDR and the partitioning of Eastern Europe. Why did President Obama do it? I never heard a satisfactory answer; have any of you? If a Bear is not afraid of you it will attack and devour you. To make things even worse President Obama took the "sting" out of our Alaskan missile defence system by his budget cuts of this system which as you said effectively "standing it down". This leaves our western flank and shortest route to Russia vulnerable. What will he do next; recall all our ballistic missile subs and have them sit in port and have them shut down their nuclear power plants?

I do not understand the man, President Obama and I do not understand why he is not taking his first and foremost responsibility more seriously; to protect the security of the United States of America and its' citizens more seriously. Can anyone give me a good and reasonable answer to this question? Weakness is never rewarded by peace in this real world we live in....history has told us so over the millenniums.

Results of Police Chief Residence Poll

Sixty (60%) percent of the people who responded to the poll said that they would feel safer if the police chief lived in the same county and city as he or she was the chief of.

FBI begins probe of Holder?...in future?

In 3 1/2 years after our current President looses his office Attorney General Eric Holder might find himself in a similar situation after someone in the next administration finds somethings he or someone in the then current administration perceives some action in the Obama administration as unethical or illegal. Mr. Holder should be careful....you know the old saying "what goes around comes around". Be careful what you do Mr. Attorney General it may come back to haunt you in a few years.

Another reason for this move now is to take the heat off of the President whose ratings are falling at a precipitous rate in the democratic and republican parties and also with the American people across this great land.

If you write it....SIGN IT!

It really is the sign of a coward for someone who feels deeply and supposedly speaks the truth and reports facts to then sign it with an alias or a couple of initials. If its worth writing then have the guts and sign your name...I do or I don't write it.

Gus Philpott for McHenry County Sheriff

Gus Philpott for McHenry County Sheriff...not a bad idea. He has had much, much more experience as a police officer that President Obama had in governing or government....think about it. CHANGE....WE CAN DO IT.

$122,658/yr for non-resident police chief?

I've known Police Chief Bill Brogan for many years; ever since we used to meet and talk on occasion at Saint Patrick's Church in McHenry. He was an is a lifelong resident of the City of McHenry and McHenry County and has spent 27 of his 31 years in law enforcement at that department. He worked his way up through the ranks and got to where he is the hard way: he earned it by living and working every day and night in the county. He stated according to the Northwest Herald in Sunday, July 26th edition that " I feel blessed to be able to be the chief in the town I grew up in," said Brogan whose salary is $109,422 and is within minutes of being available if needed by his community.

As a resident of McHenry Brogan "knows the culture of McHenry and what people expect of their police force". "He knows the nooks and crannies and niches." On top of all of this he has always been a nice guy and someone who always put the welfare of the city and his fellow police officers before his own.

In contrast we have the City of Woodstock who decided to hire a new police chief from outside the department from outside the county and from outside the city. Chief Robert Lowen Jr's salary is, according to the Northwest Herald, $122,658. According to the information I have he has still not moved into McHenry County, as previous chiefs had to, much less the City of Woodstock of which he is the chief of police. I wonder if he knows the culture of McHenry County? I wonder is he knows all the nooks and crannies and niches of his city like police chief Brogan does? Does not living where you are the Chief of Police tell you anything about the man?.....I don't know...do you?