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calendar   Friday - November 25, 2005

Why They All Get Prettier At Closing Time

Now we know. Einstein was wasting his time with all that quantum mechanics and relativity crap. The real hard-core science is being done today by scientists in Britain with a more important goal in mind .... figuring out why us guys have awakened to find a “coyote ugly” babe snoring next to us. It’s all in the science and here it comes. Do you think it’ll do any good, now that we know .... ?

imageimage‘Beer goggles’ Effect Explained
MANCHESTER - UK (BBC)

Scientists believe they have worked out a formula to calculate how “beer goggles” affect a drinker’s vision. The drink-fuelled phenomenon is said to transform supposedly “ugly” people into beauties - until the morning after.

Researchers at Manchester University say while beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder, the amount of alcohol consumed is not the only factor.

Additional factors include the level of light in the pub or club, the drinker’s own eyesight and the room’s smokiness. The distance between two people is also a factor. They all add up to make the aesthetically-challenged more attractive, according to the formula.

The formula can work out a final score, ranging from less than one - where there is no beer goggle effect - to more than 100. Nathan Efron, Professor of Clinical Optometry at the University of Manchester, said: “The beer goggles effect isn’t solely dependent on how much alcohol a person consumes, there are other influencing factors at play too.

“For example, someone with normal vision, who has consumed five pints of beer and views a person 1.5 metres away in a fairly smoky and poorly lit room, will score 55, which means they would suffer from a moderate beer goggle effect.” The research was commissioned by eyecare firm Bausch & Lomb PureVision. A poll showed that 68% of people had regretted giving their phone number to someone to whom they later realised they were not attracted.

A formula rating of less than one means no effect. Between one and 50 the person you would normally find unattractive appears less “visually offensive”. Non-appealing people become suddenly attractive between 51 and 100. At more than 100, someone not considered attractive looks like a super model.


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/25/2005 at 01:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-StuffScience-Technology •  
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Attention: Wisconsin

Your legislators are attempting to pull a fast one on you. They have scheduled a rushed public hearing on a proposed amendment to protect traditional marriages. You have four days notice so hurry up and let them know what you think. While you’re at it, demand an explanation from the government as to why the Packers suck so bad this year ....

The State Legislature has just announced that there will be a joint public hearing on Wisconsin’s proposed constitutional amendment that would clearly define and protect traditional one-man/one-woman marriage in our state.  The hearing is scheduled for (this is very short notice, but it’s as much notice as we got!) this coming Tuesday, November 29, 2005, starting at 9:00 a.m. in Room 411 South of the State Capitol.

Thanks to the help of many of you, the proposed resolution has 54 co-sponsors (52 in addition to the lead sponsors Sen. Scott Fitzgerald and Rep. Mark Gundrum)!  This represents an increase of 9 over the last time the measure was introduced for what is called “first consideration.” Thank you for notifying your legislators and urging them to co-sponsor this important resolution!  Your input really does make a difference.

The proposal now has official “bill numbers.” The resolution is Assembly Joint Resolution 67, with its Senate companion being Senate Joint Resolution 53.  Right now AJR 67 is in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Gundrum; and SJR 53 is in the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Dave Zien.  These two committees will be holding the public hearing on Tuesday.

It is very important that we have an excellent show of support at the hearing.  Obviously, because the hearing is in Madison, it is very easy for many people who oppose the resolution to show up--and you can be sure they will.  We need to at least match their numbers and hopefully have more than they do.  People showing up at the public hearing speaks volumes to the 13 legislators who comprise these 2 committees. 

I urge you to try to make the hearing if at all possible.  Come from near and far, from the city and the farm, from the suburbs and the inner city!  We need people from all across the state to lend their presence (and some their voices) at the hearing. 

At the public hearing on Tuesday, The Family Research Institute of Wisconsin will be presenting the petitions we have been gathering for the past 18 months.  If you haven’t already signed our marriage petition, you can do that online by clicking here.

If you can make the hearing, be sure to fill out a registration slip outside the room.  You can register in the following ways:  to speak in favor of the resolution, to speak against the resolution, in favor of but not speaking, against but not speaking, or for information only.  When you fill out the slip, we suggest leaving off your street address.  Just give your name and city.  This will give you some protection.

The fact that the hearing is being held very quickly after the resolution was introduced, leads me to think that at least one of the two houses, Senate or Assembly, is considering taking up the amendment before the Christmas break.  Their floor periods for December are December 6, 7, 8 and 13, 14, 15.  So, stay tuned!  We could very likely soon be needing you to contact either your senator or representative about his/her vote on this critical amendment! 

To stay informed check out our web site at www.fri-wi.org and also the Wisconsin Coalition for Traditional Marriage’s site at www.savemarriagewi.org.

Once again, thank you for taking time at a very busy time of year to be involved in your culture and your government.  When we speak with one voice, we make an incredible difference!

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends!  If The Family Research Institute of Wisconsin can be of help to you, please don’t hesitate to contact us (see below).

Julaine K. Appling
Executive Director
THE FAMILY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF WISCONSIN
1-888-378-7395 (toll-free)
http://www.fri-wi.org


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/25/2005 at 12:49 PM   
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Bad Girls: Watcha Gonna Do …

I love reading Pravda occasionally if for no other reason than the broken English and crazy ideas the Russkis come up with now that Communism is dead and they have rejoined the human race. Today’s dissertation from Pravda concerns the difference between good girls and bad girls. I’m amazed it took our comrades of the male gender this long to figure out the Axis Of Boobies. American guys have usually figured out all of the facts below by the time they turn 12 ....

imageimageBad Girls Are Fun In Parties And Sex, But Boring In Family Life
(PRAVDA)

Millions of girls that live on planet Earth and make men’s lives better, brighter and healthier, can generally be divided into two major categories: good girls and bad girls. Of course, if a man meets one of the girls from the second of the two categories, his life will get nerve-racking, dull and sick. An evaluation criterion is quite simple. It has to do with a stranger asking a girl for favors. A good girl will say a quick and categorical “no” while a bad one will ask the man “when”. There is a set of virtues and shortcomings both types of the girls are bestowed with.

Let us talk about the bad girls first and make a list of their unquestionable virtues. Their ability to be great fun is on top of the list. They can party all night and they can party the next day too. They laugh a lot, they are fond of flirting. Anybody can feel like a professional lady-killer when hanging out with them. Bad girls have an optimistic attitude to life. They are full of energy. They do not indulge in self-analysis. They do not tend to fall into a period of depression. Life is a never-ending show for them.

Bad girls are hungry for sex. They enjoy sexual experimentation. They will do anything they want and maybe more than you want them to when having sex with you. Their screams of joy will make you think you are really hung like a stud. Bad girls are pretty and sexy. They walk in elegant ways. They are used to be in the spotlight. They wear necklaces and beads, prefer low-cut necklines and mini skirts. Their lingerie is satin and lace. Well, if they wear it at all. However, despite obvious advantages, bad girls are really bad when it comes to certain things.

First, they can not be trusted. Indeed, these vultures are serial flirters and were made to seduce anything that moves. How the hell can they be trusted? Second, they can be dangerous if they happen to be behind the wheel. They can be as wild and reckless driving a car as they are when making love. These girls are always unpredictable, they often end up in a company of junkies or rummies. You can not build a solid relationship with this kind of girl. Soon you will find out that she is very selfish and simply does not give a damn about her potential partner. Girls like that enjoy being extravagant. They love going on a shopping spree if money is at hand. They will make lousy wives and mothers, their life is a string of divorce.

So you had better court the good ones. The good ones can vary as well but this is the truth: you can experience the precious moments of inner peace and comfort only when a good girl looks after you. She will takes care of you when you fall ill, she will miss you when you are out somewhere. Sex is not the top priority for good girls so you do not have to be a super lover. A girl like that is unlikely to cheat on you. Stop worrying even if she is exceptionally pretty. Remember how she told you to beat it on the first date when you tried to make out with her after having a few drinks. She can discourage any guy in a similar way. Good girls are mostly stick to monogamous relationships.


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/25/2005 at 11:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Sex •  
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Criminal Mastermind Apprehended

Forget the trafficing in illegal drugs and mafia hoods squeezing protection money. We have a real problem in Reno, Nevada that dwarfs all of that and then some. Yes, the Lego Bandito has finally been apprehended but is this the head of this crime family or are there others out there secretly depriving our kids of their favorite building blocks? Paging Elliott Ness ....

Reno Man Accused of Stealing Legos
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)

A 40-year-old man is behind bars, accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of a toy geared toward the 6-and-up crowd: Legos. To haul away the evidence, agents working for the U.S. Postal Inspector said they had to back a 20-foot truck to William Swanberg’s house in Reno, Nev., carting away mountains of the multicolored bricks.

Swanberg was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury in Hillsboro, a Portland suburb, which charged him with stealing Legos from Target stores in Oregon. Target estimates Swanberg stole and resold on the Internet up to $200,000 of the brick sets pilfered from their stores in Oregon as well as Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California.

When no one was looking, Swanberg switched the bar codes on Lego boxes, replacing an expensive one with a cheaper label, said Detective Troy Dolyniuk, a member of the Washington County fraud and identity theft enforcement team. Target officials contacted police after noticing the same pattern at their stores in the five western states. A Target security guard stopped Swanberg at a Portland-area store on Nov. 17, after he bought 10 boxes of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon set.

In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars set, valued at $99 each, as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg’s car, investigators also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their locations carefully plotted on a mapping software. Records of the Lego collector’s Web site, Bricklink.Com, show that Swanberg has sold nearly $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, said Dolyniuk.

Attempts to reach Swanberg at the Washington County jail, where he is being held on $250,000 bail, were unsuccessful. It’s unknown at this time if he has retained an attorney. Lego’s Danish founder Ole Kirk Christiansen named the famous bricks in 1934 by fusing two Danish words, “leg” and “godt” meaning “play well.”

Today, according to the company’s Web site, children across the world spend 5 billion hours every year playing with Lego bricks, available in 90 different colors. The bricks have long transcended its initial purpose as just a toy and—like Crayola Crayons or Barbie—has now become a cultural symbol. There are Web sites for Lego collectors and on eBay, rare Lego sets can sometimes fetch thousands of dollars.


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/25/2005 at 06:55 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime •  
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Black Friday

In my youth (back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth), I was fortunate to be able to work in retail a number of years. That experience taught me to always be courteous to the help behind the counter. I remember being screamed at, yelled at and even punched on one occasion. It seems to me that nowadays people are even more rude to each other in the stores than they were back then.

I probably couldn’t work retail now as I would be sorely tempted to haul off and smack the crap out of some of the specimens I see on shopping expeditions. Yelling at their children, dragging them through the stores as the kids scream, demanding this or that, using abusive language if they don’t see exactly what they want - too much for me.

When I go shopping nowadays, I tend to rush in quietly, grab what I want (or a suitable substitute if the #1 choice is unavailable) and quickly go through checkout with a smile and a kind word or two to the cashier. Not so the majority of the shoppers I see. Pity them. They have no idea the grief they cause over something as petty as a pair of socks.

Anyway, today is what is referred to as “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving when the Chirstmas shopping season opens. During the next four weeks, a majority of retailers will make 80% of their annual profit for the year as Americans swarm into the stores and buy up everything in sight during the season of giving. This year will be a little tight after the hurricanes and high gas prices gouged our pocketbooks a few months ago so retailers are worried. I have faith in the American people though. The plastic cash will be stretched to the limit ... as usual.

Good luck to you all. I started years ago just giving gift certificates to my family and friends. It’s so much easier that way. They can then go choose what they want and I can avoid the stampede of unruly cattle in aisle seven. Use this thread to tell us of your horror stories if you’ve ever worked in retail or have been run over by shoppers during this season of gimme, gimme, gimme ....

imageimageRetailers Usher in Holidays With Discounts
NEW YORK (AP)

The nation’s retailers are set to usher in the 2005 holiday shopping season with the usual come-ons - deep discounts and expanded hours - along with a slew of stores offering early bird specials for the first time. In an improving but still challenging economy, merchants are hoping for big crowds to set a positive tone for the entire holiday season.

After slipping up last year by not offering enough deep discounts, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, is making sure that won’t happen again. It’s offering enticing deals including $98 20-inch flat-screen TVs with DVD players. Its supercenters will open 5 a.m., an hour earlier than last year. For the first time, it’s also matching any price featured on an identical product in a local rival’s print ad that day.

Meanwhile, at the company’s Sam’s Clubs, members and nonmembers can pick up 1,200-thread count sheets, priced at $97.88, while being treated to a continental breakfast. “We are seeing quite a bit of interested in this already,” said Jolanda Stewart, a Sam’s Club spokeswoman. “Home improvement is a huge fight now and the 1,200 thread count sheets have sparked a lot of interest.”

At Target Corp., the nation’s No. 2 discounter, stores open at 6 a.m. It’s also reprising one of last year’s marketing gimmicks, a wake-up call that shoppers can arrange in advance. This year, it’s also adding tuck-in calls, which customers receive the night before the big shopping day. With a wide range of retailers, from department stores to specialty boutiques, now offering early bird specials, some analysts are concerned that it will hurt the overall industry, as more retailers compete for shoppers’ attention.

“If everyone does it, it is a no-win situation for everybody,” said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers. While he noted that it gives some stores a “competitive edge,” it’s not a good strategy “industrywide.” Retailers’ spirits have improved in recent weeks amid falling gasoline prices. In fact, the Washington-based National Retail Federation upgraded its holiday growth forecast to 6 percent, from 5 percent, announced back in September. Still, many shoppers are cautious. While gasoline prices have fallen, they are still high, and this winter, shoppers will face higher heating bills.


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/25/2005 at 06:26 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
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The Day After

image
John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/25/2005 at 06:19 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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calendar   Thursday - November 24, 2005

There She Goes …

Now you’re talkin’! Women behind bars. Swimsuit contests. Handcuffs and whips. *sigh* I wonder if any of these “ladies” will be able to stand up in front of the judges and say with a straight face, “I want to use my title to spread the message of peace and love and make the world a better place.” Or maybe it would be more like, “Youse better vote for me or my Uncle Miguel will come visit you with some of his assistants. Got That?” If only we could convince Simon from American Idol to go down there and be the judge for this pageant .... and let the girls have access to him after the judging. Heck, I’d pay to watch that ....

imageimageBrazil to Crown Miss Penitentiary
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP)

Like beauty pageant contestants everywhere, Caroline Goncalves hoped a victory could launch her modeling career. But she’d be satisfied if it helps shave some time off her prison sentence. “This will put me a little closer to getting out of here,” the 25-year-old convict said Thursday as stylists tugged at her long blond hair and put the finishing touches on her penciled-in eyebrows.

The sweltering heat inside the Carandiru women’s detention center was only made worse by the dozens of hair dryers working overtime, but the 40 contestants from 10 prisons around Sao Paulo didn’t seem to mind. The women, serving sentences for everything from armed robbery to drug trafficking, were vying to be named Miss Penitentiary 2005—a title that brings a 350-real (US$160, euro135) prize and a break from dreary routine.

“Afterward, we’re going to be able to talk to people from (fashion) magazines,” said a clearly nervous Goncalves, who is serving five years and four months for assault with a deadly weapon. Last year’s winner, Fernanda Maria de Jesus, gained early release months after her victory, but prison officials insist the shortened sentence had nothing to do with her winning the title.

Prison officials came up with the idea of a beauty contest last year as a way of trying to boost inmates’ self confidence. “It helps their self esteem. It helps them feel human. It shows that they’re capable people, that independent of the crime, they are a part of society,” said Irani Torres, director of a prison in the city of Rio Claro.

The contest is actually more than just a beauty pageant. Judges include celebrities, soccer players and journalists, and there are prizes in three other categories including writing, public speaking and congeniality. But one of the contestants in the writing competition, 23-year-old Viviane Souza, complained that the beauty pageant winner gets all the attention, including appearances on television shows.

“Last year they just showed the beauty contest winner. Why not show the ones who wrote, the ones who used their minds?” asked Souza, who hopes to become a journalist when she finishes her 21-month sentence for drug dealing. Even so, many were glad for the chance to let their hair down—or to fix it up.

“I’m not bothered by the attention the beauty contest (winner) receives,” said Maria Aparecida de Almeida, 39. “She is raising the banner for all of us. She’s a prisoner and she managed to make it. She helps all of us.” Peru and Colombia also hold beauty contests in prisons. Sao Paulo’s is one of the largest, drawing from its female population of almost 4,000 inmates.


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/24/2005 at 08:36 PM   
Filed Under: • CrimeOdd-Strange •  
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Photo Du Jour

image

“The Survivors”
-by-
anonymous


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/24/2005 at 06:02 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography •  
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Barking Moonbat Of The Week

He has won this award so many times that if Michael Jackson wins this award again, it will be Platinum. Yes, the gloved one picks up another trophy today. This time for his latest attempt to blame someone other than himself for the mess his life is in. Give it up, Michael. You ain’t been hot since “Thriller”, babe!

imageimageMichael Jackson Blames Jews for Cash Woes
“They suck, they’re like leeches.”
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
United Press International

ABC News has acquired voice mail messages from Michael Jackson in which the pop star blames a Jewish conspiracy for his financial woes. “They suck ... they’re like leeches ... I’m so tired of it,” Jackson told former adviser Dieter Wiesner in one of the messages. “The Jews do it on purpose.”

The message recorded by Jackson two years ago aired Tuesday on Good Morning America, The New York Daily News reported Wednesday. This is not the first brush with anti-Semitism for Jackson who, a decade ago, sang Jew me/Sue me/Everybody do me/Kick me/Kike me on the song They Don’t Care About Us.

The tapes were provided to ABC by attorney Howard King, who is representing Wiesner in a lawsuit with Marc Schaffel seeking to recoup millions of dollars they are allegedly owed by Jackson, who moved Bahrain after his acquittal in California of child molestation charges.

Update: The Jewish Anti-Defamation League is rather upset with His Gloveness ....

Jewish Group Seeks Jackson Apology Over Remark
Thu Nov 24, 2005 8:26 AM ET7
NEW YORK (Reuters)

The Anti-Defamation League demanded an apology from pop star Michael Jackson after a report he referred to Jews as “leeches” in a telephone message to a former business adviser. “Michael Jackson has an anti-Semitic streak, and hasn’t learned from his past mistakes. It seems every time he has a problem in his life, he blames it on Jews,” Abraham Foxman, the group’s national director, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ADL statement cited tapes of a 2003 voice mail message aired on Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in which Jackson was heard saying: “They suck ... . They’re like leeches. ... I’m so tired of it. ... It is a conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose.” ABC News said it obtained the messages placed by Jackson to a former adviser who has filed a lawsuit against the singer.

The ADL castigated Jackson in 1995 over lyrics in his song “They Don’t Care About Us”: “Jew Me, sue me, everybody do me. Kick me, kike me.” The pop icon apologized and changed the lyrics. “We had hoped that Jackson would have learned from his mistakes,” Foxman said. “It is clear now that he never was able to completely remove the bigotry from his own heart.”

The statement demanded an apology to Jews everywhere and fans who have been offended by Jackson’s words.


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/24/2005 at 04:19 PM   
Filed Under: • Celebrities •  
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Thanksgiving In Baghdad

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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/24/2005 at 02:27 PM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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Caption Contest

This Thanksgiving caption contest allows you to put words into the mouth of the Über-Geek (left) and the Über-Borg (right).  Video gamers in Seattle got a special treat Tuesday as they were greeted by Bill Gates at Best Buy. Chief Borg Bill appears to celebrate as he thinks of how Microsoft is losing about $150 on each XBox 360 but plans to make about $30 on each game sold. Let’s see, the profit for the MicroBorgs works out to about .... Oh, the GDP of about half the countries in the world ... COMBINED! Prepare to be assimilated ... (and tapped for $399) ... (and that’s just for starters) ...

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Update: Lucky gamers who managed to score one of these beasts on Tuesday are already reporting crashes due to numerous errors in the new game machines. A small number of the machines are reported to be unstable and prone to crashes ... unlike Windoze, eh?


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/24/2005 at 01:16 PM   
Filed Under: •   
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Feline Mystery Revealed

Psssssst! Wanna know a secret? Guess who lives in front of the computer below? Take a look at the orderly mess and note the lame Apple computer. Still can’t guess? OK, it’s the home of our BMEWS Chief Curmudgeon ... OLDCATMAN!

Sshhhhhhhh ... keep it quiet. He’s currently hiding out at an undisclosed secret location in Colorado. If you’ve ever wondered where he got the nom de plume of OldCatMan then go read this here. It sure explains a lot. And all along I just thought his nickname came from his ugly puss ....

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By contrast, here is where The Skipper lives. See how neat and orderly everything is compared to the “Cathouse” above? See how many pieces of equipment you can identify. Hint: there’s Windows XP, Windows CE, PalmOS and Red Hat Linux Enterprise Server for operating systems ....

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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/24/2005 at 11:47 AM   
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Giving Thanks

As you smell the wonderful aroma coming from the kitchen this morning and settle yourself in for the football games this afternoon ... As you hug your family members and renew old friendships ... As you watch your children play and work up an appetite for the turkey and dressing or ham and potato salad ... As you do all these things today and bask in the warm glow of safety and peace in the greatest country on Earth ... Keep in mind (and in your prayers) those who are standing watch around the world, in the freezing cold, the desert heat, the rain, the snow, the mud ... In order that you (yes, YOU!) can enjoy this day in complete safety. Give thanks ... (and a little prayer wouldn’t hurt) ...

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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/24/2005 at 08:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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No Surgery For Fat People

In case you ever wondered what lies down the dark road of national health care, look no further than our friends in the UK. Now they’re refusing surgery for obese people, or at least those with a body mass index (BMI) over 30 (which rules me out fer sure). This means that if you lived in the UK and fractured a hip, you would not be operated on until your BMI had been checked and approved. Do any of you recall who tried to ram national health care and socialized medicine down our throats back in the early 1990’s? I can’t seem to recall her name but I think it was “HIL” something or other ....

Obese Patients Denied Operations
SUFFOLK, UK (BBC)

Obese people are to be denied some surgical procedures in a bid to cut costs in the NHS. Three Suffolk primary care trusts have ruled patients with a body mass index (BMI) over 30 will not get operations like hip and knee replacements. A person of average weight would have an BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9.

Dr Brian Keeble, a director of Ipswich PCT said: “We cannot pretend that this work wasn’t stimulated by pressing financial problems.” Under new guidelines surgery will not be performed unless “the patient has a body mass index below 30 and conservative means have failed to alleviate the patient’s pain and disability”.

“Pain and disability should be sufficiently significant to interfere with the patient’s daily life and/or ability to sleep.” Hospital consultants and GPs in East Suffolk came up with a list of 10 conditions for which there must be a threshold in order for surgery to be performed. Included in the procedures for which there are conditions are such things as varicose veins and grommets for glue ear in children.

Dr Keeble said: “Our work on clinical thresholds has been a key part of this process. “We started from the idea that operating on some conditions, either at an early stage or before other treatments have been tried, could actually be detrimental to the patient because of the risk of side effects from the procedure.”

But he admitted financial pressures were a factor in the decision. “I believe that these thresholds will produce some clear benefits in that both patients and their GPs will know when these procedures will be performed,” he added. The clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, GP Dr David Haslam, said that he was alarmed by the level being set at a body mass index (BMI) of 30.

“This level condemns a quarter of the population to misery - there’s a huge number of people with a BMI of over 30. “The argument that the life of joints is reduced because people are overweight is more relevant to those with a BMI of above 40.

- Read more about socialized medicine here ...


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Posted by The Skipper   United States  on 11/24/2005 at 05:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Health-MedicineHildabeast •  
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THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
  1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
  2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
  3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
  4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.


Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner



GNU Terry Pratchett


Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
free counters