Killing Cancer - HBO documentary

HBO documentary - Killing Cancer

VICE founder and host Shane Smith follows pioneering researchers across the U.S. — including specialists from the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center— who are changing the face of modern-day medicine through their work with oncolytic virus therapy.

This revolutionary treatment uses HIV, measles and other viruses that have killed millions to combat cancer. You can view the trailer:

For VICE‘s Shane Smith, the VICE Special Report: Killing Cancer, is personal. He’s watched his mother fight breast cancer and his stepmother die from cancer. Anyone whose life has been affected by cancer will understand where he’s coming from immediately — the way that the sword of Damocles descends at the first diagnosis, telling the patient just what will kill them in the future.

Killing Cancer is a 40-minute documentary that premiered February 27th on HBO, a week before the debut of VICE Season 3, and delves into some of the most exciting current research into how cancer might be controlled — or maybe even cured. Smith takes us from Ottawa to the Mayo Clinic to Houston, Texas to look at three separate experimental trials (that all seem to be in the very early stages — phase 1 or 2‚ which come long before phase 3 and FDA approval).

What’s fascinating about these trials is that a new strain of thinking around cancer involves the idea of using other viruses that have killed us en masse (measles, smallpox, HIV) to kill the cancer cells growing in the afflicted person’s body. It’s a clearly demarcated battle, where scientists are able to isolate and protect the cancer patient’s healthy cells while sending the destructive and disruptive virus into their body in order to mess with the cancer cells.

“It could lead to a cure in our lifetime,” an Ottawa doctor says to Smith. For anyone who’s been touched by cancer or even just scared of the genetic possibility of it, this prospect is utterly thrilling. And VICE‘s study is only the tip of the iceberg for some of this research — cancer clinics like Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Dana Farber aren’t even featured, and they’ve been working on trials like this as well.

Smith goes to Minnesota to talk to Stacy Erholtz, a woman whose multiple myeloma is currently in remission thanks to the experimental trial that sent the measles virus after her cancer. It’s an amazing story, and we see the hope and bravery of current myeloma patients receiving the same treatment as Stacy.

Where the special really tugs at your heartstrings, however, is in the story of the successful treatment of Emma Whitehead, a young girl who nearly died from leukemia when she was six years old, before doctors made the radical decision to use HIV to reprogram her T cells. Now, her cancer is in remission. They’ve done further treatments on young cancer patients who have also responded well, and it may be a breakthrough that shows that it’s fair to hope for a cure.

It wouldn’t be a VICE special with some edginess, though; Killing Caner takes you right into the operating rooms for cancer patients’ head surgeries, complete with the squishy, squirmy sounds of real-life procedures.

The information on trials like this is readily available in newspapers and via other media outlets, but the VICE team does a good job of showcasing the most exciting breakthroughs in the fight against cancer. The special is downright earnest, which is weird coming from VICE, but in this case Smith’s everyman quality makes something that could be wonky into a human story of people working to eradicate a random and cruel disease. An optimistic summary of where we are in the fight against cancer and where we’re going with this new research, Killing Cancer shines a little light on a possible future where a cancer diagnosis may never be a death sentence.

Total Eclipse of the Sun

Total eclipse of the sun will be seen over Europe on March 20th. The eclipse of the sun by the moon to be seen across Europe will be the biggest solar eclipse event on the continent since August 1999.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/total-eclipse-of-the-sun-will-be-seen-over-europe-on-20-march/article/427061#ixzz3T0vdV9oY

Paul Krugman's opinion on Greece

Paul Krugman was interviewed by Evan Davis on the BBC’s Newsnight program on 17th February. The following is a transcript of the part of the interview dealing with the negotiations for a new deal for Greece:

BBC -- I don’t know what you think but how far should the Eurozone go, the European Commission, in helping yield to what Syriza is asking for?

Krugman -- The important thing to realize is that Syriza is actually not asking for an inflow of money, it’s not asking for aid. There’s no question that Greece is going to be net transferring money to its creditors. What’s happening right now is that the Eurogroup is demanding that Greece commit to, or recommit to, increasing, to tripling the amount that it’s paying; it’s the primary budget surplus that we are actually talking about. So they are demanding that Greece go ahead with a program that calls for a major further increase in austerity despite the fact that Greece is suffering a Great Depression level slump.

That’s not gonna happen. Let’s put it this way: it is an absurd demand. Maybe this Greek government might agree to it; if so they will fall and something much more radical will take its place. So the question is whether the Eurogroup is so determined to make an example of Greece that they are willing to see that happen. It’s very frustrating to see Syriza portrayed as asking for easy terms, asking for a lot of money. They are actually prepared to continue with the enormous sacrifices Greece has already made. What they are not willing to do is to substantially increase those sacrifices going forwards.

BBC -- There is one criticism people make of Syriza though, which is that you have to say that Greece’s problems are not entirely imposed on it from overseas. There were some problems, structural problems, in the Greek economy before all this started. By essentially turning a back on reform of the Greek economy, they are not giving what gives hope to the rest of Europe that Greece will turn itself around and be a flourishing economy in 20 or 30 years time.

Krugman -- I think that, let’s be serious here, some of the reforms that Europe is trying to get in Greece are a good thing, some of them are more dubious. All of that is going to be very long in the payoff. Meanwhile we are now, remember we’re almost five years into this, we’ve had five years of Europe saying to Greece “do this, suffer this, make these cuts and you will see your economy turned around”. The Greek electorate is not going to stand for this. If Europe isn’t about democracy, what’s it about?

BBC -- What’s your theory as to why Europe, both the Germans and also the non-Germans - the Spanish, the French - what’s your theory as to why they are playing such hardball game with Greece?

Krugman -- Well for some of them, actually you want to think about it in terms of the various governments. Other European countries, first of all the Germans, they’ve been telling their electorate that it’s all about lazy, irresponsible southern Europeans. And they’ve never really leveled with them about the fact that yes, there was a lot of bad behavior in Greece but, you know, this is a shared European problem. In the case of a government like that in Spain, which has been dutifully imposing a lot of austerity, how can they turn to their voters and say “well, you know the Greeks are right we really shouldn’t be doing this. We shouldn’t be sacrificing quite as much”. So there is a real issue. I talked to some Irish economists. They are pointing out that the government in Ireland is really acting against the interests of the people of Ireland but in its own interests by saying “all look we’re good. We’re good on austerity, we’re good on reform, so therefore the Greeks should do it as well”. So lot’s of political incentives to continue.

BBC -- Would Greece be better off leaving the Euro? I mean this could be one outcome of all of this. And we know some people in Syriza actually want to leave the Euro.

Krugman -- Well, Greece would be better if it had never joined but unfortunately that’s not an option. The trouble with all of this is that the process of a divorce from the Euro would be incredibly messy and costly. It’s not something anyone wants to do lightly. And the consequences, by the way, for the rest of Europe, once the Euro becomes clearly a not necessarily permanent arrangement, that’s a really bad thing. So this is not where you want to go but it is not inconceivable. And if the demands are unacceptable, if Greece is told that, in effect, it must give large-scale reparations to creditors forever, then Euro exit will become a realistic possibility.

~~~~~~~~

(Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and regulator columnist and blogger for the New York Times.)

Germany's debt relief after WWI & WWII

Highly indebted, without access to capital, viewed suspiciously by creditors - that was Germany in 1953. Half the country's debts were canceled over 60 years ago - the foundation of the "economic miracle."

Many Germans are still proud of the so-called "economic miracle." Post-war growth was extraordinary - the new Federal Republic's economic output doubled between 1953 and 1963 alone. Generations of schoolchildren have since been taught that the Germans are simply unbelievably hardworking people who were supported by US money after the war.

"That is a very regrettable part of the suppression of history in this country," says Joachim Kaiser of erlassjahr.de, an alliance that campaigns for the cancellation of debts in the developing world. He believes that the Germans have forgotten that they were hopelessly in debt after World War II, not unlike Greece today.

The parallels with Greece today are hard to overlook.

It was only with the London Debt Agreement of 1953 that the German economy was given room to breathe again, says historian Ursula Rombeck-Jaschinski of Stuttgart University: "One could even argue that the economic miracle would have been impossible without the debt agreement."

In those dark days, Germany owed money to around 70 countries, with the debts partly dating from before the war, partly from the short period afterwards. 

Altogether, the debts were worth around 30 billion Deutschmarks. Budget cuts and laborious repayments were not an option for the West Germans - on the contrary - the economy desperately needed more cash to finance the country's reconstruction and growth.

That much was clear to the banker Hermann-Josef Abs, who led the German delegation in London in 1953 - his mission: to make the creditors of today into the financiers and investors of tomorrow.

The negotiations, which began in the summer of 1952, were tortuous. Would the creditors write off their money? Could the Germans be trusted? "There was even a moment when the negotiations almost broke down," says Rombeck-Jaschinski. "The Germans had made the foreign creditors an offer that, from the point of view of the finance ministry, was the most that was possible. The creditors basically considered the offer an insult."

The Germans were forced to alter their offer in order for talks to continue. The parallels with current negotiations between Greece and its creditors are obvious. Just like during that year in London, the key is finding the right balance. In 1953, the creditors wanted to get as much of their money back as possible, while at the same time Germany was not to be economically overburdened.

"The Britons above all took the view that the Germans could essentially pay everything back," says Rombeck-Jaschinski. "But the Americans blocked them, because they had an interest in making sure that Germany had money left over for other things, especially rearmament."

The agreement, which all sides finally signed on February 27, 1953, turned into a very good deal for the West German economy - around half of its debts were written off, the rest restructured for the long-term.

On top of that, the agreement laid the foundation for Germany's export strength, as the country could only service its debts as long as it earned money through foreign trade. That, as Kaiser points out, meant creditors had an incentive to buy German products. In his opinion, a similar agreement today would help highly indebted Greece - particularly as the country spent billions on German tanks shortly before the debt crisis began.

"If we said: the Germans will only get their money if they agreed to a Greek trade balance surplus - then the Greeks could export for a long time and bring in German tourists, until they had finally paid for these damned tanks," says Kaiser.

Rombeck-Jaschinski says the situation 60 years ago cannot be transferred to today's problems so easily, but she does think the Germans shouldn't forget that their own country was once hopelessly indebted and dependent on foreign help.

Wolfgang Schäuble / Dr. Strangelove

Wolfgang Schäuble

A blogger known as Redesigning the foot and describing himself as “an ex-economist existing beyond his means in Greece”, has this week continued a detailed demolition of Schäuble’s economic policies by giving poor Schäuble the dark glasses, the uncontrollable right arm and the wheelchair sported by Peter Sellers in the movie masterpiece of 1964.

The ex-economist argues that holding down the wages of German workers has beggared the unemployed workers of Greece.

Whether Schäuble’s chilling words at the end of an Ecofin press conference in Berlin yesterday, “Greece must decide does it want this program or does it not“, quite match the horror of Dr. Strangelove’s wheelchair announcement, “because of the automated and irrevocable decision-making process which rules out human meddling, the Doomsday machine is terrifying and simple to understand … and completely credible and convincing” remains to be seen.

The “ex-economist” says that Schäuble’s misguided policy has been:

To chase down little pots of gold, found at the end of the rainbow, called trading surpluses.

If it weren’t for the euro or for agreements in the labor market that Schäuble mentions above, then this excess demand for ‘all things German’ would have raised the price of German goods, increased the demand and the wages of the workers that produced these goods, and eliminated the trade surplus.

A Schäuble trade surplus means that wages are lower than what they would be (without the agreements). It also means the wages are also lower than what they would be relative to capital (so we use less machines, robots etc in the production mix). So more labor (which Schäuble economy sucks in from the periphery’s pool of idle young) and less capital is being used than what would otherwise have occurred. In other words, there is less physical investment and this creates a lower or sluggish growth rate. This drags down the growth rate not only of the Schäuble economy, but the entire European continent with it.

In other words the German or the Schäuble economy is highly inefficent one in its misuse of resources and dooms the European economy, by getting investment wrong, to lag behind the rest of the world. This inefficiency is paid by imposing austerity on taxpayers living in the periphery.

So if surpluses are wasteful, Germany is Europe’s most inefficient economy.

Germany rejects 6 month extension from Greece

Germany has rejected a Greek request for a six-month extension to its eurozone loan program.

The rejection came despite the European Commission calling the Greek request "positive" only minutes earlier.

Greece had sought a new six-month assistance package, rather than a renewal of the existing deal that comes with tough austerity conditions.
However, a German finance ministry spokesman said the new plea was "not a substantial proposal for a solution".

Later on Thursday, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and German chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone, according to the Reuters news agency.
One Greek government official described the 50-minute call as "constructive", adding: "The conversation was held in a positive climate, geared towards finding a mutually beneficial solution for Greece and the eurozone."

Like grandmother, like granddaughter

My office ...

Today is not so good a day. The last couple of days have been very difficult for me. 

I can't help but remember my grandmother and her lymphadema. Both of her arms would swell up but the right arm was the worst. I have that in common with her. My right arm is swollen. I wear a compression tubigrip that helps with the swelling.

Like grandmother, like granddaughter. I miss her big time.

The outer area of my scar closest to my arm pit along with the area around my arm pit is on fire and every now and then I get sharp pains. 

This too shall pass. Tomorrow is another day.

Thank you Senator Sanders!

Sen. Bernard Sanders, (I-Vt.), is calling for the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government to remind the ECB of their obligation to pursue financial stability in Greece.

CNBC

Published February 9th 2015, 4:21 pm

5 months ...

My life has been about cancer the last five months - trying to learn about my disease, trying to figure out what I can do to prevent a recurrence.

I look at myself differently now.

Today, to mark World Cancer Day, I drank a couple of bottles of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. John brought a case back from Kentucky. The ale is aged in barrels that were once used to age bourbon. Very strong but smooth nonetheless.

My life post treatment hasn't been easy but with the ups and downs I have gained a new perspective on my cancer experience. What I used to see as a race to get back to my old life and the way things were pre cancer, is now a journey to finding a new normal and adjusting to it.

I feel like I will never be free of cancer but I'm finding happiness in what I have today and being grateful for that.

World Cancer Day aims to raise awareness for the fight against cancer by highlighting solutions that currently exist in the areas of prevention, early detection, treatment, and care.  
To the millions of people who have been diagnosed with cancer and who are fighting, the the survivors, and their families - you are not alone.

To my friend Janet who had her mastectomy on September 23rd - the same day I had mine - and who is still undergoing radiation treatments, keep fighting!

Life is good!

World Cancer Day 2015

Not beyond us

World Cancer Day: 4th February 2015

Taking place under the tagline ‘Not beyond us’, World Cancer Day 2015 will take a positive and proactive approach to the fight against cancer, highlighting that solutions do exist across the continuum of cancer, and that they are within our reach. 

The campaign will explore how we can implement what we already know in the areas of prevention, early detection, treatment and care, and in turn, open up to the exciting prospect that we can impact the global cancer burden – for the better. 

World Cancer Day is a unique opportunity to raise awareness that there is much that can be done at an individual, community and governmental level, to harness and mobilize these solutions and catalyze positive change. By moving forward together we have the potential to show: Cancer. It is not beyond us.

The 2015 campaign will be articulated around four key areas of focus:

● Choosing healthy lives

● Delivering early detection

● Achieving treatment for all

● Maximizing quality of life

Relay for Life - 2015

Each year, more than 4 million people in over 20 countries raise much-needed funds and awareness to save lives from cancer through the Relay for Life movement.

Go to  www.relayforlife.org  to sign up for an event near you.

If you can't run or walk, please consider donating.

Relay for Life is an event that was born in 1985 in Tacoma, Washington (USA), where a doctor ran for 24 hours in a stadium to raise money for the local chapter of the American Cancer Society. This was the birth of the Relay for Life event which has since grown throughout the United States and into Canada, Australia and many European countries with the support of the American Cancer Society and the International Union Against Cancer. Each event is held over a 24 hour period with teams of participants taking turns to walk or run for the full 24 hours. It is an event that has become synonymous with a show of solidarity for all patients with cancer.

Haverford College is participating again this year - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - 4:00 a.m. (Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA).

Sign up and help fight cancer. Insert your zip code for a list of events near you.

Thank you.





Wahooooooooooo! NEGATIVE!

I had an Oragene-Dx DNA test back in December. All of my doctors were in agreement that I should get the test done.

28 genes known to be involved with hereditary cancer were analyzed. Everyone has these genes. The test looks for any changes ('mutations').


Dr. Hyett called and left me a voicemail. He received the test from Ambry Genetics and I tested negative. He mentioned he would be sending me a copy of the test.

I checked my email a few minutes ago and downloaded the attachment. I jumped for joy when I looked at the results and summary. NEGATIVE!

PANEL RESULTS:
 
CancerNext                Pathogenic Mutation(s):    None Detected
               Variant(s) of Unknown Significance:    None Detected
                                 Deletion(s)/Duplication(s):   None Detected
 
SUMMARY:

                NEGATIVE: No Clinically Significant Variants Detected

I can't even explain how I am feeling right now. It feels like a tremendous amount of weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

In an older post, I tried to come up with words that rhymed with mutation. Here is one:

OCCASION

This Friday I will go out with my family to celebrate the results of my test. A drinking OCCASION.

Busting a gut! I'm always looking for an excuse to drink.

LIFE IS GOOD!

 

Budweiser - best buds

I love this commercial!

Monsanto - just label it

When consumers across Europe started campaigning for GMO labeling in the early 1990s, Monsanto released a series of advertisements in support of mandatory GMO labels. And in 1997, the European Union implemented mandatory genetically modified food labeling requirements for all member states.

But the biotech giant doesn’t want Americans to know about its onetime support of labeling. Since 2012, Monsanto has spent more than $22 million to fight state ballot initiatives to label GMOs and millions more to lobby Congress against mandatory labeling.

Our question for you, Monsanto: Why do you oppose Americans’ having a right to know about GMOs when you supported it for Europeans?

#JustLabelIt

What Democracy?!

I was debating Greece and her corrupt politicians with a friend today.

"Why should the rest of Europe, especially Germany, bail Greece out?"

Whenever I enter into a discussion on Greece and the dire economic situation that exists, not only in Greece, but in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, etc., I always answer the question with a question. "Why is it that the people must always pay the price for the corruption of thievery politicians?" Some people have such short-term memories, it amazes me. In an old post, back in 2012, I wrote about how Greece should have never entered the EU. Goldman Sachs helped Greece fudge their books to hide Greek sovereign debt so they could join the Euro. Who is responsible for Greece's debt? The politicians who desperately wanted to become a part of the joke of an experiment called the Eurozone. They conspired with Goldman Sachs to make things seem much better than what they really were. Who is paying, and who has been paying for this ghastly mistake? The people of Greece.

The Euro is a nightmare. Trying to get so many different countries to manage their monies and economies under one roof and under one currency is futile. Germany has always been fiscally conservative in nature while other countries such as Greece are a mess. Add corruption, cronyism, tax evasion, an almost non-existent manufacturing base, etc. to the mix, and Greece was an accident waiting to happen.

The majority of Europe is in a recession, as are many other countries. Next in line is Spain, Ireland, Italy ...

I'm a firm believer in change. Change is good and it is necessary. After 40 years of Nea Dimokratia and Pasok, it is only fair to let someone else have a go at it.

Today began the collapse of the misery of conservative economic policies that simply do not work and it took the founders of Western civilization to begin the world-wide push back.

Democracy ...

The term originates from the Greek "δημοκρατία" (rule of the people), which was found from δημος (people) and κράτος (power or rule) in the 5th century BC to denote political systems then existing in Greek city-states. The term is an antonym to αριστοκρατία (rule of an elite). While theoretically these definitions are in opposition, in practice the distinction has been blurred historically. The political system of Classical Athens, for example, granted democratic citizenship to an elite class of free men and excluded slaves and women from political participation. In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic citizenship consisted of an elite class until full enfranchisement was won for all adult citizens in most modern democracies through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.

People think we live in a democracy. What are the merits of democracy?

Democracy is based upon propositions that are not true and what is not true is always more fascinating and satisfying to the vast majority of people than what is true. Truth scares the living daylights out of whole populations and provides people with a finality that collides with their incurable search for justice. The fraud of democracy is more amusing than the fraud of religion.

I am a liberal at heart, always have been, but I'm progressive. I can't stand any form of conservative governments (Reagan, Thatcher, Bush, Bush Jr., etc.). I don't subscribe to any form of communist ideologies because as we have seen that system doesn't work. I also dislike fucktarded politicians who call themselves socialists (George Papandreou and his father). You are either on the left or on the right. There is no in between. There is no center. Period.

Conservatives are job destroyers, not job creators. They put the needs of banksters above the needs of their people. It's the world according to Friedman, and the two dunces - Reagan and Thatcher - did more damage than all other conservatives combined. We are still recovering from their 'let the financiers and wall street' rule the world experiment, and a huge failure at that. The trickle down theory doesn't work. The main goal of all conservatives is to concentrate global wealth and income - according to the latest Oxfam study - to 80 fucktarded billionaires (whose wealth exceeds that of 1/4 of the planet's inhabitants). Let that sink in for a minute dear readers. 80 fat cats from the top 1% own as much as the bottom 3.5 billion people on the planet. 1% own 48% of the world's wealth - 52% is owned by 99%. 

And people are surprised that a leftist party - Syriza - won the Greek election?!

Above I mentioned that I am progressive ... I am also a realist. I see things as they are. Austerity doesn't work but at the same time a country rife with corruption and an almost non-existent manufacturing base has to change its way of doing business. Greeks have to work hard in a corruption-free economy. Greeks have to pay taxes. Their entire economy for the longest time was the laughingstock of Europe. The red tape impasse has to be eliminated, corruption has to be wiped out, tax collection has to be effective, and their labor markets have to become more flexible and open to new markets. Protectionism has to be eliminated. Tsipras wants to 'clamp down on all-inclusive resorts' ... not a very rational way to make your economy more flexible and inclusive, is it?

As far as Germany is concerned, 54 billion Euros is a lot of money that has been lent to Greece with the promise that the money would be paid back. That comes to 1,300 Euros for every hard-working, tax-paying German. Germans have seen their living standards decline faster in the past 20 years than any other European country despite the fact that their productivity has risen. Greece can't blackmail the rest of Europe to finance its deficit. Greece makes up 1% of Europe's GDP. Any threat by Alexis Tsipras will be taken with a grain of salt. Greece can't afford threats because the Eurozone can do without Greece. You can't continue to spend more than you earn without running into trouble. The irony is that civil workers in Greece are paid more than their equivalents in Germany and they get to retire earlier. 

So how can the world's oldest democracy solve it's economic woes?

Foreign investors are not willing to buy Greek bonds as a result of the last governments' fraudulent bookkeeping. Can you blame the investors? EU countries can loan Greece money, but if Greece fails to meet its obligations with regard to the bailout conditions that were agreed upon, that will not happen. The only other option left is for Greece to print its own money which would mean leaving the Euro.

It was great to see Greeks dancing into the night yesterday. It brought a smile to my face. If your party wins you are happy. This happiness, of course, is illusory. It will not last. The winning candidate soars as high as a kite, but ultimately comes down with a thump (as do all politicians). To politicians beating the other party brings them joy (happiness is something to be got by taking it away from the other asshole).

And the promises! A promise after all is just that - a fucking promise. I have yet to come across a politician who didn't promise his/her base the world. The chances of a politician fulfilling even a third of his/her promises is miniscule.

Getting back to the fraud of democracy (and religion), people turn, as we have seen in Greece these past few days, to the ancient promises, which are false but provide some form of comfort to those who have suffered immensely through years of successive corrupt governments. Out of all of those ancient promises there is none more comforting than the one to the effect that the meek shall inherit the earth. It is at the heart of all religions, and it is at the heart of most political systems.

I wish Alexis Tsipras well in his attempt to bring real change to the people of Greece. They have suffered enough for far too long. As far as the meek inheriting the earth, that was written a long time ago to keep the elite class in line. It was written to serve as a warning.

Getting back to happiness ... the quest for happiness, as always, brings only unhappiness in the end. Real democracies are for the spectators, the electorate, the meek, who vote the politicians into office.

I try to imagine anything more absurd than the belief in democracy. Such false pretense. The fraud of democracy is more amusing than any other, more amusing than even the fraud of religion. It is like a disease, it is self-devouring. I am impressed by the feeling of distrust that follows all elections. The Greeks dancing in the streets last night did so with reservation and with fear in their eyes. You could see it. A lot of them had that 'can we trust Tsipras to do what he promised he would do' look on their tired faces.

I know the feeling of reservation. I have felt that way myself. Here in the US we have a government not of men, but of laws ... but these same men sit on benches to decide finally what the law is or what it should be. The highest function of politicians is to serve the state, but most are disingenuous and dishonorable.

I must admit that I am entertained. I enjoy democracy and all its ... what's the word I'm looking for? The joy of seeing politicians rise is superseded by the joy in seeing them come down. Why? Because they are all wasteful, extravagant and dishonest.

Lastly, I can't stomach the fact that Golden Dawn, a neo-nazi fascist party, came in third place. What kind of fucking democracy would allow a neo-nazi - Golden Dawn's fucktarded leader - to address the nation from within his cell block. The asshole is in jail. The pain in my parents' eyes was too much for me to bear. We sat watching the results and the commentary, along with each party's leader's address to the nation, and when Mr. Hitler-wanna-be started spewing his hate from jail, I had to get up and go outside. I couldn't watch my parents witnessing the degradation of their birthplace, their country, the birthplace of democracy itself being hijacked and morphed into a dysfunctional laughingstock for the whole world to see.

What democracy?!

Greece's Notorious Bureaucracy

A huge problem is Greece's notorious bureaucracy, which constitutes a real hindrance to entrepreneurial enterprise.

Below is an example of 'red tape impasse' for a food truck license. With the youth unemployment rate as high as it is these types of ridiculous hurdles have to be eliminated. And why can't permits be transferred or leased?!

By Lina Giannarou - January 26, 2015 - Kathimerini

On a recent Saturday night in the downtown neighborhood of Thiseio, a police car pulled over in front of Giorgos Glynos's Food Truck. A second police car, this time with screaming sirens, followed a little later. It's hard to imagine why the officers in the first vehicle had asked for backup, given that the two people who stood before them were simply cooks. In the meantime, passing drivers protested by yelling out of their windows. Underneath the dim street lights, the whole thing took on a cinematic quality.

"As they were taking us away in the police car, like common criminals, my business partner, who happens to be a cinematographer, said ‘What a powerful scene.’"

Humor was their crucial ally on that day, as it turned out. Earlier, Glynos, founder and one of the cooks on the Food Truck – a mobile canteen for high-end, yet largely unrecognized 'street gastronomy' – had been summoned to the Acropolis police station on six separate occasions. "Not once or twice. I was actually taken to the police station six times on the same day. I saw the on duty police officers twice that day," Glynos told Kathimerini. A different excuse was used each time, following some kind of complaint.

"During one of the visits I was told that the documents I had were not the originals required, but photocopies, even though I had been told by police officers that I should carry everything in photocopied form. On another occasion they told me I had to pay a certain fee for ‘taking over’ the street, even though I did have another type of permit. The last time I was taken to the police station the charge was illegal trading, even though the canteen has always operated with a cash register, not to mention the fact that at the time of our arrest there was plenty of flea market activity."

About a year-and-a-half ago, Glynos, an astrophysics graduate with a passion for food, decided to develop a different kind of food truck featuring his grandmother's recipes for gezleme, a Pontos delicacy made of traditional handmade phyllo pastry usually stuffed with spinach, fresh onions, feta cheese and mint. Besides an original take on street food, Glynos also wanted the business to be completely legitimate.

"I can't remember how many departments I visited in order to collect all the paperwork. I have all the necessary permits, if not more," he noted. The street canteen even features a HACCP food safety certification. The Food Truck, which Glynos calls 'Katina,' hit the road a few days ago, carrying a special B type street trade permit. This license allows the Food Truck to change location under certain conditions (business is not allowed at archaeological sites or at the seaside, for instance). The conditions were included in a law ratified by Parliament last year as part of reforms to liberate the market in Greece. Nevertheless, it will take a while for the kind of growth the amendments were meant to signal to actually materialize. Initially, responsibility for inspecting such businesses was handed over to the municipal police.

Greek police authorities eventually took over the task, but they appear to be in the dark regarding which type of permits are necessary in each case, resulting in professionals being hassled on a daily basis.

"Every time somebody files a complaint, whether it's a resident who's upset because we've parked outside their property or a store owner or even a competitor – although fellow food truck owners tolerate us because we don't sell competitive products, such as souvlaki and hot dogs – we have to go to a police station."

Things get even more complicated when one considers that there are numerous legislative ambiguities that allow, for example, someone to work as a street vendor across the region of Attica but not in municipal communities of more than 3,000 residents.

"In practice, we're only allowed to work on [the Saronic island of] Agistri," noted Glynos. "In other words, the way things stand, you can play cat and mouse with the police perpetually."

Nevertheless, just as he never stops thinking about adding new recipes to the Food Truck's menu (besides gezleme, Katina also serves hot soup, savory Kaisaria and Armenian pies, hot Mexican chocolate and mulled wine, among other delicious offerings), he is also determined to find a solution to the red tape impasse.

"Given that the youth unemployment rate stands at 60 percent and the authorities supposedly want to give fresh impetus to entrepreneurship, why is it that they can't issue a food truck license?" argued Glynos.

In fact, new permits can only be issued to members of special groups such as the disabled and large families, while these licenses cannot be ceded, transferred or leased.

"If a person sets up a business, he or she will hire an employee, will pay VAT and income tax," noted Glynos. "We could all get together in a particular place where each of us could sell his or her own specialty, just like in other countries. At the end of the day it's really not that complicated to figure out a way."

Greece's Nightmare

I have grown to admire Paul Krugman greatly because where others ignore the truth, he tells it like it is. Anyone who really believed the harsh austerity measures imposed on Greece would work was in denial. I have always said (see prior posts) you can't cut spending and expect an economy to grow. In an economic downturn revenues are reduced, unemployment rates rise, etc. Greece needs to spend in order to get its economy growing. It's that simple.

If you look at the US, the meltdown that occurred in 2008 was handled properly. By no means can I compare the US and Greece's economies. Unemployment is down and continues to drop, the housing market is up, our GDP grew 5% in the past two years, the deficit is down over 30%, the stock market is at an all-time high, consumer confidence is at a six-year high, etc. Obama didn't cut spending - he increased it. That is how you get an economy to grow.

I will elaborate more on what needs to be addressed by the new Greek government in another post.

Below is Krugman's opinion which appeared in today's New York Times in its entirety:

"Paul Krugman - January 26, 2015 (New York Times) - Ending Greece's Nightmare

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the left-wing Syriza coalition, is about to become prime minister of Greece. He will be the first European leader elected on an explicit promise to challenge the austerity policies that have prevailed since 2010. And there will, of course, be many people warning him to abandon that promise, to behave “responsibly.”

So how has that responsibility thing worked out so far?

To understand the political earthquake in Greece, it helps to look at Greece’s May 2010 “standby arrangement” with the International Monetary Fund, under which the so-called troika — the I.M.F., the European Central Bank and the European Commission — extended loans to the country in return for a combination of austerity and reform. It’s a remarkable document, in the worst way. The troika, while pretending to be hardheaded and realistic, was peddling an economic fantasy. And the Greek people have been paying the price for those elite delusions.

You see, the economic projections that accompanied the standby arrangement assumed that Greece could impose harsh austerity with little effect on growth and employment. Greece was already in recession when the deal was reached, but the projections assumed that this downturn would end soon — that there would be only a small contraction in 2011, and that by 2012 Greece would be recovering. Unemployment, the projections conceded, would rise substantially, from 9.4 percent in 2009 to almost 15 percent in 2012, but would then begin coming down fairly quickly.

What actually transpired was an economic and human nightmare. Far from ending in 2011, the Greek recession gathered momentum. Greece didn’t hit the bottom until 2014, and by that point it had experienced a full-fledged depression, with overall unemployment rising to 28 percent and youth unemployment rising to almost 60 percent. And the recovery now underway, such as it is, is barely visible, offering no prospect of returning to pre-crisis living standards for the foreseeable future.

What went wrong? I fairly often encounter assertions to the effect that Greece didn’t carry through on its promises, that it failed to deliver the promised spending cuts. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, Greece imposed savage cuts in public services, wages of government workers and social benefits. Thanks to repeated further waves of austerity, public spending was cut much more than the original program envisaged, and it’s currently about 20 percent lower than it was in 2010.

Yet Greek debt troubles are if anything worse than before the program started. One reason is that the economic plunge has reduced revenues: The Greek government is collecting a substantially higher share of G.D.P. in taxes than it used to, but G.D.P. has fallen so quickly that the overall tax take is down. Furthermore, the plunge in G.D.P. has caused a key fiscal indicator, the ratio of debt to G.D.P., to keep rising even though debt growth has slowed and Greece received some modest debt relief in 2012.

Why were the original projections so wildly overoptimistic? As I said, because supposedly hardheaded officials were in reality engaged in fantasy economics. Both the European Commission and the European Central Bank decided to believe in the confidence fairy — that is, to claim that the direct job-destroying effects of spending cuts would be more than made up for by a surge in private-sector optimism. The I.M.F. was more cautious, but it nonetheless grossly underestimated the damage austerity would do.

And here’s the thing: If the troika had been truly realistic, it would have acknowledged that it was demanding the impossible. Two years after the Greek program began, the I.M.F. looked for historical examples where Greek-type programs, attempts to pay down debt through austerity without major debt relief or inflation, had been successful. It didn’t find any.

So now that Mr. Tsipras has won, and won big, European officials would be well advised to skip the lectures calling on him to act responsibly and to go along with their program. The fact is they have no credibility; the program they imposed on Greece never made sense. It had no chance of working.

If anything, the problem with Syriza’s plans may be that they’re not radical enough. Debt relief and an easing of austerity would reduce the economic pain, but it’s doubtful whether they are sufficient to produce a strong recovery. On the other hand, it’s not clear what more any Greek government can do unless it’s prepared to abandon the euro, and the Greek public isn’t ready for that.

Still, in calling for a major change, Mr. Tsipras is being far more realistic than officials who want the beatings to continue until morale improves. The rest of Europe should give him a chance to end his country’s nightmare."

Greece's Election

Greece's opposition Syriza party is leading the ruling New Democracy conservatives in the last nine polls published ahead of the country's election Sunday.



Syriza's lead varies from 2.8 percentage points to 6.7 points but is trending upward. In four of these polls, which are rolling ones, the lead rose sharply from Thursday to Friday evening, when the last polls were published.

Syriza has alarmed markets by urging massive debt forgiveness and wanting bailout deals rewritten.

The number of undecided voters remains significant. All but two polls show it near or above 10 percent.

The centrist party To Potami is in third place in four polls, while the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party is third in another four. They are tied in the ninth poll.

Hyperplastic & Adenomatous Polyps

I looked up hyperplastic and adenomatous polyps so I could better understand the difference between the two that Dr. Collazzo removed from my colon.

My father has had polyps removed and 3 of his brothers died of colon cancer.

Below is a summary of colon polyps:

Colorectal cancers usually begin as benign polyps that grow from the mucosa. Some individuals are more likely than others to develop polyps, especially those with a personal or family history of polyps and/or colorectal cancer, and those that carry specific genes for hereditary forms of colorectal cancer. New information has also indicated that individuals who have type 2 diabetes and those who are considered obese are also at greater risk for developing polyps and colorectal cancer.

Most polyps remain benign and are often termed hyperplastic polyps. The likelihood that hyperplastic polyps will become cancer is very low.

Other benign polyps are sometimes referred to as pre-cancerous. These polyps are not malignant, themselves, but have a chance of becoming cancerous if not removed.



Examples include adenomatous and hamartomatous polyps. Adenomatous polyps that have tubular or villous characteristics have a higher chance of becoming cancerous. Adenomatous and hamartomatous polyps are also the types of polyps that are usually associated with hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes. The only truly malignant polyp is one that has been shown to contain invasive carcinoma. Sometimes the carcinoma is confined to the polyp, and other times it has invaded one or more layers of the intestine.

Adenomas usually grow on a stalk, resembling small mushrooms. They tend to grow slowly over a decade or more. The risk of an adenoma developing into cancer increases as the size of the adenoma increases and with the amount of time they have been growing in the colon. Adenomas that are malignant are called adenocarcinomas. In the very early stages, abnormal cells are contained inside the polyp and can be easily removed by colonscopy before they develop into invasive cancer. However, as cancer cells grow and divide within the polyp, they can eventually invade nearby colon tissue and grow into and beyond the wall of the colon or rectum. If the cancer becomes advanced, the tumors will grow though all of the tissue layers of the colon rectum, and may metastasize, shedding cells into the circulatory system, spreading the cancer to other organs such as the liver and lungs. 



This is why individuals with a family history of colon cancer or polyps need to have a colonoscopy. As invasive and uncomfortable the procedure may be, it is important so that any polyps that are found can be removed.

If you have relatives who have had colon cancer or polyps, please get screened. A colonoscopy can literally save your life.

3 Polyps / Colonoscopy

This morning I had my colonoscopy. They removed 3 polyps, 1 was hyperplastic and 2 were adenomatous.



Dr. Collazo told me all 3 will be sent for a biopsy and he will call me with the results. He 'snared' them off and cautherized the areas. There are no nerve endings in your colon so you don't feel any pain.



I have had some cramping and bleeding which is normal.

The amount of doctors' appointments one has to endure during and after cancer are unbelievable. The endless appointments with surgeons, radiologists, oncologists, hematologists, gynecologists, mammogram techs, ultrasound techs, etc. are exhausting.

As the months drag on, you realize this is part of your 'new normal' ...

After seeing your gynecologist, you have to have an ultrasound of your pelvis. Then you go back to your oncologist. After seeing your oncologist for the umpteenth time, you have to have a colonoscopy ... then it's back for some lab work to check your markers (that appointment is next in line for me).

It's all worth it because what we have to endure is part of our journey to stay in remission.

So I thank Dr. Frazier, Dr. Gupta, Dr. Fleischer, Dr. Hyett, Dr. Collazzo and all of the support staff for keeping a close eye on me. I am so grateful to have these wonderful human beings in my corner fighting along with me.