Dear Donald

                                                         Letter from Maureen Dowd to Mr. Trump 25 March 2017

WASHINGTON — Dear Donald,

We’ve known each other a long time, so I think I can be blunt.

You know how you said at campaign rallies that you did not like being identified as a politician?

Don’t worry. No one will ever mistake you for a politician.

After this past week, they won’t even mistake you for a top-notch negotiator.

I was born here. The first image in my memory bank is the Capitol, all lit up at night. And my primary observation about Washington is this: Unless you’re careful, you end up turning into what you started out scorning.

And you, Donald, are getting a reputation as a sucker. And worse, a sucker who is a tool of the D.C. establishment.

Your whole campaign was mocking your rivals and the D.C. elite, jawing about how Americans had turned into losers, with our bad deals and open borders and the Obamacare “disaster.”

And you were going to fly in on your gilded plane and fix all that in a snap.

You mused that a good role model would be Ronald Reagan. As you saw it, Reagan was a big, good-looking guy with a famous pompadour; he had also been a Democrat and an entertainer. But Reagan had one key quality that you don’t have: He knew what he didn’t know.

You both resembled Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloons, floating above the nitty-gritty and focusing on a few big thoughts. But President Reagan was confident enough to accept that he needed experts below, deftly maneuvering the strings.

You’re just careering around on your own, crashing into buildings and losing altitude, growling at the cameras and spewing nasty conspiracy theories, instead of offering a sunny smile, bipartisanship, optimism and professionalism.

You promised to get the best people around you in the White House, the best of the best. In fact, “best” is one of your favorite words.

Instead, you dragged that motley skeleton crew into the White House and let them create a feuding, leaking, belligerent, conspiratorial, sycophantic atmosphere. Instead of a smooth, classy operator like James Baker, you have a Manichaean anarchist in Steve Bannon.

You knew the Republicans were full of hot air. They haven’t had to pass anything in a long time, and they have no aptitude for governing. To paraphrase an old Barney Frank line, asking the Republicans to govern is like asking Frank to judge the Miss America contest — “If your heart’s not in it, you don’t do a very good job.”

You knew that Paul Ryan’s vaunted reputation as a policy wonk was fake news. Republicans have been running on repealing and replacing Obamacare for years and they never even bothered to come up with a valid alternative.

And neither did you, despite all your promises to replace Obamacare with “something terrific” because you wanted everyone to be covered.

Instead, you sold the D.O.A. bill the Irish undertaker gave you as though it were a luxury condo, ignoring the fact that it was a cruel flimflam, a huge tax cut for the rich disguised as a health care bill. You were so concerned with the “win” that you forgot your “forgotten” Americans, the older, poorer people in rural areas who would be hurt by the bill.

As The Times’s chief Washington correspondent Carl Hulse put it, the G.O.P. falls into clover with a lock on the White House and both houses of Congress, and what’s the first thing it does? Slip on a banana peel. Incompetence Inc.

“They tried to sweeten the deal at the end by offering a more expensive bill with fewer health benefits, but alas, it wasn’t enough!” former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau slyly tweeted.

Despite the best efforts of Bannon to act as though the whole fiasco was a clever way to bury Ryan — a man he disdains as “the embodiment of the ‘globalist-corporatist’ Republican elite,” as Gabriel Sherman put it in New York magazine — it won’t work.

And you can jump on the phone with The Times’s Maggie Haberman and The Washington Post’s Robert Costa — ignoring that you’ve labeled them the “fake media” — and act like you’re in control. You can say that people should have waited for “Phase 2” and “Phase 3” — whatever they would have been — and that Obamacare is going to explode and that the Democrats are going to get the blame. But it doesn’t work that way. You own it now.

You’re all about flashy marketing so you didn’t notice that the bill was junk, so lame that even Republicans skittered away.

You were humiliated right out of the chute by the establishment guys who hooked you into their agenda — a massive transfer of wealth to rich people — and drew you away from your own.

You sold yourself as the businessman who could shake things up and make Washington work again. Instead, you got worked over by the Republican leadership and the business community, who set you up to do their bidding.

That’s why they’re putting up with all your craziness about Russia and wiretapping and unending lies and rattling our allies.

They’re counting on you being a delusional dupe who didn’t even know what was in the bill because you’re sitting around in a bathrobe getting your information from wackadoodles on Fox News and then, as The Post reported, peppering aides with the query, “Is this really a good bill?”

You got played.

It took W. years to smash everything. You’re way ahead of schedule.

And I can say you’re doing badly, because I’m a columnist, and you’re not. Say hello to everybody, O.K.?

Sincerely, Maureen

Grizzly Restoration in Cascades

Please join us!!

Let Kids Be Kids, Inc. fully supports incremental restoration of Grizzlies back into the North Cascades. (You can support this project no matter where you presently live.) Using the following link you can look at sample comments and follow links to the National Parks Service comment page. northcascadesgrizzly.org/comment

     

 **********

"The National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have released options for restoring a healthy grizzly bear population in Washington’s North Cascades. 

*Grizzly bears have lived in our region for thousands of years, but despite quality habitat, today fewer than 10 remain. Without our help, they will soon be gone."

* The plan is to introduce five (5) bears a year for four years. The goal, 100 year projection, is to have 200 plus bears in the 10,000 square mile area far from public interaction.  

Grizzly bears are native to the Cascade Mountains, but overhunting pushed them to the brink of local extinction by the mid-1900’s. Fewer than 10 remain, and reproduction hasn’t been documented since 1996.

* The North Cascades has some of the best grizzly bear habitat in the world, and the recovery area spans more than 10,000 square miles of wild land anchored by North Cascades National Park.

*  Without active restoration, grizzly bears will not recover on their own. The North Cascades are too isolated.

*  Full grizzly bear recovery will take decades, if not the better part of a century. Grizzlies reproduce very slowly, which is part of the reason the North Cascades population requires active restoration.

• A functioning ecosystem that can support megafuana like grizzly bears is a strong draw for park visitors, tourists and prospective wildlife viewers, thereby boosting local and regional economies." 

Now is the time to take action for grizzly bears! The agencies are accepting public comments through March 14, 2017.

Please comment!
See an incredible video-click the following.

https://vimeo.com/201752025

Grizzlies in Canada

Three Bears Approach photo by Jim Lawrence

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - March 07, 2017) - A report issued today by the Board of Inquiry appointed by the recently formed Grizzly Bear Foundation states that the long-term survival of grizzly bears in British Columbia is threatened from a loss of habitat and food sources, as well as the government-sanctioned trophy hunt.

The three person Board of Inquiry's members include Michael Audain, Stuart McLaughlin of West Vancouver and Suzanne Veit of Victoria. In September 2016 they launched public hearings held in Cranbrook, Prince George, Fort Nelson, Prince Rupert, Vancouver and Victoria, as well as receiving advice from many biologists and bear specialists. The Board of Inquiry's 88-page report contains 19 recommendations directed to all levels of government as well as program priorities for the Grizzly Bear Foundation.

"Grizzly bears have lived in our province for at least 50,000 years," says Inquiry Chairman Michael Audain. "But unless we take serious steps now to secure their wilderness home from encroachment by human activities and protect their food sources from the impact of climate change, in a few decades the bears may disappear."

Audain advised that the Inquiry was impressed that British Columbians really seem to care about their grizzly bears. They recognize that these magnificent creatures now only have sustainable populations in the mountains of British Columbia and Alaska, whereas at one time they roamed all over the western and central areas of North America. Biologists call the grizzly bear a keystone species as where the bears thrive the environment is also healthy.

While grizzly hunting is still practiced by a small minority of the British Columbia population, as well as a number of foreign hunters, the vast majority of urban and rural British Columbians would prefer to see the trophy hunt terminated, especially as grizzly bear watching activities are flourishing and attracting a great many international tourists.

The abolition of the trophy hunt is also supported by most of British Columbia's First Nations who have shared deep cultural and spiritual relationships with the bears for thousands of years. As the First Nations gain control of their ancestral lands, the Inquiry anticipates that they will become more active in bear-viewing tourism given the potential this can have for employment opportunities.

The provincial government takes the position that the trophy hunt is sustainable in maintaining a population of around 15,000 grizzly bears, but the Inquiry's members wonder whether the pain and suffering that the bears experience is worth it, especially in terms of the relatively modest revenue that the hunt generates when compared to the growing interest in grizzly-viewing tourism.

The interactions between grizzly bears and human settlements was of particular interest to the Inquiry, since the bears invariably end up the losers. But, as there is now much experience about how bears and people can peacefully co-exist in rural areas, this is something that the Inquiry recommends be broadly disseminated.

"When we embarked on this Inquiry, I was under the impression that the main threat to the survival of the grizzly bears was the annual trophy hunt," says Audain. "While termination of the hunt is clearly essential, grizzly bears face even greater threats from burgeoning human encroachment into their habitat, as well as the loss of essential foods including wild salmon and huckleberries. There are dark days ahead for the province's grizzly bears if British Columbians are unwilling to address these issues and ensure that the bears have a secure home in our province."

"There is nothing wrong with hunting wildlife for food on a sustainable basis and, indeed, hunters have played an important role in conservation activities to maintain this opportunity, but it seems that the great majority of British Columbians will no longer countenance hunters shooting grizzly bears just to mount their heads or pelts on a trophy wall. As a society, I believe that we have grown beyond that," comments Stuart McLaughlin.

Suzanne Veit adds: "The cumulative impacts of habitat loss, insecure food sources, inadequate enforcement of wildlife laws, legal hunting, and the as-yet uncertain impacts of climate change combine to present major challenges to the survival of the grizzly bears. Strong action is needed now to secure their future. How we achieve this will be judged by the world."

To support our Animal Protection projects, or to donate towards our endangered species project see: http://tinyurl.com/jzdj4rp  or http://tinyurl.com/z42hsx6

Maned Wolf

Please, before you go to sleep tonight, think of ways you can reach out and help all the creatures out there-----humans as well. 

Maned Wolf. Actually, they are not a Wolf, a Fox or a Dog but are unique species unto themselves. The are called the fruit eating “wild dog” of South America. They are the largest “wild dog” in South America, but their prey is a relative of the tomato. These guys form longtime pairs in which the males help guard the den and feed the pups though they spend a lot of time alone not forming packs. You’ll smell them before you see them, but if you’re lucky enough to ever get close be kind as they are very timid. Hug ‘em, protect ‘em-
Let Kids Be Kids advocates for the rights of all those in the animal kingdom. Yep, humans too-----And, in particular, all those Maned Wolves out there. 

Video link: https://youtu.be/sHNadErKRbU
To donate towards our endangered species project: http://tinyurl.com/jzdj4rp

Video and photos taken 22 Feb ’17 by MBarrettMiller

House Sanctions Killing of Bears & Wolves

                            click to see video         Grizzlies

Do you really want this to be how we treat our fellow inhabitants? "House overturns rule from professional wildlife management agency and sanctions killing hibernating bears and wolf pups in dens. Measure also allows aerial spotting and land-and-shoot killing of grizzly bears on national wildlife refuges in Alaska." See: http://tinyurl.com/h4bugav
Video shot by MBarrettMiller a few months back-

Elephants

              Want to do something for Elephants?

Volunteer

Campaign lobby and educate

Donate

Be a citizen scientist

Fundraise and sponsor

"There is so much being done to help stop elephants being wiped out in the wild. We’ve identified more than 50 campaigns and organisations around the world, from well-known charities like the World Wide Fund for Nature to grassroots groups like Elephanatics in Canada and Laos-based ElefantAsia. If you think we’ve missed anyone or anything, let us know at elephant.conservation@theguardian.com. We’ll update the list with your suggestions..."

http://tinyurl.com/hwfx93b

NGO Promo - Endangered Species

 Michael Barrett Miller, Co-Founder of Let Kids Be Kids writes about a cause he is passionate about!

Support “Endangered Species” across the globe! 

Let Kids Be Kids, Inc. financially supports, volunteers, and advocates to protect endangered and threatened species across the globe. We were very involved with the passage of Washington State Initiative 1401, which passed with a greater than 70% margin in every county. It is now a crime in Washington to sell or trade elephant ivory, shark fins, parts of elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, marine turtles, sharks, rays, and pangolins.

Our involvement with organizations like the Woodland Park Zoo, Audubon, Earthwatch, Save the Elephants, and others in the United States, Australia, and various countries around the world allow us to advocate for animal protection and animal rights at different venues. We stress conservation, preservation, and education in an attempt to build empathy for our fellow creatures, who are often in dire situations. Depending on the geographical location, the Gray Wolf and Arctic Fox are considered threatened or endangered. The Lowland Gorilla is severely endangered with the realistic potential of ceasing to exist in the wild.

Another way we promote empathy for endangered species is through the photographs and videos that we distribute on many social media sites, articles, and blog posts. By June I will have completed a collection of photographs that will be included in a book entitled “Friends.” This will be our fourth book on the work of Let Kids Be Kids, Inc., “Advocacy for those Seeking a Voice” as described on our website.

We are extremely thankful for the wonderful work many people do to ensure these amazing animals are allowed to continue to share the planet with us.

Support Let Kids Be Kids! 

Courage - Stand Up for our Rights!!

Des Moines, Washington High School Principal shows the way to stand up.

"Good Morning Roughriders:

I apologize for the interruption. Please place down your pens or pencils and listen to this announcement. This weekend, much of the world’s attention was focused on an effort by the federal government to impose far-reaching restrictions on the ability of immigrants and refugees to come to the United States. From protesters at airports and on the streets to lawyers and judges in courtrooms, there was a swift reaction by many in support of immigrants and refugees.

To all of our students who are immigrants or refugees – and to their friends and classmates and teachers who are also concerned because of these recent events – know that you belong here – Roosevelt HS and DMPS stands by you. As you know, TRHS is a school of such diversity, with a student body that encompasses over 40 different languages and cultures. Over the years, thousands of refugee students from around the world have attended school at DMPS. Many have labeled TRHS as the most diverse high school in the state of Iowa, which in my opinion is a strength and gift that we are to be extremely proud of, but also use to grow as human beings.

Each one of you is sitting here today because your parents or guardians wanted you to attend a real-world high school, that exposed you to various cultures, religions, languages, experiences, and beliefs…because understanding and respecting these differences is what allows each of us to grow into the respecting, accepting, and loving leaders of tomorrow. Because of your attendance at TRHS, I believe you possess, or will eventually possess, a unique perspective on life and the world, one that will prepare you well for whatever conflict is thrown your way in the next few years.

For our students of immigrant families, we want to help you learn and succeed in school. We want to see you have fun and make friends and find your passions. We want to be there to celebrate that day when you walk across a stage to receive your diploma. We want to help you grow into the people you want to become. At TRHS, we welcome immigrants and refugees as our students and families, as our neighbors and friends. The entire district values our students, no matter where they might come from – this is your home and we are honored to serve you. The adults in the building are here to help in any way that you might need.

When children in Des Moines show up at our schools – no matter their place of birth or religion or language or skin color – they should know that they belong here and we stand by them. America is a country of immigrants; every one of us has roots which began in countries across the globe. America was built on the pursuit of freedoms, and it is our responsibility as citizens to stand-up for what we believe is right and just.

For our immigrant students, especially those of you who’s home country is Iran, or Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, or Somalia…we are here to support you as this attempt to ban your family from our country is constructed by the federal government. I ask every TRHS student to stand by our friends, support them with unwavering love and empathy, and be respectful during this chaotic time. This is a time where Roughriders can show the world what happens when unity and love can overcome injustice. We love and respect each and every one of you and hope to prove that through our actions each day. Thank you for providing me a few minutes of your time. Go Riders!"

What does LKBK do -Endangered Species

To answer the question what does Let Kids Be Kids,Inc. do?
One project I am very proud of is in support of “Endangered Species” across the globe.
Let Kids Be Kids, Inc. financially supports, volunteers, and advocates to protect endangered, and threatened, species across the globe. We were very involved with the passage of Washington state Initiative 1401 which passed with a greater than 70% margin in every county in the state. It is now a crime in Washington state to sell or trade elephant ivory, shark fins, parts of elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, marine turtles, sharks, rays and pangolins.
Our involvement with organizations like the Woodland Park Zoo, Audubon, Earthwatch, Save the Elephants, and others in the United States, Australia, and in many other countries, allows us to advocate for animal protection and animal rights at different venues. We stress conservation, preservation and education in an attempt to build empathy for our fellow creatures, who are often in dire situations.
Another way we promote that hoped for empathy is through our photographs and videos that we distribute on many social media sites, as well as including them in articles and blog postings.
By June I will have completed a collection of photographs that will be included in a book entitled “Friends.” This will be our fourth book on the work of Let Kids Be Kids, Inc., “Advocacy for those Seeking a Voice” as described on our website www.letkidsbekids.org
We are extremely thankful for the wonderful work many people do to ensure these amazing animals are allowed to continue to share the planet with us. Want to support our work for endangered animals? Here is a link: http://tinyurl.com/jzdj4rp

Does Islam Hate Us?

Theres a real good chance its going to get really bad!

"...To understand Mr. Trump’s thinking, one might look to his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, author of the book “The Field of Fight.” Mr. Flynn was fired from his job as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in the Obama administration. He has trafficked in fake news and been part of the world of conspiracy theorists who trade in fantasies that Shariah law is being imposed on Americans.

A fearful tone permeates Mr. Flynn’s book, which warns, “We’re in a world war against a messianic mass movement of evil people, most of them inspired by a totalitarian ideology: Radical Islam.” For Mr. Flynn and fellow radicals, the fight isn’t against a small number of religious fanatics who seek to attack the West and its Arab allies, but an entire religion..."

http://tinyurl.com/hzwgz5d

Trump = Bullying

"At a middle school in Tukwila, Washington, one of the most diverse schools in America, students say they've seen a different kind of bullying arise this year..." http://tinyurl.com/zdwzycp

Womxn's March 21 Jan 2017 Seattle

We All Deserve Better than Trump et al!!

Primates in trouble!!

"Our fellow primates are in trouble.

In a study of unprecedented scope, a team of 31 primatologists has analyzed every known species of primate to judge how they are faring. The news for man’s closest animal relatives is not good.

Three-quarters of primate species are in decline, the researchers found, and about 60 percent are now threatened with extinction. From gorillas to gibbons, primates are in significantly worse shape now than in recent decades because of the devastation from agriculture, hunting and mining.

“I think we’re going to get quite a number of extinctions within next 50 years if things go on the way they are,” said Anthony B. Rylands, a senior research scientist at Conservation International and a co-author of the new study, which was published in Science Advances.

“It’s a landmark paper,” said Anne D. Yoder, the director of the Duke Lemur Center, who was not involved in the study. “It’s alarming without being alarmist.”

Taking stock of every primate species on Earth was a huge challenge, in part because scientists keep finding new ones. Since 2000, 85 new primate species have been identified, bringing the total to 505.

Just last week, a team of researchers described a new species of gibbon in China. Dr. Rylands said he knows of at least seven new primate species to be announced this year.

Scientists are finding so many new primate species in part because the destruction of forests is making it easier to reach populations that were once remote.

“There is a certain rush of people in a panic, realizing that if they don’t find and describe them, they will be lost without us ever knowing them,” said Dr. Rylands.

Another reason for the burst of discovery is that scientists have started investigating the DNA of primates, finding that some populations had unique mutations..

“There are distinct species that have been around for millions of years, even though they look to our eyes very similar,” said Dr. Yoder. Unfortunately, she noted, new species revealed by DNA often turn out to exist in perilously low numbers.

The new research was not all bad news for primates.

“Some species are doing O.K.,” said Katherine C. MacKinnon, an anthropologist at Saint Louis University and a co-author of the study. “The ones that are doing O.K. are the ones that aren’t super-specialists, the ones that are most flexible.”

But most species are not so flexible. Every species of ape (including gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and 19 species of gibbons) is threatened, while 87 percent of lemur species are. Other species that are critically endangered include the brown-headed spider monkey of Ecuador, the Niger Delta red colobus, and the crested macaque, an Indonesian species famous for having taken a selfie with a photographer’s camera.

“It’s worse than we thought 10 years ago,” Dr. MacKinnon said.

She and her colleagues identified a number of human activities pushing primates to the edge, such as hunting. In West Africa, for example, there is a strong demand in local markets for primate meat.

“The forests are still standing, but they’ve shot everything out of it,” said Dr. Rylands.

The incentives to kill primates are not only local, though. A lot of primate meat is making its way to China, along with body parts falsely believed to have healing powers.

“They’ll import enormous amounts from around Southeast Asia,” said Dr. Rylands. “They’re a driving force through the whole region.”

Primates are also threatened by the wholesale destruction of forests to make way for agriculture. In the Amazon, the jungle is being converted to cattle ranches and soybean fields, while in Madagascar, rice paddies are taking the place of lemur forests.

Western countries are also helping push primates toward extinction. Palm oil can be found in everything from doughnuts to lipstick to biodiesel fuel. New palm oil plantations are completely replacing forests in Southeast Asia — one of the most primate-diverse parts of the world.

Even cellphones can add to the risks. In central Africa, miners go into rain forests to dig for an ore called coltan that ends up in phone circuits. Those miners hunt for their meals. “They live on primates,” said Dr. Rylands.

Humans have already driven some primate species extinct, but it’s hard to say exactly how many. Madagascar was once home to giant lemurs that could weigh as much as 350 pounds.

While Western scientists never laid eyes on these remarkable creatures, the fossil record shows that 17 lemur species became extinct after humans arrived there 2,000 years ago.

More recently, a monkey called Miss Waldron’s red colobus has disappeared from its range in West Africa. It has not been spotted for over 25 years and is believed to be extinct. In China, a subspecies called the white-handed gibbon may have gone extinct as well.

Some of the most endangered primate species are down to just a few dozen survivors. Their prospects are grim, because many of them live in parts of the world where human populations are projected to grow the fastest.

In Madagascar, for example, humans may have to move deeper into lemur habitats for new farmland. “It’s a pressure cooker, and there’s no way to relieve the pressure,” said Dr. Yoder.

The authors of the new study offer a number of reasons it is worth trying to halt the crisis.

Recent research has shown that primates are extremely important to the ecosystems in which they live. As they feed on leaves and fruit, for example, they move pollen between trees. They pass seeds in their droppings, allowing plants to spread across a healthy range.

“People used to think of primates as icing on the cake, as not being vital for ecosystems,” said Dr. MacKinnon. “But now we know they are.”

Primates have also been invaluable for understanding ourselves.

The first primates evolved roughly 80 million years ago, and then split into the living lineages over millions of years. By comparing our biology to those of other primates, we have learned about the evolution of our brains, our vision and our vulnerability to diseases.

If those species become extinct, we will lose the opportunity to learn more.

While the prospects are dire, Dr. Rylands said there were concrete steps that can be taken to help primates. “You have to stop hunting them and give them a place to live,” he said.

That is easier said than done, he acknowledged, since the local communities where primates live are often struggling to feed their families. In some cases, it may be possible to take the pressure off primates by building fish farms as an alternate source of protein.

In other cases, communities may be able to make more money over the long term from tourist operations in intact forests than from slash-and-burn agriculture.

Dr. Rylands pointed to the golden lion tamarin as an example of how a primate species can be saved. It once lived in huge numbers in the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil. After the forests were nearly wiped out to make way for sugar plantations and other forms of agriculture, the species nearly vanished.

In 1983, the U.S. National Zoo led an international effort to bring them back. Monkeys were bred in captivity, forests were conserved and hunting was banned.

Today, the species has a small but stable population of some 3,500 individuals in the wild.

“There are cases where you can bring them back from the brink,” said Dr. Rylands. “But the immensity of the destruction of tropical forests makes it very difficult.”

NY Times

Follow Carl Zimmer on Twitter @carlzimmer

Pain Management??

The following response was sent to me when I commented about how many AIDS patients, and others, I know are being required to enroll in pain management courses to determine whether or not they can continue pain medications. Bob's response is a very sad commentary on challenges heaped on top of the daily lives of those suffering debilitating pain... Link to article.

Thank you, Michael.

I'm a long term AIDS patient in Seattle (Dx:1991) and have lived w/increasing anxiety for the last 6 years about my 20 year daily use of prescription oral morphine @30mg TID (90mg/day) which is just under the 100mg/day limit that GPs/Primary Care MDs can prescribe. Above 100mg/day, oral morphine requires a Pain Mgmt. Specialist since 2010. The younger ones have a different (even punitive) training/perspective/experience than older ones. (I'm 63.)

I had severe/overlapping chronic "shingles" (h.zoster) on my face/scalp 1994-98 and still have ongoing nerve pain there and elsewhere. After a year of oral morphine at 90mg TID (270mg/day), I was moved to large doses of Fentanyl patches, 3x100mcg/hour x3days for 1.5 years (1995-97) and then to 11 months of end-of-life IV morphine (1997-98) averaging 30mg/hour. New neurosurgery in '98 reduced the pain significantly and I went back to oral tablets. My pain hasn't been managed well for the past 3 years as my condition has changed but I've avoided going to a PMSp about increasing my dose. I now have an appointment scheduled and feel some dread about it, based on my previous experience with a younger PMSp in 2010. It should be a conflict of interest to have the same physician in charge of a patient's pain management also in charge of unwanted weaning of opiates in long term patients. And while it is a shame this doctor essentially drove his patient to suicide, I reserve the right to choose the same route if this country's laws drive me to that level of unmanageable pain. I've been there before and won't go there again.

If you have questions contact us at Letkidsbekids@mac.com

Alone, always alone-

Since I first got involved with HIV/AIDS patients I have learned that loneliness, isolation and abandonment contributes to patients outcomes. My book "Ice" shares the stories of many dealing with being ALONE.

This article says it well. 

“My patient and I both knew he was dying.

Not the long kind of dying that stretches on for months or years. He would die today. Maybe tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, the next day. Was there someone I should call? Someone he wanted to see?

Not a one, he told me. No immediate family. No close friends. He had a niece down South, maybe, but they hadn’t spoken in years.

For me, the sadness of his death was surpassed only by the sadness of his solitude. I wondered whether his isolation was a driving force of his premature death, not just an unhappy circumstance.

Every day I see variations at both the beginning and end of life: a young man abandoned by friends as he struggles with opioid addiction; an older woman getting by on tea and toast, living in filth, no longer able to clean her cluttered apartment. In these moments, it seems the only thing worse than suffering a serious illness is suffering it alone.

Social isolation is a growing epidemic — one that’s increasingly recognized as having dire physical, mental and emotional consequences. Since the 1980s, the percentage of American adults who say they’re lonely has doubled from 20 percent to 40 percent.

About one-third of Americans older than 65 now live alone, and half of those over 85 do. People in poorer health — especially those with mood disorders like anxiety and depression — are more likely to feel lonely. Those without a college education are the least likely to have someone they can talk to about important personal matters.

A wave of new research suggests social separation is bad for us. Individuals with less social connection have disrupted sleep patterns, altered immune systems, more inflammation and higher levels of stress hormones. One recent study found that isolation increases the risk of heart disease by 29 percent and stroke by 32 percent.

Another analysis that pooled data from 70 studies and 3.4 million people found that socially isolated individuals had a 30 percent higher risk of dying in the next seven years, and that this effect was largest in middle age.

Loneliness can accelerate cognitive decline in older adults, and isolated individuals are twice as likely to die prematurely as those with more robust social interactions. These effects start early: Socially isolated children have significantly poorer health 20 years later, even after controlling for other factors. All told, loneliness is as important a risk factor for early death as obesity and smoking.

The evidence on social isolation is clear. What to do about it is less so.

Loneliness is an especially tricky problem because accepting and declaring our loneliness carries profound stigma. Admitting we’re lonely can feel as if we’re admitting we’ve failed in life’s most fundamental domains: belonging, love, attachment. It attacks our basic instincts to save face, and makes it hard to ask for help.

I see this most acutely during the holidays when I care for hospitalized patients, some connected to I.V. poles in barren rooms devoid of family or friends — their aloneness amplified by cheerful Christmas movies playing on wall-mounted televisions. And hospitalized or not, many people report feeling lonelier, more depressed and less satisfied with life during the holiday season.

New research suggests that loneliness is not necessarily the result of poor social skills or lack of social support, but can be caused in part by unusual sensitivity to social cues. Lonely people are more likely to perceive ambiguous social cues negatively, and enter a self-preservation mind-set — worsening the problem. In this way, loneliness can be contagious: When one person becomes lonely, he withdraws from his social circle and causes others to do the same.

Dr. John Cacioppo, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, has tested various approaches to treat loneliness. His work has found that the most effective interventions focus on addressing “maladaptive social cognition” — that is, helping people re-examine how they interact with others and perceive social cues. He is collaborating with the United States military to explore how social cognition training can help soldiers feel less isolated while deployed and after returning home.

The loneliness of older adults has different roots — often resulting from family members moving away and close friends passing away. As one senior put it, “Your world dies before you do.”

Ideally, experts say, neighborhoods and communities would keep an eye out for such older people and take steps to reduce social isolation. Ensuring they have easy access to transportation, through discounted bus passes or special transport services, can help maintain social connections.

Religious older people should be encouraged to continue regular attendance at services and may benefit from a sense of spirituality and community, as well as the watchful eye of fellow churchgoers. Those capable of caring for an animal might enjoy the companionship of a pet. And loved ones living far away from a parent or grandparent could ask a neighbor to check in periodically.

But more structured programs are arising, too. For example, Dr. Paul Tang of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation started a program called linkAges, a cross-generational service exchange inspired by the idea that everyone has something to offer.

The program works by allowing members to post online something they want help with: guitar lessons, a Scrabble partner, a ride to the doctor’s office. Others can then volunteer their time and skills to fill these needs and “bank” hours for when they need something themselves.

“In America, you almost need an excuse for knocking on a neighbor’s door,” Dr. Tang told me. “We want to break down those barriers.”

For example, a college student might see a post from an older man who needs help gardening. She helps him plant a row of flowers and “banks” two hours in the process. A few months later, when she wants to cook a Malaysian meal for her boyfriend, a retired chef comes by to give her cooking lessons.

“You don’t need a playmate every day,” Dr. Tang said. “But knowing you’re valued and a contributing member of society is incredibly reaffirming.”

The program now has hundreds of members in California and plans to expand to other areas of the country with a recent grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“We in the medical community have to ask ourselves: Are we controlling blood pressure or improving health and well-being?” Dr. Tang said. “I think you have to do the latter to do the former.”

A great paradox of our hyper-connected digital age is that we seem to be drifting apart. Increasingly, however, research confirms our deepest intuition: Human connection lies at the heart of human well-being. It’s up to all of us — doctors, patients, neighborhoods and communities — to maintain bonds where they’re fading, and create ones where they haven’t existed.”

Dhruv Khullar, M.D., M.P.P., is a resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

"Ice" is available via http://www.glenbrook.mynetworksolutions.com/

                                                               

Helping Hand

Please pass the word on this Helping Hand opportunity. It is applicable in whatever state you live in.
Today I gave a lady a ride to her Oncologist for ongoing radiation. She didn't know about the Road to Recovery program sponsored but the American Cancer Society. She has spent a fair amount of money transporting herself to Swedish hospital. A social worker at Swedish told her of the service. We, Let Kids Be Kids, Inc.,  http://tinyurl.com/2dsn7f3 do not charge for the ride, we are not compensated in any way or reimbursed for expenses related to this Advocacy/Support outreach. If you want to help us there are links on our website. Please tell Cancer patients to call the American Cancer Society and enquire about the Road to Recovery program. Call: 1-800-227-2345 or contact us letkidsbekids@mac.com

Unacceptable

Donald Trump is directly responsible for these increases in unacceptable behaviors. Were he a real leader he would have made a national speech condemning all of this ongoing discrimination. Don't forget he was the source of the birther movement. "On Monday morning, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority worker in a hijab in addition to her uniform was followed off a subway train at Grand Central Station in Manhattan by a man who shoved her down.

“You shouldn’t be working for the city. You’re a terrorist,” he was heard to say.

On Saturday evening, an off-duty police officer who wears a hijab in and out of uniform dropped her 16-year-old son off by their hone and returned from parking the family car to see a man with a pit bull harassing and pushing him..."

http://tinyurl.com/zcd94ye