PEP in San Antonio

Allison and I are in San Antonio this weekend for a PEP Train the Trainers. We have additional duties being on the Steering Committee. PEP is a great program for parents with kids with bleeding disorders. We are talking about some exciting efforts to really expand PEP. More details to follow.

Dawn of the Dead

I woke up this morning to find that Hillary Clinton has staggered to her feet, zombie like, and has started walking again arms outstretched. Barack Obama meanwhile has been distracted by a renewed interest in his relationship with shady character Tony Rezko and his Canada/NAFTA doubletalk.

I mean sheeezz, she was down and he didn’t put her away. Didn’t he watch any zombie movies at Columbia and Harvard? No Halloween or Friday the 13th movies? No Elm Street movies? Apparently not, because he made the same mistakes.

When you get the monster down, FINISH IT OFF! But no, he dropped his weapon, turned his back, hugged his wife and said, “We’re safe now.”

Finish the deal! You’ve got to hack off the head, cut off the arms and legs and burn all the parts. And then don’t turn your back.

Had Jamie Lee Curtis done this in 1978, no more Michael Myers, Had the kids at Crystal Lake done this, no more Jason (although they did lop off Jason’s mother’s head in the first Friday the 13th – no more mom).

Like the zombie-monsters and the zombie-monster movies themselves Hillary keeps coming back because Obama won’t or can’t finish her off. You’d think with his record fundraising his campaign could afford a machete.

Teach your children well...

Rock artist Sting worried about nuclear war and once sang that he hoped the Russians loved their children too. We might say now with confidence that the Russians did and do indeed love their children. Perhaps the commonalities between the Russians and their Western European brethren (and by extension the United States) was greater than the ideological differences. The existential struggle between the democratic/capitalist Western NATO and the communist Soviet Bloc will be studied and debated for a long time to come. But ultimately the struggle resolved without apocalyptic war because of the simple fact that neither side was willing to take the ultimate step and use the most destructive and most horrible weapons at their disposal.

What about now? Despite arguments to the contrary Western liberal democracies face another existential threat in the form of radical Islamic jihad.

Do Islamic extremists love their children too?

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz explores the question in this Wall Street Journal commentary.

Quotes from the piece.

Mother to son; "if you're not going to follow the steps of the Islamic resistance martyrs, then I don't want you."

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah; "We are going to win, because they love life and we love death."

Osama bin Laden; "We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the big difference between us."

Sheik Feiz Mohammed, leader of the Global Islamic Youth Center in Sydney, Australia; "We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam. Teach them this: There is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a
mujahid."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; : "It is the zenith of honor for a man, a young person, boy or girl, to be prepared to sacrifice his life in order to serve the interests of his nation and his religion."

So maybe they do love their children…but not in the same way. Not in a way we understand or accept as rational or moral. It is more than competing socioeconomic systems. It is entrenched in the most basic religious and cultural underpinnings of this radical subset of Islamic society.

It is something that prevents them from understanding the meaning of Golda Meir when she said; "We can perhaps someday forgive you for killing our children, but we cannot forgive you for making us kill your children."

It is something poignantly illustrated in this now widely distributed cartoon:

Texas Primary Day

Its Primary day in my two 'home' states. Born in Ohio, lived the majority of my life in Texas.

Will this be the day that finally rings the death knell for the Hillary Clinton campaign and ring in the coronation of Barack Obama. Or will it merely be the bell between the latest rounds in this heavyweight bout. We shall see in a few hours.

One thing is sure. No more campaign calls in the middle of dinner (or bedtime routine), no more political ads on T.V. on the radio or in the mail. At least for a few more months.

Big Money for Big Ben

Eight years, $102 million makes Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger one of the highest-paid players in the game and by far the highest in Steelers history.

"This is about being a Pittsburgh Steeler for as long as I can be. I love Pittsburgh," Roethlisberger said.

Pittsburgh loves Big Ben. Roethlisberger brought the 'one for the thumb ' Super Bowl to Pittsburgh two years ago becoming the Super Bowl's youngest winning quarterback.

Here's hoping for a bunch of jewelry for the other hand in the next 8 years.

Global Warming Alert! And it tastes good!

It's BBQ cooking time at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. And they ain't cooking with no clean-burning gas. Wood baby! Wood smoke! Hundreds of pits fired up and smoking some of the best BBQ brisket, chicken and ribs in the world for three full days.

The World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest gets into full swing tonight and the the trail rides converge on Memorial Park today as the warm-up acts for the world’s largest livestock show.

WFB, 1925-2008; RIP

I just finished watching Charlie Rose tonight. Charlie had a well-done retrospective on William F. Buckley's numerous appearances on the show and concluded with some heart-felt words and a final goodbye. I normally can't stand Charlie Rose. I find him interesting only for the quality of his guests. He has an annoying habit of interrupting his guests and finishing their thoughts for them. So I suppose it is telling of the great respect and deference for this particular guest that Charlie didn't employ his annoying habit very often to Bill Buckley (as if anyone could attempt to finish a Bill Buckley thought).

My first encounter with the work of William F. Buckley was through his Blackford Oakes novels, having read them on the recommendation of my brother, Tim. They were 'ripping good yarns' and I wanted to know more about this Buckley character. Low and behold my surprise to find he was the guy on "Firing Line" who necessitated the use of a dictionary to view and understand the show. At that youthful point in my life I didn't have much use for the high-brow debate of politics, philosophy, culture and religion that were often the subject of his show.

Despite that, as a high school senior or college freshman, National Review was my first-ever, paid-for-with-my-own-money magazine subscription. Through the years I've learned much more about the man and his life. A great deal has been said and will be written (much more eloquently than my me) about the man by those who knew him best. Especially over at National Review Online.

I have but one word, in its fullest meaning, to describe the man and his life.

Extraordinary.

If nothing else they were persistent...

...The First WTC bombing @ 15.




















Andrew C. McCarthy looks back for National Review Online. He should know, McCarthy is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He lead the prosecution against the 'Blind Sheik' Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and planning a series of attacks against other New York City landmarks.

Wyeth receives FDA license for new Factor VIII product

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today licensed a new treatment for hemophilia A called Xyntha Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant) Plasma/Albumin Free. Xyntha is manufactured by Philadelphia-based Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. Xyntha joins BeneFIX (hemophilia B) and ReFacto (hemophilia A) in Wyeth's antihemophilic lineup.

From the FDA release:

To make Xyntha, genes from Chinese Hamster Ovary cells (CHO) are modified to produce factor VIII. These CHO cells are free from known infectious agents, and Xyntha undergoes an additional process of viral inactivation. Also, the culture in which the cells are grown is free of any human or animal material.

"This product provides an additional treatment option for hemophilia A patients. This recombinant Factor VIII is produced without additives from human or animal material, which further minimizes any risk of infection from the product," said Jesse Goodman, M.D., M.P.H., director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Transplanted liver cells show promise for Hemophilia Cure

I've been late in linking to this important and hopeful bit of news.

The meat of the find:

In the study, Gupta's team worked with a mouse model of hemophilia. They transplanted healthy liver endothelial cells into the livers of these mice, according to the report in the Feb. 14 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Three months after transplanting the cells, the number of healthy cells had increased and were producing factor VIII in amounts sufficient to cure their hemophilia, the researchers found.

Given these results, researchers can start to focus on where factor VIII is made in the human body and how things can go wrong with its production, Gupta said. (emphasis mine)

It’s the Lenten, Ramadan, ah, lent…what?

Its good to see our multiculturalist brethren in Europe are doing such a good job keeping the faith.

Dutch Catholics want to rename Lent as Ramadan.

The Catholic charity Vastenaktie, which holds collections for the Third World all across the Netherlands during Lent, said the liturgical season leading up to Easter needed a more relevant reference point.

"The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent," said Vastenaktie Director, Martin Van der Kuil, told the Daily Telegraph.

And who said fatwas against cartoonists and the murder of a film director was bad publicity.


In related crazy Euro-Christian news, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams is nuts. And besides that thinks Britain should adopt aspects of sharia law.

The Archbishop provoked the row by saying Britain had to "face up to the fact" that some citizens did not relate to this country's legal system and argued that officially sanctioning sharia law would improve community relations.

If by 'community relations' they mean stonings or 40 lashes or religious police grabbing people in Starbucks then sure, o.k.

And to think this book was scoffed at.

Hemophilia News

Novo Nordisk looks to get into the factor 8 market


Neose Technologies, Inc. announced that it received a milestone payment from Novo Nordisk under a license agreement for the use of Neose's GlycoPEGylation technology to develop a next-generation version of recombinant Factor VIII.

Neose is also working on development of longer-lasting r-FVIIa and r-FIX.

Romney’s Out…McCain ‘08

I think it was me. I announce my support for him on Monday, he has a below expectations showing on Super Tuesday and announces his departure today. I’m the Sports Illustrated cover of rarely-read blogs.

But seriously Mitt Romney announced at annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington today that he is dropping out of the race.

In one excellent and moving speech Gov. Romney did more to advance his conservative credentials than in his whole year of campaigning.

Some key excerpts:

“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention … I’d forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I’d be making make it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win. Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”

“This isn’t an easy decision. I hate to lose… If this were only about me, I’d go on, but it’s never been only about me. I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America in this time of war, I feel I have to now stand aside, for our party and for our country.”

“I will continue to stand for conservative principles; I will fight alongside you for all the things we believe in. And one of those things is that we cannot allow the next president of the United States to retreat in the face of evil extremism.”

“It is the common task of each generation and the burden of liberty, to preserve this county, expand its freedoms and renew its spirit so that its noble past is prolonged to its glorious future. To this task, accepting this burden we’re all dedicated and I firmly believe by the providence of the Almighty that we will succeed beyond our finest hope. American must always remain as it has always been, the hope of the earth.”

Some video is here and a transcript is here.

It was classy, it was moving and it was necessary. Because what we fight is extremism that has no problem with things like this.

Romney 2012?

It’s a good thing I don’t earn a living through political punditry or prognostication, I’d be penniless and homeless. But then again those that do specialize in punditry didn’t see Tuesday’s results coming in the way that they came.

My man didn’t do as well as he needed on Super Tuesday and the Republican primaries are only slightly more clear. John McCain is firmly entrenched as the frontrunner by proving he can win in left leaning blue states where the conservatives are moderates. Mike Huckabee has surprised most by showing he’s not dead and is still strong with faith-based conservatives and in the South. Mitt Romney remains strong among the very conservative outside the South.

RealClearPolitics has the delegate count at McCain 604, Romney 244, Huckabee 187.

What’s it mean? Barring anything unforeseen McCain will take the Republican nomination. Huckabee and Romney by themselves cannot mount an opposition and their support does not flow to the other. What they can do is push John McCain to the right. Each from their areas of strength; Huckabee on social issues of life and marriage and Romney on fiscal issues of taxation and trade.

It will be up to McCain to heed the conservative base and assure and reassure that he will govern as he has promised in a Regan conservativism. And it’s up to the conservative base to hold McCain to those positions. Hold him to border enforcement first, making permanent the Bush tax cuts, nominating constructionist judges, cutting spending, preserving free speech (no Fairness doctrine), support for traditional marriage, market-based solutions for health-care and supporting life on embryonic stem cells and abortion.

I’ve never voted in a primary before and if Romney is still in the race I will cast my vote for him. But if the inevitable happens (and I think it will) then John McCain is my choice for president. Not my first, second or third choice but my choice none-the-less.

Super Tuesday

And so it begins. Who will win the Republican nomination? I don't know.

Regardless of who comes out on top today, tomorrow or late in March. That candidate will need to heal the fractures and repair the conservative coalition. In my opinion that candidate is Mitt Romney.

Governor Romney has demonstrated time and again his ability to connect with voters and persuade them to his side. Contrast this with John McCain. Senator McCain has ridden a sort of natural constituency that needed little persuasion. Sen. McCain’s following is made up of Americans of his age and older that look favorably on his experience as a contemporary, no persuasion necessary. Sen. McCain is also very strong among current and retired military and military families. This is natural considering Sen. McCain’s military experience and support of the military, again no persuasion necessary. Finally Sen. McCain is strong among those for whom the war is the single overriding issue of the day. Which again is natural given his full-throated support of the war on terror and the surge in Iraq and again no persuasion necessary.

On the other hand Gov. Romney has done nothing but persuade voters to his camp. Starting with questions of his Mormon religion all the way through questions of his recent conversions on some core conservative issues Gov. Romney has persuaded voters to support him. In a Republican field with many other options Gov. Romney has reached out to a substantial block of conservatives. It is this ability of persuasion that makes Gov. Romney more capable to mend the divisions in the Republican Party and repair the Reagan coalition.

And it is this ability of persuasion that will serve him well in the general election when both parties vie for the centrist, independent and undecided voters.

Redbleed endorses...

Celebrities, pundits of the airwaves and the political heavyweights are all lining up behind one candidate or another. Oprah Winfrey and Ted Kennedy have endorsed Senator Barack Obama. Chuck Norris is backing Governor Mike Huckabee. Senator John McCain has the support of Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Governor Mitt Romney has almost all of conservative talk radio and National Review. Bill Clinton has endorsed himself. Senator Hillary Clinton has the backing of her husband and the whole Clinton political machine.

But there are still a number of undecided voters out there. So I’m here to help. I know thousands hundreds tens ones people have been waiting to see where redbleed will throw its support.

So here it is:

Redbleed endorses Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

Governor Romney is frankly an impressive guy. In a Republican field full of flawed candidates the upsides of Mitt Romney outweigh the negatives. That is more than I can say about Senator McCain, Governor Huckabee and Representative Paul.

Gov. Romney’s record of success in private business, not-for-profit and the government sector demonstrates the potential of the man. If we were selecting a Commander-in-Chief only then Sen. McCain would be the guy. But we’re not. The president has to be the Chief Executive as well as the Commander-in-Chief. It is those skills as an executive that make Gov. Romney the most attractive candidate.

As the markets of the world continue to globalize we’ll need someone with Gov. Romney’s immense talents to guide this nation in the atmosphere of emerging markets of Southeast Asia and India, a rising China, a strengthened European Union and the challenge of connecting to the potential of Africa and South America.

We’ll need someone with Gov. Romney’s background to tackle a bloated and ineffective bureaucracy and to make the hard business decisions from a conservative viewpoint on how best to scale back the worst excesses of government.

After 7 years of constant wailing about George W. Bush and ‘competence’ that is one knock that cannot be pinned on Gov. Romney. The man oozes competence. If he makes it to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. he may be the smartest man to hold the office. This is a man who can get a briefing on a subject one week and the next week give a better brief back to the briefer.

The ability to take in the information, process the data and produce executive decisions is exactly what is needed in these times of exponential change.

Gov. Romney is a supporter of the war in Iraq and the broader Global War on Terror and radical Islamic extremists. I also think Gov. Romney would perform wonderfully in terms of foreign diplomacy and statesmanship.

Gov. Romney stands head and shoulders above the rest on economic issues. He has a full understanding of market forces and pressures from both private and governmental sector viewpoints.

Gov. Romney falls on the side of life on abortion and stem cell research and the side to traditional values on same-sex marriage. Although a recent convert some social and life issues his views were tempered by the fire of direct contact with them as governor of Massachusetts. Much the same way Ronald Reagan formed his views as governor of California.

There are many laudable aspects of Sen. McCain, his military service and sacrifice for his country foremost among them. And if Sen. McCain wins the Republican presidential nomination he will have my full support. But until that time Mitt Romney is my choice for President of the United States.

Columbia Anniversary

The fact that the two Shuttle tragedies happened so close to each other on the calendar never really sunk in before.

It's interesting that the Columbia tragedy didn't affect me the same way as the Challenger. Was it the sad fact that it wasn't new, that it had happened before? Perhaps because I was older and busier with less time to dwell on the sad event.

I do remember the day vividly of course. We were busy getting ready for Jack's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. At the party the three year-olds were blissfully ignorant of the tragic happenings but the parents murmered "sad," "terrible," and "again."

Five years later missions continue but those we lost are not forgotten. It is our prayer that we never have a third Shuttle disaster.

Challenger Anniversary

Twenty-two years ago today the nation suffered a tragic loss. One of those moments that sticks in the collective memory of a generation. Millions watched live on that bright blue January day to see a school teacher, Christa McAuliffe, journey into space on the Space Shuttle Challenger.

I was a junior in high school then. I didn't see it live. I was attending the funeral for a teammates' father. I suppose it made it more surreal to come out of a funeral to immediately hear on the radio of the Challenger disaster.

But the nation healed, persevered and forged ahead like it had before, like it has since and like it will again.

The video is of President Reagan's address to the nation that night.

Uh-oh.

Baxter recalls 9 lots of heparin sodium injection.

I note this as significant for the bleeding disorders community because heparin sodium is used to flush IV or port lines or to prevent unwanted clots in those same line.

We used a low-dose heparin sodium solution (just enough to fill the port reservoir and catheter) as part of our port infusion routine in the year and a half Jack had a port.

A list of the batches and lots are here.

Focus on Health Insurance Lifetime Caps

This Washington Post article does a nice job putting some flesh on the lifetime cap issue. Some key graphs:

Statistics on how many people exceed the lifetime caps are hard to come by, but advocates note that the amount of many caps hasn't changed in decades, or at least has not kept up with health-care inflation and the sky-high cost of lifesaving new therapies, making it more likely that people will reach the limit.

and,

Three of Kerry and Chuck Fatula's four boys have hemophilia, a rare inherited bleeding disorder that prevents their blood from clotting normally. All three punched through the $1 million lifetime cap in the Pittsburgh area family's private insurance policy within a few months of one another in 2004, their mother said.

The clotting factor they take to prevent and control bleeding costs about $150,000 a month, and at various times each has been hospitalized for internal bleeding or to treat infections of the ports that allow them to take medication intravenously, Kerry Fatula said. For now, Medicaid pays medical bills for all three. But the eldest, Paul, a senior in high school who physically can do "90 percent" of what his healthy peers can, recently turned 18 and must qualify as a disabled adult to retain federal assistance, she said.

I had some personal reflections on the lifetime cap issue in a previous post here.