The Game is Rigged: Episode 1

I read with great interest an April 25, 2013 Time Magazine article describing an incredible discovery that might, just might spell the end of insulin injections for the treatment of diabetes. From the halls of Harvard's Stem Cell Institute Doug Melton and postdoctoral fellow Peng Yi have discovered the hormone betatrophin, which quite simply has the potential to improve by leaps and bounds ongoing treatment for type 2 diabetics.

There's a catch of course. More on that later...

Diabetes is a horrible disease. It is insidious and devastating in it's potential to reek havoc on the sufferer. It is a stealth disease that often lurks undetected and with no outward signs or ill feelings. It can, if left untreated, lead to stroke, heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, coma and vascular disease which often ends in foot or leg amputation  - a horrible affliction indeed. It has been known about for 3500 years and until 1923 it was literally a death sentence. This discovery could be the biggest break for diabetics since the invention of animal insulin.

This hormone, called betatrophin, was observed to cause laboratory mice to produce insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells at up to 30 times the normal rate. The beauty of it is these new beta cells only produce insulin when called for by the body, mimicking the pancreas' natural regulation of insulin with the potential for great reductions in the complications associated with diabetes. Such exciting news, right?

The catch is that politics and big business are so involved with the multi, muti-billion dollar diabetes maintenance industry that no one is just going to stand by while this, this discovery spoils that party.

To understand just how despicable and evil this is consider first the brief description offered earlier of the nature of this disease and then multiply that by millions. Today 25.8 million people in the United States have been diagnosed diabetic and nearly 350 million world wide suffer from this disease - and the numbers are increasing exponentially. These are epidemic proportions yet because it kills slowly it is the perfect disease to profit from. The blood testing supply business alone is a multi-billion dollar industry. Imagine if this new treatment reduces the need for testing to a fraction of what it is today.

In fact the history of manufactured insulin is fascinating and instructive. In 1921 Canadian scientist Fredrick Banting and grad student Charles Best labored many months on experiments that brought them closer to a solution to the treatment of diabetes than ever before. In December of that year Banting, Best and John Macleod had produced an extract from whole beef pancreas mixed with alcohol that successfully lowered the blood glucose levels in a dog whose pancreas had been removed.

It was James Collip who helped the team to purify its insulin extract. This purified version would prove successful in the first clinical trials conducted on human patients with diabetes at Toronto General Hospital. After publishing their results they set about mass producing their "insulin" but the encountered so many problems they were forced turn to the Eli Lilly Company. Banting and Best traveled to Indianapolis to work with company chemists to produce the revolutionary extract insulin.

 On Jan. 23, 1923, Banting, Collip and Best were awarded U.S. patents on insulin and the method used to make it. Later that same year, Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery of insulin. Now here's the key part of the story that contrasts with the extreme greed of today... Banting, Collip and Best all sold these patents to the University of Toronto for $1 each. Absorb that for a minute.

Animal derived insulin was cheap and readily available for decades. It saved countless lives and allowed diabetics not only to live but live well. Fast forward to 1970's when the first fully synthetic insulin was created by Ciba-Gieigy. It was in 1982 that Eli Lilly licensed Genentech's process for creating recombinant human insulin after it was proven effective in controlling diabetes. By then the "health insurance model" was well entrenched and the cost of the new synthetic insulin was exorbitant compared to the porcine variety.

This story is well told by my good friend who went on a failed quest to find the cheap animal derived insulin.
http://tbirdblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/where-has-all-animal-insulin-gone.html

As the patents run out on synthetic insulin we expect as we do with all other drugs that generic manufacturers will soon be flooding the market and prices will fall. Fat chance. You see the game is rigged...

Synthetic insulin is known as a “biologic” drug and unlike for instance aspirin which is an assortment of chemicals that anyone can manufacture biologics are regulated differently. Therefore generic makers aren't allowed to "piggyback" on the original pharmacological trials. Since this would cost too much the generics pass on it. There is no reason that generics couldn't produce safe, cheap synthetic insulin it's just the FDA won't let them. Nice win for big pharma.

So here we are possibly on the cusp of the next big thing in diabetes treatment. So excuse me when I sigh after reading that big pharma is all over the betatrophin story. Potentially diabetics may be able to reduce their need for insulin altogether and get by with one betatrophin injection a week or even one a month. Considering the potential for crumbling such a huge profit industry I envision these injections costing $400 -$1000 a pop or maybe more. Surely the government will intercede, right? Call me cynical, but I see the government stepping in not to help end the suffering of millions of people rather to stop the suffering of shareholders.


But I could be wrong...



Ugh

The American Devolution?

There was a time in my youth when it was the simply unthinkable that America, the good 'ole US of A, would not exist as 50 united states forever. If anything was a constant in the life of a  teenager in the mid 1970's it was the absolute supremacy of the American way of life. Yeah, so, I was a bit naive, but try to tell me back in the day despite the turmoil of the post-hippie era you didn't think the same thing?

Today at the ripe old age of 51 I have never been so ill at ease about the future. It isn't any one thing - its everything. It isn't just me  - its everyone. Thinking people can read the signs, but even those not paying attention know something is wrong. From the moribund economy to the mass invasion from the south to the doom saying environmental cabal, not to mention recent generations of youth without the slightest grasp of history, American or otherwise. Reading the headlines and the winning legislative agendas across the land one would begin to think there is no actual "American" culture.

Honestly, it's a little frightening. Sometimes I feel compelled to plan for the apocalypse before its too late. I had always thought survivalists were slightly off their rockers, now they seem to be the only ones on the ball. The question is  - which apocalypse to plan for?

Having read the mood and the trajectory of the culture our authors, movie makers and TV producers dove right in to entertain us - or warn us??? Novels and films like the Book of Eli and The Road focused on the world after a cataclysmic war or a global catastrophe. We follow loners as they journey through a nasty post-apocalyptic scene. Currently they are several highly rated TV shows following the same theme in one fashion or another. Perhaps the most popular is The Walking Dead where survivors of a zombie apocalypse battle daily for simple existence against an unthinking horde of ravenous zombies as well as other desperate and dangerous fellow survivors. Falling Skies depicts the world after an alien invasion had decimated humanity leaving only rag tag  pockets of free men to able fight back. The now completed TV series called Fringe featured another invasion scenario of a sorts. This time the invaders where not from outer space, but rather from our own future. After evolving into unfeeling, uncaring creatures of pure logic and reason they (we) had moved back in time to reclaim the world before it succumbed to human caused pollution and devastation.

The draw, the fascination with each of these shows is seeing our fragile society collapsing into the unrecognizable. Still, there's more to it than that. The characters we bond with touch the basest part of humanity that exists in each of us - the will to survive. In those brief moments during each episode as we project ourselves at a subconscious level into the scene we feel more alive than ever. As each episode comes to an end we feel a momentary letdown as we realize we have returned to our ordinary but safe lives. True, most of us like it that way, but a part of us longs to feel that feeling again and again. Like it or not there's is a chance our society will someday collapse into the unrecognizable and it will not be exciting at all, it will be deadly.

The most likely scenario right now is not one of those but rather a societal collapse born of a financial meltdown. What would that look like when the power goes out and the trucks stop delivering to the supermarkets and gas stations? There are two other shows currently running that deal with the aftermath of a total breakdown of governmental order. The TV show Revolution, while ridiculous on many levels, does explore a post government United States and the reordering of regional societies. The show deals mostly with the extreme violence of personal vendettas, but around the edges it offers a glimpse of the rise of a new order. The other show running on cable TV's Sci-Fi channel called Continuum is infinitely more sophisticated and nuanced in every aspect. Here the world's governments have spent themselves into bankruptcy (prophetic anyone) and have been bailed out by big business. In this scenario multinationals are the ultimate authority, crafting society to their benefit. The checks and balances such as they are today are a thing of the past. For many life is grand, for the rest it's only scarcity and exploitation.

As we take stock of the world today with the economic stresses and the threat of terrorism's global reach we can't rule out that old standby war, yet the slow devolution of the cultural West and the disintegration of  so-called "free" societies is likely to spark our decent into disorder and chaos. How will it start? What will the first signs look like? Just look around...

We have an entire generation of young people pushed from an early age to go to college (not necessarily a bad thing) only to find themselves starting their adult lives under a mountain of debt and unable to afford the dream of buying a house or starting a family. They've played by the rules and when they come out the other end of the tunnel they're lucky just to find halfway decent job. This while the colleges and universities sit atop mountains of wealth in one form or another and still they squeeze the student, their parents or the taxpayer for more. One recent grad told me she knew how to be rich and successful in America - start a college. It wasn't always like this.

For those lucky enough to be working the squeezing didn't stop on graduation day. Less Americans have a job today than they did in the 1980's while nearly 60 million draw a government disability check. With the baby boom generation entering their retirement years and drawing their justly deserved benefits how long can the Federal government remain solvent?

Some will say those foolish enough to rely on the government benefits for retirement will get what they deserve. Most of us heeding this advice were sold a cruel joke by the promise of home ownership and a 401K package at work. We were told these things were the path to a happy retirement. But the squeeze continues. Home values plummet and our 401K's collapse before our eyes. What we have worked for all our lives disappears in a blink. This while the power brokers and well connected continue line their pockets.

Those enjoying good incomes - no doubt through their own hard work and perseverance - are forced to give it up through taxation because it's unfair that they should have so much while others have so little - this while millions of slackers draw a monthly check for doing nothing. This is called fairness and compassion.

Paradoxically the hand-wringing over the so-called welfare cheats bilking the system masks the real outrage - that being the corporate/special interest control of our government and our wealth. It is a vast and overwhelming paradigm that defies logic -  impossible to fully grasp, impossible to ever rectify.

If this sounds like a conspiracy theory it should, because it is. No, not a grand conspiracy with an all powerful puppet master pulling the strings, but a conglomeration of conspiracies designed to control all human activity while making a select few filthy rich. The problem is one day it will come crashing down on them and on us. There will be a triggering event - a black swan event - that will start the dominoes falling. It could be anything.

There is hope, is there not? I want to be an optimist, I really do. However, as I read the writing on the walls I find little room for positive feelings. My hope is maybe I'm not reading between the lines...

Can the U.S. continue following the same general trajectory we see now? Is it even possible? Will there be a painful correction or maybe a savior with the power to set things right? Yes, yes, yes and hopefully.

Obviously anything's possible. America could teeter on the edge for decades dodging that one cataclysm that would blow this house of cards down. Its likely, even highly probable there will be a massive financial correction that would make the mortgage crisis seem like a walk in the park and quite possibly the world would emerge better, stronger and more balanced.

After WWII all but one of the world's advance industrial societies for all intents and purposes was destroyed and still the world recovered. There was real political leadership and vision that helped remake a world that rumbled and stumbled its way into the 21st century. There is no evidence that any such leadership exists anymore, none whatsoever.

What will happen to the world if America and West collapse? I'm guessing it won't be like the grit, grime and violence depicted in the TV shows - it'll be far worse.

But I could be wrong.



Ugh

Hi There...

I am re-starting my blog after some months of contemplation. I'm not exactly sure what it will be just yet, probably rambling essays of some sort. I am going to avoid politics and current affairs for the sake of politics and current affairs, and instead focus on the culture and unfortunately what I see as a devolution of humanity in general and America in particular. Of course it will be difficult to avoid politics and hot topics, but I don't intend to focus on any particular politician or any particular story as it were. Who knows...

See you around,
Ugh

R.I.P. Static Noise Journal

So Long Static Noise Journal...

As of today Static Noise Journal will cease to exist. Not that anyone will actually miss it, but I am putting it to bed because I have nothing offer (if I ever did) anymore. I'd like to keep it for posterity and reference, so a new blog will appear in sequence. I thought there was some good writing and many valid points made by this blog.

Look for something new in this space soon. Thanks to any readers and commenters who have partaken in this blog over the years.

CW out

Hiatus

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*****************************UPDATE:****************************

January 2013

I am seriously contemplating revamping this blog into something else, no more current affairs or politics. However, I don't have a clue what I want to do - yet. Blogging on politics is like shouting over a jet engine, it's pointless. Since no one really cares what I have to say anyway nothing is lost. The fools (criminals) who are running this country into the ground don't care about anything but themselves and I should not be surprised nor flummoxed by it anymore. 

So, when I think about the things I love I realize I already have a web presence for my original art www.static-art.blogspot.com . I have website for my original music www.facebook.com/youngcraig61 . I also have a neglected website for "Reviews" that I've done over the years  http://www.sacracyliac.blogspot.com/ .  I love my family and Jesus, but neither is "blogging" material in my eyes. The family is off limits and I don't have an evangelistic bone in my body. Jesus Christ may be the most recognizable person in world, but He is also the most misunderstood and misrepresented person (mostly by Christians) who has ever lived. I have no authority to try to set anyone straight...

So, hope to see you around sometime, whoever you are. When I come up with something I'll be back.

Good luck!
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 original post

Am I so out of touch? Do I have views so off center? How is it possible, even cosmically, that every single thing I voted for  - everything - lost.

I feel like I live in Alice's Wonderland. As an example the voters here in my city have voted to give the school district more millions. There is absolutely no evidence that the last millions they received has done anything but lowered outcomes once again. Obviously I'm just not seeing the wisdom and really ought not to bother myself and just pay up...

Having lost interest in current events in one fell swoop this blog, such as it is, is going down. I have no idea when I might be energized to give a crap again. I can't even rightly ask anyone to stop by now and again - I probably won't be here.

I plan to turn introspective - largely because no one gives a damn what I have to... Mmm forgot where that was going. Whatever.

I do plan to keep my online art website going. So, if you land here CLICK HERE to see some pretty pictures.

So long




CW

Uncertainty, what uncertainty?

The last few days of this election season it is hard to see the forest for the trees. We have all wore out the mute button on our TV remotes because the political ads have driven us insane. How many times can you hear that so-and-so Republican beats baby seals with a club and such-and-such Democrat is liar? Anyway, for those undecideds out there consider this...

For three years on CNBC - the business news channel - a parade of CEO's and business titans have said the same thing over and over about the current administration. The President and his team have fostered a hostile posture towards business in general and created an atmosphere of uncertainty. The Uncertainty is particularly acute among our small businesses. Despite the rhetoric that they have given tax breaks and grants to small businesses (primarily in the green-energy field) the entrepreneur class is just barely hanging on, unable to expand, unable to grow and unable to hire. Why?

Could be this...

Business Owners Warn Of 4,100 New Regs And The Administration's Secrecy About Them

The nation's small business owners are warning of the effects of 4,100 new regulations and the administration's refusal to produce a legally-required report explaining them.

Every administration is legally required to publish a report each April and October in the Federal Register to inform Congress and the public of the administration's regulatory agenda and its potential economic impact. The requirement is part of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980.

The Obama administration has missed its second straight legal deadline for disclosing its regulatory plans and their economic impact to Congress and the American public. No previous administration has ever failed to produce the report even once.

The article by Craig Bannister of CNSNews.com details another act of lawlessness by this administration. Between this and Fast and Furious - the gun running scandal - and the President announcing which immigration laws he will and will not enforce this administration does exactly what it wants regardless of the law.

Small business in particular can't operate in this sort of environment when even the smallest decision may end up miscalculating the effect of some unknown regulation that could sink the entire business. This is exactly what the law is supposed to do - allow businesses to gauge the effect of regulation on their business plans. Essentially, ladies and gentlemen, the Obama administration isn't being straight with anyone on this and one has to wonder what they have up their sleeves should they be reelected.

They real question is where is the media on this? Where is the Republican leadership? Why is it up to Rep. Issa and Senator Inhofe to do the brow beating on this stuff over and over? Why is the Republican leadership rolling over and playing dead on everyone of these issues? Why are we hearing about this 1 day before the election?

For me it's just another in a long list of reasons to vote for Mitt and Paul.




CW

Living in the Present(or Drifting with the Wind)

Over the past year - or maybe longer - I feel a change in myself. Not a drastic flip or any weird fundamental transformation, just an "easing" if one can call it that. It's nothing I can put my finger on but I definitely feel it. For all I know it's a function of getting older, but I suspect it's more than that.

For the longest time I felt like I've was just drifting through life, not taking control and descending into a rut where I would rather people just left me alone. This included my wife, my kids, my mother, my siblings, my friends and my co-workers. I was a daydreamer, a serious daydreamer. I was waiting for  this or that to happen so I could be free to pursue a real life. Of course those "things" never happened.

Last year I had some health issues - serious, yes, but I'm alright now. There's little doubt that this had an effect on my outlook, facing your mortality will do that I suppose. During the trying times I remember walking around our place and thinking I really need to buy one those, get one of these, fix up that, organize this before winter etc etc, and then stopping to think how utterly unimportant it all was. It was just stuff. Mostly stuff that will be tossed out when I'm gone anyway. The things I valued were just things. What I was missing was the value of the people in my life and the relationships I had put off. For so long, too long, people were a hassle to be endured - and that included myself. I needed to change that.

Don't for a minute think I've succeeded, not yet anyway. I am trying to stop, think and act like a decent human being, a citizen of a Godly kingdom instead of a self righteous, know-it-all of 21st century Earth. Reaching out, making an effort to connect and re-connect with family and friends or just engaging with the people in your daily walk is the first step. This is far more difficult than it would seem.

Our modern world has us focus on ourselves so much that we exclude or shut out everyone else. This busy, busy, hurry up existence saps our energy and provides the convenient excuse we all use to keep everything at arms length. I see it with young people, young men particularly. They build electronic/online relationships and then spend all their waking moments in cyber-land. They miss out on so much. For young women there's texting, e-mail and, of course, Facebook that gives the appearance of connecting with others but it's superficial at best. We ancients aren't immune to it - obviously - as I sit alone typing this out into an Internet blog.

The thing is computers, TV shows, football teams, smart phones and cars can disappoint us, but not like people do. People require real relationships, with these other things it's nearly always a one way street. They don't require much from us - no true emotion anyway. Our cats and dogs require a little love and attention but they give it back in spades, but people, people are so demanding - especially loved ones.

It's called living in the present, being present. It's difficult to do. When my wife and I started going to a new church earlier this year - a teaching church - this was one of the first "lessons". Being present, being engaged where you are with the people you're with. I am becoming convinced that it is the secret of success. And yes, this too, is difficult to do all the time.

Now that I'm conscious of the concept and have seen the benefit of engaging I plan to start to get involved with my own life - and then maybe I can pay attention to you too.



CW