About
Captain Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather. He lives with his wife Marcia, also known as the First Mate, their two dogs, and frequently watch their granddaughter Kayla, whom Captain Ed calls The Little Admiral.
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The Crows Nest
Rule 1: Drag The Corpse On Over First
If I've learned anything in four years of blogging, don't try to be out in front of the death rumors, especially with the villains of the world. Saddam died a hundred deaths before we caught him alive in his spider hole, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi almost as many before his demise last year. Osama may or may not be alive, but everyone's avoided speculating on his fate for a while now. Maybe Val at Babalu Blog will get luckier with his "Castro Is Dead" story. We all hope so. I'll wait for the announcement ....
Hobbs Choice
Volunteer Voters is holding its annual "Best of Nashville" on-line polls, and one of the categories is for the best political writer. Our friend Bill Hobbs, now posting at Newsbusters, and he'd like his on-line fans to cast their votes. Drop by and put one in for Bill if you get a chance!
Murtha Getting Backlogged On Apologies
Gary Gross of Let Freedom Ring sees another case collapsing on the Haditha charges. He's called for Murtha to apologize earlier, and adds another reason to the tally.
No Such Thing As 'Moderate' Islam?
Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan told a television interviewer that he finds the label "moderate Islam" offensive. Shrink Wrapped has a lot more on this, but at least in the same interview Erdogan acknowledged that "radical Islam" exists, and that it's been a catastrophe. Be sure to read the whole post.
MS-NBC Gets Punk'd
Power Line has a great post on a lack of journalistic effort on the part of MS-NBC. In covering the Michael Vick story, they reported on what they thought was Al Sharpton's website proclaiming Vick's innocence. I guess Alex Johnson and two other MS-NBC reporters couldn't bother to read the title bar of the site, which proudly proclaims it as a "parody site".
New Instapundit Podcast On Pharmaceuticals
I just caught this e-mail from Glenn Reynolds about his new podcast with Richard Epstein, the author of Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but the topic is important enough to make sure I carve out time for it tomorrow. Get their first and tell me what I'm missing ....
Fed Trying A 'Stealth Easing'?
The Federal Reserve seems to have conducted a quiet campaign to steady markets that started spinning out of control, according to King Banaian at SCSU Scholars. He thinks that the Fed has conducted a "stealth easing". Be sure to read his explanation and follow his lnks.
A Shameless Bit Of Sel-Promotion
Gateway Pundit and Val at Babalu Blog note a crass PR move by Hugo Chavez. Venezuela has responded to Peru's eathquake disaster with food shipments -- and with Hugo's smiling picture on the cans. He also uses the tuna-can label to undermine President Garcia of Peru, who narrowly defeated Chavez' pal Ollanto Humalla, whom the labels extol for his "solidarity" with Chavez.
Tacky beyond belief.
Bush Going After Palestinian Terror Financing?
George Bush's new orders to USAID forces them to review the executive management of all NGOs to ensure that they have no terrorist connections. Carl in Jerusalem says at Israel Matzav that the order specifically intends to target Palestinian front groups for terrorists. Let's hope he's right.
Slow Start!
Yes, I'm off to a slow start today, thanks to some scripting issues, a bad back, and an alarm clock that needs replacing. Bear with me -- I'm ramping up, I promise...
And Now, In Little League Action Last Night ...
I once played in a Little League game where we lost, 30-1, obviously before mercy rules came into being. The only comfort during that shellacking was that 13-year-olds don't have to justify their salaries for being on the field. You have to wonder what the Baltimore Orioles have to feel without that caveat today, after losing 30-3 to the Texas Rangers. Sixteen of the runs came in the last two innings .... (via TMV)
Bush Speech On Iraq
I got a couple of e-mails wondering why I haven't linked to George Bush's speech today. I liked it; I just didn't have much to add. Rush Limbaugh covered it well on his site, and Power Line also links approvingly but has nothing much more to say. Michael Goldfarb notes that the Weekly Standard had made a similar argument regarding Vietnam a year ago.
Rove Fears Me -- No, Really!
Hot Air notes the latest fundraising letter from John Edwards. No longer content to indulge his paranoia when Ann Coulter mentions him, now he wants to indulge it when Karl Rove doesn't. Has any candidate seemed this desperate before now?
Racism Or Hard Truth?
Angela Winters looks at an editorial cartoon and the controvery it has caused in Jacksonville, Florida, especially in the black community. Truth or racism? When rap artists tell young listeners not to cooperate with the police, how much responsibility do they have for the victimization that follows? Read all of the essay at The Moderate Voice.
Support Citizen Journalism
Bill Ardolino at INDC Journal reminds us that there is a reporter shortage on the front lines. The best way to solve that problem? Donate to Public Multimedia, the citizen-journalist organization that supports Bill Roggio, Bill Ardolino, and others. (And a direct donation to Michael Yon would be much appreciated as well.)
Comments (14)
Posted by Carol Herman | May 23, 2007 12:08 AM
Law suits have nothing to do with common sense.
As to "class action" ... you get pennies. But you fill out a lot of paper. And, the lawyers make bundles. Will this hold true, ahead?
Perhaps, lawyers will finally hit the wall, here?
As to the drug, there's another bet. Buy the stock, and see what happens in ten years.
WHile birth control pills, which became available way back in early 1970, did stop heavy flows. Women on pills for years would get ver "light days." And, they'd be regular.
And, anyone who bought Syntex, then, did well. But the drug company eventually bought out all the public holders. And, they went private.
Still, the science, if you think about it, is phenomenal.
And, this is just another product, now. Where once there wasn't much even married couples could depend on.
By the way, there are lots of medical miracles. Nothing is free of cost, though.
The best advice? Women should talk to their doctors.
As to taking pills every day; I don't know the drop off rate. But its hard to get people to take antibiotics for the whole course, usually not longer than ten days.
ANd, most doctors complain that patient compliance is poor.
The other thing? Who will these women sue if they're gonna buy their drugs at discount? By mail? From some foreign country? You think not? It's $50 for 60 pills, or one month's supply.
I think if you checked people's medicine cabinets you'd find an array of prescription meds that are in old vials. (Same thing if you check the spice cabinet. Do you know how hold some of that stuff is? According to Emeril, lots of women throw into their recipes things that have long passed their expiration dates.)
People build better mouse traps because they want products that sell.
Here? In a market that has lots of choices these days, scientists still worked it so they'd come up with a new "angle."
I can remember back when my mom talked about what it was like before Kotex. (She was born in 1905. She told me women used rags. Then she told me, women couldn't be fitted for diaphrams, easily, either.) Yup. A time when we didn't have access to products at the supermarket. And, some religious folks worked overtime, to keep people away from the birth control.
Sometimes, ya wonder if amnesia hasn't set in on what was so common half a century, ago.
Posted by Shivv | May 23, 2007 12:53 AM
I don't think Vioxx has been as much of a disaster for Merck as it could have been. I don't think anyone has actually won a lawsuit against them yet. Sure they're probably making a small army of lawyers very rich defending themselves, but that beats paying out so much money that they go bankrupt.
As for Lybrel, I would bet that there are some long-term consequences for a minority of users of the drug. But the FDA procedures, at least to this layman, seem pretty onerous already. Requiring long-term (10 or more years) of clinical studies before a drug can go to market would hurt consumers and drug companies.
Posted by YouGottaBeKidding | May 23, 2007 12:59 AM
Women have been taking regular birth control pills every day for years. I doubt compliance with this version will be any different.
Women have also been taking active pills continously for months at a time for several years. You just take the three weeks of active pills, discard the seven placebos, and start a new pack immediately. Been there, done that. No big deal.
With the current version of the Pill, I'm pretty sure that the ability to conceive after stopping the Pill is related to one's ability to conceive before being on the Pill. That is, women who have no fertility problems before being on the Pill are not likely to have them after getting off. Women with fertility problems before going on the Pill are likely to have problems after getting off.
Posted by Rose | May 23, 2007 1:31 AM
Synthetic BC pills are dangerous, I've seen women die from them, and seen other women suffer severe liver damage, taking years of "AGENT ORANGE" style baths to recover them from the appearance of Poison Ivy style rashes carpetting their skin, head to toe, including scalp and palms of hands, soles of feet.
Doctors haven't learned to treat the average woman properly for hormone imbalances for Thyroid and female hormones YET, and every time we read the list of symptoms of women's hormone imbalances, we know we aren't as close to treating them correctly as American Indians of the 1600's were.
Now, for the convenience of even more promiscuous and irresponsible sex, they want to treat women as irresponsibly as they handle inflatable dolls.
Sow to the wind...
Posted by Shivv | May 23, 2007 2:04 AM
Rose, I've never heard of the extreme side-effects that you describe, but if you could provide a link I would be grateful.
As for the pill promoting promiscuous and irresponsible sex, I think you're ignoring the practical uses for people in monogamous relationships. I'm sure many married women (and I know a few) use birth control because they're not ready to have a child. Sure there are other contraceptive measures a married couple could take, but BC pills are definitely the easiest.
Posted by MICHAEL DOOLEY | May 23, 2007 5:46 AM
I am more concerned with possible unknown consequences. It had been my understanding that the uterus needs a flushing out of aged lining to prevent disease and stagnation. Maybe that is not the case. Perhaps research has shown that menstruation is not necessary if one is not seeking conception. But I haven't heard of such studies.
I have no moral problems with birth control nor does it bother me that many women seek to live their lives without menstruation. There is just something about this that hasn't been thought through.
Posted by YouGottaBeKidding | May 23, 2007 6:22 AM
The Pill is useful even for women who aren't having sex at all. I was on the Pill for most of my adult reproductive life and it did not make me fall into bed with every Tom, Dick, or Harry who came along.
I was on the Pill even when there was absolutely NO chance of me getting pregnant (can't get pregnant when you're not having sex). I had a choice a seven or eight day period, with three or four days of flooding, or three days of a spot here and a spot there, hardly even being aware that I was having a period. I could have no control over when I had my period, or I could know exactly when it would start and time it so that the three days were always in the middle of the week, not interfering with my weekends. What do you think I chose???
I even when back on the Pill AFTER I had my tubes tied because of those miserable periods.
Doctors used to believe that you needed a break from the Pill, so you'd have to go off a month or two every once in awhile, but they no longer believe that. They also no longer believe that you must have a regular period. The only reason for the placebo pills (and the resulting period) is to reassure a woman that she's not pregnant.
Posted by Dr. Tom | May 23, 2007 6:51 AM
What a lot of rubbish, by both Ed and respondents. You have become a journalist, Ed. Soon you'll be writing for the NYT.
Posted by Pickles | May 23, 2007 7:02 AM
The pill, in general, prevents the uterine lining from building up. Therefore there's no need to "flush." One way or another, many doctors are still going to recommend giving your body a break every few months (or at least once a year) in case of minimal buildup - giving the body a chance to flush our dead tissue (this is why there's breakthrough bleeding - it takes time to stop).
I have a low estrogen level and don't exactly have a cycle one way or the other, so I've always skipped the sugar pills at the end. And I can say that nothing bad has ever happened from *not* having my period, but that's my experience, and each woman is different.
Additionally, my understanding is that Lybrel has one of the lowest hormone levels out there, meaning that fertility will be "restored" shortly after a woman stops taking it (also less chance of blood clots and other side effects). I think the average time to become fertile again after being on birth control is a few months - this would probably be less. Again, though, it would depend on the woman and her fertility before going on the pill, as mentioned by others here.
I really don't think this is going to be much of an issue. Birth control pills today are safer than they ever have been. Lybrel is essentially the same thing as every other birth control pill. However, in today's sue-happy culture....well, it remains to be seen.
Posted by syn | May 23, 2007 7:12 AM
I love having my monthly period, cramps and all: it's a monthly reminder of my glorious womanhood. There will come a time soon enough when I will be forced to live without it so for now I am appreciating having it for as long as I can.
The problem I have with advocating women use The Pill is that it does nothing to prevent AIDS and other STDs which explains why according top the CDC the STDs rates for females 16 to 25 is almost epidemic. But hey who cares about that...as long as there's an orgasm women are willing to contract STDs for which she'll need to take several more pills to eleviate the symptoms of her many diseases.
Posted by Amphipolis | May 23, 2007 8:01 AM
What is the effect on libido? I have read reports that the pill tends to reduce it, this would probably be worse.
Posted by Garu | May 23, 2007 11:00 AM
I smell a male plot to eradicate the unpleasant side effects of PMS.
heh.
Posted by YouGottaBeKidding | May 23, 2007 11:43 AM
Sheesh! Some of y'all are just ridiculous! Everybody's a critic, and hang personal responsibility.
Only an idiot would think that she's protected from STDs if she takes the Pill. I doubt that the Pill is soley responsible for the STD rate among young females. Plenty of those are getting pregnant, which isn't the fault of the Pill. If you're in a monogamous relationship with someone who is STD-free, this pill isn't going to change the risk, which is ZERO.
Why would this low-dose pill have a worse effect on libido than the regular pill? A lot of libido is mental. If you have a loving, caring, considerate partner, your libido's likely to be higher than if you have a selfish, uncaring, inconsiderate one. Also, if you're not worried about getting pregnant, it's easier to relax and enjoy.
The only people whose business this is are the woman, her doctor, and her partner (if she has one). It's nobody else's place to pass judgment, especially when you're speculating about whether it leads to promiscuity, more STDs, lower libido, or whatever other horrible, terrible, awful things you want to protect some poor, innocent ADULT woman from.
Posted by Maverick Muse | May 23, 2007 12:21 PM
Hearing of this RX and others that reduce the menstrual cycle, my initial thought dealt with the long term effect, beyond conception, to what happens eventually to the female body without the normalcy of the hormone cycles. It seems to align with menopause, in which case, why jump from the frying pan into the fire?