"one million times smaller than a grain of sand"

Simply amazing. A photograph of a molecule.

Wow.

The story can be found here

The researchers focused on a single molecule of pentacene, which is commonly used in solar cells. The rectangular-shaped organic molecule is made up of 22 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms.
In the image above the hexagonal shapes of the five carbon rings are clear and even the positions of the hydrogen atoms around the carbon rings can be seen.
To give some perspective, the space between the carbon rings is only 0.14 nanometers across, which is roughly one million times smaller than the diameter of a grain of sand.

"...the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. "

Rasmussen Polls- Bad News For Dems, Libs and the President

Rasmussen has some bad news for Congress, Health Care Reform (as currently preached) and the President:

Republicans Widen Lead Over Democrats on Generic Ballot

Voters Say Town Hall Meetings Should Be for Congressmen to Listen, Not Speak

51% Say Congress is Too Liberal, 22% Say It’s Too Conservative

57% Would Like to Replace Entire Congress

Support for Congressional Health Care Reform Falls to New Low

60% Say Tax Hikes Hurt The Economy Americans Say

We Want A Healthcare System Like The British! (sounds like a "death panel" to me)

The elephant in the room here, in addition to the obvious warning about government health care, is that hospice care can be deadly. Palliative care, such as morphine can actually hasten death. But that discussion is for another time. Time and again we are told that all the horror stories we hear about Britain's Health care system are simply part of the "myths" that those bad old, uncaring "political terrorists" people on the Right are peddling. Well, maybe not. From the Telegraph H/T Touchstone:

In 2007-08 16.5 per cent of deaths in Britain came about after continuous deep sedation, according to researchers at the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, twice as many as in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In a letter to the Telegraph, palliative care experts including Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, Dr Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Luke’s cancer centre in Guildford, and four others warn:“Forecasting death is an inexact science,” they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death “without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong.”

Sounds like a panel of experts "helping" by keeping health costs down.

The warning comes just a week after a report by the Patients Association estimated that up to one million patients had received poor or cruel care on the NHS.

The scheme, called the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), was designed to reduce patient suffering in their final hours.
It was recommended as a model by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the Government’s health scrutiny body, in 2004.

Under the guidelines the decision to diagnose that a patient is close to death is made by the entire medical team treating them, including a senior doctor.

They look for signs that a patient is approaching their final hours, which can include if patients have lost consciousness or whether they are having difficulty swallowing medication.However, doctors warn that these signs can point to other medical problems. Patients can become semi-conscious and confused as a side effect of pain-killing drugs such as morphine if they are also dehydrated, for instance.

When a decision has been made to place a patient on the pathway doctors are then recommended to consider removing medication or invasive procedures, such as intravenous drips, which are no longer of benefit.

If a patient is judged to still be able to eat or drink food and water will still be offered to them, as this is considered nursing care rather than medical intervention.

Dr Hargreaves said that this depended, however, on constant assessment of a patient’s condition.

He added that some patients were being “wrongly” put on the pathway, which created a “self-fulfilling prophecy” that they would die.

He said: “I have been practising palliative medicine for more than 20 years and I am getting more concerned about this “death pathway” that is coming in.“Patients who are allowed to become dehydrated and then become confused can be wrongly put on this pathway.”

He said that he had personally taken patients off the pathway who went on to live for “significant” amounts of time and warned that many doctors were not checking the progress of patients enough to notice improvement in their condition.“If they are sedated it is much harder to see that a patient is getting better,” Prof Millard said.

Healthcare Reform In One Page

Instead of a 1000+ page document created by 100's of lobbyists, so unwieldy that its supporters have read (like the POTUS) or understand, I offer this (simple) alternative:

Goal: Insure the uninsured.
How: Extend Medicaid

Goal: Increase competition
How: Allow insurance to be purchased beyond state lines

Goal: Decrease medical costs
How: Tort reform and make medical costs tax deductible

I think that makes a fine start. Its manageable, and lays the groundwork for additional reform down the road. Easily understood, so maybe the POTUS can quit lying about what it says (e.g. "you can keep your present plan" and "there will be no rationing") and it doesn't saddle our children with a debt they won't be able to pay off.

Raise your voice. There ARE alternatives to government takeover of health care.

Revolution

Wow! This is a most informative essay by a guy who understands the Washington scene and mind set. It’s as clear and concise an analysis as I’ve seen. It’s strong medicine, but I’m afraid that’s what is called for.