More on Healthcare

Before I begin my 7 part series on the distinctiveness of Jello in historical narrative, I shall attempt to cast further light on the national health crisis of America. Though some, (whose foreheads slope upwards to an unusual degree) are bored by this topic, other, more enlightened persons currently residing in North America and not some third world sandpit will hopefully find this information informative.

When last I wrote of healthcare, I left off with illustrations designed to vex those who would see the United States plunge headlong into communistic, governmental health care. This week, let's look at the current status of American health delivery and see where we stand, or more appropriately, where we wobble.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, (www.cbpp.org) approximately 43.6 million persons in the U.S. Are without health insurance. (43.6 million and 1!) This represents nearly 15% of the total population. Excluding government employees who have a non-market based health system (government employees' health premiums are paid by tax revenues from the remainder of the country) perhaps 1/3 of Americans have no form of health insurance.

According to the National Coalition on Health Care (www.nchc.org);

• Total national health expenditures increased by 7.7 percent in 2003 (the latest year that data is available) over 2002 - four times the rate of inflation in 2003.(1)

• In 2004, employer health insurance premiums increased by 11.2 percent - nearly four times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $10,000. The annual premium for single coverage averaged $3,695.(2)

• Health care spending is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense.
  
  

• Although nearly 45 million Americans are uninsured, the United States spends more on health care than other industrialized nations, and those countries provide health insurance to all their citizens.
  
  

• The annual premium that a health insurer charges an employer for a health plan covering a family of four averaged $9,950, or $829 a month in 2004. Workers contributed $2,661, or 10 percent more than they spent in 2003. For single coverage, workers contributed an average of $558 toward the $3,695 annual premium. (2)

• Health insurance premiums will rise to an average of more than $14,500 for family coverage in 2006.

These figgers, are startling in that no one seems to be particularly put off by them. My family and I do not have health insurance coverage, a condition which an increasing number of our friends also find themselves in. (This isn't as bleak as it sounds - more on this later)

So, we have a system which costs more than nearly anything else, leaves 1/3 of the population out of it, and is increasing at a rate only those who are financially well off can maintain.

To some, as I pointed out last week, this sounds like a job for Super-Government! However, we haven't a super-government or even a nearly effective one. If such a government existed (which it does not) it would still not be the instrument by which the health care crisis may be solved.

What are we to do?

Necessity, it is said, is the mother of invention. I herewith present an invention, perhaps not original, yet one which I believe would provide a fair, equitable and highly profitable system, driven at least in large measure by market forces.

I have called this system, The American Health Alliance.

This alliance would be established as an official 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the IRS, the purpose of which would be to manage a membership system which assists health delivery workers in providing their services.

The Alliance - Anyone would be eligible to join the Alliance at some predetermined, published cost. For example, $720 per year, or $60 per month, per family. This is less than 1/2 the average cable TV or cell phone bill in the United States.

The Alliance would be managed and governed by volunteers or persons whose salary was capped, also at a predetermined rate of twice the average national salary. (For example, if the average salary in the U.S. were $40,000 per year, the most anyone at the Alliance could earn would be $80,000 per year - including the Administrator(s). Administrative overhead would have a cap too - perhaps 20% of gross revenue. This isn't supposed to become another insurance company and benevolence organizations become flaccid when they start paying people huge sums (look at the Red Cross and the United Way as examples).

The Alliance would not in any way be an insurance organization. It's sole function would be to manage a membership (member and provider) and payment database.

Members of the Alliance would receive a membership card, along with a rate guide for their geographic area. (Please see Appendix A for a rate guide example)

Health Care providers would agree to become partners in the Alliance and to provide the Alliance each year with rates for their services, to be published in the guide. In exchange for this agreement, providers would receive 50% of the membership fees for their patient, with 50% going to the overhead of the Alliance. So, based on our example of $60 per month, a physician would receive $30 dollars per month from the Alliance for each patient in her patient pool.

Thus, if Dr. Sally C. is a provider and has 100 patients from the Alliance in her pool, she would receive $3,000 per month from the Alliance for servicing these patients, whether she sees them each month or not. Pretty good deal, eh?

Each member who becomes part of Dr. C's pool ( at their own discretion) has direct access to Dr. C (NOT her service) and may see her 1 time per month at no additional charge. If the member sees her for other things or needs additional help, her published rates apply and the member pays the doctor DIRECTLY.

Members of the Alliance would then be directed to capitalistic Health Insurance companies to provide them with Catastrophic Health Insurance. For example, a 40 year old non-smoker can buy a $3million lifetime policy for about $35 per month. A Family policy would be about $70 per month and these rates would DECREASE as the product became more widely available and competitive as has happened with TERM LIFE INSURANCE.

Alliance Members who met certain healthy lifestyle goals, would receive deeply discounted services and even cash rebates on their fees.

As the Alliance grew, additional funds would be used to create a fund in order to purchase additional insurance products for members. In addition to this, the Alliance would give grants for extraordinary services not covered by a catastrophic policy.

The Alliance would also show everyone how to set up a tax-free HSA (Health Savings Account) from which to pay your doctor PRETAX dollars, which saves you even more!!

And, perhaps most importantly, the Alliance would be about health, not about enriching drug and insurance companies. Natural healthy lifestyles would be taught and promoted. Courses on healthy living would be provided and those who attend and implement the material would be given discounts on services.

Finally, the Alliance would offer Physicians, for a fee, representation in claims against insurers or medicare, provided by licensed attorneys in the states of record. (No, I'm not a lawyer - I'm trying to become a doctor)


A scenario:

Lord Xarthon (LX) has a family of 4 and works for Wal-mart as a floor supervisor. He decides to join the alliance, so each month his account is debited for the membership fee of $X.

The Alliance sends him a membership card and has an insurance broker contact him regarding a catastrophic policy. He chooses a policy with a $2million lifetime cap, costing him $60 per month for his family. One of his children is an insulin-dependent diabetic and his wife is pregnant.

LX is assigned to Dr. Mork's patient pool. Dr. Mork is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and has a Family Practice Clinic near LX's crib.

In January, LX wakes up with a severe head cold, and after repeated doses of Benadryl isn't going away, so he opens his wallet, takes out his card and calls Dr. Mork. Nurse Ann answers the phone. "Where's the receptionist?" LX asks. "Oh, we let her, the billing clerk, the office manager and the pharmaceutical liasion all go!"

LX tells nurse Ann the details and she gives him some healthy things to do and schedules him for an appointment at 6 p.m.! About 10 minutes later, LX receives a call from Dr. Mork himself, who gets some details and says that he looks forward to seeing him that evening. (Dr. Mork can now do this because he doesn't need a patient pool of 3,000 patients so that after fighting the insurance providers, he might actually be paid something).

That evening, LX drives to the Dr's office and as he walks in, Dr. Mork, nurse Ann and PA Martha all greet him. He is immediately seen by Dr. Mork who prescribes some medicines to provide an initial benefit to the cold and then also some natural products to help prevent this in the future. He escorts LX to the front desk, and LX whips out his debit card (From his HSA), pays the $Amt ($50 for example) of the office visit, for the natural healing products and heads to Walgreens to fill his prescription, which costs him ($25).

The next day LX is back at work and feeling much better - in a week he is 100%. LX takes Dr. Mork's advice on exercise and diet, loses 20 pounds, and doesn't have to see Dr. X for the rest of the year. But His son Jeremy, who is diabetic sees Dr. Mork each month for a check up. Dr. Mork charges LX, a discounted rate of $45 for Jeremy's visits.

So, at the end of the year, here's where LX ended up:

Annual fees for ALLiance membership $720.00
One visit for LX 50.00
Prescription for LX 25.00
12 visits for Jeremy 540.00
Insulin for Jeremy 550.00
Shots for school (3 kids) 100.00
Annual physical for LX FREE
Rebate for healthy choices 100.00
School physicals (3 kids) 90.00
Natural healing products 600.00
Catastrophic family policy 60.00

Total $2,835.0

LX paid $ZERO in health insurance during this time. this saved him $6,000 for this year.

I realize that each person will have an individual scenario, but consider this one at least for the moment.

Where did Dr. Mork end up?

He received $310 for having LX in his patient pool. He also received $540 in fees for Jeremy, plus $600 for the natural products LX bought. Plus the fee for LX's office visit.

So, Dr. Mork earned (Gross - before EBITDA) $1,450 for LX and his family. Dr. Mork received 100% of his billed amount. If Dr. Mork had, say 900 patients like LX (of varying degrees of illness), then his practice would take in $1.3 million EBITDA. After paying nurse Ann ($75K) and PA Martha ($100K), and overhead, Dr. Mork would find that he makes a good living and can still pay off his medical school and fellowship debt of $200,000.

Having said all that, here's where questions tend to help. So here goes:

1). What about a family? Families may join also. There is 1 rate whether someone is an individual or has 39 children. For families, 1 member of the family would get the free office visit and also one member would receive an annual physical free of charge.

2). Why isn't this a copy of Ameriplan? Because one, Ameriplan doesn't cover medical, and two, this isn't a discounted, fee-for-service supplement. It is a whole new health delivery system.

3). What if I have a broken bone and the doctor wants to charge me $3,000 to set it and follow up with me. Why should I pay $3,000 to a doctor for a broken bone, when my current employer-provided insurance costs only $500 per month with a $20 copay?

You are what is known in the insurance industry as "hoodwinked". You see the $500 per month deducted from your paycheck ( for services you may or may not use) but what you don't see are the thousands of dollars your employer is paying on top of this for your policy - thousands of dollars he isn't paying you, but rather the friendly insurance company. Imagine your greedy employer realizing that he can save $150,000 per year on health insurance premiums, or millions if it is a large company. Now, imagine you showing him how to save this money and give some of it to you instead.

Also, how many times have you received additional bills in the mail adding up to thousands of extra dollars despite your payments and $20 copay? With the Alliance, you pay only what is published in the guide, and you pay the doctor directly.

4). I am a physician. Why would I want to be involved in this?
Right now, the Average doctor spends $17,000 per month to break even. The majority of this cost is built-in, non-productive, non-health-related waste. Do you have an insurance billing clerK, an admin clerk, a manager, etc. none of which provide any sort of health care? Of course. Imagine that these folks and their salaries disappeared and instead you were able to hire an additional nurse or PA and you didn't have to fight Medicare or Humana or Blue Cross for every dollar you earned by healing their customer. Imagine if you received thousands of dollars per month from your patients just for the privilege of caring for them - even if you didn't see them.

5). I am a specialist. How would this work for me?
Just like the wonderful Family Practice Physician. Let's say you are a cardiologist. When Dr. C refers Smokey Joe Turner to you for his wierd arrythmia, Smokey Joe would decide, based upon your published fee rates whether or not he wants to see you. If he does, he will know exactly what he is going to be in for. If he has a defective heart, requiring surgery, then this would be covered by the catastrophic policy which he has and your practice would bill his insurance company directly. Any additional costs (office visits, pallative care, etc.) would be paid directly to you. Eventually, should Smokey Joe need care, not meeting the catastrophic policy requirements , but more than say $3000, the Alliance would consider a health grant to help cover these costs.

6). What about my insurance company? They already hate me. Have you ever noticed whose name is on the multi-story, shiny, new buildings in the downtown area of your city? Yep, insurance companies. Once they began to lose thousands of customers, they might actually decide to offer service and compete in the market, which is what we want.

7). What if I am very poor (below federal poverty level) and can't afford to join the Alliance?
A means test would be performed on you. If you have cable television, a cell phone, a car payment and eat take out every day, then you obviously don't have a money problem, you have a spending problem. But, if you are truly in need, and aren't wasting the resources you have, then the Alliance would provide a discounted membership of perhaps 1/2 the cost.

NOTE: I have met very few truly poor persons in America. In my travels around the world, I have met some extremely poor people in Pakistan, Turkey and Mexico. But, I realize there are some persons in America who just aren't able for whatever reason to earn sufficient amounts of money. These persons should and would be helped by the Alliance. But persons who refuse to work, use illness as an excuse, (folks, I have met with one-legged men in the slums of Karachi who pushed cartloads of vegetables in order to help provide for their families. I have also known severely retarded men in wheelchairs who drove throughout my neighborhood in California selling peanuts so he could feed his family. Don't tell me your back injury or ADHD or Bipolar is keeping you from polishing cars, sweeping floors or answering a telephone).


Folks, what is really at stake here is literally your health and mine. I don't have all the answers - this is simply one man's wacked out idea, which still needs much thought (i.e. what about multiple specialties involved in a patients' care. Perhaps. like insurance, once the Alliance became large enough, rish could be spread throughout the member pool and grants could be provided for those who need ongoing, specialized care. This is only a start. Plus, these ideas aren't new or original. Dr. Patch Adams and the Ithaca Health Alliance thought of this long before I did. I just added some capitalism to their awesome idea. http://www.ithacahealth.org/


Jeffc

Some animals are more equal than others!

Most literate persons are familiar with the title of this post, taken from George Orwell's "Animal Farm". Mr. Orwell, one of the most brilliant persons never to have his picture on a chewing gum card, foresaw that the world was moving to equaninimity of plebiscite, or perhaps more appropriately; the laying down of all rights in favour of promises.

The subject of my banter today is healthcare. As I have written many times before, the United States is the only G7 nation, without national medicine, some thing of which I am proud. We are also, by the way, the only nation on earth with real aircraft carriers. (The Russians and the Brits can't figure out how to make one without a ramp).

Anyway, as I become further enmeshed in my attempt to become a doctor, I hear more and more cries of "Why can't the government just provide health care?"

The proper response is, "Because according to our constitution, they are not supposed to", but unfortunately the constitution doesn't bear much weight in today's consumeristic world. So, one must deal with reality. Here it is:

If you are one who thinks the government should provide health care, I suggest you visit Canada, our neighbor to the north. In Canada, everyone has health care; everyone that is, except those who truly need it.

According to the Canadian government's own figures, the current wait time for cardiac surgery is 10.4 weeks. http://www.healthservices.gov.bc.ca/waitlist/cardiac.html

Imagine you have been having chest pain. So you pop off to the local clinic and see a doctor. He runs a few tests and discovers that you have an abnormal arrythmia or there seems to be some difficulty with your heart. He smiles, gives you a lollipop and enters your name on a waiting list. If you do not die of a heart attack over the next 3 1/2 months, you will get heart surgery.

What if you needed an organ transplant? As of November 3, 2005, there were 368 patients in one province awaiting transplant. To date, 40 of them have received their transplant. Now, I will give you that some are awaiting organs that haven't arrived yet, but this is only 10% of the group. Is that the kind of healthcare you want?

How about Neurosurgery? For patients who "in the opinion of the physician, the individual's health may be significantly compromised if the procedure is not performed within about two weeks of submitting the booking form to the hospital." Their average wait time was 6.8 days. Can you imagine knowing that you need emergency brain surgery and having to wait at least a week to get it?

"In 1999, Dr. Richard F. Davies, a cardiologist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa, described in remarks for the Canadian Institute for Health Information how delays affected Ontario heart patients scheduled for coronary artery bypass graft surgery. In a single year, for this one operation, the doctor said, "71 Ontario patients died before surgery, 121 were removed from the list permanently because they had become medically unfit for surgery," and 44 left the province to have the surgery, many having gone to the United States for the operation. (According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, 33 Canadian hospitals performed approximately 22,500 bypass surgeries in 1998-99.)

In other words, 192 people either died or became too sick to have surgery before they could work their way to the front of the line." http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=15524

But! everyone says, "It's Free!" Are Americans really that lazy or stupid? Does anyone seriously believe that providing any sort of medical care is free - or even should be?

According to the Canadian governments own figures (Which, like ours must be suspect) 40 % of total government spending in Canada goes toward this system. (They do not have an aircraft carrier). Consider this against our incredibly inefficient and bureaucratic Social Security system which takes 4.3% of our governments expenditures.

I am willing to admit that there is one good aspect of the Canadian System - it is a single payer, Universal system. In America at least 40 million of us do not have any form of health insurance. But this isn't something to be solved by our government - it should be solved the American way - by ingenious, thrifty and entrepeneurial people.

Next issue - the Solution!

The academic requirements for Medical School

"I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places.
He told me to quit going to those places." - Henny Youngman

There is a strange air of mystery around the field of medicine, which is one of the 3 classic fields of study; the others being law and theology.

Here I will dispel some of those myths.

Myth#1 - you have to be a genius to be a doctor. Since my grandmother's former doctor prescribed a medication for her for 40 years, which had a maximum prescription length of 5 years, obviously this isn't the case. Recently, a friend in her forties was told by her doctor that she was pregnant. When she asked him to conduct a urine test to make sure, he berated her with "I have been a doctor for years, and years!" Well, turns out she has a fibroid tumor. One would think that after "years and "years" one might be able to distinguish between a tumor and a human baby. Go figure.

Myth#2 - You have to decide to be a doctor when you are 20. As the Roaming Gnome would say "Pish!". Most medical advancement is made by men and women in their late 40's to their 60's.

Myth#2 - You have to be a straight "A" student to be a doctor. Again, "Pish!" The truth is, it certainly helps to have a high GPA. The average is about 3.0. But a higher science GPA is better than a high overall GPA. For example, my undergrad GPA was 3.35, but my science GPA so far is 4.0. , which is better than having an overall GPA of 3.9, but getting 3.2 in your science courses.

Myth#3 - Medicine is a science. A science is defined as "The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena." (American Heritage Dictionary). Much of medicine falls into the theoretical portion, because as organisms, humans are most complex. Each individual is a subset of him or herself. If I develop a vaccine which provides a killed virus, it may react differently in different people, which is why some people have strange side effects to certain drugs while others do not. Medicine is not exact.

Myth#4 - You have to be a science genius before medical school. Does one have to be a theological genius before seminary? or a literary genius before graduate school? Medical school is no different. Medical school in fact, doesn't want people with bizarre preconceptions trying to act as if they know everything already. The basics are all that is needed - a foundation from which to build. To that end, here are the science academic requirements for admission to most medical schools:

1 year of Chemistry (with lab)
1 year of Biology (with lab)
1 year of Physics (with lab)
1 year of Organic Chemistry (with lab)

That's it! By the way, one doesn't even have to have a college degree. Only 90 hours are required (though most people do have a degree)

Myth#5 - only science majors become doctors. Nope. Actually, unless you are not going to practice clinical medicine (you are going to do research) liberal arts degrees are preferred!

If you don't believe me or are generally inclined to ignore God's mercy and be pessimistic, then you may obtain all of this info for yourself by visiting the American Association of Medical Colleges at www.aamc.org.

Happy doctoring!

I got an "A"!

Only God could be so good to me. Well, I suppose my Bio prof had something to do with it. Check out his website at http://www.gideonadjei.com.

So far, I'm on track for a 4.0!

Not bad for a white guy!

Meanderings and musings

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless." (Isaiah 40:22-23)

"To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" Says the Holy One." (Isaiah 40:25)

Whom indeed. Today, the nation of Iraq experienced its first parlimentary election - in its history. How did this come about? Some in Washington would like to take credit for it. Nearly all who lead media organizations would decry it, but the fact of the matter is that the Bible and this passage in particular tells us that God plainly did it.

God involved in freeing the nation of Iraq? Absolutely. By the way, I am writing here of the God of the Bible; nowhere in the Quran is Allah given to freedom or freeing people from tyranny. Now, I cannot say why God allowed Iraq to suffer under decades of torture and tyranny, just as I cannot suggest why He would allow 100 lac Pakistani's to die in a terrible series of earthquakes. I can say however, that He, in His mercy has freed an oppressed people and He used the United States of America, and her allies to do it. We ought to be humbly proud.

Our world today is filled with both the child-like wonder of Charles Dickens and the fear and loathing of Hunter S. Thompson. We are living in historic times; times which if we are not careful will sweep us away into history and leave our children gasping for their souls. My children learned nothing of this election in school. On the various radio stations I turned to I heard how to decorate a Christmas tree, why persons of African descent should be paid reparations for slavery and why a lawyer should be able to sue for the violation of the rights of illegal immigrants. On only two stations, did I hear anything about the elections; one was Shawn Hannity and the other Michael Savage.

I believe that the import of today's event is lost, in the myopic world of American consumerism, nearly everything except the hawking of the latest product - is. I am as guilty as most of turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the workings of the world; something that as a Christian, I am woefully ashamed of. After all, it is God's world and I should be particularly interested in what is happening in it.

The myopia of America often causes me to forget that in my lifetime, the greatest threat to world freedom was destroyed (Soviet Communism) and the greatest threat to world survival is being beaten back (Islamic statism). It is God's grace that America has led the way on both of these fronts.

As God sits enthroned in heaven, we must rejoice as He pours out His grace upon our world. We must also entreat Him, asking His favor to stop the violence and brutality of the middle east and Islamic terrorism. Take some time today and thank Him for freeing the people of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Soviet Union. Thank Him that you can read this post and thank Him if you live in the U.S. - a nation where one can freely express any opinion, even one full of banality or vitriol. Thank Jesus that you were not born in Kamchatka twenty years ago, when the mention of animosity toward Comrade Andropov might have produced a midnight visitation of a black sedan and an unwanted free trip to a Siberian labor camp.

Thank God that you were not born in Afghanistan 5 years ago, when the Taliban might have cut off your hands for trying to gather some food to feed your starving family. Thank Him that you were not born in Uganda 30 years ago, or as a Tutsi in Rwanda, just a few years ago. Thank Him that you did not live in Germany under Hitler, or Cuba under Castro.

After you have thanked God for this grace, let's remember to ask Him for more for those still suffering - those in Kashmir, Indonesia, India and other places devastated by natural disasters. Pray that the Mullah's of Iran will fall in a bloodless transfer of power and that Syria will learn democracy and put off terrorism. Pray that the Arab brothers of the Palestinian people will take them in and teach them to live for something other than the death of a Jew.

Please take some time today to thank God - you will be glad you did.

Oxidative Phosphorylation, chemiosmosis and God

Oxidative Phosphorylation is part of the final step in a process known as cellular respiration. When one eats something, depending upon what it is (protein, fat or carbohydrate) it is converted into glucose and then encounters this or that and eventually through the process mentioned above is converted into the most important stuff inside your body - ATP. ATP (which is short for Adenosine Triphosphate) is the fuel that all of your cells use to do things. Without ATP you would be dead because none of the 3+ trillion cells in your body would regenerate, or do anything else for that matter. In effect, one eats because one needs to make ATP.

Did you know that your body is electrical? When you run a comb quickly through your hair, the friction causes an electrical current, causing your hair to stand on end. This same affect is going on in all of your cells - all the time.

Outside each of your cells is a membrane, called a plasma membrane. Inside the cell are other objects called organelles which also have membranes. Across these membranes flow hydrogen ions, or more accurately protons. This flow of ions across the membrane creates a "friction" of sorts and generates an electrical current. This current is used by proteins embedded in the membrane to carry out work, such as the making of ATP by the protein complex - ATP Synthase, during a process called chemiosmosis.

Animals use this process and plants do also - in a slightly modified form.

The whole process looks something like this:

Glucose (sugar) + Oxygen = Carbon Dioxide + Water + Energy (ATP)

What on earth does this have to do with God?

Dr. Gerald Schroeder, an MIT Physicist has put together some terrific material about the probability of this type of complexity happening by chance. To quote from Dr. Schroeder,

"Humans and all mammals have some 50,000 genes. That implies we have, as an order of magnitude estimate, some 50,000 proteins. It is estimated that there are some 30 million species of animal life on Earth. If the genomes of all animals produced 50,000 proteins, and no proteins were common among any of the species (a fact we know to be false, but an assumption that makes our calculations favor the random evolutionary assumption), there would be (30 million x 50,000) 1.5 trillion (1.5 x10 to power of 12) proteins in all life. (The actual number is vastly lower). Now let's consider the likelihood of these viable combinations of proteins forming by chance, recalling that, as the events following the Cambrian explosion taught us, not all combinations of proteins are viable.

Proteins are coils of several hundred amino acids. Take a typical protein to be a chain of 300 amino acids. There are 20 commonly occurring amino acids in life. This means that the number of possible combinations of the amino acids in our model protein is 20 to the power of 300 (that is 20 multiplied by itself 300 times) or in the more usual ten-based system of numbers, 10 to the power of 390 ( Ten multipled by itself 390 times or more simply said a one with 390 zeroes after it!!!!!) . Nature has the option of choosing among the possible 10 to the power of 390 proteins, the the 1.5 x (10 to power of 12) proteins of which all viable life is composed. Can this have happened by random mutations of the genome? Not if our understanding of statistics is correct. It would be as if nature reached into a grab bag containing a billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion proteins and pulled out the one that worked and then repeated this trick a million million times.

But this impossibility of randomness producing order is not different from the attempt to produce Shakespeare or any meaningful string of letters more than a few words in length by a random letter generator. Gibberish is always the result. This is simply because the number of meaningless letter combinations vastly exceeds the number of meaningful combinations. With life it was and is lethal gibberish."

Gibberish is indeed lethal in the human genome. Any non-specific cellular activity is in fact, lethal. Even viruses which attack and destroy are cells are specific in the way they go about doing this.

Can order and specificity emerge out of randomness? No. In fact, just the opposite - the universe is decaying or experiencing entropy - disorder, out of the grand order it began with.

Where does this leave us? Well, one can either accept that order cannot occur from disorder and understand that an intelligence must have designed the universe or one can, like Mr. Newdow in California, walk blindly in ignorance and pretend that this intelligence, which we know to be God, does not exist.

I have actually spoken to some persons who desire ignorance. They had hearts and minds which have become so calloused that despite any pleadings to the contrary, they refused to believe the truth. Yet, unbelief does not negate truth. Just because I do not believe in gravity does not mean I will not die if I jump off of the roof of a multi-story building.

Every deliberate action in the universe (and they are all deliberate) has a cause. This cause also creates an effect. There is no randomness in the universe.

The bible tells us that God is a God of order, not chaos. He desires order in our lives as well as the universe around us. He also tells us in the bible that He created us to enjoy this universe and Him as well. But we cannot enjoy either the universe or God if we are tainted with sin, which we all are.

So in order to "untaint" or remove the stain of sin from us, God designed another process - He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to take the punishment for all of us and thereby act as our scapegoat and remove our guilt - if only we will believe.

Have you believed in Jesus? Do you believe in the order He created? Isn't it time you did?

The problem of American Education

In a recent column, Dr. Walter Williams wrote;

"A 1990 Gallup survey for the National Endowment of the Humanities, given to a representative sample of 700 college seniors, found that 25 percent did not know that Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere before the year 1500, 42 percent could not place the Civil War in the correct half-century, and 31 percent thought Reconstruction came after World War II.

In 1993, a Department of Education survey found that, among college graduates, 50 percent of whites and more than 80 percent of blacks couldn't state in writing the argument made in a newspaper column or use a bus schedule to get on the right bus, 56 percent could not calculate the right tip, 57 percent could not figure out how much change they should get back after putting down $3 to pay for a 60-cent bowl of soup and a $1.95 sandwich, and over 90 percent could not use a calculator to find the cost of carpeting a room. But not to worry. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni's 1999 survey of seniors at the nation's top 55 liberal arts colleges and universities found that 98 percent could identify rap artist Snoop Doggy Dogg and Beavis and Butt-Head, but only 34 percent knew George Washington was the general at the battle of Yorktown."

Why such disastrous results? It is my hypothesis that American Colleges and Universities have become the Soviet Union. In Soviet Russia, perhaps the most sought after commodity was not diamonds or cavier, but "tuletnaya Bumaga" - toilet paper. Pensioners and wives might wait in lines in the bitter cold for 8 hours or more to purchase a single roll costing a days wages. Why would the soviet citizen put up with such nonsense? I asked this question myself and the perfunctory response I received was "potomy chto my dolzhni" (Pardon my transliteration - I never could combine english and cyrillic; my brain thinks in either one or the other - but never both at the same time) which means "because we must". There was no competition in the Soviet form of Communism.

Today I drove the 20 minutes to the campus I attend in order to see an academic counselor. I only need one to sign a simple form allowing me to select a degree program so that I may apply for financial aid. Upon reaching the campus and standing in a brief cue, I was told by the kindly desk attendant - "Oh, they are in a meeting today"; perhaps you could call later and see if they are out."

Clearly there is a problem. The posted hours of counseling are 9:00 - 1:00 on fridays and I was there at 9:00. If the school were a hamburger stand, and I were told the hamburgers were out today, I would boycott the stand, advertise to all I knew my displeasure, and on the basis of the laws of common markets the stand would be doomed and close. So why do I have to put up with such gross inefficiency in academia? Because I must.

As many of you know (this includes the one other person who reads this blog and my schizophrenic partner) I am preparing to go to medical school. The hoops I am encountering are necessary in order to apply. But they dramatically illustrate why our nation is enduring a precipitous decline in the arts, sciences and even hamburger distribution. If I want to attend medical school, I have no choice but to enjoin the services of a local institution of higher learning. There is no competition in the American higher educational system.

Above the cries of "Wait - that's not fair", and "What about the University of Phoenix online?" I must say that anyone who has recently attended college knows that I speak the truth. While online universities are indeed popping up everywhere; many of whom are fully accredited, those who wield academic authority are not seriously thinking of allowing them to supplant the gross bureaocracy found in most schools. When applying for a research position, even in todays "enlightened" world, non-classroom, or online study isn't going to cut it.

Though there was no competition in Soviet Russia, wouldn't the personal pride of the individual bring about a positive work ethic? Unfortunately, comrades Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Brezhnev and Gorbachov crushed the idea of the individual and so no personal pride was allowed to bloom and grow. In the university today, cronyism, nepotism and reverse upward mobility ensure that individuals with a creative bent are squashed at each turn. As an experiment, visit your local administration office and take a survey of how many family members and friends work there. The labor union movement has nothing on the college administrative fraternity.

What are the options? Well, one can be disgusted as I was for 3 decades and ignore the educational system, choosing instead to earn money and use entrepeneurship to advance myself and my family. But this leaves us with a feeling of inadequacy - education is a God-ordered gift,

2 Timothy 2:15 tell us to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth"and in Acts 24, Festus (not the one on Gunsmoke) told St. Paul, 'Too much learning has made you mad!" to which he replied " I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness." Paul was a very learned man - having studied at the highest level of Jewish thought under Israel's greates teacher - Gamaliel. God wants us to be educated. Education is also a gift of mankind - no other creature in the world can learn as we can. A dog can learn to sit but it cannot learn the various muscular contractions necessary for this to occur, or the amino-acid sequences which provide its impuse.

We might just "go with the flow" which is the sad state of most students today. Better is to demand something more. Not through militancy, but through respectful correction to incorrect actions. Write letters, ask for public forums and hearings and vocalize your displeasure in a courteous manner.

A professor of mine recently told me that the dean of his department called him to tell him of students who were complaining that he was "making them study too hard". This is a shame. Rather, we ought to complain that the administrations of schools aren't working hard enough. Let's have the Soviet Union remain a parcel of history. American students deserve better.

Death part deux

Today I attended the funeral of my friend who died on saturday. His body lay in a very ornate silver casket. I didn't think of Lenin in Moscow, but I should have; not because my friend in life resembled Lenin, but because in death everyone resembles Lenin. Dead bodies are pasty, pale, flaccid and icky looking no matter how much makeup is applied.

On my graduation night from High School, one of my best friends was decapitated in an auto accident. His parents, being new to America were convinced that an open casket was the best way for people to remember their son. The mortuary did a very poor job of sewing his head back on.
and I will always remember the way his body looked in death more than in life.

I have seen my share of death and dead persons. I have a close friend who through two tours in Vietnam saw enough for a whole city. It is hardest when young persons die prematurely. The old are expected to die and so their deaths shouldn't be the shock that it often is.

As a denial society, Americans, who are allegedly preoccupied with life, spend most of their time pursuing things that bring about death. Alcohol, smoking, violence, sex outside of heterosexual, monogamous marriage, overeating, under-exercising and stress all lead to premature death. These are also the things which most spend their lives pursuing - often unwittingly.

At the funeral today, a young member of the deceased's family chastised the other, older members for not being a close-knit family unit. Some of his relatives, he claimed, had not been seen in years. He was visibly shaken by this and his speech was a good lesson in the things which are important - God, love, family, relationships.

Is it not odd that America which has the highest level of medical care in the world has one of the highest premature mortality rates and highest disease rates?

I have always wanted to open a Gen-X cemetary called, "The Bone Yard". The entrance would have neon pink and green flashing lights and dancing skeletons. The hearse would be a '69 lincoln painted lime green with fur on the dash. The caretaker would dress like Huggy-bear from Starsky and Hutch. Gravesights could also be lighted - for a fee, with neon signs and even animatronic creatures. The mausoleum would feature pachinko machines with cool prizes. We would raffle off one free gravesite per month. I bet the place would be filled in no time.

I mentioned this idea to someone earlier and they said I was nuts. I already knew that - but wouldn't having an eclectic place to visit and spend time thinking about a loved one be better than walking or driving to some wasted golfcourse land and staring at a piece of stone? Wouldn't it be cool if while you were visiting the gravesite of a loved one, you could get a diet coke from a machine? I bet less people would be sad. It would be pretty hard to be sad if your loved one was buried in a place that boasted dancing skeletons and neon lights. Beats the heck out of the undertaker motif most places have. Besides, how come only the living get to have fun?

I know that I will be accused of being irreverant and lots of people will email me and ask when I lost my salvation, blah, blah, blah. What is more irreverant than staring at a composite of dying tissue which in no way resembles the person who once resided in it? WHat's more insulting that staring at the dead corpse of someone we wouldn't give the time of day to when they were alive? What is more selfish than going to pay your respects to someone you never respected?

What if you died today?

No, I haven't taken an evangelism course from the Navigators, I simply thought it was an apropos question for today. Have you thought about dying? When I ask people this question, some quickly turn to small-talk or make a simple joke, but everyone is affected by it in a serious way.

As humans and certainly as Westerners, we do not like to think about death. Subconsciously, everyone knows it will happen, and yet most people spend their entire lives pretending it does not. Did you know that some of our most frequent customs stem from death? When sitting on a bus or in a restaurant and someone next to you sneezes, immediately someone will say "bless you". Ever wonder where that practice stems from? It actually stems from England during the black plague of the 19th century. Sneezing was seen as an imminent sign of oncoming death and to say "bless you" was to offer some spiritual guidance to a person one thought would die horribly very soon.

Death for all of us is just around the corner. For a friend of mine, it was literally, as on friday he was found dead in a room where he was painting. My friend was a God-fearing man who had a very close relationship to Jesus and so I'm not concerned for him, but he left behind a 19 year old daughter and a fiance'. What do they think about death?

As with everything, death in America is commercialized. In the middle east, some deaths result in violence especially if a person was killed in a crime or by a non-muslim. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the dead are left where they fell in order for animals and time to wear them away. In Japan, the lack of space has neccessitated cremation as the main form of disposal of corpses.

We have a great movie about dead people "The Corpse Bride" and my favorite film contains lots of them; (The Nightmare before Christmas). What do you thing about death?

Rather, what do you know about it? You see, some things are acceptable to think of casually. "What will I wear today?", or "Will I visit someone?" or "What's for lunch?". Some things must never be thought of this way, and death is one of them. Why?

Because unlike everything else we encounter on earth, death is permanent. Has it always been?
For all but a few people it has been and continues to be. So, unless you are one of the very few persons throughout history that has returned from the dead, it is incumbent upon you to think very seriously about yours. What will happen when it occurs? We mustn't forget those who will be left behind (death insurance is VERY cheap - it is called Term Life Insurance) and we must prepare ourselves for this inevitible occurance.

How does anyone prepare for death? Well, I for one have a great need to be certain about my death. Not that it will happen, of course but of what occurs afterward. For those who think that one can't possibly know, you are mistaken.

If I wanted to climb the K2 summit of Mount Everest, I would first start by finding someone who knows how to do such an incredible thing. Reinhard Messner would be the guy. As the greatest mountain climber that has ever lived, I would ask Mr. Messner to show me how to do it - because he has already done it. To just set out on my own is an invitation to disaster for myself and anyone else I bring along; many, many people have died on the slopes of that mountain.

But, if I have the guidance, training and encouragement of someone who has already conquered Everest, then my chances of success are very great.

If I wanted to know how to die (and I do) then likewise I would consult someone whom I knew had already "done" it and succeeded and could tell me what I need to do. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of those folks around. In fact, when I looked around for someone who had died, came back, was confident that death could no longer harm them, and could teach me about death so that it couldn't harm me - I found only one person. His name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus not only historically died, he also historically came back and has promised to do so again. He offers anyone who will believe in Him the same immunity to death that He experienced. I wanted this immunity and He offered it to me so I accepted. Now, because of Jesus I no longer have a fear of death; in fact in many ways I look forward to it.

A long time ago, St. Paul wrote in a letter, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain". In other words, if Paul said that if he kept living he would get to live for Jesus Christ who has conquered death and so he could live fearlessly and if he happened to die, then great! He gets to see Jesus face-to-face. We should live our lives this way too - it changes your perspective and makes one excited to wake up in the morning.

Why Hillary Clinton must never be President

In my attempt to annoy as many people as possible, I am, (in this brief issue) delving into the hostile arena of politics; being as dogmatic as possible about the subject of this post. Hillary Clinton must never be President. All political loyalties aside, she is a communist and someone of her political ideology must never fill the office once held by Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Ronald Reagan. If one does - America is finished.

Last week, Hillary Clinton called for a $20 Billion dollar tax on oil companies because she would suggest that "we reinvest the tremendous drain that higher energy prices are exacting on middle-class families and the economy in a better energy future." She then went on to make perhaps the single most idiotic statement any American can make when she said, "Americans cannot just let the current marketplace go at its own pace."

I wish I were indeed joking.

The puzzling thing about these two most incredulous statements is that they were made by someone generally regarded as having some intelligence. They weren't made by Arlen Spector or Dennis Kucinich or Nancy Pelosi. We would expect Ted Kennedy to say something like this in between martinis. But there appears to be (at least if one believes the intelligentsia in New York and Washington) some thought that she might actually be capable of making decisions on a presidential level. God help us.

Vladimir Putin might have said something on this order. On second thought, he actually embraces free markets.

What we have in Senator Hillary Clinton is a communist. Before the firestorm of pedantic name-calling begnis, let me remind you that a communist is simply a "member of a Marxist-Leninist party" (American Heritage Dictionary). Communists, are allowed to live in America (precisely because we are not a communist country). Communists are not allowed to govern America.

There are certainly more communists in government than Ms. Clinton. Both political parties have them. Some are communist because they aren't smart enough to recognize that their belief's make them such and others - the dangerous kind, know precisely what it means to be of a Marxist-Leninist persuasion. I know these dangers well myself having spent many years studying them and tracking them for a very highly overbudgeted governmental agency. I also speak the language of the former Soviet Union and as part of my work for the government interviewed hundreds of dissidents and expatriots who had first-hand experience with those who felt as Hillary Clinton does that; "We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society."

Dr. John Warwick Montgomery has said that "civil rights is a sexy subject" and that "everyone is in favour of human rights - even the most evil dictator". These are truisms; claiming a passion for people is the mantra of every evil leader who has ever sat in a seat of power. Hillary Clinton isn't satan, nor is she going to single-handedly transform America into a gulag. But gulags aren't created overnight and dictators almost always come to power upon the heels of a disastrous political administration. Hillary Clinton's actions, voting record and rhetoric are clear - the individual is important, but only government, led by someone like her can effectively bring about a stable society. New Yorker's may have their communist as long as she remains theirs.

Things boys do better than girls - Part 1

This week's post is the first in a series of lectures I presented to a small, green fern which sits beside my computer monitor. I have entitled this series "Things boys do better than girls" not owing to any jealousy or inherent disdain for the "fairer sex"; rather it is my desire to highlight the unequivocal supremacy of males in certain aspects of the the order of life.

Requests for the audio series of this lecture may be made to:

Things boys do better than girls - series (include lecture number)
Attn: The plant behind the computer monitor
Andrew's bedroom, left wall
Ipswich, U.K. 33245

Lecture one:

First of all let me begin by saying that it was very gracious of you, being a small, slightly green fern to welcome me in such a gracious manner and to so attentively listen as I rambled incessantly on.

As any sentient being knows, there are a great many things which boys do that are far superior to the things girls do and it is my intention throughout this series to highlight them in the hopes that someone will become enraged or at least mildly irritated and also to initiate a rivalry of sorts between girls and boys on the subjects I present. The first and most obvious action in which boys are far superior to girls is the act of eating dirt. Before you begin shouting "that's not bloody fair!" at your screen or the audio player, let me remind you that I am a scientist and everything described in these lectures will have been tested according to the scientific method.

Now, to continue, when I discovered that boys were far superior to girls in the eating of dirt, I began developing hypothoses which might explain or at least demonsrate this important fact. I asked the following questions:

1. Do boys generally live closer to dirt?
2. Does dirt have an attraction to boys?
3. Are boys electronegative compared to dirt?
4. Does dirt not like girls?

After much investigation I determined that none of these questions even began to explain how boys might be better at eating dirt than girls. Then, one morning as I and the plant began discussing this subject, I hit upon it.

May I have the first slide please? Yes, thank you.

Here we have Ascaris Lumbricoides. (plant has waved slightly in approval or perhaps from the ceiling fan)

Ascaris Lumbricoides is an intestinal roundworm found mainly in males which lives in soil (Dirt). It lives in the human body and breeds, (sometimes as many as 200,000 eggs in 1 - day) and are ingested from soil, then multiply and pass through the digestive system and into the pulmonary system, through the walls of the Alveoli and into the respiratory tract. They then are re-digested in the intestinal tract and start the whole things all over again. The discovery of large numbers of this parasite in males vs. the relatively few incidences of infection in femals is proof positive that boys are far superior to girls in the eating of dirt.

One can imagine the elation I experienced having discovered this proof. I must say that at the risk of sounding boorish or perhaps even a bit conceited, it is now my belief that I am much better at finding intestinal parasites in boys than girls are. Perhaps a subject for another lecture?

At any rate, it has been my great pleasure to lecture before you and my thanks go to the academy for all of its support during my long minutes (O.K. seconds) of painstaking research.

I love the writings of John

Everyone should learn classical Greek. We sell our society short by not teaching the languages upon which ours was founded.

Anyway, reading John's gospel in it's original language, allows one to picture the aged apostle, sitting at a dusty desk somewhere, sometime in the latter portion of the 1st century. Scribbling on parchments with a quill, the Apostle must have smiled as he recollected his life and the journey that God had taken him on.

The first portion of his gospel is my favorite and specifically, Chapter 1, verse 12. In the Greek, this verse reads "Hosoi de elabon autou, edooken autois exousian tekna theo genesthai, tois pisteuousin eis to onoma aoutou". (pardon my transliteration)

The most important part of this verse for me is the highlighted portion above. This portion reads, "He gave (granted) the power to be children of God".

This unspeakable gift is in response to "those who believed in His name" which is mentioned previously. Now imagine John writing this. He may have been in the city of Ephesus, and he had no idea that he would be soon exiled to the island of Patmos in a slave-labor camp and called upon by God to write yet another book - Revelation. John was "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and was the only disciple present at the cross when Jesus was crucified. He cared for Mary, the mother of Jesus and his gospel more than any other expresses the love of God. When he wrote these words, which have been the foundation of Christian faith for more than 2000 years, did he really understand what he was saying? I believe so, and this is where the Greek language is so important. The word "exousian" means, "the granting of authority or power" (shorter lexicon of the Greek NT - Wilbur Gingrich,Fred Danker). In the Greek context, since the world at that time was ruled by Rome, this would have meant the authority of a Roman tribunal granting some power to a person - an official act. Rome brought about the rule of law (unfortunately enforced by brutality) to a unified world, and the granting of authority under Roman law was a serious issue. One did not flaunt the laws of Rome casually.

John, in writing this, tells his readers "everyone who has believed in the name of Jesus, has been granted official authority to become a literal child of God". By whom? Jesus Himself.
This authority comes from its only possible source - and cannot be derived or coopted by man. Only God can grant the right to become one of His children. This flies in the face of all of the mysticism or spirituality we see today - beliefs that empower man and deny any external authority.

My love for this passage doesn't stem from authority, (I know God has that) it stems from its meaning - that if I believe in the name of Jesus, I become a child of God; with all of the accompanying rights and responsibilities. No denominations, no church buildings, no testimonies, no clubs, no money - just believing in Him. This passage scares the heck out of most prefessional clergy because it pokes a hole in their false theology and undermines their desire to aggrandize themselves in the guise of Christianity. Yes, people are to gather together in worship and study. Yes, people are to tithe to support the poor and widows and help their neighbors and support their pastor, but it is only God's amazing grace- free and conditioned only by belief which gives us the authority and the right to become His children.

Our world does not need programs, advertising, radio stations, concerts or DVD's. What people need today is what they have always needed - a Heavenly Father who desires to grant them the right and authority to be His children.

Do people REALLY understand what is happening in Iraq?

Whether one is a fan of George W. Bush or not, what is taking place in Iraq must be looked upon with an indifferent, historical eye - not one tainted by political fervor. Voting is taking place in Iraq. Now in America, where voting is looked upon as a nuisance, especially if one is a politician, casting a vote in Iraq makes one think of other blase' events like mowing the lawn or picking up one's mail. It is not. Iraq has NEVER in its history, held a vote. Since its inception in 1920, Iraq has been ruled, but never governed.

This morning in a newspaper, I saw a photograph of a woman voting in the current election. Having lived in an traveled about the Muslim world, this is an incredible feat. It would be foolish at best and deadly at worst for us to miss the significance of this. Under Shariya Islamic law, women have no rights. Apologies in advance for the "pro-Islam" folks who will email me disagreeing, but I have read the Quran and have lived in and traveled about the middle east. Women have no rights under the strict interpretation given to the Quran by the theocracies in most Islamic countries. Yes, there are exceptions (Yemen is one, Pakistan in changing) but by and large, women do not express opinions or vote in elections. In a new Iraq, (as in a new Afghanistan) women will not only express their opinion, but will be a part of government.

Was it worth it? That is a question I cannot answer. The humanistic part of me (what the bible calls the "Sin nature") believes that if Iraq was such a threat, a squadron of B1-B bombers could have taken care of the entire country in less than a day and there would be no insurgency. The Christian part of me ( the part I hope governs my life and actions) has seen the dramatic suffering in the middle east and wishes that Saddam could have been persuaded to go and live in San Francisco with the rest of the illuminati and a transition to democratic government could have happened peacefully. Neither has been the case so we now have what is commonly seen as a "difficulty". The average man or woman on the street in Baghdad wants nothing more than to live life with the hope of peace and some measure of prosperity. This was of course, impossible under a dictatorship, but will now be possible because of a new government. But will it be reality?

We need to pray fervently that it will be.

You have to give the devil an A for perseverance

Yesterday was thankfully unlike many other days in that I received notice of a very unfortunate event. The announcement was that a couple which my wife and I had counseled in the past, were filing for divorce.

As I have said many times previously, the devil is out to make as many nasty things happen as possible and mankind (often unwittingly) gives him a glad hand in doing so. With regard to the couple mentioned above, they had struggled through many things, some dark and some not so dark, but at one point it looked like the lights were coming on and they had finally resolved that being married to the person with whom you first make a marital commitment is the best thing, (notwithstanding the fact that God says this is the BEST thing.) However, they have thrown in the legal towel.

What I cannot fathom is how humans believe that by simply changing environments and biological partners, everything will be rosy and soon one will find oneself floating in a quiet pool beneath a cabana on Cozumel, sipping Red Bull. If environment were the problem, Sherwin Williams would be the great relationship-saver: all one would need to do is paint their room! But Alas, that won't cut it. You see the problem with changing marriage partners is that we are still involved in the relationship, and more often than not, WE are the problem! (I know, not in your case).

Here's a bit of a wierd analogy that might work if you really use your imagination. You are 20-something, full of energy or ("piss and vinegar" as my grandfather used to say) and you meet the man who looks most like your favorite movie star, but not really and you get married. Well, things go O.K. for about 5 years and then he starts working late to make more money to pay for the larger house you had to have and he isn't paying as much attention to you, and so forth - you get the idea. So you listen to Dr. Laura (Whom you should never listen to) and you decide to get a divorce because "you deserve better". So you divorce. It is painful (Always is) and after about 6 weeks you are starting to recover and you meet someone new at the pet store. He is very nice and so is his dog and so you begin to date and soon, you decide to marry - again. About 3 years pass and then guess what - he isn't paying as much attention to you as he should and the story repeats itself.................................

Now there are tons of variations on this theme, some include violence, some include infidelity, some include laziness and so on. But the general idea is that no matter which relationship you enter into, one thing is certain - YOU are in it. And so are all of your proclivities, and "needs" and desires, etc. which you will carry with you into every relationship , until you get rid of the one thing which keeps recurring in this scenario - YOU!

No, I am not advocating suicide or enlightenment. I am advocating God through Jesus Christ. If you've come this far, don't hang up now - hear me out.

The Bible says that Jesus can and will make us new persons (creatures) and by doing so will get rid of our "old" person and put in its place a "new" person. This in fact does happen - it did in my case and I have seen it countless other times in people in all walks of life, from the boardroom to the penitentiary and everywhere in between. So if you will follow Christ - He can and will remove the one factor which hinders every relationship - US!

I am 39 years old and have been married for nearly 18 years to the same woman. Before we met, I knew her a grand total of 5 months, 4 of which I spent floating in the North Atlantic on a huge, grey chunk of metal, propelled by atoms slamming into each other. Well, how does a 22 year old navy punk marry a 20 year old woman and stay faithfully married for almost 2 decades (having spent less than 2 weeks in the same country)? Because I was not in the equation. I'm not being metaphysical or silly - the only reason my wife and I are still married is that for a large portion of our time together, we have been "new creatures" in Jesus Christ. And these new creatures don't think about proclivities, desires and wants ahead of Him or of serving others. Not a bad recipe for success? Best of all, its free!

Before you call the $69 divorce ad in the back of the Greensheet, try asking God to fix what you can't. You'll save money and I guarantee you'll be much happier.

Sexual Russian Roulette or why there won't be a cure for HIV

Hopefully, most literate persons by now understand that HIV and the fatal disease this virus carries are wholly preventable. The only transmission medium for this virus is body fluids, thus no body fluids - no virus!

What I have had difficulty with is why the virus and its accompanying symptoms are so difficult to figure out. Last night, I was given the answer.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV is an incredibly devilish creature. I mean this sincerely - it is my belief that this virus was not created, but engineered by the devil himself.

All living things contain DNA as their basic building block of life. There is a counterfeit if you will to DNA which nature has developed, called RNA.

The HIV-1 virus is a retrovirus. A retrovirus isn't called retro because it like Elvis Presley. A retrovirus uses the counterfeit RNA instead of DNA as its basic genetic material. The HIV virus is one of these viruses. Here's where the devilish part comes in:

The retrovirus (in this case HIV) enters a healthy cell and uses a special enzyme called RT or "Reverse Transcriptase" to switch its RNA into DNA which the healthy cell incorporates into itself. The HIV virus is extremely effective in doing this and may do so very rapidly, multiplying itself by many generations is a very short period of time (perhaps as quickly as 15 minutes). Normally when cells pass on DNA information, the information is read by a "reading frame" and it is passed on in tact or without error. The reading frame catches errors and eliminates them. But a retrovirus such as HIV doesn't have this reading frame and so each time it replicates itself, it may be filled with errors, creating a new mutated offspring.

Here's the plumber's view of what I'm talking about:

Jimmy is single and in college and is fairly attractive and meets Sally at a party. They like each other and after dinner and some drinks a few nights later, they end up in Jimmy's apartment having sex. Jimmy thinks Sally is a pretty nice girl and they agree to date for awhile. What Sally doesn't know is that Jimmy has done this before and 2 times ago, unbeknownst to Jimmy, he became a carrier of the HIV-1 virus. It has not spread throughout Jimmy's body for some reason, but he is still a carrier.

Sally dates Jimmy but she also really likes Mike who plays college volleyball. One night after a tournament she has the "opportunity" to sleep with Mike and she jumps at the chance. Mike has a great car and a terrific apartment. He also has something else which he doesn't know about.

About 2 weeks later, Sally begins to feel lethargic. Her energy is gone and she seems to be losing weight, even though she doesn't do much exercise. She goes to see the doctor who is very busy trying to pump as many patients through his practice as possible and after 1.88 minutes, he tells her that she is probably under alot of stress and prescribes something to help her sleep.
Sally feels much better, after resting and sees Jimmy again. They sleep together.

After another week, Sally feels tired again and this time she thinks she is looking pale. She re-visits her doctor and he suspects anemia so he orders a blood test. Sally is at work when she receives a call from her doctor's receptionist telling her that she must come to the office immediately and he will explain why. Sally is worried and she should be - she is about to learn that because of her behavior, she has just been sentenced to death. So has Jimmy and Mike, although they don't know it yet.

Why doesn't a pharmaceutical company make an inhibitor or an agent which will directly kill the HIV-1 virus which is known?

Because the virus mutates as I described above - sometimes very rapidly and sometimes not for years. Each person's symptoms will be different. And even if a vaccine for the virus itself were given, the offspring's mutations and use of RNA to enter healthy cells means that each succeeding generation could be an entirely different organism. So what entered your body as a single virus may now be millions of unique variations all trying to kill you.

Is sex worth it? If you are single, before you have sex with anyone - marry them. Before you marry them - each of you should get a complete physical including blood screening.

Your life depends upon it.

Answered Prayers

The God of the bible is the only true and living God, but he is not the only one who can answer your prayers. For many years I have spoken with persons who claimed gifts from God - gifts which turned out to ruin their lives or cause them great pain. We must remember that there is a mastermind of evil in the world - his name is satan and it is his entire purpose for being to cause you pain and either convince you that you need to spend eternity in torment with him, or if you have already accepted Christ and are free from the possibility of eternal separation from God, that you should forfeit your eternal inheritance (gifts - not salvation) by living a life filled with sin.

Satan, though he is not God, can also answer your prayers. In the 4th chapter of Matthew's gospel, (Vv. 8-10) satan confronted Jesus with desire and the offer of answered prayer. We read that;

"The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

Jesus' reply?

"Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Notice that Jesus did not say, "satan you are such an idiot - you can't give me those things!" because satan can and he does. But when he gives you a gift - it is always deadly.

I am reminded of Mr. Walid Shoebat who as a young Palestinian terrorist, traveled into Jerusalem with a huge loaf of bread - ostensibly as a "gift" for visitors to the church of the nativity. This gift contained a large bomb and Mr. Shoebat had been trained his entire life to use it to kill jews and himself in exchange for glory. By God's mercy and grace, Mr. Shoebat flinched - he saw children at the site he intended to bomb and could not carry out his evil plan.
(you can read Walid's story at www.shoebat.com)

I have asked for many things in my life which have harmed me and my family. I asked for riches and when I had them, they nearly destroyed all that was important to me. Not long ago a young woman shared with me her joy at having a brand new car. "It must be a gift from God" she beamed, because: "we prayed about it and after 3 dealers turned me down, this one financed me!".
This young woman made about $25,000 per year, placed her children in daycare (even though she is married and her husband earns a good living) and now had a $600 a month car payment not including insurance - for 6 years. Folks, that is not a gift from God, it was a lie of the devil and she now realizes this every time she has to send her children to daycare so that she can work full-time to support her new $600 per month payment.

Composer Nicolo Paganini asked for something that was given him by the devil - he asked to be the greatest composer in the world. As a young man, he floundered in his art and played the violin poorly. Yet, one day he entered a court-sponsored contest and won. Paganini went on to begin composing pieces for the court of Napoleon's sister. He wrote music that only he could play - he was born with extreme flexibility in his wrist and fingers, giving him an unequaled reach on the violin. Paganini was capable of playing three octaves across four strings in a hand span, an impossible feat even by today's standards.

He sought fame - and achieved it, as well as riches and lust; his home was filled with beautiful young women waiting to spend time with the great composer. He fathered one child by a singer who toured with him, yet whom he never married.

How did Nicolo Paganini go from inept musician to world-class composer in such a short time? His friends claimed he made a deal with the devil. His life seems to back this up. In his portraiture, he looks evil. While playing, his eyes would roll back in his head - exposing the whites of his eyes. Despite earning millions, he would scrounge through the streets of France searching for coins. He once had to pawn his violin, having lost a fortune in gambling.

He died at age 58 of cancer in Nice, France.

How do we know it is God who is answering our prayer?

The Bible tells us over and over again that God wants to be the one who answers your prayers - the God of the bible wants only our good. There is a catch however. The catch is, He cannot and will not violate His will or His holiness. What do I mean by this? If you are asking God for something, then thee are certain rules which you must follow. In America today, the devil has tricked the church into believing that one can ask God for anything no matter what. This is not true. God Himself tells us that in order for Him to answer our prayers, we must worship Him, and worship Him in a manner which He will accept. (John 4:24). If a person has never accepted Christ's sacrifice on the cross in payment for her sin, then she can ask God for everything under the sun and He will not give it to her. Therefore, if she gets it - it didn't come from God as an answered prayer. It may have come from God by virtue of His universal goodness, (for example, it rains in Iran even though their country is a Muslim theocracy) but this person cannot claim unique favor from God.

So, before one may ask anything of God, one must be a Christian. A real one.

Now, having become a Christian, does God give us everything we ask? Of course not. I know people who ask for amphetamines or Marijuana or crack. God is not in the business of giving His children bad things. (Matthew 7:11) tells us that God wants to give us good things. If this is true, why do people spend so much time asking for things which they seemingly never receive?

Because we ask the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. (James 4:1-5) tells us all about this.

By the way, James 4 defines the source of all human conflict. Anyway, in James we are reminded that "you ask and do not have". What gives? Why not? Because, "You ask and you do not receive, because you ask for the wrong reasons". What are those reasons?

"that you may spend it on your pleasures." (v.3b)

God does want to reward you and give you good things, but He isn't interested in rewarding you for your pleasures. The word used here for "pleasures" is the Greek word "Hedone" which would be better translated as "lust". God isn't going to give you things to fulfill your lusts - lusts are bad for you!

Psalm 37:4 tells us, "delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart".
If you want answered prayers, then you better delight yourself in the Lord.

Proverbs 10:22 tells us, "It is the blessing of the Lord that makes men rich AND HE ADDS NO SORROW TO IT." (Emphasis mine).

So here's the formula:

If one asks of God, one must:

A. Be a child of God. The only prayer God will hear from non-children is "help, me I need to be saved".

B. Be delighted in God and seeking His purpose.

C. Ask for a reason other than you really want it (lust).

D. Praise Him when you receive it.

E. If it ever comes with sorrow - it ain't from God.

Example:

1. A man asks for riches and starts earning as much as $100,000 per month. But he can't sleep because he is afraid he will be audited or someone will sue him or one of his vendors will rip him off because his product is not collateralized. Is this a reward from God? No, because it fails test #E - it has lots of sorrow. It also failed test #B and C, because even though this man talked about how great God was and gave lots of money to the church, he wasn't helping anyone HIMSELF.

2. A woman asks for a new car, because the preacher at her church told her that if she wanted it badly enough and could emotionally claim it (see it in her mind), then God would have to give it to her. Is this a reward from God? No, because it fails B and C and will at some point fail E.

3. A Christian woman knows of a divorcee who has to find work to support herself. She hasn't worked in many years and has no money. The woman gives her an old car that she has so the divorcee can drive to find work. Some time later, someone gives the Christian woman a car. Is this a reward from God? You bet. It passes every test.

I think you get the idea. God wants to answer your prayers. Just be sure when you get what you asked for that it really came from Him.

Further peanut devastation

Recently a very annoying person happily posted a comment about my peanut anarchy. This person's annoyance-ability initially stems from posting a comment as "anonymous". Unless one is wanted by the FBI for human trafficking it is very silly to write in terms of anonymity on the internet. Blogs are where stupid things are supposed to be said (just read most of my posts).

Now, onto her comments. (How I know it was a female is my little secret. - YEARS of very-expensive government training)

This piece will consist of Ms. Anonymous' quotes followed by my highly evocative and disdainfully sarcastic reply.


"My concern is about some of the unintended misinterpretations that have been made in your piece."

If the interpretation is unintended it is a corollary that it is a misinterpretation. This is a literary error known as a reverse-axiomatic entendre' with a syllogistic falsification. (Please see Jesse Jackson for a detailed explanation of its usage)

"For those who are NOT peanut allergic (a large majority), it is actually very important that they are regularly exposed to peanuts."

I heartily agree. My next proposal would be that all children between the ages of 6 and 11, be buried in peanut butter at least once per week. I am going to assume that "anonymous" is suggesting prolonged exposure to peanuts either to develop in children a system prophylactic against allergens or because she wants them to smell nutty. Not sure which. However, if it is the former, this type of prophylactic measurement does not work with all allergens and may not work with peanuts. For example, all humans are highly allergic to tetrodotoxin, found in highest concentration, I believe in the ovaries of puffer fish. If we were to apply Ms. Anonymous' theory to this substance we would lose large segments of our population. (as long as we started in California or Massachusetts, it really wouldn't be such a big deal).

"On the flip-side, peanuts are one of the single most dangerous allergies known to man. This sounds dramatic right? However, those with severe reactions, can be effected by simply the smell. As you might be aware, smelling a peanut doesn't require that it be actually placed in one's nose."

Actually, it does. When one uses the word "smell" and is not referring to the President, or Charlie Sheen's acting, one is referring to the use of an organ medically referred to as a "nose". The nose is a wonderful thing. It provides a transport pathway from the outside world into your respiratory system. But it does much more. Have you ever seen a Mexican or Latin woman with huge, black hairs growing out of her nose? Didn't it give you the heebee-jeebies? (Just imagine if you were her husband!) Anyway, as unerotic (is that a word) as those hairs may be, they are part of a defensive system which keeps all sorts of nasty creatures from poisoning you. As air enters your nose, the hairs within it, capture foreign particles and screen them out. These particles, some of them known as "airborn pathogens" could be very harmful. The nose also warms the air, etc. But back to peanuts. In order to be physiologically harmed by a substance, said substance must interact with our bodies on at least the tissue level. An allergen which could harm you through your nose must be airborne. Medically this is known as a "aeroallergen". I am not Leonardo DaVinci (you thought I was going to say DiCaprio, didn't you!) but I am pretty certain neither peanuts or peanut butter are airborne unless one throws them. Now, certainly, Ms. Anonymous is correct if someone heaves a honking-sized peanut up your nose. You will be hating life - BIG TIME. But otherwise, it can't harm you physiologically. But Psychologically is another matter. I'm not a psycho so I can't address that.

"Imagine, little Joey sits at his peanut-free table in the school cafeteria. Joey's best friend Matt can't sit with his buddy. This is because he is at the table across the aisle is eating his peanut-butter sandwich. After lunch, Matt says "hhhhi" to Joey. The peanut butter smell from Matt's breath enters Joey's cardiovascular system. Joey's system begins to shut down. His blood vessels throughout his body begin to constrtict. His airways begin to close. Joey can no longer breathe and begins to turn blue. He passes out. If an epipen is not near, he will go into a coma and die. This isn't a hypothetical - this is what happens."

If Matt's saliva, laced with toxic peanuts flies into Joey's mouth or nose (see above), then Joey would need access to vasodilator such as epinephrine. Even the folks who make the "EpiPen" in whose best interest it is to SELL them as often as possible state, "There have even been rare cases documented in which inhalation exposure to a food has triggered an anaphylactic reaction." They cite a parameter from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and immunology, which must provide the most extreme possibility for doctors to be aware of. But Joey cannot have a physiological reaction to something he is not actually exposed to. He can have a psychological reaction to a problem, but that is for the psycho's to comment upon - I am not qualified. So obviously, this is not "what happens". Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, Nyah.

"The Food and Allergy network does NOT recommend peanut bans in schools, but instead education. But while you can certainly trust Joey to wash his hands and stay away from peanut products, how do you ensure that Matt washes his hands well enough? That a small amount doesn't get smeared on the monkey bars? That he brush his teeth? Should peanut allergic kids be kept in a bubble?"

How do you know you can trust Joey to wash his hands? The Monkey bars? Joey needs to stop licking them. Brushing his teeth? Tell Joey to stop using Matt's toothbrush!
You may have just stumbled onto a solution for the problem of this generation - stopping radical Islam and extricating the U.S. from Iraq. Peanuts! If we have thousands of Americans brush their teeth after having eaten peanut brittle, we can then partially sterilize the brushes and send them in deceptive packaging to the terrorists who will then use them and die! Or, we can construct hundreds of sets of Monkey bars, laced with peanut butter throughout Baghdad. Either way, we win!

Yea Baby!!!!!!!!!

And some of you want a woman to be President?

The fearsome Peanut

When chemist George Washington Carver began his discovery of the myriad uses of the peanut, little did the unwitting American public understand that Dr. Carver was in fact creating a monster. ( I was tempted to use the term "peanutstein" but that would be going to far. )

Anyway, 100+ years later, Carver's discoveries strike fear in the hearts of frail children and anxiety-ridden mothers from Seattle to Annapolis and all points in between. Peanut Butter - once the staple food of champions (and something I literally lived on for more than 2 months at sea) is now believed to be as deadly as Anthrax and something to be avoided at all costs. The reason? Allergies.
School districts throughout the country are asking parents to rid their children's lunch boxes of this nasty menace. Is this fear unfounded? Or is the sinister peanut biding its time, while hapless children munch blithely away on their modern hemlock?

Today a frantic mom told me that she was asked not to pack peanut butter anymore because the "scent" of it is enought to trigger allergic reactions in some children.

Since I am embarking upon a career in science (well, sort of - medicine is actually a combination of art and science) I thought I would use this time to find out what the skinny is regarding peanut butter.

For the frantic mom, I didn't need to consult the latest scientific journals because I already knew that peanut butter's molecular structure is a SOLID, not a GAS, so unless someone stuffs it up their nose, it would be impossible for the substance of peanut butter to react with one's immune system.

Now, as the Thomas Dolby would say; science!

In the Journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy (Clinical & Experimental Allergy
Volume 35 Issue 7 Page 933 - July 2005), the results of a test conducted by researchers at the Imerial College at St. Mary's London tested 13,638 seven-year old individuals, of which 6,412 yielded results. (I guess the others snuck off for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - ungrateful cretins).

Anyway, the chillins were exposed to MTV, aeroallergens (dust mites, cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, and one other thing. Then, as if this weren't cruel enough the children were exposed to peanuts and other nuts as well as more than a few very angry squirrels.)

The result of all of this exposure was that 8.5% of the population demonstrated some reaction to the airborne allergens and 1% demonstrated the same reaction to the evil nuts. Hopefully they were all allergic to MTV.

If this data is to be extrapolated (and it is), this test reveals the following:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau there are now approximately 72 million persons under the age of 18 living in this country. If 1% of them would suffer an allergic reaction to the peanut or any nut, this amounts to 720,000. If we spread them evenly between states, (which, of course they are not) then we would get 14,400 children per state who demonstrate an allergic reaction to peanuts. In Texas there may be 81 school districts (not sure - couldn't get a definite number from the TEA website) which would mean 177 children per district. The state's largest district is Houston, which has more than 50,000 students. There are at least 300 schools in this district (per the HISD website, not counting charter or magnet schools) which means a bit more than half of all schools could have a child with an allergic reaction to nuts.

But this test was conduct with BRITISH children, not Americans. When a similar test was conducted by the NIH (Prevalences of positive skin test responses to 10 common allergens in the US population: results from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.) they found that Americans are far more sensitive to allergens than our English counterparts. The NIH study - not nearly as comprehensive, nearly 3% demonstrated a positive reaction to nut allergens.

Even if the results were tripled, this would still mean that each school district in Texas (statstically, very loose, I know) would only have 2 or 3 students who were allergic to peanut allergens. While this seems incredibly inconsequential, it is very symbolic of our nation at this time. We are ruled by minutae. Instead of the minority or aberrant, making their way in society, society must bend to make way for them. This is why the single Epehdra patient who died was allowed to create a huge windfall for the plaintiff's lawyers, and why persons who die from smoking still sue tobacco companies for wrongful death.

And this is why school districts want the thousands of parents with children who don't have allergies to change their lives to accomodate the very few who do.

Children who have allergic reactions to peanuts should not touch them. Such reactions can be anaphylactic or hypotensive, meaning they can bring on very nasty symptoms. If your child has a KNOWN allergy to these substances, then avoid them. But don't try and make all of society accomodate you and your child. Instead send your child to school with chicken salad, or just jelly and train them to avoid the foods which cause problems. There are many more times the number of children in society who suffer from genetic diabetes. Should all sugars be eliminated so that they won't be tempted to risk their lives by eating them? Of course not, and parents of diabetic children DO teach their kids what they can and cannot eat.

Give GW Carver his due and society a break. The peanut is a great thing; so is peanut butter. We ought to be asking ourselves why we are 3 times more allergic that the Brits, but we should also be willing to take responsibility for ourselves, our children and our actions - and hopefully research will soon bring about a prophylactic against peanut allergies.

Meanwhile, if you care to join me, I would be happy to share my peanut butter sandwich with you!

More tales of the nutty and insane

Today I received an email telling me that someone I know who is a fireman, was being shot at by residents of Beaumont, Texas who wanted their houses to burn so they could get the insurance money. Others were actually setting their houses on fire. I know that stupidity is rampant (always has been), but do these people actually think their insurance company isn't going to ask the local fire inspector who started the blaze that consumed their house?

This is almost as bad as the morons who looted the convenience store here in Houston. After they broke in, the owner went to the store and boarded it up and called the police. The police waited in the parking lot across the street and sure enough, the morons returned to re-loot the store and were arrested. When a local reporter asked one of the world's dumbest people why he did such a stupid thing, his only reply was "I was only inside - that's all". Good thing for him breathing is an automatic reflex.

Filed under the "funny, but kind of wierd" section are the people who are now angry that the Hurricane didn't even bring enough rain to water their lawn or alleviate the 100+ temperatures we are having. I thought not being hit by a hurricane was a GOOD thing? Who knew?

How about the supra-genius mayor of New Orleans, inviting Louisiana residents to return to their flooded, biologically infected disaster area? Does anyone else have qualms about giving this guy and Governor "hold it, I'm weeping", Blanco 50 Billion dollars to rebuild their corrupt state? Am I being to harsh? Well, the 100+ families I interviewed at a relief center here in Houston all told me "We ain't goin' back". They were stunned that somebody like Nagin would receive 50 cents to rebuild the city (er, slum) of New Orleans. The only people I found who really wanted to return were a group of very friendly Rastafarians and in this particular blog I can't tell you why :)

I know there are some folks who think that Christians ought not to label certain acts as "stupid" or the people who do them as "morons", but there is a precedent for doing such things. When Job's wife advised him to curse God and die after he had suffered so much, Job told her "you speak as one of the foolish women". In other words, you are an idiot. (very large paraphrase from the Hebrew). Job then went on to say "are we to accept good from God and not bad"? (Job 2:10). People are always made in the image of God, but when I do something very stupid, I want people to let me know so that I don't continue to do it. If I were going to rob the same convenience store twice in one day, I would hope someone would have sense enough to call me an idiot.