cc` !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> My Dragon's Lair Sharing is the reason for my being...

My Dragon's Lair Sharing is the reason for my being...

Altered and added new content 10-4-07 Important 5-4-07 No longer Child safe because of the links inside sites included here. Adult Humor is posted here. Template errors still. E shows wrong, and Netscape shows mostly correct. Activly learning HTML to correct and improve. Be it fun or serious I hope you enjoy and take away with you what I find to share. LI

Friday, November 02, 2007

FDA has not been inspecting foreign drug firms, watchdog finds

WASHINGTON - Two-thirds of the foreign drug manufacturers subject to inspection by the Food and Drug Administration may never have been visited by agency inspectors, a government watchdog reported to Congress on Thursday.

The FDA this year listed 3,249 foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers subject to its inspection — yet the agency cannot determine whether it has ever inspected 2,133 of them, according to a Government Accountability Office report released during a House subcommittee hearing.

While some of the more than 3,000 firms may never have exported prescription drugs or drug ingredients to the United States, others likely have.

Who are those firms and what are they shipping? asked Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., during Thursday's hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

"We don't know and we are not certain the FDA knows," Marcia Crosse, director of health care at the GAO, replied.

The few foreign inspections the FDA does conduct in any given year hit just 7 percent of the foreign drug makers exporting to the U.S., the GAO estimates. That means more than 13 years can pass before a foreign manufacturer is visited even once, Crosse said.

In the case of China, which with 714 drug firms boasts the largest number subject to FDA scrutiny of any country, the record is far worse. The FDA is slated to inspect just 13 Chinese establishments this year, meaning just 1.8 percent will see an FDA inspector, according to the GAO report.

In India, the No. 2 country, the record is far better. There, 65 of its 410 firms, or 15.8 percent, are slated for inspection this year, according to the GAO. That's in line with the 16.8 percent of Swiss drug firms the FDA likely will inspect in 2007.

The GAO and Congress have long warned of the FDA's shortcomings in its foreign drug inspection program. The GAO findings released Thursday largely reprise many of the same warnings outlined in a 1998 report.

"It's deja vu all over again," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.

Most U.S. drug makers are inspected at least once every two years, as mandated by a law drawn up long before imports seized a sizable chunk of the drug market.

There is no such requirement that the FDA conduct foreign inspections with any regularity, even as imports of all kinds grow in volume. Concerns about the safety of imported drugs, food, toys and other consumer products have been at the fore for months.

"We're finding ourselves again on the brink of one more problem dealing with imports into our country," said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas.

An estimated 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used to make drugs sold in the U.S. are imported. Among finished drugs, an estimated 40 percent are made abroad. By ANDREW BRIDGES The Associated Press November 2, 2007 More articles

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posted by LadyIrene @ 11/02/2007 11:21:00 PM 0 comments

IRS warns of wildfire e-mail scam

Warning on Scam E-Mails Fri Nov 2, 12:20 PM ET
Members of the public are receiving phony e-mails falsely claiming to come from the IRS. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=170894,00.html

WASHINGTON - People should be on the lookout for a new e-mail scam soliciting donations to California wildfire victims in the name of the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. government, the IRS said Friday.

The tax agency said the bogus e-mails appear to be a "phishing scheme" that tries to trick recipients into revealing personal and financial information that can be used to steal a person's assets.
The IRS said it does not send e-mails soliciting charitable donations and never asks people for the PIN numbers, passwords or other secret information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts.
People "should avoid opening any attachments or clicking on any links until they can verify the e-mail's legitimacy," IRS Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Richard Spires said in a statement.
The agency said the scam e-mail urges recipients to click on a link which opens on a fake IRS Web site. That site includes a link to a donation form which requests the recipient's personal and financial information.
The IRS said it also believes that clicking on the link downloads malware, or malicious software, onto the recipient's computer. That software will steal passwords and other account information it finds on the victim's computer system.
It urged those who received the scam e-mail to help the IRS shut down the operation by forwarding it to phishing@irs.gov, using instructions found in "how to protect yourself from suspicious e-mails or phishing schemes" on the genuine IRS Web site, http://www.irs.gov.
Since the mail box was established last year, the IRS has received more than 30,000 e-mails from taxpayers reporting almost 600 separate phishing incidents.

Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=155682,00.html

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posted by LadyIrene @ 11/02/2007 10:39:00 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Staph Fatalities May Exceed AIDS Deaths

CHICAGO (Oct. 17) - More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the government reported in its first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ.


An Invasive Disease

Jeanna Duerscherl, Roanoke Times / AP Students gather outside a high school Tuesday in Moneta, Va., after a classmate died of a drug-resistant staph infection. The death and student pressure led Bedford County to close its public schools for cleaning. 1 of 4 Photos
Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one public health expert commenting on the new study. Tuesday's report shows just how far one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its traditional hospital setting.

The overall incidence rate was about 32 invasive infections per 100,000 people. That's an "astounding" figure, said an editorial in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the study.

Most drug-resistant staph cases are mild skin infections. But this study focused on invasive infections - those that enter the bloodstream or destroy flesh and can turn deadly.

Researchers found that only about one-quarter involved hospitalized patients. However, more than half were in the health care system - people who had recently had surgery or were on kidney dialysis, for example. Open wounds and exposure to medical equipment are major ways the bug spreads.

In recent years, the resistant germ has become more common in hospitals and it has been spreading through prisons, gyms and locker rooms, and in poor urban neighborhoods.

The new study offers the broadest look yet at the pervasiveness of the most severe infections caused by the bug, called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. These bacteria can be carried by healthy people, living on their skin or in their noses.

Deadly Infection Closes Schools (video did not come here.)
An invasive form of the disease is being blamed for the death Monday of a 17-year-old Virginia high school senior. Doctors said the germ had spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and muscles around his heart.

The researchers' estimates are extrapolated from 2005 surveillance data from nine mostly urban regions considered representative of the country. There were 5,287 invasive infections reported that year in people living in those regions, which would translate to an estimated 94,360 cases nationally, the researchers said.

Most cases were life-threatening bloodstream infections. However, about 10 percent involved so-called flesh-eating disease, according to the study led by researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 988 reported deaths among infected people in the study, for a rate of 6.3 per 100,000. That would translate to 18,650 deaths annually, although the researchers don't know if MRSA was the cause in all cases.

If these deaths all were related to staph infections, the total would exceed other better-known causes of death including AIDS - which killed an estimated 17,011 Americans in 2005 - said Dr. Elizabeth Bancroft of the Los Angeles County Health Department, the editorial author.

The results underscore the need for better prevention measures. That includes curbing the overuse of antibiotics and improving hand-washing and other hygiene procedures among hospital workers, said the CDC's Dr. Scott Fridkin, a study co-author.

Some hospitals have drastically cut infections by first isolating new patients until they are screened for MRSA.

The bacteria don't respond to penicillin-related antibiotics once commonly used to treat them, partly because of overuse. They can be treated with other drugs but health officials worry that their overuse could cause the germ to become resistant to those, too.

A survey earlier this year suggested that MRSA infections, including noninvasive mild forms, affect 46 out of every 1,000 U.S. hospital and nursing home patients - or as many as 5 percent. These patients are vulnerable because of open wounds and invasive medical equipment that can help the germ spread.

Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, said the JAMA study emphasizes the broad scope of the drug-resistant staph "epidemic," and highlights the need for a vaccine, which he called "the holy grail of staphylococcal research."

The regions studied were: the Atlanta metropolitan area; Baltimore, Connecticut; Davidson County, Tenn.; the Denver metropolitan area; Monroe County, NY; the Portland, Ore. metropolitan area; Ramsey County, Minn.; and the San Francisco metropolitan area.

By LINDSEY TANNER,APPosted: 2007-10-17 12:56:59 Read 713 comments.
Filed Under: Health News, Nation News

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posted by LadyIrene @ 10/17/2007 01:37:00 PM 0 comments

Saturday, October 06, 2007

You Know This Is True...

At first I thought this was funny...then I realized the awful truth of it. Be sure to read all the way to the end!

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries, then
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers,
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.!

Then tax his coffin ,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid.

Put these words
upon his tomb,
" Taxes drove me to my doom.."

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon) Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
! Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreatio nal Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What the hell happened? Can you spell "politicians!"

And.... I still have to "press 1"
for English.

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times.

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posted by LadyIrene @ 10/06/2007 01:14:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Who's side would you be on? The man or the neighbors and city?

City cites illegal rooming house Owner: use porper as aid to ex-addicts.

By Christine McConville, Globe Staff July 29 2007

MEDFORD -- From the street, William Maragioglio's house looks perfectly in place among the others in this densely packed neighborhood near the Malden city line.

But what's inside the blue four-bedroom at 112 Second St. is a different story.

The dwelling is now the subject of a federal administrative probe, after city officials sided with Maragioglio's neighbors and took him to court for allegedly operating an illegal rooming house.

The city wants to shut Maragioglio down, or at least force him to scale back. He has as many as 10 men, all of them recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, living in the house -- far more than allowed under city zoning laws that prohibit four or more unrelated people from sharing a single-family home, City Solicitor Mark Rumley said.

But Maragioglio is fighting back.

Maragioglio's lawyer, Bruce T. MacDonald, said he is protected by federal housing laws that designate recovering addicts as disabled people, and when disabled people request reasonable accommodations, those accommodations must be provided.

The "reasonable accommodation" in this case is a waiver from local zoning, and by not allowing 10 men to live in Maragioglio's so-called sober home, the city is discriminating against the disabled, MacDonald said.

Maragioglio recently complained to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, after Medford officials asked a Somerville District Court clerk-magistrate to issue a criminal complaint against him.

The federal agency is investigating the dispute. HUD spokesman James Barnes declined to comment on the matter, saying the probe is ongoing.

Medford officials and Maragioglio began locking horns in March soon after he bought the clapboard house for $429,900 and brought in tenants.

The house sits in a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood, where some old-timers still converse in their native Italian. Many of the homes are decorated with American flags and well-tended flowerpots.

City officials first heard about the sober home after a utility worker, surprised by the number of beds in the building, told a neighbor, who alerted City Hall.

Officials found nine or 10 men living in the house. Some had come straight from prison, others from halfway houses and recovery programs, MacDonald said.

The men each paid a $270 entrance fee, and then about $135 a week in rent. Many of them work, but some pay rent with government-funded disability checks.

One of the tenants said the home provides a much-needed low-cost and positive environment for recovering addicts.

"This place has been great for me," said Bobby Manchester, 37, an aspiring restaurateur who has lived at the home since March. "I couldn't afford $15,000 for a private detox center."

Manchester and MacDonald said tenants must provide three urine samples each week to New England Transitions, Maragioglio's addiction treatment company, plus additional urine tests on demand. The company also recommends that tenants attend at least three recovery meetings each week, they said. Continued...

But neighbors and city officials contend the operation is no more than a rooming house because there is no professional oversight.

Through the spring, as tenants came and went, neighbors became increasingly upset about the change in the neighborhood.

"It used to be that when you saw a new person in the neighborhood, you knew that a house had been sold," said Julia Hendrix, a schoolteacher who has lived on the street for 12 years. "Now, you see somebody new and wonder, 'Does this person live at 112? Does this person have a record?'

"We've got an element here that is potentially dangerous, and there's no oversight," she said.

MacDonald contends the men are no more dangerous than the general public. He said the freedom is exactly what the men need at this point in their rehabilitation as they make a transition to more independent lifestyles.

"The whole point is to mainstream people back into the community," he said.

Rumley said that while Maragioglio and his tenants have certain rights under the federal Fair Housing Act, the neighbors also have rights, and the city is trying to balance both concerns. As a compromise, he said, the city in May offered to allow up to six recovering addicts to live in the home as long as Maragioglio ran criminal background checks on the tenants, to verify earlier public statements that no convicted sex offenders or arsonists would live in the home.

"The city has continually offered to keep the door of dialogue open with Maragioglio to reach an agreement on reasonable accommodation," Rumley told HUD in a recent report.

But Maragioglio will not compromise, said MacDonald. "There will be no criminal background checks."

And so now, for both parties, the future is uncertain. If the federal government backs the city, Maragioglio could be forced to shutter his operation. But if HUD finds Medford guilty of discrimination, the sober home could be here to stay.

Clerk-magistrate Margaret Weeks has put the city's request on hold, pending the outcome of the HUD investigation.

The review is expected to be complete by late August.

Christine McConville can be reached at cmcconville@globe.com. © Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company. 1 2 Next

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posted by LadyIrene @ 8/05/2007 12:13:00 AM 0 comments