POLITICIANS AND IMMIGRATION

I've read your most recent blog posts after reading your comment following the Townhall article -- love your blog!

Ditto the well-articulated position on illegals and border security.

Ditto the issues with Chinese imports.

In addition, even the frozen tilapia fillets I prepared for my family's dinner two nights ago were from China -- something I didn't realize until after purchasing from my local WalMart. You won't be surprised, but do you know what the label said?! It stated that carbon monoxide was used as an ingredient to 'preserve' the color of the fish in the vacuum-sealed package.

I'm no scientist, but doesn't that seem like an unhealthy thing to add to edibles? What else can we expect from a country that systematically kills so many baby girls?

Dear American Mom:

You have no idea how nice it is to be so complimented. When one blogs here, one never knows if one will be ignored completely, if there will be a nice comment, or if there will be an unwanted comment (for a discussion on that, you could read my blog "A Forum For Ranting and Sniping: Not My Usual Style").

On the subject of China, that could go on and on. It could be a continuing blog, as indeed it was for several in a row.

I needed new glasses. If you wear glasses or know someone who does, ask them to look inside one of the stems. Unless they are older, it will say somewhere, "Made in China." I had such an experience lately (needing glasses) and finally settled for a pair made in Italy. Ninety-nine percent of the frames were from China. I had had visions of lead leaching out of my glasses frames and into my skin. Not a happy thought.

I have started a one-woman stampede to insist that the FDA have every prescription medication show country of origin. Not only that, but the country of origin of every component that goes into the medication. We have no earthly idea of the origin of our medications. However, I want to know if any of my medications or components thereof derive from China; then I shall have the knowledge aforehand to say, "No thanks."

Thanks again for stopping by. I appreciate it.

You should start your own blog. It's rather fun, and it does make one sharpen one's writing skills. (Not perfectly, of course, because that's impossible -- but just sharper.)

I just thought of something: perhaps our question should be this: what is NOT made in China?

now assume that this is China's way of defeating the West without firing a shot?

I frequent Townhall almost daily. How nice to know that there are others who think like I do. Without websites like these, I would think I was Alice in Wonderland.

Keep fighting the good fight.

P.S. I do have a blog, but I keep it to myself and a select few. It is cathartic.

I agree with you that the blog is cathartic; I write many things presumably anonymously that I would not, say, write to the paper using my name. Glad you have one.

The question of China and America and trade are so inextricably entwined that one may fall without the other. I hate to believe that we cannot function without China, but it may be true.

That will not keep me from a crusade to boycott all products made in China. I may be down to hammering my own steel one of these days, but at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing the product did not come from China.

Alice in Wonderland? What a wonderful thought. Many's the time I have said in letters to the editor and in letters to my lawmakers and in blogs here (I believe the latter, anyway), that we have stepped irrevocably through the looking-glass. Everything is backward, and we seem to be helpless to do anything about it -- any more than we're doing already. And that includes writing blog posts here.

It is a connection seemingly enjoyed and employed by many.

Thanks again.

I, like Alice, often look around and wonder why everyone thinks that what is going on is normal. It seems that the masses are blissfully unaware of the wickedness upon us.

I am so relieved that there are sound-minded people like yourself who will take the time to voice the truth in your personal crusade about (fill in the blank). For you, it may be Chinese imports or illegal immigration. For me, the list includes forced vaccinations, the eradication of all vestiges of our nation's Christian heritage, loss of US sovereignty, and others.

Middle America now has a voice, a platform. Let's use it wisely! -- and loudly!

Thanks again for your commitment.

After reading your posts about medication safety, I had to write to you again. Please research the vaccine issue. I don't know what your current stance is, but if you were to really get your teeth into the facts, your skill as a writer would be phenomenally helpful in exposing pharmaceutical companies and their medical professional accomplices. Check it out -- as if you needed another reason for your blood to boil.

Happy blogging!

Well, I reckon we are kindred spirits.

There are some strange bedfellows among what makes up Big Pharma, including the "lobby" itself, the pharmaceutical companies, the NIH, the FDA, HHS, and our very own elected officials.

Before the Prescription Drug Plan came into being, I was a regular witch about the matter. I believed it to be a mistake, and it is. I believe I have a blog about it early on, but I really can't remember when it was. I think I have about 50 or 51 blogs, and it might have been third or fourth -- somewhere in there.

I have little regard for any of those people -- and when they're put together -- what a mess.

More later. Thanks.

Doc - I understand where you're coming from.

There are so many angles to this facet of American endeavor that it's difficult to wrap one's mind around all of them.

A lot of our taxes go to the NIH for research. One drug company complained that it received "only" about $2 million worth of research from the NIH. My question to my lawmakers -- and to a letter to the editor -- was why, if the amount were so infinitesimal, didn't the drug company give it back? I'll take half a million, and American Mom can take the other.

Politicians' pockets are stuffed with the gifts of Big Pharma. The lobbyists are allowed in the halls, the bathrooms, the gym and the parking lot of the House and Senate. What do you suppose they do after they get there? Go for a swim? I don't think so. I can almost FEEL the button-holing going on.

I understand perfectly that we would be up a creek without a paddle without all the strides made in the medical field -- all of it, drugs, devices, methodology, everything. However, the drug companies didn't do it all by themselves.

Let us not forget the tax write-offs, the advertising (ADVERTISING!) write-offs, the manufacturing (MANUFACTURING!) write-offs, etc., that Big Pharma gets. The manufacturing write-offs really get me. Most of the manufacturing is done in foreign countries (cheaper there, doncha know?). I cannot "see" giving manufacturing write-offs to manufacturers who are manufacturing outside the country.

As you can see, this is a subject on which I have spent no little time. It cannot be exhausted here.

I am all for the American entrepreneurial spirit, but think about this: How much research help do you believe the Wright Brothers got from the "government"?

It's an inexhaustible subject, and I do not intend to get into some harangue with you or anybody else about it. It would never end.

...could save a lot of money if they would quit giving away all those "free" pens, then maybe those pills wouldn't cost $25.

Jimmy - Great to have you stop here in this little discussion.

And you're right -- Big Pharma could save lots of money if they leave off the pens and especially leave off those sickening commercials about bladder control and erectile dysfunction, R.A., and other wonderful dinner topics like that.

The commercials cost them a BUNDLE, but they make it up in no time flat. Believe it or not, there ARE people who go in to see their doctor and ask if something-or-other is "right" for them. What do you think? The doc is going to say "Yesssssss!!!"

Speaking of free pens and face tissue and enough booklets to fill a warehouse, doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy when a drug sales rep (only they don't call themselves that -- rather, it's "drug detailer") gets shown into the inner sanctum of the doctor's office while you're out there cooling your heels? And you can always tell who the drug rep is. They are always dressed nicely, and always wield carpetbags bigger than they are, usually on a rolling carrier.

I don't even want to get started on how profitable the Medicare Prescription Drug Plans are -- for insurance companies and drug companies and advertising companies and -- let's not forget -- our very own elected officials. And I hate to think of it, but our doctors, too, or at least some of them.

Just think of the numbers of middlemen that must be gone through before the pill is in your hot little fist. And let us not forget that we helped pay for it all. Like the little girl in the fried chicken commercial: "And I helped!"

I don't. I never thought this would turn into a knock-down drag-out, but maybe its time has come. It has been a while since I was immersed in the subject, and I may have go go back to all my references for "back-up."

Just FYI, I believe my paper published about 27 of my letters to the editor about the P.D. Plans and about the pharmaceutical industry. I was some kind of fired up.

What really interests me most at least for the time being is illegal immigrants and illegal immigration. There's also the matter of L.O.S.T.

There's also the little matter of people in our midst who are plotting to behead us unless and until we become adherents to their so-called "religion."

Are they really necessary? Who doesn't know it exists?


When describing the "drug dealer," you didn't mention the noise all those pills make when being rolled across the floor in that bag; especially over the doorjam.

No, Jimmy, those ads are NOT necessary. Except for the newly-named ones, or for the newly-constituted ones. They presumably all do the same thing, or there would not be so many ads.

As a for instance, the ad for some kind of sleeping aid just added the "XR" or "CR" at the end of the name. That means that the manufacturer did something so infinitesimal that nobody taking the stuff would notice any difference. However, and this is a big however, the fact that they added "XR" or "CR" or whatever means that they get another 20 years or so out of their patent. Which means that you, the consumer, will never, never be in a position to purchase a generic. Which is what the drug manufacturer had in mind to start with.

To get back to your comment -- and it's about time -- yes, you can hear the pills and capsules bouncing around as the rolling warehouse rolls through the doorway into the inner sanctum. Grrrrrr!

Re your last paragraph: "...Beating up on Big Pharma is not a winning game." Well, you have that right on the money.

Big Pharma, however, is NOT on our side. Big Pharma is on Big Pharma's side. Not that any American company should be any other way. It IS the American way. American enterprise, better mousetrap, all that. Can't you see me waving my American flag?

Don't give them credit, however, for having very many warm, fuzzy feelings.

And as to patents? Well, the life of one of the patents, after a company gets done suing some upstart generic-maker, is automatically extended by virtue of his filing suit. By the time it's all said and done, it's about a 20-year period. Please, please don't ask me to "back that up" right this minute. I do not have my facts and figures in front of me at the moment. But they are there for anyone who really wants to find them.

I won't ask my doctor, I'll just ask my sister, the one who's a pharmacist. In addition, of course, to finding my own old research on the matter.

But please be aware that I am grateful for real breakthroughs in prescription drugs. They help me sit here and do what I'm doing. (Aren't YOU glad??) There are just so very, very few breakthrough drugs these days. They just add the "XR" (extended release) tail to it and off they go for another decade plus.

Over & out for now.

Friggle, I'm on Doc's side about this....it's not BIG PHARMA that is the problem, they are only adjusting their profitable plans do to government intervention....so, all those times tables and what may look like shady "loop-holes" are the result of people trying to keep their corporation operable.

http://jevica2003.townhall.com/g/2ba946ed-3947-4c57-bb15-98 34664ebc7d

I'm glad to see the subject being debated and know how hard my friend SF is fighting this battle. It seems We the People are being attacked and betrayed by our own government on every hand, and the dogs feeding at Caesar's table remain his dogs.

Thanks for all your comments.

I was in the process of making a comment here; however, I overshot the word limit (not difficult for me to do). It was suggested that either the comment be shortened or that a create a blog post.

I did the latter. Its title is "Strange Bedfellows in Politics and Prescription Drugs."

What I should have done to make it easy is create a link, but I did not think of it in time. (Too bad we can "save" comments, isn't it?)

Perhaps I'll create another comment containing the post. After all, I wouldn't want to deny any of you the dubious pleasure of reading it.

If I've done it correctly, here it is:

http://frigglesnitz.townhall.com/g/4c33b351-1b0e-4e9f-99cf- 9e382ebeef93

Thank you Sam, for your moral support. You understand my tribulations and why neither the drug industry nor its lobbyists are any bedfellows of mine.

And that goes for our so-called "government," as well. It seems no longer to mean "we, the people." It means something entirely different -- something quite sinister, actually.

I'm referring to them as a whole, of course. There are some exceptions. There's Tom Coburn. There's ....... Who?

It is great to see others get the word out huh?!
I've only been blogging here for a few months but have gotten good response. You've many too!

Keep it up and we'll all help each other get the exposure we deserve.

Thanks for what you do,

Gayle Plato-Besley, TRW