CE8

[Ampage]

Later strat!

[chrisfan]

FDA Encourages Radio Tags on Drug Bottles

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Viagra, Oxycontin and some AIDS (news - web sites) drugs will be among the first to carry radio chip tracking devices under a new Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) initiative to prevent theft and counterfeiting announced on Monday.

The FDA (news - web sites) said it was lifting restrictions on labeling that may have discouraged companies from testing out the little antennas, which can be used to trace drugs from factory to pharmacy.


"In recent years, bogus medications have become a growing public health threat because of counterfeiters' ability to infiltrate our drug distribution system with worthless counterfeits," FDA acting commissioner Dr. Lester Crawford told reporters in a telephone briefing.


Viagra, Pfizer's blockbuster impotence drug, has been especially targeted by counterfeiters and copycats, while privately owned Purdue Pharma says theft is its primary concern in tagging Oxycontin, a narcotic notorious among abusers.


And GlaxoSmithKline said several of its drugs, including AIDS medications such as Combivir and Epivir, would get tags within the next 12 to 18 months.


The chips, called radio frequency identification or RFID tags, can be attached to packaging to track products or check their authenticity.


"We are providing guidance today to assure companies that if they do do this tagging, that they won't be violating our labeling regulations," said William Hubbard, the FDA's assistant director for policy planning.


"In some technical fashion they might have been concerned," he added. "You need someone to step forward and exert leadership. There many examples where technology could produce benefits but people were afraid to jump in."

----------------------------------------------

There are so many issues that come up with something like this -- privacy, etc. My big question is, how much does this have to do with the re-importation of drugs from Canada? Some drug companies have started forbidding Canada from purchasing drugs from wholesalers, making them buy direct from the company, so they can control the quantities being sent to Canada. They're doing this to force Canada to only purchase enough drugs for their population, without surplus to sell to Americans. Wouldn't a transmitter like this just further their protection from re-importation?

[strat-0]

Philemon said:

If the death penalty is such a "viable" deterrent
please try to explain this to me ...

SOUTH HAS HIGHEST MURDER RATE IN 2001

According to data released on October 28 as part of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report for 2001, the South again has the highest murder rate of the four regions in the United States. The South was also the only region above the national average. In 2001, almost 80% of executions in the country occurred in the South. The report noted that the Texas crime rate rose 4% in 2001, nearly five times the national average, and the state posted a 7.6% increase in homicides. At the same time, the total number of executions in Texas is more than three times that of any other state in the nation. The Northeast, the region with the lowest murder rate, had no executions in 2001. (See DPIC's Execution Statistics, Crime in the United States, 2001, New York Times and Houston Chronicle, October 29, 2002)

More on the subject ...

www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=12&did=167

Here's a little balance, Phil. Seeing as how the South is always being maligned (whether it's deserved or not), I seek to provide some specifics. I have to battle the perception that we only have dirt roads and shotgun shacks down here.

U.S. says death sentences hit 30-year low
11/14/2004, 9:05 p.m. CT
By LAURA MECKLER
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people sentenced to death reached a 30-year low in 2003, when the death row population fell for the third year in a row, the government reported Sunday.

Last year, 144 inmates in 25 states were given the death penalty, 24 fewer than in 2002 and less than half the average of 297 between 1994 and 2000, according to the Justice Department.

Death penalty opponents say the report shows how wary the public is of executions, heightened by concerns about whether the punishment is administered fairly and publicity about those wrongly convicted. Illinois emptied its death row in 2003 after several inmates were found to be innocent.

"What we're seeing is hesitation on the death penalty, skepticism, reluctance," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "I do think there is some concern about the death penalty and it's reflected in death sentences from juries."

Opponents also point to other possible reasons, including continuing fallout from Supreme Court decisions requiring that juries be told that life in prison without parole is an alternative to death.

Dieter said 47 states now offer a life-without-parole sentence as an option for at least some convictions, compared with 30 in 1993.

Supporters doubt the decline signifies a major shift in public opinion about the death penalty, which is in effect in 38 states and the federal justice system.

"I don't think the numbers mean a lot quite frankly," said Dianne Clements, president of the victims advocacy group Justice For All. "I don't think it means a change in death penalty attitudes. I think it means the numbers change."

At the end of last year, 3,374 prisoners awaited execution, 188 fewer than in 2002, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Illinois accounted for 91 percent of the decline, the result of then-Gov. George Ryan's decision to commute the death sentences of 167 inmates to life in prison and to pardon four others.

Nationally, 267 people were removed from death row last year. That was the largest drop since 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, according to the report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Last year, 65 people, all men, were executed. Texas again was the leader, with 24, followed by Oklahoma with 14 and North Carolina with 7. No other state had more than three.

All but one of those men were killed by lethal injection. The other was electrocuted.

Since 1977, 885 inmates were executed through 2003 by 32 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Two-thirds of them were in five states: Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma, Missouri and Florida.

The report also found:

•Of death row inmates, 56 percent were white, while 42 percent were black. Hispanics, who can be of any race, accounted for 12 percent of inmates whose ethnicity was known.

•States with the largest number of death row inmates were California with 629, Texas with 453 and Florida with 364.

•Ten people died while awaiting execution in 2003 — six from natural causes and four from suicide.

-End-

Of course, Texas skews the whole "Southern" thing all to hell, though often it's not regarded as one of the "Old" "Deep South" states. Note the states with two-thirds of the executions: Texas, Virginia (Old, Deep South), Oklahoma (US territory > Indian territory), Missouri (border state) and Florida (little is Old, Deep South). Note also that California has the highest # of people on death row.

I was happy to see Alabama and most of her sister Heart of Dixie states were pretty low on the list.

[Nepenthe]

Is Florida really considered the Deep South, I mean of course it is geographically. I always considered it a tourist or retirement state. Hmmm I didn't know that. I myself was born and lived there all my life, up until 2 years ago when I moved here. I do not talk with a southern accent though and many have mistaken me for being a northerner. There are people in Florida that do speak with a southern accent usually from the smaller towns and stuff. But there is such a mixture in Florida it is actually hard to find people that are actually born there. Everyone comes down from another state. I do know that Florida ranks #2 in the Nation for homocides.

[Nepenthe]

I did live in Texas for a year when I was in the 8th grade, forgot about that. The people there definately speak with the southern accent, similar to the ones here in Arkansas, and it is easy to find natives all over the state.

[strat-0]

Yeah, Fla is kind of a different animal. Texas and Florida both seceeded and fought in the War of the Northern Aggression, but there wasn't much to Florida at the time, and neither were really a part of the "Old South" or the "Heart of Dixie." A lot of Texans might argue that point (including some in my family in Texas).

[chrisfan]

NymphoFantasia said:

Is Florida really considered the Deep South, I mean of course it is geographically. I always considered it a tourist or retirement state. Hmmm I didn't know that. I myself was born and lived there all my life, up until 2 years ago when I moved here. I do not talk with a southern accent though and many have mistaken me for being a northerner. There are people in Florida that do speak with a southern accent usually from the smaller towns and stuff. But there is such a mixture in Florida it is actually hard to find people that are actually born there. Everyone comes down from another state. I do know that Florida ranks #2 in the Nation for homocides.

I think that it entirely depends on what region of the state you're talking about. The panhandle most definitely fits the description and stereotypes of the south -- in attitude, accent, values, politically, etc. Other parts of Florida are about as southern as New York City.

[Nepenthe]

I have been all over Florida. I was born in Tampa, I lived in the Tampa bay area until I was about 13, then Texas for a year, and then 15 years in Ft. Myers. Then back up to the Tampa Bay area. It is beautiful down in Ft. Myers, Sanibel Island is really beautiful, I worked on the Island for a few years. I have visited the East Coast a few times, it is really pretty too. Though Miami is ick, I don't like it at all.

[Nepenthe]

Oh and Naples is really nice too, and the Keys.

[strat-0]

"The panhandle most definitely fits the description and stereotypes of the south -- in attitude, accent, values, politically, etc."

This is essentially true, Chris, but let's be careful not to apply stereotypes in too broad a way, of course. I'm sure as a hell a Southern boy, but I don't fit into a lot of that mindset by damn sight. Many, like myself, have a decidedly different outlook!

[chrisfan]

strat-0 said:

"The panhandle most definitely fits the description and stereotypes of the south -- in attitude, accent, values, politically, etc."

This is essentially true, Chris, but let's be careful not to apply stereotypes in too broad a way, of course. I'm sure as a hell a Southern boy, but I don't fit into a lot of that mindset by damn sight. Many, like myself, have a decidedly different outlook!

Oh I know that! I'm fully aware that not everyone in a given category fits all the stereotypes. After all, I"m in Cleveland, and I didn't even think about watching the Browns game yesterday. :-)

[RocDoc]

Source: a fwded e-mail...

> Lesson for the day -- Human History:

>

> Division of the human family into 2 distinct political groups began

> some 12,000 years ago. Humans existed as members of small bands of

> nomadic hunter/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains in the

> summer and would go to the beach and live on fish and lobster in winter.

>

> The two most important events in all of history were the invention of

> beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man

> to the beer.

> These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the

> catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

> Liberals &Conservatives.

> Once beer was discovered it required grain and that was the beginning

> of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were

> invented yet, so while our early human ancestors were sitting around

> waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the

> brewery. That's how villages were formed.

>

> Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at

> night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is

> known as "the Conservative movement".

> Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live

> off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing

> the sewing, fetching and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the

> Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into

> women. The rest became known as 'girleymen'.

>

> Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of

> cats, the trade union, the invention of group therapy and group hugs

> and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat

> and beer that conservatives provided.

>

> Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest,

> most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are

> symbolized by the jackass.

>

> Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer

> white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their

> beef well done. Sushi, tofu, & French food are standard liberal fare

> Another interesting revolutionary side note: most of their women have

> higher testosterone levels than their men.

>

> Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers

> in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the

> designated hitter rule because it wasn't "fair" to make the pitcher

> also bat.

>

> Conservatives drink domestic beer and eat red meat & potatoes.

> Conservatives

> are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction

> workers, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives,

> soldiers, athletes & generally anyone who works productively outside

> government. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives

> who want to work for a living.

>

> Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to "govern" the

> producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe

> Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the

> liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America.

> They crept in after the Wild West was tame and created a business of

> trying to get MORE for nothing.

>

> Here ends today's lesson in world history.

> --

> Thank you.

[stratman19]

Chrisfan said:

This has to be the most brillant move in Washington this week -- Ken Mehlman is expected to be named the next chair of the RNC. If Ed HAS to go, and he seems determined to do that, Ken is just about as good of a replacement as there is!

I'm going to be sorry to see Ed Gillespie go. I really liked him and thought he did a fantastic job.

[chrisfan]

stratman19 said:

I'm going to be sorry to see Ed Gillespie go. I really liked him and thought he did a fantastic job.

KEn doesn't have quite the "Ozzy and Harriet" aura about him that Eddie does, but you' HAVE to admit that he's as close to as good as you can get!

[stratman19]

Chrisfan said:

KEn doesn't have quite the "Ozzy and Harriet" aura about him that Eddie does, but you' HAVE to admit that he's as close to as good as you can get!

Oh hell yeah. I think Ken Mehlman will do a good job. If he was paying attention to the work Gillespie did (and I'm sure he was) he's got a great template to build on!