For Sale: One Kidney, Used But Not Abused
April 30, 2008
Does anybody out there need a kidney? Sure, it’s not a question you hear everyday, but apparently Iran has a few we could order up if you answered “yes” . What do you say?
Iran is not usually a country we look to in order to draw ideas from, especially fiscally driven ones. But it seems that they have an incredibly successful organ vendor program.
Transplant nephrologist Benjamin E. Hippen out of North Carolina recently published a paper called “Organ Sales and Moral Travails: Lessons From the Living Kidney Vendor Program in Iran.”
If you are shaking your head at this point asking if I am serious, indeed I am. Here are some excerpts from Dr. Hippen’s paper… Continue reading For Sale: One Kidney, Used But Not Abused
“Take Your Child To Work Day” gets a no go from Superintendent Haas
April 15, 2008
“Take Your child To Work Day”… seems like an easy concept. I can remember as a child I looked forward to the fact that my mom, a speech pathologist in the school system, would take my sisters and I to work on that special day.
The whole day was so cool right down to eating lunch in the classroom and using the faculty restroom. Wow, we were easily pleased. We saw all that the ‘big bad’ world had to offer and that our mother was something other then ‘mommy.’ She was someone that taught and was important to others as well. I can remember marveling at the teachers and then returning home to play school.
Now, that very same “Take Your child To Work Day” is considered an UNLAWFUL ABSENCE. I have a real problem with that.
Our eldest daughter has been asking about this day for years and now that she’s old enough to understand the concept and follow directions safely, she will not be able to attend work with her father on Thursday, April 24th. Continue reading “Take Your Child To Work Day” gets a no go from Superintendent Haas
Broadcasting Crime: Should YouTube Be Held Responsible for Replaying Lawlessness?
April 14, 2008
We live in the world of 24/7, in your face, here-and-now media. And whilst I am the first to admit that I take full advantage of all news media being offered to me, ashamedly even Perez Hilton, I also think that there has to be a breaking point. There needs to be a line drawn clearly in the sand that says, “stop here and do not cross.” But is there?
Take for instance YouTube. Again, I am a fan, but the most recent controversy surrounding the network is rather bothersome. If the fact that eight Florida teenagers beating their peer and rendering her unconscious wasn’t enough to catch my attention in the news, how about the fact that I could watch the whole entire “animalistic” fight on YouTube?
Was it for five minutes of fame? Was it to empower themselves? I can not even begin to fathom what thought process would go behind something like that attack but I do know that they received the attention they were so desperately seeking. Continue reading Broadcasting Crime: Should YouTube Be Held Responsible for Replaying Lawlessness?
Billion Dollar Man David Craig Reduces Harford County’s FY 2009 Budget, but Includes a Hefty Employee Raise
March 29, 2008
County Executive David Craig announced his proposed Fiscal Year 2009 budget for Harford County last Thursday, March 27. With all the fanfare that went along with the proposed $34,184,425 decrease in budget, I couldn’t help but wonder what about the 9 percent total increase in salaries for eligible county employees.
The 9 percent was broken up very carefully across 3 different raise categories:
- A wage package consisting of a three percent merit increase and three percent COLA for all eligible staff.
- A Classification and Market Adjustment of three percent for all eligible staff. Members of the Cabinet will not receive a merit raise or market adjustment.
In total the proposed FY 09 budget is $895.8 million dollars with the general fund making up over half of this amount at $472 million. County Executive Craig states that this is the smallest increase over the last 10 years at 4.3 percent. This includes the very large raise for county employees. What is the average raise for county employees across the state?
Are You Suffering From Smurf Syndrome? Take Dr. Dagger’s Medication Side Effect Quiz
March 25, 2008
You’ve seen it before. An elderly couple sitting on the beach, holding hands, gazing at the sunset, reveling in their restored health thanks to a few magic pills. The tone of the narrator changes as he starts rattling off side effects for the newest wonder drug at blazing speeds.
“…can cause a very disfiguring blue-grey discoloration of the skin, generally in areas of sun exposure, and that gradually worsens over a period of years. It is not clear that this “smurf syndrome” clears up when the drug is stopped. In younger patients this side effect can be devastating.”
Did you catch all that? Think you know your pharmacology? Take the quiz below to see how you match up with other DaggerPress.com readers.
Continue reading Are You Suffering From Smurf Syndrome? Take Dr. Dagger’s Medication Side Effect Quiz
