Important Bullets from Dr. O!

Important Bullets points for Avian Flu from Michael Osterholm, MD

• We have no detailed plans for staffing the temporary hospitals that would have to be set up in high-school gymnasiums and community centers — and that might need to remain in operation for one or two years. Health care workers would become ill and die at rates similar to, or even higher than, those in the general public. Judging by our experience with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), some health care workers would not show up for duty. How would communities train and use volunteers? If the pandemic wave were spreading slowly enough, could immune survivors of an early wave, particularly health care workers, become the primary response corps?
  
• For example, in the United States today, we have only 105,000 mechanical ventilators, 75,000 to 80,000 of which are in use at any given time for everyday medical care; during a garden-variety influenza season, more than 100,000 are required. In a pandemic, most patients with influenza who needed ventilation would not have access to it.
  
• Only when a vaccine shortage occurs or young children die suddenly does the public demand that someone step forward to change the course of the epidemic. Unfortunately, the fragile and limited production capacity of our 1950s egg-based technology for producing influenza vaccine and the lack of a national commitment to universal annual influenza vaccination mean that influenza epidemics will continue to present a substantial public health challenge for the foreseeable future.
  
• An influenza pandemic has always been a great global infectious-disease threat. There have been 10 pandemics of influenza A in the past 300 years. A recent analysis showed that the pandemic of 1918 and 1919 killed 50 million to 100 million people,1 and although its severity is often considered anomalous, the pandemic of 1830 through 1832 was similarly severe — it simply occurred when the world's population was smaller. Today, with a world population of 6.5 billion — more than three times that in 1918 — even a relatively "mild" pandemic could kill many millions of people.
  
• So how can we prepare? One key step is to rapidly ramp up research related to the production of an effective vaccine, as the Department of Health and Human Services is doing. In addition to clinical research on the immunogenicity of influenza vaccines, urgent needs include basic research on the ecology and biology of influenzaviruses, studies of the epidemiologic role of various animal and bird species, and work on early interventions and risk assessment.2 Equally urgent is the development of cell-culture technology for production of vaccine that can replace our egg-based manufacturing process. Today, making the 300 million doses of influenza vaccine needed annually worldwide requires more than 350 million chicken eggs and six or more months; a cell-culture approach may produce much higher antigen yields and be faster. After such a process was developed, we would also need assured industrial capacity to produce sufficient vaccine for the world's population during the earliest days of an emerging pandemic.
  
• The global economy would come to a halt, and since we could not expect appropriate vaccines to be available for many months and we have very limited stockpiles of antiviral drugs, we would be facing a 1918-like scenario.
• from New England Journal of Medicine

The Flu Roundup Inspired by "The Doctor of New Media Hugh Hewitt"

Hugh Hewitt did a very thorough and thoughtful interview with an Howard Backer, MD, MPH. one of the Chief Medical Officers State for the State of California when he had him as a guest: I really wanted to ask 2 questions
A.) About the Shortage of ventilators B.) Some people say tamiflu may not Work so well?

• Michael Osterholm, MD, an infectious disease expert and Department of Homeland Security official, cautioned earlier this week. The infection causes the body to release a rush chemicals that attack the immune system, and there is little evidence showing how well Tamiflu can stop or lessen the release, he told reporters.
• "Frankly we just don't know," Osterholm said.
• The antiviral drug being hurriedly stockpiled by governments worldwide may not be reliable protection against bird flu, a U.S. preparedness official warned Tuesday.
• Experts have long said that Tamiflu is not a cure for bird flu, but the drug could help slow the severity or spread of the disease in the event of a human pandemic. Governments have rushed to order stocks, prompting a worldwide run on the drug and criticism of its manufacturer for apparent refusal to share its patent with generic drug makers.
• But even that assessment may be overly optimistic, Michael Osterholm, MD, told reporters Tuesday. Osterholm is associate director of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense within the Department of Homeland Security. Questions of Effectiveness
  "I believe that antiviral drugs really represent a tool, a limited tool," said Osterholm, who is also director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "What we don't know is if Tamiflu will work."
  
• Tamiflu and similar drugs can mitigate flu severity and slow disease spread — if it is taken within 24 hours to 48 hours of infection. The drug has been shown to have some effectiveness against H5N1, the viral strain that has sickened more than 120 persons and killed more than 60 in Southeast Asia.
• Studies have suggested Tamiflu has some effectiveness against H5N1, but little real-world data show whether it is effective in infected humans,
• Osterholm said."People like myself are often seen as scaremongers," he said, "but I'm afraid we are doing this all over again.''
• Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, warned in his Nature paper of the economic consequences of a major pandemic.
• "The world today is much more vulnerable to the collapse of trade than it was in 1918,'' he wrote. He dubbed the potential economic fallout "pandemic shock.''
  Osterholm wrote that an H5N1 pandemic strain could rival the devastation of the 1918 pandemic. Industrialized nations reliant on "just in time" delivery of health care goods do not have enough medical supplies to care for the sick. "Nor are there detailed plans on how to handle the dead bodies whose numbers will soon outstrip our ability to process them,'' he wrote.
  
  
• Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, and a leading advocate of pandemic preparedness, uses these numbers for his estimate:

  Global Population (2005)	Clinical Attack Rate	Case Fatality Rate	Global Death Toll
  6.6 billion	25%	10.91%	180 million
  6.6 billion	25%	21.82%	360 million

  
  
  Regardless of what the eventual death toll is, it is only a fraction of the damage a pandemic would wreak.

• Council on Foreign Relations Conference on the Global Threat of Pandemic Influenza, Session 5: What Would the World Look Like After a Pandemic

• H5N1 A Harbinger of things to? Come by Dr. O

• Preparing for the Next Pandemic

• What Would the World Look Like After a Pandemic? page 24 or 113(36 of 100)

• We have no detailed plans for staffing the temporary hospitals that would have to be set up in high-school gymnasiums and community centers — and that might need to remain in operation for one or two years. Health care workers would become ill and die at rates similar to, or even higher than, those in the general public. Judging by our experience with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), some health care workers would not show up for duty. How would communities train and use volunteers? If the pandemic wave were spreading slowly enough, could immune survivors of an early wave, particularly health care workers, become the primary response corps? per Dr. Olsterhom
  

• Health care delivery systems and managed-care organizations have done little planning for such a scenario. Who, for instance, would receive the extremely limited antiviral agents that will be available? We need to develop a national, and even an international, consensus on the priorities for the use of antiviral drugs well before the pandemic begins. In addition, we have no way of urgently increasing production of critical items such as antiviral drugs, masks for respiratory protection, or antibiotics for the treatment of secondary bacterial infections. Even under today's relatively stable operating conditions, eight different antiinfective agents are in short supply because of manufacturing problems. Nor do we have detailed plans for handling the massive number of dead bodies that would soon exceed our ability to cope with them. Dr. O?
  

• Overview article from M.. Osterholm, M.D.
  
• 10 Thinngs you need to know about Pandemic Influenza from World Health Organization?
  
• Influenza viruses can easily swap genetic material when two of them infect the same host. This exchange is called "reassortment." The pandemics of 1957 and 1968 were caused this way.
  ^{Prior to 1997, pigs were thought to be the mixing vessel for reassortment of viruses, because the cells of their respiratory tract have receptors for both avian and human influenza viruses. The reassorted virus could then pass from pigs to humans. But in the Hong Kong event, research indicated that the virus jumped directly from birds to humans - direct infection with a purely avian influenza virus. (Most human cases could be traced to direct contact with poultry.) It also meant humans also could serve as the mixing vessel for the exchange of virus genes.}
  
• ^{Economist overview of an Avian flu Pandemic}

"The Doctor of New Media" Hugh Hewitt has provided a wonderful public service to us and thanks to him this blogging M.D. is on this issue and trying to make the info digestable! No Tums needed, Hopefully!

Thanks for reading and as always Dominus Vobiscum (The Lord be With You)!
Francis Yubero

No Mechanical Ventilators

The best preparedness I know of as an M.D. is found in the Gopher State!

From the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy
Academic Health Center -- University of Minnesota

Dr. Osterholm states that we have great shortages like for example, in the United States today, we have only 105,000 mechanical ventilators, 75,000 to 80,000 of which are in use at any given time for everyday medical care; during a garden-variety influenza season, more than 100,000 are required. In a pandemic, most patients with influenza who needed ventilation would not have access to it when Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome which results from Influenza.

• ARDS which can be caused by trauma and viral infection is a induced cytokine storm (see diagram) that led to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
• Interactive Figure. Proposed Mechanism of the Cytokine Storm Evoked by Influenzavirus
  

Julie Gerberding, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), described the threat posed by the H5N1 avian flu virus, now widespread in Asia. The virus has infected 138 people and killed 71 but has not found a way to spread easily from person to person. The virus's acquisition of that ability would probably bring a pandemic.

If that event happens in a relatively isolated rural area, Gerberding said, "There is a good chance that we could quench it." But if it happens in an urban area, containment won't be possible, she predicted.

Vaccine and antiviral supplies
Gerberding sketched HHS's preparations involving vaccines and antiviral drugs. The goal is to amass enough of the prototype H5N1 vaccine to protect 20 million people—a tall order, given that it takes a much bigger dose of this vaccine than of ordinary flu vaccine to provide protection.

HHS hopes to acquire 81 million treatment courses of antiviral drugs, mainly Tamiflu (oseltamivir), but has only about 4.3 million courses on hand now, Gerberding said.

Later, Leavitt cautioned people not to pin too much hope on antivirals. "People have begun to equate preparedness with antivirals, and that's a misnomer," he said. "It's not a certainty that Tamiflu or any antiviral will be a cure or be the key to prevention. . . . It'll shorten the symptoms, but it's not a solution."

Minnesota's pandemic plan
Minnesota Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach said Minnesota was one of the first states to develop a pandemic plan, starting in 1999. She outlined a variety of measures under way or envisioned in the plan:

• For surveillance, the state has 27 hospitals and clinics that routinely report flu cases to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), which is closely linked to the CDC, she said.
• The state legislature recently clarified state laws on isolation and quarantine.
• The MDH is working with local agencies around the state to make sure that people who would be isolated or quarantined in a pandemic would have access to essential services.
• The state would close or cancel public venues and events if necessary, including even church services. "We would discontinue church services, and that would be very, very difficult for many people," Mandernach said.
• The MDH has a program to provide health information to the roughly 11% of Minnesotans who don't understand or speak English. Called Emergency and Community Health Outreach (ECHO), the program provides messages in six languages.
• The state is tracking hospital resources and considering options for setting up and staffing overflow facilities.
• Last week state officials practiced how they would distribute a shipment of medical supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile, a task that requires multiple approaches.

One concern is a shortage of mechanical ventilators. "We do not have and will not have enough ventilators in Minnesota," Mandernach said. "So it's really going to be a matter of planning for and maximizing the use of resources."

She also called for individuals to prepare for a pandemic by taking steps such as stockpiling some water and food. "A two-way radio should be on our Christmas list this year," she said.

In conclusion, Mandernach said, "We are in a marathon, and there is no finish line. The day that we think we're prepared is the day that we've lost the race."

Dominus Vobiscum...

Dr. Osterholm is the Man we need to speak and listen too!

Michael Oslterholm, M.D. head of the CDC is the person to talk to about H5N1 Avian Flu.

Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH

Dr. Osterholm is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), associate director of the Department of Homeland Security's National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD), and professor in the School of Public Health, University of Minnesota. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences. In June 2005 Dr. Osterholm was appointed by Michael Leavitt, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to the newly established National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity. The dead cat in the Baltic may be do to not a DNA mutation but an infection that the cat got from eating the dead birds. I think this would be similar to the case with those humans that have died. Here's a great Interview with him on PBS last April

• DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM: If one takes a look at the 1918 pandemic that swept around the world, literally in weeks, and extrapolate those number of deaths then to what we might expect to see today, we could easily see 1.7 million deaths in the United States in one year and up to 360 million deaths worldwide
• DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM: How are we going to handle our everyday lives here in this country to make sure that we can deal with sick people? What do we do to assure that people continue to have a food supply once transportation is shut down? How will we manage the basic business of life when up to half the population may become ill and 5 percent of those will die? Those plans have to be made right now.
• The virus "is due to spin out of this bird population" that it currently infects, said Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Minnesota. When it does, the fast pace of global transportation and trade is sure to carry it around the world in a matter of days if not hours, the officials said. And while most states have plans in place to deal with public-health emergencies, many of those plans have yet to be tested in real or simulated situations. If the pandemic were to hit today, said Osterholm, "I don't know what we could do about it except say, 'We're screwed.'" (Newsweek)

Thanks and Dominus Vobiscum!

Saudi run US Ports

Pre-911 photo see the WTC in NY.NY. in background! and NSCSA=National Shipping Company of Saudia Arabia controls 9 US Ports since 1979....(HT to Sweetness & Light).


I think it is important to consider that National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) was established in 1979 to meet the transportation needs of Importers and Exporters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East and control 9 ports. This happend under President Carter.

Baltimore, MD

Halifax, Canada

Newport News, VA

Houston, TX

New Orleans, LA

St. John, Canada

Houston, Texas

Savannah, GA

Wilmington, NC

Port Newark, NJ

Brooklyn, NY

http://www.nscsaamerica.com/marine_term.htm

Foreign Port ownership increasing is increasing around the country per USA Today
"Besides raising security concerns, the debate over the Dubai deal has cast a spotlight on the increasingly prevalent foreign ownership of U.S. ports.
Stephen Flynn of the Council on Foreign Relations estimates that most port terminals across the nation are run by foreign interests.
In Los Angeles, port spokeswoman Theresa Adams Lopez says, foreign operations include Yusen Terminals Inc., a subsidiary of Japanese shipping giant NYK Line, established in 1885.
The Port of Seattle has five container terminals. Three are run by U.S. companies, one is managed by a South Korean company, and the fifth is managed by a company partly owned by the Singapore government.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns five primary cargo terminals, three of which are run by foreign firms. The terminal that would be run by the Dubai-based company is operated in conjunction with a Danish firm. The terminal is leased to the two companies and is five years into the 30-year lease, port authority spokesman Steve Coleman says. The other two main cargo terminals in New York and New Jersey are run by the same Danish firm and by a Hong Kong-based company.
Loy says it's all an inevitable part of a global economy. "The notion that we should not have our ports operated by foreign companies is ludicrous, and indicates someone is not understanding how the global marketplace works today," he says.
Meanwhile, U.S. exporters have worried about possible trade retaliation if the UAE deal is blocked. U.S. shipping companies also have concerns.
Bob Waters, vice president of SSA Marine, the largest U.S.-owned marine terminal operator, said his company has not seen any signs of retaliation at its sites abroad. The Seattle-based company has operations in 150 ports worldwide.
"We haven't seen any indication of that yet," Waters says. But "is there a concern? Sure."

Dominos Vobiscum

Francis

Lt. Col Rick Francona's tour of the UAE

Tc-map.png
I saw Lt. Col Rick Francona on CNBC. He had a map of UAE and straight of Hormuz. The Naval Ports of Fujarirah protects the Straight. US Naval Ships are supplied from Bahrain. Dhafra AirForce Base is Key to protection of the region if Iran goes ballistic. It reminds me of the strategic location of Gibraltar to the Mediterranean and Spanish/American Bases during the
Cold War. We are getting tons of military cooperation from these people. If we are concerned about their loyalty then you would have to worry about current operations in the Persian Gulf. It would be so easy for Arab suppliers to sabotage current maneuvers and operations. Of course it makes my stomach queasy to thing the saboteurs could get into our ports so easily. However these same Saboteurs could do damage to current Military operations as well. It is just that no one has brought this to our attention and now when I think of it, I get the same uneasy feeling about our heavy reliance on people whose culture fosters Jihad. However, these UAE and other Arab states have really been Allys. Even though General Tommy Franks' comment("they run a great port") seems like a non sequitur maybe this logistical support is what he was referring too? What do you think? I would love it if Lt. Col Rick Francona could get the Hugh Hewitt Doctor of New Media once over. It might help those of us with queasy stomachs over the "Sitting on the Dock of Dubai making Bombs for USA" deal!....



http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fujairah.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/dhafra.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/qatar.htm

Great Leaders and Their Alliances Reflects Shrewd Strategy in Medieval, Colonial and Contemporary Empires!

1780 Alabama "Spanish governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Galvez, captures Fort Charlotte in Mobile from the British,"
as illustrated by artist Nathan Glick.
Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. Nathan H. Glick pen and ink drawings, LPR92.




I saw General Tommy Franks on Hannity & C last night on Jet Blue while on my way to Utah from LB. Saw him on Fox & Friends and now heard him on his internet's stream plugging UAE on T. Snow's show. My fears of letting the "fox into the hen house" are not as bad as before especially when I think of how Medieval Spain Reconquered the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages via EL Cid(outline in my post). Pres. Bush and his folks know history and Spain's History is a Model. Make Allys of the fundamentalist enemies.

• Cortez conquered the Aztecs by making alliances with the indigenous enemies of Aztecs.
• General George Washington made an alliances with the indigenous Europeans in the New World. In addition to the French("Catholics" which we all know about) remember Spanish General Bernardo Galvez("More Catholics" which we don't all know about), for whom Galveston is named is a parallel to "El Cid & Cortez" Indigenous Ally( "not our Regligon") Strategy.

What does Austin Bay think of this?
As strange as it feels to trust our ports to foreign businesses which are not usual allys we need to consider that Qatar was home to Cent Com and camp Rhino during "Operation Enduring Freedom".

• (Members of SEAL Team 3 were inserted into Afghanistan by US Special operations aircraft and observed the small airfield that would later become Camp Rhino for four days prior to the Marines landing there. Just prior to the Marines' arrival the SEALs marked the airfield and provided security while the aircraft approached.)

in Afganistan was arranged by UAE inteligence per Gen. Franks.

Story and Links to Spain's Galvez and George Washington

• Spanish Involvement in the American Revolution
• History Lessons Learned During the Search for Spanish Soldiers and Sailors
• The Galvez Project
• Rosters by Presidio
• A helpful Web Site for further Research
• References for Spanish Soldiers and Sailors of 1779-1783
• Spanish Louisiana Flag of 1781
  

Spanish Involvement in the American Revolution

• Spain declared war on England 21 June 1779 and continued operations against England until peace was declared 3 September 1783. King Carlos III urged his soldiers and sailors to attack the English wherever they appeared. King Juan Carlos I joined the Society on the basis of the service of his ancestor on 23 February 2000.
  The Galvez Project
  The web site for the http://www.hispanicamericanheroesseries.com/index.php
  The following has been excerpted from that web site.Few Americans are aware that Bernardo de Galvez was the Spanish governor of the Louisiana territory that encompassed thirteen of our present states. They are also unaware that long before any formal declaration of war, General Galvez sent gunpowder, rifles, bullets, blankets, medicine and other supplies to the armies of General George Washington and General George Rogers Clark. Once Spain entered the war against Great Britain in 1779, this dashing young officer raised an army in New Orleans and drove the British out of the Gulf of Mexico. General Galvez captured five British forts in the Lower Mississippi Valley. They repelled a British and Indian attack in St. Louis, Missouri, captured the British fort of St. Joseph in present-day Niles, Michigan. With reinforcements from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, General Galvez captured Mobile and Pensacola, the capital of the British colony of West Florida.
  At Pensacola, Galvez commanded a multinational army of over seven thousand soldiers. Most of these men were already serving in the areas known as Nueva España. This included all the land east of the Mississippi, including present day Southwest and southern states, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Hispanola, and other Spanish colonies such as Venezuela. The Spanish forces in the Americas were also joined by soldiers from Spain, other European nations, American colonists, indigenous, and blacks. It was this multi-ethnic force fighting together to achieve the goals of the American Revolution under the leadership of a remarkable general commander.
  Pensacola was defended by a British and Indian army of twenty-five hundred soldiers and British warships. An American historian called the siege of Pensacola "a decisive factor in the outcome of the Revolution and one of the most brilliantly executed battles of the war." Another historian stated that General Galvez' campaign broke the British will to fight. This battle ended in May 1781, just five months before the final battle of the war at Yorktown

I think that my opinion is changing somewhat since listening to General Franks and after considering the History of unlikely Alliances. Is the public's opinion turning? Perhaps but like an oil tanker it turns slowly... Has the President caught the Dems flat footed? Will Mrs. Bill Clinton and her minions' strong opposition to this deal force the Liberals to admit we need to Wire Tap and profile for enemies? If so I think El Presidente George Bush is a Champion like El Cid is a Campeador

Info on the New Spanish Cardinal-He's an Apostle-He's a Keeper

Newly named Spanish Cardinal of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Llovera of Toledo is a solid Apostle of Jesus Christ and makes me think of Alfonso the Wise's whose reign

during the XIII century in Toledo, Spain was a time when the three great monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) lived in peaceful harmony. There is an important lesson to be learned from this page in history, which demonstrated that humanity can live together in peace. The "Spirit of Toledo" is an example of what could be acheived in our era...

• Back In June 2005 this New Cardinal, 1 of 15, named today by His Holiness said regarding religion:
• " Europe needs effective laws to protect religious groups from being misrepresented or ridiculed in the media, said a Vatican representative at a conference on anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance. "Intolerance and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions are worrying phenomena which must be faced with the same determination with which anti-Semitism and discrimination against Muslims are being fought," said Archbishop Antonio Canizares Llovera of Toledo, Spain.
• The archbishop led the Vatican delegation to the June 8-9 conference in Cordoba, Spain, sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The conference focused on efforts by the 55 participating governments, including the Vatican, to fight discrimination and intolerance of Jews, Christians, Muslims and members of other religions. "

The archbishop also previous to his appointment said his role was to show Christians "the truth of the faith and of Christian morality" and to serve society, because "if I were quiet, I would be going against this society" and against man. They are criticisms which he himself warned about Monday in his homily, when he mentioned the unbridled pluralism and relativism so out of control that it becomes a true dictatorship over the thought and culture of our times."



Spanish Bishop Prefers Truth over Govt. Funds
Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Written By Sam Kastensmidt

Archbishop Antonio Canizares Llovera of Spain was recently threatened by government officials claiming that the Roman Catholic Church would likely lose public funding if it continued to speak out against the legalization of homosexual marriage.

In response to the government threats, Llovera claimed that the priorities of the church would not allow him to remain silent. ¡°The Church is able to live in poverty,¡± he stated, ¡°but not without proclaiming Jesus Christ and the sole Lordship of God.¡±

On the following Sunday, the archbishop shrugged off these threats of financial loss and offered the following homily (Catholic sermon): ¡°At a time when the protection of the family institution should have first place in the concern of governments of rich countries [that are] caught in the whirlwind of a demographic winter ¡ª the growing criminality of young people born in destroyed and ¡®dressed up¡¯ families, the proposal of a homosexual marriage, and the fact that political leaders assume it demonstrates a grave disorder in the mentality of the prevailing culture.¡±

He added that any lawmaker who fails to defend traditional marriage or supports the legalization of same-sex marriage, is ¡°going against the common good and the truth of man.¡±



Archbishop Antonio Canizares Llovera of Toledo, Spain defended the new Pope last April 2005

• Criticism of new Pontiff stems from dictatorship of relativism Toledo, Spain, Apr. 21, 2005 (CNA/CWNews.com) - Archbishop Antonio Canizares Llovera of Toledo, Spain, said criticism leveled against Pope Benedict XVI in Spain stems from ignorance and from the "dictatorship of relativism," alluded to by then-Cardinal Ratzinger in his last homily as Dean of the College of Cardinals.
  Benedict XVI is "a man who is not authoritarian, but he has great moral authority," Archbishop Canizares said, adding that "he is as man of faithfulness to the spirit and letter of the Second Vatican Council."

  Commenting on some of the Pontiff's characteristics, the archbishop noted that he is "among the best theologians of the last century" and that he is "a man of clear-sightedness and is capable of penetrating to the heart of issues."

  Regarding the criticism that has been leveled against the Pope, Archbishop Canizares recalled that "similar comments were made about Paul VI and John Paul II."

  These attacks "often are made out of ignorance and motivated by interests that have nothing to do with the faith," the archbishop continued. "They are criticisms which he himself warned about Monday in his homily, when he mentioned the unbridled pluralism and relativism so out of control that it becomes a true dictatorship over the thought and culture of our times."

  Lastly, Archbishop Canizares underscored that the direction set out by Pope Benedict XVI "will not be distinct from that which was followed by John Paul II, who himself did not depart from the path laid out by his predecessors."
  
  
  

Regarding the "Liberal Spanish Revolution" with Zapatero, this new Cardinal

was interviewed and had this to say in an interview: "The spectre of Spanish revolution"

• Wlodzimierz Redzioch talks to Archbishop Canizares Llovera of Toledo, Primate of Spain, Vice-President of the Spanish Bishops' Conference.
• In the late 1990s the Popular Party headed by Jose Maria Aznar came to power. Spaniards deprived Prime Minister Gonzalez of power. His Socialist Party was accused of gigantic misappropriation and scandals. The eight years of Aznar's rule was a period of dynamic economic growth and Spain's strengthening in the international arena. Therefore, political analysts spoke with one voice that Aznar would again win the election to be held on 14 March 2004. The terrorist attack on the train at the Atocha station in Madrid, which took place the day before the election and which was some 'punishment' of the Islamic extremists for the participation of Spanish troops in the Iraq war, caused that the Socialists unexpectedly came to power. The Socialists' candidate Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero promised his voters that after his election he would withdraw troops from Iraq at once, which he actually did. For a year the socialist radicals have carried out the laicistic revolution, which is to change thoroughly the face of this once deeply Catholic country.

• Wlodzimierz Redzioch: - Today Spain is only associated with the laicistic revolution of the Socialist radicals who have been in power in this country for one year. Your Excellency, what is going on in 'Catholic Spain'?
• Archbishop Antonio Canizares Llovera: - I am not the right person to talk about how other countries see Spain and Zapatero government. However, the fact is that since the change of power the Prime Minister has been implementing a secular programme, its foundation being laicistic ideology. You can see that phenomenon all over Europe. The constitutional treaty of the European Union also assumes that Europe is to be secular in the laicistic sense. This is not only that it does not speak about Christian roots of our continent, but also - as the Holy Father John Paul II stressed many times - it identifies itself with laicistic ideology and not a healthy laicity of the state, which the Church has always recognized, especially after the Second Vatican Council. What is worse, the laicistic front is more and more influential in Europe.
• Which elements of Zapatero's programme does the Church consider negative?
• The Church is anxiously looking at these elements of the governmental programme which concern life because they mean liberalization of abortion, which is to be introduced in the next term. Since taking office the government has pushed through legislation allowing embryonic stem-cell research. It has also started regulating the law by making it easier to get a divorce (the so-called express divorce). The Parliament has passed the law legalizing 'same-sex marriages' (I use inverted commas since one cannot call these homosexual unions by the word 'marriage'). Moreover, the Spanish government has rejected the fundamental bill, which the previous government prepared (by the way, the law has not taken effect yet), regulating the teaching of religion in school. No one knows what the result of the law will be but this is an important problem to us.
  Summing up, one can say that we are anxious about the issues concerning life, family and marriage as well as teaching of religion.
• It is clear that the Socialists want revolutionary secularisation of the society. Whereas in Poland our anticlericals claim that as a matter of fact the Spanish Church concerns herself only about money.
• Certainly not. All the more that there are no big changes to be expected concerning this concrete point (although who knows). The Church can live in poverty and this does not dismay her. She will not stop being faithful to her teaching because of economic reasons. But the Bishops Conference is anxious about the teachers of religion who must receive salary like other teachers. Citizens have the right to demand the teaching of religion for their children and the state is obliged to meet this demand. Therefore, teachers of religion are not at the service of the Church. The teaching of religion in school is the parents' right and not the privilege of the Church. The Church does not make any profit on this.
  I would like to add that the Socialist Party has had 'a cultural project' for Spain for years. In 1976, i.e. after General Franco's death, a group of Madrid's intellectuals prepared a document entitled 'Alternative for teaching', which assumed that school should only be public, secular and autonomous. The programme began being carried out after the Socialists had won in 1982. In the 'cultural project' of the Socialists there is no place for God and that's why religion is not a separate subject like other school subjects (the agreement between our state and the Apostolic See contains this point). The question whether the teaching of religion is a fundamental subject or merely additional one is by no means a side issue.
• Several months ago, in his address to the group of Spanish bishops John Paul II spoke about the Christian roots of your country, about your faith in Christ and belonging to the Church, which had inspired the activities of Spaniards throughout ages. However, this wonderful past contrasts with today's situation, which is alarming. The Pope said, 'There have been huge changes in the social, economic and religious sphere, causing sometimes religious indifference and certain moral relativism, which influence Christian practice and social structures themselves'. He added that 'the mentality inspired by laicism in being spread in the society; this ideology gradually leads, in a more or less conscious way, to limiting religious freedom, despising or ignoring the religious sphere, removing faith into the purely private sphere and opposing its public manifestation'. How did this happen?
• The address to the Spanish Bishops was wonderful. It is a synthesis of what the Holy Father John Paul II spoke on other occasions. First of all the Pope said that bishops carried out their mission in special conditions when there was an attempt to force laicism upon the society, laicism which always - in Spain and everywhere - provides for limitation of religious freedom. Speaking about this the Pope did not accuse the Spanish government of limiting religious freedom. To generalize one must say that laicism imposes limitation of religious freedom because it reduces faith to the private sphere and consequently, the faithful cannot manifest their faith in all its dimensions (ethical, social, political and cultural).
• How do Catholics react to this massive attack of laicism that can cause a dangerous split in the Spanish society?
• Laicism is an ideology which exerts a strong influence on the cultural sphere. Sometimes people do not realize how powerful this influence is and they are enslaved by this ideology. Therefore, the Spanish Church has intensively carried out the mission of new evangelization. We agree with John Paul II's statement that Spain is to be evangelized and has to evangelize. That's why the pastoral programme of the Spanish Bishops Conference focuses on strengthening faith, faith that penetrates and forms the whole of man and creates a new mentality. We want to re-evangelize our believers so that they become evangelizers in their environments.
• Why did the Church fail to stop the process of secularization of the society?
• At this moment the Church does not turn her back on the society. On the contrary. We are aware that the fundamental problems of the society are the dilemmas: to believe or not to believe; world with God or world without God. These are by no means side issues. The consequence of 'forgetting' God is the destruction of true humanism and moral split. The Church proclaims Jesus Christ, living God so that people are more human and they respect the truth about man. Perhaps all believers have been secularized to some extent. That's why in the pastoral programme the bishops pay attention to the inner secularization of Christians themselves. The secularization of the society and culture also embraced the Church, which caused us to have little energy to evangelize. Only the dynamism of faith, witnessed in daily life, can arouse hope for future.
• The Spanish mass media are concentrated in the hands of the large multimedia group 'Prisa', which belongs to Jesus de Polanco. This group openly promotes laicistic vision of society. What is the influence of the liberal-libertarian and anticlerical media on the formation of the young generation in Spain (although it is sometimes a real 'deformation') and in what ways do they try to eradicate Christianity from the Spanish culture?
• Certainly the mass media have contributed to the secularization of the society (especially at schools and universities), to the popularization of the hedonistic way of life, the sexual 'revolution' and weakening of the institution of marriage and of family. These destructive processes have been supported by certain theological currents like the theology of 'God's death', the regressive theology showing Christ only as a social and moral leader, the anti-Church theories resorting to the slogan 'Christ - yes, the Church - no'.
  The multimedia group you have mentioned was one of the promoters of this process, especially in intellectual environments.
• In Spain a new book of the Protestant writer Cesar Vidal has just been published. Its title is 'Los masones: la historia de la sosiedad secreta mas poderosa' (The Freemasons: History of the Most Powerful Secret Society) published by Planeta. Among other things, the book addresses the Masonic influence in the most important events of recent Spanish history, especially since the election last March of the Spanish Socialist Labour Party (PSOE - Partido Socialisita Obrero Espanol). Your Excellency, what is the influence of freemasonry on social and political life in Spain?
• The role of Freemasonry in Spain is the same like in all Europe. We could see the influence of Freemasonry during the discussions about the EU constitutional treaty. Freemasonry is responsible for spreading laicism because it claims that God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ cannot be taken into account. Thanks to the means Freemasons have at their disposal they managed to penetrate the environments of state administration and culture.
• Some regions in Spain demand greater autonomy from the government in Madrid. Is there a danger of division, 'balkanisation' of the country?
• The unity of Spain is very important. This is not only a political problem but also a moral one. The Church hopes that we will avoid 'balkanisation' because this would have negative meaning not only for Spain but also for all Europe.
• Thank you for the conversation.

More on Freemasony: Zenit News Agency: Can one say that Freemasonry is behind secularist tendencies in Spain?

• Csar Vidal, Protestant historian, author of the book 'Los Masones: La Historia de la Sociedad Secreta M s Poderosa' (The Freemasons: History of the Most Powerful Secret Society): 'the secularist current promoted by the government headed by Jos Luis Rodriguez Zapatero shares more than enough Masonry's rank anti-clericalism.'

It is worth knowing that Rodriguez Zapatero's grandfather was a Freemason and many prominent activists of the Socialist Party (PSOE) belong to the Freemasons.

* * *

Archbishop Fernando Sebastian Aguilar of Pamplona: 'I am convinced Zapatero governmental programmes seemed bent on the establishment of secularism within the society. This has nothing to do with warranting a secular character of the state, which is the basis of freedom for various cultural and religious manifestations. There is a desire to embrace every level of social life with this absolutely materialistic concept in order to marginalize faith. The Church could exist like other groups believing in magic or Martians but the Church will not have any influence on dynamic social relationships.

The archbishop said that new policies suggest an attitude that the people must be liberated from 'the influence that the faith still exercises in society.' However, while attacking the religious principles on which Spanish society is based, the government 'is not proposing anything new or better,' the archbishop charged. As a result, the government programmes point toward 'an empty and absolute form of freedom,' he said. 'That is not reform; it is nihilism.'

* * *

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 'We are facing an aggressive secular ideology which is worrying ... In Sweden a Protestant pastor who had preached about homosexuality, based on a line from Scriptures, went to jail for one month. Laicism is no longer that element of neutrality which opens up spaces of freedom for all. It is being transformed into an, ideology which is imposed through politics and which does not give public space to the Catholic or Christian vision, which runs the risk of becoming something purely private and thus disfigured. In this sense, a struggle exists and we must defend religious freedom against the imposition of an ideology which is presented as if it were the only voice of rationality, when it is only the _expression of a 'certain' rationalism'.

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict, had disclosed his plans at his regular public audience on February 22 about appointing Cardinals. This announcement had been widely expected, although most reporters expected the consistory to take place on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation( When the Virgin Mary received the message form the Arcangel Gabriel that she would be the Mother of the Messiah"). The list of prospective cardinals, which the Pope read aloud to the audience in the Paul VI auditorium, included the archbishops of Boston, Caracas, Hong Kong, Krakow, Manila, and Seoul. Among the new cardinals, 12 will be eligible to vote in papal conclaves, while 3 are already over the age of 80 and thus unable to participate.

Background of Antonio CAÑIZARES LLOVERA from Salvador Miranda's site

Birth, October 10, 1945, Utiel, archdiocese of Valencia, Spain.
Education. Minor Seminary of Valencia, Valencia; Seminary of Valencia, Valencia; Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca (doctorate in theology, specializing in catechesis).
Priesthood. Ordained, June 21, 1970, Sinarcas, Valencia, by Achbishop José María García de la Higuera of Valencia. In the archdiocese of Valencia, vice-pastor and delegate for catechesis. In the archdiocese of Madrid, professor of catechetical theology, University of Salamanca; professor of fundamental theology, Conciliar Seminary of Madrid; coadjutor of the parish of "San Gerardo"; director and professor of the Institute of Religious Science and Catechesis "San Dámaso", Madrid; responsible of the direction of studies, Seminary of Madrid; member of several commissions and secretariats of the Spanish Episcopal Conference; promotor of the "Asociacisn Española de Catequetas"; director of the Secretariat of the Episcopal Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1985-1992. Founder and first president of Asociación Española de Catequistas. Director of the review Teología y Catequésis.
Episcopate. Elected bishop of Ávila, March 6, 1992. Consecrated, April 25, 1992, cathedral of Ávila, by Mario Tagliaferri, titular archbishop of Formia, nuncio in Spain, assisted by Cardinal Ángel Suquía Goicoechea, archbishop of Madrid, and by Cardinal Marcelo González Martín, archbishop of Toledo. Promoted to the metropolitan see of Granada, December 10, 1996. Member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, November 10, 1996. Apostolic administrator of the diocese of Cartagena, January-October, 1998. President of the Episcopal Commission of Education and Catechesis of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, 1999. Transferred to the metropolitan see of Toledo, October 24, 2002.
Cardinalate. Will be created cardinal in the consistory of March 24, 2006.

El Presidente George studies El Cid

I believe President Bush has been studying Spanish History. The one time Spanish Empire which rivaled Britan's and is still rich in the sense that 1/5 of the World speaks Spanish and is Catholic, was forged by the alliance of Spanish Noblemen and moderate Muslims united to defeat the Radicals (Almoravids) that came in later waves of Moorish Invasions after the inital conquest of the Iberian Penisnula in the 700's. The President is gambling that we can ally ourselves with Moderates in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere to help us fight against Radicals like Bin Laden. Here's a bit of Spanish History.

On the UAE deal here's the scoop, I think! It's a real gamble and Hugh Hewitt is right this gives the enemy great leverage to get a nuke in!

• The move contradicts a forceful U.S. thrust into the Arab world focused on greater openness and free trade.
  
  The Bush administration has proposed a Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA), which would link 22 Arab nations, Israel and the United States by 2013.
  
  A free trade agreement between the U.S. and Morocco went into effect on Jan. 1, and a similar agreement with Bahrain was approved by Congress in December and is expected to take force this March. Other trade agreements now exist between the United States and Israel and Jordan. Here's the link
• UAE the third largest U.S. trade partner in the Middle East.

The Prez. is being Penny Wise and Dollar Poor! He wants to open up the Middle East to trading like he has with South America. I think the Arabs are dangerous. However "El Cid" and the Spanish Monarchs defeated the radical Arabs in Medieval Spain with Moderate Arabs. I'll send you info on this if you like. The President reads History. However he Must be very careful as you must rent rent "24" 2nd season to see what I mean!

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid
• Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1044 – July 1099), nicknamed El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian military and political leader in medieval Spain.
• Born of the Spanish nobility, El Cid was educated in the royal Castilian court and became an important general and administrator, fighting against the Moors in the early Reconquista.
• Later exiled by King Alfonso VI, El Cid left service in Castile and worked as a mercenary-general for other rulers, both Moor and Christian. Late in life, El Cid captured the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia, ruling it until his death in 1099.
• Around this time, El Cid, with a combined Christian and Moorish army, began maneuvering in order to create his own fiefdom in the Moorish Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia. Several obstacles lay in his way. First was Ramón Berenguer II, who ruled nearby Barcelona. In May 1090, the Cid defeated and captured Berenguer in the Battle of Tébar. Berenguer was later ransomed and his son, Ramón Berenguer III, married the Cid's youngest daughter Maria to ward against future conflicts.
• The Cid gradually came to have more influence on Valencia, then ruled by al-Qadir. In October 1092 an uprising occurred in Valencia inspired by the city's chief judge, Ibn Jahhaf, and the Almoravids. The Cid began a siege of Valencia. The siege lasted several years; in December 1093 an attempt to break it failed. In May 1094, the siege ended, and the Cid had carved out his own kingdom on the coast of the Mediterranean. Officially the Cid ruled in the name of Alfonso; in reality, the Cid was fully independent. The city was both Christian and Muslim, and both Moors and Christians served in the army and as administrators. In 1096, Valencia's nine mosques were "Christianized"; Jérôme, a French bishop, was appointed archbishop of the city.

I think President Bush is trying to create an Alliance with Moderates but the Ports are too great a gamble and if these Imirs turn it'll be an "Et tu, Brute?" moment. According to legend, the last words of Julius Caesar. In English, it means "You too, Brutus?" This Brutus Moment will take place in the form of a nuke deliveried to a port of the USA!

Anatomy and Physiology of the Press Playing The Game Operation"

I found it so ironic that Hugh Hewitt's guest yesterday was QB Brain Sipe, the Head Heart Surgeon of the Kardiac Kids
on the day Cheney's friend, Harry Whittington had post gunshot Cardiac issues! Compliments to Dr. Hewitt on his measured and accurate reading of the man's Cardiac Status in the face of David Gregory's gunshot verbal blast!
In addition to Hugh Hewitt's other Blogospheric titles of Nobility already bestowed on him it is time for one more. As a member of the Medical Profession I dub this talk show host the "New Media's Doctor of Kardiology" in honor of this stellar interview with Brian Sipe, sound coverage of the VP's friend's Cardiac Status and his devotion to the Cleveland Browns' Kardiac Kids!
I've decided to weigh in and bring my medical training to bear on the Media's lame attempt to Diagnose and Practice Medicine. I will try to describe these issues in nonmedicald terms that perhaps will be understandable to the Has been Media reporters.

Gregory and the other over paid Washington Correspondents remind me of my first medical experience when as a child I played the Operation Game by Milton Bradley with my brothers and sister! Actually we were more reasonable than birdshot mouthed David Gregory ET. AL.
In Reuters it is reported that "Hospital officials said they knew that Whittington had some bird shot near his heart and that there was a chance it could move closer since scar tissue had not had time to harden and hold the pellet in place. After Whittington developed an irregular heartbeat, doctors performed a cardiac catheterization, in which a thin, flexible tube is inserted into the heart, to diagnose his condition, said Peter Banko, the administrator at the hospital. The shot was either touching or embedded in the heart muscle near the top chambers, called the atria, officials said. Two things resulted: It caused inflammation that pushed on the heart in a way to temporarily block blood flow, what the doctors called a "silent heart attack." This is not a traditional heart attack where an artery is blocked. They said Whittington's arteries, in fact, were healthy. It irritated the atria, caused an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation, which is not immediately life-threatening. But it must be treated because it can spur blood clots to form. Most cases can be corrected with medication. "

What does this mean?

1. The heart which is made up of a contractile muscle tissue which also is electrical in nature is beating in a nonsynchronized fashion.
2. There are 4 pumping chambers a right and left atria and right and left ventricle.
3. The timing of the heart cells in the upper 2 small pumping chambers of the heart, known as the atria, is off and firing indiscriminately and with reckless abandon.
   
4. The right atria receives unoxygenated blood from the large veins of the body.
   
5. The misfiring muscle cells cause the atria to quiver in an uncoordinated manner which produces an impotent pumping action preventing the blood in the right atrium from moving completely into the right ventricle(lower chamber).
   
6. As a result the volume of deoxygenated blood is lower than should be but as it is designed to do the large right ventricle pumps this attenuated amount into the lungs where gas exchange occurs and it is replenished with oxygenated.
   
7. The quivering left atria receives this oxygenated blood but because of its impotent pumping action it delivers only a fraction of what it received to the left ventricle.
   
8. This chamber which is the largest and most powerful of the 4 pumps the smaller than normal quantity it has received into the aorta.
   
9. The first arteries to receive this blood from the aorta are the Coronaries which supply the heart tissue with the oxygen it needs.
   
10. This lowered blood volume of the Coronaries is known as Hypo-perfusion.
    
11. If this hypo-perfusion results in inadequate oxygenation of the heart tissue/cells a Myocardial Infarction occurs!
    

The description of this being a "Silent Infarction" means that it was not felt by the patient either because it was small or the patient suffers from Diabetes Mellitus, which results in damaged cardiac sensory nerves and consequently little if any pain is felt.

How do we know how much damage has occurred by a "Silent heart attack or MI"?(silent myocardial infarction occurring without pain or other symptoms; it may be recognized by electrographic or postmortem examination)

1. The amount of Cardiac Enzymes released by damaged cell
   
   
2. The most important ones are the Cardiac isoenzymes, CPK-MB and Troponin.
   
3. These are proteins released by damaged muscle tissue by either a "Heart Attack" aka Myocardial Infarction, blunt trauma(gun shot wounds), infection(viral of bacterial) myopathy(muscle disease of many causes including autoimmune)
4. There are specific and nonspecific changes in the EKG and changes from its baseline.
5. echocardiogram,
6. MUGA scan which measures the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is an excellent, and the most commonly used, measure of overall cardiac function. The ejection fraction is simply the proportion of blood that is expelled from the ventricle with each heart beat. So, for instance, if the left ventricle ejects 60% of its blood volume with each beat, the LVEF is 0.6. (A normal LVEF is 0.5 or greater.)
7. thallium scan,
8. diagnostic cardiac catheterization
9. The MRI has the potential of replacing at least 4 other cardiac tests. MRI technology holds great promise in the evaluation and treatment of cardiac disease. The potential for MRI to accurately diagnose and direct the treatment of coronary artery disease before it becomes clinically apparent.

Silent Myocardial Ischemia(painless angina or pre-heart attack pain) in muscle tissue is rare

• Evidence of silent ischemia was found in only two (15 percent) of the subjects with unrecognized myocardial infarction and in two (8 percent) of the control group. The authors conclude that silent ischemia is uncommon in asymptomatic long-term survivors of unrecognized myocardial infarction and in matched controls without infarction but with otherwise similar coronary risk factors. They suggest that routine monitoring for silent ischemia in similar patients probably is not indicated. (American Heart Journal, December 1988, vol. 116, p. 1488.)

What Causes Atrial Fibrillation?

1. These pumping chambers are wired with specialized conducting tissue and cells which reasembles electrical wiring and are known as AV nodes, Purkinje fibers and bundle of His.
   
2. Abnormal Heart Conductive tissue causing faulty generation of current.
   
3. Inflammation(Pericarditis) caused by foreign bodies(including bird shot), infection, electrolytes imbalances among other things.
   Electrocution.
4. The incidence in persons aged 60-68 years is 1%.
   
5. The incidence in persons older than 69 years is 5%.

Excerpted Articles that are excellent and linked from E-medicine

Penetrating Chest Injuries
Mechanism of injury
The mechanism of injury may be categorized as low, medium, or high velocity. Low-velocity injuries include impalement (egg, knife wounds), which disrupts only the structures penetrated. Medium-velocity injuries include bullet wounds from most types of handguns and air-powered pellet guns and are characterized by much less primary tissue destruction than wounds caused by high-velocity forces. High-velocity injuries include bullet wounds caused by rifles and wounds resulting from military weapons.
Shotgun injuries, despite being caused by medium-velocity projectiles, are sometimes included within management discussions for high-velocity projectile injuries. This inclusion is reasonable because of the kinetic energy transmitted to the surrounding tissue and subsequent cavitation, as described by the following equation in which KE is kinetic energy, M is mass, and V is velocity:
KE = ½ MV2
The amount of tissue damage is directly related to the amount of energy exchange between the penetrating object and the body part. The density of the tissue involved and the frontal area of the penetrating object are the important factors determining the rate of energy loss.

Blunt Chest Trauma
Synonyms and related keywords: motor vehicle accidents, MVAs, car accident, falls, blast injuries, blast injury, violence, chest wall fracture, dislocation, barotrauma, diaphragmatic injuries, diaphragmatic injury, pneumothorax, hemothorax, hemopneumothorax, broken rib, cracked rib, rib fracture, flail chest, clavicular fracture, clavicle fracture, sternoclavicular joint dislocation, sternal fracture, scapular fractures, scapula fracture, traumatic asphyxia, scapulothoracic dissociation, pulmonary contusion, parenchymal injuries, parenchymal injury, parenchyma injury, tracheal injuries, tracheal injury, trachea injury, bronchial injuries, esophageal injuries, esophageal injury, esophagus injury, myocardial injuries, myocardium injury, myocardial injury, chylothorax, blunt thoracic injury, chest trauma, thoracic trauma, chest injury, thoracic injury, broken collar bone, collar bone fracture, flail shoulder .

Cardiology is complicated and the diagnosis and treatment is still evolving . Veep Cheney also has a very bad heart and I'm sure this has not helped his baseline EKG. Remeber Coronary Artery Diaseas of the number 1 killer in the US by leagues!

• CAD remains the single leading cause of death among American men, killing more than 260,000 in the year 2000.
• Fast Facts:
  The leading causes of death in the U.S. are heart disease, cancer and stroke.
  Fast Facts:
  The leading causes of death in the U.S. are heart disease, cancer and stroke.
  

I hope this is helpful.

Ode to Powder Tracks Man and QB Brian Sipe

The enormously entertaining and erudite Commissioner of the Blogosphere, Hugh Hewitt, is one very lucky DOG as he gets to interview Cleveland Browns All Pro, Pro Bowl, Football Hall of Fame 4,000 Yard QB and 1980 NFL MVP Brian Sipe.

The Name of my blog "Powder Tracks" is a reflection of my passion for skiing. Well Brian Sipe is a bigger ski fanatic than moi. It was Brian Sipe who turned me into a big Browns Fan when he was the leader of the Kardiac Kids during my Mansfield Ohio Days. I have a nice Sipe story that took place 10 yrs ago while returning to Orange County from a Utah Ski trip with my beautiful wife, Angie. I recognized the QB in the airport cuz his Orange Browns' duffel bag caught my eye while he was checking in at the airport in SLC/Salt Lake city(I wonder if he still has it?). Well to my surprise & delight he sat in the aisle seat of our row next to Angie and moi. He was very friendly and we talked a little about his Kardiac Kids' days but mostly spoke about skiing. Apparently he loves Utah and has been coming here for years. We talked about our favorite ski resorts and he mentioned Big Sky Montana. He and his family turned out to be fans of local singers/songwriters Walkin' Jim(author) and Montana Biff at Lone Mountain Ranch. Biff, a childhood friend and the son of one my family's best friends, the Schlossmans (David is Biff's brother and talented musician), was also a classmate of mine at Kenyon College.

Mr. Sipe is a very serious skier (helicopter skiing and member of the 1 million feet vertical milestone club. That's quite an odometer, approx 189 vertical drop miles of skiing or the equivlent of 333 Torino Winter Olympic Men's Downhill Runs!)

Canadian Mountain Holidays Heli-Skiing NEWS

• (page 3 of 12 in pdf format)
  Number 48 May 2005
  Million Foot Awards
  A total of 291 skiers passed million foot
  milestones this season. Congratulations to
  each of you! Thanks to all of you for your
  loyalty and support of CMH Heli-Skiing
  over the last 40 years.
  1 Million Vertical Feet
  Sipe, Brian

This QB is the Herminator of Powder Tracks Sking! Here's a Sipe Torino Olympic Analogy which may help put his passion into perspective:

Kandahar Banchetta Olympic Downhill Course (G. Nasi) in Torino, Italy

1. The men's downhill, downhill combined and super G are contested on the “Kandahar Banchetta (G. Nasi)” slope.
2. The first part of each course alternates brief flat stretches with very technical bends. The course then enters into a wooded area, where it becomes steeper and faster with a mixture of alternating turns and “schuss” that continues until the finish area.
3. Field of play= Men's Downhill Course
4. start /finish /vertical drop /course length
5. 2,800 m/ 1,886 m/ 914 m (1 meter=3.28 ft. x 914=2998ft /3,299 meters =horizontal distance
   
6. Vertical Drop refers to Altitude Drop, as in the distance cover by free falling so 1 Million Vertical feet has to be multipled by a factor of ~3.5 to get the horizontal distance.
7. Thus 1 Million feet with the conversion factor ~ 3.5 million feet or ~ 662 miles!
8. This only accounts for the Heli-Skiing and does not include Snow-Cat or Chair-Lift skiing...1,000,000 vertical ft of heli-skiing is the equivanlent of skiing the Olympic Men's downhill approx
   333 times!

I told this great QB that I didn't know that he skied and he said that this was by design because Coach Sam Rutigliano and Brown's owner Art Modell would have kept him from skiing if the press reports had made them aware of it.

This great Quarterback, athlete and skier is a great man as well as evidenced by his involvement in good causes!:
An event, which raised about $30,000 for the Big Sky branch of Big Brothers-Big Sisters, drew such participants as former Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Sipe, actor Cooper Taylor, who has appeared in "The Patriot," "The Postman" and "The Last Castle," and Doug Sutherland, who played for the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings.

Here's a funny another story I found from Brown's running back Greg Pruitt when Sipe was QB and occurred during a Pittsburgh Steelers Game:
"FUNNY? WELL, IT'S (S)NOT: On the eve of yesterday's renewal of one of sport's nastiest rivalries between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, former Browns' running back Greg Pruitt reminisced in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the day in 1978 when he became the only opposing player of the season to run for 100 yards against the original Steel Curtain defense.

"I was fighting a cold the entire game," Pruitt said Quarterbackback Brian Sipe walked up to the line for the first play, called the play then Pittsburgh shifted th defense. So Brian audibled again. By this time I had snot running from my nose almost all the way to the ground but I couldn't do anything about it because I wasn't allowed to move."
When Sipe audibled a third time, he called a running play for Pruitt.
"I went right up the heart of their defense and snot was flying everywhere," Pruitt said. "Those guys were so mad they were calling me every four-letter word in the book, saying 'Man, why don't you try blowing your nose?'
"Every time after that, they would only arm tackle me because they wanted no part of me. I think that was why I was able to get 100 yards that day."

Here's another interesting story about this 1980 NFL MVP and his legendary college Coach Don Coryell, and the and the impact he had on Sipe's NFL career.
(go to page 10 of 17 on the pdf format for story)

"Sipe, who played for the Cleveland Browns from 1974 through 1983 and earned the NFL’smost valuable player award, believes his SDSU career had “everything to do” with hisNFL’s success as a pro. A very low draft pick in the 13th round, Sipe says his SDSU experience in the Coryell offense put him miles ahead of the competition.“I ran a more sophisticated offense at San Diego State than what the ClevelandBrowns had,” said Sipe, now a high school football coach who took Santa FeChristian to a San Diego County title last fall. “Other quarterbacks were strongerthan me. [But] they were not as comfortable as I was in a passing offense.“What we did at San Diego State is common now,” Sipe went on. “Back then, itwas revolutionary. The fans really appreciated it. We even outdrew the Chargers[in attendance] some years.”

Can't wait to hear the interview from one my all time favorite football players and SKIERS!
Cheers and here's my toast to Mr. Brian Sipe