The Corner Booth

Take note: "It's the job of journalists to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted." - Paraphrased version of wha t Mr. Dooley said. If y ou can't take the heat, get out of the damn kitchen... O r at least s top tossing grease onto the open fucking flame, you idiots. Otherwise, stop your bitching and moaning about ne gative news coverage . #vagueforareason

Yes, I'm that guy posting about politics the day after the election. I realize that no one cares about this anymore, and that it's hardly what anyone wants to read a blog post about. But being who I am, this is more about chronicling my own thoughts and all that jazz. This is for me, not anyone else. So, here goes. Most of the people I voted for on Nov. 6, 2012 won their races, and I'm pleased with their wins. Including the president. I voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because I believed he wanted to bring a change to the political climate in this country. I agree with many of his policy decisions, but disagree on some. I see the U.S.A. moving forward, making progress, even though many of us aren't doing "as good" as we were five years ago. This is a different world now, and it means everyone needs to reassess what "good" means and adjust their understanding and acceptance of what their standard of "normal" must be. ...

Many players in the online world are protesting the pair of Congressional proposals that target the online universe- Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). I'm not going dark here at The D-Corner Booth - in part because this is a diabetes blog, and I can't block out my D for a day. Blood tests and insulin-doses are ongoing, as are the thoughts in my head. So there. But know this: I'm not a fan of censorship , and if this legislation does what critics think it will, then I'm totally against it . I'm not a lawyer, I only cover them as part of my real-person job, so I don't have any worthwhile insight about what the law says or doesn't say and how that may hold up. My experience covering legislatures and courts tells me that lawmakers typically are vague in crafting legislation and don't understand the impacts or practical realities of what they're drafting or passing into law, and the courts consistently find this w...

This clip captures my mood perfectly right now, as I reflect on our country's politics and those vying for the presidency. http://youtu.be/sen8Tn8CBA4 I'm surrounded by assholes, apparently. But I guess I already knew that. (Sigh). Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum apparently thinks that insurance companies should be able to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. He's also of the belief that those who aren't denied should have to pay more to receive benefits, because they're sick and cost more to insure. Not all the fools GOP political hacks presidential wannabes think the same way, and some have specifically said that despite wanting to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act they want to make sure insurers can't prevent pre-existing denials outright. But apparently, that's not how Rick rolls. Or so his sometimes-inconsistent video statements seem to indicate. To a New Hampshire high school class, on why people with pre-existing ...

As predicted, the whole Pump Hacking issue in the news has led to some of those unintended consequences we in the diabetes community feared. Word came recently that two influential and high-ranking Congress members have taken an interest in this "pump hacking" issue and requested that the Government Accountability Office conduct a review of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) actions in regard to wireless medical devices. Both Democratic Reps. Anna G. Eshoo from California and Edward Markey from Massachusetts pushed this after reading about this "pump hacking" issue in the media . So unfortunately, now comes the necessary response to not only these particular elected individuals but also to others who have a Congressional-voice and may be brought into all of this. I am sending the below letter to my own House and Senate leaders from Indiana, those who are on this committee, and to the FDA that is concerned with these issues. I encourage others to ...

So, there was this hacker’s conference in Las Vegas recently. That was where Jay Radcliffe, a security researcher and fellow Type 1 diabetic, gave a presentation about his findings that someone could remotely hack into insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors to manipulate data and even control the devices. Some specialty publications picked up the story, as did the Associated Press and then basically the same story ran in a number of newspapers nationwide, including U.S.A Today . Eventually TV media-players like Fox and CBS picked it up with their own variations, too. Headlines and stories reiterated the basic point of what Jay said at the conference: ' Hackers can do this to kill people using these devices, and we should all be concerned ." This issue came up earlier in the year with an MSNBC article on hackable medical devices , and this is the latest highlighting a topic that may very well be possible and a concern for those of us using these devices. That...

This is the 21 st anniversary of the landmark civil rights law known as the Americans with Disabilities Act , which guarantees equal opportunity for those with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, commercial facilities, and telecommunications, and state and local government services. President George W. Bush signed this into law on July 26, 1990. Borrowing the definition of "disability" from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the ADA aimed to stop employers from making employment decisions based on a person’s current, past, or perceived disability. Diabetes traditionally fell under that umbrella of protection for nearly a decade, but sadly starting in about 1999 the Supreme Court of the United States dramatically scaled back the ADA definition to the point where it didn't protect certain individuals, such as those of us with diabetes. Basically, the Court ruled that someone could be considered too disabled by an employ...

In the couple weeks since the third Roche Social Media Summit in San Diego , I've been wearing the blue bracelet that say Act On Diabetes NOW. These were passed out by the International Diabetes Federation, and I've been wearing it to work and around generally to keep that whole aspect of the summit fresh on my mind and as a reminder that it's time to make a difference. This has been a conversation-starter with some people, but mostly the bracelet has helped me keep an important message in my heart from slipping away from the mind. Not that it'd be easy to forget the IDF presentations at the recent summit. For me, one of the most moving aspects of the whole experience was the dinner-time presentation by IDF president Jean Claude Mbanya . He spoke passionately about the outrage he has on the fact that so many people and children die worldwide from diabetes, simply because they can't get access to insulin. As a result, people die simply because of where they'...

Our Diabetes Online Community is a powerful voice, and we're at a time when we all need to do our part in raising our voice to help keep diabetes research moving forward. This is our chance to make sure that what we've achieved in recent years doesn't get sucked into a black hole of bureaucratic inactivty - a.k.a. the FDA. The ever-slow government agency that reviews medical devices and treatment possibilities is in need of attention, specifically because it's got on its radar important research such as the Artificial Pancreas Project that is a "closed loop system" us diabetics have long dreamed of (short of a cure). At this point, the project has been successfully within hospital settings but it now needs to move into the clinical trials outside of the hospitals - to where the "real people" are able to use them in every day life. This will help research the safety and efficacy of this treatment option, which not only would be a step forward in tre...

What do you get when you put part of the Diabetes Community in the District of Columbia? No, the answer is not as simple as a chicken crossing the road, why lancets are blunt, or why Sprinkles the Unicorn lept over the sprinkled cupcake. No. Specifically, the answer is most notably: the upcoming scene in Washington D.C. where hundreds of members of the Diabetes Community will gather, along with a handful of DOC advocates, to advocate for the cause and meet with members of Congress about diabetes issues and funding. You might say it's DC to the Second Power, DC Squared. :) There may or may not be sightings of Sprinkles the Unicorn, and it's rumored that some BluntLancet members and groupie Lanceters might be jammed in front of the Pentagon and with Abe Lincoln grooving nearby. I am not entirely convinced that D.C. is ready for this, or the universe for that matter... But kidding aside. The next 4 days are bigger than that fun. It's about the entire Diabetes Commun...

Our nation's president gave the annual State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. Lots of politics, followed by many pundants analyzing what was said and what it all means. While I'm a politico newshound myself, I decided to deviate from those points and focus instead on the politics of my own D-Life. Photo source , thanks to a Google search. It's the State of the Diabetes Union, if you will. As the president spoke and then the reaction responses appeared on the TV, I was drinking a cup of tea in order to combat a common cold. Listening to Michele Bachmann speak as the Tea Party representative made me instantly regret this beverage choice. Listening to the political responses and reactions, it also made me ponder how difficult Diabetes Advocacy to new Congress members on Capitol Hill in March might actually be, when I disagree with so many of these people's stances ( more on that later ). But putting real politics aside, I turned to the Diabetes Online Commu...

My name is Michael Westen, and I used to be a spy. No, wait. That's not exactly right. At least I got one part of it correct: My name is Michael. It's Friday. That means it's a perfect time for some bullet points to tie all my random thoughts together into one semi-organized blog post. Hey, at least we can pretend. Here we go: You May Have Missed It: But something called the Special Diabetes Program got Congressional attention this week , renewed at $150 million in federal funding for another two years through 2013. The Senate passed HR 4994 on Wednesday and the House followed on Thursday. Though the news headlines reflect how this legislation delayed doctors' Medicare cuts to the tune of 25%, the D-aspect of this legislation didn't get much attention. But it deserves coverage, because this means continued federal funding for Type 1 research and some other D-Management funding for at-risk minority populations. DOC Awards: The nominations are announced . In my opi...

One falls, the others are close behind. That's the Domino Theory. It's what is happening now with the diabetes dominos and our circle of dominos necessary for the best health possible. We People With Diabetes have much to fear, because some of those dominos have already tumbled to the ground and more are staggering. Fellow D-Blogger Wil DuBois recently wrote about this over at Life After Dx , with Scott Strumello following on this footsteps. They spell out what's happening: Medicare changes are on the line, nationally and at the state levels. Indiana is one of those. Currently, Medicare’s “guidelines” allow for one strip per day for diabetics on oral meds (Type 2s) and three strips per day for insulin-dependent diabetics (Type 1s and some Type 2s). Getting those one-or-three strips covered requires some paperwork and record-keeping on the Medicare-recipients part, but it is possible to get more strips if a doc pushes to override. But now a proposed Medicare ...

As a kid of the 80s reaching that video game age in the early 90s, the Nintendo was truly an early love and came into my home to provide hours of entertainment. One of the games included with this system was Duck Hunt, which many know by the orange plastic handgun used to hunt down the passing birds that appear on the screen.  Targeting D-Advocacy at the Lame Duck Congress. Well, now I find myself turning to that Duck Hunt action once again as I set my D-Advocacy sights on the Lame Duck Congress. My weapon may not be an orange clicking video game gun or voice-activated scope headgear, but instead a cell phone and letter-writing campaign, as well as my online messages that appear here and other places throughout the Diabetes Community. Nearly two weeks ago, the JDRF issued a call to action for the Diabetes Community that urged us to contact our legislators in the U.S. Congress and ask that they support a very important piece of legislation. That legislation i...

I don't post about politics all too much, but surely I have my opinions and this is one of those times that it's not only timely and appropriate, but necessary to write about politics. That's because the Midterm Election is now complete, and the Road to 2012 is taking shape. As we move on in the coming months with a Lame Duck Session ( quack quack) and then into the latter half of this four-year presidential cycle with a new Congressional lineup, the political pundits say ( quack ) that the divided legislature means more ( quacking ) will be needed for bipartisanship and compromise. With that, I declare that we should focus specifically on the 2012 race and forget about those politicians who might be in the running already. Rather, we should focus on a unifier, who can unite no matter what way the fickle public and always-changing political winds are blowing. Our new presidential candidate for 2012: Riley, the D-Dog. Puppy for Presid...