Less Than A Third Favor Socialized Medicine

The Democrats may have a real problem with what they thought was their signature issue for the 2008 elections. For all the shouting, only 29% of Americans favor a government run health insurance program. What's more, many Americans, just short of a true majority, belive costs will rise and care quality will go down if the Feds get involved. 

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of American adults favor a national health insurance program overseen by the Federal Government. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 39% oppose such a government-led initiative while 31% are not sure.

The survey also found that 46% believe the quality of care would decrease under a national health insurance program while 16% believe that quality would increase. Twenty percent (20%) say the quality of care would remain about the same while 18% are not sure.

At the same time, 42% believe the cost of health care would increase while 25% would expect prices to go down.

I suspect that most voters have seen more than enough news reports of disastrous experiments with socialized medicine by now to be very suspicious of attempts to institute it in this country. I also rather suspect that most voters have a low enough opinion of the performance of lawmakers in Washington to know that they not make things better. The Republicans have a huge opportunity here - and the Democrats have a huge weakness. Both of their candidates have staked their positions out quite firmly.

And they haven't got the support they thought they had. 

When “Plan B” Really Stinks

Here is another for the What Are People Thinking? file: No charges for man who killed wife in TV mishap

SEDALIA, Mo. — Prosecutors are not expected to file charges against a Missouri man who fatally shot his wife while he was trying to install a satellite TV system in their home.

Henry County investigators ruled that Patsy Long's March 22 death was accidental. Her husband, Ronald Long, fired his .22 caliber pistol from inside their Deepwater home after he couldn't punch a hole through the exterior wall using other means.

The sheriff's office said the 34-year-old woman was hit in the chest by the second of two shots.

Henry County Prosecuting Attorney Richard Shields said his office does not expect to press charges.

It's tragic, but I guess it could have been worse.  He could have had a stick of dynamite in the house.

White Punks Coats On Dope

No, not the old song by The Tubes, rather the results of a somewhat unscientific poll of scientists. It seems some 20% of respondents to an online poll admitted they use "brain boosting" drugs. 

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN)  — One in five respondents to a new survey in the journal Nature say they've used drugs to boost their brain power.

"We were putting our finger in the air to see what our reader response would be. And it was tremendous," said Brendan Maher, an editor with the widely read scientific publication. "What it's suggesting is there are a high percentage of adults using these drugs."

The informal, nonscientific survey, conducted online, polled 1,400 people in 60 countries. Most of the responders, the majority of whom said they worked in biology, physics, medicine or education, reported taking the drugs to improve their concentration. 

An interesting question for reporters covering the next breathless scientific news release would be to ask the scientists involved when they took their last jolt. Things like this tend to diminish the reputations of the entire field of science in general. Because, as the article points out, these drugs can lead to real problems and real addictions. Not to mention the real questioning of results of studies.  

Oddly enough, the poll was taken as a result of an April Fool's joke that turned out to be somewhat less of a laughing matter, according to Nature. 

The US National Institutes of Health is to crack down on scientists 'brain doping' withperformance-enhancing drugs such as Provigil and Ritalin, a press release declared last week. The release, brainchild of evolutionary biologist Jonathan Eisen of the University of California, Davis, turned out to be an April Fools' prank. And the World Anti-Brain Doping Authority website that it linked to was likewise fake. But with a number of co-conspirators spreading rumours about receiving anti-doping affidavits with their first R01 research grants, the ruse no doubt gave pause to a few of the respondents to Nature 's survey on readers' use of cognition-enhancing drugs.

The survey was triggered by a Commentary by behavioural neuroscientists Barbara Sahakian and Sharon Morein-Zamir of the University of Cambridge, UK, who had surveyed their colleagues on the use of drugs that purportedly enhance focus and attention (Nature 450, 1157–1159 ; 2007). In the article, the two scientists asked readers whether they would consider “boosting their brain power” with drugs. Spurred by the tremendous response, Nature ran its own informal survey. 1,400 people from 60 countries responded to the online poll.

Could the results have been skewed by the people who were in on the joke? Of course. Does that lessen the negative impact here? Not in the least. 

Darn It! What Are We Going To Do With The New Proton Packs?

The Johnson County (Iowa) Board of Supervisors has withdrawn its permission for self-described ghost hunters to search a former mental asylum.

Board members last month approved an investigation of the buildings, but decided to vote it down in response to negative feedback, said Board Chairman Rod Sullivan.

He said the board initially did not oppose a request from the Johnson County Historical Society to have a paranormal team conduct a free investigation at the site, which is now a private residential care facility for the mentally ill called Chatham Oaks.

Gee, what negative response could they possibly have gotten? Sadly, it means sales of this item will be flat in Johnson county, for now at least.