Tag: series

Weekly Torture Action Letter 15 – We Will Have To Let KSM Go

Happy Monday and welcome to the Dog’s torture accountability letter writing campaign. The basic premise of this series is that every Monday the Dog will write a letter to decision makers on urging action on accountability for the State Sponsored Torture program of the Bush Administration and provide the links so you the reader can cut and paste the letter or use it as the jumping off point for your own. The important thing is to keep the heat on the people who can move this issue forward by keeping their in boxes full. This week we will be writing the President with carbon copies to the AG, Speaker of the House, Majority Leader of the Senate and Chairs of the Judiciary Committees.

Originally posted at Squarestate.net

Dark Soul -Chapter Five

Happy Saturday and welcome to the Dog’s serialization of the novel Dark Soul. This is a work in progress, so if you have any thoughts or suggestions, don’t be shy about offering them up.

If you have just started reading this, you can find chapters one through three at the following links:

Dark Soul – Chapter One

Dark Soul – Chapter Two

Dark Soul – Chapter Three

Dark Soul – Chapter Four

This serializartion is only available here at Docudharma!  

First Amendment Friday 9 – Gertz v Richard Welch Inc

Happy Friday and welcome to the 9th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:

Originally posted at Squarestate.net

Weekly Torture Action Letter 14 – CIA IG Report

Happy Monday and welcome all to the Dog’s ongoing letter writing campaign. The basic idea it to write to decision and opinion makers every Monday to keep the issue of accountability for torture through respect for the rule of law alive and in front of the busy people who run our country. For those who are stopping by for the first time, it works like this, the Dog writes a letter and provides the links. You can either cut and paste the letter or use it as inspiration for your own. The big deal is to get as many people as possible sending letters (or e-mails) on a consistent basis. To the Dog this provides a low level but constant reminder this issue is out important to the people of this nation.

Originally posted at Squarestate.net

Dark Soul – Chapter Four

Happy Staturday and welcome to the Dog’s serialization of the novel Dark Soul. This is a work in progress, so if you have any thoughts or suggestions, don’t be shy about offering them up.

If you have just started reading this, you can find chapters one through three at the following links:

Dark Soul – Chapter One

Dark Soul – Chapter Two

Dark Soul – Chapter Three

This serializartion is only available here at Docudharma!  

First Amendment Friday 8 – Butts V Curtis

Happy Friday and welcome to the 8th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:

Originally posted at Squarestate.net

Weekly Torture Action Letter 13 – Judge Sotomayor And The Judiciary Committee

Happy Monday and welcome the Dog’s ongoing letter writing campaign. For those of you joining for the first time the idea is every Monday the Dog writes a to decision makers about accountability for the Bush Administration State Sponsored Torture program. This letter can be cut and by any reader or used as the jumping off point for your own letter. The point is to keep the pressure up on the decision makers to make those who apparently committed one of the worst possible crimes accountable for their actions. Today’s letter is to Sen. Patrick Leahy and the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.

Originally posted at Squarestate.net

Dark Soul- Chapter Three

Happy Saturday and welcome the chapter three of “Dark Soul”. This is a serialization of a novel the Dog has written. There is a big difference between writing political commentary and writing fiction. Both have their own learning curve and the intent of posting this is to get some feed back, if anyone has any.

If you are coming to this series for the first time, you can find the previous chapters at these links:

Dark Soul – Chapter One

Dark Soul – Chapter Two

This novel is only being posted here at Docudharma.  

Health Care Series 20090611: Acetaminophen Concerns

THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Health Care Series (cross-posted at ePluribus Media. I have been invited to contribute this installment. I originally was going to post about high fructose corn sweetener, but between the time of the invitation and now FDA came out with a new warning about acetaminophen. Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used pain and fever relievers in the United States. Much of the widespread use has to do with the fact that it causes less stomach upset and GI bleeding than aspirin or ibuprofen. It is not linked to Reye Syndrome as is aspirin, making it a good choice for children and teens with flu. Another very large reason for widespread use is heavy marketing.

However, acetaminophen has a very dark side.  According to CDC, right at half of all cases of acute liver failure (ALF) in the United States is directly caused by acetaminophen.  I will not be as geeky in this post as I normally am in my regular Sunday evening series, Pique the Geek, where we try to delve fairly deeply into the science of various topics.  However, some scientific and historical background is necessary to understand the process of liver toxicity produced by this material.In 1887 a drug called phenacetin was first marketed for fever and pain. It is actually made from acetaminophen and is metabolized in the body to it.  It was withdrawn from the United States market in 1983 due to concerns over carcinogenicity.  However, acetaminophen had already replaced it in a large share of the market.  The reason that phenacetin was used for so long had to do with sloppy research in the early 20th century.

Acetaminophen was first introduced in 1953 by Winthrop, but in 1955 McNeil began marketing Tylenol Children’s Elixir, and the Tylenol brand is still probably the most widely recognized brand name in the United States.  Now it outsells aspirin, and I believe this is a dangerous situation.

All medications are eliminated from the body, mostly as metabolites of the parent drug.  The major site of metabolism is the great chemical factory of the body, the liver.  There are three major pathways, two of them harmless.  The first one is addition of glucuronic acid (a sugar derivative) in the liver, producing a metabolite that is nontoxic and is eliminated by the kidneys.  It is thought that, in MOST people, about 40% of the drug is eliminated that way.

A second pathway, also harmless, is addition of sulfate in the liver, forming a water soluble metabolite that is carried away by the liver.  In MOST people this accounts for around 20% to 40% of the total load.

The third pathway, accounting for about 15% of drug clearance, involves the cytochrome P450 set of liver enzymes (the ones that are increased by drinking alcohol).  A toxic intermediate called NAPQI is formed, and that is cleared by combination with the natural antioxidant glutathione and eliminated by the kidneys.  Here is where the problem arises.

NAPQI is highly reactive and combines with the lipids in liver cell membranes, killing the cells.  When combined with gluatathione, it becomes nontoxic, but glutathione is essential for liver protection from the thousands of other reactive oxidizing agents that it processes constantly.  Reduction of glutathione thus also damages the liver, since it is not available to protect the liver from other bad actors.

In most people, the recommended dose of acetaminophen does not cause any outward sign of trouble.  However, there are behaviors that increase sensitivity towards toxicity.  As mentioned before, moderate to heavy alcohol intake induces the very enzyme that is responsible for the “bad” pathway, so drinkers are naturally more susceptible.  Besides, alcohol in large doses is a liver toxin in its own right, so that is a double whammy.

Another risk factor is fasting and low protein diets.  Since glutathione is derived from protein, restriction of protein intake reduces its availability, thus decreasing its protective effect on the liver.

A third risk factor may be caffeine.  Some fairly recent work is consistent with the hypothesis that caffeine induces a liver enzyme that also causes the production NAPQI, presumably Cytochrome P450.  Now this is problematic for a couple of reasons.  First, many folks drink a lot of coffee.  Second, caffeine is often added to painkiller medications to increase their potency.  Some of these combinations include acetaminophen.

There are also other drugs that induce these enzymes, particularly anticonvulsants.  The barbiturates are potent inducers, and a few combination products contain a barbiturate, a narcotic, and acetaminophen.

In most normal people with no other risk factors, four grams of acetaminophen will show up on liver function tests after a few days for about a third of the population.  Well, four grams a day is the maximum recommended dose for Tylenol Extra Strength products according to the Tylenol website.  So, recommended doses affect liver function in one third of people with no other risk factors.  This is not good.

Six grams a day for two days can cause significant liver function disturbances in normal (that is, no other risk factor) individuals.  Now, I know a lot of folks who have the attitude, “if two tablets will help, three will help more.”  Here is how we start getting into trouble.

Dark Soul – Chapter Two – Saturday Serial

Happy Saturday and welcome to the second chapter of Dark Soul. This is the seirlaization of a novel the Dog has been working on for…well it feels like forever. It is in no way a finished work so if you have thoughts or suggestions, don’t be shy, every bit of feed back helps.

If you want to read the previous chapter you can find it at this link

Dark Soul – Chapter One

Unlike other posts from the Dog, this is only being posted here at Docudharma.  

First Amendment Friday 7 – New York Times v Sullivan

Happy Friday and welcome to the 6th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below

Originally posted at Squarestate.net

Weekly Torture Action Letter -Release All The Documents

Welcome to the 12th in the Dog’s letter writing campaign series. This basic idea of this series is to write to decision and opinion makers every week to push for accountability on for the Bush era State Sponsored Torture program. The Dog writes the letters and provides the links for each week, you provide the action by either cutting and pasting the letter or by using its topic to write your own letter. This is a low level type of action but it is by being relentless and consistent that we keep the pressure on those who can either start investigations or take actions which will make the need for action clearer.

Originally posted at Squarestate.net”  

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