Large Drug Companies

Good For Business, Bad for Patients? (ABCnews.com, January 30, 2009)

Summary: Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is being bought out by Pfizer, a larger company. The buyout is giving hope to more research and lower prices.The article shows the pros and cons of the buyout. While maximizing profit for the shareholders, the question of whom is really being helped is being raised.

Topic: Should the government arrange for hospitals to network to help standardize the cost of health care?

Category: Journalistic

Title: Good for Business, Bad for Patients?

Publication Information: John Abramson, M.D. January 30, 2009

Location: abcnews.go.com/Business/Health

Accessed: January 30, 2009

Support: Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, editor in chief at Journal of American Medical Assosication; Pharmaceutical and Manufactures of America’s research; Department of Justice; FDA

Source Analysis: ABC news, owned by Disney Corp. and broadcasts in almost every media. One of the three largest mainstream news companies in the United States, was split from NBC in the 1950s.

Usefulness:This article shows the pros and cons of large drug companies combining. The buyout of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals raises the question of who is wining in this situation, and who might be going down the drain? With the concern of health care cost always on the public’s mind, the thought of a buyout is a bit concerning for some. What seems like a good idea on paper, may not work in the long run. Coming with the large buyout many hospitals will be limited to only one company, Pfizer, to provide them with the pharmaceuticals that they need. With this contract between the doctor and drug, the price of the prescription is going to rise. These restrictions do come with the benefit of more money for research; yet if will this money actually be put to research for lower cost is still in questioning.

Works Cited: Wikipedia, Google, http://www.usdoj.gov/ , Changing the Face of Medicine

Childern’s Health

Senate Approves Children’s Health Bill (NYTimes.com, January 29, 2009)

Summary: U.S. Senate approves a bill Thursday, January 29, 2009 that allows more than four million children to have health insurance.

Topic: Should the government arrange for hospitals to network to help standardize the cost of health care?

Category: Journalistic

Title: Senate Approves Children’s Health Bill

Author: Robert Pear

Location:  NYTimes.com

Accessed: January 30,2009

Support: President George Bush; President Obama; Senator John McCain of Arizona; House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi; Jennifer M. Ng’andu, a health policy specialist at the National Council of La Raza; Congressional Budget Office; Cindy Mann, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University; Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio; Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi; Senate Democrat, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois; Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona; Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. Both politicians and researchers come together to help insure that there are less children in United States with out health care.

Source Analysis: The New York Times is Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper that many Americans go to when looking for their daily headlines. Known for their saying “All the News That’s Fit to Print” the New York Times has over a million papers in circulation daily.

Usefulness: This article shows how important health care is to both Republican and Democratic states. Even though there is a debate between the way the government should come into the health care system, both parties agree that there is a problem. This article shows the two parties coming together to help fix the health care crisis at hand. With the children’s health bill in place, now the next question is to see the reaction of the public to the start of Obama’s plan.

Works Cited: http://menendez.senate.gov/, Google.com, http://kyl.senate.gov/constit_center, http://durbin.senate.gov//about.cfm, http://congress.org/congressorg/bio/id/343, http://www.sherrodbrown.com/, Georgetown University, Congressional Budget Office, Jenifer Ng’andu, http://www.house.gov/pelosi/biography/bio.html, Wikipedia

Opinion on Health Care

Health Care Now (NYTimes.com, January 29,2009)

Summary: An opinion column of why Americans should have guaranteed health care now. With the bail out bills rolling in, the economy’s downfall is in need of a pick-me-up, health care for all is just what the doctor ordered.

Topic: Should the government arrange for hospitals to network to help standardize the cost of health care?

Category: Journalistic/ Opinion

Title: ‘Health Care Now’

Publication Information: nytimes.com January 29, 2009; in print January 30, 2009 pg A23

Author: Paul Krugman

Location: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/opinion/30krugman.html?_r=1

Accessed: January 30, 2009

Support: President Obama; Commonwealth Fund, private foundation promoting better health care Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff; Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee; Paul Krugman, economist (author)

Source Analysis: The New York Times is Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper that many Americans go to when looking for their daily headlines. Known for their saying “All the News That’s Fit to Print” the New York Times has over a million papers in circulation daily.

Usefulness: The opinion of Krugman shows how an economist might look at the situation of this health care crisis. The article also gives just ‘another persons’ opinion. The pros and cons are laid out through out the article in a yes and no format, making the reader look at the health care problem in a different way. Picking apart President Obama’s promises and the problems that come with them. All of this gives the reader the ability to pick apart the health care issues.

Works Cited: Google, Wikipedia, The Official Paul Krugman Web Page, whitehouse.gov, commonwealthfund.org

Working Towards More

Our 44th President gave his insipring inaugural speech on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009. Americans gathered everywhere to watch the change come into their lives. With this change that so many hoped for President Obama mentioned the issue of health care, and how it has become a crisis.

Can Obama join science, technology, and health care to lower cost?

Category: Journalistic

What is it? A full transcript of President Obama’s inaugurtion along with along with a description of happenings before.

Title: President Obama’s Inaugural Adress

Publication: pic2009.com Blog Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 12:25pm

Author: Amy Hamblin

Accessed: January 22nd, 2009

President Obama was choosen to be the voice of the people for the next four years, for this reason his source is the thought of what the American people want. Speaking directly to the people President Obama stated his plan for the crisis with American health care. Insuring Americans that he will “restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.” Speaking directly to the majority of Americans President Obama that the hard labors that built this country would not be left behind.

“In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given”-President Obama

Should…Shouldn’t??

Should the government arrange for hospitals to network to help standardize the cost of health care?

Health care has always been a problem for many Americans. One plan may work for a certain person, but it is not guaranteed to work for everyone. This is why I don’t believe that a universal health care plan, under the federal government, would not work for the United States. Nevertheless, the cost of health care continues to rise at astonishing rates. Many Americans have very little or no heath care coverage at all. I believe that we can lower the price of health care by pushing it into the technological age that so many have come to love. With this boost hospitals could work together, building a network. The open market would still be in place, but the choices for the American public would open up. With so many hospitals already receiving their funding from the government, the way that the hospital was run would not change. The network would just make insurance less painful for many Americans, and communication between hospitals would open new doors. The progress of moving forward into technology would also create new jobs and research, raising GDP. I believe that the United States government needs to push health care in the right direction, while investing in the health of so many uninsured Americans.

All about YouTube

http://inaugural.senate.gov/2009/theme.cfm

Being in touch with the public is a new must with the government. The best way now to keep in touch with the masses is to use the technology that is available. President Obama is using this new way of keeping in touch with the American public in every aspect that he can. Tying one source to another, and linking sites to one another. The Inauguration site not only is there information about the event and Obama’s full speech, but also there are links to other websites. Obama’s Flickr, twitter,  and YouTube site are all linked on the inauguration site. Some of these sites even link to other sites that give you more information about the events that are taking place with the governmental events. Obama is taking advantage of every technology that he can to stay in touch with the American people. Giving everyone a chance to be able to stay connected.

The Building Blocks of Stories

Watching the youtube videos of Ira Glass gave me another way of looking at stories. In the first video when he talks about the building blocks of story telling that really caught my attention. I think that all stories have a begining, middle and end; but I had never thought of a question. As I thought about it more and more though most good stories that I think of had me asking a question through out the whole thing. It was not until the very end that my curiousity was answered with why or how.  These actions that lead me to follow the story was another thing that came up in his video. One thing that I really did like that he said was that you should just be who you are. When reporting or broadcasting just be who you are, be comfortable.

Just Talking

Interviewing people wasn’t hard. I saw it as just talking to people. Getting the person that I was interviewing to really open up was the challenge. Once I sat down with Matt I just talked to him like I was getting to know him. Laying down the base for what could have just been a friendly conversation. Then once we got passed introductions and formallities, I started to dig in. I think that just talking before you go to the main questions makes people feel more relaxed. The hardest part for me was trying to keep up with all of the details that came with the stories. In my first interview I just took some notes and listened to Matt tell the story. In my second interview I repeated a summary of the story back. I think this really helped.Writing the sentances in 10 words or less was really hard. With just getting out of Grammar, J101, we had learned to compile our sentances.

All About Cakes

Wedding cakes are becoming almost a fad instead of a tradition now that they have become so elaborate. There are cake decorating shows now with challenges and ridiculous orders, amazing wedding cakes are everywhere. Looking at the history of wedding cakes a lot of the traditions started with the recipes that make a great wedding cake. The type cake that is used for weddings are usually quite dense to hold up the tiers of the cake. There are usually three tiers on a cake with either a layer of fondant or royal icing to make the cake look “finished” on the outside. Fondant is becoming a “new thing” for wedding cakes, costing about $6 per pound which covers and 8” two layer cake, this new fad can get kind of pricey. Made of marshmallows and sugar the delicate cover gives a finished look for wedding cakes and is also malleable giving bakers the ability to add new things to cakes. Many brides love the extra pizazz of sugar decorations or fresh flowers with these additions the wedding cake is becoming the centerpiece of the wedding. With the elaborate designs of wedding cakes becoming a must with brides, the price of wedding cakes are going up as well. The average price of your basic cake is $1.50 per slice to $6. The more gourmet cakes can be $10 or more per slice. Money is added for different extras to the cake; things like fondant, fresh flowers, more tiers and different flavors can really pack on the dollars to a cake. Even though this cake can get kind of pricey the history of a large white wedding cake bringing the bride and groom together does not have a price tag on it.  Signifying the start of doing things together for the rest of their life the tradition of feeding the piece of cake to your wife or husband also is the joining of the couple.

http://weddings.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Wedding_Cake_Recipes

http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm

http://weddings.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Wedding_Cake_Prices

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/how-to-make-a-wedding-cake.htm

http://media.wetv.com/flipbooks/amazing-wedding-cakes/cake-creations.html

Third-Hand Smoke

Rethinking smoking with ‘Third-Hand Smoke,’ an article in the NYT by RONI CARYN RABIN; talks about the smell that sticks to smokers and what the effects of those smells are.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/health/research/03smoke.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=third%20hand%20smoke&st=cse