I can’t be alone in this, can I? Information and news screaming at me about the stimulus bill, health care, 401K adjustments. All very informative but I feel like screaming, stop the music! Or do I? Maybe I will just watch Dancing with the Stars (which I frankly never could get into but am now considering).

I am very impressed with the rate of response President Obama has created since just after the election. I don’t recall any president working as hard as quickly as he. I applaud him and his efforts and ultimately I believe we will all be okay. But the push to get information out in Read the full story

Tonight we watch President Obama tell us the facts, and maybe give us some hope. So much in the news on the economy, the bail out and political pontification, in which something our members of Congress seem to excel. If only they could put their efforts into resolving differences…ah but that is for another time.

Here are some sites and sounds on the Internet to keep you informed. On Social Security, where does it stand, what is its future. The best blog on this is one Ronni Bennett did today on Time Goes By. Read it; it’s real. Whatever your beliefs on this, read it.

Bernacke: what he told the Congress today. You should know this. Click here for his actual testimony.

The Bail out. So much said; so much written. Know the facts. FactCheck.org is where you should go. Here is an example of what you are hearing that is NOT true but polical pontification at its worse: ”

Doctor’s Orders? Republicans claim that the new stimulus law says the government will tell physicians what procedures can and can’t be performed. It doesn’t.
Source: Annenberg Political FactCheck.org

Republican politicians have claimed that the stimulus bill requires that doctors follow government orders on what medical treatments can and can’t be prescribed. But the bill doesn’t say that.

• Rep. Tom Price of Georgia says the measure creates “a national health care rationing board.” Not true. What it creates is a council to coordinate research into which treatments work best, and are most effective for the money. And in fact, the new law states quite specifically that the council has no power to “mandate coverage” and that its recommendations are not to be construed as “clinical guidelines for … treatment.”
• Betsy McCaughey, a Republican former lieutenant governor of New York, claims that the bill creates a “new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology.” Not true. The office was created in 2004 by President Bush. McCaughey also says the office “will monitor treatments” and ” ‘guide’ your doctor’s decisions.” But that’s nothing new. Bush’s initiative called for creating a health IT system to transmit information to “guide medical decisions.”

Critics of comparative effectiveness research, which the government has been funding for decades, claim that it will lead to treatment being approved or denied based on costs. Proponents say it will improve the quality of care and can, in some cases, show that more costly treatments aren’t as effective as less expensive alternatives.

We can’t predict what will happen in the future, but we can say that several claims being made about the impact of the bill are simply opinions being passed off as facts. “

Stay tuned. Be informed.

I usually try to write on health issues: mental, emotional and physical (sometimes financial). I refer to myself as the tempered optimist, a growing number of the 60+ population who have been tempered by life’s struggles, political ineptness, and the pursuit of happiness. Mostly we try to see the good that life offers; the good in which we should all strive to invest ourselves as that (attitude) leads to longer, more productive lives. It’s no secret that along the way, I have, perhaps emotionally, hit on topics that frankly boggle my mind. This is one of those. A feel good story, one in which Hollywood usually takes and makes those inspiring movies of…but this one has remained a local fight. It’s about a school; a small school in Pa. that has inspired hundreds of students, a town, and adults. It has actually even gotten some politicians to rally. You need to know about this school and make your voice heard. Gov. Rendell might have bigger political aspirations so hearing from people outside of Pa. may be helpful.

Look, we all know times are tough but what price can we put on a child’s head? Not fair. Here are excerpts from various Pa. papers and sites. They tell the story far better than I could: Read the full story