Ontario fires back against woman in ad – The Globe and Mail

Ontario fires back against woman in ad – The Globe and Mail

The Ontario government has filed a defence against a claim made by a Hamilton woman whos at the centre of the U.S. debate over health care. Shona Holmes is featured in a TV campaign in which she claims she had to mortgage her home and travel to a U.S. clinic for brain surgery in 2005, due to a six-month wait for care in Canada. The ad, which began airing about two weeks ago in all 50 states, warns Americans to reject Canadian-style health care because it failed her. In the ad, Ms. Holmes states that if she relied on her government, shed be dead.

I hope we get more information about this. I merely saw @blurky posting about it on Twitter. Other comments I’ve seen was that she did not have a malignant brain tumor, and she was at no risk. I had a nice ‘perhaps sort of tumor’ for 5 years. We watched and waited, and decided that it really wasn’t a tumor at all. Surgeon (and I saw a few) said that in the US they’d just cut it out to be safe, for the $$ too, but since it was Canada, we only cut when necessary (my words). More likely that I just have a differently shaped brain. Lots of people do. I have been told by doctors that some people freak out over something like this and demand surgery (which just gets in the way for people who NEED surgery). Sounds like this situation could be exactly that. I’m not saying, just suppozin. I do agree that people shouldn’t get whatever surgery they feel like when they feel like it, and get in the way of people who need it. I have been bumped from my MRI at the last minute for people in car accidents and once for a little old lady who had had a fall. The staff apologized and said that someone who needed it more was going ahead of me. Bloody right! That’s as it should be.

I hope the democrats create a rebuttal…

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Mirrored from Lemmingworks.

H1N1 and other flu viruses linked to autism, schizophrenia | The Autism News

H1N1 and other flu viruses linked to autism, schizophrenia | The Autism News

Dr. Hossein Fatemi has been testing the H1N1 virus and its impact on fetal development for over 10 years. His findings provide an important link between viral infections in pregnant women and profound mental disease in their offspring.

The H1N1 swine flu that has been making headlines is but one species in an infamous H1N1 lineage that has circulated among human populations since 1917 – and the H1N1 lineage is one branch of numerous flu virus species. While flu viruses present themselves through the physical respiratory symptoms we have long associated with them, it is now apparent that their impact is more dangerous and profound than we had understood prior.

I spoke with Dr. Hossein Fatemi, Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Fatemi has been studying the link between H1N1 specifically and autism and schizophrenia since 1998. His work has centered on mice, but the lessons learned certainly translate to human populations.

In the 1990s, there was evidence that pregnant mothers who had been infected by the flu had given birth to children with schizophrenia.

“We asked a simple question,” Dr. Fatemi said. “If we infect pregnant mice at various gestations with H1N1, does it cause abnormalities in the offspring’s brain development. The experiment looked at the impact of H1N1 infection on brain genes in the hippocampus and in the cerebellum.”

The findings were staggering and pointed to a direct connection between flu infection and the onset of autism, schizophrenia, and other gray and white matter afflictions.

“A large number of brain genes were affected significantly in both the hippocampus and cerebellum,” said Dr. Fatemi.

Autism has been on the rise – and this has been an unexplained phenomenon. A number of studies have looked at mercury levels in vaccination dosages, but Dr. Fatemi’s look at flu infection may offer a broader understanding of how psychological disorders may be emerging from viral sources.

“Some cases of autism may be a consequence of these natural infections,” Dr. Fatemi said.

Now that’s interesting. If this is the case, perhaps we can engineer specific flu viruses as genetic engineering tools Just joking but it is an interesting point. What are viruses but information vectors.

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Mirrored from Lemmingworks.

Canadian Net Neutrality Explained

This is a great primer on Net Neutrality and how it is going to impact Canadian users. I wish we could have internet access like we access highways and water and whatnot. The access should be a public utility, not a corporate controlled cash grab. Also check out Save our Net.ca on how to help.

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Mirrored from Lemmingworks.