Tag Archives: Opinions

“Best Video on the Priesthood”

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Patient cured of Ebola in Germany treated with biofiltration device | Fox News

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“A Ugandan man hospitalized in Germany for the Ebola virus was treated with a biofiltration device that the creators believe will change the landscape in the fight against viral pathogens.

The Aethlon Medical team has created a device called the Hemopurifier, which works on the established infrastructure of dialysis machines already located in hospitals and clinics.

“It works within a dialysis machine, but the mechanism selectively targets viral pathogens and immunosuppressive toxins that they release,” James Joyce, the CEO of Aethlon Medical, told FoxNews.com.

The Hemopurifier is an extracorporeal biofiltration device that converges hollow-fiber filtration technology with immobilized affinity agents to allow for the rapid physical removal of virus and soluble viral glycoproteins from the blood. It mimics the natural immune system response for clearance of circulating virus and viral toxins before cells and organs can be infected, according to Joyce.

“Our goal is to eliminate the circulating viruses and do it on a rapid basis,” Joyce said. “The virus that we capture then remains in the [device’s] cartridge,” he said.

Doctors at University Hospital Frankfurt had been following the clinical trials and the device’s technology and reached out to Joyce’s team.

“We were contacted by physicians at Frankfurt University hospital on advice that they had an advanced-stage Ebola patient arrive at their hospital,” Joyce said.

Aethlon had to seek special approval from the German regulatory authorities in order to ship the piece.

“Hemotherapy was administered on day 12 after diagnosis and at that point in time he had multiple organ failure,” Joyce said.

The patient was administered hemotherapy treatment for more than six hours and had no adverse effects.

The physicians measured data points related to the treatment. The patient was monitored for changes in viral load, with the hope being for a reduction. Before treatment, the viral load was measured at 400,000 copies per milliliter for the Ebola virus. At the end of treatment physicians measured a reduction to only 1,000 copies per milliliter for Ebola.

The patient is now free of the virus.

The FDA has approved an investigational device exemption for the Hemopurifier, which the creators see as an advancement of feasible studies in relation to use of the device in the U.S.

“You can’t recruit patients for obvious humanitarian reasons, so you’re limited to demonstrations of safety,” Joyce said. “In our case we can conduct replicative studies to demonstrate the ability to eliminate the targeted virus in a closed loop,” he said.

The company has run clinical trials overseas in patients with Hepatitis C and HIV.

The creators believe what sets the Hemopurifier apart from treatments currently available is that it doesn’t add any additional drugs to a patient’s therapy.”

Read more via Patient cured of Ebola in Germany treated with biofiltration device | Fox News.

Islamic State says it’ll mint its own coins : Jihad Watch

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via Islamic State says it’ll mint its own coins : Jihad Watch.

“The longer the Islamic State continues to exist, and the longer that it amasses more and more of the ordinary features of a functioning government, the harder it is going to be for Barack Obama to maintain his claim that it is not a state. And the legends on these coins once again belie is other claim, that it is not Islamic.”

“Islamic State says it’ll mint its own coins,” by Maamoun Youssef, Associated Press, November 14, 2014:

READ  MORE via Islamic State says it’ll mint its own coins : Jihad Watch.

 

Pope Francis blasts abortion, euthanasia as ‘sins against God’ :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

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by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Nov 15, 2014 / Pope Francis has told a group of Catholic doctors that “playing with life” in ways like abortion and euthanasia is sinful, and he stressed that each human life, no matter the condition, is sacred.

“We’re are living in a time of experimentation with life. But a bad experiment… (we’re) playing with life,” the Pope told an audience of 4,000 Catholic doctors gathered in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Nov. 15.

“Be careful, because this is a sin against the Creator: against God the Creator.”

Pope Francis offered his words in an address given to members of the Italian Catholic Doctors Association in celebration of their 70th anniversary.

He recalled that many times in his years as a priest he heard people object to the Church’s position on life issues, specifically asking why the Church is against abortion.

After explaining to the inquirer that the Church is not against abortion because it is simply a religious or philosophical issue, he said it’s also because abortion “is a scientific problem, because there is a human life and it’s not lawful to take a human life to solve a problem.”

Regardless of the many objections he has heard saying that modern thought has evolved on the issue, the Pope stressed that “in ancient thought and in modern thought, the word ‘kill’ means the same!”

“(And) the same goes for euthanasia,” he explained, observing that as a result of “this culture of waste, a hidden euthanasia is practiced on the elderly.”

This, he said, is like telling God: “’at the end of life I do it, like I want.’ It’s a sin against God. Think well about this.”

The belief that abortion is helpful for women, that euthanasia is “an act of dignity,” or that it’s “a scientific breakthrough to ‘produce’ a child (who is) considered a right instead of accepted as a gift” are all part of conventional wisdom that offers a false sense of compassion, he said.

And this includes “(the) use of human life as laboratory mice supposedly to save others,” the Pope continued, saying that on the contrary, the Gospel provides a true image of compassion in the figure of the Good Samaritan, who sees a man suffering, has mercy on him, goes close and offers concrete help.

With today’s rapid scientific and technological advancements the possibility of physical healing has drastically increased, the Pope observed. However, the ability to truly care for the person has almost gone in the opposite direction.

Some aspects of medical science “seem to diminish the ability to ‘take care’ of the person, especially when they are suffering, fragile and defenseless,” he said, explaining that advancements in science and medicine can only enhance human life if they maintain their ethical roots.

“Attention to human life, particularly to those in the greatest difficulty, that is, the sick, the elderly, children, deeply affects the mission of the Church,” the Bishop of Rome continued, saying that often times modern society tends to attach one’s quality of life to economic possibilities.

Frequently the quality of a person’s life is measured by their physical beauty and well-being, he observed, noting how the more important interpersonal, spiritual and religious dimensions of human life are often forgotten.

“In reality, in the light of faith and of right reason, human life is always sacred and always ‘of quality’,” he said.

“No human life exists that is more sacred that the other, just like there is no human life qualitatively more significant than another solely in virtue of resources, rights, economic opportunities and higher social status.”

via Pope Francis blasts abortion, euthanasia as ‘sins against God’ :: Catholic News Agency (CNA).

via Pope Francis blasts abortion, euthanasia as ‘sins against God’ :: Catholic News Agency (CNA).

Burke Beu: This Democrat Is Giving Up on ObamaCare – WSJ – WSJ

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When you’ve been a life-long “anything”, it’s hard to think outside your comfort-zone, but experience can open the door to truth, logic and a willingness to consider reality rather than party-line:

“I grew up in a Democratic family. I have been a registered Democrat since age 18, a Democratic candidate for statewide office in Colorado and a party precinct captain in that caucus state. I’ve volunteered for numerous Democratic candidates and contributed to party causes and campaigns. The 2014 election results were extremely disappointing for me, but hardly a surprise.

I voted for Barack Obama in 2008, then lost my job in the Great Recession. I was lucky; my brother lost his job and his house. I survived on part-time jobs while paying out-of-pocket for my health insurance.

I voted for President Obama again in 2012, then received a cancellation notice for my health insurance. This was due to ObamaCare, the so-called Affordable Care Act. However, I couldn’t afford anything else.

Midterm elections in the second term of a presidency are difficult on the president’s party, and the Obama administration’s crisis-of-the-month headlines weren’t helpful. Ultimately, though, ObamaCare was the catalyst for my party’s midterm thumping.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest speaks about Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in July. ENLARGE

White House press secretary Josh Earnest speaks about Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in July. Associated Press

ObamaCare is a failure. For anyone who thinks this is a misprint because no Democratic activist would make such a comment, let me add that it is too big, too complicated and too expensive. Without a public option within its network of exchanges, ObamaCare is a giant blank check to the insurance companies that pushed it through Congress. It punishes responsible consumers like me and treats younger individuals as fools who are expected to pay the bills while not paying attention.

Now we learn in videos that came to light this week that Jonathan Gruber, MIT economist and a key architect of the Affordable Care Act, proudly relied on his perceived “stupidity of the American voter” as the basis for designing ObamaCare. Such comments, along with the program’s notoriously dysfunctional website and false assurances that people can keep their previous health plans, are insults to every citizen regardless of party.

Contrary to Medicare, which was quickly accepted at a time of economic vitality as a meaningful complement to Social Security, ObamaCare was the sequel to an overpriced economic stimulus package that didn’t stimulate very much. Those least affected by the recession benefited the most from the stimulus. I think that’s called “trickle-down economics” when Republicans do it, and the economy continues to struggle for good jobs and a real recovery. ObamaCare is part of the problem, not a solution.”

via Burke Beu: This Democrat Is Giving Up on ObamaCare – WSJ – WSJ.

 

Meet the Mild-Mannered Investment Adviser Who’s Humiliating the Administration Over Obamacare – Bloomberg Politics

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Meet the Mild-Mannered Investment Adviser Who’s Humiliating the Administration Over Obamacare – Bloomberg Politics.

“Rich Weinstein is not a reporter. He does not have a blog. Until this week, the fortysomething’s five-year old Twitter account had a follower count in the low double digits.

“I’m an investment adviser,” Weinstein tells me from his home near Philadelphia. “I’m a nobody. I’m the guy who lives in his mom’s basement wearing a tinfoil hat.” (He’s joking about the mom and the tinfoil.)

He’s also behind a series of scoops that could convince the Supreme Court to dismantle part of the Affordable Care Act. Weinstein has absorbed hours upon hours of interviews with Jonathan Gruber, an MIT professor who advised the Massachusetts legislature when it created “Romneycare” and the Congress when it created “Obamacare.” Conservatives had been looking for ways to demonstrate that the wording of the ACA denied insurance subsidies to consumers in states that did not create their own health exchanges. Weinstein found a clip of Gruber suggesting that states that did not create health insurance exchanges risked giving up the ACA’s subsidies; it went straight into the King v. Burwell brief, and into a case that’s currently headed to the Supreme Court.”

via Meet the Mild-Mannered Investment Adviser Who’s Humiliating the Administration Over Obamacare – Bloomberg Politics.