Bits & Pieces
Bits and pieces from this reporter's notebook.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....A new report out says that alcohol increases the chances of breast cancer in women. That nightly glass of wine, according to this study, is a promoter of the disease. But wait, take heart, 'cause this is really just a report on a bunch of previous reports, which doesn't make it wrong in itself although it does raise some questions. Further, and more damning, the report on the reports says that smoking does not contribute to breast cancer. Sorry, but that's hard to believe. And for what it's worth, yet another study just released says a little wine reduces the risk of dementia by two or three times. Pick your poison.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Not making sense, too, is a volunteer fire squad that was directing traffic during emergencies in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. They resigned en masse because the fire chief refused to allow their lieutenant to use a flashing red light and siren. Okay for a flashing blue light, but he still wasn't allowed to go through red lights when he was in a hurry. The vols said the refusal confirmed their suspicions that they weren't being taken seriously. Burned up they were, no doubt.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Also not to be taken seriously is the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which is supposed to tell us how good are our hospitals. According to a Chicago Tribune investigation, the commission dramatically under-reported patient deaths and hospital errors. The reason is that they mostly relied on information from the hospitals themselves. Noted the Trib, less than one percent of the hospitals failed to receive accreditation in the last 17 years, and some of those that did were in the middle of public health crises. Also, the commission announces its inspections three months in advance, and allows hospitals to choose the patient files to be examined. Further, while the commission reported only a dozen fatalities from iatrogenic infections since 1995, the Trib found about 75,000 such deaths in just one year. Said the commission president, "We have missed things." Imagine what a hospital must have done to fail.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Confusion about the mission statement is similarly extant here in Redding, where a carpenters' union is tussling with a local contractor. The contractor says he thought he'd gotten things worked out with the nail-drivers, but apparently not. Which is why the union has pickets up at two of his construction sites. But some of the picketers aren't even in the union, and what's more, some are being paid to walk the line. Apparently, the laborers have more lucrative things to do with their time.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Finally, also out of work, in the next James Bond film is Sean Connery, the original and consummate 007. The British actor was supposed to have had a cameo role in the upcoming gore-'n-gimmicks movie as the secret agent's father. But according to the latest gossip, the directory cut the Connery role because in the original Ian Fleming canon, Bond was an orphan. And they've been adhering so closely to the text.
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
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