ppp 04-16-07

Quote of the day: The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 AD - 180 AD), Meditations

Do you ever think that you are stuck where you are? That there is no way to make your life better? Is your future laid out as a long straight road of sameness or worse___a downward spiral of relationships, finances, and faith?

This weekend some friends and I attended a "Men's Conference" put on by the Archdiocese of St. Paul. 1600 men gave up their collective Saturdays to listen to a former homeless cocaine addict. The speaker's father had left home when he was in his mid teens. He ended up in the army and was SPECIAL FORCES. He used the discipline he learned in the Army to build a real estate empire in California earning him millions per year. He dated a Hollywood starlet that introduced him to her "best friend"… cocaine. Soon he had lost everything and was confined to a mental institution. When he was released he became a street person. His mother finally was able to get a letter to him through a friend who found him on the streets. She asked him to say one prayer a day. Even though he was in rough shape he did agree to ONE a day. He credited that one prayer a day to finding his way back to his mother on the East coast and back into the Church. He found a priest who heard his confession and went on to declare that he intended to be a priest. The wise old Monsignor replied "All things are possible with God" although he may have been thinking "You'll be fortunate to make it a week without something terrible happening".

Fast forward a mere seven years to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome where our speaker found himself being ordained a priest by John Paul II . He went on to receive his PhD in Theology and now is a regular on the EWTN TV network. He gives about 40 men's and women's retreats every year, produces audio and video shows. He is now seen in over 130 countries! Father Corapi showed up with his bodyguard because it seems that some people and groups do not like his messages.

The main topic of his seminar was on LEADRERSHIP. Next week I'll attempt to summarize his presentation for you. If you can't wait then you can always go to his website and order the LEADERSHIP seminar for yourself. http://www.fathercorapi.com/

Father Corapi changed his life around and made it better. That one little prayer a day was his start on the road to a better life. You are not starting from as low a place as he did and may not soar nearly as high but, as the old Monsignor said, "All things are possible with God". What can you do today to begin to make a difference in your life?

ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was "great-o-rificl"

pps. Occasionally, some of the links require FREE registration.... I'm sure you can handle THAT slight inconvenience.

FDA panel voted against approval of Merck's Vioxx replacement, Arcoxia. I expect that Merck will not push this any further. I wonder what Simon had to say about Arcoxia....

Gonorrhea has become resistant to common antibiotics. CDC says that about 7% of all cases are now resistant to fluoroquinolones (like CIPRO0 while only 0.6% were resistant in 2001.

3) New ointment, Altabax (retapamulin) approved by the FDA against impetigo.

The big danger with impetigo isn't the skin infection as much as it is the progression of the skin infection to the point where the infection moves to the kidneys and other internal organs. If you, or your child, get impetigo then the use of this new ointment in concert with oral antibiotics should prove the safest rout to a full cure (although no mention of additional oral antibiotics are mentioned in the news release).

Senator Kennedy want to raise USER FEES on drug companies beyond the levels worked out between the FDA and Industry by an additional 51%. Somehow he wants to tie everything else to inflation rates except his proposed tax increases.

While the generic drug manufacturers may be able to prove to the FDA that they are "bioequivalent" I sure hope that Congress does not infringe on valid patents or it will set off another wave of international pirating.

Drugs used to control urinary incontinence, like Ditropan, SHOULD receive added warnings related to psychiatric symptoms. These anticholinergic drugs work through the exact opposite mechanism as many anti-Alzheimer's medications work. The drugs make you HOT, RED, DRY and MAD (as in crazy as in hallucinations…). Now if we could get physicians to read these warnings….. maybe I'm the one who is MAD!!!?

Dried rattlesnake meat is made into a powder and placed into capsules for consumption. Study shows salmonella in these capsules could be as deadly as a bite from a rattle snake. This Hispanic folk medicine is used as a general cure for whatever you have from HIV/AIDS to acne. If you were the FDA, what would you do about it?

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